Return of the Condor Hero~currently posting translating ch.~

[Lil_Dragon_Gurl]

The seven Taoists all secretly feared the worst and thought, “Where on earth did this tyrant appear from; today our sect will lose face.” With these thoughts in their minds, they couldn’t afford to stop and each one leaped up to a tree branch.

Guo Jing laughed, “Come down!” He leapt down from the tree and stretched out his hand towards the Taoist in the “Kai Yang” position and grabbed his leg.

The strongest aspect of the “Big Dipper Formation” is being able to respond from the left and right, mutually aiding each other. As Guo Jing attacked the “Kai Yang” position, the “Yao Guang” (moving light) and “Yu Heng” position could not come down and help. If the two did come down, the “Tian Shu” and “Tian Quan” positions would have to come down with them; the whole formation will be pulled down.

Yang Guo was watching closely from the side, being surprised endlessly, thinking, “If I could reach the level of Uncle Guo in the future, I wouldn’t mind suffering a lifetime of hardships.” But then he changed his thoughts, “How can I ever achieve the level that he is at? Only Guo Fu and the Wu brothers have that sort of luck. Uncle Guo knew that the rotten Taoist’s kung fu couldn’t compare with his and that is why he sent me here to learn martial arts.” The more he thought, the more troubled he became, he almost cried. He turned his head away from Guo Jing battling the seven Taoists. He was still a child, and eventually could not resist turning his head back to the fight.

Guo Jing thought, “By now, you should believe that I am Guo Jing. One mustn’t overdo things; it wouldn’t look good for elder Qiu.” He saw that the Taoists were turning around quickly but he stood still and folded his arms in salute and said, “Taoist brothers, I have offended you many times and apologize, please give way.”

The Taoist in the “Tian Quan” position was hot tempered, he saw that the opposition was highly skilled, knew the “Big Dipper Formation” and assumed he had nothing but evil intent towards his sect. He clearly shouted, “Scoundrel, you’ve carefully studied our sect’s formation, your intent is ruthless. You’ve come to Mount Zhongnan to cause trouble, our Quanzhen sect regards all evil as our enemy, and we can’t wait around and do nothing.”

Guo Jing was startled, and asked, “How have we caused trouble?”

The “Tian Shu” Taoist added, “Judging from your kung fu, you do not belong with the dirty scoundrels. I can give you some advice; you better leave the mountain quickly.” His tone reflected his respect of Guo Jing’s skills.

Guo Jing said, “I have come from thousand of miles to the south up here to the north; I have a matter which I want to discuss with elder Qiu. If I can’t see the elder, then how can I leave?”

The “Tian Quan” Taoist said, “You persist on seeing elder Qiu, what do you want?”

Guo Jing said, “I am in the debt of elder Ma and elder Qiu. I haven’t seen them in ten years and long to see them. Apart from paying my respects, I also have another matter to request of them.”

The “Tian Quan” Taoists hate for the enemy increased when he heard this; his face changed colour as if he had something on say. In the world of Jianghu, the words debt and revenge are not looked upon lightly. Sometimes when one has made enemies and they say they have come to pay their debts, in reality they have come for revenge. The Taoist said, “Twenty years ago I chopped off someone’s upper arm, the debts that I have to pay cannot be forgotten? Today I am going to receive what I am owed.”

A request in these cases seems to have evil intent, and after being beaten by someone stronger, they would normally reply, “We brothers are short of food and clothing, and want the old man to help, to spare us some money.”

But today, Quanzhen sect is facing enemies and the “Tian Quan” Taoist knew this. Guo Jing’s polite words were turned around and interpreted the other way by the Taoist, and he calmly said, “I’m afraid that my defeated teacher elder Yu Yang is also indebted to you.”

As Guo Jing heard this, he remembered the events years ago at King Zhao’s palace, Yuyang Zi Wang Chu wasn’t concerned about danger, and faced a number of enemies and helped to save his life, his debts to him were not trivial. He said, “So Taoist brother is under the teaching of elder Yuyang. Elder Wang has also been kind to me, if he is at the palace, then that will be good.”

The seven Taoists were all disciples of elder Wang and after hearing this they extended their swords. The seven swords were all moving at the same time towards Guo Jing’s body. Guo Jing raised his eyebrows; the more respectful he was, the fiercer the enemy’s reaction, he didn’t know what the reasons were for this. It is a pity that Huang Rong was not here; if she was she could sort out the misunderstanding in the blink of an eye. He slanted his body and moved forwards, and stood in the “Northern Star Position”. In a clear voice he said, “I am Jiangnan’s Guo Jing, I have no evil intent on this sacred mountain, how can I make you believe me?”

The “Tian Quan” Taoist said, “You have already removed six swords from Quanzhen sect’s students, can you take our seven swords?” The Taoist in the “Tian Xuan” position had not said anything so far, he broke his silence and said, “Scoundrel, you have come here for the girl called Long, does that mean you think its good for you to provoke our sect?”

Guo Jing said, “Who is this girl named Long, I have never seen her before.”

The “Tian Xuan” Taoist laughed and said, “Of course you have not seen her. What man under heaven knows her? If you’ve got guts, loudly insult her and call her a little b***h.”

Guo Jing was startled, he didn’t know who this Long girl is so how can he, for no reason, slander her? He said, “Why should I insult her?”

Three or four Taoists said at the same time, “Why don’t you confess?”

The Taoists had accused Guo Jing innocently, the more he heard, the stranger it sounded. He thought that if he breaks into Chongyang Palace and sees elder Ma, elder Qiu and Wang Chu, everything would become clear. He calmly said, “I must go up to the mountain, if everyone here tries to stop me, don’t blame me for offending you.”

The seven Taoists extended their swords, and leapt forward two steps. The “Tian Xuan” Taoist loudly said, “Don’t use your witchcraft, we will just use our kung fu to compete.”

Guo Jing smiled, he had already thought of something, and said, “I want to use some witchcraft. You watch, my hands will not touch your weapons, but I will still be able to take your long swords out of your hands.”

The seven Taoists all looked at each other; their faces had a look of disbelief, and thought, “Although your skills are high, can it be that without using your hands you can rid us of our weapons? Even if you’ve reached the peak of “Empty Hand Entering a Hundred Blades” kung fu, you still need your hands.”

The “Tian Shu” Taoist said, “Fine, we will see how good your kicking kung fu is.”

Guo Jing said, “I will also not use my legs. If I touch your weapons with my hands or legs, then I admit defeat. I will turn around and immediately leave, never entering your sacred mountain again.”

The Taoists heard his wild claims, and they mulled over it. The”Tian Quan” Taoist waved his sword, and led the formation.

Guo Jing slanted his body and rushed forward, again assuming the “Northern Star Position”, ready to move to the left of the “Big Dipper Formation”. The “Tian Quan” Taoist knew they would be in danger and led the formation quickly to the right. Whenever two enemies fight each other, they must face the opposition, if the opponent moves behind you, turning around to face your enemy is something that shouldn’t be done. Right now, Guo Jing was heading for this position, wanting to aim for the back of the formation; he didn’t need to attack. The seven Taoists would have to move the formation and attack, so that they could face each other. But Guo Jing just kept on heading left, and didn’t turn back. Sometimes he would move fast, sometimes slow, sometimes straight and sometimes in a crisscross, but he kept on hurrying to the left. He was in the “Northern Star Position”; the seven Taoists could do nothing but follow him to the left.

The more he hurried, the quicker he became; eventually his speed surpassing that of a horse, his form a blur, he had ran for tens of feet. The seven Taoist’s kung fu was not ordinary; although they were facing adversity they managed to stay in formation. The “Tian Shu”, “Tian Xuan”, “Tian Ji” (Sky Pearl), “Tian Quan”, “Yu Heng”, ‘Kai Yang”, and “Yao Guang” Taoists held their positions, but they were being forced to hurry around not of their own accord.

Guo Jing could not help but think, “Sure enough, the students of Quanzhen are not ordinary.” He took a deep breath, and increased his speed; it appeared that his legs were not even touching the ground.

At first the Taoists could just about manage to keep up by exerting all their strength, but as time passed, the difference in each one’s lightness kung fu could be seen. The “Tian Shu”, “Tian Quan” and “Yu Heng” Taoist’s lightness kung fu was the highest, and they moved quickly, the others slowly fell behind and the “Big Dipper Formation” cracked. They were all afraid and thought, “If the enemy attacks the formation now, I’m afraid we will not be able to defend.” They couldn’t keep up with him, and could only use their internal energy to try to go around and hit him.

One game that children play is sling throwing. A rock is threaded onto a string, spun around and then at its fastest point, the sling is released, the stone taking the string with it faraway. At the moment, the formation was winding around hurriedly, it was similar to a sling spinning around, the seven Taoists were scurrying around Guo Jing, their swords held above their heads, the faster they went, the harder it was for them keep the sword still. It was as if a strong force was pulling the swords outwards, wanting to pull the swords out of their grasp.

Suddenly, Guo Jing shouted out, “Let go!” as he flew away to the left. The seven Taoists were caught unaware, and could only follow him quickly. They didn’t know what happened as the seven swords flew out of their hands, like seven silver snakes, and flew into the surrounding pine forest. Guo Jing stopped, and laughed as he returned.

The seven Taoist’s faces were grey, and stood there without moving, but each one was still holding their position, the formation still held. Guo Jing saw that after being forced to hurry and rush around madly, they still kept the formation and didn’t allow it to get out of shape and he knew they spent a lot of time practicing their skills. The “Tian Quan” Taoist gave a sigh of resignation and the seven Taoists escaped behind a cliff.

Guo Jing called out, “Guo’er, let’s go up the mountain.” He called out twice, but there was no reply. He searched around, but he couldn’t see him anywhere but behind a tree he saw a small shoe. Guo Jing swallowed, “Besides the seven Taoists there was another one hiding nearby, he must have taken him away.” But then he thought that the group of Taoists had just mistaken him for someone else, and though they had a misunderstanding, the Quanzhen sect has always been righteous and done good. They would never dare to harm a small child; there was no need to be alarmed. He then took a breath, and hurried up the mountain. He had resided on Peach Blossom Island for ten years, though he practiced martial arts every day, he has not faced an enemy for a very long time, and sometimes he felt lonely. Today, having fought with a crowd of people and being able to respond to every move, he could not help but be satisfied.

The mountain was now rugged and steep. Sometimes he had to lean his body over to pass an obstruction, and after traveling for less than half an hour, the moon was covered and the mountain became dark. Guo Jing thought, “I don’t know these paths well and these Taoists are sneaky, I must be on my guard.” He then eased up and slowly made his way.

Another while passed and the moon came out again, the mountain lit up, he had only one thing on his mind. Suddenly he heard the breathing sounds of a crowd of people coming from nearby. Though the sounds were quiet, there were many people; Guo Jing had already noticed this. Guo Jing tightened his belt, and turned to the path.

In front of him was a large plain, the four sides surrounded by the mountain, at the foot of the mountain was a large pond, and the surface of the water reflected the moon, the silver light shimmering. In front of the pond were about one hundred Taoists, wearing yellow hats and dressed in grey gowns, a long sword in their hands, the swords shone brightly to the eye.

Guo Jing looked on, the crowd was made up of groups of seven, and formed fourteen sets of the “Big Dipper Formation”. Each group of seven sets of the “Big Dipper Formation” formed one single large “Big Dipper Formation”. From the “Tian Shu” to the “Yao Guang”, the force of them was extraordinary. The two large “Big Dipper Formations” were different from each other, one normal, one odd, opposing each other, forming the angle of a wing. Guo Jing gasped, “I have never heard of this type of “Big Dipper Formation” from elder Qiu, presumably this formation has been created within the last few years. Compared to the original one that ancestor Yang created, this is another level.” He slowly made his way forward.
He heard a whistle from a person within the formations, ninety-eight Taoists scattered, moving forwards and backwards, the formations changed irregularly, and circled Guo Jing. Each one pointed their swords to the ground; their eyes fixed on Guo Jing and didn’t make a noise.

Guo Jing folded his hands in salute and turned around once and said, “I have sincerely entered this sacred mountain to meet elder Ma, elder Qiu and elder Wang, I plead with you please do not block my way.”

A long bearded Taoist from the formations said, “Our guest here has excellent martial arts, so why do you not use it for good, instead of causing trouble with the evil ones? I offer you some good advice: a woman can cloud someone’s mind and your skills that you have trained hard for over the last ten years could be threatened and lost in a single day. Our Quanzhen sect has never met you, and we have no quarrels, so why have you come to our mountain and caused so much trouble over this witch? If you leave immediately now, we could still meet again another day.” He spoke with a deep voice, but every word was crystal clear, it was clear that his internal energy was profound, his advice was sincere.

Guo Jing was angry but was also laughing, he thought, “I don’t know whom the Taoists have mistaken me for, if Rong’er was by my side, then there wouldn’t be any of this misunderstanding. He said, “I know nothing of being clouded by women or witches, if you allow me to see elder Ma, elder Qiu and elder Wang, then everything will become clear.”

The long bearded Taoist coldly said, “You still do not heed the advice and persist on wanting to see elder Ma and elder Qiu and try out your skills on them, well first you are going to have to break our large ‘Big Dipper Formation’.”

Guo Jing replied, “I am only one person, my skills are of a low level, how could I dare come up against your sect’s greatest skill? Please release the child that came with me, and allow me to see your sect’s master and elder Qiu.”

The long bearded Taoist shouted out, “You have come here, caused trouble, and put on a show in front of Mount Zhongnan’s Chongyang Palace; how can we let such a scoundrel be so rude.” As he said this, he waved his sword in the air, the blade pierced the wind, the sound of the blade lingered. The crowd of Taoists waved their long swords, ninety-eight blades swept across, a wind was created, and the swords resembled a shiny net.

Guo Jing was secretly worried, “The two large formations are the opposite of each other; how can I maintain the “Northern Star Position” by myself? Today’s matter is really troublesome.”

Before Guo Jing made up his mind, the ninety-eight Taoists merged together from the left and right, the light from the swords weaved about, he was trapped like a fly and it would be difficult to escape. The long bearded Taoist said, “Pick up a weapon! Quanzhen sect will not harm an empty handed person.”

Guo Jing thought, “This formation may be hard to break, but you may still not be able to harm me. The formation has many people, its power great, but each one’s skill varies. There will definitely be a weakness; I’ll study this formation first before I decide on anything.” He slowly turned around, and then quickly moved in a northwest direction and used the “Eighteen Subduing Dragon Palms”, the stance “Hidden Dragon Has No Use” (qian long wu yong), one palm out and one in, as he pushed off against the ground. Seven young Taoists swapped their swords into their left hand, each one joining together and stretched out their right palm, using their strength to repel his palm. The palm skill that Guo Jing used had been practiced and refined, and has now reached its peak; the force he generated was extremely strong, and he had more powerful moves hidden. Each one of them used all their strength to block this fierce attack but they didn’t expect a strong force pulling them forward. The seven could not stand still, and all of them fell onto the ground; though they got up straight away, each one of them had dirt on their face, and was slightly embarrassed.

The long bearded Taoist saw that Guo Jing had unleashed a powerful stance; in just one move he had caused seven Taoists to fall onto the ground, he was slightly frightened. He gave a whistle and led the fourteen “Big Dipper Formations” and merged them. Even if the enemy’s palm strength was ten times stronger, it would be difficult for him to push away ninety-eight people.

Guo Jing remembered the battle that he had on Jun Mountain (Lord Mountain); he and Huang Rong were battling the beggar clan, although individually they were weak, but once they united they were hard to defend against. He didn’t dare to use force to overcome them; he could only use his lightness kung fu and escape from the formation, and try to find its weakness.

He hurried to the east and leapt to the west, and drew the formation with him, in just a short while he realized that if he wanted to break the formation by himself, it would be a difficult task made harder. One, he didn’t want to hurt anyone; two, the formation’s defense was second to none. There wasn’t a single weakness; thirdly, Guo Jing is not the most astute person; the formation changed quickly so even if there was a weakness, he would not pick it up in such a short period of time.

Under the light of the full moon, the light from the swords resembled water, the scene like a wave, there was no point in trying to run away again.
They fought for a period of time, the formation was getting tighter, and it was becoming increasingly difficult to dodge within the gaps. Guo Jing thought, “Why don’t I rush through the formation and make a dash for Chongyang Palace and see elder Ma and elder Qiu?” He raised his head and faced west; he saw there were twenty or thirty buildings and a few of them had large open spaces. He thought that Chongyang Palace must be one of them; he then hurried rapidly to the east, and after a few leaps, he turned and ran towards the west.

The multitude of Taoists saw that he was increasing in speed; a grey blur was within the formation like a falling star rushing through the sky. It was almost impossible to see where he was, they were dazzled or dazed, and they slowed down. The long bearded Taoist called out, “Everyone be careful, don’t fall into the scoundrel’s trap.”

Guo Jing was angry, he thought, “They still call me a scoundrel. If this spreads out throughout Jianghu, how would I be respected again?” He had another thought, “The formation is led by him and if I aim for him, I then could set up a way to break the formation. He separated his palms, and headed straight for the long bearded Taoist. One thing the formation tries to do is to lure the enemy to attack the one leading the formation, each small formation will use this and come from the east and west, the south attacking the north, the enemy would then fall into their trap. Guo Jing rushed seven, eight steps, before he felt something was wrong, the force pressing him from behind suddenly increased, the two sides were flooding in and coming to attack. He turned around and dodged to the right, the two small formations in front of him all attacked with their swords. The fourteen swords were placed so that the enemy will be forced into a harmful position; there was no place to run, no place to hide. Guo Jing was faced with danger all around him, but he did not panic, only his anger began to rise, he thought, “You still mistake me for some scoundrel, some evil person. Taoists are supposed to be enlightened and merciful, so why is every stance that is used aiming to kill the opponent? Unless you must have my life at all costs? And what is this about? Quanzhen sect never harms an opponent without a weapon?” He slanted his body and escaped, his right leg came out, his left hand came in search of something, he kicked a young Taoist and took his weapon, he saw seven swords came in to his waist from the right, he waved his left hand out, the eight swords clattered, after a sound, each one of the seven swords broke into two pieces, the sword in his hand was still in perfect condition. The sword that Guo Jing took wasn’t an especially sharp blade, but because he distributed his chi throughout the sword, he was able to use it to shatter the seven swords.

The seven Taoists gasped, the expression on their faces darkened and they stood still for a while. The two formations at one side came in immediately and raised their swords protecting each other. Guo Jing saw that the fourteen Taoists were using their left hands to hold on to the right shoulder of the Taoist next to them, the fourteen united the energy into one. He thought, “You want to see how strong my internal energy is exactly?” He waved his long sword, and placed the sword onto the fourteenth Taoist’s sword.

The Taoist tried to pull away quickly, but the sword in his hand felt as if it were welded to a copper anvil, and was unable to pull it free. The remaining thirteen Taoists circulated their chi, wanting to use the combined force of the fourteen to repel the enemy. Guo Jing wanted them to do this. As soon as he felt the force trying to pull free increase, he shouted out, “Take care!” His right arm rose, after an interlude of sound, twelve swords broke as a result of seemingly pushing against a large object. The remaining two swords flew into the air. The fourteen Taoists gasped and were frightened; they quickly jumped away. Guo Jing secretly sighed, “My internal energy has yet to reach its peak, but there were still two swords that I was unable to break.”

After this, the Taoists became even more wary of him and they were more careful in unleashing their moves. Although twenty-one Taoists had lost their weapons, they resorted to using their palms; they were able to generate a wind force with their palms, and their power was not weak. While Guo Jing was shattering swords, he wasn’t able to do what he wanted and now he felt the formation’s defense becoming increasingly tighter. He didn’t know what new techniques and formations for the “Big Dipper Formation” that elder Ma and elder Qiu had devised. If the enemy had more advanced formations, it would be difficult for him to deal with. He was afraid that he would not be able to escape the clutches of the Taoists, so he decided to act right away and shouted out, “My Taoist brothers, if you still won’t give way, then forgive me if I don’t hold back.”

The long bearded Taoist looked on, he knew that Guo Jing was skilled, and thought that even if Guo Jing was able to shatter all ninety-eight swords, he still wouldn’t be able to escape from our formation. When he heard what Guo Jing said, he laughed coldly and did not reply, and made the formation even tighter.

Guo Jing crouched his body against the ground and leaped to the northeast, but he saw the two small formations from the southwest coming towards him. He then pointed his sword towards them. In the blink of eye he had unleashed fourteen moves; all fourteen moves made at the same time and each stance pierced a Taoist’s right wrist on the “Positive Valley Point” (yang gu yue). At the highest levels of swordsmanship, the sword is able to move like wind and flash like lightning, every move accurate to the millimeter. It would be no different than fourteen different concealed weapons thrown at the same time. He unleashed the moves lightly, each Taoist had a numb feeling in their wrist, there were no strength in their fingers; the fourteen swords fell onto the ground. With this shock, the Taoists jumped back quickly, and examined the wounds on their wrists. Each saw the wound on the “Yang Gu Yue” was slightly red but there wasn’t a drop of blood. They knew their opposition had used the sword tip to touch this pressure point only, their skin was not pierced. The Taoists gasped, and thought that although the scoundrel was offensive, he was not ruthless; if he hadn’t held back, he could have harmed our palms without using the slightest effort.

During this time, thirty-five swords had been forced out of their hands. The long bearded Taoist was very angry; Guo Jing had not even used his best kung fu, yet he had already made their sect lose so much face. If he managed to break into the palace, the effects would be disastrous. He then gave out an order, “Defend the formation closely.” He wanted the ninety eight Taoists to surround him, and slowly crowd him to death.

Guo Jing thought, “That Taoist does not know how to repay kindness; it’s unspeakable. I can only teach them a severe lesson.” He hid his left palm, and pushed his right palm to the left. A formation came and faced the palm.

Guo Jing quickly went into the “Northern Star Position”, but another formation came to attack. There were fourteen “Big Dipper Formations”, there were also fourteen “Northern Star Positions”, and Guo Jing had no way to separate himself, and could not stand in all of the fourteen important positions at once. He used his lightness kung fu, as soon as he had stepped in the “Northern Star Position” of one formation, he immediately leapt to another “Northern Star Position”; he did it a number of times and the formations became disorganized.

The long bearded Taoist knew something was wrong and gave out an order quickly; he ordered everyone to scatter and reorganize the formations and keep calm. He knew that if everyone went and chased Guo Jing wildly, the way he was moving, he would definitely create worse disturbances in the formations. But if they didn’t move and just held their position, the fourteen “Northern Star Positions” would be far away from each other. Even if Guo Jing was faster, he would not be able to assume every position.

Guo Jing gathered himself and thought, “That Taoist knows the important aspects of the formation and sure enough he saw the danger quickly. Now that they are standing still, I could head for the palace.” He then changed his mind, “Actually, better not, elder Ma and elder Qiu are not usually in the palace, otherwise how can it be that I have fought these Taoists for so long and they haven’t noticed? He lifted his head towards the palace, and saw sparks flying around in the corner of the building. Someone was fighting with weapons, but because he was far away, he could not see clearly who was fighting and the sounds of the weapons clashing was also too far to hear.

Guo Jing suddenly became alarmed, “Who would have the guts to raise their hands in Chongyang Palace? There must be some reason behind tonight’s events.” He wanted to rush over there to take a close look, but the fourteen “Big Dipper Formation” came in closer and closer. He was in a rush, and with his left palm he unleashed “Seeing the Dragon in the Field” (jian long zai tian) and with his right he used “Overcoming the Dragon with Regret”. He used the “Mutual Left Hand Right Hand Combat” technique to do this, and used two separate attacks to the left and right. He saw that the forty-nine people in the “Big Dipper Formation” on the left were blocking this attack; the other forty-nine people in the other “Big Dipper Formation” on the right also blocked his attack. Before he has finished unleashing the two moves, he changed them around, the left hand had changed from “Seeing the Dragon in the Field” to “Overcoming the Dragon with Regret”, his right hand changing from “Seeing the Dragon in the Field” to “Overcoming the Dragon with Regret”.

With the “Mutual Left Hand Right Hand Combat Technique”, he was able to do the hard task of using two different stances at the same time, and then to interchange them in the middle of it. This was something that the Taoists have never seen nor heard of. Originally the formation on the left side was able to resist the “Overcoming the Dragon with Regret”, the right was able to resist “Seeing the Dragon in the Field”, when the two stances were swapped around, the Taoists on both sides were resisting, they didn’t know that Guo Jing could swap his stances around so easily. They then saw a flash of movement as Guo Jing escaped from the formation. The forty-nine people on the left and the forty nine people on the right were pushing forward with all their might, and at this moment how could they keep their legs in check? There came a loud noise as the two formations collided with each other, swords wounded some from behind, some knocked their noses against those in front and thirty of them fell onto the ground.

The long bearded Taoist who was leading the formation managed to dodge quickly and evade harm from the other Taoists. He couldn’t bear what had happened and quickly whistled again, rapidly setting up the formation again. He saw that Guo Jing was heading rapidly for the pond at the foot of the mountain, the Yu Qing Pond (Pure Jade). He led the fourteen formations and chased after him. The Quanzhen sect’s kung fu was based on calmness and tranquility, using softness to overcome hardness, letting anger control your actions is breaking one of the major rules of the sect; with his anger and fury, it could be said that he was not considering the enemy carefully, he was just reacting to their actions.

Guo Jing quickly reached the Jade Pond, in front of him the water glistened, as he lifted his sword up with his right hand, and chopped a coarse branch off a willow tree that was by the pond. He threw away the sword and picked up the branch with both arms, and flung it faraway into the pond. He increased the strength in his legs and his body soared into the air, his right foot touched the branch once and it sank, he used it to reach the shore on the other side. The crowd of Taoists rushed to the pond but they couldn’t stop in time. A splash followed another, as forty or fifty people fell into the pond. The last ten either stepped onto the back of those who had fallen in or managed to stop themselves. A few of the Taoists couldn’t swim, and began to struggle in the pond. Those who could swim hurried over to rescue them. At the Pure Jade Pond, the Taoists made a commotion, as they were drenched with water and mud.

End of chapter 3  

[Lil_Dragon_Gurl]

Chapter 4

After Guo Jing escaped from the Taoists, he headed swiftly for Chongyang Palace, when he suddenly heard the ringing of a bell; it was coming from Chongyang Palace. The sound was urgent; it was the alerting signal. Guo Jing turned his head to see what was happening, he saw sparks flying in the air coming from the large courtyard in the back. He thought, “Sure enough, today Quanzhen sect’s enemies have arrived, I’d better rush over there to help.”


He suddenly heard a crowd behind him rushing up, he then understood, “The Taoists must have mistaken him as a confederate of their enemy. With this danger, no wonder they wanted to fight to the death.” He ignored those behind him, and made his way up the mountain.


He used his lightness kung fu, in a flash he had moved over one hundred feet, in less than the time to make a cup of tea; he was already at Chongyang Palace. He saw flames and smoke, the dense smoke was unrestrained, the blaze was fierce, but what was strange was that in Chongyang Palace there were countless Taoists, yet no one had come out and tried to put out the flames.


Guo Jing was afraid. He saw ten Taoist residences empty and untidy about the mountain. The flame in the back courtyard was large, but it had yet to breach into the main courtyard. However, insults could be heard from there, as well as the clashing of weapons. He leapt up onto a roof, and saw a large group of people battling. He stood still and looked on, he saw that forty-nine Taoists dressed in yellow gowns had formed seven “Big Dipper Formations” and were resisting about one hundred enemies. The enemies were all shape and sizes, tall and short, fat and skinny. According to the way they were dressed and the skills they used, it seems that they are from different sects. Some used weapons, some used their palms, and they all were attacking the “Big Dipper Formation” from all sides. The attackers’ skills weren’t weak, and they were large in number. Eventually the Taoists began to lose. But because the enemy was fighting them separately, the “Big Dipper Formation” allowed them to help each other and were able to defend tightly. Though the opponents were strong, they could still resist them. Guo Jing listened carefully, and heard breathing sounds in the hall; there were people battling there as well. From the sounds of the wind generated by the fists in the hall, the skills of the people battling there were superior to those who were fighting outside. He jumped down from the roof, twisted his body and then made a dash forward. He dodged east and then darted west, and was able to go through the cracks of three “Big Dipper Formations”. The Taoists were alarmed, and tried to follow, but because of the onslaught they were facing, they couldn’t separate and chase him.


Normally the hall would be lit with ten large candles, but because of the flames in the back courtyard, its light overpowered the light from the candles. He saw that there were seven mats lined up on the floor, seven Taoists were sitting on them, the left palm of each joined to the next person, their right palms out, resisting the attacks of ten people around them.


Guo Jing ignored the attackers and first studied the Taoists. He saw that there were three old and four young, the old were Ma Yu, Qiu Chuji and Wang Chuyi, he could only recognize one of the four young Taoists and that was Yin Zhiping. The seven were sitting in the positions of “Tian Shu” to “Yao Guang” to form the “Big Dipper Formation”; they sat there and didn’t move. In front of the seven was a Taoist lying on the floor, he didn’t know whether he was alive or dead. He saw his hair was white but could not see his face. Guo Jing saw that Ma Yu and the others were in danger, his blood began to boil, he didn’t care who the enemy was and came out in a flash, and shouted , “How dare you scoundrels come and cause trouble in Chongyang Palace?” He stretched out his hands, and grabbed the backs of two attackers, and wanted to throw the attackers out, but he didn’t know that the two were good fighters. Their feet stood firm to the ground, and couldn’t be pulled from the floor. Guo Jing thought, “Where did all these good fighters come from? No wonder the Quanzhen sect feels that today will end in ruin for them.” He let go and swept his legs out. The two were using the “Thousand Kilogram Fall” (qian jin zhui) skill to resist the attacker, but they didn’t predict that he would suddenly change stance, and in a flash, the two soared in midair and crashed through the door.


The attackers saw that powerful help had come for the Taoists and were alarmed; but they were curious and wanted to know his name. Two of them came out and shouted out, “Who are you?” Guo Jing ignored them, two “fu” sounds were heard, as two palms came out. The two were not near Guo Jing’s body, but they were hit by the palm’s power and couldn’t stand still. Two sounds were heard as the men crashed against the wall, blood came out of their mouths. The remaining attackers saw that Guo Jing had wounded four of them in one go, they were frightened, and no one dared to confront him.


Ma Yu, Qiu Chuji and Wang Chuyi recognized who he was and were delighted, and thought, “Now he’s here, our sect will escape danger!”
Guo Jing did not even consider the attackers as he knelt down and kowtowed to Ma Yu and said, “Disciple Guo Jing greets you.” Ma Yu, Qiu Chuji and Wang Chuyi nodded and greeted him in return. Yin Zhiping suddenly called out, “Brother Guo, careful!” Guo Jing heard a noise from behind, and knew someone wanted to ambush him from behind. He pushed against the floor with his arm and elbow, his body in the air, and pushed out his knees and hit the two attackers on their “Soul Entrance” (hun men) pressure points. The two of them fell immediately to the floor. Guo Jing remained kneeling down with two mats beneath his knee.


Ma Yu smiled, and said, “Jing’er rise, I haven’t seen you in ten years; your skills have improved tremendously!”


Guo Jing got up and said, “I’ll let the elder decide on how I should get rid of the others.” Before Ma Yu replied, Guo Jing heard two laughs from behind; the laughs were very strange. He turned around, and saw two people standing there. One was wearing a red gown, his head was shiny, his body lanky, and he was a monk. The other wore a light yellow embroidered gown, his hand holding a folded fan. He was dressed like a wealthy man, and was about thirty, his face carrying an arrogant expression. Guo Jing saw that their breathing was measured and deep, and were completely different to the others. He didn’t dare to be rash. He asked, “Who are you? Why have you come here?”


The nobleman said, “And who are you? Why have you come here?” His pronunciations weren’t exactly correct; he wasn’t from the central plains.


Guo Jing said, “I am the disciple of these elders.”


The man chuckled, “Who would have thought that there resided a man like this in the Quanzhen sect.” He was younger than Guo Jing by a few years, but he spoke with the air of an old man, and with arrogance.


Guo Jing did not regard himself as a true disciple of the Quanzhen sect, but when he heard him speak, he could tell they had a hidden agenda. He didn’t want to talk but under these circumstances he had to say something. “What is the story behind your intrusion into the Quanzhen sect? Why have you brought so many people and set the place on fire?”


The man chuckled again, “Since you belong to the lower generation of the Quanzhen sect, how can you speak out.”


Guo Jing said, “You have come here and have caused trouble, you have been too reckless.” The flames were getting closer, and it wouldn’t be long before the main courtyard was set on fire.


The man opened his fan and took a step forward; he laughed and said, “I brought those people along! If you can receive thirty stances of mine, I’ll let the old Taoists go, how about that?”


Gou Jing saw that they were in an urgent situation, he couldn’t hesitate. He stretched out his right hand, and grabbed the man’s fan and pulled it, the man did not let go of the fan, and tried to pull him closer.


With this pull, the man wobbled slightly but he held onto his fan. Guo Jing thought, “This man isn’t old; he could actually fend off my pull. The way he circulated his chi was similar to the monk Lingzhi Shangren but compared to Lingzhi Shangren his was more fluid. It appears that he must belong to a sect in the west. The frame of his fan is made of metal, it’s actually a weapon.” He increased the power in his hands and said, “Let go!” The nobleman’s face suddenly turned a shade of purple, but in a second it had disappeared. Guo Jing knew that he had urgently raised his chi to try to resist him; he too increased his strength at the same time. He knew that if the man’s face turned purple three times, he would suffer serious internal injuries, but thought that learning this type of kung fu wasn’t an easy task. He didn’t want to harm him seriously so he gave a sly smile.


With the fan in his hand, the man’s strength began to decrease. Guo Jing had transferred all the power in his palm into the fan and into the opponent’s hand, wanting to neutralize the man’s energy. The man used all the strength he had accumulated during his life but he couldn’t transfer any of it into the fan, and was about to lose hold of it. The man realized that his opponent’s skills exceeded his so he kept a calm face, let go of the fan and jumped back. His face was red, and said, “Please allow me to know your famous name.”


Guo Jing said, “My name is not worth knowing, just know that elders Ma, Qiu and Wang are my teachers.”


The man questioned this, and thought that he had just fought with a bunch of old Quanzhen Taoists. “If they fought one on one and didn’t rely on the power of the “Big Dipper Formation”, they wouldn’t be a match for him, so how could a student of theirs be so good,” he took another look at Guo Jing to get the measure of him. His face looked ordinary, his clothes were coarse, he looked just like a villager, but he possessed great skills, he said, “Your skills are alarmingly good, I am in awe, I will come again in ten years time and test myself again. I have some unfinished business so I must leave now.” He folded his arms in salute as he said this. Guo Jing held his fist in salute and acknowledged, “We will meet again in ten years time.”


The man turned around and started out of the palace. As he reached the door, he said, “This affair between me and the Quanzhen sect, I have decided to resolve at a later date. I hope the members of the Quanzhen sect do not take this personally and come searching for me to settle their own private affairs.”


According to the rules of Jianghu, if a person stops pursuing a matter and sets a date later on to resolve it, and the persons involved meet during the time period, they must not settle their issues there and then, they must wait for the agreed date.


Guo Jing heard what he said and replied, “Of course.”


The man chuckled and he spoke a few words in Tibetan to the Tibetan monk. As he was about to leave, Qiu Chuji shouted out, “There is no need for a ten year wait, I, Qiu Chuji will come in search for you.” His voice shook the tiles of the roof, demonstrating his profound internal energy. When the man heard this, he shivered, and thought, “That old Taoist’s internal energy is not weak, when I was fighting them a while back, he wasn’t at full strength.” He didn’t dare linger and quickly dashed through the doors. The Tibetan monk in red stared at Guo Jing with fury, as he and the others left.


Guo Jing looked at the men, they were all strange looking, they had high noses and deep eyes, they weren’t from the central plains, his suspicions were raised, but he heard the sounds of weapons clashing outside had died down, and knew the enemy was leaving.


