Knight adler

14 Divine Eagle, Gallant Knight Chapter 8 - Girl in WhiteYang Guo quietly opened the window and slipped inside the room of the two Taoists. He saw two bags on the bed, he lifted one up and felt its weight, there were about twenty taels of silver and thought, “Just what I need for traveling expenses.” He took it and placed it into his pocket. The other bag was around four feet long; it held two long swords. He took each one out separately and easily snapped the two swords; then placed each back into their sheath. He then wrapped the swords up. He was about to leave the room when another thought crossed his mind, he took off his trousers and urinated all over the Taoists’ quilts and blankets. He heard the sounds of someone climbing up a wall, and knew that the Taoists’ lightness kung fu was very ordinary; they weren’t able to clear the wall in a single leap. They had to first climb up on top of the wall and then leap down. He quickly darted back into his room, quietly closing the window. The Taoists did not notice anything. Yang Guo placed his ear against the wall to hear what was happening. He heard the Taoists quietly talking; they seemed to think that victory in tomorrow’s duel was in their grasp. They were undressing when suddenly Pi Qingxuan called out, “Hey, why are the blankets damp and wet? Ah, it stinks, apprentice brother Ji, why are you so lazy; wetting yourself on the blankets?” Ji Qingxu spat out, “What wetting yourself?” He picked up the blanket and called out, “When did a stinking cat urinate here?” Pi Qingxuan said, “How can a cat urinate so much?” Ji Qingxu said, “Hmm, that’s strange; where’s our money?” Suddenly the room was turned upside down as the two searched for their money. Yang Guo sniggered. He heard Pi Qingxuan call out loudly, “Inn owner, inn owner, this is an evil inn, isn’t it? Stealing money from guests in the middle of the night?” They called out a few times; the inn owner woke up from his sleep and came to ask what they wanted. Pi Qingxuan grabbed his chest and said that he was running an evil inn. The inn owner made a clamor, and alerted the inn’s waiters, kitchen staff and the attendants. The guests of the inn also all came out to see what it was all about. Yang Guo hid himself amongst the crowd, and saw the inn owner having his way in the argument, his mouth and tongue couldn’t stop moving, refuting so much that the two Taoists couldn’t get a word in edgeways. That inn owner loved to argue; normally he would stir up trouble with others even when nothing had happened. Now someone had started to provoke him first, in spite of the fact was that justice was completely on his side. He spoke until his mouth started to foam up, and his spirits were becoming more and more intense. The two Taoists were angry and embarrassed; they wanted to use force but they remembered the rules of their sect. They were now at the foot of Mount Zhongnan, how would they dare start trouble? They could only swallow their anger, close their door, and sleep for the night. The inn owner continued to chatter and grumble outside non-stop. The next morning Yang Guo got up and ate a bowl of noodles. The chatty inn owner came over to greet him and he kept on mumbling curses and insults under his breath. Yang Guo smiled and asked, “How are those two villainous Taoists?” The inn owner brashly said, “Real bastards. Those Taoists wanted to eat and live here free and so in respect for the Chongyang Palace I was going to allow it. But they dare to say that I am running an evil inn. Huh, I’m definitely going to tell the Chongyang Palace. The Taoists of Quanzhen are thousands and thousands in number, which one of them doesn’t adhere to the strict rules and regulations? I can clearly remember the two villainous scoundrel Taoists’ faces; I’m definitely going to point them out…” Yang Guo was amused and stirred in a few words of his own; he gave him the money for the room and food, and then made sure he knew the way to ‘Wolf Valley’ and he left. In the wink of an eye he had already traveled over thirty li and wasn’t far from the ‘Wolf Valley’. He looked up at the sky and saw that it was still early. He thought, “I’ll first hide off to the side and watch how Gu Gu copes with the enemy. It’s best if Gu Gu does not recognize me at first.” Yang Guo thought about the day when he fooled Hong Lingbo, and felt pleased with himself, and decided to do the same once more. He went to a nearby farmer’s house, and looked around in the back garden, he saw a large bad tempered bull, its horns knocking into the bull pen and making loud noises. Yang Guo’s brain lit up and thought, “I’ll pretend to be a farmer, and Gu Gu will definitely not be able to recognize me.” He quietly sneaked into the house. In the house he saw two babies playing on the floor so he didn’t dare make any sort of noise. He found a set of farmer’s clothes and changed into them and then put on a pair of grass shoes. He got some dirt and rubbed it onto his face. On the wall was a bamboo rain hat, which he took and wore. He picked up a grass rope and tied it around his waist, and then inserted a short flute in it. He went out and opened the gate to the bull pen. When the bull saw him coming, it began to get angry and when it saw the gate was open, it charged forward aiming to ram into his body. Yang Guo’s left palm pushed down on the bull’s head, and he flipped onto its back. The bull was tall and bulky; each leg weighed nearly one hundred kilos, its tail long and horns sharp. It was extremely large. In the blink of an eye it had already charged onto the main road. It was angry, violent and hot-tempered at this moment in time; it used all its strength to jump upwards, wanting to buck Yang Guo off its back. Yang Guo rode on it’s back steadily, and was extremely pleased with himself. He laughed and said, “If you don’t obey you are going to suffer.” He raised his palm, and chopped down on the bull’s head. He only used twenty percent of his strength, and the bull could not endure it and bellowed. It wanted to jump again but Yang Guo sent down another chop. He chopped it on the head about ten or so times and the bull eventually did not dare to retaliate. Yang Guo then poked the bull’s neck with his finger on the left side and it turned right; when he poked it on the right side of the neck, it turned left, when he poked it on the back it moved forward, and when poked at the front it moved back. He was able to control its movements with his finger. Yang Guo then used his strength to poke its behind and the bull headed forward fiercely. It dashed ahead as if it were a horse. In a short while they passed a forest, and came to a valley surrounded by mountains. It was how the inn owner described it. He leapt down from the bull’s back, and allowed it to graze on the grass on the mountain slopes. His hand held the rope as he lay down on the ground. He looked at the sun and saw it gradually approaching the middle of the sky. He was becoming more and more nervous; he was afraid that Xiao Longnu would ignore the meeting and wouldn’t show up. It was quiet and peaceful all around, with only the bull making a few snorting noises. Suddenly, at the entrance to the valley were the sounds of palms clashing, followed by more sounds of palms clashing from the south side. Yang Guo was lying on the slope, one muddy leg crossed over his knee, his bamboo hat was covering his face, only his right eye was revealed. After a while, three Taoists appeared at the entrance to the valley. Two of them were the Taoists from last night at the inn, Ji Qingxu and Pi Qingxuan, the other was about forty years old, he was quite short. He was probably Martial Uncle Shen. Yang Guo studied his face and remembered that he saw him at Chongyang Palace before. Two men followed. One was a rugged looking man; the other was an old man with a head full of white hair. They were the Beggar Clan members Chen and Han. The five walked closer and saluted each other. Then they formed a line, all looked around. At that time, a quiet trotting sound was heard from outside the mouth of the valley. The five men all looked at each other and stared at the entrance to the valley. They heard the sound getting closer and closer; then there was a black and white object at the entrance of the valley. It was a girl in white riding on top of a black donkey coming forward. When Yang Guo saw this his heart quivered, “It’s not Gu Gu! Could it be another one of their team?” He saw the girl rein in the donkey a few feet away from the five. She glanced at them coldly; her face was filled with contempt and it looked like she didn’t want to speak to them. Ji Qingxu called out, “Little Bitch, well, well, well, you do have guts; you might as well call your help out.” The girl chuckled, a ‘shua’ sound was heard as she pulled out a small thin saber from her waist; it looked like the curved moon, the silver glittering in one’s eye. Ji Qingxu said, “There are five of us, we can’t wait patiently for your help to arrive.” The girl waved her saber and said, “This is my help.” The saber producing a ‘weng’ noise as it was waved in the air.” When she said this, the six of them were shocked. The five were shocked at the fact that a girl, by herself, would have the guts to fight five skilled fighters without any help. Yang Guo was extremely disappointed and hurt, he was sure that he would see Xiao Longnu. How could he know that the so-called ‘beautiful girl in white’ was another person? The air in his chest surged up; he wasn’t able to control it anymore and called out. When he called out, the other six were alarmed; but all they saw was a farmer letting his bull graze on the slope and they didn’t take any notice of him. They thought that is was just a young country bumpkin who had suffered some problem and was crying out. Ji Qingxu pointed at the one named Han and said, “This is the Beggar Clan’s hero Han.” He pointed to the one named Chen and said, “This is the Beggar Clan’s hero Chen.” He then pointed to ‘Martial Uncle Shen’ and said, “Our Martial Uncle Shen Zhifan, you’ve seen him before.” The girl ignored him, her eyes cold, she glanced at them a few times, treating them as nothing. Shen Zhifan said, “You came on your own; so we can’t fight with you. We’ll give you a deadline of ten days. In ten days you need to bring four helpers to meet us.” The girl answered, “I’ve said I’ve already got my help; against you bunch of nobodies why do I need to get more people?” Shen Zhifan angrily said, “Little girl, you really are bold.” His words were meant to be insults and he managed to force himself to ask, “Are you from the Ancient Tomb sect?” The girl said, “So what if I am? So what if I’m not? You stupid old Taoist, do you have the guts to fight with me or don’t you?” Shen Zhifan saw that she was alone but was sure that she had strong back-up and had them nearby. He was also afraid that he would invite trouble from the Ancient Tomb’s Li Mochou so he said, “Miss, I have a question; why did you hurt members of my sect for no reason? If it was our fault, then I will publicly apologize to your master, but if Miss can’t give a good reason then forgive us for being impolite.” The girl chuckled and said, “Of course it was those two bullish Taoists’ fault and I just taught them a lesson. If there weren’t so many scoundrels in the world, why would I cut off their ears?” Shen Zhifan saw that she was extremely brash and couldn’t help being startled. The beggar named Chen was old but he still had a temper; he took a step forward and shouted, “Little girl, you are talking to Seniors here, how come you haven’t got off your donkey?” As he said this he shot forward towards the black donkey and stretched out a hand to grab her right arm. His hand came out extremely quick. The girl wasn’t able to dodge it and she was grabbed immediately. Her right hand was also the hand that was holding her blade, so she wasn’t able to use it to repel the attack. Unexpectedly, the cold light of the saber moved, the girl’s arm twisted and the curved blade sliced down. Beggar Chen was startled and quickly let go. At least he was alert, and quickly changed his stance but the blade had cut two fingers. He quickly leapt back and drew out a saber and called out, “Bitch, you must be bored with your life.” The beggar named Han drew out a lead hammer, and Shen Zhifan drew out his sword. Ji Qingxu and Pi Qingxuan took hold of their swords’ handles and pulled them out. But they felt that something was wrong with the sword’s weight. Both of them called out ‘Ai!’ in shock, the swords in their hands were broken. When the girl saw the two Taoists’ expressions she couldn’t stop herself from laughing. Yang Guo was lamenting at this time, when he heard the girl laugh he looked at the two Taoists’ embarrassed expression. He couldn’t stop himself from turning his tears into laughter. He saw the girl bend her waist and hack down with her saber at Pi Qingxuan’s head. Pi Qingxuan quickly pulled back his head but he didn’t know the move wasn’t finished, a slight turn of the wrist and the saber turned in the air and eventually cut Pi Qingxuan’s right cheek; blood started to flow from it. The other four were alarmed and angry, they quickly surrounded her. The Taoists Pi and Ji retreated to the rear, their hands holding onto the broken swords. They didn’t want to throw them away but they weren’t much use. They didn’t know what to do. The girl called out clearly, her left hand pulled on the reins and the donkey dashed forward. Beggar Chen and Han were the closest, the blade and the hammer both attacked. Shen Zhifan followed and used Quanzhen’s sword techniques, every stance aiming for the important points of the enemy. Yang Guo saw that although his sword skills were vicious, compared with Zhao Zhijing and Zhen Zhibing, their skills were far apart. Out of the Taoists with the name Zhi, he was the lesser skilled. Yang Guo was now calm, he studied the girl’s face carefully; he saw that she had a pretty oval face and she was younger than him by a year or so. It’s no wonder the inn owner didn’t believe that the ‘beautiful girl in white’ was his older sister. Though she wore white, her skin was slightly dark; it was very different from the brilliant snow white of Xiao Longnu. He saw that her saber stances were light and swift and seemed to be derived from the Ancient Tomb sword stances; there were more stabs and thrusts and rather less chops and hacks. Yang Guo watched for a few stances and thought, “Indeed she is using our sect’s kung fu, could it be that she is a student of Li Mochou?” Yang Guo thought that both sides weren’t good people and he didn’t care less who won or lost; but then another thought entered his mind. “How could you be the ‘beautiful girl in white’? You’re not even worthy to be my Gu Gu’s maid.” He folded his arms behind his head and lay down facing the sky, watching the battle. For the first ten moves or so, the girl was able to hold her own; she was on the donkey’s back, attacking from above with the saber. The five of them had no choice but to jump back and dodge. Another ten moves passed, Ji Qingxu saw that the broken sword in his hand was useless, then thought suddenly entered him and he called out, “Apprentice brother Pi, follow me.” He quickly headed to the nearby woods and picked a fine small tree; he chopped its roots and branches with his broken swords and made a large club. Pi Qingxuan did the same. The two attacked from the left and right, thrusting toward the donkey. The girl quietly said, “Shameless!” She waved her saber at them to fend them off and became distracted. Beggar Han’s hammer and Shen Zhifan’s sword arrived. The girl quickly used a risky technique; she lowered her head and slanted her body, the hammer’s wind swept over her face. A clashing sound was heard as the saber met with the sword and at that moment the black donkey cried out in pain and reared. Ji Qingxu had struck it with the club. Beggar Chen did a roll and used his saber techniques. The flat side of his saber struck heavily down on the donkey’s leg; the donkey immediately rolled over. The young girl was now unable to fight them from the donkey’s back. She saw a sword coming straight at her and immediately flew away; she grabbed Pi Qingxuan’s stick and snapped it in half. Her legs landed on the ground and she slashed across with her saber, repelling beggar Chen’s chop. Yang Guo was startled, “What? Is she hurt?” The girl was actually slightly lame in her left leg, from the leap, one could see her restricted movements, and this is why she had refused to come down from her donkey. Yang Guo’s heroic nature was moved and he wanted to intervene and help her. But a thought entered his mind, “Gu Gu and I were fine living in the tomb; it was that evil woman Li Mochou who caused us to be in this situation. That girl pretends to be my Gu Gu, wanting people to call her the ‘beautiful girl in white’, she’s shameless!” He turned away and stopped watching. But he kept on hearing the continuous sounds of clashing weapons and wasn’t able to curb his curiosity, he turned his head again. He saw that the situation had now changed, the girl was now dodging east and evading west, and she was defending more than attacking. Suddenly the Han beggar’s metal hammer came flying in, the girl moved her head and dodged it, at the same time, Shen Zhifan’s sword slashed across. A ‘ding’ sound was heard, her silver hair loop was cut; half her hair swept down. The girl’s brows raised, her mouth opened, a frosty look came upon her face as she turned her hand and slashed across. Yang Guo saw her angry expression and his heart shook, “When Gu Gu was angry, she looked exactly like this.” Because the girl became angry Yang Guo decided to help her. He picked up seven or eight stones and placed them in his pocket. He glanced at her again and saw that she was in a frantic situation. Shen Zhifan called out, “What exactly is your relationship to the ‘Scarlet Serpent Deity’ Li Mochou? If you don’t tell us truthfully, don’t blame us for our actions!” The girl’s saber slashed across, hooking across the back of his head. Shen Zhifan couldn’t predict that she would do this and wasn’t able to block. Beggar Chen quickly called out, “Careful!” Ji Qingxu fiercely struck the curved saber with his large stick and managed to save the life of Shen Zhifan. The five saw that her stances were all ruthless, not leaving anything to chance. In a short while, the girl continuously unleashed a series of dangerous stances. Shen Zhifan was sure that she was connected to Li Mochou somehow; if news of this ever got to that evil woman, he would have boundless troubles. He saw that she indeed did not have any back up, now was a good chance to kill her and seal her mouth. Every stance he used was aiming to wound the girl. Yang Guo saw that the girl was now staring danger in the face; he had no time to delay so he flipped up and got on the bull’s back. He hung his legs from its back and dangled down underneath and then poked the bull in the buttocks. The bull started to dash at the six. The six of them were absorbed in battle when they suddenly saw a mad bull rushing forward; they were all alarmed and leaped out of the way. Yang Guo was dangling below the bull and saw the pressure points on the backs of the five men, the pebbles shot out, they were struck in the ‘Soul Entrance’ and the ‘Spirit Hall’ pressure points. He heard calls of ‘Ai Ya!’ and the five felt their arms become numb; their weapons dropped from their hands. Yang Guo then sent the bull up the slope. He dropped down from the bull’s stomach onto the ground and called out, “Oh no, the bull’s gone mad!” Shen Zhifan’s pressure points were sealed and his weapon escaped from his hand; but he didn’t see the enemy do this and thought that this was the deed of the girl’s backup. That person was highly skilled, how did he dare to fight anymore? Luckily his legs were still able to move, he quickly ran away but he still remembered his friends and called out, “Brother Chen, Brother Han, let’s go!” The others didn’t think about it and followed. Pi Qingxuan lost his bearings and was actually running towards the girl. Ji Qingxu called out, “Apprentice brother Pi, over here!” Pi Qingxuan was about to turn around when the girl took a step forward and chopped down with her saber. Pi Qingxuan was alarmed, he didn’t have a weapon and quickly dodged to the side, but how would he know that the girl’s saber wasn’t chopping down in a fixed direction, it went east and then west, the light of the blade glimmered as it was about to slash down across his face. Pi Qingxuan raised his arm; a ‘ca’ sound was made as the saber hacked off four fingers. He had yet to feel the pain as he quickly turned around and ran away. Beggar Han ran ten or so steps and saw that the girl did not follow and thought, “That Bitch is lame, how can she chase us?” When he considered that she was lame, he glanced at her left leg, then turned around and hurried away. How would he know that look angered the girl, she couldn’t contain her fury and shouted out, “Scoundrel, don’t you think I can’t catch up with you?” She lifted her saber and swung it around a few times; a ‘fu’ sound was made as she threw it. She saw the saber glimmer in midair, a ‘pu’ sound was heard as the saber plunged itself in the left shoulder of beggar Han. That person kept on running with the saber in his back. In a short while, the five of them had escaped into the forest. The girl chuckled but was suspicious, “Could there be someone nearby? Why did they help me?” The beggar named Han had taken the saber that she normally used away; she felt that it was such a pity. She picked up the saber that Beggar Chen had left and quickly went over to the forest to take a look but there wasn’t a trace of anyone around and returned to the valley. She saw Yang Guo sobbing miserably on the ground, calling and shouting out that woe is me. The girl asked, “Hey, little farmer, what woe are you talking about?” Yang Guo said, “The bull’s gone mad, it’s skin and body is ripped and bruised, when I get back to Master’s house he’s definitely going to kill me.” The young girl took a look at the bull, but saw nothing was wrong with it and said, “Fine, your bull did help me out, I’ll give you some money.” As she said this she took out some money and threw it down to the ground. She thought that Yang Guo was going to thank her, but she didn’t predict that Yang Guo would still have the same expression on his face, shaking his head not picking up the money. The young girl said, “What’s wrong with you fool, its money.” Yang Guo said, “One ingot is not enough.” The girl took another ingot and threw it down to the ground. Yang Guo wanted to tease her some more and shook his head. The young girl got angry and raised her eyebrows, and shouted, “I’ve no more fool!” She turned around and walked away. When Yang Guo saw her angry expression, he couldn’t stop the blood in his chest and head rushing. His eyes ached, he remembered the expression that Xiao Longnu had when she scolded him, he made a decision, “If I can’t find Gu Gu for the time being, I might as well look at that girl’s angry look.” He stretched out and grabbed her right leg and called out, “You can’t go!” The girl tried to pull away but he held her so tightly that she wasn’t able to escape; she became even angrier and shouted, “Let go! Why are you holding onto me?” Yang Guo saw that her anger was growing and he became happier. He called out, “I’m not going to return home, save me.” He then loudly called out, “Save me, save me!” The young girl was angry but was amused at the same time, she raised her saber and called out, “If you don’t let go I’ll chop you to death in one go.” Yang Guo held on even tighter and pretended to cry, he said, “Chop me to death, I’ll be dead anyway if I return home.” The girl said, “Where do you want to go?” Yang Guo said, “I don’t know, I’ll follow you.” The young girl thought, “There’s no reason to have a little idiot following me around.” She raised her saber and hacked down. Yang Guo thought that she wasn’t really going to do it so he held tightly to her leg. He couldn’t have guessed that the girl was ruthless; her chop was really heading for his head. Although she didn’t want to kill him she did want to cut down on his head and let him suffer a little so he won’t dare to bother her again. Yang Guo saw the saber coming down on him, when there was just a few inches between his head and the blade he rolled away and called out, “Murderer, murderer!” The girl became angrier and dashed forward wanting to slash down again. Yang Guo was lying on the ground, his legs flying everywhere, he called out, “I’m dead…I’m dead!” His muddy legs and hands were scrambling about everywhere; he made himself look as dreadful as possible. But when the girl came hacking down with her saber, his leg would kick her wrist and in the end she wasn’t able to hack down again. Yang Guo saw her angry expression; it was what he wanted to see and he stared at her. The girl saw that he was looking weird and shouted, “Get up!” Yang Guo said, “Are you going to kill me?” The girl said, “Fine, I won’t kill you.” Yang Guo picked himself up and gasped deeply, he secretly restricted his blood flow, and his face became pale, as if he was scared to death. The young girl was pleased with herself and gave an ‘humph’ sound, and said, “Let’s see if you’ll still dare to trouble me.” She raised her saber and pointed to the slope where Pi Qingxuan’s fingers were hacked off and said, “I’m fierce and violent; I slashed off his fingers.” Yang Guo pretended to be frightened and worried, he kept on shuffling backwards. The girl placed the saber in her belt and turned around to search for her black donkey, but the donkey had long disappeared. She could only travel by foot. Yang Guo picked up the money and placed it in his pocket. He held the bull’s rope and followed her and said, “Gu Gu, take me away.” The girl ignored him and sped up, in a short while she had left him without a trace. Who could have guessed that while she was taking a little break, he was hurrying towards her with the bull calling out, “Take me away…take me away.” The girl eyebrows raised and then utilized her lightness kung fu, in one breath she had gone a few li, and knew that he wouldn’t be able to catch up. But in a short while she could hear a quiet call of “Take me away!” The girl became furious; she turned around and took out her saber, raising it in the air. Yang Guo called out, “Oh no!” He held his head and ran away. The girl just wanted him to stop following and that was it, she then turned around and walked away. Soon, she heard the snort of a bull; she turned around and saw Yang Guo about forty steps away, holding on to the bull following behind her. She stopped and waited for him. When Yang Guo saw her stop, he stopped moving as well, when she walked, he followed and when she chased after him with the saber he ran away. This stopping and following continued until it started to get dark; the young girl was still unable to escape from Yang Guo’s pursuit. The girl saw that although he looked dumb, his pace was not ordinary and she thought that he must be used to running around in the mountains. She wanted him to catch up to her so she could knock him out or hurt his legs but each time he was able to roll out of the danger and escape. After a few while, the girl was becoming tired; her left leg was lame and moving was troublesome. She had an idea and called out, “Fine, I’ll take you away, you have to listen to what I say.” Yang Guo said delightedly, “You really are going to take me away?” The girl said, “Yes, why would I lie to you? I’m tired; you ride on the bull and then let me ride with you.” Yang Guo lead the bull forward and caught up, under the cloudy skies, he saw her eye glistened and knew that she was up to something. He climbed onto the back of the bull. The girl’s right leg pushed up and she lightly flew up onto the bull’s back, sitting in front of Yang Guo. She thought, “My donkey is gone, riding on this bull won’t be bad.” She kicked the bull hard in the side. The bull felt pain and dashed forward quickly. The girl chuckled and suddenly elbowed backward with strength, hitting Yang Guo in the chest. Yang Guo called out ‘Ai Ya!’ and rolled off the back of the bull. The young girl was extremely pleased and thought, “You little scoundrel, you suffered at my hands in the end.” She poked the bull in the side and the bull hurried forward even faster. She suddenly heard the calls and shouts from Yang Guo, and the voice was just behind her, she turned her head to look around and saw him holding tightly onto the bull’s tail, his legs in midair. He was towed in the air by the bull and his face was full of dirt and mud. Tears flowed from his eyes; he was extremely frantic but he still held onto the bull’s tail tightly. The young girl had no other ideas and so raised her saber aiming to slash down at his arm. She suddenly heard a clamor; the bull had reached a little town. In the crowd of people the bull had nowhere to go and stopped. Yang Guo wanted to tease the young girl and see her angry face; he lay on the ground and called out, “My chest hurts, you’re beating me to death!” The town’s people all gathered around and asked why. The girl was going to take this chance of being surrounded by people and slip into the crowd and escape; but she didn’t foresee that Yang Guo would pick himself up and hold onto her right leg. He called out, “Don’t go… don’t go!” Yang Guo called out, “She’s my wife; she doesn’t want me and beats me.” A person said, “A wife beating her husband, what is the world coming to?” The girl’s eyebrows raised and she kicked out with her left leg. Yang Guo clambered up to the side of a burly man and gave him a push; the kick landed on his waist. The burly man shouted, “Little Bitch, kicking people?” He raised his massive fist. The young girl held the man’s elbow and used his strength to fling him away. The hundred kilo body flew into the crowd, causing the people in the crowd to scream and shout, making quite a scene. The girl used all her strength to pull free but how could she when Yang Guo was holding on with all his life? She saw that another five or six people were coming up towards her, adding to her problems. She could only lower hear head and say, “I’ll take you away, quickly let go.” Yang Guo said, “Are you still going to beat me?” The young girl said, “Fine, I won’t!” Yang Guo loosened his hand and stood up. The two of them rushed out of the crowd and headed out of the town. They heard shouting from behind. Yang Guo had managed to hold on to the bull. Yang Guo laughed, and said, “People say that the wife cannot beat the husband.” The young girl angrily said, “Stupid Sha Dan [Dumb Egg]! If you keep on talking this rubbish, saying I’m your wife and what not, just watch me cut your head off.” She raised her saber as she said this. Yang Guo held his head and jumped to the side and pleaded, “Miss, I won’t say it anymore.” The girl said, “Look at you, even an ugly old hag wouldn’t marry you.” Yang Guo laughed foolishly and didn’t reply. Now, the sky was dark, the two stood in the unkempt land; they turned around, and saw smoke from cooking rising up from the town and both felt hungry. The young girl said, “Sha Dan, go to the market and buy ten buns.” Yang Guo shook his head and said, “I won’t go.” The young girl’s face turned angry and she said, “Why not?” Yang Guo said, “I won’t go! You are tricking me to go buy some buns so you could sneak off.” The young girl said, “I said I won’t slip away so I won’t.” Yang Guo shook his head. The girl curled up her fist wanting to hit him but he quickly jumped to the side. The two of them ran around the bull like they were playing hide and seek. The girl was lame and it wasn’t easy for her to move. She saw the boy tripping up in front of her crying and shouting out, yet, although she possessed lightness kung fu, she was still unable to catch up with him. The girl was furious, she thought about her martial arts, yet for some reason, she had allowed an ugly and smelly country bumpkin Sha Dan to stay on her tail. She had no way to escape, it might be said that she was incompetent. Yang Guo had made himself so much like the character he was supposed to be that when the girl failed three or four times to kill the Sha Dan, she was not suspicious. She followed the main road south and she saw that Yang Guo was holding onto the bull and catching up. She thought that she must find a way to kill him unexpectedly. In the short time it takes to cook rice, the sky had become even darker. She saw an old and run down stone house; it looked abandoned and thought, “Tonight I’ll sleep here and when that idiot is sleeping in the middle of the night, I’ll kill him with one slash.” She walked towards the house and entered, dust entered her nose, the chairs and tables were broken and it appeared that this house was deserted long ago. She cut some grass and wiped a long table clean; she lay on the table, closed her eyes and rested. She saw that Yang Guo hadn’t followed her, and called out, “Sha Dan! Sha Dan!” She didn’t hear a reply and thought, “Could it be that the fool knows that I was going to kill him and left!” She wasn’t concerned with it, and after a while she fell asleep. Suddenly the smell of cooking meat entered her nose. She got up and went outside. She saw Yang Guo sitting in the moonlight holding a piece of meat and opening his mouth to bite into it. Before him was a fire, on top of the fire was an array of branches, meat was roasting on it, the smell of it floating towards her. Yang Guo saw her come out and laughed, and said, “You want some?” He picked up a roasted piece of the meat and threw it towards her. She caught it with her hand and looked at it, it was a shank of meat, and she was hungry and started to eat it. Although it had no salt, it was still tasty. She sat by the fire and politely ate the meat. She first tore the meat off the shank, and then placed it into her mouth slowly, but she saw Yang Guo munching noisily, annoying her. She was hungry so she turned around and looked away from him. When she finished her meat, Yang Guo gave her another piece. The young girl said, “Sha Dan, what’s your name?” Yang Guo said, “Are you an angel? How do you know I’m called Sha Dan?” The young girl laughed and said, “Ha, so your name is Sha Dan. Where are your parents?” Yang Guo said, “They’ve been dead a long time. What’s your name?” The young girl said, “I don’t know. Why are you asking?” Yang Guo thought, “Since you won’t say then I’ll anger you.” He said brashly, “I know, you are called Sha Dan too, that’s why you won’t say.” The young girl got angry. She got up and punched him in the head and scolded, “Who said I’m called Sha Dan? You are the Sha Dan.” Yang Guo cried out and covered his head and said, “When someone asks me what I’m called, I say I don’t know so other people call me Sha Dan; since you don’t know, that means you are a Sha Dan as well.” The young girl said, “Who says I don’t know? I just don’t want to tell you. Do you know that my surname is Lu?” This young girl was the little girl who was picking lotuses in Jiaxing’s South Lake, Lu Wushuang. When she was plucking flowers with her cousin Cheng Ying and the Wu brothers, she broke her leg. While Madam Wu was helping to set her leg bones back together, Hong Lingbo arrived to take their lives, so her leg bones weren’t set properly. When it healed, her left leg was shorter by an inch or so. Because of this she walks like a lame person. Although her skin was not white, she was still beautiful. When she was grown up she was even more so, but because her leg was lame, she was hateful. When Li Mochou killed her parents and took her away, she was going to kill her but when she saw the handkerchief on her neck she remembered Lu Zhanyuan, and so she did not kill her. Lu Wushuang was clever; she knew that her life was hanging on a thread now that she was in Li Mochou’s grasp. That witch goes and comes like the wind; she would not be able to run away, so she pretended to be obedient and tried to please her. Eventually the urge to kill the ‘Scarlet Serpent Deity’, who kills without blinking, calmed down. Sometimes Li Mochou remembered the hurtful events of the past and would summon Lu Wushuang and shout at her for a while. Lu Wushuang would put on a pitiful face and limp along. When Li Mochou saw her sorry look and after shouting at her and getting rid of her anger that would be it. Lu Wushuang pleaded to stay with her, and because she was just a little girl, Li Mochou did eventually allow her to stay. She buried her thoughts of revenge for her parents in her heart. If Li Mochou asked her about it, she pretended that she had forgotten all about them. When Li Mochou and Hong Lingbo were practicing kung fu, she would stand to the side and pass over swords and towels, tea and fruits, concentrating on the practice. She already had a decent foundation, when she watched them practice she noted everything, and when Li Mochou and Hong Lingbo went out, she would secretly practice. She would normally try to get in Hong Lingbo’s favour. Later Hong Lingbo took advantage of the mood that Li Mochou was in and pleaded on behalf of Lu Wushuang. Eventually she became her disciple. A few years passed, Lu Wushuang’s kung fu improved every day, but Li Mochou was still suspicious of her so did not teach her the most advanced skills. Even the intermediate skills were not passed on. Hong Lingbo took pity on her and would give her some pointers in secret. Although it couldn’t be said that Lu Wushuang’s skills were high, her skills were not low either. That day when Li Mochou and Hong Lingbo went to the tomb to search for the “Jade Heart Manual”, Lu Wushuang noticed that they did not return for a long time, so she decided to escape and go to Jiaxing in search of news of her parents. Although she saw with her own eyes Li Mochou seriously wounding her parents, she had not seen them die; there was still a glimmer of hope. She held onto this glimmer of hope and went to find out the truth. Before she left, she thought she might as well go all the way, and took Li Mochou’s book, the ‘Five Poison Codex’; it was a copy of a list of poisons and their antidotes. Her left leg was lame, and she hated those who looked at it. One day in an inn, two Taoists looked at her leg and she immediately shouted at them. The two Taoists did not have good tempers, so after a few words they used force and they started to fight. With her curved saber, she cut off their ears and agreed to meet them at Wolf Valley the next day. That day when Li Mochou took her away and headed north, she and Yang Guo met each other at the entrance to the cave. They were both young, their faces had now changed; they weren’t able to remember their encounter of years ago. Lu Wushuang was full after she finished the second piece of roasted meat. Yang Guo used the light of the fire to look at her face, “Where on earth is my Gu Gu? If the girl in front of me was Gu Gu, and I was roasting meet for her, wouldn’t that be wonderful?” He was deep in thought, and stared at her as if he was mad. Lu Wushuang thought, “I’ll endure your disrespectful stare for now; I’ll kill you later in the middle of the night.” She then returned to the stone house and slept. In the middle of the night, she quietly got up; she went outside and saw Yang Guo by the fire not moving. The fire had gone out long ago. She went over to him and slashed him with her blade across his back. Her wrist suddenly shook, it started to ache; she couldn’t hold onto the saber and let it go. She felt that the place she slashed across was like metal or stone. She became extremely frightened and leapt away, and thought, “Could it be that Sha Dan has reached the state of being impenetrable by blades and spears?” She moved away tens of feet, but Yang Guo had not chased after her. She turned around; he was still by the fire, not moving an inch. Lu Wushuang was suspicious and she called out, “Sha Dan…Sha Dan, I have something to say to you.” Yang Guo did not reply. She took a careful look, and saw Yang Guo’s body had formed a circle, it looked extremely strange, she boldly went over and saw that it did not look like the body of a person, she stretched out her hand and touched him, it felt like the clothes were placed on top of a rock. She grabbed the clothes and lifted up; indeed there was a large rock below. Where was Yang Guo? She stood there for a while and called out, “Sha Dan, Sha Dan!” She didn’t hear a reply so she listened carefully; there seemed to be a snoring noise coming from the house. She went over there quietly and saw Yang Guo sleeping on the table that she had just slept on. His back towards her and he was snoring loudly in a deep sleep. Lu Wushuang was angry, and didn’t even think about how he ended up sleeping on the table. She immediately leapt forward raising her saber, and pierced into his back. The saber’s tip had plunged into flesh but she didn’t feel any resistance in her hands. She heard Yang Guo snore a few times and then said in his sleep, “Who’s scratching my back, don’t, don’t, I’m scared.” Lu Wushuang turned pale, her arms quivered, thinking, “Is this person a demon?” She turned around to run but her legs didn’t listen. She then heard him say, “There must be a mouse on my back trying to steal my meat.” He stretched out his hand to his back and took out a lump of meat, and threw it onto the ground. Lu Wushuang finally breathed out and understood, “So that Sha Dan put the meat on his back and just now I stabbed into that, I’ve just suffered a fright for no reason.” Poly aluminum Chlorideflocculantwater treatment chemicalcoagulantfumaric acid

