Chapter 1: Shocking Events in Snowstorm (3)

Legend of Condor Heroes by Jin Yong

Chapter 1: Shocking Events in Snowstorm

3

Autumn slowly turned into winter, the days just kept getting colder and colder. One night, with the cold north winds blowing, it began to snow. The next day, the snow continued to fall even heavier. The entire sky was filled with snowflakes and the ground looked like it was covered in precious jade, white as far as the eye could see.

Yang Tiexin told his wife “I am going to buy some food and rice wine before Guo Xiaotian and his wife arrive.”

After lunch, he took two large bottle gourds and went to Qu San’s wine shop to buy rice wine.

The snow was falling heavier, he trudged towards the wine shop. When he arrived there, he saw that the door was tightly closed, and even the sign of the wine shop had been taken down.

Yang Tiexin knocked on the door a few times and called out, “Brother Qu San, I am here to buy six jin of wine.”

There was no response, only silence. After waiting for a while, he called out again, but still no response.

He walked to the window and peeked in. Everything in the room was covered in a thick layer of dust. He said to himself, “I haven’t been here for a few days, and it turns out Qu San hasn’t been here for a few days either. I hope it’s nothing serious.”

He saw Qu San’s daughter playing nearby, but she was too young to give him any answers. Since Qu’s wine shop was the only place to buy wine in Niu Family Village, he had to brave the snowstorm and walk five li to the wine shop in Red Plum Village to get some wine and a chicken for their dinner. When he returned, he killed the chicken and gave it to his wife to take care of the rest.

His wife’s surname was Bao, and her given name was Xiruo. She was the daughter of a teacher at a private school in Red Plum Village. They had been married for about two years. She put the chicken along with some cabbage, bean curd, and vermicelli made from bean starch into a large pot.

While the pot was boiling on top of a fire, she cut and arranged a plate of cured meat and cured fish. At dusk, she went next door to invited the Guo family to drink wine and enjoy the snow.

Guo Xiaotian happily came. His wife, Ping, had been feeling unwell for the past few days due to her pregnancy, vomiting up everything she ate, so Xiruo stayed to chat and drink tea, sending Guo Xiaotian off first.

Ping and Xiruo were like sisters and the two of them chatted for a long time. Only after making a pot of tea did they finally return home.

When they returned, they saw that the two men had moved the charcoal stove onto the table to keep the wine warm. The two of them had already started.

Guo Xiaotian said, “We were not patient enough to wait for you. Please come and join us.”

The two men had always gotten along, they were both men of character, plus the fact that in this country no one really cared about all the rules regarding men and women meeting. So Xiruo smiled and nodded, putting more charcoal on the stove. She took another cup for the wine and sat down beside her husband.

Ping noticed that there were hints of anger on the two men’s faces, she smiled “What’s wrong?” she asked, “Did something happen that made you two so angry?”

Yang Tiexin answered, “We were just discussing the latest matters that have occurred in the Imperial Palace in Lin’an.”

“I was at the Joyful Rain Pavilion, a tea house at the head of the Tranquility Bridge yesterday,” Guo Xiaotian added, “when I heard some people talking about that bastard Grand Chancellor Han Tuozhou. One man said that all reports at court must now be submitted to him, as well as to the Emperor, or they will not be read. Such arrogance is almost unbelievable.”

Yang Tiexin sighed, “If you have this kind of emperor, then you will get this kind of Grand Chancellor. If you have this kind of Grand Chancellor, then you will get this kind of official. Big Brother Huang, who lives outside of Gushing Golden Gate of Lin’an, told me this story. One day, when he was cutting trees for firewood on the side of the mountain, he suddenly saw a group of soldiers protecting a crowd of officials coming towards him. It turned out that Grand Chancellor Han Tuozhou was on a sightseeing trip with all his subordinates. He continued to mind his own business and continued to cut down trees. Suddenly he heard Grand Chancellor Han Tuozhou sigh and say, ‘The bamboo fences and thatched cottages here really make for a magnificent rural scenery. It’s a pity that there are no sounds of roosters crowing and dogs barking.’ Not long after he said this, they suddenly heard barking from the bushes.”

