The Return of the Condor Heroes Chapter 6 – Part 10

Yang Guo assumed she wanted to persuade him to kowtow to Li Mochou. Though unwilling in his heart, he still leaned close. Xiaolongnü’s voice was as faint as a mosquito’s buzz. She said softly, “At the foot of the bed, in the corner, there is a raised stone slab. Pull it hard to the left, then immediately jump onto the bed.” Li Mochou also assumed she was instructing her disciple to bow his head and beg for mercy. With one severely injured and the other a junior of the younger generation, she did not take them seriously at all and was preoccupied with figuring out some clever way to force her shimei to hand over the Jade Maiden Heart Sutra.

Yang Guo nodded and said clearly, “Very well. Your disciple pays respects to eldest shibo!” He slowly reached towards the foot of the bed where Xiaolongnü lay and felt around. His hand touched a raised stone slab. He pulled it with force, then leapt onto the bed. A grinding sound rang out, and the stone bed suddenly sank. Li Mochou was startled. She knew the ancient tomb was full of mechanisms everywhere. Back then, her shifu had been partial, keeping things from her while passing on all the methods for operating the mechanisms to her shimei. She immediately rushed forward to grab Xiaolongnü.

At this moment Xiaolongnü had absolutely no strength to resist. Although the stone bed was sinking, Li Mochou reacted with astonishing speed, her strike swift beyond compare, she was about to forcibly drag Xiaolongnü off the bed. Horrified, Yang Guo struck out with all his might, knocking her grasping hand aside. Then everything went black before his eyes. Bang! Bang! The stone bed had fallen into the lower-level stone chamber. The stone slabs in the ceiling slid back into place on their own, instantly cutting off the four people, master and disciple Xiaolongnü above, master and disciple Li Mochou below, into two separate spaces.

In the dimness, Yang Guo saw what seemed to be tables and chairs in the chamber. He walked to the table, struck his fire striker, and lit the half-burnt candle stub on the table. Xiaolongnü sighed and said, “My blood circulation is insufficient, I cannot circulate my energy to heal my injuries. But even if I were uninjured, the two of us, master and disciple, could not defeat my shijie…” Hearing the words “my blood circulation is insufficient,” Yang Guo did not wait for her to finish. He raised his left wrist, found the blood vessel, and bit down with desperate force. Blood immediately gushed out. He placed the wound at Xiaolongnü’s mouth, and the fresh blood flowed gurgling into her.

Xiaolongnü’s entire body had been icy cold. As the warm blood entered her stomach, a slight warmth spread through her. But she knew this was improper and tried to struggle. Yang Guo’s right arm held her tightly around the waist, making it impossible for her to move. Before long, the wound clotted, and Yang Guo bit it open again. Then he bit open his right wrist as well. After feeding her blood several times, Yang Guo felt dizzy and weak, his whole body drained of strength. Only then did he sit up straight. Xiaolongnü gazed at him for a long while without speaking, then sighed quietly and began circulating her energy to heal herself. Yang Guo saw that the candle was about to burn out and replaced it with a new one.

That night the two each focused on their own practice. Yang Guo was replenishing his strength after the blood loss. After drinking Yang Guo’s blood, Xiaolongnü’s spirits were greatly revived. Two shichen later, she knew her life was saved. She opened her eyes and gave him a faint smile. Yang Guo saw that her cheeks, which had been deathly pale, now suddenly had two patches of rosy colour, like a faint layer of rouge brushed onto white jade. Overjoyed, he said, “Gugu, you’re better.” Xiaolongnü nodded. Yang Guo was so happy he did not know what to say. He did not know that for replenishing lost blood to truly take effect, the blood must be transfused into the blood vessels, drinking blood does not necessarily truly replenish blood. But Xiaolongnü was extremely weak and on the verge of death. The sudden great increase of qi and blood in her body had at least some effect in raising her spirits and strengthening her body.

Xiaolongnü said, “Let’s go to Granny Sun’s room. I have something to tell you.” Yang Guo said, “Aren’t you tired?” Xiaolongnü said, “It’s all right.” She reached out and pulled the mechanism on the stone wall a few times. The stone blocks rotated, revealing a doorway. Yang Guo no longer recognised any of the passages here. Xiaolongnü led him, turning this way and that in the darkness, until they reached Granny Sun’s room.

