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Chapter 4
The Vagabond’s Blade Averts Disaster
Long Chengbi gave a start when he first laid eyes on Sima Xue.
Because Sima Xue’s face was purple-gold color.
Xu Qiaozhi waved this off and smiled. “Don’t worry, he’s just had a dose of medicine not long ago, so his face has that purple-gold complexion.”
Long Chengbi was surprised. “What medicine did he take?”
Xu Qiaozhi said, “Indian Golden Snake Great Reversion Powder.”
Long Chengbi looked deeply concerned. “What’s his injury? You really have to use a miracle drug from India?”
Xu Qiaozhi said plainly, “He took a palm strike to the right side of his chest.”
Long Chengbi said, “Which palm force?”
Xu Qiaozhi said, “Indian Spectre Kill!”
Long Chengbi was shocked. He cried out, “Indian Spectre Kill, isn’t that the signature secret technique of the head sectleader of the Thirteen Demon Cults of India?”
Xu Qiaozhi said, “That’s right, the whole world knows that there are only thirteen people who know the Indian Spectre Kill technique.”
Long Chengbi said, “You mean to say that the Indian Spectre Kill strike that Sima Xue took was from Greatmaster Thousand Green?”
Now Sima Xue finally spoke for the first time, “If not him, who else?”
Sima Xue said this as he pulled open the lapel of his robe to reveal the right side of his chest.
A dull gray palmprint was on his chest as if it had been branded there with a hot iron.
Xu Qiaozhi turned his gaze from the palmprint and said with a sigh, “When he was first hit the palmprint was bloodred, but in less than half a double-hour it went from red to blue, then from blue to purplish black.”
Sima Xue continued, “The Indian Golden Snake Great Reversion Powder can expel the poison, but after many days the palmprint had lightened, but it’s not completely cured yet.”
Xu Qiaozhi said, “It’s not that it can’t be cured, it’s just a matter of time. Every day he takes a dose of the Indian Golden Snake Great Reversion Powder. At the very least it will take a hundred days for him to completely recover.”
Long Chengbi’s complexion changed. “I’ve suspected Greatmaster Thousand Green for some time already, but how can he be the head sectleader of India’s Thirteen Demon Cults?”
Sima Xue suddenly hmphed. “Greatmaster Thousand Green is already dead.”
Long Chengbi was not at all surprised to hear this.
Because he already doubted that the Greatmaster Thousand Green in Purple Aurora Hall was the real one.
He’d seen Greatmaster Thousand Green before, and the one he saw in Purple Aurora Hall looked just like him.
But if there could be said to be one difference, it was that this Greatmaster Thousand Green’s complexion was not good at all.
At the time, Long Chengbi had already made a careful conjecture on this point.
First: Greatmaster Thousand Green might have internal injuries or some internal illness.
Second: This Greatmaster Thousand Green was an impostor.
Otherwise, there was no way that Greatmaster Thousand Green’s complexion could look like withered wood.
And just because of this, he not only didn’t suspect Sima Xue, he rather suspected this Shaolin monk who suddenly appeared.
× × ×
Now, some clues were beginning to be uncovered.
The Greatmaster Thousand Green in Purple Aurora Hall was not the real Greatmaster Thousand Green.
The first to discover this secret was Sima Xue.
Sima Xue’s discovery of this secret was not by accident. He had been requested to investigate a Greatmaster Thousand Green impostor.
The person who asked him to investigate this was an old woman.
This old woman was Greatmaster Thousand Green elder sister.
No one in the jianghu knew of Greatmaster Thousand Green’s assassination. Not even the abbot of Shaolin Monastery knew.
Because he had died outside his elder sister’s front house doors.
Greatmaster Thousand Green had been cooped up in Shaolin Monastery for decades. Unexpectedly, the first time he went out to visit his elder sister, he was assassinated before he even stepped over the threshold.
The one who killed him turns out was his brother-in-law.
But after assassinating him, his brother-in-law was immediately killed by two masked assassins.
This assassination within an assassination was a common occurrence in the jianghu.
The first person assassinated was usually done for a considerable price.
And the second chain of assassinations had only one motive.
To get rid of witnesses!
After Greatmaster Thousand Green was killed, the skin of his entire face was peeled off.
Of course there was only one reason to peel off Greatmaster Thousand Green’s face.
Someone wanted to pose as Greatmaster Thousand Green.
But these people in the end overlooked one thing.
They didn’t barge into Greatmaster Thousand Green’s elder sister’s house and kill his sister to eliminate a witness.
They just killed Greatmaster Thousand Green’s brother-in-law and an old female servant.
They might have thought that the old servant was Greatmaster Thousand Green’s elder sister.
Because that day, the old servant was dressed nicely, very neat. Anyone would think she was just a female servant.
Of course they didn’t know that the old servant was only dressed so nicely because she was getting ready to go back home to see her soon-to-be son-in-law.
Who could have expected that she wouldn’t see her soon-to-be son-in-law but instead was strangled to death with a long, thick leather whip
There are too many tragedies in the world.
Aren’t these people wrongly killed and unjustly driven to the netherworld the most tragic of all?
Finally, Greatmaster Thousand Green’s elder sister went herself to see Sima Xue.
She told Sima Xue everything from beginning to end, then gave all her belongings over to Sima Xue.
She wanted Sima Xue to kill the person who peeled off her little brother’s face and passed himself off as Greatmaster Thousand Green.
But Sima Xue didn’t accept a single thing from her.
He said, “I’ll take anyone’s money, except a widow’s personal savings. Even if I was so poor I was starving to death I wouldn’t take that.”
The old woman’s face paled.
But Sima Xue said coldly, “But don’t you worry, I will do this thing for you. Anyway, these days I’m not poor, what’s the harm in doing one job for free?”
Then, he laughed loudly and sang boisterously, grabbed a jug of aged wine and left.
The old woman’s expression was one of gratitude.
She trusted Sima Xue.
Because in the jianghu the words “Sima Xue” were the same as a gold-lacquered signboard.
× × ×
That’s the kind of person Sima Xue was.
Once he promised to do something, you could rest assured.
You could absolutely rest assured.
Because unless he were to suddenly die, then no matter what he would see the matter through to the end, all the way to the end.
However, he really didn’t expect that the Greatmaster Thousand Green impostor was none other than the head sectleader of India’s Thirteen Demon Cults.
And at the same time was the vice alliance head of the Thousand Demon Alliance!
