Return of Condor Heroes (49 page)

When Lu Wushuang heard the voices of her Master and apprentice sister she knew that she had ran out of luck, she decided to lay there and wait for her death. She heard the sound of the door, a person in yellow dashed in, it was her apprentice sister Hong Lingbo. Hong Lingbo had friendly sentiments towards her apprentice sister, but she knew that this time her master would use every method that she knew to torture her and then slowly kill her. She saw that Lu Wushuang was lying on the table and thrust a sword at her chest to spare her the pain. As the sword tip was about to pierce her chest, Li Mochou stretched out her hand and patted Hong Lingbo’s shoulder; her hand lost all her strength immediately and lowered.

Li Mochou chuckled, “Do you think I won’t kill her? Why do I need you to rush into it?” She faced Lu Wushuang and said, “You see your Master in front of you and you don’t greet her?” Although she was furious, her tone was normal.

Lu Wushuang thought, “Now that I’m in her clutches, even if I beg or plead, I’m going to suffer.” She calmly said, “You and my family had deep feuds over the years, there is no need to say anything.” Li Mochou stared at her; one couldn’t tell if her eyes were filled with joy or hate. There was an expression of pity on Hong Lingbo’s face. Lu Wushuang’s lips curled up, her expression was one of pride.

The three of them stared at each other and after a while Li Mochou said, “Where’s the book? Give it to me.”

Lu Wushuang said, “An evil Taoist and a beggar took it!” Li Mochou was startled inside. Although she hasn’t done anything to offend the Beggar Clan, she’s had run ins with the Quanzhen. She knew that the Beggar Clan and the Quanzhen sect had a deep history; what’s going to happen now that her book has fallen into outsiders hands? Lu Wushuang saw a wry smile on the face of her Master and knew that she was thinking up ideas of how to torture her. All along during her escape, the only thing she was afraid of was that her Master was going to catch up with her and now she has. Instead of first feeling fear she thought, “Where’s Sha Dan? Where did he go?” She is facing death and when she thought about the ugly and dumb farmer, unwittingly she felt a warm feeling inside her. Suddenly a light from a fire appeared, a rumbling sound was heard.

Li Mochou and Hong Lingbo turned around to see a large bull heading inside. On the bull’s right horn there was a saber attached to it, on the left horn was a torch; the force it was approaching at was frightening. Li Mochou immediately leapt to the side but saw the bull turn around in the house and rush out. When the bull first entered it was dashing ferociously, when it left it rushed away with the same speed. In the wink of eye it had traveled tens of feet. Li Mochou looked at the image of the bull running away and at first wondered, “Who attached the saber and torch to the bull’s horn?” She turned around and both she and Hong Lingbo called out in shock, the body of Lu Wushuang that was lying on the table had disappeared.

Hong Lingbo searched the house and leaped up onto the roof. Li Mochou thought that it must have something to do with the bull so she chased after it. In the darkness she saw the light of the torch on the bull’s horn entering the forest. By the light of the torch she saw that no one was on the bull’s back, Lu Wushuang had not escaped on the bull. She then thought, “It must be, someone outside sent the strange bull in to divert my attention and then rescued her.” She didn’t know which direction to chase after, she then sped up and in a flash she had caught up with the bull. She leaped up onto the bull and saw that there wasn’t anything strange so she leapt down again. Then she kicked the bull in the behind. She whistled and signaled Hong Lingbo, one was going to scout north to south, the other west to east.

Of course it was Yang Guo who sent the bull into the house. When he heard the voices of Li Mochou and her disciple, he slipped out through the backdoor and listened in through the window, after just one sentence he knew that Li Mochou had come to take Lu Wushuang’s life. He immediately thought of a plan, he went over to the bull and attached the saber that Lu Wushuang had earlier dropped to the bull’s horn, he then gathered some twigs and attached it to the other horn and lit them. He then hung below the bull and forced the bull to rush into the house; quickly he grabbed Lu Wushuang and hid underneath the bull, exiting the house. His movements were quick and the bull looked weird, Li Mochou had good eyesight but was caught unaware and didn’t notice anything wrong. By the time Li Mochou had caught up with bull, Yang Guo had carried Lu Wushuang into the long grass and hid. When she moved, she was in severe pain, so all of the things that had happened; how Yang Guo rescued her, how they hid underneath the bull and how they dived into the grass was all unclear to her. After a while she regained her awareness and called out an ‘ah’ sound. Yang Guo quickly covered her mouth and whispered into her ear, “Don’t make a noise!” They heard footsteps and Hong Lingbo’s voice saying, “How can someone disappear in the flash of an eye?” Further away Li Mochou said, “Let’s go. That little Bitch must have gone far away.” They heard the footsteps of Hong Lingbo gradually moving away. Lu Wushuang was being smothered and was in pain. Yang Guo still held his hand over her mouth without loosening. Lu Wushuang struggled for a little. When she felt that she was being held in his arms she was embarrassed and anxious, she wanted to hit him.