The group of seven including Ma Yu stood up, but the old Taoist who was lying on the floor did not get up. Guo Jing took a look, it was Guangzhu Zi Hao Datong. He knew that though the seven were being affected by the fire, but they remained and sat there without moving. They wanted to protect their own people. He saw that his face was golden; his breathing shallow, his eyes were closed and knew that he had suffered a serious internal injury. Guo Jing opened his gown, he gasped as he saw a hand print on his chest, five fingers were spread out, the print was deep purple, it had penetrated inside. He thought, “The enemy’s kung fu is indeed from western Tibet, it’s the “Great Handprint” skill. Although there is no poison on the palm, the power of it is much stronger than that of Lingzhi Shangren.” He examined Hao Datong and he was pleased to find that there was still a strong pulse. Hao Datong had practiced martial arts for many years and had built up a high level of internal energy; his life would not be in danger.


The fire from the back courtyard was coming closer. Qiu Chuji picked up Hao Datong and said, “Let’s go!”


Guo Jing said, “Where’s the child that I brought with me? Who took him away? I don’t want him to get harmed by the fire.”


Qiu Chuji and the others were all occupied with fighting the enemy; they didn’t know anything about it. When they heard this they asked, “Whose child is it? Where are they?”


Before Guo Jing could reply, a small dark figure suddenly appeared and jumped down from a beam of the roof. The person laughed and said, “I’m here.” It was Yang Guo.


Guo Jing was delighted, he quickly asked, “Why were you hiding up there?”


Yang Guo chuckled and said, “You are with the seven rotten Taoists.”


Guo Jing scolded, “Shut up! Come here quickly and greet the Grand Masters.”


Yang Guo stuck his tongue in and out of his mouth and kowtowed to Ma Yu, Qiu Chuji and Wang Chuyi, when he reached Yin Zhiping and saw that he was young, he turned his head around and asked, “He’s not a Grand Master is he? I think I don’t have to kowtow anymore.”


Guo Jing said, “That is Martial Uncle Yin, quickly kowtow.” Yang Guo didn’t want to but he still did it. Guo Jing saw him stand up and didn’t kowtow to the other three, he scolded, “Guo’er, how come you don’t kowtow, have you no manners?”


Yang Guo chuckled and said, “By the time I’ve finished kowtowing, it’ll be too late, don’t blame me.”


Guo Jing asked, “Too late for what?”


Yang Guo replied, “There is a Taoist who is tied up in a room; if we don’t go and save him, I’m afraid he’ll be burned to death.”


Guo Jing urgently asked, “Which room? Quickly tell us!”


Yang Guo pointed to the east and said, “I think it’s over there, I don’t know who tied him up.” He laughed after he said this.


Yin Zhiping gave him a glance, and rushed to the eastern double room, he kicked open the door but saw no one. He then ran to the room where the third generation students cultivate their internal energy and opened the door. The room was full of smoke but he saw a Taoist tied to a column crying out, he was in danger. Yin Zhiping picked up a sword, cut the rope, and rescued the Taoist.


Ma Yu, Qiu Chuji, Wang Chuyi, Guo Jing, Yang Guo and the rest of them left the hall and went up the mountain to a building where they watched the fire. They saw the back courtyard was in flames, the fire lighting up half the sky. There were few sources of water around, only a small spring that was used for everyday purposes; it would be useless to use it to try to put out the fire. They could only look on as the back courtyard was burnt down to ashes. The Quanzhen students worked together to stop the fire from spreading, the other halls and buildings were not harmed. Qiu Chuji was originally blithe and didn’t have a care. But he was also rash and bad tempered, as he saw the fierce flames, he ground his teeth and cursed.


Guo Jing was about to ask who the enemy were, and why did they respond in this way when he saw Yin Zhiping’s right hand was around a large Taoist’s waist. He had come out from the smoke and flames. The large Taoist was overcome by smoke and continuously coughed. Tears were in his eyes but when he saw Yang Guo he was furious, and jumped towards him. Yang Guo chuckled and hid behind Guo Jing. The Taoist did not know who Guo Jing was, he stretched out his hand and pushed his chest, wanting to move him out of the way and grab Yang Guo. But it was like pushing a brick wall; he didn’t move an inch. The Taoist stopped and pointed to Yang Guo and loudly shouted, “You little b*****d, you wanted to kill me!”


Wang Chuyi sternly said, “Jingguang, what are you talking about?”


The Taoist Lu Qingdu was an apprentice grandson of Wang Chuyi; he had barely escaped with his life and he was furious when he saw Yang Guo. He wanted to jump forward and grab him. He ignored the fact the elders were there and only when he heard Wang Chuyi call out once more did he realize he was out of order. He broke out in a cold sweat, he bowed his head and dropped his hands and said, “Disciple deserves to die.”


Wang Chuyi said, “What exactly happened?”


Lu Qingdu said, “It’s my fault for being useless, I request the elders to punish me.”


Wang Chuyi frowned and said, “Who said you were useless? I asked you, what is this about?”


Lu Qingdu replied, “Yes, yes. I was ordered by Master Zhao to guard the back courtyard. After a while, he came back with the little, little…” He wanted to say “Little b*****d”, but he knew he couldn’t act out of order in front of the elders again so he changed his words and said, “little boy and gave him to me, and said he was brought here by a formidable enemy of our sect. Martial Uncle Zhao had captured him and told me to guard him and don’t let him escape. So I took him to the eastern meditation room; after a while, he tricked me and said he needed the toilet and wanted me to untie him. I thought that he was just a small kid and wasn’t concerned that he would be able to get away so I untied him. I didn’t think that he was just sitting on the toilet and pretending to go; when he suddenly got up, picked up the bucket and threw the waste contents at me.” When Lu Qingdu got to this point, Yang Guo burst out laughing. Lu Qingdu angrily shouted, “What are you laughing at?”


Yang Guo lifted his head, his eyes towards the sky and said, “I want to laugh; what can you do about it?”


Lu Qingdu wanted to curse back when Wang Chuyi said, “Don’t quarrel with the child; continue.”


Lu Qingdu said, “Yes, yes. Elder you don’t know, but that little boy is very sly and crafty. When I saw the waste coming at me, I quickly dodged out of the way, but he laughed and said “Ah, Mr. Taoist, you’ve got some on your clothes!”


When the crowd heard him impersonate Yang Guo, his voice sounded funny, the others secretly wanted to laugh. Wang Chuyi frowned; he secretly cursed him for acting this way in front of others.


Lu Qingdu continued, “I was angry, and wanted to go over and beat him, but he raised the bucket and threw it at me. I shouted out “Little b*****d” and quickly used “Rapid Flowing Retreat” (ji liu yong tui) and moved out of the way. One of my feet stepped into the waste but after two wobbles I managed to stay on my feet. I wasn’t prepared when the boy took advantage of me while I was unsteady and took my sword from my waist and pointed it at my chest and said if I moved, he would pierce through my chest. I didn’t want anything to happen to me so I stood still. The boy held the sword with his left hand and with his right hand tied me up to a column, and then stuffed my mouth with a piece of cloth. Eventually the room caught fire and I couldn’t move I couldn’t call out; if it wasn’t for Martial Uncle Yin, would I not have been burnt to death by that boy?” After he said this, he stared furiously at Yang Guo.


After everyone heard this, they looked at Yang Guo and then looked at the Taoist, one was a small boy, the other a large fat man, they couldn’t help but burst out laughing. When Lu Qingdu heard them laugh out loud, he touched his ear and cheek; he didn’t know what to do with his hands and feet.


Ma Yu chuckled and said, “Jing’er is he your son? He takes after your wife, very quick and clever.”


Guo Jing said, “No, he is my brother Yang Kang’s son.


Qiu Chuji shivered when he heard this; he gave Yang Guo two glances and saw that he did indeed look like Yang Kang. Yang Kang was his first official student; he wasn’t obedient, yearned for wealth and riches, and acknowledged a scoundrel as his father. Every time Qiu Chuji went over this in his mind, he felt that he was to blame for Yang Kang’s behavior. He didn’t teach him properly and caused him to turn out like that. When he heard that Yang Kang had an heir, he was sad and delighted at the same time, he quickly asked for the details.


Guo Jing glossed over Yang Guo’s situation, and told them he wanted Yang Guo to study under the Quanzhen sect. Qiu Chuji said, “Jing’er, your martial arts have long exceeded ours, why don’t you teach him yourself?”


Guo Jing said, “I will tell you everything later. I have offended a lot of Taoist brothers today on the way here, I’m very sorry, I apologize to all the elders, and I hope you can forgive me. He held his hands together to those Taoists who he had fought.


Ma Yu said, “If you hadn’t arrived just in time, our sect would have been destroyed. We are not strangers; there is no need to apologize.”


Qiu Chuji’s brows rose, and after Ma Yu had finished he said to him, “Zhijing led the formation outside; he couldn’t tell the difference between friend and foe. I thought it was strange that there was a strong formation placed outside, but when I looked away for a second the enemy managed to break through and attacked us. Huh, so it was him who led the formation away to try to catch you.” His eyes squinted, he was livid; he summoned two disciples to him, and asked how they could mistake Guo Jing for the enemy.


The two disciples were frightened and changed colour, the older of the two said, “Apprentice brothers Feng and Wei ran up to us, and said hero Guo had smashed the stone slab at the “Everywhere Light Temple”, and knew that he must have been with the enemy.”


Guo Jing remembered the events, and couldn’t believe all the misunderstanding arose from that, he said, “You can’t blame these Taoist brothers. When I was at the Light Everywhere Temple, I inadvertently slammed down a heavy palm on the stone slab that had your poem on it; it was because of this that the misunderstanding was created.”


Qiu Chuji said, “So it was because of this, what a coincidence. We already knew that the enemy would come today, and they would use the slamming of the rock as a signal.”


Guo Jing said, “Who were they? How come they were so daring?”


Qiu Chuji sighed and said, “It is a long story, Jing’er, come, I am going to show you something.” He then nodded to Ma Yu and Wang Chuyi; he turned around and headed for the back side of the mountain. Guo Jing turned around to Yang Guo and said, “Guo’er, stay here.” He followed Qiu Chuji. He saw him heading around mountain, his steps rapid, like those of a young man.


The two arrived at the peak of the mountain; Qiu Chuji went up to a large stone slab and said, “There are some words written here.”


It was dark; on the back of the large stone were some words. Guo Jing reached out to the back of the stone, and felt that there were some words written on it, he tried to recognize the words, it was a poem: “His will flows under the bridge. Assisting the Han to gain influence, a winding pillar under the sky, wanting to be free to roam, he walked away after succeeding. Raising people and raising books, the price is heavy. Chongyang raised Quanzhen, his wish had been done, the hero’s disposition had gone, clearly marking his separation. Enduring this, the heart lives in a tomb. A person becomes a man of religion, two immortals will meet. Forever on Mount Zhongnan, a mist will linger.” Guo Jing touched the rock and traced the writing with his fingers at the same time, he was startled, the writing matched the strokes of writing with his fingers, it was as if the writing on the rock was carved on using a finger, he exclaimed, “It was written using a finger?”


Qiu Chuji said, “It startles people when they hear this, indeed it was written using a finger!”


Guo Jing said, “There is such a thing as a god on earth?”


Qiu Chuji said, “The poem was written by two people. The two of them are both famous people in the world of Wulin. The person who wrote the first part of the poem is a very special person, eloquent in both kung fu and the arts; they had reached that stage with ease. It’s not a god, but a once in a hundred years outstanding personality.”


Guo Jing was full of admiration, and asked, “Who was this senior? Could elder introduce me to them so I could meet them.”


Qiu Chuji said, “I have never seen that person. Sit down; I will explain the reasons for today’s events.”


Guo Jing sat down on the rock and looked on at the fire dying down at the foot of the peak, and said, “It is a pity that Rong’er is not with me, wouldn’t it be great if we could hear this interesting story together.”


Qiu Chuji said, “Do you understand the poem?” Guo Jing is now middle aged, but the tone that Qiu Chuji spoke in was the same as if he were talking to the young Guo Jing of ten years ago, it wasn’t deliberate.


Guo Jing understood the meaning and said, “The first part of the poem is talking about Zhang Liang, I have heard his story from Rong’er so I understand a little. He met an old man underneath a bridge and picked up his shoe; the man treated him like his son and taught him the arts. Later he helped to regain the land of the Han and became one of the three heroes; he eventually retired and lived free from care. The latter part is about ancestor Chongyang, so I don’t know much about that.”


Qiu Chuji said, “Do you know what type of person Founder Chongyang was?”


Guo Jing thought for a while and said, “Founder Chongyang was your teacher, he was the one who built the Quanzhen sect, and at the first Mount Hua tournament he was the victor.”


Qiu Chuji said, “You are correct, what about when he was younger?”


Guo Jing shook his head and replied, “I don’t know.”


Qiu Chuji said, “The hero’s disposition had gone, clearly marking his separation. My teacher hadn’t always been a Taoist. When he was young, he first learned the arts; then studied martial arts, and was a respected hero in Jianghu. But because of his hate for the Jin soldiers entering his homeland, ruining his homeland and killing his people, he carried the flag and fought the Jin. He set up a boundary, and managed to do great things in the central plains, but eventually the Jin army broke through, my teacher lost the battles. Many soldiers died. He eventually became a Taoist. He became “the living dead”, and for a few years he lived in the tomb in our mountain. He didn’t take a step out of the tomb; his meaning was that he was alive but dead. He didn’t want to live under the same sky as the Jin scoundrels. What was called “bu gong dai tian” (will not live under the same sky as one’s enemy) and that was his intention.”


Guo Jing said, “I understand now.”


Qiu Chuji said, “After a few years, an old friend of my teacher came and tried to persuade him to leave the tomb and do great things with him again. My teacher was still downhearted, and felt that he couldn’t face his old Jianghu friends anymore; and so didn’t leave the tomb. Eight years later, a lifelong rival of my teacher arrived outside the tomb and cursed and insulted him for seven days and for seven nights; my teacher couldn’t stand it anymore and came out of the cave to confront him. Who would have thought that the person would give a laugh and say, “You’ve come out now, there is no need to return!” My teacher was startled at his words, and realized that the enemy had good intentions. He felt it was a pity that someone of his ability would hide themselves in the tomb and tricked him into coming out. The two changed the relationship, from enemies into friends, and both re-entered the world of Jianghu.”


When Guo Jing heard about this senior’s actions, he was curious and asked, “Who are these persons? Are they in the same class as the four greats Eastern Heretic, Western Poison, Southern Emperor and Northern Beggar?”


Qiu Chuji said, “No. When it comes to martial arts, she is above the four greats, but because she is a woman, she didn’t like to attract the attention of other people and so outsiders did not know much about her; even her name was unknown.


Guo Jing said, “Oh, so it was a girl.”



Qiu Chuji sighed, “That senior was actually in love with my teacher, and wanted to marry to him. That year they kept on arguing and fighting, but it was because the girl wanted to get closer to my teacher. But she was a very proud woman and didn’t want to be the one to show her feelings first. Eventually my teacher understood, but my teacher could not forget that he had to help his country to drive out the enemy, and said, “I have not completed my wishes, how could I settle down now?” My teacher rejected her love and didn’t know what to do. That senior thought that my teacher didn’t respect her feelings and the feud between them restarted. They had been enemies who turned friends but became enemies again because of love, and agreed to a date to duel on Mount Zhongnan.”


Guo Jing said, “There was no need for it.”


Qiu Chuji replied, “Yes! My teacher knew her feelings and had to let her win. Who would have thought the senior’s character was strange, she said, “If you let me win, then that means you have even less respect for me?” My teacher could do nothing else but to duel with her. The two then fought each other, a few thousand moves passed, my teacher did not use any powerful moves, and eventually it was hard to pick a winner. The woman said, “You are not using all your ability to fight, who do you think I am?” My teacher said, “It is hard to pick out a winner from dueling, how about we test our literature skills?? The woman said, “Fine. If I lose, I won’t ever see you again so you can be in peace.” My teacher then said, “What do you want if you win?? The woman’s face turned red, and she couldn’t reply; she eventually clenched her teeth and said, “You’ve got to give up your Living Dead Tomb for me to live in.” The woman had a hidden meaning behind her demand, if she won, she would live with my teacher and be together. My teacher felt awkward, he knew his martial arts skills were slightly higher than hers; he would be forced to beat her otherwise he wouldn’t have any more quiet days. So he asked her, “How are we going to compete.”


She said, “Today we are both tired, we’ll meet again tomorrow night.” When it was approaching dusk, the two met again. She said, “Before we compete, we need to set a rule.” My teacher said, “What rule do you want to set?” The woman said, “If you win, I’ll immediately kill myself; I won’t see you ever again. If I win you have to give the Tomb of the Living Dead to me, obey me forever and mustn’t question anything. If you don’t, you have to become a man of religion; I don’t care if you become a monk or a Taoist. Whether you become a Taoist or a monk, you will need to build a temple and accompany me for ten years.”


My teacher understood, “obey her forever” means that she wants me to marry her. If I don’t and become a monk or a Taoist, I won’t be able to marry another. But how can I win and watch you kill yourself? It is also hard for me to accompany you for ten years here.” My teacher hesitated on his decision. The senior excelled in terms of looks and martial arts; my teacher was touched by her love, but when it came to getting married, they just weren’t destined to. My teacher thought for a while, and eventually made his decision, and knew she would do what she had said. If she lost she would definitely kill herself, and decided no matter what they competed at he would let her win. He said, “Fine, as you said.”


The woman said, “If we just competed in literature it would be too easy. We’ll write some words on that stone using our fingers, whoever writes the best will be the winner.”


My teacher shook his head and said, “I’m not a god, how can I use my finger to write on that stone?”


The woman said, “If I can then, you’ll admit defeat?”


My teacher was forced to agree with no other option. He knew that no one on earth could do this and so exploited it and thought of a way that there will be no winner or loser, and the competition would end. He said, “If you’ve got the ability then I’ll admit defeat. If you can’t do it, there is no difference between us and we will not compete anymore.”


The woman gave a laugh and said, “Fine, get ready to be a Taoist.” As she said this, her left hand stroked the rock for a while, and after a while she said, “What should I write? Ah, the first hero who became a man of religion was Zhang Zhifang. He gave up his name and wealth, he’s your ancestor.” She then stretched out her right hand and extended her index finger, and wrote on the stone. My teacher saw her finger touch the rock, and dust flowed from the rock, she had carved a word, he had never been so startled in his life. She wrote the first part of the poem.


My teacher had lost and had nothing to say, he immediately moved out of the tomb and let her move in, and near the tomb he built a small Taoist temple; it was the predecessor of the Chongyang Palace.”  

[Lil_Dragon_Gurl]

Guo Jing also couldn’t believe it, he extended his finger and traced the writing on the rock, the carvings were indeed written with a finger and said, “That senior’s finger kung fu would indeed frighten people when they hear about it.”


Qiu Chuji raised his head and laughed out to the sky, “Jing’er, this event could fool my teacher, me and now even you. But if your wife was here, she would not be fooled.”


Guo Jing opened his eyes wide and said, “Is there some kind of trick involved?”


Qiu Chuji said, “Could it be? Who on earth has the best finger kung fu?”


Guo Jing said, “Of course it’s Reverend Yideng and his “Solitary Yang Finger”.”


Qiu Chuji replied, “Yes! But even with Reverend Yideng’s finger kung fu, it would be hard for him to accomplish this feat on a piece of wood, how would he be able to do it on a piece of rock? And could someone else achieve this? My teacher became a Taoist and still could not figure out what happened. Later, your father in law Island Master Huang came and visited my teacher. He knew that he was a very intelligent man and so told him the events, and asked him to help. Island master Huang thought for a while and then gave a chuckle, “I understand. I have yet to complete this type of kung fu; I’ll come back in one month’s time.” He laughed as he left the mountain.


After a month, Island Master Huang came back and went with my teacher to look at the rock again. When that senior wrote her poem, she ended it with “Raising people and raising books, the price is heavy?” Her meaning was that she wanted my teacher to have the same fate as Zhang Liang, leave the world and enter religion. Island Master Huang stroked the rock slab with his left hand for a while, his right hand stretched out and extended his finger and wrote a few words, he wrote everything from “Chongyang raised Quanzhen” to “Forever on Mount Zhongnan, a mist will linger”; he wrote to praise my teacher.


My teacher saw that the words were deep, and were exactly the same as what happened last time, and was even more startled and thought, “Huang Yaoshi’s kung fu is definitely below me, how on earth did he managed to obtain such a powerful finger skill?” He was suspicious and extended his finger on to the rock and he managed to make a hole in it.


He then led Guo Jing’s hand to where his teacher had made the hole. Guo Jing felt the mark, and put his finger in it, true enough, it was as if someone had made it with their finger. He thought, “Could it be that the rock is especially soft, and not like any other rock?” He generated chi in his finger and pressed into the rock, but he felt his fingertip start to ache, the rock did not move.


Qiu Chuji laughed, “Even the foolish little boy can’t figure it out. Before the woman wrote on the stone slab, her left hand had stroked the rock for a while. She was actually holding a piece of small rock, and made the rock surface soft, within the time it takes to burn an incense stick, the stone slab would remain soft. Island Master Huang saw through the trick, and went away to find a suitable stone to do this and then came back to demonstrate this.”


Guo Jing didn’t say anything and thought, “My father in law’s intelligence is not below that of that senior, but where is he now?” He missed him a lot.


Qiu Chuji didn’t know what he was thinking and carried on, “When my teacher first became a Taoist, he was still vehement, but as he read more Taoist books, he knew it was meant to be, he became enlightened and decided to spread our sect’s name. When you think about it, if it weren’t for that senior’s plan, the Quanzhen sect would not exist; I would not be here today, and we wouldn’t know where you, Guo Jing, would be.”


Guo Jing nodded, and asked, “So what is that senior’s name, and is she still alive?”


Qiu Chuji sighed and replied, “When that senior was in the world of Wulin, she was always discreet, very few people actually saw her. Apart from my teacher, I don’t think anyone else knows her name, and my teacher never actually mentioned her name. That senior had passed away before the time of the first Mount Hua tournament, otherwise with her martial arts and character, how can it be that she did not appear?”


Guo Jing nodded his head and said, “It must be. Does she have any descendants?”


Qiu Chuji sighed and said, “All of today’s trouble comes from this point. That senior didn’t take in a disciple during her life; she only had a maid with her. That maid did not enter the world of Jianghu, so no one knew about her, but she took in two disciples. The eldest disciple is called Li, you must know about this, in Jianghu they call her the “Scarlet Serpent Deity” Li Mochou.”


Guo Jing gave an “ah” sound and said, “That Li Mochou is vindictive and ruthless, so those are her origins.”


Qiu Chuji said, “You’ve seen her?”


Guo Jing replied, “A few months ago, I came across her in Jiang Nan. Her kung fu is at a very high level.”


Qiu Chuji said, “You hurt her?”


Guo Jing shook his head, “No, we didn’t actually meet each other, I only saw how she killed countless women, her ruthlessness has no comparisons, like Mei Chaofeng was when she was alive.”


Qiu Chuji said, “It was fortunate you didn’t hurt her, otherwise there’d be trouble. Her apprentice sister is named “Long”.”


Guo Jing shivered and said, “She is the girl called Long?”


Qiu Chuji’s face changed colour slightly, and said, “What? You’ve seen her? How did this happen?”


Guo Jing said, “Disciple has not seen her before. When I was coming up the mountain, the Taoist brothers insulted me and called me a perverted scoundrel, and said I came for the one called Long, this made me confused.”


Qiu Chuji laughed out loud, and sighed at the same time, “Chongyang Palace took the matter into its own hands. If we hadn’t made this error, and created the misunderstanding, not only would the large “Big Dipper Formation” have repelled the attackers, you would have arrived here earlier, and apprentice brother Hao would not have been hurt.”


He saw that Guo Jing’s face was fascinated and continued, “Today is the one named Long’s eighteenth birthday.”


Guo Jing opened his mouth and said, “Ah, it’s her eighteenth birthday!” However he did not understand how a girl’s eighteenth birthday could cause so much trouble.


Qiu Chuji said, “Outsiders do not know her first name so all of those troublemakers call her Xiao Longnu, we’ll call her that as well. One night eighteen years ago, there was the cry of a little baby girl outside Chongyang Palace, a palace disciple came out to take a look, and saw the little baby girl wrapped in a bundle on the ground. It was inconvenient for the palace to take in a baby girl, but Taoists are supposed to be merciful so we couldn’t leave her there. At the time my apprentice brother who was the master of the sect, and I were not on the mountain, and before any of the disciples of the palace could do anything, a middle aged woman suddenly came out from behind the mountain and said, “The little baby is unfortunate and pitiful, I’ll take her in!” The disciples couldn’t have asked for more, and so gave the baby girl to her. Later, apprentice brother Ma and I returned to the palace, when they told us about this event, from the description of the woman, we knew she was the maid from the Tomb of the Living Dead. She had met the seven of us a few times before, but we had never spoken. Although we are neighbors and because of our seniors’ relationship, it is difficult for us to talk to her about it. When I heard that the matter was resolved, I didn’t keep it in my mind. Later, her disciple the “Scarlet Serpent Deity” Li Mochou, left the mountain. She was ruthless and vindictive, her martial arts were very high, and caused trouble around the world of Jianghu. Our Quanzhen sect requested to talk to the maid about this many times, to get her to do something about it. Eventually, we didn’t act out of respect for her. We wrote a letter and sent it to the tomb. It was extremely respectful and polite. After we sent the letter, it was like a stone sinking into the sea, she still did not reply, and she tolerated Li Mochou’s actions, and didn’t govern her.


One day, after a few years, outside the tomb we saw a white banner hung on a pine thorn thicket and we knew that the woman had passed away, so the six of us went to the tomb to pay our respects. As we were going through the ceremony, a thirteen or fourteen year old girl emerged from the pine thorn thickets, greeted us and thanked us for the ceremony, and said, “Master has left the world, and has ordered me to tell all you elders that if that person still causes trouble, my master has a plan to punish her, please don’t worry.” When she finished, she turned around and went back inside. We wanted to ask her some questions about this but she had already gone back into the tomb. Our master had made a rule; everyone under the order of the Quanzhen sect must not take one step into the tomb. When she left, we pondered and wondered, our Taoist friend is dead, so how could she punish her student? We felt sorry for the little girl and so we sent her food and supplies, but each time she did not touch them, and ordered a servant to return them. She was strange. She was just like her teacher, and her ancestor. But she had a servant to look after her, so we didn’t worry about her. Eventually we all had business to attend to, and were rarely present in the palace. We didn’t hear anything from the girl. For some reason, news of Li Mochou disappeared and she didn’t cause any more trouble. We knew that our Taoist friend had come up with an ingenious plan, and we all were in awe.


Spring came, me and apprentice brother Wang had to go away to Shanxi for some business. We were at a hero’s home in Guangzhou when we heard startling news. We heard that one year later, all types of crooks, scoundrels and evildoers would descend on Mount Zhongnan and cause havoc. Mount Zhongnan is the root of our sect and the reason they’ve come to Mount Zhongnan is to fight our sect, how could we not take precautions? Apprentice brother Wang and I were afraid that the news was unreliable, so we sent out people to investigate; true enough, the news was real. But it wasn’t because they wanted to duel with our sect, but it was to do with Xiao Longnu of the Tomb of the Living Dead.


Guo Jing asked, “She is just a young girl, and has never left the tomb, how did she make enemies with all those people?”


Qiu Chuji replied, “The reasons for all this wasn’t related to us and originally we didn’t care. One day when the evildoers started to descend on Mount Zhongnan, we decided we couldn’t just stand by, so we listened for more news, and discovered that Xiao Longnu’s apprentice sister Li Mochou started all this business.”


Guo Jing said, “Li Mochou?”


Qiu Chuji said, “Yes. Her master had taught her martial arts for a few years and had discovered her character was ill, and so said she had completed her training, and ordered her to leave the mountain. When Li Mochou’s master was still alive, although she did evil deeds, she was still slightly worried. But when her teacher died, she used the excuse of paying her respects to enter the Tomb of the Living Dead, and tried to expel her apprentice sister. She knew that she had not learned everything from her master or her sect’s founder, and wanted to come to see if there were any kung fu manuals or manuscripts hidden in the tomb. She knew that there were many booby traps in the tomb, and remembered them. She entered through two sets of doors of the tomb, and by the third one she saw a letter left by her teacher. Her teacher had predicted that she would come back, and left this letter for her and part of the letter said: “On a certain year, month, date, it will be your apprentice sister’s eighteenth birthday. If you do not stop your evil ways and repent, then your apprentice sister will assume leadership and seek you out and rid the sect of so treacherous a disciple.


Li Mochou was furious, and burst through the third set of doors, and fell into the poisonous trap left by her teacher; if it wasn’t for Xiao Longnu curing her poison, she would have died. She knew that it was lethal and so left the tomb. But she had failed, would she let it go? Eventually she came back a few times but each time she suffered. In her last attempt, she actually fought with her apprentice sister. Xiao Longnu was only fifteen or sixteen years of age at that time, but her skills exceeded that of her apprentice sister. If she hadn’t let her off, it would not have been a hard task to take her life.”


Guo Jing interrupted, “I’m afraid that could be just a rumour of the Jianghu world.”


Qiu Chuji asked, “Why?”


Guo Jing replied, “My master hero Ke has fought with Li Mochou twice, and said that her skills had their fine points. Even Reverend Yideng’s high disciple Wu Santong lost to her. Xiao Longnu has not even reached twenty yet, even if her skills were higher, it would be hard for her to beat Li Mochou.”


Qiu Chuji said, “That piece of news was heard by apprentice brother Wang from a friend of his from the Beggar Clan. Whether Xiao Longnu did or did not defeat her apprentice sister, there wasn’t a witness so no one knows apart from them. I only know that this was what people of Jianghu said. Li Mochou was upset and jealous that her teacher was biased, and passed on the higher set of skills to her apprentice sister. So she created a rumour, and said that on a certain year, month and date, the one called Xiao Longnu who lives in the tomb will have a martial arts competition to decide her marriage.”


Guo Jing heard about this, he immediately thought about when Yang Kang and Mu Nianci met in Yanjing, and let out a quiet sigh.


Qiu Chuji knew what he was thinking and he too gave a sigh, and said, “She revealed: whoever beats Xiao Longnu, not only will they get to marry her, all the riches and kung fu manuals of the sect will be theirs. The evildoers did not know who Xiao Longnu was, but Li Mochou widely spread the fact that her apprentice sister’s beauty exceeded hers. The “Scarlet Serpent Deity” is said to be a very beautiful woman, her beauty is very rare within the world of Wulin, and even women from brothels can’t compare with her.”


Guo Jing thought, “What is so special about that? My Rong’er exceeds her beauty over one hundred times.”


Qiu Chuji continued, “Many evildoers of the Wulin world lusted after Li Mochou. But those who give a prolonged glance, or did not treat her with respect she would immediately punish them. Now they hear she has an apprentice sister whose beauty exceeded hers, and who had publicly announced that she will have a competition to decide her marriage, so they all thought why not and try their luck?”


Guo Jing was startled and said, “So all those people that were here were in search of marriage. Its no wonder the students of the palace called me a perverted scoundrel.”


Qiu Chuji said, “I also heard that these people did not even care about the Quanzhen sect. When a large crowd of people descended on Mount Zhongnan, we wanted to intervene and become a needle in their eyes. Apprentice brother Wang and I had received the news, and decided to repel the evildoers. We had gathered all the students of our sect ten days earlier. Apprentice brother Liu and apprentice sister Sun were in Shanxi and couldn’t return. We arranged to practice the “Big Dipper Formations” and we also sent a letter to the tomb to invite Xiao Longnu to the palace. The letter was sent, but there was no reply, Xiao Longnu had ignored us.”


Guo Jing said, “So she left the tomb.”


Qiu Chuji said, “No. From the top of the mountain and looking downwards, you could see smoke coming out from the tomb everyday. Take a look, it’s over there.” He pointed to the west. Guo Jing followed his finger and looked to the west, but all he could see for ten miles was forest, he did not know where the Tomb of the Living Dead was. He thought about the young eighteen-year-old girl, living in the tomb all the time; if it was Rong’er, she would be bored to death.


Qiu Chuji said, “All our apprentice brothers were set to meet the enemy. Five days ago, the scouts who were sent out came back and discovered who the two most powerful people were from the crowd of evildoers. They had agreed to first meet at the foot of the mountain at the Everywhere Light Temple, and used the smashing of the stone slab as the signal. You inadvertently smashed the stone slab, and frightened people with your strength; it was no wonder my grand disciples made such a commotion.


The two tyrants’ names are quite famous; they have entered the central plains this year to shake the world of Wulin. You have resided on Peach Blossom Island so you wouldn’t know about the affairs of the outside world. That nobleman is a Mongolian prince, it was said that he is Genghis Khan’s close nephew. Other people call him Prince Huo Dou. You’ve lived on the plains of Mongolia for a long time, and you were familiar with the royalty, can you remember meeting anyone like him?”


Guo Jing quietly repeated “Prince Huo Dou”, he recalled his face, but couldn’t remember whose son he could be, but he felt that his face was handsome, proud but also carried a devious air. Genghis Khan had four sons, the eldest Shu Chi [Jochi] was violent and brave, the second son Cha He Tai [Chagatai] was a clever planner, the third prince Wo Kuo Tai [Ogedai] is the khan of the Mongols at this moment in time, he was easy going, the fourth prince Tuo Lei [Tolui] was the most humane, when he thought about it, Huo Dou did not resemble any of the four princes.


Qiu Chuji said, “I’m afraid that a man of his stature coming to create havoc here has an ulterior motive. His kung fu originates from Western Tibet; he arrived in the central plains at the beginning of the year. He wounded the three heroes of Henan, and later on he single-handedly killed the seven Lords of Lanzhou. His name was spread widely throughout the land, we didn’t predict that he would have the nerve to come to our sect and cause trouble. The other Tibetan monk is called Da’erba; he has supernatural strength, and his kung fu is from the same school as Huo Dou. It appears that he is the senior apprentice brother. He is a monk, of course he hasn’t come here to get married; he’s here to aid Huo Dou.


When the rest of the evil men heard the two were coming, they remembered the matter of dueling for marriage. Years ago, in front of a crowd of people, Li Mochou had said the tomb contained mountains of treasures, and had countless kung fu manuscripts and manuals; saying there was the formulae to the “Eighteen Subduing Dragon Palms”, the “Solitary Yang Finger” and numerous others. Although the crooks and scoundrels were unsure, they thought that if they went up to the mountain and opened up the tomb, they would be able to get a share of the spoils. About one hundred or so of them came up the mountain. Originally our “Big Dipper Formation” could have easily repelled them away from the foot of our mountain, not allowing them to come through and teach them not to take one step into Chongyang Palace. We were resisting them when the misunderstanding occurred; there is no need to say anymore.”


Guo Jing felt very guilty and apologetic, and wanted to say a few words of apology. Qiu Chuji waved his hand and laughed, “Letting a laugh out rids your worries and the moon is still in the sky above the western lake. The halls and buildings are just objects; human possessions mean nothing, so why worry about them? You have honed your martial arts for the last ten years, could it be that you do not understand the meaning of this?”


Guo Jing laughed and said, “Yes!”


Qiu Chuji laughed and said, “Actually when I saw the back courtyard being burned down to the ground, I was very angry and furious, but after a while I calmed down. Compared to how calm apprentice brother Ma was, I am nowhere as enlightened as he is.”


Guo Jing said, “You can’t blame yourself for getting angry at all those crooks and scoundrels.”


Qiu Chuji said, “As you fought with the main “Big Dipper Formation”, the two tyrants led a pack of scoundrels and took advantage of the situation and led them to Chongyang Palace. As soon as they arrived, they set fire to the buildings; apprentice brother Hao led a formation out against Prince Huo Dou. He was wary of Huo Duo’s skills as they were very strange. Apprentice brother Hao was careless and rash when he was fighting him, and ended up being struck in the chest. We set up a formation to protect him. Without apprentice brother Hao in the formation we had to replace him with students whose skills were much inferior, thus the power of the formation was reduced and limited. If you hadn’t arrived just in time, today would be the day where the Quanzhen sect would have been destroyed. When I think about it, even if the other students didn’t mistake you for the enemy, though they would be able to stop all the scoundrels and crooks from entering the mountain, they would not be able to stop Da’erba and Huo Dou. If the two combined together and attacked our formation, we would not have lost, but we definitely would not have defeated them as quickly and as spectacularly as you did.”


