Return of Condor Heroes (60 page)

They traveled until the sky became bright; the girl took out some food from her bag and gave it to the two. Yang Guo saw that although her blue green gown was plain and natural, its design was exquisite, it fitted perfectly to her body. On her, the gown showed off her slim, graceful and elegant disposition, it was superior to embroidered clothing. Water, food and all other supplies were prepared by her, showing off how meticulous and careful she was.

Wanyan Ping saw her face and was startled; she didn’t dare to take any more glances and thought, “Is there such an ugly girl on this earth?”

The girl waited for the two to finish their food and said, “Master Yang, Li Mochou knows you, yes?”

Yang Guo said, “She’s seen me a few times.”

The girl took out a thin towel like object from her bag and said, “This is a human skin mask, when you wear it she won’t be able to recognize you.”

Yang Guo took it in his hand and saw that the mask had four holes for the eyes, mouth and nose, when he placed it on his face it matched the shape of his face, like as if he was born with it, he thanked her with joy.

Wanyan Ping saw Yang Guo put on the mask, his face was now extremely ugly and then she understood, “Sister, so you’re wearing a human skin mask as well; I’m really foolish, I thought you really were born with that weird face. I’m really sorry.”

The girl gave a quiet laugh and said, “With Master Yang’s handsome face, wearing this mask is asking a lot from him. With my face, it’s the same whether I wear it or not.”

Wanyan Ping said, “I don’t believe that! Sister, could you take off your mask and let me see your face?”

Yang Guo also was curious and he too was anxious to see her face, but the girl took two steps back and laughed, and said, “Don’t look, don’t look, my face will scare you guys.” Wanyan Ping saw that she won’t take it off and so didn’t ask her again.

By midday the three arrived at Wuguan. They found a restaurant in the town and had something to eat. The waiters saw Yang Guo was wearing Mongolian clothes and didn’t dare to be slow; they made sure they tended to his needs first. The three were halfway through their food when they saw three females enter the restaurant; it was Li Mochou and her disciple along with Lu Wushuang as their captive.

Yang Guo thought that although Li Mochou could not possibly recognize him at this moment in time, his strange face would attract her suspicions. It wouldn’t be convenient for him to act so he turned around and ate his rice, shifting his body to hear their conservation. Who would think that Lu Wushuang would not make a sound? After Li Mochou and Hong Lingbo ordered, they too didn’t speak.

Wanyan Ping had heard Yang Guo describe Li Mochou and her disciples before. She was anxious and dipped her chopstick into a bowl of soup and wrote on the table, “Time to move?”

Yang Guo thought, “Even with the three us and ‘Wifey’ it’ll be hard for us to beat the two of them. We can only win by using our brains, we can’t use force.” He waved his chopstick.

There were footsteps from the stairs and two people emerged. Wanyan Ping glanced over; it was Yelu Qi and Yelu Yan. The two people also noticed that Wanyan Ping was there and both were surprised; they nodded and then found a table to sit down. The two knew that Wanyan Ping had left and wasn’t going to try to assassinate their father again so they left their father and brother and went traveling. They were even more relaxed when they saw Wanyan Ping was here.

Li Mochou was troubled by the fact that the ‘Five Poison Codex’ had fallen into the hands of the Beggar Clan. These past few days she had no appetite for food; she just ate half a bowl of noodles and then placed her chopsticks on the table. She raised her head and looked out of the restaurant; on the corner of the street she saw two beggars, on their backs their were five pockets, they were five band beggar clan members. She had a thought and went over to the window, she signaled to the beggars and said, “Beggar Clan members, please come here, This Taoist priestess has a message for your clan’s chief.” She knew that if she asked them to come up for no reason, they might not come, but if she said she had a message for their chief, they would definitely come.

Lu Wushuang heard her Master calling the beggars and knew that she wanted to inquire about the whereabouts of the ‘Five Poison Codex’; her face couldn’t refrain from turning white. Yelu Qi knew that the Beggar Clan was a powerful force up here in the north, yet this beautiful priestess actually had something to say to them; he didn’t know who she was, his curiosity was roused, he stopped drinking and watched them.

