Return of Condor Heroes (2 page)

The man let out a groan. Cheng Ying got a bit braver, and tended to his wounds with a handkerchief. But the force of the collision was great, so the wound on his head was very severe. The handkerchief was soaked in blood. She used her left hand to press hard on the wound and after a while the bleeding stopped. The man began to open his eyes, and saw Cheng Ying by his side. “Why did you save me? Why don’t you let me die?” As Cheng Ying saw he had awakened, her spirits raised and said softly “Does your head hurt?” The strange man shook his head. “My head doesn’t hurt, my heart hurts.” Cheng Ying thought this was strange thinking, “There is a large wound on his head, yet while his head doesn’t hurt, his heart does.” She thought no more of this as she untied her waistband and gave it to the man to tie his wound.

The man took a breath and sat up. “You agreed not to see me ever again; we are going to part now. You won’t shed a single tear for me?”

Cheng Ying heard his words were full of sorrow; saw his head full of blood, eyes earnest, and couldn’t help but be filled with sorrow and two drops of tears emerged. As the man saw the tears, his face changed to a more joyful expression, but at the same time a mournful sound came out. Cheng Ying saw his sobs, her own tears like drops of pearls, rolled down her cheeks, then reached out and hugged his neck. Lu Wushuang saw how these two strangers are sobbing together, and wanted to laugh. She couldn’t hold it in any longer and burst out in a laugh.

The strange man heard this, and said to the sky, “The words that came out of your mouth said you won’t leave me, but as you grow older you will forget the things you’ve said; just remember the little white face. You laugh with real joy!” He looked down at Cheng Ying. “Yes, yes, you are Yuan, my little Yuan. I won’t let you leave, I won’t let you leave with the little white face”, as he held tightly onto Cheng Ying. Lu Wushuang saw he had become deeply disturbed and didn’t dare to laugh again.

“Yuan, I’ve finally found you. Let’s go home, from now on you will follow father.” Cheng Ying said, “Old grandpa, my father died a long time ago.” The strange man said, “I know, I know. I’m your stepfather, you don’t recognize me?” Ying shook her head. “I don’t have a stepfather.”

The strange man gave a howl, and pushed Ying away. “Yuan, you don’t even recognize step father?” Ying said, “Old grandpa, my name is Cheng Ying, not your Yuan.”

“You’re not Ah Yuan? You are not Ah Yuan?” he was expressionless for half an hour. “Hmm, around twenty years ago Ah Yuan was your age. Now Yuan has grown up and doesn’t need father anymore. The only thing in your heart is Lu Zhanyuan, that swine.”

Wushuang sighed knowingly; “Lu Zhanyuan?”

The man asked, “You know him, don’t you?? She shook her head smiling, “I just recognized that man is my uncle.” The man’s complexion changed to a vengeful colour. He grabbed hold of Wushuang and asked, “Where is that swine? Lead me to him.”

Though Wushuang is scared inside, she put on a smile and said, “My uncle lives close by. You really want to find him?”

“Yes, yes. I’ve been searching for him for three days, so I could settle my debt with that swine. Little girl lead me to him and old grandpa won’t trouble you.” As he said this, his voice changed tone from angry to gentle and released his grasp. She used her right hand to touch her sore left arm.

“You really hurt me. I don’t know where he lives anymore.” The man’s eyebrows rose, as if he was about to go mad again, but thought it is not right to force the little girl, and put on a clown like smile. He put his hand in his sleeve and said, “It was grandpa’s fault. You don’t have to follow me. Grandpa has some sweets for you.” He reached around his sleeve but couldn’t find any sweets. Wushuang smiled and clapped.

“You don’t have any sweets, aren’t you ashamed to lie? Alright, my uncle lives near here.” She pointed to two faraway giant trees. “It’s near there.”

The man reached out his long arm and carried the girls underneath his armpits again, and hurriedly flew towards the two trees. He followed the path in front, until there is a small obstruction but cleared it in a leap. In a flash, the three of them were by the two trees. The strange man dropped the two girls, and saw two grand tombs below the trees. On the tombstone was written: “Here lies the grave of Lu Zhanyuan.” On another was written” “Here lies the wife of Lu.” The grass around the path to the tombs was knee deep, indicating that the tombs had been here a long time.

