Chapter - 5 Love is Ruthless (5)

At the same time, a laugh was heard on the roof.

"I'm here to take the nine lives of the Lu family, come out."

The woman heard the chilling laugh from the rooftop, swallowed, and continued to tend to Wushuang's injuries. As she twisted her hands, Wushuang let out a scream in sheer pain and she fainted again.

Everyone went outside, only to see a young priestess standing by the overhang of the roof, the moonlight lit up her face. She was about fifteen or sixteen years of age, and a long sword with a blood red sash hung on her back, the sash moving in the wind.

Lu Liding said calmly, "I'm Lu Liding. Are you under the command of priestess Li?"

The priestess's lips were skewed when she replied, "Its good that you know. Go collect your wife and daughter, kill them and then kill yourself to spare me the trouble."

The words were said with coldness, at a speed neither too slow nor fast, and with disregard for the audience. When Lu Liding heard these words, his body quivered. "You…you" He wanted to jump on to the roof and fight the girl, but she was young and was just a girl, how could he fight her? As he hesitated, suddenly something swept passed his body; it was the woman who had come to ask for shelter, in her hand was a long sword, ready to fight that young priestess.

The woman wore a grey traditional dress, the priestess an apricot yellow robe. Under the moonlight, the images of grey and yellow resembled some sort of flying dance; three flashes of light were produced as three sword-clashing sounds were made. Lu Liding's skills were taught by his brother, and though he has never fought an enemy before, his eyes weren't poor, and saw every stance of the two fighters. He saw the sword held in the priestess's hand turned from defense into attack, attack into defense, her sword stances were without mercy. The woman's sword matched hers. The sounds of clashing blades were heard, both swords turned over, suddenly the little priestess's sword flew into midair. The little priestess chased after her sword, her face losing its calmness and she shouted out, "I'm under the orders of my master to take the lives of the Lu family. Who are you, and why are you meddling in these affairs?"

The woman gave out a cold laugh and said, "It seems like your master has great ability, she went out to find Lu Zhanyuan to settle her debts, but she knew that he was dead, so she's taking out her anger on his loved ones, isn't that correct?"

The little priestess wielded three small silver needles with her right hand and threw them ferociously, two at the woman, one at Lu Liding who was standing in the middle of the courtyard. It was such an unexpected movement. As the woman fended off two needles with her sword, Lu Liding managed to catch the other needle with two fingers. The little priestess laughed out coldly and jumped down from the building, and quickly flew away hearing the chasing footsteps.

The woman jumped down to the courtyard, and saw Lu Liding was still holding the silver needles. She shouted, "Drop it!" Lu Liding hesitated before doing so. She cut off a piece of her belt and wrapped it firmly around the wound on his right hand.

Lu Liding jumped. "The needles have poison on them?"

The woman replied, "Nothing can compare to this poison." She gave him a granule of medicine to take. Lu Liding felt his arms swelling and numbing. The woman used her sword tip to cut deeply into the two infected fingers of Lu, and saw drops of black blood seeping out.

Lu Liding jumped and thought to himself, "My finger wasn't cut, I only touched the silver needles and the effects are so severe. If the needles actually cut me then my life would surely have been gone." He then looked in the direction of the woman and said, "I have eyes but I fail to see TiaShan Mountain*, please, can madam tell me her name?" (*This phrase basically means he didn't see his benefactors even though they were in front of him.)

The woman replied, "My husband is named Wu, Wu Santong." Lu got up in awe and said, "So it is Madam Wu. I've heard the Wu's are under the order of Reverend Yideng in the south in Dali, is that right?"

"You are right. Reverend Yideng is indeed my husband's teacher. I have learned a little in terms of martial arts from my husband, who is nothing more than a farmer. I hope master Lu won't laugh."

Lu thanked her for the helping hand. He had heard from his brother, out of all the martial artists he had seen, those under the teachings of Reverend Yideng were the best. After Yideng had abdicated as the ruler of Dali, he became a monk and had four students, "Fisherman, Woodsman, Farmer and Scholar". The farmer was called Wu Santong. Wu disliked his brother, but at the time his brother had not told him how the feud between them started. Why did Madam Wu not treat them as enemies but instead help them by fighting off the Scarlet Serpent Deity's disciple? The reasons are hard to fathom.

Everyone went back to the main hall. Lu Liding carried his daughter inside, and saw she had regained her consciousness, her face now white. She's holding in the pain and refraining from crying, not particularly aware.

Madam Wu said, "Now that witch's disciple had escaped, she herself will come here. Master Lu, I'm not looking down on you but even if you and your wife joined forces with me, we are never going to be able to compete with her. But even if we run it will be no use. We might as well wait for her and let fate decide."

Mistress Lu then asked, "Who exactly is the witch waiting for? And what feud has our family with her?" Madam Wu looked Lu Liding in the eye and said, "Master Lu never mentioned this before?"

Mistress Lu replied, "He only mentioned that it was something to do with brother and sister-in-law, something to do with love affairs, he isn't exactly sure himself."

Madam Wu sighed, "It must be something to do with that. I'm an outsider so it is not my place to speak. Master Lu's brother went to Dali ten years ago. Li Mochou, the Scarlet Serpent Deity is now infamous throughout the Jianghu world, but ten years ago she was a gentle beauty, and wasn't yet a priestess. This was before she sinned, after she saw your brother and fell under the enchantment of love. After many twists and turns, your brother eventually married Ah Yuanjun. However this wasn't any fault of Yuanjun. This kind of business is best kept under wraps; it's just today's events have forced me to retell these events. Yuanjun was my stepdaughter."

The Lu couple simultaneously gave out an understanding sigh. Madam Wu touched her injured son's shoulder in comfort. She stared into the flame of a candle and carried on.

"Your sister-in-law He Yuanjun was an orphan. We took her in and she became our stepdaughter. We loved her dearly. Eventually she met your brother, and they fell in love with each other, and wanted to get married. Firstly, my husband didn't want her to leave the family; secondly, he was too strict saying Jiangnan people were crafty and cunning; they can't be relied upon and forbade the wedding. Ah Yuan secretly ran away with your brother. On the wedding day, both my husband and Li Mochou went to find the couple and cause them trouble. Luckily, a high monk from the Dali Sky Dragon temple passed by and took the matter in his own hands. He requested, on his behalf, that they would grant the couple ten years of peace. Li Mochou and my husband agreed to this. My husband was angry, and after this event he became confused and disturbed; his teacher, fellow students and even I were unable to persuade him, or understand him. He just counted down the ten-year deadline. According to my calculations, today ten years exactly has passed. It was hard to predict that the couple would not enjoy the ten years of bliss that they had been granted." She dropped her head after she finished, her whole face changed to a mournful look.