the bodyguard agency group started out first early thenext day, the shouter shouting the agency's call. lunoticed that most of the lead escorts were stationedaround yan. it seemed the red knapsack on his back wasthe real treasure being escorted.

once the agency men had left, officer deng led his owncolumn out onto the road. at noon, they rested brieflyat a place called yellow crag after which the roadsloped steadily upward into the mountains. theyplanned to cross three ranges that day before stoppingin sandaogou.

the mountain road became increasingly precarious andyuanzhi and officer deng kept close by madame li'smule-drawn carriage, afraid that if an animal lost itsfooting, it could send the carriage crashing into thegorge below. around mid-afternoon, they arrived at themouth of black gold gorge and saw the agency menseated on the ground resting. officer deng directedhis men to follow suit. black gold gorge was flankedby high peaks with an extremely steep mountain trackleading up between them. stopping on the track wasdifficult, so the top of the gorge had to be reachedat one stretch. lu hung back at the rear and turnedhis back, not wishing to exchange glances with theagency men.

once rested, they entered the gorge, the bodyguardagency men and the soldiers under officer deng'scommand forming a long snaking column. men and animalsalike panted up the mountain. the shouts of themulemen melded into a continuous drone. suddenly, lusaw a figure darting across the crest of a peak, andheard the jangling of camel bells from in front as agroup of muslims mounted on camels and horses chargeddown towards them from the top of the gorge. theirhooves sounded like thunder, and the agency men beganshouting, calling on them to slow down.

in an instant, the muslim group was upon them and fourcamels quickly encircled lead escort yan who wascarrying the red knapsack. each of the four muslimriders raised a large iron hammer with both hands andsmashed it down viciously on his head. the mountainroad was narrow, leaving little room for manoeuvring,and the camel-men had the advantage of height. even ifhe had been a better fighter, yan would have beenunable to avoid the four hammers, each weighing morethan 100 pounds. both he and his horse were beaten toa bloody pulp.

the yellow-robed muslim girl, huo qingtong, jumpeddown from her horse and with a flash of her sword cutone of the straps holding the red knapsack to thecorpse that had been yan. but before she had time fora second stroke, she felt a gust of wind at her backas a blade sliced towards her. she dodged to one sideand cut the other strap. her assailant aimed a cuttingstroke at her waist to stop her from picking up theknapsack. unable to avoid the stroke, she raised hersword to block it, and the two blades clashed in ashower of sparks. looking up, she saw it was thehandsome young boy who had stared at her sodisrespectfully the day before. in a sudden fit ofanger, she lashed out with three attacking swordstrokes, and the two began a fierce duel.

her assailant was yuanzhi, still dressed in boy'sclothes. without stopping to consider the rights andwrongs of the situation, she had decided to get herown back for the damage done to her horse's mane.

huo qingtong could see her chance of recovering thekoran slipping away and wanted to finish the fightquickly. she changed to the 'three part' sword style,and in a few strokes had forced yuanzhi into retreat.

the 'three part' sword style was the highestachievement of the tianshan school of kung fu. it wascalled 'three part' because only a third of eachstroke was completed. as the opponent moved to countereach one, the stoke changed. intricate and vicious,the style included no defensive strokes: attacking andkilling was all.

the two went through a dozen or more moves withouttheir blades ever touching, huo qingtong completingonly a third of each stroke, and then changing itwithout waiting for her opponent to defend. she cutand thrust at the air around yuanzhi's body, and thechinese girl, knowing she could not match heropponent's speed, leapt away. huo qingtong did notpursue her but turned back to the knapsack, and foundit was already in the hands of a small, thin manstanding beside yan's body. she lunged at him with hersword.

"oh dear," the man cried. "uncle tong had better getback in place!" lead escort tong jumped clear withthree quick steps and huo qingtong followed hard onhis heels. she raised her sword to cut him down, butthe stroke was blocked by a five element wheel thrustforward by the surviving yan brother.

huo qingtong fought briefly with yan, and recognisedhim as a strong and capable adversary. then she hearda loud whistle coming from the hilltops, the signalfor retreat, and knew that help for the agency men wason the way. she saw tong scampering away with theknapsack and quickly changed to the three part swordstyle, forcing yan to retreat, and then raced afterhim. the whistles became louder.

