Book 22 Chapter 5 – The Lotus Ring at The Center of The Sky

Kou Zhong leaned over to Xu Ziling’s ear and whispered, “Shi Feixuan falls in love with you. Because she fell in love with you, both times she avoided you by coming to Xiaodi’s side.”

Xu Ziling sighed and said, “On the contrary, that was the way she hinted that there is a formless, yet impassable chasm between the two of us. When she took her leave, she made a point of saying goodbye to me, hence her feeling is even more self-evident.”

Kou Zhong was dumbstruck. After being left speechless for half a day, suddenly wrapped his arm around Xu Ziling’s shoulder and hugged him fiercely, while speaking in distress, “We, two brothers, both have broken heart within our bosom! If not separation in life, then it is parted by death. But one more day we did not die, we can still find something to do. My choice is the ever onward, no return; the path of the contending for hegemony over the world. These past couple of days I have thought about a lot of things, finally I realized that only by facing difficulties and challenges one by one, and setting my eyes on the great undertaking of unifying the world will my spirit have somewhat of a hope. Xiongdi, whether we can find the Duke Yang Treasure or not, I will let you leave, and I will be glad that you leave. If one day I die in battle, you will take a good care of Little Lingzhong for me.”

Xu Ziling suddenly felt like crying; all kinds of emotion bubbled up in his heart.

They were both orphans; they were mutually dependent for their survival since they were little. Growing up in the you-hoodwink-me-and-I-cheat-you, power-is-everything kind of environment, other than complete trust toward each other, they had always had skeptical attitude toward other people. Fu Junchuo was the first person who won their genuine affection, next to her was Susu. But both of them died one after another, so the cruel blow toward the two boys was hard to accept.

On the road of love, the two boys experienced layer upon layer of twists and turns.

Kou Zhong suffered heartache from Li Xiuning and Song Yuzhi in succession, which made him focusing all his energy on the great undertaking of contending over the world. If this goal were to be taken away from him, he would have nothing at all. At least, at this stage, this was the situation he was facing.

Due to heartless hint from Shi Feixuan just now, Xu Ziling was emotionally hurt as well. In that instant, he suddenly understand completely Kou Zhong’s complicated frame of mind.

If he said that he did not have the slightest admiration toward Shi Feixuan, this fresh and elegant, exquisite peerless beauty, he would only deceive others and deceive himself.

He remembered Shi Feixuan’s tale of the ‘boy who watches the concoction of pills of immortality’, thinking that by telling this story, not only Shi Feixuan was straightening him out, the fact was that she was appearing to be praising others while actually praising herself, expressing that she would never let herself falling into any kind of emotion in this world, which was only illusory.

Kou Zhong suddenly pulled his mask and stuffed it into his bosom, but his mouth said, “Ay! I forgot to mention to Shi Feixuan that that Hou Xibai might be a big muddled egg [i.e. a jerk/scoundrel].”

Knitting his brows, Xu Ziling asked, “Why must you reveal your face?”

Kou Zhong pulled his hand from around Xu Ziling’s shoulder; exposing his white, shiny teeth, he laughed and said, “Because my heart is suddenly very painful, hence I want to go all out, to find several people to test my saber; it would be best if we can find Rong Fengxiang himself.”

Puzzled, Xu Ziling asked, “You are not afraid of revealing our trace, and let the enemy knows?”

Kou Zhong’s eyes were flashing with murderous intent; he spoke in heavy voice, “If others really find out about it, perhaps there will be strange effect instead. In the case of Du Fuwei, if he learned that I am here, he would not suspect that Chen Changlin and his men might catch him off guard and mount a sneak attack against him. If the Three Big Bandits and Zhu Can knew that I came here, they might setup a trap, tighten their troop formation to wait for me. Who would ever have thought that I am actually going to deal with Xiao Xian?”

Xu Ziling remained silent.

Kou Zhong pushed him away, and looked intently at him; he said, “I have spoken so reasonably, why haven’t you taken off your mask?”

Xu Ziling gazed at him, he met Kou Zhong’s stare, his eyes carried a deep, strong feeling, as he spoke gently, “Is it because I am encountering and feeling pain in my heart?”

Kou Zhong’s entire body, from head to toe, shook. Burying his face on the roof tile, he spoke in distress, “Quite possibly Shi Feixuan is the only woman in the world who can move your heart, yet unexpectedly she treated you like this. The heaven above is really unfair. Whenever I think that I am going to go through fire and water in the battlefield, and you will travel alone along the lonely journey, I just want to cry, to vent the resentment in my heart. Ay! It is actually better that Su Jie died.”

