Chapter 75

Chapter 75: The (9)

Translator: wuxiasociety

Yang Guo saw that she used the stance “Flower from the Embroidery Pen” (jin bi sheng hua), it was a sword stance of the Ancient Tomb sect, he was perplexed, “This person is probably a disciple of Martial Uncle Li Mochou, and has come to find Gu Gu, she must have ill intentions, from her belt and sword stances her kung fu is good, I’ll keep on pretending to be dumb so she’ll be off guard.”

He put on a frightened expression and begged, “Xian Gu (Angelic Priestess), don’t…don’t kill me, I’ll listen to you.”

The Taoist priestess laughed and said, “Good, if you don’t listen to me I’ll kill you with one sword stroke.”

Yang Guo called out, “I’ll listen…I’ll listen.” The Taoist priestess waved her belt, and it returned to her waist, her expression was leisurely. Yang Guo quietly said, “Great!” but his face still had a blank expression. The Taoist priestess thought, “How could the stupid boy appreciate this skill? I might as well show it off in front of a blind man.” She said, “Quickly go home and get the hatchet.”

Yang Guo hurried to a nearby farmer’s house, he pretended to limp; his footsteps were heavy, strutting and staggering, appearing clumsy. The Taoist priestess saw he wasn’t a pleasant sight and shouted, “Don’t tell anyone, hurry.”

Yang Guo replied, “Okay!”

He quietly opened the door to the farmer’s house, and saw no one was inside, and assumed that they were working in the fields; from the wall he picked up a short hatchet that was used to chop firewood. He also took an old shirt from a rack and wore it, and then returned still carrying the dumb expression.

Although he was trying making a fool out of the Taoist priestess, he was worried about the safety of Xiao Longnu, and couldn’t stop from having a burdened look on his face.

The Taoist priestess angrily said, “What’s with the crying face? Quickly smile for me.”

Yang Guo opened his mouth and laughed foolishly.

The Taoist priestess wrinkled her brows and said, “Follow me up the mountain.”

Yang Guo quickly said, “I can’t…I can’t, mother told me not to run around.”

The Taoist priestess shouted, “If you don’t listen then I’ll kill you immediately.” She stretched out her left hand and held his ear, while her right hand raised her sword, as if she was about to slash down.

Yang Guo quickly blurted out, “I’ll go…I’ll go!”

The Taoist priestess thought, “That person is as stupid as a pig, just what I need.” She then pulled on his sleeve and started up the mountain. Her lightness kung fu was not weak so naturally her steps were quick. Yang Guo kept on stumbling about, his left foot high, right foot low, he was far behind her and after a while he sat on a rock by the roadside, incessantly wiping away his sweat and was out of breath. The Taoist priestess ran on ahead.

Yang Guo said, “You run like a rabbit, how can I keep up?”

The Taoist priestess saw that the sun was in the west, she was troubled and impatient, she returned and grabbed his arm, and hurriedly went up the mountain.

Yang Guo couldn’t keep up, his arms and legs were everywhere, and soon kicked her in the back of the leg.

The Taoist priestess shouted “Ai ya!” and angrily said, “Do you want to die?” But she saw that he was out of breath and extremely tired, so she stretched out her left hand and grabbed his waist and said, “Let’s go!” She seized his body and headed up the mountain, she utilized her lightness kung fu, and in a few moments she had passed over many li.

As Yang Guo was being carried by her, he felt her soft body and smelled her feminine scent, he didn’t waste an ounce of energy and let her carry him up the mountain. She hurried for a while and then looked down and saw a smile creep upon his face. He was looking very comfortable; she couldn’t stop from being angry, loosened her arm, and tossed him on the ground and angrily shouted, “Are you feeling happy?”

Yang Guo rubbed his backside and called out, “Ai yo, ai yo, the Xian Gu hurt Sha Dan’s backside.”

