In the year 1836 in Canton China there lived a young mystic and scholar named Ling Fong. He was tall, handsome, and very intelligent, and had thus far distinguished himself in every area of his endeavor. In his twentieth year Ling Fong married a beautiful young girl and they were for awhile very happy. But then one day for no apparent reason the girl slit her wrists and died.

Upon this event there followed many vile rumors about impotense and cruelty but none were true. The girl had contracted a brain fever and, from an insane man, had procured an evil potion infused with a certain measure of black lotus. The foul lies and insinuations surrounding this tragedy brought profound disgrace and shame upon Ling Fong and his entire family. One day the young man was deeply saddened when he found that he was no longer received in the house of his father.

Ling Fong's brother Ling Ba was a highly placed man with much power in the national government. This brother had a beautiful wife and five lovely daughters. In spite of this he was a very evil man and had terrible plans to enslave the people of China. He had turned his entire family to this evil and they not only shared, but embellished and magnified, his plans for tyranny.

A certain faction of mystic warriors learned of the plans of Ling Ba. One day an emissary from this group contacted Ling Fong and advised him thusly:

"Young sir, we have heard of your shame in marriage but also of your prowess in the arcane and martial sciences. We also know enough of the man who was consulted for medicine by your poor wife to have a better than average opinion of your true value as a person. We must now urgently recommend that you seek council with the great Master and Sorcerer Fu Fang Shih. Yes, the very same! He who has mastery of the Macrocosm and the Microcosm. This will be an opportunity to redeem your reputation and serve your country as well."

Ling Fong agreed with eager enthusiasm.
___

September 5, 1836. Hong Kong

Now we follow Ling Fong more closely. It is a gray breezy day as the young scholar begins his long climb to the great fortified monastery to visit Fu Fang Shih who is expecting him.

Fu Fang Shih has knowledge of many things that have only become more popularly comprehended in modern times. Unknown to the young man, Fu Fang Shih has been monitoring and directing his attainment in martial and arcane matters since he first began to demonstrate unusual proficiency in these things at the age of eight.

When Fu Fang Shih heard about the plans of Ling Ba, knowing as he did the skills and tribulations of Ling Fong, the solution to Ling Fong's and China's problems came instantly into his mind like a lantern exploding into radiance.

Now at the massive steel-banded door of the great stone edifice, Ling Fong is received by an officious looking young monk who shows him to a room where is to await the Master's arrival. Fu Fang Shih enters almost immediately and greets the young man warmly.

Ling Fong exclaims "I have often thought of eventually applying for a period of study with you once I reached the higher degrees, but never thought I would meet you this early in my life."

Fu Fang Shih replies "If you are willing, I have a long and heroic quest to set you upon. If you survive it, you will want to continue your studies of course, but will require little further initiation."

"Please, tell me more" invites Ling Fong.

"The quest will require you to have absolute faith in the good intentions of myself and the warriors who sent you to me. You will have very little choice of action. In this adventure I would liken you to a pawn upon the chess board of China, but a mighty and immovable pawn of tempered steel forged in the fires of cultural necessity. There will be times ahead when you will find evil where you least expect it, when you will not trust anything that lives, when you will curse your parents for giving you birth. Your success and heroism will depend solely upon your will to continue living."

"All this sounds very bad. What is the good?"

"The good is that you will save your countrymen from a permanent evil reign of oppression and misery. This quest is a strange mixture of the mystical, the perversely erotic, and the political. In the process you will grow immeasurably in courage and wisdom, ... if you survive at all! Back now to the bad. You will undergo torture. You will cry for the quick mercy of death. If, however, you survive and emerge triumphant, your name will be called out by all and sundry, young and old alike, forever in the halls of greatness."

The nature of Ling Fong will permit him no answer except "Yes, I will go upon this quest."
___

October 8, 1836. Shanghai

Ling Fong enters the House of Wong. He is expected and is taken to a small room. The sentry explains "The first task in your mission is to destroy seven of the most evil men in China. You will cut their throats. In this way you will prove your faith and worthiness to proceed further."

