Return of Condor Heroes (119 page)

Yang Guo laughed, “The names of the swords are ‘Gentleman’ and ‘Lady’. I’m not worthy of the name. If ‘Gentleman’ was changed to ‘Vagrant’, it’d be much better for me to use.” He then tested out the sword with two thrusts into the air and felt that the weight was perfect and the sword extremely agile; he said, “Fine, we’ll use these two swords.”

Xiao Longnu returned her sword into its sheath and was about to leave the room when she saw some extremely beautiful flowers in a vase on the table; but it wasn’t arranged properly so she decided to fix it up.

Yang Guo called out, “No, you can’t touch them.” But it was too late; Xiao Longnu’s finger had been pierced by the thorns of the flowers. She turned her head back startled, asking, “Why?”

Yang Guo said, “Those are Passion Flowers; you’ve been living here in the valley for a few days now, don’t you recognize them?”

Xiao Longnu sucked her finger and shook her head. She said, “I don’t recognize them. Passion Flower; what kind of flower is it?”

Yang Guo was about to explain but the crowd of disciples kept on hurrying them so they left the room and returned to the hall. Valley Master Gongsun had been waiting impatiently, he stared angrily at his disciples, blaming them for being useless and allowing the two of them to waste time. All of the disciples were terrified and changed color.

Valley Master Gongsun waited for the two to come near before saying, “Miss Liu, you’ve picked your weapon?”

Xiao Longnu took out the ‘Lady’ sword and nodded her head, saying, “We’ll use this pair of blunt swords to fight you; we don’t dare to fight a life and death duel with the Valley Master, but just until a clear victor can be seen, how about that?”

The Valley Master’s heart trembled and said sternly, “Who told you to pick those swords?” His gaze swept across to Gongsun Lu E and then back to Xiao Longnu.

Xiao Longnu felt slightly surprised and said, “No one told us to pick them. If we can’t use them, we’ll go and change them.”

The Valley Master stared angrily at Yang Guo and said, “If I let you change your weapons, how long will it take, half a day? There’s no need to change, just start.”

Xiao Longnu said, “Valley Master Gongsun; let’s make things clear before we start. If we fight one on one, neither of us are a match for you. We’ve got an advantage fighting you two against one. We don’t really want to fight you and we’re not competing with you. All you’ve got to do is allow us to leave and we’ll admit defeat and thank you.”

The Valley Master chuckled and said, “If you beat my “Yin Yang Twin Blades” then I’ll let you treat me anyway you want; if I win you have to marry me.”

Xiao Longnu gave an unperturbed smile and said, “If we lose, we’ll just die here in this valley.”

Valley Master Gongsun did not say anything more; the golden saber in his left hand waved out towards Yang Guo.

Yang Guo raised his sword and used a stance of “The White Crane’s Bright Wing”; a stance of Quanzhen swordplay.

Valley Master Gongsun thought, “Though this stance is tight and careful, it’s just ordinary and steady.” His right sword headed towards Yang Guo’s shoulder, actually winding past Xiao Longnu, both the sword and saber were aiming for Yang Guo. Yang Guo concentrated on his opponent and guarded his body tightly as he received three stances.

Xiao Longnu waited for the Valley Master to unleash his three stances before she raised her sword. The Valley Master did not use his sword or saber to block her sword stances; only in urgent situations did he use the black sword to repel her attacks. He showed signs of allowance in his stances.

After watching seven or eight stances, Jinlun Fawang gave a wry laugh and said, “Valley Master Gongsun, giving them such allowances will lead to suffering for you.”

The Valley Master replied, “Big monk, if you don’t think much of me then why don’t you wait for a little while and duel with me later. I don’t need you to waste your breath in trying to give me advice.” He hurried his sword and saber and the wind sounds from the weapons became increasing louder.

After a few more exchanges, Yang Guo used a stance of “Sweeping Across the Northern Desert” from the Quanzhen swordplay while Xiao Longnu used the “The Coloured Pen Painting an Eyebrow” stance from the “Jade Maiden Swordplay” Both of these stances were horizontal strokes, Yang Guo’s sword just swept across a few inches from the left to right while Xiao Longnu flicked her sword subtly twice. The two stances became the stance “Dressing Under the Mirror” from the “Pure Heart of Jade Maiden Sword”. Valley Master Gongsun was shocked, he raised his black sword to block Yang Guo’s sword and swept his saber across to guard his face. Xiao Longnu’s sword drew across above his eyes, the sword and saber clashed, a ‘dang’ sound was heard as the tip of the golden saber was actually cut off by the ‘Lady’ sword.

