Legend of the Condor Heroes by Jin Yong (Part II)

Translation credits to –
Moinllieon, Foreva, Strunf, Patudo, Taihan, and Du Gu seeking a win
Many thanks for all the hard work in translating this epic for the rest of us
Also many thanks to SunnySnow, Traveller, Rayon, and Xuelian

Chapter 18 – The Three Tests

(Translated by Foxs, Edited by Eliza Bennet)

Guo Jing went toward where the snake noise came from. After dozens of steps under
the bright moonlight he saw millions of green snakes crawling together as a flock.
There were more than ten men wearing white clothes carrying long poles herding the
snakes.

Guo Jing gulped; he was greatly surprised, “What are these people with so many
snakes doing here? Could it be that Western Poison has arrived?” Without regard to
his own safety he came nearer, sneaked behind trees and followed them heading
north. Luckily the men who herd the snakes did not have high level of martial arts,
otherwise he would be detected.

A deaf and mute servant of Huang Yaoshi was seen in front of the herd, showing the
way. They walked through winding path for several li’s through the forest and
crossing a small hill before finally arrived at a big stretch of grass meadow. Toward
the north of the meadow was a bamboo forest. As soon as they were all on this
meadow, the men in whites blew their whistles and the snakes stopped. They all
stayed on the ground with their heads raised high in the air.

Guo Jing knew there must be something in the bamboo groove, he wanted to take a
look; but he did not dare to reveal his presence by walking across the meadow. So
he stealthily walked to the east and then circled back north, keeping his ears open at
all times; but the forest was quiet. Finally he arrived and immediately entered the
thick green bamboo groove.

Inside the groove there was a small pavilion built from bamboo. Under the bright
moonlight Guo Jing could see across the pavilion opening was written these three
characters, ‘ji cui ting’ [old jade-green pavilion]. While on the either sides hung two
couplets: ‘tao hua ying li fei shen jian’ [under the shadow of peach blossom divine
sword flew] and ‘bi hai chao sheng an yu xiao’ [with the jade-colored ocean tide jade
flute arose].

Several bamboo chairs were placed inside the pavilion; the chairs looked rustic and
old. Under the bright moonlight the bamboo looked longer green but smooth and
shiny yellow. The pavilion was built in between two big pine trees. Their trunks and
branches spread out looked like dragons lurking in the dark. The trees were several
hundreds years old. The dark green bamboo surrounding, the bamboo pavilion, the
trees, all gave a feeling of serenity and beauty.

Guo Jing looked back and saw the snakes were still staying in row after row on the
meadow. Only now did he realize that the snakes were not only green snakes, but
other types of snakes as well: there were rattlesnakes, golden-scaled snakes, black
snakes, all kinds of venomous snakes. The snakes kept moving their heads, which
made the meadow rippled like ocean waves. The snakes’ tongues flicked in and out
their mouths, looked like tiny flames dancing chaotically.

The snakes’ shepherds divided the flock to open up a pathway right in the middle.
Dozens of females dressed in white walking by carrying red lanterns. Several zhang’s
[1 zhang is approximately 10 feet/3 meters] behind them two men were walking
slowly. The first was wearing a white satin long gown, embroidered by gold threads;
with a folding fan in his hand. It was none other than Ouyang Ke.

Arriving at the bamboo groove he said in a loud and clear voice, “Mr. Ouyang from
the western region pays a visit to the Peach Blossom Island Master Huang.”
“It really is Western Poison,” Guo Jing thought, “No wonder all these pomp and
fanfares.” He turned his eyes to the man beside Ouyang Ke. He was big and tall, also
wearing white clothes; but because the light was coming from behind him, Guo Jing
could not see his face clearly.

Those two people stood there waiting; out from the bamboo grove came out two
people. Guo Jing’s heart leaped to his throat, he almost cried out in alarm; they were
none other than Huang Yaoshi holding Huang Rong’s hand to welcome the guests.

Ouyang Feng rushed forward and raised his hands to salute. Huang Yaoshi
reciprocated by cupping his fists. Ouyang Ke actually knelt down where he was,
kowtowed four times and said, “Son-in-law kowtowed to the Honorable Father-in-
law; wishes Honorable Father-in-law’s peace and prosperity.”

“Enough!” Huang Yaoshi said, extending his hand to raise him up. Guo Jing could
hear clearly what these two people were saying; his heart was tumultuous, he didn’t
know what to do.

Ouyang Ke had anticipated that Huang Yaoshi would certainly test his martial art, so
he had been prepared early on; even when kowtowing he was fully alert. But
suddenly he felt his own right hand moved toward his left hand and pushed him
upward. He stumbled and almost fell down face to the ground, only by exerting his
energy was he finally able to stay standing, but his body was still staggering. “Aiyo!”
he cried out. Ouyang Feng immediately stretched the staff in his hand and tapped
gently on his nephew’s back. Ouyang Ke took advantage of this force and steadied
himself.

Ouyang Feng smiled. “Good!” he said, “Yao Xiong [Brother Yao, translator’s note:
different character from Huang Rong’s ‘Brother Jing’ – ‘Jing Gege’], was that your
way of greeting your son-in-law in your first meeting, by making him do
somersault?”

Huang Yaoshi sneered. “Once he helped others bullying my blind disciple; other time
he scared her with his snakes. I want to see what ability he possesses.”

Ouyang Feng laughed. “That was children’s small misunderstanding, Yao Xiong,
please don’t mind him. This child of mine, is he worthy enough to be your precious
daughter’s match?” He turned toward Huang Rong to check her out, clucking his
tongue in admiration he continued, “Elder Brother [translator’s note: this time he
used ‘lao ge’ – ‘old elder brother’] Huang, by having this beautiful young lady, your
life is lacking nothing.”

He groped his pocket and produced a small embroidered box. He opened the box and
showed a pigeon-egg-size sphere. The sphere shone brightly in the dark, dazzling to
the eyes. He turned to Huang Rong and smiled, “This is the rhinoceros’ dragon pill;
western region’s rare animal. I further refined it with some other medicinal
substances. When you wear it, you won’t be affected by hundreds types of poison. It
is one of its kinds in the whole wide world. Later on you will become my nephew’s
wife; you won’t be afraid of your uncle’s venomous snakes and insects. This dragon
pill’s usefulness is not small, but it cannot be regarded as the most precious treasure
in the world. Your father has traversed the world, what kind of treasure he has not
seen? This is only a countryman-from-a-remote-area’s first meeting’s gift. I am
afraid he would laugh at it.” Then he presented to box to Huang Rong.

Ouyang Feng was an expert in using poison; by giving this precious poison repellent
as a dowry he showed his sincerity and was hoping to win Huang Yaoshi’s heart.

Guo Jing saw everything. “Rong’er has always been good to me; she won’t change
her mind. Surely she doesn’t want first meeting gift of yours,” he thought. But
unexpectedly he heard Huang Rong said with a smile, “Many thanks to you!” and
extended her hand to receive it.

As soon as Ouyang Ke saw Huang Rong’s snow-white skin and face as pretty as a
flower his soul had already been sold; now that she was smiling at him his whole
body melted, he thought, “Since her father had given her hand in marriage to me,
naturally her attitude toward me is not the same as it was before.” He felt smug. But
suddenly some metal flashed toward him. “Not good!” he cried, and immediately
bent his body backward using ‘tie ban qiao’ [iron bridge] stance.

“What are you doing?” Huang Yaoshi scolded his daughter. His left sleeve flicked and
struck down the steel needle shot from Huang Rong’s hand, while with the back of
his right hand he pushed her shoulder back.

“Wah!” Huang Rong bawled. “Father, you’d better kill me,” she cried. “I’d rather die
than marrying this bad thing.”

Ouyang Feng thrust the dragon pill into Huang Rong’s hand while his other hand
gently fended off Huang Yaoshi’s palm. “Your daughter is just testing my nephew’s
martial art, why are you so serious?” Because he was striking his own daughter,
naturally Huang Yaoshi’s palm did not carry a lot of strength. Ouyang Feng’s hand
also did not carry a lot of force.

Ouyang Ke had straightened his body; he felt pain in his left chest, so he knew he
was being hit by one or two needles. However, he was proud and did not want
anybody else to know, so he kept a straight face. Only he was embarrassed. “She
did not want to marry me after all,” he thought.

Ouyang Feng smiled, “Yao Xiong, since our last meeting at the Mount Hua, we
haven’t seen each other for more than twenty years. Now that you have accepted
my nephew’s proposal whenever you have a business for me to do, your brother will
not dare to refuse.”

“Who dares to provoke you, Old Poison?” Huang Yaoshi replied. “You have stayed in
the western region for twenty years, what new fierce martial arts have you
mastered? Come, let me see.”

As soon as Huang Rong heard her father mentioned ‘new martial arts’ her interest
was piqued. She wiped her tears away and leaned to his father. Her eyes looked
closely to Ouyang Feng. She saw a curving black staff in his hand; looked like it was
made of steel. The head of the staff resembled a man’s face; with its mouth open
showing two rows of sharp teeth. The face looked ugly and fearsome. What was
more amazing was there were a couple of silver-scaled snakes slithering up and
down along the staff.

Ouyang Feng smiled. “I was inferior to you then, and now that I have wasted more
than twenty years, I certainly won’t be your match,” he said. “We become in-laws
now. I am thinking of staying in the Peach Blossom Island for a few days and asking
your advice.”

When Ouyang Feng sent an envoy to propose for his nephew Huang Yaoshi thought
that Ouyang Feng was one of only a handful of people whose martial art could be
compared to his own. Ouyang Feng was also an educated man, so must be his
nephew. He knew his own daughter was stubborn and strong-willed. If she married
just anybody, he was afraid she would bully her husband. Besides, he loathed that
Guo kid whom his daughter liked. Ouyang Ke was not only highly educated, but was
highly skilled in martial arts as well; not too many young men would hold a candle
against him. That was the reason he accepted their proposal. But now he listened to
Ouyang Feng’s sweet mouth, he could not help but feel suspicious. He knew Ouyang
Feng was crafty and sly; Ouyang Feng would not easily admit defeat to others in
term of martial arts. His Toad Stance had been neutralized by Wang Chongyang’s
Solitary Yang Finger; could it be that he had recovered completely? So Huang Yaoshi
took out his jade flute and said, “Honored guests come from afar, Little Brother is
going to play a tune to entertain you. Please sit down and leisurely listen to this
song.”

Ouyang Feng knew Huang Yaoshi was going to play the [jade-colored tidal wave
song] to test his internal strength; so he showed a faint smile and waved his left
hand. Immediately the thirty-two white-dressed lantern-carrier maidens step forward
and kneeled before them. Ouyang Feng smiled and said, “Your brother has acquired
these thirty-two maidens from various regions in the west. Please accept them as my
gift to an old friend. They are trained in singing and dancing; yet they came from
uncultured places; of course they can’t be compared to Jiangnan’s beautiful
maidens.”

“Your Brother does not enjoy this kind of gift very much,” Huang Yaoshi replied,
“Since my wife passed away, I regard the world’s beautiful women as dung. I do not
dare to accept Brother Feng’s generous gift.”

“What’s the harm in some entertainment to pass the time away?” Ouyang Feng
laughed.

Huang Rong noticed that these women’s skin was fair, lighter in color. Their statures
were tall, some had blond hair and blue eyes; their noses were high and their eyes
deep; totally different from the women from the Central Plains. But they were all
beautiful, carrying a seductive look that would attract casual onlookers.

Ouyang Feng clapped his hands three times and eight women took out various
musical instruments. They started playing the instruments while the other twenty-
four women started dancing to their tune. The musical instruments as well as the
tune were different from the ones commonly played in the Central Plains; they
sounded weird in Huang Rong’s ears.

She saw the front row women bent down, turning to the left and then back to the
right; their bodies were very supple. The next rows did the same, row after row
dancing in succession, resembled a large snake. After a while each woman extended
both their hands apart; from the tip of their left hand to the tip of their right hand,
their body swayed following the tune; reminding her of snakes slithering on the
ground.

Huang Rong remembered Ouyang Ke’s [spirit snake fist]; so she cast a glance
toward him, only to see that Ouyang Ke was closely staring at her. She hated him to
the guts and wished that her father would not intercept her needles. She would find
another way of taking his life that even if her father would force her to marry, the
person was already dead. It was called the ‘remove-firewood-from-under-the-pot’
tactic. Having this thought she was happy and a smile broke on her face. Ouyang Ke
saw her sudden smile, and thought that she was smiling to him. He was elated that
he momentarily forgot the pain in his chest.

By now the dance movements of the women were getting more intense. Their bodies
moved erotically, their hands caressed their own buttocks, moving upward to their
breasts, and unfastening their dress they showed their upper bodies and posed in
various postures.

The men who shepherd the snakes have early on closed their eyes tight; they did not
dare to look. Even then their minds were disturbed.

Huang Yaoshi simply smiled and put the flute on his lips he started playing a tune.
The women’s bodies suddenly shook; their dance movements were chaotic. A few
bars later both their music and their dance were following the flute’s sound.

Ouyang Feng knew something was amiss; he clapped his hands and a maiden
stepped forward carrying an iron ‘zheng’ [zither?]. Ouyang Ke started to feel his
heart beating faster. The eight women playing the musical instruments have early on
lost their control and totally following the flute’s tune. The men in charge of the
snakes jumped up and down like crazy among the snakes.

Ouyang Feng played a few notes on his zither; producing metallic sound like an iron
horse charging toward the enemy; in contrast with the soft murmuring sound of the
flute. Huang Yaoshi smiled and said, “Come, come! Let us play a duet.” As soon as
the flute left his lips, everybody was relieved from their hysterical condition.

“Everybody stop your ears! Island Master Huang and I will play some music,”
Ouyang Feng shouted. The people who came with him knew the song would not be a
small matter; immediately they took anything, including ripping their own clothes,
that could be used to cover their ears. Layer after layer they put cotton and pieces of
clothes over their ears; yet they were still afraid the sound would penetrate that
barrier. Ouyang Ke also took some cotton balls to stop his ears.
“My father plays his flute for your listening enjoyment; that was a big honor to you.
Yet all of you cover your ears. That is so rude! You come to the Peach Blossom
Island as guests, yet you dare to insult the host!” Huang Rong mocked.

“Don’t talk about rudeness here!” Huang Yaoshi scolded her. “They who do not dare
to listen to my flute actually have more sense. They had learned their lessons … ha …
ha … Your uncle’s iron zither’s skill is considered best in the world; and you dare to
listen to him? Do you want to test yourself?” Then he took a silk handkerchief from
his pocket, tore it in halves and told Huang Rong to cover up her ears with them.

Guo Jing was curious about the world’s best iron zither; he wanted to hear Ouyang
Feng’s fierce method, so the came even closer a few more steps.

Huang Yaoshi turned to Ouyang Feng, “Your snakes cannot cover up their ears.”
Then he turned his head toward his own deaf and mute servant. He made some
gesture and the servant nodded his head. The servant then signaled the snakes’
shepherds to go away by waving his hand. These men had been waiting for an
opportunity to get out of that place; as soon as Ouyang Feng nodded his head in
approval, they hurriedly drove the snakes away; with the deaf and mute servant
showing the way.

Ouyang Feng said, “Your Brother’s martial art is not good enough. I must ask Yao
Xiong to reduce your strength by thirty percent.” He sat cross-legged on a big rock
with the zither on his lap and immediately used his right fingers to pluck some
strings.

The original the ‘qin zheng’ [zither from the short-lived Qin dynasty (221-207BC)]
produced sad and shrill sound. This western region iron zither produced an even
more intensely sorrowful noise. Guo Jing did not understand music, but the zither
sound had affected his feeling. The louder the zither sound, the harder his heart
beat. The quicker the zither sound, the quicker his breath had become. He felt his
heart was thumping really bad, almost jumping out of his throat. It was really an
uneasy feeling. After listening some more time he felt his heart beat intensified; and
he struggled hard to keep his consciousness. “If this zither is getting harder and
harder, how could I not getting killed by its sound?” he thought; and immediately
retreated a few steps back and circulated his ‘qi’ according to the Quan Zhen’s
method. After a while he managed to calm his heart and the zither sound did not
adversely affect him too much.

The zither sound was getting more intense and in Guo Jing’s mind it resembled the
metallic armor of a cavalry charging full steam ahead. A thin sound of jade flute
appeared riding smoothly in the midst of the clamoring sound of the zither. Guo Jing
was trembling; his face was red hot and he was sweating profusely. Quickly he
circulated his internal energy trying to calm himself.

Although the zither was loud, it was not able to drown the flute. Two distinct sounds
intermingled, creating an eerie melody. The iron zither screamed like an ape of the
Wuxia Gorge or a ghost cry in the dead of the night; while the flute sang like a
phoenix from the Kunlun mountains or a soft murmur of a woman inside her
chamber. One resembled a heartrending cry of a mournful soul; while the other
carried a feeling of one leisurely wandered through the wilderness. One high, the
other low; one rushing forward, the other leisurely retreating; no one overpowered
the other.

Initially Huang Rong watched these two played music with smile on her face; but
afterwards she saw their expressions were getting serious. Her father stood up and
started to walk around while blowing his flute. His steps were actually following the
‘ba gua’ [Eight Diagram]. She knew this was the footwork her father followed when
he was cultivating his internal energy; showing her how fierce the battle was for her
father that he was forced to use up all his strength. Turning toward Ouyang Feng she
did not see anything better. Thick steam was coming out from the top of his head;
his sleeves were fluttering following his hands’ movement plucking the strings;
creating gusts of wind blowing everywhere. His face looked seriously focused on his
zither playing; obviously he did not dare to act careless.

In the bamboo groove Guo Jing listened to the music attentively. He was pondering
in his heart what had these two instruments – the iron zither and the jade flute, had
to do with martial arts? They sounded so evil to him; how could the sound affect
other people’s heart and mind? At first he was too busy circulating his ‘qi’ and
calming his heart and mind, but gradually he was able to control himself and was
able to follow the movements of flute and zither sounds. A little while later he started
to realize that those two sounds were actually battling each other. When one sound
was on the offensive, the other took a defensive position; sometimes one was
attacking the other furiously, while the other blocking the attack while waiting for a
good opportunity to counterattack; really it was no different than a battle between
two martial arts masters. After pondering some more time suddenly it dawned on
him, “That’s right! The Island Master Huang is having an internal energy match
against Ouyang Feng.” Because he wanted to understand better, he closed his eyes
but open wide his ears with full attention.

He began to hear the two sounds were alternately gaining victory or suffering defeat.
Being music illiterate the sound of music would not affect his spirit; but he did feel
openness in his heart, like he was looking at something bright. His mind wandered
back to when Zhou Botong taught him the 72-stance Vacant Fist; which stemmed
from the words ‘empty/vacant/open’ and ‘clear/bright’. With his mind open wide and
clear he can ‘see’ every detail in the internal energy fight between Huang Yaoshi and
Ouyang Feng clearly. True, his internal energy was still inferior compared to those
two experts, but he had improved greatly without even realizing it; besides, as a
spectator he could see better than those two who were involved in the battle. He
often wondered why Zhou Botong could not resist the flute sound, while with an
inferior strength he could. He did not know that Zhou Botong carried a heavy guilt
inside his heart because of what he did in the past. So it was not purely because of
one’s internal energy strength one could withstand the flute sound.

By now Guo Jing heard Ouyang Feng’s zither was crushing Huang Yaoshi’s flute with
a force as powerful as a thunderbolt. The flute evaded to the east and dodged to the
west, and as soon as there was a gap in the zither sound, the flute would
counterattack immediately. After a while the zither gradually slowed down, while the
flute was getting more intense. Suddenly Guo Jing remembered the theory behind
the Vacant Fist which he memorized. It said, ‘hard must not last long soft must not
defend long’. He thought, “Not too long the zither will launch a counterattack.” And
sure enough, when the flute was slacking a little bit, abruptly a clank sound was
heard, the iron zither again assuming the offensive position.

Guo Jing had memorized the theory well, but his perception was still low. Zhou
Botong did not explain the meaning of the words he passed on to Guo Jing. Perhaps
his overall comprehension was only about ten percent. Now listening to the battle in
music between Huang Yaoshi and Ouyang Feng he started to understand who was
doing what; it agreed with the theory he had memorized so well. Secretly he was
delighted. The Nine Yin Manual contained some very advance theories of martial
arts. If it were left to him to dissect the theory even with somebody’s assistance he
would probably spend more than a year just to understand what it said. But now
listening to two sounds collided he kept comparing the battle to the theory. However,
he saw some discrepancies between the theory and the real battle situation; but he
attributed those discrepancies to his own shallow comprehension. For example, there
were several occasions where Huang Yaoshi was obviously gaining an upper hand; as
long as he kept the flute sound steady Ouyang Feng would not be able to withstand.
But Ouyang Feng also missed several opportunities to be exploited to his advantage.
Guo Jing initially thought they were being modest and backed off, but as he listened
more; it didn’t appear to be the case.

His intelligence might be low, but after those two people repeatedly made the similar
mistakes he began to realize that the flute and zither had a lot of holes in their
defense. After listening for a little bit more a thought came into his mind, “Compared
to the theory of Vacant Fist, their offense and defense have flaws and deficiencies;
could it be that the theory passed on by Brother Zhou is better than both Island
Master Huang’s and Western Poison’s martial arts?” But then he changed his mind,
“Nah! It couldn’t be! If Brother Zhou’s martial art is really better than Island Master
Huang’s, how could those two fight countless battles for fifteen years and he is still
stranded inside that cave?”

He racked his brain for a long time without any conclusion when he heard the flute
sound was climbing higher and higher until if he went higher still, Ouyang Feng’s
defeat would be decided. But the flute was not able to climb any higher; it had
reached the peak. Guo Jing stifled his laugh, “I was really dumb! There is a limit to
what one can do. Among the desires of the heart, nine out of ten cannot be
achieved. I know that if my fist could generate a ten thousand catties force, I will be
able to crush my opponent to dust; but how can my fist develop those ten thousand
catties of force? Seventh Master often said, ‘Looking at others carry a burden on a
pole easily does not mean we can do the same without breaking our back.’ If merely
carrying a burden follows this principle, how much more does martial art?”

The sound of music was increasingly fiercer; and it sounded like those two were
engaged in a hand-to-hand combat, or fighting in a very close distance using naked
blades. Victory or defeat would be decided very soon. Guo Jing was worried for
Huang Yaoshi when suddenly he heard a long and loud whistle coming from the
direction of the sea.

Both Huang Yaoshi and Ouyang Feng were startled; the flute and the zither were
slowing down. The whistle came nearer and nearer. It sounded like someone was
sailing on a boat coming toward the island. Ouyang Feng moved his hand and
stroked two metallic notes, ‘clank, clank.’ The distant whistle went higher to
overpower the zither. Not too long afterwards Huang Yaoshi’s flute joined in.
Sometimes the flute was fighting the long whistle; sometimes it entangled the zither
in a close fight. The distinct sounds were fighting each other.

Guo Jing had played ‘four-people combat’ with Zhou Botong before, so he did not
have any problem dividing his mind to distinguish different sounds. He knew a senior
with a high level of martial art had arrived.

By then the person uttering the long whistle had arrived at the forest. The whistle
turned high and low; sometimes sounded like a dragon’s cry or a lion’s roar;
sometimes resembled a wolf’s howl or an owl’s cry; but it also sounded like a strong
wind blowing through the forest which suddenly turned into a gentle rain showering
the flowers. It was constantly changing.
The flute sound was clear and bright, the zither sound was intensely mournful, yet
the combination of the three made a mysteriously wonderful sound; did not sound
bad at all. Three different sounds entangled each other in a close fight.

Guo Jing was amazed and could not help exclaiming, “Wonderful!” But once he
closed his mouth he realized he had made a mistake. He scurried away, but it was
too late! A green shadow flashed by and Huang Yaoshi was standing in front of him.
The three sounds were not heard anymore. Huang Yaoshi lowered his head and said,
“Good Boy, come with me.”

Guo Jing did not have any choice but stood up and meekly greeted, “Island Master
Huang.” With the hair on his back raised up he followed Huang Yaoshi walking
toward the bamboo pavilion.

Huang Rong still had her ears covered with silk, so she did not hear Guo Jing’s
exclamation. Now suddenly Guo Jing appeared she was pleasantly surprised.
“Brother Jing! You have finally come ...” she called out. She was joyous, yet sad at
the same time; before she could finish tears had already flowed down her cheeks.
She rushed forward and threw herself into Guo Jing’s bosom. Guo Jing opened his
arms and embraced her tightly.

Since Guo Jing appeared, Ouyang Ke had been annoyed; now he saw how intimate
Huang Rong with Guo Jing, his heart was burning hot with hatred. With a gust of
wind his fist flew toward Guo Jing’s face. “Stinky kid! You are also here!” he shouted.

He thought his martial art skill was higher than Guo Jing’s; furthermore, his attack
could be considered sneak attack, Guo Jing was unprepared, so he thought he might
break Guo Jing’s nose thus lashing out his hatred. But not in his wildest imagination
that Guo Jing now was not the same as Guo Jing then, when they fought each other
at the Baoying ancestral hall. Guo Jing saw a fist coming by, he leaned to side to
evade, then his left hand launched ‘hong jian yu liu’ [wild geese rising from the
shore] while his right hand launched the Proud Dragon Repents; both from the 18-
Dragon Subduing Palms.

The 18-Dragon Subduing Palms were unparalleled in the world; one move was very
difficult to withstand, much less two stances at the same time. How could Ouyang Ke
face them? Huang Yaoshi and Ouyang Feng were actually standing close-by; but
they did not anticipate Guo Jing’s counterattack. Both were startled yet were unable
to do anything.

Ouyang Ke felt his opponent’s left hand was threatening his right side; he knew this
18-Dragon Subduing Palms were very fierce; he could evade but could not parry.
Quickly he leaned his body to the left exactly at the same time Guo Jing’s right
hand’s Proud Dragon Repents came by. ‘Crack!’ his upper torso was squarely hit;
and one of his ribs was broken.

Actually he was aware of the fierceness of the opponent’s attack; when Guo Jing’s
hand arrived he had already focused his energy on his chest to protect his heart and
lungs against the incoming force. Furthermore, as soon as he was hit he tried to
lessen the injury by trying to jump up. But the incredible force from Guo Jing’s hand
had added to his own energy and sent him flying toward the bamboo pavilion’s roof.
He managed to land standing up albeit staggering badly; then slowly slid down. He
was awfully embarrassed and his chest was hurt badly. Slowly he walked back.

Guo Jing’s counterattack had surprised both the Eastern Heretic and the Western
Poison; gave Ouyang Ke a lesson he wouldn’t forget easily; and acquired Huang
Rong’s accolade. She clapped her hands and bounced up and down with great
happiness. Guo Jing himself did not realize that his martial art had improved
tremendously. He simply thought that Ouyang Ke was being careless and was caught
off guard. He was afraid Ouyang Ke would launch a counterattack; so he withdrew
two steps waiting for the opponent with rapt attention.

Ouyang Feng glared angrily toward Guo Jing; loudly he called out, “Old Beggar Hong!
Congratulations on your fine disciple!”
Huang Rong had taken out the silk handkerchief from her ears; hearing Ouyang
Feng’s loud call she knew Hong Qigong had arrived. Truly a savior sent from heaven.
She rushed outside the bamboo groove and loudly called out, “Shifu! Shifu!
[Master]”

Huang Yaoshi was astounded, “Why did Rong’er call the Old Beggar Hong ‘shifu’?”
Right at that moment Hong Qigong appeared with a scarlet wine gourd on his back, a
bamboo staff in his right hand, Huang Rong’s hand in his left, smiling broadly
entering the bamboo groove.

Huang Yaoshi and Hong Qigong greeted each other and exchanged some
pleasantries. Then Huang Yaoshi turned to his daughter and asked, “Rong’er, what
did you call Qigong?”

“Senior Qigong has taken me to be his disciple,” replied Huang Rong.

Huang Yaoshi was delighted, he turned to Hong Qigong, “Qi Xiong had approved my
daughter; your brother appreciates that very much. Only my daughter is
mischievous, I do hope Qi Xiong would teach her some lessons.” Speaking thus he
raised his hands in respect.

Hong Qigong smiled. “Yao Xiong’s own martial arts are both broad and profound; this
girl won’t be able to learn them all in her lifetime; why would I need to come
meddling? But since you asked, the reason I took her as my disciple was so that I
can eat for free. She prepared a lot of good food for me. So you don’t need to thank
me,” he said. Huang Yaoshi and Hong Qigong both laughed heartily.

Huang Rong pointed her finger to Ouyang Ke and said, “Father, this bad man bullied
me. If not for Senior Qigong looking after me on your behalf, you won’t see Rong’er
early on.”

“Nonsense!” Huang Yaoshi reprimanded her, “How could he bully you for no reason?”
“If you don’t believe me, ask him!” Huang Rong replied. Turning her head toward
Ouyang Ke she said, “You have to make an oath that if you answer my father’s
question with half-a-word of lies there will come a day when the viper on your
uncle’s staff will bite you to death.”

Listening to her words Ouyang Feng and Ouyang Ke’s faces changed. Ouyang Feng
had spent more than ten years to raise the vipers on his staff. They were breed from
various venomous snakes so the poison was really-really lethal. Ouyang Feng used
to punish his rebellious disciples or his enemy by a bite of these snakes. Once the
poison entered somebody’s system, the victim would suffer a terrible itch all over,
followed by a violent death. Ouyang Feng did have the antidote; but after the poison
entered one’s body, even if the antidote could save one’s life, one would lose all
one’s martial arts and would forever live as a disabled person. Huang Rong of course
did not know this; she simply felt that the snakes entwined on Ouyang Feng’s staff
were peculiar so she capriciously mentioned them. Who would have thought that she
had touched exactly the taboo matter of Western Poison, both the uncle and the
nephew.

“Honorable Father-in-law’s question, I do not dare not to answer truthfully,” Ouyang

Ke promised.

“You are speaking nonsense again!” Huang Rong spat. “You made me want to slap
your ears really good. Let me ask you this: Did you or did you not see me in Beijing
at the Zhao Palace?”

Ouyang Ke broke his rib; his chest was hit by her steel needle, his pain was
unbearable; but he was too proud to show his own weakness in front of others; so
far he gritted his teeth and was able to speak, but this time the pain was getting
worse; resulted in cold sweat on his forehead. So even though he wanted to answer
Huang Rong, he did not dare to open his mouth. All he could do was nodded in
affirmative.

“At that time you, along with Sha Tongtian, Peng Lianhu, Liang Ziweng, and Monk
Lingzhi had surrounded and bullied me, had you not?” Huang Rong asked again.

Ouyang Ke wanted to defend himself by explaining that he was not in cohort with
those people to bully her, but all he could say was, “I … I did not collaborate with
them …” and his chest was so painful that he could not say another word.

“Very well,” Huang Rong said, “I don’t need your answer; all you need to do is just
nod or shake your head in reply to my question. Let me ask you this: Sha Tongtian,
Peng Lianhu, Liang Ziweng, and Monk Lingzhi meant to harm me, did they not?”
Ouyang Ke nodded.

“They wanted to capture me, but failed miserably. Then you showed up and went
into action, did you not?” Huang Rong asked again. Ouyang Ke had no choice but
nodded his head again.

“At that time I was alone inside the Zhao Palace, I had nobody to help me; my
situation was precarious. My own father did not know my whereabouts, so even if he
wanted to rescue me, he would not be able to do so. Isn’t that right?” Huang Rong
continued. Ouyang Ke knew she was trying to win sympathy from her father and
inciting her father’s hatred toward him; however, what she said was a fact, so he
had no choice but nodded his head again.

Huang Rong reached out to her father’s hand and said, “Father, look! You don’t love
Rong’er anymore. If Mother were still alive you wouldn’t treat me like this …” Huang
Yaoshi heard her mentioning his beloved wife and he felt a stab of pain in his heart.
He stretched his left arm and hugged her.

Ouyang Feng was smart; he felt something was not right, so before Huang Rong
could ask another question he interrupted her. “Miss Huang,” he asked, “Those well-
known martial art characters wanted to capture you; but you have mastered your
family’s peerless skill in wushu; they could not overcome you, could they?” Huang
Rong nodded her head and smiled sweetly. Huang Yaoshi listened to Ouyang Feng
praising his family’s martial art showed a faint smile.
Turning to Huang Yaoshi, Ouyang Feng said, “Yao Xiong, ever since my nephew saw
your daughter his heart was captivated by her beauty and excellent skills. He sent a
pigeon to summon me, so that from the White Camel Mountain I came thousands of
miles away crossing the Central Plains and the sea to the Peach Blossom Island to
ask your daughter’s hand in marriage. You have considered my haste and, although
unworthy, have received me well. Other than Yao Xiong, there is no one in this
present age that would do such thing.”

“I do not dare to accept such compliment,” Huang Yaoshi smiled. He thought that
with his high position, Ouyang Feng was still willing to travel a long way to see him;
he felt honored.

Ouyang Feng then turned to Hong Qigong and said, “Qi Xiong, we uncle and nephew
admire Peach Blossom Island’s martial art; but you; how could you belittle us by
bullying the juniors? If my nephew was unfortunate, he would have died under your
unique skill of steel needle rain.”

Actually, it was Hong Qigong who saved Ouyang Ke from the steel needle rain
launched by Huang Rong; but now Ouyang Feng had placed the blame on him. He
knew Ouyang Ke must have lied to his uncle and his uncle had used that to discredit
Hong Qigong. But Qigong was an honest and straightforward man, he did not want
to argue; he simply laughed a big laugh, unplugged his wine gourd and took a big
gulp.

Guo Jing could not hold his patience any longer, “It was Senior Qigong who saved
your nephew’s life; how could you say such thing to blame him?”

“We are still talking, how dare you kid interrupt?” Huang Yaoshi barked.

“Rong’er, tell him … tell your Father what happened to Miss Cheng,” Guo Jing hastily
said.
Huang Rong knew her father’s temperament very well; he was not one who followed
customs and traditions. He often said, “What do those customs have to do with us?”
His way of thinking was different than common people of his time. What other people
thought to be right, he would consider that wrong; what other people thought to be
wrong, he might think that to be right. That was how he earned his title ‘Eastern
Heretic.’ Huang Rong thought, “This Ouyang Ke’s behavior is really disgusting, but
Father might think that he did what a normal romantic young men would do.” She
noticed that her father was looking at Guo Jing with a fiery eyes; she hastily came up
with an idea.

“I am not done with you,” she said turning to Ouyang Ke, “That day when we were
having a martial art contest at the Zhao Palace you tied both your hands behind your
back and said that you didn’t need any hand to subdue me, did you not?” Ouyang Ke
admitted with a nod of his head.

“Later on after I took Senior Qigong as my master we met again in Baoying,” Huang
Rong continued. “You said that no matter what kind of martial arts I used, whether it
be from my father or the ones taught by Hong Qigong; you would only use your
Uncle’s martial art to defeat me, didn’t you?”

Ouyang Ke thought, “It was your own idea, I did not say such thing.”

Seeing his hesitation Huang Rong quickly continued, “You have drawn a circle on the
ground with your feet and said that if I can compel you out of the circle using the
martial arts I learned from my father you would admit defeat, didn’t you?” Ouyang
Ke nodded again.

Turning to her father Huang Rong said, “Father, did you hear that? He did not have
any regards toward Hong Qigong; he also did not have any regards toward you. He
said that the martial arts of the two of you are inferior to his uncle’s; that even if you
two come together still cannot defeat his uncle. I don’t believe it.”

“Little girl has a long tongue,” Huang Yaoshi said. “Who among the people under the
heaven did not know that Eastern Heretic, Western Poison, Southern Emperor and
Northern Beggar’s martial arts are like a pound to sixteen ounces? No one is superior
to the others.” Although his mouth said those words, but he resented Ouyang Ke’s
arrogance; only he did not want to raise this matter anymore. He turned his head to
Hong Qigong and asked, “Qi Xiong, your presence has brought honor to the Peach
Blossom Island. I wonder if there is anything I can do for you?”

“I come here to ask you a favor,” Hong Qigong replied.

Although Hong Qigong loved to joke around, but he was an honest and
straightforward man, always upholding justice; his martial art skill was very high, so
Huang Yaoshi had always respected him. Huang Yaoshi knew that whatever business
Hong Qigong was dealing with, it was always taken care of, if not personally, then
with the help of his numerous Beggar Clan’s members. This time Hong Qigong was
asking him a favor he was extremely delighted, busily said, “We have been friends
for dozens of years; Qi Xiong has anything to say, how can your younger brother
dare not to comply?”

“Don’t comply too quickly,” Hong Qigong said, “I am afraid this matter is not easy to
manage.”

Huang Yaoshi smiled, “If the matter is easy, Qi Xiong won’t think of asking your
younger brother.”

Hong Qigong clapped his hands. “That’s right!” he laughed, “That was the sign of a
real friendship! You have decided to comply to my request then?”

“Speak up!” Huang Yaoshi said. “Whether going through fire or water, I’ll do it.”

Ouyang Feng swung his snake staff and opened his mouth, “Slow down Yao Xiong,
first we must ask Qi Xiong what is it that he wants?”

Hong Qigong laughed. “Old Poison, this matter does not concern you. You are being
nosy. You’d better prepare your belly to drink ‘xi jiu’ [lit. happiness wine – the term
used for wine served in wedding banquet. I don’t know the correct English
translation. Any suggestions?].”

“Drink ‘xi jiu’?” Ouyang Feng wondered.

“That’s correct!” Hong Qigong replied. “Exactly, ‘xi jiu’.” Pointing to Guo Jing and
Huang Rong he continued, “These two are my disciples; I have agreed to ask Yao
Xiong on their behalf to let them marry each other; and Yao Xiong has agreed to it.”

Guo Jing and Huang Rong were both scared and happy at the same time. They
exchanged glances at each other. Ouyang Feng uncle and nephew, along with Huang
Yaoshi were startled.

“Qi Xiong!” Ouyang Feng said, “You are wrong! Yao Xiong’s ‘qian jin’ [thousand gold
– meaning ‘precious’] has early on betrothed to my nephew. We come to the Peach
Blossom Island today to deliver the dowry and arrange for the ceremony.”

“Yao Xiong,” Hong Qigong asked, “Is that so?”

“I am afraid so,” Huang Yaoshi replied, “Qi Xiong, please don’t play a joke on your
younger brother.”

Hong Qigong put a sour face. “Who plays joke on you?” he said. “You have betrothed
your daughter to two families; your family’s reputation is at stake here.” Turning his
head to Ouyang Feng he asked, “I am the Guo family’s primary matchmaker, where
is yours?”

Ouyang Feng was dumbfounded; he did not expect Hong Qigong would ask him that
question. Stammering he tried to answer, “Yao Xiong has consented to this
marriage, I have also consented; why would we need a matchmaker?”

“Are you aware that there is somebody who has not consented to this arrangement?”
Hong Qigong cut him off.

“Who?” Ouyang Feng asked.

“Ha ... ha … it’s yours truly, the Old Beggar Hong!” Hong Qigong laughed.

As soon as Ouyang Feng heard this – knowing Hong Qigong’s character to be strong-
willed; his conduct to be firm and resolute, he knew a fight was unavoidable; but his
face did not show even a slight change; only he hesitated to say anything.

Hong Qigong smiled, “Your nephew’s behavior was improper, how can he be
compared to Yao Xiong’s beautiful-as-a-flower daughter? If you force them to get
married, they will fight over all kinds of disagreement everyday; they might end up
killing each other. What good does it do?”

Huang Yaoshi listened attentively, his heart was stirred. He looked at her, who was
gazing lovingly toward Guo Jing. Then he looked at Guo Jing. He hated this dumb kid
to the guts: Guo Jing’s intelligence was questionable; he knew neither literature nor
martial art; music, chess, calligraphy nor painting. He would not be a talented
scholar or a gallant knight. Both he and his wife were intelligent people and he knew
their only daughter’s brainpower was not anywhere below their own. If he let this
scattered brain married his daughter, it would be like throwing a fresh flower to the
cow dung.

Right now he saw Guo Jing stood alongside Ouyang Ke, he could not help but
comparing those two. Ouyang Ke’s intelligence and smart appearance was a hundred
times better than Guo Jing’s. His mind was set to take this young man as his son-in-
law; but Hong Qigong’s face showed he would not easily give up; so he cooked up a
scheme and said, “Feng Xiong, your nephew is injured. You’d better take care of that
first; we will discuss this matter further later.”

Ouyang Feng had worried about his nephew’s condition for a while, and was hoping
Huang Yaoshi would give them a chance to take care of the wound. So immediately
he beckoned his nephew and two people walked back into the bamboo groove.
Huang Yaoshi then engaged Hong Qigong in some pleasantries.

About the time needed to cook some rice later uncle and nephew returned to the
pavilion. Ouyang Feng had extracted the steel needles in his nephew’s body and
mended the broken rib as well.

“My daughter’s posture is as weak as a willow tree; she is stubborn and disobedient;
hardly worthy to be a gentleman’s wife. But unexpectedly Qi Xiong and Feng Xiong
both have given me the highest honor by asking her hand in marriage. My daughter
has already betrothed to Mr. Ouyang, but Qi Xiong’s request is also difficult not to
accept. I have an idea, I wonder if you two brothers would tell me if this idea will
work or not?” Huang Yaoshi said.

“Quickly say it! Quickly say it!” Hong Qigong interrupted. “The Old Beggar never likes
to hear your winding and flowery words.”

Huang Yaoshi smiled faintly. “Brothers, even though this daughter of mine is
unworthy, I still hope she will find a good husband,” he continued. “Mr. Ouyang is
Feng Xiong’s honorable nephew, while Mr. Guo is Qi Xiong’s outstanding disciple.
Both are very fine gentlemen, it is very difficult to choose one of them. I have no
alternative but to come up with a three-subject test; I will betroth my daughter to
whoever passes this test. I will not favor either one of them. Would both old friends
tell me if this idea is good?”

Ouyang Feng clapped his hands. “Clever! Wonderful!” he called out. “Only thing is,
my nephew is injured, if the test involves martial arts then we have to wait until he
is fully recovered.” He had seen the fierceness of Guo Jing’s attack that injured his
nephew; he knew that if they contended in martial arts his nephew would no doubt
lose. So he used his nephew’s injury to their best advantage.

“Certainly,” Huang Yaoshi said. “A martial art contest will harm the good relationship
between two families anyway.”
Hong Qigong said in his heart, “This is so typical Old Heretic Huang. All of us are
Wulin people; if the test involves literary and not martial art skill, do you expect a
‘zhuang yuan’ [a title of a scholar, Meh’s ‘Sentimental Swordman, Ruthless Sword’
has an explanation of different titles] to be your son-in-law? If you come up with
music or poetry, even if he reincarnated my stupid disciple will not be able to take it.
Your mouth says no favor, but obviously you totally favor the other side. My stupid
disciple will lose for sure. It is confounding! I will fight Old Poison first, talk later.” He
looked upward and laughed hard, staring toward Ouyang Feng he said, “We are all
martial arts practitioners, instead of contesting in martial arts, do you want to have
an eating contest or defecating race, then? Your nephew is injured, but you are not.
Come, come, come! We will fight in their stead.”

Without waiting for an answer he sent his palm toward Ouyang Feng’s shoulder.
Ouyang Feng stepped back several feet. Hong Qigong put his bamboo staff down on
a small bamboo table. “Watch for this!” he shouted. His words were still hanging in
the air when both his palms had already moved seven times in rapid succession.

Ouyang Feng dodged to the left and evaded to the right and all seven attacks flew
by. His right hand pushed the snake staff into the bricks in front of the pavilion, and
in a flash his left hand had also sent seven counterattacks.

Huang Yaoshi cheered, but did not prevent them from fighting. He wanted to see
these two martial art world-class masters, who were his peers; what kind of
improvements they have achieved twenty years after their last meeting.

Both Hong Qigong and Ouyang Feng were the experts of their respective martial art
schools. They have reached the pinnacle of their martial arts twenty years ago. After
the Sword Meet of Mount Hua both have trained hard and improved their skills
tremendously. This time they met again on the Peach Blossom Island, their skills
were incomparable with when they had their meet at Mount Hua. Each launched
swift attacks and counterattacks, but they were actually still trying to probe the
opponent’s skill. Both combatants exchanged fast and forceful palms and fists, that
the gust of winds created swayed the bamboo leaves around them. Although they
were only testing each other, but their moves carried profound martial art
techniques.

On the sideline Guo Jing was watching with full attention; whether it was an attack
or a defense, every single one was a wonderful move, beyond his wildest
imagination. The Nine Yin Manual contained the deepest martial arts theory in the
world: whether it be internal or external energy cultivation, bare hands or swordplay,
all kinds of the most profound martial arts imaginable. After Guo Jing memorized the
content by heart – although he did not understand every single one of them, those
theories were actually ingrained in his brain. Now he watched those two combatants
exchanging exquisite moves, those theories came flooding back into his mind,
forming a fuzzy shadow in his brain.

Early on he listened to Huang Yaoshi and Ouyang Feng’s flute versus zither battle.
That was an invisible internal energy battle; extremely difficult to clearly see their
relation with the theory in the manual. This time the battle was using fists and kicks,
much easier to perceive. In his delight, his heart was itching to try what he had
seen.

Very quickly Hong Qigong and Ouyang Feng have exchanged more than three
hundred stances. Both were surprised at the opponent’s skill and could not help but
praising each other in their hearts. On the side Huang Yaoshi looked on with a sigh,
he thought, “I have painstakingly trained myself on the Peach Blossom Island; I
thought after Wang Chongyang passed away, my martial art would be number one in
the world. Who would have thought that these Old Beggar and Old Poison both have
taken their own paths and reached these frightfully respectable levels of martial
arts?”

Both Ouyang Ke and Huang Rong were deep in their own thoughts; each hoped that
their side would gain a quick victory, but actually they could not comprehend the
exquisiteness of the martial arts being displayed in front of their eyes. With the
corner of her eye Huang Rong saw a black shadow was dancing erratically, flailing
his hands and feet incessantly. She turned her head and found the shadow to be Guo
Jing. But Guo Jing’s expression was weird; looked like he was in ecstasy without any
reason. Her heart skipped a beat. “Brother Jing!” she called with a low voice.

Guo Jing did not hear her; he was still busy moving his hands and feet. Huang Rong
felt strange, so she watched attentively and found out that Guo Jing was actually
imitating Hong Qigong and Ouyang Feng’s movements.

By now those two had changed the way they fight; every fist and every kick was
sent slowly out. Sometimes they would stand still for a moment, and then sent out a
fist. After they exchanged one stance, they would sit down on the ground to take a
rest; then stood up and exchanged another move. In short, the way they fight was
slower than two disciples practicing martial arts. But looking at their face, one could
see the seriousness on their faces, almost to the point of very tense.

Huang Rong glanced toward her father and saw him looking intensely at those two;
his face was also unusually tense. Ouyang Ke was the only person around who could
maintain his calmness. He looked at her flirtatiously, while lightly waving his folding
fan.

Guo Jing saw an unconventional move, he could not restrain from cheering loudly.
Ouyang Ke was irritated, “Your muddy kid does not understand anything, what is he
shouting about?”

“Just because you don’t understand, how would you know whether other people
understand or not?” Huang Rong shot back.

Ouyang Ke laughed, “He’s just flailing his hands and feet foolishly. Given his young
age, how would he know the wonder of my uncle’s divine martial arts?”

“You are not him; how would you know what he knows?” Huang Rong replied.

Two people were bickering on the side; Huang Yaoshi and Guo Jing turned a deaf ear
to them, they were watching the fight with rapt attention.

By that time both Hong Qigong and Ouyang Feng were squatting on the ground; one
with his left middle finger pointed to his brain, the other used both hands to cover
his ears. Both were thinking really hard with their eyes closed. Suddenly they
shouted and simultaneously leapt toward each other; one sending his fist, the other
used his leg; then they were separated again.

Those two people had reached the level where each and every single one of the
martial arts belonging to their own family or school had no flaw whatsoever.
However, they both know that no matter how fierce the stance was, the opponent
would easily break it; therefore, they had to create a new and unknown move in
order to gain an upper hand.

After their sword meet twenty years ago, both men – one resided in the Central
Plains, the other came all the way from the Western Region, had never met or even
heard about the other’s condition; so they did not know how far had the other man
improved his martial art. Now that they were fighting each other, the situation was
not much different. Each had his own strengths, each had his own weaknesses;
nobody could tell who would overcome whom. In the meantime the moonlight had
faded, and one could see a streak of sunlight glowing in the east. Both had racked
their brains and had created innumerable new and wonderful moves; fist techniques
or palm strengths, along with tens of thousands variations thereof, but still nobody
could tell which one was better.

Guo Jing witnessed the fight between two top experts of their present age martial art
world; wonderful moves and exquisite techniques came one after another.
Sometimes he understood, more often he did not. Sometimes he saw something that
was related to the theory taught by Zhou Botong; which made him excited and
wanted to try. But before he could finish half of a stance, Hong Qigong and Ouyang
Feng had already launched new moves; and Guo Jing had already forgotten the
previous move he was trying to master.
When Huang Rong saw Guo Jing like that, she was secretly alarmed. “I did not see
him for dozens of days, could it be that he got some profound martial arts lessons
from a divine being?” she thought, “I looked at the fight and I got confused, how
could he exclaim in admiration?” But then another thought came to her mind, “Could
it be that this silly brother of mine missed me so much that he went insane?”

She had not seen Guo Jing for quite some time, and now that they have seen each
other the situation was not conducive for them to be intimate. She moved forward,
wanted to hold Guo Jing’s hand. Right at that moment Guo Jing was imitating
Ouyang Feng’s palm technique; he was turning his body around and launched a palm
attack. It looked ordinary, but in actuality it carried enormous hidden energy. Her
hand barely touched Guo Jing’s palm when suddenly she felt a surge of incredible
energy pushing her. She was sent flying upward.

After touching Huang Rong’s hand, Guo Jing came back to reality. “Aiyo!” he cried
and jumped to grab Huang Rong’s waist. While falling down back to the ground, Guo
Jing’s left hand grabbed the bamboo pavilion’s eave. Swinging their bodies they
landed on the roof. Two people sat shoulder to shoulder on top of the bamboo
pavilion watching the fight on the ground.

By that time the battle situation on the ground had changed again; Ouyang Feng
was squatting on the ground with both arms bent on the shoulder, resembled a big
frog was about to strike its enemy. His mouth created some deep rumbling noise,
like a cow mooing; sometimes it was audible, and sometimes it wasn’t.

Huang Rong was amused; she smiled and with a low voice asked, “Brother Jing,
what is he doing?”

“I don’t know,” Guo Jing replied, but suddenly he remembered Zhou Botong’s story
on Wang Chongyang’s Solitary Yang Finger breaking Ouyang Feng’s Toad Stance.
“That must be it!” he exclaimed, “This is his fiercest martial art; it is called the Toad
Stance.”
Huang Rong clapped her hands and laughed, “He does look like a toad!”

Ouyang Ke had observed those two people sitting close and leaning toward each
other, talking and laughing; his heart was burnt with jealousy. He wanted to leap up
and fight Guo Jing, but his chest was still in pain; he could not exert any strength.
Besides, he did not have any confidence his martial art was superior to Guo Jing’s.
But now hearing Huang Rong said ‘he looked like a toad’ he thought they were
ridiculing him, saying that he looked like a dirty toad desiring to eat a swan’s meat;
he was furious. With his right hand holding three secret projectiles he quietly walked
around toward the back of the bamboo pavilion. Gritted his teeth he moved his hand
and three silvery streaks came flying toward Guo Jing’s chest.

In the meantime Hong Qigong was launching his palms to the front and to the back,
busily fighting Ouyang Feng’s Toad Stance with his 18-Dragon Subduing Palms.
These two martial arts were the highest skill of each combatant, so the fight was no
longer slow and sluggish like it was before. It was fierce as two people were using
their dozens of years of martial art training trying to gain victory; life and death
could be decided in a twinkling of an eye. Guo Jing had learned the 18-Dragon
Subduing Palms, but he had not seen his master using this technique before. It sent
shivers along his spine to see how wonderful the palm techniques were, with infinite
variations in them. It was truly incomparable to the ones he had already mastered.
He was completely captivated with what happened on the ground; how would he
expect somebody to sneak in from behind and attacked him stealthily?

Huang Rong was not aware that the two fighting on the ground were using their
highest martial art skills; she was still laughing and joking around when she
suddenly realized one person was missing from the bamboo pavilion. Her mind
immediately went to Ouyang Ke, she was afraid of his craftiness; so her eyes
scanned around but it was her ears that heard the wind generated by the secret
projectiles coming toward Guo Jing’s back. With the corner of her eyes she could see
three silvery streaks coming fast. She did not have any time to think, immediately
she threw herself behind Guo Jing’s back. “Puff! Puff! Puff!” three secret projectiles
landed squarely on her back. She was wearing the ‘ruan wei jia’ [soft hedgehog
armor] so she was not injured, but she felt some pain nonetheless.

Her hand reached and grabbed the secret projectiles. She turned around and smiled
sweetly, “You are scratching the itch on my back, aren’t you? Thank you, but I need
to give these back to you.”

Ouyang Ke saw how she intercepted the projectiles with her own body to protect Guo
Jing, he was more jealous than ever. Hearing her saying thus he thought she was
going to throw the projectiles back his way, so he readied himself. But after a
moment he saw Huang Rong was holding the projectiles in her hand with the palm
up, like she was expecting him to take them back from her hand.

Ouyang Ke kicked his left foot and leaped to the bamboo pavilion’s roof. He intended
to show off his lightness kungfu, lightly perched on the edge of the roof; looked like
a white shadow swaying gently in the wind. It was indeed an excellent skill, as
elegant as a deity.

“Your lightness kungfu is truly wonderful!” Huang Rong exclaimed. She stood up and
walked toward him, arm extended with the projectiles in her hand.

Ouyang Ke saw her white complexion, he was mesmerized. Absentmindedly he

stretched his hand to pick the projectiles, with an ill intention to rub her hand, when
suddenly some metallic streaks coming his way. He had had fallen twice under
Huang Rong’s hands and did not want to repeat it, so he somersaulted and came
down the roof; waving his sleeve and parried an abundance of Huang Rong’s steel
needles.

Huang Rong giggled and threw the three silver projectiles to the ground, right in
front of squatting Ouyang Feng.

“NO! Don’t!” Guo Jing cried in alarm. He grabbed Huang Rong’s waist and jumped
down the roof. Before his feet even touched the ground he had heard Huang Yaoshi’s
anxious shout, “Feng Xiong, have mercy!”
Guo Jing felt an earth-shattering force coming his way. Quickly he pushed Huang
Rong aside and exerted all his strength to his hands with one of the 18-Dragon
Subduing Palms, the ‘jian long zai tian’ [seeing dragon in the field].

“Bang!” a loud noise was heard when his force collided with Ouyang Feng’s Toad
Stance, and as a result he staggered back seven, eight steps. Guo Jing felt blood
rising from his chest to his throat. He was alarmed, but was afraid Ouyang Feng
would send another attack, so he forced himself and stood in front of Huang Rong,
ready to take another blow. But then he saw Hong Qigong and Huang Yaoshi had
already stepped in between them.

“So sorry! I am so ashamed!” Ouyang Feng stood up. “I was not able to retract my
force. I hope I did not hurt the young lady, did I?” he called out.

Actually Huang Rong was scared, her beautiful face was pale, but hearing him said
such thing, she put a bold face and laughed, “With my Father around, how could you
hurt me?”

Huang Yaoshi was really anxious; he pulled her hands and quietly asked, “Do you
feel anything different on your body? Quickly breathe in and out a few times.” Huang
Rong listened to her father and quietly circulate her ‘qi’ but did not feel anything
unusual, so she laughed and shook her head.

Huang Yaoshi was relieved. “Your two uncles are practicing their martial arts just
now, what did a little girl like you doing carelessly intervening?” he reprimanded.
“Uncle Ouyang’s Toad Stance is not a small matter; if he did not show you any
mercy, do you think your little life would be spared?”

In order to launch the powerful Toad Stance, Ouyang Feng had to concentrate his
strength in his whole body. As soon as the opponent attack, he would be able to
counterattack by launching the full power already stored. That was exactly what
happened when he was waiting for Hong Qigong to attack; his strength was
concentrated, ready to be launched like an arrow on a completely pulled bow.
Unexpectedly Huang Rong tossed something to him that he instinctively
counterattacked toward her.

When he realized it was Huang Rong he was extremely shocked, his force had
already being released, there was no way he could pull it back. He sighed inwardly,
thinking he had created a terrible disaster that this beautiful-as-a-flower girl would
die a violent death in his hand; moreover he heard Huang Yaoshi called out, ‘Feng
Xiong, have mercy!’ Frantically he tried to divert his force, but there simply was not
enough time; when suddenly he felt another force collided with his. He took this
opportunity to retract his force. When he looked clearly, he found out that the person
who rescued Huang Rong was Guo Jing! Secretly he admired Hong Qigong, “This Old
Beggar is really good; he succeeded in training this young disciple to reach such high
level of martial art!”

Huang Yaoshi had seen Guo Jing’s martial art at the Cloud Manor; he thought, “This
youngster did not know the height of the sky or the depth of the earth; he dared to
parry Ouyang Feng’s fierce Toad Stance. If Ouyang Feng did not see my face and
showed him mercy, his bones would have been shattered to pieces.” He did not know
that the Guo Jing he met at the Cloud Manor was not the same as Guo Jing now.
However, he acknowledged that Guo Jing had carelessly saved Huang Rong’s life
without any regard to his own safety; his hatred toward him was, for the most part,
gone. He thought, “This kid really has a good heart; he really loves Rong’er. I can’t
give Rong’er to him, but certainly I can reward him by teaching him something.” The
rascal in front of him looked rather stupid and the word ‘foolish’ had stirred up anger
in him.

“Old Poison! You are really good!” Hong Qigong called out, “But victory or defeat has
not been decided yet, let us fight again!”

“Very well!” Ouyang Feng replied, “I will risk my life to accompany a gentleman
play!”
“I am not a gentleman,” Hong Qigong laughed. “You are risking your life to play with
a beggar!” With a jump he was standing at the courtyard again.

Ouyang Feng was about to join him when suddenly Huang Yaoshi lifted his left hand,
“Hold it!” he called out, “Qi Xiong, Feng Xiong, you have fought for more than one
thousand moves yet you two are equally strong. Today the two of you are the Peach
Blossom Island’s honored guests; you are entitled to drink several cups of your
brother’s own brewed wine. The sword meet of Mount Hua is at hand. At that time
not only you two will see who will gain victory; but your brother, along with the
Southern Emperor will be there to practice our martial arts. So why don’t we end
today’s contest right here?”

“Fine with me!” Ouyang Feng laughed, “If this fight continues, I will be forced to
admit defeat very soon anyway.”

Hong Qigong turned back and laughed, “The Old Western Poison is crafty, when he
said he would admit defeat, that means he is actually going to win. I don’t believe
what he said a bit.”

“Well, then,” Ouyang Feng replied, “Let me ask Qi Xiong’s expert opinion again.”

Hong Qigong flicked his sleeve and said, “Nothing better!”

“I see,” Huang Yaoshi interrupted, “Your arrival today at the Peach Blossom Island is
actually to show off your martial arts,” he said with a smile.

Hong Qigong roared in laughter. “Yao Xiong is right! We come here to ask your
daughter’s hand in marriage, not to fight each other.”

“I said earlier that I am going to give three subjects to test both gentlemen,” Huang
Yaoshi continued, “The one passes the test will be my son-in-law, but the one fails
won’t be going home empty handed either.”
“What? Do you have another daughter?” Hong Qigong asked.

Huang Yaoshi smiled, “No, I don’t. Even if I find another wife, I don’t think we want
to wait that long. Your brother has many other skills: medical, astrology and a lot of
other stuff. The gentleman who fails the test, as long as he does not belittle my
shallow knowledge and is willing to learn one particular subject, I am going to devote
my time and will teach him with all my heart so that he won’t leave the Peach
Blossom Island empty handed.”

Hong Qigong was fully aware of Huang Yaoshi’s ability; he thought that if Guo Jing
could not be his son-in-law but managed to learn just one skill from him, he would
gain a lifelong benefit nonetheless. He thought whatever subject the test would be,
Guo Jing would undoubtedly suffer a loss; and he felt bad for him.

Ouyang Feng saw Hong Qigong’s reluctance, he snatched away that opportunity to
say, “Good! Let it be that way! Yao Xiong had actually accepted my nephew’s
proposal, but he honored Qi Xiong’s face. So let these two kids be tested. This way it
won’t damage our friendship.” Turning toward Ouyang Ke he said, “Later if you lose,
you will only have your own incapability to blame, you cannot blame anybody else.
We will happily drink Brother Guo’s ‘xi jiu’. If later on you have a mind to create
other problem, not only these two seniors won’t let you go easily, I myself will not
spare you.”

Hong Qigong looked up and burst in laughter, “Old Poison, you are 90% sure that
you are going to win. Your speech was actually directed to me and my disciple; what
you are saying was ‘be a dear and just admit defeat’.”

Ouyang Feng smiled and said, “Who win and who lose, how would you know in
advance? Even for people of our level, do you think it is easy to claim victory
shamelessly? Yao Xiong, please present the subjects of your test.”

Huang Yaoshi had determined to give his daughter to Ouyang Ke, therefore, he had
to come out with three subjects that would guarantee victory for Ouyang Ke.
However, first of all, a man of his stature could not be blatantly one-sided; secondly,
he did not want to offend Hong Qigong. But while he was still carefully considering
what he was about to say, Hong Qigong had opened his mouth, “We all live by our
fists and kicks, the test Yao Xiong will administer must be related to martial arts. If
your subjects are poetry or music; reciting scriptures or painting, then we – master
and disciple, will simply admit defeat and take our butts out of here; no need to lose
our faces.”

“Naturally,” Huang Yaoshi assured him, “The first subject is martial arts
competition.”

“That won’t do,” Ouyang Feng said, “My nephew is presently wounded.”

Huang Yaoshi smiled. “I know that,” he said, “I cannot let two brothers have martial
arts contest on the Peach Blossom Island and damage their friendship.”

“They are not going to fight?” Ouyang Feng was baffled.

“That’s correct,” Huang Yaoshi answered.

“That’s so!” Ouyang Feng smiled, “Then the test giver will try each person’s martial
art?”

Huang Yaoshi shook his head, “No, if I do that, nobody can guarantee that I will be
fair since I can make my moves heavy or light at will. Feng Xiong, you and Qi Xiong
here have reached the pinnacle of your respective martial arts skill. The fight just
now was the proof, you have fought for more than a thousand moves, yet nobody
knows who gained victory or suffered defeat. Feng Xiong, you test Brother Guo, and
Qi Xiong, you try Brother Ouyang.”

Hong Qigong thought, “This is very fair indeed. Old Heretic Huang is really smart to
think of this method. Old Beggar will never come out with something like this.” He
laughed and said, “This method is not bad! Come, come, come! Let us play!” He
beckoned Ouyang Ke.

“Wait!” Huang Yaoshi said, “There are some rules of the game we need to address.
Rule number one: Brother Ouyang is injured, he cannot exert any energy, and
therefore, both of them will be tested in term of martial arts, not in term of strength.
Rule number two: The four of you will fight on top of these pine trees,” he pointed to
two big pine trees outside the bamboo pavilion, “The junior who falls to the ground
first will lose. Rule number three: Feng Xiong and Qi Xiong, whoever puts too heavy
pressure on the junior and accidentally injures him will lose.”

“Injuring a junior is considered losing?” Hong Qigong mused.

“Certainly,” Huang Yaoshi explained, “The two of you have such a high skill; if I don’t
have this rule, once you put forth a heavy hand, do you think the junior will live? Qi
Xiong, if you even scratch Brother Ouyang’s skin, you lost. The same goes to Feng
Xiong. Between these two juniors, one will be my son-in-law; how can they be
injured under your hands?”

Hong Qigong scratched his head and laughed, “Old Heretic Huang is really weird,
really live up to his reputation. Injuring opponent will be considered lose; this
strange rule has never been heard of in thousands of years. Fine! As long as it is fair,
the Old Beggar will comply.”

Huang Yaoshi gave a hand signal and the four of them jumped up the pine trees,
forming two parties: Hong Qigong and Ouyang Ke on the right, Ouyang Feng and
Guo Jing on the left. Hong Qigong still had an amused look on his face, while the
other three looked serious, almost tense.

Huang Rong knew Ouyang Ke’s martial art was actually higher than Guo Jing’s;
luckily he was injured. However, the competition on top of pine trees rely heavily on
the lightness kungfu, which, obviously, Ouyang Ke had some advantage over Guo
Jing. She was unable to not feeling anxious. In the meantime she heard her father’s
loud and clear voice, “I will count to three, then you can all start. Brother Ouyang,
Brother Guo, whoever falls down to the ground first will lose!”

Huang Rong secretly thought of somehow helping Guo Jing, but Ouyang Feng’s
martial art was very high, how could she fight him with her present ability?

Huang Yaoshi had started to count, “One, two, three!” Four shadows danced on top
of the pine trees, they have begun.

Huang Rong’s gaze had never left Guo Jing, only to see he had fought for more than
ten stances against Ouyang Feng in a blink of an eye. Both Huang Rong and Huang
Yaoshi were secretly surprised, “How did his martial art suddenly improved by leaps
and bounds? He managed to fight these many moves without showing any sign of
defeat.”

Ouyang Feng was anxious; gradually he increased his strength bit by bit. He was
afraid to injure Guo Jing. Suddenly an idea came into his mind: both his legs rotated
like a wheel, trying to sweep Guo Jing’s away from the pine tree. Guo Jing used the
‘fei long zai tian’ [Dragon flies in the sky] of his 18-Dragon Subduing Palms;
repeatedly leaping high, both palms hacking down like knives trying to hit his
opponent’s legs.

Huang Rong’s heart was thumping madly. She turned her gaze toward Hong Qigong
only to see the fight took a different path. Ouyang Ke was using his lightness
kungfu; leaping to the east and dodging to the west, he did not want to engage even
half of Hong Qigong’s moves. Hong Qigong was compelled to chase him, but Ouyang
Ke was always running around. Hong Qigong thought, “This stinky creature is
cunning, he is trying to buy time. Guo Jing is a dumb kid, he actually fights against
the Old Poison. This way he will certainly fall to the ground first. Humph! This little
rapist! Do you think the Old Beggar cannot fold you under my arm?” Suddenly he
leaped high into the air, ten fingers like two steel claws striking toward Ouyang Ke’s
head.

Ouyang Ke saw this incoming force was swift and fierce; certainly not a contest type
attack, but was intended to take his life. He was shocked and hastily tried to flee to
the right. Unbeknownst to him, Hong Qigong’s attack was a false one. Hong Qigong
had anticipated this movement, so as soon as Ouyang Ke turned right, Hong Qigong
bent his waist mid-air and flew to the right. His hands came fast toward Ouyang Ke
and clearly shouted, “I don’t care if I lose; today I am going to kill you stinky kid
first.”

Ouyang Ke was startled that Hong Qigong was able to turn his body mid-air; he was
scared and froze for a moment, especially listening to Hong Qigong’s shout. He did
not dare to parry this attack, so frantically he stepped back to an empty air. He fell
down from the tree with this thought in his mind, “I lost this first test!” But then
suddenly he heard rustling noise beside him, turned out Guo Jing was also falling
down from the tree next to him.

After fighting Guo Jing for quite a while, Ouyang Feng lost his patience, “If I let this
kid fight me for another fifty moves; where would I keep the Western Poison’s
pride?” he thought. Suddenly a wicked thought came into his mind. His left hand
moved lightning fast toward Guo Jing’s neck while shouting loudly, “You go down!”

Guo Jing ducked this attack and lifted his left hand and tried to parry with the back
of his hand. But Ouyang Feng suddenly put more force to his hand. “You … you …”
Guo Jing stammered. He was going to say, “You didn’t follow Huang Yaoshi’s rule?”
but was not able to say it because he was forced to use all his energy to withstand
this attack. Ouyang Feng smiled and coldly said, “I what?” and put more force to his
hand.

Guo Jing was trying to get a strong foothold for fear that he might be internally
injured by this Toad Stance force. Who would have imagined that the tremendous
force pushing him down suddenly disappeared without a trace. Fortunately for him
that his skill was improved; if not, he wouldn’t be able to withstand Ouyang Feng’s
force which was suddenly getting stronger and suddenly disappeared. Luckily it was
similar to the 72 moves of Vacant Fist he learned from Zhou Botong, in which a hard
force contained a softness in it. Otherwise, he would be injured just like when he
fought Huang Yaoshi at the Cloud Manor, where his hand was caught and broken.
Nevertheless, because of this, he lost his balance and was thrown down from the
tree head first.

Ouyang Ke fell down right side up, while Guo Jing fell upside down, both men saw
the ground was approaching fast. Seeing Guo Jing falling beside him Ouyang Ke had
an idea; he stretched his hands toward Guo Jing’s legs. He wanted to use Guo Jing
as a stepping stone, so he would be able to jump back up while Guo Jing would
certainly fall faster to the ground. Or so he thought.

Huang Rong saw Guo Jing’s precarious situation and called out, “Aiyo!” But then
strangely it was Guo Jing whom she saw jumped back up to the tree, while with a
loud crashing sound Ouyang Ke was hitting the ground. Guo Jing landed on a tree
branch and was out of breath, panting profusely.

Huang Rong was extremely delighted. She did not see clearly how it happened; how
in a critical moment Guo Jing was able to turn defeat into victory, but she was
delighted nonetheless and was unable to restrain herself from crying out, “Aiyo!” But
these two ‘aiyo’s carried entirely different emotions.

By that time Ouyang Feng and Hong Qigong have already come down. Hong Qigong
was laughing hard, repeatedly uttering, “Wonderful! Wonderful!” Ouyang Feng’s face
was green from anger. “Qi Xiong,” he gloomily said, “Your smart disciple’s martial art
is so diverse to include even the Mongolian wrestling skill.”

Hong Qigong laughed, he said, “I don’t know how to wrestle, so it wasn’t me who
taught him. You can’t blame me.”

What really happened was: Guo Jing was pushed down by Ouyang Ke, he fell faster
down. He saw Ouyang Ke’s legs flying up right in front of him. He did not have time
to think. In that critical moment he instinctively stretched both arms to grab Ouyang
Ke’s calves; pulling himself up by twisting his body from the upside-down position to
the upright on. It was precisely the wrestling technique the Mongolians practiced.
The Mongolians have trained and perfected their wrestling techniques for
generations; they were considered one of the bests. Guo Jing grew up in the
Mongolian desert. Before he even learned martial arts from the Six Freaks of
Jiangnan he had played and wrestled everyday with Tuolei and his friends. So
Mongolian wrestling to him was as natural as eating rice. Otherwise; by nature his
was slow, he was falling down, fast; even if he knew Mongolian wrestling technique
he would not have enough time to think. It was not like: when falling down and
seeing a pair of legs in front of him, he thought, “Oh, a pair of legs, nice! Hey, why
don’t I use these legs to jump back up there.” It happened so fast, that even after he
managed to land his feet on the tree branch he still did not know what happened and
that he had won against all odds.

Huang Yaoshi slightly shook his head, he thought, “This Guo Jing is a slow-witted
kid. This victory is obviously because of sheer luck.” He gave his decision, “The first
test was won by Guo Xianzhi [Worthy Nephew]. But Feng Xiong please not to worry,
you have taught your honorable nephew well. Who knows he will score victories for
the second and third tests.”

“Then please Yao Xiong present the second test,” Ouyang Feng replied.

“The second test will be …” Huang Yaoshi started, but before he could finish Huang
Rong had cut him off, “Father, obviously you are one-sided. Just a moment ago you
said you would only test their martial arts skill, how come you want to test other
subjects? Brother Jing, you might as well admit defeat and leave.”

“What do you know?” Huang Yaoshi said, “After reaching certain level of martial art
skill, do you still want to fight everyday? Yes, we are martial arts people; but unlike
ordinary military people, we don’t live on martial arts day by day. We don’t amuse
ourselves by jousting to find a spouse …” Listening to this part Huang Rong stole a
glance toward Guo Jing. Guo Jing was also looking at her. They were thinking of the
same thing: Mu Nianci and Yang Kang, who met each other at the capital by ‘joust to
find a spouse’. In the meantime Huang Yaoshi had continued his speech, “… My
second test subject therefore is asking these two Xianzhis to listen to this old man
playing a tune on my flute.”

Ouyang Ke was ecstatic; he thought, “What did this stupid kid know about wind or
string instrument? The victory is mine for sure.”

Ouyang Feng on the other hand, was not so sure. He suspected Huang Yaoshi was
going to test these two persons’ internal energy strength by the flute sound. He
knew Guo Jing’s level of internal energy to be quite strong; his nephew not
necessarily could exceed him. Also, he was afraid his nephew would be internally
injured by Huang Yaoshi’s flute sound. He said, “Juniors’ internal energy cultivation is
shallow, I am afraid they won’t be able to listen to Yao Xiong’s elegant melody. I
wonder if Yao Xiong would consider …”

Huang Yaoshi did not give him a chance to finish, “My song is an ordinary one,
without any high level of internal energy. Feng Xiong, set your heart in peace.”
Toward Ouyang Ke and Guo Jing he said, “Xianzhis please take a bamboo stick each;
follow my music by tapping it to the rhythm. The one who can follow better will win
the second test.”

Guo Jing stepped forward and cupped his hands, “Island Master Huang, disciple is
very slow and stupid. I know nothing about music; let me admit defeat for the
second test.”

“Don’t be hasty; don’t be hasty,” Hong Qigong intervened, “In the worst case you
will lose, why don’t you try? Are you afraid that others will laugh at your face?”

Guo Jing thought his master made some sense; seeing Ouyang Ke took a bamboo
stick he did the same.

“Qi Xiong, Feng Xiong,” Huang Yaoshi smiled, “Younger brother will show off his
inability.” Lifted the jade flute to his lips he started to blow. This part of his song did
not carry any internal energy and it wasn’t any different than any ordinary person
would play.

Ouyang Ke listened attentively, trying to follow the rhythm, and then he started
tapping his bamboo stick correctly. Guo Jing did not have a clue; he held his bamboo
stick high in the air but did not dare to tap it. Only after Huang Yaoshi had played
about the time it needed to drink a cup of tea, he started to move his stick.

The Ouyangs, uncle and nephew were very smug. They thought that this time victory
was guaranteed. Since the third subject would be another literary related, they were
ninety percent sure they would win.

Huang Rong was anxious; she lightly tapped her right hand finger to her left
knuckles; with the hope Guo Jing would follow. Who would have known that Guo Jing
was staring blankly at the sky, lost in thought; obviously he did not see her signal.

Huang Yaoshi kept blowing the flute; Guo Jing raised his hand and struck the
bamboo stick right in between two beats of the music. Ouyang Ke stifled his laugh,
thinking that this stupid kid always strike on the wrong beat. Guo Jing struck again,
still in between the two music beats. He had struck his bamboo stick four times, all
were on the wrong places.

Huang Rong shook her head in dismay, “My stupid brother does not understand
anything about music,” she thought, “Father shouldn’t have tested him.” Having had
this thought, she racked her brain, trying to find a way to disrupt the test. But when
she turned her gaze toward her father she was surprised; her father showed
astonishment in his face. She heard Guo Jing tapped several more times; the flute
sound suddenly became a little bit sluggish, but it went back to its original tempo
immediately.

Guo Jing kept tapping his bamboo stick, always off-tempo: sometimes faster,
sometimes slower; sometimes he drove the tempo faster, sometimes he dragged the
tempo slower. On several occasion the music from the flute almost could not hold its
steady rhythm and was almost dragged to follow the bamboo stick’s erratic tempo.
Huang Yaoshi was not the only one who was astounded, Hong Qigong and Ouyang
Feng also felt something strange was going on.

Actually Guo Jing remembered listening to the battle among three people earlier: the
flute, the zither and the whistle. He noticed that the sounds were fighting each other
systematically, like battle strategy in a war. He did not have the slightest degree of
comprehension toward music theory, but listening to Huang Yaoshi’s flute he wanted
to try to battle that sound; thus he struck the bamboo erratically to disrupt the
melody.

He tapped the bamboo stick against an old bamboo tree, creating a loud ‘bonk, bonk’
sound. The sound made Huang Yaoshi felt like he was inside a hot furnace and the
fire was glowing white, forcing the flute to surrender and follow the erratic tempo of
the bamboo.

Huang Yaoshi’s spirit was roused; he thought that this kid unexpectedly possessed
this kind of ability. The flute sound changed again, this time it turned faster and
slower seemingly having infinite variations. Ouyang Ke only stopped to listen for a
moment, but he could not resist lifting his bamboo stick and brandishing it erratically
in the air. Ouyang Feng heaved a sigh and quickly pulled his nephew hand, pressing
the main artery on his wrist. Then he took out a silk handkerchief, torn it into two
parts and stopped Ouyang Ke’s ears. After a while Ouyang Ke started to calm down
and Ouyang Feng let his hand go.

Since her childhood Huang Rong had used to listen to her father’s ‘jade-colored tidal
wave song’; once Huang Yaoshi even explained in detail every variation there was.
Their minds, father and daughter’s were like one; so this song did not affect her at
all, but she was fully aware that her father’s flute carried an enormous supernatural
power; therefore, she worried that Guo Jing would not able to defend himself.

This song simulated the vastness of the ocean with its thousands of miles waves,
coming slowly from afar, then come crashing down the shores. The wave was foamy
white, high as a mountain; but in the tide the fish leaped and the whale floated;
while above the water seagulls flew. A moment later the water turned wild, like a
flock of devils were stirring it up; the weather turned cold, with icebergs came
floating by. Another moment it turned hot, extremely hot that the sea was rippling
and bubbling like boiling water. The next moment, just as quick, the sea became
calm and the surface was smooth as a mirror. The water flowed strongly, yet quietly,
but beneath the surface there laid a very strong current threatening those who
unwittingly brave enough to enter and challenge its power. Such was the
complexities of the song.

Guo Jing sat cross-legged on the ground, he was exerting the Quan Zhen Sect’s
internal energy to suppress his turmoil heart and refresh his spirit while resisting the
temptation of the flute sound; at the same time he kept tapping the bamboo stick
disrupting the flute sound.

When Huang Yaoshi, Hong Qigong and Ouyang Feng were battling each other with
sound earlier, they were on offensive and defensive alternately. They had to guard
their own heart and mind while looking for an opportunity to launch a counterattack,
trying to subdue the other’s hearts and minds. Guo Jing’s internal energy was far
inferior to those three; he was only able to put on a strong defensive line, without
being able to launch a counterattack; but Huang Yaoshi was also not able to
penetrate his defense either.

After half a day, the volume of the flute gradually decreased, make it difficult to be
heard. Guo Jing stopped the bamboo tapping to listen. Unexpectedly to him, this was
the moment Huang Yaoshi was waiting for; the softer the sound, the stronger the
energy it carried. Because Guo Jing was listening attentively, his heart began to
follow the beat of the flute. If it happened to other people, they would fell into the
trap and would not be able to escape; but Guo Jing was different. He had learned the
left/right mutual hands combat; he was capable of dividing his mind. So he used his
left hand to take the shoe from his left foot to knock on the bamboo. “Knock! Knock!
Knock!” again, disrupting the flute sound.

Huang Yaoshi was startled, “This kid possesses some extraordinary skills, truly
cannot be underestimated.” He started to walk around according to the Eight
Diagram while his mouth continued blowing.

Both of Guo Jing’s hands were striking the bamboo pole in an erratic tempo
incongruous with the flute rhythm. These two hands of his were like two people
joined forces to defend against Huang Yaoshi’s attack. “Bonk, bonk, bonk! Knock,
knock, knock!” His defensive power was doubled.

Hong Qigong and Ouyang Feng were quietly focusing their own attention and energy
to guard against the internal energy battle between these two people. Even though
one party was only on the defensive, but they did not dare to carelessly ignore the
offensive energy from the flute.

The flute sound was suddenly turning high and low; ever changing, strange yet
wonderful. Suddenly Guo Jing felt a burst of cold air flying in, carried by the flute
sound. He felt like his body was wrapped by a thick layer of ice, which sent him
shivering profusely.

The flute sound gently climbed up the hill, getting more and more intense. Guo Jing
felt cold to his bone. He struggled hard to divert his mind into thinking about a
burning sun in the sky, or touching an iron exposed to the heat of the day, or holding
a burning coal in his hand, or that he was entering a very hot stove; in short, all
kinds of heat inducing thought. He succeeded. Huang Yaoshi saw Guo Jing’s left side
was blue, shivering from the cold, while his right side was red, sweltering from the
heat.

Huang Yaoshi was secretly amazed. Once again he changed the flute sound, now the
winter had passed, and the summer came around. Guo Jing struggled hard to resist,
but his clapping tempo started to follow the flute rhythm. Huang Yaoshi said in his
heart, “If this kid keep on resisting like this – even though he is still young, he won’t
be able to withstand hot and cold successively; he will suffer a severe illness in the
future.” The flute sound turned graceful, dispersed into the forest, and stopped.
Guo Jing exhaled a long breath, stood up and staggered; nearly fell again to the
ground. Only after taking several deep breaths did he manage to steady himself. He
knew Huang Yaoshi was showing mercy; so he stepped forward, bowed and thanked
him. “Thank you very much for showing mercy, Island Master Huang,” he said,
“Disciple is very grateful.”

Huang Rong noticed Guo Jing’s left hand was still holding his shoe; could not stifled
her laugh, “Brother Jing, put your shoe back,” she said.

“Yes,” Guo Jing replied, finally put the shoe back on his left foot.

A thought suddenly came into Huang Yaoshi’s mind, “This kid is so young, yet his
martial art is actually quite profound. Could it be that he was just pretending to be a
fool, but in reality is a very intelligent person? If that’s the case, what would hinder
me if I want to give my daughter to her?” A faint smile appeared on his face and he
said, “You are very good, why do you still call me Island Master Huang?” Obviously
he was saying that since Guo Jing had won two out of three tests, then Guo Jing
should call him ‘Father-in-law’.

Who would have thought that Guo Jing was really did not have any clue what he was
talking about, so he only stammered, “I … I …” his eyes looked at Huang Rong;
asking for help. Huang Rong was in the seventh heaven; she bent her right thumb,
signaling Guo Jing he should kowtow. Guo Jing understood this signal, so he bent his
knees and kowtowed four times to Huang Yaoshi, but he still did not open his mouth
to speak.

Huang Yaoshi smiled and asked, “What do you kowtow to me for?”

“Rong’er told me to,” Guo Jing honestly answered.

Huang Yaoshi silently sighed, “A dumb kid is a dumb kid,” he thought. Extending his
hand he took the silk handkerchiefs from Ouyang Ke’s ears, and gave his decision.
“Regarding internal energy, Guo Xianzhi is stronger; but my test subject was music
knowledge, in which Ouyang Xianzhi is much better … Let’s just say that the second
test was a draw. I am going to present the third subject, let two Xianzhis decide
victory or defeat.”

Ouyang Feng knew his nephew had lost, but he did not expect Huang Yaoshi would
give him favor, so he quickly replied, “True, true! Let them compete one more time.”

Hong Qigong was upset but didn’t say anything, he thought, “The girl is your own
daughter, and others can’t meddle in if you want to give her to that rotten playboy. I
always want to fight you, but right now it is difficult for my two fists to fight your
four hands. Wait till I ask Emperor Duan to help me. We’ll see …”

Huang Yaoshi produced a thin book with red silk cover from his bosom and said, “My
wife and I only have this one daughter. Unfortunately she had died prematurely.
Today Feng Xiong and Qi Xiong are both here to ask her hand in marriage. If my wife
were here, I am sure she would be very delighted …” Listening to her father speak,
Huang Rong’s eyes turned red. Huang Yaoshi continued, “This book was written by
my wife, the same year she passed away. It was the fruit of her hard work. I am
going to let both Xianzhis to read it, then recite it back from memory. Whoever
manage to recite the most will be betrothed to my daughter.” He caught a sight of
Hong Qigong had a slight cold smile on his face, but he continued on, “Actually, Guo
Xianzhi had won by one subject, but this book has impacted my life tremendously;
my wife died because of it. Now I silently wish her soul in heaven would personally
choose our son-in-law; that she would bless the Xianzhi to win.”

Hong Qigong could not hold his patience much longer, he shouted loud and clear,
“Old Heretic Huang! Who want to listen to your crummy ghost story? You knew
perfectly well my disciple is a dummy; does not know book or poetry, yet you insist
on testing him on that very subject, then frightening him with your died young wife.
You are shameless!” He brushed his long sleeve and turned his body to walk away.

Huang Yaoshi sneered, “Qi Xiong, if you come to the Peach Blossom Island to flaunt
your power, you still need to practice for several more years,” he coldly said.
Hong Qigong stopped dead on his track, “What?” he raised his eyebrows, “You want
to fight me?” he asked.

“You don’t understand ‘wu xing qi men’ [lit. five ways strange/wonderful gates, don’t
know the correct translation] techniques,” Huang Yaoshi replied, “If not by my
permission, don’t even think of leaving this island alive.”

Hong Qigong was angry, “I am going to burn down your stinky trees and flower
bushes!”

“If you have the ability, go ahead and try!” Huang Yaoshi coldly challenged.

Guo Jing saw those two were about to fight, he also knew that the Peach Blossom
Island was really not to be trifled with; he was afraid his master would fall into an
enemy trap on the island. Quickly he stepped forward and said, “Island Master
Huang, Shifu, let disciple and big brother Ouyang compete in this book memorization
contest. Disciple is really stupid, if I lose, I lose.” But in his heart he was thinking,
“I’ll wait till Shifu is save, then Rong’er and I will jump into the sea, we will swim as
far as our strength would take us; then we will die together in the sea.”

“Great!” Hong Qigong said mockingly, “You just can’t wait to lose face, can you? Be
my guest, then! Be my guest.” His thought was, ‘if you are going to lose anyway,
why compete?’ so he intended to take his disciples along, three people just walked
away to the seashore, snatched a boat and sailed away from the island. Who would
have thought that the stupid disciple of his could not act according to the
circumstance? He had no alternatives but conceded.

“Be a good girl and sit quietly; and don’t you have any weird ideas,” Huang Yaoshi
told his daughter.

Huang Rong did not say anything, but she expected Guo Jing would fail this next
test. Her father said that he would let her deceased mother to pick their son-in-law;
then the previous two tests Guo Jing had won did not count at all. Among the three
tests, Guo Jing had obviously won the second one, so the decision that it was a draw
was hard to accept. In short, she believed that the reason her father insisted on
administering the third test was so that Ouyang Ke would win. So she started to
cook an escape plan; how would she take Guo Jing out of the island.

Huang Yaoshi told Ouyang Ke and Guo Jing to sit side by side on a big rock; then he
presented the book in front of them. Ouyang Ke saw on the cover was written in the
seal characters [the ones found on official documents] these six characters, ‘jiu yin
zhen jing’ [Nine Yin Manual]; he was ecstatic. “This Nine Yin Manual is the world’s
most profound martial arts manual; Father-in-law must be very fond of me to let me
read this wonderful book.” Guo Jing, on the other hand, also saw the six characters
but had no idea what they were; he thought, “He intentionally wants to make things
difficult for me. How do I know this kind of curving-tadpole characters? In any case I
am going to admit defeat.”

Huang Yaoshi opened the cover and the book was actually written in normal/modern
characters. The handwriting was graceful; obviously written by a female hand. Guo
Jing started to read and his heart skipped a beat. The first line read, “The way of the
Heaven: A simple fix is not enough to repair damage; it truly is an empty victory,
insufficient for a real one.” [?not sure?] It was exactly the sentence Zhou Botong told
him to memorize. He looked further down, and to his surprise, the sentences were
the ones he had already known by heart.

Huang Yaoshi waited a moment, and when he thought the two had finished, he
flipped the page. On the second page the words and phrases were slightly out of
order; and further down the book, the sentences were becoming more confusing
while the characters looked soft and weak.

Guo Jing’s heart was shaken again, he recalled Zhou Botong’s story on how Madame
Huang had re-written the Nine Yin Manual from memory, and how it drained her
emotionally and physically that she died while giving birth to her child. This book was
obviously the one she wrote before she died. “Could it be that what Big Brother Zhou
taught me was the Nine Yin Manual?” he wondered in his heart. “No. It can’t be. The
second volume of Nine Yin Manual is lost in Mei Chaofeng’s hands; where did he get
it from?”

Huang Yaoshi saw him staring blankly; lost in thought, even looked dazed; he did
not pay any attention and slowly turned the page one by one. At first Ouyang Ke was
able to memorize what was written, but later on when it got to the training method
the sentences were garbled; there was no clear relation between the previous to the
next ones. Further down the book, even the characters were unclear. His heart sank;
he could not help sighing inwardly, “Turned out he is still unwilling to show me the
real full-text Manual.” But then he had another thought, “Even though I can’t see the
full Manual, but compared to this dumb kid I am sure I have memorized more text.
In this test my victory has been decided.” Having this thought he felt smug and
could not help to cast a glance toward Huang Rong.

Huang Rong caught his glance and she stuck her tongue out, making an ugly face.
“Brother Ouyang,” she said, “You have captured Sister Mu and put her inside the
coffin at that ancestral temple. You have suffocated her to death. She came into my
dream last night; her hair disheveled, her face full of blood; and she told me she is
looking for you, she wanted to take your life.”

Ouyang Ke had long ago forgotten about her; out of the blue Huang Rong mentioned
her name, he was startled, “Aiyo! I forgot to get her out of there!” He thought in his
heart, “It’s a pity a young girl like her died of suffocation.” But then he saw Huang
Rong was smiling, apparently she was joking. “How did you know she was in the
coffin? Did you rescue her?” he asked.

Ouyang Feng knew Huang Rong was trying to divide his nephew’s mind, so that he
would not be able to remember the text. “Ke’er,” he said, “Don’t bother with other
matters, just concentrate on the book.” Ouyang Ke shivered. “Yes,” he said; and
quickly turned his eyes back to the book.

Guo Jing noticed that the sentences on the book were exactly the same as the ones
Zhou Botong taught him. The ones in his memory even had better integrity than the
ones on the book, since the book contained so many holes – incomplete sentences
and missing words, in it. He raised his head and looked up at the tree branches,
trying to make any sense out of it all.

A little while later Huang Yaoshi turned the last page. “Who will recite first?” he
asked.

Ouyang Ke thought, “This book is confusing, very difficult to memorize. I’d better
recite it while it is still fresh in my memory.” Snatching the opportunity he said, “I
will.”

Huang Yaoshi nodded his head, then to Guo Jing he said, “Please go to that bamboo
groove over there. You cannot listen to him reciting.”

Guo Jing obeyed him and walked dozens of steps toward the bamboo groove. Huang
Rong saw this as a good opportunity to escape together, so quietly she walked
toward him. But suddenly Huang Yaoshi called out, “Rong’er, come here! You have to
listen to them recite, otherwise you’d say I am one-sided.”

“You are one-sided,” Huang Rong replied, “You don’t need other people to say that.”

“That’s nonsense!” Huang Yaoshi laughed, “Come here!”

With her mouth Huang Rong said, “I don’t want to come,” but she knew her father’s
temperament very well; once he decided to keep her under his watchful eyes, it
would be more difficult for her to escape. So slowly she walked toward them, giving
Ouyang Ke her sweetest smile and said, “Brother Ouyang, what good do I have that
you like me very much?”

Ouyang Ke’s heart melted, his vision blurred, grinning wide he replied, “Little sister,
you … you …” he could not say more than that.
“Don’t go back to the west too soon,” Huang Rong added, “Stay in the Peach
Blossom Island for several days. The west is very cold, isn’t it?”

“The west is much bigger than you think, there are some cold regions, no doubt, but
other parts are warm and sunny, much like the south (Jiangnan),” Ouyang Ke
replied.

“I don’t believe you,” Huang Rong smiled, “You love to deceive people.”

Ouyang Ke was about to debate her, but Ouyang Feng coldly said, “Child, you can
chat again later; right now you need to recite the book.”

Ouyang Ke was startled; he realized that Huang Rong’s disturbance was intended to
confuse him, and indeed he had forgotten many characters of the confusing parts.
Therefore, he refocused his attention and slowly recited the book. “The way of the
Heaven: A simple fix is not enough to repair damage; it truly is an empty victory,
insufficient for a real one ...”

His memory was really good; he managed to remember most of the theory in the
front, but toward the back of the book – where the training method was explained,
he missed a lot. It was not surprising actually, since Madame Huang did not know
martial arts and it was some times later that she re-wrote the book from memory, so
the words were jumbled. Ouyang Ke only managed to recall about 10% of this later
part. Plus, on the side Huang Rong kept trying to divert his attention by saying, “Not
right! You remembered wrong!” He could not even remember 10% toward the back
of the book.

Huang Yaoshi smiled and said, “You can remember that much and that was very
good!” Raising his voice he called out, “Guo Xianzhi, it’s your turn to recite.”

Guo Jing walked back, seeing the smug expression on Ouyang Ke’s face he thought,
“This man is really smart, he only read once, yet he can recite these mumbo-jumbo
texts. I don’t have that capability, so I’d better recite the ones Big Brother Zhou
taught me. If that is incorrect, oh well ... I don’t have any choice.”

Hong Qigong said, “Stupid kid, they intentionally want to make a scene out of us;
they have planned it all.”

Suddenly Huang Rong kicked the ground and leaped to the top of the bamboo
pavilion. With a flick of her hand she pointed a dagger to her own chest and said,
“Father, if you insist on me going to the west with that stinky boy, I will die right
here right now in your presence.”

Huang Yaoshi knew his precious daughter would do what she said; he called out,
“Put that dagger down! We can talk it over.”

Ouyang Feng stomped his staff to the ground and with a humming sound something
flew from the staff straight toward Huang Rong. The secret projectile was very fast;
before Huang Rong could see what it was, she had already heard a clanking sound
and the dagger flew from her hand, fell down to the ground. At the same time Huang
Yaoshi had leaped to the top; stretched his hand and grab his daughter’s shoulder
and softly said, “It’s all right if you don’t want to get married. You can stay on the
Peach Blossom Island and accompany your father for the rest of your life.”

Huang Rong flayed her arms and legs, crying, “Father, you don’t love Rong’er! You
don’t love Rong’er!”

Hong Qigong was amused seeing this Huang Yaoshi who roamed the lake and the
sea fearlessly, who killed people without batting an eye, was actually having trouble
controlling his own daughter. He could not help laughing so hard.

Ouyang Feng thought, “I will wait for the final decision, then I’ll take care of this Old
Beggar and that boy surnamed Guo. We’ll sort other things later. This girl acts like a
spoiled brat, what do I care?” Thus he said, “Guo Xianzhi’s martial art skill is
excellent, he is a real young hero. His intelligence must be excellent as well. Yao
Xiong, you’d better ask him to recite.”
“Exactly right!” Huang Yaoshi said, “Rong’er, if you keep babbling you will disturb
Guo Xianzhi’s concentration.” Huang Rong closed her mouth immediately.

Ouyang Feng wanted to humiliate Guo Jing very much. “Guo Xianzhi, please start
reciting. We are going to listen respectfully right here,” he urged.

Guo Jing’s face reddened, he thought, “I can’t do it; I’d better recite what Big
Brother Zhou taught me.” Thereupon he started reciting, “The way of the Heaven: A
simple fix is not enough to repair damage; it truly is an empty victory, insufficient for
a real one ...” He had recited the Nine Yin Manual from top to bottom hundreds of
time before; by now it was already ingrained in his brain. He recited slowly but
steadily, no hesitation at all.

About half a page later everybody was stunned; they thought, “This kid seemed slow
and dim-witted, who would have known that he is actually very smart.”

Very soon Guo Jing had already reached the fourth page. Hong Qigong and Huang
Rong knew very well that Guo Jing did not have that kind of intelligence; they did
not know what had possessed him, but they were pleasantly and extremely
surprised.

Huang Yaoshi listened attentively and compared every word with the ones in the
book. He found out that Guo Jing’s sentences were ten times more logical; firmly
resembled the original text that he remembered. His heart turned cold and
unconsciously he broke in cold sweats. “Could it be that my deceased wife’s spirit in
the underworld is so smart that she managed to recall the full text and passed it on
to this boy?” The words kept coming out of Guo Jing’s mouth like trickling water.
Huang Yaoshi was started to be convinced that his wife’s spirit did help this
youngster; he looked up to the sky and softly muttered, “A Heng, A Heng, you loved
me very much that you have used this boy’s mouth to impart the manual to me. But
why didn’t you let me see a glimpse of you? I played my flute every night for you;
did you hear that?”
‘A Heng’ was Madame Huang’s nickname; nobody else but him knew this; so
naturally everybody else did not know what he was talking about. They saw his face
looked different; his eyes glazed in tears, his mouth quivered but nothing came out
of it; they were puzzled.

After being in that dazed condition for a while Huang Yaoshi suddenly had another
thought. He waved his hand to stop Guo Jing. His face was as cold as if there was a
layer of frost on it; fiercely he asked, “The Nine Yin Manual that Mei Chaofeng lost;
where did you find it?”

Guo Jing saw his eyes had a murderous look; he was really scared. “Disciple really
does not know Mei … Senior Mei’s Manual’s whereabouts. If I do, I will gladly help to
retrieve it and return it to the Island Master.”

Huang Yaoshi looked at him with his penetrating gaze, yet did not see even the
slightest bit of deceitfulness on Guo Jing’s face. He was compelled to believe it was
his late wife from the underworld who taught Guo Jing; he was feeling joyful and
grieved at the same time. With a loud and clear voice he gave his verdict, “Very well.
Qi Xiong, Feng Xiong, it was my deceased wife who chose our son-in-law; your
brother did not have anything else to say. Child, I betroth Rong’er to you. Treat her
well. I have spoiled Rong’er badly, so you need to yied 30% of the time.”

Huang Rong was ecstatic, she was grinning from ear to ear, “I am a completely well-
behaved girl, who said I am badly spoiled?”

Guo Jing might be stupid, he might be slow, but this time he did not need Huang
Rong to prompt him; he immediately kneeled down and kowtowed, “Father-in-law!”

He had not stood back up yet when Ouyang Ke suddenly called out, “Hold on!”

End of Chapter 18
Chapter 19 – Great Waves and School of Sharks
(Translated by Foxs, edited by Eliza Bennet)

Not in his wildest dreams did Hong Qigong think the memorization contest would end
up this way. Guo Jing could beat Ouyang Ke and make him roll around on the ground
seventeen, eighteen times would be ten times more believable to him. He was so
happy that he was not able to wipe the smile out of his mouth; so hearing Ouyang
Ke he snapped, “What? You are not convinced?”

“What Brother Guo recited was a lot more than what was written on the book,”
Ouyang Ke said, “He must have the Nine Yin Manual in his possession. Gathering up
all my courage Junior would like to do a body search on him.”

“Island Master Huang had accepted his proposal,” Hong Qigong said, “What other
business there is to discuss? Didn’t you hear what your uncle said before the tests?”

Ouyang Feng put on his angry eyes. “Do you think the man surnamed Ouyang will be
easily deceived?” he said. He heard what his nephew just said, and was convinced
that Guo Jing knew the Nine Yin Manual; he wanted very much to get the book for
himself. Whether Huang Yaoshi accepted his marriage proposal or not became
secondary to him.

Guo Jing took out his belt and opened up his clothes, saying, “Senior Ouyang, you
can search me if you want to.” Immediately he took everything out of his pocket and
placed them on top of a big rock nearby: silver coins, handkerchief, flint, and the
like.

“Humph!” Ouyang Feng snorted, and began searching Guo Jing’s body. Huang Yaoshi
had known Ouyang Feng for a long time as a ruthless man; he would do
unpredictable things when angry. Plus his strength was profound; so if he put forth a
violent hand nobody would be able to rescue Guo Jing. Huang Yaoshi coughed and
stretched out his left hand and placed it on Ouyang Ke’s neck just about on his
spine; it was a vital point. Whenever Huang Yaoshi would put some force on it,
Ouyang Ke’s spine would break and Ouyang Feng could give up any idea of saving
him.

Hong Qigong knew his intention very well, secretly he was fascinated, “Old Heretic
Huang is really one-sided. Now that he favored his daughter and future son-in-law
he wanted to protect this dumb disciple of mine. Ay! He is capable of reciting the
whole book, so I can’t call him dumb anymore.”

Originally Ouyang Feng was going to strike Guo Jing’s lower abdomen with his Toad
Stance energy, let him suffer for three years before he would finally die; but seeing
that Huang Yaoshi had guard against his scheme he did not dare to strike. He
searched Guo Jing’s body without any result. All he could do was stay silent for half a
day, thinking really hard. He did not believe all this nonsense about Madame Huang’s
spirit choosing her son-in-law. He recalled this kid was dumb and slow, apparently he
could not lie. Perhaps he could coerce the whereabouts of the Manual from his
mouth. He shook the staff in his hand; with a clanking noise two weird looking
snakes slithered up the length of the staff.

Huang Rong and Guo Jing saw these strange animals, they were scared and moved
one step back. Pointing to Guo Jing’s throat, he asked, “Guo Xianzhi, where did you
learn this Nine Yin Manual from?” His eyes were blazing red; looking at Guo Jing with
a penetrating gaze.

“I knew about the Nine Yin Manual, but I have never seen it,” Guo Jing said. “The
first volume is in the hand of Zhou Botong, Big Brother Zhou …”

“Why did you call Zhou Botong ‘Big Brother Zhou’?” Hong Qigong asked, “Have you
met the Old Urchin Zhou Botong?”

“Yes,” Guo Jing replied, “Big Brother Zhou and your disciple have become sworn
brothers.”

“One old the other young,” Hong Qigong mocked, “Really preposterous!”

“What about the second volume?” Ouyang Feng asked.

“The second volume was in Mei Chaofeng … Mei … Mei Shijie’s hand, but it was lost
in Lake Tai,” Guo Jing explained. “Right now she is under Father-in-law order to
search for it everywhere. Disciple was thinking that after everything here is done, I
will go and lending her a helping hand.”

Ouyang Feng fiercely asked, “You have not seen the Nine Yin Manual, then how can
you recite it so well?”

Guo Jing was puzzled. “Did I recite the Nine Yin Manual?” he asked, “That can’t be. It
was the text Big Brother Zhou taught me; he said it was his own secret martial art
creation.”

Huang Yaoshi inwardly sighed; he was dismayed and he thought, “Zhou Botong had
received his late martial brother’s order to guard the Nine Yin Manual. He played
some marbles and lost to me; I tricked him and in the end he burned the book to
ashes. Before that he had not looked at the content of the book at all; that was not a
bit strange. But now there seemed to be a divine intervention; everything happened
so coincidentally that my daughter ended up betrothed to him. Isn’t he so lucky?”

Huang Yaoshi was still deep in thought, Ouyang Feng pressed on, “Where is that
Zhou Botong now?” he asked.

Guo Jing was about to answer, but Huang Yaoshi cut him off, “Jing’er, no need to say
more.” Turning his head to Ouyang Feng he said, “It is such a trivial matter, why do
you care so much? Feng Xiong, Qi Xiong, we have not seen each other for 20 years.
Let us spend three days in the Peach Blossom Island, drinking to our hearts’
content.”

“Shifu, I am going to prepare some food for you,” Huang Rong said, “Here on the
island the lotus is superb; how about some chicken steamed in lotus petals, or some
fresh water chestnut and lotus leaf soup? I am sure you’ll like it.”

Hong Qigong smiled widely, “Now that you’ve gotten what your heart’s desired, look
how happy you are!”

Huang Rong just gave him a faint smile. “Shifu, Uncle Ouyang, Brother Ouyang,
please,” she said. She was extremely happy to be betrothed to Guo Jing so that her
animosity toward Ouyang Ke had vanished into the thin air. This very moment to her
everybody in the whole wide world was a good person.

Ouyang Feng raised his hands in greeting to Huang Yaoshi, “Yao Xiong, I must
decline your great hospitality. Many thanks. Let us part today.”

“Feng Xiong had come from a long way away,” Huang Yaoshi replied, “Brother has
not fulfill my responsibility as a good host; how can I let you leave?”

From thousands of miles away Ouyang Feng had come, not only for his nephew’s
sake, but for another grand scheme as well. He received his nephew’s pigeon-carried
letter which said that the Nine Yin Manual had reappeared and was in the hands of
Huang Yaoshi’s renegade blind female disciple. After the marriage he would join
forces with Huang Yaoshi and obtain the Nine Yin Manual. But now the marriage
proposal failed, his nephew lost the competition; he was really dejected, so he
insisted on leaving.

“Uncle!” suddenly Ouyang Ke said, “Your nephew is useless, I have made you lost
your face. But Uncle Huang had promised that he would teach Nephew some skills.”

“Humph!” Ouyang Feng muttered. He was aware his nephew had not given up hope
on this Huang family’s girl; so he found some excuse by learning something to stay
longer, to be close to Huang Rong, to try to win her heart; who knows she would
eventually fall into his hands?

Huang Yaoshi was upset. He erroneously thought that Ouyang Ke would win the
three tests; therefore, he made that promise to reward Guo Jing. But unexpectedly it
was Ouyang Ke who failed the tests. Apologetically he said, “Ouyang Xianzhi, your
uncle’s martial art is unparalleled in the world; others cannot hold a candle against
him. You have mastered your own family heritage skills, what need do you have to
learn somebody else’s skill? This old dog was lucky to master some ‘zuo dao pang
men’ [lit. left-handed way, side door; means ‘second rate’ or ‘not the ultimate’]
techniques. If Xianzhi does not think it too superficial, then whichever skill you like to
learn, this old dog will be happy to teach you.”

Ouyang Ke thought, “I must choose the one needed the longest time to master. I
have long heard about the Peach Blossom Island’s ‘wu xing qi men’ to be number
one in the world. I am sure it won’t be finished in a day.” Thereupon he bowed and
said, “Young Nephew admired your ‘wu xing qi men’ techniques so much. I am
asking Uncle to kindly bestow that to me.”

Huang Yaoshi did not answer immediately; he hesitated, feeling awkward in his
heart. The technique requested was the one he was most proud about. Apart from it
being complicated to begin with, he had expanded and developed new interpretation
and variation to the original technique he learned from his ancestors. His own
daughter – due to her young age, had not learned this technique; how could he pass
this knowledge to a total stranger? But he had given his promise; it was impossible
to take it back, so reluctantly he asked, “The ‘wu xing qi men’ technique is very
broad and deep. Which one do you want to learn?”

Ouyang Ke wanted to stay at the Peach Blossom Island as long as possible, so he

requested, “Young Nephew saw the winding pathways of the Peach Blossom Island;
the vegetation arrangement is complicated. My heart admires this arrangement to no
end. I am asking Uncle to allow young nephew to stay in the island for several
months and study the mystery of this complicated pathways and its variations
thoroughly.”

Huang Yaoshi’s face changed slightly, he cast a glance toward Ouyang Feng. He
thought, “So you want to investigate and find out the Peach Blossom Island’s
ingenious arrangement. What is your real intention?”

Ouyang Feng saw his expression, he could guess what was in his heart, so he chided
his nephew, “You don’t know how high the heaven is nor how deep the earth is!
Uncle Huang had spent half of his life painstakingly arranging the island. It is his
defense against the intruders; how could he divulge this mystery to you?”

Huang Yaoshi coldly laughed, “Peach Blossom Island is only a barren and rocky hill;
yet I doubt it if anybody could come and harm me.”

Ouyang Feng smiled apologetically, “Little Brother crudely made an indiscreet

remark, Yao Xiong please don’t be offended.”

Hong Qigong laughed, “Old Poison! You are very sly; you have planned this from the
start. Very brilliant!” he mocked.

Huang Yaoshi slipped the jade flute into his belt and said, “Everybody please follow
me.”

Ouyang Ke saw the indignation on his face; he looked at his uncle for guidance.
Ouyang Feng nodded his head and started to walk behind Huang Yaoshi. Everybody
followed not too far behind.

Winding through the bamboo grove they arrived at a big lotus pond. The lotuses
were white, emanating a fragrant scent. The pond surface was full of lotus leaves.
There was a strip of dike made of small stones winding through the center of the
pond. Huang Yaoshi walked through the dike, taking everybody to a building on the
other side of the pond. The building was made from logs of pine tree. A rattan tree
was climbing the outside wall. It was midsummer, the weather was hot, but as soon
as they saw that building everybody felt a burst of cool air. Huang Yaoshi took four
people and entered his study. A deaf and mute servant immediately came serving
tea. The tea was dark green, cold as snow. As soon as it entered their mouth the
cold seeped to their bones.
Hong Qigong laughed and made a comment, “People say: after being a beggar for
three years one would not willing to be a government official. Yao Xiong, if I stay in
your cool place for three years, I won’t be willing to be a beggar anymore!”

“If Qi Xiong is willing to stay to drink and talk to our hearts’ content, that is truly my
wish come true,” Huang Yaoshi said.

Hong Qigong could hear the sincerity in his voice; his heart was touched. “Many
thanks,” he said, “It’s a pity the Old Beggar leads a busy and laborious life; I don’t
have the luxury to enjoy a peaceful life like Yao Xiong.”

Ouyang Feng said, “The two of you living together in the same place, as long as you
don’t fight each other I bet within two months you will have created several sets of
fist techniques or sword stances.”

Hong Qigong laughed, “Are you jealous?”

“This room is a big hall to study martial arts,” Ouyang Feng explained, “Naturally I
came to that conclusion.”

Hong Qigong laughed, “Ha … ha …! Another one of those ‘what-you-said-is-not-what-

you-were-thinking’ speech.”

Although these two men did not hold a deep animosity between them, their minds
were usually a world apart and that was why they did not like each other. Only
Ouyang Feng’s feeling was hidden behind a thick wall, unlike Hong Qigong who was
open and outspoken. This time Ouyang Feng heard Hong Qigong’s comment he
wanted to send Hong Qigong to the grave with one strike; but his face did not
change. He laughed but did not say anything.

Huang Yaoshi pressed something on the side of the table and a landscape painting
on the west wall slowly went up, revealing a secret compartment behind it. He
walked toward the wall, opened up the door to the compartment and took out a roll
of paper. Gently he ran his fingers on the scroll several times before he faced
Ouyang Ke and said, “This is the map of the Peach Blossom Island, complete with all
the five ways variations and yin and yang elements and the eight-diagram changes;
everything. Take this and study thoroughly.”

Ouyang Ke was disappointed; he was hoping he could stay on the Peach Blossom
Island for a while. He did not expect Huang Yaoshi only gave him a chart to look at.
He knew it was a difficult topic to learn; but he did not have any choice but bowed
respectfully and step forward to take the scroll from his hand.

“Hold on!” Huang Yaoshi suddenly said. Ouyang Ke was startled, he pulled his hands
back. “After taking this drawing, I want you to go to Lin An and find an inn or a
temple to stay. After three months I am going to send someone to retrieve it.
Everything on the chart you can memorize, but I forbid you to make any copies,”
Huang Yaoshi continued.

Ouyang Ke thought, “You won’t allow me to stay on the Peach Blossom Island; I
don’t care much about your weird skill anyway. In the next three months I will be
responsible for this chart. If not careful I might lose or damage this chart; then what
would I do? No, I’d better not take it!” He was going to say some nice words to
decline when suddenly another thought came into his mind, “He said he is going to
send someone to retrieve it; that someone must be his daughter. This is a great
opportunity to get intimate with her.” He was delighted with this thought and
immediately held out his hands to receive the scroll while uttering some grateful
words.

Huang Rong took out the small box of dragon pill and gave it back to Ouyang Feng.
“Uncle Ouyang,” she said, “This is your poison antidote pill; your niece does not dare
to accept it.”

Ouyang Feng thought, “If this thing falls into the Old Heretic Huang’s hands; he
would be impervious to my poisons. Although to take it back again seemed so petty,
I can’t afford to let him have it.” Therefore, he held out his hand to take the pill and
immediately raised his hands to say goodbye to Huang Yaoshi.

Huang Yaoshi did not hold him back; he sent them away. Walking to the door Hong
Qigong said, “Du Xiong [poison brother], the end of next year will be our Sword Meet
on Mount Hua. You have to conserve your energy well since we are going to have a
very tight competition.”

Ouyang Feng simply smiled casually, “The way I see it we don’t need to waste our
energy to fight. The title ‘the world’s number one martial artist’ has been decided
early on.”

Hong Qigong was taken aback, “Has been decided? Could it be that Du Xiong has
mastered a matchless unique skill?”

Ouyang Feng showed a faint smile, “With a mediocre skill, how would Ouyang Feng
dare to covet the title ‘the world’s number one martial artist’? I am talking about the
person who taught this Guo Xianzhi.”

Hong Qigong laughed, “Are you talking about the Old Beggar?” he said, “I’d like that,
but Yao Xiong’s martial art has improved daily. For you, Du Xiong, advancing years
also mean advancing skill. I am afraid Emperor Duan’s martial art skill is not getting
lower either. I don’t think the Old Beggar will have any advantage.”

Ouyang Feng coldly said, “Among the people who taught Guo Xianzhi, not
necessarily Qi Xiong’s martial art is the finest.”

“What?” Hong Qigong barely closed his mouth when Huang Yaoshi interrupted, “Uh,
are you talking about the Old Urchin Zhou Botong?”

“That’s right!” Ouyang Feng replied, “Since the Old Urchin had mastered the Nine Yin
Manual, then all of us: the Eastern Heretic, Western Poison, Southern Emperor and
Northern Beggar, are not his match anymore.”

“That is not necessarily true,” Huang Yaoshi said, “Manual is dead, but martial art is
alive.”

Ouyang Feng noticed earlier that Huang Yaoshi had diverted his question; he did not
let Guo Jing tell them Zhou Botong’s whereabouts; he knew something was amiss;
so he decided to mention it again just before he leave. Hearing Huang Yaoshi said
that he knew his suspicion was not unsubstantiated; but he was crafty, so his face
did not show any changes. Nonchalantly he said, “We all know the quality of Quan
Zhen Sect’s martial art; we even need to ask for their advice. Now the Old Urchin
has added the skill of the Nine Yin Manual to that; even if Wang Chongyang were
alive, I doubt he would be his match; not to mention us. Ay! Quan Zhen is really
good; even if the three of us work hard for a lifetime, we are still a notch below
them.”

“The Old Urchin’s martial art is a lot better than mine,” Huang Yaoshi said, “But has
not reached Feng Xiong and Qi Xiong’s level. I know this for a fact.”

“Yao Xiong do not need to be modest,” Ouyang Feng said, “You and I are ‘ban jin ba
liang’ [lit. half a ‘jin’ eight ‘liang’ – comparable, equal]. You have said so yourself;
that Zhou Botong’s martial art is not as good as yours. However, I am afraid …” He
shook his head.

“Feng Xiong will find out next year at the Sword Meet of Mount Hua,” Huang Yaoshi
smiled.

Ouyang Feng was serious, “Yao Xiong, I usually respect your martial art, but I doubt
it when you said you can defeat the Old Urchin. I think with him, you’d better watch
out.”

It was not that Huang Yaoshi did not know that he was being provoked, but he was a
proud man; of course he did not want anybody belittle him. So with indignation he
said, “The Old Urchin is actually on the Peach Blossom Island. Brother has
imprisoned him for fifteen years.”

Ouyang Feng and Hong Qigong were dumbstruck. Hong Qigong simply raised his
eyebrows, but Ouyang Feng actually broke up in laughter, “Yao Xiong, that was a
very good joke!”

Huang Yaoshi did not say anything; he pointed his finger as if showing the way, then
he exerted his strength to his feet, and flew back to the bamboo groove. Hong
Qigong followed along, his left hand holding Guo Jing, his right hand Huang Rong.
Ouyang Feng also pulled Ouyang Ke’s arm; together they used their lightness kungfu
and not too long afterward arrived in front of Zhou Botong’s cave.

When they were still quite a distance away Huang Yaoshi had noticed that the cave
was empty. “Ah!” he uttered his surprise. With a body as light as a feather he leaped
up to the sky; and several jumps later he had already arrived at the cave’s mouth.
His left foot landed first, only to feel he stepped on an empty space. Suddenly
meeting an accident he did not panic; he kicked his right foot to the air and jumped
vertically up. Again he landed his left foot gently, but again he felt he was stepping
on an empty air. This time he was not able to use anything as a stepping stone, so
with the back of his hand he pulled the jade flute from his belt and in one fluid
motion struck the flute to the cave wall. With one push his body flew out of the cave
like a flying arrow.

That vertical leap, pulling out the jade flute and flying backward outside the cave
were done in a flash. Hong Qigong and Ouyang Feng saw his wonderful skill and they
cheered; only to hear a “Splotch!” sound. Huang Yaoshi’s both feet fell into a hole on
the ground outside the cave.
Huang Yaoshi felt his feet were stepping on something wet and soft. With a light kick
once again his body flew up. While he was still on the air he saw Hong Qigong and
the rest had arrived and they did not fall into any trap, so he landed gently on his
daughter’s side. Suddenly a stinky stench attacked his nostrils; he looked down and
to his dismay he saw his feet were covered with dung.

Everybody was puzzled; with his high level of martial art skill, plus his intelligence,
how could Huang Yaoshi fall into somebody else’s trap?

Huang Yaoshi was furious; he took a tree branch to test the ground, poking to the
east and striking to the west. To his surprise, only those three holes were there, the
rest was just solid ground.

Obviously Zhou Botong had expected him to come rushing into the cave, so he
prepared the first hole. He had carefully calculated that with his level of lightness
kungfu Huang Yaoshi would leap vertically up to avoid falling into this hole;
therefore, he prepared the second hole. Again, he knew that this second hole would
not trap Huang Yaoshi. So he cleverly placed the third hole, knowing Huang Yaoshi
would leap backward, outside the cave; and filled this hole with dung.

Huang Yaoshi carefully entered the cave, looked to all directions and saw nothing
inside the cave except some clay jars and clay bowls. He vaguely saw several lines of
characters written on the cave wall.

Seeing Huang Yaoshi fell into a trap Ouyang Feng laughed in his heart. But now he
saw Huang Yaoshi walk toward cave wall to take a look; he thought there was a
slight possibility that the Nine Yin Manual was written on that wall; so he threw any
cautions to the wind and hurriedly went forward to take a closer look. What he saw
was several characters carved with a needle which read, “Old Heretic Huang, you
have broken both of my legs and imprisoned me for fifteen years inside this cave. I
should have broken both of your legs to vent my anger. But after some thoughts I
decided to let it pass. I give you this pile of dung and a pot of stinky urine instead.
Please, please …” The characters below those ‘please’ words were covered with a
leaf.

Huang Yaoshi casually stretched his hand to lift the leaf up, but the leaf was tied with
a string. Without thinking he pulled the string only to hear some knocking noise
above him. Realizing what had happened Huang Yaoshi quickly jumped to the left.
Right next to him Ouyang Feng was also quick, seeing that Huang Yaoshi moved, he
also jumped to the right. Who would have thought that a series of clanking noise was
heard; a whole bunch of clay jars fell down from both sides of the cave wall. Both
men were drenched in smelly urine!

Hong Qigong burst in laughter, “How sweet! How sweet!” he shouted. Huang Yaoshi
was fuming mad, shouting some cursing words. Ouyang Feng was very good at
concealing his feelings; he merely smiled.

Huang Rong dashed back to the house, taking some change of clothes for his father.
She also brought his father’s robe for Ouyang Feng.

Huang Yaoshi decided to take a look inside the cave one more time, careful not to
trip on any more booby-trap. He took out the leaf and saw two lines of very fine
characters, “… don’t pull the leaf. There is smelly urine above to drench you up.
Absolutely, 100%! Don’t ever say that I haven’t warned you.”

Huang Yaoshi was angry, but also amused. Suddenly he remembered that the urine
was still a little bit warm; he turned his body and walked out the cave. “The Old
Urchin has not left too long ago; we can still catch up with him.”

Guo Jing was wary, “As soon as these two see each other they will certainly engage
in a fierce battle,” he thought. But before he had any chance to voice his opinion
Huang Yaoshi had already flown to the east.

Everybody knew the pathways of the island were mysterious, nobody dared to be left
behind, so they closely followed along. Not too far ahead they could see Zhou Botong
was strolling leisurely. Huang Yaoshi exerted his strength to his feet and flew like an
arrow leaving its bow; in a flash he had approached Zhou Botong. He stretched out
his hand to grab Zhou Botong’s neck.

Zhou Botong evaded to the left. Turning his body around he called out, “Wow! It’s
the sweet smelling Old Heretic Huang!”

In this one grab Huang Yaoshi had used the skill he painstakingly trained for
decades; it was swift and fierce. He was mad because of the urine and dung, so he
had used 100% of his strength in that one attack. Who would have thought that
Zhou Botong was able to evade his attack casually, like he did not made too much
effort at all. Huang Yaoshi’s heart turned cold; he stopped his attack. He calmed
himself down and looked at Zhou Botong. To his surprise Zhou Botong’s hands were
tied in front of his chest; but he was smiling happily, his face showed contentment.

Guo Jing rushed forward and said, “Big Brother, Island Master Huang has become my
father-in-law; now we belong to the same family.”

Zhou Botong sighed, “What Father-in-law? Why didn’t you listen to me? Old Heretic
Huang is wicked and weird; how can his daughter any better? You will suffer the
consequences for the rest of your life. Good Brother, let me tell you this: No matter
what happened, you cannot take the daughter of someone who loves to drench
himself in urine everyday as your wife. It’s a good thing you haven’t bowed to the
heaven and the earth to marry her; you can still slip away. Quickly you run away as
far as you can, otherwise she’ll come looking for you …”

He was still babbling endlessly when Huang Rong stepped forward and smiled, “Big
Brother Zhou, look who’s coming behind you?”

Zhou Botong turned his head, but of course he did not see anyone. Huang Rong
raised the smelly change of clothes from his father and threw it toward his back.
Zhou Botong heard the swishing sound and stepped sideways; “Splat!” that bundle
of clothes fell to the ground dispersing a foul odor everywhere.

Zhou Botong doubled with laughter. “Old Heretic Huang,” he said, “You have
imprisoned me for fifteen years and broken both of my legs; yet I only let you to
step on my dung and drenched you with my urine. Don’t you think that was a fair
deal?”

Huang Yaoshi pondered about it for a moment and felt Zhou Botong was right; so he
did not give it another thought. “Why do you tie up your hands like that?” he asked.

“I have my reasons, which I can’t tell you,” Zhou Botong said, repeatedly shaking his
head. He looked so solemn.

Actually when Zhou Botong was forced to endure suffering in that hole, several times
he had a thought to come out and fight Huang Yaoshi. However, he realized that he
was still not Huang Yaoshi’s match. Besides, if he got killed or heavily injured; who
would defend the Nine Yin Manual entrusted to him by his martial brother?
Therefore, he had to swallow his pride and endured everything patiently. Then Guo
Jing came into the scene. Together they played four-hand mutual combat until one
day he had an idea to fight as two Zhou Botongs against one Huang Yaoshi. He was
confident that no matter how high Huang Yaoshi’s skill was, he would be able to
exact a revenge for his fifteen years of suffering.

After Guo Jing left he sat on the ground, and all kinds of memories came flooding
back to his mind: dozens of years of gratitude, grudges, love and hate; he felt like a
thick curtain was covering up his mind. Suddenly he heard from a distant the flute,
zither, and whistle sounds battling each other. His spirit was stirred; he became
agitated; wanted to dash out, and was having difficulty controlling his own emotion.
He had been pondering his own question for a while, “My little brother’s martial art is
still far below mine, but why is it that the Old Heretic Huang’s flute sound did not
affect him one bit?” But after he befriended Guo Jing for many days he started to
understand Guo Jing’s personality. That day, after thinking deeply for a moment it
suddenly dawned on him; “That’s right! That’s right!” he exclaimed, “He is young,
does not understand the complexity of man-woman relationship; does not know its
pleasure and heartache. Moreover, he is simple-minded, not ambitious; he has a
naïve personality and a pure heart. I, on the other hand, am old; but why do I still
thinking about revenge? I am so narrow-minded. It is ridiculous, really!”

Although belonged to Quan Zhen Sect, he had never become a Taoist Priest; still, the
Taoist principles were deeply ingrained in his heart: ‘qing jing wu wei’ [peace and
tranquility, no action - pacifism], lead a simple life and suppress ambition, all those
Taoist teachings. It was like a light bulb suddenly turned on in his head. He let out a
long breath, stood up and walked outside the cave. For the first time in so many
years he realized that the sky was so blue, the clouds so white. His heart was clear
and bright. The sufferings he experienced caused by Huang Yaoshi in the past 15
years simply became a small matter in his mind.

Once outside he thought aloud, “Once I leave the Peach Blossom Island I am not
coming back. If I don’t leave some souvenirs for the Old Heretic Huang, how would
he remember me in the days to come?” Hence with much eagerness he dug some
holes and filled them with his dung and found some jars and filled them with his
urine. After working hard for half a day he finally left the cave.

He only walked for several steps when suddenly remembered something, “The
pathways of the Peach Blossom Island is strange, how would I know the right path to
take? If I leave Brother Guo on this island, chances are more harm would come his
way than not; I must take him with me. If the Old Heretic Huang tried to stop, ha …
ha …, if the Old Heretic Huang wanted to fight, one Old Heretic Huang won’t be a
match for two Old Urchins!” After thinking that he casually swung his hand and
‘Crack!’ a small tree by the pathway was broken in two. He was stunned! “How come
I am so strong? This has nothing to do with the mutual hands combat technique.”
He swung his hand several more times and ‘Crack! Crack! Crack!’ without too much
effort he had broken seven, eight small trees along the way. He was horrified. “This
… this is the energy cultivation from the Nine Yin Manual. I … I … when did I learn
this?” All of a sudden his body was drenched in cold sweats. “Strange, really
strange!” he muttered.

Clearly he remembered his late martial brother’s death wish; that no one from Quan
Zhen allowed to learn anything from the manual. Who would have thought that in
order to teach Guo Jing he had to recite the text everyday, his hands moved to give
a clearer explanation; unexpectedly the manual was ingrained in his mind. Even in
his sleep he would dream about the manual; so unconsciously he cultivated his
energy based on the text. Basically his martial art was already high; his
understanding of martial arts theory was also profound, plus the Nine Yin Manual
was created based on Taoist principle, which he had already learned all his life.
Unwittingly the manual was interlinked with his own basic knowledge. He did not
want to learn the martial art, but it was the martial art which came to him.

He vented off his frustration by shouting loudly, “Bad! It’s really bad! This is called
once the ghost inhabits your body, you cannot drive it out. I wanted to play a big
joke on Brother Guo; who knew that by smashing a big rock the debris hurts your
own foot.”

He was depressed for half a day and kept knocking his own head. Afterward an idea
came to his mind; he peeled off some tree bark and made a rope; then with his
teeth he tied his own hands; muttering loudly, “From now on, if I cannot forget the
manual completely, I must not resort to violence toward anybody. Even if the Old
Heretic Huang chases me, I cannot fight him; so that I won’t disobey my martial
brother’s death wish. Ay, Old Urchin, Old Urchin, you reap what you sow!”

Of course Huang Yaoshi could not guess the reason, he only knew the Old Urchin
was naughty and weird, so he simply said, “Old Urchin, this is Brother Ouyang, which
I believe you have met, this is …” Before he could finished, Zhou Botong had walked
around them all, sniffing here and there; and then he laughed, “This must be the Old
Beggar Hong Qigong. I know. He is a good man. Heaven’s nets do not miss; my
stinky urine only drenched two people, the Eastern Heretic and Western Poison.
Ouyang Feng, that time you fought with me, this time I soaked you with my urine;
we are even now; nobody suffers any loss.”

Ouyang Feng merely smiled but did not say anything. He came close to Huang
Yaoshi and whispered in his ear, “Yao Xiong, this man’s martial art is amazing; he’s
already surpassed both you and me. I think it best not to provoke him.”

Huang Yaoshi thought, “We haven’t seen each other for twenty years, how would
you know my martial art is inferior to his?” To Zhou Botong he said, “Botong, I have
asked you over and over, I want burn the Nine Yin Manual as a sacrifice in front of
my late wife’s memorial. As soon as you hand it down to me, I am going to let you
go. Where do you think you are going now?”

“I am tired of living on this island,” Zhou Botong said, “I am going outside to take a
stroll.”

“Then where is the manual?” Huang Yaoshi held out his hand.
“I have given that to you earlier,” Zhou Botong said.

“Don’t talk nonsense,” Huang Yaoshi said, “When did you give that to me?”

Zhou Botong smiled, “Guo Jing is your son-in-law, is he not? Then he belongs to you,
does he not? I have passed on the Nine Yin Manual from top to bottom to him; isn’t
that the same as giving the manual to you?”

Guo Jing was surprised, panicky he called out, “Big Brother, this … this … you taught
me the Nine Yin Manual?”

Zhou Botong burst out in laughter, “So you think it was a fake?”

Guo Jing was dumbstruck, he looked like a fool. Zhou Botong was so happy. It was
exactly for this moment that he was willing to spend innumerable effort to get Guo
Jing memorizing the Nine Yin Manual; he wanted to see Guo Jing’s expression when
he found out that he did learn the Nine Yin Manual in spite of his refusal. Now that
his goal was achieved, how could Zhou Botong be not happy as he was crazy?

“The first volume is always in your hands, but where did you get the second volume
from?” Huang Yaoshi asked.

“Didn’t your good son-in-law deliver it personally to me?” Zhou Botong smiled
mischievously.

