Chapter - 183 Wretched Luck Improves After Mastering (5)

Zhu Changling laughed out loud, clapped his hands and said, "Very good, very good!" He took two steps backward, suddenly his shadow swayed, 'Aiyo!" he shouted, and fell over the cliff to the empty air below.

That his extreme joy suddenly turned into an unforeseen accident, had taken Zhang Wuji by surprise. He hurriedly leaned over the cliff and called out, "Zhu Bobo, are you all right?" He only heard two groans uttered in a low voice from underneath.

Zhang Wuji was delighted; he thought, "Fortunately he did not fall all the way down, but I am afraid he is injured." Judging by the sound of the groans, Zhu Changling was only several 'zhang' away from him. When he looked closely, he saw by coincidence a pine tree grew just beneath the cliff. Zhu Changling's body lay horizontally on the tree trunk, unmoving. Seeing this situation, Zhang Wuji was thinking of leaping down and carrying Zhu Changling back over the cliff. With his skill right now, it should not be too difficult. Thereupon he took a deep breath and aiming for the tree trunk, which looked like an extended arm out the canyon wall, he jumped down lightly.

When his toes were still half a foot away from the tree trunk, suddenly the tree trunk dropped. He was hanging midair and did not have any place to set his foot on; although he had mastered the 'shen gong', he was only a human and not a bird; how could he fly back up to the cliff? It was as if a lightning suddenly illuminated his dark mind as he understood: "Turns out Zhu Changling is still employing a dirty trick to harm me. He had broken the branch and held it in his hand, waiting for me to set my foot on it, he let the tree branch drop down." But his understanding had come too late; his body fell straight down …

Zhu Changling had lived on that tiny platform with circumference of less than several dozen 'zhang' for more than five years. He knew every grass every tree, every grain of sand and every rock on that platform by heart. He pretended to be falling over the cliff and feigned injury, knowing full well that Zhang Wuji would jump down to help. As expected, his treacherous plan prevailed; Zhang Wuji fell down the tens of thousands 'zhang' deep canyon.

Zhu Changling laughed out loud, thinking, "This kid will fall into pulp today, finally I can vent my five years worth of resentment!" With the help of a long cane by the pine tree, he leaped over the cliff back to the platform. He mused, "Last time I could not go through that cave, perhaps I was impatient and exerted too much strength that my rib was broken. This kid's stature is a lot bigger and taller than mine. If he could go through, I don't see any reason why I cannot. After I find the Nine Yang Manual, I'll find a way home from the other side. Someday when I have acquired the 'shen gong', I will be unequalled under the heavens, won't it be wonderful? Ha ha ha ha …!" The more he thought about it, the happier he was; he went into the cave at once.

Before long, he had crawled to the place where five years ago he broke a rib. His only thought was: 'that kid is bigger than me, if he can go through, I certainly can too'. He did not think erroneously, however, he forgot one tiny little detail: Zhang Wuji had mastered the shrinking bone technique from the Jiu Yang Shen Gong.

Calming himself down, he squeezed into the narrow passage, inch by inch forward, and sure enough, he managed to advance about a 'zhang' further than five years ago. But from this point forward, no matter how he exerted his strength, it was simply impossible to advance even half an inch more. He realized that if he used brute force, he would only repeat the disaster he suffered five years ago; he would certainly break some more rib bones. Thereupon he calmed himself down and exhaled all air from his lungs. Sure enough, his body shrunk two more inches that he managed to squeeze three more feet forward. However, without any air in his lungs, soon he was suffocating; his heart beat felt like the beating of a drum, several times he felt he was going to faint. Knowing his condition was far from good, he had no choice but retreat before he could make another plan. He did not think, however, that when he moved forward, his feet propelled his body by kicking against the uneven surface of the mountain wall, but to go back, there was nothing he could use as a stepping stone. As he moved forward, his arms were in front of his head to reduce size of his shoulder. At this moment, his hands were tied by the rocks all around his head; he could not stretch the arms further, he could not use the least bit of strength in his hands.

He started to panic; thinking, "That kid is bigger than me; he could go through, I can certainly go through, why am I stuck in here? This really does not make any sense!" But there are so many things in this world that do not make sense. This man, who possessed excellent literary and martial art skills, whose intelligence and resourcefulness could be considered first rank among the masters, hereafter stuck inside the narrow passageway of a remote mountain cave; unable to neither advance nor retreat.

Fallen under Zhu Changling's treacherous plan, Zhang Wuji fell straight down from the cliff, while continuously scolding himself, "Zhang Wuji, oh, Zhang Wuji, you are such a useless kid. You knew Zhu Changling's matchless craftiness, yet you still fell under his evil trick. You deserve to die, deserve to die!"

Although he scolded himself as deserving death, he was actually struggling furiously to stay alive. The 'chi' inside his body flowed, sending his strength upward, trying to slow down his fall, so that his body would not be smashed to powder and his bones broken to pieces. But he was in midair, swaying against emptiness, his body was beyond his control. Even when he exerted his whole power until not an ounce of strength left, he still felt the wind passing his ears had not diminished at all.

A short moment later, he felt the sting of the bright light reflected from the white snow below in his eyes. He knew he was at the critical moment between life and death, but he saw about a 'zhang' away there was a big pile of snow. He did not have time to distinguish whether that pile was really snow or a white rock; immediately he made three somersaults in the air, trying to land on that pile of snow. His body curved diagonally, his left foot pointed toward that pile of snow. 'Splosh!' his body sank into the pile of snow.

His more than five years training of Jiu Yang Shen Gong showed its formidable power; as he made contact with the pile of snow, his body reacted naturally and he bounced upwards. But the momentum from the ten thousand 'zhang' fall was simply too great. He felt a severe pain on his legs as the bones were broken.

Although his injury was severe, his mind was still clear; he saw firewood flying in the air, because the pile of snow was actually a farmer's pile of firewood and straw. "What a close call!" he groaned inwardly, "If under the snow was not a pile of firewood but a block of boulder, I, Zhang Wuji, would have lost my life." Sending his strength to his arms, he slowly crawled out of the pile of firewood, and rolled toward the snowy ground. Inspecting his own legs' injury, he took a deep breath and set his broken bones, while thinking, "I must lie down without moving for at least one month before I can walk again. That shouldn't be any problem because I can use my hands in place of my feet; but I cannot stay here and die of starvation." He thought further, "This pile of firewood must belong to a farmer family; there must be some people nearby."