The onlookers were shocked; they could never have predicted that such an ordinary looking blunt sword would actually be so sharp. Yang Guo and Xiao Longnu were both surprised; they originally picked these weapons because of the names and the fact that they were the same. They couldn’t have known that they had actually picked a pair of precious swords by luck. Their spirits were greatly roused and swords kept on attacking.

Valley Master Gongsun marveled in secret, “Sister Liu and that punk’s martial arts can’t compare with mine. I originally wasn’t afraid of them joining together, but I didn’t know that when their swords join it would actually be so powerful. It looks like that bald scoundrel was telling the truth. If I lose to these two… if I lose to these two…” When he thought to this point, the saber in his right hand suddenly attacked left and the sword in his right hand swept left, using his greatest skill “Yin Yang Wild Blades”. The black sword was originally soft and yin but right now it was hacking and chopping solidly, changing into the yang and hard nature of saber play. Meanwhile, the heavy and clumsy jagged saber was now piercing and cutting, going down the road of lightness and swiftness. The saber had become a sword, the sword had become a saber, and it really was extraordinary.

Jinlun Fawang, Xiaoxiang Zi and Yin Kexi were all knowledgeable people but the “Yin Yang Wild Blades” was something that they’ve never seen or heard of before.

Ma Guangzuo called out, “Hey, old man, what weird name has this mad kung fu of yours got? The… the… the older you get, the madder you get!”

Valley Master Gongsun was only around forty years of age. Today he had wanted to marry Xiao Longnu and because of this he’s been called old man this and that by this dim witted person; how can he not get angry? Right now he had no time for him. Now he used this kung fu that he’d studied bitterly for the last twenty years. He decided to defeat the two of them before doing anything else.

With the two paired using their swordplay, they had begun to gain the upper hand; but the opponent had swapped his weapons around and his stances were extraordinary. The two were put on their back foot and met many dangerous stances over a short period of time. Yang Guo saw that the black sword was stronger than the golden saber; he intercepted all the sword strokes and allowed Xiao Longnu to face the golden saber. He thought that because she had an advantage in weaponry, the Valley Master wouldn’t dare to clash with the ‘Lady’ sword and so she shouldn’t meet any great danger. But by doing this the two were effectively fighting separately; the swordplay of the “Pure Heart of the Jade Maiden” had separated into two and its power immediately decreased.

Valley Master Gongsun was delighted; he unleashed three chops with his black sword while the saber in his left hand used the stances “The Still Yang Needle”, “The Form of the Yielding Separates Gold”, “The Thorn Pierces Qing” and “The Nine Lotuses”. Those four graceful and flowing sword stances were mixed in with the three saber stances. Yang Guo could still block these attacks but Xiao Longnu was getting frantic; she wanted to use the sword to cut off the tip of the saber but the golden saber moved like a flying phoenix, she could not touch it. Yang Guo knew something was wrong and disregarded his safety and used a stance of “The Horse Trampling on the Descending Flowers” from the Quanzhen swordplay, sending the sword from his upper arm aiming upwards, intercepting the opponent’s saber and sword. Xiao Longnu immediately took back her sword and protected Yang Guo’s upper body. The two once again joined together, returning back to the swordplay of the “Pure Heart of the Jade Maiden”. The theory of the swordplay lies in the two users having a mutual affinity for each other, as if two became one. In this stance Yang Guo had forsaken his life to save Xiao Longnu; this was the supreme premise of this swordplay. Xiao Longnu saw his front wasn’t guarded while he was saving her; she was afraid that he would get hurt and quickly helped him to protect himself. The two had not protected themselves but both became protected as a result; the power of the swords suddenly increased.

Many more stances passed and beads of sweat could now be seen on the forehead of the Valley Master; his sword and saber stances were wanting and a picture of defeat could be seen on him. On the other hand, Yang Guo and Xiao Longnu were becoming more and more fluid in their swordplay. Yang Guo’s left hand held the shaft of the sword and his right hand thrust the sword forward to the enemy’s waist on the left. Xiao Longnu held the sword handle with both her hands and flicked the sword upwards; this stance was called “Resting Loftily with a Tidy Brow”; the stance was filled with love, tenderness and gracefulness. Her heart was filled with love and passion; she turned her head to look at Yang Guo. Suddenly her chest felt as if a hammer had smashed up against it and the finger on her right hand had broke out in unbearable pain; she almost dropped her sword. Her face changed and she leapt back three steps.

