Or, Guo Jing Moves to the Next Level
And, The Return of the Mongols
Will Lotus talk her way out of her latest predicament??
Viper Ouyang grudgingly acknowledges that Lotus is indeed very clever, uncovering the truth behind the deaths of the Seven Freaks on Peach Blossom Island. Ke Zhen’e is beside himself as he hides behind the statue, horrified at his stupidity. And now the young woman who has shown him the error of his ways is about to be killed by Viper!
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Viper Ouyang grudgingly acknowledges that Lotus is indeed very clever, uncovering the truth behind the deaths of the Seven Freaks on Peach Blossom Island. Ke Zhen’e is beside himself as he hides behind the statue, horrified at his stupidity. And now the young woman who has shown him the error of his ways is about to be killed by Viper!
But Lotus isn’t done yet. She continues to question Tempest Qu’s daughter and manages to reveal that it was in fact Yang Kang who killed Gallant Ouyang. Kang knows his number is up if the secret comes out so he tries (and fails) to prevent this. He tries to strike Lotus, but misses and ends up impaling his hand on her Hedgehog Chainmail.
Were you paying attention earlier?
When Lotus and Guo Jing found Woodcutter Nan on Peach Blossom Island, he’d already been poisoned by Viper. Nan punched Lotus, leaving some of his blood on her armor. Thus did Kang become poisoned when he punched Lotus in the exact same spot.
Things descend into chaos. Yang Kang goes insane from the poison, striking out at anyone and everyone. Wanyan Honglie takes the path of discretion and bolts, leaving Kang in a twitching, frothing heap on the temple floor.
Is he dead? Really dead?
Only Lotus and Viper are left, with Ke Zhen’e still hiding. But of course, someone as skilled as Viper has known all along that Ke Zhen’e was hiding there, having heard him breathing. Lotus bargains again to save Ke Zhen’e by promising to go with Viper to teach him the ending of the Nine Yin Manual.
Viper and Lotus depart, leaving Ke Zhen’e alone to figure out what to do next.
Happily, he runs into Guo Jing a few days later and fills the boy in on events. (I bet his account was better than mine!) Guo Jing says he will search for Lotus. In the meantime he asks his shifu to go to Peach Blossom Island and ask Apothecary Huang for help defeating Viper to save Lotus.
Guo Jing goes back to the Temple of the Iron Spear to pick up Lotus and Viper’s trail. There he sees the bones of Yang Kang, picked clean by the vultures.
(Although, we didn’t SEE the vultures pick those bones clean, now did we?)
Guo Jing buries the bones of his brother and moves on.
[Travel montage! War montage!]
Months go by. Guo Jing searches high and low. He finds no sign of his lady love, and finds plenty of the horrors of war as the Mongols continue to make headway into the Jin empire.
One day Guo Jing comes upon a village being pillaged by Jin soldiers. Guo Jing wades into them, smacking down level one NPCs with his level 99 moves. It turns out the Jin were fleeing a group of Mongols, and thus Guo Jing is reunited with Tolui.
Guo Jing returns to the north with Tolui, to the camp of Genghis Khan. He sees his mom again! Yay!
He sees Khojin again! Awkward!
The Khan reaffirms that Guo Jing will wed Khojin as soon as possible. Guo Jing is flummoxed again, and just mumbles his way through the conversation. As the day of the wedding approaches, Guo Jing goes to his mom for advice. He decides that he will tell Khojin and then leave to find Lotus. If Lotus is ok, he will return to wed Khojin.
Guo Jing finds Khojin, gets tongue-tied again, but manages to get the truth out. Finally! Khojin is heartbroken, but promises to wait for him to return after he has found Lotus and returned her to Peach Blossom Island.
(I mean, our guy is really just kicking the can down the road here…)
A messenger arrives, bearing news of a terrible offense against the Khan from the Khwarazm. It turns out that the Khwarazm are doing the bidding of Wanyan Honglie, who was spotted by the Khan’s messengers. Genghis Khan decrees that they will make war against the Khwarazm.
A declaration of war is sent to the Khwarazm. The Khan asks Guo Jing for advice contacting the Taoists about prolonging his life. Guo Jing helps him pen a letter requesting a visit from Qiu Chuji.
Khan names Guo Jing as one of his generals, leading ten thousand troops. Guo Jing immediately recognizes that he is out of his depth. He is about to ask the Khan to renounce his position when the Beggar Clan arrives in strength to lend their arms to the Mongols. Surefoot Lu tells Guo Jing that they have had no word of Lotus, despite looking for her.
Guo Jing finally remembers that he has a copy of General Yue Fei’s treatise on defeating the Jin. He reads it through and ends up getting help from Surefoot Lu in interpreting the harder parts of the manual.
Oddly, Lu often doesn’t have the answers, but will leave Guo Jing’s tent for sometime and return with the answer. Guo Jing suspects that Lu is consulting with someone else, but he can’t find out who the mysterious teacher is. In this way Guo Jing learns General Yue Fei’s writings and teaches his men to be an adaptable and formidable fighting force.
One day as the preparations are nearly ready, the Khan addresses his troops and names his third son as his heir, should he fall in battle. Later that night, his first and second sons come to blows after drinking, and set their respective armies on each other. Guo Jing is able to deploy his men and quell the fighting with minimal injury.
Genghis Khan is duly impressed with Guo Jing’s performance. Soon after they march off to war and slice through the Khwarazm territory like a hot knife through tofu.