Return of Condor Heroes (126 page)

“As I heard him beg, his mouth kept on talking about Rou’er. I was angry and took out a Passionless Pill and put it on the table. I said, ‘There is only one Passionless Pill left. Only one of you can live. You know that it would be of no use if you each take half. You decide whether you want to save her or save yourself.’ He immediately took the pill with him and hurried to the pill room. I followed after him. By that time, the bitch was in unbearable pain and was rolling about on the floor.

Gongsun Zhi said, ‘Rou’er, go in peace. I’ll follow you in death.’ He then drew out a sword.

When Rou’er saw how loving he was, she was extremely touched and said, ‘Good, good. We’ll be a husband and wife in the underworld.’

Gongsun Zhi pierced her chest with the sword and killed her.

“I was outside the pill room looking in through the window and was slightly alarmed, I was afraid that the second move will go for his throat. When he raised the sword, I was about to call out to him to stop; but then I saw him wiping the blood away from his sword on Rou’er’s body before putting the sword back into it’s sheath. He turned to the window and said, ‘Sister Chi, I’m willing to repent; I’ve killed that bitch with my own hands, just spare me.” He lifted his hand towards his mouth and swallowed the Passionless Pill. This wasn’t something that I had expected, but since it had ended this way and he was repenting sincerely, I was very pleased. He then planned a feast to apologize to me. I scolded him for awhile and he kept on saying that he deserved to die and he swore hundreds of poisonous oaths, saying that he would never betray me again.”

Yang Guo thought, “You’re falling into his trap!”

However Lu E was in tears.

Qiu Qianchi said angrily, “What? You pity that bastard?”

Lu E shook her head and didn’t say anything. She was actually crying at her father’s cruelty and heartlessness.

Qiu Qianchi continued, “I drank two cups of wine and chuckled; I then took out another Passionless Pill from my pockets and placed it on the table. I laughed, ‘You might have acted a bit too fast; I was just testing what kind of person you were. If you had begged for just a little while longer I would have given two pills to you. You would have been able to save the life of that little beauty, wouldn’t that have been great?”

Lu E quickly asked, “Mother, if he actually did beg you for a little while longer, would you have given him two pills?”

Qiu Qianchi thought for a while and said, “I don’t know. At that time, the thought of saving that slut passed through my mind. If I saved her and sent her away, then Gongsun Zhi would have been touched by this and might have actually come back to me, not daring to do such things again. But all he cared about was his life and he quickly killed his own lover. That can’t be blamed on me.”

“Gongsun Zhi picked up the Passionless Pill and looked at it for a long while before he raised his cup and laughed, ‘Sister Chi, that’s in the past, why bring it up? It’s better to kill that girl and tie things up neatly. Let’s drink.’ I was slightly suspicious when he kept on telling me to drink but I was feeling great and joyful and actually became quite drunk. By the time I woke up, I was already down in this grotto and the tendons in my arms and legs had been destroyed by him. That bastard did not have the guts to see me again. Huh, he must have thought that I’d died long ago.”

When she finished talking about this, her eyes suddenly developed a fierce light and her expression was terrifying. Yang Guo and Lu E both turned away, not daring to look her in the eye. The three of them didn’t say a single word for a long, long time.

Lu E took a look around and all saw that the only things in the cave were rocks, hair and grass; she said somberly, “Mother, have you been relying on these dates only for all these years?”

Qiu Qianchi said, “Yes. Do you think that bastard would send me food?”

Lu E hugged her and cried, “Mother!”

Yang Guo said, “Has Gongsun Zhi ever mentioned an exit to this grotto?”

Qiu Qianchi chuckled, “He never mentioned that there was such a grotto and pool beneath the manor in all the years we were married. If there was another exit, that bastard would not have put me here. He put those crocodiles in the pool afterwards; he was still afraid that that I would somehow manage to get out.”

Yang Guo looked around and saw that indeed there was no other way out apart from the entrance. He lifted his head and looked at the hole in the grotto roof. It was at least a thousand feet off the ground, the tallest tree down there was just forty or fifty feet tall, even if twenty of them were stacked together they would not reach the roof. He thought for a while but couldn’t come up with anything. He then said, “I’ll take a look from the top of the tree.” He then leapt on top of a date tree and saw that there were bumps and grooves higher up the stone walls; it wasn’t like down below where it was all smooth and slippery. He then climbed up along the wall and was getting higher and higher; he was pleased and turned back to Lu E and called out, “Miss Gongsun, if I can get out I’ll let a rope down and get both of you out.”

