SWORDS FIGHTS ON MOUNT HUA (Book 3 of Legend Of The Condor Heroes)

Lovers' Handkerchief Part 3

Seeing his Shifu's condition the farmer was like a mad tiger; neglecting his own life he charged toward the meditation room. But the Dog Beating Stick was too much for him, he charged three times and three times Huang Rong's stick pushed him back.

Guo Jing's palms moved in circles with a strong gust of wind, forcing the fisherman, the woodcutter and the scholar to move back step by step toward the door. Huang Rong abruptly swung her stick from the ground upward to the farmer's eyebrow. This move was so swift that the farmer cried out, "Aiyo!" He threw his head backward and leaped back several feet.

"Good!" Huang Rong exclaimed. She reached backward and closed the door. With a chuckle she said, "Gentlemen, please hold your hands! I have something to say."

Every time the woodcutter and the fisherman met with Guo Jing's palm they felt their arms went numb and their feet staggered. They saw Guo Jing was about to strike again, quickly they stood side by side, ready to receive Guo Jing's palm with their combine forces. As Guo Jing heard Huang Rong's words he stopped his palm midway and withdrew it back. Cupping his fists he said, "Please forgive my offense."

The fisherman, the woodcutter, the farmer and the scholar looked at each other in consternation. With a serious face Huang Rong said, "I have received Honorable Master's kindness; now I know that Honorable Master is facing a difficulty, how can I just leave and do nothing? We have offended you with the intention to help."

The scholar stepped forward, bowed deeply and said, "The enemy is our Master's wife; it would be inconvenient for us to offend her. If she wants to go up the mountain, we won't have any way of stopping her. Moreover, ever since that ... that young master died, for more than ten years our Shifu's heart was restless. Even if his energy were still intact and he were not poisoned, when he saw Concubine Liu arrive he would not defend himself against her dagger. We cannot disobey our master, yet our hearts are burning with anxiety. We have exhausted our wisdom and used up all our strengths, still we don't know what to do. Miss is so smart; if you can show us a way, even if our bodies and bones are ground to dust we will wish to repay your kindness."

Hearing him speaking earnestly Huang Rong did not dare to joke around like she previously did, she said, "We, martial brother and sister, are very grateful for the Honorable Master's kindness, no different than the four of you, we will use all means possible to help. It will be best if we can prevent Ying Gu from entering the meditation room, but to think that she has been waiting patiently at the Black Marsh for more than ten years, she must have made ample preparation. I am afraid it won't be easy to block her. Little sister's plan involves a great danger. If we succeed, we can expect smooth sailing in the future, without any imminent trouble. But it is extremely risky, that Ying Gu is very astute and sly, her martial art skill is also high, so there is a possibility for failure. My ability and wisdom is very shallow and simple, I can't think of any foolproof plan."

The fisherman, the woodcutter, the farmer and the scholar said, "We beg your explanation."

Huang Rong raised her pretty eyebrows and laid down her plan. As the four disciples listened to it, they looked at each other and did not say anything for half a day.

.o0o.

It was the tenth hour (5 – 7 pm), the sun slowly sank behind the mountain. Thestrong mountain breeze swayed the leaves of the palm trees planted in rows outsidethe meditation courtyard. The withered lotus leaves on the pond also made arustling noise. The evening sun cast its light from behind the mountain peaks,the mountain ridges looked like a silhouette of a giant reclining on theground. The fisherman, the woodcutter, the farmer and the scholar satcross-legged on the ground by the stone bridge. They opened their eyes widelooking to the front. Each heart was heavy with restlessness.

They had waited for a long time. The sky had darkened, the dusk graduallyturned into night. The crows crowed while they were flying in the valley below.A thin white mist rose up from the canyon below. But still no one appeared fromthe turn at the mountain cliff beyond the stone bridge. The fisherman thought,"If only Concubine Liu has a sudden change of heart and does not blame Shifu,maybe she reined her horse beyond the cliff and decided not to come over ..."

The woodcutter thought, "This Concubine Liu is very crafty; she must have beenpreparing a really sinister plot."

The farmer was more anxious and impatient than the others, he thought, "Thesooner she arrives, the sooner we can get it over with; whether it will bedisaster or fortune, good or evil, we will find out sooner. She said she wouldcome and she hasn't arrived yet, it really is exasperating."

The scholar thought, "The more delayed she is, the more dangerous the threatwill be. This matter is really difficult to be solved nicely." It goes withoutsaying that he was a good schemer and tactician; he had been the prime ministerof Dali kingdom for more than a dozen of years. He had seen major battle andfaced many difficult situations, yet this time he was nervous. He had giventhis matter a lot of thoughts, but could not put out the least bit of idea. Hiseyes scanned the darkened surrounding area; his ears heard the distant cry ofan owl. Suddenly he remembered when he was a child he often heard people say,'The owl [lit. night cat] hides in a secret place and stealthily counts human'seyebrows. Whoever got his eyebrows counted correctly, that person will not liveto see the daylight.' It was obviously a myth to deceive little children, butin this situation suddenly hearing the cry of the owl, he involuntarilyshuddered. "Could it be that Shifu won't be able to escape this disaster anddie under this woman's hands?" He had just finished his thought when suddenlythe woodcutter whispered urgently with a trembling voice, "She is here!"

The scholar lifted his head and saw a black shadow flew across the stone bridgeand light as a feather jumped over the gap, as if floating without exerting anyenergy at all. The four people were astonished, "When she started training withShifu, we have already been under his tutelage for a long time. How can hermartial art exceed ours? In this last dozen of years or so, where did she go tolearn such a marvelous skill?" they thought. As they saw that dark shadow comenear, four people stood up and positioned themselves on either side of the way.

In a blink of an eye that dark shadow has arrived at the end of the stonebridge; she was wearing black clothes, and her facial features could be vaguelyrecognized as Concubine Liu whom the Emperor Duan loved very much in the yearspast.

Four people knelt down and kowtowed, "Xiao Ren [little/lowly people] greetsNiang-niang [madam, or in this case can be translated as 'empress']."

"Humph," Ying Gu snorted. Her gaze swept the four people's faces and she said,"What Niang-niang? Concubine Liu had died long ago, I am Ying Gu. Hmm, the PrimeMinister, the General, the Admiral, and the Commanding Officer of the 'yu linjun' [lit. defending woods troops. I am not sure, but I think 'yu lin jun' isthe personal bodyguards of the emperor] are all here. I thought the Emperor hadforsaken worldliness and became a monk, who would have thought that he ishiding in this remote mountain and lives in peace and security as an emperor."Her voice carried so much hatred that their hearts trembled.

The scholar said, "The Emperor does not look like his former self. I am sureNiang-niang will not recognize him anymore."