n her left hand and her fly whisk in her right, her gown was fluttering in the wind as she exuded a graceful aura.

The Wu family could not have guessed that this demoness would appear right here right now; Wu Santong roared as he threw himself forward. Wu Dunru and Wu Xiuwen picked up their broken swords and attacked in a pincer formation.

Yang Guo called out, “Please stop everyone, and listen to what I’ve got to say.”

Wu Santong called out, “Brother Yang, we’ll talk after this demoness is dead.” As he said this, his left palm and right finger had unleashed three deadly stances. The Wu brothers’ swords may have been broken but in close combat the broken blades acted like a dagger and they still packed a considerable punch.

Yang Guo knew that they had a blood feud between them and his words alone would not stop them, he was just worried about the safety of the baby and he called out, “Martial Uncle Li, pass the baby to me.”

Wu Santong was shocked when he heard this and leapt back two paces. He asked, “Why did you call her Martial Uncle Li?”

Li Mochou laughed, “Good Martial Nephew, you attack him from behind while I hold the baby.”

After taking three of Wu Santong’s stances, she felt that his internal energy had made great improvements; he was a completely different opponent to the one she faced in Jiaxing all those years ago. With the Wu brothers, who were no weaklings, attacking her without regard for their lives, it would be difficult to fend them all off. She deliberately called Yang Guo her ‘good Martial Nephew’ to distract the three of them.

Wu Santong did indeed fall for her trick and shouted, “Dun’er, Wen’er, you be careful of that one named Yang, I’ll take care of this witch myself.”

Yang Guo kept his hands by his side and moved away. He said, “I’m not helping anyone but you must not harm the baby.”

Wu Santong relaxed when he saw that Yang Guo had moved away and increased the power of his palms as he moved forwards.

Li Mochou defended with her fly whisk and then said, “Young Masters Wu, what I saw just now showed me that you are the sentimental kind, you are not like other vile heartless men. Because of this, I will spare your lives today; now leave!”

Wu Xiuwen replied angrily, “You evil, despicable bitch, what do you know about sentimentality?” He then advanced forward and attacked with vicious stances.

Li Mochou said with fury, “You don’t know what’s good for you fool!” The fly whisk turned around from in to out, forming a circle as it was whipped out. The fly whisk collided with Wu Xiuwen’s sword and he felt a throbbing pain in his chest, almost forcing him to drop his sword. Wu Santong chopped a palm forward and Li Mochou turned her fly whisk back to defend. Wu Xiuwen had avoided danger for now.

Yang Guo moved behind Li Mochou slowly so that as soon as there was a slight opening in her stances, he could dive in straight away and rescue the baby. But the Wu’s were fighting extremely hard, forcing Li Mochou to defend her entire body with her fly whisk. He could not find a single opening. Yang Guo watched as the Wu’s fought without restraint and there was no intent to avoid the baby in their attacks. If something happened, how would he face the Guo couple? He called out loudly, “Martial Uncle Li, pass the baby to me!” He advanced forward while sending a palm out to knock the fly whisk aside and tried to snatch the baby away.

Li Mochou was completely surrounded with enemies to the left and right, in front and behind, so she had no time to struggle with him but she also was not willing to give up the baby as easily as that. She yelled, “You dare try to snatch her away? If I just squeeze my arm, what do you think is going to happen to her?”

Yang Guo was taken aback by this, how could he continue his advance?

With Li Mochou slightly distracted, Wu Santong threw out a fierce left palm that had a finger coming behind it; the index finger of his right hand had sealed a pressure point on her waist. Li Mochou immediately felt half her body going numb, forcing her to stumble and almost fall. But she moved with her momentum and threw out a kick that disarmed Wu Dunru and then she swept down viciously with her fly whisk at Wu Xiuwen. Wu Santong quickly pulled Wu Xiuwen back and allowed him to avoid this fatal strike. Li Mochou’s injuries were not light and she motioned her fly whisk about as she escaped back into the cave.

Wu Santong was delighted with this and he called out, “That evil witch has taken a blow from my finger; it’s going to be difficult for her to escape from us today.”

