lu and yuanzhi watched the whole fight through thewindow, and saw zhang enter as the officers wereleaving.

"that's the man who took the knapsack from me lastnight," yuanzhi said.

"go quickly and draw him away, the further thebetter," lu whispered. "if i'm not here when youreturn, start out tomorrow without me and i will catchyou up."he watched zhang chase yuanzhi out of the inn gatesthen picked up a writing brush and hurriedly wrote aletter which he placed inside his gown. he ran towen's room and knocked lightly on the door.

"who is it?" a woman's voice called.

"i am a good friend of 'divine knife' luo," said lu.

"i have important news for you."there was no answer from inside. wu and the other twoofficers appeared and stood at a distance keepingwatch, obviously suspicious of lu. the door suddenlyopened and 'scholar' yu looked out.

"may i ask who you are, sir?" he asked.

"i am your martial uncle 'hidden needle' lu."a look of hesitation appeared on yu's face. he hadheard of lu but had never met him.

"i'll prove it to you," lu whispered. "stand aside."yu's suspicions deepened, and he planted his footfirmly on the opposite door post, blocking the waywith his leg. lu's left hand shot out, aiming to hityu's shoulder. yu dodged, and lu slipped his righthand underneath yu's armpit and pushed him to one sideusing the first move in the wudang school's long armfist style. "it really is 'hidden needle' lu!" yuthought, both surprised and delighted. as yu back, luobing raised her sword and dagger ready to attack, butyu stopped her. lu waved his hands at them, indicatingthey should stand clear, then ran back outside intothe courtyard.

"hey, they've gone!" he shouted to officer wu. "comeand see!"wu rushed into the room with the other two officersand lu closed the door behind them.

wu saw yu and the others in the room and shoutedfrantically: "it's a trap!" but before the officerscould turn, lu's two fists smashed into their heads,shattering their skulls and killing them instantly.

more quick-witted, wu leapt onto the kang, and withboth hands raised to protect his head, threw himselfat the window. wen tailai, who was lying on the kang,sat up and struck out with his left fist, breakingwu's right shoulder with a sharp crack. wu wavered,but steadied himself against the wall with his leftfoot, then broke through the window and escaped. luobing launched a throwing knife after him which lodgeditself in his back. but he ignored the pain, and fledfor his life.

yu and luo bing no longer harboured any suspicionsabout lu, and they both bowed before him.

"uncle lu, please forgive me for not being able to paymy respects to you properly," wen said from the kang.

"there's no need," said lu. he looked at luo bing.

"what is your relationship with 'divine knife' luo?"he asked.

"he was my father.""he was a very good friend of mine," lu said. helooked at yu and added: "you are a pupil of ma zhen's,i presume. how has elder brother been recently?""he is well," said yu. "he has often expressed concernabout you. he said he hadn't seen or heard anything ofyou for more than ten years.""i miss him too," lu said regretfully. "did you knowthat another of your martial uncles has been herelooking for you?"yu looked up in fright. "zhang zhaozhong?"lu nodded. wen tailai shuddered slightly at the soundof zhang's name, and then gasped in pain. luo bingquickly went over and supported him with her hand, herface full of love and pity.

yu looked on, absorbed. "to have a wife like thatwould be better than being a god, even if i was badlywounded," he murmured.

"zhang has brought shame upon our school, but his kungfu is excellent," lu said. "and i would guess thatreinforcements will not be far behind him. withbrother wen so badly wounded, i think all we can do atthe moment is to avoid them.""we will do whatever you suggest," luo bing said. shelooked down at her husband, who nodded.

lu pulled a letter from his gown and handed it to luobing. on the envelope was written the words:

"respectfully adressed to lord zhou zhongying, irongall manor.""do you know him?" asked luo bing, delighted.

before lu could answer, wen said: "who?""lord zhou zhongying," replied luo bing.

"is he here?""i have never met him, but we have been friends fromafar for a long time," lu said. "i think brother wenshould hide there while one of us goes to yourrespected society to report what has happened." he sawa hestitant look on wen's face. "what do you think,brother wen?""your arrangements would be perfect, but i cannotdeceive you. i am involved in a bloody feud with theemperor qian long who won't be able to eat or sleep inpeace until he sees me die with his own eyes. i knowlord zhou would take us in, but i am afraid he wouldbring great trouble upon himself by doing so.""to members of the fighting community, there isnothing more important than helping a friend in need,"said lu.

