Mingzhou (present-day Ningbo).
In an empty meditation room, a grizzled, powerfully built man sat facing the wall, regulating his breathing. He was not tall, but his knotted muscles looked as though they had been cast in bronze and iron. He wore loose gray training clothes, and a shaft of clear daylight fell from above the wall before him, illuminating a painting of a ferocious tiger climbing a mountain...
The door opened gently. A tall, spirited young man dressed in white tiptoed inside, clasped his hands, and said quietly, "Father, Yang Tiansheng of the Bright Cult has once again refused mediation over tea."
"I understand," the grizzled man replied calmly.
The young man straightened. After hesitating for several breaths, he spoke again. "Father, I found someone who witnessed Yang Erlang kill Duan Yu with his saber at the Giant Whale Gang's headquarters..."
"There is no need to tell me."
The grizzled man softly interrupted his eldest son. "I know he is strong. But I am confident I am stronger!"
Hearing that familiar theory-"Investigating an enemy's martial arts before battle means fear has entered your heart; with fear in your heart, openings appear in your fighting"-the young man silently raised his eyes to the painting of the tiger climbing the mountain.
He knew that was his father's greatest fear.
As a child, his father had gone into the mountains with his grandfather to gather firewood. They encountered a vicious tiger coming down to hunt. His grandfather lost an arm protecting his father, and died two or three years after returning home.
That savage, brutal tiger became a shadow that hung over his father for most of his life. He trained desperately in martial arts both to avenge his grandfather and to conquer the shadow in his heart.
Yet even after mastering martial