Return of Condor Heroes (44 page)

Yang Guo chased after him for a few steps, then stopped; he stood there for half an hour, and by that time there wasn’t a trace of Ouyang Feng. He looked around, and saw the valley was empty, he could only hear the quiet sound of birds.

He became frightened and called out, “Gu Gu, Gu Gu! Father…Father!” After a while, the valley echoed back, “Gu Gu, Gu Gu! Father…Father!”

Within the past few years he had never been away from Xiao Longnu one step, like a mother and son, a sister and brother; now she suddenly went away without an explanation. How could anyone tell him not to be sad? In his grief he thought about crashing his head into a rock and killing himself. But there was optimism in his heart; if his Master could suddenly leave, she could suddenly come back. His Godfather may have disrespected her, but when she considers that I haven’t done anything, she will come back and search for me.

How could he sleep well that night, as soon as he heard the wind blow, or the cry of birds, he would think that Xiao Longnu had returned. He would laboriously get up and call out, “Gu Gu!” and go out to meet her; but each time he was disappointed. Eventually he decided against sleeping, he hurried to the summit of the mountain, and strained his eyes and looked around, he looked until the sky got bright. The peak was covered in mist, and on this large earth, there was only Yang Guo left.

Yang Guo suddenly thought, “Master isn’t coming back, I’ll find her myself. As long as I can see her, I don’t care if she shouts at me or beats me, I won’t ever leave her. If she wants to beat me to death, then I’ll let her.” He made up his mind and he felt rejuvenated. He went back to the huts and put his and Xiao Longnu’s belongings into a bag, strapped it across his back, and headed away from the mountain.

As soon as he arrived at a place where there were people, he would ask if they have seen a beautiful girl dressed in white. In half a day, he asked tens of villagers, they all shook their head and said no. Yang Guo was anxious and asked again, but he lacked any manners in the way he asked. The villagers saw this young man boldly asking about the whereabouts of a beautiful girl, they couldn’t help but get angry; someone asked him who the girl was. Yang Guo said, “That doesn’t concern you. I ask you have you seen a girl like that pass here.” The person wanted to question him instead.

An old man to one side tugged at his sleeve, pointed and said he saw a beautiful angel heading east, “I thought that the Goddess of Mercy had appeared but it was your woman.” Yang Guo did not wait for him to finish and quickly thanked him and headed in the direction he pointed, he heard a laugh behind him as he hurried, but he didn’t take any notice. He didn’t know that the old man had seen that he was young and impolite so deliberately lied to him.

After a while, a fork appeared in the road, he didn’t know which one to pick. He thought, “Gu Gu doesn’t like crowds, it’s more likely she will pick a quiet and secluded road.” He picked the small twisty path on the left. How would he know that the path became wider as he walked, after a few turns, the path joined up with a large road. He hadn’t had anything to drink or eat for one whole day, his stomach growled, and then he saw a few buildings in front of him. It was a town, he hurried to the inn and called, “Bring me some rice and vegetable dishes.”

The inn owner bought him some everyday vegetable dishes and rice, he took a few gulps before he started to feel sad, he was beginning to choke up, he couldn’t eat anymore. He thought, “Although it is dark, I still need to find Gu Gu. If I miss this chance to tonight, I’m afraid that I will never be able to see her again.” He pushed away the dishes and called out, “Inn owner, I have something to ask you.”

The inn owner smiled and walked over, “What orders has Master got for me? Aren’t the dishes to your taste? I’ll go and make something else, what does master like to eat?”

Yang Guo waved his hand and said, “It’s nothing to do with the food. I ask you, have you seen a beautiful girl dressed in white pass by here?”

The inn owner pondered and said, “In a white dress, hmm, why is the girl dressed like that? Has someone from her family died?”

Yang Guo was getting impatient and asked, “Have you seen her?”

The inn owner said, “A girl yes, and she was wearing white.”

Yang Guo was pleased and said, “Which way did she go?”

The inn owner said, “She’s been gone for half a day! Master, it’s best not to provoke that girl,” he suddenly lowered his voice and said; “I offer you advice! Don’t go and try to find her.”

Yang Guo was alarmed and pleased, he’s finally found the whereabouts of his Gu Gu, he quickly asked, “Where is she?” His voice quivered as he said this.

