He ran around again for a while, but then felt the ground was damp, his foot had stepped into some mud. He wasn’t on the level of the tomb but had run into one of the passageways underground; he was scared and thought, “If I got lost in the tomb, Gu Gu will be able to find me. Now that I’m running around, she won’t be able to find me, and when she finds out I escaped she will be very upset.” He didn’t dare run around anymore; he felt out a stone and sat down, he wanted to cry out but he couldn’t.
He sat there for over an hour when he suddenly heard the faint calls of “Guo’er, Guo’er!” Yang Guo was delighted and quickly got up and shouted, “Gu Gu, I’m over here!” The calls of “Guo’er, Guo’er” became fainter. Yang Guo was in a rush and shouted at the top of his voice, “I’m over here!” After a while, he didn’t hear anything, when suddenly he felt his ear being tugged, someone was pulling on his ear.
At first he was alarmed but now he was pleased and shouted out, “Gu Gu, you’ve come, how come I didn’t notice anything?”
Xiao Longnu said, “Why are you here?”
Yang Guo said, “I took a wrong turn.”
Xiao Longnu sighed and took his hand and walked, though it was pitch black, it was as if she was under the sun, she went around corners and changed paths, she walked extremely fast.
Yang Guo said, “Gu Gu, how can you see in here?”
Xiao Longnu said, “I grew up here in the darkness, so I don’t need any light.”
Yang Guo had sat there for over an hour and was frightened and regretful, now that he was rescued, he was delighted but he didn’t know what to say.
After a while, Xiao Longnu took him to the main hall again. Yang Guo sighed and said, “Gu Gu, just now I was really worried.”
Xiao Longnu said, “Worried about what? I’d eventually find you.”
Yang Guo said, “I’m not worried about that, I was afraid that you might have thought that I had escaped and become sad.”
Xiao Longnu said, “If you did escape, I wouldn’t be able to keep the promise I made to Grandma Sun, what is so sad about that?”
Yang Guo heard this and knew there was no use, and said, “Gu Gu, you’ve caught it then?”
Xiao Longnu said, “I’ve caught them.”
Yang Guo said, “Why did you go and catch them?”
Xiao Longnu said, “I caught them so you can start learning kung fu. Follow me!”
Yang Guo thought, “So she has caught a Taoist to fight with me; that will be interesting. It will be best if she caught that Zhao Zhijing; after being taken care of by Gu Gu, he will have to endure my punches and kicks without being able to retaliate, that’ll be great fun.” As he followed Xiao Longnu, the more he thought about it, the happier he was.
Xiao Longnu turned a few bends, pushed open a door, and entered a chamber lit with candles. The room was small; it was difficult to turn around with the two of them in there. The ceiling was low, and if Xiao Longnu stretched out her arm she would be able to touch the ceiling. Yang Guo didn’t see any Taoists; he was slightly disappointed and asked, “Where is the Taoist you caught?”
Xiao Longnu said, “What Taoist?”
Yang Guo said, “Didn’t you say you were going to catch some people to help me practice kung fu?”
Xiao Longnu said, “Who said anything about people? It’s in there.” She went over the corner of the room and picked up a bag; she untied the bag and tipped it upside down, three sparrows flew out.
Yang Guo thought, “Oh, so Gu Gu went out to catch some sparrows.”
Xiao Longnu said, “Catch the three sparrows and give them to me. You mustn’t harm their wings or claws.”
Yang Guo said, “Fine!” He threw himself forward to catch them. But the sparrows were swift and quick; they flew to the west and darted to east. Yang Guo was out of breath, his head covered with sweat, yet he couldn’t even touch a feather of theirs.
Xiao Longnu said, “You won’t catch them like that, I’ll teach you a way.” She then taught him the technique to jump high and dart low, and the ability to catch things quickly. Yang Guo had realized that she caught the sparrows to teach him kung fu; he made sure he remembered this. Although he understood the formulae and method, it wasn’t easy to use it straight away. Xiao Longnu let him practice, and left the room.
On the first day Yang Guo wasn’t able to catch one. After supper he practiced on the Chilled Jade Bed. On the second day, he could jump higher than before, and his arm movements were much quicker. On the fifth day he eventually managed to catch one. Yang Guo was excited and quickly told Xiao Longnu. He couldn’t guess that she wouldn’t have any words of praise or encouragement. She calmly said, “What use is catching one; you must catch all three.”
