Yuanzhi sat for a long time with her hands on her

cheeks, annoyed that Lu would not teach her Yuedao

kung fu. After dinner, she went to see her mother, who

nagged her for causing trouble on the road, and told

her she was not to wear boy's clothing any more.

"Mother, you're always talking about how you have no

son," she replied with a smile. "Aren't you happy now

that you have one?"

Madame Li gave up and went to bed. Yuanzhi also got

ready for sleep, and was just about to take off her

clothes when she heard a light tapping on the window

sill and someone saying: "Come out, little boy! I want

to ask you something."

Yuanzhi picked up her sword and ran out to the

courtyard where she spotted a figure standing in the

shadows.

"Follow me if you dare!" the figure said and jumped

over the courtyard wall. Like a young calf unafraid of

a tiger, Yuanzhi followed without a thought for what

might be waiting for her on the other side. As her

feet touched the ground, she found a sword thrusting

towards her.

Yuanzhi raised her own sword and parried the stroke,

shouting: "Who is it?" The yellow-robed figure

retreated two steps, and said: "I am the Muslim girl

Huo Qingtong. What were you doing helping the agency

men to mess up our plans? Why don't you mind your own

business?"

"I'll do whatever I want to," Yuanzhi replied. "I

happen to like meddling in other people's business.

Let me give you another lesson in swordsmanship..."

Her sword flashed out, and Huo Qingtong raised her own

sword to parry it.

Yuanzhi knew that she couldn't beat the girl on equal

terms, so she retreated steadily as she fought,

heading towards Lu's room.

"Teacher, teacher!" she called out suddenly. "Someone

is trying to kill me!"

A sneering laugh exploded from Huo Qingtong. "Ha! You

useless object! You're not even worth killing!"

She began to walk away, but Yuanzhi attacked, forcing

her to face her once more. Yuanzhi heard someone

behind her and knew that her teacher had emerged;

seeing Huo Qingtong's sword bearing down on her, she

jumped behind Lu's back.

Lu fended off her strokes with his sword and Huo

Qingtong soon realised that his sword technique, while

the same as Yuanzhi's, was far superior. She became

anxious and attacked fiercely, waiting for an

opportunity to retreat. But his strokes followed each

other without pause, sticking to her closely.

Yuanzhi put her sword in its scabbard and joined the

fray using Boundless Occult Hand kung fu. Huo Qingtong

couldn't even beat Lu alone, so how could she manage

against both of them? Yuanzhi displayed great cunning:

a touch on one side, a hook with her leg on the other.

She was not aiming to hurt the Muslim girl, but was

intentionally having fun at her expense to pay her

back for the tuft of her horse's mane ripped out the

day before.

Lu, for his part, had been impressed earlier that day

by the Muslim girl's swordsmanship and simply wanted

to test her. His sword thrust at her and she raised

her own blade to ward it off. Meanwhile, Yuanzhi moved

in towards her back, shouting: "Watch out for my

fist!" and struck out at her left shoulder with a

'Ferocious Rooster Snatching Grain' blow. Huo

Qingting's left hand twisted round and diverted the

blow by grasping for Yuanzhi's arm. With both the

Muslim girl's arms now occupied, Yuanzhi seized the

opportunity, and the flat of her hand struck at Huo

Qingtong's chest. If the blow had been in earnest, it

would have caused serious injury, but there was no

strength behind it. She ran her hand heavily over the

girl's chest and then jumped back laughing. Huo

Qingtong was consumed with fury, and ignoring Lu's

sword, swung round and attacked Yuanzhi using the

Tianshan School's 'Mirage' style. Lu could not stand

by. He raised his sword and accepted the brunt of the

attack, while Yuanzhi stepped back.

"All right," she laughed. "Don't be angry. You marry

me and we'll forget about it."

Huo Qingtong had been deeply insulted, but she knew

she could not overcome Lu, so with no other way for

her to avenge herself, she threw her sword at Yuanzhi

with all her strength aiming to take the girl to the

grave with her.

Lu started in fright and threw his own sword at Huo

Qingting's. The two swords collided in mid-air with a

clang and fell to earth together. He then pushed Huo

Qingtong back five or six steps with a light touch on

her left shoulder. "Please don't take offence, miss,"

he said. "There's something I want to say."

