the heroes ate a full meal and then returned to theirrooms to rest. at six o'clock that evening, anattendant reported that the tunnel diggers werealready under the commander-in-chief's yamen, but thata large rock was blocking their path which they weretrying to dig around. chen and xu assigned theirforces: some were to attack from the left, some fromthe right, and some would be held in reserve. at abouteight o'clock, the attendant returned to report thatthe diggers had come up against an iron plate and haddecided to stop work for a while for fear of alertingthose inside.

"we will wait another two hours and then make ourmove," chen said.

during those two hours, the heroes could hardlycontrol their impatience. zhang jin paced up and downthe hall mumbling curses. master ma kept taking out alarge gold watch and checking the time while chen reada book.

"the time has arrived," ma finally announced.

the heroes all charged for the door. they donnedvarious disguises and made their way separatelythrough the darkened streets of hangzhou to a housejust outside the commander-in-chief's yamen.

'crocodile' jiang was waiting for them. "this area isbeing tightly patrolled by manchu troops," he said.

"be as quiet as possible."he stood at the entrance of the tunnel with his ironoar at the ready, as the heroes filed through one byone. the tunnel had been dug deep, and with hangzhoubeing such a low-lying area, it was ankle-deep inwater. by the time they reached the big rock, themuddy water was up to their chests, while severaldozen yards further on, it rose to their heads.

seven or eight attendants were waiting near the ironplate with torches and spades in hand.

"start work!" chen ordered.

with the great helmsman there watching them, theattendants worked like demons, and soon shifted therock to the side of the iron plate. another moment offurious digging and the iron plate was dislodged, and'leopard' wei, his pair of hooks at the ready, wentthrough first with the rest of the heroes behind.

the attendants held the torches high to illuminate theway as wei ran along a corridor towards wen's cell,but found the way blocked by a locked iron gate.

"eighth brother, ninth brother," said xu suddenly. "goand guard the exit to the dungeon just in case themanchus have some secret scheme."yang and wei assented and left. several of theattendants worked to loosen the stones to the side ofthe gate, and then with the help of several of theheroes, lifted the gate out of position. luo bing ranthrough, and into wen's cell only to find it empty.

after so many disappointments, luo bing crumpled ontothe floor and began to sob. zhou qi wanted to comforther, but her father held her back.

"let her be," he said. "a cry will do her good.""commander li was afraid we would come to organise ajail break and has moved fourth brother somewhereelse," xu said.

"but now we are in the yamen, we will find him nomatter what," chen replied.

they went to the door of the dungeon and saw yangfighting fiercely with a group of manchu soldiers.

priest wu chen gave a shout and charged out of thedungeon and finished off two manchu soldiers on thespot. further on, they found wei battling six or sevenofficers.

"considering my relationship with commander li, i hadbetter not reveal myself," lu feiqing thought. heripped a strip off his gown and covered his face sothat only the eyes were showing. just then, the manchusoldiers broke and retreated up to the yamen courtyardin confusion with wei and the others in hot pursuit.

xu leapt up onto a nearby wall and saw soldiersstanding guard throughout the whole yamen. a drumsounded, and xu guessed the commanders were stillpositioning their soldiers. then he spotted a lonelytwo-storey building in the southern part of the maincourtyard surrounded by several hundred troops. therewas nothing special about the building except for thetight defences, and he decided that was probably wherewen was being held. he jumped down from the wall andwhirled his sword around his head.

"brothers, follow me!" he shouted, and charged towardsthe building.

the further they went, the more soldiers appeared. butdespite their numerical superiority, the manchu troopswere unable to contain the red flower societyfighters, each of them a master of the martial arts.

in only a short while, the heroes had fought to withina few yards of the building.

"third brother, let's go and have a look inside,"priest wu chen said to 'buddha' zhao.

