Return of Condor Heroes (192 page)

Huang Rong listened to the stories and talked briefly about how Yang Guo got his arm chopped off and how he snatched her young daughter. Wu Santong was greatly alarmed and quickly explained the root cause. He said, “Yang Xiong Di [Brother Yang] is brave and warm-hearted. Everything happened because, without thinking about himself, he saved these two animals of mine and didn’t let them destroy themselves. Who would have thought that it would lead to these matters?” He thought about how Yang Guo got his arm chopped off, all because of his two sons. And the more he thought about it, the angrier he became. He suddenly pointed at the two sons and scolded them.

On the side, the Wu brothers, the Yelu siblings, and Wanyan Ping were all talking enthusiastically. A little while later, Guo Fu came in to join the discussion. The six people were of the same age and just went through a fierce battle together so with gusto they talked about how fierce and evil Gongsun Zhi was and how he finally fled into the wild. Suddenly they heard Wu Santong bellowed out a shout of outrage, “Wu Dunru, Wu Xiuwen, you two little animals, Yang Guo Xiong Di [Brother Yang Guo] was so good and kind to you but you caused him to lose his arm. You stop and think, how would our family Wu ever face him?” Both his face and ears turned red and the more he scolded, the fiercer he became. If not for his injured leg, he would have thrown himself out to strike them. The two brothers were baffled, not knowing how their father got so mad. Each of them stealthily looked at Yelu Yan and Wanyan Ping. They felt that in front of beautiful ladies, having their father calling them ‘animal this’ and ‘animal that’ was a great loss of face. But if they were still fighting over Guo Fu like before, that would be distressing too. The two brothers looked at each other at their wits’ end, not knowing what to do.

Huang Rong saw the situation to be quite awkward so she intercepted, “Wu Xiong Di [Brother Wu], don’t be so upset. Yang Guo’s losing an arm was all little sister’s fault for not teaching my child better and letting her get away with being spoiled. At that time, father Guo was also so mad that he wanted to chop off her arm.” Wu Santong then gave out a loud shout, “That’s right. Good! Her arm should be chopped off!” Guo Fu’s eyes turned white with fear. She thought, “Did you just say ‘her arm should be chopped off’?” If her mother weren’t there, Guo Fu would have said something in protest.

Huang Rong said, “Wu Xiong [Brother Wu], we’ve talked clearly enough about how your children wronged Yang Guo. Right now we have two important matters ahead. First, we must find Yang Guo to discover his condition.” Wu Santong agreed, “Very good…Very good.” Huang Rong then continued, “The second important thing is that we have to go to the Passionless Valley to rescue Martial Uncle and Zhu Da Ge [Brother Zhu] and at the same time get the antidote for Yang Guo. But do you know anything about Zhu Da Ge’s condition or whether or not his life is in danger?”

Wu Santong said, “My Martial Uncle and apprentice brother were trapped by the fish nets and imprisoned in a stone chamber (kiln). It seemed like that old woman still hasn’t thought to harm them.” Huang Rong nodded and said, “Hmm, in that case we go to find Yang Guo first and go with him to the Passionless Valley to save those people. And once the antidote is obtained, he can take it immediately to avoid any more delays, and hence more dangers.” Wu Santong said, “That’s right. But do we know where Yang Guo is right now?” Huang Rong pointed at the precious horse [Han Xie Yu] and said, “This horse was just borrowed by Yang Guo. If we follow the road that this horse came from, we can find out where he is.” Wu Santong was delighted and said, “Today, if not for the wisdom of Guo Fu Ren [Madame Guo], the old Wu here would have flown into a fit of rage and made matters worse.” This time Guo Fu couldn’t bear to be quiet so she chimed in, “Isn’t that right?”

Huang Rong smiled faintly. She didn’t say a word about seeking her younger daughter but all about getting Wu Santong to follow her. She mused, “If the Wu father and sons come with me, the other three young people will definitely tag along. Then there will be more people to help us. Isn’t that wonderful?” She then turned to Yelu Qi and said, “If Yelu Xiao Ge [Little Brother Yelu] doesn’t have any pressing matters to attend to, how about you come along with us just for fun?” Yelu Qi had not yet answered, but Yelu Yan clapped her hands, crying out, “Okay… Okay! Ge Ge [Brother], let’s go with them!” Yelu Qi couldn’t bear Guo Fu’s gaze. Seeing that the glint in her eyes conveyed an encouraging message, he bowed and said, “If Elder Wu and Guo Fu Ren [Madame Guo] wouldn’t mind, Junior could only benefit from your guidance. This is precisely my greatest wish.” With a pleased expression on her face, Wanyan Ping also slowly nodded.

