Return of condor heroes, p.182
Return of Condor Heroes, page 182
Guo Xiang rode along with the other people. She saw the Xishan Ghosts all had unique skills; no matter how strong the Eagle Hero’s wugong might be, how could he fight ten people alone? She thought, “If father and mother were here it would be good, they wouldn’t stand by and do nothing.”
Just at this time, several tiger roars could be heard in the dark forest in front of them and the horses gave a startled neigh, some standing motionless, some trying to escape. The skinny man waved his horse whip and was the first to rush into the woods.
The old woman scolded, “You lousy animals, you even fear a small cat eating you up?” The group charged forwards and entered the woods. They moved round ten feet when suddenly a person in front fiercely shouted, “Who are these brave people who dare to enter the Beastly Mountain Village at night without permission?”
The Xishan Ghosts stopped their horses, seeing only a person standing on the path, a brave tiger squatting next to him. The horses heard the tiger growling and were alarmed. The long-sleeved old man put his hands together to greet that person, immediately saying, “The Xishan Ghosts entered this place without informing you, pardon our rudeness.”
That person said, “Oh, the Xishan Ghosts? You must be the Long Sleeve Ghost?”
The old man said, “Precisely. We have an important matter at hand and we are rushing to the Horses’ Plains, when we return we will apologize for this.” He knew this character was not very affable but at this moment they needed all their strength to deal with the Eagle Hero, so he hoped not to complicate matters and spoke very politely.
That person said, “Gentlemen, please wait.” He raised his voice and called, “Eldest brother, it’s the Xishan Ghosts going to the Horses’ Plains; they said they will apologize when they return.” The ghosts heard this and were disgruntled, thinking, “We said we would return and apologize, but those are only polite words. Would the Xishan Ghosts really bow down to this person?” The Xishan Ghosts all had outstanding skills, before they became sworn brothers they had already gotten through many troubles, creating much havoc in Shanxi in recent years. The people of Wulin (martial arts world) all dreaded them. Now the ten people are assembled together and if they had no prior appointment with the Eagle Hero on that night, they would beat this person good and proper just based on his words alone.
They heard a screeching voice deep in the forest saying, “Apologizes are not needed, let them go around the forest.”
When they heard this they got angry immediately. The skinny person with the bamboo staff sneered, “The Xishan Ghosts never take detours!” He raised the horse’s reins and charged straight towards the person standing on the path.
That person raised his left hand and two tigers near him threw themselves forward immediately, causing the skinny man’s horse to be frightened and rear up. The skinny man’s riding skills were really good; he bent down on the saddle, both hands holding a short spear, fiercely thrusting at the two tigers. The tiger on his left leapt aside while the tiger on the right scratched the horse’s belly with its claws; but that tiger gave a roar because it was injured by the spear. The skinny man jumped onto the ground, shouting, “Watch my weapons!” He thrust the spears forth, one high one low, displaying the “Double Dragon Fu Yuan Skill”, but he did not advance forward.
The person coldly said, “You injured my family’s watch-cat, now whether you take the detour or not is not up to you. Wu Changgui (Uncommon Ghost), leave your spears behind!”
When Wu Changgui found that the person knew his nickname, he said, “Who are you, sir? The Beastly Mountain Village was supposed to be in Western Liang, why has it moved to Southern Jin? If you want me to leave my spears, that’s very easy to do.”
The person said, “If our Beastly Mountain Village wants to move, must we report to the Xishan Ghosts? We were tired of living in Western Liang so we moved to Southern Jin to play. My eldest brother, by telling you to take a detour, was being extremely polite. My third brother is sick and doesn’t like outsiders harassing us, do you understand?” When he said this, he suddenly stretched his left hand out and grabbed Wu Changgui’s right spear near the edge.
Wu Changgui never expected him to move so fast, so he thrust his left spear forward and increased his right hand’s strength.
The person extended his right hand and grabbed Wu Changgui’s left spear as well. The two people had great strength, and no one let go of the weapons. A “pa” sound was made and the two spears snapped.
