Chapter - 486 All Over the World, No One Can be a Hero (11)

"You have disgraced your founder's revered name by doing many unrighteous acts," Xia Zhou retorted, "Not to mention Guo Nuxia, even Miejue Shitai, when she was alive, she was cruel and merciless but her sword had never taken innocent people's lives. You have killed an innocent man like this and your Zhangmen [sect leader] surprisingly did not care. Hey, hey, after today, can Emei Pai take its stand in the Jianghu?"

"If you carry on talking half a sentence more of those nonsense talk, this drunkard will be your example," Jiang Jia said.

Xia Zhou's anger welled up in his chest, he courageously took two big strides forward and said, "If the Emei Pai Zhangmen will not clean up her own school, Emei Pai will be held in contempt by the world's heroes from now on."

The crowd of warriors, as well as the Emei Pai disciples, turned their gaze toward Zhou Zhiruo. They saw her nodding slowly to Jing Jia. 'Bang! Bang!' two loud explosions followed as Jing Jia shot out two 'thunderbolt bullets'. Two large holes appeared on Xia Zhou's chest and lower abdomen; his clothes were burning. But in his unyielding spirit, although his breathing had ceased, he was still standing, with his arms still around Situ Qianzhong's body.

The crowd of heroes looked at each other in utter shock. After a moment, several hundred people raised a clamor, condemning Emei Pai's ruthlessness. Wei Yixiao and Shuo Bude exchanged a glance, nodded at each other, and then rushed toward Xia Zhou's remains. They knelt down in front of the corpse.

"Xia Lao Yingxiong," Shuo Bude said, "The two of us did not know your chivalry and uprightness, and thus have offended you much. We are very ashamed of our conducts."

They both raised their palms and then 'slap, slap, slap, slap' they slapped their own faces that their cheeks turned red and swollen immediately. They extinguished the fire still burning on the two corpses, and then carried the bodies into Ming Cult's wooden shelter.

Zhang Wuji was deeply grieved seeing Zhou Zhiruo suddenly become so cruel and heartless.

Amidst the clamor of the crowd, Zhou Zhiruo was seen whispering into Song Qingshu's ear. Song Qingshu nodded, and then in deliberate steps he walked toward the center of the field. In a loud and clear voice he said, "The heroes and warriors assembled here today, not to drink wine and discuss poetry, to play the zither, beat the drum or pluck the harp; nor do we come here to compose a poem by each one contributing a line. This is the place where we clash our weapons, our fists and feet. That being the case, most likely there will be casualties. This Xia Lao Yingxiong had just said that in all his life, Mr. Situ had never done anything evil, and blamed our Sect's Jing Jia Shitai for indiscriminately killed an innocent. The honorable heroes raised up a clamor, seemingly discontent of our Sect. Xiongdi [brother, referring to self] wants to ask something: do we have to verify moral character and virtuosity of each other first before we contend in martial art today? A sage or a saint must never, ever be harmed; while the poor, ominous, extremely evil people can be killed at will?" The crowd was taken aback and was at a loss momentarily; they thought that what he said was not totally without any reason.

Song Qingshu continued, "If we say that only a virtuous person can own the Tulong Saber, why should we hold a 'martial art competition'? Why don't we all go visit the Confucius temple inside the great city of Qufu in Shandong, and respectfully present the Saber to Confucius' descendant over there? If we are still speaking about this 'wu' [martial art] character, then what we concern about most is life or death, victory or defeat. I am afraid we won't be able to deal with other people's 'innocence' or 'guilt'."

"That's right," several people responded from among the crowd, "Saber and spear do not have eyes. We have agreed that we must not seek revenge."

The more they listened to Song Qingshu, the more Yu Lianzhou and Yin Liting felt that this person's accent was somewhat familiar. However, with the short beard, this man looked different; besides, he kept saying 'our sect this' and 'our sect that'. Consequently, he must be an Emei Pai male disciple. Therefore, they could not help but feeling doubtful.

Yu Lianzhou stood up and said, "May I know Sire's honorable surname and great given name?"

Seeing his Er Shishu [second martial (younger) uncle], Song Qingshu was rather afraid of Yu Lianzhou's longstanding prestige; he stammered for a while before answering, "I am a nameless younger generation, not worth Yu Er Xia's [second hero Yu] inquiry."

In stern voice Yu Lianzhou said, "Sire did not stop talking about 'martial art competition'. I presume your martial art study must have reached excellence. My Shifu had received great kindness from your precious sect's Guo Nuxia in his childhood; thereupon he instructed Wudang disciples not to fight with Emei Pai. I [orig. zai4xia4] must understand clearly, whether Sire is truly Emei disciple or not. What is your name? Real men should be straightforward and upright; why would you conceal your own identity?"

Brushing away the dust from her clothes, Zhou Zhiruo said, "Yu Er Xia, I don't have to conceal anything from you. This man is my husband; surname Song, given name Qingshu. He was related to Wudang, but this time he has entered the Emei's school. If Yu Er Xia has anything to say, you can tell it to me."

She spoke those words with a clear, but cold voice, as cold as a torrential river and frozen ice. Her manner and movements were as exquisite as a jade, her countenance was clear and beautiful; indeed she looked like an immortal rising from among the dust. There were thousands of heroes around the field, yet nobody made any noise, they all held their breath, trying to listen with full attention.

Song Qingshu reached up to rub his face, peeling the short beard from his chin and taking his hat off; immediately he emerged as a young man as handsome as a jade crown.

As the crowd of heroes saw him, they could not restrain from praising in their hearts, "What a beautiful pair of immortals!"

Remembering Song Qingshu's offense in killing his Qidi [seventh (younger) brother] Mo Shenggu, anger rose up in Yu Lianzhou's breast. However, his character had always been calm; in the last few years, the older he got, the deeper was his self-control. Although he was furious, he managed to keep a calm face; only his eyes flickered like lightning, sweeping Song Qingshu's face.

Song Qingshu hung his head down in shame. Zhou Zhiruo said, "My husband has left Wudang and joined Emei. Hereby I am making it official today in the presence of these world's heroes. Yu Er Xia, Zhang Zhenren does not allow Wudang disciples to fight our Sect's disciples for the sake of friendship of the former days. It shows the Senior's 'yi qi' [spirit of loyalty, code of brotherhood]; but it might also show how smart the Senior is in preserving Wudang's prestige."

Yin Liting could not hold his patience much longer; leaping forward, he pointed his finger toward Zhou Zhiruo and said, "Miss Zhou, when you faced calamity in your childhood, it was my Shifu who held out his hands to save you, and brought you to the Emei Pai. My Shifu has never wished for you to repay his kindness, yet in what you've just said today, you obviously accuse our Wudang Pai of earning false reputation, of being far inferior to the heroines of Emei Pai. This … you … aren't you doing my Shifu wrong?"

Zhou Zhiruo laughed indifferently and said, "Wudang's heroes have shaken the Jianghu; obviously you have real ability. Song Daxia is my father-in-law. How can I dare to accuse my in-law of earning false reputation? However, Wudang and Emei two schools have their own history, each developed its own martial art; so it is difficult to say who is superior and who is inferior. In the past, our Sect's Guo Shizu [ancestor, founder] has shown kindness toward Zhang Zhenren, later on, Zhang Zhenren has shown kindness to me. We are even. Nobody owes anybody kindness. Yu Er Xia, Yin Liu Xia, let us hereby discard the custom that says Wudang disciples must not fight Emei disciples."