Return of Condor Heroes (214 page)

Wu Santong, Zhu Ziliu and the others were not unaware of this young madam’s level of martial arts; however, even in their wildest dreams they could not believe Xiao Longnu was able to use two different sword stances at the same time. Of course they heard such skill existed. It was told that in the Jianghu world, only Zhou Botong and Guo Jing have mastered the skill. But ... nobody had ever seen it, therefore they were rather skeptical about it. Now they have seen it with their own eyes and knew what they heard was true. Yelu brother and sister, Wu brothers, Cheng Ying, Lu Wushuang and Guo Fu of the younger generation saw that Xiao Longnu’s age was not much different than theirs, yet her martial arts were incredibly higher than theirs; they could not help but admired her as their senior.

As she landed on the ground, her clothes fluttered in the wind, and she walked gracefully toward Yang Guo. She looked like a deity, an angel descending from above. Without prompting everybody cheered!

Yang Guo rushed forward, while the others also crowded around them. Xiao Longnu opened the bottle and took the half pill out. “Guo’er,” she said, laughing softly, “I think this is the real thing.”

“Real?” Yang Guo was indifferent. “Long’er, how are you feeling? Why is your face pale? Try concentrating your breathing.”

His wife laughed emotionlessly. She had started to feel uneasiness and heaviness because of blocked energy in her chest as soon as she finished her battle with Gongsun Zhi. She had tried circulating her ‘qi’, but failed. She was dizzy and was about to throw up. She understood very well that this was the symptom of the poison getting worse. She just did not care anymore because she had the Passionless Pill in her hand. To her, Yang Guo’s life was a lot more precious than her own; so she just smiled and did not respond.

Yang Guo held his wife’s hand and was shocked to find it colder than ice. “Long’er!” he said, his heart thumping heavily. “How ... what do you feel?”

“I’m OK. Just swallow this pill,” she answered calmly.

Yang Guo looked at his wife’s face with wide eyes. “No, I don’t want it,” he said. His voice trembled. “Half a Passionless Pill will not save both our lives. Long’er … ah, Long’er! Do you think if you died I would want to live alone?” Suddenly he took away the half-pill from his wife’s hand and … threw it down into the ‘bottomless’ gorge. That half-pill – the only thing in the whole wide world that can save his life – flew down into the abyss.

What had happened was beyond everybody’s expectations, they gasped in shock! Xiao Longnu could feel his deep and profound love toward her, she was sad yet grateful. She was no longer able to maintain her consciousness and fainted in her husband’s arm.

Guo Fu, Wu Brothers, Wanyan Ping and Yelu Yan were baffled since they did not know the whole story; they all talked at the same time among themselves. Suddenly Wu Santong shouted, “Li Mochou! Don’t ever think you will live a day longer!” And then he ran towards the left. Everybody turned their head and saw Gongsun Zhi was running to the west toward Li Mochou, who was standing on top of a small hill. They were getting closer, while Wu Santong and the others were still quite a long way away.

Just before Gongsun Zhi reached her, a hearty laugh could be heard behind the hill, and a healthy looking old man appeared. He carried a big wooden box on his back. That old man had white hair and beard, and it was none other than Zhou Botong.

“Old Urchin!” called Huang Rong, “chase that yellow-robed Taoist priestess over here!”

“Wonderful! Watch what the Old Urchin can do!” he answered, opening his wooden box and waving his arm. A swarm of bees came out of the box and flew toward Li Mochou. Turned out that when the Mongolian soldiers burned down Mount Zhongnan, the Quanzhen disciples retreated while saving their books and other temple’s articles. He on the other hand, was busy collecting the Jade Bees and put them into this wooden box. Even though he was childish and loved to fool around, he was very smart. After a while, with the help of a jar of honey from Xiao Longnu, he figured out how to control the bees.

Seeing the grey bees, Gongsun Zhi was frightened. He turned around and ran toward the valley. Li Mochou was also shocked. There were bees behind her and enemies in front of her. She decided to run to the east. Wu Brothers, Cheng Ying, Wushuang, and the others quickly surround her with weapons unsheathed. “Shifu,” Yelu Qi called, “pull your bees back!”

Zhou Botong repeatedly shouted his commands to pull his bees back; but in the commotion the Jade Bees did not respond and kept going after the demoness. Wu Santong was afraid his archenemy would escape again, he ran toward her ignoring the bees’ attack.

