Chapter - 471 Graceful Movements of Three Pines In the Lush Green Forest (12)

Du E said, "The enmity against Yang Dingtian has been resolved last night. The affair of the Luohan idols has also been resolved today. Very good, very good. Zhang Jiaozhu, are you all coming here to fight?"

Yang Xiao and the others noticed the three monks' were short and skinny. Sitting inside the hollow trunks, they looked like corpses. Yet as he spoke, Du E's voice resounded in the mountain and valley. It was obvious that his internal strength was very deep. They could not help their faces from changing.

Zhang Wuji pondered in his heart, "Last night I was alone, hence I could not defeat them. Today I have many people with me. If we rely on number in fighting them, first, I might not be able to unleash my skill to the fullest, second, even if we won, we will demean our own Cult's prestige. Too many people won't look good, too few people won't achieve anything. I think the best way would be three of us against three of them. Fair and square." Thereupon he said, "I have experience three eminent monks' divine skill last night; my heart is full of admiration. I do not dare to show off my shameful skill in front of the three of you. But Xie Fa Wang has shown me fatherly love; he is also a good friend and a brother to my brethrens here. Even if we have to overestimate our own strength, we must try to save him. I am thinking of asking two of my Cult brethrens to help, so that we will fight three against three; that way, we are receiving instruction on a level ground."

"Zhang Jiaozhu does not need to be modest," Du E dryly said, "If in your precious Cult you have someone whose seniority in martial art comprehension second only to Jiaozhu, then you need only one more person to kill us, the three old baldies. But if Lao Na's presumption is correct, there will not be any second person with skills as high as Jiaozhu's to be found in the world. In that case, it doesn't matter if you have more people or less people; all of you can come up together."

Zhou Dian, Priest Tie Guan, and the others looked at each other. They all thought this old bald donkey was very arrogant, by going as far as regarding the world's heroes as nothing. However, they also realized that they were praising Zhang Jiaozhu by saying that nobody in the world could be considered on par with him; so they were being polite after all. Zhou Dian was about to open his mouth to speak, but Shuo Bude's hand was quicker; it reached out to cover Zhou Dian's mouth.

Zhang Wuji said, "Our humble Cult is considered heretical [orig. pang2 men2 zuo3 dao4 – lit. side door, left way] and not worthy to be compared to your precious Sect's prestigious name, but with our several hundred years of establishment, we do have some talented people. It was by chance that I am appointed the interim Cult Leader. In reality, in term of ability, insight and martial art skill, within my humble Cult, we do not lack people who are superior to me. Wei Fu Wang [bat king Wei], please deliver this visiting card to the three eminent monks." As he said that, he took out a piece of visiting card, which listed Zhang Wuji's name on the top, and then Yang Xiao, Fan Yao, Yin Tianzheng, Wei Yixiao, down to everybody who came to pay a visit.

Wei Yixiao knew the Cult Leader wanted him to demonstrate his unparalleled-in-the-present-age 'qing gong', to show the Shaolin monks that they should not belittle the Ming Cult characters. Immediately he bowed to accept the order. After taking the visiting card, without straightening up his back or even turning around, his body flew backward, as smooth as floating smoke. He covered the several 'zhang's distance as if he was skating on ice. As he got to the pine tree, he handed over the visiting card to Du E with both hands.

Du E and the others only saw his shadow sway, and Wei Yixiao had suddenly appeared in their presence. They had never seen 'qing gong' this exquisite; much less he was flying backwards, which was even unthinkable to them. They could not help but praised, "Good 'qing gong'!"

The crowd of Shaolin monks also knew a good thing when they see one, so they broke out in applause. Although the crowd of Ming Cult warriors had already aware of Wei Yixiao's excellent 'qing gong', it was the first time for them to see he fly backwards like that. Only, they felt uncomfortable to praise their own people openly, so even though their hearts were full of admiration, they restrained themselves from saying anything. Only Zhou Dian applauded noisily.

Du E slightly leaned his body forward and stretched out his hand to receive the visiting card. The five fingers of his right hand grabbed the card, and Wei Yixiao felt tingling sensation in his entire body, as if he was stricken by a thunder; his chest was burning, suddenly he felt weak. In his shock, he hastily circulated his energy trying to dissipate the attack.

At the same time, Du E took away the visiting card, and the whiff of internal energy transmitted through this card disappeared. Wei Yixiao's countenance changed, thinking that this one-eyed old monk's profound internal energy was truly immeasurable. He did not dare to linger any longer; leaning his body sideways, he skate on a layer of long grass on the ground, back to Zhang Wuji's side.

It was his infamous 'cao shang fei' [flying on the grass] 'qing gong'. Although it was not exceptionally good, but to train until he was able float like that, that could be considered brilliant. Kong Wen, Kong Zhi, and the others thought, "This man can achieve this level of 'qing gong', he undoubtedly has received training from a master, but obviously because he has talent. It seems that he was born with different trait that other people would not necessarily reach this kind of level even though they train painstakingly."

Du E said, "Zhang Jiaozhu said on your precious Cult there will be three people joining our exchange of pointers. Other than Jiaozhu and this gentleman Wei Fu Wang, who will the other person be?"

Zhang Wuji replied, "Wei Fu Wang had received instructions from Dashi's divine internal energy. I am thinking of inviting the Ming Cult's Left and Right Emissaries of the Brightness to help me."

Du E was surprised, "This young man has a very sharp vision," he mused, "I sent the internal energy via the visiting card for only a split second, yet unexpectedly it did not elude his eyes. Now, what kind of people are these Left and Right Emissaries of the Brightness? Could their martial art skills be better than this person surnamed Wei's?"

He had lived in seclusion for too long, hence he had never heard about Yang Xiao's reputation. As for Fan Yao, he had been living incognito for the last several years so not everybody knew about him.

As Yang and Fan two people heard Jiaozhu mentioning their names, they stepped forward at once and bowed down. "Respectfully accept Jiaozhu's command," they said.

"The Three Eminent Monks use flexible weapons, what will be a good weapon for us to use?" Zhang Wuji asked.

Zhang, Yang and Fan, three people usually fought their enemies barehanded. Today they were facing formidable opponents, so they could not hold on to their habit of not wielding any weapon. For these three people, they knew ten-thousand different techniques as well as one; for them, any weapons would do. Zhang Wuji asked this question just for the convenience of the other two.

"We'll follow Jiaozhu's instruction," Yang Xiao replied.

Zhang Wuji hesitated a moment; he thought, "Last night, the Twin Evils of Hejian were using short weapons to attack long ones; and they seemed to gain quite a few advantages from it." Thereupon he took the six tablets of Sheng Huo Ling from his bosom and handed over four of them to Yang Xiao and Fan Yao, while saying, "This time, we are going up the mountain to pay a visit to the Shaolin Temple, we do not dare to bring any weapons. This is our own Cult's treasure; let us just use these tablets then."