Chapter 11
South Sea Killer Bees
Being able to kill him even without hands was no boast, and the proof was that she had only used her foot to kill Poison Eighteen. She hadn’t used her hands. Of course, it had taken some brains as well.
—The most frightening was one who could kill just by using their brain. When Nangong Xue and Liu Huahua stepped foot in Awesome Might Martial Arts Academy they had learned that Long Ming was a person who used his brain.
It was dead quiet in Awesome Might Martial Arts Academy, not so much as a ghost present. If not for the two white candles burning in Xiong Batian’s mourning hall there would be no light at all.
To the side in the mourning hall was a top-quality wooden coffin. Even an idiot would know without opening it that inside lay Xiong Batian.
The candles’ shadows flickered faintly in the dark, incense burning slowly and wafting along with the wind, giving the place an eerie feel.
“Strange, such a large place, how come there’s no one around?”
Nangong Xue was puzzled.
Liu Huahua said, “Since there’s no one here, why not just leave?”
“No way there’s no one here.” Nangong Xue eyes scanned the surroundings. “Even if Long Ming’s not here, there ought to be others.”
Liu Huahua felt it odd as well. “When he arrived here at night they must have seen us. When Poison Eighteen was killed they must have all cleared out.”
“No, that’s not it.” He shook his head at once. “If that were the case, then who lit the incense and candles?”
“Of course not Xiong Batian. A dead man can’t light incense and candles.”
—Only the living could light incense and candles. So where were they?”
Not hiding in the coffin, surely?
Nangong Xue’s gaze went to the steady and stable coffin and suddenly she started. “What’s that?”
Liu Huahua looked over and went over there with a slightly fearful expression, only to see a red liquid seeping out from a crack in the bottom of the coffin…
“A dead man can still bleed?” Nangong Xue went over as well.
Of course a dead man can’t bleed, so they quickly realized that what was seeping out wasn’t blood, but they couldn’t say what the substance was, they just smelled a strong scent emanating from the dark red liquid, and it was all over the floor. Even though Nangong Xue was careful to step around it, she couldn’t avoid getting some of it on her feet.
“It’s like honey water,” Liu Huahua said, looking down at it.
“Honey water?” Confused, Nangong Xue said, “Isn’t it strange to put honey water in a coffin?”
Just as she said that, she suddenly heard the sound of clothes rippling, and firelight filled the room. All around on the roof and atop the walls were big burly men holding a torch in their left hand, a sword or sabre in their right. Standing among them was Long Ming.
“Nangong Xue, you foul bitch, your big daddy’s been waiting for you a long time!” Long Ming had an insolent, insufferably arrogant look on his face. He pointed to Nangong Xue and cursed, “I knew you would pay a visit here. Foul bitch, this time you won’t leave here!”
Seeing her enemy, Nangong Xue was furious and shouted, “You evil man, today I swear I’ll take your life!”
The word “life” was still on the tip of her tongue when she pounced at Long Ming like a spark struck from flint.
Nangong Xue was determined to put Long Ming to death, the sharp blade already sticking out of her embroidered shoe as she sailed through the air, coming right at Long Ming’s throat!
But just as Nangong Xue leapt up, two big men beside Long Ming took out a black round metal pail from their robes and opened them, and a buzzing was heard as a dense swarm of big yellow bees streamed out!
The astonishing thing was, the mighty force of bees all swarmed toward Nangong Xue!
She never expected a move like this from Long Ming. Shocked, she took a deep breath and pulled back violently.
But the bees seemed to recognize her, not stinging any of the many other people there, but all flying to sting Nangong Xue. Her expression changed swiftly. Her hands were still hurting, unable to be put to use. Even if she could use them, there was no way she could beat back so many bees. No one could.
In the blink of an eye her petite little body was surrounded by bees…
“Careful! Those are South Sea Killer Bees!”
As Liu Huahua shouted in alarm he was already flying up like a flood dragon!”