"right," said zhao, and they sprang over to thedoorway with two long strides. a sword sliced towardsthem, but with one thrust from the priest's blade, theswordsman screamed and his weapon clattered to theground. they raced into the building with luo bing andthe others close behind.

as the fighting continued, the heroes found thenumbers of manchu soldiers diminishing. suddenly theyheard priest wu chen yell from upstairs: "fourthbrother is here! we've got him!" the heroes shouted injoy.

zhou qi raced up the stairs and saw everyone gatheredround an iron cage. chen was sawing at the bars withthe frozen emerald sword. zhou qi went close andnoticed that inside the iron cage was another smallercage in which wen sat with his legs and arms manacledlike a captured wild animal. chen sawed through twobars, and zhang jin used brute strength to twist themback. luo bing, thanks to her slim figure, managed towriggle into the outer cage, then took the sword fromchen and began to saw away at the lock on the smallcage. the heroes were all smiling jubilantly. suddenlythey heard a bugle sound, and the remaining manchutroops retreated out about one hundred feet and formedthemselves into ranks around the building.

"master chen!" someone shouted from amongst the manchuranks. "i wish to speak with master chen!"chen went to the window and spotted commander lioutside. "i am here. what is it, commander?""come out quickly or you will all die.""we will not come out alone, even faced with death,"chen replied. "i am sorry, but today we intend toleave with master wen.""don't be so stubborn," li shouted. "start the fire!"the troops pushed out huge piles of firewood and grassand surrounded the building with them. the firewoodwas soaked in oil and a second after a torch wasthrown into it, a fiery ring sprang up with the heroestrapped inside.

chen could see how dangerous the situation was, but heremained calm. "everyone together," he said quietly.

"cut through the bars as quickly as you can."a man walked out from behind li and pointed angrily atchen. "death is staring you in the face and still youdon't go down on your knees and beg for mercy?" heboomed. "do you realize what we have in thatbuilding?"as chen stood thinking, he heard xu exclaim in theirsecret code: "oh no, they've packed the place withgunpowder."chen noticed a row of wooden barrels around the roomthey were in. with a quick movement, he smashed one ofthem open and black dust flew out in all directions,the smell of saltpetre filling their noses. his heartfroze. "is the whole red flower society going to beblown to pieces today?" he wondered. he turned and sawthe inner cage had been opened and luo bing helpingwen out.

"sister luo bing, brother zhao!" he shouted. "you twolook after fourth brother. everyone else follow me."he charged down the stairs. zhang jin bent over andheaved wen onto his back while luo bing and zhaoescorted them down to the ground floor. as theyreached the door, they saw swarms of arrows likelocusts flying at them. wei and the twin knights triedseveral times to break out of the building, but eachtime they were forced back inside.

"you are standing in a gunpowder keg and i have thefuse here," commander li shouted. he raised a fierytorch and waved it.

"as soon as i light the fuse, you will all be burnt toashes. put wen down immediately."chen knew that what he said was true, but he alsoguessed that because of wen's importance to theemperor, li would not dare to light the fuse.

"put fourth brother down!" he shouted. "let's get outof here!" he brandished his long sword and charged outwith wei and the twin knights at his side.

zhang jin, running flat out with his head down, didn'thear what chen had said.

"put fourth brother down," zhao told him. "it's toodangerous. we've got to get out or he'll get killed."zhang jin placed wen on the ground near the door. luobing hesitated, but zhang jin grabbed her arm andcharged on after the others. li saw in the firelightthat they had abandoned wen, and with a wave of hishand ordered the archers to stop firing to prevent himbeing hit by mistake.

having made it out of the building, the heroesregrouped by the wall.

