huo qingtong left the camp feeling lonely andconfused. "i'll go to my teachers' home at preciousmountain and lose myself in the desert with them," shethought. she was unwell, and even though her kung futraining enabled her to keep going, after ten daystravelling across the desert, she was absolutelyexhausted and still four or five days from the home ofthe tianshan eagles. finally, she stopped beside asmall sand dune and let her horse graze on the sparse,dry grasses nearby.

she set up her tent and slept for several hours. inthe middle of the night she was awakened by the soundof three horses approaching from the east. as theyneared the sand dune, they slowed and headed for thesame patch of dry grass that had attracted her mount.

the horses were unwilling to continue, so the threeriders dismounted to rest. they did not see huoqingtong's tent, which was on the other side of thedune. she heard them talking chinese, but she wasstill sleepy and did not bother to listen closely.

suddenly, however, she heard one of the men say: "thatdamned bitch! if i don't skin her alive and rip outall her tendons, then my name isn't gu.""brother yan's kungfu was excellent," said another. "idon't believe that a girl could kill him without usingsome sort of trickery.""well, of course," added a third. "as i said, we haveto be very careful. there are a lot of muslimsaround."huo qingtong realised in astonishment that they werethe guandong devils and that they were talking abouther.

"there's not much water left in the satchel and wedon't know how many more days we have to go before wefind water again," one of them said. "from tomorrow,we'll have to drink even less." soon afterwards, theywent to sleep.

huo qingtong was uncertain of what to do. the desertwas flat and empty for miles in every direction, sothere was no way she could escape if they found her,especially as she was still sick. after some thought,she decided the safest course would be to revealherself, and find some way to lead the three to herteacher's home.

early next morning, the guandong devils woke to findhuo qingtong standing in front of them. she examinedthem carefully. one was a tall man who looked like amember of the gentry. the second had a thick blackbeard, while the third was wearing mongol clothes.

"mistress, do you have any water to spare?" the firstman, tang, asked her, pulling out a silver ingot as hespoke. huo qingtong shook her head to indicate she didnot understand chinese. the mongol, who was namedhahetai, repeated the request in mongolian and shereplied in the same tongue: "i cannot give you any ofmy water. the yellow-robed lady, mistress huoqingtong, sent me on an important errand and i am nowreturning to report." she quickly dismantled her tentand mounted her horse. hahetai ran forward and grabbedhold of her horse's reins.

"where is she?" he asked.

"why do you want to know?""we are her friends. there is urgent news we have topass on to her."huo qingtong pouted. "that's an outright lie! she isat precious mountain, but you are heading west. don'ttry to cheat me!"hahetai turned to the other two and said: "she's onher way to see the damned bitch now."with her unhealthy appearance and the way she wheezedas she spoke, she did not look at all like someone whoknew kung fu. so not suspecting her in the slightest,the devils took advantage of what they took to be herignorance of chinese and loudly discussed how theywould kill her when they reached precious mountain,and then go to find huo qingtong. the bearded man, gu,could see that she was very beautiful despite herhaggard look, and his lust began to stir.

huo qingtong noticed him constantly staring at hercovetously, and knew that even though they had notrecognised her, travelling alone for four or five dayswith these three devils was too dangerous. she rippeda strip of material off her jacket and tied it roundthe leg of one of her two eagles then threw the birdup into the air. it spread its wings and flew offtowards the horizon.

"what are you doing?" tang demanded suspiciously. huoqingtong shook her head, and hahetai translated whathe had said into mongolian.

"there are no more water springs for another seven oreight days. you've got so little water, how could itbe enough? i'm letting the eagles go so they can goand find water themselves." as she spoke, she releasedthe second eagle.

"two eagles wouldn't drink very much water," tangreplied.

"when you're dying of thirst, even a drop may beenough to save your life." afraid they would try toharm her, she had exaggerated the distance to the nextwater.

hahetai mumbled oaths. "even in the deserts ofmongolia, you would never have to travel for seven oreight days without water. this is a cursed region!"they camped that night in the middle of the desert.

huo qingtong could see gu's gaze constantly sweepingover her and became very worried. she went into hertent, drew her sword, and sat down beside the tententrance, not daring to sleep. towards midnight, sheheard someone tiptoeing over. suddenly, the tent flapopened and gu crept inside. he began feeling about inthe darkness for her, and an instant later, felt anicy coldness on his neck as a sharp blade gentlytouched it.

