Great Idiocy, already nine candles and two incense

sticks ahead, concentrated on protecting his own

candles, while extinguishing more of Chen's incense

sticks whenever the opportunity arose. In a short

while, he had snuffed out another fourteen, while

Chen, putting his all into the task, only managed to

extinguish two of the candles. Suddenly, he remembered

one of 'Buddha' Zhao's tricks and threw three chess

pieces at the side wall with great force. They

ricocheted off and two of them struck their targets.

Great Idiocy, who had thought the throw was a show of

childish petulance on Chen's part, let out a cry of

surprise.

Chen continued in this way, bouncing chess pieces off

the wall. Great Idiocy had no way of protecting the

candles, but he was already several dozen incense

sticks ahead, and without taking any further notice of

his opponent, he redoubled his efforts to knock out

the rest. As the last of the monk's candles went out,

the hall was plunged into darkness. Chen counted seven

incense sticks left on the monks side while his own

was still a mass of red dots, perhaps thirty or forty.

Just as he was coming to the conclusion that he had

lost, he heard Great Idiocy shout: "Master Chen, I've

used up all my projectiles. Let us stop for a moment

and get more from the altar table."

Chen felt in his bag and found he only had five or six

chess pieces left.

"You go first," the monk added. Chen walked over to

the altar table and with a flash of inspiration,

stretched out his arm and swept all of the projectiles

into his bag. He jumped back to his place and Great

Idiocy ran over to find the table top was empty. Chen

threw a shower of projectiles at the remaining fiery

spots, and in a moment had extinguished them all.

Great Idiocy let out a hearty laugh. "I have to hand

it to you, Master Chen," he said. "That was more of a

battle of wits than a trial of strength. You win.

Please continue."

"I apologise," Chen replied. "I had already lost, and

only used such a trick because of the importance of

the matter. Please forgive me."

"The masters guarding the next two halls are my

martial uncles. Their kung fu is very good. You must

be careful."

Chen thanked him and went on to the next hall. This

hall was also brightly lit with candles, but it was

much smaller than the previous three. Two rattan mats

lay on the floor in the centre of the hall, and the

senior monk Heavenly Mirror was seated on one of them.

As Chen entered, he monk stood up in greeting.

"Please sit down," he said, gesturing to the other

other mat. Chen wondered how he wanted to compete, but

took his seat in silence.

Heavenly Mirror was an extremely tall man and very

formidable to look at. Even seated on the mat, he was

not much shorter than an ordinary person. His cheeks

were two deep hollows, and there appeared to be no

flesh on his body at all.

"You have passed through three halls, which is greatly

to your credit," he said. "But you are still junior to

me, so I cannot compete with you on equal terms. Let

us do it this way: if you can go ten moves with me

without losing, I will let you go through."

Chens bowed to him. "Thank you for your kindness, Your

Reverence."

Heavenly Mirror grunted. "Now parry this!"

Chen felt a force striking towards his chest and

raised his hands to counter it. Their palms met and

Chen was forced to make use of his full strength to

keep from falling backwards. The shock of the impact

caused a dull ache to grow in his left arm.

"Now the second move!" Heavenly Mirror called. Chen

did not dare to counter his hand directly again. He

leant to one side, then hit out at the monk's elbow.

Heavenly Mirror should have responded by withdrawing

his arm, but instead he swept it across in attack, and

Chen only just managed to parry it. A bell close to

the hall began to chime, and as it resounded, Chen had

an idea. He switched to the kung fu style he had

learned in the White Jade Peak, synchronising his

movements to the sound of the bell. Heavenly Mirror

gasped in surprise and fought back carefully.

When the bell ceased, Chen withdrew his hands. "I

cannot continue," he said.

"All right. We have already exchanged more than forty

moves. Your kung fu is very good. Please pass."

Chen stood up, and was about to walk off when he

suddenly swayed and stumbled and hurriedly leant

against the wall for support. Heavenly Mirror helped

him to sit down again.

"Rest here for a moment and catch your breath," he

said. "It won't affect matters."

Chen close his eyes and did as the monk said.

"Where did you learn that style of kung fu?" Heavenly

Mirror asked. Chen told him.

"I never guessed that the standard of kung fu would be

so high in the western border regions. If you had used

that style from the start you would not have hurt your

arm."

"Seeing as I am hurt, I am sure I will not be able to

make it through the last hall," Chen said. "What does

Your Reverence suggest I do?"

"If you can't make it through, turn back."