Xiruo chuckled, “This little dog really knows how to please the Grand Chancellor.”

Yang Tiexin answered, “It sure does, after barking for a while, it jumped out of the bushes. What kind of dog do you think it was? It turned out to be our dignified and honorable Magistrate of the city of Lin’an, His Excellency Zhao!”

Ping and Xiruo laughed out loud.

Guo Xiaotian observed, “The actions of this little dog of His Excellency Zhao have probably ensured that he will be promoted very quickly.”

Yang Tiexin answered, “Of course, that’s only natural.”

The three of them drank for a while. The snow outside was falling harder, but with some wine in their stomachs, the three of them felt very warm and comfortable. After a while, Guo Xiaotian and Yang Tiexin decided to step outside to cool down.

Suddenly, from the east, footsteps were heard on the road. The footsteps were very fast. The three of them turned their heads and saw a Taoist priest.

The Taoist priest was wearing a bamboo hat tied under his chin with a ribbon, and a coat decorated with large snowflakes. He carried a sword on his back, the yellow string hanging from the hilt of the sword swaying back and forth in the wind. Snow filled the sky, a lonely figure walking on the snow, such a majestic and valiant scene.

“This Taoist priest knows a lot about martial arts,” Guo Xiaotian spoke up, “He looks like a real man of honor.”

“That’s right.” Yang Tiexin replied, “Let’s invite him in for a couple of drinks and make friends with him.”

The two of them were always happy to make new friends, so they both stood up and stepped outside. They noticed that the Taoist priest had already passed them by more than twenty zhang even though he was just walking. Such levels of lightness kung fu was rarely heard of in the world. The two of them looked at each other in astonishment.

Yang Tiexin yelled out, “Taoist priest, please stop!”

The Taoist priest turned around and gave them a cursory nod.

“Such kind of weather outside,” Yang Tiexin continued, “Why don’t you come inside and drink a few cups of wine to warm yourself up.”

The Taoist priest sneered and in a flash he had arrived in front of them. “Why do you want me to stop?” With a face full of disdain, he asked coldly, “Be frank and tell me!”

Yang Tiexin was shocked and thought that the Taoist priest's rudeness was completely unreasonable, so he just lowered his head and refused to answer.

Guo Xiaotian cupped his fists in respect and replied, “We were sitting by the fire to warm ourselves and drink wine when we saw you walking alone in the snow. So we took the liberty to ask if Taoist priest would like to join us. Please forgive us if we have offended you.”

The Taoist priest rolled his eyes and said rather loudly, “Alright, alright! If you want to drink, then let’s drink!” And he walked through the door.

This made Yang Tiexin even angrier. Without thinking, he grabbed the Taoist priest’s left wrist, and pulling it, he shouted, “We don’t know how to address you, Taoist priest.”

Yang Tiexin suddenly felt as if he was holding a slippery fish instead of a hand as the Taoist priest's hand slipped from his grasp. He knew that he was in trouble and tried to retreat. However, before he could, he felt a sharp, hot pain shoot through him as the Taoist priest grabbed his wrist. He felt as if he was being handcuffed, feeling incredible pressure and heat. He hurriedly tried to break free from the Taoist priest’s grasp. However, he felt all his strength drain away, with his wrist in extreme pain.

Guo Xiaotian could see from his friend’s crimson cheeks that he was in great pain. He just wanted to make acquaintances and wanted to avoid offending the Taoist priest, or anyone else in the martial world. So he spoke, “Taoist priest, please sit here.”

The Taoist priest sneered a few more times and let go of Yang Tiexin’s hand. He walked purposefully to the center of the room and sat down in a rather conspicuous manner before saying, “The two of you are clearly from the North, but now you are in the South pretending to be farmers. It’s a pity that your accents are still clearly Shandong dialect. Furthermore, what use would two farmers have for martial arts?” He also spoke with a Shandong accent.

Yang Tiexin felt both ashamed and angry, and he walked to the back room. There he found a small dagger in a drawer and tucked it into his shirt before walking back to the front room. He poured three full cups of wine, raised one of his own in a toast, and downed the contents without a word.

The Taoist priest looked past the two men, staring at the snow outside the house with a grin on his face. He did not drink the wine or say anything.

