HEAVEN SWORD DRAGON SABRE Book 2 of 2

Intoxicating Lotus Of The Green Willow Manor Part 1

They continued their journey for more than a hundred 'li's before spending the night on the desert. Zhang Wuji slept until midnight, when suddenly he heard a faint 'dingdong, dingdong' of clear metallic noise coming from the west. His heart was stirred. Immediately he woke up and quietly went toward the incoming noise. Rushing ahead for about a 'li' he saw a shadow of a small person moving under the moonlight. He sped up his steps and called out, "Xiao Zhao, why are you following us?"

That shadow was indeed Xiao Zhao. As soon as she saw Zhang Wuji, "Wah!" she broke into tears and threw herself on his bosom; sobbing and crying without saying anything.

Zhang Wuji gently patted her shoulder and said, "Good child, don't cry, don't cry!"

Apparently Xiao Zhao had experienced much suffering and grievance; as she finally was able to vent it off, she cried even louder. "Wherever you go, I ... I will follow you."

Zhang Wuji thought, "This little girl's parents are dead; and Yang Zuoshi [Left Emissary Yang] father and daughter always suspect her, she is truly pitiful. Just because I treated her nicely she is quite attached to me." He said, "Very well, don't cry. I will take you to the sea with me."

Xiao Zhao was elated; she looked up. The dim and hazy moonlight shone on her simple and beautiful, yet elegant, small face like a layer of fine veil. The crystal clear tears had not been wiped out; yet her eyes shone with happiness just like the waves of the sea.

Zhang Wuji smiled and said, "Xiao Zhao, when you grow up, you will be very beautiful."

Xiao Zhao laughed, "How do you know?" she asked.

Before Zhang Wuji could answer they suddenly heard the noise of hoof beats toward northeast to them; a large group of riders galloped from the west heading to the east. It sounded like there were at least a hundred riders.

A short time later Wei Yixiao and Yang Xiao hurriedly came one after another. "Jiaozhu [Cult Leader]," they said, "A large group of riders speed along in the middle of the night, chances are they are the enemy of the cult."

Zhang Wuji told Xiao Zhao to join Peng Yingyu and the others, while he took Wei and Yang two people toward the noise of hoof beats to investigate.

When they got nearer, they saw a row of horse hoof prints on the sand. Wei Yixiao stooped down to take a look; he grabbed a handful of sand and said, "There is a bloodstain."

Zhang Wuji took the sand toward his nose and smelled fresh stench of blood. Following the print on the sand three people pursued for several 'li's. Suddenly Yang Xiao saw a half-broken blade on the –sand to his left. He picked it up to take a closer look, and saw three characters engraved on the hilt, 'Feng Yuansheng'. He hesitated for a moment before saying, "This belonged to a member of Kongtong Sect. Jiaozhu, I think Kongtong people prepared some horses in here to take them back to the Central Plains."

"It's been more than half a month since the battle of the Brightness Peak," Wei Yixiao said, "I wonder what craftiness they are up to by still being here?"

As they knew it was the Kongtong people, three people set their hearts at peace. They returned to their camp and slept peacefully. Toward the afternoon of the fifth day they saw a group of pedestrians on the prairie ahead; most of them were Buddhist nuns wearing dark robes, along with some seven, eight men.

As they were getting closer to each other, one of the nuns called out with a sharp voice, "It's the evil thieves from the Devil Cult!" Everybody unsheathed their weapons and spread out in battle formation.

Zhang Wuji knew they were from the Emei Sect, but he had never met any one of them before. "Are 'Shitai's from the Emei Sect?" he asked in clear voice.