Return of Condor Heroes (46 page)

The girl called out clearly, her left hand pulled on the reins and the donkey dashed forward. Beggar Chen and Han were the closest, the blade and the hammer both attacked. Shen Zhifan followed and used Quanzhen’s sword techniques, every stance aiming for the important points of the enemy. Yang Guo saw that although his sword skills were vicious, compared with Zhao Zhijing and Zhen Zhibing, their skills were far apart. Out of the Taoists with the name Zhi, he was the lesser skilled. Yang Guo was now calm, he studied the girl’s face carefully; he saw that she had a pretty oval face and she was younger than him by a year or so. It’s no wonder the inn owner didn’t believe that the ‘beautiful girl in white’ was his older sister. Though she wore white, her skin was slightly dark; it was very different from the brilliant snow white of Xiao Longnu. He saw that her saber stances were light and swift and seemed to be derived from the Ancient Tomb sword stances; there were more stabs and thrusts and rather less chops and hacks.

Yang Guo watched for a few stances and thought, “Indeed she is using our sect’s kung fu, could it be that she is a student of Li Mochou?” Yang Guo thought that both sides weren’t good people and he didn’t care less who won or lost; but then another thought entered his mind. “How could you be the ‘beautiful girl in white’? You’re not even worthy to be my Gu Gu’s maid.” He folded his arms behind his head and lay down facing the sky, watching the battle.

For the first ten moves or so, the girl was able to hold her own; she was on the donkey’s back, attacking from above with the saber. The five of them had no choice but to jump back and dodge. Another ten moves passed, Ji Qingxu saw that the broken sword in his hand was useless, then thought suddenly entered him and he called out, “Apprentice brother Pi, follow me.” He quickly headed to the nearby woods and picked a fine small tree; he chopped its roots and branches with his broken swords and made a large club. Pi Qingxuan did the same. The two attacked from the left and right, thrusting toward the donkey.

The girl quietly said, “Shameless!” She waved her saber at them to fend them off and became distracted. Beggar Han’s hammer and Shen Zhifan’s sword arrived. The girl quickly used a risky technique; she lowered her head and slanted her body, the hammer’s wind swept over her face. A clashing sound was heard as the saber met with the sword and at that moment the black donkey cried out in pain and reared. Ji Qingxu had struck it with the club. Beggar Chen did a roll and used his saber techniques. The flat side of his saber struck heavily down on the donkey’s leg; the donkey immediately rolled over. The young girl was now unable to fight them from the donkey’s back. She saw a sword coming straight at her and immediately flew away; she grabbed Pi Qingxuan’s stick and snapped it in half. Her legs landed on the ground and she slashed across with her saber, repelling beggar Chen’s chop.

Yang Guo was startled, “What? Is she hurt?”

The girl was actually slightly lame in her left leg, from the leap, one could see her restricted movements, and this is why she had refused to come down from her donkey. Yang Guo’s heroic nature was moved and he wanted to intervene and help her. But a thought entered his mind, “Gu Gu and I were fine living in the tomb; it was that evil woman Li Mochou who caused us to be in this situation. That girl pretends to be my Gu Gu, wanting people to call her the ‘beautiful girl in white’, she’s shameless!” He turned away and stopped watching.

But he kept on hearing the continuous sounds of clashing weapons and wasn’t able to curb his curiosity, he turned his head again. He saw that the situation had now changed, the girl was now dodging east and evading west, and she was defending more than attacking. Suddenly the Han beggar’s metal hammer came flying in, the girl moved her head and dodged it, at the same time, Shen Zhifan’s sword slashed across. A ‘ding’ sound was heard, her silver hair loop was cut; half her hair swept down. The girl’s brows raised, her mouth opened, a frosty look came upon her face as she turned her hand and slashed across.

Yang Guo saw her angry expression and his heart shook, “When Gu Gu was angry, she looked exactly like this.” Because the girl became angry Yang Guo decided to help her. He picked up seven or eight stones and placed them in his pocket. He glanced at her again and saw that she was in a frantic situation.

Shen Zhifan called out, “What exactly is your relationship to the ‘Scarlet Serpent Deity’ Li Mochou? If you don’t tell us truthfully, don’t blame us for our actions!”

