Chapter - 17 Todays Wishes (1/2)

Both of them rode a horse together. After running very fast for a while they scanned around and saw that there were mulberry trees everywhere, in a short time they had already outdistanced the Western Xia warriors and no longer saw any sign of them.

Duan Yu asked: 'Miss Wang, how do you feel?' Wang Yuyan said: 'I've been poisoned. There's not any strength left in my body.' Hearing the words: 'Been poisoned' Duan Yu was startled. He hurriedly asked: 'Is it serious? How can we find the antidote?' Wang Yuyan said: 'I don't know. You urge the horse on to a safe place then we'll talk about it again.' Duan Yu said: 'Where is safe?' Wang Yuyan said: 'I don't know either.' Duan Yu thought: 'What is it? I've already promised to keep her safe from dangers, why do I ask her to give directions?' Without any feasible idea he had no alternative but to ride the horse aimlessly.

After running quickly for a meal's time they did not hear the sounds of the chasing soldiers anymore and gradually became relax, but the rain started to drip down. Duan Yu kept asking after every short period of time: 'Miss Wang, how do you feel?' Wang Yuyan always replied: 'I'm fine.' Being able to travel together with the beauty Duan Yu was unspeakably happy, but he also feared that the poison in her body would become more dangerous, therefore he could not help but to smile for a while then to be anxious for a while.

The rain became heavier and heavier, Duan Yu took off his gown and covered Wang Yuyan with it. But that only worked for a short period of time, before long both of them were soaked through. Duan Yu asked again: 'Miss Wang, how do you feel?' Wang Yuyan sighed and said: 'Both cold and wet. Let's find a place to shelter from the rain.' To Duan Yu, whatever Wang Yuyan said was like an imperial decree. When she wanted to find a place to shelter from the rain, even though Duan Yu knew clearly that they had not escaped from dangers he still continuously said yes, but he also dazedly thought: 'The person Miss Wang constantly has in her mind is her biaoge Murong Fu. Today I and she have encountered dangers together I must do my utmost to protect her. Even if I die for her, someday in the rest of her life she'd once in a while remember me a little bit. When she and Murong Fu get married later and have children, when she tells her descendants about the past in leisure time perhaps she'd mention today's events. At that time her head would be full of white hair, when she mentions the three words 'Mr. Duan', her pearly tears would fall down drop by drop…' He lost in thought and could not prevent his eyes from reddening.

Seeing that he had a distressed look on his face and had not started to look for a shelter, Wang Yuyan asked: 'What's wrong? There isn't any rain shelter?' Duan Yu said: 'At that time you'd tell your children…' Wang Yuyan said: 'What, my children?'

Duan Yu was startled, only now did he wake up to reality, he smiled and said: 'Sorry, I was daydreaming.' He looked around and saw a big mill in the northeast. The water of a rivulet was pushing the wooden wheel. The mill was in the process of pounding rice. He then said: 'We can shelter from the rain there.' and rode the horse to the mill. At this time it was raining heavily with cascading noises, all around was haze of water vapor.

He jumped off the horse, seeing that Wang Yuyan looked pale he could not help feeling very sorry for her and asked again: 'You have a stomach ache? Have a fever? Have a headache?' Wang Yuyan shook her head, smiled and said: 'I'm fine.' Duan Yu said: 'Alas, I wonder what the poison the Western Xia people used was, let me go find the antidote.' Wang Yuyan said: 'It's raining heavily like this! Help me get off the horse first and go inside. It won't be late to talk about it later.' Duan Yu hastily said: 'Yes, yes! You see, I could be very silly.' Wang Yuyan smiled and thought: 'You're just inherently silly.'

Seeing her smiling expression, Duan Yu could not help but to feel as if he was on cloud nine and almost forgot to go open the door of the mill. After opening the door he came back to help Wang Yuyan to get off the horse. Because his eyes had focused on her lovely face all the time, he did not notice that there was a ditch in front of the mill. His left foot stepped right in the middle of the ditch. Wang Yuyan called: 'Be careful!' But it was too late. Duan Yu cried out 'Ah' and fell plump into the mud. He climbed up after struggling for a while. His face, his hands, and his body were covered with mud, he continuously said: 'I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Are you… are you okay?'

Wang Yuyan said: 'Alas, are you okay? That fall didn't hurt did it?' Duan Yu was over the moon when he saw her showing concern for himself. He hastily replied: 'No, no. Even if it did hurt, there'd still be no problem.' He held out his hands to help Wang Yuyan get off the horse. All of a sudden, seeing that they were covered with mud, he drew them back and said: 'Not good! I go clean up first and will come back to help you.' Wang Yuyan sighed and said: 'You're really fussy. My whole body is already drenched, what's the matter if there's some more mud?' Duan Yu smiled apologetically and said: 'I have only messed things up and haven't cared for you well.” Still he cleaned the mud off his hands in the rivulet before helping Wang Yuyan get off the horse and walk into the mill.

When the two of them entered the mill, they saw the rice-pounding stone pestle being lifted and dropped, continuously hitting rice grains in the stone mortar, but they did not see anybody. Duan Yu shouted: 'Is there anyone here?'

Suddenly, in the straw stack in a corner of the room, two people shouted at the same time: 'A'yo!' They stood up, one was male and one was female, both were eighteen or nineteen year old young peasants. Their clothes were untidy, their heads were full of straws, and their faces flushed red and looked totally embarrassed. It turned out they were a couple of lovers. The peasant girl had been here to pound rice, the man had followed her here to be close to her. Because it had been raining heavily they had thought that no one would arrive, and had gotten really unbridled to such a degree that they had not heard anything even though Duan Yu and Wang Yuyan had been talking to each other outside for quite a while.

Duan Yu held his fist in his hand and said: 'Sorry for disturbing, sorry for disturbing! We only come here to shelter from the rain. If the two of you have something to do, please do as you wish and don't pay attention to us.'

Wang Yuyan thought: 'This bookworm is talking nonsense again. They are meeting us here, how can they keep cuddling each other?' But she could not say those two sentences. After suddenly seeing the expression and attitude of that girl and that man, her face had soon reddened, she did not dare to look at them for long.

