The Return of the Condor Heroes

Chapter 5 – Tomb of the living dead, Part 13

Xiao Longnu said, “Not so. Firstly, when you sleep on ice or snow, your body’s heat will eventually melt the snow and ice into water; secondly, the Chilled Jade is much colder than ice and snow. When you are refining internal energy, the most important thing to avoid is fire deviation; when you are practicing normally, half of your refined energy clashes with the fire in your heart. The Chilled Jade Bed is the world’s most yin and cold object. When sitting on the bed and refining your internal energy, the fire in your heart is cooled and neutralized. That means you will be able to press on further when cultivating your internal energy; how can that not be faster than practicing internal energy normally?”

Yang Guo was delighted, and said, “Gu Gu, you treat me very well, you lend the bed for me to sleep on, that means I won’t be scared of the Wu brothers and Guo Fu. Although Zhao Zhijing and the rest of the Taoists have practiced martial arts for so long, I still will be able to catch up with them.”

Xiao Longnu calmly said, “One of the decrees that Ancestor Grandma passed down was that once you have lived in the tomb, you must forget your struggles with other people.”

Yang Guo quickly said, “Even though they bullied me and killed Grandma Sun, we will just leave it just like that.”

Xiao Longnu said, “Everyone will die. Even if Grandma Sun did not die at the hands of Hao Datong, in a few years she would die of old age. Live a few more years or live a few less years, what difference does it make? Don’t mention anything about revenge to me again.”

Yang Guo felt that, although her words made sense, he could not let go; but he wasn’t able to think of a reply to what she said. Then, the coolness of the bed entered his body again, he shook continuously.

Xiao Longnu said, “I’ll teach you a method to oppose the coolness of the bed.”

She then passed on the formulae and the way to practice internal energy to him; it was their sect’s foundation kung fu. Yang Guo practiced according to the instructions. He had only practiced it for a while when he felt the coolness retreating; by the third repetition, his body felt like it was on fire. He didn’t feel the bed’s coolness, and instead felt that sitting on the bed was extremely comfortable, his eyes closed, and slowly he fell asleep. He slept for half an hour; his hot chi disappeared, and was wakened by the bed’s coolness. He then repeated the method again. He spent the night this way, falling asleep and waking up again, but when he suddenly woke up he didn’t feel any tiredness. In just a night, his internal energy level increased further.

The two of them ate breakfast, and then Yang Guo took the bowls and chopsticks into the kitchen and washed them, before returning to the main hall.

Xiao Longnu said, “There is one thing you must understand. If you really want me to be your master, you must obey me for eternity. If you don’t want me to be your master, I will still teach you martial arts. If in the future you become better than me, then you can leave the tomb because of your skills.”

Yang Guo replied without considering, “I am willing to take you as my master. Even if you don’t teach me a drop of martial arts, I will still do as you say.”

Xiao Longnu asked, “Why?”

Yang Guo said, “Gu Gu, don’t you think I know that you care for me?”

Xiao Longnu made a face and said, “Whether I treat you well or not, don’t talk about it. Since you’ve decided to enter my sect, then follow me and you will undergo the ritual.”

Yang Guo followed her into the back hall, only to see it was sparse and empty, apart from two paintings on the eastern and western wall. On the western wall was a picture of two girls. One of them was around twenty five or six years of age, facing a mirror combing and adorning her hair. The other was a fourteen or fifteen years of age maiden, her hand holding a bucket, standing to the side. The tall girl looking in the mirror was extremely beautiful, her eyebrows tidy, yet in her eyes there was an air of death. Yang Guo took a few glances at the painting, and felt fear and respect towards the girl.

Xiao Longnu pointed to the tall girl in the painting and said, “That is our Ancestor, kowtow to her.”

Yang Guo strangely asked, “That’s our Ancestor, why is she so young?”

Xiao Longnu said, “She was young in the picture, later she wasn’t as young anymore.” Yang Guo focused on the two sentences, ‘She was young in the picture, later she wasn’t as young anymore’, he felt sorrow and regret in his heart and tears came to his eyes.

Xiao Longnu didn’t notice that he was thinking and pointed to the young girl and said, “That is my Master, quickly kowtow.” Yang Guo looked at the painting, and saw the young girl, who could believe that she would become Xiao Longnu’s Master; he didn’t hesitate and immediately kowtowed.

Xiao Longnu waited for him to stand up and then pointed to the painting hung on the eastern wall and said, “Spit on that Taoist.” Yang Guo took a look at the painting and saw the Taoist was quite tall, a long sword by his side, the index finger on his right hand pointing to the north eastern corner, his back facing out, his face could not be seen.

He was curious and asked, “Who’s that? Why should I spit on him?”

Xiao Longnu said, “That is the Quanzhen sect’s founder Wang Chongyang, our sect has a rule, after kowtowing to our Ancestor we need to spit on him.”

Yang Guo was pleased, he hated the Quanzhen sect, he felt this rule of the sect was a suiting finish; he spat out at the painting, and felt that this was not enough and spat out twice. He was about to do it again when Xiao Longnu said, “Enough!”

Yang Guo asked, “Did our Ancestor really hate Wang Chongyang?”