"daughter! retreat quickly!" muzhuolun shouted. sheabandoned the chase and directed her comrades as theylifted the muslim dead and wounded onto camels andhorses. then the muslim column charged on down themountain path. but a little way further on, they foundseveral dozen manchu soldiers blocking their path.

officer deng rode forward, his spear held crosswise.

"you insolent muslims!" he shouted. "what is thisinsurrection?" two of huo qingtong's steel darts hithis hands and the spear clattered to the ground.

muzhuolun raised his sabre high and charged forwardwith some other muslim warriors, and the manchu troopsscattered. boulders crashed down from the mountaintops, pulverising more than a dozen manchu troops, andin the midst of the melee, the muslims made good theirescape.

throughout the battle, lu had remained on thesidelines, his hands folded inside his sleeves.

yuanzhi had been of great assistance to the agency meneven though she had been beaten by huo qingtong, andthe muslims had been unable to get what they wanted.

as the agency men tended the wounded and carried offthe dead, lu gave her a severe lecture, criticisingher for interfering in the affairs of others, andneedlessly making even more enemies.

"there are very few good men amongst the bodyguardagencies, and many bad ones. why bother helping peopleto do evil?" he scolded her. she hung her head, notdaring to look up.

they crossed through the pass and arrived insandaogou, a medium-sized market town, as dusk wasfalling. the mulemen said there was only one inn,called the antong, and both the agency men and officerdeng's column headed for it. the inn was crude andsimple in the extreme with earthern walls and mudfloors. seeing no servants coming out to greet them,tong shouted: "is everyone dead in there? i damneighteen generations of your ancestors!" yuanzhifrowned. no-one had ever dared to use such languagewithin her hearing before.

just then, they heard the sound of clashing swordsfrom inside. yuanzhi was delighted. "here's some morefun to watch!" she cried and ran into the inn ahead ofthe others.

the entrance hall was empty and silent, but passingthrough to the courtyard, she saw a young womanfighting fiercely with four men. in her left hand wasa sword, and in her right, a knife. she was obviouslybattling for her life. it seemed to yuanzhi that thefour man were trying to force their way into the roomoutside which the woman was standing. the four wereall strong fighters: one wielded a whip, one a staff,one a sword and one a devil's head knife.

lu also entered the courtyard. "how is it that we arecontinually running into these secret society people?"he thought.

the woman dodged and parried, holding all four men atbay until suddenly the one wielding the devil's headknife swung his weapon towards her as another of theattackers thrust his sword at her heart. she fendedoff the sword with the knife in her right hand, butshe could not dodge the devil's head knife and itstruck her on the left shoulder. but she did not giveup, and as she continued to fight, drops of blood flewin all directions.

"don't kill her! we need her alive," shouted the manwith the whip.

lu's chivalrous heart was moved at the sight of fourman attacking one woman, and despite his own sensitivesituation he could see he might have to take a handhimself. he watched as the swordsman attacked with aslicing blow from the left. the woman parried itobliquely, but she was already wounded and out ofbreath. the two blades clashed, and the knife wasjolted from her hand and clattered to the ground. theswordsman then thrust his blade at her again, and shefrantically dodged to the right, opening a way throughwhich the man with the devil's head knife chargedtowards the door.

ignoring all dangers, the woman plunged her left handinto her gown and drew out two throwing knives whichshe slung at her enemy's back. one of the knivesembedded itself in the door post but the other plungedinto his back. luckily for him, the woman's handlacked strength due to the wound in her left shoulderand the knife did not kill him. he staggered back,screaming with pain, and pulled the knife out.

meanwhile, the woman was struck on her thigh by thestaff. she swayed unsteadily, but defiantly resumedher position blocking the doorway.