The man produces a large razor sharp knife. Ling Fong sighs with knitted brow but takes the knife. The seven people are led in wearing hoods to conceal them from Ling Fong. One at a time he reaches around and cuts their throats. Then he thoroughly washes his hands in the basin provided.

The sentry now speaks a different story. "You are too trusting, young sir. We deceived you. You have just murdered a fine man, his wife, and their five beautiful daughters. Now you will have to be severely punished for your callous stupidity." Ling Fong tries to bolt, but two huge sentries restrain him.
___

Ling Fong remains in captivity and is taken to the House of Po. He is shown to a large private bathing room, is given a razor, and ordered to bath and shave off all his body hair. Appreciating the danger of his circumstances he reluctantly complies.

A beautiful shapely green-eyed woman receives him and when they are alone she orders him to disrobe, reminding him that he is greatly outnumbered by many armed henchman who await her slightest call. She can see that he is becoming excited and addresses Ling Fong thusly:

"My name is Lin Yi. You are my slave! You will belong to me for all time, unless I decide to sell you to the Academy of Torture. From here onward there will be no sex and there will be no masturbation. You will eat oysters daily to increase your semen production, but no relief will ever be permitted. Do you understand me, slave?"

With this she produces a polished wooden club perfect for this occasion and gooses Ling Fong in such a way as to make him bow, actually curtsy, quite deeply. She raises her voice and gooses again harder saying "Lower. You are my slave, not an imperial doorman!"

She then produces a cat of four tails and whips Ling Fong's buttocks to a throbbing pinkness. Trembling, broken by Lin Yi's beauty and feminine will, he spends the rest of the evening and all of the next day in close attendance to his new mistress.
___

A week passes and Ling Fong is taken to the House of Chung. He is lead to the garden where two long-legged, blue-eyed beauties approach him. They are lily white in their nakedness. They order him to disrobe. The first orders him upon his hands and knees and produces instant results by goosing in the same manner as Lin Yi a week earlier.

She looks down teasingly as the other girl lightly pommels Ling Fong from behind to tweak and sustain his double aching compliance. The girl in front suddenly drops to a low squat looking around right into Ling Fong's eyes fiercely displaying her large beautiful white teeth in a dazzling smile. The girl behind now pommels harder instructing Ling Fong who responds in passionate nuzzling obeisance.

The girls then lead Ling Fong to a bedroom and take turns strapping his buttocks with a wide belt for what seems to him an eternity. Then the girls have sex for hours while Ling Fong watches in chains and frustration at their feet.

After another week Ling Fong is taken to the House of Chang. Here there are four beautiful women who tease Ling Fong mercilessly and flail the standing ambassador of his arousal with thin velvet string whips. Yet another week passes.
___

Now Ling Fong is at last taken to the legendary House of Shame. The High Priestess is tall, with long legs, high cheekbones, and ice blue eyes. She is truly one of the most beautiful women in all of China. Using telepathy she is able to magickally stimulate and increase, beyond endurance, her prisoners' deepest archetypal yearnings.

Upon Ling Fong's arrival, The High Priestess enters and introduces herself with the usual goosing customary in these situations and proclaims "For the next Seven Days I will put you to the Seven Torments, compel you in the Seven Obediences, and finally, in front of Seven Hundred and Seventy Seven Women, instruct you in the Dance of the Seven Shames. Then after a period of rest and healing you will be given a choice".

For the next week the High Priestess inflicts cruelties and instructs Ling Fong in matters far beyond the power of words and the boundaries of simple human decency to describe. After he dances in obedient naked shame for the assembly she leads him to the terrace.
___

Ling Fong is now taken and set free in the outer courtyard of his brother's fortified and heavily guarded house. The maid peers out the window and recognizes him. Ling Ba has been informed about the true events of Ling Fong's marriage and that his brother's good name will soon be restored. For this reason Ling Fong is taken in and fed.