The girl’s saber slashed across, hooking across the back of his head. Shen Zhifan couldn’t predict that she would do this and wasn’t able to block.

Beggar Chen quickly called out, “Careful!”

Ji Qingxu fiercely struck the curved saber with his large stick and managed to save the life of Shen Zhifan. The five saw that her stances were all ruthless, not leaving anything to chance. In a short while, the girl continuously unleashed a series of dangerous stances. Shen Zhifan was sure that she was connected to Li Mochou somehow; if news of this ever got to that evil woman, he would have boundless troubles. He saw that she indeed did not have any back up, now was a good chance to kill her and seal her mouth. Every stance he used was aiming to wound the girl.

Yang Guo saw that the girl was now staring danger in the face; he had no time to delay so he flipped up and got on the bull’s back. He hung his legs from its back and dangled down underneath and then poked the bull in the buttocks. The bull started to dash at the six.

The six of them were absorbed in battle when they suddenly saw a mad bull rushing forward; they were all alarmed and leaped out of the way. Yang Guo was dangling below the bull and saw the pressure points on the backs of the five men, the pebbles shot out, they were struck in the ‘Soul Entrance’ and the ‘Spirit Hall’ pressure points. He heard calls of ‘Ai Ya!’ and the five felt their arms become numb; their weapons dropped from their hands. Yang Guo then sent the bull up the slope. He dropped down from the bull’s stomach onto the ground and called out, “Oh no, the bull’s gone mad!”

Shen Zhifan’s pressure points were sealed and his weapon escaped from his hand; but he didn’t see the enemy do this and thought that this was the deed of the girl’s backup. That person was highly skilled, how did he dare to fight anymore? Luckily his legs were still able to move, he quickly ran away but he still remembered his friends and called out, “Brother Chen, Brother Han, let’s go!” The others didn’t think about it and followed. Pi Qingxuan lost his bearings and was actually running towards the girl. Ji Qingxu called out, “Apprentice brother Pi, over here!” Pi Qingxuan was about to turn around when the girl took a step forward and chopped down with her saber. Pi Qingxuan was alarmed, he didn’t have a weapon and quickly dodged to the side, but how would he know that the girl’s saber wasn’t chopping down in a fixed direction, it went east and then west, the light of the blade glimmered as it was about to slash down across his face. Pi Qingxuan raised his arm; a ‘ca’ sound was made as the saber hacked off four fingers. He had yet to feel the pain as he quickly turned around and ran away.

Beggar Han ran ten or so steps and saw that the girl did not follow and thought, “That Bitch is lame, how can she chase us?” When he considered that she was lame, he glanced at her left leg, then turned around and hurried away. How would he know that look angered the girl, she couldn’t contain her fury and shouted out, “Scoundrel, don’t you think I can’t catch up with you?” She lifted her saber and swung it around a few times; a ‘fu’ sound was made as she threw it. She saw the saber glimmer in midair, a ‘pu’ sound was heard as the saber plunged itself in the left shoulder of beggar Han. That person kept on running with the saber in his back. In a short while, the five of them had escaped into the forest.

The girl chuckled but was suspicious, “Could there be someone nearby? Why did they help me?” The beggar named Han had taken the saber that she normally used away; she felt that it was such a pity. She picked up the saber that Beggar Chen had left and quickly went over to the forest to take a look but there wasn’t a trace of anyone around and returned to the valley.

She saw Yang Guo sobbing miserably on the ground, calling and shouting out that woe is me.

The girl asked, “Hey, little farmer, what woe are you talking about?”

Yang Guo said, “The bull’s gone mad, it’s skin and body is ripped and bruised, when I get back to Master’s house he’s definitely going to kill me.”

The young girl took a look at the bull, but saw nothing was wrong with it and said, “Fine, your bull did help me out, I’ll give you some money.” As she said this she took out some money and threw it down to the ground. She thought that Yang Guo was going to thank her, but she didn’t predict that Yang Guo would still have the same expression on his face, shaking his head not picking up the money.

The young girl said, “What’s wrong with you fool, its money.”

Yang Guo said, “One ingot is not enough.” The girl took another ingot and threw it down to the ground. Yang Guo wanted to tease her some more and shook his head.

