the heroes started out for the wolf stockade in highspirits, singing and laughing as they went. masteryuan questioned chen about the origin of the strangekung fu style he had used, and chen gave him adetailed account of his discovery.

"what an extraordinary coincidence," yuan said indelight. "one could never make such a find bypurposely looking for it."after several days travel, they arrived at thestockade and climbed up on to the parapet to lookinside. the wolf pack had long since eaten the herd ofanimals and were now fighting over the carcases oftheir dead comrades, barking and snapping at eachother. the scene was cruelly tragic and even thehardened heroes were shocked. princess fragrance couldnot bear the sight, and went back down to talk withthe muslim guards.

yu pulled zhang to the edge of the wall, and began tomumble a prayer: "oh, spirit of my benevolent teacher,we have today avenged your death." he reached over andtook the knife xu was holding, cut the rope bindingzhang's hands and feet and kicked him off the edge.

zhang had been seriously injured by chen's last twoblows, but his inner strength kung fu was profound,and he had basically recovered by the time theyreached the stockade. as he fell towards the floor ofthe stockade, he knew he had no chance of survival,but he still had to fight one last time. the wolvesthrew themselves at him just before he hit the ground.

he grabbed two of the beasts by their necks andwhirled them round and round, forcing the others toback off and slowly made his way to the stockade wall.

they knew he would die. despite their hatred for him,chen, luo bing and the others with weaker stomachscould not bear to watch to the end and walked backdown from the parapet.

that evening, after they had set up camp, chen toldmaster yuan about his meetings with the emperor qianlong. yuan was amazed by the twists and turns in thestory, and when it was finished, he pulled a small,yellow cloth bundle from his bag.

"last spring," he said, handing the bag to chen, "yourfoster father, great helmsman yu, sent the twinknights to see me and asked me to look after this,saying there were two important items inside. theydidn't say what they were and i haven't opened the bagto see, but i imagine they must be the evidence theemperor wants."chen opened the bag and and found a small parceltightly wrapped in three layers of water-proof oilpaper. inside was a tiny box made of redwood. heopened the lid, revealing two plain envelopes yellowedwith age. inside the first envelope was a sheet ofpaper on which was written: "master chen, send someoneover with your newborn son for me to see. yong di."master yuan read it, but could not grasp it'ssignificance. "what does it mean?" he asked. "whywould your foster father have considered this note tobe so important?""it's written by the emperor yong zheng," chenreplied.

"how do you know?""there were many examples of the emperor's calligraphyaround our home when i was young, so i recognise iteasily. but this note was obviously written before hebecame emperor. yong di was the name he used before heascended the throne. also, after he became emperor, hewould not have referred to my father as 'master'."yuan nodded.

chen counted off the months and years on his fingers.

"i was born after yong zheng became emperor, and sowas my brother. my sister was born at about that time,but this letter says: 'your newborn son'. this isexcellent evidence!"he opened the second envelope and took out a letter.

as soon as he saw the writing, tears sprang to hiseyes.

"what is it?" yuan asked.

"this is my mother's writing," he replied. he wipedaway his tears and began to read the letter:

"dear brother yu, our fate has run its course. whatmore is there to say of my ill-fated life? all i amconcerned about now is the troubles i have broughtupon you. you are a brave and upright man, but becauseof me, you have been rejected even by your own martialschool. of my three sons, one is in the depths of theimperial palace, one has gone off into the desert, andthe one who is left to keep me company is both stupidand wicked. it makes me very sad. my youngest son isvery intelligent and has been put under the care of anexcellent teacher. i love and miss him, but i am notworried about him.

"my eldest son is playing the role of manchu emperorand knows nothing of his origins. brother yu, can youenlighten him for me? to prove it, tell him he has abright red birthmark on his left buttock, and he willhave to believe you.

"my strength is gradually failing. day and night, alli think and dream of is the times we had together whenwe were young. if heaven has pity on us, we will meetafter death and spend the rest of eternity together asman and wife. (signed) sister chaosheng."chen was deeply shocked as he read the letter.