027 Divine Eagle, Gallant Knight ...

034 Divine Eagle, Gallant Knight Chapter 18 - Valley Master GongsunFan Yiweng was furious when he saw Yang Guo pick a willow branch as a weapon, treating this as if it was a game and showing no respect towards him at all. He didn’t know that within the softness of the willow branch there was also toughness and that he was going to use the “Dog Beating Stick Technique” with it. Though it couldn’t compare with the bamboo treasure of the Beggar Clan, it was a lethal weapon that matched any precious sword or saber. Ma Guangzuo said, “Brother Yang, just use my saber!” He took the saber out of the sheath and the blade glimmered; it really was a sharp blade. Yang Guo saluted with his arms and laughed, “Thank you! This brother isn’t a bad person; it’s just a pity that he follows the wrong Master. His martial arts are poor and just a willow branch will be enough to beat him.” The willow branch moved forward and attached itself to the steel staff. Once again, Fan Yiweng heard him insult his Master; he was thinking that this time it will be a life and death battle; he was not going to hold anything back. He waved the staff around which generated noises within the air and started to use his eighty-one stances of the “Spilling Water Staff”. The reason behind the name ‘Spilling Water’ is that no splash or spill of water can advance; the staff stances were extremely tight and unyielding. At first, the staff was swift and powerful, but after a few stances, he felt that the staff was gradually moving towards one side. The head of the staff felt skewed and the wind generated by the staff was becoming weaker. Yang Guo was using the “Dog Beating Stick Technique’s” ‘coil’ theory; the branch was attached to the staff head and when the staff moved to the east, the branch moved to the east; when the staff was flipped upwards, the branch followed; but at the final stage, his internal energy forced the staff to pull or push a little more in another direction and staff head moved out of the control of Fan Yiweng. This particular ‘coil’ formulae of the “Dog Beating Stick Technique” is derived from the advanced martial art theory of ‘four liang moving a thousand jin’, subtle and ingenious, this theory far exceeded the methods of ‘using force against force’ or ‘using the current to move the boat.’ The onlookers were becoming more and more surprised; they could not believe that the very young Yang Guo would possess such ingenious martial arts. They saw that Fan Yiweng’s staff was gradually becoming weaker while Yang Guo’s willow branch was becoming stronger. Thirty stances later, Fan Yiweng’s staff was completely under the control of the willow branch; the more strength Fan Yiweng used, the more incontrollable the staff became. In the end, he felt as if he had entered an extremely strong cyclone, making him dizzy and dazed, completely losing his bearings. Valley Master Gongsun’s hand came down on the stone table, and called out, “Yiweng, stand down!” The noise created was thunderous, even Yang Guo’s heart skipped a beat; he thought to himself, “I can’t let him slip away.” He then shook his arm and changed to the ‘turn’ formulae; his body froze and his wrist kept on drawing circles, turning Fan Yiweng around like a spinning top. The faster that Yang Guo turned his hands, the faster Fan Yiweng spun; the staff in his hand acted like the handle of a spinning top. Yang Guo said, “If you can stop your feet and don’t fall, then you’re a man. But if your master can’t teach, then the disciples he teaches will trip up in battle.” The willow branch lifted upwards and he leapt backwards over ten feet. Fan Yiweng’s body and mind were not under his control at this moment in time; he was stumbling, and after a few more turns, he would fall to the floor. Valley Master Gongsun suddenly leapt up and palmed the head of the staff in midair and lightly came back down. That move he did appeared to be ordinary and light but there was a great force behind it; he had slammed the staff two feet into the floor and stopped it spinning. Fan Yiweng grabbed the staff tightly and didn’t drop, but his body was stumbling and swaying as if he was drunk, his bearings lost for the time being. Xiaoxiang Zi, Yin Kexi and the others looked at Yang Guo, and then looked at Valley Master Gongsun; they now knew that these two people were definitely not easy people to deal with. They planned to watch this great battle from the side without interfering. Ma Guangzuo was the only one who had intended to help Yang Guo; he called out, “Brother Yang, great kung fu! Shortie has lost!” Fan Yiweng breathed in deeply and steadied himself; he turned around and suddenly knelt down before his Master. He then kowtowed four times and without saying a word, suddenly ran towards a stone pillar. Everyone was shocked; no one had predicted that his character was so fiery that after suffering a defeat he would kill himself. Valley Master Gongsun called out, “Oh no!” He leapt up from his table and stretched out his hand to grab his back; but they were too far apart and Fan Yiweng was very quick, the Valley Master could only grab thin air. Fan Yiweng used all his strength in his effort to run into the pillar but suddenly he felt his forehead going into something soft. He raised his head and saw Yang Guo with his two palms out standing in front of the pillar. He said, “Brother Weng, what is the most painful thing in the world?” When Yang Guo saw Fan Yiweng kneeling down to his Master, he knew that he was up to something so he prepared himself. He was close to Fan Yiweng and managed to get ahead of him, keeping him from the pillar with his palms. Fan Yiweng was stunned, he asked, “What is it?” Yang Guo said mournfully, “I don’t know myself. But the pain in my heart is ten times greater than yours yet I haven’t killed myself; why are you doing this?” Fan Yiweng said, “You’ve won; what pain have you got in your heart?” Yang Guo shook his head and said, “What’s so important about winning and losing in battle? I don’t know how many times I’ve been beaten in my life. When you tried to kill yourself, your Master worried about you. If I tried to kill myself, my Master would think nothing of it; that is a deeply hurtful thing.” Fan Yiweng still did not understand. Valley Master Gongsun called out sternly, “Yiweng, if you have any more stupid thoughts then you’ll be disobeying the orders of your Master. Stand to the side and watch me take care of this scum.” Fan Yiweng did not dare to disobey his Master and retreated. He stared at Yang Guo; he himself did not know what he felt towards him...anger, loathing, or respect? When Xiao Longnu heard Yang Guo say ‘If I tried to kill myself, my Master would think nothing of it’; her eyes turned red and more tears fell from them. She thought, “If you died, do you think I’d still be able to live?” Valley Master Gongsun had kept his eye on her all along and now he suddenly saw her tears once again; he was jealous and angry. He clapped his hands three times and called out, “Catch that little rat.” He looked upon himself highly, thinking that it was beneath him to fight Yang Guo. The two groups of disciples from the side responded. They stood in all directions and suddenly called out; each group of four held a fish net and they surrounded Yang Guo. Yang Guo and Fawang arrived here with the others with Fawang being the head of the group; now that it had come to this, he should come out and make a stand on this issue; but all he did was chuckle and watched from the side. The Valley Master did not know what Fawang was thinking and assumed that he was laughing at him for not being able to handle Yang Guo, he thought, “I’m going to show what the Passionless Valley is made out of.” He again clapped three times. The sixteen disciples crossed and changed positions, decreasing the size of the encirclement a few steps. The four nets kept on changing positions, from horizontal to vertical, from straight to bent. Yang Guo had seen the disciples in green twice use this fish net formation to catch Zhou Botong; its variations were indeed profound and it was extremely hard to defend against. This formation and Quanzhen’s “Big Dipper Formation” each had its own strong points. He thought, “The Old Urchin with his martial arts was captured by this net formation; how am I going to cope? If he just wanted to escape and he threw Ma Guangzuo and Fan Yiweng into the nets and took the opportunity to slip away, it would not suit his purpose. My intent is to stay here.” Each net was over ten feet wide and the handlers were hidden behind it; if he wanted to defeat this formation he would first have to attack the green disciples who were holding the nets. But as soon as he got too close, he would be captured by the nets. He had no way of making his move. The sixteen were pressing closer and closer. Yang Guo didn’t know what to do and could only use the Ancient Tomb’s lightness kung fu to dart and fly around in the hall; floating here and dashing there making it hard for the opponents to predict the direction he was heading. He moved around in all directions but the sixteen disciples did not follow him; they just shank the encirclement step by step. Yang Guo dashed around as he searched for a way to defeat this formation. He saw that although the nets were turning around extremely swiftly, the places where they overlapped each other remained covered and didn’t show a gap at all. He thought, “There’s nothing I can do apart from using projectiles to hurt the handlers.” He swiveled around once and there were a handful of Jade Bee needles in his hand, he waved out his left hand and shot out seven or eight Jade Bee needles at the four disciples north of him. He saw that the four of them were about to get hit when he suddenly heard light ‘ding ding ding ding’ sounds; the Jade Bee needles were sucked in by the net. The fish net was actually embellished with small magnets; with such a large net, no matter how powerful the enemy’s projectile, it would still be blocked by the net. The Jade Bee needle was seventy percent gold, thirty percent steel; because of this thirty percent, the Jade Bee needles were attracted by the net’s magnets. Yang Guo thought that this strike would succeed; how would he know that this net actually had so many clever uses? He quickly looked at the Valley Master and knew that it would be of no use to fire out any more projectiles. His right hand went into his pockets and put the needles away. He was just about to think of another way to break the formation when the net from the east side came closer. The leader of the four handlers whistled, a gold light flashed across his eyes as the net came over his right shoulder. Yang Guo darted back and was about to escape to the north west when the nets from the north and west side pressed forwards. Yang Guo cursed, “It’s over…it’s over! I wonder what torture I’ll endure after falling into the hands of this Valley Master.” Suddenly he heard one of the handlers of the southern net call out, “Oh no!” Yang Guo turned his head and saw that Gongsun Lu E had fallen onto the floor; one of the corners of the net was hanging down loosely. This was the only route out of the formation; Yang Guo didn’t give it another thought and darted out of the encirclement. He saw Gongsun Lu E had fallen onto the floor calling out in pain but she was signaling with her eyes to leave the valley at once. Yang Guo thought to himself, “I’m really touched by her kindness. But if I leave the valley, Gu Gu would definitely be forced into marrying that old Valley Master. I don’t care if I get captured and suffer the pain of a thousand knives, I’ll never leave.” He stood in the corner of the room and looked at Xiao Longnu thinking, “I’ve just experienced great danger yet you still have no reaction?” He saw that Xiao Longnu was still hanging her head and keeping quiet. The Valley Master clapped his hands twice and the nets suddenly dispersed. He turned to Gongsun Lu E and said coldly, “What’s wrong with you?” Gongsun Lu E said, “My leg suddenly had in a painful cramp.” Valley Master Gongsun suspected that his daughter had fallen in love with Yang Guo and as a result gave him an escape route at such a critical moment. But because there were outsiders here it wasn’t appropriate for him to break out in a rage, he laughed coldly and said, “Fine, stand down. Shi Si’er will take her position.” Gongsun Lu E lowered her head and stood down. A youngster in green responded and stepped forward. This person was only fourteen or fifteen years of age and had their hair tied in two plaits. Gongsun Lu E glanced at Yang Guo with grieving in her eyes. Yang Guo felt apologetic and said to himself, “I’m afraid that I won’t be able to repay her kindness and compassion in this life.” Valley Master Gongsun clapped his hands four times and suddenly the sixteen disciples retreated. Yang Guo was shocked, thinking, “Could it be that you admit defeat?” Just as he was wondering about this, he turned his head and saw Gongsun Lu E had a fearful expression on her face; she kept on signaling to him with her eyes to leave the valley. From her appearance, it appeared that he was going to face something extremely dangerous. Yang Guo smiled; instead of running away, he pulled a chair over and sat down. There was a light ringing noise in the inner halls and the sixteen disciples came out again, their hands still holding fish nets. Everyone’s expression changed as soon as they saw the nets; the fish nets had been changed and now it were full of hooks and blades that glimmered. They were extremely sharp; whoever gets caught in the net would be pierced all over and would have no hope of surviving. Ma Guangzuo called out, “Hey, Valley Master, do you want to lose face? How can you use such an evil thing to treat your guests?” Valley Master Gongsun pointed to Yang Guo and said, “I don’t want to hurt you. I’ve warned you many times to leave the valley but you chose to stay here and stir up trouble. This is your final warning, leave quickly.” Even someone with Ma Guangzuo’s courage shivered at the sight of the nets; when he heard the hooks and knives colliding with each other, he was even more afraid. He stood up and pulled Yang Guo’s hand, “Brother Yang, it would be better for us to leave than face this evil thing; why do you insist on quarrelling with him?” Yang Guo looked at Xiao Longnu waiting to see her response. As soon as Xiao Longnu saw the Valley Master summon out blade and hook laced nets, she had prepared for death. As soon as Yang Guo gets caught in the nets she would throw herself on them. They would die together in each others arms. When she thought about this, she felt peace in her heart, thinking that all the world’s pain and suffering will be gone in a flash. Her lips couldn’t stop themselves from showing a smile. How would Yang Guo know what she was feeling at this time? He thought about how he was about to face a great danger yet she could still smile; his heart was in pain, even more deeply than before. In the midst of these feelings of hurt, sorrow, indignation, and approaching danger, he suddenly had an idea and didn’t continue on with these thoughts. He went over to Xiao Longnu and bowed lightly. He said, “Gu Gu, Guo’er is in danger today; I would like to borrow your silk belt and silk gloves.” Xiao Longnu was only thinking about the joy of dying with him and nothing else; when she heard these words she immediately took out a pair of silk gloves and a silk belt to give to him. Yang Guo received them slowly and stared at her, he said, “You’re acknowledging who I am now?” Xiao Longnu was filled with love and smiled, “My heart acknowledged you long ago!” Yang Guo’s spirits were greatly lifted and he quivered, “You’ve decided to leave with me and not marry that Valley Master?” Xiao Longnu smiled and nodded, “I’ve decided to go with you, and of course I won’t marry anyone else. Guo’er; naturally that makes me your wife’.” When she said ‘go with you’, she was talking about dieing with Yang Guo. Yang Guo didn’t understand so of course the others would not either; but her words of ‘naturally that makes me your wife’ couldn’t be clearer. Valley Master Gongsun’s face went white and he hurried the disciples in green to make their move. The sixteen disciples set the nets in motion and moved around. After hearing these words of Xiao Longnu’s, Yang Guo felt as if he was bought back to life from death; his courage and valor soared; even if he were facing greater dangers he wouldn’t care. He put on the impregnable silk gloves and held the silk belt in his right hand. The silk belt was sent out with its ringing noises like a white snake. At the end of the silk belt was a gold bell, the belt extended and retracted once, the bell had struck the ‘Concealed Valley’ pressure point of one of the disciples in the southern position and on its way back it struck the ‘Crooked Pond’ pressure point of one of the disciples in the eastern position. The ‘Concealed Valley’ pressure point is found on the knee, the person could not stay upright and knelt on the floor; the ‘Crooked Pond’ pressure point is found on the elbow area, as soon it was struck, the person’s arm became numb and limp, the fish net slipped out of their hands. After those two pre-emptive attacks, the fish net formation immediately broke up. The four disciples in the west were shocked and when they attacked they were slightly slow; Yang Guo’s gold bell turned towards them and after another two strikes, another two disciples had their pressure points struck. But at this time, the net from the north was thrown over his head. The knives and hooks were half a foot away from his head; he couldn’t use the silk belt to deal with them. Yang Guo’s left hand turned upwards and grabbed the fish net; he used its force and flung it away. Although he grabbed hooks and daggers, his hands were covered by the silk gloves and were completely protected. The net was now heading back towards the four disciples in green. When these disciples practiced this net formation, the only thing they were afraid of was the enemy slipping through the net; they concentrated on keeping it tight and unyielding. The thought of the net returning over them had never entered their minds. They watched as the glittering knives and hooks came towards their heads; they knew exactly how powerful the net was and called out in alarm as they let go and leapt away. The youngster who replaced Gongsun Lu E was weaker than the rest; a dagger eventually pierced his thigh, blood poured and he fell down, crying out in pain on the floor. Yang Guo laughed, “Little brother, don’t be scared, I’m not going to hurt you.” His left hand flipped the net away and his right moved the silk belt. Sounds of ‘qiang lang lang’ and ‘ding ling ling’ were heard as the hooks and daggers collided with each other with the golden bell ringing. The sounds were extremely crisp. After this, none of the disciples dared to come forward and stood far away by the wall. But because they hadn’t received the order to back down by their master, they didn’t dare admit defeat and run away. Though they didn’t admit defeat, they had already lost. Ma Guangzuo clapped and cheered for a while but because he was the only one, he felt a bit lonely and glanced over to Fawang saying, “Hey monk, aren’t brother Yang Guo’s martial arts great? Why aren’t you cheering?” Fawang laughed and said, “His skills are great, extremely good but there’s no need to call out like that.” Ma Guangzuo asked, “Why?” Fawang saw that the Valley Master was frowning and was now making his way towards the centre of the hall slowly. Fawang concentrated on him and ignored Ma Guangzuo. When Valley Master Gongsun heard Xiao Longnu say, ‘naturally that makes me your wife’, he knew that his sweet dream of the past two weeks had come to an end; though he was disappointed and angry, he thought, “Even if I can’t have your heart I’m going to have you. I’ll kill that bastard in one palm and I don’t care what your feelings towards me will be, after a time, your heart will eventually return to me.” Yang Guo saw that his eyebrows were rising higher and higher to a point where his brows and eyes looked like they were standing straight up; he didn’t know what school of martial arts this was from and became slightly afraid. His right hand lifted the silk belt and his left clutched the net, he was completely prepared. He knew that this battle would decide the life and death of he and Xiao Longnu; he didn’t dare to allow one strand of carelessness in his actions. Valley Master Gongsun circled around Yang Guo slowly. Yang Guo too turned around slowly on the floor; he didn’t dare to gaze away from him. He saw that he was still delaying making his move and knew that when he attacked, it will be extremely swift and vicious. All he saw was him raising his hands, leveling them three times in front of him and then his hands came together. The sound generated was as if gold and iron had collided. Yang Guo’s heart skipped a beat and he moved back a step. Valley Master Gongsun suddenly stretched out his right arm and grabbed the fish net, pulling it away to one side. Yang Guo felt that his pull had great force behind it; his fingers ached and he could only let go. Valley Master Gongsun threw the net to the four disciples and shouted, “Stand down!” After having the net snatched away, Yang Guo didn’t allow him to make the first move again. The silk belt shot out and the gold bell shook, attacking the opponent’s ‘Large Bone’ and ‘Celestial Tripod’ pressure points on the shoulder and neck. Valley Master Gongsun’s chest was open with his arms stretched out to the side but Yang Guo didn’t dare to attack the major pressure points on his chest rashly. He first attacked the smaller pressure points on his body to test him out. Valley Master Gongsun’s martial arts were actually from a different school of martial arts; he ignored the pressure point attacks of the bell and stretched out his right arm to grab Yang Guo’s arm. A ‘ding ding’ sound was heard as the ‘Large Bone’ and ‘Celestial Tripod’ pressure points were struck but he didn’t feel it. A ‘hu’ sound was heard as the grab turned into a palm, striking towards Yang Guo’s chest on the left side. Yang Guo was alarmed and quickly leaned his body to the side. Luckily for him, his lightness kung fu was excellent and he avoided this sudden palm from his opponent. Yang Guo had once heard the great fighters of Wulin, Ouyang Feng, Hong Qigong and Huang Yaoshi talk about martial arts, and knew that when someone has reached advanced levels of internal energy that, at the time the opponent strikes their pressure points, they were able to seal off themselves and negate the attack. But they will still show some effects of their pressure points being attacked. Ouyang Feng’s martial arts could lead to reversal of the veins and the major pressure points over one’s body to change position. When someone sees his legs above his head, they would be able to tell immediately. But the enemy he is facing now actually made no response to his pressure points being struck; it was as if he didn’t have any pressure points on his body. This type of martial arts is rarely seen or heard of; he couldn’t stop some fear from creeping into his heart. He saw his palms had turned over and there seemed to be black air within the palms. While it was coming towards him the wind was forceful and pressing, he didn’t dare to receive it head on. He used the silk belt to tangle with him while his left hand protected the vital areas of his body. Soon, they had exchanged over ten stances. Yang Guo had put all his concentration into fighting him. Suddenly he saw the left palm of his opponent coming lightly towards his chest; it appeared to be a soft palm but it was the opposite; it was actually a palm from the same set of palm skills as Wanyan Ping’s “Iron Palm”. He quickly leaped away a couple of feet. When the Valley Master’s palm met thin air, he didn’t take it back and the palm kept on going forward another two feet; he moved quickly and the palm was now in front of Yang Guo. Normally, when a person fires out a punch or sends out a palm, the strength originates from the arm. They would pull back their arm and send out the attack; but the attack Valley Master had just used now originated from his body. His hand and palm didn’t move; he was actually using the force from his body to attack the opponent. Although the force from the body is greater than that from the arm, using it to send out a palm or punch will result in slower attacks; but Valley Master Gongsun’s palm was both fierce and swift. Yang Guo wanted to lean his body to the side to avoid the palm but there was no time, he could only send out his left palm and meet it head on. A ‘pai’ sound was generated as the palms collided; Yang Guo was jolted back three steps while the Valley Master stood his ground with his body swaying a little. Standing there without moving, the Valley Master appeared to have the upper hand; but in actual fact the power from Yang Guo’s palm had caused a throbbing pain in the side of his body; he was extremely shocked. “I’d used all my power behind that “Iron Palm”, but that punk was still actually able to receive it. If we carry on like this I may not be able to kill him. If we fight to a draw, I won’t be able to say anything.” He clapped his hands twice; the sounds were ear piercingly loud. He said, “The one named Yang, I have been merciful in that palm, do you know that?” If this were a normal martial arts duel, and if Yang Guo continued fighting, he would definitely lose. When the Valley Master said these words he should have admitted that his martial arts were weaker; but today he knew that the opponent would never allow him and Xiao Longnu to leave in peace. He had no other option but to engage in a fight to the death. Yang Guo still had his ridiculing and derisory nature towards his opponents and Xiao Longnu had returned to him now; his heart was overflowing with joy. He laughed and said, “If you kill me, how can my Gu Gu marry you? If you don’t kill me, my Gu Gu still would not marry you. What mercy is there? It’s just that you couldn’t do anything to me!” Yang Guo was too kind in his surmising of his opponent’s thoughts. The Valley Master would love nothing more than to kill him in one stroke to avoid him causing any problems in the future. Even if it caused Xiao Longnu to hate and loathe him, he couldn’t have cared less; he couldn’t do anything to Yang Guo because his palms couldn’t do anything to him. He turned towards his daughter and said, “Take out my weapons.” Gongsun Lu E delayed and didn’t reply. Valley Master Gongsun shouted, “Didn’t you hear?” Gongsun Lu E went pale and could only reply, “Yes!” She then left for the inner halls. Yang Guo looked at the expression of the two and thought, “I couldn’t cope when he was empty handed; now that he’s going to use some weird weapon, what chance have I got? If we don’t leave now, when should we leave?” He went over to Xiao Longnu and stretched out his hand, softly saying, “Gu Gu, let’s leave!” Valley Master Gongsun gathered energy in his hands; as soon as Xiao Longnu stands and takes Yang Guo’s hand, he’ll immediately throw himself forward and attack Yang Guo’s spine viciously with the “Iron Palm”. He made his decision and thought, “I don’t care if sister Liu hates me; I’m going to kill that punk. If sister Liu leaves with him, what joy will I have left for the next half of my life?” But Xiao Longnu did not stand up, just saying calmly, “Of course I’ll go with you. But the Valley Master did save my life; we need to explain everything to him and ask for his forgiveness.” Yang Guo was flustered and thought, “Gu Gu doesn’t know anything. Do you think he’s going to forgive us just like that because you’ve explained everything to him?” Then he heard Xiao Longnu ask him, “Guo’er, have you been well over the last couple of days?” She said these words with great compassion and love. When Yang Guo heard these gentle, loving words and saw her affectionate expression, he felt that if even the sky was falling down on him he wouldn’t care. How could he still be thinking about trying to escape? He said, “Gu Gu, you’re not angry with me?” Xiao Longnu smiled and said, “Why should I be angry with you? I’ve never been angry with you. Turn around.” Yang Guo listened to her and turned around but didn’t know what she wanted to do. Xiao Longnu took out a little bag with string and needles in them. She threaded the needle and measured the hole that Fan Yiweng had torn on the back of his garment. She sighed and said, “Over these past few days I’ve wanted to make a new gown for you; but when I thought about how I’ll never see you again, I thought ‘what’s the point?’ I could never have dreamed that you would find your way here.” The pain and grief in her words turned to joy and delight as she said this. She picked up a pair of small scissors and cut a piece of fabric from the corner of her gown. She slowly helped him repair his garment. When the two lived in the tomb, whenever Yang Guo’s clothes were torn or ripped, Xiao Longnu would call him over and help him repair them just like this. Over the years, this happened countless times. The two of them did not care about life and death anymore; though they were under the stares of many people in the hall, the two of them acted as if no one was there and did as they used to when they lived with each other in the ancient tomb. Yang Guo was filled with boundless joy and hot tears rolled down from his eyes, he choked, “Gu Gu, just now I made you throw up blood, I… it was my fault.” Xiao Longnu smiled, “It’s not your fault. You know I had this kind of illness long ago. I haven’t seen you for a few days and your martial arts have advanced so much. You threw up blood as well just now, are you alright?” Yang Guo laughed, “It’s nothing. I’ve got more than enough blood to spare.” Xiao Longnu smiled, “You love to talk nonsense.” Though the words of the two were ordinary and plain, everyone could hear the love that the two had for each other and that the two had an extremely deep relationship. Fawang and the others looked at each other. Valley Master Gongsun was shocked and jealous; he stood there stunned not knowing what to do. Yang Guo said, “I’ve met some interesting people over the last few days. Gu Gu, guess where I got my pair of large scissors from?” Xiao Longnu said, “I was wondering about that; it’s like you knew that there was a long bearded old man here long ago, so you prepared a large pair of scissors to cut off his beard. You really are naughty; he’s taken years to grow that beard and you cut it off just like that, isn’t it a pity?” She gave a laugh as her bright eyes sparkled; her appearance was enchanting. Valley Master could not endure this any longer; he stretched out his hand towards Yang Guo’s chest and shouted, “Bastard, you’re too disrespectful.” Yang Guo didn’t block it and said, “There’s no need to rush, I’ll continue the fight once Gu Gu finishes repairing my garment.” Valley Master Gongsun’s fingers were just a few inches away from his chest; he had the status of being a Master and even though he was furious, it would be inappropriate for him to attack him like this. Suddenly he heard Gongsun Lu E call out from behind, “Father, the weapons are here.” He didn’t turn around as he moved backwards a few feet and took the weapons. His left hand held a thick and wide jagged saber; the blade glittered with gold light and it appeared to be produced from gold; his right hand was holding a fine and long black sword and it shook a little in his hands displaying the softness of the blade. The edges of the blade emitted a blue light and it was extremely sharp. The two weapons were the opposite of each other; one was heavy and hard, the other light and soft. Yang Guo just took one look at the strange weapons before continuing “Gu Gu, a few days ago I met a woman; she told me who my father’s murderer was.” Xiao Longnu’s heart trembled and asked, “Who is it?” Yang Guo bit down on his teeth and said with hatred, “You could never have guessed who they were, and all along I’ve been thinking that they’ve been treating me extremely well.” Xiao Longnu said, “They? They’ve been treating you extremely well?” Yang Guo said, “Yes, They are…” A clear buzzing sound that resonated without stop was heard; it was Valley Master Gongsun’s black sword colliding with his golden saber. His wrist turned and three consecutive swings that sliced through the air were unleashed; one aimed towards Yang Guo’s head, one aimed at the left side of Yang Guo’s neck and other at the right side of Yang Guo’s neck. They all passed within half an inch of his flesh. The Valley Master was looking after his status; since the enemy did not make a move to block these attacks he couldn’t land them; but the accuracy of these attacks was unnerving. Xiao Longnu said, “I’ve finished!” She patted him on the back. Yang Guo turned around and smiled. He then made his way towards the centre of the hall with the silk belt. Valley Master Gongsun’s “Yin Yang Twin Blades”, “Fish Net Formation” and “Closure of Pressure Points” were all passed down from his ancestors. But because they have lived in the valley in seclusion for all these years and haven’t made any contact with outsiders for hundreds of years, these three extraordinary martial arts were unknown to the outside world. Another reason for its seclusion was that there were great weaknesses within all three sets of these martial arts. If a skilled martial artist discovers the weakness, the user would not be able to avoid death. His ancestors had passed down a strict rule; members of the valley were forbidden to go out and get involved in Jianghu affairs for this reason. Over twenty years ago, Valley Master Gongsun also learned martial arts of the Iron Palm School. Although the person who taught him wasn’t some extraordinary martial artist, their knowledge was vast. Their thoughts were careful and attentive; this person helped him cover up numerous holes in his family’s martial arts. In particular, a lot of changes were made to the stances of the “Yin Yang Twin Blades”. This person said to him, “This set of saber and sword technique is now greatly improved; even if you’re opponent is extremely clever, they will not be able to see through the trappings of this technique within fifty stances. But once your saber and sword is unleashed, how can your opponent withstand fifty stances of it?” When he saw Yang Guo motioning the silk belt to battle him, he called out, “Watch out for the sword!” The black sword quivered and it pierced towards Yang Guo’s chest; but the sword did not go straight towards his chest; instead it circled around in front of him. Yang Guo did not know where the sword was aiming and in shock, he leapt backwards. Valley Master Gongsun’s attacks were extremely fast; when Yang Guo leapt back, the circles of the sword were thrust towards him. The circles were becoming bigger and bigger; at first it only circled around the chest area, but afterwards it covered the lower abdomen, and after a few more stances the encirclement gradually reached his neck. All the vital points between the neck and the lower abdomen of Yang Guo were covered by the sword tip. Fawang, Yin Kexi, Xiaoxiang Zi and the others has never seen such a swordplay where circling of the sword is used to press the opponent; they were shocked. As soon as Valley Master Gongsun unleashed a stance, Yang Guo would immediately dart away; he drew ten circles with his sword and each time, Yang Guo backed away and had no way to attack. Yang Guo saw that the enemy’s swords stances were becoming swifter and more intense while the jagged saber in his left hand had still to be unleashed; when he actually uses it he would probably have no chance at all. There wasn’t time for any more thoughts and he leapt to the left while motioning the silk belt; a ringing ‘ding ling ling’ and the gold bell went flying towards the opponent’s left eye. Valley Master Gongsun slanted his head to dodge the attack and stopped his attack. Yang Guo was delighted, he quickly motioned the silk belt and wrapped it around his right leg; he was about to pull backwards when Valley Master Gongsun’s sword drew downwards and slashed the belt in two; the black sword was actually an extremely sharp weapon. Everyone gave an ‘ah’ sound just in time to hear the gust of a fierce wind; Valley Master Gongsun had chopped down with his jagged saber towards Yang Guo. Yang Guo rolled on the floor. A ‘dang’ sound was heard which echoed throughout the room; Yang Guo had actually picked up Fan Yiweng’s steel staff to block the attack and the saber collided with it; both of their arms trembled and were slightly numb. Valley Master Gongsun was shocked, “This punk really is good; he is actually able to receive ten of my stances.” The saber chopped across and the sword pierced diagonally. A saber should take ferociousness and hardness as its aim, a sword swiftness and lightness; the two weapons were complete opposites. To use both a saber and sword at the same time is impossible; but Valley Master Gongsun’s attacks were becoming more and more pressing and the sword and saber techniques were both clearly distinguished. There was softness and hardness, yin and yang; this really was a rarely seen great skill of the Wulin world. Yang Guo gave out a call and waved the steel staff; he used the “Dog Beating Stick Technique’s” ‘seal’ formula, guarding his body tightly. Valley Master Gongsun wasn’t actually able to attack him with his twin blades as he did this. But the “Dog Beating Stick Technique” has subtlety and variation as its main aim; a light and fine bamboo stick can be used as pleased, but the heavy and long staff in his hand cannot. After a few more stances, he felt that variation of the stances gradually became ineffective. Valley Master Gongsun suddenly found a weakness; the gold saber lifted up and the black sword drew down; a ‘ka’ sound was heard as the black sword cut the steel staff in half. Yang Guo called out, “What luck! Just when I was thinking that this staff is too heavy!” A great increase in the effectiveness of the stances could be seen when Yang Guo continued using this slashed half staff. Valley Master Gongsun gave a ‘huh’ grunt and said, “We’ll see whether it’s lucky or not.” The saber in his left hand chopped forward. The saber slashed down towards Yang Guo’s head. This stance was rather slow and sluggish, all Yang Guo had to do was to slant his body to the side a little and he would be able to avoid it easily; however, the circles from the black sword were covering all his paths leaving him with no way to escape. Yang Guo could only raise his broken staff and use a stance of “Lifting the Sky with One Hand” to meet this stance head on. A loud ‘dang’ sound was heard as the two weapons collided; sparks flew everywhere as Yang Guo felt his arms go numb. Valley Master Gongsun continued the attack; he used the same stance as before. Yang Guo was knowledgeable in martial arts and he was extremely quick witted in battle yet he wasn’t actually able to neutralize such a clumsy stance; there was no other choice for him but to meet this stance in the same way again. Yang Guo’s arms ached even more after this second collision; he knew that if this continued, the tendons in his arm would suffer great damage. Before he finished his thoughts, the Valley Master had sent down a third chop. After a few more chops, the saber had hacked a groove on the staff and the joints in Yang Guo’s right hand started to bleed. Valley Master Gongsun saw that even in the face of danger Yang Guo still carried his smile; the saber in his left hand chopped down and he thrust the black sword suddenly towards his lower abdomen. Yang Guo had been forced back into the corner of the hall; when he saw the sword tip coming he stretched out his hand to block it. When the sword arrived at his palm, the blade bent in an arc and flicked away. Xiao Longnu’s silk gloves were very tough, even though the black sword was extremely sharp, it still couldn’t harm him. Yang Guo knew that with the gloves he would not have to fear the black sword; he turned his palm around and suddenly stretched out his hand to grab the sword, wanting to do the same thing as Xiao Longnu did when she snapped Hao Datong’s sword. But he didn’t know that Valley Master Gongsun would flick his wrist lightly and curve his sword around his hand, piercing him in the forearm; blood flowed out of the wound. Yang Guo was shocked and quickly leapt back. Valley Master Gongsun did not continue the attack and instead chuckled a