Xu Ziling slowly took off his mask, and spoke heavily, “Go! You might as well kill Rong Fengxiang, once the main problem is solved, all troubles are solved [or, death ends all one’s troubles]. Don’t forget to bring the paint and the brush.”

The two boys leaped over the high wall. Very soon they reached the flower garden of the rear courtyard. The security at Hefei’s Zongguan Mansion was very sloppy; as soon as they passed the sentry guarding the multi-story buildings on the outer ring, it was as if they were entering a no-man’s land.

Of course, they would not treat it lightly. Out of the ‘Eight Major Martial Art Masters of the Demonic School’, at least two were here, and the two boys were fully aware how formidable Rong Fengxiang was. Merely Rong Fengxiang’s craftiness would not be easy to deal with. But now all they needed to do was to make commotion and expose their whereabouts.

Giggling, Kou Zhong was looking for a wall facing the garden, and painted red characters ‘Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling were here’. Whispering in Xu Ziling’s ear, he said, “What do you think of these two lines?”

“Really strange,” Xu Ziling answered, “That kind of power is a lot more understated, but I feel more tension instead. I like these few characters.”

Kou Zhong was so happy that he felt like roaring in laughter; he said, “This is called progress. People are constantly changing; calligraphy must also constantly be changing. If calligraphy never change, then it stands for stagnation.”

After a short pause, he said, “All right, that should do it. Now, where are we going to find Pi Chen, that yaodao?”

Xu Ziling was about to answer, suddenly an alarm went off in his heart. Quickly he pulled Kou Zhong to hide under a small bridge across the small stream from the garden rockery.

A man, as fat as a wine barrel, jumped down from the eaves, lithe like a cat; the tip of his toes slightly tapped the grass, in the blink of an eye he already flew into the pavilion, which was connected to the small bridge, only separated by approximately a ten-step long gravel path.

The garden covered an area with perimeter of more than twenty zhang, the trees, flowers and plants were tastefully chosen. But since Kou Zhong’s calligraphic masterpiece was on the wall behind a row of bamboo grove, it was not visible from the pavilion.

Kou Zhong pulled his craning neck back, and said with astonishment, “It’s An Long. We really did not make any error of judgment.”

Xu Ziling signaled him not to make any noise.

There was a sound of fluttering sleeve, followed by a majestic voice said, “What is it? What is so urgent that it cannot wait till tomorrow?”

Kou Zhong thought it was Zuo Youxian, but then he noticed Xu Ziling’s bewildered expression, hence he knew Xu Ziling did not recognize the voice.

And then the man shouted, “It’s none of your business in here, get lost far away for me. Without my order, don’t come into the garden.”

Seven, eight men acknowledged the order and withdrew out of the garden.

Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling exchanged glances; they had a vague guess as who the speaker was.

An Long sat down on the stone bench inside the pavilion; he sighed and said, “You and I are, after all, martial brothers; how could you not cherish old affection the slightest bit?”

The man sneered coldly and said, “The one who did not remember old affection is you, not me, Fu Gongyou. Fifteen years ago I broke away from Tian Lian Zong [lit. heavenly lotus school/sect], that moment I was already not your Shidi, let alone now; you and I have nothing to do with each other. I do whatever I want to do, it’s none of your business to interfere.”

As expected, he was Du Fuwei’s sworn brother, the Jiang Huai Army’s second in command, Fu Gongyou. What was unexpected was that he came from a demonic school, and was An Long’s younger martial brother.

‘Bang!’

The stone table was smashed and crumpled to the ground.

“How dare you!” An Long angrily said, “After entering our Tian Lian Men, how could as soon as you say you want to withdraw and you withdraw just like that? In the past, I put up with you just because I remembered the old affection between martial brothers, plus I saw that your accomplishment did not come easy. And now you are colluding with Laojun Temple and their direct disciples to deal with me, openly treating me as your enemy. You must be tired of living!”

Inwardly Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling cried how lucky they were.

An Long’s palm strike was yin and soft in nature; merely by listening to the sound, they knew that it seemed to be light, floating, without any strength; yet it was able to crush a solid stone table into powder. Just this kind of skill, not many in Jianghu would be able to accomplish. If they had not arrived at the garden one step earlier, or they had not hidden in time, there was no way they would be able to hide from this demonic school martial art master.

Fu Gongyou was a preeminent hegemon over certain territory, just from the fact that he shouted his men to withdraw, and came without any attendants, it was clear that he was not afraid of An Long, so this time he was not intimidated by him at all.

