that afternoon, the heroes had a large meal and thenwaited for the time to leave. at about four o'clock,bai zhen arrived with four bodyguards to accompanythem. the heroes put on formal gowns, and rode to thelama temple. bai zhen noticed with relief that none ofthem were carrying swords.
at the temple gate they dismounted, and bai zhen ledthem inside. three tables had been prepared in thehall of tranquillity, and bai zhen solemnly invitedthe heroes to be seated. chen sat at the head of themiddle table while bald vulture and master lu took thehead seats on the other two tables. underneath astatue of the buddha, a fourth table had been set upwith one large chair covered with satin and brocade,obviously the emperor's seat. the heroes began toweigh up the distances in preparation for theassassination attempt.
dishes of food were brought out and placed on thetables and the heroes quietly awaited the arrival ofthe emperor. after a while, footsteps sounded outsideand two eunuchs marched into the hall with a seniormilitary official whom the heroes all immediatelyrecognised as li keshou, the former commander-in-chiefof zhejiang province. yuanzhi gripped yu's hand andalmost cried out in surprise at the sight of herfather. she wondered when he had been transferrd tothe capital.
"here is an imperial pronouncement!" one of theeunuchs shouted, and commander li, bai zhen and theother officials present immediately knelt kown. chenand the rest of the heroes had no alternative but todo likewise.
the eunuch unrolled a scroll and announced: "on theorders of the heaven-ordained emperor, the followingproclamation is made: we are benevolent in order toencourage talent just as our ministers and the commonpeople should strive for merit in order to gainrewards. chen jialuo and the others have been loyalcitizens and deserve to be honoured. accordingly, ibestow upon chen jialuo the title of successfulcandidate of the imperial civil service examination,while the others are to be given good positions in theboard of rites and the military. we invite you to dineat the lama temple. the commander-in-chief of theimperial forces in zhili province li keshou will hostthe banquet." the eunuch looked up from the scroll andshouted: "express thanks for the imperialbenevolence!"the heroes realised with a shock that the emperor hadcheated them and was not coming.
commander li walked over to chen and bowed before him.
"congratulations, master chen. you are honoured to beso highly favoured by the emperor. it is trulyunexpected." chen replied with a self-deprecatingremark.
yuanzhi and yu walked over together. "father!" yuanzhisaid quietly.
commander li turned to find his lost daughter standingbeside him, as if she had dropped out of nowhere. hegrasped her hand, tears welling into his eyes.
"yuanzhi," he said, his voice shaking. "are you allright?" she nodded. "come, come and sit with me," headded, and pulled her over to a table on the side.
the two eunuchs, obviously kung fu experts, walkedover to the central table and stood before chen. oneof them saluted with his fists, then turned andshouted: "boy!"two young attendants entered carrying a tray on whichwas placed a pot of wine and several cups. the eunuchlifted the pot and filled two cups, then picked one ofthem up. "i drink to you!" he said to chen, anddrained the cup at one draught. he picked the otherone up and offered it to chen.
but chen had been watching intently, and had noticedtwo small holes on the side of the wine pot. theeunuch had put his thumb over the left hole when hepoured the first cup of wine, and had moved it tocover the right hole as he poured the second cup. chenguessed the pot was divided into two compartmentsinside, and that the flow of wine from each could becontrolled by covering one or other of the holes. heglanced at the eunuch in distaste and knew that if ithad not been for princess fragrance's warning, hewould have drunk the cup down.
he saluted with his fists in thanks, and lifted thecup as if to drink it. expressions of delightedanticipation sprang to the faces of the eunuchs, butthen chen put the cup down again, picked up the winepot and poured out another cup. this cupful he drankthen offered the original cup to the second eunuch.
"you drink a toast as well, sir," he said.
the eunuch turned pale as he realised chen had seenthrough the trick. his right foot shot up and kickedthe cup out of chen's hand and the other eunuchshouted: "get them!" several hundred imperialbodyguards and guardsmen sprang into view from everyside.
"if you gentlemen don't wish to drink, then don't,"said chen with a smile.
