Return of Condor Heroes (30 page)

The two of them talked, just for a moment, Yang Guo forgot all about the cold, but after a while his body started to shiver and shake. he then pleaded with Xiao Longnu, “Gu Gu, spare me please. I don’t want to sleep on this bed.”

Xiao Longnu said, “When you were fighting with your master in the Quanzhen sect, you didn’t say a word about mercy, why are you like this now?”

Yang Guo laughed and said, “Those who ill treat me, even if they beat me I won’t say a word. Those who treat me well, I’ll be willing to die for them, what’s a word of mercy compared to that?”

Xiao Longnu gave a ‘humph’ and said, “Little rogue, who’s going to treat you well?”

Xiao Longnu was brought up by her teacher and Grandma Sun, and for these last eighteen years they were her only company. The two of them treated her well but because her Master wanted her to learn the “Jade Heart Manual” so, ever since she was small, she was told to purge her emotions. When she cried or smiled she would be punished heavily. Grandma Sun was a warm person but she didn’t dare to disturb her refinement of the skill, and so Xiao Longnu became a cold, unfeeling, lonely girl. Now Yang Guo came. He was a young hot-blooded, emotional person, and the way he spoke was completely the opposite of Grandma Sun and her Master. Xiao Longnu heard him speak; she was aware that something was strange but she listened to him talking and forgot about their tiredness. When she first agreed to take in Yang Guo, it was at the request of Grandma Sun. Later on when she heard Yang Guo say that she treats him well, she felt that she indeed did treat him well.

Yang Guo heard her tone had no more strictness within it, he said loudly, “Its cold…its cold, Gu Gu, I can’t endure it anymore.” Indeed he was cold, but it wasn’t anything too serious.

Xiao Longnu said, “There’s no need to be noisy, I’ll tell you about the bed.”

Yang Guo was pleased and said, “Great, I won’t call out anymore, please tell Gu Gu.”

Xiao Longnu said, “I said that there are many fighters who wished that they had the chance to sleep on this bed, that wasn’t a lie. The bed is made out of an ancient Chilled Jade; it aids those who practice advanced types of internal energy.”

Yang Guo asked, “Isn’t it just a stone?”

Xiao Longnu chuckled and said, “You’ve said that you have seen countless strange and wondrous objects, haven’t you ever seen an icy cold piece of rock before? It was Ancestor Grandma who spent seven years of blood and sweat in the extreme cold of the northern plains to dig out the Chilled Jade from under thousands of feet of ice and snow. If you practice your internal energy on this bed, one year is equivalent of ten years of normal practicing.”

Yang Guo was surprised and said, “Oh, so it has such benefits.”

Xiao Longnu said, “When you first sleep on it, it is extremely cold and hard to endure. Only by circulating your chi to oppose it and slowly getting used to it, you’ll be able to practice your internal energy in your sleep. A normal person who practices internal energy, even the most energetic, will have to spend a few hours each day in sleep. You have to be aware that practicing internal energy is opposing the natural flow of things, chi and blood intermix; it is completely different to what happens normally. But each night when you sleep, the chi that is produced in your sleep does not waste the energy you have accumulated in the day, it enhances your internal energy.”

Yang Guo understood and said, “If you sleep on ice and snow at night, then you will have the same effect.”

Xiao Longnu said, “Not so. Firstly, when you sleep on ice or snow, your body’s heat will eventually melt the snow and ice into water; secondly, the Chilled Jade is much colder than ice and snow. When you are refining internal energy, the most important thing to avoid is fire deviation; when you are practicing normally, half of your refined energy clashes with the fire in your heart. The Chilled Jade Bed is the world’s most yin and cold object. When sitting on the bed and refining your internal energy, the fire in your heart is cooled and neutralized. That means you will be able to press on further when cultivating your internal energy; how can that not be faster than practicing internal energy normally?”

Yang Guo was delighted, and said, “Gu Gu, you treat me very well, you lend the bed for me to sleep on, that means I won’t be scared of the Wu brothers and Guo Fu. Although Zhao Zhijing and the rest of the Taoists have practiced martial arts for so long, I still will be able to catch up with them.”

Xiao Longnu calmly said, “One of the decrees that Ancestor Grandma passed down was that once you have lived in the tomb, you must forget your struggles with other people.”

Yang Guo quickly said, “Even though they bullied me and killed Grandma Sun, we will just leave it just like that.”

