Yang Guo pitied her situation and stretched out his left hand to hold her hand and patted her on the back with his right, consoling her.
Gongsun Lu’E’s eyes showed that this touched her, she lowered her head and suddenly her face went red.
Yang Guo was afraid that his thoughts would lead to Xiao Longnu again and cause his finger to break out in a severe pain again, he quickly rushed back to the stone house that he was staying in.
Before he even got back to the stone house he could hear the bellows of Ma Guangzou, complaining how his stomach can’t survive on water and vegetables and how could these sweet and bitter flower petals be eaten. Are they trying to kill me?
Yin Kexi laughed, “Brother Ma, you better hide all the valuables that you have; I think the Master of the valley has ill intent.”
Ma Guangzou didn’t know he was being ridiculed and nodded his head in agreement.
Yang Guo returned to the room and saw a few dishes filled with the petals of the Passion Flower on the table. He watched them eat the petals with squinting faces and he was amused as he thought about how even Jinlun Fawang the monk was affected by effects of the passion flower.
He picked a cup of water and took two sips when he heard footsteps approaching, a man in green came in, bowed to them and said, “Our Master will now see his guests.”
Fawang, Nimoxing and the others were all great Masters, no matter where they went, the Master of that place would come out and personally greet them; even Mongolia’s Fourth Prince Khubilai showed great respect to them. They could never have thought that the Master of this secluded valley would be so impudent, they all were angry and thought, “When I see that rude Valley Master I’m going to show him a thing or two.”
The six of them followed the man in green for a li or so and suddenly came across a swaying green bamboo forest. Bamboo was rare in the north and such a large piece of bamboo forest was even rarer. In the middle of the forest, the light fragrant relaxing scent of flowers could be noticed. As soon as they passed through the forest, the scent suddenly became overwhelming; everywhere in front of them were Chinese narcissi. A shallow pond with a depth that was less than a foot was filled with the flowers. These flowers were also something that was usually seen in the south, why could they be found here in this mountain valley?
Fawang thought, “There must be some hot springs below the mountain that keeps the ground and air warm.”
Every five feet or so was a Mu Chun plant, the man in green darted across the pond over them. The six followed but Ma Guangzou was heavy and had poor lightness kung fu; though his footsteps were large they weren’t large enough to takes steps of five feet or so. After stepping on a few plants, he decided to drop into the pond and follow them by wading instead.
They followed a green stone path and from afar, they saw a large stone building built under the cover of the mountains. The seven advanced towards it. Outside the building were two young attendants who were holding a fly whisk in their hands. One of the attendants went inside the house to tell the Master of their arrival while the other opened the door to receive them.
Yang Guo thought, “I wonder whether the Valley Master will come and receive us in person?” Before his thoughts were settled, a bearded old man in green came out of the house.
This old man was extremely short, no more than four feet tall, his appearance was strange but the strangest thing about him was his exceedingly long thick beard that hung down to the ground. He was wearing a dark green gown and had a green rope tied across his waist.
Yang Guo thought, “This Valley Master looks so weird yet his daughter is so beautiful.”
The old man bowed deeply to him and said, “It is our luck to have such prestigious guests, please come in for tea.”
When Ma Guangzou heard the word ‘tea’, he frowned deeply and said loudly, “Drink tea! What place doesn’t have tea? Why must I come to this place for it?”
The long bearded old man did not know what he meant; he glanced at him and then bowed again receiving the guests.
Nimoxing thought, “I’m a short man but the Master of this valley is even shorter. You win on shortness but let’s see who wins on martial arts.” He barged forward to the front, stretched out his hand and said, “Nice to meet you.” He took the old man’s hand and immediately used the strength in his hands.
The others took a couple of steps back when they saw the two stretching out their hands to receive each other, they knew that when two great Martial artists exchange forces, it will be something out of the ordinary.
Nimoxing first used twenty percent of his power in his hands but he found that the opponent did not counterattack nor block; he was slightly surprised and increased another twenty percent. He felt that is was like holding a slab of solid wood. He increased another twenty percent of the force in his hands. A faint green air glimmered across the old man’s face and his hand was still like a rigid piece of wood.