“I … I did not!” Guo Jing was taken aback.

Huang Yaoshi was really indignant, he thought, “This kid Guo Jing dares to deceive
me; that poor blind Mei Chaofeng is still desperately looking for that book.” He shot
an angry glare toward Guo Jing, but then turned his head toward Zhou Botong, “I
want the original manual.”

“Brother,” Zhou Botong called Guo Jing, “Help me take the book from my pocket.”
Guo Jing stepped forward and groping inside Zhou Botong’s pocket he took a book
about half an inch thick. Zhou Botong held out his hand to receive the book, and said
to Huang Yaoshi, “This is the first volume manual, the second volume is folded inside
it. If you have a skill, come and get it.”

“What kind of skill are you talking about?” Huang Yaoshi asked.

Zhou Botong held the book tight in his hands, he leaned his head and said “Wait, let
me think …” Half a day later he smiled and said, “Pasting skill!”

“What?” Huang Yaoshi was puzzled.

Zhou Botong lifted up his hands high in the air, and soon the book turned into a
million pieces. A flurry of paper pieces flew from his hands like a flock of butterflies
flying in all direction, carried by the sea breeze, floating to the east and scattered to
the west. It was impossible to track them down.

Huang Yaoshi was startled and angry at the same time; surprised that Zhou’s
internal energy was so profound. In that short period of time the book has
completely gone. Remembering his late wife Huang Yaoshi felt a stab of pain in his
heart. “Old Urchin, you played trick on me! Don’t ever think of leaving this island
alive!” he shouted angrily. Flying forward his palm got very close to Zhou Botong’s
face.

Zhou Botong moved his body a little bit, like a pendulum he swung to the left and to
the right. With a swish, swish sound Huang Yaoshi’s palms danced in the air, very
close to Zhou Botong’s body, but were not able to touch him at all. It was Huang
Yaoshi’s specialty, the ‘luo ying shen jian zhang’ [fallen (flower) divine sword palm];
who would have thought that after about twenty stances the palm technique was
useless against Zhou Botong.

Huang Yaoshi was puzzled because Zhou Botong did not launch any counterattack at
all; while he had used all his strength to compel Zhou Botong to withstand his
attack. Suddenly he was alarmed, “I, Huang Yaoshi, how could I fight someone who
has both his hands tied up like that?”

Leaping back three steps he called out, “Old Urchin, your legs are healed; I have
done something inappropriate to you. Quickly break the rope on your hands, let me
fight your Nine Yin Manual martial art.”

Zhou Botong looked dismayed, repeatedly he shook his head, “I don’t want to lie to
you, but I have my own difficulty. This rope in my hand, whatever happens I can’t
take it out.”

“Then let me take it out for you,” Huang Yaoshi said, immediately move forward to
touch his hands.

“Aiyo! Help! Somebody help me!” Zhou Botong cried out and rolled around on the
ground.

Guo Jing was shocked. “Father-in-law!” he called out. He was about to dash forward
to block Huang Yaoshi when Hong Qigong held him back. “Don’t act foolishly!” he
hissed. Guo Jing halted and looked. Zhou Botong was rolling around on the ground;
he was very agile. Huang Yaoshi grabbed and kicked but was unable to even touch
his body.

“Look closely to how his body moves,” Hong Qigong whispered.

Only then did Guo Jing realize that Zhou Botong was moving according to the ‘she
xing li fan’ [snake slithers, wild cat flips] from the Nine Yin Manual. He watched with
a rapt attention. Every time he saw an exquisite move he would cheer, “Good!”

Huang Yaoshi was getting angrier; his hands flew everywhere, resembling a hatchet
or a knife hacking all over the place. Zhou Botong’s long sleeve and part of his robe
have been cut by the strength of Huang Yaoshi’s hand. A moment later his long
beard and long hair were also cut. Although he was not injured, Zhou Botong knew
that if the fight was prolonged he might not be as lucky. Perhaps half a move later
he would be dead or at least heavily injured.

At that moment Huang Yaoshi’s left hand was sweeping horizontally, while his right
hand slashing down diagonally; each palm contained three deathly variations within.
Zhou Botong knew that no matter how quick he could move, it would be difficult to
avoid this attack. He had no other choice but exerting his strength to both hands
breaking the rope. As soon as his hands were free, his left hand parried the attack,
while his right hand went to his own back and scratched, “Aiyo! The itch is
unbearable,” he said.

Huang Yaoshi was secretly alarmed when he saw Zhou Botong could act so casually,
even to the point of playful, while they were fighting ferociously. Huang Yaoshi sent
out three more fierce stances, all three were his best ones.

“With one hand I can’t fight you,” Zhou Botong said, “Ay! But I can’t help it. No
matter what, I can’t let my martial brother down.” He put all his strength in his right
hand and parried the attack; while his left hand hung loosely on his side. His
strength was still inferior to Huang Yaoshi’s pure internal energy; so as soon as two
hands collided Zhou Botong was shaken; he staggered and pushed a few steps back.

Huang Yaoshi flew forward with both palms surrounding Zhou Botong’s body. “Use
both your hands! With one hand you are not my match,” he called out.

“I can’t,” said Zhou Botong, “I have to use only one hand.”

Huang Yaoshi was indignant, “All right then, try this!” Both of his palms struck
forward with full strength. A loud bang was heard and Zhou Botong fell down to the
ground. He sat still with both his eyes closed. Huang Yaoshi held his hands, only to
see Zhou Botong coughed and spurted blood from his mouth; his face was paper-
white.

Everybody felt strange; if he really fought with Huang Yaoshi, even if he couldn’t
win, certainly he wouldn’t suffer so badly. Why did he insist on using only one hand?

Zhou Botong stood up slowly and said, “The Old Urchin has suffered the
consequences of his own action. I had no intention, but had unexpectedly learned
the martial arts from the Nine Yin Manual; hence violated my martial brother’s death
wish. If I used both of my hands, Old Heretic Huang, you are not my match.”

Huang Yaoshi was aware that what he said was the truth; he was silent. He realized
he had no reason to imprison Zhou Botong for fifteen years on the island; he also
had no reason to injure him just now. He took a jade box from his pocket, opened it
and produced three blood-like scarlet pills; he gave the pills to Zhou Botong and
said, “Botong, I am afraid there is no medicine under the heaven can surpass these
Peach Blossom Island’s red pills. Take one right now, and then take the next two
seven days apart; your internal injury won’t be a problem anymore. Let me take you
out of this island.”

Zhou Botong nodded, took the medicines and swallowed one; circulating his breath
for a while he vomited some contusion blood. He said, “Old Heretic Huang, your red
pill is very effective; no wonder you are called ‘Yaoshi’ [master pharmacist]. Eek!
Strange! Very strange! My name is ‘Botong’, I wonder what that means?” After
pondering that question for half a day he shook his head and said, “Old Heretic
Huang, I must go now. Are you or aren’t you going to let me go?”

“I do not dare,” Huang Yaoshi replied, “It’s up to you to stay or to go. Botong Xiong,
after today if you ever have a desire to come here, I will welcome you
wholeheartedly. Right now let me walk you to the boat which will take you back to
the mainland.”

Guo Jing squatted down to pick Zhou Botong up and carried him on his back; then
he followed Huang Yaoshi walked to the seashore. Arriving at the marina he saw
about six, seven boats, big and small.

“Yao Xiong,” Ouyang Feng said, “You don’t need to send a boat to take Big Brother
Zhou home. He can ride on Little Brother’s boat.”

“In that case do what Feng Xiong’s heart desires,” Huang Yaoshi said. He made a
hand signal to a deaf and mute servant and that servant went into a big boat nearby.
When he reappeared he had a tray full of gold coins.

“Botong,” Huang Yaoshi said, “Take this money and use it to play around. Your
martial art is better than Old Heretic Huang’s. I admire you very much.”

Zhou Botong’s eyes shone with a mischievous look on his face. He looked toward
Ouyang Feng’s big boat and saw a white flag on the bow. On the flag was
embroidered a strange looking snake, with two heads and their mouth open wide
showing fork tongues on it. He was not happy at all.

Ouyang Feng took a wooden whistle from his pocket, blew some notes; and before
long there came a strange noise from the forest ahead. Two Peach Blossom Island’s
servants led some White Camel Mountain’s snake shepherds came out from the
forest, followed by row after row of snakes slithered on the plank and went into the
boat’s hold.

“I am not riding on Western Poison’s boat!” Zhou Botong cried out, “I am scared of
snakes!”

Huang Yaoshi smiled faintly, “That is all right too; you can ride on that boat.” He
pointed to a boat nearby.

Zhou Botong shook his head, “No! I don’t want that boat, I want THAT big boat.”

Huang Yaoshi’s face changed a little bit. “Botong, that ship is broken, it is not fixed
yet. You can’t have it.”

Everybody could see that the boat’s tail was tall; the hull was painted blue and gold,
very beautiful. It looked new and strong, why did he say it was broken?

“Why can’t I ride on that boat?” Zhou Botong asked, “Old Heretic Huang, how come
you are so stingy?”

“This is a most ill-fated boat, that’s why it is always anchored here,” Huang Yaoshi
explained. “Since when am I stingy? If you don’t believe me, I’ll have the boat
burned down for you to see.” Making some hand signals four deaf and mute servants
lighted some torch and rushed to the boat to burn it down.

Suddenly Zhou Botong sat on the ground, flailing his hands and feet; pulling his hair
and beard and bawling loudly. Seeing him acting like that everybody was startled.
Guo Jing was the only one who knew his temper; he was fascinated. Zhou Botong
pulled his beard and rolling around on the ground, “I want to ride the new boat, I
want to ride the new boat.” Huang Rong quickly moved forward to stop the four
servants.

Hong Qigong smiled, “Yao Xiong,” he said, “For all my life the Old Beggar has been
ill-fated. Let me accompany the Old Urchin riding this ill-fated boat. We can use
poison to combat poison. Let us see whether the Old Beggar’s unlucky aura wins, or
your ill-fated boat prevails.”

“Qi Xiong, I thought you are going to stay on the island for several days,” Huang
Yaoshi said, “Why such a hurry to leave?”

“The world’s big beggars, medium-sized beggars, and little beggars, within a few
days will gather together at Yueyang, in Hunan province. They will look up to the Old
Beggar to appoint a new leader. If the Old Beggar meets a calamity and has to
return to heaven before first appointed a successor, who would lead the world’s
beggars? Therefore, the Old Beggar has to go, whether he wants it or not. Your
brother truly appreciates Yao Xiong’s generosity. Whenever your daughter and son-
in-law get married, I will come back to disturb the wedding.”

Huang Yaoshi sighed, “Qi Xiong, you are truly an ardent man; you dedicate your life
toiling for others, like a horse that never stops galloping everywhere.”

Hong Qigong laughed, “The Old Beggar never ride a horse; my feet can’t be
compared to a horse’s hoof. Aiyo! Something’s wrong! You are indirectly scolding
me, saying that my feet are hoofs, wouldn’t that mean you are saying I am a horse?”

Huang Rong laughed, “Shifu, you said it yourself, my father never scolded you.”

“Of course, Shifu will always inferior to father,” Hong Qigong said, “Just you watch, I
am going to take a Mistress Old Beggar, then we will have a baby girl beggar for you
to look after.”

Huang Rong clapped her hands, “That’s great! I will have a little beggar as my
martial sister to play with. Won’t that be fun?”

Ouyang Ke stole a glance toward her; under the bright sunlight she looked so
beautiful, her cheeks pink like a spring flower, colorful as rosy-colored clouds at
dawn; he couldn’t help but feeling crazy for her. However, from her his thought went
to Guo Jing. His pulse quickened, knowing she had her eyes only for Guo Jing, his
anger rose, he swore in his heart, “There will come a day when I will kill this stinky
kid.”

Hong Qigong held out his hand to help Zhou Botong, he said, “Botong, I will
accompany you riding this new boat. Old Heretic Huang is so weird, we two boys
better not mind him at all.”

Zhou Botong was delighted, “Old Beggar, you are a very kind man, what do you say
we become sworn brothers?”

Hong Qigong had not answered when Guo Jing interrupted, “Big Brother Zhou, you
and I have become sworn brothers so how could you take my master as your sworn
brother also?”
Zhou Botong laughed, “What’s the problem? If your father-in-law is kind enough and
let me ride on this new boat, when my heart is happy I might take him as my sworn
brother as well.”

“What about me?” Huang Rong laughed.

Zhou Botong squinted his eyes, “I am not too keen to take a baby doll; if I look at
pretty women too much; they turn into trash.” Taking Hong Qigong’s arm he walked
to the boat.

Quickly Huang Yaoshi blocked their way, stretching both arms and said, “Old Huang
does not dare to take advantage of others. Riding this boat will bring more harm
than good. Gentlemen, you don’t need to prove your courage, it has been well
known on the Central Plains.”

Hong Qigong laughed heartily, “You have repeatedly warned us; even if the Old
Beggar returns to heaven due to seasickness I will still appreciate Yao Xiong’s
friendship.” Although he said those things jokingly, but in his heart he was quite
wary seeing Huang Yaoshi had twice tried to stop them from boarding the boat. He
knew something was wrong with that boat, but Zhou Botong was insistent on coming
aboard. He saw with his own eyes how stubborn Zhou Botong was. If something
really went wrong, Zhou Botong could not possibly face the danger alone, with his
internal injury and all. That was the reason he made up his mind to come with Zhou
Botong.

Huang Yaoshi made a humph sound and said, “You two gentlemen are experts in
martial art; I am sure you would be able to turn bad luck into good. This Old Huang
here worries too much. You, the boy surnamed Guo, you are going with them.”

Guo Jing was startled. When he became Huang Yaoshi’s son-in-law he was called
‘Jing’er’ but now suddenly Huang Yaoshi changed the way he called him; moreover,
his expression was so stern. Looking at Huang Yaoshi he said, “Father-in-law …”

“Who’s your Father-in-law?” Huang Yaoshi cut him off with a harsh voice, “You are a
greedy lying boy! If you ever tread your foot on the Peach Blossom Island again
even for half a step, don’t blame the Old Huang for being ruthless.” Reaching
backward he grabbed a servant’s collar, shouted, “This is your example!” The deaf
and mute servant’s tongue was cut early on, so only a low and deep neighing was
heard from his throat; his body flew to the sea. His internal organs were crushed by
Huang Yaoshi’s palm; he dropped to the sea and in an instant disappeared among
the waves without any trace.

The other deaf and mute servants were terribly terrified, they all knelt down at once.
All of them were originally criminals; Huang Yaoshi had investigated their
background carefully before capturing them one by one and took them to the island;
cut their tongues and pierced their ears, making them his slaves. He once said, “The
Old Huang is not a gentleman, Jianghu people call me the Eastern Heretic. Naturally
I don’t like any gentlemen as my companions; I prefer wicked people to be my
servants. The more wicked they are, the more I like them.” That one servant,
although he deserved to be condemned, struck by his palm and thrown out to the
sea without any reason, had shaken everybody’s heart. They could not help but
sighing inwardly, “The Old Heretic Huang is really wicked.”
Guo Jing was scared; he also knelt down on the ground.

“What did he do to offend you?” Hong Qigong asked.

Huang Yaoshi did not answer his question, instead, sternly he asked Guo Jing, “Did
you or did you not give the second volume of the Nine Yin Manual to Zhou Botong?”

“I did give something to Big Brother Zhou, but I really did not know if it was the
manual,” Guo Jing said, “If I knew …”

“What do you mean you didn’t know?” Zhou Botong interrupted. He was always
ignorant of what was serious and what was not. The more he saw other people
upset, the more he wanted to play practical jokes on them. Without waiting for Guo
Jing to explain he said, “You said it yourself that you took that manual from Mei
Chaofeng; said you were lucky the old man Huang Yaoshi didn’t know. You also said
that after you master the manual, you will become number one expert of martial art
in the world.”

Guo Jing was stupefied. “Big Brother, I … when did I say that?” he said with a
trembling voice.

Zhou Botong’s eyes glittered, with a stern voice he said, “You certainly have said
that.”

The fact that Guo Jing was able to recite the book was well-known to those present;
whether he knew it was the Nine Yin Manual or not, nobody cared. Now that Zhou
Botong had confirmed it Huang Yaoshi was very, very angry. Why would he think
Zhou Botong was only joking? He forgot that Zhou Botong was childish and always
liked to crack a joke; while Guo Jing was naïve and unable to tell lies. He was so wild
with rage that he was afraid he would rip Guo Jing apart, thus smearing his own
reputation; so he raised his hand in respect of Zhou Botong, Hong Qigong and
Ouyang Feng, saying, “Please!” Pulling along Huang Rong’s hand he turned around
and walked away.

Huang Rong still wanted to have a few words with Guo Jing. “Brother Jing …” she
called; but she was pulled by her father and in a blink of an eye they have traveled
dozens of feet away, disappearing into the forest.

Zhou Botong burst out in laughter, but stopped abruptly because his chest hurt.
Finally he chuckled and said, “The Old Heretic Huang has fallen into my trap. I spoke
nonsense to deceive him and he took it seriously. Amusing, amusing!”

Hong Qigong was taken aback. “Then Jing’er really didn’t know beforehand?” he
asked.

Zhou Botong laughed, “Of course he didn’t know! He thought the Nine Yin martial
arts are evil; if he knew, he wouldn’t want to learn with me. Brother, you have
memorized the manual really well didn’t you? Even if you want to forget it, you can’t,
can you?” He held his stomach and burst out into laughter again; didn’t care if it hurt
his chest; so his expression was really awkward.

Hong Qigong stomped his foot. “Ay! Old Urchin! Don’t you think this joke is too
much? I am going to talk to Yao Xiong.” Moving his feet he dashed into the forest,
but the pathways was confusing; he did not know which way Huang Yaoshi went. As
for the deaf and mute servants, as soon as their master gone, they scampered away
following him. Hong Qigong had no one to lead him the way, so he was compelled to
come back. But suddenly he remembered that Ouyang Ke had the map of the Peach
Blossom Island in details. “Ouyang Xianzhi, can I borrow the Peach Blossom Island
map, please?” he asked urgently.

Ouyang Ke shook his head, “Without Uncle Huang’s permission little nephew does
not dare to let other people see it; Uncle Hong please don’t blame me.”

“Humph!” Hong Qigong snorted. He said in his heart, “I am really stupid, how can I
borrow the map from this kid? He earnestly wishes for the Old Heretic Huang to hate
my dumb disciple.” While he was still staring at the forest suddenly he saw some
white shadows coming out. Turned out they were Ouyang Feng’s 32 white clothed
dancing girls.

As they came close to Ouyang Feng, they bent their knees and one of them said,
“Master Huang told us to go back with Master.”

Ouyang Feng did not even look their way; he simply waved his hand telling them to
board the boat. Toward Hong Qigong and Zhou Botong he said, “I am afraid Yao
Xiong did put some booby-traps on board. Don’t you two gentlemen worry, Little
Brother will follow closely on my boat. In case of emergency we can lend you a
hand.”

Zhou Botong angrily said, “Who wants your charity? I want to see what kind of
gadgets the Old Heretic Huang put on his boat. If you follow along the danger won’t
come; where is the fun part then? If you mess with me, the Old Urchin will drench
you with urine one more time!”

Ouyang Feng laughed, “Very well! In that case, till we meet again.” He cupped his
fists and took his nephew boarding his own boat.

Guo Jing was still staring blankly at where Huang Rong disappeared, lost in his
thought. Zhou Botong laughed, “Brother, let us board the boat. I wonder if this ill-
fated boat will swallow us three people alive” His left hand took Hong Qigong’s arm
and his right hand pulled Guo Jing along, together they board the new boat.

The boat came with about seven, eight sailors waiting to serve them; they were all
mute. Zhou Botong laughed, “One day the Old Heretic Huang will be very angry that
he cut his precious daughter’s tongue. Only then will I admire him to have guts.”
Listening to this Guo Jing could not help but shivered. Zhou Botong saw him and
laughed heartily, “Are you scared?” he asked; then made a hand signal to the sailor
to start sailing. The sailors hoisted the anchor and raised the sail; under the
southern wind they headed north.

“Come,” Hong Qigong said, “Let us take a look of this boat and see what is so
strange about it.” Three men walked the boat from stern to bow; from the deck to
the bottom of the hold. The boat was painted in bright and clear paint; the hold
contained supply of foods and drinks: water, white rice, wine, meat and vegetables
in abundance. Nothing was out of ordinary.

“The Old Heretic Huang deceived us!” Zhou Botong hatefully said, “Where is the
strange thing on this boat he was talking about? He is such a liar!”

Hong Qigong, however, was still in doubt. He leaped to the mast and with his
strength tried to rock the mast and the sail, but again, he found nothing out of
ordinary. He lifted up his eyes looking at a distance; he saw seagulls flying, the
billows rolled and the horizon where the sea met the sky. The boat’s three sails were
fully raised; they were heading north. He spread his collar and enjoyed the
invigorating wind. Turning his head he saw Ouyang Feng’s boat following them
approximately two li’s [about 1 km] behind.

Hong Qigong leaped down the mast, made a hand signal to the sailor, told him to
change course to the northwest. A moment later he looked again and saw that
Ouyang Feng’s boat had also changed its direction to the northwest.

“What does he follow us for?” Hong Qigong muttered under his breath, “Can he
really have good intentions? The Old Venom shows kindness of heart, the sun may
have to come out from the west.” He was afraid if Zhou Botong knew he would throw
a fit of temper. He didn’t say anything, but signaling the sailor to change course to
the east.

The boat made an abrupt turn that the sail were almost touching the water and they
slowed down. Approximately the time needed to drink a cup of tea later Ouyang
Feng’s boat was also changing its direction to the east. “If you want to settle our
score on the sea, that’s allright with me,” Hong Qigong thought.

He left the deck to enter the cabin only to see Guo Jing looked depressed; he was
quiet, lost in thought. Hong Qigong said, “Tu’er [disciple], let me teach you how a
beggar begs for rice: if the master of the house did not give you anything, you hang
around his door for three days and three nights, see if he still didn’t want to give you
anything.”

Zhou Botong laughed, “What if the master of the house owns a vicious dog? What if
he told to dog to bite you because you don’t want to go? What would you do?” he
asked.

Hong Qigong laughed, “That case he is a heartless rich man. If you come again at
night and steal his belonging, you are not violating the heaven’s law.”

Zhou Botong turned to Guo Jing. “Brother, do you understand your Master’s speech?
He taught you to be persistent in front of your father-in-law. If he still won’t give his
daughter to you and beat you for no reason, then you can steal her at night,” he
said, “Only if you really have to steal that treasure, you don’t have to do it yourself;
all you need to do is just call out, ‘bao bei er [Treasure, precious], come!’ And she
herself will come out and follow you.”

Listening to him Guo Jing was unable to restrain a smile. He saw Zhou Botong pacing
up and down the cabin, could not stay still even for a moment. Suddenly a thought
came into his mind, “Big Brother, do you have any destination to go?” he asked.

“I don’t have any,” replied Zhou Botong, “I will go where my heart tells me to. I
have stayed on the Peach Blossom Island for too long, I felt cooped up.”

“I have a favor I’d like to ask Big Brother,” Guo Jing said.
Zhou Botong shook his head. “No, I am not going to the Peach Blossom Island to
help you steal a wife, I don’t want to.”

Guo Jing blushed, “No, not that,” he said, “I want to bother Big Brother to visit the
Cloud Village in Yixing, by the Lake Tai.”

“What for?” Zhou Botong asked.

“The Cloud Village Master, Lu Chengfeng is a brave hero,” Guo Jing explained, “He
was Father-in-law’s disciple. Because of the Twin Killers of the Dark Wind’s affair,
Father-in-law has broken his legs so he became a cripple. I saw Big Brother’s legs
recovered, so I want to ask Big Brother to teach him the technique to heal his legs.”

“That’s easy,” Zhou Botong said, “Even if Old Heretic Huang breaks my legs again, I
know how to heal myself. If you don’t believe me, go ahead, break my legs.” After
saying that, he sat on a chair and stretched out his legs with a challenging look on
his face.

Guo Jing smiled, “I don’t need to try, I know Big Brother have this ability,” he said.

While they were still talking suddenly a loud crashing was heard, the door burst open
and a sailor came rushing in with a terror-stricken face. He could not speak, so he
just gesticulated in panic. Three of them knew something was terribly wrong, so they
dashed out of the cabin.

Huang Rong wanted to have a word with Guo Jing when was pulled away by her
father. She was really upset, so as soon as they arrived at their home she went
straight to her room and locked the door, crying uncontrollably. In his anger Huang
Yaoshi had expelled Guo Jing from the island; now that his anger had subsided he
regretted his rash decision; realizing he had sent Guo Jing to his death. He wanted to
comfort his daughter, but no matter how hard or how long he knocked on her door,
she just simply turned a deaf ear to him. During supper he called for her, but she did
not appear; he sent a servant with Huang Rong’s dinner, but she trashed the dinner
to the ground, she even hit the servant a couple of times.

“Father had said that if Brother Jing ever step his foot on this island again he would
kill him. I want to go out and find him, but how can I leave Father alone here? He
will definitely be grieved,” Huang Rong pondered left and right, but could not come
out with any idea until her stomach hurt.

Several months ago Huang Yaoshi scolded her and she ran away from the island; in
her childish thinking she did not want to go back. Afterwards she met her father and
saw that the number of white hair on his temple suddenly increased. It was only
several months, but he looked ten years older than she remembered him. She felt
really sorry, and promised in her heart never to leave him again. Who would have
thought that now she was facing a difficult situation? She stayed on her bed all day,
crying. She thought, “If Mother were still alive, she would take care of me; would
she allow me to suffer like this?”

Thinking about her mother she decided to get out of the room, she walked through
the hall to the front door. Her house on the Peach Blossom Island had a front door
that was always open, night and day; unless there was storm coming. Huang Rong
went out to the yard. It was a starry sky; the air was heavy with flowers’ scent.
“Brother Jing must be miles away by now, I wonder when we are going to see each
other again,” she wondered in her heart. She heaved a deep sigh, wiped the tears
from her eyes with the end of her long sleeve, and walked toward the flower bushes
at the end of their yard. Entering the bushes and brushing away the leaves she
arrived at her mother’s tomb.

The exquisiteness of the coffin wood, the various plants and rare orchids, the
different flowers that bloom at different seasons, everything was Huang Yaoshi’s
personal choice. They glittered under the moonlight, each radiating its own unique
scent. Huang Rong pushed the tombstone three times to the left and three times to
the right; then exerting her strength she pushed it forward. The tombstone slowly
moved to the side, revealing a long and narrow stonewalled tunnel. She went in; and
after making three turns she arrived at another secret door. Beyond this door was
where the coffin was placed. The room was bright from the oil lamp inside a precious
stone container, illuminating Huang Rong’s mother’s memorial tablet.

Alone in that small underground room, seeing the painting of her deceased mother
made by her father’s own hand, Huang Rong’s heart was filled with a roller coaster
emotion; she thought, “I have never seen Mother. I wonder after I die, will I meet
her? Was she really that young and beautiful as in the picture? Where is she right
now? Is she at the sky above, or in the earth below, or still in this room? I am going
to stay here forever to accompany her.”

Along the wall of this tomb there were precious jewels, antique collections, and
paintings and calligraphy from famous artists; each worth a fortune. After his wife
died, Huang Yaoshi roamed the sea and lakes to collect these precious articles.
Whether it was inside the imperial palace, or inside the house of some rich
government official, or in a robbers’ den high up on the mountain; as long as he
knew there was a treasure, he would come and steal or take it by force. His martial
art was high, he had keen eyes and sophisticated taste; hence he managed to collect
quite a bit of treasures piling up inside his wife’s grave.

Huang Rong could see the bright pearls, beautiful jade, emeralds and amethysts
glimmering under the firelight; she thought, “These precious jewels don’t have any
feeling, yet they will live for million of years. Today I am looking at them in here, but
in the future my body will turn into dust while they will still be here. Is it true that
among the living things, the smart and intelligent won’t have a long life? Is it
because she was so smart that my mother died when she was only twenty?”

Huang Rong stared at her mother’s picture for a moment, heaved a sigh, then blew
out the light and walked toward her mother’s coffin’s side. She stroked the coffin
lovingly and sat on the ground. Her heart was heavy from self-pity. She was leaning
on the coffin, pretending she was cuddling by her mother’s side, relying on her for
support. Earlier that day she experienced great joy and great anxiety; that night she
was simply exhausted, so after a while she drifted off to sleep.

She dreamt she was inside the Zhao Palace in Beijing, alone fighting a group of
martial artists; but then the scenery changed, she was in the northern area,
unexpectedly met Guo Jing there. She barely said a few words with him when
suddenly her mother showed up. She just knew it was her mother even though she
could not see her face clearly, tried as she might. Then her mother started to fly to
the sky with her calling and pursuing on the ground. Her mother was flying higher
and higher and she was so scared. And then out of the blue she heard her father’s
voice calling her mother. At first it was a distant sound, then the voice getting nearer
and clearer. Huang Rong awoke with a start but her father’s voice could still be
heard, mumbling indistinctly in front of the curtain. Then she calmed herself down
and realized that it was not a dream; her father was indeed inside the tomb, talking
to her mother’s spirit.

When she was little her father often took her here; he would tell her mother
anything that happened outside, regardless of how trivial those matters were. In the
past several years she did not go with her father as often yet it still did not surprise
her to hear her father talking in front of the coffin. She was still upset with him, so
she did not want to see him. She wanted to wait quietly until he left, but what she
heard next surprised her.

“I have found your heart’s desire,” he said, “I know you have suffered a lot that year
you rewrote the Nine Yin Manual; I want to find it and burn it in your presence, so
your spirit in heaven will be consoled. I have searched in vain for fifteen years, but
today I have found it.”

Huang Rong was surprised, “Where did Father get the Nine Yin Manual from?” she
wondered.

“I did not want to intentionally kill your son-in-law,” she heard her father continued.
“But it was they who insisted to ride on that boat.”

Huang Rong was puzzled, “Mother’s son-in-law? Is he talking about Brother Jing? He
rode on that boat, then what?” She opened her ears wide and listened attentively.

Huang Yaoshi recounted how miserable and lonely his life had become ever since his
wife passed away and how bad he missed her. Huang Rong listened to him pouring
out his heart and her own heart was filled with sorrow. “Brother Jing and I are
merely teenagers and we love each other. I don’t think it is impossible to see each
other in the future; but I cannot leave my father,” she thought.

Once her mind was set, she continued listening to her father. “The Old Urchin has
destroyed the entire Nine Yin Manual with the strength of his hands. I thought my
hope of sacrificing the manual to you was shattered; who would have thought that
perhaps by divine intervention he insisted on riding the boat I made for our future
meeting?” he said.

“Every time I wanted to play aboard that boat Father had always sternly prohibited
me; how would he use the boat to meet Mother?” Huang Rong wondered in her
heart.

Huang Yaoshi loved his wife very much. Moreover, his wife died because she wanted
to make him happy. Therefore, he wanted to commit suicide as a sacrifice to her. But
he knew his martial art was profound, he would not die easily by hanging himself or
simply drinking a poison. Plus, if he died on the island, he was sure his mute and
deaf servants would mutilate his body. Hence he went mainland and kidnapped a
highly skilled boat builder to build him this fancy boat.

This boat’s keel was no different from a regular boat; except that the bottom of the
boat was not nailed together with ordinary metal nails, but was put together by
ropes and glue. Mooring on the marina it looked like an extremely magnificent and
beautiful yacht; but as soon as it sailed to the sea, the waves would disintegrate the
rope and glue, and the boat would certainly sink.

Originally he intended to put his wife’s coffin on the boat, take the boat to the sea
and while the waves rock the boat, he would play with his jade flute the [jade-
colored tidal wave song]; together with his wife they would be buried thousands of
feet under the sea. This way he would make a clean end to his life and not disgracing
his reputation as a martial art master of his age. However, every time he wanted to
go he could not bear to take their daughter along; and who would raise her up if he
died? Finally he decided to build a tomb and placed his wife in it. He repainted the
boat every year, so it always looked new. He was going to wait their daughter to
grow up before he would take his last voyage.

Of course Huang Rong did not know her father’s plan. But she kept listening anyway.
“The Old Urchin was able to recite the Nine Yin Manual completely; that surnamed
Guo kid could also recite it from memory. So, if I sink these two people to the sea, it
would be like I am burning down two manuals for you. If your spirit in heaven knows
this, you can then rest in peace. My only regret was that the Old Beggar Hong will
deliver his life in vain; it is rather unfair to him. Within one day I have killed three
martial arts masters for your sake. When we meet again later, you can certainly say
that your husband has fulfilled his promise to you. Ha ... ha … !”

Listening to this last part the hair on Huang Rong’s back stood up; her heart turned
really cold. She did not completely understand what was going on, but knowing her
father’s ability very well, she was sure that there must be something terribly wrong
with that boat. She was anxious for the safety of Guo Jing three people on board.
Her heart was filled with shock and sorrow at the same time. She wanted to stand up
and beg her father to save them, but she was not able to neither stand nor speak;
her legs were weak and her throat dry from fear. She only heard her father’s long
and mournful laughter – sounded like a song or a cry, while he walked out of the
tomb.

Huang Rong tried to calm herself down and thought out loud, “I must go to rescue
Brother Jing. If I can’t make it, I am going to die with him.” She knew her father’s
strange temper well, he turned crazy because of his excessive love to his deceased
wife; it would be useless to ask him for help. She dashed out of the tomb toward the
seashore; jumped up the boat, woke up the deaf and mute servants in charge of the
boat and immediately set sail.

Suddenly she heard hoof beats coming her way, and at the same time she could
hear her father’s jade flute in a distance. Huang Rong looked back; it was Guo Jing’s
red horse, galloping under the moonlight. It had wandered aimlessly on the island,
and at that particular night it ran toward the shore. Huang Rong thought, “Where
can I find Brother Jing on this boundless sea? The little red horse has divine ability
on dry land, but on the water it is completely useless.”

Hong Qigong, Zhou Botong and Guo Jing dashed out of the cabin only to find their
feet were submerged in water almost to their knees. They were extremely shocked.
Immediately they jumped up to the mast; Hong Qigong even remembered to snatch
a couple of deaf and mute sailors along. They looked down and saw the turbulent
water was coming up fast. It all happened so fast that they were at loss of what to
do.
“Old Beggar,” Zhou Botong called, “Old Heretic Huang is so amazing! How did he
build this boat?”

“I don’t know!” replied Hong Qigong, “Jing’er, hold the mast tight, don’t let go …”

Guo Jing was about to answer when suddenly a loud crack was heard; the boat was
broken into two, and both halves slowly sank into the water. The two sailors were
shocked that they lost their hold on the mast and fell down into the raging water
below. Zhou Botong flexed his muscle and jumped into the water.

“Old Urchin!” Hong Qigong called, “Do you know how to swim?”

Zhou Botong’s head coming out from the water, “I guess I’ll have to try …” he
laughed. These exchanges happened in the midst of blowing wind and they could not
hear each other clearly.

By this time the mast was leaning down far enough that very soon it will hit the
water. Hong Qigong called out, “Jing’er, the mast is joined with the hull; let us break
it free. Come on!” Two people gathered their strength and struck the mast near its
center. The mast was made from solid wood, but how could it withstand the joined
forces of Hong Qigong and Guo Jing? With several strikes, “Crack!” The mast gave
up. Two people held on to it and together they fell into the sea below.

They were already miles away from the Peach Blossom Island; looking at four
directions all around there were great big waves as high as a mountain and no land
was in sight. Hong Qigong was secretly very anxious. Drifting on the sea like this,
without food or fresh water, if nobody was going to rescue them, they would
certainly die in less than ten days no matter how high their martial art skill were.
Hong Qigong tried to look for Ouyang Feng’s boat, but it was nowhere to be seen. He
heard someone laughing hard toward the south of them, it was Zhou Botong.

“Jing’er,” Hong Qigong said, “Let’s try coming to him.” With one hand holding the
mast, the other hand rowed toward Zhou Botong. The waves were quite strong in
that area, as they moved dozens of feet they were pushed back dozens of feet.

“Old Urchin, we are coming!” Hong Qigong laughed. Due to his strong internal
energy, his voice was heard amidst the sound of rushing waves around them. They
heard Zhou Botong called out, “The Old Urchin has become a dog in the water; this
is an old dog in salty soup!”

Guo Jing was amused that in such a dangerous situation like this he still had a mood
to goof around; truly he did not bear the title ‘the Old Urchin’ in vain.

The sea was raging wild around them. No matter how hard they tried, they were still
dozens of feet apart from each other. Only after working hard for a long time did
they finally managed to gather together on the broken mast. As soon as Hong
Qigong and Guo Jing saw Zhou Botong, they were unable to stifle their laughter;
Zhou Botong used the sail rope to tie a piece of board to his feet, displaying his
excellent lightness kungfu to tread the waves. Unfortunately the waves were too
strong. Even though his body was going up and down with the waves, as if free and
unrestrained, but actually it was very difficult to move forward. Zhou Botong played
on the water enthusiastically, seemingly oblivious of the danger they were facing.
Guo Jing looked around only to see their boat was totally gone; along with all the
crews, they were buried under the sea. Suddenly he heard Zhou Botong cried in
alarm, “Aiyo! This is serious! The Old Urchin might meet a cruel death.”

Hong Qigong and Guo Jing heard his frightened voice, they asked, “What is it?”

Zhou Botong pointed his finger away and said, “Sharks! A school of sharks!”

Guo Jing grew up in the desert; he did not know how fierce a shark was. He turned
around to see Hong Qigong’s face looked strange. He wondered what kind of
monster a shark was, that his master and big brother Zhou who were used to face
danger with smiles on their face looked so nervous.

Hong Qigong sent his strength to his palm and broke the end of the mast; then he
divided the broken pieces further into two halves. Suddenly he saw a shark head
appeared among the white foam of the waves; its two rows of sharp white teeth
glistening under the sunlight. It was only a moment, and then disappeared into the
water. Hong Qigong threw the wooden stick to Guo Jing. “Aim for their heads!” he
called out.

Guo Jing groped his pocket and produced a dagger. “Disciple has a dagger!” he
called back and threw the wooden stick toward Zhou Botong.

By now there were four, five sharks circling around Zhou Botong; looked like they
were just assessing the situation, so no shark had attacked yet. Zhou Botong bent
his waist and struck; as a result a shark’s head split open. As soon as the other
sharks smelt blood they all attacked their dead comrade.

Guo Jing saw the water surface bubbled like boiling water; did not know how many
thousands of sharks were there. He saw white teeth flashing and in a very short
moment nothing was left of that dead shark. He was horrified. Suddenly he felt
something bumped his feet. Nervously he kicked around, and a big shark jumped up
the water toward him. With his left hand holding the mast he sent all his might to his
right hand and with an unmatched accuracy his extremely sharp dagger made a hole
on the shark’s head. Again the water boiled from a flock of sharks feasting on their
dead comrade. Thousands of sharks moved and bite randomly in the water.

Three men’s martial arts were superb; surrounded by thousands of sharks they
moved to the west and dodged to the east. Every time their hands struck a shark
was either dead or heavily injured; while their own bodies were not even scratched.
As soon as a shark bleeds, it became the others’ food and in a flash it became a pile
of bones sinking to the sea. These three people’s martial arts were profound and
they have great courage; yet seeing this they could not help feeling scared. The
sharks were uncountable; seemed like they were killing endlessly. They did not have
time to think of anything else; they needed all their energy and concentration to
fight and fight and fight …

After a few hours of fighting they have killed more than two hundreds sharks, but
the fog started rising from the water, the sun slowly fell to the western horizon. Zhou
Botong called out, “Old Beggar, Brother Guo, once the sky is dark all three of us will
go to the sharks’ tummy. Shall we make a bet? Who will be first to be eaten?”
“Is the first to be eaten the winner or the loser?” Hong Qigong asked.

“Certainly the winner,” Zhou Botong replied.

“Aiyo, in that case I’d rather be the loser,” Hong Qigong said. With the back of his
hand he launched the ‘divine dragon swings its tail’ and hit a big shark on its side.
That big shark weight approximately 200 jins; but by Hong Qigong’s strength it flew
to the air and rolled twice before it fell down to the water, creating a big splash
everywhere. That shark went belly up, killed instantly.

“Excellent palm technique!” Zhou Botong praised, “I’ll bow to you and take you as
my master so you can teach me this ’18-Dragon Subduing Palms’. Only it’s too bad I
won’t have time to learn. Old Beggar, do you want to compete with me?”

“I am sorry I can’t accompany you right now,” Hong Qigong said.

Zhou Botong laughed heartily, “Brother, are you scared?” he asked Guo Jing.

In his heart Guo Jing was really scared, but seeing those two people were still able to
chat and making jokes in life and death situation his spirit was lifted up. “I was
scared, but not anymore,” he replied. Suddenly he saw a monstrous shark came
charging his way. He leaned sideways then lifted his left hand high in the air as a
bait. That big shark turned around and leaped out of the water to bite his hand. The
dagger in Guo Jing’s right hand moved upward and stabbed underneath the shark’s
mouth, but because the shark was moving forward the dagger made a long cut along
the shark’s body. Blood came gushing out like a spring of water and the contents of
its stomach spilled out.

By that time Zhou Botong and Hong Qigong each had killed another shark. Zhou
Botong had not recovered from Huang Yaoshi’s blow earlier; after fighting for a long
time he started to feel a severe pain in his chest. He laughed out loud and said, “Old
Beggar, Brother Guo, I am so sorry I can’t accompany you much longer, I have to be
the first going into a shark’s belly. Ay! Too bad you two didn’t want to bet. I
should’ve won!”

Even though he was laughing, Guo Jing could hear the desperation in his voice. “All
right!” he shouted, “I’ll bet with you!”

“Now, at last I can die an interesting death!” Zhou Botong laughed. He turned
around to avoid a converging attack of two sharks charging together; suddenly saw a
high white sail far away. Under the dim light of dusk a big boat [translator’s note:
actually it was a yacht, but I wonder if the ancient Chinese has a specific word for
yacht?] was cutting the waves, coming their way.

Hong Qigong also saw the boat; it was Ouyang Feng’s. They were exuberant knowing
help is on the way. Guo Jing immediately came toward Zhou Botong to help him fight
the sharks. A moment later the boat arrived; it lowered two small sampans to rescue
the three people. Zhou Botong vomited some more blood, but he did not stop talking
and laughing; pointing his finger to the sharks and cursing incessantly.

Ouyang Feng and Ouyang Ke stood on the bow of the big boat to welcome them. As
far as their eyes could see, the water was full with sharks’ fins; they were secretly
alarmed.
Zhou Botong was unwilling to admit inferiority, he said, “Old Poison, it was you who
came and rescued us, I did not call you for help; so I don’t owe you anything.”

“Naturally you don’t owe me anything,” Ouyang Feng replied, “Today I came across
the three of you on a shark killing spree; Little Brother was fascinated.”

Zhou Botong laughed, “You came across us and hindered us from playing inside the
sharks’ belly; so I will call it even, we don’t owe anybody anything.”

Ouyang Ke and a snake shepherd put some big chunks of beef on an iron hook as
baits and in a short period of time had fished seven, eight big sharks.

Hong Qigong pointed to the sharks and laughed, “Good, you can’t eat us, looks like
we are going to eat you.”

Ouyang Ke laughed, “Little Nephew has a way to avenge Uncle Hong.” Quickly he cut
some short sticks, sharpening their both ends, then pried open the shark’s mouth
with a spear and stuck the wooden stick in the shark’s mouth. Next, he kicked the
shark back to the water.

Zhou Botong laughed, “This way the shark won’t be able to eat anything forever; but
I bet it will die within eight to ten days.”

Guo Jing said in his heart, “Such an evil plan, he is the only one who can think of it.
This gluttonous shark will be starved to death in the sea. That is so cruel.”

Zhou Botong saw Guo Jing’s face showed a disgusted look, he laughed, “Brother,
such a malicious method is not pleasing to the eye, is it? Well, this is called ‘a
poisonous uncle results in a poisonous nephew’.”

Hearing others cursing him as evil did not bother Western Poison Ouyang Feng at all;
on the contrary, he was pleased. Listening Zhou Botong he showed a faint smile, and
said, “Old Urchin, this small trick is nothing compared to what the Western Poison
can do. You three people were already out of breath fighting this bunch of baby
sharks. Even though they are many, to me they are nothing.” After saying that he
stretched his right hand; facing the sea he moved his hand in a sweeping motion
from left to right and said, “Even if there were ten times more sharks than these, I
can annihilate them all without breaking a sweat.”

“Ah!” Zhou Botong exclaimed, “The Western Poison blew his horn really loud! If you
can prove your great prowess and really kill the sharks, the Old Urchin will kowtow
to you and will call you ‘Grandfather’ three hundred times.”

“I do not dare to accept that,” Ouyang Feng said, “If you don’t believe me, why don’t
we make a bet?”

“All right!” Zhou Botong almost shouted, “I’ll bet you my head!”

Hong Qigong, on the other hand, was suspicious, “Even if his skill is as high as the
sky, yet it is impossible to kill millions of sharks at once,” he thought, “I am afraid he
has another evil scheme up in his sleeve.”
“I don’t need your head,” Ouyang Feng said with a smile, “If I win, I want you to do
something for me, and you must obey it. If I lose, I can’t decline whatever difficult
matter you want me to do. What do you think?”

“I don’t care, whatever you say!” Zhou Botong shouted.

Ouyang Feng turned to Hong Qigong, “I am asking Qi Xiong to be our witness,” he

said.

Hong Qigong nodded, “Very well,” he said, “But what if after the winner assigns the
loser something to do and he is not able to do it?”

“Then the loser must jump to the sea to be eaten by the sharks,” Zhou Botong said.

Again Ouyang Feng showed a faint smile, he did not say anything. He signaled a
servant to bring in a small wine cup. Two of his right fingers pinched the neck of his
strange looking snake on his staff, forced it to open its mouth and the venom from
its teeth gushed out. Ouyang Feng held out the wine cup that the venom went into
it, black and thick like China ink, filling almost half of the cup. As soon as this one
snake ran out of venom he took the other one and did the same; filling the whole
cup with snake’s venom. When he was done those two snakes wrapped around the
staff quietly, no longer slithering up and down, liked they were dead-tired.

Ouyang Feng’s servant fished another big shark and placed it on the deck. With his
left hand Ouyang Feng gripped the shark’s upper jaw, while his right foot stepped on
the lower jaw; prying the jaws open. That shark was about two zhang’s long
[approximately 20 feet or 7 meters], but it could not resist its mouth being opened;
revealing two rows of dagger-sharp teeth. Then he poured the cup of venom in his
hand into the shark’s mouth, right at the gaping wound caused by the iron hook.
With an abrupt movement his left hand lifted the shark on its belly and without much
trouble swung it up. The 200 catties [about 100 kg.] shark flew to the air and with a
loud splash fell into the sea.

Zhou Botong laughed, “Aha! I understand now,” he said, “This is the old monk’s
method of killing bedbugs [lice].”

“Big Brother,” Guo Jing asked, “How did the old monk kill the bugs?”

“There was once an old monk who hawked on a Bianliang [a city in Henan province]
street market selling concoction to get rid of the bedbugs,” Zhou Botong told him,
“He claimed his concoction to be very effective; once the bugs ate his product they
would surely die; if not, he was going to reimburse the customer’s money tenfold. Of
course with this kind of guarantee his business was brisk. One of his customers went
back home and scattered the concoction on his bed. Heh, heh … that night the
bedbugs still came up by the thousands, biting him half-dead. That customer was
upset, early the next morning he went back to the market to find that old monk,
wanted him to refund his money. That old monk said, ‘My concoction is really
effective, if it did not kill your bugs, perhaps you did not use it correctly.’ The
customer asked, ‘How do you use it?’”

Speaking to this point he shook his head with a mischievous smile on his face; but
did not continue. “Then how did he use it?” Guo Jing asked.
With a straight face Zhou Botong said, “That old monk said, ‘You catch the bug, pry
open its mouth and feed just a little bit of this concoction to its mouth. If it didn’t
die, then you can come to the old monk again.’ The customer was mad, he said, ‘If I
can catch the bug, I can pinch it dead with my fingers, why would I need your
effective concoction?’ To which the old monk replied, ‘Of course, I have never said
you can’t pinch it dead, have I?’”

Guo Jing, Hong Qigong, Ouyang Feng uncle and nephew, along with everybody who
listened to Zhou Botong were all burst in laugher. “My concoction is somewhat
different than those of the old monk,” Ouyang Feng said with a smile.

“I don’t see much difference,” Zhou Botong said.

Ouyang Feng pointed his finger to the sea and said, “Well, just take a look.”

The shark which was fed with the venom went belly up, of course; and seven, eight
other sharks were having a feeding frenzy over it, that in a short time it became
another pile of bones; sank to the bottom of the ocean. The strange thing was that
the seven, eight sharks which ate their comrade’s flesh were also gone belly up not
too long afterwards. Each dead shark was immediately eaten by another flock of
sharks, which, in turn, also went belly up in the water. One shark killed ten others,
ten sharks killed a hundred, a hundred killed a thousand; not too long the sea was
full with dead sharks floating around. The remainder of the sharks were not too
many, but they were still feeding on their dead comrades, so a while later the sea
became calm, no more sharks left alive.

Hong Qigong, Zhou Botong and Guo Jing saw this chilling scene their faces paled.
Hong Qigong sighed and said, “Old poison, Old poison, your evil plan is truly evil;
only a small amount of poison from your two snakes is extremely deathly.”

Ouyang Feng chuckled and looked at Zhou Botong with a smug expression. Zhou
Botong rubbed his hands and stomped his foot, pulling his beard and hair randomly.
As far as everybody could see, the sea surface was full of dead sharks with their
white belly upward, floating and fluctuating on the waves.

“Looking at these many white bellies makes my tummy sick; thinking that these
many sharks were killed by the Old Poison’s venom, also makes my tummy sick,”
Zhou Botong said, “Old Poison, you need to watch out, once the ‘hai long wang’
[dragon king of the sea] found out, he is going to send his shrimp army and crab
generals to deal with you.” Ouyang Feng simply smiled without saying anything.

“Feng Xiong, little brother is unclear about something, I beg you to explain it to me,”
Hong Qigong said.

“I don’t dare,” Ouyang Feng replied.

“It was only a small cup of venom, even if the poison was extremely deathly, how
could it kill thousands of sharks?” Hong Qigong asked.

Ouyang Feng laughed, “This type of venom is very special,” he explained, “As soon
as it entered the blood, the blood became poisonous. If this blood enters another
shark’s system, that second shark’s entire blood would also be poisonous. Just
imagine the amount of venom increased a hundredfold. Each dead shark would
multiply that amount another hundredfold; very soon you’ll have an infinite amount
of venom to kill forever.”

“That is called perpetual killing,” Hong Qigong commented.

“Exactly,” Ouyang Feng replied. “Little brother’s title is ‘Western Poison’; if my skill in
using poison is somewhat lacking, then I’m afraid I’m not worthy to hold that title.”

While they were still talking the rest of the sharks were already dead. Other smaller
fish were also gone; if not being eaten by the sharks, then they had already run
away; so the sea was eerily calm.

“Quickly sail away! Quickly sail away! The air here is too thick with poison,” Hong
Qigong urged.

Ouyang Feng gave his signal and the boat moved full speed forward; the triangle
shaped sails were all raised up. With the wind coming from the south they were
heading northwest.

“The Old Poison really sells effective concoction to get rid of bedbugs,” Zhou Botong
said. “What do you want me to do?”

“I’d like to welcome the three of you in my cabin first,” Ouyang Feng said, “You need
to change into dry clothes, eat something, and then take a rest. About the bet, it
won’t be too late to talk about later.”

Zhou Botong was really impatient, “That won’t do, that won’t do!” he called out,
“Just say it! You won’t gain anything by waiting. If the Old Urchin dies of suffocation,
then it will be your loss for not telling me what you want.”

Ouyang Feng smiled, “In that case, Botong Xiong, please come with me.”

End of Chapter 19
Chapter 20 – The Altered Manual
(Traslated by Foxs, Edited by Eliza Bennet)

Hong Qigong and Guo Jing saw that Ouyang Feng uncle and nephew led Zhou
Botong to a cabin in the back; while they were taken to a different cabin to change
their clothes. Four white-dressed maidens served them. Hong Qigong laughed, “The
Old Beggar has not had any luck to enjoy this kind of treatment,” he said. Taking out
all his clothes a maiden dried him up with a clean towel.

Guo Jing felt blood flowing up his neck and face and he did not dare to take his
clothes off. Hong Qigong laughed, “What are you afraid of? They won’t eat you
alive!” he said. Two maidens approached him to take his boot off and loosen up his
belt. Guo Jing quickly took his boot and upper garment, then jump to the bed, hiding
underneath a blanket, changing his own clothes behind the blanket. Hong Qigong
burst out in laughter, those four maidens also giggled.

Once they were finished, two other maidens entered the cabin carrying trays full of
wine, dishes of meat and vegetables, and some white rice; saying, “Please two
gentlemen eat what we prepared in a hurry.”

Hong Qigong waved his hand, “Please all of you get out of here, every time the Old
Beggar sees good-looking ladies I can’t get the food down to my tummy.” The
maidens smiled and complied, closing the door on their way out.

Hong Qigong took the wine and the dishes to his nose and sniffed at them, “Don’t
eat or drink this,” he whispered, “The Old Poison is so crafty. Just eat the plain white
rice.” He took the gourd on his back, pulled the plug and took two mouthfuls of wine,
while busily eating three big bowls full of rice. Guo Jing followed his lead and dumped
the dishes under the deck.

“I wonder what would they want Big Brother Zhou to do?” with a low voice Guo Jing
asked.

“Can’t be anything good,” Hong Qigong replied, “This time the Old Urchin really got
himself in trouble.”

Suddenly the cabin door was pushed open and a maiden said, “Master Zhou asked
Young Master Guo to come to the rear cabin. He has something to discuss with you.”
Guo Jing looked at his master and walked out the cabin following the maiden; they
walked alongside the port side of the boat toward the back. The maiden lightly
knocked the cabin door and after waiting a moment, shoved the door open,
announcing, “Young Master Guo has arrived.”

Guo Jing entered the cabin and the door was closed behind him. There was no one
inside the cabin. Guo Jing felt strange, but then the small door to his left was shoved
open and Ouyang Feng uncle and nephew walked in.

“Where is Big Brother Zhou?” Guo Jing asked.

Ouyang Feng closed the door with the back of his hand, took two steps forward and
grabbed Guo Jing’s wrist. His movement was very swift, besides, not in a million
years would Guo Jing guess that Ouyang Feng would do that. He felt like his wrist
was pinched by a pair of pliers; he could not move at all. Ouyang Ke pulled a steel-
spined folding fan from his sleeve pocket and placed it on a vital acupoint on Guo
Jing’s back. Guo Jing was dumbstruck; he could not guess what these uncle and
nephew wanted from him.

“The Old Urchin lost a bet to me, but when I asked him to do something for me he
refused,” Ouyang Feng coldly said.

“Humph?” Guo Jing was confused.

“I told him to rewrite the Nine Yin Manual from memory for me to see, but
unexpectedly he did not keep his word,” Ouyang Feng explained.

“How could Big Brother Zhou give the manual to you?” Guo Jing thought; and again
he asked, “Where is Big Brother Zhou?”

“It was he who said that whoever does not keep his words must jump to the sea to
be eaten by the sharks. Humph! Finally he made his mind and did what he said he
would,” Ouyang Feng coldly said.

Guo Jing was shocked. “He … he …” he stammered. He tried to pull his hand and
dash to the door, but Ouyang Feng’s grip was very tight, forcing Guo Jing to stop.
Ouyang Ke pushed his fan slightly harder on Guo Jing’s ‘zhi yang’ [lit. the most
positive] acupoint.

Ouyang Feng pointed to a table with a stack of paper and some ink on it and said,
“Now in the whole wide world you are the only one who knows the manual’s full text.
Quickly write it down for me.”

Guo Jing shook his head. Ouyang Ke smiled and said, “The food and wine you and
the Old Beggar ate just now was poisoned. If you don’t take my Uncle’s only antidote
you will die within twelve hours, just like the sharks you saw earlier. If you comply,
we will spare both your and your master’s lives.”

Guo Jing was secretly startled, “If Master was not alert we would certainly fall into
their trap.” He stared at Ouyang Feng and thought, “You are a great master of
martial art, yet you commit this despicable act.”

Seeing Guo Jing just stared at him without saying anything Ouyang Feng said, “You
have memorized the manual in your heart anyway. You won’t lose anything by
writing it down. What are you waiting for?”

Guo Jing shivered from rage, “You have harmed my sworn brother’s life; there is
hatred as deep as the ocean between you and I; if you want to kill me then go
ahead. But if you think you can force me, dream on!”

“Humph!” Ouyang Feng said, “Good kid, you have guts! You are not scared of death,
but does your master’s life mean nothing to you?”

Before Guo Jing could reply a loud bang was suddenly heard; the cabin door was
shattered with wood fragments flying everywhere. Ouyang Feng turned his head only
to see Hong Qigong with a couple of wooden barrels in his hands. Hong Qigong threw
the water out, two deep green transparent water columns flew toward Ouyang Feng
uncle and nephew. Ouyang Feng knew the fierceness of this water attack; he leaped
to the left to elude while his left hand still holding Guo Jing’s wrist tight. The water
hit the cabin’s wall and splashed to all direction. Ouyang Ke loudly called out in alarm
because Hong Qigong had grabbed the back of his head.

Hong Qigong laughed out loud, “Old Poison, you always want to kill me by any
means possible, fortunately the Heaven won’t allow that to happen!”

Ouyang Feng saw his nephew had fallen into Hong Qigong’s hand so he smiled and
said, “Qi Xiong, are you going to challenge me again? It won’t be too late if we wait
till we are ashore.”

“I see you like my disciple very much that you won’t let his hand go,” Hong Qigong
laughed.

“I made a bet with the Old Urchin and I won, didn’t I?” Ouyang Feng asked, “You are
our witness, are you not? Let me ask you this: The Old Urchin did not keep his word,
did he?”

Hong Qigong repeatedly nodded his head in answer to his questions, “That’s correct.
Where is the Old Urchin?”

Guo Jing was grieved, he shouted, “Big Brother Zhou was … he was forced to jump
into the sea and die!”

Hong Qigong was startled, with Ouyang Ke still in his grip he jumped out of the
cabin, looked to all direction, but all he saw was the billows rolled, did not see even
Zhou Botong’s shadow.

Ouyang Feng with Guo Jing still in his grip also walked out to the deck. Loosening up
his grip he said, “Guo Xianzhi, your skill is still very far from adequate. You let others
grab your hand without you able to do anything. Go and learn ten more years from
your master, then you can roam the Jianghu again.”

Guo Jing was worried about Zhou Botong’s safety, so he ignored his derogatory
remark and climbed the mast, looking at all directions.

Hong Qigong lifted Ouyang Ke up and tossed him toward Ouyang Feng. He shouted,
“Old Poison, you forced the Old Urchin to his death, the Quan Zhen people will deal
with you. Your martial art may be profound, but I don’t believe you’ll survive the
Quan Zhen Seven’s besiege.”

Ouyang Ke did not wait until his body touched the deck, his right hand pushed the
deck and he somersault to an upright position; secretly cursed, “Stinky beggar! By
this time tomorrow you will crawl in front of me, begging me to save your life.”

Listening to Hong Qigong’s remark Ouyang Feng simply smiled faintly, “I am afraid
you won’t be able to witness this when it happens.”

“Very well!” Hong Qigong said, “Until that time I am going to use my dog beating
stick to beat some wet dogs.”

Ouyang Feng raised his hands to salute then entered the cabin.

After looking around for a while without seeing anything Guo Jing got back down to
the deck and told his master how Ouyang Feng had forced him to rewrite the
manual. Hong Qigong nodded without saying anything, he quietly pondered, “Once
the Old Poison set his mind, he won’t easily let go. Before he gets hold of the manual
he will entangle my disciple continually.”

Guo Jing remembered Zhou Botong’s death, he cried mournfully. Hong Qigong was
also grieving. He knew the boat was sailing fast to the west, so within two days they
were going to reach land. He was afraid Ouyang Feng would poison their food, so he
went to the kitchen and plundered some dishes and plenty of rice; and after eating it
with Guo Jing he nodded his head and snored.

Ouyang Feng uncle and nephew waited until the afternoon of the next day,
practically sixteen, eighteen hours had passed, yet they have not heard Hong Qigong
and his disciple made any noise. Ouyang Feng was afraid his poison was too strong
for them and killed them. Killing Hong Qigong was not a big deal, but killing Guo Jing
meant the Nine Yin Manual would be lost forever. Secretly he took a peek through a
crack on the door, only to see two people were sitting comfortably and chatting
amiably; Hong Qigong’s voice was loud and clear. Ouyang Feng was enraged,
“Looked like the Old Beggar was alert. They aren’t poisoned at all.” His poison
collection was vast, but in order to poison Hong Qigong without harming Guo Jing,
he had to think of some better plan.

Hong Qigong was telling Guo Jing the ins and outs of the Beggar Clan; that although
they begged for a living, actually every member had the responsibility to uphold
justice, to help those in distress, to follow their predecessors’ good deeds, not the
bad ones. These facts were mostly hidden from the public eyes. He further talked
about the election procedure of the Beggar Clan Leader when the time comes to find
a successor. “It’s a pity you don’t like being a beggar,” he said, “Otherwise you have
a perfect character to be a leader; there is no one inside the clan superior to you. I’d
really like to bestow the ‘da gou bang’ [dog beating stick] to you.” While they were
still chatting suddenly there came banging noise from outside, it sounded like a
hatchet or a chisel hitting the wall.

Hong Qigong jumped in alarm, “Not good! This stinky snake is going to sink the
boat,” he cried out. Rushing toward the door he shouted to Guo Jing, “Quickly go to
the small life boat at the back!” He was just finished shouting when with a loud crash
a big hole appeared on the wooden partition, followed by loud hissing noise; it was
not seawater came rushing in, but dozens of venomous snakes.
“The Old Poison’s snake attack!” Hong Qigong mocked; his right hand swept,
scattering dozens of steel needles. Dozens of snakes were nailed onto the wooden
deck; with loud hissing noise their bodies coiled and were not able to move anymore.

“Rong’er is very good at this scattering needles technique, yet compared to Master
she still falls far short,” Guo Jing thought.

By that time dozens more snakes coming through the hole in the wall. Hong Qigong
kept shooting steel needles and more and more snakes were nailed to the floor. A
wooden whistle sound was still heard outside, and more and more snakes were
driven into the cabin.

Hong Qigong shot more and more needles, “The Old Poison sends all these target for
me to practice my martial art skill, truly it is a rare opportunity,” he said. But when
he put his hand into his pocket to grab some more needles he was startled since only
a few left. Secretly he was alarmed seeing the snakes kept coming continuously. He
was thinking hard on what to do next when suddenly a loud crash was heard and the
wall behind him fell down; a palm was swiftly moving toward his back.

Guo Jing was standing beside his master, but suddenly heard the swift and fierce
wind he turned around and using both hands he blocked the sneak attack. The
incoming attack was so strong that he felt his stomach turned upside down and he
almost passed out.

Having his attack unexpectedly blocked Ouyang Feng uttered a cry of surprise. He
stepped back a little bit and then horizontally hacked with the back of his hand.

Guo Jing knew this attack would be hard to defend, so with his left palm he parried
the attack, while his right hand launched a counterattack toward Ouyang Feng’s side,
forcing him to withdraw. Ouyang Feng did not dare to take Guo Jing’s palm on his
side, so he ducked while sending out a hand in chopping motion toward Guo Jing’s
lower body.

Guo Jing was aware that the situation was very critical. The snakes would keep
coming in as long as Ouyang Feng could control the entrance; his master and he
would be in grave danger. Therefore, he gritted his teeth and to the utmost of his
ability using one hand to fend off the incoming attacks while with the other hand
tried to send counterattacks. When his left defend his right hand attack, when his
right hand void his left hand solid; following Zhou Botong’s technique of mutual
hands combat.

Ouyang Feng had never seen this mutual hands combat technique before, so he was
confused for a moment, giving Guo Jing a chance to send several stances. Talking
about true martial art skill, Ouyang Feng was still twice as superior to Guo Jing; only
this mutual hands combat technique was so strange to him and it took him by
surprise, so Guo Jing was able to gain an upper hand for a while. But the Western
Poison Ouyang Feng had enjoyed his title for dozens of years; he was a great martial
art master, so he was confused only for a short while but soon had thought of a
method to deal with this strange technique. “Ugh!” with a loud grunt both his palms
shot forward.

Guo Jing would not be able to block this attack single handedly, he was forced to
step back, but behind him a flock of snakes was heard hissing loudly.

“Wonderful, wonderful!” Hong Qigong shouted loudly, “Old poison, you can’t even
defeat my disciple; how can you flaunt yourself as a great hero?” With ‘fei long zai
tian’ [the dragon flies to the sky] he leaped over both Ouyang Feng and Guo Jing’s
heads, toward Ouyang Ke. With one kick he knocked Ouyang Ke down. Hong Qigong
then used his elbow and struck Ouyang Ke somersaulting toward Ouyang Feng’s
back. Ouyang Feng leaned sideways to avoid his nephew, and because of that Guo
Jing was freed from his vicious attack.

“Master’s martial art skill is in par with his, while his nephew’s is below mine; plus,
he is wounded. So by two against two, we would certainly win,” Guo Jing thought.
His spirit rose, and with renewed vigor his hands and feet attacked Ouyang Feng like
a violent storm.

While violently fighting the enemy Hong Qigong opened his eyes wide to all
directions. He saw dozens of snakes were approaching Guo Jing’s back; ready to
strike. Once Guo Jing got bitten he would certainly die. Hong Qigong anxiously called
out, “Jing’er, get out of here, quick!” He increased the intensity of his attack toward
Ouyang Feng; forcing him to withdraw from Guo Jing.

Ouyang Feng faced attacks from both his front and rear; he felt quite strenuous.
Hong Qigong’s attack had forced him to lean sideways, thus giving Guo Jing an
opportunity to dash out of the cabin while Ouyang Feng and Hong Qigong were
engaged in a fierce battle again.

In the meantime hundreds of snakes crawling around the deck had surrounded the
two of them. “Fighting with pets as your helper? You are shameless!” Hong Qigong
mocked, but in his heart he was anxious, since the snakes were countless; they were
everywhere. With the dog beating stick in his right hand he crushed dozens of
snake’s heads; pulling Guo Jing’s hand they headed for the mast.
Ouyang Feng was secretly alarmed, “Not good! If these two leap to the mast they
will be unreachable for a while.” He flew to block them.

Hong Qigong’s both palms made a ferocious chopping motion with a roaring gust of
wind. Ouyang Feng’s fist swept horizontally to parry. Guo Jing stepped forward to
help his master, but Hong Qigong called out, “Just go to the mast, quick!”

“I want to kill his nephew to avenge Big Brother Zhou,” Guo Jing replied.

“Snake! Snake!” Hong Qigong urgently warned him.

Guo Jing saw vipers all around him slithering about; he did not dare to linger much
longer. With the back of his hand he caught Ouyang Ke’s ‘fei yan yin suo’ [lit. flying
swallow silver shuttle]; leaping dozens of feet high, his left hand grasped the mast.
At that very moment he heard the wind of an incoming projectile, so he shot the ‘yin
suo’ in his hand and with a loud clang, two projectiles met midair; both changed
direction toward the side of the boat and fell down to the sea. Guo Jing moved his
hands and feet and in a short while he had reached the middle of the mast.

Ouyang Feng knew Hong Qigong also want to go up the mast so he intensified his
attacks. Even though Hong Qigong was able to hold his ground steadily he could not
move toward the mast.
Guo Jing saw the snakes crowding around his master’s feet he was very anxious;
with a loud shout he wrapped his legs around the mast and bent his body down.
Hong Qigong understood his intention; his left foot kicked the deck, his right foot
flew toward Ouyang Feng’s face while extending his dog beating stick toward Guo
Jing. Guo Jing grabbed the end of his stick and flung it up. Hong Qigong’s body flew
to the air. With a long laughter Hong Qigong’s left hand caught the mast above Guo
Jing. This way these two were high in the air looking down to their opponents; thus
occupying a superior position.

Ouyang Feng knew that if he climbed the mast he would certainly be at a

disadvantage, so he called out loudly, “Very well! We lost this time. Turn the rudder
to the east!” With an abrupt turn the boat was sailing to the east.

From high above the deck with their feet on the mast Hong Qigong and Guo Jing saw
the snakes were very dense on the deck. Hong Qigong sat comfortably on the sail
yardarm; his mouth loudly sang the ‘lian hua luo’ [falling lotus flower], the song
beggars sang when begging for food. His face showed complacency, but actually his
heart was very anxious. “How long can we stay on this mast?” he wondered, “Even if
the Old Poison won’t chop it down we still can’t go down if he did not withdraw the
snakes. The two of them can drink wine and sleep, but all the two of us can do up
here is eating wind and urinate. That’s it!” As soon as he remembered urinating, he
stood up, pulled his pants down and scattered his urine down to the snakes.
“Jing’er,” he shouted, “Let those scoundrels drink your urine to their hearts’
content.”

Guo Jing still had his childish character; he followed his master’s instruction while
shouting happily, “Please! Be my guests!” Both master and disciple sent their urine
down.

“Get the snakes out of here! Quick!” Ouyang Feng barked while at the same time
leaped several steps back. He moved so fast that Hong and Guo’s urine did not touch
his body. Ouyang Ke, on the other hand, was startled to hear his uncle’s anxious
call; some urine drops splashed on his face and neck. He was a neat and clean
person, so naturally he was indignant, but suddenly remembered, “Our snakes fear
urine!”

Amidst the wooden whistle sound the snakes slowly flocked away, but dozens of
them closest to the mast were already drenched in urine. These vipers were all
hybridized from the snake valley in the western region where the Mount White Camel
was; their toxicity was really fierce. Ouyang Feng had used big bamboo baskets
hanging in between several hundreds pairs of camels to transport these vipers
thousands of miles to the Central Plains with the intention of using them as weapons
to dominate the Wulin world. Only the snakes were afraid of human’s excrements. As
soon as they were wet they started to turn around and coil in confusion, biting each
other so the snake shepherds were totally unable to control them.

Hong Qigong and Guo Jing laughed very hard seeing this chaotic situation they have
caused. Guo Jing thought, “If Big Brother Zhou saw this I am sure he would be very
happy. Ay! A martial art expert of this age had to die in the sea. With their level of
martial art skills Island Master Huang and the Old Poison were still drenched in his
urine; while my master’s and my urine did not even touch the Old Poison.”
About four hours later the sky gradually turned dark. The boat crew prepared some
banquet tables on the deck; meat and wine flowed freely, the sweet smelling aroma
drifted upward attacking Hong Qigong and Guo Jing’s nostrils. Ouyang Feng was
really shrewd, how could a glutton like Hong Qigong endure this kind of torture? The
gourd on Hong Qigong’s back was empty only a short while later.

That night Hong Qigong and Guo Jing took turn for the night watch duty. On the
deck below them the crew lighted up dozens of lanterns, while a flock of snakes
staying guard around the mast. They really did not have any chance to break up this
formidable defense; certainly they could not urinate all the time.

Hong Qigong cursed Ouyang Feng’s ancestors up to 18 generations, with all the
fabricated scandals he could think of, adding some spices to make the scandals more
dramatic; but Ouyang Feng did not even go out of his cabin. Hong Qigong cursed
until his lips were tired and finally he fell asleep.

Early the next morning Ouyang Feng sent a servant to shout loudly under the mast,
“Hong Bangzhu, Guo Xiaoye [Clan Leader Hong, Young Master Guo], Master Ouyang
has prepared a superb wine and banquet for you to enjoy; please come down and
enjoy it.”

“You go and invite Ouyang Feng to come out, we will serve him our urine!” Hong
Qigong shot back.

Not long afterward the banquet table was ready under the mast. The foods were
steaming hot, looked like they were fresh out from the kitchen. They prepared two
chairs on each side of the table; it appeared they were waiting for Hong Qigong and
Guo Jing to come down and enjoy their banquet.

Several times Hong Qigong wanted to slide down the mast and plunder the food, but
he knew they must be poisoned, so he had no choice but restrain himself. He was so
upset and starting his ‘your mother is a b***ch’ and ‘you are a male dog with bird’s
brain’ series of cursing.

On the third day these two people were so hungry and thirsty that their heads
started to spin. “If only my female disciple is here,” Hong Qigong sighed, “She is so
smart that I am sure she will come out with something to counter the Old Poison’s
tactic. All we, master and disciple, can do is just staring and swallow our own saliva.”
Guo Jing also sighed.

About noon that day the sun was shining very bright. Suddenly Guo Jing saw two
white dots on the horizon. He thought they were a couple of white clouds, but the
dots moved way too fast for a cloud. They flew closer and getting bigger and bigger,
uttering a loud cry. Turned out they were two white eagles. Guo Jing was ecstatic;
he formed a hook with his left fingers and put it in his mouth, whistling repeatedly.

The eagles circled above the boat several times before diving down and perched on
Guo Jing’s shoulders. They were indeed the pair of eagles Guo Jing had raised in the
Mongolian desert. “Master, could it be Rong’er is sailing this way?” he happily asked.

“That would be wonderful!” Hong Qigong replied, “Too bad these eagles are too
small, won’t be able to carry us master and disciple out of here. We are stuck here,
at loss of what to do. Quickly tell her to come over here and think of something.”
Guo Jing took out his dagger and cut two pieces about five inches square from the
sail and carved out two characters ‘you nan’ [lit. have trouble], and a picture of a
gourd. [I don’t know how Guo Jing carve a piece of cloth with his dagger, but that’s
what written] Then he strapped those pieces, one on each white eagle’s leg, and
said, “Quickly fly back and get Miss Huang to come here.” The white eagles made
some chirping sound, stretched their wings, and flew from Guo Jing’s shoulders.
They circled the boat once then flew toward the west.

About an hour after the white eagles left, Ouyang Feng again tried to entice Hong
Qigong and Guo Jing to come down the mast by preparing another banquet table,
loaded with food and wine. Hong Qigong was indignant, “The Old Beggar is a glutton
and the Old Poison is using this dirty trick to torture me. I practice martial art my
whole life, but I have to admit my spiritual strength is rather lacking. Jing’er, what
do you say we go down and beat them up real good?”

“The white eagles have already delivered our letter; I believe the situation will
change very soon. Please be patient and wait a little bit longer,” Guo Jing replied.

Hong Qigong smiled. A while later he asked, “Among the world’s bad aroma, what do
you say is the worst?”

“I don’t know. What is it?” Guo Jing replied.

“There was one time I had to wander way up north. I was caught in a heavy
snowstorm for eight days without any food; not even a squirrel could be found. I
wanted to eat tree bark, yet I couldn’t find any either. Randomly I dug around the
snow-covered ground and was lucky to find five living things, so I could extend my
life another day. The next day I found a yellow wolf and was able to satisfy my
hunger.”

“What were those five living things?” Guo Jing asked.

“They were earthworms, fat and juicy earthworms. I just swallow them alive, did not
even dare to chew,” Hong Qigong replied.

Guo Jing recalled how the slimy earthworms wiggle, he almost threw-up. Hong
Qigong laughed heartily. He intentionally talked about the world’s dirtiest and
smelliest things to battle the aroma from food and wine below them. He talked some
more and cursed some more, before finally said, “Jing’er, the Old Beggar has eaten
earthworms, but there is something even more disgusting than they that the Old
Beggar would rather eat my own toes than eating that thing. Do you know what it
is?”

Guo Jing smiled, “I know! It’s dung!” he exclaimed.

Hong Qigong shook his head, “No, it is dirtier that that.” He let Guo Jing made some
more guesses before bursting out in laughter, “I’ll tell you what it is; the world’s
dirtiest and most disgusting thing is the Western Poison Ouyang Feng!”

“Right! Right!” Guo Jing also burst in laughter.

After suffering the whole afternoon, that evening Ouyang Ke came out and stood
amidst his flock of vipers. He smiled and said, “Uncle Hong, Brother Guo, my uncle
wants to borrow the Nine Yin Manual just to take a look, nothing else.”

Hong Qigong cursed under his breath, “Son of a b***ch, what a good intention he
has!” In his anger suddenly an idea came into his head; but he kept a straight face
and shouted loud and clear, “Little Rascal, the old man admits defeat to your dog-
like uncle’s evil scheme. Quickly prepare some food and wine, we’ll talk again
tomorrow.”

Ouyang Ke was delighted; he knew Hong Qigong’s word was like a mountain, he
certainly would live up to his promise, so he gave the command to withdraw the
snakes immediately. Hong Qigong and Guo Jing slid down the mast and went into
the cabin; where Ouyang Ke’s servants delivered all kind of food and wine. As soon
as the door was closed Hong Qigong immediately drank half a pot of wine; ripping
half a chicken and started to chew.

“Are these food and wine free of poison?” Guo Jing asked with a low voice.

“Stupid kid,” Hong Qigong said, “That bird brain wants you to write down the
manual, he won’t harm your life just yet. Quickly eat as much as you can, we have
things to discuss afterward.” Guo Jing silently agreed, in one breath he ate four big
bowls of rice.

After eating and drinking to his heart’s content Hong Qigong used the end of his
sleeve to wipe his greasy mouth, then whispered in Guo Jing’s ear, “The Old Poison
wants the ‘jiu yin zhen jing’ [Nine Yin Manual] from you, you write a ‘jiu yin jia jing’
[Nine Yin Altered Manual] for him.”

Guo Jing was puzzled, “Nine Yin Altered Manual?” he asked in a low voice.

[Translator’s note: jiu yin zhen jing – nine ‘yin’ (negative/female/moon – as opposed
to ‘yang’ – positive/male/sun) divine/holy scripture; jiu yin jia jing – nine yin
fake/imitation/not the real thing scripture. The term ‘Nine Yin Manual’ has been
widely used, so let’s just use that; otherwise we’ll have to change every reference to
it, not only in this novel, but in RoCH and HSDS as well]

Hong Qigong smiled, “That’s right!” he said. “In this whole wide world, you are the
only one who knows the Nine Yin Manual. Whatever you want to write, just write.
Who is going to say that what you write is not the real manual? Intentionally you
alter and mix up the sentences, let him use that to train himself in martial art. I am
sure even if he practices for a hundred years he won’t master even one fart!”

Guo Jing was delighted, he thought, “This is a really clever trick; the Old Poison will
surely fall for it.” But then he remembered something, “Ouyang Feng’s martial art is
profound; he is also crafty and vigilant, if disciple just scribbles some nonsense, he
will find out eventually, then what?” he asked.

“You have to write something that appeared right but actually wrong,” Hong Qigong
explained, “Write three correct sentences then alter the fourth one. Add or subtract
some numbers, for example, if the manual says you need to do it eight times,
change it to six or perhaps ten. As smart as he is, he will never find it out. I am
willing to spend seven days and seven nights without food or wine just to see him
training from this fake manual.” Speaking to this point he could not restrain his
smile.

Guo Jing also laughed, “If he really practice according to the altered manual, not
only he will waste his time and energy, but he could suffer some internal injury as
well,” he said.

“Now quickly think carefully how you are going to alter the manual; once he is
suspicious, our plan will be foiled,” Hong Qigong said with a smile; then he added,
“The content of the second volume had been read and rewritten by Huang Yaoshi’s
wife, moreover, that little rascal had read it on the Peach Blossom Island; hence this
part you can’t change too much, just add some incorrect words here and there; I am
sure that little rascal won’t know the difference.”

Guo Jing silently recited the manual in his head, trying to think which sentences he
could alter, where he could insert some misleading sentences. He replaced hold with
move, above with below, and other simple altering that did not require him to
recompose the whole sentence; in short, he was following his master’s instruction to
make subtle changes every where in the manual. For example, he changed the
sentence ‘hand and mind toward the sky’ to ‘foot and buttock toward the sky’; or
‘feet firmly on the ground’ into ‘hands lightly moving on the ground’. On the internal
energy cultivation he changed ‘concentrate ‘qi’ in the pubic region (dan tian)’ into
‘concentrate ‘qi’ in the chest and throat’.

While thinking about all these changes he could not restrain from heaving a heavy
sigh and said in his heart, “Playing practical jokes like this is Rong’er and Big Brother
Zhou’s delight. It’s a pity that one is nowhere near, the other is already died.
Someday I will see Rong’er again, but I will never be able to tell this story to Big
Brother Zhou.”

Early morning on the next day Hong Qigong called Ouyang Ke and proudly told him,
“The Old Beggar’s martial art is already unique; I don’t need to see all kinds of Nine
Yin Manual. As a matter of fact, even if you show the manual in front of my face I
won’t even cast a glance to it. Only some bird brain whose martial art is useless
would be dying to steal all kinds of gold and silver [play of words here: shen jing –
divine scripture, shen jin – pure gold, shen yin – pure silver]. Tell your dog uncle
that the manual will be written just for him. Tell him to shut himself up and train
hard; and when he’s done, to come to the Old Beggar to test his newfound skill. The
Manual naturally is a good thing, but I don’t want to look at it even with one eye. I
want to see if with the Manual’s help he would be able to defeat the Old Beggar. I
want to see whether after he has painstakingly practiced the martial arts from the
manual he wouldn’t just ‘ban jin ba liang’ [the same, equal to] with the Old Beggar?
I’ll say he’s just taking off his pants to fart; totally useless!”

Ouyang Feng was actually standing behind his cabin door, so he heard everything,
but he was delighted instead of getting angry. “It’s a very good thing the Old Beggar
is very proud, he doesn’t mind letting me have the manual,” he thought, “Otherwise,
even if I fight him, threaten him with snakes or poison, or I starve him to death, it
would still be difficult to force him.”

“Uncle Hong, you are wrong!” Ouyang Ke said, “My Uncle’s martial art has reached
perfection. With Uncle Hong’s ability, you could not gain even half a move
advantage; so why would Uncle want to learn the Nine Yin Manual? My Uncle once
told Little Nephew that he is convinced the Nine Yin Manual had enjoyed undeserved
reputation. Otherwise, when Wang Chongyang won the book, why didn’t he learn
anything from it and demonstrate it in front of everybody? My Uncle wants to take a
look at it to point out the errors and prove that the manual is actually a hoax.
Wouldn’t you say that it will benefit the Wulin world tremendously?”

Hong Qigong burst out in laughter, “You are blindly blowing your horn too hard!” he
mocked. “Jing’er, go ahead and write the manual from your memory. If the Old
Poison can point out any error in the Nine Yin Manual, the Old Beggar will kowtow to
him.”

Guo Jing said yes and came out. Ouyang Ke led him to the big cabin where there
was a stack of paper and some ink stick; he even prepared the ink himself and
respectfully waited on the side.

Guo Jing’s school years were not too many, his handwriting was shoddy; oftentimes
he had to think the characters he had to write; so he worked very slowly. More than
once he did not know how to write certain character, so he had to ask Ouyang Ke to
write it for him. Working until noon that day he barely finished the first half of the
first volume.

Ouyang Feng did not show himself at all, but every time Guo Jing finished writing a
page Ouyang Ke would take that page and gave it to his uncle. Ouyang Feng looked
at them carefully. Some sentences did not make any sense to him, but even though
shoddy, the characters were clear. He thought those sentences must have very deep
meaning behind them, so when he’s back to the west he would slowly digest the
manual. He believed with his intelligence and ability he would eventually understand
the manual thoroughly; and after a dozen of years or so he would master the entire
martial arts from the manual. He could not help but feeling elated. He knew Guo Jing
was dumb, he also noticed Guo Jing’s handwriting was so plain and naïve, almost
child-like. He believed this kind of person would not be able to fabricate a complex
manual such as this one. Besides, his nephew had told him that many characters
Guo Jing knew the sounds, but did not know how to write, so his nephew had to
teach him or write the characters himself, so without a doubt this was the real
manual. How would he know that this dumb kid had conspired with his master to
deliberately alter the manual and so deceive him? As for the confusing sentences, he
blamed that on Guo Jing’s inability to remember the text correctly.

Guo Jing did not stop writing even though the sky had turned dark; he had finished
more than half of the second volume. Ouyang Feng did not allow him to return to his
cabin for fear that Hong Qigong would influence him to change his mind and make
things difficult for him. Even though he had already had most of the manual in his
hands; he wanted to have the complete manual. So he arranged for a sumptuous
meal and wine to be brought to Guo Jing, let Guo Jing continue to write without
interruption.

Hong Qigong waited until about the end of the eleventh hour, early twelfth hour
[about 9 pm] but did not see Guo Jing came back. He felt queasy, afraid that Ouyang
Feng had discovered their scheme and his dumb disciple might suffer the worst. He
sneaked out of his cabin and quietly walked toward the main cabin. There were two
snake shepherds stood guard in front of the main cabin. Hong Qigong sent his left
palm forward creating a gust of wind making the sail rope moved. Those two snake
shepherds heard the noise and looked around while Hong Qigong had already moved
to the right. His movement was so quick that those two did not see anything; they
thought it was a ghost or something. Very soon Hong Qigong was at the starboard of
the main cabin.

Hong Qigong could see a faint glow coming out of the main cabin’s window. He took
a peek inside and saw Guo Jing was still crouching on the desk, writing. Two white-
dressed maidens stood beside him, busily serving tea or lighting some incense or
replenishing some papers or preparing some more ink. Guo Jing was well taken care
of. Hong Qigong was relieved; but then his nostrils caught a scent of the wine. He
fixed his gaze for a long time and saw in front of Guo Jing a cup of amber brown
aged wine, the color is almost rouge, the sweet fragrant attacking his nose
mercilessly.

Hong Qigong secretly cursed, “The Old Poison is very stingy, just because my
disciple writes for him he serves the best wine to entertain him, while for the Old
Beggar he only serves insipid cheap wine.” He was the world’s number one glutton
and drunkard; seeing his disciple with this kind of excellent wine, how could he
restrain himself from wanting some of that wine? “The Old Poison must have stored
the good wine in the boat’s hold downstairs; I am going to drink for his happiness,
then replace the wine with my urine, let him taste the Old Beggar’s own brewed
urine wine. Compared to what the Old Beggar and his disciple went through with the
sharks, his drinking of some urine in his wine won’t be too bad, at least he won’t die
because of it.”

Having this thought he could not help but smile; stealing wine and food was the skill
he most proud of. Once he spent three whole months inside the imperial palace in
Lin An; he hid on a beam in the imperial kitchen, he had tasted practically every
single food and wine that was supposed to be served to the emperor. The imperial
palace was heavily guarded, yet he was able to come and go like there were no other
people there. Stealing food and wine from a boat’s kitchen certainly would not give
him any trouble.

Immediately he looked for the steps that would lead him downstairs, and after
making sure nobody was watching he carefully went downstairs, relying on his nose
to find where the food supply was. The hold was pitch black, but Hong Qigong’s nose
was able to smell food from a mile away. Slowly he walked along the wall, lighted his
torch just to see six, seven wooden barrels piled up in the corner. Hong Qigong was
delighted; he extinguished the fire after picking up a broken bowl he found laying
around and put it back in his pocket. He walked groping around toward the barrel
and tried to lift one up. The barrel was very heavy, it could contain anything.

His left hand he found the plug, while his right hand placed the bowl under it. He was
about to pull the plug when suddenly his sensitive ears heard some footsteps. It
looked like there were two people walking toward the hold. Their steps were nimble,
so Hong Qigong knew they were Ouyang Feng uncle and nephew since nobody on
board had that kind of ability. He thought those two came to the boat hold late at
night, they must have some evil intentions, like poisoning the food to harm others;
so he shrunk his body and hid curled up among the barrels.

He heard the door opened quietly, a flame flashed, and two people walked in; they
stopped right in front of the barrels. Hong Qigong’s heart skipped a beat, “Are they
going to poison the wine?” he wondered in his heart; but what he heard next turned
his heart cold.
“Have you placed oil, firewood and sulfur in each cabin?” he heard Ouyang Feng
asked.

Ouyang Ke laughed, “Everything is ready, as soon as we start the fire this boat will
turn into ashes and the stinky Beggar will be scorched to death instantly.”

“They are going to burn the boat?” Hong Qigong was shocked.

“We must wait a little bit longer,” Ouyang Feng said, “As soon as that kid surnamed
Guo falls asleep you go first to the life boat; just be really careful not to wake the
Old Beggar up. I’ll come over here and light up the fire.”

“What are we going to do with those maidservants and the snake shepherds?”
Ouyang Ke asked.

“The stinky Beggar is a great master of this age; it’s worthy of his reputation to
sacrifice some people to accompany him in his death,” Ouyang Feng coldly said.

While still talking their hands did not stay idle, they unplug the barrel and the smell
of oil attacked Hong Qigong’s nose. Turned out the barrels were full of vegetable oils.
Ouyang Feng uncle and nephew also took some sulfur from a stack of wooden boxes,
some firewood and sacks of wood shavings from the shelves, and scattered them on
the floor.

Not too long afterward they have finished their job and turned around to go out
when Ouyang Ke laughed and said, “Uncle, in less than 12 hours that kid surnamed
Guo will be buried in the sea; the only person who knows the Nine Yin Manual will be
just you, Senior.”

“No, there will be two. Won’t I pass it on to you?” Ouyang Feng replied. Ouyang Ke
was delighted; he pushed the door closed with the back of his hand.

Hong Qigong was furious and shocked at the same time, he thought if there was no
ghost or spirit telling him to steal some wine how would he found out these two
people’s treacherous plan? If the boat was suddenly on fire, how would he escape
the disaster? After could not hear the footsteps of those two anymore, he carefully
sneaked out and went back to his own cabin. Guo Jing had already gone back and
was sleeping soundly on the bed. He was about to wake him up and discuss what
they were going to do when suddenly there was a slight rustling noise outside the
door. He knew it must be Ouyang Feng trying to see if they were sound asleep, so he
pretended to talk in his sleep, “Good wine! Good wine! I want ten more pots!”

Ouyang Feng was startled, at first he thought the Old Beggar was still awake,
drinking wine, but then Hong Qigong cried out loud again, “Old Poison, let us fight
for another thousand stances … (giggling) … Good boy! That was awesome!”

Standing outside the door Ouyang Feng listened to him speaking nonsense, he was
confused, but then realized that Hong Qigong was talking in his sleep. “This stinky
Beggar’s death is imminent, yet he still drinks and fights in his dream,” he thought.

With his mouth Hong Qigong talked nonsense, but with his ears he listened
attentively. Ouyang Feng’s lightness kungfu was superb, but Hong Qigong was still
able to hear him walking toward the port side of the boat. Hong Qigong put his
mouth on Guo Jing’s ear and lightly shook his shoulder, “Jing’er!” he whispered.

“Mmm!” Guo Jing awoke.

“Just follow my lead, don’t ask any question,” Hong Qigong said urgently, “Get out
quietly, make sure nobody’s watching you.”

Guo Jing rolled over and crawled quietly toward the door. Hong Qigong silently
opened the door and tugging Guo Jing’s sleeve they moved toward the starboard. He
was afraid they would be detected by Ouyang Feng; so instead of jumping out he
climbed over the edge. With his left hand hanging on the edge his right hand pulled
Guo Jing along; both of them hanging outside the boat’s side. Guo Jing felt strange,
but did not dare to make any noise. Hong Qigong slowly released his hands from the
edge and quietly crawled downward; keeping his eyes on Guo Jing for fear that the
boat was too slippery for him, that if he should fall, he would surely make noise.

The boat was smoothly painted, plus, it was wet. Secondly, they were going
downward, where the boat was sloping toward the water; thirdly, the boat was
moving above the waves that made the boat rocked; so climbing downward was
truly not an easy matter. Luckily Guo Jing was trained by Ma Yu going up and down
the cliff everyday in the desert; besides, his skill had been improved tremendously
this past year or so. He would stick his fingers in between the wood plank, or grab
the head of a nail, or find a crack somewhere; slowly but steadily going down.

Half of Hong Qigong’s body was already under water. He moved toward the stern,
with Guo Jing following close behind. His target was the small life boat tied on a rope
behind the boat. “Get on that boat!” he told Guo Jing. He loosened up his grip and
separated his body from the big boat.

The big boat was traveling quite fast, so a second later Hong Qigong had grabbed
the edge of the small boat. Swing his hands his body somersaulted and landed on
the small boat without making any sound. When Guo Jing had followed his example
he quietly said, “Cut off the rope.” Guo Jing took the dagger out and a moment later
that small boat was floating freely on the ocean waves. Hong Qigong pulled the oar
to give themselves some distance from the big boat. A moment later the big boat
disappeared into the darkness.

Suddenly a flame was seen on the big boat’s stern, it came from the torch in Ouyang
Feng’s hand. Ouyang Feng was heard shouting in alarm because the small life boat
was nowhere to be seen. He sounded shocked, but also angry and afraid at the same
time. Hong Qigong concentrated his ‘qi’ in the ‘dan tian’ region and let out a long
laugh.

Out of nowhere another boat appeared, coming rapidly toward the starboard of the
big boat. Hong Qigong wondered, “Uh, what boat is that?” Before he finished
speaking a pair of white eagles came down from the sky, circling the big boat’s main
sail. Someone dressed in white was seen leaving the incoming boat, leaping toward
the big boat. Under the bright starlight above one could see a glimmer of golden hair
band on her head. “Rong’er!” Guo Jing gasped.

The person who was just leaping onto the big boat was indeed Huang Rong. Just
before leaving the Peach Blossom Island she saw the little red horse came galloping
from the forest, she thought, “This little red horse is useless on the sea, but those
two condors would actually be able to help me find Brother Jing.” Therefore, she
whistled loudly to call the white eagles.

The eagles’ eyes are sharp, they can fly extremely fast. On this boundless sea they
unexpectedly saw Guo Jing on the big boat. Huang Rong was alarmed, but also
pleasantly surprised to find the ‘in danger’ message Guo Jing tied on the eagles’ leg;
immediately she let the eagles soar to the sky and steered the boat following them.
Eventually her boat caught up with the big boat, but she was a little bit too late,
Hong Qigong and Guo Jing had already left the big boat.

Huang Rong had never forgotten the ‘in danger’ message she got earlier, she was
afraid she might be too late; hence as soon as the eagles circled above this boat, she
ordered her crew to sail alongside the big boat. As soon as the distance was
manageable with a butterfly steel projectile in her hand she leaped to the big boat,
only to see Ouyang Ke was pacing around nervously, like an ant on a hot pot.

“Where is Guo Jing?” Huang Rong shouted, “What did you do to him?”

Ouyang Feng had lighted the fire in the hold and was going to escape using the small
life boat when suddenly he saw the boat was gone. His perspiration came down his
forehead like beads or pearl when he heard Hong Qigong’s loud and long laughter.
He silently cursed his own stupidity because instead of harming others he had
harmed himself; of course he was very anxious. But suddenly Huang Rong arrived on
a boat, he rushed to grab this opportunity, “Quickly seize that boat!” he shouted.

Who would have thought that the crews of Huang Rong’s boat were all deaf and
mute servants from the island. As long as Huang Rong was on board, they followed
her commands out of fear, but as soon as Huang Rong left the boat, immediately
they turned the boat around, hoisted the sail and escaped as far as they could.

Not long after Hong Qigong and Guo Jing saw Huang Rong jumped onto the big boat,
the fire from the hold was starting to reach the deck. Guo Jing did not know what
happened yet, he called out in alarm, “Fire! Fire!”

“That’s right,” Hong Qigong said, “The Old Poison set the boat on fire to burn the two
of us, master and disciple to death.”

Guo Jing had a blank expression on his face, he busily said, “We must save Rong’er!”

“Let’s go back to the boat!” Hong Qigong said. With all his might Guo Jing pulled the
oar. That big boat was also changed its direction to approach the small life boat. The
deck was full of male snake shepherds and female maidservants running around
chaotically, shouting for help. Hong Qigong had to raise his voice to be heard,
“Rong’er! Jing’er and I are here! Quickly swim over! Quick!”

On the sea the mighty waves rolled, the night was dark, so it was very dangerous to
swim; but Hong Qigong knew Huang Rong’s water skill was excellent and also it was
a critical moment so he was compelled to take this risk.

Huang Rong heard her master’s voice, she was delighted. No longer paying attention
toward Ouyang Feng uncle and nephew she rushed to the boat’s side and jumped
into the water below. But suddenly she felt something was holding her back. Huang
Rong turned her head in great surprise to see her right wrist in Ouyang Feng’s hand.
“Let me go!” she shouted, sending her left fist toward Ouyang Feng’s face; as a
result, both of her wrists were in Ouyang Feng’s hands.

Ouyang Feng saw the boat that brought Huang Rong had already gone far away, too
far for them to pursue; while the big boat they were on was already ablazed; the
main mast was burnt and was about to fall down; the deck was extremely chaotic,
the boat would sink any minute. His only hope right now was the small life boat in
Hong Qigong’s control; so he loudly shouted, “Stinky Beggar! Miss Huang is in my
hand; do you see her?” He lifted Huang Rong high in the air.

By that time the sea was bright red with the fire from the boat. Hong Qigong and
Guo Jing could see her clearly. Hong Qigong was very indignant, “Again he is using a
dirty trick to get this boat. Humph! I am going the get Rong’er back.”

Guo Jing saw the boat was almost burnt down, “I am coming too!” he said.

“No! You stay and guard this boat, don’t let the Old Poison take it away,” Hong
Qigong said.

“Yes!” Guo Jing said and exerted his strength to pull the oar. By that time the big
boat was motionless on the sea surface, so with only several pulls they have come
close to the big boat.

Hong Qigong kicked the small boat and his body flew toward the big boat. Stretching
his left hand out he grabbed the boat’s edge with his strong fingers; and then
catapulted his body upward and somersaulted toward the deck.

Ouyang Feng was still holding Huang Rong’s wrists; “Stinky Beggar, what do you
want?” he said, smiling ferociously.

Hong Qigong cursed him, “Come! Let us fight another one thousands stances.”
‘Swish, swish, swish!’ He sent three palm attacks toward Ouyang Feng’s face.
Ouyang Feng was shrewd; he pushed Huang Rong’s body forward as a shield, forcing
Hong Qigong to retract his attacks. Ouyang Feng had sealed Huang Rong’s acupoint,
so she was paralyzed.

Hong Qigong loudly shouted, “Old Poison, you are shameless! Quickly release her
and let her go; you and I will fight here to decide victory or defeat.”

How could Ouyang Feng release his prisoner so easily? But he saw his nephew was
continuously pushed backward by the fire, he threw Huang Rong toward him and
called out, “Go to the small boat first!”

Ouyang Ke caught Huang Rong, then looked downward to see Guo Jing waiting on
the small boat down below. He thought the small boat was really too small. If he
jumped down carrying a person, he might cause the boat to turn upside down, so he
found a thick rope. Tying it to the mast he used his right hand to slide down onto the
small boat while holding Huang Rong with his left.

Guo Jing was relieved to see Huang Rong on the small boat; he did not know that
Huang Rong’s acupoint was sealed. His attention was focused on his master and
Ouyang Feng fought a fierce battle on the blazing deck. He was so worried about his
master’s safety that his gaze was fixed on the fight and he forgot to speak to Huang
Rong.

Both Hong Qigong and Ouyang Feng demonstrated their excellence in martial arts;
while leaping around to avoid falling wood and rope they attacked nd
counterattacked each other. Hong Qigong had a slight advantage in that his body
was still wet from swimming into the small boat earlier; while Ouyang Feng’s clothes
and hair had caught a little bit of fire here and there.

Those two people’s martial arts were in par to begin with, a slight advantage was
enough for Hong Qigong to gain an upper hand. Ouyang Feng was forced to step
back bit by bit until his back was very close to the cabin, while his clothes and beard
started to catch fire. He wanted to jump into the sea, but Hong Qigong did not give
him any slack. If he tried to jump and thus divert his attention from the fight, he
might be seriously wounded or even worse, dead. Ouyang Feng became very anxious
and it seemed like defeat was imminent.

Hong Qigong also realized that he would certainly win this time, and that boost his
confidence. But then another thought came into his mind, “If I forced him to enter
the fire and die, that won’t do me any good. He has obtained the Nine Yin Altered
Manual from Jing’er, he won’t die satisfied before he practice that manual. Why don’t
I let him go this time?” Thereupon he laughed and said, “Old Poison, I let you go this
time, quickly jump into the boat.”

Ouyang Feng looked at him strangely, then turning his body he jumped into the sea.
Hong Qigong was about to follow when suddenly Ouyang Feng flew back up. “Hold
on! Now my body is also wet; we are on a level ground. Let us fight again to decide
victory or defeat.” Holding onto the boat’s edge he swung his body up and landed on
the deck.

“Wonderful! Wonderful!” Hong Qigong said, “I have a satisfying fight today!” With
him sending his fist forward, the two people were engaged in a fierce battle one
more time.

“Rong’er, do you see how fierce the Old Poison is?” Guo Jing asked. Huang Rong’s
acupoint was still sealed, so of course she was not able to answer. “Do you think I
should go up there and help Master to come down here? The boat is about to sink,”
Guo Jing said again. Still no answer from Huang Rong. Guo Jing turned his head to
see Ouyang Ke was hugging Huang Rong; he became angry and shouted, “Take your
hands off!”

It was with great difficulty that Ouyang Ke finally able to touch Huang Rong’s hands;
how could he let go that easily? Smiling he said, “If you move, I am going to hack
her brain out with my palm.”

Guo Jing did not even think, he swept the oar in his hand horizontally. Ouyang Ke
ducked to avoid this attack, but Guo Jing sent his palm with a whistling sound toward
his head. Ouyang Ke was forced to let Huang Rong go, he swung his head backward
to avoid this attack. Guo Jing’s fists moved simultaneously, one downward, the other
upward, both aimed toward Ouyang Ke’s head.

Ouyang Ke realized this small boat was not the best place to fight; while the enemy
attacked fiercely. He stood up and sent a stance from his ‘ling she quan’ [spirit snake
fist technique], his hand swept horizontally. Guo Jing extended his left arm to parry,
but suddenly Ouyang Ke’s fist curved upward and turning into a palm slapped Guo
Jing hard on his cheek.

This hit was really heavy, Guo Jing’s head was spinning because of it; but he realized
the danger he was in, so he opened his eyes and saw the second attack was coming.
Ouyang Ke’s movement resembled a wine gourd with two successive bends. Guo Jing
avoided this attack by throwing his head backward while sending his right arm
forward to counterattack. But because his head was moving backward, this attack of
his was not effective. Luckily he had learned the mutual hands combat technique
from Zhou Botong, so both his left and right hands could move independently of
each other. This time his left hand followed his right with a different stance coming
toward the opponent. Ouyang Ke’s hand was still coming toward Guo Jing, hence
Guo Jing’s arms were surrounding his hand. With a crack sound Ouyang Ke’s bone
was broken.

Actually Ouyang Ke’s martial art skill was not under Ma Yu, Wang Chuyi or Sha
Tongtian. No matter which technique he used, he should be able to defeat Guo Jing
in a fair battle. It was just that Guo Jing’s techniques were more bizarre than any
other techniques he had seen that he fell under Guo Jing’s hands twice.

Ouyang Ke fell onto the small boat’s deck. Guo Jing did not pursue his opponent; he
quickly took Huang Rong’s yielding body and unsealed her acupoint. Lucky for him
when Ouyang Feng sealed her acupoint he did not use too much energy; he was
trying to conserve his energy because he anticipated Hong Qigong’s attack,
otherwise Guo Jing would not be able to unseal the Western Poison’s sealed
acupoint.

Huang Rong came to her senses, “Quickly help Shifu!” she called out.

Guo Jing lifted up his head to see his master and Ouyang Feng were engaged in a
close hand-to-hand combat like they were dancing around amidst the blazing fire.
The sound of the wind generated by their movements was intermingled with the
sound of burning and cracking and falling debris all over them. Suddenly a loud crack
was heard, the boat’s body broke; the stern was slowly sinking into the sea and
vanished into the dark water. The bow was lighter, but slowly it sank nonetheless.
Guo Jing took his oar and started paddling to get the small boat closer with the
intention of helping his master.

Hong Qigong’s feet got into the water first. His clothes had been dried out by the
fire, while Ouyang Feng’s were still wet from the sea earlier; so this time the
Western Poison gained an upper hand against the Northern Beggar. Hong Qigong did
not want to surrender so easily, he fought with all his might. At that moment the
main mast broke and fell down. Two people hurriedly jumped backwards so they
were separated by a burning mast.

Ouyang Feng fetched his snake staff and jumped over the burning mast. Hong
Qigong immediately drew the bamboo stick from his waist and fended off the attack.
They were fighting barehanded ferociously before, so imagine how fierce the battle
had become now that both were wielding weapons.

Guo Jing held the oar in his hands, ready to jump on board. He was very concerned
about his master’s safety, yet watching two people’s wonderful weapon techniques
he was carried away, clucking his tongue and praising unceasingly.
There was a saying among the martial arts practitioners, “A hundred days to master
a blade, a thousand days to master a spear, ten thousand days to master a sword,”
showing that sword technique was the most difficult to learn. However, when the
martial artists had reached perfection each would develop his/her own unique skill;
then the difference between various weapons would be minuscule. Twenty years ago
during the Sword Meet of Mount Hua both Hong Qigong and Ouyang Feng had
already admired each other’s martial arts very much. Even using swords it was very
difficult for them to defeat the other. Now both did not use any sword anymore.

Hong Qigong wield a bamboo stick which he carried anywhere he went, as a token of
authority of his position as the Beggar Clan Leader. The bamboo was pliable but hard
to break. Compared to a sword it was about one foot longer. His skill in external
martial art was superb; he was able to impart an incredible strength to the flexible
weapon in his hands, increasing its might tremendously.

Ouyang Feng’s snake staff was also unique in that he combined the cudgel, stick,
and spear techniques; the movements were complicated. The staff head was carved
in the form of a human head; its mouth grinned ferociously, looked very scary. Two
rows of sharp teeth inside its mouth were covered with poison. The head danced
around like a ghost ready to strike its victim. On top of that, there was a secret
button on the staff that when pressed the head would shoot some poison toward the
enemy. If those weren’t enough, fiercer still were the two snakes wrapped around
the staff. They were alive and able to make unpredictable moves; very difficult to
guard against.

Two people exchanged palms and weapons, unfolding their respective unique skill.
Ouyang Feng had a slight advantage in term of weaponry, but Hong Qigong was the
leader of beggars everywhere, and beggars were experts in catching snakes. His
bamboo stick danced amidst the snake staff movements, parried every move that
came his way but also took advantage of any opening in the opponent’s offensive
line; striking the snake staff’s vital point. Ouyang Feng moved his staff very fast, to
make it difficult for the opponent to have an accurate aim; he knew Hong Qigong
meant to kill the snakes on his staff. He did not activate the secret device on his staff
for fear that his reputation would be ruined.

Hong Qigong still had a unique skill set belonging to the Beggar Clan, namely the ‘da
gou bang’ [Dog Beating Stick technique]; its changes were subtle yet marvelous, a
very sophisticated stick technique. However, Hong Qigong did not want to use this
special skill of his unless in an emergency situation. He was planning on using it on
the second Sword Meet of Mount Hua the following year; so he did not want to let his
would-be-contender to have an advantage by watching his moves beforehand.

Guo Jing was standing on the bow of his small boat; several times he wanted to
jump on board to help his master, but those two combatants were fighting closely.
He realized his own skill was too far below theirs; it would be very difficult to even
get close to them. All he could do was staring blankly, unable to do anything.

End of Chapter 20.

Chapter 21 - The Thousand-Pound Rock
Translated by IcyFox

Ouyang Feng felt his the surroundings become hotter and the deck of the boat was
shaking trememdously and he knew the boat would sink any moment. But Hong
Qigong was attacking more furiously and did not slacken his pace so if he did not use
his special skills now he might not get out of this alive so he withdrew his Snake Rod
with his right hand and kicked out heavily with his right leg.

Hong Qigong used his bamboo rod to chase the Snake Rod while using his left hand
to block the incoming kick but Ouyang Feng suddenly twisted his arms and punched
towards Hong Qigong’s ‘Right Sun’ Accupoint. This [Agile Viper Boxing] was
developed through Ouyang Feng’s own harsh training and was meant for use during
the 2nd Hua Shan Tournament. He had not used this snake-like boxing skill even
after exchanging 1000 strokes with Hong Qigong on Peach Blossom Island.

A snake seems to be boneless and could turn in all directions at will, so the main
point of this boxing skill is to be able to twist the arms unpredictably, so that when
the opponent blocks the fists, the exponent would be able to throw out a punch from
an unexpected angle at close proximity. Of course to expect the arms to move
exactly like a snake would be unreasonable but in the eyes of the opponent, the
movements of the arms greatly resemble snakes.

Originally, with Ouyang Feng executing such a strange move in this critical moment,
Hong Qigong would have found it hard to defend; even if he were not injured, he
would also be in danger. However Ouyang Ke had already used it against Guo Jing
before, and although he won, he actually gave Hong Qigong a chance to spot a flaw
in the move.

That day he did not attend the feast with Li Sheng and the of group beggars but was
instead deeply thinking of how to counter the move. Now when Ouyang Feng finally
used this move, he secretly rejoiced, extended his fingers to form a claw and caught
hold of his fist. This was perfect as he managed to swiftly and accurately counter the
special move of the [Agile Viper Boxing].

It looked like it happened by chance, but in reality it was Hong Qigong who pondered
over it for many days and nights, followed by long hours of practice which finally
allowed him to deal with the entire [Agile Viper Boxing]. Although it had not been
perfected yet, but it had the element of surprise, which managed to catch him off
guard.

Ouyang Feng originally expected Hong Qigong to be in great surprise and be

rendered helpless, allowing him to seize the opportunity and move in for the kill, but
unexpectedly it was he who ended up surprised himself and was forced to retreat
several steps. Suddenly a cloud of fire decended upon him, immediately covering his
whole body. Hong Qigong was also startled and leapt back and saw that it was
actually a large sail which caught fire.

With Ouyang Feng’s Wugong, even if that sail fell several times faster ot would not
hit him. But now he suddenly saw the [Agile Viper Boxing] which he painstakingly
created over many years unexpectedly being so carelessly neutralized, his mind was
lost and he did not attempt to evade the burning sail. The sail with the mast weighed
several hundred jin and Ouyang Feng was not able to lift the sail even after jumping
twice.

Although he was in great danger, he was still calm and he raised up the Snake Rod
to lift the sail, but the Snake Rod was pinned under the mast and could not be lifted
upright. In his heart sighed, "Forget it! I’ll return to heaven today!" Suddenly he felt
the weight lifted and his head was no longer blocked by the sail and saw that Hong
Qigong had raised the anchor, hooking it onto the sail and pulling the sail away.
Actually Hong Qigong did not want to see him being burnt alive so he went forth to
save him.

Now Ouyang Feng’s clothes and brows were on fire and he immediately jumped up
and rolled on the deck of the boat frantically attempting to put out the fire.
Unfortunately bad things do not come singly and the boat suddenly lunged to one
side, causing a huge chain to sweep right into him.

Hong Qigong shouted, “Ah!” and dashed forward to grab the chain. The chain was
already heated by the fire and caused a sizzling sound when it came into contact
with his hand, scalding his palm. He let go immediately and threw it into the sea. He
was just about to jump when he felt a slight numbness on his back.

He stopped for a second and a thought flashed through his mind, “I saved West
Poison’s life, can it be possible that he’s using his snake to poison me?” He turned
around and saw that it was indeed a snake with fresh blood in its mouth. In his rage
he threw 2 palms towards Ouyang Feng. Ouyang Feng stepped aside impassively and
Hong Qigong’s palms hit a mast, splitting it into 2.

Ouyang Feng was happy that his sneak attack worked but when he saw Hong Qigong
lashing out crazily he became more serious and did not dare take the blows head-on,
avoiding them instead. Guo Jing shouted, “Master! Climb aboard the small boat.”
Hong Qigong suddenly felt dizzy and staggered.

Ouyang Feng charged forward and hit out with his palms which landed right on Hong
Qigong’s back. Ouyang Feng’s snake’s lethal poison was unmatched, but fortunately
he already used up most of the poison when he made a bet with Zhou Bo Tong days
ago, so the poison was not so lethal that day.

So when Hong Qigong was bitten, he was not very severely poisoned and due to his
high internal energy, the poison took some time to take effect. When he was hit by
Ouyang Feng he was in a daze and he did not circulate his qi to protect himself,
causing him to throw up blood and collapse.

Since Hong Qigong was very highly-skilled, Ouyang Feng knew that this blow would
not kill him, so when he recovered some time later, Ouyang Feng would be in
trouble. He jumped over and raised his foot to strike his chest. Guo Jing had just
climbed aboard from the small boat and saw that the situation was very urgent but
he might not be able to save Hong Qigong in time, so he struck out with both palms
using the [Double-Dragon Water Rationing] stance to attack Ouyang Feng’s waist.

Although Ouyang Feng knew his martial arts were not weak, he did not think very
highly of him and used his left hand to block the strike while his right foot slammed
down. Guo Jing was shocked and did not care about his own safety and jumped up,
hugging Ouyang Feng’s head, but by doing this he left his accupoints exposed and
his side was swept at by Ouyang Feng.

Although this counterattack was not very forceful, every of his strike was enough to
kill the opponent, so if not for Guo Jing’s good internal strength, he would have
suffered serious injuries. He felt a sharp pain followed by numbness in half his body,
but he continued to cling on tenaciously to Ouyang Feng’s head.

Ouyang Feng assumed that with his vicious strike, the opponent would retreat, but
he did not expect the dumb kid to use such a move that would get them both
injured. Thus he had to retract the foot which was halfway towards Hong Qigong to
twist his waist around to attack Guo Jing. At such close proximity, he could not
execute any of his refined Snake moves.

For highly-skilled exponents, whenever they fight, they would not allow the opponent
to get close to them even if they were targeting accupoints, so there was hardly any
close-contact grappling involved. When it came to advanced martial arts, there were
no moves for scuffling.

Ouyang Feng felt his throat being gripped forcefully by Guo Jing and he struck out
backwards, but Guo Jing managed to avoid the blows. He felt that it was becoming
harder to breathe, and felt that the grip was becoming tighter, so he jabbed his
elbow backwards. Guo Jing evaded right and had to release his left hand, but also
used his legs to execute a Mongolian wrestling technique while his left hand slipped
past Ouyang Feng’s shoulder.

He slammed down forcefully on Ouyang Feng’s back, causing Ouyang Feng to suffer
intense pain even with his good martial arts. This technique was called the [Camel’s
Pull], and it was so effective that only a wrestling expert could deal with it. Ouyang
Feng did not know wrestling, so he suffered the whole extent of the strike.

Guo Jing was happy and his right hand released its grip and slipped upwards behind
Ouyang Feng’s back. With a loud yell he pressed both palms down. In wrestling this
move was called the [Mountain Breaking Move] and was used when the opponent
had fallen, so that no matter how strong his shoulders were or how good his
wrestling techniques were, there would be nothing much he could do as his shoulder
would break if he tried to move.

However Ouyang Feng’s martial arts were much better than the Mongolian wrestlers,
so even with such a disadvantage he still managed to think of a way to turn defeat
into victory. When Guo Jing’s hands came down, he used his Qinggong to duck aside
and rolled away under Guo Jing’s waist.

With his status as a highly skilled martial arts master, rolling under a junior’s waist
was a great disgrace, but that did not bother him. He broke free from the [Mountain
Breaking Move] and immediately threw out his fists to counterattack Guo Jing’s back.
He did not expect that before his fists reached Guo Jing, his left leg was immobilized.

Guo Jing knew he was no match for his opponent, but with such a close-combat
situation and his wrestling background, coupled with the fact that he disregarded his
safety, Ouyang Feng could not get any closer to his master to injure him. At this
point the fires became fiercer and the planks listed, causing them to lose their
balance and fall and their clothes caught fire.

Huang Rong was anxious and worried sick as she saw Hong Qigong’s motionless
body slumped on the side of the boat and she could not tell if he was dead or alive.
Meanwhile Guo Jing and Ouyang Feng were still rolling and struggling about without
showing signs of stopping. Their clothes were on fire and the situation was getting
dangerous, so she lifted her oar and smashed it towards Ouyang Ke’s head.

Although his right arm was broken, his martial arts were still good enough for him to
evade the oar and he stretched out his left hand to grab Huang Rong’s bracelet.
Huang Rong stomped her feet fiercely and the small boat almost capsized. Ouyang
Ke could not swim and he was about to fall overboard, so he had to let go of Huang
Rong. When the boat stabilized, Huang Rong took the opportunity to jump into the
sea.

She swam a few strokes and rushed towards the big boat. The boat was already half
submerged in water and the deck was almost touching the water surface. Huang
Rong climbed aboard to help Guo Jing and took out the ‘Moth-Eyebrow’ Spike from
her waist. Guo Jing and Ouyang Feng were deadlocked into a bundle and rolling
about. Ouyang Feng’s martial arts were better and he managed to pin Guo Jing
underneath, but Guo Jing tenaciously held on to his shoulders, causing him to be
unable to counterattack. Huang Rong fought through the smoke and went up to
Ouyang Feng, piercing his back with the spike.

Ouyang Feng was struggling madly with Guo Jing, but when he felt the prick, he was
surprised and twisted around forcefully, causing Guo Jing to land on top. Huang Rong
now wanted to poke Ouyang Feng’s head with the spike, but Ouyang Feng’s agility
allowed him to evade her attacks and she finally pierced the spike into the deck.

A gust of wind blew some thick black smoke over, causing her eyes to smart. Just as
she was about to rub her eyes, she suddenly felt pain in her leg and she fell over. It
was Ouyang Feng who kicked her. Huang Rong rolled over and jumped up, but her
hair caught fire. She was about to attack him when Guo Jing shouted, “Save Master
first!” Huang Rong agreed in her mind and ran towards Hong Qi Gong, grabbed him
and jumped into the sea, extinguishing the fire on her body.

Huang Rong placed Hong Qigong on her back, kicked her legs in the water and swam
to the boat. Ouyang Ke stood at the side of the boat and raised the oar up high,
shouting, “Put the old beggar down, I’ll only let you board alone!” Huang Rong said,
“Fine! Let’s meet in the water!” She shook the boat violently. The boat rocked
terribly and looked like it was about to capsize. Ouyang Ke became frantic and
gripped the side of the boat tightly, saying, “Don’t… don’t shake, the boat is going to
overturn!”

Huang Rong laughed, saying, “Quickly pull my master up. And watch out; if you try
any tricks, I’ll dunk you in the water for 6 hours.” Ouyang Ke had no choice but to
comply and held on to Hong Qigong’s back, pulling him onboard.

Huang Rong smiled and praised him, “From the first time I met you, this is the first
good deed you’ve done.” Ouyang Ke’s heart stirred and wanted to speak, but could
not open his mouth. Huang Rong was about to swim back to the large boat to help
out in the fight when she suddenly heard a thunderous rumble – a huge wall of water
loomed over her head.

She was utterly shocked and quickly held her breath, waiting for the water to hit the
boat, but when she looked again and touched the back of her wet hair, her jaw
dropped. A whirpool had formed on the surface of the sea and the large burning boat
had disappeared together with Guo Jing and Ouyang Feng.

At this moment, her mind was completely blank and she completely did not feel
anything or think of anything, and she became completely lost, not knowing where
she was. Suddenly, the salty water filled her mouth and she found herself sinking
into the water. She started and her senses were awoken as she swam upwards.
When she broke through the surface, all she could see in all directions was the small
boat; everything else had gone disappeared under the waves.

Huang Rong dived into the water again and struggled to go deeper. Her swimming
skills were fantastic and her strokes were powerful, but she could only swim along
with the current. She covered the entire area to search for Guo Jing but he had
disappeared without trace. Even Ouyang Feng could not be found – it seemed like
they had gone down with the boat.

After some time, she was completely exhausted, but she refused to give up, and
swam about wildly in the sea. She could only hope Heaven would be merciful and let
her bump into Guo Jing, but she was surrounded by mountains of waves and there
was totally no trace of him. She had been swimming for over an hour now and she
could not continue any longer, so she headed towards the small boat, intending to
rest for a while before resuming the search.

Ouyang Ke pulled her up. He saw that his uncle was missing and was also equally
anxious, asking, “Have you seen my uncle?” Huang Rong was too exhausted and she
suddenly see everything go black and she fainted. After some time, she slowly
regained consciousness but felt like her body was afloat, like as though she was
floating among the clouds while the sounds of the winds and waves beat against her
ears. She sat upright and realised that the boat was just following the currents.

Right now they did not know how far were they from the sunken boat and Guo Jing
could not be found. Huang Rong suffered great sadness and fainted again. Ouyang
Ke could only grip the sides of the small boat tightly as he feared that the next wave
would send him tumbling out of the boat into the water.

After another hour, Huang Rong awoke again and thought that since her Brother Jing
was buried at the bottom of the sea, it was meaningless for her to live on. When she
saw Ouyang Ke’s eyes tremble and his pale lips, she felt disgusted and thought,
“How can I possibly die together with this beast?” She stood up and snapped, “Jump
overboard!” Ouyang Ke was shocked and exclaimed, “What?” Huang Rong said,
“You’re not jumping? Let me capsize the boat then we shall speak again.”

She jumped towards the right, causing a reaction which resulted in the boat
springing leftwards. She then jumped towards the left, and the boat rocked even
more violently. When she heard Ouyang Ke’s frantic shouting, her sadness became
joy and she jumped again.

Ouyang Ke knew that if she jumped around a few more times, the boat would
definitely capsize, and when he saw her jump again, he quickly jumped to the other
side. They landed exactly at the same time and their forces cancelled out, causing
the boat to momentarily dip deeper into the water.

Huang Rong repeated this trick twice, but he managed to stop her. Huang Rong said,
“Good! I’ll make a hole in the boat and see what you can do.” She took out the steel
spike and jumped to the middle of the boat, but when she saw Hong Qigong lying
down motionless at the bottom of the boat, she realised that she had completely
forgotten about her master as she yearned for Guo Jing. She hurriedly bent down to
place a finger at his nose, and she felt his faint breathing.

She was relieved and supported Hong Qigong up. His eyes were tightly closed and
his face was white as sheet, and his pulse was weak. Huang Rong became worried
about her master and did not bother about Ouyang Ke, so she undid his shirt to
check his injury.

Suddenly the boat trembled violently and Ouyang Ke shouted out excitedly, “Land
ahoy! Land ahoy!” Huang Rong lifted up her head and saw a dense cluster of trees in
the distance. The boat had now stopped moving as it was grounded on a reef.

They were still some distance from shore but they could see the sea bed; the depth
was only up to their waist-level. Ouyang Ke jumped into the water and ran a few
steps forward before turning back to look at Huang Rong, then he headed back.
Huang Rong saw that Hong Qigong’s shoulder had a black handprint which seemed
to be quite deep, so she could not help but think, “How could Western Poison’s palm
strike be so powerful?”

Just then she noticed 2 fine teeth marks on his shoulder. If she did not look
carefully, she would have missed them. She pressed them lightly with her fingers
and suddenly felt a sharp pain in her hand, so she hastily withdrew it and asked,
“Master! How are you now?” Hong Qigong only moaned but did not answer her.
Huang Rong said to Ouyang Ke, “Pass me the medicine.”

Ouyang Ke threw up his hands impatiently and said, “The antidote is with my uncle.”
Huang Rong said, “I don’t believe that.” Ouyang Ke said, “Search me.” He undid his
outer gown and emptied his stuff onto his hand. Huang Rong saw that there was
indeed no medicine and said, “Help me get Master ashore!”

The 2 of them took each arm of Hong Qigong and placed them over their shoulders.
Huang Rong stretched out her hand and held Ouyang Ke’s hand and allowed Hong
Qigong to sit on their arms. They then proceeded to the shore. Huang Rong felt her
master shiver unceasingly and felt extremely worried. Ouyang Ke on the other hand
was rather pleased as he only only felt a warm and smooth hand tugging his, which
was what he could only dream of previously. Unfortunately for him, it was not long
before they reached the shore.

Huang Rong bent down and placed Hong Qigong on the ground, saying, “Quick, get
the boat ashore, don’t let the tide sweep it out to sea.” Ouyang Ke released his hand
but stared blankly, vaguely hearing Huang Rong’s voice but not paying attention to
what she was saying. Luckily Huang Rong did not know what he was thinking inside
and only stared at him and repeated what she said. Ouyang Ke then dragged the
boat up to shore and saw that Huang Rong had turned Hong Qigong over and let him
lie on the grass so that she could give him first aid. He then thought, “Where on
Earth are we?”

He ran up a small hill and looked around, and could not help but be extremely
surprised and pleased. In all directions were the vast sea, and they were on a
remote island. The island was filled with lush greenery but there was no sign of
human life. He was surprised as there was no sign of food or accomodation, so how
could they survive? On the other hand, he was pleased because it seemed like he
was fated to be on this deserted island with that angel-like beauty, and with the old
beggar was seriously injured, he would not bother them. He thought, “With her
staying here, this god-forsaken island is like a paradise; even if I had to die, I would
die happy.”

When he thought of this, he subconsciously waved his arms about but he suddenly
felt a sharp pain in his right shoulder, causing him to remember that it was broken,
so he broke off 2 branches and tore a strip of cloth and tied his arm into the splint.
Huang Rong was at that time trying to suck out the poison from her master’s back.
She did not know how else she could help him so she let him lie down on a rock in a
cave and shouted over to Ouyang Ke, “Go look around and see if there’s any inn
around here.”

Ouyang Ke laughed, “This is an island, there’s absolutely no inn here. Let’s see if
we’re lucky to find anyone else here.” Huang Rong was slightly shocked and said,
“You go do that.” When Ouyang Ke heard her instruction, he was very excited and
utilised his Qinggong and ran east, but all he saw were even more wild trees and
found no traces of humans. Along the way he killed 2 wild hares and headed north
before making his way back in a loop. He told Huang Rong, “It’s a deserted island.”

That night Huang Rong did not dare sleep for fear of Ouyang Ke attacking them and
also due to her anxiety over Hong Qigong. It was only at dawn the following morning
did she catch a few hours of sleep. In her sleep she dreamt that Hong Qigong called
her several times and she was jolted awake and asked, “Master, how are you?” Hong
Qigong pointed at his mouth and moved his teeth. Huang Rong laughed and took out
some of the unfinished rabbit meat from the previous night and fed him.

Once he consumed the meat, he felt the Qi stirring within him and he sat upright to
breathe properly. Huang Rong did not dare utter a word and only scrutinized his
expression. But she saw the reddish tint on his face turn pale, then red again. This
cycle repeated several times and soon his head was emitting steamy mist and his
sweat decended like the rain, and his body was shivering terribly. Suddenly there
was a flash of a shadow – Ouyang Ke was trying to get over.

Huang Rong knew that her master was attempting to treat his injuries, which was a
life-and-death situation, so if he forced his way in and distracted her master, nothing
would save him then. So she softly snapped, “Get out now!” Ouyang Ke laughed,
“Let’s discuss how we can survive here on this deserted island. The days would get
longer from now, you know!” Hong Qigong blinked and asked, “Is this really a
deserted island?” Huang Rong said, “Master, please concentrate, ignore him.” She
turned to Ouyang Ke and said, “Come, let’s talk outside.” Ouyang Ke was elated and
followed her out of the cave.

The weather was good this day, but Huang Rong only saw the edge of the vast seas
meet the sky, and apart from a few clouds, there was nothing else. She went to their
landing ground and was suddenly shocked, and asked, “Where’s the boat?” Ouyang
Ke said, “Huh, where is it? It must have been swept away by the currents! Ah, damn
it!”

Huang Rong saw his expression and deduced that it was he who pushed the boat out
to sea so that she could not get away from here and felt that it was absolutely
despicable. Since Guo Jing’s apparent death, she had no intention of living on.
Besides, the small boat would not be able to make it across the fierce waves and the
situation was bleak, but in that case she would not be able to get her master to
safety.

She stared at Ouyang Ke without any change in her expression, but in her heart she
was actually thinking of how she could kill him and save her master at the same
time. Huang Rong jumped onto a large rock and looked into the distance. Ouyang Ke
thought, “If I don’t use this chance to get close to her now, then when?” He also
leapt up the rock and waited her for her to sit down. After some time she was not
angry and did not shift her position, so he moved closer and said, “Little sister, the 2
of us can live here till old and still live like the deities. I must have done something
wonderful in my past life to deserve this!”
Huang Rong laughed and said, “This island has 3 of us including Master, wouldn’t we
be lonely?” Ouyang Ke felt that her tone was harmless and was ecstatic, saying,
“With me by your side, why would it be lonely? Moreover, when we have children in
future, it would be even less so.” Huang Rong laughed, “Who will have children? I
wouldn’t.” Ouyang Ke laughed, “I’ll help you.” Saying that, he stretched out his hand
to hug her. He then felt warmth in his palm and realised that Huang Rong had
already held his hand. Ouyang Ke’s heart beat madly.

Huang Rong slowly moved her hand up his arm, then said in a low voice, “Sister Mu
Nianci’s chastity was destroyed by you, is it not?” Ouyang Ke laughed aloud, saying,
“That girl did not want to submit to me. What kind of man am I, Gentleman Ouyang,
to force her?” Huang Rong said, “So, it must be others who slandered her. Her lover
had a big quarrel with her because of this.” Ouyang Ke said, “Her reputation suffered
because of this, what a pity!”

