You already insist on killing me, there’s no way I can do anything about it, but I also have one thing to beg you.’ That man said: ‘What?’ Duan Yu said: ‘This lady is suffering a strange poison. She doesn’t have any strength in her limbs and can’t walk. Can you please at your convenience take her to her home at Mantuo Villa by Tai Lake?’

That man ha-ha laughed and said: ‘Why should I do this? The East Conquering General of Western Xia has given a military order, that is, whoever captures this learned and talented girl will be rewarded with two thousand gold taels and be conferred on with the Marquis of Ten Thousand Houses title (t/n 万户侯 – Wanhu Hou).’ Duan Yu said: ‘That’s okay. I’ll write a letter, after you’ve taken this lady back to her home, you can bring this letter to Dali to get five thousand gold taels, the Marquis of Ten Thousand Houses title will also be conferred on you accordingly.’ That man ha-ha laughed loudly and said: ‘You think I’m a three year old kid? Who the heck are you? Depending on a letter you little boy write can really get me five thousand gold taels and the conferment of the Marquis of Ten Thousand Houses title?’

Duan Yu thought this matter was really hard for other people to believe. For the moment he did not know what to do, his hands continuously rubbing against each other. He said: ‘This… This… What should I do? I won’t regret it if I die, but if I let you wander around this area and fall into the hands of the bandits then even if I died ten thousand times I still wouldn’t be able to redeem myself.’

Wang Yuyan heard him say that very sincerely therefore she could not help but feel somewhat moved. She said loudly to the Western Xia man: ‘Hey, if you’re rude to me, my biaoge (t/n: an older cousin with a different surname than the speaker’s) will avenge me. He will surely throw Western Xia into a state of extreme confusion and won’t spare even fowls and dogs.’ That man said: ‘Who’s your biaoge?’ Wang Yuyan said: ‘My biaoge is Mr. Murong, a famous figure of wulin in the Central Plains. I think you’ve heard of the reputation of ‘Murong of Gusu’ and the ‘Paying Him Back Using His Own Methods’ technique (t/n: 以彼之道, 还施彼身). If you’re rude to me, he’ll treat you badly ten times as much.’

That man sneered and said: ‘If Mr. Murong saw you and this pretty boy being intimate with each other like this, how would he still be willing to avenge you?’

The face of Wang Yuyan became very red. She said: ‘Don’t talk rubbish. I and this Mr. Duan don’t have… don’t have any…’ Thinking that this kind of matter should not be talked a lot about, she changed the topic of conversation and asked: ‘Hey, master soldier, what’s your name? Do you dare to tell me your name?’

That Western Xia warrior said: ‘Why not? When going I don’t change my surname, when sitting I don’t change my given name, it’s Li Yanzong of Western Xia.’

Wang Yuyan said: ‘Hum, your surname is Li, that’s Western Xia’s national surname.’

That man said: ‘The national surname isn’t everything about me. I serve my country with unreserved loyalty, and will take Liao, destroy Song, wipe out Tufan in the west and annex Dali in the south.’

Duan Yu said: ‘Your ambitions really aren’t small. General Li, let me tell you this. You’re proficient at using secret techniques of different schools so if you wanna become the number one martial user under heaven, I think that’s not hard. But if you wanna annex all the lands under heaven, it’s not like being the number one martial arts user under heaven you’ll be able to get that done.’

Li Yanzong let out a ‘humph’ sound and did not reply.

Wang Yuyan said: ‘Speaking of becoming the number one martial arts user under heaven, you may not necessarily be able to achieve that goal.’ Li Yanzong said: ‘How do you know?’ Wang Yuyan said: ‘In the world at the moment, as far as I know, there’re two people whose martial arts are far above yours.’ Li Yanzong took a step forwards, raised his head and asked: ‘Who are they?’ Wang Yuyan said: ‘The first person is the former Chief of the Beggar Society Chief Qiao.’ Li Yanzong let out a ‘humph’ sound and said: ‘His reputation is great, but he may not necessarily be worthy of it.’ Wang Yuyan said: ‘The second person is my biaoge, Mr. Murong Murong Fu of Jiangnan.’

