Book 2 Chapter 2: Mutual Deception[1]
Book 2 Chapter 2: Mutual Deception[1]
Carried under Du Fuwei’s arms, the two boys really covered about a hundred li that day. Before daybreak they have arrived at Xin’an County [Luoyang, Henan].
This county is one of the two thriving big cities along the Yangtze River. Because the fire of war has not reached this place, compounded with a large numbers of refugees fled here to seek shelter, the city was bustling with noise and excitement.
With hands behind his back and a face that did not show any expression, Du Fuwei led the way. It was not clear whether he felt embarrassed that everybody was avoiding him due to his demonic appearance, or whether he was proud of it.
Kou Zhong made an eye signal to Xu Ziling before he hastened his steps toward Du Fuwei. “Die!” he called, “Aren’t you supposed to go back to Liyang to become big king over there? Perhaps there are people who took advantage of your absence to rise in rebellion!”
Du Fuwei said indifferently, “Good boy, you’d better speak a couple of words less. Otherwise, if other people hear it, I would have to kill them to shut their mouth.”
Kou Zhong stuck out his tongue. Pretending to be scared he returned to Xu Ziling’s side and said in a low voice, “Li Dage was right. Die is not a good material for somebody who would conquer the world [tian xia]; he is too eager to kill, and don’t know how to buy the hearts of the people.”
Du Fuwei turned his head around to glower at him; his sharp eyes shot a chilling murderous intention. The scared Kou Zhong did not dare to continue.
Du Fuwei was about two cun taller than the two boys, plus he was wearing a tall hat; walking among the crowd, he really looked like a crane in a flock of chicken, very conspicuous.
The three of them climbed the stairs in the largest restaurant in town. The restaurant was jam-packed with people, trying to find an empty table was definitely harder than ascending the heavens. Du Fuwei pulled a water aside and stuffed two strings of zhu coins [1 zhu = 1/24 of a tael] into his hand. God knows how the waiter conjured up his magic trick, right away the waiter led them to an empty table next to a window, and respectfully asked them, three ‘father and sons’ to sit down.
After ordering tea and some appetizers, Du Fuwei only took a sip of tea, and then he stopped and looked at the two boys devouring their food. With an indifferent tone he asked, “Who said I don’t know how to buy the people’s heart?”
Kou Zhong replied in low voice, “If Die knew how to buy the people’s heart, you would not go around forcing people into service, to enlist your troops by force; as a result those who saw it are terrified.”
Du Fuwei was incredulous, “What does a kid like you know? There’s a common saying, ‘wealth define character’. Right now Die can barely scrape a meager living by living like a pauper. If I am not careful, even my family property can be lost. Where can I find the capital to buy the people’s heart?”
Kou Zhong shook his head and swayed his noggin, “If Die knew how to buy the people’s heart, you would dress your children to look like great heroes, so that when you toot your horn about coming to the aid of the people and saving the world, we, two brothers, will follow good ol’ Die delightfully, and even help you conquering the world. It would be much better than relying on fear to control us, and thus harming the congeniality between us, father and sons.”
Xu Ziling could not endure it, he nearly spurt the delicious pastries out of his mouth; but seeing Du Fuwei’s unsightly countenance, he hurried covered his mouth and hung his head low.
Kou Zhong totally ignored the ominous glint in Du Fuwei’s eyes; he still giggled and said, “Die, you, Senior, should not be angry; sincere advice is always unpleasant to hear. The reason the muddle-headed ruler is called muddle-headed ruler is precisely because he is unwilling to listen to sincere advice. Die, if you only want to be a gangster leader, naturally there won’t be any problem, but if you want to be the world’s leader, no matter how unwilling you are to listen to criticism, you have to put up an attitude of ‘respecting the wise’, ‘encouraging free airings of different views’. Only then would people not call you ‘just another muddle-headed ruler’.”
Du Fuwei was listening to him with a blank expression on his face.