Huang Rong suddenly pointed to the sea and shouted, “Ah, what is that!” Ouyang Ke
looked in that direction and was about to ask when he suddenly felt his wrist go stiff
under her firm grip and his body went numb and he could not move. Huang Rong
drew her spike and stabbed it towards his abdomen. Their distance was extremely
small and Ouyang Ke was in a state of confusion, coupled with the fact that his arm
was immobilized, how could he block it?

Still, all his training under expert guidiance at White Camel Mountain was not
wasted; he suddenly twisted his body and used his chest to smash towards Huang
Rong’s back in a split second. Huang Rong evaded him and jumped off the rock,
causing the spike to gash his leg, resulting in a deep wound that was almost 1 foot
long.

Ouyang Ke jumped off too and saw her spike. He stood there and grinned but he
actually felt terrible pain. He bent down and saw his gown stained blood red and
realised that he just escaped with his life, but still he was severely injured. Huang
Rong said, “We were talking fine, why did you try to bump into me for no reason? I
won’t bother about you now.” She then turned and left. Ouyang Ke was filled with
love and hatred, shock and joy, and just stood rooted there silently.

As Huang Rong went back to the cave, she blamed her poor skills for allowing her to
waste such a good opportunity and let him escape. When she went inside, she saw
Hong Qigong asleep and saw a pool of black blood on the ground, she started and
asked, “Master, how are you? Are you better?” Hong Qigong said, “I want wine.”
Huang Rong felt distressed; she did not know how to find wine on this deserted
island. Yet she agreed and said, “I’ll try to get it. Master, your injury isn’t serious,
right?” Her tears dropped as she said that.

Despite having gone through so much, she had never cried. Now that her tears fell,
she could not control herself and buried herself in Hong Qigong’s bosom and cried
her heart out. Hong Qigong stroked her hair and patted her back, trying to console
her. The old beggar roamed Jianghu for so many decades, but had never had to deal
with a crying girl before, so he did not know what to do. He could only say, “Good
girl, don’t cry, Master’s here for you. Please don’t cry. I don’t want the wine already.”

Huang Rong stopped after a while and lifted her head. When she saw that Hong
Qigong’s clothes were wet with her tears, she smiled and said, “I didn’t manage to
kill that evil jerk, what a pity!” She then told the whole story to him. Hong Qigong
was silent for a moment before saying, “Master is useless now. That jerk is better
than you in martial arts. For now you can only pit your wits against him.” Huang
Rong said, “Master, after resting a few days, you’d recover and then take his useless
life with one palm, won’t that settle it?”

Hong Qigong regretfully said, “I’ve been poisoned by the poisonous snake as well as
Western Poison’s deadly palm. I’ve already used all my martial abilities to purge the
poison but there is some left within me. Even if I survive, my martial arts would be
affected. Your master is just another old man without any powerful skills.” Huang
Rong quickly said, “No, no, Master, you won’t, you won’t!” Hong Qigong said, “I the
old beggar have never taken this seriously, but now it has come to this, I can’t deny
it.”

He paused, then said gravely, “Child, Master hasn’t got a choice, but I have to
request a huge favour from you – it’s extremely difficult to accomplish – will you
accept?” Huang Rong hastily said, “Yes, yes! Master, tell me.” He sighed, then said,
“Our time together as master and disciple is not long, I didn’t get to teach you much
martial arts. Now that you’re also facing a strong opponent, I have no choice but to
entrust a great burden to you, or I would not be at ease.”

Huang Rong saw that usually he was carefree and easygoing but this time he was so
hesitant, so she knew it must be some extremely important responsibility, so she
said, “Master, please tell me. Your injuries are caused by you trying to help your
disciple escape from Peach Blossom Island. Even if I died a horrible death, I would
hardly be able to repay you. I’m just afraid I’m too young to carry out your
instructions.” Hong Qigong happily said, “So you agree to it?” Huang Rong said,
“Yes. Please say it.”

Hong Qigong stood up unsteadily and cupped his hands, bowing to the north and
said, “Ancestors, the Beggars’ Clan you founded has come to my hands. I am
unfortunately incapable of bringing virtue to our clan. Today the matter is urgent and
I have to pass on my responsibility. May Ancestors in Heaven bless us and help this
child avoid trouble and also to bring our clan to greater heights.” When he finished,
he bowed to the north. Huang Rong was shocked and curious when he said that.

Hong Qigong said, “Child, kneel down.” Huang Rong knelt down and Hong Qigong
took his green bamboo rod and raised it over his head. He saluted it and placed it in
her hands. Huang Rong was extremely shocked and said, “Master, you want me to
be the Beggars’ Clan… the Beggars’ Clan…” Hong Qigong said, “Exactly, I am the
18th generation Leader of the Beggars’ Clan, and you are hence the 19th Leader.
Now let’s thank our ancestors.”

At this stage Huang Rong did not dare to disobey and could only imitate Hong
Qigong’s actions and bowed with both hands cupped. Hong Qigong suddenly coughed
and spat out some phlegm which landed on Huang Rong’s clothes. Huang Rong was
secretly sad and thought, “Master’s injuries are indeed serious – he doesn’t even
have the strength to spit properly.” She pretended that nothing was amiss, however.
He sighed, “When the Beggars pay obeisance to you in future, there will be a
disgusting ritual. Ah, this will be hard on you.”

Huang Rong smiled, thinking, “The beggars are filthy and rough, how could any of
that be missing?” Hong Qigong drew a long breath. His face was pale but in his heart
it was as though he has just put down a large rock and he was very pleased. Huang
Rong helped him lie down. He said, “Now that you’re the Leader, I am an Elder in the
Clan. Although the Elders are respected by the Leader, but when there’s something
to be done the Leader has to give the order. This rule was laid down by our
Ancestors, so you must follow it to the letter. When the Leader relays an order, all
the beggars must obey you.”

Huang Rong became depressed and worried, thinking, “On this deserted island, I
don’t know how we can return to the Central Plains. Moreover Brother Jing is dead,
and I have no desire to live, but suddenly Master wants me to be some whatever
Clan Leader and command all the beggars under the sky, how on Earth am I going to
do that?” But when she saw her master’s condition, she did not want to worry him
further, so she could only agree to anything he proposed.

Hong Qigong said, “On the 15th day of the 7th month of this year, the 4 Elders of
our Clan will hold a gathering at the lakeside Cave-Courtyard of the Yue Yang City to
hear my announcement for the new Leader. You only need to bring the bamboo rod
there and they will understand my intention. Every matter within the Clan will be
dealt with by the 4 Elders, so I can leave it to them. But I have to send you this
adorable doll into the midst of the filthy beggars; this is really hard on you.”

He then laughed heartily but because of his injury, he coughed before he finished
laughing. Huang Rong massaged his back for a while before he stopped coughing.
Hong Qigong sighed, “This old beggar is really useless now, ah, I don’t know when
I’ll recover, so I have to rush into teaching you the [Dog Beating Skill].” Huang Rong
was wondering why this rod skill had such a horrible name. She then thought that no
matter how fierce a dog could be, she could kill it with one punch, so she saw no
need to learn this skill, but her master was gravely serious, so she could only agree.

Hong Qigong said, “Although you are now the Clan Leader, you don’t have to change
your personality; if you want to be playful and mischevious, go ahead and be, we are
all beggars, we have no restrictions and we do as we please. If this won’t do and
that won’t do, we might as well be judges and ministers. If you do not think highly of
the [Dog Beating Skill], just say it simply!”

Huang Rong laughed, “Disciple is wondering what kind of dog could be so tenacious
that it requires a specialised skill to handle it.” Hong Qigong said, “Now that you’re
the head of all the beggars, you’ll have to act like one. With your rich dress and your
rich girl’s attitude, the dog would be only too pleased to listen to you, why would you
need to hit it? But if us beggars run into such dogs the it’s a different story. The old
saying is: the poor not armed with rods get bullied by dogs. You have never been
poor, you don’t know what it’s like to be one.”

Huang Rong clapped and laughed, “Master, you’re wrong here!” Hong Qigong was
perplexed and asked, “Why?” Huang Rong said, “On the 3rd month of this year, I
escaped from Peach Blossom Island to play, and I disguised myself as a beggar.
Whenever there are fierce dogs bothering me, all I have to do is give them a kick
and they would scramble away.” Hong Qigong said, “Yup, if the dog is too fierce then
you’d have to use a rod to hit it.”

Huang Rong thought, “What dog could be so fierce?” Then she realised and shouted,
“Ah, yeah, bad guys are dogs too!” Hong Qigong smiled and said, “You’re really
clever. If…” He originally wanted to said that Guo Jing did not know, but his heart
turned sour and he stopped.

When Huang Rong heard him stop midway, she understood what he was thinking
and felt bitterness in her heart and wanted to cry out loud, but now Hong Qigong
needed her help and she seemed all grown-up while Hong Qigong seemed like a
youth, so she controlled herself and only turned her head away. The tears, however,
dropped like pearls.

Hong Qigong was as sad as her, so he knew that consoling her was useless, so he
talked about serious matters, saying, “The 36 moves of the [Dog Beating Skill] was
created by our Ancestors and can only be passed down from one Clan Leader to the
next without letting anyone else know about the skill. Our Clan’s 3rd Leader far
surpassed future Leaders and so he greatly improved this skill. After hundreds of
years, when our Clan faces any strong opposition, our Leader would personally come
forward and use this skill to defeat our enemies.”
Huang Rong started to pay attention and then sighed softly, asking, “Master, when
you were fighting with Western Poison on the boat, why didn’t you use it?” Hong
Qigong said, “This skill is very important in our clan, and even if I didn’t use it, he
may not have won. Who’d know he could be so despicable as to poison me after I
saved his life?” Huang Rong saw that he was becoming depressed, so she tried to
distract him and said, “Master, please teach me so that I can kill him to avenge you.”

Hong Qigong made a stone-faced laugh and picked up a piece of firewood and leaned
against the rock wall. He recited the formula and executed the steps, thus passing
down all 36 moves to her. He knew Huang Rong was extremely intelligent but was
afraid that he would not live long, so he passed everything down to her in one shot.
Although the name of the [Dog Beating Skill] was crude, the changes within were
subtle and the techniques profound, and was one of the best martial arts skills ever
created. It was thus that this skill was passed down like a precious heirloom.

Although Huang Rong was very clever, she could only remember the general picture
and had forgotten some of the finer details. How could she understand the skill in
such a short time? After he was done, Hong Qigong took a deep breath amidst his
sweat and said, “I didn’t teach well, but… that’s all I can do now.” With a groan he
collapsed and fainted. Huang Rong was shocked and shouted, “Master! Master!” She
hurriedly supported him up but felt that his limbs were cold and his breathing was
weak; he seemed somewhat beyond hope.

Huang Rong was severely tried for the past few days but now she could not cry. She
listened to his heart beat and found it barely audible so she quickly massaged his
chest to aid his breathing. Just at this critical moment, she heard noises behind her
and a hand stretched out to reach for her wrist. She was concentrating fully on
saving her master and did not even notice when Ouyang Ke entered the cave. Now
she forgot that the person behind her was a vicious wolf and just said naturally,
“Master may not make it, think of something to save him.”

When Ouyang Ke heard her plead so sincerely, the tears welled up in her eyes and
her face became pitiful, his heart shook. When he bent down to look at Hong Qigong,
he saw that his face was white as sheet and his eyes were rolled up, he became
more happy. The distance between Huang Rong and himself was less than 1 foot and
he could even feel her breathing and smell her fragrance. A few strains of hair were
caressing her face and his heart thumped madly until he could not restrain himself
any longer, and he grabbed her waist.

Huang Rong was taken aback and struck out with force and took the chance to jump
away when he evaded her. Originally Ouyang Ke was afraid of Hong Qigong so he did
not dare be disrespectful to Huang Rong, but now he saw that Hong Qigong was half
dead, he did not worry anymore and laughed, “Good girl, I wouldn’t bother about
other girls, but for such a beauty like yourself, I’ll make an exception; come kiss
me.”

He then moved menacingly towards her. Huang Rong was scared out of her wits and
thought, “This situation is terrible. Looks like I’ll get killed here, though with
indignation.” She then took out her needles. Ouyang Feng smiled and used his outer
gown as a weapon and even advanced another 2 steps. Huang Rong waited for him
to advance another step before crouching low and dodging to the left.
Ouyang Ke followed her and Huang Rong waved her hand. He waved his long sleeve
and blocked the spike and Huang Rong knew that she was like an arrow away from
the bow and anxiously tried to run out. Still, Ouyang Ke was faster. Huang Rong
heard the wind behind her back and knew he was attacking her back. She was
wearing the soft armour so she was not afraid of that and furthermore she was
prepared to die, but she wanted to injure him first, so she did not defend herself but
returned a strike towards his chest.

Ouyang Ke did not mean to injure her and his strike was only to tire her out, so he
readily hit out towards her wrist, neutralizing her move. At the same time, he
jumped to the entrance, effectively trapping her inside. But the entrance was narrow
and he could hardly turn about, so with Huang Rong’s fierce onslaught coupled with
her indifference to her defence, her power seemed to have increased tremendously.
Although Ouyang Ke was better than her, he did not want to injure her, so he was at
a disadvantage.

In a brief moment they had exchanged 50-60 moves and Huang Rong was in danger.
Her martial arts were taught to her by her father while Ouyang Ke’s was taught by
his uncle. Huang Yaoshi’s and Ouyang Feng’s martial arts were about the same level,
but Huang Rong was only around 15 while Ouyang Ke was almost 30, so the
difference in their martial arts was worth almost 20 years’ worth of training.
Moreover Huang Rong was not as hardworking as Ouyang Ke and although she
learnt some skills from Hong Qigong before, she hardly practised them. Now even
with Ouyang Ke’s injury, she was still unable to gain any advantage.

Suddenly Huang Rong launched herself forward and pierced her spike towards him in
a backstroke. Ouyang Ke blocked it away and Huang Rong followed up closely with a
fierce stab towards his right shoulder. His shoulder was dislocated and he could not
exert any strength there, so he tried to use his left hand to intercept that move but
the spike made a semi-circle and changed directions midway, stabbing right into his
injured shoulder. Huang Rong was elated but suddenly felt her hand go numb and
had to drop the spike because her wrist accupoint had been hit.

Ouyang Ke was swift and agile, and saw that she was about to escape, so he hit her
‘Xuan Zhong’ and ‘Zhong Tou’ Accupoints with his legs consecutively. Huang Rong
was in midair when she was struck so she fell towards the ground. Ouyang Ke moved
forward and threw his outer gown on the ground, laughing, “Ah, don’t hurt yourself.”
Huang Rong spun the spike around and tried to jump up but her legs were numb and
only managed to get a foot off the ground before falling again.

Ouyang Ke came to help her up. Huang Rong used her only non-immobilized hand
and punched him. But in the confusion, her punch lacked the strength and Ouyang
Ke laughed, sealing her last accupoint. This time Huang Rong was totally immobilized
and she inwardly regretted, “I did not stab myself just now, now I can’t even beg for
death.” She was on fire inside and everything went dark and she fainted. Ouyang Ke
smoothly consoled her, saying, “Don’t be afraid!” He stretched his hand out to hug
her. Suddenly he heard a cold voice above his head, saying, “Do you wish to live or
die?”

Ouyang Ke was shocked and twisted his head around and saw Hong Qigong standing
at the entrance looking at him with the side of his eye. He once heard his uncle
mention the incident where Wang Chong Yang jumped out of his coffin and nearly
killed him, so he immediately thought, “The old beggar pretended to be dead, I’m
dead now!” He tasted Hong Qigong’s skills before and knew he did not even come
close, so in his shock he knelt down and said, “I was just playing with Miss Huang.
Uncle Hong, please don’t be angry.”

Hong Qigong spat and shouted, “Scoundrel, aren’t you going to free her accupoints
or do you need me to do it?” Ouyang Ke repeatedly agreed and hurriedly unblocked
her accupoints. Hong Qigong said coldly, “Enter again and I’ll show no mercy.
Scram!” Ouyang Ke darted out like a rabbit.

Huang Rong awoke as though from a dream. Hong Qigong could not hold on any
longer and collasped. Huang Rong was shocked and excited and quickly held him up
and found his mouth filled with blood and three teeth fell out. Huang Rong was very
sad as she thought, “Even with Master’s wonderful abilities, such a fall could actually
break his teeth.”
Hong Qigong took his teeth and laughed, “Teeth ah teeth, you don’t want to savour
the exquisite food together with me anymore. I never expected you to leave before I
do!” He was actually in a bad shape this time, with the snake poison in his body and
with a palm strike by Ouyang Feng which almost shattered his spine, but fortunately
with his high skills, he was spared from death, still, now he was as weak as someone
without martial arts.

When Huang Rong’s accupoints were blocked, Hong Qigong did not have the
strength to unblock them for her and had to use his reputation to scare Ouyang Ke
into doing it for him. He saw Huang Rong’s grave face and said, “Don’t worry. With
this old beggar around, he wouldn’t dare disturb you.” Huang Rong asked, “When
I’m inside the cave, that creep wouldn’t show up, but what about our food?” Though
resourceful, she was flustered now and could not think straight.

Hong Qigong asked, “You’re thinking of ways to obtain food right?” Huang Rong
nodded. Hong Qigong said, “Support me to the beach to view the Sun.” Huang Rong
complied immediately and said, “OK! Let’s go fishing.” She let him rest on her
shoulder and they walked slowly to the beach.

The weather was good on this day and the sea seemed endless, moving gently under
the sea breeze. The Sun shone on her and their spirits were lifted. Ouyang Ke was
also standing on the beach, but when he saw them coming, he retreated several
zhang immediately and stopped to watch them only when they did not chase him.

They both worried, “This slimy creature is really hard to shake off; he might discover
our weakness sooner or later.” But now they could not care too much and Hong
Qigong sat on a rock while Huang Rong broke off a tree branch and used it as a
fishing rod. The fish population was thriving on this island because no one molested
the fish, so within a short time, she caught 3 big fishes.

Huang Rong used the same method of cooking chicken to cook the fish, allowing
them to eat their fill. After resting for a while, Hong Qigong instructed Huang Rong to
display the moves of the [Dog Beating Skill] and gave some pointers along the way.
Huang Rong understood more of the finer profound changes of the skill. When
evening came, she had practised till she was very hot and removed her outer coat
and jumped into the sea to bathe. Suddenly she had a thought, “I heard that the
Dragon Palace at the bottom of the sea has a very beautiful Dragon Princess, I
wonder if Brother Jing had gone to the Dragon Palace?”

She dreamily kicked in the water but felt a sharp pain in her foot and quickly
retracted it but felt as though it was being grabbed by something and it could not go
free. She played in the sea since young and was not even afraid of large oysters and
was about to stretch out her hand to catch it but got a shock instead. The oyster was
almost as big as a table; it was larger than any oyster she had seen at Peach
Blossom Island. She stretched out both hands to pry it open.

The oyster was incredibly strong and even with both hands she could not force it
open. The oyster gripped her even tighter and her leg got even more painful. Huang
Rong smacked through the water, hoping to grab it out of the water but she had not
expected it to feel like it weighed around 200-300 jin. The oyster had been on the
seabed for many years and had already become part of the reef, how would it be
easy to move it?
Huang Rong struggled a while more but felt her foot become even more painful, so
she was worried and gulped down 2 mouthfuls of water and thought, “Although I
have no wish to live, but if I leave Master alone here to be bullied by that scoundrel,
I won’t die in peace.” She quickly grabbed a large stone and smashed it on the
oyster, but because its shell was tough and she could not exert much strength in the
water, she had to hit it repeatedly but it did not budge.
As the oyster was attacked it tightened its grip further and Huang Rong swallowed
the water again but she suddenly thought of something and quickly put the stone
down and grabbed a handful of sand and threw it into the oyster. The oyster was
indeed allergic to sand and hurriedly opened up, wanting to expel the sand. As soon
as her leg was free, she wasted no time in swimming to the surface and heaved in
the fresh air.

Hong Qigong noticed that she was submerged for such a long time and became
worried as he knew she must have met some trouble in the water and wanted to
help her. He anxiously splashed around in the water for a brief moment before he
saw Huang Rong surface and hailed her in his excitement. Huang Rong waved to her
master and wanted to dive again. This time she was prepared and dived some
distance away from the giant oyster and shook it, then used the reef as a pivot to lift
it up.

She dragged the oyster back to the shore. When the oyster left the water surface, it
lost its bouyancy and became as heavy as a large rock and Huang Rong could not
move it further. She then grabbed a large stone and struck the oyster to vent her
anger. When she saw the deep wound the oyster had inflicted on her, she thought of
her close brush with death and stopped hitting it.

On this night the two of them made the oyster into a good meal and they felt that it
tasted really good. The next day when Hong Qigong awoke, he felt that the great
pain in his body was less intense. His stomach felt really comfortable and he
uncontrollably sighed.

Hong Qigong said, “After sleeping for a night, my injury seemed to have decreased
by quite a bit.” Huang Rong was elated and exclaimed, “It must be the oyster meat
which helped you.” Hong Qigong laughed, “The oyster meat didn’t help much, but
because the food was delicious, it satisfied my mouth. After that my recovery follows
automatically by a slight bit.”

Huang Rong giggled and rushed out to the beach to find the remains of the oyster
meat. In her eagerness, she forgot about Ouyang Ke. Just as she cut off 2 slices of
the meat, she suddenly saw a figure which was moving closer to her. Huang Rong
bent her waist and grabbed part of the oyster’s shell and threw it out and jumped
away at the same time, reaching the water line.

After observing Hong Qigong from a distance for a day, Ouyang Ke felt that he was
becoming more suspicious as he could hardly walk, but Ouyang Ke did not dare go
into the cave, so now he forced himself forward and said, “Sister, don’t go, I want to
talk to you.” Huang Rong said, “I’m ignoring you, yet you disregard that, you’re
really shameless.” She then made a face at him.

Ouyang Ke saw her girlish attitude, causing his face to be deviod of colour and his
heart to be itchy, so he advanced 2 steps and laughed, “It’s your fault; it’s because
you’re so beautiful that you can’t get people to ignore you.” Huang Rong laughed, “I
said I’m ignoring you and I mean it. It’s useless to sweet-talk me.” Ouyang Ke
advanced yet another step and said, “I don’t believe you.”

Huang Rong’s face became a shade darker and said, “Move another step forward and
I’ll ask Master to club you.” Ouyang Ke said, “Forget it, can he even walk? I’ll go in
and carry him out, OK?” Huang Rong got a shock inside and retreated 2 steps.
Ouyang Ke grinned, “If you like to jump into the sea then go ahead. I’ll wait here for
you. Let’s see who can last longer.”

Huang Rong said, “Fine, you’re bullying me, I’ll ignore you forever.” She turned and
ran, but tripped on a stone and fell down. Ouyang Ke sort of expected this so he
laughed, “You’re really mischevious and naughty, but I love it.” He held his gown in
his hand to catch any secret needles she might throw and walked towards her.
Huang Rong shouted, “Don’t come over!” She struggled up but fell again after 3
steps.

This time her fall was more serious and half her body was in the sea and she seemed
to have fainted. Ouyang Ke thought, “This girl is very crafty, I won’t fall for her trick.
With your skills, how did you fall without any apparent reason?” He stood there and
observed her. After some time, he saw that she was still motionless and the tide was
about to engulf her whole body.

Ouyang Ke became worried and thought, “This time she has really fainted, if I don’t
save her she might drown.” He ran forward and tried to pull her legs. When he
tugged her legs, he got a shock as he felt that her body was stiff, so he quickly
hugged her up but Huang Rong hugged his legs instead and called out, “Go down!”
Ouyang Ke could not stand properly and the 2 of them went into the water together.

In the water, despite his high skills, he could not use them and thought, “Even with
such precautions, I fell for her trick, this time my life is lost!” Huang Rong originally
wanted to dunk his head in the water to appease her anger. However as Ouyang Ke
felt the water fill his mouth, he could not feel where his body was and struggled
wildly, wanting to grab onto Huang Rong.

However she had already expected that and swam around him, so how could he
catch her? In the struggle, Ouyang Ke drank a few mouthfuls of water and his body
sank deeper with his feet touching the seabed. Though his martial arts were good
and he was quick-thinking, he was at a great disadvantage in the water and he felt
his body float aimlessly in the water. He hurriedly grabbed a rock on the seabed and
used his internal energy to hold his breath and looked around to find the direction to
the shore. But the water was murky and he could not tell east from west.

He walked around for a few steps and felt that walking upwards was a good idea, so
he hit the rock and took large steps towards the shallower region. With the reef on
the seabed, his movement was very difficult, but he used his internal energy to dash
across in one go. Huang Rong saw that he did not surface for some time, so she
quickly looked around and saw him walking in the water and was surprised. She
swam behind him and used her spike to pierce towards him.

Ouyang Ke felt the water flowing faster, so he quickly evaded and moved even
faster. Now he felt the lack of air in his lungs and let go of the large stone he was
carrying and tried to surface to breathe, and when he stuck his head out, he saw
that he was already close to the shore. Huang Rong knew she could not stop him
now so she sighed and dived again.

Ouyang Ke did not die and crawled onto the beach completely drenched and his
senses were blur. He threw up all the water he drank and felt his body go weak as if
he suffered from some great illness. He was very angry and thought, “I’ll go kill that
old beggar and see if that girl listens to me!”

Although he had such thoughts, he was still wary of Hong Qigong and breathed for a
few moments to get rid of his fatigue, so he broke off a tree branch and used it as a
makeshift weapon then ran towards the cave.

He avoided going in directly and tried to slip in at the side. He listened for a moment
and did not pick up any movements in the room, so he looked in and saw Hong
Qigong sitting down on the ground, meditating; his face showed no signs of any
injury.

Ouyang Ke thought, “I’ll test him to see if he can move.” He said in a loud voice,
“Uncle Hong, this is bad, this is bad!” Hong Qigong opened his eyes and asked,
“What?” Ouyang Ke pretended to be in a state of panic and said, “Sister Huang tried
to catch a rabbit but fell into a deep valley and is injured. She can’t climb out now!”

Hong Qigong was shocked and said, “Quickly save her!” Ouyang Ke was excited and
thought, “If he could walk, why doesn’t he come out and save her?” He walked in
and laughed, “She tried ways and means to take my life, why should I help her? You
go save her.”

Hong Qigong observed his expression and knew that he was faking it, and thought,
“This scum has discovered that I’d lost my martial arts, I’m in danger!” In this
situation, he could only try to bring him down as well, and secretly channeled all his
strength to his arm, and waited for him to come before he would strike. However
when he did that, he felt a sharp pain near his heart and his body felt like it was
about to collaspe apart, but when he saw Ouyang Ke’s perverted smile, he gave a
long sigh and waited for death.

Huang Rong saw Ouyang Ke hit the shore and got worried, thinking, “At this point
the scoundrel would be prepared against me; it would be harder to scheme against
him now.” She swam outwards and headed left. After a while she saw the lush
foliage and felt that this beach was different.

She then thought of Peach Blossom Island and became sad, but then she thought,
“If I can find a safe place here for us to hide for a while, that scoundrel might not
find us.” It was not a fantastic plan, but it was better than their situation now and he
might not actually find them, giving her master time to recover.

Thus she went ashore but she did not dare explore too deep as she was afraid of
bumping into Ouyang Ke so she stuck close to the sea, thinking, “If I wasn’t too
playful in the past and mastered Father’s Five-Element skills, then I’d be able to
handle that scoundrel. Hai, no, Father gave him the map to Peach Blossom Island
and he’d surely be able to understand it.”

She was so absorbed in her thinking when she tripped on a tree vine and stumbled,
and above her was some rustling noise followed by the mud and small pebbles
raining on her. She dashed aside but hit a tree behind, so a few of the pebbles hit
her head. Fortunately she was wearing the Soft Armour, so she was not really hurt.
She looked up and was shocked; her heart banged rapidly.

She saw a sheer cliff face with a gigantic rock at the edge of the cliff. Half the rock
was sticking out and any slight disturbance could bring the rock crashing down. The
top of the cliff had many think vines winding about and the very vine she tripped on
just now was connected up to the rock. If she snapped a vine connected directly to
the thousand-pound rock, this rock would have smacked right into her, turning her
into mincemeat.

The rock vibrated but was not dislodged. Huang Rong became extremely careful and
watched where she was going, jumping now and stopping then. She moved back
several dozen metres and became curious. She knew that if she could pull the rock
down with just an arm but no one ever came here; there was not even a bird in sight
and the rock had been here for hundreds of years.

The cliffs surrounded this place and even the sea breeze could not get through, and
it seemed like this rock had already vibrated in the wind for the hundreds of years.
Huang Rong went back to find her master but along the way she suddenly had this
idea, “Heaven wants this scoundrel dead and has presented such a wonderful
opportunity; how could I be so dense?” She became excited and sommersaulted
twice.

She hurriedly returned to the cliff and carefully examined the place and saw that the
trees reached up to the sky and if one wanted to avoid it, one could only jump 4-5
feet away at most, so if that rock came crashing down, even birds and squirrels
might not evade it.
She took her spike out and cautiously walked to the base of the cliff and noted the 7
or 8 vines directly connected to the rock so that she would not touch them, then she
cut off the remaining vines. When she cut a vine she held her breath as she was
afraid that one small mistake and it would be her who would be flattened.

When she finished, she was drenched in sweat and felt that it was more tiring than a
fierce battle. She then connected the cut vines together and placed a few heaps of
dry grass as markings then memorized the route she took before going back and she
hummed a few tunes along the way, feeling proud of herself.

When she got near the cave she still did not see Ouyang Ke’s shadow and suddenly
heard a perverted laugh coming from inside followed by someone saying, “You claim
to be among the best martial artists, yet today you are in Grandfather’s power, how
do you feel? OK, on account that you’re an elder, I’ll let you have a 3-move
advantage, how’s that? You can display each and every one of the [Eighteen Dragon
Subduing Palms]!” Huang Rong softly exclaimed, “Ah!” She saw that the situation
was threatening and shouted, “Father, you’re here? Ah, Uncle Ouyang, you’re here
too!”

Ouyang Ke had already assessed Hong Qigong’s abilities and was about to strike
when he heard Huang Rong shout, so he was happy and thought, “How is it Uncle
and Old Heretic Huang are here?” Then he thought, “It must be that girl shouting
rubbish to save that old beggar. Fine, since that old beggar is under my control
anyway I might as well go take a look.” He then exited the cave.
He saw Huang Rong waving towards the beach and shouting, “Father! Father!”
Ouyang Ke looked out but of course he did not see Huang Yaoshi. He laughed,
“Sister, you want to trick me out to play, how could I refuse?” Huang Rong laughed
and said, “Who’s lying?” She then ran to the beach. Ouyang Ke laughed, “This time
I’m prepared, you want to drag me into the sea again, let’s try it.”

He then chased her. His Qinggong was good and he was catching up fast. Huang
Rong inwardly exclaimed, “This is bad! I might get caught even before reaching that
cave.” She ran another few dozen metres and Ouyang Ke was almost reaching her.
Huang Rong broke left and left the beach. Ouyang Ke had learnt his lesson and did
not dare go near, so he laughed, “OK, let’s play hide-and-seek.”

Though he did not stop, he was prepared for any trick she might play. Huang Rong
stopped and laughed, “There’s a large worm in front, if you chase again it’ll eat you
in one gulp.” Ouyang Ke laughed, “I’m a worm too and I’m going to eat you!” He
pounced forward but Huang Rong just laughed and ran ahead.

The 2 came close to the cliff wall soon enough. Huang Rong ran even faster and
shouted, “Come on!” Just as she was about to reach the wall, she saw 2 figures on
the beach. At this time she was really curious but did not have the luxury to stop, so
she looked at the piles of grass carefully then ran all the way to the cliff’s base.

Ouyang Ke laughed, “Where’s the worm?” He also ran faster and reached the cliff
wall like an arrow. The spot where Huang Rong landed was already cleared of vines,
but Ouyang Ke naturally did not suspect any trap and stepped right into it,
wrenching the rock out of its place. The vines snapped and Ouyang Ke felt a great
pressure descending on him. He looked up and it scared the living daylights out of
him and saw a mountain of a rock smashing down towards him.

Although the rock was very high up, the gust of wind was so strong that he could
hardly breathe, so he hastily jumped backwards, but he smacked right into a tree
with such a great force that the tree cracked and the splinters pierced him. At this
point he only fled for his life and ignored the pain, so he jumped away, but only
managed to jump 3 feet.

Now he was shocked into a daze but suddenly felt as though someone jolted him
awake, dragging him several feet away; but it was too late, and with a thunderous
rumble the dust flew everywhere and then he fainted.

Huang Rong saw that her plan worked, so she was really happy and did not expect
the deafening rumble which seemed to shove her aside. Her head was hit by the
countless grains of dirt and dust. She bent over and held her head for a moment
before opening her eyes, and she saw 2 shadows through the dust.

When the dust settled, she rubbed her eyes and saw that it was actually West Poison
Ouyang Feng and the other was none other than the one she so deeply missed – Guo
Jing. Huang Rong exclaimed and jumped for joy. Guo Jing had also never expected
to meet her here, so he rushed forward and hugged her. In their excitement, they
had forgotten that their enemy was just close by.

The other day when Guo Jing and Ouyang Feng were fighting on the junk, they both
could not gain any advantage and at the same time the junk was sinking, so it took
them down. In the deep sea the water pressure was very high and they felt the
water forcing its way into their ears and noses, causing great pain, so they had to
stop their struggle and cover their ears and noses.

The bottom of the sea had a swift undercurrent moving in a different direction from
the surface current, so before they knew it they were swept some distance away.
When Guo Jing managed to get up to the surface to breathe it was already dark and
the boat seemed very far away. Guo Jing shouted; and at that very moment Huang
Rong was looking for him, but they were so far away, how could they meet?

Guo Jing shouted again but felt a tug on his leg, followed by another head hitting the
surface – it was Ouyang Feng. He was also at a disadvantage in the water, so
although he was a martial arts master, he struggled wildly in the water and then
refused to release Guo Jing’s leg.

Guo Jing struggled harder but his other leg was grabbed too. They wrestled for a
brief moment before submerging again. When they hit the surface, Guo Jing
shouted, “Let my legs go, I won’t desert you.” Ouyang Feng also knew that this
would kill them both, so he released the legs and grabbed his shoulder.

Guo Jing also supported him, allowing them to float. At this time, they saw a large
wooden board float by and hit Guo Jing. Ouyang Feng shouted, “Careful!” Guo Jing
grabbed it, shouting, “Catch it, don’t let go!”

They looked around but did not see any boats. Ouyang Feng’s Snake Staff was lost
and he worried, “If we meet any sharks, we can only hit them wildly like Zhou
Botong. At that time I saved him, but who’ll save me now?” They floated for some
time and saw many fishes swimming by, so they had to depend on the fishes for
survival.

As the ancient saying goes, “Helping each other on the same boat ( )”, these
two men who fought a bitter battle just a while ago could share the same raft. For
several days they fortunately did not meet any danger. This time the current brought
them to the island where Hong Qigong and Huang Rong was, and only 2 days after
they arrived.

When they hit the shore they lay down for some time when they suddenly heard
someone laughing, so Ouyang Feng jumped up and followed the laughter, and so
coincidentally met Ouyang Ke who had just fallen into the trap. Ouyang Feng tried to
rush forward to save him. He managed to pull him several feet away but Ouyang
Ke’s legs were crushed and he fainted from the pain.

Ouyang Feng was suspicious and looked around but did not find any more danger, so
he went to check on his nephew. He felt that he was still breathing so he tried to
push the rock, but it did not budge an inch. He then knelt down and tried again with
both hands and grunted. Though his strength was tremendous, how could he move a
thousand-pound rock?

He bent down and Ouyang Ke opened his eyes and shouted, “Uncle!” Ouyang Feng
said, “You’ll have to bear with it for a while.” He hugged him up and pulled him, but
Ouyang Ke screamed and fainted again. The rock had pinned his legs underneath, so
this pull would only worsen his pain but not free him.

Ouyang Feng was startled. Guo Jing held Huang Rong’s hand and asked, “Where’s
master?” Huang Rong pointed, saying, “Over there.” Guo Jing heard that his master
was alright and was elated, wanting her to lead him there but heard Ouyang Ke’s
scream, so he could not bear it and said to Ouyang Feng, “I’ll help you.” Huang Rong
tugged his sleeve, saying, “Let’s go see master, ignore this bad guy!”

Ouyang Feng did not know that this was a trap set up by her as he saw the rock
tumble down and it was impossible for anyone to lift it up the cliff, but when he
heard Huang Rong stop Guo Jing, his anger flared up and then he heard that Hong
Qigong was here, so he was startled, thinking, “That beggar took one of my palms
and was also poisoned by my snake, yet he’s not dead; but even then he should be
90% dead, why should I fear him?”

He saw Guo Jing and Huang Rong about to leave so he knelt down again and
pretended to push the rock and waited for them to turn away before saying, “Don’t
worry, I’ll save you. For now just concentrate on circulating your Qi to protect your
heart and take it that those legs are not yours.” He then followed them and saw
them holding each other’s waist and talked romantically, he was flabbergasted and
thought, “If I don’t torture you till you’re worse off than dead, I’m not West Poison.”

Huang Rong took Guo Jing to the cave opening. Guo Jing launched himself in and
shouted, “Master!” He then saw that Hong Qigong’s eyes were closed and there were
no blood in his face. He had been insulted by Ouyang Ke and his injury relapsed.
Huang Rong quickly undid his outer gown while Guo Jing massaged his limbs.

Hong Qigong opened his eyes and saw Guo Jing so he was naturally very happy and
smiled, saying in a low voice, “Jing’er, you’re here too!” Guo Jing was about to reply
when a rough voice cut in from behind, “Old beggar, so am I.” Guo Jing turned
around to block the entrance. Huang Rong snatched her master’s bamboo stick and
stood beside Guo Jing.

Ouyang Feng laughed, “Old beggar, come out, if not I’m going in.” Guo Jing and
Huang Rong looked at each other, thinking, “Even if it costs our lives, we must not
let him molest Master.” Ouyang Feng laughed and stepped in. Guo Jing stepped
forward to block.

Ouyang Feng moved aside to evade his palm strike and went to his right, then a
bamoo stick flew over and made a circle yet seemed to aim for 3 separate spots at
the same time, making it difficult to deal with. He waved his left hand up and swept
his leg to force his opponent away. He did not expect Huang Rong’s stick to hit the
centre of the circle.

Ouyang Feng was surprised and jumped back, looking carefully. Huang Rong was
using the [Dog Beating Skill] and managed to force her stronger opponent
backwards, so she was feeling proud. Ouyang Feng did not expect this girl to learn
the old beggar’s wonderful rod skill. He snorted and advanced again to hit her
bamboo stick. Huang Rong executed the stick skill she just learnt and poked, hit,
circled and flew around, and although she could not injure him, she managed to
evade 7-8 of his moves continuously.

Guo Jing was shocked and happy and kept cheering, “Good Rong’er, good rod skill!”
He then attacked with a fist and palm from the side. Ouyang Feng shouted in anger
and knelt down launching both palms out. Even before the palms came the palm
wind caused the dust to fly. Guo Jing saw that the strikes were very powerful and
was afraid that Huang Rong might get injured if she took the strike, so he hurriedly
pushed her aside and they managed to evade the strike together.

Ouyang Feng stepped 2 steps forward and struck out with both palms again. His
attack was terribly strong and fought to a draw with Hong Qigong on Peach Blossom
Island a few days ago. Guo Jing and Huang Rong were far from his match and were
forced to retreat step by step. Ouyang Feng rushed into the cave and flipped his
palm, hitting the stone wall and causing bits of stone to drop off. He brought the
other palm up above Hong Qigong’s head and held it there to observe him.

Huang Rong said, “My master saved your life, yet you want to hurt him, aren’t you
ashamed?” Ouyang Feng pushed Hong Qigong’s chest slightly and felt his chest
muscle contract, showing that his martial abilities were really lost, so he was secretly
happy and lifted him up, saying, “If you rescue my nephew, I’ll spare the beggar’s
life.”

Huang Rong said, “Heaven released the rock to pin him down, you saw that yourself,
who could save him? Try any more tricks and Heaven will crush you with a rock too.”
Guo Jing saw that Ouyang Feng had raised Hong Qigong higher and prepared to
throw him down but doubted that he would really do it. Still he was worried and
quickly said, “Put him down and we’ll go save your nephew.”

Ouyang Feng missed his nephew and was very eager to rush down but he kept his
face impassive and put Hong Qigong down very slowly.

Huang Rong said, “Helping him is not difficult, but let’s make an agreement.” Ouyang
Feng said, “What do you want?” Huang Rong said, “After we save your nephew, you
must not harm the 3 of us while we’re here on this island.” Ouyang Feng thought,
“My nephew and I are afraid of water, if we want to get back I may need to depend
on this 3 people.” He nodded his head, saying, “OK, I’ll not kill the 3 of you now, but
I can’t promise you anything after we leave this island.”

Huang Rong said, “When the time comes, even if you leave us alone we’ll come after
you. Another thing is that my father had betrothed me to him, and you saw that for
yourself. If your nephew bothers me again, you’re worse than a pig or dog.” Ouyang
Feng spat, saying, “OK, that only applies on this island too, once we leave, we’ll see
then.”

Huang Rong smiled, saying, “Finally, although we’ll try our best to help you, we’re
not the gods, if fate has decreed that your nephew must die, you can’t blame us.”
Ouyang Feng said, “If my nephew dies, you 2 can forget about living. Little girl, shut
up and go save my nephew.” He then ran to where the rock was.

Guo Jing was about to follow when Huang Rong said, “Brother Jing, later when he
uses his strength to push the rock, you can strike his back when he least expects it.”
Guo Jing said, “We must honour our word, let’s save his nephew first then try to
avenge Master.” Huang Rong sighed and knew that it was useless to get him to
backstab someone.

For the past 2 days she had thought that he had died in the sea, now that she was
with him again her heart exploded with happiness, so even if Guo Jing made any
unreasonable demands, she would just listen to him, moreover his actions were of
an honourable gentleman’s so she smiled gently and said, “OK, you’re a saint, I’ll
listen to you.”

They ran to the cliff and heard Ouyang Ke groaning in the distance. Ouyang Feng
shouted, “Hurry up!” They went over and stood beside him and the 3 pairs of hands
pressed the rock together. Ouyang Feng said, “Up!” and they pushed at the same
time. The rock moved an inch before slamming down again. Ouyang Ke screamed
and his eyes rolled up.
Ouyang Feng was shocked and immediately supported him, but felt that his
breathing was weak, and to bear with the pain he bit through his tounge, filling his
mouth with blood. Even with Ouyang Feng’s outstanding martial arts, he was
powerless to move the rock. Now he had made it worse for his nephew and also
burried his shoe in the sand.

Ouyang Feng bent down to pick his shoe and was shocked again – the tide was rising
slowly and was already reaching the rock. Ouyang Feng said urgently, “Little girl, if
you want your master to live, you’d better save my nephew faster.”

Huang Rong was already thinking, but this rock was enormous and there was no one
else to help him, how could they move it away? She had come up with more than 10
ideas in a flash, but none worked, then when she heard Ouyang Feng, she said, “If
Master weren’t injured, we could easily move this rock with his tremendous strength.
Now…” She threw up her hands to indicate that it was useless.

Though this sentence was said out of anger, Ouyang Feng thought, “Maybe it’s really
fate; if the old beggar wasn’t injured, with his chivalrous nature, he’d definitely help.
Who knew that when I injured him, it was as good as killing my own nephew?”
Although Ouyang Ke was his nephew, he actually had an affair with his sister-in-law
and he was in fact his son.

Ouyang Feng was usually cold-hearted, but now he felt regretful. He turned his head
and saw the water rising in by another few feet. Ouyang Ke yelled, “Uncle, kill me
with one strike! I… I can’t take it anymore!” Ouyang Feng took out a sharp knife and
gritted his teeth, saying, “You bear with it for a while, even without your legs you
can still live.” He went forth with the intention of severing his nephews legs.

Ouyang Feng exclaimed, “No, no, Uncle, just stab me to death!” Ouyang Feng said
angrily, “With so many years under my guidiance, how could you be so useless?”
Ouyang Ke hugged his chest and tried to bear with the pain, not daring to say
another word. Ouyang Feng saw that the rock pinned him up to the waist, even if he
amputated his legs, he may not live, so he hesitated.

Huang Rong saw that the uncle and nephew had nothing to say and were both
looking dejected, so her heart went soft and she thought of how her father moved
the rocks on Reach Blossom Island, she exclaimed, “Wait! I’ve got a way, but I’m not
sure if it works.” Ouyang Feng was elated and said, “Good lady, just say it!”

Huang Rong was thinking, “Now that you want to save your nephew, you’re not
calling me names anymore but ‘Good Lady’!” She smiled and said, “OK, you must
listen to me now. Let’s cut some tree bark and make a rope strong enough to lift this
rock.” Ouyang Feng said, “Who’s going to pull the rope?” Huang Rong said, “Pull like
a sail…” Ouyang Feng immediately understood and said, “Yes, yes, just like that!”

Guo Jing heard Huang Rong talk about using tree bark but did not question her;
instead he just pulled out his dagger and began cutting off some tree bark. Ouyang
Feng and Huang Rong followed his lead and within a short time, they had cut many
strips of tree bark. Ouyang Feng was cutting the bark when he looked at his nephew
and suddenly exclaimed, “Don’t cut anymore!” Huang Rong curiously asked, “What?
Why not?”

Ouyang Feng pointed at his nephew and Guo Jing and Huang Rong looked over. They
saw the tide rising faster and had already submerged half his body. He would be
drowned even before they had gathered enough material. Ouyang Ke was motionless
in the water. Huang Rong said, “Don’t fret. Just cut!”

Although Ouyang Feng was a monster, he meekly obeyed her. Huang Rong jumped
down the tree and ran to Ouyang Ke and used several big stones to support him.
This way his nose was still above the water.

Ouyang Ke said in a low voice, “Miss Huang, thanks. Even if I can’t live, I’ll die
contented knowing that you tried to save me.” Huang Rong felt apologetic and said,
“Don’t thank me. Do you know that I was the one who laid this trap?” Ouyang Ke
said, “Don’t speak so loudly, if my uncle hears it, he won’t let you off. I knew long
ago; to die in your hands would leave me with no regrets.”

Huang Rong sighed and thought, “Although this person is irksome, he treats me
nicely.” She returned to the tree and began binding the bark. She joined three
together to form a thin rope and then 6 ropes together to form a thick rope and
again joined several thick ropes together to form a massive rope. Ouyang Feng
continuously cut the tree bark while Huang Rong unceasingly connected the ropes.

Although they were fast, the tide was faster and even before the massive rope was
half-complete, the water had risen up to Ouyang Ke’s mouth, and soon only his nose
was left sticking out. Ouyang Feng jumped down and said, “You can go. I want to
speak with my nephew. You have tried your best and I appreciate it.” His voice was
heavy and seemed resigned to the situation.

Guo Jing saw that it was hopeless and went off together with Huang Rong. They
walked several metres and Huang Rong whispered, “Let’s go behind the rock and
listen to what he says.” Guo Jing said, “This doesn’t concern us. Besides, he’d
discover us.” Huang Rong said, “Once his nephew dies, he’ll try to harm Master, so
we must keep ourselves informed to be prepared. If we’re found out, we’ll just say
that we’ve come to send his nephew off.”

Guo Jing nodded. They turned around the corner and went behind the trees,
stealthily creeping back behind the rock. They heard Ouyang feng say, “Go in peace,
I know what you’re thinking, you want Old Heretic Huang to marry his daughter to
you, but I fear I can’t grant your wish.”

Guo Jing and Huang Rong were startled, thinking, “He’s about to die, why did
Ouyang Feng say that?” As they heard more, they became more angry. Ouyang Feng
was actually saying, “I’ll go kill that girl and bury her with you. Everyone dies; if you
can’t live with her then you can die with her and have no regrets.”

Ouyang Ke’s mouth was beneath the water and he could not speak. Huang Rong
took Guo Jing’s hand and they left stealthily. After the corner, Guo Jing angrily said,
“Let’s confront that old poisonous thing.” Huang Rong said, “With him we must
compare wits, not strength.” Guo Jing asked, “How?” Huang Rong said, “I’m
thinking.”

As they walked near the canyon, she saw some reeds. Huang Rong thought of
something and said, “If he weren’t so evil, I could save his nephew.” Guo Jing
quickly asked, “How?” Huang Rong took out her knife and cut a hollow reed and put
it to her mouth, breathing through it for a while. Guo Jing laughed, “Ah, this is really
a good idea. How did you think of that? Should we save him?”

Huang Rong pouted, “Of course not. That old poisonous thing wants to kill me, just
let him do it, hmm, I’m not scared.” But when she thought of Ouyang Feng’s cruel
methods, she could not help but gasp. His martial arts were much stronger than his
nephew’s and he was much more cunning. If they fell into his trap, it would not be
good. Guo Jing remained silent.

Huang Rong tugged his hand, saying gently, “Don’t tell me you want me to save that
scumbag? You’re worried for me, right? This 2 scumbags may not treat us well.” Guo
Jing said, “You’re right, but I’m worried about you and Master. Since that old
poisonous thing is a head of a sect, what he says has some credibility.” Huang Rong
said, “OK, let’s save him then talk; we’ll plan as we go along.”

They turned back and saw Ouyang Feng standing in the water, supporting his
nephew. He saw the duo coming and his eyes glinted and it was obvious he wanted
to kill them. He said roughly, “I told you to leave, why did you return?” Huang Rong
sat down on a stone and laughed, “I came to see if he’s dead yet.” Ouyang Feng
snapped, “So what if he’s dead, so what if he’s alive?”

Huang Rong said, “If he’s dead then there’s no use now!” Ouyang Feng jumped out
of the water, hastily saying, “Good… good lady, he’s not dead yet, you must have a
way. Say it… say it quick.” Huang Rong threw the ‘straw’ over and said, “Put it in his
mouth and he won’t die.” Ouyang Feng was happy and jumped into the water and
stuffed the thing into his nephew’s mouth.

The water had already covered his nose and he was exhaling the last bit of air but
his ears could still hear their conversation, so when the ‘straw’ reached his mouth,
he breathed hard and felt comfortable and he momentarily forgot about the pain in
his legs. Ouyang Feng said, “Quick, hurry, let’s connect the ropes.”

Huang Rong laughed, “Uncle Ouyang, you want me dead to accompany your
nephew, right?” Ouyang Feng started and thought, “How did she hear what I said?”
Huang Rong laughed, “If you kill me and then you meet some trouble later, who’s
going to help you?” Now that Ouyang Feng was depending on her, he could only
pretend not to hear her and went to work on the tree bark.

They worked for more than 2 hours and made an enormously thick rope nearly 100
metres long; the sea level was already up to half the rock. Ouyang Ke’s head was a
few feet under the water and only the tip of the ‘straw’ was exposed. Ouyang Feng
was still worried and occasionally stretched his hand under water to check on him.

After another hour, the water receded and Ouyang Ke’s head was slowly surfacing.
Huang Rong measured the ropes’ length and shouted, “Enough, now I need 4
massive poles for the ‘masts’.” Ouyang Feng was doubtful, he knew that on this
deserted island, even a knife was hard to find, not to mention an axe sturdy enough
for their task. He asked, “How do we get that?” Huang Rong said, “Don’t worry, just
find the wood first.”

Ouyang Feng was afraid she would throw a tantrum and refuse to help him, so he
did not ask further but ran around looking for trees with thick trunks. He crouched
down and gathered his strength and launched his palms at each of the trees. The
trees fell after a few strikes. Guo Jing and Huang Rong witnessed this powerful
display of internal strength and shuddered. Ouyang Feng found a long and flat rock
and he used that to cut away the tree leaves.

Now Guo Jing and Huang Rong tied the rope round 3 of the thick tree trunks and
looped the rope around the large rock before tying the end to the final tree trunk.
That trunk was a centuries-old oak tree and even 3-4 people were not enough to
circle the tree. Huang Rong said, “I guess this tree can handle the rock, right?”
Ouyang Feng nodded.

Huang Rong tld them to connect one more thick rope and they currounded the 4 tree
trunks around the rock, forming a ‘#’ shape and looped the rope round the top.
Ouyang Feng praised her, “Good lady, you’re really smart, just like your father.”
Huang Rong laughed, “But how can I be compared to your nephew? Let’s start!”

They acted together and used the oak tree as the pivot to pull the ‘#’-shape
formation. The rope became taut and the rock was lifted slowly. The Sun was about
to set and the sky was red, illuminating the golden surface of the water.

The tide had already gone out and Ouyang Ke’s body was in the mud and his eyes
were fixed onto the rock. It moved slowly and steadily with a creaking sound,
causing him to be anxious yet happy. Though the rope had made one complete turn
around its loop, the rock had only moved an inch and it was already causing great
strain on the pivot.

Although Ouyang Feng did not believe in divine intervention, he was silently praying
throughout the process. Suddenly the rope snapped and the rock slammed down
onto Ouyang Ke again, and he tried to scream but no sound came out. The rope flew
up and hit Huang Rong, throwing her off her feet. Guo Jing quickly helped her up.

At this stage Ouyang Feng lost all hope while Huang Rong could hardly smile. Guo
Jing said, “We can join them back and add another rope and try again.” Ouyang Feng
shook his head, “That’d be harder, the 3 of us aren’t enough.” Guo Jing mumbled to
himself, “If only someone would help us.” Ouyang Feng got angry and snapped,
“Obviously!” He knew Guo Jing had good intentions, but in his depression he vented
his frustrations on him.

Huang Rong thought for a while then jumped up, clapping and laughing, “Yes, yes,
there’s someone who can help us.” Guo Jing asked, “Who might that be?” Huang
Rong said, “Hmmm, it’s just that Brother Ouyang would have to bear with more
discomfort and wait for the tide to come in again before he can be set free.” Ouyang
Feng and Guo Jing both looked at her thinking, “Are you thinking that when the tide
comes in, someone will come to our aid?”

Huang Rong laughed, “We’re all tired and hungry; let’s find some food.” Ouyang
Feng said, “Miss, you said someone will help us, please explain.” Huang Rong said,
“At this time tomorrow, Brother Ouyang will be free. For now I can’t reveal the
secret.” Ouyang Feng saw that she had great confidence in herself and his doubt
decreased. But he was still skeptical so he simply accompanied his nephew.

Guo Jing and Huang Rong caught a few wild hares and cooked one for the uncle and
nephew, then they shared the rest with Hong Qigong.

When Guo Jing learnt that the trap was laid by her, he was surprised and happy.
They knew that now Ouyang Feng was with his nephew and would not bother them,
so they only lit a fire at the cave entrance to prevent any wild animals from coming
in, and they slept very well. The next morning, Guo Jing saw a shadow at the
entrance so he quickly jumped up. He saw Ouyang Feng standing there saying, “Is
Miss Huang awake?”

Huang Rong was already awake but she pretended to be soundly asleep. Guo Jing
whispered, “Not yet. What is it?” Ouyang Feng said, “When she wakes up, invite her
to save him.” Guo Jing said, “OK.” Hong Qigong said, “I let her drink the ‘100-Day-
Drunken-Stupor’ Wine as well as hit her Sleeping Accupoint. Within 3 months, it’s
hard to wake her.”

Ouyang Feng started and Hong Qigong laughed heartily. Ouyang Feng realised that
he was joking and became angry. Huang Rong sat up and laughed, “If we don’t tease
the Old Poison now, when will we get to do that?” She then combed her hair and
washed her face extremely slowly and then went to fish and catch rabbits for
breakfast. Ouyang Feng paced up and down several times just like a pan of ants of
fire. Guo Jing said, “Rong’er, when the water rises, will there really be someone to
save him?”

Huang Rong said, “What do you think?” Guo Jing shook his head, saying, “I don’t
really think so.” Huang Rong laughed, “Me neither.” Guo Jing was startled, “So you
lied to him?” Huang Rong said, “Not really, when the tide rises, I’d have a way to
save him.” Guo Jing knew that she was very intelligent and resourceful so he did not
question further. They then went to play around the flowers.

Huang Rong had no companions since young and always played on the beach at
Peach Blossom Island by herself. Now that she had Guo Jing with her, she was
extremely happy. They played and laughed endlessly on the beach. Huang Rong
said, “Brother Jing, your hair is terribly messy, let me help you comb your hair.”

They sat together on a rock. Huang Rong took out a small golden-jade comb and
combed his hair finely, then sighed, “Why don’t we think of a way to get rid of those
2 poisonous creatures and then we’ll live here together with Master and not leave
this place, what do you think?” Guo Jing said, “I was thinking of my 6 masters.”
Huang Rong said, “Hmmm, and Father too.”

After a while she said, “I wonder how’s Sister Mu doing now. Master has also asked
me to be the Leader of the Beggars’ Clan, so I’m starting to miss those beggars too.”
Guo Jing laughed, “Looks like we have to think of a way to get back.” Huang Rong
finished with his hair and tied it up. Guo Jing said, “The way you comb my hair
reminds me of my mother.”

Huang Rong laughed, “You can call me Mother.” Guo Jing smiled without replying.
Huang Rong tickled him and asked, “Aren’t you going to say it?” Guo Jing laughed
and jumped up, messing his hair again. Huang Rong laughed, “Fine if you won’t say
it. You think no one will call me ‘Mother’ in future? Sit down.”

Guo Jing sat down and Huang Rong wiped his sweat away and kissed his forehead
lightly. She thought of the previous day’s fight with Ouyang Feng and remembered
that Guo Jing praised her [Dog Beating Skill], so she wanted to teach it to him.
Huang Rong saw that his martial arts improved a lot and was actually more excited
about that than her own skills.

Since she was Huang Yaoshi’s daughter, she had access to all the wonderful martial
arts skills from young so she did not really pay attention to other wonderful skills;
just like a rich man’s son would not bother about gold or silver. But she thought,
“This skill is meant exclusively for the Beggars’ Clan Leader, so I can’t teach him”
She asked, “Brother Jing, do you want to be the Beggars’ Clan Leader?”

Guo Jing said, “Master wants you to be the Clan Leader, why do you ask me?” Huang
Rong said, “I’m a young girl, I don’t resemble the Beggars’ Clan Leader. Why don’t I
give up this appointment to you? With your commanding appearance the beggars
will listen to you. Besides, when you become the Leader, this marvelous skill will be
yours.” Guo Jing said, “No, no. I can’t be the Leader. I’m not intelligent enough even
to handle small matters, not to mention important matters.”

Huang Rong thought he was right – though Hong Qigong had no choice but to make
her succeed him during this crisis, but he must have known that despite being
young, she was very intelligent and probably no less capable than the 4 Elders and
he also did not give her permission to give this responsibility to someone else; not
every silly boy who knew the [Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms] and [Dog Beating
Skill] could become the Leader. So she laughed, “OK, fine, but I’m afraid you can’t
learn this skill, then.”

Guo Jing said, “There’s no difference between you and me knowing it.” Huang Rong
heard that this sentence came from his heart so she was touched and said, “When
Master recovers I’ll return the appointment to him. Then… then…” She wanted to say
“Then we can get married” but somehow the words could not come out of her
mouth. She asked, “Brother Jing, do you know where are babies from?”

Guo Jing said, “I know.” Huang Rong said, “Where?” Guo Jing said, “When people get
married, they have babies.” Huang Rong said, “Yes I know that too. But why will
married people have babies?” Guo Jing said. “This I don’t know.” Huang Rong said,
“Me neither. I asked Father, but he said they crawl out from nests.”

Guo Jing was about to ask more but they suddenly heard a sharp voice saying,
“Making babies? You’ll know when you grow up. The tide is rising already!” Huang
Rong gasped and jumped up; she had not expected Ouyang Feng to be listening to
them. Although she did not understand male-female relationships, she knew that
saying such stuff is embarassing, so her face turned red and they quickly ran to the
cliff.

Ouyang ke had been under the rock for 24 hours and had been suffering much.
Ouyang Feng kept a straight face and said, “Miss Huang, you said that someone
would come to help when the tide rises, this is not a joke.” Huang Rong said, “My
father knows the changes of the Five Elements, so his daughter would of course
know a bit, although I can’t compare with him, I can still predict a bit of the future.”
Ouyang Feng knew about her father’s abilities, so he said, “Your father is coming?
Splendid.” Huang Rong paused, then said, “Such a small matter wouldn’t need my
father’s presence. Moreover, if my father knows that you hurt my master, he won’t
let you off. Including the 2 of us, how can you win? So what are you happy about?”
Ouyang Feng could not argue and remained silent sullenly.

Huang Rong said to Guo Jing, “Brother Jing, go get some tree branches. The more
the better.” Guo Jing agreed and went. Huang Rong mended the rope which snapped
the previous day with more bark. Ouyang Feng kept asking who was coming but she
just hummed some tunes without replying.

Ouyang Feng was dissatisfied but when he saw Huang Rong’s relaxed expression, he
kept up his hopes and went to help Guo Jing. He saw Guo Jing execute the [Eighteen
Dragon Subduing Palms] and only needed a few strikes to bring down a sturdy tree.
He thought, “His martial arts are good. Coupled with the [Nine Yin Manual], he spells
disaster for me.”

He decided that he had to extract his nephew dead or alive. He crouched down
between 2 trees and then sent out his palms simultaneously and each palm hit a
tree, causing them to break. Guo Jing was awed and said, “Uncle Ouyang, I wonder
when I can reach your standard.” Ouyang Feng did not reply but thought, “In your
next life.”

They carried all the wood to the cliff. Ouyang Feng looked out into the sea but did
not even see the smallest speck of a sampan. Huang Rong asked, “What are you
looking for? No one’s coming.” Ouyang Feng was surprised and angry, raising his
voice, “No one?” Huang Rong said, “This is a deserted island, no one will come here.”
Ouyang Feng was flabbergasted and could not speak, only waiting to kill someone.

Huang Rong did not look at him directly but turned to Guo Jing, saying, “Brother
Jing, what’s the most you can lift?” Guo Jing said, “Around 200kg.” Huang Rong said,
“Hmmm, how about a 600kg rock?” Guo Jing said, “I think not.” Huang Rong said,
“How about a 600kg rock in the water?”

Ouyang Feng realised it and yelled happily, “Yes, yes, it’s correct!” Guo Jing however
had yet to understand it. Ouyang Feng said, “When the tide rises, it half-submerges
this rock, causing it to be lighter, let’s do it again and it’ll definitely work.”

Huang Rong coldly said, “Yeah, but the trees will be half-submerged too, how are
you going to work underwater?” Ouyang Feng bit his teeth and said, “Leave that to
fate.” Huang Rong said, “Hmmm, it doesn’t have to be so difficult. Go tie the
branches to the the rock.”

When she said that, Guo Jing understood too and cheered, working together with
Ouyang Feng and began tying several large branches around the rock. Ouyang Feng
was afraid that the bouyancy would not be enough , so he tied 7-8 large pieces of
wood together then helped Guo Jing connect the rope that snapped the previous day.
Huang Rong stood aside and smiled, watching them work. Within 2 hours, it was all
ready and they only lacked the tide.

Guo Jing and Huang Rong went to accompany their master. In the afternoon, the
tide started to rise and Ouyang Feng ran up to inform them and the 3 of them went
down together. After some time, the tide had reached its highest and they stood in
the water and looped the rope around the oak tree again. They then operated the
‘#’-shape mechanism again.

This time with the pieces of wood tied to the rock, the bouyancy was very high and it
seemed like there were many strong men helping to lift the rock. The 3 of them did
not need much effort to move the rock. After turning a few rounds of rope round the
coil, Ouyang Feng held his breath and hugged his nephew up to the surface of the
water.

Guo Jing saw that they were successful and could not help but cheer. Huang Rong
too clapped continuously and actually forgot that it was she who laid the trap.

END OF CHAPTER 21

Chapter 22 – Wandering on a shark's back

Part 1 Translated by Williamlcb and Foxs, edited by Eliza Bennet

Huang Rong saw Ouyang Feng carry his mud-drenched nephew to the shore, his face
was beaming happily from ear to ear but never uttering any word reflecting his
thankfulness to Guo Jing and herself. She pulled the sleeve of Guo Jing’s clothes and
they returned to the cave together.

Guo Jing saw that Huang Rong had a worried expression on her face and asked her,
“What are you thinking about?” Huang Rong replied, “I am thinking about three very
difficult things.” Guo Jing replied, “You are an intelligent person who always has a
way to solve problems.” Huang Rong gave a very light laugh; but a moment later her
eyebrows were creased again.

Hong Qigong then opened his mouth to speak, “The first matter really does not
matter much. The second and third matters actually cause people to be at a loss of
what to do.”

Guo Jing then said, “Wow! You really are amazing! How would you know about the
three matters that she is thinking about?”

Hong Qigong replied, “I simply guessed her thoughts. The first matter is how to cure
my injury. There is no doctor, medicine and a person with good internal energy here
to help me. The Old Beggar can always accept my fate with resignation. Whether I
live or die in not of the most important matter now. The second matter is how to
defend ourselves from the poisonous hand of Ouyang Feng. This person’s martial art
is really solid. The two of you are definitely not his match. The third matter is how
we can return to the mainland. Rong’er, am I right or wrong?”

Huang Rong replied, “Yes, at present the most pressing matter is to think of a way to
discourage the Old Poison from acting so ruthlessly.”

Hong Qigong said, “In short, we must have a battle of wits with him. The Old Poison
may be cunning but he is completely conceited; so conceited that it won’t be difficult
to fool him. However, after he has been tricked, he will immediately adapt from the
changes followed by a very severe counterattack.”

Two people gave a deep thought. Huang Rong started to think that the enemy’s skill
is difficult to differentiate against her father’s and teacher’s. Even if her father were
there, he would not necessarily defeat him; how she could she fight him? It seemed
like if they could not take his life in one stroke, it would only make him committing
more evil deeds.

Hong Qigong suddenly felt pin in his chest and coughed loudly. Huang Rong
immediately helped him to lie down. Suddenly a shadow was blocking the sunlight at
the mouth of the cave. She raised her head up to see Ouyang Feng carrying his
nephew making a hissing sound saying, “Get out all of you! Let me have this cave for
my nephew to heal his injury!”

Guo Jing was very angry; he jumped out and said, “This place belongs to my
master!”

Ouyang Feng coldly replied, “Even if the Jade Emperor lives here, he must go away!”

Guo Jing furiously tried to answer him, but Huang Rong pulled Guo Jing’s sleeve. She
stooped down to help Hong Qigong up and left the cave.

While passing by Ouyang Feng’s side, Hong Qigong opened his eyes and said with a
mocking smile, “Impressive power! Very deathly!”

Ouyang Feng’s face turned red. He could have Hong Qigong died violently with just a
stroke of his palm, but for some reason he was overwhelmed by Hong Qigong’s
righteous air. He shivered and did not answer this insult. He turned his head to avoid
Hong Qigong’s penetrating gaze and said, “Come back and deliver us something to
eat! If you two small creatures mess with the food, just watch out for your three
lives.”

The three of them went down the hill. Guo Jing cursed incessantly, while Huang Rong
was deep in thoughts and did not say anything. Guo Jing said, “Master please rest
here while I go and look for a suitable place to rest.”

Huang Rong helped Hong Qigong to sit down properly by a big pine tree when she
spotted two squirrels hurriedly climbing up the tree trunk then immediately climbing
back down again only a few feet from her; watching the two people with their small
round eyes. Huang Rong was fascinated; she picked a pine cone and held it out. One
of the squirrels came near to sniff at the cone, and used its front paws to slowly pull
the cone away. The other squirrel boldly climbed Hong Qigong’s sleeve. Huang Rong
sighed and said, “Nobody has been here before. Look at the two squirrels, not afraid
of humans at all.”

As the squirrels heard Huang Rong’s voice they scurried up the tree. Huang Rong
looked up the tree and saw dense leaves growing from the branches of the pine tree.
The leaves formed a canopy and the top of the tree was full with green cane. Huang
Rong suddenly got an idea and called out, “Brother Jing, no need to look anymore.
Let’s go on top of the tree.”

Guo Jing stopped and looked up the pine tree. The tree is indeed a wonderful place
as a shelter. Two people folded some branches and made a platform. Then with each
of them on either side, they propped Hong Qigong in between and shouted, “Heave!”
they flew up and put Hong Qigong safely on the platform they just made.
Huang Rong laughed and said, “We are living on branches like birds. Let them live in
caves like beasts.”

Guo Jing then said, “Rong’er, do you want to send them food or not?”

Huang Rong said, “Since I cannot think of any wonderful plan and defeat the Old
Poison at the moment, I think we’d better comply with his request.” Guo Jing
grumbled incessantly.

Two people went behind the mountain and managed to catch a wild goat. They then
made a fire to roast the goat. The roasted goat was then ripped into two. Huang
Rong took a piece of the meat and threw it to the ground and said, “Urinate on top of
the meat!”

Guo Jiang laughed, “They will find out.”

Huang Rong said, “Don’t you bother about that; just do it.”

Guo Jing blushed and said, “I can’t do it!”

Huang Rong asked, “Why?”

Guo Jing mumbled, “I cannot urinate with you beside me.” Huang Rong burst out in
laughter.

From the top of the tree Hong Qigong called out, “Throw the meat up! I will urinate
on it myself!” Guo Jing took the meat, laughed and leaped up to the platform so that
Hong Qigong can urinate on that mutton. Hong Qigong urinated a lot on the mutton.
He laughed out loud and carried the mutton to the cave.

Huang Rong called out, “No! Take this one.”

Guo Jing scratched his head and said, “This is the clean one.”

Huang Rong said, “That’s right. We are going to give them the clean mutton.”

Guo Jing was confused, but he usually listened to whatever Huang Rong said. He
turned around and took the clean mutton. Huang Rong took the urine-soaked meat
and put it back on the fire while she went out to pick edible wild fruits. Hong Qigong
did not understand Huang Rong’s plan and was upset. He drooled over the mutton,
but the only one left was the one smeared with his own urine. He has no choice but
to be patient.

The roasted mutton released a very good aroma. Inside his cave Ouyang Feng had
smelled the wonderful aroma of the meat. Without waiting for Guo Jing to arrive he
went out the cave and snatched the meat while his face was showing how pleased he
was at the moment. But then a thought came into his mind. “Where is the other
half?” he asked. Guo Jing pointed his finger backward.

Ouyang Feng walked in big strides towards the pine tree. He snatched the mutton
smeared with urine and threw the clean mutton on the ground while laughing coldly
before turning around to leave.
Guo Jing knew that at this moment he must not reveal anything suspicious from his
face. However, it was not in his nature to pretend; he was forced to turn around and
did not dare to look at Ouyang Feng. He waited for Ouyang Feng to be far away
before rushing to Huang Rong. He laughed and said, “How did you know that he will
come and exchange the meat?”

Huang Rong smiled and said, “According to the military tactic, void is actually solid,
while solid is actually void. The Old Poison knew that we will be applying some kind
of trick on the food and does not want to be tricked. As a result, I just let him to
trick himself.” Guo Jing listened to all of this in awe while tearing the clean mutton
into smaller pieces before taking it up to the pavilion. The three of them ate the
mutton.

While all of them were eating happily, Guo Jing suddenly said, “Rong’er, you really
came up with a wonderful ruse just now. Nevertheless, it was still a dangerous one.”

Huang Rong immediately asked, “Why?”

Guo Jing then replied, “If the Old Poison did not come and exchange the mutton,
wouldn’t we be eating the mutton covered with master’s urine?”

Huang Rong who was sitting on a branch while listening to Guo Jing’s words laughed
loudly until her waist bended and she tumbled down the tree. She then leaped up
the tree again unharmed and said, “Very, very dangerous indeed.”

Hong Qigong sighed and said, “Dumb child, if he did not come to exchange the
mutton, can’t you just not eat the tainted mutton?”

Guo Jing was startled at the truth of the statement and gave a loud laugh before
falling down from the tree as well.

Ouyang Feng uncle and nephew ate the mutton, they thought the wild goat had
urine smell, but they did not suspect anything. In fact, they still praised Huang
Rong’s wonderful skill in roasting the mutton that she gave the meat a salty taste.
Not long after that, the sky was turning dark. It was at this moment that Ouyang
Ke’s wound started to ache, causing him to groan loudly.

Ouyang Feng walked out towards the pine tree and called out, “Come down little
girl!”

Huang Rong was startled because she did not expect Ouyang Feng to come that
soon. She asked, “What is it?”

Ouyang Feng answered, “My nephew needs tea and water. Quickly go and serve him
now.” The three people on the tree listened to everything and could not help but felt
very angry. Ouyang Feng shouted angrily, “Hurry up! What are you waiting for?”

Guo Jing whispered, “Let us fight him.”

Hong Qigong added, “The two of you quickly run towards the back of the mountain.
Don’t you worry about me.”

Huang Rong had already calculated properly on the two choices that they have now.
Whether they flee or duel with Ouyang Feng, their master’s life would be lost. The
only thing that can be done now is to compromise for the sake of their master’s
safety. She leaped down the tree and said, “Alright, let me go and have a look at his
wound.”

Ouyang Feng sneered and said, “The boy surnamed Guo, come down and follow me.
Are you still soundly asleep? I have a good idea.” Guo Jing swallowed his anger and
leaped down from the tree.

Ouyang Feng said, “Go get 100 lumbers for me by the night fall. If you are short by
one lumber, I will break one of your legs. If you are short two lumbers, I will break
both of your legs.”

Huang Rong asked, “What do you want to do with the lumbers? Besides, how are we
going to see where we are going in the dark?”

Ouyang Feng cursed her, “You talk too much girl! What does this have to do with
you? Quickly go and attend to my nephew. If there is something amiss or wrong, all
of you will suffer the consequences!”

Huang Rong gave Guo Jing a hand signal telling him not to make things worse. Guo
Jing saw Ouyang Feng and Huang Rong’s shadows disappeared in the darkness. He
was so angry that tears flowed down from his eyes.

Hong Qigong suddenly said, “When I was young, my grandpa, my father and I were
slaves of the Jins. What is this hardship compared to what we went through?”

Guo Jing was startled, he came to his senses, “Turned out benevolent master was
once a slave, but later on he mastered a matchless martial art. I feel wronged today;
can’t I just endure it patiently?” Guo Jing then leaped down from the tree and lighted
a fire using a tree branch before heading towards the back of the mountain. He
launched the 18-Dragon Subduing Palms, hacking down trees as big as a rice bowl
cup in diameter. He was fully aware that Huang Rong would be able to escape from
harm, just as the other day when she was surrounded by a whole bunch of criminals
at Zhao palace. No matter how difficult the situation somehow she managed to
escape unharmed. Therefore, he concentrated his attention and energy to cut down
the trees.

But launching the 18-Dragon Subduing Palms took a lot of his energy. After a while
he started to feel strained and numb. In less than an hour Guo Jing managed to
knock down twenty one pine trees. While knocking down the twenty-second tree,
Guo Jing‘s arm was already sore and tired. When he launched the Seeing Dragon in
the Field, his palms were uneven; the branches and leaves were shaken, the trunk
swayed but did not break; while he felt his chest tightened. Turned out the energy
did not flow to his palm, but went up in reverse to his chest. His master had
repeatedly warned him against this condition; the 18-Dragon Subduing Palms carried
a tremendous force, but if his own strength was not enough, he would suffer
tremendous self-inflicted injury. He was shocked; immediately sat down and focused
his attention to control his breathing. After about an hour he struck that tree again;
but he felt his body was worn out, his arms and legs were weak.

Guo Jing knew that if he forced himself to exert more strength, not only it would still
be difficult to accomplish his task, but he would suffer internal injury as well. In this
desolate island there was no saber or hatchet, how would he be able to chop down
more trees?

Part 2 – Translated by Foxs, Edited by Eliza Bennet

He noticed that out of the hundred lumbers needed he was still about seventy, eighty
lumbers short; while his pair of legs was about ready to give up. He thought aloud,
“His nephews legs are crushed; he must have hated me to his guts. Even if I manage
to give him a hundred lumbers tonight, tomorrow night he will require a thousand.
When will it end? We can’t fight him, and on this desolate island nobody would help
us.” Having thought this he heaved a long sigh, “We are stuck here on this desolate
island, who in the world would come to rescue us? Benevolent master Hong has lost
his martial art, whether he will live or die is difficult to tell. Rong’er’s father despised
me. All Quan Zhen Seven Masters and six benevolent masters are not the Western
Poison’s match. If only … if only my sworn brother Zhou Botong were here … but he
had killed himself by jumping into the sea early on.” As soon as Zhou Botong came
into his mind, he hated Ouyang Feng even more; thinking that this old sworn brother
of his, who was skilled in the Nine Yin Manual and had created the mutual hands
combat technique, was forced to his death by Ouyang Feng.

“Ah! Nine Yin Manual! Mutual hands combat technique?” these several words flashed
through his mind just like seeing a bright star on the horizon in a dark and endless
night. “My martial art may not be enough to fight the Western Poison, but the Nine
Yin Manual contains the most wonderful secrets of the martial art world; plus the
mutual hands combat technique will double my skill. If both Rong’er and I train hard
day and night, then we can fight the Old Poison with everything we have. Only
regardless of which martial art we use, we still need to fight him for a whole day and
night; then how can this be good?”

He stood in the forest thinking deeply; suddenly thought, “Why don’t I go and ask
Shifu? His martial art might be gone, but his knowledge is not; he should be able to
give me clear directions.” He went back to the tree right away, then explained to
Hong Qigong every single one of his thought.

“Read the Nine Yin Manual slowly for me to hear,” Hong Qigong suggested, “Let us
see if there is a marvelous martial art you can learn in a short period of time. Guo
Jing immediately recited the Manual sentence by sentence. When Hong Qigong heard
Guo Jing recited, ‘One knew that by sitting down and pondering deeply one can
accomplish virtue; but unknowingly to attain excellence one requires flexibility, as
well as clear and bright understanding. The body is cultivated two-folds; namely
movement and stillness. Being attacked but stay still.’ he suddenly stood up, “Ah!”
he exclaimed.

“What is it?” Guo Jing worriedly asked. Hong Qigong did not answer. He thought
those sentences over for a while and then said, “Repeat the last part you were
reading a moment ago.”

Guo Jing was delighted, he thought, “Shifu must have found some methods to fight
the Old Poison in the last part.” Right away he re-read those sentences slowly.

Hong Qigong nodded his head and said, “That’s true. Carry on.” Guo Jing continued
reciting the Manual from memory. Toward the end he recited, “Mo han si ge er, pin
te huo ji en, jin qie hu si, ge shan ni ke …”
Hong Qigong was baffled, “What are you saying?”

Guo Jing answered, “Big Brother Zhou told me to memorize those sentences.”

Hong Qigong creased his brows, “What do they mean?” he asked.

“I don’t know,” Guo Jing replied, “Big Brother Zhou himself did not understand.”

“Carry on, then,” Hong Qigong said.

Guo Jing continued, “Bie er fa si, ge luo wu li …” until he came to the end; reciting all
kinds of these tongue-twisting sentences.

“Hmm,” Hong Qigong said, “Turned out the Manual also contains some incantations
to catch the ghosts.” He wanted to add, “Crafty priest, cheating people with cheap
tricks,” but remembering the Manual contained an extensive profound mystery, this
mumbo-jumbo must have had a deep meaning; he simply did not understand it for
the time being. Hence, the words were about to leave his lips, but he swallowed
them back.

After half a day Hong Qigong shook his head, “Jing’er,” he said, “There are many
marvelous martial arts in the Manual, but none of them can be mastered in one
whole day and night.”

Guo Jing was disappointed. Hong Qigong continued, “Quickly go and build a raft from
those twenty lumbers, then go away as far as you can. Rong’er and I will stay here
and devise a plan to deal with the Old Poison.”

“No,” Guo Jing hastily said, “How can I leave you, Senior?”

Hong Qigong sighed, “The Western Poison is scared of the Old Heretic Huang, he
won’t harm Rong’er. In any case The Old Beggar is invalid. You quickly go!”

Guo Jing burst out in grieve and indignation; he raised his hand and struck the tree
trunk with his palm.

This strike was extremely heavy, the sound echoed on the mountain and valley.
Hong Qigong was startled, he quickly asked, “Jing’er, the palm you launched, what
technique did you use?”

“Why?” Guo Jing was perplexed.

“You hit so hard, but the trunk did not even shake,” Hong Qigong said.

Guo Jing was very embarrassed, “I used up all my strength striking trees, my hands
are so sore; I don’t have any more strength left,” he said.

“No, no,” Hong Qigong shook his head, “Your palm strike technique was a little
strange. Strike again!”

Raising his hand he struck the tree with his palm. The sound shook the forest, but
the tree did not budge. Suddenly it dawned on him. “That was the seventy-two
stances Vacant Fist Big Brother Zhou taught disciple.”

“Vacant Fist? I have never heard of it,” Hong Qigong mused.

“That’s right,” Guo Jing said, “Big Brother Zhou was held prisoner on the Peach
Blossom Island. He had nothing to do, so he invented this technique. He taught me
these sixteen-character secret of the technique: ‘kong meng dong song, feng tong
rong meng, chong qiong zhong nong, tong yong gong chong’ [empty and hazy like a
loose cave, the wind blow carrying a dream, playing around in power or exhaustion,
a child can use a worm as a weapon]”

Hong Qigong laughed, “What kind of empty hole?” he asked. [Play of words here,
Hong Qigong said ‘tong nong ku long’ which rhymes with whatever Guo Jing was
saying. I can’t translate it properly.]

Guo Jing explained, “Each one of these sixteen characters has their own meaning.
The word ‘song’ [loose] means the fist must be devoid of strength; ‘chong’ [worm]
means the body must be flexible like a worm; ‘meng’ [hazy] means the fist
movement must be obscure, must not be too clear. Disciple will play it out for you to
watch, what do you think?”

“The night is so dark, I can’t see anything,” Hong Qigong said, “Why don’t you
explain it to me? This is an excellent martial art, I don’t have to see in order to
understand it.”

Guo Jing explained from the first stance, ‘kong wan cheng fan’ [empty bowl filled
with rice], to the second stance, ‘kong wu zhu ren’ [empty house occupied with
people], with all variations therein, including how to send out the force, to Hong
Qigong.

By nature Zhou Botong was mischievous, he gave each and every stance a funny
name. Hong Qigong only heard up to the eighteenth stance, his heart was already
filled with admiration. He cut Guo Jing off, “You don’t need to continue, I have found
a way to fight the Western Poison.”

“With Vacant Fist?” Guo Jing asked, “I am afraid the disciple’s skill is insufficient.”

“I know that,” Hong Qigong said, “But we are in a desperate situation, we have to
take a risk. Do you still have the dagger given by Qiu Chuji on you?” A cold light
flashed in the dark night; Guo Jing took out his dagger. Hong Qigong said, “With the
Vacant Fist technique, use this dagger to cut down some trees.” Guo Jing held his
dagger by the hilt, the thin blade was only about one foot long. He was doubtful and
did not say anything.

Hong Qigong said, “The 18-Dragon Subduing Palms I passed on to you is the
pinnacle of the external type of martial art; that Vacant Fist is a very profound inner
type of martial art. Your dagger can cut through metal and carve jade; what would
be the problem of cutting tree trunk? The important thing is, your hand strength
must follow the ‘kong’ [empty] and ‘song’ [loose] principles.”

Guo Jing pondered about it for half a day. Hong Qigong also gave him some more
directions. Finally he understood. He jumped down the tree and went to find a
medium size pine tree. With the Vacant Fist method of exerting energy, as if with
force and without force, he lightly struck the trunk and sure enough the dagger went
through the tree trunk. He exerted his strength and cut around the trunk; that tree
fell down immediately. Guo Jing was ecstatic, with the same method he cut dozens
on trees one after another. Looked like before daybreak he would be able to cut
down a hundred lumbers.

While he was cutting trees, suddenly he heard Hong Qigong called out, “Jing’er,
come up here.”

Guo Jing leaped up to the platform. “It really worked,” he said, “I did not even use
too much energy.”

“Certainly we can’t waste our energy, can we?” Hong Qigong said.

“That’s right! That’s right!” Guo Jing exclaimed, “Now I understand the ‘kong meng
dong song’ principle. Big Brother Zhou had explained it to me, but I did not
understand it.”

“This martial art is more than enough to cut down trees,” Hong Qigong said, “But it
is still far from adequate to fight the Western Poison. You must train in the Nine Yin
Manual again, only then will you have a chance to defeat him. Let us think of some
way to buy some time.” Speaking about plan and strategy, Guo Jing could only stay
silent, letting his master to think.

After a long time, Hong Qigong shook his head and said, “I can’t think of anything
good. Let us wait till tomorrow, perhaps Rong’er can come up with some clever
ideas. Jing’er, listening to you reciting the Nine Yin Manual I had a thought; I believe
I am not wrong. Help me get down this tree, I am going to practice my martial art.”

Guo Jing was shocked. “Your injury is not healed yet, how can you train?” he asked.

Hong Qigong answered, “The Manual said, ‘The body is cultivated two-folds; namely
movement and stillness. Being attacked but stay still.’ These sentences had opened
my eyes. Let us go down.”

Guo Jing did not understand the meaning of these sentences, but he did not dare to
defy his master; hence he propped his master’s body and gently jumped down the
tree.

Hong Qigong calmed himself down, then opened up his arms and launched a palm
strike. In the darkness Guo Jing saw his master’s body was staggering forward like
he was falling down. Guo Jing rushed forward to help, but Hong Qigong had already
steadied himself. His breathing was heavy, but he said, “I am alright.”

A moment later he launched a left palm strike. Guo Jing saw him staggering along,
his feet stumbled; he appeared to be extremely exhausted. Guo Jing fought hard the
urge to rush forward and help his master; who would have thought that the more
Hong Qigong practiced, the stronger he became. Initially he had to catch his breath
for every single stance he launched, but afterwards he was able to launch several
stances in succession; his footsteps were getting steadier as well. It was a
tremendous improvement. Hong Qigong launched the whole set of ’18-dragon
subduing fist’, followed by a set of ‘fu hu quan’ [crouching tiger fist].
Guo Jing waited until he finished, then he shouted happily, “You are healed!”

“Help me back up,” Hong Qigong said.

Guo Jing wrapped his arm around his master’s waist and jumped up to the platform.
His delight was unspeakable, he mumbled repeatedly, “Very good! Very good!”

Hong Qigong sighed and said, “Not so good, this martial art is only good to behold,
it’s actually useless.” Guo Jing did not understand, Hong Qigong explained, “After
suffering an injury, all I did was resting, trying to recuperate. It never occurred to
me that my martial art is of the external type; the more I move the better. It’s too
bad I realized it way too late; now although my life will be spared, but my martial art
will be very difficult to be restored.”

Guo Jing wanted to utter some words of comfort, but he did not know what to say;
so after a while he simply said, “I’ll go down and chop some more trees.”

“Jing’er,” Hong Qigong suddenly said, “I think I have an idea to intimidate the Old
Poison. See if you agree with me.” And then he explained his idea. Guo Jing was
delighted, “Splendid! Splendid!” he exclaimed; and immediately jumped down the
tree to make preparations.

Early in the morning the next day, Ouyang Feng came under the tree. He counted
the lumber Guo Jing chopped down and found only ninety of them. He coldly laughed
and shouted, “Little bastard [the same ‘za zhong’ as in Ode to Gallantry]! Quickly roll
down here! Where are the other ten?”

Huang Rong had spent the entire night by Ouyang Ke’s side, tending his injury.
Listening to his pitiful groaning she felt sorry for him. That morning Ouyang Feng left
the cave, she followed behind. Hearing his loud shouts she was worried for Guo Jing.

Ouyang Feng waited for a moment, but nothing was heard from the tree above,
except some gust of winds coming out from the distant hill. It sounded like
somebody was practicing martial art. Hastily he followed the source of the sound.
When he turned on the hillside, what he saw surprised him. Hong Qigong was
sparring with Guo Jing; palms and kicks flew toward each other, they were engaged
in a tight fight.

Huang Rong saw her master not only was able to walk unaided, but it looked like his
skill was restored as well; she was pleasantly surprised. She heard him shouted,
“Jing’er, careful with this next stance!” and he launched a palm strike.

Guo Jing raised his palm to parry, but before their palms met his body flew backward
and ‘bang!’ he hit a pine tree. That tree was not too big, but it was about the mouth
of a bowl in diameter; ‘crack!’ it snapped by the strength of Hong Qigong’s push and
fell to the ground.

This strike was nothing but ordinary, but it was enough to stun Ouyang Feng. Huang
Rong praised, “Shifu, that was a great ‘pi kong zhang’ [hacking empty air palm
technique]!”

“Jing’er, guard your body well, don’t let my palm strength injure you!” Hong Qigong
called out.
“Disciple understands,” Guo Jing replied. He was just closing his mouth when Hong
Qigong’s palm arrived. ‘Crack!’ again Guo Jing was sent flying and bumping into a
tree. Strike after strike came one after another; in a short period of time Hong
Qigong had used the ‘pi kong zhang’ to send Guo Jing flying and snapping ten big
trees down.

“We have ten trees already!” Huang Rong called out.

Guo Jing was gasping for breath. “Disciple is exhausted,” he said.

Hong Qigong held his palm and laughed, “This Nine Yin Manual is really wonderful.
My injury was that heavy; I couldn’t even exert any strength, yet I achieve success
just by one morning exercise.”

Ouyang Feng was suspicious; he stooped down to examine the broken tree trunks,
but what he saw stunned him even more. Apart from the core of the trunk, the outer
ring was exceptionally smooth, even smoother than it would be if the trunk was
sawed. He thought, “Could it be that the martial art in the Manual is this marvelous?
It looks like the Old Beggar’s martial art has been completely restored. How can I
fight them if the three of them gang up against me? It’s been this far, I’d better start
training myself on the martial art from that manual.” He cast a glance toward those
three and flew back to the cave in a hurry. Immediately he fetch the book Guo Jing
wrote, unwrapped layer upon layer of oil paper bundle and straightaway buried his
head in the book, diligently studying the Manual.

Hong Qigong and Guo Jing waited until they could not see Ouyang Feng’s shadow
anymore before both of them burst out in laughter. Huang Rong was delighted,
“Shifu, this Manual is truly wonderful,” she said.

Hong Qigong laughed without giving her any response. Guo Jing rushed to her and
said, “Rong’er, we were only pretending.”

Then he told her everything they had thought and done. It turned out that Guo Jing
had used his dagger to cut around the trunks, leaving the center part intact. Actually
Hong Qigong’s palm did not carry any strength at all; every time Guo Jing got hit, he
used his own strength to fly backwards and bump into a tree, breaking it down.
Ouyang Feng did not know that with the Vacant Fist energy, the dagger was capable
of cutting deep into the bough; naturally he did not suspect that the cut was made
by the dagger.

Huang Rong was laughing hard, but upon hearing Guo Jing’s story she was silent for
half a day with a deep frown on her face. Hong Qigong smiled and said, “The Old
Beggar is once again capable of walking on my own feet, it was truly a blessing from
Heaven. I don’t care if it was a true martial art or a fake one. Rong’er, you are afraid
the Western Poison will see through this deception, aren’t you?” Huang Rong
nodded. “The Old Poison has good eyesight,” Hong Qigong continued, “How can we
fool him that easily? But life is full of uncertainties, right now it is useless to worry
over nothing. Hear me now: Jing’er had recited the contents of the manual to me.
There is a section which was called ‘yi jin duan gu pian’ [changing muscle forging
bones] or something; I think it was very interesting. While we don’t have anything
else to do, why don’t we practice it?”
These words were said with gentleness and indifference, but Huang Rong was aware
of the urgency of the situation. What their master had said was very reasonable;
therefore, she said, “Very well, Shifu, please teach us.”

Hong Qigong asked Guo Jing to recite the ‘yi jin duan gu pian’ twice, and then based
on that he taught the two on how to practice it. He himself went out hunting or
fishing, lighted the fire and cooked their meals. Several times Guo Jing and Huang
Rong offered their help, but every time he shooed them away.

Quickly seven days had passed; Guo and Huang had made some progress in term of
their energy cultivation. Inside his cave Ouyang Feng was also painstakingly studying
his Manual, putting all his effort in doing so. Toward the evening of the eighth day
Hong Qigong smiled and said, “Rong’er, how was your Master’s roasted wild goat?”

Huang Rong smiled but did not say anything, she simply shook her head. Hong
Qigong laughed, “I can’t eat it myself. You two have finished the first part of your
lesson; today you must rest your muscle and bones, otherwise your ‘qi’ will be
obstructed and you will suffer injury. Alright, Rong’er, you prepare our meal tonight,
Jing’er and I will go and build a raft.”

Guo Jing and Huang Rong were astonished, “Building a raft?”

“That’s right,” Hong Qigong said, “Do you want to accompany the Old Poison on this
desolate island forever?”

Guo and Huang were delighted, they both voiced their agreement, and start to work
immediately.

The hundred lumbers Guo Jing cut down the other day were piled neatly on the side.
They cut the tree bark and wove them into ropes and tied the lumber together to
make the raft. When Guo Jing used his strength to pull the rope, it snapped and
broke. He thought the rope was not made strong enough. He tried pulling another
rope, but as soon as he exerted a little strength, it also broke easily. Guo Jing was
baffled, he stared blankly at the rope and did not know what to do.

From the other side of the hill Huang Rong came shouting with a wild goat in her
hands. When going out to hunt for the goat she carried some pebbles to shoot the
goat with; who would have thought that with only several jumps she had already
overtook the goat. She turned around and grabbed the wild goat. Her body
movement was so swift that she surprised even herself.

Hong Qigong smiled, “So the Nine Yin Manual is truly a wonderful manual; no
wonder countless heroes and warriors were willing to risk their lives for it.”

Huang Rong was delighted, “Shifu, do you think we can beat the Old Poison now?”
she asked.

Hong Qigong shook his head, “Not yet, it is still far from that,” he replied, “You have
to train for another eight to ten years. His Toad Stance is not a small matter; no
martial art can break it except Wang Chongyang’s Solitary Yang Finger”

Huang Rong pouted and said, “Then even if we train for another eight to ten years
we may still won’t be able to defeat him.”
“That’s hard to say,” Hong Qigong concurred, “Perhaps the martial art in that book is
fiercer than I thought.”

“Rong’er, please be patient,” Guo Jing said, “There is nothing wrong with learning a
new skill.”

A few more days passed, Guo Jing and Huang Rong had finished the second part of
the Changing Muscle Forging Bones. The raft was also ready. The three of them
wove a sail from tree barks; they also prepared some fresh water and food on the
raft. All along Ouyang Feng was indifferent to what they were doing; he simply
watched their activities with a cold look.

One evening everything was ready, they planned on sailing the next day. Just before
bed that night Huang Rong asked, “Do we have to say goodbye to them?”

“Not only that, we must make a ten year agreement with them,” Guo Jing answered,
“They have bullied us so bad, how can we forget it?”

Huang Rong clapped her hands, “Absolutely! I pray to the Heaven to bless those two
thieves that they can go back to the mainland, and also to give the Old Poison ten
more years of life. Otherwise, to restore Shifu’s martial art quickly, so that in one or
two years we can look for him; that would be even better.”

The next day before the crack of dawn Hong Qigong awoke; indistinctly he heard
some noise from the shore. He quickly called, “Jing’er, did you hear that noise from
the beach?”

Guo Jing got up immediately and jumped down the tree. Once he saw what
happened on the beach he could not stop cursing; immediately he rushed forward to
pursue. By this time Huang Rong was also awoke and ran after him, calling out,
“Brother Jing, what’s the matter?”

Guo Jing shouted from a distant, “Those two wicked thieves stole our raft.” Hearing
this Huang Rong was shocked.

By the time they got to the beach Ouyang Feng had already carried his nephew on
the raft, raised the sail and had already several ‘zhang’s away from land. Guo Jing
was furious, he was about to jump into the ocean to pursue, but Huang Rong pulled
his sleeve and said, “They are already too far.”

Ouyang Feng laughed a big laugh, “Many thanks for the raft!” he shouted.

Guo Jing stomped his feet in rage, furiously he kicked a red sandalwood tree nearby.
Suddenly Huang Rong got an idea, “I got it!” she called out. She took a big rock then
placed it on the tree branch. She wanted to use the tree as a slingshot. “Pull this
tree,” she said, “We will hurl the rock out.”

Guo Jing was delighted. He braced his legs on the tree root and pulled the trunk
backward with all his might. Sandalwood tree was strong but pliable; it bent almost
completely down but did not break. Guo Jing let his hands go and with a whooshing
sound the big rock flew to the sea and fell by the raft’s side, creating a ‘zhang’ high
big splash.
“Pity!” Huang Rong called out. She took another rock, aimed carefully and let go.
This time the rock hit the raft right on, but the raft construction was too good, it did
not break. Two people launched three more rocks, but all of them fell into the water.

Seeing all their rocks missed their target, Huang Rong got a crazy idea. “Quick, use
me as the cannonball!” she shouted. Guo Jing was startled, unclear of what she
meant. Huang Rong explained, “Hurl me into the sea, I’ll deal with them.”

Guo Jing knew her water skill was excellent, her lightness kungfu was excellent too;
he saw no danger in complying with her request. He drew his dagger out and put it
in her hand. “Be careful,” he said. He pulled the tree one more time. Huang Rong sat
steadily on the branch and called out, “Fire away!”

Guo Jing released his grip and Huang Rong’s body flew to the sky. She somersaulted
twice in the air and plunged into the water several ‘zhang’s away from the raft. It
was a beautiful scene to behold. Ouyang Feng uncle and nephew were dazzled; they
did not know what she was going to do.

Huang Rong went deep into the water. She did not emerge from the water, but
swam underwater toward the raft instead. Once she saw a black shadow overhead
she knew she had arrived at the bottom of the raft. Ouyang Feng randomly hit the
water with the oar, but he could not hit her at all.

Huang Rong held up her dagger, ready to sever the rope tying up the wooden raft;
but suddenly she came up with a bright idea. She reduced the strength of her hand
only cutting lightly on the ropes, leaving a third part intact; so that the raft would
not be disintegrated until the rough waves of the open sea hit it. She turned around
and dove away, emerged to the surface about dozen of ‘zhang’s away; she gasped
for breath, pretending she could not catch the raft. Ouyang Feng laughed wildly and
hoisted the sail. Not too long afterwards the raft had traveled far away.

While waiting for her to arrive at the beach Hong Qigong and Guo Jing were cursing
incessantly; but they saw Huang Rong’s smug expression and were puzzled. After
hearing what happened they were delighted to no end. “Even though we are sending
these two wicked men to the bottom of the ocean, we will have to start work from
the beginning again,” Huang Rong said.

Three people ate their meals with high spirit then they cut some lumbers again and
built another raft. Several days later they were ready, and when the southeast wind
blew, they hoisted the tree bark sail, left the island heading to the west. Huang Rong
gazed her eyes toward the island, which was getting smaller and smaller, she sighed
and said, “Our lives were almost gone on that island; but leaving it today, my heart
is filled with sadness.”

“We can always revisit the island in the future,” Guo Jing said.

Huang Rong clapped her hands, “Good! We must come back. When that time comes,
you can’t go back on your words. But first, let us give this small island a good name.
Shifu, what do you think?”

“You crushed that little bastard’s legs with a big rock on that island,” Hong Qigong
said, “Let us call it ‘ya gui dao’ [crushing ghost island]. What do you say?”
Huang Rong shook her head. “That is not very elegant,” she said.

“If you want elegance, why did you ask the Old Beggar in the first place?” Hong
Qigong said, “If you ask me, the Old Poison ate my urine on the island, I’ll say we
call it ‘chi sui dao’ [eat urine island].”

Huang Rong smiled while waving her hand; she leaned her head sideways to think.
She saw a cluster of red clouds on the horizon, like bright luster of gems glamorously
hovering over the island. “Let’s call it ‘ming xia dao’ [bright red cloud island]!” she
called out.

“Not good, not good!” Hong Qigong countered, “That was too elegant.”

Guo Jing listened to master and disciple arguing, he smiled and did not say anything.
He did not care whether the island had an elegant name or a vulgar name; but deep
down in his heart he thought ‘ya gui’ or ‘chi sui’ were more interesting than ‘ming
xia’.

Carried by the blowing wind they sailed for two days, the wind did not change its
course. Toward the evening of the third day Hong Qigong and Huang Rong were
asleep while Guo Jing was in charge of the rudder for the night. Amidst the ocean
breeze and rolling waves suddenly he heard somebody shout, “Help! Help!” twice.
The voice sounded like a clashing cymbals, it could be heard clearly amidst the
screaming wind and waves.

Hong Qigong sat up and said in a low voice, “That’s the Old Poison.” They heard the
shout one more time. Huang Rong grabbed Hong Qigong’s arm, “It’s a ghost, it’s a
ghost!” she said with a trembling voice.

It was the end of the sixth month, the night was dark and moonless; there were only
several stars scattered sparsely on the dark night. The sea was pitch-black; a scream
in the middle of the night would make anybody terrified to the bone.

“Is that the Old Poison?” Hong Qigong called out. His internal energy was lost, so his
voice did not travel too far. Guo Jing gathered the ‘qi’ on his ‘dan tian’ and called
out, “Is that Uncle Ouyang?”

From a distant they heard Ouyang Feng answered, “It is me, Ouyang Feng. Help!”

Huang Rong was still terrified, “It doesn’t matter whether it is a man or a ghost, let
us just leave, quick!”

“Help him,” Hong Qigong suddenly said.

“No, no!” Huang Rong quickly answered, “I am scared.”

“It’s not a ghost,” Hong Qigong said.

“Even if it is a man we still don’t have to help,” Huang Rong said.

“Helping others in distress is one of our Beggar Clan’s rules,” Hong Qigong said, “You
and I are two generations of the Clan Leader; we can’t abandon the honorable
customs handed down from the previous generations’ leaders.”

“The Beggar Clan’s custom is not right,” Huang Rong countered, “Clearly Ouyang
Feng is a scoundrel, when he becomes a ghost, he will still be a scoundrel ghost. It
doesn’t matter if it is a man or a ghost, we should not help.”

“It is the Clan’s regulation, we can’t change it,” Hong Qigong said.

In her heart Huang Rong was very angry. They heard Ouyang Feng’s voice in the
distant again, “Qi Xiong [Brother Qi], are you really ‘jian si bu jiu’ [seeing death, do
not help]?”

Huang Rong said, “I got it! Brother Jing, wait until you can see Ouyang Feng clearly,
then strike him dead with your stick. You are not a Beggar Clan’s member, you don’t
have to observe this unreasonable rule.”

Hong Qigong was angry, “Taking advantage of somebody else’s precarious condition;
is that the righteous way of the warrior?”

Huang Rong did not have any choice, helplessly she watched Guo Jing steer the raft
toward the voice. In the deep dark of the night they vaguely saw two men on the
water rocked by the wave; next to their heads was a lumber. It looked like after
their raft broke Ouyang Feng uncle and nephew had clung onto that piece of lumber
until now.

“Let him make an oath never to harm anybody else, then we will rescue him,” Huang
Rong said.

Hong Qigong sighed, “You don’t know the Old Poison’s character; he would rather die
than surrender. He won’t make this kind of promise. Jing’er, rescue them.”

Guo Jing bent down and grabbed Ouyang Ke’s collar, lifting him up to the raft. Hong
Qigong was eager to help and he forgot his martial art was gone. He held out his
hand and Ouyang Feng took it. He wanted to borrow the strength and leap to the
raft. But because of his pull Hong Qigong unexpectedly fell into the sea with a
splash. Guo Jing and Huang Rong were shocked; they jumped into the sea
immediately and saved Hong Qigong. Huang Rong angrily scolded Ouyang Feng, “My
Shifu has a good heart rescuing you; how could you drag him into the sea instead?”

Ouyang Feng knew Hong Qigong had lost his martial art; otherwise, how could this
simple pull make a martial art expert fall into the sea? But he had been immersed in
the water for several days, he was extremely weary. He did not dare to look up, he
lowered his head and said, “I … I did not mean to. Qi Xiong, please don’t blame your
brother.”

Hong Qigong laughed heartily, “Well said, well said. Only the Old Beggar’s real skill is
known to you now,” he said.

“Good Miss,” Ouyang Feng said, “Could you spare something for us to eat? We have
been hungry for several days.”

Huang Rong replied, “We have food and water on this raft enough only for three
people. I can give you some, but then what do we eat?”
“Very well,” Ouyang Feng said, “Please give a little bit of food to my nephew then,
his legs are heavily injured, he won’t survive without food.”

“In that case let’s make a deal,” Huang Rong said, “Your viper hurt my Shifu; he has
not recovered until now. Give him the antidote.”

Ouyang Feng groped his pocket and produced two vials, handed them over to her
and said, “Miss, please take a look; the vials were drowned in the water, the antidote
has been washed out clean!”

Huang Rong took the vials, she shook them and sniffed them; the vials were really
filled with seawater. “In this case, tell us prescription of the antidote, as soon as we
are ashore we can brew some.”

“If I want to swindle you, I can always give you any prescription, you won’t know if it
is genuine or fake; but how can Ouyang Feng be this kind of person?” Ouyang Feng
said, “Let me tell you the truth: my vipers are the most poisonous in the world,
nothing can match its lethality; if one is bitten, although one won’t immediately die
due to one’s excellence in martial art, within eight times eight, sixty-four days half of
one’s body will be paralyzed and one will be invalid for the rest of one’s life. I have
no problem giving you the antidote prescription, but not only the ingredients are
hard to find, it also requires processing of three successive winters and summers. By
the time the antidote is ready, I am afraid it would be much too late. I have told you
the truth, if you still want to take my life it is entirely up to you.”

Huang Rong and Guo Jing listened to him, they secretly admired him; they thought,
“Although this man is evil and cruel, he did not lost his dignity as a grand master of
his martial art school in a matter of life and death.”

“Rong’er,” Hong Qigong also said, “He is telling the truth. A man’s life has been
decided by fate; the Old Beggar has nothing to be worried about. You give them
something to eat.”

Huang Rong’s heart was secretly crushed, she knew her master would not recover
from his injury. Silently she took a roasted wild goat leg and tossed it toward Ouyang
Feng. Ouyang Feng tore some meat for his nephew first before he took a big bite and
chewed the meat.

Huang Rong coldly said, “Uncle Ouyang, you have injured my master, in the second
Sword Meet of Mount Hua you will be the winner among the heroes. Let me
congratulate you first.”

“That is not necessarily true,” Ouyang Feng replied, “There is at least one person in
this whole wide world who can heal Qi Xiong’s injury.”

Guo Jing and Huang Rong jumped in shock so that the raft was leaning to one side.
They both asked in unison, “Is that true?”

While biting the mutton leg Ouyang Feng said, “Only it is very difficult to ask this
person to help. Your Shifu also knows about it.”

Two people’s eyes turned to their master. Hong Qigong smiled, “You know it is
difficult, why did you say it?”

Huang Rong pulled her master’s sleeve, asking for explanation, “Shifu, tell us. Even
if it is difficult, we still have to try. I will ask my father to help, surely he’ll find a
way.” Ouyang Feng softly snorted. “What are you snorting about?” Huang Rong said.
Ouyang Feng did not answer.

Hong Qigong said, “He was laughing at you to think your father is all powerful. But
that person is really not a small matter, how could your father make that person
help?”

Huang Rong was astonished, “That person! Who is that person?”

Hong Qigong continued, “Let’s not talk about that person’s high level of martial art
skill, even if he is so weak that he can’t even kill a chicken, the Old Beggar will never
harm others to benefit my own self.”

Huang Rong hesitantly said, “High level of martial art skill? Ah! I know. He is the
Southern Emperor, Emperor Duan. Shifu, let’s ask him to heal your injury, how does
that harm others to benefit yourself?”

“Go sleep! Don’t ask anymore questions. I prohibit you from bringing this matter up
anymore. Understand?” Hong Qigong said. Huang Rong did not dare to say anything;
she was afraid Ouyang Feng might steal their food, so she leaned against the food
bucket and sleep.

Waking early the next morning Huang Rong looked at Ouyang Feng uncle and
nephew, she jumped in fright, because the complexions of those two were very pale,
their whole bodies swollen from being under seawater these past several days.

The raft was sailing until about ninth hour [3-5pm] when they saw a dark line in the
distant. It appeared to be land. Guo Jing was the first to jump up and shout in
delight. A time needed to eat a bowl of rice later they could see clearer, it was
indeed land. The sea was calm, the sun was shining brightly, scorching those people,
making them miserable. Ouyang Feng suddenly stood up; he swayed his body a little
bit and stretched out his hands, grabbing both Guo Jing and Huang Rong. With the
tip of his foot he also kicked and sealed Hong Qigong’s acupoint.

Guo and Huang were taken up by surprise, their vital acupoints were sealed;
immediately half of their bodies were numb. Startled they asked, “What are you
doing?” Ouyang Feng grinned evilly, but did not say anything.

Hong Qigong sighed, “The Old Poison is very conceited; he is not willing to accept
other’s mercy. We have saved his life; if he did not kill his saviors, how can his heart
be at peace? Ay, I can only blame my own benevolence of heart, rescuing others in
the middle of the night, forgetting this fact, that now I endanger the lives of these
two weary kids.”

“You knew it very well,” Ouyang Feng said, “Also the Nine Yin Manual is in my hand,
if I leave a copy in this boy surnamed Guo’s mind, I will only invite infinite
misfortune for myself.”

Hearing him mentioning the Nine Yin Manual Hong Qigong’s heart was stirred; with a
loud voice he recited, “Nu er qi liu, ha gua er, ning xie qi qia, ping dao er …”

Ouyang Feng was startled; he recognized the sentence to be the one among
hundreds of difficult sentences he did not know the meaning of. Listening to Hong
Qigong recited it, he thought Hong Qigong understood the meaning, he thought,
“There are many strange sentences in the manual, there must be a key to unlock its
secret. If I kill these three, I am afraid there is nobody else in this world who
understands it; then my taking possession of the manual will be in vain.” Therefore,
he asked, “What does it mean?”

Hong Qigong replied, “Hun hua cha cha, xue gen xu bat u, mi er mi er …” Even
though he had listened to Guo Jing reciting the strange sentences of the manual,
how could he memorize everything? He was just talking nonsense, but his face
showed a deep veneration.

Ouyang Feng actually thought the sentences carried a very profound meaning, he
focused his attention and thought deeply. Hong Qigong shouted, “Jing’er, now!”

Guo Jing pulled back his left hand, sent out his right palm while his left leg flew
forward simultaneously. Actually when Ouyang Feng sent out his kick and launched a
surprise attack, his vital acupoint was grabbed and he was unable to move, but Hong
Qigong had talked nonsense and confused Ouyang Feng, causing him to lose his
concentration and thus slightly loosen his grip. Guo Jing grabbed this opportunity to
free himself and launched a counterattack. Guo Jing had trained the Changing Muscle
Forging Bones to the second stage, although he did not learn any new fist of kick
techniques, his original strength was actually increased by at least 20%. This one
pull, one palm and one kick were executed without any extraordinary move, but the
force within his attack was unexpectedly very strong.

Ouyang Feng was taken by surprise; besides, the raft was narrow, there was no
space to withdraw; he was forced to raise his hand to fend off, but his grip on Huang
Rong did not loosen up.

Guo Jing’s fist and palm went out one after another, attacking the enemy like a
violent storm. He was well aware that on this narrow raft if he ever let Ouyang Feng
attack with his Toad Stance, then all three of them would be dead without any burial
grounds. This flurry of attacks forced Ouyang Feng to withdraw half a step.

Huang Rong leaned sideways slightly, baring her shoulder to bump Ouyang Feng’s
body. Ouyang Feng was secretly amused, he thought, “This little girl wants to bump
me, just how much skill does she think she has? Don’t blame me if I bump you clear
to the ocean.” He had just finished his thought when Huang Rong’s shoulder arrived.
Ouyang Feng did not evade nor tried to parry, he appeared not to pay any attention;
but suddenly he felt pricking pain on his chest. Out of pain he realized immediately
that she was wearing the Peach Blossom Island’s treasure, the ‘ruan wei jia’ [soft
hedgehog armor]. By now he was already at the edge of the raft, so he could not go
back even for half a step. Her armor was full of sharp needles, which he could not
deal with. Hence, hastily his left hand let go of her vital acupoint and flung her to the
side.

Huang Rong did not have any space to set her foot on, she was going to fall into the
water. Guo Jing reached behind his back and grabbed her, while his left hand was
still attacking the enemy. Huang Rong drew out her dagger and rushed forward to
attack.

Ouyang Feng stood by the edge of the raft, the water kept splashing his legs; but no
matter how hard Guo Jing and Huang Rong attacked, they were not able to force him
to fall into the water.

Hong Qigong and Ouyang Ke were unable to move, both of them helplessly watch
the ferocious fight. Their hearts were thumping madly, watching the evenly matched
fight, where the difference between life and death was just as narrow as a strand of
hair’s width. They were both bitterly wishing they could help their side.

Ouyang Feng’s martial art was actually far above Guo and Huang’s combined power,
but he was immersed in the water for several days; almost half of his strength was
gone. Although Huang Rong’s martial art was not too high she was wearing the soft
hedgehog armor, plus her hand was holding a sharp dagger. These two offensive and
defensive weapons were enough to give Ouyang Feng some headache. On top of
that, Guo Jing’s 18-Dragon Subduing Palms, his 72 stances of Vacant Fist, Mutual
Hands Combat Technique, as well as recently trained Changing Muscles Forging
Bones from the Nine Yin Manual combined together had made him a formidable
opponent. These three people were engaged in a close fight on the raft.

After a while Ouyang Feng’s palm was getting stronger; Guo and Huang started to
fall under his attack. Hong Qigong was very anxious watching this fierce battle.
Amidst the dancing palm shadow Ouyang Feng’s left leg kicked out with a strong
gust of wind. Huang Rong did not dare to parry and was forced to somersault and
she fell into the water.

Suddenly facing a strong enemy alone Guo Jing was feeling strained. Luckily after
falling into the water on the left side of the raft, Huang Rong swam across the
bottom of the raft and rebounded from the right side and swept her dagger toward
Ouyang Feng’s chest. Now Ouyang Feng had to face enemies on both sides.

While fighting courageously, Huang Rong secretly thought of plans to overcome this
situation, “If this fight continues, our martial arts are still inferior to his, in the end
we will fall under his hands. The only way to defeat him is under water.” As soon as
this thought entered her mind, she swept her dagger out and cut the sail rope; the
sail immediately fell down, the raft now carried by the waves, no longer moved
forward. Huang Rong drew back two steps, wrapped the rope several times on Hong
Qigong’s body, and then again several turns on a lumber from the raft, making two
tight knots.

As Huang Rong left the battle, Guo Jing was not able to withstand the enemy much
longer. He managed to block three successive stances, but the fourth stance forced
him to step backward. Ouyang Feng did not want to let him go, his palms
continuously attacked. Guo Jing was forced to step backward again, with ‘yu yue yu
yuan’ [fish jumping out of the abyss] he managed to block another stance, but for
the next stance he was forced to move backward again that his left foot stepped on
an empty air. In this critical time he did not getting nervous, his right foot
immediately flew forward to block the enemy from attacking further. As a result,
‘spash!’ he also fell into the water.

The raft was being rocked hard; Huang Rong took this opportunity to also leap onto
the sea. Two people pushed and pulled the raft, trying to overturn it. They knew
Ouyang Ke would be drowning to his death; also, in the water Ouyang Feng was not
their match. Hong Qigong’s body was tied to the raft. These two people took a risk
by dealing with the Western Poison first before trying to save their master.

Ouyang Feng understood their intention very well; he raised his foot on Hong
Qigong’s head and loudly shouted, “Two kids, listen to me! If you rock the raft one
more time, I will kick immediately!”

Huang Rong understood her first plan was foiled; she proceeded with her second
plan: she took a deep breath and dove underneath the raft, cutting the ropes with
her dagger. She knew they were not too far from the land; after drowning Ouyang
Feng, uncle and nephew, she thought they could ride on lumbers and came ashore
without too much problem.

‘Crack! Crack!’ the wooden raft was broken into two halves. Ouyang Ke was on the
left half, while Ouyang Feng and Hong Qigong were on the right half. Inwardly
Ouyang Feng was anxious; quickly he stretched his hand to grab his nephew; then
he stooped looking into the water, ready to strike Huang Rong if she cut another
rope.

From under the water Huang Rong could see Ouyang Feng’s shadow clearly. Knowing
his next attack would be very fierce, she did not dare to cut another rope. Both sides
were in deadlock for a long time. Huang Rong swam several ‘zhang’s away and took
another deep breath, then dove right back in, waiting for an opportunity to launch
her attack.

With concentrated attention both sides were waiting for an opportunity. For a
moment the sea turned very calm. The sun was shining brightly over their heads.
The ocean seemed so calm and peaceful; but on this half wooden raft, one above
and one below, there was a very thick murderous intention.

Huang Rong thought, “If this half raft is cut into two, the waves would certainly turn
it over.” While Ouyang Feng thought, “As soon as she pokes her head out, I am
going to slap the water. The vibration should be enough to scatter her brain out.
Once this little girl is gone, the little thief surnamed Guo should not post any problem
to me.” Two people waited without blinking their eyes, both were itchy to strike.

Suddenly Ouyang Ke pointed to the left and called out, “A boat! A boat!”

Hong Qigong and Guo Jing turned their heads and saw a big boat with a dragon ship
head, its sail was fully raised, it approached riding the wind and breaking the waves.
A moment later Ouyang Ke saw someone standing on the bow; he had a big stature
and was wearing a scarlet kassaya, it looked like he was Monk Lingzi. As the boat got
closer, he saw more clearly, and it was indeed Monk Lingzi. Hastily he told his uncle.

Ouyang Feng concentrates his ‘qi’ on his ‘dan tian’ and loudly called out, “Friends,
here, come quickly!”

Under the water Huang Rong did not know what was happening; Guo Jing knew they
were in more trouble; he went underwater and pulled Huang Rong’s arm, signaling
her that more enemies were coming. Huang Rong was not very clear on his
intention, but she was aware something was not right, so she signaled back to Guo
Jing to block Ouyang Feng’s palm, while she would sever the rope.
Guo Jing realized his own skill was inferior to the enemy by a long shot; now that he
was underwater while the enemy was above the water, the difference was farther
away. He knew blocking Ouyang Feng’s palm meant endangering his own life, but it
was a critical time, he had no other alternative. Hence he exerted all his strength to
his palms and suddenly jumped upward.

“Ugh!” Ouyang Feng grunted, his palms struck to the water; while Guo Jing’s palms
were coming up from below. Two forces collided on the surface of the sea, creating a
big splash. The raft was lifted several feet upward, and ‘crack! crack!’ the half raft
was broken into two parts; it looked like Huang Rong managed to cut the rope just in
time.

In the meantime the big boat was already dozens of ‘zhang’s away from the raft.
After cutting the rope, immediately Huang Rong dove underwater. She was about to
come up and stab Ouyang Feng when she saw Guo Jing was motionless, slowly
sinking down. She was alarmed and quickly swam near and pulled his arm. She
swam away for several ‘zhang’s before coming up to the surface. Guo Jing’s eyes
were tightly shut, his face blue and his lips colorless; he was unconscious.

The boat lowered a small rescue boat with several sailors rowing the oars; they took
Ouyang Feng uncle and nephew, as well as Hong Qigong aboard. Huang Rong called
three times, “Brother Jing!” but Guo Jing did not wake up. She thought although the
boat is full of the enemies, but she had no other alternative; she held on to Guo
Jing’s head and swam toward the small boat.

The sailors pulled Guo Jing aboard and held out their hands to draw her, but Huang
Rong’s left hand pressed on the boat’s edge and leaped up like a flying fish from the
water to the boat, scaring the sailors.

When his palms collided with Ouyang Feng’s, Guo Jing felt a tremendous force
surging through his body and he passed out immediately. He awakened and felt he
was leaning on Huang Rong’s bosom, and was aware that they were on a small boat.
He circulated his breathing and found out that he was not internally injured; he
raised his brows and smiled to Huang Rong.

Huang Rong smiled back at him and her anxiety and fear were gone in an instant; at
last she had an opportunity to see what kind of boat was coming to rescue them. But
once she looked up, she was groaning inwardly; she saw on the bow of the big boat
stood seven, eight men, tall and short. They were precisely the Wulin characters she
met several months earlier at the Zhao Palace in Yanjing. The one short and stout
with bright eyes was ‘qian shou ren tu’ [thousand-hand man slaughterer] Peng
Lianhu, the one with a bald, shiny head was ‘gui men long wang’ [dragon king of
Guimen (lit. ghost gate) Note to final editor: the earlier chapter has ‘Dragon King of
Demonic Group’] Sha Tongtian, the one with three tumors on his head sticking out
like horns was ‘san tou jiao’ [three-headed scaly dragon] Hou Tonghai, the one with
ruddy face and white hair was ‘shen xian lao guai’ [ginseng immortal old freak] Liang
Ziweng, the one wearing scarlet kassaya was the Tibetan monk ‘da shou yin’ [big
hand print] Venerable Lingzhi. There were several others that she did not know. She
thought, “Recently Brother Jing’s martial arts and mine have enjoyed a tremendous
improvement. If we have to fight with Peng Lianhu and the others one to one, I
might not win, but Brother Jing will definitely score victory. But there is the Old
Poison standing nearby, plus these many people are gathered together. It will be
very difficult for us to escape danger today.”

The people on the big boat were surprised to hear Ouyang Feng’s shouts from the
raft. Now they saw Guo Jing and the others, they were even more surprised. Ouyang
Feng was holding his nephew; Guo Jing and Huang Rong carried Hong Qigong, five
people in two groups jumped up one after another from the small rescue boat to the
big boat.

Soon a man was coming out the cabin to welcome them; he wore an embroidered
colored robe. As soon as he saw Guo Jing, both men were stunned. That man wore a
neat beard on his chin, he had a handsome face; it was none other than the Sixth
Prince of the Great Jin, Wanyan Honglie.

After escaping from the Liu family ancestral hall in Baoying, Wanyan Honglie was
afraid Guo Jing might pursue him to the north, hence he did not dare to go home. He
came across Peng Lianhu, Sha Tongtian and the others and decided to go down
south to steal the book left behind by Yue Wumu (the Wumu Legacy). At that time
the Mongolian army had dispatched a large scale military expedition against the Jins;
the capital, Yanjing, had been besieged for several months, the sixteen prefectures
surrounding it had fallen under Mongolian invasion. As the days past, the situation of
the Jin was getting more and more critical. Wanyan Honglie was very worried about
the fate of his country; he saw with his own eyes that the Mongolians were very swift
and fierce. Although the Jin army was ten times in terms of number, each time they
met, the Jins were routed left and right. Wanyan Honglie painstakingly pondered any
idea to rebuild his country’s lofty aspirations, and came to the conclusion that what
he needed right at that time was the Wumu Legacy. He thought that as long as this
book on military strategy was in his possession, he would be able to build a divine
and invincible army; just like Yue Fei’s own army. Even though Mongolian army was
strong, they would flee just at the sight of his army.

Presently he led this expedition going south, trying to track the whereabouts of the
Legacy; only he feared the Southern Song would uncover his intention and be on
guard against the intruders. Therefore, he decided to go by the sea; hoping nobody
would know his itinerary and he could land at the Zhejiang coast undetected and
quietly enter Lin’an to steal the book.

Actually before departing he was looking for Ouyang Ke; he knew he was a martial
art expert and would become a highly useful companion, but after a long time did
not have any news about him, he decided to leave without waiting for this man. This
time suddenly they met quite by accident on the sea, not only Ouyang Ke, but also
Guo Jing at his side, he could not help but secretly feeling anxious; he was afraid his
big secret mission had been compromised.

Seeing the enemy who killed his father, Guo Jing was seething with anger; he did
not care if he was being surrounded by powerful enemies, he looked at Wanyan
Honglie with blazing gaze.

Just then someone else was coming out of the cabin, but only half step through the
door he immediately shrunk back in. Huang Rong’s sharp eyes saw that man looked
like Yang Kang.

In the meantime Ouyang Ke introduced his uncle to the prince, “Uncle, this is the
Sixth Prince of the Great Jin who loves people of high skill.” Ouyang Feng cupped his
fists in front of his chest.

Wanyan Honglie did not know that Ouyang Feng had a very big name in the martial
art realms; he saw Ouyang Feng showed an arrogant expression, but for Ouyang
Ke’s sake he returned the respect.

As Peng Lianhu, Sha Tongtian and the others heard his name, they bowed and sang
their praises, “For a long time Mr. Ouyang is the Mount Tai and the Big Dipper
[meaning ‘ultimate’] of the Wulin world; today we are fortunate to finally meet you.”
Ouyang Feng slightly bowed, returning their respect half-heartedly.

The ‘da shou yin’ Venerable Lingzhi came from Tibet, he did not know the Western
Poison’s reputation; he merely put his palms together without saying anything.

Wanyan Honglie knew that Sha Tongtian and the others were conceited men, they
always looked down towards others; but he noticed they were very respectful toward
Ouyang Feng almost to the point of fear and heaped him with flattering words, and
their faces looked very unusual. Wanyan Honglie realized that this swollen man with
disheveled hair and bare feet was not an ordinary person; immediately he treated
Ouyang Feng with respect and uttered some polite words.

Among these people, Liang Ziweng was the only one with different feeling. Guo Jing
had drunk the valuable blood of his precious viper; now that they saw each other,
how could he not feel angry? But he noticed that the person he was most afraid of,
Hong Qigong, was with Guo Jing. So even though he was very angry, he managed to
keep a smiling face. He went forward and bowed respectfully, “The little Liang
Ziweng greets Clan Leader Hong, wishing you, Senior well.”

His speech had startled everybody else; they have heard the stellar reputation of the
Western Poison and the Northern Beggar for a long time, but they have never met
them in person. Who would have expected that two of the biggest names of the
martial art world actually made their appearance at the same time? They were about
to rush forward and pay their respects when Hong Qigong laughed big and said, “The
Old Beggar is having a very bad luck, a vicious dog has bitten me half dead and half
alive, what are you paying respect for? It’s better for you to bring me something to
eat.”

Everybody was startled, they thought, “This Hong Qigong only laying down
motionless, turned out he is severely injured. We don’t have anything to fear, then.”
They looked at Ouyang Feng, wanted to see what he was going to do.

Early on Ouyang Feng had cooked up a plan on how to get rid of these three people:
Hong Qigong must be eliminated first to avoid his own lowly behavior to be publicly
known; next, he would force Guo Jing to explain the difficult sentences from the
manual, and then he would execute him. As for Huang Rong, although his nephew
loved her, if he left her alive, she would bring enormous disaster in the future.
However, if he personally killed her, Huang Yaoshi would not let him have a single
moment of peace. Therefore, he wanted to borrow someone else’s hand to have her
killed thus shifting the blame from his own shoulders. Presently these three were
aboard the boat, thus he was not afraid they would fly to the sky to escape. He
stepped forward and said to Wanyan Honglie, “These three people are very crafty;
they are also highly skilled in martial arts. I beseech the Prince to assign some
people to guard them well.”
Liang Ziweng was very pleased; he leaned to the left and squeezed through Sha
Tongtian to grab Guo Jing’s hand. Guo Jing turned his wrist over and slapped Liang
Ziweng’s shoulder. It was the ‘seeing dragon in the field’; a swift and heavy stance;
even though Liang Ziweng’s martial art skill was high, unexpectedly he was forced to
stagger back two steps.

Peng Lianhu and Liang Ziweng were continually in competition to win favor in the
presence of Wanyan Honglie. They always wanted to outdo the other; their faces
were different from their hearts. Seeing Liang Ziweng stumble, Peng Lianhu was
secretly very pleased. He stepped forward to surround Hong Qigong and the others;
but he waited for Liang Ziweng to fall flat before making any action.

When Liang Ziweng squeezed through Sha Tongtian’s side to pull Guo Jing away; he
was prepared against Guo Jing’s single stance of the Proud Dragon Repents; he knew
he would not be able to block it head on, hence the sideways attack. Who would
have thought that in less than a month the Proud Dragon Repents was not the only
one Guo Jing knew? Seeing Guo Jing did not pursue, he jumped up and attacked
with his fists, launching his lifelong trained martial art, the ‘liao dong ye hu quan fa’
[wild fox from Liaodong fist technique]; determined to take Guo Jing’s life, both for
embarrassing him just now, also for killing his precious snake in the past.

One time Liang Ziweng went to pick ginseng on Mount Changbai [located in Jilin
province]; he saw a hound was fighting with a wild fox on the snow. The fox was
very cunning, it leaped to the east and hopped to the west, very quick and agile.
Although the hound’s claws and teeth were sharp, after battling for a long time it had
not scored victory yet. Liang Ziweng noticed the ability of the fox to jump very high;
he got a sudden inspiration. He abandoned his intention to pick ginseng and decided
to stay inside a thatched hut on the deep snowy mountain, painstakingly pondering
martial art moves for several months. As a result, the ‘wild fox fist technique’ was
born.

The technique incorporates four fundamental principles, namely ‘ling’ [alert/quick],

‘shan’ [dodge], ‘pu’ [pounce], and ‘die’ [tumble]. This technique had come in handy
in dealing with powerful enemies of his. First of all, he did not give the enemy any
opportunity to catch him as he was very quick to retreat, as he was able to hasten to
the left and escape to the right; and then struck back as opportunity arose.