The young girl got angry and raised her eyebrows, and shouted, “I’ve no more fool!” She turned around and walked away. When Yang Guo saw her angry expression, he couldn’t stop the blood in his chest and head rushing. His eyes ached, he remembered the expression that Xiao Longnu had when she scolded him, he made a decision, “If I can’t find Gu Gu for the time being, I might as well look at that girl’s angry look.” He stretched out and grabbed her right leg and called out, “You can’t go!”

The girl tried to pull away but he held her so tightly that she wasn’t able to escape; she became even angrier and shouted, “Let go! Why are you holding onto me?”

Yang Guo saw that her anger was growing and he became happier. He called out, “I’m not going to return home, save me.” He then loudly called out, “Save me, save me!”

The young girl was angry but was amused at the same time, she raised her saber and called out, “If you don’t let go I’ll chop you to death in one go.”

Yang Guo held on even tighter and pretended to cry, he said, “Chop me to death, I’ll be dead anyway if I return home.”

The girl said, “Where do you want to go?”

Yang Guo said, “I don’t know, I’ll follow you.”

The young girl thought, “There’s no reason to have a little idiot following me around.” She raised her saber and hacked down. Yang Guo thought that she wasn’t really going to do it so he held tightly to her leg. He couldn’t have guessed that the girl was ruthless; her chop was really heading for his head. Although she didn’t want to kill him she did want to cut down on his head and let him suffer a little so he won’t dare to bother her again. Yang Guo saw the saber coming down on him, when there was just a few inches between his head and the blade he rolled away and called out, “Murderer, murderer!”

The girl became angrier and dashed forward wanting to slash down again. Yang Guo was lying on the ground, his legs flying everywhere, he called out, “I’m dead…I’m dead!” His muddy legs and hands were scrambling about everywhere; he made himself look as dreadful as possible. But when the girl came hacking down with her saber, his leg would kick her wrist and in the end she wasn’t able to hack down again. Yang Guo saw her angry expression; it was what he wanted to see and he stared at her.

The girl saw that he was looking weird and shouted, “Get up!”

Yang Guo said, “Are you going to kill me?”

The girl said, “Fine, I won’t kill you.” Yang Guo picked himself up and gasped deeply, he secretly restricted his blood flow, and his face became pale, as if he was scared to death.

The young girl was pleased with herself and gave an ‘humph’ sound, and said, “Let’s see if you’ll still dare to trouble me.” She raised her saber and pointed to the slope where Pi Qingxuan’s fingers were hacked off and said, “I’m fierce and violent; I slashed off his fingers.” Yang Guo pretended to be frightened and worried, he kept on shuffling backwards. The girl placed the saber in her belt and turned around to search for her black donkey, but the donkey had long disappeared. She could only travel by foot.

Yang Guo picked up the money and placed it in his pocket. He held the bull’s rope and followed her and said, “Gu Gu, take me away.”

The girl ignored him and sped up, in a short while she had left him without a trace. Who could have guessed that while she was taking a little break, he was hurrying towards her with the bull calling out, “Take me away…take me away.”

The girl eyebrows raised and then utilized her lightness kung fu, in one breath she had gone a few li, and knew that he wouldn’t be able to catch up. But in a short while she could hear a quiet call of “Take me away!”

The girl became furious; she turned around and took out her saber, raising it in the air.

Yang Guo called out, “Oh no!” He held his head and ran away. The girl just wanted him to stop following and that was it, she then turned around and walked away. Soon, she heard the snort of a bull; she turned around and saw Yang Guo about forty steps away, holding on to the bull following behind her. She stopped and waited for him. When Yang Guo saw her stop, he stopped moving as well, when she walked, he followed and when she chased after him with the saber he ran away. This stopping and following continued until it started to get dark; the young girl was still unable to escape from Yang Guo’s pursuit. The girl saw that although he looked dumb, his pace was not ordinary and she thought that he must be used to running around in the mountains. She wanted him to catch up to her so she could knock him out or hurt his legs but each time he was able to roll out of the danger and escape.

After a few while, the girl was becoming tired; her left leg was lame and moving was troublesome. She had an idea and called out, “Fine, I’ll take you away, you have to listen to what I say.”

Yang Guo said delightedly, “You really are going to take me away?”

The girl said, “Yes, why would I lie to you? I’m tired; you ride on the bull and then let me ride with you.”