Return of Condor Heroes (92 page)

Yang Guo woke up the next morning and felt his shoulder and head was wet; he was slightly surprised and saw that Xiao Longnu wasn’t in the room. He sat up and saw some words carefully carved on the table with a golden needle.

‘Take care, forget about me.’

Yang Guo’s mind immediately became a confused; he stood there stunned and was at his wit’s end. He saw that the tears on the table had yet to dry, the dampness on his shoulder and head were also caused by her tears. He wasn’t thinking straight, he opened the window and leapt out, calling out, “Gu Gu, Gu Gu!”

The waiter of the inn came over to serve him. Yang Guo asked him when the girl in white left and which direction she headed in. The waiter stared at him; he didn’t know how to reply. Yang Guo knew that the opportunity to find her was ever diminishing, if he can’t find her today; then there may not be a chance to see her ever again. He went to the stables and leapt onto the skinny horse. At this time, Guo Fu came out of her room and asked, “Where are you going?”

Yang Guo heard but didn’t reply, he hurried to the main road and galloped north, in a short while he had gone over tens of li. He kept on calling out, “Gu Gu, Gu Gu!” on the way but where was Xiao Longnu?

After a little while, he saw Jinlun Fawang and his followers on horseback heading west. They all felt shocked when they saw him riding by himself. Jinlun Fawang pulled his reigns and galloped towards him.

Yang Guo had not brought a weapon with him, meeting the enemy like this was extremely dangerous but the only thing on his mind right now was Xiao Longnu, he didn’t even consider his own safety. When he saw Jinlun Fawang coming towards him, he actually turned his horse towards him and went forward to meet him, he asked, “Have you seen my Master?”

Jinlun Fawang was surprised that he didn’t run away, he was even more startled when he heard him ask this, he casually replied, “No, isn’t she with you?”

At first both of them didn’t really think too deeply as they asked and replied, but shortly after, both of them thought about how Yang Guo, being by himself, was not a match for Jinlun Fawang. The two of them looked each other in the eye and both knew. Yang Guo kicked his legs as Jinlun Fawang sent out a hand to grab him. But the skinny horse was exceptionally spirited; it galloped like the wind past him. Jinlun Fawang tried to catch up but Yang Guo and the horse had galloped afar, it would be difficult to catch up with him. Jinlun Fawang had a thought and reigned in his horse, “Since he and his Master has separated, what more have I got to be afraid of? If Chief Huang hasn’t gotten far… ha-ha...!” He then gathered his men and led them back.

Yang Guo searched for another while and still there was no trace of Xiao Longnu within tens of li. Emotions stirred in his heart, he felt dizzy and shaky and almost fainted on the back of the horse. He thought with sadness and lamented, “Why did Gu Gu leave me again? How have I offended her again? She cried many tears before she left, she’s not angry with me.” He suddenly thought of something, “Ah, yes, it must be because of what I said about getting tired of the ancient tomb, she thought that I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life with her.” His eyes glistened as it became clear as to what he should do, “She’s returning to the tomb. I’ll just go back and be with her.” Yang Guo’s tears turned into smiles and he flipped over a few times on the horse’s back.

Now, as the horse dashed and galloped, he wasn’t thinking straight and didn’t clarify which direction he was heading in. Then he settled down, he determined where north was and turned the horse around and headed for Mount Zhongnan. The more he thought about it the more he believed this was most likely as to where she would be. Most of the pain and despair had now disappeared. He opened his mouth and sang a mountain song.

After midday, he arrived at a small roadside eating place. He finished eating some buns but remembered that when he left in a rush, he forgot to bring money with him. When the owner of the shop was off guard, he quickly leapt onto the horse and galloped away. He heard the insults of the owner from faraway, but what could he do to Yang Guo? He couldn’t stop himself from laughing inside.

He continued traveling until ‘shen pai shi fen’ (evening), all he saw in front of him now was a dense, dark and deep forest, shouts and insults could be heard from within the forest. He was slightly alarmed and listened closely; it was the voices of Jinlun Fawang and Guo Fu.

He knew something was wrong and leapt off the horse. He placed the reigns on the saddle and hid behind trees. He slowly followed the voices and after about a hundred feet or so, he saw Huang Rong and her daughter with the Wu brothers fending off Jinlun Fawang in a pile of jumbled rocks deep in the forest. He saw bloodstains on the faces and clothes of the Wu brothers, Huang Rong’s and Guo Fu’s hair was in a mess, and they looked wretched. It appeared that if it wasn’t for the fact that Jinlun Fawang wanted to keep them alive, they would have long ago died by his iron wheel.

