Flames were licking up towards the sky from a nearby hall, and the noise of the battle was deafening. As Chen and the other heroes broke out of the Tranquillity Hall into the open, they were surprised to find several dozen Lama monks fighting with a group of Manchu soldiers outside the burning hall. From the look of things, the monks could not hold out for long, but as they watched, Bai Zhen led some of the Imperial guards over and helped them force the Manchu troops back into the hall. Chen had no knowledge of the enmity between the Emperor and the Empress Dowager, but he immediately recognised the fight as an excellent diversion and quickly ordered the heroes to escape over the temple walls.
As they touched the ground, the heroes involuntarily sucked in their breaths: in front of them were rank upon rank of Manchu troops, all with bows drawn or with swords in hand. The scene was brightly lit by several thousand torches.
"He has arranged things very carefully," thought Chen. Priest Wu Chen and Bald Vulture charged into the Manchu ranks, killing as they went, and a hail of arrows descended on them.
"Everyone try and make a break for it!" shouted Huo Qingtong. The heroes fought like demons.
Priest Wu Chen noticed seven or eight Imperial Guardsmen attacking Zhang Jin, and he leapt over to help him. He stabbed three of them in the neck, and the rest howled and retreated.
"Tenth Brother, are you all right?" he asked.
Zhang Jin looked up at him and dropped his wolf's tooth club. "Second Brother, I'm finished," he said. In the fire-light, Priest Wu Chen saw he was covered in bloody wounds. With only one arm himself, the Priest could not support him.
"Lie on my back and hold on," the priest said between clenched teeth. He squatted down, and Zhang Jin put his arms round his neck. He felt the warm blood spurting out of the hunchback's wounds, but stood up and charged off again with sword raised to continue the killing.
Chen could see things were going badly and ordered the heroes to return to the wall to regroup.
"All right, Tenth Brother, get down," said Priest Wu Chen as they reached the comparative safety of the wall. Zhang Jin did not move. Luo Bing went over to help him, but found that his body was stiff and his breathing had already ceased. She threw herself onto his corpse and began to sob.
Just as the Manchu troops moved in for the final attack on the heroes, their ranks parted and several dozen monks fought their way through, their yellow robes glowing in the firelight. Leading them, his long white beard dancing and shaking, was Lord Zhou.
"Come with me, all of you!" he shouted to the heroes, and they charged after him through the Manchu blockade, and found Heavenly Mirror and the monks battling fiercely with the Manchu troops.
Huo Qingtong surveyed the situation with dismay. The heroes were killing large numbers of the enemy, but no matter which direction they went, they were always surrounded. She looked around for some possible solution and spotted a dozen or so people standing on a nearby Drum Tower.
"One of those men must be the commander," she shouted to the others, pointing at the tower. "Let's seize him."
The heroes immediately saw the wisdom of her words.
"Let's go," Priest Wu Chen roared. Wen and the Twin Knights ran after him. They quickly reached the foot of the Drum Tower, and leapt up onto the balcony just as several dozen guards moved to intercept them. Wen, however, dodged nimbly past them and charged straight for an official standing in one corner who wore a red cap signifying senior rank. As he caught sight of the official's face in the firelight, he almost called out "Great Helmsman!" He was almost an exact twin of Chen's. Wen remembered his wife telling him about the resemblance of Qian Long's favorite, Fu Kangan, to Chen. This must be Fu, he decided.
It was indeed Fu, who was also the Beijing Garrison Commander. Wen deftly dodged the swords of two surprised bodyguards and lunged at Fu with Priest Wu Chen close behind. Down below, the Manchu troops ceased their attack and stood watching the drama above them.
Fu knew no kung fu and he cringed in fear as Wen lifted him bodily into the air. A gasp went up the Manchu troops. By this time, the Twin Knights had killed the last of the bodyguards on the tower balcony and ran over beside Wen. Fu raised his command flag and shrieked: "Stop, all of you! Return to your units!"
Three bodyguards bravely charged forward, but Priest Wu Chen placed the tip of his sword on Fu's throat and smiled at them. "Come on," he said. "Don't be shy."
The bodyguards hesitated, glanced at each other, then withdrew.
Wen squeezed Fu's arm and he screamed in agony. "Retreat!" he shouted. "Back in position, all of you!" The Manchu troops did not dare to disobey and immediately formed up at a distance.