From the hostility on his face, Guo Xiaotian guessed that the Taoist priest suspected there was trickery in the wine. So he took the cup of wine in front of the Taoist priest and drank it down in one gulp. Then he said, “This wine is getting cold very quickly. Taoist priest, let me pour you another cup, a warm one.” He poured another cup for the Taoist priest, and gave it to the Taoist priest, who drank it down immediately.

After that the Taoist priest said, “It won’t matter if you mix the wine with drugs, the drugs won’t affect me.”

Finally Yang Tiexin ran out of patience, “We kindly invited you to come to our house and drink wine with us. Why are we trying to hurt you? If you plan to continue talking like that, then leave now! Don’t act like we’re feeding you sour grapes and rotten food!”

The Taoist priest ignored him and reached for the wine bottle. Pouring and drinking, he finished three cups in a row in a quick pace. Then he suddenly took off his bamboo hat and coat and threw them on the ground.

For the first time, Guo Xiaotian and Yang Tiexin were able to examine his face properly. The Taoist priest was about thirty years old, his face was square with slanted eyebrows and a slight redness on his cheeks. His eyes were bright and sharp.

Next, he untied the leather bundle from his back and threw it onto the table.

Guo Xiaotian and Yang Tiexin immediately jumped in disgust, because from the leather bundle rolled out a bloody human head!

Xiruo screamed in fear in the corner and ran to the back room, followed by Ping. Yang Tiexin's hand moved to his chest to make sure the dagger was in place. The Taoist priest shook the leather bundle and two more bloody objects fell out. A heart and a liver. Judging from the last two objects, it could be seen that they were not pig's heart and pig's liver but most likely human's.

Yang Tiexin shouted, “Bastard Taoist priest!” as he pulled out the dagger from his chest and stabbed it towards the Taoist priest.

The Taoist priest snickered, “Condor Talon. So you want to fight now?” He lightly hit Yang Tiexin’s wrist with his left hand.

Yang Tiexin felt a numbing pain in his wrist as his fingers lost all their strength. Before he knew it, his dagger had been taken away.

Guo Xiaotian was extremely shocked to see all this. He knew that his sworn brother was a descendant of a famous hero and his family’s martial arts were slightly superior to his due to their daily sparring. But it looked as if he was nothing in front of this Taoist priest, the move he had just performed was clearly the Bare Hand Seizes Blade, a skill that he had only heard of in the martial world, but he had never actually seen anyone perform it.

He immediately grabbed the wooden bench he had been sitting on, waiting to block the dagger when the Taoist priest finally turned away from his sworn brother, and turned his attention to the table. Ignoring them, the Taoist priest stabbed the dagger into the human’s heart and liver, and chopped it into pieces.

Suddenly, without warning, he let out a loud roar, so loud that it shook the roof tiles. He raised his right hand and smashed it down hard, so hard that the contents on the table all scattered from the impact.

The two men turned their heads and saw that he had just smashed the head into pieces, even the center of the table had cracked. The two of them had just recovered from their shock when suddenly the Taoist priest shouted, “Shameless scoundrels, today I must break the rule of not killing!”

Yang Tiexin was already at the peak of his anger and could not hold himself back any longer. He grabbed the iron spear that was leaning against the corner of the room and jumped outside. He shouted back, “Come! I will teach you a lesson in the Yang Family Spear technique!”

The Taoist priest sneered slightly, “You think you are worthy enough to use the Yang Family Spear technique based on all this fake bravado?” He walked out the door following Yang Tiexin out, as he finished his sentence.

Seeing the situation had deteriorated to this point, Guo Xiaotian ran back to his house and fetched his double halberds. When he returned, the Taoist priest was still standing ready, with his sword still in its sheath and his sleeves flapping noisily in the wind.

Yang Tiexin shouted, “Draw your sword!”

The Taoist priest replied, “Even if the two of you come together to attack me, I will still fight you barehanded.”

Yang Tiexin signaled that he was going to start and followed it up with the Poisonous Dragon Coming Out from the Cave move. The red tassel on his spear vibrated, creating a large red flash that headed for the Taoist priest’s heart.

