In the distance, Black Flag Sovereign was secretly shocked. Mountain Demon Shan Tang was not able to handle a single strike. In one move he fumbled and ruined his sword and took off. How frightening. "Forsaken Pilgrim, since you"re here, we"ll settle things later." He led his men away into the night. He had only recognized the weapon and not the person. If he had seen that it was Fang Song instead of Forsaken Pilgrim, there"s no telling which of the two would have won, because the Chief Star Brush at night could not reflect light to dazzle the opponent"s eyes like it could during the daytime.
Father and daughter stood like a rock, smiling maliciously, not saying a word, lest they reveal themselves.
The first one to get near them was Holy Four Heavens Nun. Outcast Androgyne also calmly approached.
A dark figure limped along the mountain trail. The retreating men pa.s.sed by him, but because it was dark and he was coming from the direction of Luyang, no one paid him much attention and so didn"t notice he was the very man they were after, Cai Wenchang.
The last to withdraw were two armed escorts from Northwest Escort Agency, who fell back from the pinewood between the trail and the slope. Starlight glittered off the sword and the brush on the slope, making the holders of the weapons easy to see. The armed escort on the left looked back as he retreated, reluctant to leave and yet also with some lingering trepidation. "What a shame! Just when we were about to get him. Not only did we not kill Cai Wenchang to give vent to our outrage, we also lost Master Zhu the Fifth"s 1,000 tael of gold reward."
The armed escort on the right suddenly grumbled, "Hey you, watch where you"re going, why"d just b.u.mp into me? Heh, you"re all b.l.o.o.d.y, you must have eaten it badly, why aren"t you retreating? Still thinking of trying to catch Cai Wenchang?"
It was Cai Wenchang, his steps unsteady, his strength just about exhausted but still forcing himself on to Mount Mang to help. He didn"t know what had happened to Black Iron PaG.o.da, he just instinctively rushed blindly toward the place where there was a lot of people.
He noticed the armed escorts and couldn"t control himself. He intentionally b.u.mped into the escort on the right to trigger him so he could find out some information. He stood still and said slowly, "Sir, do you know where Cai Wenchang is now?"
The escort said rudely, "Are you really blind? Look, Cai Wenchang"s already out cold, heh! Laying in a pile of weeds on the slope there."
Wenchang mostly understood now what had happened. That very well could be Black Iron PaG.o.da. His tone went stern. "Sir, did you help fight him?"
"Bah! If not then why would I be here? You didn"t?"
"That"s right," Wenchang said. He stepped forward, between the two men, then turned around suddenly and roared with a streak of light, booming, "You two are courting death!"
A throwing knife flew from his left hand as he yelled, winking in the light and disappearing, the dagger in his other hand licking out toward the man on the right. They were less than two feet apart, so it was too easy.
"Argh…" The throwing knife hit the escort and threw him back eight feet where he slammed into a small pine tree and collapsed.
"Ai…" The other man yelled and grabbed onto Wenchang as he toppled over, desperately launching his elbow into Wenchang"s left arm. The dagger stabbed him in the chest a split second before and the two of them fell to the ground, unable to stay on their feet.
Wenchang"s vision went black and he felt his stomach constrict, then he turned over. The heavy blow from the elbow had nearly broken his rib. A bit of blood trickled from his mouth. He sheathed his dagger and took a deep breath and waited for the dizziness to pa.s.s, then pushed the dead man off of him and stood up. He ran for the slope, yelling, "Big bro! Big bro! Big bro Fan!"
Holy Four Heavens Nun approached Fang Song and brought her palms together. "Amitabha! Are you Misery Valley"s Benefactor Fang?"
Fang Song eyed her for a moment, then said coldly, "Holy Four Heavens Nun, are you after Cai Wenchang?"
"No! This humble nun has come to aid Benefactor Cai. He has sustained serious injury, can"t I do everything I can to help?"
Outcast Androgyne stood eight feet away. He didn"t get closer in order to avoid trouble, but he quickly interjected, "I"m Cai Wenchang"s friend. That man on the ground is my young friend"s big brother. Young Master Fang, may I try to revive him?"
With a glance he could tell it was Fang Song and not Forsaken Pilgrim Fang Hui. Fang Song put away his Chief Star Brush. "Then let me trouble you both to look after Black Iron PaG.o.da. I must go find Cai Wenchang…"
Wenchang"s yell sounded right at that moment. The girl was overjoyed and sheathed her Yin-Yang Bone Sword and let out a deep breath and swayed twice. She mumbled, "He"s finally showed up. Ai! He"s hurt."
"What"s wrong, child?" Fang Song asked with concern. She was swaying on her feet, how could he not be concerned?
"It"s nothing. Mountain Demon Shan Tang in incredible. If I had not had the Yin-Yang Bone Sword, your daughter might have been hurt badly." She went toward Wenchang as she answered.
Outcast Androgyne helped support Black Iron PaG.o.da and shook his head and said in a low voice, "This is bad. He"s badly injured. He"s been stabbed in the chest… Ai!" He looked up. "Wenchang, hurry quick, your big brother is here. I am Young Master Mei Lin."
