Chapter 29 – Numerous disasters, Part 1
Numerous disasters.
Guo Fu called out, “It’s my little red horse. It’s my…” As she was saying that, the red horse rushed in front of them. Guo Fu leapt forward. The red horse recognized its master and didn’t need for her to pull the reins. It fought to stop, raised its head, and neighed.
Guo Fu saw that mounting on the horse was a young girl dressed in black. When they met before, Guo Fu was fighting side by side with her against Li Mochou. This girl was indeed Wanyan Ping. Her hair was disheveled. Her face was greenish pale. And she looked extremely distressed. Seeing that, Guo Fu asked, “Wanyan Zi Zi [Elder Sister Wanyan], what’s happened to you?”
Wanyan Ping pointed her finger to the path she just came from and said, “Quick… Quick…” Suddenly her body toppled, falling down from the horse.
Guo Fu cried out in alarm and reached out to support her. She turned to her mother and said, “Ma, this is elder sister Wanyan.” While saying that, she gave Li Mochou a stare.
Huang Rong mused, “She raced the precious horse [Han Xie Yu] like this. Nobody in the world could catch up with her so of course she was not in danger. But when she pointed her finger to the North, she had a distressed look. She must be worried about other people. We must rush out to help them.” So she told her daughter to help Wanyan Ping sit up on the horse and also said, “This horse’s feet are too swift. You can’t rush ahead of me no matter what!” Guo Fu asked, “Why not?” Huang Rong quipped, “There’s a great danger lying ahead. How have you not figured it out?” After saying that she gave Li Mochou a hand signal and the two galloped north.
After rushing for ten li, as expected they heard the faint sounds of weapons clashing from the other side of the mountain. Huang Rong and Li Mochou urged the mules to go around the mountain and then in the field before them they saw five people engaging in a wicked fight. Two of them were the Wu brothers. There were also a young man and a young woman Huang Rong did not recognize. The four of them were fighting against a middle-aged man and even though it was four against one, they were defending more than attacking. The Wu brothers were both wounded and the young man was fiercely brandishing his long sword against that middle-aged man’s better moves. Lying down on the ground nearby was another person, Wu Santong, who was incessantly yelling and shouting.
Huang Rong saw that man’s left hand holding a large flashing gold knife and his right hand wielding a thin, long, black sword. His sword moves were strangely fantastic and not something she’d seen before. If she herself didn’t jump in, the Wu brothers would definitely be in imminent danger. So she said to Li Mochou, “Those two young men are my disciples.”
Li Mochou let out a laugh and said, “Their mother was killed by me. How can it be that you don’t know?” Li Mochou saw that the middle-aged man’s martial skills were strangely high. She’d never heard that there was such a person in Jianghu and she was secretly quite astonished. Finally, she faintly smiled and said, “Let’s fight!” Li Mochou pulled out her fly whisk while Huang Rong also held firm the bamboo stick in her hand. Then together the two of them approached that man from left and right. Li Mochou’s brush attacked his black sword while Huang Rong’s bamboo cane tangled his gold knife.
This middle-aged man was of course the master of the Passionless Valley sect Gongsun Zhi. As he suddenly saw two middle-aged beautiful females coming to attack in pair, his heart shook. But then he heard Li Mochou shout, “One!” and her whisk flashed out. “Two!” she called out again. At first she and Huang Rong were secretly comparing their strength to see who would first beat this person but as she continuously counted to “ten”, Gongsun Zhi was still attacking and defending. Then, with three stances, the young man’s sword was thrust to the back of Gongsun Zhi. These sword stances were packed with fierce strength. Gongsun Zhi knew he’d eventually lose if he continued to fight so he didn’t try to block them but instead jumped forward over ten feet. He looked at Huang Rong and Li Mochou and secretly thought, “Where did these two ferocious women come from? But oh, how beautiful they are!” Having thought that, he clashed his knife and sword, making a weng-weng sound, and then leapt up again.
Huang Rong and Li Mochou didn’t dare to underestimate the enemy so they tightened up their guards. Gongsun Zhi turned his body around in midair and when he dropped to the ground, he got up again and rushed up the mountain. With a smile, Huang Rong and Li Mochou looked at each other and both thought, “This person had powerful martial skills and was also cunning. If fighting by myself, I’m afraid that I wouldn’t be his match.”
