saw the two Taoists standing facing each other. Zhen Zhibing’s face was pale, under the moonlight it was colorless, and he said deeply, “What wanton crime?” As he said these words he reached for the handle of his sword.
Zhao Zhijing said, “Ever since you saw that Xiao Longnu from the Tomb of the Living Dead, you daydream all the time. You have thought about taking Xiao Longnu many, many times and doing unspeakable things to her. Our sect aims to bring enlightenment, but with these thoughts, how have you not broken the ‘wanton’ rule?”
Yang Guo respected his master very much, when he heard those words from Zhao Zhijing, he was furious, and hated the two Taoists even more.
He heard Zhen Zhibing tremulously saying, “What rubbish; just how could you know what I think?”
Zhao Zhijing chuckled and said, “The thoughts in your heart, of course I don’t know them, but when you mumble in your sleep, is there anyone to hear it? When you write Xiao Longnu’s name repeatedly, is there anyone to see it?”
Zhen Zhibing shuddered twice, and didn’t say anything.
Zhao Zhijing looked smug, and took out a piece of paper from his sleeve and waved it around and said, “Isn’t this your handwriting? I’ll show this to our leader Martial Uncle Ma and your master Martial Uncle Qiu.”
Zhen Zhibing couldn’t endure this anymore, and drew out his sword with a shout and thrust out. Zhao Zhijing leaned to the side to avoid it, and put the piece of paper in his sleeve and laughed, “You want to kill me and shut my mouth? I’m afraid it won’t be easy.”
Zhen Zhibing didn’t say a word and thrust out his sword three times, but each thrust was avoided. By the fourth thrust, a sound was made as Zhao Zhijing drew out his own sword, and fought with him by the thicket of red flowers. The two of them were the highest skilled fighters of Quanzhen’s third generation, one, Zhen Zhibing, was Qiu Chuji’s finest disciple, and the other, Zhao Zhijing, was the head disciple of Wang Chuyi. Zhen Zhibing clenched his teeth and fought with his life, within the exchange of moves, Zhao Zhijing would say a few sarcastic words, angering his opponent into making mistakes. Yin Zhiping had the highest martial arts amongst Qiu Chuji’s disciples, however in the recent years Yin Zhiping has placed Taoist cultivation above martial arts. Hence, his younger martial arts brother Zhen Zhibing and Wang Chuyi’s head disciple, Zhao Zhijing, have surpassed Yin Zhiping in the field of martial arts. Yin Zhiping often retreated to contemplate Taoist philosophies and meditation and had expressed no interest in leadership. Zhao Zhijing had the highest martial arts of the entire third generation disciples. The Six Masters of Quanzhen intended to appoint him as the leading disciple of the third generation. However, he made two enormous errors; one was leading the Big Dipper Formation against Guo Jing instead of Huo Du and his men. As result a portion of the Chongyang Palace was burnt down. His second error was mistreating Yang Guo, which angered the six masters. As result they felt that Zhao Zhijing’s martial arts may be good, but he does not have the talent to lead. So after much deliberating the Six Masters agreed to appoint Zhen Zhibing as the leading disciple of the third generation.
Yang Guo had learned all the stances of Quanzhen’s Sword skills, and saw them fight, attacking and defending, though the stances were quick and changes numerous, he saw through all of it and thought how his Gu Gu had indeed taught him correctly. He saw them struggle for tens of stances; Zhen Zhibing had used all his attacking stances as Zhao Zhijing kept on moving. He chuckled, “I have learned all that you have learned, and you have learned all that I have learned. You want to kill me? You’re dreaming.” He defended smoothly, Zhen Zhibing had used all his strength but each stance was blocked. After a while, he saw that the two was getting closer to Xiao Longnu, Yang Guo was alarmed and thought, “If they two fight until they get to Gu Gu, it would be terrible!”
