Chapter 24 – Shocking and dreadful, Part 5
It was deep into the night now; Guo Fu was of course in bed. Xiao Longnu did not wait for any servants to call her, opening the window, she leapt into the room and woke Guo Fu up. She then said “You two are a match made in heaven!” etc, the words that Guo Fu passed onto Yang Guo. She handed the Lady Sword to Guo Fu and went to leave the room.
Guo Fu did not know what she was talking about and said, “What are you saying? I didn’t understand a thing.”
Xiao Longnu did not reply and leaped out of the window. Guo Fu stuck her head out of the window and called out, “Please come back Miss Long.” However, Xiao Longnu did not turn back.
With her head lowered, Xiao Longnu made her way to the garden. A rose bush’s fragrance floated about and it reminded her of the time on Mount Zhongnan when she and Yang Guo were practicing the Jade Maiden’s Manual between the flower thickets. She wanted to go back to way things were when they were living together as Master and disciple yet there was no way it could happen.
In her daze, a voice came from the room to her left saying, “It’s always Xiao Longnu this, Xiao Longnu that, can you stop saying that name for just one day?”
Xiao Longnu was shocked, “Who’s always talking about me?” She stopped her footsteps and listened. Another person let out a dry laugh before saying, “So you can do it but I can’t say it?”
The first person replied, “We are in someone else’s home; with all these ears and eyes about, what would happen to the name of the Quanzhen sect if someone overhears?”
The other person laughed and said, “Oh, so you still remember about Quanzhen’s name? That night by the rose bushes on Mount Zhongnan, that wonderful feeling… ha-ha.” As he got to this point, he just continued laughing and did not say anything else.
Xiao Longnu was even more shocked when she heard this, her suspicions were roused and she thought, “Could it be that when Guo’er and I were unclothed, we were seen by those two Taoists?” From the sounds of the voices, she could tell it was Zhao Zhijing and Zhen Zhibing so she moved quietly to the window and lowered her body as she listened. By now, the two’s voices had become quieter but Xiao Longnu was quite close to them and could still hear everything clearly.
A frustrated Zhen Zhibing said, “Martial Brother Zhao, you torture me day and night, what exactly do you want?”
Zhao Zhijing said, “You know what I want.”
Zhen Zhibing said, “What do you want me to do? I’ve already agreed, all I wanted was for you stop going on about this yet you are getting worse. Do you want me to die in front of you?”
Zhao Zhijing gave a cold laugh and said, “I don’t know, I just can’t help myself, I’ve got to say it.”
Zhen Zhibing suddenly raised his voice a little and said, “You really think I don’t know? You’re just envious of me, envious of brief moment of bliss.” These two sentences were very strange. Zhao Zhijing did not reply, he seemed to want to laugh but could not.
After a long while, Zhen Zhibing mumbled, “Yes, that night within the rose bushes, her accupoints were sealed by the Western Poison Ouyang Feng, she wasn’t able to move and I was able to fulfill my dream. I’m not going to deny it. If I didn’t tell you, you wouldn’t know about it, right? After I told you, you torment me non stop… yet, yet I do not regret it, no, not one single bit…” By now, his voice had become soft; it was as if he was talking in his dreams.
As Xiao Longnu heard this, her heart dropped and her mind seemed to run amok with noise. “Could it be that it was him, it wasn’t my beloved Guo’er? No, it wasn’t him, it can’t be him, he’s lying, and it must be Guo’er.”
She heard Zhao Zhijing continue in a cold tone, “Yes, of course you wouldn’t regret your actions. You didn’t have to tell me about this but you couldn’t keep your joy to yourself, you had to tell someone. When I started to remind you day and night about it, why did you become afraid to hear what I had to say?” Suddenly, a thudding noise on the wall was heard; it was Zhen Zhibing banging his head against the wall. He said, “Fine say it, tell everyone, tell everyone in the world, I don’t care… no, no, apprentice brother Zhao, I’ll agree to whatever you want, just stop bringing this up.”
In the space of a night, Xiao Longnu had heard two heart shattering pieces of news; she stood outside the window in a dazed state, although she heard what they were saying, she was for the time being, unable to grasp the meaning behind their words.
Zhao Zhijing chuckled a few times and said, “As practicing Taoists, we need to keep a clear mind, a slip in our thoughts will lead to evil. The reason I keep on mentioning Xiao Longnu is so that you will soon begin to hate and detest that name. I’m just helping you to adhere to the Taoist teachings.”
Zhen Zhibing said quietly, “She’s a celestial being, how can I hate and detest her?” Suddenly he raised his voice and said, “Don’t try to paint a pretty picture of what you are doing; do you think I’m blind to your ill intentions? One, you are jealous of me and two, you hate Yang Guo, you want to reveal this to everyone so that the two of them will have to live with this for the rest of their lives.”
When Xiao Longnu heard the name ‘Yang Guo’, her heart skipped a beat. Quietly she repeated, “Yang Guo, Yang Guo.” As she said these words, she was filled with a tender feeling and hoped that the two would keep on talking about Yang Guo. As long as someone mentions his name, she would be happy.
She listened on and now heard it was Zhao Zhijing’s turn to raise his voice. He said with hate, “I won’t rest until I teach that bastard a good lesson, humph, it’s just that…”
Zhen Zhibing said, “It’s just that his martial arts are too high, neither you nor I are a match for him, right?”
Zhao Zhijing said, “That’s not definite, what’s so special about his evil sect’s unorthodox martial arts? Once he’s in my hands… ha-ha! Our Quanzhen sect’s martial arts are the orthodox way, why should we be afraid of that scum? Apprentice brother Zhen, just you watch, I’m not going to let him die easily. I’ll break an arm here or a leg there; I’ll make him wish that he was dead. How wonderful it would be if that Xiao Longnu were there to watch him suffer.”
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