× × ×
And so in the end, when he went to assassinate him, he failed.
He did take a stab at him, but he missed!
After that, the head sectleader of the Thirteen Demon Cults countered with a palm strike.
It was the abnormally venomous Indian Spectre Kill.
One palm strike and Sima Xue was hit in the chest and immediately spat up blood. He couldn’t even hold onto his precious Righteous Blood that he loved more than life itself, and it was stolen by the head sectleader of the Thirteen Demon Cults!
Sima Xue staggered back and retreated!
The Thirteen Demon Cults sectleader invariably sneered, but didn’t give chase, he just brandished Righteous Blood back and forth.
“A good sword, really a good sword.”
He didn’t give chase because Sima Xue had been struck by his Indian Spectre Kill and therefore was a dead man.
A dead man can run far, but how far can he run. For how long?
But he overlooked one thing!
The world-renowned valleylord of Healer Valley, Xu Qiaozhi was also in Kaifeng prefecture!
Xu Qiaozhi was more than likely the only person in the world who could ave Sima Xue’s life.
× × ×
When Sima Xue went to assassinate the head sectleader of India’s Thirteen Demon Cults, the head sectleader was already missing a right arm!
In Purple Aurora Hall, he intentionally pretended that his arm had just been cut off in order to hide the fact that he already only had one arm.
As for all those grayclothed monks, of course they weren’t really Shaolin monks but the loyal faithful of the head sectleader’s.
Now, everything was clear.
The alliance head of the Thousand Demon Alliance, Ximen Piao, dared make a big show of things and plot to take out Dongfang Wuyou because he had the support of the head sectleader of India’s Thirteen Demon Cults.
But man proposes, Heaven disposes.
Their collaboration was not as cheerful as one might imagine.
Ximen Piao gave the position of vice alliance head of the Thousand Demon Alliance to him, but he was not satisfied.
The head sectleader of the Thirteen Demon Cults’s goal was to take the entire Thousand Demon Alliance under his command.
Ximen Piao finally realized that he had led a wolf inside his house and added a ravenous dhole with ambitions even larger than his own into his organization.
As a result, he started to act to eliminate his adversary.
Who knew that his Lade Alliance Head would turn into a game piece for his adversary. Ximen Piao had Ren Yuechang instigate Long Chengbi to go kill the vice alliance head, but Ren Yuechang turned it around and had Long Chengbi kill Ximen Piao.
Once Long Chengbi and Ximen Piao were fighting, the impostor Greatmaster Thousand Green arrived.
At the time, Long Chengbi still didn’t know that this Greatmaster Thousand Green was the vice alliance head of the Thousand Demon Alliance.
But as soon as Ximen Piao saw Greatmaster Thousand Green come in with one arm and holding a sword, he could tell that this was not Greatmaster Thousand Green but the Thousand Demon Alliance vice alliance head.
But it was too late.
The vice alliance head waited till Ximen Piao and Long Chengbi were locked in combat to make his ruthless, vicious sword thrust.
And the Callous Thearch, famed throughout the Central Plains for decades, died like that by Righteous Blood’s blade.
× × ×
Dusk.
Outside Healer Valley a large monk suddenly appeared.
Just as the name suggested, he as a large monk. Not only did he have a big head and a massive body, even his feet were shockingly large. His straw sandals looked like two fat wild ducks.
The large monk was around 45-46 years old, and he looked like a big mountain of meat.
A huge person like this naturally didn’t much like walking.
Any horse having to carry his load was in for a hellish life for sure.
Now, the dapple gray he was astride likely was breathing a sigh of relief. It had had to carry him no less than 1,700 li over the last five days.
—Even a fine “thousand li” steed would be a bit slow having to carry around such a large monk.
The large monk knew this.
So he seldom went out, and when he did he would never travel very far.
Because he really loved that dapple gray!
But now for some reason he had traveled far, over a thousand li in just a few days from the west to come here.
× × ×
Aside from a bald head, this large monk did not look like a monk at all.
He liked to drink.
The stronger the liquor the better.
He liked to eat meat!
Dog meat or human flesh, no worries.
And he liked to kill people.
Furthermore, the people he killed were people who liked to kill people just like he did.
But he never killed women.
He not only didn’t kill women, he didn’t dare even reach out and touch a woman.
Because he trained in the Five Thunders lad technique, so he could get near feminine beauty.1
This was the only monkish thing about this large monk.
—He absolutely abstained from feminine beauty.
—Beauty is emptiness, and emptiness is beauty.2
But what beauty and emptiness and all that meant, the large monk likely didn’t know.
This large monk was the most domineering, most savage monk of the Western Regions, Reverend Hoo Hoo.
× × ×
Although Reverend Hoo Hoo was renowned throughout the Western Regions, he had entered the Central Plains thrice before but was rebuffed and went back each time.
Because in the jianghu there is a saying!
“When the Western Regions blows hoo hoo, the Central Plains goes boo hoo.”
Western Regions blows hoo hoo referred to Reverend Hoo Hoo.
And the Central Plains goes boo hoo referred to Wudang’s Boo Hoo Daoist.3
Reverend Hoo Hoo’s reason for coming into the Central Plains three times was to have it out with the Boo Hoo Daoist.
But three times he suffered defeat.
The third time, Boo Hoo Daoist got so mad at him he beat him within a breath of his life.
It looked like the monk’s soul was about to return to the Pure Land, frightening even the Boo Hoo Daoist.
Actually, the Boo Hoo Daoist wasn’t trying to take his life then, he had just gotten angry and hit too hard, that’s all. Just when the Boo Hoo Daoist was at his wits’s end, Xu Qiaozhi suddenly showed up!
Once the valleylord of Healer Valley arrived, Reverend Hoo Hoo’s life was finally returned to him.
Ever since then, Reverend Hoo Hoo had two good friends in the martial world of the Central Plains.
Of course this was the Boo Hoo Daoist and Xu Qiaozhi.
Now, Reverend Hoo Hoo had traveled a long long way to Healer Valley all because ten days ago Xu Qiaozhi had sent someone to the Western Regions to find him and tell him that something urgent had come up and he had to come to Healer Valley.
If Valleylord Xu wanted Reverend Hoo Hoo to come to Healer Valley, he would come even if it wasn’t urgent.
This was Reverend Hoo Hoo’s fourth time coming to the Central Plains.
× × ×
Reverend Hoo Hoo loved drinking strong liquor.