Duan Yu wholeheartedly focused his mind on Wang Yuyan therefore he did not care about this couple of young peasants. He helped Wang Yuyan sit down on a bench and said: 'You're totally drenched, what's to be done?'

There was a layer of rosy light on Wang Yuyan's face again. An idea sprung up in her mind. She pulled out from the hair on her temples a gold hairpin in which two big pearls were embedded, turned to the peasant girl and said: 'Sister, I give you this hairpin, can you please lend me a set of clothes to change?'

Even though that peasant girl did not know that the two pearls were precious, but she recognized gold, in her mind she did not believe this was true, and said: 'Let me fetch some clothes for you to change, this… this gold hairpin I don't dare to take.' As she finished saying she climbed up the wooden ladder beside her.

Wang Yuyan said: 'Sister, please come here.' That peasant girl had already climbed up four or five rungs. She quickly went down, walked to and stood before Wang Yuyan. Wang Yuyan put the gold hairpin in her hand and said: 'I really give you this hairpin. Can you please take me to go change clothes?'

Seeing that Wang Yuyan was beautiful and amiable the peasant girl had already been totally willing to help her, now being given a gold hairpin she felt very happy. She declined unsuccessfully for a few times before finally accepting it then helping Wang Yuyan climb up to the garret above them to change clothes. The garret was stacked with paddy, straws and farm tools such as sieves and bamboo baskets. That peasant girl had some sets of worn-out clothes which she had been sewing and mending. After that young man had arrived, she had thrown them aside and stopped paying attention to them since. Now they were very suitable for Wang Yuyan to use.

That young peasant man timidly peeped at Duan Yu, he was still abashed. Duan Yu smiled and asked: 'Big brother, what's your name?' That young man said: 'I'm… I'm surnamed Jin.' Duan Yu said: 'So you're big brother Jin.' That young man said: 'No. I'm Jin A'er. Jin A'da is my older brother.' Duan Yu said: 'Hum, so you're second brother Jin.' (T/N: Jin A'er means 'Jin, the second brother', Jin A'da means 'Jin, the big brother.')

Just saying to here, suddenly they heard horse hoofbeats, more than ten horses was galloping towards the mill. Duan Yu was frightened, he rose to his feet and shouted: 'Miss Wang, the enemies have chased to here!'

Wang Yuyan was being helped by that young peasant girl. She had taken off her wet clothes, wrung water out of them, and was drying herself. Also hearing the horse hoofbeats, she was worried and frightened, and did not know how to deal with this situation.

The horses ran very fast, in a short period of time they had already arrived at the outside of the door. Someone shouted: 'This horse is ours. That boy and that girl are inside of here.' Wang Yuyan and Duan Yu, one being up on the garret, one being downstairs, secretly complained at the same time and thought: 'Had we led the horse into the mill, it'd have been so much better.' They heard a crash. Someone had kicked the door open, three or four Western Xia warriors rushed into the mill.

Wholeheartedly wanting to protect Wang Yuyan, Duan Yu rushed up the garret. Wang Yuyan had not dressed therefore she had no alternative but to take a wet gown to put before her chest. After being poisoned she felt very weak, therefore after her left hand had raised the gown to her chest, it dropped down. Duan Yu hastily turned around and said in a panicky manner: 'I'm sorry for offending you, Miss, pardon me, pardon me.' Wang Yuyan hurriedly said: 'What should we do?'

They heard a warrior ask Jin A'er: 'Is that girl upstairs?' Jin A'er said: 'Why do you ask about other people's daughter?' A thump was heard, that warrior had thrown a punch which had hit and sent him flying away for more than one zhang then falling down. Jin A'er was very stubborn. He immediately shouted abuse at the warrior.

The peasant girl said: 'Brother A'er, Brother A'er, don't exchange insults with other people.' Caring about her lover, she climbed down to persuade him. Unexpectedly that Western Xia warrior brandished his saber then split Jin A'er head in half. The peasant girl was appalled. She fell and rolled down from the wooden ladder. Another warrior gripped her and said with a hideous grin: 'This chick gives herself up to me.' There was a sound of tearing. He had already torn her clothes. That peasant girl stretched out her hand and gave him a fierce claw in the face, immediately creating five streaks of blood. The warrior raged, with all his strength he threw a punch which hit her chest. Her ribs were all broken. She died immediately.

Hearing the agonized cries downstairs Duan Yu stuck his head out to have a look. When he saw that the couple of young peasants had suffered sudden unfortunate deaths, he was very sorry and muttered to himself: 'It's totally my fault for dragging the two of you into this so that you suffered horrible deaths.' Seeing that warrior quickly climbing up the wooden ladder, he hurriedly gave it a shove towards the outside. The wooden ladder was only loosely connected to the floor of the garret therefore it immediately fell outwards. That warrior quickly jumped down on the ground, held and stopped the ladder, then connected it to the garret's floor again. While Duan Yu was attempting to shove it one more time, another warrior raised his right hand, a sleeve-hidden arrow was shot at him. Duan Yu did not know how to dodge it. A 'pu' sound was heard, the sleeve-hidden arrow had stuck into his left shoulder. While Duan Yu was pressing his shoulder with his hand, the first warrior took advantage of that opportunity to connect the ladder to the garret's floor and climb up. Each of his steps climbed up three rungs.

Wang Yuyan was sitting on a pile of paddy behind Duan Yu, seeing how that warrior have killed the peasant girl with a palm strike (T/N: Something wrong here, cause she was killed w/ a punch) and the lightness skill he had used to jump off and climb up the ladder, she said: 'You use your left forefinger to press the 'Xiaguan acupuncture point' on his belly.'

When he had learned the Beiming Divine Skill (T/N: In Chinese myths, Beiming is the ocean at the northern extremity of the world where sunlight can't reach) and the Six Meridians Divine Swords in Dali, he had already remembered clearly every acupuncture point on the human body. While he was hearing Wang Yuyan shouting, that warrior had already set his left foot on the edge of the garret. Not having time to think anymore, he extended the forefinger and poked him in the 'Xiaguan acupuncture point' on his belly. That warrior was running up, his belly was totally unprotected. He uttered a loud cry, then fell directly backwards on the ground from midair and died immediately.

