<Dialogue inside chevrons in this chapter is "translated" from Mandarin.>

Xiaoli's most unforgivable sin was being born a girl. Her mother, in the only act of kindness she would ever show her daughter, decided not to kill her immediately after she was born. Instead she was abandoned alone in the woods, her fate left to the heavens. The Zhou's simply couldn't squander their only opportunity to have a son by wasting it on a girl.

Wan Huiqing was down from the mountain to collect rare herbs for a sacred pill to clear the meridians and aid the flow of qi. As she sniffed some leaves to evaluate their ripeness, she heard the distinctive cry of a baby.

* * *

The secret to cultivating one's neijing, the Abbess had explained, is the ability to clear one's mind of all conscious thoughts. Xiaoli had, if nothing else, highly developed neijing.

Xiaoli wasn't what anyone would describe as a bright student. Nothing ever came easy for her. Xiaoli was not, however, a poor student. If it took her five times as long to learn a move as her peers, then she practiced it for ten times as long.

From the time she was old enough to walk Xiaoli had been tutored in the martial arts, never once leaving the seclusion of the mountain monastery. Thanks to her energy and dedication Xiaoli was the number two disciple on Mount Emei not long after her 18th birthday.

Xiaoli had never left the mountain since she was a baby. She had never met a man, although she had seen pictures of men in books and felt herself quite thoroughly schooled on the subject by the Abbess.

* * *

"<I've come for my granddaughter,>" said a rather scruffy looking old man. He stank of alcohol.

"<Men are not permitted here,>" sneered Wan Huiqing.

Her hand went to her sword, originally as a warning but the scruffy man moved so quickly she found herself drawing it in response.

The two exchanged three stances, the strange man easily overwhelming Huiqing's swordplay with two of the fingers on one hand. He disarmed Huiqing with this finger-sword before she could execute a fourth maneuver.

Huiqing went flying backwards, using her high level qinggong to quickly ascend the mountain. She had to warn the others; this man was about to commit an unforgivable sin against the Emei sect.

By the time the scruffy old man arrived at the steps leading to the entrance of the monastery some of the strongest students of the Emei sect had assembled there. This included Wan Huiqing with a fresh sword. They had no intention of being sporting about the battle; this man had offended the honor of the Emei sect.

"<I've come for my granddaughter,>" said the scruffy old man "<Give her to me and I will leave.>"

"<Take one step further and you will provoke the vengeance of the Emei sect,>" Huiqing warned.

All four of the gathered Emei swordswomen drew their blades and took up the stance of Descending Flower Swordsmanship. The old man was already in flight towards them, in the middle of executing the deadly Spill The Wine Cauldron twice, once in each hand. Wan Huiqing and Yao Guang, the two Emei fighters closest to the old man, were forced to leap back to avoid tremendous internal strength of the twin attacks.

The swords of two other swordswomen came flying at the old man's neck, but he caught the blades between the index and middle finger of either hand. With a flick of his wrists he bent the tips of the swords, ruining their balance. The two Emei fighters dropped their now-useless weapons and assumed the stance of Snowing Mist Penetrating Palm.

The Emei disciples began to keep their distance, forming a semicircle around the old man. Each woman watched for the subtlest of openings, although none were forthcoming.

"<I've come for my granddaughter,>" repeated the old man.

"<Who is your granddaughter?>" asked an exasperated Wan Huiqing.

"<I don't know,>" admitted the scruffy old man "<But I will know her when I see her.>"

He's a madman, decided Huiqing, but his kung-fu is on an entirely different level. None of the Emei Disciples present, herself included, could hope to prove a viable opponent for this man.

"<Lai Huian,>" she yelled at one of the two women with ruined swords "<Fetch the Abbess.>"

Lai Huian sped off as quickly and lightly as her qinggong skills could carry her. The old man shot at her like a bullet but Wan Huiqing had been preparing to intercept him before he had begun to move. She leapt in the way and parried the old man's two-fingered attack with her sword long enough for Lai Huian to disappear into the monastery. Eventually her sword could no longer withstand the force of the attack and shattered in her hands, cutting ribbons of blood into her arm and forcing her to disengage.

