The Return of the Condor Heroes-Chapter 32 – What is love?, Part 1

What is love?

When Huang Rong, Yideng, Guo Fu and the other were trapped in the main hall, Yang Guo and Xiao Longnü were sitting side by side near the flower bushes, chatting. Not too long afterward, Cheng Ying and Lu Wushuang arrived. Xiao Longnü saw that Cheng Ying was warm and elegant; she felt a sense of attraction toward her. Immediately she took Cheng Ying’s hand and they talked. At the same time, Lu Wushuang told Yang Guo about the fight between Guo Fu and her, how she made her confused and at a loss for words and how Cheng Ying made her lose her sword and lose the moment. After meeting both Cheng Ying and Lu Wushuang again, Yang Guo once again felt a little guilty and sorry that he couldn’t repay their love for him. Aware that Lu Wushuang apparently knew that Xiao Longnü was now his wife, she was still comfortable in front of Xiao Longnü. Cheng Ying was talking with Xiao Longnü quietly, he was greatly relieved.

The four of them sat on a rock, Xiao Longnü was talking to Cheng Ying and Yang Guo was chatting with Lu Wushuang. Xiao Longnü and Cheng Ying’s characters were quieter, and they had fewer things to talk about. Yang Guo and Lu Wushuang were talking non-stop and cracking many jokes, calling each other names like “Dumb Egg” (Sha Dan) and “Wifey”. All of a sudden, Cheng Ying spoke out cutting off their speech, “Yang Da Ge [Big Brother], you have Yang Da Sao [Big Sister-in-law] here, so you’ll have to change your words when addressing my cousin…” She was laughing while she was talking.

Yang Guo let out a soft cry, “ah”, and stretched out his hand to cover his mouth. In the mean time, Lu Wushuang suddenly felt embarrassed. Her face reddened immediately. Cheng Ying thought silently, “They were only joking and the words contained no serious meaning. I shouldn’t have said it, and now it has made things uncomfortable…” She immediately spoke, “Yang Da Ge, you’ve got the Passionless Poison in your body, how are you feeling now?” Yang Guo replied, “I’m alright. Auntie Guo is very clever and full of ideas. I believe she can get me the miracle pill. I’m only worried about my wife’s injury…” He was pointing towards Xiao Longnü with one finger.

Both Cheng Ying and Lu Wushuang were shocked and asked, “What? Yang Da Sao is also injured? We had no idea.” Xiao Longnü smiled slightly and said, “It’s actually nothing. I used my internal energy to stop the poison from spreading. I have been fine these past few days.” Lu Wushuang replied, “What poison is it? Is it the’ Passionless Poison’ again?” Xiao Longnü said, “No it isn’t, it is my senior sister’s ‘Soul Freezing Needles’.” Lu Wushuang replied, “Of course it’s that disgusting Li Mochou again. Dumb…..Big Brother Yang; didn’t you see her ‘Five Poison Secrets’ book? Though the ‘Soul Freezing Needle’ maybe strong, it isn’t difficult to neutralize.”

Yang Guo just sighed softly. Sorrowfully he said, “The poison has infected her blood stream and her internal organs; it is impossible to neutralize it with any ordinary antidote.” Then he proceeded to tell them how Guo Fu – unintentionally – launched the ‘Soul Freezing Needle’ while his wife was trying to cure herself by reversing her blood flow. fre𝑒𝘸𝚎𝚋n૦ѵℯl.c𝒐𝘮

Lu Wushuang angrily struck the stone she was sitting on; she was very angry. “Guo Fu really did not follow in her parents’ footsteps; she is ignorant of the laws of heaven. Cousin, we can’t just sit here doing nothing. I don’t care if her parents are chivalrous heroes of the world, I am not afraid of them.”

“We can’t really blame her,” Xiao Longnü commented. “The situation was entirely different than when she chopped off Guo’er’s arm.”

“Yang Da Sao,” Cheng Ying stated, “My Shifu said that with a strong internal energy we can momentarily halt the spread of the poison; however, the longer the poison resides in our bodies, the worse the end condition will be. Therefore, we will have to get rid of it as soon as possible.”

Xiao Longnü only uttered a “Hmm” sound, but Yang Guo thought, “When the Divine Indian Monk wakes up, whether or not he can neutralize the poison, is really hard to say.” He did not want to upset Xiao Longnü, so he did not say what he was thinking, he simply said, “I wonder how Auntie Guo and Reverend Yideng are dealing with that mad monk; we’d better go and take a look.”

Immediately they sought the way to the main hall. While they are still dozens of zhangs [a zhang is approximately 10 feet/3 meters] away, they saw a dark shadow flashing upward, whom they recognized as Gongsun Zhi. Then a very loud crashing was heard; Gongsun Zhi was smashing a hole in the hall’s rooftop and jumping down.

