Return of Condor Heroes (148 page)

Yang Guo breathed out a sigh of relief when he saw that his plan had worked, but he did not wait by the side and watch the two destroy each other like Li Mochou had done. As soon as he gathered his breath he immediately dived in and attacked Fawang.

The sun was in the sky and light shone through the canopy of the forest. Yang Guo felt freshened and his swordplay became more fluent. A ringing sound was heard as the Gentleman Sword slashed a piece of the bronze wheel off. Fawang was slightly alarmed but his attacks became even more vicious.

Yang Guo thought of another trick and called out, “Martial Uncle Li; be careful of that wheel, don’t let where the wheel was cut touch you, it has poison on it.”

Li Mochou said, “How?”

Yang Guo said, “My sword has poison on it!”

After Yang Guo wounded Fawang, Fawang had been worried about being poisoned but because he had yet to feel any effects from wound, he had ceased worrying. Now upon hearing Yang Guo’s words, he thought, “Gongsun Zhi is a ruthless man, its more likely than not that there is indeed poison on that sword.”

Li Mochou suddenly whirled her fly whisk forward and said, “Guo’er, pierce him with your poisoned sword.” She waved her hand out, appearing to shoot some kind of projectile. Fawang used his wheels to protect himself. Li Mochou was trying to scare him off, she knew that with Fawang’s martial arts, her “Soul Freezing Needles” would most probably miss the target but this little pause allowed her just enough time to move out of the wheel’s range and escape.

Though Fawang suspected there was poison on Yang Guo’s sword, his wound had not swollen up and there were no ill effects after all this time. He did not want to leave empty handed after all this trouble and immediately chased after Li Mochou.

Who knew when the battle would end? With them chasing and fighting like this, Yang Guo was worried that if this was kept up, the baby would catch a chill or the like; even if he does manage to rescue her it might end up all in vain. He knew that the first thing he must do is to use Li Mochou to help to defeat Fawang before dealing with her. He called out loudly, “Martial Uncle Li, there’s no need to run! This bald bastard has been poisoned, he won’t live for long.” As soon as he finished, Li Mochou darted into a cave.

Fawang stopped in his tracks and did not dare to enter. Yang Guo did not know what she was going to do with the baby and without care for his life, he burst into the cave with his sword across his chest. He saw a silver flash and immediately knocked three Soul Freezing needles out of the air. He called out, “Martial Uncle Li, it’s me!”

It was pitch black in the cave but he had the ability to see in the darkness; Li Mochou was holding the baby with her left hand and her right was holding some silver needles. To show that he had no ill intent, he turned his back to her and said, “We need to defeat that bald bastard first.” then guarded the entrance of the cave.

Fawang knew that the two would not come out for the time being and so he loosened his gown and tended to his wound. He saw that his blood was crimson red and when he touched the wound it ached, after circulating his internal energy he discovered there wasn’t anything wrong. He was happy but also furious with Yang Guo for tricking him into worrying about poison for almost half a day. The entrance of the cave was covered with grass and only allowed for one person to enter at a time; with his height he would not find it easy to maneuver if he burst in and would most probably fall victim to an ambush.

Just as he was trying to come up with a plan, he heard a strange voice behind him calling out, “Hey monk, what are you doing here.” It was the voice of the Indian dwarf, Nimoxing.

Fawang kept his eye on the cave and said, “Three rabbits have just entered the cave, and I’m going to force them out.”

After leaving empty handed from Xiangyang, Nimoxing was on his way back to the Mongolian camp when he saw from a distance Fawang’s silver, bronze and lead wheels flying about in the air. He knew that he was in battle with someone and tracked him down. After seeing Fawang staring at the cave, he asked, “Guo Jing is in there?”

Fawang scoffed, “There’s two male rabbits and a female one.”

Nimoxing was delighted when he heard this and said, “So, not only are the Guo couple in there but also that rascal Yang Guo.”

Fawang ignored him and after a look around, he came up with an idea. He gathered some dry wood and placed it in front of the cave before lighting it. The wind was blowing southwesterly and the smoke poured into the cave.

When Fawang was placing the dry wood in front of the cave entrance, Yang Guo knew what he was up to and said quietly to Li Mochou, “I’ll check if there’s another exit.” He went back into the cave which was about sixty feet deep and found that it was a dead end. He returned to her and said, “Martial Uncle Li, they are trying to smoke us out, what shall we do?”

