Mournful dirges played as the Muslims dug deep

trenches and buried the bodies of the fallen warriors

upright and facing west. Puzzled, Chen asked one of

the nearby soldiers why the dead were buried in this

way.

"Because we believe in Islam," the soldier replied.

"If the body is buried upright, then the spirit will

ascend to the heavenly kingdom. They face west because

that is the direction of sacred Mecca."

When the burials were finished, Muzhuolun led the

entire army in prayer to thank Allah for helping them

achieve such a great victory. Then a great cheer went

up from the ranks and the commanders of all the units

went before Huo Qingtong and presented their sabres to

her in respect.

"Inflicting such a crushing defeat on the Manchus also

does us a great service," 'Leopard' Wei remarked to

Xu, but Xu was deep in thought.

"The Emperor made a pact with us, yet he didn't

withdraw his forces," he said. "Could it be that he

intentionally sent his troops into the desert to be

destroyed?"

"I have no faith in this Emperor," said Wen. "How

could he know Mistress Huo Qingtong would win so

decisively? What's more, I doubt if he sent Zhang

Zhaozhong out here for any good purpose."

As the heroes talked, they noticed Chen gazing at Huo

Qingtong in concern. She was seated to one side, her

face as white as a sheet, with a wild look in her

eyes. Luo Bing went over to talk to her and as Huo

Qingtong stood up to greet her, she swayed unsteadily.

Luo Bing caught hold of her.

"Sister, what's wrong?" she asked. Huo Qingtong said

nothing, but fought to control her breathing. Princess

Fragrance, Muzhuolun, Chen and the others ran over.

Princess Fragrance led her into a tent and laid her

down on a carpet.

Muzhuolun knew his daughter was exhausted after the

battle which she had both directed and taken part in

alongside the other warriors. She had also had to bear

the suspicions of her own commanders. But he was

afraid that the thing affecting her most was the

relationship between Chen and her sister. Unable to

think of anything to say to comfort her, he sighed and

left the tent. He went for a walk round the camp, and

from all sides heard nothing but praise for Huo

Qingtong's brilliant strategy.

That night, he slept badly, worrying about his

daughter. Early the next day before the sky was light,

he went over to her tent to see how she was, but found

her tent was empty. He hurriedly" title="ad.仓促地，忙乱地">hurriedly asked the guard

outside what had happened to her.

"Mistress Huo Qingtong left about two hours ago," the

guard replied.

"Where did she go?"

"I don't know, Lord. She told me to give you this

letter." Muzhuolun grabbed it and tore it open.

Inside, in Huo Qingtong's delicate hand, was written:

"Father, the war is now over. All that is necessary is

to tighten the encirclement and the remaining Manchu

soldiers will be annhilated in a few days, (signed)

your daughter."

"Which direction did she go?" he asked. The guard

pointed east.

Muzhuolun found a horse and galloped off immediately

in pursuit. He rode for an hour into the depths of the

flat desert where it was possible to see several miles

in all directions, but found no sign of any living

being. Afraid that she may have changed direction, he

decided the only thing to do was to return to the

camp. Half way back, he met Princess Fragrance, Chen

and the other heroes who were all anxious about her

safety. Once back in camp, Muzhuolun sent units out to

the north, south, east and west to search. By evening,

three units had returned without finding anything,

while the fourth brought back a young Chinese youth

dressed in black clothes.

'Scholar' Yu stared at the youth in shock: it was Li

Yuanzhi dressed as usual in boy's clothes.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, hurrying up to

meet her.

"I came to find you, and happened to run into them,"

she replied, very happy to see him again.

Princess Fragrance was frantic with worry about her

lost sister. "What can have happened to her?" she

asked Chen. "What can we do?"

"I will go and find her," he replied. "Come what may,

I`ll convince her to come back."

"I'll go with you," she said at once.

Chen nodded. "All right. Go and ask your father."