Yang Guo said, “I’ve already caught one, how hard could it be to catch all three?” He was mistaken; he tried for two days but wasn’t able to catch them. Xiao Longnu saw that the sparrows were tired, so she fed them and then let them fly off. She then caught another three for him to practice with. By the eighth day, Yang Guo managed to catch all the sparrows in one go.
Xiao Longnu said, “It’s time to go up to Chongyang Palace.”
Yang Guo was alarmed and said, “Why?”
Xiao Longnu didn’t reply and took him out of the tomb. Yang Guo had not seen daylight in seven days, when he was in the daylight again, he struggled to open his eyes. The two of them arrived at Chongyang Palace. Yang Guo was worried, he kept on glancing at Xiao Longnu but she was expressionless, he couldn’t tell what she was thinking. Then he heard her call out in a clear voice, “Zhao Zhijing, come out quickly.”
When they arrived at Chongyang Palace, there were people who had gone in and gave the message of their arrival. After she finished speaking, out came tens of Taoists. Two young Taoists supported Zhao Zhijing, his face was haggard, his eyes deep, he had no way of standing up by himself. When the Taoists saw the two of them, they all held their weapons tightly and angrily glared at them.
Chapter 6 - The Jade Heart Manual
It was strange but Xiao Longnu was checking and tapping, the eighty-one sparrows were all kept within a meter of her. Her arms were as if they were engaged in a flying dance, her palms formed a thousand hands and a thousand palms, no matter how hard the sparrows tried to fly away, they couldn’t escape from the boundary of her palms.
Xiao Longnu took out a container from her pocket and placed it in your Yang Guo’s hand and loudly said, “This is the antidote to the Jade Bee stings, give it to Zhao Zhijing.”
When Yang Guo saw Zhao Zhijing, he ground his teeth in fury, but he didn’t want to disobey Xiao Longnu so he quickly walked up to Zhao Zhijing and placed the bottle down heavily in front of him. When the Taoists heard that Xiao Longnu had returned to the palace, they thought that she had come back to avenge Grandma Sun, they put up their guard and quickly told Ma Yu, Qiu Chuji and the other elders the news, but they didn’t guess that she had come back to bring the antidote, they were startled and could not think of anything to say.
After Yang Guo put down the bottle, he looked at Zhao Zhijing, a vicious expression was on his face; he turned around and walked away.
When Lu Qingdu saw Yang Guo, his blood began to boil, and shouted out, “Little punk, you’ve been kicked out of our sect, why have you come back?”
The day the “Toad Stance” struck him, he lost his breath, but because Yang Guo’s internal energy was shallow, he wasn’t seriously hurt. After a few restoring palms by Qiu Chuji and a few days rest, he recovered. Now, he immediately dashed out, wanting to avenge that day’s push.
Xiao Longnu said, “Guo’Er, if you want, fight back.”
Yang Guo heard footsteps behind him, and heard the wind of a palm, someone was aiming for his neck. In the Tomb of the Living Dead he had slept on the Chilled Jade bed for eight days, and practiced eight days of sparrow catching techniques. Although Xiao Longnu only taught him how to catch sparrows, the Ancient Tomb’s lightness kung fu is outstanding, his skills today and that day in the arena were completely different. He didn’t move backwards or forwards, and waited for Lu Qingdu’s hand to arrive; he crouched down and darted out of the way, and tugged on the sleeve of that hand. Lu Qingdu could not believe that in just a few days, his lightness kung fu had increased dramatically. Influenced by anger he had acted without thinking about the enemy. He had quickly dashed out, his body inclined, his legs unsteady and after being tugged by Yang Guo, he fell down heavily onto the ground.
By the time he picked himself back up, Yang Guo had already hurried to Xiao Longnu’s side. Lu Qingdu shouted and cursed, and wanted to go after him. Suddenly a Taoist hurried out from the crowd, grabbed his arm, and pulled him back. When Lu Qingdu was grabbed, he froze, he looked up to see Martial Uncle Zhen Zhibing; he cursed under his breath and retreated.