"if you so much as twitch, i will run it through you,"huo qingtong whispered. "lie on the ground!" heimmediately complied. she placed the tip of the swordon his back, then sat down and wondered what sheshould do.

"if i kill him, the other two won't let me get awaywith it," she thought. "it's probably best to wait formy teacher to get here."a couple of hours later, tang woke and noticed gu wasmissing. he jumped up and began shouting "brother gu!

brother gu!""answer him quickly," huo qingtong whispered fiercely.

"tell him you're here.""it's all right, brother, i'm here!" he shouted back,well aware that he had no choice.

tang laughed. "you horny old thief! you'll neverchange."the next morning, huo qingtong waited until the othertwo were up before letting gu out.

"brother gu," hahetai berated him as he emerged. "wehave come to seek revenge not to make trouble." gu'steeth were almost chattering with hate but he didn'ttell them what had happened. if he did, the shame ofit would follow him for the rest of his life. but hedecided that he would have the girl the followingnight and then kill her.

at about midnight, gu advanced on huo qingtong's tentagain, a spear in one hand and a torch in the other.

as he entered, he saw her crouching in the far cornerand lunged at her triumphantly. but suddenly he feltsomething cut into his legs as a rope noose hidden onthe ground caught him. huo qingting gave it a tug andhe overbalanced and fell heavily.

"don't move!" she hissed, and placed the tip of hersword against his stomach. she didn't think she couldnot stand another night like the previous one, butkilling gu was not enough. she had to finish off allthree.

"tell your elder brother to come over here," shewhispered. gu guessed what she was planning andremained silent. she increased the pressure so thatthe sword cut through his clothes and the top layer ofskin. gu knew a sword in the stomach was the mostpainful way to die. "he won't come," he whisperedback.

"all right, then i'll kill you first," she replied,and the sword moved again.

"elder brother! come here! come quickly!" gu calledfrantically.

"laugh," huo qingtong ordered. gu frowned and utteredseveral dry laughs.

"laugh more happily!"he silently cursed her, but with the sword alreadyinside his flesh, he forced out a loud hystericallaugh. tang and hahetai had already been awakened bythe racket.

"stop playing around, brother, and conserve some ofyour strength," tang yelled.

huo qingtong could see he wouldn't come. "call theother one," she hissed, and gu shouted out again.

although he was a bandit, hahetai did not takeadvantage of women, and he was very unhappy with gu'sbehaviour. but he was his sworn brother, so he justpretended not to hear.

"if i don't kill these three, it is going to bedifficult to free myself of today's shame," shethought. holding the sword in her right hand, shewound the rope round and round gu until he could notmove. only then did she relax. she leant against theside of the tent, but did not dare to fall asleep.

the next morning, as it grew light, she saw that guwas fast asleep and angrily whipped him awake with herhorse's whip. she placed the tip of her sword on hisheart and said: "if you so much as grunt, i willskewer you!" she wondered again whether she shouldkill him, but decided that it would immediately bringdisaster down on her head. she estimated her teachershould reach them by that afternoon anyway, so afteruntying the rope, she pushed gu out of the tent.

tang looked at the bloody welts on his facesuspiciously. "who is this girl?" he asked in a lowvoice. "what's she up to?"gu glanced meaningfully at him. "let's grab her," hesaid. the two men started to walk slowly towards her,but she saw them coming and ran over to the horses.

she pulled out her sword and punctured gu's andhahetai's water bags, then grabbed the largest oftang's water bags and jumped onto her own horse. thethree devils stood watching dumbly for a second as theprecious water drained out of the two water bags andwas instantly swallowed by the sand, then charged ather angrily.

she lay along the horse's back breathing heavily. "ifyou come a step closer, i'll slash this bag too," shewheezed. the three devils stopped.

