Return of Condor Heroes (246 page)

Zhu Ziliu laughed, “But with you around Madam Guo, he can’t hide anything from us.”

Huang Rong didn’t laugh and said, “Hou Du hid himself in the Beggar Clan without revealing his identity and was able to fool me. But by trying to vie for the Beggar Clan Leader’s position, he’s really looking down on me.”

Zhu Ziliu said, “Yang Guo is really wonderful; he actually was able to discover Hou Du’s scheme, recover the “Dog Beating Stick”, reveal his identity and give the younger Miss Guo this present. He’s very capable.”

Guo Fu said, “Humph, he happened to find out, there’s nothing great about that.”

Guo Xiang thought, “That day Big Brother was outside the Yang Tai Fu Temple and saw me mourning Uncle Lu. He knew I was great pals with Uncle Lu so he put in a lot of effort to help me avenge him; this present is no small thing, his efforts…” Then she suddenly thought of something and said, “Although Hou Du became an ugly beggar in the Beggar Clan, he still uses his true identity to cause trouble outside. Third Uncle Shi of the Shi brothers was injured by him before and must have wanted to settle this matter with him and so tracked him down.”

Huang Rong said, “Correct. Hou Du leaves a trail behind in Jianghu time and again, but no one would expect the Beggar Clan’s He Shiwo and Hou Du to be the same person. ‘He Shiwo’, look at his fake name – he regards himself as his own master. When someone thinks too highly of himself, he will inevitably fail one day.”

Guo Fu said, “Mother, then why does this He Shiwo say he wants to kill Hou Du? Isn’t that silly?”

Huang Rong said, “This is just a sham to remove any doubts.”

Guo Fu said, “Since Yang… Brother Yang already knew He Shiwo is Hou Du, he should have said it long ago and not allowed him to injure Brother Qi.”

Huang Rong laughed, “Yang Guo is not God; how would he know that Qi’er would get injured?”

Guo Xiang said, “But Sister is a Goddess, so she let Brother-in-law don the Soft Armour.” Guo Fu glared at her, but she felt kind of proud inside.

As they were talking, the fight between Da’erba and Hou Du got even fiercer. The two had the same master so they were familiar with each other’s martial arts – Da’erba was superior in strength but Hou Du was superior in agility. After another hundred moves, there was still no clear victor. Suddenly Da’erba shouted and threw his 50-jin rod towards Hou Du and it flew swiftly and fiercely. Hou Du was shocked as he has never seen Da’erba use such a move before. He thought, “He has not won after so long, has he gone crazy?” and quickly jumped aside. Da’erba rushed up and hit the rod with his palms and it changed directions, following closely behind Hou Du. Hou Du was greatly surprised, then he realized that Da’erba had followed their master for over 10years and must have learned some advanced martial arts. This rod move was derived from Fawang’s Five-Wheel techniques and when Hou Du saw the ferocity of the rod coming towards him and knew he could not take the blow. He slid away, causing the rod to miss his head by two inches.

Da’erba was spinning the rod even more rapidly, causing the torches to flicker under the great gusts of wind. Hou Du was jumping around on the darkly-lit stage and was in danger many times. The spectators all stared at this violent battle and could not take their eyes off it. Da’erba threw the rod eighteen times then he shouted, using both hands to shoot his rod like an arrow. Hou Du could not evade this and the rod hit him squarely in the chest with a bang. He slowly collapsed onto the stage and remained motionless.

Da’erba took his rod and called out thrice, and then he sat down in front of Hou Du and mumbled the “Reincarnation Chant”. Then he jumped off the stage and presented his weapon to Qingling Zi. Qingling Zi did not accept the weapon but said, “Congratulations. You have rid your sect of a scum. The Eagle Hero will spare you and wants you to return to Tibet, and never set foot in the Central Plains again.” Da’erba said, “Thanks to the Eagle Hero. I shall follow his instructions.” He bowed and went off.

Guo Fu saw Hou Du lying motionlessly on the stage with his hideous face and could not believe it was fake, so she drew her sword and jumped onto the stage, saying, “Let’s see what this traitor really looks like.” She then used her sword’s tip to poke his nose.