Zhen Zhibing called out clearly; “Thank you Miss Long for the antidote.” He bowed down and greeted her.
Xiao Longnu didn’t take any notice and held Yang Guo’s hand and said, “Let’s go.”
Zhen Zhibing said, “Miss Long, Yang Guo is a disciple of the Quanzhen and you insist on taking him away. How can we resolve this?”
Xiao Longnu was startled and said, “I don’t want to hear annoying words.” She held Yang Guo’s arm and went back into the forest. Zhen Zhibing, Zhao Zhijing and the other Taoist stood there startled.
The two went back into the tomb. Xiao Longnu said, “Guo’Er, your kung fu has improved, but you tripping the fat Taoist was wrong.”
Yang Guo said, “That fat Taoist beat me up badly last time, it’s a pity that I wasn’t able to get some punches in. Gu Gu, why shouldn’t I trip him?”
Xiao Longnu said, “It’s not that you shouldn’t trip him, it’s the way you did it that was wrong. You shouldn’t have pulled him to the ground, you shouldn’t have raised your hands to make him fall, but let him fall by himself.”
Yang Guo was pleased, and said, “That’s a fun method, Gu Gu, teach me.”
Xiao Longnu said, “I’ll be Guo’Er, you’ll be the fat Taoist, come and catch me.” She then walked forward slowly.
Yang Guo laughed as he went to catch her. It was as if Xiao Longnu had eyes in the back of her head, when Yang Guo ran fast, her steps were fast, when he slowed down, she slowed down, the distance between she and Yang Guo stayed at around a meter.
Yang Guo said, “I’m going to catch you now!” He threw himself forward, Xiao Longnu didn’t move. Yang Guo saw that his hands were going to grab her shoulders, but his hands grasped thin air as Xiao Longnu darted backwards, escaping his clutches. Yang Guo quickly turned around to try to catch her, but this move was rushed, he used a force opposite to his momentum, his legs became unsteady, he looked at the ceiling as he fell to the floor and his back ached.
Xiao Longnu took him by the right hand and pulled him up. Yang Guo said, “How come you are so fast?”
Xiao Longnu said, “If you catch sparrows for a year, then you can do this as well.”
Yang Guo said, “I’ve caught them already.”
Xiao Longnu chuckled and said, “That counts as catching sparrows? How can our sect’s kung fu be learned so easily? Follow me.” She then led him to another room. This room was larger than the room where Yang Guo first practiced catching sparrows, at least twice the size. There were six sparrows in this room. This room was larger than before; catching the sparrows will be more difficult. Xiao Longnu passed on some more lightness kung fu and catching techniques to him, eight or nine days later Yang Guo was able to catch the six sparrows in one go.
After that, the stone chambers became larger and larger, the number of sparrows also increased, eventually he moved to the main hall, with eighty-one sparrows.
The Ancient Tomb sect’s formulae for internal energy were wondrous, the Chilled Jade Bed’s ability to enhance internal energy cultivation was incredible, in just three months, Yang Guo could catch all eighty-one sparrows in one go. Xiao Longnu was pleased with his rapid progress, and said, “We will now go outside and catch sparrows.”
Yang Guo had lived in the tomb for three months, and was becoming slightly restless, when he heard that he was going outside to practice, his expression changed to one of delight.
Xiao Longnu said, “What is there to be pleased about? This kung fu is hard to master. There are eighty-one sparrows, you must not let one go.”
The two arrived outside. It was March, on the eve of spring. In front of them was a deep green forest, Yang Guo breathed in deeply, and the fragrance of flowers and grasses flowed into his lungs, it was extremely relaxing.
Xiao Longnu opened the bag, the sparrows flew out, then, her pair of delicate hands flew out, checking to the west, and tapping in the east, and forced the sparrows that had flew out to return. The flock of sparrows suddenly got their freedom back, how come they didn’t all scatter everywhere? It was strange but Xiao Longnu was checking and tapping, the eighty-one sparrows were all kept within a meter of her. Her arms were as if they were engaged in a flying dance, her palms formed a thousand hands and a thousand palms, no matter how hard the sparrows tried to fly away, they couldn’t escape from the boundary of her palms.
