Chapter - 3 Fast Horse And Faint Fragrance (1/2)

Duan Yu turned around and saw a man dressed in servant clothing walking quickly towards him, turned to be the LaiFe-Er that he saw a bit ago on the other side of the wall. He walked up closer and bowed before speaking: ”LaiFu-Er humbly came following orders from the Madame to go with sir to borrow the horse.” Duan Yu nodded: ”Alright, sorry to trouble you.”

So LaiFu-Er walked in front leading the way as they made their way through the pine tree woods, turned north onto another small path, and after walking for another 3 or 4 kilometers, they arrived in front of a big house. LaiFu-Er went up, took the ring on the door in hand, gently knocked twice, paused, then knocked 4 times, and finally he knocked 3 more times. That door cracked open just a little. LaiFu-Er stood outside the door and whispered with the doorman for a while. By now it was dark, Duan Yu looked up at the scattered stars in the sky; suddenly his mind wandered to that cave and the Dear Goddess that lived in it.

Suddenly there came from inside the door a long and loud horse neigh, Duan Yu could not help but comment: ”Excellent horse! Excellent indeed!” The door opened and a horse head poked out, the pair of horse eyes glowed in the dark as they looked around, obviously this was not an usual horse; with a couple more hoof beats, the black horse had walked out of the door. The hoof beats were landing very lightly on the ground, the horse was thin and slight but its legs were long as it had an air of proud arrogance. A little maid with her hair down was leading the horse out, in the darkness Duan Yu could not see her face, but she seemed to be around 14 or 15.

LaiFu-Er spoke up: ”Mr. Duan, Madame was worried that you might not get to DaLi in time, so we came here to borrow a horse from the Young Miss here. This horse's leg power is truly amazing, this Young Miss here is a good friend with our Young Miss as well, only upon hearing that sir was going to save Young Miss did she let us borrow this horse, this really is giving us a tremendous amount of face.” Duan Yu had seen quite a lot of great horses, he only needed to hear its neigh to know that this horse was truly one in a million, so he replied: ”Many thanks!” He reached over to grabbed the reins. The little maid tenderly stroked the fur and mane of the horse while gently saying: ”Now Black Rose, Young Miss is letting this young sir borrow you to ride for a bit, so you better be good and come back soon.” The black horse turned its head and gently rubbed against her arm, showing a great amount of affection. The maid handed the reins over to Duan Yu and admonished: ”Don't use whips on this horse, the better you treat it, the faster it'll run.”

Duan Yu replied: ”Alright!” He thought: ”The horse's name is Black Rose, so it's got to be a mare.” So he said: ”Miss Black Rose, please forgive me for any rudeness of mine.” He bowed towards the horse as he said this. The maid let out a little laugh and said: ”Quite an interesting guy you are that's for sure. Hey, careful, don't fall down.” Duan Yu nimbly hopped onto the horse's back and turned to the maid: ”Many thanks to the Young Miss of the house!” The maid replied with a laugh: ”What? No thanks for me?” Duan Yu cupped his fist and said: ”Many thanks to my sweet sister. When I return I'll bring some delicious preserved fruits for you.” The maid replied: ”No need for the fruits. Just be careful and don't hurt the horse.”

LaiFu-Er instructed: ”Ride north from here and you will find the highway leading to DaLi. Sir, please take care.” Duan Yu waved his hand, the horse started moving her legs, after a few gallops he was already some 50 meters away.

Black Rose did not need any urging as she was flying in the night, Duan Yu felt as if the trees at his sides were backing up as they sped past him; what's more amazing was that the back of the horse was unusually steady without even the slightest of dips. He thought: ”At this rate, I am sure to reach DaLi by tomorrow afternoon.”

In the amount of time to boil some tea, they had already traveled more than 5 kilometers; the cool breeze blew through the night, bringing smells of grass and trees to Duan Yu's face. Duan Yu mused: ”Galloping in the night, one of the joys of life indeed.” But suddenly there came a shout from ahead: ”Bitch, stop!” A flash of blade being swung shot through the darkness as a sabre came flying down. But the black horse was so fast that the sabre missed by several meters. Duan Yu turned his head and saw 2 huge men, one with a sabre in hand while another had a spear, chasing after him. The 2 of them were cursing profusely at him: ”Bitch! Dressing up like a man! Think you can fool your old man?” In a blink of an eye, the horse had left them way behind. Although the 2 men were fast, soon even their cursing could not be heard anymore.

Duan Yu thought: ”Those 2 ruffians were calling me 'bitch', and saying that I'm 'dressing up like a man', what for? Oh I get it, they are looking for Black Rose's owner, so they saw the horse and didn't bother with checking out the rider, such rudeness.” After galloping for a few more kilometers, a thought suddenly occurred to him: ”Ai-Yo, this is not good! I was lucky that this horse was fast to be able to escape their ambush. Seems like that these 2 men's kungfu aren't that shabby, if the young miss that lent me this horse came walking out without any precaution, she might be ambushed. I have to go back and report this!” So he immediately pulled the horse to a stop and said: ”Black Rose, someone wants to harm your master, we have to go back and report that, to tell her to be careful and not leave the house.”

