by Jin Yong
Guo Jing agreed with every statement she had made. In fact, he despised himself more with each word wrung from her shivering frame. As Lotus braced herself against a sudden gust of wind, he took off his outer robe, but, before he could wrap it around her, he heard a familiar voice.
“Who’s making our Miss Huang cry?”
A man with flowing hair and a beard to match appeared next to them, but Guo Jing did not spare the newcomer a single glance.
Still in a foul mood, Lotus greeted him sharply. “Hoary Urchin!” she snapped. “I sent you to kill Qiu Qianren. Have you brought me his head?”
“Good Miss Huang, tell me who upset you?” Zhou Botong asked, trying to divert her attention from his failed mission. “The Urchin will make them pay.”
“Him.” She jabbed her finger at Guo Jing. Keen to ingratiate himself, Zhou Botong boxed his sworn brother about the ears without giving the young man any warning.
The smacks landed loudly on Guo Jing’s cheeks, almost knocking the light from his eyes. He was so consumed by Lotus’s presence that he had failed to see the attack coming.
“Dear Miss Huang, was that enough? If not, I’ll cuff him a few more times.”
Lotus’s fury melted away at the sight of the fiery, hand-shaped marks on each side of Guo Jing’s face. She felt a spark of rekindled tenderness, but it was short-lived, quickly consumed by an overwhelming displeasure that found an easy target in Zhou Botong.
“I’m upset with him. What’s that got to do with you? Who says you can beat him up? I sent you to kill Qiu Qianren. Why haven’t you done so?”
Zhou Botong stuck out his tongue and sighed. That kiss on the arse had fallen woefully wide of the mark. He had no wish to face Lotus’s ire any longer than was necessary, and, while he turned over in his head excuses to slip away, he heard the clash of weapons, along with faint shouting, coming from somewhere behind them.
“Hark! It must be Qiu Qianren. I’ll finish him off,” he cried, hotfooting it in the direction of the distant commotion.
* * *
IF QIU Qianren had been responsible for the muted clamor from afar, Zhou Botong would in fact have bolted in the opposite direction. After Guo Jing had at last managed to extricate himself from the scuffle in the deserted village in the Western Regions, Viper Ouyang too had abandoned the fight, leaving Qiu Qianren alone to deal with Zhou Botong’s harassment.
As the leader of one of the largest martial groups in the wulin, Qiu Qianren knew he would not live down the humiliation of being captured by the Hoary Urchin, but he was worn out physically and mentally by his attempts to evade him. He resigned himself to the harsh truth that he would have to take desperate measures to preserve his dignity and free himself from the ordeal. Catching a glimpse of several venomous snakes coiled up together in the sand, he recognized that they were an extremely deadly species. One bite would be enough, and, as it would also numb the body, it would be among the least painful ways to die. He reached out and pinched one of the serpents seven inches below its head, snatching it up.
“Zhou Botong, you’ve won!” he cried, aiming the fangs at his wrist, ready to end his life.
But, the instant the Urchin made out the scaly creature held between Qiu’s fingers, he let out a yelp and scurried away.
It was a short while before Qiu Qianren realized that the exaggerated reaction was brought about by the snake—and that the tables had been decisively turned. He armed himself with a second serpent and raced after his tormentor, yelling to catch his attention.
Zhou Botong, convinced that his organs were about to burst open from fright, ran as fast as his legs would allow. As it happened, Qiu Qianren’s lightness kung fu was more advanced than that of his erstwhile pursuer—after all, it was the reason he was honored in the wulin as the Iron Palm Water Glider. He could easily have overtaken the Urchin, but he was still wary of him after suffering at his hands for so long. And so, one fled and the other gave chase, and the game continued until the sky grew dark. In the failing light, Zhou Botong managed to lose his tail, but, in fact, Qiu had allowed him to escape so he could make his own retreat.
The next day, Zhou Botong stole a fine horse and galloped east, hoping to shake Qiu Qianren off once and for all.
* * *
LOTUS’S EYES followed Zhou Botong as he scuttled away, then her gaze shifted to Guo Jing. After a while, she glanced down at her feet and sighed.