Yang Guo watched for a while and thought, “Gu Gu is not here, if I go up and help them I could lose my life for no reason. What should I do? How can I save Auntie Guo? He suddenly saw Jinlun Fawang send his wheel smashing out; Huang Rong had no way to receive this attack and retreated backwards behind the pile of rocks. Jinlun Fawang hovered around the outside of the rocks, he actually couldn’t attack her.

Yang Guo was surprised, he took a closer look and saw that Guo Fu and the Wu brothers also relied on the rocks to avoid danger, in the midst of this danger all they had to do was hide behind the rocks. Da’erba and the others circled from afar, they could close in from any direction; at that time, Guo Fu and the others would hide behind another pile of disorderly rocks.

Yang Guo was extremely surprised, those normal looking pile of rocks actually had such an ingenious use; it really was uncanny. It looked like Huang Rong and the others would be safe from danger but there was no way for them to leave the rock formation.

Jinlun Fawang kept on attacking without stop, though he managed to injure the Wu brothers, it wasn’t life threatening, and on their side, one of the Mongolians died by Guo Fu’s sword. He saw that there was something strange with this pile of rocks formed by Huang Rong; he first had to grasp and see through the theories behind it before he could get to the four.

He had always thought highly of his intelligence, it’s not too urgent at the moment since they can’t escape his clutches. Once he’s seen through this formation he’ll break into it and capture them, showing his power.

So he waved out his left hand and ordered his men back, he also retreated back ten feet or so, staring at and studying the rock formation. Most formation uses variations of the ‘Wu Xing Ba Gua’ trigram; Jinlun Fawang was well versed with these types of tactics, he thought that although the formation was strange, it won’t be too far off from the theories of the five elements.

He studied it for a long while, when it looked like he saw through an aspect of the formation, he pondered on it further and it then didn’t make sense. The left wing was correct but the right wing changed, when he seemingly saw through the front of the formation, it was difficult to understand the back of it. He was taken aback by this, he was startled and in awe. He excelled in everything, a real outstanding person of the world; with this difficult problem in front of him, he wanted to rely on his own intellect to solve it.

Yang Guo watched as Jinlun Fawang stood there without moving, his eyebrows raised; suddenly his eyes glistened and he flashed over, breaking into the formation, grabbing Guo Fu’s arm and quickly retreated. Huang Rong and the brothers were extremely shocked with this sudden change of events. They were at their wit’s end, if they left the formation to rescue Guo Fu, they would definitely suffer under his hands.

What had happened was that Guo Fu became careless when she saw the enemy frozen like that; she didn’t follow her mother’s instructions as to where to stand and was out of the formation’s protection. When Jinlun Fawang saw this opportunity he immediately went over and captured her; he then sealed a pressure point on the side of her body and placed her down on the ground. He deliberately kept her mute pressure point unsealed, letting her call out and plead, wanting her to agitate Huang Rong into exiting the formation.

Guo Fu felt her body ache unbearably and she couldn’t stop herself from calling out. How could Huang Rong not know what the enemy was planning, but when she heard the calls of her daughter, her heart ached unbearably, she could only bite down on her lips and endure it.

From behind a tree Yang Guo understood what was happening. He saw Huang Rong raising her stick, about to come out from the rock formation and rescue her daughter; this was extremely dangerous, he didn’t give it much thought and suddenly leapt out and grabbed Guo Fu from behind, throwing himself forward into the rock formation.

Jinlun Fawang’s iron wheel flew out towards Yang Guo’s back. Yang Guo was in midair, it would be difficult to dodge this attack; he pushed Guo Fu towards Huang Rong and used the “Thousand Kilogram Fall”. His body dropped straight down and fell down solidly onto the pile of rocks, he heard the ‘qiang lang lang’ sound of the iron wheel brushing past his head, the wheel circled around and came back into Jinlun Fawang’s hand.

Huang Rong hugged her daughter lovingly. She saw Yang Guo pick himself up from the rocks, his eyes were green and nose bruised, she quickly stretched out her stick and led him into the formation.

