Midday came and went, but there was no sign of anyone

on the road in front. Lu was surprised and wondered if

he could have guessed wrongly. Finally, instead of

riders approaching from in front, they gradually

became aware of the sound of camel bells from behind,

and saw a dust cloud rising as a large desert caravan

hurried towards them.

The caravan consisted of dozens of camels with 20 or

30 horses squeezed in between them, all ridden by

Muslims with high noses and sunken eyes. They had

thick beards on their faces and white cloths tied

around their heads. Scimitars hung from their waists.

Muslim traders were a common sight on the road to the

central areas and Lu did not consider it unusual.

Amidst the group, he noticed a graceful young girl,

dazzlingly beautiful, dressed in yellow robes and

riding a black horse.

Lu was impressed, but did no more than glance at her.

Yuanzhi, however, stared in open-mouthed wonder.

Growing up in the northwest border areas, she had seen

few well-groomed girls, let alone girls as beautiful

as this one. She was about the same age as Yuanzhi, 18

or 19, with a dagger at her waist and long braids

hanging down over her shoulders. She wore a

full-length yellow gown, leather boots and a small hat

embroidered with gold silk, on the side of which was

fastened a turquoise feather. She was an enchanting

sight.

As the girl trotted by, Yuanzhi spurred on her horse

and followed, gazing fixedly at her. The girl was

annoyed at being stared at disrespectfully by a

Chinese boy, and she whirled her whip above her head

and wrapped it round the mane of Yuanzhi's horse.

Giving it a sharp tug, she pulled out a large clump of

hair, and the horse reared in pain, almost throwing

Yuanzhi to the ground. The Muslim girl cracked the

whip in the air and horse hair flew in all directions.

In a fit of pique, Yuanzhi pulled out a steel dart and

threw it at the girl's back. But, not wishing to harm

her, she also called out: "Watch out for the dart!"

The girl leant to one side, and the dart shot past her

right shoulder. She waited until it was about ten feet

beyond her, then flicked her whip, caught the dart by

its tip and smoothly sent it flying back towards

Yuanzhi, calling out: "Hey, little boy! Here's your

dart!" Yuanzhi caught it neatly.

The Muslims in the caravan applauded loudly at the

superb skill with which the yellow-robed girl handled

her whip. A tall, thick-set man with a heavy black

beard went over and said a few words to her, to which

she replied: "Oh, father!" But she took no further

notice of Yuanzhi. The dozens of camels and horses

moved on and gradually disappeared.

"That girl was impressive, wasn't she?" said Lu.

"These Muslims ride day and night. They ought to be

good with their whips. But it doesn't mean she knows

any real kung fu," Yuanzhi replied.

Lu laughed. "Really?" he asked.

Towards evening they arrived in the town of Bulongji.

There was only one large inn in the town, outside of

which was planted the flag of the Zhen Yuan Bodyguard

Agency. With two large groups to look after, the inn's

servants were very busy.

Lu had a wash, and then strolled into the courtyard of

the inn with a cup of tea in his hand. In the dining

hall, he saw two tables full of agency men drinking

and talking loudly. The lead escort with the Five

Element Wheels had put the weapons down but kept the

red knapsack on his back.

Taking a sip of tea, Lu gazed up at the sky.

One of the lead escorts laughed. "Brother Yan, once

you've delivered this toy to Beijing, General Zhao

will reward you with at least a thousand, won't he?

You can go and have a good time with that girlfriend

of yours, Xibao."

So it really is one of the Yan brothers, Lu thought,

and paid even closer attention to what was said.

"A reward?" said Yan. "Ha! Well, everyone will get

something."

"Your Xibao has probably gone off with some other man

willing to make an honest woman of her," added an

effeminate voice. Lu looked over out of the corner of

his eye, and saw a man with a sly face and a slight

figure, also dressed as a lead escort.

Yan grunted, obviously not pleased.

"You bastard, Tong," added the first lead escort. "You

never have anything good to say."

Tong laughed. "All right," he said. "But Brother Yan,

fun is fun and serious is serious. Don't think about

Xibao too much or you might find someone has stolen

that red knapsack off your back. It's not important if

lose your head or not, but the agency's reputation has

to be maintained."

"Don't worry," Yan replied angrily. "If those Muslims

try stealing it back, I'll soon put an end to their

nonsense. I am one of the Six Guandong Devils and I

got where I am with real kung fu, not like some of the

weaklings in the bodyguard agencies these days who can

do nothing but eat and fart!"

Lu looked at the red knapsack on Yan's back: it wasn't

big, and from the look of it, whatever was inside was

very light.

"It's true that the Six Devils of Guandong are

famous," Tong said. "It's a pity that Brother Jiao was

done in. We don't even know who the murderer was."

Yan banged the table. "Who says we don't know? It has

to be the Red Flower Society!"

That's strange, Lu thought, I killed Jiao. What is

this Red Flower Society? He walked slowly around the

courtyard inspecting the flowers, moving closer to the

group of lead escorts.

Tong would not let the matter drop. "It's a pity," he

said. "If I wasn't such a weakling, I would have

settled things with the Red Flower Society long ago."

Yan shook with anger. One of the other lead escorts

broke in to mediate: "Anyway, the Red Flower Society's

leader died last month," he said. "They've lost their

man in command, so who is there to settle with? And

another thing, where is the proof that Jiao was

murdered by the Red Flower Society? When you find them

and they deny the charge, what are you going to do?"