While everybody was chasing Li Mochou, Yang Guo stayed where he was, still holding his wife tightly. He whispered into her ears, “Long’er … Long’er …” Slowly Xiao Longnu opened her eyes. She heard the Jade Bees humming seemingly so distant. She thought she was dreaming and was inside the Ancient Tomb. Her countenance brightened a little and she whispered back, “Are we home …?”

A short while later, she regained full consciousness and became fully aware of what was happening around her. She whistled and softly shouted her commands. Hearing their master the Jade Bees gathered above Li Mochou’s head. “Shi jie [elder martial sister],” she said, “now it has come to this, aren’t you going to repent of all your past crimes?”

Li Mochou’s face was sheet-white. “Where’s the pill?” she inquired. Her martial sister sadly smiled, “Inside that bottomless abyss.” She continued, “Why did you kill that Divine Monk? If he were alive, not only he would save Guo’er’s life and mine, but yours as well.”

She was shocked! Her martial sister had never lied. She would never have imagined that using just one of her own “Soul Freezing Needles” would eventually kill her.

In the meantime, Wu Santong and his two sons, Cheng Ying, Lu Wushuang, and the others had formed a tight formation around her; while Zhou Botong was still busy shouting his commands. “Elder Zhou,” Xiao Longnu called, “you have to whistle this way.” She then gave him some examples, which were imitated by the Old Urchin. Thousands of bees immediately gathered around him and then entered the box. The old man was so delighted. “Miss Long, thank you … thank you …”

Observing this old man, Reverend Yideng smiled and called, “Brother Botong, it’s been a long time. You look as if you did not age at all.”

Zhou Botong was surprised. He quickly closed the bee box and said, “You are well, I am too. Everybody’s well.” He swung the box to his shoulder and ran away without saying anything else.

Of those Li Mochou saw around her; Huang Rong, Yang Guo or Xiao Longnu alone would be enough to defeat her, let alone being surrounded on every side like this. She started to realize that she would not come out of this alive. She became desperate. She looked around and said, “Huh-huh! You consider yourself as heroes. Huh-huh! Today you will win by sheer numbers. Martial Sister! I am a disciple of the Ancient Tomb. I can’t let myself be killed by an outsider. Come! You do it.” She then reversed her own sword so that its blade pointed to her own chest.

Xiao Longnu shook her head, “Why would I want to kill you?” she asked.

“Li Mochou!” snapped Wu Santong. “Let me ask you this: what did you do to Lu Zhanzuan and He Yuanjun’s bodies?”

The demoness trembled. “I burned them,” she said menacingly. “I spread their ashes: one on the peak of Mount Hua, the other on Eastern Sea, so that they won’t see each other for eternity.” Her cruelness made everybody’s heart pound.

“Sister Long has a benevolent heart, she won’t kill you,” said Lu Wushuang. “But my whole family died by your hand, not a single dog or chicken was left; only I survived. I want revenge this very day. Cousin, come!”

“My mother died by your hands,” the Wu brothers continued. “Other people can show mercy to you, but my brother and I will never forgive you.”

Li Mochou was indifferent, “During my life I have killed countless people; if everybody came for revenge, how many lives have I to compensate? Considering the thousands of hatreds and tens of thousands of injustices, I have nothing more than just this one life.”

Lu Wushuang and Wu Xiuwen called out, “It’s too cheap for you!” One using a saber and the other a sword they stepped forward simultaneously.

Li Mochou exerted her energy to her sword and “Crack!” that sword was broken into two pieces. She smirked, held her hands behind her back, totally ignoring their attack.

Suddenly at that moment heavy smoke and fire appeared to the east. “Aiyo!” cried Huang Rong, “The compound is on fire!”

“Let’s postpone killing her, saving Martial Uncle’s body is more important,” said Zhu Ziliu. He leaped toward Li Mochou, and sealed three of her accupoints with his famous “Yang Solitary Finger” to prevent the priestess from escaping.

“Miss Gongsun’s body too!” cried Cheng Ying.

“Right!” answered the others.

They ran toward the Valley Master Hall. The Wu Brothers dragged Li Mochou along. Yang Guo, Xiao Longnu, Huang Rong and Reverend Yideng were not far behind. They walked slowly because of the injuries. About a quarter of kilometer away from the valley complex, they began to feel the heat. People were shouting and screaming and buildings were collapsing.

“That Gongsun Zhi is really cruel,” Wu Santong said, “Miss Long should’ve killed him!”

“I don’t think it was him who’s burning this place down,” commented Zhu Ziliu. “If I am not mistaken, this is that old granny’s doing.”

