Please say whatever you wish."
"I have an embarrassing request to make that according to the rules of the fighting community should not even be uttered," Chen replied. "But, Venerable Sir, for the sake of millions of souls, I boldly make this appeal to you."
"Please speak freely," the abbot said.
"The former Great Helmsman of the Red Flower Society, Master Yu Wanting was my foster father..." Heavenly Rainbow"s expression changed immediately as he heard the name, and he raised his white eyebrows.
Chen told him in detail about his relationship with the Emperor Qian Long and about the plan to restore the Chinese throne and overthrow the Manchus. Then he asked why his foster father had been expelled from the Shaolin school and whether it had anything to do with Qian Long"s identity.
"Please, Venerable Sir," he concluded, his voice almost choked with sobs. "Think of the common people....."
Heavenly Rainbow sat in silence, his long eyebrows trailing over his closed eyes. He was in deep meditation and no-one dared disturb him.
After a while, his eyes sprang open, and he said: "For several hundred years, it has been the practice of the Shaolin school not to reveal to outsiders information on members who offend against the school"s regulations. Great Helmsman Chen, you have come a great distance to our monastery to enquire into the behaviour of our expelled pupil, Yu Wanting. According to the monastery"s rules, this would ordinarily be out of the question..." the faces of the heroes lit up with delight. "...but as this affair involves the fate of the common people, I will make an exception. Great Helmsman Chen, please send someone to the Upholding the Monastic Regulations Hall to collect the file."
Chen bowed to the abbot in thanks, and another monk led the heroes to guest rooms to rest.
Chen was congratulating himself on his success when he saw Lord Zhou looking worried. "What"s wrong?" he asked.
"The abbot asked you to send someone to the Hall to collect the file. But to get there, it is necessary to pass through five other halls, each guarded by a kung fu master and each one stronger than the last. It will be difficult to make it through all five," Zhou replied.
"We could try and force our way through together," Wen suggested.
Zhou shook his head. "No, the problem is that one person has to win through all five halls alone. If anyone helped him, the monks would come to the assistance of the guardians of the halls and it would turn into a brawl. That wouldn"t do at all."
"This is an affair involving my family," Chen said quietly. "Perhaps Buddha will be merciful and let me through."
He took off his long gown, picked up a bag of his "chess piece" projectiles, tucked the ancient dagger into his belt, and let Zhou lead him to the first hall.
As they reached the hall entrance, Zhou stopped. "Master Chen," he whispered. "If you can"t make it, please come back and we"ll think of some other way. Whatever you do, don"t try and force your way through or you may get hurt." Chen nodded.
"Everything is arranged!" Zhou shouted, and then stepped to one side.
Chen pushed open the door and walked inside. Under the bright candle-light, he saw a monk seated on a mat, and recognised him as one of the abbot"s chief assistants, Great Hardship.
The monk stood up and smiled. "So you have come yourself, Great Helmsman Chen. That is excellent. I would like to ask you to instruct me in a few martial arts moves."
Chen saluted him with his fists. "Please," he replied.
Great Hardship bunched his left hand into a fist and swung it round in a great arc while his right palm swept up. Chen recognised it as the "Drunken Boxing" style kung fu. He had once studied the style, but decided not to reveal the fact by using it now. He clapped his hands together and countered with the "Hundred Flowers" kung fu style. Great Hardship was taken off guard and only avoided being struck by dropping to the floor. He rolled away and stood up, and the two continued to fight closely, each a master of his own style.
Great Hardship aimed a blow at Chen"s legs. Chen leapt up, and as he landed, hooked his right leg round, tripping the monk up neatly. As fast as lightning, Chen bent over and stopped him from falling. Great Hardship"s face flushed red with embarrassment and he pointed behind him.
"Please proceed," he said.
Chen saluted once more and walked through into another hall, seated in the middle of which was the senior monk, Great Insanity. As Chen entered, the monk rose and picked up a thick staff lying beside him. He casually tapped the floor with its tip, and the impact shook the very walls of the hall, bringing a shower of dust down from the rafters. The monk lightly flipped the staff from left hand to right, then attacked using the "Crazy Demon" staff style of kung fu. Chen knew it would be folly to underestimate the power of this opponent, and he drew his dagger. Great Insanity swept the staff across and Chen ducked down to avoid it then countered with a thrust from his dagger. The two fought round and round inside the hall, their weapons apparently greatly mis-matched.
Rather than attack, Chen concentrated instead on trying to tire the monk out. But Great Insanity"s Inner Strength Kung Fu was profound, and as time passed, Chen could discern no hesitation in the monk"s actions. On the contrary, the staff seemed to whirl and dance with ever-increasing speed, forcing Chen back into a corner of the hall. Seeing Chen could not escape, Great Insanity grasped the staff in both hands and swung it down at his head with all his strength. Chen stood stock-still until the staff was no more than two inches from him, then grabbed its end and carved a deep line across the middle with his dagger, snapping it in two.
Great Insanity was furious, and charged at Chen again. But with the staff only half its former length, he wielded it with much less dexterity. A moment later, Chen snapped another piece off the end, then dodged passed the monk and ran towards the rear of the hall. With a roar of anger, Great Insanity threw what was left of his staff to the floor and sparks flew in all directions.
As he entered the third hall, Chen"s eyes were struck by a bright glare, and he saw both sides of the hall were full of burning candles, several hundred of them at least. In the centre, stood the monk Great Idiocy.
"Master Chen," he said, a welcoming smile on his face. "Let us compete using projectiles."
Chen bowed. "As your Reverence wishes," he replied.
"There are nine candles and eighty-one incense sticks on each side of the hall. Whoever can extinguish all the candles and incense sticks on his opponent"s side is the winner." The monk pointed to the altar table in the centre of the hall. "You will find darts and projectiles of all kinds over there. When you have used up all the ones you have, you can go and get more."
Chen pulled a pile of chess pieces from his pocket and wished he had spent more time in the past learning the finer points of dart kung fu from the Red Flower Society"s dart expert, "Buddha" Zhao. "After you," he said.
Great Idiocy smiled again. "Guests first," he replied.
Selecting five chess pieces, Chen threw them simultaneously at the foot of the opposite wall and extinguished five incense sticks.
"Excellent kung fu," Great Idiocy praised him. He took a string of prayer beads from around his neck, snapped the chord and let five of the beads fall into his palm. With one movement, he slung them away, snuffing out five incense sticks on Chen"s side.
Chen quickly extinguished another five sticks of incense. Great Idiocy replied by knocking out all nine candles on Chen"s side, and in the darkness, the burning tips of the incense sticks became much easier targets for the monk.
"Of course, why didn"t I think of that?"