White Horse Neighing in the West Wind #9

Hua Hui sighed, “If I hadn’t lost my martial arts skills, these five trifling bandits would be nothing to me!” Li Wenxiu recalled that his nickname was ‘One Finger Shakes Jiangnan’, and his martial arts skills were obviously superior. But why did he seem so helpless when facing five insignificant bandits? She asked, “Uncle Hua, are you unable to use your martial arts skills because of your illness?” Hua Hui replied, “No, no. I… I once vowed that I would not use my martial arts skills easily unless it was a matter of life and death.” Li Wenxiu felt that he spoke insincerely. He just said that he had ‘lost his martial arts skills’, but was now making evasive statements. Since he did not wish to talk about it, she did not pursue the matter.

Hua Hui had also realised that there had been inconsistencies in his speech. Changing the topic, he said, “Do you understand why I asked you to prick his back? When he enters the cave, he would be preoccupied with guarding against enemies in front of him. Since you don’t know any martial arts skills, you will not be able to attack him successfully from the front. I then attract his attention, so he is wary of me. Then you prick his back, and we have a successful attack.” Li Wenxiu nodded and said, “Uncle, your plan is excellent.” Hua Hui had had a rich experience of the pugilistic world, and manipulating such a little crook was as easy as flipping his palm. Hua Hui took out a large piece of dried honey melon and handed it to Li Wenxiu, saying, “Eat some first. Those two crooks won’t dare to enter anymore, but we won’t be able to escape either. Let me think of a plan first, so we can kill two birds with one stone. If we only kill one of them, the surviving one is sure to escape and report to his masters. It would be extremely troublesome to have a whole contingent of men and horses after us.” Li Wenxiu saw that he, with his resourcefulness, was contemplating the situation carefully. She thought that since she would not possibly be able to think of a plan more brilliant than his, she decided not to rack her brain for ideas. Instead, she ate her fill of dried melon, then leant on the stone wall and rested.

Around one hour later, she suddenly sensed an acrid smell, and began to cough. Hua Hui cried, “Oh no! The crooks are trying to smoke us out! Quick, seal the entrance!” Li Wenxiu swiftly gathered up sand and rocks from the ground to seal the entrance. Luckily, the entrance was extremely small. Upon its sealing, the amount of smoke entering the cave was significantly lessened. And since the cave was large, smoke blown into it would diffuse out from the hole in the back.

This stalemate went on for quite a good while. The sunlight shining through the hole in the back became brighter and brighter, as if it was already high noon. Suddenly, Hua Hui gave a loud cry, then crashed to the ground, and his entire body went into spasms. But this time he seemed to be in more pain than previously. He was actually unable to control his limbs which were flailing madly. Li Wenxiu was alarmed, and went over to massage him. The pain he suffered was reduced slightly, and he panted, “Mi… Miss, I’m afraid it isn’t good this time.”

Li Wenxiu comforted him: “Don’t think that way. You’ve met several formidable opponents today, and it was unavoidable that your energy was sapped. You’ll be fine after a short rest.” Hua Hui shook his head, and said, “No, no! Since I am going to die anyway, I’ll tell you the truth. A acupoint of my back was hit… hit by a poisoned needle.” Li Wenxiu said, “Ah, you were hit by a poisoned needle? When were you hit? Today?” Hua Hui answered, “No, I’ve been hit for twelve years!” Li Wenxiu was stunned: “Is it such a formidable poisoned needle?” Hua Hui answered, “It is not much different from the rest. But I slowed down its spread by channeling my energy to resist it. Later I ingested the antidote, and managed to survive for twelve years. But today, I don’t think I can live any longer. Ai, for these twelve years that the needle has been lodged in my body, I have had to suffer two or three bouts of great pain daily. If only I had not ingested the antidote that day. It has not done me any good; I have suffered for these twelve years.” Her heart gave a shudder, for his words evoked her memories. If she had died with her parents ten years ago, perhaps she would have had suffered less misery.

But had she always suffered misery for all these ten years? No, there had been happy times. Although this young girl, aged about seventeen or eighteen, was sad and lonely, she had enjoyed much laughter and sweetness in her current youth.

When she saw Hua Hui gritting his teeth, trying to bear with the pain, she said, “Uncle, try removing the needle, you might fell better then.” Hua Hui retorted, “Rubbish! Isn’t that obvious? I’ve been alone in these desolate hills, who would help me remove the needle? None of those who enter the hills had kind intentions, hmm, hmm…” Li Wenxiu was puzzled, “Why didn’t he go elsewhere to look for someone who could cure him? For what reason did he live in these desolate hills for twelve years?” It was apparent that he still harboured deep suspicions against her. But she observed that he was truly in pain, deserving to be pitied, so she said, “Uncle, let me try. Don’t worry, I won’t try to harm you.”