Yang Guo did not dare follow Gongsun Zhi’s way of entering the hall via the rooftop since he was wary of the enemy’s nets. He destroyed the stone door with his heavy iron sword instead.

When Gongsun Zhi entered the hall and saw Huang Rong and the other skilled martial artists, he was not afraid. He thought, “If I can’t fight them, I can always run away, can’t I?” He was about to rush outside when suddenly Yang Guo entered the hall by smashing the door. He was startled. He kicked his feet to the ground and leaped up to get out of the hall the same way he entered. His goal that particular moment was to get the antidote [Passionless Pill] for Li Mochou. Killing Qiu Qianchi and taking back the Passionless Valley could wait another day.

Just as Gongsun Zhi leaped up, Huang Rong followed with the ‘Dog Beating Stick’ in her hand; using the ‘chan’ [entangle] technique she entangled Gongsun Zhi’s leg. “Old thief!” Qiu Qianchi shouted, and launched an iron date stone [zao he ding] toward Gongsun Zhi’s waist. When he was leaping up vertically he had anticipated this attack, so he swung his saber and knocked the projectile down while maintaining his speed going up. But then his ears heard another sound, the second shot was coming his way. His golden saber was still extended; there was not enough time to pull it back. In the meantime Huang Rong’s dog beating stick had already entangled his leg and hit his thigh. He could not let the stone hit his abdomen, so he twisted his body frantically and bent his knees trying to elude it.

To everybody’s surprise, Qiu Qianchi launched the stone in a very extraordinary way. Everybody could see that those two date stones were directed at Gongsun Zhi. Who would have thought that about half a foot away from Gongsun Zhi, the second date stone suddenly changed course, made a small circle in the air, and … flew toward Huang Rong! Not even in her wildest dreams could Huang Rong have predicted what had happened. Frantically she moved her dog-beating stick and tried to knock the nail down, but the force carried by that iron date stone nail was too great; Huang Rong’s body shook, her arm and hand hurt. With a ‘clank’ sound the dog-beating stick fell onto the ground and Huang Rong followed after it.

Because of the interruption, Gongsun Zhi was also forced to come back down. He landed next to Huang Rong and immediately swung his saber horizontally toward her. Yang Guo swung his black sword and a strong gust of wind attacked Gongsun Zhi. Yang Guo’s attack was so fierce that Gongsun Zhi’s saber was pushed back about three feet. Gongsun Zhi felt the force carried by that sword was earth shattering, in his heart he was frightened no end that Yang Guo – who had lost one arm – had made a tremendous improvement in just one short month.

At that time Lu’E was standing in between her father and mother. She used to be afraid of her father, not daring to speak even half a word; but ever since she overheard her father and Li Mochou’s conversation at Broken Heart Cliff, that her father would rather sacrifice his own daughter’s life for some woman he barely knew, she experienced a change of heart. She challenged her father, “Father, you crippled Mother’s limbs and threw her down into an underground cave. Such viciousness was indeed very rare. Tonight at the Broken Heart Cliff, you discussed something with Li Mochou. May your daughter know what is it about?”

Gongsun Zhi’s heart turned cold, he was not aware, that in that secluded place, somebody would have heard their conversation. Even though he was cruel he was still deeply embarrassed, considering his evil plan to harm his own daughter. Now that his daughter confronted him publicly his face paled, “Wh…What? I didn’t say anything …” he stammered.

Lu’E wryly said, “You mean to kill your own daughter for the sake of a woman who is a stranger to our family. I am your daughter. If you want me dead, I certainly would not rebel against you. But Mother has promised to give the Passionless Pill in your hand to somebody else. Please, give that pill back to me.” She moved two steps forward and held her hand out to him.

Gongsun Zhi hastily put the porcelain bottle inside his pocket and with a cold laugh said, “One of you betrayed her own husband, while the other rebelled against her father. Both are wicked. I don’t want to deal with you just now. Wait for my revenge.” Brandishing his sword and saber so that they made a buzzing sound, he walked out the hall with big strides.

After listening to Lu’E, although Yang Guo did not understand the whole story, he lifted his black sword blocking Gongsun Zhi’s way. He turned his head toward Lu’E and asked, “Miss Gongsun, I would like to ask you a question.”

Hearing his voice Gongsun Lu’E was overwhelmed with self-pity, she thought, “I would sacrifice my life to give you the antidote, yet I can’t let you know that. Several years from now your house will be full of your children and grandchildren and you will soon forget this ill-fated wretched woman. Why would I cause you a life-long regret over this matter?” She lowered her head and asked, “Brother Yang, I am waiting for your question.”

“You said your father wants to harm you for a stranger, who is that woman? And would you enlighten me on what happened?” Yang Guo asked.

“That woman was Li Mochou. What happened was …” She hesitated a little bit, and then said, “Even though my father means me harm, he is still my father. I do not want to tell … “