The Book and The Sword 書劍恩仇錄 （全文完）

PART SEVEN

** 1 **


Many hours later, they heard shouting in the distance. The sound of galloping hooves and clashing swords increased in volume until they heard a man near the pit shout: "Daughter! Master Chen! Where are you?"

"Father! Father! We're here!" Princess Fragrance called.

The heroes leapt out of the pit and saw Muzhuolun, sabre in hand, galloping towards them with a ragged bunch of Muslim soldiers behind, fighting bravely. Princess Fragrance ran to him crying "Father! Father!"

Muzhuolun took her in his arms. "Don't be afraid," he said soothingly. "I have come to save you."

Xu jumped onto the back of a horse to get a better view of the situation. He saw a great cloud of dust rising to the east and knew the Manchu armoured cavalry were coming.

"Master Muzhuolun!" he called. "Let's retreat to that high ground to the west!" Muzhuolun immediately ordered his troops to comply. They started out from the pit with the Manchus close behind, and as they reached the hill, saw another force of Manchu troops moving in from the west.

"Huo Qingtong was right," Muzhuolun thought glumly. "I should not have accused her like that. She must be feeling very bad."

They threw up temporary defences on the hilltop and settled down to wait for an opportunity to escape. With the Muslims firmly established on high ground, the Manchus did not dare, for the moment, to attack.

** 2 **

Huo Qingtong stationed her unit about four miles away from the enemy forces. At noon, the unit commanders came to report. She told the commander of the Green Flag's second unit: "Go with five hundred troops and take up positions along the southern bank of the Black River. The Manchu troops are not allowed to cross the river. If they attack, do not engage them head on, but rather delay them as long as possible." The commander bowed and retired.

She then turned to the commander of the White Flag's first unit. "I want you to lure the Manchu forces westwards. If your troops clash with the enemy, they are not allowed to win the engagement, but must continue to flee into the desert, the further the better. Take our four thousand head of cattle and goats with you and leave them along the road for them to seize."

"Why should we give them our livestock? I won't do it!"

Huo Qingtong's lips tightened. "Do you refuse to follow my orders?" she asked quietly.

The commander brandished his sabre. "If you tell me to win a battle. I will follow your orders. If you tell me to lose a battle, I would rather die then comply!"

"Seize him!" Huo Qingtong commanded. Four guards ran forward and grabbed the commander's arms. "The Manchu forces are oppressing us and to beat them, we must work together with one heart. Will you or will you not follow my orders?"

"No! What are you going to do about it?"

"Execute him!" she commanded, and the officer's face turned pale. The guards pushed him out of the tent and sliced off his head with one sword stroke as the other commanders quivered with fear.

Huo Qingtong promoted the assistant commander to take the dead officer's place and told him to retreat westwards before the Manchu forces until he saw smoke rising from the east, then to return as quickly as possible, avoiding battle with the Manchus. She ordered the other units to gather beside the Great Quagmire to the east.

Her work complete, she mounted her horse and drew her sword. "The first and second units of the Black Flag, follow me," she shouted.

** 3 **

Muzhuolun, Chen and the others were trapped on the hill. The Manchu troops had attacked twice, but had been beaten back. The hill was surrounded by piles of corpses. Losses on both sides had been heavy.

Sometime after noon, there was a movement in the Manchu lines, and a column of mounted Muslim soldiers charged through towards them. Amidst the flying snow flakes, they spotted Huo Qingtong at its head.

"Charge!" shouted Muzhuolun, and led his men down the hill to meet her. Princess Fragrance galloped over to her sister and embraced her.

Huo Qingtong took her hand and shouted: "Commander of the Black Flag Third Unit: lead your men west until you meet up with the first unit of the White Flag and follow the orders of its commander."

The officer and his troops galloped off, and a column of Manchu cavalry broke from the main force and chased after them.

"Excellent!" exclaimed Huo Qingtong. "Commander of the Black Flag First Unit: retreat with your men towards Yarkand and follow the orders of my brother. Commander of the Second Unit, you retreat towards the Black River." The two units broke out of the encirclement, and disappeared into the distance pursued by two more columns of Manchu cavalry.

"Everyone else head eastwards!" Huo Qingtong ordered, and the remaining Muslim soldiers along with the Red Flower Society fighters galloped through the circle of Manchu troops and away.

The Manchu cavalry, under the command of Zhao Wei closed in on the fleeing Muslims and cut off several hundred of them. All were slaughtered. Zhao Wei was delighted. He pointed to the huge Crescent Moon banner near Huo Qingtong and shouted: "Whoever seizes that banner gets a reward!" The cavalrymen surged forward, galloping madly across the desert.

The Muslims were riding good horses and the Manchu cavalry had difficulty keeping up with them. But after ten or fifteen miles, some of the Muslim fighters began to fall behind and were killed by the Manchu troops. Zhao Wei saw they were all either old men or boys, and exclaimed: "Their leader has no crack troops with him. After them!" They galloped on for another two or three miles and saw the Muslim force dispersing, apparently in confusion. Fluttering on the top of a large sand dune ahead was the crescent banner.

Zhao Wei flourished his sword and led the charge towards the dune with his bodyguards behind. But as he reached the top and looked out beyond, he was almost frightened out of his wits. To the north and south, were rank after orderly rank of Muslim warriors, waiting silently. The Manchu force had originally been several times larger than the Muslim force, but so many units had been sent out in pursuit of the breakaway Muslim columns that only ten thousand armoured cavalry now faced the concentrated might of the Muslim army. Two more Muslim columns appeared behind them, and with enemy troops to the north, south and west, Zhao Wei shouted: "Everyone forward! Eastwards!" The Manchu forces surged forward as the Muslim fighters gradually closed in on them.

Suddenly, there was a chorus of cries from the cavalry unit in the lead. A soldier rode up to Zhao Wei and said: "General! We're finished! There's quicksand ahead!" He could see a thousand cavalrymen and their horses already flailing about as they sank into the soft mud.

Chen and the others stood on a sand dune and watched as the Manchu troops fell into the quagmire. The soldiers behind tried to escape, but the Muslims pressed relentlessly in, forcing them into the mud. The air was filled with the screams of the hapless Manchu soldiers, but the mud crept up their legs, and when it reached their mouths, the noise ceased. The dwindling numbers of Manchu troops fought desperately, but in less than an hour, the whole army had been forced into the quagmire. Only Zhao Wei and a hundred or so guards managed to escape after carving a path of blood through the Muslim ranks.

"Everyone head westwards and gather on the south bank of the Black River," Huo Qingtong ordered. The entire force of more than ten thousand troops galloped off.

As they rode, Chen and Muzhuolun discussed what had happened since they parted. Muzhuolun's heart was uneasy. He loved his two daughters more than anything in the world, and they had both fallen in love with the same Chinese man. According to Islamic law, a man could marry four wives, but Chen was not a believer, and he had heard that Chinese had only one wife while the second and subsequent women were not considered real wives. He wondered how the matter could be resolved. "Wait until the Manchus have been beaten," he thought. "One daughter is wise and the other kind. A way will be found."

The great Muslim column arrived at the south bank of the Black River towards evening. A soldier galloped up and breathlessly reported: "The Manchus are attacking hard. The commander of the Green Flag Second Unit is dead, and the commander of the Black Flag Second Unit is badly wounded. Losses are heavy."

"Tell the deputy commander of the Green Flag second unit to take over. He is not to retreat one step," Huo Qingtong ordered. The soldier galloped off again.

"Let's go and reinforce them!" Muzhuolun suggested.

"No!" she replied and turned to her personal guards. "The whole army will rest here. No one is allowed to light a fire or make a sound. Everyone will eat dry rations." The order was transmitted, and the soldiers settled down silently in the darkness. Far off, they could hear the waters of the Black River and the cries and shouts of Manchu and Muslim fighters.

Another soldier galloped frantically up. "The Green Flag Second Unit's deputy commander has also been killed," he reported. "We can't hold them back much longer!"

Huo Qingtong turned to the commmander of the Green Flag Third Unit. "Go and reinforce them," she said. "You will be in command." He raised his sabre in salute and led his unit away. Soon after, the sound of battle rose to a roar.

"The Green Flag units will lie in ambush behind the sand dunes to the east. The White Flag and Mongol units will lie in ambush to the west," Huo Qingtong ordered. "The rest, come with me."

She rode off towards the Black River, and as they approached it, the metallic ring of weapons clashing became deafening. In the torchlight, they saw the Muslim fighters bravely defending the wooden bridge across the river in the face of ferocious assaults by the best Manchu cavalry.

"Give way!" Huo Qingtong shouted, and the fighters on the bridge retreated, leaving a gap through which several thousand Manchu mounted troops swarmed like bees. When about half of the Manchu troops had crossed, she shouted: "ull away the bridge!"

The Muslims had earlier loosened the beams of the bridge and used long ropes to tie them to horses on the river bank below. The horses strained forward, a series of loud cracks rent the air, and the bridge collapsed, throwing hundreds of Manchu soldiers into the river. The Manchu army was thus cut in two by the river, with neither side able to assist the other.

At the order from Huo Qingtong, the mass of the Muslim army, hiding behind the sand dunes, emerged and overwhelmed the Manchu troops on the near bank. In a short time, they were all dead, and the Manchu force on the other side of the river were so frightened by the sight of the slaughter that they turned and fled towards Yarkand city.

"Across the river and after them!" shouted Huo Qingtong. A make-shift bridge was swiftly constructed with the remains of the former structure and the Muslim army charged off towards Yarkand.

The citizens of Yarkand had long since evacuated their city. Huo Qingtong's brother, on her instructions, had resisted perfunctorily when the Manchus attacked, then led his troops in retreat from the city. Soon after, the Manchu forces fleeing from the banks of the Black River arrived along with General Zhao Wei and his hundred-odd battered bodyguards. The walled city was now full of Manchu soldiers.

Just as Zhao Wei was about to go to bed, he received a report that several hundred troops who had drank water from wells in the city had died of poisoning. He sent a unit to collect some uncontaminated water from outside. Then the sky turned red. All over the city, fires were lit by a small number of Muslim soldiers left behind, and the city turned into a huge oven.

Under the protection of his bodyguard, Zhao Wei fought his way through the flames and smoke towards the west gate as the rest of the Manchu soldiers trampled each other in their haste to escape. The bodyguards slashed at them with their swords, forcing them to make way for their general. But when they got to the west gate, they found it had been blocked by the Muslims. The fires were burning even more ferociously, and the streets were filled with frenzied mobs of soldiers and horses. Through the confusion, a small group of riders appeared shouting: "Where is the General?"

"Here!" Zhao Wei's bodyguards shouted back.

"There are fewer enemy troops at the east gate," replied one of the riders. "We can force our way out there."

Even in such danger, Zhao Wei remained calm and led his troops in the attack on the east gate. The Muslims fired wave after wave of arrows at them, and several attempts to break out failed with heavy losses. But at the critical moment, Zhang Zhaozhong led a troop of Manchu soldiers in an attack from outside the city and managed to snatch Zhao Wei away to safety.

Many thousands of Manchu soldiers had already been burned to death, and the stench was sickening. The whole city was filled with cries and screams. Huo Qingtong and the others watched from a piece of high ground.

"It's terrible! Terrible!" cried Muzhuolun. Huo Qingtong sent more troops down to help blockade the east gate of the city. With Zhao Wei gone, the Manchu soldiers left inside were leaderless. They raced frantically about, but with the four gates blocked by the Muslims, they all died in the monster furnace.

"Light the signal fires!" Huo Qingtong ordered, and piles of wolf droppings that had been prepared were put to the torch, sending a huge column of black smoke up to the heavens. (The smoke from burning wolf's dropping is the thickest and blackest of all.) A short while later, a similar column of smoke arose five or so miles to the west.

The Muslims had won three victories and wiped out more than thirty thousand of the best Manchu troops. The warriors embraced each other and sang and danced around the Yarkand city wall.

Huo Qingtong called her officers together. "We will camp out here tonight," she said. "Each man must start ten fires and must spread them out as much as possible."

** 4 **

More than ten thousand Manchu cavalry chased westwards after the Third Unit of the Muslim's Black Flag Brigade. The Muslims were riding the best horses, but the commander of the Manchu troops was under orders from General Zhao Wei to catch the Muslim force, and he urged his men on mercilessly. The two armies charged across the desert, the roar of horses's hooves sounding like thunder. After a few dozen miles, a herd of several thousand cattle and sheep suddenly appeared in the path of the Manchu army and the soldiers chased after them shouting for joy, and killed as many as they could for food. Their pace slowed. The Muslims, meanwhile, galloped on, never once being forced to clash with the pursuing Manchu troops. Close to evening, they saw a pall of thick smoke rising from the east.

"Mistress Huo Qingtong has won!" The Muslim commander shouted. "Turn back east!" The warriors' spirits soared and they reined their horses round. Seeing them turning, the Manchu troops were perplexed and charged forward to attack, but the Muslims swung round them at a distance, the Manchus following.

The Muslim units galloped through the night, the Manchus always in sight. The Manchu commander wanted to gain great merit for himself, and many of his cavalry horses died of exhaustion. Towards midnight, they came across General Zhao Wei riding in front of about three thousand wounded. Zhao Wei's hope rose slightly as he saw the Manchu column approach.

"After their success, the enemy will be in a state of unpreparedness," he thought. "So if we attack now, we will be able to turn defeat into victory." He ordered the troops to advance towards the Black River, and after ten miles or so, scouts reported that the Muslim army was camped ahead. Zhao Wei led his commanders onto a rise to view the scene and a chill shook each of them to the bottom of their hearts.

The entire plain was covered in camp fires, stretching seemingly endlessly before them. They heard from far off the shouts of men and the neighing of horses, and they wondered how many warriors the Muslims had mustered. Zhao Wei was silent.

"With such a huge army against us, no wonder...no wonder we have encountered some set-backs," one of the senior military officials, Commander Herda, said.

Zhao Wei turned to the others. "All units are to mount up and retreat south," he ordered. "No-one is to make a sound."

The order was received badly by the troops who had hoped to stop at least long enough for a meal.

"According to the guides, the road south passes the foot of Yingqipan Mountain and is very dangerous after heavy snows," Herda pointed out.

"The enemy's forces are so powerful, we have no choice but to head southeast and try to meet up with General Fu De," Zhao Wei replied.

The remnants of the great army headed south, and found the road becoming more and more treacherous as they went. To the left was the Black River, to the right, the Yingqipan Mountain. The night sky was cloudy and ink-black, and the only light was a faint glow reflecting off the snow further up the mountain slope.

Zhao Wei issued a further order: "Whoever makes a sound will be immediately executed." Most of the soldiers came from Northeast China and knew that any noise could shake loose the heavy snow above them and cause an avalanche that would kill them all. They all dismounted and led their horses along with extreme care, many walking on tip-toe. Three or four miles further on, the road became very steep, but as luck would have it, the sky was by now growing light. The Manchu troops had been fighting and running for a whole day and a night, and there was a deathly expression on the face of each one.

Suddenly, there was a shout from a scout and several hundred Muslim warriors appeared on the road ahead standing behind a number of primitive cannons. Scared out of their wits, the Manchu troops were thrown into confusion and many turned and fled just as the cannons went off with a roar, spraying iron shards and nails into them, instantly killing more than two hundred.

As the boom of the cannon faded, Zhao Wei heard a faint rustling noise, and felt a coldness on his neck as a small amount of snow fell inside his collar. He looked up the mountain side and saw the snow fields above them slowly beginning to move.

"General!" Herda shouted. "We must escape!"

Zhao Wei reined his horse round and started galloping back the way they had come. His bodyguards slashed and hacked at the soldiers in their path, frantically pushing them off the road into the river below as the rumble of the approaching snow avalanche grew louder and louder. Suddenly, tons of snow intermingled with rocks and mud surged down onto the road with a deafening roar that shook the heavens.

Zhao Wei, with Herda on one side and Zhang Zhaozhong on the other, escaped the catastrophe. They galloped on for more than a mile before daring to stop. When they did look back, they saw the several thousand troops had been buried by snow drifts more than a hundred feet thick. The road ahead was also covered in deep snow. Surrounded by such danger and having lost an entire army of forty thousand men in one day, Zhao Wei burst into tears.

"General, let us go up the mountain slope," said Zhang. He picked up Zhao Wei and raced off up the slope with Herda following along behind.

Huo Qingtong, watching from a distant crest, shouted: "Someone's trying to escape! Catch them quickly!" Several dozen Muslims ran off to intercept them. When they saw the three were wearing the uniforms of officials, they rubbed their hands in delight, determined to catch them alive. Zhang silently increased his pace. Despite the weight of Zhao Wei, he seemed to fly across the treacherously slippery slope. Herda could not keep up with him and was cut off by the Muslims and captured after a spirited fight. Apart from Zhao Wei and Zhang, only a few dozen of the Manchu troops survived the avalanche.

Huo Qingtong led the Muslim warriors back to their camp, along with the prisoners. By now, the Muslims had taken the main Manchu camp, thereby acquiring huge supplies of food and weapons. The Four Tigers were among those taken prisoner after being found bound and gagged inside a tent. Chen asked them why they had been put there, and the eldest of the four giants replied: "Because we helped you. General Zhao said he would have us killed after the battle." Chen pleaded before Huo Qingtong to allow the four to go free, and she agreed.

** 5 **

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 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.

** 6 **

Huo Qingtong left the camp feeling lonely and confused. "I'll go to my teachers' home at Precious Mountain and lose myself in the desert with them," she thought. She was unwell, and even though her kung fu training enabled her to keep going, after ten days travelling across the desert, she was absolutely exhausted and still four or five days from the home of the Tianshan Eagles. Finally, she stopped beside a small sand dune and let her horse graze on the sparse, dry grasses nearby.

She set up her tent and slept for several hours. In the middle of the night she was awakened by the sound of three horses approaching from the east. As they neared the sand dune, they slowed and headed for the same patch of dry grass that had attracted her mount. The horses were unwilling to continue, so the three riders dismounted to rest. They did not see Huo Qingtong's tent, which was on the other side of the dune. She heard them talking Chinese, but she was still sleepy and did not bother to listen closely. Suddenly, however, she heard one of the men say: "That damned bitch! If I don't skin her alive and rip out all her tendons, then my name isn't Gu."

"Brother Yan's kungfu was excellent," said another. "I don't believe that a girl could kill him without using some sort of trickery."

"Well, of course," added a third. "As I said, we have to be very careful. There are a lot of Muslims around."

Huo Qingtong realised in astonishment that they were the Guandong Devils and that they were talking about her.

"There's not much water left in the satchel and we don't know how many more days we have to go before we find water again," one of them said. "From tomorrow, we'll have to drink even less." Soon afterwards, they went to sleep.

Huo Qingtong was uncertain of what to do. The desert was flat and empty for miles in every direction, so there was no way she could escape if they found her, especially as she was still sick. After some thought, she decided the safest course would be to reveal herself, and find some way to lead the three to her teacher's home.

Early next morning, the Guandong Devils woke to find Huo Qingtong standing in front of them. She examined them carefully. One was a tall man who looked like a member of the gentry. The second had a thick black beard, while the third was wearing Mongol clothes.

"Mistress, do you have any water to spare?" the first man, Tang, asked her, pulling out a silver ingot as he spoke. Huo Qingtong shook her head to indicate she did not understand Chinese. The Mongol, who was named Hahetai, repeated the request in Mongolian and she replied in the same tongue: "I cannot give you any of my water. The Yellow-Robed Lady, Mistress Huo Qingtong, sent me on an important errand and I am now returning to report." She quickly dismantled her tent and mounted her horse. Hahetai ran forward and grabbed hold of her horse's reins.

"Where is she?" he asked.

"Why do you want to know?"

"We are her friends. There is urgent news we have to pass on to her."

Huo Qingtong pouted. "That's an outright lie! She is at Precious Mountain, but you are heading west. Don't try to cheat me!"

Hahetai turned to the other two and said: "She's on her way to see the damned bitch now."

With her unhealthy appearance and the way she wheezed as she spoke, she did not look at all like someone who knew kung fu. So not suspecting her in the slightest, the Devils took advantage of what they took to be her ignorance of Chinese and loudly discussed how they would kill her when they reached Precious Mountain, and then go to find Huo Qingtong. The bearded man, Gu, could see that she was very beautiful despite her haggard look, and his lust began to stir.

Huo Qingtong noticed him constantly staring at her covetously, and knew that even though they had not recognised her, travelling alone for four or five days with these three Devils was too dangerous. She ripped a strip of material off her jacket and tied it round the leg of one of her two eagles then threw the bird up into the air. It spread its wings and flew off towards the horizon.

"What are you doing?" Tang demanded suspiciously. Huo Qingtong shook her head, and Hahetai translated what he had said into Mongolian.

"There are no more water springs for another seven or eight days. You've got so little water, how could it be enough? I'm letting the eagles go so they can go and find water themselves." As she spoke, she released the second eagle.

"Two eagles wouldn't drink very much water," Tang replied.

"When you're dying of thirst, even a drop may be enough to save your life." Afraid they would try to harm her, she had exaggerated the distance to the next water.