Nimoxing was extremely surprised and didn’t dare to use the rest of his strength just in case the enemy counterattacked when he was at full strength, then, he would not be able to defend against the attack. He laughed and released his hand.
Jinlun Fawang was second in line. He saw what had happened and knew that Nimoxing was unable to ascertain the short man’s abilities. There was no need for him to make a rash move while the opponent’s abilities were still unclear, Fawang folded his arms and gracefully walked past. Xiaoxiang Zi and Yin Kexi followed together with Ma Guangzou behind. Ma Guangzou had seen the short man’s beard and thought that it was extremely weird. He hadn’t eaten anything except the Passion Flowers and that made him even hungrier; at this moment in time he was hungry and angry. When he entered he suddenly stuck out his foot and stepped on the tip of the man’s beard.
The old man was unmoved and said, “Please be careful.”
Ma Guangzou put his other foot on the beard and said, “What?”
The old man moved his head slightly and Ma Guangzou suddenly flipped over. Such a large person falling to the floor is no ordinary matter.
Yang Guo was the last one to enter; he quickly dashed forward two steps and struck Ma Guangzou on the backside moving his gigantic body forwards. Ma Guangzou stood firmly on the ground and rubbed his backside.
The old man acted as if he didn’t see anything; he invited them into hall and sat them on the west side before saying clearly, “The guests have arrived, call for the Valley Master.”
Yang Guo and the others were shocked, “So that old man is not the Valley Master.”
From the back of the hall, ten or so green clothed disciples came in and stood to the left, Gongsun Lu’E was amongst them. After a while, a person entered the hall and bowed to the six and casually sat down on a chair on the east side. The long bearded old man stood by his chair. From the man’s presence, this person will be none other but the Valley Master.
This man was about forty five or six years of age, he had a handsome face and appeared graceful; from the way he greeted them and sat down, he also seems to possess a lofty air. His face was yellow and dried, not looking like someone who possessed great martial arts. As soon as he sat down; some of the disciples in green brought tea forward. The hall was decorated in green, but the Valley Master was wearing a precious satin blue gown, he was extremely eye catching in the deluge of green.
The Valley Master picked up a tea bowl and said, “Please have some tea.”
Ma Guangzou took a look at the bowl of tea, he saw that it was cold and had a few tea leaves floating on top; it was extremely bland to him and he snapped, “Valley Master, you don’t eat meat and you don’t even drink tea, no wonder you look ill.”
The Valley Master did not move a muscle. He took a sip of his tea and said, “The people of our valley have been vegetarians for hundreds of years.”
Ma Guangzou said, “What’s so good about being vegetarian. Does it make you live longer without aging?”
The Valley Master said, “My ancestors have lived here since the Tang dynasty; since then, none of the descendants has ever dared to break the vegetarian code.”
Jinlun Fawang folded his arms and said, “So this place was set up in the Tang dynasty and has lasted until now, that really is something.”
The Valley Master folded his arms and said, “You’re too kind.”
Xiaoxiang Zi suddenly spoke in a strange way, “Did your ancestors ever see Royal Concubine Yang [1]?” His tone was extremely peculiar.
Nimoxing, Yin Kexi and the others were familiar with his voice after spending time with him, they were surprised when they heard this voice and all turned towards him. They were even more shocked when they saw his face, it had somehow has completely changed, his face had the appearance of a zombie before but now it looked even odder.
Fawang, Nimoxing and the others were slightly worried, “So this person possesses such great internal energy, even his face changes. He’s circulating his internal energy so he can immediately strike out; does he want to show the Valley Master a thing or two?” They all put their guards up when they thought about this.
The Valley Master replied, “My ancestors did work in the Tang court as officials, when they saw what state the court had falling into under Yang Guozhong, they were furious and left to reside in a secluded place.”
Xiaoxiang Zi laughed, “Your ancestors must have drunk the water that Royal Concubine Yang had washed her feet with.”