Li Mochou thought that there was no way that she would be able to escape from Fawang if she dashed out, but staying in the cave and getting suffocated wasn’t a good plan either. If worse comes to worse she’ll just leave the baby behind; with Fawang’s main target being the baby, he’ll probably let her go. She wasn’t anxious and just smiled.

Not long after, the smoke had filled the cave and the two of them held their breath. The baby however started crying and coughing.

Li Mochou chuckled, “Are you upset?”

After the life and death battle that he had experienced with the baby, he started growing attached to her. When he heard her crying louder and louder, he said, “Give her to me!” He stretched out his hands and advanced two paces.

Li Mochou snapped her fly whisk down towards his arm and said, “Don’t come any nearer! Aren’t you afraid of my Soul Freezing needles?”

Yang Guo leapt back. When he heard the words ‘Soul Freezing Needles’ a sudden thought popped into his head. He remembered the time when he first met Li Mochou and picked up one of her needles. After just holding it for a little while, he was poisoned. He tore off a piece of cloth from his gown and wrapped it tightly around his right hand before going over to the three needles that Li Mochou had previously shot at him and picked them up. He planted the needles in the ground leaving about an inch of the tip above surface and then he covered them with sand and dirt to conceal the shininess of the needles. The cave entrance was blocked with a fire and the cave was filled with smoke; Fawang and Nimoxing did not see what Yang Guo had done.

After he had finished his trap, Yang Guo went over to Li Mochou and said quietly, “I’ve got a plan, try to stop the baby from crying.” He then called out, “Great, there’s an exit; we can get out of here.” His voice was filled with joy.

Li Mochou was surprised and actually believed that there was another exit.

Yang Guo then whispered into her ear, “It’s a lie; I’m trying to lure that bald bastard into my trap.”

Fawang and Nimoxing were shocked when they heard this and believed that they had escaped. It seemed to be true when it suddenly became quiet and the cries of the baby died down. How could they know that Yang Guo had covered the cries of the baby with his sleeve? Nimoxing did not take any time to think and immediately flew around to the other side of the mountain to stop them. Fawang however took his time and noticed that cries of the baby were just muted; they were not coming from afar. He knew that it was Yang Guo trying to trick him into going around the back of the mountain so he could escape with the baby.

He chuckled, “Do you think I’m stupid!” He hid beside the entrance of the cave and armed himself with his wheels as he waited for Yang Guo to come out.

Yang Guo then called out, “Martial Uncle Li, that scoundrel has gone, let’s leave.” Suddenly he whispered, “We’ll both shout in surprise at the same time and trick him into the cave.”

Li Mochou didn’t know what he had planned but she was well aware of his cunning after falling for his tricks before. Since he was sure of his plan, it would definitely work. Luckily for her, the baby was still in her hands, so after driving away Fawang, Yang Guo would still have no choice but to bring the “Jade Maiden’s Manual” to her. She nodded.

Both of them cried out, “You…!” Yang Guo pretended that he was wounded and called out, “Why… why?” He then whispered, “Pretend that you are about to die.”

Li Mochou said furiously, “You… though I… have died by your hands today, I’m… not going to die alone.” Her voice silenced.

Fawang was delighted when he heard this, he thought that the two had fought over the baby and had destroyed each other before even leaving the cave. He was afraid that the baby would die along with them and if that happened, he would not be able to blackmail Guo Jing. So he brushed away the fire and entered the cave. Just two steps in; he felt a pain in the bottom of his foot.

He made a swift adjustment, and before he trodden down fully, he immediately pushed back with his right root and leapt back out of the cave. When he landed, his left leg was numb and he almost fell down. With his profound internal energy, even after suffering several hacks and slashes from a knife, he could still remain upright; he realized at once that he had trodden on something extremely poisonous. Just as he was about to take off his shoe and examine the wound, he heard Nimoxing returning and he was calling out, “That lying punk, there’s no entrance at the back, the Guo couple are still in there.”

Fawang took his hand away from his shoe and acted normal, saying, “You’re right, but there’s no more noise coming from the cave, they must have fainted from the smoke.”

