IRON BLOODED HEART (Book 1 of Legend Of The Condor Heroes)

Spectres Of The Past Part 3

They did not pursue me which was really strange. The rain became heavier and the night had grown pitch-dark; they could not see me. I dashed about wildly in the rain. Zei Hanzi's body was at first hot but afterwards, it gradually turned cold. My heart also turned cold with each minute that passed. I was shaking all over; I was very cold. 'Zei Hanzi, are you really dead? Even with your fierce kung fu, how could you die so inexplicably? Who killed you?' I drew out a dagger from his stomach, causing the blood to spurt out. What caused this? Murdered people certainly bleed, but I did not know how many people I murdered. 'I must die with Zei Hanzi! No one else will call him 'zei hanzi', in the netherworld, he would be lonely!' I placed the dagger to my throat and prepared to slice when suddenly, I traced two characters on the dagger handle, the characters "Yang Kang." Mmm, the killer must be this person named Yang Kang. How can I not exact revenge? If I don't kill this Yang Kang first, how can I die? Thereupon, I went through Zei Hanzi's pockets, searching for the secret Taoist scripture, but even though I searched the whole body, I was not able to find a trace of it. I must find it! I started from his hair, not missing an inch until suddenly, while I was feeling the skin on his chest, I felt something strange.

As she came to this thought, she was unable to restrain bitter laughter from coming out of her throat. She said: "After careful investigation, I found that tattooed on his chest is the "Jiu Yin Zhen Jing." 'You were afraid that someone would steal this from you and so you tattooed this on your body so it won't be taken away!' Yes, like shifu's martial arts teachings, someone could also steal the Taoist scripture from us so you came up with a way so it can't be stolen. Your idea is 'a person comes, after he is gone, everything goes with him' (or something like that). I used the dagger to cut your chest, mmm, I must tan this skin so it won't rot. I will keep it with me all the time so it will be like you are accompanying me forever. I was not sad anymore. When I laugh, people are usually frightened even though I was smiling. I used both hands to dig a pit in the ground to bury you inside. You taught me the "Jiu Yin Bai Gu Zhua" before; I used this technique to dig your grave. I hid in the cave, afraid that the Seven Freaks of Chiangnan would find me.

At that time, I was not their match but after some practice, humph, I could grab each of their hearts. Was it really dangerous to practice the Taoist nei gong? It would cause serious injuries but I was not afraid to die only what sort of injury? I must perfect my kung fu in the shortest time. It must have been some divine intervention that Zei Hanzi tattoed the Taoist scripture on his body or with my blind eye, what use would the written words have? All these years, even when he was playing with me, he never removed his clothing on his upper body, now I know it was for this..." When she thought about this, her face burned and she released a long sigh. What is it? Zei Hanzi, can you see me from the netherworld? If you married a female ghost and made it your wife, then we do not have forever...

Two days passed, I was very hungry when suddenly, I heard a large army on horseback pass by the hole. From their dialect, I found out they were from Jin Dynasty. I came out and asked them for something to eat. The leader of the army saw my pitiful state and decided to give me shelter, bringing me all the way to the palace. Afterwards, I discovered that he was actually the sixth son of the Jin emperor, Prince Zhao. I swept the ground in the back gardens for them but in the evening, I secretly trained. Such was that I was able to practice for several years and no one noticed anything. They only thought of me as a pitiful blind married woman.

One evening, oh, that mischievous young prince. He went looking for bird's eggs in the garden at midnight without telling anyone. I did not see him but he saw me practicing with my silver whip and thereupon coerced me into teaching him. I taught him three moves and he learned them; he was really intelligent. Pleased with his progress, I also passed on to him the Jiu3 Yin1 Bai2 Gu3 Zhua3 (Jiu Yin White Bone Claw), tiu1 xin1 zhang3 ye3 (Push the Heart Palm). I wanted him to take the oath of not telling anyone, not even the prince or the princess. If he divulged it to anyone, I told him that I would capture him, break his bones, and send his soul to heaven. Young prince has practiced kung fu and his foundation was not low. He said that 'Shifu, I also have another male shifu. This person is not good. I do not like him. I only like you as my shifu. I will never reveal to him that you are teaching me. He can't compare to you. His kung fu teachings are not effective.'