Li Yanzong shook his head and said: ‘That’s not necessarily true either. You put Qiao Feng’s name before Murong Fu’s name out of fairness or out of personal reasons?’ Wang Yuyan asked: ‘What is out of fairness? And what is out of personal reasons?’ Li Yanzong said: ‘If it’s out of fairness, then you really think Qiao Feng’s martial arts are better than Murong Fu’s; if it’s out of personal reasons, then because Murong Fu and you are relatives, you rank a stranger before him.’ Wang Yuyan said: ‘Out of fairness or out of personal reasons are just the same. I naturally hope that my biaoge surpasses Chief Qiao, but at the moment it’s still out of the question.’ Li Yanzong said: ‘Though it’s still impossible now, what Qiao Feng excels at are just the martial arts of one school. But your biaoge has extensive knowledge about the world’s martial arts, in the future his skills will improve every day so he’ll be able to become the number one martial arts user under heaven.’

Wang Yuyan sighed and said: ‘That still won’t be possible. In the future, the number one martial arts user under heaven will likely be this Mr. Duan.’

Li Yanzong turned his face upwards, laughed ha-ha and said: ‘Turns out you can joke. This bookworm has merely been given directions by you and learned just the ‘Wave Treading Exquisite Steps’. Don’t tell me that depending on those scampering off like a frightened rat skill and withdrawing into passive defense and fleeing like a turtle skill he’ll be able to get the number one martial arts user under heaven title?’

Wang Yuyan at first had wanted to say: ‘His ‘Wave Treading Exquisite Steps’ technique wasn’t taught by me. His internal energy is vigorous. His base is solid. No one can compare with him.’ But she changed her mind: ‘This man seems to be narrow-minded. If I speak the truth, perhaps it won’t be possible for him not to kill Mr. Duan. I’d better incite him a bit.’ She then said: ‘If he’s willing to follow my instructions and practice martial arts, three years later, perhaps he still won’t be able to surpass Chief Qiao, but if he wanna defeat you, that’ll be as easy as turning his hand over.’

Li Yanzong said: ‘Very good, I believe your words. To not leave behind the cause of trouble of the other day, I’d better kill him in a saber stance today. Mr. Duan, you get down here, I wanna kill you.’

Duan Yu hastily said: ‘I won’t go downstairs, you… you can’t go up here either.’

Wang Yuyan had not thought that she would overreach herself. To her surprise this man was not incited. She could only sneer and say: ‘So you’re afraid and fear that three years later he’ll outstrip you.’

Li Yanzong said: ‘You’re using a provoking trick to make me spare his life. Ha-ha, what kind of man I am? How can it be that I could easily be fooled? Want me to spare his life, it’s not hard. I already said before, he only needs to kowtow and beg for mercy every time he sees me, I definitely won’t kill him’

Wang Yuyan looked at Duan Yu, thinking that he would definitely not do that kind of kowtowing and begging for mercy thing therefore the only choice left in this situation was to fight with their backs against the wall. She lowered her voice and asked: ‘Mr. Duan, sometimes the energy swords in your fingers work and sometimes they don’t. What’s the cause of that?’ Duan Yu said: ‘I don’t know.’ Wang Yuyan said: ‘You’d better use your full power to try stabbing him in his right wrist with your energy swords, snatching his long sword then clasping your arms around him tightly and using the ‘Snow Melting Six Suns Skill’ to remove his internal energy.’ Duan Yu said in surprise: ‘What’s the ‘Snow Melting Six Suns Skill’?’ Wang Yuyan said: ‘That day at Mantuo Villa, when you subdued mama Yan to save me, didn’t you use this kind of divine skill of the Duan clan in Dali?’ Only now could Duan Yu realize what it was. That day Wang Yuyan had mistaken his ‘Beiming Divine Skill’ for the ‘Energy Dissolving Great Technique’ which was hated by many people in wulin. At that moment, it had been too late for him to explain therefore he had unthinkingly said that it had been a skill called ‘Snow Melting Six Suns Skill’ that had been handed down in the Duan clan in Dali from generation to generation. He had blurted it out therefore he had already forgotten about it, but Wang Yuyan remembered clearly every martial arts of various schools in the world, let alone this kind of extraordinary strange skill.