There was a lot of strong wine in Healer Valley. Not just strong wine, but good wine.
Not just strong and good wine, but also choice delicacies.
Among them there was Reverend Hoo Hoo’s favorite delicacy.
Reverend Hoo Hoo opened his gaping bloodthirsty mouth and said to Xu Qiaozhi, “Good wine! Good meat!”
For Reverend Hoo Hoo, the strongest wine was the best wine.
And the most fragrant dog meat was the best meat.
Although Reverend Hoo Hoo also ate human flesh, he felt the best meat all in all was dog meat!
Human flesh was always stank a bit.
Xu Qiaozhi suddenly laughed. “Reverend, there’s probably only one reason you think human flesh reeks.”
Reverend Hoo Hoo stuffed a dog leg into his mouth as he said, “What reason?”
Xu Qiaozhi laughed. “Because the human flesh you eat is always male flesh. If you were to eat a woman’s flesh you might find it to be a hundred times more fragrant than dog meat.”
Reverend Hoo Hoo heard the word woman and frowned deeply. Shaking his head, he said, “Your old man would rather go vegetarian and eat vegetables and tofu than eat a woman’s flesh.”
there were not many monks in the world who ate dog meat.
And he was probably the only monk called himself “your old man”.
Dense fog tonight, the bright noon not visible.
Luckily Reverend Hoo Hoo never paid attention to whether the moon was out or not. All he cared about was whether or not there was wine on his table.
There were three jugs of wine on the table, all empty.
The contents of at least two of those jugs was already in Reverend Hoo Hoo’s belly.
Two jugs of wine in your belly, even a big ox plowing the fields wouldn’t be able to stand up after drinking that much.
But Reverend Hoo Hoo was no big ox with that couldn’t hold its liquor.
Two jugs of wine for him was like a normal person drinking half a cup of wine.
Of course Xu Qiaozhi knew that Reverend Hoo Hoo had yet had his fill.
But he hadn’t called Reverend Hoo Hoo all the way over here from the Western Regions to drink wine.
If Reverend Hoo Hoo got drunk, he would be laid up in bed for at least two days.
Reverend Hoo Hoo getting drunk was no big deal, but he had to finish questioning him first.
After questioning him, it wouldn’t matter if Reverend Hoo Hoo was drunk for eight or ten days.
× × ×
Four people sat around the table, divided into east, west, south, and north positions.
Sitting east was Xu Qiaozhi.
Sitting south was Long Chengbi.
Sitting west was Sima Xue.
And sitting north was Reverend Hoo Hoo.
Now, Reverend Hoo Hoo had become a celebrity as Xu Qiaozhi and the others questioned him in turn nonstop.
“Do you go to India often?”
“About once every five years.”
“Is the Thirteen Demon Cults the biggest faction in India?”
“Yes.”
“Have you ever seen the head sectleader of the Thirteen Demon Cults?”
“Yes.”
“How many times?”
“Once.”
“What kind of person is he?”
“He’s a one-armed old man.”
“A one-armed old man? Is he missing his left arm?”
“No, his right arm.”
“How’s his martial arts?”
“Very formidable, so much so that when your old man saw him he felt a chill.”
“You’ve seen his martial arts?”
“Yes, because when your old man saw him that time it was in a restaurant and he was having it out with a martial world master of the Central Plains.”
“A martial world master of the Central Plains was having it out with the head sectleader of the Thirteen Demon Cults? Who was it, Greatmaster, do you know?”
“Your old man recognized him. It was the Boo Hoo Daoist’s senior uncle.”
“You mean to say… you mean to say it was Dao Senior Wintervault, who mysteriously disappeared years ago?”
Reverend Hoo Hoo said, “That’s right, it’s that Wudang School’s old ox nose.”
“Greatmaster, do you know why they were having it out?”
“From what Dao Senior Wintervault said, it seems the Demon Cult head sectleader had stolen a secret manual from Wudang and Dao Senior Wintervault wanted him to give it back, but the sectleader wouldn’t do it, so they started fighting.”
“Did Dao Senior Wintervault lose?”
“Of course, and he lost in less than three moves. He was stabbed in the heart by the head sectleader and died.”
“Did Dao Senior Wintervault say anything before he died?”
“Yes, he said five words.”
“What did he say?”
“He said, ‘Zhuge Bai, you’re so cruel…’ Then he breathed his last.”
Zhuge Bai!
Turns out the head sectleader of the Thirteen Demon Cults of India was “Cloudscraping Divine Sword” Zhuge Bai, whose name rocked the jianghu thirty years ago!
× × ×
Thirty years ago on the sword dueling platform on Mount Hua, Zhuge Bai had been defeated by the Demon-God Twin Cranes’ Twin Crane Sword Formation, and ever since then he had disappeared from the jianghu.
Later, people said that he left the Central Plains and went to live in seclusion in far off India.
But generally this was seen as just a legend, not worth really believing.
Still, on the basis of this legend the Wudang School had sent several high-ranking elders to go on a special trip to India to look for Zhuge Bai.
No one in the jianghu knew of this.
Because it was Wudang’s secret.
—Anytime a thief infiltrated a sect, they wouldn’t let word get out, because after all it was a scandal.
—After suffering defeat on Mount Hua’s sword dueling platform, Zhuge Bai became a Wudang infiltrator.
—Because he had stolen Wudang’s sacred treasure, The Ten Mysteries Perfected Scripture.
Even so, how did Zhuge Bai lose his right arm?
And how did he become the head sectleader of India’s Thirteen Demon Cults?
Also, what extraordinary elder taught him the Indian Spectre Kill technique?
Reverend Hoo Hoo didn’t know any of that.
Long Chengbi, Xu Qiaozhi, and Sima Xue didn’t know either.
But Long Chengbi could guess.
“Zhuge Bai might very well have sought instruction from another master in India and so learn the Indian Spectre Kill technique. His Indian sectfather might have been the previous head sectleader of the Thirteen Demon Cults, so he could have taken over his sectfather’s position.”
This guess made a lot of sense.
Still, how did Zhuge Bai lose his right arm?
Back then at the sword duel, Zhuge Bai lost, but he wasn’t wounded.
Clearly, his right arm had been discarded in India.
What twists and turns were involved here?
× × ×
Zhuge Bai relying on overwhelming force to storm his way back into the Central Plains was naturally a major event.
Especially so as far as the Demon-God Twin Cranes were concerned.
