The Return of the Condor Heroes

Chapter 29 – Numerous disasters, Part 3

Wu Santong and Wanyan Ping were injured so they couldn’t just speed away. They all traveled a hundred li for each day and then stopped to rest. Li Mochou stayed clear of other people at night and hurried along with them at a distance during the day.

Traveling by day and resting by night, the six young men and women were having a good time chatting and laughing. And the further they went, the friendlier they became. When the Wu brothers originally were bickering over Guo Fu, their brotherhood ties were greatly strained. Now that each had his own love, the two brothers were on the best of terms. Wu Santong looked at them and his heart was greatly consoled. But also every time, he also thought, “That day, even if the two brothers weren’t poisoned by Li Mochou, they could have destroyed each other. I’d have been left with only one… I couldn’t even call him a son. And today the two animals are surprisingly having a good time while Brother Yang has lost an arm. Alas, what can I really say? Only cutting off an arm from each of these two little animals and putting them on Brother Yang’s body would make sense.” As for the fact that Yang Guo would end up with three arms in that scenario, he hadn’t actually thought about it.

And then one day they reached Mount Zhongnan. Huang Rong and Wu Santong led the group up to the Chongyang Palace to greet the Quanzhen five masters. Li Mochou stood at a distance and said, “I’ll wait here then.” Huang Rong knew Li Mochou and the Quanzhen sect had a grudge so she didn’t press the matter and went up the path towards the Chongyang Palace.

Liu Chuxuan, Qiu Chuji and others were informed about their arrival so they quickly came out of the palace to welcome them. They entered the palace hall together and sat down at a provided place. As they were exchanging their greetings, they suddenly heard someone shouting loudly. Huang Rong was very delighted and called out, “Old Urchin, won’t you come out and see who is here?”

Recently, Zhou Botong had been obsessively studying ways to command the Jade Bees. He was by nature intelligent and tenacious. But to everybody’s surprise, he was happy with small successes and only wanted to play and have good times. Suddenly, he heard someone shouting. That was Huang Rong’s voice. He was thrilled and so he said, “Aha…that is my brother’s crafty and eccentric wife!” Then he made loud noises and rushed out from behind the hall.

Yelu Qi went forward and kowtowed. He said, “Shi Fu [Master], I pay you respect. May happiness be with you, Great Elder, forever.” With a laugh Zhou Botong said, “Enough, just get up! May happiness be with you little baby forever too!”

Hearing that, the people all found it strange. Nobody would have expected Yelu Qi to be Zhou Botong’s disciple. This Old Urchin was madly crazy but his chosen disciple was a skilled gentleman. Together, they were nothing alike. Qiu Chuji and others saw that their Shi Shu [Martial Uncle] had accepted a disciple; they were all very happy and then busily congratulated him. And this time, Guo Fu understood what her mother and Yelu Qi were laughing about the other day. It was because her mother had guessed correctly that Zhou Botong was Yelu Qi’s teacher.

Yelu Qi had met Zhou Botong twelve years ago. At that time he was still quite young so he and Zhou Botong played together quite nicely. Zhou Botong then accepted him as a disciple. Although Zhou Botong didn’t teach him a lot of kung fu, Yelu Qi was talented and determined. He practiced his martial skills diligently and surprisingly became an outstanding character of the young generation. Sadly for him, Zhou Botong saw him growing up well-behaved and nothing like a small mischievous child. His heart was filled with regrets and therefore didn’t allow Yelu Qi to call himself the Old Urchin’s direct disciple. But by this point, Zhou Botong couldn’t get rid of him either.

Amid all the excitement came sudden sounds of battle cries from below the mountain. The sect disciples reported that the enemy was gathering for an attack. The other day the Quanzhen sect refused to bow down to the Mongolian Prince’s imperial decree and also killed many of them. Qiu Chuji and others knew that this matter couldn’t easily be resolved and that the Mongolian army would sooner or later come back up the mountain. They also realized that the Quanzhen sect would not be able to fend off the Mongolian army so they had already arranged a plan to abandon the palace and retreat to the West. By this time the Zhang Jiao [sect chief] position had already been assigned to a third generation disciple, Li Zhichang, but, facing this important matter, it was still left to the Quanzhen Five Masters to make decisions. Qiu Chuji turned to Huang Rong and said, “Guo Fu Ren [Madame Guo], the Mongolian army has attacked! This is such an inopportune time. Please don’t think badly of our hospitality.”

Then everybody heard the deadly sounds of drum rolls and battle cries from below the mountain. Just now Huang Rong had come up the mountain from the southern side while the Mongolian army took the northern route. They had arrived roughly about the same time.

Zhou Botong said, “Are the enemies coming? How really wonderful! Come, we’ll go make mincemeat out of them.” Then he stretched out his hand to grab Yelu Qi’s wrist and said, “You show the kung fu Shi Fu [Master] taught you to these several old sect brothers. I say you are not worse than the Quanzhen Seven Masters. Add you to them and we’ll make the Quanzhen Eight Masters.” In general, when small children had a beloved toy, they would want to show it off to people. If people liked it, then they’d become very happy. At first Zhou Botong had forbidden Yelu Qi to tell people who his master was because Yelu Qi lacked naughtiness and didn’t in the least bit resemble the famous Old Urchin’s skilled disciple. But today the master and the disciple met again and were delighted to see each other. Zhou Botong totally forgot the rule he himself set up before.

