Return of Condor Heroes (54 page)

If she fought with Yang Guo, she would know that although the stances were real on the outside, underneath it was the Ancient Tomb’s kung fu, but from its appearance, it was hard to distinguish between the two. Yang Guo had learned the Quanzhen song from Zhao Zhijing, and practiced it afterwards, and so his Quanzhen kung fu wasn’t completely a fake. Lu Wushuang and Hong Lingbo looked on, dazzled.

Yang Guo thought, “If I slow down and allow the two beggars to talk, we’ll be finished.” Once the eighteen stances had passed, the long sword quickly turned around and attacked the two beggars backs, another set of two distinctions. The two beggars quickly turned around to attack. Yang Guo didn’t allow the metal rods and the sword to collide, he quickly darted behind the two’s backs. The beggars turned around, Yang Guo darted behind the beggars again. He knew that if it came to a real kung fu contest, he would not be able to handle one beggar let alone two; he utilized his lightness kung fu and circled around the two beggars. In the Quanzhen sect, as soon as one has refined their kung fu to a high level, they will practice lightness kung fu so later on they will be able to use it when practicing the “Big Dipper Formation”. Although Yang Guo is now using the steps of Quanzhen’s kung fu, but his breathing and circulation are from the formulae of the “Jade Heart Manual”. The Ancient Tomb’s lightness kung fu was second to none in the world, as soon as he used it, the two skilled Beggar Clan fighters were not able to catch up, they saw him moving like lightning, a white blur, the sword piercing forwards. If he wanted to kill them, even if twenty beggars were here he would be able to kill them. The two beggars quickly turned around and waved their rods in defense, right now they weren’t able to defend against the incoming stances; they used all their strength in defense and hoped that heaven was on their side. They ran around like this for around ten loops, the two beggars were dizzy and dazed, their feet rapid, they felt that they were about to faint.

Li Mochou chuckled and said, “Hey, my Beggar Clan friends, I’ll teach you a method, stand back to back so you won’t have to keep on turning around.” With this pointer, the two beggars were filled with joy, they were about to follow this method when Yang Guo thought, “Crap! If this happen I’m going to lose.” He stopped circling them, two stances in one, as the sword was thrust forwards aiming for their backs. The two beggars heard the wind sound from the sword; they weren’t able to use their rods to block it so advanced forward. As soon as they took a step the stance arrived, they were shocked and quickly hurried out of the way. How could they have predicted that Yang Guo’s sword was like a shadow, no matter how fast they ran away, the sword remained behind their backs? The two’s steps slowed, their backs were pierced by the sword. The two beggars knew that Yang Guo didn’t want to kill them; otherwise all he had to do was just add an ounce more strength. The sword would have moved an inch further; wouldn’t the sword have gone through their chests? But they still didn’t dare to slow their steps. The three used their energy and in a flash they had moved over two miles, leaving Li Mochou and the others behind. Yang Guo suddenly sped up and dashed in front of the two. He laughed and said, “Walk slowly, be careful of tripping!” The two threw out their rods at the same time. Yang Guo stretched out his left hand and held onto one of the rods, at the same time he extended the flat side of his sword and hit the metal rod to the left. His left palm opened and held the two rods. The two beggars felt something was wrong and quickly distributed their chi. Yang Guo’s internal energy wasn’t a match for theirs, he didn’t dare to try and match them, and swept the long sword across. If the two beggars didn’t let go, their eight fingers would be slashed off immediately, they could only let go and jump back. Their faces had an expression of embarrassment. Not being able to win and using such a way to escape may have been going too far.

Yang Guo said, “My sect and your clan have always been friends, please don’t believe what others say my friends. Every event has its source, the Ancient Tomb’s ‘Scarlet Serpent Deity’ Li Mochou is over there, why aren’t you questioning her?”

The two beggars did not know Li Mochou but knew that she was ruthless and vindictive, when they heard Yang Guo say this they both shivered and said at the same time, “Is this true?”

Yang Guo said, “Why should I lie? That witch chased this Taoist until I had nowhere else to run, that’s why I had to fight with you two.” As he said this, he raised the metal rods and politely gave them back to the beggars. He said, “It is well known what objects the ‘Scarlet Serpent Deity’ always carries with her, haven’t you two heard about this?”

One of the beggars understood and said, “Yes, she holds a fly whisk, her donkey has a golden bell. The woman is in yellow isn’t she?”