“Lotus.”
“Mm.”
Catching her barely perceptible response, Guo Jing readied himself to apologize once more and beg her forgiveness, but he knew how inarticulate he was and he could not risk angering her further by saying the wrong thing. So, they just stood looking each other on the exposed crag, while the wind blew about them. The sound of Lotus sneezing reminded Guo Jing that he had been about to put his robe around her. She accepted the garment without resistance nor any acknowledgment, her head bowed, not favoring him with so much as a glance.
Merry chortles interrupted their awkward standoff. Zhou Botong’s voice could be heard again, crying, “Marvelous! Marvelous!”
Lotus took Guo Jing’s hand and said softly, “Let’s see what’s going on.”
The young man burst into joyful tears, too relieved to muster a reply.
Chuckling, Lotus dabbed his eyes with her sleeve. “Look at yourself. People will think you’re crying because I slapped you.”
“Nothing would make me happier.”
She flashed him a radiant smile.
The young lovers had finally set aside their differences. Hand in hand, they headed away from the precipice. It did not take them long to find Zhou Botong. He was lounging on a boulder, his hands resting on his belly and his foot on his knee, looking distinctly pleased with himself. Qiu Chuji stood beside him, gripping the hilt of his sword. Hector Sha, Tiger Peng, Lama Supreme Wisdom and Browbeater Hou were present too, and the four of them were all in the process of launching an offensive with their weapons or shrinking away from an attack. They each maintained a different posture, but the one thing they had in common was that they were all frozen stiff, as though carved of wood or shaped from clay. The Hoary Urchin had locked their movements via their acupoints.
“Huh! Last time you smelly vagabonds fell into my hands, you stopped listening to me when you realized my little balls of grime weren’t deadly poison. Well, well, let’s see how defiant you are today.” Zhou Botong had not yet decided how to deal with them, but he knew Lotus would be full of ideas. “Good Miss Huang, I present these stinking thieves to you,” he said, hailing the new arrivals.
“What am I supposed to do with them?” She eyed the capricious man. “So … you don’t want to kill them, but you don’t want to let them go either, am I right? And you’re not sure how to keep them in line. Now, if you call me Big Sister three times, I’ll tell you what to do.”
The Hoary Urchin did as he was asked, accompanying two cries of “Big Sister!” with a bow, before choosing to finish with a flourish, exclaiming, “Dear Auntie!”
Tickled to be addressed as an elder by her senior, Lotus pointed at Tiger Peng, struggling to supress a smile. “Search him.”
Zhou Botong found Peng’s secret weapon, a ring studded with pins laced with venom, along with two small bottles of antidote.
“He pricked and poisoned your martial nephew Ma Yu with that. You should do the same to him.”
Tiger Peng and his fellows might have been immobilized, but there was nothing wrong with their hearing. Lotus’s words sent their frightened spirits flying out of their bodies, and, the next thing they knew, they were being stung repeatedly by the toxic ring.
“Now they’ll do anything you tell them to. Just make sure you don’t lose the antidote.”
Chuckling, the Urchin cocked his head to one side and wondered what other tricks he could pull on the four men. He scratched around his body, harvesting a good deal of detritus, which he mixed with the antidote and rubbed into little balls. These he stuffed back into the bottles, which h
e then handed to Qiu Chuji.
“Take these scoundrels back to the Zhongnan Mountains and lock them up in the Chongyang Temple for twenty years. If they behave themselves on the way there, you can give them one of these miraculous pills. If they don’t, give them another taste of their own poison—no need to be merciful.”
Qiu Chuji bowed, accepting the task.
“Well said, Old Urchin.” Lotus flashed him a broad grin. “You’ve really come along, this past year!”
Puffed up by her praise, Zhou Botong released the men’s vital points. “Off you go to Chongyang Temple. If you change your ways in good faith, maybe you’ll become men, after all. But, if you don’t do as you’re told…” He sniggered. “We Quanzhen monks kill without batting an eye and tear out flesh without creasing our brows. We’ll neutralize the poison in your body, then cut you up to make meatballs. Enough to feed the whole monastery. Then we’ll see if you can still get up to mischief!”
