A Deadly Secret Chapter 5

If you marry, do not marry a rich man,

Marry me, the bald and dysenteric A’San!”

Back in his hometown in Hunan, he used to sing this song by the lakeside and farming area. From the creek to the mountain, with Qi Fang he did not know how many thousands of these songs they sang together. By the social customs of Hunan countryside, these folk songs were often seasonal and improvised, singing whatever fits the moment; it often rhymed and was superficial. These songs were not a big difference from regular day-to-day dialect. As he sang this song, he could not help but feel sour in his heart. Since he was separated with Qi Fang, it had been five years since he last uttered a folk song. At this moment the situation at hand was extremely awkward, for he was singing not for his beautiful martial sister, but a stark naked and vicious monk.

As he further approached the temple, he adjusted his larynx to a more feminine voice and sang again:

“The bald and dysenteric A’San has fragrance,

Would I covet your baldness and lack of need for a comb?

Do you wish for gold and silver?

The elder monk must treat me to a roast pig.”

He sang all the while heading towards Bao Xiang’s direction, although he was exerting himself to produce a calm and composed look, his heart was actually beating at an alarming rate and his face changed colors. Bao Xiang noticed this and commented: “Bald and dysenteric A’San, if you can find something for me to eat, I will reward you greatly. Are there any fat pigs?”

Di Yun shook his head and sang:

“In the mountain range of the wild there are no pigs…”

Bao Xiang scolded: “Speak properly, do not sing anymore.”

Di Yun thrust his lips and tried to produce a vigorous accent and said: “The bald and dysenteric A’San is used to singing folk songs, in regular speech he is not as fluent. Elder monk, a half a kilometer away lies the Buba Village, and after that the Buba Shop. Within five kilometres there is no sight of anyone. Not even to mention eating a pig, even eating some white rice and plain vegetables could be difficult. If you travel westward for 15 li there is a large town. You can eat chicken and fish and drink wine, whatever you want to eat you can find, why don’t you go there?” He knew that he did not have the power to kill Bao Xiang to get revenge for him slashing at Ding Dian’s body, but he hoped that the monk would listen to his nonsense and head westward so he has time to take away Ding Dian’s body. However, the heavy rain did not cease and dripped heavily on both of them. 

Bao Xiang said: “You will find me something to eat. It is best if you can find meat and wine. If not, then you can slaughter a chicken or a duck and that will work too.”

Di Yun could only think about Ding Dian, so he reluctantly agreed. He went inside the temple and saw that Ding Dian’s body had been pulled out from beneath the altar and his clothes were ripped apart. His body was obviously searched thoroughly by Bao Xiang. Di Yun was full of hatred inside and could not hold it anymore, he said: “There… there is a dead person inside… did… did you kill him?”

His face changed color and Bao Xiang thought that he was afraid of the dead body and laughed maliciously. “I did not kill him. Come and take a look, do you recognize him?”

Di Yun was taken aback and felt his own guilty conscience. If it was the case that the monk has already seen through his disguise, he would not be able to protect Ding Dian and would have no choice but to run away. He came to a decision and said: “This person looks very strange, he is not from the local area.”

Bao Xiang laughed: “Of course he is not from your village.” Then he continued in a much more serious tone: “Go find me something to eat! If you don’t listen to me, are you not afraid my holy self will not take your pathetic life?”

Di Yun saw that Ding Dian’s body was not in trouble for the moment so he felt relaxed, so he replied, “Yes!” and turned away to leave. He thought: “All I have to do is hide from him for half a day. Eventually he will starve and have no choice but to look for food himself. It is unlikely that he will take Brother Ding along with him, as he has already searched his body thoroughly and could not find anything, he should naturally have given up.”

But before he even walked two steps, Bao Xiang yelled: “Stop! Where are you going?”

Di Yun replied: “I am going to find you something to eat.”

Bao Xiang said: “Very good! How long will it take you?”

Di Yun replied: “It will only take a moment.”

Bao Xiang said: “Then go!”

Di Yun turned his head to take another look at Ding Dian before leaving. Suddenly, he felt a gust of wind approaching from behind, and with two claps, both cheeks were slapped. Fortunately, Bao Xiang thought that he was a countryman who did not know any martial arts, so there was not much force in these strikes. It was further fortunate that Bao Xiang’s movements were surprisingly fast and hit him right away, for as Di Yun was not so bright: if he felt that he was being attacked from behind, his natural instinct would be to dodge and that would give away the fact that he knew martial arts.