"but in my situation, the greater the friend, the lessi am able to involve him.""refusing to involve others in your problems is anupright and manly thing to do. but i do think it'srather a pity.""what is?" wen asked quickly.

"if you refuse to go, we will have to stay here andfight. i don't want to exaggerate the enemy's strengthor denigrate our own, but who do we have to matchzhang? i am nearly sixty years old, my life is oflittle value. but my martial nephew here has apromising future and your wife is full of youth. justbecause you want to play the hero ... aah ... it meanswe will all die here."wen began to sweat profusely.

"husband!" luo bing exclaimed. she pulled out ahandkerchief and wiped the beads of sweat from hisbrow, then held his hand.

wen's affection for his wife outweighed his sense ofduty and he relented. "you are right," he said. "iwill do whatever you say." but then he sighed. "oncewe reach iron gall manor, the red flower society willbe beholden to yet another person."the red flower society always took care to repay itsbenefactors and to exact revenge on its enemies --hence the fearful reaction of the zhen yuan agencymen.

"what relationship is zhao banshan to you?" asked lu.

"brother zhao? he is third master of our society.""so that's it! just what your red flower society isinvolved in, i don't know. but zhao and i wouldwillingly die for each other. in the old days when wewere both in the dragon slayers' society, we werecloser than natural brothers. if he is a member ofyour society, then your affairs are certain to bejust. what does it matter what great crimes you havecommitted? the biggest crimes are supposed to be theassassination of officials and rebellion. ha! well, ijust killed two running dogs of officialdom!" he gaveone of the corpses a kick.

"there's too much to explain," wen said. "after thisis over, if i live, i will tell you everything. butbriefly, the emperor sent eight imperial bodyguards toarrest my wife and myself. i was wounded in a fight atjinquan but we escaped and came here. they'll get mesooner or later, but the emperor has a secret i mustexpose before i die."lu asked where the red flower society leaders were.

"the red flower society has 12 masters of theincense," said yu. "apart from brother wen and luobing, they are already gathered in anxi. we have askedthe young helmsman to assume the leadership of thesociety, but he is unwilling to do so. he says he istoo young and inexperienced and insists that secondbrother, the taoist priest wu chen, should be leader.

at present, the matter is deadlocked. the meeting tochoose a new helmsman will not start until brother wenand luo bing arrive."yu turned to wen, his superior in the society'sheirarchy. "should i first return to anxi to report?"he asked.

wen hesitated, uncertain of what to say.

"let us do it this way," suggested lu. "you threestart out immediately for iron gall manor. once youare settled there, brother yu can continue on hisbusiness. meanwhile, i will go to anxi to report."wen pulled a red silk flower from his gown and handedit to lu. "when you arrive in anxi, fasten this flowerto your lapel and you will be met by someone from oursociety," he said.

luo bing helped her husband up while yu lifted the twocorpses from the floor onto the kang and covered themwith the bedclothes. then lu opened the door andstrode calmly out, mounted a horse and galloped offwestwards.

after a short while, the others also emerged from theroom, yu leading the way. luo bing supported herselfwith the door bar in one hand and held up wen with theother. the inn's staff shrank away as the threeapproached, and yu threw three taels of silver ontothe front desk.

"there's money for the room and the food," he said.

"we have left two very valuable items in our room. ifthere is anything missing when we get back, we willdeal with you."the manager nodded rapidly, almost too scared tobreathe. servants led out their horses. wen could notget either of his feet into the stirrups, so he placedhis left hand on the saddle and with one push flewlightly onto the horse's back.

"excellent kung fu, master wen," yu praised him. luobing gave a dazzling smile and mounted her own horse,and they rode off.

in the town, yu enquired about the way to iron gallmanor, and they raced off southeast. luo bing washappy: she knew that once they got to the manor, herhusband would be safe. lord zhou commanded greatrespect throughout the border regions.

the road was covered with loose stones and long grasswhich gave it a rather desolate air. suddenly, theyheard the sound of galloping hooves ahead and threehorses raced towards them. the riders were all large,strong men, but one was particularly tall andimpressive with silver-white whiskers and a smoothrosy face. in his left hand, he jiggled two iron ballstogether. as they passed, the riders looked at wen insurprise, but they were galloping fast, and flashedpast in an instant.

"i'm afraid that was lord zhou," yu said.

"i was thinking that too," replied luo bing.