"go and help her," lu said quietly to yuanzhi. "if youcan't beat them, i'll come over as well."yuanzhi was bursting to test herself. she leaptforward, her sword at the ready, shouting: "four menfighting one woman! you should be ashamed ofyourselves!" seeing someone coming to the aid of thewoman, and one of their number already wounded, thefour men turned and ran from the inn.

the woman's face was deathly pale and she leanedagainst the door, breathing heavily. yuanzhi went overto her.

"why were they bullying you like that?" she asked, butthe woman was temporarily incapable of speech.

officer deng walked over to yuanzhi. "madame li wouldlike to see you mistress," he said, and added in awhisper: "she's heard that you were involved in afight on the road and is very upset. you'd better goquickly."the woman's expression changed as soon as she sawofficer deng's military uniform; she pulled herthrowing knife out of the doorpost, went back into herroom and banged the door shut without answeringyuanzhi.

rather unhappy at having been snubbed, yuanzhi walkedover to lu. "teacher, what were they fighting about?"she asked.

"it was probably a revenge attack," he said. "but itisn't over yet. those four will be back."yuanzhi was about to ask another question when sheheard someone inside the inn shouting and swearing.

"damn your ancestors, what do you mean there are nogood rooms? are you afraid we don't have the money topay?" it was the voice of lead escort tong.

"please don't be angry sir," an employee of the innanswered. "we in the inn-keeping business would notdare to offend such eminent persons as yourselves. butit is a fact that all of our few good rooms areoccupied.""who have you got in them? i think i'll go and have alook," tong said walking out into the courtyard.

just then a door opened, and the young woman leanedout. "please bring some hot water," she said to aservant.

tong saw the woman's smooth white skin and the beautyof her face and eyes, and noticed on her left wrist, abracelet of pearls, all perfectly formed. his mouthwatered. the woman spoke with a southern chineseaccent and the exotic touch to her voice excited himgreatly.

"i, lead escort tong have passed along this road onbusiness dozens of times, and i have never stayed inanything but the best rooms," he shouted. "if thereare no good rooms vacant, why don't you make onevacant for me?" the door to the woman's room was stillopen and he walked straight inside.

"ai-ya!" the woman exclaimed. she moved to obstructhim, but felt a stab of pain in her thigh and satdown.

as tong entered the room, he saw there was a man lyingon the kang. the room was dimly-lit but he could seethat the man's head was wrapped in bandages, his rightarm was in a sling and that one of his legs was alsobandaged.

"who is it?" the man asked in a deep, resonant voice.

"my name is tong and i'm a lead escort with the zhenyuan bodyguard agency," he replied. "we are passingthrough sandaogou on business, but there are no roomsavailable here. i was wondering if you could move. whois this woman? is she your wife, or your girlfriend?""get out," the man ordered. his wounds were clearlyserious; he was unable to talk loudly.

"one's a girl and the other's too badly wounded toeven move," thought tong, who had not seen the womanfight. "when am i going to get such a chance again?""if you don't want to give up your room, that's allright too," he said with a grin on his face. "allthree of us can snuggle up together on this kang.

don't worry, i won't push over onto your side."the man on the kang shook with anger.

"don't get involved with these ruffians," the womanurged him quietly. "we can't afford to make any moreenemies at the moment." and then to tong: "you stopyour nonsense and get out."tong laughed. "can't i stay here and keep youcompany?""come over here," the man on the kang said hoarsely.

tong took a step towards him. "why? do you want to seehow handsome i am?""i can't see clearly," the man replied.

tong laughed out loud and took another step towardshim. "take a closer look. this is like a big brotherchoosing a husband for his sister...."before he could finish, the man on the kang sat up,and as fast as a lightning flash, touched a yuedaopoint* (*yuedao points are nerve centres on the bodywhich, when struck, can cause paralysis or even death.

the same points are used for a different purpose inacupuncture) on tong's ribs and followed with a blowto his back. tong flew straight out of the door, andlanded heavily in the courtyard. the agency shouter,xun, rushed over to help him up.