Di Yun was startled and said: “You… you…” He thought: “He must have seen through my disguise. I have no choice but to give it all I’ve got.”

But he heard Bao Xiang say: “How much money do you have on you? Take it all out for me to see!”

Di Yun replied: “I… I…”

Bao Xiang scolded: “Your entire body is empty! You are a poor man; with your pathetic look, how are you supposed to get me anything to eat? Hmph, you claim to want to get me food, but is it not just a ploy to escape?”

When Di Yun heard his reply, he felt comfort. He thought: “So he only exposed the fact that I was lying about getting him food. That is not a big deal.”

Bao Xiang continued: “Your bald head said that within ten li there is not a person in sight, so how can you get me food and come back in just a moment? Aren’t you clearly deceiving me? Hmph, you better speak the truth, what do you want?”

Di Yun stammered a reply. “I… I was afraid of elder monk and wanted to go home.”

Bao Xiang laughed heartily and pounded his chest full of long dark hair. He said: “What are you afraid of? Afraid that I’ll eat you?” As soon as he said the word “eat”, his stomach growled and he felt even more hunger. He had already searched the temple thoroughly and knew there was no food around. The few words he said earlier: “What are you afraid of? Afraid that I’ll eat you?” came back to him, and his eyes filled with violence and stared intensely at Di Yun.

Di Yun felt all the hairs in his body straighten as he saw the look of the monk; he had already guessed the monk’s intentions. Indeed, the monk was thinking: “The meat of a person does not taste bad at all, and a person’s heart and liver tastes even better. In front of me is a person not much different from a pig, perhaps I could eat him alive?”

Di Yun felt consistent bitterness in his heart. “If he kills me it is no big deal. But from the evil monk’s expression, he must want to cook me alive and that would be much too violent. I will fight to the very end.” However, as soon as he fights back he would certainly be killed. And after he dies he would still be eaten, so is there really a difference? Di Yun saw as Bao Xiang’s eyes were fierce and laughed maliciously as he slowly approached.

Di Yun could only watch as Bao Xiang moved forward. With every step his expression became more sinister and frightening. Di Yun backed away a few steps. Bao Xiang laughed: “You skinny man, you probably don’t taste very good. That dead body has a much fuller build than you. Unfortunately, there is toxic in a corpse, so I cannot eat him. Oh well, even though I can’t eat a fat pig, the skinny pig will have to do.” He extended his arms to grab Di Yun by the shoulder.

Di Yun used his strength to struggle, but how could he? The anxiety and dreadfulness he felt in his heart was indescribable. After so many years of torture and pain, he had already forgotten his fear of death. But the thought of being eaten alive by this evil monk sent shivers down his spine.

Bao Xiang saw that Di Yun had no way to escape and thought that maybe he should tell him to boil the water first before killing him. Unfortunately, a person would not willingly kill himself and boil himself into a big bowl of red meat and hand himself over. He said: “There are two ways I could kill you and eat you. The first way is to cut off the flesh in your legs, then cut and slash all over your body so you will suffer immense pain. The second way is to kill you with a simple slash and cook you into a stew. Which method do you prefer?”

Di Yun bit his teeth and replied: “You… you want to kill me… you… you evil monk…” He wanted to curse at him, but was afraid that should he anger the monk that he would be tortured even more. Just as he was about to utter out his curse words, he swallowed it back in.

Bao Xiang laughed: “Correct, it is good that you know this. The more you listen to me, the easier you will die. The more you refuse, the more pain you will suffer. Hmph, bald and dysenteric A’San, I order you to find a cauldron in the kitchen and fill it with hot water.”

Di Yun knew that it was used to cook himself, but he could not help but ask: “Why?”

Bao Xiang laughed: “You don’t need to ask, just go!”

Di Yun said: “To boil water it is best to do it in the kitchen, if I take out the cauldron it is not as convenient.”

Bao Xiang replied: “The kitchen is full of dust and spider webs, if my holiness goes in there I will definitely sneeze. If I don’t keep a close eye on you, you will find an opportunity to escape.”

Di Yun insisted: “Then I will not run away.”

Bao Xiang scolded: “You will do whatever I tell you to. Do you dare to disobey me?” As he said this he released his fist and punched Di Yun hard on the left cheek, then followed with a hard kick.