Hua Hui stared at her, his brows tightly furrowed. He pondered over her proposal countless times, and was unable to come to a decision. She pulled the poisoned needle off the head of his staff, and handed it to him, saying, “Let me see the scar on your back. If you see that I have evil intentions, then you can use the poisoned needle to prick me!” Hua Hui replied, “Good!” He undressed and revealed his back. When she looked at it, she could not help be give a low gasp. On his back were spots and blotches. Who knew how many hundreds or thousands of scars were there? Hua Hui said, “I’ve tried countless means and ways to dig the poisoned needle out, but to no avail.” Some of these scars seemed to be have been made by hitting against sharp rocks. Others seemed to be made by sharp fingernails. As Li Wenxiu looked at these scars, she realised the amount of pain he must have suffered these twelve years. Her heart was filled with sorrow, and she asked, “Where is the poisoned needle located?” Hua Hui said, “There are three in total. One is at the Po Hu Acupoint, one is at the Zhi Shi Acupoint, and one is at the Zhi Yang Acupoint.” As he spoke, he twisted his hand backwards to point out the location of each poisoned needle. Since a long time had passed, coupled with the numerous scars on his back, it was impossible to see the holes made by the needles.

Li Wenxiu gasped, “There are three needles in all? Didn’t you say you were hit by only one?” Angrily, he said, “Previously, you did not say that you were going to remove the needles for me, so why would I tell you the truth?” Li Wenxiu knew that his heart was heavy with suspicion. The truth was that he had lost all his martial arts skills after being hit by the three poisoned needles. Afraid that she would try to harm him, he lied that he had vowed that he would not use his martial arts skills easily. As for the number of poisoned needles which had hit him, he had declared two less than the true number. He could thus protect himself if she had the intention to harm him. She did not like his lies and suspicions, but since she had decided to help him, she would help him to the end. This old man was certainly pitiful. Thus, she put down all her misgivings, and pondered on how she was going to remove the poisoned needles which had sunk deep into his flesh.

Hua Hui queried, “Can you see clearly?” Li Wenxiu replied, “I cannot see the ends of the needles, so how do you think I should go about removing them?” Hua Hui said, “You must use a sharp object to cut open the flesh, and only then can you see them. They have sunk deep inside, and are hard to find.” As he spoke, his voice began to tremble. Li Wenxiu answered, “It’s a pity that I did not bring my small knife.” Hua Hui said, “I don’t have a knife either.” Suddenly, he pointed to the long sabre which had fallen to the ground, saying, “Use this sabre!” That long sabre gleamed with a green light, and was very sharp. It lay next to the body of the bandit surnamed Yun. At this point, the owner was dead, but the sabre remained. It struck terror in those who saw it.

Li Wenxiu was extremely hesitant to use such a long sabre to cut open his back. Hua Hui guessed what she was feeling. His tone becoming gentle, he said, “Miss Li, if you help me remove the poisoned needles, I will give you lots of gold and jewels. I’m not lying to you; I will really give you lots of gold and jewels.” Li Wenxiu answered, “I don’t need those treasures, neither do I want your thanks. As long as you don’t suffer from any more pain, that is good enough for me.” Hua Hui said, “All right, please do it quickly then.” Li Wenxiu went over and picked up the long sabre. She then cut off about ten strips of cloth from the bandit’s clothes to be used for stopping the bleeding and bandaging the wound. She said, “Uncle, I will do all that I can. Please bear with the pain.” She gritted her teeth, and aimed the tip of the sabre near the Po Hu Acupoint which he had previously pointed out to her. Then she cut his flesh gently.

The sabre entered his flesh, and blood spurted out. Astonishingly, Hua Hui did not even make a sound. He asked, “Can you see it?” Since he had managed to bear with the pain for twelve years, being cut by a sharp blade did not really affect him. Li Wenxiu pulled a hairpin off her hair, and used it to probe the wound. She found a thin needle nailed tightly to the bone.

She stretched two fingers into the wound, and grasped the end of the needle. She gave a strong pull, but her fingers slipped, and she was unable to pull the poisoned needle out. She managed the pull the needle out only in her fourth try. Hua Hui gave a loud shriek. The pain he felt was so immense that he fainted. Li Wenxiu thought, “At least he will not feel the pain, seeing that he has lost consciousness.” She cut open his flesh to remove the other needles. After she had removed the remaining two needles, she used the strips of cloth to bandage the wounds.

After quite a while, Hua Hui slowly regained consciousness. He opened his eyes and saw the three pitch-black poisoned needles placed in front of him. Hatefully, he said, “Damnable needles, wicked needles! You’ve stayed in my flesh for twelve years, and today, you have finally come out.” To Li Wenxiu, he said, “Miss Li, you saved my life but I have nothing to give you in return. I’ll give you these three poisoned needles as a gift. Although they were lodged in my flesh for twelve years, their toxicity still remains.” Li Wenxiu shook her head, saying, “I don’t want them.” Hua Hui was amazed: “You have witnessed the formability of these poisoned needles with your own eyes. With these needles, everyone will fear you.” In a low voice, she said, “I don’t want other people to fear me.” In her heart she thought, “I only want other people to like me. These poisoned needles would be useless then.”