In a short while, the sound of footsteps could be heard outside, two Beggar Clan members entered and greeted Li Mochou and said, “What does the Angelic Priestess want, we’ll honor the request.” After they greeted her they stood up. One of the beggars saw that Lu Wushuang was present and his face immediately changed, he had tangled with her before, he pulled his friend and leapt to the stairs entrance.

Li Mochou gave a wry smile and said, “Please take a look at the back of your hands.” The beggars looked on their back of their hands only to see three red prints, they didn’t know how on earth she managed to do this; she had used her “Divine Five Poison Palm” without ‘disturbing ghosts or gods’ (roughly ‘completely un-seen’). The beggars didn’t even know she had done anything, even Yang Guo and Yelu Qi couldn’t see clearly what had happened.

The beggars were startled and both called out, “You’re… you’re the ‘Scarlet Serpent Deity’?”

Li Mochou softly said, “Go and tell your chief, ‘your clan and the one named Li have always kept away from each other’, say ‘the river water does not mix with the well water’. I have always admired the heroes of the Beggar Clan, it’s just that I’ve never had the chance to acquaint myself with the clan, I really regret that.”

The beggars looked at her and thought, “It sounds nice but why did you use your poisonous techniques on us for no reason?”

Li Mochou took a break and then carried on, “The two of you have fallen victim to the “Divine Five Poison Palm”, don’t worry, all you’ve got to do is return the book you stole and I will help you cure it.”

One of the beggars said, “What book?”

Li Mochou laughed and said, “That old book isn’t worth much, if your clan won’t return it, its not too important. I’ll just take the thousand Beggar Clan member’s lives as compensation.”

The two beggars’ arms didn’t feel anything strange but each time they listened to a sentence, they would look down at their hands. They have heard about how evil and poisonous the ‘Scarlet Serpent Deity’ was; after falling victim to her, you will suffer extreme pain as you die. Their hearts were now imagining things, the three red marks on their hands seemed to be getting bigger and they heard the ruthlessness and evil way she spoke. They wanted to go and tell their elders and plan what to do. They looked at each other and hurried down the stairs.

Li Mochou thought, “If your chief wants you to live, she will definitely hand over the ‘Five Poison Codex’ obediently... crap! If they copy the book and return the original to me what then?” She had another thought, “My divine palm’s and concealed weapons’ antidotes are all written in the book, they’ve got the book, why will they beg me?” When she thought about this her face changed, she flew over to them and blocked their path. Two palm clashes were heard as she pushed them up the stairs. She was a yellow blur as she moved up and down the stairs. When she returned upstairs she held one of the beggar’s arms and twisted it, a ‘ka la’ sound and the bone was broken. The other beggar was alarmed but he was loyal to his friend, he didn’t run away and dashed forward to protect his friend. He saw Li Mochou coming forward and threw out a fist. Li Mochou grabbed his wrist without effort and twisted it; the arm was broken.

The two beggars knew that they had suffered serious injuries in just one stance and they knew that they were out of luck today; the two stood back to back and raised their good arm, deciding to fight to the end.

Li Mochou said courteously, “You two better stay here and wait for your chief to bring the book here as ransom.”

The two beggars saw her return to her table and drink wine, her back to them; they slowly edged towards the stairs and waited for a chance to escape.

Li Mochou turned around and laughed and said, “It seems that the two of you are going to remain here only if your legs are broken.” She stood up.

Hong Lingbo couldn’t bear it anymore and said, “Master, just let me guard them, I won’t let them escape.”

Li Mochou chuckled and said, “Huh, you’ve got a good conscience.” She slowly walked towards the two beggars.

Yelu Qi and his sister had been watching from aside, they couldn’t bear it any longer and both of them stood up. Yelu Qi whispered, “Sister, run away, this woman is very powerful.”

Yelu Yan whispered, “What about you?”

Yelu Qi said, “As soon as I’ve saved the two beggars, I’ll immediately run as well.”

Yelu Yan knew that there weren’t many people that her brother couldn’t beat; when he said that he needs to run to escape with his life, she couldn’t believe it.

At this time, Yang Guo slapped the table with force, and went over to Yelu Qi and said, “Brother Yelu, how about we save them together?” He knew that if he wanted to save Lu Wushuang, he would eventually have to fight. With a skilled person who was willing to save someone like Yelu Qi, how could he avoid dragging him down with him?