As he said this, they heard a sound from the west; someone was blowing a horn. The horn sound was pleasant and relaxing, as Guo Jing listened, he imagined himself back in the Mongolian plains, looking out at the yellow sands of Mongolia, giving off a beautiful glow.


After a while, he heard “an intent to kill” was beginning to emerge from the sounds of the horn, as if it was trying to invite someone for a duel.


Qiu Chuji’s face turned angry and shouted, “Beasts, beasts!”

He looked at the forest to the west and said, “Jing’er, you and that scoundrel have set a ten year date; you are going to meet again in these ten years, I advise to you not to intervene. Is there such a sincere and honorable thing under heaven? Let’s go!”


Guo Jing said, “It is Prince Huo Dou?”


Qiu Chuji replied, “It is him. He is trying to get Xiao Longnu to duel with him.” While saying this, he was already flying down the mountain. Guo Jing followed.


The two traveled for about a mile, when they heard the horn sound was getting closer, but within the sound of the horn, they could make out the sound of a weapon was being used; it was Da’erba.


Qiu Chuji was angry and said, “How can two martial artists gang up and bully a young girl; they really don’t care about face.” He increased his efforts and sped up. In a flash, the two were at the foot of the hill, passing a stone slab. All Guo Jing could see in front of him was a black forest. Outside the forest stood one hundred short and tall scoundrels and crooks, it was the same people who had just attacked Chongyang Palace. The two of them hid behind the stone slab, surveying their actions. They saw Prince Huo Dou and Da’erba get up. Prince Huo Dou raised his horn and blew. Da’erba raised a large golden pestle (rod shaped object used for crushing) with his left hand. He tapped the golden bracelet on his right wrist with the pestle, and created a noise, the two noises combined, trying to draw out Xiao Longnu. The two did this for a while, but no sounds came from the forest.


Huo Dou put down his horn, and clearly said, “I am Mongolia’s Prince Huo Dou; I have come to congratulate Xiao Longnu on your birthday.”


As he finished, three chords from a zither was heard, it was Xiao Longnu replying. Hu Dou was happy and said, “It is known far and wide that Miss Long will have a duel to find a husband. I have dared to come forward, and meet this challenge, I ask Miss Long to make her move. A resounding sound was suddenly heard from the zither, clearly showing signs of anger. The rest of the crowd didn’t move, they could hear from the zither notes the intent of the player, wanting them to leave. Huo Dou chuckled and said, “I am from an affluent family, handsome, sincere and willing, I wouldn’t dare to offend you. Miss Long is a heroine in the world, please don’t be shy.”


When he finished, the sound of the zither soared, a note of reproving could be heard from within the sound. Huo Dou glanced at Da’erba, the monk nodded. Huo Dou said, “If Miss does not show herself, then I will have to enter.” He then picked up his horn, waved his right hand and leapt into the forest. The crowd of people also went forward, and all thought, “Even the famous Quanzhen sect could not stop us, Xiao Longnu is alone and is just a young girl, aren’t we overdoing things?” But they were all thinking about getting to the treasure first and ignored this, pushing and shoving they entered the forest.


Qiu Chuji shouted out, “This place is Quanzhen sect’s Founder Chongyang’s old residence, leave quickly.”


When the crowd heard this, they were all startled, but their feet didn’t stop moving forwards.


Qiu Chuji was angry and said, “Jing’er, let’s use force!” The two emerged from behind the stone slab and were about to enter the forest; then they suddenly heard cries from the crowd of people, and they were dashing back out of the forest.


Qiu Chuji and Guo Jing stopped, they saw tens of people flying out of the forest, even Huo Dou and Da’erba came flying out, they were rushing out much quicker than they did when they were forced away from Chongyang Palace. Qiu Chuji and Guo Jing wondered, “What method did Xiao Longnu used to drive these people away?” As they wondered, they suddenly heard the sounds of something approaching quickly, under the moonlight they saw a collection of white and grey blurs emerging from the forest, and were diving onto the crowds of evildoers.


Guo Jing asked, “What is that?” Qiu Chuji shook his head and did not reply, and looked closer, some of the people who were running slower were being dived on by the things and they immediately dropped down onto the ground, holding their heads and screaming.


Guo Jing was startled and said, “It’s a swarm of bees, why are they white?” As he said this, a swarm of jade colored bees stung five or six people. In front of the forest were ten people who were rolling about on the ground, crying and screaming. It would have sent shivers down the backs to those who could hear them. Guo Jing thought, “It does hurt if you get stung by a bee, but there is no need to cry out like that; could it be that the Jade Bee’s poison is very potent?” He saw a grey image flying towards him, the Jade Bees were like smoke, and were flying onto Guo Jing and Qiu Chuji. The bees were ferocious and it was hard to repel them, Guo Jing wanted to turn around and escape, Qiu Chuji circulated chi through his “dan tian”, and blew out through his mouth at the bees that were coming towards him. The swarm of bees was flying forwards fiercely, but when they met the fierce gust of wind they were pushed back. As Qiu Chuji’s first breath finished he sent out a second one. Guo Jing had learned this type of skill, and then did the same; he and Qiu Chuji created a gust of wind. The skills they used were advanced orthodox skills, the swarm of bees could not resist and flew past the two and chased after Huo Dou and Da’erba.


The people who were rolling along on the ground were crying out for mercy, calling out for their fathers and mothers, and sobbing uncontrollably. Someone said, “I’m sorry, I beg goddess Xiao Longnu to save my life!”


Guo Jing was startled; “He is a member of the Jianghu world, even if his arm or leg was chopped off, he may not call out in pain. How can just a little sting by a bee be so lethal?”


Suddenly the sound of the zither was heard from the forest, accompanying it was a white mist. Guo Jing and Qiu Chuji could smell the scent of an extremely sweet and fragrant flower. After a while, the sounds of the bees came closer, the bees sensed the aroma and returned to the forest, it was Xiao Longnu who had created the scent to order the bees back.


Qiu Chuji and Xiao Longnu had been neighbors for eighteen years but he didn’t know that she had such skills; he was in awe but also felt amused, and said, “If we knew our fragrant neighbor was so prepared, the Quanzhen sect should not have been so nosy.” Although he was talking to Guo Jing, he had said it with his chi and wanted Xiao Longnu to hear it. The music from the forest changed, gentle and peaceful, the sense of appreciation was hidden within the music. Qiu Chuji laughed out loud, and said clearly, “Miss, there is no need for all this. This Old Taoist and disciple Guo Jing wish you well on your birthday.” Two notes were heard from the zither and then nothing more.


Guo Jing sensed that within the notes there was a feeling of sorrow and pity. He said to Qiu Chuji, “Elder, why did she let them go?”


Qiu Chuji replied, “Miss Long makes her own decisions, let’s go.” The two turned around and headed east, on the way, Guo Jing once again requested Qiu Chuji to accept Yang Guo into Quanzhen.


Qiu Chuji sighed, “Your godfather Yang Tiexin was a great hero, why did he have no descendants? I played a part in the downfall of Yang Kang. Don’t worry, I will do my best and teach the boy how to be a good person.”


Guo Jing was pleased, and got down on his knees to say thanks. The two chatted away as they reached Chongyang Palace; the sky had now begun to get bright. Many Taoists were clearing up the back courtyard and tending to the damage.


Qiu Chuji summoned a group of Taoists to meet Guo Jing, and pointed out to the bearded Taoist who had led the “Big Dipper Formation” against him and said, “That is apprentice brother Wang’s first disciple, his name is Zhao Zhijing. Out of all the third generation disciples, his kung fu is the highest, we’ll let him teach Guo’er kung fu.”


Guo Jing had exchanged hands with that person, and knew his kung fu was high, and he was pleased, and ordered Yang Guo to undergo the custom of greeting a new master to Zhao Zhijing, and he himself apologized to Zhao Zhijing. Guo Jing remained on Mount Zhongnan for a few days, and repeatedly gave advice to Yang Guo, then, after saying goodbyes to him and the Taoists, he returned to Peach Blossom Island.


Qiu Chuji remembered years ago when he taught Yang Kang kung fu, and let him do as he pleased in the palace. Eventually this led Yang Kang to make wrong choices and thought, “Being strict will create a good student, and being harsh will bring a filial son. I must be strict and keep a close eye on Guo’er; otherwise he will follow the same road as his father.” He then summoned Yang Guo, and then gave him a stern talking to, and told him he will have hardships ahead, he must listen to every word that his master says, and must not be lazy.


Yang Guo did not even want to be on Mount Zhongnan, and for no reason he was given a strict scolding, he was angry, he held in his tears and didn’t reply, when Qiu Chuji left he let out a cry and sobbed.


Suddenly a voice from behind coldly said, “What’s the matter? Has Martial Grand Master wronged you?”


Yang Guo was startled; he stopped crying and turned around only to see his master Zhao Zhijing, he quickly dropped his hands and said, “No.”


Zhao Zhijing said, “Why did you cry?”


Yang Guo said, “I was thinking about Uncle Guo and became sad.”


He had just heard Qiu Chuji giving a stern scolding to him, now Yang Guo is saying it is because he misses Guo Jing, he wasn’t convinced and thought, “He is so crafty already at such a young age; if I don’t punish him now, how could he change?” He then shouted, “You dare to lie to your master?”


Yang Guo had seen how Guo Jing had beaten the Taoists so spectacularly and convincingly, and had seen Qiu Chuji and the others being forced back onto their hands and feet by Huo Dou and the evildoers. They depended on Guo Jing to save them, so he had already made up his mind on the Quanzhen kung fu being nothing but ordinary. He didn’t respect Qiu Chuji, what about Zhao Zhijing? Guo Jing had neglected to explain to him that the Quanzhen sect’s kung fu was orthodox and profound, years ago Wang Chongyang’s kung fu was the best in the world, other family’s’ and other sects’ best fighters could not compare. The reasons for what he saw was not because of the Quanzhen sect’s kung fu was useless, but because the group of Taoists who he had seen fighting had not practiced enough. Yang Guo then believed that it must be because that the Guo couple did not want him as a disciple, and just gave him to anyone to learn martial arts. He had seen with his own two eyes that the Taoists’ swords had been forced out of their hands, even if Guo Jing had explained, Yang Guo would not have believed it. He saw that his master’s expression wasn’t pleasant, and thought, “I only became your disciple because I had no choice; even if I learned everything you know, what use would it be? Why are you acting like you are in charge?” He didn’t reply.


Zhao Zhijing was angry; his voice became even louder and said, “I asked you a question, you dare to not reply?”


Yang Guo said, “Whatever master wants me to say, I’ll say it.”


Zhao Zhijing heard that he was disrespectful, he could not hold his temper anymore, he hit him across the face and left a deep red mark. Yang Guo cried out, and began to cry and ran away. Zhao Zhijing quickly followed and caught him, and asked, “Where are you going?”


Yang Guo said, “Let go of me, I don’t want to learn from you.”


Zhao Zhijing was irate and shouted, “b*****d, what did you say?”


Yang Guo immediately became bold, and shouted, “Rotten Taoist, you dog, you can kill me!”


A disciple master relationship was looked upon as very significant, in the world of Wulin; a disciple master relationship was the same as a father son relationship. If the master wanted to kill the student, the disciple would not dare to resist. Yang Guo had dared to insult his teacher, it was a rarely seen and rarely heard event; it was treason and heresy. Zhao Zhijing’s face turned yellow, he raised his hand and wanted to give him another slap. Yang Guo suddenly jumped up, and grabbed his arm, and bit on his right index finger. After Yang Guo had received Ou Yangfeng’s method of practicing internal energy, he practiced it occasionally; he now had a decent foundation. Zhao Zhijing was angry, and didn’t have his guard up against a small child. Being grabbed and fiercely bitten, he couldn’t move and his finger was in pain; he couldn’t endure it. Zhao Zhijing raised his left fist and heavily hit Yang Guo on the shoulder, and shouted, “Do you want to die? Let go!? Yang Guo was furious, even if he were threatened by swords and spears he would not let go, but he felt pain in his shoulder. His teeth bit even harder, a “ka” sound was heard, he had bitten through the bone. He shouted, “Ah!” and fiercely threw a left fist at Yang Guo’s head, and made him faint. He opened his jaw and took out his right index finger. He saw his hand was full of fresh blood, though he managed to fix his finger back into place, his finger would not have the strength that it used to have. This will affect his kung fu, he became furious and kicked Yang Guo a few times.


He ripped some cloth of Yang Guo’s sleeve, and wrapped it around his wound. He took a look around, it was lucky that no one was about. He thought that if someone saw this, it would be spread throughout the Jianghu world that Quanzhen’s Zhao Zhijing’s finger was bitten off by his little disciple; he would lose all his respect. He then went and filled a basin with cold water and splashed it over Yang Guo to wake him up. When Yang Guo woke, he was like a madman and wanted to fight again. Zhao Zhijing grabbed his chest and shouted, “Animal, you really don’t want to live do you?”


Yang Guo shouted, “Scoundrel, rotten Taoist, calling me an animal, after being beaten to the ground by my Uncle Guo and eating faeces off the floor, begging for mercy won’t help your descendants; you’re the animal!”


Zhao Zhijing extended his right palm and hit him again. He kept his guard up, if Yang Guo wanted to attack him, how could he get near? In the wink of an eye he kicked him a few times. If Zhao Zhijing wanted to hurt him, it would be too easy, but he remembered that Yang Guo was his disciple. If he hurt him badly, how would he answer if my master or martial uncles asked about it? Yang Guo ferociously attacked, as if Zhao Zhijing was his most hated person in the world; although he was punched and kicked, and couldn’t bear the pain, he did not intend to back down.


Zhao Zhijing punched and kicked him, though in his heart there was some feelings of regret. He saw that although he was bruised all over, he became bolder as he fought. In the end he had no other choice but to stretch out his left finger and touched the side of his body, sealing his pressure point. Yang Guo lay down on the ground and wasn’t able to move, but his eyes were full of hate and fury.


Zhao Zhijing said, “You ingrate, do you submit now?” Yang Guo stared at him, with no intent to submit. Zhao Zhijing sat on a rock and recovered his breath. It was as if he had just dueled with a highly skilled opponent, fighting until he was out of breath. At the moment it wasn’t because his arms and legs were tired, it was because he was troubled.  

[Lil_Dragon_Gurl]

One disciple, one master; both looked at each other angrily, Zhao Zhijing tried to think of a good punishment for the rebel child, in the middle of his thoughts, he suddenly heard the bell ringing; it was the leader calling to gather the students. Zhao Zhijing was startled; he turned to Yang Guo and said, “If you don’t cause anymore trouble, then I’ll let you go.” He extended his finger and unsealed his pressure point. Yang Guo immediately jumped up and leaped at him. Zhao Zhijing stepped aside two steps, and said, “I won’t hit you, how about that?”


Yang Guo said, “You won’t ever hit me again?”


Zhao Zhijing heard the bell ringing was becoming urgent, and didn’t dare to procrastinate and said, “If you are obedient, why should I hit you?”


Yang Guo said, “Fine, if you won’t hit me, I’ll call you master. If you hit me again, I won’t ever acknowledge you are my master.”


Zhao Zhijing was angry, but he put on a smile and nodded his head, and said, “The leader is summoning everyone, quickly follow me.” He saw that Yang Guo’s sleeve was ripped, his face swollen, he was afraid that someone will ask what happened so he cleaned him up, took his hand, and quickly went to the assembly at the front of the palace.


Zhao Zhijing and Yang Guo arrived, and both went into their respective groups. Ma Yu, Qiu Chuji and Wang Chuyi were sitting in front of them. Ma Yu clapped his hand three times, and the clearly said, “Elder Chang and the Sage of Tranquility have sent news from Shanxi, and said the business they are attending to has become really troublesome. My two apprentice brothers and I have decided that elder Eternal Spring (Qiu Chuji) and elder Shining Jade (Wang Chuyi) will take along ten disciples and immediately set off to rendezvous with them.” The rest of the Taoists all looked at each other, some were startled, and others were excited. Qiu Chuji then called out the names of ten disciples, and then said, “Everyone get prepared, you will leave with elder Shining Jade and I first thing tomorrow. The rest of you are dismissed.” The Taoists were dismissed; they quietly discussed the news amongst themselves. “That Li Mochou is just a woman, how powerful can she be? Even elder Eternal Life Martial Uncle Liu can’t handle her.” Another said, “Isn’t the Sage of Tranquility Martial Uncle Sun a woman? There are capable women, don’t be surprised.” Another Taoist said, “Now that Elder Qiu and Elder Wang are going, that Li Mochou won’t be able to do anything.”


Qiu Chuji went over to Zhao Zhijing and said to him, “Originally I wanted to take you along, but I’m worried that Guo’er’s progress in martial arts will suffer, so you will stay here.” He then saw the wounds on Yang Guo’s face, and was startled, and said, “What’s this? Who have you been fighting with?”


Zhao Zhijing was afraid, he knew that if Martial Uncle Qiu found out what happened, he would be severely scolded; he looked at Yang Guo and signaled to him with his eyes. Yang Guo had already decided what to do, when he saw the worried expression on Zhao Zhijing, he didn’t let him know what he was doing and didn’t respond to his pleas.


Qiu Chuji sternly said, “Who hit you like this? Who did this? Quickly tell me.”


Zhao Zhijing heard Martial Uncle Qiu’s voice was becoming sterner, and became even more scared.


Yang Guo said, “I wasn’t in a fight, disciple tripped and fell down a ditch.”


Qiu Chuji didn’t believe him, and said, “You are lying; how could you trip for no reason? The wounds on your face aren’t from falling over.”


Yang Guo said, “Earlier, Grand Master told me to learn martial arts diligently.”


Qiu Chuji said, “Yes, what about it?”


Yang Guo said, “After Grand Master left, the disciple thought that what you said was right, the disciple must work harder than ever before, and must not disappoint the hopes that Grand Master has for me.” His pleasant words pleased and calmed down Qiu Chuji and he gave out a grunt. Yang Guo continued, “A mad dog came suddenly out of nowhere, and for no reason leapt at me trying to bite, the disciple tried to kick him away but he became more and more fierce. The disciple tried to turn around and run, but I was careless and fell down in a ditch. It was lucky that my teacher arrived, and rescued me.”


Qiu Chuji listened, and then looked at Zhao Zhijing, signaling to him, asking if it was the truth. Zhao Zhijing was startled and thought, “How dare he, how dare the little b*****d call me a mad dog.” But in this situation he had no choice but to help him lie, he nodded his head and said, “It was I who saved him.”


Qiu Chuji believed him, and said, “After I’ve left, teach him our sect’s kung fu well, every ten days, your Martial Uncle, our leader will test him.” Zhao Zhijing did not want to do this at all, but he couldn’t refuse an order from his Martial Uncle, and could only agree. Right now, Yang Guo was busy being pleased with himself for making Zhao Zhijing call himself a mad dog, and didn’t really digest what his Grand Master was saying. After Qiu Chuji had walked away about twenty paces, Zhao Zhijing’s blood rose to the surface, he couldn’t resist and raised his hand; he wanted to hit Yang Guo across the face again.


Yang Guo shouted out, “Grand Master Qiu!”


Qiu Chuji was startled and turned around, asking, “What’s the matter?”


Zhao Zhijing’s hand was in midair, he did not dare to hit out, he was caught in an embarrassing situation and he reluctantly pulled his arm back and scratched the hair by his temples.


Yang Guo ran towards Qiu Chuji, and said, “Grand Master, after you’ve left, there will be no one to look after me, there are many Martial Uncles who want to hit me.”


Qiu Chuji’s faced changed and shouted, “Rubbish! Is there such a thing?” On the outside he appeared strict, but he was worried inside, he thought about how hard it is for an child to be on his own and clearly said, “Zhijing, you take good care of him, if anything happens, I’ll be asking after you.” Zhao Zhijing could only accept.


After supper, Yang Guo slowly walked towards the room where his master was residing, and shouted out, “Master!”


It was the time of day when they were refining the kung fu; Zhao Zhijing had already sat on his couch for half a day thinking, “That child is very mischievous, if I don’t tame him quickly, when his martial arts are high, who else could restrain him? But Martial Uncle Qiu and Master ordered me to teach him kung fu; if I don’t teach him then I am not following orders.” He kept searching in his mind but couldn’t think of anything, he saw Yang Guo entering the room slowly, his eyes lit up, he gave a laugh in an ostentatious manner as he thought of a plan, “I’ve got it, he doesn’t know anything about our sect’s martial arts, I’ll just teach him the formula to our sect’s skills, but I won’t teach how to practice it. Even if he remembers the few hundred sentences of the formulae what use is it to him? If Master or the Martial Uncles ask about this, I’ll push the blame away and say it was his fault for not working hard enough.” Now his mind was made up, with a kind and pleasant expression he said to Yang Guo, “Guo’er, come here.”


Yang Guo said, “Are you going to hit me?”


Zhao Zhijing said, “I’m going to teach you kung fu, why should I hit you?”


Yang Guo saw that he was lively, and had come out with a surprise, he slowly entered, but he was on his guard, afraid that he has some evil scheme. Zhao Zhijing pretended nothing was going on and said, “Our Quanzhen sect’s kung fu is learned from within to the outside, it is very different to other types of kung fu. I am now going to pass on to you the formula of our sect’s internal energy, you must remember it clearly.” He then passed on the formulae to the sect’s internal energy theories, and recited a segment.


Yang Guo just listened to it once, and had already memorized it, and thought, “That old goat hates me, why would he teach me real kung fu? He’s probably trying to make a fool out of me and teach me some useless fake formulae.”


After a while, he pretended to forget, and asked Zhao Zhijing to repeat it again. Zhao Zhijing repeated it again.


The next day, Yang Guo asked his teacher again, and heard that it was exactly the same as it was the day before, he then believed they were real, if the formulae were made up, then it would be impossible that every single word was the same when repeated three times.


Ten days passed this way, Zhao Zhijing only taught him the formulae, and did not say one word on how to practice them. On the tenth day, Zhao Zhijing took him to Ma Yu, and said that he has taught him their sect’s formulae for practicing internal energy, and told Yang Guo to recite it to Grand Master. Yang Guo recited the whole thing; he didn’t say one word wrong. Ma Yu was pleased, and praised him for being so clever. He was a kind and generous Taoist, a gentleman; he would never have thought that Zhao Zhijing had such a scheme.


Summer went and autumn arrived, autumn passed and winter came, a few months passed in the wink of an eye. Yang Guo had memorized a stack of formulae, but he had not learned an ounce of kung fu, he had not improved his martial arts or his internal energy since he had been on the mountain. A few days after he first began to remember and recite the formulae, he knew that his teacher was making a fool out of him, but he didn’t dare to complain. But he had no other ideas; the headmaster of the sect was peaceful and soft hearted, if he told him, he would only reproach Zhao Zhijing with a few words. He was scared that the old goat would conjure up some other plan to torture him; he could only wait for his Grand Master to come back before he could do anything. But after many months, Qiu Chuji still had not returned. It was fortunate that Yang Guo did not respect the martial arts of the Quanzhen sect, he didn’t care if he learned them or not, but because Zhao Zhijing had used such a plan, he hated him even more. Yang Guo didn’t want to suffer for no reason so he pretended to be even more respectful to him.


Zhao Zhijing felt pleased with himself and thought, “You caused offence to your master, in the end who suffers?”


Time passed and it was soon the last month of the lunar year, a custom that had been passed down by Wang Chongyang requests that in the three days before the eve of the new year, all the sect’s students will spar with each other, testing how much each student has advanced in the last year. Every student knew the date was approaching, and each one of them trained non-stop.


On the day of the celebration, the students of the Seven Masters of Quanzhen had their own competitions, forming several small competitions. The students formed seven groups, the disciples and grand disciples of Ma Yu forming one group, Qiu Chuji, Wang Chuyi and the others disciples and grand disciples formed the others. Although Tan Chuduan was dead, his disciples and grand disciples still flourished and formed a group. Ma Yu, Qiu Chuji and the others often thought about his early death, and so would pay special attention to his students. Because of this, at each year’s duel, the students of Tan Chuduan would not lose to the other students.


After this year’s incident at Chongyang Palace, where the Quanzhen sect was almost overthrown, all of the students thought that although the sect’s kung fu is famous throughout the world for its orthodox style, they became a good challenge for many schools and sects. The title they had is highly dangerous, so everyone trained harder than ever before.


Wang Chongyang founded the Quanzhen sect and he was the sect’s first generation. May Yu and the other seven of them were his disciples, and they made up the second generation. Zhao Zhijing, Yin Zhiping, Cheng Yaojia are the students of the seven, and they formed the third generation. Yang Guo was therefore in the fourth generation of the sect.


After the morning meal, the Shining Jade elder’s students who included Zhao Zhijing and Cui Chifang and others assembled in the southeastern plain, where they dueled with each other. Wang Chuyi was not present, so his eldest student Zhao Zhijing was in charge of the proceedings. The fourth generation students demonstrated their punches and kicks, then with swords and spears, after that they performed with projectiles and finally showed off their internal energy, with Zhao Zhijing and the other third generation students in the group as the judges.


Yang Guo was the last one to enter the sect out of all of them; he sat aside and watched. He saw Taoists who were older than him, some who were about the same age as him and others who weren’t Taoists demonstrate impressive skills, but he wasn’t envious, instead he was full of hate. Zhao Zhijing saw that something was up with him, and wanted to make a fool out of him again, and so waited for two Taoists to finish competing with projectiles and then called out, “Come here Yang Guo!”


Yang Guo stopped for a second and thought, “You haven’t taught me an ounce of martial arts, why are you calling me out?” Zhao Zhijing called out again, “Yang Guo, come here now!”


Yang Guo had no choice but to walk to where they were sitting, and then made a bow and said, “Disciple Yang Guo hereby greets teacher.”


Quanzhen sect was made up mostly of Taoists, but there were some members who were like Yang Guo and not Taoists, and so he performed the greeting for these members.


Zhao Zhijing pointed out to the Taoist in the arena who had just won and said, “He’s only a few years older than you; you go and compete with him.”
Yang Guo said, “Disciple does not know any martial arts, how can I compete with apprentice brother?”


Zhao Zhijing scolded, “I’ve taught you for half a year, how can you say you don’t know any martial arts? What have you been doing for the last few months?”


Yang Guo had nothing to say and hung his head.


Zhao Zhijing said, “You are lazy and mischievous, you don’t practice, of course your punches and kicks will become rusty. I ask you “What use is there to study the scheme of life? The heart dies, and passion with it.” What are the next two lines?”


Yang Guo replied, “The pure air fills the tools of movement; The light of the soul shines brilliantly on the body.”


Zhao Zhijing said, “Correct, I ask you again, “The teacher passes on the secret and comprehended at first; eventually there is no me.” What are the next two lines?”


Yang Guo replied, “Every year the dust is ground to the end; One side of the soul dazzles to emptiness.”


Zhao Zhijing gave a wry smile, and said, “Very good, not one word wrong. Go and use those formulae, enter the arena and compete with your apprentice brother.”


Yang Guo was startled once again, and said. “I won’t.”


Zhao Zhijing was pleased with himself, his face was furious and he shouted, “You’ve learned the formulae but don’t practice and only make up excuses, go down to the arena now.”


Within those few lines are the most important ideas in cultivating internal energy, teaching that the heart must be calm, refining the chi, but each line needs a fist or kick to accompany it, only then will a set of Quanzhen sect’s fist be formed. The rest of the Taoists heard Yang Guo reciting the formulae with their own ears, and not one word out of place, and knew that he was scared of competing, and tried to encourage him by ridiculing and laughing mockingly. The students of the Quanzhen sect are all good people, but after their battle with Guo Jing where the Taoists were beaten to the ground, he had offended many people. Many of them shifted their anger onto Yang Guo, and wished misfortune on him, although they might not have really meant it, they just wanted a way to vent their anger.


Yang Guo saw many people were urging him on, some were saying harsh words to get at him, he couldn’t control his anger and made a decision and thought, “Today, I’m not going to care what happens to me.” He then jumped into the arena, and moved his arms, running straight into the young Taoist. The Taoist saw that he wasn’t showing respect for the opponent, and was not following the sect’s rules by politely requesting a duel; he was shocked. He saw that Yang Guo was running around and fighting like a madman, he was surprised and moved back a few steps. Yang Guo had already decided to disregard his own life and ferociously attacked, every step going forward. The young Taoist moved back a few steps and saw that Yang Guo’s lower body was unstable, he slanted his body and threw a kick, the stance “Sweeping Wind Descending Leaves” (feng sao luo ye), and swept his leg. Yang Guo didn’t know how to dodge, he couldn’t stay upright and fell down on the ground, hitting his nose and blood flowed.


The Taoists saw how he fell, and some laughed. Yang Guo flipped around and picked himself up, he didn’t wipe the blood away; he dropped his head and jumped at the Taoist. The Taoist saw Yang Guo jumping at him and dodged to the side. Yang Guo did not use any orthodox kung fu, he reached with his two arms, and grabbed the opponent’s left leg. The young Taoist’s right palm came down, the stance “Wiping the Dust” (kai mo chen gou), it was a way to rid obstructions on your lower body. Yang Guo had not learned any martial arts when he was on Peach Blossom Island, and had not received any useful skills while at Chongyang palace, and didn’t have a clue as to what stance the opponent would use. He only heard a thudding noise, he felt a sharp pain in his shoulder; he had been struck fiercely by a punch. The more he suffered, the more ferocious he became, he head butted the opponent’s right leg; the Taoist’s leg became unsteady and he was forced onto the ground by him. Yang Guo whirled his fist, and ferociously struck out at his head.


The young Taoist gained victory from the jaws of defeat, his elbow struck Yang Guo’s chest fiercely, causing him severe pain, and used the chance to escape. He pushed and swung his hand, and caused Yang Guo to drop again; he had used the stance “No Debts No Dues” (wu qian wu yu). The young Taoist checked and said, “Apprentice brother Yang, thank you!”


Originally when dueling amongst each other from the same sect, once there was a clear winner the duel would stop, but he didn’t know Yang Guo was not finished. He came rushing forwards again. After two or three moves, Yang Guo was once again on the ground, but he became bolder as he went on, his punches and kicks coming out faster and faster.


Zhao Zhijing shouted, “Yang Guo, you’ve already lost, why are you still carrying on?”


Yang Guo ignored him, and kicked out; he had no plans to back down. The rest of the Taoists first thought it was funny but then thought, “When did our sect have such a reckless and rough kung fu?” After, they saw that he was fighting for his life and were afraid that something might happen. Many people called out, “Forget it…forget it. Its only sparring amongst apprentice brothers, there is no need to be so serious.”


They fought for another while; the young Taoist became frightened; all he did now was dodge and block, not daring to come close to him. There’s a saying: One man fighting for his life cannot be stopped by ten thousand men. Yang Guo had suffered for half a year on Mount Zhongnan, and he let it all out. The young Taoist’s skills were higher than Yang Guo’s, but how could he cope? He saw that he couldn’t block anymore, he could only hurry around the arena avoiding him.


Yang Guo chased after him, and shouted, “Rotten Taoist, you’ve had fun hitting me, now you want to run?”


The ten people who were watching from the side at that time, eight or nine of them were Taoists, when they heard him say rotten Taoist, scoundrel Taoist and other insults, they were angry but also thought it was funny. They all said, “That kid needs a good lesson.”


The young Taoist was chased and harried, he was scared and shouted, “Master, master!” and hoped the Zhao Zhijing would come out and stop Yang Guo. Zhao Zhijing shouted, but Yang Guo did not take any notice.


When Yang Guo didn’t stop, a shout came out from the crowd, and out came a large Taoist, he stepped in and grabbed Yang Guo’s neck, picked him up, and struck three times across the face, the slaps were fierce, half of Yang Guo’s face immediately swelled up. Yang Guo was dazed by the three slaps, when he looked up, it was the Taoist whom he had a run in with, Lu Qingdu. When Yang Guo first came to Mount Zhongnan, he was almost burned to death by Yang Guo, after that, his apprentice brothers ridiculed him saying he got outsmarted by a little kid. He had always kept this in his mind, now he saw Yang Guo was being rebellious; he couldn’t resist and reacted.


When Yang Guo saw that it was Lu Qingdu, he knew that he was out of luck, and since he was being held up, he couldn’t fight. Lu Qingdu smiled wryly, and struck him across the face three more times, and shouted, “You don’t listen to master’s orders, you are our sect’s traitor, and anyone can hit you.” He raised his hand again, wanting to hit out once more.


Zhao Zhijing’s apprentice brother Cui Zhifang had seen Yang Guo fight and he had not used any of their sect’s kung fu. He knew what kind of character Zhao Zhijing was, so he was afraid that there was another reason for all of this; he feared someone was going to get hurt so he called out, “Qingdu, stop!”


Lu Qingdu heard his Martial Uncle’s shout, although he didn’t want to, he had to put Yang Guo down and said, “Martial Uncle don’t you know, that child is extremely mischievous and crafty, if we don’t punish him heavily, how can there be order within our sect?”


Cui Zhifang ignored him, and went over to Yang Guo, he saw that both sides of Yang Guo’s face were heavily swollen, there were blue and purple marks, his noise and mouth were bloody; he looked a very sorry sight. He softly said, “Yang Guo, your master taught you martial arts, why didn’t you work hard and practice, and instead causing fights among your apprentice brothers?”


Yang Guo angrily said, “What master? He hasn’t taught me anything.”


Cui Zhifang said, “I heard with my own ears you reciting the formulae, not one word was wrong.”


Yang Guo remembered how on Peach Blossom Island Huang Rong had made him read books and recite manuscripts, and knew that Zhao Zhijing had taught him something that was not related to practicing martial arts. He said, “I don’t know how to incorporate them, what use is being able to recite a few words?”


Cui Zhifang pretended to be angry, and wanted to test that he really did not know any of their sect’s kung fu; he then put on a face, and said, “You are talking to a senior, how can you have no manners?” He stretched out his arm and pushed his shoulder. Cui Zhifang is one of most skilled students of the third generation, although he can’t be compared with Zhao Zhijing and Yin Zhiping, he was skilled, his internal energy high. His push was gentle yet it’s strength was judged just right, but he felt Yang Guo’s shoulder lean to the side, his internal energy emerged, and had already dispersed with just under half the force in his push. Although he stumbled back a few steps, he did not fall down.


Cui Zhifang was startled, he became suspicious and thought, “He is young, and has only entered our sect for just over half a year, how can he have such strong internal energy? He has good internal energy, just now when he was dueling; he was fighting madly, could there be something wrong here?” He didn’t know that Yang Guo had practiced Ou Yangfeng’s formulae for internal energy cultivation; unwittingly his internal energy has gone up another level. The White Camel Mountain’s sect’s internal energy is easy to learn, progress can be made very quickly, but it cannot compare with the Quanzhen sect’s kung fu foundations. Within the first ten years of practicing, the students of White Camel Mountain’s internal energy will have increased very quickly until ten years pass, then the students of Quanzhen sect will have slowly caught up and start to overtake it. The two sect’s internal energies are very different, but because Cui Zhifang had just given a push without any real intent, it was hard for him to tell the difference.


Yang Guo had been pushed by him, and was winded, and knew that he wanted to fight him. Right now, he feared neither heaven nor earth, even if Qiu Chuji was here in person, he would still fight him, why would he care about Cui Zhifang? He then lowered his head and rushed forward, aiming for his lower abdomen. How could Cui Zhifang mess around with a child, he smiled and stepped aside, he wanted to see his real kung fu, so he said, “Qingdu, come and duel with apprentice brother Yang, watch yourself and don’t be too severe!”


Lu Qingdu could not believe those words, he immediately jumped in front of Yang Guo, his left palm came down, Yang Guo escaped to the right, Lu Qingdu hit out his right palm, this palm was the “Tiger’s Way Hand”, the strength behind it was not weak, a thudding sound, as Yang Guo was struck in the chest.