"i agreed to take you to see mistress huo qingtong andin return you bully me," she added when she hadrecovered slightly. "from here to the next water issix days travelling. if you don't leave me alone, i'llslash this bag too and we will all die of thirst.""we won't harm you," protested tang.

"let's go," she ordered. "you three first." so theyrode on across the desert, the three men in front, thegirl behind.

by noon, the burning sun was riding high in the sky,and their lips and tongues were parched dry. huoqingtong began to see stars before her eyes andmoments of faintness swept over her. she wondered ifshe was going to die.

"hey! give us some water!" she heard hahetai shout.

she shook herself awake.

"take out a bowl and put it on the ground," shereplied. hahetai did as she said. "now retreat onehundred paces." gu hesitated suspiciously. "if youdon't, you won't get any water," she added. theycursed her, but retreated. huo qingtong rode forward,undid the cap of the water bag and filled the bowl,then rode away again. the three men ran over to thebowl and took turns at gulping down the liquid.

they continued on their way, and about four hourslater green grass began to appear beside the road.

tang's eyes lit up. "there must be water ahead!" heshouted. huo qingtong was worried. she tried to thinkof some course of action, but her head was splittingwith pain. suddenly, there was a long eagle's cry fromabove and she looked up to see a black shape swoopingdownwards. overjoyed, she raised her arm and the eaglelanded on her shoulder. she saw a piece of blackmaterial fastened to one of its legs and knew herteacher would arrive soon.

tang could see something funny was going on, and witha wave of his hand sent a sleeve dart flying towardshuo qingtong's right wrist, hoping to knock the swordfrom her grasp. but she blocked the dart with hersword and with a wave of the reins, galloped aroundthem and into the lead. the three devils beganshouting and chased after her. after two or threemiles, her legs and arms were numb, and she could holdon no longer. the horse gave a jolt and she toppled tothe ground.

the three devils spurred their horses on. huo qingtongstruggled to get back onto the horse, but she was tooweak. then in a flash of inspiration, she slung thewater bag's leather strap over the eagle's neck andthrew the bird up into the air. tang and the othersforgot huo qingtong at the sight of their water bagbeing carried away and chased frantically after theeagle. the water bag was almost full of water and notlight, so the eagle was not able to fly high or fast,and the three were able to keep up with it.

a few miles further on, the eagle glided downwardsjust as two riders appeared in a cloud of dust aheadof them. the eagle circled twice and landed on theshoulder of one of the riders. the three devilsspurred their horses on and saw that one of thestrangers was a bald, red-faced old man, and the othera white-haired old lady.

"where's huo qingtong?" the old man barked, and thethree stared at him in surprise. the old man removedthe water bag from the eagle's neck and hurled thebird back into the air. he gave a harsh whistle andthe bird answered with a squeak and headed back theway it had come. the old couple took no further noticeof the three devils and galloped past them, chasingafter the eagle. tang saw the old man still had thewater bag, and with a wave of his hand to the others,followed along behind.

the two old people were the tianshan twin eagles, baldvulture and madame guan. after three or four miles,they saw the eagle glide downwards to where huoqingtong was lying on the ground. madame guan leaptoff her horse and grabbed the girl up into her armsand began sobbing.

"who has been treating you so badly?" she demanded,looking down at the girl's deathly appearance. justthen, the three devils rode up. huo qingtong pointedat them, then fainted away.

"well, are you just going to sit there?" madame guandemanded angrily of her husband. bald vulture wheeledhis horse round and charged at the three, and beganfighting furiously with them.

madame guan slowly poured water into huo qingtong'smouth and the girl gradually regained consciousness.

only then did she look round to see how her husbandwas doing. he was struggling to keep the three at bay,and so she drew her sword and jumped into the melee.

she struck out at tang, who swung round to counter thestroke, but immediately found her style had changed.

amazed that this thin old woman could be such aformidable swordswoman, he concentrated completely ondefence.

huo qingtong sat up and observed the twin eaglesgradually gaining the upper hand. as she watched, shefaintly heard a strange sound floating towards them onthe wind from far off, a sound full of violence anddread, hunger and evil, as if hundreds of wild beastswere howling in unison.