"we'll find out when we get to the manor," said wen.

a few miles further on, as evening drew near, irongall manor appeared before them. the wind was strongand the clouds low, but the rays of the setting sunshone brightly through the twilight. they looked atthe lovely manor, set amidst an endless expanse ofwithered grasses and yellow sand. seeking sanctuary asthey were, the mood of the three was despondent, andthe desolation of the area affected them all. theyspurred their horses forward and found the manor wassurrounded by a moat, the banks of which were coveredwith willow trees. the bare branches whirled anddanced in the strong west wind. around the manor werefortifications and a watchtower: it was an imposingsight.

one of the manor's attendants invited them in, seatedthem in the great hall and brought them tea. then amiddle-aged man with the air of a housekeeper came outto receive them. he said his name was song, and askedwen and the others for their names.

"i have heard much about you," he said, startled tohear that they were members of the red flower society.

"but i had thought that your honourable society wasbased in southern china. i wonder if you could tell mewhy you have come to visit our lord? i am afraid hewent out a short while ago." song carefully weighed upthe visitors and wondered what their intentions were.

wen, meanwhile, was becoming angry at song's coolness.

"since lord zhou is not at home, we will excuseourselves," he said. "we came at an inopportune time."he stood up using a chair for support.

"there's no rush," song replied. "please stay and havea meal before leaving." he turned and whispered a fewwords to an attendant.

wen insisted they would go.

"well, please wait a while first, otherwise our lordmay blame me for neglecting honoured guests." as hespoke, the attendant re-appeared carrying a tray onwhich were two large silver ingots. song took thetray.

"master wen," he said. "you have come a long way tovisit our humble manor and we have not had a chance tolook after you properly. please accept this as afavour to me for your travelling expenses."wen, filled with rage, picked up both of the ingotswith his left hand. "we did not come to yourhonourable manor to extort money," he said. "youunderestimate us, friend song."song quickly protested that he would not dare tosuggest such a thing.

wen laughed coldly and placed the ingots back on thetray. "goodbye," he said.

song looked down and started in fright. with just onehand, wen had crushed the two ingots together into aflat cake of silver. he led the three toeards thegate, offering profuse apologies as he went. wenignored him. three attendants led their horses up, andthey mounted immediately.

luo bing took out a gold ingot many times morevaluable than the silver offered by song and gave itto the attendant holding her horse. "thank you foryour trouble," she said. "here's a little somethingfor the three of you to have a drink." for a moment,the attendants did not seem to believe their luck,then they began thanking her over and over again. luobing smiled in reply.

just as they were about to ride off, a rider gallopedup, leapt off his horse and saluted wen with hisfists. "please come into our humble manor and makeyourselves comfortable," he said.

"we do not wish to trouble you," wen replied. "we willvisit again another time.""we passed you on the road a while ago and our lordguessed you were coming to the manor," the mancontinued. "he would have liked to turn back, but hehas important business to attend to. so he ordered meto come to receive you. he is eager to make youracquaintance. he said he would definitely returntonight, and insisted that you stay at our humblemanor."wen's anger melted as he heard the sincerity in thenewcomer's voice, and they went back into the manor.

the man introduced himself as meng, zhou's seniorpupil, as song stood to one side looking veryuncomfortable. guests and host sat down and fresh teawas served. an attendant whispered something to mengwho stood up and bowed before luo bing.

"our lady invites you to go into the inner hall torest," he said.

a maidservant led luo bing through a passageway and awoman in her forties strode out and grasped luo bing'shand familiarly.

"they told me just now that some members of the redflower society had arrived and then left again. butyou've come back and saved face for me. our lord willbe so happy! now, don't rush away. you can stay for afew days. look, all of you," she said, turning to hermaidservants. "look how beautiful this girl is! sheputs our girls to shame."luo bing thought the woman was rather indiscreet.

"what is your name, madame?" she asked. "my husband issurnamed wen.""see how muddle-headed i am!" the woman said. "i'm sohappy at seeing such a pretty girl that i've gonesilly!""this is our lady," one of the maidservants explained.

the woman was lord zhou's second wife. his first hadborne two sons, but both had died in fights. thissecond wife had given birth to a daughter, zhou qi, awild girl of eighteen always getting into trouble, andit had seemed as if zhou was destined to have no moresons. but in his fifty-fourth year, another wasunexpectedly born. the couple were overjoyed to gain ason so late in life.

"call the young master in quickly," madame zhou saidafter seating herself comfortably. "let madame wen seehim."a lively, good-looking child emerged from the innerrooms and luo bing judged from his bearing that he hadalready received several years of training in themartial arts. he kowtowedtowards luo bing, who took hold of his hand and askedhim his name and age.