The Wu brothers held their broken swords out and wanted to advance into the cave.

Wu Santong called out, “Wait, be careful of her poisonous needles, we’ll wait here and think of a plan to…” Before he finished, a roar came from within the cave and a leopard leapt out.

The Wu’s were shocked by the sudden appearance of this beast, and in their shock, came a flurry of silver light; silver needles had suddenly been shot out from beneath the leopard. They could have predicted that this was going to happen but luckily for Wu Santong, his study of martial arts was deep, his reactions swift and agile, and he was able to leap away from this danger. But he heard his sons crying out, giving him the fright of his life. He watched as Li Mochou clung beneath the leopard, with her fly whisk tucked behind her neck, the baby in her left hand and gripping the leopard with her right hand and legs. She gave a cackle as the leopard leapt away and escaped into the mountain brook.

Even Yang Guo was shocked by this sudden turn of events; he watched as the leopard ran away and quickly began to chase after it as he called out, “Martial Uncle Li…”

Wu Santong was worried to death as he saw his sons lying on the ground unable to get up, he called out, “I’m going to kill you today.” He reached out to grab Yang Guo.

Yang Guo was taken by surprise and was caught by him, he said quickly, “Let me go! I need to get the baby back!”

Wu Santong said, “Fine, let’s all die here today.”

Yang Guo quickly used the “Little Trapping Hand Technique” to try to release his fingers. Wu Santong was extremely restless and anxious and his mind was slightly unclear; however his martial arts were completely unaffected. He held onto Yang Guo’s waist with his left hand and he too used the “Little Trapping Hand” with his right hand against Yang Guo.

Yang Guo saw that Li Mochou and the leopard were out of sight, he was not going to catch up with them any time soon and sighed, “Why are you holding onto me? The most important thing right now is to tend to their wounds.”

Wu Santong said with joy, “Yes, yes, can you cure the poison from the needles?” He released Yang Guo from his grasp.

Yang Guo examined the Wu brothers and saw that Wu Dunru had been struck by a needle in his left shoulder, Wu Xiuwen a needle in his right leg. By now, the poison had taken effect and their breathing was now shallow as they lay there unconscious.

Yang Guo tore a piece of cloth from Wu Dunru and removed the needles.

Wu Santong quickly asked, “Have you got the antidote? Have you?”

Yang Guo saw that it would be difficult to save them from the poison and sadly shook his head.

Wu Santong loved his sons deeply and he was full of pain. He remembered how his wife died from sucking the poison from him; suddenly he threw himself onto Wu Xiuwen and moved his lips towards the wound.

Yang Guo was alarmed by this and called out, “You can’t do this!” He sealed his ‘Great Shuttle’ pressure point with his finger.

Wu Santong was not prepared for this and immediately fell down. He couldn’t move and tears rolled down from his eyes as he watched his sons.

Something popped into Yang Guo’s head, “In five days time, the Passion Flower poison in me will take effect. There is not much difference between whether I live five days more or five days less. The Wu brothers are not outstanding characters but this Uncle Wu is one who loves with all his heart, and just like me, he has had a life of misery. So be it, I’ll give up my five days so their family can be reunited and his wishes fulfilled.” He placed his lips on Wu Xiuwen’s wound and sucked the venom out. After spitting out a few mouthfuls of the poison, he tended to Wu Dunru’s wound.

Wu Santong watched from the side with indescribable gratefulness, he cursed the fact that his pressure point was sealed and could not join him in extracting the poison. Yang Guo took turns on each of the wounds and after a while, he noticed the bitter taste had gradually become slightly salty. He felt himself getting dizzier and knew that he was poisoned deeply, but he forced himself to suck a few more mouthfuls and after spitting the poison out, his eyes went blank and he fell unconscious.

He was out for a long, long time. Gradually, he could see the blurry images of many people in front of him. He wanted to see what exactly was happening but as he did so, he found it more difficult to focus and his eyes closed once again. A long time passed before he was able to open his eyes once more and as he did so, he saw the delighted face of Wu Santong in front of him calling out, “Good, finally!” Wu Santong knelt in front of him and kowtowed to him many times. He said, “Brother Yang, you… you saved… you saved my sons and you’ve saved my old life.” He picked himself up and then threw himself down in front of another person and kowtowed to him. He called out, “Thank you Martial Uncle, thank you Martial Uncle.”

