Return of Condor Heroes (156 page)

Yang Guo lowered his head and didn’t say a word; he was extremely regretful as to what he said that night, he’d let his tongue move too fast when he was talking to the Wu brothers. The more he said, the more arrogant the words became; he did not consider that he had sullied Guo Fu’s name. It was his words that had caused this trouble; it would not be easy for him to repair it.

When Guo Fu saw that he had lowered his head and stayed silent, she was even angrier and cried out, “Uncle Wu said that big and little brother Wu couldn’t beat you and so were forced by you to never see me again, is that true?”

Yang Guo sighed to himself thinking, “Wu Santong doesn’t know when to keep his mouth shut, why did he have to tell her all this?” He could deny no longer and could only nod his head, saying, “I know I shouldn’t have said all those lies but there was no ill intent behind my words; please forgive me.”

Guo Fu wiped away her tears and said with anger, “Uncle Wu said that once you’ve recovered from your illness, he wants to…wants to drink at our wedding, why did you agree?”

Yang Guo thought, “Oh no! So he also told her about what I said last night as well.” He could only argue, “I was still feeling a bit woozy then, I did not hear Uncle Wu’s words properly.”

Guo Fu could tell he was lying and said loudly, “You said that my mother taught you martial arts in secret and had picked you out to be her son-in-law, it this true?”

Yang Guo blushed at her questions and was feeling embarrassed, he thought, “Joking with Miss Guo will just lead to her insulting me a bit more. I’m not a gentleman so it doesn’t really matter much, but lying about Auntie Guo teaching me martial arts is a completely different matter altogether. I can’t let Auntie Guo know about this.” He said quickly, “Miss Guo, this again was due to me speaking without thinking. I implore you, ignore it and don’t let your parents know about the matter.”

Guo Fu laughed coldly, “Since you are afraid of my father, why do you still make up lies to insult my mother?”

Yang Guo quickly said, “I had no intention of insulting Auntie Guo; at that time all I was concerned about was making the Wu brothers forget about you, I was speaking without thinking…”

Guo Fu grew up with the two brothers and had feelings for both of them; when she found out that Yang Guo had lied to the Wu brothers to get them to forget about her and never see her again, how could she control her anger? She asked loudly, “I’ll sort this out later. Where’s my sister? Where did you take her?”

Yang Guo said, “Oh yes, please get Uncle Guo, that’s what I wanted to speak to him about.”

Guo Fu said, “My father has left the city to look for my sister. You… you despicable person, you actually wanted to exchange my sister for your antidote. So it’s like that is it, your life is worth something unlike my sister’s.”

Yang Guo had been ashamed of himself concerning this matter, but now on hearing her bring up the matter about the baby, he felt he had nothing to be ashamed of and said clearly, “My mission was to rescue your sister and bring her back to your parents. No thoughts of exchanging her for my antidote entered the mind of Yang Guo.”

Guo Fu said, “So where’s my sister then? Where is she?”

Yang Guo said, “Li Mochou has her and I’m ashamed of myself for not being able to rescue her. As soon as my strength returns and if I’m still alive, I will immediately go search for her.”

Guo Fu laughed coldly, “Li Mochou is your Martial Uncle isn’t she? You two had been hiding together in a cave, hadn’t you?”

Yang Guo said “That’s right, she is my Martial Uncle but my Master and she have never gotten along with each other.”

Guo Fu said, “Never gotten along with each other? So why did she listen to your request and take my sister away to exchange for the antidote?”

Yang Guo sat up and said angrily, “Miss Guo, watch your reckless words, I Yang Guo may not be a person of great worth but how would I even contemplate such thoughts?”

Guo Fu said, “Well said, this ‘contemplate such thoughts’! This came from your own Master, could it be a lie?”

Yang Guo said, “What did my Master say?”

