Chapter - 204 Disciples of the Eastern Heretic (13)

Cheng Ying said, "Apprentice sister's fork technique only has a few stances. She went away and thought about it carefully and must have come up with a way to neutralize it."

Lu Wushuang said, "However, Sha Dan has recovered from his injury; with the two Sha people together, won't their power be great?"

Yang Guo laughed and said, "With Sha Dan plus a Sha Gu, you've got dumb and dumber, what power?"

The three of them continued their discussion for a while but couldn't come up with any great plan. They thought about the four of them fighting together; they won't be able to beat her but could protect themselves. They decided on fighting her with all their might when she came again the next day.

Yang Guo said, "The two Sha people will join up and fight her from the front, you two attack from the sides. Let's go find Sha Gu and practice our plan."

The three of them called for Sha Gu but there was no reply. They didn't know where she was and the three of them began to worry. The three of them split up to search for her.

Cheng Ying searched for a little while and suddenly saw Sha Gu lying on a pile of rocks, her breathing was weak. Cheng Ying was alarmed and quickly took off her clothes to take a look; she saw that there was a red palm print on her back; she had fallen victim to Li Mochou's "Divine Five Poison Palm". Cheng Ying quickly called for Yang Guo and Lu Wushuang and then fed a 'Nine Flower Jade Dew' pill to her.

Yang Guo remembered the method to cure this palm from the 'Five Poison Codex' and quickly circulated his internal energy and controlled her pressure points.

Sha Gu laughed foolishly and said, "Evil woman, behind, hit me. Sha Gu, hit back, hit her." The counterattack that Sha Gu used was one of the three palms techniques that Huang Yaoshi taught her. Though Li Mochou succeeded in her ambush, she was struck on the arm and her arm was almost broken; she was frightened and in pain so she left swiftly, not daring to continue her stances and take Sha Gu's life.

The three took Sha Gu back to the hut and sat anxiously; with one of the good fighters hurt, in tomorrow's battle it would be even harder to defend against her. Sha Gu had a serious injury; if they escaped with her in tow, they would definitely be caught by Li Mochou.

Yang Guo looked at Cheng Ying and then at Lu Wushuang. Then he then picked up a piece of string from the needle basket that was at hand and then grabbed a pair of scissors and started to cut.

Sha Gu was lying on the bed and suddenly called out "Cut it; cut that evil woman's broom! Cut that broom!" She didn't know it was called a 'fly whisk' and called it a 'broom'.

Yang Guo had an idea, "That witch's fly whisk is a soft weapon and she uses it superbly; precious sabers and sharp swords can't harm her. If there really was a large pair of scissors that could be used as a weapon and cut her fly whisk, that would be great." As he thought about this, the string in his left hand started to move like a fly whisk, the scissors in his right hand came forward and cut the string in two. He then pondered about the fly whisk's movements and how to control the scissors to attack; dreaming up a set of techniques.

Cheng Ying and Lu Wushuang watched for a while and then understood, delight was on their faces.

Cheng Ying said, "There's a blacksmith seven or eight li north of here…"

Lu Wushuang interrupted and said, "Good, we'll go and get that blacksmith to forge a large pair of scissors."

Yang Guo thought, "It would be difficult to forge this weapon in such a rush and I'll have to adjust to the change of battle. This is a lot easier than learning the "Jade Flute Swordplay", and anyway, we don't have another plan so we've got to give it a try."

If one of them leaves and takes the order to the blacksmith, it will be extremely dangerous if Li Mochou were to suddenly ambush that person. Right now the four of them could not be separated. So Cheng Ying and Lu Wushuang set up some bedding on the horse and placed Sha Gu on the back of the horse. They made their way to the blacksmith.

After the Mongols conquered the Jin, they entered the boundaries of the Song land. This place was the northern frontier of the Song borders, the Mongols had ransacked cities and towns and the whole place was in ruins.

The blacksmith shop was very simple; in the middle was a large anvil, on the floor were pieces of coal and fragments of metals and there were a few plows and sickles hung on the wall. There was no one in the shop.

Yang Guo looked at the shop and thought, "How can weapons be made here!" But since they've made their way here, he might as well ask so he called out loudly, "Is the blacksmith home?"

After a while, an old man entered from a side room; his beard and hair was grey, he was about fifty years old. The man had a hump, most probably from bending down to forge metal over a long time; his eyes were red and small because of smoke from the fires. His left leg was crippled and he had a crutch under his arm. He said, "How can I help you?"

The Han loudly said, "Blacksmith Feng? Come over here and listen to the orders."

The old man greeted them and said, "I am he."

The Han said, "The captain has the following orders: all the blacksmiths of this town have three days to gather together at Xian city to aid the army. You have to be there tomorrow, you hear?"

Blacksmith Feng said, "I am old…"

The Mongolian captain raised his whip and said a few words.

The Han said, "If you're not there tomorrow, you'll watch your head get cut off." After he said this, the two left.

Blacksmith Feng stood there and was lost in thought. Cheng Ying saw that he was old and pitiful; she took out some money and placed it on the table. She said, "Master Feng, you're old and can't move well, won't working in the Mongolian camp lead to losing your life for no reason? Take this money and run away!"

Blacksmith Feng sighed and said, "Thank you for Miss's kindness. This old blacksmith has lived for so long, living and dying isn't much to me. But the thousands and thousands of lives of Jiangnan will be in danger."

The three of them were startled and asked, "Why?"

Blacksmith Feng said, "The Mongolian army is gathering blacksmiths to forge weapons. Once they have enough, they will definitely invade south into the land of the Song."

The three of them heard that his words were carefully thought and were very reasonable; they wanted to ask further when Blacksmith Feng said, "What do you three want to order?"

Yang Guo said, "Since Master Feng has other matters to attend to, I shouldn't disturb you but I need it urgently so I have to trouble you." Yang Guo then described the form and size of the scissors to him. The scissors were a special object but no one would have thought that as soon as Blacksmith Feng heard it, there were not any signs of surprise on his face. He nodded and pushed and pulled the air bellows and started the furnace up. He then placed two pieces of iron into the furnace.