Chen's martial training made it impossible for him to

accept defeat so easily. He stood up and bowed to

Heavenly Mirror, then strode bravely towards the last

hall.

He was surprised to find it was in fact only a tiny

room in the centre of which sat the abbot of the

Shaolin Monastery, Heavenly Rainbow. Chen wondered how

he could possibly overcome the best kung fu fighter in

the Shaolin Monastery if his junior, Heavenly Mirror,

was already so formidable.

The abbot bowed. "Please be seated," he said. A steady

stream of sandlewood-scented smoke rose from a small

incense stove on a table between them. On the wall

opposite Chen, was a painting of two monks which,

although executed with only a few brush-strokes, was

full of vitality.

Heavenly Rainbow meditated for a moment, then said:

"There was once a man who was very successful at

goat-herding. He became very rich, but he was by

nature very miserly...."

Hearing the abbot begin to tell a story, Chen was

greatly puzzled, but he concentrated on what the old

man was saying: "An acquaintance of the goatherd knew

he was very stupid, and also that he badly wanted to

find a wife. So he cheated the goatherd, saying: 'I

know a girl who is very beautiful. I can arrange for

her to marry you.' The goatherd was delighted and gave

him a large amount of money. A year past, and the man

said to him: 'Your wife has given birth to your son.'

The goatherd hadn't even seen the woman, but hearing

he had a son, he was even more pleased and gave the

man another large sum of money. Later, the man came to

him again and said: 'Your son has died!' The goatherd

cried uncontrollably, heart-broken in the extreme."

Chen had a fairly good general education, and knew he

was quoting from the Hundred Parables Sutra of the

Mahayana school of Buddhism.

"In fact all worldly matters are like this," the abbot

continued. "Power and riches are like the wife and

child of the goatherd: just fantasies. What is the

point of wasting effort to obtain them when losing

them will only cause sorrow?"

"There was once a husband and wife who had three

cakes," Chen replied. "They ate one cake each, but

could not decide who should eat the third. Finally,

they agreed that whoever talked first would lose the

chance to eat the cake."

Hearing Chen relate another story from the Hundred

Parables Sutra, Heavenly Rainbow nodded.

"The two stared at each other in silence. Soon after,

a thief entered and ransacked the house for the

couple's valuables, but because of their agreement,

the couple continued to stare at each other without

saying a word. Seeing them thus, the thief became even

more bold and violated the wife in front of the

husband. The husband made no complaint at all about

what was happening, but in the end, the wife could

stand it no longer and cried out. The thief grabbed up

the valuables and fled, while the husband clapped his

hands and shouted triumphantly: 'You lose! The cake is

mine!'"

Heavenly Rainbow could not help but smile, even though

he knew the story well.

"He ignored great suffering for the sake of minor

personal satisfaction, allowing the thief to steal his

possessions and violate his wife in order to satisfy

his appetite. According to Buddhist tenets, one should

try to help all living things and should not think

only of oneself."

Heavenly Rainbow sighed, and quoted from the Buddhist

scriptures: "There are no rules to regulate behaviour,

there are no rules to which I am subject. Man is at a

standstill until acted upon by a force. Those with no

desires, will not be troubled by dreams and

fantasies."

"Life for most people is full of hardship," Chen

replied. "The monk Zhi Daolin once said: 'Emperors are

cruel and evil by nature. How can one stand idly by?'"

The abbot could see Chen's determination to carry out

his duty and help ease the people's burden, and was

full of respect for him.

"Your enthusiasm is commendable, Master Chen," he

said. "I will set you one more question, and then you

can have your way."

Chen bowed his head in acknowledgement.

"An old woman was once lying under a tree, resting.

Suddenly, a huge bear appeared wanting to eat her. She

jumped up and ran behind the tree to escape, and the

bear stretched its paws round either side of the tree

to grab her. Seizing the opportunity, the old woman

pressed its paws down onto the tree trunk. As a

result, the bear could not move, but the old woman did

not dare to let go either. Some time later, a man

passed by and the old woman appealed to him for help,

saying they could kill the bear together and share the

meat. The man believed her and took her place holding

down the bear's paws. The old woman then fled, leaving

the man in the same dilemma she had been in."

Chen knew the moral of the story: "Never regret

helping others, even if you suffer yourself as a

result," he replied.

Heavenly Rainbow lifted the the long-haired duster he

was holding. "Please go through," he said.

Chen stood up and bowed before him. "Please forgive me

for trespassing on this sacred place," he said.

The abbot nodded. As he walked out of the room, Chen

heard the old man sigh.

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