Yang Guo looked at the person closely and saw that he was dark faced with a tall nose and deep set eyes; his appearance was similar to that of Nimoxing, and he had short, curly white hair, a man of old age. Yang Guo knew that Wu Santong was a disciple of the Reverend Yideng but he didn’t know that he also had an Indian Martial Uncle. He wanted to sit up but found that his strength had escaped him; he looked around and saw that he was lying on a bed. It was the room that he had stayed in while he was in Xiangyang. Now that he knew he was still alive and still had a chance to see Xiao Longnu one more time, he couldn’t stop himself from blurting out, “Gu Gu…Gu Gu!”

Someone went over to his bed and gently placed their hand on his forehead. The person said, “Guo’er, you need to rest, your Gu Gu has some other business to attend to outside the city.” It was Guo Jing.

Yang Guo saw that he had recovered from his injuries and was greatly relieved but immediately thought, “Uncle Guo’s injuries require seven days and nights to heal, could it be that I have been unconscious for this period of time? But why hasn’t the Passion Flower poison in me taken effect?” With this shock, his mind went into a daze and he fainted once more.

By the time he woke up again, it was night. There was a red candle in front of the bed and Wu Santong was still watching by his bedside.

Yang Guo smiled, “Uncle Wu, I’m alright, you don’t have to worry. The young Masters Wu are fine?”

Wu Santong’s eyes were filled with tears and he just nodded, not saying a word.

Yang Guo had never received such gratitude from anyone in his whole life and felt uncomfortable with this so he changed the subject and asked, “How did we get back to Xiangyang?”

Wu Santong wiped his tears with his sleeve and said, “My apprentice brother Zhu received instructions from your Master Miss Long to take the red horse to you in the valley. When he got there, he found the four of us on the ground and quickly rescued us and took us back to the city.”

Yang Guo asked with surprise, “How did my Master know that I was in that valley? Why did she have to ask Uncle Zhu to take the horse to me, why not herself?”

Wu Santong shook his head and said, “When I returned to the city, I did not see Miss Long. Apprentice brother Zhu said that though she is of a young age, her martial arts are abundant; it’s a pity that I did not have the chance to greet her. Aiii, look how able the young are.”

Yang Guo was delighted with his sincere praise of Xiao Longnu. According to age, Wu Santong was more than old enough to be Xiao Longnu’s father but he actually used the word ‘greet’ in his sentences, this respect of the Master is due to the debt of the disciple. Yang Guo smiled and said, “My injuries…”

Wu Santong interrupted, “Brother Yang, though helping others in times of need in the world of Wulin is a common practice, your risking your life to save others, including, of all people, my sons who have deeply offended you in the past, no one can match your kindness except my Master…”

Yang Guo kept on shaking his head and told him to stop. Wu Santong ignored him and continued, “If I call you great benefactor, I know you will not agree to it. But if you keep on calling me uncle, you are showing that you do not respect me.”

Yang Guo had always been straightforward and had usually avoided small talk. He had already set his mind on making Xiao Longnu his wife; he didn’t care about custom and tradition so he said, “Fine, I’ll call you brother Wu. But it will be a bit inconvenient to use this greeting in front of your sons.”

Wu Santong said, “What about that greeting? You saved their little lives; they should listen to your every request, even if it means being your slave.”

Yang Guo said, “Brother Wu, there’s no need to thank me. I have already contracted the Passion Flower poison; I wouldn’t have lived long anyway, so saving your sons wasn’t a very important risk.”

Wu Santong said, “Brother Yang, you can’t say that. Even if your poison is incurable, a normal person would still want to live as long as possible.”

Yang Guo smiled and asked, “How long have we been in Xiangyang?”

Wu Santong said, “Today is the seventh day.”

Yang Guo had a look of confusion on his face and said, “Logically, I should be dead by now, how come I’m still alive, that’s strange.”

