Zhang and the Three Devils watched the wolves swarmafter Chen and the girls with great relief, althoughthey felt a tinge of regret at the thought of two suchbeautiful girls being ravished by the animals. Thefour men sat down to rest for a while, then roastedand ate one of the dead wolves left behind. Gu noticedthat the supply of tree branches was almost exhausted,and too lazy to go and get more, he threw piles ofwolf's dung onto the fire to stoke up the flames.

　　Before long, a column of thick, black smoke was risingtowards the heavens.

　　Just as they had eaten their fill of wolf meat, theynoticed a dust cloud approaching from the east.

　　Assuming it to be another wolf pack, they franticallyjumped up and ran for the horses. Only two horses wereleft, both of which had been brought by the ThreeDevils. Zhang stretched out his hand to take the reinsof one of the mounts, but Hahetai lunged in front ofhim and grabbed them first, shouting: "What do youthink you're doing?"Zhang was about to attack him when he spied Tang andGu with weapons in their hands closing in. "Why areyou getting so excited?" he protested. "They aren'twolves."The Three Devils turned to look and Zhang vaulted ontothe horse's back. Only then did he notice that his liewas in fact the truth: in the midst of the dust cloudwas a large herd of camels and goats. He galloped offtowards the herd, shouting: "I'll go and have a look!"After riding only a short way, he saw a rider comingtowards him. The rider, an old man dressed in grey,raced up and stopped his mount instantly with a tug onthe reins. Zhang marvelled at his horsemanship.

　　The rider saw Zhang was wearing the tattered uniformof a Manchu military officer and asked in Chinese:

　　"What happened to the wolves?" Zhang pointed west.

　　By this time, the herd was upon them and in the midstof the dust and noise and confusion, Zhang noticed abald-headed, red-faced old man and a white-haired oldwoman riding herd. He was just about to ask who theywere when the Three Devils came over and bowedrespectfully before the old man in grey.

　　"We are honoured to meet you again, sir," Tang saidobsequiously. "How are you?"The old man grunted. "Nothing to complain about," hemumbled. It was the Strange Knight of the HeavenlyPool, Master Yuan.

　　Zhang knew nothing of the old man, but he noted therespect with which the Three Devils treated him.

　　Master Yuan examined the four of them for a moment,then said: "We are going to catch the wolves. You willall come with me."They started in fright and wondered if he was insane.

　　But the Three Devils knew his kung fu was formidableand did not dare to refuse.

　　Zhang, however, emitted a "humph" of astonishment andsaid: "I want to live a few more years. Sorry, but Iwill be unable to accompany you." He turned to leave.

　　Absolutely furious, Bald Vulture grabbed for Zhang'swrist shouting: "So you refuse to heed Master Yuan'sorders! Do you wish to die?"Zhang deflected his hand deftly with a 'Dividing TheClouds and Moon' stroke, and the two fought closelyfor a while, neither gaining the upper hand. Then theyleapt apart, both surprised that they should come uponsuch a master of the martial arts in the middle of thedesert.

　　"What is your name, friend?" Zhang shouted.

　　"What makes you think you're good enough to be myfriend? Will you or will you not do what Master Yuansays?"Zhang knew he was as good a fighter as himself, andyet he still respectfully referred to the other oldman as "Master Yuan", indicating Yuan's kung fu wasprobably even better. Who is this Master Yuan? hewondered. "What is your full name, sir?" he askedYuan. "If you are my superior, I will naturallyrespect your orders.""Ha! So you wish to question me, do you?" Master Yuanexclaimed. "It is I that does the questioning. I askyou: just now, you used a 'Dividing the Clouds andMoon' move. But what would you have done if I hadreplied with a 'Descending the Mountain to Kill theTiger' stroke on your left while going for yourSpiritual Yuedao point on your right?"Zhang thought for a second. "I would have kicked outwith an 'Arrow Shooting the Hawk' move, and grabbedyour wrist.""Then you are obviously a member of the WudangSchool," Yuan replied, to Zhang's evident surprise.

　　"Once when I was in Hubei, I sparred with Master MaZhen." Zhang went deathly pale. "Now then, if I used a'Secret Hand' move to counter your attempt to seize mywrist, and then struck at your face with my left hand,what would you do? Master Ma Zhen was unable to avoidthis move. Let's see if you can work it out."Zhang thought deeply for a while. "If you were fast, Iwould naturally be unable to avoid the blow," he saidfinally. "I could aim a 'Yuanyang Kick' at your leftribs to force you to retract your hand to defendyourself."Yuan laughed. "Not bad. Of all the fighters in theWudang School, you are probably the best.""I would then aim to touch your 'Xianji' Yuedaopoint," Zhang continued.