He climbed up about six or seven hundred feet; with his outstanding lightness kung fu, he managed to turn all the dangers he met along the way into minor obstacles. But when he was about seventy or eighty feet away from the entrance, the walls became smooth and slippery without any hand holds and the walls slanted inwards as well. You wouldn’t be able to get out unless you were a fly.

Yang Guo took a look around and saw that the opening of the cave was around ten feet wide; more than enough space for someone to pass through. He had a plan and slipped back down to the bottom of the grotto and said, “We can get out! But we’ll need a long rope.” He then took out the dagger and cut bark off the date trees and tied them into a rope. Gongsun Lu E was delighted and helped him. Although the two were quick, they had to work for over four hours. The sky was dark before they finished forming an extremely long rope made out of tree bark.

Yang Guo held the rope and tugged it a few times with force; he said, “It won’t snap.” He then used the dagger to cut off a branch that was around fifteen feet in length and tied one end of the rope to the middle of the branch and wrapped the rope up around it. He then climbed up along the wall again until he neared the top. He then used the “Thousand Kilogram Fall” in his legs to secure his footing and circulated energy into his arms. He shouted out, “Get up!” He threw the tree branch towards the opening of the cave. He used just the right amount of energy and when the branch came back down, it hung across the opening of the cave. Yang Guo pulled the rope to make sure the branch was secure across the opening of the cave. Just two tugs, after which he felt the branch was tight, secure and would be able to take his weight. He called out, “I’m going up!” He grabbed the rope and climbed up it; he looked down and saw that Lu E and her mother had become two small black images in the indistinct evening light.

He used more strength in his hands and climbed up even quicker; in a short while he had reached the branch that was hanging across the opening of the cave. He bent his arms and a ‘hu’ sound was heard as he flew out of the cave and landed on the ground.

He took in a few deep breaths and then stood up. He saw that a bright moon had risen in the east above the mountains. He had been trapped down in the pool and grotto for half a day; now as he gained freedom, he felt an indescribable comfort and thought, “Will I feel no boredom at all if I stay in the tomb with Gu Gu? It is clear that the affect of the surroundings depends on one’s feelings; if one wants to get out but can’t they’ll feel troubled in their hearts; but for those who don’t want to get out, getting out will create misery.” He then lowered the rope.

As soon as Qiu Qianchi saw Yang Guo climb out of the cave, she cursed her daughter, “Stupid girl, how can you let him get out by himself? Why would he still be worried about us once he gets out?”

Lu E said, “Mother, relax, brother Yang is not that sort of person.”

Qiu Qianchi said angrily, “All men are the same; what good men are there?”

She then turned her head towards her daughter and looked at her carefully, she said, “Stupid girl, you’ve been taken advantage of by him haven’t you?”

Lu E’s face went red and said, “Mother, what are you trying to say, I don’t understand.”

Qiu Qianchi was even angrier and said, “If you don’t understand then why did your face go red? Let me tell you, when it comes to men you cannot give them one single step, you cannot be careless; can’t you see what happened to your mother?” Just as she was beginning to carry on non-stop, Lu E got up and caught the rope. She tied it around tightly around her mother’s waist and smiled, “Look, does brother Yang care about us or not?” She then tugged on the rope signaling to Yang Guo that she had tied her mother in place.

Qiu Qianchi gave a ‘heng’ grunt and said, “Let me tell you, once we get back up you better make sure you hold onto him tightly and don’t give him an inch. Zhang fu, zhang fu (zhang fu=husband, zhang= ten feet), within ten feet they are still your husband but once outside of ten feet, they’re not your husband anymore, do you understand? Your grandpa named your mother Qianchi, a thousand (qian) feet (chi) is a hundred zhang, ha-ha, what husband is there outside of a thousand feet?”

Lu E was amused but sad at the same time; she thought, “Mother’s thinking really is wishful; he hasn’t got a place for me in his heart.” Her eyes went red and she turned her head.

Qiu Qianchi was just about to say something when she felt the rope around her waist tighten and her body lifted upwards slowly into the air. Lu E looked at her mother and although she knew that Yang Guo would immediately lower the rope to rescue her, she was alone in this grotto all by herself for the time being and started to tremble with fear.