This time he did not dare to underestimate his opponent anymore and launched this
fist technique right away. His attacks were lightning fast as he threw everything he
got on Guo Jing. The fist technique was weird, Guo Jing had never seen anything like
it before. He thought, “In Rong’er’s ‘luo ying shen jian zhang’ [falling leaves divine
sword palm technique] there are many trick moves; out of five attacks only one is
real; or perhaps one out of eight. But seems like this old man’s fists are all empty
strikes. I wonder what kind of strange technique is this?” However, he still
remembered Hong Qigong’s advice that regardless of the technique his opponent
was using, all he needed to do was to keep fighting using the 18-Dragon Subduing
Palms.

After watching these two men fighting for a while, everybody started to silently
shake their heads, thinking, “The Old Freak Liang can be considered a grand master
of martial art; how come in fighting this new born kid he keeps moving around and
does not dare to attack head on?”
Several moves later Guo Jing’s palm strength started to push him back step by step;
looked like very soon he would fall into the ocean. Realizing his ‘wild fox fist’ would
not help him scoring the victory, Liang Ziweng was thinking of using a different set of
fist technique; but it was too late. Guo Jing’s palms had enveloped him completely,
did not give him any chance to counterattack.

Amidst the strong gusts of wind Hong Qigong’s voice was heard, “Attack the lower
part!”

Guo Jing immediately launched the stance ‘zhan long zai ye’ [exhausted battling
dragon] and his left arm swept away. Liang Ziweng cried out in alarm and tumbled
down over the edge of the boat.

Everybody was stunned and rushed forward to the edge to watch, only to hear
somebody on the sea laugh a long laugh. Suddenly Liang Ziweng’s body flew back up
and with a loud grunt he fell straight back to the deck, unconscious.

What had just happened confounded everybody on board. Could it be that the sea
water bounced his body back up? Everybody crowded by the edge of the boat,
looking down to the sea below, only to see an old man with white beard and white
hair rushing to the east and dashing to the west on the surface of the sea with an
unusual speed. They strained their eyes to see more clearly; turned out that man
was riding on the back of a huge shark, with a speed not inferior to those riding on
horseback galloping on dry land.

Guo Jing was pleasantly surprised, with a loud voice he shouted, “Big Brother Zhou, I
am here!” That shark rider was indeed the Old Urchin Zhou Botong.

Zhou Botong heard Guo Jing’s shout; he cheered in delight and hit the shark head
near its right eye with his fist; the shark turned left immediately, coming near by the
boat’s side.

“Is that Brother Guo?” Zhou Botong called out, “How are you? There is a whale
ahead. I have been chasing it for a whole day and night. I want to continue chasing
it. See you later!”

“Big Brother! Come here, quick!” Guo Jing anxiously called, “There are so many bad
people in here want to bully your little brother!”

Zhou Botong was angry, “Is that so?” His right hand held on something inside the
shark’s mouth and pulled, while his left hand dangled on the ledge of the big boat.
Both man and shark suddenly flew up and above everybody’s head, and landed on
the deck. He roared, “Who dares to bully my little brother?”

Every single one of the people aboard had an extensive knowledge of Jianghu
matters, but this white bearded old man who suddenly appeared in a most bizarre
way caused everybody to be stupefied. Even Hong Qigong and Ouyang Feng were
dumbstruck.

Zhou Botong saw Huang Rong; he felt strange. “How come you are also here?” he
asked.
Huang Rong smiled, “Why not?” she replied, “I figured out you will come back today,
that’s why I am waiting for you here. Quickly teach me how to ride a shark.”

Zhou Botong laughed, “Very well, I’ll teach you.”

Huang Rong replied, “But first you have to help us get rid of these bad people, and
then you can teach me.”

Zhou Botong swept his gaze across the people on the deck and he said to Ouyang
Feng, “I knew other people won’t dare to act so savagely, turned out it is really you.”

Ouyang Feng coldly replied, “A man who did not keep his word, even if he is alive in
this world, he will be the laughingstock of all the warriors of the world.”

“Totally correct,” Zhou Botong said, “A man of integrity certainly won’t cause
trouble; but whoever speaks and whoever farts has to be distinguished clearly;
otherwise other people who hear it might not know if the sound comes out from
above or from below. I am indeed looking for you to settle an old score, so it’s
nothing better than to see you here. Old Beggar, you are our witness; stand up and
give us your judgment.”

Hong Qigong was lying on the deck, he smiled slightly. Huang Rong said, “The Old
Poison was almost dead nine times, and my Shifu was kind enough to rescue him
every single time; but who would have thought that he has a heart of a wolf and the
lungs of a dog, repaying kindness with evil, he injured my Shifu and sealed his
acupoints.”

Actually, overall Hong Qigong only saved Ouyang Feng’s life three times, but Huang
Rong intentionally exaggerated that number three times. Ouyang Feng knew this,
but he did not want to argue; he only looked at her with blazing eyes.

Zhou Botong stooped down trying to unseal Hong Qigong’s ‘qu xhi’ [song reservoir]
and ‘yong quan’ [bubbling spring] acupoints by rubbing them. “Old Urchin, it’s
useless,” Hong Qigong said.

Turned out the acupoint sealing method Ouyang Feng used was somewhat unusual,
other than himself and Huang Yaoshi, there was nobody else in this whole wide world
who would be able to unseal it. Ouyang Feng was so smug, “Old Urchin, unseal his
acupoints if you have the ability,” he challenged.

Even though Huang Rong could not unseal them, but she was familiar with the
sealing method; she made a flat lip and said, “What’s so strange about that? Without
too much effort my father can unseal this ‘tou gu da xue fa’ [penetrating bone
acupoint sealing technique].”

Hearing her mentioning the correct name of his acupoint sealing technique, Ouyang
Feng was amazed that this little girl knowledge was as deep as a bottomless abyss,
even encompassing acupoint sealing techniques. However, he did not pay any
attention to her; turning to Zhou Botong he asked, “You have lost our bet; why are
you talking like breaking a smelly wind?”

Zhou Botong covered up his nose and called out, “Break wind? Smell bad, smell bad!
But let me ask you this: what did we bet on?”
“Everybody here, except this surnamed Guo kid and this little girl, is a well-known
warrior. I’ll tell what had happened and ask these gentlemen to be our judge,”
Ouyang Feng replied.

“Well said, well said,” Peng Lianhu said, “Mr. Ouyang, please tell us.”

“This gentleman here is the Quan Zhen Sect’s Zhou Botong, Master Zhou, known in
the Jianghu world as the Old Urchin. In term of seniority he held a very high
position, even Qiu Chuji, Wang Chuyi, and the other Quan Zhen Seven Masters are
his martial nephews.

For the last dozen of years or so, Zhou Botong was detained on the Peach Blossom
Island, before then his martial art skill was still obscure; except for some
mischievous troubles, he had never accomplished anything worth mentioning,
therefore, his reputation did not spread loud and wide in the Jianghu world.
However, everybody had seen that he was riding a shark, a feat not easily
accomplished by any of them. Turned out he was the martial uncle of the Quan Zhen
Seven Masters, no wonder he was this good. As a result everybody talked among
themselves in low voice.

Peng Lianhu remembered their appointment on the eighth month’s mid-autumn

festival in Jiaxing; if the Quan Zhen Seven Masters had this strange man as their
helper, they would not be easy to deal with. He could not help but feeling anxious.

Ouyang Feng continued, “This Zhou Xiong was stranded on the sea among a flock of
sharks, and I rescued him out. I said this flock of sharks was nothing; without to
much effort I can kill every single one of them. Zhou Xiong did not believe me, thus
the two of us made a bet. Zhou Xiong, wasn’t what I said true?”

Zhou Botong nodded his head repeatedly, “It was absolutely true. Betting on what,
you need to explain to everybody,” he said.

“Exactly!” Ouyang Feng said, “I said that if I lost, I will do whatever you want me to
do. If I am not willing to do it, then I must jump into the sea to become fish food.
You have said the same thing, is that correct?”

Zhou Botong nodded his head again, “Right, right, that was absolutely correct; and
then what happened?” he asked.

“What do you mean ‘what happened’? You have lost!” Ouyang Feng said.

This time Zhou Botong shook his head repeatedly, “Not true, not true!” he said, “It
was you who have lost, not me.”

Ouyang Feng was angry, “A real man can distinguish between right and wrong; how
can you deny your own words? If I lost, how come you were willing to plunge into
the sea to kill yourself?”

Zhou Botong sighed, “That’s true. Originally I also said that the Old Urchin’s fortune
was bad so I lost to you; who would have thought that as I went down into the water
the Heaven sent something we can regard as a coincidence. Only then did I know
that the Old Poison had lost, the Old Urchin had won.”
Together Ouyang Feng, Hong Qigong and Huang Rong asked, “What coincidence?”

Zhou Botong stooped down and with his left hand, grabbed a piece of stick stuck
inside the shark’s mouth. He lifted the shark and said, “I met my riding animal. Old
Poison, take a look; it was your precious nephew who stuck this wooden stick inside
its mouth, wasn’t it?”

It was indeed Ouyang Ke who concocted this wicked plan to prop-up a wooden stick
inside the shark’s mouth, so that it would not be able to eat and eventually die of
starvation. This, Ouyang Feng had seen with his own eyes. Right now he saw a huge
shark with a wooden stick in its mouth; he also saw the wound caused by the hook
on the shark’s mouth. Without any doubt this was the very same shark they returned
to the sea that day. “So what?” he asked.

Zhou Botong clapped his hands and laughed, “That means you lost! Our bet was you
killed every single one of the sharks, but this good fellow was bestowed a good
fortune by your nephew, it could not eat the dead sharks, hence could not eat the
poison. It was the only shark left alive. So how can’t you say the Old Urchin has
won?” He burst out in laughter. Ouyang Feng’s countenance changed, he could not
say anything.

Guo Jing delightedly asked, “Big Brother, where were you these past few days? I was
so miserable thinking about you.”

Zhou Botong laughed, “I am playing and having fun. Not long after I jumped into the
sea, I saw this fellow grasping for breath on the surface, it seemed to be in agony. I
said, ‘Old Shark, oh Old Shark, looks like today you and I share the same fate!’ And
then I jumped suddenly on the shark’s back. It furiously went down under the water,
I had to hold my breath, my both hands holding tightly to its neck and my feet
randomly kicked its belly. With great difficulty it went back up to the surface.
Without giving me a chance to take two mouthfuls of breathe this fellow dove back
underwater. The two of us fought for half a day and finally he became obedient and
was willing to listen to what I say; I want it go to the east, it went to the east, I want
it to head north, he wouldn’t dare of going south.” While saying those words he
gently patted the shark’s head, looking so pleased.

Among those who were present, Huang Rong was the only one who admired and
envied him. Her eyes shone and she asked, “I have played in the sea for many
years, why hadn’t I thought of this trick? I was so stupid!”

“Look at its mouth full of teeth, they are as sharp as knives,” Zhou Botong said, “If
there is no stick in its mouth, do you dare to ride it?”

“You spent the last few days riding on the back of the fish?” Huang Rong asked.

“Certainly,” Zhou Botong replied, “The two of us have a pretty good skill of catching
fish. As soon as we saw a fish, we chased it; I sent a fist or a palm to kill it. Out of
ten fish, I only ate one and this fellow ate the other nine.”

Huang Rong traced the shark’s belly and asked, “You dumped dead fish into its belly?
It did not need its teeth to eat?”
“Oh, he is a good eater,” Zhou Botong answered, “There was a time the two of us
chasing an extremely big cuttlefish …”

Two people, one old the other young, were having an animated discussion, totally
ignoring everybody else on board the ship. Ouyang Feng groaned inwardly, silently
thinking of some ideas to deal with this situation. Suddenly Zhou Botong turned to
him and said, “Hey, Old Poison, do you admit defeat?”

Ouyang Feng was the one making the speech earlier; how could he swallow his own
words in front of these many people? He was obliged to say, “So what if I lost? Do
you think there is anything I can’t do?”

“Hmm,” Zhou Botong said, “I must think of a difficult thing for you to do. Very well,
you scolded me just now that I was farting; I want you to fart immediately! Let
everybody smell.”

Hearing Zhou Botong only asked Ouyang Feng to break wind for no reason at all
Huang Rong was annoyed. Breaking wind at will was naturally not easy for an
average person, but with a strong internal energy, it was not difficult to circulate the
breathing to the whole body, hence it was an extremely trivial thing to do. She was
afraid of Ouyang Feng’s craftiness and of his venomous snake staff; she was afraid
he would grab this opportunity and gently broke wind, hence put it all behind without
too much trouble. Therefore, hastily she said, “Not good, not good! First you want to
tell him to unseal my Shifu’s acupoints, then we can talk again.”

“Look!” Zhou Botong said, “Even a young miss is afraid of your smelly fart. Alright,
I’ll let you go this time. I am not going to ask you to do a difficult thing anyway;
quickly tend to the Old Beggar’s injury. The Old Beggar’s skill is not under yours; if
not of your sneakiness, no way you would be able to injure him. After he is healed,
the two of you can fight again. That time let the Old Urchin be the judge.”

Ouyang Feng knew Hong Qigong’s injury was incurable; he was not afraid of future
retaliation. But he was afraid Zhou Botong would come up with a more difficult and
strange request. Under the eyes of numerous people he felt really awkward; he did
not want to comply, yet he was too proud to deny. Without saying anything he bent
down and exerted his strength to his palm and unsealed Hong Qigong’s acupoints.
Huang Rong and Guo Jing rushed forward to help their master standing up.

Zhou Botong again swept his gaze to the people on the deck, he said, “The Old
Urchin is most afraid to smell the urine taste of the sheep eaten by barbarians.
Quickly let down a small boat to send us four people ashore.”

Ever since he saw the fight between Zhou Botong and Huang Yaoshi, Ouyang Feng
knew that this man’s martial art was really strange. If for any reason they had to
fight, he was certain he would not be defeated, but scoring a victory was not
guaranteed either. Therefore, he decided to endure patiently for the time being. He
wanted to wait until he had mastered the Nine Yin Manual, then he would come and
settle the account with Zhou Botong. Besides, he had an excuse of losing the bet
earlier. When all was said and done, it would be better off to send this annoying
plague away anyway, so he made up his mind and said, “ Very well, your luck was
very good! Since you won the bet, let it be as you said.” Turning his head to Wanyan
Honglie he said, “Prince, please let down a boat to take this four people ashore.”
Wanyan Hongli hesitated, he thought, “I am afraid as soon as they are ashore, these
four people will leak my secret mission to the south.”

All along the Venerable Lingzhi was watching with his cold eyes; earlier he had seen
Ouyang Feng’s unkempt appearance and already his heart was filled with contempt.
He thought that this chicken-half-drown-in-soup did not dare to defy even for half a
word of whatever Zhou Botong told him to do; most likely he had been enjoying an
unearned reputation. Even if his martial art was excellent, he would not be
necessarily more skillful than the rest of the people on board. Noticing Wanyan
Honglie had a slight hesitation, he moved forward two steps and said, “If we are on
the raft, then whatever Mr. Ouyang wishes we must comply, how can other people
dare to speak too much? But we are on the boat, we have to listen to the Prince’s
instruction.”

Listening to this, everybody’s heart was stirred and they turned their gaze toward
Ouyang Feng to see what he was going to do. Coldly Ouyang Feng looked up and
down Venerable Lingzhi, sizing him up. He raised his head to the sky and wryly said,
“This Great Monk deliberately wants to make things difficult for this old man?”

Venerable Lingzhi replied, “I don’t dare. The lowly monk lived at the edge of Tibet;
friendless and ignorant. Today was the very first time I heard Mr. Ouyang’s
honorable name. I don’t have anything to do with you whatsoever …”

Before he could finish, Ouyang Feng had moved forward one step; his left hand
swiftly made a false move, his right hand deftly grab Venerable Lingzhi’s tall and
grand stature. With a little effort he turned the monk around and held him upside
down. It had happened so fast; all the others saw was Venerable Lingzhi’s red
kassaya sway and then loosely flutter in midair; nobody saw clearly what kind of
technique Ouyang Feng used.

Venerable Lingzhi was a head taller than everybody else, but Ouyang Feng was able
to grab his neck like holding a slice of fat meat. Even if Ouyang Feng stretched out
his arm completely upward, he would not necessarily be able to lift Lingzhi’s feet off
the ground; but when Ouyang Feng turned his body upside down, the top of Lingzhi’s
head was actually about four feet above the deck.

Venerable Lingzhi’s legs were kicking randomly in the air, his mouth let out roaring
curses. Everybody had seen Venerable Lingzhi fought Wang Chuyi at the Zhao Palace
the other day; they knew his skill was not a trivial matter. But how could he be
turned upside down by Ouyang Feng, his arms flailing weakly on the sides of his
ears, like those arms were broken and he did not have any strength to struggle free?

With his eyes still looking upward, Ouyang Feng dryly said, “Today was the first time
you heard my name; therefore, you look down upon the old man, don’t you?”

Venerable Lingzhi was both scared and angry. He tried to exert his energy several
times, trying to struggle free, but no matter what, he was not able to escape. Peng
Lianhu and the others saw what happened, their countenances changed of
amazement.

Ouyang Feng continued, “You look down upon the old man, that’s alright. But I don’t
want to stoop down to your low level in front of the Honorable Prince. You want to
detain the Old Urchin, Master Zhou, the Nine-fingered Divine Beggar, Master Hong.
Heh, heh … do you think you can rely on your magical skill to match them? You are
both friendless and unlearned; no wonder you don’t know much and have not had
enough lessons to teach you manners. Old Urchin, take this!”

Again, nobody saw Ouyang Feng’s hand move; he merely exert his strength to his
palm and Venerable Lingzhi flew like a cloud from the port side to the starboard of
the deck. As soon as he felt Ouyang Feng’s palm strength left his body and he was
free, Lingzhi stretched his body like a carp trying to turn his body right side up. But
suddenly he felt a shot of pain on his neck; he cried out in pain, and stretched out
his left arm to attack, but again he felt his arm went numb and hung helplessly on
the side of his head. Once again his body was suspended midair. Turned out Zhou
Botong followed Ouyang Feng’s example and grabbed him by the neck.

Wanyan Honglie understood Lingzhi’s precarious situation; he knew nobody could

accuse Ouyang Feng of not giving forewarning. No one among his warriors had the
ability to deal with Zhou Botong, this one man; hence he hastily said, “Mister Zhou,
you don’t have to play anymore, Little Prince is sending out a boat to take the four of
you ashore.”

“Very good,” Zhou Botong said, “You can also try; take this!” Following Ouyang
Feng’s example, he exerted his strength to his palm and sent Venerable Lingzhi
flying toward the Prince.

Of course Wanyan Honglie knew martial art, but his skill was limited to saber, spear
and bow and arrow on a horseback. The flying plump monk from Zhou Botong’s hand
carried a swift and strong force; how could he take it? Even if he didn’t die he would
certainly suffer a heavy injury; so he hastily stepped aside to elude.

Sha Tongtian knew the Prince was in danger and right away he stepped forward in
front of the Prince, trying to protect him. He saw Venerable Lingzhi was coming fast;
if he struck with his palm, he might injure the monk. Following Ouyang Feng and
Zhou Botong’s example earlier, he wanted to grab the monk’s neck and turn him
right side up, and then lay him down nicely.

However, he had forgotten one important detail; namely, his martial art was way
below of those two people. He saw Ouyang Feng and Zhou Botong seemingly without
any effort grabbing and throwing Venerable Lingzhi’s heavy body. Hence he leaped
up to intercept Lingzhi, stretching his hand to grab his neck. Unexpectedly as he
touched Venerable Lingzhi’s neck he felt a burning sensation following a strong force
attacking his hand and wrist. He knew if he did not ward off this attack his wrist
would be broken immediately. In this critical time he quickly withdrew his right hand,
while his left fist launched the ‘po jia zhui’ [splitting armor awl].

What happened was when Venerable Lingzhi was thrown away back and forth
between Ouyang Feng and Zhou Botong, his blood was flowing adversely, his head
was dizzy while his heart was burning with anger. He heard Zhou Botong calling out
someone else to take his body, all he knew was that person must be an enemy;
hence when he was still airborne he had already exerted his strength in anger. As
soon as Sha Tongtian’s hand bumped onto his neck his ‘da shou yin’ slapped out.

In term of strength these two were in par with each other; Sha Tongtian had the
advantage of standing upright, but Venerable Lingzhi had prepared his attack
beforehand, and thus caught him off guard. Two equal forces collided, Sha Tongtian
was pushed back three steps, but Venerable Lingzhi was also shaken from the
collision that he fell flat on the deck. Immediately he stood up and saw that the
person who attacked him was Sha Tongtian; he thought, “Even you, a stinky thief,
want to take advantage of me!” With a loud roar he pounced forward.

Peng Lianhu knew he misunderstood; hastily he blocked in between two people,

calling out, “Reverend please don’t get angry, Brother Sha only has a good
intention.”

In the meantime the small boat had been lowered down. Zhou Botong grabbed the
stick inside the shark’s mouth; he lifted and hurled the huge shark to the sea,
simultaneously exerting his strength and broke the stick into two parts. While diving
into the sea, that shark suddenly felt the stick in its mouth was broken, it was very
happy. It dove deep into the water to hunt for some fish.

Huang Rong smiled, “Brother Jing, later on the two of us and Big Brother Zhou can
ride sharks together and then we can have a race.” Guo Jing did not answer, Zhou
Botong clapped his hands and cheered, he said, “We can ask the Old Beggar to be
our judge.”

After seeing Zhou Botong and the others went out on the small boat, Wanyan
Honglie started to think that with this kind of martial art, Ouyang Feng would provide
a valuable assistance to his plan of stealing the book. He pulled Venerable Lingzhi’s
hand and walked toward Ouyang Feng. “Everybody here is good friend, I hope Sir
would not be offended, I am sure Reverend was not serious. I wish both gentlemen
would give Little Prince face and consider everything as a joke,” he said.

Ouyang Feng smiled and extended his hand. Venerable Lingzhi on the other hand,
was still upset. He mused, “You only use the seizing technique [‘qin na’] and caught
me off guard. I have trained painstakingly for dozens of years to develop my ‘da
shou yin’ power; do you think I am inferior to you?” Hence he also stretched out his
hand while sending his energy to his palm, with the intention of gripping hard
Ouyang Feng’s palm. But he was just about to exert his strength when he suddenly
jumped away. He felt like he was touching red-hot burning steel and his hand was so
much in pain that he dropped it in a hurry. Ouyang Feng did not want to pursue, he
simply smiled faintly. Venerable Lingzhi looked at his hand and did not see anything
unusual, he thought, “Damn it, this old thief surely knows demonical tricks.”

Ouyang Feng saw Liang Ziweng was still lying down on the deck, unmoving. He came
to examine him. Ouyang Feng knew that Liang Ziweng was pushed to the sea by Guo
Jing and later on intercepted by Zhou Botong, who sealed his acupoint and threw
him back to the boat. Thereupon he unsealed Liang Ziweng acupoints. Automatically
Ouyang Feng became the leader of this group of warriors.

Wanyan Honglie immediately ordered a banquet to welcome Ouyang Feng uncle and
nephew. While drinking wine Wanyan Honglie explained his plan to go to Lin’an and
steal the ‘Wumu Legacy’ to Ouyang Feng; and at the same time asking Ouyang
Feng’s willingness to help him. Actually Ouyang Feng had heard about this matter
from his nephew; this time his heart was stirred, suddenly a thought came into his
mind, “What kind of man do you think I, Ouyang Feng, am? How can I submit to
you? But I heard not only Yue Fei’s military skill was divine, but his martial art skill
was also superb. I heard the Yue Family’s martial art has been lost in the martial art
world. Perhaps in his legacy there was a martial art manual besides the military
strategy. I will agree to help him get the book then if I like what I see, can’t the Old
Poison get what he wanted?”

It was precisely: You cheat, I am crafty; everybody for himself. Wanyan Honglie
wholeheartedly wanted the book to help him defeat the Great Song, but while the
praying mantis was hunting for cicada, the yellow canary caught it from behind;
Ouyang Feng had a different idea on top of his. Therefore, one man heaped flattering
words, the other’s mouth was full of compliance. In addition, Liang Ziweng made an
utmost effort to be a good host; the banquet table was overflowing with wine. The
guests and the hosts were having a good time. Only Ouyang Ke was still in pain from
his injury; he did not drink any wine, he only ate some dishes and then asked the
crew to help him going to the rear cabin to take a rest.

While they were eating and drinking in a lively manner, suddenly Ouyang Feng’s
countenance changed. The cup stopped at his mouth, he did not drink. Everybody
was startled; nobody knew what had offended him. Wanyan Hongli was about to ask
when Ouyang Feng said, “Listen!”

Everybody inclined their heads to listen, but other than the wind and the wave of the
sea, they did not hear anything. A moment later Ouyang Feng asked again, “Do you
hear it this time? It’s a flute sound.” Everybody listened attentively with rapt
attention, now they could hear amidst the sound of the waves, there was a faint
sound of bamboo flute, sometimes broken, sometimes continued. Nobody could hear
it if Ouyang Feng did not point it out.

Ouyang Feng walked to the bow; there he let out a long whistle, the sound traveled
far away. By now everybody else had arrived at the bow. They saw on the distant a
light boat with three green sails, cutting the waves and coming fast toward their
boat. They were inwardly astonished, “Is the flute sound coming from that boat? It’s
very far away, how can the sound travel here?”

Ouyang Feng ordered the sailors to change the rudder to intercept that fast boat.
Two boats gradually came closer to each other. On the bow of that fast boat stood a
man wearing a dark green long robe, in his hand was indeed a flute. He called out
loudly, “Feng Xiong, have you seen my daughter?”

“Your daughter has a very strong temperament, how can I dare to provoke her?”
Ouyang Feng replied.

Two boats were several ‘zhang’s apart; nobody saw that man moved his body and
jumped, yet they saw a blur shadow, and that man had already standing on the big
boat’s deck.

As Wanyan Honglie saw his marvelous skill, his desire to recruit warriors arose; he
stepped forward to welcome the guest, saying, “What is your surname, Sir? I am
very fortunate to receive your visit.” Considering his lofty position as a prince of the
Great Jin, he was being unusually modest; but upon seeing he was wearing a Jin
country official’s costume, that man only gave him a blank stare, apparently did not
pay any attention to him.

Seeing the prince did not get the attention he deserved Ouyang Feng said, “Yao
Xiong, let me present to you the Sixth Prince of the Great Jin, Prince Zhao.” To
Wanyan Honglie he said, “This is the Master of the Peach Blossom Island, the
number one martial artist in the world, his knowledge is unparalleled.”

Peng Lianhu and the others were so shocked that they involuntarily withdrew several
steps back. They knew from the start that Huang Rong’s father was a very fierce
devil; the Twin Killers of the Dark Wind were his renegade disciples, yet they were
able to shake the Jianghu with their might, the face of the people of the Wulin world
would change color whenever their names were mentioned. If the disciples were this
fierce, how much more would be their master? This time he appeared to create
trouble for sure, they thought; everybody remembered that they have offended his
daughter. Therefore, everybody’s heart was filled with fear and nobody dared to
make a sound.

When his daughter ran away, Huang Yaoshi knew she must be looking for Guo Jing.
Initially he was angry and ignored her. But a few days later he became worried, he
was afraid she would find Guo Jing on the special ship he built and thus went down
to the bottom of the sea together. He was worried to the death for his daughter, so
he decided to go out to the sea and search for her.

Knowing they were returning to the mainland, he decided to head to the west. But
looking for a boat in a boundless sea was truly easier said than done. Even though
Huang Yaoshi possessed an extraordinary intelligence, but after going back and forth
searching he could not see even her shadow. That particular day backed by his
strong internal energy he played his flute at the bow of his boat, with the hope that
his daughter would hear and responded; unexpectedly it was Ouyang Feng whom he
met.

Huang Yaoshi and Peng Lianhu and the others did not know each other. Hearing
Ouyang Feng say that this person was a prince of the Jin, he did not want to stay
much longer; he cupped his fists across his chest and said to Ouyang Feng, “Brother
needs to continue my search for my daughter; I apologize for not accompanying you
much longer.” Then he turned around to leave.

Venerable Lingzhi was just angered by Ouyang Feng and Zhou Botong, and now he
saw another extremely arrogant and impolite person coming on board. He heard
what Ouyang Feng had said, but he thought, “Could it be that there are so many
highly skilled people in this world? Most likely these people knew some witchcraft
and deceived others with their demonical ability. Let me try, perhaps I can deceive
him as well.” Hence seeing Huang Yaoshi was about to leave with a loud voice he
said, “Are you looking for a fifteen, sixteen years old young lady?”

Huang Yaoshi paused and turned around with a happy expression on his face, “Yes
Reverend, did you see her?”

Venerable Lingzhi coldly replied, “I did see a young lady, but the one I saw was dead
one, not a live one.”

Huang Yaoshi’s heart turned cold, “What?” he quickly asked, his voice was trembling.

Venerable Lingzhi replied, “About three days ago I saw a body of a young girl
floating on the surface of the sea. She was wearing white clothes with a gold ring on
her hair; originally her face must be so pretty. Ay! What a pity, what a pity! What a
pity her body was swollen by the seawater.” What he described was exactly Huang
Rong’s clothes and adornments, every single one was accurate.
Huang Yaoshi’s mind was greatly troubled, his body shook, his face turned pale; a
moment later he asked, “Are you telling me the truth?”

Everybody else clearly saw Huang Rong boarded the small boat just a moment ago;
now they heard how Venerable Lingzhi was deceiving this man, taking pleasure in
other’s misfortune; but even as they saw Huang Yaoshi’s grieving face, nobody made
any sound.

Venerable Lingzhi coldly continued, “Beside that young lady’s body I saw three other
corpses; one was of a young man with thick eyebrows and big eyes, the other one
was an old beggar with a scarlet wine gourd on his back, and the last one was a
white haired old man.” He was describing Guo Jing, Hong Qigong and Zhou Botong,
three people.

Reaching this point Huang Yaoshi’s doubt was completely gone; he squinted at
Ouyang Feng, thinking, “You knew about my daughter so why you didn’t tell me
earlier?”

Ouyang Feng noticed his look and realized his grief has reached its peak so he
started to have a murderous intent. Although he himself would not suffer a loss this
oncoming force would not be easy to resist; hence he quickly said, “Brother had just
come in on board this board today, and it was the first time I met all these people.
When this Reverend saw some floating corpses, your daughter was not necessarily
among them.” Sighing, he continued, “Your beloved is such a good girl; it is very
regrettable if she really died in such a young age. If my nephew found out, he would
die of heartbreak.” This speech had shifted the blame from his own shoulder, but
clearly did not offend either side.

Listening to Ouyang Feng Huang Yaoshi was completely in shock; his heart sank in
an instant. He was of the kind who loved to vent his anger to others; otherwise when
the Twin Killers of the Dark Wind stole his manual, why did he break Lu Chengfeng
and his other innocent disciple’s legs and expelled them from his school?

This time he felt his chest was icy-cold, but his blood was boiling hot, just like when
his beloved wife died some years ago. His hands were trembling, his face turned
from snow white to crimson red alternatively.

Everybody was looking at him in silence; their hearts were filled with unspeakable
fear. Even Ouyang Feng was anxious; he gathered his ‘qi’ in his ‘dan tian’, his whole
body was alert, ready to take any attack. The entire deck was unusually quiet.
Suddenly Huang Yaoshi let out a long laugh, it sounded like a never ending dragon
roar.

This latest development has taken everybody by surprise; they were startled. They
saw him facing upward and laughing wildly, getting louder and louder. His laughter
had caused a chill in the air; those who listened to it felt more and more miserable.
Gradually the laughter turned into weeping, a very sad one. The people could not
bear it any longer, they felt like they shared his grief and were about to shed tears
too.

Ouyang Feng was the only one who knew his temperament well, that he used to sing
and cry without any specific reason; hence he did not feel too strange. But listening
to him weeping so miserably he thought, “If he keeps crying like this, the Old Heretic
Huang will inevitably injure himself. In the past Ruan Ji mourned the death of his
mother and in doing so had vomited a lot of blood. The Old Heretic Huang could
experience the same fate as that person from the past. It was a pity my iron zither
was lost when my boat sank; otherwise I could have played it along and make his
crying more interesting. This man has an unusual character once he unleashes his
uncontrollable emotion he will most likely suffer a serious internal injury. When it’s
time for the second Sword Meet of Mount Hua I will surely miss a worthy and
formidable opponent. Ay! What a great loss! What a pity, what a pity!”

After crying for a while Huang Yaoshi lifted his jade flute up and struck the edge of
the boat while singing, “Why did God make someone’s life so short? Or someone die
when all the hair in his head had turned white, while the other die because of
disaster or child-birth. The previous calamity had not passed, the new one has come
along. Morning had just blossomed, the evening had already come, the dew came
with the dawn and evaporated immediately. The departed cannot be pursued, the
emotion suddenly fails. The high heaven does not have stairs, to whom shall I pour
my complain out?”

‘Crack!’ the jade flute was broken into two. Without turning his head Huang Yaoshi
walked to the bow. Venerable Lingzhi dashed forward to block him off and coldly
said, “You wept and you laughed like a madman, what do you think you are doing?”

“Reverend, don’t …” Wanyan Honglie called out, but before he finished, Huang
Yaoshi’s right hand stretched out and grabbed Venerable Lingzhi’s neck. Turning him
midair until his feet were facing upward Huang Yaoshi threw him down until his fat
bald head penetrated the deck straight to his shoulders.

It turns out that in the martial art Venerable Lingzhi practiced, his neck was his
weakest point. As soon as he made his move, highly skilled martial artists like
Ouyang Feng, Zhou Botong and Huang Yaoshi could immediately see through this
flaw and attack his weakest spot.

Huang Yaoshi continued singing, “The sky eternal, the earth unchanging, how long
will a man live? The past, the future, everything passed unawares; there is a time for
everything.” A dark green shadow flashed, he had already moved to his own boat,
turned the rudder and sailed away.

The people on board was about to rescue Venerable Lingzhi who stayed motionless,
they did not know if he was alive or dead, suddenly they heard a grunt and the deck
floor opened, out came a young man. He was handsome, with red lips and white
teeth, and a face like a crown jade; he was Wanyan Honglie’s son, Yang Kang, whose
former name was Wanyan Kang.

After having a disagreement with Mu Nianci he kept remembering Wanyan Honglie’s

words, ‘unlimited riches and honor’; thereafter he contacted a Jin government office
in the north to get information. Not long after he found his father king and thus
accompanied him to the south. When Guo Jing and Huang Rong embarked, he
caught a glimpse of them and immediately went hiding inside the cabin, did not dare
to come out, only took a peek through a crack on the cabin’s door; hence he saw
everything that happened on the deck clearly. When the people were eating and
drinking he was still afraid Ouyang Feng was Guo Jing’s accomplice. He hid in the
boat’s hold and eavesdropped at the conversation on the banquet table, trying to
find out Ouyang Feng’s real intention. Only after Huang Yaoshi left he finally decided
that he had nothing to worry about, so he opened the deck’s plank and came out.

The fall of Venerable Lingzhi was truly heavy; fortunately due to his hard training his
head was strong. He made a hole on the deck, but his head was not injured, it was
only a little bit dizzy. He calmed himself down and pushed both hands on the deck to
lift his own body up; then he leaped and stood up.

The people saw the round hole on the deck; they could not be refrained from looking
at each other in amazement. They felt funny, but felt it was inappropriate to laugh,
so they kept their faces straight, but they looked very awkward.

Wanyan Honglie broke the silence by saying, “Son, meet Mr Ouyang.”

Yang Kang immediately knelt in front of Ouyang Feng and kowtowed to him four
times. It was a very big honor, caused everybody to be surprised. Actually at the
Zhao Palace Yang Kang had had a great admiration toward Venerable Lingzhi; but
today he had seen Ouyang Feng, Zhou Botong and Huang Yaoshi, three people, one
after another grabbed his neck and tossed him back and forth like he was just a
baby. Only then did he realize there was a sky above the sky and there was another
man above a man. He recalled the disgrace when he was held captive at the Cloud
Village on Lake Tai, when he was scared of and lost his nerve to fight Guo Jing and
Huang Rong at the Liu ancestral hall in Baoying; all because his skill was inferior to
others. Presently there was a man with a very high skill in front of him, so he wanted
to take him as his master. After paying Ouyang Feng a big respect he turned to
Wanyan Honglie and said, “Father, your son wants to take this gentleman as my
master.”

Wanyan Honglie was delighted, quickly he stepped forward and bowed his respect to
Ouyang Feng, saying, “My young child likes to learn martial arts, only he has not met
a suitable master. If Sir do not relinquish this request and willing to bestow
instructions, Little King father and son will be forever grateful.”

Other people thought that being the young prince’s master was the wish of
everybody; who would have thought that Ouyang Feng simply returned the greeting
and said, “There is always a rule in the Old Man’s martial art school that our
knowledge will be bestowed only to one disciple, and not to someone else. The Old
Man has already taken my own nephew as my disciple, I can’t take another one. For
this I beseech the Prince’s forgiveness.”

Seeing Ouyang Feng did not grant his request Wanyan Honglie did not press. He
ordered his men to prepare some more food and wine. Yang Kang on the other hand,
was quite disappointed.

Ouyang Feng smiled and said, “I don’t deserve to be the young prince’s master, but
it’s not difficult for the Old Man to give you directions on martial arts. We will talk
about it later.”

Yang Kang had seen Ouyang Ke’s many concubines; they had received instructions
in martial arts from him but because they were not his disciples their skills were
nothing but ordinary. Listening to Ouyang Feng said it that way his heart was not in
the least enthusiastic, but his mouth was obliged to utter some grateful words. He
had never realized that Ouyang Feng’s skill was not to be compared with his
nephew; receiving one or two instructions on martial arts from an expert of Ouyang
Feng’s caliber would give him sufficient skill to boast his power and prestige among
the heroes of the Wulin world.

Ouyang Feng noticed his expression and realized his intention to give instructions
was not very well received; so he never raised this matter anymore.

During the banquet they were talking about Huang Yaoshi’s arrogance and rudeness;
they praised Venerable Lingzhi for fooling him well. Hou Tonghai said, “This man’s
martial art’s skill was truly high; turned out that stinky girl is his daughter, no
wonder her way was somewhat crafty.” While saying that he turned his attention
toward Venerable Lingzhi’s bald head. After staring for a while he turned his gaze
toward Lingzhi’s fat neck, and then he bent his own right arm to grab his own neck.
“Hey, hey,” he mocked and asked, “Shige [Older Martial Brother], those three were
using a grabbing skill, what kind of technique was that?”

“Don’t talk nonsense!” Sha Tongtian rebuked him.

Venerable Lingzhi could not hold his patience anymore and he stretched out his left
hand to grab the three horns on Hou Tonghai’s forehead. Hou Tonghai quickly shrank
his body and slid under the table. Everybody was laughing and cheering.

Hou Tonghai reappeared on his chair and said to Ouyang Feng, “Master Ouyang,
your martial art skill is very high indeed! How about you teach me the skill to grab
someone’s fat neck?” Ouyang Feng smiled but did not answer. Venerable Lingzhi
looked at Hou Tonghai with glaring eyes.

Hou Tonghai turned his head and asked again, “Shige, that Huang Yaoshi was crying
and singing, what did he say?”

Sha Tongtian glowered at him, did not know how to answer; “Who cares about the
jabbering of a madman?” he said.

Yang Kang explained, “What he sang was a poem written by Cao Zijian of the Three
Kingdoms period. That Cao Zijian composed two stanzas of lamentation because of
his daughter’s death. In the poem he said how some people live until the hair on
their heads had turned completely white, while some children died prematurely. He
questioned why God was so unfair? He hated the fact the Heaven was so high
without stairs that he could not ascend to His throne to cry out his complain. He
finally said that his grieve was so deep that the day he would follow her to the grave
would not be far away.”

The warriors immediately heaped him with praise, they said, “The Young Prince is
truly a scholar, highly educated. We are rough men, how would we know?”

Huang Yaoshi’s heart was filled with grieve and indignation. He pointed his finger to
the sky and scolding the earth, cursing ghosts and blaming divine beings for treating
him unjustly, for all his sorrows and unfair fate. He commanded his boat toward the
mainland. Once he was ashore his anger flamed again. He looked up to the sky and
shouted, “Who killed my Rong’er? Who killed my Rong’er?”

Suddenly a thought came into his mind, “It’s that boy surnamed Guo. That’s right, it
was him. If not for him, how could Rong’er come aboard that boat? But this boy died
alongside Rong’er; whom should I lash my anger on?”

As soon as he had this thought, he remembered Guo Jing’s masters, the Six Freaks
of Jiangnan. “These six are most guilty of killing my Rong’er! If they didn’t teach that
surnamed Guo kid, how could he meet Rong’er? I won’t be appeased before I cut
their arms and legs one by one.”

As his anger increased, his sorrow decreased somewhat. He arrived at a small town
and stopped for some food; still thinking deeply about how he would pursue the Six
Freaks of Jiangnan. “The Six Freaks’ martial art skills are not high, but their
reputations are not low. Perhaps they have something that set them above
everybody else; perhaps they only use deceit. If I pay a visit to their residence and
inquire, chances are I am not going to find them. I must go in the middle of the
night breaking into their houses; and then I will wipe them and their whole families
clean, young and old alike.” Hence he took big strides walking north toward Jiaxing.

End of Chapter 22
Chapter 23 – Big Trouble in the Imperial Palace

Translated by Danshu, Bluebook & Foxs, Edited by Eliza Bennet

Part 1 Translated by Danshu

Hong Qigong, Zhou Botong, Huang Rong, and Guo Jing took a small boat towards
the west. Guo Jing sat rowing at the stern, while Huang Rong continuously pestered
Zhou Botong with questions about riding sharks on the sea. Zhou Botong would think
of ways to catch sharks in order to amuse Huang Rong. Guo Jing, seeing his master’s
pale complexion, asked “Master, what are you thinking about?” Hong Qigong did not
reply, he just panted hoarsely again and again. The strike he received from Ouyang
Feng had penetrated to the bone; although the vital point had already been released,
the internal injury had actually worsened. Huang Rong fed him nine of her nine
‘flower jade dew’ pills. Although the pain lessened somewhat, the asthma was still
just as bad. Old Urchin, completely disregarding the suffering of others, continued to
make a racket, shouting that they must catch the fish. Huang Rong knew his
behavior was inappropriate, and tried to signal him with her eyes that he should be
quite so as not to disturb Hong Qigong. Zhou Botong, not in the least understanding,
simply continued to cause trouble. Huang Rong knit her brows and said: “You want
to catch sharks, but you don’t have any bait to attract them with, so what are you
going on about?”

The Old Urchin never acts like a respected senior. When juniors drink and swear in
front of him, he’s never offended in the least. He suddenly said: “Got it! Brother Guo,
I’ll hold your hands while you dip the lower half of your body into the sea.” Guo Jing
respected his sworn brother; even though he did not know his intention, he
immediately agreed. Huang Rong immediately called out: “Big brother Jing! Don’t
listen to him! He wants to use you as bait in order to catch sharks.” Zhou Botong
clapped his hands and shouted delightedly: “Exactly! When a shark comes, I’ll
immediately beat it and pull it up! Otherwise, you hold my hands, and I’ll attract the
shark.” Huang Rong replied: “You two deliberately cause so much trouble on this
small boat; if it capsizes, we’ll only have you to blame!” Zhou Botong replied: “If this
boat capsizes, that will be great! We can all play in the ocean!” Huang Rong replied:
“Then what about our master? Do you want him to live or not?”

Zhou Botong held his head, at a loss for words. After a short time, he mentioned it
was strange that Hong Qigong should be injured by Ouyang Feng’s attack. Huang
Rong shouted: “If you talk nonsense again, we three will not speak with you for
three days and three nights!” Zhou Botong stuck out his tongue and did not dare to
say another word. He grabbed an oar to help Guo Jing with the rowing.

Although the land appeared to be close by, it was already dusk by the time they
finally disembarked. That night the four of them slept on the sandy beach. The next
morning, Hong Qigong’s illness had worsened considerably, and Guo Jing’s tears
began to flow. Hong Qigong said with a smile: “Even if I were to live for another
hundred years, I’d still have to die in the end. Good child, I only have one wish left.
Using this old beggar’s last breath, I would ask that the three of you do something
for me.” Huang Rong replied tearfully: “Master, please speak.” Zhou Botong
interrupted: “That old poison I am always seeking is an eyesore. Now my senior is
on the point of death; for the sake of old poison you have already played dead once
before. For a person to die twice, wouldn’t you say that is delightful? Old Beggar, you
go right ahead and die, don’t worry about anything, I will go and kill him in order to
get revenge for you.” Hong Qigong replied with a smile: “Avenging a grievance still
cannot be considered a final wish; what I want is to eat a bowl of minced five-
treasure mandarin duck from the Imperial Palace kitchen.” Out of the three of them,
who would have thought that his final wish was to eat a bowl of food? Huang Rong
replied: “Master, that’s easy; here is not far from Lin An, I’ll steal several large pots
from the Imperial Palace so that you can eat to your heart’s content.” Zhou Botong
interrupted again: “I also want to eat.” Huang Rong gave him a displeased look and
replied: “You also understand how to differentiate between good and bad food?”
Hong Qigong said: “This minced five-treasure mandarin duck is hard to come by.
Back in the day I hid in the Imperial Palace for three months, and only managed to
try a tiny bit. Just recalling the flavour is enough to make one drool.” Zhou Botong
said: “I have an idea, we’ll grab the old emperor’s chef, and make him prepare it.”
Huang Rong replied: “Old Urchin, this idea is not bad.” Zhou Botong, hearing Huang
Rong supporting him, was very pleased with himself.

Hong Qigong, shaking his head in disapproval, replied: “No way, to make this
flavourful mince five-treasure mandarin duck, the kitchen implements, charcoal fire,
and dishes all must form a complete set. If even one is missing, the taste will be off.
We still need to go to the Imperial Palace.” Seeing that the three still had some
scruples, he said “It will be really excellent, if we go, you will all gain valuable
experience.” Immediately Guo Jing carried Hong Qigong on his back and set off
towards the north. Upon reaching a small town, Huang Rong exchanged some of her
jewellery and purchased a small mule cart in order to let Hong Qigong relax and
recover from his wound. Eventually they passed the Qiangtang river, and arrived at
the outskirts of Lin An, seeing nothing but the vast misty sunset, and hearing the
intermittent cawing of a crow. By nightfall they still had not reached the city, and
were forced to seek lodgings for the night. Looking around, they saw only a small
village of several households by the riverbank. Huang Rong called out: “This village
is good, we can rest here.” Zhou Botong replied sullenly: “What’s so good about it?”
Huang Rong replied: “You look, doesn’t this scenery look sort of like a painting?”
Zhou Botong replied: “How does it resemble a painting then?” Huang Rong stared
blankly, having difficulty coming up with a response. Zhou Botong said: “This
painting must be very ugly, what scenery would it have if similar to Old Urchin’s
painting, I’m afraid it must be inferior.” Huang Rong said with a smile: “Want Heaven
to create a landscape, just like Old Urchin’s random scribbling of a painting, Heaven
also has this ability.” Zhou Botong, extremely pleased with himself, replied: “Are you
certain? If you don’t believe, then I’ll make a painting right now, and you can call
Heaven to look.” Huang Rong replied: “Of course I believe it, you already said this
place is not good, so don’t rest here, us three won’t leave.” Zhou Botong replied:
“The three of you won’t go, why on earth would I want to go?” In the midst of this
chatter, they arrived at the village. The village center looked very desolate and
dilapidated, with only a wine shop banner hanging off a pole at the eastern corner of
the village, looking approximately like the village inn. The three people arrived in
front of the inn, and saw two desks under the eaves, on top of which lay an
extremely thick lair of dust. Zhou Botong yelled “Hey!” loudly several times, and a
young girl of indeterminate age with dishevelled hair and clothing came out from the
inner hall. She opened her eyes and gave the three a blank, lifeless stare. Huang
Rong ordered wine and food, but the girl just shook her head continuously. Zhou
Botong said: “Here you have neither wine nor food, what kind of shop are you
running?” The girl shook her head and replied: “I don’t know.” Zhou Botong replied:
“Ai, you really are a silly girl.” The girl grinned and laughed, saying: “That’s right,
I’m called Silly Girl.” The three of them laughed and understood. Huang Rong went
to take a look at the inner hall and the kitchen, finding it full of dust and cobwebs,
with a few pots and other old stuff. On the bed was a torn mat. One couldn’t help but
feel sympathy and sorrow. She returned outside and inquired: “Is it just you living
here?” Silly Girl smiled and nodded. Huang Rong asked again: “What about your
mother?” Silly Girl replied: “Dead!” and wiped her hands across her eyes in imitation
of somebody grieving. Huang Rong asked again: “What about your father?” Silly Girl
shook her head, indicating she didn’t know. They saw her face and hands were filthy,
with long fingernails filled up with black crud. Who knows how long it had been since
she had washed her face and hands. Huang Rong said sadly: “Even if she were to
cook, we wouldn’t be able to eat it.” She asked: “Do you have any rice?” Silly Girl
smiled and nodded, producing half a jar of unpolished rice. Huang Rong immediately
washed the rice and began preparing the meal. Guo Jing returned to the west side of
the village and bought two fish and a chicken. By the time everything was prepared,
it was already dark. Huang Rong brought out the food and placed it on one of the
tables, and searched for an oil lamp, but Silly Girl again shook her head, indicating
there was none.

Foxs’notes:
1. qiqi.com says the girl was about seventeen, eighteen years of age; probably
danshu’s source is the third edition. Zhou Botong called her ‘sha gu niang’ [sha –
silly/dumb, ‘gu niang’ – miss]; she called herself ‘sha gu’ – the character ‘gu’ here is
the same as in the ‘gu niang’; also in the way Yang Guo called Xiao Longnu, ‘gu gu’
[translated as ‘auntie’, lit. paternal aunt]. From now on I am going to simply use
‘Shagu’ to refer to this girl.
2. Other than spelling errors and names to make them more consistent with the rest
of the novel, I did not make any changes. I will let our editor to decide the final
structure.

Part 2 Translated by Foxs

Huang Rong took some firewood and lighted a fire in the furnace; then tried to find
some bowls and chopsticks in the cupboard. She opened the cupboard’s door and a
foul stench attacked her nostrils. She took a lighted wood and saw there were about
seven, eight tattered bowls. Inside and around the bowls were dozens of died insects
off all kinds. Guo Jing helped her fetch the bowls.

“Wash them thoroughly then get some tree branches to use as chopsticks,” Huang
Rong said. Guo Jing mumbled his compliance and took the bowls outside.

Huang Rong stretched her hand to pick the last bowl, and immediately she felt a
difference. This bowl was cold, colder than regular porcelain bowls; she tried to pick
it up, but the bowl did not budge, liked it was nailed to the cupboard. Huang Rong
was astonished. She was afraid she might break the bowl, so she did not dare to use
too much strength. She tried it one more time, the bowl still refused to move. “Could
it be that it has been too long that the dirt made the bowl stuck to the cupboard?”
she wondered in her heart. She took a closer look and saw the bowl was covered
with layers of rust; turned out it was an iron bowl.

Huang Rong let out a soft laugh, she thought, “I have seen rice bowl made of gold,
silver and jade; but I have never even heard of rice bowl made of iron.” She exerted
her strength and lifted the bowl up, but still the bowl did not move. She was more
surprised, she thought that with her strength, even if the bowl was nailed down to
the shelf, the shelf would be cracked. Then she had another thought, “Could it be
that the shelf is also made of iron?” She stretched her middle finger to tap the shelf,
she heard a metallic sound; the shelf was indeed made of iron.

Her curiosity was piqued and she tried lifting the bowl again but the bowl was still
motionless. She tried turning the bowl to the left, still she did not perceive any
movement; she tried turning it to the right, and felt some looseness. She tried
turning it harder, the bowl moved. Suddenly she heard a cracking sound, the
cupboard opened to both sides, revealing a dark hole behind it. An even fouler
stench came out of the hole; making her almost threw up.

Huang Rong let out an “Ah!” and quickly leaped to the side. Guo Jing and Zhou
Botong heard her cry and immediately came in to see the dark hole.

Huang Rong thought out loud, “Is it possible that this is a clandestine inn? That
Shagu could be just pretending to be insane.” She handed over the lighted branch to
Guo Jing, then walked to Shagu, trying to grab her hand. Shagu waved her hand
trying to avoid her grab, and counterattacked by sending her palm toward Huang
Rong’s shoulder. Even though Huang Rong had guessed she did not have a good
intention, but she had never expected this incoming palm carried a powerful
technique. She could not help but feeling slightly startled. Her left hand formed a
hook and her right hand grabbed forward, she launched two strikes in succession.

Ever since she mastered the ‘yi jin duan gu bian’ [chapter on changing muscle
forging bone] from the Nine Yin Manual, her speed and strength increased
tremendously. With a loud slap Shagu cried out for her right arm was hit, but her
attack did not slow down; she counterattacked with two stances one after another.
After several more stances Huang Rong was secretly astonished; Shagu’s
movements were actually the Peach Blossom Island’s basic skill of ‘bi bo zhang fa’
[jade-green waves palm technique]. Although it was somewhat shallow, but it was
actually the foundation of all Peach Blossom Island’s martial arts; every disciple had
to learn it. Huang Rong intensified her attacks in an attempt to identify Shagu’s
martial art school. But Shagu came and went and was able to resist her for six,
seven stances.

The situation was almost like when Guo Jing fought Liang Ziweng with only one
stance, namely The Proud Dragon Repents; but actually her strength was greatly
inferior to Guo Jing; moreover, her palm technique was so straightforward and did
not have the simplest variation. It was beyond everybody’s expectation that in this
remote village there was a clandestine wine shop with a filthy and poor girl who
could fight Huang Rong for more than ten stances.
Zhou Botong found all these things were very amusing; he saw the gust of wind from
Huang Rong’s palm was swift and fierce, while Shagu repeatedly cried out, “Aiyo!”
while resisting Huang Rong’s attack; Zhou Botong shouted, “Hey! Rong’er, don’t
harm her life; let me fight her.” Ever since he heard Hong Qigong and Guo Jing were
calling her ‘Rong’er’ along the way, while Rong’er herself did not seem to mind, he
thought he did not need to be polite by calling her ‘Huang guniang’ or ‘Huang xiaojie’
[both mean Miss (or Lady) Huang].

Guo Jing was afraid Shagu had other companions waiting in the dark ready to
ambush; he stayed closed to Hong Qigong and did not dare to leave.

Several moves later Shagu’s left shoulder was hit, which made her left arm limp; she
was unable to move. If Huang Rong wanted to injure her, all she needed to do was
continue her attack; but she showed mercy and called out, “Quickly kneel down, I’ll
spare your life.”

Part 3 – Translated by Bluebook and Foxs

“You kneel down too!” replied Shagu as she sent out two palms, the 'jade-green
wave' palm technique, toward Huang Rong. However, only the first two stances were
executed repeatedly and the technique was clumsy.

This incomplete 'jade-green wave' palm attack lacked sending power but is
continuous like a wave flowing in water, truly the martial art style of the Peach
Blossom Island. Huang Rong suspicion of Shagu’s martial art root became deeper.
She called out “how did you learn the ‘jade-green wave’ palms? Who is your
master?”

Shagu responded with a smile “You can’t hit me no more, ha … ha …”

Huang Rong raised her left hand, sent on her right hand to the side, feigned an
attack with her left elbow, and slanted her right shoulder forward. These four moves
were fake attacks. Huang Rong followed with the fifth move sending both hands
curving inward. This fifth attack was still false; the next move, a kick, however, was
real. Shagu was unable to stand still. She fell to the ground and called out, “You
used a trick, that does not count, let’s fight again,” as she was crawling up.

Huang Rong would not allow her to stand up, she pounced and push her down,
tearing her clothes down and bind her hands behind her back. “My palm technique is
clearly better than yours,” she said.

Shagu turned around and shouted in dissent, “You tricked me, unacceptable, you
tricked me, unacceptable!”

Guo Jing saw that Huang Rong was able to control Shagu, he walked out from the
inn and jumped on the roof. He looked around for any trace of people but found
none. He went back down and walked around the building and noticed that this
desolate inn was a standalone building; a few ‘zhang’s apart from other houses in
the area, There were no other people hiding around, now at last he felt relieved.

When he walked inside the inn, he saw Huang Rong held a dagger in front of Shagu’s
eyes, threatening her, “Who taught you martial arts? Quickly tell me or else I will kill
you”. While saying that she made two stabbing moves with the dagger.
With the light from the candle, Shagu’s smile can be seen. But looking at her
expression, it was not like either she was brave or mad; it was more like a stupid
smile, completely oblivious of the danger, like she was thinking Huang Rong and she
were just playing around. Huang Rong asked her again, Shagu laughed and said,
“You kill me, I also will kill you!”

Huang Rong raised her eyebrow and said “This stupid girl is not telling us anything,
we should take a look inside the room, Big Brother Zhou, please take care of master
and keep an eye on this girl, Brother Jing, let’s go in.”

Zhou Botong shook his hands and said, “No, I am going in with you.”

Huang Rong told him, “I don’t want you to come in with me.”

Although Zhou Botong was a Senior with higher level of martial arts, for some reason
he did not dare to defy Huang Rong’s order, he could only beg, “Good Miss, next
time I won’t argue with you.”

Huang Rong smiled slightly and nodded her head. Zhou Botong was very happy; he
found two pine branches, lighted them up and fumigated the dark hole for a long
time. The fumigated hole emitted a very foul odor. Huang Rong picked up a
pinewood torch and threw it into the hole. There was a clatter as the torch hit the far
side wall and fell to the ground. Turned out the hole was not deep at all.

With the light from the torch she looked inside. The room was quiet; there was no
trace of people. At that moment, Zhou Botong became impatient and sneaked pass
Huang Rong inside the room. Huang Rong followed Zhou Botong cautiously. The size
of the room was not large. In fact, it was quite small. Zhou Botong cried out “We are
fooled, we are fooled, this is no good!”

Huang Rong then let out an “ah!” sound as she spotted a skeleton of a dead person
lying on the ground. The skeleton lied upward and the clothes had already decayed.
Two rows of ribs of the skeleton were broken. There was another skeleton on the
east corner of the room. This skeleton lied on top of an iron chest. There was a long
blade penetrating the skeleton in between the ribs and pierced through the iron
chest’s lid.

Zhou Botong saw the room was small and dirty. He thought those two dead corpses
were not that interesting. While Huang Rong carefully examined the two skeletons,
Zhou Botong got really impatient and wanted to interrupt her inspection, only to fear
that Huang Rong might get angry. He did not dare to say anything and behaved
normally, while, inside, his mind was going crazy. He tried asking her, “Rong’er,
Good Miss, I can go out now, can't I?”

Huang Rong said “Fine, you can go, get Brother Jing for me.”

Zhou Botong happily ran out and said to Guo Jing, “Come in quickly, it’s very
interesting here,” He was afraid Huang Rong might call him back to accompany him,
so he found a ‘scapegoat’. Guo Jing went in.

Huang Rong raised her torch to show Guo Jing the skeletons and asked, “How do you
think these two people died?”
Guo Jing pointed to the skeleton on the iron chest; “Looks like this person died while
trying to open the iron tank, died of sneak attack in one stab, while another person
had two rows of ribs shattered, so he probably was attacked by a palm of great
internal strength.”

Huang Rong said, “I think so too, but there are some things I don’t quite
understand.”

Guo Jing replied, “What things?”

“Shagu obviously used the peach blossoming island’s technique ‘jade-green wave’
palm, although she only knew six, seven moves and was not proficient, her
technique was good and correct,” said Huang Rong, “The two dead people here, I
wonder what is their relation to Shagu.”

Guo Jing responded, “I will ask the girl”. Oftentimes he was called ‘stupid kid’ by
others so he was not willing to call that girl ‘Shagu’ [meaning stupid aunt].

“I think that girl is truly retarded, it would be difficult to get any information from
her, perhaps we can investigate on our own with the small evidences we have here,”
Huang Rong suggested. She lifted her torch and slowly examined the skeleton and
noticed a shiny object by the iron chest. She picked it up and looked carefully. It was
a gold emblem. In the middle, there is a marking of a gate engraved into the gold.
On the backside of the emblem, there are several engraved characters that read ‘by
royal decree bestowed to loyal martial art master responsible to defend the state,
special guard Shi Yanming’.

Huang Rong said, “If this emblem is his, this government officer’s rank was not low.”

Guo Jing replied, “A high-ranking official died in here, this is strange.”

Huang Rong checked the skeleton on the ground again and she noticed something
sticking out around the rib area. She used the torch end to push on it. The object
fell, dispersing the dust and revealing a sheet made of iron. She called out in a
shocked low voice and picked up the object.

Part 4 – Translated by Foxs

Guo Jing also saw the object in her hand, “Ah!” he also exclaimed.

“Do you recognize this?” Huang Rong asked.

“Certainly,” Guo Jing replied, “This is the iron ‘ba gua’ [Eight Diagram] of Village
Master Lu of the Cloud Village.”

“It is an iron ‘ba gua’ alright, but it doesn’t necessarily belong to Martial Brother Lu,”
Huang Rong said.

“That’s right!” Guo Jing said, “Certainly not. These two men’s clothes and flesh have
been decomposed clean; they have been here for at least ten years.”

Huang Rong was silent for half a day; suddenly a thought came into her heart. She
pulled out the blade stuck on the iron chest’s lid and brought it close to the fire; she
saw a character ‘Qu’ was engraved on the blade. She could not help blurting, “The
one lying on the ground was my martial brother, Qu Shige [older martial brother
Qu].”

“Ah!” Guo Jing exclaimed in surprise.

“Martial Brother Lu said that Martial Brother Lu was still alive, who would have
thought he had already died in this place … Brother Jing, look at his legs bones,”
Huang Rong said.

Guo Jing stooped down and looked, “Both of his legs were broken. Ah, it was your
father who broke them,” he said.

Huang Rong nodded her head. “He was indeed Qu Lingfeng. My father once said that
among his disciples, Martial Brother Qu had the strongest martial art, he was also
my father’s favorite …” Speaking to this point she suddenly dashed out the room.
Guo Jing followed.

Huang Rong quickly went over to Shagu and asked, “Your surname is Qu, isn’t it?”
Shagu giggled but did not answer.

Guo Jing gently asked, “Miss, what is your surname?”

“Surname? (Giggle) Surname!” Shagu said.

Two people wanted to ask further, but Zhou Botong had already called out, “I am
starving! I am starving!”

“Right!” Huang Rong said, “We need to eat first.” She untied Shagu and invited her
to eat together. Shagu was not bashful; she smiled, held out her hands to take the
bowl and ate.

Huang Rong told Hong Qigong everything she found in the secret room. Hong Qigong
also thought it was peculiar, “It seems like that government officer surnamed Shi
had killed your Martial Brother Qu; who would have thought your Martial Brother Qu
had not breathed his last, he threw the blade and killed him.”

“Most probably so,” Huang Rong concurred. She took the blade and the iron ‘ba gua’
and showed them to Shagu. “Whose are these?” she asked.

Shagu’s countenance suddenly changed, she leaned her head sideways to think;
looked like she recalled something, but after a while her face turned indifferent. She
shook her head and took the blade, not willing to let it go.

“Apparently she has seen this blade before,” Huang Rong said, “But it must be a long
time ago and she can’t remember it anymore.”

After eating she took care of Hong Qigong and let him sleep; then Guo Jing and she
went back to the room to take a further look. They thought they key to this mystery
must be hidden inside the iron chest; therefore, they removed the skeleton
crouching on top of the chest and opened the lid up. Turned out the lid could be
easily opened since it was unlocked. Under the torch light their eyes were dazzled by
the gleaming of a chest full of pearl, jade, and all kinds of treasures and antiques.

Guo Jing only felt surprised, but Huang Rong knew each article was a very rare and
precious treasure. Her father’s collection was not as extensive as the content of this
chest. She grabbed a handful of pearls and let her finger loosened; the pearl made
nice clinking sounds as they fell back into the chest and hit the other pearls and
jades. She sighed, “There must be history behind all these treasures; if father were
here he would be tell us the origin of each.” She took them one by one and explained
what it was to Guo Jing; this one was a jade bracelet, this one rhino skin case, that
one was cornelian cup, that one was emerald dish, and so on.

Guo Jing grew up in the desert; not only he had never seen this kind of treasures, he
had never even heard of them; he thought, “People spent so much effort to collect
these gadgets, don’t know what they are going to do with them?”

While speaking Huang Rong continued to grope around in the box, and her hand
touched a piece of hard board; she knew there must be another layer underneath.
She moved the jewelry aside and saw rings around the board; she inserted her little
fingers inside the rings and lifted the board up. Underneath were a bunch of greenish
copper colored antiques. She had heard her father illustrated to her some antique
copperwares, and she recognized some to be ‘long wen ding’ [imperial culture
tripod], ‘shang yi’ [an article from the Shang Dynasty (16th to 11th century BC)],
‘zhou pan’ [plate from Zhou Dynasty (1027BC)], ‘zhou dun’ [an article from Zhou
Dynasty], ‘zhou ju lei’ [tableware from Zhou Dynasty] and such. In the end she had
to admit she did not know much about these articles. If the pearls and jades were
considered treasures worth a fortune, then these bronze antiques were priceless.

The more Huang Rong looked at them, the more marveled she became. She lifted
another board underneath the antiques and discovered rolls and rolls of paintings.
She asked for Guo Jing’s help and together they opened up the paintings one by one.
She was shocked! The first painting was Wu Daozi’s ‘song zi tian wang tu’ [send off a
child heavenward]. The next painting was Han Ganhua’s ‘mu ma tu’ [herding horse];
the other was Southern Tang Dynasty’s Li Houzhu’s ‘lin quan du zhui ren wu’
[crossing the forest spring]. Altogether there were more than twenty scrolls and not
even a single one of them did not originate from the pen of a famous artist. Several
scrolls were calligraphy and paintings from Hui Zong; several others were from the
penmanship of contemporary artists, but each one of them was of the most exquisite
and highest quality art. Among them were the handiworks of imperial court’s artist
Liang Kai’s unique two-rolls splashing ink characters, with a very vivid image; a part
of it reminded her of Zhou Botong.

Huang Rong only looked at about half of them and did not feel like continuing; she
returned everything into the chest, closed the lid and sat on top of the chest,
hugging her knees. She thought, “Father had amassed all kinds of treasures all his
life, but the value of his collection maybe only one tenth of the content of this chest;
how did Martial Brother Qu have this kind of ability to obtain these many rare and
priceless treasures?” No matter how hard she racked her brain she could not think of
any good explanation.

Every time Huang Rong was thinking hard, Guo Jing had never dared to disturb her
train of thoughts. He stayed quiet until he heard Zhou Botong called out from
outside, “Hey! Get out of there quick; we need to visit the old emperor’s house for
some ‘yuan yang wu zhen kuai’ [minced five-treasure mandarin duck]!”
“Tonight?” Guo Jing asked.

Hong Qigong replied, “The earlier the better. I am afraid I can’t hold on much
longer.”

“Shifu, don’t listen to the Old Urchin speaking a whole bunch of nonsense,” Huang
Rong said, “We can’t go tonight; we will enter the city gate early morning tomorrow.
If the Old Urchin has anymore weird ideas, we won’t let him come to the palace with
us.”

“Humph!” Zhou Botong snorted, “Once again I am to be blamed.” He sulked and

refused to talk.

That night four people slept on the straw beds strewn on the ground. Early the next
morning Huang Rong and Guo Jing prepared some breakfast; four people plus Shagu
ate together. Huang Rong turned the iron bowl and closed the cabinet walls; and
then put all chipped bowls and broken utensils back inside the cabinet. Shagu was
indifferent to what was going on around her; she held the handle of the blade in her
hand and played with it.

Huang Rong took a small ingot of silver from her pocket and gave it to her; Shagu
took it and casually tossed in on the table. “If you are hungry you can take the
money to buy rice and meat,” Huang Rong said. It was hard to say if Shagu
understood, since she only giggled foolishly.

Huang Rong felt sadness creeping into her heart; knowing this girl must have had
some relation with Qi Lingfeng, if not his family member then she must be his
disciple. Her six, seven stances of ‘bi bo zhang fa’ [jade-green waves palm
technique] definitely came from Qu Lingfeng, even though she learned it carelessly.
What Huang Rong did not know was whether she was retarded since birth, or did she
experience some horrifying experience which gave her a shock and damaged her
brain. She wanted to find some information in the village, but Zhou Botong kept
urging them to move forward. Thereupon four people and one cart went straight
entering the city of Lin’an.

Lin’an was originally the world’s most bustling city. When the Song government
moved south it was established as the new capital. All kinds of people converged into
the city, and it became increasingly flourishing.

Four people entering the city via the east gate and went straight to the front of ‘li
cheng men’ [beautiful portal gate] of the imperial palace. Hong Qigong stayed inside
the cart, while Zhou Botong and the others looked around. They saw the golden nails
on scarlet doors, painted beams and engraved railings, and copper tiles covering the
roof; with sculptures of flying dragon and phoenix all in magnificent splendor,
dazzling their eyes.

“Interesting!” Zhou Botong called out loudly; he took a step to enter in.

The palace guards stationed in front of the gate had noticed these three people, one
old and two young, with a mule cart making noise in front of the imperial palace
gate; four guards with axes in their hands had already stepped forward with a
menacing look on their faces.

Zhou Botong loved to make disturbance very much; seeing the guards with their
distinctive armor, tall and powerfully built, he was itchy to have an interesting fight.

“Quickly go!” Huang Rong called out.

Zhou Botong stared at her. “What are you afraid of? Do you think these babies can
eat the Old Urchin?” he asked.

Huang Rong quickly said, “Brother Jing, let’s go and play someplace else. The Old
Urchin is not obedient, we’ll just ignore him.” She lashed her whip and the cart sped
along to the west. Guo Jing followed behind. Zhou Botong was afraid he would be left
behind while they were going someplace more interesting; he ignored the guards
and ran to catch up. The guards thought they were simple villagers looking around
the city; they laughed out loud but did not pursue.

Huang Rong drove the cart to a desolate place. Seeing nobody chased them, they
stopped at last.

“Why didn’t we break into the palace? Can those wine bags and rice sacks stop us?”
Zhou Botong asked.

“Certainly breaking in is not difficult, but let me ask you: are we here to fight or to
go to the kitchen and steal some food?” Huang Rong said, “If you break in, the
palace will be chaotic; do you think the chef will nicely make some ‘yuan yang wu
zhen kuai’ for Shifu to eat?”

“Fighting and capturing people is the guards’ business, it has nothing to do with the
chef,” Zhou Botong reasoned. Actually what he said did make some sense so that
Huang Rong momentarily was at a loss; but she did not want to yield to him, so she
argued, “The imperial chef can both prepare food and capture people.”

Zhou Botong stared but did not know how to respond. Half a day later he conceded,
“Fine, just consider I was wrong.”

“What do you mean ‘consider’? You were wrong from the start,” Huang Rong said.

“Fine, fine,” Zhou Botong said, “Don’t consider anything, don’t consider anything.”
Turning his head to Guo Jing he said, “Brother, all women in the world are very
ferocious; that’s why the Old Urchin said don’t take a wife.”

Huang Rong laughed, “Brother Jing is a good man, others won’t be ferocious toward
him.”

“Are you saying I am not a good man?” Zhou Botong asked.

Huang Rong smiled, “Are you? You don’t want to take a wife, but other people don’t
like the way you handle anything, only creating trouble and disturbance. Tell me,
why don’t you want to take a wife?”

Zhou Botong leaned his head sideways to think, unable to answer. His face turned
red, and then white; seemed like his mind was heavy with anxieties. Huang Rong
very seldom saw him this serious; she was astonished.

“Let’s find an inn to stay; we’ll come back to the palace tonight,” Guo Jing said.

“That’s right!” Huang Rong agreed, “Shifu, as soon as we find an inn, I am going to
prepare a couple of simple dish to be your appetizers; we will have a feast later on
tonight.”

Hong Qigong was delighted, he cheered repeatedly.

Four people stayed at the Jin Hua hotel on the street west of the imperial palace.
True to her words, Huang Rong prepared three dishes and a soup for Hong Qigong to
eat. The aroma spread around the inn that the guests inquired with the innkeeper
which famous chef cooked this kind of fine cuisine.

Zhou Botong was still mad at Huang Rong’s words that he could not find a wife; he
sulked and did not want to eat. Three people knew his childish behavior; they only
laughed and did not give him any attention.

After eating Hong Qigong laid down to rest. Guo Jing asked Zhou Botong to go out
and play, but in his anger he ignored Guo Jing. Huang Rong chuckled, “Then you’d
better look after my Shifu nicely; when I return, I will buy some fun things for you to
play with.”

“You are not lying?” Zhou Botong delightfully asked.

Huang Rong smiled, “’yi yan ji chu, si ma nan zhui’ [lit. when a word already leaves,
it is difficult for four horses to chase].”

During the spring when Huang Rong left home to go north, she visited Hangzhou for
one day; but this city was too close to the Peach Blossom Island. She was afraid her
father might find her here, hence she did not dare to stay too long, and so her visit
was a quick one. This time the day was long and nothing burdened her mind. Hand
in hand with Guo Jing they went to the West Lake (xi hu).

She noticed Guo Jing’s countenance was dark, she knew he worried about their
master’s injury. “Shifu said there is one person in this world who can heal his injury,”
Huang Rong said, “Only he did not allow me to ask. From the way he talked, it must
be that Emperor Duan; but we don’t know where he is. We must find a way to ask
him to treat and heal Shifu.”

“That’s great,” Guo Jing happily said, “Rong’er, do you think we can ask him?”

Huang Rong replied, “I am still thinking of how we can ask. During our meal today I
tried to fish out some information from Shifu’s mouth. He was just about to say; too
bad he realized it and stopped talking immediately. Eventually I must find this
information from him.” Guo Jing knew her ability very well, he was greatly relieved.

While talking they arrived at the Broken Bridge by the lakeside. That ‘duan qiao can
xue’ [the broken bridge where people can see the remnant of the snow] was one of
the West Lake’s famous scenery; only it was summer so what they saw was the lotus
under the bridge. Huang Rong saw a neat little wine shop by the lakeside. “Let’s
drink a cup of wine while enjoying the lotus,” she said.
“Very good,” Guo Jing agreed. Two people went in and sat down. The shopkeeper
delivered some wine and dishes of meat which tasted very good. Two people drank
wine while enjoying the scenery; they were in a good mood.

Huang Rong saw a screen by the eastern window, covered with jade-green muslin.
Obviously the shop owner regarded the screen as a very precious object. Her
curiosity was piqued; she went over to take a closer look. Turned out underneath the
muslin there was a poem inscribed on the screen; it was the ‘feng ru song’ [wind
entering the pine], which read:

‘Spring time is always spent wasting money, drinking daily by the lakeside. Riding a
buckskin horse along the road toward the West Lake, proudly passing in front of a
tavern. Singing and dancing amidst the sweet fragrance of red apricots, swinging in
the shadow of green willows. Warm wind embraced ten ‘li’s of beautiful women and
sky, crushed flowers adorned the side of their temples. Picturesque boats carrying
incense going back and forth are like smoke covering the water. Comeback tomorrow
carrying the remnant of drunkenness, coming to seek the fancy golden inlaid on the
pathway.’

Part 6 (Translated by Bluebook & Foxs)

Huang Rong said, “This poem is a good one”.

Guo Jing asked her to explain the meaning of the poem. The more he listened, the
more upset he became, said, “This is the capital of the Great Song Dynasty, these
government officials spend their days drinking wine and enjoying flowers, don’t they
care nor even pay attention to the affair of the country?”

Huang Rong replied, “Exactly, these people talk shamelessly!”

Suddenly someone behind them said, “Humph! What do you two know enough to
talk nonsense here?”

They turned around and saw a man dressed as a scholar, roughly 40 years of age,
sneering at them. Guo Jing greeted the scholar by cupping his hand and said, “Junior
does not understand and would like to ask Mister for advice.”

That man replied, “This is the most splendid work of Yu Guobao in the year of Chun
Xi. That year Emperor Gao Zong Tai Shang came to drink wine, he saw the work and
praised it greatly. That very same day the emperor granted Yu Guobao a
government position. This is a scholar’s lifelong dream; and the two of you absurdly
ridicule it!”

“So because the Emperor saw this screen that the innkeeper covers it with a jade-
green muslin?” Huang Rong asked.

That man coldly laughed and said, “How can it be so? Look at the sentence
‘Comeback tomorrow carrying the remnant of drunkenness’ on the screen. Do you
see that this one sentence has two corrected characters?”

Huang Rong and Guo Jing examined closer and found the character ‘fu’ [carrying up
or supporting somebody up] was formerly ‘xie’ [bringing/carrying along], and the
character ‘zui’ [drunkenness] was actually ‘jiu’ [wine].

The man then said, “Yu Gaobao originally intended to write ‘Comeback tomorrow
bringing the remnant of the wine’. The Tai Shang Emperor smiled and said, ‘Although
this phrase is good, it is rather simple-minded’. Hence he took a brush to correct
these two characters. That was truly heaven sent wisdom and farsightedness,
purifying iron into gold.” He swayed his head and sighed as if he was enjoying
incessantly.

Guo Jing listened and became angry. He loudly yelled, “This emperor Gao Zong put
Qin Gui in an important position, to harm and kill Master Yue [General Yue Fei]!” His
leg flew and kicked the screen, smashing it. He grabbed backward to catch the
scholar and push him forward. With a splashing sound the wine spilled everywhere;
that man, head up feet down, sank into the wine vat.

Huang Rong loudly applauded and laughed, “I too will make correction on these two
sentences; they are, ‘Today standing upright spoiling the wine, the gentleman sank
into the vat drunk.”

The scholar emerged from the wine jar, as wine was dripping from his head, he said,
“The oblique tone of ‘drunk’ does not rhyme well.”

Huang Rong replied, “‘Wind entering the pine’ does not rhyme well. My poem ‘Man
entering the jar’ rhymes better!” She extended her hand and firmly pressed his head
down inside the wine jar, then flipped the table over, causing a disorderly burst. Both
the customers and the wine shop keeper scrambled out the shop. Guo Jing and
Huang Rong rose up; they pounded and smashed all the wine vats, pots and
cauldrons. Finally using the ’18-Dragon Subduing Palms’ Guo Jing exerted all his
strength to strike the main pillar of the inn, causing the roof to collapse. For a brief
moment, a large restaurant transformed into a ruin made of wood, hardly resembling
anything.

Guo Jing and Huang Rong laughed loudly. Holding each other’s hand, they walked to
the north. Nobody knew where did these couple of mad young man and young
woman come from; who dared to pursue?

Guo Jing laughed, “That was a good beating, all the bad air in my chest went away
completely.”

Huang Rong happily replied, “Whenever we see anything unsightly, we will break it.”

Guo Jing replied, “Good!”

Since leaving the Peach Blossom Island, two people went through many unfavorable
situations. Although they were reunited, their teacher suffered a serious and difficult
to heal injury, making their hearts constantly heavy. This time unexpectedly they
had a chance to break up a restaurant; it had helped to vent their frustration. The
couple leisurely walked along the lakeshore and saw poems everywhere: on the
rocks, on the trees, on the pavilions and on the walls. They were either leisure
travelers bidding their farewell, or young men expressing their love.

Guo Jing did not understand the poems, but when he saw the words ‘wind’, ‘flower’,
‘snow’ and ‘moon’ he sighed and said, “Even if we have a thousand pairs of fists, we
can’t break them all. Rong’er, you have learned literature and art, what are all these
for?”

Huang Rong smiled, “There were some good ones among these poems,” she said.

Guo Jing shook his head, “I still think fists and kicks are more useful,” he said.

While walking and talking they reached the ‘fei lai feng’ [flew in peak]. There was a
pavilion built on that peak. Above the gateway there were three characters ‘cui wei
ting’ [jade-green small pavilion] in Han Shizong’s handwriting. Guo Jing knew Han
Shizong’s reputation; seeing the handwriting of the general who resisted the Jin
army he was delighted. He quickly walked into the pavilion. There was a stone
monument inside the pavilion, with a poem engraved on it:

‘With the passing years dust has settled on the battle uniforms, especially seeking
some fragrant jade-green wine, not enough to only see good mountain and good
river, taking advantage of the bright moon light the return of horse hoofs.’

This seemed to be the handwriting of Han Shizhong as well.

“This is a good poem,” Guo Jing praised. Actually, he did not know a good poem
from the bad, but he thought this poem was Han Shizhong’s, also it contained words
like ‘zheng yi’ [battle uniforms] and ‘ma ti’ [horse hoofs]; so it must be good.

Huang Rong said, “That was Master Yue, Yue Fei’s work.”

Guo Jing was surprised; he asked, “How do you know?”

Huang Rong replied, “I listened to father’s story. In the winter of the eleventh year
of Shaoxing, Master Yue died under the hand of Qin Gui. In the spring of the
following year, remembering him Han Shizhong built this pavilion and engraved this
poem as a memorial. Unfortunately, Qin Gui was highly influential during that period,
so he could not openly commensurate Master Yue.”

Remembering the previous dynasty’s general Guo Jing stretched out his hand and
ran his finger along the inscription on the stone. While he was lost in thought
suddenly Huang Rong pulled his sleeve and jumped toward the bushes behind the
pavilion, pressing his head down. As they were crouching, they heard footsteps of
people entering the pavilion. A moment later they heard someone said, “Han
Shizhong was naturally a hero. His lady, Liang Hongyu, although came from
prostitution, had helped her husband achieve victory by beating drums during the
battle. She could be considered a heroine.”

Guo Jing found this voice to be somewhat familiar but could not remember who it
was. Again another man said, “Yue Fei and Han Shizhong were heroes, but the
emperor wanted their deaths and stripped their military leadership. Both Han and
Yue must follow the order; obviously the emperor held the power that even heroes
like them cannot defy.”

Guo Jing listened to the accent and recognized this person as Yang Kang. Guo Jing
was unconsciously startled; thinking what was Yang Kang doing here? While still
surprised, another broken cymbal-like voice confounded him even more. It was the
Western Poison Ouyang Feng. He heard Ouyang Feng said, “Correct, with muddle-
headed ruler in reign just like the previous dynasty; it doesn’t matter how great a
hero is, he is useless.”

The first person then said, “But if a wise ruler is on the throne, a great hero like Mr.
Ouyang could greatly help him unfold his aspiration.”

Listening to these two speaking suddenly Guo Jing remembered that the other one
was the enemy who killed his father, the Sixth Prince of the Great Jin, Wanyan
Honglie. Even though he had seen Wanyan Honglie’s face before, but it was not often
he heard his voice, therefore, he was unable to remember for a moment.

The three people talking and laughing, then they left the pavilion. Guo Jing waited
until they were gone far then he asked no one in particular, “What do they do in
Lin’an? How come Brother Kang is with them?”

“Humph,” Huang Rong snorted, “Early on I have seen this brother of yours is not a
good thing. You still said that he is a descendant of a hero. You have been deceived.
Now you understand his real intention. If he is really a good man, how could he fool
around with those two scoundrels?”

Guo Jing was very much bewildered, “I don’t understand,” he said. Thereupon Huang
Rong told him everything she heard at the Fragrant Snow Hall of the Zhao Palace.
She said, “Wanyan Honglie gathered Peng Lianhu and the other fellows, his intention
is to steal the Master Yue Wumu’s Legacy. They suddenly came over here so perhaps
this Legacy is in Lin’an. If they succeed then our Great Song’s common people will
suffer great calamity.”

Guo Jing shivered with fear, “We simply cannot let them succeed,” he said.

Huang Rong said, “The problem is that the Western Poison is traveling with them.”

“Are you scared?” Guo Jing asked.

“Aren’t you?” Huang Rong asked back.

Guo Jing replied, “Naturally I am scared of the Western Poison, but this is not a small
matter; we … even if we are scared we simply cannot overlook it.”

Huang Rong smiled, “If you must take care of it, then naturally I will follow you.”

“Very well,” Guo Jing said, “Let’s go after them.”

Part 7 – Translated by Foxs

Leaving the pavilion they did not see tracks of Wanyan Honglie’s three people group
and were forced to look around the city randomly. Hangzhou was a big city, how
could they find what they were looking for in a short period of time? After walking for
half a day the sky was turning dark; two people arrived in front of the ‘wu lin yuan’
[martial art garden] at Zhong Wazi [lit. the middle of a tile, I think it is a place].
Huang Rong saw a shop that hung a lot of masks in the entrance, with their features
drawn vividly. She was amused and remembered her promise to buy something fun
for Zhou Botong; thereupon she spent five silver coins and bought ‘zhong kui’ [I
think it’s the king of ghosts], ‘pan guan’ [the judge of hell], ‘zao jun’ [kitchen god],
‘tu di’ [earth god], ‘shen bing’ [soldier of heaven] and other ghosts/supernatural
beings, more than a dozen masks.

While the shopkeeper was wrapping the masks with paper, there came the sweet
smelling fragrance of food and wine from a restaurant next door. Two people had
been walking for half a day and by that time they were already starving. “What
restaurant is that?” Huang Rong asked.

The shopkeeper smiled and said, “Turned out you two are new to the capital, no
wonder you don’t know. This ‘san yuan lou’ [three-primary tavern; ‘lou’ refers to the
second floor of a building or a multi-story building] is very well-known in our Lin’an.
The wine, the food and the utensils are number one under the heaven. You two
cannot not go and try it.”

Huang Rong’s heart was moved by what he said; she took the masks and then pulled
Guo Jing to the front of ‘san yuan lou’. They saw the building was decorated with
colorful paints and a row of red and green fence. Underneath the second floor roof
hung flower-patterned lanterns. The interior was inlaid with luxuriant wood; the
pavilion looked elegant and unconventional. It was truly an exquisite tavern.

As two people walked in, they were welcomed by the waiter with a face full of smiles
and were led through a corridor to a chamber already set with bowls and chopsticks.
Huang Rong immediately placed her order and the waiter left to prepare the food.

Under the candlelight Guo Jing saw in the nearby porch more than a dozen of women
[‘ji4 nu3’ – courtesan (courtesy of Ren Wo Xing), lit. ‘prostitute’ or ‘hooker’] with
heavy makeup sitting in a row. He wondered who they were; he was about to ask
when suddenly from the next door chamber he heard Wanyan Honglie’s voice called
out, “That’s fine! Let’s have somebody sing to accompany us drinking the wine.”

Guo Jing and Huang Rong looked at each other, they thought, “Just like the saying
goes, ‘wearing out the iron shoes to look around, finding the result without any
effort’.”

A call was heard, and a woman gracefully stood up and walked toward the next door
chamber with a pair of ivory planks in her hand. A short moment later the woman
started to sing. Huang Rong inclined her ears to listen to her song:

“The southeast appears victorious, the rivers and lakes (Jianghu) convene, Qiantang
River always flourishes from the ancient times. The bridge looks like a painting of
smoking willow; the wind blow the wine shop sign and the jade-green curtain, amidst
a hundred thousand people. Cloudy trees wind around the sandy dike, angry waves
roll up like frosty snow, the sky and the moat around the city are boundless. Rows of
pearls line up in the market, the homes compete with each other to show their
extravagance. The clear water lake surrounded by three autumn cassia buds and ten
‘li’s of lotuses. Along the clear alleys the water chestnut songs floating through the
night, enticing old gentlemen to the lotus-like dolls. A thousand riders gather around
the ivory tower, intoxicated by the sound of flute and drum, enjoying the rosy-cloud
smoke. A particular day to paint fine scenery, as the phoenix returns to the pond of
praise.”

Guo Jing did not understand the yada, yada, yada of her singing, but he did enjoy
the gentle tapping of her ivory planks and the melodious flute sound.
As the song finished, both Wanyan Honglie and Yang Kang exclaimed their praise,
“You sing very well!”

The woman repeatedly expressed her gratitude, and jubilantly went out with the
musicians, wishing Wanyan Honglie many enjoyments.

Wanyan Honglie said, “Son, do you know that this Liu Yong [eternal willow – I think
it is a person’s name] poem ‘wang hai chao’ [gazing the ocean tide] has a close
relationship with our Great Jin?”

“Your child does not know,” Yang Kang replied, “Would Father please explain?”

Listening to him calling Wanyan Honglie ‘father’ [tie tie – daddy/papa] in an

affectionate tone Guo Jing and Huang Rong looked at each other. Guo Jing was
angry and broken hearted; he wished he could go over and clutch him, asking for
explanation.

He heard Wanyan Honglie replied, “During the prosperous years of our Great Jin, the
Jin’s Lord Liang saw this poem by Liu Yong, which praised the beauty of the West
Lake’s scenery. Thereupon he sent an emissary to go down south and at the same
time dispatching a famous painter to paint the scenery around the City of Lin’an. The
painter inserted the Jin Lord image in the painting, sitting on a horseback standing
on the peak of Wu Shan [Hill Wu]. The Jin Lord wrote this poem on the painting, ‘Ten
thousands of ‘li’s riding on a chariot, how can there be another border to the
Jiangnan? Dispatching soldiers by the million to the West Lake, on a horseback
standing on Wu Shan’s first peak!’”

“What a grand and heroic spirit!” Yang Kang praised.

Guo Jing was so angry hearing him that he clenched his fist so hard that his knuckles
made cracking sounds.

Wanyan Honglie sighed, “Jin’s Lord Liang’s desire to dispatch soldiers to the south
and on a horseback standing on Wu Shan did not come true, but his heroic spirit to
cross the river is actually inherited by us, his descendants. Once he inscribed this
poem on a folding fan: ‘With a great fan in the hand, bringing cool breeze all over
the world.’ That’s the kind of ambition he had!”

Yang Kang repeated that poem, “With a great fan in the hand, bringing cool breeze
all over the world.” He sounded like he was really impressed by it.

Ouyang Feng let out some laughter and said, “Someday Prince’s dream of having a
great authority and standing on Wu Shan will come true.”

[Translator’s note: the words ‘great fan’ in the poem, the original text was ‘da bing’;
‘bing’ can be translated ‘handle’ or ‘hilt’ – referring to the handle of the fan, but can
also translated to ‘authority’. Ouyang Feng was referring to the other meaning of the
word.]

Wanyan Honglie quietly said, “Do hope Sir’s words will come true. There are too
many ears and eyes around here, let us just drink some wine.” And so three people
changed the topic of their conversation immediately; they talked about the
sceneries, what they saw and heard, about local conditions and social customs.

Huang Rong whispered into Guo Jing’s ear, “They are having a good time drinking
wine, I don’t want them to have a good time.” Two people slipped away from their
chamber and went to the backyard. Huang Rong took out her flint and ignited the
firewood in the shed and spread the fire around.

In a short moment the flame arose and the people shouted in confusions, “Fire!”
Then they heard copper gongs were struck noisily.

“Quick, we must go to the front, otherwise we’ll lose track of them again,” Huang
Rong said.

Guo Jing was full of hatred, “Tonight I must kill that traitor Wanyan Honglie!” he
said.

Huang Rong said, “First we must take Shifu to the palace to eat, afterwards we
entreat the Old Urchin to face the Western Poison; only then can we deal with the
other two traitors.”

“That’s right,” Guo Jing said.

Amidst the commotion two people walked to the front of the restaurant, just as
Wanyan Honglie, Ouyang Feng and Yang Kang three people emerged from the
building. Guo Jing and Huang Rong followed them from a distance, along the streets
and alleys towards the west market; entering Hotel Guan Gai. Two people waited
outside the hotel for a long time without seeing Wanyan Honglie and the others
coming back outside, so they concluded that they must be staying in this hotel.

“Let’s return to our place; we fetch the Old Urchin and come back here to deal with
them,” Huang Rong said. They went back to Hotel Jin Hua immediately.

Approaching the hotel they heard Zhou Botong’s voice shouting in loud clamor. Guo
Jing was scared, he thought his Shifu’s injury was getting worse; he rushed forward
anxiously only to see Zhou Botong was squatting on the ground, squabbling with
about six, seven boys. Turned out he was betting against these kids in front of the
hotel’s gate and he lost; he argued with the kids, but the kids argued back, hence it
was so noisy.

Seeing Huang Rong was back, he was afraid she would scold him; he turned around
and went back into the hotel. Huang Rong smiled, she took the masks out. Zhou
Botong was delighted, squealing again and again; he put on the mask and become
the judge of hell, and then turned into a little demon.

Huang Rong expressed their desire to take him to help them fight the Western
Poison. Zhou Botong readily agreed. “Don’t worry,” he said, “My two hands can use
two different fist techniques to fight him.”

Huang Rong remembered the other day on the Peach Blossom Island Zhou Botong
was afraid he might involuntarily use the martial art from the Nine Yin Manual; he
tied his own hands and as a result was injured by her father. “The Western Poison is
very bad,” she said, “You can’t be considered disobeying your martial brother’s death
wish if you injure him with the martial art from the Manual.”
Zhou Botong stared hard at her. “No, I can’t do it” he said, “I have trained hard, I
don’t need to use the technique from the Manual.”

By that time Hong Qigong’s heart was already inside the imperial palace’s kitchen.
With a great difficulty he waited until the second hour that night; Guo Jing carried
Hong Qigong on his back, four people walked on roofs toward the imperial palace.
The palace was taller than everybody else’s houses, the roof glittered with gold
inlaid, very easy to identify; so before long quietly, without making any noise four
people had leaped over the palace’s wall.

The security inside the palace was tight, with guards patrolling everywhere; but with
the kind of lightness kungfu Zhou, Guo and Huang possess, how could they let
themselves to be caught by the guards? Hong Qigong knew where the kitchen was;
with a low voice he showed the way. In a short moment they had arrived at the
imperial kitchen, located behind the ‘liu bu shan’ [six ministry hill]. The kitchen was
to the east of ‘jia ming dian’ [fine bright hall], where the imperial meals were being
prepared. These places were adjacent to the imperial sleeping chamber and the
imperial personal office; all around were tightly guarded with alarms everywhere.
But by then the emperor had already gone to bed, the imperial kitchen staff had
been adjourned. Four people arrived at the well-lit kitchen, with several young court
eunuchs slumbered inside.

Guo Jing helped Hong Qigong sitting on the beam while Huang Rong and Zhou
Botong looked for cooked meals in the kitchen cabinets; very soon four people
started chewing.

Zhou Botong shook his head, “Old Beggar, how can the food here be compared to
Rong’er’s culinary skill? I don’t understand why you earnestly desired to come here.”

Hong Qigong replied, “I wanted to eat the ‘yuan yang wu zhen kuai’ [mandarin duck
five treasured mince meat]. I don’t know where the chef is. Tomorrow we shall catch
him and tell him to prepare something to your taste.”

“I don’t believe his culinary skill is superior to Rong’er,” Zhou Botong said.

Huang Rong smiled, she knew he wanted to thank her for the masks, that was why
he praised her repeatedly.

“I want to stay here and wait for the chef,” Hong Qigong said, “Since you are bored,
why don’t you and Jing’er go out the palace and let Rong’er stay here to accompany
me. Tomorrow night you can come back here again.”

Zhou Botong put on the city god mask and laughed, “No,” he said, “I want to
accompany you in here. Tomorrow I am going to wear this mask to scare the old
emperor. Brother Guo, Rong’er, you keep your eyes on the Old Poison, don’t let him
steal the Yue Fei’s legacy.”

“What the Old Urchin said was very reasonable,” Hong Qigong said, “Go quickly, just
be careful.” Two people gave their promise.

“Don’t fight the Old Poison tonight, look for me tomorrow,” Zhou Botong said.
“We can’t beat him, naturally we won’t fight,” Huang Rong said. Along with Guo Jing
she slipped away from the imperial kitchen, with the intention of going back to Hotel
Guan Gai to watch Wanyan Honglie and the others’ activity.

They tiptoed in the dark through two halls. Suddenly they felt a cool breeze and
faintly heard the sound of water. In the stillness of the night they could also smell a
faint delicate fragrance, deep from the palace courtyard. Unexpectedly they saw a
wooded hill place inside the palace.

Huang Rong sniffed at this fragrance; she knew there must be a flower garden
nearby. She thought in the imperial palace garden there must be many wonderful
flowers and excellent plants. While she was there, certainly she could not pass this
rare opportunity to take a look. Therefore, she pulled Guo Jing’s hand; following the
flower fragrance they looked for the garden.

Gradually the sound of water intensified. Two people walked around flower-strewn
path and saw pine and bamboo trees covering the deep blue sky above; with
beautiful hills quietly stood on the background. Huang Rong was secretly impressed
of this place. Even though the arrangement was inferior to the Peach Blossom Island,
the flowers and trees were exquisitely beautiful.

They walked several ‘zhang’s further and saw a sheet of water like a silver waterfall
coming out from the side of a hill; the water came down to a pond, and in turn, a
stream of water coming out of the pond so that it would not overflow. There were
countless red lotuses strewn across the surface of the pond. Right in front of the
pond there was a hall dense with flowers; just above the entrance was written ‘cui
han tang’ [jade-green cold hall] three characters.

Huang Rong walked to the front of the hall. She saw under the porch were some the
steps going up surrounded with all kinds of flowers: ‘mo li’ [jasmine], ‘su xin’
[fragrant vegetable], ‘she xiang teng’ [musk deer fragrant rattan], ‘shu jin’
[vermillion hibiscus], ‘yu gui’ [jade cassia], ‘hong jiao’ [red banana]; all kinds of
fragrant plants that bloom in summer. Towards the back of the hall orchids and other
scented plants were hung. The sweet smelling incense was burning, filling the hall
and attacking their nostrils.

On the table inside the hall there were several bowls of lotus root, sweet melon,
loquat, and all kinds of wild fruits from the forest. Several round fans were strewn on
the chairs. Looked like this hall was where the emperor enjoyed the cool evening
breeze before going to bed.

Guo Jing sighed, “This emperor really knows how to enjoy life,” he said.

Huang Rong laughed, “You can be one now,” she said, pulling Guo Jing to sit on a
couch. She offered the bowl of fruits and knelt down. “Long live master, please enjoy
some fresh fruits,” she said.

Guo Jing smiled and picked up a loquat, “Please rise,” he said.

Huang Rong laughed, “Emperor never says ‘please’, that is too polite,” she said.

While two people were talking and laughing in low voice suddenly they heard
someone shout out from a distant, “Who’s there?” They were startled and leaped
out, hiding behind a fake hill. They heard some heavy footsteps; two men came
loudly shouting to see. Guo Jing and Huang Rong listened to these people and knew
their martial art skills were low and there was nothing to worry about. The guards
brandished their sabers, rushing toward the front of the hall. They looked around but
did not see anything out of ordinary.

“You saw a ghost,” one guard said, laughing.

The other one was also laughing, “I am seeing things these past few days,” he said.
They walked away talking and laughing.

Huang Rong was amused inwardly, she pulled Guo Jing’s hand to go out, but
suddenly heard those two guards grunts, ‘hey, hey’. Although the noise was deep
and muffled, they knew it was the sound of one’s exhaling because their acupoints
were sealed. Guo Jing and Huang Rong both thought, “Is it Big Brother Zhou who got
bored and came out to play?”

They heard someone speak in a low voice, “According to the imperial palace map,
the building next to the waterfall is the ‘cui han tang’; we are going there.” This
voice belonged to Wanyan Honglie.

Guo Jing and Huang Rong were very shocked; they grabbed each other’s hand and
hid even deeper behind the fake hill, did not dare to make any noise. Under the
glimmering sparse starlight they saw shadows moving in front of the hall; they
vaguely recognized that other than Wanyan Honglie there were Ouyang Feng, Peng
Lianhu, Sha Tongtian, Venerable Lingzhi, Liang Ziweng and Hou Tonghai.

Guo Jing and Huang Rong were puzzled, “What are these people doing in the
imperial palace?” they thought, “Could it be they also want to steal some food from
the imperial kitchen?”

They heard Wanyan Honglie spoke again, still in low voice, “Little Prince had carefully
examined the secret letter Yue Fei left behind; also examined the documents from
two dynasties’ emperors Gao Zong and Xiao Zong. I concluded that the Wumu
Legacy is hidden fifteen steps east of the ‘cui han tang’.”

Everybody’s eyes automatically followed the direction of his hand; fifteen steps east
of the hall was the waterfall, nothing else. Wanyan Honglie said, “How the book
could be hidden in the waterfall, Little Prince found it hard to guess, but according to
the documents, this is the correct place.”

Sha Tongtian was known as the ‘gui men long wang’ [dragon king of Gui Men
(demon sect/devil’s gate)]; his water skill was excellent. “I’ll go to take a look at the
waterfall,” he said. Without waiting further he stepped forward and jumped into the
water. Not long afterward he reemerged from the water. Everybody rushed forward
to welcome him, only to listen to him saying, “The Prince can really see clearly;
behind the waterfall there is a cave with closed iron door.”

Wanyan Honglie was ecstatic, “The Wumu Legacy must be inside the cave,” he said,
“I am afraid I’ll have to inconvenience gentlemen to open that iron gate.”

Everybody unsheathed their precious sabers and sharp blades, complying with his
request, everybody wanted to render meritorious service; they raced to the
waterfall. Ouyang Feng only laughed coldly, he merely stood by Wanyan Honglie’s
side; he felt his reputation was different, he was not willing to fetch the book
together with the others.

Sha Tongtian was the first to duck under the water stream; suddenly a gust of wind
assaulting his face. He just came in to take a look and saw nothing; how could he
guess an enemy would suddenly attack him? Hurriedly he avoided the attack, but his
left wrist was suddenly grabbed by the enemy and he was pushed hard. Against its
master’s wish his body flew out and hit Liang Ziweng hard. Luckily both men’s
martial art skills were quite high and they were not injured.

Everybody was taken by surprise. In the meantime Sha Tongtian had entered the
waterfall again; this time he was ready, he lifted both palms in front of his face, and
sure enough, from behind the waterfall a fist came flying out. He used his left hand
to parry while launched a counterattack with his right. All this time he has not seen
clearly who the enemy was.

Liang Ziweng had also jumped into the waterfall. Suddenly a stick came sweeping
close to the ground. Liang Ziweng tried to evade, but he was too late; the lower part
of his leg were squarely hit, he could not maintain his stand and fell backward. His
chest was hit by the waterfall, while his leg was again hit by the stick; against its
master’s wish his body fell outside the waterfall.

By this time Sha Tongtian was also pushed outside the waterfall by a swift and fierce
palm. Three-headed dragon Hou Tonghai did not think about what kind of martial art
skill his martial brother had, and what kind of skill he had; if his martial brother was
easily defeated, how could he hope to achieve success? Relying on his superb water
skill, his ability to open his eyes and see underwater, he charged into the waterfall.

Looking at the adverse situation Peng Lianhu rushed forward to join the battle, but
suddenly a dark and rather shiny shadow flew above his head. ‘Bang!’ that shadow
fell to the ground; and then he heard Hou Tonghai cried out loudly out of pain.
Quickly Peng Lianhu came over and said in a low voice, “Hou Xiong [brother Hou], be
quiet! What happened?”

“His granny!” Hou Tonghai cursed, “My butts are broken into four pieces from the
fall.”

Peng Lianhu was confounded and amused at the same time, “Is there such a thing?”
he whispered. He stretched his hand to trace Hou Tonghai’s buttocks, seemingly to
see if they were still two pieces; but he saw nothing was injured. He knew something
was amiss, so he did not want to rashly face the danger. “Who’s inside?” he asked.

From pain Hou Tonghai became angry, “How would I know?” he snapped, “As soon
as I went in I was thrown back outside. That bastard scoundrel!”

Under the star light they saw Venerable Lingzhi’s red robe fluttered; he entered the
waterfall in big strides. Amidst the gurgling water they could hear his loud shouts in
Tibetan; looked like he was fighting an intense battle with the man inside.

Everybody looked at each other in surprise. Sha Tongtian and Liang Ziweng were
thrown outside; but in the darkness they vaguely saw behind the curtain of water
there were one man and one woman. The man was barehanded, and the woman had
a stick in her hand. By this time they heard Venerable Lingzhi’s loud roar; it looked
like he had suffered hardship as well.

Wanyan Honglie knitted his brows, “Why is this Venerable so reckless? He called out
earth shatteringly loud; if the palace guards hear and come over, how can we get
the book?” he said.

He had just finished speaking when they saw Venerable Lingzhi’s red kasaya fly out
from the waterfall and float on the red lotus pond, followed by two clanking noise;
two copper cymbals that he used as weapons also flew out of the waterfall. Peng
Lianhu was afraid the cymbals would make loud noise if they fell to the ground, thus
alerting the palace guards; so he stretched out his hands and caught the cymbals.
They heard from the waterfall loud shouts, which nobody could understand, of
Tibetan curse words; followed by a huge body flying out of the water.

Luckily Venerable Lingzhi’s martial art was different from Hou Tonghai’s; he fell
backward, but was able to land steadily, his buttocks were not injured at all. He
cursed aloud, “It’s the boy and the girl we met at the boat.”

When Guo Jing and Huang Rong were hiding behind the fake hill, they heard Wanyan
Honglie’s order to the people to come into the cave and steal the book. They thought
if the Wumu Legacy were obtained by him, the Jin army could follow Yue Wumu’s
military strategy to invade the south; then it would be disastrous. They realized that
Ouyang Feng was around and that they were not his match, but if they did not
bravely step forward, how could they bear it if the common people of the world
suffer a disaster?

At first Huang Rong wanted to find a way to scare these people away, but Guo Jing
saw the situation was critical; they did not have time to hesitate. Immediately he
pulled Huang Rong’s hand and slipped behind the waterfall. They were hoping for an
opportunity to set up an ambush and attack Ouyang Feng by surprise. Luckily the
waterfall’s rumbling noise was so loud that nobody noticed their movements.

Two people did all they can to repel Sha Tongtian and the others. They were
pleasantly surprised with the result; did not expect the Manual’s ‘changing muscles
forging bones’ to be that marvelous. Huang Rong’s ‘dog-beating stick’ had infinite
variations, almost fantastical, that even men of Sha Tongtian and Venerable Lingzhi’s
caliber were thrown into confusion and helplessness. Guo Jing would take advantage
of the situation to send out his palm, as a result they managed to throw everybody
out of the waterfall.

Guo Jing and Huang Rong knew that as Sha Tongtian and the others were defeated,
Ouyang Feng would go into action; and that they absolutely could not fight against
him. “Let us get out of here quick!” Huang Rong said, “We have to raise the alarm,
let the palace guards come over and prevent these people to act further.”

“That’s right!” Guo Jing said, “You go out and raise the alarm. I am staying here to
guard.”

“You must not fight the Old Poison,” Huang Rong said.

“Yes. Now go! Go!” Guo Jing said.

Huang Rong just about to go out through the hole behind the waterfall when
suddenly they heard a loud grunt; a great burst of energy came through the
waterfall from the outside. Two people did not dare to block, they leaped sideways to
evade. With a loud sound the Ouyang Feng’s Toad Stance energy penetrated the
waterfall and hit the iron gate. The water splashed everywhere, the momentum was
astonishing.

Although Huang Rong managed to leap sideways, but her back was still hit by the
Toad Stance’s lateral force; she felt her blood was rushing and her vision blurred.
She tried to focus her attention and then dashing outside and shouted at the top of
her lungs, “Seize the assassin! Seize the assassin!” She ran away while repeatedly
shouting.

As she shouted, the palace guards all around ‘cui han tang’ were startled awake;
immediately there came shouting everywhere, raising the alarm. Huang Rong
jumped up the roof, picked up the roof tiles and ‘Bing! Bing! Bang! Bang!” threw the
tiles randomly.

“Kill this little girl first, then we’ll talk,” Peng Lianhu cursed. Launching his lightness
kungfu he gave a chase. Liang Ziweng jumped to the left, trying to surround her.

Wanyan Honglie was still calm, he said to Yang Kang, “Kang’er, go with Mr. Ouyang
to get the book.”

By that time Ouyang Feng had already squatted on the ground in front of the
waterfall. With another grunt he sent another burst of energy and the double iron
gate on the cave mouth flew in. He was about to enter the cave when suddenly from
the side a shadow came attacking. Before the person even arrived, his palm had
already come; launching the dangerous stance of ‘fei long zai tian’ [dragon flies to
the sky]. Although in that dark cave he could not clearly see that person’s
appearance, as soon as he saw the stance he knew it must be Guo Jing. He was
delighted, “That Nine Yin Manual is exceptionally difficult to understand, I only
understand two out of ten sentences. If I can capture this kid today, I can force him
to explain it.” He leaned sideways to evade the attack then swiftly stretched out his
hand trying to snatch Guo Jing’s back.

Guo Jing determined that no matter what he had to do guard the entrance, he could
not let the enemy enter. As long as he could hold for a moment, the palace guards
would come over; although this group of traitors’ martial arts was high, eventually
they have to run away. He was slightly puzzled to see Ouyang Feng did not try to kill
him but just want to capture him. His left hand swept the attacking hand away and
his right hand counterattacked with the Vacant Fist technique. Even though in term
of strength this technique was inferior to the 18-Dragon Subduing Palms, using
Vacant Fist his palms were floating with tricky movements.

“Good!” Ouyang Feng exclaimed. He dropped his shoulder and withdrew his hand;
trying to catch Guo Jing’s right arm. His hand did not carry the gust of wind that
came with his swift and ferocious force.

When he was on the desolate island Ouyang Feng studied the Manual Guo Jing
wrote, the more he practiced it the more he felt something was wrong. It never
crossed his mind that the Manual in his hand was scrambled to the point of
intelligible; he thought that the Manual carried a very deep and profound meaning,
which could not be deciphered in a short period of time. Later on he heard Hong
Qigong mumbling some gibberish on the raft; he thought that was the key to
understanding the Manual. Every time he met Guo Jing he noticed that his martial
art was always progressing, he was startled yet delighted at the same time: startled
that if this kid’s skill made this kind of advancement, then the power contained in the
Manual was truly something to be feared; delighted because the Manual was in his
hand; by strengthening his own background, his advancement in the future would be
limitless.

Previously on the raft he fought a life and death battle against two enemies; this
time he felt that he had gained an upper hand, he wanted to fight leisurely. He
thought he would be able to tear apart the manual by watching Guo Jing’s every
single move. He did not care whether the Wumu Legacy could be stolen or not; in his
heart the only important matter right now was the martial art in the Manual.

By now the light from the lanterns all around had made the ‘cui han tang’ bright as
daylight as more and more palace guards arrived. Wanyan Honglie saw Ouyang Feng
and Yang Kang had entered the water curtain for a very long time without coming
back out, while the palace guards had gathered around them. He was getting
increasingly anxious; fortunately the guards’ attention was absorbed by Peng Lianhu
and Liang Ziweng on the roof chasing after Huang Rong, oblivious that there was a
bigger fight going on inside the waterfall. He realized, however, that sooner or later
the guards’ would detect their presence there. He stomped his feet and waved his
hands incessantly, while urgently called out, “Quick! Quick!”

“Don’t worry Prince, little monk will go in again,” Venerable Lingzhi said. Shaking his
left palm in front of his body he entered the waterfall again. By now the light outside
had penetrated the water curtain. He was able to see Ouyang Feng exchanged
stances against Guo Jing in front of the cave entrance; while Yang Kang on the side
was trying to get into the cave. But how could he pass through these two people’s
ferocious gust of winds from their palms?

Venerable Lingzhi watched for several stances and he could not endure it anymore;
he thought presently the situation was very urgent, but this Ouyang Feng was
leisurely sparring martial art in here with this kid; truly he was a bastard. “Mr.
Ouyang, let me help you!” he shouted.

“Don’t go near me!” Ouyang Feng replied.

Venerable Lingzhi thought, “In a situation like this you still flaunt yourself as a hero;
displaying your reputation as a grandmaster of a martial art school?” He bent his
knees and attacked Guo Jing’s left side; his ‘da shou yin’ [big hand stamp/imprint]
slapped Guo Jing’s ‘tai yang’ [sun] acupoint.

Ouyang Feng was angry; his right hand stretched out to grab the back of Lingzhi’s
neck and flung him out. As his neck was grabbed, Venerable Lingzhi was very angry,
he shouted a series of most obscene cuss words he could think of; unfortunately he
was using Tibetan, so naturally Ouyang Feng did not understand a word he was
saying. All he heard was “Ba ni mi hong …” half a sentence because water started to
get into his mouth that his curse was drown. What happened was: he fell backward
with his face facing the sky, so when he fell into the pond water started filling up his
mouth.
Wanyan Honglie saw Venerable Lingzhi came out and fell like he was mounting the
clouds and riding the mist, and then he heard a loud clamoring noise as the big
flower pot in front of the ‘cui han tang’ was crushed; he groaned inwardly. He also
saw the palace guards came in succession, busily he tucked his robe and went inside
the waterfall.

Although he had learned martial arts, his skill was only so-so; as soon as he was
inside the waterfall he stepped on slippery floor and fell down. Yang Kang rushed
forward to hold him up. It took a while for Wanyan Honglie to scan the cave, looking
at what was going on. “Mr. Ouyang, can you expel this youngster?” he called out. He
knew that no matter how he begged or entreated, Ouyang Feng might not
necessarily pay any attention to him; hence he resorted to subtlety by asking if
Ouyang Feng was capable of expelling Guo Jing. It was called ‘dispatching a general
is not as good as inciting a general’.

Sure enough, as soon as Ouyang Feng heard that, he replied, “Why not?” He
squatted and produced a loud grunt, sending his Toad Stance energy forward
through his palms. This one push was backed by his lifelong cultivation of energy,
even if Hong Qigong or Huang Yaoshi were here, they would not be able to resist this
attack head on, how could Guo Jing block?

Ouyang Feng had just exchanged some stances with Guo Jing, compelling him to use
the Vacant Fist technique. He noticed that Guo Jing’s movement was subtle with
marvelous variations, in his heart he was secretly pleased, thinking this must be the
Nine Yin Manual’s martial art. He wanted to watch Guo Jing to use up this technique
so that he could steal as much as he could. Unfortunately Wanyan Honglie barged in
and questioned his ability. He still thought that Guo Jing would be useful, and he
knew the ferociousness of his own strength, therefore, voluntarily he withdrew his
push.

Unexpectedly Guo Jing had determined to guard the Wumu Legacy with his life, he
knew that if he evade to the side, the cave entrance would be defenseless and the
Wumu Legacy would fall into the enemy’s hand. Although there were numerous
palace guards outside, how could they defend against Ouyang Feng and the others?
He knew this incoming force was ferocious, he could not block, and he could not
evade; so his feet kicked and he jumped about four feet upward to escape the attack
and then landed back in front of the entrance. He heard a loud noise behind his back,
sand and rocks fell down since Ouyang Feng’s force hit the cave wall.

“Good!” Ouyang Feng called out, and with an exceptional speed sent out the second
attack. The previous force had not diminished when the next force had arrived.

Guo Jing felt a sudden gust of wind blowing to his upper body, he groaned inwardly;
and launched both of his palms forward using the ‘zhen jing bai li’ [shocking a
hundred ‘li’s] immediately. It was one of the most powerful moves of the 18-Dragon
Subduing Palms. This time he blocked hard with hard. In an instant both of them
stayed motionless. Guo Jing realized his strength was not a match of the enemy’s,
he knew he would suffer defeat, but there was no other way.

Wanyan Honglie saw these two men were fighting, leaping and eluding, one rose up
the other fell down; and suddenly they were stiff like corpses, not even a finger was
stirred, they did not even seem to breathe; he was greatly astonished. A short
moment later sweats started to drip from Guo Jing’s body. Ouyang Feng knew that if
this fight continued his opponent would suffer serious injury; he had a mind of
yielding for half a stance, but as soon as he let down his power his chest tightened
because the opponent’s power come pressing in. If not of his profound strength he
would certainly be injured.

Ouyang Feng was startled; he had never expected that in such a young age Guo
Jing’s strength could be so fierce. He took a deep breath and counterattacked
immediately, pushing the incoming force back out. If only he added a little bit
strength to his push, he would be able to overthrow Guo Jing easily. But this time
both parties palm strength was equal; if he wanted to score victory he would have to
inflict heavy injury to his opponent. It would not be difficult if he really wanted to kill
Guo Jing, but this kid was the key to understanding the Manual; how could he
destroy his own resource? Therefore, he wanted to wait for Guo Jing’s strength to be
depleted and then he would capture him.

Not too long afterwards it became obvious that as one’s strength declined, the
other’s increased; but Wanyan Honglie and Yang Kang who watched from the side
did not know how much longer this condition would last; they became very anxious.
Actually two people were in this deadlock for only a short time, but because the light
from the outside was getting brighter and the noise getting louder, in Wanyan
Honglie and Yang Kang’s mind they have been motionless for a very long time.

Suddenly a loud noise was heard, two palace guards came barging into the waterfall.
Yang Kang swiftly pounced forward. With ‘ta, ta’ sound both of his hands penetrated
the guards body. It was the deathly ‘jiu yin bai zhua gong’ [nine yin white claw
power]. A whiff of reeking blood smell attacked everybody’s nostrils; those guards
died instantly. Yang Kang then drew a dagger from his boot and jumped to stab Guo
Jing’s waist.

Guo Jing was resisting Ouyang Feng’s palm with all his strength; how could he avoid
this incoming stab? He knew if he moved even a little bit he would die violently
under the Western Poison’s Toad Stance; therefore, even when he knew the dagger
would penetrate his body soon, he was forced to ignore it. Suddenly he felt a severe
pain on his waist; his breath was immediately shut. Instinctively he swung his fist
and hit Yang Kang’s hand.

By this time the martial art levels between these two was very far apart; Guo Jing’s
fist struck Yang Kang’s bone like it was about to crack. Hastily Yang Kang withdrew
his hand that the dagger only went halfway into Guo Jing’s waist.

Right at that moment the Toad Stance’s force came surging into Guo Jing’s chest. He
made a noiseless grunt, bent his body and tumbled down.

Realizing that in the end he still inflicted injury, Ouyang Feng waved his hand and
shook his head. “What a pity! What a pity!” he called out. He was dejected but knew
that this kid could not be revived, so there was no reason why he should linger
around; he had to get the Wumu Legacy. He stared at Yang Kang angrily, he
thought, “This kid has spoiled my big business.” He turned around and entered the
cave in big strides. Wanyan Honglie and Yang Kang followed behind.

By that time there were a lot of palace guards gathered around the place. Without
turning his body Ouyang Feng grabbed backward and one by one he flung the guards
away, until finally no guard was able to enter the cave anymore.
Yang Kang lighted up his torch to see the cave situation; he saw thick dust
everywhere, a sign that nobody had ever entered in for a very long time. There was
a stone table in the middle of the cave, and a stone box on top of it, measuring
about two feet square. The box was sealed closed. Other that this, no other object
could be seen inside the cave. Yang Kang brought his torch closer to take a look. The
writing on the seal looked very old, the characters were not recognizable.

“The book must be inside this box,” Wanyan Honglie called out.

Yang Kang was delighted, he held out his hand to take the box. Ouyang Feng’s left
arm gently pushed his shoulder away. Yang Kang staggered back several steps
before he fell down. He was startled, but saw Ouyang Feng took the box.

“Great work accomplished, everybody draws back!” Wanyan Honglie called out.

With Ouyang Feng on the front leading the way, three people went out the cave.
Yang Kang saw Guo Jing with his body full of blood was lying motionless among
several guards on the cave entrance; he felt a slight remorse and muttered under his
breath, “You don’t know good from bad, always meddle in other people’s business.
You can’t blame me in spite of our sworn brotherhood.” Remembering his dagger
was still in Guo Jing’s body he stooped down to pick it up, but then suddenly a
shadow appeared from outside. “Brother Jing, where are you?” the shadow called
out.

Yang Kang recognized Huang Rong’s voice; he was startled and without taking his
dagger out he jumped over Guo Jing’s body and ran outside the water curtain to
follow Ouyang Feng and the others.

Previously Huang Rong was rushing to the east and running to the west with Peng
Lianhu and Liang Ziweng chasing after her on the rooftop. Not long afterwards the
palace guards started to gather around the area. Peng and Liang were scared, they
did not dare to chase Huang Rong much longer and so they went back to join Sha
Tongtian and the others waiting for Wanyan Honglie by the waterfall side. They killed
several other guards outside the cave until Ouyang Feng went out.

Huang Rong was concerned about Guo Jing, she went back inside the cave and called
out several times without answer. She started to get nervous, so she lighted up her
flint only to see Guo Jing with his body soaked in blood was lying next to her own
foot. Huang Rong was scared to death, her hands trembled, her flint fell down and
the fire went out.

Outside the cave the guards were still shouting loudly, calling each other to capture
the assassin. More than a dozen guards were grabbed and tossed away by Ouyang
Feng with broken necks; nobody dare to even go near them anymore. But palace
guards carried a heavy responsibility; presently there was an assassin in the palace,
if they did not shout loudly and appear bold by not running away, how could they
show their loyalties?

Huang Rong stooped down to hold Guo Jing, she felt his hand was still warm, she felt
relieved. She called out several times without getting any answer; she decided to
carry him on her back and quietly slipped away from the waterfall toward the back of
the fake hill.
By that time the area around the ‘cui han tang’ was bright as daylight from the
lanterns. Guards from other parts of the palace had heard the news and came over
in abundance. Even though Huang Rong’s movement was quick it was impossible to
avoid being seen by several guards. They shouted loudly and came to chase her.
Huang Rong silently cursed, “You are a bunch of scumbags, you don’t pursue after
the bad people but chase after the good people.”

She gritted her teeth and flew away. Several guards with higher martial arts
managed to get close to her, forcing her to launch several steel needles. “Aiyo!” she
heard several guards cry out and fell down. The rest of the guards did not dare to
pursue and could only helplessly look at her leaping over the palace wall and
disappear without a trace.

These people were so noisy that the whole palace was frightened; in the dark of the
night nobody knew if it was a coup, somebody was trying to usurp the emperor’s
throne, or some government officers incited a rebellion. The palace guards, the
imperial army, all armed force personnel were alarmed; but not a single high-ranking
military officer knew what was going on for sure. They were confused for the rest of
the night. Came daybreak the cavalry was dispatched; the city was turned upside
down in search of ‘the rebels’ or ‘the assassin’. Quite a number of people were
arrested. Unfortunately later investigation proved that these people were nothing but
petty thieves and local ruffians. The officials were forced to fabricate oral confession
and randomly executed some people in order to appease the throne and to assure
their own safety and position.

After leaving the palace that night, Huang Rong ran without looking where she was
heading. She randomly picked her way and only slowed down after seeing nobody
was pursuing them. She entered a small alley and stretched her finger to feel Guo
Jing’s breath. She was relieved to find Guo Jing was still breathing, only her flint was
lost in the palace so that in the darkness she could not examine where the injury
was. She knew if she waited for the dawn, it would be more difficult to find a shelter
inside the city wall with this kind of bloody person with her; hence she decided to
leave the city that very same night, heading toward Shagu’s wine shop.

Huang Rong’s martial art skill was high, but after running fast for half the night,
carrying Guo Jing on her back with a nervous heart, as she shoved open the door of
Shagu’s shop, she was out of breath; her body felt weak. She sat down to calm
herself down, catching her breath; then found a piece of firewood and lighted it to
look at Guo Jing’s face and examine his wound. She was shocked even more than
when they were still at the palace.

Guo Jing’s eyes were tightly shut, his face was white as a sheet; he looked more
dead than alive. Huang Rong had seen him injured several times before, but never
seen him in this kind of critical condition. She felt like her own heart was about to
jump out of her throat. She stood lost in thought with a torch in her hand; suddenly
a hand stretched out from the side and touched the torch. Huang Rong slowly turned
her head and saw that it was Shagu. Huang Rong sucked a deep breath; now that
there was someone beside her, she felt somewhat better. She remembered she was
going to examine Guo Jing’s injury. Under the bright light of the torch she could see
a blackish object protruding from Guo Jing’s waist; it looked like an ebony hilt of a
dagger. She lowered her head to look closer and found out that it was indeed a
dagger with the blade stuck inside Guo Jing’s left waist.
At this time Huang Rong’s panic had reached its limit, her mind turned calm instead.
She gently tore the clothes around his waist, exposing bare skin and muscle; only to
see blood coagulated around the blade, which penetrated the muscle several ‘cun’
deep [1 cun is approximately 1 inch]. She was afraid if she pulled the dagger Guo
Jing would die immediately, but if she waited too long it would be also more difficult
to save his life. Biting her lips she stretched out her hand to grab the dagger’s hilt,
but then suddenly doubt came creeping into her heart; she withdrew her hand. This
happened several times; she just could not make up her mind.

Shagu became impatient; the fourth time Huang Rong withdrew her hand she
suddenly stretched out her hand, grabbed the hilt and pulled the dagger out
abruptly. Guo Jing and Huang Rong both shouted in shock; but Shagu thought it was
really fun, she happily laughed out loud.

Huang Rong saw blood gushing out from Guo Jing’s wound like a spring, while Shagu
was still laughing foolishly; from shock she became angry, her palm struck
backward, sending Shagu rolling down on the floor. And immediately she stooped
down to press the wound with a handkerchief.

When Shagu fell down, she brought the torch with her; the fire was extinguished and
the room became pitch-black. Shagu was angry, she jumped out and kicked Huang
Rong on her leg. Huang Rong did not evade the kick. Shagu was afraid Huang Rong
would retaliate; she jumped back immediately after kicking. But after a while she
heard Huang Rong was sobbing softly. She was surprised. Busily she re-lighted the
torch and came asking, “Did I hurt you bad?”

Actually when the dagger was pulled out, the pain was so severe that it woke Guo
Jing up. Under the torch light he saw Huang Rong was kneeling beside him. “Master
Yue’s book … was it … was it stolen?” he quickly asked.

Huang Rong was delighted to hear him speak. Knowing he was very concerned about
this matter she felt like it was not the right time to add to his anxiety. “Don’t worry,”
she said, “Those traitors were not able to get their hands on the book …” She wanted
to ask how he was feeling but her hands were actually warm from his blood.

“Why are you crying?” Guo Jing asked with a low voice.

Huang Rong forced a smile and said, “I am not crying.”

Shagu suddenly opened her mouth, “She is too, isn’t she? Look, there are still tears
on her face.”

“Rong’er, don’t worry,” Guo Jing said, “There is a section about injury treatment in
the Nine Yin Manual. I won’t die.”

Hearing this Huang Rong was like someone in the dark suddenly saw a beacon of
light; her eyes shone brightly, her delight was unspeakable, nothing could dampen
her spirit. She wanted to ask the details but was afraid she would make him weary.
She turned around to hold Shagu’s hand. “Sister, did I hurt you just now?” she
asked, with smile on her face.

Shagu’s mind was still set on seeing her cry, she ignored her question and asked,
“You are crying, don’t you admit it?”

Huang Rong smiled, “Fine, I was crying. But you were not, you are a good girl.”
Shagu was delighted to hear her praise.

Guo Jing slowly circulated his ‘qi’; the pain was unbearable. By this time Huang Rong
had cleared her mind. She took out a steel needle and punctured the acupoints
around his left waist, both to slow down the flow of blood, also to reduce the pain.
Then she washed up his wound clean, applied some medicine and re-wrapped the
wound with clean cloth. She also gave him a ‘nine flowered jade dew pill’ to help stop
the pain.

Guo Jing said, “Although this dagger went in pretty deep, but … but luckily it did not
hit any vital organs, it … it won’t be life-threatening. I suffer more dangerous injury
from the Old Poison’s Toad Stance; fortunately it seemed like he did not use all his
strength, so looks like I may be healed; only I will have to make you suffer for seven
days and seven nights.”

Huang Rong sighed. “You know that even if I have to suffer seventy years for you, I
will still be willing,” she said.

Guo Jing felt sweetness creep into his heart, at the same time he also felt dizzy.
After waiting for a moment his mind cleared up a little bit; he said, “It was a pity
when Shifu was injured I missed several days of opportunity to treat him. Otherwise
even though the snake venom was fierce, it won’t be too hard for him to fully
recover. He won’t be … he won’t be disabled like he is today.”

Huang replied, “When we were on that island, even if we could heal Shifu’s injury,
would the Old Poison uncle and nephew let us? Please don’t think that way. Just tell
me your method and set my mind at ease.”

“First we must find a peace and quiet place,” Guo Jing said, “Then following the
Manual’s instruction we circulate our ‘qi’ together. Each of us will hold the other’s
palm. Using your internal energy you are helping me healing my injury.” Speaking to
this point he closed his eyes to catch his breath before continuing, “The only
difficulty is that for seven whole days and nights our palms cannot be separated
even for a second. Your breathing will be closely linked to mine. We can talk to each
other, but definitely we can’t have a third person interrupting us even for a half
sentence. Also, we must not walk away even for half a step. If there is someone else
disturbing us, we may …”

Huang Rong realized this kind of treatment was similar with meditation to cultivate
someone’s martial art. Before reaching satisfactory result one could not experience
any external intervention. Otherwise, the mind would be either disturbed with bad
thoughts or would be out of control. Unavoidably the result would be fire deviation;
not only the whole energy cultivation would be wasted, in the least the person would
suffered injury, at the most, dead. That was the reason warriors who cultivate
internal energy would always find a secluded and inhabited mountain or field; or
closing their doors without coming out; or have a skilled and powerful master or
friend protecting on the sideline to avoid their training going astray.

She thought, “In this short moment it’s difficult to find a peace and quiet place; while
I am the only one who can help him treating his injury. It’s impossible to rely on this
Shagu to guard against external disturbance; she could come and create and endless
disturbance herself. If only Big Brother Zhou came back. But then I don’t think he
will be able to set his mind to guard us for seven days and seven nights; success
won’t be guaranteed, messed up things will be more likely. So what should I do?”