She lit a candle and made a bundle of Yang Guo’s clothes, wrapping her own pair of gold-thread gloves inside as well. Yang Guo stared at her blankly and said, puzzled, “Gugu, what are you doing?” Xiaolongnü did not answer. She also placed two large bottles of Jade Bee paste in the bundle. Yang Guo said happily, “Gugu, we’re going out, aren’t we? That’s wonderful.”

Xiaolongnü said, “You go now, and go well. I know you are a good child, you have treated me very well.” Yang Guo was greatly alarmed. “Gugu, what about you?” Xiaolongnü said, “I swore an oath before my shifu that I would never leave this tomb for the rest of my life. Unless… unless… mm, I am not going out.” She shook her head sadly.

Yang Guo saw that her expression was stern and her tone resolute, clearly she would not allow him to argue. He dared not speak further, but this matter was far too grave. Finally he mustered his courage and said, “Gugu, if you don’t go, I won’t go either. I’ll stay with you.” Xiaolongnü said, “Right now my shijie is surely guarding the passages out of the tomb, waiting to force me to hand over the Jade Maiden Heart Sutra. My skill is far inferior to hers, and I am injured, I certainly cannot defeat her, can I?” Yang Guo said, “No.” Xiaolongnü said, “The grain we have stored, I estimate it will barely last twenty-some days. With some honey and such, a month at most. After a month, what then?” Yang Guo was stunned. “We’ll force our way out. Though we can’t defeat shibo, it’s not certain we couldn’t escape with our lives.” Xiaolongnü shook her head. “If you knew your shibo’s martial arts and temperament, you would know we absolutely cannot escape. Not only would we suffer cruel humiliation, but our deaths would be unbearably painful.” Yang Guo said, “If that’s the case, it will be even harder for me to escape alone.”

Xiaolongnü shook her head. “No. I will go out and challenge her to a fight, leading her deeper and deeper into the ancient tomb. You can seize the opportunity to escape. After you get out, move aside the large stone to the left of the tomb entrance and pull out the mechanism inside. Two ten-thousand-jin¹ boulders will fall, sealing the tomb door forever.” The more Yang Guo heard, the more alarmed he grew. He asked, “Gugu, you’ll activate the mechanism to come out too, won’t you?”

Xiaolongnü shook her head. “No. Back then, Wang Chongyang rose in revolt against the Jin and planned a great campaign. This stone tomb was his great storehouse for stockpiling funds, grain, weapons, and supplies. The stone tomb’s mechanisms are layered and complex, arranged with meticulous care. He also installed these two ten-thousand-jin² boulders at the tomb entrance, called the ‘Dragon-Breaking Stones’.³ He calculated that if the volunteer army had not yet been raised and the Jin forces had already caught wind of it and come to attack first, if they were outnumbered and could not withstand the enemy, he would drop these boulders, seal the tomb, and end his life there. Any enemies who had entered the tomb would also find it extremely difficult to escape alive. Once the Dragon-Breaking Stones have fallen, they can never be raised again. You know that the entrance passage into the tomb is very narrow, allowing only one person to pass at a time. Even if a thousand enemies entered the tomb, they could only form a long single file, and only the one at the very front could touch the boulder blocking the tomb door. No matter how great a single person’s strength, they could never lift it. That old Daoist made this arrangement in a spirit of preferring death to surrender, yet also wanting to take the enemy down with him. After his resistance against the Jin failed, he lived alone in the stone tomb. The Jin ruler discovered his whereabouts and sent dozens of masters to kill him one after another, but he either captured or killed them all, not a single one escaped alive. Later the Jin ruler died suddenly, and the succeeding emperor did not know the background and sent no more assassins. Thus these two Dragon-Breaking Stones were never used. When Wang Chongyang yielded the Tomb of the Living Dead, he told Founding Grandmaster about every mechanism in the tomb.” She spoke slowly, gasping for breath the entire time.

The more Yang Guo heard, the more frightened he became. Tears streaming down his face, he said, “Gugu, whether I live or die, I will follow you.” Xiaolongnü said, “What good is there in following me? You said the world outside is wonderful and fun, go out and enjoy yourself. With your current level of skill, the stinking Daoists of the Quanzhen Order can no longer make trouble for you. You fooled Hong Lingbo, you’re much cleverer than I am. You won’t need me to look after you anymore.”

