Zhang immediately went and told the Liangzhou Military

commander that he wanted four hundred crack troops

transferred to his command to help escort criminals

wanted by the Emperor. The commander did not dare

refuse and also dispatched Colonel Cao Neng and

Chief-of-Staff Ping Wangxian to lead the escorting

soldiers until they reached Lanzhou, the provincial

capital, where provincial troops would take over.

Zhang's column surged out of the town, stealing and

pilfering from the common people in the usual way as

they went.

They travelled without incident for two days. Then,

about ten miles from a village named Twin Wells, they

came upon two bare-breasted men sitting beneath a tree

by the side of the road with a pair of fine horses

standing nearby. Two of the soldiers went over.

"Hey!" one shouted. "These two horses look like

official horses. Where did you steal them from?"

"We are peaceful citizens," said one of the men. "We

wouldn't dare to steal horses."

"We are tired of walking. Lend them to us," the second

soldier replied.

The two men stood up, walked over to their horses and

untied the reins.

The soldiers walked haughtily over and were just about

to take hold of the reins when the two men kicked

their behinds, leapt onto the horses and galloped over

to one of the carriages.

"Is Fourth Brother in there?" one shouted.

"Ah, Twelfth Brother!" Wen answered.

"Fourth Brother, we're leaving," the man replied. "But

don't worry, we'll be back to rescue you soon."

The two men galloped away before the carriage's guards

could attack.

The column lodged that night at a town called Clear

Water Shop. Early the following morning, while most of

the soldiers were still asleep, a scream was heard,

and there was a moment of confusion. The two troop

commanders, Cao and Ping went to investigate and found

the bodies of more than a dozen soldiers lying where

they had slept, each with a gaping gash in the chest.

There was no indication of who had killed them.

The next evening, they rested at Hengshi. This was a

large town, and the column filled three inns and many

private houses besides. During the night, one of the

inns caught fire. Zhang ordered the bodyguards to

guard Wen and to heed nothing else in order to avoid

being tricked. The flames rose higher and higher.

"Bandits!" Cao Neng cried as he ran into Zhang's room.

"They're attacking!"

"Please go and direct operations yourself, General

Cao," Zhang replied. "I am unable to leave this

place."

Cao nodded and left.

From outside the inn came the sound of screams and

shrieks, galloping horses, the crackle of the flames

and the smash of roof tiles as they hit the ground.

Zhang ordered two bodyguards onto the roof to keep

watch, but told them not to get involved unless the

enemy attacked the inn. The fire did not get out of

control, and before long it was extinguished. The

agitated clamour continued for a while, then gradually

died down to the point where the sound of hooves could

be heard as horses galloped off eastwards.

Cao, his face covered in soot, grease and blood, ran

in to see Zhang again.

"The bandits have retreated," he reported.

"How many of our men have been killed and wounded?"

Zhang asked.

"I don't know yet. Several...several dozen."

"How many bandits were captured?"

Cao's mouth fell open. After a moment, he said:

"None."

Zhang grunted.

"Their faces were covered with cloth, and their kung

fu was horrendous," Cao added. "But it's very strange,

they didn't steal anything. All they did was kill our

brothers. Just before they left, they threw down two

hundred taels of silver for the innkeeper saying it

was compensation for starting the fire."

"So you think they were bandits, do you?" Zhang said.

"Tell everyone to get some rest, General Cao. We will

start out early tomorrow."

Cao retired and went to see the innkeeper, whom he

accused of being in collusion with the bandits and

responsible for the murder of the soldiers. The

innkeeper kowtowed and begged for mercy and finally

gave Cao the two hundred taels of silver.

The next day, the soldiers were busy until noon before

finally making a start. They passed through beautiful

country of blue hills and green water, surrounded by

dense vegetation on all sides. After travelling for

about four hours, the road began to grow gradually

steeper and high peaks rose on either side.

A horse came galloping down the road towards them and

halted about ten paces in front of the column.

"Listen to me, all of you," the rider called out. "You

have offended the demons. Turn back quickly and you

will be spared. If you continue eastwards, each one of

you Turtles will surely die."

