Chapter 23 – Enmity between siblings, Part 8
Yang Guo swept his wooden rod lightly and called out, “Watch out, this stance is called “The Flute’s Notion to a Dragon”!” Using the rod as a sword, the rod suddenly straightened and thud, the rod struck Wu Dunru on the right side of his chest. If the wooden rod were a sharp sword, the sword would have gone through him taking his life.
Wu Xiuwen was alert and quickly attacked with his sword, attacking Yang Guo’s right side but he was still too slow, Yang Guo’s wooden rod had turned around and suddenly pierced towards his right side. This stance started second but finished first, Wu Xiuwen’s wrist would have been struck by the rod before his sword reached his opponent. If that happened he would surely be disarmed. He quickly changed his stance, pulling his waist in and taking his sword back, as he kicked out with his left leg. However, Yang Guo’s rod was now going towards Wu Dunru’s shoulder; the rod moved and so did Yang Guo, displaying attack and defense at the same time, avoiding Wu Xiuwen’s kick without dodging. Wu Xiuwen’s kick hit thin air while Wu Dunru’s situation became dire; he used his sword and defended tightly to avoid any more blows to his body.
Within a few more stances, both brothers were struggling; even if they defended with their lives it wouldn’t be enough, how would they even have time to try to cut the wooden rod?
Yang Guo called out the stances, “The Clear Tone Away from the Mountain”, “Gold Ringing and Jade Resonating”, “The Long Call of the Phoenix Song”, “The Sound Across the Stage”, “The Flowing of the Boat’s Song” The wooden rod attacked continuously, graceful and flowing with every stance an offensive one; before the Wu brothers could neutralize a stance, out came a second, a third and so on. He pierced and slashed with the wooden rod and forced the Wu brothers to defend together and they did not dare to take a step away from each other. When the Wu brothers saw Huang Rong performing the swordplay, they didn’t ponder much on it and thought that this handsome and graceful swordplay was only used for show. How would they know that it could be used in such ingenious ways? The stances that Yang Guo called out were the same as the ones that Huang Rong had called out when she was performing the swordplay. With their swords under someone’s control and struggling to respond, their spirits were dampened further and both of them were now convinced that Huang Rong had taught Yang Guo this “Jade Flute Swordplay”. How would they know that Yang Guo had spent many days with Huang Yaoshi and had his personal tutoring of the “Jade Flute Swordplay” and the “Divine Release of the Flicking Finger”?
When Yang Guo saw their miserable expressions, he felt slightly bad about it but he remembered that he must see this through to the end. If he didn’t convince them once and for all to not see Guo Fu ever again, these brothers would definitely fight over her again until one of them lost their life.
What medicine is there that doesn’t taste bitter? For good to come out of this, there must be a little suffering. He hurried his swordplay and kept on pressing relentlessly. The brothers became more and more alarmed as they fought on but with the rod like a blur threatening all their vitals, they could only clench their teeth and defend with all they had.
The “Yue Maiden Swordplay” that the Wu brothers had learned was actually itself a powerful swordplay but the two had yet to reach a high level of proficiency with it; when Guo Jing taught them he wasn’t too good with his words so he wasn’t able to pass on the more intricate and subtle points of the swordplay to them. As a result, if the Wu brothers fought your average Wulin fighter, the brothers would prove more than a match for them; but under the rod of Yang Guo, there were endless weaknesses. Yang Guo’s “Jade Flute Swordplay” had yet to be perfected as well but his martial arts were a lot better than the Wu brothers. Plus, the Wu brothers were in an emotional state and so their stances were even more flawed.
Yang Guo did not use his fatal stances and instead, slowly transferred his internal energy into the rod. After fighting for a while, the two brothers felt that their opponent’s rod was exuding a strong sucking force, causing their swords to twist and turn. One sword aimed towards the opponent but the tip of the sword turned in the opposite direction to where it was meant to go. The force that the rod emitted got stronger and stronger until it forced the brothers to fight each other. One stance of Wu Dunru’s that aimed for Yang Guo almost struck his own brother and Wu Xiuwen himself almost slashed Wu Dunru; Wu Dunru had to use all his strength to block the attack.
