"This is the personal matter of Liu Zhengfeng. It has nothing to do with other people. Apprentices of Hengshan Sword School, if you don't want to follow the traitor, you can stand to the left side too," Fei Bin declared.

After a short silence, a young man murmured, "Uncle-Master Liu, please pardon us apprentices." Then thirty or so Hengshan apprentices walked to the side of the nuns of the Heng-Shan Sword School. Those were all Liu Zhengfeng's nephew apprentices, since none of the other senior masters of the Hengshan Sword School came to the ceremony.

"Apprentices of Liu House stand to the left side too," Fei Bin yelled again.

Xiang Danian answered loudly, "We value the grace of our Master. We will never betray him. We as apprentices of Liu will always be with our beloved Master, dead or alive."

Warm tears swamped Liu Zhengfeng's eyes. "Good, good! Danian, your words are already great comforts for your Master. Why don't you all walk over? It was your Master, I, who made the friend. It has nothing to do with any of you."

With a loud "clank" sound, Mi Weiyi drew his sword out. "The Liu House undoubtedly is no match for the Five Mountains Sword Alliance. But what more could we lose other than our lives. Whoever wants to harm my Master has to kill me first," he exclaimed while standing right in front of Liu Zhengfeng, blocking him protectively.

Ding Mian waved his left hand slightly, and a silver flash zipped out in extreme speed. In shock, Liu Zhengfeng pushed Mi Weiyi's right shoulder hurriedly using his inner energy. Mi Weiyi was pushed to the left, and the silver flash headed directly toward Liu Zhengfeng's chest. Eager to protect his Master, Xiang Danian jumped forth to block, and the silver needle penetrated his heart squarely. He only had enough time to let out a painful groan before falling dead. Liu Zhengfeng lifted Xiang's body with his left arm and checked his breath. He then turned to Ding Mian. "Ding second, it is your Songshan Sword School who has killed my apprentice first!"

"Precisely. We killed first. So what?" Ding Mian mocked coldly.

Liu Zhengfeng picked up Xiang Danian's body with both arms; it seemed as if he was going to throw the body toward Ding Mian. Ding Mian had long known that the Hengshan Sword School inner power style had some unique traits. Liu Zhengfeng was a first-class elite fighter in the Hengshan Sword School; from the way he gathered his strength, Ding Mian could tell that the strength of the throw must be tremendous, so he gathered his inner energy and readied himself to catch the body, so he could throw it right back. Although it appeared that Liu Zhengfeng picked up the body to throw it forward, he suddenly jumped to the side, holding the body in his hands and sent it toward Fei Bin's chest. The change was so swift and dramatic that Fei Bin was caught by a total surprise. He had to raise both of his palms and blocked the body with double knife hands, when suddenly he felt numbness from his ribs – Liu Zhengfeng had sealed his pressure points.

After the successful move, Liu Zhengfeng grabbed the Command Flag from Fei Bin's grip using his left hand, while drawing Fei's sword with his right hand and placed the blade right on Fei Bin's throat. Then he struck Fei Bin's back on multiple spots with his left elbow rapidly and sealed another three pressure points on Fei's back. He moved so fast that he completed the entire series of moves before Xiang Danian's body even landed on the floor.

After Fei Bin was taken prisoner and the Command Flag exchanged hands, everyone finally realized that the moves Liu Zhengfeng used were from the unique Kung Fu of the Hengshan Sword School called "Magical Thirteen Phantom Stances of Hengshan Mist." People had heard about it for a long time, and now they were lucky enough to actually see it with their own eyes. Yue Buqun had heard from his Master many years ago that a great master from the last generation of the Hengshan Sword School created the "Magical Thirteen Phantom Stances of Hengshan Mist." That great master made a living by traveling around performing magic shows. Magic tricks relied on illusions and redirecting audiences' attentions. When that great master was in his old age, his Kung Fu skills became higher, and so did his skills with magic tricks. He was actually able to use his inner energy and Kung Fu skills in his magic tricks, entertaining a great amount of street audiences. Then later, he was able to merge his magic trick skills into his Kung Fu skills. He was a funny guy and created this set of Kung Fu just for fun, having no idea that the set of Kung Fu would become one of the three unique sets of Hengshan Kung Fu skills. Although the set of Kung Fu had very odd and unexpected moves, it actually was not very useful in a real serious fight because when masters fight, each would be guarding himself carefully and protect his own vital parts well, thus rendering these tricky and flashing moves useless. That was why even the Hengshan Sword School didn't emphasize on teaching it. If the apprentice appeared to be a flashy one, then the master would not teach him that set of Kung Fu so that the apprentice won't be relying on fake and flashy moves and lose focus with the real rudimentary type of Kung Fu skills. Liu Zhengfeng was the quiet and deep type. After he learned that set of Kung Fu from his Master, he had not used it ever until today. Now when he used it in such an emergent situation, it actually worked wonders and helped him take control of the notable "Great Songyang Palm" Fei Bin, whose real Kung Fu skills were definitely no less than his.