Hahetai mumbled oaths. "Even in the deserts of Mongolia, you would never have to travel for seven or eight days without water. This is a cursed region!"

They camped that night in the middle of the desert. Huo Qingtong could see Gu's gaze constantly sweeping over her and became very worried. She went into her tent, drew her sword, and sat down beside the tent entrance, not daring to sleep. Towards midnight, she heard someone tiptoeing over. Suddenly, the tent flap opened and Gu crept inside. He began feeling about in the darkness for her, and an instant later, felt an icy coldness on his neck as a sharp blade gently touched it.

"If you so much as twitch, I will run it through you," Huo Qingtong whispered. "Lie on the ground!" He immediately complied. She placed the tip of the sword on his back, then sat down and wondered what she should do.

"If I kill him, the other two won't let me get away with it," she thought. "It's probably best to wait for my teacher to get here."

A couple of hours later, Tang woke and noticed Gu was missing. He jumped up and began shouting "Brother Gu! Brother Gu!"

"Answer him quickly," Huo Qingtong whispered fiercely. "Tell him you're here."

"It's all right, Brother, I'm here!" he shouted back, well aware that he had no choice.

Tang laughed. "You horny old thief! You'll never change."

The next morning, Huo Qingtong waited until the other two were up before letting Gu out.

"Brother Gu," Hahetai berated him as he emerged. "We have come to seek revenge not to make trouble." Gu's teeth were almost chattering with hate but he didn't tell them what had happened. If he did, the shame of it would follow him for the rest of his life. But he decided that he would have the girl the following night and then kill her.

At about midnight, Gu advanced on Huo Qingtong's tent again, a spear in one hand and a torch in the other. As he entered, he saw her crouching in the far corner and lunged at her triumphantly. But suddenly he felt something cut into his legs as a rope noose hidden on the ground caught him. Huo Qingting gave it a tug and he overbalanced and fell heavily.

"Don't move!" she hissed, and placed the tip of her sword against his stomach. She didn't think she could not stand another night like the previous one, but killing Gu was not enough. She had to finish off all three.

"Tell your elder brother to come over here," she whispered. Gu guessed what she was planning and remained silent. She increased the pressure so that the sword cut through his clothes and the top layer of skin. Gu knew a sword in the stomach was the most painful way to die. "He won't come," he whispered back.

"All right, then I'll kill you first," she replied, and the sword moved again.

"Elder Brother! Come here! Come quickly!" Gu called frantically.

"Laugh," Huo Qingtong ordered. Gu frowned and uttered several dry laughs.

"Laugh more happily!"

He silently cursed her, but with the sword already inside his flesh, he forced out a loud hysterical laugh. Tang and Hahetai had already been awakened by the racket.

"Stop playing around, Brother, and conserve some of your strength," Tang yelled.

Huo Qingtong could see he wouldn't come. "Call the other one," she hissed, and Gu shouted out again. Although he was a bandit, Hahetai did not take advantage of women, and he was very unhappy with Gu's behaviour. But he was his sworn brother, so he just pretended not to hear.

"If I don't kill these three, it is going to be difficult to free myself of today's shame," she thought. Holding the sword in her right hand, she wound the rope round and round Gu until he could not move. Only then did she relax. She leant against the side of the tent, but did not dare to fall asleep.

The next morning, as it grew light, she saw that Gu was fast asleep and angrily whipped him awake with her horse's whip. She placed the tip of her sword on his heart and said: "If you so much as grunt, I will skewer you!" She wondered again whether she should kill him, but decided that it would immediately bring disaster down on her head. She estimated her teacher should reach them by that afternoon anyway, so after untying the rope, she pushed Gu out of the tent.

Tang looked at the bloody welts on his face suspiciously. "Who is this girl?" he asked in a low voice. "What's she up to?"

Gu glanced meaningfully at him. "Let's grab her," he said. The two men started to walk slowly towards her, but she saw them coming and ran over to the horses. She pulled out her sword and punctured Gu's and Hahetai's water bags, then grabbed the largest of Tang's water bags and jumped onto her own horse. The Three Devils stood watching dumbly for a second as the precious water drained out of the two water bags and was instantly swallowed by the sand, then charged at her angrily.

She lay along the horse's back breathing heavily. "If you come a step closer, I'll slash this bag too," she wheezed. The Three Devils stopped.

"I agreed to take you to see Mistress Huo Qingtong and in return you bully me," she added when she had recovered slightly. "From here to the next water is six days travelling. If you don't leave me alone, I'll slash this bag too and we will all die of thirst."

"We won't harm you," protested Tang.

"Let's go," she ordered. "You three first." So they rode on across the desert, the three men in front, the girl behind.

By noon, the burning sun was riding high in the sky, and their lips and tongues were parched dry. Huo Qingtong began to see stars before her eyes and moments of faintness swept over her. She wondered if she was going to die.

"Hey! Give us some water!" she heard Hahetai shout. She shook herself awake.

"Take out a bowl and put it on the ground," she replied. Hahetai did as she said. "Now retreat one hundred paces." Gu hesitated suspiciously. "If you don't, you won't get any water," she added. They cursed her, but retreated. Huo Qingtong rode forward, undid the cap of the water bag and filled the bowl, then rode away again. The three men ran over to the bowl and took turns at gulping down the liquid.

They continued on their way, and about four hours later green grass began to appear beside the road. Tang's eyes lit up. "There must be water ahead!" he shouted. Huo Qingtong was worried. She tried to think of some course of action, but her head was splitting with pain. Suddenly, there was a long eagle's cry from above and she looked up to see a black shape swooping downwards. Overjoyed, she raised her arm and the eagle landed on her shoulder. She saw a piece of black material fastened to one of its legs and knew her teacher would arrive soon.

Tang could see something funny was going on, and with a wave of his hand sent a sleeve dart flying towards Huo Qingtong's right wrist, hoping to knock the sword from her grasp. But she blocked the dart with her sword and with a wave of the reins, galloped around them and into the lead. The Three Devils began shouting and chased after her. After two or three miles, her legs and arms were numb, and she could hold on no longer. The horse gave a jolt and she toppled to the ground.

The Three Devils spurred their horses on. Huo Qingtong struggled to get back onto the horse, but she was too weak. Then in a flash of inspiration, she slung the water bag's leather strap over the eagle's neck and threw the bird up into the air. Tang and the others forgot Huo Qingtong at the sight of their water bag being carried away and chased frantically after the eagle. The water bag was almost full of water and not light, so the eagle was not able to fly high or fast, and the three were able to keep up with it.

A few miles further on, the eagle glided downwards just as two riders appeared in a cloud of dust ahead of them. The eagle circled twice and landed on the shoulder of one of the riders. The Three Devils spurred their horses on and saw that one of the strangers was a bald, red-faced old man, and the other a white-haired old lady.

"Where's Huo Qingtong?" the old man barked, and the three stared at him in surprise. The old man removed the water bag from the eagle's neck and hurled the bird back into the air. He gave a harsh whistle and the bird answered with a squeak and headed back the way it had come. The old couple took no further notice of the Three Devils and galloped past them, chasing after the eagle. Tang saw the old man still had the water bag, and with a wave of his hand to the others, followed along behind.

The two old people were the Tianshan Twin Eagles, Bald Vulture and Madame Guan. After three or four miles, they saw the eagle glide downwards to where Huo Qingtong was lying on the ground. Madame Guan leapt off her horse and grabbed the girl up into her arms and began sobbing.

"Who has been treating you so badly?" she demanded, looking down at the girl's deathly appearance. Just then, the Three Devils rode up. Huo Qingtong pointed at them, then fainted away.

"Well, are you just going to sit there?" Madame Guan demanded angrily of her husband. Bald Vulture wheeled his horse round and charged at the three, and began fighting furiously with them.

Madame Guan slowly poured water into Huo Qingtong's mouth and the girl gradually regained consciousness. Only then did she look round to see how her husband was doing. He was struggling to keep the three at bay, and so she drew her sword and jumped into the melee. She struck out at Tang, who swung round to counter the stroke, but immediately found her  had changed. Amazed that this thin old woman could be such a formidable swordswoman, he concentrated completely on defence.

Huo Qingtong sat up and observed the Twin Eagles gradually gaining the upper hand. As she watched, she faintly heard a strange sound floating towards them on the wind from far off, a sound full of violence and dread, hunger and evil, as if hundreds of wild beasts were howling in unison.

"Teacher, listen!" she cried. The Twin Eagles disengaged themselves from the fight and cocked an ear to listen carefully. The Devils had been hard pressed to hold their own, and did not dare to attack the old couple.

The sound increased slightly in volume, and the Twin Eagles turned pale. Bald Vulture ran over to his horse and stood on its back.

"Come and look!" he shouted. "See if there's anywhere we can take cover."

Madame Guan picked Huo Qingtong up and placed her on her own horse, then vaulted up onto her husband's horse and stood on his shoulders.

The Three Devils looked at each other, absolutely baffled. Their attackers had broken off the fight when they had already won, and were now building human pyramids on a horse's back.

"What devilry are they up to?" Gu growled darkly. Tang had no idea what was happening and could only concentrate on being prepared for anything.

Madame Guan gazed about in all directions, and then shouted: "I think there are two big trees to the north!"

"Whether there are or not, let's go!" her husband replied. Madame Guan jumped over to Hua Qingtong's horse, and they galloped off north without taking any further notice of the Three Devils.

Hahetai noticed that in their hurry to get away, they had left the water bag behind, and bent down to pick it up. By now, the terrifying howling sound was becoming even louder. Gu's face turned grey. "It's a wolf pack!" he cried. The three leapt onto their horses and galloped after the Twin Eagles. Looking back, they saw large wild cats, camels, goats and horses racing for their lives before a grey tide of thousands of hungry wolves.

A few dozen yards ahead of the multitude was a rider, galloping along as if leading the way. In a flash, his powerful horse raced up and passed the Three Devils, who saw he was an old man. The rider turned to look back at them, and shouted: "Do you want to die? Faster!"

Tang's horse was scared out of its wits by the mass of animals bearing down upon them, and it stumbled and threw him. Tang leapt to his feet as a dozen wild cats rushed past him.

"I'm finished," he thought, and began screaming at the top of his voice. Gu and Hahetai heard his screams and turned and headed back to rescue him, the wolves bearing down upon them. A huge wolf, its snow-white teeth bared, charged at Tang, who drew his sword to defend himself even though he knew it was useless. Suddenly, there was the sound of horse's hooves behind, and the old man galloped up, grabbed Tang by his collar and threw his fat body towards Hahetai. Tang somersaulted through the air and landed in a sitting position on Hahetai's horse. The three riders pulled their horses round, and flew for their lives.

The Twin Eagles had lived in the desert many years and were well aware that even the most ferocious animal could not survive an encounter with the wolf pack. They galloped on, and as the two tall trees rose before them, thanked the Heavens that they had once again avoided ending up in a wolf's stomach. Once at the trees, Bald Vulture leapt up in to the branches of one, and Madame Guan handed Huo Qingtong up to him. The wolf pack was approaching fast. Madame Guan whipped the backs of their two horses and shouted: "Run for your lives! We cannot help you!" The two horses dashed away.

Just as the three of them had found somewhere to sit in the branches, they noticed the grey-gowned rider galloping along ahead of the wolf pack. As the rider passed by below, Bald Vulture embraced him with his free hand and lifted him up.

The old man was taken by surprise. His horse shot onwards, while he himself was left dangling in space, a host of animals passing under his feet. He performed a somersault, and landed on his feet on a branch further up the tree.

"What's wrong?" said Bald Vulture. "Don't tell you're afraid of wolves too, Master Yuan?"

"Who asked you to interfere?" the old man replied angrily.

"There's no need to be like that," Madame Guan interrupted him. "My husband just saved your life."

The old man laughed coldly. "Saved me? You've messed up everything!"

He was Great Helmsman Chen's teacher, Master Yuan. He and Madame Guan had grown up together in central China and had fallen in love. But they had argued constantly, and eventually Yuan left and spent more than ten years travelling in the Northern Deserts. There was no news of him, and Madame Guan presumed he would never come back. Eventually, she married Bald Vulture, but shortly after the wedding, Yuan unexpectedly returned home. Both Yuan and Madame Guan were heart-broken although they never spoke of the matter again. Bald Vulture was also very unhappy, and on several occasions went after Yuan to get revenge, but his kung fu was not good enough, and only Yuan's regard for Madame Guan's feelings kept her husband from being seriously hurt. So Bald Vulture took his wife and travelled far away into the Muslim regions. Yuan, however, could not forget her, and also moved to the Tianshan Mountains. He never visited them, but just living close to the woman he loved made him feel a little happier. Madame Guan did all she could to keep from seeing her former lover, but Bald Vulture would not let the matter drop, and the couple had fought and argued for decades since. All three were now old and white-haired, but a day did not pass when they did not think of the entanglement.

Bald Vulture was very pleased with himself for having saved Yuan. You have always had the upper hand, he thought, but perhaps you'll show gratitude towards me after this. Madame Guan, however, was puzzled by Yuan's anger.

"What do you mean, 'messed everything up'?" she asked. "Messed what up?"

"This wolf pack is growing bigger and bigger, and has become a real plague on the desert," Yuan replied. "Several Muslim villages have been completely wiped out already. The wolves eat people, animals, everything. So I prepared a trap and was just leading them to their deaths when you interfered."

Bald Vulture knew Yuan was telling the truth, and felt acutely embarrassed.

Yuan saw the apologetic expression on Madame Guan's face and brought his anger under control. "But you were doing what you thought was best," he added. "I thank you, anyway."

"What sort of trap is it?" asked Bald Vulture.

"Save them!" Yuan suddenly shouted, and jumped down from the tree into the midst of the wolves.

The Three Devils had already been overtaken by the wolves, and their horses had been ripped to shreds. The three of them were standing back-to-back fighting furiously, and although they had killed more than a dozen wolves, others continued to lunge at them. All three were already wounded in several places, and it looked as if they could not hold out for long. Yuan raced over, his hands flew out and smashed the skulls of two wolves. He picked Hahetai up and threw him up into the tree, shouting "Catch!", and Bald Vulture caught him. In the same way, Yuan threw Tang and Gu up, then killed another two wolves, grabbed one of the corpses by the neck and swung it round and round, opening up a path to the tree, then leapt up into the branches. The Three Devils, having been literally snatched from the jaws of death, showered him with thanks. They were astonished by the speed and strength he had displayed, and the way he made killing wolves seem as easy as catching rabbits.

Several hundred wolves circled the base of the tree, scratching at the trunk, raising their heads and howling. A short distance away, several dozen of the fleeing animals had been cut off and encircled by the wolves, who filled the air with their cries and howls. The animals leapt frantically about as the wolves tore and gnashed at them. It was a horrible sight. In only a moment, the animals had all been ripped apart and eaten. Those sitting up in the tree were all brave fighters, but it was the first time any of them had witnessed such a terrifying scene, and they were very frightened.

Bald Vulture eyed the Three Devils suspiciously.

"They are not good men," Huo Qingtong told him.

"All right, then," he replied. "They can go and feed the wolves." Just as he was about to push them off the tree, he looked down once more at the tragic scene below and hesitated just long enough for Tang to shout: "Let's go!" He leapt over to the other tree and Gu and Hahetai followed him.

Madame Guan looked at Huo Qingtong. "My dear, what do you say?" She wanted to know if the girl wanted them to chase after the three and kill them.

Huo Qingtong's heart softened. "Forget about it," she said.

"I am Huo Qingtong," she shouted to the Three Devils. "If you want to get your revenge on me, why don't you come over?" Tang and the others were astonished and infuriated by her words, but they did not dare to return to the other tree.

The wolf pack came fast, and left fast too. They swirled around the trees for a while, howling and barking, then chased off after the remaining wild animals.

Madame Guan told Huo Qingtong to pay her respects to Master Yuan. Seeing her sickly appearance, Yuan took two red pills from his bag and gave them to her, saying: "Take them. They're Snow Ginseng Pills." Snow Ginseng pills were made from the rarest medicinal herbs, and were well known for their ability to even restore life to the dying.

Just as Huo Qingtong was about to bow before him, Yuan jumped down from the tree and ran off. In a moment, he had become just a black dot amidst the swirling desert dust.

** 7 **

Madame Guan helped Huo Qingtong down from the tree, and told her to swallow one of the Snow Ginseng pills. She did so, and soon after, a wave of heat rose from the pit of her stomach, and she felt much better.

"You are very lucky," Madame Guan said. "With these wonderful pills you will recover much quicker."

"She wouldn't die even if she didn't take them," Bald Vulture commented coldly.

"So you'd prefer her to suffer a bit longer, would you?" his wife snapped back.

"If it was me, I'd die rather than take one of his pills. But you, you'd take one even if there was nothing wrong with you."

Madame Guan put the girl on her back, and started walking off north with Bald Vulture following behind, nattering ceaselessly.

They went to the old couple's home on Precious Mountain. Huo Qingtong took another pill, then slept peacefully, and felt much refreshed when she woke. Madame Guan sat on the edge of the bed and asked her what she had been doing travelling alone and sick through the desert. Huo Qingtong told her about how the Manchu army had been destroyed and how she had met the Three Devils on the road, but did not say why she had left the camp. Madame Guan, however, was an impatient person and pressed her. Huo Qingtong respected her teacher more than anyone, and found it impossible to deceive her.

"He...he has become friendly with my sister," she sobbed. "And when I gave the orders to the troops before the battle, my father and everyone thought I was acting out of my own selfish interests."

Madame Guan jumped up. "Is it that Great Helmsman Chen that you gave the dagger to?" Huo Qingtong nodded. "Then he's fickle-hearted and your sister has no sisterly feelings for you. They should both be killed!"

"No, no..." Huo Qingtong replied hastily.

"I'll go and settle this for you," Madame Guan declared fiercely and rushed out of the room, almost bumping into her husband who had come to find out what the shouting was about.

"Come with me!" Madame Guan cried. "There's two heartless ingrates that need to be killed!"

"Right!" he replied, and ran out after her.

Huo Qingtong jumped off the bed, wanting to explain, but she collapsed on the ground, and by the time she had recovered, they were already far away. She knew that together they could easily beat Chen, and was worried they actually would kill him and her sister. So disregarding her weakness, she climbed onto her horse and galloped off after them.

As they rode along, Madame Guan talked at length about how all the heartless men under heaven should be killed.

"That dagger that she gave him is a priceless treasure," she said angrily. "She gave it in good faith, but what notice has he taken of it? None. He ignores her and then decides he likes her sister instead. He should be carved into a thousand pieces!"

"And how could her sister be so shameless as to steal him away like that?" her husband added.

On the third day, the Twin Eagles spotted a dust cloud in the distance and saw two riders galloping from the south towards them.

"Ah!" Madame Guan exclaimed.

"What is it?" her husband asked, and then spotted Chen. He moved to draw his sword.

"Not so fast," Madame Guan said. "Let's pretend we know nothing and take them by surprise."

Chen had also seen them and galloped over. He dismounted and bowed before them.

"It is fortunate that we have met you," he said. "Have you seen Mistress Huo Qingtong?"

"No," Madame Guan replied, secretly furious at his brazen behaviour. "What's the matter?" Suddenly, her eyes opened wide as the other rider approached and she saw it was an extremely beautiful girl.

"This is your sister's teacher," Chen said to Princess Fragrance. "ay your respects to her." She dismounted and bowed before Madame Guan.

"My sister has often spoken of you both," she said, smiling. "Have you seen her?"

Bald Vulture was stunned by her beauty and thought: no wonder he changed his mind. She's much more beautiful than Huo Qingtong.

Madame Guan was incensed at their craftiness, but her voice betrayed none of her feelings she asked again what was wrong. Chen told her.

"Let's go and look for her together," Madame Guan said.

The four started out together heading north. That evening, they set up camp in the lee of a sand dune, and after dinner, sat around and talked. Princess Fragrance pulled a candle from her bag and lit it. The Twin Eagles looked at Chen and the girl in the candlelight, so young and good-looking, like figures from a mural, and wondered how they could be so evil.

"Are you sure my sister is not in any danger?" Princess Fragrance asked Chen.

He was also very concerned but he comforted her, saying: "Your sister's kung fu is good and she is intelligent. I'm sure she's all right."

Princess Fragrance had complete faith in him and relaxed. "But she's ill," she added after a moment. "When we've found her, we must convince her to come home with us and rest." Chen nodded.

Madame Guan's face turned white with anger as she listened to them engage in what she thought was play-acting.

"Let us play a game," Princess Fragrance suddenly said to Bald Vulture. He looked at his wife. Madame Guan nodded slowly.

"All right!" he said. "What game?"

She smiled at Madame Guan and at Chen "You two will play as well, won't you?" she asked. They nodded.

She brought a horse saddle over and placed it in the middle of the circle, then scooped a pile of sand onto it, patted it down firmly and planted a small candle on top.

"We each take turns at cutting away a slice of the pile," she said. "The one who causes the candle to fall has to sing a song or tell a story. You start first, sir." She handed the knife to Bald Vulture.

