Wang Chong gave a heh heh laugh, then suddenly stepped forward and struck two fingers, sealing the man's acupoints!
The man's face filled with shock, then panic set in. He shouted with all his might, "I am not White Chrysanthemum, I am Sun Yanqi. Please do not mistakenly kill an innocent man."
"I am the beloved of the Lotus Immortal Nan Xinlan. Great hero, spare me. Great hero, spare me."
Wang Chong slapped his thigh. "So you're a person with a story!"
In recent days he had heard people speak countless times of the Lotus Immortal Nan Xinlan. After all, she was the victim in the cases recently committed by "White Chrysanthemum." He had also heard the name Sun Yanqi and knew that this man had secretly plighted his troth with Nan Xinlan, though it had not yet been acknowledged by his family.
Wang Chong listened with a smile to the man's "explanation" for a while. Seeing the man's expression shift unpredictably as he spoke, Wang Chong could guess that he was still hiding many things he had not said. Suddenly he stepped forward and struck seven or eight more fingers. Sun Yanqi's face instantly turned the color of death, and he cried out, "You bandits, you disregard human life and slaughter the innocent! Even in the netherworld I will not let you off. I curse you to die a bad death, die a bad death..."
Wang Chong actually did not know what this beloved of the Lotus Immortal Nan Xinlan was hiding. But since this man's words were not entirely truthful, he was too lazy to interrogate him. He pressed him to the ground and searched him carefully, and actually found an oilpaper package in his bosom.
This oilpaper package was Sun Yanqi's greatest secret. He was horrified beyond measure and begged bitterly, "This is my late father's keepsake—just a few volumes of my father's poems and writings, nothing precious at all. Please return it to me, sir."
Wang Chong paid no attention to this man's nonsense. He opened the oilpaper package. Sun Yanqi had wrapped it in seven or eight layers, each layer tied with fine cotton cord. The outer three or four layers had been soaked in water, yet the inside was surprisingly dry. When he peeled off the last layer of oilpaper, he saw two thin booklets inside.
He glanced at the title pages of the two booklets, and his eyes lit up. The upper volume was the Thirty-Two Aspects Spirit-Transformation Cultivation Fundamental Classic, and the lower volume was the Correct Explanation of the Four Aspects. He thought to himself, "So it's a martial arts manual."
Sun Yanqi knew the situation was hopeless. His heart died within him, his face turned the color of ashes, and in a trembling voice he said, "Brother, I am willing to share this supreme Buddhist secret manual with you. Please do not kill me."
Wang Chong was still full of doubts. He felt this man had countless secrets, and his behavior was strange and peculiar. Flipping through the pages quickly, he asked, "Just what is going on? You'd better tell the truth."
Sun Yanqi stared at the two booklets in Wang Chong's hands. His heart bled as if dripping blood. Every time Wang Chong turned a page, it was as if a sharp blade gouged his heart. He gritted his teeth, bowed his head, and said, "I heard that Lotus Sister had escaped from the hands of the lecher White Chrysanthemum, so I came out to look for her. I ended up meeting an unreasonable monk and a crazy old woman. They would not listen to my explanations and joined forces to beat me into the river..."
Wang Chong thought, "That matches what we heard."
Curious, he asked, "Who are that monk and that woman? And why did they mistake you for White Chrysanthemum?"
Sun Yanqi's eyes shifted slightly, and he answered carelessly, "That monk is Chen Ba, the Sheyang Tiger, a great bandit of the black path who plunders across seven provinces. As for that woman, I do not know her. She must be of the same ilk."
Wang Chong shook his head. This man named Sun Yanqi thought he had said everything flawlessly, but anyone with a little workplace experience could tell he was lying.
The only thing Wang Chong couldn't figure out was this: the man was the lover of the Lotus Immortal Nan Xinlan—no matter how you looked at it, he had nothing to do with White Chrysanthemum. How had he been mistaken? And why was he lying? His behavior was completely illogical!