"teacher, listen!" she cried. the twin eaglesdisengaged themselves from the fight and cocked an earto listen carefully. the devils had been hard pressedto hold their own, and did not dare to attack the oldcouple.

the sound increased slightly in volume, and the twineagles turned pale. bald vulture ran over to his horseand stood on its back.

"come and look!" he shouted. "see if there's anywherewe can take cover."madame guan picked huo qingtong up and placed her onher own horse, then vaulted up onto her husband'shorse and stood on his shoulders.

the three devils looked at each other, absolutelybaffled. their attackers had broken off the fight whenthey had already won, and were now building humanpyramids on a horse's back.

"what devilry are they up to?" gu growled darkly. tanghad no idea what was happening and could onlyconcentrate on being prepared for anything.

madame guan gazed about in all directions, and thenshouted: "i think there are two big trees to thenorth!""whether there are or not, let's go!" her husbandreplied. madame guan jumped over to hua qingtong'shorse, and they galloped off north without taking anyfurther notice of the three devils.

hahetai noticed that in their hurry to get away, theyhad left the water bag behind, and bent down to pickit up. by now, the terrifying howling sound wasbecoming even louder. gu's face turned grey. "it's awolf pack!" he cried. the three leapt onto theirhorses and galloped after the twin eagles. lookingback, they saw large wild cats, camels, goats andhorses racing for their lives before a grey tide ofthousands of hungry wolves.

a few dozen yards ahead of the multitude was a rider,galloping along as if leading the way. in a flash, hispowerful horse raced up and passed the three devils,who saw he was an old man. the rider turned to lookback at them, and shouted: "do you want to die?

faster!"tang's horse was scared out of its wits by the mass ofanimals bearing down upon them, and it stumbled andthrew him. tang leapt to his feet as a dozen wild catsrushed past him.

"i'm finished," he thought, and began screaming at thetop of his voice. gu and hahetai heard his screams andturned and headed back to rescue him, the wolvesbearing down upon them. a huge wolf, its snow-whiteteeth bared, charged at tang, who drew his sword todefend himself even though he knew it was useless.

suddenly, there was the sound of horse's hoovesbehind, and the old man galloped up, grabbed tang byhis collar and threw his fat body towards hahetai.

tang somersaulted through the air and landed in asitting position on hahetai's horse. the three riderspulled their horses round, and flew for their lives.

the twin eagles had lived in the desert many years andwere well aware that even the most ferocious animalcould not survive an encounter with the wolf pack.

they galloped on, and as the two tall trees rosebefore them, thanked the heavens that they had onceagain avoided ending up in a wolf's stomach. once atthe trees, bald vulture leapt up in to the branches ofone, and madame guan handed huo qingtong up to him.

the wolf pack was approaching fast. madame guanwhipped the backs of their two horses and shouted:

"run for your lives! we cannot help you!" the twohorses dashed away.

just as the three of them had found somewhere to sitin the branches, they noticed the grey-gowned ridergalloping along ahead of the wolf pack. as the riderpassed by below, bald vulture embraced him with hisfree hand and lifted him up.

the old man was taken by surprise. his horse shotonwards, while he himself was left dangling in space,a host of animals passing under his feet. he performeda somersault, and landed on his feet on a branchfurther up the tree.

"what's wrong?" said bald vulture. "don't tell you'reafraid of wolves too, master yuan?""who asked you to interfere?" the old man repliedangrily.

