Chapter - 313 Willingly Disfigure a Handsome Face (7)

Yang Xiao smiled and said, "She can't sleep; that's not good. It will make our effort to rescue people more difficult."

"Yang Zuoshi [Left Emissary Yang]," said Zhang Wuji, "Speaking of rescuing people, do you have any ingenious plan?"

Yang Xiao hesitated. "We are only three people, plus our presence is already known; it is truly a thorny problem," he said.

Zhang Wuji apologetically said, "When I saw Miss Zhou's dire situation I could not bear not to help. In the end I messed up an important matter."

"The way the turn of events went, nobody could bear not to help," Yang Xiao said, "Single-handedly Jiaozhu [Cult Leader] defeated the Xuanming Elders and that can crush the enemy's spirit big time; that was also very good. Moreover, now that they know we are here, they won't dare to treat Song Daxia [great hero Song] and the others too rudely."

Zhang Wuji remembered that his Song Dabo [first (older) uncle], Yu Erbo [second (older) uncle] and the others were still in the enemy's hand; and then seeing how Zhao Min has treated He Taichong, Tang Wenliang and the others with disgrace, his heart burned with anxiety.

Three people discussed their course of action for half a day without reaching any conclusion; finally they went their separate rooms to rest.

Toward the dawn the following morning Zhang Wuji was still half dreaming when he heard a noise from the window; he woke up immediately and opened his eyes wide only to see the window slowly open. There was someone outside staring at him. He was startled. Lifting up the bed curtain he saw that person's face was filled with scars, he looked fearsomely ugly; it was none other than Ku Toutuo. Zhang Wuji was even more shocked; he immediately jumped out of bed, but Ku Toutuo's face was still at the window, staring blankly at him. It seemed like Ku Toutuo did not mean any harm to him. "Yang Zuoshi! Wei Fuwang!" Zhang Wuji called out.

Yang and Wei two people responded from the neighboring rooms. Zhang Wuji was slightly relieved. In the meantime Ku Toutuo's face disappeared from the window. Zhang Wuji hastily jumped out the window and saw Ku Toutuo go out the front gate in a hurry. By this time Yang and Wei two people had also caught up. Looking around to see there was no other enemy, three people moved their feet to pursue Ku Toutuo.

Ku Toutuo was waiting on a street corner. As he saw the three people approach, he turned around and went to the north. His strides were big, but he was not running. Three people exchanged hand signals and followed behind. By that time it was daybreak, not too many people were outside; so in a short moment they had reached the northern gate. Ku Toutuo continued leading the way along a small pathway. About seven, eight 'li's [1 li is approximately 0.5km] later they arrived at a small mound with rocks scattered around it. At last Ku Toutuo stopped and turned around; he waved his hands toward Yang Xiao and Wei Yixiao, asking them to step back, following which he cupped his fists in respect toward Zhang Wuji.

Zhang Wuji returned the salute while thinking in his heart, "I wonder what is this Toutuo's intention in leading us here? There is nobody else here, if we fight, with one against three, he would surely lost. Judging by this, he doesn't seem to have an ill intention."

Before Zhang Wuji made his mind up, Ku Toutuo had already made a 'heh, heh' noise, then he attacked with his hands in the form of claws: tiger claw on his left hand, dragon claw on his right hand; all ten fingers in the shape of hooks, ferociously attacked Zhang Wuji.

Zhang Wuji diverted the attack by a sweep of his left palm; he said, "Shangren [lit. upper/above person, a respectful term to address a Buddhist monk], what is your intention? Please make it clear; we can always fight later."

Ku Toutuo did not pay him any attention, as if he did not hear anything. His left hand tiger claw changed into an eagle claw, his right hand dragon claw changed into a tiger claw; one attacked the opponent's left shoulder, the other attacked the right abdomen. The attacks were very vicious.

"Do we really have to fight?" Zhang Wuji asked.

Ku Toutuo's eagle claw turned into a lion palm, his tiger claw turned into a crane beak; one struck the other pecked, in an ever-changing style. In a short three stances he had already used six different styles.

Zhang Wuji did not dare to slack off; he immediately launched the 'Taiji Chuan' [taiji fist]. His body moved like the passing clouds or flowing water, fighting his opponent on that stone mound. He felt this Ku Toutuo's movements were very complicated; sometimes they were wide open and easily predicted, but just they turn surreptitiously strange as swift, like the martial art from a demonical unorthodox sect, casting a profound heretical, almost evil, air around him, but all along Zhang Wuji only used Taiji Chuan to fight him.

After about seventy, eighty stances later Ku Toutuo suddenly grunted and shot his fist straight forward. Zhang Wuji used the 'ru feng si bi' [Apparent Closure] to seal his fist power, followed by the move 'dan bian' [Single Whip] his left palm slapped Ku Toutuo's back; only he did not exert any internal energy, as soon as he touched his back, Zhang Wuji withdrew his palm.

Ku Toutuo knew Zhang Wuji was showing him mercy; he leaped backward and stared at Zhang Wuji for half a day. Suddenly he made a hand signal to Yang Xiao, indicating he wanted to borrow the long sword on Yang Xiao's waist. Yang Xiao loosened up the sword belt and presented the sword, complete with the sheath, with both hands to Ku Toutuo.

Zhang Wuji felt strange, "How can Yang Zuoshi lend a weapon to the enemy?" he thought.

Ku Toutuo drew the sword and made a hand signal, telling Zhang Wuji to borrow Wei Yixiao's sword. Zhang Wuji shook his head; he took the sword sheath from Ku Toutuo's left hand, and with a 'qing shou' [invitation] stance he used the sheath as a sword. With his left hand he pinched the tip of the sheath and positioned the sheath horizontally in front of his chest.

Ku Toutuo swept the sword and stabbed diagonally down. Zhang Wuji had seen him teaching sword technique to Zhao Min, so he knew this man had a superb swordsmanship. At once he focused his attention to use the Taiji Sword he had learned for the past several months on Mount Wudang. He saw that the opponent's sword moved sometimes fast sometimes slow, with the blade seemingly everywhere; but Zhang Wuji was always able to block or divert the attack. Ku Toutuo withdrew immediately and re-attacked with new stances; yet not a single one of them was able to penetrate Zhang Wuji's defense.

Zhang Wuji silently praised him, "If I fought this man half a year ago, I certainly would not be his match in swordsmanship. Compared to that 'ba bi shen jian' [Eight-armed Divine Sword] Fang Dongbai this Ku Toutuo is a notch better." He started to feel fondness toward him and decided not to score victory too conspicuously.

Ku Toutuo brandished his sword like a 'luan pi feng' [tornado]; the blade of his sword glistened under the sun as if ten thousands metal snakes scurried around the opponent. Zhang Wuji looked clearly and then abruptly turned the sword sheath around. 'Shua!' the sword entered its sheath perfectly while both of his hands shot out and lightly touched Ku Toutuo's wrists. Smiling slightly Zhang Wuji leaped back. If he made any effort ever so slightly, he would have been able to seize the sword. This move to seize the sword was really dangerous; but it also demonstrated his excellent skill.