"brother tong," he whispered. "don't provoke them. itlooks like they're members of the red flower society.""ahh, ahhh, i can't move my leg," tong cried. "the redflower society?" he added suddenly. "how do you know?"he broke into a cold sweat of fear.

"one of the porters told me four yamen officers werehere a while ago to arrest those two, and there wasquite a fight before they left," xun said.

lead escort yan came over. "what's going on?" heasked.

"brother yan," tong shouted. "one of those bastardsfrom the red flower society used yuedao kung fu onme!"yan frowned and pulled tong up by his arm. "we'll goback to the room and talk about it," he said. hisfirst thought was for the agency's reputation. itcreated a bad impression when an agency's lead escortwas floored and couldn't even get up. lead escort qiancame over. "are you sure it was the red flowersociety?" he asked xun.

"when those four officers left, they told the porterthat the couple in there were fugitives," hewhispered. "they told the porter to inform them ifthey left. i overhead them talking."qian glanced at yan and pulled tong up.

"who are they?" yan asked quietly.

"red flower society. i think we ought to let it pass,"qian said. "when tong is better we can reconsider. didyou see what happened when those men tried to arrestthem just now?" he asked xun.

"it was some fight," said xun, gesticulating wildly.

"there was a woman with a sword in her left hand and adagger in her right hand. four men couldn't beat her.""she must be one of 'divine knife' luo's people,"replied qian, surprised. "she used throwing knives, isuppose?""yes, yes, she's really accurate. it was incredible!"xun exclaimed.

qian turned to yan. "master wen of the red flowersociety is here," he said. they carried tong back totheir room in silence.

lu had observed the whole incident, but the leadescorts had talked in such low tones, that he onlymanaged to catch qian's last two utterances. yuanzhiwalked over and asked: "teacher, when are you going toteach me yuedao kung fu? did you see how fantasticthat move was?"lu took no notice of her, but said to himself: "if itis one of 'divine knife' luo's people, i can't juststand by and do nothing.""who is 'divine knife' luo?" yuanzhi asked.

"he was a good friend of mine. i hear he's passed awaynow. all the moves used by the woman we saw fighting aminute ago were of his school."just then, the two lead escorts qian and tai helpedtong over to the woman's room. xun coughed loudlyoutside the door and announced in a low voice:

"lead escorts qian, tai and tong of the zhen yuanbodyguard agency have come to pay their respects tomaster wen of the red flower society."the door creaked open and the woman stood in thedoorway staring at them. "what do you want?" sheasked.

"we did not know that you and master wen were here,"qian said. "we have insulted you and we have come toapologise. please be forgiving and don't be offendedby what happened." he bowed low and tai and xunfollowed suit.

"mistress," qian continued. "we have never met before,but i have heard a great deal about you and yourhusband. master wang, the head of our agency, wasalways on very good terms with the leader of yourhonourable society, master yu, and also with yourfather 'divine knife' luo. our brother here is verybad-tempered, and is always talking nonsense..."the woman cut him off. "our master has been wounded,and he just went to sleep. when he wakes, i will passon your message. we are ignorant of etiquette, but hiswounds are not light, and he hasn't slept well for twodays." there was an expression of apprehension on herface.

"what sort of wounds does master wen have?" qianasked. "we have some golden wound ointment with us."he wanted to put them in their debt so that they wouldbe obliged to help cure tong.

"thank you, but we have medicine," the woman replied,understanding his meaning. "your colleague was nottouched on a major yuedao point. when our masterwakes, i will send one of the inn's servants round."seeing that she had agreed to cure tong, qian and theothers started to retire.

"by the way," said the woman. "how did you know ournames?""with your swords and throwing knives, who wouldn't beable to guess?" qian replied. "what's more, who apartfrom master wen uses yuedao kung fu like that? it hadto be 'rolling thunder hand' wen tailai and his wifeluo bing."the woman smiled, flattered at having been recognised.