The Taoist priest was momentarily taken aback and praised, “Excellent!” His upper body arched backwards until it was almost horizontal. He then spun to the left and swung back up again. His left palm spun around and came up to meet the spearhead in an attempt to grab it.

Yang Tiexin had been working hard with his spear since he was a young boy and had completely inherited his father’s skills, a variant of the southern tradition. The northern tradition had been lost many years ago. The Yang Family Spear technique was not something to be underestimated. Back then, Yang Zaixin, his ancestor, led an army of three hundred Song soldiers against forty thousand charging Jin soldiers at the Battle of Little Merchant Bridge, with his spear as his only weapon. In that battle, they killed more than two thousand Jin soldiers, that day, including their highest-ranking commander. In fact, Jin arrows came raining down, but once Yang Zaixing was hit by an arrow, he would break the wooden part and continue fighting. In the end, his horse stumbled in the mud and he ended up sacrificing his life for his country on that battlefield. When the Jin army burned his body, the amount of metal melted from the arrowheads reached more than two jin. This battle shocked and frightened the Jin army and made the Yang Family Spear technique famous throughout the great plains of China.

Although Yang Tiexin was not as skilled as his ancestors, but through years of training, he had almost completely understood the spear skill inside out. So there he was, blocking, thrusting, swinging, flicking, blocking, fending, and obstructing. The tip of his spear glinted silver under the sunlight, its tassel glowing red. What a great spear skill!

Yang Tiexin gave it his all, his movements were swift and agile, changing and faking as if they were an illusion.

However, the Taoist priest's body continued to follow the spear, easily dodging back and forth, making the man almost impossible to hit.

After using all seventy-two separated moves of the Yang Family Spear technique, Yang Tiexin could not help but feel anxious and hopeless. He lowered his spear, turned around and walked away.

However, as he had anticipated, the Taoist priest began to chase him from behind at close range. Yang Tiexin shouted loudly, grabbing the spear with both hands, he suddenly twisted his waist and stretched his arm, and thrust the spear back straight into the Taoist priest’s face.

This move was fierce, as it was a move in the Yang Family Spear technique that was used to destroy enemy formations. This move was called Turning the Spear on Horseback. Back then, Yang Zaixin had actually used this same move to kill General Yue Fei’s younger brother, Yue Fan, before he left the rebels and joined the Song army, and had also used it to kill enemy generals.

The Taoist priest saw that the spear had already arrived in front of him in an instant, could not help but praise, “Excellent move!” The Taoist priest clapped his hands together, with a single strike, he managed to grab the tip of the spear.

Yang Tiexin gave a strong push, but the spear did not move at all. Shocked, he tried his best to pull the spear back. But the spear was like it was stuck under a mountain, there was no chance of pulling it out at all. His face turned red as he tried three more times, but the spear still would not leave the Taoist priest’s hand.

The Taoist priest laughed out loud, suddenly his right palm lifted and with lightning speed, slammed the spear’s handle.

Yang Tiexin felt the area between the base of his thumb and index finger go numb and immediately released the spear, letting it fall to the snow-covered ground.

“You actually used the Yang Family Spear Technique.” The Taoist priest smiled and said, “Excuse me if I offended you. Would you please do me the honor of telling me your surname?”

Yang Tiexin had not yet recovered from his shock, so he answered without much thought, “My surname is Yang, my given name is Tiexin.”

The Taoist priest asked, “Are you related to General Yang, Yang Zaixin.”

Yang Tiexin answered, “Yes. He was my great-great grandfather.”

Pendeta Tao itu menangkupkan tinjunya dan menganggukkan kepalanya sebagai tanda hormat, “Saya telah salah mengira bahwa kalian berdua adalah bajingan, ternyata kalian adalah keturunan patriot. Mohon maafkan saya." Dia menoleh ke pada Guo Ziaotian dan bertanya, “May I be so bold as to ask this gentleman’s surname?”

Guo Xiaotian answered, “My surname is Guo, and my given name is Xiaotian.”

“He is my brothers in arms,” Yang Tiexin added, “He is the descendent of Guo Sheng, one of the Heroes of the Water Margins of Mount Liang.”