So he turned the horse around and started on the way back, when getting close to where the 2 men ambushed him, he urged: ”Faster, faster!” Black Rose seemed to have understood him as she really did pick up her speed. But the 2 men were gone. Duan Yu became even more worried: ”Maybe the 2 of them went to attack that young miss in the house, that would be even worse!” So he kept on urging ”Faster”, it was as if Black Rose's hooves were not even touching the ground anymore as they went flying back the way they came.

When they arrived back at the house, a pair of sticks suddenly popped out of the ground and swung towards the horse's legs. Black Rose didn't wait for Duan Yu to react and jumped over them herself, she then kicked her hind legs back and knocked down one of the men with a stick.

In one flurry, Black Rose had arrived in front of the house, 4 or 5 men jumped out from the darkness and grabbed onto Black Rose's reins. Duan Yu felt something gripping his right arm as he was dragged down of the horse. Someone demanded: ”Boy, what are you doing here? Where do you think you are going?”

Duan Yu was grumbling to himself: ”This can't be good, not good at all, the entire house is surrounded, I wonder if they have done anything to the owner?” Feeling the grip on his right arm tighten like a vise, so much so that the right side of his body was numb, he replied: ”I'm here to see the master of this place, what do you think you are doing, acting this rudely?” Another voice, which was old and raspy, observed: ”This little bastard was riding that bitch's black horse, he must be a friend of that bitch, let him go in and we can wipe all of them out in one strike.” Duan Yu's mind was a mess as he couldn't calm down: ”This is called asking for it. Well, since it's already like this, only thing to do is to go in and hope for the best.” Feeling the grip on his right arm loosen, he adjusted his clothing a bit and walked right through the door.

He walked through a yard with roses planted on each side of the stone path that caused the whole place to permeate with a delicious fragrance; the stone path twisted and turned through a round door as Duan Yu followed the path, seeing that there were men placed here and there all along the path for an ambush. Suddenly he heard a light cough from up above, he looked up and saw that there were 7 or 8 men standing on top of the wall as well, the weapons in their hands flashed brilliantly in the night; overwhelmed, he thought: ”There can't be that many men in the house, yet so many enemies showed up, are they going to kill everyone for real?” The men were staring at him murderously through the darkness, some of them had their hands on their weapons, making them even more threatening. Duan Yu could only try to stay calm and force himself to smile back. The stone path led to a huge parlor that had lamp light shining through the rows of windows. He walked up to it and spoke in a loud voice: ”I humbly request an audience with the master of this place.”

A very raspy voice shouted back: ”Who the hell is it? Get in here now!”

Duan Yu was feeling a bit offended as he pushed open the door and walked in; he saw around 17 or 18 people in the parlor, some standing, some sitting. In the middle sat a girl wearing black, her back was facing towards the door so her face could not be seen, her body look slender and elegant, her shiny dark black hair was done in the style of a girl. Two old women sat in the grand chair on the east side, they had nothing in their hands; the rest of the men and women present all had weapons in hand. A person was lying in front of the old woman that sat closer to the door, blood was pouring out of his forehead, obviously dead; this person happens to be the person that led Duan Yu here for the horse, LaiFu-Er. Duan Yu thought how polite and respectful this person treated himself and his terrible fate of being suddenly killed here, which was partly caused by himself, he felt terrible.

The old woman that sat farther from the door was short in stature and had a head of white hair, she demanded in a raspy voice: ”Hey boy! What are you doing here?”

When Duan Yu pushed open the door and stepped in, he had already made up his mind: ”Since I'm in such mortal danger, if I'm able to escape then it really is fortune of fortunes, but seeing the murderous looks on these people, it would not help a bit if I tell them what they want to hear.” Now he was even more determined after seeing LaiFu-Er's body on the floor, so he held his head up high and said: ”Gramps had only lived a couple more years, why are you being so rude and going 'boy this' or 'boy that' all the time?”

That old woman's face was short and wide, filled with wrinkles, and her white color eye brows were slanting downwards; the pair of eyes that she had narrowed to a crack suddenly looked murderous as she sized up Duan Yu a couple of times. The old woman that sat closer to the door shouted back: ”Stinking boy, how dare you! Grandma Rui was actually addressing you herself, that's giving you a lot of face already! Do you have any idea who this gramps is? You can't see Mount Tai if it was right in front of you!” This old woman was very fat, her belly stuck out as if she was 7 or 8 months pregnant, only some of her hair was white and her face was ugly and ferocious, when she talked her voice was rougher than most men; she had a wide-bladed dagger on each side of her hips, one of the daggers was covered with blood; obviously she was the one that killed LaiFu-Er.

When Duan Yu saw this, he became even angrier as he replied loudly: ”From your accent I can see you are from around here, and yet you dared to cause trouble and kill here in DaLi, you have to know that even though DaLi is a small country, it still has laws. As for who Grandma Rui is, I have no clue, but even if she's the Queen Mom of the Great Song she can't come here to DaLi and kill as she pleases!”