few times before slowly advancing again. If Valley Master Gongsun had either the jagged saber or black sword only, Yang Guo would definitely have a way to defend against him; but as the soft and hard blades were use simultaneously against him, he was forced on the back foot, struggling against the attacks. Fawang, Yin Kexi, Xiaoxiang Zi and Nimoxing were all thinking, “The Valley Master’s “Yin Yang Twin Blades” is extremely swift, powerful and vicious; but at the same time, that kid is pretty clever, thinking of so many ways to avoid all these vicious stances.” Valley Master Gongsun chopped with his saber and thrust with his sword; Yang Guo was struck in the shoulder and blood trickled over his gown. Valley Master Gongsun said in a deep voice, “Are you in awe of me yet?” Yang Guo smiled and said, “You came into battle with me having a huge advantage, and here you opening your mouth asking whether I’m in awe of you or not. Ha-ha, Valley Master Gongsun, how come you don’t save face?” The Valley Master took in his sword and saber and then asked, “Please tell me what advantage I have?” Yang Guo said, “You’re using customized weapons; one is a strange saber the other is an extraordinary sword; even if I searched all over the world I’m afraid that I wouldn’t be able to find such weapons, isn’t that true?” The Valley Master replied, “So what? Your gloves and silk belt aren’t ordinary either.” Yang Guo threw the broken staff onto the floor and laughed, “This belongs to your bearded disciple.” He took off the gloves and picked up the two pieces of silk belt. Yang Guo threw them over to Xiao Longnu and said, “These belong to my Gu Gu.” He cleaned off the dust on his body not taking any notice of the bleeding wounds that he had; he laughed, “I came to your valley empty handed; what ill intent did I have? If you want to kill me then kill; why must you talk so much?” Valley Master Gongsun saw that he had a leisurely air about him; his face and eyes were elegant and handsome and even with all those wounds on him, he talked and laughed at ease as if nothing had happened. He couldn’t help but feel inferior to him and thought, “I cannot compare with this person; if I let him live, sister Liu’s heart will remain his.” So he said, “Fine!” He thrust the sword forwards towards his chest. Yang Guo had already decided, “Since I can’t beat him then I’ll let him kill me.” When he saw the sword coming towards him, he ignored it and instead looked over at Xiao Longnu, thinking, “I will die happy with Gu Gu in my eyes.” He saw Xiao Longnu’s face carrying a sweet smile and getting closer step by step; their eyes were locked on each other, both of them ignoring the black sword of Valley Master Gongsun. Valley Master Gongsun had not met Yang Guo before, what feud has he got with him? The only reason he’s trying to kill him is because of Xiao Longnu, so when he sent out this sword, he couldn’t help but glance over at Xiao Longnu. When he saw her, his heart immediately filled with jealousy; he saw her staring at Yang Guo lovingly, and when he looked over at Yang Guo, he was doing the exact same thing toward her. The black sword had reached Yang Guo and all that was needed was a bit of force from his arms and it would pierce into Yang Guo’s chest; but there was no fear or concern on Xiao Longnu’s face. Yang Guo also made no attempt to block this attack; the two of them stared madly at each other, their thoughts were one, they had long forgotten about life and death. Valley Master Gongsun broke out in a great rage, thinking to himself, “If I kill him now, sister Liu will immediately kill herself because of her love for him. I need to think of a way to force her to marry me; once I’ve bedded her there’ll be plenty of time to kill that punk.” He called out, “Sister Liu, do you want me to kill him or spare him?” When Xiao Longnu was staring at Yang Guo, she had not thought about Valley Master Gongsun; only after hearing this sudden call did she wake up and said alarmed, “Move the sword away; why are you pointing your sword at his chest?” Valley Master Gongsun chuckled, “It’s not difficult to stop the sword. If you want to him to live, just tell him to leave the valley immediately and let us get married.” Before Yang Guo came, she had decided to never see him again; she didn’t care if she would live the rest of her life in grief and pain. All she hoped for was that he would be safe and happy; but now that they’ve reunited, how could she still agree to marry the Valley Master? For the past few days, she knew that she couldn’t carry out the decision that she had made and would rather die than marry someone else; so she turned her head to the Valley Master and said, “Mr. Gongsun, thank you for saving my life. But I cannot marry you.” The Valley Master knew the reasons but still asked, “Why?” Xiao Longnu stood with Yang Guo and held his arm, smiling; “I have decided to marry him and spend the rest of my life with him, could you not tell?” The Valley Master shook his head a few times and then said, “If you hadn’t promised me that day, why would I do this and try to force you? You promised with your own lips that it was what you wanted.” Xiao Longnu said, “That is correct, but I cannot give him up. We need to go now, please forgive us.” She pulled Yang Guo’s hand and headed for the door. Valley Master Gongsun quickly moved to block the exit and hissed, “The only way you’ll leave the valley is over my dead body.” Xiao Longnu said, “I’m indebted to you for saving my life; how can I try to harm you? Anyway, your martial arts are too strong for me.” As she talked, she tore off a piece of fabric from her gown and helped Yang Guo tie up his wounds. Jinlun Fawang suddenly said loudly, “Valley Master Gongsun, you better let them leave.” The Valley Master gave a ‘huh’ grunt, his face was serious and he didn’t reply. Fawang continued, “If those two joined up with their swords, how would your gold saber and black sword be able to handle them? Just do them a favour and let them go.” He’d suffered the greatest humiliation in his life after losing to Yang Guo and Xiao Longnu’s “Pure Heart of Jade Maiden Sword”; ever since then, he’d been thinking of a way to defeat this swordplay but was unable to. Now he had seen how powerful the yin yang blades of the Valley Master were; it wasn’t below the martial arts of his golden wheel. So he came out with these words to anger him, hoping to make the three go into battle. Firstly, he could get a chance to take a look at Yang Guo’s and Xiao Longnu’s swordplay again and look for its weakness so he can avenge this defeat. Secondly, he hoped that the three would destroy each other. In actual fact, if Fawang hadn’t come out with these words to anger the Valley Master, he would never agree to let Xiao Longnu leave the valley with Yang Guo. He stared angrily at Fawang and thought, “You dare to say such words in front of my face? I haven’t got time for you now, but I’ll remember this for the future.” He turned his head towards Xiao Longnu and clenched his teeth as he thought, “Your heart doesn’t belong to me but your body will. You won’t agree to marry me when you’re alive, then I’m still going to marry you even when you’re dead.” At first he had planned to use Yang Guo’s life to force Xiao Longnu to submit to him; but when he saw that the two weren’t afraid of death, he thought that even if they die together, he wouldn’t let them out of the valley. His eyebrows rose again and an air of death gradually showed up on his face. He suddenly heard Ma Guangzuo call out, “Hey, old man Gongsun, she said that she doesn’t want to marry you; why are you still blocking her way? Don’t you want to save face?” Xiaoxiang Zi said eerily, “Don’t talk rubbish brother Ma. Valley Master Gongsun has already set up a feast today and has invited us to join in the celebrations.” Ma Guangzuo said loudly, “All he’s got is water and vegetables; what’s so great about that? If I were that girl I would never marry him. With her beauty, she can be the empress. Why should she stay with this cruel and evil old man for the rest of her life, eating nothing but green vegetables and tofu? Even if one didn’t get annoyed to death, they’d be bored to death.” Xiao Longnu turned her head and said gently, “Master Ma, Mr. Gongsun saved my life and I’m indebted to him, I… I… I’ll always be grateful for his kindness.” Ma Guangzuo called out, “Fine, old man Gongsun, if you want to show that you’re a kind and benevolent person then why don’t you let the two of them marry and consummate the marriage today. If you saved a girl because you wanted to bed her, then doesn’t that put you in the same class as those raping lowlife bandits?” He was a straightforward man and says what comes into his mind; his words were all hard on the ears but they were hard to refute. Valley Master Gongsun’s intent to kill was stirred; he decided that he’ll take care of all the outsiders in one go. He didn’t make a move and said dryly, “My Passionless Valley may not be some extraordinary place; but if everyone here comes and goes as they please, then the one named Gongsun may appear to be a bit too humble in the eyes of others. Miss Liu…” Xiao Longnu showed a smile and said, “I lied to you when I said my surname is Liu; my surname is Long. I named myself Liu because he’s named Yang.” Valley Master Gongsun felt even more jealous; he could only pretend that he didn’t hear those words and said, “Miss Liu, this…” resinpinephosphoricacidaddtive

016 Divine Eagle, Gallant Knight Chapter 9 - A Hundred Ideas to Avoid the EnemyLu Wushuang was frightened at this moment in time, when she heard him ask such a stupid question she angrily said, “Sha Dan! What the hell are you talking about?” Yang Guo laughed and said, “Let’s play bride and groom. Why don’t you pretend to be a bride? Won’t that be beautiful? With a red veil covering your face, when people look they won’t see your face.” Lu Wushuang was startled and said, “You’re instructing me to pretend to be a bride to avoid my master?” Yang Guo laughed and said, “I don’t know, you pretend to be a bride and I’ll be the groom.” This was an urgent matter, Lu Wushuang had no time to scold him, she thought, “Sha Dan’s idea is a strange one, but apart from this idea, there’s nothing else.” She asked, “How should we do it?” Yang Guo didn’t want to waste time, he lashed the donkey and it hurried forward. The small roads of the countryside were tight and narrow, with eight people carrying the sedan chair lining up along the road; the two groups had nowhere to pass. When the people saw the donkey charging forward they all shouted, telling the riders to rein it in and slow down. Yang Guo squeezed his legs, and urged the donkey to go even faster, in a flash it had come up to the crowd. Two strong men had earlier stepped up wanting to pull the donkey back so that it won’t knock into the sedan chair. Yang Guo’s rope lashed out and wrapped around the two men’s arms, he raised his arm and let go, the two men fell onto the ground. He turned around to Lu Wushuang and said, “I want to be a groom.” He leaned forward and stretched out his hand to grab the groom who was riding on a white horse. The groom was about seventeen or eighteen years of age, he was fitted out with new clothes and with gold flowers on his head; the sudden grab by Yang Guo frightened him. Yang Guo lifted his body and flung him up, his body flew up over a distance of ten feet, when he was about to land, the people shouted and called out, stretching out their arms to catch him. There were about thirty people who were helping to celebrate, half of them were tall strong men of Guanxi but when they saw his skills and the groom in his hands, how did they dare attack? An experienced old man dashed up; thinking it was bandits, he said, “Please spare the groom Da Wang (king). The amount of money that Da Wang wants, we can discuss it.” Yang Guo turned around to Lu Wushuang and said, “Wifey, why are they calling me Da Wang? My surname is Da? I think he’s even more stupid than me.” Lu Wushuang said, “Don’t waste time, I think I can hear the bell of my master’s donkey.” Yang Guo was startled, he listened carefully, and indeed he could hear a faint ringing sound. He thought, “She’s quick.” He then said, “Ling Zi (Bell) What Ling Zi? It’s a sweets seller? Great, let’s buy some sweets to eat.” He turned around to the old man and said, “If you listen to my instructions then I’ll let you go, otherwise” he lifted up the groom and threw him up in the air. The groom was so frightened that he began to cry. The old man made a bow and said, “We’ll do as Da Wang instructs.” Yang Guo pointed to Lu Wushuang and said, “That’s my little Wifey, when she saw that someone was getting married she thought that it was amusing, she herself wants to take part too.” Lu Wushuang scolded, “Sha Dan, what did you say?” Yang Guo ignored her and said, “Quickly take the bride’s clothes and put them on her, I’ll be the groom.” It’s not unusual for kids to pretend to be a bride and groom. But who would think that a bandit on a narrow road would suddenly want to play this game? The people all looked at each other in dismay, and refused. Looking at the two, one was a young man, the other was a young girl, and one could describe them as a married couple. But the crowd of people didn’t care. Yang Guo heard the ringing of the bell getting closer so he leapt off the donkey and placed the groom on the saddle letting Lu Wushuang guard him and went over to the sedan chair, he pushed aside the curtain and pulled the bride out. The bride screeched out in fright, her face was covered with a red veil and didn’t know what was happening outside. Yang Guo brushed aside her red veil and saw a face like the moon, a face full of joy. He laughed and said, “The bride is beautiful.” He lightly touched her cheek. The bride froze in fright and didn’t make a sound. Yang Guo’s left hand held up the bride and called out, “If you want me to spare her, quickly take her clothes and give them to my Wifey to wear.” Lu Wushuang heard the ringing of her master’s donkey getting closer, she gave him a stare and thought, “That Sha Dan doesn’t know how high the sky is or how deep the earth is and his mouth is still joking at this time?” She heard the old man following his instructions, “Quick, quick! Quickly change the bride’s clothes.” The nanny accompanying the bride quickly took off her phoenix headdress and her bridal costume and dressed Lu Wushuang with them. Taking off the groom’s costume, Yang Guo changed himself. He turned around to Lu Wushuang and said, “Good Wifey, enter the sedan chair.” Lu Wushuang told the bride to enter the sedan chair first and then she entered, lowering the curtain afterwards. Yang Guo took a look at his grass shoes and wanted to change them when he heard the ringing sound from just around the bend in the road, he called out, “Turn around and head in a southeast direction, quickly! If someone comes and asks about us don’t say you’ve seen us.” He leapt onto the white horse and rode along with the groom on the donkey. When the crowd saw the couple had fallen into their hands, they didn’t dare to disobey; they raised their gongs and cymbals and started their tune. The sedan chair was picked up and turned around but after about a hundred feet, the ringing sound was becoming quicker, two donkeys trotted after them. Lu Wushuang was thinking about whether she would be able to escape from this danger and heard the now much closer ringing sound; her heart jumped and she carefully listened to the activities of outside. Yang Guo pretended to be embarrassed and lowered his head looking at the horse’s neck. He heard Hong Lingbo call out, “Hey, have you seen a lame girl walking past here?” The old man from the crowd called out, “No…no…” Hong Lingbo asked again, “Have you seen a girl on an animal pass by?” The old man said, “No.” The two passed the crowd and rushed on by. After a short while the two pulled the donkeys around and returned. Li Mochou’s fly whisk flew out and wrapped around the sedan chair curtain, she pulled back and after a ‘chi’ sound, the curtain ripped in half. Yang Guo was alarmed and rushed forward, as soon as the fly whisk comes out a second time he will make his move and rescue her. He didn’t know that after one look in the sedan chair, Li Mochou would smile and say, “The bride is handsome.” She raised her head and said to Yang Guo, “Little punk, your luck isn’t bad.” Yang Guo lowered his head not daring to face her, but heard them trotting away. Yang Guo wondered, “Why did she spare Miss Lu?” He opened the sedan chair curtain only to see the bride scared out of her wits, and Lu Wushuang had disappeared. Yang Guo was even more baffled and called out, “Ai Ya, where’s my Wifey gone?” Lu Wushuang laughed and said, “I’ve disappeared.” He saw the bride’s dress move and Lu Wushuang darted out; she had hidden underneath the bride’s gown. She knew that her master was very meticulous and careful, she would examine all possibilities; she knew that her master would come back so she hid. Yang Guo said, “You can relax and be the bride from now on, sitting in the sedan chair is much more comfortable than riding on the donkey.” Lu Wushuang nodded and said to the bride, “You are suffocating me, quickly get out.” The bride could do nothing and exited the sedan chair and rode on the donkey that was previously ridden by Lu Wushuang. The bride and the groom had never met before, the groom saw that the bride was healthy and attractive, the bride saw the groom and she too was pleased. The two were delighted even with their fear, and soon forgot that they were being held hostage by a bandit. They walked on for about twenty li (10 km/6.2 miles) and the sky gradually became dark. The old man kept on pleading with Yang Guo to let them go in case they missed the wedding’s lucky period. Yang Guo scolded, “Why are you so annoying?” As soon as he said this, something flashed by the roadside and two people hurried into the forest. Yang Guo was suspicious and chased after them. Indeed he saw the backs of two people, their clothes were old and torn, and they looked like beggars. Yang Guo reigned in his horse and thought, “Could the Beggar Clan have seen through us and set up a trap ahead? But at this moment in time, all we can do is head forward.” Not long after, the sedan chair caught up with him. Lu Wushuang poked her head out and asked, “What did you see?” Yang Guo said, “Your curtain is torn and your face is not covered by the red veil. To be a proper bride one must cry and sob, even if the bride wants to get married, tears should flow and noses should run, calling out for your father and mother but not daring to leave. Where can you find such an unabashed bride as you under heaven’s skies?” Lu Wushuang heard his words and understood the meaning behind it, their movements seemed to have been discovered. She lightly called out ‘Sha Dan’ and didn’t say anymore. After a while the mountain path in front of them became steep, narrow and rugged, the people leading the procession were extremely tired long ago but didn’t say anything in case they incurred Yang Guo’s wrath. In the wink of the eye the sun was now above the mountain, crows screeched as they flew in the sky. Suddenly, voices were heard around the mountain, they were singing, “Little Miss do a good deed, please spare us a silver saber.” Lu Wushuang’s face turned pale, and she thought, “So the four beggars are hiding around here.” After the sedan chair turned a corner, three men could be seen in front of them, they were beggars. They were tall and strongly built; they were completely different to the four beggars they previously encountered. Yang Guo saw that there were five pockets on their shoulders and thought, “These three five pocket beggars must be better than the other four, it looks like I’m going have to use my real skills.” The crowd carrying the couple had waited impatiently, one of them had taken a whip and lashed out at one of the beggars calling out, “Move out of the way… move out of the way!” The beggar did not move, he held the tip of the whip and pulled, the person holding the whip fell down. If this happened normally the crowd of people would have rushed up, but they had been frightened by Yang Guo previously and all thought, “So the three beggars are with him.” No one dared to move forward and instead took a few steps back. One of the beggars clearly said, “Congratulations Miss, little beggar here just want to beg for some money.” Lu Wushuang quietly said, “Sha Dan, I’m injured at the moment and can’t fight, get rid of them for me.” Yang Guo said, “Fine.” He galloped forward on his horse and said, “Today is my wife’s special day, she doesn’t want any beggars to spoil it, now move.” One of the beggars took a few glances at Yang Guo but couldn’t recognize him from anywhere. The four beggars who had been struck in the wrist by the chopsticks all thought it was Lu Wushuang who did this and so did not tell their Martial Uncles about Yang Guo. One of the beggars waved out his right hand. Yang Guo’s horse was frightened and reared up. Yang Guo pretended to wobble and fell off the back of the horse and didn’t pick himself up for a long time. The three beggars all thought, “So that person really is the groom.” The Beggar Clan is a righteous and chivalrous clan; they have always helped the weak against the strong and aided those who were in danger. They had only decided to go after Lu Wushuang because she hurt a member of their clan. When they saw Yang Guo falling onto the ground and didn’t seem to know ANY martial arts they all felt apologetic, one of the beggars stretched out a hand to pull him up and said, “Sorry.” Yang Guo mumbled, “What’s wrong with you people, if you want to beg for money then beg for money, why are you scaring my horse.” He took out some change and handed it out. The three beggars thanked him according to the clan’s rules. Yang Guo laughed and said to Lu Wushuang, “You told me to give them money, I’ve already done it.” Lu Wushuang angrily said, “What use is there of pretending to be stupid to me?” Yang Guo said, “Yes, yes!” He stepped to the side and brushed off the dirt off his body. Lu Wushuang saw the three beggars were still blocking the way, she calmly said, “What do you want?” One of the beggars said, “Miss is a skilled fighter of the Ancient Tomb sect, the three of us admire your skills and want a few pointers.” Lu Wushuang said, “I have a serious wound, how can I fight with you? If you don’t like it, then we can arrange a later date and test out each other’s skills after my injury has healed. You are skilled fighters of the Beggar Clan, today you are ganging up on an injured young girl; can you still call yourself a hero?” After hearing her words, the three beggars felt that they were indeed in the wrong. Two of them said, “Fine! We’ll come back for you after your wound has recovered.” The other beggar said, “Wait, where exactly are you injured? You have to let me take a look to see whether it’s real or fake. If it is a real wound then I’ll spare you today.” He didn’t know that she was hurt in the chest; his words had no harmful intentions. But Lu Wushuang’s cheeks immediately turned red, and couldn’t stop herself from being angry. Feeling this anger she wasn’t able to think of anything to say, after half a minute she scolded, “In Jianghu the Beggar Clan is known to be heroic and chivalrous, this is a lie, you people are in fact shameless scoundrels.” When the three heard her denigrate the Beggar Clan’s name their faces immediately changed, one of them was rash and impatient; he dashed forward, stretching out his hand wanting to grab her out of the sedan chair. Yang Guo saw that the situation had become urgent, he called out, “Wait… wait. You lot asked for money, I gave you money, why are you still arguing with my wife?” He dashed forward in front of the sedan chair and said, “Although you three are beggars now, according to your faces you will became rich and become officials in the future, how can you do such disgraceful things and treat my new wife with such disrespect?” The three beggars were startled and had no reply. The impulsive beggar said, “Move out of the way, we just want to test out the Ancient Tomb’s kung fu, who’s bullying who?” He lightly pushed out his hand. Yang Guo called out loudly and dropped to the side. The Beggar Clan has a rule, one must not hit out at someone who doesn’t know martial arts. The beggar didn’t know that this groom was so useless, just a light push and he fell onto the ground. If he was seriously hurt he would be punished within the clan and the other two would not be able to escape punishment as well. The three of them were startled and went over to pick him up. Yang Guo shouted and called out, “Ai Ya, Ai Yo, mum!” The three beggars could not see clearly if he was hurt or not. Yang Guo called out in pain and said, “You three are stupid, my wife is shy; how can she speak to strangers? And about this, what do you want to test out? First tell me. I’ll then go and ask my wife and then come back to speak with you, is that alright?” The three of them saw that he was dumb but not stupid, they had had enough of this but it wasn’t suitable to attack him. The oldest of the beggars thought, “That Lu girl is pretending to be a bride; if that young man really is the groom then he should help her. But if he is pretending to be a groom then he shouldn’t be so useless.” He carefully studied him but couldn’t find anything wrong. The impulsive beggar waved out his hand and shouted, “Are you going to move?” Yang Guo spread out his two hands and loudly said, “You can’t harm my wife.” Another beggar said, “Miss Lu, are you ordering this Sha Dan to block for you, could it be that you think we won’t be able to get to you with this obstruction? Just get it over with and come out here.” Yang Guo said, “Oh, you know that I’m called Sha Dan, how strange.” The impulsive beggar faced Lu Wushuang and said, “We don’t have to fight, we just want to see how you used your saber to hack into someone’s shoulder, what is this move called?” Lu Wushuang knew that Yang Guo was trying to annoy them but without results, she was thinking about how to escape when she heard the beggar’s question and replied without thinking, “It’s called “The Mink greets the Moon”, what about it?” Yang Guo interrupted and said, “Correct, once my wife’s saber comes out, with a ‘fu’ sound, it will be in your shoulder.” His right hand extended out and found its way to the beggar’s shoulder. He pushed downwards and the palm of his hand lightly touched the shoulder. When the three beggars saw this move they were all startled, and all thought, “He pretended to be a fake groom all along to trick us.” Although Yang Guo had not put any strength into his palm, the impulsive beggar who was struck felt embarrassed, and called out, “Fine, you scoundrel, pretending to be dumb, come, let me first test out your skills.” Yang Guo said, “You said you wanted to fight with my wife first, why do you want to fight with me now?” The beggar angrily said, “It’s all the same if I fight with you.” Yang Guo said, “Oh no, I don’t know what to do.” He turned around to Lu Wushuang and said, “My darling wife, my little Wifey, tell me what should I do to them?” Lu Wushuang was beyond doubt now, she knew that he must be highly skilled, the palm he had just demonstrated was crisp and clean, she couldn’t manage something like that but she didn’t know what his martial arts origins were so she just said, “Do another stance of “The Mink greets the Moon” (diao chan bai yue).” Yang Guo said, “Fine!” He bent his waist and extended his hand, a clapping sound was heard as he struck down on the beggar’s shoulder again. The three beggars were astonished with that last attack. Yang Guo was definitely facing away from them and he didn’t take a step to turn around, all he did was stretch out his hand and the chop came down on the Beggar’s shoulder; that palm technique was extremely strange. Lu Wushuang’s heart shook, “That’s definitely my Ancient Tomb sect’s kung fu, how does he know it?” She then said, “A stance of “The West Offers the Heart” (Xi Shi Peng Xin).” Yang Guo said, “Alright!” His left fist came out, and landed on his opponent’s chest. The beggar who was struck in the chest felt a strong force pushing him forward; he couldn’t stop himself from flying away about a ten feet. He struggled to stay on his feet but the area of his chest where he was struck was not in pain, it was if someone had carried him and placed him further away. The other two beggars dashed up. Yang Guo called out urgently, “Wifey, I don’t know how to deal with them, teach me.” Lu Wushuang said, “The Illustrious Gentlemen Pushes Out” (zhao jun chu sai), “The Numb Nun Offers Life” (ma gu xian shou).” Yang Guo’s left hand rose and slanted, the fingers on his right hand stretched out, his form was in the position of strumming a zither, his five fingers flicked out at the beggar on the right, this was “The Illustrious Gentlemen Pushes Out”. He immediately moved across and kicked the beggar on the left, his fists came together and pushed upwards, a clashing sound was heard as his fists struck the opponent’s jaw. He then called out, “This is “The Numb Nun Offers Life”, isn’t it?” He didn’t want to hurt anyone so he didn’t put any strength behind his attacks. The four stances he used were all exquisite stances of the Ancient Tomb’s “Beauty Fist Techniques”. Ever since Lin Chaoying founded the Ancient Tomb sect, all the arts were passed on to females, never males. Lin Chaoying’s “Beauty Fist Technique” took the names of famous beauties for the name of its stances. When it is used it is elegant, graceful and enchanting, yet it was deadly at the same time. Yang Guo learned martial arts from Xiao Longnu so of course he learned this set of fist techniques. He felt that although it was a refined set of skills, its nature meant that when a man practiced it, it wasn’t appealing. When he was practicing he inadvertently changed its soft nature to hard and yang; its changes became swift and stylish, though the nature of it was slightly different, the technique of this set of fists remained intact. The three beggars were all struck by the stances without knowing what happened but they didn’t feel any pain from the stances. They weren’t in awe of Yang Guo’s skills; they whistled and attacked all at once. Yang Guo dodged to the east and darted to the west, he called out, “Wifey, it looks like it’s becoming desperately serious; you are going to be a widow today!” Lu Wushuang scoffed and said, “Heaven’s Grandson Weaves Cotton”! (tian sun zhi mian). Yang Guo’s right hand wiped his left, his left pushed the right, and his stance resembled a loom weaving cloth, one scatter one push; his hands struck the beggars on the shoulders again. Lu Wushuang called out again, ““The Civil Gentlemen as a Stove” (wen jun dang lu), “The Concubine is Drunk” (gui fei zui jiu)!” Yang Guo raised his hand as if he was pouring wine and cut down on the impulsive beggar’s forehead and caught his body; he twisted him around and flung him out to the right, his shoulder hitting another beggar squarely in the chest. The three beggars were alarmed and angry, the three of them used the kung fu they had obtained throughout their lives, yet now they couldn’t even touch this kid’s clothes. The boy looked and his hand waved out, whoever he wanted to hit he struck; although it wasn’t painful when they were hit, it was extremely weird. Lu Wushuang called out three stances in a row, “‘Foolish Jade Blows the Flute’ (nong yu chui xiao), ‘The Descending Goddess Encroaches the Wave’ (luo shen ling bo), ‘Enticing Shoot Holding Fist’ (gou yi wo quan).” Yang Guo did as he was told. Lu Wushuang was in awe, she deliberately gave him a hard stance, as Yang Guo was throwing out his fist, she immediately called out, “‘Ruling Sky Hangs’ (ze tian chui).” According to his form at the moment, it was impossible to use this stance, but because Yang Guo’s internal energy was much higher than the enemy’s, he actually managed it; his body went forward, his palms hanging down. The three beggars saw that his chest was exposed and there was a weakness, they were delighted and dashed forward, but they didn’t know that his internal energy would hold them back and force them to retreat a few steps. Lu Wushuang was pleasantly surprised and called out, “‘One Laugh Overturns the Country’ (yi xiao qing guo)!” This was a stance that she had just invented. A captivating beauty could overturn cities and countries with a smile, but how could this be used to fight with others? Yang Guo was startled; he immediately laughed out loud, “Ha-ha-ha-ha, hei-hei-hei-hei, hu-hu-he-he”, and circulated the profound internal energy of the “Nine Yin Manual”. Although he hadn’t refined this internal energy to a good level that could be used to fight off skilled fighters, the three band five beggars were just run of the mill fighters. When they heard this strange laugh, they couldn’t stop their heads from shaking and eyes from being dazzled; their bodies shook a few times and they fell down onto the ground. Every person has a moon shaped small object in their ear which controls the person’s balance, if this object is forced to shake, headaches and feeling light headed will be unavoidable. Eventually they won’t be able to stand upright. Yang Guo’s laugh was created by his strong internal energy, everyone’s eardrums were being shaken continuously, and it was like the earth and sky were flipping over. Lu Wushuang felt faint and urgently grabbed onto the carriage to support herself. Calls of ‘ai ya’ and thudding noises all sounded together, the well wishers of the wedding, the bride and groom all fell onto the ground. Yang Guo’s laughter stopped, the three beggars got up, their faces grey and they ran away without turning their heads back. The rest of the party rested for half an hour and then carried the sedan chair on, now they treated Yang Guo’s order as words from the gods, they didn’t dare to revolt. At ‘er geng shi fen’ (I assume its nine o’clock in the evening) they reached a town and Yang Guo let the people go. The people knew that they would be detained after being captured by this bandit, and would most likely suffer his wrath. How were they to know that this bandit really wanted to have a laugh and pretend to be a newly wed? They were surprised and all thanked and expressed gratitude to Yang Guo. The nanny was much more vocal and said, “Da Wang and his wife would stay together for hundred of years until both of you are old with white hair. You are going to have many little ‘Da Wangs’.” This made Yang Guo laugh; Lu Wushuang was embarrassed and angry with this. Yang Guo and Lu Wushuang found an inn and called for some rice and other dishes. They were about to eat when they saw someone enter and after seeing the two of them, immediately turned around and walked away. Yang Guo knew something was wrong and went over to the entrance and saw two people standing in a pavilion. It was the two Taoists who fought with Lu Wushuang at Wolf Valley, Shen Zhifan and Ji Qingxu. The two of them took out their long swords and darted forward. Yang Guo thought, “Why are you two trying to make trouble for me? Are you looking for pain?” The two approached but slanted their body and brushed past him; they hurried into the hall and headed for Lu Wushuang. At this time, the ringing of a bell was suddenly heard, ‘ding ling’ ‘ding ling’. By the time the ringing sounds were in their ears, the source had arrived. The two Taoists’ faces changed and they glanced at each other. They darted to the first room of the western wing and closed the door, and didn’t come out again. Yang Guo thought, “Rotten Taoists, you’ve probably tasted Li Mochou’s pain before, that’s why you’re acting like this.” Lu Wushuang quietly said, “My master is near, Sha Dan, what should we do?” Yang Guo said, “What shall we do? Let’s run!” As soon as he stretched out his hand to help her up, the ringing sound had arrived at the entrance of the inn. They heard Li Mochou say, “Guard the roof.” They then heard the waiter say, “Angelic priestess, old senior’s room, ai ya, I …” A thudding sound was heard as he landed on the floor, there wasn’t another sound. He didn’t know that Li Mochou hated people who mentioned the word ‘old’. What about when someone called her ‘old senior’? The fly whisk was waved and robbed the old waiter of his life. She asked another waiter, “There’s a lame girl here, where is she?” That waiter was already scared out of his wits, he couldn’t reply and just said, “I…I…” Li Mochou kicked him away with her left foot; her right foot kicked open the door of the first room of the western wing. She went in and took a look; it was where the Taoists Shen and Ji were staying. Yang Guo thought, “It’s best if we leave by the backdoor, although Hong Lingbo will see us, it won’t be too much trouble.” He quietly said, “Wifey, escape with me.” Lu Wushuang looked at him and got up, thinking that if she was able to escape this time then heaven must be looking out for her. As soon as the two got up, a guest from the table in the eastern corner came up to them and quietly said, “I’ll lure the enemy away, quickly think of a way to escape.” That person sat in an out of sight place, Lu Wushuang and Yang Guo couldn’t see his face. When the person was speaking his face was turned away, as soon as they finished speaking, he immediately left through the main door. They could only see the person’s back. That person wasn’t tall; he wore a flowing blue green gown. Yang Guo and Lu Wushuang looked at each other and then heard the bell ringing, going towards the north. Hong Lingbo called out; “Master, someone’s escaping.” A yellow blur came out of the room; Li Mochou dashed out of the inn and chased after the escapee. Lu Wushuang quickly said, “Quickly run!” Yang Guo thought, “Li Mochou’s lightness kung fu is extremely quick, she will be able to catch up with that person in just a second, and then she will return here. I won’t be able to go that fast with Miss Lu on my back; we won’t be able to run away.” An idea dawned on him; he dashed into the first room of the western wing. He saw the Taoists Shen and Ji sitting by the bed, their faces’ were still carrying the shocked look from before. There was no time to delay, Yang Guo didn’t allow for the two to get up and ask questions as he dashed forward and moved his finger, sealing the two’s pressure points, keeping them still. He called out, “Wifey, enter.” Lu Wushuang entered the room. Yang Guo closed the doors and said, “Quickly take off your clothes!” Lu Wushuang’s face blushed and hissed, “Sha Dan, what are you saying now?” Yang Guo said, “It’s up to you whether you want to take off your clothes or not, I’m going to.” He took off his outer garment and put on Shen Zhifan’s Taoist gown and hat. Lu Wushuang then understood, and said, “Fine, we’ll pretend to be Taoists to fool my master.” She stretched out her hand and undid her buttons. Her face turned red and she kicked Ji Qingxu. She said, “Close your eyes you filthy Taoist!” The two Taoists could not move but still had control of their five senses. They closed their eyes immediately; how would they dare to look at her? Lu Wushuang said, “Sha Dan, turn around, don’t watch me change.” Yang Guo laughed and said, “What are you worried about, I helped you fix your ribs back into place, haven’t I already seen you?” As soon as he said this he felt that he was impolite and had offended her, he couldn’t stop himself from feeling a bit embarrassed. All Yang Guo had to do was to lower his head and move away but he was in a trance, a slap came and he was heavily struck on the left cheek. Lu Wushuang thought that she could never have hit him in a million years, still she didn’t hold back. She felt apologetic; she laughed and said, “Sha Dan, does it hurt? Who told you to speak such crap?” Yang Guo touched his cheek and laughed, he turned around. Lu Wushuang changed into the Taoist gown and laughed, “Take a look! Don’t I look like a young Taoist?” Yang Guo said, “I can’t see so I don’t know.” Lu Wushuang said, “Sha Dan, turn around.” Yang Guo turned around and saw her Taoist gown was flowing, it showed off her figure even better, he was about to say something when Lu Wushuang gave a grunt and pointed to the bed, and saw a Taoist’s head sticking out of the covers, it was the Taoist whose fingers had been cut off by her, Pi Quanxuan. All along he had been lying on the bed resting, when he saw Lu Wushuang enter, he immediately hid his head under the covers. The two of them were preoccupied with changing and didn’t