The Return of the Condor Heroes

Chapter 6 – The Yunü Heart Manual, Part 8

Xiao Longnu saw that Yang Guo was astounded and said, “If I don’t kill you, how will I be able to see Grandma Sun? Who will look after you if you are alone in the world?”

Yang Guo’s mind was scrambled, and didn’t know what to say.

Xiao Longnu had thrown up blood, but she looked fine as if nothing was wrong. Yang Guo thought of something, he quickly went to find a jar of Jade Bee honey and gave it to her to drink. The honey did have healing properties; after a while she slept on her bed. Yang Guo was able to relax, but he was worn down with worry, and wasn’t able to endure anymore, he sat down and slept against the wall.

After some time, he felt someone cold against his throat, and was awakened. He has lived for a long time in the tomb, although he wasn’t able to see things in the dark as clearly as Xiao Longnu could, he could still see things without the aid of candlelight. He opened his eyes, and saw Xiao Longnu sitting forward on the bed holding a sword, pointing at his throat. He was alarmed and said, “Gu Gu! You…”

Xiao Longnu calmly said, “Guo’Er, my injury won’t get better, after I kill you we’ll both see Grandma Sun together!”

Yang Guo quickly replied, “Gu Gu!”

Xiao Longnu said, “You are afraid, aren’t you? It will be quick, one slash and that’s it.”

Yang Guo saw Xiao Longnu’s eyes light up, and knew that she wanted to kill him immediately. He wanted to live, and didn’t consider what will happen later, he rolled around and kicked out at Xiao Longnu’s sword. Though Xiao Longnu’s internal injuries were serious, she was still very swift, not slower than normal; she avoided his kick and pointed the sword at his throat again. Yang Guo used many different stances, but each one of them had been taught by Xiao Longnu so how would she not know what he would do? The sword moved swiftly, not leaving him by more than three inches.

Yang Guo was frightened; his body was covered with sweat. He thought, “If I don’t want to die today, then I must kill Gu Gu.”

In this urgent situation he pushed out his two palms, he took advantage of her not having any strength after her injury, her stances were refined but she did not have the internal energy to clash palms with him. Xiao Longnu knew what he was thinking, she slanted her body slightly and let his palms’ power skim over her shoulders and called out, “Guo’Er, don’t fight anymore!” Her sword extended out, the tip quivered a little, an incomparable stance in terms of mastery and exquisiteness was used, “Separating Flower Splitting Willow”, shimmering to the left but moving to the right, and the sword pointed at Yang Guo’s throat. She then circulated her remaining energy wanting to pierce his throat; but she saw his pleading eyes, and felt pain in her heart. At that instant, her eyes went blank, her body went limp, a ‘dang lang’ sound was made as the sword dropped to the floor, as Xiao Longnu fainted.

Had the sword been thrust forwards, Yang Guo would have died; he didn’t know that she would faint at the most vital point. He stopped, wondering if he’d really escaped death, and quickly ran out of the tomb. The sun dazzled in his eyes, the light breeze blew his clothes, the scent of flowers was around him, birds sang in the trees, isn’t this better than living in the tomb?

Yang Guo made his decision; he utilized his lightness kung fu and ran down the mountain, he became quicker as he ran, and by midday he was at the foot of the mountain. When he knew Xiao Longnu had not chased after him, he relaxed, and slowed his pace. After a while, his stomach growled. He had wandered the world of Jianghu ever since he was little; his ability to search for food was brilliant. He looked all around, and on the western slope, he saw a large field of corn, went over, and then picked five stalks. The corn wasn’t ripe but it was still edible. He had a match and was about to light a fire to smoke the corn, when he suddenly heard footsteps behind him, someone was approaching.

Yang Guo first hid the corn in case a farmer had caught him in the act of stealing, and then peaked out. It was a Taoist priestess, dressed in apricot yellow, her steps were light and she was slowly advancing. A pair of swords hung on her back, a blood red tassel was tied to the handles, floating in the breeze. Yang Guo thought that this person must be a member of the Quanzhen sect, and was likely to be a disciple of Sun Bu’Er. Yang Guo was still slightly afraid and didn’t want to cause any trouble so he looked down at a branch.

The Taoist priestess went up to him and asked, “Hey, point the way to Chongyang Palace?”

Yang Guo secretly thought, “If this girl is a disciple of Quanzhen, then how come she does not know the way up there? Something was wrong here.” He then pointed to the mountain without looking around and said, “Just follow that main road.”

The Taoist priestess saw that Yang Guo’s upper body was uncovered, he was wearing a pair of old and worn trousers, and was here picking up firewood, and assumed that he was just a villager. She regarded herself as an attractive woman; any man that looked at her would stare at her without blinking for half an hour. This young boy just took a glance at her and didn’t look back again, like if he was blind. She couldn’t refrain from getting angry and suddenly thought, “What does a stupid villager like him know?” She then said, “Stand up; I have something to ask you.”

Yang Guo hated everyone in the Quanzhen sect, so he pretended to be blind and dumb, and pretended not to hear.

The Taoist priestess said, “Foolish boy, you didn’t hear what I said?”

Yang Guo said, “I heard, it’s just that I don’t want to stand.”

When the Taoist priestess heard him she laughed and said, “Look at me, I told you to stand up!” Her voice in the last two sentences was soft, enchanting and sweet. Yang Guo shivered and thought, “Why does she speak so strangely.” He looked up and saw her skin was smooth and white, her cheeks were red, her eyes were like staring into a pool of water, there didn’t seem to be any evil intent; after looking at her again, he lowered his head.

The Taoist priestess saw that his expression had a childish air, though he did look at her for a second time, he wasn’t moved. Instead of being angry she laughed, and thought, “It’s just a kid who doesn’t know anything.” She took out two silver ingots [small boat/shoe shaped silver castings of a few ounces known as Yinzi] from her pockets, two ‘ting’ noises were heard as they collided with each other, she said, “Little brother, if you follow my instructions then I’ll give these ingots to you.”

Yang Guo originally didn’t want to have anything do with her, but he heard that her words were suspicious and wanted to find out what she wanted so he pretended to be stupid, and looked at the ingots and said, “What use do those shiny rocks have?”

The Taoist priestess smiled and said, “It’s money. If you want new clothes, chickens, rice, you could buy them with this.”

Yang Guo put on a baffled expression and said, “You want to lie to me, I don’t believe you.”