Valley Master Gongsun chuckled, “Ha, the Passion Flower; the Passion Flower!” The pleasure in his heart was greater than his jealousy.

Xiao Longnu did not understand but Yang Guo knew the poison of the Passion Flower had flared up. Her finger had just been pricked by the Passion Flower and as she thought about love, her finger broke out with an unbearable pain.

Yang Guo had tasted this pain before; he was deeply concerned for Xiao Longnu and softly asked, “Does it hurt very much?”

Valley Master Gongsun took this opportunity to launch an attack; he urgently attacked with his sword and saber at Yang Guo. Xiao Longnu’s pain had lessened and she raised her sword again. Yang Guo was concerned for her and said, “Rest a little while longer.” But as soon as he stirred his love for her, his finger broke out in pain once again.

Valley Master Gongsun took this chance and chopped heavily with the black sword, a ‘dang’ sound was heard as he knocked the ‘Gentleman’ sword out of his hand. The black sword extended forward and was once again at his chest.

Xiao Longnu was shocked and tried to save him but she was blocked by the gold saber and had no way to advance.

The Valley Master called out, “Hold that punk.”

Four disciples in green responded, they walked forward and twisted the net over him, they circled him a few times and held him tightly in the net.

Valley Master Gongsun asked, “Sister Liu, what are you going to do?”

Xiao Longnu knew that she was not a match for him alone; she threw down her ‘Lady’ sword on the floor and heard a ‘ca’ sound; the ‘Gentleman’ sword and ‘Lady’ sword leapt closer together, joining up tightly. The two swords actually had great magnetism. Xiao Longnu said solemnly, “If the swords can do this how can we not do it? Just kill the two of us.”

Valley Master Gongsun gave a ‘huh’ grunt and said, “Follow me.” He folded his arms towards Fawang and the others, saying, “Excuse me!” He turned into the inner halls. The four disciples followed, dragging the net along with Yang Guo. Xiao Longnu followed.

Ma Guangzuo said, “Hey monk, zombie head, we need to think of a way to save them.”

Jinlun Fawang just smiled wryly and didn’t reply.

Xiaoxiang Zi chuckled and said, “Hey giant, can you beat that old man?”

Ma Guangzuo stroked his cheek and couldn’t think of a plan; he just said, “I’ll fight even if I can’t beat him! I’ll fight even if I can’t beat him!”

Valley Master Gongsun advanced forward with his head held high; he entered a small stone room and said, “Cut some Passion Flowers for me.”

Yang Guo and Xiao Longnu had already decided to die; they looked at each other, smiling, and ignoring what Valley Master Gongsun said or did. Not long after, an enchanting fragrance entered the stone room. The two turned their heads to see what it was; there was a fusion of five colors, from tender red to soft yellow; more than ten disciples in green had entered the room carrying bunches of Passion Flowers in their arms. Their arms were covered in leather, protecting them from the thorns of the flowers.

Valley Master Gongsun waved his right arm; he said coldly, “Throw them on that scum.”

It was as if ten thousands wasps were stinging Yang Guo; his limbs, his bones, they all were overpowered with unbearable pain; he couldn’t take it and called out in pain.

Xiao Longnu felt pity and anger; she shouted at Valley Master Gongsun, “What are you doing?” She dashed forward wanting to remove the Passion Flowers from Yang Guo.

Valley Master Gongsun stretched out his hand to block her and said, “Sister Liu, today is the day when we would have consummated our marriage; but this punk entered the valley and ruined everything. We do not know each other and we have no debts or feuds; but you and he know each other. If he had acted courteously and respectfully as a guest, of course I would have treated him with great respect; now that it has come to this…” He then waved his left hand out and sent his disciples away. He closed the door. He continued, “Whether it’ll end up in tragedy or joy, it will be up to you.”

The pain that Yang Guo was in was indescribable but he didn’t want Xiao Longnu to get upset so he clenched his teeth and didn’t make a sound. None of the words of Valley Master Gongsun entered his ears as he endured the pain.