Because people change even after a short absence and must be judged anew, let alone Zhuge Bai, who had left the Central Plains thirty years ago.
× × ×
Twin Cranes Garden was the residence of the Demon-God Twin Cranes.
This Twin Cranes Garden of course was in Healer Valley.
Once Xu Qiaozhi learned that Zhuge Bai was the head sectleader of India’s Thirteen Demon Cults and was also the vice alliance head of the Thousand Demon Alliance, he and Long Chengbi went at once to Twin Cranes Garden.
He wanted Miao Ping and Sun Pengliu to know about this.
Miao Ping’s throat had already been slit.
And Sun Pengliu’s body had been suspended from a roofbeam, nailed there by a sword. The sword, was his very own Divine Crane sword. Blood still dripped.
But the killer was nowhere to be found.
Suddenly, Long Chengbi noticed a letter stuck to Sun Pengliu’s chest.
Actually it wasn’t a letter but a short note.
“The killer, the secthead of the Mutilation Sect. Follow the Mutilation Sect and live, oppose the Mutilation Sect and die.”
There was no name signed, just a drop of red blood.
Mutilation Sect!
Secthead of the Mutilation Sect!
While Long Chengbi and Xu Qiaozhi stood there stunned, Soar to the Sky suddenly charged in like a whirlwind.
× × ×
In Soar to the Sky’s hands he gripped the longhandled gold sabre tightly.
As soon as he saw Miao Ping lying in a pool of blood he stiffened, and he became like a madman.
“Who killed him? Who killed him?”
His voice was hoarse and shrill, enough to shatter a lion’s ears.
The gold sabre flailed wildly, hacking with all his might at everything he saw.
In a short time the priceless ceramic antiques and curios on the shelves were smashed by the gold sabre.
“Who killed Miao Ping? Who killed Miao Ping?”
Soar to the Sky threw his head back and screamed at the heavens, a terrible sound, like a night owl.
Until he saw Sun Pengliu nailed to the rafters by a sword, then all sounds suddenly ceased.
How could Soar to the Sky believe that his two sworn brothers would be killed at the same time?
× × ×
Soar to the Sky felt his whole body go weak and limp.
Xu Qiaozhi handed him the short note.
Soar to the Sky read it and his face went ashen and he gasped over and over. “Mutilation Sect! India’s Mutilation Sect has actually come to the Central Plains to kill. What kind of world is this!”
Xu Qiaozhi was taken aback. “Senior Uncle, you’ve been to India?”
Soar to the Sky sighed. “Of course I have. I’ve even fought it out with masterhands of the Mutilation Sect.”
Xu Qiaozhi said, “What kind of organization is the Mutilation Sect?”
Soar to the Sky looked at Sun Pengliu hanging there, but his eyes were wooden and dim. “The Mutilation Sect is the thirteenth cult of India’s Thirteen Demon Cults. It’s called the Mutilation Sect.
“It’s ranked last of the Thirteen Demon Cults.
“It’s got the fewest members out of all the Thirteen Demon Cults.
“But the Mutilation Sect has ruled the other twelve demon cults for 300 years.
“Within India’s martial world, the secthead of the Mutilation Sect is known as Rusa Suy Sudu, which means demon among demons, evil among evil.
“It’s called the Mutilation Sect because its members must mutilate themselves in order to join its ranks.
“So anyone who wants to join the Mutilation Sect has to first be mutilated and crippled in some way.
“However, the Mutilation Sect has strict rules. Only ten cripples are permitted to join every five years.
“Although everyone in the Mutilation Sect has been maimed, the sect’s martial arts is the most formidable in India, and the most vicious.
“A year ago at Wind Chime Pavilion in Little Chang’an, ten martial world masters cut off their own nose, hand, or foot. This old fellow suspects this has something to do with India’s Mutilation Sect.
“But this old fellow never expected that the Mutilation Sect would come to the martial world of the Central Plains. It looks like disaster is not far off.
“But as for who the secthead of the Mutilation Sect is, this old fellow doesn’t know.”
× × ×
Soar to the Sky didn’t know.
But Long Chengbi and Xu Qiaozhi knew.
Once Xu Qiaozhi had told him about Zhuge Bai being the Mutilation Sect’s secthead, Soar to the Sky suddenly laughed loudly.
But this loud laugh was more near to crying.
“So Dao Senior Wintervault mysteriously disappeared because he was killed by India’s Mutilation Sect secthead, and the secthead is none other than Zhuge Bai, that one-armed villain!”
As Soar to the Sky was saying this, Long Chengbi was thinking.
“What’s Zhuge Bai’s next move after killing the Twin Cranes? Who is he going to kill next?”
The Twin Cranes were dead.
The Callous Thearch Ximen Piao was also dead.
And Dongfang Wuyou and Zhuge Bai had once had a contest of internal force, resulting in the former losing his martial arts…
As soon as Long Chengbi thought of Dongfang Wuyou, it hit him.
Zhuge Bai’s next target was Dongfang Wuyou.
Dongfang Wuyou had lost his martial arts, but he was still the martial world alliance head. He still had power and influence.
Since Zhuge Bai planned to encroach on the Central Plains, he would never let Dongfang Wuyou off.
Even though he had crippled Dongfang Wuyou’s martial arts then, he would not be satisfied until he killed him.
Perhaps when Zhuge Bai was about to kill Dongfang Wuyou, circumstances suddenly changed so that he couldn’t do it.
But Zhuge Bai would definitely come back.
He was definitely going to kill Dongfang Wuyou!
× × ×
Long Chengbi’s guess was absolutely correct.
At the time, Zhuge Bai did want to kill Dongfang Wuyou.
But at the critical moment, Dongfang Wuyou’s eighteen elite masters showed up.
So Zhuge Bai failed when on the verge of success and hurriedly retreated.
But he resolved that he would surely kill Dongfang Wuyou and Ximen Piao!
Because with these two hegemons of the Central Plains martial world eliminated, then entire martial world would be thrown into chaos.
Out of chaos an ambitious cutthroat could emerge. Zhuge Bai hoping to take advantage of the chaotic situation to fish in troubled waters and go all out in establishing himself as a hegemon.
But his biggest headache was Miao Ping and Sun Pengliu, the Twin Cranes he had defeated thirty years ago on Mount Hua’s sword dueling platform.
So before he killed Dongfang Wuyou, he couldn’t help but first barge into Healer Valley and kill the Twin Cranes.
× × ×
Then tenth day of the eighth month, morning.