Duan Yu cried out: 'This's strange, this's strange!' He saw another shaggy-bearded Western Xia warrior brandishing his long saber to protect his body and climbing up the ladder. Duan Yu asked: 'Where to poke him, where to poke him?' Wang Yuyan said in fright: 'A'yo, this's bad!' Duan Yu asked: 'Why bad?' Wang Yuyan said: 'The movements of his saber are too fast, if you wanna poke him in the 'Shanzhong acupuncture point' on his chest, when your finger hasn't touched it, your arm would've already been chopped off.'

When she had just said to here, that shaggy-bearded warrior had already reached the edge of the floor. Duan Yu wanted to protect Wang Yuyan with all his heart therefore he did not think about the possibility that his arm might be chopped off. He stretched his right arm, utilized his internal energy, extended his finger and poked the warrior in the 'Shanzhong acupuncture point' on his chest. That warrior raised his saber to chop at Duan Yu's arm, but all of a sudden he screamed out 'Ah' then fell down on his back. From a small hole on his chest blood was spouting up to two chi's (t/n: 1 chi ~ 33.33 cm) high. Wang Yuyan and Duan Yu were both surprised and happy. Neither of them had expected the power of that finger attack to actually be this dangerous.

Because Duan Yu had continuously killed two of them in a very short period of time, the rest of the warriors did not dare to climb up to the garret anymore. They gathered downstairs to discuss.

Wang Yuyan said: 'Mr. Duan, you should pull the sleeve-hidden arrow out of your shoulder.' Duan Yu was very happy and thought: 'So she also cares about the arrow wound on my shoulder.' He held out his hand and plucked the sleeve-hidden arrow from his shoulder. This arrow had gone one cun (t/n: 1 cun ~ 3.333 cm) into his body and already touched the bone in his shoulder therefore using sheer force to pull it out like this was extremely painful, but because he was happy he did not care about that at all. He said: 'Miss Wang, if they go up here to attack again, how you think should we deal with them?' While saying he turned his head to look at Wang Yuyan. Suddenly seeing that she was still loosely dressed he hastily turned around and said: 'A'yo, I'm sorry.'

Wang Yuyan felt so ashamed that her face became very red, but she did not have any strength to dress. An idea suddenly appeared in her mind. She then got into the stack of straws, only stuck her head out, smiled and said: 'It's all right, you can turn around now.'

Duan Yu slowly turned sideways, his whole body was prepared, if he saw that she was still untidily dressed exposing her skin, he would turn away immediately. When he had just turned half of his head around, he caught a glimpse of a Western Xia warrior on the outside of the window. The warrior was standing on a horse's back, sticking his head in and looking around wanting to jump into the garret. Duan Yu hastily said: 'There're enemies on this side.'

Wang Yuyan thought: 'How are this man's martial arts?' She said: 'You throw the sleeve-hidden arrow at him.'

Duan Yu followed her advice and threw the sleeve-hidden arrow in his hand out. He was totally an amateur in using missiles therefore the sleeve-hidden arrow he threw did not have the least bit of accuracy and was at least two chi's away from that man's head. That man at first did not pay attention, but this throw of Duan Yu was extremely powerful, it was just a small sleeve-hidden arrow yet a whizzing sound was heard when it flew out. That man was frightened. He hunkered down to dodge and curled up into a heap on the saddle.

Wang Yuyan stuck her head out and saw clearly. She said: 'He's a wrestling expert of Western Xia. Just let him grip you, then hit the top of his skull with your palm, you'll win.'

Duan Yu said: 'This's easy.' He walked to the window and saw that warrior jumped up from the saddle, broke the window's lattice and plunged into the garret. Duan Yu said: 'Why do you come here?' That warrior did not understand the Han language. He glowered at Duan Yu then held out the left hand and gripped his chest immediately. The movements of this man were really fast, right after gripping Duan Yu he straightened his arm and lifted him in the air. Duan Yu sent backwards a palm strike. There was a plop. He had already hit the top of the man's head. That warrior had originally wanted to throw Duan Yu on the garret's floor then wrestle him near dead but he had not expected to be hit by this palm strike. His skull was crushed into pieces. He died immediately.

Duan Yu had killed a man again. He could not help starting to panic. The more he thought the more frightened he got, he shouted: 'I don't want to kill anymore! I can't kill anymore. You guys get away quickly!' He then used his strength to push the corpse of the wrestling expert downstairs.

In total, there were fifteen Western Xia warriors who had chased him to the mill. At this moment there were twelve left. Four of them were experts of First-class Hall, two being Han, the other two being Western Xia. Those four people saw that Duan Yu's martial arts seemed to be incomparably excellent for a while then seemed to be laughably childish for another while, which was really suitable to be regarded as 'being fathomless', therefore for the moment they did not dare to act rashly and gathered to quietly discuss attacking plans. However those eight Western Xia warriors had a different plan, they put straws inside the mill together and wanted to set fire to everything.

Wang Yuyan said in panic: 'This is bad. They wanna set fire to the mill!' Duan Yu stamped his feet and said: 'What should we do?' Seeing the big hydraulic wheel of the mill being pushed by the water of the rivulet, ceaselessly moving up and moving down, his mind was also up and down like the movements of the wheel.

He heard a Han man called: 'General has ordered us to capture that young girl. We can't kill her. Don't torch this mill.' Then he raised his voice and shouted: 'Hey, little bastard and little puss! Quickly go down here and surrender, or else we'll torch the mill, burning you alive and turning you into two roast pigs.' He shouted continuously three times. Duan Yu and Wang Yuyan ignored him. That man took out some tinder, started a fire, then ignited a handful of straws, raised it with his hand and said: 'If you keep resisting, I'll start burning.' As he finished saying he raised the kindling and assumed a posture which looked as if he wanted to throw it into the stack of straws.

