Chapter - 316 Recuperating In a Secret Chamber (4)

Huang Rong looked out through the hole and saw that Hou Tonghai's face was full of blood, while Sha Tongtian's clothes were ripped into pieces. It seemed like these two martial brothers had been in an extremely difficult situation.

Wanyan Honglie and Yang Kang were confounded to see their conditions; they busily inquired. Hou Tonghai replied, "We were very unfortunate; we met a ghost at the imperial palace last night. Damn it! Old Hou's ears were cut off by the ghost."

Wanyan Honglie did indeed see that both sides of his face were covered with blood and looked somewhat unusual; it turned out, his ears were missing. Wanyan Honglie was astonished.

Sha Tongtian scolded, "Still talking strange ghost story; haven't you disgraced us enough?"

Hou Tonghai was afraid of his Shige, but he still tried to argue, "I saw it clearly, his eyes were blue, he was the red bearded judge of hell, pouncing over me with a scary 'Wah! Wah!' voice! All I did was to turn my head around and he grabbed my neck and my ears were gone. This judge of hell looked exactly like the one in the temple, how could it not be him?"

Sha Tongtian only fought the judge for three stances and his clothes were ripped into pieces. That judge was definitely a highly skilled martial artist, not some strange ghost; only Sha Tongtian did not have any clue on how did he have the appearance of a judge of hell.

Four people offered their guesses, they even asked Ouyang Ke who was lying down because of his injury, but nobody came out with a plausible answer.

While they were still talking, Lingzhi Shangren [lit. upper/above person, a respectful term to address a Buddhist monk], Peng Lianhu and Liang Ziweng had also arrived one after another. Lingzhi Shangren's hands were bound by iron chain behind his back, Peng Lianhu's cheeks were swollen red and blue, Liang Ziweng's condition was the funniest; the white hair on his head were pulled clean so that he looked like a Buddhist monk. Standing and talking opposite to Sha Tongtian, they looked alike, their bald heads shining, reflecting the light.

It turned out those three entered the imperial palace and spread out in order to find the Wumu's Legacy; all of them had met some ghosts. Only each met different ghost; one met with a 'wu chang gui' [the ghost supposed to take soul after death], the other 'huang ling guan' [yellow spirit officer], and the last was 'tu di pu sa' [earth god].

Liang Ziweng stroked his own bad head and opened his mouth to curse using all dirty words he knew, including some 'mother-in-law of the earth grew some fungi'. Peng Lianhu endured silently and did not say a single word, he worked hard trying to take the iron chain from Lingzhi Shangren's hands. The chain went deep into the flesh, with hooks on either end connected tightly to each other. Peng Lianhu had to exert a lot of strength until his hands were bruised and bloody before he could untie the chain.

Everybody looked at each other in blank dismay; nobody made any sound. They knew in their hearts that last night they met a highly skilled martial artist and were greatly insulted, so they all felt ashamed. Hou Tonghai still believed it was a ghost, and nobody bothered to argue with him.

After a long time Wanyan Honglie opened his mouth, "I wonder why Mr. Ouyang has not come back yet. Perhaps he also met a ghost."

"Mr. Ouyang's martial art skill is unmatched," Yang Kang said, "Even if he met a ghost, he won't suffer defeat." Peng Lianhu and the others were indifferent.

Huang Rong saw everything; how these people met extremely difficult situations and were talking about ghosts. She was very pleased, she thought, "The masks I bought for Zhou Dage [Big Brother] have unexpectedly boosted his power and prestige; it was truly beyond my expectation. I wonder if he met and fought the Old Poison yet." At that moment she felt Guo Jing's internal energy starting to flow into her palm, so she went back to join him immediately.

Peng Lianhu and the others had been busy all night, they were starving. Working hand in hand they started chopping firewood, buying rice and vegetables, and preparing their food. When the food was ready Hou Tonghai went to the cupboard to get some bowls. He saw the iron bowl and tried to take it, naturally it would not budge. He felt strange and shouted, "A ghost!" He pulled the bowl with all his strength, but of course the bowl did not move.

Huang Rong heard his voice and was shocked; she knew their hiding place must not be seen by them. Not to mention the fact that they would not necessarily win if a fight broke, but if they moved even so slightly, Guo Jing's life would be in danger; that must not happen. Inside the secret room she was frightened and did not know what to do. Outside the room Sha Tongtian heard his martial brother's shout and reprimanded him not to make such a big thing over nothing.

Hou Tonghai was not angry, he said, "All right, then come and take this bowl out." Sha Tongtian held out his hand to pick the bowl, but the bowl stayed. "Ah!" he exclaimed.

Peng Lianhu heard him and came over. "Sha Xiong [Brother Sha]," he said, "There must be a secret mechanism connected to it. Try turning it to the left or right."

Huang Rong saw the situation was pressing, she knew they were forced to stake it all. She handed the dagger over to Guo Jing and held out her hand to take the bamboo stick given by Hong Qigong. Inwardly she was sorrowful to think their lives would end this way. In the last moment she turned her head and saw the skeletons at the corner of the room. Suddenly an idea came to her mind; hurriedly she took the skulls and made an effort to lift a big watermelon, then she placed the skulls on the watermelon.

With some creaking noise the iron door revolved, revealing a hole behind it. Huang Rong placed the watermelon on top of her head and spread out her long hair over her face. As Sha Tongtian opened the door, he saw inside the cabinet there was a monster with two heads, letting out a scary 'Wah! Wah!' sound. The monster's two heads were skulls, side by side on top of a blue and green striped sphere, with a cluster of long black beard underneath it.

Everybody had suffered a lot the previous night, they were still shaken; and now they suddenly saw a ghost inside the cabinet, they were really scared. Hou Tonghai screamed and ran away. Without thinking everybody else followed. The only one left was Ouyang Ke. Since his legs were broken he was lying on a straw bed and was unable to run.

Huang Rong heaved a long sigh; busily she closed the cabinet door. She could not help but smile, considering they had barely escaped trouble for the moment; for she knew those traitors were Jianghu's top veterans, surely they would come back. They were running away because they were frightened by the Old Urchin; otherwise, how could she fool them so easily? Once they calmed themselves down, they would come back and would not be scared away so easily.

Huang Rong's dimples had not disappeared, she was still undecided on the next course of action to take, when she heard a noise from the door, someone was coming. Huang Rong grabbed a steel butterfly tightly in her hand, while the bamboo stick was close by her side. As soon as the door was opened, she would throw the projectile first and talk about it later. But after waiting for a moment she heard a beautiful voice calling out, "Innkeeper! Innkeeper!"

Huang Rong was really surprised to hear this call. Busily she looked out through the small hole and saw a lady wearing embroidered gown sitting in the inn. Her clothes and adornments were gorgeous; indicating she came from a wealthy family. She was sitting with her back facing the mirror, so Huang Rong could not see her face.