The Legend of the Condor Heroes

"I don't think so," Guo Jing said. "But then Qigong said that all beggars under the heaven are in his care … Hmm … perhaps those two are impostors."

"There are tens of thousands beggars in the world, certainly some of them have turned bad. I don't care how good Qigong is, he would not be able to manage each and every one of them. Looks like these two are the bad ones. Qigong has been so kind to us that it is impossible to ever repay him. I think Qigong will like it if we help him to take care of these bad ones."

"You are right," Guo Jing agreed. Even though he was a little bit tired, the thought of repaying Qigong's kindness lifted his spirit up.

"These two men's bare legs were covered with boils. I am sure they are not fake, so these two were real beggars. Other people could not disguise themselves like that," Huang Rong said.

"You really are very observant," Guo Jing admired.

The young couple went back to town for some breakfast, then they walked idly down the street toward the west end of town. There they saw a very big pawnshop with large characters painted on the white wall, 'Tong Ren Pawnshop' four characters, with each character taller than an average man. Behind the shop was a garden, and in the middle was a two-story building. There was a dark green bamboo curtain covering a big window on the second floor. Guo Jing and Huang Rong looked at each other and smiled. Hand in hand they walked away to play elsewhere.

After dinner that evening they retreated to their respective room for some rest and meditation. About one o'clock at night they ran toward the western part of the town; leaped up the garden fence and saw the dark shadow of the big building. Silently they climbed to the roof and swung their bodies down from the eaves. It was a summer night, so the window was open. They looked around the big room and to their surprise there were seven young girls, all about 18, 19 years of age. One beautiful looking girl was sitting next to a lamp, reading. They thought she must be Miss Cheng. The other six dressed as servant girls, all holding unsheathed weapons in their hands; they looked so stern yet graceful, obviously they knew martial arts.

Guo Jing and Huang Rong initially intended to help this young woman, but seeing she was well prepared they thought they would wait and see. So quietly the climbed back to the roof and waited.

Not too long they heard a faint cry from outside the wall. Huang Rong immediately pulled Guo Jing and they looked down to see two shadows leaping the wall and walked toward the building. The shadows looked like the two beggars they met earlier. One of the beggars whistled softly; to which a servant girl opened the curtain and asked, "Have the hero brothers from the Beggar Clan arrived? Please come up." The two beggars leaped up and entered the room.

In the darkness outside Guo Jing and Huang Rong looked at each other in surprised. Earlier they thought that as soon as the beggars arrived there would be some fighting or something interesting; who would have thought that they knew each other?

Miss Cheng immediately stood up, paid her respect and uttered some pleasantries. "Would you tell me your honorable names, please?" she asked.

"My surname is Li," the older beggar answered, "And this is my martial nephew Yu Zhao."

"So you are Senior Li and Elder Brother Yu," Miss Cheng said. "The valiant heroes of the Beggar Clan always hold justice; and are admired by the people of the martial arts worlds. It really is an honor to me, young disciple to finally meet two revered role models. Please, sit down." Although what she said was common Jianghu pleasantries, but her facial expression was shy. She paused a lot in between sentences; which showed she was not used to this kind of talk. She said 'admired by the people of the martial arts worlds' with sincerity, but sounded like she was not sure what she was talking about. When she finished speaking her head hung low and her face completely blushed.

Shyly she looked up toward the old beggar's one eye and timidly asked, "Senior Hero, aren't you the venerable 'jiang dong she wang' [Serpent King of the East River] Li Sheng, Senior Li?"

The old beggar laughed. "You have keen eyes, Miss! I have had the honor to meet your master, 'qing jing san ren' [Sage of Tranquility]. Even though we are not the best of friends, but always have great respect to each other."

Guo Jing also heard the name 'Sage of Tranquility' mentioned and was delighted, "The Sage of Tranquility Sun Bu'er, Priestess Sun is one of the Quan Zhen Seven Master; therefore, this Miss Cheng and those two beggars are not outsiders." He heard Miss Cheng continued, "I am very grateful to receive the Senior Hero's aid in upholding justice. I will listen to Senior Hero's instruction."

"Miss, you are worth a thousand gold," Li Sheng said. "But for this licentious man to look at you even with one eye is still too much." Hearing this Miss Cheng's face blushed profusely. Li Sheng continued, "Now I suggest you stay overnight at the main house, along with all of these honorable servants of yours. I will deal with that conceited man alone."

"Young disciple is not skilled in martial art, but I am not afraid of that villain," Miss Cheng said. "How could I let Senior to deal with him alone?"

"Please don't say such thing Miss," Li Sheng said. "Our Clan Leader Hong and your honorable founder Senior Wang were good friends; that means we belong to the same family. Why do you want to consider it otherwise?"

Actually Miss Cheng wanted to try her own martial art, but listened to Li Sheng she did not dare to defy. So she bowed and said, "Then I will leave everything under Senior Li and Elder Brother Yu's capable hands." Having said that she gracefully led her maidservants go downstairs.

Li Sheng walked toward the young lady's bed, opened the embroidered quilt, and without taking out his shoes laid his dirty body on the sweet smelling bedding. "Go downstairs," he told Yu Zhao, "Be on guard with everybody else. Do not make any move without my command." Yu Zhao complied. Li Sheng then hid his entire body under the blanket after extinguished the candle beside the bed.

"That Miss Cheng might not want to sleep under that blanket anymore," Huang Rong secretly laughed in her heart. "The members of the Beggar Clan are just like their leader, they like to deliberately creating trouble in a funny way. This matter is actually much more amusing than I originally thought."

Because there were other people standing guard, Huang Rong and Guo Jing quietly hid themselves under the eaves. About an hour later she heard the night watch sounding the signal 'knock, knock, bang, bang, bang …' at the front of the building. It was the third hour. Then she heard a pebble fell in the flower garden.

A moment later eight people came leaping over the fence and headed straight to the second floor. They lighted a lantern briefly, enough to see the bed, then quickly extinguished the fire. In that very short time Guo Jing and Huang Rong could see their appearance. Turned out they were the female disciples of Ouyang Ke who dressed like men; all wore white clothing. Four of them opened the bed curtain and covered Li Sheng's head with a silk hood; firmly held and lifted him up. Two of them opened a big sack and in went the blanket with Li Sheng inside it. They quickly tightened the sack mouth and lifted the sack up. They worked swiftly and quietly in the dark, without making any noise. Seemed like they were very skilled in what they were doing.