They heard him laughing coldly and said, “In all my life I have had bad temper, I am never willing to owe anybody any debt, but if anybody ever owes me anything, it must be repaid. For the last fifteen years, I have not chased after you to ask for Shizun’s [revered master] debt of blood, but now the time has come.”

Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling had a sudden understanding; they just realized that Fu Gongyou was using this Bai Ye General Assembly to force An Long out of his hiding.

An Long did not get angry, he laughed instead. Gasping for breath, he said, “Such a good joke. Shizun’s death was due to him practicing the Tian Xin Lian Huan [Lotus Ring in the Center of the Sky] and suffered fire deviation, so much so that the blood passage in his entire body burst and he died. Just because his bones did not survive, what does it have to do with me, An Long? And now that I sit on the ‘Lian Zhu’ [lit. lotus master/lord] position, you are harboring hard feelings, sucking in blood and spewing people? Humph! I, An Long, in my capacity as the Tian Lian Zong’s Lianzhu, am going to clean up the school on behalf of the Heaven’s way.”

A gloomy, mournful voice came from the other end of the small bridge, “Now that is really a joke. Even if you mastered the Tian Xin Huan, this time don’t even think of leaving this place alive, much less raving about cleaning up your school.”

Xu Ziling did not have Shi Qingxuan’s skill of focusing voice into a thread and sending it into Kou Zhong’s ear, therefore, he had to resort to manually writing the character ‘Zuo’ on Kou Zhong’s back, so that the latter immediately knew that it was Zuo Youxian.

Surprisingly, An Long did not get angry, he acted surprised instead, and said, “If I am not mistaken, the two of you are passionate rivals, like fire and water; one time you even fought until the heaven falls and the earth rends; how come today you two seem to be venting your anger from the same nostril? What happened? Did the world really reverse its rotation?”

Fu Gongyou coldly said, “Other than fabricating crafty plots and machinations, offending Heaven and reason, you only know how to fart. Get lost! Killing you like this, it will be too convenient for you. I want to see you slowly wither and rot.”

Just by listening to the hatred in his voice, it was clear that even the entire water of the Great River would not be enough to wash away the enmity between he and An Long.

An Long let out a burst of ear-splitting long laughter, which sounded a little like a pig being slaughtered; extremely uncomfortable to hear, as if his laughter was creating waves and rising a storm that went straight into the listeners’ bones and marrows.

When the laughter stopped, An Long spoke indifferently, “Do you think by sticking yourself to Du Fuwei you would be able to call the wind and summon the rain? Jiang Huai Army’s good situation is just an illusion; it has reached the-sunset, the-end-of-the-road moment. If you don’t believe me, let’s just wait and see.”

With disdain in his voice, Zuo Youxian said, “Do you think we don’t know that you are secretly wooing Xiao Xian, Zhu Can and Cao Yinglong to deal with us?”

It was clear that An Long was stunned; momentarily he was dumbstruck.

Fu Gongyou let out a long laugh and said, “You have enjoyed good days for more than ten years, now you ought to have different taste. If you are not leaving, then you don’t need to leave.”

An Long resolutely spoke the word ‘Good!’ three times, and then his sleeves fluttered, he quickly went far away.

Immediately Rong Fengxiang’s voice rang out, “Such a good opportunity, why let him go?”

It was only then did the two boys realize that Rong Fengxiang has been snooping on the side all long; they groaned inwardly. By this time, dawn was not too far away; if their presence was detected, and the three major martial art masters of the demonic school intercepted and besieged them, escaping would not be easy at all.

Fu Gongyou spoke heavily, “He has mastered the Tian Xin Lian Huan. If we forced him to break our siege with hard fighting, it will bring us more harm than good. After Bai Ye General Assembly, even if he wanted to slip away, it will be very difficult.”

Zuo Youxian nodded and said, “If we kill him at this critical moment, the overall situation will be adversely affected.”

Rong Jiaojiao’s voice was heard, “Jiaojiao has a brazen thought: this time An Long came here to attend the meeting, he must have adequate preparation, so practically he is not afraid of us.”

Fu Gongyou said, “What you said is very reasonable; let’s go inside and talk about it.”

Inwardly Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling thanked the Heaven and thanked the Earth; after making sure that the four have left, they hurriedly left.

The sky has just turned pale; the two boys swaggered along the street. They looked to the east and gazed to the west; seeing the shocking, eye-catching large red letters written on the walls, a very strange feeling crept up in their hearts.

Clamoring noise started to come from a distance; turned out one of the restaurants has started to cater to the busy morning market. Kou Zhong laughed and said, “How about drinking a bowl of soy milk and stuffing our tummy with a couple of steam buns first?”