"his imperial highness decrees," one of the eunuchsshouted, "that the red flower society has engaged inrebellion and continues to harbour evil intentions,and that its members must be immediately seized andkilled."chen waved his hand and the twin knights leapt over tothe two eunuchs, paralysing each with a blow to theneck. the red flower society heroes brought out theirweapons from under their gowns, and priest wu chencharged for the door with the other heroes closebehind. he seized a sword from one of the guards andkilled three others as he passed.
commander li grabbed his daughter's hand and draggedher after him as he directed his forces to stop theheroes, but yuanzhi pulled herself free and ran offshouting: "look after yourself, father!"commander li stared after her for a moment, then beganurgently calling: "yuanzhi, come back!" but she hadalready left the hall and had joined yu who wasfighting fiercely with five or six guardsmen in thecourtyard outside.
flames were licking up towards the sky from a nearbyhall, and the noise of the battle was deafening. aschen and the other heroes broke out of thetranquillity hall into the open, they were surprisedto find several dozen lama monks fighting with a groupof manchu soldiers outside the burning hall. from thelook of things, the monks could not hold out for long,but as they watched, bai zhen led some of the imperialguards over and helped them force the manchu troopsback into the hall. chen had no knowledge of theenmity between the emperor and the empress dowager,but he immediately recognised the fight as anexcellent diversion and quickly ordered the heroes toescape over the temple walls.
as they touched the ground, the heroes involuntarilysucked in their breaths: in front of them were rankupon rank of manchu troops, all with bows drawn orwith swords in hand. the scene was brightly lit byseveral thousand torches.
"he has arranged things very carefully," thought chen.
priest wu chen and bald vulture charged into themanchu ranks, killing as they went, and a hail ofarrows descended on them.
"everyone try and make a break for it!" shouted huoqingtong. the heroes fought like demons.
priest wu chen noticed seven or eight imperialguardsmen attacking zhang jin, and he leapt over tohelp him. he stabbed three of them in the neck, andthe rest howled and retreated.
"tenth brother, are you all right?" he asked.
zhang jin looked up at him and dropped his wolf'stooth club. "second brother, i'm finished," he said.
in the fire-light, priest wu chen saw he was coveredin bloody wounds. with only one arm himself, thepriest could not support him.
"lie on my back and hold on," the priest said betweenclenched teeth. he squatted down, and zhang jin puthis arms round his neck. he felt the warm bloodspurting out of the hunchback's wounds, but stood upand charged off again with sword raised to continuethe killing.
chen could see things were going badly and ordered theheroes to return to the wall to regroup.
"all right, tenth brother, get down," said priest wuchen as they reached the comparative safety of thewall. zhang jin did not move. luo bing went over tohelp him, but found that his body was stiff and hisbreathing had already ceased. she threw herself ontohis corpse and began to sob.
just as the manchu troops moved in for the finalattack on the heroes, their ranks parted and severaldozen monks fought their way through, their yellowrobes glowing in the firelight. leading them, his longwhite beard dancing and shaking, was lord zhou.
"come with me, all of you!" he shouted to the heroes,and they charged after him through the manchublockade, and found heavenly mirror and the monksbattling fiercely with the manchu troops.
huo qingtong surveyed the situation with dismay. theheroes were killing large numbers of the enemy, but nomatter which direction they went, they were alwayssurrounded. she looked around for some possiblesolution and spotted a dozen or so people standing ona nearby drum tower.
"one of those men must be the commander," she shoutedto the others, pointing at the tower. "let's seizehim."the heroes immediately saw the wisdom of her words.
"let's go," priest wu chen roared. wen and the twinknights ran after him. they quickly reached the footof the drum tower, and leapt up onto the balcony justas several dozen guards moved to intercept them. wen,however, dodged nimbly past them and charged straightfor an official standing in one corner who wore a redcap signifying senior rank. as he caught sight of theofficial's face in the firelight, he almost called out"great helmsman!" he was almost an exact twin ofchen's. wen remembered his wife telling him about theresemblance of qian long's favorite, fu kangan, tochen. this must be fu, he decided.
it was indeed fu, who was also the beijing garrisoncommander. wen deftly dodged the swords of twosurprised bodyguards and lunged at fu with priest wuchen close behind. down below, the manchu troopsceased their attack and stood watching the drama abovethem.
fu knew no kung fu and he cringed in fear as wenlifted him bodily into the air. a gasp went up themanchu troops. by this time, the twin knights hadkilled the last of the bodyguards on the tower balconyand ran over beside wen. fu raised his command flagand shrieked: "stop, all of you! return to yourunits!"three bodyguards bravely charged forward, but priestwu chen placed the tip of his sword on fu's throat andsmiled at them. "come on," he said. "don't be shy."the bodyguards hesitated, glanced at each other, thenwithdrew.
wen squeezed fu's arm and he screamed in agony.