Yelu Qi saw that he was dressed in the clothes of a Mongolian general, his face was extremely ugly, and he had never seen this person in his life. He thought that if this person was actually sitting with Wanyan Ping then he knew who he was; but with Li Mochou’s kung fu, it would be hard for him to win. If a normal person intervened they would definitely lose their life in vain. He couldn’t reply for the time being.

Li Mochou heard Yang Guo talk and examined him, his voice seemed familiar but no one can forget a face like his, and decided that she didn’t know him.

Yang Guo said, “I don’t have a weapon, I need to borrow one.” As he said this he flew past Hong Lingbo’s body and picked up the sword from her belt; he smelled her scent and said, “Very fragrant!”

Hong Lingbo threw out a palm, he ducked and darted underneath it, then stood between Li Mochou and the beggars. The essence of his movements were remarkable, it was the advanced kung fu he learned while catching sparrows in the ancient tomb. Li Mochou was secretly alarmed.

Yelu Qi was delighted and said, “What is this brother’s name?”

Yang Guo swung his left arm and said, “Little brother is called Yang.” He raised the sword sheath and said, “I stole a broken sword.” He took the sword out of its sheath, the sword was indeed broken.

Hong Lingbo realized who he was and called out, “Little punk! Master, it’s him!”

Yang Guo took off his mask and said, “Martial Aunt, apprentice sister, Yang Guo greets you.”

When he said ‘Martial Aunt, apprentice sister’, Yelu Qi was mystified; Lu Wushuang was even more surprised, “Why on earth is Sha Dan calling them Martial Aunt and apprentice sister?”

Li Mochou chuckled and said, “Hmm, how’s your Master?”

Yang Guo’s heart ached a little, his eyes went red.

Li Mochou then coldly said, “Your Master has taught a good disciple.”

Days ago, Yang Guo had used unorthodox techniques to neutralize her most lethal stances the “Three Without Three Without Hands” technique, and after he took away her fly whisk with his teeth. His skills were strange, in fact they were unimaginably strange; although she managed to take her fly whisk back and knew that her skills were much higher than his, she pondered, “This little punk is making very rapid progress, and apprentice sister is even more extraordinary. So the “Jade Heart Manual” is this good. It was lucky that apprentice sister did not team up with him to fight me, otherwise, otherwise…” Now he’s appeared again, she was secretly afraid as she looked around, checking to see whether Xiao Longnu was here or not.

Yang Guo knew what she was thinking; he laughed and said, “My Master asks after Martial Aunt’s health.”

Li Mochou said, “Where is she? We sisters haven’t seen each other for a long time.”

Yang Guo said, “Master is nearby. You will see her shortly.” He knew that he wasn’t a match for her, even with Yelu Qi’s help it would still be difficult, so he used an ‘Empty City Idea’, frightening her by mentioning his Master.

Li Mochou said, “I’m disciplining my disciple, what has that got to do with your Master?”

Yang Guo laughed and said, “My Master pleads with Martial Aunt to let apprentice sister Lu go.”

Li Mochou chuckled and said, “You had relations with your senior, you and your Master have done such disgusting things, in front of others, yet you say Master this and Master that, aren’t you ashamed?”

Yang Guo knew that she was insulting his Master, his blood boiled up in his chest; he picked up the sword sheath and unleashed his sword skills, and fiercely attacked.

Li Mochou laughed and said, “You can do such unspeakable things, yet you are afraid of others talking about it?”

Yang Guo used the sword sheath and attacked continuously; it was severe and pressed forward without restraint. It was the sword skills left by Wang Chongyang to counter Lin Chaoying’s Jade Sword techniques. Li Mochou didn’t dare to be careless; she used her fly whisk and concentrated on the incoming stances. The techniques of Li Mochou’s whisk originated from the Jade Sword techniques; many stances passed and she felt the opponent’s sword skills were extremely refined and ingenious. Every stance and every move of hers was predicted by the opponent and was intercepted by him. If were not for the fact that she was much more powerful than he, she would have begun to lose. She thought with anger, “Master was really biased; only teaching apprentice sister this set of sword techniques. Huh, she probably wanted apprentice sister to use this to neutralize me. Although this sword technique is extraordinary, does that mean I’m going to be afraid of it?”