Qiu Chuji said, “Shi Shu [Martial Uncle], our sect has existed for many decades. It is the lifetime blood and sweat of my late master and can’t be ruined in just one moment. Today the best plan is for everybody in our sect to retreat.” Not waiting for Zhou Botong to voice his opinion, he gave orders, “Everybody carry all the things and go down the mountain according to our planned course.” The many disciples replied in one voice, carried the packages that had been prepared earlier, and rushed down the east and west sides of the mountain in rows. A few days earlier, the Quanzhen Five Masters and Li Zhichang had properly divided people, detailing who would dash to the front and who would guard the back, where they would meet, and how to communicate. Also, they’d many times rehearsed the plan and so there was no chaos at the last moment.

Huang Rong said, “Qiu Dao Zhang [Taoist Elder Qiu], in a situation like this a small mistake could lead to a disaster. Your honored sect has arranged everything in order, indicating a great ability. When you stage a comeback, your sect will be even more prosperous. This time we are here to look for Yang Guo so we will take our leave right now.” Qiu Chuji said with surprise in his voice; “Yang Guo? Do you know if he’s still here on the mountain?” With a faint smile Huang Rong replied, “We’ve got someone who knows his whereabouts.”

Having said this, she heard the loud battle cries again from below the mountain. Huang Rong thought, “The Quanzhen sect has earlier made an arrangement. They can withdraw themselves. I came up the mountain to look for Yang Guo and get my daughter. Let’s not get into the battle and delay our important matter.” Immediately she bid farewell to Qiu Chuji and others, called out to those who came up the mountain with her, and rushed out to the back of the Chongyang Palace. Then she said to Li Mochou, “Li Zi Zi [Sister Li], please tell us how to get into the tomb.”

Li Mochou asked, “How do you know he’s inside Gu Mu? Huang Rong chuckled and said, “Even if Yang Guo isn’t inside Gu Mu, the Jade Heart Manual definitely is.” Li Mochou shivered and secretly thought, “This Guo Fu Ren [Madame Guo] is indeed deadly. How did she know about my concern?”

Li Mochou followed this group of people from Xiangyang to Zhongnan. Except for Huang Rong, nobody paid attention to her. Along the way, there was nothing interesting and, needless to say, the Wu father and sons were secretly waiting to set a deathtrap for her. In her mind, Huang Rong thought, “Even if she likes Xiang’er very much, she won’t be willing to put herself in a great danger. There surely must be an important scheme.” Having mulled over this, she remembered that Yang Guo and Xiao Longnü had used the “Jade Maiden Swordplay” to defeat Jinlun Fawang. Li Mochou obviously didn’t know these skills of the sect, otherwise she’d have used it. How wouldn’t she be interested? She was actually going to get the Jade Heart Manual but was afraid that the seven people would get inside Gu Mu before her and take it. Huang Rong put two and two together and guessed correctly what Li Mochou was thinking.

Li Mochou thought that since Huang Rong already knew her intention, she could just make it bluntly clear. She said, “I’ll help you get back your daughter and you must help me get my sect’s martial manual back. You are the Chief of the Beggar Clan and also a world-renowned heroine; you cannot say things you don’t mean.”

Huang Rong then said, “Yang Guo is the son of my husband Guo’s deceased friend. He and I have some small misunderstandings, which will easily disappear when we see each other. If my daughter is really with him, he’ll return her to me himself and there’s no need to talk about baby snatching.” Li Mochou retorted, “If that’s the case, we’ll go our own separate ways and say goodbye here.” After saying that, she turned to walk away.

Huang Rong gave Wu Santong a meaningful glance. Wu Santong unsheathed his long sword and shouted, “Li Mochou, do you still think you can leave Mount Zhongnan alive today?”

Li Mochou thought that she herself was not even Huang Rong’s match. Now adding the Wu father and sons, the Yelu siblings, and others, how would she be able to break her way out? Originally she had a clever plan but she ran into Huang Rong and surprisingly found her hands and feet tied, not being able to use all her sly tricks. So indifferently she said to Huang Rong, “Guo Fu Ren [Madame Guo] can cleverly change. Since Yang Guo is on the mountain, why are you still worried about not finding him? Why do you need me to lead the way?”

Huang Rong knew that Li Mochou had to be forced so she said, “Little sister actually doesn’t have the ability to find the entrance to Gu Mu. However, even if Yang Guo and Xiao Longnü have secluded themselves inside the tomb, eventually they must come out to buy rice and cut firewood. If seven of us scatter around and wait patiently, surely we’ll run into them some day.” The meaning of this was that – if you were not willing to guide us, we’d immediately kill you. Finding Yang Guo a few days later was not that important.

Li Mochou thought about it. The opponents were really strong and secure. Right here on the flat land, she was overwhelmed by numbers. However, if she led these many people to the underground tomb, where she was familiar with the terrain, she could find a way to secretly kill them off one by one. So she said, “Today you won by numbers, I have nothing to say. Anyhow, I also want to find Yang Guo. Come with me!” She pushed aside prickly shrubs and walked inside the tree thickets.

Huang Rong and others followed her close behind, fearing that she would suddenly run away. She saw Li Mochou making her way through clusters of rocks. Many parts were obviously not passable, with zigzagging paths that led to a dead end. This terrain was all natural, with no human interference. So even though Huang Rong knew the “Five Phrase Marvelous Gate” art, she couldn’t use its logic to figure out the way. She thought, “There is a saying ‘Wonderful workmanship exceeds nature.’ In fact, how could human beings ever surpass the work of nature?”

They walked for a while and then arrived at the bank of a small creek. At this time they could still hear the sounds of the Mongolian battle cries but as they were deep in the woods, the shouting sounded as if it was coming from very far away.