Chapter 28 – The wedding, Part 2
Xiao Longnü also said in the same tone: “May Master bless us. Throughout our lives, let us be husband and wife.”
Sun Bu’Er was sitting on a prayer mat. Even though her body couldn’t move, she clearly heard everything the two people said. She looked at them and then understood. Even though the two people’s action was preposterous, it actually stemmed from their guileless nature. She couldn’t help thinking back to the days when she was young and newly married to Ma Yu. Originally she was very angry but by the time the Yang-Long couple stood up, the expression on her face had already turned gentle.
Yang Guo thought: “This time the two of us have become man and wife. Even if I am to die right way, I have no regrets.” As his original worry about the Taoists breaking in to stop them vanished, he turned to Xiao Longnü and joked: “I am a rebellious disciple of the Quanzhen sect. Throughout the martial world, they all knew about it. Now you are also a rebellious disciple.”
Xiao Longnü said: “That’s right. My master ordered me neither to accept a male disciple, nor to get married but I didn’t comply. The many disasters that have fallen upon us were actually to pay for our crimes.”
Yang Guo brightly said: “One must rebel to the end. Master Wang and our Ancestor Grandma were heroes, one hundred times greater than us, but they didn’t dare to get married. If the two of them in the afterworld know, they can’t say we were afraid to do it!”
Then this time there was a ‘ka la’ violent sound coming from the roof, tiles flying about and the rafter breaking. The force was astonishing. The roof actually cracked by the weight of a gigantic bell, which was falling straight down on the top of Sun Bu’Er’s head…
As Yang Guo and Xiao Longnü were boldly bowing to heaven and earth in the hall, the old and young Taoists of the Quanzhen sect couldn’t suppress their anger. Liu Chuxuan pondered for a while and then came up with a plan. He bent down and whispered it into the ears of the other three masters, Qiu Chuji, Wang Chuyi and Hao Datong. The three of them nodded again and again and then said something to a disciple at the door in a low voice. Taking advantage of the situation while the Yang-Long couple was kneeling down inside, they took down a heavy copper bell from in front of the hall, which weighed over a thousand catties. The four of them together would hold the bell, fly up to the top of the hall, and find the right location to smash it down with great force. The bell would make a big hole in the roof before falling down to where Sun Bu’Er was sitting below. With the four masters’ martial skills, even though the bell was very heavy, it would drop down with less than inches of error, trapping Sun Bu’Er inside so Yang Guo couldn’t harm her. As the many Taoists closed in on him, how would the two people be able to fight them off?
Seeing the gigantic bell dropping, Yang Guo instantly understood the ploy. He immediately drew out his black iron sword and sent out with it a thundering force. A ‘dang’ sound echoed as the sword tip made contact with the copper bell. Even though this bell weighed a thousand catties, the force from this sword was strangely fierce and hit the side of the bell. The bell was then bumped off course by a couple of feet. If dropped, Sun Bu’Er’s body would be crushed beneath.
Liu Chuxuan and the other masters who were looking down through the hole at the top of the hall realized the situation and cried out in alarm, their hearts aching. Nobody could have expected that this boy’s sword would have such a divine power. They now saw with their own eyes that Sun Bu’Er would be wretchedly crushed by the large bell, with flesh and blood splattering. Liu Chuxuan shut both eyes, not daring to look, but then heard Qiu Chuji calling out: “Many thanks for your mercy!” Liu Chuxuan then opened his eyes in surprise, only to see the large bell unexpectedly covering Sun Bu’Er’s body. There was no trace of crushed limbs at the side of the bell, and not even a part of her Taoist robe was seen.
As Yang Guo saw his sword pushing the bell off course, which would definitely violently kill Sun Bu’Er on the spot, he suddenly thought: “Today is our husband and wife’s happy day, why bother taking someone’s life? This old Taoist priestess only has a bad temperament and doesn’t possess any real evil intent.” Once thought, he acted. His right sleeve flared out, pushing the prayer mat that Sun Bu’Er was sitting on and sending her right under the bell.
The Liu-Qiu-Wang-Hao four masters at the top of the hall were pleasantly surprised and thought of Yang Guo as enemy no longer. But the numerous disciples below had earlier received their orders. As soon as the large bell was dropped, they were to rush in to attack. Also as they were outside, they didn’t see that the bell’s supposed location was changed. Only hearing a loud noise and seeing dust flying, they all cried out and ran into the hall to attack with their long swords.
Yang Guo then put his black iron sword back onto his back. He used his arm to carry Xiao Longnü and leapt out the back of the palace hall.
Qiu Chuji called out: “Disciples, be careful. You may not take these two people’s lives!” His voice was loud. Even among the noisy battle cries of hundreds of people, each person still heard it clearly. The numerous disciples ran out the back of the hall, their voices echoed: “Capture the treacherous scoundrel!” “The scoundrel violated our founding master’s painting, don’t let him go!” “Quick… Quick, they went out the eastern side!” “The great master ordered, don’t take their lives!”
Before Liu Chuxuan jumped to the top of the hall, he had ordered twenty-one strong men to hide in the courtyard at the back of the palace hall. Yang Guo was just about to open the screen door when he saw the sword reflections in the courtyard, and knew there were men waiting to block them. He thought: “It would be better to leap out through the hole in the roof of the hall. Although there are four big masters there, those people actually won’t dare kill me.” He carried Xiao Longnü and quickly leapt back inside.
Xiao Longnü held on to Yang Guo’s neck with both hands and softly said: “Anyway, we are now married. Our ultimate wish in this world has been granted. If we get out, it’s wonderful but if we don’t, it still doesn’t matter.”