There was no sunrise today for dark clouds blotted the sky, carrying with it the faint presage of rain.
The wind was up.
But no thunder yet, and no rain.
Shortly before the thunderstorm came, the Flaming Cloud Palace, just like its name, went up in flames and flaming clouds emerged.
Someone had set fire to the Flaming Cloud Palace.
The firestarter of course was one of the braves from India’s Mutilation Sect.
As soon as flames appeared, the sound of killing rose.
Long Chengbi’s guess had been absolutely correct.
Zhuge Bai’s next move was to kill Dongfang Wuyou.
Zhuge Bai now as not only the secthead of the Mutilation Sect, the head sectleader of the Thirteen Demon Cults, and the vice alliance head of the Thousand Demon Alliance, he was also after control of Dongfang Wuyou’s throne as martial world alliance head.
Zhuge Bai was not young anymore.
in just three months he would be 76 years old.
But he felt that the proudest, most exciting day of his seventy plus years of life was today.
What a sight was burning down the Flaming Cloud Palace, and what a feat?
You could venture to ask the martial worlds of the whole world, that aside from Zhuge Bai, who else could do such a bold thing?
Now he was not using any disguises.
He had resumed the same look as Cloudscraping Divine Sword Zhuge Bai from back then.
The only difference between now and thirty years ago was that now Zhuge Bai was after all old, and his hair had turned white, his face full of wrinkles.
And his right arm had been cut off.
People sometimes were strange like that.
He was old, his right arm gone.
But he was on the contrary even more frightening than when he was a hale and hearty in the prime of life, when he still had both arms.
× × ×
The raging flames were beginning to swallow up the large Flaming Cloud Palace.
Dongfang Wuyou gave the order that no one should try to put out the fire.
Because the enemy they were facing now was much more frightening, much more dangerous than a raging fire.
If they busied themselves now with putting out the fire, their minds would get muddled and out of sorts.
Here and now, any lapse of concentration would mean death.
Would mean the deaths of everyone.
So Dongfang Wuyou ordered, “Whoever fights the fire is a traitor and shall be killed on the spot.”
× × ×
The Flaming Cloud Palace had always been an inconspicuous place housing hidden dragons and crouching tigers, a place for the outstanding and remarkable to hide out.
Dongfang Wuyou had been able to stand above the rest as martial world alliance head for so many years not only because of his incredibly strong martial arts, but more importantly because he had the Flaming Cloud Palace as his base of operations.
Many times when there was a case in the martial world that couldn’t be settled, the Flaming Cloud Palace would sent people to handle it justly.
Hence, the Flaming Cloud Palace naturally had no lack of incredible martial artists and brilliant strategists.
Even so, when facing a formidable foe, the only way to turn around the situation between strong and weak was with a battle of wits.
Sometimes a battle of wits was even more important than the use of force.
Dongfang Wuyou was willing to abandon his loft buildings and palaces and gardens and courtyards and let the enemy burn them down because he wanted to exchange them for a battle of wits, one with everyone in Flaming Cloud Palace.
A last ditch stand battle of wits
A fight against a common enemy battle of wits.
“You burn down our lair, we’ll fight you to the bitter end!”
Dongfang Wuyou understood everyone in the Flaming Cloud Palace.
He knew they all felt attached to the Flaming Cloud Palace.
No matter who it was who had set fire to the Flaming Cloud Palace, they would fight them to the death.
Even if it were old man King Yama, they’d fight him all the way down to the netherworld Fengdu City!”
× × ×
The fire raged for a while, then it suddenly started pouring down rain.
The raindrops were bigger than soybeans.
And there was thunder, peal after deafening peal.
It was said that in autumn thunderstorms were more intense than in summer, more violent.
Now it seemed that that was really true.
As the thunderstorm boomed, cheers went up in Flaming Cloud Palace.
Because this heavy rain had come just in time to save Flaming Cloud Palace from being swallowed up by the raging fire.
Even though the fire had begun to spread in all directions, it had not completely destroyed Flaming Cloud Palace. It had only burned a part of it.
In the torrential rain, Dongfang Wuyou led his people and the battle of wits strengthened and intensified.
× × ×
The flames were extinguished in the heavy rain.
But the fires of rage within the Flaming Cloud Palace was already burning.
Dongfang Wuyou led his group of masterhands to finally face down Zhuge Bai.
Zhuge Bai laughed coldly several times, and the masterhands of the Mutilation Sect surrounded Dongfang Wuyou and company into a corner.
Dongfang Wuyou’s face had become wan and thin, not like his former self.
Zhuge Bai knew how things stood.
He had battled it out with Dongfang Wuyou once before, but he didn’t know at the time that that battle had made Dongfang Wuyou lose his martial arts ability. Later, he finally learned of it.
He learned of it of course because he had a mole planted inside the Flaming Cloud Palace.
Since Zhuge Bai had his sights set on obtaining hegemony over the Central Plains, he naturally had to have the ability to be a hegemon.
When it came to ability, Zhuge Bai was not lacking. At least, someone as strong as Ximen Piao had already lost to him.
Would Dongfang Wuyou meet the same fate?
On this point, Zhuge Bai was brimming with confidence.
He had the utmost confidence in the Mutilation Sect, and he ad the utmost confidence in himself.
If a person didn’t have confidence, don’t even mention a major event, even when eating a meal he might choke on a ball of rice.
But Zhuge Bai wasn’t a good-for-nothing rice bucket, he’d even swallow an iron sword.
Still, Dongfang Wuyou had been leading the martial world of the Central Plains for decades, how could he be a good-for-nothing rice bucket either?
At least, Ximen Piao wasn’t as good as Dongfang Wuyou.
Zhuge Bai could easily defeat Ximen Piao, but whether or not he could beat Dongfang Wuyou was up to the gods of fate.
× × ×
Sometimes the gods of fate were snoozing.
When the gods of fate were snoozing, a person’s fate was in their own hands.
Dongfang Wuyou had always despised talk of fate. Even if the gods of fate weren’t snoozing, he’d never give his fate over for some “gods or immortals” he didn’t know to control.
“One’s fate is always in one’s own hands.” Dongfang Wuyou never gave in and never sighed and resigned himself to saying things like “It’s the times, it’s fate, it’s luck.”
He knew better than anyone Zhuge Bai’s wild ambition.
And he knew better than anyone that Zhuge Bai had come back from India to the Central Plains.