Suddenly Zhao Zhijing counterattacked, and forced Zhen Zhibing back. He quickly sent out three stances, Zhen Zhibing moved back three steps. When Yang Guo saw the two getting further away from his master, he was pleased, but suddenly Zhen Zhibing handed his sword over to his left hand and sent out a palm, aiming for the chest.
Zhao Zhijing laughed and said, “Even if you’ve got three hands, you’ve only got the ability to be a petty thief, you can’t kill me.” He then sent out his left palm to meet it. The two exchanged sword stances and palms, and the struggle became fiercer.
Xiao Longnu was concentrating, and ignored everything that was around her. When the two took a few steps closer, Yang Guo became worried; when they took a few steps further away he relaxed a bit.
After a while, Zhen Zhibing suddenly called out and attacked, he ignored the opponent’s sword and just rushed forward. Zhao Zhijing thought about it, and knew that he had nothing to lose, if he killed him, then he wouldn’t be able to blackmail him. Although the two weren’t on friendly terms, he had no intent in killing him, and after a while, he was on the way to losing. After a number of moves, Zhen Zhibing then thrust out his sword, threw out a palm and his left leg swept out, it was Quanzhen’s “Three Circulations”. Zhao Zhijing leapt up ten feet, and swung his sword down. Zhen Zhibing threw his sword away, and threw himself at his opponent, a ‘hei’ sound was made by him as he threw out his two palms. Yang Guo saw that the last few stances were ruthless, it wasn’t how he knew them to be, he broke out in a cold sweat, he saw Zhao Zhijing’s body in midair, one was yielding, one was firm, it looked like the two palms were aiming to break his bones. How it could be that in this urgent and dangerous situation, Zhao Zhijing managed to flip himself in midair, fly back a few meters and lightly land.
From the way he was going to land, it looked like he was going to land right in front of Xiao Longnu, Yang Guo was alarmed and had not time to think, he stood up, his left palm shot out from below his right palm, and pushed the back of Zhao Zhijing, a stance of “Bright Building Flinging the Ball” (cai lou pao qiu), he pushed out with strength, and hit him away about seven meters. Right now his internal energy wasn’t developed enough, he had used an enormous amount of strength in this attack, all concentrated in his left arm, his lower body was weak, he could not stand up properly and his left foot stepped on a branch. The branch quickly rebounded back to its original position, and touched Xiao Longnu in the face. It was only a slight touch, but Xiao Longnu was greatly disturbed, she broke out in a sweat, at that time she was in the middle of rapidly circulating her chi and holding it in her ‘dan tian’, it didn’t disperse and she fainted.
All of a sudden Zhen Zhibing saw Yang Guo jump out, and saw the woman he has been thinking about hiding in the thicket, he froze, and didn’t know whether this was real or an illusion. Zhao Zhijing had steadied himself by this time, and under the moonlight he was able to recognize Xiao Longnu’s face. He said, “Ah, so she’s here; and with a man!”
Yang Guo was alarmed and shouted out, “Don’t go anywhere you two rotten Taoists, I’ll come back and finish this.” He saw Xiao Longnu had fallen onto the ground and was not moving. He remembered that he was told that when they were practicing they must stay together to help each other, if there where any disturbances a disaster would happen. Now Xiao Longnu had experienced a shock, she would have serious injuries; he was extremely frightened and touched her forehead. It was cold as ice; he quickly grabbed her clothes and covered her up. He picked her up and said, “Gu Gu, are you alright?” Xiao Longnu moaned but didn’t say anything.
Yang Guo was slightly more relaxed and said, “Gu Gu, we’ll go back to the tomb first, then I’ll come back and kill the two Taoists.” Xiao Longnu had no strength and lay limp in his arms. Yang Guo advanced in large steps, and went past the two Taoists. Zhen Zhibing stood there like a statue.
Zhao Zhijing laughed and said, “Apprentice brother Zhen, your dream lover and that man over there have just done dirty things; you want to kill me, you should kill him!” Zhen Zhibing didn’t take any notice and didn’t reply.
