Return of Condor Heroes (160 page)

Zhen Zhibing shook his head.

Sa Dou continued, “Khubilai is the Fourth Prince son of the Fourth Prince Tou Lei. He is wise and compassionate and he has the respect of everyone in the camp. I was just on my way to report to him; if you two have nothing to do, why not come along and meet him?”

Zhen Zhibing shook his head with other things on his mind. Zhao Zhijing suddenly had a thought and asked, “Reverend, are you going to see the Fourth Prince as well?”

Fawang said, “Yes! The prince is a real man of the world, you two must meet him.”

Zhao Zhijing said with joy, “Good, we’ll go with you and Sa Dou.” He patted Zhen Zhibing’s leg beneath the table and made a signal with his eyes to him.

Sa Duo said with delight “Good…very good!”

Zhen Zhibing’s intelligence is normally higher than that of Zhao Zhijing but as soon as he saw Xiao Longnu, he had drifted off into his own world. Only after a long while did he get Zhao Zhijing’s plan. He wanted to rely on Fawang’s protection to escape from Xiao Longnu.

Everyone quickly finished their meals and all left at the same time, making their way on horseback. Fawang was relieved to see that Yang Guo was still nowhere to be seen and thought, “The Quanzhen sect is one of the central plains largest sects, if I can enlist their help to aid Mongolia, it would be a great achievement. I at least have something to report back to his Highness tomorrow.” He then tried to convey his intent of enlisting them through his words to the Taoists.

The sky was now getting dark, after riding for a while, the sounds of hoofs could be heard from behind them. They looked back and saw Xiao Longnu following slowly behind them on a donkey.

Fawang was alarmed and thought, “She can’t beat me by herself so why is she being so brash and following us? Could it be that Yang Guo is following along in secret as well?” He had just met Zhen and Zhao and did not want to lose any face in front of them so he pretended that he did not know that Xiao Longnu was following them.

The group rode for half a night before they reached a forest. Sa Duo ordered his men to take rest. About a hundred feet away, Xiao Longnu too had gotten off her donkey and sat down in the forest. The more secretive her actions were, the harder Fawang concentrated; he did not dare to make a rash move. Zhao Zhijing remembered that Nimoxing had greeted Xiao Longnu, but did not know what ties Fawang had with her. He dare not look at her. After resting for an hour, everyone got on their horses once again and after they left the forest, the sounds of hoofs could again be heard as Xiao Longnu followed once again.

Day had broken and still, Xiao Longnu was following them with a distance of about a hundred feet between them.

By now they had reached an open plain. Fawang looked all around and saw that there were no signs of anyone else. Evil intent stirred in him as he thought, “I have been invincible all my life, yet as soon as I stepped onto the central plains, I was defeated by those kids Yang Guo and Xiao Longnu’s twin swordplay. She’s following me non-stop and must be up to something. Why don’t I attack out of the blue and kill her? Even if she has help, they’ll be too late. Once this girl dies, no one in the world can threaten me.” He had made his mind up and just as he was about to reign in his horse the sound of bells ringing could be heard in front of them. A dust cloud could be seen a few li in front of them as horses galloped towards them.

Fawang regretted his missed opportunity, “If I knew that her help would arrive now, I would have killed her long ago.”

Suddenly, Sa Duo cried out, “Oh! That’s strange.”

Fawang saw that a group of four horses were riding towards them and the first horse on the right was carrying a flag. On the flag pole were seven different types of white wool fluttering in the wind; it was Khubilai’s banner yet from afar, there appeared to be no rider on the horse.

Sa Duo called out, “His Highness is here!” He rode forwards and about a distance of half a li from the horses, he got off and stood in a respectful stance.

Fawang thought, “Since his Highness is here, it would not be appropriate to kill the girl now.” If Khubilai saw him fight a girl on her own, Khubilai would look down upon him. He rode forward slowly and saw that in the group of four horses sat a man in midair. The man had white hair, a white beard with a big smile on his face; it was none other than Zhou Botong.

From afar Zhou Botong called out, “Good, good, the big monk is here and the dark shortie is here, we meet again. Oh, and that young girl is here as well.”

Fawang was curious; this person was full of tricks but how was he able to sit in midair? Once the horses got closer, he was able to see what was happening. The horses were holding a makeshift net made from ropes on their backs and he was sitting on the net.

