Return of Condor Heroes (131 page)

Qiu Qianchi sat on her chair and looked to either side of her; she chuckled, “Good, you’ve all come here for a celebratory drink; won’t everyone’s mood being ruined if we don’t have a drink?” Her icy cold eyes gave everyone goose bumps; they were all afraid that she was going to spit out some kind of strange projectile without any warning. The people of the valley were afraid while Fawang, Yin Kexi and the others prepared themselves.

Yang Guo and Xiao Longnu were both surprised with the state that Gongsun Zhi ended up in. They both let out a long sigh and reached out for each other’s hand, holding it tightly. The two’s thoughts were as one and they made their way towards the exit.

When they reached the door, Qiu Qianchi suddenly shouted, “Yang Guo, where are you going?”

Yang Guo turned around and made a long bow to her before saying, “Senior Qiu Lao, Miss Lu, we’ll be leaving now.” He knew that he didn’t have long to live and so he didn’t say things like ‘I’ll see you again’.

Lu E returned the greeting and kept silent in misery.

Qiu Qianchi’s face was filled with anger and she shouted, “I’ve betrothed my only daughter to you and you do not call me mother-in-law? And you’re leaving just like that?”

Yang Guo was startled and thought, “Though you’ve betrothed your daughter to me, I didn’t say that I accepted.”

Qiu Qianchi said, “We’ve got everything here, decorations, candles and guests. We’re martial artists, we’ll get straight to the point; you two are getting married today.”

Jinlun Fawang and the others had just seen Yang Guo fight Gongsun Zhi with his life for Xiao Longnu; when they heard Qiu Qianchi say this they all knew that there was going to be another great show. They looked at each other; some showed a wry smile and some were shaking their heads slightly.

Yang Guo held Xiao Longnu’s elbow with his left hand and his right hand held the handle of the ‘Gentleman’ sword. He said, “I am extremely touched by senior Qiu Lao’s offer. But my heart belongs to someone else.” He moved backwards slowly after he said this. He was afraid that Qiu Qianchi would spit out date stones at them in anger and so he held his sword just in case.

Qiu Qianchi’s angry eyes swept over Xiao Longnu and said coldly, “Huh, that little seductress is indeed beautiful; no wonder both old and young go mad over her.”

Lu E said, “Mother, brother Yang and Miss Long decided to marry each other long ago; I’ll tell you all the details later on.”

Qiu Qianchi replied angrily, “What kind of person do you think your mother is? How can I take back what I’ve said? The one named Yang, my daughter is beautiful and she’s more than worthy of you. But even if she was an ugly troll, I’m still going to make you marry her today.”

When Ma Guangzuo heard how unreasonable she was he couldn’t stop himself from laughing and calling out, “This particular couple in this valley are a perfect match: the husband forces a young girl to marry him while the wife forces a young man to marry her daughter and they don’t want anyone else but them, right or wrong?”

Qiu Qianchi said coldly, “Wrong!”

Ma Guangzuo opened his mouth and laughed out loud. Suddenly a ‘bo’ sound was heard as a date stone flew towards the center of his eyes; the stone came like lightning and there was no way to avoid it. Ma Guangzuo lifted his head in shock; a ‘pai’ sound was heard as three of his front teeth were knocked loose. Ma Guangzuo was furious and roared while he threw himself forward. Another two ‘bo’ sounds were heard as the ‘Linking Jump’ pressure point on his right groin and the ‘Yang Pass’ pressure point on his left leg were struck. Both his legs went limp and he fell down onto the floor, unable to get up.

Those three date stones were extremely quick. Yang Guo knew that Qiu Qianchi would make her move when Ma Guangzuo was laughing and drew his sword to go to save him; but it was too late. He picked him up and unsealed his pressure points. Ma Guangzuo admitted defeat; this bald old woman didn’t move her legs or arms and was able to defeat him just by opening her mouth. He had great respect for her; he spat out the teeth and said with a mouthful of blood, “Old woman, you’re more powerful than me; the one named Ma does not dare to offend you again.”

Qiu Qianchi ignored him and stared at Yang Guo. She said, “You’ve decided to not marry my daughter, true?”

Gongsun Lu E couldn’t bear to suffer such embarrassment in front of everyone and took a dagger from her waist. She pointed it at her chest and said loudly, “Mother, if you ask again, then I’ll kill myself right in front of your very eyes.”