“Why Qiu Qianchi?” asked Santong, “Isn’t the Passionless Valley hers?”

“Well, the valley disciples have rebelled against her. Even if we killed Gongsun Zhi, she would not be able to live here any longer,” Zhu Ziliu explained. “I think that granny is just narrow-minded …” He did not continue and exerted his energy, quickly running to the kiln. Fortunately the kiln was a little bit away from the main complex. Hastily Zhu Ziliu lifted his Martial Uncle’s body away. The Monk’s countenance was still smiling, like he’d found something delightful just before he died.

Wu Santong shed some tears. “Martial Uncle died without suffering.”

Zhu Ziliu hesitated, “Martial Uncle was killed when he was searching for the Passionless Flower antidote,” he explained.

In the mean time, Huang Rong and her company arrived. Hearing Zhu Ziliu’s explanation, she immediately examined the Indian Monk’s body, but she could not find anything. She searched all the pockets in his clothes... nothing. “Did your Martial Uncle say anything to you?” she asked.

“No,” answered Zhu Ziliu. “When Martial Uncle and I came out of this kiln, we never thought danger was lurking.”

Huang Rong fixed her gaze on the Indian Monk’s smiling face and a thought flashed into her mind. She stooped and looked at the Divine Monk’s hands. Her heart was pounding, for she saw between his right thumb and index finger some dark-purplish grass-like herbs. Slowly she pried open his fingers and took the grass away. “What kind of grass is this?” she mused.

Zhu Ziliu only shook his head.

Huang Rong smelled it. The grass had an awful smell, she almost threw-up.

“Madame Guo, careful!” said Yideng, “That is ‘Intestine Severing’ grass. It’s very poisonous.”

Huang Rong stared blankly. She lost hope.

At that moment the Wu brothers along with Li Mochou arrived. Upon hearing that the grass was very dangerous, Xiuwen said to Huang Rong, “Shiniang [martial female master - Shifu’s wife], let’s give that grass to this demoness.”

“Shan zai! Shan zai! [lit. good, peace] Young man, don’t be so cruel,” Yideng rebuked him.

“Grand Martial Master,” said Xiuwen, “Are we supposed to show mercy to an evil person like this woman?”

By now the fire had reached the trees and bushes around the kiln.

“The fire comes from the east, let us retreat to that hilly area to the north, and talk this matter over,” Huang Rong gave her command. Everybody complied and as they arrived there, the buildings around the kiln had started to burn.

Although Li Mochou’s accupoints were sealed, she was still able to walk, but without her internal energy. Secretly cursing her bad luck she tried to unseal herself. She thought she would try to escape when the enemy was not looking. Unexpectedly, her chest and stomach hurt like hell as soon as she did that, “Ah!” she screamed in agony. What happened was that she had depressed the poison using her internal energy before. However, when her accupoints were sealed, her energy was also neutralized. Now that she tried to circulate her energy, the poison was flowing alongside and attacked her inner organs.

Her eyes saw stars floating around; she was writhing in agony and almost lost consciousness. Yang Guo and Xiao Longnu walked toward her, but what she saw was a young couple, a handsome man and a lovely young woman and right in front of her they suddenly turned into Lu Zhanyuan and He Yuanjun. She leaped and screamed, “Zhanyuan! You are so cruel! You still have a face to see me?” Because she was thinking about love, the poison in her body became more active than ever. She was in so much pain that her body writhed, her face contorted and white as a sheet of paper. She looked so frightening. Everybody stepped back a few steps seeing her behaving like a mad woman.

Li Mochou had always been a proud woman; never in her life did she ask any favor from anybody. But with her dying breath she cried incessantly, “Oohh... ah! Help! Ohh ... somebody help me, please …” Her voice was truly heartrending.

“The only one who could help you was my Martial Uncle,” Zhu Ziliu answered and pointed to the Indian Monk’s body. “Why did you kill him?”

“Yes! I killed him!” the demoness gritted her teeth and screamed, “I’ve killed all kinds of people, good people, bad people, I killed them all! I want to die! Why are you still alive? I want you to die with me!” Her body swayed, her breathing shortened, and suddenly she lunged toward Wu Dunru’s sword.

For many-many years Wu Dunru had dreamed of stabbing the demoness with his very own sword. However, at that moment he was taken aback, and pulled his sword away unwittingly. Li Mochou missed the sword; she fell down to the ground and her body rolled away toward the blazing flames in the valley below.