The Wu brothers pressed their wounds with their hands and moved forward to kowtow to their Shi Mu [Martial Mother]. Then they both stood up and angrily stared at Li Mochou. Huang Rong said, “You won’t settle the old debt today. Your father’s injury would be in the way, wouldn’t it? Who are these two people? Ai yo, wretched! Li Zi Zi [Elder Sister Li] come with me quickly!” She didn’t even waste time getting on the mule but flew her body toward the road and rushed out. Li Mochou didn’t get her meaning but still followed her. Then she asked, “What’s the matter?” Huang Rong answered, “Fu’er, Fu’er will run right into this person!”
The two used their internal energy to pursue him but Gongsun Zhi was really fast. Only with a somewhat small delay, he’d already left them far behind.
Guo Fu was supporting Wanyan Ping with both hands. Both of them rode the red horse and slowly emerged from behind the mountain. Huang Rong saw them from a distance so she used her internal energy to call out, “Fu’er, be careful!” Her sound hadn’t even faded when Gongsun Zhi quickly approached them and jumped up onto the horse’s back. He stretched out his hand to hold Guo Fu still while pulling the reins to turn the horse’s head around. Seeing that, Huang Rong puckered her lips to whistle and then rushed forward.
Gongsun Zhi was startled and thought, “How come today all my affairs went wrong like this? Can’t I even befriend a domesticated animal?” Then he exerted his strength to rein in the horse. This force was not weak and so the red horse let out a long neigh and reared up. Thinking to flee southward, Gongsun Zhi forced the horse to turn around but instead it flitted about and kicked up its legs. And then it unexpectedly moved backwards step-by-step. Delighted, Huang Rong sped up. Gongsun Zhi saw that the red horse was incredibly stubborn and that Huang Rong and Li Mochou were closing in, he sheathed the weapons. Holding Guo Fu with his right hand and Wanyan Ping with his left, they got off the horse. Now Huang Rong and Li Mochou, with their lightness kung fu, were approaching fast and were only a short distance away.
Gongsun Zhi turned around and said with a smile, “If I squeeze my arms, will these two beautiful and delicate girls still live?”
Huang Rong asked, “Who are you, sir? You and I have never met. Why would you capture my daughter?”
With a smile Gongsun Zhi said, “This is your daughter? Are you really Wanyan Fu Ren [Madame Wanyan]?”
Huang Rong pointed at Guo Fu and said, “That one is my daughter!”
Gongsun Zhi looked at Guo Fu and turned to gaze at Huang Rong. With a grin he said, “Tsk…tsk…tsk, very beautiful. Mother and daughter are both beautiful, very beautiful!”
Although Huang Rong was furious, her daughter was in his hands. She had to be careful not to fight the enemy and harm her daughter in the process. Therefore she had used a delay tactic and reasoned with him. But suddenly she heard the two ‘Sou…Sou’ whishing sounds from behind. Two long arrows flew past her own left cheek and straight towards Gongsun Zhi. The arrows were fiercely fast and they made extremely loud sounds while cutting through the air. Upon hearing the sounds of the arrows, she was so happy she almost cried out, thinking it was surely her husband arriving. The martial masters in the central plains of China rarely learned arrow techniques. And even though Mongolian warriors’ bow techniques were refined, without solid internal energy it was difficult to send an arrow very far. These two arrows were making such loud and solid sounds. Except for Guo Jing, she’d never seen any other person who could do it. But this arrow skill was actually still far from Guo Jing’s level. By the time the arrows were halfway, Huang Rong realized that the shooter was not her husband.
Seeing the arrows zooming in, Gongsun Zhi opened his mouth and bit the tip of the first arrow and at the same time stepped aside, using the arrow shaft in his mouth to brush away the second one.
Huang Rong thought, “If it were Jing Ge Ge [Brother Jing] who shot those arrows, I bet using your mouth to catch an arrow like that would give you a hole in your throat.” As she was about to move forward, she heard a series of ‘Sou…Sou’ whishing sounds again. Nine arrows flew in one by one, aiming at the area between Gongsun Zhi’s eyebrows. And this time, in a tight situation, Gongsun Zhi had to put down the two girls and pull out his sword to block the arrows.
As Huang Rong and Li Mochou quickly rushed forward to rescue the two girls, they saw a flashing gray shadow rolling Guo Fu to the roadside. When that body turned over to get up, Gongsun Zhi, ignoring his gold knife, shot out his bare palm to strike the top of that person’s head.
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