As the martial world alliance head, if he weren’t well informed, he would have died who knows how many times already.
Dongfang Wuyou also knew that Zhuge Bai had planted his mole in the Flaming Cloud Palace.
But he could be sure who the mole was.
However, he knew that the mole would show himself sooner or later.
Might today be the day the fox showed its tail?
× × ×
Righteous Blood was in Zhuge Bai’s hands.
Dongfang Wuyou in the face of Zhuge Bai didn’t measure up.
Zhuge Bai suddenly laughed coldly and laughed again.
The two elders to the left and right of Dongfang Wuyou each took a step forward, their spears protecting the alliance head.
The left and right elders, two steel spears.
They were experienced hands, and their spearplay was also experienced.
In the jianghu, everyone knew that Dongfang Wuyou’s most trusted, most capable top hands were these two elders.
Left Spearman Qi Zhun.
Right Spearagent Gao Neng.
It was said that no one in the past twenty years could take ten moves from their steel spears.
Of course Zhuge Bai knew how incredible those two were.
But he wasn’t worried about it at all.
Because one of the two elders was the mole he’d planted in Flaming Cloud Palace.
Otherwise, how would he know that Dongfang Wuyou’s martial arts had been crippled?
Now the situation was very favorable to Zhuge Bai.
Dongfang Wuyou’s martial arts ability was gone.
And one of his two assistants was Zhuge Bai’s man. All he had to do was give the order and Dongfang Wuyou would have to die.
Was the mole Left Spearman Qi Zhun or Right Spearagent Gao Neng?
That’s just what Dongfang Wuyou wanted to know.
Because many of his secrets had been divulged, and these secrets were known only by the left and right elders.
—As for his losing his martial arts ability, Dongfang Wuyou was aware that Zhuge Bai knew already.
This was a big secret.
Aside from the left and right elders, only a few people in Healer Valley knew.
And of course, Long Chengbi.
But Dongfang Wuyou trusted them.
Because they could never be moles planted by Zhuge Bai.
× × ×
Zhuge Bai caressed Righteous Blood.
He only had a left arm, how could he hold the sword and at the same time caress it?
Others wouldn’t be able to do it of course, but he could.
Because he simply didn’t need to use his hand to hold the sword.
As he used his left hand to caress the blade, the whole sword stuck to his left hand, dangling in midair.
When he revealed this skill, even Dongfang Wuyou couldn’t help but praise him quietly, “Incredible internal force.”
Zhuge Bai chuckled. “If this secthead’s skills weren’t good, then how could you be a cripple now?”
Dongfang Wuyou’s complexion changed.
Even though he already knew that Zhuge Bai knew about that, hearing it himself now from Zhuge Bai couldn’t help but get him worked up.
He was worked up because not only had he lost his martial arts ability, but also because he had been sold out.
And the one who had sold him out was one of his most trusted top hands.
Zhuge Bai could see clearly that Dongfang Wuyou’s emotions were mixed and fluctuating.
Now was the perfect time to kill him.
Zhuge Bai suddenly bellowed coldly, “Kill!”
This “kill” command was for Left Spearman Qi Zhun to kill Dongfang Wuyou.
Qi Zhun was the mole that Zhuge Bai had planted in the Flaming Cloud Palace!
× × ×
Qi Zhun’s steel spear was a bit better than Gao Neng’s.
On Zhuge Bai’s order, the steel spear suddenly turned and stabbed right at Dongfang Wuyou.
As soon as Qi Zhun moved, Zhuge Bai thrust his sword at Gao Neng.
He was not about to sleep on Gao Neng.
Because right now the only one who could save Dongfang Wuyou was Gao Neng.
He could absolutely not allow Gao Neng to wreck Qi Zhun’s sudden assault.
Words could not describe even a fraction of how shocked Gao Neng when he saw Qi Zhun turn his spear around.
Of course he couldn’t let Qi Zhun stab Dongfang Wuyou to death with one spear thrust.
But Zhuge Bai’s sword was here.
If he wanted to save Dongfang Wuyou he had to block Qi Zhun’s spear.
But if he blocked Qi Zhun with his spear, Zhuge Bai would put a hole through him with his sword and he would be dead for sure.
Save him first?
Or save himself?
There was no time for Gao Neng to think it over.
And Gao Neng didn’t think it over, he didn’t want to think it over.
You could give him, three days to think it over and he would still decide that saving someone else first was more important.
This might make some feel that he was stupid.
But it’s a good thing there are “stupid” people like him in the wold, or else what’s the difference between people and wild animals that only look after themselves?
× × ×
Gao Neng went to save someone else without a second thought.
But he could never have dreamed that he himself would be saved instead. And the one who saved him was the one he was trying to save.
Zhuge Bai even more so never dreamed that Dongfang Wuyou would suddenly move like a ghost and somehow without a sound end up behind him.
He’d never seen such unimaginably fantastic shapeshifting lightness skill.
If Dongfang Wuyou could use this kind of lightness skill, then how could his martial arts ability have been lost?
This was an even bigger surprise to Qi Zhun.
His spear thrust stable and true but somehow it came to nothing.
Qi Zhun’s spear thrust missed, and behind him the point of Gao Neng’s steel spear arrived.
Oof!
Qi Zhun suddenly saw a blood-drenched steel spear sticking out of his chest.
How could he believe that the blood on this steel spear was his?
He couldn’t believe it, he absolutely could not believe it.
He cried out, “It can’t be, it can’t be…”
His cry was like a ghost wailing in the night, enough to make one’s hair stand on end to hear it.
But the steel spear had run him through the chest, so if that blood wasn’t his then whose was it?
Finally, Qi Zhun fell painfully.
He lay in a pool of his own blood.
Gao Neng had stabbed Qi Zhun to death with a spear thrust, but he himself was about to die.
Because Zhuge Bai’s sword had pierced his the middle of his back.
But Zhuge Bai’s sword only penetrated half a fingerwidth deep into his back.
Because Dongfang Wuyou had given a chop of his palm to Zhuge Bai’s left arm.
This chop was probably not enough to take Zhuge Bai’s life.
But it was even worse than killing him.
Anyone who only had one arm would feel his arm was just as valuable to him as his head.
Without a head of course one couldn’t survive.
But if you lost both of your arms, for someone like Zhuge Bai, how was that any different from dying?
Despite being the secthead of the Mutilation Sect, but it wasn’t like you had to have both arms cripples in order to be qualified to be the secthead, right?
