The two brothers were slightly startled when they heard their fatherâs voice and both replied, âFather.â
Wu Santong bowed deeply to Yang Guo and said, âBrother Yang, I will never forget your kindness.â
Yang Guo frowned; how could he say this in front of the brothers? By the time he wanted to say something to throw them off the scent, Wu Xiuwen had become suspicious and said, âBrother, that punkâs words may not be the truth.â
Wu Dunru may not be as articulate as his brother, but he was just as alert; he looked at his father and then nodded to his brother.
Wu Santong had saw that he had made a mess of things and quickly said, âItâs not what you think, I did not get brother Yang to stop you fighting.â
At first, the Wu brothers were just suspicious, but after hearing their father trying to cover up his words, they both immediately thought about how Yang Guo and Guo Fu had never gotten on with each other. He and Xiao Longnu were deeply in love, so the things that he had just said were most probably lies.
Wu Xiuwen said, âBrother, weâll go back to Xiangyang and ask sister Fu about this.â
Wu Dunru replied, âYes! We canât be deceived by other peopleâs lies.â
Wu Xiuwen said, âFather, come with us as well. Master and Master wife are your old friends, you should go see them.â
Wu Santong replied, âI⌠IâŚâ He became flustered as he tried to decide what to do. He wanted to use his authority to order his sons to stop fighting but was afraid that theyâll just agree to please him and then go off fighting as soon as his back was turned.
Yang Guo said coldly, âLittle brother Wu, how can you say the words âsister Fuâ? From now on, not only canât you say it, youâre not allowed to even think it.â
Wu Xiuwen yelled, âWhat, this from the worldâs most unreasonable person? I have said the words âsister Fuâ for years now; not only do I want to say it today, I want to say it tomorrow. Sister Fu, sister Fu, my sister FuâŚâ Suddenly, smack! Yang Guo slapped his left cheek.
Wu Xiuwen leaped back two steps and held up his sword. He lowered his voice and said, âFine, the one named Yang, itâs been a few years since weâve had a fight.â
Wu Santong shouted, âWenâer, why start a fight?â
Yang Guo turned to him and said with a serious face, âUncle Wu, who exactly are you trying to help?â Logically, he would of course help his son, but it was clear to see that Yang Guo was trying to help him stop his sons from fighting, his mouth froze.
Yang Guo said, âHow about this, go and sit over there. I wonât hurt them and more likely than not, they wonât be able to harm me; just watch the show.â
He was a lot younger than Wu Santong but as he said this, Wu Santong couldnât stop himself from complying with his instructions and he sat down on a rock.
Yang Guo unsheathed his Gentleman Sword and chopped a large Pine tree at his side in two. He pushed out his left palm and toppled the top half of the tree. The sword left a straight and smooth cut. When the brothers saw how fine a weapon his sword was, they couldnât help but to look at each other in shock.
Yang Guo returned the sword in its sheath and laughed, âDo you think you are worthy of fighting against this sword?â He casually stretched out his hand and snapped a branch. He removed the leaves and left himself with a three-foot long wooden rod. He said to them, âI know that you donât believe that my mother-in-law favors me. How about this, Iâll use this wooden rod and you two use your swords against me at the same time. You can use the martial arts that my father and mother-in-law taught you, or you can use the âSolitary Yang Fingerâ that your Martial Uncle Zhu taught you. I however, will only use the martial arts that my mother-in-law has taught me; if I use a stance from another sectâs martial arts then that means Iâve lost.â
The brothers had been worried about how good his martial arts were; they had seen him in action twice against Jinlun Fawang and the stances that he had used were completely new to them. But with Yang Guo referring to Guo Jing and Huang Rong as his in-laws as if he had already married Guo Fu, how could they not get angry? Also, Yang Guo was being too arrogant and insulting towards them. Two against one with a wooden rod against swords and limiting himself to using only martial arts that Huang Rong had taught him. With these advantages, if they donât win then it would be a disgrace.
Wu Dunru felt that this wasnât fair and shook his head. He was about to say something when Wu Xiuwen said, âFine, you were the one who made the rules; it wasnât we brothers who asked for it. Should you happen to use a stance of the Quanzhen or Ancient Tomb martial arts what then?â He was thinking that although this punkâs martial arts were good, it was only because he had learned the advanced techniques of the Quanzhen and the Ancient Tomb. When we were living on Peach Blossom Island, we beat the hell out of you and you had to run away, how good were you then? He said these words so that the two of them could fight him together.
Yang Guo said, âWe are fighting today not because of old grudges or todayâs feud, we are fighting because of sister Fu. If I lose, just one word or glance at her then Iâm a worthless and shameless scoundrel.â These words were meant to force the brothers to say the same thing.
Wu Xiuwen could only say, âIf we lose, then we too wonât see sister Fu again.â
Yang Guo faced Wu Dunru and said, âWhat about you?â
Wu Dunru said angrily, âMy brother and I share the same view, what else am I going to say?â
Yang Guo laughed, âFine, if you lose today and you donât keep to your promise, then you are a worthless, shameless scoundrel, yes?â
Wu Xiuwen said, âCorrect. The same applies to you. Letâs start!â He stretched his sword forward and aimed for Yang Guoâs leg. Wu Dunru attacked at the same time but he came in from the left. Within a stance, the two had moved themselves into the pincer position.
Yang Guo leapt forward and called out, âYou brothers are pretty powerful when you fight together.â
Wu Dunru attacked again and Yang Guo raised his wooden rod but he did not counterattack, instead he just moved left and right and said, âA wife is like a piece of clothing, brothers are like limbs, if a piece of clothing is torn it can be mended but if limbs snap, thereâs no return! Have you heard this poem before?â
Wu Xiuwen shouted, âWhat are you babbling on about? Why arenât you showing us the martial arts that Master wife taught you?â
Wu Dunru did not say a word as he fought harder.
Yang Guo said, âFine, you better watch out, here comes the masterful martial arts that my mother-in-law personally taught me!â He then aimed his wooden rod downwards and used the âtripâ codex from the âDog Beating Stick Techniqueâ. At the same time, he stretched out his left index finger and pretended to go for Wu Dunruâs pressure point. Wu Dunru leapt back to avoid this attack. Wu Xiuwen called out as he was tripped.