He started his career by making a life-and-death [orig. kissing neck] friendship with Fu Gongyou, mustering wanderers and riffraff [orig. grass and weeds/uncultivated land] and became the region’s overlord of the underworld. Later on he led his troops to seek shelter under Wang Bo of Changbai Mountain. And then he broke away from Wang Bo to become an independent general crisscrossing the Huai River, never suffered any defeat. Right now even Liyang had fallen into his hands, his reputation shook the world. But he had never had anybody dared to reprimand him on his face, especially not a bookish advice coming from a kid’s mouth, whose smell of his mother’s milk has not dried yet. However, while listening to him, he felt something fresh; in particular the way Kou Zhong kept calling him ‘Dad’. If he got angry because of this, he really lacked grace; therefore, momentarily he did not know how to refute.
Kou Zhong had not finished; he ate and talked at the same time, “Die, your martial art skill is so formidable. It seems to me that even Yuwen Huagu is not your match.”
Casting a glance at Du Fuwei’s expression, he let out a ‘huh?’ and then continued, “Could it be that your son kissed the wrong butt? Why does Die’s expression become so unsightly? Ay! After obtaining the ‘Secret to Long Life’, you are going to kill your children to shut our mouths anyway, so just bear with us a bit longer! Or perhaps you could seal our mute acupoint, so that we cannot make any noise. Hee hee! Actually, is mute acupoint real?”
Du Fuwei’s strong eyes swept around, he noticed that Kou Zhong constantly increased the volume of his voice. He shook his head with a wry smile and said, “If you, this kid, are thinking about drawing other people’s attention to save you, it’s just a wishful thinking. All you are doing is just adding a few more lives to take.”
Suddenly he reached down under the table to pinch Xu Ziling’s thigh. As soon as he exerted strength to his five fingers, Xu Ziling was in so much pain that he had to spit the culinary delicacy in his mouth.
Kou Zhong raised his hands in mock surrender and said, “Die is still more ruthless than your child. This strategy ‘besieging Wei to rescue Zhao’ [to relieve besieged ally by attacking the home base of the besiegers] and ‘make declaration for the east but strike to the west’, I really cannot ward off. Die, please be magnanimous! Child understood that in everything power trumps logic. Die’s lesson is very good.”
Du Fuwei was still a bit at a loss. His biggest problem was that right now was not the time to kill people to shut their mouth yet. Withdrawing his big hand, he said drily, “From now on you are not allowed to speak.”
Kou Zhong giggled and coughed, trying to stifle his laugh, but in the end he tossed his head back and roared in laughter. Only then did he lower his head and munched busily.
Du Fuwei was so furious he nearly blew his lungs. But since he did not say that they must not laugh, he felt embarrassed to punish them.
The two little demons exchanged a glance and both smiled knowingly in triumph.
Leaving the restaurant, with bamboo toothpicks in their mouth, Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling strolled leisurely behind Du Fuwei. From time to time they bumped their shoulders against each other; their mind seemed to be free from the immediate trouble.
Without saying a single word, Du Fuwei headed for the marketplace and bought two horses; he had the two boys rode together in one horse with a strict warning, “If you are still daydreaming about relying on the horse’s legs to escape, I will dig one eyeball from each of you. Are we clear?”
The two boys nodded their head deferentially; their appearance made others laugh.
Du Fuwei was in no mood to argue with them, he told them to ride in the front, leading the way, while he followed behind them.
As soon as they left the city, the horses galloped along the official road. Xu Ziling let the horse speed along without trying to rein it at all.
Seeing that Du Fuwei was lagging behind at least five zhang away, Kou Zhong whispered in Xu Ziling’s ear, “This is bad, if we let this evil man takes the treasure underneath the Emperor Guan Temple in Yangzhou, Niang will definitely blame us.” But with his other hand he wrote on Xu Ziling’s back, “Just now at the restaurant I tried to attract other people’s attention. If someone is blocking our way, we can seize the opportunity to escape.”
