Chapter - 490 All Over the World, No One Can be a Hero (15)

After withdrawing the troops, Yang Xiao returned the small flags to the wooden tray, which was then carried back by the young boy. With cold eyes he looked at Zhou Zhiruo. He did not say anything, but his meaning was very clear: 'With only a little more than a hundred male and female Emei disciples, can you match our strong Ming Cult of several thousand?'

Around the field, each of the heroes was immersed in their own thoughts. For a moment, the field was quiet. After a while, the old monk behind Kong Zhi stood up and said, "The Ming Cult demonstration of troop movements and military tactics we have witnessed just now looked impressive. However, when all is said and done, whether it can be really used, whether it can really subdue the enemy, we are not military generals; we have not studied the Sun Wu's art of war. I am afraid none of us can really tell …"

Everybody knew he was speaking contrary to his convictions; it was just that the Ming Cult's prestige was truly awe-inspiring, so he played down the fierceness of the Five-Element Flags.

Zhou Dian called out, "You want to know whether it can be really used? That is very easy. All Shaolin Pai needs to do is send some monks to try and then the result will be apparent."

The old monk pretended not to hear, he continued his speech, "Today is the great assembly of the heroes from all over the world. Every school and every sect's aspirations are to observe and emulate, to compare and deliberate the study of martial art skills. Still, as highlighted by several Shizhu [benefactor] earlier, everybody will compete in martial arts and the one with the highest skill will win. What we are interested in doing is a one on one competition; relying on numbers to achieve victory, is actually an unheard custom in the Wulin world."

Ouyang Muzhi said, "Relying on numbers to achieve victory is an unheard custom in the Wulin world, but what about 'pi li lei huo dan'? This poisonous and malicious trick, is it allowed?"

The old monk was silent for a moment before saying, "If a contestant wants to use secret projectiles, of course it is allowed. If some friends put some poison on their secret projectiles, we have no way of forbidding them. But if somebody launches a sneak attack, he is breaking a major rule of this assembly; then everybody else has the right to attack him together. Gentlemen, what do you think?"

Most of the heroes in attendance gave their consent by applauding loudly. Tang Wenliang of Kongtong Pai said, "I have one thing I'd like to say: whoever has won two fights in a row must be allowed to take a rest, so that he can restore his internal energy and take a breather. Otherwise, if one is forced to fight a series of capable people, one cannot fight them all in one breath regardless of how high one'a skill is. Furthermore, from each school, each sect, each clan and each society, if there are two people already defeated, they must not send anybody to the stage anymore. Otherwise, there are thousands of heroes in here; if for every hero defeated another one takes his place, I am afraid even three months will not be sufficient to accommodate everybody. Although Shaolin Temple has abundant provisions [orig. 'liang2cao3' – food and grass], they will go broke if they have to feed us all; and I doubt if they would recover within a hundred years."

The audience broke out in laughter; they agreed that these two propositions made a lot of sense.

The Ming Cult warriors knew that Tang Wenliang was indebted to Zhang Wuji because he set his broken bone at the Brightness Peak; and then again when he saved him from the Wan An Temple. He was hoping Zhang Wuji would triumph over the opponents. By proposing these two rules to the crowd of heroes, he was helping Zhang Wuji to conserve his energy.

Peng Yingyu said with a smile, "Tang Lao San [Ol' Tang the third] is doing us a favor. It seems like we can count on Kongtong Pai to be on our side today. All right, other than Jiaozhu, who will compete for us?"

All of the Ming Cult masters were eager to try, but they all realized that the battle today was of a very great importance; it was necessary for them to spare no effort. They would have to try to defeat as many opponents as possible, and thus leave as little powerful opponents as possible to their Jiaozhu, so that he could conserve his energy to face the unexpected. If they only managed to defeat a few people, and then got defeated, not only they would leave a heavy burden for Jiaozhu to bear alone, the damage to their own prestige would not be small, but also the burden to the Cult would be great; Xie Xun and their Cult Leader were too important. Furthermore, if they volunteered rashly, they would inevitably gave the impression that after the Cult Leader, their martial art skills were better than everybody else's, and thus they risked damaging the 'yi qi' [spirit of loyalty and self sacrifice/code of brotherhood] among the brethren. For these reasons, they were all silent; nobody dared to make any noise.

"Jiaozhu," Zhou Dian said, "It's not that Zhou Dian is scared of death. It's just that my martial art has not reached perfection. If I volunteer, I would only expose my own disgrace."

Zhang Wuji looked at his subordinates one by one. He thought, "Yang Zuo Shi, Fan You Shi, Wei Fu Wang, Bu Dai Shifu, Tie Guan Daozhang [Taoist priest]; everybody possesses an unsurpassed quality. Any one of them may go. Among them, Fan You Shi's martial art knowledge is the broadest. No matter what school the opponent came from, he has a greater chance to score a victory. I'd better ask Fan You Shi to go into action with me." Thereupon he said, "Actually, any one of the brethren going is the same to me. But Yang Zuo Shi had helped me fighting the Jin Gang Fu Mo Quan. Wei Fu Wang and Bu Dai Dashi have just captured Xia Zhou, so they have used up some strength. This time, I am thinking of asking Fan You Shi to come with me."

Fan Yao was delighted. "I accept the order!" he bowed and said, "Many thanks Jiaozhu, for your high regards!"

The Ming Cult warriors all knew that Fan Yao's martial art skill was superb; nobody raised any objections.

"Fan Dashi," Zhao Min suddenly said, "I am going to ask you something. Would you be willing to indulge me?"

"Whatever instruction Junzhu has, I will comply," Fan Yao replied.

Zhao Min said, "Kong Zhi Dashi of Shaolin Pai has not resolved his enmity against you. If you fight him first, victory or defeat between the two of you will be hard to predict. Even if you gain victory, your strength would be depleted."

Fan Yao nodded. He understood that Kong Zhi Shen Seng had been famous for dozens of years. Kong Zhi's face looked long as if he was in constant anxiety; he looked like someone who would not reach old age, but actually, his internal and external skills had reached perfection.

Zhao Min said, "There is no harm in making an appointment with him; state it explicitly that you want to fight him one on one at the Wan An Temple in Dadu. One fight to decide victory and defeat."

"Marvelous plan, marvelous plan!" Yang Xiao and Fan Yao exclaimed. They knew that if Kong Zhi agreed to fight Fan Yao at a later date, then they could not fight today. With her idea, Zhao Min eliminated one powerful enemy to the Ming Cult.

In the mean time, the heroes and warriors of every sect and every school were whispering among themselves in their respective wooden shelters to choose their champions. From several wooden shelters came loud noises of people bickering; apparently, they have some disagreement in the selection process.