The Return of the Condor Heroes Chapter 6 – Part 11
Translation by Jenxi Seow
Xiaolongnü pulled back her left ribbon and sent out her right, advancing several moves in rapid succession. Her two silk ribbons danced with soaring, sinuous grace. Li Mochou was both startled and furious: “Shifu really was partial, when did she ever teach me this skill?” But she reckoned she could handle it well enough and did not need to use lethal force just yet. For one thing, she had not yet obtained the Jade Maiden Heart Sutra, if she killed her, finding it in this vast stone tomb would be truly difficult. For another, she wanted to see exactly what formidable skills her shifu had passed on to her.
Hong Lingbo had always prided herself on being shrewd and capable. She never expected to be bested by a youth today, toyed with for half the day while he played the fool, without her detecting the slightest flaw. She had been fuming the entire time. She shouted, “Silly Egg, you stinking brat, your heart is rotten to the core!” Her twin swords thrust left and struck right, hiss, hiss, hiss, several moves in rapid succession. Yang Guo had no choice but to raise his sword and block. Under normal circumstances, he would have responded with mocking taunts and joked with her some more, but now, thinking that his parting with Xiaolongnü was imminent, his eyes were brimming with hot tears. Everything he saw was a blur. He merely parried by rote, showing no intention of striking back. Hong Lingbo delivered several sword thrusts. Though she could not injure him, seeing that his strikes were weak, she assumed his ability was mediocre and hated herself even more for her earlier carelessness, she had not been on guard at all when he struck her acupoints.
Li Mochou exchanged over ten moves with her shimei. Her fly-whisk flipped and wrapped around Xiaolongnü’s left silk ribbon. She laughed, “Shimei, behold your elder sister’s skill.” Her strength reached the ribbon, and it immediately snapped into two pieces. In ordinary armed combat, using a blade or sword to shatter an opponent’s blade or sword was already considered remarkable. But fly-whisk and silk ribbon were both extremely soft objects, for her to be able to use hard force to snap the silk ribbon was ten times more difficult than shattering a blade or sword. Li Mochou displayed this feat with a look of great satisfaction on her face.
Xiaolongnü remained completely impassive. “So your skill is good, what of it?” She lashed out with the half-broken ribbon, wrapping it around the silk threads of Li Mochou’s fly-whisk. Her right silk ribbon suddenly flew out and wrapped around the wooden handle of the fly-whisk. One force pulled left, the other pulled right. Snap! The fly-whisk broke into two pieces. In terms of skill, this move was far shallower than Li Mochou’s feat of snapping the silk ribbon moments before, but the strike was astonishingly fast and the use of force ingeniously clever, it also caught Li Mochou off guard. Slightly startled, Li Mochou threw aside the broken fly-whisk handle and attacked bare-handed to seize the silk ribbons, forcing Xiaolongnü into continuous retreat.
After another ten-odd moves, Xiaolongnü had been forced back to the eastern stone wall. Seeing there was no more room to retreat behind her, she suddenly swept her hand backward across the stone wall and called, “Guoer, go now!” With a grinding crack, an opening appeared in the northwest corner. Li Mochou was greatly startled and hurriedly turned around, intending to block Yang Guo. Xiaolongnü threw down her silk ribbons and threw herself forward, both palms striking with lethal force. Li Mochou had no choice but to turn back and defend. Xiaolongnü shouted, “Guoer, why aren’t you going?”
Yang Guo gazed at Xiaolongnü, knowing the matter was beyond remedy. He called, “Gugu, I’m going!” He suddenly thrust three rapid sword strikes, the tip pointed straight at Hong Lingbo’s face. Hong Lingbo had seen his sword moves as weak the entire time, how could she have known that his sword momentum would suddenly surge? In her desperation she could only leap backward. Yang Guo bent low and dashed out through the stone doorway. He turned his head back, wanting to take one last look at Xiaolongnü.
Xiaolongnü and her shijie were exchanging palm strikes bare-handed. Though severely injured, having trained the Jade Maiden Heart Sutra, her moves were endlessly varied, and within several dozen moves she could originally have held her own. But she saw Yang Guo’s silhouette flicker in the doorway, and thinking that from now on she would never see him again, her chest suddenly grew hot and her eyes stung, as if tears were about to fall. She had never been moved by true emotion before, yet today she had nearly wept twice. She could not help but be greatly alarmed. When masters exchange palm strikes, how can there be room for the slightest distraction? Moreover, the small amount of strength she had gained from Yang Guo’s blood was now nearly exhausted. Li Mochou saw her freeze for an instant and immediately seized the opening. She grabbed Xiaolongnü’s left wrist at the “Meeting Ancestor” acupoint and hooked out with her foot. Xiaolongnü could not keep her footing and fell to the ground.
