If I don"t skin her alive and rip out all her tendons, then my name isn"t Gu."
"Brother Yan"s kungfu was excellent," said another. "I don"t believe that a girl could kill him without using some sort of trickery."
"Well, of course," added a third. "As I said, we have to be very careful. There are a lot of Muslims around."
Huo Qingtong realised in astonishment that they were the Guandong Devils and that they were talking about her.
"There"s not much water left in the satchel and we don"t know how many more days we have to go before we find water again," one of them said. "From tomorrow, we"ll have to drink even less." Soon afterwards, they went to sleep.
Huo Qingtong was uncertain of what to do. The desert was flat and empty for miles in every direction, so there was no way she could escape if they found her, especially as she was still sick. After some thought, she decided the safest course would be to reveal herself, and find some way to lead the three to her teacher"s home.
Early next morning, the Guandong Devils woke to find Huo Qingtong standing in front of them. She examined them carefully. One was a tall man who looked like a member of the gentry. The second had a thick black beard, while the third was wearing Mongol clothes.
"Mistress, do you have any water to spare?" the first man, Tang, asked her, pulling out a silver ingot as he spoke. Huo Qingtong shook her head to indicate she did not understand Chinese. The Mongol, who was named Hahetai, repeated the request in Mongolian and she replied in the same tongue: "I cannot give you any of my water. The Yellow-Robed Lady, Mistress Huo Qingtong, sent me on an important errand and I am now returning to report." She quickly dismantled her tent and mounted her horse. Hahetai ran forward and grabbed hold of her horse"s reins.
"Where is she?" he asked.
"Why do you want to know?"
"We are her friends. There is urgent news we have to pass on to her."
Huo Qingtong pouted. "That"s an outright lie! She is at Precious Mountain, but you are heading west. Don"t try to cheat me!"
Hahetai turned to the other two and said: "She"s on her way to see the damned bitch now."
With her unhealthy appearance and the way she wheezed as she spoke, she did not look at all like someone who knew kung fu. So not suspecting her in the slightest, the Devils took advantage of what they took to be her ignorance of Chinese and loudly discussed how they would kill her when they reached Precious Mountain, and then go to find Huo Qingtong. The bearded man, Gu, could see that she was very beautiful despite her haggard look, and his lust began to stir.
Huo Qingtong noticed him constantly staring at her covetously, and knew that even though they had not recognised her, travelling alone for four or five days with these three Devils was too dangerous. She ripped a strip of material off her jacket and tied it round the leg of one of her two eagles then threw the bird up into the air. It spread its wings and flew off towards the horizon.
"What are you doing?" Tang demanded suspiciously. Huo Qingtong shook her head, and Hahetai translated what he had said into Mongolian.
"There are no more water springs for another seven or eight days. You"ve got so little water, how could it be enough? I"m letting the eagles go so they can go and find water themselves." As she spoke, she released the second eagle.
"Two eagles wouldn"t drink very much water," Tang replied.
"When you"re dying of thirst, even a drop may be enough to save your life." Afraid they would try to harm her, she had exaggerated the distance to the next water.
Hahetai mumbled oaths. "Even in the deserts of Mongolia, you would never have to travel for seven or eight days without water. This is a cursed region!"