Huang Rong was always scared of coffins; ever since she entered this room, she had been feeling queasy; now that she suddenly a coffin moved by itself, she uttered a cry and tightly held Guo Jing’s arm. But even though her heart was scared, her brain was still working. “That traitor … that traitor hides in the coffin,” she said with a trembling voice.
Yang Kang suddenly pointed his finger outside, “Hey! He is over there!” Without waiting anything he ran outside. But Huang Rong was quick, she reached backward and grabbed Yang Kang’s main artery. “You have seen a ghost?” she sneered.
Half of Yang Kang’s body was numb; he could not move. “You … what are you doing?” he anxiously asked.
Guo Jing was delighted. “Right! That traitor must be hiding in the coffin.” With big strides he walked toward the coffin and lifted his hands, ready if Wanyan Honglie came out.
“Elder Brother, be careful!” Yang Kang called out. “There could be a zombie inside.”
Huang Rong twisted Yang Kang’s hand that he fell to the ground. “You still want to scare me?” she angrily asked.
She was certain that it was Wanyan Honglie hiding inside the coffin, but still, she was scared. What if it were really a zombie inside? You never know, don’t you?
“Brother Jing, not so fast!” she tremblingly said.
Guo Jing halted and turned his head, “What is it?”
“Just hold the lid down,” Huang Rong said. “Don’t let … don’t let that thing come out.”
Guo Jing smiled, “How can it be a zombie?” But he saw that Huang Rong was really scared, so he jumped toward the coffin and comforted her, “He won’t be able to crawl out!”
Huang Rong was still anxious, she hesitated a little bit, and then said, “Brother Jing, let me hit the coffin using the ‘pi kong zhang’ [splitting empty palm] while you keep your eyes open. Whether it is a zombie or Wanyan Honglie, I will split the coffin up. We will see whether it is a person crying or a zombie wailing!”
As soon as finished speaking she exerted her energy toward her palms, treaded two stepped and sent the palms hacking the coffin. Her splitting empty palm was not as strong as Lu Chengfeng’s; therefore, she needed to hack the coffin directly; while actually it could be launched from a distance with an empty air between her and the target.
“That’s not right!” Yang Kang anxiously called, “You hack the coffin’s lid, zombie might poke his head out and bite your hand, that won’t be good!”
He was successful in making Huang Rong more scared than ever. She was shivering and halted her movement. Suddenly a cry came out of the coffin; it was a woman’s voice. Huang Rong jumped. She was extremely terrified. “A female ghost!” she cried. Flailing her hands she ran outside and cried, “Quick! Get out of here!”
Guo Jing was brave, “Brother Yang, let us lift the coffin lid and take a look,” he said.
Yang Kang was drenched in cold sweat, but how could he refuse Guo Jing’s request? Surely he could not make himself an enemy of these Guo-Huang couple. But then he heard that woman’s voice again, so he rushed ahead to raise the coffin lid. They used a knife to jack the lid up, and together they open the lid, which actually had not been nailed down to the coffin.
Guo Jing had directed his strength to his arms, ready to strike the zombie’s head. But when he looked down, he was stunned. There was no zombie; it was a good-looking young girl, with a pair of big eyes looked up on them. She was none other than Mu Nianci.
Yang Kang was pleasantly surprised, quickly he held out his hand to help her out.
“Rong’er, come here, quick!” Guo Jing called out. “Look who is here?”
Huang Rong turned her head with eyes closed. “I don’t want to see!” she shouted back.
“But it’s Elder Sister Mu!” Guo Jing urged.
With left eye still closed, Huang Rong took a peek with her right eye. She saw Yang Kang was embracing a woman, whose appearance looked like Mu Nianci. She felt relieved, and timidly entered the room again. Who was that woman if not Mu Nianci?
Huang Rong saw Mu Nianci’s face was haggard, two streams of tears flowed down her cheeks. She was unable to move. Huang Rong unsealed her acupoint and asked, “Elder Sister, why are you here?”
Mu Nianci’s acupoint had been sealed for quite a while, her whole body was stiff and her breath was uneven, so Huang Rong helped by rubbing her back. After a while [lit. time needed to drink a cup of tea] Mu Nianci told her, “I was captured and held prisoner.”
Huang Rong saw that the acupoint sealed was located at the center of palm of the foot, the ‘yong quan’ [bursting fountain] acupoint; which was rarely done by the wulin characters of the central plain. So with 80, 90% certainty she guessed, “Was it that bastard Ouyang Ke?” Mu Nianci did not answer, but she nodded.
That day when she was trying to contact Mei Chaofeng for Yang Kang’s sake she was captured by Ouyang Ke near the pile of skulls and her acupoint was sealed. After Huang Yaoshi played his jade flute to disperse the snakes and help Mei Chaofeng; Ouyang Ke’s concubines and his three snake slaves were unconscious under the flute sound, and Ouyang Ke ran away, distressed. By daybreak the concubines and the slaves woke up and found Mu Nianci lying on her side, unable to move; so they took her to their master. Ouyang Ke tried to rape her, but she was determined to fight to her death. Although Ouyang Ke was conceited and lecherous; but he always pride himself as an elegant and cultured man, his martial art’s skill was high, so he could easily melt women’s hearts. If he resorted to violence and brute force, he would certainly succeed in raping her; but then he would mar the name of the White Camel Mountain. So because of this pride, Mu Nianci was fortunate and able to keep her purity.
Afterward they arrived at Baoying and Ouyang Ke hid her inside one of the Liu ancestral temple’s coffins. He sent his concubines to ‘invite’ several beautiful young women of the rich families, including Miss Cheng. It was then that the Beggar Clan interfered that resulted in a battle. Ouyang Ke left in a hurry. He had had several women these past few days that he did not remember Mu Nianci was still inside one of the coffins. If Guo Jing and the others were not looking for Wanyan Honglie, she would have been starved to death inside the coffin.
Yang Kang was unexpectedly happy to see his lover here. With a compassionate face he said, “Little sister, just take a rest here, I am going to boil some water for you to drink.”
“How can you boil some water?” Huang Rong smiled, “I’ll go. Brother Jing, come with me.” She had a mind to let those two alone in private to alleviate their lovesickness. Who would have thought that Mu Nianci sat up straight, “Hold a moment!” she said without a smile, “Mister Yang, I congratulate you on your unlimited riches and honor in the future.”