Di Yun fell on the floor, then suddenly he thought: “He is telling me to boil water, this is an opportunity. I just have to wait until the water boils, then I will splash the entire cauldron over his body. He is naked, would he not be burnt to death at once?” He kept this idea in his heart and did not feel any fear. He went into the kitchen and fetched a worn-out cauldron. He saw that the upper part of the cauldron was damaged and could only hold about half of its capacity, this half may not necessarily be enough to burn down the monk. But he thought even if it wasn’t good enough to kill him completely, to burn him half to death and leave him suffering is not a bad idea either.

He took the iron cauldron to the well in front of the temple and wiped away the leaves and rain water before filling the cauldron completely. 

Bao Xiang complimented: “Very good! Very good! Bald and dysenteric A’San, I am really unwilling to part with you. You are very efficient in your work, you could help me make a good stew!”

Di Yun forced a bitter smile and replied: “Thank you for elder monk’s compliments.” Then he picked up seven or eight bricks and placed it beneath the cauldron. In this broken temple there were many broken legs of chairs and tables, Di Yun was anxious in engaging a fight to the death against Bao Xiang, so he rapidly collected the materials and placed it under the cauldron. However, to find a kindler was not an easy task. Di Yun opened up his hands and gave out an expression of having no alternative.

Bao Xiang asked: “What’s wrong? You don’t have a kindler? I remember there’s one on his body.” He pointed to Ding Dian’s corpse. Di Yun had already seen Ding Dian’s legs being cut up by Bao Xiang and it was a complete mess, he could already feel the grief rush out from his heart. When he stared back at the ferocious look of Bao Xiang, he only wished he could throw himself at him and bite him. 

Bao Xiang resembled a cat that caught a mouse: he wanted to toy with the mouse before eating it, so he did not take notice to Di Yun’s anger and frustration. He sneered: “If you can find it then it is for the better. If you cannot make a fire, this monk is fine eating raw meat.”

Di Yun searched Ding Dian’s body and suddenly in his coat pocket he felt two pieces of hard material. One was a flint and the other was a fire knife. He thought: “When the two of us were back in prison, Brother Ding did not carry these two things with him, so where did he get it from?” He turned over the fire knife and saw a brand name on it that said “Jingzhou Old Quan’s Iron Shop” In the past, Di Yun had been to an iron shop with Ding Dian to remove the iron chains from their body; it was precisely the name of this shop. Di Yun held tightly to the knife and flint and thought: “Brother Ding has planned thoroughly. He took this knife and flint from the iron shop as a mean to assist me in my adventures in the realm. Alas, it had not even been used once and he has already passed away.” As he held on to the knife and flint, he could not help but become teary.

Bao Xiang thought that Di Yun was grieving because he knew that he would be dead not long after he built a fire. He laughed: “This monk’s body is worth a thousand pounds of gold; you must have done good deeds in your previous life, for this life you can use my intestines as your coffin, and my belly as your tomb, you are truly most fortunate! Now quickly light the fire!”

Di Yun did not reply and found an extremely old piece of yellow fortune paper and placed it beside the knife and flint. As he started the fire it slowly began to burn the yellow paper, and the text that was originally covered by dust could now be seen. It was a negative phrase which said: “Beg for status and you shall not receive”, “Your love life will be disastrous”, “Your journeys will be detrimental”, and “Your sicknesses will not be cured” and many other phrases. In a short time, the flame burnt away a good half of the paper. Di Yun thought: “My entire life is full of misfortune; I do not need a fortune paper to tell me this.”

The water inside the cauldron slowly began to boil. Di Yun knew that the water would fully boil within the time it took to burn one incense stick[1]. He felt increasingly nervous as he stared at the pot of water then at Bao Xiang’s stomach. He knew that the difference between life and death would be determined in the next few moments, and involuntarily his hands began to tremble. Finally, the water in the cauldron began to boil as it began to bubble and steam was rising out of the pot. Di Yun stood up straight, picked up the iron cauldron with both hands, and walked forward to splash the pot of boiled water at Bao Xiang.

However when Di Yun stood up, Bao Xiang already took notice, and with ten fingers extending outwards he grabbed Di Yun by the wrist and shouted: “What are you doing?” Di Yun did not want to make an excuse, and he used his strength to try and splash the water at Bao Xiang’s direction. However, his wrist was holding the iron hoop on the cauldron and was grabbed by Bao Xiang, it would not budge any further.