So he couldn’t kill Gao Neng.
He had to save himself first.
Zhuge Bai had once bested Dongfang Wuyou in a test of internal force. That was an stone-hard fact.
Because the internal force skill that Zhuge Bai had trained in was not only peculiar and odd, it also combined all the great achievements of the Way of the Demon.
Demon internal skill could be perfected faster than orthodox internal skills, and its power was easier to wield.
But practicing demon internal skill was a very dangerous things.
With orthodox internal skill, the possibility of entering the flames of qi bedevilment was there, and it was even easier to cripple oneself that way practicing demon internal skill.
This kind of crippling was the most frightening kind of crippling—paralysis.
Your whole body paralyzed was a crippling not much different from death.
So you had to be a real risk taker in order to practice demon internal skill, otherwise it was best not to try.
Dongfang Wuyou knew how incredible Zhuge Bai’s Indian Spectre Kill was.
So he didn’t meet Zhuge Bai head on again, but changed to a kiting tactic.
Zhuge Bai was not only shocked and angered, he was starting to get suspicious, even suspecting that Qi Zhun had deceived him.
Qi Zhun had told him, “None of the three miracle doctors in Healer Valley were able to heal his internal injuries. On the way back to Healer Valley the three miracle doctors were so ashamed they slit their own throats and died.”
If even the miracle doctors of Healer Valley could not cure his internal injuries, than how did Dongfang Wuyou regain his martial arts ability?
And the matter of the three miracle doctors slitting their own throats out of shame was decidedly not false.
But Qi Zhun and Zhuge Bai didn’t know why the three miracle doctors had slit their throats.
In fact, they had already cured Dongfang Wuyou’s internal injuries, but they used their lives to save Dongfang Wuyou’s.
They utilized the internal force of the three of them combined to drive out the demonic internal force inside Dongfang Wuyou’s body.
But in doing this they used up too much of their perfected qi and severely ruined their internal organs. Even a doctor more brilliant than they would be unable to snatch them back from the jaws of death.
They didn’t even have the strength to make it back to Healer Valley.
As a result, they simply slit their own throats before they perished.
Their aim in slitting their own throats was to set up a false situation.
The greatest goal of this false situation was to lead Zhuge Bai to the hook and make him think that Dongfang Wuyou really had lost his martial arts ability.
Dongfang Wuyou would never forget the three miracle doctors who had slit their own throats.
These three miracle doctors would also never forget Dongfang Wuyou.
One time while picking herbs, the three doctors offended Qianxi’s most fiendish local despot.
If not for Dongfang Wuyou lent a hand at just the right time, the three miracle doctors would have long ago died in the marshes of Qianxi.
“You saved our lives. We’ll never forget this.”
Ten years later, they sure enough did not forget what they had said.
Zhuge Bai could not have imagined all this even if he were a hundred times smarter.
Though it’s said that doctors must have the hearts of parents, how many were there in the world who would be willing to give up three lives in order to save someone?
And before they died they set this false situation to make Zhuge Bai so pleased with himself so that he finally fell into their trap.
However, was this trap able to hold a bit ferocious tiger like Zhuge Bai?
× × ×
The masterhands of the Mutilation Sect were fighting with the masterhands of Flaming Cloud Palace.
What a great, earthshaking battle.
The masters of Flaming Cloud Palace had outstanding martial arts, but they had never encountered the likes of these masters from India’s Mutilation Sect before.
They were all masters with very strange, bizarre martial arts.
In a short time the masters of Flaming Cloud Palace were uttering savage cries and seven or eight of those with comparatively weaker martial arts were downed.
Just then, the clopping of rapid hoofbeats was heard through the heavy downpour.
A young lordson in a bluegreen robe and a fur gown rode up suddenly on a an ugly horse that looked just like a monkey.
The man rode an ugly horse and had a sword in his right hand. It was none other than Great Head Stealing Xia Wei Kongkong.
Right now he was in a cheerful mood because his lover, Xue Xiyao, had been rescued by him on Mount Beimang.
After a period of strenuous searching, he finally learned that Third Miss Xue was being held prisoner in Qiu Chanhun and Qiu Chanpo’s old lair.
Given his ability, going to Mount Beimang and rescuing someone took not the slightest effort.
Because there was not a single Mutilation Sect master there.
Even though there were several of Ximen Piao’s men blocking the way, their heads were now separated from their bodies.
Wei Kongkong’s horse was ugly, but its leg strength was something other horses couldn’t match. After coming to the rescue at Mount Beimang, he hurried over to Flaming Cloud Palace.
He never expected to see Zhuge Bai launch an all out attack at Dongfang Wuyou.
He didn’t even know about the Mutilation Sect and Zhuge Bai. He still thought it was just the Thousand Demon Alliance people still making mischief.
Wei Kongkong saw the Mutilation Sect masters wearing all dressed in black and without explanation hacked at any blackclothed Mutilation Sect master he encountered with his sword.
The Head Chopping Swordplay was not at all inferior to the Mutilation Sect’s martial arts, and looked to be even better.
The Mutilation Sect’s martial arts was strange, but the Head Chopping Swordplay was even more horrible and bizarre and unpredictable.
In the blink of an eye three heads were chopped off by Wei Kongkong.
Just then, a number of riders came galloping up.
It was Soar to the Sky, Long Chengbi, Xu Qiaozhi, Sima Xue, and Reverend Hoo Hoo.
Xu Qiaozhi had done his best to keep the wounded Sima Xue from coming, but Sima Xue wouldn’t take no for an answer. He said that no matter what he was going to think of a way to get his Righteous Blood sword back.
With this meaning people here now, the energy got more intense.
Soar to the Sky, longhandled gold sabre in hand, cut in half at the waist the Mutilation Sect master with the strongest martial arts.
Reverend Hoo Hoo got his penchant for killing up and he and his iron zen staff were locked in combat with two Mutilation Sect masters.
Long Chengbi dashed ahead and held up Zhuge Bai.
Zhuge Bai raged, “You’re asking to die!”
Long Chengbi shined his Blizzard Blade and smiled thinly. “That’s right, I’m asking to die—asking for you to die!”
Zhuge Bai brandished his sword. “You dare cross hands with me?”
Long Chengbi retracted his smile and his whole body was suffused with a murderous aura.
Blizzard Blade was faintly humming.
—Before a renowned sabre killed, it would inevitable emit a whizzing sound.
Righteous Blood was a good sword.