The fat old woman was furious, she jumped up out of her chair and with a flick of her wrist, a dagger had appeared in each of her hands. She shouted: ”Well I just happen to want to kill you, what can you do about it? There isn't a single decent person in all of DaLi, they should all be killed.” Duan Yu yawned and snickered: ”Such wonderful logic, funny, very funny!” The old woman took step forward and the dagger in her left hand came chopping down towards his forehead.

”Dang”! An iron crutch came out of nowhere and parried the dagger away; unexpectedly, it came from Grandma Rui. She said in a low voice: ”Be patient Grandma Ping, let's find out what we can and then we can still kill him!” She put her iron crutch back on the side of the chair and turned towards Duan Yu: ”Who are you?” Duan Yu replied: ”I am a citizen of DaLi. This fat gramps here said that everyone in DaLi should die, then I guess I'm someone who should die as well.” Grandma Ping was still furious: ”Call me Grandma Ping, what's with all those fat comments?” Duan Yu snickered: ”Why don't you take a look at your tummy, is it fat or not?”

Grandma Ping was livid: ”You little bastard!” She swung her dagger hard twice at the air in front of her. The sight and sound of those 2 swings made Duan Yu suddenly break out in a cold sweat in fear, but he was still able to make his face look like he didn't care.

Grandma Rui observed: ”You look rather clean and refined, are you a friend of this little bitch?” She pointed at the back of the girl in back. Duan Yu replied: ”I have never seen this young miss before in my life. But Grandma Rui, I urge you to be a bit more tactful in your choice of words and not just come out cursing everyone. This young miss is showing quite a lot of character not to make a fuss over this with you, but you don't come out very well anyway.” Grandma Rui replied: ”Pei! How dare you tell me how to behave! If you never met this bitch before, then what are you doing here?”

Duan Yu replied: ”I'm here to give her a message.” Grandma Rui asked: ”What message?” Duan Yu sighed: ”I'm a step too late, so the message really doesn't matter anymore.” Grandma Rui demanded severely: ”What message? Tell me.” Duan Yu replied: ”When I see the master of this place, I would automatically say it, why would I tell you?” Grandma Rui faintly sneered for a while before responding: ”You want to say it, then go ahead and say it. A little bit more hesitation, then both of you are going off to the nether world.” Duan Yu asked: ”Who is the master? I have thank the master for letting me borrow the horse.”

Just as he finished saying this, everyone in the parlor's eyes turned towards the girl in black sitting in the middle.

Duan Yu was quite surprised: ”Can she be the master of this place? She's a girl and is surrounded by so many powerful enemies, this is not looking good.”

The girl slowly spoke up: ”Letting you borrow the horse was giving someone else face, no need for you to thank me. What are you doing back here and not off to save her?” Even though she's talking, she did not turn around and her face was still facing inward.

Duan Yu replied: ”I was riding on Black Rose when I was ambushed on the path by someone who mistook me for Miss. They were calling out some rude names as well. I felt that this does not seem right and had to come back and give a message to Miss.”

The girl asked: ”What message?” Her voice was clear and beautiful, but her tone of voice was cold without the slightest hint of warmth and unspeakably uncomfortable to the ear. As if she did not care for anything in the world, as if she was filled with hatred for everyone in the world, as if she hoped to be able to kill everyone in the world.

Feeling that she was being rather impolite, Duan Yu wasn't feeling all that great inside. But figuring that since she had fallen into enemy hands and her life hung in the balance, he forgave her for acting a little out of character. He actually felt a bit of sympathy for her as he gently replied: ”Those 2 low-lives intended to harm Miss, I was able to avoid their ambush because of the speed of my ride. But I thought Miss might not know that you have enemies coming, so I came running back to report this and urge Miss to leave as soon as possible to avoid the danger. But alas, I was still too late, they are already here.”

The girl sneered: ”What are you trying to get on my good side and pretending to care?” This made Duan Yu quite angry as he replied much louder than he needed to: ”I have never seen Miss before in my life. But how could I not get involved when I know that Miss is in danger? How could Miss say 'trying to get on my good side'?” The girl asked: ”Do you know how I am?” Duan Yu replied: ”Not at all.”

The girl commented: ”I heard from LaiFu-Er that even though you don't know any kungfu, you actually dared to go up against and argue with Master of the Valley of 10,000 Calamities to his face. You got some guts, now that you are involved in this mess, what do you plan to do?” Duan Yu was taken aback for a moment before answering: ”I had planned to leave as soon as I report this matter to Miss and head straight home.” When he got to here, he sighed: ”But it looks like Miss is in grave danger, and I'm not much better off either. How did Miss become enemy with this lot anyway?”

The girl in black let out a snicker and said: ”What right do you have to ask me?” Duan Yu was taken aback for a moment again and replied: ”I shouldn't ask about other people's private business. Alright, I have told you what I wanted, so I don't owe you anything either.” The girl in black asked: ”You didn't think that you were going to lose your life here did you? Are you regretting coming back?” Noticing that she was obviously mocking him, Duan Yu replied, again, much louder than he needed to: ”A real man only hopes to do the right thing in terms of honor and friendship and takes consequences as they come, what's there to regret about?”

