Chapter - 331 Hundred-feet Tall Tower Prevents Passage (8)

Lu Zhangke bolted the door behind him before turning around and smiled, "Pretty girl, I am going to unseal your acupoint, but you must not make any noise." While speaking he stretched out his hand toward the bedding, his finger aimed toward Concubine Han's spine. Suddenly a strong hand, with its five fingers as hard as a pair of iron pliers, grabbed the main artery on his wrist; at once his body weakened, not a bit of strength was left in his body. He saw from the cotton quilt a head covered in long hair came out; it was none other than Ku Toutuo.

With his right hand Fan Yao held tight Lu Zhangke's main artery, while at the same time his left hand moved like the wind, sealing nineteen major acupoints all over Lu Zhangke's body. Lu Zhangke was paralyzed; he lay on the floor with his eyes full of anger. Fan Yao pointed his finger to him and said, "The Old Man here has never changed his surname, nor has he changed his name. I am the Ming Cult's Right Emissary of the Brightness; surnamed Fan, given name Yao. Today you have fallen into my hand. You are always proud of your peerless intelligence, but you are actually a stupid and useless man. If I kill you now, I am neither a hero nor a real man; therefore, I am going to spare your life. If you have the ability, look for Fan Yao to seek your revenge in the future."

He was not done yet; he stripped Lu Zhangke naked and lay him down next to Concubine Han's dead body, and then he covered both people, one dead the other alive, under the cotton quilt. Now at last he took the antler staff, unscrewed the tip of the antler to get the antidote; and then went to the prisoners' room one by one to distribute the antidote to Kong Wen Dashi, Song Yuanqiao, Yu Lianzhou, and the others. In doing so he had spent a lot of time; especially since he had to explain everything to the prisoners again and again. Finally he reached Miejue Shitai's room, and when she did not believe it was the real antidote, he bluffed her by saying it was another poison. Fan Yao hated her for killing so many of his Ming Cult brethrens, so if he could hurt her some, he was very pleased.

Finished distributing the antidote Fan Yao felt very pleased of himself, but suddenly he heard clamoring noise of people shouting outside the Pagoda; among those people He Biweng's voice was the loudest, "This Ku Toutuo is a spy, get him down here, quick!"

Fan Yao groaned inwardly, "This is bad, really bad!" he thought, "Who helped this fellow out?" Poking his head outside he saw He Biweng leading a large number of warriors surrounding the Pagoda.

As they saw Ku Toutuo's head, Sun Sanhui and Li Sicui shot their arrows while cursing, "Wicked thief Toutuo, you harmed us really bad!"

Actually, when He Biweng and the other two's acupoints were sealed, they should not be able to get out of trouble for a while; moreover, they were hidden inside Lu Zhangke's room, so normally nobody would dare to rashly go in. Who would have thought that Ruyang Palace dispatched a lot of warriors everywhere, including to the Wan An Temple. When they failed to see the Prince's beloved concubine's track, someone remembered Lu Zhangke's lecherous nature. But these warriors were always afraid of him; although they suspected the missing of the Prince's beloved concubine was somewhat related to him, who would dare treading on a tiger's head by offending him? After contemplating for a long time, the captain of the guards, Captain Ha, finally made up his mind. He sent a low ranking soldier to knock on Lu Zhangke's door; he figured out that a person of his rank, although Lu Zhangke was angry, he would not stoop so low as to harm this lowly soldier.

The soldier knocked on the door several times, but nobody answered. Captain Ha clenched his teeth and ordered the soldier to just shove the door open and take a look. To their surprise they saw He Biweng, Sun Sanhui and Li Sicui were lying on the floor. By this time He Biweng had managed to circulate his internal energy, trying to unseal his acupoints. He had unsealed three, four passages; and then Captain Ha helped him unseal the rest. Very soon he was able to move about freely.

He Biweng's anger had reached the heaven; he inquired about Lu Zhangke and Ku Toutuo's whereabouts and was told that they went to the Pagoda. Thereupon he led the warriors to surround the Pagoda and then shouted loudly, calling Ku Toutuo to go down and fight to the death.

Fan Yao was secretly alarmed, "Fight to the death then fight to the death, do you think the one surnamed Fan is scared of you?" he thought, "Only these stinky monks and old nun have not taken the antidote for too long; they will still need about one and a half hour to recover their internal strengths. This He Biweng has heard my conversation with Lu Zhangke; although I kill the old Lu, I still cannot close his mouth. What should I do?"

At a loss of what to do Fan Yao paced back and forth for a while. He Biweng called out again, "Deserve-to-die Toutuo, if you don't get down, I am going up!"

Fan Yao returned to the room to get Lu Zhangke and Concubine Han who were still bundled inside the cotton quilt; he brought them to the railings and lifted them high in the air. "Old He!" he called out, "If you come near the gate even for one step, I am going to throw this old lecher Lu down."

The warriors were carrying torches high in their hands, which made the surrounding area as bright as day; but the Pagoda was too tall that the light could not reach Fan Yao. However, in spite of the dim light they could still recognize Lu Zhangke and Concubine Han's faces.

He Biweng was greatly shocked. "Shige [martial (older) brother], Shige, are you all right?" he called out. After calling out several times without hearing Lu Zhangke's reply, he started to think that his Shige was killed by Ku Toutuo. "Thief Toutuo, you killed my Shige. I swear I won't live on the same earth as you do."

Fan Yao unsealed Lu Zhangke's mute acupoint. Immediately Lu Zhangke shot some abusive words, "Thief Toutuo, you are the enemy's spy! I am going to cut you into thousand pieces …" Fan Yao let him shout curses for a while before sealing his mute acupoint again.

Seeing his martial brother did not die, He Biweng was somewhat relieved; he was afraid Ku Toutuo would really throw his martial brother down, so he did not dare to come near the gate.

This deadlock situation dragged for quite a while; He Biweng did not dare to rescue his martial brother, while Fan Yao only hoped to gain as much time as possible. Half an hour by half an hour passed by, Fan Yao stood by the railings and laughed loudly, calling out, "Old He, your Shixiong [martial brother] has such nerve that he dared to kidnap the Prince's beloved concubine. I caught them red-handed and captured them on the spot. You are still thinking of protecting your Shixiong? Captain, Sire, quickly arrest this old man. These two martial brothers are staging a rebellion, committing a capital crime. If you arrest him, I am sure the Prince will heap you with rewards."

Captain Ha cast a sidelong glance toward He Biweng; he wanted to take an action, but lack the courage to do so. He felt strange to suddenly see Ku Toutuo open his mouth and speak, but the evidence in front of his eyes was that Lu Zhangke and Concubine Han were wrapped together in one cotton quilt. Besides, he had already had some previous suspicions, so in his heart was 90% believed what Fan Yao said. "Ku Dashi, please get down," he loudly called out, "Let us go together to the Prince and sort this thing out. The three of you are senior masters, Xiao Ren [lit. little/lowly person] does not dare to offend any of you."