Suddenly Hou Du shouted and leapt up, forcefully striking his palms downwards. Actually after being hit by the golden rod, he was fatally injured but he did not die immediately. He purposely remained motionless, waiting for Da’erba to come forward and examine him so that he could execute a fatal move and cause Da’erba to die with him. However Da’erba just chanted some prayers and left immediately. Then Guo Fu came forward instead. Hou Du pretended to come back to life and stunned her to reduce her resistance. Her Soft Armour was with Yelu Qi so it seemed death was imminent. Guo Jing, Huang Rong and Yelu Qi jumped onto the stage but it seemed too late…

Then two ‘peng’ sounds were heard and two projectiles flew through the air side by side and pierced Hou Du’s chest. The projectiles were small and seemed like pebbles but the force behind them was mighty. Hou Du leaned back and collapsed backwards, throwing up a pool of blood. He was dead.

The people were shocked and looked in the direction where the projectiles had come from but only saw the pale moon and the starry night. The night was still and the projectiles seemed to have been launched from on top one of the two flag poles erected in front of the stage.

When Huang Rong heard the projectiles hurtling through the air, she knew that apart from her father’s ‘Divine Flicking Finger’ [Dan Zi Shen Tong], no one else had this skill. The two flag poles were more than ten yards apart, how could the projectiles come from the two flag poles at the same time? Surprised, she did not think clearly, so she said, “Father, is that you?”

An old voice from atop one of the flag poles laughed, “My friend Yang Guo, let’s go down!” The voice atop the other flag pole replied, “Yes!” and the two people jumped down together.

Huang Yaoshi taught Yang Guo the Divine Flicking Finger to counter Li Mochou years ago. Under the moonlight, the two people descended gracefully, with their clothes floating in the wind. One was wearing a refined green robe while the other was a one-armed man wearing a blue shirt. It was indeed Yang Guo and Huang Yaoshi. Huang Yaoshi took Yang Guo’s hand and the two people landed on the stage. The people thought they were witnessing the Celestial Generals descending from the heavens.

Guo Jing and Huang Rong quickly jumped up on the stage and bowed to Huang Yaoshi. Then Yang Guo bowed to Guo Jing and Huang Rong, saying, “Nephew Yang Guo kowtows to Uncle and Aunt Guo.”

Guo Jing quickly raised him and laughed, “Guo’er, your three presents, ah, are really… really…” He was very grateful and could not find any words to express his gratitude.

Guo Fu was afraid her father wanted her to thank Yang Guo for saving her life so she quickly said to Huang Yaoshi, “Grandfather, fortunately you used your “Divine Flicking Finger” and saved me from that scoundrel’s palms.”

Yang Guo jumped off the stage and walked over to Guo Xiang, laughing, “Sister, I’m late.”

Guo Xiang felt her heart beating rapidly and her face turned red so she softly said, “You spent so much effort to get me the three presents, it was really… really a lot of trouble.”

Yang Guo smiled, “It was nothing. Since it’s your birthday we merely added to the fun.” He then waved his hand.

The Big Head Ghost said, “Bring everything up.” Then several people also repeated, “Bring everything up.” The message was then relayed outside.

After a while a group of people came in with lanterns, baskets and planks. They then put the planks together and started nailing, forming a wooden stage. More and more people came in but they moved in an orderly way and worked silently.

When the people saw Yang Guo’s presents they all respected and admired him deeply. They also thought he brought those people here for some major purpose. However, before long the stage was completed and some people started drumming and donning opera costumes and performing “The Eight Immortals Celebrate a Birthday”. Following that several people entered from the west and started singing “Man Chuang Hu”, a song from the story of Guo Ziyi celebrating his birthday with his seven sons and eight sons-in-law. At the same time some people lit firecrackers and some did conjuring tricks, turning the whole event into a grand celebration. The performers were famous troupes from Henan and Huguang. Everyone was in a festive mood and were dancing and cheering all over the field.

By this time the Shi brothers had quietly left with their animals and the Xishan Ghosts, Qingling Zi and the group of experts followed suit.

Guo Xiang saw that Yang Guo had arranged the matter down to the last detail and she was moved to tears, remaining speechless for a while.

Guo Fu remembered their conversation at the Yang Tai Fu Temple, and now a young hero actually came to celebrate her birthday; she was secretly seething with anger. She just took Huang Yaoshi’s arm and bombarded him with questions, pretending she did not see anything.

Guo Jing felt the way Yang Guo celebrated his daughter’s birthday was making a mountain out of a mole-hill but he was broadminded. Moreover, Yang Guo helped Xiangyang and the Beggar Clan accomplish three great feats in one day so Guo Jing just let him do whatever he wanted, only shaking his head with a smile.

Huang Rong asked her father, “Father, did you arrange with Guo’er to hide on top of the flag poles?”

