I voiced my suspicions to Yuan Chongxi and Lin Feng, both of whom agreed that what I said might be true. “If this is indeed true, then we are in for a hell of trouble,” said Yuan Chongxi, “Including Bai Chuanwei, there would at least be four of them while there’s only the three of us.” He paused and swallowed another mouthful of noodles.

“Chongxi’s right,” Lin Feng remarked, rubbing his chin, “Bai Chuanwei would undoubted has strengths of his own, otherwise he would never have earned a moniker of “the Invisible Hand”. But with the help of another three men… They addressed themselves as ‘the Thirteen Apostles’ in the letter of challenge, I think this means that all four of them are part of the Thirteen. We know that Bai Chuanwei is the Sixth Apostles, but we still know nothing of the other three…” “Indeed,” I quipped, nodding too, “Of the remaining Thirteen, save for Bai Chuanwei who is the Sixth, the Second, Tenth, Eleventh, Twelfth Apostles are still unaccounted for. But they are not ranked based on the hierarchy of strength or ability, but rather the date of their admission into the Creed. Hence we have no way of knowing how powerful the rest of the Apostles are. But since they dare to challenge us openly, I’m afraid…”

Despite having been awake the entire night, we went on discussing plans with Zheng Shuang and Zhu Jun until 2 in the afternoon. When I was able to rest finally, fatigue descended upon me with tremendous wake as I immediately succumbed into slumber and set aside my plans temporarily.

The sun was blazing up high at noon when I finally woke up. The spectral figures of Xiao Qi and Xiao San w were circling around Lin Feng when I opened my eyes and began to look around. Lin Feng fiddling with a long staff. “What’s that, Brother?” I asked sleepily, rubbing my eyes. “Ah, you’re up,” he replied, and smiled to me, “This is a quarterstaff. I feel that a whip might not be suitable for a sparring duel, so I went to my dad’s and got this. Since the fight’s this evening, I’d need something I can get used to quick.” I nodded, saying nothing else. In some ways, I admired Lin Feng’s prowess in combat. He may be a jack of all trades but a master of none in all kinds of weapons. But he was is still a very powerful warrior who could hold his own in a fight. In some ways, Lin Feng was strongest in hand-to-hand combat. A weapon was merely an additional tool to him.

I stood up, remembering the normal-looking sword my father gave me. I went into my room and retrieved it. I run a cloth down the blade of my sword, wiping it clean as I recited softly the spells my father just taught me, trying my best to commit them to my memory. These will be my weapons for today’s duel!

So came the arduous wait, the silence before the storm as the clock ticked closer to the hour of reckoning. At five in the evening, we drove to the fields at the northern outskirts of town. This was a deserted area where the gentrification of the town had yet to reach. There was only an abandoned and decrepit factory at the wasteland, a lonesome monument from the Revolution that local workers had left when the management of the factory had moved somewhere else.

We stopped the car outside the factory compound. Stepping off our vehicle, we shared dark and careful looks with each other and marched into the remnants of the factory.

We have barely stepped through the creaking gates when a whistle pierced the silence in the air. We looked around quickly, hoping to find the origin of the sound and saw a small and lean figure standing at the roof of the factory quickly slipping into the factory building. My companions and I looked and nodded encouragingly at each other before we broke into a run, chasing after the unknown person. We reached the entrance of the factory, but the door was held tightly shut by a set of fresh locks. Somebody is here regularly. But just when Lin Feng and I were troubled by the lock, Yuan Chongxi lowered himself to a crouch and he studied the lock. Smugly, he jeered, “Can a junk like this even be called a lock?”

As he muttered to himself, Yuan Chongxi found a steel wire the length of his finger and inserted it into the hole of the lock. Within seconds, the lock dislodged with a “Click!” and Yuan Chongxi swung opened the large steel door of the factory pompously, looking extremely pleased with himself. “Hmph! A junk like this is hardly a challenge!” He added loudly. Lin Feng and I could only smile to each other; Yuan Chongxi just could not resist bragging a little whenever the opportunity for him to display his prowess arose.

