Lu Feiqing galloped westwards, braving strong winds
which whipped his face. Passing through Black Gold
Gorge, he noticed the blood spilled during the
previous day's battle had already been washed away by
the rain. He covered about twenty miles in one stretch
and arrived at a small market fair. Although the sky
was growing dark, he was
impatient to continue on his
way but his horse was exhausted. As he considered what
to do, he saw a Muslim at the edge of the fair leading
two large, well-fed horses and looking around as if
waiting for someone.
Lu went over and asked if he could buy one of them.
The Muslim shook his head. Lu reached into his cloth
bundle and took out a large silver ingot, but the
Muslim shook his head again. Anxious and
impatient, Lu
turned the bundle
upside down and six or seven more
silver ingots fell out: he offered them all. The
Muslim waved his hand to indicate the horse was
definitely not for sale, and Lu dejectedly began to
put the ingots back into his bundle. As he did so, the
Muslim glimpsed a dart
amongst the ingots, which he
picked up and examined closely. It was the dart Huo
Qingtong had thrown at Lu after he followed her to the
Muslim camp site. He asked where the dart came from.
In a flash of
inspiration, Lu said Huo Qingtong was
his friend and that she had given the dart to him. The
Muslim nodded, placed the dart back in Lu's hand and
passed over the reins of one of the horses. Delighted,
Lu pulled out an ingot of silver again, but the Muslim
waved his hand in
refusal and walked away.
"I would never have guessed that such a flower of a
girl would have such great influence among the
Muslims," Lu thought.
He rode off, and in the next town, came across more
Muslims. He pulled out the dart and was immediately
able to trade his mount for another strong horse.
Lu continued to change horses the whole way and,
eating dry provisions as he rode, he covered two
hundred miles in a day and a night. Towards evening on
the second day, he arrived at Anxi. Lu was a man of
great strength, but he was getting on in years, and
galloping for so long without rest had exhausted him.
As soon as he entered the city, he took out the red
flower Wen had given him and stuck it in his lapel.
Only a few steps later, two men in short jackets
appeared in front of him, saluted and invited him to
accompany them to a restaurant. Once there, one of the
men sat with him while the other excused himself and
left. Lu's companion was extremely
courteous, and
ordered food and wine without asking any questions.
After three cups of wine, another man
hurried in, came
over to them and saluted with his fists. Lu quickly
stood up and returned the salute. The man, aged about
thirty, wore an ordinary gown. He asked Lu for his
name and Lu told him.
"So you are Master Lu of the Wudang School," the man
said. "We have often heard our Third Brother Zhao
speak of you. I have great admiration for you. Our
meeting today is very auspicious."
"What is your honourable name?" Lu asked.
"My name is Wei."
"Please take a seat, sir," Lu's first companion said.
He saluted both Lu and Wei, and then left.
"Our Society's Young Helmsman and many of our brothers
are here in Anxi," said Wei. "If we had known you were
coming, they would certainly have all been here to
greet you. In a moment, if you don't mind, we will go
and everyone can pay their respects to you."
They left the restaurant and rode out of the city.
"You have met our Fourth Brother Wen Tailai and his
wife," Wei said.
"Yes. How did you know?"
"The flower you are wearing is Brother Wen's. It has
four green leaves."
Lu was surprised at how
openly Wei talked about their
society's secret signs, treating him not in the
slightest like an outsider.
After a while, they arrived at an
imposing Taoist
monastery surrounded by tall, ancient trees. Over the
main gate was a wooden
tablet inscribed with four
large characters: "Jade Nothingness Taoist Monastery".
Two Taoist priests standing in front of the monastery
bowed
respectfully. Wei invited Lu inside, and a young
apprentice priest brought tea. Wei whispered in his
ear, and the
apprentice nodded and went inside. Lu was
just about to raise his cup when he heard someone in
the inner hall shout: "Brother Lu! I've been worried
to death about you..." It was Lu's old comrade, Zhao
Banshan.
Zhao's questions came thick and fast. "Where have you
been all these years? What brings you here?"
Lu brushed the questions aside. "There is an urgent
matter to be discussed first. Your honourable
society's Brother Wen is in serious trouble."
He outlined the predicament of Wen and his wife. Even
before he had finished, Wei ran inside to report.
While he was still talking, Lu heard Wei arguing
loudly with someone in the
courtyard.
"Why are you
holding me back?" the other shouted. "I
must go to help Brother Wen now!"
"You're too
impatient," Wei replied. "It must be
discussed by everyone first, and then it is up to the
Young Helmsman to decide who goes." The other
continued to protest.
Taking Lu by the hand, Zhao walked into the
courtyard,
and Lu saw the hunchback who had severed the tail of
Yuanzhi's horse.
Wei gave the hunchback a push. "Go and pay your
respects to Master Lu," he said. The hunchback walked
over and stared dumbly at him for a moment. Lu knew
the hunchback remembered his face and,
uneasy at the
thought of how Yuanzhi had laughed at him that day, he
was about to apologise when the hunchback said:
"You have
ridden more than two hundred miles in a
night and a day to report on
behalf of Brother Wen. I,
Hunchback Zhang Jin, thank you!" He knelt down, and
kowtowed to Lu four times, his head banging on the
flagstones.
Lu wanted to stop him but it was already too late, so
all he could do was to kneel down and return the
gesture.