Sun Yanqi saw that Wang Chong was reading faster and faster. His heart grew anxious and impatient, and his voice became hoarse as he said, "These two volumes of supreme Buddhist divine arts are extremely difficult to cultivate. I received heavenly instruction and comprehended a few key points before I could begin practicing. If you tried to figure it out on your own, you might make no progress for decades. But if I give you guidance, you will surely achieve something within a few years. Then the two of us joining forces could roam the jianghu. Wouldn't that be wonderful."
Wang Chong asked a few more questions, but the man only digressed further, every sentence coming back to those two booklets.
Wang Chong was curious about martial arts manuals, but did not value them highly. After all, he was not a person of this world, and his thinking differed from ordinary jianghu people.
He closed the two booklets, closed his eyes, and silently recalled them. Confident that he had memorized them completely, he was about to return the Thirty-Two Aspects Spirit-Transformation Cultivation Fundamental Classic and the Correct Explanation of the Four Aspects to this man, when he heard a rough voice call out, "So someone has saved that scoundrel."
A gray-clad monk, nine feet tall with a coarse and rugged face, strode out from the night. He called out, "This man is faithless and lustful, defiling women—a villain of the utmost evil. Sir, do not trust him."
Sun Yanqi saw this monk and trembled all over like chaff in a sieve. He cried out, "Do not trust him. He is Chen Ba, the Sheyang Tiger, a great black-path bandit who plunders across seven provinces. He slaughters the innocent, massacres villages and wipes out families, and has committed countless evils. He is certainly not a good man. He wants to slander me as White Chrysanthemum so he can claim the official reward."
The great monk gave a heh heh cold laugh and shouted, "You are truly despicable and shameless."
Sun Yanqi knew this was his only chance for survival. He talked nonstop, describing the monk in the worst possible terms as a degenerate of Buddhism. For a time, Wang Chong could not tell which of the two was good and which was bad. He thought to himself, "How did I get mixed up in this hot potato? If I want to leave now, it's too late." He slipped the two booklets into his bosom and was about to make a suggestion to take the man to Pengshan County and let the Chrysanthemum-Killing Alliance judge right and wrong, when the gray-clad great monk could no longer restrain himself. He gave a tiger's roar and leaped forward.
Wang Chong could not stand by and watch Sun Yanqi be killed in front of him. Although this man's words were full of lies, he did not truly deserve death. Especially since Wang Chong had sealed his acupoints; leaving him to be killed would make him an accomplice. He gritted his teeth, unfurled his folding fan, and said, "I am a member of the Chrysanthemum-Killing Alliance. The brothers in the alliance are all famous figures of the South Seven Provinces. There is Fang Jingru, reputed as the top expert of the seventeenth generation of the Way of the Celestial Masters; Zhou Yuchen, senior brother of the Kongtong Sect; and Qin Han and Brother Qin Liao Kong, appointed Left Martial Guard commandant of the fifth rank—each and every one a person of upright character and flawless morality. Why do you two not come with me to see the brothers of the Chrysanthemum-Killing Alliance and let everyone argue out right and wrong?"
The great monk did not answer at all. His two palms were like huge palm-leaf fans, howling as they generated wind, filling the sky with palm prints.
Wang Chong had no choice but to use the Wind-Cloud Hundred Styles and fight this monk fiercely.
The fight was somewhat stifling. After more than ten exchanges, the monk Xuan Gang was secretly alarmed in his heart. "Who is this man? How can his martial arts be so superb? I thought to capture him within a few moves, kill this lecher, and then explain things afterward. But I never expected this man could actually withstand my palm force."
Wang Chong also felt that this great monk's pressure on him was no less than Qian Luo Yi's, especially since every time the monk struck out, he let out a great shout, adding a few points of fear in people's hearts.
Wang Chong was focusing on receiving the attacks when suddenly he heard a shriek, and then a bloodcurdling scream. A charming young girl, her face streaked with tears, struck with extreme ruthlessness. One sword thrust pierced Sun Yanqi through the heart.
... Wang Chong: Sun Yanqi died a bit hastily...
Chapter 18