Everyone’s face in the hall changed as soon as these words came out. It was a challenge to the Valley Master and he was going to make his move very soon.
Fawang and the others were surprised, thinking, “This Xiaoxiang Zi is extremely crafty, he always lets other people go first in all matters, why has he volunteered to go first suddenly?”
The Valley Master ignored him and signaled to the old long bearded man. The old bearded man said clearly, “Our Master has treated you with respect as guests, how can you say such things?”
Xiaoxiang Zi laughed and said in his strange manner, “Your ancestor has definitely drunk the foot water of Royal Concubine Yang; if they haven’t drunk it, I’ll cut off my head for you.”
Ma Guangzou was surprised and asked, “Brother Xiaoxiang, how do you know? Could it be that you drank some that day as well?”
Xiaoxiang Zi laughed, his voice changed again as he said, “If they didn’t drink the foot water and upset their stomachs, what other reason is there for them not to eat meat?”
Ma Guangzou clapped and laughed, he called out, “Yes, yes, it must be for this reason.”
But Fawang and the others frowned, they all felt that Xiaoxiang Zi’s words were going a bit too far; everyone has their own eating habits, how can you use it as a joke? Not mentioning the fact that the six of them were deep in this valley, the people of this valley were definitely not kind people; even if fists had to be raised, a backup plan should be made first.
The old bearded man could endure this no longer; he went to the middle of the hall and said, “Mr. Xiaoxiang Zi, our valley has not offended you. If you’re looking for a fight then please come forward.”
Xiaoxiang Zi said, “Good!” He remained in his chair and leapt over the table in front of him; after a ‘deng’ sound, he landed in the middle of the hall in his chair. He called out, “Long bearded old man, what’s you name? It’ll be unfair if we fight with me not knowing your name but you knowing mine. I cannot afford to be in this predicament.”
His words seemed sound but unsound at the same time; the old man became even angrier but his wariness also deepened after seeing how graceful Xiaoxiang Zi was in moving the chair into the centre of the room, he wasn’t anything ordinary.
The Valley Master said, “Tell him, it’s not important.”
The old man said, “Fine, my surname is Fan, first names Yiweng, please stand up and start.”
Xiaoxiang Zi said, “What weapon are you going to use? Go get it and let me take a look.”
Fan Yiweng said, “You want to compete with weapons? That’s good.” His right foot stamped on the floor and he called out, “Bring it!”
Two attendants rushed inside and when they came out, they had an eleven foot long steel Dragon Head Staff on their shoulders.
Yang Guo and the others were shocked when they saw this, “How can this short man use such a long and heavy weapon.”
Xiaoxiang Zi didn’t take any notice and took out an extremely large pair of scissors from underneath his gown. He said, “Do you know what this pair of scissors is used for?”
When the others saw this weapon, they just felt that it was a strange weapon, but Yang Guo was shocked. He didn’t stretch out his hand towards his bag, but instead he just straightened his back a little and noticed that his pair of scissors was missing. He thought, “Blacksmith Feng made that large pair of scissors for me that I had intended to use against Li Mochou. How did that zombie steal it off me in the middle of the night without me noticing?”
Fan Yiweng took his staff and placed it on the floor. The hall was extremely spacious; as soon as the staff landed, it produced ‘weng’ ‘weng’ noises and along with the echoes from the room, the noise was tremendous.
Xiaoxiang Zi lifted up the scissors with his right hand and opened them. He held the scissors with all the strength in his fingers. He called out, “Hey, shortie, you don’t know the name of my precious scissors, do you want me to tell you?”
Fan Yiweng angrily said, “Such an unorthodox weapon won’t have an elegant name.”
Xiaoxiang Zi laughed and said, “Correct, the name is not elegant, it is called the Dog Fur Scissors.”
Yang Guo was not pleased, “Who wants you to give my pair of scissors such an ugly name.”
He heard Xiaoxiang Zi continue, “I knew long ago that there was a long bearded creature around here; because of this I prepared this pair of Dog Fur Scissors so I can cut off your beard!”