If Bao Xiang wanted to splash the water at Di Yun’s direction, all he needed to was simply use his arm strength and it would be done. However, if he were to waste half the bucket of water to burn this bald and dysenteric A’San to death, he would have to boil the water again himself and that would be too much of a hassle. He used strength in both his arms and forced downwards, placing the iron cauldron in its original spot, and yelled: “Let go!”

Di Yun could do nothing but drop the cauldron with both hands. Immediately, Bao Xiang kicked forward and with a loud “peng” kicked Di Yun straight away. He slammed head first into the altar. Bao Xiang thought: “This bald man’s arm strength is not bad, I should be more careful.” Then he said: “Your daddy I wants to kill you, you should be good and remove all your clothes so that your daddy does not have to put any effort.”

Di Yun reached for the sharp stone slab that he hid around his waist intending to rush out and fight to the death against the monk, when suddenly beside one of the legs of the altar he saw two mice with their stomachs facing the sky, their bodies unable to move, half dead. Then all of a sudden across the darkness of his thoughts came a flash of white light, and he said: “I will catch a few mice for you to eat first, is that okay? The taste of mice is more fresh and pleasant than that of dog meat.”

Bao Xiang replied: “What? Mice? Is it dead or alive?”

Di Yun was afraid that the monk would not eat a dead mouse, so he quickly replied: “Of course it is alive, it is still moving, only that I strangled it half to death.” Then he reached and grabbed the two mice beneath the altar and showed it to him.

Bao Xiang has eaten mice in the past and knew that its meat tasted not much different from that of thin pork. In front of him he saw two mice that were not big, but in this broken temple there was nothing else to eat, he muttered to himself and could not come to a decision.

Di Yun suggested: “Elder monk, I will skin the mouse for you and prepare a big bowl of soup, I promise it will taste good and be ready in no time.”

Bao Xiang was a very lazy person by nature. For him to kill and wash and cut up the food, just the thought was enough to make him agitated. When he heard that Di Yun would voluntarily prepare mouse soup for him, it was in line with his original intentions, so he replied: “Two mice will not be enough for me to eat, you must go and catch some more.”

Di Yun thought: “My martial arts abilities have been lost and my limbs cannot move readily, how can I catch a mouse?” But it was fortunate for him to find a way out of being eaten, so he could not let go of this opportunity, and immediately replied: “Elder monk, I will first prepare these two mice for you as an appetizer, then I will catch some more!”

Bao Xiang nodded his head: “This is not a bad idea. If I can eat until I’m full, I will spare your life, how about that?”

Di Yun crawled out from beneath the altar and said: “I need to borrow your knife for a moment, so I can cut off this mouse’s head.”

Bao Xiang did not take this bald man from the countryside seriously at all, so he pointed at his blade and said: “Go ahead!” Then he added: “If you have the guts, try and cut off your daddy’s head!”

Di Yun originally had the intention of taking the blade then turning over to cut his head off, but his plan was already exposed, so he could not make any reckless moves. With two slashes he cut off the mouse’s head and opened its belly, putting the intestines and other organs of the mouse to be washed by the rain water. Then he put it inside the cauldron.

Bao Xiang nodded his head several times. “Good, very good. You can actually make some decent mouse soup. Now go and catch me some more.”

Di Yun replied, “Of course, I will go right now” and turned his body to walk towards the exit.

Bao Xiang said: “If you think about escaping, I will rip the flesh off your body piece by piece and eat you alive!”

Di Yun replied: “If I cannot catch a mouse then I will catch a frog. In the river there are plenty of fish and shrimp to eat. I will serve elder monk until he is completely full. If elder monk is so satisfied, why is there any need to eat me? The bald and dysenteric A’San has skin ulcers and scabies all over, if you eat me you will be sick for sure.”

Bao Xiang said: “Hmph, do not let me wait until I become impatient. Hey, you cannot leave this temple, do you understand?” 

Di Yun agreed at once and crawled around the floor, imitating the movements of trying to catch mice. Slowly he crawled his way out the back door until he could stand up straight. He looked in the east and westward direction in hopes of finding a place to hide. He looked outside the back door and saw on the left hand side there was a small pond. At once he ran to the pond as fast as he could, recklessly relying on a hopelessly optimistic forecast. He slowly sank into the pond and only his nose and mouth was above water so he could breathe. He further grabbed a pile of grass and stuck it in his nose.