The man just stared at the tombstone and said, “Lu Zhanyuan is dead… how long ago?” Wushuang laughed as she replied, “Three years ago.”

“He deserved to die, good. What a pity that he didn’t die beneath my hands!” he said as he laughed at the sky. The laugh could be heard from faraway, but the laugh was a regretful, a lamenting laugh, not one of joy.

It was deep within the night, the field of grass covered by fog. Wushuang tugged at her cousin’s sleeve. “Let’s go now.” The strange man said, “The little white face is dead. Ah Yuan, where can you go now? I’ll take you back to Dali. Hey little girl, take me to your dead uncle’s wife.”

Wushuang pointed to the tombstone, “Can’t you see? My aunt also died.” The man picked himself up and his voice like thunder, shouted, “Are those words real or a lie? She… she really is dead?” Wushuang’s face turned pale, and in a quivering voice said “Father said not long after uncle died, my aunt followed. I don’t know anymore, I don’t know. Don’t shout at me, I’m scared!”

The man beat his chest and shouted, “She’s dead… she’s dead? No, you can’t die before seeing me again. I followed your instructions; ten years later, we’ll meet again. You didn’t wait for me?” He shouted wildly and jumped around madly, his cries like a wild tiger. He swept his leg across the right tree, which shook the branches of the tree. Lu Wushuang and Cheng Ying held each other tightly and retreated a few steps not daring to be closer. The man suddenly grabbed hold of one of the trees, and shook it violently, and tried to pull it out. The tree is around a thousand pounds so how could he pick it up?

“You promised, but now you break it? You said we would meet again. Does the promise not count?” After a shout, the noise became quieter. He crouched down, and moved his chi through his two arms, his head gradually heated up and steam arose, the muscles in his arm clenched, and his back straightened. He shouted “Rise!” As the tree was being pulled, a strange noise occurred. Amidst the noise, there were now two pieces of the tree. He picked up of one part of the tree and stood still before saying quietly, “Die! Die!” He exerted some strength and flung the piece of tree away far away. Like the handle of an umbrella it was flying through the air. He stood in front of the tomb and mumbled, “You are right, the wife of Lu is indeed Ah Yuan.”

His eye blurred, the two tombs had become the image of two people. One of them a smiling young girl with the pupils in the eyes full of hope; the other is well dressed, collected young man. The couple was sitting together.

The strange man opened his eyes and said, “You seduced my daughter, I’ll kill you with my finger.” He stretched out his right hand and finger (the shi finger), stood up straight, blocking the path of the young man. A severe pain went through his shi finger and he released the pain. It hit the tombstone. However the image of the young man remained. The strange man shouted: “Where can you escape to now?” He struck out twice with his left palm, making two sounds, aimed at the same tombstone. He kept on hitting out, with each palm getting more severe each time. After ten palms, blood began to seep through.

Cheng Ying could no longer hold back and shouted, “Old grandpa, stop fighting, you are going to hurt yourself.”

He laughed and shouted back, “I’m not hurt, I’m going to kill the swine Lu Zhanyuan.”

He then laughed heartily, stopped and then said: “I must see your face, I must.” With ferocious strength in his two hands he plunged ten fingers into the ground of Mrs. Lu’s tomb. He pulled back with two arms, and two lumps of the ground came with him. His two palms like an iron spade, he dug lump after lump out of the ground.

The two cousin’s faces had become colourless, and they had the chance to escape. While the man was busy digging, they could leave unnoticed. The two girls hurried around a few bends, and as they saw the man didn’t follow, they relaxed a bit. The two girls were unfamiliar with the place, so they looked for locals to help them along the road. They walked deep into the night when they eventually found their way back to the Lu house.

Wushuang shouted, “Something terrible is happening, something bad! A madman is digging up the graves of uncle and aunt!” She ran into the hall, only to see her father Lu Liding raise his head and stare at the wall. Ying followed into the hall, and their eyes followed Lu Liding’s, and saw three sets of palm prints, two at the top, two in the middle, below five, in total there were nine. Each one was printed with blood. Lu Liding saw his daughter and asked, “What are you talking about?”

“There is a madman digging up the graves of uncle and aunt,” said Wushuang. Her father stood up: “Nonsense!”

“Uncle, it’s true!” Cheng Ying replied. Lu Liding knew what her daughter was like, mischievous and naughty but Cheng Ying never tells lies. “What has happened?”

