Chapter 2 - REVEREND SOLE LIGHT

1

With Guo Jing's support, Lotus shambled along the trail through the paddies and soon they came to a narrow stone bridge spanning a deep valley. The structure was just over a foot wide and most of it was obscured by drifting clouds. They could not tell how far it extended or what was on the other side. If they were on firm ground, of course, a path that narrow would not have bothered them in the least. Yet, right now, one look at the nothingness below was enough to make their hearts quail.

"King Duan has done a good job of secreting himself away," Lotus remarked. "By the time his rivals have made it this far, I'm sure most of their grievances would have melted into the air."

"Why do you think the fisher said King Duan had left this world?"

"I can't work it out. I don't think he made it up to fool us, since he said our shifu was there when it happened."

"Well, there's only one way to find out."

Guo Jing stooped and lifted Lotus onto his back, then started to sprint across the bridge using the Fleet Foot Light Step technique. The uneven paving stones, coated in condensation, were slippery in the extreme. He had to move fast to maintain his balance.

"Watch out!" Lotus yelled when they were seven or eight zhang across the bridge.

A gap yawned ahead. At least five feet wide.

Guo Jing heaved a deep breath and charged forward. At the very edge, where the gap yawned, he pushed off with his back foot and glided across on the momentum of his thrust.

"The condor was steadier," Lotus said when they touched down on the other side.

Guo Jing kept up his pace and leaped over another gap, then another, then another. After the seventh breach, he could at last make out through the mist the relatively flat ground at the far end of this dilapidated bridge. And yet, between where he was and where he needed to get to was a chasm of more than one zhang, perhaps even reaching a dozen feet. He was confident that he could jump over it, but, on the spot where he would land, a scholar sat cross-legged, and just beyond him was one last rift he would have to negotiate before they could set foot on firm ground.

"We are here to seek an audience with your honorable teacher." Guo Jing steadied his footing and projected his words. "We would be grateful if Uncle could guide us to him."

The scholar was reading aloud from a thread-bound volume rolled up in his left hand. He was so engrossed, bobbing his head to the sound of his own voice, that he did not seem to hear the young man at all.

Guo Jing asked again, even louder. No reaction.

"What should we do?"

Lotus answered with a frown. There was no question in her mind as to why the scholar had seated himself there—if they wanted to get past by force, they would have to push him from this foot-wide stump of the bridge into the abyss. But they were here to ask for help. To murder the man would not set the right tone. She needed to get him to acknowledge them. She listened to his recitation, hoping it would give her inspiration and help her find an opening that would spur the scholar into a response. Then it dawned on her that he was reading from the Analects of Confucius, a classic that all students know inside out.

"'In the twilight of spring, the season's garb completed,'" the scholar declaimed. "'With capped men five and six, and boys six and seven, bathe we in the water of River Yi and in the breeze among rain altars, and sing we on the way home.'"

The man gushed and gasped in delight as he read, as if he too was bathing in the spring breeze, singing and dancing.

Lotus wondered if she could provoke him with some outrageous comments about the classics.

"What's the point of reading the Analects a thousand times if you can't grasp the significance within?"

As she had predicted, the scholar lifted his eyes from the book.

"Do enlighten me."

He was about forty years of age, and wore his hair tied in a kerchief, in the style preferred by educated men. From his chin, a long black beard flowed. In his right hand, that ubiquitous accessory of a man of letters—a folding fan.

A Confucian literati, without a doubt.

"Does sir know how many disciples Confucius did have?"

"Of course I do. Three thousand students did Confucius have, of whom seventy-two were particularly distinguished."

"Of these seventy-two, how many had come of age? How many were still boys?"

The scholar was taken aback. "Such details were not recorded in the Analects, nor are they mentioned in other sources."

"I wasn't mistaken when I said you hadn't grasped the significance within. You just read the passage out loud: 'Capped men five and six, and boys six and seven.' Five and six is thirty, so that's how many capped men who had come of age. Six and seven make forty-two, that's the number of boys. Thirty plus forty-two is exactly seventy-two."

Chuckling at her brutish misinterpretation, the scholar had to give the girl credit for her quick thinking nonetheless.

"I am full of admiration for the young lady's learning. Might I inquire what business has brought you here to seek an audience with my teacher?"

Lotus deliberated over her riposte: If we say we have come to seek treatment, he'll probably try to stop us as the others did, but I cannot ignore such a direct question … Let me reply with Confucius's own words.

"'A sage, alas, is not in my lot to meet! If I could meet a man of virtue, that would suffice,'" she quoted. "'How can one not be joyful when friends come from afar?'"

The scholar threw his head back in laughter. "I shall take you to my shifu if you can give me satisfactory answers to my three questions. If you make one mistake, however, then I'm afraid I will have to ask you to turn back."

"Please don't make them too difficult. I am not at all learned."

"They shan't be too hard. The first is a poem, which contains one word—"

"Riddles! What fun!"

The scholar smoothed his beard and began:

"For years the six classics have guided this heart,

One blade for ten winters this hand has honed."

Lotus stuck out her tongue. "A man of letters and the sword. Impressive!"

He smiled and continued:

"Reclining, this one sprig of apricot blossom,

Explain the heavens' mysteries these lips would not.

Masterstroke from this great one,

Obscures half a bed of naught.

Set aside this courtier's cap to retreat with the name whole,

This face, did you know how it once looked?"

Lotus laughed to herself as she listened to his recitation: Papa told me all about this tired old acrostic when I was a child!

"Pardon our lack of manners," she said with exaggerated politeness. "We did not realize we were in the presence of one who has set aside his position in court to retreat to this idyllic country. Forgive us, please, foremost of scholars, as revealed by the first letters of your verse."

The man was dumbfounded by the ease with which she arrived at the answer. It rolled off her tongue as if it had required no thought at all! He had assumed the puzzle would occupy her for a good half a day. No matter how great the boy's kung fu might be, this bridge was too perilous a place in which to remain standing for long with another on his back. He thought they would give in and go back the way they had come.

"I am in awe of the breadth of your knowledge, miss. The verse is old and by no means a description of this humble scholar." He realized his next question would need to be exceptionally difficult if he wanted to get the better of this bright young woman. He cast his eyes around for inspiration and a row of palm trees swaying in the wind caught his attention.

That will do, he told himself with a flick of his fan.

"I shall share the first line of a couplet. Might I ask miss to match it with a second line?"

"Mmm … matching couplets isn't as fun, but I'll do as you say if it means you'll let us pass."

He pointed at the palm trees with his fan:

"Palm fronds sway in the wind, the thousand-hand Buddha waves his folding fans."

Lotus felt a grudging respect. Well, well, this stuffy old bookworm isn't as dull as he looks. He's not simply described the scenery, he's also elevated his own standing with a reference to the Buddha! Pairing words won't be enough. I will have to comment on his person too.

She looked around, searching for something in the landscape that would spark her imagination. Her eyes settled on a lotus pond in front of a small temple at the end of the bridge—perhaps the place where they would find King Duan.

In this part of China, summer heat still lingered at the end of the seventh lunar month, but up here in the mountains there was an autumnal edge to the air, which had caused the lotus leaves to shrivel and wilt.

"I have a second line, but I fear it might offend Uncle." She beamed at him.

"Please, go ahead."

"Promise you won't take offense?"

"You have my word."

"If you say so…" She began, motioning at his kerchief:

"Lotus leaves wilt in the frost, the one-legged phantom wears his scholar scarf."

"Marvelous!" Merry laughter. "A perfect match in every way!"

Guo Jing at last caught on to the joke when he saw the withered lotus leaves drooping over stalks that jutted from the surface of the pond.

"Stop laughing! I don't want to be a bareheaded wraith!" Lotus tittered at her own witticism.

The scholar realized she would find a rejoinder to anything he could devise, but a word game from his student days now came to his mind. It was the first line of a couplet that had stumped generations of literati—one he had no answer for. And as far as he was aware, no one had yet come up with a solution.

"Might I ask miss to complete another couplet?

"Timbre, tone, tune and toll, tumbling as they tut."

Lotus cracked a smile when she heard the first words, before scrunching up her face in an attempt to look perplexed.

Another ancient and stale puzzle. Lucky me! Yes, it's very hard to match all the layers of the wordplay, but Papa cracked it years ago! Well, I'll let you gloat for now …

She scratched her head and mumbled to herself, putting on a convincing act of agonizing over the test.

The man fell for her dramatics and allowed himself a short-lived smile, before the fear that she would ask his opinion overtook any sense of triumph. "This indeed is an impossible line to match, and I must confess that I do not have the learning to formulate a neat response. Might I remind miss that, if you cannot provide a satisfactory answer, you must go back the way you came."