Chen gathered the heroes and the Shaolin monks together on the Drum Tower balcony. He counted up the casualties and found that apart from Zhang Jin who was dead, eight or nine of the others had been wounded, only one of them seriously. He surveyed his followers in the lights of the flames from the temple.
"Let us attack the Palace and kill the Emperor to avenge Tenth Brother!" he shouted. The heroes roared their approval, and the Shaolin monks joined in.
"The Shaolin Monastery has been destroyed by him," Heavenly Mirror added. "Today, the Commandment against killing is suspended."
"What?" asked Chen, shocked. "The Shaolin Monastery destroyed?"
"Yes, it's been burnt to the ground. Brother Heavenly Rainbow died protecting the sacred scriptures."
The news compounded Chen's anger. With Commander Fu as their hostage, the heroes marched through the ranks of Imperial Guards encircling the Lama Temple. When they had passed the last rank, they saw Xin Yan and a number of the Society's followers standing at a distance with several dozen horses. They ran over and mounted up, one or two to each horse, and with a defiant shout, galloped off towards the Imperial Palace.
Xu rode up alongside Chen and shouted: "Has an escape route been planned, Great Helmsman?"
"Ninth Brother has gone with some of the others to the West Gate to wait for us. What are you and the monks doing here?"
"Those Manchu devils!" replied Xu, his voice full of hatred. "They came one night and sacked the monastery. Heavenly Rainbow would not leave and was burned to death. They even kidnapped my son! We have been looking for the officers responsible ever since, and the chase brought us to Beijing. We went to Twin Willow Lane and they told us you had gone to the Lama Temple."
By this time, they had arrived at the Forbidden City with the Imperial Guardsmen pressing in on them from behind, loath to leave them alone even if they did not dare to attack.
Xu looked over at the Twin Eagles. "If the Emperor gets wind of this and hides somewhere in the depths of the palace, we'll never find him. Could you two go on ahead and investigate?" he asked.
The two old people were delighted to have the opportunity to show their worth, and immediately agreed. Xu took four flare rockets from his bag and gave them to Bald Vulture.
"When you catch sight of the Emperor, kill him if you can, but if he is guarded too tightly, signal us with these," he said.
The Twin Eagles leapt over the palace wall and ran swiftly across the courtyard inside and then up onto the rooftops. As they raced along, they saw the heavy palace gates and the endless courtyards and pavilions, and wondered how they could ever hope to find the Emperor in such a place.
"Let's grab a eunuch and question him," Madame Guan said.
"Good idea!" replied her husband, and the two jumped down to the ground and hid themselves in a dark corner. After a while, they heard footsteps approach and two figures walked quickly by.
"The thin one knows kung fu," Bald Vulture whispered.
"Let's follow and see where they go," Madame Guan replied.
The Twin Eagles silently shadowed the two figures, one very thin, the other fat and much slower on his feet. The thin man had to constantly stop to wait for him to catch up, and at one point said: "Faster! Faster! We must report to the Emperor as soon as possible."
The Twin Eagles were overjoyed when they heard this. They passed through doorways and courtyards and finally arrived in front of the Precious Moon Pavilion.
"You wait here," the thin man said and disappeared upstairs, leaving the fat man standing alone by the front door. The Twin Eagles crept round to the side of the pavilion and climbed up onto the roof. Then, with their feet hooked onto the eaves, they hung down over a balcony smelling of fresh paint and flowers and saw a row of windows, one of which glowed with the faint light of a candle. They slipped onto the balcony, just as a shadow passed across the window paper. Madame Guan carefully wet the paper with her finger, making a hole and then looked through to find Qian Long seated in a chair, a fan in his hand, and the thin man kneeling before him: it was Bai Zhen.
"The Tranquillity Hall in the Lama Temple has been burned to the ground and not one of the soldiers guarding it escaped," he said.
"Excellent!" exclaimed Qian Long, very pleased.
Bai Zhen kowtowed. "Your slave deserves to die. The Red Flower Society bandits eluded capture."
"What?"
"They saw through the attempt to poison them with the wine, and they escaped while I was dealing with the guards."
Qian Long grunted and hung his head, deep in thought.