The old man had not played such a game for decades, and an expression of embarrassment appeared on his face. Madame Guan gave him a push, "Go on!" she said. He laughed and sliced away a section of sand, then handed the knife to his wife who did the same. They went round three times and the pile became a pillar only slightly thicker than the candle on top. Chen carefully made a slight indent in the pillar. Princess Fragrance laughed and made a little hole on the opposite side and the pillar began to sway slightly. Bald Vulture's hand shook slightly as he accepted the knife.

"Don't breathe!" Madame Guan hissed at him.

"Even one grain of sand counts," Princess Fragrance said. He touched the pillar with the knife and it collapsed, taking the candle with it. He gave a cry of annoyance. Princess Fragrance clapped her hands in delight as Madame Guan and Chen looked on smiling.

"Well sir," said Princess Fragrance. "Are you going to sing a song or tell a story?"

He could see it was impossible to refuse, so he said: "All right. I'll sing a song."

In a high-pitched voice he began singing: "For you and I, life when we were young was like a play, and we cried...." He glanced over at his wife.

As she listened, Madame Guan remembered how good life had been just after their marriage. If Master Yuan had not returned, they would have been happy for the rest of their days. She leaned over and lightly squeezed his hand. Bald Vulture felt dizzy at this sudden show of affection from his wife, and tears welled into his eyes. Chen and Princess Fragrance looked at each other knowingly, both aware of the love these two old people had for each other. They played the sand game again and Chen lost. He told a story. Then Bald Vulture lost again.

As the night deepened, Princess Fragrance began to feel cold and edged closer to Madame Guan, who embraced her and carefully rearranged her wind-blown hair. The Twin Eagles had no children and often felt very much alone in the great desert. Madame Guan sighed and wished she could have had such a daughter. She looked down and saw the girl was already asleep. The candle had been blown out by the wind, but under the starlight, she could see a vague smile on her face.

"Let's get some rest," Bald Vulture said.

"Don't wake her," his wife whispered. She carefully carried Princess Fragrance into the tent and covered her with a blanket.

"Mother," the girl called faintly, and Madame Guan froze for a second in shock.

"It's all right, go to sleep now," she replied softly. She crept out of the tent and saw Chen setting up his tent a long way from the girl's. She nodded slightly.

"Are we going to wait till he's asleep or go over and give him a chance to explain first?" Bald Vulture asked.

"What do you think?"

His heart was full of tender thoughts and he had no stomach for killing at that moment. "Let's sit a while and wait for him to sleep so that he can die painlessly." He took his wife's hand and the two sat silently together on the sand. Soon after, Chen entered his tent and went to sleep.

The Twin Eagles could normally kill people without batting an eyelid, but they found it difficult to deal with these two slumbering youngsters. The constellations slowly turned, the wind grew colder and the old couple hugged each other for warmth. Madame Guan buried her face in her husband's chest and Bald Vulture lightly stroked her back. Before long, both were asleep.

** 8 **

Next morning, Chen and Princess Fragrance awoke to find the Twin Eagles gone, and were puzzled.

"Look, what's that?" Princess Fragrance asked suddenly. Chen turned and saw several huge characters drawn on the sand: "Your evil deeds cannot be forgiven. You will have to die." The characters were five foot square and looked as if they had been drawn with the tip of a sword. Chen frowned, wondering what the message meant. Princess Fragrance could not read Chinese and asked what is said.

"They had some other business and went on ahead," Chen replied, not wishing to worry her.

"Sister's teacher and her husband are really nice..." Suddenly, she stopped in mid-sentence and jumped up. "Listen!"

Chen had also heard the distant, blood-curdling howl, and having lived in the northwest many years, instantly recognised it.

"There's a wolf pack coming," he said urgently. "We must go quickly!" They hurriedly packed up their tents and provisions and galloped away just as the wolf pack closed in on them. Luckily, they were both riding extremely fast horses and the pack was soon left far behind. But the wolves had been hungry for a long time and having glimpsed them, continued to track them, following the hoof prints in the sand.

After half a day of hard riding, they dismounted to rest, but just as they had prepared a fire to cook some food, the wolf howls neared once more, and they hurriedly re-mounted, and rode off again. Only when darkness had fallen and they estimated the wolf pack to be at least thirty miles behind them did they stop and rest. Around midnight, the white horse began to neigh and kick about, waking Chen. The wolf pack was closing in once more. With no time to pack their tents, they grabbed up their rations and water bags and jumped onto the horses. They travelled a great arc through the desert, never managing to shake off the wolves. The chestnut horse could finally take no more and dropped dead of exhaustion, and they had to continue with both of them on the white horse. The extra weight slowed the horse down, and by the third day, it was no longer able to outrun the wolf pack. They spotted a clump of bushes and small trees and went over.

"We'll stop here and let the horse rest," said Chen, dismounting. With Princess Fragrance's help, he built a low circular wall of sand and placed some dead branches on the top. When lit, the branches became a protective ring of fire for themselves and the horse inside.

Not long after, the wolf pack raced up. Afraid of the flames, the wolves milled around outside the circle howling, not daring to get too close.

"We'll wait for the horse to recover its strength and then break out," said Chen.

"Do you think we'll be able to?"

"Of course," he replied. But he had no idea how.

Princess Fragrance saw how thin and emaciated the hungry wolves were. "The poor things," she said. "I wonder how long it's been since they last ate?"

Chen laughed shortly. The long, sharp fangs of the wolves gleamed through the flames, the saliva dripping, drop by drop from their mouths onto the sand. They howled angrily, waiting from a slight opening in the flames through which they could leap.

Princess Fragrance knew the chance of them getting out alive was very slight. She moved closer to Chem and took his hands.

"When I'm with you, I'm not afraid of anything," she said. "After we die, we will live happily together in heaven forever."

Chen pulled her towards him and embraced her. She sighed, and was just about to close her eyes, when she noticed the flames were dying down in one section of the circle. She screamed and jumped over to add more branches, but three wolves had already slipped inside. Chen pulled her behind him. The white horse kicked its hind legs up and sent one wolf flying back out of the fiery circle. Chen grabbed another wolf by the scruff of its neck and slung it bodily at the third, a huge grey beast which dodged out of the way, then opened its mouth and reared up on its hind legs to go for Chen's throat. Chen picked up a burning branch and rammed it down the wolf's throat, and the animal leapt back out of the circle and rolled about on the ground in great pain.

Chen added more branches to the gap.

After a while, their reserves were getting low, and Chen decided he would have to risk going to get more from some bushes about one hundred feet away.

"I'm going to get some more wood," he told Princess Fragrance, taking out his shield and Pearl Strings. "Build up the fire a bit more until I get back."

She nodded. "Be careful," she said, but did not add any more wood to the fire. She knew that the branches kept the two of them alive, and that when the flames were extinguished, they would be too.

Chen leapt out of the burning circle and raced off using Lightness Kung Fu, fending off the wolves as he went. The wolves surged at him, but in three leaps he was already beside the bushes. He quickly collected firewood with one hand while protecting himself with the shield in the other. Several dozen wolves surrounded him, snarling fiercely, but the flashing hooks on his shield kept them at bay. He collected a large pile of wood and was leaning over to tie the branches up when a large wolf lunged forward. He swirled the shield, and the animal died instantly. But its carcass was caught on the hooks, and the other wolves barked even more frantically as it swung lifelessly before them. He dislodged the body and flung it to one side, and the wolves charged forward to rip it apart. He took advantage of this diversion to pick up the firewood and return into the ring of fire.

Princess Fragrance ran forward and threw herself into his arms. Chen smiled and embraced her, then threw the firewood on the ground. As he looked up, he started involuntarily: there was a third person in the circle, a large man whose clothes had been ripped to shreds by the wolves. In his hand was a sword. His whole body was covered in blood, but his face was calm. It was his enemy, Zhang Zhaozhong.

The two gazed at each other silently.

"He must have seen the fire and run over this way," said Princess Fragrance. "See how exhausted he looks." She poured a bowl of water from the water bag and handed it to Zhang, who grabbed it and slurped it down in one draught. He wiped the blood and sweat from his face with his sleeve, and Princess Fragrance gasped as she suddenly recognised him as the Manchu official Chen had fought with.

Chen rapped his shield with the Pearl Strings. "Come on!" he shouted.

Zhang's eyes glazed over and he fell forward onto his face.

He had been tracking Chen and Princess Fragrance with Prince Herda when he had met the wolf pack. Herda had been devoured, but with his superb kung fu, Zhang had managed to escape after killing several dozen of the ferocious creatures. He had fled across the desert for a day and a night, but finally his horse had dropped dead under him. He had no alternative but to continue on foot and kept going for another day without food or water. Finally, he had spotted the flames in the far distance and had fought his way over.

Princess Fragrance moved to help Zhang up, but Chen stopped her.

"This man is extremely dangerous. Don't fall for his tricks," he warned. He waited for a while to make sure Zhang really was unconscious before going closer.

Princess Fragrance wiped some cold water onto Zhang's forehead, then poured lamb's milk into his mouth. Zhang slowly revived, drank half a bowl of the milk, then fell back onto the ground, sound asleep.

Chen wondered what sort of devil's emissary had delivered this traitor into his hands. Killing Zhang now would be as easy as blowing away a speck of ash, but taking advantage of another's hardship was not a manly thing to do. What was more, Princess Fragrance would certainly be unhappy to see him kill a defenceless man. He decided to spare Zhang once more. In any case, he thought, Zhang would be a great help in killing wolves. Perhaps the two of them together could save Princess Fragrance. He knew he would never be able to do it alone. He drank a few mouthfuls of lamb's milk, then closed his eyes to rest.

After a while, Zhang woke again. Princess Fragrance passed a piece of dried mutton to him, and helped him to bandage several wolf bite wounds on his legs.

"Brother Zhang, all three of us are in great danger," Chen said. "Let us temporarily put aside our differences and cooperate."

Zhang nodded. "Yes, if we fight now, we will all end up inside a wolf's stomach." Having rested for more than two hours, his strength had partially returned, and he began to consider how he could kill Chen and escape with the girl.

Chen wracked his brain for a way out of their present predicament. He saw the many piles of wolf droppings outside the circle of fire, and remembered how Huo Qingtong had used them to fuel signal fires. Using his Pearl Strings, he dragged some of the piles over, formed them into one heap and lit it. A thick pall of smoke rose straight up into the heavens.

Zhang shook his head. "Even if someone saw it, they wouldn't dare to come to help us," he said. "It would take an army to chase away so many wolves."

Chen also knew it would probably do no good, but it was better than doing nothing.

The daylight faded, and the three gradually added more branches to the ring of fire and took turns to sleep.

"He is a very bad man," Chen whispered to Princess Fragrance. "When I'm asleep, you must watch him with especial care." She nodded.

Towards midnight, the moon rose and the wolves began to howl mournfully, a sound which made their skin crawl. Early next morning, they saw the wolves were still pacing around outside the ring with obviously no intention of leaving.

"The only thing that would draw these devils away would be a herd of wild camels passing nearby," said Chen. Suddenly they heard more wolf howls from the distance.

"It looks like more of the devils are coming," Zhang said.

A cloud of dust arose, and three riders galloped towards them with several hundred wolves on their heels. The wolves on that side of the ring of fire spotted them too, and surged forward, encircling the three riders, who fought them off frantically.

"Help them!" Princess Fragrance shouted.

"Let's go," Chen said to Zhang. They charged out of the ring, carving a path of blood through the wolf pack and led the three back into the circle. They noticed one of the horses was carrying a second person, apparently a Muslim girl, lying limply across the saddle with her hands were tied behind her back. The three riders jumped off their horses, and one of them pulled the girl down after him.

"Sister!" Princess Fragrance screamed, and threw herself onto the girl.

It was Huo Qingtong. She had run into the Three Devils again while searching for Chen and her sister and had had no strength to resist. Hahetai had wanted to kill her immediately to avenge the death of their brother, but Gu overruled him saying they should take her back and kill her in front of their dead brother's grave. They started heading back east, but after a day or so, they found themselves being chased by a wolf pack. As they fled, they happened to spot the column of black smoke started by Chen and rode towards it.

Huo Qingtong began to regain consciousness. Princess Fragrance looked at Chen beseechingly. "Tell them to let my sister go," she implored.

Chen turned to Gu. "Who are you and why have you seized my friend?" he asked. Tang strode in front of Gu and coldly sized up Chen and Zhang.

"We thank you two gentlemen for saving us," he said. "What are your names?"

Before Chen could answer, Zhang said, "He is the Great Helmsman of the Red Flower Society, Chen Jialuo." The Three Devils started in shock.

"And you, sir?" Tang asked.

"I am Zhang Zhaozhong."

Tang gasped. "It's the Fire Hand Judge. No wonder you're both so capable." He told them his name and those of his two colleagues.

Chen's anxiety immediately increased, and he wondered again how they were going to escape. With four tough opponents to deal with now, it would be even harder than before.

"Let us forget our differences for the moment," he said. "Do any of you have any idea of how we might escape?"

The Three Devils looked at each other. "We would welcome your suggestions, Master Chen," said Hahetai.

"If we face the wolves together, there is a chance we will survive. If we fight amongst ourselves, they will eat us all." Tang and Hahetai nodded slightly, but Gu just glared at him angrily. "Therefore, I ask Brother Gu to immediately release my friend, following which we can together work out a plan to beat the wolves."

"And what if I won't let her go?" Gu shouted back.

"Master Gu, if we start fighting, it doesn't matter who wins or loses, we will all die. Please reconsider."

"You'd better let her go," Tang whispered to him." Gu had gone to considerable trouble to capture Huo Qingtong and he was extremely loath to give her up again. "Brother, if you don't let her go, I won't be able to help you," Tang added.

Hahetai walked over and cut the bonds binding Huo Qingtong. As Chen walked over to her, Huo Qingtong suddenly shouted: "Watch out behind!" and he ducked down just as a wolf swept over him. It charged at Princess Fragrance, but Chen grabbed its tail and using all his strength pulled it to a halt. The wolf whipped its head round, snapping and snarling, and with a single blow, Chen broke its neck. Another wolf leapt towards him, and he quickly drew his dagger and thrust it at the beast, a huge, cunning animal which dodged the blade with ease.

Three more wolves jumped into the ring. Hahetai grabbed one by the neck and slung it back out, Zhang cut the second in two with his sword, while Tang fought fiercely with the third. Hahetai stoked up the fire to stop other wolves from entering.

On the other side, Chen feinted with the dagger to the left to throw his attacker off guard, then plunged the blade down towards its head. Unable to avoid the stroke, the wolf opened its huge mouth and bit hard onto the dagger. Chen pushed the blade in with all strength, but despite the pain, it hung on desperately. Chen tried to pull the dagger back out but the beast refused to yield. Increasingly anxious, Chen mustered his strength once more and punched the wolf right between its eyes, smashing its skull. The wolf fell back dead and the dagger came free, the blade glinting coldly as it reflected the flames.

But the dagger's blade was also still firmly lodged between its teeth. They were all perplexed at this: the dagger was obviously in Chen's hand and had not snapped. Where had the blade in the wolf's mouth come from?

Chen bent over and tried to pull the blade out of the beast's mouth, but although the wolf was dead, its teeth was still clamped tightly shut. He used the dagger to slit open the wolf's jowls, and the muscles and tendons on its face collapsed, freeing the blade. Chen examined it closely and saw that it was hollow, like a scabbard. He stuck the dagger blade inside, and found it fitted perfectly. Huo Qingtong had said when she presented the dagger to him that it was said to contain a great secret. If it had not been for this wolf and its strong teeth, who would have guessed that there was a blade within the blade?

Princess Fragrance took the dagger from Chen and examined it, marvelling at the design of the second scabbard and the precision of the workmanship. She turned the hollow outer blade upside down and a small white pellet rolled out. Chen and Huo Qingtong bent down to get a closer look and saw it was a small ball of wax.

"Let's open it," Chen said. Huo Qingtong nodded. He picked the ball up and lightly squeezed it, cracking the wax open, revealing a small piece of paper inside, which he spread out. On the paper was a map drawn as densely as a spider's web.

Zhang had seen them discover the piece of paper, and glanced at it stealthily. But he was disappointed to find it was covered in Muslim writing, which he could not understand.

Chen knew something of the Muslim written language, but he could not grasp the meaning of the classical characters on the piece of paper and handed it over to Huo Qingtong. She examined it closely for a long time, then folded it up and placed it in her pocket.

"What does it say?" Chen asked. Huo Qingtong did not answer, her head hung low.

Princess Fragrance knew her sister well and smiled. "She is trying to work out a difficult problem. Don't disturb her," she said.

Huo Qingtong sat down on the ground and began to draw lines in the sand with her finger. She drew a diagram then rubbed it out and drew another. After a while, she wrapped her arms around her knees, deep in thought.

"You are still weak. Don't overtax yourself," Chen said to her. "You can work it out later. The important thing now is to think of a plan for getting out of here."

"I'm working on a way to escape these hungry wolves and these human wolves as well," Huo Qingtong replied, pouting angrily at Zhang as she spoke. She continued her meditations for a moment, then said to Chen: "lease stand on a horse and look westwards. Tell me if you can see a mountain with a white peak."

Chen led the white horse over and did as she said. In the distance, he spied a cluster of mountains, but could see none with a white peak. He searched carefully for a minute longer then looked down at Huo Qingtong and shook his head.

"According to the map, the Secret City should not be far from here, and we should be able to see the White Jade Peak."

Chen jumped off the horse's back. "What secret city?" he asked.

"When I was young, I heard people talk about an ancient city that was buried in this desert," she replied. "The city was once extremely prosperous, but one day a great sand storm arose, and dunes as large as mountains buried it. None of the city's residents escaped." She turned to Princess Fragrance. "Sister, you know the story better than I do. You tell it."

"There are many stories about the place, but no one has ever seen the city with their own eyes. No," she corrected herself. "Many people have been there, but few have returned alive. It is said that there are huge amounts of gold, silver and jewels there. Some people who have lost their way in the desert have found their way into the city by chance and have been overwhelmed by the sight of such wealth. They naturally began to load the gold and jewels onto their camels to take away with them. But no matter which way they went, they found it impossible to get out of the city.

"Why?" Chen asked.

"It's said that all the people of the city turned into ghosts when they were buried by the sand, and that they bewitch visitors who try to take valuables away with them. But if you put down the valuables, every single piece, then it's easy to find your way out."

"I doubt if many people would be willing to do that," said Chen.

"Yes. Seeing such riches, who wouldn't want to take some? It is said that if you don't take anything, but even leave a few extra taels of silver in one of the houses, then the wells will spurt clear, fresh water for you to drink. The more silver you leave, the more fresh water there is."

Chen laughed. "The ghosts of this secret city sound very greedy."

"Some members of our tribe who were badly in debt have gone to look for the city, but only those who didn't find it have ever come back," Princess Fragrance continued. "Once, a caravan crossing the desert came across a man who was half dead. He said he had entered the city, but had found himself going in circles when he tried to get out again. Finally, his strength gave out and he collapsed, and the next thing he knew was the arrival of the caravan. The caravan leader asked him to lead them to the city, but he refused. He said he wouldn't take one step into that haunted place again even if he received all the riches of the city as a reward."

"It doesn't necessarily have to be that these people were bewitched by ghosts," said Chen. "If someone suddenly came upon a huge amount of gold and jewels, it could affect their minds and make it difficult for them to think clearly. But if they decided they did not want the riches, it could clear their heads, and make it easier to find the way out."

"The map hidden in the scabbard shows the way to the Secret City," Huo Qingtong said quietly.

"Ah," exclaimed Chen, suddenly understanding.

"The map indicates that the city was built around a high snow-capped mountain." she continued. "From the look of it, the mountain should not be too far from here. We should be able to see it. I cannot understand why we can't."

"Sister, you're wasting your time," said Princess Fragrance. "Even if we could find the mountain, what use would it be?"

"We could escape into the city. There are houses and fortresses in the city and our chance of escaping the wolves would be much greater than here."

"That's right!" Chen said. He stood on the horse's back once more looking west. But all he could see was a hazy white sky stretching to the horizon.

Zhang and the Three Devils could not understand a word of what they said, but they watched suspiciously as Chen stood on the back of his horse twice, and wondered what devilment he was up to.

Princess Fragrance took out some dry rations and divided them up amongst all of them. As she sat eating, she gazed out beyond the flames at the horizon. Suddenly, she jumped up.

"Sister! Look!" Huo Qingtong followed the direction of her hand and saw a black spot stationary in the sky.

"What is it?" she asked.

"It's an eagle," Princess Fragrance replied. "I saw it fly over from here. But how could it suddenly stop in mid-air?"

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I clearly saw it fly across."

"If the black spot isn't an eagle, what could it be?" asked Chen. "If it is an eagle, how could it remain motionless in mid-air? It's very strange." The three watched the spot for a while, then saw it move and become larger. A black eagle swept over their heads.

Princess Fragrance raised her hand to tidy her hair, which had been blown about by the wind. Chen looked at her snow-white skin and the white material of her dress next to it and realised the answer.