"I wouldn't say it's impossible." Lotus flashed her most brilliant smile. "But I've already offended Uncle once, and if I reply, I shall insult all four of you in one breath. It is not befitting to let these words pass my lips."

Of course the scholar did not believe her. To come up with a match and taunt them at the same time? Never!

"If your line truly forms a couplet, then we will not mind being mocked."

"In that case, please accept my apologies:

"Goblin, ghoul, ghost and ghast, grumbling in the gut."

The scholar climbed to his feet, flabbergasted by her flawless response. "I submit to your superior scholarship." He flicked his sleeves to extend them to their full length and bowed deeply with his hands together in a gesture of utmost respect.

"I wouldn't have had this idea if you and the other uncles hadn't tried so hard to stop us." Lotus returned the courtesy, grinning from ear to ear. She was delighted that she had put her father's witty jibe at his disciples to such good use.

The scholar hopped over the final gap and stood to attention. "Please."

He watched the young man leap over the widest breach to the stump he had just vacated, effortless and sure-footed. The weight of the girl on his back did not affect his footwork at all.

I thought I had mastered the martial and the literary arts, and yet today I have been bested in both by these youths, the scholar said to himself, somewhat disheartened. Then he noticed Lotus's self-satisfied smile, and he could not refrain from taunting her.

"Miss has a great store of literary talent, but is perhaps somewhat wanting in deportment."

"Enlighten me, please."

"'A man and a woman should not touch when giving or receiving gifts, such is propriety.' I trust miss is familiar with this quote from the Mencius? Now, I gather you have yet to leave your maiden's chamber and thus could not have wedded this young man. Why do you allow him to carry you thus? Mencius also laid out the case of the drowning sister-in-law, exploring when it is appropriate for a brother-in-law to extend a helping hand. From what I can discern, miss hasn't fallen into water, nor are you this young man's sister-in-law. Surely it is not proper to permit such contact?"

How come everyone can tell that we're not married? Lotus was both intrigued and displeased by this phenomenon.

"Mencius is full of hot air. Much like yourself, sir," she shot back. "Why should I listen to him, or to you?"

"How can you dismiss the wisdom of the great sage as hot air?"

Smirking, Lotus recited in a sing-song voice:

"How come a beggar has two wives?

How does the neighbor keep so many fowls?

Since the King of Zhou still reigns,

Why canvass the rulers of Wei and Qi?"

The poem was another of Apothecary Huang's creations. He had made it his mission to satirize and mock the great thinkers like Mencius and Confucius, to express his contempt for the strictures the classics, which formed the bedrock of Chinese culture, had imposed on people's minds.

The scholar stood agape. He had no words with which to counter these logical questions. He could brush away the first two quips since they were querying parables Mencius set out to explain a philosophical point, but he had to concede that even the Master himself would not be able to justify the actions questioned by the final challenge. The Zhou dynasty, which had ruled China for six hundred years before Mencius's birth, was still in existence then, though greatly enfeebled and fractured into many fiefdoms and states. Why in sooth did Mencius offer his service to King Hui of Liang and King Xuan of Qi instead of the King of Zhou, who had the most legitimate claim to the realm? He could not fathom how this teenage girl had come to be so erudite and astute. He knew better than to challenge her again, so he led them forward without another word.

As they stepped onto the much smaller bridge that spanned the lotus pond, the scholar could not resist taking a stealthy look at the enigmatic young woman who had made such a fool of him. For once, Lotus looked away tactfully, though she could not stifle a giggle.

2

The scholar guided Guo Jing and Lotus through the temple's main gate and settled them in a chamber on the eastern side of the courtyard.

"Please, make yourself at home. I will inform Shifu of your arrival," he told them once a novice had brought tea for the guests.

"The farmer is trapped under a boulder," Guo Jing said, recalling Lotus's trickery. "You should help him first!"

"Let's see what's in Madam Ying's last message," Lotus said, when the scholar had left the room.

"It completely slipped my mind!" Guo Jing took the yellow pouch from inside his shirt and unpicked the seams.

It was a crude drawing on white paper. A man, clothed in the regal garb typical of the land of Sindhu, was cutting a piece of flesh from his chest with a dagger. A balance sat before him: on one side of the scale, a white dove; on the other, the skin and muscle the man had flayed from himself. The bird was small, but it outweighed what the man had offered. A raptor surveyed this scene from the sidelines.

Lotus studied the gruesome, crude image, but its significance eluded her. The one thing she could glean from it was Madam Ying's ignorance when it came to the art of painting, though her calligraphy was passable. Guo Jing folded up the image once Lotus was done. He was not going to burden himself with the task of deciphering its message.

When the novice returned, he touched his palms together, held them upright over his chest in a Buddhist greeting and bowed. "May I ask what brings sir and madam to this far-flung place?"

"We are here to seek an audience with King Duan," Guo Jing said.

The novice put his hands together in the same respectful gesture. "King Duan has long left this world of dust. I am sorry that you have come here for nothing. Might I invite you to a vegetarian meal before guiding you back down the mountain?"

Guo Jing was crestfallen. After all their efforts, they were still being sent away with the same frustrating and enigmatic excuse. Yet, things were coming together for Lotus—the temple, the novice and the way he talked … She prised the drawing from Guo Jing's hand and offered it to the young monk.

"We would be very grateful if you would deliver this note to your superior and let him know that Guo Jing and Lotus Huang humbly request an audience. We hope he will grant us one on the strength of his friendship with the Divine Vagrant Nine Fingers and the Lord of Peach Blossom Island."

Genuflecting, the boy accepted the paper, folded it up, then took his leave. This time, he returned almost straight away and indicated that they should follow him.

THE TEMPLE turned out to be a far more extensive complex than the first courtyard had suggested. They followed a paved path through a bamboo grove before arriving at three stone cottages set in the peaceful embrace of lush greenery.

The novice walked up to one of the cottages, pushed the doors open with a light touch and stepped aside, standing with his body politely inclined to allow the guests to enter first. Guo Jing gave the boy a smile, moved by the courtesy they were being shown, and lent Lotus his arm so she could steady herself as she stepped over the threshold.

Two monks sat cross-legged on prayer mats in the middle of a sparsely furnished room. On the low table between them was a censer, from which the gentle scent of sandalwood filled the air. One of the monks had darker skin than was common for the people of this region, with a pronounced nose and deep-set eyes. Lotus knew he must be the martial uncle from Sindhu the fisher had mentioned.

The other man, she noted, had a regal presence that neither his rough-spun kasaya nor his flowing white beard could conceal. She also perceived a shade of sorrow between his graying eyebrows. Behind him, the scholar and the farmer stood in waiting.

Her intuition confirmed, she took Guo Jing's hand, led him before the kingly monk and lowered herself onto her knees. "Uncle, your juniors Guo Jing and Lotus Huang bow to you."

Guo Jing copied her stance without asking wherefore and kowtowed four times.

With a kindly smile, the monk got to his feet and helped the young couple up.

"I am delighted that Brother Seven has acquired such outstanding protégés, and Brother Apothecary is most blessed to have such a wonderful daughter. My indolent students –" the monk gestured at the scholar and the farmer—"told me that your martial and literary understanding far surpass theirs. My heartfelt congratulations." He followed these sentiments with a bout of effusive laughter.

Guo Jing could not make sense of this latest turn of events. From the way he talks, he has to be King Duan. But how come the king is now a monk? Why did they all say that he'd left this world of dust? How can Lotus tell this monk is the man we've been seeking?

"Tell me, how are your father and your shifu doing? They're well, I trust?" the monk asked Lotus. "It's hard to believe twenty years have gone by since we were at the summit of Mount Hua together. Your father wasn't even married then—and now he has such a beautiful, accomplished daughter! Have you got any siblings, my dear? Who is your grandfather? I dare say he's a great hero."

"I'm an only child." Lotus's eyes reddened and tears threatened to fall. "Mama left this world a long time ago. Her family name was Feng, but I don't know anything about her father."

The monk patted Lotus on the shoulder to console her. "Have you been here long? I have just emerged from the meditative state of samandhi after three days and three nights."

The monk's delight at their arrival was evident, and it was plain to Lotus that the trials they had to go through were all his students' doing. She would not let the affront pass without comment. "We have only just arrived. In fact, it is most fortuitous that the Uncles were so determined to hold us back and did everything they could to make our journey so very difficult. Or else, we would have been here much too early."

The monk chuckled. "They're worried about me being disturbed by the outside world. But how could you two ever be outsiders to me? I know you, my dear, have made sense of it all already. I am now known as Sole Light. When King Duan left this world of dust, your shifu was there—he was right by my side when I pledged myself to the triratna and received the tonsure. Your father doesn't know about any of this, does he?"