Xu Ziling understood his intention, so he said with a sigh, “He is so formidable, we had no choice but to obey. In my opinion, although he is cruel and overbearing, he is actually a good person. At least until now he has not beaten us yet. We’d better give the ‘Secret to Long Life’ to him first, and then we’ll see whether he would really take us as his sons. When he becomes the emperor in the future, won’t we become crown prince? Yifu [foster father/godfather] ought not to kill yizi!” [foster child; ‘yi’ here means ‘righteousness’, same as ‘righteous army’ I mentioned earlier, also same character in ‘yiqi’]
Based on previous experience with Fu Junchuo, the boys knew that even though they were separated by a few zhang, it would be hard to conceal anything from Du Fuwei’s ears.
Kou Zhong knitted his eyebrows and said, “Ay! Just before her death Niang told us about the secret of opening the treasure-trove, something like three left six right, seven forward eight backward, three turns two spins; did you hear her clearly? Seems like there were two more sentences. Niang’s death was so tragic, I cried so hard that my ears turned deaf; how could I hear clearly? Didn’t Niang said that if we fail to know the secret of how to open the door, even if we get into the Temple we won’t find the entrance to the treasure-trove?”
Inwardly Xu Ziling praised Kou Zhong’s ingenuity. “Of course I remember,” he played along, “But unless he is willing to take us as his sons, otherwise he would kill us to shut our mouths anyway, we might as well not tell him anything. Fortunately Niang taught us the technique to break our main artery; worst case scenario we immediately commit suicide to end our miserable life.”
Kou Zhong pretended to be horrified, “You must not do that,” he said, “I’ll say the old ghost Du can be considered a rare talent, as long as he does not have any son yet, he must find two genius and outstanding talents like us to be his heirs; at least he could use us to admonish his ministers. If he throws us away for nothing, he is a really big fool [orig. muddled egg].”
After a short pause he sighed and added, “Ay! But you were right too, if he deal with us ruthlessly, if he gives us even half a slap on the face, we will immediately kill ourselves, to teach that evil tyrant Dad a lesson, instead of obtaining the treasure, he will be crushed to death when the while Emperor Guan Temple collapse on him.”
Hearing the more he bragged, the farther off-track he was, Xu Ziling was afraid Du Fuwei might see through their charades. “Stop talking,” he busily said, “He might catch up with us!”
Kou Zhong pretended to look back, he saw Du Fuwei lowering his head, so he knew their brilliant scheme was successful; thus he promptly shut his mouth, while in his heart he was so pleased with himself that it was hard to describe his feeling right now.
By dusk that day, the three of them reached a big town called Nanzhi. Du Fuwei found a small inn, but he only booked one room. And then he took the two boys to a small restaurant nearby to have dinner. His manner was a lot more ‘benevolent’ than before.
From the dozen or so tables, only half were occupied. The patrons appeared to be local ‘the haves’.
The three chose a quiet table on the corner. After ordering food and drink, slowly and casually said, “Since the two of you are obedient, you are now allowed to talk.”
Kou Zhong lightly kicked Xu Ziling’s leg under the table. He heaved a sigh and said, “Whatever Die, the Senior, is unwilling to hear, you might as well tell us plainly, so that your sons will not offend you by breaking your taboo, but will seal our lips instead.”
Although Du Fuwei was an ambitious and ruthless character of the ‘dark road’ who could kill people without blinking an eye, he was helpless against Kou Zhong. To show that he was magnanimous, he forced a laugh and said, “As long as you don’t deliberately stir up trouble, why would I be afraid of your talk? The amount of salt I took is more than the grains of rice you have eaten, the number of bridges I crossed is more than the road you have traveled.”
Kou Zhong showed a ‘I beg to differ’ expression, but he did not contradict.
Xu Ziling said in a low voice, “We, two brothers, accept our misfortunes as decreed by fate. Du Zongguan [see Chapter 1], after obtaining the ‘Secret to Long Life’, would you grant us a quick and easy death, and not subject us to prolonged suffering? Ay! Since Niang died, we have always thought about following her to the Yellow Spring [underworld in Chinese Mythology, equivalent to Hades or Hell]. It’s just that we don’t have the courage to kill ourselves!”
Kou Zhong interrupted, “Die, after we die, it would be best if whenever you have spare time, you have your subordinates, the generals, to order those foot soldiers to burn some gold and silver paper[2] for us, so that in the Yellow Spring, Niang and us can live comfortably and in style.”
