Глава 3, ч.2

” The woman-in-white did not have any intention of turning her back to them. With a cold snort, without seeing how she moved, she was already deep inside the forest. The two boys slumped down into the water, and then they floated back up. Kou Zhong sighed and said, “This stinking b1tch is really formidable. Someday after we master unrivalled martial art skill, I must strip her naked and look at her mother’s body until I am satisfied.” Xu Ziling was really afraid she might come back, giving Kou Zhong a little push, they crawled up to the shore. “She might be very ugly,” he said with a wry smile, “Anyway, you have seen her enough.” After they were fully dressed, Kou Zhong hid the treasured book well, and then with a deep frown said, “What crime did Shi Long commit anyway?

Not only his martial art arena is closed, even his house is being raided.” Xu Ziling said with a sigh, “It seems like training martial art is useless. Let’s roll! Every time I remember that bunch beating Yan Laoda, ‘my heart alarmed, my body leaps in fright’.” Kou Zhong laughed aloud and said, “How can martial art skill be useless?

Just look at my ‘stepping on dry land’ technique. Ow!” He only took two steps when he tripped on a stone and fumbled down that he had to crawl on all four. Xu Ziling doubled up in laughter, and momentarily was not able to stand up. The two boys crouched inside a thicket on a knoll overlooking the lower reaches of Yangtze River. They were dumbstruck to see three big warships and hundreds of speedboats close to the city, inspecting all departing boats. Kou Zhong sucked in a breath of cold air, “My grandpa!” he gasped, “That book of ours must be a Heavenly Book [see Chapter 2].” Xu Ziling whispered in Kou Zhong’s ear, “Would Zhong Shaoye lower your voice a bit so we won’t alarm them?

Perhaps there are militia army mingle among them, otherwise, their number would not be that big.” Kou Zhong rubbed his empty tummy. Suddenly he was hit by realization, “If the river route is like that, I am afraid the land route is being closed as well; we’d better find a place to hide. Oh, my God! Isn’t that the sound of dog barking?

” The two of them listened carefully, and their countenance changed drastically. It was obvious that the dog bark came from the direction of the creek. Now they could also hear the sound of hoof beats. They thought that if the dogs’ sensitive nose had already picked up their scent from their old hole in the ground, would that mean they were in a very big trouble?

They both shuddered. And then with a scream they ran for their lives into the depth of the forest in the mountain. They ran over a small hill, but as they were rushing downhill, Xu Ziling tripped. He groaned and rolled downhill. Kou Zhong ran over and pulled him up, “Hurry up!” Xu Ziling said sadly, “I can’t walk anymore. Take the secret manual and go quickly! In the future when you have mastered matchless divine skill, come back and avenge me. No matter how fast we run, we can’t outrun dogs’ legs and horses’ legs anyway. Right now I can try to divert the enemy; it’s your only hope to escape with your life.” Kou Zhong did not even want to think about it. He lugged Xu Ziling toward the sparse wooded area ahead as he cried out, “If we die, we die together; otherwise, how can we be considered brothers?

” Suddenly he had a brainwave. Changing direction, he ran toward the Big River [i.e. Yangtze]. By this time they could clearly hear the sound of barking dogs and the hoof beats. Xu Ziling cried out in horror, “Are we going to throw ourselves into the river?

” Gasping for breath, Kou Zhong replied, “This is the only way. As soon as we are in the water, you have to hold on tight to me no matter what. Otherwise, if the river rushes you back to Yangzhou, it would be like sending the lamb to the tiger’s mouth.” Xu Ziling recalled the evil bunch who beat up Yan Laoda, he thought that drowning in the river sure beats being beaten to death. Without saying anything, he summoned every ounce of his strength, which was not much, and ran after Kou Zhong toward the cliff by the riverbank. Kou Zhong roared wildly. With both hands he grasped Xu Ziling’s hands and shouted, “Don’t look; just stake everything you have and jump. Let’s get it over with.” [1] Serious manner, orig. seven emotional states: joy, anger, anxiety, thought, grief, fear, fright. Chapter 3, Part 2 Szfong, Strawberry, Janger, Anh, Weed, you are welcome. Chik, thank you very much! Now I have a reputation to keep. My fear is that I fail to live up to your expectation. CFT, thanks. The rumbling river down below sounded very loud from up above the cliff, making them utterly terrified. window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "62910880adf4e30027560830", id: "pf-1556-1"}) “Aaahhhh ...!” With a roar the two of them jumped from the cliff down to Yangtze River, more than ten zhang [1 zhang is approx. 10ft or 3m] below. The wind whooshed in their ears. ‘Splash! Splash!’ One after another they both fell successfully into the raging river and immediately sank into the water. In the strong current, they had to struggle hard to float to the surface. Xu Ziling started to see stars, while desperately trying to hold on to Kou Zhong’s shoulders. Kou Zhong himself was not any better, sinking and rising, he drank a lot of river water, as the current brought them more than ten zhang downstream. Let’s not talk about crossing the river, trying to keep their heads above the water proved to be almost impossible. While they were thinking that this time their little lives would be gone, a fishing boat crossed the current toward them. A long rope flew out of the boat, accurately coiled itself around Kou Zhong’s neck. Actually, with Xi Ziling’s arms holding tight to him, Kou Zhong had already found it difficult to breathe; plus the river water unceasingly pouring into his nose and mouth. Now with the rope wrapped around his neck, he thought that the soldiers had finally got him. While he was crying inwardly, saying goodbye to the world, his ears heard the pleasant voice of the woman-in-white, “Idiot! Why haven’t you held on to the rope?

” Kou Zhong was ecstatic. Freeing one hand, he desperately hung on to the rope. He felt a strong force transmitted via the rope. Miraculously the two of them were being pulled out of the water, and flew sideways toward the small boat. The two boys rolled along the deck like a pair of gourds, with only half of their lives remained. With one pull the woman-in-white raised the sail, and then she sat on the bow, staring at the two boys without looking happy at all. Kou Zhong rolled up first, and then, seeing Xu Ziling also survived, he groaned, and then begged the woman, “My Guanyin Dashi, lady Bodhisattva, please be merciful to us, quickly set sail, evil people are after us.” The woman-in-white already heard the sound of hoof beats and barking dogs. She said with a cold laugh, “What qualifications you have that you dare to offend Sui people’s dog soldiers?

They are actually after your Miss.” Kou Zhong remembered something. “Heavens!” he screamed, “Our secret manual!” He reached out to grope around his back. The woman-in-white only knew that he was anxious that the holy book was damaged by the water; she did not pay any attention to these two words, ‘secret manual’. Grapping the sail, she steered the boat upstream. After throwing up two mouthfuls of water, Xu Ziling crawled up. “The book?