"Well?" she replied angrily. "What are you waiting

for?"

Lu looked over at Yuanzhi. "Don't you think you ought

to apologise to the lady?"

Yuanzhi walked over and bowed low, a wide grin on her

face. Huo Qingtong replied with a fist.

"Oh, no! Don't hit me!" Yuanzhi laughed. She dodged

away, and pulled off her cap, revealing her head of

beautiful hair.

"Now look," she smiled. "Am I a boy or a girl?"

Seeing Yuanzhi's real face under the moonlight, Huo

Qingtong was struck dumb. Her anger and shame

evaporated, leaving only irritation.

"This is my pupil," said Lu. "She is always

disobedient and I am unable to control her. I am sorry

for what happened just now. Please don't be offended."

He brought his hands together in salute and bowed. Huo

Qingtong turned slightly away, refusing to accept the

apology.

"What is your relationship with the Twin Eagles of

Tianshan?" he asked her. Huo Qingtong's eyebrows shot

up and her lips quivered, but she maintained her

silence. "I have always been on good terms with the

Twin Eagles, Bald Vulture and his wife Madame Guan,"

Lu continued, "so we should not be enemies."

"Madame Guan is my teacher," Huo Qingtong said. "I

will go and tell her that you bullied me and told your

pupil to attack me, and even joined in yourself."

She gave them both a look of intense hatred, then

turned to go.

Lu waited until she had gone a few steps, and then

said: "And when you go and tell your teacher, who are

you going to say bullied you?"

Huo Qingtong stopped and turned. "Well, who are you?"

she demanded.

Lu stroked his beard and laughed. "You've both got the

tempers of children," he said. "All right, all right.

This is my pupil, Li Yuanzhi, and you can tell your

teacher and her husband that I am 'Hidden Needle' Lu.

Please convey my congratulations to them on having

such a good pupil."

"A good pupil you say! I have lost face for both my

teacher and her husband by allowing myself to be

bullied in such a fashion."

"Miss, don't think that you have lost face by being

beaten by me," Lu replied seriously. "There are few in

the fighting community who could last for several

dozen moves with me as you did. I suspected you knew

the Twin Eagles when I saw you fighting earlier today,

but your use of the 'Mirage' sword style just now

decided it. Do they still argue all the time?" He

laughed.

Huo Qingtong saw that Lu knew all about her teacher,

but she was still reluctant to relent.

"If you are my teacher's friend, why did you tell your

pupil to interfere, stopping us from taking back our

Sacred Book? I don't believe you are a good man."

"Being beaten in a sword duel is not worth worrying

about," Lu said. "But failing to recover your Sacred

Book is a different matter. If your people are bullied

and insulted, you must be prepared to risk even your

own life to get satisfaction."

Huo Qingtong knew he was telling the truth, and bowed

before him. "Please tell me how the Sacred Book can be

recovered," she said. "If you are willing to help, I

and the rest of my tribe will be eternally grateful."

"It was stupid of me to interfere," said Yuanzhi. "My

teacher has already given me a long lecture. Please

don't worry, I will help you get your Sacred Book

back. It's in that red knapsack, isn't it?" Huo

Qingtong nodded. "Well, let's go," Yuanzhi added.

"We will discuss the situation first," said Lu. The

three talked in low tones for a while then, with Lu

keeping a look-out, the two girls crossed over the

wall into the inn.

They ran crouching over to the room occupied by the

lead escorts, and squatted under the window in the

shadow of the wall. Inside, they heard Lead Escort

Tong crying and groaning for a while and then stop.

"You are talented, Master Zhang," one of the lead

escorts said, "being able to cure Brother Tong so

quickly."

"If we had known you were coming, we wouldn't have had

to apologise to that Red Flower Society bastard," said

another.

"I want you all to watch that pair," a powerful voice

replied. "Tomorrow, when Wu and the others arrive

we'll make our move."

"Once we've got him, I'm going to kick that bastard in

the head a few times, very hard," said Tong.