"teacher," he said, his voice quavering. "is the ...

the 'brother yu' in the letter my foster father?""who else?" master yuan replied sombrely. "he and yourmother fell in love when they were young, but thingsdid not go as they wished, and they were separated. asa result, he never married.""why did my mother want me to go and live with him andtreat him as my real father? could it be....?""i was master yu's closest friend, but i only knowthat he broke the regulations of the shaolin schooland was expelled. he would never raise such ahumiliating matter himself and it was difficult forothers to ask him about it. but he was a good man, andi'm certain he would not have done anything to beashamed of." he slapped his thigh. "when he wasexpelled, i felt sure he had been falsely accused andi got together some fighters with the idea of going toshaolin monastery and demanding an explanation. itnearly created a serious split in the fightingcommunity. but your foster father disagreedstrenuously, insisting that the expulsion was his ownfault and all he deserved. in the end, i did nothing.

but i still don't believe he would have done anythingshameful. i don't know what it could have been." hislingering anger was still apparent. "after he wasexpelled from the shaolin school, he went and lived asa hermit for several years. later he founded the redflower society.""but why did my foster father and my mother want me toleave home? do you know?""what face did i have left when he stopped me fromforcing the shaolin school to explain?" yuan repliedangrily. "i refused to have anything to do with himafter that. he sent you to me, and i taught you themartial arts, so i don't owe him anything."chen knew there was no point in questioning himfurther. but the key to restoring the throne to thechinese race lay with his elder brother's origins.

even the slightest error, and all their efforts couldbe rendered useless. so he decided to first go to theshaolin monastery. he told yuan of his plan.

"good idea," the old man replied. "but the monks thereare a strange lot. i'm afraid they won't tell youanything.""we'll see," said chen.

yuan looked at his pupil thoughtfully. "both of thosemuslim girls are very nice. which one do you want?" heasked.

"the famous han dynasty general huo qubing said: 'howcan i think of marriage until the barbarians aredefeated?' i feel the same way," chen replied.

yuan nodded. "that's very commendable. i will speak tothe twin eagles so they won't accuse me again of beinga bad teacher.""have they said something about me?""they accused you of fickleness, of shoving aside onesister for the other."chen remembered how he and princess fragrance had metthe twin eagles in the desert, and how they haddeparted without saying farewell, leaving theirmessage in the sand. with a shock, he realised whatthey had meant.

the next day, chen informed the heroes of his decisionto go to the shaolin monastery in fujian province andbade farewell to master yuan, the twin eagles, huoqingtong and her sister.

princess fragrance wanted to go with him, and chenfelt very bad about leaving her behind. he had no ideaof when they would meet again, but with heaven's help,the great task of driving the manchus out of chinawould one day succeed and they would be re-united. ifit did not succeed, he and his brothers would probablydie and be buried far from the muslim areas.

"you stay with your sister," chen said, hardening hisheart.

"you must come back!" princess fragrance cried, tearscoursing down her face. he nodded. "if it takes tenyears for you to come back, i'll wait ten years. if ittakes a lifetime, i'll wait a lifetime."chen wanted to give her something. he felt around inhis bag and his hand touched on something warm: thepiece of warm jade the emperor had given him inhaining. he took it out and placed it in her hand.

"when you look at this jade, pretend you are lookingat me," he said softly.

"but i must see you," she replied tearfully.

"what's all this crying about?" he said. "when thegreat task is completed, i will take you to see thegreat wall outside beijing. i promise."princess fragrance stared at him for a moment, thenthe trace of a smile appeared on her face. "you're notallowed to say anything you don't mean," she said.

"when have i lied to you?"only then did she agree to stay behind.

they started out. as they rode away, chen foundhimself constantly looking back at the two sisters asthey faded and gradually disappeared on the horizon ofthe desert.

the heroes travelled slowly due to yuanzhi's injuries.

with his master's death avenged, yu was in highspirits and looked after the girl with loving care andattention.

after several days, they arrived back at afanti'shome. zhou qi was delighted to hear zhang was dead.

chen wanted xu to stay with her in the muslim areasuntil the child was born and she had recovered, butzhou qi would have none of it. apart from the boredom,she did not want to miss a chance to travel to theshaolin monastery, where her father was staying. theheroes finally agreed, and xu rented a carriage forhis wife and yuanzhi to ride in.

by the time they re-entered the jade gate to centralchina, the weather was growing warmer and thebeginnings of spring were apparent.