"eighth brother, ninth brother, tenth brother and thetwin knights, you five lead an attack on the manchutroops and disperse them," ordered chen. "brother xu,you think of a way to cut the gunpowder fuse. the restof you, as soon as that's done, we will go back andrescue fourth brother."commander li was just about to order someone over tokeep watch on wen when he spotted the twin knightsapproaching. he hastily shouted to a detachment ofimperial bodyguards who raced over to intercept thered flower society fighters.

lu feiqing was the first to spot a way out of thedilemma. he ran like an arrow straight for commanderli. li's bodyguards moved to stop him, but lu dodgedto left and right and slipped past them all. in amoment, he was at li's side. yuanzhi, wearing boy'sclothes, was standing by her father's side. seeingthis strange masked man charging forward, she criedout shrilly: "how dare you!" and thrust her swordstraight at his chest. lu ducked under the stroke,then slipped round behind commander li and gave him apowerful shove which sent him reeling forward. full offear for her father, yuanzhi struck out again with hersword, but lu dodged out of the way once more, pickedli up in his arms and ran inside the circle of fire.

the manchu troops shouted in alarm, but the heat fromthe flames was so intense that none dared to followhim.

the red flower society heroes saw lu carryingcommander li into the danger zone, and zhang jin and'crocodile' jiang went in after them.

"that's enough," ordered chen. "no-one else need goin."the manchu troops completely ignored the red flowersociety fighters, and stared anxiously at the men inthe centre of the ring of fire. suddenly, someone witha torch leapt over to the gunpowder fuse and lit it.

deng tunan recognized him as imperial bodyguard fanwho had shamed himself in front of the emperor the daybefore. he bore such a deep grudge over the incident,that he wanted only to snatch victory away from thered flower society with no concern for whethercommander li lived or died.

the thread of sparks whirled off at an incrediblespeed. once it reached the circle of fire, disasterwould be inevitable. the manchu troops scattered inpanic and in the midst of the confusion, a figure, hisface covered with a blue silk mask, raced forward andthrew himself down on to the gunpowder. his clothesburst into flames, but the fuse was stopped.

the immediate danger past, zhang jin and 'crocodile'

jiang charged out through the circle of fire with wentailai in their arms. the flames were now even morefierce, and all three caught fire. the twin knights,racing forward to meet them, shouting: "roll! roll!"zhang jin and jiang first put wen down and rolled himabout until all the flames on him had beenextinguished, then put out their own fires. luo bingran up to attend to wen.

the twin knights meanwhile ran over to rescue themasked man, who had collapsed on the ground. by thetime the flames had been extinguished, his body was amass of burns.

once wen was out of danger, lu slung commander li overhis shoulder, took a deep breath and leapt back out ofthe circle like a great bird.

"we've done it!" chen shouted. "retreat, retreat!"priest wu chen led the way, his sword flying, and theothers followed, the twin knights carrying the maskedman, zhang jin carrying wen and lu with commander liover his shoulder.

the manchu troops chased after them, shouting andyelling, but none dared get too close. the imperialbodyguards, however, were frantic at the sight of wenescaping: his loss could cost them their heads. amongthem was fan, the one who had lit the fuse. chenhanded the frozen emerald sword to 'buddha' zhao.

"cover the others as they retreat, third brother," hesaid. "i'm going to deal with this fellow." he pulledout his 'pearl strings', the ropes with steel ballsfastened to the ends, and with a flick of his hand,sent them flying towards fan.

fan tried to leap out of the way, but he was not quickenough, and the strings wrapped themselves round hislegs. chen yanked them back fiercely, and threw faninto the heart of the roaring flames.

by this time, almost all of the heroes had escapedover the yamen walls. chen raised his hand and shoutedto the rest: "retreat!"'leopard' wei raced over to the gunpowder fuse andrelit it, and the manchu troops cried out in fear asthe remaining red flower society fighters retired.

suddenly, there was a blinding flash, and a roar asthe gunpowder stacked in the building ignited.

explosion followed explosion, black smoke swirled upand bricks flew in all directions. the soldiers andguardsmen threw themselves on the ground, but despitetheir great distance from the building, several dozenof them had their heads smashed to pieces by straybricks and pieces of wood. by the time the restcrawled back onto their feet, the red flower societyheroes were gone.

only when they were certain they were not being chaseddid the heroes relax. they rode out of hangzhou andarrived at a river with more than a dozen boats linedup along the bank. the heroes joyfully boarded thecraft.