Xiao Longnu said, “Everyone will die. Even if Grandma Sun did not die at the hands of Hao Datong, in a few years she would die of old age. Live a few more years or live a few less years, what difference does it make? Don’t mention anything about revenge to me again.”

Yang Guo felt that, although her words made sense, he could not let go; but he wasn’t able to think of a reply to what she said. Then, the coolness of the bed entered his body again, he shook continuously.

Xiao Longnu said, “I’ll teach you a method to oppose the coolness of the bed.”

She then passed on the formulae and the way to practice internal energy to him; it was their sect’s foundation kung fu. Yang Guo practiced according to the instructions. He had only practiced it for a while when he felt the coolness retreating; by the third repetition, his body felt like it was on fire. He didn’t feel the bed’s coolness, and instead felt that sitting on the bed was extremely comfortable, his eyes closed, and slowly he fell asleep. He slept for half an hour; his hot chi disappeared, and was wakened by the bed’s coolness. He then repeated the method again. He spent the night this way, falling asleep and waking up again, but when he suddenly woke up he didn’t feel any tiredness. In just a night, his internal energy level increased further.

The two of them ate breakfast, and then Yang Guo took the bowls and chopsticks into the kitchen and washed them, before returning to the main hall.

Xiao Longnu said, “There is one thing you must understand. If you really want me to be your master, you must obey me for eternity. If you don’t want me to be your master, I will still teach you martial arts. If in the future you become better than me, then you can leave the tomb because of your skills.”

Yang Guo replied without considering, “I am willing to take you as my master. Even if you don’t teach me a drop of martial arts, I will still do as you say.”

Xiao Longnu asked, “Why?”

Yang Guo said, “Gu Gu, don’t you think I know that you care for me?”

Xiao Longnu made a face and said, “Whether I treat you well or not, don’t talk about it. Since you’ve decided to enter my sect, then follow me and you will undergo the ritual.”

Yang Guo followed her into the back hall, only to see it was sparse and empty, apart from two paintings on the eastern and western wall. On the western wall was a picture of two girls. One of them was around twenty five or six years of age, facing a mirror combing and adorning her hair. The other was a fourteen or fifteen years of age maiden, her hand holding a bucket, standing to the side. The tall girl looking in the mirror was extremely beautiful, her eyebrows tidy, yet in her eyes there was an air of death. Yang Guo took a few glances at the painting, and felt fear and respect towards the girl.

Xiao Longnu pointed to the tall girl in the painting and said, “That is our Ancestor, kowtow to her.”

Yang Guo strangely asked, “That’s our Ancestor, why is she so young?”

Xiao Longnu said, “She was young in the picture, later she wasn’t as young anymore.” Yang Guo focused on the two sentences, ‘She was young in the picture, later she wasn’t as young anymore’, he felt sorrow and regret in his heart and tears came to his eyes.

Xiao Longnu didn’t notice that he was thinking and pointed to the young girl and said, “That is my Master, quickly kowtow.” Yang Guo looked at the painting, and saw the young girl, who could believe that she would become Xiao Longnu’s Master; he didn’t hesitate and immediately kowtowed.

Xiao Longnu waited for him to stand up and then pointed to the painting hung on the eastern wall and said, “Spit on that Taoist.” Yang Guo took a look at the painting and saw the Taoist was quite tall, a long sword by his side, the index finger on his right hand pointing to the north eastern corner, his back facing out, his face could not be seen.

He was curious and asked, “Who’s that? Why should I spit on him?”

Xiao Longnu said, “That is the Quanzhen sect’s founder Wang Chongyang, our sect has a rule, after kowtowing to our Ancestor we need to spit on him.”

Yang Guo was pleased, he hated the Quanzhen sect, he felt this rule of the sect was a suiting finish; he spat out at the painting, and felt that this was not enough and spat out twice. He was about to do it again when Xiao Longnu said, “Enough!”

Yang Guo asked, “Did our Ancestor really hate Wang Chongyang?”

Xiao Longnu said, “Yes.”

Yang Guo said, “I hate him as well. How come the painting is hung on the wall but not destroyed?”

Xiao Longnu said, “I don’t know, I only heard from Grandma Sun and my Master that there isn’t one good man on earth.”

Her voice suddenly became strict and she said, “When you become older and do bad things, shall I spare you or not?”

Yang Guo said, “Of course you’ll spare me.”