The Taoist priest bowed and said, “Your lowly acted rashly and rudely, and was quick to make assumptions. Please forgive me.” Then he bowed again.

Guo Xiaotian and Yang Tiexin both cupped their hands and bowed, “No problem, no problem at all. Can Taoist priest come in for three more drinks?” Yang Tiexin readily took his spear as well.

The Taoist priest smiled and said, “Of course! I just suddenly had the urge to drink with you two.”

Xiruo and Ping were worried that their husband would get hurt, so they stood at the doorway anxiously watching. Seeing that the three of them had stopped fighting and become friends, they felt greatly relieved and began to set the table.

After the three men sat down, Guo Xiaotian and Yang Tiexin asked the Taoist priest his Taoist name.

The Taoist priest replied, “My name is Qiu Chuji…”

Yang Tiexin jumped up and shouted, “Ah Yes!”

Guo Xiaotian was also surprised, “Master of Eternal Spring?”

“That is the name given to me by my fellow Taoists,” Qiu Chuji smiled and replied, “I myself dare not claim such a name.”

“Master of Eternal Spring of the Quanzhen Sect,” Guo Xiaotian replied, “I am honored to make your acquaintance!”

The two of them threw themselves onto the packed earth floor of the cottage and kowtowed.

Qiu Chuji hurriedly helped them to their feet, “I personally killed a traitor today,” he said with a smile, “The government people were pursuing me very closely, and then the two of you suddenly invited me for a drink. We are close to the capital here, and neither of you are ordinary farmers, so I became suspicious.”

“This brother of mine has always been hot-tempered.” Guo Xiaotian replied, “When we entered the house, he tried to attack the Taoist, which probably raised the Taoist’s suspicions even more.”

“How could ordinary farmers be that strong?” Qiu Chuji agreed, “I thought you two were government dogs in disguise and were waiting for me here. So that’s why I acted rudely, too rashly and rudely.”

Yang Tiexin smiled and replied, “Can’t blame those who don’t know.”

The three men laughed heartily. After a few rounds of drinking, Qiu Chuji pointed to the now severed human head lying on the floor, “This man’s name was Wang Daoqian, he was a traitor! Last year the emperor sent him to pay respects to the Jin emperor on the occasion of his birthday. However, once he got there, this man started colluding with Jin in their attempt to invade the South. I chased him for ten days before I finally caught him.”

The other two men had long heard in the martial world that the Master of Eternal Spring, Qiu Chuji, had an amazing martial arts and a heroic character. Seeing his current patriotism, killing a traitor to the country, they admired him even more. The two of them took the opportunity to ask him a few questions about martial arts, and Qiu Chuji was more than happy to oblige.

Although the Yang Family Spear technique had never lost when facing enemies on the battlefield, when faced with a martial arts master, it became less powerful. Although Qiu Chuji’s inner and outer martial arts could not be considered to be of the highest level, they were still at a high level, so how could Yang Tiexin possibly last more than ten moves against him?

It turned out that Qiu Chuji was shocked by his ability, so he deliberately gave in to make him use all seventy-two moves of the Yang Family Spear technique to ensure that it was genuine.

If the Taoist priest had really used his full strength, then Yang Tiexin’s spear would have been knocked out of his hand in a few moves. At this point, Qiu Chuji observed that the Yang Family Spear technique was meant to be used on horseback, if it was used on foot, then one had to be more creative and imaginative and not just use it in a rigid manner.

The two men could not help but nod after hearing this. The Yang Family Spear technique had always been a male skill in the Yang family, so even though Qiu Chuji was very knowledgeable, he still did not fully understand the inner workings of the skill. So he asked a few questions about it to Yang Tiexin as well.

The three of them had their ears turn warm from the wine and really hit it off.

Yang Tiexin suggested, “We, this two brothers, are very fortunate to have met the Taoist priest today. Taoist priest, why don’t you stay for a few days?”

Qiu Chuji was about to answer before his face suddenly froze and hardened.

“What’s wrong?” Guo Xiaotian asked.

“Someone is here for me. No matter what happens, you two must stay inside, and do not come out under any circumstances, do you understand?”