Guo Fu stood up and pointed her finger at Yang Guo’s nose before saying with anger on her face, “Your Master told Uncle Zhu that you and Li Mochou were in that cave in that valley, she asked Uncle Zhu to take the red horse to you so you can race to the Passionless Valley with my sister…”

Yang Guo interrupted, “Yes, my Master did have this thought; she wanted me to take your sister there and get the antidote first then doing something about the matter afterwards. But this was just one of the ideas that came up, and none would result in harm to your sister…”

Guo Fu butted in, “Within a day of being born, you handed her over to a cold blooded murderer, and yet you talk about not harming my sister. You scoundrel! When you were younger and all alone as an orphan, how did my parents treat you? If they hadn’t taken you to Peach Blossom Island and taken care of you, where would you be now? Who knew that you’d repay kindness with vengeance; you conspired with the Mongols and while my parents were unwell, you took the opportunity to steal my sister away…” Her insults were becoming more and more vicious, how could Yang Guo argue back? His body was weak after being poisoned again and as his breathing became agitated; he fainted and fell back onto the bed with a thud.

After a long while, Yang Guo came around. Guo Fu stared at him coldly and said, “I never would have guessed you still knew what shame was. You knew that this was your intention; you can’t face living with yourself can you?” Her expression was icy and cold, her words were as sharp as a blade.

Yang Guo let out a long sigh and said, “If I really had this thought then why didn’t I take your sister to Passionless Valley?”

Guo Fu said, “It would be difficult for you to travel in your condition so you asked your Martial Uncle for help. Luckily, it seemed fate had other ideas; I overheard your Master’s and Uncle Zhu’s conversation and I immediately hid the red horse away. Let’s see how you and your Master’s evil plan will work now…”

Yang Guo said, “Fine, say whatever you want, there’s no point in me arguing. Where’s my Master? Where is she?”

Guo Fu’s face became a little red and said, “Like Master like pupil, your Master is not a nice person as well.”

Yang Guo was furious and sat up, saying, “You can shout and insult me all you like, I’ll let it go in respect for your parents. How dare you insult my Master?”

Guo Fu said, “Bah! What about your Master? Who told her to say those words?”

Yang Guo thought, “Gu Gu is an innocent person and does not show the emotions of the human world; how could she provoke her with words?” He scoffed and said, “It’s probably your warped little mind twisting the words of my Master.”

Guo Fu had not wanted to reveal what Xiao Longnu had said to her but after being aggravated by him, she could not control her anger and said, “She said, ‘Miss Guo, Guo’er is a person with a pure and good heart, he has suffered and been lonely all his life, and she must take care of him.’ She then said, ‘You two are… are a match made in heaven! Tell him to forget me, I will not be offended.’ She then gave me a sword and said it was called the Lady Sword; it’s a match with… with your Gentleman Sword. If this isn’t rubbish then what is?” She was angry and embarrassed as she said this and her voice did not carry the sincere and mournful tone that Xiao Longnu had said these words with.

Each time he listened to a sentence, Yang Guo felt as if his heart was being rammed violently, his mind was full of confusion, and he didn’t understand how Xiao Longnu could say something like this. After a while, he noticed that Guo Fu had finished and slowly raised his head. His eyes flashed as he shouted, “You liar, why would my Master say something like that? Where’s the Lady sword? If you can’t show it to me then you are a liar!”

Guo Fu gave a cold laugh and turned her wrist and removed a sword from her back that was black; it was the Lady Sword from the Passionless Valley.

Yang Guo was filled with disappointment and blurted out, “Who wants to be a match with you? This sword belongs to my Master, you stole it from her. You stole it from her!”

Guo Fu had always been a proud girl. Her parents gave her a little leeway and the Wu brothers let her have her way no matter what, how could she take these harsh words? She only decided to pass on Xiao Longnu’s words because Yang Guo had provoked her and left her with no choice. Who knew that he would come up with such a reply? And now the words said seemed to suggest that it was she that made this whole thing up and it was she who wanted to marry him while he plainly refused. With such anger, her hand held the sword and was about to chop down with it but a thought came into her mind, “Since he respects his Master so much, let me tell him something that will drive him mad.”

She was filled with anger and she did not even give a thought about the possible terrible consequences that would result from her words. A swooshing sound was heard as she sheathed the half exposed Lady Sword and sat down on a chair, laughing as she did so. She said, “Your Master is beautiful and her martial arts are strong, she is indeed a rare breed but there’s just one thing that’s not proper about her.”

Yang Guo said, “What?”

Guo Fu replied, “It’s just a pity that she does not act in a respectable manner and has been sneaking around to meet up with those Quanzhen Taoists.”