Yang Guo smiled and said, “Correct, correct. The girl who used the silver saber to hurt your clan member is her disciple.” He then made his voice slightly deeper and said, “I’m afraid that it’s ominous, it ominous.”

The beggar with the voice like an overwhelming bell was impatient and asked, “What are you afraid of?”

Yang Guo said, “Ominous, ominous.”

The beggar urgently asked, “What’s ominous?”

Yang Guo replied, “Li Mochou is notorious in Wulin, everyone is afraid of her. Your clan may be powerful but no one is her match. Since it was a disciple of hers who injured one of your members, it would be best to leave it.”

He angered that beggar; the beggar raised his metal rod and said, “Huh, I don’t care if she’s the ‘Scarlet Serpent Deity’ or ‘Lizard Deity’, I must fight her today.” As he said this he headed back towards the path. The other beggar was more cautious, thinking how they could not overcome a young man, if they incurred the wrath of the ‘Scarlet Serpent Deity’ are they not signing their death warrants? He held the other beggar’s arm and said, “There’s no need to rush, let’s go back and plan this first.” He made a salute to Yang Guo with one hand and said, “Please can we have the pleasure of knowing your name.”

Yang Guo smiled and said, “My surname is Sa, first names Huazi. Hope we’ll meet again.” He made a bow and turned around hurrying back to the others.

The two beggars mumbled, “Sa Huazi, Sa Huazi? I have never heard this name; this person’s skills are excellent at such a young age…” One of the beggars suddenly leaped up and cursed, “Scoundrel, animal!”

The other beggar asked, “What?”

The beggar replied, “He’s called Sa Huazi, it means kill beggars (Kill a beggar has the same Pinyin as Sa Huazi), we’ve been insulted without knowing it.” Though the two cursed, they didn’t dare to return to finish this matter with him.

Yang Guo laughed on the inside, he quickly returned and saw Lu Wushuang on top of the horse looking to the side, revealing how anxious she was. As soon as she saw Yang Guo her spirits immediately raised, she quickly met him on the horse and quietly said, “Sha Dan, leaving behind me, that was so thoughtful!”

Yang Guo smiled and offered the long sword back to Hong Lingbo with the handle end facing towards her. He bowed and said, “Thank you for the sword.” Hong Lingbo stretched out her hand to receive it. Yang Guo was about to turn around when Li Mochou suddenly said, “Wait.” She saw that the young Taoist was skilled; she thought that if she let him go now he would become a problem in the future. While his kung fu was still lower than hers, she would get rid of the potential problem now.

As soon as Yang Guo heard the word ‘wait’ he knew something was wrong, he lowered the sword a few inches into Hong Lingbo’s hand and immediately took his hand away. Hong Lingbo could only take the handle of the sword and smiled, she said, “The young Taoist has some fierce skills.”

Li Mochou originally wanted to anger him into attacking and kill him in one stroke with her fly whisk. But now he did not have a weapon. She was of a high status and so could not use her weapon to harm him. She flashed her fly whisk to one side and asked, “Which of the Quanzhen seven masters is your master?”

Yang Guo smiled and said, “I’m Wang Chongyang’s disciple.” He had no good feelings towards the Quanzhen sect; he had no respect for them. Although Qiu Chuji treated him fairly well, he was only with him for a short while, but before he left he was strictly scolded by him. He knew he didn’t mean any harm but in his heart he was still angry. When he remembered Hao Datong and Zhao Zhijing, he became even angrier. In the Ancient Tomb he had practiced the important aspects of the “Nine Yin Manual” left by Wang Chongyang, so technically he could say that he was his disciple. But according to his age, he could only be the disciple of Taoists in Zhao Zhijing’s and Zhen Zhibing’s generation. When Li Mochou saw that his skills weren’t weak and asked him which one of the Quanzhen seven masters was his master, it was holding him in a lofty light. If Yang Guo replied Qiu Chuji or one of the others, Li Mochou would have believed him. But he didn’t want be a generation lower than the Taoist who killed Grandma Sun, Hao Datong, so he said Wang Chongyang. Wang Chongyang was the person who founded the Quanzhen sect. In his lifetime he had only taken in seven disciples; everyone knew this in the Wulin world. When this young Taoist was born Wang Chongyang had left the world long ago.