The two men nodded.

Qiu Chuji picked up the human head, and walked out the door. He jumped onto a tree branch, and hid among the tops of its dense leaves.

Guo Xiaotian and Yang Tiexin did not really understand his strange actions. There was no sound except for the howling of the wind. They waited, until a few minutes later they could hear from the west the faint sound of horse hooves hitting the frozen ground.

“The Taoist priest’s ears are extraordinary.” Yang Tiexin thought, then immediately his thoughts followed, “This Taoist priest’s martial arts are extraordinary, but compared to Qu San, who would be on top?”

After a while, the rhythmic stamping of horses’ hooves grew louder and on the horizon a cloud of snow made its way towards the village. Finally, about twenty horsemen, all dressed in black, emerged from the snow and flew through the air. Galloping, they arrived in front of the door.

The commander of the group suddenly pulled the reins to stop his horse and shouted, “The footprints stop there. It seems like a fight has just taken place here.” Several men behind the commander jumped off their horses and examined the footprints in the snow.

The commander ordered, “Search the house!”

Two more men jumped off their horses to knock on the door.

Suddenly something flew through the air from the nearby trees, hitting one of the men on the head. It was thrown with such incredible force that it shattered the man’s skull.

All the other men began to shout and scream as they surrounded the tree. A man picked up the thrown object and shouted in surprise, “It is His Excellency Wang’s head!”

The commander pulled out a saber and shouted loudly. Quickly, more than ten men rushed to form a circle around the tree. He gave another order, and five men drew their bows and shot five arrows towards the dense clump of leaves above them.

Yang Tiexin picked up his spear and was just about to go out and help when Guo Xiaotian grabbed his arm, “Master of Eternal Spring told us not to go out.” he whispered “Let’s wait for a while. Besides, if he starts having trouble with them, it’s not too late for us to help him.” Just as he finished, an arrow shot down from the branches of the tree above.

Qiu Chuji had dodged four of the arrows and caught the last one, then he just threw the arrow back down like a flying weapon.

“Aiya!” With a scream, one of the men in black was hit and fell off his horse. His body rolled into the bushes and came to a stop.

Qiu Chuji drew his sword and jumped down from the tree. The sword had already begun slicing two people before the soldiers could react.

The commander shouted, “It's you! Damned Taoist priest!” He then released three short arrows that moved ahead of the horse he was riding. Quickly, he drew his sword to attack, only to slash through the wind.

Qiu Chuji quickly bent down.

Swish! Swish! Swish!

The Taoist priest’s sword continued to flash in the snow as two more men were shot and fell from their horses.

Yang Tiexin was awestruck, knowing that even if he trained in martial arts for another ten years, he still would not be able to see the sword clearly, let alone fight back. If Qiu Chuji had not held back in their duel, he would have been dead by now.

Qiu Chuji moved as if he were being carried by the wind as he bounced and jumped between horses, tree branches, and the ground, and now he was fighting the commander, who kept shouting orders to his men. That man’s saber skills were not bad, every move, be it a block or a slash, came out with fierceness.

After fighting for a while longer, Guo Xiaotian and Yang Tiexin both realized that Qiu Chuji was intentionally prolonging their duel so that he could use the gaps and attack to defeat his other opponents. He did this so that he could kill all the enemies, because if the commander was killed, his other opponents would probably turn tail and flee, making it impossible to kill them all.

After a few more fights, only six people were left. The commander knew that they would never be able to defeat the Taoist priest, so he turned his horse around and tried to escape.

Qiu Chuji reached out with his left hand and grabbed the horse’s tail. With a small tug, he sprang up from the ground. Before he even landed on the horse’s back, his sword had already stabbed the commander’s back and penetrated his body until it came out from his chest.

Qiu Chuji threw the body off the horse, grabbed the reins, and started chasing after the others. The silver iron horseshoes danced on the snow while the silver flashes of his sword danced in the air.

Amidst the screams, one by one the bodies of the men fell to the ground from their horses. Blood stained the pure white snow-covered ground, turning it a deep red blood.

Qiu Chuji stopped and looked around. Seeing only three riderless horses galloping into the distance, he laughed out loud. He turned to the two men by the door, waved his hand and said, “I am satisfied with this battle! What do you think?”