The soldiers shuddered as they looked at the man. He

was wearing clothes made of rough hemp bound at the

waist with grass rope. His face was pale yellow and

his eyebrows slanted upwards, just like the images of

life-stealing spirits in the temples. The man spurred

his horse forward and galloped down the mountain,

passing beside of the column, and was gone. Suddenly,

one of the soldiers in the rear-guard gave a cry, and

fell to the ground, dead. The rest started in fright

and gathered round to look, but there was no wound

visible on his body. Terrified, they all began talking

at once.

Cao Neng assigned two soldiers to stay behind and bury

the dead man and the column continued up the mountain.

Before they had gone very far, another horse

approached them from in front, its rider the same man

they had seen earlier.

"Listen to me, all of you," he called out. "You have

offended the demons. Turn back quickly and you will be

spared. If you continue eastwards, each one of you

Turtles will surely die."

The soldiers wondered fearfully how the man could have

made his way round in front of them again. They had

clearly seen him go down the mountain and one glance

confirmed that there were no short cuts back up the

slope. The man spurred his horse forward and the

soldiers shrunk from him as if he was a real demon.

One of the Imperial bodyguards, named Zhu, stuck out

his sword to obstruct the man. "Slow down, friend," he

said.

The man struck Zhu's shoulder with his right hand, and

the sword clattered to the ground. Then he sped off

down the mountain. As he passed the end of the column,

the last soldier gave a shriek and fell to the ground,

dead. The other soldiers stood staring foolishly,

scared out of their wits.

Zhang went down to the end of the column to

investigate.

"What is this fellow, a man or a ghost?" Zhu said. He

pressed his wounded right shoulder, his face deathly

pale. Zhang told him to undo his clothes and examined

the large black swelling on his right shoulder. He

ordered the troops to strip the dead soldier bare and

examine him for wounds. When they turned him over,

they found a similar black swelling on his back from

which the shape of a hand could be vaguely discerned.

The soldiers broke into an uproar as a shout of "The

Demon's Mark!" The Demon's Mark!" went up. Zhang

ordered that two soldiers be left behind to bury the

dead man. Two were chosen from the ranks, but even

when threatened with death, they refused to carry out

the order. Zhang had no alternative but to order a

halt and wait until the body was buried before

continuing.

"Master Zhang, this fellow is very strange," said

Bodyguard Rui. "How could he pass us by and then make

his way back in front of us again?"

Zhang stood deep in thought for a while. "Brother Zhu

and the two soldiers were obviously victims of Black

Sand Palm Kung Fu," he said. "There are very few

masters of Black Sand Palm kung fu in the underworld."

"If it's Black Palm kung fu, then the best is

naturally the Taoist Priest Hui Lu, but he's been dead

for many years," Rui said. "Could it be that his

spirit has re-appeared?"

Zhang slapped his thigh. "That's it! That's it!" he

cried. "They're Hui Lu's pupils. The Twin Knights that

people call Black Death and White Death. I was trying

to think of one person, so I couldn't work it out. All

right, so we're up against them as well."

He had no way of knowing that the Chang brothers were

also members of the Red Flower Society.

That night, the column stayed at Black Pine Village.

Cao posted guards all around the village to keep

careful watch, but next morning, not one of the

soldiers on guard duty returned to report, and a

detail sent to investigate found them all dead with a

string of paper money tied round each of their necks.

The rest of the soldiers were terrified, and more than

a dozen immediately deserted, slipping stealthily

away.

They had to cross Black Scabbard Mountain, one of the

most precipitous spots on the Liangzhou road. The air

became colder and colder as the road grew steeper, and

despite the fact that it was only September, snow

flakes floated down around them. The road deteriorated

to the point where there was a steep mountain face on

one side and a sheer cliff on the other falling into a

deep ravine. The soldiers moved slowly hand-in-hand,

terrified of slipping on the snow. Several of the

bodyguards dismounted and helped to support Wen's

carriage.

Just as they were gingerly making their way forward,

they heard a chirping sound coming from in front. A

moment later, the sound turned into an unearthly howl,

tragic and harsh, which echoed through the ravine

causing everyone's hair to stand on end. The soldiers

all stopped in their tracks.