As he soared through the air he removed his aqua blue outer robe and snapped it in a strong just of wind at the swarm of bees!
Too bad it didn’t work as intended, because the the big men in the rafters and atop the walls pounced at him from all sides!
“Liu Huahua, Awesome Might Martial Arts Academy has no quarrel with you, why must you dip yourself in these muddy waters?”
Standing atop the flying eaves with a smug look on his face, Long Ming said, “Though you possess unmatched martial arts, I fear it will be difficult this time to save that foul bitch!”
He spoke right. Even though Liu Huahua could kick away those big men, with them all immediately pouncing at him from the walls, there was no way he could come to Nangong Xue’s aid.
Nangong Xue ran away at top speed, but no matter where she ran the killer bees were on her like a ghost. She’d been stung who knows how many times all over. She was frightened to the extreme. If this continued, she would be stung to death by these killer bees!
She placed her hopes on Liu Huahua being able to hurry over and rescue her, but Liu Huahua at the moment was in the midst of a different black swarm—the men in black surrounding him up like a swarm of bees. Though he was really skilled, for the moment he couldn’t knock flat so many people.
She first thought to pounce on Long Ming, catch him by surprise and hold tight to them so that they would perish together, the both of them stung to death by the killer bees. But she was not capable of doing that, all she could do was cover her face with her hands, squat down, and let the killer bees ravage her…
Hands, feet, back, there was no spot not stung by the killer bees. She was in so much pain that she was about to faint!
—Why were the killer bees only attacking Nangong Xue? Had they been raised by Long Ming to only attack his enemies?
—Liu Huahua wanted to kill Long Ming, but he had no doubt that standing beside Nangong Xue he was an enemy as well, so why were the killer bees not attacking him?
“The shoes! Nangong Cue, take your shoes off, quick!”
Just as Nangong Xue thought of the problem, she heard Liu Huahua shouting to her.
Mustering her courage, she suddenly shouted and leapt up like a green onion pulled from arid soil and did a somersault in the air—the embroidered shoes on her feet flew off!
The smile, ever present on Long Ming’s face, suddenly disappeared.
Because the shoes were coming right at his face so fast he couldn’t dodge them!
He uttered a soul-wrenching scream and reached out to grab them. His hands caught the shoes just right—otherwise the sharp blades at the tip of the shoes would have stabbed him in the forehead.
He had averted disaster.
But he didn’t look happy at all, rather a look of panic and fear welled up on his face. He threw the shoes far away like he had been holding scalding hot sweet potatoes, and at the same time he ran off in a panic.
A strange thing happened then. The killer bees that had been attacking Nangong Xue suddenly came at Long Ming!
Even a highly skilled person such as Nangong Xue had not been able to above the killer bees’ attack, much less Long Ming—he was already bogged down in the swarm of bees.
He howled madly and jumped up, flailing his arms around. Though he knocked down countless killer bees, he could not stop even more of them from stinging him.
He let out a savage wail.
His scream made one’s hair stand on end, the scream starting out strong, then weakening…
Finally the screaming ceased and the big stalwart body lay on the ground like a deflated leather ball…
He died with a terrible wide-eyed look on his face. It seemed that he never dreamed that he would die from the venomous stings of the very killer bees he himself had brought…
The killer bees continued to attack him in a frenzy—because his hands still bore the scent of the honey water.
—It was the honey water seeping out of Xiong Batian’s coffin that had gotten on Nangong Xue’s shoes when she stepped in it. That was Long Ming’s plan, the killer bees would follow the scent and launch an attack.
But in all his calculations, he did not count on Nangong Xue throwing the honey water-stained shoes at him, resulting in the deadly honey water getting on his hands by touching the shoes.
And so he died from the venomous stings.
With Long Ling dead, the rest of the men scattered and fled, gone in the blink of an eye. By the time Liu Huahua leapt over to her, Nangong Xue was collapsed against a tree trunk, panting heavily, her pretty face still suffused with fear. “Looks like he was even more crafty than Poison Eighteen.”