"my name is zhou yingjie and i'm ten this year," thechild replied.

luo bing unfastened the pearl bracelet from her wristand gave it to him.

"we have come from far away, and i don't have anythingnice to give you, but you can put these pearls roundthe edge of your cap," she said. madame zhouprotested, but to no avail.

while they were talking, one of the maidservantsrushed in crying: "mistress wen! master wen hasfainted!"madame zhou quickly gave orders to fetch a doctorwhile luo bing ran back to her husband. wen's injurieswere already serious, and he had used up a great dealof his remaining strength to squeeze the silver ingotstogether. wen was unconscious, his face drained ofcolour. luo bing ran to him, calling his name over andover again. slowly, he regained consciousness.

meng dispatched an attendant to report to lord zhouthat the guests were settled in. as he turned backinside after seeing the attendant gallop off, henoticed a figure dart behind a willow tree. he made nosign that he had seen anything unusual, but slowlywalked back into the manor and ran up to thewatchtower. after a while, he saw a a short man creepfurtively out from behind one willow tree and runbehind another.

meng called for lord zhou's young son and whisperedsome instructions to him. then he ran out of the manorgate, laughing and shouting: "little brother, i'llpretend to be afraid of you, all right?"the boy followed close behind, shouting: "where do youthink you're running off to? you won't admit defeat,will you? come here and kowtow before me!"meng bowed and mockingly begged for mercy. the boymade a grab for him and meng ran straight for thewillow behind which the intruder was hiding. hecharged straight into the man, knocking him flat.

it was the zhen yuan agency's lead escort tong. he hadseen wen and the others leave the inn and had followedthem, determined to prove wrong those who said he wasgood for nothing but eating and talking. tong had fewabilities, but he was quick-witted and knewimmediately that meng had planned the collision totest his kung fu, so he let his whole body goloose,pretending that he knew none at all. since hiskung fu was mediocre, pretending to know none at allwas not difficult.

"excuse me," said tong. "is this the road tosandaogou?" he tried to get up, but cried out in pain:

"ai-ya! my arm!""i'm very sorry," meng said. "you're not hurt, areyou? please come into the manor and i'll have a lookat you. we have some excellent medicinal ointments."tong was powerless to refuse. meng helped him up andled him into an ante-room.

"please undo your clothes and let me examine yourwounds," meng said. he felt around tong's body,testing him. when an enemy's fingers touch fatalspots, a kung fu initiate would be forced to flinch.

"heroic uncle tong is not afraid to die," tongthought. "act the lamb until the end!" meng pressedthe 'solar yuedao' points on his temples and toughedother yuedao points on his chest and armpits, makingtong giggle.

"ai-ya! stop that! i'm very ticklish," he said.

they were all fatal points but tong seemedunconcerned. meng decided he really didn't know anykung fu. "from his accent, he isn't a local," hethought, still suspicious. "could he be a petty thief,i wonder?"meng could not detain tong without authority, so hewalked him back towards the gate. tong peered abouthim as they walked through the manor, trying todiscover to where wen and the others were. mengdecided he must be a scout for a gang of thieves.

"be careful, my friend," he said. "remember where youare."tong looked around in mock awe. "such a big place! itlooks like a great temple. except there's no buddha."he asked tong what his business was in the area.

meng escorted him over the drawbridge and laughedcoldly. "goodbye friend," he said, clapping tongheavily on the shoulder. "come and visit us againsometime."the pain from the blow went straight to tong's marrow.

swearing profusely, he found his horse and gallopedback to the antong inn in sandaogou. as he entered theroom, he saw master zhang, officer wu and the agencymen together with seven or eight men he didn't know.

they were in the midst of a discussion on where wentailai might have escaped to. no one could think of ananswer, and their faces were gloomy.

tong smugly related how he had followed wen, naturallyomitting the part about his encounter with meng.

zhang was delighted. "let's go," he said, adding withuncustomary warmth: "brother tong, you lead the way."the whole group immediately set out for iron gallmanor, rubbing their hands in anticipation as theywent. tong boasted extravagantly of how he had usedlightness kung fu, and of the risks he had taken intracking wen. "this is an assignment from the emperorhimself, so uncle tong went all out against therenegades," he said.

officer wu, who had already employed a bone-setter tohelp mend his fractured shoulder, hurriedly introducedtong to the newcomers. tong started in fright as heheard their names: they were all top fighters employedby the court, famous martial arts specialists, bothmanchu and chinese, who had come specifically toarrest wen tailai.