Chapter - 111 Iron Spear, Damaged Plough (6)

Guo Jing reached out and took the packets before turning and leaving the room. Now that he had the medicine in his hands, he didn't pay any attention to the caretaker. Unfortunately for him though, the caretaker was a slippery fellow. When Guo Jing and the dwarf left, he deliberately hung back, waiting until they were past the door. Then he suddenly slammed the door shut, grabbed the door bolt and locked the door, shouting, "Robber, Thief!" Guo Jing got a big shock, and immediately turned to try and push open the door only to find that it wouldn't budge, the door was firmly shut. The dwarf, although he was small, he was by no means slow witted. He immediately sized up the situation and took advantage of Guo Jing's distraction with trying to open the door to quickly snatch the four medicine packets out of his hand and threw them into the pond beside the room. Guo Jing tried to hit the dwarf with his fists, but the dwarf was too quick and managed to slip away.

Guo Jing became more frantic and angry. He placed both his palms against the door and used his internal energy to break the door. There was a loud crack as the door bolt snapped and the door flew open. Guo Jing rushed in and smashed the caretakers jaw with one swing of his fist which silenced him immediately. Luckily for Guo Jing, Liang Ziwong liked not to be disturbed so his room was located in an out of the way place in the palace far from anyone else so the caretakers screams had not alerted anyone. He rushed out of the room and saw that the dwarf was already a long way off. Guo Jing sprinted after him and in no time at all had caught up with the dwarf and grabbed him by the neck. The dwarf when he heard Guo Jing behind him tried to use his leg to sweep Guo Jing off his feet(?) The dwarf was no stranger to fighting having encountered many rough types in his travels with LiangZiwong so his skills were not weak. Guo Jing knew that he was in danger of not only failing to get the medicine for Wang Chuyi, but also if the alarm was raised Huang Rong would also be in mortal danger if she was caught. Since there was no time to lose he made use of his most vicious moves such as, "bone and tendon splitting" move (the one taught by one of the seven freaks of the south I think).

Guo Jing soon had the dwarf knocked unconscious and he hastily hid him in the bushes beside the path. He then hurried back to the medicine store room and lit a candle which revealed the caretaker still lying unconscious on the floor.

Guo Jing cursed himeself silently for being so careless, "Which four jars did the dwarf select the medicine from? I wasn't paying attention and now I have no idea of which herbs he used." All the jars were marked with strange signs but no words. He thought hard, "I remember he was standing here so maybe I should just grab a little from each jar around here and bring them all back to Wang Chuyi to select from." He hurridly snatched a pile of paper and began grabbing a handful of each type of herb/medicines which he then wrapped up in several packets all the while worried that someone had heard the caretakers shouts earlier.

As soon as he had packed up all the medicine he felt much more relieved. As he turned to leave his elbow accidentally knocked over a large bamboo basket which fell to it's side. As soon as the lid fell off there was a sudden hiss and a huge blood red snake shot out of the basket straight towards his face.

Guo Jing was startled and jumped back. He saw the snake was still half coiled in the basket so he wasn't sure how long it was. Its head waved back and forth as its forked tongue flickered at him. In Mongolia it was a cold climate and all the snakes that he had seen were small. This blood red snake certainly didn't look like any snake he has seen before. He felt petrified as slowly stepped back until he knocked against the table sending the candle tumbling over. In an instant the candle went out and the room was plunged into pitch black darkness.

With the medicine in hand he quickly rushed towards the door but just as he reached it he felt something grab onto his leg as if someone was wrapping a thick rope around it very tightly. Without time to think he tried to jump up. However the thing wouldn't let go and immediately he felt a cold sensation on his right arm and found that he could no longer move it.

Guo Jing knew that the snake had already wrapped around him so he madly used his left arm to feel around his waste for the knife that "JiSiHan" had given him long ago. A sudden stench of pungent fishy-medicine like smell assailed his nostrils and he felt something cold on his face. It was the snake's tongue licking his cheek. At this point there was no time to find his knife so he grabbed the snake firmly around its neck. The snake was incredibly powerful and began to squeeze tighter; its head inched closer towards his face…

Guo Jing tried to hold back the snake but his arm was becoming numb and it became difficult to breathe as the snake tightened it's grip around his chest. When He tried to use his internal energy to loosen the snakes grip it gave him slight relief before the snake resumed it's crushing grip. Guo Jing's left arm was beginning to lose strength. The stench of the snakes breath was unbearable and made him feel nauseous. He knew that he would not be able to hold off the snake for much longer. eventually he might lose consciousness and losen his grip, then the snake would strike…

When the dwarf who was knocked unconscious by Guo Jing eventually came around his first thought was where was Guo Jing. He looked over to his masters store room but saw it was dark and silent. He assumed Guo Jing had already fled. So he rushed back towards the "Fragrent Snow Hall" to report to his master Liang Ziwong.

Huang Rong got a shock when she heard the dwarf's report. She executed the move "Goose lands on flat sand" to quietly drop to the ground. When the guests in the hall were listening to Wanyan Honglie's story no one payed any attention to what was going outside. However as soon as they were interrupted by the dwarf's news this was no longer the case. In a room full of people with such high martial arts abilities who were no longer distracted could any of them now fail to notice Huang Rong's almost silent move outside? Liang Ziwong was the first to move. In a flash he was outside and standing in from of Huang Rong, blocking her path.

"Who are you?" he demanded.

Huang Rong could see by the way Liang Ziwong moved that his ability even exceeded hers. Considering that there was a room full of other highly skilled martial artists this was no time to start a fight, so she simply smiled and said sweetly, "This plum tree has such beautiful blossoms, could you please break a twig of them off for me?"

Liang Ziwong didn't expect to see such a beautiful young woman standing outside dressed in such splendid clothing. When he heard her delicate laugh (like pearls tinkling on jade) he couldn't help being surprised. He thought that she must be a palace lady, possibly (lady) Qian Jin, so he immediately broke off a twig of plum blossoms to give to her.

Huang Rong smiled and received the blossoms saying, "Thank you kind sir."

By this time all the rest of the guests were standing by the door watching the proceedings. Peng Lianhu turned to Wanyan Honglie and asked, "Sire, is this lady from the palace?" Wanyan Honglie shook his head and said, "No."