Seeing that the situation was desperate, Duan Yu said: 'Let me take them by surprise.' He climbed on the hydraulic wheel. This wheel was very big, its diameter exceeded two zhang's (t/n 1 zhang ~ 3.333m), and it was even higher than the roof of the mill. Duan Yu held on to some planks of the wheel, following the rotation of it, he slowly came down.

That man was still shouting noisily and loudly ordering Duan Yu and Wang Yuyan to surrender, not knowing that Duan Yu had quietly come down from the garret and extended his finger to poke him in his back. He was using the Shaoyang sword technique of the Six Meridians Divine Swords. One poke should do the job, however, while sneakily attacking other people he felt very scared, therefore the momenta of his attacks were inadequate and his internal energy could not be shot out. Whether Duan Yu's internal energy could be shot out or not had merely been a matter of luck and this time he could not shoot it out. That man felt that his back had suddenly been lightly touched by something. He turned his head around and saw Duan Yu poking at his own back with his finger.

The man had seen with his own eyes how Duan Yu had continuously killed three people. Now, seeing Duan Yu moving his right hand in a disorderly manner and perhaps using some kind of evil technique he was rather afraid as well, therefore he hastily jumped leftwards. Duan Yu threw another finger attack, but still nothing happened, which was hard to understand. That man shouted loudly: 'Stinking boy, what are you sneakily doing?' He stretched out his left hand and made a grab at the top of Duan Yu's head. Duan Yu hurriedly shrunk back and made random grabs with his hands. Fortunately he caught hold of the wheel and was immediately moved upwards by it. That man's grab missed Duan Yu. A 'pu' sound was heard. Wood chips were sent flying all around. His grab had broken and created a big gap on a plank of the hydraulic wheel.

Wang Yuyan said: 'You only need to go around to his back then attack the 'Zhiyang acupuncture point' at his seventh vertebra, he'll be in danger. This man is a disciple of Tiger-clawed School in Jinnan. The Zhiyang acupuncture point isn't trained by his martial arts practice.'

Duan Yu was in midair, he shouted: 'That's very good!' then climbed up the wooden wheel and jumped into the main room of the mill.

The Western Xia warriors did not wait until his feet touched the ground. Three of them immediately tried to grab him at the same time. Duan Yu continuously shook his right hand and said: 'I'm being outnumbered, even a brave man can't beat multiple opponents at the same time, I only wanna fight one-on-one.' As he finished saying he leaned and advanced on one side, using the footwork of the 'Wave Treading Exquisite Steps', after dodging several times, he was already at the back of that man. He shouted loudly: 'Hit!' and threw a finger attack, a chi-chi sound was heard, the 'Zhiyang acupuncture point' of the man was hit. He could not make even a single sound and died instantly.

After killing that man, Duan Yu wanted to follow the hydraulic wheel again to go up and return to Wang Yuyan's side. But it was already too late because another Western Xia warrior had blocked his way out and was slashing at him with his saber. Duan Yu shouted: 'A'yo, how terrible! The Tartar soldiers have severed my route of retreat. All around are ambushes, soldiers are besieging Gaixia, my important business has gone bust!' He strode leftwards, that slash hit nothing. The other eleven in the mill immediately surrounded Duan Yu and attacked him at the same time with their sabers and swords. (T/n: Gaixia – the location where Xiang Yu was besieged by Liu Bang's army and eventually committed suicide)

Duan Yu shouted loudly: 'Miss Wang, see you in the next life. I've been besieged on all sides. It's hard to even protect myself. I have no choice but to wait for you on the way to the Underworld.' Even though he was shouting in a disorderly manner and looked extremely pathetic, the 'Wave Treading Exquisite Steps' footwork that he was using was incomparably masterful.

Wang Yuyan was entranced looking at it. She said: 'Mr. Duan, you are following the 'Wave Treading Exquisite Steps', right? I have heard of it but don't know its method.'

Duan Yu happily said: 'Yes, yes! You wanna see it, then I'm gonna perform it from beginning to end one time for you. But I don't know if I can reach the end before you see my head getting chopped off.' He then performed the footwork he had learned from the scroll, starting from the first step.

Those eleven Western Xia warriors tried to punch and kick him and brandished their sabers and swords, but they could not touch even a corner of his clothes. All of them shouted: 'Hey, you block this side!' 'You guard the northeast corner, don't hold back when attacking.' 'A'yo, this's not good, the little turtle egg has slipped away from here.'

Duan Yu kept going forwards one step then going backwards one step, moving around the hydraulic wheel and the stone mortar. Even though Wang Yuyan was smart and learned, she was not able to understand the method. She said: 'Dodging the enemies is more important to you, don't perform for me to see.' Duan Yu said: 'I can't miss this good chance! If I don't perform now, after I die you won't be able to see it.'

He did not care about his own life and only wished to perform the 'Wave Treading Exquisite Steps' from beginning to end for the person he loved to see. Who would have ever expected that a love-smitten person had their own good luck? If he waited for the enemies' attacks to come before using the footwork to dodge; firstly, because he did not know martial arts while the enemies were experts, and their stances were seemingly false and real at the same time and very unpredictable, he would not be able to dodge when he wanted to; secondly, the enemies had eleven people in total, if he successfully dodged the first man, he would not be able to dodge the second one, even if he successfully dodge the second man, he would not be able to dodge the third one. But he only focused on his own footwork and paid absolutely no attention to the enemies, therefore eleven people of them all pursued and attacked him. Every step of this 'Wave Treading Exquisite Steps' went to places that were definitely not expected by other people. They saw his left foot striding eastwards, but to their surprise, in fact his body had moved to the northwest corner. The eleven people attacked faster and faster, but ninety percent of their stances had ended up attacking the people on their own side, the remaining ten percent had totally missed.

Seeing Duan Yu standing beside the hydraulic wheel, the first, the second, and the third immediately attacked the place where they thought he would move to with their fists, legs, sabers and swords. The fourth, the fifth and the sixth used their weapons to attack the place where he was standing. While Duan Yu was dodging, he suddenly changed direction. Bang bang bing bing, ding dang clang clang, the weapons of the first, the second, the third, the fourth… had all hit the same place. You blocked and fought me, I blocked and fought you. Some Western Xia warriors had been a little bit slow and had been injured by the people on the own side.

