The man got really angry and shouted, “Little twit, how do you dare to tell me what to do! Fifth brother, is this cutie your girl?”

The big headed dwarf said, “She wants to see the Eagle Hero so I brought her along to take a look, I don’t care about other matters.”

The man said, “Good, then I shall teach her a lesson.” He raised his horse whip and lashed down towards Guo Xiang’s head with a “pa” sound.

Guo Xiang lifted her whip and blocked, the two whips struck each other and interlocked together. The man used his arm to seize the whip and Guo Xiang felt a great force vigorously tugging her whip. She could not hold on any longer and released her whip, causing her palms to be scratched with searing pain. The guy took back his whip, raised it and wanted to lash down again, but the old man shouted, “Seventh brother, it’s getting late, let’s hurry, why do you lower yourself and fight with a child?” The man’s whip was in midair, but he did not strike.

That long-sleeved old man sneered, “The Xishan Ghosts are not afraid of the sky and the earth, even Guo Jing and Huang Rong’s reputation does not scare us. Little girl, if you talk again, I will butcher you immediately.” He leaned forward, saying, “Seventh brother, a true man will get up again if he falls, my long beard was cut off by my enemy several years ago. How were your ears sheared off?”

The man then said, “I told the Eagle Hero to get lost, so he smiled, turned around and walked away. It’s all my third concubine’s fault, she cried out, saying she was forced to marry me and at that time she was not willing. Now she was bullied by my first wife. She added that after I married her, I also married a fourth concubine and did not have a conscience. That Eagle Hero turned around; his expression changed greatly and asked, ‘Is this woman speaking the truth?’ I said, ‘So what if it is? So what if it’s not? My nickname is Fairy Ghost and I kill without blinking, do you know that?’ He said calmly, ‘If you like her, why did you marry someone else after you married her? If you do not like her, why did you marry her at all?’ I laughed loudly and said, ‘At first I liked her, now I’m tired of her. It’s common for a man to have three wives and four concubines. I even want to marry another four.’ He said, ‘You heartless creatures are far too many, how can the world’s females live in peace?’ Suddenly he stepped forward, drew out a dagger from my waist and sliced off my ears. Then he pointed the dagger at my chest, shouting, ‘I’ll dig your heart and liver out to take a look, what colour are they?'”

Guo Xiang became delighted, could not bear it and wanted to cheer, but she saw the Xishan Ghosts’ fierce and strange expressions and swallowed the “Good!” she wanted to shout.

The man continued, “Then my concubines knelt down to beg for mercy, they even cried loudly, saying they would rather be killed than me, because if I died, they must commit suicide to accompany the husband, damn, this is really disgusting. Hey, I have really lost face! I angrily shouted, ‘Hurry, just kill me! The Xishan Ghosts will come and haunt you!’ He wrinkled his eyebrows and said to my wives, ‘Why do you still plead for such a heartless scum?’ My five wives only kowtowed. He asked my third concubine, ‘You said you were forced to marry him against your will. If I kill him won’t it be good?’ My concubine said, ‘At that time I wasn’t willing, later on I changed my mind. Please don’t kill him.’ I got angry, saying, ‘Just kill me, there are nine more of us.’ He said, ‘OK! I won’t kill you today. The Xishan Ghosts… so what? On the night at the end of this month, I shall wait at the Horses’ Plains for you. Call all your ghosts together to find me. If you do not dare, the Xishan Ghosts must leave Xishan forever and never come back.’ ”

After they heard him say that, they did not speak for quite a while. Then the old woman said, “What weapons does he use? What school is his Wugong (martial arts) from?”

The man said, “He only has a left arm and he does not carry any weapons. Wugong…I couldn’t tell.”

The woman said, “Eldest brother, this person subdued seventh brother in one stroke, he must be extremely swift and agile and his Wugong must be quite unorthodox. We rely on numbers to win, you take the lead, and I and fifth brother will help from the side, three against one, and butcher him straightaway. Do not allow him to use his skills.”

The long-sleeved old man lowered his head and pondered for a while, and then he raised his head and said, “This Eagle Hero has a good reputation. Over these ten years many people have been defeated by him, he must have some astonishing skills. Today’s fight is no small matter. I and Second sister will launch a sudden frontal attack, Third and Fourth brother will get close to him then attack his lower body, Fifth and Sixth brother will attack from behind, Seventh and Eighth brother will use long weapons to strike his flank, confusing him, Ninth sister will throw concealed projectiles, Tenth brother will discharge poison gas. Since the Xishan Ghosts have sworn brotherhood, the ten of us have never attacked simultaneously, today is the first time, if we can’t butcher him, let us all turn into real ghosts!”

The big headed dwarf said, “Eldest brother, if ten of us attack a single person, we won’t win honorably; if word of this is spread, all the Jianghu heroes will despise us.”

The old woman said, “We shall butcher the Eagle Hero tonight. Apart from this girl, who else knows about this matter?” Once she said this she raised her arm.

The big headed dwarf waved his left sleeve and blocked her from Guo Xiang. Then he took out a fine needle from her sleeve and said, “Elder sister, I brought her along, please don’t take her life.” He turned to Guo Xiang and said, “Young lady, you want to meet the Eagle Hero, you cannot mention this matter to anyone, otherwise you should go back quickly now.”

Guo Xiang was alarmed, afraid and also angry, thinking, “This old woman has such vicious moves; if not for the short uncle saving me, I could have died from her silent needles without a doubt.” So she said, “Alright I will not speak of it.” But she continued, “You have ten brothers, does he have a single helper?”

The big headed dwarf laughed loudly and said, “The Eagle Hero only appeared in Jianghu around ten years ago, but we never heard that he has any assistants. He has this big bird which is unable to speak to accompany him.” He then raised the horse’s reins, loudly shouting, “Let’s go!” The ten people galloped and the dwarf said to Guo Xiang, “Later, when we start fighting, you must not leave my side.” Guo Xiang nodded, she knew that the Xishan Ghosts were quite cruel and merciless, but this big headed dwarf is looking after her. He prevented his companion from harming her, but his ways were rough; although he spoke in a low voice, the other nine people heard him.

Guo Xiang rode along with the other people. She saw the Xishan Ghosts all had unique skills; no matter how strong the Eagle Hero’s wugong might be, how could he fight ten people alone? She thought, “If father and mother were here it would be good, they wouldn’t stand by and do nothing.”

Just at this time, several tiger roars could be heard in the dark forest in front of them and the horses gave a startled neigh, some standing motionless, some trying to escape. The skinny man waved his horse whip and was the first to rush into the woods.