notice him. Lu Wushuang said, “He…he…” She wanted to say ‘he saw me changing’ but couldn’t say the words. At this time, the donkey’s bell was heard. Yang Guo listened and knew that Li Mochou had taken the donkey back. When the guest in blue green rode the donkey, the bell’s ringing was scattered, when Li Mochou rode her donkey, though she rode it fast the bell’s ringing was ordered. An idea came; he picked up Pi Quanxuan and sealed his pressure point at the same time. He opened the compartment underneath the bed and placed him in there. It’s cold in the north, on winter nights the bed will be warmed by a fire underneath it, it was now summer, there was no need to light a fire but there was ash and coal beneath, Pi Quanxuan’s face was covered with grey ash. The ringing sound of the bell stopped, Li Mochou had come back to the inn. Yang Guo said to Lu Wushuang, “Sleep in the bed.” Lu Wushuang’s brows raised and said, “A smelly Taoist has slept there, its dirty, how can I sleep in it?” Yang Guo said, “It’s up to you!” As he said this he stuck Shen Zhifan underneath the bed as well and unsealed Ji Qingxu’s pressure point at the same time. Though Lu Wushuang felt that the bed and covers were dirty, she thought about how venomous her Master was so she got into the bed, facing the wall. As soon as she pretended to sleep, Li Mochou kicked open the door and come to search the room for a second time. Yang Guo took a tea cup and lowered his head, drinking tea, his left hand covering the fatal pressure point on Ji Qingxu’s back. Li Mochou saw that there were still three Taoists, Ji Qingxu’s face was grey and was shaking; Li Mochou laughed and searched the second room. When she searched the room for the first time, she had studied the faces of the three Taoists carefully afraid that Lu Wushuang had disguised herself as one of them; she didn’t take a closer look the second time. That night Li Mochou and her disciple searched the town’s inns, disturbing everyone. Yang Guo and Lu Wushuang lay on the bed with their heads together; he smelt her womanly scent and was happy. Lu Wushuang had many thoughts, she felt that Yang Guo was an extremely strange person, if one said he was a ‘Sha Dan’, he was extremely clever, if one said he was intelligent, he would act mad and crazy. She lay on the bed not daring to move, thinking that Sha Dan would definitely try to hug her, what would she do then? A while passed but there was no movement from Yang Guo, she was actually disappointed. She smelt the manly scent of Yang Guo and was captivated by it; time passed as she slowly fell asleep. When Yang Guo woke up the sky was bright, he saw Ji Qingxu in deep sleep across the table; Lu Wushuang was quiet, her cheeks were rosy, her red lips slightly apart, he couldn’t stop himself from being moved and thought, “If I lightly kiss her, she won’t know.” He’s a young man who is experiencing his first awakenings of desire (qing dou chu kai). He had never been close to a girl before and right now he was at his most emotional state. He thought about the time when he was fixing her ribs and saw her naked breasts, it was even harder for him to resist. Yang Guo moved his head forward, wanting to kiss her on the lips. Before the lips met he smelt a fragrant scent, his heart stirred, his blood rushed, then her brows crinkled; she seemed to still feel the pain of her broken ribs in her dreams. When Yang Guo saw her face like this he immediately remembered Xiao Longnu and then remembered the oath he swore, “I will only have Gu Gu in my heart in my lifetime, if my heart changes, there will be no need for Gu Gu to kill me, when I see her face I will kill myself.” He broke out in a cold sweat and two slapping sounds were heard, he had slapped himself heavily across his cheeks and leapt off the bed. This woke up Lu Wushuang; she opened her eyes and asked, “Sha Dan, what are you doing?” Yang Guo was feeling embarrassed and guilty, he mumbled, “Nothing, it’s just a mosquito biting my face.” Lu Wushuang remembered how she slept with him last night, her face suddenly turned red, she lowered her head and gently said, “Sha Dan, Sha Dan!” Her voice carried a soft and caring tone. After a while she raised her head and asked, “Sha Dan, how come you know the Ancient Tomb’s “Beauty Fist Technique”?” Yang Guo said, “When I dream at night many beautiful women and minks came and taught me a stance, that’s how I know.” Lu Wushuang gave a ‘humph’ sound; she knew that he wouldn’t answer anything about it if she asked again. Just as she was about to change the subject, she suddenly heard the ringing sound of Li Mochou’s donkey. They headed in a northwest direction and then returned. Li Mochou thought about how the ‘Five Poison Codex’ was in Lu Wushuang’s hands; another day without the book meant another day of danger, she didn’t dare to waste any time. Before the sky became bright she rode her donkey and searched everywhere nearby. Yang Guo said, “When she can’t find us she will leave. It’s a pity that you’re hurt and can’t move much, otherwise we would steal a pair of horses and gallop for one day and one night, how would she be able to catch up then?” Lu Wushuang angrily said, “You’re not hurt, why don’t you go and steal a horse and gallop for a day and night?” Yang Guo thought, “This girl takes everything to heart, I just said something without thinking and she got angry.” But he wanted to see her angry expression and wanted to anger her further and said, “If it weren’t for you begging me to take you to Jiangnan, I would have long gone.” Lu Wushuang was furious and said, “Just go, go! Sha Dan, just looking at you makes me angry, just go and die by yourself.” Yang Guo laughed and said, “Huh, I’ll miss you if you die.” He was afraid that Lu Wushuang was going to get angry for real and aggravate her injury so he laughed and exited the room. He found an ink block and returned to the room. He placed the ink block in a basin of water and rubbed it about, and then suddenly he touched Lu Wushuang’s face. Lu Wushuang wasn’t prepared for this hand coming towards her and touching her face, she scolded, “Rotten Sha Dan, bastard Sha Dan.” She then saw him take out a pile of ash from underneath the bed, he smeared the ash and brushed the water on his face, his face was dirty and unsightly, as if his face was full of pimples and boils. She then understood, “Although I’ve changed into Taoist clothes my face hasn’t changed, if my master catches up with me, how could she not recognize me?” She then smeared the ink water over her face. Girls naturally love to make themselves as beautiful as possible, although she was smearing ink water, she applied it as if she was applying make up. The two finished with their disguises. Yang Guo stretched out his leg underneath the bed and unsealed the two Taoist’s pressure points. Lu Wushuang saw that Yang Guo didn’t even take a look and after some kicks the two Taoists made a relieved grunt. She was secretly in awe of him and thought, “That Sha Dan’s kung fu is ten times better than mine.” But she didn’t show any sign of this and instead kept on scolding him, as if she thought nothing of him. Yang Guo went to the market to look for a cart but the market was too small, there were no carts for rent, he could only buy two horses. That day, Lu Wushuang’s injury had eased; both of them rode on the horses and slowly went southeast. They rode for a few hours; Yang Guo was afraid that she was tired so he helped her down off the horse and sat on a rock and rested. He remembered how he almost treated Lu Wushuang with disrespect; although he felt that treating Lu Wushuang with disrespect wasn’t anything serious, he would have done something disrespectful to his Gu Gu. He was a bastard. He was insulting and cursing himself when Lu Wushuang suddenly asked, “Sha Dan, why aren’t you talking to me.” Yang Guo smiled and didn’t reply. He suddenly thought of something and asked, “Ai ya, crap, I’m so dumb.” Lu Wushuang said, “You are dumb!” Yang Guo said, “When we disguised ourselves, the three Taoists saw us. If they tell your master, won’t that be a disaster?” Lu Wushuang pursed her lips and smiled, then said, “Those three Taoists rode past us long ago and my master is still behind us. What’s wrong with you Sha Dan, what were you in a daze about, you didn’t even see them ride past us.” Yang Guo gave an ‘ah’ sound and laughed. Lu Wushuang felt that his laugh had a hidden meaning behind it, she remembered the words she just said, “What’s wrong with you Sha Dan, what were you in a daze about”, she couldn’t stop her face from turning red. At this time, they suddenly heard the neigh of a horse. Lu Wushuang turned around and saw two beggars approaching from around the corner. Yang Guo took a look and saw a head peep out and withdraw back behind the edge of the mountain, it was Shen Zhifan and Ji Qingxu. He thought, “So the three Taoists told the Beggar Clan that we’ve dressed up as Taoists.” He held up his hand and said, “Beggar masters, if you want to ask for food or money, old Taoist here has already given as much as he could today, you’ll have to leave empty handed.” One of the beggars had a voice like an overwhelming bell, he said, “Even if you shaved your head and disguised yourselves as a monk or a nun, you won’t be able to get past my eyes and ears. Don’t play dumb anymore, just get it over with and come with us to see the elder and sort this matter out.” Yang Guo thought, “Those two old beggars have eight pockets on their back, I’m afraid that they might be very skilled.” The two beggars were eight band members, they saw that the two of them were at most twenty years old yet they managed to defeat four band four members and three band five members. They thought that there must something strange going on here. Both sides were suspicious of each other. In the northwest the ringing of a gold bell could be heard, ‘ding ling’ ‘ding ling’, it was light and swift, it was pleasant to the ear. Lu Wushuang thought, “Crap… crap. Although I have disguised my face, I had to bump into those two old beggars at this time, if they’ve uncovered my identity, how will I be able to escape from my master? Oh crap, I’m really out of luck this time. There had to be someone with nothing better to do with themselves once they’ve been fed, they just had to come and find me.” In a short while, the bell’s ringing became closer. Yang Guo thought, “I won’t be able to beat her, the only thing I can do is to quickly find a path to escape on.” He said, “You two aren’t begging for alms, and you won’t come close, just let us pass.” As he said this he took large steps forward. The two beggars saw that his steps weren’t solid; it seems that he didn’t know any martial arts; each one stretched out their arm and grabbed him. Yang Guo chopped out his right hand and clashed with the two palms, the three palms pulled back and each one took three steps back. The two eight band Beggar Clan members have practiced martial arts for tens of years, their internal energy was profound, in the world of Jianghu there were few who could match them. In terms of kung fu foundation they were ahead of Yang Guo but when it comes to the mastery of exquisite stances, they weren’t a match for him. Yang Guo borrowed strength to use strength and dispersed the two’s palms but if he wanted to dash pass them, it would be impossible. The three of them were secretly startled. At this time Li Mochou and her disciple had arrived at the scene. Hong Lingbo called out, “Hey, Beggar, Taoist, have you seen a lame girl pass by here?” The two beggars had a high status in the world of Wulin, when they heard Hong Lingbo question them like this they became angry but the Beggar Clan had strict rules, the members mustn’t get into feuds with others as they pleased so the two just replied, “No!” Li Mochou’s eyes were sharp and saw the back of Lu Wushuang, she was suspicious and thought, “I think I’ve seen those two before?” She saw the four facing each other, their weapons braced as if they were about to fight, she thought she should stand aside and see what happens. Yang Guo glanced over and saw that she had a wry smile on her face, standing by watching the battle, he had a thought, “I’ve got it, and if I do this I’ll erase her suspicions.” He turned around and went over to Hong Lingbo to ask her something, he disguised his voice and said, “Greetings Taoist friend.” Hong Lingbo returned the greeting. He said, “This Taoist was just passing by when these two evil beggars started to cause trouble, wanting to fight me. This Taoist has not got weapon, I hope you will lend me a weapon in respect of Lao Jun.” As he said this he made another bow. Hong Lingbo saw that his face was black and ugly, but he was respectful and modest, he referred to the Taoist’s Tai Shang Lao Jun. It didn’t seem right to reject his request so she held out her sword and glanced at her master. She saw that she was nodding her head and so handed the sword to him. Yang Guo bowed as he received the long sword, the tip pointing to the ground, he said, “If this Taoist can’t fight off the enemy, I hope that Taoist friend here will look upon the fact that we are people of religion and will assist me.” Hong Lingbo raised her eyebrows and gave a ‘humph’ sound without replying. Yang Guo turned around and loudly said to Lu Wushuang, “Apprentice brother, sit by the side and watch and don’t move, I’m going to teach the Beggar Clan beggars the skills of our Quanzhen sect.” Li Mochou shivered, “So the two Taoists are from the Quanzhen sect. But Quanzhen sect and the Beggar Clan have always been good friends, why are they arguing?” Yang Guo was afraid that the two beggars would speak and reveal who Lu Wushuang was so he raised his sword and dashed forward, calling out, “Come, come, come, I’ll fight two by myself.” But Lu Wushuang was concerned, “Sha Dan doesn’t know that my master has fought Quanzhen sect on many occasions, how would she not be able to recognize the stances of the Quanzhen sect? There are many Taoist sects in the world, Zhengyi, Dadao, Taiyi, they are all good choices for our cover why the hell did he pick Quanzhen?” The two beggars heard him say ‘From the Quanzhen sect’ and were alarmed, the both called out, “Are you really from Quanzhen sect? You and…” Yang Guo didn’t allow them to mention Lu Wushuang and thrust his sword forward, separately attacking the stomachs of the two; it was Quanzhen’s “Di Chuan” sword skills. The two beggar’s status was high, they could gang up and fight a young boy like him but Yang Guo’s stance came out extremely quick. They had to attack together with their sticks. As the metal rods were raised, Yang Guo’s sword darted through the gap and aimed for their chests. The two beggars could never have predicted that his sword skills were extremely quick; they quickly retreated. Yang Guo didn’t hold back, he kept on applying the pressure, in a flash he had unleashed eighteen swords, every stance had two intentions, when the sword comes out it was one stance, but within it was artifice, the sword stance separated into two. This was Quanzhen’s “One Sword into Three Distinctions” (yi jian hua san qing) technique; every stance can be made into three. Every stance that Yang Guo threw out, the beggars moved back three steps, after the eighteen stances had been unleashed, the beggars had not even attacked back once, and they had retreated back a total of fifty-four steps. The kung fu of the “Jade Heart Manual” was designed to counter Quanzhen’s kung fu. Before Yang Guo practiced the “Jade Heart Manual” he practiced the kung fu of the Quanzhen sect. But because he had not practiced enough and it wasn’t refined enough, he wasn’t able to do “One Sword into Three Distinctions”, but he was good enough to turn it into two distinctions. Li Mochou saw that the young Taoist’s sword skills were refined, she couldn’t help being shocked and thought, “No wonder Quanzhen’s name is so famous, there are able people from the sect, in ten years time how will I be able to beat him? It looks the mantel of the Quanzhen sect is going to fall into his hands in the future.” If she fought with Yang Guo, she would know that although the stances were real on the outside, underneath it was the Ancient Tomb’s kung fu, but from its appearance, it was hard to distinguish between the two. Yang Guo had learned the Quanzhen song from Zhao Zhijing, and practiced it afterwards, and so his Quanzhen kung fu wasn’t completely a fake. Lu Wushuang and Hong Lingbo looked on, dazzled. Yang Guo thought, “If I slow down and allow the two beggars to talk, we’ll be finished.” Once the eighteen stances had passed, the long sword quickly turned around and attacked the two beggars backs, another set of two distinctions. The two beggars quickly turned around to attack. Yang Guo didn’t allow the metal rods and the sword to collide, he quickly darted behind the two’s backs. The beggars turned around, Yang Guo darted behind the beggars again. He knew that if it came to a real kung fu contest, he would not be able to handle one beggar let alone two; he utilized his lightness kung fu and circled around the two beggars. In the Quanzhen sect, as soon as one has refined their kung fu to a high level, they will practice lightness kung fu so later on they will be able to use it when practicing the “Big Dipper Formation”. Although Yang Guo is now using the steps of Quanzhen’s kung fu, but his breathing and circulation are from the formulae of the “Jade Heart Manual”. The Ancient Tomb’s lightness kung fu was second to none in the world, as soon as he used it, the two skilled Beggar Clan fighters were not able to catch up, they saw him moving like lightning, a white blur, the sword piercing forwards. If he wanted to kill them, even if twenty beggars were here he would be able to kill them. The two beggars quickly turned around and waved their rods in defense, right now they weren’t able to defend against the incoming stances; they used all their strength in defense and hoped that heaven was on their side. They ran around like this for around ten loops, the two beggars were dizzy and dazed, their feet rapid, they felt that they were about to faint. Li Mochou chuckled and said, “Hey, my Beggar Clan friends, I’ll teach you a method, stand back to back so you won’t have to keep on turning around.” With this pointer, the two beggars were filled with joy, they were about to follow this method when Yang Guo thought, “Crap! If this happen I’m going to lose.” He stopped circling them, two stances in one, as the sword was thrust forwards aiming for their backs. The two beggars heard the wind sound from the sword; they weren’t able to use their rods to block it so advanced forward. As soon as they took a step the stance arrived, they were shocked and quickly hurried out of the way. How could they have predicted that Yang Guo’s sword was like a shadow, no matter how fast they ran away, the sword remained behind their backs? The two’s steps slowed, their backs were pierced by the sword. The two beggars knew that Yang Guo didn’t want to kill them; otherwise all he had to do was just add an ounce more strength. The sword would have moved an inch further; wouldn’t the sword have gone through their chests? But they still didn’t dare to slow their steps. The three used their energy and in a flash they had moved over two miles, leaving Li Mochou and the others behind. Yang Guo suddenly sped up and dashed in front of the two. He laughed and said, “Walk slowly, be careful of tripping!” The two threw out their rods at the same time. Yang Guo stretched out his left hand and held onto one of the rods, at the same time he extended the flat side of his sword and hit the metal rod to the left. His left palm opened and held the two rods. The two beggars felt something was wrong and quickly distributed their chi. Yang Guo’s internal energy wasn’t a match for theirs, he didn’t dare to try and match them, and swept the long sword across. If the two beggars didn’t let go, their eight fingers would be slashed off immediately, they could only let go and jump back. Their faces had an expression of embarrassment. Not being able to win and using such a way to escape may have been going too far. Yang Guo said, “My sect and your clan have always been friends, please don’t believe what others say my friends. Every event has its source, the Ancient Tomb’s ‘Scarlet Serpent Deity’ Li Mochou is over there, why aren’t you questioning her?” fumaricfumarateFurfuryllcoholresin

015 Divine Eagle, Gallant Knight She had failed twice to stab him and she hated him even more, she clenched her teeth and quietly said, “Rotten Sha Dan, see if I’m able to kill you this time.” She dashed forward and raised her saber, then slashed down across his back. In the midst of the snoring, Yang Guo turned his body, the saber slashed down deeply into the wood. Lu Wushuang circulated her chi around her hands trying to remove the saber. Yang Guo pretended he was having a nightmare, “Mum, mum, the little mouse is biting me.” His muddy legs shot out, the left leg striking Lu Wushuang’s ‘Crooked Reservoir’ (qu chi) pressure point on the side of her body, his right leg landing on her shoulder sealing the ‘Shoulder Well’ (jian jing) pressure point. Those two points are two of two of the body’s important pressure points. When those legs came out, of all the places to hit, they hit precisely those two places. Lu Wushuang wasn’t able to move, she stood there, becoming a support for his legs. Lu Wushuang was furious, although her body wasn’t able to move, her mouth still could, she shouted out, “Hey Sha Dan, quickly move your stinky feet away.” She just heard his snoring becoming louder. She didn’t know what to do, in anger she opened her mouth and spat at him. Yang Guo moved his body; his right foot brushed across and struck her ‘Large Bone’ pressure point. Lu Wushuang’s body immediately became numb all over, even her mouth wasn’t able to open, the stench from his feet flowed into her nose. In a short while, Lu Wushuang’s anger stirred up again, and she swore to herself, “Tomorrow when my pressure points are unsealed, I’m going to chop up Sha Dan into seventeen or eighteen pieces.” After a while, Yang Guo felt that he’d had enough fun, he released his legs and turned around, although it was dark, he was still able to look at her angry expression clearly. The angrier she got, the more she looked like Xiao Longnu. Yang Guo stared at her in a daze, how would he be able to close his eyes? In actual fact, Lu Wushuang and Xiao Longnu did not look like each other. It’s just that when girls get angry they all have a similar look. Yang Guo missed his master and looking at Lu Wushuang’s angry expression reminded him of Xiao Longnu. It was like looking at a picture of her. After a while, the moon was in the west, its light shooting into the room. Lu Wushuang saw Yang Guo’s eyes were open, staring at her in a daze and shivered, “Could that Sha Dan be pretending to be mad? He sealed my pressure points, could it be that it wasn’t an accident?” When she thought about this, she couldn’t stop herself from breaking out in a cold sweat. At this moment in time, she saw Yang Guo’s eyes looking at the floor; she followed his eyes and saw three shadows. There were three people standing at the entrance. She looked carefully and saw that the three shadows were holding weapons, she secretly cursed herself, “Crap, the enemy has to come now when Sha Dan has sealed my pressure points.” Although she was suspicious, she couldn’t believe that this dirty and humble farmer possessed a set of good martial arts. Yang Guo closed his eyes and snored loudly. He heard someone call out from the door, “Little Bitch, come out, do you think this Taoist Master will let you off by standing still?” Yang Guo thought, “Oh, it’s him again.” Another person said, “We don’t want your life, we just want to cut off your two ears and three fingers.” The third person said, “This Old man is waiting for you outside; just get it over and done with.” As they said this they moved outside. The three of them stood in a semi circle. Yang Guo stretched up and slowly sat up and said, “Why are you calling outside, Miss Lu, you are here? Why are you standing there without moving?” He pushed her in the back a few times. Lu Wushuang felt a surge of strong chi running into her body, her body shook and the three pressure points in her body unsealed. She didn’t bother thinking about what had happened and immediately got up and took up her saber. She leaped out of the house and saw three men with their backs facing the moon. She didn’t say anything and flipped her wrist and thrust out at the person on the left. That person was holding a chain and saw the saber slashing towards him. His chain was heavy, its power was great and so was its accuracy. A clashing sound was heard as Lu Wushuang’s saber flew out of her hand. Yang Guo was lying across the table and saw Lu Wushuang leap to the side, her left hand stretched out and thought, “Good, that Taoist will not be able to hold on to his sword.” Indeed when her wrist turned up, she used the Ancient Tomb sect’s kung fu, and she had taken the Taoist’s sword. She chopped down, a ‘pu’ sound; the Taoist’s shoulder had been struck by the sword. Lu Wushuang used the sword and fought with the man who used the chain. The other short man held a spear; he pierced east and west, but was out of the order and stayed back. The man using the chain had good martial arts, after ten moves or so, Lu Wushuang gradually felt that she wouldn’t be able to stand still. That person’s steps seemed to be measured, he honored his status, Lu Wushuang had failed to get at him many times yet he didn’t force the issue. The Taoist wrapped up his wound, pointed at Lu Wushuang and cursed, “Ancient Tomb Bitch, such evil attacks!” He ran towards her attacking with his fists and legs. A white light glimmered; the Taoist’s back was pierced by the sword. At that time, the short man thrust his spear at Lu Wushuang’s back, and the man using the chain smashed down on her shoulders. Yang Guo thought, “Oh no!” His picked up two stones and flicked them out, one at the spear, the other at the man’s right wrist. He didn’t know that the man was skilled, once the stone struck his wrist, he wasn’t able to smash down with his chain, but his left palm came out like lightning and struck Lu Wushuang on the chest. Yang Guo was alarmed, he was young and inexperienced and wasn’t able to tell that the man’s fists and palms were good. He quickly dashed out and grabbed onto the man’s neck, the man’s body suddenly flew up and was flung away tens of feet. The Taoist and the short man saw that Yang Guo was powerful; they picked up the man and ran away without turning back. Yang Guo lowered his head and took a look at Lu Wushuang, he saw that her face was golden and she was breathing weakly, her injury was serious. He put his arm around her back and slowly sat her up. He heard ‘ge la’ ‘ge la’, two light sounds, it was the sound of bones grinding. Two of her ribs had been broken by that man. She had passed out but once the bones moved, the pain was intense and woke her up; she gave out a quiet groan. Yang Guo said, “What is it? Does it hurt?” Lu Wushuang was in extreme pain, she clenched her teeth and scolded, “Why are you asking? Of course it hurts. Carry me into the house.” When Yang Guo picked her up, it was unavoidable that there was going to be some movements. Lu Wushuang’s ribs touched each other and the pain ignited again, she scolded, “Fine, bastard Sha Dan, you…you want to torture me. Where have the three scoundrels gone?” When Yang Guo used his skills, she had already fainted and didn’t know that it was him that saved her life. Yang Guo laughed, and said, “They thought you were dead, they clapped and left.” Lu Wushuang scolded, “Why are you laughing? Bastard Sha Dan, the more pain I’m in the happier you are, is that it?” Every time she shouted at him, Yang Guo would remember how Xiao Longnu would scold him. He lived in the Tomb of the Living Dead for a few years with Xiao Longnu and it was the happiest time in his life. Each time Xiao Longnu scolded him; he couldn’t help but be moved as he knew that his Master was treating him with her heart. At present he wasn’t able to find his Master, but at this time when he was alone, he had at least bumped into another girl in white. In actual fact, Xiao Longnu was cold and detached; when she scolded him it was just a few calm words. How was she like Lu Wushuang who screamed and shouted out insults and curses? In Yang Guo’s present state, having a young girl scolding him was better than having no one, he ignored her insults and curses and just smiled, he placed her on the table. When Lu Wushuang lay on the table, her broken ribs moved again, she couldn’t endure the pain and called out. When she called out in pain her lungs breathed out and this disturbed the ribs again causing further pain. She clenched her teeth as cold sweat poured off her head. Yang Guo said, “Shall I fix your ribs back in place for you?” Lu Wushuang scolded, “Rotten Sha Dan, what bones do you know how to fix?” Yang Guo said, “My dog at home fought with the neighbor’s dog. Its bone was bitten in half and it was me who fixed his bone back in place. Also, when Uncle Wang’s sow had its rib broken, it was me who fixed it back into place.” Lu Wushuang was angry, but she didn’t dare to shout out loudly, she huskily said, “You’re calling me a sow, a dog. You’re the dog, the sow.” Yang Guo laughed and said, “Even if I was a pig, I’d be a boar. Furthermore, that dog was a bitch; a male dog won’t be like that.” Although Lu Wushuang was clever and quick with words, every time she spoke a word her chest would hurt, she wanted to argue with him but she had no strength left, she closed her eyes and endured the pain and ignored Yang Guo. Yang Guo said, “Once I fixed that dog’s bone it recovered after a few days. When it fought again, it was as if its bone had never been broken.” Lu Wushuang thought, “It could be that Sha Dan really knows how to connect bones. If no one heals me I’ll be dead. But if he helps to fix my ribs, he’s going to touch my chest, how can I let him? Hmm, if he doesn’t cure me, then we’ll die together, if he does cure me, I won’t let one who’s seen my body live.” She’d had a tragic life since she was young. She endured it and fought for her life. Her character was different to others; she had been with Li Mochou a long time, her ears and eyes had endured many things. She had learned Li Mochou’s ruthless and vindictive streak and at such a young age she was already filled with many evil thoughts. She quietly said, “Fine! If you lie to me Sha Dan, your death will be painful.” Yang Guo thought, “If I don’t make it hard for her now, I’m not going to have a chance again.” He calmly said, “When Uncle Wang’s sow broke its ribs, his daughter begged and pleaded with me for help, she called me ‘Big Brother’ one hundred times, and then I helped her” Lu Wushuang said, “Bull, bull, bull, rotten Sha Dan… rotten Sha Dan, ai ya” her chest was filled with severe pain again. Yang Guo laughed and said, “If you won’t call me that then fine. I’m going home now, have a nice rest.” He got up and turned towards the door. Lu Wushuang thought, “If that person goes, then I’m definitely going to die.” She had to hold down her temper and said, “What do you want?” Yang Guo said, “Originally, all I wanted was for you to call me ‘Good Brother’ one hundred times, but all along you have scolded and insulted me. I’ll help you if you call me that one thousand times.” Lu Wushuang planned it in her heart, “I’ll promise him now, once I get better, it won’t be too late to get rid of him.” So she said, “I’ll call good brother, good brother, good brother ai ya ai ya” Yang Guo said, “Fine, there are still nine hundred and ninety seven times left, remember that, you can finish it when you are better.” He walked over to her, and stretched out his hand to take off her clothes. Lu Wushuang automatically cringed back, she was alarmed and said, “Go away, just what are you doing?” Yang Guo took a step back and said, “I don’t know how to put your bone back in place with your clothes in the way, the dog and sow didn’t have clothes when I fixed their bones.” Lu Wushuang thought this was funny but she would be embarrassed if she allowed him to take her clothes off. After a while she lowered her head and quietly said, “Fine, I won’t trouble you.” Yang Guo said, “If you don’t want to be healed, then don’t. I don’t care…” As he said this, he heard someone suddenly say from outside, “That little Bitch must be within twenty miles of here, we’ll quickly search around here…” when Lu Wushuang heard this voice she immediately turned pale with fright, she didn’t care about her pain and covered Yang Guo’s mouth, the person who was talking outside was Li Mochou. When Yang Guo heard this voice he too was alarmed. He heard the voice of another girl say, “The saber that was planted in that man’s shoulder looked like the silver saber of apprentice sister, and it’s a pity that we couldn’t get it for a closer look.” That person was Hong Lingbo. After the two left the tomb, they returned to Scarlet Cloud Manor, and discovered that Lu Wushuang had escaped, Li Mochou wasn’t too bothered, but they didn’t expect that she had also stolen the ‘Five Poison Codex’. When Li Mochou roamed Jianghu, what the martial artists of the Jianghu world were afraid of was not her kung fu, but her ‘Divine Five Poison Palm’ and her ‘Soul Freezing Silver Needles’. In the ‘Five Poison Codex’, it had the types of poison, its concentration, the antidote and the processing technique of the ‘Divine Five Poison Palm’ and ‘Soul Freezing Silver Needles’. If the secrets were leaked, the ‘Scarlet Serpent Deity’ would be like a poisonous snake without its fangs. She had long ago memorized the contents of the codex; there was no need to take it with her, and she hid the codex in a secret place in the Scarlet Cloud Manor. But she didn’t know that Lu Wushuang was especially aware and noticed every detail, and knew her master’s hiding place. When she decided to escape, she took the book with her. Li Mochou was furious; she took Hong Lingbo and chased after her night and day. But Lu Wushuang had left long ago, and she kept to the small roads. Li Mochou and her disciple went north and then south, she searched east to west, and then she went over the places again several times but still couldn’t find any trace of her. One night, by coincidence, the two of them were near Tongguan, and heard members of the Beggar Clan spreading news that there was going to be a meet for the members along the western roads. Li Mochou considered the fact that there are numerous Beggar Clan members everywhere, their ears and eyes see and hear everything; there must be someone who had seen Lu Wushuang. The two rushed to the meeting place to scout for news. On the way there they saw a fifth band disciple being carried by another Beggar Clan member, around them was seventeen or eighteen Beggar Clan members escorting them. Li Mochou saw the person had a saber in his back; it was Lu Wushuang’s silver saber. She slipped to the side to listen in, and heard a few angry Beggar Clan members talking, saying that it was a lame little Bitch who did this. Li Mochou was delighted when she heard this, she knew that this person was recently wounded so she quickly left and scouted around, eventually coming up to the stone house. When she got there, she saw the remains of the fire and smell of fresh blood and under the moonlight she saw drops of blood on the floor, they were new stains. It displayed the signs of a recent battle. Li Mochou tugged her disciple’s sleeve and pointed to the house. Hong Lingbo nodded; she took out her sword and charged in. When Lu Wushuang heard the voices of her Master and apprentice sister she knew that she had ran out of luck, she decided to lay there and wait for her death. She heard the sound of the door, a person in yellow dashed in, it was her apprentice sister Hong Lingbo. Hong Lingbo had friendly sentiments towards her apprentice sister, but she knew that this time her master would use every method that she knew to torture her and then slowly kill her. She saw that Lu Wushuang was lying on the table and thrust a sword at her chest to spare her the pain. As the sword tip was about to pierce her chest, Li Mochou stretched out her hand and patted Hong Lingbo’s shoulder; her hand lost all her strength immediately and lowered. Li Mochou chuckled, “Do you think I won’t kill her? Why do I need you to rush into it?” She faced Lu Wushuang and said, “You see your Master in front of you and you don’t greet her?” Although she was furious, her tone was normal. Lu Wushuang thought, “Now that I’m in her clutches, even if I beg or plead, I’m going to suffer.” She calmly said, “You and my family had deep feuds over the years, there is no need to say anything.” Li Mochou stared at her; one couldn’t tell if her eyes were filled with joy or hate. There was an expression of pity on Hong Lingbo’s face. Lu Wushuang’s lips curled up, her expression was one of pride. The three of them stared at each other and after a while Li Mochou said, “Where’s the book? Give it to me.” Lu Wushuang said, “An evil Taoist and a beggar took it!” Li Mochou was startled inside. Although she hasn’t done anything to offend the Beggar Clan, she’s had run ins with the Quanzhen. She knew that the Beggar Clan and the Quanzhen sect had a deep history; what’s going to happen now that her book has fallen into outsiders hands? Lu Wushuang saw a wry smile on the face of her Master and knew that she was thinking up ideas of how to torture her. All along during her escape, the only thing she was afraid of was that her Master was going to catch up with her and now she has. Instead of first feeling fear she thought, “Where’s Sha Dan? Where did he go?” She is facing death and when she thought about the ugly and dumb farmer, unwittingly she felt a warm feeling inside her. Suddenly a light from a fire appeared, a rumbling sound was heard. Li Mochou and Hong Lingbo turned around to see a large bull heading inside. On the bull’s right horn there was a saber attached to it, on the left horn was a torch; the force it was approaching at was frightening. Li Mochou immediately leapt to the side but saw the bull turn around in the house and rush out. When the bull first entered it was dashing ferociously, when it left it rushed away with the same speed. In the wink of eye it had traveled tens of feet. Li Mochou looked at the image of the bull running away and at first wondered, “Who attached the saber and torch to the bull’s horn?” She turned around and both she and Hong Lingbo called out in shock, the body of Lu Wushuang that was lying on the table had disappeared. Hong Lingbo searched the house and leaped up onto the roof. Li Mochou thought that it must have something to do with the bull so she chased after it. In the darkness she saw the light of the torch on the bull’s horn entering the forest. By the light of the torch she saw that no one was on the bull’s back, Lu Wushuang had not escaped on the bull. She then thought, “It must be, someone outside sent the strange bull in to divert my attention and then rescued her.” She didn’t know which direction to chase after, she then sped up and in a flash she had caught up with the bull. She leaped up onto the bull and saw that there wasn’t anything strange so she leapt down again. Then she kicked the bull in the behind. She whistled and signaled Hong Lingbo, one was going to scout north to south, the other west to east. Of course it was Yang Guo who sent the bull into the house. When he heard the voices of Li Mochou and her disciple, he slipped out through the backdoor and listened in through the window, after just one sentence he knew that Li Mochou had come to take Lu Wushuang’s life. He immediately thought of a plan, he went over to the bull and attached the saber that Lu Wushuang had earlier dropped to the bull’s horn, he then gathered some twigs and attached it to the other horn and lit them. He then hung below the bull and forced the bull to rush into the house; quickly he grabbed Lu Wushuang and hid underneath the bull, exiting the house. His movements were quick and the bull looked weird, Li Mochou had good eyesight but was caught unaware and didn’t notice anything wrong. By the time Li Mochou had caught up with bull, Yang Guo had carried Lu Wushuang into the long grass and hid. When she moved, she was in severe pain, so all of the things that had happened; how Yang Guo rescued her, how they hid underneath the bull and how they dived into the grass