Book 9 Chapter 2 – Fortuitous Meeting at an Abandoned Village

The two boys groaned inwardly at the same time.

What happened was that when Xu Ziling was sending his true qi into Wanwan’s body, immediately he felt as if he lost control over his meridians and eight extraordinary channels.

In his great shock, Xu Ziling hastily sent out his internal energy trying to recover the true qi that was scattering like a runaway horse on an open plain, but he was still a step too late.

His true qi had turned into hundreds and thousands of streams of swirling force surging through and circling along Wanwan’s eight extraordinary channels [see footnote, Book 1 Chapter 7], just like when a martial art master of internal school suffer fire deviation during true qi cultivation.

This kind of fire deviation could be catastrophic to the practitioner; minor incident would result in the loss of one’s entire internal strength, major incident would result in paralysis or even sudden death.

The two boys were completely unprepared for this kind of situation, they did not know how to deal with it, and hence momentarily they panicked.

Kou Zhong cried out in low voice, “Female demon is formidable; Laozi cannot deal with her anymore!”

Xu Ziling hastily signaled him not to be reckless.

Thunder crashed, heavy rain pummeled the roof of the house, the eaves, canopies, screen windows, the courtyards and the streets, creating a variety of noises, as well as varying intensities of the sound. Cool and crisp air burst into the room and assaulted their bodies.

Mixed with this loud ensemble of the pitter patter of the rain was a cacophony of horses’ hoof. A dozen or so riders were entering the village.

Xu Ziling did not have time to be bothered by anything other than Wanwan; receiving Kou Zhong’s true qi, which was yin and soft in nature, he continuously blended it with his own yang and hard true qi, and said softly, “The biggest problem in true qi is that singular yang would not last. Same nature qi will repel each other, because it will surge against each other, scattering the qi of the arteries and veins all over the body. Therefore, as long as we can lead the true qi back into one, we can solve the problem.”

And then, putting his mouth behind Wanwan’s jade-like sparkling and translucent small ear, he said, “Isn’t this precisely what you planned all along? Right now I have a 90% confidence that you are that Dajie [big sister] from Yin Gui Pai, Xiaodi really admit defeat.”

Another flash of lightning streaked through the sky west of the village, painting the heaven and the earth deathly white, followed by deafening clap of thunder.

Those dozen or so riders stopped their horses, but nobody dismounted. It appeared that they were waiting for someone else.

Kou Zhong acted as if he was unaware of this bunch of people’s arrival; leaning forward, he said, “Do you want to make a his-mother’s bet? I bet you she is ‘Yin Hou’ [Empress Yin (soft/negative/feminine)] Zhu Yuyan’s disciple, or perhaps she is her.”

Smiling wryly, Xu Ziling asked, “What’s your confidence level?”

Kou Zhong sighed and said, “Only 80%, ten per-cents less than yours. Based on the heretical nature of Yin Gui Pai people, how could they be willing to put themselves in such a dangerous situation? But if she had some other kind of heretical skill, which would make her impervious of fire deviation, this would be a different matter altogether. Ay! Just let me make my move; someone has to do it anyway.”

Xu Ziling shook his head resolutely, “We have no right to gamble with somebody else’s life,” he said, “In fact, this is a fair decisive battle, she is using her real skill to deal with us.”

Frowning, Kou Zhong said, “But if she really is a female demon from Yin Gui Pai, and we are helping her treating her injury, wouldn’t she be able to see through [orig. mountain has a connecting pulse throughout like a dragon (idiom from fengshui)] our unique qigong? What other secret can we talk about then? Supposing because of this her internal strength enjoyed tremendous progress and she defeated Shi Feixuan, we would have committed a grave offense.”

More hoof beats were heard from the other end of the village. Surprisingly it was a single rider, riding his horse slowly under the heavy rain toward the dozen or so riders that have arrived earlier.

There was a series of ringing noise as sabers and swords left their sheaths.

It was obvious that the newcomer was not a friend of the dozen or so riders.

Xu Ziling did not pay any attention of what was happening outside, he constantly gathered the true qi sent by Kou Zhong into the qi reservoir in his dantian [pubic region, about 2 inches below the navel where one’s qi resides], consciously and without exercising any restrain letting the qi automatically became a vortex of true qi, so that the qi would not be wasted.

With a faint smile full of confidence he said, “Even if she really is a female demon, despicably exploiting our chivalrous intention, we still have to deal with her righteously to the end.”

And then he called out in low voice, “Are you ready?”

Kou Zhong thought Xu Ziling was talking about regulating the meandering qi that created havoc inside Wanwan’s meridians. Looking at the continuously shuddering Wanwan, without much choice he replied, “As ready as I can be!”

By the time Xu Ziling, beyond Kou Zhong’s expectation, raised the vortex of qi from his dantian and flowed it upstream along his channels and burst into the hollow of Kou Zhong’s right palm, somebody was shouting outside, “Passionate Prince, you are indeed gutsy and wise; knowing perfectly well that you are delivering your life yet still dare to come to keep our appointment. We, Qing Jiang Pai [Clear River (in Hubei) Sect] are full of admiration.”

It was only then did Xu Ziling and Kou Zhong realize that the newcomer was the ‘Passionate Prince’ Hou Xibai, whose fame was rising recently, but this moment was a critical juncture where they were transmitting their internal strength and applying their power; the slightest carelessness would result in catastrophic fire deviation. Therefore, they did not dare to split their concentration to care wh