Chapter - 423 Long Flute, Short Lute, And Tan Clothing (10)

"Quickly chase him!" Zhi Fa Zhanglao barked his order. Several seven-pouch disciples responded and ran out of the gate to pursue.

"Mother of a thief! [this is a literal translation]" Zhang Bang Zhanglao cursed, "Who do you think you are, telling the Old Man to kowtow to you and call you 'Bangzhu'?" Raising his palm, he was about to slap again.

Zhi Fa Zhanglao quickly reached out to grab his hand. "Feng Xiongdi [brother Feng]," he said, "Don't be reckless. If you kill him, we won't find out anything from him." Turning toward the lady in yellow, he cupped his fists and respectfully said, "If Miss did not expose this man's deceitful scheme, we would still be kept in the dark. By your illustrious name, Miss was able to see through this deception. My humble Clan, from the biggest to the smallest, all are indebted to you."

The lady in yellow only gave a slight smile and said, "Xiao Nuzi [lit. little/lowly girl – referring to herself] lives in the deep of the mountain, and has never had any contact with outsiders; so knowing my name would be quite useless. As for this little sister, could it be that nobody in your clan recognize her?"

The crowd of beggars looked at the little girl, but nobody recognized her. Something suddenly stirred in Chuan Gong Zhanglao's heart; he took a step forward and said, "She … she … she looks a bit like Mrs. Shi … could it be … could it be …"

"That's right," the lady in yellow said, "Her surname is Shi, given name Hongshi [lit. red rock; different character from her surname 'Shi']; she is the only daughter of Shi Huolong, Shi Bangzhu. When Shi Bangzhu was dying, he sent Mrs. Shi and this girl, with the Dog Beating Stick in their hands, to look for me, asking me to avenge his grievance."

Chuan Gong Zhanglao was shocked, "Miss!" he said, "Did you say Shi Bangzhu has already returned to Heaven? He … how did the Senior die?"

After Yelu Qi, none of the previous generations Clan Leaders had been successful in mastering the entire Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms; the most any Clan Leader had ever learned was fourteen stances. Shi Huolong had mastered twelve stances. About twenty years ago, even though his internal energy was not strong enough, he forced himself in training of this heritage palm technique of his Clan. As a result, the upper half of his body was paralyzed; he could not move his arms. Thereupon he took his wife and went wandering on remote mountains in search of efficacious treatment of his illness, and left the Beggar Clan affairs to Chuan Gong and Zhi Fa two elders, and Zhang Bang and Zhang Bo two 'longtou' [leaders; lit. dragon head]. However, there was no clear coordination between the two elders and two leaders; everybody was taking care of his own business only. As a result, once again the Dirty Clothes and the Clean Clothes Factions were on bad terms with each other, and such a big clan gradually declined in power.

Before the sudden appearance of this fake Clan Leader, the younger Beggar Clan disciples had never seen their Bangzhu, plus Chuan Gong Zhanglao and the others had not seen Shi Huolong for more than twenty years, and so looking at this fake Bangzhu's appearance, which held a very close resemblance with the real Bangzhu, who would have thought that this one was only an impersonator?

The lady in yellow sighed and said, "Shi Bangzhu died under the hands of Hun Yuan Pi Li Shou Cheng Kun."

"Ah!" Zhang Wuji exclaimed; thinking that he had personally seen Cheng Kun's body lying on the ground at the Brightness Peak, how could he kill Shi Huolong? Or perhaps it must be before he was killed at the Brightness Peak.

"Can I ask you a question, Miss?" he asked, "How long has Shi Bangzhu passed away?"

"Last year, on the sixth of the tenth month," the lady in yellow replied, "So it's been more than two months now."

"That's strange," Zhang Wuji said, "I wonder how does Miss know that Shi Bangzhu died under Cheng Kun that old thief's treacherous hands?"

