Chapter - 354 Broken Marriage of the Purple Dress King (17)

"I was not able to see the 'shi zi bo tu' and the 'jiang mo ti dou shi'," Xie Xun replied, "As long as I know what really happened to my child Wuji, I will die with my eyes closed. The blood debts Xie Xun bears on his body are as high as the mountain. I deserve to die a miserable death, why would I want to wander unhindered in the Jianghu?"

Jin Hua Popo laughed and said, "For a Ming Jiao Hu Jiao Fa Wang [The Protector King of the Ming Cult], killing several people is nothing. Xie San Ge, let me borrow your Tulong Saber." Xie Xun shook his head without saying anything.

Jin Hua Popo said again, "This place is no longer a secret; you can't stay here any longer. Let me find another safe place for you to stay for a few months. Lend me the Tulong Saber so I can defeat my archenemy from the Emei Pai; and then I will seek Zhang Gongzi [young master Zhang] with all my might. Based on my skill, finding Zhang Gongzi and bringing him to your presence should not be a difficult matter." Again Xie Xun shook his head.

Jin Hua Popo continued, "Xie San Ge, do you still remember the 'si da fa wang, zi bai jin qing' [four great protector kings, purple white golden and (dark) green], these eight characters? Remember how the four of us were under Yang Jiaozhu's [Cult Leader Yang] command, the 'Ying Wang Yin Er Ge' [Eagle King, Second (older) Brother Yin], 'Fu Wang Wei Si Ge' [Bat King, Fourth (older) Brother Wei], and the two of us, ran amuck in the world, nobody could stop us? Today our great aspirations have grown old; can you let your 'zi shan lao mei zi' [purple robe old (younger) sister] being bullied without you lending a hand?"

Zhang Wuji was greatly surprised, "Listening to her, is it possible that she is unexpectedly the chief of our Cult's Four Protector Kings, the 'zi shan long wang' [Purple Robe Dragon King]? Could there be such a coincidence in the world? How can she call Wei Fu Wang [Bat King Wei] 'si ge' [fourth (older) brother]?"

He heard Xie Xun sigh and say, "Those are all past events; why do you raise them up? Old, we are all old!"

"Xie San Ge," Jin Hua Popo said, "My old eyes are not blind yet; do you think I cannot see that in these last twenty years your martial art skill has advanced greatly? Why be so modest? In our whole lives we haven't had too many good days. I'll say before the Ming Jiao Si Da Fa Wang die, we have to join hands and attempt to achieve a great undertaking in the Jianghu."

Xie Xun sighed said, "Yin Er Ge [second (older) brother Yin] and Wei Si Di [fourth (younger) brother Wei] might not necessarily still alive today. Especially Wei Si Di; the cold poison in his body was difficult to eliminate. I am afraid he is no longer alive."

Jin Hua Popo laughed and said, "This time you might be wrong. Let me tell you honestly, at this time Bai Mei Ying Wang [White-browed Eagle King] and Qing Yi Fu Wang [Green-winged Bat King] are both on the Brightness Peak."

"They went back to the Brightness Peak?" Xie Xun wondered, "What are they doing?"

"This Ah Li has seen it with her own eyes," Jin Hua Popo said, "Ah Li is Yin Er Ge's granddaughter. She offended her father and he wanted to kill her. The first time it was I who saved her; the second time it was Wei Si Ge. Wei Si Ge was taking her to the Brightness Peak, but along the way I stole her away. Ah Li, tell Xie Gong-gong [grandfather, a respectful term to address a senior] how the six major sects besieged the Brightness Peak."

Thereupon Yin Li narrated briefly what happened in the western region. Only she was taken away by Jin Hua Popo before reaching the Brightness Peak, so that she did not have any recollection of the later incidents.

The more Xie Xun listened to her, the more anxious he became, "What happened next? What happened next?" he asked repeatedly. In the end he got angry, "Mrs. Han," he said, "Although you did not get along with our brethrens very well because of your marital issue, our Cult is in difficulty, how could you stand as a spectator? Yang Jiaozhu was your Yifu. Have you forgotten how he treated you? Look at Yin Er Ge and Wei Si Di, Wu San Ren [the five wanderers] and the Five-Element Flag; didn't they all come to the Brightness Peak to fight?"

Jin Hua Popo coldly said, "Without the Tulong Saber, I was defeated by Emei Pai's Old Nun Miejue. Even if I went to the Brightness Peak, I still didn't have a face to fight her; then why should I have gone?"

The two of them were silently standing facing each other. After a while Xie Xun asked, "How did you find out where I was? You have always been unwilling to speak plainly. Was it the Wudang Pai people?"

"How would the Wudang Pai people know?" Jin Hua Popo said, "When pressed by people of various sects, Zhang Cuishan, husband and wife, would rather kill themselves than revealing your hiding place, naturally Wudang disciples did not know. All right, I am not going to conceal anything from you today: in the western region I met by accident someone by the name of Wu Lie. He is a descendant of Wu Santong, a disciple of Duan Family from Dali. Quite by chance I overheard him talking to his daughter; from which I deduced the subject of their conversation. Thereupon I tortured him to tell me everything."

Xie Xun was silent for half a day before saying, "This man surnamed Wu has met my child Wuji, hasn't he? I believe he deceived that child to reveal my secret."

Listening to this point, Zhang Wuji was really ashamed, remembering how he was cheated at the 'Zhu Jia Zhuang [Zhu Family Village], how Zhu Zhang Ling and Zhu Jiu Zhen, father and daughter, had used deceit to obtain the secret from him. If his Yifu had suffered any harm because of him, he would never atone for that guilt even if he had to die ten thousand times. Although his Yifu was blind, his ability to see things through was like those of seeing people.

Xie Xun continued, "The Six Major Sects besieging the Ming Cult is not a small matter; what happened to our Cult next?"

Jin Hua Popo replied, "The rise or fall, prosperity or decline, of the Ming Cult has nothing to do with Lao Po Zi. In the past, everybody on the Brightness Peak made things difficult for me. You might not remember that, but Lao Po Zi will never forget it. At that time only Yang Jiaozhu and you, Xie San Ge, who were good to me; that also I will not forget."

"Ay, personal grudge is a small matter, protecting our Cult is important," Xie Xun said, "Mrs. Han, you are rather narrow-minded."

Jin Hua Popo was angry, "You are a real man, I am only a narrow minded, unethical woman. When I left the Cult, I swore that I would have nothing to do with the Ming Cult. How could that Hu Qingniu treat me as an outsider if this was not so? Why did he compel me to return to the Ming Cult before he would be willing to treat the poison from Yin Ye Xiansheng [Mr. Silver Leaf]? I was the one who killed Hu Qingniu. Zi Shan Long Wang has violated the Ming Cult's major law. How can I have any relation with the Ming Cult?"

Xie Xun shook his head. "Mrs. Han," he said, "I understand what's in your heart. You want to borrow my Tulong Saber; you said you wanted to deal with the Emei Pai, but actually you want to deal with Yang Xiao and Fan Yao. You have never forgotten your desire to enter the Brightness Peak via the secret passage. That gives me even more reason not to lend the Saber to you."