With these two boys messing around with him, Du Fuwei really did not know whether he should laugh or he should cry. “Who said anything about killing you?” he said with a wry smile.
With a straight face Kou Zhong said, “A ruler’s words is no joking matter; in that case you can’t even harm us.”
Du Fuwei was indeed a wily old fox; he smiled and said, “If you don’t hide anything from me, I, Du Fuwei, will keep my promises [orig. one word worth nine sacred tripods[3]]. In the future I definitely won’t mistreat you.”
The two boys knew he had fallen into their trap. After exchanging a glance, Kou Zhong said with a sigh, “Die’s promise is good enough. Xiao Ling, you may tell him!”
Xu Ziling said, “The entrance to the treasure-trove must be opened in specific way. If Die is willing to swear a heavy oath, guaranteeing that you will not harm even half a hair on our bodies by any method, that you will truly consider us as your sons, then son will tell you the secret.”
Du Fuwei saw a group of men and women just walked in to the restaurant, one of them was an elderly man with an out-of-the-ordinary manner; obviously he was a martial art expert. Du Fuwei nodded and said, “We’ll talk about it later. Let’s eat!”
Following his gaze, Xu Ziling and Kou Zhong also looked toward the door. Four eyes lit up simultaneously.
The new comers were five in total, one old man and four young people. Each one of them carried either a sword or a saber. The one causing the two boys’ eyes to light up was a sixteen or seventeen-year old, budding young girl in the prime of youth, with an exceptionally good-looking countenance.
The old man was short and stout, his bearing looked bold and powerful; as soon as he walked in, his eyes landed squarely on Du Fuwei.
The other three were young men around twenty-year old, their physiques looked heroic and strong, one of them was exceptionally handsome, and taller than the other two. This young man walked side-by-side with the beautiful girl in an intimate manner.
The young girl noticed the two boys, Kou and Xu’s marketplace rascal’s eyes were sizing her up without blinking, and angry look flitted across her pretty face; she turned her head away in disdain, and pressed closer to the tall and handsome young man’s back as they entered the restaurant.
Knowing that they had caught the young girl’s attention, the two boys were very excited; they looked at each other and laughed.
Du Fuwei saw everything clearly, but a warm, familiar feeling welled up in his heart.
He was born into a poor family, and since childhood he wasted his time stealing and robbing at the marketplace. He could not even remember how many times he was beaten up because he took liberties with beautiful women.
Later on, after mastering martial art skill, it was his turn to bully other people. But after nearly twenty years of cultivating superior martial art skill and exercising restraint of his sexual desire, he no longer forced himself into a woman. Looking at these two boys’ mannerism has evoked his memory.
“Do you want Die to get her as your wife for a few nights?” he asked in low voice.
The two boys jumped in fright. They both shook their hands to refuse. Xu Ziling seriously said, “There is no fun in those who come by coercion; our eyes see but our hands do not move.”
Du Fuwei suddenly started to like these two boys, raising his thumb he said, “Good child!”
The two boys inwardly thought that you curry our favor just to obtain the non-existent secret method to open the treasure-trove! Naturally they did not feel grateful at all. But they still put a happy expression on their face.
Because he saw that the girl was already taken [orig. the flower has a master/owner], plus he was afraid that the girl would provoke disaster from Du Fuwei because of them, Kou Zhong renounced his urge to enjoy the beauty and simply stuffed himself.
“How’s Die’s martial art skill compared to Yuwen Huagu’s?” he asked curiously, “Which one is higher, which one is lower?”
This was the second time Du Fuwei heard him arbitrarily changed Yuwen Huaji’s name to ‘Yuwen Huagu’; he was greatly amused. “Being together with you, two kids, I laughed a lot more than I did for the last ten years added together,” he said, “Later on you must not ask this kind of naïve question. I have never met him nor exchange palms with him, how do I know who’s superior and who’s inferior?”
For the sake of the treasure-trove, he gave this half true and half false answer to entertain them.