"No, Papa isn't aware and Shifu has never mentioned it to us," Lotus replied.

By now, Guo Jing had wrapped his mind around these latest revelations. The men were not making veiled references to King Duan's physical death; they had been referring to the oath a monk took to renounce the secular world. And if they had been sent by Count Seven Hong, they would be seeking Reverend Sole Light rather than King Duan.

Lotus is always so perceptive, he said to himself. She knew the second she clapped eyes on him.

"Good food is the only thing your shifu allows to pass his lips. He wouldn't waste his breath prattling about this aged monk. You must have had an arduous journey. Have you eaten—" The monk gasped and took Lotus by the hand, leading her to the open doorway, where the light was better. Grave concern clouded his features as he inspected her face in the sun.

Guo Jing might not be the shrewdest, but even he could not fail to realize that Reverend Sole Light had detected Lotus's injury. He fell to his knees and knocked his head loudly against the floor. Then he felt the monk's hand under his arm. A great force was peeling him off the ground. He went with the flow and stood up slowly, for it was rude to oppose one's elder.

Within Sole Light's polite gesture was a test of Guo Jing's internal kung fu. The monk had employed a mere half of his strength and was poised to pull back the instant the young man showed the first sign of being overwhelmed by his power. He would not dream of humiliating his guest by making him flip in a somersault.

By complying, Guo Jing had confounded all expectations, nullifying the monk's energy, which required a greater skill and control than direct opposition would.

No wonder my students were ashamed of themselves after their encounters with this young man, Sole Light reflected. Brother Seven has indeed trained a first-rate disciple.

"Help her, Uncle!" Guo Jing pleaded as he straightened up. Just then, a strong current coursed through his body, threatening to topple him. He stepped forward involuntarily as his own strength poured forth to root his feet.

I can't believe how long his energy stayed inside me. Guo Jing replayed the exchange in his mind, his heart pounding, his breathing unsettled by this disruption to his qi. I thought I'd balanced out his strength when I stood up with him. Somehow, his power entwined with mine, so I ended up being tipped over by the rebound of my own force. I still have a long way to go before I can control my inner power like this. The reputation of the Five Greats is fully deserved.

The awe and admiration Guo Jing felt for the monk's kung fu was evident on his face.

Smiling, Sole Light put a hand on his shoulder. "It is already no mean feat to have cultivated the skill you have just demonstrated."

All the while, the monk had kept hold of Lotus's hand. He led her to a prayer mat, his face somber despite his reassuring words. "Child, don't be scared, there's nothing to worry about."

His warm and sympathetic tone conveyed a tenderness Lotus had never before experienced. She knew her father doted on her, but he had always treated her as an equal, a close friend, pushing away paternal feelings and gestures because of his desire to defy social strictures. And now it was almost as if she were at last in the company of the mother she had never met.

The pain, the fear, the despairing thoughts she had desperately held at bay for the last few days burst forth with her sobs.

"Hush, my dear, hush," Sole Light cooed. "There's no need to cry. Uncle will make your affliction go away." The gentler his tone, the quicker her emotional defenses crumbled and the faster her tears flowed.

Guo Jing was jubilant that Lotus could be saved, but he was also growing self-conscious and shamefaced thanks to the hostile glares of the monk's followers, since it was only through chicanery that they had made it this far. At the same time, he could not understand why the scholar and his fellows were so resolute in preventing them from meeting this kindly monk, who seemed only too eager to help.

"My child, tell me what happened. How did you come by this injury? How did you find this place?"

Holding back her sobs, Lotus told Sole Light how she had mistaken Qiu Qianren for his martially inept twin brother and had been struck on the shoulder by his Iron Palm kung fu. She noted the little changes to monk's countenance as she spoke, catching a fleeting frown on his otherwise peaceful face when she first mentioned the name Qiu Qianren. Then she told him how they found Madam Ying in the swamp and how she gave them directions to the temple. Sensing a gloominess settling over the monk, as if he were gripped by woes from the past, she trailed off discreetly.

"What happened next?" he said with a sigh. Relishing the chance to get even with the scholar, the farmer and the fisher, Lotus recounted in grossly exaggerated detail the unsporting means they had resorted to in their attempts to restrain and discourage them, playing up the fact that she was a harmless, injured little girl. She painted the three men in such a bad light that even Guo Jing was moved to speak up in their defense. Only the logger was spared from her barbed tongue. Instead, she showered him with excessive praise for letting them pass freely.

The scholar and the farmer flushed red in fury, then went pale from fright at her inflated accusations. They would dearly love to refute her claims, but how could they act so discourteously in front of their teacher and liege? They had no choice but to suffer the indignity in silence.

To add insult to injury, Sole Light nodded in earnest at each of her denouncements. "How could we treat guests like this? You're right, they've been most rude. I will make sure they apologize to you in person."

Puffed up with triumph, Lotus swept her eyes over the scholar and the farmer as she continued her tale of how they strove to thwart them even once they had won entry to the temple. "And then I asked them to show you the drawing. Only then did they stop being truculent and allow us to receive your invitation."

"What drawing?" Sole Light sounded surprised.

"The one with the hawk, the dove and the flayed man."

"Whom did you give it to?"

The scholar took the piece of paper from his inside shirt pocket and offered it with both hands. "I have yet to present it, because Shifu was deep in meditation."

Sole Light gave Lotus a conspiratorial smile. "See, if you hadn't told me about this picture, I would have never got to see it." He unfolded the paper and understood at once. "Whoever gave you this thought I would refuse to help you and sent it to goad me. Well, they've underestimated this old monk!"

Lotus caught a strong whiff of panic emanating from the scholar and the farmer. Why do they act like I'm taking away everything they hold dear? she mused. All he said was that he would help. Maybe it will take some precious herbs to cure me and they don't want to part with them?

Sole Light lifted the drawing to the light to examine it, then flicked it with a finger, a quizzical expression on his face.

"Did Madam Ying draw this?"

"Yes."

The monk thought about her answer. "Did you witness her drawing it with your own eyes?"

Sensing that something was amiss, Lotus replayed the whole encounter in her head. "She had her back to us. I could see her brush move, but I couldn't see what she was putting down."

"You said she gave you three notes. Do you mind showing me the other two?"

Guo Jing removed them from his pocket.

One glance and a shadow crept over Sole Light's face. "Just as I thought," he said under his breath as he put the messages into Lotus's hands. "Brother Apothecary is a connoisseur of painting and calligraphy. I am sure he has passed his wisdom on to you. What differences can you discern between the three of them?"

Lotus ran her fingers over the notes. "These two are standard semi-processed jade plaque Xuan paper. The drawing is done on an antique silk paper. Mmm … that's a rare material."

The monk nodded. "I am no authority on the art of the brush. Tell me your opinion of the draftsmanship."

"Uncle, stop pretending," she said, after assessing the drawing with more care than before. "One glimpse was enough to tell you this wasn't painted by Madam Ying."

"So it really wasn't painted by her?" he asked with a slight quaver in his voice. "I made that deduction from the circumstances, not from any hint in the drawing."

Lotus took the monk's arm and patiently explained. "Look here, Uncle. The handwriting in these two notes. Soft, graceful, feminine. Now, look at the lines in the picture. Lean and hard, aren't they? The brush must have been wielded by a man. I know it. This is a man's hand, beyond doubt. He is unschooled in the art of calligraphy. He knows nothing about structuring strokes or controlling the brush, but there's a weighty, penetrating strength to his touch. It's reached all the way through the paper … The tint of the ink shows its vintage … This drawing was done a long time ago—it's probably older than me."

Sole Light turned to the scholar and indicated a bound volume on a small bamboo table. An elongated yellow label ran down the cover:

Sutralamkara Sastra

by the Bodhisattva Asvaghosha

Translated by Kumarajiva of the

Kingdom of Kucha, Master of Tripitaka

I hope he isn't going to start lecturing us on Buddhist scriptures, Lotus thought wearily.

The scholar brought the book over with great reverence. Sole Light turned a leaf and put the drawing next to it.

"The same!" Lotus gasped.

The monk nodded.

"What's the same?" Guo Jing whispered.

"The paper," Lotus said. "Feel the texture. Aren't they exactly alike?"

He could now see that the picture was sketched on paper as thick and stiff as the pages of the volume of Buddhist scriptures, and on closer inspection it was clear they shared a similar coarse surface, with flaxen strands running through it.

"Is this unusual?" Guo Jing asked Lotus, but she said nothing, so he turned to Reverend Sole Light.