If Yang Guo had not been practicing the White Camel Mountain’s internal energy, he would have definitely thrown up a pool of blood. He felt a severe pain in his chest; his face was as white as a sheet of paper. Lu Qingdu saw that he had not felled Yang Guo with this palm, and secretly felt that he was careless, his right fist now came down at Yang Guo. Yang Guo stretched out his arms to attack; he didn’t understand the finer points of fist skills; so he didn’t know the best way to repel this incoming attack. Lu Qingdu moved his right fist and came out with his left fist, another thudding sound as he hit Yang Guo in the stomach. Yang Guo bent down with pain. Lu Qingdu didn’t hold back, a right palm came crashing down on Yang Guo’s neck. He wanted to hurt him, wanting him to fall over now, wanting to avenge what he did to him. His life was on the line now but he still did not fall down, but now Yang Guo was dazed and didn’t have the strength to retaliate.


Cui Zhijing knew then that he didn’t know any martial arts skills and said, “Qingdu, hold!”


Lu Qingdu said to Yang Guo, “Do you respect me now?”


Yang Guo shouted, “You damn Taoist, I’m going to kill you one day!”


Lu Qingdu was furious, and punched him twice in the nose.


Yang Guo was beaten badly, he was wobbling and was about to fall down. He didn’t know where he was when suddenly a flow of warm chi surged through his “dan tian”, and he saw that Lu Qingdu was about to throw a third punch at him. There was no way to dodge, no where to escape, he spontaneously bent both legs and gave out a loud shout, his palm pushed out, hitting Lu Qingdu in the stomach. He saw a large body fly through the air, a thudding sound as dust flew everywhere in the arena, falling about ten feet away. The body was lying on the ground, and didn’t move.


The crowd of Taoists at the side watched Lu Qingdu taking advantage of his size and bullying someone smaller than him, and hitting Yang Guo venomously. It wasn’t right, the older generation apart from Zhao Zhijing came over to stop him, but they didn’t know there had been a sudden reversal of fortune. Lu Qingdu had been sent flying by Yang Guo’s palm, his body lying there like a corpse not moving, everyone was astounded and rushed over to take a closer look.


Normally Yang Guo would not have been able to use the “Toad Stance”, but in a life threatening situation, it could be used automatically. The first time this happened was on Peach Blossom Island where he knocked out Wu Xiuwen. After many months, his internal energy had increased; that, plus the fact that he hated Lu Qingdu, and it was comparable to the hate he felt for the Wu brothers, with this in mind, he was able to knock him flying across the arena. He heard the other Taoists say, “Oh no, it’s terrible, he’s dead! He’s not breathing; his internal organs have been hurt! Quickly go and tell the leader and bring him here.”


Yang Guo knew he had caused a major incident, no one was thinking in the midst of this chaos, he picked himself up and ran away. The Taoists were too busy with Lu Qingdu’s life and didn’t notice that Yang Guo had slipped away. Zhao Zhijing saw that Lu Qingdu’s eyes were rolled back, and didn’t know whether he was dead or alive. He was startled and angry, and shouted out, “Yang Guo, Yang Guo, where did you learn this witchcraft?” His skills were high, but he had remained at Chongyang Palace for most of the time, he didn’t know much, of course he would not recognize the techniques of the “Toad Stance”.


The Taoists turned around, but didn’t see Yang Guo. Zhao Zhijing then gave out an order, and told them to go and capture Yang Guo; they thought how far could a small child like him get to in a short space of time?


Yang Guo didn’t know the roads, and just ran, he eventually chose to dive into a forest. After a while, he heard shouts behind him, everyone was calling out from all directions, “Yang Guo, Yang Guo, come out quickly!” He was nervous, and ran away again; he felt someone was in front of him, a Taoist had seen him, and came after him. Yang Guo quickly turned around; in the west was another Taoist, who called out, “Here! Over here.” Yang Guo crouched down and crawled underneath a bush. The Taoists were too big to crawl through; they had to go around it to find him. Yang Guo managed to escape but didn’t know where to go. After Yang Guo went through the bush, he headed straight and after running for a while, he heard the voices become quieter but he still didn’t dare stop. He avoided the paths, and ran through the long grass and rocks; he became bruised and cut up all over. When he couldn’t move any more he sat down on a rock to catch his breath. He sat for a little while, but then he thought; “Escape quickly, escape quickly.” But his legs felt like they weighed a ton, he almost couldn’t stand up straight. He heard someone laugh coldly from behind, Yang Guo was startled and turned around, his heart jumped out of his mouth, as he saw a man with deep brows and flared eyes, a beard hanging to his chest, it was Zhao Zhijing.


The two stared at each other for several minutes; during this time they did not move an inch. Yang Guo suddenly shouted and turned around to run away. Zhao Zhijing went forward and stretched out his arm and grabbed his chest. Yang Guo jumped forward and it was lucky he gained a few inches and managed to escape his clutches. He then picked up a rock, and flung it backwards with all his strength. Zhao Zhijing swerved to the side, he increased his speed and the distance between the two closed. Yang Guo ran madly for about twenty steps, and saw a deep ditch in front of him but he had run out places to run to; he didn’t know whether below was a deep valley or a mountain gorge but he didn’t give it a thought and threw his body forward.


Zhao Zhijing ran to the steep ditch and looked on, he saw Yang Guo rolling through the grass down the slope, and eventually into a cluster of trees. From where he was standing to the bottom was about sixty or seventy feet, he didn’t dare jump down; he quickly ran down the grassy slope. He saw the trail of flattened grass left heading into the forest, but he didn’t see a trace of Yang Guo. As he went deeper it became tighter, eventually so dense that light was shut out. He went forward for about one hundred feet, and then suddenly stopped; he was now on the land of the Tomb of the Living Dead where the sect’s ancestor had spent his younger years. Their sect had a strict rule: no one is allowed to take one step into the place. “Had Yang Guo escaped into here?” He wasn’t pleased, he shouted, “Yang Guo, Yang Guo come out quickly!”


He shouted a few times, the forest became silent, he became bold and took a few steps forward and saw a large stone slab. He took a closer look. Some words were engraved on it, “Outsiders stop now”. Zhao Zhijing paced back and forth for an hour, he then loudly called out, “Yang Guo you little scoundrel, if you don’t come out I’ll catch you and beat you to death.” After he said this, he suddenly heard a sound coming from the forest, he saw a grey mist moving, and a swarm of white bees came out from the leaves and flew towards him.


Zhao Zhijing was startled, he waved his sleeve trying to push away the bees, his internal strength was deep, there was considerable power in his sweeps, but after waving many times, the swarm of bees became two, one coming from the front, the other coming from behind. Zhao Zhijing became even more frightened; he didn’t dare to be slow and waved his arms frantically, protecting his body. The swarms dispersed, but then came back to attack from all directions from top to bottom, east to west, north and south. Zhao Zhijing didn’t dare to defend anymore, he protected his face and turned around and ran out of the forest.


The swarm of Jade Bees followed, although they weren’t very quick there wasn’t anywhere to hide. Zhao Zhijing headed east, the Jade Bees followed and headed east, he headed west, the Jade Bees followed and headed west. His arm movements became slower; two bees flew through the gap and stung his right cheek. In a short while, Zhao Zhijing felt numb and it was hard to move, his internal organs began to itch, he thought, “My time is up today!”

Eventually he couldn’t keep his legs still, and rolled in the grass by the forest, crying out loudly. The swarm of bees flew around his body for a while, and then returned to the forest.

End of chapter 4  

[Lil_Dragon_Gurl]

ch. 5 Tomb Of The Living Dead

Yang Guo had fallen down the hill, and rolled into the forest’s long grass, he passed out, he didn’t know how much time had passed when he suddenly felt his body being pierced, he opened his eyes and saw countless white bees flying around his body, he heard the buzzing sounds, then he felt his whole body itch to the bone, a white blur was all he saw, he didn’t know whether it was real or an illusion, and he fainted again.

Some time passed when he suddenly felt a cold and fragrant liquid in his mouth, slowly flowing into his throat and then into his stomach but felt that he couldn’t speak; he opened his eyes and suddenly saw just two inches in front of him an ugly face full of warts and pimples, the eyes were fixed on him. Yang Guo was startled, and fainted again. The ugly person stretched out the left hand and held his jaw, the right hand held a container, and then poured some more of the sweet liquid down his throat.
Yang Guo felt that the strange itching pain he had slowly diminish, and noticed that he was now sleeping on a bed, and knew that the ugly person had rescued him, he smiled, trying to say thank you. The ugly person also smiled, she finished feeding him the liquid and then put the container down on a table. Yang Guo saw that her smile was also extremely ugly, but within the ugliness was a soft and gentle look, he was touched and there was a warm feeling in his heart, he pleaded, “Grandma, don’t let my master catch me!”

The ugly old maid softly said, “Child, who is your master?”

Yang Guo had not heard such a soft and caring voice for such a long while, he became hot and started to cry. The old maid’s left hand held his hand, she didn’t say anything to console him, she just smiled and looked at him, her eyes were full of love and care; she waited for him to finish crying and then said, “Do you feel better?”

Yang Guo heard her tender voice; he couldn’t help it and cried again. She wiped away his tears and comforted him, “Good child, good child, don’t cry, don’t cry, the pain will go away in a little while.” The more caring she was, the harder Yang Guo cried.

Suddenly a soft voice from outside a hanging curtain said, “Grandma Sun, the child doesn’t stop crying, what is wrong?”

Yang Guo raised his head; he saw a white jade hand lift the hanging curtain, a girl entered. The girl wore an old fashioned delicate white dress, it was as if her body was covered with smoke and mist, she looked like she was about sixteen or seventeen years of age. Apart from her black hair, her body was as white as snow, her face was extremely beautiful, with just a hint of redness on her cheeks, and her face was pale and white. Yang Guo blushed, he immediately stopped crying; he lowered his head and felt slightly embarrassed. From the corner of his eyes he took a quick peek, and saw that she was looking at him; he quickly lowered his head.

Grandma Sun laughed and said, “I don’t have any ideas, you better take a look.” The young girl came by to the bedside, she looked at the wounds that were caused by the bee stings; she stretched out her hand and touched his forehead and felt that he wasn’t feverish. When her hand touched Yang Guo’s forehead, he felt that it was extremely cold; he couldn’t help but shiver a little. The young girl said, “It is nothing. You’ve already drunk the Jade Bee honey; you’ll recover in half a day. Why did you enter the forest?”

Yang Guo raised his head, and looked into her eyes, he thought that she was beautiful, without comparison, but she exuded an icy and emotionless aura. She was as hard and as cold as ice and it was difficult to tell whether she was pleased or angry, a friend or foe. He thought, “Is that girl made out of crystal or made out of snow? Is she a person, a ghost, or an angel?” Although he heard her voice was soft there was no warmth in it, he didn’t dare to reply.

Grandma Sun laughed and said, “Sister Long is the owner of this place, if she asks you something, you’d better reply!”

The beautiful girl in white was the owner of the Tomb of the Living Dead, Xiao Longnu. In reality her eighteenth birthday had passed, but because she had lived in the tomb since she was little and hadn’t seen the light of day, the internal energy skill she has practiced restricted her emotions. That is why she looked younger than she really was. Grandma Sun was her teacher’s maid, but since her teacher left the world, the two looked after each other. She heard the bees, and knew someone had entered the forest near the tomb, so Grandma Sun had come out to see who it was. She saw Yang Guo poisoned and unconscious on the ground; she rescued him and brought him back here. According to their sect’s rules, no outsiders can enter the tomb even one step; a man entering the tomb was even worse. But Yang Guo was young, and she saw that his whole body was covered with wounds, so Grandma Sun could not ignore him and broke the rules to save him.

Yang Guo got up from the stone bed and got onto the floor. He kowtowed to Grandma Sun and Xiao Longnu and said; “Disciple Yang Guo greets Grandma Sun, and greets Gu Gu (Auntie) Long.”

Grandma Sun laughed then quickly went over to pick him up and said, “Ah, your name is Yang Guo, there is no need for such formalities.” She has lived in the tomb for a few years, and had never interacted with outsiders, she saw that Yang Guo was handsome and polite; she was pleased. Xiao Longnu only nodded her head, and sat on a stone chair next to the bed.

Grandma Sun said, “How did you get here? How come you are wounded? Who beat you like this?” After she asked her questions she didn’t wait for him to reply and went out to get some dim sum and cakes, and insisted on him having some.

Yang Guo ate a few delicacies, and told her his life story from start to finish. He was good with words, his story was already engaging, he added his emotions to it and it became even more touching. Grandma Sun kept on sighing, sometimes she would add her own comments, and her words all favored Yang Guo. She said that Huang Rong was a biased woman and unjust in her actions, and commented that Zhao Zhijing was narrow minded, bullying a child. Xiao Longnu didn’t make a sound and sat still on the chair, but when Yang Guo mentioned Li Mochou, she and Grandma Sun looked at each other. When Grandma Sun heard Yang Guo finish, she stretched out her arms and hugged him, and said, “My poor child.”

Xiao Longnu slowly got up, and said, “His wounds are not serious, Grandma, send him out!”

Both Grandma Sun and Yang Guo were startled. Yang Guo loudly said, “I won’t return, I’d rather die.”

Grandma Sun said, “Miss, if he returns to Chongyang Palace, his master will punish him.”

Xiao Longnu said, “You return with him, find his master and tell him there is no need to punish the child.”

Grandma Sun said, “Ah, it’s another sect’s business, we can’t do anything about it.”

Xiao Longnu said, “Take a bottle of Jade Bee honey with you, and then tell them, the old Taoist will listen.”

Her words seemed to be suggestions, but there was strictness within her tone, it was hard for a sect member to disobey. Grandma Sun sighed, she knew she always spoke her mind, and there was no use to try to argue. When she looked at Yang Guo; her eyes had a different intent.

Yang Guo got up and made a bow, and said, “Thank you Grandma and Gu Gu for tending to my wounds, I’ll leave now!”

Grandma Sun said, “Where are you going to go?”

Yang Guo stood still for a while and then said, “The world is a big place, and there are many places for me to go.” But he didn’t really know where he would go, his face revealed a mournful expression.

Grandma Sun said, “Child, it’s because Miss doesn’t dare to let you stay, it’s a rule of our sect not to allow outsiders, don’t be sad.”

Yang Guo raised his head and said, “Grandma why do you say this? We’ll meet again some day.”

He spoke like an adult, but his voice was young, when Grandma Sun heard him she thought it was funny, but also felt sorry for him. She saw that his eyes were watery, and he was holding back the tears. She said to Xiao Longnu, “Miss, it’s the middle of the night, why don’t we let him stay until morning and let him leave then?”

Xiao Longnu shook her head and said, “Grandma, have you forgotten the rules set by Master?”

Grandma Sun sighed and got up, she quietly said to Yang Guo, “Come, child, I’ll give you an object to play with.”

Yang Guo stretched out his hand and wiped his eyes, he lowered his head and rushed out of the door and said, “I don’t want it, I’d rather die than return to the Taoists.”

Grandma Sun shook her head and said, “You don’t know the way, I’ll lead you out.” She held his hand. Outside the room, all Yang Guo saw was darkness, he was led by Grandma Sun, he felt them going around one corner and then another, he didn’t know how Grandma Sun recognized her way in these dark and twisty paths.

Although the Tomb of the Living Dead was called a tomb, in actual fact it was a large spacious underground storeroom. Before Wang Chongyang had started to fight the Jin, he had used thousands of man-hours and many years to construct the tomb. He secretly stored some supplies there, and it became an important base in the area. From the outside it looked like a tomb, but this was to disguise the building from the ears and eyes of the Jin, and even if they did enter, the tomb had countless traps to repel the invaders.

If Wang Chongyang’s soldiers failed in battle, they would retreat into the tomb. There were many rooms within the tomb, there were complicated tunnels, if outsiders entered, in the dark or even with bright torches and candles they would get lost easily.

The two exited the tomb, and in the middle of the forest they suddenly heard someone from the outside clearly shouting out, “It’s Quanzhen’s disciple Zhen Zhibing, master has ordered me to greet Miss Long.” The voice was spaced out; it came from a distance.

Grandma Sun said, “There are people outside looking for you, don’t go out.”

Yang Guo was angry and alarmed, his body shivered and said, “Grandma, don’t worry about me. A person should be responsible for their actions, I accidentally killed someone, let them kill me.” When he finished he ran out.

Grandma Sun said, “I’ll follow you.”

Grandma Sun held Yang Guo’s hand and exited the forest, arriving in the open land in front of the forest. Under moonlight they saw six or seven Taoists standing together, another four of them were holding torches, and they carried the heavily wounded Zhao Zhijing and Lu Qingdu. The Taoists saw Yang Guo, they said a few quiet words amongst themselves and all took a few steps forward.

Yang Guo escaped from Grandma Sun’s grasp and ran forward and said, “I’m here, if you want to kill or torture me, it’s up to you.”

The Taoists could not believe that such a small child was so bold; it was completely unexpected. A Taoist came forward and grabbed Yang Guo’s neck and dragged him. Yang Guo chuckled and said, “I’m not going to escape, what’s the hurry?” That Taoist was Zhao Zhijing’s eldest student; he knew that his teacher suffered the pain of the Jade Bee’s sting because of Yang Guo. He was in extreme pain and didn’t know whether his life could be saved. He had always respected his teacher, and felt that the worst offence anyone can do is to rebel against their teacher. When he saw Yang Guo coming, he threw a punch at Yang Guo’s head.

Grandma Sun and the Taoists had always been on relatively good terms, but when she saw Yang Guo being dragged; she wasn’t pleased at all. Now he is being beaten, how could she control her temper? She immediately took a large step forward; she swept her sleeve and brushed away the Taoist’s hand. The Taoist felt a severe pain in his wrist, and automatically loosened his hand. He was about to shout when Grandma Sun picked up Yang Guo, turned around, and walked away.

When they first saw her, they thought that she was just an old and feeble maid, but she was rapid in her movements in taking Yang Guo. The Taoists stood still for a while; she had already taken Yang Guo about ten feet away. Three Taoists angrily shouted, “Let him go!” and rushed forward.

Grandma Sun stopped and turned around; she chuckled and said, “You men want to stop us?”

Zhen Zhibing knew that the people of the Tomb of the Living Dead and his sect had a deep affiliation, and didn’t dare to offend them, he quickly stopped everyone and said, “Everyone spread out, and show manners in front of Senior.”

He then walked up, and greeted Grandma Sun and said, “Disciple Zhen Zhibing greets Senior.”

Grandma Sun said, “What do you want?”

Zhen Zhibing said, “That child is a disciple of the Quanzhen, can Senior please return him.”

Grandma Sun’s brows rose, she yelled, “You beat him when you were still in front of me. When you take him back to your palace, you are going to find ways to torture him. You want me to release him; not in a million years!”

Zhen Zhibing kept his temper and said, “That child is extremely disobedient and mischievous, he showed no respect for his seniors, and broke the rules of our sect. In the Wulin world, one of the most important rules is to respect your master and seniors, it is right to blame him for his troubles.”

Grandma Sun shouted, “Not respecting seniors; its just words.” She pointed to the Taoist lying on the stretcher, Lu Qingdu, and said, “The child dueled with that fat Taoist, it was your Quanzhen sect’s rules. To start with, he didn’t want to compete, but you lot forced him into the arena. If you are going to fight, of course there is going to be a winner and a loser, if that fat Taoist is useless, who else can you blame?” She was already ugly, but now she was angry and swelled up, she was even more frightening.

In the middle of her words, another ten Taoists came and stood behind Zhen Zhibing, discussing the situation; they didn’t know who the loud ugly old woman was.

Zhen Zhibing thought to himself, hurting Lu Qingdu wasn’t Yang Guo’s fault, but he couldn’t admit they were wrong in front of outsiders and said, “This matter is complicated, we will inform our leader, and let him be the judge of this. Can senior please return the child?"

Grandma Sun chuckled, “How could your leader be a fair judge? The Quanzhen sect from Wang Chongyang to now, there hasn’t been one good person. Otherwise, how could you live so close and yet you don’t associate with us?”

Zhen Zhibing thought, “It’s your sect who don’t associate with us, how can you blame our Quanzhen sect? You’ve insulted our sect leader with your words and that may be a bit too disrespectful.” But he didn’t want to say anything to harm the relationship between the two sects, and said, “Senior please forgive us, if our sect has offended you, then our sect leader will apologize to you publicly.”

Yang Guo held Grandma Sun’s neck and whispered into her ear, “That Taoist is sly, grandma don’t fall into his trap.”

Grandma Sun had brought up Xiao Longnu for the last eighteen years, and she had a desire to bring up a boy. Yang Guo was warm towards her like she was towards him; she was extremely pleased. She made up her mind and thought, “Whatever they say, they are not going to take the child away.”
She then called out. “You insist on taking the child, how exactly are you going to torture him?”

Zhen Zhibing was startled, and said, “This disciple here and his father are from the same sect, I wouldn’t dare to harm a friend’s son, senior you can relax.”

Grandma Sun shook her head, “This old woman never listens to outsider’s words, leave me.” As she said this she continued on her way into the forest.

Zhao Zhijing was lying on the stretcher, the wounds from the Jade Bees were unbearable but he knew what was going on. He heard that Zhen Zhibing couldn’t argue with Grandma Sun and the more he heard the angrier he got, he suddenly leapt off the stretcher, chased after Grandma Sun and shouted, “He is my disciple, if I want to beat him and insult him, it’s my choice. Not letting the master order his disciple, where is there such a rule in Wulin?”

Grandma Sun saw his face had swollen so much that he looked like a pig. When she heard these words, she knew that he was Yang Guo’s master, she didn’t have anything to say at the moment and could only make her way forward thinking, “I won’t let you order him, what can you do?”

Zhao Zhijing shouted, “What relation is that child to you? How can you stick your nose into this matter?”

Grandma Sun was startled, and shouted, “He isn’t a member of the Quanzhen sect anymore. He is now a member of our sect and has elected my master Xiao Longnu as his master; under heaven only Xiao Longnu can command him. There’s no need for you to meddle.”

When she said this, the Taoists were shocked. According to the rules of Jianghu, without the consent of your teacher, one must not have another teacher, even if that other teacher is ten times more skilled than their teacher. You are not allowed to do as you please and spread your wings whenever you want; to do so, they will have committed one of the worst offences there is. They will be despised by their peers in the Jianghu world.

When Guo Jing took the Jiangnan Seven Freaks as his masters, and later learned from Hong Qigong, he didn’t call him master. Only later did Ke Zhen’E and the others allow this and he and Hong Qigong had a master disciple relationship.

Because Zhao Zhijing had made Grandma Sun speechless, and because she had never associated with people of Wulin she didn’t know any rules. When she said what she said she didn’t know she had broken a major rule.

Most of the Taoists originally felt sorry for Yang Guo, and felt that Zhao Zhijing had not done the right things. But when they heard that Yang Guo had openly expelled himself from the sect…well, there hadn’t been such a thing since the founding of the Quanzhen sect and they were incensed.

Zhao Zhijing’s wounds reacted to his anger and he was in pain; it was difficult for him to bear and he felt like dying, but he suddenly said, “Yang Guo, is this the truth?”

Yang Guo did not know how high the sky was or how deep the earth was, he only knew that Grandma Sun was arguing with Zhao Zhijing to protect him. Even if she said he did thousands or millions of wrong things, he would have said he did them. Now it’s just a matter of changing sects and it was what he had wanted. She said he had made Xiao Longnu his master. Even if he was going to take a pig or a dog his master he wouldn’t delay, he said, “Rotten Taoist, scoundrel face, dog brain, bull nose old goat, you hit me; why should I acknowledge you as my master? It’s correct, I have already kowtowed and accepted Grandma Sun and Miss Long as my masters.”

Zhao Zhijing’s temper flared up, he flew over, his hands aiming to grab his shoulders.

Grandma Sun insulted, “Scoundrel, you want to die?” Her right arm came out, aiming for Zhao Zhijing’s wrist. Zhao Zhijing was Quanzhen’s third generation’s highest skilled fighter, when it came to martial arts he was above Zhen Zhibing; although he had a serious injury, he was still able to produce a fierce attack. The two clashed, and both took two steps back.

Grandma Sun gave a ‘humph’ sigh, and said, “Scoundrel, you’re not weak either.”

Zhao Zhijing’s first attack failed, and so launched a second. Grandma Sun didn’t dare to clash with him and stepped aside, her leg came out of nowhere from under her skirt. Zhao Zhijing heard the wind sound, and tried to dodge but his wounds from the Jade Bee stings started to itch, he called ‘ai’, held his head and crouched down. Before he finished his shout he was kicked by Grandma Sun in the side of his body. Zhao Zhijing flew into the air; whilst in the air he called out ‘ai’ again because of the itching pain.

Zhen Zhibing rushed forward two steps, stretched out his arms, caught Zhao Zhijing and passed him on to the other disciples. He saw that the ugly old woman’s skills were extremely strange, he was up against a strong opponent, he made a signal, and six disciples came up and circled them, and formed a “Big Dipper Formation”, with Grandma Sun and Yang Guo in the middle.

Zhen Zhibing called out, “Apologies!” As the ‘Tian Shu’ and ‘Yao Guang’ Taoists on either side of him attacked. Grandma Sun didn’t know the formation, after just a few stances she knew she was dealing with something powerful. She could only fight with one hand; the danger became evident after twelve or thirteen moves. Every attack she made was neutralized by Zhen Zhibing’s command of the formation, and the attack of the formation was relentless. Ten moves passed then Grandma Sun’s right palm was trapped by two Taoists; from her left another two Taoists attacked, she had to drop Yang Guo and fend them off with her left hand. A whistle came from within the formation; two Taoists burst forward and grabbed Yang Guo.

Grandma Sun was alarmed and thought, “Those rotten Taoists do have some skill, and this old woman here can’t handle it.” She kicked away two of them, and a low ‘weng’ moaning noise was produced from her mouth. That moaning noise was initially quiet, and the Taoists did not take any notice of it, but after this noise, she made an opposite sound, high and low, the sound became louder.

Zhen Zhibing raised his hands against Grandma Sun to guard himself. He knew the senior that used to live in the tomb had great skills and had competed with his sect’s founder to see whose were greater; he knew that her descendants must not be ordinary. When he heard the noise, he knew that this was a type of resonating sound skill, he quickly prepared himself in case the enemy tried anything; he listened for a while and her sounds were getting louder, he didn’t feel anything was wrong with himself and thought that this was strange. He suddenly thought of something and immediately became pale with fright. He was about to order the Taoists to leave, when he heard a ‘weng’ noise from far away, similar to the noise coming out of Grandma Sun’s mouth, and then immediately called out, “Run quickly!”

The other Taoists all stopped, and thought, “We have the upper hand here, we have captured the young and old in a short time, the old woman is just calling out madly, what is there to be afraid of?”

Suddenly a grey blur emerged from the forest, out came a swarm of Jade Bees, all aiming to land on the Taoists’ upper body. The Taoists had all seen the suffering of Zhao Zhijing, they all were frightened out of their wits, and immediately scattered and ran away. The swarm of bees chased after them.

When Grandma Sun saw that the Taoists could not escape, she laughed loudly. She suddenly saw an old Taoist dashing out of the forest, his hands holding two torches; thick smoke came out of the flames and he waved them at the swarm of bees. The black smoke smothered the bees, their formation became disorganized, and they couldn’t hold together and flew away.

Grandma Sun was alarmed, she looked at the old Taoist, and she saw that he had white hair and eyebrows, his face was long and he looked like one of the highly skilled fighters of the Quanzhen sect. She shouted, “Hey, who are you old Taoist? You scattered away my bees.”

The old Taoist laughed and said, “This old Taoist is Hao Datong, greetings Grandma.”

Grandma Sun did not associate with any people of the Wulin world. But because she lived a stone throw away from Chongyang Palace, she knew that Hao Datong was one of the seven disciples of Wang Chongyang. She thought how Zhen Zhibing, Zhao Zhijing and the other Taoists’ abilities were not below hers, but now that old Taoist came and it would be troublesome. She smelled the thick smoke from the torches, it stank and almost made her vomit, and she then realized it was made from herbs that are used to kill insects. She saw that there were no bees around so she had to leave while she could, she shouted, “You’ve harmed my Mistress’s bees, you’ll pay for the damage, I’ll resolve this with you later.” She picked up Yang Guo and entered the forest.

Yin Zhi Pin said, “Martial Uncle, shall we follow or not?”

Hao Datong shook his head and said, “Our founder had set a strict rule, no one can enter the forest, we’ll return to our palace and discuss what’s to be done there.”

Grandma Sun held Yang Guo’s hand and took him back inside the tomb. The two had just shared a difficult situation and had become closer. Yang Guo was worried that Xiao Longnu will not allow him to stay. Grandma Sun said, “Don’t worry; I’ll be able to convince her to let you stay.” She then ordered him to rest in a chamber, and then went to look for Xiao Longnu to inform her of the situation.

Yang Guo waited a long time, but still did not see her return, he became anxious and thought, “Long Gu Gu most probably decided not to accept me, even if Grandma Sun forced her to accept, there would be no point in me staying here.” He thought for a long while and eventually made up his mind, he quietly went outside.

As soon as he left the room, Grandma Sun came over and asked, “Where are you going?”

Yang Guo said, “Grandma, I’m going now, when I get a bit older, I’ll come and see you again.”

Grandma Sun said, “No, I’ll take you to a place, and tell people not to bully you.”

When Yang Guo heard those words, he knew Xiao Longnu had not allowed him to stay, he was disappointed and sad, he lowered his head and said, “There’s no use. I’m a mischievous child, where ever I go, no one will want me. There’s no need for Grandma to waste your energy.”

Grandma Sun had argued with Xiao Longnu for half a day, she saw that she will not be moved, she was troubled and didn’t know what to do. She felt sorry for Yang Guo, her blood rose and said, “Child, if no one wants you, Granny wants you. You follow me, where ever you go, Grandma will follow you.”

Yang Guo was delighted, he extended his hand and grabbed her’s, the two of them exited the tomb. Grandma Sun was still angry and did not turn back to collect some luggage, she scoured around in her pockets and touched a container, and remembered she had to give Zhao Zhijing the antidote for the bee stings. She thought that the Taoist was detestable but death was maybe a bit too extreme and she didn’t want to leave the trouble behind in case it caught up with them. So she took Yang Guo, and headed for Chongyang Palace.  

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Yang Guo saw that they were hurriedly heading for Chongyang Palace, he was frightened, he quietly said, “Grandma, why are you going there?”

Grandma Sun said, “I have to give your rotten master the antidote.” After a few paths, they had arrived. She leapt onto the roof, and was about to go for the courtyard, when suddenly the bell started to ring in the darkness, and she heard whistle sounds near and far. In a second noises came from everywhere, and knew that she was heavily surrounded; she became alarmed.

The Quanzhen sect is Wulin’s number one orthodox sect, they were normally well guarded, but things had happened recently and so they were more alert. There were lookouts everywhere and when they saw someone enter the palace, they sounded the alarm. The palace’s disciples all came to repel the foe. Another group of Taoists scattered around, one, so they surrounded the enemy, and secondly, so they can repel any reinforcements that the enemy might have brought along.

Grandma Sun quietly cursed, “This old woman here has not come to fight; who are you trying to scare?” She loudly called out, “Zhao Zhijing, quickly come out, I have something to say to you.”

Someone called out from the main hall, “Coming here in the middle of the night, what do you want?”

Grandma Sun said, “This is the antidote for the bee stings, take it!” She threw over the container.

A Taoist caught it, and believed her but then thought, “Does she have good intentions in coming back to give us the antidote.” He called out clearly, “What medicine is this?”

Grandma Sun said, “Don’t ask so many questions, just give it to him to drink, and you’ll see the results.”

The Taoist called out, “How do I know whether you’ve come with good or bad intentions, and how do I know if this is actually medicine not poison. Apprentice brother Zhao has been tortured enough by you, when did you gain the heart of Buddha?”

Grandma Sun heard his words, her good intentions had turned into some evil intent, she was furious and put Yang Guo down on the roof, then quickly jumped in front of the Taoist and snatched the bottle back. She opened the bottle, and said to Yang Guo, “Open your mouth!”

Yang Guo didn’t understand but did as he was told. She tipped the bottle and poured the bee honey into his mouth and said, “Fine, just in case you think its poison. Guo’Er lets go!” She held Yang Guo’s hand and ran to the edge of the roof and jumped down.

That Taoist was called Zhang Zhiguang, and was Hao Datong’s second disciple, he was cursing himself. He regretted his words when he realized that she had bought along the real antidote, Zhao Zhijing now had no antidote and it would be difficult for him to survive, he quickly followed and blocked them with his hands. He smiled and said, “Old Senior, why are you so furious? I was just joking, there’s no need to take it seriously. We are neighbors, and have seen each other a few times, ha-ha, please bestow the medicine to us.”

Grandma Sun did not like his smooth talk, she stopped, and chuckled, “There is only one bottle of medicine, if you want some more, there isn’t any. You can find your own way to cure Zhao Zhijing’s wounds!” As she said this she sent out her hand and said, “Since you don’t greet a senior, I’ll teach you a lesson.” The palm was extremely quick, Zhang Zhiguang couldn’t avoid it, a clashing sound was heard, he was struck on the cheek, and his face was stinging.

By the door the two Taoists’ faces changed and both of them said, “Even if you are a senior, how can we let you do what you want in Chongyang Palace?” One sent out his left palm, the other his right, the two of them attacking together from two sides. Grandma Sun had fought the “Big Dipper Formation” before and knew it was powerful; she knew it would be best to avoid it. If she went to attack them, how could she fight them all in their formation? She dodged past the two palms, and picked up Yang Guo and headed for the rooftops. She saw that there was no one on the roof; she wanted to escape via this route when suddenly someone jumped up on the roof and shouted, “Drop down!” sending two palms out. Grandma Sun was in midair, she had nothing to lean against, and could only fight with her right hand, one palm clashed with two, both of them were forced back, each of them on either side of the wall. Six or seven Taoists whistled, and crowded her into the corner.

These Taoists were the best fighters of Quanzhen’s third generation, and had come out to protect the main hall. In a flash, they moved back, and then rushed forward; the Taoists used a storming tactic and attacked many times. Grandma Sun was forced into the corner, and tried to break out with Yang Guo in her hand, but the Taoists formed a human wall and kept her back, she tried to break through many times but was forced back each time.

Ten moves passed. The one in charge of guarding the main hall Zhang Zhiguang knew that the enemy could not do anything and immediately lit a torch. Ten large candles were lit up all around the main hall, and shone on Grandma Sun’s pale face, an ugly face of a frightful person who hides in the forest.

Zhang Zhiguang called out, “Retreat.”

The seven Taoists who were attacking Grandma Sun took a step back, their hands across their chests, each holding their position. Grandma Sun caught her breath and then chuckled, “The Quanzhen sect is famous throughout the world, indeed they live up to their name. Over ten young and athletic men teamed up together to bully an old woman and a child. Ha-ha, so powerful, so powerful!”

Zhang Zhiguang’s faced turned a shade of red and said, “We are only trying to catch an intruder in the palace. We don’t care if it’s an old woman or a young man, if they were tall when they enter, they’ll be short when they leave.”

Grandma Sun chuckled and said, “What do you mean ‘short when they leave’? You want me to crawl out of here, is that it!”

Zhang Zhiguang had just been slapped painfully by Grandma Sun, he wasn’t going to let her off lightly, and said, “If you want me to let you go, its not hard, just agree to three things. One, you called your bees to hurt brother Zhao; you have to leave the antidote. Two, that child is a student of the Quanzhen sect, how can he expel himself from the school without the permission of our leader? You’ve got to leave him here. Three, you broke into Chongyang Palace, you have to kowtow in front of ancestor Chongyang to apologize.”

Grandma Sun laughed loudly and said, “I have long said to Mistress Long that none of the Taoists here have a good future, aren’t the old woman’s words true? Come, come I’ll go and kowtow.”