The girl in black humphed and replied: ”With what little that you can do, you still call yourself a real man?” Duan Yu rebuked: ”The measure of a man is not in his kungfu skill. If one's kungfu is the best in the world, but his actions are despicable, then he does not deserve to be call a real man either.” The girl in black sneered: ”Hehe, you saw something you didn't like and came back to tell me, turns out you were trying to be a real man. Too bad in a bit when you are chopped to pieces by sabres, you probably won't look too much like a real man.”

Grandma Ping suddenly cut in: ”Little bitch, quit wasting time! Get up and fight!” She banged her daggers together, creating a piercing hum.

The girl in black coldly replied: ”You have already lived for so long, what's waiting a couple more minutes to die? How come that old bitch Wang from SuZhou doesn't come and kill me herself if she wanted to but instead send you servants?”

Grandma Rui replied: ”Even seeing a noble person like our Madame is out of the question for a little bitch like you. If you know what's good for you, then just go with us and kowtow a couple of times to Madame. Maybe Madame will be merciful and let you keep your life. Don't even think about trying to escape this time, you can't. Where's your master?” The girl in black suddenly shrieked: ”My master is behind you!”

Grandma Rui, Grandma Ping, and the rest of the people were all shocked as all of them spun around. There was nobody there.

Seeing that everyone of them fell of it, Duan Yu busted out laughing. Grandma Ping angrily demanded: ”What are you laughing at?” Duan Yu managed to get out in between his laughs: ”Funny, funny!” Grandma Ping asked further: ”What's funny?” Duan Yu replied: ”Haha, so funny!” Grandma Ping asked again: ”What's so funny?” Duan Yu was still laughing: ”Hehe, so funny, so very funny!” Grandma Ping asked yet again: ”What's so very funny?” Grandma Rui cut in: ”Grandma Ping, just ignore this little bastard!” Turning toward the girl in black, she continued: ”Miss, you have ran from just south of the Yangtze all the way to DaLi, and we have chased you all the way here as well. Do you think we can possibly stop this? Even if every single one of us dies by your hand, we still have to somehow bring you back there. Go ahead if you please!”

From her tone of voice, Duan Yu detected that GrandmaRui was rather scared of this girl in black, he was secretly shocked.Looking around at the other 17 or 18 people in the parlor, he noticed thatall of them were holding their weapons tightly and looking at her in anger,yet none of them dared to make a move. Grandma Ping was clutchingher twin daggers tightly and had walked almost up to the girl's back ona few occasions before hastily retreating.

The girl in black spoke up: ”Ay! Messenger Boy,all these people are fighting me, any ideas what I should do?” DuanYu thought out loud: ”Um, Black Rose is right outside, if you can somehowbreak through them, you can escape riding on the horse. That horseis amazingly fast, there is no way they can catch up to you.” Thegirl in black asked: ”Then how about yourself?” Duan Yu replied seriously:”I don't have anything to do with them, no gratitude nor revenge is owedbetween us; you never know, maybe they would leave me alone.”

The girl in black snickered and said: ”If they are thatreasonable, then they wouldn't gang up on me like this. Your lifeis gone; if I can escape, got any last wishes that you would like for meto do for you?”

With a tinge of pain in his heart, Duan Yu said: ”Yourgood friend, Miss Zhong, is captured by Divine Farmer Clan in No MeasureMountain. Her mother gave me this box to give to my father and askhim to save her. If... If... Miss can escape, then could you do thisfor me? I would be indescribably grateful.” As he was talking,he walked up and held out the delicate box. When he got to about1 meter behind her, he was suddenly hit with a sweet fragrance, very muchlike orchid but not quite and similiar musk but not. Although thefragrance wasn't strong, it was refreshing and sweet, he couldn't helpbut be dazed when he smelled it.

The girl in black still didn't turn around and asked:”Zhong Ling is very pretty, do you have feelings for her?” Duan Yuimmediately replied: ”No, no. Miss Zhong is so young and so innocentand pure. How... how I can get that kind of ideas?” The girlin black reached back with her left arm and took the box out of his hand.Duan Yu noticed that she was wearing a very thin black glove so that nota single bit of her skin was exposed. He added: ”My father livesin the city of DaLi, you only need....” The girl cut him off: ”We can talkabout this later.” Putting the box inside her shirt, she suddenlysaid: ”The old man named Zhu, get the hell out of my sight!” An oldman with white beard asked in a trembling voice: ”What did you say?”The girl replied: ”Get out of the parlor now, I don't want to kill youtoday.” The old man pointed his sword at her and shouted: ”What thehell are you saying?” His voice was still trembling, although itwas unclear if it was caused by anger or by fear.

The girl in black replied: ”You are not a servant of thatWang bitch, you just got dragged along by those 2 grandmas. Thisentire trip you have been pretty good to me, those guys kept on tryingto take down my mask but you kept on getting in the way. Hmph, youcan actually be considered as not deserving to die. So get the hellout of my sight!” The old man's face turned to a dirt color as thepoint of the sword in his hand slowly began to point lower and lower.