Duan Yu nodded, thinking that there was really no other way besides this way, but it was not assured, in brief, it boded ill rather than well. He then righted his clothes and said: ‘Miss Wang, I’m incompetent and not able to escort you back to your mansion. I’m really ashamed. Someday, after having returned to your mansion in honor and glory, when you and your biaoxiong (t/n: one’s older male cousin with a different surname) get married, don’t forget to pour down some cups of wine on the camellia trees I myself planted at Mantuo Villa, then I’d be considered as having drunk your wedding wine.’

Hearing him say that in the future she and her biaoge may get married Wang Yuyan was glad, but she also could not bear seeing him going out for other people to oppress like this. She said in a sad voice: ‘Mr. Duan, your great kind act of saving my life, as long as I’m alive I won’t dare to forget.’

Duan Yu thought: ‘If I gotta helplessly see you and Mr. Murong get married in the future, I’ll get madly jealous and my mind will be in torment, it’d be hard for me to live. It’d be better to die for you to day so that I’d feel at ease and justified.’ He turned around and smiled to her then step by step went down on the rungs.

Wang Yuyan looked at his back and thought: ‘This man’s very strange, at this moment how can he still smile?’

After Duan Yu had climbed down the ladder, he stared at Li Yanzong and said: ‘General Li, it’s impossible for you not to kill me, so let’s start!’ As he finished saying he took a stride, which was none other than the ‘Wave Treading Exquisite Steps’.

Li Yanzong brandished his saber. Shua shua shua, he slashed three times using three other saber techniques of different schools. Wang Yuyan did not consider it to be strange. She thought that among weapons saber had the most schools and stances, therefore if a person was really learned, even if he executed seventy or eighty stances continuously, he would not have to go as far as to use the second stance of any saber technique of a school. Once this Wave Treading Exquisite Steps technique of Duan Yu was used, it was really unpredictable and very strange. Li Yanzong wanted to use the movements of the saber to confine Duan Yu, but even though several times obviously he had already surrounded him somehow Duan Yu unexpectedly stepped out of the encirclement like a ghost. Seeing that Duan Yu could manage to defend himself this time, Wang Yuyan felt a bit more optimistic. She only hoped that he would suddenly attack when the enemy was not ready and emerge victorious from danger.

Duan Yu secretly channeled his internal energy wanting to shoot it out of his five right fingers, but every time it always stopped when it reached his arm and inexplicably went back. Fortunately, he was already extremely skilled at using the ‘Wave Treading Exquisite Steps’ therefore even though Li Yanzong had sped up his saber stances, all along he had not hit Duan Yu’s body.

Li Yanzong had seen with his own eyes how Duan Yu had killed the Western Xia experts with the bizarre energy of his finger attacks. This moment, seeing Duan Yu poking and drawing in the air with his fingers and being deliberately mystifying, he naturally did not know that it was Duan Yu being unable to make his internal energy come out and only thought that this was the executing method before using his evil technique. He thought when Duan Yu finished performing all of his rites and saying his incantations, he would use this murderous invisible evil technique. Therefore he could not help feeling frightened and considered: ‘Besides the bizarre footwork this dude’s martial arts are very mediocre, but his evil technique is dangerous, I must kill him before he uses it. But my saber has always missed him, what should I do?’ An idea sprung up in his mind. He already had a plan. He sent a palm strike backwards which hit the hydraulic wheel and broke a large piece off a plank then made a grab with his left hand, held that piece of wood in his hand and threw it at Duan Yu’s foot. Because Duan Yu was running like the wind, that piece of wood certainly did not hit him. But Li Yanzong continuously threw punches and hand chops, breaking all kinds of household utensils in the mill such as bamboo baskets and rice sacks, grabbed and threw them at Duan Yu’s feet.