"My brother-in-faith brought me this book from the Western Regions." At this, Guo Jing and Lotus took note of the other monk for the first time. He had not shifted position at all, and was still sitting cross-legged on the prayer mat, undisturbed by the conversation. "This scripture is written on paper from that part of the world, and this image is drawn on the same kind of paper. Have you heard of a place called White Camel Mount, out in the west?"

"Viper Ouyang, Venom of the West!" Lotus exclaimed.

Sole Light moved his head slowly in affirmation. "This picture came from his very hand."

Even Lotus was dumbstruck by the revelation.

"That far-sighted man put this plan in motion a long time ago." A faint smile drifted across the monk's features.

"I didn't realize this was painted by the Venom," Lotus said with disquiet in her voice. "This can only be villainy, Uncle."

"All this for a mere martial manual."

"So this is about the Nine Yin Manual too?" Agitation brought an unnatural high color to Lotus's cheeks.

She had been holding herself together with what little inner strength was left in her body for the past few hours and Sole Light could see that she was now on the point of collapse. "Let's get you better first. We can talk later." He took her by the arm and guided her toward a small side chamber.

"Shifu! Let us!" The scholar and the farmer groveled at their Master's feet, blocking his way.

The monk shook his head. "Can you heal her?"

"We'll try out best."

"Try?" Sole Light's face darkened. "This is a matter of life and death."

"They are here on the instructions of one with evil intent! They couldn't possibly mean you well, Shifu!" The scholar could not hold back any longer. "You can't let charity and compassion lead you into a trap."

"What have I been teaching you all these years? Here, take a good look." He handed the scholar the drawing.

"Shifu, you said this was painted by the Venom of the West. Surely, their coming here is part of his infernal plot!" The farmer kowtowed, anxious tears staining his face.

Guo Jing and Lotus were flummoxed. What harm could come from healing someone?

"Stand up. You're distressing our guests." Sole Light's soft voice conveyed absolute authority.

Unable to dissuade their mentor, the scholar and the farmer shuffled to their feet, heads hung low in dejection.

3

Reverend Sole Light led Lotus into the side chamber and beckoned Guo Jing over to join them. The small room was austere: three prayer cushions and a censer sitting on a squat table made of bamboo. The monk let down the blind over the doors—which was also of bamboo—and lit a stick of incense, planting it upright in the burner. He invited Lotus to take the mat in the middle and sat down cross-legged on the one to the right.

"Guard the entrance. Don't let anyone in. Not even my disciples." The monk closed his eyes to help him focus, but something drove him to part his eyelids again. "If they try to force their way in, fight back. Your martial sister's life depends on it."

"Yes, Uncle." The monk's solemn tone nagged at Guo Jing, though he could hardly imagine such defiance from Sole Light's followers, who had displayed nothing but utmost veneration and obedience in their Master's presence.

Sole Light then said to Lotus, "Do not let your body tense up at any point. Be it agonizing pain or unbearable itch, do not resist with your qi."

"I'll consider myself dead," Lotus said with a laugh.

The monk smiled, lowered his eyes and relaxed his brow. In this meditative state, he allowed his energy to course around his body.

An inch of the incense had turned to smoke. Sole Light touched his left hand over his chest and sprang to his feet. Reaching out slowly with the index finger of his right hand, he tapped the Hundred Convergences acupressure point at the crown of Lotus's head.

Her body spasmed at the contact, but Lotus was only aware of the warmth seeping through the top of her skull.

Without adjusting his stance, the monk prodded the pressure point an inch and a half lower, Rear Vertex, at the back of her head. At once, he moved on to the point below, Unyielding Space, then Brain's Door, Wind Mansion, Great Hammer, Kiln Path, Body Pillar, Path of Life Force, Spirit Tower …

In the time it took for half the incense to burn away, Sole Light had activated all thirty points that made up the Governing Vessel along Lotus's spine.

The astounding display left Guo Jing spellbound, his jaw hanging low. When Sole Light reached out, he was the embodiment of leisurely ease, yet as he withdrew his arm, he became a whirlwind of swift elegance. For each of the thirty acupressure points, he employed a different technique. Structured, expansive, full of character—no two moves were the same. Guo Jing could see nothing in common with the skills taught to him by the Six Freaks of the South, and, more surprisingly, he could not even find any similarity with the methods described in the passages entitled "On Locking Pressure Points" in the Nine Yin Manual. He realized he had been given the privilege to behold Yang in Ascendance in action, the kung fu that had established the King of the South's reputation, but he had no idea that Sole Light was pouring his own strength, accrued over a lifetime of training, into Lotus to reconnect the inner energy flow in her Eight Extraordinary Meridians.

The monk had Guo Jing change the incense and took the chance to sit down for a short rest. When he sprang into action again, his movements were lightning fast and marked by mesmerizing precision.

Guo Jing's eyes were not keen enough to discern the finger that was flitting between the pressure points, for it was as lithe and agile as a dragonfly dipping its tail in a pond. All he could make out were the tremors in the arm that preceded the actual prod.

One single exchange of breath and it was done. Twenty-five acupoints along the Conception Vessel, from the chin to the sternum in a straight line down Lotus's torso.

Guo Jing was awestruck.

Presently, Sole Light moved on to the fourteen points of the Yin Link Meridian, which ran from the inside of the right calf, along the leg and the right flank, terminating at the throat. Now he swooped like the dragon and prowled like the tiger, full of might and spirit. The religious garb could not mask the carriage of a king.

The monk continued, without taking a break, on to the thirty-two points of the Yang Link Meridian, which began on the outside of the left ankle, tracing the left side of the body, all the way to the head. This time, he stood one zhang away from Lotus, then, in a flash, whizzed up close to nudge the Wind Pool pressure point on her neck, just behind the ear. The instant Sole Light made contact, he zipped away as briskly as he had zoomed forward.

What a marvelous technique! Guo Jing was absorbing all he could. With deft footwork like this, one could spring on an opponent then sprint away speedily enough to keep out of harm's way.

He feasted his eyes on the swerves and swings that Sole Light employed to swoop in and out, and soon gleaned that the real difficulty lay in falling back with the same acrobatic lightness as darting forward—like the way a hare would shoot away from a predator. He was reminded of his fight with Madam Ying. Her slipperiness shared the same roots as what Sole Light was demonstrating, though her execution fell far short of his.

Two more sticks of incense later, Sole Light had triggered the acupressure points on the meridians of Yin Heel and Yang Heel, which ran alongside Yin Link and Yang Link.

The monk now reached for the Great Bone point on Lotus's left shoulder and a line from the Nine Yin Manual came into Guo Jing's head.

How thick can I be? he chided himself. Of course it's described in the Manual! It's just that I'm too brainless to connect words with motion!

He went over the relevant portions of the martial tract in his head and noticed aspects that matched what he was seeing. He began to grasp that, while the Manual outlined the fundamentals, Sole Light was illustrating the infinite variations, interpretations and mysteries hidden between the lines.

Of course, Guo Jing would not dream of attempting to learn Yang in Ascendance without express approval from the Master himself. He focused instead on the insights into the Nine Yin Manual he could glean. A picture began to form in his head of what happened when a person trained in internal kung fu was injured: the meridians in their body became blocked, which meant the flow of their life energy was disrupted. When he was injured by Viper Ouyang's Explosive Toad kung fu at the Imperial Palace in Lin'an, he could rally his strength through the healing method in the Manual because he was hardy enough to propel his qi—with Lotus's inner force as guidance—around every available path and acupressure point within his body to restore his circulation. But Lotus had been caught off guard by Qiu Qianren and her strength was too depleted to allow her to perform this act of self-preservation.

Now he registered what Sole Light was doing. The monk was injecting his own store of neigong—a purely external energy—to reconnect the rivers of Lotus's life force.

There was only one meridian left to go, the Belt Vessel. Unlike the others, which guide the flow of qi along the length of the body, the Belt Vessel, as its name suggests, encircles the waist.

This time, instead of facing Lotus, Sole Light had his back to her, his arm twisted behind him. His finger crept ponderously toward her Camphorwood Gate, at the base of the right side of her ribcage.

There were eight acupoints on this channel, but the monk seemed to be straining to reach them. His movements were labored, his breathing ragged, his body trembling—he was on the brink of collapse.

Guo Jing was desperate to do something, to steady the monk, but what if he ruined everything? Sweat was now streaming from Sole Light's eyebrows. Lotus was also drenched in perspiration. She looked like she was trying to keep the torment inside her body from getting the better of her, her features were screwed up, her teeth clamped down on her lower lip.

4

"Shifu!" The bamboo blind was smacked aside.

Guo Jing swung his arm behind him toward the doorway in a Dragon Whips Tail. Thwack! His palm connected with a shoulder, sending the intruder stumbling back. He spun round to see who he had struck. The fisher.