Xu Ziling said, “There must be some criteria. For instance, that guy ‘Wu Zun’ Bi Xuan [see Book 1 Chapter 5], or ‘San Zhenren’ Ning Daoqi [see Book 1 Chapter 6]; how many people have actually exchange palms with them? Yet isn’t their rank set up on high?”
With a cold laugh Du Fuwei said, “They are undoubtedly most outstanding martial art masters of this age; but every generation in the rivers and mountains [i.e. country] produces talents. Who could guarantee that they will occupy that position forever?”
Kou Zhong nodded and said, “Die’s opinion is very insightful. I wonder how many martial art masters in Jianghu are in the same level as you are?”
Seeing he was putting up a grownup manner in deadly earnest, Du Fuwei was not amused. “Quickly eat!” he snapped.
The two boys were highly interested in the discussion, naturally they were quite put off; without any choice they simply go back to eating with heads down.
Du Fuwei has always been highly authoritative in front of his subordinates. It could be said that no one did not respect him or was afraid of him. Who would have thought that these two boys acted like he was their real Dad? In actuality he did not know how to handle these two boys. His heart softened and he said, “If we are talking about the origin of Wulin’s diverse schools and sects, it can roughly divided into north and south, two major systems. It is called ‘southerners put emphasis on simplicity and obtain the essence; northerners delve deeper and exhaust their branch and leaves’. The so-called north and south refers to the north and south of the Great River. South side Wulin always leans toward the esteemed doctrine of metaphysical study [Wei and Jin philosophical school amalgamating Taoist and Confucian ideals], continuing the so-called Central Plains orthodoxy since the Wei [220-265] and Jin [265-420] dynasties. The north side on the other hand, receives heavy influence of extra-territorial Wulin world; the martial art skills branch into thousand schools ten thousand varieties in innumerable succession. It could be said to be very dynamic and fascinating. But at the highest level, each one has its own distinguishing feature, it’s hard to say which one is superior, which one is inferior.”
Speaking to this point, he saw, sitting three tables away, the old man’s ears were twitching; evidently he was listening to their conversation. In his heart he was a bit wary, since he had already used his inner energy to focus his voice so that it would not spread out. If the opposite side could still hear it, it means this person could be considered a top quality martial art master of the Jianghu.
At other times, Du Fuwei might made his move to try him out, but right now he had an important matter at hand, he was not interested in meddling with any other matters. Therefore, he immediately stopped talking and urged the two boys to eat their fill, and then paid the bill and left.
Patted their belly, Xu Ziling and Kou Zhong followed him out.
As they walked past the girl’s table, she suddenly stretched out her foot and with matchless precision placed it right between Xu Ziling’s feet, who was the last in line. She exerted her strength and twisted.
Xu Ziling screamed and stumbled onto Kou Zhong’ back. The two of them fell down and rolled on the ground like a gourd.
This incident caught both sides by surprise. The elderly man yelled, “Wushuang!”
In all his life, Du Fuwei was used to tyrannize other people. He did not come to provoke you, just consider your family and your mountain as blessed. And now someone dared to disgrace the people under his protection in front of his face. Immediately he turned around, his eyes gleaming with murderous aura.
Being stared by him, the girl called Wushuang was a bit afraid, but apparently she was accustomed to being arrogant and willful, hence she still spoke defiantly, “Who told them to stare at people with shifty gaze?”
Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling crawled up awkwardly. Horrified, they both pulled Du Fuwei’s right and left arm toward the door. Who would have thought that Du Fuwei did not budge at all? He simply stared coldly at the girl.
Kou Zhong knew Du Fuwei was about to make his move. “Die!” he pleaded, “Let’s go! Your sons were wrong.”
The elderly man also stood up and cupped his fist, “In this matter my humble niece is wrong, we beg for two Xiao Xiongdi’s forgiveness. If you are injured from the fall, we are willing to compensate for the medical bill.”
Du Fuwei coldly said, “State your school and background, let’s see if I will provoke you or not.”
The three young men immediately stood up with their hands on their weapons’ hilt, scaring the other patrons that they all left their table in a flurry and huddled in the corner.
The tall and handsome young man proudly said, “My humble father is Liang Shidu of Shuofang, Junior [orig. Wanbei – younger generation, referring to self] is Liang Shunming. Whether you want to provoke us or not, Sire may decide it for yourself.”