There were more than ten corpses lying in the mill in disorder, and in addition to that, there were a lot of broken household utensils like this, where could Duan Yu still put his feet on? His ‘Wave Treading Exquisite Steps’ totally depended on advancing and retreating elegantly like the wind blowing on the water surface, being natural and unimpeded. But this moment, every step he took was hindered by objects, when he did not stumbled, he stepped on the heads and bodies of the corpses, therefore how could this important secret of ‘floating freely like riding the wind’ still be achieved? He knew that if he slowed down just a little he would be parted from his life instantly. Therefore he decisively did not look at the ground and only stepped according to the footwork that he had well practiced. Whether his steps were high or low, whether there were strange sounds under his feet, or whether the tips of his toes kicked something weird, he did not care at all.

Wang Yuyan also realized that the situation was not all right and shouted: ‘Mr. Duan, you quickly rush out of here and run away by yourself, if you keep fighting him here, your life will be in danger.’

Duan Yu shouted: ‘Unless I already get killed, that’s unthinkable. As long as I can still breathe I’ll protect you carefully.’

Li Yanzong sneered and said: ‘Your martial arts are worthless, but you’re the sentimental type, treating Miss Wang with deep affection and serious love like this.’ Duan Yu shook his head and said: ‘That’s wrong, that’s wrong. Miss Wang is like a god while I, Duan Yu, am just an ordinary man, how can I dare to talk about love or something like that? As she values me, she’s willing to follow me to find her biaoge. I must repay her for this kind appreciation of me.’ Li Yanzong said: ‘Hum, she’s following you to search for her biaoge Mr. Murong, so in her heart she thinks nothing of you at all. You have such wishful thinking, isn’t that like a toad wanting to eat swan meat? Ha-ha, ha-ha! This can make me laugh to death!’

Duan Yu was not angry at all. He said solemnly: ‘You say I’m like a toad and Miss Wang is like a swan, these comparisons are very correct. But I, the toad, am different than the other toads. As long as I see the swan several times, I am already satisfied and don’t have any other wish.’

When Li Yanzong heard Duan Yu say ‘I, the toad, am different than the other toads’, he could not help laughing loudly. It was strange that even though his laughs were resonant his facial muscles were still stiff as usual, and his face did not have any smiling expression. Duan Yu had seen people like Prince Yanqing did not even move their lips while speaking therefore even though Li Yanzong had a strange appearance, he did not find it very surprising. He said: ‘Speaking of wooden expression, you’re still very far behind Prince Yanqing. You’re not qualified to become his disciple as well.’ Li Yanzong said: ‘Who’s Prince Yanqing?’ Duan Yu said: ‘He’s a Dali expert. Your martial arts are quite inferior to his.’ Actually he could not tell whether other people’s martial arts were good or bad at all, but he thought that anyway I was going to die at your hands soon, there was no harm in saying a few words that were unpleasant to the ear to make you angry.

Li Yanzong let out a ‘humph’ sound and said: ‘My martial arts are good or bad, how could a boy like you understand?’ His mouth talked yet all the while the saber in his hand had still been brandished with great ease and more and more urgently.

Seeing that Duan Yu was swaying, his footsteps suddenly became disorderly, and the situation was very difficult, Wang Yuyan shouted: ‘Mr. Duan, you quickly run to the outside, if you wanna hold him back, the outside is still the same.’ Duan Yu said: ‘You can’t move, if you stay here alone my mind won’t be at ease. There’re many corpses here, a young girl like you is certainly scared, I’d better say here with you.’ Wang Yuyan sighed and thought: ‘You’re so silly, taking into consideration even whether I’m afraid of corpses but disregarding the chance that you yourself will get killed in a flash.’

At that moment, whenever Duan Yu put his feet down he kicked or tripped on something. Several times the blade of the enemy passed by and missed the top of his head and his body by a hair’s breadth. He was so scared that he trembled uncontrollably and continuously thought: ‘If in a slash like this he cuts off half of my head, it certainly won’t be fun. A gentleman is flexible. For the sake of Miss Wang, I’d better kneel down, kowtow and beg him to spare my life.’ Even though he thought so, in the end he could not say it.