Qiu Qianchi opened her mouth and a stone shot out, hitting the handle of the dagger. There was great power behind that stone; the dagger flew and planted itself inches into a wooden pillar, the handle quivering in the candlelight.

Everyone gasped.

Yang Guo knew that his time would be wasted if he remained here for much longer so he flicked his blade with his finger and said clearly with the resonation of the blade, “The lonely rabbit, going east watching west. The clothes are not of new; the person is not like that of before.” He motioned his sword in a flurry and turned around with Xiao Longnu’s hand held in his.

When Lu E heard the last two sentences, ‘the clothes are not of new, the person not like that of before’, her hurt became even greater; she took off the ragged gown that Yang Guo had given her. She went to him and offered it back to him, saying, “Brother Yang, it’s better to have old clothes.”

Yang Guo said, “Thank you.” He stretched out his hand to take it. He and Xiao Longnu knew that Lu E was deliberately standing in front of them so her mother wouldn’t be able to attack them with the date stones. Xiao Longnu had a faint smile on her face and nodded her head, showing her thanks.

Lu E moved her lips to the side, telling them to leave quickly.

Qiu Qianchi mumbled ‘the clothes are not of new, the person is not like that of before’ a few times before she suddenly raised her voice and said, “Yang Guo, you don’t want my daughter; but don’t tell me that you don’t want your life as well?”

Yang Guo gave a bitter laugh and backed another step out of the hall.

Xiao Longnu’s heart trembled and said, “Wait.” She asked clearly, “Senior Qiu Lao, have you got an antidote for the Passion Flower poison?”

Lu E had been thinking about this all along. Yang Guo gave the only Passionless Pill that her father had to Xiao Longnu while his poison had yet to be cleared. The only hope that he had was her mother, who might have a way to cure this poison. But she knew that her mother would use this to blackmail Yang Guo, to force him into marrying her; this is why she hadn’t mentioned this before. But in this urgent situation she could no longer care about her embarrassment and turned herself around, saying, “Mother, if it weren’t for brother Yang, you would still be trapped down in that cave. Brother Yang has not done anything to offend you. We need to pay back this kindness; please cure his poison.”

Qiu Qianchi chuckled, “Repay kindness with kindness? Repay vengeance with vengeance? How can the world’s vengeance and kindness be distinguished like that? Was that thanks I got from Gongsun Zhi?”

Lu E said loudly, “I hate men whose hearts are not loyal, men who like the new and forget those of old. If the one named Yang Guo wanted to leave his lover of old and marry me, I’d rather die than marry him.”

Those words rang in Qiu Qianchi’s ears, but after a thought, she immediately knew what her daughter was trying to do. Her daughter loved him dearly and if he agreed to marry her, she would leap for joy. Because the situation was pressing, her daughter was just hoping that she would save him first before doing anything else.

Jinlun Fawang, Yin Kexi and the others looked at each other in amusement as they watched this second show of a forced marriage. Fawang now knew that Yang Guo had been poisoned and he was feeling pleased. He hoped that Yang Guo would stick to his choice, by refusing to marry Lu E to save his life; but he was worried about the craftiness of Yang Guo who might lie about the marriage to get the antidote and then refuse. Then he thought that even if Yang Guo tried something, he’s there to see through him and alert Qiu Qianchi to his tricks.

Qiu Qianchi’s eyes swept across all the guests slowly and then said, “Yang Guo, amongst the people here there are those who wish that you live and those who wish that you die. Think about whether you want to live or die.”

Yang Guo placed his arm around Xiao Longnu’s waist and said with a clear voice, “If either of us can’t marry the other, then we’d rather die together.”

Xiao Longnu smiled sweetly and said, “Yes!” The two of them were as one; their love for each other was so deep that life and death was no longer anything important.

Qiu Qianchi did not understand Xiao Longnu and said, “If I don’t save him then he will die, do you understand this? Do you know that he can only live for another thirty six days?”

Xiao Longnu said, “If you do agree to save him and let us be together for a few more years then of course we’ll be extremely touched. If you refuse, we’ve still got thirty six days together, that’s fine as well! In any case, if he dies, I won’t carry on living.” Her beautiful face showed no signs of concern as she said this.

