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 community

over 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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