Yang Guo whispered in her ear, “Don’t move, your Master is lying.” As soon as his words were said, they heard Li Mochou saying, “She really isn’t here.” Her voice was extremely close by; it seemed that they were right next to them.

Lu Wushuang was startled and thought, “If it weren’t for Sha Dan, I would be dead!”

Li Mochou had suspected that she was hiding nearby. While she was talking far away, she immediately used her lightness kung fu without making a sound and arrived close by. Lu Wushuang almost fell into the trap.

Yang Guo carefully listened, when the two had really gone he removed his hand and laughed, “There’s no need to be scared now.”

Lu Wushuang said, “Let me go.”

Yang Guo lightly placed her flat onto the grass and said, “I’ll immediately push your bones back into place and then we’ll leave this place. If we wait until tomorrow we won’t be able to escape.” Lu Wushuang nodded.

Yang Guo was afraid that she would call out in pain when he pushes the bone back into place and alert Li Mochou and her disciple. He sealed her numbing pressure points and stretched out his hand to take off her clothes, and said, “Don’t make a noise whatever you do.”

After taking off her outer garment, a white undergarment was revealed, removing this revealed an apricot yellow brassiere. Yang Guo didn’t dare to take it off and looked up, and saw Lu Wushuang’s eyebrows wrinkled, her eyes closed tightly, she was embarrassed and scared. Yang Guo had his first awakening of lust; when he smelled the fragrant scent of a virgin girl, his heart pounded wildly.

Lu Wushuang opened her eyes and quietly said, “Just cure me!” After she said this, she closed her eyes again and turned away. Yang Guo’s hand shook as he unbuttoned her underwear; when he saw her breasts, he didn’t dare to touch her chest. Lu Wushuang waited a while but felt a cool breeze brushing across her naked chest, she felt cold and turned around opening her eyes, and saw Yang Guo looking at her in a daze, she angrily said, “What…What are you looking at?”

Yang Guo was startled; he stretched out his hand and touched her ribs, when his hand touched her skin he shivered, like as if his hand was touching a fire, he immediately pulled back.

Lu Wushuang said, “Quickly close your eyes, if you look at me again I’ll… I’ll…” When she said this, tears flowed from her eyes.

Yang Guo quickly said, “Yes, yes, I won’t look anymore, don’t cry.” He closed his eyes and felt out the broken ribs and pushed them back into place, he quickly covered up her chest with her underwear and calmed down. He gathered four sticks and placed two across the front of her and two behind. He then got some vines and tied the sticks tightly into place so the bones won’t move out of place. He then buttoned up her garments and unsealed her pressure points.

Lu Wushuang opened her eyes and saw the moonlight on Yang Guo’s face. His cheeks were red, he was blushing, he looked at her face and their eyes met, he quickly turned away. Her bones were now fixed into place, although they still hurt, it wasn’t as painful as before. She thought, “That Sha Dan does know how to seal pressure points.” She now could see that Yang Guo isn’t an ordinary person, he is definitely not a ‘Sha Dan’, but ever since she met him she had insulted him and looked down on him. Now she had seen him save her yet she didn’t change the way she talked to him.

She asked, “Sha Dan, what do you think we should do now? Shall we wait here or run away and hide.”

Yang Guo said, “What do you think?”

She replied, “Of course we should run. Are we going to wait here for our death?”

Yang Guo said, “Where?”

Lu Wushuang said, “I want to go Jiangnan. Can you accompany me there?”

Yang Guo said, “I need to find my Gu Gu, I can’t go far.”

When Lu Wushuang heard this, her face dropped and said, “Fine, leave! Let me die here.”