Yang Guo said: “You are right!” Then his right leg flew up, following quickly by his left leg. A ‘peng’ ‘peng’ sound followed as two priests were kicked out of the hall. Unlike the Cave of the Jade Void area which was much wider, the palace hall was packed with the Taoist priests, who now blocked them with the “Big Dipper Formation” [Bei Dou Zhen Fa]. Yang Guo’s left arm was carrying Xiao Longnü so he could only use his legs to injure the enemy and couldn’t break out of the heavy encirclement. He darkly thought: “These dumb Taoist priests can’t spread a complete formation. If only I had my arm free, how would you be able to stop the two of us?” Then another ‘peng’ sound was heard as a priest was kicked, his body flying out and crashing into two other priests.
In between this chaos, an old man with white beard and hair suddenly ran into the palace hall. Trailing behind him was a swarm of honeybees. It was the Old Urchin Zhou Botong. When he first arrived behind the palace hall, the disciples there didn’t pay him any attention, but then the honeybees that followed him started to sting. These bees were not just any ordinary honeybees but indeed were the Jade Bees that Xiao Longnü kept and tamed at the Ancient Tomb. The Quanzhen Taoists who were stung immediately felt the itchy pain that was difficult to endure. Some couldn’t bear it and rolled down on the ground, crying out. This of course added another commotion to the situation.
Zhou Botong was originally on his way to Xiangyang city to help Guo Jing; but then he stole Xiao Longnü’s Jade Bee honey. Afraid to run into her, he decided not to go to Xiangyang but instead came to Mount Zhongnan to find Zhao Zhijing and to investigate how come he dared to plot his Martial Grandpa’s [Master of Masters] death. Along the way he played with the Jade Bee honey and mulled over ways to direct the bees. Playing with the common bees on the road was easy but once he reached Mount Zhongnan, suddenly it all became a disaster. The Jade Bees on the mountain sensed the smell of the Jade Bee honey, many of them buzzed out. Since the Jade Bees were used to Xiao Longnü’s hand signals and whistles, Zhou Botong naturally couldn’t direct them and also couldn’t drive them away. And more than that, they wouldn’t let him rest. The Old Urchin saw the situation was not very funny so he speedily ran to the Chongyang Palace, thinking to find a place to avoid the bees. It just so happened that there was also a commotion at the palace, and actually much noisier.
Seeing Xiao Longnü and Yang Guo in the palace hall, Zhou Botong was delightedly surprised. He quickly threw Xiao Longnü the Jade Bee honey and called out: “Can’t soothe them anymore. I can’t deal with these grandparents of bees. Good Guniang [good Miss] quickly come and save my life.” Yang Guo’s shirt sleeve flared out, catching the bottle. Xiao Longnü let out a small smile and stretched her hand out to take it.
By now the palace hall was filled with buzzing bees. Qiu Chuji and others jumped down to greet and kowtow to their Martial Uncle. Hao Datong shouted out: “Quickly go get torches!” Some of the many disciples were covering their faces with shirt sleeves while others were wielding their sword to strike the bees. Several went to get torches as told.
Zhou Botong paid no attention to Qiu Chuji and others. The Jade Bees had stung him twice on his forehead, which was now swollen with two big lumps. Right now he only wanted to find a secure hiding place where a bee couldn’t sneak in. Seeing a large bell on the floor, his heart was filled with delight. He quickly used his energy to lift it up, only to see that there was someone inside. He didn’t even look to see who that was, saying: “Excuse me. Excuse me. Let me get in.” He pushed Sun Bu’Er out and let himself in. Then he released his hands and a ‘teng’ sound was heard as the heavy bell fell back down. He was very pleased with himself and thought: “No matter how you thousands and thousands of bees pursue, you can’t sting me, the Old Urchin, anymore!”
Yang Guo said in a low voice: “You direct the bees to form a swarm then we can break out of here.” Xiao Longnü was now Yang Guo’s wife. Hearing his words had an authoritative tone, she felt sweetly comfortable in her heart and thought: “This is good. At last, he doesn’t think of me as his master anymore but really as his wife.” So she immediately said “All right!” in a soft and obedient tone. Then she lifted the honey bottle, waved it a few times, and whistled repeatedly. The Jade Bees flew back to their keeper and formed a swarm but Xiao Longnü continuously waved her hand and whistled. The large swarm of Jade Bees broke into two rows, one making way in the front and the other guarding the back, so the Yang-Long couple could find their way out.
Qiu Chuji and others were pleasantly surprised by Zhou Botong’s visit and found it very funny. Seeing that the Yang-Long couple had retreated to the back of the palace hall, they ordered their disciples not to pursue. Wang Chuyi unsealed Sun Bu’Er’s pressure points while Qiu Chuji went over to lift the large bell. Zhou Botong, hiding inside the bell, didn’t know the situation outside. Suddenly he felt that someone outside was lifting it up, he cried out loudly: “Can’t soothe them anymore!” His arms stretched out, pushing the side of the bell and shouting: “Come down!” Qiu Chuji couldn’t match Zhou Botong’s profound internal energy. A ‘dang’ sound was heard as the bell, which was already half a foot from the floor, came down once again. Qiu Chuji laughed and then said: “Zhou Shi Shu [Martial Uncle Zhou] is joking again. Come. We all will fight with him!”
So Qiu Chuji, Wang Chuyi, Liu Chuxuan and Hao Datong each held out a hand and pushed against the outside of the bell. Qiu Chuji shouted: “Lift!” Between the four great forces the bell was raised three feet from the floor but the underside of the bell was empty, not even a shadow inside, and nobody knew where Zhou Botong had disappeared to. The four people cried out ‘Ah!” in surprise. Suddenly a shadow flashed and Zhou Botong was standing beside the bell, laughing his head off. This was because Zhou Botong had glued his hands and feet to the inside of the heavy bell so when it was lifted, people outside naturally couldn’t see him.
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