Having lost his boat, he had had to take the circuitous land route to the temple, trekking more than twenty li up and around the mountain. He had learned of his teacher's offer to heal the injured girl upon arrival, and had barged in, blinded by rage, ready to give his life to stop his Master. The fierce palm thrust did not deter him. He braced himself to charge again, but was restrained by his brothers.

"It's done," the scholar snapped. "There's nothing you can do now."

Sole Light had returned to his prayer mat, sitting cross-legged once more, his face as white as chalk, his robe soaked. Lotus was splayed on the floor, stock-still, showing no signs of life.

Terrified, Guo Jing scooped Lotus up and was assaulted by an awful stench of rot and gore. Her face was deathly pale, without a trace of color, though the charcoal undertone had also faded. He put his hand under her nose. Her breathing was deep and even. Relief washed over him.

The monk's four disciples had gathered around their Master, hushed and grim-faced.

Guo Jing observed a rosiness returning to Lotus's cheeks, but no sooner were his hopes raised than they were cruelly dashed, for the pinkish tint began to burn a fiery red. Beads of sweat formed along her hairline. The flush of flaming scarlet blanched into cadaverous gray again.

Twice, the blood rushed to her face and ebbed after heavy perspiration. Then she groaned, and her eyelids fluttered. "Where's the fire? Where's the ice?"

"Huh?" Guo Jing had lost the ability to form actual words.

Lotus scanned the room and shook her head. "It was a dream. A nasty one with Viper Ouyang, Gallant Ouyang and Qiu Qianren. They put me in a furnace, then in ice." She shuddered at the memory. "I was burning then I was frozen. It was horrible … Uncle? Uncle, are you alright?"

Sole Light opened his eyes slowly and smiled. "Rest for a few days. Keep off your feet. Then you'll be fine."

"I haven't got a drop of strength left inside me. I don't even want to lift my finger." Her impish humor had returned and she refused to let the farmer's malevolent glare ruin her mood. "Uncle, you've worked hard to save me. You must be exhausted. I have some Dew of Nine Flowers that were made to my papa's recipe. Would you like some?"

"That's very kind of you. Your father shared this precious physic with us on Mount Hua when we were exhausted by the Contest. It has the most remarkable restorative effects."

Guo Jing took out the ceramic bottle from Lotus's knapsack. The scholar received it on his Master's behalf and emptied the contents into his palm, while the logger ran to the kitchen for a bowl of water.

"I won't need so many," Sole Light said with a laugh. "These pills aren't easy to come by. I'll just take half."

"But, Shifu!" the scholar implored. "All the world's magical remedies still won't be enough."

With his store of internal energy depleted, the monk was too frail to argue. He swallowed them all with a few mouthfuls of water. Then he turned to Guo Jing. "Make sure she rests for a couple of days. When you wish to leave, you don't need to come to me first, but there's one thing I would like to ask of you."

Guo Jing prostrated himself, knocking his head loudly on the floor four times to show his gratitude. Lotus also fell to her knees and bowed to Sole Light with a wholehearted deference that she had never demonstrated before, not even to her father or Count Seven Hong. "I shall never for a moment forget this gift," she swore.

"No, no, no, forget it all, don't let it become a burden." The monk turned to Guo Jing. "Please don't breath a word of this visit, including how you got here, to anybody. Not even your shifu."

It was not a request Guo Jing was anticipating. In fact, he had been thinking how he might bring Count Seven Hong here for treatment. He was at a loss as to how to respond.

"And please don't trouble yourself with thoughts of coming this way to see me again. We'll be moving on quite soon."

"Where to?"

Sole Light gave an enigmatic smile.

Lotus understood the monk's silence. With the benefit of hindsight, she could almost sympathize with his disciples' desperation to thwart their endeavors to get here. This hermitage must have taken much planning to create and conceal. Now, because of her, the whole enterprise had gone up in smoke. They would have to abandon everything. Why on earth would they share their new location? Only now did she become conscious of the enormity of the kindness she had demanded of Sole Light and his followers. A debt she could never repay. Pangs of conscience weighed on her. Her eyes flitted to the four disciples. Perhaps she should apologize …

Sole Light swayed, then slumped to the floor, face down.

The six of them rushed toward the monk, crowding over him, aching to help, but all they could do was watch the muscles on his face convulse, watch him mask the great pain that was tearing up his insides. Nobody knew what to say or do.

After the time it takes to finish a pot of tea, Sole Light regained some of his faculties and gave Lotus a weak smile.

"Child, did your father make these Dew of Nine Flowers himself?"

"No, they were made by my martial brother Zephyr Lu, following Papa's formula."

"Has your father ever said that it is harmful to take too many?"

She felt winded by the question. Could something be wrong with the pills?

"Papa's told me its benefits are more prominent in concentration, but, because they are so hard to make, he takes them sparingly."

Frowning, Sole Light pondered and shook his head. "I'd never presume to divine your father's thoughts. Could he have given your Brother Lu an erroneous prescription? Could there be any ill will between you and Brother Lu that may have caused him to mix in some impure pills?"

A chorus of gasps.

"Shifu, have you been poisoned?" the scholar asked.

"Remember, your uncle-in-faith is here." The monk tried to calm his disciple. "He can find an antidote to the deadliest venom."

The four men beset the young couple. The farmer roared in Lotus's face: "How could you poison the man who saved your life?"

Guo Jing felt conflicted. Was he going to have to fight the students of Lotus's deliverer?

Lotus was too intent on determining what had happened to take much heed of the agitated men. She cast her mind back to every interaction related to the Dew of Nine Flowers since she was first given them at Roaming Cloud Manor. In the intervening months, not only had she taken the pills, so had Guo Jing and Count Seven Hong. The last time was … at Madam Ying's! The woman took the whole bottle to the next room, out of their sight …

"Uncle, it was Madam Ying!"

"Her?"

Lotus gave an account of that particular exchange. "She said they were bad for my injury and I shouldn't take them anymore. It must have been because she had already put in the poisoned pills."

"She was kind to you." The farmer could not hold off the snide remark.

For once, Lotus was not in the mood to engage in a battle of tongues. The news that she had been the conduit of Madam Ying's vile scheme was almost too much to bear.

"She wasn't kind to me. She was using me to get to Uncle. If I were poisoned, her plot would have unraveled."

"Sins of the past…" Sole Light muttered to himself. Soon serenity returned to his face and his voice grew in strength. "It is my fate to suffer. It has nothing to do with the two of you. This is between Madam Ying and me. Karmic retribution, bringing closure to entanglements of old. Now, be good, look after yourselves. Rest here for a few days, then leave this mountain and get on with your lives. I might well have been poisoned, but my brother-in-faith will find an antidote. There's no need to worry."

Guo Jing and Lotus took their leave, bowing on their knees once more. Sole Light waved away their gestures of obeisance and closed his eyes, turning his focus inward.

THE YOUNG couple edged out of the room, trying to create as little disturbance for the monk as they could. They found the novice waiting at the doorway and followed him to a small guest room furnished with two bamboo daybeds and a small table.

When they were settled, two elderly monks came in with a rustic vegetarian meal. "Please enjoy," they said in unison, their voices unusually high pitched.

"Is the Reverend better now?" Lotus asked.

"I regret that we are not privy to such information," one of them replied.

When they had left the room, Guo Jing said, "Judging from their voices, I'd think they're women."

"They must be eunuchs who once served King Duan in his palace. Like the rice merchant Old Yang at Peach Spring."

Weighed down by the day's events, they could find no appetite, so they sat in silence. The only sound in the temple was the occasional rustling of bamboo leaves stirred up by the breeze.

"Uncle Sole Light's kung fu is really remarkable," Guo Jing said eventually. "I don't think anyone we know could best him. Not Shifu, or your papa, or Brother Zhou. Not even Viper Ouyang or Qiu Qianren."

"So you think he's the greatest of them all?"

"Hmm … I can't tell. They each have a powerful signature kung fu, but none of them can get the better of the others' supreme moves."

"Then who has the most rounded comprehension overall?"

"Your papa, of course."

A smile bloomed on Lotus's face, but it soon withered away. "I don't get it."

"What?"

"Think about this. Uncle Sole Light is nigh on unbeatable. His disciples are no joke either. Why do they hide up this mountain? Why do they blanch at the mere mention of visitors? Of the greatest Masters in the world, Viper Ouyang and Qiu Qianren might be his enemies, but I doubt those two would work together to defeat him."

"Even if they do come at the same time, we don't have anything to fear from them."

"Really?"

Guo Jing felt his face burning up.

"Oi, what's going on? Why are you acting shy all of a sudden?" Lotus said, laughing.