"Look at her hand!" he said excitedly to Huo Qingtong.

"Yes, her hands are very pretty," she replied absent-mindedly.

"Of course her hands are beautiful. But don't you see? Because her skin is so white, it's difficult at a glance to tell where the hand begins and the dress ends."

"So?" asked Huo Qingtong, puzzled.

"The eagle was sitting on top of a white mountain!"

"Yes! You're right," Huo Qingtong exclaimed. "The sky over there is white, the same colour as the peak, so from a distance, it can't be seen."

"Exactly," said Chen.

Princess Fragrance realised they were talking about the Secret City. "How do we get there?" she asked.

"That is what we have to carefully work out," Huo Qingtong replied. She pulled out the map again and studied it carefully again for a while. "When the sun starts to sink towards the west, we'll be able to tell if there's a mountain there or not by its shadow."

"We mustn't give ourselves away," said Chen. "We don't want the others to work out what we're doing."

"Yes. Let's pretend we're talking about this wolf," she suggested.

Chen pulled the wolf across and the three sat around it, now pulling out one of its hairs and examine it closely, now opening its mouth to look at its teeth. The sun gradually sank towards the west and the mountain's shadow did indeed appear, stretching out longer and longer across the desert like some giant lying down. Huo Qingtong drew a map on the ground, estimating the distances.

"From here to the mountain must be about twenty or thirty miles," she said, turning the wolf over.

Chen picked up one of its legs and played with its sharp claws. "If we had another horse apart from the white horse, the three of us could make that in one go."

"So we have to think of some way to get them to allow us to go," Huo Qingtong replied.

"Yes." He picked up his dagger and slit open the wolf's stomach.

"What's so interesting about that dead wolf?" Zhang shouted, annoyed at not being able to understand what they were saying. "Are you discussing how to bury him, Master Chen?"

"We are discussing how to get out," Chen said. "Look, the wolf's stomach is completely empty."

"Do you have a plan?" Zhang asked.

"When the firewood has all been burned and there is no more to collect, then we are all going to die, is that not so?" Zhang and the Three Devils nodded. "But if one of us were willing to sacrifice himself and ride out of the circle, the wolves would swarm after him like bees from a hive. Once they were drawn off, the others could escape.

"But what about the one who goes?" asked Zhang.

"If he comes across either the Manchu or Muslim armies then he will be all right. Otherwise he will die. But it is better than us all dying here together."

"It's not a bad idea," said Tang. "But who's going to lead the wolves away? It's certain death."

"What do you suggest, Brother Tang?"

Tang was silent. "Let's draw lots," Hahetai suggested. "Whoever loses, goes."

"Yes, let's draw lots," Zhang said eagerly. Chen had wanted to offer himself and then break out with the sisters. But he could not suggest it without arousing their suspicions, so he said: "Just the five of us will draw. Let us exempt the two girls."

"We're all people," Gu protested. "Why should they be exempted?"

"How could we live down the shame of being saved by a girl?" said Hahetai. "I would prefer to die here."

"I think that if we're going to draw lots, we should all draw," said Tang, wanting to lessen the chance of himself being chosen.

They all looked at Zhang, waiting to hear his opinion. Zhang had already worked out a plan and knew he could not lose. Moreover, one of the girls was wanted by the Emperor and he fancied the other for himself.

"I will not allow a lady to save my life," he said proudly.

"All right, then," said Gu. "We'll let them off."

"I'll collect some sticks to use," said Tang, but Zhang stopped him.

"No," he said. "It's too easy to cheat with sticks. We'll use copper coins instead." He pulled a dozen or so coins from his pocket and selected five. "Four of these are Emperor Yong Zheng coins and the fifth is from the reign of Emperor Sun Zhi. Please examine them. They are exactly the same size."

"And whoever picks the Emperor Sun Zhi coin leads the wolves away," Tang added, as he carefully examined the coins.

"Exactly," said Zhang. "Why not put them in your bag for the draw, Brother Tang?" Tang did as he said.

"Now, who will go first?" Zhang asked. He looked at Gu and saw his hands were shaking. "Brother Gu is afraid," he said with a smile. "Life and death are governed by fate. I will go first." He stretched his hand onto Tang's bag and pulled an Emperor Yong Zheng coin out.

"Oh, what a pity!" he exclaimed. "I won't be able to be the hero." He opened his first and showed the coin to the other four. The five coins were the same size, but the Emperor Sun Zhi coin was about eighty years older than the others and therefore slightly smoother and thinner, although not enough to be immediately obvious.

Chen's turn was next, and to his disappointment he chose an Emperor Yong Zheng coin.

"Brother Gu, if you please," Zhang said. Gu drew his sword and flourished it threateningly.

"It's a trick!" he shouted. "You already decided that it would be one of us three."

"What do you mean, a trick?" Zhang demanded.

"They're your coins, and you had first choice. How do we know you haven't marked them in some way?"

Zhang's face went white. "Then what do you suggest, Brother Gu?"

"One of those Yong Zheng coins in your pocket is lighter in colour than the others. Put that in with four dark ones, and whoever picks the light one goes."

Zhang hesitated for a second, then smiled. "Just as you say. But I fear it will still be you who goes to feed the wolves." He surreptitiously bent the light-coloured coin slightly before placing it with the others.

"If neither you nor I lose, I will fight you afterwards," Gu said threateningly.

"It will be my pleasure," replied Zhang. He put the five coins in the bag. "You three gentlemen choose first, then myself and lastly Master Chen, is that satisfactory?"

The Three Devils did not object. "Brother Hahetai, you first," said Tang.

Just as Hahetai put his hand in the bag, Huo Qingtong shouted out in Mongolian: "Don't take the bent one!" He started in fright. The first coin he felt was indeed slightly bent. He chose another one and pulled it out: it was dark coloured.

Huo Qingtong had seen Zhang bend the coin, and had warned Hahetai because he was the most decent of the Three Devils.

Next was Gu's turn. Hahetai told him in the thick, unintelligable dialect of northeast China not to take the bent coin. Gu and Tang both glanced angrily at Zhang and pulled out dark coloured coins. Chen looked questioningly at Huo Qingtong.

"Don't take the bent one," Princess Fragrance said.

Chen knew Zhang would certainly take the unbent coin, thereby giving him both the light-coloured coin and the chance to escape with the girls. But as Zhang put his hand into Hahetai's bag, Chen saw Gu looking covertly at Huo Qingtong, and realised they would never let him take the girls with him. Uncertain of what to do and with no time left to think, he suddenly blurted out: "Take the bent one! Leave the flat one for me!"

Zhang started in shock and drew his hand back. "What do you mean, bent?" he demanded.

"One of the two coins in the bag has been bent by you. I want the one that's not bent." He put his hand in the bag and pulled out the dark coin. "You've caused your own funeral," he said to Zhang with a smile.

Zhang's face went dark and he drew his sword. "We had agreed that I would choose first," he said, and swung the blade at Chen's neck. Chen ducked and thrust his dagger at Zhang's stomach. The two fought closely for a moment. Suddenly, Zhang flung his sword at Huo Qingtong. Chen was afraid she would be too weak to dodge it and raced over to intercept the weapon. But it was just a diversion. As Chen ran towards Huo Qingtong, Zhang jumped over to Princess Fragrance and grabbed her.

"Get out!" he shouted to Chen, who stopped in his tracks and stared dumbly back at Zhang. "If you don't get out, I'll throw her to the wolves!" He picked the girl up and swung her about above his head. Chen heart pounded and his brain whirled in confusion.

"Ride out and lead the wolves away!" Zhang shouted again.

Chen knew Zhang would do what he said and so he slowly untied the white horse's reins and mounted up.

"I'll count to three. If you're not out of the circle by then, I'll let her go. One....two....three!" As he said three, the white horse bounded out of the ring.

Chen landed in the midst of the wolves, grabbed the first two that attacked him by the scruffs of their necks, then turned the horse round, soared back into the ring of fire and flung them at Zhang.

With two such ferocious animals flying at him, Zhang was forced to drop Princess Fragrance to protect himself. Chen threw two of his chess pieces at him, scooped Princess Fragrance up, then leapt out of the circle of fire once more with another horse close behind: Huo Qingtong had taken advantage of the fight to cut the reins of a horse and mount up without the Three Devils noticing.

She and Chen waded through the wolf pack, slashing right and left with their weapons as if chopping vegetables, and in a moment, the two horses were out in the open and galloping off westwards with the wolf pack chasing behind. The horses were much faster than the wolves, and before long, they had left the pack far behind. But Chen knew the hard part would be staying ahead of these tireless, hungry beasts.

** 9 **

As the three rode along, the land about them gradually became more rocky and a crooked path appeared. It grew dark, and the White Jade Peak began to tower over them.

"According to the map, the Secret City was built around the base of the mountain," said Huo Qingtong. "It doesn't look as if it would be more than three or four miles from here." The three dismounted and gave their two horses some water.

Chen stroked the white horse's mane lovingly, knowing that without it, he would never have been able to rescue Princess Fragrance. He also knew he would not have left without her.

They rested for a while until the horses had recovered some of their strength and then continued on, the cries of the wolves already vaguely discernible in the distance. Chen rode the chestnut horse alone and the two sisters rode together on the white horse.

The night was cool and the snow on the peak glistened brilliant white under the moon, looking almost close enough to touch. The path became rough and treacherous and suddenly split a dozen or so ways, with no indication of which was the correct one.

"With so many paths, it's not surprising people get lost," said Chen. Huo Qingtong pulled out the map and examined it under the moonlight.

"It says: `left three right two'," she said.

"What does that mean?"

"It doesn't explain." In the distance, they heard the wolves howling in unison.

"It's about midnight," Huo Qingtong said. "They must have stopped to howl at the moon. When they've finished, they will be after us again. We must choose the path and go quickly."

"There are five paths on the left here," said Chen pointing. "The map says left three right two, so let's take the third."

"If it's a dead end, we won't have time to come back again," replied Huo Qingtong.

"In that case, the three of us will die together," said Chen.

As Chen spoke, Huo Qingtong felt a sudden warmth in her breast and tears welled into her eyes. She raised her horse whip and led them into the middle path.

The track narrowed into a stone-walled corridor which had obviously been hacked out of the mountainside by men. After a while, they came to another crossroads from which three paths branched out to the right.

"We're saved! We're saved!" Huo Qingtong shouted with joy, and they spurred their horses up the middle path with renewed energy. But the track had not been traversed for many years, and in some places, it was completely overgrown by grasses taller than a man, while in others, it was blocked by sand drifts. The three had to dismount and lead the horses over the obstacles. Chen also moved rocks onto the top of the drifts to slow the wolves' pursuit.

Less than half a mile further on, they came upon three more paths forking to the left. Suddenly, Princess Fragrance screamed and pointed to a pile of white bones at the mouth of one of the paths. Chen dismounted to investigate and found they were the remains of a man and a camel.

"He must have been unable to decide which path to take and ended up dying here," he sighed.

They entered the third path and found it suddenly steepened sharply. The cold and darkness became oppressive. A short while later another skeleton appeared by the side of the path with jewels glistening amongst the bones.

"He was rich but he couldn't get out," Huo Qingtong said.

"But it means we're on the right path," replied Chen. "There must be even more skeletons on the wrong paths."

"When we leave, none of us must take any jewels, all right?" Princess Fragrance said.

"You're afraid the ghosts won't let us go," said Chen with a smile.

"romise me!"

He heard the pleading tone in her voice and hurriedly replied: "I won't take anything, don't worry." All the jewels in the world could not match having you two sisters as companions, he thought, and suddenly felt ashamed. Why did he include them both together?

They continued up the twisted path the whole night, and by morning, they and the two horses were exhausted.

"Let's rest a while," said Huo Qingtong.

"We must concentrate on finding shelter first and then we can all sleep easily," Chen replied firmly.

** 10 **

A short way further on, the path opened out into a wide, flat valley of extraordinary beauty. The sun was just rising and the white mountain soared up into the sky from the valley floor. Around its base was a city that looked as if it had once been very prosperous. But now, the thousands of houses that they could see, although magnificent in scale and design, were in various stages of ruin and collapse. Not a sound was to be heard, not even the twittering of birds. The three had never seen a place that was at once so beautiful and so terrible. They stood for a moment, over-awed by the crushing silence, hardly daring to even breathe, then Chen urged his horse forward and they entered the city.

The area was extremely dry, so dry that there was virtually no vegetation on the ground. The contents of the houses had stayed undisturbed for countless years and most appeared to still be in good condition. They entered the first house they came to and Princess Fragrance noticed a pair of ladies' shoes on the floor. Their colour was still fresh, but as soon as she touched them, they disintegrated into dust, and she jumped in shock.

"This city is in a basin surrounded by high mountains which protect it from rain and wind," Chen said.

As they continued through the streets, they found skeletons everywhere and swords and other weapons thrown about at random.

"It doesn't look as if the city was buried in a sand storm as the story says," Chen commented.

"No," Huo Qingtong agreed. "It looks more like there was a big battle and all the people were killed."

"But there's so many paths outside the city," Princess Fragrance objected. "How would the enemy find their way in?"

"There must have been a traitor," Huo Qingtong replied.

They went into another house, and she spread the map out on a table and leaned over to examine it. But the table was completely rotten despite its apparent sturdiness, and it collapsed under the weight of her arms. She picked up the map and studied it for a moment. "I'm afraid these houses wouldn't withstand an attack by the wolves for very long," she said. She pointed at a place on the map. "This is the centre of the city, right at the foot of the mountain. There are a lot of markings around it, which probably means it is a place of importance. If it's a palace or fortress, it is bound to be very sturdily built, so let's go there."

"Right!" said Chen. The three continued on their way, following the path indicated on the map. The roads in the centre of the city were like a maze, twisting and turning until their head's swam. If they had not had the map, they would surely have lost their way.

After an hour or so, they came to the place marked on the map as the city centre, but were disappointed to find no sign of any palace or fortress. From close up, the White Jade Peak looked even more beautiful than from a distance. It was completely white, pure and shining. A jade carver who found even a small piece of white jade would never go hungry for the rest of his life, but here was a whole mountain of the precious stone. They looked up at the towering peak and felt a sense of spiritual upliftment. Their cares and worries dispersed and they reflected on the wonderful mystery of creation.

Then, amidst the silence, they heard far off the howls of wolves drifting towards them.

"They're coming!" cried Princess Fragrance. "Could it be the wolves have a map as well?"

"Their nose is their map," Chen replied. "We have left our scent wherever we have gone and by following it, they will never make a mistake."

Huo Qingtong pointed at the map. "Look," she said. "There is the mountain, but there are many roads marked inside."

"They must be tunnels," he said.

"Yes. Now how do we find them?" She looked at the explanation on the map and slowly deciphered it. "To enter the palace, climb the tall tree and call out "Ailongabasheng" three times towards the sacred mountain."

"What is Ailongabasheng?" Princess Fragrance asked.

"It must be the password," Huo Qingtong replied. "But where is the tall tree? And could this really be a magic spell?"

"Of course it could," said Princess Fragrance, who had always believed in spirits and fairies.

"In the old days, there would have been people in the mountain who would have pushed a switch when they heard the password, opening a cave entrance," said Chen. But after so many years, everyone in there is certainly dead."

The howls of the wolves sounded closer. "Let's go and hide in one of the houses," Huo Qingtong suggested.

The three turned and ran towards the closest of the buildings. As they ran, Chen tripped on a bulge on the ground and saw it was the stump of a huge tree. "The tree's here!" he called.

Princess Fragrance examined the sheer face of the mountain above and pointed. "That must be the cave mouth there. Look, aren't those footholds?" Chen and Huo Qingtong looked up and saw with delight that there were indeed notches in the rock face.

"I'll go up and have a look," said Chen. With the dagger in his right hand, he bounded up the cliff. He made it up about a dozen feet then used his Inner Strength Kung Fu to lodge the dagger in the rock face for an instant and race up further. Finally, he reached the point where the footholds began. The two girls cheered from below, and Chen waved to them before turning his attention to the cliff above. Over the years, the cave mouth had become blocked by sand. Chen grabbed an outcrop of jade rock with one hand and started to shift some of the sand with the dagger. He pulled broken slabs of rock out one after another, and let them drop to the ground, and in a short while had made a hole large enough to wriggle through. He crawled in and sat down. Then, pulling his Pearl Strings from his pocket, he undid them all, tied them together end to end and dangled the resulting rope down the cliff face to the girls waiting below.

Huo Qingtong tied the rope round her sister's waist and Chen slowly pulled her up. Just as she reached the cave mouth, she screamed, and Chen quickly helped her inside, saying: "Don't worry, you've made it."

Her face was deathly pale. "Wolves!" she cried.

Chen looked down and saw seven or eight wolves had already arrived at the base of the cliff. Huo Qingtong was valiantly fighting them off with her sword. The white horse shook its mane and neighed loudly then galloped off through the streets of the ancient city.

Chen hastily grabbed some large rocks from around the cave mouth and threw them down, forcing some of the wolves to back away, then dropped the rope down again. Huo Qingtong was afraid that in her weak condition, she would be unable to hold on long enough, so she transferred the sword to her left hand, and tied the rope round her waist as she continued to fight off the wolves.

"Right!" she yelled. Chen yanked on the rope and she flew into the air just as two wolves threw themselves at her. One of them bit deeply into her boot and refused to let go. As Princess Fragrance screamed in fright, Huo Qingtong bent over in mid-air and chopped it in half across its belly. The top half of its body accompanied her up to the cave mouth.

Chen helped her inside and tried unsuccessfully to pull the half-wolf off her boot.

"Did it bite into you?" he asked quickly.

"I'm all right," she replied. She took the dagger from his hand and cut open the wolf's mouth, revealing the serried ranks of teeth sunk deep into her boot. A small trickle of blood oozed out of one of the holes in the leather.

"Your foot is wounded," Princess Fragrance said. She helped her sister remove the boot, and ripped a strip of material off her gown to bandage the wound. Chen turned his head away, not daring to look at her bare feet.* (* In traditional China, feet were considered one of the most erotic parts of the female anatomy.)

When she had finished the bandaging, Princess Fragrance looked down at the thousands of wolves amongst the buildings below, and wagged her finger at them angrily. "You evil wolves, biting my sister's foot! I won't feel sorry for you any more," she scolded them as Chen and Huo Qingtong smiled.

They turned to look into the cave, but all they could see was pitch-blackness. Huo Qingtong took out her tinderbox and lit it, and immediately jumped in fright: they were sitting on a thin ledge and next to them was a drop of nearly two hundred feet down to the floor of the cave, which looked even lower than the ground outside the mountain.

"There has been no fresh air in here for a long time," said Chen. "We can't go down yet." After a while, when he thought most of the stale air would have dissipated, he said: "I'll go down first to have a look around."

"Once we're down it won't be easy to get back up again," said Huo Qingtong.

Chen smiled. "If we can't, we can't," he said. Huo Qingtong blushed and looked away.

He tied one end of the rope round a rock outcrop and started to slide down into the abyss, but when he reached the end of the rope, he was still a hundred feet from the bottom. Abandoning the rope, he climbed down the cliff face for a way, and then jumped lightly to the floor.

"Throw down the tinderbox!" he shouted and Huo Qingtong did so. He struck a light, and under its glow, he saw he was in a chamber carved entirely out of white jade furnished with several sets of wooden tables and chairs. Chen looked up and saw the two girls peering down from the ledge, and shouted: "Come down!"

"You go down first, sister," Huo Qingtong said. Princess Fragrance took hold of the rope and slid slowly down to its end. She saw Chen standing beneath her with his hands opened wide, closed her eyes tightly and let go. Almost immediately, she felt his strong arms catch her and place her lightly on the ground. Huo Qingtong jumped down in the same fashion and as Chen embraced her, she flushed deep red with embarrassment.

By now, the howls of the wolves outside the mountain were becoming faint. Chen looked at their shadows dancing on the white jade walls, and then at the two beauties beside him. Under the glow of the reflected light, they looked even more exquisite. Here they were, the three of them, in the bowels of a mountain, not knowing what was in store for them. Of all the strange things that had happened to him in his eventful life, this was the strangest.

Chen snapped off a chair leg and lit it with the flame from the tinder-box. Princess Fragrance exclaimed at the beauty of the chamber they were in, and taking the torch from Chen began walking about. He broke off another seven chair legs and the three began to walk off along a long tunnel which turned out to be a cul-de-sac. Chen wondered how they would get out. Then in a corner of the tunnel, he noticed something sparkling under the torchlight. He walked over and saw it was a gold suit of armour containing a pile of old bones. The suit of armour was exquisitely-made, and the three marvelled at the fine workmanship.

"He must have been a nobleman," said Princess Fragrance. Huo Qingtong noticed that there was a winged camel engraved on the breast plate and added: "He may even have been the king or a prince. I've heard that in ancient times, only kings could use winged camels as their emblem."

"It's the same with the dragon in China," replied Chen. He took the torch from Princess Fragrance and began to examine the end wall of the tunnel for some trace of a door or an opening mechanism. Raising the torch, he saw a huge ring door knocker with a long-handled axe lodged in it.