Grandma Sun lowered herself and began to kneel down. For Zhang Zhiguang this was unexpected, he was stunned, he saw Grandma Sun lowering her head, when suddenly he saw a flash, a projectile was thrown straight at him. Zhang Zhiguang cried out ‘ai ya’, he had tried to move out of the way quickly but the projectile was extremely quick and hit the corner of his left eye, his forehead was full of blood.

Grandma Sun had scoured her pocket and had grabbed the empty bee honey bottle, and calmly used her sect’s projectile throwing technique to send the projectile out. Her sect’s kung fu was designed for females, the techniques were all soft and of a ying nature, the changes mysterious, this stance “First Bow Greet After” (qian ju hou gong) was unexpected. Though it was just an empty bottle, but because of the short distance it was shot out from, Zhang Zhiguang did not expect it and could not avoid it.

The Taoists saw that Zhang Zhiguang’s head was covered with blood, they all shouted at the same time, and took out a weapon. Quanzhen’s Taoists all used swords, the courtyard lit up with the blades light. Grandma Sun got up and chuckled, she knew that it would be hard for her to complete this day. But she was strong and stubborn, she wouldn’t surrender, she turned her head and asked Yang Guo, “Child, are you afraid?”

When Yang Guo saw the long swords brandished, he had already thought to himself, “If Uncle Guo was here, even if there were more Taoists I wouldn’t be scared. But with Grandma Sun’s skills, we will not be able to break out.” When he heard Grandma Sun ask him the question, he clearly replied, “Grandma, just let them kill me. This business has nothing to do with you, leave quickly.”

Grandma Sun heard the child’s proud resilient air, and his concern for her, and loved him even more, she loudly said, “Grandma will die with you to grant the rotten Taoists their wish.” She suddenly shouted out “Now!” and dashed forward, she stretched out her arms, and caught hold of two Taoists’ wrists; she twisted them and snatched their swords. Her “Empty Hands Entering a Hundred Blades” kung fu was extremely strange; it was reckless yet it was mystifying and not ordinary. The two Taoists could not defend against this, and all of a sudden they had lost their weapons.

Grandma Sun gave one of the swords to Yang Guo and said, “Child, do you dare to fight against the rotten Taoists?”

Yang Guo said, “Of course I’m not afraid. It’s a pity that there are no other people here.”

Grandma Sun said, “What other people?”

Yang Guo loudly said, “The Quanzhen sect is world renowned, such a heroic deed as bullying an orphan and an old woman, isn’t it a pity that there’s no one to spread this story?” He had heard how Grandma Sun and Zhang Zhiguang argued, and understood one of the points raised. His words were clear and simple, his voice was bright and loud.

When the Taoists heard his words, half of them felt ashamed, they thought that ganging up on a small child and an old woman was a shameful thing to do. Someone quietly said, “I’ll go and tell our leader, and hear his decision.”

Right now Ma Yu was ten miles away at the far side of the mountain meditating in a small room; the sect’s affairs were handed to Hao Datong. The Taoist who said this was a disciple of Tan Chuduan, he felt that the situation has got out of hand and now the sect’s reputation was on the line. This matter had to be dealt by their sect’s leader personally.

Zhang Zhiguang’s face was struck by the empty jar and his left eye was covered in blood; he was furious and acted out on impulse. He knew that their sect leader was peaceful and he would order them to release Yang Guo and Grandma Sun. He will have suffered for no reason. He called out loudly; “First we’ll catch that evil witch, then we’ll let leader decide what to do. Everyone, catch them.”

The “Big Dipper Formation” gradually shrank back; they saw that she only had one hand to fight with but who would guess that when the seven of them rushed to within three paces of her, her sword swirled, and defended tightly; they couldn’t advance another step. The formation was led by Zhang Zhiguang, and needed a change of direction, but he was afraid that the projectile that struck him had poison on it. If he fought then the poison would spread faster, he closed his left eye and stood to the side controlling the formation. Since he had decided not to fight, the formation’s power weakened. The Taoists fought for a long time but couldn’t make any progress and began to get impatient. Suddenly Grandma Sun gave a shout and flung her long sword away, she dashed forward three steps and dodged pass the Taoists’ swords, and grabbed a young Taoist’s chest and picked him up, she shouted, “Scoundrels, will or will you not let us pass?” The Taoists stopped, but suddenly a body flew out from behind them, stretched out their arm and attacked Grandma Sun’s wrist. Grandma Sun did not see that person’s face clearly; she felt a numbing sensation in her wrist and the young Taoist she had in her hands was taken by him. She felt a strong wind coming towards her, the person was sending out a palm to attack her. Grandma Sun thought, “That person’s palm is extremely fast.” She quickly pushed out her own palms to repel the attack. The two palms met and made a clashing sound, and Grandma Sun took a step back. The person also took a slight step back, about an inch or so, then immediately followed with a second palm without a pause. Grandma Sun also sent out her palms to attack, and was forced back another step. The person took half a step forward and sent out a third palm. The three palms sent out were faster than the last, and forced Grandma Sun back three steps, she didn’t have a chance to see who her opponent was, by the fourth palm, Grandma Sun’s back was forced up against the wall; she had nowhere to retreat. The person sent out a right palm, and locked palms with Grandma Sun, and he calmly said, “Grandma, leave the antidote and the child here!”

Grandma Sun raised her head, and saw that the person had a head full of white hair and white eyebrows, his face was purple, it was the man who had earlier used poison smoke to fend off her bees, Hao Datong. After the first three palms, she knew that his internal energy was profound, and above hers, if he increased his palm’s power, she would not be able to hold on, but she was strong and stubborn, she would rather die than give in, she shouted, “If you want me to leave the child, first you have to kill me.”

Hao Datong knew their sect and his teacher had a deep history and didn’t wish to harm her, he held back on his palm, and said, “We have been neighbors for over ten years, why risk our friendship over a small child.”

Grandma Sun chuckled, and said, “I originally came here to give you the antidote, so ask your disciples, what this is all about.”

Hao Datong turned his head around to ask his disciples when suddenly Grandma Sun sent out a kick, aiming for his legs. That kick came out of nowhere, her body or skirt didn’t move, the opponent’s leg was coming into his stomach, there wasn’t time to move back, under this threat he reacted, and channeled more strength into his palm, a ‘hey’ sound was heard as Grandma Sun was pushed backwards. His push contained all the internal energy he has cultivated over the years using Quanzhen’s advanced internal energy cultivation techniques. He heard a thudding sound as dust from the upper part of the wall fell down. Grandma Sun spat out a pool of blood, and slowly dropped down onto the floor.

Yang Guo was shocked, and hugged her body and said, “If you want to kill someone, kill me. There is no need to harm Grandma.”

Grandma Sun opened her eyes and chuckled and said, “Child, looks like we are going to die in the same place.”

Yang Guo loosened his arms, and guarded her, his back to Hao Datong and the others, he ignored his own safety. Hao Datong’s palm was serious, he saw that his opponent was injured and was very regretful about his attack. He wanted to go over and take a closer look at Grandma Sun’s injury, and give her medicine to heal the wound, but Yang Guo blocked his way and he couldn’t get close. He softly said, “Yang Guo, move out of the way, let me take a closer look at Grandma.”

Yang Guo didn’t believe him and held Grandma Sun tightly. Hao Datong tried to persuade him a few times but saw that Yang Guo was ignoring him; he became impatient and stretched out his arm to pull him away. Yang Guo loudly shouted, “Rotten Taoists, scoundrels, you can kill me, I won’t let you harm Grandma.”

Just as he was saying he won’t surrender Grandma Sun, a cold voice from behind suddenly said, “Bullying a child and an old woman, how heroic is that?”

Hao Datong heard the cold and icy voice, his heart shivered. He turned around to take a look and saw an extremely beautiful young girl standing at the entrance to the main hall. Her clothes were as white as snow, and her eyes froze those who looked at her. Once the palace’s bell rang, within ten li, the area would be tightly guarded. Yet the girl managed to enter without alerting anyone. No one knew how she managed to enter without making a sound.

Hao Datong asked, “Miss, who are you? What do you want?”

The young girl glanced at him and didn’t reply, and went over to Grandma Sun. Yang Guo raised his head and mournfully said. “Long Gu Gu this evil Taoists killed Grandma!” The girl in white was Xiao Longnu. She had witnessed everything clearly from Grandma Sun leaving the tomb with Yang Guo, going to the palace, and Grandma Sun fighting. If Hao Datong had not used such a lethal move, she would not have shown herself, but now Grandma Sun had suffered a serious injury. Had she wanted to come and help it was now too late. She had seen with her own eyes how Yang Guo had disregarded his life to protect Grandma Sun; his eyes were full of tears. She nodded and said, “Everyone dies, there is nothing special about death.”

Grandma Sun had brought her up by herself and treated her like a daughter; but Xiao Longnu had lived in a detached state for these eighteen years, and cultivated the sect’s internal energy; she didn’t have a touch of grief or anger in her. She saw that Grandma Sun was beyond help and so there was no need to feel sorrow. However, for a split second, she felt grief for a loved one, but no emotion was shown on her face.

Hao Datong heard Yang Guo had called her ‘Long Gu Gu’, and knew that it was the Xiao Longnu who had chased Prince Huo Dou away, and he was surprised. The news of how Huo Dou had been forced to run away had spread throughout the world of Jianghu. Though Xiao Longnu had never taken a step away from Mount Zhongnan, her name was now known throughout the Wulin world.

Xiao Longnu turned her head around slowly, and looked at the Taoists. Hao Datong’s internal energy was deep and he was able to keep a still body and mind. When the other Taoists saw her clearly, and looked into her frosty and captivating eyes, they could not stop their hearts from trembling.

Xiao Longnu stooped down to take a closer look at Grandma Sun and asked, “Grandma Sun, how are you?”

Grandma Sun sighed and said, “Miss, I have never requested anything from you in my entire life, I beg you, will you allow me a request or won’t you.”


Xiao Longnu wrinkled her elegant brows slightly and said, “What do you want me to do?”

Grandma Sun nodded her head, and pointed to Yang Guo, she wasn’t able to speak for the time being.

Xiao Longnu said, “You want me to take care of him?”

Grandma Sun forced a deep breath and said, “I beg you to look after him forever, don’t let others harm him, can you promise me that?

Xiao Longnu hesitantly said, “Look after him forever?”

Grandma Sun sternly said, “Miss, if this old woman doesn’t die, I will look after you forever. Who clothed you, fed you and changed you when you were little, wasn’t it all done by this old woman? How…how...how have you repaid me?”

Xiao Longnu bit her lip and said, “Alright, I promise.”

A smile crept upon Grandma Sun’s face. Her eyes looked at Yang Guo; she wanted to say something but couldn’t catch her breath. Yang Guo knew what she wanted and lowered his ear to her mouth and quietly said, “Grandma, you want to say something to me?”

Grandma Sun said, “Lower your head a bit more.”

Yang Guo lowered himself further, and placed his ear right by her mouth.

Grandma Sun whispered, “Your Auntie Long has no one to depend on, you…you…” when she got up to this point she couldn’t say anything more. She suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood, Yang Guo’s face and clothes were speckled with blood, her eyes closed and she passed away.

Yang Guo shouted, “Grandma, Grandma!” He was grief stricken; he held her body and sobbed.

The Taoists who saw this felt a touch of sorrow, and Hao Datong was even more regretful, he went up to Grandma Sun and paid his respects and said, “Grandma, I didn’t mean to hurt you. This sin that has come upon me is ruled by your fate. Grandma, go peacefully!”

Xiao Longnu stood up, but didn’t say anything and waited for him to finish. The two of them stared at each other. Half an hour passed then Xiao Longnu frowned again and said, “What? You are not going to kill yourself to repay your debt; you want me to do it for you?”

Hao Datong was startled and said, “What?”

Xiao Longnu said, “You killed someone so you need to pay the life back, kill yourself and finish this and I’ll spare the lives of all the Taoists here.”

Before Hao Datong could reply, the Taoists that were around him spoke out. There were about thirty or forty Taoists here in the main hall, all saying; “Little girl, leave quickly now and we won’t make it hard for you.”
“What crap! Kill yourself and finish this, and you’ll spare our lives” “This young girl does not know how high the sky is or how deep the earth is.” When Hao Datong heard the Taoists clamor he quickly waved his hand to tell them to be quiet.

Xiao Longnu ignored all the Taoists’ comments, and slowly took out a silk object from her pocket, the object was a glove and she slipped it on her right hand. She separated her hands, with her right she placed a silk belt into her left hand and she quietly said, “Old Taoist, you are a coward, you are afraid of killing yourself, take out a weapon and get ready to fight!”

Hao Datong smiled and said, “This old man hurt Grandma Sun by accident, I don’t want to fight with you, take Yang Guo and leave this place.” He thought that although she has become famous for forcing Huo Dou to run away, she just relied on the threat of her Jade Bees. She is of a young age, even if her skills have their fine points, she would not be any better than Grandma Sun. So he decided to let her leave; firstly because of their sect’s first generation’s relationship, secondly he was troubled by accidentally killing Grandma Sun; it was for the best.

He didn’t guess that Xiao Longnu would not take any notice of his words, her left arm raised, a strip of silk suddenly flew out from the floor, heading straight for Hao Datong’s face. That move came without making a noise and out of nowhere, there was no warning. Under the candlelight, he saw a gold coloured sphere tied to the silk belt. Hao Datong saw that she unleashed her move extremely quickly, and the weapon she used was extremely strange, and was uncertain on how to react. He was old and the years had made him more prudent; although he had faced many skilled fighters before, he didn’t dare to receive the attack head on and moved to the left.

He didn’t know that Xiao Longnu’s belt could change direction in midair. Hao Datong leaped to the left, the belt followed him to the left, three sounds were heard as the gold sphere shook three times, and hit his face’s ‘Meeting Fragrance’ (Ying Xiang), ‘Receiving Tears’ (Cheng Qi) and ‘Central’ (Ren Zhong) three pressure points. The moves used to hit the pressure points were extremely fast, nothing more could be done during this time. It was one of the best skills in the Wulin world. He heard the gold sphere rattle two times, and although it wasn’t loud it was extremely strange. As it entered the ear it moved the heart and shook the soul. Hao Datong was alarmed and quickly used the “Metal Board Bridge” (tie ban qiao), his body moved backwards; the silk belt swept swiftly inches away from his face. He was afraid of the gold sphere pursuing and attacking him. His kung fu was refined, and as he was stepping back he suddenly leaped up three meters. Xiao Longnu didn’t predict this; a ‘zheng’ sound was made as the sphere hit the floor. Her pressure point hitting technique with the sphere was all linked and continuous, but in the midst of danger, Hao Datong managed to luckily escape. Hao Datong straightened his body, his face changed colour. The surrounding Taoists were either his disciples or were his martial nephews and they all respected his skills. Though he wasn’t harmed, they were astonished at the way he scampered out of the last attack. Four Taoists raised their swords and aimed for Xiao Longnu.

Xiao Longnu said, “Yes, you should have used your weapons long ago!”
She waved her hands, two silk belts moved out like snakes, two ‘ting’ sounds were heard, the ‘Spirit Channel’ (ling dao) pressure points on their wrists were struck, and the four swords struck the floor. The Taoists’ faces changed color, none of them dared to attack again after that move.

Hao Datong had initially thought Xiao Longnu’s skills were ordinary, but didn’t think that he would almost lose to her. His dislike for the enemy increased and he took a long sword out of the hands of one of the disciples, and said, “Miss Long’s skills are excellent, this old Taoist applauds, come, come, let the old Taoist test some of Miss Long’s advanced skills.”

Xiao Longnu nodded her head, two ‘ting’ sounds were heard, the two belts swept in from the left and right.

According to seniority, Hao Datong was one level above Xiao Longnu and out of respect for dueling with a senior, Xiao Longnu should hold back on the first three moves. But her stances were full of killer intent immediately, and ignored any rules of the Wulin world.

Hao Datong thought, “Although the girl’s skills are not weak, she doesn’t seem to understand rules. She hasn’t had much battle experience; I doubt that she can show much more ability in this battle.” His left hand followed the sword as his right hand held it, and he fought against the white silk belts.

The Taoists all circled around and watched the battle closely. Under the flickering candlelight, one could only see a girl dressed in white, an old Taoist in grey. The belts looked like rainbows and the sword moved like lightning as they engaged in battle.

Hao Datong had put sweat and blood into training his sword skills. When it came to sword skills, his were ranked third or fourth. But Xiao Longnu flipped and rolled and avoided many of his stances, he wasn’t able to gain any advantage. Xiao Longnu’s silk belts were like sinuous snakes circling around, and the two gold spheres continuously sent out ‘ting’ sounds which was even more disturbing for the opponent.

Hao Datong had fought for a long while without gaining the upper hand. Although he wasn’t losing, it was slightly embarrassing. He thought about how he was well known as a skilled fighter in the world of Wulin, yet he had fought over one hundred stances with the young girl but still was unable to gain any advantage. He became impatient and changed his sword style, fast became slow, though his stances became much slower than before, the force behind the sword increased many times over. At first he was only able to avoid his sword tip being trapped by the silk belts; now the sword strength increased, he was able to cut and chop the belts.

More stances passed when suddenly a clashing sound was heard as the sword tip clashed with a golden sphere. Hao Datong’s internal energy was profound and he knocked the golden sphere out of the way, hitting it towards Xiao Longnu. He then attacked forward. The Taoists saw the sword pass the advance of a silk belt, heading for Xiao Longnu’s wrist. They thought that she had to let go of the silk belt otherwise her wrist would be pierced.

Who would have guessed that Xiao Longnu’s right hand turned over and caught the blade of the sword; a ‘ka’ sound was heard as the sword snapped in half.

The Taoists all gasped in surprise. Hao Datong quickly jumped backwards, his hand holding the snapped sword, and was left standing in shock. He didn’t know that the opponent’s glove was made out of an extremely fine and extremely tough white gold thread; it was a unique weapon that was passed down by her ancestors. Although it was fine and light, no blade or spear could pierce it; not even precious knives or sharp swords could damage it. She had held the sword’s blade and used her strength to break it.

Hao Datong was pale; he had just suffered a great defeat. He didn’t realize that there was something special about her glove and thought that she had mastered the advanced skills of being impenetrable by swords and spears. His voice quavered as he said, “Good, good, good, this old Taoist admits defeat. Miss Long, take the child and leave.”

Xiao Longnu said, “You’ve killed Grandma Sun; now just a word admitting defeat and that’s it?”

Hao Datong laughed out at the sky and said, “I’m really stupid!” He raised his broken sword and aimed for his neck.

A sudden noise was heard, his hand shook severely; a coin had come from beyond the walls, and knocked the sword out of his hand onto the floor. His energy was profound, how easy could it be for someone to knock the sword out of his hand?

Hao Datong shivered, from the ability to use a coin to knock the sword out of his hand, he knew his martial brother Qiu Chuji had arrived. He raised his head and said, “Martial Brother Qiu, little brother is useless.” He heard a long laugh coming from outside the walls, followed by, “Winning and losing are normal; if those who lost cut their throats then even if your Martial Brother had eighteen necks they all would have been cut long ago.”

Qiu Chuji leaped over the wall and into the scene, his hand holding a long sword. He was a very straightforward man, he hated unnecessary talk, and stretched out his sword, pointing it at Xiao Longnu’s arm and said, “Quanzhen’s Qiu Chuji wishes to test our neighbor’s great skill.”

Xiao Longnu said, “You are very straightforward.” She stretched out her left palm and held Qiu Chuji’s sword.

Hao Datong quickly warned, “Apprentice brother, careful!” But he was too late, Xiao Longnu exerted her energy, and Qiu Chuji channeled his energy into his sword. The two of them competed; a ‘ka’ sound and the sword broke in half. But Xiao Longnu’s arm was shaken and was slightly numb; she felt a pain in her chest. Within this stance, she knew that Qiu Chuji’s ability was well above Hao Datong’s. She herself has not finished studying the “Jade Heart Manual”, and she would not be able to beat him. She threw the broken blade onto the floor. Her left hand lifted the body of Grandma Sun, her right hand Yang Guo; then she leapt up and soared into the air, flying away gracefully from the top of the wall.

Qiu Chuji, Hao Datong and the others saw her demonstrate her lightness kung fu and they looked on in astonishment. Qiu Chuji and Hao Datong had fought with her; they knew that she was blessed with refined skills. But her martial arts level was still significantly weaker than theirs; however they had never seen such an admirable display of lightness kung fu.

Hao Datong sighed, and said, “It’s finished, it’s finished!”

Qiu Chuji said, “Apprentice brother, you have studied Taoism for many years, how could it be that you are not able to see past a small mistake? Our brothers and sister in Shanxi, didn’t we have another set of problems?”

Hao Datong was alarmed and said, “What? Was anyone hurt?”

Qiu Chuji said, “It’s a long story, we’ll go and see apprentice brother Ma first.”

After Li Mochou killed the Lu family she traveled to Shanxi, in Jinbei she killed a few more heroes of the Wulin world. She eventually provoked public indignation; the leaders of the Wulin world in that area sent our heroes invitations, inviting them to attack her. The Quanzhen sect was the receiver of one of these hero invitations. At that time, Ma Yu and Qiu Chuji discussed how Li Mochou has done many evil deeds, and though her sect and theirs had a long history, it would be best if they solved it and give her a chance to turn over a new leaf. Liu Chuxuan and Sun Bu’Er were at Meibei. However Li Mochou hid her tracks, and traveled around discreetly, Liu Chuxuan and Sun Bu’Er couldn’t stop her and she hurt some more good men of Jinnan and Jinbei. Eventually Qiu Chuji and Wang Chuyi brought with them ten disciples, and rendezvoused with Liu Chuxuan and Sun Bu’Er. Li Mochou knew that it would be difficult for one person to fight off so many good fighters, and so she agreed with Qiu and Wang to a duel. The first day’s duel was with Sun Bu’Er. Li Mochou secretly used her ‘Soul Freezing Silver Needles’ and pierced her. She immediately went up to them and gave them the antidote, and told Qiu Chuji they must accept it. This meant that they accepted a favour from her. According to the rules of Jianghu; they wouldn’t be able to chase after and fight her. The Taoists could only laugh bitterly as they made their way back. It was lucky that Qiu Chuji hurried back by himself, not traveling with the group, and managed to arrive in time to save Hao Datong’s life.

After Xiao Longnu left Chongyang Palace, she put Yang Guo down and carried Grandma Sun’s body back to the Tomb of the Living Dead. She put her body on the bed that she normally slept on, and sat down on the chair in front of the bed and didn’t speak a single word. Yang Guo threw himself on Grandma Sun’s body and cried incessantly. After a while Xiao Longnu said, “She’s already dead, why are you crying? Even if you cried some more, she wouldn’t know about it.”

Yang Guo was startled, and felt that her words were cold and emotionless, but when he thought about it her words made sense; then he was struck with grief once more and burst out crying again.

Xiao Longnu looked at him coldly, her expression remained the same, after another while she said, “We are going to bury her, follow me.”

She picked up the body and exited the room. Yang Guo wiped away his tears with his sleeve and followed her. The tomb’s passageways were pitch black, he opened his eyes wide but could only see the ghostly white image of Xiao Longnu, he could only follow closely, he didn’t dare to lose track of her.

She twisted east and winded west, after half an hour, she pushed open a heavy stone door and from her pockets she took a match and lit two oil lamps on a stone table. Yang Guo took a look around and shivered, he saw a large empty room with five stone coffins. He took a closer look and saw that two of them were tightly closed, the other three were half open, and he didn’t know if there were corpses inside.

Xiao Longnu pointed to the first coffin on the right and said, “Ancestor Grandma lies there.” She pointed to the second one and said, “Master lies there.”

Yang Guo saw her pointing to a third coffin, his heart jumped, he didn’t know who she was going to say lies in that one. The lid was not closed; if there was a corpse inside wouldn’t it be extremely putrid? He heard her say, “Grandma Sun will lie in that one.”

Yang Guo knew it was an empty coffin, and let out his breath. He saw the other two coffins and became curious, he asked, “What about those two coffins?”  

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Xiao Longnu said, “One is for my apprentice sister Li Mochou, the other is for me.”

Yang Guo froze and said, “Li Mochou! Miss Li is going to return?”

Xiao Longnu replied, “My teacher planned it all, she will return. There is one coffin short because my master didn’t plan for you.”

Yang Guo was shocked and quickly said, “I don’t want one...I don’t want one!”

Xiao Longnu said, “I promised Grandma Sun that I was going to look after you forever. Since I won’t leave, then that means you won’t either.”

Yang Guo heard her talk about his life and death; he lost any sense of concern and said, “Even if you don’t let me go, when you die, I’ll be able to leave.”

Xiao Longnu said, “I promised to look after you forever, I won’t die before you.”

Yang Guo said, “Why not? You are older than me!”

Xiao Longnu calmly said, “Before I die, I will kill you.”

Yang Guo’s heart jumped into his throat, and thought, “Maybe not. People have got legs, won’t I run away?”

Xiao Longnu went up to the third coffin and opened the lid, she then picked up Grandma Sun and placed her inside. Yang Guo didn’t want to abandon her just yet and said, “Let me take another look at Grandma.” Xiao Longnu knew they had just known each other for a over a day yet they managed to become so closely bonded, she agreed to his request. She frowned and picked up the corpse of Grandma Sun unmoved. Yang Guo looked at Grandma Sun under the dim light, and wanted to cry again. Xiao Longnu looked at him, then placed Grandma Sun’s body into the coffin; she pulled the lid over, a click sound, and the lid locked into place tightly sealing the coffin.

Xiao Longnu was afraid that Yang Guo would cry again and said, “Let’s leave!” She waved her left sleeve, the two oil lamps in the room were put out, and the room was plunged into darkness. Yang Guo was afraid that she would trap him in there and quickly ran out.

In the tomb, there is no difference between night and day. The two of them had a long day and were tired. Xiao Longnu ordered Yang Guo to sleep in Grandma Sun’s room. Yang Guo had wandered around Jianghu by himself since he was very young; he would normally sleep rough or in old temples, and was brave. But now, sleeping by himself in this room, he began to think about the dead people in the coffins and was frightened out of his wits. Xiao Longnu said a few words but he did not reply.

Xiao Longnu said, “Did you not hear me?”

Yang Guo said, “I’m scared”

Xia Long Nu asked, “Scared of what?”

Yang Guo replied, “I don’t know. I’m afraid to sleep by myself.”

Xia Long Nu frowned and said, “You can sleep with me in my room.” She then led him to her room. She was used to the darkness and would not usually light a candle, but because of Yang Guo she lit a wax candle. Yang Guo saw that she was beautiful, the clothes she wore were as white as snow, with not a speck of dust, and he thought that her room must be very elegant and refined. When he entered however, he was disappointed; he saw that her room was empty and was like the room with the coffins. There was a blue green stone bed with a cover of long grass, a white cloth for use as a blanket, and apart from these objects there were nothing else in the room.

Yang Guo thought, “Where am I going to sleep? I’m afraid that she wants me to sleep on the floor.” Then Xiao Longnu said, “Sleep on my bed!”

Yang Guo said, “That’s not right. I’ll sleep on the floor.”

Xiao Longnu’s face changed and said, “If you want to stay here then you have got to do as I say. If you want to fight with the Taoists of Quanzhen, it’s up to you. If you argue with me, I’ll immediately punish you with death.”

Yang Guo said, “If you say you won’t use that terrible punishment, then I’ll listen to you.”

Xiao Longnu said, “You dare to talk back?”

Yang Guo saw that she was young and beautiful, but she was strict and domineering, he stuck out his tongue and didn’t say a word.

Xiao Longnu saw and said, “Why are you sticking out your tongue? You refuse to obey is that it?”

Yang Guo didn’t say anything, he took off his shoes and climbed onto the bed and went to sleep. He slept on the bed a while and then awoke as he felt his bones chilled, he was alarmed and quickly jumped off the bed. Xiao Longnu saw that he was frightened out of his wits and sympathized with him, but there was a slight smile on her face as she said, “What is it?”

Yang Guo saw that smile on her face, he smiled and said, “There’s something strange with that bed; you wanted to make a fool out of me.”

Xiao Longnu became serious again and said, “Who’s making a fool out of you? The bed is like that, quickly, go to sleep.” As she said this she took out a broom from behind the door and said, “If you get off the bed again, you will get ten whacks with this broom.”

Yang Guo saw that she was serious, and could only climb onto the bed again, but this time he was prepared and wasn’t shocked. It was as if there was a block of ice underneath the layer of long grass; the longer he slept the colder he became, his body shivered and his teeth chattered noisily. After a while, the coldness went into his bones, he couldn’t endure anymore and got off the bed again.

He turned around and saw Xiao Longnu looking at him; her face seemed to smile but didn’t smile. She had a punishment in mind for him, he secretly cursed himself in his heart and he clenched his teeth tightly and used all his strength to resist the coldness of the bed. He saw Xiao Longnu take out a rope, and tie one end to a hook on the eastern side of the room, and tied the other end to a hook on the western side of the room. The rope was off the floor at a height similar to that of a person. She lightly jumped up and lay along the rope, using it as a bed. She waved her left palm and the wind of the palm blew out the candle.

Yang Guo was in awe and said, “Gu Gu, could you teach me this skill tomorrow?”

Xiao Longnu said, “This skill is nothing. Practice hard, I have many great skills to teach you.”

When Yang Guo heard that Xiao Longnu was going to sincerely teach him martial arts, he then immediately wiped away his initial feelings about her. He was grateful and tears were forming in his eyes, and said, “Gu Gu, you treat me very well, before I hated you.”

Xiao Longnu said, “I forced you out of the tomb, of course you would hate me, what is so strange about that?”

Yang Guo said, “I thought you were going to be like my previous master, teaching me useless kung fu.”

Xiao Longnu heard him shiver as he talked and said, “Are you cold?”

Yang Guo said, “Yes, there’s something strange underneath this bed, why is it so cold?”

Xiao Longnu said, “Do you like it or don’t you?”

Yang Guo said, “I…I don’t.”

Xiao Longnu chuckled and said, “You don’t like it, yet there are many skilled fighters on this earth who wish they could have the chance to sleep on this bed.”

Yang Guo asked, “You aren’t punishing me?”

Xiao Longnu said, “I treat you well, and you think I’m punishing you, you really don’t know what’s good for you.”

From her tone, it seemed as she was saying that sleeping on this bed was a blessing, so he softly asked, “Gu Gu, what is so good about this cold bed, can you explain it to me?”

Xiao Longnu said, “If you sleep on this bed for the rest of your life, you’ll find out the benefits for yourself. Close your eyes, don’t speak anymore.”

In the darkness he heard her clothes rustle lightly, it seemed like she was turning over; she was sleeping on a rope in midair, yet was able to turn over when she wanted to. It was uncanny.

Her last two sentences were said with a strict tone, Yang Guo didn’t dare to question any further. He closed his eyes to sleep, but the coldness from below advanced on him; then he thought about Grandma Sun and he was depressed again, how could he sleep? After a while he quietly called out, “Gu Gu, I can’t stand it.” He heard Xiao Longnu’s slow breathing; she was asleep. He quietly called out twice, but there was no reply and he thought, “If I get off the bed and sleep on the floor, she wouldn’t know.” He then quietly sneaked down from the bed, and stood on the floor, not daring to breathe out.

As soon as his feet touched the floor, a ‘se’ sound was made as Xiao Longnu leapt down from the rope, and bent his left arm behind his back, and forced him onto the floor. Yang Guo shouted in shock. Xiao Longnu grabbed the broom, and hit his backside with force. Yang Guo knew there was no use in pleading so he clenched his teeth and took the blows. The first five were very painful, but by the sixth hit Xiao Longnu held back a little, and by the last two hits she was afraid that he won’t be able to endure it anymore and they were even lighter. After the ten blows, she put Yang Guo on the bed and said, “If you get off the bed again, I’ll hit you again.”

Yang Guo lay on the bed, and didn’t make a noise; he heard her place the broom in the corner and then leaped back onto the rope. Xiao Longnu thought that he would definitely cry, but didn’t think that he wouldn’t make a sound. She was surprised and asked, “Why aren’t you making any noise?”

Yang Guo said, “What is there to cry about, you said you were going to beat me, you beat me, even if I begged it wouldn’t be of any use.”

Xiao Longnu said, “Humph, you are cursing me secretly in your heart.”

Yang Guo said, “I am not cursing you secretly in my heart, you are much better than my previous master.”

Xiao Longnu asked, “Why?”

Yang Guo said, “Although you hit me, you cared for my well being. The hits became lighter, you were afraid that I would be in pain.”

Xiao Longnu blushed slightly when she heard those words, it was lucky that it was dark and Yang Guo didn’t see her, she scolded, “Humph, who cares for you, the next time you are disobedient I’ll beat you even harder.”

Yang Guo heard her gentle tone and smiled and said, “If you beat me harder, I’ll like it even more.”

Xiao Longnu spat out, “Little rascal, I’m afraid you won’t be able to sleep each day without a beating.”

Yang Guo said, “It depends on who beats me. If it was someone who cared about me, then I won’t be angry, I’ll be pleased instead. If it were someone who hates me, insults me one word, when I grow up, I’ll take my revenge on them.”

Xiao Longnu said, “Listen to your words; who’s going to hate you and who’s going to love you.”

Yang Guo said, “This is all clear in my mind. There is no need to mention those who hate me; there are countless people. The people who love me are my deceased mother, Uncle Guo, my Godfather, Grandma Sun and you.”

Xiao Longnu chuckled and said, “Humph, I won’t love you. Grandma Sun told me to take care of you; I will take care of you. There is no point in hoping that I will treat you well.”

Yang Guo was feeling cold already, but when he heard those words it was like someone had poured a bucket of cold water over him. He asked, “What’s wrong with me? Why do you hate me?”

Xiao Longnu said, “Whether you are feeling good or bad, what is that to do with me? And I don’t hate you. I have lived in this tomb all my life, I don’t love anything, and I don’t hate anything.”

Yang Guo said, “Is there anything fun around here? Gu Gu, have you ever been outside?”

Xiao Longnu said, “I have never left Mount Zhongnan, there’s just trees and mountains, the sun and moon outside, what is so good about that?”

Yang Guo clapped his hand and said, “Ah, then you haven’t lived properly. There are many colorful and interesting objects in the city, you should see them.” Then he described all the things he had seen in his life. He was a good speaker, he added his own colorful descriptions and the objects he was describing sounded even more interesting and strange, he described hundreds of things. It was fortunate that Xiao Longnu had lived in the tomb for the past eighteen years; she didn’t question his descriptions and believed them all, after he had finished, and she gave out a sigh.

Yang Guo said, “Gu Gu, I’ll take you out to play, how about that?”

Xiao Longnu said, “Don’t say such things! Ancestor Grandma passed down a rule; those who have lived in the Tomb of the Living Dead must not leave Mount Zhongnan one step.”

Yang Guo was shocked, and thought, “Peach Blossom Island is an island in the middle of the sea, I went there and was able to leave, how can this large tomb keep me here?” and he asked, “Miss Li Mochou is your apprentice sister, she lived in the Tomb of the Living Dead, how did she leave Mount Zhongnan?

Xiao Longnu said, “She didn’t obey my Master, it was my Master who sent her out of the tomb.”

Yang Guo was pleased and thought, “If there is such a rule, when I want to leave all I’ve got to do is disobey you and you will send me out of the tomb.” He thought how he mustn’t let this slip otherwise his plan wouldn’t work.

The two of them talked, just for a moment, Yang Guo forgot all about the cold, but after a while his body started to shiver and shake. he then pleaded with Xiao Longnu, “Gu Gu, spare me please. I don’t want to sleep on this bed.”

Xiao Longnu said, “When you were fighting with your master in the Quanzhen sect, you didn’t say a word about mercy, why are you like this now?”

Yang Guo laughed and said, “Those who ill treat me, even if they beat me I won’t say a word. Those who treat me well, I’ll be willing to die for them, what’s a word of mercy compared to that?”

Xiao Longnu gave a ‘humph’ and said, “Little rogue, who’s going to treat you well?”