He collected himself and explained. "Uncle Sole Light's martial prowess is equal to Viper Ouyang's. At worst, they would draw in a fight. Uncle has this backhanded way to lock pressure points … it looks to me like it could neutralize Exploding Toad kung fu."

"What about Qiu Qianren? The scholar and his fellows are no match for him."

"True. I could probably hold him back for fifty moves, but, by a hundred, I'd struggle too. Anyway, Uncle Sole Light's method of tapping your pressure points—"

"You've learned it? You can beat Qiu's rusty Iron Palm now?"

"You know how slow I am—I can't remember a move after seeing it once. Besides, Uncle hasn't agreed to teach me. It would be wrong to try to grasp it without his permission. What I'm trying to say is, observing Uncle Sole Light makes some of the passages in the Nine Yin Manual seem more comprehensible. I still won't be able to come out on top against Qiu Qianren, but I'll be able to hold out a bit longer. And you can join in to give that old fossil a good drubbing."

"You've forgotten one thing."

"What?"

"Uncle's been poisoned. We don't know when he'll get better."

That silenced Guo Jing for a good while. "Madam Ying is so unforgiving … Oh, noooo!"

Lotus's heart skipped a beat. "What?"

"You promised to live with her for a year. Are you going to keep your word?"

"What do you think?"

"If she didn't point us this way, we'd never have found Uncle Sole Light, and you might not—"

"Might not? Just say it as it is: I'd be dead! Unquestionably so. And since you're a great man and your word is as steady as a mountain, I dare say you want me to keep the promise." She turned away, recalling how Guo Jing had refused to renounce his betrothal to Khojin—even though he had no desire to marry the Mongolian Princess—just because he had given his word.

Guo Jing was hopeless when it came to matters of the heart, especially the intricacies of a girl's emotions. He was blind to the subtle shifts in Lotus's mood, and had not grasped that the conversation had moved on. "I don't understand why she wanted you to stay for a year. You could spend all that time teaching her, but she'd barely scratch the surface of your father's knowledge. Why bother?"

Lotus, by now, was cradling her head in her arms. Receiving no answer, the oblivious Guo Jing asked again.

"You know nothing! Blockhead!"

"I asked because I am a blockhead."

His pleading tone made Lotus rue her harsh words. She buried her face in his chest, fighting back tears.

Thoroughly confounded, he patted her lightly on the back.

"I'm sorry. It's my fault. I won't call you that again." She dried her eyes on his sleeve as a hint of a smile returned.

"I am a blockhead. I know it."

"You're a good soul. Kind. I'm neither." She sighed. "Madam Ying, well, it's obvious there's bad blood between her and Papa. She said so herself—she wanted to go to Peach Blossom Island to seek redress. Now she's seen with her own eyes that her reckoning skills are inferior to mine, and her kung fu weaker than yours, she must know she'll never get vengeance in the way she's been dreaming of. What she's going to do now is to hold me hostage to draw Papa out when he comes to my rescue. That way, she's in control, she can choose the ground and set a trap to snare him."

"Ahhh!" Guo Jing slapped his thigh. "You can't keep this promise."

"No, I have to."

"Huh?"

"Think about it. She planted the poison for Uncle Sole Light in the Dew of Nine Flowers. How many steps ahead does she have planned out? That's how calculating she is. As long as she lives, she'll be a threat to Papa. She wants my company. She'll get my company. She can scheme all she likes, but she'll never outsmart me."

Madam Ying doesn't know what she's got herself into! Guo Jing stopped himself from saying the thought out loud in case Lotus took it amiss.

"But it'd be like living with a tiger!" he protested.

They were interrupted by the sound of loud voices, coming from the direction of Sole Light's meditation room.

Exchanging glances, Guo Jing and Lotus tried to make out what had caused the commotion, but no further sound was forthcoming.

"I wonder how Uncle Sole Light is feeling," he said.

Lotus shook her head.

"Go on, have a bite to eat, then lie down and rest."

She repeated the gesture, then whispered, "Someone's coming."

Footsteps. Crossing the courtyard. Heading their way?

"The wench is full of tricks. Kill her first." It sounded like the farmer.

Guo Jing and Lotus had not expected so much vitriol from the monk's disciples.

"Don't be so hasty. Let's find out more." That was the logger.

"What more is there to find out? They're sent by Shifu's enemies. We'll kill one and keep the other alive. If you have questions, ask that simple-minded fellow."

The fisher, the logger, the farmer and the scholar were now outside their room, blocking the doorway. They were making no effort to conceal their presence.

Guo Jing launched a Haughty Dragon Repents against the back wall, which crumbled outward with a thunderous thud. He then lifted Lotus on his back and made to hop over the rubble. Just as he leaped up, Lotus sensed someone grabbing at their legs from the left. There was little Guo Jing could do to protect himself midair, so she flicked her wrist in an Orchid Touch, her fingers glancing the Yang Pool pressure point on the back of the attacker's hand.

The farmer jerked away into a defensive block, startled by the breezy precision and lightning speed of Lotus's counterattack, though she lacked the internal strength to do him any real harm.

Her intervention allowed Guo Jing to hurdle the rubble, but moments later he was howling in frustration. An insurmountable barricade of thorns lined the perimeter wall. He turned to face his pursuers.

"Your honorable teacher gave us permission to leave, which you heard with your own ears. Why are you defying his wishes?" he asked Sole Light's four students, who had spread out in a line, cutting off any escape.

"Our shifu gave his life to save hers, and yet, you—"

Lotus interrupted the fisher. "What do you mean he gave his life?"

The ill-tempered man spat on the ground, refusing to dignify her with an answer.

"Can you truly be ignorant of the fact that our shifu exchanged his life for yours?" the scholar asked, incredulous.

"No! How?" Lotus exclaimed. "Tell us. Please!"

The scholar hestitated. The shock on their young faces seemed genuine. He cast a fleeting glance at the logger, who inclined his head to indicate that he was of the same opinion.

"Miss, your internal injury was healed by Yang in Ascendance imbued with Cosmos neigong," the scholar explained. "The damage was so acute that only the combination of those two kung fus could restore the flow of your qi and pull you back from the brink of death.

"Since the passing of Immortal Double Sun of the Quanzhen Sect, our shifu is the only person in command of both arts. The process sucks dry the healer's primal life force, to the point that he loses all his martial ability for five years."

The monk's selflessness took Lotus's breath away.

"For the next five years, Shifu would have needed to train rigorously night and day. A small mistake would not just have cost him a lifetime's cultivation of kung fu; he would also have suffered a crippling disability. A more serious misstep would mean death. Shifu sacrificed the most cherished part of his life to revive yours. How could you be so ungrateful? How could you repay his altruism with malice?"

Lotus lowered herself from Guo Jing's back and kowtowed four times in the direction of Sole Light's rooms.

"Uncle Sole Light, I did not know I was demanding such a rich and precious gift from you." She spoke softly as tears trickled down her face.

Her earnest gesture eased the tension a little.

"Tell us honestly," the fisher demanded. "Did you know that your father sent you to entrap our shifu?"

"Why would Papa do that?" Lotus was reaching boiling point. "How dare you slander him! The Lord of Peach Blossom Island would never sully himself with such a dishonorable, underhanded trick!"

"Forgive my unjust words." The fisher cupped his hands, backing down in the face of her fury.

"If Papa heard how you besmirch his name, he'd make you pay, disciple of Reverend Sole Light or not…"

"Your father is known as the Heretic of the East. We thought that, with such a title, he would behave in a … manner becoming the Venom of the West." The fisher offered a wry smile. "It seems that we have made a false assumption."

"How could you think my papa is anything like that shriveled old snake! And what has that stinky toad done to you?"

"Let's talk inside," the scholar said. "We will tell you everything."

5

The scholar led Guo Jing and Lotus back to the chamber on the eastern side of the temple's front courtyard where they had first waited for an audience with King Duan. As everyone sat down, Lotus noticed the scholar and his brethren chose places close to the window or the doorway, cutting off all direct routes of escape. She sniggered at their precautions, but decided not to draw attention to them—for now.

"Have you heard of the Nine Yin Manual?" the scholar asked.

"Yes, that book has brought nothing but harm to this world." Her mother's untimely death came to Lotus's mind. If she had not expended all that energy trying to recall its contents, she would most likely have survived childbirth.

"Presumably you are familiar with the Contest of Mount Hua too? The leader of the Quanzhen Sect not only won the respect of the other Greats, he also gained custodianship of the Nine Yin Manual. One year after the Contest, Immortal Double Sun came to the Dali Kingdom with his martial brother—"

"Zhou Botong the Hoary Urchin?" Lotus interjected.