Li Yanzong sneered: ‘I see that you are already extremely frightened and only wanna run away.’ Duan Yu said: ‘Life and death are important matters, who aren’t frightened? After the death, everything will be ended. I already thought of running away but I can’t run away.’ Li Yanzong said: ‘Why?’ Duan Yu said: ‘It’s no use talking much. I’m counting from one to ten, if you still won’t be able to kill me, you mustn’t follow and cling to me like a leech. You can’t kill me, I can’t kill you either. If we keep playing hide and seek tediously like this, it would make Miss Wang, a bystander, feel very bored and unhappy.’

He opened his mouth and counted without waiting for Li Yanzong to agree: ‘One; two; three…’ Li Yanzong said: ‘What’s your stupid game?’ Duan Yu kept counting: ‘Four; five; six…’ Li Yanzong laughed and said: ‘Why on earth are there humdrum dudes like you? You’ve really disgraced the words ‘Martial arts’.’ Hu-hu-hu he slashed continuously three times. Duan Yu accelerated his footsteps, his mouth also counted faster: ‘Seven; eight; nine; ten; eleven; twelve; thirteen… Okay, I’ve counted to thirteen yet you still haven’t killed me, why haven’t you admitted defeat? I see that you’re already hungry. Your mouth is dry too. Just go to Songhe Tower in Wuxi, have some cups of wine and eat some delicacies, how pleasant!’ Seeing that the enemy was unwilling to give up, he wanted to use wine and food to tempt him.

Li Yanzong thought: ‘I’ve met countless tough enemies in my life, but none of them is like this dude. Saying that he’s skilled is not correct but saying that he’s stupid isn’t correct either, his martial arts aren’t good and aren’t bad. He’s rare in the world. If I keep being entangled with him, who knows where it’ll all end? I’m afraid if I become slightly careless and get hit with his evil technique, I’ll lose my life here instead. I must think of another surprising plan.’ He knew that Duan Yu cared about Wang Yuyan very much therefore he suddenly raised his head, looked at the garret and shouted: ‘Very good, very good, you guys quickly kill the girl then come down to help me.’

Duan Yu was very frightened, thinking that there were really enemies having climbed up to the garret to attack Wang Yuyan. He hastily raised his head. His footsteps became slightly slower. Li Yanzong made a sweep of his own leg which hit Duan Yu and sent him falling. His left foot stepped on the chest of Duan Yu and his steel saber was put on his neck. Duan Yu extended his finger wanting to poke, but Li Yanzong’s right hand slightly increased pressure, the blade of the saber immediately went into his flesh several fen’s (t/n: 1 fen = 0.3333 cm). He shouted: ‘Make a move, and I’ll cut your head off in an instant.’

At this moment, seeing clearly that there was no enemy on the garret Duan Yu immediately felt relaxed. He smiled and said: ‘So you fooled me, Miss Wang is not in danger.’ After that he sighed and said: ‘What a pity, what a pity.’ Li Yanzong asked: ‘Pity what?’ Duan Yu said: ‘Your martial arts are very good. At first you could be regarded as a brave man so if I, Duan Yu, had died at your hands, it’d have made sense. But unexpectedly you couldn’t beat me with martial arts. Instead you used a trick and followed the way of despicable scoundrels. Don’t tell me that I won’t die an unfair death?’

Li Yanzong said: ‘I’ve never been incited by other people. If you think you’ll die an unfair death and feel discontent, then bring a lawsuit to the King of Hell!’