Jinlun Fawang’s plan had failed and again it was due to Yang Guo, but instead of being angry he was actually pleased, he gave a chuckle and said, “Fine, coming here now saves me the trouble of finding you later on.”

Yang Guo risked his life for this rescue out of righteous indignation; only after entering the formation did he see that by doing this, his life would most probably end soon. He would never have the opportunity to see Xiao Longnu ever again. He couldn’t stop himself from feeling regret.

Huang Rong asked, “Where’s your Master?”

Yang Guo gloomily said, “She suddenly left in the middle of the night, I was in the middle of searching for her.”

Huang Rong sighed and said, “Guo’er, why did you have to risk your life again?”

Yang Guo gave a bitter laugh and shook his head, he said, “Auntie Guo, I’m not too bright, once my emotions get the better of me I can’t control myself.”

Huang Rong said, “Good child, you have a great heart, your father…” She stopped mid sentence.

Yang Guo’s voice trembled, “Auntie Guo, my father was a bad person, wasn’t he?”

Huang Rong’s head hung down and said, “You want to know about it?” She suddenly called out, “Careful, come over here!” She pulled him over two piles of rock and avoided Jinlun Fawang’s sneak attack.

Yang Guo took a look at the rock formation in awe, he said, “Auntie Guo, there isn’t anyone one else in the world who has your intelligence and wisdom.”

Huang Rong unsealed her daughter’s pressure point and massaged her; she gave a slight smile but didn’t reply.

Guo Fu said, “What do you know? My grandfather taught my mother’s skills. My grandfather is as intelligent.”

Yang Guo had seen the handwriting and articles of Huang Yaoshi before when he was on Peach Blossom Island but then he was young, he didn’t understand the intricacies within it. When Guo Fu reminded him, he nodded and drifted away, he sighed and said, “When will I be able to greet this Senior? If I do my life won’t be all in vain.”

Suddenly Jinlun Fawang charged past two rock formations and attacked. Yang Guo didn’t have a weapon and quickly picked up the stick that Huang Rong had flung on the ground and dashed out to stop him, he sent out two strokes with the stick, using the “Dog Beating Stick Technique”. Jinlun Fawang saw that his stick technique was profound, he concentrated and fought with him, after a few stances, both of them suddenly tripped up on the jumbled rocks, both stumbled. Fawang was afraid that he would be ambushed and leapt out of the formation.

Huang Rong led Yang Guo back and ordered Guo Fu and the Wu brothers to move the stones and change the formation. She asked Yang Guo, “Where exactly did you learn this stick technique from?”

Yang Guo told her the truth about how he met Hong Qigong on Mount Hua, how the Northern Beggar dueled with Western Poison, how Hong Qigong taught him the “Dog Beating Stick Techniques”. He then told her of the passing of both Hong Qigong and Ouyang Feng.

Huang Rong felt deep sorrow at this news, but then sighed and said, “You’ve come upon such extraordinary meetings; it really is rare to come across such events.” She suddenly had a thought, and said, “Guo’er, you are very clever, think of a way to escape today’s dangers.”

Yang Guo looked at her, judging from her expression she had already thought of a plan, he pretended he didn’t know and said, “If you were feeling well, me and you could beat Fawang; or if we could get my Master to come here, then that would be a way as well.”

Huang Rong said, “How can my health recover over such a short period of time? We don’t know where your Master has gone. I have another plan; it involves the rock formation. This formation was devised by my father, there are hundred of variations; we haven’t used even twenty percent of them yet.” Yang Guo was shocked and pleased, he sighed in awe as he thought about the knowledge that Huang Yaoshi possessed.

Huang Rong said, “My Master only taught you the stances of the “Dog Beating Stick Technique”, and you’ve only heard the main points of the formulae while you hid in the tree. I’m now going to teach you all the profound and subtle variations and changes of this technique.”

Yang Guo was delighted but he pretended to dismiss this, he said, “I’m afraid that won’t do, the “Dog Beating Stick Technique” is passed onto the Beggar Clan’s Chief only, it has never been passed onto an outsider.”

Huang Rong rolled her eyes, she said, “What are you trying in front of me now? My Master has taught you thirty percent of this technique, you learnt another twenty percent when you eavesdropped, today I’ll teach you another twenty percent. The final thirty percent relies on your intelligence and how you grasp and understand the technique; no one can teach you this. One, no one is teaching you the whole thing, two, today’s situation is desperate, just follow the order.”