Yang Guo rushed forward and embraced her, weeping. “Gugu, if I cannot be with you, I will never be happy for the rest of my life.”

Xiaolongnü had always been cold, proud, and utterly detached, her words decisive and leaving no room for argument. But now, for some reason, hearing these words from Yang Guo, she could not help but feel her chest surge with hot blood. Her eyes stung, and she could barely hold back tears. She was greatly alarmed, remembering the words her shifu had repeated to her with such earnest urgency on her deathbed: “The skill you train is a superior art that severs the seven emotions and extinguishes the six desires. If in the future you shed tears for anyone, or are moved by true emotion, especially if those tears are shed for a man, not only will your martial arts suffer greatly, but your very life will be in danger. Remember this, remember this.” She pushed Yang Guo away with force and said coldly, “Whatever I say, you must follow my orders.”

Yang Guo saw her suddenly turn stern and dared not speak further. Xiaolongnü tied the bundle onto his back, took a long sword from the wall, and placed it in his hand. She said fiercely, “In a moment, when I tell you to go, you will go immediately. The moment you leave the tomb entrance, immediately drop the great boulders to seal the door. Your shibo is fearsome beyond compare, the window of opportunity is fleeting. Will you obey my words or not?” Yang Guo said, his voice choked with sobs, “I will obey.” Xiaolongnü said, “If you do not do as I say, even in death, in the underworld, I will hate you forever. Go!” She took Yang Guo’s hand and opened the door, leading him out.

In the past, whenever Yang Guo touched her hand, it had always been cold as ice. But now, as she held his hand, he felt her palm was sometimes hot, sometimes cold, completely different from before. At this moment his heart was seething like boiling oil, and he had no attention to spare for such small matters. He followed her as she walked out. After walking a while, Xiaolongnü felt along a stone wall and said in a low voice, “They are inside. The moment I draw my shijie away, you will rush out through the side door in the northwest corner. If Hong Lingbo comes after you, use the Jade Bee Needles to injure her.” Yang Guo’s mind was a tangled mess. He nodded in agreement.

The Jade Bee Needles were a unique hidden weapon of the Ancient Tomb School. Lin Chaoying had two types of the most formidable hidden weapons: one was the Ice Spirit Silver Needles, and the other was the Jade Bee Needles. The Jade Bee Needles were gold needles as fine as hairs, made with a refined steel core and plated with several layers of gold on the outside, then tempered with venom from the tail stingers of Jade Bees. Though they were tiny, because gold is heavy, they could still travel a fair distance when thrown. However, this hidden weapon was too sinister and difficult to defend against. Lin Chaoying had rarely used it herself, and after middle age, when her martial arts had reached the realm of the divine, she had even less need for such hidden weapons. Because Li Mochou had refused to swear an oath to live forever in the ancient tomb and inherit the mantle, Xiaolongnü’s shifu had taught her the Ice Spirit Silver Needles but not the technique of the Jade Bee Needles. Yang Guo, however, had received the transmission from Xiaolongnü.

Xiaolongnü focused her mind for a moment, then pressed the mechanism on the stone wall. With a grinding sound, the stone wall slowly slid open to the left. Her twin silk ribbons shot out immediately, the left attacking Li Mochou, the right attacking Hong Lingbo, her body following the ribbons as she charged forward with astonishing speed. By now Li Mochou had long since unblocked Hong Lingbo’s acupoints and scolded her a few times. She was in the midst of calculating the positions within the tomb, trying to find a way out of the chamber, when she suddenly saw Xiaolongnü attack. Both master and disciple were startled. Li Mochou swept out her fly-whisk to block the silk ribbon. Fly-whisk and silk ribbon were both weapons of supreme softness, soft against soft. But Li Mochou’s skill was far superior. The moment the two weapons met, Xiaolongnü’s silk ribbon immediately curled back on itself.

Footnotes

1. 斤 – jīn. Traditional Chinese unit of weight, about half a kilogram. Ten thousand jin is a conventional expression for an immense weight. ↩

2. 斤 – jīn. Traditional Chinese unit of weight, approximately 500 grams or 1.1 pounds. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

3. 断龙石 – Duànlóng Shí. Dragon-Breaking Stone, two massive ten-thousand-jin blocks installed by Wang Chongyang at the tomb entrance. Once dropped, they seal the tomb permanently. ↩