　　"Good! A master always attacks if he can. But I wouldthen step into the 'Guimei' position and attack yourlower body.""I would then retreat to the 'Song' position andstrike out for your 'Heavenly Spring' Yuedao point."Gu and Hahetai listened in bewilderment to the strangewords. Hahetai gave Tang's gown a tug and whispered:

　　"What's this code they're speaking in?""It's not code, they're using the names of the SixtyFour Positions and the Yuedao points on the humanbody," Tang replied.

　　"I advance to the 'Ming Ye' positon and attack with aQimen move," Yuan said.

　　"I retreat to the 'Zhong Fu' position and counter witha Phoenix Eye move," replied Zhang.

　　"I advance to the 'Jizhai' position and go for your'Huan Jiao' Yuedao."The pressure was begining to show on Zhang's face, andthere was a pause before he answered: "I retreat tothe 'Zhen' position and then to the Fu position.""How come he keeps retreating?" whispered Hahetai, butTang waved him to silence. The verbal sparringcontinued, Yuan smiling and obviously at ease, Zhangbeginning to sweat and sometimes taking a long time tocome up with a response. The Three Devils knew that ina real fight, he would have had no time for suchthinking, and would have been beaten long ago.

　　After a few more moves, Zhang said: "I attack with a'Xiao Shu' move and then strike at your wrist.""That's not good enough," Yuan replied. "You lose.""Please explain," said Zhang.

　　"If you don't believe me, I'll show you. Be careful!"Yuan's right leg kicked up at Zhang's knees.

　　Zhang jumped away shouting: "If you touch me..." butbefore he could finish, Yuan's right hand had shot outand touched a Yuedao point on his chest. He felt asurge of pain and immediately began to coughuncontrollably.

　　Yuan smiled at him. "Well?" he asked.

　　The others were amazed by this nonchalant display ofsuch profound kung fu skills. Zhang, looking deathlypale, did not dare to continue his intransigence. "Iwill do as you say, Master Yuan," he replied.

　　"But your kung fu is first class," Bald Vulture added.

　　"What is your name?""My surname is Zhang, my given name Zhaozhong. And mayI ask your names?""Ah, so it's the Fire Hand Judge," Bald Vulturereplied. "Brother Yuan, he's a martial brother ofMaster Ma Zhen."Yuan grunted. "His brother is not as good as him.

　　Let's go." He galloped off.

　　There were several horses mixed in amongst the camelsand goats, and Zhang and Hahetai chose a mount eachand began helping to herd the animals after MasterYuan.

　　As they galloped along, Zhang said to Bald Vulture:

　　"Excuse me. These wolves are very numerous. How do youintend to catch them?""You just do as Master Yuan says," Bald Vulturereplied. "What's so terrifying about a few littlewolves?" Madame Guan, riding nearby, smiled to hearher husband bluffing Zhang.

　　They rode on. Suddenly Yuan wheeled his horse roundand shouted: "The wolf droppings are very fresh. Thepack passed here not long ago. From the look of it,we'll catch up to them in another ten miles or so.

　　We'll ride another five miles and then all pick freshhorses. When we have caught up to them, I will leadthe way. The six of you must divide up, three on eachside to make sure the animals don't escape, otherwisethe wolf pack will split up." Just as Tang was aboutto ask a question, Yuan turned and galloped off.

　　The wolf droppings around them became increasinglymoist as they went.

　　"The pack must be just ahead," said Madame Guan. "Withour camels and horses making such a noise, it'ssurprising they haven't turned back already.""Yes, it is strange," her husband replied. A couple ofmiles further on, the topography began to change andthey saw a cluster of hills ahead with a tall whitemountain in their midst. The Twin Eagles had longlived in the desert, and had heard many stories aboutthis beautiful mountain, sparkling in the brightsunshine.

　　"The wolves must have gone into the maze!" Yuanshouted. "Everyone whip the animals!" They raisedtheir horses whips and began beating the camels andhorses, and a great roar went up as the beasts snortedand neighed in pain and anger. Before long, a largegrey wolf appeared, running towards them from thehills.

　　Yuan whirled his long whip about his head and crackedit sharply in the air. Then with a shout, he whirledhis horse round and galloped off south, with the TwinEagles, Zhang and the Three Devils driving the herdafter him. After a couple of miles, the howls of thewolf pack arose from behind. Bald Vulture glanced backand saw the grey tide moving towards them across thedesert. He spurred his horse on and caught up with theothers. Zhang, Gu and Tang appeared to be havingdifficulty keeping their terror under control, butHahetai was shouting and whistling crazily, drivingthe animals on and intercepting strays. He was aherdsman by birth and he made sure not one was lost.

　　The wolves were ferocious and persistent, but theylacked stamina. After four or five miles, they hadalready be............