Chapter 25 – Domestic troubles and foreign invasion, Part 7
He advanced but before he could enter the cave’s entrance, he paused. When he successively used both his silver and lead wheels to see if there was a trap waiting inside, he had also lost them and so now the only weapons he had in his possession was Xiao Longnu’s silken belt.
He called out: “Long Guniang, I have your weapon with me!”
Then, with one shake, the silken belt unfolded and flew straight inside. His wugong had reached a level where he could wield any weapon without problem. So although Xiao Longnu’s silken belt was weird, he thought he could use it like one would use a whip. But its ability was unexpected and not only that, he was able to use it even from where he was standing. He was not afraid anymore that the opponent would suddenly attack him with the golden needles.
With child-like innocence, Xiao Longnu rose to pick up the silver and lead wheels. She struck the two together and spoke: “Good, let’s exchange weapons so we can start the fight.”
She stretched out her right arm but a quick pain she felt in her hand made her stop and refuse to push forward.
The lead wheel appeared small but it was actually made of very heavy metal. So when Xiao Longnu extended it, she was not prepared for its weight. She quickly pulled back and clutched the two wheels to her chest.
Fawang saw an advantage and quickly dashed forward, extending his hand to grab the wheels. Xiao Longnu took a step back as her left hand shot up as though to release the silver wheel. But it was only a feint move because she used this chance to release several Yu Feng needles in his direction.
These Jade Bee needles were the same ones she had extracted from Zhou Botong’s body so they were no longer as poisonous. Still, they could be used as a weapon. Fawang was prepared, however. When he could not grab the silver wheel, he quickly leapt to the side, allowing the Yu Feng needles to shoot past him, hitting nothing but empty air.
Zhou Botong laughed, saying: “Great, let the bald thief come and then you hit him in the butt with your tiny needles!”
Xiao Longnu said: “Ai! I’ve used up all my Yu Feng needles!”
Dismayed, Zhou Botong scratched his head and said: “That’s one annoying problem.”
He had two personalities in him – one old, the other young – but he did not have the ability to balance the two, so whatever it was he thought or felt at the moment, he always said it without misgivings.
Jinlun Fawang had a scheming mind, but he was really unaware of Zhou Botong’s or Xiao Longnu’s personalities. Believing that no one under the heavens could outsmart him, he thought: “You said that you’ve used up all your Yu Feng needles. Why should I believe you? It’s clear that you want me to believe that to entice me to lower my guard. That old ploy is not going to work on me.”
Thus, Xiao Longnu’s frank speech instead caused Fawang to be even less daring, especially when only days ago in the cave in the hills, Yang Guo had tricked him. He did not want to suffer the same fate as Nimoxing and be crippled in both legs. He would rather wait twelve long hours than go through that.
One hour soon turned to two hours until finally the sky showed first light.
Zhou Botong sat in a kneeling position, trying to circulate his chi in order to get rid of the poison still in his body. But the venom of the Cai Xue spiders was very strong. As he tried to move his chi, his chest suddenly tightened and he felt nauseous. There was no spot where he did not experience some problem. He had tried circulating his chi through different paths, but each try had the same result.
Finally, he sighed dejectedly and said: “Ai, Lao Wan Tong! You’ve tried it so many times its no longer amusing!”
Fawang was peeping in from outside, but since he did not wait and stay in his place for long, he did not know of the problem.
He thought to himself: “This is not good. The old man is trying to practice nei gong!”
With this new development, he carefully took out a golden box from his bosom, removing the cover to reveal several crawling Cai Xue spiders inside. When exposed to the sun, the light made their variegated red and green colors brighter and even more eye-catching.
Next, Fawang took out a pair of rhinoceros horns and used them to catch the spiders between them and gently lifted them from the sticky web. Gently, he tossed the Cai Xue spiders towards the mouth of the cave where they stuck. He repeated his movements and threw the rest of the venomous spiders from the small box towards the cave.
Their sticky web soon covered the entire cave’s entrance. The spiders had been inside the small box for a very long time and they had not been fed so as soon as they were able to get out, they immediately set to work, climbing up, moving east, dropping low, and approaching west, hanging suspended, until they were able to create a network of webs in just a very short time.
Xiao Longnu and Zhou Botong watched with interest as the spiders spun the web, yet it never occurred to either one of them to stop their progress. Only when the web reached about ten feet in diameter, covering the entire mouth of the cave, and the red-green venomous spiders start to crawl around did they look troubled.
Xiao Longnu said softly: “What a pity I don’t have any more Yu Feng needles left. I could have used one to remove these nasty spiders.”
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