Xiao Longnu originally meant this as a warning, she didn’t know he would answer, she was startled and didn’t know what to do with him and said, “Quickly greet your Master.”

Yang Guo said, “Of course, I must kowtow to my Master. But first you have to got to promise me one thing otherwise I won’t kowtow.”

Xiao Longnu thought, “According to Grandma Sun, before accepting a disciple, only the Master can request things from the disciple, how can it be turned around and the disciple requests something from the Master?”

She was an emotionless person and didn’t get angry, she said, “What is it? Let me hear what you’ve got to say.”

Yang Guo said, “I regard you as my Master, I respect you and obey you, but I don’t want to call you Master, I want to call you Gu Gu.”

Xiao Longnu was bemused again and asked, “Why?”

Yang Guo said, “I had taken that rotten Taoist from the Quanzhen sect as my Master, he didn’t treat me well at all, in my dreams I curse my Master. That’s why I want to call you Gu Gu, in case I mistakenly insult you when I insult my Master.”

Xiao Longnu smiled slightly and felt that the way in which this child thinks was amusing, and said, “Fine, I agree to this.”

Yang Guo then knelt down grandly, and kowtowed loudly eight times in front of Xiao Longnu and said, “Disciple Yang Guo hereby pays respect and acknowledges Xiao Longnu Gu Gu as my Master. Yang Guo will obey her words forever, if Gu Gu is in any sort of danger, I will give up my life to protect her, if someone insults Gu Gu, then I will kill them.” In reality Xiao Longnu’s skills were better than his by ten fold, but he saw that she was a beautiful, gentle and fragile girl, a feeling of duty to protect weak girls stirred, and he came out with those words.

Xiao Longnu heard his sincere words, although he spoke with a childish tone, she was touched nonetheless.

Yang Guo finished kowtowing and picked himself up, his face full of glee.

Xiao Longnu said, “Why are you so pleased? My skills can’t compare with Quanzhen’s Qiu Chuji or your Uncle Guo.”

Yang Guo said, “I don’t care if they were even more skilled, you are really going to teach me kung fu.”

Xiao Longnu said, “Actually there isn’t much use in learning kung fu. It’s just that there isn’t much to do in the tomb, that’s why I’m teaching you.”

Yang Guo said, “Gu Gu, what’s our sect called?”

Xiao Longnu said, “When our Ancestor came and lived in the tomb, she didn’t have any contact with the Wulin world, our sect didn’t have a name. Later my apprentice sister Li Mochou left and wandered around the world of Jianghu, others said she was a disciple from ‘Gu Mu Pai’ (Ancient Tomb sect), so let’s call our sect the Ancient Tomb sect!”

Yang Guo shook his head, and said, “Ancient Tomb sect isn’t a good name.”

He had just entered the sect and found fault with the name, but Xiao Longnu wasn’t too concerned and said, “Does it matter if the name is good or not? Wait here for me; I’m going outside for a while.”

Yang Guo remembered that he would be on his own in the tomb and became scared and said, “Gu Gu, I’ll go with you.”

Xiao Longnu looked at him and said, “You said you’ll obey for eternity, my first order and you don’t listen?”

Yang Guo said, “I’m scared.”

Xiao Longnu said, “You are a man, what is there to be afraid of? You said you were going to help me get rid of bad people.”

Yang Guo thought for a while and said, “Fine, come back quickly.”

Xiao Longnu calmly said, “I can’t be certain how long I’ll be; I don’t know if I can catch them so quickly.”

Yang Guo said, “Catch what?” Xiao Longnu didn’t reply and walked away.

As soon as she left, there wasn’t a sound in the tomb. Yang Guo wondered what on earth she’s going to catch. She said she will never leave Mount Zhongnan, which means she was going to catch a Quanzhen Taoist, but who could it be. After capturing him I’ll torture him for a while, that’ll be fun; but Gu Gu is by herself, she might be in danger. He thought wildly for a while, and then exited the hall and headed west in the passageways. After ten or so steps, it was pitch black in front of his eyes. He was afraid that he was going to get lost, he touched the wall and made his way back but after twenty steps or so he lost the light of the main hall. He was afraid, and walked forward faster. He had originally been on the wrong path, but as he carried on, he became even more lost. He ran faster and faster, he crashed into the east and bumped into the west, but felt that there were paths everywhere; he was never going to reach the main hall again. He then loudly called out, “Gu Gu, Gu Gu, save me quickly.” The echo resonated for a while before disappearing.