"retreat!" he shouted. "back in position, all of you!"the manchu troops did not dare to disobey andimmediately formed up at a distance.
chen gathered the heroes and the shaolin monkstogether on the drum tower balcony. he counted up thecasualties and found that apart from zhang jin who wasdead, eight or nine of the others had been wounded,only one of them seriously. he surveyed his followersin the lights of the flames from the temple.
"let us attack the palace and kill the emperor toavenge tenth brother!" he shouted. the heroes roaredtheir approval, and the shaolin monks joined in.
"the shaolin monastery has been destroyed by him,"heavenly mirror added. "today, the commandment againstkilling is suspended.""what?" asked chen, shocked. "the shaolin monasterydestroyed?""yes, it's been burnt to the ground. brother heavenlyrainbow died protecting the sacred scriptures."the news compounded chen's anger. with commander fu astheir hostage, the heroes marched through the ranks ofimperial guards encircling the lama temple. when theyhad passed the last rank, they saw xin yan and anumber of the society's followers standing at adistance with several dozen horses. they ran over andmounted up, one or two to each horse, and with adefiant shout, galloped off towards the imperialpalace.
xu rode up alongside chen and shouted: "has an escaperoute been planned, great helmsman?""ninth brother has gone with some of the others to thewest gate to wait for us. what are you and the monksdoing here?""those manchu devils!" replied xu, his voice full ofhatred. "they came one night and sacked the monastery.
heavenly rainbow would not leave and was burned todeath. they even kidnapped my son! we have beenlooking for the officers responsible ever since, andthe chase brought us to beijing. we went to twinwillow lane and they told us you had gone to the lamatemple."by this time, they had arrived at the forbidden citywith the imperial guardsmen pressing in on them frombehind, loath to leave them alone even if they did notdare to attack.
xu looked over at the twin eagles. "if the emperorgets wind of this and hides somewhere in the depths ofthe palace, we'll never find him. could you two go onahead and investigate?" he asked.
the two old people were delighted to have theopportunity to show their worth, and immediatelyagreed. xu took four flare rockets from his bag andgave them to bald vulture.
"when you catch sight of the emperor, kill him if youcan, but if he is guarded too tightly, signal us withthese," he said.
the twin eagles leapt over the palace wall and ranswiftly across the courtyard inside and then up ontothe rooftops. as they raced along, they saw the heavypalace gates and the endless courtyards and pavilions,and wondered how they could ever hope to find theemperor in such a place.
"let's grab a eunuch and question him," madame guansaid.
"good idea!" replied her husband, and the two jumpeddown to the ground and hid themselves in a darkcorner. after a while, they heard footsteps approachand two figures walked quickly by.
"the thin one knows kung fu," bald vulture whispered.
"let's follow and see where they go," madame guanreplied.
the twin eagles silently shadowed the two figures, onevery thin, the other fat and much slower on his feet.
the thin man had to constantly stop to wait for him tocatch up, and at one point said: "faster! faster! wemust report to the emperor as soon as possible."the twin eagles were overjoyed when they heard this.
they passed through doorways and courtyards andfinally arrived in front of the precious moonpavilion.
"you wait here," the thin man said and disappearedupstairs, leaving the fat man standing alone by thefront door. the twin eagles crept round to the side ofthe pavilion and climbed up onto the roof. then, withtheir feet hooked onto the eaves, they hung down overa balcony smelling of fresh paint and flowers and sawa row of windows, one of which glowed with the faintlight of a candle. they slipped onto the balcony, justas a shadow passed across the window paper. madameguan carefully wet the paper with her finger, making ahole and then looked through to find qian long seatedin a chair, a fan in his hand, and the thin mankneeling before him: it was bai zhen.
"the tranquillity hall in the lama temple has beenburned to the ground and not one of the soldiersguarding it escaped," he said.
"excellent!" exclaimed qian long, very pleased.
bai zhen kowtowed. "your slave deserves to die. thered flower society bandits eluded capture.""what?""they saw through the attempt to poison them with thewine, and they escaped while i was dealing with theguards."qian long grunted and hung his head, deep in thought.
bald vulture pointed at bai zhen and the emperor,indicating to his wife that he would attack bai zhenwhile she killed qian long, and the two were justabout to burst through the window when bai zhenclapped his hands twice and twelve bodyguards slippednoiselessly out from behind cupboards and screens,each one carrying a sword. the twin eagles knew theywere no match for so many expert fighters and decidedto summon the other heroes first. bai zhen whisperedsomething to one of the bodyguards who left andbrought the fat man back with him.
the fat man, wearing the yellow robes of a lamapriest, kowtowed energetically before the emperor.