She mused over this matter for a long time; then she glanced over to the bowl in the
cabinet. An idea came into her mind, “I got it. We can hide inside this secret room.
In the past Mei Chaofeng practiced martial art without anybody protecting her. Didn’t
she hide herself up in a cave?”

It was now dawn; Shagu went to the kitchen and cooked some rice porridge for
these two people to eat. “Brother Jing,” Huang Rong said, “Wait here for a moment,
I am going to buy some food, and then we can start your treatment immediately.”

She thought presently the weather was blisteringly hot, if she cooked some rice and
dishes, they would definitely rot if left in the room for seven days and nights;
thereupon she went to the village market to buy a picul [approximately 50 kg or 100
lbs] of watermelon.

The farmer who sold the watermelon brought everything back to Shagu’s inn and
heaped them on the ground. After receiving the money, on the way out he said, “Our
Ox Village’s watermelon is sweet and crispy; once Miss taste it you will agree with
me.”

Hearing the three characters ‘niu jia cun’ [ox village], Huang Rong’s heart skipped a
beat. “Turned out this is the Ox Village,” she said in her heart, “This is Brother Jing’s
hometown.” She was afraid if Guo Jing found out his mind would be disturbed;
therefore, she replied perfunctorily.

She waited until that villager went out to go into the inner chamber to take a look.
Guo Jing was asleep; blood no longer seeped out through the cotton cloth wrapped
around his waist. Huang Rong opened up the cabinet and turned the iron bowl to
open the secret chamber door; and then she brought the watermelons one by one
inside. At last the only thing remained outside was Shagu. Huang Rong repeatedly
warned Shagu not to tell anybody they would be staying inside the chamber; that no
matter what kind of earth shattering things happened, she was not supposed to call
out from outside.

Shagu did not understand her intention, but seeing Huang Rong’s serious expression,
she said she understood; repeatedly nodded her head to give her promise. “You
want to eat watermelon inside; you don’t want anybody to know. After you finish
eating watermelon, you will come back out again. Shagu will not tell.”

Huang Rong was happy, “Shagu won’t tell, Shagu is a good girl,” she said, “If Shagu
tell, Shagu is a bad girl.”

“Shagu won’t tell, Shagu is a good girl,” Shagu repeatedly said.

Huang Rong fed Guo Jing another big bowl of rice porridge, she also ate one bowl;
and then she helped him entering the secret chamber. When she was closing the
door from inside, she saw Shagu’s simple expression showing a smile. Shagu said,
“Shagu won’t tell.”
Suddenly Huang Rong’s heart was moved, “This girl is so dumb; what if every time
she meet someone she say, ‘Those two eat watermelon inside the cabinet, Shagu
won’t tell.’? The only way to ensure our safety is to kill her.”

She grew up under her father’s way of life; benevolence and justice, differences
between good and evil don’t matter to them. Although she knew this Shagu had a
very close relationship with Qu Lingfeng, right at that moment she presented a
danger to Guo Jing’s life. Even if there were a dozen more Shagus, she would kill
them all.

She took the dagger that was in Guo Jing’s waist and walked out to leave the room.

End of Chapter 23.

Chapter 24 – Healing in the Secret Room

(Translated by Foxs, Edited by Eliza Bennet)

Huang Rong had just walked two steps when she turned her head and saw Guo
Jing’s suspicious look, as if he could see the murderous look on her own face; she
thought, “I don’t have any problem killing Shagu, but later on Jing Gege might ask
me about it.” She further thought, “He might not ask me about it; he might not even
raise this matter, ever. But in his heart he might harbor hatred to me, that won’t be
good. All right, we’ll just have to take this big risk.” She closed the door immediately
and looked around the room carefully.

On the western corner near the roof of that small room there was a small ventilation
window about one foot square, where the sunlight entered the room through a sheet
of clamshell curtain. By this light they were able to see everything inside the room.
The ventilation hole was dusty. Huang Rong took out her dagger and cleaned up the
ventilation hole. The bad smell in the room still lingered, but they seemed unable to
think about it. In light of the life and death experience they faced earlier, the smelly
and dusty room felt like paradise to them.

Guo Jing leaned on the wall; he smiled slightly and said, “There is no better place for
us to treat my injury than in this room. Only we are accompanied by two dead
people. Are you afraid?”

In her heart Huang Rong was actually scared, but she determined not to think about
it. She said with a smile, “One was my Shige [martial brother], he certainly won’t
harm me; the other was a rice bucket government official. Alive he wouldn’t scare
me, become a ghost he could scare me even less by becoming a ghost.”

Immediately she kicked two sets of skeletons towards the northern corner of the
room. She took the straw mat of the watermelon and spread it out on the ground;
then she piled up the several dozens of watermelon around it within arms reach.
“What do you think?” she asked.

“Very good,” Guo Jing replied, “Now we can start.”

Huang Rong helped him to sit on the straw; she also sat cross-legged on his left.
When she lifted her head, she saw a small hole eyelet the size of a coin on the wall
right in front of her. She looked through it and to her delight she saw a mirror on
which she could see the entire room outside. Apparently the people who built this
secret room had planned it thoroughly; so when they were hiding inside this room
from the enemies, they could still observe the activity outside through the mirror.
Only it had been a long time and the mirror was covered with thick dust. She took
out a handkerchief and wrapped her index finger with it; then she poked inside the
hole to clean the mirror.

She saw Shagu was sitting on the ground throwing pebbles around, her mouth
humming some tune, but Huang Rong could not hear clearly what she was singing.
Huang Rong pressed her ear to the hole to listen; turned out Shagu was humming a
lullaby, “Swing, swing, swing; swing to the grandmother’s bridge; grandmother calls
me the precious baby …”

At first Huang Rong felt funny, but then the more she listened, the more she felt the
touching emotion that song brought. Her heart overflowed with tender affection. She
could not help but think: Could it be this song was the one her mother sang to her
when she was little …? “If my mother did not die, would she sing like this to me?”
Thinking of this her eyes turned moist.

Guo Jing saw her sad expression and said, “What are you thinking? My injury is not
that bad, don’t feel so sad.”

Huang Rong put out her hand to wipe her tears and said, “Quickly teach me the
internal energy cultivation technique.” Thereupon Guo Jing started to slowly recite
the ‘treating injury’ chapter of the Nine Yin Manual.

There was a saying among the martial art practitioners, ‘learn how to take a beating
first before learning how to beat someone,’ So the most basic lesson in martial art
was how to take a beating without getting seriously injured. When the martial art
became more profound, the practitioner must learn how to protect their own body
and defend their own lives, sealing acupoints to treat an injury, setting up broken
bones and curing poison wound, and all kinds of advance techniques. Better
techniques would result in better skill; it did not matter if one’s martial art skill was
unmatched, there would come a day when he would fall. The ‘treating injury’ of the
Nine Yin Manual explained how a highly skilled martial artist would use his own
internal energy to treat the injury, how to circulate the energy in internal injury
treatment. As for the broken bones or weapon-inflicted wounds or other external
injury treatment, it was assumed that the person who practiced the Manual did not
need further instructions.

Huang Rong needed to listen only once and she would remember forever. There
were several unclear passages in the Manual, which they needed to discuss in detail.
One had a strong foundation in Quanzhen Sect’s internal energy cultivation, the
other had an extraordinary intelligence; with some deliberations they were able to
understand almost everything. And so Huang Rong held out her right hand, clasping
Guo Jing’s left, they started to train diligently according to the technique from the
Manual.

After training for four hours they took a short break. Huang Rong’s left hand grabbed
a knife and cut a watermelon, which she divided into parts and fed some to Guo Jing,
all the while their hands were clasping each other. Training for several hours more,
the tightness in Guo Jing’s chest gradually lessened, the warm energy from Huang
Rong’s palm slowly dispersed into his body’s hundreds of bones, the soreness on his
waist was indeed gradually reduced. He thought the technique contained in this
Manual was truly incomparable; he did not dare to be negligent and proceeded
diligently.

When the time came for them to take the third break, the light streaming from the
ventilation window gradually dimmed. It was near dusk. Not only did Guo Jing feel
his chest a lot less constricted, but Huang Rong also felt invigorated. Two people
chatted before continuing their training. Suddenly they heard footsteps running
quickly and stop in front of the inn then several people came in.

An insolent voice shouted, “Quickly get some dishes out, your masters here are
starving!”

They recognized that the voice belonged to San Tou Jiao [Three-headed Scaly
Dragon] Hou Tonghai. Guo Jing and Huang Rong looked at each other in surprise.
Huang Rong quickly looked into the small hole and to her surprised she saw on the
mirror not only Hou Tonghai, but Wanyan Honglie, Ouyang Feng, Yang Kang, Peng
Lianhu and the others. Huang Rong did not know where Shagu went to play.

Hou Tonghai slapped the table and made quite a racket, but nobody came out. Liang
Ziweng went out and walked around the building. He frowned and said, “Nobody
lives here.” Hou Tonghai volunteered to go to the village and buy some wine and
dishes.

Ouyang Feng found a spot protected from the blowing wind and spread some straw;
then he carried his nephew and gently placed him on the straw, let him calmly lie
down to heal from his broken legs.

Peng Lianhu said with a laugh, “Those palace guards, although they are useless, they
are everywhere like a ghost haunting us, so for the whole day we did not have time
to even stop and eat. Wangye [Prince, lit. king master], you are a northerner, yet
you know that by the Qiantang River there is a desolate village and led all of us here.
Truly nothing is hidden from your knowledgeable mind.”

Although he heard the flattering tone in Peng Lianhu’s voice, Wanyan Honglie’s face
did not show the slightest satisfaction. He merely sighed softly and said, “I came to
this place nineteen years ago.” Everybody could see that his expression had
changed. They felt a little strange, but of course nobody knew he was thinking about
how Bai Xirou saved his life in this village. The desolate village still existed, but that
gentle lady with a hairpin in her head, wearing green robe, the one fed him warm
chicken soup, was no longer in this world.

Meanwhile Hou Tonghai had returned from the village with wine and food. Peng
Lianhu poured wine for everybody and said to Wanyan Honglie, “Wangye, today you
succeeded in attaining the marvelous military strategy book, the sign that the Great
Jin’s prestige will soon inspire the world, your army will dominate tens of thousands
of lands. Let us all congratulate you!” He raised his cup and gulped his wine.

His voice was loud and clear. Guo Jing on the other side of the wall could still hear
him clearly; he was shocked, “Yue Yeye’s [Master Yue, lit. grandfather Yue] Legacy
has fallen into his hand!” he bitterly thought. As soon as his mind was anxious, the
flow of energy in his chest reversed. Huang Rong could feel her palm shaking; she
knew he heard everything and it had affected his ‘dan tian’ [pubic region]. If it was
not controlled quickly his life might be in danger. Busily she pressed her mouth to his
ear and whispered, “If he can steal the book, can’t we do the same? As long as your
Er Shifu [Second Master], ‘Miao Shou Shu Sheng’ [Magic Hands Scholar] makes his
move, he can easily steal even ten books.”

Guo Jing thought she was right, immediately he closed his eyes and his mind, no
longer listened to the conversation behind the wall. Huang Rong looked into the hole
again, and she saw Wanyan Honglie raise the cup and drank the wine; and then with
a delight he said, “In this battle everybody has worked hard to help; Mr. Ouyang
rendered the most service. If he did not get rid of that kid surnamed Guo, we would
have to spend a lot more effort.”

Ouyang Feng let out a dry laugh; it sounded like a broken cymbal. As Guo Jing heard
his laughter, his heart was shaken yet again. Huang Rong secretly thought, “Heaven
bless us, let this Old Poison not pluck his devilish zither here; otherwise Jing Gege’s
life will be difficult to retain.”

She heard Ouyang Feng say, “This place is so remote. Song’s army would not find us
here. I wonder what kind of thing this Yue Fei Yishu [Legacy, something left behind]
is; let us all take a look.”

He took the stone box from his bosom and placed it on the table. His thought was
that if Wumu’s Legacy contained an exquisite martial art method, then without
regard of everybody else he would take it for himself. However, if the book only
contained marching technique and military strategy, it would be useless to him; then
he would gladly let others enjoy it, he would let Wanyan Honglie take it.

In the meantime everybody was gazing at the stone box. Huang Rong thought,
“What can I do to destroy the book? It would be better than let it fall into the hands
of these traitors.” She heard Wanyan Honglie say, “Xiao Wang [lit. little king] has
performed a comprehensive analysis on Yue Fei’s riddle in the form of a poem; I also
studied carefully the official history record of all previous dynasties on the
construction of the imperial palace. I believed this book was concealed fifteen steps
east of the ‘cui han tang’ [green-jade cold hall]. Today my deduction was proved to
be correct. I believe nobody in the Song Dynasty knew that in their palace was
hidden such a treasure. The commotion we made last night, I don’t think anybody
knew what that commotion was all about.” He sounded very proud of himself.
Everybody immediately seized the opportunity to heap praises on him.

Wanyan Honglie twirled his moustache and laughed. “Kang’er,” he said, “Go ahead,
open the box.”

Yang Kang responded and stepped forward. First he removed the seal then he lifted
the lid. Everybody’s eyes were on the box. Suddenly their countenances changed;
they were confounded, nobody made any sound. The box was completely empty, not
only there wasn’t any military strategy book, not even a sheet of blank paper was to
be found inside.

Although Huang Rong could not see the box, judging from everybody’s expression,
she could deduce that the box was empty. She was delighted and also found it
amusing.

Wanyan Honglie was very disappointed. He held on the table to sit down. His hand
propped his cheek and he was thinking deeply. “My thousands of calculations, tens of
thousands of iterations, all point out that Yue Fei’s Legacy is in this box. How can
suddenly not even a trace of it is in the box?” he thought. Suddenly he had an idea,
his face lighted up. He took the stone box and brought it outside toward the well
then with all his might he smashed the box against the flagstone. ‘Bang!’ the box
broke into pieces.

As Huang Rong heard that broken stone sound she immediately thought, “Ah, there
is a secret compartment in the box.” She was anxious to see if the Legacy was inside
the secret compartment, but no matter what, she could not go out. After a moment
however, she saw Wanyan Honglie dejectedly return to the room and sit down.

“I knew there was a secret compartment in that box; who would have thought it was
also empty,” Wanyan Honglie said.

One after another everybody tried to offer their opinions. Huang Rong was amused
listening to their wild imaginations, one was more weird than the other; she
immediately told Guo Jing. As he learned that the Wumu’s Legacy had not been
stolen, Guo Jing was greatly comforted. Huang Rong deliberated further, “These
traitors will not possibly give up just like that; they must be thinking of going back to
the palace tonight.” She was thinking of her Shifu who was still inside the palace;
she was afraid he might be implicated. There was Zhou Botong to protect him, but
Huang Rong could not help but feel worried; since the Old Urchin behaved like a
madman, he could not properly take care of important matters.

Sure enough, she heard Ouyang Feng say, “That’s not a big deal. We’ll go back to
the palace tonight and search some more.”

“We can’t go tonight,” Wanyan Honglie objected, “We made quite a disturbance last
night, that I am sure they will strictly guard the palace tonight.”

“We can’t avoid the guards,” Ouyang Feng said, “But why worry over it? Wangye and
Xiao Wangye [Young Prince] do not need to go. You and my nephew may stay here
to take some rest.”

Wanyan Honglie cupped his fists in front of his chest. “Then I will bother Mister to
work for me. Xiao Wang will wait for your good news with a peaceful heart.”
Straightaway everybody spread some straw in the room and lay down to sleep.

After they slept for more than two hours Ouyang Feng woke everybody up and they
went to the city once again.

Wanyan Honglie tossed and turned without being able to get some sleep. Around
midnight he could hear the sound of the rising tide on the river. He could also hear a
dog barking at the other end of the village; the dog kept barking intermittently
throughout the night, as if it was weeping. In the quiet night it brought sorrow to the
heart, adding to the anxiety he already felt inside.

After a long while suddenly there were footsteps outside the door, there was
someone coming in. Wanyan Honglie quickly sat up and drew his sword. Yang Kang
had early on jumped behind the door to set an ambush. Under the moonlight they
saw a woman with disheveled hair, humming a children’s song, shoved the door and
came in. She was none other than Shagu. She had just got back from playing in the
woods all day. She thought little of seeing people sleeping in her room; she kept
walking toward the pile of firewood, lied down next to it, and not too long afterwards
she was snoring.

As Yang Kang saw it was only a stupid country girl, he smiled and went back to
sleep. Wanyan Honglie’s mind, however, was filled with thoughts of past and
present; he could not sleep for a long time. He got up, took a candle from his
backpack and lit it; and then he took a book and started flipping the pages over.

Huang Rong saw the bright light through the small hole; she took a peek and saw a
moth circling the candle, then suddenly it threw itself to the fire, its wings were
immediately scorched and it fell on the table. Wanyan Honglie took the moth up. He
could not help but feel distressed. He thought, “If my Madame Bao were here, she
would certainly take care of you.” From his bosom he took out a small silver knife
and a small medicine bottle; and he stroked those objects affectionately.

Huang Rong lightly tapped Guo Jing’s shoulder and moved aside so Guo Jing could
take a look through the small hole. As Guo Jing saw with his own eyes, he was
enraged. He vaguely recognized the silver knife and medicine bottle belonged to
Yang Kang’s mother, Bao Xiruo. He saw her using these items at the Zhao Palace
when she was tending a wounded little rabbit. He heard Wanyan Honglie softly
murmur, “Nineteen years ago, in this very village, I met you for the first time … Ay! I
wonder what happened to your former residence …” While saying that he rose up,
took the candle along and went out the door.

Guo Jing was startled, “Could it be that this is my parents’ hometown, the Ox
Village?” he wondered. He pressed his mouth to Huang Rong’s ear to inquire. Huang
Rong nodded. Guo Jing’s blood surged up, his body shook.

Huang Rong’s right palm was holding Guo Jing’s left palm; she realized his breathing
flow was excited because his mind was agitated, which was very dangerous.
Immediately she stretched out her left palm to grab Guo Jing’s right palm and
together they synchronized their energy so Guo Jing slowly focused his own
breathing.

After a long time they saw a moving light and they heard Wanyan Honglie heaved a
long sigh while he came back to the room. By this time Guo Jing had been able to
control his emotions, but his left palm still held Huang Rong’s right palm. He looked
through the small hole again and saw that Wanyan Honglie was holding several small
pieces of broken bricks and tiles, sitting in daze by the candle light.

Guo Jing thought, “This traitor is less than ten steps away from me. All I need to do
is throw the dagger to him and I will be able to take his life.”

His right hand drew the golden blade Genghis Khan gave him and he whispered to
Huang Rong, “Turn the door open.”

“Don’t!” Huang Rong hastily said, “Killing him is easy, but then our hiding place will
be discovered.”

With a trembling voice Guo Jing said, “Six more days and nights I don’t know where
he will be.”

Huang Rong knew it would not be easy to persuade him, so she whispered in his ear,
“Your mother and Rong’er want you alive.”

Guo Jing’s heart shivered with cold; he nodded. He put the golden blade back to its
sheath on his waist and again looked out through the small hole. He saw Wanyan
Honglie sprawled on the table, asleep. Suddenly he saw somebody got up from the
straw. This person’s face was illuminated by the candle light, but in the mirror it was
not clear whose face it was. Guo Jing only saw he quietly stood up and walked over
to Wanyan Honglie. He took the silver knife and the small medicine bottle from the
table, looked at them for a while then gently put them back down on the table. He
then turned his head around and Guo Jing saw that it was Yang Kang.

Guo Jing said in his heart, “That’s right, you must avenge your parents. This is a
very good opportunity. With a stab of the dagger the enemy, with whom you cannot
live together under the same sky, will certainly lose his life. You won’t have the same
opportunity once the Old Poison and the others come back.”

His heart was very anxious, he was hoping Yang Kang would immediately make his
move. But after putting down the silver knife and the medicine bottle, Yang Kang
blew the candle light then for a moment the room looked dark to him, and then he
saw Yang Kang took out his long robe and gently draped it over Wanyan Honglie’s
shoulders to protect him from the cold night.

Guo Jing was very angry, he turned his head around, not willing to look outside
anymore. He did not understand how Yang Kang could treat the enemy who killed his
parents with such a loving and tender care. Huang Rong comforted him by saying,
“Do not be impatient. After your injury is healed, even if this traitor runs away into
the horizon we will catch him. He is not the Old Poison, don’t you think killing him is
easy?” Guo Jing nodded and went back into circulating his internal energy.

Soon the dawn arrived, from the village came the noise of roosters crowing and all
kinds of morning clatters. Inside their bodies the ‘qi’ had been circulating seven
times, they felt relieved and comfortable. Huang Rong raised her index finger up and
said with a smile, “One day has passed!”

“And it was very dangerous!” Guo Jing replied in low voice, “If not for you, I could
not keep my mind peaceful and steady, I nearly made things worse.”

“There are six more days and six more nights,” Huang Rong said, “You promised to
listen to what I say.”

Guo Jing laughed, “When did I ever not listen to what you say?” he said.

Huang Rong leaned her head to the side and said, “Hmm, let me think.”

At this moment a single ray of sunlight came slanting down the ventilation window;
her white skin and beautiful rosy cheeks looked like red clouds at dawn. Guo Jing
suddenly felt her palm was exceptionally warm and soft. Something stirred in his
chest, hastily he chased that thought away, but already his face blushed all over.
Ever since they had been together Guo Jing never had this kind of feeling toward
her; he could not help but be shocked and he silently rebuked himself.

Huang Rong saw him blushing; she felt strange. “Jing Gege,” she asked, “What
happened?”
With a low voice Guo Jing replied, “I have been bad. I suddenly thought of … thought
of …”

“What is it?” Huang Rong asked.

“I am not thinking about it anymore,” Guo Jing answered.

“Then what did you think of?” Huang Rong pressed.

Unable to dodge away Guo Jing confessed, “I was thinking of hugging you, kissing
you.”

Huang Rong felt warm and sweet all of a sudden, her face also blushed, she looked
shy and even lovelier.

Seeing her lowering her head without saying anything Guo Jing asked, “Rong’er, are
you angry? I was as bad as Ouyang Ke to have such a bad thought.”

Huang Rong gave him one of her captivating smiles, “I am not angry,” she said with
a tender voice, “I was thinking in the future you will hug me and kiss me, for I will
certainly be your wife.” Guo Jing was very happy, he stammered but could not say
anything.

“You wanted to hug and kiss me, was it bad?” Huang Rong asked.

Guo Jing was about to reply, but suddenly from outside the door came the noise of
rushing footsteps; two men burst into the inn. He heard Hou Tonghai’s voice say,
“His granny, I told you earlier that there are ghosts in the world, but Shige [Martial
(older) Brother] did not believe me.” He was so agitated that he could not say clearly
what was in his raging mind. Then Sha Tongtian’s voice replied, “What ghost? I told
you, we met a martial art master.”

Huang Rong looked out through the hole and saw that Hou Tonghai’s face was full of
blood, while Sha Tongtian’s clothes were ripped into pieces. It seemed like these two
martial brothers had been in an extremely difficult situation.

Wanyan Honglie and Yang Kang were confounded to see their conditions; they busily
inquired. Hou Tonghai replied, “We were very unfortunate; we met a ghost at the
imperial palace last night. Damn it! Old Hou’s ears were cut off by the ghost.”

Wanyan Honglie did indeed see that both sides of his face were covered with blood
and looked somewhat unusual; it turned out, his ears were missing. Wanyan Honglie
was astonished.

Sha Tongtian scolded, “Still talking strange ghost story; haven’t you disgraced us
enough?”

Hou Tonghai was afraid of his Shige, but he still tried to argue, “I saw it clearly, his
eyes were blue, he was the red bearded judge of hell, pouncing over me with a scary
‘Wah! Wah!’ voice! All I did was to turn my head around and he grabbed my neck
and my ears were gone. This judge of hell looked exactly like the one in the temple,
how could it not be him?”
Sha Tongtian only fought the judge for three stances and his clothes were ripped into
pieces. That judge was definitely a highly skilled martial artist, not some strange
ghost; only Sha Tongtian did not have any clue on how did he have the appearance
of a judge of hell.

Four people offered their guesses, they even asked Ouyang Ke who was lying down
because of his injury, but nobody came out with a plausible answer.

While they were still talking, Lingzhi Shangren [lit. upper/above person, a respectful
term to address a Buddhist monk], Peng Lianhu and Liang Ziweng had also arrived
one after another. Lingzhi Shangren’s hands were bound by iron chain behind his
back, Peng Lianhu’s cheeks were swollen red and blue, Liang Ziweng’s condition was
the funniest; the white hair on his head were pulled clean so that he looked like a
Buddhist monk. Standing and talking opposite to Sha Tongtian, they looked alike,
their bald heads shining, reflecting the light.

It turned out those three entered the imperial palace and spread out in order to find
the Wumu’s Legacy; all of them had met some ghosts. Only each met different
ghost; one met with a ‘wu chang gui’ [the ghost supposed to take soul after death],
the other ‘huang ling guan’ [yellow spirit officer], and the last was ‘tu di pu sa’ [earth
god].

Liang Ziweng stroked his own bad head and opened his mouth to curse using all dirty
words he knew, including some ‘mother-in-law of the earth grew some fungi’. Peng
Lianhu endured silently and did not say a single word, he worked hard trying to take
the iron chain from Lingzhi Shangren’s hands. The chain went deep into the flesh,
with hooks on either end connected tightly to each other. Peng Lianhu had to exert a
lot of strength until his hands were bruised and bloody before he could untie the
chain.

Everybody looked at each other in blank dismay; nobody made any sound. They
knew in their hearts that last night they met a highly skilled martial artist and were
greatly insulted, so they all felt ashamed. Hou Tonghai still believed it was a ghost,
and nobody bothered to argue with him.

After a long time Wanyan Honglie opened his mouth, “I wonder why Mr. Ouyang has
not come back yet. Perhaps he also met a ghost.”

“Mr. Ouyang’s martial art skill is unmatched,” Yang Kang said, “Even if he met a
ghost, he won’t suffer defeat.” Peng Lianhu and the others were indifferent.

Huang Rong saw everything; how these people met extremely difficult situations and
were talking about ghosts. She was very pleased, she thought, “The masks I bought
for Zhou Dage [Big Brother] have unexpectedly boosted his power and prestige; it
was truly beyond my expectation. I wonder if he met and fought the Old Poison yet.”
At that moment she felt Guo Jing’s internal energy starting to flow into her palm, so
she went back to join him immediately.

Peng Lianhu and the others had been busy all night, they were starving. Working
hand in hand they started chopping firewood, buying rice and vegetables, and
preparing their food. When the food was ready Hou Tonghai went to the cupboard to
get some bowls. He saw the iron bowl and tried to take it, naturally it would not
budge. He felt strange and shouted, “A ghost!” He pulled the bowl with all his
strength, but of course the bowl did not move.

Huang Rong heard his voice and was shocked; she knew their hiding place must not
be seen by them. Not to mention the fact that they would not necessarily win if a
fight broke, but if they moved even so slightly, Guo Jing’s life would be in danger;
that must not happen. Inside the secret room she was frightened and did not know
what to do. Outside the room Sha Tongtian heard his martial brother’s shout and
reprimanded him not to make such a big thing over nothing.

Hou Tonghai was not angry, he said, “All right, then come and take this bowl out.”
Sha Tongtian held out his hand to pick the bowl, but the bowl stayed. “Ah!” he
exclaimed.

Peng Lianhu heard him and came over. “Sha Xiong [Brother Sha],” he said, “There
must be a secret mechanism connected to it. Try turning it to the left or right.”

Huang Rong saw the situation was pressing, she knew they were forced to stake it
all. She handed the dagger over to Guo Jing and held out her hand to take the
bamboo stick given by Hong Qigong. Inwardly she was sorrowful to think their lives
would end this way. In the last moment she turned her head and saw the skeletons
at the corner of the room. Suddenly an idea came to her mind; hurriedly she took
the skulls and made an effort to lift a big watermelon, then she placed the skulls on
the watermelon.

With some creaking noise the iron door revolved, revealing a hole behind it. Huang
Rong placed the watermelon on top of her head and spread out her long hair over
her face. As Sha Tongtian opened the door, he saw inside the cabinet there was a
monster with two heads, letting out a scary ‘Wah! Wah!’ sound. The monster’s two
heads were skulls, side by side on top of a blue and green striped sphere, with a
cluster of long black beard underneath it.

Everybody had suffered a lot the previous night, they were still shaken; and now
they suddenly saw a ghost inside the cabinet, they were really scared. Hou Tonghai
screamed and ran away. Without thinking everybody else followed. The only one left
was Ouyang Ke. Since his legs were broken he was lying on a straw bed and was
unable to run.

Huang Rong heaved a long sigh; busily she closed the cabinet door. She could not
help but smile, considering they had barely escaped trouble for the moment; for she
knew those traitors were Jianghu’s top veterans, surely they would come back. They
were running away because they were frightened by the Old Urchin; otherwise, how
could she fool them so easily? Once they calmed themselves down, they would come
back and would not be scared away so easily.

Huang Rong’s dimples had not disappeared, she was still undecided on the next
course of action to take, when she heard a noise from the door, someone was
coming. Huang Rong grabbed a steel butterfly tightly in her hand, while the bamboo
stick was close by her side. As soon as the door was opened, she would throw the
projectile first and talk about it later. But after waiting for a moment she heard a
beautiful voice calling out, “Innkeeper! Innkeeper!”

Huang Rong was really surprised to hear this call. Busily she looked out through the
small hole and saw a lady wearing embroidered gown sitting in the inn. Her clothes
and adornments were gorgeous; indicating she came from a wealthy family. She was
sitting with her back facing the mirror, so Huang Rong could not see her face.

That lady waited for half a day, and then she called out again, “Innkeeper!
Innkeeper!”

Huang Rong thought, “This voice sounds familiar, tender yet strong; she sounds like
the Cheng Da Xiaojie [Eldest Miss Cheng] of Baoying.” At that moment the lady
turned around and who was it but the Cheng Da Xiaojie, Cheng Yaojia? Huang Rong
was pleasantly surprised, “Why does she come this place?”

Shagu was not awakened by the commotion made by Hou Tonghai and the others.
But now she had enough sleep, so she crawled up from the straw bed.

“Innkeeper,” Cheng Yaojia said, “Would you please prepare some food for me? I
would be much obliged.”

Shagu shook her head, meaning she did not have any food. But suddenly she sniffed
around and smelled cooked rice. She rushed to open the lid and saw the pot was full
of plain white rice, the one Peng Lianhu and the others had prepared. Shagu was
delighted; without wondering where the food came from she took two bowls and
gave one to Cheng Yaojia, while she gobbled the other.

Cheng Yaojia saw there was no dish, only plain rice, she ate a few bites, then put the
bowl down. Shagu ate three full bowls quickly, then she patted her belly, looked
satisfied.

“Miss,” Cheng Yaojia said, “May I ask you a question? Do you know how far the Ox
Village is from this place?”

“Ox Village?” Shagu said, “This is Ox Village. How far it is from this place, I don’t
know.”

Cheng Yaojia blushed. She lowered her head and played with the end of her belt.
After half a day she said, “It turned out this is the Ox Village. Then I am wondering if
you knew someone. I wonder if you knew … you knew … someone …”

Shagu did not wait for her to finish, she shook her head impatiently and then rushed
out the door. Huang Rong wondered in her heart, “Who is she looking for at the Ox
Village? Ah, that’s right! She is the disciple of Sun Bu’er. Most likely she received an
order from her Master and Martial Uncles to find Qiu Chuji’s disciple, Yang Kang.”

Huang Rong saw Cheng Yaojia was sitting up straight, her clothes were proper; she
was gently stroking the pearl head ornament by her temple, her face blushing, with
a slight smile on the corner of her lips, did not know what she was thinking.

Huang Rong thought it was interesting. Suddenly she heard footsteps, someone was
coming in from outside. This person was tall and handsome, his steps lively; as soon
as he came in he also called out for the innkeeper. Huang Rong thought,
“Coincidentally the people I know in this world have all gathered together in this Cow
Village. The fengshui [lit. wind and water – geomancy, but since the term ‘fengshui’
is already well-known, I decided to keep it as is] of Jing Gege’s Ox Village must be
very good; if not for the wealth then for the person.” Turned out the incoming person
was the Young Master of the Cloud Village, Lu Guanying. As he saw Cheng Yaojia, he
was startled then he called again, “Innkeeper!”

As Cheng Yaojia saw this young man, she felt shy and hurriedly turned her body
around. Lu Guanying also felt strange, “How come there is a beautiful young girl
sitting alone in this place?” he thought. He walked around the kitchen and did not
see anybody else. He was very hungry, while there was rice in the pot, so he turned
to Cheng Yaojia and said, “Xiao Ren [lit. little/lowly person – the term he used to
refer himself] is very hungry, I wish Miss would give me a bowl to eat.”

Cheng Yaojia hung her head lower and smiled slightly, she said, “The rice is not
mine. Xiang Gong [honorable master], please help yourself.”

Lu Guanying ate two bowls full, then he cupped his fists to express his gratitude; he
said, “Xiao Ren wishes to ask Miss about a certain place. I wonder how far is the Ox
Village from this place? ”

Cheng Yaojia and Huang Rong were both delighted. “Ha, it turns out he is also
looking for the Ox Village,” they both thought. Cheng Yaojia stood up to return his
respects and said, “This is the Ox Village.”

Lu Guanying was delighted, “That’s wonderful!” he said, “Xiao Ren also wonders if
Miss knew about a certain man.”

Cheng Yaojia was about to say that she was not a local when suddenly she changed
her mind, “I wonder who is he looking for?” she thought.

Lu Guanying said, “I am looking for a gentleman surnamed Guo, Master Guo Jing. I
was wondering where he lives… Is he home right now?”

Cheng Yaojia and Huang Rong were startled. “Why does he look for him?”

Cheng Yaojia was dumbstruck; she hung her head low and blushed to her ears.
Looking at her expression Huang Rong had guessed with 80% certainty, “It turns out
this Miss secretly fell in love with Jing Gege because he saved her in Baoying.” First
of all Huang Rong was still very young, secondly she was an open-minded person,
thirdly she believed in her heart that Guo Jing would not have a different mind;
therefore, her heart was free from jealousy. On the contrary, she was really glad to
find that others liked Guo Jing.

Huang Rong’s speculation was right on target. When Cheng Yaojia was held captive
by Ouyang Ke, it was true that it was the Beggar Clan’s Li Sheng and his men who
helped her; but they were not Ouyang Ke’s match. If Guo Jing and Huang Rong did
not go into action, she would have suffered disgrace. She saw Guo Jing was still
young. Not only his skill was superb, but also his manner was sincere. A strand of
love thread unexpectedly floated from her and stuck on Guo Jing.

She was the young lady of a very rich family; she had never left home before, and
she had reached the age where she started to have interest in the opposite sex. As
she saw an attractive young man she unexpectedly fell in love.

Even after Guo Jing left, he was always in this Cheng Da Xiaojie’s mind. Thinking left
and right she mustered up enough courage and left home in the middle of the night.
She was a pugilist, but had never left home; she did not have the slightest idea
about the way of the Jianghu people. She happened to hear Guo Jing was from the
Ox Village of Lin’an prefecture, thereupon she asked around the way to the Ox
Village.

Her appearance was elegant and her bearing was noble; along the way bad people
did not dare to bully her. At the previous village she was told that the Ox Village was
near; but when she suddenly heard Shagu say this was the Ox Village she had no
idea what to do next. She had come thousands of ‘li’s to find Guo Jing, but now she
was hoping Guo Jing would not be home. Her thought was, “I will go secretly to his
home in the evening, take one look at him, and then go home. I can’t let him know I
came for him; I would die of embarrassment if he finds out.”

Right at that moment Lu Guanying arrived and inquired about Guo Jing. Cheng
Yaojia was afraid he had found out her heart’s contents. She was at a lost for a
moment then decided she would stand up and leave. But suddenly from outside the
door an ugly face appeared then vanished. Cheng Yaojia was startled; she drew back
two steps. That ugly face reappeared and called out, “Double-headed ghost! Come
out in the sun if you have the ability. San Tou Jiao Master Hou challenges you to
fight. I have one more head than you do. Under the bright sun, Master Hou does not
fear you!” His meaning was clear: as soon as it was dark, Master Hou would candidly
admit defeat although he had more heads. Lu and Cheng two people obviously did
not understand.

“Humph!” Huang Rong snorted. “All right, finally they come back,” she murmured.
She believed Lu’s and Cheng’s martial art skills were not too high, it would be
difficult for them to fight Peng Lianhu and the others. If she and Guo Jing wanted to
help, all they did would be delivering two more lives. The best way would be telling
them to get out of the way quickly. But how could she let them know? She went over
other possibilities, but after thinking back and forth she still could not produce any
good idea. All they had was each other and their courage.

When Peng Lianhu and the others saw the double-headed ghost, they all thought it
was the same expert, dressed as a ghost, who humiliated them the previous night.
Therefore, they all ran away as far as possible from the village. Nobody dared to
come back, with the exception of Hou Tonghai. He was a simple man, and actually
believed it was a real ghost. He felt the blazing sun on his head, hurting his scalp.
While everybody else had disappeared, he cursed, “Ghosts will meet their dooms
under the sun. They did not know that, yet they dare to roam the Jianghu. I, Lao
Hou [the Old Hou], am not afraid. I am going back to face the ghost. Let them
respect me.”

Thereupon he came back in big strides to the inn albeit with trepidation in his heart.
When he stuck his head on the door, he saw Cheng Yaojia and Lu Guanying sat in
the middle of the room. “Not good!” he said to himself, “The double-headed ghost
has transformed itself into a man and a woman. Old Hou, oh, Old Hou, you have to
be very careful.”

Lu Guanying and Cheng Yaojia heard his challenge, but they did not understand the
reason. They looked at each other and decided he was a mad man; hence they
ignored him.
Hou Tonghai kept cursing, but the ghost did not come out to fight. He believed the
ghost was afraid of the sun. But to barge in and capture the ghost inside, the Old
Hou did not have any nerve. They were in a stalemate situation for half a day. He
was waiting for the two ghosts to transform themselves to other forms, who would
have thought that the ghosts did not show any activities at all. Suddenly he
remembered an old saying that ghosts were afraid of filthy things. So he left at once
to find some dung.

There were several outhouses in the village; there was one big one next to the inn.
In his effort to capture the ghost he was not afraid of filth, so he took out his outer
garment and scooped out a large bundle of dung, then he returned to the inn. He
saw Lu and Cheng two people were still sitting in the inn. The secret weapon in his
hands boosted his courage considerably. He called out loudly, “All right, daring
ghost! Master Hou wants you to return to your original form.” With a three-pronged
fork in his left hand and the bundle of dung in his right hand, he boldly entered the
room.

As Lu and Cheng two people saw this lunatic come back, they were slightly startled.
But before the man arrived they had already caught the bad smell he was bringing.
Hou Tonghai pondered, “I heard people say that men are more vicious than women,
but female ghost is more dangerous than the male one.” Therefore, he lifted the
bundle and threw it toward Cheng Yaojia.

Cheng Yaojia called out in alarm; she moved sideways to evade. Lu Guanying had
already lifted up a long bench to strike the bundle. It fell to the ground and broke,
dung flew everywhere, bad smell attacked their nostrils making them want to throw
up.

Hou Tonghai shouted loudly, “Double-headed ghost, quickly go back to your original
form.” Lifting his fork he attacked Cheng Yaojia ferociously. He was simple-minded,
but his martial art skill was not bad. His fork attack was both rapid and fierce.

Lu and Cheng two people were alarmed; they both thought, “This man is obviously a
Wulin expert; he is by no means a lunatic.”

Lu Guanying saw Cheng Yaojia as a lady from a renowned family, she looked so frail
and tender that a whiff of wind might blow her away. He was afraid this mad man
might hurt her, so he lifted the long bench to parry the three-pronged steel fork.
“Who are you, Sir?” he asked. Hou Tonghai ignored his question and stabbed him
three times with his fork. Lu Guanying kept using the bench as his weapon and
repeatedly asked his name.

Hou Tonghai noticed that although the ghost’s martial art skill was not weak, but
actually it was entirely different from the mysteriously appearing and disappearing
ghost of last night. He concluded it was the result of his dung attack earlier. He was
very smug and called out, “You, the enchanting ghost, want to know my name so
that you can put a curse on me, don’t you? Your master won’t fall into your trick.”

Initially he called himself ‘Master Hou’, but now that he got a sudden inspiration he
omitted the word ‘Hou’ and only used the word ‘Master’ to avoid the ghost from
throwing up a curse on him. The steel rings on his fork made a ding-dong noise as
he intensified his attack.
Lu Guanying’s martial art was inferior to his opponent to begin with; and now he was
using a bench as a weapon. He wanted to draw the saber on his waist but did not
have any chance to do so. He was forced to step back so that after a while his back
was already against the wall, covering the small hole through which Huang Rong was
looking out.

Hou Tonghai stabbed with his steel fork, Lu Guanying hastily moved sideways to
evade. ‘Bang!’ the fork pricked the wall, less than a foot away from Huang Rong’s
hole. Before he pulled his fork back, the bench in Lu Guanying’s hand struck
vertically toward the top of his head. Hou Tonghai’s foot flew to kick Lu Guanying’s
hand, while his left fist attacked Lu Guanying’s face. The bench fell from Lu
Guanying’s hands, while he was forced to duck to avoid the blow. Meanwhile Hou
Tonghai had withdrawn his steel fork from the wall.

Cheng Yaojia saw the critical situation; she jumped forward and pulled the saber
from Lu Guanying’s waist, then handed it over to him. “Many thanks!” Lu Guanying
said. He had never imagined that in this critical moment this polite and charming girl
would have the courage to enter such a fierce battle and draw the saber to help him.

He saw a bright flickering light from the steel fork coming into his chest; immediately
his saber went up horizontally in front of his chest and ‘clang!’ sparks flew
everywhere. The steel fork was forced sideways, but he felt a chest pain. It seemed
like this lunatic’s strength was not small; but with a saber in his hand he was greatly
encouraged.

After exchanging several stances both men’s feet had stepped over the dung and
brought it everywhere they treaded. In the beginning Hou Tonghai was fighting with
trepidation; he always thought about darting out the door to escape, he did not dare
to use all his strength. But the longer they fought, he saw the ghost was unable to
defeat him; obviously his enchantment was restrained by the dung. He became
bolder and his attacks became fiercer. In the end Lu Guanying was having a hard
time blocking his attacks.

At first Cheng Yaojia was afraid of the dung on the ground; she stood up in a corner
watching the fight. But then she saw this handsome young man would lose his life
under the lunatic’s steel fork; she hesitated for a moment, finally she made up her
mind and drew a sword from her bundle. She called out to Lu Guanying, “Xiang
Gong, I … I am going to help you. Please pardon me.” Her manner was truly
thorough; she was apologizing before helping someone to fight. Her sword flashed
toward Hou Tonghai’s chest.

She was the Qing Jing San Ren [Sage of Tranquility], Sun Bu’er’s disciple; naturally
she was well-versed in the Quanzhen Sect’s sword technique. Hou Tonghai had
anticipated her move; he thought that the double-headed ghost had transformed
itself into two, and the female ghost would attack him soon as an evil spirit, so he
was not surprised. But Lu Guanying was pleasantly surprised. He saw her movement
was quick, her sword technique exquisite; his heart was full of admiration. His own
saber was starting to be chaotic, he was sweating profusely; now suddenly someone
came to help, his spirit rose.

At first Hou Tonghai was quite worried by the female ghost’s fierceness, but after a
few stances he noticed that although her sword technique was proficient, but her
strength was just ordinary; moreover, she looked nervous. Probably she had not
been a ghost for long, she had not reached the ‘old ghost’ level yet. Thereupon he
gradually felt relieved. His three-pronged fork created strong gusts of wind. One
against two, he still was able to attack more than his opponents.

Watching from the other room Huang Rong was very anxious; she knew Lu and
Cheng two people would eventually fall under their enemy. She wanted to lend them
a hand, but she must not leave Guo Jing even for half a step. Otherwise, with her
intelligence and abundant experience it would be very easy for her to play tricks on
this Three-headed Scaly Dragon.

She heard Lu Guanying call out, “Miss, go away, you don’t have to entangle yourself
with him.”

Cheng Yaojia knew he was worried that she might be injured and wanted to fight this
mad man alone; she was very grateful, but she also knew fighting alone he would
not be able to resist the enemy. She shook her head, unwilling to draw back.

Lu Guanying fought furiously, he shouted to Hou Tonghai, “As a real man you are
making things difficult for a young girl, what kind of hero are you? Just deal with me,
a man surnamed Lu, and let this Miss go.”

Although Hou Tonghai was muddle-headed, he knew by now that these two were not
ghosts; but seeing Cheng Yaojia was beautiful, while he had gained an upper hand,
how could he let her go? With laughter he said, “I want to capture the male ghost, I
also want to take the female ghost.” His steel fork went straight horizontally with a
violent thrust; he was being 30% lenient toward Cheng Yaojia, otherwise he would
have already stabbed her.

“Miss, quickly go!” Lu Guanying anxiously said, “The man surnamed Lu is grateful or
your kindness.”

“Xiang Gong’s honorable surname is Lu, isn’t it?” in a low voice Cheng Yaojia asked.

“Exactly,” Lu Guanying replied, “Miss, what is your name? What school do you
belong to?”

“My Shifu’s surname is Sun, people call her the Sage of Tranquility,” Cheng Yaojia
said, “I … I …” She was going to say her name, but suddenly felt shy and closed her
mouth.

“Miss, I’ll block him, you run quickly,” Lu Guanying said, “As long as the man
surnamed Lu is still alive, I will look for you. I thank you for your help today.”

Cheng Yaojia was blushing, she stammered, “I … I don’t … Xiang Gong …” Turning
her head to Hou Tonghai she said, “Hey, mad man! Don’t you dare injuring this
Xiang Gong. My Shifu is the Sun Zhenren [lit. true/real person, a respectful term to
address a Taoist priest] from Quanzhen Sect. She will arrive shortly.”

The names of Quanzhen Seven Masters were well-known throughout the world. That
day Hou Tonghai had seen it with his own eyes when the Tie Jiao Xian [Iron Feet
Immortal], Yuyang [jade-sun] Zi, Wang Chuyi intimidated the group of pugilists at
the Zhao Palace. Now hearing what Cheng Da Xiaojie said, he was somewhat afraid.
But after a slight shock he cursed, “Even if the Quanzhen Seven Masters come
together, your master here will butcher them all one by one!”

Suddenly from outside the door came someone’s clear voice saying, “Who in here
doesn’t want to live by speaking nonsense?”

Three people were engaged in a fierce battle, but as they heard this voice they all
leaped backward. Lu Guanying was afraid Hou Tonghai would launch a sneak attack,
he pulled Cheng Yaojia behind him and stood wielding his saber in front of her; only
then he did raise his head to take a look.

He saw a young Taoist priest standing at the doorstep, wearing a feather robe and a
star crown, his face handsome and his eyes bright, he was holding a Taoist whisk in
his hand. “Who said he wants to butcher the Quanzhen Seven Masters?” he coldly
asked.

With the fork in his right hand Hou Tonghai inserted his left hand to his waist; with
glaring eyes he said loudly, “It’s me, your master. So what?”

“All right,” the young priest said, “Go ahead and try.” Swaying his body forward he
swept the whisk toward Hou Tonghai’s face.

By now Guo Jing had finished one round of exercise; hearing the clamor of battle
outside he looked out through the small hole. Huang Rong asked, “Is this young
priest also one of the Quanzhen Seven Masters?”

Guo Jing recognized the young priest as Yin Zhiping, Qiu Chuji’s disciple. Two years
ago he received an order from his master to deliver a letter to the Jiangnan Six
Heroes and had a martial art contest with Guo Jing at night, in which Guo Jing was
defeated. Quietly Guo Jing told Huang Rong everything.

Huang Rong saw he had exchanged a few stances with Hou Tonghai; she shook her
head and said, “He won’t defeat the Three-Headed Scaly Dragon.”

Yin Zhiping slightly fell under Hou Tonghai’s attacks; with a saber in his hand Lu
Guanying immediately stepped forward to help him. Compared to the time he fought
Guo Jing at night, he had made some progress; but fighting side by side with Lu
Guanying they only managed to face Hou Tonghai evenly.

Just a moment ago Cheng Yaojia’s left hand was grabbed by Lu Guanying for a short
moment, yet her heart was still pitter-pattering madly. Three people were fighting
furiously right next to her, but she was actually daydreaming, gently stroking her
hand. Suddenly she was awakened with a startled from her daze-like condition by a
clanking noise and Lu Guanying’s urgent voice, “Miss, watch out!”

It turned out that Hou Tonghai noticed her condition and thrust his fork to her; Lu
Guanying busily fended off the attack while shouting to her. Cheng Yaojia’s face
turned completely red; she gathered her thoughts and entered the battle.

Cheng Yaojia’s martial art skill was not too high, but with one against three Hou
Tonghai had a hard time blocking the enemies. He brandished his fork ferociously,
trying to open up an opportunity to escape and find some help, but Yin Zhiping’s
whisk was dancing around in front of his face, making his vision blurry. He was
negligent for a split second and Lu Guanying’s saber cut his leg.
“Your eighteen ancestors be damned!” Hou Tonghai cursed. But because of this
wound he gradually became sluggish. He thrust the steel fork forward, Yin Zhiping
parried with his whisk, and the whisk coiled around it. They both pulled their
respective weapons back in a tug-of-war game, but because Hou Tonghai was
stronger, Yin Zhiping was forced to let his whisk go.

Cheng Yaojia thrust her sword with ‘dou yao xing he’ [fighting and shaking star and
river] and stabbed his right shoulder. Hou Tonghai could not hold his steel fork, it fell
to the ground. Yin Zhiping took this opportunity to sweep his leg and Hou Tonghai
tumbled to the ground. Lu Guanying immediately pounced on him; taking the leather
belt on his waist he bound Hou Tonghai’s hands behind his back.

Yin Zhiping laughed and said, “You can’t even defeat the Quanzhen Seven Masters’
disciple; how would you butcher the Quanzhen Seven Masters?” Hou Tonghai opened
his mouth and shouted cursing words, said that it was three against one, that it was
not a real hero’s deed. Yin Zhiping tore up a piece of his clothes and stuffed it into
his mouth. Hou Tonghai’s face looked so angry, but he could not say anything.

Yin Zhiping bowed to Cheng Yaojia, “Shijie [Elder Martial Sister] is the disciple of Sun
Shishu [Martial (younger) Uncle Sun]? You little brother Yin Zhiping greets you.”

Cheng Yaojia hurriedly returned his bow and said, “I don’t deserve it. I wonder
Shixiong [Martial Brother – ‘xiong’ is brother in a general term] which Shibo’s
[Martial (older) Uncle] disciple? Little sister pays my respect to Yin Shixiong.”

“Little brother is a disciple of Changchun [perpetual/eternal spring],” Yin Zhiping

replied.

Since taking apprenticeship under her master, Cheng Yaojia had never left her
house, so among the Quanzhen Seven Masters, she had never met six of them.
However, her master had taught her about all of her martial uncles, and that
Changchun Zi, Qiu Shibo was the most heroic and possessed the highest martial art
skill. Learning that Yin Zhiping was Qiu Chuji’s disciple she regarded him with
respect; lowering her head she said, “Yin Shixiong is my older martial brother. I am
surnamed Cheng. Just call me Shimei [younger martial sister].”

Yin Zhiping had been under his master tutelage for quite a long time, he had also
inherited his master’s broad-minded and heroic disposition. He saw this martial sister
as girlish and shy, she did not look like a heroic person at all; he was secretly
amused. He chatted with her about their school for a while then he turned toward Lu
Guanying to introduce himself. Lu Guanying introduced himself, but did not mention
his father’s name or his title.

Yin Zhiping turned his attention to Hou Tonghai. “This lunatic’s martial art is actually
very good; I wonder where he came from. We must not release him,” he said.

Lu Guanying said, “Let little brother hack my saber and finish him off.” He was the
leader of a band of robbers at the Lake Tai, so killing was not a big deal to him.
Cheng Yaojia, on the other hand, was tender-hearted. “Ah! Don’t kill him!” she said.

Yin Zhiping smiled, “It’s all right not to kill him,” he said, “Cheng Shimei, have you
been here long?”
Cheng Yaojia blushed. “Little sister has just arrived,” she said.

Yin Zhiping looked at the couple and thought, “Looks like these two are in love with
one another; I must not interfere. I’ll just talk for a while and then I’ll go.” He said,
“I received an order from Shifu to go to the Ox Village to find someone and convey a
message to him. Little brother must take my leave; we’ll meet again later.” He
cupped his hands and turned around to leave.

Cheng Yaojia’s blush had not faded, but hearing him, it seemed like a layer of
redness crept back onto her face. Hanging her head low she asked timidly, “Yin
Shixiong, whom are you seeking?”

Yin Zhiping hesitated slightly, he thought, “Cheng Shimei is my school’s disciple, this
surnamed Lu fellow is her travel companion, so he is not an outsider. I think there is
no harm in telling them.” Thereupon he said, “I am looking for a friend by the
surname of Guo.”

At his words, four people at either sides of the wall were stunned. Lu Guanying
asked, “Could it be that friend has a single character ‘Jing’ as his name?”

“That’s right,” Yin Zhiping said, “Brother Lu also know this Guo friend?” he asked.

Lu Guanying replied, “The one Little brother is looking for is exactly this Guo Shishu
[martial uncle].”

Yin Zhiping and Cheng Yaojia were both surprised, “You call him Shishu?”

“My father is of the same generation as he is,” Lu Guanying said, “That’s why Little
Brother calls him Shishu.” Lu Chengfeng and Huang Rong were of the same
generation; Guo Jing and Huang Rong were engaged to each other. Therefore, Lu
Guanying referred to Guo Jing as martial uncle.

Cheng Yaojia did not say anything, but her heart was troubled. Yin Zhiping busily
asked, “Have you seen him? Where is he?”

“Little Brother had just arrived. I was about to inquire when this lunatic attacked
without any reason,” Lu Guanying replied.

“Good!” Yin Zhiping said, “Then let us look for him together.” Three people went out
the door together.

Huang Rong and Guo Jing looked at each other with bitter smiles on their faces.
“They will come back,” Guo Jing said, “Rong’er, open the door and call them.”

Huang Rong sighed and said, “How can I do that? These people are looking for you,
must be over some important matters. You are still trying to heal your injury, how
can your attention be diverted?”

“That’s right,” Guo Jing agreed, “Must be a very important matter. Can you think of
something?”

Huang Rong said, “I will not open the door even if the sky is falling”
Sure enough, not too long afterwards, Yin Zhiping three people came back to the
inn. Lu Guanying said, “Even in his hometown nobody can shed a light on his
whereabouts. This is not good.”

Yin Zhiping said, “I wonder over what important matter do Brother Lu try to find
him; may we know?”

Initially Lu Guanying was unwilling to say, but after seeing Cheng Yaojia’s hopeful
look, for some unknown reason he found it hard to resist. He said, “It is a long story.
Let Little Brother sweep the filth from the floor first, then I will relate the story to
you two.” There was no broom or dustpan in this inn, so Yin and Lu two people had
to use tree branches to clean up the filth, only then did they sat down to talk.

Lu Guanying was about to speak when Cheng Yaojia suddenly said, “Wait a minute!”
She went to Hou Tonghai, cut two pieces of her clothes and stopped his ears. “We
can’t let him listen,” she said with a low voice.

Lu Guanying praised her, “Miss is very careful. We don’t know where this lunatic
came from, we must not let him listen to what we are discussing.”

On the other side of the wall Huang Rong laughed in her heart, “We are
eavesdropping in here, so it is difficult for you to find out; but inside there is Ouyang
Ke lying down and listening, and nobody notices. Yet you are still talking about
carefulness?”

Cheng Da Xiaojie had never roamed Jianghu before, Yin Zhiping took after his
master’s broadmindedness, plus he was still young and inexperienced; Lu Guanying
was the leader of Lake Tai’s robbers, he used to give orders and was not used to pay
attention to the details. Thereupon three people talked about important matters
without carefully investigating their surroundings.

Cheng Yaojia stooped down and saw that Hou Tonghai’s ears were cut off; she was
only startled for moment before stuffing the pieces of cloth into his ears. She smiled
slightly and to Lu Guanying said, “Now you can talk.”

Lu Guanying reluctantly said, “Ay! I don’t know where to start. I am looking for Guo
Shishu. Reasonably speaking I should not look for him, but I cannot but look for
him.”

“This is so strange,” Yin Zhiping commented.

“That’s true,” Lu Guanying continued, “I am looking for Guo Shishu not because of
him, but because of his six masters.”

Yin Zhiping slapped the table and shouted, “The Six Freaks of Jiangnan?”

“Exactly,” Lu Guanying replied.

“Aha!” Yin Zhiping exclaimed, “I think Lu Xiong came to this place over the same
matter as Little Brother did. Why don’t we write down a name and let Cheng Shimei
decide whether we are thinking of the same thing or not.”
Before Lu Guanying could answer, Cheng Yaojia had already smiled and said, “That’s
good. You two turn your backs and write.”

Yin Zhiping and Lu Guanying both picked a twig and wrote down something on the
ground. Yin Zhiping said with a smile, “Cheng Shimei, see if what we wrote down are
the same or not?”

Cheng Yaojia looked at their writing and in a low voice said, “Yin Shixiong, your
guess was wrong. The two of you did not write the same thing.”

“Ah!” Yin Zhiping exclaimed and stood up.

Cheng Yaojia smiled and said, “You wrote ‘Huang Yaoshi’ three characters, he
actually drew a peach blossom.”

Huang Rong was shocked, “Both of them are looking for Jing Gege in relation to my
father?” she thought. She heard Lu Guanying say, “What Yin Shixiong wrote is the
grandmaster of my school, Little Brother did not dare to write down his name.”

Yin Zhiping was startled, “Your grandmaster? Hmm, looks like what we wrote down
are the same after all. Isn’t Huang Yaoshi the Master of the Peach Blossom Island?”

“Oh! So that’s how it is,” Cheng Yaojia said.

Yin Zhiping said, “Since Lu Xiong is a Peach Blossom Island’s disciple, then the
reason you are looking for the Six Freaks of Jiangnan is certainly not in their favor.”

“That’s not true,” Lu Guanying said.

Yin Zhiping noticed Lu Guanying spoke with reluctance, he was unhappy, he said,
“Since Lu Xiong does not regard Little Brother as your friend, then it’s useless for us
to talk much longer. I’ll take my leave now.” He stood up and turned around to
leave.

Lu Guanying busily said, “Yin Shixiong, wait! Little Brother has a difficulty and I wish
for Shixiong’s help.”

Yin Zhiping just loved it when others came to him for help, he happily said, “All right,
then talk to me.”

Lu Guanying said, “Yin Shixiong, you are a disciple of the Quanzhen Sect. If you
know someone is in danger, you will certainly forewarn that person to guard against
the danger, since that is part of your duty as a chivalrous person. But what if your
own superior wanted to harm innocent people; would you still warn those innocent
people to guard against your superior?”

Yin Zhiping slapped his thigh and exclaimed, “That’s right! I know you are a Peach
Blossom Island disciple; so you must have a great difficulty in this matter. All right,
let us see what I can do.”

Lu Guanying said, “In this matter, if Little Brother does not do anything, I am not
doing my duty in upholding righteousness; but if I do something, I am betraying my
own school. Even though Little Brother wishes to ask Shixiong’s help, in all honesty,
I cannot open my mouth.”

Yin Zhiping had more or less guessed what he wanted, but since he was not willing
to say it out loud, Yin Zhiping did not quite know what to do. He lifted his hand to
scratch his head, his face looked awkward.

Cheng Yaojia remembered something: when a girl was too shy to say her heart’s
content, usually the mother or her sisters would ask her questions, and determine
what she really wanted by her nodding or shaking her head. Although it was not the
best method, it usually would reveal the content of the girl’s heart in the end. For
instance the mother would ask, “Child, are you in love with Zhang San’ge [Third
Brother surnamed Zhang]?” The girl would shake her head. “Is it Li Silang [Fourth
lad of Li family]?” The girl would shake her head again. “Then it must be the Wang
family’s cousin.” The girl would hang her head low without saying anything; that
meant the guess was correct. Thereupon Cheng Yaojia said to Yin Zhiping, “Yin Shige
[martial brother Yin], you ask Lu Dage [big brother Lu] questions. If it is correct, he
will nod, if wrong, he will shake his head. That way he won’t say anything to betray
his own school.”

Yin Zhiping was delighted, “Shimei, that is a wonderful idea. Lu Xiong, let me tell you
first about my business. My Shifu, Changchun Zhenren, happened to hear that the
Master of the Peach Blossom Island hates the Six Freaks of Jiangnan to his bones
and that he is going to wipe out the entire six families from the face of the earth. My
Shifu immediately set out to Jiaxing to deliver the warning, but the Six Freaks were
actually not home; they were traveling somewhere. Thereupon my Shifu visited the
six families one by one and told them to escape, so when the Island Master Huang
arrived, he did not find a single person. He was livid and leashed out his anger to the
air; then he went north. I don’t know what happened afterwards. Do you know this
matter?”

Lu Guanying nodded. Yin Zhiping continued, “I think the Island Master Huang is
pursuing the Six Freaks to the north. Initially there was a friction between my Shifu
and the Six Freaks, but first of all this friction has been taken care off, secondly my
Shifu greatly admires the Six Freaks’ chivalrous deeds in helping others in distress;
and finally my Shifu thinks this matter is not Six Freaks’ fault at all. It just so
happened that the Quanzhen Seven Masters were having a meeting in Jiangnan,
hence they spread out to find the Six Freaks, to warn them against this danger. It
would be best if they could just go into hiding to faraway place so that your
Grandmaster won’t be able to find them. Don’t you agree that we are doing the right
thing?”

Lu Guanying repeatedly nodded his head.

Huang Rong was puzzled, “Jing Gege had already fulfilled his promise to come to the
Peach Blossom Island; why would Father still want to settle the debt with the Six
Freaks?” She did not know that her father heard Lingzhi Shangren’s lie and believed
that his daughter had died on the sea; therefore, in his grief he wanted to vent his
anger on the Six Freaks.

She heard Yin Zhiping continue, “Since he could not find the Six Freaks, my Shifu
then remembered the Six Freaks’ disciple, Guo Jing. He is a native of the Ox Village
in the Lin’an prefecture, and most likely had returned to his hometown; thereupon
my Shifu sent Little Brother to find him here. Chances are he would know his six
masters’ whereabouts. Did you come to this place also over this business?”

Lu Guanying again nodded his head. Yin Zhiping said, “Who would have thought that
Guo Xiong had not come home yet. My Shifu is very fond of the Six Freaks, but since
he could not find them, he did not know what else he could do. But since that’s the
case, apparently the Island Master Huang might not be able to find them either. Lu
Xiong wanted to ask for my help, is it concerning this matter also?”

Lu Guanying nodded. Yin Zhiping said, “Whatever order Lu Xiong might have, please
tell me. Little Brother will do my best to fulfill your wish.”

Lu Guanying did not open his mouth, but his face looked quite awkward. Cheng
Yaojia said with a smile, “Yin Shige, you forgot that Lu Xiang Gong cannot open his
mouth to speak frankly.”

Yin Zhiping smiled, “That’s right,” he said, “Lu Xiong, do you want me to wait for Guo
Xiong in this place?” Lu Guanying shook his head.

“Do you want Little Brother to quickly find the Six Freaks and Guo Xiong then?” Yin
Zhiping asked. Again Lu Guanying shook his head.

“Ah, I get it,” Yin Zhiping said, “Lu Xiong wants Little Brother to spread the news in
the Jianghu. Those Six Freaks are natives of Jiangnan, once the word is out, sooner
or later they will hear it.”

Lu Guanying still shook his head. Yin Zhiping presented seven, eight more guesses,
but Lu Guanying kept shaking his head. Cheng Yaojia also asked him twice, but none
of her guesses was correct either. Not only Yin Zhiping was confounded, Huang Rong
at the adjacent room was also confounded. Three people were in a deadlock situation
for half a day. Finally Yin Zhiping laughed and said, “Cheng Shimei, you can slowly
talk with him, I cannot play this riddle game anymore. I am going out for a walk, I
will be back in a couple of hours.” With that he went out the door and left.

Other than Hou Tonghai, Lu and Cheng two people were left alone. Cheng Yaojia
hung her head low, she saw Lu Guanying still had not made any move. She stole a
glance toward him right when Lu Guanying was also looking at her. Their eyes met
and both hurriedly glanced away. Cheng Yaojia blushed even redder and hung her
head even lower so that her chin touched her chest. Her hands played with the silk
sashes at the end of her sword’s hilt.

Lu Guanying slowly stood up and walked to the nearby stove, above which there was
a Kitchen God idol. He stood in front of the Kitchen God idol and said, “Zao Wangye
[Kitchen God, Master, lit. kitchen stove king master] Xiao Ren [little/lowly person]
has a burden in my heart, but I cannot reveal it to anybody else. So I am going to
bare it all to you, hoping that with your divine power you will bless this matter.”

Cheng Yaojia silently praised him, “A smart man.” She raised her head to listen
carefully.

Lu Guanying said, “Xiao Ren is Lu Guanying, the son of the Village Master Lu of
Cloud Village by the Lake Tai. My father’s name is Chengfeng; he is a disciple of the
Island Master Huang of the Peach Blossom Island. A few days ago my Grandmaster
came to the village, he said he wanted to kill the Six Freaks of Jiangnan and their
entire families. He ordered my father and my Shibo [martial (older) uncle] Mei
Chaofeng to help find the Six Freaks’ whereabouts. Mei Shibo has a deep enmity with
the Six Freaks, so she accepted this order with gladness. Not so with my father; he
knew the Six Freaks of Jiangnan as patriots and chivalrous heroes, so killing them
would not be righteous. Moreover, my father has become friends with the Six
Freaks’s disciple, Guo Shishu [martial (younger) uncle Guo]; therefore, he could not
ignore this matter. My father has received an order from my Grandmaster, he was in
a very difficult position. He had a mind to dispatch Xiao Ren to deliver a warning to
the Six Freaks of Jiangnan, telling them to go hiding and save their own lives, but he
could not possibly betray his own master. That night my father looked up to the sky
and heaved a deep sigh, softly talking to himself, revealing his concerns. Xiao Ren
was nearby and heard everything. Being a filial person I share my father’s sorrow.
Eventually my Grandmaster left and Xiao Ren left that very same night trying to find
the Six Freaks and deliver the warning.”

Huang Rong and Cheng Yaojia both thought, “It turned out he copied his father’s
method of telling others without betraying his own school.”

They heard Lu Guanying continue, “Six Freaks were nowhere to be found, I

remember their disciple, Guo Shishu, but he is also nowhere to be found. Guo Shishu
is my Grandmaster’s son-in-law …”

“Ah!” Cheng Yaojia could not help but to exclaim softly, then hastily covered her
mouth with her hand. Initially she was attracted to Guo Jing and thought she was in
love with him. She did not realize it was only a young girl’s infatuation and not a true
love. Today she met Lu Guanying, who looked distinguished, handsome and elegant;
in all respects he looked superior to Guo Jing. When she heard that Guo Jing was
Huang Yaoshi’s son-in-law she was shocked, but not at all felt sad or heartbroken;
on the contrary, she felt relieved. She also recalled at Baoying she saw Guo Jing and
Huang Rong were very close to each other. All of a sudden anything did not matter
to her anymore. Unconsciously the heart of this young woman had already gone to
somebody else.

Lu Guanying heard her soft exclamation; he wanted to turn around and look at her
face, but he forced himself to bear it. He thought, “If I acknowledge someone is
listening on the side, I must stop talking altogether. That day when Father talked to
the heaven, never once he looked at my direction. Right now I am talking to the
Kitchen God; if she is listening, that means she is eavesdropping, I have nothing to
do with it.” Thereupon he continued, “I am hoping that when I find Guo Shishu he
and Huang Shigu [martial aunt] would beseech the Grandmaster. My Grandmaster is
hot-tempered, but he loves his daughter and son-in-law, so it is possible that he
would not kill his son-in-law’s six masters. However, from the way my father talked,
it sounds like Guo Shishu and Huang Shigu had encountered some calamities;
whatever it is, it was not convenient for me to inquire from my father.”

Listening to this point Huang Rong thought, “Did father know that Jing Gege is
suffering a serious injury? No, he simply cannot know about it. Most probably he
heard that we were stranded on that deserted island.”

Meanwhile Lu Guanying continued, “Yin Shixiong is straightforward and just, Miss

Cheng is intelligent and friendly …”

(Listening to him praising her in her face, Cheng Yaojia was happy and shy at the
same time)

“… but what’s in my heart is like a fantasy, they cannot possibly guess it. I am
thinking that the Six Freaks of Jiangnan are well-known heroes and real men;
although their martial art skills are inferior to my Grandmaster, but isn’t asking them
to run away from danger the same as accusing them of afraid of death? They will
certainly not do such a cowardly act. I am afraid if they hear the news instead of
running away they will go and find the Grandmaster! Therefore, instead of helping
them I would be bringing them to the disaster.”

Huang Rong secretly nodded; she thought Lu Guanying was worthy to be the leader
of the Lake Tai’s heroes; he had a profound understanding of the way of the Jianghu
people. She heard him continue, “I also think that the Quanzhen Seven Masters are
chivalrous people with flourishing name and prestige, their martial art skills are also
high. If Yin Shixiong and Miss Cheng are willing to earnestly ask their masters to be
the mediator, Grandmaster would most likely give them face. I don’t think there is
an irreconcilable deep animosity between Grandmaster and the Six Freaks of
Jiangnan; most likely the Six Freaks had said or done something that was offensive
to the Grandmaster. What they need is a reputable character to act as the mediator
and surely forgiveness is not impossible. Kitchen God, Master, Xiao Ren’s difficulty is
that I have an idea in vain, since I cannot reveal it to anybody. I am asking you to
handle this business for me.” Having finished speaking, he repeatedly bowed to pay
his respect to the Kitchen God.

As he finished speaking Cheng Yaojia hastily turned around to find Yin Zhiping; but
as she walked to the door she heard Lu Guanying say something else, “Kitchen God,
if the Quanzhen Seven Masters are willing to mediate, they will render an
enormously good deed. But when the Seven talk to my Grandmaster, I wish they will
be courteous and respectful and not offend my Grandmaster in any way. Otherwise
when one wave has not yet subsided, another wave arises, then all efforts will be
wasted. This is all I have to say to you.”

Cheng Yaojia smiled and said in her heart, “You are done talking, now it’s my turn to
take care of your business.” Then she left the inn to look for Yin Zhiping. But after
going around the village she had not seen his neither his shadow nor his tracks.

She was about to turn around and came back when suddenly she heard Yin Zhiping
call her in a subdued voice, “Cheng Shimei!” He beckoned to her from the corner of a
wall.

“Ah! Here you are,” Cheng Yaojia happily said.

Yin Zhiping made a hand signal, telling her to be quiet; he pointed to the west and
walked toward her. In a low voice he told her, “There are some suspicious looking
people snooping around over there, they all carry weapons with them.”

Cheng Yaojia’s mind was occupied with what Lu Guanying had just said, she said, “I
think they are just passers-by.”

Yin Zhiping’s face actually looked serious, with a low voice he said, “Those people’s
movements were agile, their martial art skills must be very high. We must be very
careful.” Actually he saw Peng Lianhu and the others. They waited for Hou Tonghai
for a long time and he did not come back. They thought he must be in some danger;
but all of them remembered the expert who pretended to be the ghost the previous
night in the imperial palace, who would dare to go and rescue him? All of a sudden
they spotted Yin Zhiping, so they withdrew and hid themselves. Yin Zhiping waited
for a while, but did not see any activity ahead, so he went over to take a look, but
these people had already gone without a trace. Thereupon Cheng Yaojia told him
everything she heard from Lu Guanying.

Yin Zhiping smiled and said, “So that’s what he was thinking about. How could
anybody guess it? Cheng Shimei, you go and ask Sun Shishu’s [martial uncle] help,
I’ll go and tell Shifu. As long as the Quanzhen Seven Masters are willing to act, what
matter under the sky they cannot solve?”

“But we have to be careful not to mess this thing up,” Cheng Yaojia said. Then she
relayed what Lu Guanying said just before she left the inn.

“Humph,” Yin Zhiping sneered, “Who is Huang Yaoshi anyway? Is he stronger than
the Quanzhen Seven Masters?”

Cheng Yaojia was about to remind him not to be too arrogant, but seeing his stern
expression she swallowed back the word that was on her lips. Two people went back
to the inn together.

Lu Guanying said, “Little Brother will have to take my leave. Whenever you pass
through the Lake Tai area, please pay me a visit at the Cloud Village for a few days.”
Cheng Yaojia was crushed to see him leave so soon, but how could she dare to
reveal her deepest feelings?

Yin Zhiping turned around to face the Kitchen God idol and said, “Kitchen God,
Master, Quanzhen Sect is most willing to help other people in distress. Whenever
there is any injustice in the Jianghu and the Quanzhen disciples find out about it,
there is no way we will not interfere.”

Lu Guanying knew these words were directed to him, thereupon he also said,
“Kitchen God, Master, I pray that you will give your blessing so that this matter will
be resolved in peace. Disciple is forever grateful towards all these gentlemen who
spend their energy to help.”

Yin Zhiping said, “Kitchen God, Master, please do not worry; the Quanzhen Seven
Masters’ power is shaking the world. As long as they are willing to act, there is
nothing in this world they cannot deal with.”

Lu Guanying was startled, he thought, “How can my Grandmaster be convinced if the

Quanzhen Seven Masters rely on power?” He busily said, “Kitchen God, Master, you
know that my Grandmaster comes and goes as he wishes, he never pays attention to
other people. Others speak as friends to him, he would certainly listen, but he
loathes it if others try to speak reason with him!”

“Ha, ha …” Yin Zhiping said, “Kitchen God, Master, how can the Quanzhen Seven
Masters be afraid of others? Originally this matter had nothing to do with us, my
Shifu only sent me to deliver the warning. But if anybody provokes us the Quanzhen
disciples, I don’t care whether he is Yellow Yaoshi [surname ‘huang’ literal translation
is ‘Yellow’] or Hei Yaoshi [Black Yaoshi], the Quanzhen Sect will definitely teach him
a lesson.”
Lu Guanying felt anger rising on his chest, he said, “Kitchen God, Master, what
disciple had just said, please just consider it a talk in my sleep. If anybody belittles
us, we don’t want to accept anybody’s favor anymore.” These two were talking to
each other, but they were facing the Kitchen God idol. One spoke and the other
responded, gradually this exchange of words became hotter and hotter.

Cheng Yaojia wanted to interfere, but those two men were young and hot-tempered,
neither was willing to yield even for half a word. Finally Yin Zhiping said, “Kitchen
God, Master, the Quanzhen Sect’s martial art is the purest of orthodox skill, while
others’ are heretical skill, even if they are good, how can they be measured up
against the Quanzhen Sect?”

Lu Guanying responded, “Kitchen God, Master, I have heard for a long time the
reputation of Quanzhen Sect’s martial art; certainly there are many martial art
experts within the Quanzhen Sect. But this doesn’t mean that there are no arrogant
blabbermouths among the disciples.”

Yin Zhiping was angry, his palm struck and the corner of the kitchen stove collapsed.
He stared hard and shouted loudly, “Good kid, you curse people!”

‘Bang!’ Lu Guanying also struck the other corner and it fell to the ground. He
shouted, “How do I dare to curse you? I am cursing those condescending conceited
disciples.”

Yin Zhiping had seen Lu Guanying’s martial art skill just now; he knew it was still
inferior to his, so his confidence was boosted and with a cold laugh he said, “Fine!
Let us try, we’ll see who is conceited in the end.”

Lu Guanying knew perfectly well that he was not Yin Zhiping’s match, but he hated it
when others insulted his school. He was like one riding on a tiger’s back, he could
not continue riding, yet it is difficult to back down. He drew his saber, made a
gesture of respect with his left hand and said, “Little Brother is ready to receive
Quanzhen Sect’s excellent stances.”

Cheng Yaojia was very anxious, tears streaming down from her eyes. She wanted to
throw herself in between these two men, but each time did not have the courage to
do so. She saw Yin Zhiping sweep his whisk away and step forward to launch his
attack and straightaway two people fight ferociously.

Lu Guanying did not expect victory; he merely hoped he would avoid an

embarrassing defeat. Immediately he launched the ‘luo han dao fa’ [Buddhist arhat’s
saber technique] he learned from Reverend Kumu [Dead Wood], creating a tight
defense around him.

Yin Zhiping assumed offensive position immediately, and to his surprise he found the
opponent’s saber power to be quite strong. He realized he had recklessly
underestimated his opponent when his left arm was almost chopped down. His heart
shivered and he hastily concentrated his attention to face the attack and respond
accordingly; launching his school’s special teaching of calming his mind and spirit,
slow step but quick hand movements. Only by doing this did he gradually gain the
upper hand.
For the last several months Lu Guanying had received his father’s instructions so that
he enjoyed progress by leaps and bounds, but the days of his training were too short
to be compared to Yin Zhiping who was a main disciple of Changchun.

Huang Rong was watching this fight through the small mirror; she saw Yin Zhiping
gradually take the lead, she cursed in her heart, “This ‘xiao za mao’ [lit. little mixed-
up hair – a derogatory term to Taoist priest] was scolding my father. If Jing Gege
was not injured, I would certainly teach you some lessons on the heretical Peach
Blossom Island’s martial art. Aiyo! Not good!”

She saw Lu Guanying’s saber strike down with a familiar stance, Yin Zhiping
intercepted it with his whisk and diverted the saber away; then turning his hand over
his finger moved with an exceptional speed toward the crook of Lu Guanying’s elbow.
Lu Guanying felt his arm go numb and his saber fell down to the ground. Without
showing any mercy Yin Zhiping swept his whisk toward Lu Guanying’s face while
loudly shouted, “This is Quanzhen Sect’s martial art, remember it well!” His whisk
was made of horse’s tail mixed with strands of silver threads; once Lu Guanying’s
face got hit, it would certainly be slashed with countless cuts.

Lu Guanying understood the danger, he quickly ducked and the whisk followed by
sweeping downward. Suddenly a tender voice was shouting, “Yin Shige!” Cheng
Yaojia thrust her sword to block the whisk. Lu Guanying took that opportunity to leap
back and pick his saber from the ground.

Yin Zhiping coldly laughed, “Good! Cheng Shimei, you are helping an outsider.
Come! You two lovers can fight me together.”

“You … you …” Cheng Yaojia stammered.

‘Swish! Swish! Swish!’ Ying Zhiping swept his whisk three times, forcing her to move
her hands and feet in a disorderly manner. Lu Guanying saw her precarious situation
he raised his saber and joined the fight two against one. But Cheng Yaojia did not
want to fight her martial brother, so she jumped back.

“Come!” Yin Zhiping said, “He cannot fight me alone. Otherwise, in a while you will
come and help him anyway.”

Huang Rong watched these three people fighting each other in amusement; she was
wondering how this matter could be resolved when suddenly she heard some noise
from the door. She saw Peng Lianhu, Sha Tongtian, along with Wanyan Honglie,
Yang Kang, and the others came in together.

It turned out they had been waiting for Hou Tonghai for a long time and he did not
come back. Sha Tongtian was concerned over his martial brother, so gathering his
courage he quietly came over to take a look. He saw inside the inn two people were
fighting; their martial art skills were only average. He waited for a long time but did
not see anybody else. He was afraid to come in alone, so he went back and
summoned the others, taking them back to the inn.

Yin and Lu two people saw these people came in; they leaped back and stopped
fighting. They asked these newcomers, but Sha Tongtian swayed and stepped
forward with arms open wide, grabbing both men’s wrists. Meanwhile Peng Lianhu
stooped down and untied Hou Tonghai’s hands.
Hou Tonghai had been suffering for half a day; he was really angry. Without taking
out the cloths in his mouth he roared and threw himself at Cheng Yaojia, attacking
her with his palms. Cheng Yaojia evaded by moving backward in a circle. Hou
Tonghai’s face was purple from the bruise; his fists went straight up and down
fiercely attacking Cheng Yaojia.

“Hold on!” Peng Lianhu repeatedly said, “Let’s talk first.” But Hou Tonghai’s mouth
and ears were stopped with cloths, how could he have heard anything?

The acupoint on Lu Guanying’s wrist was grabbed by Sha Tongtian; he felt half of his
body went numb, he could not move. But seeing Cheng Yaojia in danger and Hou
Tonghai was like a mad tiger; he struggled hard and without knowing where the
strength came from, he shook Sha Tongtian’s grab loose and fiercely threw himself
toward Hou Tonghai.

Before he reached his target Peng Lianhu swept his leg and sent him tumbling down
and immediately Peng Lianhu pounced on him. He grabbed Lu Guanying by the back
of his neck and lifted him up; “Who are you?” he asked, “Where is that fellow who
played ghost?”

Suddenly the door creaked and it opened slowly. Everybody turned their head at
once, but nobody came in. Peng Lianhu and the others could not help but feel shivers
of fear in their hearts; suddenly a female head with disheveled hair sticking out was
at the door. Liang Ziweng and Lingzhi Shangren jumped up in fright; they even
shouted, “Not good! A female ghost!”

Peng Lianhu saw clearly that she was just an ordinary country girl; “Come in!” he
shouted.

Shagu walked in with a giggle, sticking out her tongue she said, “Ah, so many
people!”

Liang Ziweng was the one shouted, “Female Ghost!” earlier, now he saw she was
just a poor peasant girl with tattered clothes and silly demeanor; out of shame he
became angry. He jumped forward and shouted, “Who are you?” Stretching out his
hand he grabbed her arm. Who would have thought that Shagu withdrew her arm
and flipped her hand, then her palm struck with the Peach Blossom Island’s ‘bi bo
zhang fa’ [jade-green wave palm technique]. Although her skill was not refined, the
stance was subtle and wonderful. Liang Ziweng did not guard against her
counterattack at all. ‘Slap!’ Shagu’s palm hit the back of his hand, hard.

Liang Ziweng was stunned and angry at the same time. “Good!” he called out, “You
are playing dumb!” He rushed forward with both fists straight up. Shagu stepped
back to evade, suddenly she pointed toward his shiny bald head and burst out in
laughter.

This laughter caught everybody by surprise; Liang Ziweng was stunned and he
stopped dead on his tracks for a few seconds; only then he ferociously resumed his
attack. Shagu raised her hands to block, but she staggered back. She knew she was
not his match, so she turned around, trying to run away. But Liang Ziweng would not
let her escape, he stretched his left leg backward to block her, while his elbow struck
backward, followed by his fist. Shagu’s nose was hit hard until she felt her head
spinning. She cried out, “Sister who eats the watermelon, come out quickly! Help
me! Somebody is hitting me!”

Huang Rong was startled, she thought, “Not killing this dumb girl was a big mistake;
she is bound to bring us disaster.” Suddenly she heard a soft ‘humph’ sound. It was
so soft, almost inaudible, but Huang Rong’s heart jumped in delight. “Father is here!”
she thought. Hastily she looked through the small hole and saw Huang Yaoshi
wearing a human-skin mask, standing on the doorstep.

Nobody saw him come, as if he had just arrived, but also as if he had been there
before everybody else came. He stood motionless like a log of wood, without
showing the least bit of emotion on his face. Everybody who saw him could not help
but shudder. He did not have a green face nor did he have fierce teeth; he did not
even look loathsome or ugly, but in all honesty nobody could say that his face
belonged to a living person.

Shagu only exchanged three stances with Liang Ziweng but Huang Yaoshi could
immediately tell that she was using the martial art of his school. With a heart full of
questions he asked, “Miss, who is your master? Where is he?”

Shagu simply shook her head. She stared at him blankly. Suddenly she clapped her
hands and laughed. Huang Yaoshi frowned; he knew she must have had some
relation with his disciples. If not their disciple, then she must be their family or
relative. He was very fond and tended to be over-protective toward his disciples; in
no way would he allow anybody to bully them. Mei Chaofeng was a renegade disciple
of his; she had committed a great crime against her master. Yet when she was
defeated by Guo Jing Huang Yaoshi would still help her; much less Shagu who was a
naïve and child-like young girl. Thereupon he said, “Dumb kid, others hit you, why
don’t you hit back?”

The other day on the boat, when Huang Yaoshi was looking for his daughter, he did
not wear any mask, so his appearance was not the same as today; nobody
recognized him. But as soon as he opened his mouth, Wanyan Honglie, Yang Kang
and Peng Lianhu, three people remembered his voice and vaguely guessed his
identity. Peng Lianhu knew this evil man must not have good things in his mind; he
also guessed that the ghost of the imperial palace last night might be this man. He
knew there was no way he could fight this man, so while there was an opportunity,
he was thinking of launching the thirty-sixth stance, namely: run away.

Shagu said, “I can’t hit him?”

“Who says you cannot hit him?” Huang Yaoshi said, “He hit your nose, you must hit
his nose. He hit you once, you must pay him back three times.”

Shagu laughed. “All right!” she said. Without thinking that Liang Ziweng’s skill was
way above hers she walked over to him and said, “You hit my nose, I must hit your
nose. You hit me once, I must pay you back three times.” Her fist went straight up to
his nose.

Liang Ziweng raised up his hand to block, suddenly the ‘qu chi’ [crooked reservoir]
acupoint on the bent of his arm was numb. His hand was already half way up but
could not go further. ‘Bang!’ his nose was squarely hit by Shagu’s fist.
“Two!” Shagu called out and sent out another fist.

Liang Ziweng bent his knees, keeping his back straight; left hand straight out with
one of the highest ‘qin na’ [grab and capture] techniques. He was sure he could turn
Shagu’s arm over and divert the attack; who would have thought that as his fingers
touched Shagu’s arm, the ‘bi ru’ [arm scholar] acupoint on his arm was numb and he
was unable to divert Shagu’s hand. ‘Bang!’ for the second time his nose was hit by
Shagu’s fist. It was such a violent blow that his head was thrown backward and he
staggered, almost fell down. Liang Ziweng was really angry.

Other people were astounded, but they did not see anything unusual. Peng Lianhu
was an expert in secret projectile usage; he was the only one who noticed
something. Each time Liang Ziweng blocked the attack, both times Peng Lianhu
heard a very light swishing noise of secret projectiles. He knew Huang Yaoshi had
launched some kind of tiny metal needles toward Liang Ziweng’s acupoints. Only he
did not see Huang Yaoshi’s arm move, so he did not know how Huang Yaoshi did it.

Actually Huang Yaoshi was flicking his finger inside his sleeve and sent the needles
piercing through the fabric toward the enemy. Invisible and almost inaudible, the
needles suddenly arrived; how could the enemy evade this kind of attack?

“Three!” Shagu called out. Both of Liang Ziweng’s arms did not obey their master’s
order. His eyes saw the fist coming straight toward his face; he did not have any
choice but step backward to evade. Who would have thought that as he was about to
step back the ‘bai hai’ [white ocean] acupoint on the inside of his right leg suddenly
turned numb. His shock had not subsided when a spark fluttered in the air and he
felt tears brimming in his eyes.

It turned out when his nose was hit the tears acupoint was also hit. He had always
regarded defeat in martial art contests as nothing; but if tears streaming down his
face, his lifelong reputation would be ruined. Hastily he lifted up his sleeve to wipe
the tears away, but his arm did not follow his order. Two big drops of tears finally
came down his cheeks.

Shagu saw his tears and busily said, “Please don’t cry! Don’t be afraid, I won’t hit
you anymore.”

Compared to the three blows on his nose, those three comforting sentences were
more difficult for Liang Ziweng to bear. In his resentment, ‘Wah!’ he vomited a
mouthful of fresh blood. He looked up to Huang Yaoshi and said, “Who are you Sire?
You secretly harmed people; what kind of hero are you?”

With a cold laugh Huang Yaoshi replied, “Are you worthy to ask my name?” Suddenly
he raised his voice up, “Everybody roll out of my presence!”

Everybody standing on the side had early on felt their four limbs and hundreds of
bones uncomfortable; nobody had the guts to fight, they just stood in that inn
without knowing what to do. When they heard his shout, it was as if the had just
received pardon on their lives. Peng Lianhu was the first one wanted to go out, but
only after two steps he saw that Huang Yaoshi was standing on the doorstep, not
allowing anybody to pass through; hence he stopped dead on his tracks.

Huang Yaoshi sneered, “I told you to go, but you don’t go. Do you want me to
slaughter all of you one by one?”

Peng Lianhu had heard about Huang Yaoshi’s strange temperament; he would do
what he said. Therefore, Peng Lianghu turned to the rest of them and said, “This
Senior Master told us to leave. Let’s just leave.”

By this time Hou Tonghai had pulled the cloth away from his mouth. He dashed
toward Huang Yaoshi and glared at him menacingly. “Let me pass!” he shouted.

Huang Yaoshi did not pay him any attention; “You are not worthy to make me move
aside,” he said flatly, “If you want to live, crawl out underneath my legs.”

Everybody looked at each other in blank dismay; it was clear from their faces that
they were angry. They thought that even though Huang Yaoshi might be highly
skilled, there were currently many skilled pugilists gathered in that room; if they
joined forces and staked it all, they might not necessarily lose.

Hou Tonghai roared and pounced on Huang Yaoshi, but with a cold laugh Huang
Yaoshi moved his left hand and Hou Tonghai was lifted up high in the air; and then
his right hand pulled Hou Tonghai’s left arm. ‘Crack!’ Hou Tonghai’s arm, flesh and
bones, was severed from his body. Huang Yaoshi cast the severed arm and the man
to the ground. He raised his head up looking at the sky, seemingly indifferent to his
surrounding. Hou Tonghai passed out from severe pain; blood rushed forth like a
fountain from the wound on his arm.

Everybody’s face changed color. Huang Yaoshi slowly turned his head; his eyes
swept through everybody’s face one by one. Sha Tongtian, Peng Lianhu and the
others were used to killing people without batting their eyelids; but seeing Huang
Yaoshi’s gaze on them, they shuddered in fear involuntarily, their hair standing on its
end, goose bumps appeared on their skins.

Suddenly Huang Yaoshi roared, “Are you going to crawl out or not?”

Merely his voice was enough to scare the hell out of them; nobody thought about
joining forces and attacking him altogether. Peng Lianhu hung his head low and was
the first to crawl out underneath his legs. Sha Tongtian released Yin and Lu two
people; carrying his martial brother in his arms he followed. Yang Kang helped
Wanyan Honglie, and finally Liang Ziweng and Lingzhi Shangren; one by one they
crawled out underneath Huang Yaoshi’s crotch. Once they were out of the door, they
scurried away like a frightened cat. Who dared to turn around and look back?

End of Chapter 24
Chapter 25 – Desolated Inn in the Village
Part 1 – Translated by Sunnysnow

Huang Yaoshi laughed and said, “Guan Yin and this lady, stay.” Lu Guanyin was
aware that his grand-teacher had arrived earlier but when he saw Huang Yaoshi with
his mask on, he was afraid that the former would not be willing to remove his
identity and thus, didn’t dare to address him properly. He decided to bow politely
four times so as to greet Huang Yaoshi.

When Yin Zhiping saw how formidable Huang Yaoshi looked, he knew that his was of
high status and bowed while saying, “Quanzhen Sect’s Eternal Spring’s disciple, Yin
Zhiping greets senior.”

Huang Yaoshi retorted, “Everyone has gotten lost and I did not ask you to stay on.
Why are you still here? Are you tired of living?”

Yin Zhiping was taken aback, “Disciple is a student of Eternal Spring of Quanzhen
Sect. I am not a criminal.”

Huang Yaoshi answered, “So what if you’re from Quanzhen Sect?” With that, he
grabbed a corner of the table and removed a piece of wood before flinging it
effortlessly at Yin Zhiping. Yin Zhiping quickly used his whisk to raise some dusts to
block the attack but the small piece of wood seemed to be made out of metal and he
felt a strong force charge towards him. He could not defend the force and the piece
of wood and whisk slapped onto his cheek. Yin Zhiping felt a strong pain and there
seemed to be some stuff in his mouth. He hurriedly spitted it out onto his palm
before realizing that it was a few of his teeth, which laid on his bloody palm. He was
shocked and frightened and didn’t dare to make any sound.

Huang Yaoshi continued coldly, “I am the so-called Huang Yaoshi, Hei Yaoshi. What
does Quanzhen Sect want so show me?” With these words, Yin Zhiping and Cheng
Yaojia were taken aback.

Lu Guanyin was also shaken and thought to himself, “Grand-teacher must have
heard me quarrel with that little Taoist quarrel just now. If he heard what I said to
Prince Zao, then…then…I think father will also…” before breaking into cold sweat. Yin
Zhiping rubbed his cheek and said, “You are a senior in the Wulin World but why do
you behave so shrewdly? The 6 freaks of Jiangnan are heroic people, why must you
force to them the corner? If not for my teacher spreading the news, won’t the 6 of
them be killed by you already?”

Huang Yaoshi was furious, “No wonder I couldn’t find them. So it’s a bunch of rascals
poking their noses into this matter.”

Yin Zhiping was agitated and shouted, “If you want to kill me, then do so. I’m not
afraid of you.”

Huang Yaoshi replied coldly, “Didn’t you have fun scolding me behind my back?”

Yin Zhiping spared no thought for his life and shouted, “I’ll scold in front of you as
well. You demon, you weirdo!”

Ever since Huang Yaoshi became famous, no one, no matter good or bad, would dare
to be offensive in front of him. He had never met someone as straightforward and
disrespectful as Yin Zhiping. The latter had seen how cruelly he dealt with Hou
Tonghai just now and yet, was still not afraid to offend him. Huang Yaoshi was
surprised and thought that the little Taoist had backbone and was bold, like him was
he was young. Huang Yaoshi could not help but compare Yin Zhiping to his younger
self while he stepped forward and said in a cold voice, “If you dare, scold some
more.”

Yin Zhiping said, “I’m not scared of you and yes I want to scold you demonic
weirdo.”

Lu Guanyin thought secretly, “Oh no, the little Taoist is not going to be able to
escape death.” He yelled out, “Bold Bastard! You dare offend my grand-teacher?”
With that, he raised his saber and made an attack for his shoulder. Lu Guanyin was
actually secretly trying to help Yin Zhiping. He was sure that his Huang Yaoshi would
show him no mercy after all the insults. If Huang Yaoshi attacked, even ten Yin
Zhipings would not be able to escape alive. Lu Guanyin hoped that if he injured Yin
Zhiping, his grand-teacher’s anger would subside somewhat and let that little Taoist
off.

Yin Zhiping evaded the attack with two steps and frowned angrily before shouting, “I
don’t want to live after today so I’m going to scold until I’m happy.” Lu Guanyin was
bent on injuring him so as to save his life and thus, made another attack with his
saber. At the same moment, Cheng Yaojia unsheathed her sword and called out,
“I’m also a disciple of Quanzhen sect. If you want to kill, then kill both of us!”

Yin Zhiping did not expect this and shouted, “Good, Apprentice Sister Cheng!” Both
of them stood shoulder-to-shoulder and stared at Huang Yaoshi. Lu Guanyin could
not attack anymore.

Huang Yaoshi laughed out, “Good, you have guts, have backbone. I, Huang Yaoshi
am in fact a heretic demon, you didn’t scold wrongly. Your teacher is my junior, how
can I fight with a little Taoist then? Go then!” He suddenly stretched out his arm and
grabbed Yin Zhiping’s chest before flinging him outside. Yin Zhiping couldn’t control
himself and flew out of the door. He thought that he would fall badly but who would
have thought that both his feet landed on the ground and he was still standing
normally. He thought that Huang Yaoshi must have grabbed him and dropped him
gently onto the ground. Yin Zhiping dazed for a second before thinking, “Close
Shave!” No matter how brave he was, he did not dare go back into the inn to scold
Huang Yaoshi. He stroked his swollen cheek and turned to leave.

Cheng Yaojia sheathed her sword and made to leave when Huang Yaoshi said,
“Wait.”

He stretched out his hand to remove his mask and asked, “Are you willing to be his
wife?” while pointing at Lu Guanyin. Cheng Yaojia was shocked but her snow-white
skin to turn red slowly.

Huang Yaoshi said, “Your apprentice brother scolded right. I am a heretic weirdo.
Who doesn’t know about Eastern Heretic Huang Yaoshi, the owner of Peach Blossom
Island? The thing Old Heretic Huang hates most this life is rules and conventions,
especially saints and whatnots. These are just things to cheat dumb people. It’s such
a joke that people have been blindly abiding to these rules and conventions for
generations! I, Huang Yaoshi don’t believe in these nonsensical teachings. Everyone
say I’m heretic, humph! At least a heretic is better than those jerks who talk about
morals and principals but caused the deaths of so many!” Cheng Yaojia was silent
but her heart beat wildly. She did not know how he was going to deal with her.

But she only heard him say, “Tell me properly. Do you want to marry my grand-
disciple? I like people who are straightforward and have backbone. That little Taoist
scolded me behind my back. If he didn’t dare do that in front of me and kneeled
down to beg me just now, do you think I would have killed him? Humph, you dared
to help that little Taoist even though you knew it was dangerous, so it shows that
your character is good and compatible with my Grand-disciple. Hurry up and answer
me!”

Cheng Yaojia was willing with all her heart but she didn’t even dare tell people like
her parents, what more an outsider? Furthermore, Lu Guanyin was standing beside
him. Huang Yaoshi saw that her pretty face was as red as a rose while Lu Guanyin
also lowered his head and suddenly thought of his daughter. He let out a sigh and
said, “If both of you love each other, I will give my blessings. Ah, even parents can’t
decide the marriage for their children for them. “

He knew that if he had agreed to his daughter and Guo Jing’s marriage, his beloved
daughter would not have died in the deep sea and was vexed. He raised his voice,
“Guanyin, stop beating around the bush, do you want her to be your wife or not?”

Lu Guanyin was stunned and answered hurriedly, “Grand-teacher, Grand-disciple’s

afraid that I am not good enough for…” Huang Yaoshi cut in, “Good enough! You are
my grand-disciple, you are good enough even for a princess!”

Lu Guanyin saw Huang Yaoshi’s eagerness and knew that if continued hesitating, the
situation would turn worse. He answered hurriedly, “Grand-disciple is willing.” Huang
Yaoshi smiled and said, “Good. What about you Miss?”

Cheng Yaojia felt a sweet sensation in her heart when she heard Lu Guanyin’s words,
when she heard Huang Yaoshi’s question, she lowered her head and said softly, “I
need father to help me decide.”

Huang Yaoshi replied, “What parent’s decision? All nonsensical rubbish, I want to be
the one to make the decision! If your father is unwilling, ask him to come and duel
with me.”
Cheng Yaojia smiled, “Father only knows how to calculate accounts and do
calligraphy, he doesn’t know any martial arts.” Huang Yaoshi thought for a while,
“Then we’ll compete using calculation! Humph, talking about calculations, who on
earth can win me? Hurry up, are you willing or not?

Cheng Yaojia kept quiet and Huang Yaoshi said, “Alright, so you aren’t willing then,
it’s up to you. We keep to our words and Old Heretic Huang never allows anyone to
regret their decisions.” Cheng Yaojia stole a glance at Lu Guanyin and saw that his
expression had turned anxious. She thought to herself, “Father dotes on me the
most. If I ask Auntie to talk to father and you ask someone to seek my hand, father
will agree. Why are you so anxious?”

Huang Yaoshi stood up and shouted, “Guanyin, follow me to look for the 6 freaks of
Jiangnan! If you ever speak to this lady again, I’ll cut off both of your tongues,”

Lu Guanyin was shocked and knew that his grand-teacher was capable of such acts.
He walked in front of Cheng Yaojia and cupped his palms into a greeting posture
before saying, “Miss, Lu Guanyin is lowly skilled in martial arts and is untalented and
uneducated. I live a wandering life and am not good enough for you. But I think it is
fate that we should meet today…”

Cheng Yaojia answered softly, “Mister doesn’t have to be humble. I…I…am not…” and
she kept silent. Lu Guanyin’s heart skipped a beat and he thought to make her
answer by nodding or shaking her head, “Miss, if you do not find me up to par with
you, please shake your head.” After he said this, he heart pumped frantically as he
looked at her delicate face, worried that she would shake her head.

After a while, Cheng Yaojia still kept still and did not even more a finger. Lu Guanyin
was delighted and said, “Since Miss is willing to marry me, please nod you head.”
But Cheng Yaojia still did not move. Lu Guanyin ws anxious and Huang Yaoshi was
exasperated and said, “You don’t shake and you don’t nod. What does that mean?”

Cheng Yaojia said softly, “If I don’t shake my head, it…it…means that I nod my
head…” These words were mumbled so softly such that only Huang Yaoshi, who had
a high level of internal energy and sharp ears, could hear it. Had it been a few years
earlier, he would not be able to hear anything but just see her lips moving slightly.

Huang Yaoshi laughed loudly, “Wang Chongyang has all along been a heroic and
brave man. Who would have thought that his disciple would be so wishy-washy?
That’s just so funny. Alright, I will see through your marriage today.” The couple was
taken aback and stared at Huang Yaoshi speechlessly, who continued asking, “Where
is that silly lady? I want to ask her who her teacher is.” When the three of them were
talking in the inn, Sha Gu had disappeared somewhere.

Huang Yaoshi continues, “Anyway, there’s no rush to find her now. Guanyin, you will
marry Miss Cheng here then.” Lu Guanyin replied, “Grand-disciple is very grateful for
grand-teacher’s love but to marry here is somehow too plain…” Huang Yaoshi
retorted, “You are a disciple of the Peach Blossom Island, do you want to abide to
conventions as well? Come come, stand side by side both of you, and bow to the
sky!” His tone was stern and serious and they did not dare disobey him. Cheng
Yaojia had reached this stage and knew that she could not do anything but carry on
the rituals with Lu Guanyin. Huang Yaoshi continued, “Bow to the earth!…Bow to
your grand-teacher ah…good, good, happiness, happiness! Bow to each other!”

Huang Rong and Guo Jing watched Huang Yaoshi orchestrate the show and were
surprised but delighted as well. They found it very funny while Huang Yaoshi
continued, “Excellent! Guanyin, go and get a candle for your nuptial night.” Lu
Guanyin was stunned and said, “Grand-teacher!” Huang Yaoshi replied, “Why? After
completing the ceremony, isn’t it time for your nuptial night? You and your wife are
pugilists, so you don’t need a glamorous room with beautiful blankets right? Can’t
you also have your nuptial night in this broken inn?” Lu Guanyin didn’t dare answer
back but he was excited and delighted at the same time. He followed his grand-
teacher’s instructions and went to the village to get a pair of red candles, some wine
and chicken, and prepared a meal with Cheng Yaojia in the kitchen before serving it
to their grand-teacher.

After that, Huang Yaoshi was silent and raised his head, thinking about his daughter
but hiding his sadness. Huang Rong saw his expressions and knew that he was
thinking about her. She felt terrible and wanted to shout out but was afraid that once
her father discovered her, would bring her back to Peach Blossom Island. Even if he
did not kill Guo Jing, Guo Jing would not be able to survive. When she thought about
this, she took back her hand from the door. Lu Guanyin and Cheng Yaojia stole
glances at Huang Yaoshi and looked at each other, while feeling happy but awkward.
Their faces and ears were both red and they did not dare to make a sound. Ouyang
Ke was lying amongst the straws and wood and listened attentively. Although he was
starving, he did not dare to make any noise.

Part 2 – Translated by Foxs, edited by Eliza Bennet

The sky gradually turned dark. Cheng Yaojia’s heart was thumping louder and
louder. She heard Huang Yaoshi talking to himself, “Why hasn’t that Silly Girl come
back? Humph, that bunch of traitors better not give her any trouble.” Turning his
head to Lu Guanying he said, “Tonight is your wedding night; why don’t you light
some candles?”

“Yes!” Lu Guanying replied. He took a flint and lighted the candles. Under the bright
candlelight he saw that Cheng Da Xiaojie’s [Eldest Miss Cheng] hair on her temples
were like a cloud of mist, her cheeks were as white as snow, her face showed a
bashful and surprised feeling; it was truly hard to describe with words. Outside the
door the insects were buzzing, the evening breeze swayed the bamboo trees; he felt
like it was a dream!

Huang Yaoshi took a wooden bench and placed it on the doorstep, then he laid down
on it. Soon afterwards he was snoring lightly; looked like he was sound asleep. Lu
and Cheng couple still did not dare to move. After a long time the red candle burned
out, the flame died down and the room became dark.

Lu and Cheng couple spoke to each other in low voices. Huang Rong leaned her head
sideways trying to listen, but she could not hear what they were talking about.
Suddenly she felt Guo Jing’s body tremble, his breathing has quickened. Apparently
his internal energy flow had reached a branched passage, so she busily helped him
to overcome this obstacle. After his breathing turned normal she turned her attention
to the room one more time. She saw the moonlight slanted down from the broken
window outside. Lu and Cheng couple was still sitting side by side on the bench. She
heard Cheng Yaojia speak in low voice, “Do you know what day is today?”
“Today is our happiest day,” Lu Guanying replied.

“That goes without saying,” Cheng Yaojia said, “Today is the second day of the
seventh month, my third [maternal] aunt’s birthday.”

Lu Guanying smiled, “Ah, you must have many relatives,” he said, “It must be
difficult to remember all those birthdays.”

Huang Rong thought, “Your wife belongs to a big clan in Baoying; her maternal
aunts’, her paternal aunts’, her nephews’ and nieces’ birthdays will come and go; but
can they be compared to you, the Great Leader Lu of the Lake Tai’s stronghold?”
Suddenly she recalled something, “Today is the second day of the seventh month,
Jing Gege will need until the seventh to recover. The Beggar Clan’s general assembly
is on the fifteenth at Yueyang City. We have a very tight schedule.”

Suddenly there was a long whistle outside, followed by a loud laughter, shaking the
roof tiles; it was precisely Zhou Botong’s voice. He called out, “Old Poison, you have
been chasing me from Lin’an to Jiaxing and from Jiaxing back to Lin’an, one day and
one night, throughout you can’t overtake the Old Urchin. Victory or defeat between
us two has already been decided. What else do you want to compete in?”

Huang Rong was startled, “From Lin’an to Jiaxing and back is more than five hundred
‘li’s; these two men’s feet are truly fast.”

Ouyang Feng’s voice was heard replying, “Even if you run to the end of the earth I
will still chase you.”

Zhou Botong laughed, “We won’t eat, we won’t sleep, we won’t even urinate or
defecate; let’s see who can run the longest. Do you dare to compete with me?”

“Why not?” Ouyang Feng replied, “I want to see who will drop dead of exhaustion
first!”

“Old Poison,” Zhou Botong said, “You won’t be able to compete with me in not
urinating and not defecating.”

They both stopped talking and let out a long laugh instead, but the laughter seemed
to come from more than a dozen of ‘zhang’s away already. Lu Guanying and Cheng
Yaojia did not know what kind of people these men were, who swiftly came and went
in the middle of the night. They looked at each other in astonishment; then hand in
hand they walked to the door to take a look.

Huang Rong thought, “If these two are competing their feet power, then father will
surely want to watch.” Sure enough, she heard Lu Guanying’s surprised voice, “Ah,
where is Grandmaster?”

“Look over there,” Cheng Yaojia said, “There are three shadows; the last one looks
like your Grandmaster.”

“That’s right,” Lu Guanying said, “Ah, they are that far already. I wonder what kind
of experts those two are. Too bad we did not have any chance to meet them.”
Huang Rong thought, “The Old Urchin is all right, but you’d better not meet the Old
Poison.”

As Huang Yaoshi left, Lu and Cheng two people thought that they were alone in that
inn; their hearts started to get devious. Lu Guanying circled his arm around his
newly-wed wife’s waist and asked in a low voice, “Meizi [Little sister – term of
endearment], what is your given name?”

Cheng Yaojia said with a chuckle, “I won’t say it, you guess.”

Lu Guanying smiled, “If not Xiao Mao [kitten], then it must be Xiao Gou [puppy].”

Cheng Yaojia laughed, “Neither. It’s Mu Da Zhong [mother big bug].”

“Ah,” Lu Guanying laughed, “Then I must catch you.”

Cheng Yaojia wriggled and leaped over the table. Lu Guanying laughed and chased
her. One ran, the other chased, they were both laughing and giggling, running
around the inn. The starlight was dim, Huang Rong was unable to see these two
clearly, but she could hear their laughter clearly. Suddenly Guo Jing whispered in her
ear, “Do you think he can catch Cheng Da Xiaojie?”

With a light chuckle Huang Rong replied, “Certainly.”

Guo Jing asked again, “After he catches her, then what happen?”

Huang Rong’s heart skipped a beat; she did not know the answer. She heard Lu
Guanying had succeeded in catching Cheng Yaojia, the couple then sat on the bench,
hugging each other and talking in low voices.

Huang Rong’s right hand was holding Guo Jing’s left. She felt his palm was getting
hotter and hotter, while his body trembled faster and faster. She was frightened,
busily asked, “Jing Gege, what happened?”

After Guo Jing suffered a heavy injury, his internal strength considerably decreased,
practicing this Nine Yin energy cultivation method required a clean heart, free from
any devilish thought. Right now he heard that Lu and Cheng couple was talking and
laughing intimately; at the same time right next to him was his own beloved
beautiful girl. Gradually he lost control, his blood warmed up to the point of boiling.
He turned around and stretched out his right hand to embrace her shoulder. But as
she heard his rushed breathing and felt his burning hot palm, Huang Rong was
frightened and busily said, “Jing Gege, be careful, quickly calm your heart.”

Guo Jing’s heart was shaken, anxiously he said, “I can’t. Rong’er, I … I …” He wanted
to stand up.

Huang Rong was very anxious, “You must not move!” she said.

Forcing himself Guo Jing sat down; he tried hard to control his breathing, but his
chest felt like it will almost burst open. “Rong’er, help me,” he begged. Once again
he wanted to stand up.

“Sit down!” Huang Rong shouted, “If you don’t, I’ll seal your acupoint.”
“Right,” Guo Jing said, “Quick! I can’t take it anymore.”

Huang Rong realized that if his acupoint was sealed, his internal energy flow would
be blocked, then their two days of effort would be wasted and they would have to
start from the beginning again. But his condition was critical, as soon as he stood up,
his life would be in danger. So gritting her teeth her left arm made a circle with the
‘lan hua fu xue shou’ [orchid brushing acupoint technique] and struck the ‘zhang
men’ [sealing gate] acupoint on the eleventh rib on his left chest.

Her finger was right on target, but unexpectedly Guo Jing’s internal strength was so
profound that as soon as his body met an external force, the muscle automatically
contracted and caused her finger to slip. Huang Rong successively struck twice, both
times missed. She was about to strike for the third time when suddenly he grabbed
her left wrist.

It was almost dawn. Huang Rong saw his eyes were bloodshot like they were on fire,
she was shocked; but she felt that he was pulling her hand while his mouth was
mumbling indistinctly, as if he was loosing his mind. In desperation Huang Rong
moved her elbow and ferociously bumped her shoulder against his arm. As the
thorns on the soft hedgehog armor pricked his arm, Guo Jing felt a shot of pain and
was startled. Right at that moment they heard the rooster crow in the village. It was
like a strike of lightning clearing out Guo Jing’s mind. Slowly he put Huang Rong’s
wrist down; his face showed great embarrassment.

Huang Rong saw sweats dripping from his forehead; his face was pale and he looked
so weary. But she knew the critical moment had passed. She said happily, “Jing
Gege, we have passed two days and two nights.”

‘Slap!’ Guo Jing slapped his own face and said, “Very dangerous!” He raised his hand
to slap again. Huang Rong smiled and grabbed his hand. “That was nothing,” she
said, “You remember the Old Urchin? With that kind of skill he still could not bear to
listen to my father’s flute; much less you, who are seriously injured.”

In their excitement as Guo Jing was battling his own mind, they forgot to lower their
voices. All Lu Guanying and Cheng Yaojia cared for was each other, so naturally they
were oblivious of everything else. But lying down in the room Ouyang Ke was fully
awake, with his keen hearing he heard everything, he could even vaguely recognize
Huang Rong’s voice. He was surprised yet happy. He tried to listen carefully, but no
more sound was to be heard. Both of his legs were broken, he was unable to walk,
but by using hands as his feet he could stand upside down and he came out of his
hiding.

Lu Guanying and his newly-wed wife were sitting side-by-side on the bench, with his
left hand wrapped around her shoulder. Suddenly they heard rustling noise from the
firewood. Turning their heads around they saw a man standing on his hands come
out from the inner room. They were startled and quickly drew their weapons out.

Ouyang Ke’s injury was heavy, plus he had not had anything to eat for quite a long
time, hence he was weak; suddenly seeing the bright flickering light of the blade he
felt dizzy and fell down on the ground. Lu Guanying saw his sickly complexion; he
rushed forward to help him sit on the bench with his back leaning against the table.
“Ah!” Cheng Yaojia called out in alarm, recognizing this man as the lecherous person
who captured her at Baoying.

Lu Guanying saw her frightened expression, he said comfortingly, “Don’t be afraid,

his legs are broken.”

“He is a bad man,” Cheng Yaojia said, “I know him.”

“Ah!” Lu Guanying exclaimed.

Ouyang Ke slowly woke up. “Give me a bowl of rice, please,” he said, “I am

starving.”

Cheng Yaojia saw his deep cheeks, his eyes dull; he was not the same arrogant man
who hurled insults to her. She was tenderhearted, plus she was a newly-wed, her
heart was filled with happiness; thereupon she went to the kitchen and fetch a bowl
of rice for Ouyang Ke.

Ouyang Ke ate one bowl, he asked for another bowl. After eating two big bowls of
rice his strength returned. He looked at Cheng Da Xiaojie and his lewdness also
returned. But he still remembered Huang Rong. “Where is Miss Huang?” he asked.

“Which Miss Huang?” Lu Guanying asked.

“The Peach Blossom Island’s Huang Yaoshi’s daughter,” Ouyang Ke replied.

“You know my Huang Shigu [martial (paternal) aunt]?” Lu Guanying asked. “I heard
she has passed away.”

Ouyang Ke laughed. “Don’t lie to me,” he said, “Obviously I had just heard her
voice.” His left hand pushed the table, his body flipped and he walked around the
room with his hands. He recalled that Huang Rong’s voice came from the east side,
but there was only a wall without any door on the east side. He considered carefully
and came to the conclusion that there must be a secret in the cabinet. Immediately
he pulled a table toward the cabinet, flipped his body over to sit on the table, and
opened the cabinet door. Convinced that the secret passage must be inside, he was
disappointed to see inside the cabinet was very dirty, unbearably filthy. He looked
over carefully and saw some handprints on the dust covered iron bowl. His heart was
stirred. Stretching out his arm he grabbed the bowl and tried to lift it up, but the
bowl did not budge. He turned it around and with some creaking noise the secret
door inside the cabinet slowly opened, revealing Huang Rong and Guo Jing two
people sitting cross-legged inside the secret room.

He was delighted to see Huang Rong, but was scared and jealous to see Guo Jing by
her side. After staring at them for half a day he finally asked, “Meizi, are you training
martial art in here?”

Huang Rong had seen him through the small hole moving the table to the cabinet.
She was sure they would be discovered soon, so she started thinking of ways to kill
him. When the door started to move she whispered in Guo Jing’s ear, “I’ll lure him
close, you finish him off with a Dragon Subduing Palm.”

Guo Jing said, “I don’t have any strength in my palm.”

Huang Rong was about to say something else, but Ouyang Ke had already seen
them. She thought, “How can I deceive him so that he will go far away and let us
pass these five days and five nights in peace?”

Initially Ouyang Ke was rather afraid of Guo Jing, but seeing his thin and pale
complexion he remembered his uncle said that in the imperial palace he had injured
him severely with the Toad Stance; if Guo Jing did not die, then his injury must be
extremely heavy. Looking at their expression he knew that his guess was 70, 80%
correct. He wanted to try again, so he said, “Meizi, why don’t you come out? It’s too
stuffy and tight to hide in there.” He held out his hand to pull Huang Rong’s sleeve.

Huang Rong raised her bamboo stick and with a ‘bang da gou tou’ [stick hits dog’s
head] she struck the top of his head. Her movement was very fierce; it was one of
the deadliest stances of the Dog Beating Stick Technique. The stick carried a strong
gust of wind, the oncoming force was swift and violent. Ouyang Ke hastily moved to
the left to evade, but her stick suddenly swept horizontally. Ouyang Ke was startled,
he somersaulted over the table and fell behind the table.

If Huang Rong could pursue, she would take advantage of this favorable situation
and launch the ‘fan jie gou tun’ [flipping up and cutting the dog’s butt]; certainly she
would be able to harm his life. But she was sitting cross-legged and must not move,
so she cried out inwardly, “What a pity!”

Lu Guanying and Cheng Yaojia were shocked to suddenly see there were people
inside the cabinet. By the time they saw clearly it was Guo Jing and Huang Rong,
Ouyang Ke and Huang Rong had started fighting.

As Ouyang Ke fell down, his hands pushed the ground and he leaped back to the
table and sat back down. He used the ‘qin na’ [grab and capture] technique trying to
catch Huang Rong’s hand across the secret room’s door. Huang Rong’s Dog Beating
Stick Technique was marvelous, but she could not move; besides, she had to take
Guo Jing’s internal energy situation into consideration so that she could not use too
much strength of her own. Ouyang Ke’s martial art skill was actually several times
better than hers, so after more than a dozen moves she fell into a desperately
dangerous situation.

Lu Guanying husband and wife drew out their saber and sword and attacked from
both sides. Ouyang Ke let out a long laugh and ferociously launched a palm strike
hacking toward Guo Jing’s face. At this moment Guo Jing was unable to exert any
strength, so he simply closed his eyes waiting for death.

Huang Rong was shocked; she lifted up her stick to block. Ouyang Ke flipped his
palm over and grabbed the end of the stick, pulling it out from Huang Rong’s hand.
Huang Rong could not match his strength; her body staggered forward. She was
afraid her palm would be separated from Guo Jing’s palm, so she let the stick go.
Immediately she reached into her pocket and threw a steel needle out.

Those two were only several feet away from each other. By the time Ouyang Ke saw
the flashing light, the steel needle was already in front of his face. Busily he bent his
waist and threw his head backward, almost reclined on the table, thus evading the
needle.
Lu Guanying saw his condition as if he was a sacrificial meat on the table, his saber
chopped down toward Ouyang Ke’s neck. Ouyang Ke rolled to the right and with a
‘crack!’ sound his saber hacked the tabletop. Right at that moment he heard
swishing noise of a steel needle above him and suddenly felt his back numb; one
side of his body was paralyzed. He wanted to move aside, but his right arm had
already been grabbed by the enemy from behind.

Cheng Yaojia was shocked and rushed forward trying to help. Ouyang Ke laughed
and said, “That’s wonderful!” His hand moved so swiftly and grabbed the front upper
part of Cheng Yaojia’s gown. Cheng Yaojia hastily hacked her sword down to cut his
hand, while trying to leap backward at the same time. ‘Rip!’ Her gown was torn by
his hand. She was so scared that the sword almost fell from her hand; her face
turned deathly pale and she did not dare to rush forward anymore.

Ouyang Ke sat at the corner of the table. He turned his head around and saw the
door to the secret room was already closed. Recalling his dangerous encounter with
steel needles earlier he shuddered in fear. “This little girl is really not easy to fight,”
he thought, “Aha! I got it! I am going to play around with this Cheng Da Xiaojie, let
that kid surnamed Guo and the little girl hear it. Their concentration will be broken
and thus their energy cultivation will be disrupted. I want to see whether by that
time she won’t listen to me nicely.” Thinking to this point he was very happy. He
further considered, “This Huang family’s little girl is like an angel, nevertheless I
have to make her willing to follow me for the rest of her life. It won’t be as much fun
if I use force. I think it will be wonderful. Just marvelous beyond words!” So he
turned to Cheng Yaojia and said, “Hey, Cheng Da Xiaojie, do you want him to live or
to die?”

Cheng Yaojia saw her husband was in the hands of the enemy; she could not make
any rash move. Hastily she said, “He has never wronged you, nor did he have any
enmity with you. Please release him. You were very hungry a while ago. Didn’t I give
you some food to eat?”

Ouyang Ke laughed. “How can two bowls of rice pay the price of a life? Hey, hey,
you’ve never imagined that one day you Quanzhen Sect people will ask someone
else’s help, have you?”

Cheng Yaojia said, “He … he is the Peach Blossom Island’s disciple; don’t hurt him.”

Ouyang Ke laughed, “Who told him to chop me with a saber? If I wasn’t quick
enough to evade, do you think my head will still be perched on my neck? Don’t you
use the Peach Blossom Island to scare me, Huang Yaoshi is my father-in-law.”

Cheng Yaojia did not know whether he was lying or was telling the truth; she hastily
said, “Then he is your junior. Just let him go, let him apologize to you later.”

“Ha … ha …” Ouyang Ke laughed, “How can there be such an easy thing in this
world? You want me to release him? That’s easy, but you must do what I tell you to
do.”

Cheng Yaojia saw the lewdness in his face, she knew he must have malicious
intentions; hence she lowered her head but did not say anything.

“Look at me!” Ouyang Ke roared. ‘Crack!’ his palm hacked down and cut the corner
of the table; making a neat cut as if the table was cut by an axe or a saber. Cheng
Yaojia was stunned, she thought, “Even my Shifu does not have this kind of ability.”
Ouyang Ke had been training martial art under his uncle’s tutelage since he was
little; no wonder his skill surpassed Sun Bu’er who started to learn martial art in her
adulthood.

Seeing the frightened look on her face Ouyang Ke was immensely puffed up. “You
must do whatever I tell you to do,” he said, “Otherwise I’ll do this to his neck.” Then
he made a hacking move. Cheng Yaojia broke in cold sweats and called out in alarm.

“Will you do it?” Ouyang Ke asked. Cheng Yaojia reluctantly nodded her head.
Ouyang Ke said with a smile, “Good! That’s my good girl. Now go and close the
door.” Cheng Yaojia hesitated; she did not move.

“You are not listening!” Ouyang Ke was angry. Cheng Yaojia trembled in fear; she
did not have any choice but stand up and close the door.

Ouyang Ke said with a smile, “You two got married last night, I heard it clearly from
the other room. It was your wedding night, but you did not take your clothes off.
There is no such thing in this world. You don’t know how to be a bride, so I am going
to teach you. Now take your clothes off. All of them. If you leave even half a strand
of silk, I am going to send your husband returning to heaven, and then you will
become a young widow!”

Lu Guanying could not move his body, but he could hear clearly. He was so angry
that he felt his eyes were about to pop out of their sockets. He wanted to tell his wife
to run away and forget about him, but his lips were unable to move.

When Ouyang Ke grabbed Lu Guanying, Huang Rong quickly closed the door to the
secret room. She took her dagger out, waiting for his second attack. Suddenly she
heard him ordering Cheng Yaojia to take her clothes off; she was angry, but at the
same time found it amusing. She was still childish so even though she hated Ouyang
Ke’s despicable behavior, she also wanted to know whether this girlish and bashful
Cheng Da Xiaojie would follow his order or not.

“What’s the big deal about taking off all your clothes?” Ouyang Ke said with a laugh,
“Did you wear anything when you came out of your mother’s belly? Do you want
your pride or his life?”

Cheng Yaojia hesitated a moment, then with a sad voice said, “Just kill him!”

Ouyang Ke did not expect she would say such thing; he was slightly startled, but
then he saw she lifted her sword horizontally across her own neck. Hastily he waved
his hand, sending out a ‘tou gu ding’ [bone penetrating nail]. ‘Clank!’ her sword fell
down to the ground.

Cheng Yaojia was about to stoop down to pick her sword up when suddenly she
heard someone knocking the door, “Innkeeper, innkeeper!” someone called out. It
was a woman’s voice. Cheng Yaojia was delighted, “Someone’s coming, things may
change,” she thought. She busily bent down to pick her sword and leaped to open
the door.

There was a young woman wearing white standing outside the door, with a white
cloth on her head and a dagger on her waist. Her face was thin and pallid, but it was
obvious that she was a beautiful woman. Cheng Yaojia did not care what kind of
person she was, she already considered her to be her liberator. “Please come in
Miss,” she quickly said.

That woman saw her exquisite clothes and adornment, her sweet and pretty face,
also a sword in her hand; never in her wildest dream would she expect a desolate
inn in this rural village like this would have this kind of innkeeper. She was
dumbstruck. “I have two coffins outside, may I bring them in?” she asked.

If it were an ordinary house, the coffins may never enter in; but an inn was different.
Besides, Cheng Yaojia was hoping she would come in quickly. She would not care if it
was a hundred or even a thousand coffins, let alone only two coffins. She busily said,
“Wonderful, wonderful!”

That young woman was taken aback, she thought, “What’s so wonderful about
coffins going into an inn?” She beckoned outside and eight porters carrying two black
coffins came into the inn.

That young woman turned her head and was surprised to see Ouyang Ke. With a
‘qiang lang’ sound she unsheathed the dagger on her waist.

Ouyang Ke laughed a big laugh and said, “The heaven has destined us to be
together. You can run away, but you cannot escape your fate. It has delivered us
good fortune, so we commit a great sin if we do not enjoy this blessing.”

This young woman was precisely Mu Nianci who was once captured by Ouyang Ke.
After she broke off with Yang Kang at Baoying she cut her hair in grief, completely
discouraged. Then she remembered there was one thing on earth she had to take
care, thereupon she rushed back to the capital to fetch Yang Tiexin’s, husband and
wife, bodies and brought them to the south. She wanted to bury her adopted father
and mother at their hometown, the Ox Village of Lin’an; and then she was going to
leave home and become a Buddhist nun.

At that time the Mongolian army was launching a large scale attack against the
capital, they laid siege around the city. As a single woman traveling with two coffins
in the turmoil and chaos of war, she experienced untold hardships, until finally she
arrived at her adopted parents’ hometown. She had left home since she was five
years old, and had never been to the Ox Village before. As she saw Shagu’s inn she
was thinking of stopping by for some food and directions; who would have thought
that she came across Ouyang Ke here.

At this time she did not know whether this beautiful woman wearing exquisite gown
was her captor’s accomplice or not; when Cheng Yaojia was taken prisoner by
Ouyang Ke, Mu Nianci was already hidden away inside the empty coffin. These two
women had never met each other, so Mu Nianci thought Cheng Yaojia was one of
Ouyang Ke’s concubines. She chopped her dagger toward Cheng Yaojia, then darting
toward the door trying to escape. She heard the rustling noise of a clothes, someone
was leaping over her head. Mu Nianci lifted her dagger up, Ouyang Ke’s body was
still midair, his right hand’s index finger and thumb pinched the back of her dagger
and pulled it away, while his left hand grabbed her wrist. Mu Nianci was forced to let
her dagger go; her body leaped up and two people fell together on the doorway,
halfway above the coffin.
“Aiyo!” the four porters cried out in alarm. The coffin fell to the ground, pinching
five, six of the porters’ eight feet.

Ouyang Ke’s left hand embraced Mu Nianci in his bosom, while his right hand
stabbed the dagger randomly toward the back of those four porters. The porters
screamed in terror and scrambled anxiously over the coffin to run away. The other
four porters also dropped their coffin and ran outside the inn; without asking for
their money.

Lu Guanying tumbled down as he was free from the enemy’s hand. Cheng Yaojia
rushed over to help him up. She was totally ignorant of what was going on around
her; her mind was set on how to get away from the enemy. With Mu Nianci in his left
hand Ouyang Ke pushed the coffin with his right hand, and leaped back to the table.
He snatched Cheng Yaojia’s belt and very soon she was also embraced at the crook
of his right arm. Ouyang Ke sealed both women’s acupoints and sat on a bench. He
laughed and called out, “Huang Meizi, you have to come over here too!”

While he was feeling smug, a shadow flashed in from outside; a young gentleman
came in. It was Yang Kang. After he went out from underneath Huang Yaoshi’s legs
along with Wanyan Honglie, Peng Lianhu and the others, they ran away out of the Ox
Village. Everybody was angry at the humiliation they had just received; they hung
their heads low and nobody said anything. Yang Kang thought if he wanted to seek
revenge, he must find Ouyang Feng first, who had not returned from stealing the
book in the imperial palace. Thereupon he asked Wanyan Honglie’s permission and
went back alone, waiting in the forest just outside the village.

That night Zhou Botong, Ouyang Feng and Huang Yaoshi three people came and go
in a flash. With Yang Kang’s current skill level, he could not even see them clearly.
Early the next morning he saw Mu Nianci bringing the coffins into the village. His
heart pounded from excitement and he followed behind her quietly. He saw her enter
the inn, and then saw the porters running away, he felt strange, so he peeked
through a crack on the door and did not see Huang Yaoshi inside; but he saw Mu
Nianci was embraced by Ouyang Ke in a frivolous way.

Ouyang Ke saw him come in, he called out, “Xiao Wangye [Young Prince], you came
back!” Yang Kang nodded. Ouyang Ke saw his face looked unusual, he tried to
console him, “In the past Han Xin had also received humiliation by crawling
underneath someone else’s crotch. But a real great man can be bent and can be
stretched. It was nothing. Just wait for my uncle, then you can extract your
revenge.”

Again Yang Kang nodded his head. His gaze was fixed on Mu Nianci.

