Feng and Xiao walked in the dense forest of bamboo and trees. Autumn leaves from the tall trees lay scattered on the forest floor. The two friends were making their way to the hut. They had been walking for about thirty minutes. Xiao was nervous; his stomach was knotted up, his breathing was rapid and shallow. He could feel his pulse pounding in his temples.

“Relax.”, Feng said. “We will find a way to save Jingfei.”

“I hope so… From what Qinghong said, this Demon must be really powerful. Will we beat him?”

Feng smiled. “I am sure we will. You must not lose faith. We will beat him and save Jingfei.”

Suddenly, the two friends heard the sound of zither music. The music came quick but at the same time had a calming effect. The music soared through the air like an eagle, taking with it the very souls of those who listened to it. Feng felt that he could listen to this music for ages. He forgot all about the mission, Jingfei, the Demon. Xiao, even though he had less interest in music than Feng, could tell that this music was out of this world. Feng and Xiao walked forward, following the sound of music, and reached a wooden hut. The hut crouched in the shadows like a sleeping bear. It had wooden walls with a small opening at the front.

“Excellent music!”, Feng said. “Truly excellent!”

An elderly man walked out of the hut. He had long white hair and looked frail and weak. He was wearing a silk green robe that had become singed. He was smiling and did not look like a powerful martial artist, much less a menacing Demon.

“You have good taste in music.”, the elder said. “I am always happy to meet people who appreciate good music.”

“You are the Demon Qinghong talked about?”, Xiao asked, finding hard to believe that this frail looking man had a reputation of being a fierce warrior.

The elder laughed. “You find it hard to believe it, don’t you? I guess you will find even more surprising the fact that I am only in my late forties.”

Xiao was indeed surprised by this. Feng too found it hard to believe that this elder, who looked as if he was in his eighties, was only in his late forties.

The elder, understanding what the two friends were thinking, grinned. “Alas, sadness and loneliness can make a man old before his time has come.”

He sighed and then continued, “Please, come inside. I will brew you some tea.”

“Elder”, Feng said, “we will-”

“Do not worry!”, the elder said, interrupting him. “I will not poison you. You do not need to be worried about that.”

Feng and Xiao followed the elder inside the hut. They sat on two mats, as the hut had no chairs. There was only one small round wooden table. The elder quickly brought two cups of green tea whose fragrance filled the hut and whose taste was like nothing else on earth. As the two men sipped their tea, they both marveled at how tasty it was.

“You do not look like a Demon to me.”, Xiao said.

“I am not a Demon anymore.”, the elderly man replied. “But once I was. My name is Ke Chong. I once was a prominent member of the Demon Sects. Back then, we were scattered after our defeat by the Orthodox Sects. As I’ve learned, this is not the case anymore. Ma Biao has reunified the Sects and become the Demon King.”

“You knew Ma Biao?”, Feng asked.

“Yes, he was a friend of mine. But this is an other story to be told another time. To return back to my story, the Orthodox Sects sent disciples to hunt down the remnants of the Demon Sects. As we were scattered, many died. I was one of the few who managed to survive but one day a disciple from Qingxao Sect, a young woman named Hong Rong, found where I was hiding and challenged me to duel. I defeated her but for some reason I could not bring myself to kill her. I let her go. A few days later, she returned and challenged me again; I once again defeated her and let her go. The third time she came back, it was not to challenge me. She came to tell me that she was constantly thinking about me. I too was constantly thinking about her. But she was from the Orthodox Sects and I was a Demon; how could we be together?”

Chong sighed and thought for a moment about old times before continuing his story. “We eventually decided to leave behind the affairs of the Martial Arts World and live together. But her brother, Qinghong, would not let us be together. He could not accept the fact that his sister had decided to abandon Qingxao Sect for a Demon like me. So we fought in this forest. I defeated him but spared him as he was the brother of the woman I loved. But, as I turned my back to him, he attacked me. I would not have been able to avoid his blade as I had let down my defenses. But Rong got in the way and the blade killed her, not me.”

Chong could feel the muscles of his chin tremble. His eyes dripped with tears. He struggled to keep a steady beat. His melancholy mood hung over him like a black cloud. “I still remember her face when she was dying, her smile. I still remember holding her in my arms as she was dying. Her last words to me were to forgive her brother. I hated Qinghong, I wanted to kill him, but I could not do so. I had to forgive him. This crippled me; not physically, but mentally. In a single night my hair became white. My sadness and loneliness aged me before my time had come.”

“That’s why Qinghong asked us to kill you...”, Xiao said.

“Yes. He blames me for his sister’s death. All this happened about twenty years ago. Since then, we both have remained in this forest. Qinghong, having great knowledge of poisons, planted that most beautiful but poisonous flower. From time to time, someone would be tempted to approach it and smell it; thus he or she would inhale the poison. If that someone was lucky enough to have a friend with good grasp of martial arts, Qinghong would appear and offer the antidote in exchange for my life. As you can see, no one has been skilled enough to kill me and get the antidote.”

He paused for a moment. “Is the poisoned one your friend?”

“She is a young miss we met on our way here.”, Feng replied.

“So, you do not know her well?”

“No.”

Chong smiled. “You are willing to risk your life for someone you just met? I must commend you. Not many people would do that.”

“What are we going to do now?”, Xiao said. “You are not a bad person and we cannot kill an innocent man. On the other hand, we cannot let Jingfei die.”