After seeing just a few stances Wang Yuyan already knew the principle, she shouted: 'Mr. Duan, your footsteps are very clever and complicated, for the moment I can't understand them clearly. It'd be best if after finishing this round you perform another round.' Duan Yu said: 'Okay, I'll always follow your instructions.' Once he finished stepping according to eight times eight equaling sixty four hexagrams, he restarted from the first step of the technique.

Wang Yuyan considered: 'For the moment Mr. Duan's life is not in doubt, but how to escape from this difficult situation? I haven't put clothes on my upper body. This really makes me feel ashamed to death. The only choice is to think of a way to give Mr. Duan directions so that he'd kill all the eleven enemies.' She immediately stopped watching Duan Yu's footwork and looked carefully at the stances of those eleven people.

Suddenly she heard a clack. Someone had put the wooden ladder against the edge of the garret. A Western Xia warrior wanted to climb up to the garret again. Because all eleven of them had been fighting Duan Yu unsuccessfully for a long time, the leader of the Western Xia people had told his subordinate to capture Wang Yuyan first and talk about it later.

Wang Yuyan panicked. She shouted: 'A'yo!'

Duan Yu raised his head and saw that Western Xia warrior climbing up to the garret on the ladder. He hastily asked: 'Where to hit him?' Wang Yuyan said: 'You'd best grab his 'Zhishi acupuncture point'!' Duan Yu strode forwards and grabbed the 'Zhishi acupuncture point' on the back of his waist. Not knowing what he should do next, he conveniently made a throw, by lucky coincidence he threw the warrior into the rice-pounding stone mortar. The stone pestle which weighed two hundred jin's (t/n: 1 jin = 0.5 kg) was driven by the hydraulic wheel. All the while it had been pounding on the stone mortar unceasingly. The grains in the stone mortar had been turned into very fine rice powder for a long time, but because there was no one to look after the mill, the stone pestle still kept pounding as usual. After that Western Xia warrior had fell into the stone mortar, the stone pestle went down, a 'peng' was heard, it had burst his brain open, his blood splashed on the rice powder.

That Western Xia expert repeatedly urged his subordinates forwards, there were three other Western Xia warriors trying to be the first to climb up the ladder. Wang Yuyan shouted: 'Do the same thing!' Duan Yu held out his hand to grab the 'Zhishi acupuncture point' of another man then made a throw with all his strength, throwing that man into the stone mortar. This time he intentionally threw therefore the power he used was not as perfect as it had been the last time. When the stone pestle fell down, it hit the man's waist. He let out a miserable bloodcurdling scream, but for the moment it was impossible for him to die. Every time the stone pestle fell down, he let out a miserable scream.

Duan Yu was dumbfounded. Seeing that two other Western Xia warriors had already been climbing up the ladder, he shouted in panic: 'Don't do that! Quickly come down.' He poked chaotically with his left-hand fingers. Because he was frightened, his internal energy was in turmoil. Therefore the power of the Six Meridians Divine Swords was able to be shot out. Two 'chi-chi' sounds were heard. Two beams of internal energy hit the backs of those two men. They immediately fell down.

The remaining seven Western Xia warriors saw that Duan Yu could kill people from a distance by poking in the air. They had really never heard of this kind of technique before. They did not know that Duan Yu could not use this technique as he pleased, when he had really wanted to use it he had not necessarily been able to, but when he had used it randomly at urgent moments he had often been successful. The more those seven people thought about this the more frightened they became. All of them had already become rather timid but they were not willing to run away at this point too.

Wang Yuyan was looking down from a higher position therefore she had observed the fight in the big room clearly. She saw that even though there were seven enemies left, only three of them had rather good martial arts, and that Western Xia man who had shouted and given orders was perhaps the leader of this group. She shouted: 'Mr. Duan, you go kill that man who is wearing yellow clothes and a leather hat first. You need to find a way to hit the 'Yuzhen' and 'Tianzhu' acupuncture points at the back of his head.'

Duan Yu said: 'Yes, Miss.' and rushed towards that man.

That Western Xia man was secretly frightened and thought: 'The two acupuncture points Yuzhen and Tianzhu are exactly my weak points, how does this girl know that?' Seeing Duan Yu charging at him, he immediately chopped horizontally with the saber to prevent him from approaching. Duan Yu charged at the man several times but he was still unable to go to his back and was almost injured by the saber. That man had heard Wang Yuyan shouting that his own back had had weak points therefore he was earnestly defending the weak points on the back of his head otherwise Duan Yu would have been in great danger. Duan Yu shouted: 'Miss Wang, this man is very tough, I can't go to his back.'

Wang Yuyan said: 'That man who is robed in gray, his weakness is the 'Lianquan acupuncture point' on his neck. That yellow-bearded man, I don't recognize his martial arts stances, you should try hitting him in the chest with some finger attacks.' Duan Yu said: 'Yes!' He extended his finger and pushed it quickly towards the man's chest. Even though these finger attacks of his were technically correct they did not carry any power, but how could that yellow-bearded man know that? He immediately lowered his body and dodged three finger attacks. When Duan Yu attacked the fourth time, he jumped up in the air then from midair delivered his attacks downwards. The power of his palm strikes was fierce and encompassed Duan Yu's body.

Duan Yu felt that his breathing had become hurried and also felt dizzy. Very frightened, he closed his eyes and thrust the fingers of both hands chaotically. 'Chi-chi-chi-chi' sounds were heard continuously, the Six Meridian Divine Swords Shaoshang, Shangyang, Zhongchong, Guanchong, Shaochong and Shaoze were shot out at the same time and pierced six holes in the body of that yellow-bearded man. But the power of his palm strikes did not vanish, a pat was heard, a palm strike had hit Duan Yu' shoulder. At that moment, Duan Yu's internal energy surged through his body, even though this palm strike had a lot of force, thanks to the protection of his vigorous internal energy, it did not injure him a little bit, moreover, that yellow-bearded man was sent flying away for one zhang.

Wang Yuyan did not know that he was not injured, she said in panic: 'Mr. Duan, are you okay? Are you injured?'