"You all do just as you like anyway," Muzhuolun

replied angrily, stamping his foot. Princess Fragrance

looked up at her father and saw how bloodshot his eyes

were. She took his hand and squeezed it.

Yuanzhi ignored the others, and bombarded Yu with

questions about what had happened to him since they

had parted.

"That's the boy your sister likes," Chen said to

Princess Fragrance, pointing at Yuanzhi. "He will

certainly be able to convince her to come back."

"Really? Why has she never told me? She's too

horrible!" the Princess replied. She walked over

towards Yuanzhi to get a closer look. Muzhuolun, who

was equally curious, did the same.

Yuanzhi had met Muzhuolun previously and she bowed

before him in greeting. Then she saw Princess

Fragrance and was immediately struck speechless by her

extraordinary beauty. Princess Fragrance smiled at

Chen and said: "Tell this gentleman that we are very

pleased to see him, and ask him to come with us to

help find my sister."

Only now did Chen greet Yuanzhi. "Why are you here,

Brother?" he asked. "How have you been since we last

met?"

Yuanzhi blushed and laughed. She glanced at Yu,

wanting him to explain.

"Great Helmsman, this is Master Lu's pupil," Yu said.

"I know, we've met several times."

Yu smiled. "She is therefore my martial sister."

"What?" Chen exclaimed in surprise.

"She likes wearing boy's clothes when she travels."

Chen looked closely at Yuanzhi and noticed for the

first time how delicate her eyebrows were, and how

small her mouth, not at all like a man's. Because of

the relationship with Huo Qingtong, Chen had never

looked closely at her before, but now he stared in

shock.

"I was completely wrong about Mistress Huo Qingtong,"

he thought. "She told me to go and ask Master Lu about

his pupil and I never did. Could she have left the

camp because of me? And then there's her sister who

loves me deeply."

Luo Bing could see how Yuanzhi felt towards Yu and she

hoped that with such a beautiful girl in love with

him, he could release himself from the self-torture of

his adoration of herself. But he looked as desolate

and unhappy as ever.

"Where is Sister Huo Qingtong?" Yuanzhi asked. "I have

something important to tell her."

"She's gone. We're looking for her now," Luo Bing

replied.

"She went out by herself?"

Luo Bing nodded.

"Where did she go?" Yuanzhi asked urgently.

"She left the camp heading east, but whether or not

she changed direction, we don't know."

"Oh, no!" Yuanzhi exclaimed, stamping her foot. They

asked her what was wrong. "The Three Guandong Devils

are looking for Sister Huo Qingtong to get their

revenge on her. You know that already. But I met them

on the road. They're behind me. If she is heading

east, she might run into them."

"We don't have a moment to lose," said Chen. "I will

go and find her."

"Don't underestimate the Three Devils," Xu warned. "It

would be better if several of us went. Great Helmsman

Chen should go first with Princess Fragrance. Mistress

Li, you also know her, but it would be too dangerous

for you to go alone. Perhaps Brother Yu could go with

you. My wife and I can go and search too, while the

others remain here at the camp to watch for Zhang

Zhaozhong."

"Fine!" said Chen. He borrowed Luo Bing's white horse

and he and Princess Frangrance galloped off with the

others not far behind.

At about noon that day, Wen and the other heroes were

chatting with Muzhuolun in his tent when a guard

rushed in to report that the Manchu general Herda had

escaped and the four soldiers guarding him had been

killed. They hurried over, and found a dagger stuck in

the chest of one of the dead soldiers with a note

attached to it which read: "To the heroes of the Red

Flower Society from Zhang Zhaozhong".

Wen angrily screwed the piece of paper up into a ball.

"Master Muzhuolun," he said. "You maintain the

encirclement of the Manchus, and we'll go and find

this traitor Zhang Zhaozhong." Muzhuolun nodded, and

Wen led the other heroes off into the desert,

following the tracks of the Manchu horses.
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