"you have done well," qian long said. "are you sureyou left no clues?""everything was done according to your highness'swishes. nothing is left of the tranquillity hall orwhat was in it.""good, good, good! bai zhen, i promised that he shouldbe made a living buddha. go and see to it.""your highness," bai zhen replied with a bow.
the lama kowtowed again.
as they walked out of the pavilion, bai zhen stoppedthe lama. "show your gratitude to his highness,abbot," he said.
the abbot looked at him in surprise, but unwilling todisobey an imperial bodyguard, he knelt down again andkowtowed in the direction of the precious moonpavilion. then he felt an icy coldness on his neck,and started in shock.
"what...what's happening?" he asked, his voiceshaking.
bai zhen laughed coldly. "the emperor said to let youbecome a living buddha, so i'll send you to thewestern heavens where you can be one."he twitched his hand and the blade did its work. twoeunuchs brought a carpet over, wrapped the abbot'scorpse in it and carried it away.
suddenly, bai zhen heard shouting in the distance. heturned and ran back into the pavilion.
"there are bandits outside causing a disturbance, yourhighness," he said. "please retire to the innerpalace."qian long had seen the red flower society fighters inaction in hangzhou and he knew that his bodyguardswere no match for them, so without questioning baizhen further, he stood up.
just then, bald vulture released a flare, and with a'whoosh' it scrawled a path of white light across thenight sky.
"where do you think you're escaping to?" he roared asthey burst through the window into the room. "we'vewaited a long time for this!"the bodyguards around the emperor stared for a momentin surprise at the red-faced old man and white-hairedold woman who had suddenly appeared in their midst,then rushed at the intruders. bai zhen slung qian lungover his back and with four bodyguards protecting thefront and rear, ran for the stairs. but madame guanforced the bodyguards back with a fistful ofprojectiles and lunged at qian long with her sword.
bai zhen leapt backwards in fright.
meanwhile, bald vulture was fighting with three guardssimultaneously. bai zhen gave a whistle and four otherguards joined the other three and completelysurrounded bald vulture. but he fought like a demonand kept all seven at bay for a while, until one ofthe guards lashed out with a whip which cracked loudlyagainst his right arm. in great pain, bald vultureswitched his sword over to the left hand and forcedthe bodyguards back.
seeing her husband was wounded, madame guan went overto help him, and the two retreated towards the secondfloor of the pavilion. bald vulture knew they couldnot tie down so many top-class kung fu fighters formuch longer, so he slipped over to the window and shotoff another flare. he and his wife blocked the stairs,retreating a step at a time when the pressure was toogreat. luckily, the staircase was narrow and onlythree or four bodyguards at most could attack at onetime. even so, the strain of having to fight againstan enemy which always had the advantage of height wasvery wearying.
bai zhen could see things were going badly. "brotherma," he said to one of the bodyguards. "put hishighness on your back." the bodyguard squatted downand the emperor climbed on. bai zhen gave a shout andcharged at bald vulture. the two began to fight, andbald vulture cursed his luck. the longer he fought,the more painful the wound on his right arm became.
bai zhen by himself was as much as he could manage,let alone the other four or five bodyguards that alsosurrounded him. bai zhen's hands dived and flew, everymove accurate and deadly, and bald vulture, completelyabsorbed in fending him off, was unprepared for acold-blooded attack from behind. a bodyguard thrusthis sword deep into bald vulture's back.
bald vulture knew instantly that he would die. heswung his elbow back with all his strength and smashedhis attacker's skull, then with a huge roar, he raisedhis sword and threw it forcefully across the room atqian long. the bodyguard ma who was carrying theemperor, saw the blade flying towards them and with notime to dodge out of the way, put his hand up to stopit. but this was a throw by a man on the verge ofdeath, backed by incalculable strength and outrage andthe sword sliced off half of his hand and plungedthrough his chest and out the other side.
bald vulture was content, assuming that the sword musthave entered qian long. exchanging his own life forthat of an emperor made death seem worthwhile. madameguan ran to her husband as bai zhen hurriedly pickedqian long up off the floor.
