Issue: 722 / Gold Dragon's Terrible Crime
Cover: Gold Dragon
Published: September 22, 1989

Summary Added: September 3, 2001

I am going to refer to the burnt monk from last issue as Honorable Teacher since that is what everyone refers to him as. The head monk will simply be called Head Monk because I haven't yet caught his real name.

When we left off last issue Chan Ou Wan was laying flat on his back after being knocked to the ground by Barbarian. Barbarian angrily asks the prone Chan if he is a disciple of Ancestor. He replies back that Ancestor considers him (Chan) to be a joke. He also suggests that they give up their quest to find Ancestor or it will lead them to more deaths. In exchange for his life Chan agrees to help them search for Ancestor. With the deal made, Chan saddles up and rides along with Barbarian and Guy.

Meanwhile, Gold Dragon has just thrown a pile of burning logs onto Honorable Teacher. Even Tiger Wong is stunned by this outragious action but Gold Dragon just slaps the dust off his hands with a satisfied look on his face. Honorable Teacher struggles back to a seated position all the while remaining very calm. He explains that it was his destiny to ascend at midday. The fire was to transform his body but Gold Dragon's actions have now delayed the event. The head monk orders his men to extinguish the flames. They quickly comply and then wrap Honorable Teacher in blankets to protect him after the serious burns he received. It looks as if our heroes are starting to feel a bit guilty about their actions. I'm a bit confused by the conversation but it looks as if the head monk wants Gold Dragon to come with them. They seem to need his assistance for another ceremony but Dragon declines. One of the lesser monks gets very angry that Gold Dragon first spoiled their ceremony and now refuses the invitation of their leader. There's some more bickering back and forth until our heroes finally agree to follow the monks.

Elsewhere, Chan Ou Wan is now travelling by horseback with Barbarian and Guy in search of Ancestor. Chan leads them to a mountain and the three begin to work their way to the top. They climb until there above the level of the clouds. Chan points out Ancestor's cave and the three enter. Chan distracts Barbarian and then jumps off the mountain into the obscuring clouds. Guy notices a light up in the sky. It decends causing the clouds to erupt in a storm.

Elsewhere, The Supreme is leading some horses across a river while Ancestor sits with Maggie. Ancestor picks up a block of stone and carves out the name Tiger Wong with his finger. Then he crushes the stone to dust. After chatting for a while the three once again head out by horseback. As they travel along the sky begins to take on an eerie red hue. Animals begin to run past in terror and a huge storm whips up. The Supreme and Maggie flee but Ancestor stands defiant. The storm begins ripping the ground apart, tosing animals as large as bulls yet Ancestor withstands it all. A bolt of electricity rips into Ancestor but he brushes it off, then a ball of energy drops to the ground creating a tremendous explosion.

Issue: 723 - My Blood to Forge a Sword
Cover: Ancestor - this in my opinion is a particularly cool cover
Published: September 22, 1989

Summary Added: September 10, 2001

Just as a point of interest. It looks as if Ancestor's Kung Fu is called Nine Deadly Evil Achievement. As least that's what I translated it to.

The ball of energy drives itself into the small mountain on which Ancestor was standing. It ignites the surrounder area into a sea of flames but the only thing that Ancestor is worried about is Maggie's safety. He rushes to her aid but suddenly stops in his tracks despite the fact that the mountain is collapsing beneath him. He senses something under his feet. He shouts out that it's his sword but I'm not sure what he means. My theory is that when Energy Soldier was shattered back in issue 707 it released it's spirit and it's now returned in the form of a huge glowing ball. Anyway, it occurs to him that he still hasn't checked on Maggie so he rushes down to find her and The Supreme waiting near a lake.

Maggie seems to be most concerned that Ancestor lost his shirt which seems a bit odd considering their situation. He explains that it burned off but gets interrupted when the side of the small mountain explodes outward. Maggie and The Supreme hop on their horse and urge Ancestor to run but he intends to stands his ground. 'Are you insane!', Maggie cries out, 'You think you can hold back a landslide all by yourself?'. He replies, 'I'm here to welcome it'. Welcome... A landslide?, shouts The Supreme. As the wall of stone bears down upon Ancestor he orders Maggie to run then raising his arms he uses his incredible inner power to hold back the mountain. Suddenly the huge red ball of energy burst from the heart of the mountain like a locomotive from hell. Ancestor becomes excited shouting 'It's Mine!'. He unleashes a powerful punch that cracks the side of the sphere but has to hop into the air to avoids it rush. The sphere comes to a halt and begins cooling off until the entire thing cracks open revealing a liquid center. Ancestor orders The Supreme to toss him his knife. He grabs up a huge slab of rock and begins carving into it. He then takes his fingers and snips off the end of the knife leaving a flat edge. Continueing to work he carves out a sword shaped indentation. Next he takes the knife and cuts into his wrist allowing his blood to flow into the sword carving. Once he fills the carving (and mind you this is a full size sword so he used a lot of blood), he grabs up the stone block and plunges it into a river.

Following Ancestor's lead The Supreme begins carving out a dagger and fills it with his blood. He then drops it into the river but it appears the process has taken it's toll on him. The Supreme's skin begins swelling and he seems to be having trouble breathing. Using his inner power Ancestor raises the two stone blocks out of the water and shatterd them leaving only the sword and knife floating in the air. He begins controlling the weapons the same way he used to control Energy Soldier. They shatter some stones and then fly over to Ancestor's hands.

Later that evening Ancestor begins sharpening his sword on a large stone. Finally he takes the sword and plunges it into his own belly.