Since he grew up by the riverside, naturally he was good at swimming. Unfortunately, he was much too far from the river, otherwise he could fall into the Yangtze River and follow the current, and Bao Xiang would have no way of catching him.

After a while, he heard Bao Xiang compliment: “Good soup! Mouse soup is indeed not bad. Too bad there are too few mice. Hey A’San, have you caught any mice yet?” He called out several times then followed by cursing several profanities. Di Yun’s right ear was above the water so he could listen to Bao Xiang. All he heard was a mouthful of profanities and extremely vulgar expressions, he trampled on the floor and kicked the mud as he rushed outside. 

He took a few strides before he reached the tip of the pond. Di Yun did not dare to reveal any part of himself; his entire body submerged under water. Fortunately, this pond was filled with green duckweed and various aquatic grasses, whoever was above water could not see him at all.

However, he could not breathe underwater. He held his breath until he could no longer hold it, then he had no choice but to slowly lift his head above the surface and take a breath. He only managed to take half a breath before he was caught by a large hand pulling him from behind. Bao Xiang scolded: “If I do not cut your bald head into seventeen or eighteen pieces, your daddy I will not be considered a person! How dare you try and escape!”

Di Yun flipped his hand to grab Bao Xiang’s arm and tried to drag him down to the pond. Bao Xiang did not expect that Di Yun would dare to counterattack, so he slipped on the mud beside the pond and with a “plop” he fell into the pond. 

Di Yun was excited at the turn of events, and exerted all his strength to push Bao Xiang underwater. However, the pond was too shallow and Bao Xiang was too tall and built, the water did not even go over his head. Once Bao Xiang’s feet hit the bottom of the pond, he countered by turning his hand over and grabbed Di Yun’s wrists, then with his left hand he put his head underwater. Di Yun had already put his life aside; even though he was underwater, he maintained his grip on Bao Xiang and would not let go at any cost. At that moment Bao Xiang could not immediately struggle himself free and cursed loudly. He was careless and accidentally swallowed a few mouthfuls of dirty water which fed his anger even further. He raised his fist and hit Di Yun hard on the back.

Di Yun felt the force of Bao Xiang’s strike landing on his back. However, as his body was underwater, the power of this attack was greatly reduced and was less painful. However if he were to take another few of punches, he would definitely pass out. He had no way of retaliating, the only thing he could do was ram his head into Bao Xiang’s chest.

They continued to struggle with each other when all of a sudden Bao Xiang screamed, “Aiyo!” and let go of his hold on Di Yun. The fist he raised remained in midair, not attacking its target and slowly drifted downwards. Then followed that his entire body became stiff and he fell underwater.

Di Yun felt exceedingly strange at the turn of events and struggled to pull himself back to surface. He only saw that Bao Xiang did not move at all, as if he was dead. As he was still in a panicked state, he did not dare to make contact with his body and only stood at the side of the pond and observed. He only saw Bao Xiang continue to sink until his entire body was at the bottom of the pond and did not move at all. After a while, it appeared that the monk was really dead. Di Yun was still not confident so he threw a few pieces of rock at his body. When he saw that the body did not move at all, he realized that he was not faking his death.

Di Yun made his way back to the surface and could not figure out how the evil monk died all of a sudden for no apparent reason. In his mind he had a glimmer of hope: “Is it possible that my abilities in the Heavenly Glow possess such formidable strength that even I don’t know about it? When I rammed my head hard against his chest, was that enough to take his life?” He tried to channel his energy but only felt the “Jushao Yangdan channel reached the “Five Li” acupoint on his thigh. No matter what it could not work, he also tried “Shoushao Yang Sanjiao” meridian and channelled it to the “Qing Leng Yuan” acupoint but it also clogged up. In fact, he felt even worse than when he first left prison; it must be because in the last several days he could not maintain focus and had to put aside his training. Evidently, to complete the training of the Heavenly Glow, he still has a very long distance to cover.”

He stood quietly at the side of the pond and stared blankly. He could not believe the events that had just occurred. But he saw the raindrops gradually fall into the pond causing ripples, with Bao Xiang’s body at the bottom of the pond with no signs of life.