The hunchback stood up. "I am leaving now," he
announced. As he passed through the circular doorway,
a very short man coming in the other way caught hold
of the hunchback. "Where are you going?" he asked.
"I am going to find Brother Wen and Mistress Luo Bing.
Come with me." Without waiting for an answer, the
hunchback pulled him along by the wrist.
The hunchback Zhang Jin had been born with a deformed
body, but his strength was frightening. When talking
to others, he often referred to himself as 'Hunchback
Zhang', but anyone else
calling him a 'hunchback' was
courting disaster. He ranked 10th in seniority in the
Red Flower Society; his travelling companion was Xu
Tianhong who ranked seventh. Xu was very short and
slight in build, almost the size of a dwarf, but his
wisdom and resource made him the Red Flower Society's
chief tactician, and the fighting
community had dubbed
him 'The Kung Fu Mastermind'.
One by one, the other members of the Red Flower
Society came out and were introduced to Lu. They were
all famous heroes and Lu recognised most of them after
having passed them on the road several days before.
The formal greetings were kept to a
minimum, and after
a moment the one-armed Taoist priest, who ranked
second within the society, said: "Let us go and see
the Young Helmsman."
They went through to the rear
courtyard and entered a
large room. On one of the wooden walls a huge
'encirclement chess' board had been carved.* (* the
game, Wei Qi, is best known by its Japanese name -
Go.) Two men were sitting on a couch about thirty feet
away, fingering chess pieces and throwing them at the
vertical board, each piece
lodging itself in the lines
which formed the squares. In all his wide experience,
Lu had never seen chess played in such a manner.
Playing white was a young man with a
refined face
wearing a white gown who looked like the son of a
nobleman. His
opponent, playing black, was an old man
dressed in farmer's clothes.
"I wonder who this old hero is," Lu thought. "Never
have I seen anyone with his strength and accuracy." He
could see black was in a dangerous position, and that
with just one more move by white, all the black pieces
would be lost. The young man threw a piece, but his
aim was slightly off: the piece failed to embed itself
in the intersection of the lines and fell to the
floor. The old man laughed.
"You missed," he said. "Admit defeat!" He pushed the
chess pieces aside and stood up.
His
opponent smiled. "We'll have another game in a
while, teacher," he said. The old man saw the group
entering, and
strode out of the room without so much
as a greeting.
"Young Helmsman," Zhao said. "This is Brother Lu
Feiqing of the Wudang School." And to Lu: "This is our
Young Helmsman. I hope you will get to know one
another well."
The young man brought his two fists together in
salute. "My name is Chen Jialuo. I would greatly
appreciate your honoured counsel."
Lu was surprised to find that this Young Helmsman gave
every appearance of being a dissolute young man from a
wealthy family, the complete opposite of the rest of
the bandit-like bunch.
Zhao informed the Young Helmsman of how Wen had taken
refuge in Iron Gall Manor, and asked him for a plan of
action. The Young Helmsman turned to the Taoist
priest. "Priest Wu Chen," he said. "Please give us
your advice."
A large, fat man, whom Zhao had introduced a moment
before as 'Iron Pagoda' Yang, stood up and shouted:
"Fourth Brother is badly wounded, someone we have
never met before has
ridden hard for a day and a night
to report to us, and we are still deferring to each
other. We will kill Fourth Brother with all this
deference! Can we stop this
nonsense? Who dares to
disregard the wishes of the old Master? Young
Helmsman, if you do not respect the dying wish of your
foster father, you are unfilial. If you despise us
brothers so much that you are
unwilling to become our
leader, then the Red Flower Society's seventy or
eighty thousand members may as well go their separate
ways."
Everyone began talking at once: "We cannot remain
leaderless like this! If the Young Helmsman continues
to defer, our devotion will be finished! Fourth
Brother is in trouble! We must follow the Young
Helmsman's orders and go to save him!"
The young man, Chen, looked greatly distressed. His
eyebrows drew together in a deep frown as he silently
pondered the problem.
"Brothers!" shouted one of the Twin Knights of
Sichuan. "Since the Young Helmsman obviously despises
us, we two intend to return to Sichuan as soon as
Fourth Brother has been rescued."
Chen saw he had no
alternative and saluted the heroes
with his fists. "Brother Wen is in trouble and we can
wait no longer. All of you insist that I become
Helmsman, and because of the respect I have for you, I
will do as you say."
The heroes of the Red Flower Society shouted and
applauded with delight and relief.
"Well then," said the Taoist priest. "The Great
Helmsman should now pay his respects to his
predecessor and accept the Flower of Authority."
Lu knew that each society had its own special rites
and ceremonies of which the initiation of a new leader
was by far the most important. As an outsider, Lu felt
uncomfortable about being present during such a
ceremony, so he congratulated Chen and immediately
excused himself. He was extremely weary after his
journey, and Zhao led him to a room where he washed
and slept. When he awoke, it was already night.
"The Great Helmsman has left with the others for Iron
Gall Manor," Zhao said. "But he left me here to keep
you company. We can follow on tomorrow."
And then, after two decades apart, the two men talked.
They talked of the doings of the fighting
communityover the years, the good and the bad, the living and
the dead, until the east grew light.
"Your Great Helmsman is so young," said Lu. "He looks
like nothing more than just another rich man's son.
Why are you all willing to follow him?"
"It would take a long time to explain," Zhao replied.
"You rest for a while longer and we can talk again
later when we're riding."
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