Duan Yu cut in: ”Miss, if you want him to leave, thenjust tell him so, no need to be so impolite. You might anger thisgentleman named Zhu.” But to his surprise, the old man with the surnameof Zhu hesitated for a bit and then looked frightened for a while beforehe suddenly dropped his sword, turned around, and actually began to runoff with his hands covering his face. Just as he was about to pushthe parlor door open, Grandma Ping flicked her right hand, and a daggercame flying out, hitting him smack in the middle of his back. Theold man fell down and crawl several of meters more on the ground beforehe finally stopped moving.

Furious, Duan Yu shouted: ”Hey, fat grandma, this oldgentleman was one of you guys! Why did you have to do that to him?”

Grandma Ping took out another dagger from her waist withher right hand and, with a dagger in both hands, stared at the girl inblack, as if she didn't hear what Duan Yu said at all. All the peoplein that parlor had took a couple of steps forward as they were all preparedto pounce at the slightest provocation or command.

Seeing such a scene, Duan Yu was overwhelmed with indignationas he shouted: ”All of you guys, what do you think you are doing gangingup against a completely unarmed girl?” He charged up a few steps,got between the girl and the others, and shouted: ”Let's see which oneof you dares to do something now!” Even though he didn't know a lickof kungfu, this type of righteousness still carried quite a mighty andintimidating air with it.

Seeing how fearless he was, Grandma Rui couldn't helpbut wonder if this young man wasn't pretending that he didn't know anykungfu then he must have someone very powerful behind him. She wasfollowing her orders when she came all the way from just south of the Yangtzeto here in DaLi to capture this girl in black, so she was unfamiliar withlocal customs or people and did not want to make any enemies. Soshe actually sounded very polite when she said: ”Why must sir meddle inthis matter?” Duan Yu replied: ”That's right, I won't allow you peopleto unfairly gang up on her.” Grandma Rui asked: ”What sect or clandoes sir belong to? And what is sir's relationship with this littlebitch? Who's order are you following, coming here and getting inthe middle of all this?”

Duan Yu shook his head: ”I have never met this girl before.But everything in this world still has to be measure in terms of reason.I urge everyone to stop all this nonsense when the time comes. Allthese people ganging up against one single girl isn't all that gloriousis it?” He then whispered: ”Run Miss! I'll try and stop themsomehow.”

The girl in black whispered back: ”You are giving yourlife away for me, sure you won't regret it?” Duan Yu replied: ”Noregrets of any kind.” The girl asked again: ”Aren't you scared todie?” Duan Yu sighed: ”Of course I'm scared, but... but....”

The girl in black suddenly yelled: ”You're not even strongenough to kill a chicken, why pretend to be a hero?” She suddenlyflicked her right arm as 2 colorful strips of cloth shot out and grabbeda hold Duan Yu's legs. Suddenly seeing her attacking Duan Yu shockedGrandma Rui, Grandma Ping, and everyone else present. While theywere still recovering from their shock, the girl in black flicked her leftarm repeatedly. ”Dong”, ”Feng”, ”Bang” was all Duan Yu could hearas he thought he saw people fall down and the reflections off of bladesflashed into his eyes before all the candle-light in the parlor was putout and darkness descended. Then he felt himself flying.

All this change came too fast as he could not make outwhere he was. But all around him was screams: ”Don't let her getaway!” ”Watch out for her poison arrows!” ”Let loose your daggers!Let loose your daggers!” What followed was sounds of metal clankingbefore his body suddenly took off again and there were hoof beats.He was on the back of a horse, but his arms and legs were tied up and hecouldn't move. There was someone leaning up against his back.There was a faint fragrance in the air, the fragrance that belonged tothe girl in black. The hoof beats were light and steady as the soundsof shouting got further and further away. Black Rose was entirelyblack and the girl was wearing only black, so they just disappeared inthe darkness of the night; the only sign of them was the faint fragrancepermeating through the air, adding a feel of mystery to them.

After Black Rose ran for a while, the shouting could notbe heard anymore. Only then did Duan Yu spoke up: ”Miss, I didn't expectyou to be so amazing, can I get off now?” The girl humphed but didnot reply. Duan Yu's arms and legs were bounded very tightly andit felt as if they were getting tighter with every step Black Rose takes,causing more and more pain. On top of that his foot was above hishead as he was lying sideways on the horse, making him feeling dazed andvery uncomfortable. He had to speak up again: ”Miss, let me down!”

”Pa”! The girl suddenly slapped him hard on hischeek. Coldly, she commanded: ”Shut up! Do not talk unlessspoken to!” In anger, Duan Yu asked: ”Why?” ”Pa, Pa!”He was slapped twice more, this time even harder than the first one, somuch so that his right ear was ringing.

Duan Yu shouted: ”How dare you hit people for no reason!Put me down, I don't want to be with you!” Suddenly his body flewout again and smack onto the ground. But his arms and legs were stilltied and the other end was still in the girl's hands. Duan Yu wasbeing pulled along the ground by Black Rose.