Wang Yuyan shouted: ‘General Li, hold on.’ Li Yanzong said: ‘What?’ Wang Yuyan said: ‘If you kill him, then unless you also kill me immediately, there’ll be one day I’ll kill you to avenge Mr. Duan.’ Li Yanzong was startled and said: ‘Didn’t you say you wanted your biaoge to find me?’ Wang Yuyan said: ‘My biaoge’s martial arts may not necessarily be better than yours but I have the ability to kill you.’ Li Yanzong sneered and said: ‘How do you know?’ Wang Yuyan said: ‘Though your knowledge about martial arts is extensive, it’s still less than half of mine. At first when I saw that your saber technique had many varieties I had a high opinion of you, but after seeing fifty stances, I thought your saber technique was merely like that. It’s seemingly unkind to say that ‘all your tricks have been exhausted’, but in brief, your knowledge is still far inferior to mine.’ (T/n: All your tricks have been exhausted – 黔驴技穷 – Taken from Liao Zongyuan’s ‘Three Warnings: The Donkey of Qian’ (Qian – Guizhou province) which literally means ‘The tricks of the Donkey of Qian have been exhausted.’)

Li Yanzong said: ‘The saber technique I’ve used so far doesn’t have two stances belonging to the same school. How do you know that my knowledge is far inferior to yours? How do you know if I still have many unused martial arts?’

Wang Yuyan said: ‘Just now when you used the ‘Flying Sand in the Great Desert’ stance of Yushu School in Qinghai, Mr. Duan quickly stepped over, had you used the seventeenth stance of the ‘Feathered Raiment Saber’ of Taiyi School then used the ‘Clear Wind Slowly Coming’ stance of Lingfei School you’d have already flattened him. Why did you gotta be flashy and use the Hao Clan’s Saber Technique of Shanxi? And why did you gotta use a trick, fooling him into losing concentration because of caring about me, to get a victory? I see that you don’t know anything about saber techniques of Taoist schools (t/n: Taiyi School – 太乙派 – is a Taoist school).’ Li Yanzong said without thinking: ‘Saber techniques of Taoist schools?’ Wang Yuyan said: ‘Yes. I guess you think Taoists are only good at swordsmanship, but you don’t know that the saber techniques of famous Taoist schools have softness in hardness, which is another achievement.’ Li Yanzong sneered and said: ‘Your words are really conceited. Saying like this, you must be passionately in love with this Duan-surnamed boy.’

Wang Yuyan blushed and said: ‘Passionately in love what? I never have anything called ‘love’ for him. But he already dies for me so I certainly should be determined to avenge him.’

Li Yanzong asked: ‘You won’t regret saying this in any way?’ Wang Yuyan said: ‘Of course I won’t regret at all.’

Li Yanzong let out some sneers, took out from his bosom a porcelain bottle and threw it onto Duan Yu’s body. A ‘shua’ sound was heard, he had already put the saber back in its sheath. His silhouette then flashed, in an instant he was already on the outside. There was a neigh, followed by hoofbeats ‘clop-clop’. Unexpectedly the rider made the horse run farther and farther, and thus he left.

Duan Yu stood up and stroked the trace of saber on his neck. It still felt a little pain. He felt as if he was dreaming. Wang Yuyan had not expected this to happen either. Both of them, one upstairs, one downstairs, gazed at each other, feeling both happy and surprised.

After a long while, Duan Yu said: ‘He left.’ Wang Yuyan also said: ‘He left.’ Duan Yu laughed: ‘Excellent, excellent! He unexpectedly didn’t kill me. Miss Wang, your accomplishments in martial arts outclass his, he was afraid of you.’ Wang Yuyan said: ‘Not necessarily, had he killed you, after that he’d have needed only one saber stance to kill me, wouldn’t that have been neat and tidy?’ Duan Yu scratched his head and said: ‘That’s right. But… But… Hum, he saw that you’re just like a goddess, how could he dare to kill you?’

Wang Yuyan blushed and thought: ‘A bookworm like you regards me as a god. But how could this kind of cruel and merciless Western Xia warrior care about me?’

Seeing that she suddenly had a shy expression, Duan Yu did not understand why and said: ‘I wanted to disregard my life and keep you safe by all means. Unexpectedly, you’re safe and sound, and I can still continue living my little life, this can be considered utmost luck.’