The captured men vowed to be good. Stifling a smile, Qiu Chuji took his leave, escorting the four rogues down Mount Hua with his sword in his hand.
Lotus chuckled. “When did you learn to scold like that? It started out promising, but then it just got ridiculous.”
Zhou Botong threw his head back and laughed. In that moment, he caught from the corner of his eye a flash of white light from the peak to his left—sunlight reflecting off a fine blade.
“Oooh, what’s that?”
Guo Jing and Lotus turned in the direction he was indicating, but they did not spot anything.
“I’ll take a look,” the Urchin said, charging full pelt uphill. He wanted to get away before Lotus could ask him about Qiu Qianren again.
Now that they were finally alone, the young couple could not wait to discuss all they had experienced in the time they were apart. They sat down at the entrance to a shallow cave and talked until the sun dipped behind the mountains to the west—and still they had more to share. Guo Jing took a dried flatbread from his knapsack and tore a piece off for Lotus.
“Remember the scrambled version of the Nine Yin Manual you set down for the Venom?” Lotus giggled as she chewed. “Following your good example, I’ve also been inventing interpretations for him. He lapped them up without ever doubting their veracity—he’s been practicing earnestly for months. I told him that this advanced kung fu has to be cultivated upside down, and he followed my ramblings to the letter, walking around on his hands, forcing his qi to circulate in reverse. I have to give the Old Toad some credit, though—he’s now able to flip the flow in the Yin Link, Yang Link, Yin Heel and Yang Heel meridians at will. I wonder what it would be like if he managed to invert every energy channel.”
“So that’s why he was walking on his hands just now. It can’t be easy.”
“Have you come to win the honor of the Greatest Martial Master Under the Heavens?” Lotus asked, after a brief silence.
“Don’t make fun of me. I’m here to ask Brother Zhou to teach me how to unlearn my kung fu,” Guo Jing said, and he outlined for her the issues that he had been contemplating of late.
Lotus tilted her head to one side, considering his words. “It probably is better to forget it all,” she said with a sigh. “It’s true that, as our martial prowess grows, we also become less happy, whereas, when we were young and knew nothing, we lived without a care in the world.” Somehow, it did not occur to her that this was just the inevitable result of growing up, and had nothing to do with one’s martial ability. She paused, then changed the subject. “Viper Ouyang said that the Contest starts tomorrow. Papa will surely be there. Since you’re not taking part, we should help him claim the title.”
“I don’t ever want to say no to you, Lotus, but I do think our shifu deserves it more—for his compassion and his principles.”
Lotus had been resting against Guo Jing, but now, vexed by his implied criticism of her father, she pushed him away. He was flustered by her sudden anger, but, when she spoke, there was a hint of laughter in her voice.
“Well, I can’t deny that Shifu Hong has treated us well. How about we help no one?”
“Your papa and our shifu are both men of honor and virtue. They wouldn’t want us plotting anything behind their backs.”
“So I’m a conniving villain now, am I?” She fixed him with a stony glare.
“Forgive me!” he cried in panic. “I’m not good with words. I didn’t mean to upset you.”
“You’re going to upset me again and again, in the years to come,” she replied, trying to swallow a giggle.
Guo Jing looked at her and scratched his head, unable to catch her meaning.
“If you don’t cast me aside again, we’ll have plenty of time together, so who knows how many more silly things you’ll say to me?”
Thrilled by her talk of a future together, he took her hands tenderly in his. “Why would I ever cast you aside?”
“It wouldn’t be the first time. But I suppose you’ll come running back to me when your Princess gets tired of you.”
The joke cut Guo Jing to the quick, bringing to mind his mother’s death. The moon had just risen, casting a silver glow on everything it touched. Lotus saw his expression and realized she had spoken out of turn.
“Let’s not bring up the past anymore. I’m very happy being with you right now. You may kiss my cheek, if you’d like.”
The young man blushed, but dared not accept the invitation. Lotus gave him an abashed smile and turned the conversation back to the Contest. “Who do you think will win tomorrow?”
“It’s hard to say. Do you think Reverend Sole Light will take part?”