Zhou Botong had always kept away from the Chongyang Palace and very rarely saw the Quanzhen Masters; because of this, Zhen Zhibing and Zhao Zhijing did not recognize him. Though they have heard from the Masters that they have a Grand Martial Uncle who was a free wanderer, they had not heard from him for a long time and thought probably he must have passed away. The thought that this could be him had never entered their minds. Years ago at that great battle at the Smokey Rain Pavilion the place was covered with fog and no one could see anything. Zhou Botong was there; although Zhen Zhibing had heard of him, he did not see him.

Fawang frowned; this person’s martial arts are extremely high, it would be best not to get mixed up with him. He asked, “Is his Highness behind you?”

Zhou Botong pointed behind him and laughed, “About thirty or forty li back is his tent. Hey monk, a word of advice, I don’t think it’s the best time to see him right now.”

Fawang said, “Why?”

Zhou Botong said, “Right now, he’s pissed off. If you go see him now, you’ll probably lose your bald head.”

Fawang said angrily, “Rubbish! Why would his Highness be angry?”

Zhou Botong pointed to the flag and laughed, “I stole his Highness’ flag, why shouldn’t he be angry?”

Fawang was shocked and asked, “Why did you steal it?”

Zhou Botong said, “Do you know Guo Jing?”

Fawang nodded and said, “So?

Zhou Botong said, “He’s my sworn brother. I haven’t seen him in years; I miss him a lot so I decided to go see him. He’s fighting the Mongols at Xiangyang at the moment so I went and stole the Mongol’s royal banner to give it to him as a gift.”

Fawang was shocked and thought this was terrible; they are unable to break Xiangyang down and now, the royal banner has been stolen. This would bring great disgrace to the Mongols; he must come up with a way to get the banner back at all costs.

Zhou Botong shouted and the horses rushed forward, galloping like the wind in a westerly direction before making a circle and returning. The banner fluttered in the wind. Zhou Botong stood up with four reigns in his hands as he rode across the open plains, he looked like a great General.

He looked extremely pleased with himself and as he got close to them, he shouted and the horses immediately stopped. His hands must be extremely powerful to be able to control the four horses as he pleased.

Zhou Botong laughed, “Hey monk, how’re my riding skills?”

Fawang gave a thumbs up and praised, “Brilliant, absolutely brilliant!” In his mind, he was trying to come up with a way to get the flag back.

Zhou Botong waved his left hand and laughed, “Big monk, little girl, the Old Urchin’s going!”

When Zhen Zhibing and Zhao Zhijing heard the ‘Old Urchin’, they both yelled out, “Grand Martial Uncle?” They both leapt off their horses.

Zhen Zhibing said, “Is this Senior Zhou of the Quanzhen sect?”

Zhou Botong’s eyes rolled around and said, “Hmm, what’s this? You better start your kowtows.”

The two of them were about to greet him but when they heard his words, they were shocked and were afraid that they were mistaken.

Zhou Botong asked, “Who is your Master?”

Zhen Zhibing replied respectfully, “Zhao Zhijing is the disciple of the Jade Sun Elder Wang; I am the disciple of the Eternal Spring Elder Qiu.”

Zhou Botong said, “Hmm, seems like each generation is getting worse and worse, and it looks like you two are bad characters.” Suddenly he kicked out with both his legs and his shoes went flying forward towards them.

Zhen Zhibing saw that the shoe was coming at him quite slowly without much force; even if it struck him in the face it wouldn’t hurt, he dare not lose his manners and kept bowing. But Zhao Zhijing stretched out his hand to catch the shoe. But who knew that when they arrived within three feet of them, the shoes suddenly curled back. Zhao Zhijing grabbed empty air as the left shoe turned right and the right shoe turned left. The shoes circled back and crossed each other and went back to Zhou Botong. Zhou Botong stretched out his feet and the shoes slipped on.

Though this was just a trick, without extremely profound internal energy, it would be impossible to kick the shoes with the right weight and force like this. Jinlun Fawang and Nimoxing had seen him throw some spearheads in Khubilai’s tent that dropped midway in their flight. The shoes were kicked off with the same type of skill except that an extra back force was added. That was why they weren’t shocked when they saw this. But when Zhao Zhijing stretched out his hand and missed, he was shocked. With his martial arts, even the most lethal projectile would be plucked out of the air by him yet he wasn’t able to catch this slow shoe. He no longer had any doubts and did as Zhen Zhibing did and bowed, saying, “Disciple Zhao Zhijing greets great Martial Uncle.”