"your highness, are you all right?" he asked.
qian long was scared out of his wits, but he struggledto control himself. "at least i was well-prepared," hereplied with a smile.
bai zhen could see the tip of bald vulture's swordextending six inches out of ma's back and the rip onthe front of qian long's gown, and he wondered in awehow the emperor had avoided injury.
"your highness is very fortunate," he said. "truly,the son of heaven has the protection of a hundredgods."what he did not know was that qian long had been sofearful of an assassination attempt as a result of hisdecision to break his pact with the red flower societythat he decided to wear a metallic vest at all times.
it had saved his life.
bai zhen looked round and saw there was no longeranyone blocking the steps. he lifted qian long ontohis back, the bodyguards fell in around him and theyall ran straight downstairs. but just as they wereabout to pass through the pavilion's main entrance,qian long gave a shout of alarm and struggled free ofbai zhen's grasp: standing in the doorway was chenjialuo. behind him, their torches dancing and swordsglinting, were several dozen kung fu fighters. theemperor turned and ran straight back up the stairs.
the bodyguards swarmed like bees after him with thered flower society heroes on their heels. two of theguards who were slightly slower than the rest wereintercepted by the twin knights and instantly killed.
chen and the other heroes had had to fight their waythrough the palace to the precious moon pavilion, andthey were delighted to find that in spite of thedelay, the emperor had not yet escaped. shouting intriumph, the heroes galloped up the stairs. chenassigned men to watch the various exits. priest wuchen stood with his sword at the ready at the head ofthe stair well on the third floor, while the twinknights guarded the bottom of the stairs. 'buddha'
zhao and three of the shaolin monks took up positionsby the windows.
huo qingtong saw her teacher madame guan in a cornerembracing bald vulture, blood welling in great surgesfrom the gash in his back. she went over with masterlu who took out some ointment. bald vulture smiledbitterly and shook his head.
"i'm sorry," he said to madame guan. "because of me,you've been unhappy for all these years. when youreturn to the muslim areas you must marry ... marrybrother yuan ... and then i will be content in theafterworld. brother lu, you must make sure for me thatthis happy event takes place..."madame guan's eyebrows flew up in outrage. "do youmean to say," she demanded, "that you do not know howi have felt towards you in the past few months?"lu was just about to suggest it would be better forher to say a few comforting words to her dying husbandrather than start another argument, when she jumped toher feet and shouted: "well, i'll rest your mind atease!" she raised her sword and drew it firmly acrossher throat. lu and huo qingting were standing at herside, but neither was quick enough to save her. baldvulture let loose a wail of grief which was cut shortas he also died. huo qingtong threw herself onto theircorpses and sobbed uncontrollably.
chen pointed his dagger at qian long. "even forgettingthe pact we made in the six harmonies pagoda, weagreed on the dyke at haining never to harm eachother. and yet you use poisoned wine to try and getrid of me. what do you have to say?" he steppedforward and pointed the dagger's blade, glintingcoldly, directly at qian long's heart. "you havedecided to throw in your lot with the barbarians. youhave cruelly oppressed the common people. you are theenemy of all good men under heaven," he announced in aformal tone. "our fraternal bond is broken forever.
today, i will drink your blood to avenge all those whohave been killed in your name."qian long's face turned deathly pale and his wholebody quivered with terror.
heavenly mirror strode forward. "we of the shaolinmonastery led a simple life," he shouted. "we had noquarrels with the world. what justification did youhave to send your evil underlings to burn ourmonastery to the ground? today, i will disregard thesacred commandment against killing."chen helped huo qingtong up and placed his dagger inher hand. "your father and mother, your brother andsister and countless members of your tribe died at thehands of this man," he said. "you kill him."huo qingtong took the dagger and walked towards qianlong. one of the bodyguards moved to intercept her,but wen stopped him and with eight or nine swift blowsbroke all his ribs and his spine, so that he felllimply to the floor in a heap. a hubbub of voices rosefrom outside. 'buddha' zhao looked out and saw a seaof torches and faces around the pavilion.
wen walked over to the window. "the emperor is here,"he called. "if anyone dares to come up here, i willkill him immediately." his tone was forceful andcommanding, and a hush fell over the crowd. the heroesin the precious moon pavilion also fell silent, andstared fixedly at the gleaming blade in huo qingtong'shand as she advanced step by step towards qian long.
suddenly, a figure darted into the room and in frontof qian long. huo qingtong stopped in surprise as shesaw it was a manchu officer holding a baby. he smiledand held up the white, chubby baby which was suckingits little fingers.