Guo Xiaotian and Yang Tiexin had just opened the door and slowly walked out. They had not yet fully recovered from what they had just witnessed.

Guo Xiaotian asked, “Taoist priest, who are these people?”

Qiu Chuji replied, “We will know when we search their bodies.”

Guo Xiaotian walked to the commander’s body and bent down to take a look. His body was sliced in half, and was lying in a pool of blood.

Guo Xiaotian searched the man’s waist and found an official document. It turned out to be an order from Magistrate Zhao who pretended to be a dog saying that the Ambassador from Jin had ordered the government troops and Jin troops to work together to capture the man who killed Wang Daoqian as soon as possible.

Guo Xiaotian’s hands trembled with anger as he stood up straight. He was just about to show the document to the other two men when Yang Tiexin shouted. In his hands were several badges that had been found on the bodies of several other corpses. The badges indicated the rank or status of the corpses. The badges were written in Jurchen, which meant that among this group of people, there were several Jin soldiers.

“What a wretch!” Guo Xiaotian spoke up. “The enemy soldiers can now do whatever they want, including capturing and killing, within our territory. Now, our Song officials can only obey the orders from Imperial Envoy of the Jin! What has our country become?”

 “Even the Emperor of our Great Song has to refer to himself as an official to the Jin Emperor,” Yang Tiexin sighed, “So it’s no wonder that our officers and generals have all become their servants as well.”

“We Taoist priests should be merciful or benevolent in our hearts and actions, we should not harm any living being.” Qiu Qiu Chuji said bitterly, “But seeing a group of traitors and enemies who do nothing but add to our people's suffering, I can never be merciful or benevolent.”

Yang Tiexin said, “You were right to kill them!”

“They deserved to die!” Guo Xiautian said.

Niu Family Village was a small village, and there were not many people at all to begin with. Now with the snowstorm going on, not a single person came out of their homes. Even if someone witnessed what had just happened, they would have run back to their homes long ago. Who would have the guts to come out to check and ask?

Yang Tiexin took out two shovels and a hoe, and the three men buried all the bodies into one large grave.

Ping and Xiruo took a broom and began sweeping up the traces of blood in the snow.

After a while, Xiruo, who had been working hard, suddenly felt the smell of blood rush straight into her stomach, and vomited the contents of her stomach. Her head became dizzy, her eyes blurred, and a moment later she let out a small cry and sat down on the snow-covered ground.

Yang Tiexin was shocked and immediately dropped his shovel and ran over to help her up, while asking repeatedly, "What's wrong?”

Xiruo's eyes were closed and she did not answer. Seeing her pale face and feeling her cold hands, Yang Tiexin became even more worried.

Qiu Chuji came over, grabbed Xiruo's right wrist, and felt her pulse for a while. Suddenly he burst out laughing and said, "Congratulations! Congratulations!"

Yang Tiexin was quite surprised and asked, "What's wrong? What happened?"

At this time Xiruo suddenly woke up with a faint grunt. Seeing the three men standing around her, she could not help but feel embarrassed and with Ping's help, she quickly walked back into the house. Ping poured her a cup of tea walked back into the house. Ping poured her a cup of tea.

Qiu Chuji said with a smile, “Your wife is pregnant!”

Yang Tiexin could not believe it and asked, “Are you sure?”

“Of all the things I have learned in my life,” Qiu Chuji smiled and replied, “I take comfort in saying that I know a little something about only three things. The first thing is medicine, I am unable to master internal strength, but I have a lot of knowledge about medicine and herbs because of that. The second thing is writing a few messy lines of poetry. The little cat-like tricks called martial arts that I know can only be placed third.”

Guo Xiaotian replied, “Taoist priest, if your martial arts can only be called little cat-like tricks, then the martial arts of us brothers can only be called little like-mouse tricks!”

The three men buried the bodies while talking and laughing. After that, they went back into the house and started eating and drinking again. With all the Jin that Qiu Chuji killed today, they all felt great joy and happiness.

