The Vast Desert 大沙漠 Part 2

Source

CLH et al went inside the house and found only one stone statue of Kuan Yin. They went out again when Little Phoa said that Stone Camel was so scared. CLH deduced that the blind Stone Camel realised who killed thos burglars. When Chor tai-gor returned to the crime scene, he realised that the Kuan Yin stone statue was gone. In its place was a pan full of braised beef that was so inviting to the hungry men. Always wary, CLH, Wu and Ki Ping-yan did not eat the beef dish. A dog barked inside and ate the dish without any sign of food poisoning. Still, our friends knew that whoever killed the burglars had not only left the food, he/she had annoyed these wanderers by releasing a dog who immediately ate the food. Disgusted, Wu threw away the beef dish outside. After a while, they heard a scream outside and realised that Little Phoa died eating the poisonous braised beef that Wu threw out of the window.

CLH now realised his enemy was the Stone Kuan Yin, a very skilful swordswoman who was also very good at the art of disguise. She killed the burglars and disguised herself as a stone statue. In the previous story, the Stone Kuan Yin also ordered Chiu Ling-siok to ruin her own face so that the Stone Kuan Yin remained the prettiest woman on earth (or at least in the Central Plains).

The Vast Desert 大沙漠 Part 1

The Gobi Desert (source)

As I’m watching nervously for Hurrican Irma to batter Florida USA (Hannah, stay safe!!!), I’m reading the second Chor Lau-heung novel from Ku Lung titled “The Vast Desert” 大沙漠. It’s over 200 pages of PDF as well, so I will try to finish reading it in 4-5 weeks. I read this novel in the Indonesian version; I suspect the translator is the same with the one who translated “Fluttering Fragrance on the Bloody Sea” 血海飄香. The writing style belongs to a slightly older period, perhaps the 80s, which in itself is nice to read, albeit a bit confusing at times. The chapter in PDF started with “Chapter 13”, which is weird. It does not follow the chapters in the last novel, which ended in Chapter 17. “The Vast Desert” has ended in “Chapter 28”, so it has 15 chapters. I’ll just assume Chapter 13 is Chapter 1 then.

Part 1 (Chapters 1-3)

After his adventure in the last novel, Chor Lau-heung returned to the Fragrant Boat in the hope that he’d get a delicious lunch from the girls. However, So Yung-yung, Li Hung-chao and Sung Tim-yi were nowhere to be seen. Upon finding a black pearl on top of a pile of yellow sand, Chor tai-gor’s blood boiled. He deduced that Black Pearl, the son of the Desert King we saw in the “Fluttering Fragrance on the Bloody Sea” 血海飄香. Black Pearl left a note: “You took my horse, I take your women.” Capitally disturbed, CLH rode his horse (well, Black Pearl’s) towards the Western Desert (I assume the Gobi Desert).