Yang Guo pulled Qiu Qianchi out of the cave and untied the rope from her waist. He lowered the rope down for a second time. Only after wrapping the rope around her waist did Lu E relax a little; she pulled on the rope and felt it tighten around her waist; her body rose up into the air. She saw that the date trees at the bottom of the cave were getting smaller and smaller, while the stars above her were getting brighter and brighter. Just a few more tens of feet and she would be able to get out of the cave.

Suddenly she heard someone shout out from the opening followed by the rope getting loose and her body fall straight back down. What chance is there of staying alive while dropping hundreds of feet? Lu E screamed and almost fainted; she felt her body plummeting downwards but could do nothing about it.

Yang Guo was pulling Lu E up and saw that he was about to bring her out when suddenly he heard footsteps from behind him; someone had actually come to attack him from behind. He was extremely startled by this; he couldn’t worry about trying to turn around to fight off the attacker and just pulled the rope as quickly as possible.

He heard the attacker shout; “What are you doing sneaking around here?” The sound of a ferocious wind followed, and an extremely long and heavy weapon was sent out towards his back.

From the sounds of the weapon, Yang Guo knew it was the short man Fan Yiweng; with this danger he could only return his left hand and push the staff away, dispersing the force of this attack. Fan Yiweng couldn’t see Yang Guo’s face in this darkness but knew that his opponent was highly skilled. He took back his staff and swept the staff out again towards his opponent’s waist; he had put all his strength behind this attack and really wanted to break his opponent into two pieces.

Yang Guo was holding up Lu E along with the fairly weighty long rope with his right hand only, in a little while he would struggle to keep control. When he saw the staff come towards him again, he again sent out his left palm to disperse the attack. He didn’t predict that this attack of Fan Yiweng’s was so ferocious, when his left palm met the staff his whole body trembled, his right hand couldn’t hold on and the rope slipped with Lu E plummeting downwards.

From the screams of Lu E, one could tell that she was at the top of the grotto; Qiu Qianchi and Yang Guo both called out. Yang Guo didn’t care about defending himself against the staff and sent his left hand forward as he bent to take the rope. But the force that Lu E was falling down with was extremely high; the weight of Lu E and the rope along with their plummeting speed created a force of about a thousand kilos. Yang Guo just held the rope for a little while before the force pulled him forwards headfirst towards the entrance of the cave. Though his martial arts were high, he couldn’t make a single move right now.

Qiu Qianchi’s martial arts had been lost along with the tendons in her arms and legs; she could only watch anxiously from the side as the rope outside the cave became shorter and shorter. Once the rope reaches its end, Yang Guo and Lu E would fall tragically to their deaths. The end of the rope flew towards Qiu Qianchi as the rope pulled down quickly with Yang Guo and Lu E’s weight. As it neared its end, Qiu Qianchi had an idea, “You evil bastard, I’m going to take you with us.” She made sure of her aim and struck the rope, though there wasn’t much force behind the push, she managed to get the direction right and made it wrap around Fan Yiweng’s waist tightly a few times.

Fan Yiweng felt the rope around his waist tighten and quickly used the “Thousand Kilogram Fall” to steady himself. But he had both Yang Guo’s and Lu E’s weight to contend with along with their plummeting force; it brought him step by step closer towards the cave entrance. Fan Yiweng saw that just another step forward and he too would fall into the cave. With this shock he quickly held the rope with his left hand and braced himself against the cave with his right hand, he gave a shout as he used the cave for support and actually managed to stop the rope.

At that time, Lu E was just a few tens of feet off the ground; she really was a hairsbreadth away from death. The most powerful force is the force of a falling object, a little stone falling from such a height would have tremendous force in it, by the time Fan Yiweng had exerted all his strength to oppose the falling force, his hands only had two hundred or so kilos to contend with, this was nothing to him. His right hand held the rope and he moved his left hand towards his waist to untie the rope to let his enemy fall when suddenly he felt a subtle pain on his back, a sharp object was pressed against the ‘Spirit Stage’ pressure point below his sixth vertebrae; a woman’s voice shouted, “Quickly pull them up! Damage to the ‘Spirit Stage’ will lead to ruin of the veins!”