The inn owner said, “I’ll ask you first, do you know that girl knows martial arts?”

Yang Guo thought, “How wouldn’t I know?” He quickly said, “I know she knows kung fu.”

The inn owner said, “Why are you still looking for her? It’s dangerous.”

Yang Guo said, “What exactly happened?”

The inn owner said, “First tell me, who exactly is that beautiful girl dressed in white to you?”

Yang Guo had no other ideas, it seemed like if he didn’t answer his question the inn owner would not tell him the whereabouts of Xiao Longnu so he said, “She is…she is my older sister, I need to find her.”

When the man heard him he immediately became even more respectful but shook his head and said, “It doesn’t look like it, it doesn’t look like it.”

Yang Guo was impatient and grabbed him by the throat, then shouted, “Are you going to tell me or not!”

The inn owner’s tongue hung out and said, “Yes, yes, it looks like it!”

Yang Guo shouted, “What doesn’t look like and what does?”

The inn owner said, “Master, first let go, my throat is being choked by you, ‘hei’ ‘hei’, I can’t talk. I can of course force myself to talk but…”

Yang Guo thought about this person and decided that using force on him would be in vain so he let go.

The inn owner coughed a few times and said, “Master, I said it doesn’t look like it because that girl, ‘hei’ ‘hei’, your bigger sister looks younger than you, it looks more like your younger sister, not older. When I said it looks like it, I was talking about your fiery temper was the same as hers, both of you like using your fists.”

When Yang Guo heard this he became slightly more relaxed and a smile appeared, and said, “My…my sister fought someone?”

The inn owner said, “Is that bad news? Not only did she fight, she hurt some people as well, look, look.” He pointed to some weapon marks on a table. He said, “It was extremely dangerous, your sister’s skills are great, one chop and she cut off two Taoists’ ears.”

Yang Guo laughed and asked, “What Taoists?” thinking that it must have been the Quanzhen Taoists who were causing trouble for his Gu Gu.

The inn owner said, “They are…” as he said this, his face suddenly changed, his head shrunk back and he turned around and walked away.

Yang Guo knew something was wrong and didn’t chase after him; he picked up his bowl of rice and chopsticks, and scooped rice into his mouth. He glanced over, and saw two Taoists entering the inn. They were about twenty-six or seven years of age, there was a bandage across their cheeks and they sat at the table next to Yang Guo. A thick browed Taoist gave an order to quickly bring out some dishes and wine. The inn owner smiled and came over; he winked at Yang Guo and twisted his lips in their direction. Yang Guo pretended he didn’t see and buried his head and started eating. When he heard news of Xiao Longnu his appetite was better, after one bowl there came another. His clothes were Xiao Longnu’s work, they were rough and simple; traveling for one day and night covered his body with mud and dirt; he looked like a young villager. The two Taoists didn’t look at him; they talked to each other quietly.

Yang Guo deliberately ate noisily, and twisted his body over to listen to what they were saying.

He heard the thick browed Taoist say, “Apprentice brother Pi, do you think Han and Chen will come tonight?”

The other Taoist had a large jaw, he replied deeply, “Those two are good and honest men of the Beggar Clan, and have a friendship with our Martial Uncle Shen. At Martial Uncle Shen’s request, they will definitely be here.”

Yang Guo took a closer look at them, and surveyed their faces; he didn’t know them and thought, “The Quanzhen have over a thousand Taoists, I can’t recognize them but they could recognize that I’m the little punk that was expelled from the sect, I better not face them. Huh, they couldn’t beat my Gu Gu, now they are meeting some Beggar Clan members to get help.”

The thick browed Taoist said, “You really can’t be sure, it’s a long journey…” The Taoist named Pi said, “Hmm, apprentice brother Ji, there’s no use in worrying about it now, forget the fact that she is a girl, she has…”

The Taoist name Ji quickly said, “Drink the wine, don’t talk about it.” They talked to the inn owner, and ordered an upper class room; they were going to rest in the inn that night.”

Yang Guo heard their words, and thought that if he followed them quietly, he would be able to see his master. As he thought about this, there was no limit to his happiness. After the two went to their room, he ordered the inn owner to prepare a small room for him next to theirs. The inn owner took a lamp and quietly whispered into Yang Guo’s ear, “Master, you need to be careful, they want to take revenge on your sister for cutting their ears off.”