Duan Yu opened the eyes and saw that yellow-bearded man was flat on his back, blood was spouting ceaselessly from the six small holes on his chest, his expression was ferocious, his eyes opened wide and were looking viciously at himself. He had still not died. Duan Yu was so scared that his heart started to pound in his chest, he shouted: 'I don't wanna kill you. You yourself… yourself were asking for it.' He was still using the Wave Treading Exquisite Steps and scampering in the main room. During that time he continuously cupped his fist, bowed to the remaining six people and said: 'Brave men, there was no enmity between me, Duan Yu, and you in former days. In the past few days there was no enmity between us either. Please open your net and allow me a way out. I… I… really don't dare to kill anyone again. This… this… having killed this many people, how can I not feel terribly guilty? Really, I've been overly merciless. You run away quickly, okay? Let's consider that I, Duan Yu, have lost, please… please… I beg your pardon.'

When he turned around he suddenly saw a Western Xia warrior standing beside the door. No one knew when he had entered the mill. That man was medium in stature. His clothes were the same as those of the other Western Xia warriors, but he had a sallow complexion and a wooden face, looking just like a corpse. Duan Yu felt a chill of fear: 'Is this man a ghost? Could it be that… could it be that… because the souls of the Western Xia warriors killed by me couldn't vanish, their unfairly-treated ghosts show up?' He said in a tremulous voice: 'You… Who are you? What… What do you wanna do?'

That Western Xia warrior stood with his back straightened, neither did he reply nor did he make a move. Duan Yu leaned to one side, made a grab backwards and caught hold of the 'Zhishi acupuncture point' on the back of the waist of a Western Xia warrior beside himself, then threw that warrior at the mysterious person. That person slightly moved sideways. A 'peng' sound was heard. The head of that Western Xia warrior had hit the wall. His skull was shattered into pieces and he died. Duan Yu let out a deep breath and said: 'You're a man, not a ghost.'

At this moment, besides the incoming mysterious person, there were only five Western Xia warriors left. Among them, one Western Xia man and one Han man were experts of 'First-class Hall'. The other three had mediocre martial arts, seeing that the number of people on their own side had gotten smaller and smaller as the fight had gone on, they all wanted to retreat, one of them went to the door and pushed it. That Western Xia expert shouted: 'What are you doing?' Shua shua shua, using his saber he chopped three times towards Duan Yu.

Seeing a blue light flashing and the sharp saber of the opponent being brandished to and fro repeatedly before him, which could cut his own body at any time, Duan Yu was extremely frightened. He shouted: 'You… you're insolent like this, I can hit your Yuzhen and Tianzhu acupuncture points, you won't be able to resist, you'd be well advised to… well advised to withdraw, we'd better disperse.' The saber stances of that man became more and more urgent and every stance was close to vital parts of Duan Yu. Had he not accelerated his steps, any of those stances would have taken his life.

That Han expert had always stayed behind, seeing that Duan Yu was making every effort to implore and besides trying his best to dodge he could not strike back at all, an idea sprung up in his mind. He went to the stone mortar, grabbed two handfuls of rice flour, which had been pounded to a very fine state, and threw them at Duan Yu in the face. Duan Yu's footwork was clever therefore those handfuls of rice flour did not hit him. That Han man kept throwing out two handfuls after two handfuls. In the main room rice flour and rice bran fluttered in all directions, in an instant looking like smoke and mist.

Duan Yu shouted: 'How terrible, how terrible! I can't see anything!' Wang Yuyan also knew the situation was extremely dangerous. She thought it was all because of that very clever Wave Treading Exquisite Steps that Duan Yu had been safe from those experts. All along, when attacking him, the enemies had seen him before themselves but suddenly somehow he would have already been at their backs, therefore their weapons, punches and kicks had always missed his body by a hair's breadth. At the moment, rice flour and rice bran had spread all over the main room like smoke and everyone was executing his stances randomly. Fighting blindly and chaotically like this made it very possible to hit him. If the Western Xia warriors just ignored Duan Yu, rushed forwards and executed any set of martial arts on their own, Duan Yu would soon be cut into seventeen or eighteen pieces.

Because rice flour had got into his eyes, Duan Yu could not open them. He jumped up with all his strength and landed beside the hydraulic wheel. He grabbed hold of a plank of the wheel and was lifted up. There were two miserable 'Ah' 'Ah' cries. Two Western Xia warriors had accidentally been chopped at by that Western Xia expert with his saber and died. After that, two clanks were heard, someone shouted: 'It's me!' Another shouted: 'Be careful, it's me!' The Western Xia expert and the Han expert had just clashed their saber and sword and exchanged two stances. Then there was another miserable 'Ah' cry, another Western Xia warrior had been given a kick in his vital part by someone and was sent flying outwards. Hearing that dying cry, Duan Yu could not help but to feel a chill down his spine. His whole body trembled. He shouted in a quavering voice: 'Hey hey, the number of you has gotten fewer and fewer, there's no need to fight anymore. Don't kill excessively. I beg you, okay?'

Hearing the voice, that Han man was able to detect Duan Yu's direction. He made a wave with the right hand and a steel dart was thrown at him. This steel dart went with great accuracy and power, but because the hydraulic wheel was revolving unceasingly, when it arrived Duan Yu had already been moved down by the wheel. There was a 'pai' sound. The steel dart had nailed a corner of his sleeve to a plank of the wheel. Frightened, Duan Yu thought: 'I don't know how to dodge missiles, if the enemies focus on throwing steel darts and sleeve-hidden arrows I'll suffer a disaster.' He was so frightened that his hands flagged, his fingers could no longer hold on to the plank. A 'teng' sound was heard, he had already fallen down.