The girl in black quietly give a little command and BlackRose slowed down a bit. She then asked: ”Give up? Willing toobey my commands now?”

Duan Yu shouted back: ”No! No way! Never!Just a little bit ago I was about to die and I wasn't even afraid then.This little torture from you, what have I... I....” He was goingto say ”what have I got to be scared of?” But right at that timehe just happened to be pulled into 2 little dirt mounds on the road; afterthose 2 little mounds, there was no way he could have finished his sentence.

The girl in black mocked: ”How about now”? She gave the piece of cloth a pull and pulled him onto the horse again. Finally, Duan Yu was able to say: ”What have I got to be scared of? Nothing! I don't like being pulled around by you!” The girl humphed and replied: ”How dare you talk in front of me? If I want to torture you, then it would be to the point where you don't know if you are alive or dead anymore, nothing like this weak stuff!” She flicked her left arm and threw him back onto the ground again.

Furious, Duan Yu thought to himself: ”So it turns out there was a good reason that those people were calling you 'little bitch'!” He shouted at her: ”If you don't stop now, then I'm going to start saying some unpleasant stuff!” The girl asked: ”If you dare then go ahead. I have been cursed at too many times in my life to care.” Duan Yu noticed a hint of sadness in what she said, so he didn't have the heart to make himself utter the words 'little bitch' which were on the tip of his tongue.

After a little bit of waiting, the girl in black, noticing that he hadn't said anything, spoke up: ”Hmph! Figured you wouldn't dare to curse at me!”

Duan Yu replied: ”I pitied you and couldn't bring myself to curse at you, not like I was afraid or anything!”

The girl gave a little command to urge the horse to run faster and Black Rose began to gallop. Now Duan Yu was in for it, his face, arms, and legs were just covered with blood from cuts and scratches from rocks and stones on the path by the time the girl shouted: ”Give up?” Duan Yu shouted at the top of his lungs: ”You evil witch!” The girl shouted back: ”I have been a witch all along, no need for you to remind me, didn't you know?”

Duan Yu yelled back: “I… I… was so… was so… so nicetowards you….” But suddenly his hand ran smack into a rock that wasjutting out of the ground and he fainted. After who knows how much time,he suddenly felt coolness around his head, causing him to wake up andswallow a mouthful of water. He immediately closed his mouth but couldn’thelp but cough from the water, causing even more water to enter his mouthand nose. Turns out that he was still being pulled by the horse, only thatthe girl noticed that he had fainted and dragged him across a small creekso that the cold water could wake him up. Luckily this creek was rathernarrow and soon he was out of it. Duan Yu was in torture, his cloths weresoaked through, the water he swallowed was making him feel bloated, andthen his body was covered with cuts. The girl spoke up: “Give up?” Duan Yuthought to himself: “There are actually this kind of unreasonable woman inthe world? It must be destined that I, Duan Yu, would suffer in her hands;if that’s the case, then there is really no need to say anything more toher.” The girl asked several more time: “Give up? Had enough yet?” Duan Yudid not reply at all and just pretended as if he didn’t hear her. The girlbegan losing her patience: “Are you deaf? Why aren’t you answering me?”Duan Yu still did not reply. The girl pulled her horse to a stop andturned around to see if he was conscious. By now dawn was drawing near andthere were hints of light from the east. But her eyes were huge as theystared at him in anger: “Oh! So you are conscious but were pretending tobe dead! Well if we are going to fight then let’s fight fair and squareand see who is more powerful!” She jumped down off her horse and, with alight little flick, grabbed a small branch off a tree and smacked DuanYu’s face with it.

This was the first time Duan Yu was face to face withher. Her face was entirely covered with a black mask and all he could seewas her eyes, a pair of bright and shiny eyes. Duan Yu smiled and mused:“Well of course you are more powerful. You are an evil witch, like thereis anybody in the world who is more powerful?”

The girl spoke up: “Didn’t think you can still smile!What are you smiling at?” Duan Yu made a face at her and smiled some more.“Pa, Pa, Pa, Pa!” The girl smacked him 7 or 8 more times with the branch.Duan Yu had already resigned to his fate so he didn’t care anymore and,with all his might and effort, kept on smiling. Now the girl wasn’tholding anything back and the branches were hitting the most painfulplaces on his body, he almost yelped several times but somehow managed tohold it all back in.

Seeing how stubborn he was, the girl was even morefurious: “Alright, you like being a deaf-mute, then I’ll grant your wishand make you a real deaf-mute!” She reached into her shirt and grabbed adagger out. The dagger was about 15 centimeters long and looked sharp andintimidating. She took several steps towards him, placed the dagger by his leftear, and asked menacingly: “Did you hear what I said? Do you want to keepthis ear or not?” Seeing that Duan Yu was still not replying, a murderouslook suddenly appeared in her eyes as she raised the dagger and brought itdown toward his ear.