Yang Guo quietly said, “My sister’s temper is extremely good, why would she cut off their ear?”

The inn owner revealed a smile and quietly said, “Of course your sister treats you well, but not to others. Your sister was having a meal here… ‘Hei’ ‘hei’, is she really your sister? I don’t really believe it, even if it was your sister, all the Taoists did was sit by her and stare at her leg a few times. Your sister got into a rage; she took her sword and started to attack the Taoists…” he wanted to carry on. Yang Guo saw that the light next door had been extinguished, he waved his hand to tell him to keep quiet, he was angry and thought, “The Taoists must have seen that my Gu Gu was beautiful and stared at her, making her angry. Huh, why would there be any good people in the Quanzhen sect?” He then thought, “Gu Gu once had a fight with Chongyang Palace, the two Taoists would recognize her, why were they staring at her face?”

He waited for the inn owner to leave, and then extinguished his light and got into bed. He decided he wouldn’t sleep that night, he went over the two skills that Ouyang Feng had taught him, but the two skill’s formulae were very complex, Ouyang Feng had recited it confusingly, he could only remember at most twenty or thirty percent, he didn’t dare to give it much thought just in case he became lost in thought and become unaware of what happened next door.

He quietly kept guard up until the middle of the night, then suddenly he heard two noises; someone was jumping over the wall from outside. The window next door opened.

The Taoist named Ji asked, “Is it Han and Chen?”

Someone replied, “It’s us.”

The Taoist named Ji said, “Please enter!” He lightly opened the door and lit the oil lamp. Yang Guo concentrated and listened in.

He heard the Taoist named Ji say, “We Ji Qingxu and Pi Qingxuan greet the heroes Han and Chen.”

Yang Guo thought, “The Quanzhen follow the motto ‘Aim for Tranquility’, these two Taoists belong to the fourth generation disciples, I don’t know whether they follow the teachings of Hao Datong or Liu Chuxuan.”

He heard a person with a high voice say, “We received the message from your Martial Uncle Shen, we didn’t even stop our horses once and rushed straight here. Is that little bitch so powerful?”

Ji Qingxu said, “It’s embarrassing, the two of us fought for a while but we weren’t her match.”

That person said, “What kind of martial arts does she have.”

Ji Qingxu said, “Martial Uncle Shen suspects that she is a disciple of the Ancient Tomb sect, though she is young she has very good martial arts.”

When Yang Guo heard the three words ‘Ancient Tomb sect’ he couldn’t refrain from making two quiet grunts.

He heard Ji Qingxu add, “When Martial Uncle Shen mentioned the Ancient Tomb sect, the little bitch cursed and insulted the ‘Scarlet Serpent Deity’ Li Mochou, but we don’t know what it was about.”

That person said, “So it looks like she doesn’t have any powerful connections. You are going to meet tomorrow? How many people has the opposition got?”

Ji Qingxu said, “Martial Uncle Shen and that girl agreed to meet tomorrow at high noon, at ‘Chailang’ (wolf) valley forty li southwest from here, and having a duel to decide the matter. We don’t know how many people the opposition has. With the help of the skilled Beggar Clan fighters Han and Chen, we won’t be afraid that the opposition has too many people.”

The other older voice said, “Fine, we’ll be at that place at high noon tomorrow, brother Han, let’s go.”

Ji Qingxu showed them to the door and quietly said, “We are not far from Chongyang Palace, this duel must not be known to the Grand Masters Ma, Qiu, Wang, Liu, otherwise we’ll be punished severely.”

The one named Han laughed and said, “Your Martial Uncle Shen had already said this in his letter, and otherwise, why would you need the help of us two when Chongyang Palace has so many skilled fighters?”

The one named Chen said, “Relax, we won’t leak anything. It goes without saying that Elder Ma, Liu, Qiu, Wang, Hao, Sun mustn’t know about this; if your Martial Uncles find out about this I’m afraid that it’ll be the same result for you.” The two Taoists agreed at the same time.

Yang Guo thought, “They are ganging up together to bully my Gu Gu, but are afraid that others will find out, huh, sneaking around like this, they know they are scoundrels.”

He heard the four speak a few more words, and then Ji Qingxu and Pi Qingxuan escorted them to the wall where Han and Chen departed.