Ling Fong has a wonderful dinner with Ling Ba, his wife, and their five beautiful daughters. Ling Ba enjoys his wine and speaks with gleefully about his plans for China. In the past Ling Fong has always talked openly with his brother, but now he is disgusted and appalled by what he hears and says nothing.

It's drawing near to bedtime. Ling Fong has, for all his time in captivity since the House of Wong, been given a potion every night to help him sleep. Every night in his dreams he has killed seven people by cutting their throats, but who are they? Are they good or evil? This troubles him very deeply, but strangely he feels no tendency to discuss any of the recent events of his captivity with his brother or his family.

Now it is bedtime. When he is finally alone Ling Fong does not relieve his accrued testicular pendulousity as nature would demand. He badly needs rest and simply takes his usual potion, and now sleeps long and deeply. When he awakens he is startled to see that his smock is completely drenched with blood. He raises it to see where he is bleeding but he is not.

Ling Fong goes to the room of his brother and finds Ling Ba and his wife in bed with their throats cut. Then he visits the room of each daughter and finds the same thing. At this point he considers taking his own life, but remembers the words of Fu Fang Shih. His natural curiosity and heroic nature lead him on. There will be time enough to kill himself later when there is greater comprehension, and possibly less reason.

Ling Fong dresses quickly but not quickly enough. Four of Ling Ba's highly skilled mercenaries armed with swords confront him in the hall near the doorway. Ling Fong advances briskly towards them, leaps high into the air and, with his right leg fully extended into a powerful kick, dislocates the first man's skull from his spinal column. The man is dead before he hits the floor. In mid-air Ling Fong catches the man's falling sword just as he lands and in the next five seconds decapitates the next two men and impales the heart of the third, then pulling the sword and cleaving the man's skull just for good measure.

Breathing rapidly now Ling Fong shakes his head and says aloud to himself, "I am badly in need of rest and proper nutrition. That took far too much of my time and energy."

Good luck now conjoins with skill. The sword, as only fate would have it, is a very good one. It is well that Ling Fong knows this and has hung on to the sword for in crossing the courtyard he must now kill twelve more mercenaries before reaching the outer gate. At this point he is breathing very hard indeed and feels very weak.

The minute Ling Fong steps outside his deceased brother's stronghold he is immediately taken into captivity again by the very people who brought him there. He is taken once again to the House of Shame. He is told that he must continue in his chastity and is regulated accordingly. But he is also given many arcane books and access to the garden. For two weeks he is allowed to study, rest, and heal.
___

Now he is brought again to the High Priestess. She looks into his eyes. "Your work is done. Some good news. The people you killed in the House of Wong were in fact the seven evil men about whom you were first told. The remaining functionaries of the evil movement started by your brother were killed within the hour you left his house by the same warriors who started you on this great adventure. I know little of the complexities. Fu Fang Shih will later explain anything else that happened which may be troubling you now. You and I have been though much together. Now I give you the choice to express yourself freely with me for the next three hours before I set you free."

Ling Fong gently takes her hand and leads her to the bed. He places the hourglass on the nightstand. The dear hard little tummy of the Queen of All Witches feels very good against his own now as he proceeds slowly to prolong his experience. This is not easy and he unavoidably climaxes, but recovers quickly. This happens again, but now he is sufficiently depressurized to be able to regulate the last climax for maximum intensity precisely at the end of his three hours.

Ling Fong rises and says, "I am very hungry. Where you planning to eat alone or may I join you?" They get dressed and enjoy a splendid lunch of lobster in butter with snow-peas, water chestnuts, and black mushrooms.
___

Ling Fong now returns to his home. Fu Fang Shih visits and congratulates Ling Fong on his inspired swordsmanship, but at this time explains little about the quest and recommends continued book study and rest. One month later Ling Fong is contacted and returns to the monastery where Fu Fang Shih initiates him into the upper degrees of the three highest arcane orders in China. Part of Ling Fong's initiation involves bringing him to an understanding of what actually occurred on his quest and how it all worked. That knowledge follows here:

Before the quest Fu Fang Shih asked the warrior faction to approach Ling Fong and then to refer him. From that point onward Fu Fang Shih completely and perfectly orchestrated almost every aspect of Ling Fong's adventure and the outcome. This included the infusion of Black Lotus into the sleeping potion given nightly to Ling Fong after he left the House of Wong.