Thinking about his wife’s pregnancy, Yang Tiexin could not stop smiling. He thought, “Taoist priest here can compose poems, so he is the right person to name our child.” So he suggested, “Brother Guo’s wife is also pregnant. Can we ask Taoist priest to think of two names for our children?”

Qiu Chuji took a sip of rice wine from his bowl and thought for a moment, then said, “Brother Guo’s child will be called Guo Jing, meaning ‘Serenity’, and Brother Yang’s child will be called Yang Kang, meaning ‘Vitality’. This will remind them of the humiliation of the Jing Kang year, when Bianliang was sacked and the Emperor was captured by Jin. It doesn’t matter if they are boys or girls, they can still use these names.”

Guo Xiaotian replied, “Great! Taoist priest is trying to remind our children to always remember the disgrace of the Year of Jing Kang, when Kaifeng was sacked and the humiliation of capturing our two emperors.”

“That’s right.” Qiu Chuji replied.

Qiu Chuji reached into his clothes, took out two daggers, and placed them on the table. This pair of daggers were completely identical in every way, each with a green leather sheath, a golden hand guard, and an ebony hilt.

He took one of the daggers and quickly carved the character ‘Guo Jing’ on one of the two dagger hilts. He then carved the character ‘Yang Kang’ on the other dagger hilt. He carved with incredible speed and dexterity, faster than most people could write with paper and a brush.

Before Guo Xiaotian and Yang Tiexin could figure out what he was doing, he had finished carving the characters. He turned to the two fathers-to-be and said, “I have nothing valuable on me, only this pair of daggers. And I leave them for the two children.”

The two men took their daggers each and thanked him. When the daggers were unsheathed, a sinister chill emanated from them. Their blades were clearly extremely sharp.

“This pair of daggers came into my possession by coincidence.” Qiu Chuji explained, “Although they are extremely sharp, but their small design are not suitable for me at all. They would be perfect for the children, they can use them to protect themselves. Ten years from now, if I am fortunate enough to still be in this world, I will come to this Niu Family Village again and teach them some martial arts. What do you think, would you agree?”

The two men could not be more happy and thanked him repeatedly.

“The Jin are occupying the north and torturing the people there.” Qiu Chuji concluded, “This situation cannot continue for long. Gentlemen, please take care of yourselves.”

He picked up his wine cup and downed it in one gulp. Then he stood up and walked out the door.

Guo Xiaotian and Yang Tiexin jumped up to their feet and tried to make him to stay. But his steps were fast and steady as he was already slipped out into the storm.

“Masters like him are always coming and going like the wind.” Guo Xiaotian sighed, “We were lucky to meet him today, I had intended to talk to him and ask for his opinion further, but unfortunately, that was not possible.”

Yang Tiexin smiled and replied, “Big Brother, at least we witnessed Master of Eternal Spring being able to kill so many Jin soldiers today and also vented some of our anger.”

He lifted the dagger and removed it from its sheath again. Gently stroking the blade, he suddenly spoke, “Big Brother, I have a stupid idea. Tell me what do you think about it?”

Guo Xiaotian asked, “What is it?”

Yang Tiexin explained, “If both of our children are born boys, then they will be sworn brothers. If they are born girls, then they will be sworn sisters…”

“And if the two are born boys and girls,” Guo Xiaotian interrupted, “then they will be husband and wife.”

The two of them grabbed each other’s hand and laughed heartily.

At that moment, Ping and Xiruo came back out from the back room. Xiruo smiled and asked, “What made you two so happy?”

Yang Tiexin repeated what they had just said to her. Xiruo blushed, but she was happy that their families would forever be united.

“Let's switch our daggers as well as binding our promise now.” Yang Tiexin suggested, “If they turn out to be sworn brothers, we can still switch them back. If they are destined to marry…”

Guo Xiaotian joked, “Then I’m really sorry, because both of the daggers will belong to my family.”

Xiruo laughed and replied, “We never know, maybe both of them will belong to our family instead.”

So, the two men switched daggers. In fact, arranging marriages before a child was born was very common in society, there was nothing strange about it.

Guo Xiaotian took the dagger and happily gave it to his wife for save-keeping. Ping was also quite happy.

Yang Tiexin gave the dagger to his wife as well.

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