Bald Vulture pointed at Bai Zhen and the Emperor, indicating to his wife that he would attack Bai Zhen while she killed Qian Long, and the two were just about to burst through the window when Bai Zhen clapped his hands twice and twelve bodyguards slipped noiselessly out from behind cupboards and screens, each one carrying a sword. The Twin Eagles knew they were no match for so many expert fighters and decided to summon the other heroes first. Bai Zhen whispered something to one of the bodyguards who left and brought the fat man back with him.
The fat man, wearing the yellow robes of a Lama priest, kowtowed energetically before the Emperor.
"You have done well," Qian Long said. "Are you sure you left no clues?"
"Everything was done according to Your Highness's wishes. Nothing is left of the Tranquillity Hall or what was in it."
"Good, good, good! Bai Zhen, I promised that he should be made a Living Buddha. Go and see to it."
"Your Highness," Bai Zhen replied with a bow.
The Lama kowtowed again.
As they walked out of the pavilion, Bai Zhen stopped the Lama. "Show your gratitude to his Highness, abbot," he said.
The abbot looked at him in surprise, but unwilling to disobey an Imperial bodyguard, he knelt down again and kowtowed in the direction of the Precious Moon Pavilion. Then he felt an icy coldness on his neck, and started in shock.
"What...what's happening?" he asked, his voice shaking.
Bai Zhen laughed coldly. "The Emperor said to let you become a Living Buddha, so I'll send you to the Western Heavens where you can be one."
He twitched his hand and the blade did its work. Two eunuchs brought a carpet over, wrapped the abbot's corpse in it and carried it away.
Suddenly, Bai Zhen heard shouting in the distance. He turned and ran back into the pavilion.
"There are bandits outside causing a disturbance, Your Highness," he said. "Please retire to the inner palace."
Qian Long had seen the Red Flower Society fighters in action in Hangzhou and he knew that his bodyguards were no match for them, so without questioning Bai Zhen further, he stood up.
Just then, Bald Vulture released a flare, and with a 'whoosh' it scrawled a path of white light across the night sky.
"Where do you think you're escaping to?" he roared as they burst through the window into the room. "We've waited a long time for this!"
The bodyguards around the Emperor stared for a moment in surprise at the red-faced old man and white-haired old woman who had suddenly appeared in their midst, then rushed at the intruders. Bai Zhen slung Qian Lung over his back and with four bodyguards protecting the front and rear, ran for the stairs. But Madame Guan forced the bodyguards back with a fistful of projectiles and lunged at Qian Long with her sword. Bai Zhen leapt backwards in fright.
Meanwhile, Bald Vulture was fighting with three guards simultaneously. Bai Zhen gave a whistle and four other guards joined the other three and completely surrounded Bald Vulture. But he fought like a demon and kept all seven at bay for a while, until one of the guards lashed out with a whip which cracked loudly against his right arm. In great pain, Bald Vulture switched his sword over to the left hand and forced the bodyguards back.
Seeing her husband was wounded, Madame Guan went over to help him, and the two retreated towards the second floor of the pavilion. Bald Vulture knew they could not tie down so many top-class kung fu fighters for much longer, so he slipped over to the window and shot off another flare. He and his wife blocked the stairs, retreating a step at a time when the pressure was too great. Luckily, the staircase was narrow and only three or four bodyguards at most could attack at one time. Even so, the strain of having to fight against an enemy which always had the advantage of height was very wearying.
Bai Zhen could see things were going badly. "Brother Ma," he said to one of the bodyguards. "Put His Highness on your back." The bodyguard squatted down and the Emperor climbed on. Bai Zhen gave a shout and charged at Bald Vulture. The two began to fight, and Bald Vulture cursed his luck. The longer he fought, the more painful the wound on his right arm became. Bai Zhen by himself was as much as he could manage, let alone the other four or five bodyguards that also surrounded him. Bai Zhen's hands dived and flew, every move accurate and deadly, and Bald Vulture, completely absorbed in fending him off, was unprepared for a cold-blooded attack from behind. A bodyguard thrust his sword deep into Bald Vulture's back.
Bald Vulture knew instantly that he would die. He swung his elbow back with all his strength and smashed his attacker's skull, then with a huge roar, he raised his sword and threw it forcefully across the room at Qian Long. The bodyguard Ma who was carrying the Emperor, saw the blade flying towards them and with no time to dodge out of the way, put his hand up to stop it. But this was a throw by a man on the verge of death, backed by incalculable strength and outrage and the sword sliced off half of his hand and plunged through his chest and out the other side.