The other two young men and the girl also showed a proud, mixed with condescending expression; apparently they were quite proud of Liang Shidu’s name.
Du Fuwei’s countenance did not change at all; as if nothing had happened, he said, “Turns out Yingyang [soaring hawk] Lang Jiang’s [lit. youth general] beloved son. Yingyang Pai [soaring hawk sect] has always been willing to be the imperial court’s running dogs [i.e. lackeys]; only recently they saw the wind and set the helm and thus allied themselves with the Tujue [Turkic ethnic group, see Book 1 Chapter 2]. Two female soaring hawks Liang Shifu and Liu Wuzhou have become Tujue’s two dogs. Why can’t I afford to provoke you?”
Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling have also heard the name Yingyang Pai, they knew it was a well-known big northern sect with impressive reputation. They believed this Liang Shunming must have a real skill; perhaps they could take this opportunity to escape. Hence they no longer said anything but quietly scooted over toward the door.
The elderly man stepped in front of Liang Shunming and the other two young men who had already pulled their weapons out; he said in heavy voice, “Friend, you are experienced and knowledgeable, obviously you are not an ordinary person. May I ask your honorable surname and great given name? And how should I address you?”
Du Fuwei replied indifferently, “Since this kid is Liang Shidu’s son, Sire must be related to Liang Shidu’s sworn brother, Shen Tianqun of Luling. Based on your age, you ought to be Shen Tianqun’s elder brother Shen Naitang, unless my eyes have failed me.”
The elderly man suddenly stood up straight, his beard spread out, his appearance became bold and powerful without equal. Laughing loudly, he replied, “Looks like Friend understood Jianghu matters like the back of your hand, you must not be a nameless character. Why not announce your name? Perhaps we have a little bit of relation.”
“Having a bit of relation’ was a Jianghu terminology, including relation such as enmity.
Du Fuwei threw his head back and let out a long laughter. Yet as soon as he stopped laughing, the cold murderous look returned to his eyes, as he coldly said, “I hope he is not Liang Shidu’s only son; otherwise, his family line will be cutoff.”
Shen Naitang’s countenance changed immediately; it seemed like this person was not intimidated by Liang Shidu and Shen Tianqun, two powerful masters whose names shook Wulin; he must have a very strong background.
Taking a step back, he pulled his broadsword and sternly said, “Very well! Let me, Shen Naitang, increase my knowledge by experiencing Friend’s real skill.”
Relying on his family skill, Liang Shunming has always been thinking too highly of himself, plus he had his lover standing right next to him, naturally he could not stand it anymore. Moving along with Shen Naitang, he launched the Yingyang Pai’s famous Soaring Hawk Sword Technique, thrusting his sword toward Du Fuwei’s chest with half-real, half-fake stance. It was definitely not an ordinary move.
Shen Naitang also had confidence in him, he moved aside and stood ready to give him assistance.
Unexpectedly Du Fuwei still had time to look back toward Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling and said with a laugh, “Yingyang Pai is located in the north; therefore, they are heavily influenced by Tujue martial techniques. They rely mainly on ruthless attack, strong offense but not strong defense; therefore, if in one attack they fail to down the opponent, they could only take the beating.”
In the meantime, Liang Shunming’s sword was already less than three cun from his chest; suddenly it changed form, the fake became real, and went straight up toward Du Fuwei’s throat. It was indeed a ruthless attack.
Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling stared with eyes wide open. On one hand they wanted Liang Shunming’s sword to kill Du Fuwei, on the other hand they did not wish to see him fallen from power like this. It was a very conflicting thought.
It was only this time that Du Fuwei finally reacted; tossing his head backward, his sleeve flicked forward.
‘Ding!’ Surprisingly, it was the clear ringing of metal clashing against metal.
While everybody was still puzzled, Liang Shunming’s body was severely shaken. As his sword was struck by an unknown object and was swept away, his defense was widely open. Du Fuwei bent his body on the waist, and fast as lightning his leg flew toward Liang Shunming’s crotch. Apparently his objective was to cut his family line.
