The village head staggered across the flood stream and came up to the hill, using his hands and feet to grip the rocks so that he would not fall and die. He walked up to Chen Xian and made a bow with his hands folded, reverently and respectfully.
"Greetings, Hero Chen!"
Xian's gaze briefly moved away from the sword, and he glanced up and down at this old man for a while. He did not say a word but carried on singing that poem in a downhearted tune.
In hearing the verses, the village head soon became very defensive about what the villagers have done.
He said: "Hero, please do not put it in that way. We invite you here truly because we want you to defend us against injustice. They bullied us that much! Earlier this month, they just slaughtered a farming cattle from our village, and later they tried to usurp the well downhill from us. They will never stop extorting - you give them an inch, they will ask for a foot!"
At this time, Xian did not raise his head. He just sighed and continued singing.
The flood had come, and Xian was whirled away by the flows. He struggled in the flood to the village and the villagers saved him. But the villager asked him to do some jobs and they will pay him after the jobs were done…
"Hero, I did not finish the school, but I supposed that you must know that old verses:
'To forge the sword, it took me a decade;
But I have never tested its cold blade.
I hold it firmly and show it to you today,
As it is eager to redress wrongs right away!'"
Hearing the old verse, Xian stopped. Maybe the words of the village head had touched something deepest in his mind.
So the village head continued to explain: "Perhaps the grievances between the two villages have been forged in our ancestors, but what we did was just to appeal for justice. However, they kept breaking their words. Confucius said, if one requites resentment with kindness, with what then one requites kindness? We just did what we must. Now God favours us. Their village had a disease, and seven or eight out of ten were dead there, which shows that we are righteous! "
"What we hope is that you can finish them. It is merely to enforce justice on behalf of God. Here are five taels of silver. The whole village offers it to you, my hero. Please take it!"
After all, the village head shook some silver from his fat sleeves, put it in his mouth, bit it with his dark broken teeth, and handed it to Xian with a dirty smile: "Pure silver. You can test it."
But his eyes betrayed him. He was observing Xian up and down, and his gaze stopped on the "Blackwaves". Xian knew that the village head was reluctant to give him the money. Nevertheless, he jumped down from the rock, took the money welcomely, picked a wild taro leaf by his hand and wiped the silver pieces. Then he grabbed the fine silver and reached into his sleeves, put them in the bag behind his elbow. Xian carried the sword in his hand and dashed into the forests without looking back.
But no one can guess that, when he walked less than half a mile from the village, he just saw a person poke his head out of the woods to peek around. Xian wanted to go far, so as not to cause troubles. But that guy just bounded up to Xian when he came into sight. He was followed by several other brothers, all grasping axes or podao blades in their hands. They have nearly surrounded Xian.
The leading guy stepped forward and said: "Hero, if you let the imperial officers know about the affairs, then we will get in troubles. So, sorry..."
A contemptuous sneer crept over the face of Xian. He responded: "Since I have taken your money, I won't tell your affairs to anyone, especially the officers. Otherwise, they will arrest me as an accomplice."
"Alright, then hand back that money and we will let you go free. You won't help us anyway, will you?" A younger man behind the rank shouted.
"Then I will count it as hush fee."
But at the moment Xian responded, he felt a strong murderous attack from behind. He turned his head and found that a man has bypassed him, carrying an axe and rushing towards him. So he jumped sideways and warded off the chopping. Before everyone reacted, he drew the sword out of its sheath. He quickly moved into a lunge position and briefly probed where the man stood with the sword. The man holding the axe stepped back for fear of gashing his leg. Xian quickly seized the opportunity. He drew an arc upwards with his sword and hit the axe hilt with the blade but did not cut the fingers. With a flick of his wrist, Xian shook down the man's axe to the ground. Seeing his weapon dropping, that man frightened and stepped back again unintentionally. So Xian grabbed the sword in his two hands and sprang at that poor man, hitting him into a coma with the sword hilt.
Xian immediately turned to other persons, returned to lunge position, and held the sword in front of his chest. The rest of those men were also frightened. They never expected Xian's Kungfu to be so good. Knowing that they could not defeat Xian even together, they all dropped their weapons and scattered like startled birds and beasts.
Xian stopped posing martial posture. He picked up the sheath on the group, gently wiped off the dirt on it, and sheathed the sword. There are more awaits in the woods, in the tropical mist and the future.