"give me back my baby!" zhou qi screamed and lungedforward.
"come on, then," the man shouted. "if you want a deadbaby, come and get it."zhou qi stopped in her tracks and stared at him in adaze.
the officer, surnamed fang, had been commander of thetroops sent by qian long to destroy the shaolinmonastery. he knew of the emperor's wish to get rid ofthe red flower society, and during the night attack,his men had snatched zhou qi's baby son. fang hadrecognised this as an achievement of great merit andmade his way to beijing for an audience with theemperor.
qian long had questioned him closely that evening,wanting to ascertain for certain that no evidencerelating to his origins could have survived at theshaolin monastery. when the twin eagles appeared, fanghad dodged behind a curtain, but he now recognised anopportunity to gain even greater merit.
"all of you leave the palace and i will return thechild to you," fang said.
"you devil!" huo qingtong shouted at him. "it's just atrick!" in her excitement the words came out in themuslim and fang looked at her uncomprehendingly.
the heroes had thought they finally had the emperor intheir grasp. but one man, clearly ignorant of kung fuand holding a baby, had left them powerless. theyturned to chen, waiting for his decision.
chen looked at huo qingtong and thought of how qianlong had forced princess fragrance to suicide. howcould the deaths of her whole family remain unavenged?
looking round, he caught sight of the corpses of thetwin eagles of tianshan. then he saw xu's face, fullof fear for his son, and glanced back at the child infang's arms. it was only two months old and wasgurgling happily, stretching out its little fingers tofeel the knobbly hand holding its neck. chen looked atthe other heroes: heavenly mirror's eyes radiatedcompassion, lu feiqing sighed and lord zhou's whitebeard shook as he trembled. zhou qi was standing withher mouth wide open, a crazed expression on her face.
chen knew lord zhou's last son and heir had died as aresult of the red flower society and that the babybefore them was his sole hereditory lifeline. but ifthey did not kill the emperor today, they wereunlikely to ever have another opportunity to gainrevenge. so what to do?
huo qingtong turned and handed the dagger back tochen.
chen nodded. "all right," he said to fang. "we willnot harm the emperor. give the child to me." as hespoke, he replaced the dagger in its sheath andstretched out his hands.
"huh! who'd believe you?" fang replied darkly. "i'llreturn the child only after you have left the palace."chen was furious. "we of the red flower society holdto our word," he said. "why would we bother to cheatan animal like you?""that's why i don't believe you.""all right," chen countered. "then you leave thepalace with us." fang hesitated.
as soon as qian long heard chen say that his life wasspared, he was ecstatic with happiness and didn't careless what happened to fang. "go with them," he said.
"you have gained great merit today. i will naturallynot forget it."fang shivered as he heard the emperor's tone, andrealised that he was talking about honouring himposthumously. but all he could say was: "thank you,your highness, for your benevolence." he turned tochen. "if i leave the palace with you, what chancehave i got to live?" he wanted chen to promise tospare him.
"you've already done enough evil," chen repliedangrily. "you should have been consigned to hell longago."qian long, worried that other complications couldarise, and that chen might change his mind, urged fangon: "quickly, leave with them now.""but i'm afraid that once i've gone, they will try andharm your highness," fang added.
"so what do you suggest?" chen asked in exasperation.
"allow his imperial highness to leave first and then iwill accompany you out of the palace."chen could see they would have to let him go. "allright," he said to qian long. "leave."qian long did not concern himself further with thebearing an emperor should maintain, and fled for thedoor as fast as his feet could carry him. suddenly,chen stretched out his right hand and grabbed him ashe ran past, and boxed his ears sharply with his lefthand --'bang, bang, bang!' the sound ringing out crispand clearly. qian long's cheeks immediately began toswell up. the heroes were taken by surprise, and therewas a brief silence before they roared out theirapproval.
"do you still remember that poisonous oath you swore?"chen demanded, but qian long did not dare to make anyreply. with a contemptuous wave of his hand, chendismissed him, and qian long stumbled out of the roomand down the stairs.
"get the child!" chen shouted.
'buddha' zhao was holding his poisonous darts andlooking out of the window, waiting for the rightmoment. as soon as chen had hold of the child, andqian long appeared down below, he would fire offseveral dozen projectiles at the emperor's body.
fang, meanwhile, was frantically looking around,trying to think of some way out for himself. "i wantto see with my own eyes that his highness is out ofdanger before i'll hand over the child," he said,shuffling slowly towards the nearest window.