The Taoist priestess was angry but was amused at the same time and said, “Why is your surname Sha (Foolish/Dumb)?”

Yang Guo said, “Yes, I’m called Sha Dan. Xian Gu, mother said my surname is not Sha; it’s Zhang. Why is your surname Xian (Angel/Immortal)?”

The Taoist priestess said, “Just call me Xian Gu, and don’t worry about my surname.” She was the ‘Scarlet Serpent Deity’ Li Mochou’s disciple Hong Lingbo. She was the young Taoist priestess who was sent to kill the Lu couple and Madam Wu. Yang Guo wanted to know her surname but she didn’t reveal it. The Taoist priestess sat on a rock, the wind scattered her hair. Yang Guo secretly glanced at her and thought, “That priestess is quite pretty, but can’t compare with Peach Blossom Island’s Auntie Guo, and of course cannot compare with my Gu Gu.”

Hong Lingbo glanced at Yang Guo, smiled and said; “Sha Dan, why are you staring at me?”

Yang Guo said, “I’m just looking what reason is there? If you don’t let me look, I won’t look, what’s so special?”

Hong Lingbo said, “Look then! Hey, am I nice to look at?” She then took out a comb from her pocket, and slowly combed her hair.

Yang Guo said, “You are nice to look at, but…but…”

Hong Lingbo said, “But what?”

Yang Guo said, “But you are not white enough.”

She had always regarded her skin as white and smooth as gems, when she heard him say this; she couldn’t refrain from getting angry, she stood up and shouted, “Sha Dan, do you want to die? Saying I’m not white enough…humph!”

Yang Guo shook his head and said, “Not white enough.”

Hong Lingbo said, “Who’s whiter than me?”

Yang Guo said, “The one that slept by my side last night is much whiter than you.”

Hong Lingbo said, “Who? Is it one of your family members?” The thought of killing the woman who had whiter skin than her crossed her mind.

Yang Guo said, “Nope, it’s my family’s white lamb.”

Hong Lingbo turned her anger into laughter and said, “You really are stupid, how can you compare a person with an animal? Let’s go!” She took his upper arm and hurried up the mountain. Straight ahead was the road to Chongyang Palace, but Hong Lingbo headed west, in the direction of the Tomb of the Living Dead.

Yang Guo thought, “Indeed she is trying to find my Gu Gu.”

Hong Lingbo ran for a while and then took out a map from her pocket, looking for her destination.

Yang Guo said, “Xian Gu, we can’t go ahead, there are ghosts in the forest.”

Hong Lingbo said, “How do you know this?”

Yang Guo said, “The forest has a large tomb, the tomb has evil spirits, no one dares to go near it.”

Hong Lingbo was delighted and thought, “True enough, the Tomb of the Living Dead is around here.”

In the past few years, she has been under the tutelage of Li Mochou, and her martial arts had made good progress. In Shanxi, she helped her master to defeat many people of the Wulin world, and pleased her master. She heard her master mention the matter of dueling with the Quanzhen Elders, and said if she’d mastered the “Jade Heart Manual”, she wouldn’t have feared the Quanzhen Taoists. She said that there was a pile of manuals and scriptures of their sect’s skills in the tomb. Hong Lingbo asked why she didn’t go to the tomb and study their sect’s skills. Li Mochou ambiguously replied, saying that she had conceded the place to her younger apprentice sister, there wasn’t much friendly feeling between the two, and were not in contact with each other. Li Mochou was extremely proud, the many times she tried to enter the tomb, being found out and being sent scurrying away were not mentioned to her disciple. Instead she said that her apprentice sister was young, her martial arts were ordinary, and being the elder apprentice sister it wasn’t right to bully the younger one. She then encouraged her master to enter the tomb and take the manuals. In reality, there wasn’t a day that Li Mochou didn’t think about this, but she wasn’t familiar with the booby traps in the tomb, and so did not dare to do anything. When she heard her disciple talking about this she just smiled and did not reply.