Recuperating in a secret chamber.

Original translation by Foxs

Huang Rong had just walked two steps when she turned her head and saw Guo Jing’s suspicious look, as if he could see the murderous look on her own face; she thought, “I don’t have any problem killing Shagu, but later on Jing Gege might ask me about it.” She further thought, “He might not ask me about it; he might not even raise this matter, ever. But in his heart he might harbor hatred to me, that won’t be good. All right, we’ll just have to take this big risk.” She closed the door immediately and looked around the room carefully.

On the western corner near the roof of that small room there was a small ventilation window about one foot square, where the sunlight entered the room through a sheet of clamshell curtain. By this light they were able to see everything inside the room. The ventilation hole was dusty. Huang Rong took out her dagger and cleaned up the ventilation hole. The bad smell in the room still lingered, but they seemed unable to think about it. In light of the life and death experience they faced earlier, the smelly and dusty room felt like paradise to them.

Guo Jing leaned on the wall; he smiled slightly and said, “There is no better place for us to treat my injury than in this room. Only we are accompanied by two dead people. Are you afraid?”

In her heart Huang Rong was actually scared, but she determined not to think about it. She said with a smile, “One was my Shige [martial brother], he certainly won’t harm me; the other was a rice bucket government official. Alive he wouldn’t scare me, become a ghost he could scare me even less by becoming a ghost.”

Immediately she kicked two sets of skeletons towards the northern corner of the room. She took the straw mat of the watermelon and spread it out on the ground; then she piled up the several dozens of watermelon around it within arms reach. “What do you think?” she asked.

“Very good,” Guo Jing replied, “Now we can start.”

Huang Rong helped him to sit on the straw; she also sat cross-legged on his left. When she lifted her head, she saw a small hole eyelet the size of a coin on the wall right in front of her. She looked through it and to her delight she saw a mirror on which she could see the entire room outside. Apparently the people who built this secret room had planned it thoroughly; so when they were hiding inside this room from the enemies, they could still observe the activity outside through the mirror. Only it had been a long time and the mirror was covered with thick dust. She took out a handkerchief and wrapped her index finger with it; then she poked inside the hole to clean the mirror.

She saw Shagu was sitting on the ground throwing pebbles around, her mouth humming some tune, but Huang Rong could not hear clearly what she was singing. Huang Rong pressed her ear to the hole to listen; turned out Shagu was humming a lullaby, “Swing, swing, swing; swing to the grandmother’s bridge; grandmother calls me the precious baby …”

At first Huang Rong felt funny, but then the more she listened, the more she felt the touching emotion that song brought. Her heart overflowed with tender affection. She could not help but think: Could it be this song was the one her mother sang to her when she was little …? “If my mother did not die, would she sing like this to me?” Thinking of this her eyes turned moist.

Guo Jing saw her sad expression and said, “What are you thinking? My injury is not that bad, don’t feel so sad.”

Huang Rong put out her hand to wipe her tears and said, “Quickly teach me the internal energy cultivation technique.” Thereupon Guo Jing started to slowly recite the ‘treating injury’ chapter of the Nine Yin Manual.

There was a saying among the martial art practitioners, ‘learn how to take a beating first before learning how to beat someone,’ So the most basic lesson in martial art was how to take a beating without getting seriously injured. When the martial art became more profound, the practitioner must learn how to protect their own body and defend their own lives, sealing acupoints to treat an injury, setting up broken bones and curing poison wound, and all kinds of advance techniques. Better techniques would result in better skill; it did not matter if one’s martial art skill was unmatched, there would come a day when he would fall. The ‘treating injury’ of the Nine Yin Manual explained how a highly skilled martial artist would use his own internal energy to treat the injury, how to circulate the energy in internal injury treatment. As for the broken bones or weapon-inflicted wounds or other external injury treatment, it was assumed that the person who practiced the Manual did not need further instructions.

Huang Rong needed to listen only once and she would remember forever. There were several unclear passages in the Manual, which they needed to discuss in detail. One had a strong foundation in Quanzhen Sect’s internal energy cultivation, the other had an extraordinary intelligence; with some deliberations they were able to understand almost everything. And so Huang Rong held out her right hand, clasping Guo Jing’s left, they started to train diligently according to the technique from the Manual.

