Feng and Xiao and their horses crossed the wooden bridge and got across the river. As they were about to gallop away, they saw that someone else was approaching the bridge. It was a young woman dressed in white silk gown. Feng and Xiao were astonished by her beauty. It was as if she was a Goddess that had descended from Heaven. Her long black hair was shining, her lips were redder than the fire, her skin was almost as white as snow, her face was so beautiful that it dazzled anyone who looked at her, her cheeks emanated the rosy glow that the sunset clouds reflect, her eyes shone like the clear and piercing light of the moon. Her stallion was also impressive; it was a majestic white horse with muscular physique.

As she headed to the bridge, Gao Yi stopped her. “Whoever wishes to cross the bridge must pay me 20 golden coins!”

“And if I refuse to pay?”, she asked.

“Then I will have to kill you.”

The woman jumped off her horse, unsheathed her sword and said, “In four moves, I will have beat you.”

Yi smiled. Xiao too smiled. He had fought with Yi and thus knew how powerful he was; both he and Feng had been easily beaten by him. To think that this young woman could beat Yi, and in only four moves, seemed like a joke to Xiao. But Feng did not smile. He examined with utmost attention her stance and understood that she had profound knowledge of martial arts.

“First move!”, she said and charged with her sword. She aimed for Yi’s shoulder. Her move was a simple one but the speed with which she executed it took everyone, even Feng who had not underestimated her, by surprise; she moved too fast to be seen clearly. Yi flinched, but his shoulder was struck. It began bleeding and although he tried to pretend otherwise, Yi felt great pain.

“Second move!”

Yi slashed at the woman with his Guandao. He put all of his strength and internal energy into this attack but she parried it with her sword. Her internal energy was such that she could parry such a powerful attack with relative ease. She then moved agilely and slashed her sword across his right cheek.

“Third move!”

She began running around Yi. She ran faster and faster. Yi stared at the point of his enemy’s sword. He was ready to strike any time that point moved to attack. As time passed, Yi started to feel a bit dizzy. It was then when the woman attacked and stabbed his thigh. The attack came so fast, that Yi had no time to react nor defend against it.

“Fourth move!”

Before Yi could strike back, the woman’s sword came to his neck. If he tried to make one move, she could slit his throat. He had lost.

“Your swordsmanship is truly out of this world.”, Yi admitted. “You movements are faster than the galloping of the fastest horse. Your attacks are precise and powerful. Your internal energy is immense.”

The woman ignored him and walked across the bridge along with her horse. Xiao gaped with astonishment while Feng too was surprised with how skilled she was. As soon as she crossed the bridge, Xiao approached her and greeted her. “Hello. My name is Zhang Xiao. I saw how you defeated Gao Yi and I am impressed with your swordsmanship.”

The woman ignored him and walked forward. “At least”, Xiao said, “can you tell me your name?”

“Li Jingfei.”

She then jumped on her horse and galloped forward. As she was traveling, she noticed that Feng and Xiao were going the same way as she was. Thus, she jumped off her horse, turned around and pointed her sword at them. "Do you have a death wish? Why do you follow me?"

“We are not following you, we are going to Hongchang Sect.”, Feng said. “This is the only way to get there.”

“I am going to Hongchang Sect too.”

“Well, since that is the case, we can travel together there.”, Xiao said.

Jingfei thought about it for a moment. “Alright. Its a long journey and it is better to have friends on the way than to make the journey entirely on my own.”

The three horses galloped forth. The thundering of hooves broke the silence. The green grass that dominated the landscape was rough and shaggy like uncombed hair, coarse. The sun sank lower in the sky, the light of day draining away, giving way to the velvety dark of night. The air was damp and cool.

“We should rest for now.”, Feng said and they jumped off their horses. They had been traveling all day and thus they were all tired.

“Your sword forms are amazing.”, Xiao said. “Who taught you them?”

“My Master.”, Jingfei replied. It was not an enlightening answer but Xiao understood that she did not want to reveal her Master’s names and thus did not press her to tell him.

“Why are you going to Hongchang Sect?”

“I have a request to make. What about you?”

“We are on a mission to inform them about the Demons. They will try to steal the ‘Book of Supreme Power’, thus we have to warn them.”

Feng sighed. Before Xiao could say anything more, Feng pulled him over and said to Jingfei, “Excuse us for a moment.”

He then whispered to Xiao, “Why did you tell her our mission?”

“Why not tell her about it?”, Xiao asked. “She does not look like a bad person.”

“Just because someone does not look like a bad person, it does not mean that he or she isn’t one. We must be cautious. We do not know much about her and the fact that she will not tell us who her Master is makes me suspicious.”

“You being overly cautious.”

“That’s what you said when I told you that there was something weird about the waiter...”

Xiao put up a smile and said, “Alright, alright. I will be more cautious from now on.”

The three travelers lied on the grass. While Xiao and Jingfei fell asleep, Feng could not sleep. He gazed at the millions of bright stars and the silver glow of the moon on the dark sky. The stars looked like fireflies, illuminating the atramentous curtain of sky. The night sky calmed him and he finally fell asleep. Suddenly, he got a strange feeling and woke up. There was no grass, no Xiao or Jingfei. He was all alone in a pitch dark setting.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

“Yang Jiang!”