Yang Guo heard the words ‘done dirty things’, although he didn’t know exactly what he meant, he knew it was an insult and he was furious. He lightly put Xiao Longnu down and rested her against a tree and took a branch in his hand, and pointed to Zhao Zhijing and shouted, “What rubbish are you talking about?”
Two years had passed, Yang Guo had changed from a small child to a tall young man, at first Zhao Zhijing didn’t know who he was, when he heard him a second time and saw his face under the moonlight, he recognized it was his disciple. He had been made to fall by him and was angry, he saw his body was exposed and shouted, “Yang Guo, so it’s you, you little bastard!”
Yang Guo said, “You can insult me, but why are you insulting my Gu Gu?”
Zhao Zhijing laughed and said, “Everyone knows the Ancient Tomb sect is a female sect, skills are only passed on to women and not men, all of them are pure and untouched virgins, but it’s a filthy sect, secretly hiding a man, doing these things in the open!”
Xiao Longnu had just wakened up and heard what he said, and was alarmed. Her chi had begun to flow normally but now it flowed the opposite way, her chi and air were both stimulated and she knew that she was suffering from internal injuries. She could only shout “You talk rubbish, we have not…” before she spat out blood violently from her mouth.
Zhen Zhibing and Yang Guo were worried when they saw this, and both of them rushed closer.
Zhen Zhibing said, “How are you?” and bent down to take a closer look at her injuries.
Yang Guo knew that he wanted to harm her and pushed him in the chest with his left hand. Zhen Zhibing moved his palm to block it. Yang Guo was familiar with every stance of Quanzhen’s kung fu, he turned his palm over and grabbed his wrist, he first pulled and then let go, and tossed him away.
At present, Yang Guo’s kung fu could not actually compare with that of Zhen Zhibing, and if Yang Guo fought with other sect’s fighters who were of the same ability as Zhen Zhibing he would definitely have lost. But years ago Lin Chaoying had invented techniques to counter Quanzhen’s, every stance matched every stance. Since she invented these techniques they had never been used in practice, so Quanzhen’s disciples do not know that there is a kung fu which is the ‘Black Star’ of theirs. Yang Guo now used it. Zhen Zhibing was not prepared and wasn’t concentrating, and didn’t have any way to respond; although he didn’t fall, he was flung over six meters and was standing next to Zhao Zhijing.
Yang Guo said, “Gu Gu, ignore them, I’ll take you back to the tomb first.”
Xiao Longnu struggled for air as she said, “No; kill those two so they can’t…can’t talk about me outside.”
Yang Guo said, “Fine.” He leapt out at them, his branch pointing at Zhao Zhijing’s chest. Zhao Zhijing didn’t care about Yang Guo and waved his sword, cutting down at his branch. He didn’t know that Yang Guo was using the ‘Black Star’ of Quanzhen’s sword skills; the branch swiveled past and struck the pressure point on Zhao Zhijing’s wrist. Zhao Zhijing’s wrist went numb, and he secretly cursed. Yang Guo’s left hand chopped across, aiming for his left cheek, this was an extremely strange move, and it was the most unexpected. If Zhao Zhijing wanted to keep his sword, he would have to straighten his head and suffer the chop, if he wanted to avoid the chop, the sword will definitely be lost.
Zhao Zhijing was skilled, although he was in a precarious situation he kept calm, he let go of his sword and ducked his head, if he followed it with a left palm, he will be able to get his sword back in the blink of an eye. He could not have guessed that years ago Lin Chaoying had thought of how the enemy would react, and developed techniques to counter any changes, no matter how good, clever or lethal, any of highly skilled Quanzhen fighters were. Zhao Zhijing felt that he made the best decision possible, and would allow him to definitely gain victory from the jaws of defeat. But he didn’t know that Xiao Longnu and Yang Guo had learned all the techniques that would counter their changes.