was all unclear to her. After a while she regained her awareness and called out an ‘ah’ sound. Yang Guo quickly covered her mouth and whispered into her ear, “Don’t make a noise!” They heard footsteps and Hong Lingbo’s voice saying, “How can someone disappear in the flash of an eye?” Further away Li Mochou said, “Let’s go. That little Bitch must have gone far away.” They heard the footsteps of Hong Lingbo gradually moving away. Lu Wushuang was being smothered and was in pain. Yang Guo still held his hand over her mouth without loosening. Lu Wushuang struggled for a little. When she felt that she was being held in his arms she was embarrassed and anxious, she wanted to hit him. Yang Guo whispered in her ear, “Don’t move, your Master is lying.” As soon as his words were said, they heard Li Mochou saying, “She really isn’t here.” Her voice was extremely close by; it seemed that they were right next to them. Lu Wushuang was startled and thought, “If it weren’t for Sha Dan, I would be dead!” Li Mochou had suspected that she was hiding nearby. While she was talking far away, she immediately used her lightness kung fu without making a sound and arrived close by. Lu Wushuang almost fell into the trap. Yang Guo carefully listened, when the two had really gone he removed his hand and laughed, “There’s no need to be scared now.” Lu Wushuang said, “Let me go.” Yang Guo lightly placed her flat onto the grass and said, “I’ll immediately push your bones back into place and then we’ll leave this place. If we wait until tomorrow we won’t be able to escape.” Lu Wushuang nodded. Yang Guo was afraid that she would call out in pain when he pushes the bone back into place and alert Li Mochou and her disciple. He sealed her numbing pressure points and stretched out his hand to take off her clothes, and said, “Don’t make a noise whatever you do.” After taking off her outer garment, a white undergarment was revealed, removing this revealed an apricot yellow brassiere. Yang Guo didn’t dare to take it off and looked up, and saw Lu Wushuang’s eyebrows wrinkled, her eyes closed tightly, she was embarrassed and scared. Yang Guo had his first awakening of lust; when he smelled the fragrant scent of a virgin girl, his heart pounded wildly. Lu Wushuang opened her eyes and quietly said, “Just cure me!” After she said this, she closed her eyes again and turned away. Yang Guo’s hand shook as he unbuttoned her underwear; when he saw her breasts, he didn’t dare to touch her chest. Lu Wushuang waited a while but felt a cool breeze brushing across her naked chest, she felt cold and turned around opening her eyes, and saw Yang Guo looking at her in a daze, she angrily said, “What…What are you looking at?” Yang Guo was startled; he stretched out his hand and touched her ribs, when his hand touched her skin he shivered, like as if his hand was touching a fire, he immediately pulled back. Lu Wushuang said, “Quickly close your eyes, if you look at me again I’ll… I’ll…” When she said this, tears flowed from her eyes. Yang Guo quickly said, “Yes, yes, I won’t look anymore, don’t cry.” He closed his eyes and felt out the broken ribs and pushed them back into place, he quickly covered up her chest with her underwear and calmed down. He gathered four sticks and placed two across the front of her and two behind. He then got some vines and tied the sticks tightly into place so the bones won’t move out of place. He then buttoned up her garments and unsealed her pressure points. Lu Wushuang opened her eyes and saw the moonlight on Yang Guo’s face. His cheeks were red, he was blushing, he looked at her face and their eyes met, he quickly turned away. Her bones were now fixed into place, although they still hurt, it wasn’t as painful as before. She thought, “That Sha Dan does know how to seal pressure points.” She now could see that Yang Guo isn’t an ordinary person, he is definitely not a ‘Sha Dan’, but ever since she met him she had insulted him and looked down on him. Now she had seen him save her yet she didn’t change the way she talked to him. She asked, “Sha Dan, what do you think we should do now? Shall we wait here or run away and hide.” Yang Guo said, “What do you think?” She replied, “Of course we should run. Are we going to wait here for our death?” Yang Guo said, “Where?” Lu Wushuang said, “I want to go Jiangnan. Can you accompany me there?” Yang Guo said, “I need to find my Gu Gu, I can’t go far.” When Lu Wushuang heard this, her face dropped and said, “Fine, leave! Let me die here.” If Lu Wushuang had kindly asked him Yang Guo would of course reject her request, but when he saw her angry face, it reminded him of Xiao Longnu. It was hard for him to reject her and he thought, “Maybe Gu Gu headed south, if I escort Miss Lu there, maybe good deeds will be repaid, and the heavens might pity me and let me see Gu Gu again.” He knew that this was a remote possibility but he had no way to reject Lu Wushuang’s request, so he convinced himself, sighed, and then picked her up. Lu Wushuang angrily said, “Why are you picking me up?” Yang Guo laughed, “I’m carrying you to Jiangnan.” Lu Wushuang gave a smile and was delighted, she said, “Sha Dan, Jiangnan is far from here, can you carry me all the way there?” Though she said this, she was leaning on Yang Guo peacefully without moving. The large bull had disappeared. Yang Guo was afraid that they might bump into Li Mochou and her disciple so he kept to the small paths. Although his legs were quick, his upper body did not move and did not disturb Lu Wushuang’s wound. Lu Wushuang saw the trees by her recede, he was hurrying along the path like a dashing horse. He was much faster than she would be without carrying anything. His lightness kung fu was not below her Master’s; she was curious and thought, “So this Sha Dan is highly skilled, how could he learn to such a level at such a young age?” Not long after, the east began to lighten, she lifted her head and saw that although his face was dirty, he was handsome, his eyes captivating, and her heart was moved. She gradually forgot about the pain and after a while she fell into a deep sleep. When the sky became bright, Yang Guo felt a little tired, he dashed over to a large tree and placed her gently down, and then rested next to her. Lu Wushuang opened her eyes and smiled, she said, “I’m hungry, aren’t you hungry?” Yang Guo said, “Of course I’m hungry, let’s find a restaurant and get something to eat.” He got up and picked her up again, but because he had carried her for half the night his arms felt numb so he lifted her onto his shoulders and slowly walked. Lu Wushuang’s legs were bouncing off lightly off Yang Guo’s chest, she laughed and said, “Sha Dan, what exactly is your name? If you don’t tell me I’ll call you Sha Dan in front of others.” Yang Guo said, “I don’t have a name, everyone calls me Sha Dan.” Lu Wushuang hurtfully said, “If you don’t want to say, fine! Who’s your Master?” When Yang Guo heard the word ‘Master’, he didn’t dare mess around because he respected Xiao Longnu so much, he turned serious and said, “My Master is my Gu Gu.” Lu Wushuang believed him and thought, “So his skills are passed on from his family.” She asked again, “What family or sect is your Gu Gu from?” Yang Guo dumbly said, “I don’t know whether she is at home or what rank she is.” (Yang Guo is playing on her words, the word for family can also mean home, the word for sect can also mean order.) Lu Wushuang angrily said, “You idiot! I ask you, from whose school of martial arts have you learned?” Yang Guo said, “Are you asking about my family’s main door? It’s made out of wood.” (Again, a play on words) Lu Wushuang’s heart sank and thought, “Could this person really be a Sha Dan (Dumb Egg / idiot)? His martial arts are good but he’s dumb?” So she softly said, “Sha Dan, tell me honestly, why did you save my life.” Yang Guo couldn’t think of a reply, after a while he said, “My Gu Gu told me to save you so I saved you.” Lu Wushuang said, “Who is your Gu Gu?” Yang Guo said, “Gu Gu is Gu Gu. Whatever she tells me to do I’ll do it.” Lu Wushuang sighed, and thought, “This person really is dumb.” She had some warm feelings for him but now they turned into loathing. Yang Guo didn’t hear her say anything and said, “Why aren’t you speaking?” Lu Wushuang gave a grunt. Yang Guo asked again. Lu Wushuang angrily said, “If I don’t want to speak, I won’t speak! Sha Dan, shut your mouth!” Yang Guo knew that her face right now was a nice sight, but since she is sitting on his shoulders he wasn’t able to see, he couldn’t help but think, ‘What a pity.” Not long after, they reached a little town. Yang Guo found a restaurant and ordered rice and dishes, and the two sat down together. Lu Wushuang smelled the stench of cow shit on him and wrinkled her eyebrows, and said, “Sha Dan, sit over there, don’t sit at my table.” Yang Guo laughed and sat at another table. Lu Wushuang saw that he was still looking at her, she was vexed, the more she looked at him the more loathsome he was, she hid her face and said, “Don’t look at me.” She pointed at a faraway table and said, “Sit over there.” Yang Guo gave a laugh and grabbed his bowl and sat at the entrance of the inn, and ate his rice. Lu Wushuang said, “That’s better.” Although she was hungry, her chest hurt, it was hard to swallow. She felt an urge to take her anger out on Yang Guo but he sat faraway, she wasn’t able to shout at him. Just as she was feeling troubled some people were outside singing, “Little Miss do good deeds.” Another person followed, “Give the beggar a bowl of rice!” Lu Wushuang raised her head and saw four beggars outside lined up all looking at her, she could tell from their eyes that they had come with ill intentions; she was secretly alarmed. She heard the third beggar singing, “The path of heaven is not for you!” The fourth one sang, “Hell has no doors yet you’ve entered through!” The four beggars were singing the ‘Lotus Falling’ begging tune, each one holding a bowl in their right hand and a stick in their left. There were four coarse pockets on their shoulders. Lu Wushuang once heard her apprentice sister say that the Beggar Clan members use the coarse pockets to differentiate between rank within the clan, fourth band members will have four pockets, these beggars were fourth band members. She remembered how she fought beggars Han and Chen yesterday at Wolf Valley, they had five pockets; it seems they were a level higher than these people in front of her. If she wasn’t injured, she wouldn’t fear the beggars; now she hardly had the strength to pick up chopsticks. How could she fight the enemy? Sha Dan’s lightness kung fu maybe excellent, but he acts mad. Even if he knows martial arts it won’t be too high a level. She couldn’t help but be at a wits end. Yang Guo was worrying about his stomach; it was as if he hasn’t seen the beggars yet. After he finished his bowl he went over to the rice bucket and filled another, he stretched out his hand and picked a fish up from the plates in front of Lu Wushuang, the soup and juices of the fish spilled all over the table, he laughed foolishly and said, “Ha-ha, I’m going to eat a fish.” Lu Wushuang frowned slightly; she had no time to scold him. She heard the four beggars sing again, singing ‘Little Miss’ again. The four beggars repeated this three times, the eight eyes all fixed on her. Lu Wushuang didn’t know how to deal with them, she slowly spooned the rice, pretending that she didn’t hear but she was extremely worried inside. One of the beggars loudly called out, “Little Miss, if you won’t spare a bowl of rice, then how about sparing a curved saber.” Another one said, “Come with us and we won’t make it hard for you. We just want to clear a few things up and come to a fair conclusion.” After a while someone said, “Just quickly come, do you really want us to use force?” Lu Wushuang thought that it would be no use whether she replied or kept quiet; she didn’t know what to do. The fourth beggar said, “We won’t use force against you, the heroes of Jianghu would laugh at the four of us for bullying a little girl, we just want you to come along and talk.” From their tone, Lu Wushuang knew that they were about to attack, she knew that it would be hard for her to fight them off, yet she couldn’t wait for defeat. Her left hand held the bench, when the enemy came she would use the bench to fight them off. Yang Guo thought, “Time for me to do my stuff!” He ran over to Lu Wushuang’s table and picked up the bowl of soup, his mouth was biting down on the fish, he mumbled, “I’m…I’m going to spill the soup!” The bowl tipped and half the hot soup spilled on the Lu Wushuang’s right arm. She was facing east, her arm was slightly inwards, and when the soup came she immediately pulled back and turned around to take a look. Yang Guo called out, “Ai Ya!” He used his right arm and wiped her arm and leg and at the same time, his left hand waved, four bamboo chopsticks flew out, each one shooting out at the beggars. The four chopsticks were extremely fast; before the beggars could see it their arms were in pain, a crashing sound was heard as four bowls crashed onto the floor. Yang Guo used his garment and wiped Lu Wushuang’s sleeve continuously and said, “Don’t…don’t get angry…I’ll…I’ll…I’ll wipe it clean.” Lu Wushuang scolded, “Don’t mess around!” She turned around to look at the beggars and was alarmed. She saw the backs of the beggars going around the street corner and disappearing, the floor covered with the remains of broken bowls. Lu Wushuang questioned, “Those four beggars are strange; why did they leave all of a sudden?” She saw Yang Guo’s hands was filled with fish soup and vegetable sauce, and was wiping frantically on the table, she scolded, “Go away, aren’t you embarrassed?” Yang Guo said, “Yes, yes!” He wiped his hands on his clothes. Lu Wushuang frowned and asked, “Why did the four beggars go?” Yang Guo said, “They saw you were short tempered and wouldn’t spare anything, there wasn’t any use in begging anymore so they left.” Lu Wushuang pondered for a while and didn’t understand, she took out some money and told Yang Guo to buy a donkey with it. After she paid her bills she got on the donkey. As soon as she got on the donkey, her ribs moved and she shouted out in pain. Yang Guo said, “It’s a pity that I’m dirty and smelly, otherwise I could support you.” Lu Wushuang said, “Humph, still talking crap.” She pulled on the rope, the donkey was extremely stubborn, and it leaned against the wall and forced her against the wall as well. Lu Wushuang had no strength in her arms and legs, she called out and fell off the donkey. Her right leg landed on the ground and slowly stood up, her wound was disturbed again and she was in pain. She angrily shouted, “You saw me fall yet you didn’t help me.” Yang Guo said, “I’m dirty.” Lu Wushuang said, “Can’t you wash first?” Yang Guo gave a stupid laugh and didn’t say anything. Lu Wushuang said, “Help me get on the donkey.” Yang Guo did as he was told and helped her onto the donkey. As soon as the donkey felt someone on its back it immediately started to buck. Lu Wushuang said, “Quickly lead the donkey.” Yang Guo said, “No, I’m scared that the donkey is going to kick me. It would be better if it was my bull.” Lu Wushuang was exasperated and thought, “He’s not completely stupid. Obviously he wants to hold on to me.” She had no alternative and could only say, “Fine, you can ride on the donkey as well.” Yang Guo said, “Remember you told me, don’t shout at me for being dirty and smelly.” Lu Wushuang said, “Yes, why are you wasting time?” Yang Guo laughed and climbed onto the back of the donkey, his arms gathered around her, he kicked with a bit of strength in his legs, the donkey felt pain and didn’t dare to cause trouble anymore and obediently walked forward. Yang Guo said, “Which way are we going?” Lu Wushuang had already planned out her route, she wanted to go east through Tongguan and then through Zhongzhou and then go south following the main road. But after seeing the four beggars, she knew that she would encounter more Beggar Clan members along the way so she thought about going along the small paths. Go through the bamboo forest and towards Colt Dragon Stockade and then south via Purple Meadow. Although this would make the journey longer, it was a lot safer and it would be harder for her Master to catch up with her. After pondering for a while she pointed southeast and said, “That way.” The donkey trotted along slowly, as soon as they left the town, a small child rushed up to them and called out, “Miss Lu, I have something for you.” As she said this she flung a flower to them, and then turned around and ran away. Lu Wushuang stretched out her hand and caught it, and saw a letter wrapped around it, she quickly opened the envelope and saw a yellow piece of paper, it read; “Your Master will be here shortly, quickly hide!” The yellow paper was coarse but the writing on it was elegant. Lu Wushuang gave out an alarmed shout, she pondered, “Who is that little kid? How does he know my name is Lu? And how do they know that my Master is going to be here shortly?” She asked Yang Guo, “You know that child don’t you? It was your Gu Gu who sent him isn’t it?” Yang Guo had already read the letter from behind her and thought, “That kid was just a normal country kid, he must have been ordered to take the letter to us by someone. But who wrote the letter? It looks like it has good intentions. If Li Mochou really caught up, what should I do?” Although he had learned the “Jade Heart Manual” and “Nine Yin Manual”, and possessed two of the greatest skills in the world of Wulin, he had only practiced them for a short time. Though he understood the essence behind them his internal energy wasn’t deep enough. If Li Mochou caught up he would not be a match for her and in broad daylight there wasn’t anywhere to hide. He was pondering but had no idea. When Lu Wushuang asked him he replied, “I don’t know that little Sha Dan, but my Gu Gu did not send that kid.” As soon as he said this, he heard a noise; ahead was a carriage. Tens of people were crowding and pushing around; there was a wedding taking place. Although it was the countryside, the event was done with an extravagant air; it was done with much enthusiasm and energy. A thought suddenly popped up in Yang Guo’s mind, he asked, “Do you want to be a bride?”Poly aluminum Chlorideflocculantwater treatment chemicalcoagulantfumaric acid

17 Divine Eagle, Gallant Knight The two beggars did not know Li Mochou but knew that she was ruthless and vindictive, when they heard Yang Guo say this they both shivered and said at the same time, “Is this true?” Yang Guo said, “Why should I lie? That witch chased this Taoist until I had nowhere else to run, that’s why I had to fight with you two.” As he said this, he raised the metal rods and politely gave them back to the beggars. He said, “It is well known what objects the ‘Scarlet Serpent Deity’ always carries with her, haven’t you two heard about this?” One of the beggars understood and said, “Yes, she holds a fly whisk, her donkey has a golden bell. The woman is in yellow isn’t she?” Yang Guo smiled and said, “Correct, correct. The girl who used the silver saber to hurt your clan member is her disciple.” He then made his voice slightly deeper and said, “I’m afraid that it’s ominous, it ominous.” The beggar with the voice like an overwhelming bell was impatient and asked, “What are you afraid of?” Yang Guo said, “Ominous, ominous.” The beggar urgently asked, “What’s ominous?” Yang Guo replied, “Li Mochou is notorious in Wulin, everyone is afraid of her. Your clan may be powerful but no one is her match. Since it was a disciple of hers who injured one of your members, it would be best to leave it.” He angered that beggar; the beggar raised his metal rod and said, “Huh, I don’t care if she’s the ‘Scarlet Serpent Deity’ or ‘Lizard Deity’, I must fight her today.” As he said this he headed back towards the path. The other beggar was more cautious, thinking how they could not overcome a young man, if they incurred the wrath of the ‘Scarlet Serpent Deity’ are they not signing their death warrants? He held the other beggar’s arm and said, “There’s no need to rush, let’s go back and plan this first.” He made a salute to Yang Guo with one hand and said, “Please can we have the pleasure of knowing your name.” Yang Guo smiled and said, “My surname is Sa, first names Huazi. Hope we’ll meet again.” He made a bow and turned around hurrying back to the others. The two beggars mumbled, “Sa Huazi, Sa Huazi? I have never heard this name; this person’s skills are excellent at such a young age…” One of the beggars suddenly leaped up and cursed, “Scoundrel, animal!” The other beggar asked, “What?” The beggar replied, “He’s called Sa Huazi, it means kill beggars (Kill a beggar has the same Pinyin as Sa Huazi), we’ve been insulted without knowing it.” Though the two cursed, they didn’t dare to return to finish this matter with him. Yang Guo laughed on the inside, he quickly returned and saw Lu Wushuang on top of the horse looking to the side, revealing how anxious she was. As soon as she saw Yang Guo her spirits immediately raised, she quickly met him on the horse and quietly said, “Sha Dan, leaving behind me, that was so thoughtful!” Yang Guo smiled and offered the long sword back to Hong Lingbo with the handle end facing towards her. He bowed and said, “Thank you for the sword.” Hong Lingbo stretched out her hand to receive it. Yang Guo was about to turn around when Li Mochou suddenly said, “Wait.” She saw that the young Taoist was skilled; she thought that if she let him go now he would become a problem in the future. While his kung fu was still lower than hers, she would get rid of the potential problem now. As soon as Yang Guo heard the word ‘wait’ he knew something was wrong, he lowered the sword a few inches into Hong Lingbo’s hand and immediately took his hand away. Hong Lingbo could only take the handle of the sword and smiled, she said, “The young Taoist has some fierce skills.” Li Mochou originally wanted to anger him into attacking and kill him in one stroke with her fly whisk. But now he did not have a weapon. She was of a high status and so could not use her weapon to harm him. She flashed her fly whisk to one side and asked, “Which of the Quanzhen seven masters is your master?” Yang Guo smiled and said, “I’m Wang Chongyang’s disciple.” He had no good feelings towards the Quanzhen sect; he had no respect for them. Although Qiu Chuji treated him fairly well, he was only with him for a short while, but before he left he was strictly scolded by him. He knew he didn’t mean any harm but in his heart he was still angry. When he remembered Hao Datong and Zhao Zhijing, he became even angrier. In the Ancient Tomb he had practiced the important aspects of the “Nine Yin Manual” left by Wang Chongyang, so technically he could say that he was his disciple. But according to his age, he could only be the disciple of Taoists in Zhao Zhijing’s and Zhen Zhibing’s generation. When Li Mochou saw that his skills weren’t weak and asked him which one of the Quanzhen seven masters was his master, it was holding him in a lofty light. If Yang Guo replied Qiu Chuji or one of the others, Li Mochou would have believed him. But he didn’t want be a generation lower than the Taoist who killed Grandma Sun, Hao Datong, so he said Wang Chongyang. Wang Chongyang was the person who founded the Quanzhen sect. In his lifetime he had only taken in seven disciples; everyone knew this in the Wulin world. When this young Taoist was born Wang Chongyang had left the world long ago. Li Mochou thought, “This ugly freak doesn’t know how high the sky is or how deep the earth is, and he doesn’t know who I am, how dare he talk such nonsense in front of me.” She then thought, “How could a Quanzhen Taoist use their founder for a joke? And how could they dare to say the words ‘Wang Chongyang’? But if he isn’t a disciple of Quanzhen, then how come each of his stances were from Quanzhen?” Yang Guo saw that although she had a smile on her face, she was frowning and she was in deep thought. He thought about the day when he pretended to be a farmer to trick Hong Lingbo, and in the tomb they had exchanged blows. He couldn’t let them find out who he really was through his words so without delay he carried on; he raised his hands in respect. He turned around and leapt onto the horse, and was about to gallop away. Li Mochou floated over in front of his horse and said, “Come down, I have something to say to you.” Yang Guo said, “I know what you want to ask me. You want to ask me have I seen a pretty girl, who is lame in her left foot, isn’t that it. And where has she taken your book?” Li Mochou was shocked and calmly said, “Yes, you are clever. Where is the book?” Yang Guo said, “Just now, my apprentice brother and I were resting by the side of the road, we saw that girl fighting with three beggars. One of the beggars suffered a slash from the girl but when the other two beggars joined in, she wasn’t a match for them. Eventually she was captured by them.” Li Mochou was always calm no matter what, but when she thought about Lu Wushuang being caught by the beggars and her ‘Five Poison Codex’ falling into their hands, she couldn’t stop herself from showing signs of being alarmed. Yang Guo saw that the lie worked and continued, “One of the beggars fished out a book from the girl’s pockets, she wouldn’t give it to them and suffered disrespect from him.” Lu Wushuang glanced at him and thought, “Fine Sha Dan, talking rubbish about me, you think I won’t do anything to you?” Yang Guo knew that she was frightened but deliberately asked her, “Apprentice brother, doesn’t it get people mad? That girl was touched all over the place by the beggars and suffered great insults didn’t she?” Lu Wushuang hung her head down and gave a grunt. As he said this, there were the sounds of horse hoofs around the hill, a crowd of horses and people came up. It was a group of Mongolian soldiers. Once the Jin were overthrown, everything north of the Mie River was under the control of the Mongolians. Li Mochou didn’t care about the soldiers, but she was in a rush to find out the whereabouts of Lu Wushuang. She didn’t want anything to delay her so she stood aside feeling the ground shaking as over a hundred Mongolian soldiers escorting an official passed by. The Mongolian official wore a bright garment, a bow hung from his waist, his horse riding technique was excellent and he exuded an air of calmness as he rode past. Once the soldiers passed, Li Mochou wiped the dust away from her body using her fly whisk. Every time the fly whisk waved, Lu Wushuang’s heart missed a beat, she knew if the fly whisk was waved at her and not the dust, her head would have split open immediately. After she finished cleaning herself up she asked, “And then?” Yang Guo said, “The beggars took the girl and headed north. This young Taoist couldn’t just stand by and tried to interfere, and two of the beggars stayed behind to fight with me.” Li Mochou nodded her head and smiled, she said, “Good, thank you. My name is Li Mochou, people in Jianghu call me the ‘Scarlet Serpent Deity’, and some call me the ‘Serpent Demon’. Have you heard my name before?” Yang Guo shook his head and said, “I have never heard of you. Miss, with your beauty you are like a deity, how can you be a demon?” Li Mochou was thirty, but she had profound internal strength, her skin was soft and tender, her face had no wrinkles and one could mistake her for a twenty year old. She had always regarded herself as beautiful and when she heard him praising her like that she was pleased, she fluttered her fly whisk and said, “You joked with me. Saying that you are the disciple of Wang Chongyang, I should make you suffer and then kill you. Since you’ve said this, I’m going to teach you a lesson with my fly whisk.” Yang Guo shook his head and said, “That won’t do, that won’t do, this young Taoist cannot fight with someone in a lower generation than he is.” Li Mochou said, “You are about to die and you still joke. How am I in a lower generation than you?” Yang Guo said, “My master is elder Chongyang, he is in the same generation as your ancestor; how am I not in an older generation than you? You are just a pretty young girl; an old man can’t bully you.” Li Mochou gave a wry smile and said to Hong Lingbo “Let him borrow the sword again.” Yang Guo waved his hand and said, “That won’t do, that won’t do, I…” Before he finished his words Hong Lingbo pulled out the sword from its sheath, a ‘ting’ sound was heard; her hand holding only the handle, the blade remained in the sheath. She was startled but then understood, when Yang Guo returned the sword he had done something to it; he broke the sword but kept the handle intact. As soon as someone applied some force to the sword, it immediately broke. Li Mochou’s face changed colour. Yang Guo said, “Originally I didn’t want to fight pretty girls who are beneath me, but since you are forcing me to fight, then so be it! I’ll face three stances of your fly whisk empty handed. Let’s make it clear first, as long as you can receive my three stances then I’ll let you go, but once the three stances are over, you can’t trouble me anymore.” In this present situation he knew that he must use force otherwise he won’t be able to get out of this situation. But if they really fight, he won’t be a match for her. So he acted like a senior and made her promise that she will only use three stances and not more. He was not her match anyway so it didn’t matter if he had a weapon or not; hopefully she would not use her most lethal fly whisk stances. How could Li Mochou not understand his intentions, she thought, “You think you can receive three of my stances?” She said, “Fine, senior, let junior experience your skills.” Yang Guo said, “You’re too kind” but suddenly he saw a yellow blur; there were traces of the fly whisk everywhere. This stance of Li Mochou’s is called “No Holes that can’t be Penetrated” (wu kong bu ru), attacking the enemy’s bones all over their body. Although this is one stance, the threads were all over the place, so in one stance it included tens of stances, attacking all the body’s main pressure points. She had seen him fight with the beggars and saw that his sword skills were refined, he wasn’t a weak opponent. Hurting him in three stances was not going to be easy so she used the techniques that she was most proud of, “Three Without Three Without Hands” (san wu san bu shou). She had invented these three stances; even Xiao Longnu had never seen these stances before. When Yang Guo saw this he jumped back in shock. There was actually no defense to this stance. Moving to the left and right would result in one’s pressure points to be sealed; moving forward would result in the pressure points on the back being harmed. Only fighters who were much more skilful than she was could force her back. Attacking her front ruthlessly would force her to use her fly whisk to defend. Yang Guo did not have this ability. In this urgent situation he flipped around, his head below his legs and used the skill that Ouyang Feng taught him, “Reversal of the Veins”. His pressure points were all closed; he felt all his pressure points ache a little and then nothing more. He quickly flipped over and gave out a flying kick. Li Mochou had seen that she had hit many of his pressure points but he still had the ability to counter attack. She was shocked and followed with a stance of “Penetrate Everywhere” (wu suo bu zhi). This stance attacked all the pressure points on his sides. Yang Guo’s head was on the ground, he stretched out his left hand to seal her right knee’s ‘Central’ pressure point. Li Mochou was even more shocked and leapt away. The “Three Without Three Without Hand” technique’s third stance “Stop At Nothing” was immediately used. This stance does not aim to seal pressure points; instead it attacked the eyes, throat, stomach, the groin and all the places that are soft and delicate. That’s why it’s called “Stop at Nothing”, it was ruthless and showed no respect towards the opponent. When she refined this skill she did not know that there were people who knew how to fight upside down. When she rushed out in this stance, she used it as she normally would, but there was no way the attack hit the eyes, it struck the leg, where it attacked the throat it struck the lower thigh, where it attacked the stomach it struck the upper thigh, where it attacked the groin it struck the chest, it aimed for the soft points but struck the hard and the stance was not effective at all. This shocked Li Mochou to the extreme. She had seen many battles in her life, she had met those who were better fighters than her so she knew what the enemy would do, how they attacked, defended, dodged, she knew it all; but she couldn’t have guessed this young Taoist had such unimaginable kung fu. As she stood there in a daze, Yang Guo opened his mouth and bit down on the fly whisk; he flipped his body and stood up. Li Mochou’s hand shook; her fly whisk was taken away. At the second Mount Hua competition, Ouyang Feng reversed his veins and bit down on Huang Yaoshi’s finger. When one reverses their veins, chi is distributed through their lips, the mouth will open and close, the intent to bite someone is automatically created. In the body, nothing can compare with the strength of teeth biting down; the teeth can shatter and tear things that hands can’t. Because of this, although Yang Guo’s internal strength was weaker than Li Mochou’s, once his teeth bit down on the fly whisk; he was able to pull it from her hands. This move shocked Lu Wushuang and Hong Lingbo, both of them called out in surprise at the same time. Li Mochou was also shocked but she didn’t show any fear, her palms lightly came out, she was using her “Diving Serpent Palm” and jumping forward to snatch back her fly whisk. She was about to hit out with her palms when she suddenly called out, “What! It’s you! Where’s your master?” Yang Guo’s face had been covered in dirt but after a series of quick flips, some of the dirt was brushed off, revealing half of his face. At the same time Hong Lingbo recognized Lu Wushuang and called out, “Master, it’s apprentice sister.” Before, Lu Wushuang had dared not to face Li Mochou and Hong Lingbo. When Yang Guo and Li Mochou were fighting, she was concentrating on watching the fight and forgot about hiding her face from Hong Lingbo. Yang Guo’s left foot touched the ground lightly and flew onto Li Mochou’s donkey, at the same time his left hand flicked out, a ‘Jade Bee Needle’ was shot at the head of Hong Lingbo’s donkey. Li Mochou was furious and flew over to Yang Guo who flew away from the saddle and flipped the fly whisk around, a ‘pu’ sound was heard as he struck the donkey on the head and called out, “Wifey, quickly take your husband away.” He leapt on the back of the horse and he waved the fly whisk madly behind him. Lu Wushuang immediately spurred the horse on. Once Li Mochou utilized her lightness kung fu, she could catch up to four legged animals that were within half li or so. But after being shocked by Yang Guo’s strange stances she didn’t dare to chase too closely, she just used her trapping hand kung fu to snatch back her fly whisk. On her fourth stance three of the fingers on her left hand managed to grab hold of the threads of the fly whisk; she turned her hand and pulled. Yang Guo couldn’t hold on and the fly whisk flew out of his hand. Hong Lingbo’s donkey had been struck with the ‘Jade Bee Needle’, it suddenly went mad, and it rushed up to Li Mochou and started to bite. Li Mochou shouted, “Lingbo, what are you doing.” Hong Lingbo said, “The donkey is resisting.” She pulled the reigns with all her strength causing the donkey to have a mouthful of blood. Suddenly the donkey’s legs became soft and it fell over, Hong Lingbo leapt up and called out, “Master, let’s chase after them!” But by then Yang Guo and Lu Wushuang were half a li away, they weren’t able to catch up. Lu Wushuang and Yang Guo rode hurriedly for a while. She turned around and didn’t see her master chasing after them and said, “Sha Dan, my chest really hurts, I can’t stand it anymore!” Yang Guo leapt off the horse and placed his ear against the ground, there weren’t any sound of footsteps behind and he said, “There’s no need to be afraid, let’s go slowly.” The two then carried on normally. Lu Wushuang sighed and said, “Sha Dan, how did you manage to take my Master’s fly whisk?” Yang Guo said, “I threw out some words of praise which pleased her and so she gave the fly whisk to me. Old man didn’t feel right taking the young girl’s things so I gave it back to her.” Lu Wushuang said, “Huh, why was she pleased, she thought you were handsome?” As she said this she blushed. Yang Guo laughed and said, “She saw that I was an interesting fool, that’s why.” Lu Wushuang said, “Crap! What’s so interesting about you?” The two traveled slowly for a while but they were afraid that Li Mochou would catch up so they rode fast. They did this slowing down and speeding up until it was dusk. Yang Guo said, “Wifey, if you want to save your little life, you’ll have to endure the pain in your chest and ride throughout the night.” Lu Wushuang said, “If you talk crap again, just see if I continue to pay attention to you.” Yang Guo stuck out his tongue and said, “It’s a pity that our horse is tired, another night of riding and we could escape.” It was now getting dark but suddenly, the sound of horses could be heard ahead, Yang Guo was delighted and said, “Let’s change horses.” The two hurried on for about a mile and saw over a hundred horses outside a village. It was the group of Mongolian soldiers that they had seen earlier. Yang Guo said, “Wait here, I’ll go and take a look.” He leapt down from the horse and headed towards the village. He saw a light coming from the window of a large house. Yang Guo darted forward and looked inside; he saw a Mongolian official sitting in the room with his back facing the window. Yang Guo’s mind suddenly lit up, “If we’re going to change horses why not change people.” He waited for a while and saw the Mongolian official stand up, walking up and down across the room. That man was about thirty years old; it was the official in bright clothing he had seen earlier in the day. He had an air about him; it appeared that his post wasn’t low. Yang Guo waited until he turned his back and quietly opened the window and slipped in. The official heard a wind sound behind him, he took a step forward and raised his left hand for protection and turned around, and his ten fingers like an eagle’s claws came out ferociously. It was the lethal technique of the “Vigorous Eagle Claw Stance”. Yang Guo was slightly surprised by this, he didn’t know that a Mongolian official would know some kung fu; he slanted his body and dodged past his hands. The official clawed out many times but each time they were calmly dodged. That official had been under the tutelage of the Eagle Claw sect when he was younger, his kung fu was quite good, but after exchanging many stances with Yang Guo, he had no way of using his moves. Yang Guo saw that his hands were coming in ferociously once again, he suddenly leapt up, his left hand grabbed the man’s left shoulder, his right hand grabbed the man’s right, he circulated his chi through his arms and shouted, “Sit down!” The official’s knees became weak and he sat down on the floor. His chest felt like he was being smothered, it seemed like a surge of blood was rushing up to his head. Yang Guo stretched out his hand and rubbed the pressure points on his chest. The official immediately felt his chest loosen, a breath of air was released and he slowly got up. He stared at Yang Guo, startled. After a few minutes he asked, “Who are you? Why are you here?” Those two phrases in Han were spoken quite clearly. Yang Guo laughed and asked him some questions instead, “What is your name? What post do you hold?” The official’s eyes lit up in anger, he was about to jump out at him again. Yang Guo ignored him and sat down on the seat that the official had previously sat on. The official’s arms came out waving up and down, attacking ferociously; Yang Guo just waved out his hands without trying and didn’t use any strength to neutralize his attacks. He said, “Hey, you’ve got a wound on your shoulder, its better if you don’t use any energy.” The official was startled and said, “What wound?” His left hand rubbed his right shoulder, there was a slight pain there, he quickly stretched out his right hand and checked his left shoulder, and there was an identical pain. He had not moved his