In a panic, Duan Yu shouted: “Hey, hey, hey! Are you forreal? This would make me go deaf in that ear, do you know how to curethat?” The girl replied: “Pei! I can kill people and make them come backto life! Don’t believe me? Then let’s give it a try!” Duan Yu immediatelyreplied: “I believe you, I believe you! No need to try it out.”

Seeing that he finally spoke up, the girl felt as she has won and decided to stop torturing him. So she picked him up and put him on to the back of the horse and then jumped on behind him. This time she actually put him with his head up and foot down, giving him a little special treatment. Even though he wasn't upside down anymore, his hands and legs were still tightly bounded. But compared to the upside down position he was in earlier, this was heaven, so he did not dare to say anything to the girl in fear of upsetting her.

After travelling for more than an hour, Duan Yu was starting to get impatient about the fact that his hands were still tied. But he could not gesture to the girl because his hands were tied together, and he couldn't come up with a appropriate gesture even if his hands were free. So he had to speak up: ”I have to go, could miss please kindly untie me?” The girl replied: ”Oh! So you are not a mute anymore are you? Why are you talking to me now?” Duan Yu replied, quite frankly: ”I can't help it and wouldn't dare to shame miss. Miss smells so good, but if I proceed to become ”Stinky”, wouldn't that really make this ride less enjoyable?” The girl could not help but let out a little peal of laughter. Figuring he has had enough, she cut loose the rope that was tied around his hands and legs and began to walk off.

After being tied up for so long, Duan Yu's arms and legs went numb a long time ago and he could not move at all. All he could do for a while was roll around on the ground before he could finally stand up. After taking care of his business, he noticed that Black Rose was just standing there eating grass, looking just as tame and obedient as can be. He thought: ”What are you waiting for? Run!” So he secretly got onto the saddle as Black Rose did not show the least bit of resistance. With one jerk of the reins, the horse started to gallop northward.

Hearing hoofbeats, the girl came chasing after them. But with Black Rose's blazing speed, the girl wouldn't have been able to chase them down no matter how great her Qing Gong was. Duan Yu turned around, cupped his fist, and saluted: ”Miss, we will meet again!” Just in the time he said those words, Black Rose put another 50 or so meters between them. The next time he turned around, the girl was already not in sight. Finally escaping from the clutches of this devious girl, he could not feel any happier as he continually urged on: ”Good horsey, good horsey! Faster, faster!”

After running for a bit, Duan Yu calculated: ”So that's a day wasted, am I still able to save Miss Zhong in time? No choice left but keep on running without stopping for food or sleep. Wonder if Black Rose could hold up?” He was still pondering that question when suddenly there came a loud and clear whistle from behind.

When Black Rose heard the whistle, she immediately turned around and started running back. Shocked, Duan Yu began to beg: ”Good horsey, nice horsey! Don't go back!” He pulled on the reins as hard as he could trying to make Black Rose turn around. But even when her head was pulled almost sideways, Black Rose was still running forward, not listening to his commands at all.

In a blink of an eye, Black Rose had returned to the girl in black's side and stopped. Duan Yu wasn't sure if he felt like crying or laughing as he just sat there completely speechless with a peculiar expression on his face. Coldly, the girl said: ”I didn't really want to kill you, but even if I don't count the fact that you ran away on your own, there is still the fact that you stole my horse! How do you count yourself as a real man?”

Duan Yu jumped off the horse and replied back with all the aplomb of someone who knew he was in the right: ”I'm not your slave, I can leave and go whenever I want, how could you call that 'run away'? You lent me Black Rose earlier, I haven't given her back yet, so that can't be counted as stealing either. If you want to kill then go right ahead. ZenZi said: 'Reversing thyself, millions of men can't do, tis enlightenment!' I came back by myself, so of course I'm a real man!”

The girl replied: ”What are you talking about? Even if you reverse thyself I'm still going to poke a hole in you with my sword!” Obviously not understanding what he said, she grabbed the handle of her sword and pulled it out halfway: ”How dare you do that? Think I can't kill you? Is that why you are being so hardheaded and fighting me every step of the way?”

Duan Yu rebuked: ”I have done nothing wrong towards Miss in my heart, who is the one being stubborn and antagonistic here?”

The girl stared at him with that icy stare of hers and Duan Yu stared back right back at her without the slightest hint of backing off in his stare. The 2 of them stood there staring at each other for a long time before the girl finally slammed her sword completely back into the sheath and commanded: ”Go away! You can temporarily keep that head of yours for me to take whenever I feel like it in the future.” Duan Yu had already figured that he was going to die and was hugely surprised that she would let him go. Still in shock, he did not say another word and started to limp off because of the numbness that was still in his legs.

After walking for several dozen meters, he still did not hear any hoofbeats; so he turned around and saw that the girl was still standing there in a trance. He figured: ”She's probably thinking about how to get me next time, like what a cat does to a mouse. Only when she had enough fun with me will she finally kill me. Alright, it's not like I can escape anyway, whatever happens happens.” Surprisingly, after walking for a long time, he still did not hear any hoofbeats.