Wushuang told her father what happened. Her father was troubled, and before she finished, had picked up a blade and hurriedly headed for the graves. When he got there, not only did he see the graves had been disturbed, but the coffins had been opened. When he heard that someone was digging up the graves, he had known what to expect, but when he saw it with his own eyes, his heart skipped a beat. There was no sign of the bodies, the ash in the coffins, paper money, cotton cushions were all in a mess. It must be a god, and then saw on the lids of the coffins were traces of what looks like an iron tool. He looked in despair at the state of the graves. He didn’t ask his daughter who did this, but wondered who could have such debts with his brother and sister-in-law that even after their deaths, their graves and corpses wouldn’t be left alone. He held tightly to his knife.

He knew his brother had taught the martial arts. He was a careful, generous, dependable man, who didn’t dabble in Jianghu affairs. He was a learned man. After he circled the area, and couldn’t find any traces of the suspect, he waited for half an hour before finally returning to his home.

He approached the main hall. He sat down on a chair and placed his knife by his side, and stared at the nine blood prints on the wall. He thought, “Before brother died, he said he had an enemy, a Taoist priestess, named Li Mochou, with the nickname “Scarlet Serpent Deity”, whose kung fu was extremely high. She was cruel and vindictive person. He anticipated that after ten years of marriage, she would come and seek revenge on the couple. At the time Lu had said: “My illness is not getting better; I guess the ‘Scarlet Serpent Deity’ cannot take her revenge. In three years, it will be the time. You must persuade my wife to go into hiding.” I had promised him, but who could have guessed that on the night he had passed away, sister-in-law would cut her throat? Brother had passed away three years ago, and the time approaches. The couple had passed away so why does she still come? Brother also said that before the priestess kills, she would place bloody handprints on the wall on the target’s home, with one print meaning one life. My home only has seven people in total so why nine prints? The two prints are for my brother and sister-in-law, but now they are dead she must have dispatched people to ravage their grave. I’ve been at home all day, so how did that evil witch manage to place the prints? Could she get in here without disturbing even gods and ghosts? He shivered.

Soft footsteps can be heard behind him, a small soft pair of hands covered his eyes. He recognized it was his daughter’s voice when she spoke.

“Father, who am I?”

Lu Wushuang had always been close to her father. When she was three years old, she played this game with him. This made her parents laugh. He was sad, so now his daughter is trying to cheer him up. Under normal circumstances this would have worked. But today it would be no use as he pulled his daughter’s hands away.

“Father has no time to play, let’s go inside and play!”

Lu Wushuang stood there. She always had the love of her father and now he had no time for her. She let out a sigh and wanted to share in her father’s misery only to see the male servant Ah Gen hastily arriving.

“There’s a guest outside master.”

“You tell them I’m not at home.”

“Master, she doesn’t want to see you. She just wants to spend the night here.”

Lu Liding said, “Who? Are they women?”

“No, it’s a mother with two small boys. They’ve been waiting a long time.”

When Lu Liding heard it was a mother with her two sons, he was able to relax a bit. “It’s not a Taoist priestess?”

Ah Gen shook his head, “No. It’s a plainly dressed woman, she looks like a mother of a respectable family.”

“Alright, take them to the guest room and treat them well. Give them something to eat.” Ah Gen hurriedly went out. Lu Wushuang said, “I’m going as well” as she hastily exited.

Lu Liding stood up, he wanted to go inside to discuss how to face this enemy with his wife. He made his way into the hall. He showed her the prints, and told her about the missing corpses. Mistress Lu pondered and said, “We are going to have to hide the two girls?”

Master Lu pointed at the wall. “The girls are inside, but I fear that the monster that did this won’t let them escape so easily. We have practiced kung fu for several years now, when the person enters our home; remember not to show any emotion.”

Mistress Lu stared at the wall, “There are nine prints? We only have seven people within the household.” As soon as Lu Liding heard this, his limbs went numb and looked at his wife startled, and cried. He reached out and held her arms.

“Dear, when the time comes, there is no need to be afraid. The top two palm prints are for Brother and his wife, the middle two are ours. In the last group, two are Ying and Wushuang, there are three are for Ah Gen and our two maids. Blood will fill this house tonight.”

Mistress Lu quivered and said, “Brother and sister-in-law?”