Yuanzhi slowly extended herself and found a tear in

the window paper through which to look. She saw five

or six people seated around the room. In the middle

was an awe-inspiring man whom she decided must be the

one they called Master Zhang. His eyes flashed like

lightning and his temples were high and protruding,

indicating profound Internal Strength.

"Tong, give me the knapsack," Lead Escort Yan said.

"Those Muslims won't give up so easily. I'm afraid we

will have more trouble on the road."

Tong began to untie the knapsack hesitantly, as if

unwilling to hand it over.

"Now don't worry," Yan said. "Once we've got this

knapsack to Beijing safe and sound, we'll all reap the

benefits."

Yuanzhi thought swiftly. Yan was a powerful fighter,

and once he had possession of the knapsack it would be

difficult to recover. She whispered a few words into

Huo Qingtong's ear, took off her hat and pulled her

long hair over her face. Then she picked two bricks up

lying nearby and hurled them through the window. As

they crashed into the room, the lamp was suddenly

doused. The door opened and several men rushed out.

"Who is it?" one yelled.

Huo Qingtong whistled at them, then leapt over the

wall, and the lead escorts and Zhang chased after her.

As soon as they had gone, Yuanzhi burst into the room.

Tong was lying on the kang when he saw the Thing come

through the door, an unghostly ghost, and inhuman

human, with its hair dishevelled and wild. The Thing

hopped towards him squealing loudly, and his body went

limp with fright. It seized the red knapsack from his

hands and ran from the room.

The lead escorts chased after Huo Qingtong for a

while, but Zhang suddenly stopped in his tracks.

"Damn," he said. "This is just a diversion to lure us

away. Get back quickly!"

They returned to the inn to find Tong lying on the

kang in a state of shock. It was a while before he

managed to tell them how the ghost had stolen the

knapsack.

"What ghost?" Zhang said angrily. "We've been

tricked."

Yuanzhi hid beside the wall, holding the knapsack

tightly, and waited until all the lead escorts had

re-entered the room before jumping back out of the

courtyard. She whistled softly and Lu and Huo Qingtong

appeared from the shadow of the trees.

Yuanzhi was feeling particularly smug. "I've got the

knapsack," she laughed, "so you can't..."

Before she could finish, Lu shouted: "Watch out

behind!"

As she turned, someone slapped her on the shoulder.

She quickly tried to grab the hand but failed and her

heart jumped in fright as she realised how formidable

her assailant was: he had followed her without her

being at all aware of it. She quickly looked around

and in the moonlight saw a tall, powerful man standing

beside her. She stepped backwards in fright, and threw

the knapsack at Huo Qingtong.

"Catch!" she yelled, and brought her hands together to

face the enemy.

He was extraordinarily fast. As the knapsack left her

hand, he leapt after it and caught it in mid-air just

as Huo Qingtong attacked him. With his left hand

holding the knapsack, the man swung his arms out using

the Long-Arm style. There was great power behind the

blow, and both girls were forced back several paces.

Yuanzhi now recognised him as Master Zhang. The

Long-Arm style was one of the basic techniques of the

Wudang School's kung fu, and Yuanzhi gasped

involuntarily at the sight of Zhang using it. She

glanced around, but Lu was nowhere to be seen.

Yuanzhi advanced a step and attacked using the same

Long-Arm technique and as their fists clashed, she

felt a prickly numbness run through her arm followed

by an unbearable ache. She stumbled, then jumped off

to the left.

"Tell me, child!" Zhang said. "Is your teacher

surnamed Ma or Lu?"

"He's surnamed Ma," she said to deceive him. "How did

you know?"

"Well that makes me your martial uncle. Don't you

think you ought to kowtow before me?" He laughed.

As soon as Huo Qingtong heard mention of a connection

between them, she abandoned Yuanzhi. She could see

that the Koran could not be recovered, and ran quickly

away.

Yuanzhi chased after her a short way, but suddenly, a

cloud bank covered the moon plunging her into pitch

darkness. She started in fright as several thunder

claps rolled across the sky and turned back to find

that Zhang had disappeared too. By the time she leapt

back over the wall into the inn, large droplets of

rain were falling, and as she entered her room the

downpour came.
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