Ouyang Ke smiled and said, “Young Prince, what do you think of my two beautiful
women?” Yang Kang nodded again. Ouyang Ke was not present when Mu Nianci and
Yang Kang were jousting to find a spouse on the street of the capital; therefore, he
did not know that these two had a deep relationship between them.

At first Yang Kang did not think much of Mu Nianci, and then afterwards he saw how
much she was passionately devoted to him; his heart could not help but be moved
by her love, hence he promised to marry her. Right now he saw Ouyang Ke was
hugging her, his heart swelled with hatred, but he maintained his composure.
“There was a wedding in here last night,” Ouyang Ke said with a smile, “There is
some wine and chicken in the kitchen. Xiao Wangye, I’d like to bother you to fetch
the food, I want to drink with you several cups. I am going to tell these two beautiful
women to strip and dance to accompany your drinking.”

“Nothing better than that,” Yang Kang replied with a smile.

To suddenly seeing Yang Kang, Mu Nianci was pleasantly surprised. But when Yang
Kang did not pay her any attention, she was mad. Now she saw his frivolous
expression as he was going to join Ouyang Ke in humiliating her, her heart turned
icy cold. She was determined that as soon as her hands and feet were free, she
would cut her own throat in the presence of this heartless fellow; and then she would
forever be free from the anxieties of the world.

She saw him turned around to go to the kitchen. He fetched the food and drink, then
sat alongside Ouyang Ke. Ouyang Ke poured two cups of wine and held them up in
front of Mu and Cheng two women’s mouths and said with a smile, “Drink this wine
first, it will help to make your dancing more interesting.” The two women were very
angry, but since their acupoints were sealed, they were unable to turn their heads
away from the wine cups on their lips. Ouyang Ke managed to pour half a cup into
their mouths.

“Mr. Ouyang,” Yang Kang said, “I admire your martial art skill very much. Let me
toast you one cup before we enjoy the dancing.”

Ouyang Ke took the cup Yang Kang handed over; he drank it in one gulp, then
casually he released the two women’s acupoints, but he placed his hands on the
acupoints on their backs. He smiled and said, “If you listen nicely to what I say, not
only you won’t get hurt, but I will make you happy!” He turned to Yang Kang and
said, “Xiao Wangye, which one of these young girls do you like? I’ll let you choose
first!”

Yang Kang slightly smiled and said, “Thank you very much!”

Mu Nianci pointed toward the two coffins on the doorsteps and imposingly said,
“Yang Kang! Do you know whose coffins are those?”

Yang Kang turned his head and saw on the first coffin there was a red piece of paper
with this line of characters on it: ‘da song yi shi yang tie xin ling jiu’ [the bier of Yang
Tiexin, a chivalrous warrior of the Great Song Dynasty]. His heart turned cold, but
his face did not show anything. He said, “Mr. Ouyang, can you hold them closely for
me? I want to see which one has the smaller feet. I am going to choose her.”

Ouyang Ke laughed and said, “Xiao Wangye is truly smart! I think this one’s feet are
smaller.” While saying that he rubbed Cheng Yaojia’s chin before continuing, “I have
a special skill. I only need to look at a girl’s face to know what her body looks like,
from top to bottom.”

Yang Kang laughed, “Amazing! I am impressed! What if I bow to you and take you
as my master? Then you’ll teach me this special trick.” While saying that he bent
down under the table.
Mu and Cheng both women had decided that as soon as he touched their feet, they
would kick his ‘tai yang’ [sun] acupoint on his temple. Yang Kang smiled and said,
“Mr. Ouyang, drink another cup of wine, then I’ll tell you if your guess is correct.”

“All right!” Ouyang Ke laughed, taking the cup with both hands. Yang Kang glanced
upward from underneath the table, he saw Ouyang Ke was drinking the wine with his
head thrown backward; suddenly he took a broken spearhead from his bosom. He
sent all his strength to his arm, from his arm to his wrist, lunged it forward and
‘Stab!’ the spearhead went five, six inches deep into Ouyang Ke’s abdomen.
Immediately he somersaulted backward behind the table.

It was such a sudden change that Huang Rong, Mu Nianci, Lu Guanying and Cheng
Yaojia were all startled. They only knew something changed, but nobody saw what
happened under the table. Ouyang Ke raised his arms and pushed Mu and Cheng
two women, they fell under the bench; and then he threw the wine cup in his hand
out. Yang Kang ducked to evade and ‘crash!’ that cup hit the ground and turned into
thousands pieces; indicating the power behind that throw must be astonishing.

Yang Kang rolled on the ground, trying to escape to the door. Unfortunately the door
was blocked by the coffins. He turned his head to see Ouyang Ke was standing on his
hands on the bench, his body bent forward, his face looked like he was smiling yet
he was not smiling, his eyes were staring at him with a weird expression. Yang Kang
shuddered involuntarily. He wanted very bad to run away, but because of Ouyang
Ke’s stare, his body stiffened like a corpse, he could not move.

Ouyang Ke looked upward with a laughter and said, “I, the one surnamed Ouyang,
have been roaming the world for half of my lifetime; unexpectedly I have to die
under this kid’s hands. One thing I don’t understand, Xiao Wangye, why did you kill
me?”

Yang Kang moved his legs and leaped up; he wanted to escape outside the door
before answering his question. While his body was still midair, suddenly he felt a
gust of wind behind his back; the back of his neck was grabbed by a steel-hook
hand. He was unable to continue his leap and was forced to land on the coffin, along
with Ouyang Ke next to him.

Ouyang Ke said, “You are not willing to talk, do you want me to die with my eyes
open?”

The acupoint on the back of Yang Kang’s neck was grabbed by Ouyang Ke; he could
not move his limbs. He knew he would not escape alive, he laughed coldly and said,
“All right, I’ll tell you. Do you know who she is?” While saying that he pointed his
finger toward Mu Nianci.

Ouyang Ke turned his head and saw Mu Nianci with a dagger in her hand, ready to
pounce forward to help, but she was afraid she might hurt Yang Kang; her
expression was full or concerns, exactly like what Cheng Yaojia showed toward Lu
Guanying. Suddenly it dawned on Ouyang Ke. He laughed and said, “She … she …”
his words were cut short by coughing.

Yang Kang said, “She is my fiancée; twice you have bullied her. How can I let you
go?”
Ouyang Ke said with a smile, “So that’s how it is. We are going to hell together!”
Raising his hand high his palm was ready to strike the top of Yang Kang’s head.

Mu Nianci cried out in alarm, she rushed forward to save him, but it was too late.
Yang Kang closed his eyes ready to die; he waited for Ouyang Ke’s palm to strike
down; who would have thought that after waiting for a while there was nothing
moving above his head. He opened his eyes and saw Ouyang Ke was still smiling
with his hand still high in the air, but his left hand, which grabbed Yang Kang’s neck,
was actually relaxed. Hastily Yang Kang struggled free and leaped away. Ouyang Ke
tumbled down on top of the coffin, his breathing had ceased.

After staring blankly for half a day, Yang Kang and Mu Nianci rushed to each other
and held each other’s hands. They had countless words to say to each other, but
neither one knew where to start. They both looked at Ouyang Ke’s body and still felt
fear in their hearts.

Cheng Yaojia helped Lu Guanying up and unsealed his acupoints. Lu Guanying knew
that Yang Kang was a Jin’s envoy. Even though he killed Ouyang Ke, thus Lu
Guanying was indebted to him, he could not make an enemy his friend, so he simply
cupped his fists in respect, then without saying anything he took Cheng Yaojia’s hand
and they both went away. These two people had just undergone a thrilling
experience, escaping a life and death situation; they completely forgot about seeing
Guo Jing and Huang Rong earlier.

Huang Rong was very happy to see Yang Kang and Mu Nianci were back together;
she also appreciated the fact that Yang Kang saved Mu Nianci from a possible
disaster. Guo Jing also hoped that his sworn brother would change for the good. He
exchanged a glance with Huang Rong, both of them broke into smiles.

They heard Mu Nianci say, “I have brought back your father and mother’s bodies.”

Yang Kang said, “Actually it was my responsibility. I have bothered Meizi so much.”

Mu Nianci did not want to bring up past events; she simply discussed with him how
to bury Yang Tiexin husband and wife. Yang Kang pulled the broken spearhead from
Ouyang Ke’s abdomen and said, “We have to bury him quickly. If his uncle finds out,
even if the world is big, there will be no place for us to hide.” Two people
immediately buried Ouyang Ke’s body in the backyard of the inn; and then went to
the village to hire some people to help them carry the coffins and buried them in the
backyard of Yang family’s former home. Yang Tiexin had left his home for a long
time that everybody who knew him had died. Nobody asked them anything.

By the time they finished burying their dead, the sky had already turned dark. That
night Mu Nianci slept at a villager’s house, while Yang Kang spent the night in the
inn.

Early morning the following day Mu Nianci went back to the inn, she was going to
ask him what he wanted to do next. She saw him pacing back and forth in the inn,
stomping his feet and complaining bitterly. She asked him what happened and Yang
Kang said, “I was so muddle-headed to let those two people leave yesterday. I
should have killed them to close their mouths. Now that they are gone, where can
we find them?”
“Why?” Mu Nianci was surprised.

Yang Kang said, “If this fact that I killed Ouyang Ke ever leaks out, won’t that be a
disaster?”

Mu Nianci knitted her brows in displeasure. “A real man is not afraid to take
responsibility of his actions,” she said, “If you are afraid, you shouldn’t have killed
him yesterday.”

Yang Kang did not say anything, he was busy thinking how to pursue and kill Lu and
Cheng two people to close their mouths.

Mu Nianci said, “Even though his uncle is very fierce, we can run away to some far
away place, he won’t be able to find us.”

Yang Kang said, “Meizi [sister/beloved], I have another thought: his uncle’s martial
art is unparalleled, I want to take him as my master.”

“Ah!” Mu Nianci exclaimed.

“I have had this thought for a while,” Yang Kang continued, “But they follow a very
strict rule: they only take one disciple per generation. Now that this man is dead, his
uncle might take me as his disciple!” He sounded very proud of himself.

Hearing his words and looking at his expression, Mu Nianci’s heart turned cold. With
a trembling voice she said, “It turns out the reason you killed him yesterday was not
to rescue me at all, but you have another agenda in your mind.”

Yang Kang laughed and said, “You are overly skeptical; for you, even if my body is
crushed to dust and my bones smashed up to pieces, I am most willing.”

“Let’s talk about that later,” Mu Nianci said, “Right now, what are you going to do?
Are you willing to be a loyal patriot for the Great Song; or do you still want to seek
unlimited riches and honor, acknowledging an enemy as your father?”

Looking at her beautiful face and smart appearance Yang Kang was silently full of
admiration, but listening to her talk exposing the content of his heart he was not
pleased at all. “Riches and honor? Humph,” he said, “What riches and honor do I
have? The Great Jin’s capital has fallen to the Mongolian army. The Jins were
defeated every time they went out to battle. The fall of Jin country is the present
disaster we are facing.”

The more Mu Nianci listened to him, the more displeased she became. “The defeat of
the Jins is precisely what we are earnestly wished for,” she said with a stern voice,
“Yet you actually feel sorry for them. Humph, what if the fall of Jin country is the
present disaster? Is the Jin country your country? This … this …”

“Why are we talking about other people’s business?” Yang Kang cut her off, “I have
been bitterly missing you since you left me.” Slowly he went over to grab her right
hand. Mu Nianci could hear the tenderness in his voice, her heart softened; she let
him pull her hand gently, without struggling she followed him, her face was slightly
blushing.
Yang Kang’s left arm was about to embrace her shoulder when suddenly they heard
bird cries high in the air; it was very loud and clear. They looked up and saw a pair
of big white eagles spreading their wings flying across the sky. Yang Kang had seen
this pair of eagles that day when Wanyan Honglie led a team of soldiers to pursue
and kill Tuolei, and he knew that later on Huang Rong took the eagles away. “How
did the white eagles come to this place?” he thought. He pulled Mu Nianci’s hand and
hurriedly walked outside. He saw the pair of eagles fly in circles overhead, while a
young girl was sitting on a steed’s back by the big tree outside; she was looking at a
distance. That young girl was wearing a pair of leather boots, with a horse whip in
her hand. She was wearing Mongolian attire, with a long bow on her back and a
quiver full of arrows hanging on her waist.

The eagles circled overhead for a while, then they flew along the road. A moment
later they flew back. And then sound of hoof beats was heard coming from the road,
a number of horse riders came speeding by.

Yang Kang thought, “Apparently this pair of eagles is to lead the way so that these
people can meet with this Mongolian girl.” He saw dust rose on the road and three
riders were coming fast toward them. A swishing sound was heard, an arrow shot
out to the air, coming this direction. The Mongolian girl extracted a long arrow from
her quiver, drew her bow and shot the arrow to the air. As the three riders heard the
arrow, they called out in delight, and rushed their horses even faster.

That young girl urged her steed forward to approach the riders. As they were about
three ‘zhang’s apart from each other, the girl and one of the rider shouted and
jumped from their saddles toward each other; their hands met in the air and
together they landed on the ground.

Yang Kang was secretly startled, “The Mongolians are very proficient in riding and
shooting techniques; even a young girl has this kind of ability. Is it a wonder that the
Jins are defeated?”

Inside the secret room Guo Jing and Huang Rong also heard the birds’ cry and the
hoof beats coming near. After a moment they also heard several people talking and
walking toward the inn. Guo Jing was pleasantly surprised, “How did she come over
here? This is wonderful!” he thought.

Turned out the Mongolian girl was his fiancée, Huazheng; and the other three were
Tuolei, Jebeh and Borchu. Huang Rong did not understand one word of Huazheng’s
babbling of talking and laughing in Mongolians; while Guo Jing’s face turned green
one moment and white another moment. His delight was replaced with anxiety. “My
heart has already had Rong’er, so I can’t marry her. But she has looked for me here.
How can I break my promise? What should I do?” he thought in his heart.

With a low voice Huang Rong asked, “Jing Gege, who is this girl? What are they
saying? Aren’t you feeling well?”

Several times Guo Jing had meant to tell Huang Rong everything once and for all,
but always each time the words were already on his lips, each time he swallowed
them back. Now that Huang Rong asked him, he could not hide anymore. “She is the
Mongolian’s Great Khan, Genghis Khan’s daughter. She is my fiancée.”

Huang Rong was shocked; tears started welling up her eyes. “You … you have a
fiancée?” she asked, “Why have you never told me?”

That day when Qiu Chuji and the Six Freaks of Jiangnan discussed Guo Jing’s
engagement in the inn at the capital, the Six Freaks of Jiangnan did mention that
Genghis Khan had betrothed his beloved daughter to Guo Jing, but at that time
Huang Rong had not arrived outside the window yet; therefore, she had not heard
about it and all this time she was not aware about this engagement.

Guo Jing said, “Now and then I wanted to tell you, but I was afraid you won’t be
happy. Sometimes I did not remember this matter.”

“She is your fiancée, how can you not remember?” Huang Rong asked.

Guo Jing was at a loss. “I don’t know,” he said, “In my heart I always regard her as
my sister; we are like brother and sister. I don’t even want to marry her.”

Huang Rong raised her eyebrows in delight, “Why?” she asked.

Guo Jing replied, “The Great Khan decided this matter for me. At that time I was not
unhappy, but I was not happy either. I only thought that the Great Khan’s decision
must be right. But now, Rong’er, how can I leave you to marry another?”

“What should we do then?” Huang Rong asked.

“I don’t know,” Guo Jing replied.

Huang Rong sighed and said, “As long as in your heart you are forever good to me, I
don’t care if you marry her.” But a moment later she said, “However, if you marry
her, I won’t like another woman to be with you all day. Perhaps one day I won’t be
able to control my temper and make a hole in her chest with a sword, and then you
will hate me. Enough talking about this, why don’t you listen to them and tell me
what they say.”

Guo Jing pressed his ear to the small hole and heard Tuolei and Huazheng talk about
what happened after they parted. It turned out that after Huang Rong and Guo Jing
went down to the sea, the white eagles flew around in the wind and the rain looking
for their masters. There was no place on the ocean for them to set their feet on, so
they had to fly back to the mainland. They remembered their old home in the north,
hence they flew to find their other master.

Huazheng was astonished to see the white eagles came back. She saw a piece of
cloth tied on the eagle’s foot, with some Chinese characters carved on it. She took
the cloth to some Han people in the army to translate. Turned out they were the ‘in
danger’ two characters. Huazheng was concerned, so she went south immediately to
investigate. By this time Genghis Khan was busy supervising the military expedition
against the Jins; day after day the Mongolians engaged the Jins in fierce battles both
inside and outside the Great Wall, so nobody stopped her when she expressed her
intention to go to the south.

The eagles understood their master’s intention, they flew ahead several hundred ‘li’s
to look for Guo Jing, and went back every night. In so doing they arrived at Lin’an.
Guo Jing had not been found, they came across Tuolei instead.
Tuolei was sent by his ‘fu wang’ [father king] on a diplomatic mission to Lin’an, to
solicit cooperation from the Song Dynasty for a converging attack against the Jin
country. But the Song ministers and officials were enjoying peace and prosperity in
the southeast; they also were afraid of the Jin’s army. They were thanking the
heaven and the earth that the Jins did not attack them; how could they dare to pull a
tiger’s whisker? Therefore, they were very indifferent toward Tuolei; they placed him
in the guest house and did not pay any attention to him anymore. Fortunately
Wanyan Kang was captured by Lu, father and son, at Lake Tai; otherwise the Songs
would have received the Jins’ order and have Tuolei killed.

Later on came the news that the Mongolian army was moving fast and the Jin’s
capital of Yanjing fell. The ministers of the Song Dynasty changed their attitude
immediately; now they treated Tuolei as the Fourth Prince this and the Fourth Prince
that, flattered him to no end. They went as far as agreeing immediately to form an
alliance to attack the Jins; they thought if they could seize the opportunity to defeat
their enemy without to much effort, then why not?

Tuolei was not happy, but he still agreed to sign the bilateral agreement with the
Southern Song Dynasty to attack the Jins. That day he returned to the north, the
Songs ministers respectfully sent him off outside the city gate. Tuolei did not feel like
performing perfunctory propriety, so he simply slapped his horse and left.

Just outside Lin’an he saw the white eagles; he thought Guo Jing must be around,
who would have thought that it was his own sister. Huazheng asked, “Did you see
Guo Jing Anda [Mongolian for ‘sworn brother’]?” Before Tuolei could answer they
heard clamoring noise outside the door; the sound of armors and horses. It turned
out it was the Song Dynasty’s escort finally caught up with the Mongolian envoys.

Yang Kang was standing quietly at the door; he saw the Song troops were carrying a
banner with these large characters written on it: ‘Respectfully sending off the
Mongolian Fourth Prince to return to the north.’ He was unable to restrain having a
disquieting thought, an extreme regret in his heart. Just dozens of days ago he was
also a prince, an honorable envoy; today he was alone in the world and nobody paid
him any attention. He had tasted riches and honor all his life, so it would be very
difficult for him to throw away everything he held dear.

Mu Nianci watched him with a cold eye; she noticed his unusual expression. Although
she did not know what he was thinking, but remembering that he had never
forgotten the glory and splendor of being a part of the enemy, she was unable to
restrain from feeling hurt.

The captain of the Song escort team went into the inn and respectfully appeared
before Tuolei. He spoke with Tuolei for a moment before going back out and bark his
order, “Go to every house and find out if there is someone surnamed Guo, Guo Jing,
Guo Guanren [Master Guo – lit. government official] living in this village. If he
doesn’t, ask where did he move to?”

The soldiers complied with one voice and immediately spread out. Not too long
afterwards from the village noises were heard of chicken scrambling and dogs
running, men crying out and women screaming; for the soldiers did not find the
information they were looking for, so they helped themselves to plunder sheep and
other belongings. How else would they punish the villagers for not giving out the
information they wanted?
Yang Kang’s heart was stirred, “If the troops can seize this opportunity to plunder,
why can’t I seize this opportunity to befriend this Mongolians?” he thought, “I will
accompany them returning to the north and kill him along the way; that won’t be
difficult. The Mongolian Great Khan will think it is the work of a Song man; hence the
alliance between the Mongolia and the Song Dynasty will be broken. It will be a great
advantage to the Jins.” Once his mind was decided he told Mu Nianci, “Wait here for
a moment.” And in big strides he entered the inn.

The captain tried to stop him with a loud shout; holding up his hand in front of Yang
Kang. Yang Kang lifted up his left arm and tossed the captain away. The captain fell
backward and for half a day did not crawl back up.

Tuolei and Huazheng were startled. By that time, Yang Kang had already arrived at
the center of the room. He took the broken spearhead from his bosom and lifted it
high above his head; respectfully placed that spearhead on the table, and then he
knelt down in front of the table, wailing loudly, “Guo Jing, oh, Brother Guo, you died
a miserable death. I surely must avenge your death, Guo Jing, oh, Brother Guo.”

Tuolei brother and sister did not speak Chinese, but they heard him keep calling Guo
Jing’s name, they were astonished. By that time the captain was crawling up with
great difficulty, hastily they told him to inquire.

Yang Kang was crying and talking, tears streaming down his cheeks, in between sobs
he said, “I am Guo Jing’s sworn brother, somebody killed Guo Dage [big brother]
with this spearhead. That bastard is a Song Dynasty military officer; I think he
received the Prime Minister Shi Miyuan’s inciting.”

As Tuolei and Huazheng, brother and sister, heard the captain translate what Yang
Kang had said into Mongolian, it was as if they were struck by a thunder; they were
speechless. Jebeh and Borchu remembered their deep friendship with Guo Jing; the
four of them wept and beat their chests. Yang Kang also brought up the fact that
Guo Jing routed the Jin army at Baoying to save Tuolei and the others; hence
Tuolei’s suspicion was gone. They asked Yang Kang how Guo Jing died and who killed
him. Yang Kang told them the killer was a Great Song’s officer by the name of Duan
Tiande, and that he knew this person’s whereabouts, and that he was gong to find
him to seek revenge; it was a pity that Yang Kang was unable to do it without help,
he was afraid this task would not be easy to accomplish. The story just flowed out of
Yang Kang’s mouth like it was a true story.

In the other room Guo Jing heard everything clearly and he was frustrated. As
Huazheng heard this story, she drew the dagger on her waist and was about to slash
her own neck to commit suicide; but then she changed her mind and hacked the
dagger into a table nearby. “I am not a human if I can’t extract revenge for Guo Jing
Anda!” she made a vow.

Yang Kang was very happy to see that his plan was halfway successful; he lowered
his head and cried some more. Suddenly he saw the bamboo stick that Ouyang Ke
snatched from Huang Rong’s hand lying on the ground. It was deep green and clear
like crystal, truly an unusual object; he knew it was an extraordinary stick, so he
walked over and picked it up. Huang Rong was groaning inwardly, but she had no
choice but to let him take it.
The troops came and delivered food and wine, but Tuolei and the others did not have
any appetite. They urged Yang Kang to lead them to find Guo Jing’s killer. Yang Kang
nodded his head in compliance; he took the bamboo stick in his hand and walked to
the door. He turned his head and called Mu Nianci to join them. Mu Nianci shook her
head slightly. Yang Kang did not want to miss this good opportunity, their own
personal affair could wait, so he went out the inn alone. Everybody else followed
him.

Guo Jing said with a low voice, “Didn’t he kill Duan Tiande at the Cloud Village a long
time ago?”

Huang Rong shook her head, “I don’t understand it myself. Wasn’t it he who stab
you with a dagger? This man is very sly, his thoughts are unpredictable.”

Suddenly outside the door there was someone reciting loudly, “Roaming to and fro,
free without limitation; heart is free from greed, glorious body is free from disgrace!
… Ah! Miss Mu, why are you here?” It was the Changchun Zi [Eternal Spring] Qiu
Chuji.

Before Mu Nianci could reply, Yang Kang happened to be walking out of the inn. He
saw his Shifu and his heart started thumping madly; this time they came face to
face, there was no place he could hide, he had no choice but to kneel down and
kowtow.

Next to Qiu Chuji stood several people; they were Danyang Zi [Scarlet Sun] Ma Yu,
Yuyang Zi [Jade Sun] Wang Chuyi, Qing Jing San Ren [Sage of Tranquility] Sun
Bu’er, as well as Qiu Chuji’s disciple, Yin Zhiping. The previous day Yin Zhiping was
beaten by Huang Yaoshi and he fell down and half the teeth in his mouth came off.
Hastily he went to Lin’an to give report to his Shifu. Qiu Chuji was startled and
angry; he wanted to go immediately to find Huang Yaoshi. Ma Yu strongly advised
against his intention. Qiu Chuji said, “The Old Heretic Huang shared the same honor
as our deceased master. Among us seven brothers and sister, only Wang Shi Di
[younger martial brother] has seen his face at Mount Hua. Xiao Di [little younger
brother] always admire him and wanted to see him long ago, I don’t want to fight
with him; why did Da Shige [first martial (older) brother] prevent me?”

Ma Yu said, “I heard Huang Yaoshi’s temperament is strange, while your own

temperament is brash and explosive; if you two meet, chances are that we won’t
have an amiable situation. He spared Zhiping’s life, that means he is being lenient to
us.” However, Qiu Chuji was adamant in going, and Ma Yu did not have any way to
persuade him not to. As it turned out, all Quanzhen Seven Masters happened to be in
the vicinity of Lin’an; thereupon they were summoned and the next day they went to
the Ox Village together.

All Quanzhen Seven Masters gathered together carried a strong power, but they fully
realized Huang Yaoshi’s ability, at the same time it was not clear whether he was a
friend or a foe, therefore, they did not dare to be careless or indiscreet. Ma Yu, Qiu
Chuji, Wang Chuyi, Sun Bu’er and Yin Zhiping, five people went into the village;
while Tan Chuduan, Liu Chuxuan and Hao Datong waited outside the village, ready to
help. Who would have thought that they did not see Huang Yaoshi, but saw Mu
Nianci and Yang Kang instead.

Qiu Chuji only snorted seeing Yang Kang kowtow, and did not pay him any attention.
Yin Zhiping said, “Shifu, the Master of the Peach Blossom Island bullied disciple in
this inn.” Initially he referred to Huang Yaoshi as the Old Heretic Huang [Huang
Laoxie], but after being scolded by Ma Yu and the others he changed the way he
called him.

In a loud and clear voice Qiu Chuji called out, “Quanzhen disciples Ma Yu and the
others pay their respect to the Peach Blossom Island’s Huang Daozhu [Island Master
Huang].”

“There is no one inside,” Yang Kang said.

Qiu Chuji stomped his foot and said, “What a pity, what a pity we can’t see him!”
Turning his head to Yang Kang he asked, “What are you doing here?”

Yang Kang was already scared to see his master and martial uncles, so he did not
know what to say.

Huazheng had stared hard at Ma Yu for half a day, finally she rushed forward and
called out, “Ah, you are the one who helped me capturing the eagles; you are the
three-hair-bun Uncle. Look, those little eaglets have grown this big.” She let out a
loud whistle and the pair of eagles came down and perched on her left and right
shoulders.

Ma Yu showed a faint smile, he nodded his head and said, “Are you going south to
play?”

Huazheng cried and said, “Daozhang [Taoist Priest], somebody killed Guo Jing Anda.
Please avenge his death.”

Ma Yu jumped in fright; he translated what he just heard into Chinese. Qiu Chuji and
Wang Chuyi were shocked; busily they asked further information. Huazheng pointed
her finger toward Yang Kang and said, “He saw it with his own eyes; ask him what
happened.”

As Yang Kang found out that Huazheng knew his Da Shibo [first martial (older)
uncle], he was afraid that if they talked too much their suspicion would be aroused;
and then his plan to swindle these Mongolians without any effort would be thwarted.
However, he could not talk irresponsibly toward his master and martial uncles, so he
told Tuolei and Huazheng, “You go ahead and wait for me for a moment, I need to
talk to these priests and then I’ll come along immediately.” Tuolei listened to the
captain’s translation, he nodded his head, then led everybody to leave the village
and going to the north.

“Who killed Guo Jing?” Qiu Chuji asked with a stern voice, “Tell us, quick!”

Yang Kang considered his answer carefully, he thought, “Guo Jing was clearly killed
by me; whom should I accuse?” He was undecided for a moment before he
remembered, “I’d better mention someone with a high level of martial art; let Shifu
find him and thus delivering his own life, then I won’t have any more problem in the
future.” Thereupon with hatred in his voice he said, “It was the Peach Blossom
Island’s Huang Daozhu.”

The Quanzhen Seven Masters had known early on that Huang Yaoshi wanted to
pursue and kill the Six Freaks of Jiangnan, so it made perfect sense if Guo Jing died
under his hands; they did not have the least bit of suspicion. Qiu Chuji cursed the
Old Heretic Huang as the most evil person, and he vowed not to rest before dealing
with him. Ma Yu and Wang Chuyi were very depressed, so they could not say
anything.

Suddenly from a distant came the voice of laughter, followed by someone whose
voice was like a broken cymbal, finally there was someone shouting in a soft voice;
although the sound was low, it was heard clearly. Three different voices went around
the outskirt of the village; and then suddenly it was as if they came from a faraway
place.

Ma Yu was pleasantly surprised, “That laughter sounds like Zhou Shishu; he is still
alive!” He heard three whistles from the east side of the village, going farther and
farther away.

“Three Shige already give chase,” Sun Bu’er said.

Wang Chuyi said, “Listen to that broken cymbal sound and that soft shout; it seems
like they are chasing Zhou Shishu.”

Ma Yu was worried, “Those two people’s martial art skills are not below Zhou
Shishu’s; I wonder which experts are they? Zhou Shishu is facing two enemies, I am
afraid …” He shook his head.

All Quanzhen four masters leaned their heads to listen for half a day, until the
sounds were gone. They knew those people had already several ‘li’s away, so it was
useless to pursue them.

Sun Bu’er said, “If Tan Shige and the others manage to catch up and render their
assistance, Zhou Shishu does not have to worry.”

“I am afraid they cannot overtake them,” Qiu Chuji said, “It would be best if Zhou
Shishu knew we are here and run to this village.”

Huang Rong found their reckless surmise ridiculous to hear, she thought, “My father
and the Old Poison are competing leg strength with the Old Urchin; they are not
fighting. If they were, and you – a bunch of stinky ox noses [derogatory term for
Taoist priest] – want to help, do you think you are my father’s and the Old Poison’s
match?” She had just heard how Qiu Chuji was cursing her father, she was not
happy; while she did not mind too much that Yang Kang brought a false charge
against her father as Guo Jing’s killer, because Guo Jing was in good condition and
was sitting right next to her.

Ma Yu waved his hand and everybody went into the inn to sit down. Qiu Chuji said,
“Hey, are you now called Wanyan Kang, or is it Yang Kang?”

Yang Kang saw his master’s eyes were glittering brightly, looking at him with a
penetrating gaze, his face looked grim; he knew if he gave one bad answer, it would
be difficult for him to keep his life. He busily said, “If not because of Shifu, Ma Shibo
and Wang Shishu giving me directions, disciple still would have been in the dark
today, regarding an enemy for a father; so naturally disciple’s surname is Yang. Last
night disciple and Sister Mu here have just buried my deceased father and mother.”
Hearing him saying so, Qiu Chuji was delighted; he nodded and his face turned
softer. At first Wang Chuyi reprimanded Yang Kang for jousting against Mu Nianci
but not wanting to marry her; but now he saw these two people together he thought
the two of them had sorted things out, his indignation toward Yang Kang vanished.

Yang Kang took out the broken spearhead with which he killed Ouyang Ke and said,
“This is what’s left of my deceased father’s belongings; disciple always keep it with
me.”

Qiu Chuji took the spearhead and caressed it gently; his heart was filled with sorrow.
He heaved a sigh and said, “Nineteen years ago, I came across your father and your
Uncle Guo. Very quickly more than a dozen years have passed, two old friends have
come back to the yellow earth. The two of them are dead, leaving me suffering on
this earth. I was powerless to save your parents’ lives; it has been my life-long
regret.”

In the other room Guo Jing heard Qiu Chuji fondly remember his own father, he was
grieved. “Qiu Daozhang [Taoist Priest] still remembers his friendship with my father,
but I have never seen my father’s face. Brother Yang was able to meet with his
father, he is luckier than I am.”

Qiu Chuji then asked how Huang Yaoshi killed Guo Jing, and Yang Kang opened his
mouth making up some stories. Qiu, Ma and Wang three people had known Guo Jing
for a long time; they sighed incessantly. After talking for a while Yang Kang
remembered he had to see Tuolei and Huazheng, his heart was restless.

Wang Chuyi looked at him, and then looked at Mu Nianci, “Have you two married?”
he asked.

“Not yet,” Yang Kang replied.

“You’d better get married soon,” Wang Chuyi said, “Qiu Shige, why don’t you make
the decision for them? How do you think we should handle this matter?”

Huang Rong and Guo Jing looked at each other, they both thought, “Are we going to
witness another wedding tonight?” Huang Rong further thought, “Mu Jiejie [older
sister] is hot-tempered, she is a lot different than that Cheng Da Xiaojie. Perhaps
before she agrees to get married she would challenge that kid surnamed Yang for a
martial art contest. Now that would be interesting to watch.”

She heard Yang Kang delightfully reply, “I rely on Shifu to make the decision.” But
with a clear voice Mu Nianci said, “I have one condition you must fulfill; otherwise I
won’t comply.”

Qiu Chuji showed a faint smile listening to her; he said, “All right, what is it? Miss,
please say it.”

Mu Nianci said, “My adoptive father was killed by that traitor Wanyan Honglie. Before
we can get married, he has to avenge his father’s death first.”

Qiu Chuji clapped his hands and called out, “Hear, hear! Miss Mu has just said what’s
in this Old Priest’s heart. Kang’er, don’t you agree?”
Yang Kang was very hesitant; he pondered deeply how to answer. Suddenly from
outside the door a rough throaty voice like a mute’s hissing was heard, singing the
‘lian hua luo’ [fallen lotus flower], and then a high-pitched throaty voice called out,
“Master, Lady, be merciful, spare this beggar some money.”

Mu Nianci thought this voice was somewhat familiar, she turned her head and saw
that two beggars stood at the doorstep; one fat, the other short and thin, so small
that the fat one looked three times as big as he was. These two’s postures were so
unusual that even though it had been many years, Mu Nianci still remembered that
when she was only thirteen she had tended their injuries. Hong Qigong was pleased
that she had a good heart, for this reason he passed on some martial art to her for
three days. She was about to go out and greet them, but ever since those two
beggars enter the room, their eyes had never left the bamboo stick in Yang Kang’s
hand. They looked at each other and nodded their heads, then they walked toward
Yang Kang, cupped their hands in front of their chests and bowed respectfully.

Ma Yu and the others noticed the two beggars’ steps and body movement, they knew
these beggars were not weak; they also noticed that each beggar carried eight
coarse sacks on their backs; therefore, these two were the Eight-Bag Disciple of the
Beggars Clan. Their positions were very high, but they were this respectful toward
Yang Kang; Ma Yu and the others did not understand.

The thin beggar said, “I heard the brethrens say that some people in Lin’an City saw
the Clan Leader’s Stick. We went everywhere to investigate, and are fortunate to see
it here. I wonder where did the Clan Leader go begging?”

Although Yang Kang took the bamboo stick, actually he did not know the stick’s
origin. Listening to this beggar’s words he did not know how to respond, so he simply
uttered an ‘Hmm.’ There was a custom in the Beggars Clan that seeing the Dog
Beating Stick was the same as seeing the Clan Leader himself; so even though Yang
Kang did not pay any attention to them, they still looked respectful and cautious.

The fat beggar said, “The assembly at Yuezhou is getting closer; from the east Elders
Lu and Jian have headed west seven days ago.”

Yang Kang become more and more confused, he uttered another ‘Hmm.’ The thin
beggar continued, “In order to look for the Clan Leader’s Stick, disciples have been
delayed for several days; so we must hurry along immediately. If Your Excellency
decides to leave today, let disciples accompany and take care of you along the way.”

Yang Kang was inwardly excited, he had been trying to find a way to leave his Shifu;
without caring what the beggars said, he wanted to grab this opportunity. Thereupon
he prostrated himself in front of Ma Yu, Qiu Chuji and the others and said, “Disciple
has some important matter to attend, I cannot accompany Shifu much longer. Please
forgive me for taking my leave.”

Ma Yu and the others thought that Yang Kang must have some important connection
with the Beggar Clan. The Beggar Clan was the largest organization in the world. The
Clan Leader Hong Qigong was a martial art expert who shared the same reputation
with their deceased master, Wang Zhenren; therefore, clearly they could not detain
Yang Kang. Out of respect to the two beggars, they felt it was inappropriate to ask
more questions, so they simply paid their respects according to the Jianghu custom.
The two beggars had always admired the Quanzhen Seven Masters; knowing they
were Yang Kang’s masters, they were more modest, kept referring themselves as
‘wan bei’ [juniors]. Mu Nianci talked about past events, the two beggars became
more affectionate. Since she already had some connection with the Beggar Clan, she
was also invited to the Yuezhou assembly. Mu Nianci wanted very much to travel
with Yang Kang, so she immediately nodded her head.

Qiu Chuji was originally very angry with Yang Kang and wanted to cripple him to
take his martial art skill away, but remembering the deceased Yang Tiexin he did not
have the heart to do so. Now, first, he saw that Yang Kang treated Mu Nianci in an
intimate manner, that simple ‘joust to find a spouse’ affair turned out good after all;
second, Yang Kang seemed to learn good lesson from life experiences, he was willing
to forfeit riches and honor, took the surname Yang as his own, so Qiu Chuji’s loving
care in teaching and giving him guidance was not in vain; third, these two high-level
Beggar Clan disciple seemed to respect him very much, it certainly would bring glory
and honor to the Quanzhen Sect. Therefore, the fury in his heart was replaced
immediately into delight. He gently twirled the end of his long moustache and
watched Yang and Mu two people’s backs with a smile on his face.

That very evening Ma Yu and the others slept in the inn, waiting for Tan Chuduan
three people to return. But all day the next day they did not hear anything about
them; four people started to get anxious. Near midnight they heard a long whistle
from outside the village. “Hao Shige came back!” Sun Bu’er said. Ma Yu returned the
call with a low whistle. Not too long afterwards a shadow flashed by the door and
Hao Datong flew in.

Huang Rong had never seen this person, she pressed her eye into the small hole to
take a look. It was the fifth day of the seventh month, the crescent moon shone its
light through the window opening. Under the moonlight she saw this man was big
and tall, his appearance looked like that of a government official. His Taoist robe had
short sleeves, stopped at the elbow; it looked different than the ones Ma Yu and the
others wore. Turned out before he became a priest he was a head of Shandong’s
Ninghai sub-prefecture’s rich family; highly educated, even managed to sell his
divination skill. Later on he bowed to Wang Chongyang at the ‘yan xia dong’ [smoky
red clouds cave] and took him as his master. Wang Chongyang took out his own
robe, cut the sleeves and gave the robe to Hao Datong; saying, “Don’t worry that it
is without sleeves, you will complete it yourself.”

The word ‘xiu’ [sleeve] was similar to the word ‘shou’ [to teach/to instruct/to
award/to give]; the meaning was, no matter how much the master gives
instructions, there will always be more to learn; whether the disciple enlightened or
not, it depends on his own comprehension. He remembered his Master’s kindness
very well, so afterwards he always wore the half-sleeved Taoist robe.

Qiu Chuji was the most impatient, “How is Zhou Shishu?” he asked, “Is he playing
around with others, or is he fighting them?”

Hao Datong shook his head. “I am ashamed,” he said, “Xiao Di’s [little brother] skill
is superficial, I only managed to pursue them for seven, eight ‘li’s before Zhou
Shishu’s and the others’ shadows disappeared. Tan Shige and Liu Shige were still
ahead of Xiao Di. Xiao Di was powerless; I tried to look for them one whole day and
one whole night but did not have the slightest clue on where they were.”
Ma Yu nodded his head, “Hao Shidi [younger martial brother] is tired. Sit down and
take some rest.” Hao Datong sat cross-legged. He circulated his ‘qi’ around his body
one time, then he said, “On my way back at the ‘zhou wang miao’ [Temple of King
Zhou (dynasty)] Xiao Di saw six people. Their appearance matches Qiu Shige’s
description of the Six Freaks of Jiangnan. Thus Xiao Di came over to talk with them,
and indeed it was them.”

Qiu Chuji was delighted, “The Six Freaks are very bold,” he said, “They unexpectedly
went to the Peach Blossom Island. No wonder we could not find them.”

Hao Datong said, “The head of the Six Freaks, Ke Zhen’e, Ke Daxia [great hero Ke]
said that they had an agreement to see Huang Yaoshi, therefore, they went to the
Peach Blossom Island to keep their promise; who would have thought that Huang
Yaoshi was not on the island. They heard Xiao Di mention Qiu Shixiong and the
others are here, they said they are going to pay us a visit a little later.”

Guo Jing heard that his six masters were well, his heart was greatly comforted. By
this time he had trained for five days and five nights, most of his injury has been
healed.

Toward the ninth hour [3-5pm] of the sixth day, from the east of the village came a
long whistle. “Liu Shidi came back,” Qiu Chuji said. A short moment later they saw
Liu Chuxuan, accompanied by an old man with white hair and white beard, walking
toward the inn. That old man was wearing a yellow short robe, a pair of shoes made
of coarse cloth on his feet, and a huge rush-leaf fan in his hand. He was talking and
smiling while entering the inn. When he saw the Quanzhen Five Masters he simply
nodded his head slightly, as if he did not regard them too highly.

Liu Chuxuan said, “This is ‘tie zhang shui shang piao’ [iron palm floating above the
water], Qiu Lao Qian Bei [Senior Qiu]. It is truly our good fortune to see him today.”

Huang Rong heard this and almost burst out in laughter, she lightly bumped Guo
Jing with her elbow. Guo Jing also thought it was funny. Both were thinking, “I want
to see how else this old scoundrel will swindle people.”

Ma Yu, Qiu Chuji and the others had heard Qiu Qianren’s fame for a long time, they
had a profound respect toward him, so they talked to him with utmost respect and
caution. But Qiu Qianren kept bragging unguardedly. After talking for a while Qiu
Chuji asked if he saw their Shishu Zhou Botong. Qiu Qianren replied, “The Old
Urchin? He was killed by Huang Yaoshi.”

Everybody was shocked. Liu Chuxuan said, “How can it be? Just the day before
yesterday Wan bei [junior] saw Zhou Shishu; only he ran so very fast that I could
not overtake him.” Qiu Qianren was confounded, he simply smiled without saying
anything; his mind churning to find a good answer.
Qiu Chuji interrupted, “Liu Shidi, did you have a good look, the two people who
chased Shishu are what kind of people?”

Liu Chuxuan said, “One was wearing a white robe, the other a dark green long gown.
They ran really fast. Indistinctly I saw the one wearing green had a very queer facial
appearance, almost like a corpse’s face.”
Qiu Qianren had seen Huang Yaoshi at the Cloud Village, he quickly opened his
mouth, “That’s right! The one that killed the Old Urchin was this green-long-gown-
wearing Huang Yaoshi. Other than him, who has the ability to do so? I was about to
rush forward but I was one step too late. Ay! The Old Urchin died a miserable death.”

Tie Zhang Shui Shang Piao Qiu Qinren had a resounding reputation throughout the
Wulin world; he was a senior with a high level of martial art skill. How would the
Quanzhen Six Masters know that he was a blabbering mouth? Immediately they felt
exceptional grief and indignation. Qiu Chuji slapped the tabletop so hard producing
an earth-shattering noise; again he scolded Huang Yaoshi as a dog with head
drenched in blood.

Huang Rong at the other room was very angry. She did not blame Qiu Qianren from
spreading false rumor about her father, but she did blame Qiu Chuji for scolding her
father repeatedly.

Liu Chuxuan said, “Tan Shige’s footwork is faster than mine, perhaps he saw how
Shishu was killed.”

Sun Bu’er said, “Tan Shige has not come back till now, perhaps he also suffered
harm under the old thief’s hand …” Speaking to this point her face turned miserable,
she stopped talking immediately.

Qiu Chuji drew his sword and called out, “Let us go quickly to rescue and avenge
people!”

Qiu Qianren was afraid they might meet Zhou Botong, he quickly said, “Huang
Yaoshi is aware that you are all gathered here, he could look for you anytime. This
Old Heretic Huang is so evil, the Old Man here cannot allow him to continue like this.
I am going to find him; you wait for my good news in here.”

Everybody revered him as the senior, it would be inappropriate to defy his word; also
they were afraid they would miss Huang Yaoshi if they were out looking for him, it
would certainly be better to wait here for the enemy to find them and conserve their
energy at the same time. Thereupon they bowed to express their gratitude and sent
Qiu Qianren off to the door.

Qiu Qianren stepped over the doorstep and turned around to wave his hand, “You
don’t have to send me off too far. Although that Old Heretic Huang is fierce, I have a
way to deal with him. Watch this!” He drew the shining sharp sword from his waist
and aimed it towards his own abdomen. “Hey!” with a grunt he thrust the sword in.

Everybody called out in alarm; they saw more than half of the three feet sword went
into his stomach. Qiu Qianren smiled and said, “Any sharp weapon in the world won’t
injure me. Please don’t panic. If I can’t find the Old Heretic Huang and he comes to
find you here, don’t fight him, avoid getting injured. Just wait for me to deal with
him.”

Qiu Chuji said, “The enmity of Shishu, it is impossible for the disciples not to avenge
it.”

Qiu Qianren sighed and said, “That’s fine too, this is fate. If you want to seek
revenge, there is one thing you must remember.”
Ma Yu said, “Please give us your direction, Senior.”

Qiu Qianren’s face turned serious, he said, “As soon as you see the Old Heretic
Huang, kill him immediately. Don’t bother talking to him; otherwise, this enmity will
forever be difficult to avenge. Important! Very important!” As he finished speaking
he turned around with the sword still stuck in his abdomen.

Everybody looked at each other in amazement. Ma Yu and the others had vast
experience, yet they had never heard of a sharp sword entering the abdomen and
nothing happening; they thought this man’s skill must have reached a level beyond
measure. They did not know that it was another trick of Qiu Qianren: that sword was
actually consisted of three sections, as soon as a light force was applied to the tip of
the blade the first and second sections would automatically retract into the third
section, the sword edge went through a seam in the waistband, hence for the
spectator at a distance it looked like the sharp edge was entering the body. He had
been hired by Wanyan Honglie to incite enmities among the Jiangnan heroes and
warriors, so that when the Jin army attacked to the south they would not be united
to fight the invaders.

For the rest of the day the Quanzhen Six Masters were restless; they could not drink
tea or eat their rice, they stayed awake until the midnight of the seventh day. They
heard some faint whistles come from the north of the village, two people, on in front
of the other, came swiftly to the outside of the inn. Ma Yu, all six people were
originally sitting cross-legged on the straw training their breathing exercises,
because Yin Zhiping’s skill was lower, he was sleeping. Hearing this noise they all
jumped up immediately.

“The enemy is pursuing Tan Shidi,” Ma Yu said, “All Shidis, be careful!”

Tonight was Guo Jing’s last night to train and heal is injury. During these past seven
days and nights not only his internal injury gradually healed, his external wound was
also closing up, and both Huang Rong’s and his own internal strength had enjoyed
tremendous advancement. These last several hours would be very crucial to the
entire healing process. Listening to Ma Yu, Huang Rong was very concerned. “If the
incoming person is indeed Father, all Quanzhen Seven Masters will fight him
immediately. I won’t be able to come out and tell them the truth,” she thought, “I
am afraid the Quanzhen Seven Masters will be injured under Father’s hand. I don’t
care much for Quanzhen Seven Masters, but Jing Gege has a close relationship with
Ma Daozhang and the others. I know his character well; it would be difficult for him
not to come out and help them. If he bravely steps forward, not only the entire
exercise will be wasted, his life will also be in danger.” Therefore, she quickly
whispered in Guo Jing’s ear, “Jing Gege, promise me that whatever happens, no
matter what important incident, you must by all means not go out.”

Guo Jing just barely nodded his head when the whistle had already arrived at the
door.

“Tan Shige,” Qiu Chuji called out, “Tian gang bei dou [lit. sky’s stars north head –
the Big Dipper constellation] formation!”

Hearing the ‘tian gang bei dou’ four characters Guo Jing’s heart was stirred, he said
to himself, “The ‘bei dou da fa’ [Big Dipper great method] is mentioned several times
in the Nine Yin Manual as the foundation of learning the martial art. But the
explanation of ‘bei dou da fa’ in the Manual is profoundly subtle, it was so difficult to
understand. I wonder if Ma Daozhang and the others’ ‘tian gang bei dou’ has
anything to do with the ‘bei dou da fa’. It’s surely important to know.” Busily he
pressed his eye to the hole and looked out.

His eye was barely on the hole when he heard a loud ‘bang!’ the front door shook,
and a Taoist priest flew in. But the priest’s robe was lifted up, his left foot had
already stepped over the threshold, suddenly he staggered back out of the door. It
turned out the enemy had arrived behind him and had launched an attack.

Qiu Chuji and Wang Chuyi flew together towards the door, standing at the entrance
their sleeves rose up and two palms struck together. ‘Bang!’ they collided with the
enemy’s palm. Qiu and Wang two people were forced two steps backward, the
enemy also drew two steps back. Tan Chuduan took this opportunity to enter the
room.

Under the moonlight his hair looked disheveled, with two traces of blood streaming
down his face. The long sword in his right hand was only half of its original length,
his overall appearance was a total wreck. As Tan Chuduan entered the room, without
saying anything he sat down cross-legged. Ma Yu and the others also immediately
sat in their respective positions.

From the darkness outside came a woman’s gloomy voice calling out, “Tan Laodao
[old Taoist], if I did not regard the face of your Shixiong Ma Yu, this old lady would
have already delivered your life to the heaven early on. Why did you lead the old
lady to come over here? Who had just exchanged palm strength with me? Tell it to
Mei Chaofeng.”

In the stillness of the night listening to her owl-cry like voice, although it was the
middle of summer, involuntarily a chill crept on everybody’s back. As soon as she
stopped talking the silence came back, outside the door the insects’ buzz was heard
clearly. A moment later a series of cracking noises were heard. Guo Jing knew the
noise came from Mei Chaofeng’s joints, in a moment she would start making her
move.

Yet another moment someone was reciting softly, “Once one make a dwelling one
can stay for several dozens years.” Guo Jing recognized it was Ma Yu’s voice, the
intonation was really gentle and soothing. Tan Chuduan continued, “With disheveled
hair walking all day long like crazy.” His voice was straightforward and heroic. Guo
Jing peeked outside and took a good look on the Second Master of the Quanzhen
Seven Masters. He saw a muscular face with thick eyebrows and big eyes, his body
looked big and sturdy. Before he became a priest Tan Chuduan was a blacksmith in
Shandong. After he entered Quanzhen Sect, his title was Changzhen [Eternal Truth]
Zi.

The third Taoist priest was thin and small, his face looked like a monkey; he was
Changsheng [Eternal Life] Zi, Liu Chuxuan. He continued the recitation, “Chongyang
Zi [from ‘Wang Chongyang] underneath the ‘hay tang ting’ [ocean cherry-apple
pavilion].” His stature might be small, but his voice was loud and clear.

Changchun [Eternal Spring (season, not water spring)] Zi Qiu Chuji opened his
mouth, “Tai yi xian [I think he is a Taoist deity] in the lotus leaf boat.” Followed by
Yuyang [Jade Sun] Zi Wang Chuyi, “Nothing can get out of an empty shell.”
Guangning [Infinite Peace] Zi Hao Datong was next, “There’s someone who can
reach enlightenment before being born.” Lastly Qingjing Sanren [Sage of Tranquily]
Sun Bu’er recited, “Leaving home with a smile without any obstruction.” Ma Yu
concluded, “Cloud in the West Lake, moon in the sky!”

Mei Chaofeng listened to these seven recitations, each voice carried an abundant ‘qi’
in it, a sign of their deep internal energy. She was secretly shocked, “Are the
Quanzhen Seven Masters really here this time? It can’t be. Other than Ma Yu, the
others’ voices are not the same.”

On the peak of Mongolian desert cliff she had heard Ma Yu and the Six Freaks of
Jiangnan pretending to be the Quanzhen Seven Masters talking to each other. Her
eyes were blind, so she depended a lot on her extremely keen ears; her memory was
also superb, once she heard anything, she would not forget it. She did not know that
Ma Yu was deceiving her that day.

“Ma Daozhang, you must be well since our last meeting!” she said with a clear voice.
She knew Ma Yu was showing her mercy the other day. Although she was vicious,
she knew the good from evil. When Tan Chuduan could not overtake Zhou Botong he
decided to return. On his way back he saw that Mei Chaofeng was using a living
person to train her martial art. Being a man of chivalry and righteousness, he went
forward to prevent evil; who would have thought that he was not her match.
Fortunately Mei Chaofeng recognized him as a Quanzhen Sect priest. Out of her
respect to Ma Yu she did not kill him, she only injured him and chased him away.

Ma Yu said, “I am very fortunate! Thank you! The Peach Blossom Island does not
have any enmity with Quanzhen Sect. Is your honorable master coming soon?”

Mei Chaofeng was startled, “Are you expecting my Shifu?” she asked.

Qiu Chuji called out, “Witch! Quickly get your Shifu over here to experience
Quanzhen Sect’s real skill.”

Mei Chaofeng was angry, “Who are you?” she called out.

“Qiu Chuji!” Qiu Chuji said, “Haven’t you, the demon, heard my name?”

Mei Chaofeng cried out loudly, her body flew up to the direction of Qiu Chuji’s voice.
Her left palm was protecting herself, and her right claw striking downward.

Guo Jing knew that this pounce by Mei Chaofeng was swift and ruthlessly fierce, it
was really difficult to block, although Qiu Chuji’s martial art was good, he would not
be able to take it head on. Who would have thought that he was still sitting cross-
legged on the ground; he neither parried nor evaded.

“Not good!” Guo Jing shouted inwardly, “How can Qiu Daozhang be this bold?” He
saw that Mei Chaofeng was about to grab the top of Qiu Chuji’s head, suddenly two
palm winds came from left and right; it was Liu Chuxuan and Wang Chuyi striking
together. Mei Chaofeng’s right claw continued to strike, while her left palm swept
horizontally to block Liu and Wang two people’s palm strikes. Who would have
thought that these two palms were complementing one another, one ‘yin’ [negative],
the other ‘yang’ [positive], the power, unexpectedly, was much stronger than the
internal strengths of two people added together.

Mei Chaofeng felt this surge of power in midair; it was like a cannonball pushing her
upward. Hastily she changed her right claw into a palm, striking downward then she
flipped her body backwards and landed on the threshold. She was unable to restrain
her shock, thinking that these two people’s skills were very profound, certainly above
the Quanzhen Seven Masters. “Is Hong Qigong and Emperor Duan in here?” she
called out.

Qiu Chuji said with a smile, “We are the Quanzhen Seven Masters. What Hong
Qigong or Emperor Duan?”

Mei Chaofeng was puzzled, “Tan Laodao [old Taoist] was not my match; how come
there is such an expert among his martial brothers? Could it be there is such a big
difference in skill among them even though they came from the same school?”

Guo Jing in the other room was also puzzled; he thought that although Liu and Wang
two people’s martial art skill was higher, they were more or less in par with Mei
Chaofeng or with her senior. Even if those two combined their forces, they would not
be able to casually throw her out like that. Only Zhou Botong, Hong Qigong, Huang
Yaoshi, Ouyang Feng, and other people of their caliber would have this kind of
ability; how did the Quanzhen Seven Masters manage to do that?

Mei Chaofeng’s temper was very bold; other that her own Shifu, she did not fear
anybody in the world. The more she suffered setbacks, the more she would act
recklessly. That day on the peak of the Mongolian’s cliff Ma Yu was speaking to her
amiably, treating her in good manners and let her go without giving her too much
difficulty. But today Qiu Chuji believed Qiu Qianren’s lies that Zhou Botong had been
killed by Huang Yaoshi; he also believed Huang Yaoshi killed Guo Jing. His hatred
toward the Peach Blossom Island went deep to his bones and marrows; he kept
calling Mei Chaofeng ‘yao fu’ [lit. goblin/witch/devil/monster woman]. Mei Chaofeng
knew perfectly well that her enemies were not her match, but she was not willing to
give up. She only hesitated for a moment before she reached into her waist to pull
her ‘du long bian’ [poisonous dragon whip] out. “Ma Daozhang!” she called out, “I
must offend you today!”

Ma Yu replied, “You flatter me!”

Mei Chaofeng said, “I am going to use my weapon. Unsheathe your swords!”

Wang Chuyi said, “There are seven of us while you are alone, plus your eyes cannot
see a thing. Even if the Quanzhen Seven Masters are unworthy, we cannot use
weapons against you. We will sit and not move; you can start!”

Mei Chaofeng coldly said, “Do you want to face my silver whip sitting motionless?”

Qiu Chuji scolded, “Witch, tonight you will lose your life, what more do you want to
say?”

“Humph,” Mei Chaofeng snorted. Her right hand flicked, the long whip full of hooks in
her hand moved slowly like a big python straight toward Sun Bu’er.

In the other room Huang Rong listened their conversation; she knew how fierce Mei
Chaofeng’s ‘du long bian’ was, the Quanzhen Seven Masters went as far as daring to
take the whip sitting motionless and barehanded, she wanted to know how they were
going to do that. She pulled Guo Jing away from the hole and told him that she
wanted to watch.

She saw the Quanzhen Seven Masters sat in a formation inside the room; it suddenly
dawned on her, “This is the Big Dipper constellation! Hmm, right! Didn’t Qiu
Daozhang mention the Big Dipper formation?” Huang Yaoshi was proficient in
astronomy and the study of calendar calculation (almanac). When Huang Rong was
small she often sat on her father’s knees in a clear night, looking at celestial
constellation, hence she immediately recognized the positions of the seven Taoist
priests.

The Quanzhen Seven Masters’ Ma Yu took the ‘tian shu’ [sky pivot] position, Tan
Chuduan took the ‘tian xuan’ [sky jade/gem] position, Liu Chuxuan ‘tian ji’ [sky
pearl], Qiu Chuji ‘tian quan’ [sky power/authority]. These four people formed the
head of the constellation. Wang Chuyi took the ‘yu heng’ [jade (measuring) weight],
Hao Datong the ‘kai yang’ [open sun], and Sun Bu’er ‘yao guang’ [shaking ray (of
light)]. These three were the handle of the Big Dipper.

Among the seven stars of the Big Dippers, the light of the ‘tian quan’ was the
darkest, but it was the link connecting the head with the handle. It was the most
important position; hence it was occupied by the strongest among the Quanzhen
Seven Masters, Qiu Chuji. Among the handle, ‘yu heng’ was the most important;
hence it was taken by the second strongest Wang Chuyi.

Mei Chaofeng’s ‘du long bian’ was moving toward Sun Bu’er’s chest. It seemed slow
but it was very fierce; who would have thought that the Daogu [Taoist priestess] was
still sitting motionless. Huang Rong followed the movement of the tip of the whip and
saw that there was a skull embroidered on Sun Bu’er’s Taoist robe; she was secretly
amazed. “Quanzhen Sect enjoys the reputation as a Taoist orthodox school, how
come her clothing resembles something from Mei Shijie’s pathway?” She did not
know that when Wang Chongyang took Sun Bu’er as his disciple he drew a skull and
gave it to her. His meaning was that somebody’s life was short, that very quick
death will come, and the person would change into a skull; so she must cultivate the
true and admired ‘way’ [‘Dao’ of the Taoist means ‘the way’]. In memory of her
deceased master, Sun Bu’er embroidered this skull on her robe.

The ‘yin bian’ [silver whip] seemed to move slowly, yet it carried a gust of wind. The
tip of the whip was only about several inches apart from the embroidered skull on
her robe, suddenly with an abrupt movement the silver whip flew back, just like a
python when its head was chopped with a knife, or like an arrow it flew straight back
towards Mei Chaofeng. It was so strange and swift; Mei Chaofeng only felt that her
hand was slightly shaken and the wind had already caressed her face. Quickly she
ducked and the silver whip brushed through her hair. “Dangerous!” she cried out
inwardly as she pulled the whip back and re-attacked. This time the whip was aimed
toward Ma Yu and Qiu Chuji, who were still sitting motionless. Tan Chuduan and
Wang Chuyi raised their palms and parried the whip away.

After they exchanged several stances Huang Rong was able to see clearly that the
Quanzhen Seven Masters always parry the incoming attack with one palm, while the
other palm was holding the shoulder of the person sitting right next to them. Huang
Rong pondered deeply and it dawned on her, “It turned out that they are using the
same method I use to help healing Jing Gege’s injury. They are combining seven
people’s strength into one; how can Mei Shijie resist?”

The Big Dipper Formation was Quanzhen Sect’s highest and most mysterious martial
art, developed by Wang Chongyang with countless meticulous care. The main
principle was combining forces in combat with a wide range of variations; it might
even be used in the battlefield. When the enemy attacked, the one directly bearing
the brunt did not need to exert any energy to resist; it was the companions on
his/her flanks who would launch the counterattack. It was as if one person with
several people’s martial art; the power was truly irresistible.

Several moves later Mei Chaofeng became increasingly panicked, since she realized
that the enemy no longer fend the whip off and shake it away, but she felt the whip
was being pulled and redirected so that the circle of the whip movement was
decreasing, getting smaller and smaller. A short moment later as the several
‘zhang’s long silver whip was moving halfway toward the enemy, she could not pull it
back anymore. If at this time she has let the whip go and jumped back, she might
escape unharmed; but she had spent innumerable painstaking efforts in training with
this long whip, how could she just sit quietly when the enemy was trying to snatch
the whip away from her hand?

She hesitated only for a moment but her opportunity to escape was gone. Once the
Big Dipper Formation started to move, all seven people moved swiftly as if they were
one person, unstoppable unless by the person occupying the ‘tian quan’ position. By
the time Mei Chaofeng realized her precarious situation, it was already too late for
her to back off. The only thing she could do was clench her teeth, let go of the whip
handle and stake it all.

Liu Chuxuan’s palm made a pulling action, with a loud ‘bang!’ the whip flew and hit
the wall, shaking the whole building; the roof tiles rattled loudly and dust and debris
from the roof fell down to the ground. Mei Chaofeng’s feet staggered; she could not
resist this pulling force and was forced one step forward.

Although this one step was only about two feet, it was crucial in determining victory
or defeat. If Mei Chaofeng had let her whip go sooner, she would not be pulled
forward and she could turn around and escape out the door; the Quanzhen Seven
Masters might not necessarily pursue her, because even if they did they might not
necessarily able to overtake her. But now that she had moved forward one step, she
knew the situation was unfavorable to her; she wielded her palms to the left and
right, and they happened to meet with Sun Bu’er and Wang Chuyi’s palms. As she
slightly added her palm strength, Ma Yu and Hao Datong’s palms came striking from
behind. She knew perfectly well that if she moved another step, her situation would
become more dangerous; but under the circumstances, she had no choice so her left
foot treaded half a step forward. At the same time with a loud shout her right foot
flew up and successively kicked Ma Yu and Hao Datong’s hands.

“Good skill!” Qiu Chuji and Liu Chuxuan cheered together, while simultaneously their
palms struck, one from the front, the other from the back, to prevent her from
continuing her attack. Before her right foot even landed, Mei Chaofeng’s left foot flew
up and like a flash kicking Qiu’s and Liu’s palms; but as her right foot landed she
moved one more step forward. This way she went even deeper into the Big Dipper
Formation; she will not be able to escape unless she managed to overthrow one out
of seven people.
As she was watching the battle, Huang Rong’s heart was secretly anxious. Under the
pale yellow moonlight she saw Mei Chaofeng’s long hair flutter in the air as she was
leaping around and her palms striking, her feet kicking. Each hand and each foot
carried a light wind, like a tiger leaping or a leopard flitting about.

The Quanzhen Seven Masters were still sitting cross-legged; when the head is struck
the tail responded, when the tail is attacked the head responded, when the middle is
struck the head and tail responded, while all the time keeping her firmly inside the
formation.

Mei Chaofeng had successively used the ‘jiu yin bai gu zhua’ [nine yin white bone
claw] and ‘cui xin zhang’ [devastating heart palm] trying to dash out of the tight
encirclement; but every time she was forced to go back by the Seven Masters’ palm
strength. In her anxiety she let out a strange ‘wah, wah’ cry.

By this time if the Seven Masters wanted to take her life they would be able to do so
without too much effort, but all along they had never launched a deathly strike.
Huang Rong watched for half a day before she realized what was happening, “Ah,
right! They are borrowing Mei Shijie to train this formation. It is not easy to find an
opponent with her high level of martial art. I think they are going to weary her to
death before they’ll stop.” Actually her guess was only half true; they were
borrowing Mei Chaofeng to train their formation all right, but Taoism did not tolerate
killing easily, therefore, they never had any intention to kill her.

Huang Rong did not have a favorable impression toward Mei Chaofeng, but seeing
the Seven Masters humiliate her like this Huang Rong was seething with anger; so
after watching for a moment longer she didn’t want to watch anymore and gave the
hole back to Guo Jing. She still, however, heard the gusts of wind in the other room
sometimes intensifying and sometimes slowing down, a sign that the battle was still
raging.

At first Guo Jing was puzzled to see the fight; he did not understand why the Seven
Masters was fighting Mei Chaofeng by sitting in an irregular formation on the ground.
Huang Rong whispered in his ear, “They are sitting according to the Big Dipper
Constellation; seven people’s internal strengths are connected to each other. Do you
see it?”

It was like a reminder to Guo Jing; he remembered the second part of the Nine Yin
Manual mentioned the Big Dipper quite often. He had memorized this part by heart,
yet he did not understand its meaning. Looking at the Seven Masters launching palm
attacks while sitting in a formation suddenly he understood what the Manual was
talking about. The more he watched, the happier he became, finally he was unable to
restrain his excitement and stood up.

Huang Rong was shocked and quickly pulled him back. Guo Jing shivered in fear and
immediately sat down. He pressed his eye against the hole and watched the fight
again. This time he more or less understood the essence of the Big Dipper
Formation. Although he did not know how to use it, each move and every style the
Seven Masters used was like showing him the trick of the trade mentioned in the
Nine Yin Manual.

The Nine Yin Manual was the result of a martial art expert Senior’s comprehension
over ancient Taoist canon. Wang Chongyang developed this formation before he saw
the Manual; however, the martial art study within Taoism came from the same root.
The basic essence originally did not differ much; therefore, the variations within the
formation were not far from the Manual’s basic content.

The other time on the Peach Blossom Island Guo Jing had watched Hong Qigong
fight Ouyang Feng and he had gained tremendous advantage. However, he was
slow, plus the Northern Beggar’s and the Western Poison’s martial arts were not
based on the Manual; therefore, his comprehension was somewhat limited. This time
the Seven Masters’ martial art and the position they assumed were based on the
same Taoism essence with the Manual; everything seemed to fit perfectly and this
time he truly gained great benefit.

He saw Mei Chaofeng was in a difficult situation, but the Seven Masters’ palm
strength was also gradually weakened. Suddenly he heard someone on the doorstep
speak, “Yao Xiong, are you going to act first, or do you want Brother to try first?”

Guo Jing was startled, it was Ouyang Feng’s voice; he did not know when he came
in. The Seven Masters were also surprised to hear his voice; they turned their heads
toward the door and saw two men standing side by side on the threshold, one was
wearing dark green long robe, the other was dressed in white. They were the two
people who chased Zhou Botong the other night.

The Quanzhen Seven Masters made a low whistling noise, stopped fighting, and
stood up. Huang Yaoshi said, “What a fine sight! Seven mixed-up hairs [derogatory
term for Taoist priests] join forces against my lone disciple. Feng Xiong, if I teach
them some lessons, will you say I am bullying some juniors?”

Ouyang Feng said with a smile, “They were being rude to you first; if you do not
show your skill, these juniors will not understand the Master of Peach Blossom
Island’s ability.”

Wang Chuyi had seen the Eastern Heretic and the Western Poison at Mount Hua; he
was going to step forward to pay his respect to them when suddenly Huang Yaoshi’s
shadow flashed and struck with the back of his palm. Wang Chuyi stepped back to
evade, but he was too slow. ‘Slap!’ his cheek was squarely hit; he staggered and
tumbled down.

Qiu Chuji was shocked, “Quickly return to position!” he called out; but ‘Slap! Slap!
Slap! Slap!’ Tan, Liu, Hao and Sun four people were slapped by a palm. Qiu Chuji
only saw a dark green shadow flashing by; a palm hacked down right in front of him,
the palm shadow suddenly fluttered. Qiu Chuji did not know where the attack would
come from; desperately he raised his sleeve, striking toward Huang Yaoshi’s chest.

Qiu Chuji’s martial art was the chief among the Quanzhen Seven Masters; this strike
was not a small matter. Huang Yaoshi had underestimated him a bit too much;
unexpectedly he was struck by Qiu Chuji’s sleeve and he felt pain on his chest.
Hastily he retracted his hand to protect his chest; his left hand went up and grabbed
the sleeve, his right hand moved fast toward Qiu Chuji’s eyes. Qiu Chuji struggled
with all his might and ripped his sleeve. At the same time Ma Yu’s and Wang Chuyi’s
palms came to rescue him. Huang Yaoshi moved very fast; as soon as his strike to
Qiu Chuji failed he leaped behind Hao Datong’s back and raised his left leg. ‘Bang!’
he kicked Hao Datong, sending him rolling down on the ground.
This time Guo Jing let Huang Rong look through the small hole. She saw her father
greatly demonstrate his invincible might, she was very happy. If she did not
remember that Guo Jing still needed two to four hours to recover, she would have
already jumped up and cheered.

Ouyang Feng loudly laughed and called out, “Wang Chongyang had accepted this
group of rice buckets as his disciples!”

Ever since Qiu Chuji started learning martial art, he never suffered such a defeat.
“Return to positions!” he repeatedly shouted. But Huang Yaoshi flashed to the east
and swayed to the west, and in a short moment launched seven, eight deathly
strikes. Everybody was having a hard time to parry, how could they return to their
formation? A couple of ‘crack! crack!’ sounds was heard; Huang Yaoshi snapped Ma
Yu’s and Tan Chuduan’s swords, he broke and tossed them to the ground.

Qiu Chuji’s and Wang Chuyi’s pair of swords continued to move upward with the
Quanzhen Sect’s subtle variations sword technique. As the pair of swords attacked
together, their power increased exponentially. Huang Yaoshi did not dare to be
negligent; with concentrated attention he launched several counterattacks. In the
meantime Ma Yu took this opportunity to return into his ‘tian shu’ position while
launching a palm attack at the same time, giving Tan, Liu and the others the
opportunity to return to their respective positions.

As soon as this Big Dipper Formation was assembled, the battle situation changed.
‘Tian quan’ and ‘yu heng’ faced the enemy from the front; ‘tian ji’ and ‘kai yang’ sent
out palm attacks from both sides, ‘yao guang’ and ‘tian xuan’ from the back circled
to the front.

With four whooshing noise Huang Yaoshi sent out four palm attacks toward four
people. “Feng Xiong,” he laughed and said, “I did not know Wang Chongyang left
behind this kind of skill!” His voice sounded effortless as his hands parried each
opponent’s palm attack, each one substantially different from the other. Each one of
these seven people’s attack carried an enormous power; it was incomparable to
when they were fighting individually. Immediately Huang Yaoshi used his ‘luo ying
shen jian zhang fa’ [falling (leaves) divine sword palm technique]; his body moved
swiftly as if he was skating around randomly while his palms flew as if they were
everywhere.

Huang Rong thought, “When Father taught me this ‘luo ying shen jian zhang fa’, I
only know five voids one solid, or seven voids one solid; with the voids to distract
the enemy. But I didn’t know that these five voids and seven voids can be changed
into solids.” This amazing fight was certainly not the same as when the Seven
Masters were fighting Mei Chaofeng earlier. Not only did Huang Rong watch the fight
with baited breath, Ouyang Feng with his level or martial art skill was also startled.

Mei Chaofeng was standing on the side, listening to the wind generated by the
battle. She was both joyful and frightened on the inside. Suddenly she heard an ‘Ah!’
followed by a ‘bang!’; turned out Yin Zhiping was watching eight people fight, he
became dizzy as if the world was spinning around him; he saw many Huang Yaoshis
moving around in front of him, his vision blurred and he fell backward, passed out.

The Quanzhen Seven Masters firmly held their positions, doing all they can to resist
the enemy; they knew only one slight mistake was needed, and the seven of them
would not live to see the day. Along with their demise, the Quanzhen Sect would see
its fall. Huang Yaoshi was also groaning inwardly. If only he launched deathly attack
a moment ago, he would be able to kill one or two enemies then the Big Dipper
Formation would be broken. But because he had shown leniency he knew victory
would not be achieved easily, while he simply must not lose. Both sides were like
riding on a tiger’s back; they could not back off easily. All they could do was fight
with all their strengths.

Within less than two hours Huang Yaoshi had used thirteen different martial arts just
to be even with the opponents. Eight people were inseparable until the dawn arrived,
the roosters crowed and the sun started to cast its light into the room. By now Guo
Jing had finished his seven days and seven nights training. Although the fight in the
other room shook the sky and turned over the earth, his mind was very peaceful; his
eyes closed, his internal energy was warming up his entire body, starting from his
‘wei lu’ [tail gate] going to his ‘shen guan’ [kidney pass], from his spine through both
passes it ascended to ‘tian zhu’ [sky pillar] and ‘yu zhen’ [jade pillow]; finally to ‘ni
wan gong’ [restrained pill palace], at the top of his brain, paused for a moment and
then pushed his tongue against his jaw. His inner breathing went down from his face,
‘shen ting’ [divine courtyard], to ‘que qiao’ [magpie bridge], and back again until it
arrived at ‘huang ting’ [yellow courtyard], ‘qi xue’ [air pocket] and slowly down to his
‘dan tian’ [pubic region].

Huang Rong saw his face was ruddy and resplendent in divine brightness; her heart
was overjoyed. She pressed her eyes against the small hole again to look outside
and she was shocked. She saw her father’s steps were sluggish; he moved according
to the ‘ba gua’ [eight diagram]; while slowly launching palm attack by palm attack.
She knew her father would not easily use this highest footwork technique. She knew
that victory or defeat will soon be decided; it was a defining moment of life and
death.

The Quanzhen Seven Masters were also fighting with all their might while shouting
encouragement to each other. The top of their heads were emitting steaming mist,
their robes were stuck to their sweating bodies. Their condition was totally different
from when they were leisurely fighting Mei Chaofeng earlier.

Ouyang Feng was standing at the side with his sleeves down, looking intently at the
Seven Masters’ Big Dipper Formation. He was hoping that Huang Yaoshi would be
exhausted and suffer a serious injury so that on the second Sword Meet of Mount
Hua he would have one less powerful enemy. Who would have thought that Huang
Yaoshi’s martial art came out one after another; even though the Seven Masters
were not defeated, it was obvious that they would not achieve victory easily either.
“The Old Heretic Huang is really good!” he thought. He saw both sides moved slower
and slower, a sign that the situation had become more critical than ever; in less than
the time to drink a tea this battle would reach its conclusion.

Huang Yaoshi sent out two palm attacks toward Sun Bu’er and Tan Chuduan. They
raised their hands to parry, while Liu Chuxuan and Ma Yu came to their rescue.
Ouyang Feng let out a long whistle and called out, “Yao Xiong, let me help you.” He
squatted down and thrust both palms ferociously toward Tan Chuduan’s back. Tan
Chuduan was using all his power to fight Huang Yaoshi. Suddenly he felt an earth
shattering force coming from behind with a lightning speed. Not only his martial
brothers and sister did not have time to rescue, he also did not have time to evade.
‘Bang!’ his whole body was thrown forward.

“Who wants your help?” Huang Yaoshi roared angrily. Right at that moment Qiu
Chuji’s and Wang Chuyi’s palms arrived together. He brushed his sleeve to neutralize
those attacks, while his right palm blocked Ma Yu’s and Hao Datong’s palms.

Ouyang Feng laughed and said, “All right, let me help them then!” Suddenly his
palms struck toward Huang Yaoshi’s back. When he attacked Tan Chuduan, he was
only using 30% of his strength, but now he was using all of his lifelong cultivated
energy; taking the opportunity while Huang Yaoshi was busy blocking the attack of
Four Masters. He wanted to strike Huang Yaoshi down in one blow. He had planned it
carefully: he would kill one of the Seven Masters and then kill Huang Yaoshi. As soon
as the Big Dipper Formation was broken, he would not be afraid of their revenge.
This evil scheme of his was perfect; even if Huang Yaoshi’s skill were higher he
would not be able to resist Four Masters and Western Poison on his back all at once.

“I am finished!” Huang Yaoshi secretly sighed; he had no choice but to concentrate

his ‘qi’ on his back, staking his all to receive the brunt of Ouyang Feng’s Toad Stance
attack. Ouyang Feng’s push carried an enormous force, but the speed was slower.
He was sure his plan would prevail, he was secretly delighted. All of a sudden a dark
shadow flashed by. Someone from the side flew toward Huang Yaoshi’s back,
receiving the hit with a loud shout.

Huang Yaoshi, Ma Yu and the others stopped fighting immediately and leaped back.
They saw that the person who risked her life to protect her master was Mei
Chaofeng. Huang Yaoshi turned his head around and coldly laughed, “The Old Poison
is really poisonous, you truly live up to your reputation!”

As his attack accidentally hit someone else, Ouyang Feng cried out in his heart,
“What a pity!” He was aware that if Huang Yaoshi joined hands with the Quanzhen
Seven Masters, his life would be difficult to protect. With a loud laugh he flew out the
door and ran away.

Ma Yu stooped down to hold Tan Chuduan and he was shocked. Tan Chuduan’s body
was askew, his head was drooping to the side. It turned out this one strike of
Ouyang Feng had broken the ribs on his back and his spine. Seeing his Shi Di’s life
was cut short Ma Yu’s tears flowed down like rain.

Qiu Chuji pursued out with a sword in his hand, only to hear Ouyang Feng calling out
from a far, “Old Heretic Huang, I helped you breaking the Wang Chongyang’s
formation, I also punished the Peach Blossom Island’s renegade disciple on your
behalf. You can take care of the remaining six mixed-up hairs by yourself. We’ll see
each other again later!”

“Humph!” Huang Yaoshi snorted; he knew Ouyang Feng was spreading his poison
again, trying to incite tension between him and the Quanzhen Sect by placing the
blame of the killing of Tan Chuduan on his shoulder, so that the Quanzhen Sect
would seek their revenge on him. He understood very well Ouyang Feng’s ill
intention, yet he was not willing to explain anything to Quanzhen Seven Masters.
Slowly he held Mei Chaofeng up; he saw the blood spurting out from her to the
ground, he knew she would not live.

Qiu Chuji pursued for dozens of ‘zhang’s but he could not see which direction Ouyang
Feng took. Ma Yu was afraid if he was chasing on his own he would also fall into
Ouyang Feng’s poisonous hand, so Ma Yu shouted, “Qiu Shi Di! Come Back!”

Qiu Chuji’s eyes were on fire; he came back in big strides, pointed his finger to
Huang Yaoshi and scolded him, “What enmity do you have with the Quanzhen Sect?
You are a wicked ghost! First you killed our Zhou Shishu, now you harmed our Tan
Shi Ge. Why did you come over here?”

Huang Yaoshi was startled. “Zhou Botong?” he asked, “I killed him?”

“You still don’t want to admit it?” Qiu Chuji said.

Actually Huang Yaoshi was having a race with Zhou Botong and Ouyang Feng. They
had run for several hundreds ‘li’s and were inseparable from each other; nobody was
willing to give up. While they were running, Zhou Botong suddenly remembered he
left Hong Qigong alone at the imperial palace. Hong Qigong had lost his martial art
skill; if he was discovered by the palace guards, his life would be in danger. So he
said, “The Old Urchin has a business to attend. I don’t want to race anymore!” Once
he said he did not want to race, he did not want to race. Huang Yaoshi and Ouyang
Feng could not make him do otherwise and were forced to let him go. Huang Yaoshi
had wanted to ask Zhou Botong for news about his beloved daughter but all along he
did not have the opportunity to do so.

Tan Chuduan and the others were pursuing behind, but very soon they lost track of
the three’s shadows. However, Huang Yaoshi and the other two could see them
clearly. So as the Old Urchin left to tend his business, the Eastern Heretic and the
Western Poison two people decided to return to the Ox Village without expecting
what was waiting for them over there.

By now Qiu Chuji was stomping his feet in fury, Sun Bu’er was crying while holding
Tan Chuduan’s body. Everybody wanted to stake it all to fight Huang Yaoshi. Huang
Yaoshi knew there was a misunderstanding here, but being a man of his position he
simply laughed coldly without saying anything.

Tan Chuduan opened his eyes slowly and in a low voice said, “I am leaving.” Qiu
Chuji and the others quickly gathered around him, sitting cross-legged on the
ground. They heard Tan Chuduan softly recite, “Holding hands the departed soul like
a bead of pearls forcing itself to leave. Heart opens to hear the sound of nature
unlike the blowing flute.” As he finished reciting he closed his eyes and died.

The Quanzhen Six Masters lowered their heads to pray. Finished praying Ma Yu held
Tan Chuduan’s lifeless body in his arms. Qiu Chuji, Yin Zhiping and the others
followed behind without even looking back. At this moment Qiu Chuji, Sun Bu’er and
the others realized that with the death of Tan Chuduan the Big Dipper Formation was
broken. If they continued fighting Huang Yaoshi they would only deliver six more
lives. Therefore, the revenge had to wait some other day.

End of Chapter 25
Jinyong's "LOCH" (3rd Edition), Chapter 26
Translated by owbjhx

New Allies, Old Arrangements

Huang Yaoshi reflected on how he’d incomprehensibly come into conflict with the
Quanzhen Seven, and – even more incomprehensibly – established a deep grievance
with them. There’d really been no reason for it at all. Seeing Mei Chaofeng wheezing
ever fainter, he thought of the grudge he’d held for over a decade, and he felt a
great, unbearable anguish within him. Tears began to fall.

A hint of a smile appeared on the corners of Mei Chaofeng’s lips. “Teacher,” she said,
“please...treat me like that way you used to – the kind way you treated me before.
I’ve wronged you: wronged you too much, too far! Let me be by your side
forever...forever to serve you. I’m dying fast. Time’s almost up!” An imploring look
covered her face.

Huang Yaoshi’s eyes were brimming with tears. “Very well, very well! I’ll treat you
just like I did back when you were little,” he said. “So from today, Ruohua better be
a good girl, and pay attention to what teacher says.”

Mei Chaofeng’s betrayal of school and teacher was the greatest regret of her life. But
now, facing death, she had somehow gained forgiveness from her teacher, who was
once again calling her by her childhood name of former days. Beside herself with joy,
she clasped Huang Yaoshi’s right hand, gently trembling, in both of hers.

“Ruohua will pay attention forever,” she said. “Teacher, I want to learn how to be
12-year-old Ruohua again. Teacher, tell me how, tell me how...” She rose up with all
her strength, determined to perform the rite of acknowledgement.

After her third kowtow, she stiffened, never to move again.

From the other room, Huang Rong had witnessed these heart-moving, soul-stirring
events unfold in succession, but hoped only that her father would stay a bit longer so
she could come out and meet him the moment Guo Jing was respiring smoothly. She
watched as Huang Yaoshi stooped, about to gather Mei Chaofeng’s body in his arms.

Suddenly, there was the sound of a horse neighing outside – the sound, in fact, of
Guo Jing’s Little Red. Then Sha Gu’s voice could be heard: “Well, this is Ox Village.
How am I supposed to know if there’s someone here called ‘Guo’? Are you called
‘Guo’?” Someone else, in a hugely impatient tone, answered: “With such few
households in the village, how come you don’t know everybody around here?”

At this, the door burst in, and several people entered.

Behind the open door, the look on Huang Yaoshi’s face suddenly changed: those
entering were exactly who he’d been hunting as fruitlessly as if he’d been treading in
broken iron shoes – the Six Freaks of Jiangnan. As it happened, they’d gone to
Peachblossom Island for the appointment; but whether they turned east or west,
they ended up in circles, and found no way into Huang Yaoshi’s residence. Later,
they chanced upon one of the island’s mute servants, and realised there that he’d
already left. When the Freaks saw the Little Red dashing around in the forest, Han
Baoju brought it under control, and the six then came to Ox Village looking for Guo
Jing.

The Freaks had just stepped through the doorway when ‘The Soaring Bat’ Ke Zhen’e,
whose hearing was acute, suddenly sensed the sound of breathing coming from
behind the door. “Someone’s here!” he shouted. The six turned around instantly, and
got a big shock: Huang Yaoshi, carrying the dead body of Mei Chaofeng across his
arms, stood blocking the doorway, as if to stop them from escaping.

Zhu Cong gave a deep bow. “Master Huang,” he said, his hands folded respectfully,
“my best wishes to your good health! The six of us observed the summons to visit
Peachblossom Island and pay our respects, but it so happened that the Master was
engaged with other business. How fortunate it is that today our paths should cross
here!”

Huang Yaoshi had just intended to strike immediately and kill the Six Freaks, but
with a glance at the pale face of Mei Chaofeng, he reconsidered: “The Freaks were
her mortal enemies. Today, she might have died the sooner, but I’ll enable her to kill
off the Six with her own hands still. Should she learn of it in the netherworld, she’ll
definitely be pleased.”

His right hand holding the corpse and his left hand raising her wrist, in a sudden
flash he was bearing down on Han Baoju, aiming Mei Chaofeng’s palm at his right
arm. In a panic, Han Baoju tried to dodge, but it was already too late: there was a
loud crack as his arm took the hit. As if using Mei Chaofeng’s palm as a weapon,
Huang Yaoshi channelled his martial arts through the dead hand, transmitting a
massive force of astonishing power. Although it didn’t snap Han Baoju’s arm, it left
half his body tingling in paralysis.

For the Freaks, nothing could be more horrifying: Huang Yaoshi, without a single
word, had immediately advanced and issued a vicious strike – and using the corpse
of Mei Chaofeng as a weapon, too. There was a chorus of shouts as each drew their
armaments, but Huang Yaoshi couldn’t care less; raising high the body of Mei
Chaofeng, he shot straight over, and Han Xiaoying was in the firing line. She saw the
eyes of Mei Chaofeng, still round and staring after death – the long hair draping the
shoulders, the mouth edged with brimming blood twisted in a terrifying grimace –
and the right hand held high, then violently pounding down towards the top of her
own head. Scared, her hands and feet went numb, dodging and blocking forgotten.

With the wave of a shoulderpole and the flick of a counterpoise, Nan Xiren and Quan
Jinfa launched simultaneous attacks at Mei Chaofeng’s arm. Huang Yaoshi pulled
back the right arm of the corpse and swung out with the left arm, hitting Han
Xiaoying right in the waist. In pain, she squatted straight down. Han Baoju, tilting as
he stepped up diagonally, unfurled his Golden Dragon Whip; but Huang Yaoshi strode
forward with his left foot and stamped firmly on the whip’s point. Han Baoju tried to
free it with a mighty pull, but how could he move it one iota? In the space of a blink,
Mei Chaofeng’s claw was slashing at his face. Stunned, Han Baoju ditched the whip
and recoiled, rolling away immediately. Feeling his face searing with agony, he
touched it with his palm and saw it come away covered in fresh blood – five nail
scars had already been gouged in him. It was fortunate that Mei Chaofeng was dead
and therefore unable to unleash the 9 Yin White Bone Claw form, and that the fierce
poison on her nails had dissipated with the exhaustion of her qi. Otherwise, this one
claw would have been instantly fatal.

After just a few exchanges, it was as if the Freaks were fighting for their lives on
every side. If it hadn’t been for Huang Yaoshi intending Mei Chaofeng to kill with her
own hands in posthumous vengeance, and deciding to use her limbs to destroy the
enemy, the Six would have died long ago or been taken to the edge of death by
injury. And even so, the Six were still living breath-by-breath against the Master of
Peachblossom Island, whose moves would come and go like a phantom’s.

In the other room, Guo Jing had been overjoyed when he heard Zhu Cong hailing
Huang Yaoshi. But then, he’d listened as the seven fought, his six beneficient
teachers panting for breath and crying out as they held on with all their strength.
The situation was desperately critical. The qi in his dantian had yet to stabilise; but
with the gratitude he owed to his teachers for raising him being no different to that
he owed his parents, how could he just keep his hands in his sleeves? Immediately
restricting his qi and concentrating his breath, he launched out a palm. There was a
loud bang as his strike shattered the secret door.

Huang Rong was shocked. She’d seen that he hadn’t fully completed his progress –
there was still a bit more effort left – and yet, at this point, he was using his strength
to unleash a palm. Fearing he was endangering his life, she cried urgently: “Jing
gege, don’t do it!”

As soon as Guo Jing had sent out the palm, he felt the qi in his dantian surge
upwards, a heat firing his insides. He hurried to restrain and close in the qi, forcing
his inner breath hard back into his dantian.

Seeing the cupboard door suddenly shatter and reveal Guo Jing and Huang Rong,
Huang Yaoshi and the Six Freaks leapt back from each other, startled and delighted
at the same time.

Suddenly seeing his beloved daughter, Huang Yaoshi was unsure if he was dreaming.
He rubbed his eyes. “Rong’er, Rong’er,” he called out, “is it really you?”

Huang Rong, still holding one palm enjoined with Guo Jing’s left, gave a slight smile
and nodded her head, but said nothing. At this, Huang Yaoshi’s joy exceeded all
expectation; putting other thoughts behind him, he laid Mei Chaofeng’s body down
on a bench, went over to the cupboard, and sat down cross-legged. One touch of his
daughter’s wrist, and he felt her pulse and breathing firm and steady. Then, reaching
through the cupboard doorway, he pressed his left palm against Guo Jing’s right.
The many currents of sizzling qi boiling and bubbling inside Guo Jing’s body were
already unbearable in the extreme; by this point, there’d been several times when
he’d wanted to leap up screaming and shouting to relieve the pressure. When Huang
Yaoshi’s palm came to enjoin with his, a stream of inner power flowed through with
tremendous force, and instantly he felt a gradual settlement. Using his right hand,
Huang Yaoshi set about kneading and massaging all the critical acupoints on Guo
Jing; so profound was his neigong that, in just the time it took to make a bowl of
rice, he had saved Guo Jing’s life.

Guo Jing, now regulating his qi with miraculous ease and circulating his inner breath
freely, leapt through the cupboard doorway, bowed towards Huang Yaoshi, and
immediately went to kowtow to his six teachers.

On the one side, Guo Jing was telling his teachers about the ins and outs of the
situation; on the other side, Huang Yaoshi was leading his daughter by the hand and
listening to her giggly chatter, her narrative punctuated with laughter. At first, the
Freaks followed what Guo Jing was saying. But he was a dull talker, struggling to
convey what he meant in words. Huang Rong, however, not only had a clear, crisp
voice, but also a splendid turn of phrase; and when she got to the thrilling bits, her
depictions scintillated with a hundred extra tones and colours. One by one, the Six
involuntarily went over to listen; Guo Jing, too, finally shut up, turning from a
speaker to a listener. Huang Rong did almost an hour’s worth of talking. With her
expressions taking full flight – now grave, now comic – everybody listened
enraptured to her pearls of wit, as if savouring a charming vintage wine.

Huang Yaoshi, upon hearing his beloved daughter had somehow become the Chief of
the Beggar Gang, was utterly bewildered. “What a bizarre move from Brother Qi!” he
remarked. “And how heretical of him! Perhaps he’s thinking of stealing my nickname
– no longer being the ‘Northern Beggar’, and instead being the ‘Northern Heretic’?
The ‘Five Greats’ would then be the ‘Eastern Beggar’, ‘Western Venom’, ‘Southern
Emperor’, ‘Northern Heretic’, and ‘Central Who-Knows-What?’”

Her tale having reached the fight between Huang Yaoshi and the Freaks, Huang Rong
gave a laugh. “That’s all,” she said. “There’s no use me saying what happened next!”

Huang Yaoshi announced: “I’m going to go and kill those four bastards Ouyang Feng,
Lingzhi, Qiu Qianren and Yang Kang. Come with me and watch the fun, kid.” He was
talking about killing people, but because he was looking fondly upon his beloved
daughter, his face was all smiles.

Taking a glance at the Freaks, he felt rather contrite. Yet although he knew himself
to be clearly in the wrong, he was still unwilling to hang his head and admit a fault to
anyone, only offering: “The movement of qi hasn’t turned out too badly. It didn’t
make me harm someone good by accident.”

As for Huang Rong, she’d originally resented the Freaks for prohibiting Guo Jing from
getting married with her. But now that Mu Nianci and Yang Kang had gotten
engaged, this issue had already been resolved. “Daddy,” she giggled, “how about
admitting to the teachers that you made a mistake?”

Huang Yaoshi gave a snort. “I’m going to go and find Western Venom,” he said,
changing the subject. He added: “Jing’er, you come too.”
Fundamentally, he felt deeply displeased at this crude, block-headed Guo Jing. “I,
Huang Yaoshi, am absolutely brilliant,” he had mused. “But with such a dumbass as
a son-in-law, wouldn’t that make those in wulin laugh their lips off?” He had
consented to the engagement with great difficulty. It then so happened that Zhou
Botong, not telling apart the silly and the serious, had cracked a reckless joke
claiming Guo Jing had borrowed Mei Chaofeng’s 9 Yin Scripture and made a copy. In
the midst of his rage, he had believed this to be true, and was furious at Guo Jing’s
dirty underhandedness. But after having sent off Hong Qigong, Ouyang Feng, Zhou
Botong and the others, he’d immediately realised that the text of the second-volume
scripture that Guo Jing had learnt was far clearer than that in the second volume
held by Mei Chaofeng. Moreover, this was without considering ‘let alone nowadays’,
and so on. Guo Jing just couldn’t have copied from Mei Chaofeng’s handwritten text,
and anyway, Huang Yaoshi had known long ago that Zhou Botong was telling lies.
Later, he’d mistakenly believed Lingzhi’s made-up news of Huang Rong’s death.

Now, wild with joy at finally seeing his beloved daughter again, the grievance he held
against the Freaks had momentarily vanished. It was just that he was unwilling to
admit a fault or to make an apology; but he hoped in future to be able to help them
with some serious matter, as a way of making amends.

Looking back on Mei Chaofeng who, in sacrificing herself to save him from great ruin,
had not forgotten her gratitude to her teacher – not unto death – he pondered:
“Ruohua and her martial brother Xuanfeng were in love. If they’d come and informed
me about it, and petitioned to marry, I wouldn’t necessarily have forbidden them.
There was no need to be rash and take the big risk of running away from
Peachblossom Island. But I’ve been moody throughout my life, never settling on joy
or rage. The two of them must have considered it from every angle, and – in the end
– didn’t dare to open their mouths. Now suppose Rong’er, because of this eccentric
temper of mine, were to end up just like Ruohua...” The thought made him shudder.
By calling out this word “Jing’er”, he was actually acknowledging Guo Jing as son-in-
law.

Huang Rong was delighted. From the corner of her eye, she glanced at Guo Jing,
who looked totally unaware of the implications held by this one-word title of
“Jing’er”. “Dad,” she said, “let’s go to the palace first and bring teacher out.”

At this point, Guo Jing confessed to his teachers about Huang Yaoshi assenting to the
marriage on Peachblossom Island, as well as the situation with Hong Qigong
accepting him as a disciple. A pleased Ke Zhen’e said: “You’ve somehow set things
up so that you can call The Divine Nine-Fingered Beggar your teacher, and you’ve
duped the Master of Peachblossom Island into letting you marry his beloved
daughter. We’re more than happy with it; where’s the sense in refusing? It’s just
that the Mongolian Khan...” Recalling that Genghis Khan had granted Guo Jing the
title ‘Prince Consort of the Golden Blade’, this was now something of an awkward
matter which, if brought up, would surely provoke Huang Yaoshi into fury. For a
moment, he wondered how he could mention it.

Suddenly, there was a creak as the main door was pushed open; in came Sha Gu
laughing, holding a piece of yellow vellum twisted into the shape of a monkey.

“Sister,” she said to Huang Rong, “are you done eating watermelons? Oldie asked
me to give you this monkey to play with.”
Huang Rong, assuming Sha Gu was just being silly and thinking nothing of it,
reached out and took the paper monkey. Sha Gu added: “Hairy oldie says don’t get
angry; he’ll definitely find teacher for you.” When Huang Rong heard that she was
obviously talking about Zhou Botong, she looked at the monkey and saw that there
were words written on the paper. Hurrying to unravel it, the following was revealed
in a crooked scrawl over the surface:

Old Beggar was nowhere I looked,

Old Urchin was ever so good.

Huang Rong gave a worried gasp. “How come he didn’t see teacher?” she said.

Huang Yaoshi muttered to himself for a while. “Old Urchin might be deranged,” he
said, finally, “but his martial arts are terrific. As long as Qigong’s still alive, he can
surely rescue him. More immediately, the Beggar Gang are facing a big problem.”

“What problem?” asked Huang Rong.

Huang Yaoshi replied: “The bamboo stick the old beggar gave you was taken away
by Yang Kang. Although that brat’s martial arts aren’t great, he’s still a nasty
scoundrel; even such a person as Ouyang Ke died by his hand. Now he’s got hold of
the bamboo stick, he’ll definitely go stirring up a storm, to make trouble for the
Beggar Gang. We ought to catch up with him and retrieve it, or else the old beggar’s
brethren are going to suffer generations of serious hardship – and you, as chief,
won’t be reflected in glory.”

Normally, the Beggar Gang being in trouble wouldn’t prey on Huang Yaoshi’s mind in
the slightest; on the contrary, he’d rejoice in their disaster and take pleasure in their
ruin, seeing it as a great spectacle of fun. But now that his beloved daughter had
become the Chief of the Beggar Gang, how could he still keep his hands in his
sleeves?

One after the other, the Six Freaks nodded their heads. “But he’s already been gone
for days,” said Guo Jing. “I’m worried catching up will be hard.”

Han Baoju pointed out: “Your Little Red horse is here – just when you could use it!”

Delighted, Guo Jing rushed out the door and made a whistle to summon it. Seeing its
owner, the red horse bounded and galloped over, brushing up close against him and
neighing incessantly with excitement.

“Rong’er,” said Huang Yaoshi, “you and Jing’er hurry and grab that bamboo stick.
This red horse goes at a speedy pace; I expect you’ll soon catch up.”

Having said this, he noticed a smiling Sha Gu standing by the side, with an
expression exactly like that of Qu Lingfeng, his own disciple. A thought occurred to
him. “Are you called ‘Qu’?” he asked her.

Sha Gu laughed and shook her head. “Don’t know,” she said. Huang Yaoshi had long
been aware that his disciple Qu Lingfeng had a daughter, and calculated that her age
also appeared to fit.

“Dad,” said Huang Rong, “come and look!” Leading him by the hand, she went into
the secret room.

Huang Yaoshi, seeing that the separated arrangement of the secret room was
completely in a pattern he himself had originated, felt that it was surely the work of
Qu Lingfeng.

“Dad,” said Huang Rong, “take a look at the things in that iron chest. If you can
figure out what they are, I guess that makes you an expert!”

But Huang Yaoshi ignored the iron chest. Going over to the southwest corner and
lifting up the sideboard at the foot of the wall, he revealed a cavity. Reaching inside,
he pinched out a scroll of paper and right away leaped out of the secret room. Huang
Rong hastily followed him out. Coming up behind her father, she saw the scroll
unfolded in his hands, the paper’s surface covered in dust and its edges browned and
broken. Written on it, in crooked handwriting, were a few rows of words:

Addressed most respectfully to venerable senior Master Huang of

Peachblossom Island:

Disciple has acquired, from within the palace, assorted calligraphy,

paintings, and other artefacts, which he wishes to present for Master’s
appreciation.

Disciple respectfully refers to ‘Master’, not daring the presumption

to utter ‘beneficient teacher’ – even if, in disciple’s dreams, he still utters
‘beneficient teacher’ yet.

Misfortune has had it that disciple was encircled by palace guards,

and is survived by a daughter…

The writing having reached the word “daughter”, there was nothing further – except
for a few splattered marks which could faintly be discerned as bloodstains.

At the time of Huang Rong’s birth, all the disciples had already suffered expulsion
from Peachblossom Island, and Qu Lingfeng had suffered it the earliest. Huang Rong,
knowing that each person under the tutelage of her father had been a terrific
individual, couldn’t help feeling alarmed at seeing today this report left behind by Qu
Lingfeng.

By now, Huang Yaoshi had already understood the heart of it. He knew that, after Qu
Lingfeng had been expelled from his teaching, he had agonised hard over gaining
readmittance to the school of Peachblossom Island. Recalling that Huang Yaoshi was
fond of treasures, antiques, and samples from the work of famous painters, he had
taken the risk of going to the imperial palace and committing robbery. This had gone
favourably for a few times, but in the end, he had been discovered by the imperial
guards. After a fierce fight, he had sustained a serious wound; returning home to
write his final will, he must have struggled to finish it because of the seriousness of
his injury. When, not long after, the master guardsman came in in pursuit, both
sides ended up dying right here.

Huang Yaoshi was already remorseful after having seen Lu Chengfeng that last time.
Now, with the recent death of Mei Chaofeng and the sight of such dedication from Qu
Lingfeng, he felt even more guilt. Turning his head and spotting the grinning Sha Gu
standing behind him, he had a thought. “Did your father teach you how to fight?” he
asked, in a stern voice.

Sha Gu shook her head; running over to the door, she closed it and then furtively
took peep after peep through the crack in the doorway, throwing a few punching
moves. But as the punches came and went, they were all of the same six or seven
unpolished moves from the ‘Blue Wave Palm’ form, and nothing else.

“Dad,” Huang Rong commented, “she taught herself by spying when Martial Brother
Qu was practicing martial arts.”

Huang Yaoshi nodded his head, murmuring: “I expected Lingfeng wouldn’t have such
a nerve as to dare pass one’s martial arts to others after having left my tutelage.” He
added: “Rong’er, try attacking her footwork. Trip her up.”

Huang Rong stepped up, giggling. “Sha Gu,” she said, “let’s practice some martial
arts. Look out!”

Throwing a feint with her left palm, she immediately followed with a ‘Matching Ducks
Joined by a Ring’, launching two kicks with unrivalled speed. Sha Gu, dumbstruck,
had already taken Huang Rong’s left kick on her right hip before she hurriedly
stepped back. But she didn’t know that Huang Rong’s right leg, placed in advance,
was waiting behind her; she was still unsteady from her step back when her
momentum made her trip and she toppled face-up.

Leaping up immediately, she shouted: “You cheated! Little sister, let’s go again.”

Huang Yaoshi’s face darkened. “Who’s the ‘little sister’?” he said. “It’s ‘auntie’!”

Sha Gu, who didn’t know the difference between “sister” and “auntie” anyway,
laughed. “Auntie! Auntie!” she said, obediently.

Huang Rong had already understood. She thought: “Daddy basically wanted me to
test her footwork. Both of Martial Brother Qu’s legs were broken, so when he was
practicing martial arts by himself, he obviously didn’t practice using his legs and
feet; therefore, Sha Gu wouldn’t have been able to spy on any footwork. If he had
trained her personally, then he’d have taught her skills for all areas: upper-body,
mid-section, and footwork.”

By calling out the word “auntie”, Huang Yaoshi was finally accepting Sha Gu back
under his tutelage. “Why the heck are you so silly?” he asked her.

She laughed: “I’m Sha Gu!”

Huang Yaoshi scowled. “Where’s your mum?”

Sha Gu put on a crying face, answering: “Gone to granny’s place.”

Huang Yaoshi then asked seven or eight questions in a row, but he didn’t get
anything that mattered. He could only give a sigh and leave it at that. When Qu
Lingfeng was still in his tutelage, he was aware that he had a silly daughter who
wasn’t very bright. That, for sure, was Sha Gu.
There and then, they buried Mei Chaofeng in the back garden. Guo Jing and Huang
Rong carried out the skeleton of Qu Lingfeng and buried it next to Mei Chaofeng.
Although the Six Freaks were mortal enemies with the ‘Twin Spectres of the Black
Winds’, the death of a person was what was important; they too all kowtowed before
the grave, offering wishes and dismissing their prior grievance.

Huang Yaoshi, gazing at the two new graves for a long while, felt a hundred feelings
mixed together. “Rong’er,” he said, sadly, “let’s go and look at your Martial Brother
Qu’s treasures.” At that, father and daughter walked back into the secret room.

Looking at the things Qu Lingfeng had left behind, Huang Yaoshi was silent for a long
time. Shedding tears, he said: “Among the disciples under my tutelage, Lingfeng had
the strongest martial arts and the brightest mind. If his legs hadn’t been broken,
even one hundred palace guards wouldn’t have been able to hurt him.”

“That’s a matter of course,” said Huang Rong. “Dad, are you going to teach Sha Gu
martial arts personally?”

“I’ll teach her martial arts,” he murmured. “And I’ll teach her verse-writing, qin-
playing, the mysteries of the five elements…All the skills that back then your Martial
Brother Qu wanted to learn but didn’t learn – I’ll teach her, comprehensively.”

Huang Rong stuck out her tongue, and thought: “Heretical thoughts from a heretical
man! Daddy’s letting himself in for a lot of stress.”

Huang Yaoshi opened the iron chest, looking through it layer by layer. The more
valuable the treasures, the more sorrow he felt. Seeing rolled-up paintings and
calligraphy, he sighed, remarking: “No doubt it’s great to use this stuff as a pleasing
diversion from frustration, but as for expending one’s will over playthings – that
must never happen. How fine were the pictures of flowers, birds and figures painted
by the Taoist ruler, Emperor Huizong! Yet having depicted the rivers and mountains
in all their splendour, he rolled them up and gifted them to the Jins.” As he spoke, he
furled and unfurled the scrolls. “Eh?” he said, suddenly.

Huang Rong asked: “Dad, what is it?”

Huang Yaoshi pointed out a landscape in splash-ink, saying: “Look here!”

In the painting was a towering mountain, with a total of five steep peaks. Among
them, one peak was outstandingly tall – bolt upright and pointing to the heavens, it
pierced the clouds with its colossal height and overlooked a deep chasm below. A
row of pine trees grew by the mountainside. Twigs tipped with snow, each winding
trunk curved to the south, suggesting the utter ferocity of the north wind. To the
west of the summit was a lone pine: old, but stiff and upstanding, and rising with an
elegant majesty. Beneath this pine, vermilion brushstrokes profiled a general,
twirling his sword in the face of the wind. The figure’s features were hard to discern,
but the sleeves of his clothes rose in a flutter, and his bearing escaped the ordinary.
The entire picture was a monochromatic landscape, but this man alone was a firey,
blackish red – making him seem all the more outstanding and exceptional.

The painting was without a signature. It was annotated only with the following
poem:
My clothing covered with the marks of many years,
In special search of em’rald haven’s fragrant heights,
I’ve never seen enough of hills and rivers fine,
As cavalry by moonlight hurries to retreat.

A few days ago, Huang Rong had seen this poem as written down by Han Shizhong
on the Emerald Haven Pavilion in Lin’an, and recognised the handwriting. “Dad,” she
said, “this was written by Han Shizhong. The verses are of the late, mighty Yue.”

Huang Yaoshi nodded. “That’s right, my clever Rong’er!” he said. “But this poem of
the late Yue was actually describing the ‘emerald haven’ of the mountains in
Chizhou. The mountains in the painting make a treacherous scene; they’re no
‘emerald haven’ at all. Although this painting’s style has a fine firmness, it’s short on
implication and tasteful accent; it’s not by the hand of a master.”

That day at the Emerald Haven Pavilion, Huang Rong had seen Guo Jing – reluctant
to leave – tracing his fingers along the stone inscription and brushing over the
remains of Han Shizhong’s handwriting. Knowing that he’d be fond of it, she said:
“Dad, let Guo Jing have this painting.”

Huang Yaoshi laughed. “Girls, by birth, are extroverts,” he said. “What else is there
to say?”

Handing it over to her freely, he reached into the iron chest again and picked up a
necklace, remarking: “This string of pearls is each and every one of the same size;
that’s truly hard to come by.” After he gave it to Huang Rong to wear around her
neck, she threw herself into his arms, and he reached out and held her in a hug.
Father and daughter smiled at each other, nestling cheek against cheek, both feeling
a never-ending warmth.

Huang Rong had just rolled up the painting when suddenly, she heard several harsh,
urgent cries of eagles overhead.

Huang Rong, who was highly fond of that pair of white eagles, remembered that
they’d already been taken back by Huazheng, and felt very unhappy. Wanting to play
with them again for a bit, she emerged from the secret room in a hurry.

Outside the doorway, she saw Guo Jing standing under the big willow tree, one eagle
pulling the shoulder of his clothes with its beak and leading him somewhere, the
other eagle circling him and crying repeatedly. Sha Gu, watching in amusement, was
wheeling round and round Guo Jing, clapping and giggling.

Guo Jing had an agitated look. “Rong’er,” he said, “they’re in trouble! Let’s hurry and
go save them!”

“Who?” asked Huang Rong.

Guo Jing replied: “My sworn brother and sister!”

Huang Rong threw a pout with her little lips. “Well, I’m not going!” she said.

Guo Jing, unaware of her feelings, was baffled. “Rong’er, don’t be so childish!” he
said, urgently. “Come on!” Harnessing the red horse, he slung himself into the
saddle.

“Then...do you still want me or not?” said Huang Rong.

Guo Jing scratched his head in further bafflement. “How could I not want you?” he
said. “I can go without my own life, but I can’t go without you.” Holding the reins
with his left, he stretched out his right hand to receive her.

Huang Rong gave a beautiful smile and called out: “Dad, we’re going to the rescue.
You and the six teachers come too.” She leaped over, latched onto Guo Jing’s right
hand with her left, and pulled herself up to sit behind him on the horse’s back.

Guo Jing, on horseback, bowed ceremoniously to Huang Yaoshi and his six teachers,
and prompted the horse forward; ahead, the pair of eagles led the way, giving a long
cry in unison.

The Little Red horse had been separated from its master for very long; now that it
was carrying him once again, it felt an inexpressible happiness. Invigorated in spirit,
it galloped onwards as if hauled by lightning and sped by the wind; although the two
white eagles were fast flyers, the Little Red somehow kept up with them.

Not long after, the eagles dived down into a dark, dense forest ahead. The Little Red,
not waiting for its master’s guidance, also raced straight towards the forest.

Arriving just outside the forest, they suddenly heard a voice like a cracked cymbal
emanating from within the trees: “Brother Qianren, long have I known your mighty
reputation as the venerable hero of Iron Palm! Younger brother has a great desire to
admire, and marvel at, the virtuosity of your divine arts; it’s a pity that senior
brother couldn’t participate at the Mount Hua Duels back then. Right now, let’s
‘throw brick to lure jade’. Firstly, younger brother will use his trivial skills to finish off
one of these; then, how about senior brother letting loose in the awesome spirit of
Iron Palm?” Following this, someone gave a loud cry of misery, the treetops swayed
in the forest canopy, and a big tree came crashing down.

Shocked, Guo Jing dismounted and rushed into the forest.

Huang Rong dismounted too. Patting the Little Red’s head, she pointed back at the
direction they’d come from, and said: “Quick, go bring my daddy here!” The Little
Red turned around and zoomed off.

“I just hope daddy comes quick,” thought Huang Rong, “or else, we’re going to get it
from Old Venom again.”

Hiding herself behind the trees, she crept quietly into the forest. One glance later,
she couldn’t help feeling astounded: Tuolei, Huazheng, Zhebie and Bo’erhu had all
been tied up separate from each other against four big trees, and in front of them
stood Ouyang Feng and Qiu Qianren. Against another tree – which had collapsed –
there was also someone tied; covered in brightly-coloured clothes and armour, this
was actually the Song commander who’d been escorting Tuolei back north. He’d
been given a push from the stone-splitting, tree-snapping force that was Ouyang
Feng’s palm. The front of his body was totally coated in blood, and the eyes in his
drooping head were shut; he’d already been killed. The many soldiers had, to a man,
disappeared without a trace; they’d presumably been routed by the two.
Qiu Qianren, who dared not compare palm power with Ouyang Feng, was just about
to say a few things to bluff his way through when he heard the sound of footsteps
behind him. Turning around to see Guo Jing, he felt both alarm and glee – just in
time to make use of Western Venom to eliminate him! All he had to do was induce
the two of them to get fighting, and then there’d be no need to take action himself.

Ouyang Feng saw that Guo Jing had borne the powerful force of his own Toad Art,
and yet hadn’t died; this was highly unexpected.

“Guo Jing gege,” cried out Huazheng in delight, “you’re still alive! Super, super!”

Seeing the situation before her, Huang Rong had already concluded her calculations.
“While waiting for daddy to come,” she planned, “I ought to delay things for a bit.”

“Bastards!” shouted Guo Jing. “What are you two oldies doing here? Planning murder
again?”

Ouyang Feng, intending to get a clear look at Qiu Qianren’s martial arts, gave a
slight smile and didn’t respond.

“Why aren’t you bowing down before Master Ouyang, boy?” shouted Qiu Qianren.
“Bored being alive, are you?”

From within the secret room, Guo Jing had listened to Qiu Qianren saying all sorts of
outrageous things to stir up controversy, and now he was trying to murder people.
Hating him to the core, he strode forward two paces and let out a shout, throwing a
‘Repentance of the Haughty Dragon’ at Qiu Qianren’s chest. By now, his ability with
the 18 Dragon-Subduing Palms was no small matter; this particular palm was four
parts release and six parts restraint, its power unleashed and instantly withdrawn.
Qiu Qianren tried to dodge the oncoming force by hurriedly tilting his body but still
had to deal with the arriving palm wind, and helplessly, he dropped forward instead
of moving backwards.

Guo Jing gave a yell and threw a left-handed reverse palm, aiming for a tongue-
splitting, tooth-dropping hit, after which Qiu Qianren would never again profit from
waggling his tongue and provoking a storm.

Although this palm was strong in force, it was thrown quite slowly, but in placement
it was just right – making it impossible for Qiu Qianren to dodge. It looked like it was
about to hit him in the cheek when suddenly, Huang Rong called out: “Hold it!”

Guo Jing instantly converted his left hand into a grappling palm. Seizing Qiu Qianren
by the back of the neck, Guo Jing lifted him up, then turned his head and asked:
“What?”

Huang Rong was worried that, if Guo Jing wounded this oldie, Ouyang Feng would
immediately go on the attack. “Quick, let go!” she said. “The ‘facial martial arts’ of
this senior master are phenomenal. Once your palm hits his face, its force will be
fired back at you; you won’t avoid internal injury!”

Guo Jing, not knowing she was speaking in ridicule, was incredulous. “There’s no
such thing!” he protested.
Huang Rong added: “Senior master Qiu can strip the hide off an ox with just a gust
of his breath! Why aren’t you getting out of the way?”

Guo Jing was even more incredulous. But realising that she surely had some
intention, he duly put Qiu Qianren down and let go of his neck.

Qiu Qianren cackled loud with laughter. “Young miss sees the danger yet!” he said.
“With you little kiddies, I’ve no grievance, no enmity. By the abundant goodness of
heaven above, how could I – being the senior – do as the big bully the small, and
injure you as I please?”

Huang Rong smiled. “That’s well said,” she replied. “I’m a great admirer of senior
master’s skill; today, I’d like to seek advice on expert moves. But don’t you injure
me!” At that, she put her guard up; her left hand raised, she rolled her right into a
hollow fist, brought it to her mouth, and blew a few times.

“Here’s a move called ‘Tooting One’s Own Conch’,” she laughed. “En garde!”

“Young miss has some gall!” said Qiu Qianren. “The name of Master Ouyang is
pervasive under heaven – your ridicule is unacceptable!”

There was a smack as Huang Rong threw a surprise right-handed slap, landing a
crisp, clean hit on his face. Giggling, she said: “This move’s called ‘The Backlash of
the Facetious Cheek’!”

Suddenly, from outside the woods came the sound of laughter, and someone said:
“Excellent! And the same once again!”

Hearing the voice, Huang Rong realised that her father had now arrived.
Immediately growing more daring, she gave a call of agreement and duly motioned
to throw a right-hand slap. Qiu Qianren hastily ducked in avoidance, but didn’t know
that her move was actually a feint – the slap was instantly pulled and followed up
with a left palm. Using the through-arm style of Six-Harmony Fist, he tried to swing
out a block, but hadn’t figured that his opponent’s attack was still a feint; seeing her
two tiny little palms fluttering up and down before his eyes like a couple of jade
butterflies, his concentration slipped, and his right cheek took a slap yet again.

Qiu Qianren knew that, if the fight carried on, things could get positively out of hand.
Shouting, he threw out two punches which forced Huang Rong to retreat a couple of
steps, then straight away leapt aside with a cry of “Hold it!”

“What?” said Huang Rong, laughing. “Had enough?”

Qiu Qianren gave her a stern look. “Miss,” he said, “you’ve already sustained an
internal injury. Hurry off to a tranquil room to convalesce for seven times seven
days. And don’t so much as peep outside, or else there’s no guaranteeing your little
life!”

Seeing him speak so seriously, Huang Rong couldn’t help being startled for a
moment – before bursting into giggles of uncontrollable laughter, her body trembling
like the stem of a flower.
By now, Huang Yaoshi and the Six Freaks of Jiangnan had already caught up, and
were puzzled at the sight of Tuolei and the others tied against trees.

Ouyang Feng had naturally heard that the martial arts of Qiu Qianren were
astonishing. In one former year, he’d beaten the master warriors of the Hengshan
School – which had rocked the southern realms with its might – until they lay dead
or dying, using only his pair of iron palms. There and then, Hengshan suffered
irrecoverable collapse, never again able to hold its position in wulin. But today, how
come he couldn’t even beat a little girl like Huang Rong? And could it be true that he
had facial neigong, able to injure opponents by firing their force back at them? Not
only was this unheard of, it didn’t look like it, given his situation.

Just as Ouyang Feng was hesitating, he raised his head and suddenly spotted a
document pouch of Sichuan brocade hanging aslant from Huang Yaoshi’s shoulder,
with a camel embroidered in white silk on its surface – the property, as it happened,
of his own nephew. Deep down, he couldn’t help feeling dread. Having left after
killing Tan Chuduan and Mei Chaofeng, he had come back again just to collect his
nephew. “Could it be that Huang Yaoshi has actually killed the lad in vengeance for
his disciple?” he thought.

In a trembling voice, he asked: “What’s happened to my nephew?”

“What’s happened to my disciple Mei Chaofeng is also what’s happened to your

nephew,” replied Huang Yaoshi icily.

Ouyang Feng felt half his body go cold. Ouyang Ke had been born because of an
illicit liaison between him and his sister-in-law; nephew by name, he was actually his
dear son, and he loved this illegitimate son like life itself. He had felt that, although
Huang Yaoshi and the Quanzhen Taoists had established deep grievances with him,
all of these people were renowned champions in jianghu; with Ouyang Ke unable to
move either of his legs an inch, there was no way they’d cause him trouble. He just
had to wait for them to disperse, before taking his son to a quiet place where he’d
recuperate from his injuries. Little did he know that Ouyang Ke had already met with
brutality.

Huang Yaoshi watched him standing there, eyes staring straight ahead, about to
launch a sudden attack any moment now. He knew that this would be unleashed
with a mountain-moving, ocean-churning violence, an unstoppable force; inwardly,
he readied himself.

“Who’s the killer?” growled Ouyang Feng. “One of yours, or one of Quanzhen’s?” He
knew that, with Huang Yaoshi’s exalted status, he’d never kill with his own hands
someone who had two broken legs. He must have got somebody else to do it. By
now, Ouyang Feng’s naturally harsh voice had become even more ear-piercingly
jarring.

Huang Yaoshi answered coldly: “A brat who’s studied Quanzhen martial arts plus
some skills from Peachblossom Island, and who’s well acquainted with you. You go
and look for him.”

Huang Yaoshi was actually talking of Yang Kang, but when Ouyang Feng thought
about it, Guo Jing instantly came to mind. Bursting with rage and anguish, for a
moment he aimed a ferocious glare at Guo Jing, and then turned his head to Huang
Yaoshi. “What the heck are you doing taking my nephew’s document pouch?” he
asked.

“If the master map of Peachblossom Island was with him, I had to take it back,” said
Huang Yaoshi. “In digging down to search for the map, it was necessary for me to
trouble your excellent nephew – after his burial – with the sight of daylight once
again. Of that, I feel rather regretful. It’s a shame that although he had the
document pouch on him, within the pouch, that master map was nowhere to be
seen; the search ended up being a waste of Heretic Huang’s efforts. Still, we
definitely gave the remains of your nephew a proper resting-place; we dared not
have it the least bit deficient.”

“Well said, well said,” remarked Ouyang Feng.

He was aware that victory and defeat against Huang Yaoshi would be hard to tell
apart until after one or two thousand moves had been exchanged, and that he’d not
necessarily be the one standing in the ascendancy. Fortunately, he’d already gotten
his hands on the 9 Yin Scripture, and anyway, there was no impatience for the day of
revenge. But if Qiu Qianren could beat up the Jiangnan Six, Guo Jing and Huang
Rong – and afterwards, come to his assistance – the two of them joining forces
might take the life of Huang Yaoshi there and then. At this time of bereavement,
from the sudden news that his dear son had been killed, he was still capable of coolly
appraising the situation between himself and the enemy; and having calculated the
chances of winning were higher, he wasn’t willing to let the opportunity go. He
turned his head to Qiu Qianren.

“Brother Qianren,” he said, “you massacre these eight, while I deal with Heretic
Huang.”

Qiu Qianren laughed and gave a few gentle waves of his big cattail-leaf fan. “That’s
fine,” he said. “I’ll come and help you after I’ve massacred these eight.”

“Precisely,” said Ouyang Feng.

And with that one word, he fixed his glaring eyes on Huang Yaoshi, and slowly began
crouching down. Huang Yaoshi, his legs in a ‘half-nail, half-V’ stance, stepped
eastward into a ‘Z-tree’ position. In a moment, the two men were about to use
world-class martial arts to distinguish the strong and the weak, the living and the
dead.

“Massacre me first!” giggled Huang Rong.

Qiu Qianren shook his head. “Young miss is so cute and lively,” he said, “I almost
can’t bear to do it…Oh shit! Oh shit!” He was suddenly clutching his belly with both
hands and bending over at the waist. “At this time, of all the rotten coincidences…”

“What?” said Huang Rong, puzzled.

“You wait a moment,” said Qiu Qianren, a strained look on his face. “I’ve suddenly
got a stomach-ache. I must be excused!”

Huang Rong spluttered, for once not knowing what to say. Qiu Qianren, his brows
knitted in an expression of discomfort, gave another moan; clutching his crotch with
both hands, he ran off to one side, a limp in his step. From the look of things, he’d
had a sudden stomach-ache and, unable to hold it in, had pooped into his pants.
Huang Rong, aghast, had a feeling that he was eight-tenths faking it. But worried
that he really did have diarrhoea, she looked on wide-eyed and let him run past, not
daring to get in his way.

Zhu Cong took out a piece of straw tissue from his pocket. With flying steps, he
caught up with Qiu Qianren and tapped him on the shoulder, saying pleasantly:
“Have some toilet paper.”

“Thanks a lot,” said Qiu Qianren. Going into some bushes by a tree, he squatted
down.

Huang Rong picked up a stone and threw it at the small of his back, calling out: “Go
a bit further!”

The stone was just about to hit Qiu Qianren when he reached behind with his hand
and caught hold of it. “Does the smell offend you, miss?” he laughed. “I’ll just go a
bit further away, then. And the eight of you better wait for me; don’t be taking the
opportunity to slip away!” As he talked, he pulled up his pants and walked further
and further; behind a line of low groves over ten zhang away, he squatted down
again.

“Second teacher,” said Huang Rong, “that old bastard wants to escape.”

Zhu Cong nodded his head, remarking: “That old bastard might be thick-faced, but
he’s slow-footed, too; he won’t be able to escape, I’m afraid.” He added: “Here’s a
couple of things for you to play with.”

Huang Rong saw that he had a sharp sword and a cast-iron palm in his hands, and
knew that he’d lifted them off Qiu Qianren’s person when he’d patted the oldie on
the shoulder just now. From the secret room, she’d already witnessed Qiu Qianren
fooling the Quanzhen Seven with the sword-stabbed-through-the-belly stunt; she’d
known immediately that it was clearly a sham, but hadn’t been able to guess its
mechanism. Now, seeing straight away that the sword had a retractable blade in
three sections of interlocking sheaths, she laughed so hard she fell over. Then, she
got the idea of messing with Ouyang Feng’s mind. Going over to stand in front of
him, she smiled and said: “Uncle Ouyang, I just can’t bear to live!” Raising her right
hand, she stabbed the sword violently into her stomach.

Both Huang Yaoshi and Ouyang Feng, who were just then accumulating power in
preparation to attack, were shocked to see her do this. Huang Rong promptly held
up the sword, showing off the three-section blade and pulling out the ensheathed tip,
and laughing as she explained Qiu Qianren’s trickery to her father.

“Could it be true,” thought Ouyang Feng, “that this oldie has whipped up a phoney
reputation, cheating his way to worldly renown with a lifetime of deception?”

Huang Yaoshi, noticing him slowly straightening to a stand, had already guessed
what he was thinking. He took the cast-iron palm from his daughter’s hands. The
hollow of the palm, he noticed, was engraved with the word “Qiu”, and the back of it
had a carving in a wave pattern.
“This is the leadership token of Qiu Qianren, the Chief of Hunan’s Iron Palm Gang,”
he said. “20 years ago, this token was really of the utmost significance in jianghu. No
matter whose hands it was in, it brought an irresistible right of way, from as far east
as Jiujiang to as far west as Chengdu; followers of both right and wrong would
without exception offer awed obedience at the sight of it. In the past few years, the
name of the Iron Palm Gang has long been unheard of, and it’s unknown whether –
or how – it’s disbanded. Could this shameless, pathetic, big-talking oldie really be
the owner of the token?” With doubts in his mind, he returned the iron palm to his
daughter.

Seeing the iron palm, Ouyang Feng peered at it from the corners of his eyes, an
expression of great surprise on his face.

“This iron palm could turn out to be a lot of fun,” giggled Huang Rong. “I want it!
That deceitful guy has no further use for it.” Lifting the three-section iron sword, she
called out “Catch!” and raised her hand to throw it. But seeing the distance to Qiu
Qianren was very far, she didn’t have enough strength in her hands; her throw
definitely wouldn’t reach.

Smiling to her father, she handed him the sword. “Dad,” she said, “you throw it to
him!”

Huang Yaoshi, whose suspicions were aroused, had been intending a further test of
whether or not Qiu Qianren had any real ability at all. Raising his left hand, he lay
the iron sword flat atop his palm with the tip of the sword pointing away from him,
and flicked its handle with the middle finger of his right hand. There was a light clang
as the sword shot off sharply, faster and harder than if fired from a taut, powerful
crossbow. Huang Rong and Guo Jing clapped their hands and cheered; Ouyang Feng,
secretly shocked, thought: “What terrific Divine Flick skill!”

While they roared in acclaim, the sword flew straight at Qiu Qianren. When its tip
appeared to be only metres from him, he remained squatting on the ground,
unmoving; and in the blink of an eye, the point of the sword had already plunged
into his back. Although the three-section sword wasn’t sharp at all, this one flick
from Huang Yaoshi had sent it in handle-deep. Even if it were a blade of wood or
bamboo – let alone an iron sword – this oldie, if he wasn’t dead, was surely heavily
injured.

With flying steps, Guo Jing went over for a closer look. Suddenly, he gave a loud cry
of astonishment. There was a yellow ko-hemp jacket on the ground; picking it up
and waving it in the air again and again, he shouted: “Oldie sneaked off long ago!”

As it happened, Qiu Qianren had taken off his jacket and hung it over the stem of a
small tree – not only was he far apart from the others, the grass and woods were
also blocking the view – and he’d somehow pulled off this ‘moult of the golden
cicada’ trick. Just now, Huang Yaoshi and Ouyang Feng were concentrating on facing
their opponent, their eyes on nothing else; and those two were in turn being
watched by Zhu Cong and the rest. In the end, they’d all been deceived by Qiu
Qianren. Eastern Heretic and Western Venom, giving each other a glance, couldn’t
help bursting simultaneously into loud laughter, both feeling secret cheer at having
one less powerful enemy in the world.

Ouyang Feng knew that Huang Yaoshi was quick-witted in thought, and not
straightforward like Hong Qigong; it wasn’t easy to connive against him and succeed.
But seeing him laughing in an easy-going manner, totally off-guard, how could he
not take advantage of this opportunity to land a vicious strike? He gave three
clanging laughs – a noise just like the din of gold clashing with iron – then stopped
abruptly, as quick as lightning making a sudden bow low towards Huang Yaoshi.

Huang Yaoshi, still laughing with his head held high, raised his left palm sharply and
clenched his right in a hook – and clasped his hands, returning the courtesy.

Both men swayed slightly.

His surprise attack failing to connect, Ouyang Feng stood unmoving, before suddenly
retreating three steps. “Heretic Huang,” he shouted, “we’ll meet again!” With a shake
of his long sleeves, cloth swirled as he turned to go.