The Xishan Ghosts shrugged and the long-sleeved old man said, “Sir are you the Eight-Handed Monkey Immortal Shi? Is the Golden Claw Lion King ill? At this moment we have a matter at hand, tomorrow at this time, we shall meet here again.”
The masters of the Beastly Mountain Village are five brothers, the eldest being White Forehead Mountain Lord Shi Bowei, the second Caring Eyesight Sage Shi Zhongmeng, the third Golden Claw Lion King Shi Shugang, the fourth Immortal Of Giant Strength Shi Jiqiang, the youngest Eight-Handed Monkey Immortal Shi Mengjie was the one present here. The five brothers inherited the animals from their ancestors. These five people all live unusually and they not only have superb taming skills, they also learned martial arts from the animals’ movements. The brothers had these beasts as companions since childhood, taking the beasts as their masters and learning martial skills. Shi Shugang entered the mountains when he was twenty years old and met an outstanding person, learning advanced internal strength techniques from him. He then went home and taught his brothers. The five people raised many wild animals and improved their wugong tremendously. The Beastly Mountain Village’s reputation gradually became known in Jianghu and the Wulin people called them “Tiger, Leopard, Lion, Elephant and Monkey”. When the Long Sleeve Ghost heard Shi Shugang was sick, he was relieved; he thought no matter how good the Shi brothers were, the Xishan Ghosts would not be afraid. Now that the central pillar of the “Tiger, Leopard, Lion, Elephant and Monkey” Lion King was sick, it would definitely not be a problem to handle them, so he proposed a duel the next evening.
Eight-Handed Monkey Immortal Shi Mengjie said, “Tomorrow night we shall wait outside the forest for you at 11 p.m.” Saying that he put his hands together to salute and shot the broken spear heads into a tree next to the Long Sleeve Ghost.
The Long Sleeve Ghost was startled, thinking, “Why does he not allow us to cut through the forest? What do the Shi brothers have in this forest?” He also put his hands together and saluted, “The Xishan Ghosts bid farewell!” He nudged the horse with his legs and moved forwards. Shi Mengjie said loudly, “Hold! My eldest brother told you to take a detour, didn’t you hear?”
The Long Sleeve Ghost pulled the reins and was about to reply when he heard people in the northeast and northwest of the woods laughing loudly at the same time, then a thick cloud of smoke appeared. A person called out, “What the heck are you doing in the woods? You can’t hide it from our group of ghosts.” Another person said, “You are just meeting your ancestors.” (Making puns with the Chinese words.) Actually the eighth and tenth ghost had sneaked behind Shi Mengjie and set a fire while he was talking to the Long Sleeve Ghost.
The flame leapt upwards, and then he heard the two ghosts’ voices call out in alarm as they wildly dashed back to the group, breathless, their facial expressions bearing great fear. The Long Sleeve Ghost shouted, “What?” One of them said, “Tigers, tigers! 100, 200 of them...”
When Shi Mengjie saw the fire in the forest he got really angry, shouting, “Eldest brother, second brother, this is important, let them go; we can easily find them later.”
Suddenly everyone saw a blurred figure; a dog-like creature squirmed through the woods and dashed away in the blink of an eye. It was pretty small, had four long legs, a snow white coat, had a black tail, looked like a dog yet looked like a cat. Shi Mengjie called loudly: “The “Nine-Tailed Fox has emerged!” and started pursuing it, his face looking anxious and panic-stricken.
A fierce voice was heard from the back of the woods, sounding like a lion’s or a tiger’s roar, yet sounding like someone shouting loudly. When Guo Xiang heard this shout a chill went down her spine. When this sound died down, a hundred beasts roared from all directions, including lions, tigers, leopards, wolves, elephants, monkeys and orangutans... For a while it was not very clear, and then with a thundering rumble the wild animals rushed out from the forest. Then someone said, “Eldest brother head towards the northeast, second brother go towards the northwest, fourth brother hurry to the southwest... “This voice and the howl were similar.
However Guo Xiang only saw several shadows flashing around, leaving the forest. She knew perfectly well there was danger, but her curiosity took over and she hurriedly chased after them out of the woods. The Big Head Ghost called out, “Miss Guo, don’t wander about!” He then pursued her.