"You are well-informed about Masters of the wulin for one of your tender years."

"Spare me your compliments."

"Well, Martial Uncle Zhou is indeed a most jocular fellow. I didn't know that he also goes by such a whimsical title. At that time, Shifu had not yet taken the vow."

"So he was still the king?"

"Yes, he was still our sovereign then. The reason for Immortal Double Sun's visit was the Yang in Ascendance kung fu. He had admired the technique at the Contest and traveled all the way to our court to learn more. Over a fortnight, Shifu shared everything he knew about the pressure-point locking system, and the Immortal taught Shifu his signature skill, Cosmos neigong. We four were tasked with waiting on the Immortal and his brother during their stay at the palace, and were privy to their discussions, but, alas, we were too ignorant to be able to benefit much from this treasure trove of martial insight."

"What about the Old Urchin? Did he learn anything? His kung fu is very good."

"Lengthy discourse did not interest Uncle Zhou, so he roamed every corner of the palace to keep himself amused. He even visited the women's private quarters—where the Queen and the other consorts lived. The eunuchs and ladies-in-waiting dared not bar him, as he was the king's honored guest."

Guo Jing and Lotus exchanged a smile. They knew this irreverent streak all too well.

"Toward the end of the Immortal's stay, he said to our shifu: 'I fear I don't have long in this world—my old ailment has returned—but it heartens me that the secrets of Cosmos neigong are now in your capable hands. No man shall be tyrannized by Viper Ouyang and his black-hearted ways: with my learning allied with Your Majesty's Yang in Ascendance, you can keep him in line. This impoverished monk is most blessed to be granted access to the Dali Kingdom's cherished martial secret, and I vow never to share my knowledge of Yang in Ascendance with anyone else.'

"Only then did Shifu apprehend the Immortal's true intentions. It was the prospect of an unchecked Viper Ouyang that had driven him to travel thousands of li to Dali. If the Immortal had come merely to offer his knowledge, it could have been misconstrued as an affront, but the Greats were martial equals, and it was not unheard of for Masters of their stature to learn from each other and to exchange one supreme kung fu for another.

"The Immortal departed this world not long after his return home. We heard that he stayed true to his word and did not teach his disciples Yang in Ascendance. Apparently he didn't even practice it himself. Shifu worked hard to attain mastery of Cosmos neigong and fulfill the duty entrusted to him, but before long misfortune struck our Dali Kingdom and Shifu renounced the trappings of the mortal world for the tonsure."

Lotus wondered what could have been so traumatic as to make a man give up his kingship. Much as she wished to find out, she was aware that being inquisitive right now might be taken amiss. She shot Guo Jing a withering glare to stop him from commenting, knowing his simple soul would not grasp the sensitivity of the situation.

Sorrows from a bygone time gripped the scholar. "Somehow, news of Shifu's knowledge of Cosmos neigong got out," he said eventually. "One day, my elder martial brother –" he gestured to the farmer—"was sent by Shifu to gather medicinal herbs from a snow-capped mountain on Yunnan's western frontier. There, in the wilderness, he was attacked with Exploding Toad kung fu."

"Viper Ouyang!" Lotus exclaimed.

"Who else!" the farmer roared. "A foppish youth appeared from nowhere and railed at me for stealing herbs from his home. How could a whole mountain range—thousands of acres of land—be his? He was spoiling for a fight, but I wouldn't be provoked, because Shifu has always bade us to let peace be our guide. He grew bolder in his provocations and demanded that I should grovel for my freedom with three hundred kowtows. His insults got under my skin. It was a protracted fight, for I wasn't skilled enough to overpower him. The Old Venom came out of nowhere and ambushed me. The next thing I knew, I was being carried down the mountain to the Celestial Dragon Temple, where Shifu was residing at the time."

"You'll be pleased to hear that this rake, Gallant Ouyang, met his fate," Lotus said.

"What? Who slew him?"

"Why? Are you troubled by his death?"

"I'd hoped to wreak vengeance with my own hands."

"That satisfaction will never be yours, I'm afraid…"

"Who killed him?"

"A good-for-nothing. His kung fu was pathetic, but he outwitted that coxcomb."

"A deed most just," the scholar remarked. "Do you know why Viper Ouyang injured my brother?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Lotus replied. "The Venom would not hesitate to take someone's life, there and then, but he chose not to, because, by keeping his victim alive, he could impair Uncle Sole Light's elemental qi. Since it would take five years to recuperate from the strains of the healing process, the King of the South would lag far behind at the next Contest of Mount Hua."

"That was not the half of Viper Ouyang's infernal scheme. He intended to come for Shifu right away, when he was at his weakest—"

Guo Jing spoke up. "I don't see how someone as peaceable as Uncle Sole Light could have done anything to provoke such enmity from Viper Ouyang."

"Well, it is in the nature of men cruel and evil to hate anyone who is their moral opposite, and such men need no animus before they do harm. For Viper Ouyang, the fact that his Exploding Toad was vulnerable to Yang in Ascendance combined with Cosmos neigong was reason enough for him to act against our shifu."

Guo Jing nodded in agreement with the scholar's explanation. "How did Uncle get away?"

"The moment Shifu set eyes on the injury, he divined Viper Ouyang's purpose," the scholar replied. "That night, after tending to my brother, we abandoned Celestial Dragon Temple. The Venom wasn't able to track us down, but we knew he would not give up. We searched far and wide for a secluded location where we could resettle, and eventually came upon this place.

"My brethren and I wanted to take the fight to the Venom at White Camel Mount after Shifu's recovery, but he was adamant that he would never grant us leave, for he has always believed that heaping wrong upon wrong would bring no resolution. So, for a few years, we enjoyed peace and stability—until your arrival. We had assumed that, as you are the Divine Vagrant's disciples, you could not harbor ill will for our shifu … 'The man has no mind to hurt the tiger, but it is in the heart of tigers to prey on men.' If only we knew, we would have laid down our lives to stop you from setting foot in this temple." The scholar rose to his feet menacingly. "We would have done everything in our power to stop Shifu from succumbing to your dark plots." He drew his sword from its scabbard with a sha! The cold glisten of polished metal filled the room. His fellows, weapons in hand, had also assumed fighting stances, hemming the young couple in.

"I sincerely had no idea that it would cost your shifu five years of training to heal my injury." Lotus still hoped she could talk them down. "I also didn't know that the pills had been meddled with—it was not my doing. But one thing is clear in my heart: Uncle's gift of vital growth is as expansive as the heavens and as nourishing as the earth. Not even the most heartless, unscrupulous person could reward such bounty with bale."

"Then why do you lead his enemy here now?" the fisher demanded.

"We didn't!" Lotus and Guo Jing protested as one.

"You didn't? Shifu was poisoned. Then, a jade bracelet arrived. It can't be a coincidence."

"What bracelet?" Lotus asked.

"Stop playing the innocent!" Armed with two iron oars, the fisher swept one sideways at Guo Jing and jabbed the other at Lotus.

Guo Jing leaped into action. He twirled his right arm, pushing aside the oar aimed his way, while his left hand grabbed the blade of the one threatening Lotus and jerked it up and down. A blast of his inner force tore it from the fisher's grasp. He immediately spun the makeshift weapon around and knocked its loom into the farmer's metal rake.

Sparks flew as the two met with a reverberating clang.

Then, with a twist of his wrist, Guo Jing slammed the oar back into its owner's hand, as swiftly as he had snatched it away.

A moment passed before the dumbstruck fisher gathered the wherewithal to tighten his grip. Gathering strength to his arms, he raised the oar to bludgeon Guo Jing into submission. At the same time, the logger swung his axe at the young man.

Guo Jing let fly with a palm thrust from each hand, whipping up a storm that lashed into the men's chests.

"Back!" The scholar recognized the might of the Dragon-Subduing Palm.

The fisher and the logger were no common brawlers, having been trained personally by one of the Five Greats. They halted their offensive and stepped back, unflustered. As they did so, a jolt went through their bodies. They felt themselves being drawn forward, through their weapons, by the power in Guo Jing's palms. Only two options were open to them now: let go, or let that frightful strength forever knock the breath of life out of their rib cages.

Once Guo Jing had gained control of the oar and the rake, he tossed them back gently. "Catch!"

"Exquisite!" Even as the scholar was praising Guo Jing's kung fu, his sword was darting, at an oblique angle, toward the young man's right flank. The least martial disciple of Reverend Sole Light in appearance was turning out to be the most accomplished fighter of them all.