“Uncle Sole Light has left behind the troubles of this world. Surely he won’t be competing for the title.”
Guo Jing bobbed his head in agreement. “Your papa, Shifu Hong, Brother Zhou, Qiu Qianren and Viper Ouyang—they each have their signature skill to rely on. I wonder if Shifu has recovered or if his kung fu is still affected…” His concern for Count Seven was evident in his voice.
“The Hoary Urchin would be the strongest if he used techniques from the Nine Yin Manual, but he won’t, and that leaves him the weakest of the five.”
As the young lovers continued to talk—about the Contest and anything else that sprang to mind—Lotus began to feel drowsy, dozing off in Guo Jing’s embrace. It was rare for her to remove the Hedgehog Chainmail, so she had developed a special way of leaning into him to save him from being pricked. She had not reclined like this for a long time, and it filled her heart with a contentment beyond description. Guo Jing too was feeling heavy-eyed, but soon the light scratching of footsteps jolted him awake.
5
A shadowy figure shot past the mouth of the cave, followed a moment later by another, their robes flapping behind them in a gale of their own making. Guo Jing immediately recognized Zhou Botong as the one on the run, thanks to his distinctive lightness qinggong, and, a moment later, he managed to place the man in pursuit … Qiu Qianren! The young man was mystified. The last time he had come across the two of them together, far out in the Western Regions, the leader of the Iron Palm Gang had been fleeing from Brother Zhou. How had they come to switch roles? He had no idea that Qiu had discovered the Hoary Urchin’s fear of snakes.
He nudged Lotus and whispered in her ear, “Look!”
She lifted her head to see Zhou Botong scurrying around in the moonlight, casting fearful glances over his shoulder.
“Qiu, you old scoundrel!” he cried. “I’ve got lackeys here to catch your snakes. You’d better run, before it’s too late!”
Qiu Qianren just laughed. “Do you take me for a gullible child?”
“Brother Guo! Miss Huang! Help me!”
Lotus held Guo Jing back, to keep him from rushing out to his sworn brother’s aid, and said under her breath, “Don’t move yet.”
The Urchin was running in circles, yelling at the top of his lungs. “Stinking lad! Cruel wench! If you don’t come out right away, I’ll curse eighteen generations of your anc
estors!”
Lotus stood up, laughing. “Go on, then. Curse my papa. See how far it gets you.
Qiu Qianren was holding a serpent in each hand. Zhou Botong felt his knees give way at the sight of their flickering tongues.
“Good Miss Huang, quickly! Quickly! I’ll curse eighteen generations of my own ancestors if you help me now!”
With Guo Jing and Lotus poised to step in, Qiu Qianren knew he needed to make himself scarce before the three of them banded together against him. It would be best to lie low until noon the next day, when the Contest began, for he did not fear facing any of them in single combat. He tapped both feet against the ground and lunged forward, thrusting the snakes at Zhou Botong’s face.
The Urchin flicked his sleeves to fend off the creatures and threw himself sideways. Just then, he heard a quiet rustling sound pass overhead, and, a moment later, something chilly landed on the nape of his neck. It wriggled into his collar and slid down his spine, squirming around in his clothes, slippery and slimy.
“I’m dead! I’m dead!” he shrieked, his terrified spirits taking flight.He dared not reach into his undershirt to remove the unwitting stowaway, so he ran in circles, jumped around and flipped back and forth. Suddenly, he froze. His body went numb and he flopped to the ground, convinced that the snake had sunk its fangs into his back.
Guo Jing and Lotus rushed over, fearing the worst. Qiu Qianren was mystified by Zhou Botong’s fit, but it gave him a chance to sneak away. As he strained his eyes in the gloom to find the trail down the mountain, a dark profile emerged from the trees.
“Qiu Qianren, you won’t get away this time.”
The figure was silhouetted by the moon, its face shrouded in shadow. The guttural voice, cold as ice, was menacing enough to give even Qiu Qianren the shivers.
“Who are you?” he hissed.
The newcomer ignored his question and approached Zhou Botong, who was still curled up on the ground, convinced that he was bound for the netherworld.