Xiao Longnu was brought up by her teacher and Grandma Sun, and for these last eighteen years they were her only company. The two of them treated her well but because her Master wanted her to learn the “Jade Heart Manual” so, ever since she was small, she was told to purge her emotions. When she cried or smiled she would be punished heavily. Grandma Sun was a warm person but she didn’t dare to disturb her refinement of the skill, and so Xiao Longnu became a cold, unfeeling, lonely girl. Now Yang Guo came. He was a young hot-blooded, emotional person, and the way he spoke was completely the opposite of Grandma Sun and her Master. Xiao Longnu heard him speak; she was aware that something was strange but she listened to him talking and forgot about their tiredness. When she first agreed to take in Yang Guo, it was at the request of Grandma Sun. Later on when she heard Yang Guo say that she treats him well, she felt that she indeed did treat him well.

Yang Guo heard her tone had no more strictness within it, he said loudly, “Its cold…its cold, Gu Gu, I can’t endure it anymore.” Indeed he was cold, but it wasn’t anything too serious.

Xiao Longnu said, “There’s no need to be noisy, I’ll tell you about the bed.”

Yang Guo was pleased and said, “Great, I won’t call out anymore, please tell Gu Gu.”

Xiao Longnu said, “I said that there are many fighters who wished that they had the chance to sleep on this bed, that wasn’t a lie. The bed is made out of an ancient Chilled Jade; it aids those who practice advanced types of internal energy.”

Yang Guo asked, “Isn’t it just a stone?”

Xiao Longnu chuckled and said, “You’ve said that you have seen countless strange and wondrous objects, haven’t you ever seen an icy cold piece of rock before? It was Ancestor Grandma who spent seven years of blood and sweat in the extreme cold of the northern plains to dig out the Chilled Jade from under thousands of feet of ice and snow. If you practice your internal energy on this bed, one year is equivalent of ten years of normal practicing.”

Yang Guo was surprised and said, “Oh, so it has such benefits.”

Xiao Longnu said, “When you first sleep on it, it is extremely cold and hard to endure. Only by circulating your chi to oppose it and slowly getting used to it, you’ll be able to practice your internal energy in your sleep. A normal person who practices internal energy, even the most energetic, will have to spend a few hours each day in sleep. You have to be aware that practicing internal energy is opposing the natural flow of things, chi and blood intermix; it is completely different to what happens normally. But each night when you sleep, the chi that is produced in your sleep does not waste the energy you have accumulated in the day, it enhances your internal energy.”

Yang Guo understood and said, “If you sleep on ice and snow at night, then you will have the same effect.”

Xiao Longnu said, “Not so. Firstly, when you sleep on ice or snow, your body’s heat will eventually melt the snow and ice into water; secondly, the Chilled Jade is much colder than ice and snow. When you are refining internal energy, the most important thing to avoid is fire deviation; when you are practicing normally, half of your refined energy clashes with the fire in your heart. The Chilled Jade Bed is the world’s most yin and cold object. When sitting on the bed and refining your internal energy, the fire in your heart is cooled and neutralized. That means you will be able to press on further when cultivating your internal energy; how can that not be faster than practicing internal energy normally?”

Yang Guo was delighted, and said, “Gu Gu, you treat me very well, you lend the bed for me to sleep on, that means I won’t be scared of the Wu brothers and Guo Fu. Although Zhao Zhijing and the rest of the Taoists have practiced martial arts for so long, I still will be able to catch up with them.”

Xiao Longnu calmly said, “One of the decrees that Ancestor Grandma passed down was that once you have lived in the tomb, you must forget your struggles with other people.”

Yang Guo quickly said, “Even though they bullied me and killed Grandma Sun, we will just leave it just like that.”

Xiao Longnu said, “Everyone will die. Even if Grandma Sun did not die at the hands of Hao Datong, in a few years she would die of old age. Live a few more years or live a few less years, what difference does it make? Don’t mention anything about revenge to me again.”

Yang Guo felt that, although her words made sense, he could not let go; but he wasn’t able to think of a reply to what she said. Then, the coolness of the bed entered his body again, he shook continuously.

Xiao Longnu said, “I’ll teach you a method to oppose the coolness of the bed.”

She then passed on the formulae and the way to practice internal energy to him; it was their sect’s foundation kung fu. Yang Guo practiced according to the instructions. He had only practiced it for a while when he felt the coolness retreating; by the third repetition, his body felt like it was on fire. He didn’t feel the bed’s coolness, and instead felt that sitting on the bed was extremely comfortable, his eyes closed, and slowly he fell asleep. He slept for half an hour; his hot chi disappeared, and was wakened by the bed’s coolness. He then repeated the method again. He spent the night this way, falling asleep and waking up again, but when he suddenly woke up he didn’t feel any tiredness. In just a night, his internal energy level increased further.

The two of them ate breakfast, and then Yang Guo took the bowls and chopsticks into the kitchen and washed them, before returning to the main hall.

Xiao Longnu said, “There is one thing you must understand. If you really want me to be your master, you must obey me for eternity. If you don’t want me to be your master, I will still teach you martial arts. If in the future you become better than me, then you can leave the tomb because of your skills.”

Yang Guo replied without considering, “I am willing to take you as my master. Even if you don’t teach me a drop of martial arts, I will still do as you say.”

Xiao Longnu asked, “Why?”

Yang Guo said, “Gu Gu, don’t you think I know that you care for me?”

Xiao Longnu made a face and said, “Whether I treat you well or not, don’t talk about it. Since you’ve decided to enter my sect, then follow me and you will undergo the ritual.”

Yang Guo followed her into the back hall, only to see it was sparse and empty, apart from two paintings on the eastern and western wall. On the western wall was a picture of two girls. One of them was around twenty five or six years of age, facing a mirror combing and adorning her hair. The other was a fourteen or fifteen years of age maiden, her hand holding a bucket, standing to the side. The tall girl looking in the mirror was extremely beautiful, her eyebrows tidy, yet in her eyes there was an air of death. Yang Guo took a few glances at the painting, and felt fear and respect towards the girl.

Xiao Longnu pointed to the tall girl in the painting and said, “That is our Ancestor, kowtow to her.”

Yang Guo strangely asked, “That’s our Ancestor, why is she so young?”

Xiao Longnu said, “She was young in the picture, later she wasn’t as young anymore.” Yang Guo focused on the two sentences, ‘She was young in the picture, later she wasn’t as young anymore’, he felt sorrow and regret in his heart and tears came to his eyes.

Xiao Longnu didn’t notice that he was thinking and pointed to the young girl and said, “That is my Master, quickly kowtow.” Yang Guo looked at the painting, and saw the young girl, who could believe that she would become Xiao Longnu’s Master; he didn’t hesitate and immediately kowtowed.

Xiao Longnu waited for him to stand up and then pointed to the painting hung on the eastern wall and said, “Spit on that Taoist.” Yang Guo took a look at the painting and saw the Taoist was quite tall, a long sword by his side, the index finger on his right hand pointing to the north eastern corner, his back facing out, his face could not be seen.

He was curious and asked, “Who’s that? Why should I spit on him?”

Xiao Longnu said, “That is the Quanzhen sect’s founder Wang Chongyang, our sect has a rule, after kowtowing to our Ancestor we need to spit on him.”

Yang Guo was pleased, he hated the Quanzhen sect, he felt this rule of the sect was a suiting finish; he spat out at the painting, and felt that this was not enough and spat out twice. He was about to do it again when Xiao Longnu said, “Enough!”

Yang Guo asked, “Did our Ancestor really hate Wang Chongyang?”

Xiao Longnu said, “Yes.”

Yang Guo said, “I hate him as well. How come the painting is hung on the wall but not destroyed?”

Xiao Longnu said, “I don’t know, I only heard from Grandma Sun and my Master that there isn’t one good man on earth.”

Her voice suddenly became strict and she said, “When you become older and do bad things, shall I spare you or not?”

Yang Guo said, “Of course you’ll spare me.”

Xiao Longnu originally meant this as a warning, she didn’t know he would answer, she was startled and didn’t know what to do with him and said, “Quickly greet your Master.”

Yang Guo said, “Of course, I must kowtow to my Master. But first you have to got to promise me one thing otherwise I won’t kowtow.”

Xiao Longnu thought, “According to Grandma Sun, before accepting a disciple, only the Master can request things from the disciple, how can it be turned around and the disciple requests something from the Master?”

She was an emotionless person and didn’t get angry, she said, “What is it? Let me hear what you’ve got to say.”

Yang Guo said, “I regard you as my Master, I respect you and obey you, but I don’t want to call you Master, I want to call you Gu Gu.”

Xiao Longnu was bemused again and asked, “Why?”

Yang Guo said, “I had taken that rotten Taoist from the Quanzhen sect as my Master, he didn’t treat me well at all, in my dreams I curse my Master. That’s why I want to call you Gu Gu, in case I mistakenly insult you when I insult my Master.”

Xiao Longnu smiled slightly and felt that the way in which this child thinks was amusing, and said, “Fine, I agree to this.”

Yang Guo then knelt down grandly, and kowtowed loudly eight times in front of Xiao Longnu and said, “Disciple Yang Guo hereby pays respect and acknowledges Xiao Longnu Gu Gu as my Master. Yang Guo will obey her words forever, if Gu Gu is in any sort of danger, I will give up my life to protect her, if someone insults Gu Gu, then I will kill them.” In reality Xiao Longnu’s skills were better than his by ten fold, but he saw that she was a beautiful, gentle and fragile girl, a feeling of duty to protect weak girls stirred, and he came out with those words.

Xiao Longnu heard his sincere words, although he spoke with a childish tone, she was touched nonetheless.

Yang Guo finished kowtowing and picked himself up, his face full of glee.

Xiao Longnu said, “Why are you so pleased? My skills can’t compare with Quanzhen’s Qiu Chuji or your Uncle Guo.”

Yang Guo said, “I don’t care if they were even more skilled, you are really going to teach me kung fu.”

Xiao Longnu said, “Actually there isn’t much use in learning kung fu. It’s just that there isn’t much to do in the tomb, that’s why I’m teaching you.”

Yang Guo said, “Gu Gu, what’s our sect called?”

Xiao Longnu said, “When our Ancestor came and lived in the tomb, she didn’t have any contact with the Wulin world, our sect didn’t have a name. Later my apprentice sister Li Mochou left and wandered around the world of Jianghu, others said she was a disciple from ‘Gu Mu Pai’ (Ancient Tomb sect), so let’s call our sect the Ancient Tomb sect!”

Yang Guo shook his head, and said, “Ancient Tomb sect isn’t a good name.”

He had just entered the sect and found fault with the name, but Xiao Longnu wasn’t too concerned and said, “Does it matter if the name is good or not? Wait here for me; I’m going outside for a while.”

Yang Guo remembered that he would be on his own in the tomb and became scared and said, “Gu Gu, I’ll go with you.”

Xiao Longnu looked at him and said, “You said you’ll obey for eternity, my first order and you don’t listen?”

Yang Guo said, “I’m scared.”

Xiao Longnu said, “You are a man, what is there to be afraid of? You said you were going to help me get rid of bad people.”

Yang Guo thought for a while and said, “Fine, come back quickly.”

Xiao Longnu calmly said, “I can’t be certain how long I’ll be; I don’t know if I can catch them so quickly.”

Yang Guo said, “Catch what?” Xiao Longnu didn’t reply and walked away.

As soon as she left, there wasn’t a sound in the tomb. Yang Guo wondered what on earth she’s going to catch. She said she will never leave Mount Zhongnan, which means she was going to catch a Quanzhen Taoist, but who could it be. After capturing him I’ll torture him for a while, that’ll be fun; but Gu Gu is by herself, she might be in danger. He thought wildly for a while, and then exited the hall and headed west in the passageways. After ten or so steps, it was pitch black in front of his eyes. He was afraid that he was going to get lost, he touched the wall and made his way back but after twenty steps or so he lost the light of the main hall. He was afraid, and walked forward faster. He had originally been on the wrong path, but as he carried on, he became even more lost. He ran faster and faster, he crashed into the east and bumped into the west, but felt that there were paths everywhere; he was never going to reach the main hall again. He then loudly called out, “Gu Gu, Gu Gu, save me quickly.” The echo resonated for a while before disappearing.

He ran around again for a while, but then felt the ground was damp, his foot had stepped into some mud. He wasn’t on the level of the tomb but had run into one of the passageways underground; he was scared and thought, “If I got lost in the tomb, Gu Gu will be able to find me. Now that I’m running around, she won’t be able to find me, and when she finds out I escaped she will be very upset.” He didn’t dare run around anymore; he felt out a stone and sat down, he wanted to cry out but he couldn’t.

He sat there for over an hour when he suddenly heard the faint calls of “Guo’er, Guo’er!” Yang Guo was delighted and quickly got up and shouted, “Gu Gu, I’m over here!” The calls of “Guo’er, Guo’er” became fainter. Yang Guo was in a rush and shouted at the top of his voice, “I’m over here!” After a while, he didn’t hear anything, when suddenly he felt his ear being tugged, someone was pulling on his ear.

At first he was alarmed but now he was pleased and shouted out, “Gu Gu, you’ve come, how come I didn’t notice anything?”

Xiao Longnu said, “Why are you here?”

Yang Guo said, “I took a wrong turn.”

Xiao Longnu sighed and took his hand and walked, though it was pitch black, it was as if she was under the sun, she went around corners and changed paths, she walked extremely fast.

Yang Guo said, “Gu Gu, how can you see in here?”

Xiao Longnu said, “I grew up here in the darkness, so I don’t need any light.”

Yang Guo had sat there for over an hour and was frightened and regretful, now that he was rescued, he was delighted but he didn’t know what to say.

After a while, Xiao Longnu took him to the main hall again. Yang Guo sighed and said, “Gu Gu, just now I was really worried.”

Xiao Longnu said, “Worried about what? I’d eventually find you.”

Yang Guo said, “I’m not worried about that, I was afraid that you might have thought that I had escaped and become sad.”

Xiao Longnu said, “If you did escape, I wouldn’t be able to keep the promise I made to Grandma Sun, what is so sad about that?”

Yang Guo heard this and knew there was no use, and said, “Gu Gu, you’ve caught it then?”

Xiao Longnu said, “I’ve caught them.”

Yang Guo said, “Why did you go and catch them?”

Xiao Longnu said, “I caught them so you can start learning kung fu. Follow me!”

Yang Guo thought, “So she has caught a Taoist to fight with me; that will be interesting. It will be best if she caught that Zhao Zhijing; after being taken care of by Gu Gu, he will have to endure my punches and kicks without being able to retaliate, that’ll be great fun.” As he followed Xiao Longnu, the more he thought about it, the happier he was.

Xiao Longnu turned a few bends, pushed open a door, and entered a chamber lit with candles. The room was small; it was difficult to turn around with the two of them in there. The ceiling was low, and if Xiao Longnu stretched out her arm she would be able to touch the ceiling. Yang Guo didn’t see any Taoists; he was slightly disappointed and asked, “Where is the Taoist you caught?”

Xiao Longnu said, “What Taoist?”

Yang Guo said, “Didn’t you say you were going to catch some people to help me practice kung fu?”

Xiao Longnu said, “Who said anything about people? It’s in there.” She went over the corner of the room and picked up a bag; she untied the bag and tipped it upside down, three sparrows flew out.

Yang Guo thought, “Oh, so Gu Gu went out to catch some sparrows.”

Xiao Longnu said, “Catch the three sparrows and give them to me. You mustn’t harm their wings or claws.”

Yang Guo said, “Fine!” He threw himself forward to catch them. But the sparrows were swift and quick; they flew to the west and darted to east. Yang Guo was out of breath, his head covered with sweat, yet he couldn’t even touch a feather of theirs.

Xiao Longnu said, “You won’t catch them like that, I’ll teach you a way.” She then taught him the technique to jump high and dart low, and the ability to catch things quickly. Yang Guo had realized that she caught the sparrows to teach him kung fu; he made sure he remembered this. Although he understood the formulae and method, it wasn’t easy to use it straight away. Xiao Longnu let him practice, and left the room.

On the first day Yang Guo wasn’t able to catch one. After supper he practiced on the Chilled Jade Bed. On the second day, he could jump higher than before, and his arm movements were much quicker. On the fifth day he eventually managed to catch one. Yang Guo was excited and quickly told Xiao Longnu. He couldn’t guess that she wouldn’t have any words of praise or encouragement. She calmly said, “What use is catching one; you must catch all three.”

Yang Guo said, “I’ve already caught one, how hard could it be to catch all three?” He was mistaken; he tried for two days but wasn’t able to catch them. Xiao Longnu saw that the sparrows were tired, so she fed them and then let them fly off. She then caught another three for him to practice with. By the eighth day, Yang Guo managed to catch all the sparrows in one go.

Xiao Longnu said, “It’s time to go up to Chongyang Palace.”

Yang Guo was alarmed and said, “Why?”

Xiao Longnu didn’t reply and took him out of the tomb. Yang Guo had not seen daylight in seven days, when he was in the daylight again, he struggled to open his eyes. The two of them arrived at Chongyang Palace. Yang Guo was worried, he kept on glancing at Xiao Longnu but she was expressionless, he couldn’t tell what she was thinking. Then he heard her call out in a clear voice, “Zhao Zhijing, come out quickly.”

When they arrived at Chongyang Palace, there were people who had gone in and gave the message of their arrival. After she finished speaking, out came tens of Taoists. Two young Taoists supported Zhao Zhijing, his face was haggard, his eyes deep, he had no way of standing up by himself. When the Taoists saw the two of them, they all held their weapons tightly and angrily glared at them.

end of ch. 5  

[[.Mihiko-chan.]]

i am so confused.. can someone explain this?  

[Lil_Dragon_Gurl]

[.Mihiko-chan.]

i am so confused.. can someone explain this?

the story???
its called return of the condor hero. written by jin yong. aka louis cha
this story is in the song dynasty about an orphan name yang guo. at first he lived w/ his uncle guo but b/c of an incident (read ch. 3) they decided 2 send him away. he was taken 2 this taoist place where he was suppose 2 b learning martial arts and learn 2 b a hero and a good person. but instead he gets picked on and bullied. he later decides 2 run away after injuring 1 of the taoist and he becomes xiao long nu's disciple.  

[Lil_Dragon_Gurl]

Chapter 6.The Jade Heart Manual

Xiao Longnu took out a container from her pocket and placed it in your Yang Guo’s hand and loudly said, “This is the antidote to the Jade Bee stings, give it to Zhao Zhijing.”

When Yang Guo saw Zhao Zhijing, he ground his teeth in fury, but he didn’t want to disobey Xiao Longnu so he quickly walked up to Zhao Zhijing and placed the bottle down heavily in front of him. When the Taoists heard that Xiao Longnu had returned to the palace, they thought that she had come back to avenge Grandma Sun, they put up their guard and quickly told Ma Yu, Qiu Chuji and the other elders the news, but they didn’t guess that she had come back to bring the antidote, they were startled and could not think of anything to say.

After Yang Guo put down the bottle, he looked at Zhao Zhijing, a vicious expression was on his face; he turned around and walked away.

When Lu Qingdu saw Yang Guo, his blood began to boil, and shouted out, “Little punk, you’ve been kicked out of our sect, why have you come back?”

The day the “Toad Stance” struck him, he lost his breath, but because Yang Guo’s internal energy was shallow, he wasn’t seriously hurt. After a few restoring palms by Qiu Chuji and a few days rest, he recovered. Now, he immediately dashed out, wanting to avenge that day’s push.

Xiao Longnu said, “Guo’Er, if you want, fight back.”

Yang Guo heard footsteps behind him, and heard the wind of a palm, someone was aiming for his neck. In the Tomb of the Living Dead he had slept on the Chilled Jade bed for eight days, and practiced eight days of sparrow catching techniques. Although Xiao Longnu only taught him how to catch sparrows, the Ancient Tomb’s lightness kung fu is outstanding, his skills today and that day in the arena were completely different. He didn’t move backwards or forwards, and waited for Lu Qingdu’s hand to arrive; he crouched down and darted out of the way, and tugged on the sleeve of that hand. Lu Qingdu could not believe that in just a few days, his lightness kung fu had increased dramatically. Influenced by anger he had acted without thinking about the enemy. He had quickly dashed out, his body inclined, his legs unsteady and after being tugged by Yang Guo, he fell down heavily onto the ground.

By the time he picked himself back up, Yang Guo had already hurried to Xiao Longnu’s side. Lu Qingdu shouted and cursed, and wanted to go after him. Suddenly a Taoist hurried out from the crowd, grabbed his arm, and pulled him back. When Lu Qingdu was grabbed, he froze, he looked up to see Martial Uncle Zhen Zhibing; he cursed under his breath and retreated.

Zhen Zhibing called out clearly; “Thank you Miss Long for the antidote.” He bowed down and greeted her.

Xiao Longnu didn’t take any notice and held Yang Guo’s hand and said, “Let’s go.”

Zhen Zhibing said, “Miss Long, Yang Guo is a disciple of the Quanzhen and you insist on taking him away. How can we resolve this?”

Xiao Longnu was startled and said, “I don’t want to hear annoying words.” She held Yang Guo’s arm and went back into the forest. Zhen Zhibing, Zhao Zhijing and the other Taoist stood there startled.

The two went back into the tomb. Xiao Longnu said, “Guo’Er, your kung fu has improved, but you tripping the fat Taoist was wrong.”

Yang Guo said, “That fat Taoist beat me up badly last time, it’s a pity that I wasn’t able to get some punches in. Gu Gu, why shouldn’t I trip him?”

Xiao Longnu said, “It’s not that you shouldn’t trip him, it’s the way you did it that was wrong. You shouldn’t have pulled him to the ground, you shouldn’t have raised your hands to make him fall, but let him fall by himself.”

Yang Guo was pleased, and said, “That’s a fun method, Gu Gu, teach me.”

Xiao Longnu said, “I’ll be Guo’Er, you’ll be the fat Taoist, come and catch me.” She then walked forward slowly.

Yang Guo laughed as he went to catch her. It was as if Xiao Longnu had eyes in the back of her head, when Yang Guo ran fast, her steps were fast, when he slowed down, she slowed down, the distance between she and Yang Guo stayed at around a meter.

Yang Guo said, “I’m going to catch you now!” He threw himself forward, Xiao Longnu didn’t move. Yang Guo saw that his hands were going to grab her shoulders, but his hands grasped thin air as Xiao Longnu darted backwards, escaping his clutches. Yang Guo quickly turned around to try to catch her, but this move was rushed, he used a force opposite to his momentum, his legs became unsteady, he looked at the ceiling as he fell to the floor and his back ached.

Xiao Longnu took him by the right hand and pulled him up. Yang Guo said, “How come you are so fast?”

Xiao Longnu said, “If you catch sparrows for a year, then you can do this as well.”

Yang Guo said, “I’ve caught them already.”
.
Xiao Longnu chuckled and said, “That counts as catching sparrows? How can our sect’s kung fu be learned so easily? Follow me.” She then led him to another room. This room was larger than the room where Yang Guo first practiced catching sparrows, at least twice the size. There were six sparrows in this room. This room was larger than before; catching the sparrows will be more difficult. Xiao Longnu passed on some more lightness kung fu and catching techniques to him, eight or nine days later Yang Guo was able to catch the six sparrows in one go.

After that, the stone chambers became larger and larger, the number of sparrows also increased, eventually he moved to the main hall, with eighty-one sparrows.

The Ancient Tomb sect’s formulae for internal energy were wondrous, the Chilled Jade Bed’s ability to enhance internal energy cultivation was incredible, in just three months, Yang Guo could catch all eighty-one sparrows in one go. Xiao Longnu was pleased with his rapid progress, and said, “We will now go outside and catch sparrows.”

Yang Guo had lived in the tomb for three months, and was becoming slightly restless, when he heard that he was going outside to practice, his expression changed to one of delight.

Xiao Longnu said, “What is there to be pleased about? This kung fu is hard to master. There are eighty-one sparrows, you must not let one go.”

The two arrived outside. It was March, on the eve of spring. In front of them was a deep green forest, Yang Guo breathed in deeply, and the fragrance of flowers and grasses flowed into his lungs, it was extremely relaxing.

Xiao Longnu opened the bag, the sparrows flew out, then, her pair of delicate hands flew out, checking to the west, and tapping in the east, and forced the sparrows that had flew out to return. The flock of sparrows suddenly got their freedom back, how come they didn’t all scatter everywhere? It was strange but Xiao Longnu was checking and tapping, the eighty-one sparrows were all kept within a meter of her. Her arms were as if they were engaged in a flying dance, her palms formed a thousand hands and a thousand palms, no matter how hard the sparrows tried to fly away, they couldn’t escape from the boundary of her palms.

Yang Guo looked on with his mouth open. He was startled and pleasantly surprised; he pulled himself together and thought, “Gu Gu is teaching me a wondrous palm technique. Quickly concentrate.” He studied her hand movements, how she attacked and how she took her palms back. Her palm technique was extremely quick, but each and every palm was clear, forming the different stances. Yang Guo studied them for over half an hour, although he didn’t understand completely the essence of the palms, he understood a bit more than he did at the start.

Xiao Longnu demonstrated the palms again, then she separated her palms and placed them behind her back, the sparrows suddenly flew up towards the sky. Xiao Longnu waved her long sleeves, the two gust of wind from the sleeve pushed out, the sparrows were all pushed back, after much screeching, they beat their wings again to fly away.

Yang Guo was delighted; he tugged her sleeve and said, “Gu Gu, I don’t think even Uncle Guo could do that.”

Xiao Longnu said, “This set of palms is called the “Force of Nets Above and Snares Below” (tian luo di wang shi), it is one of the Ancient Tomb sect’s foundation skills. Work hard and learn it!” She then taught him the stances of the palms; Yang Guo remembered all of them. Within ten days, Yang Guo learned all eighty-one stances of the “Force of Nets Above and Snares Below”, and made more progress in his skills.

Xiao Longnu caught a sparrow, and told Yang Guo to prevent its’ escape with his palms. At first he could only repel the escape two or three times before the sparrow escaped through the spaces in his hands. Xiao Longnu was standing to the side, she stretched out her hand and sent the sparrow back. Yang Guo continued with his palms, but because his palms weren’t fast enough, in just two or three stances again the sparrow flew away. Xiao Longnu again forced the sparrow back so Yang Guo could practice again.

He continued practicing, spring turned to summer, and he advanced his skills a little further. Yang Guo was naturally gifted, and he worked tirelessly, his palm skills kept on improving, by mid autumn, he had mastered this set of “Force of Nets Above and Snares Below”. When he used the palm skills he was now able to keep the eight-one sparrows under his control. However, because his internal energy wasn’t refined enough, there were times where there were gaps in his stances and he allowed the birds to escape and so he wasn’t able to do it all in one go.

That day Xiao Longnu said, “Now that you’ve completed this set of palms, when you meet that fat Taoist you’ll be able to trip him up a few times without using any effort.”

Yang Guo said, “What if I fight with Zhao Zhijing?”

Xiao Longnu didn’t reply and thought, “When Zhao Zhijing fought Grandma Sun, if he wasn’t poisoned, Grandma Sun may not have won. At the moment, your skills can not compare with his.”

Yang Guo knew what she was thinking when she didn’t reply and said, “It doesn’t matter if I can’t beat him now, in a few years I’ll be able to beat him. Gu Gu, our Ancient Tomb sect’s skills are better that Quanzhen’s, aren’t they?”

Xiao Longnu looked up at the ceiling and said, “On this earth, only you and I believe that. When I fought with that Quanzhen Taoist named Qiu, I couldn’t beat him, but this isn’t because our Ancient Tomb’s skills cannot compete with Quanzhen’s, it’s because I have yet to complete our sect’s most refined kung fu.”

Yang Guo had believed all along that Xiao Longnu’s skills exceeded Qiu Chuji’s, when he heard about this he was curious and said, “Gu Gu, what is this skill? Is it hard to learn? Why don’t you practice it again?”

Xiao Longnu said, “I’ll tell you a story, then you’ll understand our sect’s origins. Before you kowtowed to me as your Master, you also kowtowed to our Ancestor. Her surname was Lin, her first names Chaoying, years ago; the two most skilled fighters were our Ancestor and Wang Chongyang. Originally, it was hard to decide who was better, later on Wang Chongyang was busy fighting the Jin, he was occupied night and day; our Ancestor concentrated on her martial arts and eventually became a level higher than him. But our Ancestor did not meddle in the affairs of Wulin, she didn’t like showing off, and so hardly anyone in the world of Jianghu knew who she was. Eventually, Wang Chongyang failed in his quest to repel the Jin and resided in the Tomb of the Living Dead; he had nothing to do and refined his martial arts. Our Ancestor wasn’t feeling well, and had two serious illnesses, so by the time Wang Chongyang left the tomb our Ancestor was below him again. Eventually the two dueled and made a bet, Wang Chongyang admitted defeat to our Ancestor, and gave the tomb to her. Come, I’ll show the things that the two left behind.”

Yang Guo clapped and said, “So this stone tomb was taken out of Wang Chongyang’s hands by our Ancestor Grandma. If I had known earlier, I would have been even more pleased with living in the tomb.”

Xiao Longnu smiled slightly, and took him to another chamber. Yang Guo saw that the room was extremely strange, it was narrow at the front and wide at the back, the east side was a semi circle, the west side was triangular, and he asked, “Gu Gu, why is this room so strange looking?”

Xiao Longnu said, “This is the room where Wang Chongyang refined his skills, at the front he practiced his palms, at the back he practiced his fists, at the east side he practiced with swords and the west side he practiced projectiles.”

Yang Guo looked around the room but didn’t find anything special about it.

Xiao Longnu stretched out her hand and pointed upwards and said, “The essence and core of Wang Chongyang’s skills is up here.”

Yang Guo looked up, but all he saw were some markings and scribbles, they were made by projectiles, some were deep and some were shallow, how could you pick up the essence from that?

Xiao Longnu went over to the east side and pushed an arc a few times, a large stone slowly moved across, revealing a door. She held a wax candle and told Yang Guo to enter. It was another room. It looked like the previous room but it was the complete opposite. The front was wide and the back was narrow, the west side was round and the east triangular. Yang Guo looked up, and again the ceiling was marked in carvings and symbols.

Xiao Longnu said, “Those are the kung fu left by our Ancestor. She used her intelligence to win the tomb, had she used her martial arts, she would have lost to Wang Chongyang. After she moved into the tomb, she discovered the martial arts skills left by Wang Chongyang. Then she painstakingly developed a set of skills to counter all the skills left by Wang Chongyang. It’s all marked down here.”

Yang Guo was delighted and said, “That’s great. Even if Qiu Chuji, Hao Datong and the rest of them have high skills, they could not be better than Wang Chongyang. All you’ve got to do is practice the skills left by our Ancestor and you’ll be able to beat all the Taoists.”

Xiao Longnu said, “You are correct, but it’s a pity that there isn’t anyone to help me.”

Yang Guo said, “I’ll help you.”

Xiao Longnu glanced at him and said, “It’s a pity that your skills aren’t good enough.” Yang Guo blushed and was embarrassed.

Xiao Longnu said, “The skill that Ancestor Grandma left is called the “Jade Heart Manual”, it requires two people to practice it, mutually helping each other. Back then, Ancestor Grandma practiced it with my teacher. Ancestor Grandma had not practiced for long before she passed away, my master did not complete it.”

Yang Guo suddenly became delighted again and said, “I’m your disciple, we could learn it together.”

Xiao Longnu said, “Yes! Let’s take a look. The first step, you have to learn our sect’s skills. The second step is to learn the skills of Quanzhen sect. The third step is to learn the skill that counters Quanzhen sect’s skills, the “Jade Heart Manual”. When my master passed away, I was fourteen years old. I have learned all our sect’s skills, and had just started to practice Quanzhen’s martial arts; there is no need to talk about the “Jade Heart Manual”. The first step I can teach you, the second and third steps we’ll study and practice together.”

From that day on, Xiao Longnu passed on all the martial arts of the Ancient Tomb sect to him; palm skills, fist techniques, projectile throwing and weapon stances. After two years, Yang Guo learned it all, plus with the help of the Chilled Jade Bed, his progress was amazing, but his internal energy was not developed as much. A woman developed the Ancient Tomb sect’s skills, and the three generations have been women, it was unavoidable that the skills were of a soft nature, the hardness was inadequate. Yang Guo was impatient and rash; the way his skills developed reflected this.

Xiao Longnu had grown slightly older, and became even more beautiful. That year, Yang Guo was sixteen, he became taller, his voice broke, and was now a teenager. He was completely different from boy that first entered the tomb, but Xiao Longnu still looked upon him as the child that first came here. Yang Guo was becoming more and more respectful of his master. In these two years he had curbed his rebellious nature. Before Xiao Longnu opened her mouth to tell him what to do, he had already completed it. But Xiao Longnu’s cold and emotionless persona did not change, she didn’t casually smile at him, she was detached, she did not show any sign of caring for a loved one. Yang Guo did not mind though. Sometimes Xiao Longnu would play the zither, the music from it was peaceful and serene. Yang Guo would listen quietly by her side.

One day Xiao Longnu said, “You have already learned all of the Ancient Tomb’s kung fu, tomorrow we’ll learn Quanzhen’s kung fu. It will not be easy, back then, even my master did not understand it all, and I of course understood even less. We’ll learn from the beginning again, feel free to comment whenever you like.”

The next day, the two of them went to the strange shaped room, and practiced according to the markings and symbols that Wang Chongyang left. Because Yang Guo’s foundation was now strong, he was able to understand most of the points, and made rapid progress. But after the first ten days, though he practiced for many days instead of making progress he felt that he was going backwards, the more he practiced the worse it got. Xiao Longnu and he discussed this, and both felt there were some difficulties. Yang Guo was impatient and got in a blue mood.

Xiao Longnu said, “When my master and I learned Quanzhen’s kung fu, after practicing for a while, we found it was difficult to make any sort of progress, and because Ancestor Grandma had passed away, we could not ask anyone. We didn’t know the formulae to accompany it, and so we couldn’t solve this problem. I once wanted to go and steal the formula from Quanzhen, and give it to master to study. This is all there is of this skill, it’s only Quanzhen’s skills, it’s not too important if we can’t learn it now. There is no need to be angry, there is a solution, all we got to do is go and capture a Quanzhen Taoist and force the formulae out of him, and then our problems will be solved. Let’s leave.”

These words suddenly awakened something in Yang Guo, and he remembered that Zhao Zhijing had taught him ‘The Quanzhen Taoist Song’. ‘When first practicing one must open the nine openings. The first originating from the back (wei luu) pressure point. First the spring flows from the bottom of the feet to the knee. Past the knee up to the back, the back’s intent quickly reaching the peak. The Gold Lock passes under the Magpie Bridge, twelve palaces topple as it goes.” He then recited those words out loud.

Xiao Longnu listened to the meaning of the song and said, “It does sound like the important aspects of practicing Quanzhen’s kung fu. If you know more, that’ll be good.” So Yang Guo recited all the formulae that Zhao Zhijing had taught him. The formulae that Zhao Zhijing had taught him was the basics of Quanzhen’s advanced internal energy cultivation, but because he wasn’t taught how to use it, the ‘spring flows’, ‘twelve palaces’ and ‘backs intent’ were all words to him and he didn’t understand, so he just remembered it and didn’t use it.

Xiao Longnu was more experienced and pointed out the key points, and then Yang Guo understood immediately. Within a few months, the two managed to understand and grasp the essence of the skills that Wang Chongyang left on the ceiling.

One day, the two were in the room sparring with swords when Xiao Longnu sighed and said, “At first when I heard that Quanzhen’s martial arts were the most orthodox in the world, I didn’t think too much of it, but today, I know now Quanzhen’s kung fu is actually very profound. Although we have grasped the essence of these skills, if we wanted to learn it to a state where body and mind becomes one, I don’t know how many years and months it is going to take.”

Yang Guo said, “Although the skills of Quanzhen sect are refined, Ancestor Grandma did leave a way to counter their skills, the ability to beat them. That’s called each mountain has its own peak.”

Xiao Longnu said, “From tomorrow onwards, we will learn the “Jade Heart Manual”.