Startled by this brisk, incisive attack, Guo Jing's palms danced faster to create a shield of protection around himself and Lotus. This invisible line of defense was powered solely by his internal force, and yet it was like a mountain range had descended between the young couple and the scholar—not even whetted steel could find a way through. With each thrust and twirl of the hand, Guo Jing enlarged his circle of protection, turning an unbreachable barricade into a swelling tidal wave, pushing the four men back toward the walls, giving them no breathing space to launch any meaningful counter.

Hard-pressed to avoid being struck themselves, none of the four men could break through. When they attacked head-on, Guo Jing parried. When they tried to steal in, Guo Jing thrust back. They could not gain the upper hand, even though Guo Jing was keeping the keen edge of his palm strength in check, careful not to use more force than necessary.

The scholar's sword quivered and the air around it hummed. Its point danced like summer lightning, six high strikes followed by six low. Then it lunged dead on, seeking out Guo Jing's torso six times, before whizzing to his back with the same wicked precision. Now it aimed six probes at his left flank, now it flitted to his right side in a mirror image of what had come before. Six successive stings of the sword, repeated from six directions, in the blink of an eye.

The Thirty-Six Swords of Mount Hhaqlol. The most aggressive sword-fighting sequence under the heavens.

Despite the sustained onslaught from the other three disciples, Guo Jing dedicated one hand to fending off the scholar's sword, tracking it as its tip flittered up and down and around his body, throwing it off target with the power pouring forth from his palm. The dazzling variations failed to cut through this invisible barrier, the sword's point slipping and glancing off its mark. It could not even snag itself on Guo Jing's clothes.

As the scholar thrust the sword for the thirty-sixth time, its point hissing over Guo Jing's right side, the young man curled his middle finger under his thumb and—clank!—a jet of inner force struck the foible of the sword.

A Divine Flick.

Apothecary Huang's fight against the Quanzhen monks at Ox Village had come to Guo Jing's mind and he had copied the Heretic's signature skill. The attempt lacked finesse, but it was enough to send a shock of energy up the hilt, numbing the scholar's arm and weakening his grip. The sword almost flew out of his hand.

"Stop!" he ordered as he leaped back.

The other three disciples backed down.

"I told you their hearts are pure, but you all doubted me," the logger said as he tucked his axe into his belt.

6

The scholar put away his sword and bowed, holding his palm over his fist. "I am most grateful for your forbearance."

Guo Jing returned the polite gesture, though he was thoroughly confused. Why did it take a fight to prove they meant no harm?

Seeing that the scholar's reasoning had eluded Guo Jing, Lotus whispered in his ear, "If you had impure motives, you would have injured these four by now. Then there would be no more obstacles between you and Uncle Sole Light, who is in no state to defend himself." She now turned to the four men. "Who is Uncle's enemy? Why did they send this jade bracelet?"

"I wish I could give you an answer," the scholar replied. "We are also very much in the dark. The only thing we know for sure is that it's related to Shifu's decision to renounce the secular world."

Just as Lotus parted her lips to ask another question, the farmer glared at the scholar and said, "How could you take such a risk?"

"What do you mean?" the fisher said.

The farmer pointed at the scholar. "He let them know that Shifu's elemental life force was drained. If they really did harbor dark thoughts and we four couldn't hold them back, then Shifu…"

The logger laughed. "If our dear Chancellor Zhu did not consider such things, would he have been offered the most prominent official post in the Dali Kingdom? He has long recognized that our guests are friends not foes. The scuffle just now was staged to gauge their kung fu training and to convince you."

The scholar smiled at his martial brother's outraged expression—a look of frustration mixed with admiration.

The novice appeared at the doorway and touched his palms together in a Buddhist greeting. "Brothers, Shifu asks that you see our guests off on his behalf."

The four disciples stood to attention the instant they heard the word "shifu."

"We can't leave when Uncle's enemy is on their way," Guo Jing said. "I wish to help you fight them."

The martial brothers were heartened by the offer.

"Let me ask Shifu," the scholar said.

When he eventually returned, Lotus could tell from his expression that Reverend Sole Light did not want his guests to become embroiled in the matter.

"Shifu asks me to convey his thanks," the scholar said, the disappointment in his voice clear. "He says no other soul can take our place when it comes to making peace with our karma."

Nodding at the scholar's words, Lotus said to Guo Jing, "We'll speak to Uncle directly." He supported her on the walk to Sole Light's rooms, but the doors were shut. He knocked several times. Not a sound came from within.

These two flimsy wooden boards would give in to the lightest shove, but who would dare use force to enter the Reverend's chamber?

"It looks like Shifu will not be receiving guests," the logger said. "Water runs far in mountains tall, our paths shall cross again."

"Lotus, let's fight anyone we run into on our way down." Guo Jing was fired up by the thought of the sacrifice Sole Light had made to save Lotus. "Whoever we find climbing this mountain must be Uncle's enemy. I don't care if he forbids us to stop them, it's the least we can do."

"Great idea!" Lotus replied loudly, to ensure the monk could hear her through the doors. "They may be every bit as terrifying as Viper Ouyang, but we can tire them out. If we die trying, we'll die reciprocating Uncle's great gift." She began to walk away, pulling Guo Jing along behind her.

The doors parted with a creak and the squeaky voice of an elderly monk came from within: "Please enter."

Sole Light was sitting on the same prayer mat as when Guo Jing and Lotus had first set foot in the room, as was his brother-in-faith from Sindhu. Drawn, with pale waxy skin, the monk looked like a different person—gone was the glow of health and strength.

The young couple prostrated themselves, too choked with emotion to form words.

"Come in, I want to speak with you all," Sole Light said to his disciples, who were loitering outside.

The four men paid their respects to their elders upon entering. The monk from Sindhu nodded in acknowledgment, then lowered his head in contemplation. Sole Light seemed to take little notice of his students. He looked blankly at the wisp of incense coiling up from the censer as he turned a jade bracelet round and round in his hands.

A woman's bracelet in mutton-fat white jade from Khotan? Lotus noted. How intriguing … What is its story?

At length, the monk heaved a sigh and turned to the young couple. "I am most touched by your kind offer of help. And now I realize that, if I withhold the full account from you, someone might be wounded as a result of my reticence, and that is not my wish at all. Do you know who I was before I became a monk?"

"The King of Dali, in Yunnan," Lotus replied. "Your name is known far and wide as the ruler of this southern realm."

"Kingship is but an illusion. This monk is but an illusion. Names, of course, are an illusion. Even you are an illusion."

Lotus's eyes widened at this cryptic statement. She could not grasp his meaning at all.

"The Kingdom of Dali was founded in the year Nine Hundred and Thirty-Seven, twenty-three summers before the Song Empire was established. Our seventh king, Bingyi, abdicated after a four-year reign to become a monk. His nephew, King Shengde, inherited the throne, and he, together with four of the kings who came after him, including my father, King Zhengkang, all gave up their secular lives for a monastic existence. I was the eighteenth monarch of our kingdom, and the seventh to be tonsured."

The four disciples were familiar with this story, but, to Lotus and Guo Jing, it was most curious. Reverend Sole Light's decision was odd enough in isolation. Why had so many of his regal ancestors given up their power? Could a monk's life be so much better than that of a king?

"We of the family Duan are minor rulers of far-flung borderlands, yet we have taken an disproportionately prominent place in the world," the monk continued. "Down through the generations, each ruler has been acutely aware of his inadequacy to take on this significant role, and we have all been cautious and careful—we were most apprehensive of succumbing to lofty ambitions and overreaching ourselves.

"Yet, as kings, we are fed without having to toil, clothed without having to work. We travel by horses and carriages, we sleep in grand palaces. Our whole existence is built upon the blood and sweat of our people. Many of us, in our dotage, grow repentant. We look back and see that our actions have done our people more harm than good. As such, many of my forebears gave up their power to embrace a spiritual life…"

Sole Light trailed off and turned his gaze to the window, a faltering smile on his lips, sorrow furrowing his brow. No one dared make a sound. The bracelet once more had his attention. He slipped it over his index finger and spun it around.

"But I became a monk for a different reason. If we are to trace back its origin, we will have to return to the summit of Mount Hua, to the fight for the Nine Yin Manual. The leader of the Quanzhen Sect, Wang Chongyang the Double Sun Immortal, took the honors and was named the Manual's custodian.

"The following year, he came to Dali to share with me his most famed technique: Cosmos neigong. For a fortnight, he stayed in my palace and we spent the days sparring and discussing the martial arts. Little did we suspect that his martial brother Zhou Botong, bored out of his wits, had taken to wandering every corner of my palace seeking diversion. It was during these explorations that he planted the seed that has grown into the situation we find ourselves confronted with today."

Lotus tittered quietly to herself. It would have been most irregular if the Hoary Urchin had not managed to find a way to get himself into trouble.