Yang Guo removed the enemy’s weapon and saw his left palm move, and knew what he was going to do; he pushed the sword forward, aiming to pierce the opponent’s wrist. Zhao Zhijing was alarmed and quickly moved his arm back. Yang Guo pointed the sword tip at his chest and shouted, “Get down!” as his left leg hooked out. Zhao Zhijing was afraid of being pierced and had to move, he was hooked and fell backwards. Yang Guo raised the sword, wanting to thrust at his stomach.
Suddenly, a wind came from behind him, a sword was approaching and someone shouted out, “You dare to kill your master?” That stance was to attack first and then allow him to rescue Zhao Zhijing, Yang Guo was in the middle of an angry attack but could still see what was happening, and he immediately parried it with his sword, the two swords clashed. Zhen Zhibing saw that the sword was extremely fast and couldn’t help from secretly praising it, and suddenly felt his sword going out of his control, sticking to the opponent’s sword. Alarmed, he quickly circulated his chi to get it back. His internal energy was profound, the two competed, and Yang Guo’s sword was lead along. He didn’t know that Yang Guo lured him into doing this, he held the sword for a split second before letting go, his arms straightened and he attacked the enemy’s chest. At that point the sword handle rebounded up, two palms and a sword, the three of them with the same intent, even if Zhen Zhibing’s skills were higher, he would not be able to block this extremely strange attack.
At this time, Zhen Zhibing could only throw away his sword and send out his own palms, he quickly put his hands across his chest to block this move, but because his arms were too bent, he could not put any strength in them. Yang Guo’s internal energy wasn’t high enough and wasn’t able to break his arms with this move, but was still able to strike his chest painfully. Zhen Zhibing’s arms became numb; he moved back three steps and circulated his chi to protect the important pressure points in his chest. Zhao Zhijing got up. The two swords were in Yang Guo’s hand, and he attacked both of them.
In just a few moves, the two of them were made to hurry around and scamper by a teenager; they were both afraid and angry and didn’t dare be careless. The two of them stood up, and used their palms skills; they only defended and didn’t attack. They wanted to find out more about their opponent’s techniques before doing anything. Although Yang Guo had weapons to fight against his empty handed opponents, the two defended tightly, and weren’t being beaten as badly as they were at the start. The “Jade Heart Manual’s” sword techniques did not have any stances that countered Quanzhen’s fists and kicks. Lin Chaoying wanted to defeat Wang Chongyang’s techniques completely, she felt that using weapons to defeat his hand to hand combat techniques was unfair and below her so she did not give it any thought. That, plus the fact that the Taoists internal energy was well above Yang Guo’s, and since all they cared about was to remain undefeated, Yang Guo’s swipes and chops did not have much effect, and eventually he began to lose.
Zhao Zhijing’s internal energy was profound; he kept incessantly producing palm winds that aimed at Yang Guo’s sword.
Zhen Zhibing stopped, and secretly thought that here they were, two seniors attacking a young boy, how ridiculous did they look? He saw that victory was in sight but worried about the safety of Xiao Longnu so he shouted, “Yang Guo, quickly take your Gu Gu away, what are you doing tangling with the two of us?”
Yang Guo said, “Gu Gu hates you for talking rubbish, and told me that I must kill you.”
Zhen Zhibing sent out a palm that shook Yang Guo’s sword in his left hand and then jumped left three steps and said, “Leave!”
Yang Guo said, “You want to escape?”
Zhen Zhibing said, “Yang Guo, you want to kill us but that will not be possible; but your Gu Gu can relax, if the one named Zhen reveals a single word about what happened today, I will immediately kill myself to apologize. If I don’t do this” as he said this, he suddenly leapt towards Yang Guo and took the sword in his left hand and said, “then I’ll be like these fingers!” He spread his left hand and cut down with his right, and cut the last two fingers off his hand.
Those few moves happened extremely quickly and Yang Guo wasn’t prepared. He stopped and knew that he was sincere and thought, “It is indeed difficult to kill them both; why don’t I first kill the one named Zhao and then come back and kill him.”
He then shouted, “The one called Zhen, what use is cutting off your fingers? If you cut off your head, then I’ll believe you.”