shoulders so didn’t notice the wounds; when he used his fingers to touch his shoulder, there was a small area that ached to the bone. The official was shocked, he quickly took off his garment and looked over his shoulder; he saw a red dot on his left shoulder and there was a similar dot on his right. He understood, just know when Yang Guo held his shoulders, he had a concealed weapon in his hands and now had fallen into his scheme. He was startled and shocked, he shouted, “What weapon did you use? Does it have poison or not?” Yang Guo gave a wry smile and said, “You’ve learned martial arts, how come you don’t know the rules? Large concealed weapons have no poison, small ones of course have.” The official believed him but hoped that he made it up to scare him. His face’s expression seems to be convinced but also seemed to be suspicious. Yang Guo smiled and said, “Your shoulder has fallen victim to my divine needle, its poison deepens an inch every day, by the sixth day the poison will have reached the heart, then you’ll be dead.” The official wanted him to cure the poison yet he didn’t dare ask. In anger he shouted, “Since it has ended up like this then this Master is going to take you with me.” He threw himself forward again. Yang Guo slipped past him. He took out two ‘Jade Bee Needles’ and waited until his claws came out again, the hands came out, he sent the needles into his palms. The official felt a pain in his palms and stopped, he raised his hands to take a look and saw a fine needle in his palms. He immediately felt his palms go numb; he was shocked and didn’t dare to attack again. Another half hour passed before he said, “Fine, I admit defeat!” Yang Guo laughed out loud and asked, “What’s you name?” The official replied, “My name is Yelu Jin, can I have the honour of knowing the hero’s name?” Yang Guo replied, “My name is Yang Guo. What post do you hold within the Mongolian government?” Yelu Jin told him everything. He was the Mongolians Prime Minister Yelu Chucai’s son. Yelu Chucai aided Genghis Khan and Wo Kuo Tai (Ogedai) to take over many lands. His achievements were outstanding, that is why although Yelu Jin was of a relatively young age, he held the high position of ‘Bianliang Jinglue Emissary’ (Military Governor of Bianliang city), he had come south to Henan to complete a mission. Yang Guo didn’t know what kind of position this was, he just nodded his head and said, “Fine, fine.” Yelu Jin said, “I don’t know what I have done to disrespect the hero, please forgive my ignorance. If the hero has an order please say it.” Yang Guo laughed and said, “You haven’t done anything.” He suddenly darted out of the window. Yelu Jin was shocked and called out, “Hero Yang” and ran to the window, but there was no trace of Yang Guo. Yelu Jin was troubled, “This person comes and goes as he pleases. I’ve fallen victim to his poison needles, what should I do?” He quickly took out the needles from his palm and felt the numbness in his palms and shoulders to begin to feel unbearable. In the midst of all this the window opened, Yang Guo suddenly returned and the room had another person, it was Lu Wushuang. Yelu Jin said, “Ah, you’ve come back.” Yang Guo pointed to Lu Wushuang and said, “She is my Wifey, kowtow to her!” Lu Wushuang shouted, “What did you say?” She turned her hand and gave him a slap. If Yang Guo wanted to avoid it how would she be able to hit him? For an inexplicable reason, when he was slapped and scolded by her he felt good. He didn’t move and a slapping sound was heard as his cheek was hit. Yelu Jin didn’t know that these two always argued like this. He assumed that Lu Wushuang’s kung fu was stronger than Yang Guo’s; he stared in a daze at the two. Yang Guo rubbed his cheek and laughed at Yelu Jin. He said, “You’ve suffered the poison of my divine needles, but you won’t die straight away. All you’ve got do is listen to my orders and then I’ll heal you.” Yelu Jin said, “I’ve always admired heroes and good men, but I have never seen people with such abilities. Today I have finally met someone worthy of this title, it is an honour. If hero Yang doesn’t tell me to live, I could still die with my eyes closed.” These words maintained his high status but praised the other at the same time. Yang Guo had never spoken with officials before and he didn’t know that they’ve all learned how to praise their superiors; the higher the official, the better they are at flattery without being obvious. The officials from Mongolia were rough and coarse people but after they entered the central plains, they learned the ways of the officials of China. After some words of praise, Yang Guo was pleased, he raised his finger and said, “Well, I didn’t guess that you are a man of honour as well. Come, I’ll immediately cure your poison.” He then used a sucking metal stone to remove the needles from his shoulder and then applied the antidote to the wounds. Lu Wushuang had never seen the ‘Jade Bee Needles’ before; she saw that the needles were as fine as hair and it looked as though if one placed the needles on water, they will float. She thought, “A gust of wind can blow that away, how can you use it as a concealed weapon?” She was even more in awe of Yang Guo but the words from her mouth said, “That type of evil weapon isn’t honorable, aren’t you afraid of others laughing at you?” Yang Guo laughed and ignored her, he said to Yelu Jin, “The two of us want to rely on you, your honour and be your attendants.” Yelu Jin was startled and quickly said, “Hero Yang jokes with me, whatever you want just tell me.” Yang Guo said, “I’m not joking, I really want to be your attendant your honour.” Yelu Jin thought, “So the two want work for the government and gain something for themselves.” He couldn’t stop himself from being pleased, he gave a cough and returned to a serious face and said, “Hmm, you’ve learned great martial arts, working for our king will lead to great prospects.” Yang Guo laughed and said, “You’ve got it all wrong. We are being chased by an extremely powerful foe. We can’t beat her and want to disguise ourselves as your attendants to evade her.” Yelu Jin was disappointed, his serious face loosened then he chucked and said, “With your martial arts, who gives a care about enemies. If there are too many of them I’ll gather my troops and catch them and let you decide on what to do.” Yang Guo said, “Even I can’t beat them, there is no need for you worry about it your Honour. Quickly order your attendants to give us some clothes to change into.” He said this casually but there was a stern tone within his voice. Yelu Jin ordered his attendants to bring some clothes for them to change into. Yang Guo and Lu Wushuang went to another room to change. Lu Wushuang got a mirror and examined herself, the person in the mirror was dressed in bright clothes, their eyes sparkled; it looked like a handsome Mongolian general. She felt that this was going to be interesting. They left early next morning. Lu Wushuang and Yang Guo were in a sedan chair lifted by attendants, Yelu Jin was still on horseback, before noon they heard the faint sounds of a ringing bell, from afar it came near, and it brushed past the crowd of people. Lu Wushuang was delighted and thought, “Comfortably sitting here in the sedan chair resting my wound is an ideal situation. Sha Dan’s mad idea has its good points. I’ll let them carry me to Jiangnan.” They traveled like this for two days and didn’t hear the bell sounds of Li Mochou again. Li Mochou must have gone straight ahead without turning back. There were also no traces of the beggars and Taoists that were looking for Lu Wushuang. By the third day they arrived at the Colt Dragon Stockade. This was an important trafficking point, many towns and cities flourished around here. After supper, Yelu Jin entered Yang Guo’s room and asked for martial arts advice. Words of flattery were said to Yang Guo, praising him highly. Yang Guo gave one or two pointers to him. Just as Yelu Jin was about to listen intently an attendant rushed in and said, “Your honour, our master has sent a letter here.” Yelu Jin was delighted and said, “Fine, I’ll come now.” He was about to stand up and say goodbye to Yang Guo when he had a thought, “If I open the letter in front of him and show that I don’t treat him as an outsider, he’ll definitely teach me with all his efforts.” He then said to the attendant, “Send the messenger in.” The attendant had a look of surprise on his face and said, “That …that…” Yelu Jin waved his hand and said, “Don’t delay, and tell him to enter.” The attendant said, “Its master himself.” Yelu Jin’s face fell and he said, “Why are you still wasting time, quickly go” before he finished someone laughed from outside and entered, and said, “Jin’er, you couldn’t have guessed that it was me.” Yelu Jin was shocked and pleased, he quickly dashed forward. He said, “Father, why are you…” That man laughed and said, “Yes! I’ve come here in person.” That person was Yelu Jin’s father, the Mongolian Prime Minister Yelu Chucai. Yang Guo heard Yelu Jin call that man father, but didn’t know how powerful that person was. He was under one person but above millions; the person with the most power in court, the Prime Minister. He saw that he wasn’t very old, his face elegant, within his air of authority was an air of peace; he couldn’t stop himself from respecting this person. As soon as that person sat down on a chair, two other people entered, they greeted Yelu Jin and called him ‘Big Brother’. It was one male and one female. The male was around twenty-three or four years of age, the female was about the same age as Yang Guo. Yelu Jin was pleased and said, “Brother, sister, you are here as well.” He said to his father, “Father, I didn’t have a clue that you had left the court.” Yelu Chucai nodded and said, “Yes, there is some important business that must be attended to; if I didn’t do it myself I wouldn’t be able to relax.” He looked at Yang Guo and the rest of the attendants, indicating that he wants them to leave. Yelu Jin was in a dilemma, he should tell his attendants to leave but Yang Guo was a person you couldn’t mess around with, his face had an expression of being unsure of what to do. Yang Guo knew what he was thinking; he laughed and exited the room by himself. Yelu Chucai was aware of Yang Guo, when he entered by himself all the other attendants greeted and bowed to him except for one, the person did as he pleased and had a proud air, he couldn’t stop himself from being wary and asked, “Who is that?” Yelu Jin was a high official, if he said who Yang Guo was in front of his brother and sister he will have lost face, he answered ambiguously, “He is a friend that I made along the way. Father has made the trip to Henan personally, what is this about?” Yelu Chucai sighed; his face looked troubled and slowly explained everything. When Genghis Khan died, his third son Wo Kuo Tai (Ogedai) succeeded him. Wo Kuo Tai was the Khan for about thirty years before he too died, his son Gui You (Guyuk) succeeded. Gui You lost himself in drink and died just after three years of being the Khan, his queen (Oghul Ghamish) took over the affairs of state. The queen trusted very few, the first generals and ministers caused chaos in the court. Yelu Chucai was a senior member of the court, and was one of the people who founded the state; whenever the queen made a wrong decision he would speak up truthfully. The queen saw that he opposed her orders, and of course was angry, but because he was a powerful minister and what he said was right, the queen could not take action lightly. Yelu Chucai knew that once he offended the queen the hundred or so lives of his family would be in danger and so he thought of a plan. He said that Henan in the south was not under control; a minister was needed to go down there and sort it out and he nominated himself. The queen was delighted, thinking the further this person goes the better and she can avoid getting angry everyday. So she agreed to the order. So Yelu Chucai took his second son Yelu Qi and daughter Yelu Yan to Henan. Officially he was down here to dissipate the unrest, but unofficially he was down here to avoid a disaster. Yang Guo went into another room and chatted and joked with Lu Wushuang but Lu Wushuang turned away and ignored him. After getting no reply, Yang Guo crossed his knees, sat down and meditated. Lu Wushuang wasn’t interested. She saw that he closed his eyes and didn’t move for half a day and said, “Hey, Sha Dan, why are you meditating now?” Yang Guo didn’t reply. Lu Wushuang angrily said, “There is no need to rush your kung fu, are you going to chat with me?” As she was about to move him with her hand, Yang Guo suddenly leapt up and quietly said, “There’s someone on the roof!”+ Lu Wushuang didn’t hear anything, she raised her head and look up at the roof, she said, “Are you lying again?” Yang Gu said, “No, they’re on the roof two buildings over.” Lu Wushuang didn’t believe him. She laughed and quietly scolded him, “Sha Dan.” She assumed that he was playing dumb. Yang Guo tugged her sleeve and quietly said, “Let’s hide before your Master finds us.” When Lu Wushuang heard the word ‘Master’ and her back broke out in a cold sweat and she followed him to the window. Yang Guo lifted his head to the west, Lu Wushuang also lifted her head, and indeed, she saw someone in black on the roof of the building two rooms over. It was now the middle of the night, there was no light from the moon and stars; if one didn’t carefully examine the roof, it would be hard to spot anything. She admired him secretly, “How did Sha Dan detect this?” She knew that her Master held herself very highly, when she moved at night she would still wear her apricot yellow gown, she would never wear black. She bent over to Yang Guo’s ear and whispered, “It’s not Master.” As soon as the words were spoken, the person in black suddenly got up and flew across the roofs arrived outside the window of the room that Yelu Chucai was in. She kicked open the window, and leapt in holding a saber, she called out, “Yelu Chucai, I’m going to take you to hell along with me.” It was a girl’s voice. Yang Guo’s heart shook, “That girl’s movements are extremely fast, her skills are above Yelu Jin. His father is afraid that his life will be in danger.” Lu Wushuang called out, “Let’s go.” The two hurried to the scene and witnessed what was happening through the window. He saw that Yelu Jin was holding up a bench moving back and forth, battling with the girl in black. The girl was young but her saber techniques were vicious, the Willow Leaf Saber in her hand was extremely sharp, a series of slashes hacked off the four legs of the bench. Yelu Jin saw he that wasn’t going to hold her off and called out; “Father, run away!” He then shouted, “Men, men!” The girl threw out a kick; Yelu Jin was not prepared for it and was kicked in the waist, his body flipped as he fell onto the floor. The girl dashed forward and raised her saber above Yelu Chucai’s head and slashed down. Yang Guo thought, “Oh no!” Thinking that he should rescue that person first and then talk about it later, he held a ‘Jade Bee Needle’ and was about to shoot it out at the girl’s wrist when he heard Yelu Chucai’s daughter Yelu Yan called out, “This one mustn’t have any manners!” She chopped out at the girl’s face with her right palm; her left hand used “Empty Hands Entering a Hundred Blades” kung fu to take her saber. Those two moves suited each other exquisitely, the girl moved her head to avoid the palm and her wrist was held by Yelu Yan, she quickly threw out a kick, Yelu Yan had to move back, her blade wasn’t taken away. Yang Guo saw that the two girls’ attacks were swift and quick and was slightly surprised. In a flash the two had hacked and slashed and seven or eight moves had passed. At that time, ten guards burst into the room; when they saw the two girls fighting, they dashed forward. Yelu Jin said, “Wait! Sister doesn’t need your help.” Yang Guo quietly said to Lu Wushuang, “Wifey, those two girls’ skills are better than yours.” Lu Wushuang was angered and threw out a palm. Yang Guo slipped away and laughed, he said, “Don’t get angry, it’s better to watch them fight.” Lu Wushuang said, “Tell me the truth, am I better or are those girls better.” Yang Guo quietly said, “One on one, the two girls’ have nothing on you. Two on one, based on kung fu only, you will lose. But they are too honest in their attacks. They can’t compare with your tricks, ruthlessness and viciousness, and so you would win.” Lu Wushuang was pleased, and whispered, “What ‘tricks, ruthlessness and viciousness’, that doesn’t sound too nice! When it comes to trickery, no one can compare with Mister Sha Dan.” Yang Guo smiled and said, “Doesn’t that mean you are Mrs. Sha Dan?” Lu Wushuang gave a quiet grunt. They watched the two girls battle. Yelu Yan did not have a weapon and after many tries still could not take the girl’s saber away, and now she was forced to defend and evade with no way to attack. Yelu Qi said, “Sister, let me try.” He slanted his body and moved forward, his right hand threw out three palms in succession. Yelu Yan stood by the wall said, “Fine, let’s watch you.” After Yang Guo saw Yelu Qi’s three stances, he couldn’t stop himself from being slightly surprised. His left hand was planted on his waist not moving, his right hand extended and pulled back, his feet didn’t move. He was able to fend off the girl’s saber, his stances were refined, and positioning accurate, he wasn’t ordinary. Yang Guo thought, “That person is exceedingly good, his skills looks like Quanzhen yet there are some things different.” Lu Wushuang said, “Sha Dan, his skills are much better than yours.” Yang Guo was in a trance as he watched and he didn’t even hear what she had said. fumaricfumarateFurfuryllcoholresin

019 Divine Eagle, Gallant Knight Li Mochou laughed and said, “You can do such unspeakable things, yet you are afraid of others talking about it?” Yang Guo used the sword sheath and attacked continuously; it was severe and pressed forward without restraint. It was the sword skills left by Wang Chongyang to counter Lin Chaoying’s Jade Sword techniques. Li Mochou didn’t dare to be careless; she used her fly whisk and concentrated on the incoming stances. The techniques of Li Mochou’s whisk originated from the Jade Sword techniques; many stances passed and she felt the opponent’s sword skills were extremely refined and ingenious. Every stance and every move of hers was predicted by the opponent and was intercepted by him. If were not for the fact that she was much more powerful than he, she would have begun to lose. She thought with anger, “Master was really biased; only teaching apprentice sister this set of sword techniques. Huh, she probably wanted apprentice sister to use this to neutralize me. Although this sword technique is extraordinary, does that mean I’m going to be afraid of it?” She changed her stance and suddenly moved forward, leaping onto a table, her right leg kicked out, her left leg supporting herself on the top of the table. Her body moved back and forth without effort, like a leaf floating in the breeze. She laughed and said, “Did your lover teach you this move? I don’t think even she will know this one.” Yang Guo was alarmed and angrily said, “What lover?” Li Mochou laughed, “My apprentice sister had sworn a serious oath, if there wasn’t a man who was willing to die for her, she would spend eternity in the tomb and never set foot off the mountain. She has followed you down from the mountain; you two aren’t husband and wife, if she isn’t your lover then who is?” Yang Guo was extremely angry and didn’t reply; he rushed forward with the sword sheath and leaped onto the table. His lightness kung fu couldn’t compare with his opponents’ so he didn’t step on the top of the table, he stepped on some bowls but he remained steady and chopped across fiercely with the sheath. Li Mochou raised her fly whisk and repelled the sheath. She laughed and said, “Your lightness kung fu is not bad! Your lover has treated you well, it could be said that she loved you very much.” Yang Guo was furious and couldn’t restrain himself, he shouted, “The one called Li, are you a human? Are you speaking a human language?” He raised his sheath and quickly attacked again. Li Mochou calmly said, “If you don’t want others to know then don’t give them anything to know about. My Ancient Tomb sect has come up with these two scum; we have lost all face.” As she was attacking, she incessantly came out with sarcastic comments. She may be ruthless but when she spoke she was normally polite and courteous; what she was saying now was against her character. It was because she was worried about Xiao Longnu watching from the side, if she suddenly came out and attacked it would be difficult for her to fight them off, so she kept up the insults, wanting to make Xiao Longnu so ashamed that she wouldn’t appear. Yang Guo could not bear it, if she was insulting him, he wouldn’t care but Xiao Longnu was the one being insulted. With such anger, his arms and legs shivered, his head felt faint, his eyes suddenly went blank and he couldn’t stand up and fell from the table. Li Mochou raised her fly whisk and attacked down onto the crown of his head. Yelu Qi saw that this was an urgent situation; he picked up some wine cups and threw them at Li Mochou. Li Mochou heard the wind sounds and took a glance; it was some wine cups, she breathed deeply and protected the pressure points on her back. She had to kill Yang Guo now and worry about this later, thinking, why should she be worried about two little wine cups. Who would have thought that before the cups arrived the wine splashed out, she felt her ‘Two Yang’, and ‘Central’ pressure points go numb after being hit by the wine, she secretly thought, “Crap! Apprentice sister is here. If the effects of the wine are like this, what about the wine cups?” She quickly turned her fly whisk around and knocked the two wine cups away just in time. She felt her arms shake, and was even more worried, “How did she get so strong?” When she turned around, she saw that it wasn’t Xiao Longnu who shot the cups out, it was a tall young man dressed in Mongolian clothes, and she was extremely surprised. “Are there so many good fighters in the younger generation?” She saw him take out his long sword and clearly say, “The Angelic Priestess’s attacks are ruthless; I want to experience a few stances.” Li Mochou saw him slowly advancing, his foot steps solid. He was about twenty or so, but judging from how he shot out the cups and how he was moving with his sword, his internal energy exceeded his age. She examined him and laughed, “Who are you? Who is your Master?” Yelu Qi bowed and said, “I am Yelu Qi, I’m under the tutelage of the Quanzhen sect.” Yang Guo had leapt to the side, when he heard that Yelu Qi was from the Quanzhen sect he thought, “He indeed is from Quanzhen; could he be Liu Chuxuan’s disciple? Hao Datong can’t teach something to such a standard.” Li Mochou asked, “Is your Master Ma Yu or Qiu Chuji?” Yelu Qi said, “No.” Li Mochou asked, “Is it Liu, Wang or Hao?” Yelu Qi said, “Wrong as well.” Li Mochou chuckled and pointed to Yang Guo, “He said he was the disciple of Wang Chongyang that makes you two apprentice brothers.” Yelu Qi was surprised and said, “It’s not true is it? Elder Chongyang died a long time ago, how can that brother over there be his disciple?” Li Mochou’s brows wrinkled and said, “Hei, hei, Quanzhen has many disciples who can lie without blinking, I’m going to change Quanzhen’s name into ‘Quanjia’, prepare!” (Quanzhen could be translated as Whole Truth, Quanjia is translated as Whole Fake.) Her fly whisk moved and attacked his head. Yelu Qi’s left hand raised his sword, his left foot stepped forward, a stance of “Fixed Yang Needle”, the sword was thrust upwards, it was the orthodox sword skills of Quanzhen. This stance’s air and chi were absolute, the strength, power and movement all has its fine points. At first appearance it looks very ordinary, but to reach a state where there was no weakness is incredible. People whose talent is just slightly lacking may not be able to reach such a state with a lifetime of practice. Yang Guo had learned the Quanzhen sword techniques in the Ancient Tomb so of course he knew the essence of the sword skills; but he just learned it without really practicing it. No matter what, he would not be able to demonstrate this stance with such profoundness. When Li Mochou saw him unleashing this stance she knew that he was a strong enemy, she strode across and lashed her fly whisk. Yelu Qi saw a grey blur move, the fly whisk’s threads were to the left and back of him, sweeping in from all directions, his battle experience was shallow and this is the first time he has met a strong enemy; he concentrated and used all his strength to fight her. In a flash forty stances were exchanged, Yelu Qi coiled his sword back slightly, he saw defeat in front of him but if Li Mochou wanted to win right now, she would not succeed. She secretly praised him, “This little punk is indeed using the refined skills of Quanzhen; although he can’t compare with Qiu, Liu and Wang, he wouldn’t lose to Sun Bu’Er. There are indeed many able people in Quanzhen. A few more stances passed when Li Mochou made a dummy move. Yelu Qi didn’t know it was trap, he raised his sword and thrust forward, Li Mochou suddenly threw out her left leg and struck his wrist. Yelu Qi’s arm was in pain, the sword escaped from his hands. Though he was being defeated he didn’t panic, his left hand slashed across, his right hand used the “Trapping Hand Techniques” to try to steal her fly whisk. Li Mochou smiled and praised him, “Very handsome kung fu!” After many moves, she felt that his techniques had extreme softness, Liu Chuxuan and Sun Bu’Er and the others did not have this; she was secretly surprised. Yang Guo interrupted with an insult, “Bitch, I’ll never acknowledge you as my Martial Aunt ever again.” He raised the sword sheath and attacked. Li Mochou saw Yelu Qi’s sword had fallen, she wrapped the sword with her fly whisk and shot it out at Yang Guo’s face and laughed, saying, “You are your Master’s man; you could call me apprentice sister.” Yang Guo saw the incoming sword and raised his sword sheath forward. Lu Wushuang and Wanyan Ping both called out in alarm, but there was a ‘shua’ noise as the sword was shot into the sword sheath exactly. The placement of the sheath to catch the sword was extremely difficult. If the sheath was just a millimeter or so out and with the force that Li Mochou shot the sword with, the sword would have pierced his chest. However, he had learned the art of projectile throwing in the Ancient Tomb, the timing, weight and accuracy of his skills had reached a stage where there weren’t any errors. The hair like ‘Jade Bee Needle’ would hit its target as soon as he shoots it out, so catching the sword with the sheath wasn’t a difficult skill for him. He took the sword out of the sheath and attacked with Yelu Qi. The tables and benches were all overturned, bowls were broken, and all the guests had long gone. In all the time that Hong Lingbo had been with her Master, she has never seen her losing in battle. She lost out to Xiao Longnu in the Ancient Tomb because she couldn’t swim. Her fly whisk was snatched away by Yang Guo but was taken back immediately and she forced Yang Guo to back away. Watching the two teaming up and attacking her Master, she was slightly worried about her but she stood to the side and watched. The three of them fought engagingly in battle; Li Mochou changed her stances, her fly whisk producing strong winds, forcing the two to wobble. In a flash, Yang Guo and Yelu Qi faced some dangerous stances. Yelu Yan and Wanyan Ping both called out; “Oh no.” They both stepped up to help. After using just three stances, Yelu Yan was struck on the left leg with the fly whisk; she was flung to the side and knocked into a table. Yelu Qi saw that his sister was hurt and became flustered, under the fierce attack of Li Mochou he kept retreating backwards. The girl in blue green saw the situation was urgent, she dashed forward to take Yelu Yan out of the danger. Li Mochou’s eyes saw everything and ears heard everything. She saw that the girl’s movements were light, displaying signs that she was a disciple of a famous name; she swung her fly whisk across her face and asked, “What is Miss’s name? Who is your Master?” There was a distance of over ten feet between them, in a flash the fly whisk was swung in front of her face. The girl in blue green was startled, her right hand waved out; from her sleeve she took out a weapon, and blocked the fly whisk. Li Mochou saw that this weapon was extremely strange, it glittered like a gem, it was about one meter long and it looked like a jade flute, she searched her mind, “Which sect or family uses such a weapon?” She quickly attacked wanting her to display her skills. The girl could not hold on, Yang Guo and Yelu Qi dashed forward to help. But it was hard to defend against Li Mochou’s swift and fluent style. Stances from the east and palms from the west, in a flash danger came again. Yang Guo thought, “All we’ve got to do is make one little mistake and our lives would be hard to protect.” He opened his mouth and called out, “My good Wifey, sister, my sister in blue green, sister Yelu, let’s all leave the restaurant and take a break! This Bitch is very lethal.” The four girls saw him calling out madly; no one could say a word, they frowned and saw it was now a very urgent and desperate situation. Lu Wushuang first went downstairs followed by the girl in blue green who was supporting Yelu Yan. The two beggars saw the young heroes fighting Li Mochou because of them, they wanted to go forward and help but their arms were broken and they couldn’t fight. The two were very loyal, although Li Mochou was not watching them; they didn’t dare to leave before Yang Guo and the others. Yang Guo and Yelu Qi fought together against Li Mochou’s stances, which were becoming more and more lethal; they carried Wanyan Ping and retreated downstairs. Yang Guo said, “Brother Yelu, our movements are restricted, let’s go downstairs and fight.” He thought that once they were in a crowded place, they would be able to escape. Yelu Qi said, “Fine!” The two stood shoulder to shoulder and retreated down the stairs. Li Mochou kept on attacking, although she was winning she was angry, “In my life, whoever I wanted to kill I killed; today two young punks are blocking my way, if that little Bitch Lu Wushuang escapes, where will the great name of the ‘Scarlet Serpent Deity’ go?” She wanted to snatch back Lu Wushuang and so attacked down the stairs. Everyone fought with all their strength; they battled from the restaurant into the street, from the street they battled into the suburbs. Yang Guo kept on calling out, “Good Wifey, my dear sister the further you run the better. Sister Yelu and my sister in blue green, you’d better leave, the two of us won’t die.” Yelu Qi didn’t say a word; he was older than Yang Guo by only a few years, but he had a serious and stern air, completely different to Yang Guo’s easy going, rash and hot-tempered personality. The two of them fought together against the enemy, Yelu Qi dealt with the ruthless attacks of the enemy, Yang Guo darted around to divert the enemy’s attention. Li Mochou saw that Xiao Longnu had not appeared and was now at ease, she concentrated on the battle. The internal energy that Yang Guo and Yelu Qi had accumulated could not compare with Li Mochou’s. As they battled to this point, the two of them were red faced and out of breath. When Li Mochou saw this she was pleased, “In under an hour I’ll be able to take their lives.” At this moment, the air was suddenly filled with the calls of birds, the calls were clear, two large eagles attacked her head, four wings created gusts of wind, dirt and dust filled the area, the force of the calls was tremendous. Yang Guo knew that it was the pair of eagles that belonged to the Guo couple. When he was younger, he had played with the eagles on Peach Blossom Island; since the eagles were here, the Guo couple would be nearby. He had expelled himself from Chongyang Palace and didn’t want to see Guo Jing again; he quickly leapt back many steps and put on the human skin mask. The eagles flew left and right, up and down, their wings attacking Li Mochou incessantly. The two eagles had a very good memory; they kept in their hearts what had happened years ago when they suffered the pain of the ‘Soul Freezing Needles’. When they saw her from faraway they immediately came and attacked, but they were still afraid of her needles, every time she waved her hands, they quickly circled around. Yelu Qi was watching carefully and knew that it would be hard for the two eagles to win, he called out, “Brother Yang, let’s go again, how would she cope with the four of us?” He was about to dash forward when he heard the sounds of horse hoofs from the southeast; a horse was galloping straight for this place. The horse was extremely fast, by the time the sounds of hoof beats reached him, the horse was in front of him, it was long and tall, covered in red fur, its spirit was amazing. Li Mochou and Yelu Qi were both startled, “How can this horse gallop so fast?” There was a girl in red on the horse’s back; the girl and horse looked like an oncoming flame, the only thing that wasn’t red was the girl’s white face. Yang Guo saw the eagles and red horse and knew that it was the daughter of Guo Jing and Huang Rong, Guo Fu. He saw her reign in the horse, the horse immediately held its ground. The horse stopped after being ordered to, it didn’t make a sound and was composed. Yelu Qi grew up in Mongolia, he has seen countless spirited horses; but one with such a magnificent air he had never seen, he couldn’t stop himself from being surprised. He didn’t know that this horse was a blood sweating precious horse that Guo Jing obtained from the plains of Mongolia. Then it was just a foal, now it was grown up and could be said to be in its senior years; but this extraordinary horse was different from other horses in old age, its bones and muscles were extremely strong, it hadn’t lost any of its strength in its transition to old age. Yang Guo hadn’t seen Guo Fu for a long time. He remembered she was an arrogant and bullying little girl; now she had grown into a young girl who was as pleasant as a spring flower. After riding urgently for a time, sweat had formed on her forehead; her cheeks reflected her red dress and looked even more glamorous. She looked at the eagles for a while and then glanced at Yelu Qi and the others. She saw Yang Guo dressed in the Mongolian uniform wearing the human skin mask; his face was extremely strange, she frowned, showing signs of disrespect. Yang Guo and she had never got along since they were young. He saw her looking at him with disgust and his feelings of hate and humility were strengthened. He thought, “You don’t respect me but does that mean that I want you to look upon me with respect? Your father is a living hero, your mother is the chief of the Beggar Clan, your grandfather is one of the prominent martial artists in the world; there is no one who doesn’t look at the Guo family with respect. What about my father and mother? My mother was a country girl and I don’t know who my father was. He died without reason. I don’t want to compare myself with you; I was born into hardship, and suffered the abuse of others. If you try to insult me again I won’t care.” He stood aside, feeling hurt and wretched; he felt that no one in the world looked upon him highly; there was no good reason to live on in this world. Only his Master Xiao Longnu treated him with love, but where is she now? Is there going to be a day in this lifetime when they will see each other again? His heart was filled with sorrow; he heard the sound of horse hoofs and two more horses rode arrived. One of the horses was grey, the other yellow, they both were good quality animals but there was a big gap when compared to Guo Fu’s red horse. On the horses were two young men, both of them wearing yellow. Guo Fu called out, “Wu Brothers, it’s the evil woman again.” The young men on the horse were the Wu brothers, Wu Dunru and Wu Xiuwen. Both of them saw Li Mochou; she was the person who killed their mother. In these past few years there wasn’t a day when they didn’t remember this. Who could have thought that they would meet again here; they quickly leapt off the horses, each drew out a long sword and attacked from the left and right. Guo Fu called out, “I’m going as well.” She took out a precious sword by the horse’s reigns and leapt off the horse to help. Li Mochou saw that the longer the battle went on the more enemies there were; even though they were young. As soon as the two young men came forward, their faces and eyes red, they fought fiercely with their lives; the sword techniques refined showing that they were under the tutelage of a famous Master. The young girl in red joined in as well; as soon as she attacked the tip of her sword quivered slightly, sparkling in the eye, the sword thrust forward. Buried within the stance was an extremely lethal secondary aim, though the internal energy was weak, the sword technique was profound and ingenious. Her heart shivered and she called out, “You are Peach Blossom’s Island Miss Guo?” Guo Fu chuckled and said, “So you know me.” She unleashed two stances aiming to harm her chest. Li Mochou raised her fly whisk and blocked the stances, thinking, “This little girl is very arrogant; attacking me without respect with your lowly skills. If I wasn’t afraid of incurring your parent’s wrath, even if there were ten of you, I’d kill you all.” The fly whisk flipped around, she wanted to take away her long sword, when suddenly the sounds of wind came from each side; the Wu brothers thrust forward at the same time. Guo Jing taught the Wu brothers and Guo Fu martial arts personally; the three lived and played together on the island, their sword skills were the same. The three sword skills were tightly matched, the advance and retreat complimented each other, although it wasn’t some kind of formation. As the swords came forward, the force of it wasn’t weak. The three and the pair of eagles continuously attacked, placing Li Mochou in their confinement. With the ability of the three, in a little while longer Li Mochou could definitely hurt one of them and the other two would not be able to protect themselves. But in front of her were many enemies, if she attacked forward it still wouldn’t be easy for her. And if she forced the Guo couple to come out and attack, she wouldn’t be able to escape; she took back her fly whisk and chuckled, “Little babies, watch how the ‘Scarlet Serpent Deity’ fights monkeys.” She unleashed six stances in a row, every stance aimed to harm, forcing Guo Fu and the Wu Brothers to scurry, leaping and jumping around to avoid the stances, they did look a bit like monkeys jumping around. Li Mochou stood on her left leg and laughed, she turned around and called out, “Lingbo, let’s go!” The two of them hurried away in a northwest direction. Guo Fu called out, “She’s scared of us, go after them!” She ran after them. The Wu brothers utilized their lightness kung fu and followed. Li Mochou waved and brandished her fly whisk behind her, carefree and smoothly. Not an ounce of dust rose from beneath her feet and she lightly floated away as though walking slowly. Hong Lingbo ran hurriedly. Guo Fu and the Wu brothers increased the energy in their legs but the distance between them and the Li Mochou Master and disciple was getting greater and further away. Only the pair of eagles were faster; they repeatedly attacked. Wu Dunru saw that they would not be able to take their revenge today so he whistled and called the eagles back. Yelu Qi and the others were afraid that the three of them would lose the battle and hurried to meet up with them; only to see Guo Fu and the others returning. They went forward and greeted them. All of them were young, and in just a few words they spoke with great joviality. Yelu Qi suddenly thought of something and called out, “Where’s brother Yang?” Wanyan Ping said, “He left by himself. I asked him where he was going but he ignored me.” She hung her head after she said this. Yelu Qi hurried to a hill and took a look all around, only to see the girl in blue green walking shoulder to shoulder with Lu Wushuang faraway. There wasn’t a trace of Yang Guo. Yelu Qi felt at a sense of loss; the first time they met they fought together to repel an enemy, though it was for just