The Return of the Condor Heroes

Chapter 4 – Under Quanzhen Sect, Part 3

The Taoist Lu Qingdu was an apprentice grandson of Wang Chuyi; he had barely escaped with his life and he was furious when he saw Yang Guo. He wanted to jump forward and grab him. He ignored the fact the elders were there and only when he heard Wang Chuyi call out once more did he realize he was out of order. He broke out in a cold sweat, he bowed his head and dropped his hands and said, “Disciple deserves to die.”

Wang Chuyi said, “What exactly happened?”

Lu Qingdu said, “It’s my fault for being useless, I request the elders to punish me.”

Wang Chuyi frowned and said, “Who said you were useless? I asked you, what is this about?”

Lu Qingdu replied, “Yes, yes. I was ordered by Master Zhao to guard the back courtyard. After a while, he came back with the little, little…” He wanted to say “Little bastard”, but he knew he couldn’t act out of order in front of the elders again so he changed his words and said, “little boy and gave him to me, and said he was brought here by a formidable enemy of our sect. Martial Uncle Zhao had captured him and told me to guard him and don’t let him escape. So I took him to the eastern meditation room; after a while, he tricked me and said he needed the toilet and wanted me to untie him. I thought that he was just a small kid and wasn’t concerned that he would be able to get away so I untied him. I didn’t think that he was just sitting on the toilet and pretending to go; when he suddenly got up, picked up the bucket and threw the waste contents at me.” When Lu Qingdu got to this point, Yang Guo burst out laughing. Lu Qingdu angrily shouted, “What are you laughing at?”

Yang Guo lifted his head, his eyes towards the sky and said, “I want to laugh; what can you do about it?”

Lu Qingdu wanted to curse back when Wang Chuyi said, “Don’t quarrel with the child; continue.”

Lu Qingdu said, “Yes, yes. Elder you don’t know, but that little boy is very sly and crafty. When I saw the waste coming at me, I quickly dodged out of the way, but he laughed and said “Ah, Mr. Taoist, you’ve got some on your clothes!”

When the crowd heard him impersonate Yang Guo, his voice sounded funny, the others secretly wanted to laugh. Wang Chuyi frowned; he secretly cursed him for acting this way in front of others.

Lu Qingdu continued, “I was angry, and wanted to go over and beat him, but he raised the bucket and threw it at me. I shouted out “Little bastard” and quickly used “Rapid Flowing Retreat” (ji liu yong tui) and moved out of the way. One of my feet stepped into the waste but after two wobbles I managed to stay on my feet. I wasn’t prepared when the boy took advantage of me while I was unsteady and took my sword from my waist and pointed it at my chest and said if I moved, he would pierce through my chest. I didn’t want anything to happen to me so I stood still. The boy held the sword with his left hand and with his right hand tied me up to a column, and then stuffed my mouth with a piece of cloth. Eventually the room caught fire and I couldn’t move I couldn’t call out; if it wasn’t for Martial Uncle Yin, would I not have been burnt to death by that boy?” After he said this, he stared furiously at Yang Guo.

After everyone heard this, they looked at Yang Guo and then looked at the Taoist, one was a small boy, the other a large fat man, they couldn’t help but burst out laughing. When Lu Qingdu heard them laugh out loud, he touched his ear and cheek; he didn’t know what to do with his hands and feet.

Ma Yu chuckled and said, “Jing’er is he your son? He takes after your wife, very quick and clever.”

Guo Jing said, “No, he is my brother Yang Kang’s son.

Qiu Chuji shivered when he heard this; he gave Yang Guo two glances and saw that he did indeed look like Yang Kang. Yang Kang was his first official student; he wasn’t obedient, yearned for wealth and riches, and acknowledged a scoundrel as his father. Every time Qiu Chuji went over this in his mind, he felt that he was to blame for Yang Kang’s behavior. He didn’t teach him properly and caused him to turn out like that. When he heard that Yang Kang had an heir, he was sad and delighted at the same time, he quickly asked for the details.

Guo Jing glossed over Yang Guo’s situation, and told them he wanted Yang Guo to study under the Quanzhen sect. Qiu Chuji said, “Jing’er, your martial arts have long exceeded ours, why don’t you teach him yourself?”

Guo Jing said, “I will tell you everything later. I have offended a lot of Taoist brothers today on the way here, I’m very sorry, I apologize to all the elders, and I hope you can forgive me. He held his hands together to those Taoists who he had fought.

Ma Yu said, “If you hadn’t arrived just in time, our sect would have been destroyed. We are not strangers; there is no need to apologize.”

Qiu Chuji’s brows rose, and after Ma Yu had finished he said to him, “Zhijing led the formation outside; he couldn’t tell the difference between friend and foe. I thought it was strange that there was a strong formation placed outside, but when I looked away for a second the enemy managed to break through and attacked us. Huh, so it was him who led the formation away to try to catch you.” His eyes squinted, he was livid; he summoned two disciples to him, and asked how they could mistake Guo Jing for the enemy.

The two disciples were frightened and changed colour, the older of the two said, “Apprentice brothers Feng and Wei ran up to us, and said hero Guo had smashed the stone slab at the “Everywhere Light Temple”, and knew that he must have been with the enemy.”

Guo Jing remembered the events, and couldn’t believe all the misunderstanding arose from that, he said, “You can’t blame these Taoist brothers. When I was at the Light Everywhere Temple, I inadvertently slammed down a heavy palm on the stone slab that had your poem on it; it was because of this that the misunderstanding was created.”

Qiu Chuji said, “So it was because of this, what a coincidence. We already knew that the enemy would come today, and they would use the slamming of the rock as a signal.”

Guo Jing said, “Who were they? How come they were so daring?”

Qiu Chuji sighed and said, “It is a long story, Jing’er, come, I am going to show you something.” He then nodded to Ma Yu and Wang Chuyi; he turned around and headed for the back side of the mountain. Guo Jing turned around to Yang Guo and said, “Guo’er, stay here.” He followed Qiu Chuji. He saw him heading around mountain, his steps rapid, like those of a young man.

The two arrived at the peak of the mountain; Qiu Chuji went up to a large stone slab and said, “There are some words written here.”