The Return of the Condor Heroes Chapter 8

Girl in white.

Yang Guo quietly opened the window and slipped inside the room of the two Taoists. He saw two bags on the bed, he lifted one up and felt its weight, there were about twenty taels of silver and thought, “Just what I need for traveling expenses.” He took it and placed it into his pocket. The other bag was around four feet long; it held two long swords. He took each one out separately and easily snapped the two swords; then placed each back into their sheath. He then wrapped the swords up. He was about to leave the room when another thought crossed his mind, he took off his trousers and urinated all over the Taoists’ quilts and blankets.

He heard the sounds of someone climbing up a wall, and knew that the Taoists’ lightness kung fu was very ordinary; they weren’t able to clear the wall in a single leap. They had to first climb up on top of the wall and then leap down. He quickly darted back into his room, quietly closing the window. The Taoists did not notice anything. Yang Guo placed his ear against the wall to hear what was happening. He heard the Taoists quietly talking; they seemed to think that victory in tomorrow’s duel was in their grasp. They were undressing when suddenly Pi Qingxuan called out, “Hey, why are the blankets damp and wet? Ah, it stinks, apprentice brother Ji, why are you so lazy; wetting yourself on the blankets?”

Ji Qingxu spat out, “What wetting yourself?” He picked up the blanket and called out, “When did a stinking cat urinate here?”

Pi Qingxuan said, “How can a cat urinate so much?”

Ji Qingxu said, “Hmm, that’s strange; where’s our money?” Suddenly the room was turned upside down as the two searched for their money. Yang Guo sn.i.g.g.e.red.

He heard Pi Qingxuan call out loudly, “Inn owner, inn owner, this is an evil inn, isn’t it? Stealing money from guests in the middle of the night?”

They called out a few times; the inn owner woke up from his sleep and came to ask what they wanted. Pi Qingxuan grabbed his chest and said that he was running an evil inn. The inn owner made a clamor, and alerted the inn’s waiters, kitchen staff and the attendants. The guests of the inn also all came out to see what it was all about. Yang Guo hid himself amongst the crowd, and saw the inn owner having his way in the argument, his mouth and tongue couldn’t stop moving, refuting so much that the two Taoists couldn’t get a word in edgeways. That inn owner loved to argue; normally he would stir up trouble with others even when nothing had happened. Now someone had started to provoke him first, in spite of the fact was that justice was completely on his side. He spoke until his mouth started to foam up, and his spirits were becoming more and more intense. The two Taoists were angry and embarra.s.sed; they wanted to use force but they remembered the rules of their sect. They were now at the foot of Mount Zhongnan, how would they dare start trouble? They could only swallow their anger, close their door, and sleep for the night. The inn owner continued to chatter and grumble outside non-stop.

The next morning Yang Guo got up and ate a bowl of noodles. The chatty inn owner came over to greet him and he kept on mumbling curses and insults under his breath. Yang Guo smiled and asked, “How are those two villainous Taoists?”

The inn owner brashly said, “Real b.a.s.t.a.r.ds. Those Taoists wanted to eat and live here free and so in respect for the Chongyang Palace I was going to allow it. But they dare to say that I am running an evil inn. Huh, I’m definitely going to tell the Chongyang Palace. The Taoists of Quanzhen are thousands and thousands in number, which one of them doesn’t adhere to the strict rules and regulations? I can clearly remember the two villainous scoundrel Taoists’ faces; I’m definitely going to point them out…” Yang Guo was amused and stirred in a few words of his own; he gave him the money for the room and food, and then made sure he knew the way to ‘Wolf Valley’ and he left.

In the wink of an eye he had already traveled over thirty li and wasn’t far from the ‘Wolf Valley’. He looked up at the sky and saw that it was still early. He thought, “I’ll first hide off to the side and watch how Gu Gu copes with the enemy. It’s best if Gu Gu does not recognize me at first.”

Yang Guo thought about the day when he fooled Hong Lingbo, and felt pleased with himself, and decided to do the same once more. He went to a nearby farmer’s house, and looked around in the back garden, he saw a large bad tempered bull, its horns knocking into the bull pen and making loud noises. Yang Guo’s brain lit up and thought, “I’ll pretend to be a farmer, and Gu Gu will definitely not be able to recognize me.”

He quietly sneaked into the house. In the house he saw two babies playing on the floor so he didn’t dare make any sort of noise. He found a set of farmer’s clothes and changed into them and then put on a pair of gra.s.s shoes. He got some dirt and rubbed it onto his face. On the wall was a bamboo rain hat, which he took and wore. He picked up a gra.s.s rope and tied it around his waist, and then inserted a short flute in it. He went out and opened the gate to the bull pen. When the bull saw him coming, it began to get angry and when it saw the gate was open, it charged forward aiming to ram into his body. Yang Guo’s left palm pushed down on the bull’s head, and he flipped onto its back. The bull was tall and bulky; each leg weighed nearly one hundred kilos, its tail long and horns sharp. It was extremely large. In the blink of an eye it had already charged onto the main road. It was angry, violent and hot-tempered at this moment in time; it used all its strength to jump upwards, wanting to buck Yang Guo off its back. Yang Guo rode on it’s back steadily, and was extremely pleased with himself. He laughed and said, “If you don’t obey you are going to suffer.” He raised his palm, and chopped down on the bull’s head. He only used twenty percent of his strength, and the bull could not endure it and bellowed. It wanted to jump again but Yang Guo sent down another chop. He chopped it on the head about ten or so times and the bull eventually did not dare to retaliate. Yang Guo then poked the bull’s neck with his finger on the left side and it turned right; when he poked it on the right side of the neck, it turned left, when he poked it on the back it moved forward, and when poked at the front it moved back. He was able to control its movements with his finger. Yang Guo then used his strength to poke its behind and the bull headed forward fiercely. It dashed ahead as if it were a horse. In a short while they pa.s.sed a forest, and came to a valley surrounded by mountains. It was how the inn owner described it. He leapt down from the bull’s back, and allowed it to graze on the gra.s.s on the mountain slopes. His hand held the rope as he lay down on the ground.

He looked at the sun and saw it gradually approaching the middle of the sky. He was becoming more and more nervous; he was afraid that Xiao Longnu would ignore the meeting and wouldn’t show up. It was quiet and peaceful all around, with only the bull making a few snorting noises. Suddenly, at the entrance to the valley were the sounds of palms clas.h.i.+ng, followed by more sounds of palms clas.h.i.+ng from the south side. Yang Guo was lying on the slope, one muddy leg crossed over his knee, his bamboo hat was covering his face, only his right eye was revealed.