After training for four hours they took a short break. Huang Rong’s left hand grabbed a knife and cut a watermelon, which she divided into parts and fed some to Guo Jing, all the while their hands were clasping each other. Training for several hours more, the tightness in Guo Jing’s chest gradually lessened, the warm energy from Huang Rong’s palm slowly dispersed into his body’s hundreds of bones, the soreness on his waist was indeed gradually reduced. He thought the technique contained in this Manual was truly incomparable; he did not dare to be negligent and proceeded diligently.

When the time came for them to take the third break, the light streaming from the ventilation window gradually dimmed. It was near dusk. Not only did Guo Jing feel his chest a lot less constricted, but Huang Rong also felt invigorated. Two people chatted before continuing their training. Suddenly they heard footsteps running quickly and stop in front of the inn then several people came in.

An insolent voice shouted, “Quickly get some dishes out, your masters here are starving!”

They recognized that the voice belonged to San Tou Jiao [Three-headed Scaly Dragon] Hou Tonghai. Guo Jing and Huang Rong looked at each other in surprise. Huang Rong quickly looked into the small hole and to her surprised she saw on the mirror not only Hou Tonghai, but Wanyan Honglie, Ouyang Feng, Yang Kang, Peng Lianhu and the others. Huang Rong did not know where Shagu went to play.

Hou Tonghai slapped the table and made quite a racket, but nobody came out. Liang Ziweng went out and walked around the building. He frowned and said, “Nobody lives here.” Hou Tonghai volunteered to go to the village and buy some wine and dishes.

Ouyang Feng found a spot protected from the blowing wind and spread some straw; then he carried his nephew and gently placed him on the straw, let him calmly lie down to heal from his broken legs.

Peng Lianhu said with a laugh, “Those palace guards, although they are useless, they are everywhere like a ghost haunting us, so for the whole day we did not have time to even stop and eat. Wangye [Prince, lit. king master], you are a northerner, yet you know that by the Qiantang River there is a desolate village and led all of us here. Truly nothing is hidden from your knowledgeable mind.”

Although he heard the flattering tone in Peng Lianhu’s voice, Wanyan Honglie’s face did not show the slightest satisfaction. He merely sighed softly and said, “I came to this place nineteen years ago.” Everybody could see that his expression had changed. They felt a little strange, but of course nobody knew he was thinking about how Bai Xirou saved his life in this village. The desolate village still existed, but that gentle lady with a hairpin in her head, wearing green robe, the one fed him warm chicken soup, was no longer in this world.

Meanwhile Hou Tonghai had returned from the village with wine and food. Peng Lianhu poured wine for everybody and said to Wanyan Honglie, “Wangye, today you succeeded in attaining the marvelous military strategy book, the sign that the Great Jin’s prestige will soon inspire the world, your army will dominate tens of thousands of lands. Let us all congratulate you!” He raised his cup and gulped his wine.

His voice was loud and clear. Guo Jing on the other side of the wall could still hear him clearly; he was shocked, “Yue Yeye’s [Master Yue, lit. grandfather Yue] Legacy has fallen into his hand!” he bitterly thought. As soon as his mind was anxious, the flow of energy in his chest reversed. Huang Rong could feel her palm shaking; she knew he heard everything and it had affected his ‘dan tian’ [pubic region]. If it was not controlled quickly his life might be in danger. Busily she pressed her mouth to his ear and whispered, “If he can steal the book, can’t we do the same? As long as your Er Shifu [Second Master], ‘Miao Shou Shu Sheng’ [Magic Hands Scholar] makes his move, he can easily steal even ten books.”

Guo Jing thought she was right, immediately he closed his eyes and his mind, no longer listened to the conversation behind the wall. Huang Rong looked into the hole again, and she saw Wanyan Honglie raise the cup and drank the wine; and then with a delight he said, “In this battle everybody has worked hard to help; Mr. Ouyang rendered the most service. If he did not get rid of that kid surnamed Guo, we would have to spend a lot more effort.”

Ouyang Feng let out a dry laugh; it sounded like a broken cymbal. As Guo Jing heard his laughter, his heart was shaken yet again. Huang Rong secretly thought, “Heaven bless us, let this Old Poison not pluck his devilish zither here; otherwise Jing Gege’s life will be difficult to retain.”

She heard Ouyang Feng say, “This place is so remote. Song’s army would not find us here. I wonder what kind of thing this Yue Fei Yishu [Legacy, something left behind] is; let us all take a look.”