Yang Guo angrily replied, “My Master has a feud with the Quanzhen sect, why would she be meeting up with them in secret.”

Guo Fu gave a cold laugh and said, “When I said that she was ‘sneaking around to meet them’, I said the polite version. There are some things that would be inappropriate for a girl to say.”

Yang Guo was becoming more and more furious as he listened, he shouted loudly, “My Master is pure and chaste; if you say another lie I’ll tear your mouth off.”

Guo Fu had an icy look in her eyes as she said coldly, “That’s right, she was able to do it but I’m unable to say it. What a nice pure and chaste girl, going around being intimate with a rotten Taoist.”

Yang Guo’s face became green and he shouted, “What did you say?”

Guo Fu said, “I heard it with my own ears, don’t tell me I’m wrong. Two Quanzhen Taoists came to pay their respects to my father but they turned up just when the city was in a mess, my parents were unwell and couldn’t see them so I had to take care of the guests…”

Yang Guo shouted angrily, “Then what?”

Guo Fu saw that he was furious, his eyes were red and his forehead was tensed up, her plan was working and she continued, “One of the Taoists was called Zhao Zhijing, the other called Zhen Zhibing, heard of them?”

Yang Guo said, “Then?”

Guo Fu gave a dry laugh and said, “I instructed my servants to prepare quarters for them and didn’t take notice of them. But in the middle of the night, a Beggar Clan member came to tell me that those two Taoists had drawn swords and were fighting each other in their room…”

Yang Guo snorted as he knew that the two have always been at arms with each other, fighting each other in their room wasn’t anything out of the ordinary.”

Guo Fu continued, “I was curious so I quietly went to their window and looked in. By then, the two had sheathed their swords but they were still arguing. The one named Zhao said that the one named Zhen and your Master did this and that and the one named Zhen did not deny it, he was just angry with him for being so loud…”

Yang Guo suddenly flung his blanket off and sat up on the bed, he shouted, “What this and that?”

Guo Fu’s face blushed; she looked a little embarrassed and said, “How would I know? Don’t tell me its something good. Your precious Master knows what she’s done.” She said this with a derisive tone.

Yang Guo was angry and agitated, his emotions were in turmoil and he swung his hand out and slapped Guo Fu on the face. In a blaze of fury, his slap came out with great force and knocked Guo Fu into a daze, her face was red and swollen, if it weren’t for the fact that Yang Guo was still not at full strength, this slap would have knocked her teeth out.

When has Guo Fu ever suffered such an insult? In anger, she unsheathed the Lady Sword from her waist, and went for Yang Guo’s neck.

After slapping Guo Fu, he thought, “I’ve insulted Uncle and Auntie Guo’s precious daughter. This girl is the princess of this city, even if Uncle and Auntie forgive me, how can I stay?”

He stretched out his leg to put on his shoes and saw Guo Fu’s sword coming towards him, he gave a cold laugh and pulled his left arm inwards and shot out his right hand, then with some light movements, he snatched the Lady Sword away.

Failing with two strokes in succession, Guo Fu’s anger rose further. She saw that there was a sword by the head of the bed and grabbed it. Unsheathing the sword, she chopped at Yang Guo’s head. Yang Guo saw a glimmer of light coming towards him and raised the Lady Sword across him to block the attack but after being unconscious for seven days, he had no strength to back up his movements. After raising the Lady Sword up to his chest, his arms felt limp and weak and he could raise it no further. Guo Fu’s sword came in across and after a light clanging sound as the two swords collided, the Lady Sword fell out of his hand.

Guo Fu was furious about the slap that she had received, she thought, “You’ve bought harm to my sister you despicable person, I’ll take your life today to avenge my sister. My parents will not blame me for this.” She saw him sitting on the floor without any strength to retaliate, he was just holding his arm up across his chest to protect himself but there was no signs of pleading for mercy in his eyes. Guo Fu clenched her teeth and increasing the strength in her hand, she chopped down with her sword.

Previously:

That day when Xiao Longnu was looking for Yang Guo and Jinlun Fawang on the red horse, she had headed in the wrong direction. The horse galloped over ten li in one go and by the time she reined in the horse to go back, she had lost them completely. She was very anxious since the more time that passed, the more at risk Yang Guo’s life would be. She rode around within thirty to forty li of Xiangyang searching for him.