Huang Rong then said, “Look, we are a group of many people, we must have someone to give orders. Wu Xiong [Brother Wu], from now on everybody will listen to your commands and nobody can disobey.” Wu Santong waved his hands and said, “We have in you a wonderful strategist who can match Zhuge, who would dare to give orders? Naturally, it has to be you in charge.” With a smile Huang Rong said, “Really?” Wu Santong replied, “How can that be wrong?” Huang Rong laughed and said, “Giving orders to the juniors is quite easy. I’m only afraid that your old self wouldn’t listen to me.” Then in a loud voice Wu Santong said, “Nonsense. I won’t do such a thing. If you tell me to jump in water and walk on fire, I won’t say no in any circumstances.” Huang Rong said, “In front of these many juniors, how could you say things you don’t mean?” Wu Santong blushed and responded, “Even if there were no one else here, how could I fail to keep my word?”

Huang Rong said, “All right! This time we will go find Yang Guo, get the antidote, and rescue your Martial Uncle and brother. We must work together. For any previous gratitude or grudges, we’ll put them aside for the time being. Wu Xiong [Brother Wu], you, the Wu father and sons, cannot settle your debt with Li Mochou at this time. After we’ve accomplished our important mission, it will not be too late for shedding blood!” Wu Santong was startled. He hadn’t thought that Huang Rong’s spoken words would unexpectedly be meant for this matter as well. He and Li Mochou had wife-killing hatred to settle, how could he actually bear the rage in his heart? So he hesitated and didn’t respond. With a gentle voice Huang Rong said, “Wu Xiong [Brother Wu], your leg has been injured. For a gentleman, revenge in ten years is still not too late. It won’t hurt to wait a little while longer will it?” Wu Santong then replied, “Good, whatever you say, I’ll do it.”

Huang Rong raised her voice to call Li Mochou, “Li Zi Zi [Elder Sister Li], let’s go!” They let the precious horse [Han Xie Yu] lead the way and the people followed. The red horse originally wanted to return to Xiangyang but had instead run into its master. Huang Rong was now walking in front of him and heading towards Mount Zhongnan.

Wu Santong and Wanyan Ping were injured so they couldn’t just speed away. They all traveled a hundred li for each day and then stopped to rest. Li Mochou stayed clear of other people at night and hurried along with them at a distance during the day.

Traveling by day and resting by night, the six young men and women were having a good time chatting and laughing. And the further they went, the friendlier they became. When the Wu brothers originally were bickering over Guo Fu, their brotherhood ties were greatly strained. Now that each had his own love, the two brothers were on the best of terms. Wu Santong looked at them and his heart was greatly consoled. But also every time, he also thought, “That day, even if the two brothers weren’t poisoned by Li Mochou, they could have destroyed each other. I’d have been left with only one… I couldn’t even call him a son. And today the two animals are surprisingly having a good time while Brother Yang has lost an arm. Alas, what can I really say? Only cutting off an arm from each of these two little animals and putting them on Brother Yang’s body would make sense.” As for the fact that Yang Guo would end up with three arms in that scenario, he hadn’t actually thought about it.

And then one day they reached Mount Zhongnan. Huang Rong and Wu Santong led the group up to the Chongyang Palace to greet the Quanzhen five masters. Li Mochou stood at a distance and said, “I’ll wait here then.” Huang Rong knew Li Mochou and the Quanzhen sect had a grudge so she didn’t press the matter and went up the path towards the Chongyang Palace.

Liu Chuxuan, Qiu Chuji and others were informed about their arrival so they quickly came out of the palace to welcome them. They entered the palace hall together and sat down at a provided place. As they were exchanging their greetings, they suddenly heard someone shouting loudly. Huang Rong was very delighted and called out, “Old Urchin, won’t you come out and see who is here?”

Recently, Zhou Botong had been obsessively studying ways to command the Jade Bees. He was by nature intelligent and tenacious. But to everybody’s surprise, he was happy with small successes and only wanted to play and have good times. Suddenly, he heard someone shouting. That was Huang Rong’s voice. He was thrilled and so he said, “Aha…that is my brother’s crafty and eccentric wife!” Then he made loud noises and rushed out from behind the hall.

Yelu Qi went forward and kowtowed. He said, “Shi Fu [Master], I pay you respect. May happiness be with you, Great Elder, forever.” With a laugh Zhou Botong said, “Enough, just get up! May happiness be with you little baby forever too!”