He took the stone box from his bosom and placed it on the table. His thought was that if Wumu’s Legacy contained an exquisite martial art method, then without regard of everybody else he would take it for himself. However, if the book only contained marching technique and military strategy, it would be useless to him; then he would gladly let others enjoy it, he would let Wanyan Honglie take it.

In the meantime everybody was gazing at the stone box. Huang Rong thought, “What can I do to destroy the book? It would be better than let it fall into the hands of these traitors.” She heard Wanyan Honglie say, “Xiao Wang [lit. little king] has performed a comprehensive analysis on Yue Fei’s riddle in the form of a poem; I also studied carefully the official history record of all previous dynasties on the construction of the imperial palace. I believed this book was concealed fifteen steps east of the ‘cui han tang’ [green-jade cold hall]. Today my deduction was proved to be correct. I believe nobody in the Song Dynasty knew that in their palace was hidden such a treasure. The commotion we made last night, I don’t think anybody knew what that commotion was all about.” He sounded very proud of himself. Everybody immediately seized the opportunity to heap praises on him.

Wanyan Honglie twirled his moustache and laughed. “Kang’er,” he said, “Go ahead, open the box.”

Yang Kang responded and stepped forward. First he removed the seal then he lifted the lid. Everybody’s eyes were on the box. Suddenly their countenances changed; they were confounded, nobody made any sound. The box was completely empty, not only there wasn’t any military strategy book, not even a sheet of blank paper was to be found inside.

Although Huang Rong could not see the box, judging from everybody’s expression, she could deduce that the box was empty. She was delighted and also found it amusing.

Wanyan Honglie was very disappointed. He held on the table to sit down. His hand propped his cheek and he was thinking deeply. “My thousands of calculations, tens of thousands of iterations, all point out that Yue Fei’s Legacy is in this box. How can suddenly not even a trace of it is in the box?” he thought. Suddenly he had an idea, his face lighted up. He took the stone box and brought it outside toward the well then with all his might he smashed the box against the flagstone. ‘Bang!’ the box broke into pieces.

As Huang Rong heard that broken stone sound she immediately thought, “Ah, there is a secret compartment in the box.” She was anxious to see if the Legacy was inside the secret compartment, but no matter what, she could not go out. After a moment however, she saw Wanyan Honglie dejectedly return to the room and sit down.

“I knew there was a secret compartment in that box; who would have thought it was also empty,” Wanyan Honglie said.

One after another everybody tried to offer their opinions. Huang Rong was amused listening to their wild imaginations, one was more weird than the other; she immediately told Guo Jing. As he learned that the Wumu’s Legacy had not been stolen, Guo Jing was greatly comforted. Huang Rong deliberated further, “These traitors will not possibly give up just like that; they must be thinking of going back to the palace tonight.” She was thinking of her Shifu who was still inside the palace; she was afraid he might be implicated. There was Zhou Botong to protect him, but Huang Rong could not help but feel worried; since the Old Urchin behaved like a madman, he could not properly take care of important matters.

Sure enough, she heard Ouyang Feng say, “That’s not a big deal. We’ll go back to the palace tonight and search some more.”

“We can’t go tonight,” Wanyan Honglie objected, “We made quite a disturbance last night, that I am sure they will strictly guard the palace tonight.”

“We can’t avoid the guards,” Ouyang Feng said, “But why worry over it? Wangye and Xiao Wangye [Young Prince] do not need to go. You and my nephew may stay here to take some rest.”

Wanyan Honglie cupped his fists in front of his chest. “Then I will bother Mister to work for me. Xiao Wang will wait for your good news with a peaceful heart.” Straightaway everybody spread some straw in the room and lay down to sleep.

After they slept for more than two hours Ouyang Feng woke everybody up and they went to the city once again.

Wanyan Honglie tossed and turned without being able to get some sleep. Around midnight he could hear the sound of the rising tide on the river. He could also hear a dog barking at the other end of the village; the dog kept barking intermittently throughout the night, as if it was weeping. In the quiet night it brought sorrow to the heart, adding to the anxiety he already felt inside.

After a long while suddenly there were footsteps outside the door, there was someone coming in. Wanyan Honglie quickly sat up and drew his sword. Yang Kang had early on jumped behind the door to set an ambush. Under the moonlight they saw a woman with disheveled hair, humming a children’s song, shoved the door and came in. She was none other than Shagu. She had just got back from playing in the woods all day. She thought little of seeing people sleeping in her room; she kept walking toward the pile of firewood, lied down next to it, and not too long afterwards she was snoring.

