and thrust her sword straight at his chest. Lu ducked under the stroke, then slipped round behind Commander Li and gave him a powerful shove which sent him reeling forward. Full of fear for her father, Yuanzhi struck out again with her sword, but Lu dodged out of the way once more, picked Li up in his arms and ran inside the circle of fire. The Manchu troops shouted in alarm, but the heat from the flames was so intense that none dared to follow him.
The Red Flower Society heroes saw Lu carrying Commander Li into the danger zone, and Zhang Jin and "Crocodile" Jiang went in after them.
"That"s enough," ordered Chen. "No-one else need go in."
The Manchu troops completely ignored the Red Flower Society fighters, and stared anxiously at the men in the centre of the ring of fire. Suddenly, someone with a torch leapt over to the gunpowder fuse and lit it. Deng Tunan recognized him as Imperial Bodyguard Fan who had shamed himself in front of the Emperor the day before. He bore such a deep grudge over the incident, that he wanted only to snatch victory away from the Red Flower Society with no concern for whether Commander Li lived or died.
The thread of sparks whirled off at an incredible speed. Once it reached the circle of fire, disaster would be inevitable. The Manchu troops scattered in panic and in the midst of the confusion, a figure, his face covered with a blue silk mask, raced forward and threw himself down on to the gunpowder. His clothes burst into flames, but the fuse was stopped.
The immediate danger past, Zhang Jin and "Crocodile" Jiang charged out through the circle of fire with Wen Tailai in their arms. The flames were now even more fierce, and all three caught fire. The Twin Knights, racing forward to meet them, shouting: "Roll! Roll!" Zhang Jin and Jiang first put Wen down and rolled him about until all the flames on him had been extinguished, then put out their own fires. Luo Bing ran up to attend to Wen.
The Twin Knights meanwhile ran over to rescue the masked man, who had collapsed on the ground. By the time the flames had been extinguished, his body was a mass of burns.
Once Wen was out of danger, Lu slung Commander Li over his shoulder, took a deep breath and leapt back out of the circle like a great bird.
"We"ve done it!" Chen shouted. "Retreat, retreat!"
Priest Wu Chen led the way, his sword flying, and the others followed, the Twin Knights carrying the masked man, Zhang Jin carrying Wen and Lu with Commander Li over his shoulder.
The Manchu troops chased after them, shouting and yelling, but none dared get too close. The Imperial Bodyguards, however, were frantic at the sight of Wen escaping: his loss could cost them their heads. Among them was Fan, the one who had lit the fuse. Chen handed the Frozen Emerald sword to "Buddha" Zhao.
"Cover the others as they retreat, Third Brother," he said. "I"m going to deal with this fellow." He pulled out his "Pearl Strings", the ropes with steel balls fastened to the ends, and with a flick of his hand, sent them flying towards Fan.
Fan tried to leap out of the way, but he was not quick enough, and the strings wrapped themselves round his legs. Chen yanked them back fiercely, and threw Fan into the heart of the roaring flames.
By this time, almost all of the heroes had escaped over the Yamen walls. Chen raised his hand and shouted to the rest: "Retreat!"
"Leopard" Wei raced over to the gunpowder fuse and relit it, and the Manchu troops cried out in fear as the remaining Red Flower Society fighters retired.
Suddenly, there was a blinding flash, and a roar as the gunpowder stacked in the building ignited. Explosion followed explosion, black smoke swirled up and bricks flew in all directions. The soldiers and guardsmen threw themselves on the ground, but despite their great distance from the building, several dozen of them had their heads smashed to pieces by stray bricks and pieces of wood. By the time the rest crawled back onto their feet, the Red Flower Society heroes were gone.
Only when they were certain they were not being chased did the heroes relax. They rode out of Hangzhou and arrived at a river with more than a dozen boats lined up along the bank. The heroes joyfully boarded the craft.
"Master Chen," Lu Feiqing whispered. "I have had connections with Commander Li in the past. Now that Brother Wen is safe, why don"t we let him go?"