Lin Zhengfeng held the Command Flag of the Five Mountains Sword alliance high with his right hand and grabbed tight the sword that was on Fei Bin's throat with his left hand, then said firmly, "Apprentice brother Ding, apprentice brother Lu, I made bold and took the Command Flag of the Five Mountains Sword Alliance. I dare not threaten the two of you; I just want to beg mercy from you."

Ding Mian and Lu Bai looked at each other, both thinking, "Since apprentice brother Fei had fallen for his tricky attack, we'd better listen to what he has to say first."

"What kind of mercy?" Ding Mian asked.

"Would you two please take a message to Alliance Chief Zuo for me," Liu Zhengfeng said, "Asking for his permission to let me and my family to withdraw from civilization and live in solitude without ever getting involved in any matter of the Martial World? I will not see big brother Qu Yang ever again, and I will be leaving you, the apprentice brothers and friends here today..as well. I will bring my family and my apprentices to leave the country and live a hermit's life. As long as I am alive, we will never step on the ground of China again."

"Apprentice brother Lu and I can not make a decision on that. We will have to report this to apprentice brother Zuo to get his judgment," Ding Mian hesitated for a second and then replied.

"We have the Head Masters of the Taishan Sword School and the Huashan Sword School here, plus Sister Dingyi from the Heng-Shan Sword School, who should be able to make a decision representing her Head Master apprentice sister. In addition, all the fellow martial people and heroes here today can act as eye witnesses," Liu Zhengfeng argued. He glanced around everybody and said in a deep voice, "I am begging for a favor from all you friends. Please let me save my family and my apprentices while not betraying my belief in brotherhood."

Sister Dingyi was the type who acted tough with a hot-temper, yet very kind in one's heart. She first agreed.

"That would be great, thus we won't damage our good relationship. Apprentice brother Ding and apprentice brother Lu, let's agree to brother Liu. Since he wouldn't be seeing any member of the Demon Cult, and he will be far away, it'll be like there isn't a Liu Zhengfeng in this world at all. Why do we have to commit more killing?"

"That sounds good." Priest Tianmen also nodded. "Brother Yue, what do you think?"

"Brother Liu's words are as solid as a mountain," Yue Buqun said. "If he said so, of course we all trust him. Come on! Let's turn hostility into friendship. Brother Liu, you set brother Fei free, and then we'll all drink a cup of friendly wine. Tomorrow morning, you can take your family and your apprentices to leave the town of Hengshan!"

"Even the Head Masters of Taishan and Huashan said so, plus Sister Dingyi is also pleading for Liu Zhengfeng, how can we dare to oppose? But because apprentice brother Fei fell for Liu Zhengfeng's tricks, if we just agreed like that, everyone in the Martial World will be saying that the Songshan Sword School was taken hostage by Liu Zhengfeng and had to give in. When rumors like this spreads out, what would happen to our reputation?" Lu Bai said.

"It is brother Liu who is begging for mercy from the Songshan Sword School. He wasn't threatening or forcing you. Talk about 'give in', it is Liu Zhengfeng who is giving in, not the Songshan Sword School. And you've already killed an apprentice of the Liu House," Sister Dingyi said.

"Di Xiu, get ready!" Lu Bai said after a disgruntled snort.

"Yes!" Songshan apprentice Di Xiu answered. He pushed the short sword in his hand forward a bit, until the tip of the blade penetrated the cloth and reached Liu Zhengfeng's eldest son's back muscle.

"Liu Zhengfeng, if you want to beg for mercy, then come back with us to Mount Songshan and see Alliance Chief Zuo. You can beg him for mercy yourself. We are just following orders. We can't make decisions. Give me back the Command Flag and set my apprentice brother Fei free," Lu Bai demanded.

With a sad smile, Liu Zhengfeng turned to his son. "Son, are you afraid to die?"

"I am with you, Dad. I am not afraid!" Liu's son exclaimed.

"Good kid!" Liu Zhengfeng said.