As Yang Kang saw it was only a stupid country girl, he smiled and went back to sleep. Wanyan Honglie’s mind, however, was filled with thoughts of past and present; he could not sleep for a long time. He got up, took a candle from his backpack and lit it; and then he took a book and started flipping the pages over.

Huang Rong saw the bright light through the small hole; she took a peek and saw a moth circling the candle, then suddenly it threw itself to the fire, its wings were immediately scorched and it fell on the table. Wanyan Honglie took the moth up. He could not help but feel distressed. He thought, “If my Madame Bao were here, she would certainly take care of you.” From his bosom he took out a small silver knife and a small medicine bottle; and he stroked those objects affectionately.

Huang Rong lightly tapped Guo Jing’s shoulder and moved aside so Guo Jing could take a look through the small hole. As Guo Jing saw with his own eyes, he was enraged. He vaguely recognized the silver knife and medicine bottle belonged to Yang Kang’s mother, Bao Xiruo. He saw her using these items at the Zhao Palace when she was tending a wounded little rabbit. He heard Wanyan Honglie softly murmur, “Nineteen years ago, in this very village, I met you for the first time … Ay! I wonder what happened to your former residence …” While saying that he rose up, took the candle along and went out the door.

Guo Jing was startled, “Could it be that this is my parents’ hometown, the Ox Village?” he wondered. He pressed his mouth to Huang Rong’s ear to inquire. Huang Rong nodded. Guo Jing’s blood surged up, his body shook.

Huang Rong’s right palm was holding Guo Jing’s left palm; she realized his breathing flow was excited because his mind was agitated, which was very dangerous. Immediately she stretched out her left palm to grab Guo Jing’s right palm and together they synchronized their energy so Guo Jing slowly focused his own breathing.

After a long time they saw a moving light and they heard Wanyan Honglie heaved a long sigh while he came back to the room. By this time Guo Jing had been able to control his emotions, but his left palm still held Huang Rong’s right palm. He looked through the small hole again and saw that Wanyan Honglie was holding several small pieces of broken bricks and tiles, sitting in daze by the candle light.

Guo Jing thought, “This traitor is less than ten steps away from me. All I need to do is throw the dagger to him and I will be able to take his life.”

His right hand drew the golden blade Genghis Khan gave him and he whispered to Huang Rong, “Turn the door open.”

“Don’t!” Huang Rong hastily said, “Killing him is easy, but then our hiding place will be discovered.”

With a trembling voice Guo Jing said, “Six more days and nights I don’t know where he will be.”

Huang Rong knew it would not be easy to persuade him, so she whispered in his ear, “Your mother and Rong’er want you alive.”

Guo Jing’s heart shivered with cold; he nodded. He put the golden blade back to its sheath on his waist and again looked out through the small hole. He saw Wanyan Honglie sprawled on the table, asleep. Suddenly he saw somebody got up from the straw. This person’s face was illuminated by the candle light, but in the mirror it was not clear whose face it was. Guo Jing only saw he quietly stood up and walked over to Wanyan Honglie. He took the silver knife and the small medicine bottle from the table, looked at them for a while then gently put them back down on the table. He then turned his head around and Guo Jing saw that it was Yang Kang.

Guo Jing said in his heart, “That’s right, you must avenge your parents. This is a very good opportunity. With a stab of the dagger the enemy, with whom you cannot live together under the same sky, will certainly lose his life. You won’t have the same opportunity once the Old Poison and the others come back.”

His heart was very anxious, he was hoping Yang Kang would immediately make his move. But after putting down the silver knife and the medicine bottle, Yang Kang blew the candle light then for a moment the room looked dark to him, and then he saw Yang Kang took out his long robe and gently draped it over Wanyan Honglie’s shoulders to protect him from the cold night.

Guo Jing was very angry, he turned his head around, not willing to look outside anymore. He did not understand how Yang Kang could treat the enemy who killed his parents with such a loving and tender care. Huang Rong comforted him by saying, “Do not be impatient. After your injury is healed, even if this traitor runs away into the horizon we will catch him. He is not the Old Poison, don’t you think killing him is easy?” Guo Jing nodded and went back into circulating his internal energy.