“There is a way...”, Chong replied. “There is a flower whose fragrance can cause someone to temporarily ‘die’; one’s heart would stop beating and for a few hours it would be as if that person was dead. If you can bring me this flower, you can fool Qinghong and make him believe that you have killed me.”

“Why haven’t you tried this before?”, Feng asked. “You could have fooled Qinghong a long time ago.”

“I could, if I had managed to take the flower. The flower is in a cave north of here. It is guarded by an Elder. His martial prowess is without equal and his sword is the best and most lethal in the entire Martial Arts World. When I heard about the existence of that flower, I naturally tried to steal it so I could fool Qinghong into believing that I was dead. But I was defeated by that Elder. He spared my life only because my martial artistry impressed him; before letting me go, he had me promise not to come back there and challenge him again. I have to warn you that before you, other swordsmen too had been sent there by me and have died. If you fail to defeat him, do not expect mercy.”

“So”, Xiao said, “if I understand correctly, the only way to save Jingfei is to somehow beat one of the most powerful martial artists in the entire world?”

Chong sighed. “Unfortunately, you are right. Are you still planning to go?”

Feng smiled. “Of course. I prefer to lay down my life than let Jingfei die.”

“But you barely know her. Why do you want to risk certain death for her?”

“It is a matter of principle for me. I cannot let someone die because of me. My Master taught me to have the entire world in my heart. I cannot let him down.”

“Good!”, Chong said and grinned. “I like you! You have passion and spirit.”

“I will come with you.”, Xiao said.

“No.”, Feng replied. “I may die. You have to stay here to find a way to get the antidote in case I die. Also, we still have a mission to accomplish. In case I die, you must go warn Hongchang Sect about the Demons.”

“But, I-”

“I know how you feel.”, Feng said, interrupting him. “But you must listen to me this one time.”

Xiao just sighed. The sigh was resigned and weary. He felt the kind of silent sadness that seeps into your bones. Feng walked out of the hut and began slowly heading to the cave. As he walked, he gazed at the lush green, at the beauty of nature. This could well be his last time seeing such a beautiful scenery.

When Feng reached the cave, he shouted: “Elder, I need your flower to save someone!”. No one replied, so he walked into the cave. The cave mouth was of impenetrable blackness. As Feng stepped in he watched his shadow dissolve into the surrounding darkness. Small, loose stones littered the floor.

“I cannot see anything...”, he murmured. He quickly got out of the cave, grabbed a branch of a tree and used it as torch. He then walked back into the cave. The torch created a flickering orange glow that allowed Feng to see where he was going.

“If you want the flower”, a voice said, “you will have to beat me.”

A strong wind suddenly extinguished the torch’s flame. Feng had to move around by following the damp wall of the cave with his hands. “Elder, if you want to fight me, then do so openly.”

Although he could not see anything, Feng could sense a gust of wind coming from his right. He quickly unsheathed his sword and parried the enemy attack. A loud clang sound was heard. The enemy, then, disappeared once again into the shadows. Feng was alert and ready for the next strike. He could hear the sound of steps from his left; the elder slashed at Feng but he blocked the enemy sword with his own. As the two swords collided, Feng’s sword broke and half of the blade flew away. Feng was barely able to dodge his enemy’s blade. The elder sheathed his sword and shot out his left fist at Feng; he retreated three paces and fended off the elder’s blow. The elder attacked again; he swept his left leg across at Feng, who jumped clear off the ground and avoided it.

“Good.”, the elder said. He then used his internal energy to fire an energy beam which lightened Feng’s torch. Feng could now clearly see the elder; he was a pale man. His face was ashen white and wrinkled. He was frail and was coughing. The elder vomited some blood.

“Your skills are impressive for someone so young.”, the elder said and coughed. “I miss my youth; now I am a weak old man. I am ill and about to die. If it was a year ago, I would have killed you with one blow. Now...”

“Elder, your skills are amazing.”, Feng said. “You are very ill and yet you are so powerful. I cannot imagine how powerful you must have been when you were healthy.”

The elder smiled. “My name is Wei Zhaxiang. I belong to the ‘Heavenly Sect’.”

“I’ve never heard about this Sect before.”, Feng admitted.

“Of course you haven’t. The Sect has only two members at a time; the Master and the Student. They study in seclusion in a cave and do not show off their skills to the outside world. Our Sect’s skills are the most powerful in the Martial Arts World and our founder feared that if the Sect had many students or if its members roamed the Martial Arts World, there would be chaos. I am old and about to die but I have no student. The one I trained forty years ago broke our Sect’s rule of not roaming the Martial Arts World and I was forced to kill him. If you want the flower, you will have to become my disciple.”

“I cannot do that!”, Feng said. “I already have a Master; I belong to Qingxao Sect.”

“So what? People can have multiple Masters.”

“But I will not be able to follow your Sect’s rules.”, Feng explained. “I will not hide myself in a cave.”

Zhaxiang coughed. “At this point, I do not care about the rules. I am about to die and if I do not teach to someone our Sect’s martial arts, they will go extinct. I cannot do such injustice to our Sect’s ancestors. You do not have to follow our Sect’s rules; the only one rule you must follow is to not use your powers for unnecessary killing.”

“I can promise you that.”

“Good. We shall begin training immediately. We do not have time to waste.”