Guo Xiang left the woods and saw a strange sight; five people leading a group of wild animals each, moving rapidly in five directions on the snowy plain. These wild animals were all well-trained, not fighting among each other, forming packs, running in an orderly way. Guo Xiang was frightened but also thought this was amusing. The five groups of animals got closer and formed a big circle.
Suddenly a white flash appeared - that dog-like animal squeezed out of the encirclement, zooming in front of Guo Xiang, really moving like lightning. Guo Xiang was startled and bent down to catch it with her hand, but that small animal had already dashed several feet away. It stood still, suddenly turning its head to look at Guo Xiang with its fiery red eyes, looking like two embers in the dark.
The Shi brothers called out, “The Nine-Tailed Fox! It’s over there!” The groups of animals rushed forward together like a moving mountain.
Guo Xiang rode towards the side to avoid them, but when the horse saw so many wild animals, it got frightened. Its legs became weak, then its legs bent and it knelt down on the ground. Guo Xiang was shocked thinking, “The group of beasts are rushing towards me; they are going to trample me into minced meat!” She leapt away from the horse and dashed off. She still smelled the animals but the groups of beasts rushed by her like the torrents of a river and were far away before long.
By now all the Xishan Ghosts had also gotten out of the forest. The Long Sleeve Ghost said, “No matter how strong the Shi brothers’ Wugong is, we are not afraid, but these many animals are not easy to deal with. Tonight we won’t provoke them so that we’ll still have our strength to deal with the Eagle Hero. Everybody, let’s go!”
The old woman said, “Good, tonight after we kill the Eagle Hero we will burn the lions and roast the tigers tomorrow!” She then raised the reins and started to gallop around the forest.
The fierce roars of the lions and tigers were heard again, the groups of beasts were returning on separate paths. But this time the roars didn’t sound so vicious and the animals were not running very fast. The Long Sleeve Ghost suddenly turned green and called out, “Oh no, hurry, let’s go!” But the wild animals were growling in all directions and soon they were surrounded by the group of beasts. The Long Sleeve Ghost whistled and the ten people leapt off the horses, standing in five positions, each drawing their weapons, silently waiting for the enemy to arrive.
The Big Head Ghost softly said, “Young Lady, leave quickly, you shouldn’t risk your life here.”
Guo Xiang said, “Where’s the Eagle Hero? You agreed to take me to him.”
The Big Head Ghost frowned, “Have you not seen all these wicked beasts?”
Guo Xiang said, “You should try to reason with the animals’ masters, saying you and the Eagle Hero have an appointment, and you shouldn’t delay much longer.”
The Big Head Ghost said, “Humph, the Xishan Ghosts never reason with anyone.”
While saying that, the Shi brothers had led the wild animals back. The five people were all wearing animal skins, standing forty to fifty feet away from the Xishan Ghosts. The fifth brother Shi Mengjie said, “The Beastly Mountain Village and the Xishan Ghosts have no bad blood, why did you set the forest on fire and scare away the Nine-Tailed Fox?”
Guo Xiang heard him say this with deep anger and thought, “That small animal may be cute, but it’s nothing great, why should they kick up such a big fuss? It obviously has only one tail, how could it be called the Nine-Tailed Fox?”
The red-clothed female said, “As for today’s matter, the fault lies with the Shi brothers. This Beastly Mountain Village has been at Ganliang for a long time and suddenly it moved to Shanxi. Now you don’t allow people to pass through on the main road in the middle of the night. With such actions how could you blame others?”
The White Forehead Mountain Lord Shi Bowei shouted, “Since it has come to this stage, what more can be said? The Xishan Ghosts shall not live.” Loudly roaring, he charged unarmed to the Long Sleeve Ghost, his palms imitating tigers’ claws, causing wind to be generated before his palms arrived; even a fierce tiger could not compare to its ferocity.