Xu Ziling nodded his agreement.

The restaurant actually has not started serving food yet, the two boys sat down in the corner, enjoying the hot soymilk.

Kou Zhong sighed and said, “I had never imagined that this his mother’s Bai Ye General Assembly actually involves struggle, gratitude and grudges of various demonic schools.”

Xu Ziling was frowning. There was something that he did not understand, “There are so many people doing business, the competition among themselves is intense, you profit much means I profit less, those in the same line of business are like enemy countries, I don’t understand why Rong Fengxiang wants to fight over the Bai Ye She Elder position. After obtaining it, what can he do? Would the business organizations, all the way down to traveling merchants and peddlers listen to his order like they were his subordinates?”

Kou Zhong raised his large bowl, drank a mouthful, shook his head and said, “That’s impossible. In my opinion, there are two most important things: setting the price and controlling the supply of goods. As long as an elder gains the majority support, he can then setup the so-called business policy. For example, anybody who wants to buy wood from Longyou Bang, there will be different price for Bai Ye She members and outsiders, so much so that they would be allowed only to sell to Bai Ye She members. And then that Bai Ye She becomes a big conglomeration that enjoys market dominance of all trades ad businesses. Of course right now it is impossible, but in time, and add to it martial art force, what kind of situation it will become in the future, it is still very difficult to say.”

After a short pause, he continued, “But in the short term, the Elder position of Bai Ye She becomes the target that big forces want to rope in; the position rises rapidly, there will be endless benefit to be gained. It’s just that we are not businessmen at all, hence we do not understand it!”

Xu Ziling still did not understand, but just as he was about to speak, his heart was moved, he turned his gaze toward the entrance; unexpectedly it was Wanwan coming trippingly. Sitting in the chair opposite the two boys, she smiled and said, “You guys forgot to wear that knickknack on your face!”

While rearranging the bowl and chopsticks, Koi Zhong laughed and said, “When did Miss Wan arrive in Hefei? Why didn’t you look for us earlier, so that we could have a good and leisurely talk about what happened after we parted, and comfort the pain of the yearning heart?”

There was a hint of mocking smile on Wanwan’s tender and beautiful, flowery jade countenance, as she spoke indifferently, “Why would I want to look for you for no reason at all?”

Kou Zhong swept a fierce glance over at several restaurant attendants, who stopped what they were doing, intimidated by Wanwan’s radiant countenance, and were only staring at Wanwan. Immediately they came to their senses as if a bucket of cold water was poured down on their head; embarrassed, they continued their work.

Frowning, Xu Ziling asked, “Why are you looking for us now?”

Wanwan cast a sidelong glance at him and said, “Naturally it’s to deliver punishment to you. It is said that honest people do not do secretive things; you wanted to start a rumor or not, I don’t have time to mind you. But why did you drag our Yin Gui Pai along?”

Kou Zhong laughed and said, “This is called the implication of famous reputation, when gossip cease, it won’t be mentioned anymore. Since Miss Wan has graced us with your presence, I wonder if you’d allow me to ask a couple of questions.”

Even with Wanwan’s level of cultivation, dealing with him, she did not know whether she should laugh or cry. Slightly angry, she said, “If what I am saying is gossip, then what you are saying is complete rubbish. If you don’t give me a good confession, don’t even think that I would answer you even for half a word.”

Knowing how to read appearance, distinguish countenance, the two boys knew that Wanwan was not really angry; so pushing the matter further, they knew that Wanwan was not on Rong Fengxiang’s side.

It was rather strange, because so far, Yin Gui Pai and Jiang Huai Army had a cooperative relationship. The only explanation was that Du Fuwei and Fu Gongyou, this pair of sworn brothers, were not as united as the outsiders thought.

By this time, the number of pedestrians outside was growing; from time to time there were people spreading the news. Apparently the rumor walls have produced expected result: creating uproar in the city.

Kou Zhong laughed aloud and said, “Shangguan Long was your Yin Gui Pai’s man; everybody in the world knows that. What is it to your honorable Sect if you have one person more or one person less? Sometimes you do me a favor, another time I do you a favor; this is a very common thing. At most I owe you an apology, Miss Wan, please calm down.”

“Pfft!” Wanwan broke into a giggle and said, “That’s not too bad!”

The two boys looked at each other; they both could see the helplessness in the opposite party’s heart.

Toward Wanwan, they really had deep enmity and big hatred. In order to control the current situation, they had no choice but to feign civility; otherwise, they might