If Lu Wushuang had kindly asked him Yang Guo would of course reject her request, but when he saw her angry face, it reminded him of Xiao Longnu. It was hard for him to reject her and he thought, “Maybe Gu Gu headed south, if I escort Miss Lu there, maybe good deeds will be repaid, and the heavens might pity me and let me see Gu Gu again.” He knew that this was a remote possibility but he had no way to reject Lu Wushuang’s request, so he convinced himself, sighed, and then picked her up.

Lu Wushuang angrily said, “Why are you picking me up?”

Yang Guo laughed, “I’m carrying you to Jiangnan.”

Lu Wushuang gave a smile and was delighted, she said, “Sha Dan, Jiangnan is far from here, can you carry me all the way there?” Though she said this, she was leaning on Yang Guo peacefully without moving.

The large bull had disappeared. Yang Guo was afraid that they might bump into Li Mochou and her disciple so he kept to the small paths. Although his legs were quick, his upper body did not move and did not disturb Lu Wushuang’s wound. Lu Wushuang saw the trees by her recede, he was hurrying along the path like a dashing horse. He was much faster than she would be without carrying anything. His lightness kung fu was not below her Master’s; she was curious and thought, “So this Sha Dan is highly skilled, how could he learn to such a level at such a young age?”

Not long after, the east began to lighten, she lifted her head and saw that although his face was dirty, he was handsome, his eyes captivating, and her heart was moved. She gradually forgot about the pain and after a while she fell into a deep sleep.

When the sky became bright, Yang Guo felt a little tired, he dashed over to a large tree and placed her gently down, and then rested next to her. Lu Wushuang opened her eyes and smiled, she said, “I’m hungry, aren’t you hungry?”

Yang Guo said, “Of course I’m hungry, let’s find a restaurant and get something to eat.” He got up and picked her up again, but because he had carried her for half the night his arms felt numb so he lifted her onto his shoulders and slowly walked.

Lu Wushuang’s legs were bouncing off lightly off Yang Guo’s chest, she laughed and said, “Sha Dan, what exactly is your name? If you don’t tell me I’ll call you Sha Dan in front of others.”

Yang Guo said, “I don’t have a name, everyone calls me Sha Dan.”

Lu Wushuang hurtfully said, “If you don’t want to say, fine! Who’s your Master?”

When Yang Guo heard the word ‘Master’, he didn’t dare mess around because he respected Xiao Longnu so much, he turned serious and said, “My Master is my Gu Gu.”

Lu Wushuang believed him and thought, “So his skills are passed on from his family.” She asked again, “What family or sect is your Gu Gu from?”

Yang Guo dumbly said, “I don’t know whether she is at home or what rank she is.” (Yang Guo is playing on her words, the word for family can also mean home, the word for sect can also mean order.)

Lu Wushuang angrily said, “You idiot! I ask you, from whose school of martial arts have you learned?”

Yang Guo said, “Are you asking about my family’s main door? It’s made out of wood.” (Again, a play on words)

Lu Wushuang’s heart sank and thought, “Could this person really be a Sha Dan (Dumb Egg / idiot)? His martial arts are good but he’s dumb?” So she softly said, “Sha Dan, tell me honestly, why did you save my life.”

Yang Guo couldn’t think of a reply, after a while he said, “My Gu Gu told me to save you so I saved you.”

Lu Wushuang said, “Who is your Gu Gu?”

Yang Guo said, “Gu Gu is Gu Gu. Whatever she tells me to do I’ll do it.”

Lu Wushuang sighed, and thought, “This person really is dumb.” She had some warm feelings for him but now they turned into loathing.

Yang Guo didn’t hear her say anything and said, “Why aren’t you speaking?”

Lu Wushuang gave a grunt. Yang Guo asked again.

Lu Wushuang angrily said, “If I don’t want to speak, I won’t speak! Sha Dan, shut your mouth!”

Yang Guo knew that her face right now was a nice sight, but since she is sitting on his shoulders he wasn’t able to see, he couldn’t help but think, ‘What a pity.”

Not long after, they reached a little town. Yang Guo found a restaurant and ordered rice and dishes, and the two sat down together. Lu Wushuang smelled the stench of cow shit on him and wrinkled her eyebrows, and said, “Sha Dan, sit over there, don’t sit at my table.”

Yang Guo laughed and sat at another table. Lu Wushuang saw that he was still looking at her, she was vexed, the more she looked at him the more loathsome he was, she hid her face and said, “Don’t look at me.” She pointed at a faraway table and said, “Sit over there.”

Yang Guo gave a laugh and grabbed his bowl and sat at the entrance of the inn, and ate his rice.