"There's a door," Huo Qingtong exclaimed joyfully. Chen passed the torch over to her and tried to pull the axe away, but it had rusted onto the iron ring and was immovable. He took out his dagger and scraped away the rust, then with an effort, managed to pull the axe free. He found it very heavy.

"If this was his weapon, then His Highness was a strong man," he said with a smile.

On closer examination, they found there was an iron ring fastened to all four corners of the stone door. Chen took hold of each of the rings and gave them a mighty tug, but the door did not move even a fraction. He tried pushing it instead, and with load squeaks, it slowly began to swing open. They saw the door was at least ten feet thick, and in fact was more like a huge boulder than a door.

The three looked at each other with expressions of jubilation on their faces. Chen raised the torch high and with the dagger in his other hand, led the way through the door. One step inside, something crunched under his foot, and he saw a pile of bones on the floor. Looking ahead, there was a narrow tunnel leading off into the darkness, just big enough for a person to walk along. Skeletons and swords were scattered all about them.

Huo Qingtong pointed to the back of the great stone door. "Look," she said. Under the torchlight they saw deeply scored lines obviously scratched out with swords.

"These people must have been locked in here by the king," said Chen in a startled voice. "They tried the best they could to get out, but the door was too thick and the jade rock too solid."

"Even if they had had ten blades as sharp as your dagger, they would still never have broken through this door," replied Huo Qingtong.

"They must have considered every alternative, and finally one by one died as hope faded...."

"Don't! Don't go on," Princess Fragrance pleaded. The scene was too tragic. She could not bear to hear any more.

"Why did the king stand guard on the other side of the door instead of escaping?" Huo Qingtong asked. "I can't work that out at all." She pulled out the map and looked at it for a moment. Her face brightened. "At the end of this tunnel there should be a great hall and other rooms," she said.

Slowly, they walked forward, treading on human bones as they went. They turned two corners, and emerged into a cavernous hall as Huo Qingtong had predicted. They stood at the entrance and looked about. The floor of the great hall was filled with skeletons and weapons lying about at random, evidence that a furious battle had been fought here.

As they walked into the hall, Chen's dagger suddenly shot out of his hand and fell to the floor with a clatter. At the same instant, the belt supporting Huo Qingtong's sword around her waist snapped, and the scabbard fell heavily to the floor. The three jumped in fright. Huo Qingtong bent down to pick up her sword, but as she did so, the darts in her pocket flew out with a whoosh and dropped to the ground in the same manner.

Chen grabbed the two girls and leapt backwards several paces, steeling himself to defend them against any attackers. But there was not a sound from the hall. He wondered what kung fu could snatch the weapons from their hands and even suck Huo Qingtong's darts from her pocket.

"We have come only to escape wolves and with no other purpose," Chen shouted into the darkness in the Muslim language. "lease forgive us for any indiscretions we may have committed."

There was no answer but the echo of his own words returning from the far side of the hall.

As Huo Qingtong's initial fright receded, she walked forward again and stooped to pick up her sword. But it was stuck to the floor as if nailed in place. She tried again using all her strength and managed to free it, but a second later, it flew out of her hand again and hit the ground with a clang.

Chen realised what was happening.

"There must be a magnet under here," he said.

"What's a magnet?" asked Huo Qingtong.

"Sailors say there is a big mountain in the far north which attracts pieces of iron which hang free, making them point north to south. When they're on the ocean, they rely on something called a magnetic compass to find their direction."

"And you think there's another magnet mountain under here which is attracting our weapons?" asked Huo Qingtong.

"I think so. Let's try it." He prized up his dagger and placed it and a wooden chair leg on his left hand with his right hand on top to hold them in place. When he took his hand away, the dagger flew to the ground but the chair leg remained motionless.

"So as you see, the magnet is powerful," said Chen, picking up the dagger again and gripping it tightly.

Huo Qingtong walked on a few more steps. "Come here!" she called. Chen ran over and saw a skeleton which was still standing. A few tattered pieces of clothing hung on the frame, and its right hand was holding a white-coloured sword which was stuck into the skeleton next to it.

"It's a jade sword!" Huo Qingtong exclaimed. Chen carefully extracted the sword from the skeleton's grasp, and with its support gone, it collapsed to the floor in a heap.

The jade sword's blade was very sharp, but it was still frail enough to shatter if it clashed with a metal blade. Looking round, they saw there were many other jade weapons of all sizes lying about the hall.

"I know!" Huo Qingtong suddenly said. "The master of this mountain certainly planned things very carefully."

"What?" asked Chen.

"He used this magnet to draw the enemy's weapons away and then his guards finished them off with the jade swords."

Princess Fragrance pointed at a skeleton wearing a metal breast plate. "Look! Some of the attackers were wearing armour. i'll bet they couldn't get on their feet."

"But what I don't understand," Huo Qingtong continued, "is if the guards with the jade weapons killed all the attackers, why did they also die here as well?"

Chen had also been considering that problem, but could think of no explanation.

"Let's go further in and explore," said Huo Qingtong.

"No," Princess Fragrance said. "Let's not, sister."

Huo Qingtong saw the anguished expression on her face and squeezed her arm. "Don't be afraid. Perhaps there are no skeletons over there."

They walked to the other side of the hall and looked into a smaller chamber. But the scene there was even more terrible than in the first hall. Dozens of skeletons were piled about the room, most of them still standing as if alive. Some had weapons in their hands, some didn't.

"Don't touch anything!" said Chen. "There must be some strange reason for them dying like this." They continued on, and passed out of the chamber into a tunnel. After a couple of bends, they came upon a small swing door. As they pushed it open, their eyes were assailed by a bright light. Sunlight poured in from a crack in the ceiling hundreds of feet above into an excuisite jade room which had obviously been carved out of the mountain at this spot to take advantage of the natural lighting.

Although it was only a single shaft of sunlight, the three were very excited at the sight of it. The room they found themselves in had a jade bed, a jade table, jade chairs, all beautifully carved. A skeleton reclined on the jade bed, while in one corner of the room, there were two other skeletons, one large and one small.

Chen extinguished the torch. "We'll rest here," he said. They pulled out their dry rations and water and had a small meal.

"I wonder how long the wolves will wait outside the mountain for us?" said Huo Qingtong. "This has became a contest between us and the wolves, so we will have to make the food and water last as long as possible."

For the past several days, Chen and the two sisters had not had a moment in which they could relax. Now, in this silent jade room, an immense exhaustion came over them and before very long, they fell into a deep, deep sleep.

PART EIGHT

** 1a **


Zhang and the Three Devils watched the wolves swarm after Chen and the girls with great relief, although they felt a tinge of regret at the thought of two such beautiful girls being ravished by the animals. The four men sat down to rest for a while, then roasted and ate one of the dead wolves left behind. Gu noticed that the supply of tree branches was almost exhausted, and too lazy to go and get more, he threw piles of wolf's dung onto the fire to stoke up the flames. Before long, a column of thick, black smoke was rising towards the heavens.

Just as they had eaten their fill of wolf meat, they noticed a dust cloud approaching from the east. Assuming it to be another wolf pack, they frantically jumped up and ran for the horses. Only two horses were left, both of which had been brought by the Three Devils. Zhang stretched out his hand to take the reins of one of the mounts, but Hahetai lunged in front of him and grabbed them first, shouting: "What do you think you're doing?"

Zhang was about to attack him when he spied Tang and Gu with weapons in their hands closing in. "Why are you getting so excited?" he protested. "They aren't wolves."

The Three Devils turned to look and Zhang vaulted onto the horse's back. Only then did he notice that his lie was in fact the truth: in the midst of the dust cloud was a large herd of camels and goats. He galloped off towards the herd, shouting: "I'll go and have a look!"

After riding only a short way, he saw a rider coming towards him. The rider, an old man dressed in grey, raced up and stopped his mount instantly with a tug on the reins. Zhang marvelled at his horsemanship.

The rider saw Zhang was wearing the tattered uniform of a Manchu military officer and asked in Chinese: "What happened to the wolves?" Zhang pointed west.

By this time, the herd was upon them and in the midst of the dust and noise and confusion, Zhang noticed a bald-headed, red-faced old man and a white-haired old woman riding herd. He was just about to ask who they were when the Three Devils came over and bowed respectfully before the old man in grey.

"We are honoured to meet you again, sir," Tang said obsequiously. "How are you?"

The old man grunted. "Nothing to complain about," he mumbled. It was the Strange Knight of the Heavenly Pool, Master Yuan.

Zhang knew nothing of the old man, but he noted the respect with which the Three Devils treated him.

Master Yuan examined the four of them for a moment, then said: "We are going to catch the wolves. You will all come with me."

They started in fright and wondered if he was insane. But the Three Devils knew his kung fu was formidable and did not dare to refuse.

Zhang, however, emitted a "humph" of astonishment and said: "I want to live a few more years. Sorry, but I will be unable to accompany you." He turned to leave.

Absolutely furious, Bald Vulture grabbed for Zhang's wrist shouting: "So you refuse to heed Master Yuan's orders! Do you wish to die?"

Zhang deflected his hand deftly with a 'Dividing The Clouds and Moon' stroke, and the two fought closely for a while, neither gaining the upper hand. Then they leapt apart, both surprised that they should come upon such a master of the martial arts in the middle of the desert.

"What is your name, friend?" Zhang shouted.

"What makes you think you're good enough to be my friend? Will you or will you not do what Master Yuan says?"

Zhang knew he was as good a fighter as himself, and yet he still respectfully referred to the other old man as "Master Yuan", indicating Yuan's kung fu was probably even better. Who is this Master Yuan? he wondered. "What is your full name, sir?" he asked Yuan. "If you are my superior, I will naturally respect your orders."

"Ha! So you wish to question me, do you?" Master Yuan exclaimed. "It is I that does the questioning. I ask you: just now, you used a 'Dividing the Clouds and Moon' move. But what would you have done if I had replied with a 'Descending the Mountain to Kill the Tiger' stroke on your left while going for your Spiritual Yuedao point on your right?"

Zhang thought for a second. "I would have kicked out with an 'Arrow Shooting the Hawk' move, and grabbed your wrist."

"Then you are obviously a member of the Wudang School," Yuan replied, to Zhang's evident surprise. "Once when I was in Hubei, I sparred with Master Ma Zhen." Zhang went deathly pale. "Now then, if I used a 'Secret Hand' move to counter your attempt to seize my wrist, and then struck at your face with my left hand, what would you do? Master Ma Zhen was unable to avoid this move. Let's see if you can work it out."

Zhang thought deeply for a while. "If you were fast, I would naturally be unable to avoid the blow," he said finally. "I could aim a 'Yuanyang Kick' at your left ribs to force you to retract your hand to defend yourself."

Yuan laughed. "Not bad. Of all the fighters in the Wudang School, you are probably the best."

"I would then aim to touch your 'Xianji' Yuedao point," Zhang continued.

"Good! A master always attacks if he can. But I would then step into the 'Guimei' position and attack your lower body."

"I would then retreat to the 'Song' position and strike out for your 'Heavenly Spring' Yuedao point."

Gu and Hahetai listened in bewilderment to the strange words. Hahetai gave Tang's gown a tug and whispered: "What's this code they're speaking in?"

"It's not code, they're using the names of the Sixty Four Positions and the Yuedao points on the human body," Tang replied.

"I advance to the 'Ming Ye' positon and attack with a Qimen move," Yuan said.

"I retreat to the 'Zhong Fu' position and counter with a Phoenix Eye move," replied Zhang.

"I advance to the 'Jizhai' position and go for your 'Huan Jiao' Yuedao."

The pressure was begining to show on Zhang's face, and there was a pause before he answered: "I retreat to the 'Zhen' position and then to the Fu position."

"How come he keeps retreating?" whispered Hahetai, but Tang waved him to silence. The verbal sparring continued, Yuan smiling and obviously at ease, Zhang beginning to sweat and sometimes taking a long time to come up with a response. The Three Devils knew that in a real fight, he would have had no time for such thinking, and would have been beaten long ago.

After a few more moves, Zhang said: "I attack with a 'Xiao Shu' move and then strike at your wrist."

"That's not good enough," Yuan replied. "You lose."

"lease explain," said Zhang.

"If you don't believe me, I'll show you. Be careful!" Yuan's right leg kicked up at Zhang's knees.

Zhang jumped away shouting: "If you touch me..." but before he could finish, Yuan's right hand had shot out and touched a Yuedao point on his chest. He felt a surge of pain and immediately began to cough uncontrollably.

Yuan smiled at him. "Well?" he asked.

The others were amazed by this nonchalant display of such profound kung fu skills. Zhang, looking deathly pale, did not dare to continue his intransigence. "I will do as you say, Master Yuan," he replied.

"But your kung fu is first class," Bald Vulture added. "What is your name?"

"My surname is Zhang, my given name Zhaozhong. And may I ask your names?"

"Ah, so it's the Fire Hand Judge," Bald Vulture replied. "Brother Yuan, he's a martial brother of Master Ma Zhen."

Yuan grunted. "His brother is not as good as him. Let's go." He galloped off.

There were several horses mixed in amongst the camels and goats, and Zhang and Hahetai chose a mount each and began helping to herd the animals after Master Yuan.

As they galloped along, Zhang said to Bald Vulture: "Excuse me. These wolves are very numerous. How do you intend to catch them?"

"You just do as Master Yuan says," Bald Vulture replied. "What's so terrifying about a few little wolves?" Madame Guan, riding nearby, smiled to hear her husband bluffing Zhang.

They rode on. Suddenly Yuan wheeled his horse round and shouted: "The wolf droppings are very fresh. The pack passed here not long ago. From the look of it, we'll catch up to them in another ten miles or so. We'll ride another five miles and then all pick fresh horses. When we have caught up to them, I will lead the way. The six of you must divide up, three on each side to make sure the animals don't escape, otherwise the wolf pack will split up." Just as Tang was about to ask a question, Yuan turned and galloped off.

The wolf droppings around them became increasingly moist as they went.

"The pack must be just ahead," said Madame Guan. "With our camels and horses making such a noise, it's surprising they haven't turned back already."

"Yes, it is strange," her husband replied. A couple of miles further on, the topography began to change and they saw a cluster of hills ahead with a tall white mountain in their midst. The Twin Eagles had long lived in the desert, and had heard many stories about this beautiful mountain, sparkling in the bright sunshine.

"The wolves must have gone into the maze!" Yuan shouted. "Everyone whip the animals!" They raised their horses whips and began beating the camels and horses, and a great roar went up as the beasts snorted and neighed in pain and anger. Before long, a large grey wolf appeared, running towards them from the hills.

Yuan whirled his long whip about his head and cracked it sharply in the air. Then with a shout, he whirled his horse round and galloped off south, with the Twin Eagles, Zhang and the Three Devils driving the herd after him. After a couple of miles, the howls of the wolf pack arose from behind. Bald Vulture glanced back and saw the grey tide moving towards them across the desert. He spurred his horse on and caught up with the others. Zhang, Gu and Tang appeared to be having difficulty keeping their terror under control, but Hahetai was shouting and whistling crazily, driving the animals on and intercepting strays. He was a herdsman by birth and he made sure not one was lost.

The wolves were ferocious and persistent, but they lacked stamina. After four or five miles, they had already been left far behind, and another five miles further on, Yuan shouted: "Let's rest for a while!" They all dismounted and ate some rations while Hahetai herded the animals together. When the wolves began to close in, they started off again.

** 1b **

They continued south in this way, stopping occasionally to rest. Later in the day, two Muslim riders appeared, galloping towards them.

"Master Yuan," they shouted. "Did it work?"

"They're coming, they're coming!" he shouted back. "Tell everyone to get ready." The riders turned and galloped off ahead.

A short while later, they spied a huge circular wall rising up out of the desert, at least forty feet in height with only one narrow entrance. Yuan rode through the opening with the herd of animals close behind him. The Twin Eagles and the others drove them through the gate and then veered off to either side just as the first of the wolves arrived. The huge wolf pack charged into the enclosure and threw themselves at the animals. When the last wolf was inside, a horn sounded and several hundred Muslims sprang from trenches on either side of the entrance, each man carrying a bag of sand on his shoulders. They raced for the opening and in a moment, the gap was completely blocked.

As they clapped and cheered, Zhang wondered what had happened to Yuan inside the stockade. He saw several dozen Muslims standing on top of the wall, and jumped off his horse and ran up a flight of steps, arriving at the top just in time to see Yuan being pulled up by a rope. He glanced down into the pit and jumped in fright: down below were the hundreds of camels and horses, and thousands upon thousands of hungry wolves tearing and biting at them. The noise was terrifying, and blood flowed freely about the floor of the pit. The stockade was built with sand bricks, more than a thousand feet in circumference and its walls coated with mud to make sure there were no footholds available. Yuan stood with the Twin Eagles on the top of the wall laughing heartily, obviously very pleased with himself.

"This wolf pack has been terrorizing the Tianshan mountains for hundreds of years, but you have now destroyed it, Master Yuan," said Bald Vulture. "You have done the people a great service."

"It needed everyone's cooperation. How could I have done it by myself?" he replied. "Just this stockade alone took three thousand men half a year to complete. You have also been a great help today."

"I'm afraid it will take a long time before all these wolves finally die of hunger," said Madame Guan.

　　　　　　
　　
　　 　　　　　　 "Of course, especially after they've feasted on all those animals down there."
A cheer arose from the crowd of Muslims below and several of their leaders came up to express their thanks to Yuan and the others. The Muslims brought goat meat and horse milk wine for them to eat and drink.

"Mistress Huo Qingtong defeated the Manchus at Black River and we have defeated the wolves here," said one of the leaders. "Now that the wolves have been caught, we can go and look for her..." He stopped as he spotted Zhang, wearing the uniform of a Manchu officer, standing close by.

"Master Yuan, I have something important to discuss with you," Bald Vulture said later. "lease don't be offended."

"Ha! You've learned some manners in your old age," Yuan replied, surprised by his formality.

"Your pupil's moral character is very bad and he needs to be severely disciplined."

Yuan looked startled. "Who? Chen Jialuo?"

"Yes." Bald Vulture told him about how Chen had first won Huo Qingtong's heart, and then shifted his affections to her sister.

"He is very reliable," Yuan said firmly. "He would never do such a thing."

"We saw it with our own eyes," added Madame Guan, and related how they met Chen and Princess Fragrance in the desert. Yuan stared at them for a moment, then his anger exploded.

"I accepted the job of being his foster father," he exclaimed, "raised him from when he was small. And now this happens. How can I face Great Helmsman Yu in the other world? We must go and find him and question him face-to-face." He leapt off the wall and mounted his horse: "Let's go!" he roared, and galloped off, with the Twin Eagles following behind.

Zhang's spirits rose as he saw his enemies departing. The Emperor had sent him to find Chen and Princess Fragrance, and before he returned to the court, he wanted to make sure they had been eaten by the wolves. If they had, there was nothing more to be said. But if they were still alive, he would have to catch them. Chen's kung fu, he knew, was only marginally inferior to his own, and if Huo Qingtong joined Chen against him he would lose, so he decided to invite the Three Devils along as well. He gave Gu's sleeve a tug and the two walked off a few paces together.

"Brother Gu," he whispered. "Do you miss that beauty?"

Gu thought Zhang was sneering at him. "What's it to you?" he replied angrily.

"I have a score to settle with that fellow Chen, and I want to go and make sure he's dead. If you come with me, the girl is yours, if she's still alive."

Gu hesitated. "They've probably already been eaten by the wolves," he said slowly. "And anyway, I don't know if Brother Tang would be willing to go."

"If they've been eaten, then you're out of luck," Zhang replied. "But you never know. As to your Brother Tang, I'll go and talk to him."

He went over to Tang and said: "I'm going to look for that fellow Chen to settle accounts with him. If you would be willing to help me, his dagger is yours."

What student of the martial arts would not covet such a precious weapon? Even if Chen is already inside a wolf's belly, Tang thought, the dagger will not have been eaten. He agreed immediately. "Brother Hahetai, let's go," he shouted.

Hahetai was standing on the stockade wall animatedly discussing the wolf pack with the Muslims. Hearing Tang's call, he turned and shouted: "Where are we going?"

"To look for Chen and the others. If their bodies haven't been completely devoured, we can bury them properly. We owe them that much!"

Hahetai respected Chen, and he immediately agreed. The four obtained some rations and water from the Muslims, then mounted up and started northwards, back the way they had come.

At about midnight, Tang protested that he wanted to stop for the night. But Zhang and Gu insisted that they continue. The moon was high in the sky, making the scene look like a silvery painting. Suddenly, a figure darted from the side of the road and into a stone grave nearby.

"Who's that?" Zhang shouted, reining in his horse.

A moment passed, and then the laughing head of a Muslim appeared from a hole between the flagstones. "I am the corpse of this grave," he said. He wore a flowered hat and, to the great surprise of Zhang and the others, spoke in Chinese.

"What are you doing out here if you're a corpse?" Gu shouted.