Hearing that, the people all found it strange. Nobody would have expected Yelu Qi to be Zhou Botong’s disciple. This Old Urchin was madly crazy but his chosen disciple was a skilled gentleman. Together, they were nothing alike. Qiu Chuji and others saw that their Shi Shu [Martial Uncle] had accepted a disciple; they were all very happy and then busily congratulated him. And this time, Guo Fu understood what her mother and Yelu Qi were laughing about the other day. It was because her mother had guessed correctly that Zhou Botong was Yelu Qi’s teacher.

Yelu Qi had met Zhou Botong twelve years ago. At that time he was still quite young so he and Zhou Botong played together quite nicely. Zhou Botong then accepted him as a disciple. Although Zhou Botong didn’t teach him a lot of kung fu, Yelu Qi was talented and determined. He practiced his martial skills diligently and surprisingly became an outstanding character of the young generation. Sadly for him, Zhou Botong saw him growing up well-behaved and nothing like a small mischievous child. His heart was filled with regrets and therefore didn’t allow Yelu Qi to call himself the Old Urchin’s direct disciple. But by this point, Zhou Botong couldn’t get rid of him either.

Amid all the excitement came sudden sounds of battle cries from below the mountain. The sect disciples reported that the enemy was gathering for an attack. The other day the Quanzhen sect refused to bow down to the Mongolian Prince’s imperial decree and also killed many of them. Qiu Chuji and others knew that this matter couldn’t easily be resolved and that the Mongolian army would sooner or later come back up the mountain. They also realized that the Quanzhen sect would not be able to fend off the Mongolian army so they had already arranged a plan to abandon the palace and retreat to the West. By this time the Zhang Jiao [sect chief] position had already been assigned to a third generation disciple, Li Zhichang, but, facing this important matter, it was still left to the Quanzhen Five Masters to make decisions. Qiu Chuji turned to Huang Rong and said, “Guo Fu Ren [Madame Guo], the Mongolian army has attacked! This is such an inopportune time. Please don’t think badly of our hospitality.”

Then everybody heard the deadly sounds of drum rolls and battle cries from below the mountain. Just now Huang Rong had come up the mountain from the southern side while the Mongolian army took the northern route. They had arrived roughly about the same time.

Zhou Botong said, “Are the enemies coming? How really wonderful! Come, we’ll go make mincemeat out of them.” Then he stretched out his hand to grab Yelu Qi’s wrist and said, “You show the kung fu Shi Fu [Master] taught you to these several old sect brothers. I say you are not worse than the Quanzhen Seven Masters. Add you to them and we’ll make the Quanzhen Eight Masters.” In general, when small children had a beloved toy, they would want to show it off to people. If people liked it, then they’d become very happy. At first Zhou Botong had forbidden Yelu Qi to tell people who his master was because Yelu Qi lacked naughtiness and didn’t in the least bit resemble the famous Old Urchin’s skilled disciple. But today the master and the disciple met again and were delighted to see each other. Zhou Botong totally forgot the rule he himself set up before.

Qiu Chuji said, “Shi Shu [Martial Uncle], our sect has existed for many decades. It is the lifetime blood and sweat of my late master and can’t be ruined in just one moment. Today the best plan is for everybody in our sect to retreat.” Not waiting for Zhou Botong to voice his opinion, he gave orders, “Everybody carry all the things and go down the mountain according to our planned course.” The many disciples replied in one voice, carried the packages that had been prepared earlier, and rushed down the east and west sides of the mountain in rows. A few days earlier, the Quanzhen Five Masters and Li Zhichang had properly divided people, detailing who would dash to the front and who would guard the back, where they would meet, and how to communicate. Also, they’d many times rehearsed the plan and so there was no chaos at the last moment.

Huang Rong said, “Qiu Dao Zhang [Taoist Elder Qiu], in a situation like this a small mistake could lead to a disaster. Your honored sect has arranged everything in order, indicating a great ability. When you stage a comeback, your sect will be even more prosperous. This time we are here to look for Yang Guo so we will take our leave right now.” Qiu Chuji said with surprise in his voice; “Yang Guo? Do you know if he’s still here on the mountain?” With a faint smile Huang Rong replied, “We’ve got someone who knows his whereabouts.”

Having said this, she heard the loud battle cries again from below the mountain. Huang Rong thought, “The Quanzhen sect has earlier made an arrangement. They can withdraw themselves. I came up the mountain to look for Yang Guo and get my daughter. Let’s not get into the battle and delay our important matter.” Immediately she bid farewell to Qiu Chuji and others, called out to those who came up the mountain with her, and rushed out to the back of the Chongyang Palace. Then she said to Li Mochou, “Li Zi Zi [Sister Li], please tell us how to get into the tomb.”