"you turtle! you're already a dead man," snarled oneof the twin knights. they shadowed him, waiting for anopportunity to strike.
qian long emerged from the main door of the pavilion,and the bodyguards waiting down below surged forward.
"you traitor," 'buddha' zhao muttered to himself. "youtraitor."fang saw the several dozen bodyguards gathered below,and decided it was better to take a risk than tosimply wait to die where he was. so in a suddenmovement, he embraced the child and threw himself outof the window.
taken completely unawares, a cry of surprise went upfrom the heroes. one of the twin knights flicked outhis flying claw and hooked it round fang's left leg,then tugged with all his might. fang's body flew up,the baby left his hands and the two began to fall.
'buddha' zhao crouched down and launched himself likean arrow out of the window. as he flew through theair, his head pointing down and his feet up, hestretched out his left hand and grabbed hold of one ofthe child's tiny legs while at the same time throwingthree of his poisonous darts at fang, hitting himsquarely on the head and chest.
a shout went up from both the heroes in the pavilionand the bodyguards down below. zhao steeled himself,hugged the baby to his chest and landed firmly on histwo feet. the twin knights, lord zhou and some of theother heroes jumped down from the pavilion andsurrounded zhao and the baby to protect them. zhaolooked down at the child in his arms and saw itkicking and waving its arms about, chuckling away indelight. it obviously thought the leap a moment agothat had almost ended its life had been great fun andwanted to do it again.
chen pushed their hostage commander fu to the windowand shouted: "do you want him to live?"qian long, once more under the protection of hisbodyguards, caught sight of fu in the torchlight.
"stop! stop everything!" he shouted. the guards turnedand waited for his directions.
fu was in fact qian long's illegitimate son. theemperor's first wife was the elder sister of a seniorminister, whose beautiful wife qian long had spottedwhen she came to the palace one evening to pay herrespects to the empress and he had had illicitrelations with her which resulted in the birth of fu.
qian long had many sons, but for some perverse reasonhe loved this illegitimate one more than all the rest.
the great physical likeness between fu and chen wastherefore the result of the fact that they were uncleand nephew.
chen knew nothing of this, but was aware that theemperor doted on fu. he and the other heroes escortedtheir hostage downstairs. zhou qi ran over to zhao andtook the baby from him, almost crazy with happiness.
on one side, were the red flower society heroes andthe shaolin monks, on the other, the mass of palaceguards and imperial bodyguards. commander li could seehis forces vastly outnumbered the enemy, but he alsoknew how the emperor felt about fu.
"great helmsman chen," he shouted. "let commander fugo and we will allow you to leave the citypeacefully.""what does the emperor say?" chen shouted back.
qian long's cheeks were painful and swollen likeover-ripe peaches as a result of chen's blows, butseeing his beloved son in the hands of the enemy, hecould only wave his hand and say: "you can go, you cango.""commander fu will see us out of the city," chen said,then looked straight at qian long and announced in aloud voice: "all the common people under heaven wouldbe happy to eat your flesh and make a bed out of yourskin. if you live another hundred years, may they beone hundred years of fear-filled days and tormented,sleepless nights!" he turned to the heroes. "let usgo," he said.
the heroes pushed fu forward and made their waytowards the palace gate, carrying with them the bodiesof the twin eagles and zhang jin. the manchu guardsstared at them fixedly as they passed, but did notdare to stop them.
soon after the heroes passed out of the palace, theyspotted two horsemen galloping after them, one of whomwas commander li.
"great helmsman chen!" he called as they drew near.
"there is something i wish to discuss with you."the heroes reined in their horses and waited for liand his lieutenant, deng tunan, to catch up.
"his highness says that if you allow commander fu toreturn safely, he will agree to anything," li said.
chen's eyebrows shot up. "huh! who would believe acursed word the emperor said any more?""please, master chen. i ask you to express your wishesso that i can return to report.""all right," chen said. "firstly, i want the emperorto rebuild the shaolin monastery with his own funds,making the golden statues of buddha even larger thanbefore. the court and government must never harrassthe monastery again.""that is easy to arrange," said li.
"secondly, the emperor must not increase the militaryburden on the common people in the muslim areas andall the muslims taken prisoner must be released.""that is not difficult either.""thirdly, the emperor must not bear a grudge againstthe red flower society or seize any of its members nomatter where they may be." commander li was silent.