He was dumbstruck for a while before he returned to the temple. He saw that the fire of the iron cauldron was already extinguished, on the side of the cauldron were two dead mice with their stomachs facing the ceiling, its ears and foot showing brief signs of movement. Di Yun thought: “So it turns out that Bao Xiang also caught two mice but did not have the fortune to experience it, and was consequently killed by me.” He saw inside the cauldron there was still some residue of mouse soup; it must have been left behind by Bao Xiang. Di Yun was very hungry too, so he lifted the iron cauldron and opened his mouth to drink the remaining of the mouse soup. All of a sudden, there was a very strong scent of strange fragrance.

He felt a bit stunned and supported the cauldron with both hands and withdrew it from his mouth. He pondered: “What is this pleasant smell? I have smelled this before, but cannot make out what it is.” He smelled the strange fragrance in the mouse soup again and immediately came to a conclusion. He exclaimed, “Good fortune!” and with both hands he threw the iron cauldron inside the well. As he turned around to look at Ding Dian’s body, he could hardly contain his tears. “Brother Ding, even after your death, you have saved your brother once again.”

During this matter of life and death, in a flash he finally realized the true cause of Bao Xiang’s demise.

The poison that Ding Dian contracted was that of the “Golden Ripple Flower”, and consequently his entire body was toxic. Bao Xiang used his blade to slash Ding Dian’s corpse and this same blade was used to kill the mice. The poison was smeared on the mice, hence when Bao Xiang drank the mouse soup he also contracted this poison. During their struggle in the pond, Bao Xiang suddenly died of toxicity. The two mice in front of him right now also died as a result of drinking the poisonous mouse soup in the cauldron.

Di Yun thought: “If not for the essence of the Golden Ripple Flower containing such a strange and fragrant smell, and if I could not come to this realization quickly enough, I too would have drunk this poisonous soup.” He also thought: “The first time I smelled the scent of the Golden Ripple Flower was back at Lady Ling’s funeral hall, when Magistrate Ling smeared this poison on his daughter’s coffin. Brother Ding has smelled and contracted this poison once in the past, how did he not realize this the second time? It must be that upon seeing Lady Ling’s coffin, Brother Ding’s mind was in a state of turmoil and he could not think at all.”

In the past, Di Yun was completely disheartened and had given up on everything in life; he no longer wanted to live. But at this moment, he survived by the skin of his teeth, and he could not help but feel that it was indeed a fortunate occurrence. The sky was full of layer upon layers of dark clouds and pouring with rain, yet in his heart he felt a sense of radiance. He felt that at the very least he saved his own life, which could be considered an experience of boundless joy.

He took a moment to regain his composure, then carefully placed Ding Dian’s body upright in the corner of the room. Then he went to fetch Bao Xiang’s body from beneath the pond. He dug a hole in the ground and buried the body. When he returned to the temple, he saw Bao Xiang’s garments were placed on the altar, and on top of that was a tarpaulin packet which contained about a dozen taels of silver.

His curiosity got the best of him and he opened the packet. Inside was another layer of oil paper. He unwrapped the oil paper and saw that a small yellow paper book was wrapped inside. The text written on the seal was curved and meandering, these characters did not look like actual characters, nor did they look like drawings. He could not make out what they were.

He turned the book over and opened it. On the first page was a drawing of a really thin and naked man with one finger pointing at the sky and another finger pointing on the ground. The appearance of this man was sly and awkward. On the side, text shaped like tadpoles were written in red and green. Di Yun looked at the drawing of the man and saw that he had a profound sight and a hooked nose, his forehead slightly curved. The appearance was somewhat odd and did not look like a figure from the mainland. In addition to this strangeness, there seemed to be some sort of attraction embedded in the drawing, as if one could not help but be swayed to look at it. 

He turned to the second page. There was another drawing of a naked man just like before, but in a different position; his left foot was standing firm while his right foot was extended forward. The two hands were placed behind his back, his left hand touching his right ear while his right hand touched his left ear.

He continued turning the pages in this book. In each page was a drawing of the same naked man, his disposition becoming more and more bewildering. The position changes were limitless; sometimes his hands would push against the ground, while other times it would leap in midair. Even more, sometimes his entire body would be upside-down, with the top of his head on the ground, the lower half of his body gave birth to six imaginary limbs. In the latter half of the book, the man wielded a curved sabre. 