Soon the dawn arrived, from the village came the noise of roosters crowing and all kinds of morning clatters. Inside their bodies the ‘qi’ had been circulating seven times, they felt relieved and comfortable. Huang Rong raised her index finger up and said with a smile, “One day has passed!”

“And it was very dangerous!” Guo Jing replied in low voice, “If not for you, I could not keep my mind peaceful and steady, I nearly made things worse.”

“There are six more days and six more nights,” Huang Rong said, “You promised to listen to what I say.”

Guo Jing laughed, “When did I ever not listen to what you say?” he said.

Huang Rong leaned her head to the side and said, “Hmm, let me think.”

At this moment a single ray of sunlight came slanting down the ventilation window; her white skin and beautiful rosy cheeks looked like red clouds at dawn. Guo Jing suddenly felt her palm was exceptionally warm and soft. Something stirred in his chest, hastily he chased that thought away, but already his face blushed all over. Ever since they had been together Guo Jing never had this kind of feeling toward her; he could not help but be shocked and he silently rebuked himself.

Huang Rong saw him blushing; she felt strange. “Jing Gege,” she asked, “What happened?”

With a low voice Guo Jing replied, “I have been bad. I suddenly thought of … thought of …”

“What is it?” Huang Rong asked.

“I am not thinking about it anymore,” Guo Jing answered.

“Then what did you think of?” Huang Rong pressed.

Unable to dodge away Guo Jing confessed, “I was thinking of hugging you, kissing you.”

Huang Rong felt warm and sweet all of a sudden, her face also blushed, she looked shy and even lovelier.

Seeing her lowering her head without saying anything Guo Jing asked, “Rong’er, are you angry? I was as bad as Ouyang Ke to have such a bad thought.”

Huang Rong gave him one of her captivating smiles, “I am not angry,” she said with a tender voice, “I was thinking in the future you will hug me and kiss me, for I will certainly be your wife.” Guo Jing was very happy, he stammered but could not say anything.

“You wanted to hug and kiss me, was it bad?” Huang Rong asked.

Guo Jing was about to reply, but suddenly from outside the door came the noise of rushing footsteps; two men burst into the inn. He heard Hou Tonghai’s voice say, “His granny, I told you earlier that there are ghosts in the world, but Shige [Martial (older) Brother] did not believe me.” He was so agitated that he could not say clearly what was in his raging mind. Then Sha Tongtian’s voice replied, “What ghost? I told you, we met a martial art master.”

Huang Rong looked out through the hole and saw that Hou Tonghai’s face was full of blood, while Sha Tongtian’s clothes were ripped into pieces. It seemed like these two martial brothers had been in an extremely difficult situation.

Wanyan Honglie and Yang Kang were confounded to see their conditions; they busily inquired. Hou Tonghai replied, “We were very unfortunate; we met a ghost at the imperial palace last night. Damn it! Old Hou’s ears were cut off by the ghost.”

Wanyan Honglie did indeed see that both sides of his face were covered with blood and looked somewhat unusual; it turned out, his ears were missing. Wanyan Honglie was astonished.

Sha Tongtian scolded, “Still talking strange ghost story; haven’t you disgraced us enough?”

Hou Tonghai was afraid of his Shige, but he still tried to argue, “I saw it clearly, his eyes were blue, he was the red bearded judge of hell, pouncing over me with a scary ‘Wah! Wah!’ voice! All I did was to turn my head around and he grabbed my neck and my ears were gone. This judge of hell looked exactly like the one in the temple, how could it not be him?”

Sha Tongtian only fought the judge for three stances and his clothes were ripped into pieces. That judge was definitely a highly skilled martial artist, not some strange ghost; only Sha Tongtian did not have any clue on how did he have the appearance of a judge of hell.

Four people offered their guesses, they even asked Ouyang Ke who was lying down because of his injury, but nobody came out with a plausible answer.

While they were still talking, Lingzhi Shangren [lit. upper/above person, a respectful term to address a Buddhist monk], Peng Lianhu and Liang Ziweng had also arrived one after another. Lingzhi Shangren’s hands were bound by iron chain behind his back, Peng Lianhu’s cheeks were swollen red and blue, Liang Ziweng’s condition was the funniest; the white hair on his head were pulled clean so that he looked like a Buddhist monk. Standing and talking opposite to Sha Tongtian, they looked alike, their bald heads shining, reflecting the light.