Seeing this, Shen Naitang’s countenance underwent huge changes. It was only then did he realize the opponent was the dark road overlord Du Fuwei, whose nickname was ‘universe in his sleeve’ [orig. ‘qiankun’, also means heaven and earth/yin and yang].
Du Fuwei had a pair of arm guards about a chi [Chinese foot, approx. 1ft or 1/3m] long hidden inside his sleeve, with which he could injure his opponent by using it in a surprise attack. The reason he was using it in the very first move was because he had determined to kill these people to shut their mouth.
Since Shen Naitang knew it was him, how could he dare to be confident? With a roar he brandished his broadsword while charging forward, his target was the left side of Du Fuwei’s neck.
Du Fuwei let out a cold snort, the other arm guard in his left sleeve flashed, it collided with Shen Naitang’s blade, but his kick was not affected at all.
Liang Shunming knew the situation was far from good, unleashing everything he had, his left palm pressed downward, while taking a step back simultaneously.
‘Bang!’ Liang Shunming let out a muffled grunt. Although he managed to block Du Fuwei’s kick, he was unable to block the shocking qi surging into his body from Du Fuwei’s foot. His mouth spurted fresh blood, while his body was thrown backward.
After exchanging one strike with him, Shen Naitang was also forced to take half a step back. “Get Liang Gongzi [young master] out of here!” he bellowed.
Who would have thought that as Wushuang and her martial brothers Meng Chang and Meng Ran, three people saw Liang Shunming was falling toward them, they automatically reached out to hold him, but felt as if Liang Shunming weighed a thousand catties [approx. 1/2kg or 1lb]? Although they were able to receive him head on, they were unable to withstand the impulse; four people fell back together, crashing onto the tables and chairs behind them that everything was shattered in pieces, the people and the cups, plates, and the food and drink inside them fell into a mess. It was a really sorry sight.
Du Fuwei let out a cold laugh. His sleeves shot out, with either the sleeve or the arm guard, he attacked Shen Naitang relentlessly that the latter was powerless to retaliate.
Fortunately, Shen Naitang’s foundation was quite solid; his martial art skill was also quite strong that for the time being he was still able to hold his ground.
By this time Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling had already reached the door. After giving each other eye signals, they dashed out madly from the restaurant.
Du Fuwei had never expected that these two obedient sons, who kept calling him Dad left and right, would seize the opportunity to slip away. Anger and anxiety attacked his mind, his offensive suddenly lost quite a bit of momentum, so that Shen Naitang was able to reclaim a little bit of advantage.
Seeing Shen Naitang was able to prolong the channeling of his qi, Du Fuwei knew that he would not be able to kill the opponent within ten moves. After considering the pros and cons, he decided he’d better capture the two boys first and come back later to kill these people to shut their mouth.
With a loud roar he forced Shen Naitang to withdraw two steps back, while he himself floated out of the door.
Meanwhile Shen Wushuang and the others were helping Liang Shunming, who had received internal injury, to stand up. They thought that once again Shen Naitang had displayed his divine power to repel the enemy. To their shock, however, as soon as Shen Naitang was able to stabilize himself, he was forced to withdraw three more steps while ‘wah!’ he spurted a mouthful of fresh blood.
Shen Wushuang abandoned Liang Shunming, leaving him with her two martial brothers, while she herself rushed toward Shen Naitang and grabbed his arms. “Dabo! [paternal uncle, older than one’s father] What happened?”
Shen Naitang took a deep breath, while wiping the blood on the corner of his mouth with his sleeve. “This man is ‘universe in his sleeve’ Du Fuwei,” he said in heavy tone, “Even if your Die came here personally, I am afraid he is still not his match. We must leave immediately.”
[1] Title chapter original: you hoodwink me, I cheat on you.
[2] Hell money or Joss paper, considered currency in the underworld, offered as burnt offerings to the deceased in Chinese culture. (Wikipedia, keyword hell money or joss paper)
[3] Side note: for more on ‘tripods’, please read Jin Yong’s Deer and Cauldron, Chapter 1, translated by yours truly.