Suddenly, she no longer felt the severe pain in her body. This was because her mind was occupied by Yang Guoâs pain, making her forget her own suffering. She softly said: âPoor Guoâer. Has it been very long? You arenât in pain now?â
Yang Guo shook his head, replying: âIt doesnât hurt anymore. As long as I get to see your face and never part with you again, whatâs so important about missing an arm? My left arm can still hold you, canât it?â
Xiao LongnĂź let out a soft smile, deciding that Yang Guo was right. She lay down in his embrace. Even though he had only his left arm, she was content. She was facing death just before seeing him again. Right now it was very good, really very good.
Jinlun Fawang, Xiaoxiang Zi, Yin Kexi, Quanzhen Five Masters, their numerous disciples, the numerous Mongolian soldiers ⌠nobody made a sound but looked dumbfounded at the young lovers. At a time like this, they all were thinking about fighting with them, yet nobody dared to start it. The world waited. Yang Guo and Xiao Longnß no longer cared whether they lived or died. Having their love, what was so important about death?
Jinlun Fawang certainly was not afraid of the couple only astonished. He saw Xiao LongnĂź badly injured and Yang Guo having only one arm, and neither being able to withstand a fight again. However, the two peopleâs affection for each other had an awe-inspiring and fearless effect, and was not something to be taken lightly.
Eventually, Xiao LongnĂź couldnât stay quiet, asking: âYour arm ⌠How did you lose your arm? Tell me quickly.â
Yang Guo forced a bitter smile and said: âThe arm was lost; naturally it got cut off by other people.â
Xiao LongnĂź sadly looked at him. She hadnât thought that he wouldnât tell her who did it. That meant it didnât matter who. She again felt the rising pain in her chest. She knew her life wouldnât last much longer, lowering her voice: âGuoâer, I beg you one thing.â
Yang Guo said: âGu Gu, youâve forgotten. At Gu Mu, I promised you, whatever you want me to do, Iâll do it.â
Xiao LongnĂź sighed quietly, saying: âThat was a long, long time ago!â
âTo me, forever is the same,â replied Yang Guo.
Xiao LongnĂź smiled sadly and said: âI donât have long to live. You stay with me, until I die. Donât go accompany Guo.. Guo Fu Guniang [Miss Guo Fu].â
Yang Guo was sad yet angry, saying: âGu Gu, of course Iâll be with you. What does Guo Fu Guniang have to do with me? It was she who chopped off this arm of mine.â
Xiao LongnĂź was alarmed, crying out: âWhat? It was her? Why was she so heartless?â
Is that⌠Is that why you donât like her?â Yang Guo said resentfully: âThe two of us are very good together, why are you being suspicious? Except for one person, in my life Iâve never loved any girls. This Guo Fu Guniang, Hngg [expression of contempt]â
That day Yang Guo and Guo Fuâs quarrel escalated into a fight, Guo Fuâs burning anger was hard to restrain. She grabbed hold of the âLadyâ sword and struck down at the top of his head. Yang Guo was poisoned and he hadnât fully recuperated yet, his four limbs had no energy to spare. Seeing the sword arrive, he was out of options and had to raise his right arm in front of his face. Guo Fu in furious vexation gave her all. The âLadyâ sword was as sharp as it gets and Yang Guoâs right arm was silently cut off in a flash.
With that sword chopping down, Yang Guoâs life changed. Yang Guo no doubt let out a fierce burst of anger; Guo Fu was quivering with fear and knew sheâd made a huge mistake that could never be made up. But after witnessing the blood well up like a fountain, she hadnât a clue as to what to do. A moment passed, suddenly the sound of âwaâ was released, she covered her face and wept whilst pushing open the door and rushing out. After a short period of nervous discomfort, Yang Guo promptly relaxed himself. And extended his left hand to seal his right shoulderâs âLoyal Shoulder Pointâ, he tore up a bed sheet and firmly tied up his shoulder to prevent the continuous flow of blood. Then he applied the Golden Wound Medicine to his wound, and thought: âI cannot stay here any longer, I must hurry and get out of the city.â Slowly holding the wall he walked a few steps. Because heâd bled excessively, he almost fainted several times as his vision became more and more blurred.
At this moment, he heard the loud calls of Guo Jing: âCome on, come on, how is he? Has he stopped bleeding yet?â The sound of his speech was filled with anxiety. Yang Guoâs mind at that time only encompassed these thoughts: âNo way am I going to see Uncle Guo. I donât want to see him.â So he took a deep breath, and sprinted out of the room.
He rushed outside the mansionâs gates, pulled in a horse, mounted it and galloped to the city gate. The officers and men that supervised the city had seen him rescue Guo Jing at the top of the city wall once before, they had a great deal of respect for him. So they immediately opened the city gate for him and he dashed past on the horse.
During this period the Mongolian armed forces had decamped a hundred-odd Chinese miles (li) away. Yang Guo did not take the route of the main road. The horse was ridden through the desolated areas. He thought: âThe time is up for the Passion Flower thatâs infected my body, but Iâm still very much alive. Perhaps itâs just like what the Indian Divine Monk said; after I sucked the poison of the âSoul Freezing Silver Needlesâ, the poison managed to counteract the other poison, which prolonged my life. But the poison has only subsided; sooner or later itâs inevitable for it to break out again. With severe wounds, if I were to head off to Mount Zhongnan to look for GuGu, I definitely wonât last very long. Could this be what fate has destined for me, and condemned me to die in such a strange place? He began to reminisce about his wretched orphaned life, other than those fond memories he had of being together with Xiao LongnĂź in Ancient Tomb; he rarely found any other specific moments of bliss. At this moment, the only close person he had has abandoned him and gone. Just when heâs recovered â part of his body is disabled. Already half-dead, when his thoughts reached this point, he was hardly able to restrain his tears.
Yang Guo laid flat on the horseâs back. In his wooziness, he didnât care where the horse would take him, as long as Guo Jing wouldnât be able to find him and he didnât bump into any of the Mongolian army. Soon, the horse came near the desolate valley where the Wu brothers had fought each other the night before.
It was dusk already. The long grasses in the valley were even taller than knee-highs. Silence swept the night. Yang Guo was quite sure that he was all alone now, so he lay down in the bushes and tried to get some sleep. By then he couldnât care less about his own safety, and didnât even bother to guard against poisonous snakes or wild animals. But the excruciating pain from his wound never stopped throughout the night. He could barely fall asleep.
The next morning when he opened his eyes and sat up, something suddenly caught his attention. Only inches from him lay two dead centipedes, bloodstains in their mouths, stiff as sticks, with red and black stripes all over their bodies, looking frightful even after they were dead. In shock, Yang Guo examined them more closely and found a big pool of blood next to the centipedes. After a short ponder, he had it figured out. It turned out that the bleeding from his wound had created the pool of blood, and because of the strong toxin contained in his blood, the two poisonous centipedes had died.