Heaven-relying Sword And Dragon-slaying Sabre

Kong Wen, Kong Zhi, Zhang Wuji, and the others bowed to send them off. The Golden-Haired Lion King's name shook the Jianghu thirty years ago by doing countless deeds which offended the whole society. Today he entered the empty gate, there wasn't anyone among the crowd of heroes who did not sigh with mixed feelings. Zhang Wuji's heart was filled with joy mixed with sorrow.

Kong Wen said, "The presence of the heroes has brightened our humble Temple. We are ashamed that there was a sudden change in the Temple that we have offended many people and were not able to perform our duty as the host. The heroes from all over the world have gathered here. We do not know when we will meet again. Therefore, we would like to invite you all to stay in our Temple for a few more days."

The crowd of heroes went down the peak to enter the Temple. Shaolin Temple prepared vegetarian banquet for the guests. The monks immediately performed a religious ceremony on behalf of the heroes who were unfortunate to lose their lives during the great assembly. One by one the crowd of heroes also offered sacrifices to express their condolences.

As the important matters were resolved, there remained many unclear businesses in Zhang Wuji's heart. Since Xie Xun left in a hurry, he did not have time to inquire about doubts and suspicions troubling his heart. He only had a feeling that the key to this mystery was somewhat related to Zhou Zhiruo. Thinking about their former relationship, he felt that he did not need to scrutinize everything and thus damage her reputation.

After dinner, Zhang Wuji visited Shi Hongshi and the Beggar Clan elders at the western chambers to discuss important matters within the Beggar Clan. Suddenly a Ming Cult disciple rushed in with a report, "Jiaozhu, the Wudang Zhang Si Xia [fourth hero Zhang] has arrived. He has an important matter to discuss with you."

Zhang Wuji was startled, "Could it be that Tai Shifu has met some mishaps?" He quickly went out and walked toward the main hall.

He knelt down in front of Zhang Songxi, but did not see anything different on his expression, thereupon he felt relieved. "Is Tai Shifu well?" he asked.

"Shifu is well," Zhang Songxi replied, "At Mount Wudang I received information that the Yuan cavalry, twenty thousand strong, is heading to the direction of Shaolin Temple. Obviously, they do not have good intentions toward the Heroes Assembly. Therefore, I come here in the middle of the night to inform you."

"We must let Fangzhang know as soon as possible," Zhang Wuji said. Two men immediately went to the rear courtyard and informed Kong Wen.

Kong Wen thought for a moment. "This matter implicates a lot of things; we must discuss it with the crowd of heroes." Thereupon he ordered a monk to sound the alarm, inviting everybody to the Da Xiong Bao Dian.

As soon as they were alerted, the crowd of heroes discussed the matter at hand. The hot-blooded among them said, "While the heroes from all over the world gather here, let us go down the mountain to catch them off guard and slaughter them."

The more experienced among them said, "The Yuan army is always on the move. Perhaps this is one of their routine relocation operations. They might not necessarily come to give us trouble."

Zhang Songxi said, "I understand Mongolians; I heard it with my own ears the Tatar officer ordering his troops to attack the Shaolin Temple."

By that time, the Mongolians had been occupying the Central Plains for more than a hundred years; the number of Han people who understand Mongolian language was not small. Zhang Songxi was intelligent and experienced; he understood a considerable number of dialects from different towns and villages, and was quite fluent in Mongolian.

"Gentlemen Heroes," Kong Wen said, "It appears that the imperial court has found out about our assembly in here, and they decided our meeting is not beneficial to the imperial court, and thus they dispatch an army to suppress us. We are all martial art practitioners, and we are not afraid of the Tatars. We are ready to cope with anything, we will resist by whatever means available, we …" He had not finished his speech when some people started cheering and clapping.

Kong Wen continued, "However, we are Jianghu's warriors who are accustomed to fight one on one; if not using a blade or fists and kicks, then using internal energy and secret projectiles. We are not experts in fighting on horseback or using long spear and double-ended lance. In Laoseng's opinion; how about the heroes go down the mountain and disband?"

The crowd of heroes looked at each other in silence. Zhang Wuji said, "If we go down and disband, first, the Tatars would think we are afraid of them and we will unavoidably crush the spirit of the people. Second, what will happen to the masters in the Shaolin Temple?"

Kong Wen smiled and said, "If the Yuan army come to the Temple and only see a bunch of monks and not Jianghu warriors, they would certainly leave us alone. This is called 'arrive in high spirit, return in disappointment.'"

The crowd of warriors knew that Kong Wen said this out of his good intention. The crowd of heroes was invited by Shaolin Pai; of course they did not want their guests to face disaster and shed their blood on the Shaoshi Peak. But this crowd of heroes was all people of courage and uprightness; they would not flinch in front of the enemy, naturally, they were unwilling to leave. Besides, the imperial government had already dispatched their troops. They simply would not return empty-handed. They would definitely trouble the Shaolin Temple. Most likely, they would kill most monks and capture the rest, and then they would probably burn the Temple down. The Mongolian soldiers were well known of their brutality; killing and burning were not foreign to them.

Yang Xiao said, "The Tatars kill without mercy. It is the duty of all Han people to fight the enemy. In my humble opinion, we have no other choice but to fight. We must battle them someplace else so that this thousand-year ancient Temple will be spared of the catastrophe of war."

The crowd of heroes applauded in agreement. "Let it be so," they said.

When they were still talking, from outside the gate suddenly came the sound of hoof beats; two riders galloped near. The horses stopped with a neigh outside the door. Two men, ushered by the monk in charge of visitor reception entered the hall in a hurry. As soon as the crowd of heroes saw the riders' clothes, they knew these men were Ming Cult disciples.

The two men walked before Zhang Wuji, bowed in salute and one of them reported, "Reporting to Jiaozhu: Tatar vanguard army of five thousand troops has arrived to attack Shaolin Temple. They say the Shifus in the Temple are gathering a crowd to rebel, so they are here to flatten Shaolin. All shiny … shiny …"

Kong Wen smiled and said, "You were about to say 'shiny head monks', weren't you? Those words are not taboo. Please continue."

The man said, "Along the way, the Tatars have killed many monks. The Tatars say: 'Shiny heads are not good people, those with hair are also not good people; they all deserved to be put to death by the blade.'"

A lot of people raised their voices, they all said, "If we don't fight a life and dead battle against the Tatars, we are ashamed to be the descendants of the Yellow Emperor."

Although by that time the Song dynasty had been subjugated by foreign power for almost a hundred years, the mainstream heroes and warriors had always considered Mongolians soldiers and officers as barbarians. They were unwilling to be the foreigners' subjects. This time hearing how the Mongolian troops went on a killing spree, their blood boiled and everybody wanted to go to battle.