There was the faintest change of expression on Huang Yaoshi’s face: he thrust out
his left palm in front of his daughter, shielding her. Guo Jing had also recognised that
Western Venom, in the midst of this turn, was stealthily unleashing his ruthless,
sinister skills, and was about to use an Air-Splitting Palm-type technique to launch a
sneak attack on Huang Rong. But both in reactions and making his move, he wasn’t
as quick as Huang Yaoshi; seeing the danger, it was already too late to help. So with
a loud shout, he threw a double punch straight at Western Venom’s stomach, hoping
to force him to counterpunch in self-defence. The power applied in the sneak attack
on Huang Rong would then not be enough.

The force unleashed by Ouyang Feng had just been repelled by Huang Yaoshi;
exploiting the momentum, he immediately swung it around to attack Guo Jing
instead. This move augmented the original force from himself with energy borrowed
from Huang Yaoshi’s block, amplifying its power. Guo Jing, in a critical position,
ducked and rolled away. Leaping up afterwards, his face was already pale with
shock.

“Good little boy!” swore Ouyang Feng. “I don’t see you for a few days, and your skills
improve yet again.” Just now, his counterattacking move – borrowing an opponent’s
strength to injure another, an unfathomable variation delivered with unspeakable
speed – had somehow been dodged by Guo Jing. That was completely beyond his
expectations.

The Six Freaks of Jiangnan, seeing both sides go on the attack, had clustered into a
semicircular barrier behind Ouyang Feng. Paying no attention to them in the
slightest, he dashed straight through, taking big strides. Quan Jinfa and Han
Xiaoying, not daring to obstruct him, stepped aside to get out of his way and
watched wide-eyed as he left the forest.

If Huang Yaoshi had wanted to avenge Mei Chaofeng right now, he could have got
everyone to join forces, surround Western Venom, and overwhelm him. But being
proud and arrogant by nature, he was unwilling to let anyone say a word about him
‘using the many to persecute the few’, and would rather seek him out again in the
future, alone. Following the figure of Ouyang Feng with his gaze, he gave a cold
laugh.

Guo Jing, Quan Jinfa and the others untied Huazheng, Tuolei, Zhebie and Bo’erhu.
Already beside themselves with joy at the sight of Guo Jing still alive, they loudly
cursed Yang Kang for his deceitful rumourmongering. “That Yang character said that
he had to hurry to Yuezhou for something,” fumed Tuolei. “I thought he was just a
decent person, so I wasted three fine horses on him as a gift.”

Earlier, they’d been told of Guo Jing’s tragic loss; in the midst of their grief they
heard Yang Kang talking on and on about wanting to avenge his sworn brother, and
had fallen for his spiel. That evening, while they were staying together at an inn in a
small town north of Lin’an, Yang Kang had wanted to go and stab Tuolei to death.
But he hadn’t expected that Fatty and Skinny – the two beggars who’d seen him
holding the stick of the Chief’s authority – were guarding him vigilantly, taking turns
on night watch outside his window. Yang Kang had several times been just about
launch his attack, only to see if not Fatty then Skinny, patrolling to and fro in the
courtyard with blade in hand. After waiting a whole night and from start to finish not
getting an opportunity, he just gave up; the next day, he cheated Tuolei out of three
fine horses, and rode off westward along with the two beggars.

Tuolei and the others, unaware that the previous night they’d nearly died a brutal
death, were about to head north when they saw the pair of white eagles turn around
and fly south. Waiting for half a day, there was no sign of them coming back. Tuolei
knew that the eagles were unusually intelligent and that there must have been a
reason for them to go south; as there was fortunately no urgency at all to return
north, they therefore waited in the inn for a couple of days. When the third day
arrived, the eagles suddenly flew back, crying incessantly at Huazheng. Tuolei and
the others followed in a group as the pair of eagles led the way, once again travelling
south. Unfortunately, they then chanced upon Qiu Qianren and Ouyang Feng in the
forest.

The Jin Empire had conferred a mission upon Qiu Qianren: incite the champions in
Jiangnan to get fired up against each other, so that the Jin army could come south.
While talking trash to Ouyang Feng in the forest, he’d spotted Tuolei – the Mongolian
ambassador – and, together with Ouyang Feng, had instantly gone on the attack.
Although Zhebie and the others were extraordinarily brave, how were they a match
for Western Venom? The two eagles had actually flown south because they’d
discovered the tracks made by the Little Red horse, but had ended up unwittingly
leading their master into a catastrophe. And if they hadn’t brought Guo Jing and
Huang Rong over just in time, Tuolei’s entire group would have inadvertently lost
their lives there and then in the forest.

Of these particulars, there were some Huazheng knew of, and there were some she
was oblivious to. Tugging at Guo Jing’s hand, she chattered away endlessly. Huang
Rong, seeing the manner between Huazheng and Guo Jing so intimate, was already
somewhat unhappy. Even more uncomfortably, Huazheng was speaking entirely in
Mongolian, which Huang Rong couldn’t understand a single word of. She had become
an outsider.

Huang Yaoshi noticed the odd expression on his daughter’s face. “Rong’er,” he
asked, “who’s this barbarian girl?”

“Brother Jing’s wife-to-be,” answered Huang Rong, morose.

Hearing this, Huang Yaoshi almost couldn’t believe his own ears. “What?” he asked,
insistently.
Huang Rong hung her head. “Dad,” she said, “go and ask him for yourself.”

Zhu Cong, nearby, had recognised in advance that things were getting inauspicious,
and hastened forward. Delicately, he raised the circumstances of Guo Jing’s already
having gotten engaged with Huazheng earlier in Mongolia.

Huang Yaoshi, unable to restrain his anger, cast an accusing glance at Guo Jing.
Icily, he said: “So it turns out that, before coming to Peachblossom Island as a
suitor, he’d already set on an engagement in Mongolia?”

“We ought to think of a…think of a way to satisfy both parties,” stuttered Zhu Cong.

“Rong’er,” said Huang Yaoshi sharply, “dad’s going to do something, and you’d
better not get in the way.”

“Dad, what is it?” asked Huang Rong, her voice trembling.

“That disgusting boy, that worthless girl – I’ll slaughter both of them together!” said
Huang Yaoshi. “How could we allow anyone to disgrace the two of us, father and
daughter?”

Huang Rong dashed forward a step and grabbed her father’s right hand. “Dad,” she
said, “Brother Jing said wholeheartedly that he really, really loves me – that he’s
never taken this barbarian girl to heart!”

“Well, fine,” snorted Huang Yaoshi. Raising his voice, he shouted: “Boy, hurry up and
kill the barbarian girl, to display evidence of your own feelings!”

Guo Jing had never in his entire life met with such an awkward situation. Naturally
hesitant in his thoughts, he heard what Huang Yaoshi just said and felt totally at a
loss; standing there in a daze, dumbfounded, he didn’t know what to do.

“You’d already set on a marriage beforehand,” continued Huang Yaoshi frostily, “yet
you still came to me in suit! Whoever heard of such a thing?”

Seeing Huang Yaoshi’s ashen expression, the Jiangnan Freaks knew that Guo Jing
was one sudden flick of a palm away from fatal misfortune; furtively, each of them
went on guard. But with their ability so far inferior by comparison, they’d actually be
helpless to assist should the fighting get serious.

Guo Jing had always been unable to tell lies. Having heard these questions, he
answered with the plain truth: “All I hoped for was to be with Rong’er for the rest of
my life. Without Rong’er, there’s no way I can live.”

Huang Yaoshi’s expression softened slightly. “Very well,” he said. “If you don’t kill
this girl, that’s fine; but from now on, you cannot ever see her again.”

Guo Jing, faltering, had yet to respond, when Huang Rong asked: “You definitely
need to see her, don’t you?”

“I’ve always treated her just like a dear sister,” said Guo Jing. “If I can’t see her,
sometimes I’d worry about her.”
Huang Rong gave a beautiful smile. “Just see who you’d like to see – I don’t mind!”
she said. “I have faith that you don’t really love her. And how could it be that I don’t
compare to her?”

“Fine!” said Huang Yaoshi. “I am here. The barbarian girl’s family are here. And your
six teachers are here, too. Now you better say it loud and clear: the one you want to
marry is my daughter, and not that barbarian girl!” It was already greatly against his
nature to concede repeatedly like this; but out of respect for his beloved daughter,
he restrained himself with all his might, and tolerated it. His heart had also softened
briefly since Mei Chaofeng lost her life while shielding her teacher.

Lost in thought, Guo Jing hung his head. Stashed around his waist, he glimpsed both
the golden blade granted to him by Genghis Khan, and the small dagger gifted to
him by Qiu Chuji.

“Going by the will of father,” he pondered, “Yang Kang and I should be good
brothers, not changing through life and death. But how can I keep faith in this tie if
he acts like he does? And going by the will of Uncle Yang Tiexin, I should take Sister
Mu as a wife. But that obviously can’t be right. It looks like I don’t always have to
follow the orders laid down for me by elders. The engagement between myself and
Sister Huazheng was made by Genghis Khan. How can it be that, because some
person said a few words, Rong’er and I have to spend our lives apart?” Having
thought this far, he’d already made up his mind. He raised his head.

By now, Tuolei had clarified with Zhu Cong what had been spoken about in the
exchange between Huang Yaoshi and Guo Jing. He saw Guo Jing dithering and
ruminating, seemingly embarrassed; and he realised that he truly felt no sentiments
towards his sister. Bursting with rage, he took a long, wolf-fanged-and-vulture-
plumed arrow out from his quiver, and gripped it in both hands.

“Brother Guo Jing!” he called out. “Everywhere under heaven, ‘One’s word is one’s
bond’ is the conduct of the true man! Now that you’ve treated my sister heartlessly,
how could the heroic sons and daughters of Genghis Khan seek sincerity from you?
The brotherly tie between you and me…from now, I demand it severed! As for the
bond of life and death the two of us had when we were children, and also your
saving the lives of father and me – let’s keep kindness and grievance clearly
separated. Because your mother’s in the north, I’ll certainly provide for her, properly
and respectfully. But if you want to see her come south, I’ll be sure to send people in
escort. There won’t be the least bit of neglect – no way! A real man’s words are set
in stone. You put your mind at rest!”

Done with talking, there was a loud crack as he snapped the arrow in two, flinging
the shards before the horse.

Tuolei had spoken with a steely finality and an iron will. Deep down, Guo Jing felt in
awe, and he suddenly recalled all kinds of heroic deeds that him and Tuolei had got
up to during their youth in the great desert.

“He said: ‘A real man’s words are set in stone,’” thought Guo Jing. “The agreement
to marry Sister Huazheng was from my own mouth. To go back on one’s word – how
is that the way to behave? Even if Master Huang kills me today and Rong’er hates
me for the rest of her life, I can’t be seeing it like that.”
Immediately, he raised his head high. “Master Huang, my six kind teachers, Brother
Tuolei, and masters Zhebie and Bo’erhu,” he announced, “Guo Jing really isn’t the
type who has no honour, no virtue. I have to marry Sister Huazheng.”

He made this announcement in Chinese, and separately, in Mongolian. For everyone,

it was far off what they’d expected. Tuolei, Huazheng, Zhebie and Bo’erhu were
surprised but delighted; the Jiangnan Freaks privately praised their disciple for being
a true man of hard backbone; and Huang Yaoshi, casting him a sideways glance,
gave a cold sneer.

Huang Rong was deeply heartbroken. After a moment’s pause, she took a few steps
towards Huazheng, and assessed her carefully. She noticed Huazheng’s athletic
figure, her large eyes and dashing eyebrows, her features everywhere noble; and
she couldn’t help giving a long sigh.

“Jing gege,” she said, “I understand. You and her are the same. The two of you are a
pair of white eagles rising over the great desert. But I’m just a little swallow, sitting
under a willow branch in Jiangnan.”

Guo Jing stepped over to her. “Rong’er,” he said, grasping her hands, “I don’t know
if what you said is right or wrong. In my heart, there’s only you – and you know it!
Who cares what others say we should or shouldn’t do? They can burn my body ‘til
the ashes blow away, but I’ll only be thinking of you!”

“Then why did you say that you’ll marry her?” said Huang Rong, tears welling in her
eyes.

“I am a fool,” said Guo Jing. “I don’t know about any reasoning. I only know this: the
promises that you make, you just can’t take back. But I’m not lying when I say that,
no matter what, you’re the only one in my heart. There’s no way I can be apart from
you. I would rather die!”

Huang Rong felt a confusion inside – feelings of love and of pain. After a moment,
she gave a faint smile. “Jing gege,” she said, “if I’d known things would be this way,
we’d never have returned from the ‘Island of Rubicund Clouds’. Wouldn’t that have
been great?”

Huang Yaoshi, raising an eyebrow, suddenly shouted: “That’s easy!” With a flap of
his robe sleeves, he swung out a hand chopping at Huazheng.

To Huang Rong, her old dad’s intentions had been plain to see. Spotting a cold glint
in his eyes, and knowing an attempt to kill was imminent, she’d pre-emptively
dashed to obstruct him before he’d thrown out his hand. Huang Yaoshi, afraid of
harming his beloved daughter, at once stopped his hand’s momentum. Huang Rong
had already grabbed Huazheng by the arm and pulled her off her horse when Huang
Yaoshi’s hand struck the horse on the saddle, making a loud noise.

Initially, the horse didn’t seem unduly affected at all. But gradually, its head drooped
and its legs bowed as it curled, paralysed, into a ball on the ground – where, in the
end, it died. This was a sturdy horse from a renowned Mongolian breed; although it
wasn’t as fabulous as the treasured blood-sweating horse, it was still a fine,
muscular animal, strong-boned and with a high, bulky body. But with just one wave
of Huang Yaoshi’s palm, it had died under his hand. Martial arts this extreme were a
rare sight indeed. The hearts of Tuolei, Zhu Cong and all the others were pounding
wildly; if, they thought, this hand had struck Huazheng, how would she have
survived?

Huang Yaoshi hadn’t expected his daughter would actually take action and rescue
Huazheng. He was stunned for a moment, before understanding why: if he killed the
barbarian girl, Guo Jing would surely turn against his daughter, and they’d become
enemies. He snorted, thinking: “To turn against is to turn against; how could I even
be scared of this boy?” But with one glance at his daughter, he saw her expression
was one of misery and pain, but obviously also of feeling intertwined with someone
in a thousand ways – unable to part, unable to leave. Deep down, he couldn’t help
trembling: this was exactly the same look that his wife, on the verge of death, had
on her face. Huang Rong had always been very similar in looks to her departed
mother. Back then, that emotional event had affected Huang Yaoshi like a dementia,
like a madness; although it had been fifteen years, every day since it was as if it was
still right before his very eyes. Now, to see it suddenly appear on his daughter’s face,
made him realise that her feelings of love for Guo Jing were already rooted bone-
deep. Reflecting that this was precisely the natural character of her father and
mother – self-willed and disposed towards irresolvable passion – he gave a long sigh,
and intoned:

“Earth and heaven

Are a stove,
Nature is the worker!

Yin and Yang are

As charcoal,
Thousand things are copper!”

Huang Rong stood still, teardrops falling slowly.

Han Baoju gave Zhu Cong’s lapels a tug. “What’s he singing about?” he asked, in a
whisper.

“It’s from a composition written by someone called Jia, during the Han Dynasty,”
answered Zhu Cong, also whispering. “It’s saying that existence on this world – for
mankind and the ten thousand creatures – is an anguish just like that of suffering
incineration inside a huge furnace.”

“He’s trained to such a high standard!” spluttered Han Baoju. “What anguish can he
have?”

Zhu Cong, shaking his head, gave no response.

“Rong’er,” said Huang Yaoshi gently, “after we go back, you are never to see this
boy again.”

“Dad, no!” said Huang Rong. “I still have to get to Yuezhou. Teacher told me to go
and be the Chief of the Beggar Gang.”

Huang Yaoshi smiled faintly. “Being the head of the tramps,” he said, “is a serious
hassle, and it’s not much fun.”
“I promised teacher I’d do it,” said Huang Rong.

“Well, try it out for a few days, then,” sighed Huang Yaoshi. “When you’re really sick
of it, hand it over to another straight away. And afterwards…are you going to see
this boy or not?”

Huang Rong took a glance at Guo Jing and saw him gazing back at her. The look in
his eyes was one of overflowing tenderness, of a love infinite in depth. She turned
her head back towards her father.

“Dad,” she said, “he’s going to marry someone else; so I’ll marry someone else, too.
I’m the only one in his heart, just as he’s the only one in my heart.”

Huang Yaoshi laughed. “The daughter of Peachblossom Island cannot lose out, so
that’s not too bad. Now, suppose the man you marry doesn’t let you be friends with
him…?”

Huang Rong gave a snort. “Who’d dare to stop me?” she said. “I’m your daughter!”

“Silly girl!” said Huang Yaoshi. “It won’t be a few more years before dad dies.”

“Dad!” sobbed Huang Rong. “The way you treat me, would I really be able to live on
for much longer?”

“So are you still going to be with this heartless, faithless boy?” enquired Huang
Yaoshi.

“Each extra day I stay with him is an extra day of happiness,” said Huang Rong. She
said this gently, but with an expression of utter misery.

While father and daughter asked and answered each other like this, the Jiangnan
Freaks – despite being eccentric in character – couldn’t help but listen agape. In the
Song era, the proscriptions advised by propriety were followed with the most
particularity; but because Huang Yaoshi was a man who ‘opposed Tang and Wu and
despised Zhou and Kong’ and who perversely went against the conventions of the
age, it had led to everyone calling him by the given title of “Eastern Heretic”. As for
Huang Rong, she’d been moulded by her father since youth, and regarded marriage
as marriage and love as love; when had thoughts of rectitude and chastity ever
passed through her little head? This kind of conversation, shocking by the standards
of the time, would set tongues wagging incessantly in disapproval among anyone
overhearing it. But father and daughter were even talking as if it were only natural –
just like common, idle, household chat. Despite the open-mindedness of Ke Zhen’e
and the others, they couldn’t help shaking their heads quietly.

Guo Jing, who was feeling very bad, wanted to say a few comforting words to Huang
Rong, but he’d always been wooden in speech. Now, he knew even less what was
the right thing to say. Huang Yaoshi glanced at his daughter, then glanced at Guo
Jing. Lifting his head towards the heavens, he suddenly roared long and loud. The
sound shook the treetops and echoed from the mountain valley, startling some
magpies; they rose in a flock and flew around the forest.

“Magpies, magpies!” called out Huang Rong. “The cowherd meets the weaving-girl
tonight. Why no hurry to build the bridge?”
Huang Yaoshi grabbed a handful of loose stones from the ground and hurled them up
into the air. One by one, a dozen magpies dropped, most dying where they fell.
“What bridge is there to build?” shouted Huang Yaoshi. “Deep passion, great love: all
empty fantasy in the end. More fitting that it die an early death!” He spun around
and floated off. In just the space of a blink, the others saw his blue-robed figure
disappear beyond the back of the woods.

Tuolei hadn’t understood what they’d been talking about; he knew only that Guo Jing
was unwilling to turn his back on agreements from the past. “Brother,” he said,
happily, “here’s hoping you soon succeed with your big objective. See you again
when you’re back north!”

Huazheng added: “Keep this pair of white eagles by your side, and come back
someday soon!”

Guo Jing nodded his head. “Tell my mum,” he said, “that I’m sure I’ll put the enemy
to the blade, and get revenge for father.”

Zhebie and Bo’erhu also took their leave of Guo Jing, and the four rode out of the
forest together.

“What are your plans?” Han Xiaoying asked Guo Jing.

Guo Jing said: “I…I plan firstly to go and find Teacher Hong.”

Ke Zhen’e nodded his head. “That’s right,” he remarked. “Master Huang went to our
households; our families must have been very worried. We ought therefore to return.
When you see Chief Hong, you must invite His Eminence to come to Jiaxing and
convalesce. We’ll keep a firm guard over him, and assure you his safety.” Guo Jing
promised to do so, took leave of his six teachers, and then returned to Lin’an with
Huang Rong.

That evening, the two of them went back into the palace for a careful look around
the imperial kitchens, but there was no sign of Hong Qigong anywhere. They found
and interrogated several eunuchs, all of whom said that there hadn’t been any
intruders or trespassers appearing in the palace these past few days. Guo Jing and
Huang Rong felt they could put their minds at rest somewhat. Although Hong Qigong
had lost his martial arts, he still had the resourcefulness and experience of a great
master; they expected he’d surely had a plan of escape. And by now, it was already
drawing near to the time of the Beggar Gang’s big meeting – they couldn’t delay any
longer. Early next morning, they immediately rode westward together.

At this time, half of China was already occupied by the Jins, the boundary a line from
the River Huai in the East to Sanguan in the West. What remained for those of the
Southern Song were seventeen provinces in all: Eastern and Western Liangzhe;
Eastern and Western Huainan; Eastern and Western Jiangnan; Northern and
Southern Jinghu; Southern Jingxi; the five regions of Bashu; Fujian; and Eastern and
Western Guangnan. (*) The nation’s influence was in faltering decline, its territory
shrinking by the day.

On this particular day, Guo Jing and Huang Rong were coming to the border of
Western Jiangnan province. (*) While going along a mountain ridge, there was a
sudden blast of cold wind across it, and a big layer of jet-black clouds came floating
over fast from the east. Right now, it happened to be the height of summer, but rain
falls as it pleases; even before the dark, rumbling clouds had arrived overhead, there
was a thunderclap, and it was already showering down with soyabean-sized
raindrops.

Guo Jing opened an umbrella and went to shelter Huang Rong with it, but a violent,
unexpected gust of wind burst over, ripped off the parasol, and carried it far away,
leaving only a naked umbrella-handle in Guo Jing’s hands. Huang Rong, laughing
loudly, said: “How come you’ve got a Dog-Beating Stick, too?”

Guo Jing laughed with her. Looking ahead along the ridge, there was nowhere in
sight where they could escape from the rain. Guo Jing took off his jacket, wanting to
use it to shield Huang Rong. “We can cover up for a bit longer,” said Huang Rong,
smiling, “but we’ll still get wet!”

“Then let’s walk quicker,” said Guo Jing.

Huang Rong shook her head. “Jing gege,” she said, “here’s a story from a book. One
day, it was raining down hard. Everybody travelling on the road was rushing to and
fro. But there was one man who just walked at an unhurried pace. The other people
were surprised, and asked him why the heck he wasn’t running. The man said: ‘It’s
raining down hard ahead of me, too. Won’t running over there still get me soaked
just the same?’”

“True!” laughed Guo Jing.

The issue of Huazheng suddenly arose in Huang Rong’s mind. “The future ahead is
already doomed with misery and heartbreak,” she thought. “No matter how we run,
in the end we can’t escape, can’t hide. It’s just as if we’d encountered rain while
along the ridge of a mountain.”

There amidst the downpour, the two of them walked slowly until they’d left the ridge.
Seeing a peasant household, they went in to shelter from the rain. As both were
totally soaked from head to toe, they changed into clothing borrowed from the
peasant family. Huang Rong put on the worn garments of an old farmer’s wife, which
she found amusing, when suddenly she heard a series of disappointed groans from
Guo Jing in the neighbouring room. Rushing over, she asked: “What is it?”

Guo Jing, an upset look on his face, had in his hands the painting given to him by
Huang Yaoshi. It had so happened that the painting had been damaged by rainwater
during the downpour just now. “What a shame!” repeated Huang Rong.

Taking the canvas from him for a look, she saw that its paper was torn, its strokes of
paint blurred. There was already no way it could be refitted and restored. She was
just about to put it down when she suddenly noticed that a few extra lines of dim
writing had appeared by the side of the poem annotated by Han Shizhong. A closer
look revealed that these words had been written on paper interlying between the
painting and the sheet it had been mounted on; if it hadn’t been for the painting
getting soaked, they definitely wouldn’t be visible. The disintegration of the rain-
soaked paper had made the writing fragmented and difficult to distinguish, but by
looking at the form in which it was arranged, Huang Rong could make out there were
four sentences in all.
With careful discernment, she read out slowly:

“…posthumous writings of the late…,

…iron palm…,
Middle…peak,
Second…joint.”

The remaining words were so damaged that there was absolutely no way they could
be identified.

“It’s about The Posthumous Writings of the Late General!” called out Guo Jing.

“Indeed!” said Huang Rong. “There’s no doubt. That bastard Wanyan Honglie
assumed the Writings were hidden by the side of the palace’s Cuihan Hall. But
although he got the stone box, the Writings were nowhere to be seen. It looks like
the location of the Writings hinges critically on these four lines of text.”

After murmuring “…iron palm…middle…joint…” for a while, she added: “That day at
The Villa of the Gathering Clouds, at one point I heard Martial Brother Lu and your
six teachers discussing that deceitful guy, Qiu Qianren. They said he was the Chief of
the Iron Palm Gang or something. Daddy said that the might of the Iron Palm Gang
rocked Sichuan and Hunan; its prestige and reputation really were awesome. Could it
be that the Writings actually have something to do with Qiu Qianren?”

Guo Jing shook his head. “As long as it's Qiu Qianren playing up,” he said, “I’m not
believing any of it!”

“I wouldn’t believe it either!” said Huang Rong, with a little laugh.

On the fourteenth day of the seventh month, they arrived within the borders of
Northern Jinghu province. (*) The next day, before the stroke of noon, they’d
already reached Yuezhou. Leading their horses and loosing the eagles, they asked
around for directions, and came by path to Yueyang Tower.

After going up into a nearby restaurant and ordering food and drink, they admired
the scenery of Dongting Lake: a sweeping vastness of one blue-green hue spread
across ten thousand qing. Towering mountains stood out in every direction, a ring of
misty, lofty peaks arrayed in an arc of awe-inspiring majesty. Compared to the hazy
waters of Tai Lake, this spectacle was something else entirely. While they enjoyed
the view, the food arrived. The cuisine of Hunan was very heavily spiced, and Guo
Jing and Huang Rong both felt that it wasn’t to their taste; but with such big dishes
and such long chopsticks, it nevertheless had a rather generous spirit to it.

The two of them ate some of the food and looked around at the verses inscribed on
the four walls. Guo Jing perused Fan Zhongyan’s Remarks on Yueyang Tower in
silence, but he couldn’t help reading out loud when he reached the sentence:

“Be first under heaven to worry,

And last under heaven to rejoice.”

“What do you think about this couplet?” asked Huang Rong.

Guo Jing re-read it silently, pondering to himself and giving no immediate response.

“The writer of this essay was Fan, ‘The Just Official’,” said Huang Rong. “At that
time, he rocked the Western Xia with his might; a literary talent and an astute
tactician, you could say that he had absolutely no equal on earth.”

Guo Jing asked her to describe some of Fan Zhongyan’s achievements, and listened
as she talked about his various childhood hardships – the poverty of his family, the
early death of his father, the remarriage of his mother – and, after he’d attained
wealth and honour, everything he did in consideration for the commonfolk. A grave
feeling of reverence rising unstoppably within him, Guo Jing solemnly poured a
ricebowlful of wine. “‘Be first under heaven to worry, and last under heaven to
rejoice.’” he said. “This is surely what’s in the mind of great heroes and great
champions!” With that, he lifted his head and drained the wine in a single shot.

Huang Rong laughed. “Although this sort of person is good for sure,” she said,
“there’s so much worry under heaven – and so little joy – that wouldn’t he never get
to rejoice in his life? I couldn’t be like that.”

Guo Jing gave a slight smile.

“Jing gege,” continued Huang Rong, her voice getting lower, “I don’t care whether
there’s worry or joy under heaven. If you aren’t by my side, I’m never going to be
joyful.” Her brows were knitted with despair.

“I won’t be joyful either,” remarked Guo Jing, hanging his head. He knew that she
was thinking about how the two of them were going to end up, and he had no way of
comforting her.

Huang Rong suddenly raised her head and laughed. “Never mind!” she said. “All this
is childishness, anyway. Have you heard anyone sing Fan Zhongyan’s poem Spurn
the Silver Lantern?”

“I haven’t heard it, of course!” said Guo Jing. “Could you tell it to me?”

Huang Rong said: “The concluding passage of the poem goes like this:

‘The life of man is but

A hundred years in all;
Infatuated youth
Ends up with aged pall.

Only in between there’s time,

Briefly youthful in one’s prime.

Why grasp on fleeting fame, catch hold

Of first-class rank and thousand gold?
For how to flee white hairs of old?’”

She followed this by explaining the general meaning of the poem.

Guo Jing commented: “He was telling people not to waste their best years by using
them up in seeking fame, gaining office, getting rich, and so on. And that’s very well
said.”

Huang Rong, in a whisper, recited:

“Wine into the worried stomach

Changes into lovesick tears.”

Guo Jing gazed at her. “Is that a poem of Fan Zhongyan, too?” he asked.

“Yes,” said Huang Rong. “Great heroes and great champions also aren’t the heartless
sort, you know.”

The two of them drank a few cups to each other, and Huang Rong had a look at the
guests in the restaurant. On the eastern side, she saw three middle-aged beggars
sitting around a square table; although they wore many patches, their clothes were
clean and fresh. By the look of them, they were important figures within the Beggar
Gang who’d come to attend tonight’s big meeting. Besides them, the other guests
were all the usual officials and merchants. The incessant chirp of cicadas could be
heard coming from a big willow tree outside the restaurant.

“All day long,” said Huang Rong, “these cicadas call out ‘zhi le, zhi le’ endlessly, but
whatever they know is unknown. Basically, even among insects there are guys who
boast shamelessly. It makes me think of a particular person, and I rather miss him.”

“Who?” demanded Guo Jing.

“That big talker of bull,” said Huang Rong, smiling, “the Iron Palm’s Qiu ‘Floats-Over-
Water’ Qianren!”

Guo Jing laughed loudly. “That old trickster…!” he began.

He hadn’t finished speaking when suddenly, from a corner of the restaurant, they
heard somebody speaking in a mysterious voice: “Looking down even on ‘Floats-
Over-Water’ Elder Qiu of Iron Palm? That’s some big talk!” Guo Jing and Huang Rong
glanced at where the voice was coming from and saw a middle-aged beggar, with a
swarthy complexion and clad in a tattered jacket, squatting by the corner and
looking at them in snickering laughter.

Guo Jing, seeing that he was a Beggar Gang figure, immediately relaxed. Noticing
that he had an agreeable expression, Guo Jing clasped his hands in respect and said:
“Senior, how about joining us and drinking a cup or three?”

“Sure!” said the beggar, coming over at once.

Huang Rong ordered an extra cup and set of chopsticks from a waiter. Pouring the
cup with wine, she said with a smile: “Please take a seat, and drink up!”

“Beggar here doesn’t deserve a seat,” he answered. Sitting right there on the
floorboards, he took out a broken bowl and a pair of bamboo chopsticks from a
pocket. Extending the bowl, he said: “The leftovers you’re finished with – dump
some over, and they’ll do for me.”

“That’d be a bit too disrespectful!” said Guo Jing. “Whatever dishes senior would like
to eat, we’ll order them up from the kitchen.”

“A beggar does as a beggar looks,” said the beggar. “If he’s one in name only – just
feigning the accent and affecting the appearance – might as well not be a beggar. If
you agree to hand it out, then hand it out. If not, I’m going someplace else to beg
for food!”

Huang Rong took a glance at Guo Jing. “Indeed!” she laughed. “You said it right!”
They then tipped all their leftover food into the broken bowl. The beggar grabbed a
few clumps of cold rice from inside a pocket and, along with the leftovers, began
eating them up zestfully.

Secretly, Huang Rong counted the number of pockets on him: there were three
pockets to a cluster, and three clusters in total – in sum, nine pockets. Having
another look at the three beggars around the other table, each of them was wearing
nine pockets as well, but on their table was a lavish spread of food and drink. Those
three acted as if they hadn’t seen this one beggar, and all along had never so much
as glanced at him; but at times, their expressions carried a faint look of disgust.

As the beggar continued eating heartily, they suddenly heard the sound of footsteps
on the staircase, and three people started coming up. Guo Jing turned his head and
looked towards the stairs.

The first two people were Fatty and Skinny, the two beggars who’d attended Yang
Kang at Lin’an’s Ox Village. The third person was Yang Kang himself. Poking his head
up, he got a big shock at the sudden sight of Guo Jing, still alive; after a moment of
panic, he abruptly turned back and descended the stairs in terror, speaking about
something as he left. Fatty followed him down, but Skinny went over to the table of
the three beggars and said a few things to them in a low voice. The three
immediately stood up and departed down the stairs. Meanwhile, the beggar sitting
on the floor just carried on eating, taking no notice of them at all.

Huang Rong went over to the window and looked down from it, seeing Yang Kang –
thronged by a dozen beggars – departing westward. He hadn’t gone far when he
turned his head and glanced up. Happening to make eye contact with Huang Rong,
he looked away instantly and quickened his pace.

The beggar, having finished eating his meal, licked the bottom of the bowl clean and
clear with his extended tongue, gave his chopsticks a few wipes on his clothing, and
put everything into a pocket. Huang Rong looked at him carefully. His face, covered
with wrinkles, expressed anxiety and hardship; his hands were unusually big –
almost double those of an ordinary person – and on their backs were raised blue
veins, attesting to a lifetime of hard toil.

Guo Jing stood up and folded his hands in respect. “Senior,” he said, “please take a
seat and we can have a talk.”

“I’m not used to sitting on stools!” laughed the beggar. “You two are the disciples of
Chief Hong; although you’re young, we’re actually in the same generation. But as
I’m older by several years, you can address me as ‘big brother’. My name’s ‘Lu’; I’m
called ‘Lu Youjiao’.”

Guo Jing and Huang Rong cast a glance at each other, both thinking: “So he already
knows our background!”

“Big Brother Lu,” said Huang Rong with a smile, “this name of yours really is
interesting!”

Lu Youjiao answered: “It’s often said: ‘A pauper without a stick gets harassed by the
dogs.’ I’m indeed without a stick, but what I do have is a pair of stinky feet. If a
doggie comes to harass me, I take aim straight at the mongrel’s head, and that son-
of-a-b***h gets a foot like so! Then, it’s off running to the wilds with its tail between
its legs.”

Huang Rong laughed and clapped her hands. “Super, super!” she said. “If dogs knew
the meaning of your name, they’d always be keeping their distance!”

“From what Brother Li Sheng’s been saying,” remarked Lu Youjiao, “I know the
deeds the two of you did at Baoying. ‘Having ideals comes not from having advanced
years; lacking ideals, one lives to a hundred in vain.’ How true! It really is a cause
for admiration. No wonder Chief Hong has favoured you like this!” Guo Jing rose and
demurred modestly.

Lu Youjiao continued: “Just now, I heard you two chatting about Qiu Qianren and the
Iron Palm Gang. It seems you’re very much unaware of his circumstances.”

“True,” said Huang Rong. “I ought to ask for your advice.”

“Qiu Qianren is the Chief of the Iron Palm Gang,” said Lu Youjiao. “This Gang holds
huge influence in the regions of Hunan, Hubei and Sichuan. The Gang’s hordes
commit murder and robbery; there’s no evil they won’t do. At first, they used to
collaborate with local officials. Now, they’re getting nastier and nastier – bringing out
the cash to bribe ministers, they’re starting to become officials themselves. Even
more despicable is their secret liaison with the Jin nation, with whom they’ve struck
a deal to work from within in accord with those outsiders.”

“That oldie Qiu Qianren is only good at tricking people,” said Huang Rong. “How’d he
be able to handle such serious power?”

“Qiu Qianren is dangerous in the extreme!” insisted Lu Youjiao. “You ought not to
look askance at him, miss.”

Huang Rong smiled. “Have you met him?” she asked.

“As it turns out, no,” admitted Lu Youjiao. “I hear he lives in seclusion among
obscure mountains, practicing The Divine Art of the Iron Palm; he hasn’t descended
for at least a decade.”

“You’ve been tricked!” said Huang Rong, laughing. “I’ve met him a few times. I’ve
even fought him. And as for whatever ‘Divine Art of the Iron Palm’…” Remembering
how Qiu Qianren had feigned diarrhoea and run away, all she could do was just gaze
at Guo Jing and giggle.

Lu Youjiao gave her a stern look. He stated: “Although I’m not aware of what dirty
tricks they’ve been playing, the Iron Palm Gang has rather flourished in recent
years; you really ought not to belittle them lightly.”
“Well said, Big Brother Lu!” offered Guo Jing hurriedly, worried he was getting angry.
“Rong’er just loves to joke around.”

“Since when was I joking around?” said Huang Rong with a laugh. Clutching her
abdomen and imitating Qiu Qianren’s voice, she added: “Ouch, ouch! I’ve got a
stomach-ache!” Her antics made Guo Jing recall that particular spectacle, and he
couldn’t help letting out a laugh too.

Huang Rong saw he was laughing as well, but instantly restrained her mirth and
changed the subject by asking: “Big Brother Lu, are you acquainted with those three
who were dining here just now?”

Lu Youjiao gave a sigh. “The two of you aren’t outsiders,” he said, “so you may have
already heard Chief Hong mention the internal division of our Gang into two groups:
the ‘Clean Clothes’ and ‘Dirty Clothes’ factions.”

“Haven’t heard teacher talk of it,” said Guo Jing and Huang Rong together.

“The division within the Gang is fundamentally not a good thing,” said Lu Youjiao.
“Chief Hong is extremely unhappy about it. His Eminence has expended an enormous
amount of thought and effort, but all along hasn’t been able to get these two factions
to join together as one. Now, under Chief Hong, the Beggar Gang has four elders in
all…”

“This I’ve heard teacher mention,” interjected Huang Rong. Because Hong Qigong
was still in this world, she didn’t want to raise the issue of him having charged her
with taking over the Chief’s position.

Lu Youjiao nodded his head. “I’m the fourth-ranked elder,” he continued. “All those
three who were here just now are also elders.”

“I get it!” said Huang Rong. “You’re the head of the ‘Dirty Clothes’ faction, and
they’re of the ‘Clean Clothes’ faction!”

“Eh? How did you know?” asked Guo Jing.

“Look how dirty Big Brother Lu’s clothes are!” said Huang Rong. “But the others’
clothes were really clean. Big Brother Lu, I reckon the ‘Dirty Clothes’ faction are no
good; dressing so stinkily, so sloppily – it isn’t comfortable in the slightest! People in
this faction of yours should wash their clothes more often. Wouldn’t that just make
both factions the same?”

Lu Youjiao was furious. “You’re a little miss from a moneyed family,” he fumed. “Of
course you’d be annoyed by stinking beggars!” With a stamp of a foot, he stood up.
Guo Jing moved to apologise for the offence, but the angry Lu Youjiao just stormed
off down the stairs, without even turning his head.

Huang Rong stuck out her tongue. “Jing gege,” she said, “I offended that Big Brother
Lu. Don’t tell me off.”

Guo Jing just smiled.

Huang Rong added: “I was really worried just now.”

“Worried about what?” said Guo Jing.

Huang Rong had a serious expression. “Just worried he’d lift up his foot and give you
a kick. Wouldn’t that have been awful for you?”

“Why’d he kick me all of a sudden?” asked Guo Jing. “Even if you said something to
offend him, there’s still no use kicking people.”

Huang Rong, pursing her lips with a slight smile, didn’t respond. Guo Jing just sat
there in stupefaction, pondering uncomprehendingly.

Huang Rong sighed, and said: “Why don’t you think a little about what his name
implies?”

Guo Jing had a sudden realisation. “So!” he shouted. “This is your roundabout way of
calling me a dog!” He leaped up, motioning to tickle her as punishment. Huang Rong,
giggling, dodged his outstretched hands.
Chapter 27 – In front of the Xuanyuan Platform

Part 1 – Translated by Bundak & Foxs, Edited by Eliza Bennet

While the two were joking around, there were footsteps coming from the staircase,
the three old beggars who just went out with Yang Kang returned. They walk straight
towards Guo Jing and Huang Rong’s table then bowed in respect.

The middle beggar had fair skin and plump, his face was full of white beard. If his
clothes were not full of patches, he would look like a rich and noble gentleman. He
smiled before he even spoke; his face was gay and friendly, he said, “That beggar
surnamed Lu has just secretly carried out his poisonous hand against the two of you.
We did not like what we saw; therefore, we come here to help.”

Guo Jing and Huang Rong were startled, they asked, “What poisonous hand?”

That beggar asked, “That old beggar was not willing to dine with you, was he?”

Huang Rong shivered with fear, she asked, “Did he put poison in our food?”

The beggar sighed and said, “It is our Beggar Clan’s misfortune that we have such
crafty traitor among us. This old beggar is highly skilled in using poison; as soon as
his finger lightly flicked, the poison hidden in his finger nail would immediately mixed
with the food and wine; even a deity would not suspect. Your poisoning is already
deep; in an hour time nobody would be able to save your lives.”

Huang Rong did not believe what he said, she asked, “We do not have any enmity
against him, why would he poison us?”

The beggar replied, “Most likely you two said something offensive to him. Please
hurry and take this antidote, only then the two of you can be saved.” After speaking
he took out a package of powdered medicine from his pocket and put it into two wine
cups and poured the wine in then he implored Jing, Rong two people to drink it
immediately.

Just a moment ago Huang Rong saw them went to see Yang Kang, she was
suspicious. How could they take some medicine just like that based on what he just
said? So she asked, “That gentleman surnamed Yang is our acquaintance. Could the
three of you invite him to come and see us?”
“Of course,” that beggar replied, “But that traitorous disciple’s poison is too severe.
You should take this antidote quickly, or otherwise it will be too late.”

Huang Rong said, “We are extremely grateful for your good intention. Would you
please sit down and drink several cups with us? I often thought about the Beggar
Clan’s eleventh Clan Leader single handedly battled a group of warriors at Beigu
Mountain; using only a stick and his pair of palms to strike down the five tyrants of
Luoyang; what a hero he was.”

During the time she and Guo Jing were together with Hong Qigong binding some
woods to make a raft at MingXia [Bright Red Cloud] island, Hong Qigong would often
tell her stories about some past major events within the Beggar Clan, so she would
not be completely ignorant when she became the Clan Leader in the future. That
Beggar Clan’s eleventh Clan Leader’s achievement was one of the stories she heard
from Hong Qigong. When the three old beggars heard her suddenly talk about
former Clan Leader they look at each other in astonishment, they were wondering
how a youngster like her would know about such matter.

Huang Rong again said, “The Hong Bangzhu’s [Clan Leader] Eighteen Dragon
Subduing Palms have no equal under the heaven, I wonder how many stances have
the three of you learned?”

Ashamed look appeared on the three beggars’ faces; they had not learned even one
stance from the Clan Leader’s Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms, they were inferior
even from an eight-bag disciple Li Sheng who mastered one stance ‘Divine Dragon
Swings its tail’.

Huang Rong continued, “That Lu Zhanglao [Elder Lu] who poisoned us just a
moment ago; I think his skill is just ordinary. Last month the Western Poison Ouyang
Feng invited me to drink three poisoned wine, now that was somewhat better. Why
don’t you drink these two cups of poisoned wine yourselves?” She shoved the two
cups with powdered medicine in front of the three beggars.

The three beggars’ countenances slightly changed; they knew she was purposely
talking nonsense and was not willing to drink the medicine. The Elder with the rich
man appearance smiled and said, “Miss is suspicious, naturally we cannot force you.
Only our good intention will be wasted. Let me just show one thing to convince Miss.
Please take a look at my eyes; tell me if you see anything unusual.”

Guo Jing and Huang Rong looked at his eyes, only to see a pair of narrow eyes on
the middle of a meaty fat face, like a pair of two slits on his face; but the eyeballs
were glistening, they looked very clear and bright. “What’s so strange about his
eyes?” Huang Rong wondered in her heart, “They look like a pair of sparkling pig
eyes.”

That beggar continued, “You two look into my eyes, surely you may not lose your
concentration. Now you are feeling your eyelids are heavy, your minds are losing
consciousness, your whole bodies are tired and weary; these are the signs of
poisoning. Just close your eyes to sleep.” His voice was soothing and pleasing to the
ears while intoxicating at the same time, making Guo Jing and Huang Rong felt really
tired and sleepy; as if their strength was drained from their bodies.
Huang Rong slightly felt something was wrong; she tried to turn her head to avoid
gazing at his eyes, but it seemed like she captivated by his eyes, she could not help
looking back at him.

That beggar again said, “We are here by the lake side, the air is so cool and
refreshing. You two should sleep soundly in this cool breeze. Sleep! Sleep! It is
extremely comfortable. Sleep nicely!” As he spoke, his voice sounded increasingly
gentle, sweet, and soothing. Guo Jing and Huang Rong unconsciously yawned
repeatedly, put their heads down on the table and fell fast asleep.

Without knowing how many hours had passed, two people finally woke up dazed and
confused; cool breeze caressed their bodies, made them feel the chill in the air. Their
ears faintly heard a noise similar the sound of waves of the ocean. Slowly they
opened their eyes and saw a clear bright moon that just rose up behind the eastern
side of the mountain amidst a cloudy fog.

Two people were very shocked. The sun was still high up when they were drinking
wine at the front of the tavern at Yueyang, how come in a blink of an eye the sky
had turned dark? Dazed and confused they tried to stand up, they were even more
shocked to feel their hands and feet were bound by ropes. They tried to shout but
their mouths were stuffed with cloths, pricking and hurting their tongues.

Huang Rong knew it must be that white and fat beggar; but how he did it, she had
no idea, for in that moment she could not think too much. She cast a sidelong glance
and saw Guo Jing lying beside her, making an effort to struggle free; her anxiety
was, for the most part, gone.

By this time Guo Jing had already possessed a powerful internal energy, he was able
to break an even stronger rope. Who would have thought that as he exerted strength
to his hands and feet, the rope on his body created ‘zheng, zheng’ noise, the rope
was not damaged. Turned out it was made from braided cow rawhide mixed with
steel wire.

Guo Jing wanted to add his strength and try again, unexpectedly he felt something
cold on his face; a piece of ice-cold sword blade was softly patted twice on his cheek.
He turned his head and saw four young beggars, each with an unsheathed weapon
guarding them at their sides. He had no choice but stopped struggling. He turned his
head to look at Huang Rong.

Huang Rong calmed herself down; she knew she needed to assess the overall
situation first, and then try to find a way to escape. She turned her body around and
was stunned. Turned out they were at the top of a small peak. Under the moonlight
she clearly saw lake water all around them. A thin fog hung low on ten of thousands
‘qing’ [unit of area, 1 qing is approximately 6.67 Hectares or 16.47 acres] of bluish
green waves. She thought, “It turns out that we are captured and brought to the
Mount Jun’s peak on Dongting Lake. How come I didn’t feel anything along the way?”

She turned her head again and saw there was a tall platform a dozen of ‘zhang’s
away. The area around the platform was packed with rows after rows of hundreds of
beggars. They sat quietly; the moonlight had not illuminated these people yet, which
was the reason why Huang Rong did not notice them previously. She was inwardly
happy, “Ah, right! Today is the fifteenth day of the seventh month; it's the Beggar
Clan General Assembly. I must think of a way to speak, then I’ll pass down Shifu’s
command, how can the beggars here refuse to accept?”

After a long time, the group of beggars still had not shown any activity. Huang Rong
could not bear it any longer, but she could not move and had to endure patiently.
About half an hour later, her limbs went numb. She saw the moon slowly rose to the
middle of the sky, illuminating half of the tall platform. Huang Rong thought, “Li Tai
wrote a poem, ‘Pale moon swept through the lake, the surface was clear like a jade
mirror, standing on Mount Jun painting a picture.’ He went up the mountain to enjoy
the moon that night, so free and unrestrained. Tonight the scenery is the same, but
Jing Gege and I are bound in here. It really is irritating and funny at the same time!”

The moonlight slowly moved, shining on the three characters written on the side of
the platform, ‘xuan yuan [a name for the Yellow Emperor] tai’ [platform]. Huang
Rong recalled the story told by her father about great tales of the Jianghu world.
Legend has it that the Huang Di [Yellow Emperor] cast [the word ‘cast’ here is as in
‘casting metal from a mold’] a Ding [tripod, used for drinking utensil. From
Wikipedia: a type of ancient Chinese vessel with three legs] on the bank of the
Dongting lake. When the ding was finished, he rode a dragon and ascended to the
heaven. She believed this platform was built to commemorate that event.

About the time it took to make tea later, the tall platform was completely engulfed
by the bright moon. Suddenly she heard ‘bonk, bonk, bonk’ three times then it
stopped, then ‘bonk, bonk, bonk’ again. This pattern was repeated, sometimes slow
sometimes fast, sometimes high, sometimes low, as if it followed certain rhythm.
Turned out each one of the beggars held a small stick in their hands and they tapped
the mountain rock in front of them. Huang Rong silently counted the tapping, she
counted nine by nine, eighty one times when the noise stopped and four people
stood up from the crowd of beggars. Under the bright moonlight she could see them
clearly; they were Lu Youjiao and the three elders from the Clean Clothes Faction.

These four beggar elders walked towards the Xuanyuan Platform and stood on its
four corners. The crowd of beggars also stood up and cupped their fists across their
chests, bowing in respect. The white fat beggar waited until the crowd was seated
and then with a clear voice said, “Brothers, the Beggar Clan met a disaster, an
astronomical catastrophe, our Hong Lao Bangzhu [Old Clan Leader Hong] returned to
heaven in Lin’an prefecture!”

At this word, the crowd of beggars fell into a complete silence. Suddenly someone
cried out and threw himself to the ground. Everywhere the beggars beat their chests
and stomped their feet, crying and wailing loudly. The noise of grieving shook the
forest and echoed back from the surface of the lake down below.

Guo Jing was shocked, “We tried to find Shifu everywhere and could not find him,
turned out he has passed away.” He could not help shedding some tears, only his
mouth was stuffed with some cloths, or else he would have wailed out too. Huang
Rong meanwhile thought: “This fat guy is not a good person, he employed a
nefarious way to capture us. I doubt it if we can believe what he said; he must be
spreading up false rumors.”

The crowd of beggars remembered Hong Qigong’s kindness, everybody cried out
louder and louder. Suddenly Lu Youjiao called out, “Peng Zhanglao, who personally
saw Bangzhu returned to heaven?”
That white and plump Peng Zhanglao replied, “Lu Zhanglao, if Bangzhu was still
alive; who has eaten leopard’s gall and tiger’s heart, dared to put a curse on him?
The one who saw him returning to heaven is here. Yang Xianggong [honorable
master], would you please tell the brothers here?”

Someone stood up from among the crowd of beggars; it was none other than Yang
Kang. With the dark green bamboo stick in his hand he walked to the front of the
platform. The crowd of beggars grew quiet, except for some continuing soft sobbing
noise here and there.

Yang Kang slowly said, “About a month ago Hong Bangzhu was having a martial art
contest with someone in Lin’an prefecture; unfortunately he lost and was killed.”

As the crowd of beggars listened to him, their anger rose; one after another they
shouted, “Who is the enemy? Tell us! Tell us!” “Bangzhu had divine power, how could
he lose?” “Certainly the enemy ambushed him; our Bangzhu was overwhelmed by
sheer numbers.”

After Guo Jing listened to Yang Kang’s speech, his grief turns to anger; immediately
his heart was relieved and he thought, “A month ago, Shifu was obviously with us.
Turned out he is just talking nonsense.”

Meanwhile Huang Rong thought, “This kid must be a follower of the old swindler Qiu
Qianren; he has completely mastered his stinky skill of spreading lies and deceiving
people.”

Yang Kang spread out both of his hands, waiting for the crowd of beggars to calm
down, then he continued, “The ones who killed Bangzhu is the Peach Blossom
Island’s Master, the Eastern Heretic Huang Yaoshi, and the Quanzhen Sect’s seven
thieves.”

Huang Yao Shi had not left his island for some time; therefore, nine out of ten
beggars did not know much about his reputation. The Quanzhen Seven Masters’
prestige, however, had shaken the world far and wide. The beggars who attended
this general assembly on Mount Jun today were not rookies within the Beggar Clan;
naturally they understood very well Quanzhen Seven Masters’ capability. They did
not care what kind of man Huang Yaoshi was, but if the Quanzhen Seven Masters
joined hands, although Bangzhu’s martial art was outstanding, he was but one
person and certainly not their match. Everyone was very grieved and angered. Some
opened up their mouths to curse, some others stood up and wanted to go to avenge
their Clan Leader.

Actually Yang Kang heard Ouyang Feng said that he had severely injured Hong
Qigong with his Toad Stance and that Hong Qigong’s life was difficult to protect. He
also thought that he had stabbed Guo Jing to death inside the imperial palace; who
would have thought that they met again at the tavern in Yueyang city. He was
shocked; thereupon he incited the three Beggar Clan’s Elders to find a way to
capture those two people with the intention of killing them later. He believed if
today’s matter would someday leak out to Huang Yaoshi, the Quanzhen Seven
Masters and the Six Freaks of Jiangnan; they would certainly find him to seek
revenge. The Six Freaks’ martial art skills were not too high, so he was not afraid of
them; but the Eastern Heretic and the Seven Masters were not a small matter.
Thereupon he deliberately put the blame on Hong Qigong’s murder on their
shoulders, so that the Beggar Clan would get out of their nest in full strength. With
one swoop the Peach Blossom Island and the Quanzhen Sect would be destroyed and
he would be saved from his trouble.

Amidst the clamoring noise of the beggars, Jian Zhanglao rose up from his corner on
the east and said, “Brothers, listen to what I say.” This man’s beard and eyebrows
were white, he was rather short; but as he opened his mouth the crowd grew silent,
revealing his prominent position in the Beggar Clan. They heard him said, “Presently
we have two important matters. First, we must follow Bangzhu’s last order to elect
the Nineteenth Clan Leader. Second, we must discuss how we are going to seek
revenge for Bangzhu.” The crowd of beggars shouted their approvals.

Lu Youjiao spoke loudly, “But first we must hold a memorial service for Lao
Bangzhu’s brave soul.” He scooped some dirt from the ground and kneaded it into a
clay figurine, treated it as Hong Qigong’s image. He put the figurine on the side of
Xuanyuan Platform and then he knelt down and cried. The crowd of beggars broke
out into weeping and wailing again.

Huang Rong thought, “Shifu is alive and well; what do these stinky beggars cry for?
Humph, without any reason you captured and bound Jing Gege and me, and now you
are grieving for nothing. You get what you deserve.”

After the crowd of beggars cried their hearts out, Jian Zhanglao clapped his hands
three times; the beggars collected themselves and stopped crying. Jian Zhanglao
said, “Brothers, in the Mount Jun General Assembly at Yuezhou today we were
supposed to listen to Hong Bangzhu appoint his successor. It appeared Lao Bangzhu
had met some unfortunate incidents and had returned to heaven; so we must make
decision based on Lao Bangzhu’s last order. If he did not leave any order, then the
Four Elders will convene and elect the new Bangzhu. This is in accordance with the
custom the Beggar Clan observes from generation to generation. Brothers, isn’t this
so?” The crowd of beggars voiced their agreement.

Peng Zhanglao said, “Yang Xianggong, just before he returned to heaven, what is
Lao Bangzhu’s last order? Will you please tell us?”

Electing the new Clan Leader was the Beggar Clan’s number one priority. The Beggar
Clan’s prosperity or decline, its success or failure, for the most part depended on the
Clan Leader’s virtue and capability. In the past the seventeenth Clan Leader, Qian
Bangzhu, was dim and spiritless; his martial art skill was high, but he handled
matters improperly. The Clean Clothes Faction and the Dirty Clothes Faction had
endless fights; hence the Beggar Clan power suffered a large decline. When Hong
Qigong assumed the Clan Leader position he forcefully suppressed the internal strife
between these two factions. The Beggar Clan once again arose to become a strong
organization within the Jianghu.

Part 2 - Translated by Foxs, Edited by Eliza Bennet

These past events were known to the group of beggars attending the assembly; as
they heard that they were about to receive the order of their Clan Leader, they
listened with complete attention, holding their breaths and not making any noise.

Yang Kang grabbed the green bamboo stick with both hands and lifted it high up
above his head. With a clear and bright voice he said, “Hong Bangzhu was
surrounded by traitors and suffered heavy injury; his life was in terrible danger. I hid
him in the cellar of my humble home from the pursuing traitors. Immediately I called
for a famous doctor to treat the Hong Bangzhu’s injury. Unfortunately his injury was
too heavy and we were unable to save his life.”

Listening to this point the beggars broke out in sobs. Yang Kang paused for moment
before continuing, “Just before he died, Hong Bangzhu handed over this bamboo
stick and ordered me to bear the heavy responsibility by becoming the Beggar Clan’s
nineteenth clan leader.”

Listening to this, the beggars were surprised; they never had thought that the heavy
responsibility of the Beggar Clan Leader could be entrusted to this youngster with
playboy appearance.

At Qu Shagu’s inn in the Ox Village of Lin’an Yang Kang had accidentally acquired
this green bamboo stick. Then he noticed how the fat and skinny two beggars were
exceptionally respectful toward him. He was astonished, but did not reveal anything
to those two beggars. Along the way he fished for information on the origin of that
bamboo stick. The two beggars saw him with the stick in his hand, they certainly
answered everything without concealing anything. By the time they reached
Yuezhou, Yang Kang had gathered about 60, 70% of the Beggar Clan’s inside story.
The only thing he did not know was classified information within the clan; since when
he asked, the two beggars would not answer. He thought the Beggar Clan was a
huge organization, and the Clan Leader held the greatest power and authority. In
any case Hong Qigong’s death was unverifiable, so he decided to seize the
opportunity to become the Clan Leader, and then he would have authority over
millions of brethrens. He had calculated it carefully and could not find any flaw in his
plan, thereupon he arranged a set of lies and went as far as telling the great
assembly the fake news about Hong Qigong’s death and his self appointment as the
next Clan Leader.

He was able to talk with a straight face in the midst of several hundreds of bold and
outstanding warriors of the Beggar Clan; his face did not show the slightest bit of
blushing, his words flowed freely. He knew perfectly well that if his lie was exposed,
the group of beggar would turn him into mincemeat on the spot; but he thought if he
wanted to achieve an important matter he surely would have to brave the risk. Much
less Hong Qigong had died and the bamboo stick was in his hand, Guo Jing and
Huang Rong were captured, so there was no immediate danger for him. Once he
becomes the Clan Leader he will gain endless advantages; these millions of beggars
would pave his way to reach the ‘unlimited riches and honor’ he so desired.

The Clean Clothes Faction’s Jian, Peng and Liang, three Elders were pleased to hear
Yang Kang’s speech. Actually the Beggar Clan was divided into the Clean and Dirty
Clothes Factions. Other than wearing clothes full of patches, the Clean Clothes
members led an ordinary life just like common people. These people were originally
Jianghu’s warriors who either admired the Beggar Clan’s chivalrous deeds that they
joined the Clan, or was in good term with a Beggar Clan disciple; they were by no
means beggars. The Dirty Clothes Faction members actually begged for a living; they
observed a strict commandment: they could not use money to buy things, they must
not eat on the same table
with outsiders, they must not fight with people who did not know martial art. Each
faction held their own principles and the dispute between two factions continued.
Hong Qigong was a fair leader; he would wear clean clothes the first year, and dirty
clothes the next; year after year he treated the Clean and Dirty Clothes Factions
equally. Begging was the Dirty Clothes Faction’s true color; but Hong Qigong loved to
eat and drink, begging for spoiled soup and cold rice to alleviate his hunger proved
too much for him, therefore, he could not strictly observe the discipline of the Dirty
Clothes Faction.

Among the four elders, Lu Youjiao was the one earned his esteem most. If not for Lu
Youjiao’s hot temper, which spoiled several important business of the Clan, Hong
Qigong would early on assign him to be his successor as the Clan Leader. In this
general assembly in Yuezhou the Clean Clothes Faction was worried because
speaking about morality, martial art and popularity, Lu Youjiao had eight, nine out of
ten chance of being the candidate for the next Clan Leader. Moreover, although the
Clean Clothes Faction had three out of four elders, the Dirty Clothes Faction disciples
held the majority within the Beggar Clan.

The three elders of the Clean Clothes Faction had pondered deeply on various ways
to handle this matter, but remembering Hong Qigong’s prestige nobody dared to act
rashly. Afterwards they saw Yang Kang arrive at Yuezhou with the bamboo stick in
his hand, and they also heard that Hong Qigong was dead. Although they were
genuinely grieved, they also saw this as a good opportunity to gain power over the
Dirty Clothes Faction. That was the reason they agreed to support Yang Kang.

Actually fully respectful yet cautious they had attempted to scout Qigong’s order
earlier; but Yang Kang was sly, he was afraid they might have a change of heart, so
he was not willing to divulge anything until he announced it at the general assembly.
The three elders of the Clean Clothes Faction knew they did not have any chance of
becoming a clan leader, yet they were not disappointed as long as Lu Youjia was not
elected either. They were willing to support this decision wholeheartedly; they
thought Yang Kang was young, it would not be difficult to influence him later.
Moreover, his clothes were magnificent, his choice of cuisine exquisite, he would in
no way show favoritism toward the Dirty Clothes Faction. Thereupon three people
looked at each other and nodded their heads.

Jian Zhanglao said, “The stick in this Yang Xianggong’s [honorable master] hand is
our Clan’s sacred article. If there is anybody among the brothers who has some
doubts, please come forward and inspect it carefully.”

Lu Youjiao cast a sidelong glance toward Yang Kang, he thought, “Can I rely on this
kid to be the Clan Leader, to unite and command the Beggar Clan’s members under
the heaven?” He held out his hand to receive the bamboo stick. He saw that the stick
was dark green crystal clear; it was obviously the stick that was passed on by the
Clan Leader from one generation to the next. He thought, “Hong Bangzhu must be
indebted to him that he passed on this stick to this boy. The former Bangzhu has
issued an order, how can my generation dare not to obey? I must work with
complete dedication to support him, I must not fail the good foundation Hong
Bangzhu has built.” Thereupon he lifted the stick with both hands and respectfully
returned it back to Yang Kang. With a loud and clear voice he said, “We comply with
the Lao Bangzhu’s [Old Clan Leader] last wish; we herewith revere Yang Xianggong
as the Nineteenth Clan Leader of the Beggar Clan.” The crowd cheered.

Guo Jing and Huang Rong could not move their bodies, they could not open their
mouths, all they could do was bitterly groaning in their hearts. Guo Jing thought,
“The Huang Daozhu’s [Island Master] prediction was accurate, Yang Kang dares to
become the Clan Leader. He will certainly create big disaster in the future.”

Huang Rong thought, “This fellow will surely not release us. I wonder how he will
punish us. We’ll have to act accordingly.”

She heard Yang Kang modestly say, “I am young and my knowledge is shallow, I’m
without virtue and powerless. I do not deserve this heavy responsibility.”

Peng Zhanglao said, “Hong Bangzhu had ordered it this way, Yang Xianggong does
not need to be modest. The brethrens will support you with one mind. Yang
Xianggong, please feel at ease.”

“Exactly!” Lu Youjiao said. He coughed and produced thick phlegm, then spat it to
Yang Kang’s face.

Yang Kang had never anticipated this; he was caught unguarded, the phlegm landed
on his right cheek. He was startled and was about to ask when Jian, Peng and Liang
three Elders also spat on his body. “I am finished!” Yang Kang cried out secretly. He
thought his plot had been exposed by the four elders, so he wanted to turn around
and run away, but he knew it would be very difficult to escape so he just resigned to
wait for his violent death. Unexpectedly the Four Elders cupped their fists in front of
their chests to salute him. Yang Kang was confounded and dumbstruck.

The beggars, starting with the most senior, came to him one by one and spat at him,
then they saluted him. Yang Kang was pleasantly surprised and secretly expressed
his admiration, “So they are being respectful to me by spitting at me?”

He did not know that the Beggar Clan always followed their custom and tradition;
they saluted their new clan leader by spitting at him. It was because the beggars all
over the world received insult and disgrace from countless other people, so the new
leader must first receive insult and disgrace from his own members. This custom
actually carried a very profound meaning.

Huang Rong suddenly remembered on the Mingxia [bright red clouds] Island, after
Hong Qigong passed on the Clan Leader position to her he also spat phlegm at her
clothes. She thought it was because of his heavy injury at that time that his saliva
did not reach too far. So she did not understand that spitting saliva was the way to
inaugurate the new Clan Leader. She also remembered Hong Qigong say, “When the
Beggars pay obeisance to you in future, there will be a disgusting ritual. Ah, this will
be hard on you.” Now she knew that her Shifu was afraid she did not like to be dirty
and refuse the Clan Leader position, hence he concealed the truth and did not state
what she would be facing clearly.

For most of the day the beggars performed their inaugurating ritual; after they were
finished they shouted together, “Yang Bangzhu, please go up the Xuanyuan
Platform!”

Yang Kang saw that platform was not too high; he wanted to show off his skill so his
legs kicked the ground and he flew up the platform with a graceful movement.
Although the way he leaped was excellent, the Four Elders were proficient in martial
art so that they could see his skill was flashy but lacking substance, the foundation
was still shallow. However, they realized that he was still young; it was obvious that
to possess this kind of ability he must have received tutelage from a prominent
master, which was also considered quite special.

From the Xuanyuan Platform Yang Kang spoke in loud and clear voice, “Although the
killers of the Old Clean Leader have not been punished, but I managed to capture
their two accomplices.”

His words created an uproar within the group of beggars. They shouted, “Where?
Where?” “Bring them here and we’ll chop them into pieces,” “Don’t kill them with a
saber, let the dogs eat them slowly.”

Guo Jing thought, “Who is this accomplice he captured? I want to take a look.”

“Bring them to the front of the platform!” Yang Kang said with a stern voice.

Peng Zhanglao flew toward Guo Jing and Huang Rong. He grabbed both of them, one
on each hand, and brought them to the front of the platform and threw them to the
ground. Only now did Guo Jing realized, “Bastard! So he meant us,” he silently
cursed.

As Lu Youjiao saw Jing and Rong two people, he was stunned, busily he said,
“Reporting to Bangzhu: these two are the Lao Bangzhu’s disciples; how can they
injure their own master?”

Yang Kang hatefully said, “Exactly because of this we are angrier than ever. These
two deceitfully killed their own master, they are guilty of the most heinous crime.”

Peng Zhanglao said, “Yang Bangzhu witnessed it with his own eyes; how can that be
wrong?”

Among the group of beggars, Li Sheng and Yu Zhaoxing were at Baoying trying to
save Cheng Yaojia. They nearly lost their lives under Ouyang Ke’s hand, fortunately
Guo Jing and Huang Rong came to their rescue. They both felt admiration toward
this couple. Besides, they also knew Hong Qigong was very fond of these two
disciples of his. Therefore, from among the beggars they rushed forward and Li
Sheng called out, “Reporting to Bangzhu: these two are chivalrous heroes;
subordinate is willing to vouch for them with my own life, Lao Bangzhu’s death
definitely has nothing to do with them.”

Yu Zhaoxing called out, “These two are good people; they are very good friends of
ours.”

Liang Zhanglao stared at them and shouted, “If you have anything to say, let your
Elder say it for you. Do you think this is the place where you can interrupt at will?”

Li and Yu two people belonged to the Dirty Clothes Faction, they were under Lu
Youjiao’s leadership. Since their rank was inferior, they did not dare to talk back to
an elder. With anger in their hearts they stepped back into the crowd.

Lu Youjiao said, “It’s not that subordinate did not believe Bangzhu, but the death
and revenge of the Lao Bangzhu is a very important matter. I ask Bangzhu to
examine this matter carefully so the truth will be revealed.”
Yang Kang had anticipated this request and cooked up a plan, so he said, “All right, I
will examine them carefully.” Toward Jing and Rong two people he said, “You don’t
have to answer; if what I say is correct, just nod your head, if it is incorrect, shake
your head. If you think you can lie to me, remember that the blade is ruthless.” He
waved his hand and Peng and Liang two Elders each unsheathed their weapons and
place them on Guo Jing’s and Huang Rong’s backs. Peng Zhanglao’s weapon was a
sword and Liang Zhanglao’s was a saber; both were very sharp.

Huang Rong was so angry that her face was deathly pale. She recalled how at the Ox
Village Lu Guanying proposed to Cheng Yaojia by asking her to shake or nod her
head. At that time she thought it was so silly; unexpectedly today she was
humiliated by this traitor with similar method. She also remembered once she played
this trick to Ouyang Ke, and now she was at the receiving end of this trick. In her
anger she was still thinking about how to raise Lu Youjiao’s suspicion by nodding of
shaking her head; how to incite him so that he wanted her to answer his question
orally. Once she was able to talk, exposing Yang Kang’s deceitful scheme would not
be a difficult matter.

Yang Kang knew Guo Jing was naïve, it would be easier to manipulate him; he lifted
him up and stood him aside, with a loud voice he asked, “This woman is Huang
Yaoshi’s daughter, isn’t she?”

Guo Jing closed his eyes and did not respond. Liang Zhanglao nudged him on the
back with his saber, he barked, “Yes or no? Nod or shake your head!”

Initially Guo Jing wanted to ignore Yang Kang, but then he thought, “Even if I can’t
say anything, right or wrong will be revealed in the end.” Thereupon he nodded his
head.

The crowd believed Huang Yaoshi was the ring-leader of the criminals who killed
Hong Qigong; seeing him nod his head they loudly called, “What else to ask? Kill
him! Kill him!” “Just kill the little bastard! We’ll deal with the old bastard later!”

Yang Kang called out, “Brothers! Be quiet, please! Let me ask him again.” Listening
to their Clan Leader’s order, the crowd quieted down immediately. Then Yang Kang
asked Guo Jing again, “Huang Yaoshi has betrothed his daughter to you, has he
not?” Guo Jing thought it was a fact, so he nodded again.

Yang Kang bent his waist to grope Guo Jing’s body and took a dagger with beautiful
crystal-like hilt; he asked, “This is a gift from the Quanzhen Seven Masters’ Qiu
Chuji. That Qiu Laodao [old Taoist Qiu] carved your name on the dagger, is that
true?” Guo Jing nodded.

Yang Kang continued his interrogation, “The Quanzhen Seven Masters’ Ma Yu had
taught you martial art, Wang Chuyi had saved your life, you can’t deny that, can
you?” Guo Jing thought, “Why would I deny that?” So he nodded again.

Yang Kang said, “Hong Qigong, Hong Bangzhu, thought that you two are good
people, therefore, he had taught both of you his unique skills; had he not?” Guo Jing
nodded.

Yang Kang asked again, “When Hong Lao Bangzhu fell into enemy’s ambush and
suffered a heavy injury, you two were nearby, weren’t you?” Guo Jing nodded again.
Huang Rong was anxious, “Sha Gege [Dumb Big Brother], no matter what he asks
you always nod your head; you must make him to allow you to speak.”

The crowd of beggars listened to Yang Kang’s increasingly stern voice, and saw Guo
Jing repeatedly nod his head and they believed Guo Jing was admitting all the
charges. They had never realized that all these questions about Hong Qigong fell into
ambush had nothing to do with the matter at hand; it was all part of Yang Kang’s
sinister plot to frame Guo Jing and Huang Rong. Even Lu Youjiao hated Guo Jing and
Huang Rong to his bones; he stepped forward and kicked Guo Jing several times.

Yang Kang called out, “Brothers! These two little thieves have readily admitted their
crimes, let’s just spare them further suffering. Peng, Liang, two Elders, please
proceed!”

Guo Jing and Huang Rong looked at each other mournfully. All of a sudden Huang
Rong smiled, she thought, “In the end it is I who die with Jing Gege, not that
Huazheng! It’s better to die like this. There are heavy rains ahead anyway; it’s no
use to run away.”

Guo Jing lifted up his eyes to the sky, he remembered his mother in the desert far
away and looked toward the north. He saw the Big Dipper constellation shining its
brilliant light; suddenly his heart was moved. He recalled Quanzhen Seven Masters
fight Mei Chaofeng and Huang Yaoshi using this battle formation. As someone who
arrived at the point of death his thought was especially keen; he recalled the Big
Dipper Formation’s offense and defense, attack and retreat, take in and send out,
open up and close in, he remembered everything very clear.

Peng and Liang two Elders were holding their saber and sword tight, and were about
to act when Lu Youjiao suddenly rushed ahead toward Guo Jing and Huang Rong,
and called out, “Hold on!” He took the cloth stuffing Guo Jing’s mouth and asked,
“How did Lao Bangzhu get killed? Tell me everything.”

“You don’t have to ask, I know everything,” Yang Kang busily said. Yet Lu Youjiao
said, “Bangzhu, the more we know the details the better. None of the thieves having
any relation with this matter will get away!”

Yang Kang was secretly anxious; he thought as soon as the truth revealed his
situation would change; but it was inconvenient for him to stop Lu Youjiao from
investigating this matter himself, so beads of sweats appeared on Yang Kang’s
forehead. Who would have guessed that although the cloth from Guo Jing’s mouth
was removed, he still did not say anything; he was still staring at the northern sky,
as if he was entranced.

Lu Youjiao asked him several times, but it seemed like Guo Jing did not hear
anything. Actually Guo Jing’s full attention was absorbed by studying the Big Dipper
Formation that he was completely oblivious to everything else; how could he hear
what Lu Youjiao had said?

Huang Rong and Yang Kang were both very astonished that Guo Jing unexpectedly
did not want to take this good opportunity to clear up his name, only one was sad,
the other joyful; their feeling was a world apart.
Yang Kang waved his hand and Peng and Liang lifted up their weapons. Suddenly
they heard swishing noise, a violet spark swept through the lakefront. Peng and
Liang two people were startled and turned their heads to look up and saw two blue
flames streaked up to the sky. These flames were several ‘li’s away from Mount Jun,
seemed like they were released from the middle of the lake.

Jian Zhanglao said, “Bangzhu, we have a guest.”

Yang Kang was startled, “Who is it?” he asked.

“The Clan Leader of the Iron Palm Clan,” Jian Zhanglao replied.

Yang Kang did not know the Iron Palm Clan’s origin. “Iron Palm Clan?” he asked.

“The Iron Palm Clan is a big clan in the Sichuan and Hunan area,” Jian Zhanglao
explained, “Their clan leader is paying us a visit, we’d better receive them well. We
can deal with these two thieves later.”

“That’s fine,” Yang Kang said, “Jian Zhanglao, please welcome the guests.”

Jian Zhanglao conveyed the order. ‘Bang! Bang! Bang!’ from the Mount Jun’s island
three red rockets were shot out. Not too long afterwards a boat came ashore. The
beggars lit torches up and stood to welcome the guests. The Xuanyuan Platform was
located at the peak of Mount Jun. It was quite a long way from the foot of the hill to
the peak, so that although the guests used their ‘qing gong’ [lightness kungfu], half
a day had passed before they arrived.

Jing and Rong two people were taken into the crowd, guarded by Peng Zhanglao’s
disciples. Huang Rong tried to assess Guo Jing’s condition; she saw he was
expressionless, eyes looking at the sky, mumbling nonstop about who-knows-what.
She was extremely shocked; she thought his mind must be confused because of the
great injustice he received. She further thought that no matter who the guest was,
there was always opportunity to be exploited.

While she was still thinking the guest had already arrived. Under the torch light she
saw about a dozen men dressed in black escorting an old man walking toward the
platform. This old man wore a short yellow robe, with a large leaf fan in his hand;
who else but Qiu Qianren? Huang Rong was angry, but also amused and
disappointed at the same time; this man certainly would not do her any good.

Jian Zhanglao stepped forward to welcome the guests, extending some Jianghu
pleasantries. He was very respectful. Afterwards he introduced the guests to Yang
Kang, he said, “This is ‘tie zhang shui shang piao’ [iron palm floating on the water]
Qiu Lao Bangzhu [old clan leader Qiu]; his divine palm matchless, his prestige
shakes the world. This is our newly elected Clan Leader, the young hero Yang
Bangzhu. I am glad you two can be acquainted.”

At the Cloud Village of Lake Tai Yang Kang had witnessed Qiu Qianren’s trick being
shamefully exposed; in his heart he looked at him condescendingly. He thought that
it turned out that this swindler was a clan leader of some big organization. An idea
came into his mind; he pretended he did not know the guest, and said with a smile,
“Fortunate meeting, fortunate meeting!” Extending his hand he meant to shake Qiu
Qianren’s hand.
Both palms met, Yang Kang exerted all his strength into his palm, deliberately
wanted to crush Qiu Qianren’s palm, thinking, “Everybody believes you have an
outstanding martial art skill, I want you to fall in my hand. This truly a heaven-sent
opportunity that this old man is here today, so I can show my martial art prowess in
front of this crowd of beggars.” Who would have thought that as soon as he exerted
his strength he felt scalding heat on his palm; as if he was grasping a red-burnt coal.
Hastily he withdrew his hand, but the opponent just grabbed his hand firmly, so he
felt like his hand was continuously burning. He could not restrain from crying out,
“Aiyo!” His face was deathly pale, tears streaming from his eyes, his body doubled
from pain, he almost fainted.

The Beggar Clan’s four elders were startled; they rushed forward together to protect
their clan leader. Jian Zhanglao was the chief among the Elders. He struck the steel
staff in his hand to a rock. ‘Clang!’ sparks flew everywhere. “Qiu Lao Bangzhu!” he
said angrily, “You’ve come from afar to be our guest. Our Yang Bangzhu is young;
how can you test his skill like that?”

Qiu Qianren coldly said, “Nicely I shook his hand; it was your precious Bangzhu who
tested the Old Man first. Yang Bangzhu deliberately wanted to crush my old bones.”
While his mouth was talking, his grip did not loosen up; while Yang Kang kept crying
out, “Aiyo!” By the time he finished speaking, Yang Kang’s voice weakened and he
passed out.

Qiu Qianren loosened up his hand and waved it away; Yang Kang had already
fainted, he tumbled down to the ground. Lu Youjiao hastily rushed forward to pick
him up. Jian Zhanglao angrily said, “Qiu Lao Bangzhu, you … you … What’s the
purpose of this? Isn’t this outrageous?”

“Humph,” Qiu Qianren sneered; his left palm slapped Jian Zhanglao’s face. Jian
Zhanglao lifted up his steel staff to fend off. Very quickly Qiu Qianren changed his
slap into slicing down to grab the head of the staff. As the edge of his palm touched
the head of the staff, he pulled the staff inward before even grabbing it.

Jian Zhanglao’s battle experience was vast; he was startled, but did not release the
staff in his hand. Qiu Qianren indeed did not snatch his staff; quick like a wind his
right palm swept away to the left. ‘Clang!’ it hit the middle of Jian Zhanglao’s staff.
Jian Zhanglao’s palm was chaffed, blood flowed out and he could not hold his staff
anymore; it was snatched by Qiu Qianren. Qiu Qianren swept the staff horizontally to
parry Peng and Liang two Elders’ saber and sword while his right elbow struck
toward Lu Youjiao’s face. Hence in a short period of time he compelled all four Elders
of the Beggar Clan to step back.

The crowd of beggars watched with amazement. They unsheathed their weapons;
they would fight the Iron Palm Clan as soon as their Clan Leader issued his
command.

Qiu Qianren’s left hand gripped the steel staff’s head, his right hand held its tail; he
let out a loud and long laugh and secretly sent his strength to both hands. With a
shout he wanted to break the steel staff into two. He did not know that Jian
Zhanglao’s steel staff was made of a specially treated metal, it was very ductile; the
staff did not break. It stubbornly resisted his arms’ supernatural power. Qiu Qianren
exerted more strength and the steel staff slowly curved into an arc.
The crowd of beggars was astonished and angry. Suddenly they saw Qiu Qianren
swung his left arm back and immediately wield forward, hurling the arched steel staff
flying to the sky, toward the mountain rock at the opposite side. With a loud ‘Clang!’
the staff’s head struck the rock; the noise reverberated for a long time.

As Qiu Qianren demonstrated his hands’ power, the crowd of beggars was amazed
and frightened. Huang Rong was even more astonished, she thought, “This old man
is obviously a useless swindler; how can he become so fierce all of a sudden? Could
it be that he colluded with Yang Kang and Jian Zhanglao to perform this trick?
Perhaps there is some secret on that steel staff.”

The moon had reached the middle of the sky, all around the torches adding up its
brightness. Huang Rong looked clearly, it was really the Qiu Qianren she saw at the
Cloud Village and the Ox Village. She turned her head toward Guo Jing. He was still
looking up to the sky, mumbling intelligibly. Could it be that he was so scared and
angry he turned insane? She was deeply concerned about Guo Jing, so she no longer
watched Qiu Qianren’s acrobatic play; her pair of beautiful eyes watched Guo Jing’s
expression closely.

Qiu Qianren said with a cold voice, “The Iron Palm Clan with your precious Beggar
Clan is usually like the water of the river, does not mix with the water from the well.
Upon hearing that your precious Clan is having a general assembly at Mount Jun I
come to pay a visit with a good intention. Why did as soon as we met your precious
clan’s Bangzhu demonstrated his power?”

Jian Zhanglao was intimidated by Qiu Qianren’s power and reputation, he was
already scared; hearing the hostility in Qiu Qianren’s voice he busily said, “Qiu Lao
Bangzhu misunderstood. Lao Bangzhu’s prestige has shaken the four corners of the
world; we always admire you. Today we are very honored to have Lao Bangzhu
shines your glorious light upon us.”

Qiu Qianren looked up to the sky without saying anything; his demeanor was very
arrogant and threatening. After a long while he said, “I heard Hong Lao Bangzhu
passed away. We have one less great hero of this world. Pity! It is a pity! Your
precious clan also elected this kind of new Bangzhu. Ay! Pity! It’s a pity!”

By this time Yang Kang had regained his consciousness; he heard he was being
ridiculed at his face, he was angry but did not dare to say anything. He felt his right
hand was still burning hot; his five fingers were so swollen they looked like five
Chinese yams. The Four Elders of the Beggar Clan did not know how to respond.

Qiu Qianren said, “My visit today is to ask an important favor from your precious
Clan; in return, I am going to offer something to you.”

“We don’t dare,” Jian Zhanglao replied, “But please Qiu Lao Bangzhu tell us.”

Qiu Qianren said, “Recently some brothers from my clan received the Old Man’s
order to take care of some business. I don’t know how they had provoked two
friends from your precious Clan that they were beaten and suffered heavy injuries.
My brothers’ skills were unrefined, so there is nothing I can say; but if this matter is
spread out within the Jianghu, the Iron Palm Clan will certainly lose our face. Old
Man does not know the good from evil; I want to ask for some lessons from the two
friends from your precious Clan.”

From the start Yang Kang did not have the slightest bit of care toward the Beggar
Clan; how could he dare to offend Qiu Qianren for the sake of two Beggar Clan
disciples? Immediately he said, “Who has dared to cause trouble and fight with
friends from the Iron Palm Clan without authorization? Quickly come out and
apologize to Qiu Lao Bangzhu.”

Ever since Hong Qigong became the Clan Leader of the Beggar Clan, they had never
lost power and prestige within the Jianghu. Now as soon as Hong Qigong was dead,
the new Clan Leader was this weak; as the crowd of beggars heard this order, they
were filled with contempt and resentment. Li Sheng and Yu Zhaoxing came out
several steps from among the crowd. With a clear voice Li Sheng said, “Reporting to
Bangzhu: our Clan’s fourth commandment clearly states that every one of us must
uphold justice and chivalry; helping others in suffering. The day before yesterday
while we were on our way the two of us saw some friends from the Iron Palm Clan
bullying common people, taking some women captive. We could not hold our
patience; we stepped forward to stop them. We fought and in the end have injured
the friends from the Iron Palm Clan.”

Yang Kang said, “No matter what you have to apologize to Qiu Lao Bangzhu.”

Li Sheng and Yu Zhaoxing looked at each other; they were furious. If they did not
apologize, they were disobeying their Clan Leader’s order; if they apologized, this
humiliation was difficult to bear. Li Zheng loudly called out, “Brothers, if Lao Bangzhu
was still alive he would not allow us to throw this face away. Today Xiao Di [little
brother, referring to himself] prefers to die rather than be disgraced!” With a smooth
motion he pulled a short dagger from his leg and stabbed it into his own heart; he
died immediately. Yu Zhaoxing pounced forward to snatch the short dagger, then he
stabbed his own chest; he died on top of Li Zheng’s body.

The crowd of beggars saw these two would rather commit suicide than to be
insulted; their hearts were tumultuous, but the Beggar Clan’s regulation was
extremely strict, without the Clan Leader’s command, nobody dared to move.

Qiu Qianren smiled wryly, he said, “Let this matter be settled this way then. Now I
want to give your precious Clan a gift.” His left hand waved; a dozen or so men
dressed in black behind him opened a chest they brought along. Each one held out a
tray and respectfully presented the tray to Yang Kang. The trays glittered brightly,
they were full of gold, silver, jewels and pearls. The crowds of beggars were
astonished to see them suddenly present these jewels.

Qiu Qianren said, “Although the Iron Palm Clan has enough food to eat, we cannot
afford to present you with any appropriate gift. This gift is from Zhao Wangye [Prince
Zhao, lit. King Zhao] of the Great Jin who asked the Old Man to pass along to you.”

Yang Kang was pleasantly surprised; he asked quickly, “Where is Zhao Wangye? I
must see him.”

Qiu Qianren replied, “Several months ago Zhao Wangye sent his people to deliver
this gift along with his message for the Old Man to pass them along to your precious
Clan.”
Yang Kang uttered an ‘Hmm’, he thought, “It was before father even made a plan to
go south. I wonder what he had in mind with these beggars.”

He heard Qiu Qianren continued, “Zhao Wangye admires the heroes of your precious
Clan; he asked the Old Man to come over personally and deliver this gift.”

Yang Kang happily said, “How can we be worthy to receive Lao Bangzhu’s precious
effort?”

Qiu Qianren said with a smile, “Yang Bangzhu is young, but you are very
broadminded; you far surpass Hong Bangzhu.”

When he was still at Yanjing Yang Kang had not heard Wanyan Honglie mention
anything about the Beggar Clan; he was anxious to hear his intention. “I wonder
what does Zhao Wangye want with my Clan? Would Lao Bangzhu give us directions?”
he asked.

“Giving you direction, that I cannot do,” Qiu Qianren smiled, “Zhao Wangye told the
Old Man, that the land of the north is barren and its people are poor, it is difficult to
set your feet on …”

Yang Kang caught fast, “So Zhao Wangye wants us to move to the south?”

Qiu Qianren laughed, “Yang Bangzhu is very smart, the Old Man is impressed. Zhao
Wangye said: in Jiangnan the lakes are wide, the land is warm, the people rich; why
don’t the brothers from the Beggar Clan move to south? It far surpasses the cold
northern land.

Yang Kang smiled, “Thank you for Zhao Wangye’s and Lao Bangzhu’s kind direction.
I will certainly comply.”

Qiu Qianren did not expect that the Beggar Clan would readily accept his proposal;
his face showed doubt. He had not anticipated this response. His mind churning, he
thought this man was young and weak; and when he had just squeezed his hand
with Iron Palm, he fainted from the pain. It was obvious that this man was afraid of
him; so it was not strange that no matter what he said this man did not dare to defy.
However, the Beggar Clan had a deep root in the north, how could he easily agree to
move to the south? When the Beggar Clan talked about it later, they were bound to
regret this decision. Therefore, he decided to put the last nail on the coffin by saying,
“A real man cannot breach his own word. Today Yang Bangzhu gave your word; once
the Beggar Clan brothers cross the great river, you will not return to the north,
correct?”

Yang Kang was about to comply, but Lu Youjiao suddenly said, “Reporting to
Bangzhu: we beg for a living, what use we have for gold and silver? Besides, our
Clan has hundreds of thousands of members spreading all over the world, how can
we limit their movements? I beg Bangzhu to reconsider.”

By now Yang Kang had understood clearly Wanyan Honglie’s intention. He knew that
at the north of the river the Beggar Clan had always fought the Jins. Each time the
Jins attacked to the south the Beggar Clan would disturb the rear of the army’s
movement; either by assassinating the high ranking military officers or burning their
provisions down.
If the Beggar Clan moved to the south, naturally it would tremendously help the Jin’s
effort in attacking the south. Thereupon he said, “This is Qiu Lao Bangzhu’s kind
intention; if we refuse, we would be disrespectful to him. I don’t want any of the gold
and silver; four honorable Elders can divide it among the brethrens after the
assembly is over.”

Lu Youjiao anxiously said, “Our Hong Lao Bangzhu was widely known as the Northern
Beggar. Everybody in the world knows that our base is in the north. How can we
move so easily? Our Clan has vowed our loyalty and patriotism to serve our country,
we have been enemies with the Jins forever. We surely cannot accept their gift; and
most certainly we cannot move across the Changjiang.”

Yang Kang was furious; he was about to reply when Peng Zhanglao said with a
smile, “Lu Zhanglao, the important matter in our Clan is decided by our Bangzhu; it
is not decided by you, is it?”

Lu Youjiao imposingly said, “I would rather die than forgetting about loyalty and
patriotism to my country.”

“Jian, Peng, Liang Zhanglaos, what do you say” Yang Kang asked.

Jian and Liang Zhanglaos hesitated before answering; they also thought moving
across the Changjiang was not an appropriate thing to do. But Peng Zhanglao with a
loud voice replied, “We rely on Bangzhu’s decision. How can subordinates dare to
disobey?”

“Good,” Yang Kang said, “We will move across the Dajiang [Great River] by the first
of the eight month.”

As he said this, more than half of the crowd of beggars broke in clamor. Hearing this
reaction Yang Kang was temporarily at a loss. Jian, Peng and Liang three Elders
shouted their orders for the noise to stop, but most of those who were angered were
from the Dirty Clothes Faction; they ignored these three Elders.

Peng Zhanglao shouted, “Lu Zhanglao, are you going to rebel against our Bangzhu?”

Lu Youjiao imposingly said, “Even if a thousand sabers chop my body to pieces, I will
not dare to rebel against Bangzhu. But Lu Youjiao does not dare to abandon the
wishes of our forefathers even more! The Jin kingdom is our Great Song’s
archenemy. What would Hong Lao Bangzhu say to us?”

Jian and Liang two Elders hung their heads without saying anything; they started to
regret their indecisiveness.

Qiu Qianren saw the situation was not good; he was afraid it would be difficult to
attain success if he does not deal with Lu Youjiao. He coldly laughed and said to
Yang Kang, “Yang Bangzhu, is this Lu Zhanglao always this bossy?” As his words
come out, his palms ferociously struck out to grab Lu Youjiao’s shoulder.

As soon as Qiu Qianren sneered, Lu Youjiao was ready to protect himself; he knew
Qiu Qianren was fierce, he did not dare to parry. He bent his waist and slipped
through under Qiu Qianren’s crotch. Without straightening up his body, ‘whoosh!
whoosh! whoosh!’ he already sent three kicks toward Qiu Qianren’s buttocks. He was
called Lu Youjiao [Lu with a foot/kick], it was because his leg skill was really good;
the kicks were very swift and fierce.

Qiu Qianren thought this man’s way of evading his attack by slipping underneath his
crotch was very strange; and then he felt the gust of wind from behind, quickly his
palm slapped backwards. If Lu Youjiao’s third kick hit its target, it would certainly
cause some damage; but if the kick was hit by the opponent’s Iron Palm, his own
shin could break. Hence Lu Youjiao pulled it back abruptly when it was still midway;
he rolled sideways and suddenly spat thick phlegm toward Qiu Qianren’s face. Qiu
Qianren leaned his head sideways to evade; he was startled by the opponent’s
strange move.

“Lu Zhanglao, don’t be rude to the honored guest!” Yang Kang shouted.

Lu Youjiao immediately went back two steps as soon as he heard his Clan Leader’s
order. But Qiu Qianren actually showed no mercy whatsoever; his hands went
straight toward Lu Youjiao’s throat like a pair of pliers. Lu Youjiao was startled; he
turned around to evade, but heard the enemy shout ‘hey’ and both of his hands were
grabbed.

Lu Youjiao had fought hundreds of battles; he stayed calm in face of defeat. With all
his might he raised his hands but failed to lift the enemy, he immediately struck the
enemy’s stomach using his head. Since he was little, Lu Youjiao had trained his head
in ‘tong chui tie tou’ [copper hammer iron head]; with his head he was able to make
a hole in the wall. Many times he made a bet with his fellow beggars to strike his
head against a bullock’s. Each time the two heads collided, his head was not injured,
but the bullock actually passed out.

This time he understood that he might not be able to injure the enemy, but he hoped
he could get his hands freed up from the enemy’s grasp. Who would have thought
that as the top of his head touched the enemy’s stomach he felt he was hitting a soft
object; as if he was entering a soft cotton pillow. He knew it was not a good sign; so
he hastily withdrew his head, but to his surprise the enemy’s stomach also followed
his head. Lu Youjiao struggled with all his strength, yet Qiu Qianren’s stomach had a
very strong suction, holding Lu Youjiao’s head firmly. Lu Youjiao was frightened since
he felt his head was gradually burning hot; at the same time he felt as if his hands
were also entering a hot furnace. The pain was unbearable.

“Do you surrender?” Qiu Qianren shouted.

“Stinky old thief,” Lu Youjiao cursed, “Why would I surrender to you?”

Qiu Qianren exerted more strength to his left hand. ‘Crack! Crack!’ he broke Lu
Youjiao’s right hand fingers. “Do you surrender?” Qiu Qianren asked again.

“Stinky old thief,” Lu Youjiao cursed, “Why would I surrender to you?”

‘Crack! Crack!’ Lu Youjiao’s left hand fingers were broken. He was in so much pain
that his mind was in a daze, but his mouth kept shouting curses.

Qiu Qianren said, “If I add more strength to my stomach, your head will be crushed.
I want to see if you can keep cursing.”
He had not finished speaking when suddenly someone leaped out from among the
crowd of beggars; he was tall and broad-shouldered, it was none other than Guo
Jing. He was walking in big strides toward Lu Youjiao’s back. He lifted his right palm
high, ‘slap, slap, slap!’ he slapped Lu Youjiao’s buttocks three times so hard that the
sound was heard loud and clear.

Although these three slaps hit Lu Youjiao’s buttocks, Qiu Qianren felt strong bursts of
energy flowing from Lu Youjiao’s head toward his stomach. ‘Bang! Bang! Bang!’ the
energy melted the suction force of his own stomach.

Lu Youjiao felt his head was free, he hastily withdrew, trying to stand up; but his
hands were still firmly gripped by the enemy. Guo Jing called out, “You are not Qiu
Lao Qianbei’s [old senior Qiu] match; get out of the way!” His left leg swept away,
kicking Lu Youjiao’s left shoulder.

This kick of his looked ordinary, yet although it landed on Lu Youjiao’s body, the
force was actually transmitted to Qiu Qianren’s arms. Qiu Qianren felt his palms were
shaken and involuntarily loosened his grip. Lu Youjiao took advantage of this good
opportunity; he borrowed the strength from Guo Jing’s kick and threw himself aside.
Only his head was captured for quite a long time and he felt dizzy; he was not able
to stand steadily and tumbled down on the ground.

Qiu Qianren was startled to see Guo Jing’s three slaps and one kick; he thought this
man was young, but unexpectedly possessed this kind of transferring force skill. He
did not think that there was somebody like this among the Beggar Clan. He
immediately put his guard up and did not dare to attack rashly.

The crowd of beggars was not clear on what was going on; they still believed Guo
Jing was an accomplice of the enemies who killed their Clan Leader, and then they
saw Guo Jing kick Lu Youjiao. They shouted angrily and pressed forward to surround
him.

Earlier Guo Jing was bound tightly by the braided steel wire and cowhide rope; he
could not move even the slightest bit. His eyes kept looking up to the Big Dipper
constellation. He recalled the Quanzhen Seven Masters’ movements he saw at the Ox
Village and compared it to the Nine Yin Manual he memorized so well, which was
difficult to understand. He pondered it in his heart, and one by one those passages
became clear to him.

The Nine Yin Manual was the result of a highly-skilled senior’s comprehension of the
Taoist Canon; it was closely interlinked with the Quanzhen Sect’s internal energy
cultivation technique Ma Yu had passed on to him and with the Quanzhen Seven
Masters’ Big Dipper Formation. It was just that the technique was profoundly deep
and Guo Jing’s comprehension was rather shallow so even after several months he
still had not understood the correlation. This time, looking at the Big Dipper
constellation he vaguely saw the link between what he memorized and what he saw.

When Qiu Qianren talked with Yang Kang, Jian Zhanglao, Lu Youjiao and the others,
Guo Jing was deeply engrossed in deciphering the ‘shou jin suo gu fa’ [collecting
muscles shrinking the bones]. It was the most advanced technique in the Manual;
similar to the ability of a mouse to go through small holes. When it was trained to
perfection the practitioner would be able to shrink his whole body to minimum, just
like a hedgehog would curl up when facing an enemy.

On the Mingxia [bright red clouds] Island Guo Jing followed Hong Qigong’s
instruction to train the ‘yi jin duan gu pian’ [changing muscle forging bones
technique]. By this time he had mastered a little bit of this technique, and it served
as an excellent foundation for him. So it happened that when he started practicing
according to the Manual the ropes that bound his hands and his feet were loosened.
His skill was so good that it was ten times better than his brain power; although the
ropes were loosened he still did not know how it happened.

Peng Zhanglao on guard by Guo Jing’s side; when he suddenly saw Guo Jing escape,
he was very shocked. He tried to grab him, but failed; he looked down and saw the
empty ropes lying on the ground. The ropes were still tied in knots, but the man
inside had already slipped out just like a slippery loach. He was about to pursue
when he saw Guo Jing was helping Lu Youjiao. Peng Zhanglao thought that even if
he boldly step forward, he may not necessarily be able to subdue Guo Jing.
Thereupon his mouth shouted loudly, “Capture this little thief!” yet his feet did not
move.

Guo Jing had been bound for a long time, he was really angry. Moreover, he thought
about Huang Rong’s feelings; she was still somewhat childish, so she must be very
angry. He knew that this crowd of beggars was swindled by Yang Kang and did not
really have any enmity with Huang Rong and him, but right now seeing the crowd of
beggars shouting and rushing forward to attack, he thought, “If I can’t beat you well
today, Rong’er’s anger won’t disappear easily!”

He wanted to use the Big Dipper Formation he had just thought through; his arms
lifted up, his feet stepped on to the ‘tian quan’ [sky authority/power] position. But
seeing that about six, seven beggars were pouncing him from behind, Guo Jing stood
upright with a mountain strong stance, his left hand in horizontal position in front of
his chest.

The first three beggars arrived, they held out their hands to grab his arm. Guo Jing
stayed motionless; in a short moment several more beggars arrived. Guo Jing
dropped his arm and with a floating motion he made a circle, attacking these several
beggars’ backs with his hands and feet. Some were hit on their backs, some on their
waists, and some others were hit on their buttocks. A succession of cries were heard,
“Aiyo!” “Aiyo!” “Thief male servant bird!” six, seven people fell on the ground.

Guo Jing was pleased, “This technique really works,” he thought. He turned around,
wanting to grab Yang Kang to settle the debt with him; but then under the moonlight
he saw that two beggars were about to attack Huang Rong. He was afraid they might
injure her, while he was too far to help and he did not carry any secret projectiles
with him. In desperation he stooped down to take his cloth shoes off and threw them
toward the attackers. He was not a quick thinker that he would invent this trick all by
himself; he had heard stories from his masters, the Six Freaks of Jiangnan, how
during the fight at the Fahua Temple his Second Master Zhu Cong took off his shoe
and threw it toward Qiu Chuji. Therefore, he simply copied the trick.

Those two beggars were afraid that Huang Rong possessed the same ability as Guo
Jing; able to free herself from the ropes. They approached her with caution,
unsheathed the sabers in their hands, intending to kill her to avenge their Lao
Bangzhu. Unexpectedly just when they arrived in front of Huang Rong, before they
even lifted their weapons, they heard a strong gust of wind on their backs;
something was flying toward them, apparently an enemy was attacking them. The
one with higher martial art quickly turned around and Guo Jing’s shoe hit him on the
chest. The other one was slower, the shoe hit his back.

Although the cloth shoes were soft and light, because of Guo Jing’s internal strength
the force carried by those shoes was not a small matter; the two beggars were
unable to stand, one fell backward face up to the sky, the other dove face down to
the ground. Peng Zhanglao was standing nearby; he was scared to see how with a
pair of cloth shoes Guo Jing was able to hit people swiftly and fiercely. He hastily
withdrew several steps back.

Guo Jing swept his hand to push back three beggars; he anxiously went to Huang
Rong. He stooped down to untie the ropes, but he only managed to untie one rope
before he was surrounded by the crowd of beggars again. Guo Jing simply sat on the
ground, copying how Qiu Chuji, Wang Chuyi and the others battled the enemy using
the Big Dipper Formation. His right palm blocked the enemies, he put Huang Rong on
his knees and using his left hand he slowly untied the knots. He had mastered Zhou
Botong’s skill of ‘shuang shou hu bo’ [Mutual Hands Combat]; one heart two
techniques. This time he used his left hand to untie the knots, his right hand to fend
off the enemies’ attacks; he did it so casually, without the slightest degree of rush.

In less than the time needed to drink tea, Jing and Rong two people were thickly
surrounded by hundreds of beggars. Without looking back Guo Jing simply blocked
the attacks from his back. All along Guo Jing took a defensive stand and had never
launched any deathly attacks. It was only after he untied all ropes from Huang
Rong’s hands and feet did Guo Jing took the cloth from her mouth and said,
“Rong’er, are you injured?”

Huang Rong leaned on his knees; without standing up she replied, “No injuries, just
numb all over my body.”

“Good,” Guo Jing said, “Just lie down to rest for a while; let me vent your anger for
you.”

Two people, one sat on the ground one of them laid down, were talking amiably as if
they were not disturbed by the clamoring noise of the weapons and commotion of
the beggars around them. Huang Rong laughed and said, “You may fight them, just
don’t injure my disciples and grand disciples.”

“I’ll remember that,” Guo Jing said. His left palm lightly stroke her beautiful hair, his
right palm suddenly shot out; ‘Bang! Bang! Bang!’ three beggars flew out above the
crowd’s heads.

The crowd of beggars was thrown into confusion. Four more beggars were flung
away by Guo Jing’s palm strength. Then from among the crowd someone was calling
out, “Brothers, step back! Let the eight-bag disciples deal with these two little
thieves.” It was Jian Zhanglao’s voice.

As the crowd heard his command they dispersed immediately until only three people
left nearby Guo Jing and Huang Rong, and then five more people came from behind;
this brought the total to eight people surrounding them all around. There were eight
sacks on each of these people’s back; their rank in the Beggar Clan was only second
to the four elders. Each one of them was in command of a group of beggars. Two fat
and skinny beggars who met and escorted Yang Kang earlier were also among them.
There were originally nine eight-bag disciples, but Li Sheng killed himself so only
eight were left.

Guo Jing was aware that although the number of the enemies has decreased, each
one of them was a highly skilled pugilist. He was about to stand up when with a low
voice Huang Rong said, “Keep sitting down; you can fight them. Just don’t look them
in the eye.”

Guo Jing thought, “If the eight of them fight together, they will be difficult to block; I
must overthrow some of them first.” Recognizing the two beggars, fat and skinny,
who met Yang Kang at the Ox Village his left hand snatched the rope he untied from
Huang Rong’s body; then with a ‘duan jing pan ta’ [breaking shins coiling strike] the
rope swept like a whip. It was from the ‘jin long bian fa’ [golden dragon whip
technique] he learned from Ma Wang Shen [horse god, lit. divine horse king] Han
Baoju. The move was the same, but his internal energy had advanced tremendously,
so the power carried by the whip was also increased.

The fat and skinny beggars saw the steel rope come sweeping, they quickly leaped
away to evade. Guo Jing turned the steel rope into a wall, blocking their front, left
and rear sides, leaving the right side open. The fat and skinny beggars were actually
on this right side, while the other six beggars were blocked by the rope wall, so they
could not attack. The two beggars saw the opportunity and pounced forward
immediately, only to hear Jian Zhanglao anxiously call out, “Don’t attack!” But it was
too late; Guo Jing’s palm moved like the wind, ‘Slap! Slap!’ he struck the two
beggars’ shoulders. The two beggars flew out toward the group of black-dressed Iron
Palm Clan’s men.

Although these two beggars were struck by the same force, since one was fat and
the other skinny, the effect was not the same; the fat one fell near, while the skinny
one flew out further. ‘Bang! Bang!’ they knocked down two men in black.

Originally Qiu Qianren only stood on the side watching the fight, he also thought little
of the two beggars flying away; but as he heard the sound of the collision he was
startled. “If they didn’t die, our men must be injured.” He rushed forward but saw
the fat and skinny beggars leap to stand up, without suffering any injuries. The Iron
Palm Clan men on the other hand, suffered broken bones; they crawled on the
ground. Qiu Qianren was angry; he was about to turn around when suddenly he
heard a strong wind on his back, two other eight-bag Beggar Clan disciples were
flung by Guo Jing’s palm strength.

Qiu Qianren knew that Guo Jing transmitted his energy in such a way that it was
heavy in a distant and light nearby; the Beggar Clan disciples only suffer light force,
while the ones they bumped actually bear the brunt of the energy. Immediately he
pushed and redirected one beggar to an empty space, and then with a grunt both of
his palms struck toward the other beggar’s back. This time he was using his life-long
cultivated Iron Palm energy. If his strength exceeded Guo Jing’s, then not only he
could counteract the incoming force, but he could also inflict heavy injury to the
beggar; otherwise, even if he would not suffer injury, he would certainly be knocked
down backwards.

The Beggar Clan’s Four Elders and Huang Rong knew that in this pair of palms Qiu
Qianren was staking it all to compete head-to-head against Guo Jing; the stake
between victory and defeat was not small. They were watching with rapt attention.
But as the palms thrust out, the eight-bag disciple flew another ‘zhang’, and then
lightly landed on the ground. He was at a loss for a moment before turning around
and went back to face Guo Jing. Surprisingly he did not suffer any injury at all.

In one hand the Four Elders of the Beggar Clan found out that Guo Jing’s martial art
was about the same level with Qiu Qianren’s; perhaps Guo Jing was somewhat
inferior, but the difference was not too much. They were astonished and scared. On
the other hand Huang Rong was even more surprised, she thought, “This Old
Swindler’s martial art is just ordinary, how can he block Jing Gege’s palm strength?
He was obviously using real power, not some crafty trick. He is really difficult to
predict.”

With this one move Qiu Qianren had tested Guo Jing’s true skill. In term of internal
energy cultivation he was still superior to Guo Jing by half a notch; but it was difficult
to say whether this kid was a friend or a foe of the Beggar Clan. Qiu Qianren was in
a dangerous place. It was not worthwhile to continue fighting; hence he waved his
right hand and took the Iron Palm Clan people to leave that place.

The martial art of the eight-bag disciples of the Beggar Clan was more or less at the
same level with Yin Zhiping, Yang Kang and their peers. Guo Jing had knocked down
four people. Although one came back to join the fight, how could these five beggars
resist to the power of Guo Jing’s Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms combined with
mysterious variations of the Big Dipper Formation? If not due to the fact that Guo
Jing looked up to his Shifu’s face, these five beggars would have been already dead
or heavily injured.

A dozen moves later he struck down two more beggars with his palm strength. The
other three beggars did not dare to attack; they turned away to run. Guo Jing
wielded the steel rope in his left hand and swept two beggars’ ankles, pulling them
near him.

“Tie them down!” Huang Rong said. Guo Jing took the steel rope and tied the hands
and feet of these two beggars behind their backs.

Seeing him reaping a big victory Huang Rong was astonished and delighted. She
wanted to capture that smiling face beggar, Peng Zhanglao, who held them prisoner
earlier. She recalled her Shifu had once said that in Jianghu there was a method of
influencing the mind, capable to make someone suddenly fall asleep so that that
person could be manipulated, incapable of resisting. She believed this Peng Zhanglao
had actually used this kind of hypnotics to them. “Jing Gege,” she asked, “is there
any ‘she xin fa’ [method to influence other people’s mind, lit. intimidating heart/mind
technique] in the Nine Yin Manual?”

“No …” Guo Jing replied.

Huang Rong was quite disappointed, she whispered, “Guard against that smiling face
beggar, don’t look into his eyes.”

Guo Jing nodded, “I want to beat this fellow to vent my anger!” he said, then he
propped Huang Rong’s body up and they stood up together. Guo Jing stared at Yang
Kang and walked toward him in big strides.
Yang Kang had seen Guo Jing’s impressive power when he fought the crowd of
beggars, he was anxious and restless. He was hoping that the crowd of beggars
would win by sheer numbers, but unexpectedly they retreated in defeat, now Guo
Jing was coming towards him. How could he keep his life if Guo Jing got hold of him?
In his fright he called out, “Four Elders, we have so many heroes and warriors over
here, how can we let this mad little thief do as he will?” His mouth was shouting
anxiously, his legs were not slow either; he quickly hid behind Jian Zhanglao.

Jian Zhanglao turned around and in a low voice said, “Bangzhu, don’t worry; even if
this thief’s martial art is higher, he won’t overcome our number. We will use ‘che lun
zhan kun’ [chariot wheels fighting as a bunch] to kill him.” Raising his voice he called
out, “Eight-bag disciples, spread out and form ‘jian bi zhen’ [strong wall formation]!”

One eight-bag disciple shouted their compliance and immediately led more than a
dozen beggars to line up in two rows, their arms linked one to the other. Sixteen,
seventeen people formed one strong wall. They shouted together and then lowering
their heads they charged toward Guo Jing and Huang Rong.

“Aiyo!” Huang Rong yelled; lightning fast she leaped to the left. Guo Jing turned
around to the right. But from the east and west two more rows of beggars came
forward. Guo Jing saw the crowd of beggars’ battle strategy was strange. He waited
until these walls came near, but then he could not withdraw anymore; both of his
palms struck forward to push the wall in front of him. Although his palms were
strong, this wall consisted of more than a dozen men, plus their momentum in
moving forward together was quite strong; how could Guo Jing push the wall away?
As the center of the wall bore the brunt of the push, its two wings outflanked to the
center. Guo Jing staggered, he almost fell down by the strong push of this wall.
Hastily his left foot kicked the ground and he flew over the human wall. But before
he landed he cried out in distress, for ahead of him another human wall came closing
in. Quickly he regulated his breath, his right foot kicked and again he flew over the
beggars’ heads. Who would have thought that there are more walls ahead,
seemingly inexhaustible. As Guo Jing just passed the front wall immediately the rear
wall took its place; like a rolling wave, or a big wheel turning over. Even if Guo Jing’s
martial art were stronger he would eventually be overwhelmed by sheer numbers; in
the end he felt like his movements were restricted.

Huang Rong was agile, her lightness kungfu was also better than Guo Jing’s; but
after a while more and more moving walls came closing in. She ran around to escape
and gradually felt her heart throb and her breathing shorten. After flashing to the
east and dodging to the west for a moment to her surprise she came close to Guo
Jing, slowly they were pushed into a corner of the mountain peak.

Suddenly Huang Rong got an idea, “Jing Gege,” she called out, “Retreat to the edge
of the cliff.”

Guo Jing heard her, he did not know her intention, but he pushed toward the edge of
the cliff nonetheless. They were still about five, six feet away from the edge of the
cliff, and unexpectedly the Beggar Clan walls stopped and did not charge forward.
And then Guo Jing understood, “Ah, this is a deep canyon; unless they stop their
steps, it would be strange if they won’t fall down and die.” He looked towards Huang
Rong to praise her intelligence, but saw that her face showed anxiety. He turned his
head and saw row after row of thick and wide human walls slowly step forward. They
did not charge forward ferociously, but obviously they were going to push these two
people slowly into the canyon below. There were hundreds of them in dozens of
rows; it was simply impossible to jump over them.

When he was still at Mongolia, Guo Jing had been trained by Ma Yu to climb a steep
cliff every night. The cliff of Mount Jun here was not as dangerous as the one in the
Mongolian desert. Guo Jing assessed their situation by looking at the cliff wall and
called out, “Rong’er, let me carry you on my back; we are going down.”

“We can’t,” Huang Rong sighed, “They may throw rocks at us. This is a dead end.”

Guo Jing was indecisive. Somehow, in the verge of life and death situation he
suddenly remembered a section in the Nine Yin Manual; he said, “Rong’er, there is a
section in the Manual about ‘yi hun da fa’ [altering soul great method], I believe it is
similar with that ‘she xin fa’ you just mentioned … All right, let’s stake it all and fight;
let us go down the canyon together.”

Huang Rong sighed, “These are all Shifu’s subordinates, they are his brothers; what
good is it to kill so many people?”

Guo Jing suddenly stretched out his arms to lift her up, he said with a low voice,
“Quickly run away!” He kissed her lightly on her cheeks, then exerting all his might
he hurled her toward the Xuanyuan Platform.

Huang Rong felt like she was mounting the cloud and riding the mist, flying over the
heads of several hundreds of people. She knew Guo Jing wanted to fight the crowd
of beggars alone to give her a chance to escape. She bent her knees slightly and
gently landed on the platform with a bitter sweet feeling in her heart. She saw that
Yang Kang was standing on a corner of the platform; looking so complacent, flailing
his hands and feet, shouting his commands over the combat. She did not want to
miss this good opportunity, before she even stood firmly she pounced forward, her
left hand grabbed the head of the green bamboo stick.

As he was watching the battle, Yang Kang was startled to suddenly see Huang Rong
descend from the sky; hastily he lifted up the stick to strike her. Two of Huang
Rong’s right fingers swiftly moved toward his eyes, while at the same time her left
foot turned around, and she snatched the bamboo stick away.

Yang Kang’s martial art was inferior to Huang Rong’s to begin with; and now Huang
Rong was using the ‘ao kou duo zhang’ [snatching stick from a mastiff (dog)’s
mouth] from the Dog Beating Stick Technique Hong Qigong had passed on to her. It
was specifically created to take back the stick if it ever fell into an enemy with high
martial art skill. Apparently this stance was several folds better than Yang Kang’s
skill, so he had no chance in keeping the stick in his hand.

Huang Rong’s snatching the stick was real, while attacking the eyes was fake; but
since her movement was so swift, her fingers unexpectedly poked Yang Kang’s
eyeballs. Yang Kang was in a lot of pain and he momentarily went blind. Yang Kang
tried to guard his eyes and did not have any choice but let the stick go and then leap
down the platform.

With both of her hands Huang Rong held the bamboo stick high over her head, with
a clear and loud voice she called out, “Brothers of the Beggar Clan, please stop!
Hong Bangzhu has not returned to heaven yet. Everything was made up by this
traitor disciple.”

As soon as the crowd of beggars heard her, they were completely taken aback; it
was such an abrupt turn of eventa that it was hard to believe, but they were happy
to hear the good news and mad to hear the bad news, a natural response to this
kind of news. Everybody turned their heads and looked at the tall platform.

Huang Rong called out further, “Brothers, come over here, I want to tell you news
about Hong Bangzhu.”

Yang Kang’s eyes were sore, but his ears could hear everything clearly; he also
called out from below the platform, “I am the Bangzhu! Brothers, listen to my
command: Quickly push the male thief over the cliff, and then come back here to
capture the nonsense-talking female thief.”

The Beggar Clan members always regarded their Clan Leader as a deity; even if
there was a very important matter, they would not dare to disobey his command.
Hearing Yang Kang’s command, they shouted and charged forward.

Huang Rong called out, “Everybody look clearly! Bangzhu’s Dog Beating Stick is in
my hand; I am the Beggar Clan’s Bangzhu!”

The crowd of beggars was startled; they had never heard of the Bangzhu’s Dog
Beating Stick being taken away by someone else. They hesitated and stopped their
steps.

Huang Rong called out, “Our worldwide Beggar Clan is being bullied today, Li Sheng
and Yu Zhaoxing two brothers are killed by others, Lu Zhanglao is seriously injured;
all of that for what reason?”

The crowd of beggars was angered; more than half of them turned their heads to
listen to her. Huang Rong continued, “It was because of this traitor surnamed Yang is
conspiring with the Iron Palm Clan. They fabricated a rumor saying that Hong Lao
Bangzhu is dead. Do you know who this man surnamed Yang really is?”

The crowd of beggars called out one after another, “Who is he? Tell us, quick! Tell
us!” But some actually said, “Don’t listen to this female thief; she is creating a
confusion.” Everybody talked at once, nobody knew which one was right, which one
was wrong.

Huang Rong called out, “This man’s surname is not Yang, it is Wanyan. He is the son
of Zhao Wangye of the Great Jin. He deliberately comes to destroy our Great Song.”

The crowd of beggars was startled, nobody believed what they heard. Huang Rong
considered, “It is difficult to convince everybody at once; I’ll have to use poison to
fight poison. I’ll place the blame on him.” She put her hand into her pocket and
groped around the contents one by one; finally she took out the iron palm Zhu Cong
took from Qiu Qianren the other day. She lifted it up high above her head and called
out, “I have just taken this thing from this surnamed Wanyan traitor’s hand.
Everybody please take a good look, what is this?”

The crowd of beggars was some distant away from the Xuanyuan Platform; they
could not see clearly under the moonlight. Their curiosity was aroused and they
approached the platform. Someone called out, “That is the Iron Palm Clan’s Iron
Palm token of authority; how could it be in his hand?”

Huang Rong loudly said, “That’s right, he is the spy sent by the Iron Palm Clan, so
naturally he carried this token. The Beggar Clan has upheld chivalry and justice in
the north for several hundred years; how can this fellow surnamed Yang easily
comply to move to Jiangnan?”

Underneath the platform Yang Kang listened with an ash grey complexion; his right
hand raised, he shot two steel awls straight toward Huang Rong’s chest. The
distance was near and his hand was quick, so the two silver lights violently flew to
their target. Huang Rong did not pay the slightest attention. Among the crowd of
beggars there were about a dozen people shouted loudly, “Watch out the secret
projectile! Be careful!” “Aiyo! Not good!” But the two steel awls struck the soft
hedgehog armor and ‘clank, clank’ they fell to the platform.

Huang Rong called out, “Wanyan Kang, if you don’t have any guilty conscience, why
did you use secret projectiles to harm me?”

The crowd of beggars unexpectedly did not harm her, they were astonished to the
extreme; they talked to one another, “Who is right and who is wrong?” “So Hong
Bangzhu has not died yet?” Everyone’s face showed a frightened and confused look.
They turned their eyes toward the Four Elders, expecting them to make a decision.
The row after row of strong wall formations had been dispersed early on. From
among the crowd Guo Jing walked towards the platform and nobody tried to stop
him.

End of Chapter 27
LEGEND OF THE CONDOR HEROES
PEAK OF THE IRON PALM MOUNTAIN
TRANSLATED BY [ICY] :: FOX

With help from a friend who wished to remain anonymous.

At this time Lu Youjiao was having a debate with the other 3 elders. He said, "We
have yet to learn the truth, so we should question them in more detail to determine
the fate of our Clan Leader." The Clean-Faction 3rd Elder said, "We have already
established our new Clan Leader, how can we change that at our whim? The rules
established on the founding of our Clan states that we must never disobey the orders
of our Clan Leader." The 4 Elders were having a heated argument. Lu Youjiao's
fingers were broken and he bit his teeth to bear the pain but showed no sign of
backing down. The Clean-Faction 3rd Elder made a hand sign and walked over to
Yang Kang. Elder Peng said loudly, "We only trust Leader Yang. This evil girl helped
cause the death of Leader Hong and cunningly escaped death, yet she's still here
talking rubbish. Don't pay attention to her. Brothers, let's torture her till she
confesses." Guo Jing jumped up and shouted, "Who dares touch her?" No one dared
make a move on seeing his imposing figure. Qiu Qianren and his followers stood a
distance away as they stood on the fence, taking delight in the Beggars' Clan's
internal conflict. Huang Rong said clearly, "Leader Hong is now in the palace in Lin'an
enjoying the Imperial Chef's food and is unable to reveal his identity. Hence he
tasked me with the responsibility of this Clan's Leadership. When he's done
savouring the food, he will naturally return." All the members of the Beggars' Clan
knew about Hong Qigong's gluttony and felt there was much truth in her words, but
still could hardly believe that such a young lass could be their new Leader.

Huang Rong continued, "This thief of the Jin Kingdom conspired with the Iron Palm
Sect to harm me and steal the Clan Leader's Dog-Beating Stick, yet you people don't
attempt to shed light on the truth? Our 4 Elders are very experienced and
knowledgeable, yet how was it possible for them to fail to see through such a simple
ploy?" When they heard her, the clan members looked at their 4 Elders with doubt.

At this point Yang Kang could only stubbornly maintain his stand, saying, "You claim
that Leader Hong is still alive, so why did he want you to be the Clan Leader? How do
you prove your claim?" Huang Rong waved the bamboo stick, saying, "This is the
Clan Leader's Dog-Beating Stick, isn't this proof enough?" Yang Kang laughed loudly,
"Ha ha, this was originally mine and you snatched it away in front of everyone just
moments ago. What 'proof' is this?" Huang Rong smiled, "If Leader Hong handed the
Dog-Beating Stick to you, why didn't he teach you the Dog-Beating Skill too? If he
did, how could I have snatched the Dog-Beating Stick from you?" When Yang Kang
heard her mention the 'Dog-Beating Stick' 4 times, he felt that she made a blunder
and he bellowed, "This is the token of authority of this Clan; what 'Dog-Beating
Stick'? How dare you insult the treasure of this Clan?" He thought that his words
could please the Beggars' Clan members but he was unaware that this stick was
actually called the 'Dog-Beating Stick'. The 2 beggars with him deeply respected the
Dog-Beating Stick and did not dare mention the name to him during their journey.
Yang Kang had clearly showed his ignorance on the bamboo stick's name, and the
Clan members all glared at him with displeasure. Yang Kang realized that he had
said something wrong but could never have guessed that his mistake lay in the fact
that the immensely important bamboo stick did actually have such an uncouth name.
Huang Rong smiled, "Treasure? Take it if you like." She held the stick out for him.

Yang Kang was delighted and wanted to take it but was afraid of Guo Jing. Elder
Peng said, "Leader, we'll protect you. Take it first." Yang Kang jumped up with Elder
Jian and Elder Liang. Lu Youjiao saw that Huang Rong was alone and jumped up too.
He thought, "Though my fingers are broken, I still have my legs. My name Lu Youjiao
(Lu Has Legs) is not for nothing."

Huang Rong gallantly handed the bamboo stick over to Yang Kang. He was wary of
her and made sure his vital organs were protected before taking the stick. Huang
Rong let go of the stick and laughed, "Are you holding it tightly yet?" Yang Kang said
sharply, "What?" Huang Rong suddenly laid her left hand on the stick and shot her
leg up. She tossed the stick down and said, "Once you've held it properly, I'll snatch
it again." Elder Jian waved his sleeve and retrieved the stick. This move was clean
and fast, and the beggars around cheered. Elder Jian then handed it back to Yang
Kang. He gripped it and thought, "Unless you chop off my hand, you're not going to
snatch it again."

Huang Rong laughed, "When Chief Hong handed this stick to you, didn't he teach you
to hold it properly so that others wouldn't snatch it easily?" The crowd laughed as
Elder Jian and Elder Liang moved in front of Yang Kang. Elder Jian's leg moved out
as he tried to grab her but Huang Rong used a leaping technique from Hong Qigong's
'Carefree Boxing'. She moved like a swallow, causing Elder Jian to grab thin air even
though he was so close to her. His heart trembled slightly just as he heard the
bamboo stick swishing towards their legs. The 2 Elders jumped away to avoid the
strike. Huang Rong laughed, "Pardon me, but the name of this stroke is 'Rod Hitting
2 Dogs'!" Her white sleeve floated as she stood at the edge, the bright green
bamboo stick glowing radiantly in her hand. This time she had moved even faster
and no one could see what strokes she used. Guo Jing cheered, "Who did Chief Hong
teach the 'Dog-Beating Skill' now? Isn't this clear enough?" The beggars gathered
around had seen her snatch the stick trice, each time faster than the previous, and
they started debating among themselves. Lu Youjiao said clearly, "Brothers, this
lady's strokes are indeed from our Chief's martial arts." The 3 Elders looked at each
other. Knowing Hong Qigong for so many years, they knew that it was indeed from
his martial arts. Elder Jian said, "Since she's our old Chief's disciple, it's natural that
she knows some of his skills." Lu Youjiao said, "We also know that the 'Dog-Beating
Skill' is taught exclusively to our Clan Leaders only." Elder Jian laughed coldly, "That
lass learnt some weapon-snatching skills, and though she's pretty good, how can it
be proven that this is actually the 'Dog-Beating Skill'?"
Lu Youjiao also had his doubts and said, "OK, young lady, please display the 'Dog-
Beating Skill' for all to see, and if it's really genuine, all the beggars will be
convinced." Elder Jian said, "We've all heard about this skill, but none of us has
actually seen it in action. How do we know if it's genuine?" Lu Youjiao asked, "What
do you suggest?" Elder Jian clapped his hands and said loudly, "If this lady is able to
defeat my 'Pork Palms' with the 'Dog-Beating Skill', I shall recognize her as our
Chief. Should I have any 2nd thoughts, may my body be pierced with a thousand
knives and arrows." Lu Youjiao protested, "Hey, you're a top expert in this Clan with
your name known in Jiang Hu for 20 years now. How old is this lady? She's new to
this skill, how can she be a match for your decades of experience?" As they were
arguing, Elder Liang became impatient and jumped towards Huang Rong, shouting,
"The truth about the 'Dog-Beating Skill' shall be known now! En garde!" His sabre
chopped trice through the air, the cold light glinting on the blade. The chops were
fast and fierce, yet they avoided her body with the accuracy of an expert. Huang
Rong stuffed the bamboo stick in her belt and without moving her feet, she avoided
the chops. She laughed, "With you, why do I need the 'Dog-Beating Skill'?" Her left
hand started her stroke while her right hand tried to snatch his sabre with brute
force.

Elder Liang was a well-known figure, so he was furious that such a young
inexperienced girl did not take him seriously. He immediately chopped towards her
shoulder using his special move. Elder Jian no longer felt any enmity towards Huang
Rong and instead thought that there was more to it then it met the eye, so on seeing
Elder Liang's ferocity, he cautioned, "Elder Liang, don't apply lethal force!" Huang
Rong laughed, "It's OK!" Her motion changed abruptly, punching and kicking,
pushing and jabbing, changing between more than 10 different martial arts in rapid
succession.

The beggars around glued their eyes to the action. An 8-Pocket skinny beggar
shouted, "Ah! 'Lotus Palms'!" The fat beggar then exclaimed, "Eh, she knows the
'Bronze Hammer Boxing'!" Before he finished, she changed martial arts again, and
the experts each exclaimed, "Ah it's the Chief's 'Sky-Striking Skill'." "Hey, she's
using the 'Iron-Curtain Kicking Technique'!" "This move is 'Limp Hands Overcoming
the Enemy'!"

Hong Qigong was actually a lazy person who disliked taking martial disciples. It was
only when the Beggars' Clan members made some important contribution that he
would teach 1 or 2 strokes as a reward. Even when Li Sheng (see Chapter 15)
performed his duties without regard for his life, Hong Qigong only taught him one of
the strokes of the '18 Dragon Subduing Palms' - the 'Divine Dragon Displays its Tail'.
Hong Qigong also had another habit where he would not teach the same stroke to
more than 1 person, so whatever the Beggars' Clan members learnt would not share
any common ground. It was only due to Huang Rong's intelligence and fantastic
culinary skills that pleased him into teaching her dozens of different martial arts. But
because she loved to play, she only learnt a few strokes each. Besides, Hong Qigong
was too lazy to train her properly, so Huang Rong could only display the skills
without the finesse. Still, her purpose was just to display the martial arts Hong
Qigong taught her, and the beggars exclaimed when they saw that it was something
they knew. Elder Liang's sabre skills were far better than Huang Rong's; it was due
to her rapid change in martial arts that momentarily dazzled him, preventing him
from attacking and forcing him to defend himself.

As the sabre flashed, Huang Rong suddenly withdrew her palms to her side and
laughed, "Do you admit defeat?" Elder Liang had yet to use all his stances, why
should he admit defeat? His sabre flipped outwards from his bosom. Huang Rong did
not evade the strike, causing the beggars around to call out in surprise as the sabre
flew towards her. Elder Jian and Lu Youjiao shouted for him to stop. Elder Liang also
knew something was not right and hastily tried to pull the sabre upwards, but could
not pull back in time and it hit her left shoulder. He groaned silently, "Oh no!" The
force behind the strike was not very light and he felt that he must have injured her.
Suddenly his arm went numb and the sabre hit the ground with a clang. Little did he
know that Huang Rong was wearing the Soft Armour and that she seized the
opportunity when he hesitated with his strike to tap his accupoint using her family's
'Flower-Plucking Hands'. She stepped on the sabre and smiled, "Well?" Elder Liang
was so certain that he injured her in his strike that he was shocked by this sudden
turn of events and wordlessly stepped away. Yang Kang said, "She's Huang Yao Shi's
daughter, so there's nothing strange about her wearing the Soft Armour." Elder Jian
creased his eyebrows in doubt. Huang Rong laughed, "You don't believe it?" Lu
Youjiao observed that though her martial arts were good, she was still far behind
Elder Liang. If not for her trick, she could only hope for a draw at best. Elder Jian
was much better than Elder Liang and she was not his match, yet she was still
giggling indifferently. Lu Youjiao was worried but the pain in his broken fingers was
preventing him from speaking as he sweated profusely. Elder Jian lifted his head and
said, "Miss, allow me to spar with you!" Guo Jing saw his imposing figure and solid
steps and also knew Huang Rong was not his match, so he picked up the bundled
cow skin and rushed forward. He tossed it out and wrapped it around Elder Jian's
bronze staff (which Qiu Qianren lodged in the stone) and shouted, "Up!" The staff
trembled and jerked upwards. The staff was facing Elder Jian but Guo Jing dashed in
between and struck out with the 'Six Dragon Palms' and hit it from the side. This was
one of the strokes from the '18 Dragon Subduing Palms' and its force was something
to be reckoned with. The impact caused the staff to change direction abruptly. Guo
Jing caught hold of the staff and used it to execute the stroke 'Clouds Without Rain'
while his right hand executed the stroke 'Convincing Sarcasm'. He applied the 'Dual-
Hand Skill' to execute 2 moves at the same time and the bronze staff rose up
steadily. He then used the move 'Sighting the Dragon in the Farm' and struck the
middle of the staff. He shouted, "Watch it!" as it flew towards Elder Jian.

