he asked, putting the flute to his lips.
Chen hesitated for a moment. "The tune "Ambush From All Sides"," he replied.
Yu did not understand what he was getting at, but having received an order from the Great Helmsman, he complied immediately and began to play with all the skill he could muster. The tune was a martial piece written originally for the bamboo flute. Played on the golden flute, it sounded even more stentorian, raising the image of armoured troops on the march.
Chen set himself in a pose facing Zhang. "Come on," he invited, then turned and kicked out into the thin air as if dancing. Seeing his back undefended, Zhang thrust his sword at him, and the heroes gasped in fright. But Chen suddenly turned again, grabbed Zhang"s queue with his left hand and pulled it over the edge of the sword, slicing it in two. With his right hand, he gave Zhang"s shoulder a sharp blow.
Zhang had now been struck three times, and although he had not yet been badly hurt, he was obviously baffled by Chen"s kung fu style and had had to suffer the shame of having his queue cut off. But he was a master of self-control and he carefully retreated several steps, staring fixedly at his enemy.
Chen moved forward slowly, his feet following the rhythm of the tune Yu was playing.
"Look!" Huo Qingtong said to her sister excitedly. "It"s the kung fu style he learned in the cave."
The two whirled round each other. Zhang kept his sword strictly on the defensive, striking out only when Chen got too close.
"Master Yuan, I have never had so much respect for you as I do today," Bald Vulture said. "Your pupil is doing you proud."
Master Yuan was greatly perplexed: he was probably the best martial arts fighter in the land and yet he had never seen anything remotely like the kung fu style Chen was using. "I didn"t teach him this," he replied. "I wouldn"t know how to."
Yu played his flute even more furiously. At first, Chen had felt unfamiliar with the new kung fu style, but by now he was using it smoothly, advancing and retreating with great precision until Zhang"s clothes were covered in the sweat of fear. The melody hit a high note, then fell like a shooting star exploding, and Zhang gave a cry as Chen touched the Yuedao point on his right wrist, forcing him to drop the sword. Chen followed quickly with two blows to Zhang"s back, then jumped away, laughing. Zhang stumbled forward a few steps, as if drunk, and collapsed on the ground. Jubilant, the heroes rushed forward to tied him up. Zhang, his face deathly white, made no attempt to resist.
"Master Yuan, Master Lu," Chen said. "What should we do with this traitor?"
"Feed him to the wolves," Yu interjected. "First he killed my teacher and now he, now he ..." He looked down at Yuanzhi"s broken arm.
"Good idea! We"ll take him to feed the wolves," said Yuan. "We have to go and see how the pack is doing anyway."
Lu carefully set Yuanzhi"s broken arm and bound it tightly with cloth. Master Yuan slipped a Snow Ginseng pill into her mouth and felt her pulse.
"Don"t worry," he said to Yu. "She won"t die."
"Put your arms round her, and she"ll get better much quicker," Luo Bing whispered to him with a smile.
Huo Qingtong, meanwhile, was examining her map again, looking for a path from the Jade Pool out to the Secret City, when she heard shouts and turned to see Gu running crazily towards her screaming: "Kill me! Kill me!" Shocked and angry, she raised her sword and ran it through his chest. As she pulled the blade out again, a stream of blood spattered her yellow robe and Gu collapsed on the ground. Hahetai knelt over him and tried to stop the blood flow, but it was impossible. Gu gasped in pain.
"Do you have any affairs that need settling, Brother?"