“And it was very dangerous!” Guo Jing replied in low voice, “If not for you, I could not keep my mind peaceful and steady, I nearly made things worse.”
“There are six more days and six more nights,” Huang Rong said, “You promised to listen to what I say.”
Guo Jing laughed, “When did I ever not listen to what you say?” he said.
Huang Rong leaned her head to the side and said, “Hmm, let me think.”
At this moment a single ray of sunlight came slanting down the ventilation window; her white skin and beautiful rosy cheeks looked like red clouds at dawn. Guo Jing suddenly felt her palm was exceptionally warm and soft. Something stirred in his chest, hastily he chased that thought away, but already his face blushed all over. Ever since they had been together Guo Jing never had this kind of feeling toward her; he could not help but be shocked and he silently rebuked himself.
Huang Rong saw him blushing; she felt strange. “Jing Gege,” she asked, “What happened?”
With a low voice Guo Jing replied, “I have been bad. I suddenly thought of … thought of …”
“What is it?” Huang Rong asked.
“I am not thinking about it anymore,” Guo Jing answered.
“Then what did you think of?” Huang Rong pressed.
Unable to dodge away Guo Jing confessed, “I was thinking of hugging you, kissing you.”
Huang Rong felt warm and sweet all of a sudden, her face also blushed, she looked shy and even lovelier.
Seeing her lowering her head without saying anything Guo Jing asked, “Rong’er, are you angry? I was as bad as Ouyang Ke to have such a bad thought.”
Huang Rong gave him one of her captivating smiles, “I am not angry,” she said with a tender voice, “I was thinking in the future you will hug me and kiss me, for I will certainly be your wife.” Guo Jing was very happy, he stammered but could not say anything.
“You wanted to hug and kiss me, was it bad?” Huang Rong asked.
Guo Jing was about to reply, but suddenly from outside the door came the noise of rushing footsteps; two men burst into the inn. He heard Hou Tonghai’s voice say, “His granny, I told you earlier that there are ghosts in the world, but Shige [Martial (older) Brother] did not believe me.” He was so agitated that he could not say clearly what was in his raging mind. Then Sha Tongtian’s voice replied, “What ghost? I told you, we met a martial art master.”
Huang Rong looked out through the hole and saw that Hou Tonghai’s face was full of blood, while Sha Tongtian’s clothes were ripped into pieces. It seemed like these two martial brothers had been in an extremely difficult situation.
Wanyan Honglie and Yang Kang were confounded to see their conditions; they busily inquired. Hou Tonghai replied, “We were very unfortunate; we met a ghost at the imperial palace last night. Damn it! Old Hou’s ears were cut off by the ghost.”
Wanyan Honglie did indeed see that both sides of his face were covered with blood and looked somewhat unusual; it turned out, his ears were missing. Wanyan Honglie was astonished.
Sha Tongtian scolded, “Still talking strange ghost story; haven’t you disgraced us enough?”
Hou Tonghai was afraid of his Shige, but he still tried to argue, “I saw it clearly, his eyes were blue, he was the red bearded judge of hell, pouncing over me with a scary ‘Wah! Wah!’ voice! All I did was to turn my head around and he grabbed my neck and my ears were gone. This judge of hell looked exactly like the one in the temple, how could it not be him?”
Sha Tongtian only fought the judge for three stances and his clothes were ripped into pieces. That judge was definitely a highly skilled martial artist, not some strange ghost; only Sha Tongtian did not have any clue on how did he have the appearance of a judge of hell.
Four people offered their guesses, they even asked Ouyang Ke who was lying down because of his injury, but nobody came out with a plausible answer.
While they were still talking, Lingzhi Shangren [lit. upper/above person, a respectful term to address a Buddhist monk], Peng Lianhu and Liang Ziweng had also arrived one after another. Lingzhi Shangren’s hands were bound by iron chain behind his back, Peng Lianhu’s cheeks were swollen red and blue, Liang Ziweng’s condition was the funniest; the white hair on his head were pulled clean so that he looked like a Buddhist monk. Standing and talking opposite to Sha Tongtian, they looked alike, their bald heads shining, reflecting the light.
It turned out those three entered the imperial palace and spread out in order to find the Wumu’s Legacy; all of them had met some ghosts. Only each met different ghost; one met with a ‘wu chang gui’ [the ghost supposed to take soul after death], the other ‘huang ling guan’ [yellow spirit officer], and the last was ‘tu di pu sa’ [earth god].
Liang Ziweng stroked his own bad head and opened his mouth to curse using all dirty words he knew, including some ‘mother-in-law of the earth grew some fungi’. Peng Lianhu endured silently and did not say a single word, he worked hard trying to take the iron chain from Lingzhi Shangren’s hands. The chain went deep into the flesh, with hooks on either end connected tightly to each other. Peng Lianhu had to exert a lot of strength until his hands were bruised and bloody before he could untie the chain.
Everybody looked at each other in blank dismay; nobody made any sound. They knew in their hearts that last night they met a highly skilled martial artist and were greatly insulted, so they all felt ashamed. Hou Tonghai still believed it was a ghost, and nobody bothered to argue with him.
After a long time Wanyan Honglie opened his mouth, “I wonder why Mr. Ouyang has not come back yet. Perhaps he also met a ghost.”
“Mr. Ouyang’s martial art skill is unmatched,” Yang Kang said, “Even if he met a ghost, he won’t suffer defeat.” Peng Lianhu and the others were indifferent.
Huang Rong saw everything; how these people met extremely difficult situations and were talking about ghosts. She was very pleased, she thought, “The masks I bought for Zhou Dage [Big Brother] have unexpectedly boosted his power and prestige; it was truly beyond my expectation. I wonder if he met and fought the Old Poison yet.” At that moment she felt Guo Jing’s internal energy starting to flow into her palm, so she went back to join him immediately.
Peng Lianhu and the others had been busy all night, they were starving. Working hand in hand they started chopping firewood, buying rice and vegetables, and preparing their food. When the food was ready Hou Tonghai went to the cupboard to get some bowls. He saw the iron bowl and tried to take it, naturally it would not budge. He felt strange and shouted, “A ghost!” He pulled the bowl with all his strength, but of course the bowl did not move.