Wenchang hurried over, unsteady on his feet, and fell forward into a pair of delicate hands. He heard a very familiar girl"s gentle voice in his ear. "Sir Cai, collect yourself and be strong."
"Wenchang, your big brother…" Outcast Androgyne suddenly stood up, speaking gravely.
Wenchang fell to Black Iron PaG.o.da"s side and the latter suddenly said feebly, "Dear brother, you… you should not have come… should not have… come…"
Wenchang was a composed, steadfast and strong-willed person. He struggled over onto his side and pulled out the jade bottle of nine-cycle elixir pills. There were only three of the miraculous pills left, and he knew a weak, seriously injured person could not take too many or else it would lead to a quicker death. He put one pill in Black Iron PaG.o.da"s mouth and ripped cloth from his clothes to bind his friend"s wounds as he said, "Big bro, don"t talke, just rest."
Holy Four Heavens Nun held onto Wenchang. "Benefactor Cai, you are hurt yourself…"
"Leave me alone!" he yelled as a wave of dizziness attacked him and he fell away from her into Outcast Androgyne"s arms.
Pain, numbness, dizziness, grief, none of these could knock him down. Black Iron PaG.o.da was critically injured, so he mustered his last bit of energy and leapt up and threw Outcast Androgyne"s arms off him and helped support Black Iron PaG.o.da to sit up in his arms and lean against his chest. He sat and lightly held PaG.o.da up and whispered into Black Iron PaG.o.da"s ear, "Big bro, ease your mind, your injuries are not fatal. You have to believe in the nine-cycle elixir pill. Within a double-hour you will be s.n.a.t.c.hed from the jaws of death and get a new lease on life. You can"t die, big bro. Ah! We"re still young, we still have a long journey arduous ahead of us that we need to complete, and we still have to tell our children and grandchildren about the hard life of roaming the jianghu. Big bro, promise me, you can"t die. For the sake of our friends.h.i.+p you have to be strong and live. Big bro, do you remember? We"re as close as flesh and blood, like blood brothers, haha! Yet we still have our disagreements and have fought each other black and blue. Big bro, remember that creek in Xi"an! We exhausted ourselves fighting each other. We didn"t stop until we both fell into the creek. Little bro Xiaoshan told us we were both crazy! Ai! You remember Little bro Xiaoshan, don"t you? I don"t know where he is, or what"s become of him. We have to find him, even if we expend a life"s worth of energy to find him, we won"t have any regrets. We have to find Little bro Xiaoshan so you have to survive, Big bro, don"t you agree?"
Everyone was silent, the four onlookers sighing to themselves, only Wenchang"s emotional whispers shaking the heavens.
Black Iron PaG.o.da"s breathing was labored. He panted as he said, "Dear brother, you go on… I, I… I won"t make…"
"Ah! Big bro, you still can"t hear me clearly!" Wenchang covered Black Iron PaG.o.da"s mouth to stop him talking. He paused for a moment, then continued, "Ah! Remember at King Yu Gully? Heavens! That was the first time I"ve ever fallen for a girl at first sight. I didn"t even know her surname, but it was because of that I was. .h.i.t by Black Zombie"s Cadaverine Palm. You know, men of the jianghu say I"m a perverted lecher, but you know I"m not. I hope the one I love loves me back. Heaven knows the kind of change that girl has caused in my heart, and how much it weighs on me. Big bro, you have to see me get married, and I hope you can see your nephew call you Uncle Black Iron PaG.o.da, right? Do you hope I find that girl and ask her to marry me?"
Black Iron PaG.o.da"s swarthy, bloodstained face broke into a smile and he opened his eyes partially. "Yes, dear brother, I really hope I can see you get married! Go find that girl who won your heart! You"ll find her, don"t be down on yourself. You shouldn"t lose heart because of those swine who besmirched your good name."
"Thanks for the encouragement, Big bro."
Xiaojuan leaned against Fang Song"s chest, powerless. Fang Song heaved a deep sigh. Outcast Androgyne suddenly said, "It"s a miracle, Black Iron PaG.o.da"s vitality is recovering."
Holy Four Heavens Nun checked Black Iron PaG.o.da"s pulse. She stayed there for a while before finally standing back up. "The danger is not over yet. If his fever does not come down within the double-hour, it will be hard to say."
Outcast Androgyne sat down. "We"ll do all that is humanly possible. First let"s help him change his medicine." He ripped a length of his long robe into strips and took some medicine out of his travel bag.
Fang Song sat as well. "I"m confident Misery Valley"s external-use styptic powder will be of great use. Brother Cai"s mind is not clear right now and his own wounds are serious. We need to take care of him first, otherwise he might draw his dagger and try to fight us."
Wenchang"s mind really was not clear. His consciousness was hanging on by a thread, unconsciously speaking what had long been held in his heart to comfort Black Iron PaG.o.da. Actually, he didn"t really know where he was, he just kept mumbling, his voice getting softer and softer.
Outcast Androgyne gestured to Fang Song and reached out to pull Wenchang"s arms off Black Iron PaG.o.da. As soon as he touched him, Wenchang instinctively smacked his hand away and went to pull Lightning Bolt from its sheath.
Fang Song shot his hands out and held onto Wenchang"s arms and pulled them away.