Li Mochou thought, “This ugly freak doesn’t know how high the sky is or how deep the earth is, and he doesn’t know who I am, how dare he talk such nonsense in front of me.” She then thought, “How could a Quanzhen Taoist use their founder for a joke? And how could they dare to say the words ‘Wang Chongyang’? But if he isn’t a disciple of Quanzhen, then how come each of his stances were from Quanzhen?”

Yang Guo saw that although she had a smile on her face, she was frowning and she was in deep thought. He thought about the day when he pretended to be a farmer to trick Hong Lingbo, and in the tomb they had exchanged blows. He couldn’t let them find out who he really was through his words so without delay he carried on; he raised his hands in respect. He turned around and leapt onto the horse, and was about to gallop away.

Li Mochou floated over in front of his horse and said, “Come down, I have something to say to you.”

Yang Guo said, “I know what you want to ask me. You want to ask me have I seen a pretty girl, who is lame in her left foot, isn’t that it. And where has she taken your book?”

Li Mochou was shocked and calmly said, “Yes, you are clever. Where is the book?”

Yang Guo said, “Just now, my apprentice brother and I were resting by the side of the road, we saw that girl fighting with three beggars. One of the beggars suffered a slash from the girl but when the other two beggars joined in, she wasn’t a match for them. Eventually she was captured by them.”

Li Mochou was always calm no matter what, but when she thought about Lu Wushuang being caught by the beggars and her ‘Five Poison Codex’ falling into their hands, she couldn’t stop herself from showing signs of being alarmed.

Yang Guo saw that the lie worked and continued, “One of the beggars fished out a book from the girl’s pockets, she wouldn’t give it to them and suffered disrespect from him.”

Lu Wushuang glanced at him and thought, “Fine Sha Dan, talking rubbish about me, you think I won’t do anything to you?”

Yang Guo knew that she was frightened but deliberately asked her, “Apprentice brother, doesn’t it get people mad? That girl was touched all over the place by the beggars and suffered great insults didn’t she?”

Lu Wushuang hung her head down and gave a grunt. As he said this, there were the sounds of horse hoofs around the hill, a crowd of horses and people came up. It was a group of Mongolian soldiers. Once the Jin were overthrown, everything north of the Mie River was under the control of the Mongolians. Li Mochou didn’t care about the soldiers, but she was in a rush to find out the whereabouts of Lu Wushuang. She didn’t want anything to delay her so she stood aside feeling the ground shaking as over a hundred Mongolian soldiers escorting an official passed by. The Mongolian official wore a bright garment, a bow hung from his waist, his horse riding technique was excellent and he exuded an air of calmness as he rode past. Once the soldiers passed, Li Mochou wiped the dust away from her body using her fly whisk. Every time the fly whisk waved, Lu Wushuang’s heart missed a beat, she knew if the fly whisk was waved at her and not the dust, her head would have split open immediately.

After she finished cleaning herself up she asked, “And then?”

Yang Guo said, “The beggars took the girl and headed north. This young Taoist couldn’t just stand by and tried to interfere, and two of the beggars stayed behind to fight with me.”

Li Mochou nodded her head and smiled, she said, “Good, thank you. My name is Li Mochou, people in Jianghu call me the ‘Scarlet Serpent Deity’, and some call me the ‘Serpent Demon’. Have you heard my name before?”

Yang Guo shook his head and said, “I have never heard of you. Miss, with your beauty you are like a deity, how can you be a demon?”

Li Mochou was thirty, but she had profound internal strength, her skin was soft and tender, her face had no wrinkles and one could mistake her for a twenty year old. She had always regarded herself as beautiful and when she heard him praising her like that she was pleased, she fluttered her fly whisk and said, “You joked with me. Saying that you are the disciple of Wang Chongyang, I should make you suffer and then kill you. Since you’ve said this, I’m going to teach you a lesson with my fly whisk.”

Yang Guo shook his head and said, “That won’t do, that won’t do, this young Taoist cannot fight with someone in a lower generation than he is.”

Li Mochou said, “You are about to die and you still joke. How am I in a lower generation than you?”

Yang Guo said, “My master is elder Chongyang, he is in the same generation as your ancestor; how am I not in an older generation than you? You are just a pretty young girl; an old man can’t bully you.”

Li Mochou gave a wry smile and said to Hong Lingbo “Let him borrow the sword again.”