"master chen," lu feiqing whispered. "i have hadconnections with commander li in the past. now thatbrother wen is safe, why don't we let him go?""whatever you say," chen replied, and on his orders,an attendant untied li's bonds and released him.

"anchors aweigh!" chen called. "head for jiaxing!"the rivers and canals of zhejiang province are anendless maze with countless twists and turns, and in amoment the boats had disappeared.

"we'll head west and take fourth brother to heavenlyeye mountain to convalesce," said chen. "let commanderli race off to jiaxing after us!"the heroes all burst out laughing and the accumulatedlow spirits of several months were swept away.

dawn was just breaking as luo bing wiped wen's bodyclean. his manacles had been sawn off with the frozenemerald sword, and he was in a deep sleep.

"great helmsman," said xu. "that masked man who savedfourth brother is very badly wounded. shall we have alook at him?""since he keeps his face covered, he obviously doesnot wish to be recognized. i don't think we should,"said lord zhou.

xin yan gently applied white soya sauce to the maskedman's burns, but his whole body had been blistered bythe flames, and he cried out incessantly in pain. hishands were clawing about aimlessly as he screamed inpain, and suddenly ripped the mask off. the heroes allcried out in unison: "fourteenth brother!"it was 'scholar' yu. they looked at his face,red-black and swollen with countless blisters, andwere horrified. luo bing brought over a wet cloth andlightly wiped the dirt and gunpowder from his facethen applied more white soya sauce. whenever shethought about his disgraceful behaviour that nightnear iron gall manor she still felt angry, but havingseen what he was willing to go through to save her ownhusband, she knew that his infatuation was more thanjust lust. she looked down at him and wondered how shecould ever repay him.

the boats docked and master ma sent someone hurryingoff to find a doctor. when he came, the doctorexamined wen and said: "this gentleman's wounds areonly superficial. he is strong and healthy, and withseveral months of recuperation there should be noproblem." pointing at yu, he added: "this gentleman,however, has extremely serious burns. there is adanger that the fire poison will attack his heart. iwill make out a prescription to counter it and haveanother look later." from his tone, he appeard toconsider it hopeless.

the doctor went ashore. a while later, wen opened hiseyes and looked at everyone standing around him.

"what are you all doing here?" he asked wearily.

luo bing burst into tears. "brother!" she criedhappily. "you've come back. you've come back!"wen nodded slightly and closed his eyes again.

during the night battle at the yellow river crossing,yuanzhi had been cut off from the red flower societyfighters. she spotted a carriage and jumped into it,urged the mules and raced blindly away. it was onlynext morning when she had put a great distance betweenherself and the manchu army that she stopped to rest.

opening the carriage curtain, she found 'scholar' yulying inside unconscious and badly wounded. aftercarefully considering the situation, she climbed backonto the carriage and drove on to wenguang town.

as the daughter of an official, she was used to doingthings in an impressive manner. she chose the largestresidence in the town and knocked on it's door to askfor lodgings. the residence belonged to the evillandowner, tang, who took them in. when tang was foundmurdered, yu realized immediately that they could beimplicated, and they escaped in the confusion. yuanzhiwas planning to go to hangzhou to be with her parentsand yu, knowing that hangzhou was also where wen wasbeing held, decided they may as well go together. hewas still seriously wounded, and yuanzhi looked afterhim carefully as they travelled.

when they reached hangzhou, yuanzhi told her parentsthat yu had been wounded while saving her frombandits, and her father, commander li, allowed him tostay in the yamen as an expression of his gratitude. adoctor was called to treat his injuries. when li sawwhat a refined person yu was, skilled in bothscholarly and martial pursuits, he decided that oncehis wounds had healed he would invite yu to become hisson-in-law. little did he know that yu was also a keymember of the red flower society.