The first thing that caught our attention when we entered the factory was a large square pool. This was a paper manufacturing plant some time ago before its abandonment. In the pool, we saw thick residues paper pulp now hardened with age. But the factory was devoid of any other signs of life. We looked around warily, while beginning to think that we might have been tricked. Just when we were about to give up and leave, a clap of applause echoed suddenly, shocking us terribly that we spun on our heels almost instantly. We turned to find three figures standing at the door where we first entered! Lin Feng brandished his iron quarterstaff quickly and my hand wandered to the hilt of my sword. The leader of the three stopped his clapping and declared loudly, “I applaud you for your nerve to accept our challenge, and your honorable attitude to this duel has changed what I first thought of you.” I fished a cigarette from my pocket and lighted it. I took a casual swig and said cooly, “Well, here we are. Enough with the sophistry! Announce yourselves!”

The three men were indeed dressed strangely like how the plump boy had described them. The plump boy’s depiction was spot-on that the three looked as if they were background actors from a historical drama. “I am the Tenth of the Thirteen Apostles,” announced the leader of the three proudly. His two other companions followed suit, saying, “I’m the Eleventh,” and “I’m the Twelfth” respectively. But just when they had barely finished disclosing their identities, Yuan Chongxi could not resist a peal of stifled laughter. “What is this? The cards Ten, Jack, and Queen from a card suit?! The Thirteen Apostles are ranked like how cards in a suit are arranged?” Coincidentally, every suit in a deck of playing cards has thirteen cards. The Tenth Apostle’s expression immediately turned dark and sour at Yuan Chongxi’s scathing remark; clearly, this was the first time he had suffered such impudence. The members of the Thirteen Apostles enjoyed a respectable position and standing within the Creed that such disrespect and mockery were rare, if not unknown. Still, Yuan Chongxi’s sudden remark made me and Lin Feng giggle as well that the Twelfth Apostle turned enraged. “Silence! You lot must be punished for your impertinence!”

Having no stomach to banter words with them any further, I simply said, “Just cut the crap. What do you want?” “Nothing special,” said the Tenth Apostle, suppressing his anger, “We only want to teach you three a lesson for causing such affront and insult to us. Since the great Murong Shiyan is brave enough to come, I’ll be direct. We want to challenge you three to a duel! Your blood will be spilled here, if you lose! The Sixth Apostle might be fearful of you, but we are not!” Then I realized, Bai Chuanwei was not around! But to confirm my suspicions, I goaded the Apostle again, “Where’s Bai Chuanwei! Have him show himself!” “The Sixth is not here! Save your breath!” barked the Tenth Apostle, “Just you wait, Murong Shiyan! It’s only by the auspices of your father that your attacks on the Creed are working, otherwise, you’d be nothing but a powerless pup! The Sixth may be so afraid of Murong Hai that he chooses not to be present here today, but rest assured we are hardly afraid of him!”

“All right, all right!” I snapped at him, with a hand raised in a stopping gesture, “Just get on with the duel. I need to finish this quick and be home for dinner!” The Tenth Apostle nostrils were flaring with anger at my provocation. “Don’t be hasty, Murong Shiyan. Be careful of what you wish for. The three of us will duel one-on-one against each other, no holds barred!” “Very good,” I remarked, “Single combat till the death it is then.” Without waiting for me to finish, the Twelfth Apostle, who had been standing at the back, sneered devilishly and walked towards us, his hand pointing at Yuan Chongxi. “I challenge you, Shorty! I’ll teach you a lesson for your haughty words just now!” Yuan Chongxi merely looked at him with a disdainful glare and nodded. A sly and evil grin broke on the Twelfth Apostle’s face as Yuan Chongxi’s agreement to a fight and he immediately leaped into the center of the empty square pool.

Lin Feng and I merely gazed at Yuan Chongxi who jumped past the concrete walls of the pool after his adversary. He landed with a loud thud, shattering a few hardened paper pulps into splinters. He would be all right, I think… So I thought as I shared a puzzled and confused look with Lin Feng.

But there was hardly any need for us to worry for Yuan Chongxi’s safety; he might not be powerful and skilled in combat or sorcery, but he was a genius in the methods of divination. He would surely have known how to defeat his opponent, otherwise, he would never have so haphazardly accepted the challenge.

The Twelfth Apostle was guffawing fiendishly at Yuan Chongxi’s clumsy manner of climbing into the pool. The Tenth Apostle came beside me suddenly, whispering frostily like the cold gleam of a sharp blade into my ears, “Come, Master Murong. Let us go nearer for a closer look…”