Then came a shout: "Those who continue will meet the

King of Hell -- Those who turn back will survive."

How could the soldiers dare to continue?

A man appeared around a curve in the road ahead.

"Those who continue will meet the King of Hell, those

who turn back will survive," he intoned in a deep

voice.

The soldiers recognised him as the demon that had

appeared twice the day before and had killed with just

a wave of his hand, and they turned and fled with

squeals of fear. Cao Neng shouted to them to halt, but

he had to raise his sword and slay one of the soldiers

before some of them steadied. But sixty or seventy had

disappeared.

"Guard the carriage," Zhang said to Rui. "I'll go and

talk to these two." He leapt passed the soldiers.

"Could that be the Twin Knights up ahead?" he asked in

a loud, clear voice. "I, Zhang Zhaozhong, greet you.

There is no enmity between us. Why are you playing

this game?"

The man in front laughed coldly. "Ha! So, the Twin

Demons meet the Fire Hand Judge," he said. He strode

over and struck out at Zhang with such power that his

hand made a whistling sound as it cut through the air.

The road at that point was extremely narrow and Zhang

was unable to dodge to either left or right, so he

countered the blow with his left hand, putting all of

his Inner Strength behind it, while also attacking

with his right palm. His opponent parried with his

left hand. Their four hands met, and they stood almost

motionless for a while as they tested each other.

Suddenly, Zhang swept his left leg cross-wise in the

'Level Clouds Slicing The Peak' style. With

insufficient time to evade the blow, the man brought

his hands together and drove them viciously at Zhang's

temples. Zhang leant to one side and hastily withdrew

his leg, then moved forward, and with the precipice at

their side, the two passed each other by. They had

exchanged positions.

Zhang suddenly became aware of someone attacking him

from behind. He dodged out of the way and saw his

assailant was another pale, skeleton-like figure, his

face exactly the same as the first.

Zhang had more than two hundred soldiers and

bodyguards with him, but they were powerless to assist

because of the narrowness of the mountain path beside

the ravine.

The three fought more and more fiercely. In the midst

of the battle, one of the Twin Knights hit the

rock-face by mistake and a small avalanche of gravel

rattled down off the precipice followed by a slab of

rock which plunged into the ravine. A long time passed

before they finally heard the distant crash as it hit

the ground.

The battle continued for a long time. Suddenly, one of

the twins struck out with his fist, forcing Zhang to

move to one side to avoid it. The other twin then

leapt over and occupied Zhang's former position beside

the stone-face and both attacked him at the same

moment, attempting to force him into the ravine.

Zhang saw one of his attacker's legs sweeping forward

and stepped back a pace, so that half of his foot was

over the edge of the precipice. A cry of fright went

up from the troops. Then, Zhang felt a gust of wind as

the other twin's fist swung towards his face. Zhang

was unable to retreat, and knowing that there would be

great strength behind the blow, was also unable to

counter it. If he did, his opponent would simply be

thrown back against the stone-face by the force of the

collision while he himself would certainly fall to his

death. So, with wisdom born of fear, he seized hold of

his attacker's wrist, and with a great shout threw him

into the ravine.

His body in mid-air, 'Black Death' stayed calm. He

drew in his legs and performed a somersault in order

to slow down the force of his fall. Half way through

the circle, he pulled a Flying Claw grapple from his

belt and threw it straight up. His brother 'White

Death' had also taken out his Flying Claw and the two

grapples locked tightly, almost as if they were

shaking hands. 'White Death' jerked at the rope before

the full force of his brother's fall returned, and

swung him up and over bringing him back to earth more

than a hundred feet along the mountain path.

'White Death' saluted Zhang with his fists. "Your kung

fu is very powerful. We are impressed," he said. Then,

without even bending down to concentrate his strength,

he sprang into the air, and landed several dozen feet

further away. He grabbed hold of his brother's hand

and the two disappeared round the bend.

The soldiers clustered round, some praising Zhang's

kung fu, others lamenting that 'Black Death' had not

fallen to his death. Zhang said not a word, but leaned

against the rock face and slowly sat down. He looked

at his wrist and saw the jet-black impression of five

fingers on his flesh as if he had been branded, and

was struck by a wave of terror.
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