Chapter 19 – The underground old lady, Part 11
Gongsun Zhi pierced her chest with the sword and killed her.
“I was outside the pill room looking in through the window and was slightly alarmed, I was afraid that the second move will go for his throat. When he raised the sword, I was about to call out to him to stop; but then I saw him wiping the blood away from his sword on Rou’er’s body before putting the sword back into it’s sheath. He turned to the window and said, ‘Sister Chi, I’m willing to repent; I’ve killed that bitch with my own hands, just spare me.” He lifted his hand towards his mouth and swallowed the Passionless Pill. This wasn’t something that I had expected, but since it had ended this way and he was repenting sincerely, I was very pleased. He then planned a feast to apologize to me. I scolded him for awhile and he kept on saying that he deserved to die and he swore hundreds of poisonous oaths, saying that he would never betray me again.”
Yang Guo thought, “You’re falling into his trap!”
However Lu E was in tears.
Qiu Qianchi said angrily, “What? You pity that bastard?”
Lu E shook her head and didn’t say anything. She was actually crying at her father’s cruelty and heartlessness.
Qiu Qianchi continued, “I drank two cups of wine and chuckled; I then took out another Passionless Pill from my pockets and placed it on the table. I laughed, ‘You might have acted a bit too fast; I was just testing what kind of person you were. If you had begged for just a little while longer I would have given two pills to you. You would have been able to save the life of that little beauty, wouldn’t that have been great?”
Lu E quickly asked, “Mother, if he actually did beg you for a little while longer, would you have given him two pills?”
Qiu Qianchi thought for a while and said, “I don’t know. At that time, the thought of saving that slut passed through my mind. If I saved her and sent her away, then Gongsun Zhi would have been touched by this and might have actually come back to me, not daring to do such things again. But all he cared about was his life and he quickly killed his own lover. That can’t be blamed on me.”
“Gongsun Zhi picked up the Passionless Pill and looked at it for a long while before he raised his cup and laughed, ‘Sister Chi, that’s in the past, why bring it up? It’s better to kill that girl and tie things up neatly. Let’s drink.’ I was slightly suspicious when he kept on telling me to drink but I was feeling great and joyful and actually became quite drunk. By the time I woke up, I was already down in this grotto and the tendons in my arms and legs had been destroyed by him. That bastard did not have the guts to see me again. Huh, he must have thought that I’d died long ago.”
When she finished talking about this, her eyes suddenly developed a fierce light and her expression was terrifying. Yang Guo and Lu E both turned away, not daring to look her in the eye. The three of them didn’t say a single word for a long, long time.
Lu E took a look around and all saw that the only things in the cave were rocks, hair and grass; she said somberly, “Mother, have you been relying on these dates only for all these years?”
Qiu Qianchi said, “Yes. Do you think that bastard would send me food?”
Lu E hugged her and cried, “Mother!”
Yang Guo said, “Has Gongsun Zhi ever mentioned an exit to this grotto?”
Qiu Qianchi chuckled, “He never mentioned that there was such a grotto and pool beneath the manor in all the years we were married. If there was another exit, that bastard would not have put me here. He put those crocodiles in the pool afterwards; he was still afraid that that I would somehow manage to get out.”
Yang Guo looked around and saw that indeed there was no other way out apart from the entrance. He lifted his head and looked at the hole in the grotto roof. It was at least a thousand feet off the ground, the tallest tree down there was just forty or fifty feet tall, even if twenty of them were stacked together they would not reach the roof. He thought for a while but couldn’t come up with anything. He then said, “I’ll take a look from the top of the tree.” He then leapt on top of a date tree and saw that there were bumps and grooves higher up the stone walls; it wasn’t like down below where it was all smooth and slippery. He then climbed up along the wall and was getting higher and higher; he was pleased and turned back to Lu E and called out, “Miss Gongsun, if I can get out I’ll let a rope down and get both of you out.”
He climbed up about six or seven hundred feet; with his outstanding lightness kung fu, he managed to turn all the dangers he met along the way into minor obstacles. But when he was about seventy or eighty feet away from the entrance, the walls became smooth and slippery without any hand holds and the walls slanted inwards as well. You wouldn’t be able to get out unless you were a fly.
Yang Guo took a look around and saw that the opening of the cave was around ten feet wide; more than enough space for someone to pass through. He had a plan and slipped back down to the bottom of the grotto and said, “We can get out! But we’ll need a long rope.” He then took out the dagger and cut bark off the date trees and tied them into a rope. Gongsun Lu E was delighted and helped him. Although the two were quick, they had to work for over four hours. The sky was dark before they finished forming an extremely long rope made out of tree bark.
Yang Guo held the rope and tugged it a few times with force; he said, “It won’t snap.” He then used the dagger to cut off a branch that was around fifteen feet in length and tied one end of the rope to the middle of the branch and wrapped the rope up around it. He then climbed up along the wall again until he neared the top. He then used the “Thousand Kilogram Fall” in his legs to secure his footing and circulated energy into his arms. He shouted out, “Get up!” He threw the tree branch towards the opening of the cave. He used just the right amount of energy and when the branch came back down, it hung across the opening of the cave. Yang Guo pulled the rope to make sure the branch was secure across the opening of the cave. Just two tugs, after which he felt the branch was tight, secure and would be able to take his weight. He called out, “I’m going up!” He grabbed the rope and climbed up it; he looked down and saw that Lu E and her mother had become two small black images in the indistinct evening light.
He used more strength in his hands and climbed up even quicker; in a short while he had reached the branch that was hanging across the opening of the cave. He bent his arms and a ‘hu’ sound was heard as he flew out of the cave and landed on the ground.
He took in a few deep breaths and then stood up. He saw that a bright moon had risen in the east above the mountains. He had been trapped down in the pool and grotto for half a day; now as he gained freedom, he felt an indescribable comfort and thought, “Will I feel no boredom at all if I stay in the tomb with Gu Gu? It is clear that the affect of the surroundings depends on one’s feelings; if one wants to get out but can’t they’ll feel troubled in their hearts; but for those who don’t want to get out, getting out will create misery.” He then lowered the rope.
As soon as Qiu Qianchi saw Yang Guo climb out of the cave, she cursed her daughter, “Stupid girl, how can you let him get out by himself? Why would he still be worried about us once he gets out?”
Lu E said, “Mother, relax, brother Yang is not that sort of person.”
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