Zhen Zhibing smiled and said, “If you want my life, all I need is a word from your Gu Gu, then why not?”
Yang Guo said, “Go!” He leapt forward two steps and suddenly thrust out behind him, straight at Zhao Zhijing’s chest.
The move “Orchid Shoots Back” (mu lan hui she) was extremely ruthless, Zhao Zhijing was listening to what they were saying and never thought that he would suddenly ambush him, he was frightened. The tip of the sword pierced his stomach. Zhao Zhijing felt a slight pain, and immediately circulated his chi throughout his ‘dan tian’, and his stomach pulled back half an inch, he raised his right leg and kicked Yang Guo’s sword out of his hand. Yang Guo didn’t wait for his leg to come and down, and extended his finger and pointed at the pressure point on his knee. Although Zhao Zhijing had escaped with his life, he couldn’t stand up, his right knee kneeling down in front of Yang Guo.
Yang Guo caught the descending sword and pointed at Zhao Zhijing and said, “I once kowtowed eight times to you as you were my master, now you are not my master anymore, give the eight kowtows back.”
Zhao Zhijing had completed circulating his chi, his face became purple, almost becoming black. Yang Guo pressed the sword tip into his throat.
Zhao Zhijing shouted, “If you want to kill me, kill me, why are you talking so much?”
Yang Guo was about to thrust the sword forward when suddenly he heard Xiao Longnu say, “Guo’Er, killing your master is not auspicious, tell him to swear that he won’t reveal today’s events and let him go!” Yang Guo regarded Xiao Longnu’s commands above all else, and after hearing what she said, he said, “Swear it.”
Zhao Zhijing was angry, but his life was more important and said, “I won’t say anything, what need is there to swear it?”
Yang Guo said, “That won’t do. You must swear a venomous oath.”
Zhao Zhijing said, “Fine, today’s events will be kept between the four of us, if I reveal it to a fifth person, then let my name be in ruins, be expelled from my sect, everyone in Wulin will be against me, and I’ll have a terrible death.”
Xiao Longnu and Yang Guo did not know much about the world’s matters and thought that he was really swearing a venomous oath.”
Zhen Zhibing heard that there was a hidden meaning in his oath and wanted to warn Yang Guo but felt that it wasn’t right to help outsiders; he watched Yang Guo carrying Xiao Longnu, his steps extremely quick, and they disappeared around a bend in the mountain. His fingers hadn’t stopped bleeding; he stood up bemused without stopping it.
Yang Guo carried Xiao Longnu back to the tomb and placed her on the Chilled Jade Bed.
Xiao Longnu sighed and said, “I’m seriously injured, how can I oppose the Chilled Jade Bed?”
Yang Guo said ‘ah’ and was alarmed, he secretly thought, “So Gu Gu’s injury is very serious.” He then carried her to her room. When she first let Yang Guo sleep on the Chilled Jade Bed, she slept in the same room as him; after about a year she moved into the next room. As soon as she arrived in her room, she spat out another pool of blood, and covered Yang Guo’s exposed body. Yang Guo was so frightened that he couldn’t move his arms and legs, and started to cry.
Xiao Longnu calmly laughed and said, “Now that I’ve spat out this blood, I won’t throw up anymore, what is there to be sad about?”
Yang Guo said, “Gu Gu, don’t die.”
Xiao Longnu said, “You are afraid of dying aren’t you?”
Yang Guo was startled and said, “Me?”
Xiao Longnu said, “Before I die, I will kill you first.”
These same words were spoken two years ago, Yang Guo had forgotten them long ago, and didn’t expect that she would bring it up again now.
Xiao Longnu saw that Yang Guo was astounded and said, “If I don’t kill you, how will I be able to see Grandma Sun? Who will look after you if you are alone in the world?”
Yang Guo’s mind was scrambled, and didn’t know what to say.