In the dense mist the Han expert vaguely saw that, he rushed forwards to grab Duan Yu. Duan Yu remembered Wang Yuyan had said that he needed to poke him in the 'Lianquan acupuncture point', but firstly, because he was in a state of panic, and secondly, even though he knew the acupuncture points, he had never practiced martial arts in normal times, therefore when he extended his finger to hit the 'Lianquan acupuncture point' of that man in a disordered manner the direction of his attack was inaccurate, both slanted leftwards and inclined downwards, unexpectedly hitting the 'Qihu acupuncture point' of that man. The 'Qihu acupuncture point' was the laughing acupuncture point. The internal energy of that man immediately ran in the opposite direction, he could not help laughing ha-ha loudly. Executing a thrust after a thrust, he attacked Duan Yu nonstop with his sword, but all the while he kept laughing loudly hee-hee, ha-ha, hei-hei, ah-ah...

The Western Xia expert asked: 'Brother Rong, why are you laughing?' The Han man was unable to answer and kept laughing loudly. The Western Xia man did not understand the cause of that, he said angrily: 'We're facing a tough enemy. What the hell are you doing?' That Han man said: 'Ha-ha, I… this… ha-ha, ah-ah…' He raised his sword and thrusted at the back of Duan Yu. Duan Yu walked to the left at an angle. That Western Xia expert did not see clearly in the dense mist and he happened to also move to this side, therefore all of a sudden both of them had a heavy collision with each other.

As soon as this Western Xia man bumped into Duan Yu's body, he quickly turned his left hand over and using a grasping hand technique he grabbed Duan Yu's right arm. He noticed that his opponent's strong point was the footwork therefore he thought this grasp was exactly a good chance to obtain advantage. He threw the saber away with his right hand, then withdrew the hand and grabbed Duan Yu's left wrist. Duan Yu shouted: 'How terrible, how terrible!' and used all his strength to struggle. But the hands of that Western Xia man were like iron hoops, how could he struggle out of it?

Thinking that this was a good opportunity, the Han man raised his sword and thrusted at the back of Duan Yu. The Western Xia man thought: 'This's not good! This thrust of his only needs to pass into the body of the enemy several cun's (t/n 3.333 cm) to kill him. But if he disregards comradeship and wanna take all the credit for himself, maybe he'll go for a chi (t/n 33.33 cm), conveniently killing me as well.' He immediately took a step backwards, pulling Duan Yu along.

Still laughing nonstop, that Han man took a step forwards wanting to raise his sword and thrust again. Suddenly there was a 'peng' sound. A plank of the hydraulic wheel had hit the back of his head making him pass out. Even though that Han man had lost consciousness, he was still breathing and kept laughing ha-ha-ha nonstop, but because he only had the air and not the strength, his laughs sounded very strange. The hydraulic wheel slowly revolved, another 'peng' sound was heard. The second plank had hit his chest. His laughs became a bit lower. After getting hit seven or eight times, the 'ha-ha, ha-ha' sounds he made sounded just like the snores of someone who was dreaming.

Seeing that Duan Yu was being gripped and unable to pull away, Wang Yuyan felt extremely anxious. She also thought that there was still a Western Xia warrior with a scary expression standing beside the door, if he conveniently gave Duan Yu a saber or sword stroke, Duan Yu would be killed instantly. She shouted in panic: 'Don't kill Mr. Duan. We… we should discuss this slowly.'

That Western Xia man was still gripping Duan Yu. He placed his right arm horizontally and pressed it against the chest of Duan Yu with full power, wanting to crush his ribs or make him unable to breathe and die. Duan Yu was extremely frightened. His left wrist and right arm were being gripped therefore the Beiming Divine Skill which absorbed internal energy could not be used. He had no choice but to extend his left fingers and pushed chaotically with them, but all of his finger attacks only hit the air. He felt the pressure on his chest getting heavier and heavier, and gradually he could no longer breathe.

At that critical moment, suddenly there were several 'chi-chi' sounds, that Western Xia expert uttered a soft 'Ah' cry and said: 'Good skill, you've finally poked me… poked me in the Yuzhen…' His hands gradually loosened and his head drooped. He leaned against the wall and died.

Very surprised, Duan Yu turned that man over to have a look. He really saw a small hole at the 'Yuzhen acupuncture point' on the back of his head. Blood was oozing from it. This wound had been inflicted on him by his Six Meridians Divine Swords. Duan Yu did not understand for the moment what had happened. He did not know that in that urgent situation his internal energy had condensed and the energy of one of his finger attacks had hit the wall, sprung back, and hit the back of the head of that Western Xia expert. Duan Yu had executed several tens of finger attacks altogether. One after another they had bounced off the wall and hit every place on the back of the enemy. Because that Western Xia man had had a strong internal energy and the power of the rebounded energy had been very weak, they had not been able to damage him at all. But by lucky coincidence the last beam of internal energy had bounced off the wall and hit his 'Yuzhen acupuncture point'. The 'Yuzhen acupuncture point' had been his weakness and most fragile point therefore even though the rebounded internal energy had been weak he had nevertheless died instantly when it had hit him at that acupuncture point.

Duan Yu was both surprised and happy. He released the corpse of that Western Xia man and shouted: 'Miss Wang, Miss Wang, all the enemies have been killed!'

Suddenly he heard an icy voice from behind himself: 'All haven't necessarily died!' Duan Yu was frightened. He turned around and saw that it was the Western Xia warrior with a wooden expression. He thought: 'I overlooked you, but your martial arts aren't good. I can kill you with just a grip on your 'Zhishi acupuncture point.' He then laughed and said: 'Old chap, you run away quickly, okay? I definitely won't kill you.' That man said: 'Do you have the ability to kill me?' His tone was extremely arrogant. Duan Yu was really unwilling to kill again therefore he cupped his fist and said: 'I'm really not a match for you, please show your mercy and forgive me.'

That Western Xia warrior said: 'These sentences of yours are merely a jest. They have absolutely no sincere intention of begging for mercy. The Solitary Yang Finger (t/n: Yiyangzhi) and the Six Meridians Divine Swords of the Duan clan are well-known all over the world, in addition to that, this girl has told you important secrets, they're really no small matter. Let me experience your masterful stances.' Every word of these few sentences was said monotonously with no high or low sound, no rise or fall of the voice and no pause therefore they sounded very unusual. Perhaps he was a foreigner, because even though he knew the Han language and his use of words and grammar were correct, his tone was obviously very awkward.