a short time; but their lives were on the line so many times and both shared a bitter hate for the enemy. Now he had suddenly disappeared without a trace, it was as if he had lost an old friend. When Yang Guo saw the Wu brothers arrive with Guo Fu, they attacked Li Mochou; the three of them were very close, the sword skills they used were refined and in a few moves they had driven Li Mochou back. But he didn’t know that Li Mochou left because she was worried about the Guo couple. It was not because buried within the sword stances were extremely strong internal energies that forced her to flee. That day when Guo Jing took him to Mount Zhongnan to learn martial arts, he had seen him show his might, defeating countless Quanzhen Taoists. His martial arts were extremely high. This was etched into Yang Guo’s young mind, and he thought that disciples of Guo Jing would be ten times better than him. He thought of worrying about himself first. When he saw Guo Fu and the Wu’s unleash their superb stances, he assumed that there must be some kind of ingenuity and mastery behind it. He was getting angrier as he watched. He remembered how he had fought with the Wu brothers when they were younger, with Guo Fu by the side calling out, “Hit him harder, harder!” And remembered how Huang Rong deliberately chose not to teach him martial arts and Guo Jing with his great skills did not dare to pass on any martial arts to him. Instead he sent him to Chongyang Palace to suffer torture and abuse. He felt anger and hatred in his chest, he couldn’t stop himself; then he saw Wanyan Ping, Lu Wushuang, the girl in blue green, Yelu Yan all looking at him. They looked surprised and he thought, “You believe the insults that Li Mochou called out at my Gu Gu. It doesn’t matter if you look down on me but how can you dare to look down on my Gu Gu? My face is angry because I’m angry at Guo Fu, the Wu brothers, Uncle Guo and Auntie Guo. You think that I’ve done unspeakable things with my Gu Gu and that’s why I look like this, is that it?” He suddenly ran away; he didn’t follow the main roads and just ran without thinking into the wild lands. Right now he couldn’t pull himself together; he thought that everyone in the world was against him. He didn’t remember that he was wearing the human skin mask, although there was jealousy, hate and anger on his face, how could Wanyan Ping and the others see this? Why would others laugh at him for no reason at all? Li Mochou’s infamy is well known throughout the Wulin world, who could believe what she says? He originally was heading from northwest to southeast, but he wanted to get away from these people as far as possible so turned and headed northwest instead. His heart was in a mess, he loathed the world; he took off his mask and ran madly in the wild hills and mountains. When he was hungry, he plucked some wild fruits and vegetables to ease his hunger. He traveled further and further; within a month, his hair was wild and unkempt, his clothes old and torn, and reached a tall mountain. He didn’t know that this was one of the most famous five mountains in the world, Mount Hua. He saw the mountain was dangerous and rugged; he became mad and climbed up the mountain furiously. Though his lightness kung fu was good, Mount Hua is a dangerous place, one could not climb it on a whim. By the time he was halfway up the mountain, the weather suddenly became cold, the ground became hard, and the north wind gradually blew stronger and flakes of snow began falling from the sky. He was angry; he wanted to torture himself and did not try to find a place to avoid the snow. The stronger the wind and snow, the further he traveled. He carried on until it became night, the snow was heavy, the ground was slippery, and it became harder to recognize the paths. If he stepped into an empty space, he would definitely fall down to his death in the deep valley. He didn’t care and took his life lightly; he looked up and walked forward. After a while, he suddenly heard a light ‘chi’ ‘chi’ sound, it sounded like some kind of beast was traveling in the snow; he immediately turned around and saw the image of a person flash past, darting into a valley. Yang Guo was startled and quickly went over to take a look in the valley. He saw someone hooking his three fingers into the rock, hanging in midair. Yang Guo saw that the three fingers supported the whole body above the valley; this person’s martial arts were extremely high and had reached an unimaginable level. So he politely said, “Old senior please come up!” The person laughed, his voice shaking the valley, his fingers pulled up and he leapt up from the side of the mountain. The person suddenly shouted, “You are with the Five Clowns of the Tibetan Border aren’t you? What are you doing sneaking around here in the middle of the night during a snowstorm?” Yang Guo was scolded for no reason and thought, “What am I doing sneaking around here in the middle of the night during a snowstorm?” This disturbed his thoughts and he suddenly let out a cry; remembering how unlucky he was, suffering the abuse of others, and his most respected and loved one Xiao Longnu blamed him for not understanding and had disappeared. They would probably never meet again in this lifetime. As he cried about this, all his life’s worries and all the resentment and abuse he had suffered surfaced in his mind. When that person saw him cry he was shocked; he heard him getting more pitiful as he cried, and was even more surprised. When the person saw that his cries weren’t going to end he suddenly laughed, the laughter and crying joined together and shook the snow down from the mountaintops. When Yang Guo heard the laugh, his crying stopped and he angrily said, “What are you laughing at?” The person laughed and said, “What are you crying about?” Yang Guo was about to reply hatefully when he remembered this person’s martial arts were extraordinary; he calmed down his anger and politely bowed and said, “Junior is Yang Guo, I hereby greet Senior.” The person held a bamboo rod in his hand, and he lightly pushed him on the arm. Yang Guo did not feel any greet force yet his body couldn’t stop from falling backwards. With the force of that push, one would fall down and have to struggle to get up. But he had learned the “Toad Stance” where one’s legs are above their head; he flipped over in the air and remained upright. Neither of them could have guessed what had just happened. With Yang Guo’s present abilities, making him fall in one push wasn’t easy, even Li Mochou or Qiu Chuji and the like couldn’t do this to him. The other person saw him standing up steadily after flipping over in midair, he widened his eyes and looked at him and asked, “Why are you crying?” When Yang Guo examined him, he was a white haired and bearded old man; the clothes on him were old and torn. It appeared that he was a beggar. Although it was dark, the white snow reflected off him, there was a red glow to his face, yet he looked graceful. Yang Guo’s respect for him became evident and he replied, “I’m a person with a life full of despair, there is no point in living, I should just die.” The old beggar heard that his voice was full of resignation and resentment; the beggar nodded his head and asked, “Who’s bullying you? Quickly tell Grandpa.” Yang Guo said, “My father was killed by someone, but I don’t know who. My mother died from illness, there is no one left in the world who loves or cares for me.” The old beggar gave an ‘en’ grunt and said, “That is sad. Who is the Master who taught you kung fu?” Yang Guo thought, “Auntie Guo technically was my Master but she didn’t teach me any martial arts. Mentioning the Quanzhen Taoists fills me with hate. Ouyang Feng is my godfather, not my Master. My kung fu was taught by Gu Gu, but she said she wants to be my wife. If I said she is my Master she will be angry. Wang Chongyang and Lin Chaoying ancestors left their martial arts in the stone rooms, how can I say they are my Master? I have many Masters but I can’t mention any of them.” This question disturbed his feelings again and he let out a cry again, calling out, “I don’t have a Master, I don’t have a Master!” The old beggar said, “Fine, fine! If you don’t want to say, that’s fine.” Yang Guo sobbed, “It’s not that I don’t want to say, it’s just that I don’t have one.” The old beggar said, “If you haven’t got one, you haven’t got one, what need is there for crying? Do you know the Five Clowns of the Tibetan Border?” Yang Guo said, “I don’t know them.” The old beggar said, “I saw you alone in the dark and thought that you were the friend of the Five Clowns of the Tibetan Border, since you aren’t then that’s good.” This person was the “Nine-Fingered Wondrous Beggar”, Hong Qigong. After he passed on the position of the Chief of the Beggar Clan to Huang Rong, he traveled alone, savoring the world’s finest foods. The weather in Guangdong was pleasant and the amount of exquisite foods endless. Afterwards he went to Lingnan and he had all the food he wanted; for the last ten years he had not returned to the central plains. In the lands of Guangdong, poisonous snakes were used in soups, tough cats were used in stews, fishes were like mice, the prawns were like dragons, fat snails were fried, dragon lice were steamed, the roast piglets had crisp skin and the flesh of simmered fruit was red. Hong Qigong was in heaven, his pleasure boundless. Whenever he saw injustice, he would secretly help; he killed evil doers and punished traitors with his abilities. No one knew where he was or where he went. Sometimes he would listen in on some Beggar Clan members talking; he knew that under the orders of Huang Rong and Lu Youjiao, the Beggar Clan was calm. The internal fight between the ‘dirty’ clothed and ‘clean’ clothed factions was subsiding; so had the outside force of the Jin and the Iron Palm Clan. He had no worries; everyday he would just open his mouth, chew and swallow. This year, the second clown of the Five Clowns of the Tibetan Border killed some innocents in cold blood, killing numerous people. Hong Qigong wanted to take revenge; he was going to kill that clown, but thought killing one person is easy, finding the other four would be hard. So he secretly followed the second clown, waiting for him to meet up with the other four and then he would kill them all at once. But he didn’t predict that he would have to follow him north for thousands of li, eventually winding up at Mount Hua. Right now, four clowns were present, only the first one had yet to arrive. In the middle of the night, Hong Qigong bumped into Yang Guo in the snow. Hong Qigong said, “Let’s stop chatting, I can see you are hungry, let’s cure our hunger first and then we’ll talk some more.” He cleared the snow, found some firewood and made a fire. Yang Guo helped him pick up some firewood and said, “What are you going to cook?” Hong Qigong said, “Centipedes!” Yang Guo knew he was joking and he gave a chuckle and didn’t ask again. Hong Qigong laughed and said, “I’ve chased the Five Tibetan Border Clowns from Lingnan to Mount Hua, if I don’t have something good to eat, how can I say I’m sorry to this?” He patted his stomach. Yang Guo saw that his bones and muscles were distinguished; only his stomach was a bit paunchy. Hong Qigong continued, “Mount Hua is the world’s most cold and shady place; centipedes that are born here are soft and tender. Guangdong is a warm place, living things grow quickly, the centipedes there have tough and coarse flesh. Yang Guo heard that he was serious; it seems that he wasn’t joking, Yang Guo was confused. Hong Qigong surrounded the fire with four stones, he took a pan from his back and placed it on the stones, he took two lumps of snow and placed them in the pan and said, “Follow me to catch some centipedes.” After some ups and downs, they came across a twenty foot tall cliff. Yang Guo saw the cliff was extremely steep and didn’t dare to leap up. Hong Qigong called out, “Useless boy, come up quickly!” Yang Guo hated people who looked down on him, when he heard this he clenched his teeth, his spirit rose and thought, “What’s there to be scared of? If I fall to my death then so be it.” His courage grew and there was more intent in his lightness kung fu when he used it. He followed close to Hong Qigong, in an extremely dangerous and slippery place; he actually managed to pull himself up. In a short while, the pair climbed up to a peak where there were traces of human activity. Hong Qigong saw that he possessed much courage and lightness kung fu and was very pleased. With his experience he couldn’t tell the boy’s martial arts origins, he wanted to ask but remembered about his food so he went over to a rock and dug the soil with his hands. Not long after a dead chicken was revealed. Yang Guo was curious and asked, “Hey, how come there’s a chicken here.” He immediately understood and said, “Ah, Senior must have buried it here.” Hong Qigong gave a chuckle and picked up the chicken. Yang Guo could see clearly in the reflection of the snow; he saw over a hundred centipedes, each about seven or eight inches long, biting into the chicken. The centipedes were large, had red and black stripes and were wiggling about. He had wandered around the world of Jianghu since he was young, he wasn’t afraid of poison but when he suddenly saw the large centipedes he couldn’t refrain from being afraid. Hong Qigong was pleased with himself and said, “Centipedes and chickens are of an opposite nature; I buried this chicken yesterday and indeed it has lured centipedes from all over.” He took out a bundle of cloth and wrapped it around the chicken and centipedes, he descended the peak delightedly. Yang Guo followed behind wondering, “Could it be that you can actually eat centipedes? But judging from his actions, it doesn’t seem like he’s trying to scare me.” The lumps of snow in the pan had now turned to boiling water; Hong Qigong opened his bundle and picked up the centipedes by the tail, and threw them into the pan. The centipedes struggled for a second or two but were soon boiled to death. Hong Qigong said, “Before it dies, the centipede excretes all of its poison, the poison in that pan is incomparable.” Yang Guo threw the pan of poisonous water down the valley. Hong Qigong took out a small knife and chopped off the heads and tails of the centipedes. He took the shell off to reveal the flesh; it was white as snow and was like a large shrimp, quite an attractive sight. Yang Guo thought, “Using this method, I’m afraid that you really can eat them.” Hong Qigong melted another two lumps of snow and cleaned the flesh of the centipede so there would be no traces of poison, and then he took out seven or eight small and large boxes from his back pack. In the boxes were ingredients such as oil, salt, jams, vinegar and the like. He placed some oil in the pan and fried the centipedes, immediately an appetizing scent flowed into the nose. Yang Guo saw that he was drooling, revealing his glutton side, he couldn’t stop himself from being startled and laughed at the same time. Hong Qigong fried the centipedes until they were slightly golden, and then mixed in some other ingredients. He stretched out his hand and placed a centipede in his mouth, he lightly chewed it a few times and closed his eyes and sighed. He felt that none of the pleasures in the world can be compared with this. He took a wine gourd from his back and placed it to the side and said, “When eating centipedes don’t drink wine, otherwise the taste of the centipedes will be ruined.” He ate ten or so centipedes in one go and then said to Yang Guo, “Just eat; why are you being so polite?” Yang Guo shook his head and said, “I don’t want to eat.” Hong Qigong was startled and then laughed, he said, “That’s right, that’s right, I’ve seen many heroes and good men who can kill without blinking but none of them dare to eat centipedes with this old beggar, hei-hei, so you are just a cowardly punk.” Yang Guo angered by him and thought, “I’ll close my eyes and swallow without chewing, this’ll stop him from looking down on me.” He picked up two small twigs and used them as chopsticks and picked up a centipede. Hong Qigong knew what he was thinking and said, “You are going to close your eyes and swallow without chewing; that’s called being a scoundrel, not a hero.” Yang Guo said, “What’s so heroic about eating poison?” Hong Qigong said, “There are many people who talk big and class themselves as heroes, but those who dare to eat centipedes are few and far between.” Yang Guo thought, “Nothing is bigger than death.” He placed the centipede in his mouth and bit down. As soon as he bit down, he felt his mouth fill with a sweet taste, it was crisp and fragrant and extremely sweet. He had never tasted anything like it in his life, he chewed a few more times and swallowed; he then picked up a second centipede and said, “Extraordinary, extraordinary.” Hong Qigong saw that he was eating with pleasure and was delighted. The two of them grabbed and snacked, soon the hundred or so centipedes were all gone. Hong Qigong licked the juices around his lips and wished that there could be another hundred centipedes for his stomach. Yang Guo said, “I’ll go and bury the chicken again, and lure some more centipedes.” Hong Qigong said, “It’s no use, one, the chicken has lost its attraction, secondly, there aren’t anymore fat and large centipedes around here anymore.” Hong Qigong stretched and yawned, he got down onto snowy ground and said, “I have rushed here without sleeping for five days and five nights; now that I’ve had a great meal, I’m going to sleep for three days. Don’t wake me even if the sky falls down. Look after me, don’t let any monsters bite my head off in one go while I’m not aware.” Yang Guo laughed, “Yes sir.” Hong Qigong closed his eyes and in a short while, he fell into a deep sleep. Yang Guo thought, “This Senior is really an extraordinary person. Is he really going to sleep for three days? It doesn’t matter if he’s lying or telling the truth, I have nowhere to go anyway, I’ll just wait for three days.” The Mount Hua centipedes are one of the coolest objects in the world, after Yang Guo ate them, he felt a chill in his stomach so he found a rock to sit on and after a while of meditating, his body became more comfortable. Right now the sky was filled with falling snow that was like the feathers of swans; it snowed without stopping. Hong Qigong’s head and body was covered with snow, he was like a lump of cotton wool. A person breathes warm air, as soon as a snowflake meets it, it will immediately melt; how did the snow remain intact on his face? Yang Guo did not understand at first but then it was clear to him, “That’s it; when he is sleeping he is circulating his incredible internal energy, keeping the warm air within his body. He is a living person, but when he is sleeping he looks like a corpse, this level of internal energy is frightening. Gu Gu let me sleep on the “Chilled Jade Bed” in hopes that I would be able to refine my internal energy to a such profound state. Ai… ‘Chilled Jade Bed, Chilled Jade Bed’.” Dawn came. Hong Qigong’s body was buried within the snow, nothing could be seen where he was except for the fact that the snow on the ground was higher there. Everywhere was deep with snow, but Yang Guo was not tired. He suddenly heard footsteps in the snow towards the mountains in the northeast, he looked carefully and saw five black shadows approaching; their movements were rapid, the sabers on their backs glittered. Yang Guo thought, “They are probably the Five Clowns of the Tibetan Border that senior mentioned.” He hid behind a large rock. In a short while, the five people arrived in front of the rock. One of them said ‘ah’, and called out, “It’s the old beggar’s gourd!” Another one’s voice quivered as he said, “He’s…he’s on Mount Hua?” The five of them were frightened; they came together and quietly consulted with each other. Suddenly, the five of them separated, and descended down the peak. The paths of the peak were narrow; one of them dashed forward a few steps and stepped onto Hong Qigong, and felt something soft below his feet. The person called out ‘ai’. The other four stopped and drew near; they wiped away the layers of snow and saw Hong Qigong lying on the ground, appearing as if he had died a long time ago. The five of them were delighted, they stretched out their finger across his nose, there was no breathing, and his body was as cold as ice. The five of them shouted out in joy and leapt about, they were a hundred times happier than the joy they would feel if they found a precious treasure. One of them said, “The old beggar has been following all along, he made things hard for me and he died here.” Another person said, “That scoundrel Hong Qigong has extraordinary martial arts, why would he die all of a sudden?” Another one said, “Even if one’s martial arts are high, does that mean they don’t have to die? Just think, that old scoundrel it pretty old.” The other four called out together, “It’s lucky that the devil has come and taken him, otherwise he’d be difficult to handle.” The one ranked first said, “Come, let’s vent our anger on the old beggar by chopping him a few times. No matter if he is the ‘Nine Fingered Wondrous Beggar’ Hong Qigong, hero of the world; in the end, he’s going to end up being chopped into seventeen or twenty eight pieces by the Five Heroes of the Tibetan Border.” Yang Guo thought, “So that old Senior is Hong Qigong, no wonder his martial arts are so good.” He had heard Hong Qigong’s name and of his famous “Eighteen Subduing Dragon Palms” from Xiao Longnu before when they were talking. But Hong Qigong’s appearance and behavior weren’t known to Lin Chaoying let alone Xiao Longnu. His hand held some ‘Jade Bee Needles’, thinking fighting the five of them together would be hard, he could only ambush them with his projectiles. After hurting two or three of them, he could deal with the remaining ones. As he heard them say that they would chop up Hong Qigong to vent their anger; he was afraid that they would harm him. He didn’t shoot out the needles and immediately shouted and leapt out from behind the rock. He didn’t have a weapon so he picked up two twigs; he quickly unleashed his swift stances diverting the five. The five stances were extremely fast, it was a pity that he called out first and gave the five clowns some time to prepare, otherwise one or two of them would have been hit. The five clowns were worried about themselves first and darted and dodged away to avoid the attacks. The five turned around and saw it was a young kid with old and torn garments, his hands holding two branches, their fright now dissipated. The big clown shouted, “Little punk, you’re a little beggar of the Beggar Clan aren’t you? Your old beggar ancestor has gone to heaven, quickly kneel and kowtow to us five Masters.” Yang Guo saw how they moved; their movements revealed their kung fu. The five of them had a large saber on their backs, their kung fu came from the same Master; there were some difference between their abilities but they all had the same type of stances. If it was one on one, he would definitely win, but if the five of them attacked all at once he would not be able to fight them off. He heard the big clown telling him to kowtow and replied, “Yes, junior here will kowtow to the five Masters.” He took a step forward and bowed down. He kneeled and bowed according to the stance “First Greet Bow After”, this move was used by Grandma Sun on the Quanzhen Taoist Zhang Zhi Guang when he wasn’t expecting it. An empty container shot out and almost took his eye. After Yang Guo used the stance “First Greet Bow After”, he followed with a stance of “Push the Window to see the Moon”, his arms swept across and the two branches came out from the left and right. On his left was the fifth clown; on his right was the third clown. This stance of “Push the Window to see the Moon” was extremely evil; the third clown’s kung fu was quite high, he quickly bought down his saber to block it. The back of his saber had been struck and his hand heated up, he almost lost his saber. The fifth clown was struck on the leg, a ‘ka la’ sound was heard, although the leg wasn’t broken it was still painful, he couldn’t stand up. The other four clowns were angry, four sabers chopped down, ‘fu fu fu fu’. Yang Guo was swift and nimble, he darted east and dodged west, the four clowns couldn’t do anything to him for the time being. After fighting for a while, the fifth clown joined in, he was extremely angry and fought with his life. Yang Guo’s lightness kung fu was much higher than the five clowns, if he wanted to escape it wasn’t hard, but he remembered Hong Qigong. He was afraid that if he left then the clowns will kill Hong Qigong. But he couldn’t beat the five of them fighting together; he unleashed some dangerous stances and in the middle of it he bent down and picked up Hong Qigong. His right hand fought with the branch as he found a path to escape. He took a deep breath and hurried over a hundred feet. The Five Clowns of the Tibetan Border chased after him. Yang Guo felt that Hong Qigong was icy cold, he couldn’t stop himself from being alarmed. He thought that if Hong Qigong was going to get deeper into his sleep he won’t be able to wake up. Could it be that he really was dead? He called out, “Senior…Senior!” Hong Qigong didn’t move an inch, it appeared that he was dead but he wasn’t stiff like a corpse. Yang Guo stretched out his hand and felt his chest, there seemed to be a faint heartbeat but there were no indication of breathing from the nose. In this pause, the first clown caught up with them, but because he saw that Yang Guo’s skills were excellent, he was worried and didn’t dare to fight alone. By the time the second clown and fourth clown arrived, Yang Guo had gone another hundred feet. The Five Clowns of the Tibetan Border saw him ascending the peak and saw that there was only one trail up there. They thought, “Could it be that you know how to fly?” There was no need to rush, they followed step by step. The mountain path was getting more and more treacherous as he went on; when Yang Guo turned around a corner he saw an extremely narrow path before him. It wasn’t easy for one person to pass. By the narrow path was a two thousand foot deep abyss; the mists obscured the bottom, he thought, “This is the best place, I’ll fend them off here.” He quickened his pace and got over the narrow path. He placed Hong Qigong down by a large rock and turned around; the first clown had reached the entrance to the narrow path. Yang Guo dashed over and shouted, “Ugly freak! Do you dare to come over?” The first clown was really scared of being knocked over into the abyss by Yang Guo and hurriedly leapt back. Yang Guo stood at the entrance of the path, the morning sun was now in the sky. The eye could see a fine jade mountain, gems circled the floor of the abyss, and the sunlight reflected off the white snow; the scene was magnificent. Yang Guo placed the human skin mask on his face and shouted, “Are you ugly or am I ugly?” The Five Clowns of the Tibetan Border were ugly, but they weren’t that ugly. The ‘Clown’ comes from their actions and the amount of bullshit they talk about on the road. They saw Yang Guo touch his face and his face changed. His face was yellow, looked wooden, like a corpse out of a cemetery; the five clowns looked at each other and all without exception were startled. Yang Guo retreated to the narrowest point of the path, he used “The Kicking Force of the Leading Star”; his left leg stood on the ground, his right leg kicked out at the sky, his body moving lightly like the wind in midair. In the blink of an eye, his heroic air emerged, even if the enemy was thousands of soldiers and ten thousand horses, I could still block them one on one. The five clowns muttered to themselves, “Where from the Beggar Clan did this strange young kid come from?” They saw that in front of them was dangerous ground, they didn’t dare to rush through and they consulted each other, “We’ll wait here and take turns to leave the mountain for food, within two days, he will definitely have no strength due to hunger.” Four of the clowns lined up at the mouth of the narrow path and let the second clown descend the mountain to look for food. The sides were deadlocked, Yang Guo didn’t dare go over, and the four clowns didn’t dare go over either. By the second day, the second clown had come back with food; the five clowns took big bites and ate noisily. Yang Guo was already burning up with hunger, he turned around and looked at Hong Qigong and saw him looking the same as the day before and thought, “If he is sleeping, then he would toss and turn in his dreams, but he hasn’t moved an inch, I’m afraid that he really is dead. If I endure another day, I will have no strength, it will be even harder for me to defend, why don’t I leave now and I may have a chance of escaping.” He slowly stood up and thought, “He told me that he is going to sleep for three days and told me to look after him, I promised him with my own mouth; how can I leave him now?” He fought off the hunger and closed his eyes to rest. By the third day, Hong Qigong was still motionless like he was on the first day, Yang Guo looked on and began to question himself, “He’s already dead, and I’m still guarding him, that’s too dumb. If I endure another half a day of hunger, there will be no need for the five clowns to kill me; I will have already died of starvation.” He picked up some snow from the rocks and swallowed some, his empty stomach gradually felt a bit better. He thought, “I haven’t been filial to my parents, I have hurt Gu Gu, I have no brothers or sisters, I haven’t even got a best friend, I should stop mentioning the words ‘personal loyalty’. The words trust, good and bad echoed in his mind; I still need to guard him.” He continued, “When Auntie Guo and I were talking about literature, we talked about the meeting of a boy and girl underneath the bridge. The girl was stopped by a flood but the boy didn’t dare to miss the meeting, he held onto the bridge and died in vain. Later, that person was famous for hundreds of years. I, Yang Guo have suffered the world’s mistreatment, if I don’t keep to this promise then I’ll be even more despised by the world, even if it means death, I must guard him for three days.” A day and night passed by in the wink of an eye, early on in the fourth day, Yang Guo went over to Hong Qigong and checked his breathing; still there was no sign of life. He sighed and saluted him saying, “Senior Hong, I have kept to my promise of guarding you for three days, it’s too bad that Senior has passed away tragically. This disciple has not got the power to protect your corpse; it would be best if I throw you into the deep valley and avoid the insults and disrespect of the scoundrels.” He picked up his body and went over to the narrow path. The five clowns knew that he couldn’t endure the hunger and now wanted to escape; they all called out and flew over. Yang Guo gave a shout and flung Hong Qigong down the deep valley, and dashed forward to the first clown. fumaricfumarateFurfuryllcoholresin

38 Divine Eagle, Gallant Knight Chapter 20 - A Hero’s ImperativeYang Guo wanted to keep himself away from this dispute but when he saw how cruel Gongsun Zhi was, his anger erupted and he decided to step forward to argue with him. Just as he was about to do this, Xiao Longnu dashed forward and picked up Qiu Qianchi. She patted her ‘Jade Pillow’ pressure point a few times and controlled the bleeding. She then tore off a piece of cloth from her sleeve and covered her wound before shouting at Gongsun Zhi, “Mr. Gongsun, she is your wife, how can you treat her like that? Since you’ve already got a wife, why do you still want to marry me? Even if I married you, won’t you treat me just as you’ve treated her?” Those three sentences were asked fervently; Gongsun Zhi’s tongue was tied and he couldn’t reply. Ma Guangzuo couldn’t help himself and cheered. Xiaoxiang Zi said coldly, “This Miss is right.” Gongsun Zhi really did love Xiao Longnu; though he was made speechless by her he didn’t get angry, he was just embarrassed; he lowered his tone and said to her, “Sister Liu, how can you compare yourself with that evil woman? I can’t love you enough; if I have any ill intent towards you then let heaven condemn me where I stand.” Xiao Longnu said coldly, “All I need is him to love me; even if your love for me is a hundred times stronger I wouldn’t care.” She then went over to Yang Guo and held his hand. Yang Guo was filled with resentment, he thought, “Gu Gu loves me like this yet I just have a few days to live and it’s all because of this bastard.” He pointed to Gongsun Zhi and shouted, “You said you have no ill intent towards my Gu Gu, huh! You left me for dead and then lied to my Gu Gu to get her to marry you; is that good intent? She’s been poisoned by the Passion Flowers and you know that there isn’t an antidote to cure her, yet you don’t tell her, is that good intent?” Xiao Longnu was shocked and quivered, “Is this true?” Yang Guo said, “Don’t worry; you’ve already taken the antidote.” He then smiled a smile that was filled with grief along with joy, he thought, “I’ve given the antidote to you; I’m willing to die for you.” Gongsun Zhi looked at Qiu Qianchi and then looked at Xiao Longnu and Yang Guo; his eyes swept across them and jealousy, yearning, anger, shame, embarrassment and disappointment all filled his heart and disturbed him. Although he had great self control, he had now fallen into a semi mad state. He suddenly bent down and took out his yin yang twin blades from under their red cover; he clashed them together and shouted, “Fine, fine! We’ll all die together!” Everyone gasped; they would never have thought that he had actually brought weapons to his wedding ceremony. Xiao Longnu chuckled, “Guo’er, we don’t have to be respectful to such an evil person.” A ‘qiang lang’ sound was heard as she took out a pair of swords from underneath the bridal gown; it was the ‘Gentleman’ and ‘Lady’ swords. Though she wasn’t versed in the ways of the world, she did not have an ounce of mercy in her when dealing with such evil people. When she went to take revenge for Grandma Sun, she frightened all the Taoists of Chongyang Palace witless and the Blithe Sage Hao Datong almost lost his life to her. The thought of killing him entered her mind when Gongsun Zhi had stopped her and Yang Guo from getting back together today. She had hidden the weapons beneath her gown so that when Gongsun Zhi cured Yang Guo, she would immediately take the opportunity to attack him with Yang Guo at her side. If it didn’t work then she would kill herself for Yang Guo; not allowing herself to be sullied in this Passionless Valley. All the guests were shocked when they saw that both of them had prepared weapons. Only Fawang and the others, who were experienced, knew that this celebration would end in tragedy and weren’t surprised. They were only surprised with the fall of Qiu Qianchi in one attack; this did not match the abilities of someone with the profound internal energy she had just shown. Yang Guo took the ‘Gentleman’ sword from Xiao Longnu and said, “Gu Gu, today we’ll kill that man to take revenge for me.” Xiao Longnu’s ‘Lady’ sword trembled and she said surprised, “Take revenge for you?” Yang Guo was filled with sadness in his heart but he couldn’t tell her about it, he just said, “This bastard has harmed many people.” He flipped his sword and went for Gongsun Zhi’s left side. He knew that this battle was extremely dangerous; though Xiao Longnu’s Passion Flower poison had been cured, he was still poisoned. If they come together and used the “Pure Heart of Jade Maiden Swordplay” and stirred feelings of love, he would break out with unbearable pain. He kept his eye on the enemy and used “Quanzhen Swordplay”; every stance and form of his was extremely stringent and cautious. If these stances were performed by Ma Yu, Qiu Chuji and the other old Taoists, the stances will of course be performed steadily and controlled, profound and intense. In the hands of Yang Guo it displayed maturity beyond his years but his stances were slightly less smooth. Gongsun Zhi knew that when the two used their combined swordplay they were powerful so he immediately used the “Yin Yang Wild Blades” with the black sword in his right hand and the gold saber in his left. His stances were getting fiercer and fiercer with every stroke. The “Quanzhen Swordplay” that Yang Guo was using was developed by Wang Chongyang; though it wasn’t vicious and fierce like the opponent’s, it was subtle and had variations. Yang Guo defended cautiously and did not attack as he received three stances. Xiao Longnu called out and raised the ‘Lady’ sword, attacking Gongsun Zhi’s back. Gongsun Zhi was furious, he thought, “This beautiful girl was going to be my wife and now she’s joined an outsider to attack me.” He continued thinking, “The evil bitch coming back here suddenly and revealing all the things I’ve done has caused me to lose my respect and all face. Not only can’t I force sister Liu to marry me; it looks I won’t be able to keep my position here in the valley.” Though today’s matters are troublesome, he was going to rely on his martial arts to get him out of this mess. All he wanted to do was beat Yang Guo, kidnap Xiao Longnu and run away. He didn’t know that Xiao Longnu’s Passion Flower poison had been cured and still thought that she had less than thirty six days to live; he was still going to force her to marry him. His thoughts were becoming more and more evil and the wild twin blades in his hands were becoming more vicious by the minute. Xiao Longnu used the “Jade Maiden Swordplay” so that when Yang Guo and she become one, they would be able to unleash the power of the “Pure Heart of the Jade Maiden Swordplay”. But his eyes did not glance over at her once; he was just concentrating on himself as he fought. Xiao Longnu was extremely surprised and asked, “Guo’er, why aren’t you looking at me?” Her love was gradually being stirred and the light from her sword suddenly enhanced. When Yang Guo heard her voice, his heart trembled and his chest broke out with an unbearable pain. His sword slowed and a ‘chi’ sound was heard as the black sword cut his sleeve. Xiao Longnu was alarmed and unleashed three stances in a row, blocking Gongsun Zhi’s attack. Yang Guo said, “I can’t look at you or listen to you.” Xiao Longnu said tenderly, “Why?” Yang Guo was afraid that he would meet danger again and replied coarsely, “If you want me to die then continue talking to me!” As soon as his anger stirred the pain immediately stopped and he received the stances of Gongsun Zhi’s black sword. Xiao Longnu was extremely sorry and said, “Don’t be angry, I won’t say anything more.” Her mind suddenly lit up, “My poison has been cured but his hasn’t! He got the antidote but he didn’t take it and returned here to give it to me.” She was extremely touched and the love in her was boundless; as soon as this feeling grew, the power of the “Pure Heart of Jade Maiden Swordplay” enhanced greatly. The stances that she unleashed protected all of Yang Guo’s vital points. Since she was protecting Yang Guo, Yang Guo should protect her, but he didn’t dare to glance over at her; and so she was completely unprotected and exposed to the enemy’s attack. Gongsun Zhi’s eyes were very sharp; he discovered the weakness in just a few stances but he didn’t want to harm a single hair of Xiao Longnu’s head. He directed all his vicious sword and saber stances towards Yang Guo. He was attacking like a crashing wave but Yang Guo was defending like an unmovable cliff. With Xiao Longnu using all her efforts to protect him, all of Gongsun Zhi’s attacks were actually rendered useless. By this time, Lu E had wakened up and stood next to her mother watching the battle. She watched as Xiao Longnu concentrated only on guarding Yang Guo, ignoring all dangers to herself; she couldn’t help but ask herself, “If that was you, could you disregard all the dangers to yourself to protect him?” She sighed lightly and said, “I would definitely be able to act like Miss Long, but he would not act the same way towards me.” Just at this time, Qiu Qianchi hissed, “The false saber is not a saber; the false sword is not a sword!” Both Yang Guo and Xiao Longnu were startled when they heard this, they didn’t know what she meant by these two sentences.” Qiu Qianchi called out, “The saber is a saber, the sword is a sword!” Yang Guo had fought Gongsun Zhi twice; all along he has been pondering about where the essence of the “Yin Yang Wild