The Blizzard Blade was a good sabre.
Zhuge Bai finally said coldly, “You’re that most formidable bladesman who’s become famous in the martial world of the Central Plains over the past ten years, one Snowblade Vagabond?”
If anyone else had called them the most formidable bladesman, Long Chengbi would have denied it.
He wasn’t a very conceited person.
But now he admitted it, saying with a sneer, “The most formidable bladesman, if not me than who else?”
Zhuge Bai hmphed. “How presumptuous/”
Long Chengbi said nothing.
The Blizzard Blade suddenly lashed out, unleashing a ray of dazzling silver light.
Zhuge Bai’s complexion changed.
The blade pointed straight to the sky and came down, but before it arrived one was already intimidated by it.
No words could describe this sabre.
Not even Soar to the Sky anticipated Long Chengbi’s sabre would be this brilliant.
Zhuge Bai immediately slashed at an angle to block Long Chengbi’s Blizzard Blade.
But Long Chengbi’s sabre suddenly flew low like a bird, flying underneath Righteous Blood straight for Zhuge Bai’s heart.
Zhuge Bai was a famed swordsman. A sword in his hand was another to rock the entire jianghu. Recently, even the Demon-God Twin Cranes had died by his sword, how could he really have thought anything of Long Chengbi before now?”
When masters exchanged blows, it could sometimes take three days and three nights before a victor was decided!
But sometimes, only a single move was enough to decide who would live and who would die.
Right now the fight between Long Chengbi and Zhuge Bai was the latter.
In fact, Long Chengbi’s sabreplay was not faster nor more ruthless than Zhuge Bai’s swordplay.
But he grasped the opportunity, grasped the first opportunity.
—When first meeting the enemy in battle, when he doesn’t think much of you, that was the first opportunity, and it was also the best opportunity.
Too bad that there were very few people in the world who knew to grasp that opportunity.
But Long Chengbi clearly was an exception.
When he struck he put all his strength into it, poured it all into his blade.
Right then he was singleminded, no other thought than to kill and launch his blade.
If he didn’t kill Zhuge Bai he sword he was not human!
To kill not only must one’s blade be quick, you had to be absolutely determined.
Long Chengbi’s Eight Dragon Sabreplay was not originally very aggressive.
But since Long Chengbi was determined to kill this person or else, the aggression naturally arose from his body and the Eight Dragon Sabreplay became the world’s most aggressive, most brutal sabreplay.
Zhuge Bai’s Righteous Blood sword responded fast to the extreme.
His swordplay even grazed Long Chengbi’s throat.
Just one more fingerwidth forward with the blade of his sword and Long Chengbi was dead for sure.
But just as his sword broke the skin on Long Chengbi’s throat, the Blizzard Blade penetrated all the way through Zhuge Bai’s heart.
Zhuge Bai’s face was like gold foil. He stared with a heavy heart and said, “That’s… That’s the… Eight Dragon Sabreplay?…”
Long Chengbi nodded and replied icily, “That was the first move, Soaring Dragon Penetrates the Moon.”
Zhuge Bai looked even more dejected, and his mouth was dripping blood nonstop.
“You really are an incredi… incredible Snowblade Vagabond… Zhuge admi…”
Before he could finish saying “admires”, he fell.
The secthead of India’s Mutilation Sect had unexpectedly been killed in a single move by the blade of the Blizzard Blade.
Long Chengbi’s battle on the surface looked to be an easy win, no trouble at all.
But only he knew just how dangerous and critical that win had come.
If his blade had been just a split second slower, the one who died would have been himself, not Zhuge Bai.
When masters square off, isn’t it often just a split second fight?
× × ×
Zhuge Bai was finished.
And with this battle India’s Mutilation Sect was also finished.
As for the Thousand Demon Alliance, it was utterly routed.
In the end it was like a chicken egg crushed by a gang of the world’s heroes.
Sima Xue took back his Righteous Blood sword and was still a professional killer.
But he no longer killed innocents. If someone came wanting him to kill a good person, he would turn it around and kill his would-be employer.
And he would take the fee for killing.
And so, his place in the professional killer trade became that of “scum who brings harm to his own kind”.
If every professional killer was like him, the trade’s business would become less and less.
But Sima Xue’s business was still not bad.
Because not a few employers hired him to kill those bad eggs, local despots. And so, Sima Xue’s profits still came pouring in.
× × ×
In the blink of an eye another year passed.
On the sixth day of the sixth month, a young lordson and a large monk suddenly arrived in Little Chang’an.
They went to Wind Chime Pavilion to drink wine and eat meat.
Having wined and dine to their satisfaction, the large monk suddenly ran over to the counter and said to the shopkeeper, Xin the Third with a smile, “Still remember last year on the sixth day of the sixth month?”
Xin the Third heard that and his face changed color.
Of course he could never forget that terrible day last year on the sixth day or the sixth month.
The large monk, grinning, suddenly hoisted his left leg up on the counter. “Your old man doesn’t have an silver. How about I cut off this thigh to pay the bill?”
Xin the Third nearly fainted.
Luckily just then the young lordson came over and put down a large ingot of silver, and smiling at Xin the Third he said, “Pay no mind to this drunken monk, he’s drunk. Here’s the money for the food and drink.”
He turned to the large monk and laughed. “Take back your thigh. The shopkeeper says it’s not worth a single copper!”
With that, several of them once again set to playing finger-guessing drinking games and it was lively as ever, and they went on as if nothing had happened.
They wore of course Long Chengbi, Xu Qiaozhi, Wei Kongkong, Sima Xue, and Reverend Hoo Hoo.
× × ×
If you want to divide the world into two kinds of people, these are the two kinds of people that exist in the world:
The first kind is smart people.
The other kind is idiots.
—After all, was cutting off your thigh to pay a drinking bill smart?
—Or was using an ingot of silver to pay a drinking bill smarter?
THE END
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Notes
- Because this is a technique trained when one is a child—and by extension, a virgin.
- This is an alternate reading of the Buddhist maxim: 色即是空，空即是色。The material is immaterial, the immaterial is material.
- This is my attempt to handle this rhyme. Hoo Hoo is 呼呼, hūhū, the sound of wind blowing or the sound of snoring. Boo Hoo is my rendition of 苦苦, kǔkǔ, which means strenuously, hard, painful. So boo hoo like you’re crying because it hurts, and hoo hoo like the soughing wind. Well, it’s the best I could come up with and still make it rhyme.