Feng looked around but could see no one. As if from nowhere, a man appeared. He was dressed in a purple silk robe and a dark mask hid his face.

“You are Yang Jiang?”

The man nodded in approval. “You cannot escape from me.”, a voice said.

Feng was about unsheathe his sword but he could not find it. He was unarmed while Yang Jiang had already unsheathed his own sword and was about to strike. Suddenly, a flash of light illuminated everything. Feng closed his eyes. When he opened them again, he saw the bright sun on the clear blue sky. Xiao and Jingfei had already waken up. All of this was a bad dream.

‘Why did I dream of Yang Jiang?’, he thought. Whatever the reason, Feng knew that there was no time lose. Thus, the three travelers continued their journey. Tens of hills lay before their way. The hills were a patchwork of green made even more varied by the shadows of passing clouds.

“We should continue on foot from here.”, Jingfei said and the two Qingxao students agreed.

In the dense forests of bamboo and trees that ran along the hillsides, a myriad leaves glistened brightly. The air was moist and hazy. Feng marveled at the beauty of nature.

“We are soon going to reach Hongchang Sect.”, Feng said.

As they were walking, four men appeared in front of them. They all were a good two heads taller than most ordinary men and heavily build. One of them said, “We are the ‘Four Devils’ and this is our forest. If you want to pass, you will have to give us whatever belongings you have.”

“We are Qingxao disciples!”, Xiao said. “Do you think we are afraid of scum like you?”

The ‘Devil’ grasped the trunk of a tree in his arms and after a few rigorous tugs, pulled the entire tree bodily out of the ground and threw it away.

“Well, now I see your point...”, Xiao said and awkwardly smiled.

“Good to see that you understand how precarious your position is…”

Feng laughed. “Seriously, guys, do you think you have good martial arts?”

Hearing him mocking them, two of the 'Devils', Devil Three and Devil Four, charged at Feng with a blood curdling roar of rage. Chang skipped nimbly around behind Devil Three and shoved him at Devil Four. The two men smashed into each other, toppled to the ground and lost their consciousness. Devil Two charged at Jingfei, but she waited until he was within arm's reach, then she toppled him over backwards with a push, grabbed him by the leg and hurled him away.

Devil One, the oldest and most powerful of them, rushed forward with the force of an avalanche. Feng gathered his internal energy in his hand and fired an energy beam at the thief, who was hit by it and was sent flying through the air before falling on the ground and losing his consciousness.

“We should get going.”, Feng said. “While we may have beat those bandits, I am sure there are others waiting here. We must get out of this forest as fast as possible.”

As they were walking, Jingfei noticed a most beautiful flower. She approached it. It had brilliant purple petals and its fragrance was out of this world. As she smelled the flower, she suddenly collapsed on the ground.

“Jingfei?”, Xiao asked. “Are you alright?”

He got no answer.

Feng approached her and saw that she had lost her consciousness. He then looked at the flower. “This flower must be poisonous.”, he said. “She lost her consciousness as soon as she smelled its fragrance.”

“Is there any way to wake her up?”, Xiao frantically asked. There was cold sweat on his forehead and he was nervous. On the other hand, Feng was calm; he knew that panic would do more harm than good.

“I do not know. I need to study that flower to find an antidote.”

“Only one person has the antidote for this poison!”, a voice was heard saying. Feng and Xiao turned around and saw a man dressed in a long gray robe and holding a hand fan made of crane feathers walking towards them. The man was in his late forties, with a long, gray beard and hair. He politely greeted the two friends and said, “My name is Hong Qinghong. I have been living in this forest for more than twenty years.”

“Who has the antidote?”, Feng said, interrupting him.

Qinghong smiled. “Please, let me explain. This flower’s poison is very potent. In forty hours, she will die if she does not get the antidote. I am a physician and I have the antidote for the flower’s poison. But I expect you to pay me for it.”

“How much cash do you want?”, Xiao asked.

“I do not want money. I saw how you beat the ‘Four Devils’. That shows that you have good martial arts. I want you to walk to the east for about thirty minutes; there, you will find a wooden hut. Inside, there is a Demon, an evil man. I want you to get rid of him. I must warn you, however, that his martial prowess is great. If you defeat him, I shall give you the antidote.”

“If he truly is a Demon”, Feng replied, “then it is our duty to extinguish him even without you asking us to do so. But if he is not, we will not kill an innocent man.”

“I can assure you that he is Demon, but he is good with words. He will try to fool you. Do not listen to his lies.”

“How do we know that you are not the one who is lying?”, Xiao asked.

Qinghong grinned. “You do not. But I am the one who has the antidote that can save your friend’s life. I do know that you will not use force to steal it from me because you belong to the Orthodox Sects. So, the only way to get it is for me to give it to you.”

“Alright.”, Feng said. “We will kill this Demon.”

Although Feng wasn’t sure that Jingfei could be trusted, as a member of an Orthodox Sect he could not just ignore her plight and let her die. He had to get that antidote, even if it meant going into trouble and delaying his mission. His Master had taught him that compassion was the most important virtue. So, he and Xiao began making their way to the hut.