"Yes," said Tong changing his tack. "We daren't

provoke them, but surely we've got enough guts to

bully a few Muslims. This little toy we've snatched is

as precious to them as life itself. In the future, if

General Zhao ever wants money from them, or cattle and

sheep, do you think they'd dare to refuse? I tell you

Yan, stop thinking about that little Xibao of yours.

When we get back to Beijing, you should ask General

Zhao to give you a little Muslim girl to be your

mistress. Then you can really..."

Before he could finish, a piece of mud brick flew out

of nowhere and lodged itself in his mouth. Two of the

other lead escorts snatched up their weapons and

rushed outside while Yan picked up his Five Element

Wheels and looked warily around. His younger brother

came running in, and both stood together, not daring

to move for fear of falling into some trap. Tong spat

out the piece of mud and began swearing.

The two other lead escorts, Tai and Qian, rushed in

through the door. "The little bastard's gone," one of

them said. "There's no sign of him."

Lu had observed the whole incident and laughed

inwardly at the helpless expression on Tong's face.

Then he saw a shadow darting across the rafters in a

corner of the dining hall, and went slowly outside. It

was already growing dark, but he spotted a figure leap

off the corner of the roof, land noiselessly, and

speed off eastwards.

Lu wanted to know who had treated Tong to a mouthful

of mud and, making use of Lightness Kung Fu * (* a

type of kung fu that makes extra-fast running and

super-human leaps possible.), he followed, the teacup

still in his hand. The pace was fast, but the person

he was following was not aware of his presence.

Lu's quarry had a slim figure and moved daintily,

almost like a girl. They crossed a hill and an

ink-black forest loomed ahead. The person ahead

slipped into the trees with Lu close behind.

Underneath, the ground was covered with dead leaves

and twigs which crackled as he stepped on them. Afraid

of giving himself away, he slowed down. Just then, the

moon broke through the clouds and a shaft of clear

light shone down through the branches, covering the

earth with jumbled ghostly shadows. In the distance he

saw the flash of a yellow gown, and his quarry moved

out of the forest.

He followed to the edge of the trees. Beyond was a

large expanse of grass on which were pitched eight or

nine tents. His curiosity got the better of him, and

he decided to go and have a look. He waited until two

guards had turned away, then jumped across with a

'Swallow Gliding Over Water' leap and landed among the

tents. Crouching low, he ran to the back of the

largest tent, pitched in the centre. Inside, he could

hear people talking agitatedly in the Muslim language.

He had lived in the border areas for many years, and

understood some of what was said. Carefully, he lifted

up the corner of the canvas and looked inside.

The tent was lit by two oil lamps under which a large

number of people were seated on carpets. He recognised

them as the Muslim caravan that had passed them that

day. The yellow-robed girl stood up and drew a dagger

from her waist. She cut the index finger of her left

hand with the tip of the blade and let several drops

of blood fall into a cup of horse's milk wine. Then

one-by-one, every Muslim in the tent did likewise. The

tall Muslim that the girl had called father raised the

wine cup and made a short speech of which Lu could

only understand something about 'The Koran' and 'Our

Homeland'. The yellow-robed girl spoke after him, her

voice crisp and clear, and concluded by saying:

"If the sacred Koran is not recovered, I swear never

to return to our homeland." The Muslims lustily

repeated the oath. In the dim light, Lu could see

determination and anger on every face.

The group belonged to one of the richest and most

powerful of the nomadic Muslim tribes of the Tianshan

Mountains, numbering nearly 200,000 people. The tall

man was Muzhuolun, the leader of the tribe; a strong

fighter, fair and just, he was greatly loved by his

people. The yellow-robed girl was his daughter, Huo

Qingtong.

The tribe lived by nomadic herding and contentedly

travelled the great desert. But as the power of the

Manchu court extended into the Muslim areas, its

demands for taxes increased. At first, Muzhuolun went

out of his way to comply, and worked hard to meet the

demands. But the Manchu officials were insatiable and

made life impossible for the tribe. On several

occasions, Muzhuolun sent missions to the Manchu court

to appeal for a reduction of taxes. But far from

achieving a reduction, the missions only served to

arouse the Court's suspicions. General Zhao Wei was

given an Imperial order to supervise military affairs

in the Muslim areas and he discovered that the tribe

owned an ancient hand-written Koran, originally

brought from the sacred city of Mecca, which they had

treasured for generations. The General decided to get

the Koran to use to blackmail the Muslims into

submission and he dispatched a number of top fighters

who stole it while Muzhuolun was out on a long

journey. The Muslims had organised a group to recover

the Sacred Book.

Lu decided that the Muslims' plotting had nothing to

do with him, and he carefully stood up to return to

the inn. At that instant, Huo Qingtong noticed him.

"There's someone outside," she whispered to her father

and shot out of the tent in time to see a shadow

running fast for the trees. With a wave of her hand,

she sent a steel dart speeding after him.

Lu heard the projectile coming and leant slightly to

one side. As it passed, he stretched out the index

finger of his right hand and, carefully calculating

the speed and direction of the dart, tapped it gently

as it passed so that it fell into the teacup he was

holding. Then without looking back, he made use of his

Lightness Kung Fu and almost flew back to the inn,

where he went straight to his room. He took the dart

out of the cup and saw it was made of pure steel with

a feather attached to it. He threw it into his bag.
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