"I just wanted to go for a stroll."

"Do corpses go for strolls?" Gu replied angrily.

The head nodded. "Yes, yes, you're right. I am wrong. So sorry." It disappeared back into the hole.

Hahetai burst out laughing, but Gu was furious. He dismounted and stuck his hand into the grave, wanting to pull the Muslim out, but he felt about inside without finding anything.

"Don't take any notice of him," said Zhang. "Let's go."

As the four turned their horses round, they spotted a small, skinny donkey by the side of the grave, chomping grass.

"I'm sick to death of dry rations," said Gu gleefully. "Some roast donkey meat wouldn't be bad at all." He jumped off his horse again and was about to take hold of the donkey's reins when he noticed the animal had no tail.

"Someone seems to have cut off the donkey's tail and eaten it already," he observed with a smile.

There was a whoosh of sound and the Muslim appeared on the donkey's back. He laughed and pulled a donkey's tail from his pocket and waved it about. "The donkey's tail got covered in mud today, which didn't look very nice, so I cut it off," he said.

Zhang looked at the man's full beard and crazy appearance and wondered who he was. He raised his horse whip and rode by the donkey, striking out at the Muslim's shoulder as he passed. The Muslim dodged to one side, and Zhang suddenly found himself holding the donkey's tail, which was indeed covered in mud. He also noticed a coolness on his head, and found his cap had disappeared.

"So you're a Manchu officer," the Muslim said, swinging the cap about on his finger. "You've come to attack us Muslims, I suppose. This cap is very pretty."

Startled and angry, Zhang threw the donkey's tail at the Muslim who caught it easily. Zhang leapt off his horse and faced him. "Who are you?" he shouted. "Come on! I'll fight you."

The Muslim placed Zhang's cap on the donkey's head and clapped his hands in delight. "The dumb donkey wearing an official's hat!" he excalimed. He twitched his thighs and the donkey trotted off. Zhang began to run after him, but stopped as a projectile flew towards him. He caught the cold, glittering object deftly and with a surge of fury, recognised it as the sapphire off the front of his cap. By now, the donkey was already a long way away, but he picked a stone off the ground and hurled it at the Muslim's back. The Muslim made no effort to avoid it, and Zhang was delighted, certain that this time he had him. There was a loud clang as the stone hit something metallic, and the Muslim cried out in despair.

"Oh no! He's killed my saucepan! It's dead for certain!"

The four men looked at each other dumb-founded as the Muslim and his donkey disappeared into the distance.

"Was that a man or a demon?" Zhang asked finally. The Three Devils silently shook their heads. "Come on, let's go. This place is evil beyond belief."

They galloped off, and early the next morning, they arrived outside the Secret City. The paths were many and confusing, but the trail of wolf droppings was a perfect guide which brought them unerringly to the base of the White Jade Peak. Looking up, they saw the cave-mouth that Chen had excavated.

** 2a **

Chen woke towards midnight, his strength revived. Under the light of a moonbeam shining down from the crack in the roof of the cave, he could see Huo Qingtong and Princess Fragrance leaning against one another on one of the jade seats, fast asleep. In the silence, he heard their breathing and smelt the fragrance, even more beautiful than that of fresh flowers or musk, emanating from the younger sister.

He wondered again what the wolves outside the mountain were doing and whether the three of them would ever be able to escape. And if they did, would his brother the Emperor hold to his word and throw out the Manchus?

"Which one do I really love?" Over the past few days, this thought had been gyrating round his brain continuously. "Well, which one really loves me? If I were to die, Princess Fragrance would not be able to go on living, but Huo Qingtong would. But that doesn't mean Princess Fragrance loves me more."

The moon beam slowly shifted onto Huo Qingtong's face.

"rincess Fragrance and I have declared our love for each other, but although Huo Qingtong has never said a word about it, her feelings towards me are clear too," he thought. "And why did I come so far to give her a message if it was not because I loved her? What is more, restoring the throne to the Chinese people will involve immense trials and tribulations. She is a better strategist even than Brother Xu, and her assistance would be invaluable," He stopped himself, ashamed of his own thoughts.

"Ah, Chen Jialuo," he whispered under his breath. "Are you really so narrow-minded?"

Time passed and the moonbeam moved across onto Princess Fragrance.

"With her, all I would have is happiness, happiness, happiness," he thought.

His eyes opened wide and he stared up at the crack of light in the rock high above them for a long, long time. Slowly, the moonlight faded and a sunbeam began to slant in, filling the room with daylight. With a yawn, Princes Fragrance woke. She looked over at him through half-open eyes and smiled, her face looking like a newly-opened flower.

Suddenly she jerked upright. "Listen!" she whispered.

Footsteps sounded distantly from the tunnel, gradually moving closer. In the silence of the old caverns, each step could be heard clearly, and their skin crawled as they listened. Chen shook Huo Qingtong's arm to wake her and the three ran quickly back down the tunnel.

When they reached the main chamber, Chen picked up three jade swords and gave one each to the two sisters. "Jade wards off evil," he whispered.

By now, the footsteps were just outside the chamber, and the three hid in a corner near the entrance, not daring to move. They saw the flickering light of torches and four men walked in. The two in front, they instantly recognised as Zhang and Gu.

There was a series of clanging sounds as the weapons of the four flew out of their hands to the ground. Chen knew this was an opportunity not to be missed, and as they stood staring at the floor in dumb surprise, he gave a shout and leapt out, and with knocked the torches to the ground, plunging the chamber into complete darkness. Zhang and the Three Devils turned and raced back down the tunnel. They heard a dull thud followed by a sharp curse as one of them bumped into the wall.

The footsteps gradually receded again.

Suddenly, Huo Qingtong gave a scream of panic. "Oh no! Chase them!"

Chen immediately realised what she meant and raced out of the chamber into the tunnel. But before he reached its end, he heard a steady creaking sound followed by a heavy bang, and he knew the stone door was closed.

Huo Qingtong and Princess Fragrance ran up behind him. He felt around for a piece of wood, found one and lit it, then looked again at the scarred surface of the stone door, the relic of the death struggle of the skeletons around them.

"We're finished!" Huo Qingtong said, despairingly.

Princess Fragrance grabbed her hand. "Sister, don't be afraid!"

Chen forced a smile. "It would be strange if we three died here."

For some reason, he felt a sense of relief wash over him as if a great weight had been taken from his shoulders. He picked a skull off the ground and said to it: "Well brother, you have three new companions." Princess Fragrance gasped, and then laughed out loud.

Huo Qingtong looked at them both. "Let's go back to the Jade Room," she said after a while. "Once we've settled down we can start thinking things through."

They walked back the way they had come. Huo Qingtong pulled out the map once more and pored over it, desperately searching for a way out. Chen knew that if they were to escape it was more likely to be because of outside help or because Zhang returned to look for them. But how could rescuers find them? And Zhang, after the fright he had just received, was unlikely to dare to come in again.

"I want to sing a song," Princess Fragrance announced.

"lease do," replied Chen.

She sang for a while then stopped, concerned about Huo Qingtong who was still staring hard at the map, her head resting on her hands.

"Sister, you should rest for while," Princess Fragrance said. She stood up and went over to the jade bed and said to the skeleton lying on it: "Excuse me, I wonder if you could move over a bit? My sister needs to lie down and rest." She carefully pushed the bones into a pile in the corner of the bed. "Oh!" she said, picking something up. "What's this?"

Chen and Huo Qingtong walked over and saw she was holding a goatskin scroll of great antiquity. The scroll had turned black, but under the sunlight, it was possible to see it was covered in writing, all in an ancient Muslim hand. Huo Qingtong glanced through it, and pointed at the skeleton on the bed.

"It was written by this girl with her own blood just before she died. Her name was Mami," she said.

"Mami?" asked Chen.

"It means 'beautiful'. I'm sure she was very beautiful when she was alive." She put down the book and went back to examining the map.

"Does the map indicate some other exit?" Chen asked.

"There appears to be a secret tunnel somewhere, but I can't work out where."

Chen sighed. "Would you read out this Miss Mami's last words to me?" he asked Princess Fragrance. She nodded, and began to quietly recite:

"Everyone in the city, thousands upon thousands of people are all dead. The guards of the Mountain and the warriors of Islam are all dead. My Ali has gone to meet Allah, and his Mami will be going soon too. I will write our story out here, so that the children of Allah will know that, victorious or defeated, our warriors of Islam fight to the end, and never surrender!"

"So this lady was not only beautiful, but courageous too," commented Chen.

Princess Fragrance continued to read:

"Baojunlonga oppressed us for forty years. In those forty years, he forced thousands of commoners to construct this secret city and carve out the chambers and halls within the Sacred Mountain. He killed them all. After he died, his son Sanglaba proved to be even more cruel. Of every ten goats raised by the Muslim people every year, four had to be given to him; of every five camels, he claimed two. We became poorer and poorer each year. Any beautiful daughters among the Muslim families were taken into the city, and once there, none ever came out alive.

"We are the brave children of Islam. Could we stand such oppression from these pagans? Of course not! Over a period of twenty years, our warriors attacked the city five times. But each time, they lost because they could not find their way through the maze. On two occasions, they made it into the Sacred Mountain but Sanglaba used some devilry to steal their weapons, and they were all killed by his guards."

"That's the magnet," said Chen. Princess Fragrance nodded and continued:

"In the year that I turned eighteen, my mother and father were killed by Sanglaba's men and my elder brother became the chief of our tribe. That spring, I met Ali. He was a hero of the tribe. He had killed three tigers, and wolf packs scattered when they saw him. He could beat ten ordinary men, no, a hundred. His eyes were as soft as those of a deer and his body was as beautiful as a fresh flower, but he had the strength of a desert hurricane..."

"The lady is exaggerating, I think," Chen said with a smile.

"Why do you say that?" Princess Fragrance asked solemly. "Are there not such people in the world?"

"One day, Ali came to our tent to talk to my brother about another attack on the City. He had obtained a copy of a book about Chinese kung fu and had studied it for a year. He said he now understood the basics of the martial arts, and was convinced that even without weapons, they could kill Sanglaba's man. He took five hundred fighters and taught them what he knew, and they practised for another year. By then, I was already Ali's. I was his from the moment I first saw him. He told me that when he saw me, he knew that we would win this time. But although they had mastered kung fu, they still did not know the way through the maze of the City, much less the secrets of the Sacred Mountain. Ali and my brother talked for ten days and nights, but could find solution.

"Finally, I said: 'Brother,let me go.' They understood my meaning. Ali was a brave warrior but he began to cry. I took a hundred goats and went to graze them outside the city. On the fourth day, Sanglaba's men seized me and took me to him. I cried for three days and three nights before giving in to him. He liked me very much and gave me everything I wanted.

"At first Sanglaba would not let me take so much as one step outside, but he liked me more and more. I thought about our people every day and of singing while tending goats on the grasslands: that is real happiness. What I thought of most was Ali. Sanglaba saw me becoming more thin and haggard each day and asked me what I wanted. I said I wanted to go out and wander round everywhere. He flew into a great rage and slapped me, so for seven days and nights I didn't smile or say a word to him. On the eighth day, he took me out, and after that on every third day. At first, we only travelled about the city, but later we even went to the very entrance of the maze. I memorized clearly every single street and path until I could have found my way through the maze even if I was blind.

"This took almost a year. I knew my brother and Ali would be getting impatient, but I still did not know the secrets of the Sacred Mountain. Soon after, I became pregnant with Sanglaba's bastard child. He was delighted, but I cried every day in loathing. He asked me what I wanted, and I said: 'You have made me pregnant but you don't love me at all.'

"'I don't love you?' he replied. 'Do you think there is anything I would not give you? Do you want red coral from the bottom of the sea, or sapphires from the south? They are yours."

"'I have heard that you have a jade pool which makes beautiful people who wash in it even more beautiful and ugly people even uglier,'" I said.

"His face drained of all colour and in a shaky voice, he asked me where I had heard this. I told him a fairy had whispered it to me in a dream, but in fact I had heard about the pool from the servant girls who said that Sanglaba had never let anyone see it.

"'You can go and wash there, but whoever sees the pool must have their tongue cut out afterwards to prevent the secret being revealed. It is a rule decided by the ancestors,'" he said. He begged me not to go, but I insisted. I said: 'You must think I am very ugly and do not wish me to become even uglier.' Finally, he took me there.

"I took a small knife with me, planning to stab him to death by the pool, which was the only place in the palace where there were no guards, but the knife was snatched away by some magic under the floor of the great hall. After I had bathed in the Jade Pool, I don't know if I really became more beautiful or not, but he loved me even more. However, he still cut out my tongue, because he feared that I would reveal the secret. I knew everything, but had no way of telling my brother and Ali.

"Every day and every night, I prayed to Allah, and Allah finally heard the cries of his poor daughter. He gave me wisdom. Sanglaba had a small dagger which he kept on his person at all times. The dagger had two scabbards, and the inner scabbard was exactly like the blade of a knife. I asked him for it, then I drew a map of the city including all the paths and tunnels in it, sealed it inside a ball of wax and placed it inside the inner scabbard. In the third month after the birth of the child, he took me out hunting. When no-one was looking, I threw the dagger into the Tengbo lake. When we returned to the palace, I released many eagles with 'Tengbo Lake' written on pieces of paper tied to their legs."

Huo Qingtong put down the map and concentrated on listening to her sister's translation of the ancient scroll.

"Several of the eagles were shot down by Sanglaba's men, but I knew that at least one or two would be caught by people of our tribe and that my brother and Ali would go to Tengbo Lake and make a thorough search. They would then find the knife and know the way through the city.

** 2b **

"Ah! How could I guess that although they found the dagger, they did not discover its secret, and did not work out that there was a scabbard within the scabbard? My brother, and Ali decided that the dagger must be a call for them to attack. So they attacked. Most of the warriors lost their way in the maze. My brother, stronger than two camels, was lost in this way. Ali and some of the others caught one of Sanglaba's men and forced him to lead them in their attack on the Sacred Mountain. In the Great Hall, Sanglaba's men fell on them with their jade weapons. But Ali and his warriors had learned their lessons well and even empty-handed they held their own and most died along with their opponents. Seeing his guards being slaughtered and Ali pressing in closer all the time, Sanglaba ran into the Jade Room and wanted me to escape with him via the Jade Pool..."

Huo Qingtong jumped to her feet. "Aha!" she exclaimed. "He wanted to escape via the Jade Pool!"

"Suddenly Ali ran in, and I flung myself into his arms. We embraced, and he called me many beautiful things. I had no tongue and could not answer him, but he understood the cry of my heart. Then that despicable Sanglaba, ten thousands times more evil than a thousand devils, struck him with an axe from behind...."

Princess Fragrance screamed and threw the scroll back onto the bed, an expression of horror on his face. Huo Qingtong gently patted her shoulder, then picked up the scroll herself and continued to read it out loud:

"....with an axe from behind and split my Ali's head in two. His blood spurted out all over my body. Sanglaba picked the child up off the bed, placed it in my hands and shouted: 'We must leave quickly!' I raised that bastard baby high about my head and threw it to the ground with all my strength, and he died in Ali's blood. Sanglaba was deeply shocked at the sight of me killing his son. He raised his golden axe, and I bowed my head, offering my neck to him, but he sighed and rushed back out into the Great Hall.

"Ali has gone to Allah's side and I will soon follow him. Our warriors are many, and with all his soldiers dead, Sanglaba will certainly not survive. He will never again be able to oppress us followers of Islam. I myself killed his only son, so we will be free of oppression from his descendants, because he has none. In the future, our people will be able to live peacefully in the desert and on the grasslands, young girls will be able to lie in their lovers' arms and sing. My brother, Ali, myself, we are all dead, but we conquered the tyrants. Even if their fortress had been stronger than it is, we would still have broken through eventually. May Allah, the True God, protect our people."

Huo Qingtong slowly rolled up the ancient scroll. The three of them sat for a long time without saying a word, deeply moved by Mami's courage and virtue. Finally Princess Fragrance, her eyes full of tears, sighed.

"To relieve the oppression of her people, she was willing to leave her loved ones, to have her tongue cut out and even to kill her own child," she said.

Chen started in fright, thinking of his own conduct compared to this lady of old. Faced with the task of recovering China for the Chinese people, he selfishly thought only of his own romantic problems.

Princess Fragrance noticed the sudden change in his expression. She pulled out her handkerchief and went over to wipe the beads of sweat from his brow, but Chen pushed her away impatiently. She stepped back, startled at his aggressiveness, and Chen's heart softened. Taking the handkerchief from her, he made up his mind that while the great endeavour of the Restoration remained unfinished he would pay no further attention to his romantic affairs, and would treat both sisters purely as friends, as his own sisters.

Huo Qingtong, meanwhile, was once more poring over the map and pondering phrases in the ancient scroll.

"It says here that Sanglaba came to this Jade Room and wanted her to escape with him to the Jade Pool," she murmured. "But this room is a dead end ... Afterwards, he returned the way he had come. He must have been extraordinarily strong. The Islam warriors failed to stop him and he forced his way through to the stone door and locked them all inside, condemning them to death. But the map clearly indicates another tunnel to the pool...."

"Then it must be in this room," Chen replied. He lit another torch and began to examine the walls closely for cracks, while Huo Qingtong looked at the jade bed. Chen remembered how Wen Tailai had been captured at Iron Gall Manor and said: "Could the tunnel be under the table?" He placed his hands beneath the round table top and tried to lift it, but it did not budge.

"There's something strange about this table," he said, pleased. Huo Qingtong brought the torch over to give him more light.

"Oh, look!" Princess Fragrance exclaimed. "There's a design carved onto the surface." They looked closer and saw that it was a herd of winged camels. They had not noticed it before because the carving was extremely shallow. But strangely, the heads and bodies of the camels were not joined, and were more than a foot away from each other. On an impulse, Princess Fragrance grasped the table edge and pulled it from left to right in an attempt to line up the heads and bodies, and it did indeed move an inch or so. Chen and Huo Qingtong joined her and slowly moved the rim round until the camels were whole again. Just as the carving was complete, a grinding sound began and a panel beside the bed slid back to reveal a row of steps leading downwards. The three shouted in triumph.

Chen led the way into the hole, torch in hand. The passage twisted and turned for a while and then ran straight for more than a hundred feet. Then, around a corner, they burst out into daylight. Looking around they saw they were in a small basin surrounded by high mountains. In the centre was a circular pool, the water in which was as green as jade. They were immediately enraptured by the beauty of the scene before them.

"The scroll said that if beautiful people washed in the pool they would become even more beautiful," Huo Qingtong said to her sister with a smile. "You should go and wash."

Princess Fragrance blushed. "You are older than I, you go first," she replied.

"Ai-ya! But I will become more ugly," Huo Qingtong protested. "Are you going to wash or not?" Princess Fragrance shook her head.

Huo Qingtong walked to the edge of the pool and put her hands in the water: it was intensely cold. She cupped her hands and scooped up some water and saw it was very clear: the water appeared green only because of the jade all about. She took a sip and found it extraordinarily cool and tasty. They all drank their fill. The white peak towering above them reflected off the surface of the pool in a picture of loveliness, and Princess Fragrance lazily moved her hand about in the water, unwilling to leave such an enchanting place.

"The thing to do now is to think of a way to avoid those four devils outside," said Huo Qingtong.

"First, let's bring Mami's remains out and bury them beside the pool," Chen suggested.

Princess Fragrance clapped her hands in delight. "It would be best if we buried her and Ali together," she said.

"Yes. I expect the skeleton in the corner is Ali's."

They returned to the Jade Room. As they were collecting Ali's bones, they found amongst them some bamboo slivers used in China in ancient times for writing. Chen picked them up, and saw they were thickly covered with Chinese characters written in red ink on a black background. Glancing through them, he recognized the writings of the Chinese philospher Zhuangzi. He had thought it might be some special book and was rather disappointed to find it was instead something he had read and memorized as a child.

"What is it?" Princess Fragrance asked.

"It's an old Chinese book, but it's not much use except to archaeologists." He threw the slivers back on the ground, and as they scattered, he noticed one which looked slightly different from the rest. Beside every character, were circles and dots and Muslim writing. Chen picked the sliver up and saw it was a section entitled 'The Butcher Dissects the Cow' from the philosopher Zhuangzi's lecture, 'The Secret of Caring for Life.' He pointed to the Muslim characters written alongside.

"What does this say?" he asked Princess Fragrance.

"'The key to smashing the enemy is here'," she replied.

"What can that mean?" he wondered out loud, greatly surprised.

"Mami's last testament said Ali got hold of a Chinese book and had learned kung fu from it. This could be it," Huo Qingtong suggested.

"Zhuangzi taught that one should be oblivious of emotion in adversity and obedient to one's superiors," said Chen. "It has nothing to do with kung fu." He threw the sliver back down again, then picked up the pile of bones and walked out. They buried the remains of Mami and Ali beside the Jade Pool and bowed respectfully before the graves.

"Let's go now," said Chen. "I wonder if the white horse managed to escape the wolves?"

"What is the section of that book about?" Huo Qingtong asked.

