After a while, three Taoists appeared at the entrance to the valley. Two of them were the Taoists from last night at the inn, Ji Qingxu and Pi Qingxuan, the other was about forty years old, he was quite short. He was probably Martial Uncle Shen. Yang Guo studied his face and remembered that he saw him at Chongyang Palace before. Two men followed. One was a rugged looking man; the other was an old man with a head full of white hair. They were the Beggar Clan members Chen and Han. The five walked closer and saluted each other. Then they formed a line, all looked around.
At that time, a quiet trotting sound was heard from outside the mouth of the valley. The five men all looked at each other and stared at the entrance to the valley. They heard the sound getting closer and closer; then there was a black and white object at the entrance of the valley. It was a girl in white riding on top of a black donkey coming forward.
When Yang Guo saw this his heart quivered, âItâs not Gu Gu! Could it be another one of their team?â He saw the girl rein in the donkey a few feet away from the five. She glanced at them coldly; her face was filled with contempt and it looked like she didnât want to speak to them.
Ji Qingxu called out, âLittle Bitch, well, well, well, you do have guts; you might as well call your help out.â
The girl chuckled, a âshuaâ sound was heard as she pulled out a small thin saber from her waist; it looked like the curved moon, the silver glittering in oneâs eye.
Ji Qingxu said, âThere are five of us, we canât wait patiently for your help to arrive.â
The girl waved her saber and said, âThis is my help.â The saber producing a âwengâ noise as it was waved in the air.â When she said this, the six of them were shocked. The five were shocked at the fact that a girl, by herself, would have the guts to fight five skilled fighters without any help. Yang Guo was extremely disappointed and hurt, he was sure that he would see Xiao Longnu. How could he know that the so-called âbeautiful girl in whiteâ was another person? The air in his chest surged up; he wasnât able to control it anymore and called out.
When he called out, the other six were alarmed; but all they saw was a farmer letting his bull graze on the slope and they didnât take any notice of him. They thought that is was just a young country bumpkin who had suffered some problem and was crying out.
Ji Qingxu pointed at the one named Han and said, âThis is the Beggar Clanâs hero Han.â He pointed to the one named Chen and said, âThis is the Beggar Clanâs hero Chen.â He then pointed to âMartial Uncle Shenâ and said, âOur Martial Uncle Shen Zhifan, youâve seen him before.â
The girl ignored him, her eyes cold, she glanced at them a few times, treating them as nothing.
Shen Zhifan said, âYou came on your own; so we canât fight with you. Weâll give you a deadline of ten days. In ten days you need to bring four helpers to meet us.â
The girl answered, âIâve said Iâve already got my help; against you bunch of nobodies why do I need to get more people?â
Shen Zhifan angrily said, âLittle girl, you really are bold.â His words were meant to be insults and he managed to force himself to ask, âAre you from the Ancient Tomb sect?â
The girl said, âSo what if I am? So what if Iâm not? You stupid old Taoist, do you have the guts to fight with me or donât you?â
Shen Zhifan saw that she was alone but was sure that she had strong back-up and had them nearby. He was also afraid that he would invite trouble from the Ancient Tombâs Li Mochou so he said, âMiss, I have a question; why did you hurt members of my sect for no reason? If it was our fault, then I will publicly apologize to your master, but if Miss canât give a good reason then forgive us for being impolite.â
The girl chuckled and said, âOf course it was those two bullish Taoistsâ fault and I just taught them a lesson. If there werenât so many scoundrels in the world, why would I cut off their ears?â
Shen Zhifan saw that she was extremely brash and couldnât help being startled. The beggar named Chen was old but he still had a temper; he took a step forward and shouted, âLittle girl, you are talking to Seniors here, how come you havenât got off your donkey?â As he said this he shot forward towards the black donkey and stretched out a hand to grab her right arm. His hand came out extremely quick. The girl wasnât able to dodge it and she was grabbed immediately. Her right hand was also the hand that was holding her blade, so she wasnât able to use it to repel the attack. Unexpectedly, the cold light of the saber moved, the girlâs arm twisted and the curved blade sliced down. Beggar Chen was startled and quickly let go. At least he was alert, and quickly changed his stance but the blade had cut two fingers. He quickly leapt back and drew out a saber and called out, âBitch, you must be bored with your life.â The beggar named Han drew out a lead hammer, and Shen Zhifan drew out his sword. Ji Qingxu and Pi Qingxuan took hold of their swordsâ handles and pulled them out. But they felt that something was wrong with the swordâs weight. Both of them called out âAi!â in shock, the swords in their hands were broken.
When the girl saw the two Taoistsâ expressions she couldnât stop herself from laughing. Yang Guo was lamenting at this time, when he heard the girl laugh he looked at the two Taoistsâ embarrassed expression. He couldnât stop himself from turning his tears into laughter. He saw the girl bend her waist and hack down with her saber at Pi Qingxuanâs head. Pi Qingxuan quickly pulled back his head but he didnât know the move wasnât finished, a slight turn of the wrist and the saber turned in the air and eventually cut Pi Qingxuanâs right cheek; blood started to flow from it. The other four were alarmed and angry, they quickly surrounded her. The Taoists Pi and Ji retreated to the rear, their hands holding onto the broken swords. They didnât want to throw them away but they werenât much use. They didnât know what to do.
The girl called out clearly, her left hand pulled on the reins and the donkey dashed forward. Beggar Chen and Han were the closest, the blade and the hammer both attacked. Shen Zhifan followed and used Quanzhenâs sword techniques, every stance aiming for the important points of the enemy. Yang Guo saw that although his sword skills were vicious, compared with Zhao Zhijing and Zhen Zhibing, their skills were far apart. Out of the Taoists with the name Zhi, he was the lesser skilled. Yang Guo was now calm, he studied the girlâs face carefully; he saw that she had a pretty oval face and she was younger than him by a year or so. Itâs no wonder the inn owner didnât believe that the âbeautiful girl in whiteâ was his older sister. Though she wore white, her skin was slightly dark; it was very different from the brilliant snow white of Xiao Longnu. He saw that her saber stances were light and swift and seemed to be derived from the Ancient Tomb sword stances; there were more stabs and thrusts and rather less chops and hacks.