Xiao Longnu had thrown up blood, but she looked fine as if nothing was wrong. Yang Guo thought of something, he quickly went to find a jar of Jade Bee honey and gave it to her to drink. The honey did have healing properties; after a while she slept on her bed. Yang Guo was able to relax, but he was worn down with worry, and wasn’t able to endure anymore, he sat down and slept against the wall.
After some time, he felt someone cold against his throat, and was awakened. He has lived for a long time in the tomb, although he wasn’t able to see things in the dark as clearly as Xiao Longnu could, he could still see things without the aid of candlelight. He opened his eyes, and saw Xiao Longnu sitting forward on the bed holding a sword, pointing at his throat. He was alarmed and said, “Gu Gu! You…”
Xiao Longnu calmly said, “Guo’Er, my injury won’t get better, after I kill you we’ll both see Grandma Sun together!”
Yang Guo quickly replied, “Gu Gu!”
Xiao Longnu said, “You are afraid, aren’t you? It will be quick, one slash and that’s it.”
Yang Guo saw Xiao Longnu’s eyes light up, and knew that she wanted to kill him immediately. He wanted to live, and didn’t consider what will happen later, he rolled around and kicked out at Xiao Longnu’s sword. Though Xiao Longnu’s internal injuries were serious, she was still very swift, not slower than normal; she avoided his kick and pointed the sword at his throat again. Yang Guo used many different stances, but each one of them had been taught by Xiao Longnu so how would she not know what he would do? The sword moved swiftly, not leaving him by more than three inches.
Yang Guo was frightened; his body was covered with sweat. He thought, “If I don’t want to die today, then I must kill Gu Gu.”
In this urgent situation he pushed out his two palms, he took advantage of her not having any strength after her injury, her stances were refined but she did not have the internal energy to clash palms with him. Xiao Longnu knew what he was thinking, she slanted her body slightly and let his palms’ power skim over her shoulders and called out, “Guo’Er, don’t fight anymore!” Her sword extended out, the tip quivered a little, an incomparable stance in terms of mastery and exquisiteness was used, “Separating Flower Splitting Willow”, shimmering to the left but moving to the right, and the sword pointed at Yang Guo’s throat. She then circulated her remaining energy wanting to pierce his throat; but she saw his pleading eyes, and felt pain in her heart. At that instant, her eyes went blank, her body went limp, a ‘dang lang’ sound was made as the sword dropped to the floor, as Xiao Longnu fainted.
Had the sword been thrust forwards, Yang Guo would have died; he didn’t know that she would faint at the most vital point. He stopped, wondering if he’d really escaped death, and quickly ran out of the tomb. The sun dazzled in his eyes, the light breeze blew his clothes, the scent of flowers was around him, birds sang in the trees, isn’t this better than living in the tomb?
Yang Guo made his decision; he utilized his lightness kung fu and ran down the mountain, he became quicker as he ran, and by midday he was at the foot of the mountain. When he knew Xiao Longnu had not chased after him, he relaxed, and slowed his pace. After a while, his stomach growled. He had wandered the world of Jianghu ever since he was little; his ability to search for food was brilliant. He looked all around, and on the western slope, he saw a large field of corn, went over, and then picked five stalks. The corn wasn’t ripe but it was still edible. He had a match and was about to light a fire to smoke the corn, when he suddenly heard footsteps behind him, someone was approaching.
Yang Guo first hid the corn in case a farmer had caught him in the act of stealing, and then peaked out. It was a Taoist priestess, dressed in apricot yellow, her steps were light and she was slowly advancing. A pair of swords hung on her back, a blood red tassel was tied to the handles, floating in the breeze. Yang Guo thought that this person must be a member of the Quanzhen sect, and was likely to be a disciple of Sun Bu’Er. Yang Guo was still slightly afraid and didn’t want to cause any trouble so he looked down at a branch.
The Taoist priestess went up to him and asked, “Hey, point the way to Chongyang Palace?”
Yang Guo secretly thought, “If this girl is a disciple of Quanzhen, then how come she does not know the way up there? Something was wrong here.” He then pointed to the mountain without looking around and said, “Just follow that main road.”