"It's about a butcher who is very good at his job. The movements of his hands and legs, the sound of his knife chopping, are all perfectly coordinated. The sound has the rhythm of music, the movements are like dancing."

"It would be useful to have such skill when facing an enemy," Huo Qingtong commented.

Chen stared at her in surprise. Every word of Zhuangzi was familiar to him, but suddenly he felt as if he had never read it before. The words of 'The Butcher Dissects The Cow' ran through his mind: 'When I first began cutting up oxen, all I could see was the ox itself. After three years, I no longer saw the whole ox. And now -- now, I go at it by spirit and don't look with my eyes. Perception and understanding have come to a stop and spirit moves where it wants.'

"If it really is like that," he thought, "I could kill that traitor Zhang with my eyes closed with just a slight movement of the knife..." The two sisters stared at him, wondering what he was thinking about.

"Wait a moment," he said, and ran back inside. A long time passed and still he did not re-emerge. Feeling worried, the two sisters went in as well and found him prancing about among the skeletons in the Great Hall, his face wreathed in smiles. He danced around a pair of skeletons for a moment and then stood stock-still staring at another pair. Princess Fragrance glanced to her sister in fright, afraid that he had lost his mind.

Huo Qingtong took her sister's hand. "Don't be afraid, he's all right," she said. "Let's go and wait for him outside."

The two returned to the Jade Pool. "What's he doing in there?" Princess Fragrance asked.

"I think he's worked out some new kung fu moves after having read those bamboo slivers and he's now practising them by copying the positions of the skeletons. It would be best if we didn't disturb him."

Princess Fragrance nodded. After a while, she sighed. "Now I understand." she said.

"What?"

"All those people in the Great Hall must have been very good fighters. Even after their weapons had been snatched from them, they still fought on with Sanglaba's guards."

"Yes, but they weren't necessarily very good at kung fu," Huo Qingtong replied. "I would guess they just learned a few really formidable moves which allowed them to take their enemies with them."

"Ah, they were so brave ... But what is he learning them for? Does he want to die with his enemies too?"

"No, a martial arts master would not be killed along with his opponent. He is just studying the finer points of the moves."

Princess Fragrance smiled. "Well I won't worry any more, then." She looked out over the surface of the pool. "Sister," she said. "Let's bathe in the water."

"Don't be ridiculous. What if he should come out?"

"I really want to go and bathe," Princess Fragrance replied. She stared out at the cool water once again. "Wouldn't it be nice if the three of us could live here together forever!" she said softly.

Huo Qingtong's heart jumped. She blushed, and quickly turned her head away towards the White Jade Peak.

A long time passed and still Chen did not emerge. Princess Fragrance took off her leather boots and put her feet in the water. Resting her head on her sister's lap, she gazed up at the white clouds in the sky and slowly fell asleep.

** 3a **

'Scholar' Yu and Yuanzhi understood why Xu had sent them out together to look for Huo Qingtong. Yu was greatly moved by Yuanzhi's obvious love for him, and by the fact that she had saved his life several times. But the more infatuated she became, the more he shrank away from her, for what reasons, he didn't himself understand. As they travelled, she laughed and chattered with him, but he remained cool to her advances.

One day towards noon, they spied a small donkey hobbling towards them across the desert, its rider nodding from side to side as he snoozed. As they got closer, they saw it was a Muslim with a large saucepan slung across his back and a donkey's tail in his right hand. The donkey, they noticed, was tail-less and was wearing an Imperial Guard officer's cap. The rider looked about forty years of age and had a luxuriant beard covering his face. When he saw them, he smiled warmly.

Yu knew Huo Qingtong's name was known across the length and breadth of the desert. "Excuse me," he said. "Have you seen Mistress Huo Qingtong?"

The man laughed. "Why are you looking for her?" he asked.

"There are several bad men after her and we want to warn her. If you see her, could you give her the message?"

"All right. What sort of bad men?"

"Two are big Chinese, and the third is a Mongol," Yuanzhi answered.

The man nodded. "Yes, they are bad. They wanted to eat my donkey, but I stole this hat from them." Yu and Yuanzhi glanced at each other.

"There was someone else with them?" Yu asked.

"The man wearing this cap. But who are you?"

"We are friends of Master Muzhuolun," Yu replied. We must stop the men from finding Mistress Huo Qingtong. Take us to where you met them and we will give you some silver."

"I don't need any silver. But I'll have to ask the donkey if he's willing to go first," the Muslim replied. He leant over close to the donkey's ear and mumbled into it for a while, then placed his own ear near the donkey's mouth, and nodded repeatedly. Yu and Yuanzhi grinned at his clowning.

The man listened intently for a moment and then frowned. "This donkey has had a very high opinion of himself ever since he got the official cap," he said. "He's rather contemptuous of your horses and doesn't want to travel with them for fear of losing face."

Yuanzhi looked at the skinny, lame animal, it's body covered in dirt, and burst out laughing.

"You don't believe me?" the Muslim exclaimed. "Well then, my donkey shall compete with your horse."

Yu and Yuanzhi were riding two of Muzhuolun's best horses, as superior to the donkey as clouds are from mud.

"All right," said Yuanzhi. "When we've won, you must lead us to find the three bad men."

"It's four, not three. But what happens if you lose?"

"Whatever you say."

"If you lose, you have to wash the donkey clean so that he can show off."

"All right," Yuanzhi agreed. "What sort of competition will we have?"

"You can decide."

The Muslim seemed absolutely certain of victory and Yuanzhi began to feel suspicious. "What's that in your hand?" she asked.

"It's the donkey's tail," he replied, waving it about. "After he started wearing the official cap, he thought it didn't go well with his dirty tail, so he decided he didn't want it."

"Let me have a look," she said.

He threw the tail across and she caught it, then pointed with it at a small sand dune some distance away. "We'll race from here to that sand dune," she said. "The winner will be the first to get there, your donkey or my horse." The man nodded. "You go over there and be the judge," she added to Yu. He slapped his horse and galloped off across to the dune.

"Go!" Yuanzhi shouted, and with a lash of her whip, her horse leapt forward. After a few hundred feet, she glanced back and saw the donkey, limping along far behind. She laughed and spurred her horse on even faster. Then all of a sudden a black shape shot past her. She almost fell off her saddle in shock when she saw the man had slung the donkey around his shoulders and was running with long strides, already a good distance ahead of her. She recovered and tried to catch him up again, but he ran like the wind and stayed ahead all the way to the finish. Just before she reached the dune, Yuanzhi threw the donkey's tail back the way they had come and shouted: "The horse is first!"

The Muslim and Yu looked at each other in puzzlement.

"Mistress!" the Muslim protested. "We agreed that whichever got here first, the donkey or the horse, was the winner, isn't that right?"

Yuanzhi tidied her hair with her hand. "Yes," she replied. "But only part of the donkey got here first."

The man pulled on his beard. "I don't understand. What do you mean, only part of the donkey?"

Yuanzhi pointed to the tail she had thrown far behind them. "My horse arrived complete, but only a part of your donkey made it. His tail didn't."

The man laughed heartily. "Yes, you're right!" he exclaimed. "You win. I'll take you to find those four bad men." He went over and picked the tail up and brought it back. "You stupid donkey!" he said to the animal. "Don't think that just because you're wearing an official's cap that you don't need your dirty tail." He leapt onto its back.

Yu had been greatly impressed by the Muslim's immense strength that allowed him to run faster than a horse even with the donkey slung over his shoulders. He knew he must be a martial arts master and bowed before him.

"If you just tell us which direction to go, we will go and find them ourselves," he said respectfully. "We don't wish to trouble you, sir."

"But I lost," the Muslim replied, smiling. "How can I back out now?" He turned the donkey round and shouted: "Follow me!"

They travelled on. Yu asked the man for his name, but he simply smiled and answered with more crazy jokes. The lame donkey walked very slowly, and after half a day they had covered only ten miles. They saw riders approaching from behind, and 'Mastermind' Xu and Zhou Qi galloped up. Yu introduced them saying: "This gentleman is taking us to find the Three Devils." Xu dismounted and bowed.

The Muslim simply smiled in response. "Your wife should be resting more," he said to Xu. "What's she doing, racing about like this?"

Xu stared at him, not understanding. Zhou Qi, however, blushed red, and galloped on ahead.

The Muslim was very familiar with the roads and paths of the desert, and towards evening, he led them to a small village. As they approached, they saw that a Manchu military unit had also just descended on the village. The Muslims were fleeing in all directions dragging their children after them.

"Most of the Manchu forces have already been exterminated, and the remnants have been surrounded, so where did these come from?" Xu wondered aloud.

A group of about twenty Muslims dashed towards them with a dozen soldiers on their heels, shouting and brandishing their swords. When the Muslims caught sight of the man on the donkey, they began to call out his name ecstatically: "Afanti! Afanti! Save us!"

"Everyone flee!" Afanti shouted. He raised his whip and galloped off into the desert with the Muslims and Manchu troops following behind.

After a while, several of the Muslim women fell behind and were captured by the soldiers. Zhou Qi could not bear to leave them, and she drew her sword and whirled her horse round. She charged the Manchu troops and with a swish of her blade, cut off half the head of one of them. The other soldiers surrounded her, and Xu and the others galloped up to rescue her. Suddenly, Zhou Qi felt a wave of nausea and as one of the soldiers leapt forward to grab her, she vomited all over his face. He frantically tried to wipe the mess off, and Zhou Qi killed him with her sword. Her legs and arms became rubbery and she swayed unsteadily. Xu rushed over to support her.

"What's the matter?" he asked.

Yu and Yuanzhi had by now killed or chased away the rest of the soldiers. Xu caught one of the fleeing troops and interrogated him about where the column had come from. The soldier threw himself down on the ground and begged for mercy, gabbling incoherently. Finally they extracted from him the fact that he was attached to a relief force coming from the east. Xu chose two strong young men from amongst the group of Muslims and sent them off immediately to inform Muzhuolun, so he would be prepared. He gave the soldier a kick on the behind and shouted "Go to hell!" The soldier scampered away.

Xu turned back to his wife. "Are you all right?" he asked. "What's the matter?"

Zhou Qi blushed and turned her head away.

"The cow is going to calve," Afanti said.

"How do you know?" Xu asked, surprised.

"It's strange. The bull didn't know the cow was going to calve, but the donkey did."

They all laughed, then countinued on their way. As evening approached, they stopped and set up tents for the night.

"How many months gone are you?" Xu quietly asked his wife. "How is it that I didn't know?"

"How would my stupid bull know?" Zhou Qi replied, smiling. After a moment she added: "If we have a boy, then he will be surnamed Zhou. Father and mother will die of happiness! Just so long as he's not as crafty as you."

"You must be careful from now on," said Xu. "No more sword-fighting." She nodded.

The next morning, Afanti said to Xu: "Your wife can stay at my home while we go and look for those men. It's another ten miles further on. I have a very beautiful wife there ..."

"Really?" Yuanzhi interrupted. "I must meet her. Why would she like a bearded fellow like you?"

"Aha, that's a secret," Afanti laughed.

They arrived in a village and Afanti led them to his house. Raising his saucepan, he began to bang it loudly, and a woman in her thirties came out to greet him. Her features were indeed beautiful and her skin white and delicate. They could tell she was overjoyed to see Afanti, but from her mouth issued a stream of curses: "Where the hell have you been, Whiskers? Do you still remember who I am after all this time?"

"Enough of your noise," Afanti replied with a smile. "Haven't I come back? Bring something out for me to eat. Your Whiskers is starving to death."

"Aren't you satisfied just looking at my lovely face?" The wife countered, also smiling.

"That's very true, your beautiful face is a great delicacy, but if I had some bread or something to go with it, it would be even better."

She reached over and gave his ear a sharp twist. "I won't allow you to go out again," she said. She went back inside, and re-appeared soon after with piles of bread, water-melon, honey and lamb. Yuanzhi didn't understand a word Afanti and his wife said to each other, but she could see from their teasing that they loved each other dearly, and felt desolate.

While they ate lunch, two people walked into the house, one a young boy and the other a labourer.

"Master Hu says that you should return the saucepan that you borrowed from him," the boy said.

Afanti glanced at Zhou Qi and smiled. "You tell Master Hu that the saucepan is pregnant and will soon give birth to a baby saucepan, and cannot be moved at the moment."

The boy looked puzzled, but he turned and left.

"What are you here for?" Afanti asked the labourer.

"Last year, I went to an inn in the village and ate a chicken. Before I left I asked the innkeeper for the bill, but he said: 'We'll settle it next time, there's no rush.' I thought at the time that he was being nice so I thanked him and left. Two months later, I went back to pay, and he started counting his fingers and mumbling away as if he was trying to calculate a very complicated account. I said: 'How much was that chicken? All you have to do is tell me!' The innkeeper waved his hand and told me to be quiet."

"A chicken, even if it was the biggest fat chicken, would not be more than a hundred copper pieces," said Afanti's wife.

"That's what I thought too," said the labourer. "But after he had been figuring for a long time, he said twelve taels of silver!"

"Ai-ya!" exclaimed Afanti's wife. "How could a chicken be so expensive? You could buy several hundred chickens with twelve taels of silver."

"Yes, that's what I said. But the innkeeper said: 'There's no mistake. If you had not eaten my chicken, how many eggs would that chicken have laid? And how many of those eggs would have become little chicks? And when those little chicks grew, how many eggs would they have laid...?" The longer he calculated, the higher the price became and finally he said: "Twelve taels of silver is actually very cheap!" Naturally, I refused to give him the money so he dragged me over to see Master Hu for him to settle the dispute. Master Hu listened to the innkeeper and told me to pay up. He said that if I didn't settle the account quickly, the eggs would become even more chickens and I wouldn't have a hope. Afanti, tell me who is right."

Just then, the boy returned.

"Master Hu says how could a saucepan be pregnant? He doesn't believe you and says you must return the saucepan to him immediately."

Afanti went into the kitchen and brought out a small saucepan which he gave to the boy. "This is clearly the son of a saucepan," he said. "You give it to Master Hu."

Uncertain whether to believe him or not, the boy took the small saucepan and left.

Afanti turned to the labourer and said: "You tell Master Hu you want to hold a meeting to settle the matter."

"But if I lose, I'll have to give him twenty-four taels of silver, won't I?"

"Don't worry," said Afanti, "You can't lose."

After an hour or so, the labourer returned and said: "Uncle Afanti, Master Hu had already called the meeting, and the deliberation has begun. Please come."

"I'm busy at the moment," Afanti replied. "Come back in a little while." He sat laughing and chatting with his wife and the others. The labourer was extremely anxious and pleaded with him and finally Afanti got up and accompanied him to the meeting.

Xu and the others went along too to see the fun, and they found seven or eight hundred people gathered in the centre of the village. A fat man wearing an embroidered fur-lined gown sat in the middle, and they decided he must be Master Hu. The crowd had become very restless waiting for Afanti.

"Afanti," called Master Hu. "This labourer says you're going to speak for him. Why are you so late?"

Afanti bowed before him. "I'm sorry, but I had some important business to attend to," he said.

"How could it be more important than settling this dispute?" Master Hu replied.

"It was much more important," said Afanti. "Tomorrow, I am going to plant some wheat, but I had not yet fried the seeds or eaten them. I fried them three times and it took me a long time to finish them up."

"Nonsense!" roared Master Hu. "How can you plant seeds that you have eaten?"

The crowd laughed heartily, but Afanti just stroked his large beard and smiled. After a while, the hubbub died down, and he said: "You say that wheat seeds that have been eaten cannot be planted. Well, how can the chicken that the labourer ate lay any eggs?"

The crowd thought for a second, and then cried out: "Yes, that's right, how can a chicken that's been eaten lay eggs?" Everyone began shouting and laughing and lifted Afanti up onto their shoulders.

Seeing the crowd's reaction, Master Hu had no alternative but to announce: "The labourer should pay one hundred copper pieces to the innkeeper in return for the chicken he ate."

The labourer happily handed over the string of copper coins to the innkeeper. "I wouldn't dare to eat on of your chickens again," he said.

The innkeeper took the money and walked silently away. The crowd of Muslims laughed at him and some small children threw stones at his back.

Master Hu walked up to Afanti. "The saucepan I lent to you gave birth to a son. That's very good. When will it be giving birth again?"

An expression of deep sadness appeared on Afanti's face. "Master Hu," he said. "Your saucepan is dead."

"How can a saucepan die?" Master Hu replied angrily.

"If a saucepan can give birth to a son, of course it can die."

"You charlatan," cried Master Hu. "You just don't want to return my saucepan."

"All right," Afanti shouted back. "We'll let everyone decide."

But Master Hu remembered how he had accepted the small saucepan, and decided he had lost enough face. He waved his hand to indicate he had had enough and walked off through the crowd.

Afanti was extremely pleased with himself for having managed to cheat Master Hu, himself a master at cheating the poor, and he threw back his head and roared with laughter. Suddenly, a voice behind him said: "Well Whiskers, what ridiculousness are you up to now?"

Afanti turned and saw it was the Strange Knight of the Heavenly Pool, Master Yuan. He jumped up happily and grabbed Yuan's arm.

"Aha! So you're here. Come and see my wife," he said.

"What's so special about your wife that you keep showing her off like a monkey would a jewel ..." Before Yuan could finish, Xu and Yu came forward and kowtowed before him.

"Enough, enough, there's no need to kowtow. I'm not your teacher," Yuan protested. "Where is your Master Chen?"

"The Great Helmsman came on ahead of us..." Xu began. Suddenly, he noticed the Twin Eagles of Tianshan, Bald Vulture and Madame Guan, behind Yuan and bowed to them. He was surprised to see Madame Guan was riding Chen's white horse.

** 3b **

"Where did you find that horse?" he asked.

"We found him running free in the desert. It took the three of us quite a while to catch him," she said.

Xu was shocked. "Could the Great Helmsman be in danger? We had better go and find him," he said.

They finished lunch quickly and bade farewell to Zhou Qi. Afanti's wife, was furious that he was leaving again after only a few hours at home, and grabbed his beard, wailing and screaming as she did so. Afanti laughed and tried to comfort her.

"I`ve found a young lady to keep you company," he said. "In fact, there's a baby inside her, which means two people to keep you company, much better than me by myself." But his wife wailed even louder.

Yuanzhi rode the white horse and let it lead the way to back to Chen. Afanti again rode his donkey, but the animal was much too slow. By nightfall, they had gone only ten miles, and everyone was getting anxious.

"We will go on ahead," Xu finally said to Afanti. "We are afraid that our Great Helmsman may be in trouble."

"All right, all rightm" Afanti replied. "When we get to the next village, I'll buy a better donkey. This stupid donkey thinks he's something special, but really he's useless." He urged the animal on and caught up with Yuanzhi.

"Mistress, why are you so unhappy all the time?" he asked.

Despite his apparent silliness, Yuanzhi knew that this strange Muslim was very wise, and she decided to ask his advice.

"Uncle Afanti," she replied. "How would you deal with someone who was unreasonable?"

"I would cover his head with my saucepan and skewer him with a sword."

Yuanzhi shook her head. "That won't do. For instance, what if he was someone very ... dear to you. The nicer you are towards him, the more stubborn he becomes, like your donkey."

Afanti pulled at his beard, fully understanding her meaning. "I ride this donkey every day and I've learned a few tricks about how to deal with his bad temper," he replied with a smile.

They entered a village. As they approached the square at its centre, the white horse suddenly gave a long neigh and galloped forward. Yuanzhi pulled desperatelyon the reins, but could not control him and the villagers scattered in front of the apparently crazed animal as it raced up to a group of people and stopped. Yuanzhi dismounted in front of Luo Bing, Wen, 'Leopard' Wei, Zhang Jin, Xin Yan and white-bearded Lu Feiqing.

Yu ran over to Lu and knelt down before him. "Uncle," he cried, and began to sob.

Lu helped him up, tears also glistening in his eyes. "I started out as soon as I heard the shocking news about your teacher, Master Ma Zhen," he said. "I met Master Wen and the others on the road. They are also after that traitor, Zhang. Don't worry. We will avenge the death of your teacher."

The heroes found somewhere to rest briefly while Afanti went off to buy a donkey, Yuanzhi quietly following him. He found and purchased a strong animal, twice as tall as his tail-less donkey which he sold to the donkey merchant for a small sum.

"The official's cap was the undoing of this stupid donkey," he said, and laughed. He threw the cap on the ground, and trampled it into the dust. Yuanzhi led the new donkey for him as they walked back.

"I once raised a donkey that was appallingly stubborn," Afanti said. "If I wanted him to move, he would stand still. If I wanted him to stand still, he would walk round in circles. One day, I wanted him to pull a cart to a mill a few hundred feet away, but no matter what I said, he wouldn't budge. The more I pushed him, the more determined he was to stay put. I shouted, I hit him, it made no difference. So you can guess what I did?"

"I'm sure you thought of something."

"The mill was to the east, so I pulled the donkey round to face west and then urged him to moved forward. He retreated one step after another all the way to the mill!"

"You wanted to go east, so it insisted on going west," Yuanzhi said thoughtfully. "So you pushed him westwards."