After walking through several forks in the road, he began to feel safer and safer. Because of that, he began to notice the pain from all the scratches and bumps on his body. He mused: ”Such weird moods that girl has, maybe it's because her parents died when she was little and she had to endure all kinds of stuff in her life... maybe it's because she is indescribably ugly, to the point that she could not face others. Either way she is a tragic character. Ai-yo! That golden box that Madame Zhong gave me is still on her!” But he did not dare to even think about going back and getting it from her, so he figured: ”When I finally meet father, I'll just promise him that I'll be willing to learn kungfu and, without a doubt, father would be willing to go save Miss Zhong, even if my dad doesn't go himself, he would just send some people to do it for her. That golden box really doesn't have much use now that I think about it. Pity that I don't have a ride anymore, if I try to walk to DaLi like this, more likely than not I would just die from that poison before I even get there. Miss Zhong is probably about to die from waiting for me to go save her. When she sees that I hadn't returned and her father did not come and save her, she would probably figure that I didn't deliver my message to her. The least I should do is somehow make it back to No Measure Mountain and die with her, that way at least she would know that I did not betray her.”

Now that he made up his mind, he immediately looked around to figure out which direction No Measure Mountain was and began walking in that direction. The banks of LanCang River were desolate, he did not see or meet any signs of human life for several kilometers. The entire day he had to resort to eating wild fruits and sleeping in a ditch on the side of a hill.

It was in the afternoon the next day when he crossed another iron-chained bridge and crossed LanCang River again. Afterwards he walked for another 20 or so kilometers and finally reached a little town. All the money he had were lost a long time ago, probably when he fell down the cliff. Noticing that his clothing were just absolutely ruined and feeling very hungry, he suddenly remembered that the piece of jade that was on his hat was valuable, so he tore it down and went to the pawn shop in town. The pawn shop was not an ideal place to exchange jewelry, but this was the only decent pawn shop in town. The shopkeeper did not treat Duan Yu condescendingly because he acted rather wealthy despite his appearence. Still, he did not understand a thing about jade and was only willing to offer 2 taels of silver for it. Duan Yu did not bother with arguing and took his offer. He wanted to go buy some new clothes, but there wasn't a place in town that sells clothing so he found a little restaurant and ordered some food.

As he sat down, he noticed that both of his kneecaps were protruding out of holes in his pants and that the front and back of his robe were torn off; not to mention that there was a hole in the back of his pants, revealing much of his behind, which was feeling very cold sitting on the bench. He mused: ”This is really quite impolite to be like this, best to take care of this as soon as possible.” The waiter brought the dishes to his table and said: ”So sorry, but we don't have any meat or fish today. Please forgive us, here is some vegetable and tofu to go down with the rice.” Duan Yu replied as he brought the bowl of rice up to his mouth: ”It's alright, it's alright.” He had been wearing the best of clothes and eating the best of foods all his life. But because he hadn't eaten anything for days, this little meal of rice and vegetables was one of the best he ever had in his life.

By the time he made it to the third bowl, he suddenly heard someone outside saying: ”Dear, there's a little restaurant here, let's see what they have.” A girl replied with a laugh: ”What kind of look is that to give me? Looks like you haven't eaten in days.”

The voices were strangely familiar to Duan Yu before he suddenly realized that they belonged to Gan GuangHao of No Measure Mountain and his Sister Ge. Panicking, he immediately turned so he faced inward, thinking: ”'Dear'? Hm, they must have gotten married. It is just like that saying, this Brother Gan here gained a wife, now I'm going to get it.”

Gan GuangHao laughed and replied: ”Newly weds can never get enough of anything, including food.” That Sister Ge laughed and replied in a light voice: ”Pei! You are so bad! If we were old, then we would be full all the time?” Her voice was filled with tenderness. The 2 of them walked in the restaurant and sat down. Gan GuangHao shouted at the top of his lungs: ”Waiter, bring some wine and rice, and then cook us a dish of beef... eh!”

Duan Yu heard footsteps approaching from behind followed by a huge hand slapping him on the shoulder and turning him around. Suddenly, he was staring straight at Gan GuangHao's face and vice versa. Forcing a smile, Duan Yu said: ”Brother Gan, Sister Gan, congratulations. Wish you 2 would live for a 100 years and grow old together, bringing the East and West Factions of No Measure Sword together as one.”

Gan GuangHao busted out laughing as he turned around and shot a glance at Sister Ge. Duan Yu followed his eyesight and saw that Sister Ge had an egg shaped face with a couple of blemishes on her left cheek. She was somewhat attractive, but the expression on her face was one of murder as she lowered her voice and instructed: ”Get to the bottom of this, find out how he got here and are there anybody from No Measure Sword around here?”

The smile on Gan GuangHao's face immediately disappeared as he viciously demanded: ”Did you hear what my dear said to you? Well?” Duan Yu calculated: ”If I just make up some stuff, maybe I'll scare the bejesus out of them and they'll runaway without killing me.” So he said: ”There were 4 elder disciples from your sect hurriedly walking by just a bit earlier with swords in hand. They were heading east, as if they were chasing someone or something.”