Qiu Qianchi looked at her and then looked at Yang Guo; she saw the two staring at each other, their love for each other so passionate, their devotion to each other so intense. This was something that she had never experienced nor even thought about before. So such devoted lovers actually existed in this world. When she saw how dedicated they were, she couldn’t help but muse over her and Gongsun Zhi and the way they ended up. She gave a long sigh and tears rolled down her cheeks.

Lu E went to her and threw herself into her arms; she cried, “Mother, just cure him please; then we’ll go and find uncle; he misses you, doesn’t he?”

Qiu Qianchi’s tears stirred her compassion, but then she immediately thought about the words in the letter from her brother Qiu Qianren; “Ever since first brother died at the hands of Guo Jing and Huang Rong on Iron Palm Peak…”

She herself was crippled and her brother had become a monk, saying something like ‘I dropped my knife of slaughter and followed the ways of Buddha’; does this mean that her brother’s death can never be avenged? Yang Guo’s martial arts weren’t weak; though he refuses to marry her daughter she could order him to help her avenge her brother.

She then said, “There were actually quite a lot of Passionless Pills; but apart from three pills, the rest were ruined by me when I soaked them in frosty arsenic water. Out of the three pills, that bastard Gongsun Zhi took one, another he took from me when I was drunk and that was the pill that you gave to that girl. There is only one pill remaining in this world. This pill has been with me for over twenty years. If one doesn’t prepare a Passionless Pill for themselves while living in the Passionless Valley, then they are not in complete control of the fate of their lives. Right now, I haven’t got long to live and my daughter might not stay here for much longer…” She then took out the last remaining Passionless Pill on this earth slowly and broke it in two with her nail. She took half a pill and placed it in her palm before saying, “I can give you the pill. You don’t want to marry my daughter, fine but you have to promise to do one thing for me.”

Yang Guo and Xiao Longnu looked at each other, both surprised with her sudden kindness. The two weren’t worried about life and death; but since there’s a way for them to live, of course they’d be happy to take this chance. Both said at the same time, “We’ll do our best to fulfill Senior’s request.”

Qiu Qianchi said slowly, “I want you to get me the heads of two people.”

When Yang Guo and Xiao Longnu heard this, they both thought that she wanted them to kill Gongsun Zhi. Yang Guo had no good feelings towards Gongsun Zhi and now that he’s lost an eye and his “Closure of the Pressure Point” has been destroyed, it won’t be hard to kill him even though he still has his other martial arts remaining. But he was Gongsun Lu E’s father; the girl loves Yang Guo deeply, but killing her father might cause great distress for her and he couldn’t help but hesitate.

Xiao Longnu thought that although Gongsun Zhi was evil, he was still the one who saved her life. From Qiu Qianchi’s expression, if she didn’t kill him Qiu Qianchi would never agree to give the pill to Yang Guo.

Qiu Qianchi saw that they had troubled expressions on their faces and said coldly, “I don’t know what ties these two people have with you but I must kill them.” She then flung half of the pill lightly upwards in her hand.

From her tone, it didn’t appear that she was talking about Gongsun Zhi so Yang Guo asked, “With whom does Senior Qiu Lao have a feud? Whose head do you want me to take?”

Qiu Qianchi said, “Didn’t you hear that scoundrel when he was reading out that letter? The names of the people who killed my brother are Guo Jing and Huang Rong.”

Yang Guo was delighted and called out, “That’s great. Those two people killed my father; even if Senior Qiu Lao didn’t ask I’d still kill them.”

Qiu Qianchi’s heart trembled and said, “Is this true?”

Yang Guo pointed to Jinlun Fawang and said, “This Reverend has crossed paths with those two people. I told him about this matter before.”

Qiu Qianchi looked at Fawang and he nodded his head and said, “But at that time, brother Yang helped Guo Jing and Huang Rong to oppose me.”

Xiao Longnu and Lu E were both furious with Fawang for trying to stir up trouble time after time; they both stared at him with anger.

Jinlun Fawang ignored them and smiled, “Brother Yang, did such a thing happen?”

Yang Guo said, “Yes. Once I’ve avenged my father I’ll need to exchange a few stances with Reverend Jin.”

Jinlun Fawang folded his arms and said, “Good, good!”

Qiu Qianchi held up her left hand and said to Yang Guo, “I don’t care if this is true or false, just take this pill.”

Yang Guo went forwards to accept it when he saw that it was just half a pill and immediately understood, he laughed, “I need to get their heads in exchange for the other half?”