Blades” lies but the light, airy black sword chopped solidly while the heavy gold saber was swift and flighty, following the way of the sword. The stances he was using were the complete opposite to the orthodox martial arts theories. It would be fine if the saber was using sword techniques only and the sword was using saber techniques only; but the reality was, that in the midst of the sword techniques there were saber stances; buried within the saber stances were the lethalness of sword strokes. The variation was mysterious and difficult to grasp; when he heard those words of Qiu Qianchi he thought, “Could it be that the sword techniques of the saber and the saber techniques of the sword are all illusions?” He saw the black sword chopping across his shoulders; this was definitely a saber stance. He then treated it as a sword and extended his ‘Gentleman’ sword forward; the swords collided and they both took a step back. Only then did he know that the black sword was still just a sword, and the saber stances that he was using were merely trying to confuse his opponent. But if the opponent’s martial arts were slightly poor, the saber techniques would still able to cause harm. With this immediate success, Yang Guo was delighted and continued to search for weaknesses in the opponent’s sword and saber. He was thinking that although the jumbled stances were masterly, the ways of these blades would not be refined. A few more stances passed when he heard Qiu Qianchi say, “Attack his right leg; attack his right leg.” Yang Guo saw that Gongsun Zhi’s saber was like a blur; there was no open space to attack on his lower body at all. But he thought that, although Qiu Qianchi was not able to perform martial arts anymore, her knowledge was still there. She was the one who taught Gongsun Zhi martial arts; she would definitely know what was real and what was false; so he listened to her and attacked his right leg. Gongsun Zhi swept his saber across and there was no way to hit his right leg; but as he did this, his left shoulder and left side were left unprotected. Yang Guo did not wait for Qiu Qianchi to prompt him and flashed his sword towards him, cutting through his gown underneath his armpit. Gongsun Zhi cursed and leapt back; he stared angrily at Qiu Qianchi and shouted, “Old witch; do you think I’m going to let you go?” He then continued to attack Yang Guo with the saber and sword. Yang Guo raised his sword to block the attack. Qiu Qianchi continued, “Kick his back!” The two of them were facing each other, there was no way he could kick his back; but Yang Guo was confident in Qiu Qianchi. He knew that there was a deeper meaning behind her words; he didn’t care what would happen and dashed towards the back of his opponent. Gongsun Zhi used his saber to cut backwards. Qiu Qianchi called out, “Pierce his forehead.” Yang Guo thought, “I’ve just turned towards his back and now you’re telling me to pierce his forehead?” It was an urgent situation and he didn’t give it much thought, he turned back towards the enemy’s front and he was just about to pierce his enemy’s forehead when Qiu Qianchi called out, “Cut his arse!” Lu E watched with sweaty palms; she knitted her eyebrows and thought, “By calling madly like this, isn’t mother helping father instead?” She kept her thoughts to herself but Ma Guangzuo couldn’t contain himself and he shouted out, “Brother Yang, don’t fall into the trap of that old woman; she wants to kill you.” Yang Guo had twisted and turned many times and had an inkling as to what her meaning was; when she called out go forward he turned forward and when she shouted go backward he immediately dashed behind him. Indeed, after a few twists and turns, Gongsun Zhi’s right side was uncovered. Yang Guo sent his sword towards Gongsun Zhi’s right side and a ‘chi’ sound was heard as it the sword cut through his gown, piercing about an inch into Gongsun Zhi’s side; blood immediately flowed down his side. The crowd gave an ‘ah’ call and stood up. Fawang and the others now understood. Qiu Qianchi was not instructing Yang Guo on how to gain victory; she was instructing him on how to gain an opportunity to win in a situation where it was impossible to gain victory. She was not pointing out the weakness of Gongsun Zhi, but was trying to make Yang Guo force a flaw in the opponent from his flawless stances. After being prompted by Qiu Qianchi a few times, Yang Guo immediately understood this advanced martial art notion; he was in awe of her and thought, “If the opponent is a skilled fighter, what flaws will they show in their stances? This piece of advice from this senior is more than enough for a lifetime’s use.” But to force a flaw in Gongsun Zhi required not only for one’s martial arts to be higher than his, but one must also be familiar with his stances. A person must be clear on all his variations and reactions over ten stances beforehand, before luring him step by step into making an error. Only Qiu Qianchi was able to do this. Yang Guo understood but he was not able to realize it. He heard her prompt and the sword suddenly flashed out, attacking Gongsun Zhi’s back, front and sides urgently. Over twenty stances later, Gongsun Zhi’s leg was cut. Though this cut wasn’t deep, it was long, at least five or six inches long. Gongsun Zhi thought, “The two of them are guarding each other, I can’t hurt the one named Yang; if this continues, with the old hag giving advice, I’ll die by this bastard’s sword.” Years ago, in order to save his own life he killed his lover; in this desperate situation he couldn’t care about Xiao Longnu anymore. He moved his black sword and swiped his saber, slashing towards Xiao Longnu’s shoulders. Yang Guo was alarmed, he stretched his sword forward to protect her from this attack when he heard Qiu Qianchi call out, “Stab his waist.” Yang Guo was startled and thought, “Gu Gu is being attacked right now, how can I not save her? But each time Senior Qiu Lao has given me advice, it has a deeper meaning behind it. It looks like this is a ‘surrounding Wei to rescue Zhao’ plan.” He changed his mind and the sword arrived at Gongsun Zhi’s waist. Suddenly Xiao Longnu called out, her right arm was cut and the ‘Lady’ sword fell onto the floor. Gongsun Zhi’s black sword slanted across and blocked Yang Guo’s sword. Yang Guo was extremely shocked and quickly called out, “Move back, I’ll take him by myself.” His love and care for her was stirred and his chest broke out in an aching pain again. Xiao Longnu’s injury was not slight; she moved backwards and tore off a piece of her sleeve, wrapping it around her wound. Yang Guo fought with his life; he was furious with Qiu Qianchi and glanced at her with rage. Qiu Qianchi chuckled, “Why are you blaming me? I’m just helping you defeat your enemy; who’s trying to help you to rescue someone? Ha-ha, what’s her life got to do with me? It’s better if she dies!” Yang Guo said angrily, “You and your husband are a perfect match; there isn’t an ounce of goodness in either of your hearts!” Qiu Qianchi just chuckled; she didn’t get angry and remained composed as she concentrated on the battle. Yang Guo glanced over at Xiao Longnu and saw her leaning on a chair with her wound wrapped up. It looked like it wasn’t serious and his spirits were roused. His sword techniques suddenly changed from “Quanzhen Swordplay” to “Jade Maiden Swordplay”. Gongsun Zhi saw his sword stances had been steady and cautious; but suddenly they were now supple and lively, graceful and attractive. It was as if Yang Guo had changed into another person. Gongsun Zhi was surprised and thought, “This person is extremely crafty, what is he trying now?” After taking a few stances, he felt that his opponent’s swordplay had the same elegant and lofty air of a distinguished family; the same type of swordplay that Xiao Longnu had used. All Gongsun Zhi’s doubts were erased and he attacked with both his sword and saber. Ten or so stances later, Yang Guo was gradually being put on the back foot (a sign of coming defeat) and forced to retreat. Qiu Qianchi gave advice to Yang Guo repeatedly but he was furious with her for deliberately intending to get Xiao Longnu injured. He ignored her and said to himself, “Who needs your annoying words?” He unleashed four strokes and hummed, “The minutiae of a fine horse, a radiant and beautiful coat, the left grabs the many weak, the right receives the forgotten retreat.” The verses matched the sword stances and he performed the sword strokes with great elegance. Gongsun Zhi was startled and said, “What?” Yang Guo continued, “The galloping wind and the flashing lightning, the chasing image flying away. Swift and powerful from the central plains, appearance is the aim.” The stances were grouped in fours, reflecting the verse. Where it said, ‘the galloping wind and the flashing lightning, the chasing image flying away’, the sword stances were extremely quick; when it said, ‘swift and powerful from the central plains, appearance is the aim’, the sword strokes were swift and vicious yet also carried elegance along with it. Gongsun Zhi had never seen these sword stances before. The verses were pleasing to the ear and he slowed down his attacks, trying to concentrate on the meanings behind each line. He knew that the sword stances and the verses matched each other; all he has to do is to grasp the meaning behind the verses and he’ll be able to defeat this swordplay. Yang Guo continued, “Stopping at the orchid garden, the horse is fed at Mount Hua. The eyes return unto the swan, the hand strumming the five strings.” The verse was said with a modest tone but the sword strokes were towering and majestic, especially the last two stances which were extremely exquisite and sudden. It appeared to go to the east but went west, the sword hinted up but went down, one stance but two strokes, and it was difficult to tell what was real and what was false. Xiao Longnu had now finished wrapping up her wound. She watched Yang Guo’s swordplay and felt it was pleasing to the eye; but she had never heard him talk about this swordplay before so she asked, “Guo’er, what swordplay is this; who taught you?” Yang Guo laughed, “I thought of it myself. Gu Gu, is it good? A few days ago I was resting in bed from some injuries and I saw a book of poetry by the bed. I thought the poems were quite nice so I committed them to memory. At the heroes’ feast, Zhu Ziliu merged calligraphy into martial arts; I thought it would definitely be possible to merge poetry into martial arts.” Xiao Longnu said, “It’s very good…” Suddenly, Jinlun Fawang praised, “Brother Yang, I can only look on in awe at your intelligence and wisdom. The following verse is of course, “Bowing to and revering one’s content, the good mood of the heart is too obscure, fishing and searching for something, the trap is forgotten once the fish is caught.” Gongsun Zhi’s mind lit up, “That monk is trying to help me.” He didn’t think about what the monk wanted but concentrated on the first line of the verse, ‘Bowing to and revering one’s content’, the sword will definitely be aimed upwards followed by a downwards stroke. He guarded his upper body with the black sword and chopped his gold saber from the middle of his body. Jinlun Fawang was versed in both martial arts and culture. Although he lived in Tibet, he knew Han philosophies, their history and Confucian classics. When he heard Yang Guo reciting the poem, he knew from long ago what the following verses would be. He revealed this to Gongsun Zhi in hope that he would be able to use Gongsun Zhi to kill Yang Guo for him. Gongsun Zhi did indeed manage to get the first move in when he heard this. Before Yang Guo unleashed his sword strokes, Gongsun Zhi had sealed off all of the sword’s paths while at the same time, chopping out his jagged golden saber from the middle of his body to attack him. Luckily, Yang Guo had heard Fawang and was prepared for this, he didn’t continue on with his “Four Lined Poem Swordplay” and guarded his midriff with his sword while the middle finger of his left hand flicked out, striking the back of the golden saber. Gongsun Zhi’s arm trembled and the joints in his hand felt slightly numb from this flick, he was shocked and thought, “This little punk has much strange kung fu.” This flick of Yang Guo’s was the “Divine Release of the Flicking Finger” that Huang Yaoshi taught him; but he was unable to subdue his enemy because his internal energy wasn’t strong enough. If Huang Yaoshi performed this move, the jagged golden saber of Gongsun Zhi would have flown out of his hand as soon as it was struck. However, this flick of Yang Guo’s was still good enough to allow him to regain the upper hand; he moved his sword forward and used Huang Yaoshi’s “Jade Flute Swordplay”. The “Divine Release of the Flicking Finger” and “Jade Flute Swordplay” both concentrated on attacking the opponent’s pressure points. When they were used together, it was ingenious and subtle and even though Yang Guo’s mastery of these skills wasn’t refined; after a bout of urgent attacking it was still good enough to trouble Gongsun Zhi. At that time, Qiu Qianchi called out again, “His sword is going for the waist, and his saber is chopping towards the neck”. “The sword is going to slash towards your right shoulder while his saber guards his left.” She called out every stance of Gongsun Zhi’s in advance. Yang Guo now held the upper hand completely. With his poetry ceased, Fawang was unable to tell where his sword would go and couldn’t aid Gongsun Zhi. Gongsun Zhi’s family art the “Yin Yang Twin Blades” were inspected thoroughly by Qiu Qianchi and then subsequently improved by her. All of Gongsun Zhi’s stances were known to her; no matter how sudden his changes were, Qiu Qianchi would call it out in advance. As they were absorbed in the battle, Qiu Qianchi suddenly called out, “Both his sword and saber are going to attack your upper body.” These words were called out at just the exact time as Gongsun Zhi sent out both his saber and sword; it was now difficult for him to change his stance halfway through. Yang Guo had more than enough time to block this attack. Yang Guo lowered his head and dashed forward while protecting his back with his sword. His left finger came out and jabbed the opponent’s ‘Ocean of Air’ pressure point an inch and a half below the navel. Yang Guo was delighted with this successful attack at the first attempt. He thought that his opponent would suffer a serious injury with this attack but Gongsun Zhi’s leg came out, striking him on the jaw. Yang Guo was shocked and leapt to the side a few feet. He then remembered how strange the pressure points were on this person; previously he had used the golden sphere silk belt to strike his pressure points but it had no effect on him. Gongsun Zhi came at him once again. Qiu Qianchi called out once again, “His blades will cross, the right sword attacking left, the left saber attacking right.” Yang Guo did not give it much thought and defended with all his might. When it came to internal energy, Yang Guo was not a match for his opponent; he would have lost out long ago if it weren’t for Qiu Qianchi’s advice. Yang Guo and Gongsun Zhi continued for another seven or eight hundred stances. The members of the valley watched with their hearts on the verge of jumping out of their mouths. At the same time Xiaoxiang Zi and the others were also fixed on the great battle, but they couldn’t tell who would win it. In the midst of the blurs of the saber and sword, one could see Gongsun Zhi panting while Yang Guo was soaked with sweat. The movements of the two were now not as quick as before. Gongsun Lu E thought that if the two carried on like this, one of them would be seriously injured. Of course she didn’t want Yang Guo to lose; but she couldn’t bear to see her father get hurt, so she whispered to Qiu Qianchi, “Mother, tell them to stop. We’ll settle this by talking it over.” Qiu Qianchi gave a ‘heng’ grunt and said, “Pour two bowls of tea.” Lu E was confused but did as she was told and brought the bowls of teas to her mother. Qiu Qianchi took off the piece of bloody cloth that was wrapped around the wound on her head. When she was knocked into the pillar, blood poured out of her head and it was Xiao Longnu who tore off her sleeve and covered her wound. The bleeding on her head started again as she took off the cloth. Lu E was alarmed and called out; “Mother!” Qiu Qianchi called out, “I won’t die!” She threw the bloody cloth onto her knees and took the bowls. Her four fingers held the bowls but the thumb of each hand was in the tea. The blood on her thumbs mixed into the tea. She quickly swirled the tea and the traces of blood were gone. She called out, “You should be tired now; have a bowl of tea!” She said to Lu E, “Give one bowl of tea to each of them to quench their thirst.” Lu E knew her mother hated her father deeply and wouldn’t have any good intentions towards him. This bowl of tea wasn’t meant to quench his thirst but to poison him. However, she poured the bowls of tea herself and there was no poison in any of them; they were just ordinary bowls of tea. It must be because her mother sympathized with Yang Guo. If her father didn’t have a bowl, he would not stop and Yang Guo would not be able to take a drink. She saw that the two were really very tired so she went to the middle of the hall and called out clearly, “Please have some tea!” Gongsun Zhi and Yang Guo were both very thirsty; when they heard Qiu Qianchi call out; they both stopped and jumped backwards. Lu E first took the tray of tea to her father. Gongsun Zhi knew that it was Qiu Qianchi who ordered her to bring these bowls of tea to him, so there’ll definitely be something wrong with it. Most likely they had poison in them. He held up his hand and said to Yang Guo, “You drink first.” Yang Guo had no fear and casually picked up a bowl of tea; he placed it on his lip and took a sip. Gongsun Zhi said, “Good, I’ll have that bowl!” He took Yang Guo’s bowl from his hand. Yang Guo laughed, “It was your daughter who poured the tea; don’t tell me you think there’s poison in them?” Yang Guo took the other bowl of tea and drank it in one go. Gongsun Zhi looked at his daughter’s face and saw that it was calm and relaxed, he thought, “Lu E loves that punk, of course there would be no poison in his cup of tea; I’ve already swapped the bowls, what have I got to be afraid of?” He too drank the bowl of tea in one go and then clashed his weapons, saying, “There’s no need for a break, continue. Huh, if it weren’t for that old witch giving you tips, you would have died from my black sword and golden saber long ago even if you had ten lives to spare.” Qiu Qianchi replaced the bandage on her head and said evilly, “His “Closure of the Pressure Points” has been defeated; you can hit his pressure points.” Gongsun Zhi felt a slight taste of blood on his tongue and was shocked; a shock that was indescribable. This particular family art has one big drawback; the practitioner cannot taste an ounce of meat otherwise this art will be neutralized immediately. His ancestors were afraid that they’d taste meat by accident and so passed a strict order in the valley; no one can eat meat. Though the others didn’t practice this art, they were still forced to be vegetarians. Gongsun Zhi had always been very careful; but how would he have known that Qiu Qianchi would actually use such an evil plan and put her own blood in the bowls of tea? Yang Guo was not affected by drinking this bowl of blood containing tea; but the “Closure of the Pressure Points” technique that Gongsun Zhi had been training bitterly all his life was gone, just like that. He turned his head around in fury and looked at Qiu Qianchi who had a plate of dates on her knees that had been served to the guests. She was eating them and savoring the taste. She said slowly, “I told you before, twenty years ago, this art of the Gongsun family is hard to learn yet easy to neutralize; it’s not worth practicing.” Fire erupted in Gongsun Zhi’s eyes and he raised his weapons, dashing forward towards Qiu Qianchi. Lu E was alarmed and dashed in front of her mother to protect her. Suddenly a gust of wind brushed past her ear; it sounded like some kind of projectile. Gongsun Zhi howled. Blood poured down from his right eye; he turned around and dashed out of the hall with his sword and saber. A trail of blood was left in his wake. His wretched howl was getting further and further away, gradually getting quieter and quieter until silence fell within the mountain walls of the valley. Everyone looked at each other, wondering how Qiu Qianchi achieved this. Only Lu E and Yang Guo knew that she had used her date stone spitting kung fu to do this. When Gongsun Zhi and Yang Guo were fighting, she had placed seven or eight date stones in her mouth in advance. She saw that Gongsun Zhi’s martial arts had improved greatly; even if she made a sneak attack, he would be able to avoid them. When he’s on his guard, it would be difficult to harm him. Because of this, she waited until he was completely absorbed in the battle before using the blood tea to defeat his “Closure of the Pressure Points” technique. While he was reacting furiously, she took the opportunity to suddenly launch her date stone at him. This was the one and only martial art she had and she trained it vigorously over the years; the power and accuracy of it was not below any of the world’s greatest projectile arts. If it wasn’t for Lu E dashing forward and blocking her view, not only would both eyes of Gongsun Zhi’s be blinded; the pressure point between his eyes would have also been struck. This would have immediately sent him to his death. Lu E couldn’t bear this. She stood there stunned for a while; before calling out, “Father, father!” She wanted to go after him. Qiu Qianchi said sternly, “If you want your father then go; don’t ever see me again.” Lu E stopped her feet; she was in a difficult position; but then she thought about how all of this was the fault of her father. All the suffering that her mother endured was tens of times greater than what he endured. Anyway, her father had long gone and she couldn’t catch up even if she wanted to. She stopped and turned from the door, silently heading back into the hall slowly, with her head hung down. Qiu Qianchi sat on her chair and looked to either side of her; she chuckled, “Good, you’ve all come here for a celebratory drink; won’t everyone’s mood being ruined if we don’t have a drink?” Her icy cold eyes gave everyone goose bumps; they were all afraid that she was going to spit out some kind of strange projectile without any warning. The people of the valley were afraid while Fawang, Yin Kexi and the others prepared themselves. Yang Guo and Xiao Longnu were both surprised with the state that Gongsun Zhi ended up in. They both let out a long sigh and reached out for each other’s hand, holding it tightly. The two’s thoughts were as one and they made their way towards the exit. When they reached the door, Qiu Qianchi suddenly shouted, “Yang Guo, where are you going?” Yang Guo turned around and made a long bow to her before saying, “Senior Qiu Lao, Miss Lu, we’ll be leaving now.” He knew that he didn’t have long to live and so he didn’t say things like ‘I’ll see you again’. Lu E returned the greeting and kept silent in misery. Qiu Qianchi’s face was filled with anger and she shouted, “I’ve betrothed my only daughter to you and you do not call me mother-in-law? And you’re leaving just like that?” Yang Guo was startled and thought, “Though you’ve betrothed your daughter to me, I didn’t say that I accepted.” Qiu Qianchi said, “We’ve got everything here, decorations, candles and guests. We’re martial artists, we’ll get straight to the point; you two are getting married today.” Jinlun Fawang and the others had just seen Yang Guo fight Gongsun Zhi with his life for Xiao Longnu; when they heard Qiu Qianchi say this they all knew that there was going to be another great show. They looked at each other; some showed a wry smile and some were shaking their heads slightly. Yang Guo held Xiao Longnu’s elbow with his left hand and his right hand held the handle of the ‘Gentleman’ sword. He said, “I am extremely touched by senior Qiu Lao’s offer. But my heart belongs to someone else.” He moved backwards slowly after he said this. He was afraid that Qiu Qianchi would spit out date stones at them in anger and so he held his sword just in case. Qiu Qianchi’s angry eyes swept over Xiao Longnu and said coldly, “Huh, that little seductress is indeed beautiful; no wonder both old and young go mad over her.” Lu E said, “Mother, brother Yang and Miss Long decided to marry each other long ago; I’ll tell you all the details later on.” Qiu Qianchi replied angrily, “What kind of person do you think your mother is? How can I take back what I’ve said? The one named Yang, my daughter is beautiful and she’s more than worthy of you. But even if she was an ugly troll, I’m still going to make you marry her today.” When Ma Guangzuo heard how unreasonable she was he couldn’t stop himself from laughing and calling out, “This particular couple in this valley are a perfect match: the husband forces a young girl to marry him while the wife forces a young man to marry her daughter and they don’t want anyone else but them, right or wrong?” Qiu Qianchi said coldly, “Wrong!” Ma Guangzuo opened his mouth and laughed out loud. Suddenly a ‘bo’ sound was heard as a date stone flew towards the center of his eyes; the stone came like lightning and there was no way to avoid it. Ma Guangzuo lifted his head in shock; a ‘pai’ sound was heard as three of his front teeth were knocked loose. Ma Guangzuo was furious and roared while he threw himself forward. Another two ‘bo’ sounds were heard as the ‘Linking Jump’ pressure point on his right groin and the ‘Yang Pass’ pressure point on his left leg were struck. Both his legs went limp and he fell down onto the floor, unable to get up. Those three date stones were extremely quick. Yang Guo knew that Qiu Qianchi would make her move when Ma Guangzuo was laughing and drew his sword to go to save him; but it was too late. He picked him up and unsealed his pressure points. Ma Guangzuo admitted defeat; this bald old woman didn’t move her legs or arms and was able to defeat him just by opening her mouth. He had great respect for her; he spat out the teeth and said with a mouthful of blood, “Old woman, you’re more powerful than me; the one named Ma does not dare to offend you again.” Qiu Qianchi ignored him and stared at Yang Guo. She said, “You’ve decided to not marry my daughter, true?” Gongsun Lu E couldn’t bear to suffer such embarrassment in front of everyone and took a dagger from her waist. She pointed it at her chest and said loudly, “Mother, if you ask again, then I’ll kill myself right in front of your very eyes.” Qiu Qianchi opened her mouth and a stone shot out, hitting the handle of the dagger. There was great power behind that stone; the dagger flew and planted itself inches into a wooden pillar, the handle quivering in the candlelight. Everyone gasped. Yang Guo knew that his time would be wasted if he remained here for much longer so he flicked his blade with his finger and said clearly with the resonation of the blade, “The lonely rabbit, going east watching west. The clothes are not of new; the person is not like that of before.” He motioned his sword in a flurry and turned around with Xiao Longnu’s hand held in his. When Lu E heard the last two sentences, ‘the clothes are not of new, the person not like that of before’, her hurt became even greater; she took off the ragged gown that Yang Guo had given her. She went to him and offered it back to him, saying, “Brother Yang, it’s better to have old clothes.” Yang Guo said, “Thank you.” He stretched out his hand to take it. He and Xiao Longnu knew that Lu E was deliberately standing in front of them so her mother wouldn’t be able to attack them with the date stones. Xiao Longnu had a faint smile on her face and nodded her head, showing her thanks. Lu E moved her lips to the side, telling them to leave quickly. Qiu Qianchi mumbled ‘the clothes are not of new, the person is not like that of before’ a few times before she suddenly raised her voice and said, “Yang Guo, you don’t want my daughter; but don’t tell me that you don’t want your life as well?” Yang Guo gave a bitter laugh and backed another step out of the hall. Xiao Longnu’s heart trembled and said, “Wait.” She asked clearly, “Senior Qiu Lao, have you got an antidote for the Passion Flower poison?” Lu E had been thinking about this all along. Yang Guo gave the only Passionless Pill that her father had to Xiao Longnu while his poison had yet to be cleared. The only hope that he had was her mother, who might have a way to cure this poison. But she knew that her mother would use this to blackmail Yang Guo, to force him into marrying her; this is why she hadn’t mentioned this before. But in this urgent situation she could no longer care about her embarrassment and turned herself around, saying, “Mother, if it weren’t for brother Yang, you would still be trapped down in that cave. Brother Yang has not done anything to offend you. We need to pay back this kindness; please cure his poison.” Qiu Qianchi chuckled, “Repay kindness with kindness? Repay vengeance with vengeance? How can the world’s vengeance and kindness be distinguished like that? Was that thanks I got from Gongsun Zhi?” Lu E said loudly, “I hate men whose hearts are not loyal, men who like the new and forget those of old. If the one named Yang Guo wanted to leave his lover of old and marry me, I’d rather die than marry him.” Those words rang in Qiu Qianchi’s ears, but after a thought, she immediately knew what her daughter was trying to do. Her daughter loved him dearly and if he agreed to marry her, she would leap for joy. Because the situation was pressing, her daughter was just hoping that she would save him first before doing anything else. Jinlun Fawang, Yin Kexi and the others looked at each other in amusement as they watched this second show of a forced marriage. Fawang now knew that Yang Guo had been poisoned and he was feeling pleased. He hoped that Yang Guo would stick to his choice, by refusing to marry Lu E to save his life; but he was worried about the craftiness of Yang Guo who might lie about the marriage to get the antidote and then refuse. Then he thought that even if Yang Guo tried something, he’s there to see through him and alert Qiu Qianchi to his tricks. Qiu Qianchi’s eyes swept across all the guests slowly and then said, “Yang Guo, amongst the people here there are those who wish that you live and those who wish that you die. Think about whether you want to live or die.” Yang Guo placed his arm around Xiao Longnu’s waist and said with a clear voice, “If either of us can’t marry the other, then we’d rather die together.” Xiao Longnu smiled sweetly and said, “Yes!” The two of them were as one; their love for each other was so deep that life and death was no longer anything important. Qiu Qianchi did not understand Xiao Longnu and said, “If I don’t save him then he will die, do you understand this? Do you know that he can only live for another thirty six days?” Xiao Longnu said, “If you do agree to save him and let us be together for a few more years then of course we’ll be extremely touched. If you refuse, we’ve still got thirty six days together, that’s fine as well! In any case, if he dies, I won’t carry on living.” Her beautiful face showed no signs of concern as she said this. Qiu Qianchi looked at her and then looked at Yang Guo; she saw the two staring at each other, their love for each other so passionate, their devotion to each other so intense. This was something that she had never experienced nor even thought about before. So such devoted lovers actually existed in this world. When she saw how dedicated they were, she couldn’t help but muse over her and Gongsun Zhi and the way they ended up. She gave a long sigh and tears rolled down her cheeks. Lu E went to her and threw herself into her arms; she cried, “Mother, just cure him please; then we’ll go and find uncle; he misses you, doesn’t he?” Qiu Qianchi’s tears stirred her compassion, but then she immediately thought about the words in the letter from her brother Qiu Qianren; “Ever since first brother died at the hands of Guo Jing and Huang Rong on Iron Palm Peak…” She herself was crippled and her brother had become a monk, saying something like ‘I dropped my knife of slaughter and followed the ways of Buddha’; does this mean that her brother’s death can never be avenged? Yang Guo’s martial arts weren’t weak; though he refuses to marry her daughter she could order him to help her avenge her brother. She then said, “There were actually quite a lot of Passionless Pills; but apart from three pills, the rest were ruined by me when I soaked them in frosty arsenic water. Out of the three pills, that bastard Gongsun Zhi took one, another he took from me when I was drunk and that was the pill that you gave to that girl. There is only one pill remaining in this world. This pill has been with me for over twenty years. If one doesn’t prepare a Passionless Pill for themselves while living in the Passionless Valley, then they are not in complete control of the fate of their lives. Right now, I haven’t got long to live and my daughter might not stay here for much longer…” She then took out the last remaining Passionless Pill on this earth slowly and broke it in two with her nail. She took half a pill and placed it in her palm before saying, “I can give you the pill. You don’t want to marry my daughter, fine but you have to promise to do one thing for me.” Yang Guo and Xiao Longnu looked at each other, both surprised with her sudden kindness. The two weren’t worried about life and death; but since there’s a way for them to live, of course they’d be happy to take this chance. Both said at the same time, “We’ll do our best to fulfill Senior’s request.” Qiu Qianchi said slowly, “I want you to get me the heads of two people.” When Yang Guo and Xiao Longnu heard this, they both thought that she wanted them to kill Gongsun Zhi. Yang Guo had no good feelings towards Gongsun Zhi and now that he’s lost an eye and his “Closure of the Pressure Point” has been destroyed, it won’t be hard to kill him even though he still has his other martial arts remaining. But he was Gongsun Lu E’s father; the girl loves Yang Guo deeply, but killing her father might cause great distress for her and he couldn’t help but hesitate. Xiao Longnu thought that although Gongsun Zhi was evil, he was still the one who saved her life. From Qiu Qianchi’s expression, if she didn’t kill him Qiu Qianchi would never agree to give the pill to Yang Guo. Qiu Qianchi saw that they had troubled expressions on their faces and said coldly, “I don’t know what ties these two people have with you but I must kill them.” She then flung half of the pill lightly upwards in her hand. From her tone, it didn’t appear that she was talking about Gongsun Zhi so Yang Guo asked, “With whom does Senior Qiu Lao have a feud? Whose head do you want me to take?” Qiu Qianchi said, “Didn’t you hear that scoundrel when he was reading out that letter? The names of the people who killed my brother are Guo Jing and Huang Rong.” Yang Guo was delighted and called out, “That’s great. Those two people killed my father; even if Senior Qiu Lao didn’t ask I’d still kill them.” Qiu Qianchi’s heart trembled and said, “Is this true?” Yang Guo pointed to Jinlun Fawang and said, “This Reverend has crossed paths with those two people. I told him about this matter before.” Qiu Qianchi looked at Fawang and he nodded his head and said, “But at that time, brother Yang helped Guo Jing and Huang Rong to oppose me.” Xiao Longnu and Lu E were both furious with Fawang for trying to stir up trouble time after time; they both stared at him with anger. Jinlun Fawang ignored them and smiled, “Brother Yang, did such a thing happen?” Yang Guo said, “Yes. Once I’ve avenged my father I’ll need to exchange a few stances with Reverend Jin.” Jinlun Fawang folded his arms and said, “Good, good!” Qiu Qianchi held up her left hand and said to Yang Guo, “I don’t care if this is true or false, just take this pill.” Yang Guo went forwards to accept it when he saw that it was just half a pill and immediately understood, he laughed, “I need to get their heads in exchange for the other half?” Qiu Qianchi nodded and said, “You really are clever; you didn’t need anyone to tell you.” Yang Guo thought, “It’s better to take half a pill than take nothing.” He took the half pill and swallowed it. Qiu Qianchi said, “There was only one Passionless Pill left in the whole wide world. You’ve just taken half of it. The other half will be kept in an extremely secretive place. If you bring the heads of Guo Jing and Huang Rong in eighteen days time then I’ll give you the other half. Even if you hold me at knifepoint and threaten me or throw me down that cave again I will never give it to you. The word of Qiu Qianchi’s is as solid as rock, I’ve never taken back what I’ve said. To all the guests, please leave on your own accord. Master Yang, Miss Long, we’ll meet again in eighteen days time.” She then closed her eyes and ignored everyone. Xiao Longnu asked, “Why have you set a deadline of eighteen days?” Qiu Qianchi said with her eyes closed, “The Passion Flower poison in his body originally would have reacted in thirty six days time. Now that he’s taken half a passionless pill, the poison has all come together and is now concentrated in one place; the poison will now react twice as quickly. The poison will be cleared if he takes the other half of the antidote eighteen days from now, otherwise… otherwise… ha-ha!” After she said this, she waved out her hand, ordering everyone to go quickly. Yang Guo and Xiao Longnu both knew that this person does not listen to reason and so the two bid farewell to Lu E and quickly left the Narcissus Manor. Yang Guo couldn’t be bothered to find a boat to get out of the valley and instead, he and Xiao Longnu utilized their lightness kung fu and left the valley by going over the mountains. Yang Guo had stayed in this valley for only three days; but within these three days, he had experienced many near deaths. Now that he’s left this place of danger with his lover, it was like he was in a different world. It was now dawn. The two of them stood on top of a mountain ridge shoulder to shoulder and looked down at the valley. As the morning light sparkled on the luxuriant emerald forest, their eyes were filled with the green color. They felt filled with boundless joy; their hearts floating and swaying around as if they were at one with the clouds. Yang Guo held Xiao Longnu’s hand and the two walked up to a locust tree. He said, “Gu Gu…” Xiao Longnu leaned on him and smiled, “I don’t think you need to call me Gu Gu again.” Yang Guo had stopped viewing her as his Master long ago; the reason he called her ‘Gu Gu’ was because he was used to it. When he heard this, his heart was filled with a sweet feeling and he stared into her black eyes. He said, “What should I call you?” Xiao Longnu said, “Call me whatever you want; it’s up to you.” Yang Guo thought for a little while and said, “The happiest time of my life was when we were in the tomb together. At that time, I called you Gu Gu. Just let me call you Gu Gu until I die.” Xiao Longnu laughed, “I used to spank you in those days; were they happy days?” Yang Guo stretched out his arms and embraced her. Yang Guo’s soul was completely enchanted as he smelled the fragrance of Xiao Longnu’s scent mixed up with the scents of the surrounding flowers and trees. He seemingly lost himself and said softly, “Let’s just live like this happily for the next eighteen days; we don’t need to go and kill Guo Jing and Huang Rong. Living happily and peacefully for eighteen days is better than rushing about and fighting for our lives.” Xiao Longnu smiled and said, “We’ll do whatever you say. Before, I wanted you to listen to me; but from now on, I’ll listen to you.” She has always had an icy cold disposition; but now she was filled with love. She felt warm all over and felt that the greatest thing in life was to listen to Yang Guo with all her heart and soul. Yang Guo looked at her startled; and said slowly, “Why are there tears in your eyes?” Xiao Longnu took his hand and stroked her cheek gently with the back of his hand. She said tenderly, “I… I don’t know.” After a while, she said, “It must be because I love you too much.” Yang Guo said, “I know what you are sad about.” resinpinephosphoricacidaddtive