Nimoxing was delighted when he heard this thinking that finally he has managed to capture Guo Jing alive. However, he did not give a second to himself to think about why Fawang would allow him to do this without a fight. He whirled his Iron Snake to protect himself as he dashed into the cave.

Yang Guo had planted the needles in such a way that no matter how large or small your stride is, you will, step into one of them. Nimoxing was short, had small steps and a fast pace, his right foot stepped onto one and before he could react, his left foot stepped onto another. India is a hot and dry place and the people there don’t wear shoes, Nimoxing was no different; though his feet had been conditioned to be as hard as leather, the Soul Freezing needles are extremely sharp and they punctured his feet. He was a manly fellow; a little pain was nothing to him. He used his Iron Snake to check if there were sharp objects and found nothing. Just as he was about to continue on his way to catch Guo Jing and his wife, his legs suddenly went limp and he collapsed. It was only now that he knew that the poison on the sharp objects was extremely venomous and he quickly rolled out of the cave.

He saw that Fawang had taken off his shoe and was holding a black and swollen left foot. Fawang was using his internal energy to suppress the poison.

Nimoxing was furious and he roared, “Bastard, you fell for that trap so why the hell didn’t you tell me about it?”

Fawang smiled, “I fell for it and you fell for it, both of us have suffered.”

Nimoxing could no longer control his anger as he sputtered, “I… no need capture Guo Jing…Nimoxing…rotten monk…a fight to the death!”

He could no longer use his legs; Nimoxing pushed the ground with his left hand and threw himself forward at Fawang while his right hand smashed down towards Fawang’s head with his Iron Snake. Fawang raised his bronze wheel to block the Iron Snake and then swept his arm across, throwing his elbow out. With his body in midair, it was difficult for Nimoxing to avoid this blow; Fawang’s elbow came at him extremely fast and struck him in the shoulder.

Nimoxing may have been thick boned, but this attack from Fawang left him in great pain. In such a state of fury he didn’t give a damn about his life and threw himself at Fawang again. He hugged him tightly and bit down on Fawang’s ‘Qi Abode’ pressure point. If everything was normal, Nimoxing would never be able to get so close to Fawang and hug him. Even if he did manage to grab him, how would he ever get a clear path towards Fawang’s ‘Qi Abode’ pressure point? But right now, Fawang had fallen victim to an extremely lethal poison and was using all his internal energy to suppress it at the ‘Bending Spring’ pressure point. As long as he didn’t let the poison spread, the most serious thing that would happen to him is the loss of a foot; his life would be safe. When Nimoxing threw himself at Fawang, Fawang had in effect lost his internal energy and was relying on his external martial arts to fend him off. Nimoxing however was giving everything he had and he bit down on the pressure point and didn’t let go.

Fawang hooked out his right foot and with Nimoxing having lost use of his legs, they both fell down. Fawang tried to pull him off but with a vital pressure point held down, his strength had diminished, how could he pull him off? He could only hold Nimoxing’s ‘Great Shuttle’ pressure point on his neck to stop him from making a fatal blow. The two were great martial artists but after falling victim to poison, they were now brawling on the ground, and not reflecting their martial arts status.

The two of them rolled around and were getting dangerously close the edge of a cliff. Fawang saw what was happening and he called out, “Let go, another roll and we’ll fall to our deaths.”

But Nimoxing had lost all his senses, with his internal energy unoccupied, his was greater than Fawang’s and Fawang was unable to stop Nimoxing from pushing forward. Just a few inches away from falling into a deep chasm, Fawang’s survival senses came to life and he called out, “Guo Jing’s here!”

Nimoxing stopped and said, “Where?” As he said this, his mouth loosened. Fawang’s pressure point was no longer blocked and he regained his strength, sending out a left palm. Nimoxing knew that he had been tricked and he lowered his head and threw his waist forwards.

Fawang’s palm was meant to force Nimoxing back but he had forgotten that, after being poisoned, Nimoxing’s legs were no longer in his control, how could he jump back? Instead of sending him back, Nimoxing was now going forward and the two bumped into each other, knocking them over the edge.

When Li Mochou knew that Yang Guo’s plan had worked, she secretly praised him. After hearing Fawang and Nimoxing struggling with each other, she thought the danger was over and was about to exit the cave. Suddenly she heard the two letting out a strange scream.