The Taoist priestess saw that Yang Guo’s upper body was uncovered, he was wearing a pair of old and worn trousers, and was here picking up firewood, and assumed that he was just a villager. She regarded herself as an attractive woman; any man that looked at her would stare at her without blinking for half an hour. This young boy just took a glance at her and didn’t look back again, like if he was blind. She couldn’t refrain from getting angry and suddenly thought, “What does a stupid villager like him know?” She then said, “Stand up; I have something to ask you.”
Yang Guo hated everyone in the Quanzhen sect, so he pretended to be blind and dumb, and pretended not to hear.
The Taoist priestess said, “Foolish boy, you didn’t hear what I said?”
Yang Guo said, “I heard, it’s just that I don’t want to stand.”
When the Taoist priestess heard him she laughed and said, “Look at me, I told you to stand up!” Her voice in the last two sentences was soft, enchanting and sweet. Yang Guo shivered and thought, “Why does she speak so strangely.” He looked up and saw her skin was smooth and white, her cheeks were red, her eyes were like staring into a pool of water, there didn’t seem to be any evil intent; after looking at her again, he lowered his head.
The Taoist priestess saw that his expression had a childish air, though he did look at her for a second time, he wasn’t moved. Instead of being angry she laughed, and thought, “It’s just a kid who doesn’t know anything.” She took out two silver ingots [small boat/shoe shaped silver castings of a few ounces known as Yinzi] from her pockets, two ‘ting’ noises were heard as they collided with each other, she said, “Little brother, if you follow my instructions then I’ll give these ingots to you.”
Yang Guo originally didn’t want to have anything do with her, but he heard that her words were suspicious and wanted to find out what she wanted so he pretended to be stupid, and looked at the ingots and said, “What use do those shiny rocks have?”
The Taoist priestess smiled and said, “It’s money. If you want new clothes, chickens, rice, you could buy them with this.”
Yang Guo put on a baffled expression and said, “You want to lie to me, I don’t believe you.”
The Taoist priestess laughed and said, “When have I lied to you? Hey, little kid, what is your name?”
Yang Guo said, “Everyone calls me ‘Sha Dan’ (Dumb Egg), don’t you know that? What’s your name?”
The Taoist priestess laughed and said, “Sha Dan, you can call me Angelic Priestess, where’s your mother?”
Yang Guo said, “My mum just scolded me, and went over to the other side of the mountain to chop firewood.”
The Taoist priestess said, “I need a hatchet, go to your home and get one, and then lend it to me.”
Yang Guo was curious, he opened his eyes wide, drooled and made himself look even more like a stupid person, he shook his head incessantly and said, “I can’t; I can’t lend my family’s hatchet. If dad finds out I’ll be punished.”
The Taoist priestess smiled and said, “When your parents see the money, they’ll be too pleased to punish you.” As she said this she passed an ingot in his direction. Yang Guo extended his hand to catch it, and then pretended to miss it, and let the ingot hit his shoulder and when it came down it hit his right foot, he held his right foot with his hands and hopped on his left foot and called out, “Ah, ah, you hit me! I’m going to tell mother!” He called and shouted; he ignored the ingot and ran forward.
The Taoist priestess thought that he was interesting, and smiled. She took off her belt, and waved it at his right foot. Yang Guo heard the wind sound and turned his head around, he was alarmed, and thought, “That’s our Ancient Tomb sect’s kung fu! Isn’t she a disciple of Quanzhen?” He didn’t dodge and let her belt wrap around his right leg, he fell on the ground and relaxed his body, letting her pull him towards her, and secretly feared, “Is she going up the mountain to attack Gu Gu?”
He thought about Xiao Longnu, he didn’t know whether she was dead or alive, he was extremely worried about her. He made up his mind, even if he was going to die by her hand he needed to see her. As he was thinking he was pulled up to the Taoist priestess, she saw that although his face was covered with dirt, he