Chapter - 333 Hundred-feet Tall Tower Prevents Passage (10)

Several guards came to attack him. Fan Yao struck and grabbed them one by one; throwing them to their death at the bottom of the Pagoda. The rest of the guards scrambled downstairs over the fire, trying to save themselves.

A moment later the fire had reached the fourth floor, where the people from Huashan Pai were being imprisoned. They did not have time to wait for the recovery of their internal energy; in this dangerous situation everybody fled to the fifth floor. But the fire kept creeping upward to the fifth floor, causing the Kongtong Pai people also ran to the sixth floor. Some were rather slow, resulting in their clothes to catch fire. Fan Yao was at a loss.

Suddenly he heard someone calling out, "Fan Yaoshi [Right Emissary Fan], catch!" It was Wei Yixiao's voice.

Fan Yao was greatly delighted; looking toward the direction of the voice he saw Wei Yixiao was standing at the rooftop of a big building behind the Wan An Temple. Wei Yixiao swung his arms to throw a long rope toward Fan Yao and Fan Yao caught it.

"Tie it on the railings, we'll make a rope bridge," Wei Yixiao called out.

Fan Yao had just tied the rope to the railings when 'swish!' Zhao Yishang of the 'Shen Jian Ba Xiong' [Eight Divine Archers] shot an arrow and cut the rope. Simultaneously Fan Yao and Wei Yixiao opened their mouths to curse; they knew that if they want to build a rope bridge, they would have to get rid of these Eight Divine Archers.

"Shoot your granny," Wei Yixiao cursed, "If that one does not drop his bow and arrow, the Old Man will butcher him first." While cursing he drew his sword and jumped down.

His feet were barely touching the ground when five foreign monks wearing dark green robes surrounded him with swords in their hands. They were the 'Five-Sword Buddha Warriors' from the 'Eighteen Buddha Warriors' under Wang Baobao's command. The swords in their hands glittered, their sword moves were strange; and they attacked Wei Yixiao together.

He Biweng brandished his pair or crane-beak pens, fighting a fierce battle. "Xiao Wangye," he loudly called out, "If you don't order your men to put off the fire, don't blame me for being impolite to you."

Wang Baobao did not pay any attention to him. Four foreign monks with long Buddhist staves in their hands stood around the Young Prince, guarding him from any possible sneak attack.

He Biweng's anxiety rose up; his double-pen suddenly moved in 'heng sao qian jun' [sweeping a thousand soldiers], forcing the three foreign monks in front of him to retreat two steps. He Biweng anxiously rushed toward the Pagoda. The five foreign monks ran after him. He Biweng's feet kicked the ground and he flew to the eaves of the first floor. Seeing the fire was raging wild, the five foreign monks did not pursue.

He Biweng obediently did not dare to move again. "Ku Dashi," he called out, "We, martial brothers, have never offended you in the past, we still don't have any enmity against you today, why do you make things difficult for us? If you want to save your old sweetheart Miejue Shitai and your beloved daughter Miss Zhou, then rescue them. I will not stop you."

After taking the antidote from Ku Toutuo, Miejue Shitai thought that she had taken a poison and would die soon; but then Zhou Zhiruo had also taken the poison. Her lifetime hopes were shattered; how would her heart not bitter? While she was grieving suddenly she heard commotion at the base of the Pagoda; she heard Ku Toutuo and He Biweng's argument, then she also heard Wang Baobao issued an order to set the Pagoda on fire. She heard it all, one by one, clearly. She felt strange, "Could it be that this devil-like Toutuo is really rescuing us?"

She thought she might as well try, whether good or bad. Immediately she felt warm energy flowing up from her 'dan tian' [pubic region]; which was different from when she was still under the influence of the poison. She would rather starve herself to death than obeying Zhao Min's order to get out to the mail hall and contend in martial arts, as a result, she had been fasting for six, seven days. Her stomach was completely empty; therefore, as the antidote entered her belly, it rapidly entered the blood and neutralized the poison in her system. Her recovery was faster than everybody else. Furthermore, her internal energy was profound; it was even higher than Song Yuanqiao, Yu Lianzhou, He Taichong and the others, perhaps it was somewhat inferior only to the Abbott of Shaolin Pai, Kong Wen Shen-seng [divine monk].

As the effect of the 'Ten Fragrance Muscle-weaken Powder' was gradually dispersed by the antidote, her own internal energy was able to push the toxicity away. In less than an hour later her internal energy had been recovered 50, 60%. She was still cultivating her internal energy intensively when suddenly from outside came He Biweng's voice; each word was like an arrow piercing her ear, "…If you want to save your old sweetheart Miejue Shitai and your beloved daughter Miss Zhou, then rescue them. I will not stop you."

How could she not get angry hearing this 'Old Sweetheart' and the other nonsense? In big strides she walked out of her room toward the railings. "What nonsense are you blabbering about? Such a dirty mouth!" she shouted angrily.

He Biweng looked at her imploringly, "Lao Shitai [Old Shitai], please tell your old … old friend to let my Shige down. I guarantee your family of three will be able to leave safely. Xuanming Elders always say one as one, two as two; in no way we will fail to keep our words."

"What family of three?" Miejue Shitai asked angrily.

Although he was in a precarious situation, Fan Yao could not help to laugh aloud. Feeling very proud of himself he said, "Lao Shitai, this old man said I was your old sweetheart, and that Miss Zhou was our daughter."

Miejue Shitai was really, really angry, that under the flickering light of the fire downstairs her face looked terrifying. "Old He," she roared, "Come up here! I want to exchange a hundred palms with you before we talk again."

If it was different time, when He Biweng was challenged to come up, he would come up; he was not scared of the Sect Leader of Emei. But this time his martial brother had fallen into the enemy's hand; he did not dare to act recklessly. "Ku Toutuo," he called out, "It was you who said that; I certainly would not talk irresponsibly."

Miejue Shitai shifted her gaze toward Fan Yao and in stern voice she asked, "Did you say such thing?"

Fan Yao laughed heartily; he was about to take that opportunity to ridicule her when suddenly he heard loud shouts at the bottom of the Pagoda. He looked down and saw by the flames a shadow was dancing like a fluttering butterfly among the flowers. That shadow moved around the warriors and the foreign monks. 'Bang! Clank! Clank! Bang! Clank! Clank!' everywhere he went a weapon fell down to the ground. The Cult Leader Zhang Wuji had arrived.

Zhang Wuji attacked the five wielding-swords foreign monks who were surrounding Wei Yixiao; sending their swords flying high into the air. Wei Yixiao was delighted; like a flash of lightning he dashed toward Zhang Wuji. "I am going to set the Ruyang Palace on fire," he said in a low voice.