Yang Guo turned his head back and saw Xiaolongnü tripped by her shijie. He saw Li Mochou throw herself forward to harm his shifu. Hot blood surged in his chest. He shouted, “Don’t hurt my gugu!” He darted back in through the stone doorway. He threw himself forward from behind and wrapped his arms around Li Mochou’s waist, holding tight. This embrace was something found in no school’s repertoire, it was something he did in desperation, a wild and reckless grapple. Li Mochou was wholly intent on seizing her shimei and had never expected him to turn back. Held tightly in his arms, for a moment she could not break free.
Though she struck with cruel violence and acted with wilful abandon, unrestrained by convention, she had guarded her body like jade. After roaming the jianghu for many years, she was still a virgin. To be suddenly held tight in Yang Guo’s embrace, she could not help but feel stirred. Back when Yang Guo was still a child and Li Mochou had been embraced by him, she had already felt her heart and spirit flutter. Now that Yang Guo was older, Li Mochou felt a man’s hot breath pass from her back into her heart, stirring her soul and moving her heart. She could not help but go limp all over, her face flushing bright red, and the strength instantly drained from her arms. Xiaolongnü seized the opportunity to counter-grab Li Mochou’s wrist pulse point. But Hong Lingbo’s sword tip was also already pointed at Yang Guo’s back.
Xiaolongnü was lying on her back on the ground. Seeing the sword coming, she immediately rolled to the left, pulling Yang Guo and Li Mochou aside with her. Hong Lingbo’s thrust struck empty air. Xiaolongnü leapt to her feet and shouted, “Guoer, get out, quickly!”
Yang Guo held Li Mochou tightly around the waist and called, “Gugu, you get out, quickly! I’m holding her, she can’t move!” In that split second, Li Mochou’s mind had turned over more than ten thoughts. She knew the situation was critical, that life and death hung by a single thread. Yet held in his embrace, her heart and soul were drunk with intoxication, and the pleasure was so exquisite that she did not even want to struggle. Xiaolongnü found it very strange: “With my shijie’s martial arts, how can she be held motionless by Guoer? Could it be her acupoints have been sealed?” She saw Hong Lingbo’s left-hand sword thrust towards Yang Guo again and immediately extended two fingers to push against the flat of Hong Lingbo’s right-hand sword blade. The sword suddenly jumped up and struck her left-hand sword. Clang! Hong Lingbo’s tiger’s mouth went numb in both hands, and both long swords fell to the ground simultaneously. Startled, she leapt backward.
The two swords clashing produced a few sparks. In that flash of sparks, Li Mochou sensed the strange look in her shimei’s eyes as she gazed at her. Greatly ashamed, she cursed, “Stinking brat, are you courting death?” She exerted strength through both arms, wrenched free of Yang Guo’s embrace, leapt to her feet, and immediately struck out with her palm towards Xiaolongnü.
Xiaolongnü was watching Yang Guo’s movements when she suddenly sensed Li Mochou’s palm arriving. She had no time to counter with a move and could only return the palm strike to block. She felt her shijie’s palm force was deep and heavy. The impact shook her chest with dull pain. She saw Yang Guo scramble up and come to her aid again. She shouted, “Guoer, are you truly going to disobey me?” Yang Guo said, “I’ll obey every word you say, except this one. Good Gugu, whether I live or die, I’ll be with you. If you die, I’ll die with you! The two of us will look after each other for all our lives!” Hearing the sincerity in his words, Xiaolongnü’s heart was moved by true emotion once more. She saw Li Mochou strike out with her palm again and knew that with her current greatly diminished strength, she absolutely could not take this strike. She ducked her head and darted sideways, grabbed Yang Guo, and fled out through the stone doorway.
Li Mochou followed like a shadow, reaching out to grab her back. “Don’t go!” Xiaolongnü flung her hand back, throwing over ten Jade Bee Needles. Li Mochou suddenly smelled the sweet fragrance of honey. Knowing the danger, she was greatly alarmed. She threw herself backward at the waist, crashing straight into Hong Lingbo, and the two fell together.
The faintest tinkling sounds could be heard, ding, ding, ding, as several Jade Bee Needles struck the stone wall. Then came two more grinding sounds: Xiaolongnü, carrying Yang Guo, had fled the stone chamber and activated the mechanism, sealing the chamber door once more.