The legendary Black Lotus produces a dream state which will result in the actual suicide of the dreamer within the context of the dream. It was Fu Fang Shih's further aspiration and belief that this property could, with mitigation and proper motive, be used to direct the violent energies of the dreamer against specific deserving others if they were close enough at hand.

Telling Ling Fong that he had murdered a fine man, his wife, and five lovely daughters was a way of introducing to Ling Fong the nagging possibility of his already having killed Ling Ba and his family, thus allowing him to deal with his guilt before the fact. The further effect of this was to reinforce the plausibility of such an act and to allow Ling Fong to consummate and thus subconsciously justify the act to himself in Ling Ba's house when under the effect of the black lotus instead of killing himself.

The erotic adventures of Ling Fong were arranged by Fu Fang Shih with the most trusted of those beautiful young Witches known to him. The calculated effect was that, since only men of steel seek out these very difficult types of women, that introducing Ling Fong to this unusual realm of experience would thereby forge the young adept into a man of steel who could survive and recover from his adventure to live a long, happy, and productive life thereafter.

Now Fu Fang Shih further illuminates Ling Fong about the evil plans of his brother to enslave the people of China. Ling Fong had to be the assassin because only he could have gained entry to the House of Ling Ba. Fu Fang Shih apologizes to Ling Fong about the risks of the adventure and offers the proper degree of condolence for the death of family members appropriate to the situation as these things are weighed in the Scales of Heroic Destiny.

The official explanation of Ling Fong's heroism in the saving of China is now carefully composed by the highest of secretaries, stressing of course, some aspects of the adventure more than others. It is written with utmost simplicity to be easily comprehended by the average citizen. By special messengers the good news is taken to all the far corners of China where it is then announced to the people by town criers and newspapers alike.
___

February 12, 1837

In cities all over China there are public parades in Ling Fong's honor as a national hero who has saved his country from tyranny.

In the interim Ling Fong's father has died, but one night during meditation Ling Fong speaks with his father who now resides in Heaven. His father tells Ling Fong that all is now understood, that he never stopped loving him, and is sorry and ashamed for ever having doubted such a fine son.

Ling Fong buys a large house in the country near Canton and invites all the beautiful women of his strange adventure to come live with him. They all accept and are known from here forward as the Eight Witches of Ling Fong's Redemption.
___

1985

In Canton, Shanghai, and indeed all of China, sarcastic teenagers today sing -

"King Kong:

We all know the name of King Kong.
But hear now the fame of Ling Fong.
Ten thousand times that of any man!

Ling Fong:

He did no wrong in the House of Wong.
But he bowed low in the House of Po
With Lin Yi goosing. Don't you know?

And he gave tongue in the House of Chung.
They flailed his wang in the House of Chang.
All venerate his name in the House of Shame
And now sing only of his fame!"
___

February 20, 1985. Boston

Fung Wu Kim and his lady friend, Rice, are sitting with their friends, arcane initiate and writer Garrett Valdison and the beautiful Witch, Justine, enjoying a fine meal of Pork Strips, Subgum Har Kew, and buttered French Bread at the China Pearl Restaurant. They are gazing out the huge picture window down at the freshly fallen snow on the roofs and awnings of Tyler Street below while sipping Golden Dream and Scorpion Bowl cocktails.

Fung Wu has just finished relating the story of Ling Fong.

"Garrett, I wish I knew more I could tell you. They say that in China there is a movie about it, but who knows? I'll write to my friend Bolo Yeung. He knows much about movies and profound arcane matters. If there is no movie yet, maybe we can make one and ask his advice about how to do it."

Valdison replies "It's certainly an inspiring story and would be of interest to a great many even in the West."

Note:

The Black Lotus is spoken of in the works of H P Lovecraft and August Derleth.