He took a step forwards, a ‘dang’ sound was heard, a small porcelain bottle had dropped on the ground. It was the bottle that Li Yanzong had thrown onto his body. He picked it up, had a look and saw that there were ten seal characters written on the bottle: ‘A breath will instantly remove the Sad Weak Clear Wind.’ Duan Yu muttered: ‘What’s the ‘Sad Weak Clear Wind’? Hum, this’s likely the antidote.’ He pulled the stopper out of the bottle. An unbearably strange stinking smell went straight into his nose. Feeling dizzy and almost passing out, he was frightened and hastily put the stopper back in the bottle, then shouted: ‘I’m fooled. I’m fooled. How stinking! It’s like going into an abalone and fish market!’ (T/n: An abalone and fish market – 鲍鱼之肆 – taken from the Analects of Confucius to emphasize the idea that Duan Yu was a bookworm.)

Wang Yuyan said: ‘Please take it for me to sniff, maybe fighting poison with poison will prove effective.’ Duan Yu said: ‘Yes!’ then brought the porcelain bottle to Wang Yuyan and said: ‘This thing is very stinking and hard to bear, do you really wanna try?’ Wang Yuyan nodded. Duan Yu held the stopper in his hand but he had not removed it yet.

In a very short time, countless thoughts spun in his mind: ‘If this antidote is really useful and removes the poison inside her, she won’t need to depend on my help. Her abilities are one hundred times better than mine, why would she want me to go with her? Even if she doesn’t forbid me to follow her, when she meets the person of her heart Murong Fu, would I just stand to the side and helplessly watch them being affectionate endlessly towards each other? Hear them talking about love? Could it be that I, Duan Yu, really have this ability? Would I be able to stay calm and maintain my composure? Would I be able not to show any sulky expression and not to say any resentful word?’

Seeing him having a dazed expression and not saying a word, Wang Yuyan smiled and said: ‘What are you thinking? Just take it for me to sniff. I’m not afraid of the stink.’ Duan Yu hastily said: ‘Yes, yes!’ then removed the stopper of the bottle and moved the bottle to Wang Yuyan’s nose. Wang Yuyan took a deep breath then said in fright: ‘A’yo, it’s really stinking.’ Duan Yu said: ‘Yes. I already said it likely wasn’t useful.’ He wanted to put the bottle into his bosom but Wang Yuyan said: ‘Let me try sniffing it one more time.’ Duan Yu put the porcelain bottle next to Wang Yuyan’s nose again. He himself did not know if he was hoping that the antidote would be effective or not.

Wang Yuyan frowned, covered up her nostrils with her hand, smiled and said: ‘I’d rather be unable to move my limbs than sniff this stinking thing… Ah! My hand, my hand can move already!’ It turned out she had already unconsciously raised her right hand and covered her nostrils with it. Previously, it had been very strenuous and difficult for her to even press and keep the clothes wrapping around her body immobile.

As she was happy, she took the bottle in Duan Yu’ hand and sniffed it deeply. Knowing that this stinking gas was very effective, she did not fear it anymore and took several sniffs. The softness and weakness in her limbs gradually faded away. She turned towards Duan Yu and said: ‘Can you please go downstairs? I wanna change clothes.’

Duan Yu hastily said: ‘Yes, yes!’ and quickly went downstairs. Seeing that corpses were lying everywhere, and except for the couple of young peasants the rest had been killed at his own hands, he felt extremely regretful. He saw that the eyes of a Western Xia warrior were still wide opened and looking at him. Really, that man had died with an everlasting grievance. He made a deep bow and said: ‘Old chap, if I hadn’t killed you, then you would’ve killed me. At that time lying here wouldn’t have been you but would’ve been Duan Yu instead. I had no alternative, but my mind really is extremely unease and regretful. In the future when I’ve returned to Dali, I will definitely invite eminent monks to chant scriptures and release the souls of all of you from suffering.’ He turned around, cast a look at the corpses of the couple of young peasants, then turned his head towards the corpses of the Western Xia warriors and said: ‘I was the person you wanna kill and Miss Wang was the person you wanna capture, why did you gotta kill innocent people?’

Wang Yuyan had finished changing clothes. She took the wet