Chapter - 437 What is Love? (12)

"I think we'd better make a rope for me to go down into the cave to investigate," Cheng Ying broke the silence. "Perhaps … perhaps … Sister-in-law slipped …"

Huang Rong sighed. "Very well, let's find out."

They immediately unsheathed their weapons and gathered tree bark, which was then braided into a long rope. They worked hard and around dawn, more than a hundred zhangs [a zhang is approximately 10 feet or 3 meters] of rope was ready. Several of the youngsters immediately offered to go down first. "Let me go first," said Yang Guo.

Everybody looked at Huang Rong for approval. Mrs. Guo thought hard. She was sure that if she said 'no', Yang Guo would insist on going anyway; but if she said 'yes' and – God forbid – Xiao Longnü were found inside, Yang Guo would certainly not be willing to come back up. While she hesitated, Cheng Ying once again offered a solution, "Brother Yang, let me go. Don't you trust me?"

Other than his wife, Cheng Ying was the only person Yang Guo loved and respected. Besides, he felt weak from excessive grief anyway, so he just nodded his agreement.

Wu Santong and his sons, along with Yelu Qi slowly lowered Miss Cheng into the opening. The cave entrance was located on or near the hilltop, so we can safely conclude that the depth of the cave is approximately the same as the height of the hill itself. Therefore, when they had almost run out of rope, Cheng Ying finally reached the bottom.

Everybody stood around the hole without making any sound; intently looking at the hole, waiting for some word from Cheng Ying. It was a suspenseful moment, as it seemed like Cheng Ying stayed in the cave for a long time.

Huang Rong and Zhu Ziliu exchanged a glance; they both had a similar thought, "If Xiao Longnü is really dead inside, Yang Guo would surely jump into the hole. We must not let him do so."

Yang Guo caught sight of their exchange, he thought, "If I really want to die, I can do that quietly, no need to involve all of you; unlike that foolish couple earlier."

Suddenly the rope in Wu Santong's hands moved. "Quick! Pull!" Guo Fu and the Wu Brothers shouted almost simultaneously. Quickly they helped pulling the rope. Even before she reached the top, Cheng Ying had shouted at top or her lungs, "Not here! Sister-in-law is not here!"

Everybody was so relieved that they sighed almost simultaneously. A little later Cheng Ying reached the top and immediately said, "I have looked every where, every corner of the cave. Nothing was there except Gongsun Zhi and Qiu Qianchi's bodies."

Zhu Ziliu spoke in a low and somewhat muffled voice: "We have looked everywhere, so I think Miss Long has already left the valley."

Suddenly, Lu Wushuang said, "There is another place where we have not gone to look. Perhaps she is trying to fish that Passionless Pill out…"

Yang Guo's heart skipped a beat. Before Lu Wushuang could finish speaking, he dashed towards the Broken Heart Cliff. As he ran, he shouted: "Long'er, Long'er!" When he got to the edge of the cliff, he looked into the deep ravine below. All he saw was a vast sheet of grayish mist, how could anyone be seen in there?

He thought, "Long'er's thoughts are simple and pure. If she had any problems, she would have certainly not kept them from me." Then, he recalled the words that Xiao Longnü had uttered earlier, "She had asked me only to remember forever the vow that she had asked of me. I would naturally never go against her wishes, so why was there even a need to speak of it? But she did not even ask anything of me in the first place."

Lifting his head, he said in a soft voice: "Long'er, Long'er, where exactly have you gone? What are the words that you want me to obey?" Looking across the ravine at the Broken Heart Cliff, he could almost imagine the indistinct figure of a woman in white with a red flower in the hair by one of her temples. The woman seemed to move swiftly as she engaged Gongsun Zhi in an intense battle with the pair of swords in her hands.

"Long'er!" called Yang Guo. Then, pulling himself together, he realized that Xiao Longnü was not there. All he saw were floating sheets of whitish mist … but that red flower was indeed at the bottom of the opposite cliff.

Struck by the oddity of the discovery, he thought, "When Long'er fought Gongsun Zhi in that place yesterday, the flower was certainly not there. The whole area is nothing but rock that does not encourage even the growth of grass or trees; how can there be any flowers? If I say that the wind blew the flower there; that would be too much of a coincidence."

Exerting his internal energy he leaped toward the cliff and crossed the stone bridge. His chest tightened! That flower was the one he slipped into his wife's hair just a few hours ago. He was sure of it, since one side of the flower was a bit flattened.

Yang Guo bent down and picked the flower up. Underneath it he found a paper package, which he hastily opened. Inside he found a few strands of purple grass, the "Severed Intestine Grass". His heart was beating fast. He looked at the paper, but he found nothing, not even a single stroke of a character was to be seen.

Suddenly he heard Lu Wushuang shout, "Brother Yang, what are you doing?"

He turned his head and his gaze was caught by two lines of characters carved by a sword on the cliff's wall. It read, "Sixteen years from now we will meet here. The love between husband and wife is profoundly great. Do not break your promise." Underneath was carved in smaller characters, "Xiao Longnü addresses my husband Yang-Lang. Please treasure this and I beg that you fulfill this reunion."

Yang Guo stared at those characters like he was losing his mind. His head felt dizzy. He really could not decipher what it meant. Unanswerable questions kept floating around in his mind. "She wants me to meet her here in sixteen years; then where did she go? She is heavily poisoned, she might not survive another ten days or even half a year; how can she wait sixteen years? She knows I threw the Passionless Pill away, why did she ask me to wait sixteen years?" The more he thought, the more his mind was confused; he staggered a few times and almost fell down.

The others stood on the opposite side of the cliff and saw his dazed and confused condition; they were afraid he might make a wrong step and fall down into the bottomless abyss below. But the stone bridge was so narrow that only one person could stand on it. Yang Guo's martial arts were so profound that if someone went to him and he acted up they would certainly die together. Huang Rong frowned and turning to Cheng Ying she said, "Shimei [Younger Martial Sister], go talk to him. I think he will listen to you."

"Very well, I will go to him," she responded, leaping onto the rock, and walking slowly toward Yang Guo.

Hearing footsteps coming near Yang Guo snapped, "Go away!" He turned his head with fire in his eyes.

"Yang Da Ge, it's me," the young miss said softly. "I just want to help you find Yang Da Sao, nothing else."

Yang Guo stared hard at her sad face. Slowly his countenance softened.

"Is this red flower left by Sister-in-law?" asked Cheng Ying, approaching him.

"Yes," he said, "She wants me to wait sixteen years…Why sixteen years?"

Cheng Ying read the message. She was perplexed. "Madame Guo is very intelligent, nothing can get past her," she said, "Why don't we ask her what she thinks. I am sure she can solve this puzzle."