Afanti stuck up his thumb. "That's right. That's the way." Yuanzhi smiled. "Thank you for your advice," she said.

She decided he was right. The more she was nice to Yu, the more he avoided her, so she decided that she would ignore him instead. Luo Bing and Xu were surprised by her sudden change in attitude, but Afanti just stroked his beard and smiled.

With Afanti riding his new donkey, they made much faster progress. The white horse led them to the White Jade Peak, but it was still fearful of the wolves and stopped outside the maze of paths leading to the Secret City, refusing to go any further.

"The wolf pack went in here," said Master Yuan. "We should be able to find our way easily by following the trail of wolf droppings." Their anxiety about Chen's safety increased.

The path twisted back and forth for a long time. Suddenly, they heard footsteps ahead and four men appeared round a corner, the first of whom was Zhang. His face turned pale at the sight of the heroes, and particularly his martial brother Lu Feiqing. Yu gripped hold of his golden flute and was about to charge forward when Master Yuan lightly touched his shoulder, stopping him dead in his tracks.

Master Yuan pointed at Zhang accusingly. "When we met several days ago, I called you a master of the Wudang School. I did not know then that you were capable of even killing your own martial brother. Why not end it cleanly and quickly yourself?"

Zhang calculated that at least five of his opponents were his equal at kung fu or better and that he would gain nothing from a head-on confrontation.

With one swift, smooth movement, he drew his sword, and flung a large handful of Golden Needles at the heroes. As they ducked, he grabbed Hahetai and squeezed a key Yuedao point on his right wrist. "Run!" he shouted.

Hahetai was no longer master of his own movements. He ran with Zhang back along the path towards the Secret City, with Tang and Gu following along behind. By the time the heroes had picked themselves up, the four had disappeared around the bend. Master Yuan and Afanti were furious, and shot after them at high speed. Master Yuan was particularly fast, and in a moment he had caught up with Tang. He grasped him by the neck and lifted his fat body up off the ground. Unable to see his attacker, Tang kicked out backwards with his foot, but a huge force propelled him through the air, smashing his head into the rock face, killing him instantly.

Master Yuan ran on and, rounding the next corner, found himself confronted by three paths leading off the main track.

Xu looked carefully at the ground. "Someone trod in this pile of wolf droppings," he said, pointing. "They must have followed the trail of droppings back."

"Very good. Let's go," Master Yuan replied. They followed the droppings all the way to the base of the White Jade Peak without seeing any sign of Zhang and the other two. But they noticed the cave mouth above them, and Master Yuan and some of the others jumped up the cliff while the rest were hauled one by one by Lu and Wen.

Master Yuan pushed open the massive stone door, and ran on ahead of the others down the tunnel. When they entered the Great Hall, their weapons were snatched away by the magnetic force, giving them all a bad shock. But they had urgent business, and picked up their swords and others weapons without bothering to work out what had happened and ran on to the Jade Room, where they saw the tunnel mouth beside the bed. The further they went into the bowels of the mountain, the more astounded they became. Suddenly, they emerged once more into bright daylight, and saw six people standing around the Jade Pool, three on one side and three on the other. On the far side were Chen, Huo Qingtong and Princess Fragrance, while on the near side were Zhang, Gu and Hahetai.

"Master, master!" Xin Yan called excitedly. "We're here!"

"Child! Are you all right?" Madame Guan shouted to Huo Qingtong.

"Fine!" she called back. She pointed at Gu and added: "lease kill that villain quickly." Bald Vulture drew his sword and sprung at him, while Madame Guan began to fight with Hahetai. The other heroes quietly surrounded Zhang.

Gu and Hehetai fought for their lives, but could not hope to win against the "Three-Part" sword  of the Twin Eagles. In the midst of the clash of swords, Bald Vulture gave a roar and blood appeared on Gu's chest. He followed with a swift kick, and Gu fell backwards into the pool, sending fountains of water spraying out in all directions. A trail of blood rose to the surface.

A moment later, there was another splash as Gu surfaced, and began swimming slowly towards the bank. Hahetai threw down his sword and helped him out of the water. Gu was badly wounded and had taken in a large quantity of water, and after laying him down on the bank, Hahetai massaged his chest.

Zhang watched helplessly as Gu and Hahetai were overcome. Then 'Scholar' Yu lunged at him. Zhang swept his left hand across, and as Yu dodged to avoid the blow, Zhang grabbed him with his right hand and threw him at a nearby stone wall with a roar. Horrified, Yuanzhi jumped forward to grab Yu, but Zhang's strength was too great and the two slammed into the wall. A sharp 'crack' sounded as Yuanzhi's left arm snapped.

The heroes's anger flared once more. Master Yuan went over to Yuanzhi and placed a medicine pill in her mouth to ease her intense pain while the others surrounded Zhang.

"The 'Fire Hand Judge' will die as a hero!" he shouted defiantly. "Well, are you coming altogether or one at a time?"

"I'll fight you first!" Bald Vulture shouted back.

"This traitor has wronged me too deeply," Wen interrupted him. "Let me go first."

"He killed my teacher," Yu shouted. "I may not be as good a fighter as him, but I want to be first. Brother Wen, you can take over when I can't take any more."

"Let us draw lots," Chen suggested.

"Master Chen," Zhang broke in on them. "We agreed in Hangzhou to meet at a later date for a duel. Does that still hold?"

"Yes," Chen replied. "As I remember, we postponed the meeting because your hand was injured. Now is an excellent time to settle the affair."

"Then you and I will compete first and the others will wait their turns, agreed?" Zhang had fought with Chen on several occasions and knew he could beat him. He reckoned that if he could capture him, he might be able to find some way to escape. And if he could not capture him, he would at least have the satisfaction of killing the Red Flower Society's leader.

"If you think you are going to escape with your life today, you are deluding yourself," said Chen. "We spared your life in that dungeon in Hangzhou, and on Lion Peak. Only a few days ago, I saved you once again from the wolves. But the Red Flower Society has run out of benevolence towards you."

"Well, come on then," Zhang replied impatiently. Chen leapt at him, his two fists aimed straight at Zhang's face. Zhang ducked and then jumped up out of the way, and Chen followed with a sweeping kick, timing it to strike Zhang as he fell back to earth. Surprised, Zhang had to thrust his sword at Chen's chest to extricate himself. Chen moved back and as fast as lightning, Zhang struck out again.

Lu Feiqing was shocked by Zhang's speed, even faster than their teacher in his prime. He drew his sword and watched the battle carefully, ready to help Chen if necessary.

To one side, Yu and Luo Bing were looking after Yuanzhi who had fainted from the shock and pain of her broken arm. Yuanzhi opened her eyes and pointed to the east with a gasp of surprise. Yu looked round but could see nothing but the afternoon sun shimmering on the hills about them.

"What's that?" Yuanzhi asked. "Are we back in Hangzhou?"

"It's just the sun," Yu said softly. "Close your eyes and rest."

"No, that's the Thunder Peak Pagoda in Hangzhou," she replied. "I've been there with my father. Where is my father? I want to see him."

Yu lightly patted the back of her hand. "We'll go there together after this, and I'll see your father with you."

A smile appeared on her face. "Who are you?" she asked. Yu saw her staring at him, her face completely devoid of colour and fear struck him.

"I'm your martial brother Yu. I promise I will look after you from now on."

"But in your heart, you don't like me, I know," she cried, tears beginning to course down her cheeks. "Take me back to see my father. I want to die."

On a sudden impulse, Yu embraced her. "I truly love you," he whispered. "You won't die." She sighed. "Tell me you won't die," he repeated. Another wave of pain from her arm struck her and she fainted away.

Meanwhile, Zhang and Chen continued to fight round and round. At first, Chen was able to contain his enemy with the 'Hundred Flowers' kung fu . But as Zhang gradually came to grips with it, he became more daring and forced Chen onto the defensive. He swept his sword across at Chen forcing Chen to jump away, and with a quick double movement of his sword, struck out at 'Leopard' Wei and Zhang Jin, wounding them both. Wen roared with anger and was about to leap forward when Chen slipped past him and struck out at Zhang's face with his open hands. There appeared to be no force behind the blow, but they struck Zhang's ears with two sharp claps. Surprised and angry, Zhang retreated.

The heroes were perplexed by the effortless way in which Chen had managed to box Zhang's ears.

"Fourteenth Brother," Chen said to Yu. "lay me a tune on your flute."

"What do you want me to play?" he asked, putting the flute to his lips.

Chen hesitated for a moment. "The tune 'Ambush From All Sides'," he replied.

Yu did not understand what he was getting at, but having received an order from the Great Helmsman, he complied immediately and began to play with all the skill he could muster. The tune was a martial piece written originally for the bamboo flute. Played on the golden flute, it sounded even more stentorian, raising the image of armoured troops on the march.

Chen set himself in a pose facing Zhang. "Come on," he invited, then turned and kicked out into the thin air as if dancing. Seeing his back undefended, Zhang thrust his sword at him, and the heroes gasped in fright. But Chen suddenly turned again, grabbed Zhang's queue with his left hand and pulled it over the edge of the sword, slicing it in two. With his right hand, he gave Zhang's shoulder a sharp blow.

Zhang had now been struck three times, and although he had not yet been badly hurt, he was obviously baffled by Chen's kung fu  and had had to suffer the shame of having his queue cut off. But he was a master of self-control and he carefully retreated several steps, staring fixedly at his enemy.

Chen moved forward slowly, his feet following the rhythm of the tune Yu was playing.

"Look!" Huo Qingtong said to her sister excitedly. "It's the kung fu  he learned in the cave."

The two whirled round each other. Zhang kept his sword strictly on the defensive, striking out only when Chen got too close.

"Master Yuan, I have never had so much respect for you as I do today," Bald Vulture said. "Your pupil is doing you proud."

Master Yuan was greatly perplexed: he was probably the best martial arts fighter in the land and yet he had never seen anything remotely like the kung fu  Chen was using. "I didn't teach him this," he replied. "I wouldn't know how to."

Yu played his flute even more furiously. At first, Chen had felt unfamiliar with the new kung fu , but by now he was using it smoothly, advancing and retreating with great precision until Zhang's clothes were covered in the sweat of fear. The melody hit a high note, then fell like a shooting star exploding, and Zhang gave a cry as Chen touched the Yuedao point on his right wrist, forcing him to drop the sword. Chen followed quickly with two blows to Zhang's back, then jumped away, laughing. Zhang stumbled forward a few steps, as if drunk, and collapsed on the ground. Jubilant, the heroes rushed forward to tied him up. Zhang, his face deathly white, made no attempt to resist.

"Master Yuan, Master Lu," Chen said. "What should we do with this traitor?"

"Feed him to the wolves," Yu interjected. "First he killed my teacher and now he, now he ..." He looked down at Yuanzhi's broken arm.

"Good idea! We'll take him to feed the wolves," said Yuan. "We have to go and see how the pack is doing anyway."

Lu carefully set Yuanzhi's broken arm and bound it tightly with cloth. Master Yuan slipped a Snow Ginseng pill into her mouth and felt her pulse.

"Don't worry," he said to Yu. "She won't die."

"ut your arms round her, and she'll get better much quicker," Luo Bing whispered to him with a smile.

Huo Qingtong, meanwhile, was examining her map again, looking for a path from the Jade Pool out to the Secret City, when she heard shouts and turned to see Gu running crazily towards her screaming: "Kill me! Kill me!" Shocked and angry, she raised her sword and ran it through his chest. As she pulled the blade out again, a stream of blood spattered her yellow robe and Gu collapsed on the ground. Hahetai knelt over him and tried to stop the blood flow, but it was impossible. Gu gasped in pain.

"Do you have any affairs that need settling, Brother?" Hahetai asked him.

"I just want to touch her hand, then I can die happy," Gu whispered, looking up at Huo Qingtong.

"Mistress!" Hahetai pleaded. "He's about to die. Take pity...." Huo Qingtong turned without a word, and walked away, her face deathly pale. Gu gave a long sigh, and his head fell to one side, dead.

Holding back his tears, Hahetai jumped up and pointed his finger accusingly at Huo Qingtong.

"You're merciless!" he shouted. "I don't blame you for killing him, but you could at least have given him your hand to touch, so that he could die peacefully. What difference would it have made to you?"

"Nonsense! Shut your mouth!" Zhang Jin said angrily.

Hahetai made no reply. He picked up Gu's body and strode away. Yu led over a horse for him.

"Brother Hahetai," he said. "I respect you for being an upright man. Please take this horse."

Hahetai nodded and slung Gu's body over the horse's back. Yu filled a bowl with water and drank half of it, then presented it to the Mongol.

"This water can take the place of wine," he said. Hahetai threw back his head and drained the bowl at one draught, then rode away without looking back.

** 4a **

The heroes started out for the wolf stockade in high spirits, singing and laughing as they went. Master Yuan questioned Chen about the origin of the strange kung fu  he had used, and Chen gave him a detailed account of his discovery.

"What an extraordinary coincidence," Yuan said in delight. "One could never make such a find by purposely looking for it."

After several days travel, they arrived at the stockade and climbed up on to the parapet to look inside. The wolf pack had long since eaten the herd of animals and were now fighting over the carcases of their dead comrades, barking and snapping at each other. The scene was cruelly tragic and even the hardened heroes were shocked. Princess Fragrance could not bear the sight, and went back down to talk with the Muslim guards.

Yu pulled Zhang to the edge of the wall, and began to mumble a prayer: "Oh, spirit of my benevolent teacher, we have today avenged your death." He reached over and took the knife Xu was holding, cut the rope binding Zhang's hands and feet and kicked him off the edge.

Zhang had been seriously injured by Chen's last two blows, but his Inner Strength Kung Fu was profound, and he had basically recovered by the time they reached the stockade. As he fell towards the floor of the stockade, he knew he had no chance of survival, but he still had to fight one last time. The wolves threw themselves at him just before he hit the ground. He grabbed two of the beasts by their necks and whirled them round and round, forcing the others to back off and slowly made his way to the stockade wall.

They knew he would die. Despite their hatred for him, Chen, Luo Bing and the others with weaker stomachs could not bear to watch to the end and walked back down from the parapet.



** 5 **


That evening, after they had set up camp, Chen told Master Yuan about his meetings with the Emperor Qian Long. Yuan was amazed by the twists and turns in the story, and when it was finished, he pulled a small, yellow cloth bundle from his bag.

"Last spring," he said, handing the bag to Chen, "your foster father, Great Helmsman Yu, sent the Twin Knights to see me and asked me to look after this, saying there were two important items inside. They didn't say what they were and I haven't opened the bag to see, but I imagine they must be the evidence the Emperor wants."

Chen opened the bag and and found a small parcel tightly wrapped in three layers of water-proof oil paper. Inside was a tiny box made of redwood. He opened the lid, revealing two plain envelopes yellowed with age. Inside the first envelope was a sheet of paper on which was written: "Master Chen, send someone over with your newborn son for me to see. Yong Di."

Master Yuan read it, but could not grasp it's significance. "What does it mean?" he asked. "Why would your foster father have considered this note to be so important?"

"It's written by the Emperor Yong Zheng," Chen replied.

"How do you know?"

"There were many examples of the Emperor's calligraphy around our home when I was young, so I recognise it easily. But this note was obviously written before he became Emperor. Yong Di was the name he used before he ascended the throne. Also, after he became Emperor, he would not have referred to my father as 'Master'." Yuan nodded.

Chen counted off the months and years on his fingers. "I was born after Yong Zheng became Emperor, and so was my brother. My sister was born at about that time, but this letter says: 'Your newborn son'. This is excellent evidence!"

He opened the second envelope and took out a letter. As soon as he saw the writing, tears sprang to his eyes.

"What is it?" Yuan asked.

"This is my mother's writing," he replied. He wiped away his tears and began to read the letter:

"Dear Brother Yu, our fate has run its course. What more is there to say of my ill-fated life? All I am concerned about now is the troubles I have brought upon you. You are a brave and upright man, but because of me, you have been rejected even by your own martial school. Of my three sons, one is in the depths of the Imperial Palace, one has gone off into the desert, and the one who is left to keep me company is both stupid and wicked. It makes me very sad. My youngest son is very intelligent and has been put under the care of an excellent teacher. I love and miss him, but I am not worried about him.

"My eldest son is playing the role of Manchu Emperor and knows nothing of his origins. Brother Yu, can you enlighten him for me? To prove it, tell him he has a bright red birthmark on his left buttock, and he will have to believe you.

"My strength is gradually failing. Day and night, all I think and dream of is the times we had together when we were young. If Heaven has pity on us, we will meet after death and spend the rest of eternity together as man and wife. (signed) Sister Chaosheng."

Chen was deeply shocked as he read the letter.

"Teacher," he said, his voice quavering. "Is the ... the 'Brother Yu' in the letter my foster father?"

"Who else?" Master Yuan replied sombrely. "He and your mother fell in love when they were young, but things did not go as they wished, and they were separated. As a result, he never married."

"Why did my mother want me to go and live with him and treat him as my real father? Could it be....?"

** 4b **

"I was Master Yu's closest friend, but I only know that he broke the regulations of the Shaolin School and was expelled. He would never raise such a humiliating matter himself and it was difficult for others to ask him about it. But he was a good man, and I'm certain he would not have done anything to be ashamed of." He slapped his thigh. "When he was expelled, I felt sure he had been falsely accused and I got together some fighters with the idea of going to Shaolin monastery and demanding an explanation. It nearly created a serious split in the fighting community. But your foster father disagreed strenuously, insisting that the expulsion was his own fault and all he deserved. In the end, I did nothing. But I still don't believe he would have done anything shameful. I don't know what it could have been." His lingering anger was still apparent. "After he was expelled from the Shaolin school, he went and lived as a hermit for several years. Later he founded the Red Flower Society."

"But why did my foster father and my mother want me to leave home? Do you know?"

"What face did I have left when he stopped me from forcing the Shaolin School to explain?" Yuan replied angrily. "I refused to have anything to do with him after that. He sent you to me, and I taught you the martial arts, so I don't owe him anything."

Chen knew there was no point in questioning him further. But the key to restoring the throne to the Chinese race lay with his elder brother's origins. Even the slightest error, and all their efforts could be rendered useless. So he decided to first go to the Shaolin Monastery. He told Yuan of his plan.

"Good idea," the old man replied. "But the monks there are a strange lot. I'm afraid they won't tell you anything."

"We'll see," said Chen.

Yuan looked at his pupil thoughtfully. "Both of those Muslim girls are very nice. Which one do you want?" he asked.

"The famous Han dynasty general Huo Qubing said: 'How can I think of marriage until the barbarians are defeated?' I feel the same way," Chen replied.

Yuan nodded. "That's very commendable. I will speak to the Twin Eagles so they won't accuse me again of being a bad teacher."

"Have they said something about me?"

"They accused you of fickleness, of shoving aside one sister for the other."

Chen remembered how he and Princess Fragrance had met the Twin Eagles in the desert, and how they had departed without saying farewell, leaving their message in the sand. With a shock, he realised what they had meant.


The next day, Chen informed the heroes of his decision to go to the Shaolin Monastery in Fujian Province and bade farewell to Master Yuan, the Twin Eagles, Huo Qingtong and her sister.

Princess Fragrance wanted to go with him, and Chen felt very bad about leaving her behind. He had no idea of when they would meet again, but with Heaven's help, the great task of driving the Manchus out of China would one day succeed and they would be re-united. If it did not succeed, he and his brothers would probably die and be buried far from the Muslim areas.

"You stay with your sister," Chen said, hardening his heart.

"You must come back!" Princess Fragrance cried, tears coursing down her face. He nodded. "If it takes ten years for you to come back, I'll wait ten years. If it takes a lifetime, I'll wait a lifetime."

Chen wanted to give her something. He felt around in his bag and his hand touched on something warm: the piece of Warm Jade the Emperor had given him in Haining. He took it out and placed it in her hand.

"When you look at this jade, pretend you are looking at me," he said softly.

"But I must see you," she replied tearfully.

"What's all this crying about?" he said. "When the Great Task is completed, I will take you to see the Great Wall outside Beijing. I promise."

Princess Fragrance stared at him for a moment, then the trace of a smile appeared on her face. "You're not allowed to say anything you don't mean," she said.

"When have I lied to you?"

Only then did she agree to stay behind.

They started out. As they rode away, Chen found himself constantly looking back at the two sisters as they faded and gradually disappeared on the horizon of the desert.

The heroes travelled slowly due to Yuanzhi's injuries. With his master's death avenged, Yu was in high spirits and looked after the girl with loving care and attention.

After several days, they arrived back at Afanti's home. Zhou Qi was delighted to hear Zhang was dead. Chen wanted Xu to stay with her in the Muslim areas until the child was born and she had recovered, but Zhou Qi would have none of it. Apart from the boredom, she did not want to miss a chance to travel to the Shaolin Monastery, where her father was staying. The heroes finally agreed, and Xu rented a carriage for his wife and Yuanzhi to ride in.

By the time they re-entered the Jade Gate to central China, the weather was growing warmer and the beginnings of spring were apparent.