The two fighters landed facing one another. The old man had advanced two of the twenty-four steps leading up to the entrance.

Now the impossible challenge of defeating the old man had become the much more manageable task of delaying him.

* * *

Lai Huian sped through the halls as fast as she could, bound for the innermost chamber of the monastery. Here the Abbess, the grandmistress of the Emei, was several weeks into a long-term meditative trance designed to enhance qi cultivation. To disrupt the session before it was complete would destroy the delicate energy patterns and render the weeks of effort meaningless.

Under ordinary circumstances Lai Huian wouldn't dare disrupt the Abbess in the middle of such an undertaking. These were not ordinary circumstances. She pushed open the great stone doors leading to the circular central chamber.

The air was smokey with incense. The Abbess and Xiaoli sat across from each other in the lotus position. Xiaoli was quite adept at this kind of energy cultivation, it being perhaps her only aptitude, and so the Abbess was risking teaching her the potentially dangerous cultivation technique which she felt none of the others were quite ready for.

"<Grandmistress!>" shouted Lai Huian, kowtowing "<I apologize profusely for disturbing you but there is an emergency that demands your attention. A man has nearly breached the gates of the monastery. His kung-fu is incredible. Please forgive your students for being so useless, but we desperately require your help.>"

Even if she had wanted to ignore the plea, the interruption had disrupted her deep trance. The Abbess rose with a powerful grace that belied her great age. Without a word she glided off through the halls as superhuman speed, straight to the entrance.

Xiaoli and Huian sprinted with qinggong assisted strides after her, badly outpaced.

* * *

The scruffy old man had advanced another sixteen steps.

Wan Huiqing was the only Emei disciple remaining on her feet. The others were scattered about, their limbs twisted at odd angles, and unconscious or else completely incapable of standing. Wan Huiqing had barely been able to keep up with the old man when he was distracted by her martial sisters. Now she had his undivided attention.

It wouldn't do to keep letting this man advance. She was going to have to try to push him back. She kicked off lightly into the air and utilized Jade Maiden Hairpin style to draw three hidden projectiles from her hair and send them flying towards the old man.

The attack was powerful but slow. It was intended to force the old man to leap backwards in order to dodge it, rather than to strike true. Instead he caught all three hairpins with precise movements of his left hand, while pressing forward and launching the Dianxue Finger with his right.

Still in the air, Wan Huiqing was forced to fly backwards to avoid the deadly attack. She landed, and the old man had advanced two steps.

Although he was fighting with deadly intensity, the old man wasn't being nearly as aggressive as he could have been. If the old man had pressed his advantage he could have handily defeated her by now. He seemed to be genuinely disinterested in fighting.

Huiqing was dripping with sweat, and her sword arm was dripping with blood. She was having trouble maintaining breath control. She took a moment to circulate her qi.

"<You've shown your courage, 'hero',>" said the old man "<There is no shame in submitting to a superior opponent.>"

"<Who is submitting?>" asked Huiqing "<I swear to heaven that you will never pass this threshold while I draw breath.>"

"<Bring me my granddaughter,>" said the old man "<And I won't take another step.>"

"<You don't even know who she is!>" rasped Huiqing.

"<I can figure it out!>" the old man shouted back "<Do you think I won't recognize my own blood?>"

Huiqing tensed, anticipating the old man's next attack, but at that moment the Abbess appeared at the entryway.

"<Central Drunkard,>" she said, her voice crackling with internal energy "<To what do we owe this outrage?>"

"<Abbess,>" the old man replied with a nod "<I have come for my granddaughter.>"

"<So I've heard,>" said the Abbess "<What makes you think you'll find her here?>"

"<My keen perceptions,>" said the Drunkard.

"<We have no kin of yours here,>" said the Abbess "<Leave now and I'm willing let this misunderstanding pass. If you do not take advantage of my generous offer you'll pay for the insult with your life.>"

"<I am not going anywhere,>" said the old man "<without my granddaughter.>"

A moment passed in silence as all concerned contemplated the ramifications of what transpired. Two greats had not fought in earnest in living memory. A duel between Central Drunkard and Western Abbess would shake the Wulin like an earthquake.

