Chapter - 146 Changchun Admits Defeat (16)

He bellowed: "Where did this little witch pop up from?"

Lying horizontally spread across the path, an even worse slew of obscenities escaped the fat woman's mouth.

Huang Rong caught the whip with her left hand and gave it a small tug, causing the fatty to tumble off his horse. Raising the whip, she lashed it towards him. The fat woman screamed loudly, "Female robber! Murder! She's blocked our way and robbed us!" Unrelenting, Huang Rong pulled out her E'Mei Dagger and bent down. With a "chi" sound, blood splattered across the fat woman's face and she shrieked like a dying pig. Her left ear had been sliced off.

This scared the living spirits out of the fatty and he immediately knelt, whimpering: "Mercy, big Lady King! I… I have silver!"

Huang Rong made a face. "Who wants your silver? Who is this woman?"

"She… She's my wife! We… we… she went back to her mother's house to visit."

"Both of you are fat and robust, so why can't you walk yourself? I can show mercy, but you just have to follow my orders."

"Yes, yes," he clamored. "We'll obey Lady King's orders."

Huang Rong burst out laughing when she heard him address herself as 'Lady King', thinking it was a pretty interesting title. She said, "Where are the two sedan-bearers? Get inside the sedan – all three of you, together with that slave girl."

Not daring to defy her, the three servants propped the fallen sedan back to balance and climbed inside. Thankfully, all three of them were thin and small-built so it wasn't much of a squeeze. In fact, their combined mass might've even been smaller than that of the fat woman's. At present, six pairs of eyes – the three servants', Guo Jing's and the fat couples' – were fixed nervously on Huang Rong, not knowing what strange ideas she might have.

Huang Rong said, "You husband and wife have led a life of power and luxury, bullying the poor just because you have a little stinking money. Now that you've met the big 'Lady King', would you like to live or die?"

By this time, the fat woman had long stopped her wailing. With her left hand pressed firmly on the wound on the side of her face, she said together with her fat husband, "We want to live, we want to live! Please have mercy, Lady King!"

"All right," said Huang Rong. "Today, it's your turn to be the sedan-bearers. Lift up the sedan!"

The fat woman cried, "I… I only know how to sit in sedans; I don't know how to carry them!"

A dagger flew past her, grazing the tip of her nose. Huang Rong shouted, "If you don't carry the sedan, I'm going to slice off your nose."

Thinking that her nose had already been sliced off, the fat woman shrieked, "Aiya, the pain is killing me!" Huang Rong shouted again, "Are you going to carry the sedan, or not?"

The fatty quickly lifted the sedan and said, "We'll carry it, we'll carry it!"

Left with no choice, the fat woman lowered her body and placed the end of the sedan pole on her shoulder, then stood upright again. Both husband and wife were truly sturdy and robust, having eaten plenty of tonics. They strode away with the sedan on their shoulders, looking like experienced sedan-bearers.

Huang Rong and Guo Jing cheered in unison, "Carried well!" They trailed behind the sedan on their horses for about 100 feet before Huang Rong urged her horse to sprint.

"Jing-ge-ge, let's go!"

Together, they galloped swiftly and after a distance, turned back to look. They couldn't help but burst out in peels of laughter at the sight. The fat couple was still walking with the sedan on their shoulders, not daring to put it down.

"That fat woman is both cruel and hideous, and is actually quite suitable. I originally wanted to capture her and give her to Qiu Chu Ji as a wife, but it's too bad I can't win that Bull-nose in a fight."

"Why would you give her to Priest Qiu to be his wife?" Guo Jing asked, baffled. "He wouldn't want it."

"Of course he wouldn't. But at the same time, why doesn't he understand? You said you didn't want to marry Miss Mu, but he still tried to force you to. Hmph, when one day I can defeat that Bull-nose Priest, I'll force him to take a wicked and ugly woman as his wife and let him have a taste of being forced to marry!"

At this, Guo Jing's smile faded and he was silent for a moment. Then he said, "Rong'er, Miss Mu is neither wicked or ugly. But I'll still only take you as my wife."

With a lovely smile, Huang Rong said, "Even if you don't say it, I know."

They continued their journey until the sudden sound of rushing water emerged from behind a row of trees. Huang Rong weaved her way past a big tree and gave a cry of delight. Guo Jing followed and saw that it was a clear stream, so clear that you could see the stream bed, made up of green, white, red and purple pebbles. Hanging willows graced both its banks, their branches lightly brushing the water surface, beneath which many fish swam freely. Huang Rong removed her outer robe and jumped into the water with a splash. Alarmed, Guo Jing went near the edge of the stream only to see both her hands raised high, grasping a green fish that was about 1 chi long. The fish wriggled desperately, struggling to escape. Huang Rong called out, "Catch!"

She threw the fish towards him. Displaying his seizing method, Guo Jing caught the fish. But the fish was extremely slippery and slid out of his hands immediately, lurching and flipping wildly on the ground.

Clapping and laughing, Huang Rong called, "Jing-ge-ge, come down and swim." Having grown up in the desert, Guo Jing did not know how to swim and shook his head with a smile.

"Come down, I'll teach you," she urged.

Huang Rong looked like she was having a lot of fun in the water, so he removed his outer clothes and waded slowly down. But Huang Rong gave his leg a tug and he lost balance, falling and gulping down a few mouthfuls of water in panic. Huang Rong laughed as she helped him up, and began teaching him the technique of swimming. The essentials of the skill lay in regulating one's breathing. Since Guo Jing was acquainted with internal energy practice techniques and proficient with breath regulation, it took him only half a day's practice to get the hang of swimming. That night they slept by the bank of the stream, and early the next morning it was back to one teaching, one learning. Growing up on an island in the sea, Huang Rong had been proficient in aquatic skills since young. Be it literature or martial arts, there was nothing Huang Yao Shi did not excel in, yet his aquatic skills were far behind that of his daughter's. Under the guidance of this brilliant instructor, Guo Jing spent 8-10 hours underwater every day. After 7 or 8 days had passed, he could swim up and down as he pleased; float and sink as he wished.

On this particular day, they had been swimming for hours and still their enthusiasm seemed boundless. They defied the current and had just swum a few li upstream when they heard the sound of falling water. Turning a bend, their eyes were greeted with what looked like flying pearls and sprinkling jade – it was actually a waterfall of a few hundred feet in height, with its large bodies of water spilling down ceaselessly from the cliff peak.