Huang Yaoshi laughed, “No, no! One day I was at a lake admiring the moon when I heard some people whispering that some “Eagle Hero” would be visiting Xiangyang and that his martial arts were excellent and his character strange. I was worried he wanted to harm my good daughter and son-in-law so I came here secretly. So this Eagle Hero is Yang Guo. If I’d known earlier I needn’t have worried so much.”

Huang Rong knew her father liked to roam Jianghu but was always thinking of her, so she laughed, “Father, don’t go away again, let us be reunited.”

Huang Yaoshi did not answer and waved to Guo Xiang, laughing, “Little girl, come over here and let Grandfather take a look at you.” Guo Xiang had never met him before so she quickly stepped forward to bow to him. Huang Yaoshi took her hand and closely examined her face, saying sadly, “What a great resemblance.” Huang Rong knew he was thinking of his late wife, so he was saying that Guo Xiang looked like her grandmother. She was afraid to stir his emotions so she did not say anything.

Guo Fu laughed, “Of course! You’re the Old Eastern Heretic and she’s the Little Eastern Heretic…”

Guo Jing scolded, “Fu’er, you have no respect for your grandfather!” Huang Yaoshi was however delighted and said, “Xiang’er, are you the ‘Little Eastern Heretic’?” Guo Xiang blushed and said, “At first it was only Sister who called me that, later on everyone called me that.”

At this time the four Elders of the Beggar Clan crowded around Yang Guo and thanked him profusely, thinking, “He’s rendered such a great service to Xiangyang, recovered the “Dog Beating Stick”, exposed Hou Du’s devious plan, avenged Leader Lu. If he’s willing to be the next Leader that would be splendid.” Elder Liang said, “Hero Yang, our late leader passed away tragically…”

Yang Guo had already guessed what they were up to and quickly interrupted, “Master Yelu is proficient in both martial arts and literature, he’s heroic and compassionate and he is a great friend of mine. If he becomes the new Leader, he will be able to continue the great legacy of Leaders Hong, Huang and Lu.”

Huang Yaoshi briefly asked about Guo Xiang’s martial arts and turned his head to get Yang Guo over to talk to him. When he turned around, he saw Yang Guo already walking out of the place so he said, “My friend Yang Guo, I’m off too!” He waved his sleeves and in the blink of an eye he had caught up with Yang Guo. The two of them swiftly disappeared into the darkness.

Huang Rong had something urgent to tell her Father but because there were too many people around it was not convenient to speak. Who would have thought he would suddenly leave, she was shocked and quickly gave chase.

However Huang Yaoshi and Yang Guo moved extremely fast and Huang Rong could not catch up. Huang Rong said, “Father, Guo’er, how about leaving after a few days?” Huang Yaoshi’s distant voice said, “We both have wild characters and are uncomfortable with restrictions, just let us be.” The last few words seemed to be almost a hundred meters away. Huang Rong, secretly groaning since she could not catch up, had to go back. Back at the field, drumming noises filled the night.

The four Elders of the Beggar Clan held a discussion. Firstly, before Hou Du came and messed things up, Yelu Qi had already been elected the Leader. Secondly, the Beggar Clan owed great debt of gratitude to Yang Guo, so since even he nominated Yelu Qi, then the affair was settled. The four Elders informed Huang Rong and ascended the stage and proclaimed Yelu Qi the new Beggar Clan Leader.

The Beggar Clan members all carried out their tradition and spat on Yelu Qi. They then clapped and cheered.

Guo Xiang noticed that this time Yang Guo only said a few words to her and left shortly after meeting her. She felt rather disappointed inside, and then she saw her sister standing next to Yelu Qi and receiving congratulations from the Beggar Clan members. She felt even worse so she turned around and headed home. She had not gone a few steps when Huang Rong caught up with her and held her hand, gently saying, “Xiang’er, what is it? Are you unhappy?” Guo Xiang said, “No, I’m extremely delighted.” After saying this she lowered her head and tears welled up in her eyes, and then fell to the ground. Huang Rong could not understand her daughter’s heart so she mentioned some interesting stories to make her happy.

The two people slowly went home. Huang Rong accompanied her back to her room and asked, “Xiang’er, are you tired?”

Guo Xiang said, “I’m alright. Mother, you’ve been up all night, you should rest.”

Huang Rong pulled her close and sat shoulder-to-shoulder on the bed and fondled her hair, saying, “Xiang’er, I’ve never mentioned the matter of your brother Yang Guo to you before. This is a long story, so if you’re not tired, I’ll tell it to you.” That caught Guo Xiang’s attention and she said, “Mother, tell me.”