He returned to the first page and paid close attention to the expression on the man’s face. He saw that his tongue was faintly extended from the left corner of his mouth. At the same time, his right eye was opened wide while his left eye was closed; an extremely odd appearance. Di Yun became curious and tried to follow the expression of this man; also extending the tip of his tongue, his right eye was opened while his left eye was closed. As soon as he did this expression, he felt his face became very relaxed and comforting. He continued to look at the drawings, he could faintly see that in the man’s body there were several strips of extremely mild grey threads drawn by various meridians in his body. Di Yun thought: “Of course. The reason that the man in this drawing did not wear any clothes was to express the meridians in his body.” 

During the time when Ding Dian taught him the Heavenly Glow in prison, he had once explained in rigorous detail the various directions a person’s meridians can take. In order to learn the most profound internal energy techniques, this was the underlying concept. He already memorized this thoroughly, but at this moment when he looked at the drawing of the pathways of the meridians, he could not help but begin to channel his internal energy in accordance to the directions of the drawing.

He thought: “The direction that this meridian takes is exactly opposite from what Brother Ding taught me. I’m afraid this is incorrect.” But he thought further, “I will try it anyway, what harm will it do me?” and at once he channelled his energy along the paths of the drawing. In a short moment, his entire body felt a sensation of relaxation and briskness that he could not describe. 

When he practiced the Heavenly Glow, he had to concentrate his energy completely; it would move upwards only one inch or two inches at a time and was very challenging. Yet when he channelled his energy according to the drawing, in an instant his energy was flowing like the current of a river, he did not even need to exert the slightest bit of strength and his interior flowed naturally. He felt both startled and pleased: “How does my interior have such meridian pathways? Could it be that even Brother Ding doesn’t know about it?” Then he thought: “This manual belonged to the evil monk, and the text and drawings written on it are extremely nefarious and strange, it is unlikely to be orthodox. I would be best not training with it anymore.” 

However, once his interior channels were in motion, he did not want to abruptly stop practicing. He thought: “Very well, I will only practice this once. Next time I will not practice it.” Slowly he began to feel carefree and relaxed, the blood in his body felt warmer. After another while, he felt light as a feather, as if he just finished a full meal with alcohol. He could not help but start dancing around and then he began to utter faint humming sounds. His mind drew a blank and he fell unconscious. After that he did not know what happened.

After a long while, he finally regained consciousness. He slowly opened his eyes and the brightness of the sky made him slightly uncomfortable. It turns out that the rain had already stopped and the sun was shining at the direction of the temple. He jumped up at once and felt invigorated, as if his entire body was full of energy. He thought: “Is it possible that the techniques in this manual have some sort of benefit? No! No! I should just follow the methods that Brother Ding taught me. This manual is unorthodox; should I continue training with it, the effects may be irreversible.” He grabbed the manual with the intent of ripping it apart, but thought about it some more and felt it was mysterious and was unwilling to part with it.

He tidied up his garments but saw they were already ragged and it was difficult to cover his body. He saw that Bao Xiang’s monk garment and pants were still hung on top of the altar, so he decided to wear those instead. But as he put on this evil monk’s attire, he felt uncomfortable; he could barely move around in it. Furthermore, the trousers had 17 or 18 holes in it, he could not even hide his buttocks from plain view. He took the manual along with the dozen or so silver taels inside the packet, then he went to the tree where he hid the various jewelleries and silver and dug those out of the mud. He carried Ding Dian’s body with him and left the temple.

After travelling for a kilometer or so, he saw a farmer approaching his direction. When the farmer saw that he was carrying a dead body with him, he immediately became startled and slipped on the mud. His entire body was covered with mud as he got up; he could barely maintain his balance as he struggled to run away.

Di Yun knew that if he were to continue travelling in this direction, he may cause many unnecessary incidents. But at this moment in time he could not come up with a good plan. Fortunately, this region was somewhat desolate and it would be unlikely for him to encounter anyone along the way. He continued to carry Ding Dian and thought: “Brother Ding, I cannot bear to part with you, I cannot part with you.”

Then he heard the voice of seven or eight farmers singing folk songs as they carried a shovel on their back. Di Yun sprinted quickly and hid amidst the tall grass fields, waiting for the farmers to pass. He thought: “If I do not burn Ding Dian’s body, I will never be able to fulfill his wish of being buried together with Lady Ling.” He arrived at a

Chapter end