"huh! if you really did try to seize any of us, do youthink we would be afraid? did not master wen herespend some time as a guest in your own militaryheadquarters?""all right. i will rashly agree," li said finally.
"exactly one year from today, if all three demandshave been fully met, commander fu will be released.""all right. we will so arrange things," replied li andturned to fu. "commander fu. great helmsman chen'sword is very precious. please do not worry. hishighness will certainly issue orders to see that allthree requests are met. i will not allow a moment topass without thinking of your safety, and will makesure everything is done as quickly as possible in thehope that master chen may see fit to release youearly."fu said nothing.
chen suddenly remembered how they had seen bai zhenand commander li's forces had mysteriously attackedthe banner troops guarding the hall of tranquillity inthe lama temple. he did not understand thecircumstances of the incident but knew it must involvea very dark secret. he decided to scare li a little.
"tell the emperor that we know everything about thehall of tranquillity affair," he said. "if he istreacherous again, it would not be beneficial."li started in surprise and hastily assented.
"commander li, we will take our leave of you," chencontinued and saluted with his fists. "when you arepromoted and become rich, take care not to oppress thecommon people."li saluted in reply. "i would not dare," he said.
yuanzhi and yu dismounted and walked over to li andknelt down in front of him. li realised sorrowfullythat he would never see his daughter again.
"look after yourself, child," he said quietly. hestretched out his hand and stroked her hair, thenturned his horse round and rode back to the palace.
yuanzhi began to cry as yu helped her onto her horse.
the heroes galloped to the city gate where 'pagoda'
yang and 'leopard' wei were waiting for them. fuordered the city gate to be opened. the huge bell inthe bell tower above sounded, ringing out the start ofthe fourth watch.
as they passed out of the city, the heroes saw anexpanse of reeds beside the city moat flailing aboutin the pale moonlight. a bit further on, they cameupon a graveyard, and noticed a crowd of people therewailing and singing a muslim funeral dirge. chen andhuo qinging rode over to investigate.
"who are you mourning for?" they asked the crowd.
an old muslim man raised his head, his face coursedwith tears, and said: "princess fragrance.""princess fragrance is buried here?" chen asked.
the old man pointed at a new grave, the yellow mud onwhich was not yet dry. "there," he replied.
huo qingtong began to cry. "we cannot allow her toremain buried here," she said.
"you're right," chen replied. "she loved that jadepool in the heart of the white jade peak, and said howmuch she would like to live there forever. let us takeher remains and bury them there.""yes, i agree," huo qingtong said, swallowing hertears.
"who are you?" the old man enquired courteously.
"i am princess fragrance's sister," huo qingtongreplied.
"ah!" another of the muslim suddenly shouted to theother mourners. "it's mistress huo qingtong!""let us open up her grave," she said, and chen and theheroes started work helped by several of the muslims.
they shifted the earth as fast as they could and in amoment, had uncovered the stone slab placed over thegrave. they lifted the slab up and a perfumedfragrance emerged. but when they looked inside, theyfound the grave was empty.
chen took a burning torch from one of the mourners andheld it over the grave opening. on the floor was asmall pool of blood and the piece of jade that hehimself had given her.
"we brought princess fragrance's remains here andburied them ourselves," said the muslims. "we have notleft this spot since. how could her body havedisappeared?""she was so wondrously beautiful. perhaps she was aspirit that descended to earth," luo bing suggested.
"now she has returned to heaven. don't be distressed."chen bent down into the grave and picked up the pieceof jade. suddenly, he began to cry, the tears runningdown his face like rain. she was so beautiful, sopure. perhaps she was a spirit.
the people sighed and covered up the grave once more,and as they finished the work, a large jade-colouredbutterfly appeared and began dancing to and fro abovethe pile of earth.
chen turned to the old man. "i will write a few words.
please ask a master carver to erect a stone engravedwith the inscription on this spot," he said.
the old man nodded, and xin yan gave him ten taels ofsilver to cover the cost. then he took writingimplements from his bag and handed them to chen.
chen raised his writing brush and wrote: "fragranttomb" in large characters. then after a moment'sthought, he wrote:
"vast, vast sadness,boundless, boundless loss.
the song has ended,the moon has been snatched awayin the midst of the mournful citythere is a patriot's blood.
patriotism is sometimes exhaustedblood sometimes runs drybut the thread of your fragrant spirit has not beensnapped!
is it not so?
you have become a butterfly."the heroes stood for a long time in silence. only whenthe eastern sky was already light did they mount upand ride off westwards.
the end