Duan Yu innately disliked martial arts. Today he had killed so many people like this only because the situation had forced him to do so and he had had no alternative. Speaking of fighting, if it was possible to avoid fighting he would try his best to. He immediately gave a deep bow and sincerely said: 'You are very correct to be critical of me. I must confess my intention of begging for mercy was not respectful and sincere. I have never learned martial arts. Just now, it was sheer luck that I killed people. Being able to preserve my life, I'm already perfectly content, how dare I flaunt my skills and vie for superiority?'

That Western Xia warrior laughed grimly and said: 'You haven't learned martial arts yet with a raise of your hand you annihilated four experts of First-class Hall and killed eleven warriors. If you learn martial arts, would there still be survivors in wulin?'

Duan Yu took a glance from the east to the west. Seeing that in the mill corpses were lying in disorder and each of them was covered in blood, he could not help feeling extremely sorry. He covered his face and said: 'How… how did I kill this many people? I… I really don't wanna kill anyone. What should I do now? What should I do?' That man let out some grim laughs and glanced at Duan Yu to see if these few sentences arose out of his true feelings. Duan Yu shed tears and said: 'These people all have parents, wives and children. Not long ago every one of them was still full of vim and vigor, now they were all killed by me, I… I… how can I apologize to them?' Saying to here he could not help but beat his chest and cry loudly. His tears fell down like rain drops. He sobbed: 'They might not necessarily want to kill me. It's just that they were acting under orders and were assigned to capture people. That's all. I and they didn't know each other before, why I could lay my murderous hands on them so quick?' His heart was inherently benevolent. Since childhood he had chanted Buddhist scriptures and learned Buddhism, and had not dared to harm even ants and mole crickets, how could he have known that today this kind of catastrophe would suddenly happen?

That Western Xia warrior sneered: 'You're play-acting like a cat crying over a mouse's death. You think you'll be exempted from punishments by it?'

Duan Yu held back his tears and said: 'That's right, I already killed people and committed sins. What's the point of crying? I'd better bury these corpses carefully.'

Wang Yuyan thought: 'There're more than ten corpses like this, how long will it take to bury them one by one?' She shouted: 'Mr. Duan, I'm afraid there're more enemies coming in large quantities. We should run away as soon as possible.' Duan Yu said: 'Yes, yes!' He turned around, wanting to climb up the ladder.

That Western Xia warrior said: 'You haven't killed me, how can you go?' Duan Yu shook his head and said: 'I can't kill you. Besides, I'm not a match for you either.' That man said: 'We haven't fought, how can you know that you're not a match for me? Miss Wang taught you the Wave Treading Exquisite Steps, ha-ha, you're sure extraordinary.' Duan Yu at first had wanted to say that the Wave Treading Exquisite Steps technique had not been taught to him by Wang Yuyan, but he thought that there was no need to tell a stranger about this matter therefore he only said: 'Yes, moreover I haven't learned any martial arts. I've escaped from disasters totally thanks to being given directions by Miss Wang.' That man said: 'Very good, I'm waiting here. You go ask her to tell you a way to kill me.' Duan Yu said: 'I don't wanna kill you.'

That man said: 'You don't wanna kill me then I'll kill you.' As he finished saying he picked up a saber on the ground, suddenly in the main room a white light flashed, within a more than one zhang (t/n: 3.333 m) radius of him there were full of saber images. When Duan Yu had still not taken a step he had already been hit heavily on his shoulder with the back of the saber. He let out an 'Ah' shout and staggered. As soon as his footsteps became disordered that Western Xia warrior took advantage of the situation and rushed forwards. The edge of the saber was already put on the back of his neck. Duan Yu was so frightened that his whole body broke into a cold sweat. He only stood motionlessly, stunned.

That man said: 'You quickly go consult your master to see if she has any way to kill me.' As he finished saying he withdrew the saber and swiftly extended his left leg cleverly. A 'peng' sound was heard. He had kicked Duan Yu sending him rolling on the ground.

Wang Yuyan shouted: 'Mr. Duan, quickly go up here.' Duan Yu said: 'Yes!' then climbed up the ladder. He turned his head around and saw that man sitting and holding the saber. There was still a wooden expression which was similar to that of a corpse on his face. Obviously he thought absolutely nothing of Duan Yu and would definitely not take advantage of the time he was climbing up the ladder to sneakily attack from his back. After having climbed up the garret, Duan Yu said in a low voice: 'Miss Wang, I can't beat him. We should find a way to run away quickly.'

Wang Yuyan said: 'He's guarding downstairs, we can't run away. Please take that gown for me.' Duan Yu said: 'Yes!' then held out his hand and took a set of worn-out clothes left by that peasant girl. Wang Yuyan said: 'Close your eyes then come here. Okay! Stop. Put it on for me, you mustn't open your eyes.' Duan Yu complied with everything she said. He was a sincere gentleman and esteemed Wang Yuyan as if she was a heavenly god therefore he did not dare to disobey her words at all, but when he thought that at the moment her clothes were not enough to cover her body, his heart unavoidably pounded in his chest.

Wang Yuyan waited until he finished dressing her then said: 'Okay. Help me stand up.' Duan Yu had not yet heard the order that he could open his eyes therefore they were still closed tightly. When he heard her say 'Help me stand up' he immediately put out his right hand and unexpectedly touched her cheek. Feeling that there was something smooth and soft in his palm, he could not refrain from starting with fright. He hastily withdrew his hand and said continuously: 'I'm sorry, I'm sorry.'

When Wang Yuyan had been having him dressing herself she had already felt so ashamed that her cheeks had become very red. Now seeing him with his eyes closed extending his palm and touching her face in a disorderly manner she blushed even more. She said: 'Hey, I told you to help me stand up!' Duan Yu said: 'Yes! Yes!' His eyes were still closed tightly therefore he did not know where he should move his hands to, fearing that if he touched her body his misdemeanor would become serious. He could not help feeling at a loss and totally troubled. Wang Yuyan's mind was also in turmoil. Only after a good while did she remember that she needed to tell him to open his eyes. She said in a displeased-sounding tone: 'Why don't you open your eyes?'