Chapter 31 – Half a pill of elixir, Part 11
Chapter 31 – Half a pill of elixir, Part 11
Xiao Longnü hoarsely said, “The Passion Flower poison is acting up again?”
“Mmm…aah…” Yang Guo could only let out a groan.
This pain was very difficult to endure. Lu’E pitied him and thought to herself, “He’s already taken half of the Passionless pill. He needs the other half to get rid of the poisons, and he can only get this other half from mother.”
After a while, Yang Guo got up and let out a long gasp.
Xiao Longnü said, “Your seizures are getting more and more frequent, and every time more severe than the last one. The Divine Monk still has to regain consciousness before he can find the antidote. Even then, there may not necessarily… there may not necessarily… You must be in a lot of pain.”
She’d wanted to say “there may not necessarily be enough time” but she changed her last sentence.
With a bitter smile Yang Guo said, “This old Madame Gongsun is extremely stubborn. She’s hidden the antidote. Unless she wants to give it to me herself, even if we kill everybody in the valley and hold a knife against her neck, she still won’t give it up.”
“But I actually have a method,” said Xiao Longnü.
Yang Guo could guess what she was thinking and so he said, “Long’er, don’t say it. We…husband and wife, sincerely love each other. If we can grow old together, naturally we’ll thank heaven and earth. If something bad happens, its fate. No third person may come between the two of us.”
Xiao Longnü sobbed, “That Gongsun girl… She looks like a very good person. She will listen to me.”
Lu’E’s heart shook, understanding that Xiao Longnü was urging Yang Guo to marry her to save his own life. But then she heard Yang Guo’s reply.
In a resonant voice he said, “Miss Gongsun is a naturally good person. There are really quite a few good girls, aren’t there? Miss Cheng Ying and Miss Lu Wushuang were also the kind of girls who love deeply. But your heart and mine are one, how can we let other people intervene? You think, if there was a man who could get rid of the poisons in your body and he wanted you to give up your body, would you or would you not agree to it?”
“I’m a female. That would be unthinkable,” replied Xiao Longnü.
With a chuckle Yang Guo said, “To others, men are superior to women. To Yang Guo, it’s the other way around…”
As he was saying this, he suddenly heard a sound coming from a dense thicket. Yang Guo asked, “Who is it?”
Lu’E thought she’d been spotted and was about to reply. Suddenly she heard a female voice, “Dumb egg, it’s me!”
Then she saw Lu Wushuang and Cheng Ying step out from behind a thicket. And so, she used this opportunity to move back quietly. Her mind was in turmoil.
She thought, “Aside from comparing myself to Miss Long, look at Miss Cheng and Miss Lu’s beauty, kungfu, and past friendship with Yang Guo, how can I ever match them?”
When she met Yang Guo, she couldn’t help falling in love with him. She’d known that he was serious about Xiao Longnü but, deep in her heart, she still hoped that he could take two wives. Now that she’d heard his words, she realized that all her hopes were in vain. She’d been sad since she was little but today she was completely disheartened. She made up her mind that she no longer wanted to live, and then she walked away westward.
Low-spirited, she walked aimlessly. She didn’t know where she was. There was only a voice in her head, “I don’t want to live anymore. I don’t want to live anymore.”
She didn’t know how long she’d been walking when, suddenly, she heard voices coming from behind some mountain rocks. She pulled herself together feeling slightly startled. She’d been wandering about aimlessly, and to her own surprise she’d arrived on the west side of the valley where very few people frequented. She looked up and saw a mountain peak rising towards the sky. This was the most dangerous zone of the Passionless Peak.
On this mountain ledge, she could see the three letters ‘Broken Heart Cliff’ that someone had carved on the cliff ages ago, and twenty or thirty feet in front of her was a slippery and barren ledge where not even a blade of grass was seen. The place was enveloped by a blanket of fog all year long, and the wind here was so violent that even a bird would find it difficult to perch on this cliff top. Beyond and below was an abyss of shadows that no one could see the bottom of. The area surrounding the ‘Broken Heart Cliff’ was quiet and beautiful because the terrain was so rugged and dangerous. Slippery rocks made it very easy to fall into the abyss below. The valley dwellers stayed clear of this area, and even those disciples in green with their kungfu wouldn’t dare to come here. This being the case, she didn’t know whose voices she was hearing.
Originally Gongsun Lu’E was resigned to die but at this moment she became curious. She hid herself behind a rock pile and listened. Her heart jumped as she learned that it was her father talking. Although her father had wronged her mother and had been ruthless with her, she was still his daughter. She’d been worried about him since her mother blinded one of his eyes with a date stone and banished him from the Passionless Valley. Hearing the familiar voice, she now knew that he hadn’t left the valley. Instead, he’d come to this remote place to hide. She was secretly happy.
Then she heard him talk, “You’ve been beaten black and blue, and I actually lost my eye. It’s all because of that small thief Yang Guo. Not only do we have a common enemy, we share the same problem.” After saying that he smiled, but the other person didn’t reply. Lu’E felt this was quite strange. Who was her father talking to? His tone was faintly frivolous, was that person a female?