The next day, the two went to the second strange room, and practiced according to the markings left on the ceiling. It was much easier to learn than Quanzhen’s skills, since the techniques were used to counter Wang Chongyang’s and originated from her own kung fu. A few months passed, and the two had learned the external skills of the “Jade Heart Manual”. Sometimes, Yang Guo would use Quanzhen Sword skills; Xiao Longnu would then use the Jade Sword skills to counter it. When Xiao Longnu used Quanzhen Sword techniques, he would use the Jade Sword techniques to neutralize it. The Jade Sword technique was indeed the Black Star (the neutralizing opposite) to Quanzhen’s Sword techniques, every stance was designed to stop the attack of Quanzhen’s Sword techniques, every step matched the other, every move restricted the opponent and predicted their next move, no matter what the user of Quanzhen Sword skills did, it could not break the confinement of the Jade Sword technique.

The external skills had now been learned; it was time to advance into learning the internal techniques. Quanzhen’s internal energies were deep and profound, to invent a method to defeat Quanzhen’s internal energies, how easy could that be?

Lin Chaoying’s intelligence was unbeatable; she actually did find a way using unorthodox techniques. Xiao Longnu raised her head and looked at the symbols on the ceilings, she was deep in thought and didn’t speak; she looked at it for days on end without saying a single word.

Yang Guo said, “Gu Gu, is it hard to learn?”

Xiao Longnu said, “I heard from master that the manual’s internal energy requires two people to practice at the same time, but I know I will not be able to practice it with you.”

Yang Guo was shocked and quickly said, “Why not?”

Xiao Longnu said, “If you were a girl, then we could.”

Yang Guo said, “What is the difference? Aren’t a boy and girl the same?”

Xiao Longnu shook her head and said, “No, not the same; look up at the ceiling, what kind of shapes are they?”

Yang Guo looked in the direction she pointed, and saw the ceiling was marked with countless forms of body shapes, there were about seventy or eighty of them, a closer look revealed that they were the shape of women, the bodies had lines going away from them. Yang Guo didn’t understand and turned around to look at Xiao Longnu.

Xiao Longnu said, “The manual states, when practicing the whole body will emit heat, a spacious and deserted place is required; the body will need to be free of clothes to practice, this will enable the heat to disperse immediately. There mustn’t be any obstructions, otherwise it will return to the body; a small consequence will be a serious illness, at worst the body will be destroyed.”

Yang Guo said, “We’ll take off our clothes to practice.”

Xiao Long said, “Eventually, the two people will need to use their internal energy to protect the other, you are a boy and I am a girl, how can we do that with decency?”

Yang Guo had concentrated on practicing his kung fu for the last two years, and didn’t take any notice of the difference in sex between him and his master. He felt there was nothing wrong with taking off their clothes and facing each other to practice the manual; he couldn’t see what exactly was wrong with this. Xiao Longnu was now twenty years old and has lived in the tomb ever since she was small; she didn’t know anything about the outside world. One of the important points of her sect’s kung fu is to purge your emotions. Although the two were of different sexes and faced each other night and day, one was cold and emotionless, the other was honest and respectful, so there weren’t any formalities between them. But now when they were talking about taking their clothes off to practice, she felt awkward and didn’t agree with his viewpoint.

Yang Guo suddenly said, “I’ve got it! We could practice on the Chilled Jade Bed.”

Xiao Longnu said, “We mustn’t. The heat will be drawn back by the coolness of the bed, after practicing for a few days, we both would be dead.”

Yang Guo thought for half an hour and asked, “Why do you need two people to practice it? We could practice it by ourselves, if I don’t understand anything, can’t I ask you later?”

Xiao Longnu shook her head and said, “It won’t work. With this type of internal energy, every step is extremely dangerous and you will go wrong at certain points. If there isn’t anyone to help you, you will fire deviate; only if we mutually aid each other can we pass the dangerous phases.”

Yang Guo said, “Learning this type of internal energy is indeed troublesome.”

Xiao Longnu said, “If we master the external techniques, we will be able to beat the Taoists. We aren’t really going to fight with the Taoists, so even if we can’t beat them, so what?”

Yang Guo heard his master’s words and agreed, and didn’t keep the matter to heart.

One day after finishing practicing his kung fu, he went out of the tomb to forage for food. After a while, he chased after a grey rabbit; the rabbit dodged west and darted east, its agility was not like a normal rabbit’s. Yang Guo’s lightness kung fu was proficient, but he couldn’t catch it. He was surprised but he didn’t want to use a projectile to hit it; he wanted to chase after it with his lightness kung fu until the rabbit couldn’t run anymore. The boy and rabbit ran faster and further away. As they went on, the rabbit turned into a treed enclosure in the mountain, and suddenly darted into a thicket of red flowers. The thickets were tens of feet wide, the layers close together; a fragrant scent was produced from them. He went around the thickets, but the rabbit had long disappeared. Yang Guo had chased the rabbit for half a day; but he liked living things, if he had caught up with it he would have let it go, so if he didn’t catch it, it didn’t matter. Yang Guo looked at the thickets; they had red flowers and green branches, and were beautiful to look at. Surrounding them were low hanging branches that hid them, forming a natural room made of flowers and a house made of trees. Yang Guo thought for while, and quickly hurried back and got Xiao Longnu to take a look.

Xiao Longnu calmly said, “I don’t like flowers, if you like it, you can play here.”

Yang Guo said, “No, Gu Gu this is a good place to practice martial arts, you go on one side, I’ll be on the other. When we take off our clothes, we won’t be able to see each other. Isn’t that a good idea?”

Xiao Longnu heard this and thought it made sense. She leaped up onto a tree and looked around, all she could hear was the sound of a spring flowing and birds chirping; it was peaceful and serene all around, and there wasn’t any trace of human activity. It was a good place to practice martial arts, and so she said, “It was lucky that you found this place, we’ll come here tonight and practice.”

That night, the two of them delved deep into the enclosure. In the still of the night, the flowers were even more fragrant. Xiao Longnu then recited the formulae to practice the internal energy of the “Jade Heart Manual”. Yang Guo made sure he understood the intricacies of the manual, and the two went either side of the thickets and took their clothes off, and started practicing. Yang Guo’s left arm went through the thicket, and met with Xiao Longnu’s right palm, if either came up with difficulties during the practice; the other will notice and immediately circulate their chi to help them.

The two then used the night for work, and the day for rest. It was summer; the night was cool when they practiced; after two months of practicing there were no problems. The “Jade Heart Manual” was divided into nine sections, one night, Xiao long Nu had reached the seventh level, and Yang Guo the sixth. That night, the two were practicing their own levels, their body emitted great heat, and the scent of the flowers was carried in the heat, and was even more aromatic. Gradually the moon moved into the middle of the sky, another half an hour and the two will have finished completing their respective levels. Suddenly the sound of footsteps and people talking came from some distance away; two people were talking and coming closer.

On the odd levels of the “Jade Heart Manual” the practitioner has to ‘Yin Jin’ (forcing yin to the limit), the person on the even levels has to ‘Yang Tui’ (Drawing back the yang). Yang Guo was practicing the ‘Yang Tui’ techniques, and could rest at any time, but Xiao Longnu was practicing the ‘Yin Jin’ technique, which had to be completed in one go without the slightest pause. Right now she was at the most important phase of the technique, and ignored the sounds of speaking and footsteps.

Yang Guo heard this clearly, he was alarmed, and forced the chi that was in his ‘dan tian’ out of his body, and breathed in three times and stopped practicing. He heard the two people gradually getting closer, their voices seemed familiar; one of them was his previous master Zhao Zhijing, the other Zhen Zhibing. The voices became louder as they went on, the two were arguing.

He heard Zhao Zhijing say, “Apprentice brother Zhen, there is no point in denying it. I’ll go and tell Martial Uncle Qiu, and let him judge.”

Zhen Zhibing said, “You keep on pressing me, what do you want? You think I don’t know? You want to become the head of the third generation students, so in the future you can become the sect’s leader.”

Zhao Zhijing chuckled and said, “You don’t keep to the rules. Now that you’ve broken one of sect’s rules, how can you be the head of the third generation disciples?”

Zhen Zhibing said, “What have I done wrong?”

Zhao Zhijing scolded, “The fourth rule of Quanzhen sect, wanton!”

Yang Guo hid in the thicket and peeped out, and saw the two Taoists standing facing each other. Zhen Zhibing’s face was pale, under the moonlight it was colorless, and he said deeply, “What wanton crime?” As he said these words he reached for the handle of his sword.

Zhao Zhijing said, “Ever since you saw that Xiao Longnu from the Tomb of the Living Dead, you daydream all the time. You have thought about taking Xiao Longnu many, many times and doing unspeakable things to her. Our sect aims to bring enlightenment, but with these thoughts, how have you not broken the ‘wanton’ rule?”

Yang Guo respected his master very much, when he heard those words from Zhao Zhijing, he was furious, and hated the two Taoists even more.

He heard Zhen Zhibing tremulously saying, “What rubbish; just how could you know what I think?”

Zhao Zhijing chuckled and said, “The thoughts in your heart, of course I don’t know them, but when you mumble in your sleep, is there anyone to hear it? When you write Xiao Longnu’s name repeatedly, is there anyone to see it?”

Zhen Zhibing shuddered twice, and didn’t say anything.

Zhao Zhijing looked smug, and took out a piece of paper from his sleeve and waved it around and said, “Isn’t this your handwriting? I’ll show this to our leader Martial Uncle Ma and your master Martial Uncle Qiu.”

Zhen Zhibing couldn’t endure this anymore, and drew out his sword with a shout and thrust out. Zhao Zhijing leaned to the side to avoid it, and put the piece of paper in his sleeve and laughed, “You want to kill me and shut my mouth? I’m afraid it won’t be easy.”

Zhen Zhibing didn’t say a word and thrust out his sword three times, but each thrust was avoided. By the fourth thrust, a sound was made as Zhao Zhijing drew out his own sword, and fought with him by the thicket of red flowers. The two of them were the highest skilled fighters of Quanzhen’s third generation, one, Zhen Zhibing, was Qiu Chuji’s finest disciple, and the other, Zhao Zhijing, was the head disciple of Wang Chuyi. Zhen Zhibing clenched his teeth and fought with his life, within the exchange of moves, Zhao Zhijing would say a few sarcastic words, angering his opponent into making mistakes. Yin Zhiping had the highest martial arts amongst Qiu Chuji's disciples, however in the recent years Yin Zhiping has placed Taoist cultivation above martial arts. Hence, his younger martial arts brother Zhen Zhibing and Wang Chuyi's head disciple, Zhao Zhijing, have surpassed Yin Zhiping in the field of martial arts. Yin Zhiping often retreated to contemplate Taoist philosophies and meditation and had expressed no interest in leadership. Zhao Zhijing had the highest martial arts of the entire third generation disciples. The Six Masters of Quanzhen intended to appoint him as the leading disciple of the third generation. However, he made two enormous errors; one was leading the Big Dipper Formation against Guo Jing instead of Huo Du and his men. As result a portion of the Chongyang Palace was burnt down. His second error was mistreating Yang Guo, which angered the six masters. As result they felt that Zhao Zhijing's martial arts may be good, but he does not have the talent to lead. So after much deliberating the Six Masters agreed to appoint Zhen Zhibing as the leading disciple of the third generation.

Yang Guo had learned all the stances of Quanzhen’s Sword skills, and saw them fight, attacking and defending, though the stances were quick and changes numerous, he saw through all of it and thought how his Gu Gu had indeed taught him correctly. He saw them struggle for tens of stances; Zhen Zhibing had used all his attacking stances as Zhao Zhijing kept on moving. He chuckled, “I have learned all that you have learned, and you have learned all that I have learned. You want to kill me? You’re dreaming.” He defended smoothly, Zhen Zhibing had used all his strength but each stance was blocked. After a while, he saw that the two was getting closer to Xiao Longnu, Yang Guo was alarmed and thought, “If they two fight until they get to Gu Gu, it would be terrible!”

Suddenly Zhao Zhijing counterattacked, and forced Zhen Zhibing back. He quickly sent out three stances, Zhen Zhibing moved back three steps. When Yang Guo saw the two getting further away from his master, he was pleased, but suddenly Zhen Zhibing handed his sword over to his left hand and sent out a palm, aiming for the chest.

Zhao Zhijing laughed and said, “Even if you’ve got three hands, you’ve only got the ability to be a petty thief, you can’t kill me.” He then sent out his left palm to meet it. The two exchanged sword stances and palms, and the struggle became fiercer.

Xiao Longnu was concentrating, and ignored everything that was around her. When the two took a few steps closer, Yang Guo became worried; when they took a few steps further away he relaxed a bit.

After a while, Zhen Zhibing suddenly called out and attacked, he ignored the opponent’s sword and just rushed forward. Zhao Zhijing thought about it, and knew that he had nothing to lose, if he killed him, then he wouldn’t be able to blackmail him. Although the two weren’t on friendly terms, he had no intent in killing him, and after a while, he was on the way to losing. After a number of moves, Zhen Zhibing then thrust out his sword, threw out a palm and his left leg swept out, it was Quanzhen’s “Three Circulations”. Zhao Zhijing leapt up ten feet, and swung his sword down. Zhen Zhibing threw his sword away, and threw himself at his opponent, a ‘hei’ sound was made by him as he threw out his two palms. Yang Guo saw that the last few stances were ruthless, it wasn’t how he knew them to be, he broke out in a cold sweat, he saw Zhao Zhijing’s body in midair, one was yielding, one was firm, it looked like the two palms were aiming to break his bones. How it could be that in this urgent and dangerous situation, Zhao Zhijing managed to flip himself in midair, fly back a few meters and lightly land.

From the way he was going to land, it looked like he was going to land right in front of Xiao Longnu, Yang Guo was alarmed and had not time to think, he stood up, his left palm shot out from below his right palm, and pushed the back of Zhao Zhijing, a stance of “Bright Building Flinging the Ball” (cai lou pao qiu), he pushed out with strength, and hit him away about seven meters. Right now his internal energy wasn’t developed enough, he had used an enormous amount of strength in this attack, all concentrated in his left arm, his lower body was weak, he could not stand up properly and his left foot stepped on a branch. The branch quickly rebounded back to its original position, and touched Xiao Longnu in the face. It was only a slight touch, but Xiao Longnu was greatly disturbed, she broke out in a sweat, at that time she was in the middle of rapidly circulating her chi and holding it in her ‘dan tian’, it didn’t disperse and she fainted.  

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All of a sudden Zhen Zhibing saw Yang Guo jump out, and saw the woman he has been thinking about hiding in the thicket, he froze, and didn’t know whether this was real or an illusion. Zhao Zhijing had steadied himself by this time, and under the moonlight he was able to recognize Xiao Longnu’s face. He said, “Ah, so she’s here; and with a man!”

Yang Guo was alarmed and shouted out, “Don’t go anywhere you two rotten Taoists, I’ll come back and finish this.” He saw Xiao Longnu had fallen onto the ground and was not moving. He remembered that he was told that when they were practicing they must stay together to help each other, if there where any disturbances a disaster would happen. Now Xiao Longnu had experienced a shock, she would have serious injuries; he was extremely frightened and touched her forehead. It was cold as ice; he quickly grabbed her clothes and covered her up. He picked her up and said, “Gu Gu, are you alright?” Xiao Longnu moaned but didn’t say anything.

Yang Guo was slightly more relaxed and said, “Gu Gu, we’ll go back to the tomb first, then I’ll come back and kill the two Taoists.” Xiao Longnu had no strength and lay limp in his arms. Yang Guo advanced in large steps, and went past the two Taoists. Zhen Zhibing stood there like a statue.

Zhao Zhijing laughed and said, “Apprentice brother Zhen, your dream lover and that man over there have just done dirty things; you want to kill me, you should kill him!” Zhen Zhibing didn’t take any notice and didn’t reply.

Yang Guo heard the words ‘done dirty things’, although he didn’t know exactly what he meant, he knew it was an insult and he was furious. He lightly put Xiao Longnu down and rested her against a tree and took a branch in his hand, and pointed to Zhao Zhijing and shouted, “What rubbish are you talking about?”

Two years had passed, Yang Guo had changed from a small child to a tall young man, at first Zhao Zhijing didn’t know who he was, when he heard him a second time and saw his face under the moonlight, he recognized it was his disciple. He had been made to fall by him and was angry, he saw his body was exposed and shouted, “Yang Guo, so it’s you, you little b*****d!”

Yang Guo said, “You can insult me, but why are you insulting my Gu Gu?”

Zhao Zhijing laughed and said, “Everyone knows the Ancient Tomb sect is a female sect, skills are only passed on to women and not men, all of them are pure and untouched virgins, but it’s a filthy sect, secretly hiding a man, doing these things in the open!”

Xiao Longnu had just wakened up and heard what he said, and was alarmed. Her chi had begun to flow normally but now it flowed the opposite way, her chi and air were both stimulated and she knew that she was suffering from internal injuries. She could only shout “You talk rubbish, we have not…” before she spat out blood violently from her mouth.

Zhen Zhibing and Yang Guo were worried when they saw this, and both of them rushed closer.

Zhen Zhibing said, “How are you?” and bent down to take a closer look at her injuries.

Yang Guo knew that he wanted to harm her and pushed him in the chest with his left hand. Zhen Zhibing moved his palm to block it. Yang Guo was familiar with every stance of Quanzhen’s kung fu, he turned his palm over and grabbed his wrist, he first pulled and then let go, and tossed him away.

At present, Yang Guo’s kung fu could not actually compare with that of Zhen Zhibing, and if Yang Guo fought with other sect’s fighters who were of the same ability as Zhen Zhibing he would definitely have lost. But years ago Lin Chaoying had invented techniques to counter Quanzhen’s, every stance matched every stance. Since she invented these techniques they had never been used in practice, so Quanzhen’s disciples do not know that there is a kung fu which is the ‘Black Star’ of theirs. Yang Guo now used it. Zhen Zhibing was not prepared and wasn’t concentrating, and didn’t have any way to respond; although he didn’t fall, he was flung over six meters and was standing next to Zhao Zhijing.

Yang Guo said, “Gu Gu, ignore them, I’ll take you back to the tomb first.”

Xiao Longnu struggled for air as she said, “No; kill those two so they can’t...can’t talk about me outside.”

Yang Guo said, “Fine.” He leapt out at them, his branch pointing at Zhao Zhijing’s chest. Zhao Zhijing didn’t care about Yang Guo and waved his sword, cutting down at his branch. He didn’t know that Yang Guo was using the ‘Black Star’ of Quanzhen’s sword skills; the branch swiveled past and struck the pressure point on Zhao Zhijing’s wrist. Zhao Zhijing’s wrist went numb, and he secretly cursed. Yang Guo’s left hand chopped across, aiming for his left cheek, this was an extremely strange move, and it was the most unexpected. If Zhao Zhijing wanted to keep his sword, he would have to straighten his head and suffer the chop, if he wanted to avoid the chop, the sword will definitely be lost.

Zhao Zhijing was skilled, although he was in a precarious situation he kept calm, he let go of his sword and ducked his head, if he followed it with a left palm, he will be able to get his sword back in the blink of an eye. He could not have guessed that years ago Lin Chaoying had thought of how the enemy would react, and developed techniques to counter any changes, no matter how good, clever or lethal, any of highly skilled Quanzhen fighters were. Zhao Zhijing felt that he made the best decision possible, and would allow him to definitely gain victory from the jaws of defeat. But he didn’t know that Xiao Longnu and Yang Guo had learned all the techniques that would counter their changes.

Yang Guo removed the enemy’s weapon and saw his left palm move, and knew what he was going to do; he pushed the sword forward, aiming to pierce the opponent’s wrist. Zhao Zhijing was alarmed and quickly moved his arm back. Yang Guo pointed the sword tip at his chest and shouted, “Get down!” as his left leg hooked out. Zhao Zhijing was afraid of being pierced and had to move, he was hooked and fell backwards. Yang Guo raised the sword, wanting to thrust at his stomach.

Suddenly, a wind came from behind him, a sword was approaching and someone shouted out, “You dare to kill your master?” That stance was to attack first and then allow him to rescue Zhao Zhijing, Yang Guo was in the middle of an angry attack but could still see what was happening, and he immediately parried it with his sword, the two swords clashed. Zhen Zhibing saw that the sword was extremely fast and couldn’t help from secretly praising it, and suddenly felt his sword going out of his control, sticking to the opponent’s sword. Alarmed, he quickly circulated his chi to get it back. His internal energy was profound, the two competed, and Yang Guo’s sword was lead along. He didn’t know that Yang Guo lured him into doing this, he held the sword for a split second before letting go, his arms straightened and he attacked the enemy’s chest. At that point the sword handle rebounded up, two palms and a sword, the three of them with the same intent, even if Zhen Zhibing’s skills were higher, he would not be able to block this extremely strange attack.

At this time, Zhen Zhibing could only throw away his sword and send out his own palms, he quickly put his hands across his chest to block this move, but because his arms were too bent, he could not put any strength in them. Yang Guo’s internal energy wasn’t high enough and wasn’t able to break his arms with this move, but was still able to strike his chest painfully. Zhen Zhibing’s arms became numb; he moved back three steps and circulated his chi to protect the important pressure points in his chest. Zhao Zhijing got up. The two swords were in Yang Guo’s hand, and he attacked both of them.

In just a few moves, the two of them were made to hurry around and scamper by a teenager; they were both afraid and angry and didn’t dare be careless. The two of them stood up, and used their palms skills; they only defended and didn’t attack. They wanted to find out more about their opponent’s techniques before doing anything. Although Yang Guo had weapons to fight against his empty handed opponents, the two defended tightly, and weren’t being beaten as badly as they were at the start. The “Jade Heart Manual’s” sword techniques did not have any stances that countered Quanzhen’s fists and kicks. Lin Chaoying wanted to defeat Wang Chongyang’s techniques completely, she felt that using weapons to defeat his hand to hand combat techniques was unfair and below her so she did not give it any thought. That, plus the fact that the Taoists internal energy was well above Yang Guo’s, and since all they cared about was to remain undefeated, Yang Guo’s swipes and chops did not have much effect, and eventually he began to lose.

Zhao Zhijing’s internal energy was profound; he kept incessantly producing palm winds that aimed at Yang Guo’s sword.

Zhen Zhibing stopped, and secretly thought that here they were, two seniors attacking a young boy, how ridiculous did they look? He saw that victory was in sight but worried about the safety of Xiao Longnu so he shouted, “Yang Guo, quickly take your Gu Gu away, what are you doing tangling with the two of us?”

Yang Guo said, “Gu Gu hates you for talking rubbish, and told me that I must kill you.”

Zhen Zhibing sent out a palm that shook Yang Guo’s sword in his left hand and then jumped left three steps and said, “Leave!”

Yang Guo said, “You want to escape?”

Zhen Zhibing said, “Yang Guo, you want to kill us but that will not be possible; but your Gu Gu can relax, if the one named Zhen reveals a single word about what happened today, I will immediately kill myself to apologize. If I don’t do this” as he said this, he suddenly leapt towards Yang Guo and took the sword in his left hand and said, “then I’ll be like these fingers!” He spread his left hand and cut down with his right, and cut the last two fingers off his hand.

Those few moves happened extremely quickly and Yang Guo wasn’t prepared. He stopped and knew that he was sincere and thought, “It is indeed difficult to kill them both; why don’t I first kill the one named Zhao and then come back and kill him.”

He then shouted, “The one called Zhen, what use is cutting off your fingers? If you cut off your head, then I’ll believe you.”

Zhen Zhibing smiled and said, “If you want my life, all I need is a word from your Gu Gu, then why not?”

Yang Guo said, “Go!” He leapt forward two steps and suddenly thrust out behind him, straight at Zhao Zhijing’s chest.

The move “Orchid Shoots Back” (mu lan hui she) was extremely ruthless, Zhao Zhijing was listening to what they were saying and never thought that he would suddenly ambush him, he was frightened. The tip of the sword pierced his stomach. Zhao Zhijing felt a slight pain, and immediately circulated his chi throughout his ‘dan tian’, and his stomach pulled back half an inch, he raised his right leg and kicked Yang Guo’s sword out of his hand. Yang Guo didn’t wait for his leg to come and down, and extended his finger and pointed at the pressure point on his knee. Although Zhao Zhijing had escaped with his life, he couldn’t stand up, his right knee kneeling down in front of Yang Guo.

Yang Guo caught the descending sword and pointed at Zhao Zhijing and said, “I once kowtowed eight times to you as you were my master, now you are not my master anymore, give the eight kowtows back.”

Zhao Zhijing had completed circulating his chi, his face became purple, almost becoming black. Yang Guo pressed the sword tip into his throat.

Zhao Zhijing shouted, “If you want to kill me, kill me, why are you talking so much?”

Yang Guo was about to thrust the sword forward when suddenly he heard Xiao Longnu say, “Guo’Er, killing your master is not auspicious, tell him to swear that he won’t reveal today’s events and let him go!” Yang Guo regarded Xiao Longnu’s commands above all else, and after hearing what she said, he said, “Swear it.”

Zhao Zhijing was angry, but his life was more important and said, “I won’t say anything, what need is there to swear it?”

Yang Guo said, “That won’t do. You must swear a venomous oath.”

Zhao Zhijing said, “Fine, today’s events will be kept between the four of us, if I reveal it to a fifth person, then let my name be in ruins, be expelled from my sect, everyone in Wulin will be against me, and I’ll have a terrible death.”

Xiao Longnu and Yang Guo did not know much about the world’s matters and thought that he was really swearing a venomous oath.”

Zhen Zhibing heard that there was a hidden meaning in his oath and wanted to warn Yang Guo but felt that it wasn’t right to help outsiders; he watched Yang Guo carrying Xiao Longnu, his steps extremely quick, and they disappeared around a bend in the mountain. His fingers hadn’t stopped bleeding; he stood up bemused without stopping it.

Yang Guo carried Xiao Longnu back to the tomb and placed her on the Chilled Jade Bed.

Xiao Longnu sighed and said, “I’m seriously injured, how can I oppose the Chilled Jade Bed?”

Yang Guo said ‘ah’ and was alarmed, he secretly thought, “So Gu Gu’s injury is very serious.” He then carried her to her room. When she first let Yang Guo sleep on the Chilled Jade Bed, she slept in the same room as him; after about a year she moved into the next room. As soon as she arrived in her room, she spat out another pool of blood, and covered Yang Guo’s exposed body. Yang Guo was so frightened that he couldn’t move his arms and legs, and started to cry.

Xiao Longnu calmly laughed and said, “Now that I’ve spat out this blood, I won’t throw up anymore, what is there to be sad about?”

Yang Guo said, “Gu Gu, don’t die.”

Xiao Longnu said, “You are afraid of dying aren’t you?”

Yang Guo was startled and said, “Me?”

Xiao Longnu said, “Before I die, I will kill you first.”

These same words were spoken two years ago, Yang Guo had forgotten them long ago, and didn’t expect that she would bring it up again now.

Xiao Longnu saw that Yang Guo was astounded and said, “If I don’t kill you, how will I be able to see Grandma Sun? Who will look after you if you are alone in the world?”

Yang Guo’s mind was scrambled, and didn’t know what to say.

Xiao Longnu had thrown up blood, but she looked fine as if nothing was wrong. Yang Guo thought of something, he quickly went to find a jar of Jade Bee honey and gave it to her to drink. The honey did have healing properties; after a while she slept on her bed. Yang Guo was able to relax, but he was worn down with worry, and wasn’t able to endure anymore, he sat down and slept against the wall.

After some time, he felt someone cold against his throat, and was awakened. He has lived for a long time in the tomb, although he wasn’t able to see things in the dark as clearly as Xiao Longnu could, he could still see things without the aid of candlelight. He opened his eyes, and saw Xiao Longnu sitting forward on the bed holding a sword, pointing at his throat. He was alarmed and said, “Gu Gu! You...”

Xiao Longnu calmly said, “Guo’Er, my injury won’t get better, after I kill you we’ll both see Grandma Sun together!”

Yang Guo quickly replied, “Gu Gu!”

Xiao Longnu said, “You are afraid, aren’t you? It will be quick, one slash and that’s it.”

Yang Guo saw Xiao Longnu’s eyes light up, and knew that she wanted to kill him immediately. He wanted to live, and didn’t consider what will happen later, he rolled around and kicked out at Xiao Longnu’s sword. Though Xiao Longnu’s internal injuries were serious, she was still very swift, not slower than normal; she avoided his kick and pointed the sword at his throat again. Yang Guo used many different stances, but each one of them had been taught by Xiao Longnu so how would she not know what he would do? The sword moved swiftly, not leaving him by more than three inches.

Yang Guo was frightened; his body was covered with sweat. He thought, “If I don’t want to die today, then I must kill Gu Gu.”

In this urgent situation he pushed out his two palms, he took advantage of her not having any strength after her injury, her stances were refined but she did not have the internal energy to clash palms with him. Xiao Longnu knew what he was thinking, she slanted her body slightly and let his palms’ power skim over her shoulders and called out, “Guo’Er, don’t fight anymore!” Her sword extended out, the tip quivered a little, an incomparable stance in terms of mastery and exquisiteness was used, “Separating Flower Splitting Willow”, shimmering to the left but moving to the right, and the sword pointed at Yang Guo’s throat. She then circulated her remaining energy wanting to pierce his throat; but she saw his pleading eyes, and felt pain in her heart. At that instant, her eyes went blank, her body went limp, a ‘dang lang’ sound was made as the sword dropped to the floor, as Xiao Longnu fainted.

Had the sword been thrust forwards, Yang Guo would have died; he didn’t know that she would faint at the most vital point. He stopped, wondering if he’d really escaped death, and quickly ran out of the tomb. The sun dazzled in his eyes, the light breeze blew his clothes, the scent of flowers was around him, birds sang in the trees, isn’t this better than living in the tomb?

Yang Guo made his decision; he utilized his lightness kung fu and ran down the mountain, he became quicker as he ran, and by midday he was at the foot of the mountain. When he knew Xiao Longnu had not chased after him, he relaxed, and slowed his pace. After a while, his stomach growled. He had wandered the world of Jianghu ever since he was little; his ability to search for food was brilliant. He looked all around, and on the western slope, he saw a large field of corn, went over, and then picked five stalks. The corn wasn’t ripe but it was still edible. He had a match and was about to light a fire to smoke the corn, when he suddenly heard footsteps behind him, someone was approaching.

Yang Guo first hid the corn in case a farmer had caught him in the act of stealing, and then peaked out. It was a Taoist priestess, dressed in apricot yellow, her steps were light and she was slowly advancing. A pair of swords hung on her back, a blood red tassel was tied to the handles, floating in the breeze. Yang Guo thought that this person must be a member of the Quanzhen sect, and was likely to be a disciple of Sun Bu’Er. Yang Guo was still slightly afraid and didn’t want to cause any trouble so he looked down at a branch.

The Taoist priestess went up to him and asked, “Hey, point the way to Chongyang Palace?”

Yang Guo secretly thought, “If this girl is a disciple of Quanzhen, then how come she does not know the way up there? Something was wrong here.” He then pointed to the mountain without looking around and said, “Just follow that main road.”

The Taoist priestess saw that Yang Guo’s upper body was uncovered, he was wearing a pair of old and worn trousers, and was here picking up firewood, and assumed that he was just a villager. She regarded herself as an attractive woman; any man that looked at her would stare at her without blinking for half an hour. This young boy just took a glance at her and didn’t look back again, like if he was blind. She couldn’t refrain from getting angry and suddenly thought, “What does a stupid villager like him know?” She then said, “Stand up; I have something to ask you.”

Yang Guo hated everyone in the Quanzhen sect, so he pretended to be blind and dumb, and pretended not to hear.

The Taoist priestess said, “Foolish boy, you didn’t hear what I said?”

Yang Guo said, “I heard, it’s just that I don’t want to stand.”

When the Taoist priestess heard him she laughed and said, “Look at me, I told you to stand up!” Her voice in the last two sentences was soft, enchanting and sweet. Yang Guo shivered and thought, “Why does she speak so strangely.” He looked up and saw her skin was smooth and white, her cheeks were red, her eyes were like staring into a pool of water, there didn’t seem to be any evil intent; after looking at her again, he lowered his head.

The Taoist priestess saw that his expression had a childish air, though he did look at her for a second time, he wasn’t moved. Instead of being angry she laughed, and thought, “It’s just a kid who doesn’t know anything.” She took out two silver ingots [small boat/shoe shaped silver castings of a few ounces known as Yinzi] from her pockets, two ‘ting’ noises were heard as they collided with each other, she said, “Little brother, if you follow my instructions then I’ll give these ingots to you.”

Yang Guo originally didn’t want to have anything do with her, but he heard that her words were suspicious and wanted to find out what she wanted so he pretended to be stupid, and looked at the ingots and said, “What use do those shiny rocks have?”

The Taoist priestess smiled and said, “It’s money. If you want new clothes, chickens, rice, you could buy them with this.”

Yang Guo put on a baffled expression and said, “You want to lie to me, I don’t believe you.”

The Taoist priestess laughed and said, “When have I lied to you? Hey, little kid, what is your name?”

Yang Guo said, “Everyone calls me ‘Sha Dan’ (Dumb Egg), don’t you know that? What’s your name?”

The Taoist priestess laughed and said, “Sha Dan, you can call me Angelic Priestess, where’s your mother?”

Yang Guo said, “My mum just scolded me, and went over to the other side of the mountain to chop firewood.”

The Taoist priestess said, “I need a hatchet, go to your home and get one, and then lend it to me.”

Yang Guo was curious, he opened his eyes wide, drooled and made himself look even more like a stupid person, he shook his head incessantly and said, “I can’t; I can’t lend my family’s hatchet. If dad finds out I’ll be punished.”

The Taoist priestess smiled and said, “When your parents see the money, they’ll be too pleased to punish you.” As she said this she passed an ingot in his direction. Yang Guo extended his hand to catch it, and then pretended to miss it, and let the ingot hit his shoulder and when it came down it hit his right foot, he held his right foot with his hands and hopped on his left foot and called out, “Ah, ah, you hit me! I’m going to tell mother!” He called and shouted; he ignored the ingot and ran forward.

The Taoist priestess thought that he was interesting, and smiled. She took off her belt, and waved it at his right foot. Yang Guo heard the wind sound and turned his head around, he was alarmed, and thought, “That’s our Ancient Tomb sect’s kung fu! Isn’t she a disciple of Quanzhen?” He didn’t dodge and let her belt wrap around his right leg, he fell on the ground and relaxed his body, letting her pull him towards her, and secretly feared, “Is she going up the mountain to attack Gu Gu?”

He thought about Xiao Longnu, he didn’t know whether she was dead or alive, he was extremely worried about her. He made up his mind, even if he was going to die by her hand he needed to see her. As he was thinking he was pulled up to the Taoist priestess, she saw that although his face was covered with dirt, he was handsome, and thought, “This country hick is handsome, it’s a pity that although the top is like a beautiful flower, the lower part is a pile of grass.” She heard him shouting and calling out, making a commotion; she smiled and said, “Sha Dan, do you want to die or do you want to live?” She took out her sword and pointed at his chest.

Yang Guo saw that she used the stance “Flower from the Embroidery Pen” (jin bi sheng hua), it was a sword stance of the Ancient Tomb sect, he was perplexed, “This person is probably a disciple of Martial Uncle Li Mochou, and has come to find Gu Gu, she must have ill intentions, from her belt and sword stances her kung fu is good, I’ll keep on pretending to be dumb so she’ll be off guard.”

He put on a frightened expression and begged, “Xian Gu (Angelic Priestess), don’t…don’t kill me, I’ll listen to you.”

The Taoist priestess laughed and said, “Good, if you don’t listen to me I’ll kill you with one sword stroke.”

Yang Guo called out, “I’ll listen…I’ll listen.” The Taoist priestess waved her belt, and it returned to her waist, her expression was leisurely. Yang Guo quietly said, “Great!” but his face still had a blank expression. The Taoist priestess thought, “How could the stupid boy appreciate this skill? I might as well show it off in front of a blind man.” She said, “Quickly go home and get the hatchet.”