Zhou Botong laughed, “Qiu Chuji and Wang Chuyi’s eyes must be bad; none of their disciples are up to it. Just forget it, who wants kowtows from you?” He roared, “Onwards!” The four horses galloped forward.

Fawang leapt off his horse and blurred towards the horses’ path. He called out, “Wait!” Each of his palms was pressed onto one horse each. The horses were advancing forward at this time but this press by Fawang actually made them move two steps back.

Zhou Botong was furious and shouted, “Big monk, do you want a fight? The Old Urchin hasn’t found a worthy opponent for years; my fists are getting a bit itchy. Come now, let’s have a few rounds.” He loved martial arts and in recent years, his martial arts have been getting better and better; finding a worthy opponent was an extremely difficult task. He knew Fawang’s martial arts were of a high standard, someone worthy to exchange stances with, so he got off his horse ready to fight.

Fawang waved his hand and said, “I never fight with shameless scoundrels. Fight if you want, I won’t.”

Zhou Botong was angry and said, “You dare call me a shameless scoundrel?”

Fawang said, “You knew that I wasn’t at the camp so you went and stole the banner, wouldn’t you call that shameless? You knew that you weren’t a match for me so you waited until you were sure that I wasn’t there before you sneakily stole the flag. Ha-ha, Zhou Botong, looks like you don’t have any pride.”

Zhou Botong said, “Fine, we’ll know whether I’m a match for you after we’ve had a fight.”

Fawang shook his head and said, “I said I don’t fight with shameless scoundrels, you can’t force me to fight. My knuckles are very proud, once they hit any shameless scoundrels, the knuckles would be covered with a stench that’ll hang around for three years and six months.”

Zhou Botong shouted, “What do you want to do?”

Fawang said, “Hand the banner back to me and then come back later tonight to steal it again while I’ll guard it. No matter what method you use, if you are able to steal it again, I’ll give my respects to you as a great hero.”

Zhou Botong could never resist challenges and the harder it was, the greater the urge to do it. He immediately shot the flag back to Fawang and said, “Catch, I’ll be back for it tonight.”

Fawang stretched out his hand and caught the flag pole only to realize the great force behind the throw, he quickly circulated his internal energy to resist but in the end, he still had to take two steps back before he steadied himself.

The horses had been pressing forward but were held back by Fawang; now, Fawang’s hold on them loosened. All the horses suddenly leapt forward at least twenty feet and galloped ahead. Everyone watched as Zhou Botong and the horses raced away further and further into the distance until they were small dots.

Fawang’s mind was occupied for a while before he passed the flag over to Sa Duo and said, “Let’s make a move.”

Fawang knew that Zhou Botong’s actions were hard to fathom, how was he going to win? He thought for a while on the horseback but couldn’t come up with anything. By chance, he looked around and saw Zhen and Zhao were speaking quietly to each other and were constantly looking back at Xiao Longnu with fear on their faces. He thought, “Could it be that she has come for them?” So he decided to investigate and said, “Brother Zhen, do you know Miss Long?”

Zhen Zhibing’s face changed and he replied, “Hmm.” Fawang knew that there more to this so he continued, “You two have offended her and now she’s looking for you to get her own back, right? That girl is extremely powerful; to offend her is not a good idea.” He had no idea what was going on but from the fearful look on the two’s faces, he made a guess, tested the two, and managed to get the right answer straight away.

Zhao Zhijing took this opportunity to reply, “She has offended you as well; that day at the ‘Heroes’ gathering she beat you, you must avenge what she did to you.”

Fawang scoffed, “You know as well?”

Zhao Zhijing replied, “Everyone in the world of Wulin knows about this.”

Fawang thought, “This Taoist is not so simple. I want him to help me defeat my enemy yet he’s trying to use me to help him escape his predicament.” He continued, “These two men are not your average men, if I just leave it out in the open, things will go a lot easier.” So he said, “That Miss Long wants to kill you but you can’t beat her so you seek my protection, right?”

Zhao Zhijing replied furiously, “Do I look like someone who needs to rely on others to save myself? Besides, the good Reverend here may not be able to beat her.”

Fawang was shocked by his proud reply and thought, “Could my assumptions be wrong?” He could not tell what the two were thinking so he smiled, “Her twin swordplay with Yang Guo is indeed extremely powerful. But she’s alone right now; it would be extremely easy for me to kill her.”