The Long Sleeve Ghost slipped aside, moving back towards the left. He shouted and swept a long pointed weapon towards Shi Bowei. Shi Bowei stretched his claws out, grasping the end weapon, which was a thick steel rod. Before his palm held firmly, he felt heat shoot through his palms and he hurriedly let it go, the left palm executed an advanced stance to avoid the steel rod. If he were not quick enough his chest would have been pierced by the rod. Shi Bowei was startled, “The Xishan Ghosts’ reputation has risen in recent years, so they actually live up to it.” He did not dare to be careless and drew his weapon with a “chia lang lang” sound - it was pair of double hooks. The right hook weighed 18 catties while the left hook weighed 17 catties; it was a fierce and sharp weapon, with the hooks giving off yellow light. He then fought fiercely with the steel rod.
Now Shi Zhongmeng grasped the rod, fighting one-on-two, sparring with Cui Ming Ghost’s knife and Shang Meng Ghost’s chain spear. Shi Jiqiang and the old woman grappled along a long rope; although his strength was great, it was useless against the old woman’s soft sleeve. He roared again and again, exhibiting his giant’s strength, but was unable to utilize it. Shi Mengjie’s foe was the copper hammer-wielding Big Head Ghost. Shi Mengjie’s pen stances were complex and strange, so the Big Head Ghost found it hard to defend himself, and then the red clothed woman raised her knife and went forward to help him.
On the snowy ground, the ten people were divided into four groups fighting viciously under the heavy snow, unable to decide victory or defeat.
The Xishan Ghosts still had six people not in action yet while the opponents only had the Lion King standing by. They saw him leaning on a lion’s body, sickly and without any strength. In this battle the Xishan ghosts fought with numbers, showing the potential for victory, but the Shi brothers only had to whistle and the group of beasts would attack, causing the Xishan Ghosts to go from victory to defeat.
Guo Xiang saw the group of beasts surrounding them and was afraid, she also remembered she wanted see the Eagle Hero, so she said, “Uncle Big Head Ghost, stop fighting, you have more people, even if you win it wouldn’t be honorable. You offended them, just apologize!” But who would bother about her?
Ten people fought violently for a long time. The Long Sleeve Ghost and Shi Bowei were on par. The old woman’s long rope moved flexibly and had many changes within, forming big and small circles; if Shi Jiqiang lost his focus, he would have been hanged by her rope. Luckily his broadsword made big moves with great ferocity, so the old woman could not afford to be careless. The Big Head Ghost and the Clever Ghost were hard and soft respectively, complementing one another, but Shi Mengjie’s moves were quick yet strange, as the saying goes a quick hit counters three slow. The three people were fighting in circles, but Shi Mengjie did not lose the upper hand yet. The Big Head Ghost roared like rumbling thunder while the Clever Ghost chatted in a gloomy tone, dividing the enemy’s attention. Shi Mengjie turned a deaf ear to them and just concentrated on their battle.
On this side the Cui Ming Ghost and the Shang Men Ghost actually could not withstand Shi Zhongmeng’s silver rod. His silver rod was short and hollow, and used strange moves. The three people were fighting near the border of the forest. The Shang Men Ghost thrust his spear forward; Shi Zhongmeng aimed his rod at him and thrust directly at the spear, causing the spear to go right through into the hollow rod. The Shang Men Ghost was greatly startled but he was not willing to let go of his weapon. The Tao Zhai Ghost leapt up to help them, swinging his slab towards Shi Zhongmeng’s silver rod. Shi Zhongmeng drew his rod back and retreated, allowing the Shang Men Ghost to regain his weapon. The Tao Zhai Ghost’s weapon resembled an iron block and it was actually an accounts book cast in iron. The book had five pages and each page could be flipped about, its edges sharper than knives and it made a strange and sharp weapon.
The Xishan Ghosts originally had their respective surnames, but ever since the “Xishan Ghosts” became known, they discarded their real names and used “Ghost” as their nicknames. The ten people all had unusual and strange appearances so the ten brothers said, “The Jianghu heroes call us ghosts, so we shall see if the people are good or the ghosts are fierce?” That Tao Zhai Ghost made himself that iron book because he avenged any minor wrongs, never willing to let off anyone who offends him even slightly. So the martial arts world nicknamed him the “Tao Zhai Ghost (Debt Collecting Ghost)”. He was very pleased with this nickname and cast an iron accounts book, carving the names of those who offended him on the iron pages, and then writing off those names after he has settled the debt.