The lady in yellow replied, "Mrs. Shi told me that Shi Bangzhu fought this old man for twelve stances before than old man vomited blood and ran away. But Shi Bangzhu was also injured by that old man's palm strength. Shi Bangzhu knew his injury was very serious, and he expected that the old man would recover within three days and would return to pick a fight with him again. Immediately he talked to Mrs. Shi, telling her that the enemy was Hun Yuan Pi Li Shou Cheng Kun. By that time Shi Bangzhu's paralyzed arms were actually about 90% recovered. With his mastery of the twelve stances of the Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms, his martial art skill could be considered one of the top ranking masters in the Jianghu, yet after exhausting his entire skill and strength, after the twelve stances were launched, he still could not escape the enemy's treacherous hands."

Listening to this point, the little girl Shi Hongshi broke into a loud cry. Chuan Gong Zhanglao's face also showed grief and indignation; he wiped the tears from Shi Hongshi's face with his dirty sleeve while saying, "Little Sister, Bangzhu's grievance is our Clan tens of thousands disciples' grievance. We will certainly capture that Hun Yuan Pi Li Shou Cheng Kun and tear his body into ten thousand pieces to avenge Bangzhu's great hatred. I wonder where is your Mama?"

Shi Hongshi pointed at the lady in yellow. "My Mama is recuperating in Yang Jiejie's [elder sister Yang] home," she said. And that was when everybody knew the lady in yellow's surname was Yang, but as for what kind of person she was, nobody had the least bit of clue.

The lady in yellow sighed softly and said, "Mrs. Shi also suffered from Cheng Kun's palm. Her condition was not light. After making a long and wearisome journey, she arrived at my humble home totally exhausted. Whether she would recover, it's … it's hard to say."

Zhi Fa Zhanglao hatefully said, "I wonder what kind of enmity this Cheng Kun has against our Lao Bangzhu [old/previous Clan Leader], that he dealt with him with such a treacherous hand?"

The lady in yellow said, "According to Mrs. Shi, who rephrased Shi Bangzhu's last words, Cheng Kun and he did not know each other personally, so there was no ground for enmity or revenge. Therefore, until the moment he died, Shi Bangzhu was unclear of the reason behind it. Mrs. Shi speculated that someone from the Beggar Clan somehow offended Cheng Kun that he exacted his revenge on Shi Bangzhu."

Zhi Fa Zhanglao was silent for a moment before saying, "To avoid Xie Xun, this Cheng Kun went into hiding from the Jianghu people dozens of years ago. How could a Beggar Clan disciple offend him? It seems like there is a misunderstanding involved here."

Zhang Bo Longtou had been listening quietly on the side without saying anything, but suddenly to grabbed a curved saber and placed it on Shi Huolong's impersonator's neck while shouting, "What's your name? Why did you impersonate Shi Bangzhu? Speak up! And if you lie, even half a word… humph, humph!" While saying that, his curved-saber hacked diagonally and split a nearby chair into two pieces, and then he immediately returned the saber on the bald-man's neck.

The bald man was so scared that he felt his soul was leaving his body. "I … I …" he stammered, "Xiao Ren [little/lowly person] is called 'lai tou yuan' [Scabies Turtle Head] Liu Ao. I was the chief of a mountain stronghold on the Jixian county of Shanxi province. That day I went down the mountain to do our business without any capital, when we met Chen Youliang, Chen Zhanglao, and Chen Zhanglao's Shifu. With one kick Chen Zhanglao made Xiao Ren flip on the ground. He raised his sword ready to kill. Xiao Ren promptly kowtowed asking for mercy. Chen Zhanglao looked at Xiao Ren carefully. He suddenly said, 'Shifu, this little thief looks very much like the man we met the day before yesterday.' His shifu shook his head and said, 'Hey, hey, the age is not right, nose is too low, plus he is bald.' Chen Zhanglao laughed and said, 'Disciple has a way to fix that.' Thereupon he told Xiao Ren to follow them to Jiexian, and we went into an inn. Chen Zhanglao applied some plaster to make Xiao Ren's nose higher, and then he put a wig on Xiao Ren's head so that I assumed the appearance … of that old gentleman. Even if Xiao Ren had a nerve as high as the sky, I would never have dared to play any trick on you. Only Chen Zhanglao said so, what could Xiao Ren do? Xiao Ren's dog life is in his hand, there … there is no other way. Xiao Ren still has an eighty-year old Mother at home, please spare my life." While saying that, he bent his knees and kowtowed, knocking his head on the ground repeatedly.