Yang Guo gave a long laugh and said, “There’s more to the “Jade Flute Swordplay” than this, you better be careful!” ‘Dang’, the wooden rod met with Wu Dunru’s sword. The rod had met with the face of the sword and remained completely intact. Wu Dunru felt an extremely powerful sucking force pulling outwards almost forcing the sword out of his hands. He had to quickly transfer his energy to the sword to snatch it back. Yang Guo’s wooden rod followed his force and trapped Wu Xiuwen’s sword as well. Yang Guo then pushed downwards and forced the swords to the ground. The brothers pulled loose; Yang Guo stepped forward onto the swords tips and raised the wooden rod towards them, lightly touching their throats. Yang Guo laughed, “Well?”
If the wooden rod were a sharp sword, the brothers’ throats would have been cut open. And even with the wooden rod, if Yang Guo had put a bit more force behind the attack, the brothers would surely suffer a serious injury. The brothers’ faces were ash grey and they kept silent in misery. Yang Guo raised his left foot and leapt back three paces. He watched the brothers’ wretched expressions. Memories of the insult of being beaten up by the two filled his mind, now that he’s gotten his own back today; a look of satisfaction came over his face.
The brothers no longer had any suspicions and were now convinced that Yang Guo had indeed received teaching of great skills from Huang Rong. But the brothers have been in love with Guo Fu ever since they were young; to end it like this in a single fight and to not ever see her again was something they were not prepared to do. Also, in the sword fight, the opponent had gotten the initiative straight away and they were forced onto the back foot; they had not even used ten percent of what their Master had taught them and there was no chance for them to use their newly learned “Solitary Yang Finger”.
Wu Xiuwen shouted, “Brother, if we leave it like this, what point is there in living on? Let’s just fight to the death!”
Wu Dunru’s heart stirred and he called out, “Yes!”
The two of them lifted their swords and attacked; they no longer cared about defending themselves and attacked with every stance.
This change in approach was indeed impressive, by just attacking and not defending, they were going to try to take Yang Guo’s life even if it meant dying by his hand in the process. Yang Guo pointed at their vitals but the two ignored it, using a sword in their right hand and unleashing the “Solitary Yang Finger” with their left, they used all their best skills as they tried to kill their opponent.
Yang Guo laughed, “Good, this is more like it!” He threw away his wooden rod and moved around within the blades. The brothers fought more and more viciously as they went on but still they were unable to harm him.
Wu Santong watched from the side with mixed feelings; he hoped that Yang Guo would win so his sons would forget about Guo Fu but he also hoped that his sons would be able to defeat Yang Guo as they delivered their dangerous strokes.
Suddenly, he heard Yang Guo give a crisp whistle and then saw him flicking the swords with his finger; ‘dang’, ‘dang’, the two swords flew towards the sky. Yang Guo caught the swords in his hands and laughed, “This “Divine Release of the Flicking Finger” was also taught to me by my mother-in-law!”
Now that it’s got to this stage, the brothers knew that continued fighting would just result in further embarrassment for them. Yang Guo flipped the swords around and shot the swords towards them. He bowed and said, “My apologies.”
Wu Xiuwen replied miserably, “Fine, I’ll never see sister Fu again.” He then held his sword across and moved the blade towards his throat. Wu Dunru’s feelings were the same as his brother and he too held his sword across his neck to kill himself.
Yang Guo was shocked to see this and quickly flew across to them; two ‘dang’ sounds were heard as he flicked their swords away with his finger once again. The handles of the sword flipped outwards and swords collided, ‘dong’; and the swords broke in two.
As this happened, Wu Santong had leaped out and quickly grabbed his sons around the neck from behind, he yelled, “The two of you are giving up your own lives for a woman, you don’t deserve to be called a man.”
Wu Xiuwen lifted his head and said forlornly, “Father… didn’t you… didn’t a woman cause a life of unhappiness for you as well? I…” Before he could finish, he saw the remnants of tears on his father’s face under the starlight showing he was extremely hurt by their actions. Fighting with his brother like this had caused his father great pain and as he thought about this, he called out. Wu Santong loosened his grip and hugged him. His left hand hugged Wu Dunru and the three of them were held in a mutual embrace. Wu Dunru thought about how he had given his heart to Guo Fu but she and Yang Guo had already become a couple. Even their Master wife had kept it from him and his brother that she had picked him out to be her son in-law and taught him her greatest skills. It appeared that everyone had treated them falsely and only fatherly and brotherly love between them is real; he hugged his father and couldn’t stop himself from crying.
Yang Guo had always been an impetuous fellow. On this occasion his intentions were good, but he had caused the Wu brothers great humiliation. As he watched the father and sons in their loving embrace, he felt great satisfaction in his heart. Although he hasn’t long to live, he has at least done one good deed before he died.
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