"Kill him!" Lu Bai yelled.

Di Xiu pushed the sword forward. The tip of the short sword went all the way until it penetrated the heart. Then he pulled the short sword out as Liu's son collapsed onto the floor, blood gushing out from the wound on his back.

Madam Liu, Liu Zhengfeng's wife, screamed and rushed by her son's body.

"Kill her too!" Lu Bai yelled again.

Di Xiu thrust his sword forward. The blade penetrated Madam's Liu's back.

Sister Dingyi's anger exploded. "Swoosh," she slammed her palm toward Di Xiu while swearing, "You monster!" Ding Mian rushed forward and also pushed out with his palm. The two palms met squarely in the midair, sending Sister Dingyi stumbling three steps back. Sister Dingyi felt a great pain from her chest, with blood gushing out of her throat into her mouth. She was the type that would always try to best others, so she immediately swallowed the blood back in, not showing any weakness.

"Thanks for your grace!" Ding Mian smirked.

Sister Dingyi's Kung Fu was not specialized in her palm strength; in addition, she didn't put a lot of strength into her palm strike toward Di Xiu, because she, as a senior, did not want to kill Di Xiu, a junior. But when Ding Mian suddenly took on her palm strike with all his strength, and at the time when the two palms met, it was already too late for Sister Dingyi to add more strength to the strike. Ding Mian's strength overwhelmed Sister Dingyi like a huge wave and injured her badly. In great rage, Sister Dingyi wanted to strike out with her palm again, but when she tried to gather her inner energy, great pain came from her abdomen. It almost felt like that someone was cutting her flesh with a knife. Realizing how severely she had been injured, she clearly knew that she would have no chance of winning the fight with Ding Mian today, so she beckoned her apprentices and said angrily, "Let's go!" then strode out of the gate. All her apprentices followed her.

"Kill more!" Lu Bai yelled again.

Two Songshan apprentices pushed their short swords forward and killed two more apprentices of Liu House.

"Listen carefully, Liu House apprentices," Lu Bai said. "If you want to live, then kneel down now and beg for mercy. Whoever is willing to condemn Liu Zhengfeng, his life will be spared."

"You filthy murderers! Your Songshan Sword School is ten thousand times eviler than the Demon Cult!" Liu Zhengfeng's daughter Liu Jing swore angrily.

"Kill!" Lu Bai yelled.

Wan Daping raised his long sword and chopped downward. The blade cut through Liu Jing's right shoulder and went all the way down to her waist. Shi Dengda and other Songshan apprentices also thrust out their swords and killed the Liu House apprentices whose pressure points were sealed earlier.

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Although the people in the Big Hall were used to dangerous lives, yet all were greatly shocked by the massacre scene. Some senior masters had wanted to call them to stop, but the Songshan Sword School had acted so fast that within the moment of hesitation, the hall had been filled with dead bodies. Everyone then thought, "Good and evil can never coexist. The Songshan Sword School's acts weren't really for any private score they have with Liu Zhengfeng, but acts to fight with the Demon Cult. Although the acts were kind of brutal, one really could not criticize them. In addition, at the moment, the Songshan Sword School had controlled the entire situation, even Sister Dingyi took a hit and left the scene, and Priest Tianmen, Yue Buqun, and other first-class masters all kept their silence. This was the matter within the Five Mountains Sword Alliance. If any outsider pokes his nose into other people's business and jumps out to stir things up, he would be planting a dangerous seed for himself, and might get killed because of that. The best thing to do was to be worldly wise and play safe."

By then, among Liu House relatives and apprentices, all was left was Liu Qin, Liu Zhengfeng's youngest and favorite fifteen-year old son.

"Ask this lad whether he wants to beg for mercy. If he refuses, then cut his nose off first, then his ears, and then cut out his eyeballs. Let him have the pain in small dozes," Lu Bai directed Shi Dengda.

"Sure!" Shi Dengda answered. He turned to Liu Qin and asked, "Are you going to beg for mercy?"

Liu Qin's face was as white as a sheet. He couldn't help his trembling.

"Good kid, see how tough you brother and sister were. It's only death, nothing to be scared of," Liu Zhengfeng said.

"But..Dad," Liu Qin said with a trembling voice, "they want to..want to cut off my nose, and cut out..cut out my eyeballs..."

Liu Zhengfeng let out a laugh. "By now, do you still think they will let us live?"

"Dad, can't you..can't you just agree to kill Uncle..Uncle Qu..?" Liu Qin begged.