Wu Santong said with joy, “My martial uncle is a great Indian sage; when it comes to healing wounds and curing poison, he’s probably the world’s best. Years ago when my Master mistakenly took a poison that Mrs. Guo sent, it was he who cured my Master. I’ll go and get him.” He hurriedly left the room.

Joy filled Yang Guo’s heart as he thought, “Could it be that while I was unconscious, that great Indian sage gave me a miracle panacea that purged even my Passion Flower poison? I wonder where Gu Gu is now? If she finds out I don’t have to die, she’ll be filled with joy!” As the sentimental thoughts filled his mind, his head ached and his chest felt as if a hammer had smashed against him, the pain was unbearable and he couldn’t stop himself from crying out. He hasn’t felt such pain since he took half of Qiu Qianchi’s antidote, it must be that the effects of the antidote have now passed while the poison remained; he clutched his chest and clenched his teeth. His head was covered with sweat.

Just as the pain was becoming excruciating, the door suddenly opened and a voice said, “Nanwu Amituofo.” The Indian monk’s arms were folded as he entered. Wu Santong followed and when he saw Yang Guo in distress, he was shocked and asked, “Brother Yang, how are you feeling?” He turned to the Indian monk and said, “Martial uncle, his poison is flaring up, give him the antidote quickly!” The Indian monk did not understand what he was saying and went over to Yang Guo and checked his pulse.

Wu Santong said, “Oh yes!” He quickly went to get Zhu Ziliu. Zhu Ziliu was well versed in Sanskrit and he was the only person who could communicate with the Indian monk. Zhu Ziliu arrived to translate.

Yang Guo gathered his wits and as the pain lessened, he explained to the Indian monk how he contracted this poison.

The Indian monk asked in great detail as to what the Passion Flower looked like and was shocked with what he heard. He said, “The Passion Flower is a species that has been extinct for a long time. According to the scriptures, the Passion Flower once ravaged the lives of many people; the Buddha Wenshu Shili eradicated the flower with his great wisdom. Who would know that some still existed in the central plains? I have never seen this flower before; I really don’t know how to cure this poison.” His face was filled with pity.

After Wu Santong heard Zhu Ziliu’s translation, he kept on calling out, “Have mercy Martial Uncle; have mercy!”

The Indian monk folded his arms and recited, “Amitoufu.” He closed his eyes and went into deep thought. Silence filled the room; no one dared to make a noise.

After a while, the Indian monk opened his eyes and said, “When Master Yang sucked the poison from my Martial Grandsons, the poison from the ‘Soul Freezing Needles’ should have killed you. But Master Yang has survived until now. The date for the Passion Flower’s poison to activate has passed, yet you are still alive. Could it be that the poisons are fighting each other and allowed Master Yang to reap his rewards for his deeds?”

Zhu Ziliu nodded his head and after translating, Yang Guo too felt that this was a reasonable explanation.

The Indian monk continued, “People say what comes around goes around, Master Yang has saved the lives of others while risking his own, if this saying is true, an antidote will surely exist.”

After hearing Zhu Ziliu’s translation, Wu Santong leapt with joy and said, “I implore Martial Uncle to come up with an antidote as soon as possible.”

The Indian monk said, “I need to visit the Passionless valley.”

Yang Guo and the others were shocked. The journey to Passionless Valley was not a short one, getting there and getting back will take a long time.

The Indian monk said, “I need to see the Passionless Valley with my own eyes and test the poison before I can make an antidote. Before I return, Master Yang must refrain from sentimental thoughts; otherwise, the pain will get stronger and stronger each time. If you damage your life line then there will be no return.”

Before Yang Guo could reply, Wu Santong said loudly, “Apprentice brother, let’s go to the Passionless Valley together and force that old hag to hand over the antidote.”

After being poisoned by Huo Dou, Zhu Ziliu was able to receive the antidote thanks to Yang Guo; he had wanted to repay him a long time and said, “Yes, we’ll escort Martial Uncle and whether we’ll take the antidote by force or whether Martial Uncle can make one himself, we’ll get the antidote one way or the other.”

The apprentice brothers spoke spiritedly but the Indian monk was looking at Yang Guo with worry on his brows.