It turned out those three entered the imperial palace and spread out in order to find the Wumu’s Legacy; all of them had met some ghosts. Only each met different ghost; one met with a ‘wu chang gui’ [the ghost supposed to take soul after death], the other ‘huang ling guan’ [yellow spirit officer], and the last was ‘tu di pu sa’ [earth god].

Liang Ziweng stroked his own bad head and opened his mouth to curse using all dirty words he knew, including some ‘mother-in-law of the earth grew some fungi’. Peng Lianhu endured silently and did not say a single word, he worked hard trying to take the iron chain from Lingzhi Shangren’s hands. The chain went deep into the flesh, with hooks on either end connected tightly to each other. Peng Lianhu had to exert a lot of strength until his hands were bruised and bloody before he could untie the chain.

Everybody looked at each other in blank dismay; nobody made any sound. They knew in their hearts that last night they met a highly skilled martial artist and were greatly insulted, so they all felt ashamed. Hou Tonghai still believed it was a ghost, and nobody bothered to argue with him.

After a long time Wanyan Honglie opened his mouth, “I wonder why Mr. Ouyang has not come back yet. Perhaps he also met a ghost.”

“Mr. Ouyang’s martial art skill is unmatched,” Yang Kang said, “Even if he met a ghost, he won’t suffer defeat.” Peng Lianhu and the others were indifferent.

Huang Rong saw everything; how these people met extremely difficult situations and were talking about ghosts. She was very pleased, she thought, “The masks I bought for Zhou Dage [Big Brother] have unexpectedly boosted his power and prestige; it was truly beyond my expectation. I wonder if he met and fought the Old Poison yet.” At that moment she felt Guo Jing’s internal energy starting to flow into her palm, so she went back to join him immediately.

Peng Lianhu and the others had been busy all night, they were starving. Working hand in hand they started chopping firewood, buying rice and vegetables, and preparing their food. When the food was ready Hou Tonghai went to the cupboard to get some bowls. He saw the iron bowl and tried to take it, naturally it would not budge. He felt strange and shouted, “A ghost!” He pulled the bowl with all his strength, but of course the bowl did not move.

Huang Rong heard his voice and was shocked; she knew their hiding place must not be seen by them. Not to mention the fact that they would not necessarily win if a fight broke, but if they moved even so slightly, Guo Jing’s life would be in danger; that must not happen. Inside the secret room she was frightened and did not know what to do. Outside the room Sha Tongtian heard his martial brother’s shout and reprimanded him not to make such a big thing over nothing.

Hou Tonghai was not angry, he said, “All right, then come and take this bowl out.” Sha Tongtian held out his hand to pick the bowl, but the bowl stayed. “Ah!” he exclaimed.

Peng Lianhu heard him and came over. “Sha Xiong [Brother Sha],” he said, “There must be a secret mechanism connected to it. Try turning it to the left or right.”

Huang Rong saw the situation was pressing, she knew they were forced to stake it all. She handed the dagger over to Guo Jing and held out her hand to take the bamboo stick given by Hong Qigong. Inwardly she was sorrowful to think their lives would end this way. In the last moment she turned her head and saw the skeletons at the corner of the room. Suddenly an idea came to her mind; hurriedly she took the skulls and made an effort to lift a big watermelon, then she placed the skulls on the watermelon.

With some creaking noise the iron door revolved, revealing a hole behind it. Huang Rong placed the watermelon on top of her head and spread out her long hair over her face. As Sha Tongtian opened the door, he saw inside the cabinet there was a monster with two heads, letting out a scary ‘Wah! Wah!’ sound. The monster’s two heads were skulls, side by side on top of a blue and green striped sphere, with a cluster of long black beard underneath it.

Everybody had suffered a lot the previous night, they were still shaken; and now they suddenly saw a ghost inside the cabinet, they were really scared. Hou Tonghai screamed and ran away. Without thinking everybody else followed. The only one left was Ouyang Ke. Since his legs were broken he was lying on a straw bed and was unable to run.

Huang Rong heaved a long sigh; busily she closed the cabinet door. She could not help but smile, considering they had barely escaped trouble for the moment; for she knew those traitors were Jianghu’s top veterans, surely they would come back. They were running away because they were frightened by the Old Urchin; otherwise, how could she fool them so easily? Once they calmed themselves down, they would come back and would not be scared away so easily.

Huang Rong’s dimples had not disappeared, she was still undecided on the next course of action to take, when she heard