"there's no need to be like that," madame guaninterrupted him. "my husband just saved your life."the old man laughed coldly. "saved me? you've messedup everything!"he was great helmsman chen's teacher, master yuan. heand madame guan had grown up together in central chinaand had fallen in love. but they had arguedconstantly, and eventually yuan left and spent morethan ten years travelling in the northern deserts.

there was no news of him, and madame guan presumed hewould never come back. eventually, she married baldvulture, but shortly after the wedding, yuanunexpectedly returned home. both yuan and madame guanwere heart-broken although they never spoke of thematter again. bald vulture was also very unhappy, andon several occasions went after yuan to get revenge,but his kung fu was not good enough, and only yuan'sregard for madame guan's feelings kept her husbandfrom being seriously hurt. so bald vulture took hiswife and travelled far away into the muslim regions.

yuan, however, could not forget her, and also moved tothe tianshan mountains. he never visited them, butjust living close to the woman he loved made him feela little happier. madame guan did all she could tokeep from seeing her former lover, but bald vulturewould not let the matter drop, and the couple hadfought and argued for decades since. all three werenow old and white-haired, but a day did not pass whenthey did not think of the entanglement.

bald vulture was very pleased with himself for havingsaved yuan. you have always had the upper hand, hethought, but perhaps you'll show gratitude towards meafter this. madame guan, however, was puzzled byyuan's anger.

"what do you mean, 'messed everything up'?" she asked.

"messed what up?""this wolf pack is growing bigger and bigger, and hasbecome a real plague on the desert," yuan replied.

"several muslim villages have been completely wipedout already. the wolves eat people, animals,everything. so i prepared a trap and was just leadingthem to their deaths when you interfered."bald vulture knew yuan was telling the truth, and feltacutely embarrassed.

yuan saw the apologetic expression on madame guan'sface and brought his anger under control. "but youwere doing what you thought was best," he added. "ithank you, anyway.""what sort of trap is it?" asked bald vulture.

"save them!" yuan suddenly shouted, and jumped downfrom the tree into the midst of the wolves.

the three devils had already been overtaken by thewolves, and their horses had been ripped to shreds.

the three of them were standing back-to-back fightingfuriously, and although they had killed more than adozen wolves, others continued to lunge at them. allthree were already wounded in several places, and itlooked as if they could not hold out for long. yuanraced over, his hands flew out and smashed the skullsof two wolves. he picked hahetai up and threw him upinto the tree, shouting "catch!", and bald vulturecaught him. in the same way, yuan threw tang and guup, then killed another two wolves, grabbed one of thecorpses by the neck and swung it round and round,opening up a path to the tree, then leapt up into thebranches. the three devils, having been literallysnatched from the jaws of death, showered him withthanks. they were astonished by the speed and strengthhe had displayed, and the way he made killing wolvesseem as easy as catching rabbits.

several hundred wolves circled the base of the tree,scratching at the trunk, raising their heads andhowling. a short distance away, several dozen of thefleeing animals had been cut off and encircled by thewolves, who filled the air with their cries and howls.

the animals leapt frantically about as the wolves toreand gnashed at them. it was a horrible sight. in onlya moment, the animals had all been ripped apart andeaten. those sitting up in the tree were all bravefighters, but it was the first time any of them hadwitnessed such a terrifying scene, and they were veryfrightened.

bald vulture eyed the three devils suspiciously.

"they are not good men," huo qingtong told him.

"all right, then," he replied. "they can go and feedthe wolves." just as he was about to push them off thetree, he looked down once more at the tragic scenebelow and hesitated just long enough for tang toshout: "let's go!" he leapt over to the other tree andgu and hahetai followed him.

madame guan looked at huo qingtong. "my dear, what doyou say?" she wanted to know if the girl wanted themto chase after the three and kill them.

huo qingtong's heart softened. "forget about it," shesaid.

"i am huo qingtong," she shouted to the three devils.

"if you want to get your revenge on me, why don't youcome over?" tang and the others were astonished andinfuriated by her words, but they did not dare toreturn to the other tree.

the wolf pack came fast, and left fast too. theyswirled around the trees for a while, howling andbarking, then chased off after the remaining wildanimals.

madame guan told huo qingtong to pay her respects tomaster yuan. seeing her sickly appearance, yuan tooktwo red pills from his bag and gave them to her,saying: "take them. they're snow ginseng pills." snowginseng pills were made from the rarest medicinalherbs, and were well known for their ability to evenrestore life to the dying.

just as huo qingtong was about to bow before him, yuanjumped down from the tree and ran off. in a moment, hehad become just a black dot amidst the swirling desertdust.