Liu Zhengfeng was enraged. "Garbage! You little bloody pig, what did you say?" he yelled.

Shi Dengda raised his long sword and moved the tip of the sword back and forth right in front of Liu Qin's nose. "Hey lad, I am going to cut down now if you don't kneel down and beg for mercy. One..two..."

Before the word "three" came out of Shi's mouth, Liu Qin had already knelt down on the floor. Trembling hard, he begged, "Don't..don't kill me..."

"Good! We'll spare you, only after you condemn Liu Zhengfeng in front of all the people here today." Lu Bai laughed.

Liu Qin stared at his father, his eyes filled with begging and pleading. Liu Zhengfeng had been able to maintain his calmness all the way through; even when his wife and children were slain right in front of his eyes, he kept a still face, but now he simply could not hold his anger. "You little bloody pig, aren't you ashamed of yourself right in front of your mother's dead body?" he yelled loudly.

Seeing his mother, brother and sister's bodies lying in the blood pool, also seeing Shi Dengda's long sword moving back and forth right in front of his face, Liu Qin was scared out of his wits.

"Please, please, I beg of you to spare my life, and spare..spare my dad's life," he said to Lu Bai.

"Your dad collaborated with the villains in the Demon Cult. Do you think it's right or wrong?" Lu Bai pressed.

"It's..wrong!" Liu Qin murmured.

"Should this kind of people be executed?" Lu Bai asked.

Liu Qin lowered his head and dared not to answer.

"The lad doesn't want to talk. Kill him!" Lu Bai ordered.

"Yes!" Shi Dengda answered. Knowing that Lu Bai really meant to just scare the kid, he raised his sword high and pretended to be chopping down.

"Yes..yes, they should!" Liu Qin muttered immediately.

"Very good! Starting from now on, you are not part of the Hengshan Sword School, neither are you Liu Zhengfeng's son any more. I spare your life," Lu Bai declared.

Liu Qin just remained in his kneeling position, not able to stand up with his scared to weak legs. Seeing that, people in the hall could not help but feel ashamed for him. Some turned their heads away, not able to bare themselves to such an embarrassing scene.

Liu Zhengfeng let out a long sigh. "Lu, you won!" Waving his right hand, he threw the Command Flag toward Lu Bai, at the meanwhile, raised his left leg and kicked Fei Bin away. "I'll finish it off on my own. No need for more killing now," he said loud and clear, turning the sword in his left hand and slashed it toward his own throat.

Right at the instant, a shadow in black robe glided down from underneath the eaves. The shadow moved as swift as a breeze and quickly grabbed onto Liu Zhengfeng's left wrist. "A wise man can wait ten years for his revenge. Let's go!" the shadow yelled out loud. His right hand waved in a circular motion toward his back, and then dragged Liu Zhengfeng toward the outside hurriedly.

"Big brother Qu..you..!" Liu Zhengfeng blurred out in shock.

Hearing the words "big brother Qu," everyone instantly realized that the man in black robe was none other than the Demon Cult Elder Qu Yang. All felt a shiver inside.

"No time for discussion!" Qu Yang shouted, running even faster. But only after running three steps, Ding Mian and Lu Bai's four palms had arrived toward the backs of the two.

"Run! Hurry!" Qu Yang yelled to Liu Zhengfeng, pushing hard on Liu Zhengfeng's back with his palm while gathering his own inner energy around his back. He took the solid strikes of the combination of Ding Mian and Lu Bai, the two first-class elite fighters, squarely on his back. "Bang!" Qu Yang's body was knocked flying in the air toward the gate.

Still in the air, Qu Yang spat out a spray of blood toward the back while waving his hands continuously. A cluster of black needles rained toward everybody behind him.

"Those are the Black Blood Sacred Needles, move away fast!" Ding Mian shouted while dodging to the side hurriedly.

Seeing the cluster of black needles flying toward them and knowing the great fame of the Black Blood Sacred Needles of the Demon Cult, people in the hall were all astounded. The crowd became a mass. In chaos, voices from dozens of people echoed in the hall: "Ouch!" "Wow!" Since there was quite a crowd in the hall and the Black Blood Sacred Needles were in great amount and great speed, the poisonous needles hit many. In the hubbub, Qu Yang and Liu Zhengfeng had escaped.

.......

[1] Blunderbuss shots and music/drums were typical in ancient China as formal greetings to government officials. Gongs were used in front of the official's wagon to inform people on the street to yield the way for the government official. People blocking the way would be thrown into prison right away.