“Are you alright?” Liu Huahua asked in concern.
“No, I’m not alright at all!” Nangong Xue said, panting weakly. But there was a stubborn, proud smile on her face. “But I won’t die.”
Even so, Liu Huahua could see that she was in a lot of pain. Anxiously he said, “You need to hurry and get to a place to get medicine put on that, or else the killer bee stings will swell up and fester. That would be bad.”
× × ×
At a little inn east of the city.
Nangong Xue and Liu Huahua sat at a little square table in their room.
“Why won’t you put medicine on it. Don’t you know that the bees’ venom can kill you? Why else would they be called killer bees?” Liu Huahua sounded worried and puzzled.
Nangong Xue found the pain hard to endure, but she said nothing, eyes closed.
“This is Dugu Mei’s signature antidote, it works really well. Just one application and I guarantee you’ll be fine.” Liu Huahua pointed to a little exquisitely-made porcelain bottle on the table.
Nangong Xue clenched her teeth. Though the pain was like blazing hot fire all over her, she still said nothing.
Liu Huahua wrung out a clean washcloth. “Lie down on the bed quickly, or it will be too late!”
Nangong Xue couldn’t stifle a groan, but she shook her head emphatically. “No, no! I’d rather die than apply medicine!”
“Why?” Liu Huahua was stunned.
Nangong Xue suddenly threw herself on the bed, blushing, and buried her face in the pillow. “Have you forgotten I’m a woman?”
Liu Huahua suddenly understood. “If you hadn’t mentioned it I really would have forgotten.”
He laughed hollowly twice and headed for the door…
“What are you doing?” Nangong Xue asked, raising her head.
Liu Huahua stood in the doorway. “I’m gonna go ask the innkeeper’s wife to come help.”
“No, no!” She shook her head violently. “I’ll never trust anyone again, even that old woman wanted to harm me. Can you guarantee she has not intention to harm me?”
“Not everyone is like that.” Liu Huahua smiled wryly. “I’ll ask her to come apply the medicine and I’ll sit in the room and watch, how’s that?”
Nangong Xue shook her head emphatically. “Wouldn’t you just be seeing my body all the same?”
Liu Huahua sighed. “Then what do you want to do?”
Suddenly his eyes lit up. “Better to hurry over to Dugu Mei’s place and ask her to apply it…”
Then he sighed. “Only that’s no good, by the time we get there the venom would have flared up.”
Nangong Xue suddenly groaned, the pain unbearable.
Liu Huahua said urgently, “I’ll go get the innkeeper’s wife!”
As soon as he started off he heard Nangong Xue shout, “Come back!”
Liu Huahua turned around grumpily. “Just what is it you want?”
Her face completely buried in the pillow, in a faint mosquito-like voice she said, “You, I want you to apply it…”
Anxious and unsettled, he never expected her to come to that decision. He began to hesitate…
Originally he was only thinking of saving her, he didn’t think that that meant Nangong Xue taking off all her clothes, being completely naked. Now that Nangong Xue consented to it, he just stood there dallying, undecided…
But he still went forward. After all, he was an experienced, knowledgeable man of the jianghu.
When he very carefully removed Nangong Xue’s clothes, he discovered that she was a peerless beauty, with a beautiful body snow-white like jade. He suddenly found it hard to breathe, nearly suffocating!
He had seen many women, everyone in the jianghu called him a playboy, but he had truly never seen such a beautiful body, extraordinarily beautiful, flawlessly beautiful, a body so beautiful you fell in love with it as soon as you set eyes on it!
He nearly forgot that he was supposed to apply medicine, until Nangong Xue’s jade body trembled, then he finally snapped out of it…
At that moment, Nangong Xue didn’t feel any pain. She was shaking, thinking her heart was about to leap out of her chest…
