Heaven-relying Sword And Dragon-slaying Sabre

While the two children were fighting, Golden Flower Granny (Jinhua Popo) did not even glance at them. Miejue Shitai threw aside her broken sword and said: "This is my disciple's weapon, not suitable for fighting against top experts." So saying, she untied her knapsack and took out an antique long sword about four feet in length. Granny Golden Flower saw that a green-tinged aura was emitting from the scabbard. The sword had not yet been drawn but she could see it was something out of the ordinary. She then saw the words 'Yi Tian' (roughly translated as 'supporting heaven' but I'll stick with simply 'Heaven' to be consistent with the title) inlaid in gold on the scabbard. Shocked, she blurted out: "The Heaven Sword!" Miejue Shitai nodded her head and said: "Correct, this is the Heaven Sword. Granny Golden Flower's mind flashed to the well-know phases resounding over the Wulin: "Martial world's most venerable, Prized saber dragon slaying, Controlling all under Heaven, None dares to not follow. Power of heaven not appear, who can possibly compete?" She muttered repeatedly to herself: "So the Heaven Sword has fallen into Emei's hands."

Miejue Shitai shouted: "En garde!" Without removing the scabbard, she grasped the hilt and pointed the sword at Granny Golden Flower's chest. Granny Golden Flower flipped her staff round to meet her. Miejue Shitai's wrist moved slightly and the sword met the staff. With a light 'chi' sound, Granny Golden Flower's precious 'Gold Coral' staff was cut into two as easily as a piece of paper.

Granny Golden Flower was shaken. She thought: "The Heaven Sword has not even been drawn out of its scabbard, and yet it is already so formidable. It truly lives up to its reputation." She gazed at the sword and asked: "Miejue Shitai, please let me see what the sword looks like."

Miejue Shitai shook her head and said coldly: "Once this sword leaves its scabbard, it will not return without first tasting blood."

The two women stared at each other, neither speaking for a long while.

By this time, Granny Golden Flower knew that this nun's kungfu was not below hers. Miejue had not yet displayed her top skills but as the head of Emei, she would definitely be quite formidable. Added to that, she had in her hand the "Number 1 Sword under Heaven". Granny Golden Flower did not feel able to take her on. She coughed softly twice, then turned around, grabbed Ah Li's hand and walked away. Ah Li turned her head and shouted: "Zhang Wuji, Zhang Wuji!" Her voice grew softer and softer as the distance increased, until finally it could be hear no more.

Ding Minjun, Ji Xiaofu, and Bei Jinyi were overjoyed that their shifu had won and her powerful opponent had run away. Ding Minjun said: "Shifu, that old woman is no Mt Tai, is she? Yet she even dared to fight with you, she truly got what she deserved." Miejue Shitai said: "When you roam the jianghu in the future, if you ever hear her cough, make sure you run far away." Earlier when she struck out with her sword, it was backed with the power of her thirty years worth of cultivation of "Emei's 9 Yang Divine Skill". Even though she succeeded in breaking her opponent's staff, when her internal energy came into contact with Granny Golden Flower's body, it was as if it had fallen into a vast ocean and left no trace of itself behind. The force only managed to cause Granny's clothing to flap while her footing remained firm. Now that she thought about it, her heart shivered with fear. She thought that the Granny's inner power was strong and powerful while her body was strong and healthy, definitely not like that of an old lady in her twilight years. It was difficult to understand how this could be so. Miejue Shitai raised her head to stare at the sky, then after a while she called: "Xiaofu, come here!" Without even glancing at her, she walked into the house. Ji Xiaofu and the other two followed her inside. Yang Buhui called out: "Mama!" and tried to go inside too.

Ji Xiaofu knew that her shifu had left Emei with the purpose of 'cleaning out the home' (i.e. dealing with a renegade disciple). Though she had previously been the object of love and attention, her shifu was very strict, so she really did not know how she would be dealt with. She told her daughter: "You should stay outside and play, don't come inside."

Zhang Wuji thought: "The Ding woman is really bad. She will definitely bad-mouth Anuty Ji in front of their shifu. I saw clearly what happened that night, she's venomous and cruel. If she talks rubbish now and confuses the truth, I will come out and help Aunty Ji." He quietly went to the back of the house, crouched under a window, held his breath and listened. But inside the house was totally silent, nobody was talking.

After a while, Miejue Shitai said: "Xiaofu, it is your story so you can tell me what happened." Ji Xiaofu choked out: "Shifu, I… I…" Miejue Shitai said: "Minjun, come and question her." Ding Minjun said: "Yes. Martial sister Ji, of our sect's forbidden practices, what is the third?" Ji Xiaofun replied: "Taking part in lewd and lecherous activities." Ding Minjun said: "Correct. What then, is the sixth? Ji Xiaofu replied: "Turning your heart to outsiders, rebelling against sect and master." Again, Ding Minjun asked: "And how do we deal with people who break these rules?" Ji Xiaofu did not reply. Instead, she turned to Miejue Shitai, saying: "Shifu, there is something that I have difficulty saying. It is not as simple as what Martial Sister Ding is saying." Miejue Shitai said: "Alright, there are no outsiders here. Tell me everything."

Ji Xiaofu knew that this was a very important moment, she didn't dare conceal anything. She said: "Shifu, that year after we found out about the Heavenly Eagle Cult gathering at Wangpan Shan, you ordered me and 15 other martial sisters to leave the mountain and split up to look for the Golden-hair Lion King Xie Xun. I went west towards Sichuan. On the way, I met a middle-aged man dressed in white. He was around 40 years old. Everywhere I went, he followed. When I stayed at an inn, he stayed there as well. When I moved on, he moved on as well. At first I just ignored him. After that, I told him off because it was unseemly. That man talked like a madman, so I lost my patience, took out my sword and stabbed at him. He had no weapon but his kungfu was amazing. Within 3 moves, he had snatched the sword from my hand. I was frightened and tried to run away. He didn't chase me. Early morning the second day, I woke up in my inn room only to see my sword next to my pillow. I was greatly frightened. When I left the inn, that man started following me again. There was no point in me fighting him again, so I tried begging him. I said that we are neither related nor are we enemies, we don't know each other, plus men and women should remain apart, there is no point in you following me around. I also said, although my kungfu is not your match, you shouldn't provoke our Emei Sect." Meijue Shitai 'hmmphed' as if she agreed. Ji Xiaofu continued: "That man laughed and laughed, then said: 'Once a person's kungfu is split into different sects, it deteriorates a lot. If you are willing to follow me, you'll acquire a new set of eyes and ears. I'll teach you the greatest kungfu on earth."

Miejue Shitai has eccentric in nature. Her whole life had been devoted to martial arts to the exclusion of other matters (Note: I think there's a mistake in the online text I'm using, so this bit is a guess). On hearing what that man said, she said: "You should have followed him to have a look and see what sort of weird skills he has." Ji Xiaofu blushed bright red and replied: "Shifu, he is a strange man, how could I follow him?" Miejue Shitai then came to her senses: "Ah, you're right! So you told him to get lost?" Ji Xiaofu said: "I tried time and time again to avoid him, but I just couldn't lose him. Ai, I was unfortunate to run into this, the consequence of my sins in my previous life…" As she said this, her voice grew softer and softer.