Lai Huian and Xiaoli appeared at the entrance behind the Abbess, watching fearfully.

"<Ah,>" said the old man to Xiaoli "<Granddaughter, there you are.>"

All eyes turned to look at Xiaoli, who took a step back.

"<You really did have a granddaughter?>" asked Huiqing.

"<Come along, granddaughter,>" said the old man, beckoning to Xiaoli "<I have need of you.>"

"<Xiaoli is my disciple,>" said the Abbess "<She's not going anywhere.>"

"<She was my granddaughter first,>" said the old man "<And this is a matter of filial piety.>"

"<Ha!>" laughed Huiqing "<You speak of filial piety? I found Xiaoli abandoned to die as a baby. There's your family's piety.>"

"<I wasn't aware that filial piety only applied when you family was pleasant,>" said the old man "<In any event the business of my family is no concern of yours.>"

"<The fate of my students, however,>" said the Abbess "<is. You have no right to demand the loyalty of a granddaughter you have shown none to in return.>"

"<What do nuns on a mountain know of family?>" said the old man "<Come Xiaoli.>"

The Abbess held out her arm to block the doorway.

"<No,>" she said, with great internal force.

There was another pregnant moment. As usual, Xiaoli was the last to grasp the implications of what was transpiring. Only when both the Abbess and the Drunkard were tensing their muscles in preparation of their first exchange did she realize they were about to fight.

"<Wait!>" she said, stepping between the two.

Both fighters restrained themselves.

"<Don't fight over me. I'll go with the old man,>" she said.

"<You don't have to do this,>" said the Abbess.

"<Too many people have been hurt already,>" said Xiaoli, then she turned to the old man and added "<When the family business is finished, can I come back to the monastery?>"

"<When our business is finished,>" agreed the old man "<You can spend the rest of your life on this mountain contemplating nothing.>"

"<Then I'll go,>" she said.

"<Good girl,>" said the old man, then to the Abbess he added "<I'll bring her back when I'm through with her, and we can settle things between us then.>"

* * *

Grandfather smacked Xiaoli in the head with his stick.

"<Wrong again,>" he said as he did so.

"<Ow,>" said Xiaoli, but she did not turn her attention from the task before her.

"<Are you stupid?>" asked Grandfather "<This is the most basic move of our family's style. Children of our blood routinely learn this move before they can write their own names.>"

"<I'm trying my best Grandfather,>" said Xiaoli "<It is difficult.>"

"<It isn't difficult. It is child's play. You are stupid. That is the difference.>"

The two were in a clearing in the woods, where Xiaoli's alleged grandfather had been trying to teach her a single foundational move from Zhu Family Sabre for the better part of three days. She had not performed it correctly once. The man had never dealt with a student this remedial; he didn't know how to correct her execution when she had none.

"<I'll try again,>" said Xiaoli.

"<If you're pretending to be bad at this,>" said Grandfather "<To try and trick me into taking you back to Mt. Emei it's not going to work. I'm going to beat this martial art into your mule's brain for as long as it takes to stick. You're only prolonging both of our misery.>"

Xiaoli had tried and failed to execute the move five times in the time it took Grandfather to berate her. He hit her on the head with his stick again.

"<Try, try, why don't you just try?>" he yelled.

Xiaoli was despondent. As much as she didn't want to be here with him, she desperately wanted to pleasing this man who was the first and only relative she had ever known. She was going to show him.

Again she tried and again she failed, but without missing a beat Xiaoli tried again. Xiaoli was used to wielding a sword (jian) and the extra weight of the sabre (dao) threw her off balance. And then suddenly, it didn't.

As her body went through the movements of Dividing The First Gate, her tremendous qi circulated through her meridians. The external and internal components of the move came together and Xiaoli executed the attack.

Although it was aimed at empty air, the sheer internal force of the attack carried forward and blasted a tree in it's path to splinters.

Most people couldn't coax out the true power of the move like that until they had completely mastered the style.

Grandfather was smiling with his whole face.

"<I can work with this,>" he said, and took a large gulp of wine directly out of the bottle.