Yang Guo hurried to a nearby farmer’s house, he pretended to limp; his footsteps were heavy, strutting and staggering, appearing clumsy. The Taoist priestess saw he wasn’t a pleasant sight and shouted, “Don’t tell anyone, hurry.”

Yang Guo replied, “Okay!”

He quietly opened the door to the farmer’s house, and saw no one was inside, and assumed that they were working in the fields; from the wall he picked up a short hatchet that was used to chop firewood. He also took an old shirt from a rack and wore it, and then returned still carrying the dumb expression.

Although he was trying making a fool out of the Taoist priestess, he was worried about the safety of Xiao Longnu, and couldn’t stop from having a burdened look on his face.

The Taoist priestess angrily said, “What’s with the crying face? Quickly smile for me.”

Yang Guo opened his mouth and laughed foolishly.

The Taoist priestess wrinkled her brows and said, “Follow me up the mountain.”

Yang Guo quickly said, “I can’t…I can’t, mother told me not to run around.”

The Taoist priestess shouted, “If you don’t listen then I’ll kill you immediately.” She stretched out her left hand and held his ear, while her right hand raised her sword, as if she was about to slash down.

Yang Guo quickly blurted out, “I’ll go…I’ll go!”

The Taoist priestess thought, “That person is as stupid as a pig, just what I need.” She then pulled on his sleeve and started up the mountain. Her lightness kung fu was not weak so naturally her steps were quick. Yang Guo kept on stumbling about, his left foot high, right foot low, he was far behind her and after a while he sat on a rock by the roadside, incessantly wiping away his sweat and was out of breath. The Taoist priestess ran on ahead.

Yang Guo said, “You run like a rabbit, how can I keep up?”

The Taoist priestess saw that the sun was in the west, she was troubled and impatient, she returned and grabbed his arm, and hurriedly went up the mountain.

Yang Guo couldn’t keep up, his arms and legs were everywhere, and soon kicked her in the back of the leg.

The Taoist priestess shouted “Ai ya!” and angrily said, “Do you want to die?” But she saw that he was out of breath and extremely tired, so she stretched out her left hand and grabbed his waist and said, “Let’s go!” She seized his body and headed up the mountain, she utilized her lightness kung fu, and in a few moments she had passed over many li.

As Yang Guo was being carried by her, he felt her soft body and smelled her feminine scent, he didn’t waste an ounce of energy and let her carry him up the mountain. She hurried for a while and then looked down and saw a smile creep upon his face. He was looking very comfortable; she couldn’t stop from being angry, loosened her arm, and tossed him on the ground and angrily shouted, “Are you feeling happy?”

Yang Guo rubbed his backside and called out, “Ai yo, ai yo, the Xian Gu hurt Sha Dan’s backside.”

The Taoist priestess was angry but was amused at the same time and said, “Why is your surname Sha (Foolish/Dumb)?”

Yang Guo said, “Yes, I’m called Sha Dan. Xian Gu, mother said my surname is not Sha; it’s Zhang. Why is your surname Xian (Angel/Immortal)?”

The Taoist priestess said, “Just call me Xian Gu, and don’t worry about my surname.” She was the ‘Scarlet Serpent Deity’ Li Mochou’s disciple Hong Lingbo. She was the young Taoist priestess who was sent to kill the Lu couple and Madam Wu. Yang Guo wanted to know her surname but she didn’t reveal it. The Taoist priestess sat on a rock, the wind scattered her hair. Yang Guo secretly glanced at her and thought, “That priestess is quite pretty, but can’t compare with Peach Blossom Island’s Auntie Guo, and of course cannot compare with my Gu Gu.”

Hong Lingbo glanced at Yang Guo, smiled and said; “Sha Dan, why are you staring at me?”

Yang Guo said, “I’m just looking what reason is there? If you don’t let me look, I won’t look, what’s so special?”

Hong Lingbo said, “Look then! Hey, am I nice to look at?” She then took out a comb from her pocket, and slowly combed her hair.

Yang Guo said, “You are nice to look at, but…but…”

Hong Lingbo said, “But what?”

Yang Guo said, “But you are not white enough.”

She had always regarded her skin as white and smooth as gems, when she heard him say this; she couldn’t refrain from getting angry, she stood up and shouted, “Sha Dan, do you want to die? Saying I’m not white enough…humph!”

Yang Guo shook his head and said, “Not white enough.”

Hong Lingbo said, “Who’s whiter than me?”

Yang Guo said, “The one that slept by my side last night is much whiter than you.”

Hong Lingbo said, “Who? Is it one of your family members?” The thought of killing the woman who had whiter skin than her crossed her mind.

Yang Guo said, “Nope, it’s my family’s white lamb.”

Hong Lingbo turned her anger into laughter and said, “You really are stupid, how can you compare a person with an animal? Let’s go!” She took his upper arm and hurried up the mountain. Straight ahead was the road to Chongyang Palace, but Hong Lingbo headed west, in the direction of the Tomb of the Living Dead.

Yang Guo thought, “Indeed she is trying to find my Gu Gu.”

Hong Lingbo ran for a while and then took out a map from her pocket, looking for her destination.

Yang Guo said, “Xian Gu, we can’t go ahead, there are ghosts in the forest.”

Hong Lingbo said, “How do you know this?”

Yang Guo said, “The forest has a large tomb, the tomb has evil spirits, no one dares to go near it.”

Hong Lingbo was delighted and thought, “True enough, the Tomb of the Living Dead is around here.”

In the past few years, she has been under the tutelage of Li Mochou, and her martial arts had made good progress. In Shanxi, she helped her master to defeat many people of the Wulin world, and pleased her master. She heard her master mention the matter of dueling with the Quanzhen Elders, and said if she’d mastered the “Jade Heart Manual”, she wouldn’t have feared the Quanzhen Taoists. She said that there was a pile of manuals and scriptures of their sect’s skills in the tomb. Hong Lingbo asked why she didn’t go to the tomb and study their sect’s skills. Li Mochou ambiguously replied, saying that she had conceded the place to her younger apprentice sister, there wasn’t much friendly feeling between the two, and were not in contact with each other. Li Mochou was extremely proud, the many times she tried to enter the tomb, being found out and being sent scurrying away were not mentioned to her disciple. Instead she said that her apprentice sister was young, her martial arts were ordinary, and being the elder apprentice sister it wasn’t right to bully the younger one. She then encouraged her master to enter the tomb and take the manuals. In reality, there wasn’t a day that Li Mochou didn’t think about this, but she wasn’t familiar with the booby traps in the tomb, and so did not dare to do anything. When she heard her disciple talking about this she just smiled and did not reply.

Hong Lingbo mentioned this many times, but when she saw that her master did not care one way or another, she secretly decided to be more attentive, and asked her about the way to Mount Zhongnan’s tomb. She managed to draw a map, but she didn’t know that Li Mochou had not revealed everything to her. At this time, Li Mochou had sent her on a mission to kill one of their enemies; after she finished, she went to Mount Zhongnan by herself, and by coincidence met Yang Guo; she now ordered Yang Guo to chop down the pine trees that were blocking the way to the tomb.

Yang Guo thought that even with a year and a half of pine chopping, they would not be anywhere near the tomb; but he pretended to be dumb and followed her orders. More than half an hour later, the sky became dark, they had not even traveled a few li, and they were still very far from the tomb. He was becoming more and more anxious about Xiao Longnu. He thought, why not lead her forward to the tomb and see what she has planned; so he raised his hatchet and hacked down a few times, and then hacked a rock, sparks flew and the edge of the hatchet rolled up.

He loudly shouted, “Ai ya, ai yo, there’s a rock here. The hatchet is ruined; father is going to beat me. I…I need to go back home.”

Hong Lingbo was extremely anxious, she looked for the way to the tomb, she must enter the tomb tonight, and shouted out, “Sha Dan, stay here!”

Yang Guo said, “Xian Gu, aren’t you scared of ghosts?”

Hong Lingbo said, “If ghosts try to scare me then I’ll chop them in half with my sword.”

Yang Guo was happy and said, “You aren’t lying to me?”

Hong Lingbo said, “Why should I lie to you?”

Yang Guo said, “Since ghosts are scared of you, I’ll take you to the large tomb. If ghosts come out, you must scare them away!”

Hong Lingbo delightedly said, “You know the way to the tomb? Quickly take me there.” Yang Guo was afraid that she was going to become suspicious and so made her promise three times that she must kill the evil ghosts. Hong Lingbo comforted him, and told him to relax, and promised him that even if ten ghosts come out she will kill them all.

Yang Guo said, “A few years ago, I was grazing my lambs near the tomb and fell asleep, when I woke up it was the middle of the night. I saw a female ghost dressed in white exiting the tomb, it scared me to death, and I tripped while I was trying to run away and cracked my head, look there’s a scar here.” He then walked up to her, wanting her to feel his forehead. She had carried him all along the way, and he felt that she had the scent of orchids around her, leaning against her was quite relaxing. He continued with his plan, and put his forehead in front of her face.

Hong Lingbo laughed and said, “Sha Dan!” and just felt his forehead, she didn’t feel any scars but didn’t really notice and said, “Take me there quickly.”

Yang Guo took her hand and lead her out of the forest, and took her to the secret path leading to the tomb. It was nearing the middle of the night; there was no light from the stars or moon. Yang Guo took her hand, and felt a warm and soft hand and wondered, “Gu Gu and her are girls, why is it Gu Gu’s hands are as cold as ice and hers are warm.” He took her hand and pulled it. If anyone from the Wulin world treated Hong Lingbo with any disrespect, she would have killed them, but she knew that Yang Guo was just a simple fool, and she wanted his help. She thought that he was handsome, she was secretly quite pleased and quietly said, “That Sha Dan is not completely stupid; he knows that I’m good looking.”

Very soon, Yang Guo had led Hong Lingbo to the tomb. When he’d left the tomb he was confused and flustered, he didn’t close the tomb’s door; now he saw the large stone slab that was used as the door was still to the side. His heart jumped around and he prayed, “I hope Gu Gu is not dead so I’ll be able to see her again.” He decided that he couldn’t mess around with Hong Lingbo, and said, “Xian Gu, I’ll lead you forward, if a ghost eats me up and I become a ghost, I’ll haunt you forever.” They then entered.

Hong Lingbo thought, “That Sha Dan is strangely brave.” She didn’t give it any more thought, and followed closely in the dark, she had heard from her master that the paths in the Tomb of the Living Dead were complicated, all you need to do is take one wrong step and you’ll be lost. She watched Yang Guo moving without delaying for the slightest second, turning to the east and then twisting to the west, opening a door there, and pushing a stone over here, like he knew the way.

Hong Lingbo thought, “What’s so hard about the paths in the tomb? Could it be that master lied to me, in case I entered alone?” In just a few moments, Yang Guo had led her deep into the tomb, outside Xiao Longnu’s room.

He opened the door lightly, and listened carefully, he couldn’t hear anything and wanted to call out “Gu Gu!” but remembered that Hong Lingbo was right behind him so he quietly said, “We’re here!”

Hong Lingbo was now deep within the tomb, although she was skilled in martial arts and daring, she felt uneasy. When she heard Yang Guo say this, she quickly entered and took out a match, and lit the candle on the table. She saw a girl in white lying on a bed. She knew she would meet her Martial Uncle in the tomb, but she didn’t know that she would find her lying down peacefully, not knowing whether she was sleeping or ignoring her. She held her sword across her chest and said, “Disciple Hong Lingbo greets Martial Uncle.”

Yang Guo opened his mouth, it felt as if his heart jumped out of it, he concentrated on the Xiao Longnu’s movements, but she didn’t move an inch. After a while, she gave out a quiet ‘en’ sound. From when Hong Lingbo first said something to Xiao Longnu up to Xiao long Nu’s reply, Yang Guo was extremely anxious and worried, he wanted to throw himself on Xiao Longnu to hold her and cry. When he heard her reply he was very relieved; he was also extremely delighted and wasn’t able to hold in his tears and cried loudly.  

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Hong Lingbo asked, “Sha Dan, what’s wrong with you?”

Yang Guo said, “I’m…I’m scared.”

Xiao Longnu slowly turned around and quietly said, “Don’t be afraid, I’ve just died once, it wasn’t painful at all.”

Hong Lingbo saw that she had an extremely beautiful face, and was startled. She thought, “Such a beautiful girl living on this earth!” She couldn’t but feel inferior, and said, “Disciple Hong Lingbo greets Martial Uncle.”

Xiao Longnu quietly said, “My apprentice sister? Is she here?”

Hong Lingbo said, “My master told me to come here first, and asked about Martial Uncle’s well being.”

Xiao Longnu said, “Just leave, this place is not for you, even your master can’t come here.”

Hong Lingbo saw that her face looked unwell, there were bloodstains on her chest, she was short of breath when talking, it looked like she had a serious injury. She then let down her guard slightly and asked, “Where’s Grandma Sun?”

Xiao Longnu said, “She died a long time ago…just leave now.”

Hong Lingbo became even more relaxed and thought; “It’s fate; who would have thought that I, Hong Lingbo, would become the heir to the tomb.” She saw that Xiao Longnu seemed to be on death’s doorsteps, and was afraid that if she died, no one would know the whereabouts of the “Jade Heart Manual”. She quickly said, “Martial Uncle, Master ordered me to obtain the “Jade Heart manual”. If you give it to me, then I’ll immediately help you cure your injury.”

Xiao Longnu had practiced the tomb’s martial arts for a long time, she didn’t have any emotions, nothing was able to affect her; but now she was suffering a serious internal injury and lost her self control. When she heard what she said, she was alarmed, and fainted again. Hong Lingbo dashed over and searched her body, Xiao Longnu woke up and said, “Where’s my apprentice sister? Get her here; I have something to say to her.”

Hong Lingbo saw that their sect’s highest arts were within her grasp, she couldn’t wait, she chuckled and took out silver needles from her pocket, and said, “Martial Uncle, you recognize these needles, if you don’t give the “Jade Heart Manual” to me then don’t blame me for being impolite.”

Yang Guo had experienced the poison of the “Soul Freezing Silver Needles” before; he had only held one in his hand and he felt the effects. If one pierced the body, what’s going to happen then? He saw the danger and quickly called out, “Xian Gu, there’s a ghost, I’m scared.” He threw himself over her, hugging her back, and used his finger to press down on the ‘Chaste Shoulder’ (jian zhen) and ‘Main Entrance’ (jing men) pressure points. Hong Lingbo could not have dreamed that ‘Sha Dan’ would possess such advanced martial art skills, her whole body became numb and she stood there paralyzed. Yang Guo was afraid she had the ability to unblock her pressure points so he heavily pressed down on ‘Large Bone’ (ju gu) pressure point, and said, “Gu Gu, this girl is really evil, should I p***k her a few times with these needles?” He wrapped his hand with his garment and picked up the needles.

Hong Lingbo wasn’t able to move an inch and she heard what he said clearly. He saw him pick up the needles and laughing ‘ha-ha’ towards her, she was frightened out of her wits. She wanted to plead but couldn’t open her mouth, her eyes revealed the state of mind she was in.

Xiao Longnu said, “Guo’Er, close the door to the tomb in case my apprentice sister arrives.”

Yang Guo said, “Yes!”

He was about to turn around when he heard an enchanting female voice from behind saying, “Apprentice sister, how are you? I arrived a long time ago.”

Yang Guo turned around alarmed, under the candlelight, he saw a beautiful Taoist priestess standing at the door, her cheeks peach, her mouth seemed to form a smile but it did not, it was the ‘Scarlet Serpent Deity’ Li Mochou.

When Hong Lingbo first started to ask about the whereabouts of the Tomb of the Living Dead, she knew that Hong Lingbo would go to the tomb herself to steal the “Jade Heart Manual”. When she sent Hong Lingbo to Changnan to kill, she had really planned it all. She secretly followed all along; she saw how Hong Lingbo met Yang Guo, how they entered the tomb, how she tried to force Xiao Longnu to hand over the manual and how she lost. Because she was extremely quick and her steps extremely light, Hong Lingbo and Yang Guo did not notice her. Now she revealed herself.

Xiao Longnu got up and called out, “Apprentice sister!” then coughed incessantly.

Li Mochou coldly pointed at Yang Guo and said, “Who is he? Ancestor Grandma’s rule, no man is allowed to take one step into the tomb, and you allow him here?” Xiao Longnu was coughing violently, and had no way to reply. Yang Guo stood in front of Xiao Longnu protecting her and clearly said, “She’s my Gu Gu, this is none of your business.”

Li Mochou chuckled and said, “Good Sha Dan, you’re very brave!” She waved her fly whisk three times, making three ‘fu’ sounds. Although the three moves were done one after the other, they arrived at the same time. It was one of the lethal stances of the Ancient Tomb sect; other sect’s fighters do not know the essence of the stance and would have their bones broken as soon as she used it. Yang Guo was familiar with all the skills of the Ancient Tomb sect, though his internal energy wasn’t as profound as Li Mochou’s he was still able to dodge the three moves in one “Three Swallows in the Forest”. Li Mochou’s fly whisk returned, she was secretly alarmed, she saw that his dodging techniques were from their sect, she sternly said, “Apprentice sister, who is this little scoundrel?”

Xiao Longnu was afraid that she was going to throw up blood again and didn’t dare raise her voice, and quietly said, “Guo’Er, greet your Martial Uncle.”

Yang Guo gave a ‘humph’ sound and said, “She counts as my Martial Uncle?”

Xiao Longnu said, “Bend your ear over, I’ve got something to say to you.”

Yang Guo knew that she wanted him to kowtow to Li Mochou, but he didn’t want to, so he still lowered his ear.

Xiao Longnu quietly said, “On the corner of the bed by my leg, there is a stone panel, turn it to the right and quickly leap up onto the bed.”

Li Mochou thought that she was ordering her disciple to apologize to her; in front of her was a seriously injured person, the other was a youngster, why would she care about them? She was thinking of a way to torture them and force her apprentice sister to hand over the “Jade Heart Manual”.

Yang Guo nodded his head, and clearly said, “Disciple greets Martial Uncle!” He slowly stretched out his hand towards the part of the bed near Xiao Longnu’s leg, indeed there was a stone panel, so he turned it with all his strength and quickly leaped onto the bed.

Li Mochou was shocked, and remembered there were booby traps everywhere in the tomb. Her master was biased; she concealed them from her and taught her apprentice sister where they were and how to use them; she immediately dashed over to grab Xiao Longnu.

Xiao Longnu had no strength to retaliate at present. The bed was heavy, Li Mochou had spotted this earlier, and she was extremely quick in her movements and was about to grab Xiao Longnu off the bed. Yang Guo was alarmed, and with all his strength pushed out a palm to repel her hand away. He suddenly saw darkness in front of him, two thudding sounds, and the bed had dropped into a lower level. The stone slab on the ceiling automatically pushed back up; Xiao Longnu and Yang Guo were separated from Li Mochou and her disciple.

Yang Guo could make out that there was a table and some chairs in the room, he made his way to the table and took out a match and lit a half burned candle.

Xiao Longnu sighed and said, “There isn’t enough blood in my body, I am unable to circulate my internal energy to heal myself. Even if I wasn’t hurt, the two of us would not be able to beat my apprentice sister”. When Yang Guo heard her say there wasn’t enough blood in her body, he raised his left arm, and singled out his vein on his wrist and bit down on it as hard as he could; blood came flowing out. He placed his wound by Xiao Longnu’s mouth, and his blood dripped in.

Xiao Longnu’s body was ice cold, when the warm blood entered her, her body started to warm up, she knew this wasn’t right and wanted to struggle, but Yang Guo knew what she was thinking and pressed down on a pressure point on her waist, stopping her from moving. After a while, the wound started to dry up, Yang Guo bit on it again, and then bit his right wrist. After donating blood several times, Yang Guo felt faint and dizzy, he sat up straight and unsealed her pressure point. Xiao Longnu looked at him for a while and didn’t say anything then started to heal herself. Yang Guo saw that the candle was about to burn out, and replaced it.

That night the two of them meditated together. Yang Guo was recovering from his lost of blood. After taking in Yang Guo’s blood, Xiao Longnu strengthened, and knew that her life was saved. She opened her eyes and smiled slightly towards Yang Guo. Her cheeks were normally white, but Yang Guo now saw that they were red, like rouge on white jade; he was delighted and said, “Gu Gu, you’ve recovered.” Xiao Longnu nodded her head. Yang Guo was happy but didn’t know what to say.

Xiao Longnu said, “We’ll go to Grandma Sun’s room, I have something to say to you.”

Yang Guo said, “Aren’t you tired?”

Xiao Longnu said, “I’m fine.”

She stretched out her hand and pulled on a bracket on the wall, a stone slab moved and revealed a path. Yang Guo had never seen this path before. Xiao Longnu led him in the darkness and eventually arrived at Grandma Sun’s room.

She lit a candle, and turned Yang Guo’s garment into a bag, and placed her gold silk gloves in it. Yang Guo stood there looking at her and asked, “Gu Gu, what are you doing?”

Xiao Longnu didn’t reply, and placed two jars of Jade Bee honey into the bag.

Yang Guo delightedly said, “Gu Gu, we are leaving, aren’t we? That will be great.”

Xiao Longnu said, “You go by yourself, I know you are a good boy, you treat me very well.”

Yang Guo was shocked and said, “What about you?”

Xiao Longnu said, “I made an oath to my master, I must stay in the tomb and never leave. Unless…unless…I won’t leave.” She shook her head as she said this.

He saw that her face was stern, her voice still, she wasn’t going to allow any back chat from him so he didn’t say anything. But this was an important matter; he eventually plucked up the courage and said, “Gu Gu, if you don’t go, I won’t go. I want to stay with you.”

Xiao Longnu said, “Right now, my apprentice sister is probably guarding the paths out of the tomb, she wants to force me to hand over the “Jade Heart Manual”. My kung fu is not near hers, and I’m hurt, I won’t be able to beat her, will I?”

Yang Guo said, “No.”

Xiao Longnu said, “The food we’ve got left will only last twenty days if we stretch it, if we also eat the Jade Bee honey, we’ll last a month. After the month passes, then what?”

Yang Guo stood there for a while and said, “We’ll rush out, although we won’t beat Martial Uncle, it may be possible to escape with our lives.”

Xiao Longnu shook her head and said, “You know your Martial Uncle’s martial arts and temper, and should know that we won’t be able to escape. Not only will she torture us, but our deaths will be unbearable.”

Yang Guo said, “If this is the case, it will be even harder for me to escape by myself.”

Xiao Longnu shook her head and said, “No! I’ll fight with her and lure her deep within the tomb; this will give you a chance to escape. When you get to the entrance, shift the large stone on the left, and pull on the brackets, two large stones weighing ten tonnes will drop down, sealing off the tomb forever.”

Yang Guo became even more startled as he heard this, and said, “Gu Gu, you’ll be able to open the stones, won’t you?”

Xiao Longnu shook her head and said, “No. Years ago when Wang Chongyang was rebelling against the Jin, he made a plan; this stone tomb was his storage place for money, supplies and weapons. It is heavily booby trapped, the layout a secret, and he set up two large ten tonne stone slabs at the entrance, called the “Dragon Snapping Stones” (duan long shi). In case they failed against the Jin and the Jin found out about this place and came to attack, it would be a few against many. In that case he would lower the stone, sealing off the tomb; the attackers of the tomb would not be able to leave with their lives. Once the stone drops, it will not open again. You know how narrow the path leading into the tomb is; it only allows for one person at a time to pass. Even if there were thousands of the enemy that entered the tomb, they could only form a long line; only one person could touch the large stone and that one person will not be able to lift the stone. With this plan, that old Taoist was saying that even in death he will not give in, and he wanted to perish with the enemy. After he failed against the Jin, he lived by himself in the tomb. The Jin emperor knew where he was, and sent tens of martial artists to kill him; in the end they were all captured or killed by Wang Chongyang. Not one returned. Later, that Jin emperor died suddenly, a new emperor was appointed, and left him alone, and so the two ‘Dragon Snapping Stones’ were never used. When Wang Chongyang left the tomb, he told Ancestor Grandma about all of the tomb’s booby traps.

The more Yang Guo listened the more startled he became, with tears in his eyes he said, “Gu Gu, I’ll follow you in life and death.”

Xiao Longnu said, “What use is there in following me? You said the outside world was a great place to play, just go and play. With your standard of martial arts, the Quanzhen Taoists will not be able to do much to you. You managed to trick Hong Lingbo, you are much cleverer than me; there is no need for me to look after you.”

Yang Guo rushed up to her and hugged her, crying, “Gu Gu, if I’m not able to leave with you, I won’t be able to enjoy my life.”

Xiao Longnu was cold and loveless, her words were cold and harsh, but right now for some reason she felt a rush of warm blood to her chest, her eyes ached, she wanted to cry. She was startled and remembered what her master had told her before she died, “The kung fu you are practicing is an emotionless type of advanced martial arts, if, later on, you cry and reveal your true feelings, not will only your martial arts suffer, your life will be in danger. Remember this.” Then she pushed Yang Guo away and coldly said, “Whatever I say, you have to listen.”

Yang Guo saw that she was still strict and stern, and didn’t dare to say another word. Xiao Longnu put the bag on his back and took a long sword off the wall, and gave it to him and then sternly said, “When I tell you to go, you must immediately go, once you are outside, immediately lower the stone to close off the tomb. Your Martial Uncle is extremely ruthless, the chance will be gone very quick, are you going to obey me?”

Yang Guo choked, “Yes.”

Xiao Longnu said, “If you don’t do as I have told you, when I’m dead in hell, I’ll hate you forever. Go!” She took hold of his hand, opened the door and left. Whenever Yang Guo touched her hand, it always felt like ice, but now in her grasp, he felt her palm was sometimes cold, sometimes warm, and completely different from normal. But right now he was too emotional; he had no time to think about such trivial things, and followed her out. After traveling for a while, Xiao Longnu touched a stone slab and quietly said, “They are just in front. I’ll lure my apprentice sister away, and you’ll leave by rushing to the exit in the northwest corner. If Hong Lingbo chases you, attack her with ‘Jade Bee Needles’.” Yang Guo’s heart was fluttering all over the place, and just nodded.

The “Jade Bee Needles” are a skill of the Ancient Tomb sect; years ago Lin Chaoying had two lethal projectiles, one was the “Soul Freezing Needles”, the other was the “Jade Bee Needles”. The “Jade Bee Needle” was a gold needle that was as thin as a hair, sixty percent was made of gold, the other forty percent consists of steel, and had a drop of poison from the Jade Bees on it. Although it was small, the gold was heavy and allowed it to be thrown over a long distance. This projectile was too venomous, Lin Chaoying rarely used it; after her middle age, her kung fu had reached the acme of perfection, and so there wasn’t a need to use them at all. Because Li Mochou had not agreed to swear an oath that she would remain in the tomb forever, when her master passed on the skill of the “Soul Freezing Needles” she did not teach her the “Jade Bee Needles”.

Xiao Longnu waited, and then rotated the brackets on the wall, two ‘zha’ ‘zha’ sounds were made as the wall slowly opened to the left. Her pair of silk belts immediately flew out, the left heading for Li Mochou, the right heading for Hong Lingbo, her body flying extremely swiftly forwards. Li Mochou had long ago unblocked Hong Lingbo’s pressure points and she had shouted at her for a little while. They were in the room trying to figure out where they were and looking for a way out when suddenly they saw Xiao Longnu attacking, the both of them were startled.

Li Mochou’s fly whisk flew out to block Xiao Longnu’s belt. The fly whisk and the silk belt were soft objects, soft against soft, but Li Mochou’s internal energy was superior to that of Xiao Longnu’s, the two weapons clashed, and Xiao Longnu’s weapon was sent back. The belt in her left hand returned, the right was sent out, in just a short while many stances were exchanged, the two silk belts were gentle and swift. Li Mochou was startled and angry, thinking, “So master was biased, she did not teach me these skills!” But she was able to defend against it, but didn’t want to try to kill her, firstly the “Jade Heart Manual” wasn’t yet in her hands, if she killed her it would be difficult to find the manual in this large stone tomb, and secondly, she wanted to see what other great skills that her master had bestowed on Xiao Longnu.

Hong Lingbo had always regarded herself as intelligent, but today she was tricked by a boy, she was fooled into thinking he was dumb for over half a day and wasn’t able to see through it. She was furious with him, she saw that her master and Xiao Longnu were fighting heatedly, and said, “Sha Dan, your little scoundrel’s trickery isn’t bad.” She took out her swords, and took half a step and called out, “See if I can cut your nose off.” Her swords chopped and slashed, ‘chi’ ‘chi’ ‘chi’ as several stances were unleashed. Yang Guo saw that she was advancing fiercely and could only raise his sword to block. In normal circumstances, Yang Guo would make some sarcastic comments and joke around with her, but now he was thinking about having to part with Xiao Longnu, warm tears were in his eyes, everything was blurry in front of him, he made a few stances, but there wasn’t any intention of attacking.

Hong Lingbo had used many stances; although she wasn’t able to hurt him, she saw that there was no strength in his stances. She thought that he must possess average skills. She became even more careless, and didn’t even consider the fact that he had sealed her pressure points before.

Li Mochou and Xiao Longnu fought for another ten moves, Li Mochou’s fly whisk flipped up wrapping around her left silk belt and said, “Apprentice sister, take a look at my skills.” She dispersed her chi into her weapon and the belt was cut into two pieces. In normal duels with weapons, it was difficult for one person’s weapon to shatter the enemy’s weapon. The fly whisk and the silk belts were extremely soft objects, she had just used her fly whisk to split the belt in half, and this was ten times more difficult than using a sword to shatter another sword. Li Mochou demonstrated her skills and her face swelled with pride.

Xiao Longnu didn’t react, and said, “How good are your skills?” Her half belt shot out and wrapped itself around the thread end of the fly whisk, the belt in her right hand shot out and tangled the handle, one pulled to the left and one to the right, and the fly whisk snapped in half. In terms of power, this move was lower than when Li Mochou had snapped the belt in half, but it was extremely fast and the technique of dispersing her chi into the belts was exquisite, Li Mochou’s move cannot compare with Xiao Longnu in this department. She was slightly alarmed and threw down her weapon; she snatched the belts, gradually forcing Xiao Longnu back. Another ten moves passed and Xiao Longnu was forced to the eastern wall, and saw that she had nowhere else to go. She suddenly touched the wall and called out, “Guo’Er, escape quickly!” A ‘ka’ sound was heard as an exit appeared in the northwest corner.

Li Mochou was shocked and quickly turned around, wanting to stop Yang Guo. Xiao Longnu threw down her belts and threw out two palms with the intent to kill. Li Mochou had to turn around to block it.

Xiao Longnu shouted, “Guo’Er, why aren’t you leaving?”

Yang Guo looked at Xiao Longnu and saw that there was no over turning of this decision and shouted, “Gu Gu, I’m going now!” He quickly threw out three stances, the sword tip pointing towards Hong Lingbo.

Hong Lingbo had seen Yang Guo’s sword stances were weak, but of a sudden it had strengthened so much, she could only jump back from the danger. Yang Guo darted out of the door, he turned around, wanting to look at Xiao Longnu for one last time.

Xiao Longnu and her apprentice sister were fighting bare handed, after practicing the “Jade Heart Manual” her variation of stances had greatly increased, although she was seriously wounded, she managed to hold her own after tens of moves. She saw the image of Yang Guo’s back at the door, and thought how they would never meet each other again, her chest heated up, her eyes ached, wanting to cry. She has never shown her true emotions before; today she wanted to cry twice. She was frightened.

When clashing palms with a highly skilled fighter, how can one allow oneself to be slow? Li Mochou saw Xiao Longnu standing there and took the opportunity to advance; she grabbed her wrist and sealed the ‘Returning Orthodox’ (hui zong) pressure point, and hooked out a leg. Xiao Longnu wasn’t able to stand upright and fell onto the floor.

Yang Guo turned his head around, only to see Xiao Longnu hooked onto the floor by her apprentice sister. He then saw Li Mochou was about to harm his master, blood rushed through his chest and he called out, “Don’t harm my master!” He darted back into the room, then leapt over to her and grabbed Li Mochou by the waist. This move didn’t belong to the stances of any school or sect; it was just an urgent reaction from Yang Guo in this dangerous situation.

Li Mochou was preoccupied with wanting to pick up Xiao Longnu, and wasn’t prepared for Yang Guo coming back and grabbing her, for the time being she wasn’t able to escape.

She was ruthless and violent, not restrained by the practice of religion like she should be, but she guarded her body like a treasure. After spending many years wandering the world of Jianghu, she was still a virgin, and now suddenly she was held tightly by Yang Guo. All she felt now was the warmth of a man spreading from her back into her heart, her heart stirred, her whole body softened, her face was red, and there was no strength in her hands. Xiao Longnu took the chance to unblock her pressure point, but Hong Lingbo was now pointing her sword towards Yang Guo’s back.

Xiao Longnu was looking up from the ground, when she saw the sword coming she rolled to the left, and moved Yang Guo and Li Mochou at the same time, Hong Lingbo’s sword pierced thin air.

Xiao Longnu leapt up and shouted, “Guo’Er, get out quickly!”

Yang Guo held tightly onto Li Mochou’s waist and called out, “Gu Gu, get out quickly, I’m holding her down, she won’t be able to move.”

During this time, Li Mochou’s head was filled with thoughts, she knew that this was a urgent situation where there is only a hair separating life and death, but being held by Yang Guo caused her heart to be enchanted, and didn’t think of escaping.

Xiao Longnu was curious and wondered, “With my apprentice sister’s martial arts, how could she be held down by Guo’Er, not moving an inch? Could it be that her pressure points have been blocked?”

She saw that Hong Lingbo’s left hand was about to try to pierce Yang Guo again, so she stretched out two fingers and pushed the flat side of the sword in her right hand, the sword leaped up, heading for the sword in Hong Lingbo’s left hand. A clashing sound, Hong Lingbo’s hands became numb, the handles of the swords dropped on the floor. She jumped back in shock.

When the swords clashed, sparks flew, it was during this time when Li Mochou noticed that Xiao Longnu had looked at her strangely; she couldn’t stop from being furious and shouted, “Little punk, do you want to die?” She generated chi into her arms and escaped from Yang Guo’s hold, she leapt up and was about to throw out a palm towards Xiao Longnu.

Xiao Longnu was busy concentrating on Yang Guo’s movements when she suddenly felt Li Mochou’s palm arriving, there was no time to use stances to neutralize the palm, she could only return a palm to block, but she felt her apprentice sister’s profound internal energy, she felt pain in her chest. She saw Yang Guo had picked himself up, and was coming to help her, she shouted, “Guo’Er, you aren’t going to listen to me, are you?”

Yang Guo said, “I’ll listen to whatever you say, but I won’t listen to what you are saying now. Gu Gu, I’ll follow you in life and death.”

Xiao Longnu heard his sincerity in his words, and was touched again, she saw that Li Mochou was about to throw out another palm, she knew right now that with her serious internal injuries, she would not be able to take this palm, so she ducked and darted to the side and picked up Yang Guo, and hurried out of the room through the stone door.

Li Mochou followed the blur, and stretched out her hand to grab her back and shouted, “Don’t go!”

Xiao Longnu waved her hand back, ten or so “Jade Bee Needles” were shot back. Li Mochou suddenly smelled the sweet scent of honey, and knew that this projectile was lethal. She was startled and quickly bent back, she knocked into Hong Lingbo and both of them dropped onto the floor.

They heard extremely quiet ‘ding’ ‘ding’ ‘ding’ sounds, as the needles struck the wall, then they heard two ‘zha’ ‘zha’ sounds, it was Xiao Longnu who had taken Yang Guo out of the room, turned the switch, and closed the door.

end of ch. 6  

[kt_jingle]

omg!
thanks so much.
D:
ayye, i like the liu yi fei version! XD.  

[Lil_Dragon_Gurl]

sry ppl its gonna b a while b4 i post more chapters cuz im out of town. im using public internet and they limit u. SRY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  

[Lil_Dragon_Gurl]

gonna start posting more soon. gonna b home soon!!!!!!!