[The fifteen masked men slowly approached forward, their thirty eyesshined through the holes on their masks like the eyes of fierce wild animals,filled with cruelty and hostility.]
For every hundred feet, Linghu Chong had to take a break and lean on the door bolt to catch his breath. After about an hour of struggle, he managed to cover somewhat close to a quarter of a mile. He could see more and more golden flickers circle around him and suddenly the entire world swirled around him. He almost fell down. Then he heard loud groans coming from inside the bushes right in front of him.
"Who's there?" Linghu Chong asked, stunned.
"Is that brother Linghu?" the man called out. "It's me, Tian Boguang! Ouch! Whew!" He was obviously in great pain.
"Tian...brother Tian? What...happened to you?" Linghu Chong asked in shock.
"I am dying! Brother Linghu, do me a favor, will you? Ouch...ouch...go ahead and kill me to end my misery!" Tian Boguang begged. He groaned as he spoke, but his voice remained loud and clear.
"Are...you...you...wounded?" Linghu Chong asked. But in the meantime, his knees gave out. He fell down and rolled to the roadside.
"Are you wounded too?" Tian Boguang asked in shock. "Ouch! Ouch! Who did it to you?"
"That's a long story. Tian...brother Tian, so who did that to you?"
"Alas, I don't know!" Tian Boguang answered.
"How come?" Linghu Chong asked.
"I was just walking on the road, and suddenly someone grabbed my two legs and two arms and lifted me off the ground. I couldn't even see who did it...," Tian Boguang answered.
"So it's the Peach Valley's Six Fairies again.... Why, brother Tian, aren't you in the same team?" Linghu Chong grinned.
"What do you mean we are in the same team?" Tian Boguang was at a loss.
"You came to invite me to go see little apprentice sister...Yilin. They...they also came...to invite...me to go see...her...." Linghu Chong started panting.
Tian Boguang crawled slowly out of the bush.
"God damn it! We are definitely not in the same team," Tian Boguang swore as he shook his head angrily. "They came up Mount Huashan looking for a guy and asked me where the guy was. So I asked them who they were looking for. But they said that since they caught me, they get to ask me questions, and I don't get to ask them anything. If I had caught them, then I would get to ask them questions and they would not get to ask me anything. They...ouch...they said that if I've got skills, it would be totally fine for me to lift them up, and then...then it would be my turn to ask them questions."
YOU ARE READING
THE SMILING PROUD WANDERER by Jin Yong
RandomLegend has it that there is a martial arts manuscript Bixie Sword Manual in the house of Lin family, which when learned will give the person god-like speed and power. Thus, whoever manages to master it, will become the conqueror of the martial world...