Ding Chunqiu attacks Xue Muhua’s cellar

Ding Chunqiu attacks Xue Muhua’s cellar when the refuge that had protected Xue and his companions becomes the next obstacle in Ding’s pursuit. The confrontation draws together the disciples of Su XingHe, members of the Murong household, and Shaolin monks: the cave’s hidden defenses briefly shape how they meet the threat, but they cannot prevent Ding and You TanZhi from defeating the gathered defenders.

The refuge and the threat

The crisis begins with a voice from outside calling on Su XingHe’s disciples to surrender and warning that further delay will bring no mercy. Kang GuangLing rejects the appeal as hypocritical, since Ding Chunqiu is the very man who betrayed their sect. Feng ASan meanwhile asks how old the cave is, observing its woodwork and stone; Xue MuHua explains that the refuge has passed down through his family for generations, though he does not know who built it. Its age and inherited purpose come into focus as soon as Ding’s forces attack: this is a place kept for danger, not a way to escape it.

The first explosion shakes the cave and unsettles those inside. Feng ASan recognizes that Ding is using explosives to break open the entrance instead of trying to solve its mechanisms. Kang GuangLing condemns the method as unworthy of a sect whose Grand-Master and Master excelled in construction, mechanisms, and traps. The breach is therefore more than a practical assault: it sets Ding’s brute force against the technical tradition associated with the disciples he has turned against.

The defenders emerge

After another blast, XuanNan argues that the defenders should go out and attack rather than wait for Ding to force his way in. Deng BaiChuan, GongYe Gan, Bao BuTong, and Feng BoE agree. Fan BaiLing likewise sees retreat in the cave as a dishonor to Shaolin’s standing and accepts that a fight is unavoidable. Xue MuHua urges XuanNan to stay out of a quarrel that is not his, but the monk refuses: Shaolin, he says, intervenes in Central Plains martial affairs, and the death of his fellow monk XuanTong at the hands of a Xingxiu disciple gives the school a direct grievance against the Xingxiu Sect.

The group chooses the original passage as its route, hoping to surprise Ding. Feng ASan proposes that Xue MuHua’s family, Bao BuTong, and Feng BoE remain behind because their injuries make combat difficult. Bao BuTong refuses to accept that reasoning, insisting that severe injuries will not keep him from fighting; Feng ASan and the others shake their heads at his stubbornness. The disagreement briefly exposes the different burdens in the group: Feng ASan tries to protect the wounded, while Bao BuTong insists on joining the common danger.

Feng ASan operates the cave mechanism as three cannon shots sound. The stone slab shifts, opening a gap large enough for one person to pass through, and Feng ASan crawls out. Before he can stand, Feng BoE charges past him through the smoke, calling for Ding and striking the first man he sees. The man is a ninth disciple of the Xingxiu Sect. Feng BoE lands a second blow, but poison has left him without the strength to bring his opponent down. His rapid attack thus becomes an early sign that courage and technique alone will not be enough against the enemy’s poisons and superior force.

Ding’s terms and the first exchanges

Once the others emerge, they see Ding Chunqiu standing with two men, one short and one tall; one is the iron-headed man. Kang GuangLing recognizes Ding and confronts him as a traitor. Ding, in turn, addresses Xue MuHua as his nephew and offers to spare him if he treats the sick Shaolin monk HuiJing and joins the Xingxiu Sect as Ding’s disciple. Ding had first intended to have Xue treat HuiJing and then take the group to Kunlun Mountain to search for the frost silkworm. He now adds another inducement: he wants Xue to help him investigate the Eternal Youth Never Ageing Skill. The offer makes clear that Ding’s attack is also an attempt to bring Xue’s medical ability and knowledge under his control.

The confrontation quickly turns against the defenders. Li KuiLei mocks Ding by pretending to be his mother and inventing an absurd story about his birth. Ding responds with a green, flame-like attack from his sleeve. Li KuiLei, already using a crutch and unable to move freely, cannot evade it; he falls and rolls on the ground until Fan BaiLing throws mud onto him. Ding sends further attacks toward Kang GuangLing and the others. Kang GuangLing and XuanNan manage to deflect or cut through some of them, but Feng ASan and Fan BaiLing are struck, and all three men suffer painful burns. Ding’s disciples use the spectacle to urge the defenders to surrender.

XuanNan extinguishes the flames on Feng ASan and Fan BaiLing with two more palm strikes. At the same time, Deng BaiChuan, GongYe Gan, Kang GuangLing, and the others rush into the Xingxiu ranks and attack the disciples. Ding then steps forward to face XuanNan himself, treating the Shaolin monk as a worthy opponent. Aware that Ding’s body is covered in poison and that he knows the Great Energy Dissolving Skill, XuanNan avoids complacency and attacks in a swift sequence: eighteen consecutive Quick Palm strikes force Ding back eighteen steps, followed by thirty-six rapid kicks. Ding evades the kicks but is struck twice by XuanNan’s fists, showing that he has been pressed despite his dangerous reputation.

The defenders are overwhelmed

The opening advantage does not last. Ding beats XuanNan, then surveys a fight already turning against the defenders: GongYe Gan and Fan BaiLing are down and shivering from You TanZhi’s frost-poison palm, while Deng BaiChuan, Xue MuHua, and the others are still fighting Ding’s disciples. About seven of Ding’s disciples have been killed or injured, so the attackers have also paid a cost, but Ding and You TanZhi remain able to change the balance of the battle.

Ding attacks from behind Deng BaiChuan and then kicks Bao BuTong down. When Deng BaiChuan meets Ding’s palm, the contact leaves him weakened; a second exchange compounds the effect, and a Xingxiu disciple knocks him to the ground. In a short time, Ding and You TanZhi defeat the Murong household’s followers, the Shaolin monks, and the Eight Friends of Hangu. The outcome underscores how differently the two attackers contribute: You TanZhi has exceptionally deep internal energy but only mediocre martial skill, and Ding has taught him seven or eight palm techniques in a few days. Combined with the frost poison accumulated in You TanZhi’s body, that limited training gives his attacks extraordinary force; GongYe Gan’s successful first strike against him ends with GongYe Gan suffering the poison’s countereffect.

Xue MuHua is the only person who remains uninjured. He attacks repeatedly, but the Xingxiu disciples merely laugh and run away rather than engage him. Ding praises Xue’s martial arts as superior to those of his fellow apprentices. The praise follows immediately after the defeat of the others, sharpening the uncertainty of Ding’s earlier offer: Xue is singled out not as someone who has escaped the conflict, but as the person Ding still wants to draw into his service.

Significance of the assault

The attack turns a family refuge into a contested threshold. The cave’s inherited purpose and concealed mechanism give its occupants a chance to choose their moment, yet the explosives bypass the craft on which its defenses depend. When the group finally emerges, its unity is real but fragile: Shaolin’s institutional duty and personal grievance bring XuanNan into the fight, the Murong household and the Eight Friends of Hangu join the resistance, and even the injured insist on taking part. None of these commitments can neutralize poison, frost-poison, and Ding’s ability to exploit openings.

The battle also brings together the old sect rupture and its consequences. Ding demands that Xue MuHua become his disciple even as Kang GuangLing calls him a traitor; You TanZhi, newly armed with a small set of techniques, becomes a decisive force because of the poison in his body. The cellar assault thus ends not with the defenders’ planned surprise attack but with their defeat and Xue MuHua isolated as the one uninjured man Ding still seeks to recruit.