The staff flew like the snow and Elder Jian knew if he stretched out to intercept it, his
hand would be dislocated, so he jumped aside. He feared that it may hit the beggars
around so he shouted, "Get away!" However Huang Rong stretched out the bamboo
stick and tapped the middle of the bronze staff and gently pressed it downwards.
This was a good example of the saying "4 liang moving a thousand jin". Though the
move was gentle, it was one of the ingenious strokes of the 'Dog-Beating Skill' called
'Pressure on the Dog's Back' which made very efficient use of the applied forces. She
pressed down on the staff and laughed, "You use the staff, I use the stick. Let's have
some fun."

Elder Jian was stunned and gave up all thoughts of sparring. He bent down to pick
up the staff and held it head-down, then bowed and said, "Miss, please show
leniency." This action was actually supposed to be a mark of respect of a junior to an
elder indicating inequality between their skills and the desire to seek pointers from
the elder.

Huang Rong stretched out the bamboo stick and used the stroke 'Facing the Dog to
the Sky' and tossed the head of the staff upwards. She laughed, "Please dispense on
ceremony. I may not be as skillful as you." This bronze staff had been Elder Jian's
precious weapon for decades and yet he almost could not hold on to it firmly as it
brushed his forehead as he hastily withdrew the weapon. He was surprised and
quickly applied the stroke 'Qin King Whips the Stone' and hit downwards from behind
- a stroke originated from the martial arts of the heroes from Liang Mountain Slope
(Liang Shan Po) called the 'Mad Demon's Staff Skill'. Huang Rong saw that this strike
was strong and fierce and felt that if he managed to sweep her down, she would still
sustain internal injuries even with the Soft Armour. She increased her pace and used
the 'Dog-Beating Skill' and slid the stick up the bronze staff. The bronze staff
weighed around 30 jin while the stick was only about 10 liang but the skill was
profound and ingenious and easily allowed the bamboo stick to prevent the staff
from breaking through within just a few strokes.

At first Elder Jian was only afraid that he would break the bamboo stick, so he
restrained himself, withdrawing the staff once it made contact with the stick.
However, with Huang Rong's proficiency in the stick, Elder Jian was repeatedly forced
to defend himself. Within a few more moves, he only saw the shadows of the stick in
all directions and had to use all his strength to hold his ground and could not care if
he hit the stick forcefully or not.

Guo Jing sighed in admiration, "Master's martial arts are really unfathomable." He
then thought, "I wonder where Master is now? I hope he has already recovered." He
suddenly saw Huang Rong change tactics again. She held the stick with 3 fingers and
it flew into a circular dance. Elder Jian was momentarily dazzled when he struck out
towards her shoulder. Huang Rong flipped the stick to keep it close to the head of
the staff, then she 'lured' the staff outwards, borrowing up to 90% of the staff's own
momentum. Elder Jian felt as though the staff was about to fly out of his hands and
he hastily tried to pull back but did not expect the stick to 'glue' to his staff. In his
shock he changed moves 7 or 8 times in quick succession but found that he just
could not 'shake off' the stick.

The 'Dog-Beating Skill' has 8 main principles - Trip, Block, Trap, Poke, Pick, Lure,
Steal and Turn. Huang Rong used the Trap technique to make the stick like a vine
winding round a tree; no matter how the tree grows in width, the vine would not be
separated from the tree. After more strokes, he tried to execute the 'Massive
Diamond Strength Staff Skill', causing the staff to produce a swishing sound but the
stick still followed his staff around. Huang Rong hardly used any strength at all and
simply used her stick to chase his staff, so it looked like she was being controlled by
the staff when in fact she was like a shadow using his own strength against him, just
like how Guo Jing tamed his Little Red Horse years ago. Elder Jian no longer doubted
her and was about to concede defeat when Elder Peng suddenly shouted, "Use the
'Hand-Catching Technique' and grab the stick!" Huang Rong said, "OK, go ahead!"
Her stick now changed to the Turn technique, which forced the opponent to follow
himself, but causing the opponent to see a mass of flashes and shadows. He
suddenly found that 5 of his vital accupoints on his back being threatened. Those
were sensitive accupoints and a hit could be fatal. Elder Jian knew that the situation
was critical and he rapidly retreated to avoid being hit but Huang Rong did not lose
momentum and kept targeting his accupoints very intensely.

Elder Jian ran out of ideas and simply rushed forward. He managed to avoid the stick
but it came up from behind. He stepped harder and started running, but the faster
he ran, the faster the stick chased him. The beggars saw him jumping and running in
circles around Huang Rong. She stood in the centre and made sure the stick did not
leave his back by continuously changing hands to wield the stick; hence, she did not
need to move around. Elder Jian’s circles became larger and Lu Youjiao had to get
down with the other two Elders to avoid being hit. Elder Jian hastily said, “Yes! Yes!
Greetings to the Clan Leader!” He wanted to bow in respect but Huang Rong showed
no sign of stopping, so he had to continue jumping around till the sweat was dripping
down his white beard. Huang Rong laughed and used the Pick principle and tossed
the bronze staff upward, borrowing much of Elder Jian’s own jumping momentum.
Elder Jian immediately bowed and cupped his hands in salute. The beggars around
saw her brilliant performance with the 'Dog-Beating Skill' and no longer had any
doubts. So they loudly cheered, “Greetings to our Clan Leader!” Elder Jian stepped
forward to spit on Huang Rong’s face, but when he looked at her jade white delicate
face which shone like the blooming flower, how could he bear to spit on her? He
hesitated and finally swallowed his spit back into his throat.

Just then, someone jumped up and caught hold of the bronze staff – it was Elder
Peng. Huang Rong fell for his hypnotic trick before and utterly disliked him, so she
looked at him in wary silence before lifting the stick to tap the accupoint on his chest
using the Turn principle, which left him with no room for retreat. However, Elder
Peng was very cunning, and as he knew his martial arts were below Elder Jian’s he
did not try to evade but simply cupped his hands and bowed.

After tapping his accupoint, Huang Rong angrily said, “What do you want?” Elder
Peng said, “Allow me to pay my respect to Chief.” Huang Rong starred at him and
met his gaze, causing her heart to shudder and she hurriedly turned away. Still, she
could not help but look at his eyes again. She turned back and saw his piercing gaze
and this time, she could not turn away so she quickly shut her eyes. Elder Peng
grinned “Chief, you’re tired. Please take a rest!” His voice was silky and gentle.
Huang Rong felt the fatigue rapidly overcoming her. When Elder Jian acknowledged
Huang Rong as the Clan Leader, he felt that he had the responsibility to protect her,
so when he saw Elder Peng using his hypnotic trick, he growled, “Elder Peng, what
are you doing to chief?” Elder Peng smiled and said softly, “Chief needs rest; she’s
tired. Can you help her?” Huang Rong realized the danger but her body was dizzy
and limp and she closed her eyes to fall into a deep sleep. In her semi-conscious
state, she suddenly recalled something that Guo Jing mentioned and snapped out of
her dream, exclaiming, “Brother Jing! Did you say the manual contains some 'Soul-
Shifting Skill'?” Guo Jing had long noticed something wrong and would have killed
Elder Peng in one palm strike if he tried any tricks; when he heard her, he jumped
up and whispered something in her ear. Huang Rong heard him recite the passage,
and with her high intelligence and good internal energy foundation, she was able to
compose herself and force her eyes wide open, oblivious to the surroundings. Elder
Peng saw her close eyes for some time and was secretly elated that his trick worked
but he suddenly saw her re-open her eyes and smile at him. He smiled back but
before he realized it, he felt his body floating and burst into laughter. Huang Rong
knew that the skill in the 'Nine–Yin Manual' was indeed superior and managed to
hypnotize him with just one smile, so she chuckled. Elder Peng realized everything
was wrong and tried to concentrate but instead lost further control of himself and
stood up in wild laughter. The echoes of his laughing could be heard clearly all
around the nearby lake.

The beggars around looked at each other and wondered what he was laughing at.
Elder Jian kept shouting, “Elder Peng, What are you doing? How dare you show
disrespect to the Chief?” Elder Peng pointed at his nose and bent his waist in
laughter. Elder Jian though it was something on his face and roughly brushed his
hand across his face. Elder Peng laughed even more wildly and somersaulted down,
rolling on the ground. The beggars realized something was not right. Two of his own
aides tried to support him up but he shoved them away amidst his laughter. For this
sort of hypnotizing technique, it required a substantial amount of internal energy and
will power to control the other party. For an ordinary person, if subjected to such
treatment, the person would simply fall asleep, but because Elder Peng was
concentrating on controlling Huang Rong, the effect on him was ten times worse
when she suddenly ‘attacked’ him while in such a state.

Elder Jian was worried that he would die from exhaustion, so he bowed to Huang
Rong and said, “Chief, Elder Peng has been disrespectful, but I beg that Chief would
be magnanimous and spare his life.” Elder Liang and Lu Youjiao came forward and
bowed too. Huang Rong asked Guo Jing, “Do you think it’s enough?” Guo Jing
replied, “OK, let him off.” Huang Rong said, “Elders, if you want me to spare him,
fine, but you folks must not spit on me.” Elder Jian hurriedly said, “The clan rules are
set by the Chief, and can be altered by the Chief, we will listen to you.” Huang Rong
was delighted to hear that she could avoid the spitting and laughed, “Ok, go tap his
accupoint.” Elder Jian jumped to Elder Peng and sealed two of his accupoints,
causing him to stop laughing and he panted heavily. Huang Rong giggled, “Now I can
rest! Hey, where’s Yang Kang?” Guo Jing replied, “Gone!” Huang Rong jumped,
asking, “How did that happen? Where did he go?” Guo Jing pointed at the lake and
said, “He went off with that old man Qiu,” Huang Rong saw the blur figures a
distance away and did not pursue, knowing that Guo Jing let him off on account of
their family ties.

When Yang Kang witnessed the match between Huang Rong and Elder Jian and saw
her gain the advantage, he knew that if he did not leave now, his life would be at
stake, so he slipped away to join the Iron Palm Sect while everyone was
concentrating on the match. Qiu Qianren saw Huang Rong take the Clan Leadership
and realized that with Guo Jing’s and Huang Rong’s good martial arts, coupled with
the numerical strength of the Beggars’ Clan, it was unwise for them to stay, so he
led the Iron Palm Sect members and Yang Kang off the island by boat. Some of the
beggars observed them leaving, but with the ongoing match, there was no one
controlling the situation, so they ignored the party. Huang Rong held the stick up
and said clearly, “Before Chief Hong returns, I shall preside over all matters in this
Clan. Elder Jian and Liang should lead some 8-Pocket members to welcome Chief
Hong back; Elder Lu should remain here to recover from his injuries.” The beggars all
cheered.

Huang Rong then said, “How do you people propose we handle Elder Peng?” Elder
Jian said, “Brother’s offense is major and he deserves a serious punishment, but
based on his merit for the Beggars’ Clan, please spare him from death.” Huang Rong
laughed, “I knew you’d plead for him, Fine, he’s already had enough laughing, so
just demote him from Elder to an 8-Pocket member.” The four Elders thanked her.
Huang Rong said, “Brothers, you hardly meet and so must have much to say, you
must give Li Sheng and Yu Tiaoxin a good burial. I see that Elder Lu is of good
character, so all major matters will be decided by him. Elders Jian and Liang, please
assist him. I shall take my leave now and we shall meet in Lin’an.” She held Guo
Jing’s hand and left.

The beggars escorted them down the mountain and watched until their boat could no
longer be seen before assembling again to discuss their plans.

The couple returned to the Yue Yang Mansion by dawn and found the red horse and
the two condors waiting for them. Huang Rong looked around and saw the red Sun
rising up from the lake; it was a beautiful scenery. She laughed, “Brother Jing, the
essay by Master Fan Wen is really well written : ‘The distant mountain swallows the
river and is vast without boundaries. Day by day it stands majestically.’ How can we
not appreciate such a wonderful scene? Let’s drink a few cups.” Guo Jing agreed and
they went upstairs. They thought of the previous night’s events and laughed. They
were drinking merrily when Huang Rong suddenly became angry and said, “Brother
Jing, It’s your fault!” Guo Jing was lost in confusion and begged, “Rong-er, please
explain.” She said, “OK, let me ask you, last night when we were both facing the
Beggars’ Clan formation you felt that your life was in danger, but why did you
abandon me? If you had died could I still live? Don’t you understand my heart?” Her
tears fell into the cup. Guo Jing felt her deep feelings for him and was filled with
love, grabbing her hand in his wordlessly. After some time, he said, “Yes, It was my
fault. We should face death together.” Huang Rong sighed and was about to reply
when she heard someone on the stairs, when they saw each other, all three were
surprised. It was Qiu Qianren.

Guo Jing quickly stood up and shielded Huang Rong as he was afraid of Qiu Qianren’s
murderous intent. However, Qiu Qianren merely laughed and went down. The
laughter seemed to indicate surprise and panic. Huang Rong said, “He’s scaring us.
This is strange; I’ll go check it out.” She did not wait for Guo Jing’s reply and ran
downstairs. Guo Jing yelled, “Be careful!” He hurriedly dug out a piece of silver and
plonked it on the counter before dashing out. He looked around but did not see them
and remembered Qiu Qianren’s vicious martial arts and underhand methods and was
worried that Huang Rong might meet some mishap, so he shouted, “Rong-er, where
are you?”

Huang Rong heard him but did not respond as she was closely tailing Qiu Qianren
and knew that the slightest sound could betray her position. Huang Rong hid behind
a wall and waited for Qiu Qianren to move further so that it would be safer for her to
tail him. However, when he heard Guo Jing shouting, he knew she was behind and
he too hid behind the wall on the other side. After some time, both of them heard
nothing stirring and peered round the corner at the same time. They came face to
face with each other and their expressions changed simultaneously.

The two people gasped and turned to walked away. Huang Rong was afraid of his
palm strength but did not want to give up, so she went one big round, then used her
Qinggong to dash behind the other corner of the wall. Qiu Qianren expected her to
do that and he too made a circle then used his Qinggong to dash to the corner of the
wall, but he went in the other direction and bumped into her again. Huang Rong
thought, “If I turn around, he’d surely strike my back and I might not avoid it.” She
thought, “I should stall for time until Brother Jing comes.” He laughed, “We met in
Lin’an the other day and we meet here again. Miss, how are you?” She thought, “I
clearly saw this scum last night yet he’s still trying to fake it. I think I’ll test him out
with the 'Dog-Beating Skill'. She shouted, “Brother Jing, strike his back!” Qiu Qianren
turned and saw no one, he realized he was tricked and he heard swishing sound
around his legs. He hurriedly jumped and managed to avoid being hit, but the 'Dog-
Beating Skill'’s Trip principle is continuous like the flowing river and would continue
to target the opponent until it succeeds. Though the technique is only about tripping
the opponent, it contains many variations. He jumped faster and faster, but he kept
seeing the stick’s shadow dancing around his legs. By the 17th step, he accidentally
slackened his pace and immediately found himself slamming onto the ground. He
yelled, “Wait! I’ve something to say.” Huang Rong laughed and waited for him to get
up before tripping him again. He fell another five times and did not attempt to get up
again but instead remained motionless on the ground. Huang Rong laughed, “Stop
faking death.” He stood up and snapped his belt. Holding on to his pants, he said,
“Are you leaving? I’m going to let go!” Huang Rong was shocked, as she never
expected a reputable clan leader to use such a dirty trick. She feared that he would
really let his pants drop so she turned to leave. She heard him laughing behind as he
grabbed his pants and chased her. The normally cunning Huang Rong somehow ran
out of tricks and simply evaded him, finding it infuriating yet funny. He was about to
catch up when he saw Guo Jing jumping out from the corner and shielding Huang
Rong with his palms ready to strike. Qiu Qianren saw that this was a powerful stance
so he laughed, “Ah! Oh no!” Huang Rong said, “Brother Jing, hit him.” From what
Guo Jing saw the previous night, he knew Qiu Qianren’s martial arts level was
comparable to Ouyang Feng, Huang Yaoshi and Zhou Botong so he did not dare
underestimate him. He concentrated his Qi in his Dan Tian to prepare for his enemy.
Qiu Qianren still held on to his pants saying, “You dolls better listen to Master here –
today I ate something bad and my stomach’s upset.” Huang Rong repeated, “Brother
Jing, hit him.” But she herself stepped backwards. Qiu Qianren said, “I know what
you’re up to. You won’t be satisfied unless old Master here teaches you a lesson. But
today, I’ve got trouble with my stomach. Fine; listen up, within 7 days, meet me at
the foot of Iron Palm Mountain. Do you dare come?” Huang Rong heard him refer to
himself as Master and held her bronze needles to throw at him for talking rubbish.
Just as she was about to release the needles, she heard “foot of the Iron Palm
Mountain” and remembered the 4 lines of words in the painting she saw at Qu Ling
Feng’s place. She said, “OK, we should come to take a look. When we meet then,
we’re not going to play with you. How do we get there?”

Qiu Qianren said, “From here, head west, pass through Chang De, Chun District,
then proceed up Chao Yuan River. There will be a 5-peak mountain shaped like a
palm. That’s it. That’s a dangerous place; if you’re afraid, then apologize to me and
don’t come.” Huang Rong became more excited and said, “OK, it’s a promise. See
you there.” Qiu Qianren nodded before exclaiming, “Ah!” and rushed off clutching his
waist.

Guo Jing said, “Rong-er, there’s something I don’t understand. Please explain.”
Huang Rong asked, “Yes?” Guo Jing said, “This old man’ martial arts are good; we’re
not his match, but why does he try to fool us? That day at the Gui Yun Mansion, he
struck my chest. If he’d used his full strength, I’d be dead. What is he driving at?”
Huang Rong nibbled her finger, saying, “I’ve got no idea. When I tripped him just
now, he did not try to use his skill, maybe what he did with the bronze staff last
night was a trick.” Guo Jing shook his head, “He broke Lu Youjiao’s fingers – that
can’t be faked.”

Huang Rong bent down and used her hairpin to draw on the ground. After a moment,
she sighed, “I can’t figure out what this old thief is up to. Anyway when we reach the
5-peak mountain, we could find out.” Guo Jing asked, “Why should we go there? We
should find Master. This old man is a trickster, yet you believe him?” Huang Rong
said, “Brother Jing, the painting that Father handed you was wet by the rain and
some words were revealed; what were they?” Guo Jing shook his head. “The words
were not complete, I can’t infer anything meaningful.” Huang Rong laughed “Really?”
Guo Jing knew he could not have understood it on his own, so he quickly said,
“Rong-er, you must know it, quick, tell me.” Huang Rong wrote the lines of words
and said, “The first line had the word ‘Wu’ missing, so it should be ‘Wu Mu Yi Shu’
(Yue Fei’s War Strategies Manual ‘ ’). I couldn’t have guessed the 2nd line if
not for that old man, so it should be either ‘Mountain’ or ‘Peak’.” She recited the
lines, “Wu Mu Yi Shu, Zhai Tie Zhang Shan (The manual is at the Iron Palm
Mountain).” Guo Jing clapped and exclaimed, “Yes! Let’s go! The Iron Palm Sect is
corroborating with the Jin troops – they’d surely hand the manual to Wanyan
Honglie. What’s next?” Huang Rong laughed, “That old man said the mountain is
shaped like a palm, and the 3rd line is ‘Zhong Zhi Feng Xia’ (under the peak of the
central finger).” Guo Jing said excitedly, “Yes, Yes Rong-er, you’re brilliant! The 4th
line!” Huang Rong said, “I’m not sure. 'Di er…jie’ (The 2nd … ).” She tossed her hair
in the wind, saying. “ I give up. We’ll talk when we get there.”

They rode towards the place described and reached it within a day. They asked
around but everybody shook their heads. They were disappointed and put up at an
inn. Huang Rong asked the waiter but he did not mention anything relevant. Huang
Rong said, “This place is boring. Is there anything worth seeing?” The waiter could
not resist and said, “There’s this Monkey’s Claw Mountain – the scenery is
unparalleled.” Huang Rong asked, “Where is that?” The waiter did not reply but
instead said, “Never mind,” and walked out.

Huang Rong chased him and pulled him back and placed a silver ingot on the table,
saying, “Tell me more and this is yours.” The waiter gently touched the ingot and
said, “You are sure about this?” Huang Rong nodded with a smile. The waiter said in
a low voice, “I’ll talk, but you must not go. That place is reputed to be inhabited by
beasts and demons. Whoever goes within 5 miles of the mountain can only dream of
coming back alive.” The couple nodded. Huang Rong said, “The mountain has 5
peaks shaped like a monkey’s hand, isn’t it?” The waiter exclaimed, “Yes! So you
already knew! I didn’t say that. But there’s something strange about the mountain.”
Guo Jing asked, “What?” He replied, “The mountain being shaped like a hand isn’t
really strange, what’s strange is that every ‘finger’ on the mountain has 3 segments,
just like our fingers.” Huang Rong jumped up, shouting, “The 2nd segment, the 2nd
segment!” Guo Jing yelled happily, “Correct! Precisely!” The waiter did not know
what was going on and starred at the couple blankly. Huang Rong asked for more
details and handed him the silver. The waiter left happily.

Huang Rong stood up and said, “Brother Jing, Let’s go.” Guo Jing said, “It’s less than
30km from here. We can use the Red Horse to rush there now, and we can pay them
a visit tomorrow morning.” Huang Rong laughed, “What visit? Steal the book!” Guo
Jing exclaimed, “Yes! I’m so dense, I didn’t think of that.” They did not want to
arouse any attention so they left through the window and galloped southeast. The
waist-length grass hindered their movement, but when they were 20km away, they
saw the 5-peak mountain in the distance. Guo Jing excitedly said, “The mountain
looks exactly like the painting; see the pine trees at the summit?” Huang Rong
laughed, “We’re short of a general up there. Brother Jing, go up and display your
sword skills.” Guo Jing laughed, “But I’m not a general.” Huang Rong replied, “Isn’t
that easy? Eventually Genghis Khan…” Her words trailed off. Guo Jing knew what she
meant and turned his head away, not daring to face her.

They left their horse at the foot of the mountain and utilized their Qinggong to scale
the mountain. After many twists and turns, they came to a thick clump of pine trees.
They stopped to discuss if they should continue upwards or investigate the clump of
trees when they saw a faint light among the trees. They exchanged hand signs and
crept stealthily towards the light. Suddenly, there was a whoosh and two black-clad
armed men jumped up and blocked the road. Huang Rong thought, “If we fight
them, it would be difficult to steal the book.” She had an idea and took out Qiu
Qianren’s Iron Palm token and showed them wordlessly. When the two men saw it,
they were shocked and quickly bowed and stepped aside. Huang Rong swiftly drew
her bamboo stick and struck their accupoints then kicked them into the tall grass.
She crept closer and saw a large stone house with two boxes on the left and right of
the entrance. In the center, a large urn was burning on a stove and the burning
smell was easily detectable. Two young attendants stood on each side of the stove,
one of them stirring the mixture inside with an iron ladle. From the sizzling sound, it
was clear that the urn contained iron filings. An old man sat close by, breathing
deeply – it was Qiu Qianren. After a while, he lifted his palms then stood up suddenly
and struck his palms into the urn. Qiu Qianren practiced on the burning iron filings
for a while then struck towards a cloth sack suspended above. The palm hit the sack
with a solid slap, yet the sack did not even move.

Guo Jing was secretly shocked, thinking, “This cloth sack is not supported by
anything behind, yet it didn’t move. His palm skill must be extremely good.” Huang
Rong, however felt that it must be a trick; if she wanted to steal the book first, she
would have said so earlier. He struck his palms into the urn then struck the cloth
sack again, repeating this process several times. Huang Rong just could not figure
out how he did this trick and thought, “If 2nd Master were here, he’d surely guess it.
I’m not as smart as he is.” They peeped into the adjacent room and had another
shock. Inside, a male and female seated together – it was Yang Kang and Mu Nianci.
Both Guo Jing and Huang Rong wondered, “How did Sister Mu get here?” They heard
Yang Kang’s sweet and flattering words and discovered that he was trying to trick
her into marriage earlier. Mu Nianci, however, insisted that he kill Wanyan Hong Lie
first before going into a relationship. Yang Kang said, “My dear, how could you be so
short-sighted?” Mu Nianci queried curiously, “How so?” Yang Kang said, “Yes!
Wanyan Hong Lie is surrounded by many bodyguards. Based on just myself alone,
how could I succeed? If you marry me, I could pretend to take you to visit your in-
laws. With the two of us, our chances are naturally better.” Mu Nian Ci felt that this
made sense, so she remained silent. Yang Kang saw that she was willing and so he
held her hand and gently stroke it, then stretched his hand to hug her waist. Huang
Rong could not take it and wanted to step forward and expose his plan when she
heard an old rasping voice behind her, “Who dares trespass my mountain?” The
couple turned around and saw Qiu Qianren’s face glowering under the moonlight.
Though he must have been playing a trick, his menacing gaze showed that he should
not be trifled with. Huang Rong was startled, then thought, “He’s on his own
mountain now, of course he’d try to put on airs. Yup, he already discovered our
presence earlier on, so he deliberately set this up for us, isn’t it?” She laughed, “Old
Qiu, we are here on your invitation. Have you forgotten the 7 –day appointment?”
Qiu Qianren snapped, “What appointment? Rubbish!” Huang Rong laughed, “Hmm,
how could you forget it so soon? Is your stomach upset gone yet? If not, you should
consult a physician before exchanging blows with me, to prevent … hehehe!” Qiu
Qianren did not respond but launched both palms towards Huang Rong’s shoulder
fiercely. She giggled and ignored his strike, wanting to use her Soft Armour to pierce
his palms. Just then Guo Jing exclaimed, “Get down!” She felt a guest of wind and
knew Guo Jing tried to intercept him but felt a heavy blow smashing right into her.
She fell backwards and everything went black.

Qiu Qianren felt a shock to his palms as they bled profusely. He was shocked and
furious when he saw Guo Jing’s palms flying to him, so he quickly retracted his
palms and met Guo Jing’s strike. Their palms met with a smack and both retreated
three steps. Qiu Qianren stood firmly while Guo Jing stumbled, which clearly showed
the difference between their palm strengths. The previous night when they
exchanged blows, Guo Jing appeared to be on par only because he used the Big
Dipper Formation. Guo Jing was concerned about Huang Rong, so he withdrew from
the battle and hugged her up to go, but he heard the wind gust from behind – he
was being attacked again. Guo Jing struck his right hand backwards without turning
around, using the move 'Dragon Displays Its Tail' – this was a special move designed
to save lives, and now when he was in great danger, the power of the move was
increased. Qiu Qianren hit his palms and felt his body go slightly numb. He checked
his hands and found the blood glistening in the moonlight and was afraid Huang
Rong’s protective vest could be poisoned. He looked closely and saw that the blood
was still bright red, so he breathed a sigh of relief. Guo Jing took advantage of his
procrastination to grab Huang Rong and dash out towards the summit. He only ran a
few dozen steps when he heard angry shouts from behind. He turned and saw
numerous black–clad men with torches swarming towards him. In the chaos he
happened to discover that Huang Rong was not breathing. He screamed, “Rong-er!
Rong-er!” There was no response. With this slight delay, Qiu Qianren’s men came
within a dangerous distance. Guo Jing thought, “If I were alone, I could break
through this encirclement easily, but Rong-er is severely injured. I can’t take this
risk.”

He ran faster and climbed directly upwards. He had learnt mountain-scaling skills
before, so it was not long before he threw his pursuers far behind. Still, he did not
stop, and when his face came into contact with Huang Rong’s face, he felt the
warmth of her cheeks and felt greatly relived. However, she had yet to respond to
him. He looked up and saw that the summit was quite narrow and could be easily
surrounded, so he tried to find somewhere where he could save Huang Rong first. He
thought he saw a cave in the darkness, so he dashed in that direction and found that
it was really a cave, and its entrance had some stacks of jade stones. Guo Jing
ignored any danger which may have lurked inside and rush in. He placed her down
and put his hand on her “Ling Tai” accupoint to aid her breathing. The Iron Palm Sect
members could be heard shouting and yelling in the distance, but even if an army
charged in row, he would still save her first. After some time, she coughed and
regained consciousness, groaning feebly, “My chest hurts.” Guo Jing was delighted
and exclaimed, “Rong-er, don’t be afraid, I’m here.” He walked to the entrance and
looked down, and got a shock. The torches below formed a neat wall surrounding
them and one prominent figure stood in the middle – it was Qiu Qianren. Yet for all
the yelling and shouting, none of the people below moved any closer. He could not
guess what they were up to, so he went back in to check on her when he suddenly
heard footsteps in the darkness. Guo Jing was surprised and used his palm to guard
his rear while he tuned around, but he could not see who it was in the darkness. He
called out, “Who’s that? Come out now.” The echo could be clearly heard in the cave,
and after a slight pause, there was someone laughing, and he sounded just like Qiu
Qianren. Guo Jing could make out a figure walking into the light – it was indeed Qiu
Qianren. Guo Jing had clearly seen him down the mountain shouting and cursing, yet
how could he get there in the blink of an eye? He felt the cold sweat trickling down
his spine. Qiu Qianren laughed, “You 2 dolls aren’t afraid of death and came here to
find your master, good.” He then said loudly, “This is the forbidden territory of the
Iron Palm Sect, and all who trespasses it shall die, are you dolls tired of living?” Guo
Jing could not guess his intention, but Huang Rong quietly said, “Since it’s forbidden,
why are you here?” Qiu Qianren was taken aback and said, “I’ve got something
important to do and I’ve got no time for your question.” He tried to leave the cave.
Guo Jing saw his quick steps and feared that he would try to ambush him and harm
Huang Rong, so he thought, “I should strike first.” Both his palms flew out toward
Qiu Qianren’s shoulders and he expected Qiu Qianren to block him, so Guo Jing
would then strike his waist. This move was invented by the scholar Zhu Cong, with
emphasis on masking the actual target so that the enemy could not block it. As
expected, Qiu Qianren blocked him, but just as Guo Jing changed direction to hit
him, Guo Jing felt that his opponent was not using any strength at all, totally unlike
what he experienced just moments ago. Guo Jing did not think as fast as he moved,
so he naturally grabbed his opponent’s hands. Qiu Qianren struggled frantically but
could not break free. But with this struggle, he allowed Guo Jing to see through his
martial arts. Guo Jing knew there was no danger and released him. Qiu Qianren
stumbled towards him, allowing him to simply seal his “Yin Du” accupoint. Qiu
Qianren collapsed immobilized onto the ground and said, “Young master, this is a
dangerous situation, how could you play games with me?” Now the yelling and
chanting were getting much louder – the rest of the Iron Palm Sect members had
rushed to the scene. Guo Jing said, “Bring us safely down the mountain.” Qiu
Qianren numbly shook his head saying, “My own life is in danger, how could I still
help you?” Guo Jing said, “Ask your disciples to make way. When we reach the foot
of the mountain, I’ll release your accupoint.” Qiu Qianren frowned, “Master, why
torture me? Go the the entrance and see for yourself.”

Guo Jing went to the entrance and looked down and was startled. Qiu Qianren stood
in front of his disciples yelling away. Guo Jing quickly turned around and saw him
lying down. He asked in a confused voice, “You…you…Why are there 2 of you?”
Huang Rong said, “Silly boy, don’t you see, there are 2 of them. One is highly skilled
in martial arts while the other can only brag and boast. They look exactly alike and
this is the big-mouthed one.” Guo Jing was perplexed for a while before the truth
dawned on him and he said, “Is that right?” Qiu Qianren made a sour face and said,
“Since she said so, then it’s so. We’re twins and I’m the elder. At first I was better in
martial arts but my brother’s improved drastically later.” Guo Jing said, “Then who is
Qiu Qianren?” He replied, “What difference does it make? Isn’t it the same if I’m
Qian Ren or he is? We were pretty close since young, so we share the same name.”
Guo Jing said, “Quick, tell me.” Huang Rong said, “Isn’t it obvious? He’s the
impersonator.” Guo Jing said, “Eh, old man, then what’s your name?” He could not
avoid the question so he said, “I remember Father called me something like ‘Qian
Zhang’. I felt it didn’t sound nice, so I didn’t use it.” Guo Jing laughed, “Ha, you’re
Qiu Qianzhang.” He replied, “So, what can you do about that? Ten ‘chi’ makes one
‘zhang’, and 7 ‘chi’ make one ‘ren’, so 1000 ‘zhang’ is longer than 1000 ‘ren’ by 3000
‘chi’.” (Refers to the meaning of their names.) Huang Rong said, “I think you should
change your name to ‘Qian Fen’ (1000 cm).”

Guo Jing said, “Why is he yelling there? What doesn’t he come up?” Qiu Qianzhang
said, “Without my orders, who dares come up?” Guo Jing half-believed him. Huang
Rong said, “Brother Jing, don’t trust this wily old fox. Hit his ‘Tian Tu’ accupoint!”
Guo Jing stretched out finger and tapped it.

This accupoint was beneath the throat, and once hit, Qiu Qianzhang felt as though a
thousand ants were crawling all over him, and he felt extremely numb and itchy. He
kept squealing, “Ah! Ah, are you trying to kill me?” Guo Jing, “Then answer me now
and I’ll release you.” Qiu Qianzhang shouted, “Alright, I can’t win you.” Bearing with
the discomfort, he revealed everything. So Qiu Qianren and Qiu Qianzhang were
actually twins, and their similarities in looks made it difficult to differentiate them.
When they were 13, Qiu Qianren unintentionally saved the life of the previous Iron
Palm Sect Leader; The Leader repaid him by teaching him all his martial arts. When
he was 24, Qiu Qianren’s martial arts were very outstanding, so when the previous
leader (titled Shang - Guan Bang - Zhu) passed away, Qiu Qianren succeeded him as
the new sect leader. With his astonishing martial arts, coupled with his talent and
determination, he managed to expand the sect and improve its reputation; ever
since he destroyed the Hengshan Sect with one strike, Jiang Hu was well aware of
the name “Iron Palms Floating On Water”. During the first Mt. Hua Sword Meet,
Wang Chongyang invited him, but though his palm skills were powerful, he knew he
was no match for Wang Chongyang, so he declined to attend the tournament. During
the past decade he practiced diligently, hoping to clinch the ‘World No. 1’ title at the
2nd Mt. Hua Sword Meet. It was at this stage that Qiu Qianzhang took on his
brother’s name for himself to brag around outside. The one that Guo Jing and Huang
Rong met at Gui Yun Manor and Lin’an Mansion was Qiu Qianzhang. Because of their
resemblance and Huang Rong’s carelessness, she sustained such a life-threatening
injury. Now this second segment of the central ‘finger’ was designated as the burial
ground for all the previous leaders. The leader would enter this cave to await death
when he was about to breathe his last. If the leader died while away, it was
considered an honor for any disciple to bring the leader’s remains inside and die with
him. Hence, it was declared a sacred and forbidden ground and all who entered must
not leave alive. Therefore, when Guo Jing and Huang Rong barged into the cave, the
members could only curse them from a distance as none dared enter. Even the
leader himself had to stoop to cursing them. Why then, did Qiu Qianzhang dare to
enter? Whenever a leader was close to death, he had to bring his favorite weapons
and treasures with him, so the cave accumulated a lot of valuables. Hence, Qiu
Qianzhang wanted the weapons for himself to show off. He never expected to see
Guo Jing and Huang Rong turn up here. Guo Jing listened to his narration and
thought, “This place is forbidden to them, but there’s no other way down, how do we
get out of this?” Huang Rong said, “Brother Jing, try looking inside.” Guo Jing said,
“Allow me to check your injuries first.” He lit a torch and proceeded to undo her
outer dress and Soft Armour. Her snow-white shoulders revealed two black palm-
marks, indicating the grave condition of the injuries. If left untreated, the injuries
would eventually claim her life. Guo Jing thought, “Ouyang Feng and Qiu Qianren’s
martial arts are about the same, so Huang Rong’s injuries are probably just as bad
as Master’s injuries.” He stared into blank space. Qiu Qianzhang yelled, “What
rubbish is this lass talking now? Hurry up and unseal my accupoint. The itch is killing
me, why don’t you try it yourself?” Guo Jing, though, was oblivious to all that.

Huang Rong smiled, “Silly boy, relax. Release that old man.” Guo Jing then walked
over and released his accupoint. Qiu Qianzhang’s itch stopped but his ‘Yin Du’
accupoint was still sealed, so he remained motionless apart from his pupils. Guo Jing
found a 2-foot long club and lit it as a torch, saying, “Rong-er, I’ll go take a look
inside, will you be OK here alone?” Huang Rong’s temperature rose and dropped
rapidly and the pain was almost unbearable, but she forced a smile, “With this old
man, I’m not afraid, go ahead.”

Guo Jing raised up the torch and treaded carefully. After 2 turns, he came to a large
natural cave which was 10 times larger than the cave outside. He scanned the room
and observed many skeletons; some sitting, some lying, some scattered on the
ground while some had missing bones. Each skeleton had some sort of weapon or
treasure at its side. Guo Jing dreamily thought, “These ex-leaders must have been
the great men of their day, yet today they are reduced to bones. Still, at least they
have each other for company. This is good; at least it beats being buried alone.” It
was as though he did not notice the weapons and treasure in his anxiety for Huang
Rong. Just as he was about to leave, he happened to lay his eyes on a wooden box
next to a skeleton. He shone his torch on it and looked closely and saw the
inscription, “Secrets to Overcoming the Jin.” He started, “Maybe this is the manual
by Grand Marshal Yue.” He tugged at the box when the skeleton suddenly ‘leapt’
toward him.

Guo Jing was shocked and hurriedly jumped back while the skeleton smashed on the
ground. He grabbed the box and dashed out. He then supported Huang Rong up and
opened the box in front of her. There were two books inside. Flipping through the
first book, Guo Jing saw that its contents were Yue Fei’s essays and other literary
works. As he glanced through the words and passages he was filled with a strong
surge of loyalty and righteousness, and he sighed in admiration. Huang Rong said,
“Read a passage to me.” He flipped through casually and recited the passage <The
Five-Hill Treatise>, “Since the strife in the Central Plains began, the Barbarians have
invaded, anger flowed like the spring river; rising united, armies assembled, fighting
hundreds of battles. Though we failed to advance far, we cleansed their lair, and
swiftly ending the feud between states. Yet today the lone army marches on, for
Yixing. The Battle of Jing - Kang defeated and humiliated our lands, and our hatred
will not rein our horses. The troops lay in wait for the enemy, raising the morale of
the soldiers; battling through time, moving through the northern desert, shedding
blood in the cities, exterminating the Barbarians, welcoming the return of the 2
sages, capturing their land; the Imperial Court had no worries, the Emperor slept in
peace, and so Yue Fei wrote.” The passage summarized Yue Fei’s life ambitions.
Though Guo Jing’s literacy was limited, he was filled with the desire to serve the
people. While he read some of the words wrongly, he nevertheless felt the essay was
extremely well written.

If they were back at Gui Yun Manor, Qiu Qianzhang would not have hesitated to
mock and scorn Yue Fei, but now he feared his accupoint would be sealed again.
Though he was not well informed about Yue Fei, he still nodded his head, saying,
“Yes, it’s indeed well written, and a worthy hero is reading a hero’s essay, nothing
could be better.”

Huang Rong sighed, “No wonder Father kept lamenting that he was born decades
late; if not he would definitely meet such a great hero. Please recite his poems,” Guo
Jing went through a few poems, and some like <The Crimson River> were familiar to
her, while others like <Title of a Soldier’s Pavilion> were new to her.

The Iron Palm Sect members continued to shout and curse; Guo Jing let Huang
Rong’s head rest on his thigh while he continued to recite Yue Fei’s works, “The title
is <Title of the Sun Dragon’s Residence> : At the Wei Mountain Monastery, the
mountain spring defeats the stillness. At the Buddha’s statue in Zijin, the snow
covered the old monk’s head. The cold lake water welcomes a new month, and the
pine tree welcomes the autumn wind. I leave the dragon’s words, hoping to aid the
people in the storm.” The wind blew and the birds chirped as Huang Rong rested
snugly in Guo Jing’s arms. Guo Jing said, “Grand Marshal Yue deeply remembered
the suffering of the people; he is a true hero indeed.” Huang Rong nodded and
smiled, “The young hero is reading the works of a great hero while and old ‘hero’ is
listening in. How redundant.” She then asked, “What’s the contents of the other
book?” Guo Jing read a few lines inside and excitedly exclaimed, “This… this is really
Grand Marshal Yue’s handwritten text on the war strategies! Wanyan Honglie would
never have imagined that this it. Fortunately it’s not been taken by him.” On the first
page was written, in 18 bold words : Repeatedly examine plans, Tough/rigorous
training, Equal rewards/punishments, Clear uncompromising orders, Fair/just rules,
Everyone sharing hardship.
As they were reading, the shouting below abruptly ceased and not a single voice was
heard. Suddenly, they were left in the unnatural silence. Guo Jing and Huang Rong
listened carefully and heard the crackling of burning grass in the distance as Qiu
Qianzhang groaned loudly, “Today you 2 dolls have caused my destruction.” In his
panic, he called them “dolls” again. Guo Jing rushed out and saw a whole wall of fire
swiftly burning towards them. As the mountain was filled with tall grass, the flames
rapidly spread to form a sea of fire.

Guo Jing gasped, “They don’t dare step into this forbidden territory, so they’re
attacking by fire. The cave doesn’t have any flammable objects, but we’d surely be
fried.” He immediately grabbed Huang Rong when he heard Qiu Qianzhang
screaming on the ground, so he kicked him lightly to unseal his accupoint to let him
make his own escape. He then snatched the wooden box and ran up the mountain.
They were still a few hundred metres from the summit. Guo Jing gathered his
concentration and sprinted upwards with Qiu Qianzhang following behind. Guo Jing
looked down and saw the fire spreading in the distance and knew that thought they
were temporarily safe, but it would not be for long, so he gave a long sigh. Huang
Rong suddenly said, “Grand Marshal Yue’s given name is ‘Fei’ (fly), styled ‘Crane’.
Let’s try ‘Condor’, how about that?” Guo Jing asked, “What condor?” Huang Rong
said, “Call the condors up to fetch us down.” Guo Jing jumped up and exclaimed,
“That would be fun. I’ll summon them. But I’m not sure they can take our weight.”
Huang Rong sighed, “After all we’re heading for doom, so we might as well take the
risk.” Guo Jing sat properly and gathered his Qi in his Dan Tian and made a loud,
shrill whistle which propagated in all directions. This was the result of his internal
energy training under Ma Yu, and with the 'Nine Yin Manual', his internal energy
improved by leaps and bounds. Though it was quite a great distance between the
base and the summit, it was not long before the condors flew up and stopped in front
of them. Guo Jing helped Huang Rong remove the Soft Armour and placed her on a
condor’s back. He was worried that she might not be able to hold on tightly to it with
her injury, so he strapped her down with a cloth belt. Mounting the other condor, he
whistled and the condors flapped their wings. They trembled greatly as they took off,
but once in flight, the condors stabilized. At first, Guo Jing feared that he might be
too heavy, but once it spread it s wings, it flew effortlessly. Huang Rong, being a
child at heart, felt this was an interesting sight, so she guided the condor towards
Qiu Qianzhang and it glided gracefully past him. Qiu Qianzhang was shocked and
shouted, “Miss, take me along. The fire will consume me soon!” Huang Rong
laughed, “It can’t take the weight of 2 people. Why don’t you try begging your
brother? Since his shorter by 3000 chi, wouldn’t he listen to you?” She tapped the
bird and flew away; Qiu Qianzhang became more and nervous and called out, “Miss,
don’t you think this is interesting?” Her curiosity was aroused and she turned around
to what he was up to. Suddenly, he launched himself forward, throwing his body off
the mountain to grab her. He knew that either way he would die, so he took such a
desperate gamble. With the sudden increase in weight, the condor plunged swiftly. It
flapped its wings frantically but still could not produce enough thrust. Qiu Qianzhang
grabbed Huang Rong’s back and tried to yank her off and toss her down, but she was
strapped to the condor which prevented her from falling off. They were about to
plunge to their death, and the Iron Palm Sect members who witnessed them were
too shocked to speak. At this critical moment, Guo Jing’s condor flew straight at
them and pecked at Qiu Qianzhang’s head. He felt a sharp pain shoot through his
head and he stretched out his hands to shield his head. But he lost his grip and
flipped downwards, screaming madly as he fell into the valley below. The decrease in
weight allowed the condor to regain its lift and it gained altitude. The two condors
then flew north.
END OF CHAPTER.

Author’s Note:
Yue Fei’s poem <The Crimson River> ( ) was very well known, but the Song
Dynasty had no known records of it. Yue Fei and Sun Yue He’s <Jin Soldier’s
Passages> and <Domestic Calling Volume>, a compilation of Yue Fei’s literary works
have not been found to date. The text quoted above first appeared in the Ming
Dynasty, so some believe that it belongs to the works of Ming Dynasty authors.
Some sources claim that these works are of no value as they merely used Yue Fei’s
name for the works

Chapter 29 – The Lady of the Black Marsh

(Translated by Foxs, edited by Eliza Bennet)
Caption to the picture:
On the long table were seven oil lamps, arranged in the Big Dipper formation; on the
ground squatted a grey-haired lady, her attention focused on the countless bamboo
strips scattered on the ground. So deep was her concentration that even when she
heard people come in, she did not raise her head to look.
Riding on the back of the eagle Guo Jing repeatedly shouted, calling the little red
horse on the ground to follow them. In a short moment the pair of eagles had
covered quite a distance. Although this pair of eagles was extraordinarily big, they
were not able to fly too far while carrying humans on their back. Not too long
afterwards, they started to descend and finally landed on the ground.

Guo Jing immediately jumped down the eagle’s back and rushed to see Huang
Rong’s condition. He found out that Huang Rong had passed out while on the eagle’s
back. Hastily he untied her belt and massaged her pulse. After a while Huang Rong
regained her consciousness, but she was still in a daze and was unable to utter any
word.

By that time the dark clouds were hanging on the sky, blocking the moon and stars
from shining their lights to the ground. Having barely escaped from death, when he
recalled what had just happened Guo Jing still shivered with fear. He held Huang
Rong in his hands, standing in the middle of the wilderness. He felt the world was
vast and obscure and did not know where he should go. He did not dare to call his
little red horse for fear that Qiu Qianren would hear his call.

After standing still for half a day, he had no choice but to start walking. Every step
he took he treaded on either a bush or tall grass; there was no pathway at all. His
calves were pricked by thorns along the way. Although feeling the pain, he doggedly
walked forward. All around him was pitch-black; even if he tried to open his eyes
wide he still could not see his hands in front of his eyes. He was forced to walk very
slow, for fear that he would step into an empty space; yet because he feared the
Iron Palm Clan people would pursue, he did not dare to pause.

After walking miserably for about two ‘li’s [1 li is approximately 0.5 km] suddenly he
saw a big star twinkling low on the horizon to his left. He looked attentively, trying to
get his bearing; he found out that that was not a star, but a fire light. And where
there was light, there were bound to be people around. Guo Jing was delighted; he
sped up his footsteps walking directly to that light. He saw that the light sometimes
disappeared among the tree; it looked like the source of that light was inside a thick
forest ahead of him. But once he entered the forest he was unable to walk straight,
the pathway was bent to the east and turned to the west, so very soon he lost sight
of the light. It was difficult to see where he was going in that thick forest, so he
jumped up a tree and looked around; he found out that the light was already behind
him.

He walked back, but very soon he lost sight again. After seemingly walking in circles
his head was spinning; no matter where he went, he simply could not reach that
light. He was thinking about his pair of eagles and his horse, but did not know where
they went. He was thinking about jumping from tree to tree, but it was so dark that
he could not see where to step; also he was afraid the tree branches would hurt
Huang Rong. But they had to find lodging for the night for he knew they could not
stay in this dark forest waiting for dawn. He determined to keep walking even if he
had to bump his head on the trees. Therefore, he decided to calm down and caught
his breath first, taking a short break.

By now Huang Rong had slowly regained her consciousness; on Guo Jing’s back she
felt how he walked around, turning to the east and curving to the west. Although she
could not see anything she began to understand the pathway of the forest. “Jing
Gege, walk diagonally to the right,” she said in low voice.

“Rong’er, are you all right?” Guo Jing happily asked.

Huang Rong mumbled indistinctly, she was still too weak to speak. Guo Jing walked
following her direction. Huang Rong silently counted his footsteps. After about
seventeen steps she said, “Walk to the left eight steps.” Guo Jing followed her
instruction. Huang Rong again said, “Walk diagonally to the right again for thirteen
steps.”

With one giving direction the other following, two people made a good progress in
that pitch-black winding forest pathway. When Guo Jing walked back and forth
earlier, Huang Rong had deducted correctly that this pathway was manmade. She
had partially mastered Huang Yaoshi’s wonderful ‘wu xing qi men’ [five ways
strange/wonderful/mysterious gates] technique; even though the pathway was
confusing, she could see it clearly with her eyes closed. If it were daylight, she would
have arrived sooner, but in the dark she could not identify any safe trail at all.

By following Huang Rong’s instructions, Guo Jing walked sometimes to the left,
sometimes to the right, sometimes diagonally several steps to the left or to the
right; sometimes seemingly he walked further away from the light, but in less than a
time needed to drink a cup of tea the light source suddenly appeared in front of
them. Guo Jing was delighted, he dashed forward.

“Not too fast!” Huang Rong anxiously called out. “Aiyo!” Guo Jing cried out. His feet
sank straight into a moat. Quickly he kicked his feet to pull out from the moat. Once
they were back on solid ground, a strong fume of mud from his feet attacked their
nostrils. They looked ahead and vaguely saw two thatched huts surrounded by a thin
layer of mist. The light was coming from these huts.

Guo Jing loudly called out, “We are passing visitors, also suffering a serious injury.
We beseech the master of the house to grant us a place to rest and some water to
drink.” But after waiting for half a day no reply came out from the huts. Guo Jing
called again, but still nobody answered. After calling out for the third time a female
voice answered from the huts, “You can get this far, certainly you have the ability to
enter the house. Must I come out to greet you?” Her voice was exceptionally cold
and indifferent; obviously she did not welcome the visitor and did not want to be
disturbed.

Under normal circumstances Guo Jing would prefer spending the night in the forest,
he also hated to deliberately disturb unwelcoming host; but for now Huang Rong’s
well-being was more important to him. However, in front of him was a wide marsh,
which he did not know how to cross; therefore, with a low voice he discussed this
thing over with Huang Rong.

Huang Rong thought for a moment then said, “These huts are built in the middle of a
pond of mud. Take a look clearly and tell me whether the shapes of those huts are
one square and the other round.”

Guo Jing opened up his eye wide for a moment then he exclaimed, “That’s right!
Rong’er, you know everything.”

“Go to the back of that round hut, from there walk straight to the light three steps,
then turn diagonally to the left four steps, then straight three steps and diagonally to
the right four steps. By carefully walking straight and diagonally like this, you won’t
make a wrong step,” Huang Rong said.

Guo Jing followed her instruction to the letter; and sure enough, every time he
stepped his foot down, he would step on a submerged wooden stake. Only those
wooden stakes were not firm, some of them wobbled and some were planted on an
angle; if his lightness kungfu was not good, they would fall into the marsh. He
focused all his attention to walk three steps diagonally and four steps straight; and
after walking a total of 119 steps they arrived at the front of the square hut.
The hut was actually without a door. Huang Rong whispered, “From here you jump
forward, make sure you land on the left side.”

Carrying Huang Rong on his back Guo Jing jumped forward and landed on the left
side, he could not help but feel amazed, “Everything is exactly as Rong’er has
anticipated.”

There was a courtyard inside the wall, which was divided into two parts: on the left
was solid ground, while on the right was a pond. Guo Jing crossed the courtyard and
entered the main hall. Outside the hall was a moon gate without any door on it. “Go
straight ahead,” Huang Rong said, “There is nothing strange from here on.”

Guo Jing nodded. With a loud and clear voice he said, “The passing visitors took the
liberty to enter the house; I beg the esteemed host to forgive our boldness.” He
waited for a moment then proceeded to enter the hall.

Inside the hall there was a long table; on it were seven oil lamps, arranged in the Big
Dipper formation. On the ground squatted a grey-haired lady, her clothes were made
from coarse fabric. Her attention was focused on the countless bamboo strip
scattered on the ground; so deep was her concentration that even when she heard
people came in, she did not raise her head to look.

Guo Jing gently lowered Huang Rong on a chair. Under the lamp light they saw that
lady’s countenance to be thin and pallid, as if she did not have any blood; they felt
compassionate toward her. Guo Jing was about to open his mouth asking for some
water but seeing that lady so engrossed in whatever she was doing, he was afraid to
interrupt her train of thought; hence he refrained from making any noise.

After sitting down for a moment, Huang Rong’s spirit was slightly revived. She saw
the bamboo strips on the ground to be approximately four ‘cun’s [about 13cm or
5inches] long and two ‘fen’s [about 7mm or ½ inch] wide; they were bamboo strips
usually used for calculation. Again she looked closer, those computation were based
on ‘shang, shi, fa, jie’ [business/commerce, reality, law, lending (money)] method of
calculation with four decimal point. Right now she was calculating the square root of
55,225; with the ‘shang’ position had shown the result to be 230. But that lady was
still struggling with the third digit.

Huang Rong quipped, “Five! Two hundred and thirty five!”

That old lady was startled, she raised her head, her eyes were gleaming, looking at
Huang Rong with a penetrating gaze, and then immediately lowered her head to
continue her calculation. When she raised her head, Guo and Huang, two people saw
her face; it was simple and beautiful. They believed she was not even forty years of
age yet. Perhaps the hair on her temples had turned grey because she had too much
in her mind.

After computing for while, the lady figured out the answer was indeed ‘five’; she
raised her head to look at Huang Rong again. She looked confounded, but also
angry, as if she was going to say, “You are but a young girl; you have made a lucky
guess, what’s so strange about that? Just don’t mess with my business here.” She
wrote down ‘235’ five characters [er bai san shi wu] on a piece of paper, then
proceed to the next problem.

This time she was looking for the cube root of 34,012,224. She started by putting
down the ‘shang’ and ‘shi’ and ‘fang’ [square], followed by ‘lian’ [inexpensive], ‘yu’
[corner] and ‘xia’ [lower], six strips; and found the first digit to be ‘three’.

Huang Rong softly said, “Three hundred and twenty four.”

That lady uttered an ‘Hmm’ sound, how could she believe her? She continued
calculating for a long time, and after a time needed to drink a cup of tea later, the
result came out, it was indeed ‘324’.

That lady straightened up her back and stood up; it appeared that her forehead was
full of wrinkles, but her cheeks were full, her face looked round. The upper half of
her face look old, the lower half looked young, looked like both parts differed by as
much as twenty years. Her eyes stared at Huang Rong, suddenly she pointed toward
the inner room and said, “Come with me.” She took an oil lamp and walked in.

Guo Jing propped Huang Rong up and followed her inside. The inner room’s wall was
round; the floor was covered with fine sand. On the sand were written many weird
symbols, vertical and horizontal lines and circles; also some characters such as ‘tai’
[great], ‘tian yuan’ [first/primary sky], ‘di yuan’ [first/primary earth], ‘ren yuan’
[first/primary human], and ‘wu yuan’ [first/primary object].

Guo Jing had no idea what they were; he was afraid to mess these symbols up, so
he stopped at the door and did not dare to step into the room.

Since her childhood Huang Rong had been trained by her father in all kinds of
mathematics. She looked at the symbols on the ground and immediately recognized
it was an advance technique in mathematics called the ‘tian yuan zhi shu’ [sky
primary technique]. Even though it looked complicated, it should not be too difficult
to solve as long as one understood the principle.

[Author’s note: It very much resembles the modern day algebra. Our country since
the ancient times had developed this calculation technique, with ‘tian’, ‘di’, ‘ren’ and
‘wu’ as four unknown variables; much like the X, Y, X and W variables in western
algebra]

Huang Rong pulled the bamboo stick from her waist; leaning on Guo Jing she started
writing on the sand. In a short while all seven, eight mathematics problems on the
sand were solved. That lady had painstakingly tried to solve those problems in
months; seeing the solutions, she could not help but feeling deeply confounded. She
was silent for half a day then suddenly asked, “Who are you?”

Huang Rong showed a faint smile and replied, “What’s so special about ‘tian yuan si
[four] yuan zhi shu’? The mathematics book has nineteen primaries, after the ‘ren’
there are ‘xian’ [immortal], ‘ming’ [bright], ‘xiao’ [firmament], ‘han’ [from Han
dynasty], ‘lei’ [rampart], ‘ceng’ [layer], ‘gao’ [high], ‘shang’ [top/above], and ‘tian’
[sky]. Before the ‘ren’ are ‘di’ [earth/ground], ‘xia’ [below/under], ‘di’ [low], ‘jian’
[subtract], ‘luo’ [drop], ‘shi’ [die], ‘quan’ [fountain], ‘an’ [hidden/secret], and ‘gui’
[sly/crafty]. Once you mastered the nineteenth primary, all problems will look easy!”

That lady looked dejected, her body trembled; she dropped to the ground, holding
her head in her hands as she was lost, deep in thought. A moment later she raised
her head and with a delighted face asked, “Your mathematics skill is a hundred times
better than mine, but let me ask you this: you have a three by three array of
number one thru nine, no matter how you add it up, vertically, horizontally or
diagonally, the sum of any three numbers has to be fifteen. How do you arrange it?”

Huang Rong thought, “My father established the Peach Blossom Island based on the
five ways variation; what’s so mysterious about it? The ‘jiu gong’ [nine palace or
halls] is the foundation of the Peach Blossom Island diagram; how could I not know
about it?” Therefore, with a calm voice she recited, “The ‘jiu gong’ diagram is
constructed like the pattern on the turtle shell [Translator’s note: do a google search
with keyword ‘Lo Shu Square’]; four and two are the shoulders, eight and six are the
feet. Three on the left and seven on the right; put on nine and tread on one, while
five occupies the center.” While reciting this she made a diagram of the ‘jiu gong’ on
the sand.

That lady’s countenance turned ashen, she sighed, “I thought I developed this secret
formula. Turned out there is a song about it handed down for generations.”

Huang Rong smiled, “Not only ‘jiu gong’, even four by four array, or five by five,
down to the hundred by hundred array, are not too difficult,” she said, “Take four by
four array for example; we have 16 numbers in four rows. First we determine the
four corner pairs; one and sixteen made a pair, so are four and thirteen. Then we
determine the four pairs inside; six and eleven make a pair, so are seven and ten.
This way the sums of all horizontal, vertical, and diagonal rows are all 34.”

That lady made the diagram on the sand and sure enough, it was as Huang Rong
had said. Huang Rong continued, “Each hall of that nine halls diagram can be
transformed into ‘ba gua’ [eight-diagram]. Eight by nine equal to 72 numbers. These
numbers: 1 to 72 loop around the ‘jiu gong’ like wreaths. Each loop consists of eight
numbers; each four-loop forms another bigger loop, there are four corner loops
altogether, which make the total number of loops to be 13. The sum of the numbers
in each loop is 292. This diagram variation recorded in the Luo Shu [luo – name of a
river, shu – book] is divinely wonderful; no wonder you are not aware of it.” While
explaining it, Huang Rong also drew the 72 numbers of the eight diagrams of the
nine halls on the sand.

The lady was dumbfounded, she faltered and asked, “Miss, who are you?” But before
Huang Rong could answer her, she felt a shot of pain on her chest; her face paled,
and anxiously she took a vial from her pocket and swallowed a green pill from the
vial. After half a day her face relaxed, she sighed and said, “It’s finished, it’s
finished!” Two drops of tears rolled down her cheeks.

Guo Jing and Huang Rong looked at each other; they thought this lady’s behavior
was so weird.

That lady had not spoken anything when suddenly there was an intermittent call
from the outside. It was the Iron Palm Clan pursuers. “Are they friends or enemies?”
the lady asked.

“They are enemies pursuing us,” Guo Jing said.

“Iron Palm Clan?” the lady asked.

“Yes,” Guo Jing replied.

The lady inclined her ear to listen for a while and then said, “Qiu Bangzhu [Clan
Leader Qiu] personally leads his clan to pursue. Who are you actually?” When asking
this her voice was stern.

Guo Jing moved forward one step, stood up in front of Huang Rong, and with poise in
his voice he said, “We are the Nine-fingered Divine Beggar Hong Bangzhu’s disciples.
My martial sister is injured by the Iron Palm Clan’s Qiu Qianren. We took refuge
here. If Senior has a close relation to the Iron Palm Clan and is unwilling to give us
shelter; then we will take our leave.” Having said this he raised his cupped fist and
then turned around to help Huang Rong stood up.

That lady smiled indifferently and said, “You are young, yet so mule-headed. You can
survive but do you think your martial sister can? So you are Hong Qigong’s disciples,
no wonder you have this kind of skill.”

She heard the shouts of Iron Palm Clan people were sometimes far and sometimes
near, sometimes high and sometimes low; she sighed and said, “They can’t find the
way, they can’t come in; just relax. Even if they manage to enter, you are my
guests, how can Divine … Divine … Ying Gu let other people bully her esteemed
guests?” She thought, “Originally I was called ‘shen suan zi’ [Divine Mathematician]
Ying Gu; but this young miss’ mathematical skill is a hundred times better than
mine. How could I call myself ‘shen suan zi’ anymore?” Therefore, she only said the
first word ‘shen’ but could not bring herself to utter the next two characters.

Guo Jing bowed to express his gratitude. Ying Gu slipped the clothes from Huang
Rong’s shoulder to see her injury. She creased her brows but did not say anything;
she took the vial from her bosom and dissolved the green pill in a bowl of water.

Huang Rong took the bowl but she hesitated, they did not know whether the lady
was a friend or a foe; how could she took her medicine?

Ying Gu saw her hesitation, she coldly said, “You are injured by Qiu Qianren’s Iron
Palm; do you still think you can recover? If I want to harm you, do you think I need
to bother myself? This medicine is a pain-reliever; you don’t want it? Fine!” She
grabbed the bowl back and poured the content on the ground.

Seeing her rudeness toward Huang Rong, Guo Jing was unable to restrain his anger.
“My martial sister is seriously injured; how can you be so mad at her?” he said,
“Rong’er, let’s go.”

Ying Gu coldly smiled and said, “Ying Gu’s two small huts; do you think two juniors
like you can easily come and easily go?” With two bamboo strips in her hands, she
stood on the doorway, blocking the exit.

Guo Jing thought, “Talk is useless, must use force.” He called out, “Senior, forgive
me for being rude.” He bent his knees a little bit; making a circle with his arms he
launched the Proud Dragon Repents straight to the door. This stance was his fiercest
one; he was afraid Ying Gu could not resist it, so he only used 30% of his strength.
His intention was simply to clear the way; he did not want to harm anybody. As the
gust of wind arrived at Ying Gu’s body, Guo Jing watched closely how Ying Gu would
block this attack; whether he should increase his strength or retract it immediately.
Who would have thought that Ying Gu only leaned her body slightly, her left palm
made a diagonal moved to lightly push his arm and Guo Jing’s strength was diverted
sideways.

Guo Jing did not expect her to posses such a high skill; he was pushed forward half a
step from the momentum of his own force. Ying Gu was also surprised that with such
strong attack Guo Jing was able to hold his stance firmly on the sand and did not fall
down. From this one exchange, both were secretly admiring their opponent’s skill.

“Kid, have you learned your Shifu’s entire skill?” Ying Gu loudly called out. While
shouting out she used her bamboo strip to hit the ‘qu ze’ [crooked marsh] acupoint
on the bend of Guo Jing’s right arm. It was a vital acupoint, Guo Jing did not dare to
neglect this attack. He counterattacked with another stance from the 18-Dragon
Subduing Palms.

After exchanging several moves Guo Jing realized that Ying Gu’s martial art was
purely ‘yin’ [negative, female] in character, from the ‘soft’ side. Obviously she did
not have a single frontal strike, but each one of her moves contained a lethal
counter-strike; if Guo Jing did not know mutual hands combat, he would have been
injured early on.
The more he fought, the more he did not dare to underestimate her; gradually he
increased the strength of his palms, but Ying Gu’s martial art was one of a kind; her
stances appeared to be soft and powerless, yet it was like a mercury flowing swiftly,
penetrating every hole, making her very nearly impossible to guard against.

Several moves later Guo Jing was compelled to withdraw two steps back. Suddenly
he remembered Hong Qigong’s advice when he was sparring with Huang Rong’s ‘luo
ying shen jian zhang’ [falling leaves divine sword palm technique]; that regardless of
thousands of changes or tens of thousands variations the opponent used, he should
ignore them all and keep fighting using the ’18-Dragon Subduing Palms’ to secure a
victory.

Initially he thought he did not have any desire to fight; besides, the lady looked like
a good and kind-hearted Senior. But without having any enmity or committing any
wrongdoing she had prevented them from going out the gate. Guo Jing still did not
want to be entangled or worse, to injure her life; hence he only used 30% of his
strength; who would have thought that this lady was very ferocious. If he was being
negligent even so slightly, both of them would die in that place.

Guo Jing took a deep breath, raised up both of his elbows slightly, right hand
forming a fist and left hand a palm, one struck vertically, the other pushed
horizontally, one quick the other slow, both hands moved out. It was the sixteenth
stance of the ’18-Dragon Subduing Palms’, the ‘lu shuang bing zhi’ [treading on frost
to reach the ice], which was taught by Hong Qigong at the Liu ancestral hall in
Baoying. Within this stance hard and soft complemented each other, upright and
upside down completed each other; its advantage was unlimited.

Hong Qigong’s martial art was from the ‘hard’ and ‘yang’ [positive, male] side, but
when the hardness reached its peak, by default there would be softness in the
middle of hardness. The fundamental of this martial art can be found in the Book of
Changes [‘I Ching’], where the older ‘yang’ gave birth to the younger ‘yin’. Hence,
within the Proud Dragon Repents and the Treading on Frost to Reach the Ice the
hard energy and soft power blended together and was impossible to distinguish.

“Ah!” Ying Gu softly exclaimed and hastily eluded; she managed to get away from
Guo Jing’s right fist, but was hit by his left kick. She also could not avoid Guo Jing’s
horizontal left palm, which pushed her right shoulder.

As his palm strength hit its target, Guo Jing was certain she would be pushed back
against the wall. He was afraid the dirt wall of this thatched-roof hut would not be
strong enough and collapse; but strangely as his palm was touching her shoulder he
felt like her body was covered with a layer of exceptionally slippery thick lubricant
that his palm slipped to her side. But her body was also shaking and the two pieces
of bamboo strips in her hand fell to the ground.

Guo Jing was startled, quickly he restrained his force; but Ying Gu’s agility was
extraordinary, she had already taken advantage of a favorable situation. Her ten
fingers shot forward and attacked the ‘shen feng’ [divine grace] and ‘yu shu’ [jade
letter] acupoints on Guo Jing’s chest. Her acupoint sealing technique was excellent.

Guo Jing found it was too late to parry; he leaned slightly to the side. His move
resembled the stance he used just now, but a killing strike was concealed within the
move. Something stirred in his heart, “Her acupoint sealing technique is somewhat
similar to Zhou Dage’s [Big Brother Zhou]; if I had not practiced with Zhou Dage for
thousands and tens of thousands times in that cave, I wouldn’t be able to avoid her
attack just now.”

Ying Gu felt a burst of energy coming out from Guo Jing’s body through his right arm
heading toward her own arm; she realized that if her arms were hit by the enemy’s
power, her arms would be broken for sure. Hence once again she used her Loach
Maneuver to make Guo Jing’s palm slipped by her shoulder.

These several moves were very exquisite, each one of them was unanticipated by
the opponent; both were startled, they leaped back several steps almost
simultaneously, both were taking defensive position. Guo Jing thought, “This lady’s
martial art is so weird! If I can’t touch her, then I will be the one who will always fall
under attack.”

Ying Gu was also astonished, she thought, “This youngster is so young, how can he
possess this kind of martial art skill?” Following which she thought, “I have been
hiding here for more than a dozen of years, diligently training hard; inadvertently
mastering a wonderful martial art skill, thinking I have become invincible in the
world, very soon I can go out of this forest to seek revenge and to rescue someone.
Who would have thought that in mathematics I am inferior to this young girl by a
long shot, in term of martial art I can’t even match this youngster who is still wet
behind his ears? Much less he is carrying somebody on his back. If we fight for real, I
would have lost early on. For dozens of years I endured pain and suffering, will it all
be flushed in running water? Shall I give up my desire to seek revenge and rescue
someone?” Having thought this, her eyes turned red and her nose ache; she could
not restrain tears from rolling down her cheeks.

Guo Jing knew the strength of his own palm had shaken her, he busily said, “Junior
had rudely offended Senior, I truly did not mean it; please forgive me and let us go.”

Ying Gu noticed that while speaking Guo Jing repeatedly looked at Huang Rong with
utmost concern in his face. She recalled her own misfortune, how she was separated
from her lover and could not see each other until that day; her jealousy raged and
she coldly said, “This girl was hit by Qiu Qianren’s Iron Palm. There is a dark shadow
on her face, she won’t live to see the fourth day; why are you still concerned about
her?”

Guo Jing was shocked, straightaway he examined Huang Rong’s face, and indeed he
could see a layer of dark shadow in between her eyebrows like it was smeared with
ink. His heart turned cold, immediately he held Huang Rong up and with a trembling
voice asked, “Rong’er, you … how do you feel?”

Huang Rong felt her chest and abdomen fiery hot while her four limbs were icy cold.
She knew that that lady did not speak nonsense; she sighed and said, “Jing Gege,
during these three days, don’t ever leave me even for a single step. Can you?”

“I … I won’t leave you even for half a step,” Guo Jing said.

Ying Gu sneered and said, “Even if you won’t leave her for half a step, you will only
have seventy-two hours.”

Guo Jing raised his head up, his eyes full of tears. He looked at that lady earnestly
implored her not to say anything that might hurt Huang Rong’s feeling.

Ying Gu was an unfortunate woman, dozens of years of suffering had given her a
calloused heart. Seeing these two people who loved each other were going through a
disaster, her heart was filled with delight. She was going to say something to hurt
their feeling when she saw Guo Jing’s miserable expression. Suddenly an idea come
flashing like a lightning strike in her mind, she thought, “Ah, ah, the heaven sent
these two here to help me fulfill my wish to revenge.” She lifted her head and
mused, “Heaven, oh Heaven!”

At that time the sound of people shouting outside the forest was getting louder.
Apparently they had searched everywhere and came to the conclusion that Jing and
Rong, two people were still in the forest; only they were unable to find the way to
enter.

After about half a day, Qiu Qianren’s voice was heard calling out from outside the
forest, “Divine Mathematician Ying Gu, Qiu from the Iron Palm requests an
audience.” His words were shouted against the wind, but surprisingly could be heard
clearly, an indication of a profound internal energy.

Ying Gu walked to the window, gather her ‘qi’ on her ‘dan tian’ and shouted back, “I
usually don’t see outsiders; whoever comes to the black marsh die, don’t you know
it?”

“There were one man and one woman who came into your black marsh; please
deliver them to me,” Qiu Qianren replied.

“Who can come into my black marsh? Qiu Bangzhu underestimates Ying Gu too
much,” Ying Gu called out.

Qiu Qianren let out a ‘hey, hey, hey’ cold laugh; seemed like he believed her words.
Then they heard the shouting of the Iron Palm Clan people gradually getting father
away. Ying Gu turned around to Guo Jing and asked, “Do you want to save your
martial sister?”

Guo Jing was dumbstruck, immediately he bent his knees to kneel down and said, “If
Senior is willing to give direction …”

Ying Gu’s face suddenly appeared to be covered with a layer of frost, sternly said,
“Senior! Do you think I am old?”

“No, no!” Guo Jing hastily said, “Not too old.”

Slowly Ying Gu’s eyes moved from Guo Jing to look outside the window, she
muttered softly, “Not too old. Hmm, after all, that means I am old.”

Guo Jing was happy and anxious at the same time; listening to the way she talked,
looked like Huang Rong could be saved. But his words had offended her, he was not
sure if she was still willing to render assistance. He wanted to say something to
correct himself, but actually did not know what to say.

Ying Gu turned back to him, saw him to be sweating profusely, looking so distressed;
there was a stab of pain in her heart, “If only my man showed one-tenth of the
compassion this dumb kid has, ay, my life won’t be in vain,” she said in her heart.
Then she softly recited, “’Four weaving machines, the weaving of mandarin ducks
desiring to fly together right away. It’s a pity; not yet old but the hair on the head
has turned white. When the green spring grass ripples, in the deepest of dawn’s cold,
standing face to face taking a bath wearing red clothes.’”
Listening to her reciting this short poem, Guo Jing’s heart was stirred, he silently
thought, “It sounds familiar, I have heard it before.” But tried as he might, he could
not remember who wrote it. It was not his Er Shifu [Second Master] Zhu Cong, it
was not Huang Rong either; so with a low voice he asked, “Rong’er, who composed
the poem she recited? What does it mean?”

Huang Rong shook her head, “This is the first time I hear it, I don’t know who
composed it. Hmm, ‘It’s a pity not yet old but the hair on the head has turned white.’
That was good! Mandarin ducks always have white head …” [Translator’s note: ‘bai
tou’ literally means ‘white head’, but can also translated as ‘white haired head’ or ‘old
age’] Speaking to this point her eyes involuntarily turned toward Ying Gu’s grizzled
hair. “Exactly ‘It’s a pity not yet old but the hair on the head has turned white.’!” she
thought.

“Rong’er was taught by her father, she knows everything. If it was a well-known
poem, she would definitely know who composed it,” Guo Jing thought, “Who recited
this poem then? It couldn’t be her, couldn’t be her father, also I am sure it couldn’t
be the Cloud Village’s Master Lu. But I am sure I have heard it before. Ay, it doesn’t
matter who recited this poem as long as this Senior really has a way to save Rong’er.
She asked me a question and I gave her a wrong answer. I wish I have a way to
make amends. I don’t care what she will ask me to do …”

Presently Ying Gu was still immersed in the memory of her past; her face sometimes
showed delight, sometimes showed sadness. In a short moment her heart was
recalling decades’ worth of gratitude and grudges. Suddenly she raised her head up
and said, “Your martial sister has been hit by Qiu’s Iron Palm. I don’t know if he
restrained the strength of his palm, or if it was you who blocked his palm, that she
did not die immediately. Either way, in just three short days … Hmm, there is only
one man in this whole wide world who can save her life!”

Guo Jing was listening to every word she said, his heart was thumping madly.
Hearing her last sentence he dropped down to his knees and ‘bonk, bonk, bonk’
knocking his head on the ground three times while calling out, “Please Sen … No, no.
Please, help us. We will be forever grateful.”

Ying Gu coldly said, “Humph! Do I have the skill to save others? If I do have this
divine power, why do I have to endure a damp and bitterly cold place like this?” Guo
Jing did not dare to open his mouth. A moment later Ying Gu continued, “Just
consider yourselves lucky you met me and I know this person’s whereabouts; also
consider yourselves lucky that he lives not too far away; you might be able to reach
his place within three days. Only whether that man is willing to help or not, it’s really
hard to say.”

Guo Jing was delighted, “I will earnestly ask him to help,” he said, “I believe he
won’t go so far as seeing someone in distress and doesn’t want to help.”

Ying Gu smirked, “What do you mean ‘won’t go so far as seeing someone in distress
and doesn’t want to help’? Seeing someone dying and do nothing is human’s natural
behavior. You are going to ask earnestly, do you think other people did not? Do you
think you can persuade him to help you? What have you done to him? Why would he
want to help you?” Her voice was full of bitterness and resentment.

Guo Jing did not dare to open his mouth; presently there was a ray of hope for
Huang Rong, he was afraid he might make a mistake even for half a word and thus
ruined this opportunity. He saw that lady walked outside to the square room, sat
down at the table, took a pen and started writing.

After writing for a while she folded the paper and wrapped it with a cloth, and then
she took a needle and sewn the cloth into a tight pouch. In a similar matter she
made three pouches, only then did she return to the round room. “After leaving this
forest, avoid the Iron Palm Clan people, go straight northeast. When you arrive
within the border of Taiyuan County, open the white pouch. Inside you will find what
you are to do in detail. You are not to open the pouch for any reason before you
arrive there.”
Guo Jing was very happy, he gave his promise repeatedly, and held out his hand to
receive the pouch. Ying Gu drew back her hand and said, “Not so fast! If that man is
not willing to help, so be it. But if he is willing and can save her life, I have a request
to make.”

“We have received your kindness,” Guo Jing said, “If Senior has anything for us to
do, just let us know.”

Ying Gu coldly said, “If your martial sister did not die, within a month she has to
come back here and stay with me for a year.”

“What for?” Guo Jing wondered.

“It’s none of your business,” Ying Gu sternly said, “I only ask her if she is willing or
not?”

Huang Rong interrupted, “You want me to teach you ‘qi men shu shu’ [lit.
strange/wonderful/mysterious way counting method]. How difficult is that? All right,
I give you my promise.”

Ying Gu cast her glance toward Guo Jing and mocked, “It’s useless for you to be a
man; your intelligence is not even one-tenth of your martial sister’s.” But she
handed out the three pouches to him anyway.

Guo Jing held out his hand. Other than the white pouch, he saw the other pouches
were red and yellow. He put everything securely in his pocket and then bowed down
to express his gratitude.

Ying Gu quickly moved aside, did not want to accept his gratitude. “You don’t have to
thank me,” she said, “I don’t need it. You two are neither my family nor my friends,
why would I want to save her? Even if we were related you still don’t need thank me
profusely! Let me be frank with you in advance, I am helping her for my own behalf.
Humph, whoever does not do things for themselves, let the Heaven punishes them
to their death.”

Her words sounded so cruel in Guo Jing’s ears, but he had never been good with
words, so he did not want to contradict her; besides, this time he had Huang Rong to
think about, he did not dare to say anything even more, he simply listened
respectfully.

Ying Gu looked at them condescendingly, she said, “You two must be tired tonight,
also hungry. Have some porridge.”

Huang Rong lied down on a couch, half awake and half asleep. Guo Jing stood by her
side with heart full of disquieting thoughts. A moment later Ying Gu came back with
a wooden tray in her hands. There were two big bowls of steaming and sweet-
smelling rice porridge on the tray, along with a big plate of wild chicken dish and a
small plate of preserved fish.

Guo Jing had been hungry for a while; previously he forgot about food because he
was deeply concerned about Huang Rong’s condition. Right now he was in a better
mood. Seeing the chicken, fish, and rice porridge he was forced to swallow a
mouthful of saliva. Gently he tapped Huang Rong’s hand and said, “Rong’er, wake up
and eat some porridge.”

Huang Rong opened her eyes slightly, shook her head and said, “My chest hurt very
much, I can’t eat.”

Ying Gu sneered, “I have medicine to stop the pain, yet you were terribly
suspicious.”

Huang Rong ignored her, “Jing Gege,” she said, “Take a Nine Flowered Jade Dew Pill
and give it to me.” These were the pills given by Lu Chengfeng at the Cloud Village
the other day. Huang Rong always carried them around in her pocket. When Hong
Qigong and Guo Jing were injured by Ouyang Feng, they took some of these pills.
Although the pills could not heal their injuries, but they could stop the pain and
refresh their spirits. Guo Jing complied and untied her pouch, taking a pill out.

When Huang Rong mentioned the ‘Nine Flowered Jade Dew Pill’, suddenly Ying Gu’s
body slightly shook; afterwards she saw the red pill, she sternly said, “Is that the
Nine Flowered Jade Dew Pill? Let me take a look.”

Guo Jing thought the way she spoke was really strange, unconsciously he lifted his
head to stare at her. He saw a glint of fierceness in her eyes, he felt even more
strange; but he gave the pouch of pills to her nonetheless.

Ying Gu took the pills and brought them up to her nose. A whiff of fragrance attacked
her nostrils, giving them a cool feeling. She looked at Guo Jing with penetrating gaze
and asked, “This is the Peach Blossom Island’s special medicine. Where did you get
it? Tell me, tell me!” Her last sentence carried an extremely fierce tone.

Huang Rong’s heart was moved, “This lady learned ‘qi men wu xing’ [mysterious
gate five path]; is she related to one of my father’s disciples?” She heard Guo Jing
replied, “She is the daughter of the Peach Blossom Island’s Master.”

Ying Gu jumped up in shock, “She is the Old Heretic Huang’s daughter?” Her eyes
shone brightly, one arm extended, the other pulled back, as if she was about to
strike.

“Jing Gege, give those three pouches back to her!” Huang Rong said, “She is my
father’s enemy, we don’t need her pity.”

Guo Jing took out the pouches, but he hesitated to hand them over. Huang Rong
said, “Jing Gege, Just put them down! I may not necessarily die. Even if I die, so
what?”

Guo Jing had never disobeyed Huang Rong from the start; he put down the pouches
on the table with tears streaming down his cheeks.
Ying Gu was looking outside the window, muttering, “Heaven, oh Heaven!” Suddenly
she walked to the other room. Her back was facing them, so they did not know what
she was doing.

“Let us go,” Huang Rong said, “I am sick of seeing this woman.”

Before Guo Jing could answer, Ying Gu walked in and said, “I diligently studied
mathematics because I want to enter the Peach Blossom Island. But judging from
the Old Heretic Huang’s daughter, even if I study for another hundred years it will
still be useless. It was fate. What more can I say? Just go. Take away these
pouches.” While saying it she pushed the Nine Flowered Jade Dew Pill pouch and the
three pouches she made into Guo Jing’s hand. To Huang Rong she said, “These Nine
Flowered Jade Dew Pills are harmful to your injury. Don’t take it no matter what.
After you are healed, don’t forget your promise to stay with me for a year. Your
father had destroyed my life; I’d rather give all these food to the dogs than to let
you eat them.” She threw the porridge, chicken and fish out the window.

Huang Rong was seething with anger; she wanted to answer back sarcastically, but
then she changed her mind. She held Guo Jing’s hand and stood up, then with her
bamboo stick she wrote three mathematics problems on the ground:

The first one included the ‘ri, yue, shui, huo, mu, jin, tu’ [sun, moon, water, fire,
wood, metal and earth] collection of the ‘qi yao jiu zhi tian zhu bi suan’ [seven
dazzling nine grasping Indian method of calculation].

The second one was ‘li fang zhao bing zhi yin gei mi ti’ [lit. ‘standing up soldier
supplying silver’ topic]. [Author’s note: This is the vertical theory of numbers in
western mathematics].

The third one was ‘gui gu suan ti’ [ghost valley mathematic problem]: “There is an
unknown number; three and three has two as the remainder, five and five has three
as the remainder, seven and seven has two as the remainder, what mathematical
operand is that?” [Author’s note: this problem belongs to the theory of numbers of
higher mathematics; our Song Dynasty scholars have been quite profound in this
kind of study.]

[Translator’s note: for the life of me, I have no idea what kind of theory of numbers
Jin Yong was talking about; therefore, I translated this part as best as I could;
although they still don’t make any sense, I am afraid. I am an engineer and not a
mathematician, so I am not familiar with theory of numbers. If any of you can help,
we (both I and the other readers) will certainly appreciate it.

Huang Yushi, Huang Qianbei, the translator of Ode To Gallantry, has sent me a two-
part article about the first problem. Unfortunately it was in Chinese, so it won’t help
much for those of you who don’t read Chinese. Basically it says that the ‘seven
dazzling’ referred to the seven days of the week, and the ‘nine grasping’ was the
almanac calculation method of the ancient India. Here is the link:
http://www.ytlee.org.tw/publish/find/menu_show.asp?period=45#3
And the second part:
http://www.ytlee.org.tw/publish/find/menu_show.asp?period=46#2]

After writing these three problems, Huang Rong slowly walked out, holding on Guo
Jing’s arm. As he stepped over the door, Guo Jing turned his head around and saw
Ying Gu’s hand grasping her computing device, her eyes fixed to the ground like she
was entranced. As soon as they were outside Guo Jing carried Huang Rong on his
back, still following Huang Rong’s direction, walking step by step out of the marsh.
Guo Jing was afraid he might miscount his steps, so he did not dare to say anything;
but as soon as they left the forest he asked, “Rong’er, what did you write on the
sand?”

Huang Rong smiled, “I gave three mathematical problems to her. Humph, I doubt it
if she will be able to solve them in half a year. Let all her gray hair turn white. Who
told her to be so rude?”

“What enmity does she have toward your father?” Guo Jing asked.
“I have never heard Father mentioned it,” Huang Rong replied. After being silent for
about half a day she suddenly said, “She must be very beautiful when she was
young. Jing Gege, don’t you agree?” Actually she bore a suspicion in her heart, “Is it
possible that in the former days my father and she were lovers? Humph, most likely
she wanted my father to marry her but my father did not want her.”

Guo Jing replied, “Doesn’t matter if she was beautiful or not; even if she cannot
solve your problems she still won’t be able to chase us and take the pouches back.”

“I wonder what’s inside those pouches. I doubt it if she had our well-beings in her
mind. Let’s open them and take a look,” Huang Rong said.

“No, no!” Guo Jing hastily said, “We must follow her instructions, we must not open
it until we arrive at Taoyuan.”

Huang Rong was very curious; she persuaded Guo Jing to open it, but Guo Jing
firmly refused; finally Huang Rong resigned.

After being busy the whole night finally the sky turned brighter. Guo Jing leaped up a
tree to take a good look around; he was relieved not to see any trail of the Iron Palm
Clan disciples. He whistled loudly several times, and the little red horse came
galloping fast. Not too long afterwards his pair of eagles was also seen flying above
their heads.

Two people were just mounting the horse when suddenly they heard shouts coming
out of the forest. Dozens of Iron Palm Clan disciples came rushing forward. They
have been guarding around the forest for half a night. As soon as they heard Guo
Jing’s whistle they came out to catch them. Luckily Qiu Qianren was not among
these people. Guo Jing called out, “You missed!” He squeezed his legs on the horse’s
belly and the little red horse ran like the wind; in a moment they could not see their
pursuers anymore.

By noon that day the little red horse had run for more than a hundred ‘li’s; they
stopped by a small restaurant by the roadside. Huang Rong’s chest was still hurting,
but she managed to drink half a bowl of rice soup. Guo Jing asked around and found
out that they had arrived within Taoyuan County border. Quickly he took the white
pouch and cut the thread. Inside he found a map with two lines of characters which
read, “Follow the route shown on the map. At the end of the road you will find a
waterfall with a thatched hut next to it. Open the red pouch when you arrive there.”
Guo Jing did not tarry any longer; they remounted the horse and galloped away.

After traveling for about seventy, eighty ‘li’s, the road was getting narrower. Eight,
nine ‘li’s later they entered a narrow passageway with mountain walls on both sides.
Soon the pathway turned into a winding alley so narrow that one person could barely
squeeze through. They were compelled to leave little red horse to graze by itself on
the side of the hill. Guo Jing took Huang Rong and carried her on his back; together
they entered the alley. Following the steep mountain pathway they walked for about
two hours. Sometimes the alley was so narrow that Guo Jing had to lift Huang Rong
up and he walked sideways, squeezing in between the mountain walls.

It was already the seventh month, the weather was scorching hot and it felt like the
heat would be enough to melt metal. Fortunately there were skyscraping mountain
peaks around them cooling down their path.

A moment later Guo Jing was hungry; he took some dried buns from his pocket and
tore several pieces to feed Huang Rong. He did not stop walking however; he was
eating while walking forward. After eating three buns he was thirsty. Suddenly he
heard from a distant a faint sound of a waterfall. His spirit arose and he sped up his
steps.

In the quietness of the mountain, that waterfall echoed in the valley, creating a loud
rumbling noise like a torrential flood. The closer he got, the louder the noise became.
When he reached the top of the hill he saw a big waterfall like a white dragon coming
out from in between a pair of peaks opposite the hill where he was standing, falling
down to a big pond below with astonishing force.
From the top of the hill Guo Jing looked down and saw a thatched hut next to the
waterfall. Guo Jing sat on a piece of rock and took the red pouch from his pocket.
Inside was a piece of paper with these words: ‘The injury this girl suffers can only be
healed by Emperor Duan …’

Seeing those three characters ‘Duan huang ye’ [Emperor Duan] Guo Jing was
startled, “Emperor Duan, isn’t he the Southern Emperor who share the same fame as
your father?” he asked.

Huang Rong was exhausted, but hearing him mentioned the Southern Emperor her
heart was stirred. “Emperor Duan?” she said, “Shifu also said that his injury can only
be healed by Emperor Duan. I heard my father mentioned Emperor Duan is the
emperor of Dali in Yunnan. Isn’t that …” Suddenly she remembered that this place
was separated with Yunnan by ‘ten thousand rivers and a thousand mountains’ [wan
shui qian shan – meaning ‘the trails and tribulations of a long journey’]. It was
impossible to reach in three days. Suddenly her chest felt cold. She made an effort
to sit down and leaning on Guo Jing they read the paper together.

‘The injury this girl suffers can only be healed by Emperor Duan. Because many of
his conducts were not righteous he hid himself in Taoyuan and made it very difficult
for outsiders to see him. Anyone seeking medical help is a taboo to him; if you
mention your intention, before you reach his residence you will be stopped by the
vicious hands of a fisherman, a woodcutter, a farmer and a scholar. Therefore, you
must say that you have an important message from your master Hong Qigong and
want to have an audience with the Emperor. Once you are in the presence of the
Southern Emperor, give him the yellow pouch. Your fate depends on this.’

Finished reading Guo Jing turned his head to Huang Rong only to see her frowning
silently. “Rong’er,” he asked, “Why did Emperor Duan do many unrighteous
conducts? Why is it seeking medical help is a taboo to him? What are the vicious
hands of a fisherman, a woodcutter, a farmer and a scholar?”

Huang Rong sighed, “Jing Gege, please don’t think that I am so smart that I know
everything.”

Guo Jing was taken aback; he held out his arms and gave Huang Rong a hug. “Very
well, let us go down,” he said. Casting his glance to the distant he could see there
was a man sitting under the willow tree next to the waterfall. That man was wearing
a bamboo hat, but because the distance was quite far he could not see clearly what
that man was doing.

First, he was in a hurry, second, the pathway down was a lot easier, therefore,
without needing to much time Guo Jing with Huang Rong on his back quickly arrived
by the waterfall. He saw that man was wearing a raincoat, sitting on a piece of rock,
fishing.

The falling water created a strong rapids, the water flowed too fast, how could there
be any fish? Even if there was, how could the fish have time to take the bait?

Guo Jing saw that man was about forty years old, his face was black like the bottom
of a pot, full with beards and whiskers sprouting out like wire brush. His eyes stared
motionless toward the water. Seeing he was fishing with a full concentration Guo
Jing did not dare to disturb, he put Huang Rong down by the willow tree to rest,
while they waited to see what kind of fish live in that waterfall.

After waiting for a long time suddenly a golden streak of light came flashing out of
the water; that fisherman’s face showed delight, his fishing pole was bent downward.
They saw something about a foot long biting the fishing line. That something did not
look like either a fish or a snake, it looked so strange.

Guo Jing was astounded, he could not restrain from calling out, “Ah! What is that?”

By that time another golden streak jumped up the water to bite the fishing line. That
fisherman was delighted, he kept the fishing pole steady. But the pole was bent
more and more. The fisherman struggled to keep it straight. ‘Crack!’ suddenly the
pole broke. Two strange fish let the fishing line go, then swam away complacently.
The water current was very strong but it seemed like those fish were swimming in a
still water. In an instant they disappeared under a rock.

The fisherman turned around with eyes bulging, glaring angrily, shouted loudly,
“Stinky kid, your old man has waited painstakingly for half a day, and then you little
thief came and scared them away.” His hands stretched out with palms open wide,
moved forward two steps ready to pounce. But for an unknown reason he managed
to control his temper and held his big hands; his finger joints made cracking sounds;
his face was full of anger.

Guo Jing realized he had inadvertently caused trouble therefore he did not dare to
talk back. “Uncle is angry, that was my fault. But what kind of strange fish are
they?” he humbly asked.

That fisherman scolded him, “Are you blind? Those are not fish, those are ‘jin wawa’
[golden baby or baby doll].”

Guo Jing was not angry even though scolded; he smiled and asked further, “Please
forgive my ignorance, but what is a ‘jin wawa’?”

That fisherman flew into a rage, he shouted, “’Jin wawa’ is ‘jin wawa’, why do you
stinky little thief want to know anyway?”

Because Guo Jing earnestly wanted to ask him to show the way to see Emperor
Duan, he did not dare to say anything, he simply raised his cupped fists to apologize.

Huang Rong could not hold her patience much longer, she interrupted, “‘Jin wawa’ is
a golden colored giant salamander. We raise several pairs of them in my home.
What’s so strange about it?”

Listening to Huang Rong correctly explained what a ‘jin wawa’ really was, the
fisherman was slightly confounded, he scolded, “Humph, you are blowing your horn
very loud! Raising several pairs of them! Let me ask you, what’s the purpose of a ‘jin
wawa’?”

“What’s the purpose?” Huang Rong asked, “They are attractive, can make a ‘ya ya
ya’ noise like a little baby, so we raise them to play with them.”

Hearing her saying the right thing, that fisherman’s face softened, he said, “Little
baby girl, if you raise several pairs in your house, then you must give me a pair to
compensate my loss.”

“Why must I compensate you?” Huang Rong asked.

The fisherman pointed to Guo Jing and said, “I happened to catch one with my
fishing pole, but he came and rudely shouted, so the other one appeared and pull
apart my fishing pole. This ‘jin wawa’ is very smart; once it escaped danger, don’t
ever think of catching it for the second time. If I don’t ask you to compensate me,
whom should I ask?”

Huang Rong smiled, “Even if you did catch it, you only caught one. Try as you might,
but how could the second one be willing to take your bait?”

The fisherman could not find any word to answer this; he scratched his head and
said, “All right then, just give me one.”

“If you separate a pair of ‘jin wawa’, within three days both of them, the male and
the female, will die,” Huang Rong said.

That fisherman did not have any doubt anymore; he cupped his fists and bowed
respectfully to Guo Jing and Huang Rong, “All right, just consider it my fault,” he
said, “Would you share a pair with me?”

Huang Rong smiled. “Tell me first, what are you going to do with ‘jin wawa’?” she
asked.
The fisherman hesitated a little bit, then explained, “All right, I’ll tell you. My martial
uncle is an Indian. He had come to visit my master these past few days. On the way
here he managed to catch a pair of ‘jin wawa’; he was very happy. He said there was
an extremely poisonous insect harming a lot of people in India. There was no way of
exterminating this insect. This ‘jin wawa’ is actually the insect’s adversary. He asked
me to take care of them for a few days, and then hand them back to him by the time
he is done talking to my master and is ready to go down the mountain. He is going
to take them back to India and breed them. Who would have thought …”

“Who would have thought you were not careful and let the ‘jin wawa’s run away into
this waterfall,” Huang Rong cut him off.

That fisherman was startled, “Ah! How did you know?” he asked.

Huang Rong pouted her little mouth and said, “Is that so difficult to guess? This ‘jin
wawa’ is really not easy to keep. Originally we have five pairs, later on two pairs ran
away.”

The fisherman’s eyes gleamed, his face showed a happy expression. “Good Miss,
please give me a pair. You will still have two pairs. Or else my martial uncle will be
mad at me; I may not be able to take it,” he begged.

Huang Rong laughed. “It’s not difficult to give you a pair, but why were you so
vicious to us earlier?” she asked.

That fisherman smiled awkwardly, he sheepishly said, “Ay! My bad temper; I really
have to change. Good Miss, where is your mansion? Is it alright if I follow you? Is it
far from here?”

Huang Rong gently let out a deep breath and said, “If you say it’s near, it is not; but
if you say it is far, it isn’t either. Maybe about three, four thousand ‘li’s from here.”

That fisherman was startled, his brush-wire whiskers stood up, he roared, “Little girl,
you are swindling me!” His vinegar-bowl sized fist raised up, ready to smash Huang
Rong’s head; but realizing she was only a young and feeble girl, he was afraid he
might kill her. His fist stayed midair then slowly dropped down to his side.

Guo Jing was ready, as soon as that fisherman strikes, he would block the attack
immediately. Huang Rong smiled and said, “Why worry? I have already had a good
idea from the start. Jing Gege, please call the white eagles.”

Guo Jing was not clear of her intention, but he whistled to call the eagles anyway.
That fisherman was secretly surprised; Guo Jing’s whistle echoed throughout the
valleys and mountains, supported by a profound internal energy. “Luckily I did not
fight with him earlier,” he thought, “Otherwise this little kid will beat me to death.”

Not too long afterwards, the pair of eagles came flying by, following the whistle
sound. Huang Rong peeled a piece of tree bark, and then carved a line of characters
with a needle, ‘Father, I want a pair of ‘jin wawa’. Let the eagles carry them back
here. Your daughter Rong pays respect.’

Guo Jing was delighted; he cut two pieces of cloth from his belt and firmly tied the
bark on the male eagle’s foot. “Go to the Peach Blossom Island, quickly go and
quickly come back,” Huang Rong told the pair of eagles.

Guo Jing was afraid the eagles did not understand, he pointed to the east and said
three times, “Peach Blossom Island.” The pair of eagles let out a long cry, lifted up
their wings and soared away. They made a circle in the air, headed east and then
disappeared behind the clouds in a short moment.

The fisherman’s jaw dropped and stayed open for a while; he muttered, “Peach
Blossom Island, Peach Blossom Island? What is Huang Yaoshi, Venerable Huang to
you?”

“He is my father, why?” Huang Rong proudly said.

“Ah!” that fisherman exclaimed; he was at a loss of words.

Huang Rong said, “My white eagles will bring the ‘jin wawa’ here in a few days; it
won’t be too late, will it?”

“I hope not,” the fisherman said. He looked up and down Jing and Rong two people
to size them up with eyes full of suspicions.

Guo Jing bowed and asked, “We haven’t found out Uncle’s honorable name.”

The fisherman did not answer, instead he asked questions, “What are you doing
here? Who told you to come here?”

Guo Jing respectfully answered, “Junior has come to seek an audience with Emperor
Duan.” Initially he wanted to say as Ying Gu had directed them to say, that Hong
Qigong had sent them to come; but he was not able to lie, eventually he did not say
anything.

“My Shifu does not see outsiders,” that fisherman sternly said, “What do you want
from him?”

By Guo Jing’s natural disposition, he wanted to speak the truth, but he was afraid
they would not be able to see the Southern Emperor, and thus jeopardizing Huang
Rong’s life. He could not say the truth, yet he did not have the power to lie; so he
hesitated before answering the question.

The fisherman noticed his indeterminate expression, also Huang Rong’s thin and pale
countenance; he had guessed 70, 80% correctly. “You want my Shifu to heal your
injury, don’t you?” he roared.

Guo Jing felt like a heavy load was taken from his mind, he had nothing to hide any
longer. He had no other choice but nodded hid head, but his heart was filled with
anxiety and regret, he hated himself for not be able to tell a lie.
The fisherman was almost shouting, “Don’t ever think of seeing my Shifu. Even if I
have to bear my Shifu and Shishu’s [martial uncle] scolding, I don’t want your ‘jin
wawa’ or ‘yin wawa’ [silver baby] anymore. Just go gown the mountain, quick!”

His words without any doubt did not give them the slightest amount of leniency. Guo
Jing was silent for half a day, sucking in cold air. After a moment he stepped forward
and bowed respectfully. “The injured is the Huang Daozhu [Island Master Huang] of
Peach Blossom Island’s daughter. Currently she is also the Bangzhu of the Beggar
Clan. I am asking Uncle to consider Island Master Huang and Hong Bangzhu’s golden
faces and show us the way so that we can seek an audience with the Emperor
Duan.”

Hearing the three characters ‘Hong Bangzhu’, the fisherman’s countenance softened;
he shook his head and said, “This young miss is the Beggar Clan’s Bangzhu? I don’t
believe it.”

Guo Jing pointed his finger to the bamboo stick in Huang Rong’s hand, he said, “This
is the Beggar Clan Leader’s Dog-beating Stick; certainly Uncle recognize it.”

The fisherman nodded. “What is the Nine-fingered Divine Beggar to you, then?” he
asked.

“He is our Benevolent Master,” Guo Jing replied.

“Ah!” the fisherman exclaimed, “Is that so? Are coming to see my Shifu on the Nine-
fingered Divine Beggar’s instruction?”

Guo Jing hesitated before answering, Huang Rong quickly answered, “Certainly.”

The fisherman lowered his head in doubt, he thought, “The Nine-fingered Divine
Beggar has an extraordinary friendship with my Shifu. How should I handle this
matter?”
Huang Rong understood his hesitation, she wanted to take advantage of this
opportunity; she said, “Our Shifu sent us here to seek an audience with Emperor
Duan, other than to ask him to treat injury, also to respectfully inform him on a very
important matter.”

The fisherman suddenly raised his head up, with eyes blazing like a thunderbolt he
fixed his gaze on Huang Rong and sternly asked, “The Nine-fingered Divine Beggar
told you to seek audience with Emperor Duan?”

“That’s right!” Huang Rong said.

“Did he really say ‘Emperor Duan’ and not some other name?” the fisherman
pressed.

Huang Rong knew there must be something in the way he said that name, but she
could not correct herself; she had no choice but nodded her head in affirmative.

The fisherman moved two steps forward and with a loud voice shouted, “Emperor
Duan has been no longer in this world for a while now!”

Jing, Rong, two people were shocked; with a shaking voice they asked, “He died?”

The fisherman said, “When Emperor Duan was leaving this world, the Senior Nine-
fingered Divine Beggar was by his side. How could he tell you to visit Emperor Duan?
Who told you to come here? What kind of evil scheme are you playing? Quickly tell
me.” While still speaking he took a big step, his left hand brushed away, his right
hand stretched horizontally to grab Huang Rong’s shoulder.

Guo Jing had guarded from the start against the possibility that he would resort to
violence. As soon as his right hand was within a foot from Huang Rong’s body, Guo
Jing’s left palm made a circle, his right palm went straight forward, in the ‘jian long
zai tian’ [Seeing Dragon in the Field] posture, blocking in front of Huang Rong’s
body.

This move was a purely defensive in nature, like a strong invisible wall was suddenly
appeared in between Huang Rong and the fisherman. The fisherman saw that
although Guo Jing sent out his palm, but he was leaning to one side, hence he did
not actually attack him; he was slightly surprised, but his hand continued to grab
Huang Rong’s shoulder. When his hand was about half a foot apart from his target,
Guo Jing’s palm met his, and he felt a shot of pain on his arm, flowing up to his
chest, like his attacking force rebounded and attacked his own body. He was afraid
Guo Jing would take advantage of this unfavorable situation and launched another
attack; he hurriedly leaped back with arm horizontally situated in front of his chest.
“I heard it when Hong Qigong discussed martial art with Shifu; this is precisely his
’18-Dragon Subduing Palms’. Then these two youngsters are truly his disciples; they
were not lying,” he thought.

He saw Guo Jing cupped his fists across his chest with modesty and respect; even
though Guo Jing had gained the upper hand, yet his expression did not show the
least bit of self-complacency, making a good impression on the heart of the
fisherman. He said, “Although you two are really the Senior Nine-fingered Divine
Beggar’s disciples, but he was not the one who sent you here, was he?”

Guo Jing did not know how he could guess correctly, but since their lie had been
uncovered, he was unable to deny and was compelled to nod his head. The
fisherman’s face was not as fierce and full of enmity as before. “Even if the injured
were the Nine-fingered Divine Beggar himself, Xiao Ge [lit. little ‘elder brother’, he
was referring to himself] still cannot take the Senior to go up the mountain and see
my Shifu. I beg for your forgiveness.”

“Even if my Shifu is here you still cannot take him up?” Huang Rong asked.

The fisherman shook his head, “I can’t! Even if you kill me I still can’t!” he said.

In her heart Huang Rong was thinking over, “He clearly admitted that Emperor Duan
is his Shifu; but he also said that Emperor Duan has already died, and that
Benevolent Master Hong was by his side when he died. There are too many strange
things here, but this man is really difficult to talk to.” She thought further, “His Shifu
is on this mountain, for that I am certain; whether he is Emperor Duan or not, we
have to go up and see him.” She lifted her eyes to see the mountain was so high
that its peak disappeared into the cloud above; it was higher than the Iron Palm’s
Middle Finger Peak, the mountain rocks looked slippery, not even a blade of grass
grew. It looked like the waterfall was coming out of nowhere. There was no visible
path going up the mountain. She thought, “Li Bai [a famous poet from the Tang
Dynasty] said the water of Huang He [Yellow River] went up to the sky; this water
truly comes from the sky.”

Following the waterfall her gaze moved down; her mind was still churning a way to
climb up the mountain, suddenly her eyes caught a golden light glittering under the
water, something was moving in the water. Slowly she walked to the side of the
waterfall to see more clearly. Turned out it was the pair of ‘jin wawa’ beneath a rock,
their tails were swaying back and forth outside. Quickly she beckoned Guo Jing to
come over and see.

“Ah!” Guo Jing exclaimed, “Let me go down to catch them,” he said.

“No! Don’t!” Huang Rong said, “The current is too strong, how can you set your feet
down? Don’t be so foolish.”

But Guo Jing thought, “If I take the risk to catch these two strange fish for the
fisherman, maybe his heart will be moved and he will take us to see his master.
Otherwise, will I have to see Huang Rong suffer from her injury helplessly without
anybody to heal her?” He knew Huang Rong would stop him, therefore, without
saying anything, without even took out his shoes or socks, he jumped into the
waterfall below.

“Jing Gege!” Huang Rong anxiously called. She stood up and tried to rush forward,
but her legs were feeble, she was staggering.
The fisherman was also stunned, he extended his hand to hold Huang Rong; then
immediately rushed toward the thatched hut. It looked like he was going to fetch
something to rescue Guo Jing.

Huang Rong sat back on a rock to watch Guo Jing. She saw he was standing steadily
in the water; the waterfall flushed on him crazily, attacked him fiercely, but
surprisingly his body did not falter at all. Slowly bending his waist he grabbed the ‘jin
wawa’. With each hand holding the ‘jin wawa’s tail, he gently pulled them out. He
was afraid to injure the strange fish, hence he did not use too much strength; who
would have thought that the ‘jin wawa’s body was really slippery. By wriggling their
tails they managed to get loose from Guo Jing’s grab and sneaked back under the
rock. Guo Jing quickly reached out, but he was still a little bit slow; in an instant the
fish disappeared without any trace.

Huang Rong cried out in dismay, suddenly she heard somebody called out in alarm
behind her back. She turned around and saw the fisherman stood behind her. There
was a shiny black small boat on his left shoulder and two iron oars in his left hand;
obviously he was ready to rescue Guo Jing.

Guo Jing sent his strength to his feet, with ‘qian jin zhui’ [thousand-catty fall] he
stood firm on a rock, steady as a pillar. He held his breath and reached down to the
rock under which the strange fish escaped, trying to lift it up. To his delight the rock
slightly moved. Using the ‘dragon fly to the sky’ from the 18-Dragon Subduing Palms
his hands jerked the rock up; with a loud splash that huge rock was unexpectedly
lifted up.

Guo Jing moved wonderfully fast; with the ‘qian long wu yong’ [hidden dragon is
useless(?)] he shoved the rock horizontally. The rock was hit both by his palm and
the waterfall; it fell down next to his body, with a rumbling and gurgling noise it
disappeared into the deep abyss below. The noise echoed throughout the valley for a
long time. Guo Jing lifted high his arms with a ‘jin wawa’ in each hand; step by step
he came out of the waterfall.
Day and night the water fell down, with the passage of time it had created a gully
some two ‘zhang’s [1 zhang is approximately 10 feet or 3 meters] deep. The
fisherman saw Guo Jing was standing at the bottom of this gully; how could he jump
up? Hence he held out his oar for Guo Jing to grab, then he would lift it up. But Guo
Jing hands were full with a pair of strange fish, he was afraid if he loosened up his
grip the fish would slip away. Gathering his strength his right foot pushed the
bottom, followed by his left foot kicking the edge of the gully; he managed to borrow
the strength to leap up ashore.

Even though they have been together for a while, Huang Rong did not expect his skill
had improved this much. She was pleased and amazed at the same time to watch
him standing firm under water, lifting up the rock, grabbing the fish, and leaping up
from underneath the strong force of the waterfall like it was nothing.

Actually, in order to save Huang Rong Guo Jing did not think about how he recklessly
braved the danger, but as he was ashore he turned his head to see the rushing
water splashing everywhere, he could not help but feel dizzy and scared. He could
not believe he had this kind of guts to go underwater.

The fisherman admired him endlessly; he knew that if Guo Jing’s internal energy,
lightness kungfu and external strength were less than excellent not only he would
not be able to catch the fish, but he would certainly drowned into the deep abyss
underneath the fall.

The two ‘jin wawa’s struggled in Guo Jing’s hands with their ‘wah wah’ calls, just like
a baby’s cry. Guo Jing laughed, “No wonder they are called ‘wawa’ fish, they
sounded just like a baby crying.” He held out his hands to give the fish to the
fisherman.

The fisherman’s face bore a delightful expression, he dropped his oars and held out
his hand to receive the fish when suddenly he remembered something. He withdrew
his hand and said, “Just throw them back into the water, I can’t take them.”
“Why?” Guo Jing wondered.

“Even if I receive your ‘jin wawa’ I still can’t take you up to see my Shifu,” the
fisherman said, “Receiving a favor and did not pay it back; won’t I be the
laughingstock of the world’s heroes?”

Guo Jing was startled, with a solemn face he said, “Uncle cannot take us up, you
must have your own difficulty, how could Junior force our will? But this pair of fish is
such a trivial matter, who said anything about favor? Uncle does not need to think
about it, please take them.” While saying it he shoved the fish into the fisherman’s
hand.

The fisherman finally took the fish, his face looked awkward. Guo Jing turned to
Huang Rong and said, “Rong’er, as the saying goes, life and death is in the fate’s
hand, a long life is difficult to predict; even if your injury is incurable, on the cloudy
road of life you will always have your Jing Gege to keep you company. Let us go!”

Listening to Guo Jing revealing his true feeling Huang Rong’s eyes turned red; but
she still had something in her heart. She turned to the fisherman and said, “Uncle,
you are not willing to lead us up, that’s all right. But there is something I don’t
understand. If you don’t tell me, then I will die unsatisfied.”

“What is that?” the fisherman asked.

“This mountain peak is smooth as a mirror,” Huang Rong said, “There is no pathway
to the top. Even if you are willing to take us up, how would you do that?”

The fisherman thought, “If I don’t take them up, there is no way they can go up the
mountain by themselves. I guess it won’t do any harm to tell them.” Thereupon he
said, “If you think it’s difficult, then it is, but if you say it’s easy, it really is very
easy. Just around that horn-shaped hill on the right there is no waterfall, the current
is not as strong. I can sit on this iron boat and paddle against the flow. One time up
I can take somebody with me, the second time up I can take two people.”

“Ah!” Huang Rong exclaimed, “That’s how it is. Farewell now!” She stood up and
leaning on Guo Jing for support she turned around and left. Guo Jing cupped his fists
across his chest but did not say anything.

The fisherman saw they were walking down the mountain, he was afraid the ‘jin
wawa’ would escape, he dashed toward the thatched hut to put them away for
safekeeping.

“Quick! Grab the iron boat and the oars and go to that horn-shaped peak,” Huang
Rong said,

Guo Jing was stunned. “This … isn’t this inappropriate?” he stammered.

“Fine! You want to be a gentleman, then be a gentleman!” Huang Rong said.

“Which is more important? Saving Rong’er’s life or be a gentleman?” This thought

flashed through Guo Jing’s mind several times; it was hard for him to decide. But
then he saw Huang Rong had started walking quickly to the peak; he did not have
time to contemplate much longer. He heaved the iron boat up and hastily went to
the peak. With a loud shout, “Up!” he tossed the boat onto upstream of the waterfall.
Once the boat was out of his hands he grabbed the iron oars and held them
underneath his left armpit, while with his right hand he embraced Huang Rong.

By that time the iron boat had been floating downstream, carried by the current.
Suddenly he heard a sound of secret projectile behind his head; immediately he
ducked and let the secret projectile flew over his head. He leaped forward and in an
instant both of them landed inside the boat. A secret projectile hit Huang Rong’s
back, fortunately it hit the soft hedgehog armor inside the sack on her back. Amidst
the rumbling noise of the water they heard the fisherman’s loud roar, but they could
not hear clearly what he was saying.
Very soon the boat was on the verge of the waterfall. If they fell over the edge in
this fast flowing waterfall their bodies would certainly shattered to dust. Guo Jing’s
left hand grabbed the iron oar and hastily rowed with all his might; the boat moved
upstream a few feet. His right hand released Huang Rong and grabbed the other oar
and pulled; again the boat moved a few feet forward.

The fisherman stood by the bank, pointing his two fingers, angrily cursing and
scolding. Amidst the wind and the water noises they could hear some ‘stinky girl’ and
‘lowly scoundrel’ words. Huang Rong giggled and said, “He still thinks you are the
good man. He is only cursing me.”

All Guo Jing’s attention was focused on rowing the boat; he did not hear what she
said. His arms frantically paddled the boat against the flow; the iron boat’s keel was
slowly cutting the wave. The current on that place was not as strong as the waterfall,
but it was strong and rapid enough to make Guo Jing’s face turned red from exerting
his strength. Several times he was almost pushed back downstream.

A moment later they arrived at the part where the current was slightly slower; by
that time Guo Jing had started to understand how to handle the oars. Using the
mutual hands combat technique he launched the ‘divine dragon swings its tail’
successively. Each paddling movement was supported by the 18-Dragon Subduing
Palms’ strength; his palm strength was transmitted to the end of the oar. The left
hand paddled with ‘divine dragon swings its tail’, followed by the right hand with
‘divine dragon swings its tail’, the iron boat slowly moving upstream through a
winding river ways.

“Even with that fisherman paddling, the boat would not necessarily move faster than
this,” Huang Rong complimented.

A short moment later there was sandy beach on either side of the river; and after
turning a bend, the scenery was picturesque: the clear brook softly murmured, the
river flowed very smoothly, on some parts it even looked like a still water. The river
was only about a ‘zhang’ wide, with weeping willow trees on either side, their leaves
brushing the water. Just behind the green willow trees they could see countless
peach trees. It must be very beautiful in the spring time when the peach trees were
in full bloom. Currently there was not a single peach blossom in sight, but the river
banks were full of clusters of white florets, the air was thick with their fragrance.

Guo Jing and Huang Rong both were very relaxed; they had never expected that in
this high mountain peak there was a whole different world. The water was deep
green like a jade, so deep that they could not see the bottom. Guo Jing lowered the
iron oar, trying to gauge the river’s depth; but he was startled since the oar was
almost slipped from his grip. Turned out while on the surface the water was smooth
like a mirror, there was a strong current flowing deep below the surface.

The iron boat slowly moved forward; birds were flying and chirping among the green
willow leaves. Huang Rong sighed, “If my injury is incurable, I’d like to be buried
here; I don’t want to go back down again,” she said.

Guo Jing was about to say some encouraging words when the iron boat suddenly
entered a tunnel. Inside the tunnel the fragrance was very thick while the water
flowed faster; they heard some loud noise ahead. “What’s that?” Guo Jing asked.

Huang Rong shook her head, “I don’t know.”

Very soon they saw a light, the iron boat had come out of the tunnel; two people
could not help to gasp, “Beautiful!”

Outside the tunnel they saw an enormous fountain, perhaps its height reached two
‘zhang’s. The white bubbles and jade-green streams formed a giant water column
spurting straight up to the sky from the middle of a rock. The noise they heard came
from this fountain. The creek stopped here; turned out this fountain was the spring
from which the river and the waterfall originated.

Guo Jing helped Huang Rong came ashore. He pulled the iron boat up a rock and
turned his head around. He saw the sun light shone through the water column,
created a dazzlingly beautiful rainbow. The scenery was out-of-this-world; even if
they had hundreds praises, they would not be able to find one that is suitable to
describe what they saw. All they could do was holding each other’s hand and sat side
by side on a rock; their heart was bright and clean, with nothing to worry.

After enjoying this scenery for half a day, they suddenly heard a sound of singing
coming from behind the rainbow. The tune was ‘shan po yang’ [hillside sheep]:

“Cities and towns turned bad, where are the heroes? Can the dragon in the cloud
explain? Thinking about prosperity and decline, constricting the chest. Tang Dynasty
arose Sui Dynasty declined, the way of the world is like an ever changing cloud.
Quick, is the heaven and earth’s fault; slow, also is the heaven and earth’s fault!”

The ‘hillside sheep’ was a popular song from the end of the Song Dynasty, everybody
everywhere could sing the song. The tune was only one, but the lyrics could be
changed as the singer wished, so unavoidably there are hundreds of thousands
variations out there, only most of them were rustic and vulgar.

Huang Rong noticed that this song was lamenting the rise and decline of human
race, carrying a profound meaning; she secretly applauded the singer. She saw the
singer came out from behind the rainbow; his left hand carried a bundle of firewood,
while his right hand holding an axe; turned out he was a woodcutter.

Huang Rong recalled Ying Gu’s note that read, ‘Anyone seeking medical help is a
taboo to him, if you mention your intention, before you reach his residence you will
be stopped by the vicious hands of a fisherman, a woodcutter, a farmer and a
scholar.’ At that time she was not clear what ‘a fisherman, a woodcutter, a farmer
and a scholar’ meant, but now she realized the man catching ‘jin wawa’ was the
fisherman, and now she saw the woodcutter. Then the fisherman, the woodcutter,
the farmer and the scholar must be Emperor Duan’s disciples or trusted aides. She
could not help feeling anxious, “It was really not easy to go through that fisherman.
This woodcutter’s song was not vulgar, looks like he is not easy to deal with. I
wonder what kind of people are the farmer and the scholar?”

In the meantime the woodcutter continues to sing, “On the Tianjin bridge, leaning
against the railing looking afar, the air of the royalty has withered and fallen. Amidst
the dark green trees and the vast water, from the cloud platform the resurgence is
nowhere to be seen. From eternity, in a cycle of life, everything perished. Merit,
won’t last forever! Name, also won’t last forever!”

He slowly walked near and looked toward Jing and Rong, two people’s direction; but
it was as if he did not see them, he simply drew his axe and started chopping wood
on the hillside.

Huang Rong noticed this man’s face was grand and heroic, his appearance like that
of a tiger’s. The way he lifted his hand or took a step carried an impressive power
like that of an army general. If he wasn’t wearing coarse clothes and chopping woods
in this secluded mountain, he surely gave an impression as the general who is in
charge of a large army. Huang Rong’s heart was stirred, “Shifu said that the
Southern Emperor, Emperor Duan is actually an emperor of Dali in Yunnan; could it
be that this woodcutter was actually his general? Only why did his song carry a
desperate and mournful sentiment?” she thought.

The woodcutter continued singing, “Mountain peaks stand as if they are gathered
together, the billows roll as if they were angry. The mountains and rivers in and
around the road to Tongguan; looking to the west, hearts full of doubts. Grieving Qin
and Han dynasties, their palaces have turned into dust. Flourished, common people
suffered; perished, common people suffered!”

Listening the last two lines, Huang Rong remembered her father often said, ‘What is
emperor or general? All are criminals harming common people. Toppling dynasty,
changing surname; in the end the common people suffered!’ She was unable to
restrain from shouting her praise, “Good song!”

The woodcutter turned his head, inserting the axe back to his waist he asked,
“Good? What’s good about it?”

Huang Rong was about to answer, but then she thought, “He loves to sing, why don’t
I sing the ‘hillside sheep’ to answer him?” Thereupon she smiled slightly, lowered her
head and sang, “Green mountains waiting for each other, white clouds love each
other; not even dreaming of purple robe and golden belt. One thatched hut among
the blooming wild flower; why worry over who flourished and who perished?
Sufficient is a humble pathway and a single ladle. Poor, spirit does not change;
success, the will does not change!”

She had concluded that this woodcutter must be the general who followed the
Southern Emperor to this secluded place; formerly he must be in charge of the whole
army, one who once held a prominent place in the kingdom. Accordingly the song
she sang was a praise to his merit and name, to the one who lived contentedly in a
wild mountain forest. Actually, even though she was witty and intelligent, by all
means she was not a scholar who in a short time was able to compose a good song
like the one she had just sung. When she was on the Peach Blossom Island she
heard her father sang this song; only she changed several characters to emphasis
this woodcutter’s former days of riches and honor and place great importance on his
meritorious achievements. It was a pity she was suffering an injury that her internal
energy was not as strong and her voice was rather weak. As the saying goes, ‘qian
chuan wan chuan, ma pi bu chuan!’ [lit. thousand times bore through, ten thousand
times bore through; horse’s fart does not bore through – meaning “Anything gets
through me except horse fart” (Courtesy of Sunnysnow)] This song had made the
woodcutter very pleased when he heard it. He had noticed that Jing and Rong, two
people were riding on the iron boat and using the iron oars to paddle along the river;
surely it must be the fisherman down the mountain who lend the boat to them. He
did not have any suspicion, and without asking too many questions he simply
pointed to a hillside and said, “Go up that way!”

They saw a long rattan about the size of a human’s arm hanging along the hillside
going up to the peak. Jing and Rong, two people looked up above to see half of the
peak was hidden in the cloud, it was unclear how high the peak was.
When Huang Rong and the woodcutter were singing songs, Guo Jing did not
understand even half a word of what they were talking about. As the woodcutter let
them go and directed them to go up, he still did not know the reason; but fearing the
woodcutter might change his mind, without saying anything he carried Huang Rong
on his back, grabbed the long rattan with both of his hands, and with a heave
started climbing up.

His arms alternately pulled and they crawled up fast. Just in a short moment they
had climbed about a dozen of ‘zhang’s; indistinctly they could still hear the
woodcutter singing something like, “ … in the past people struggled, but where are
they now? Victory, they all turned into dust! Defeat, they all turned into dust!”

Crouching on Guo Jing’s back Huang Rong laughed and said, “Jing Gege, according
to what he said, we don’t need to seek medical help.”

Guo Jing was baffled, “What?” he asked.

“In any case everybody will die; if I am healed, I will turn into dust! If I am not
healed, I will still turn into dust!” Huang Rong said.

“Pei!” Guo Jing spat, “Don’t listen to him.”

Huang Rong softly sang, “Alive, you carry me on your back! Dead, you carry me on
your back!”

Along with Huang Rong’s playful song, two people had entered the cloud; all they
saw was a vast expanse of whiteness everywhere they looked. It was still summer,
the weather was hot, but actually they felt the chill in the air. Huang Rong sighed,
“Right in front of our eyes are countless marvels; even if my injury cannot be healed,
our trip here will not be in vain.”

“Rong’er,” Guo Jing said, “Can you just not mention life and death anymore?”
Huang Rong lowered her head and laughed, she gently blew her breath on the back
of Guo Jing’s neck. Guo Jing felt his neck warm and itchy, he called out, “Don’t give
me trouble! If my hands slip, both of us will plunge to our death.”

Huang Rong laughed, “Fine!” she said, “This time it wasn’t me who talk about life
and death!”

Guo Jing laughed, he could not answer; he crawled up faster and a short moment
later they got to the end, or to be precise, the root where the rattan grew. Turned
out they had arrived at the peak. They had just set their feet on solid ground when
suddenly a loud rumbling was heard, as if a mountain rock burst apart; and then
they also heard an ox bellowing loudly, followed by a man’s loud shout.

Guo Jing was surprised, “This peak is so high, yet there is an ox here. So strange!”
Carrying Huang Rong on his back he rushed toward the noise.

“The fisherman, the woodcutter, the farmer and the scholar. If there is a farmer,
then there must be an ox,” Huang Rong said.

She had just finished talking when they saw a yellow ox on the hillside with its head
lifted up, bellowing loudly; but the ox was actually in a very odd position. It was
lying on its back on a rock, its four legs struggled but could not stand up. The rock
was shaking, ready to fall down, below the rock was a man suspending the rock with
both of his hands on top of his head like a letter T; if his hands slipped, both the rock
and the ox would fall down into the canyon below. That man was standing on a piece
of protruding cliff, there was nowhere he could step back. If he did not want to give
that ox up, the rock would crush down and not only break his arms, but his legs as
well. Looking at their condition, apparently that ox was grazing on a hillside and
stepped on a loose rock. That man being near tried to save the ox by catching the
rock but ended up in this precarious situation.

Huang Rong smiled, “Just now we heard the song ‘hillside sheep’, and now we see
the ‘hillside ox’!” she said.

On that mountain peak there was a piece of flat land, already plowed ready for
cultivation, about twenty ‘mu’s [around 1.6 acres or 2/3 of a hectare] rice field.
There was a hoe by the edge of the field. The man who held the rock was bare-
chested, his legs were covered with mud up to his knees; looked like the ox fell down
when he was weeding the grass.

Huang Rong looked around to assess the situation, she mulled over in her heart,
“This man obviously is the ‘farmer’ from ‘the fisherman, the woodcutter, the farmer
and the scholar’. The ox weighs approximately three hundred catties [about 300 lbs
or 150 kg]; looks like that rock is not lighter that the ox. Even though half of the
rock is leaning on the hillside, yet looking at his steady feet, this man has an
astonishing strength.”

Guo Jing had already put her down and rushed to help. Huang Rong hastily called
out, “Not so fast, don’t be rash!” But Guo Jing thought helping others was more
important; he had already arrived by the farmer’s side.

He crouched underneath the rock and lifted it up while saying, “I’ll hold it, you go
and save the ox first!”

That farmer felt his load was getting lighter, but he was still afraid that Guo Jing
might not be strong enough to support both the ox and the big rock. He let go his
right hand and leaned to the side, but his left hand was still supporting the bottom of
the rock. Guo Jing steadied his legs, then exerted his internal strength and pushed
upward with both of his arms; the rock was lifted up for about a foot, giving that
farmer an opportunity to let his left hand go.

The farmer waited for a moment. After seeing that the big rock would not crush
down, he knew Guo Jing’s strength was enough to support it. Finally he stooped
down and got out from underneath the rock, leaped to the hillside to save the yellow
ox. He could not help but stealing a glance toward Guo Jing to see what kind of hero
had suddenly come and offered help. He was astonished since what he saw was an
eighteen, nineteen years old youngster. More surprisingly, this youngster’s hands
were holding up the rock and the ox seemingly without straining himself.

That farmer was always proud of having an outstanding physical strength, but
obviously this youngster’s strength was far above his. His suspicions arose; he also
looked down the hillside and saw a young woman leaning against a rock, her facial
expression was weary, like she was suffering from a serious illness. His suspicion
deepened, “Friend, what are you doing here?” he asked Guo Jing.

“To seek an audience with your master,” Guo Jing replied.

“For what purpose?” the farmer asked again.

Guo Jing was startled and for an instant did not know how to reply. Huang Rong on
the side called out, “Quickly pull the ox to safety first, it won’t be too late to ask
question later. If his hands slip, won’t the man and the ox fall down together?”

The farmer thought, “These two are here to see Shifu, how come my two elder
martial brothers down the mountain did not shoot whistling arrows? If these two
broke through them, that means their martial arts are not to be trifled with. Now
while his hands are not free, I need to understand this matter better.” Thereupon he
asked, “Are you going to ask my Shifu to treat your injury?”

Guo Jing thought, “The people down the mountains are already aware anyway, there
is no need to hide the truth from him.” He simply nodded his head.

The farmer’s countenance slightly changed, “I need to ask first,” he said. Without
pulling the ox away he leaped down the hillside.

“Hey!” Guo Jing shouted, “Help me put down this rock first, then we can talk!”

The farmer smiled, “I will be back right away.”

Observing what was going on, Huang Rong had already guessed early on that
farmer’s intention; he wanted to waste Guo Jing’s strength. He would deliberately
wait for Guo Jing to be weary from suspending the rock, and then he would
comeback and lent a hand. By that time it would be easy to expel these two people
to go down the mountain. She hated herself for being injured at a time like this that
she was unable to help Guo Jing shove away the big rock. She saw the farmer
dashed out of the field, did not know when he would be coming back; she was
anxious and angry at the same time. “Hey, Uncle!” she called out, “Please come
back!”

That farmer paused and smiled, “He has a tremendous strength, nothing bad will
happen to him in three-quarter or an hour time, don’t worry,” he said.

Huang Rong was angry, she thought, “Jing Gege was kind enough to help you, but
you actually tricked him and let him trapped for three-quarter or an hour. I have to
find a way to give you a lesson.” She creased her eyebrows and thought of an idea,
“Uncle,” she called, “You want to ask your Shifu’s advice, that is very reasonable.
Here is a letter from Benevolent Master Hong Qigong to be delivered to your master.
Can you take it with you?”

“Ah!” hearing Hong Qigong’s name that farmer exclaimed in surprise, “Turned out
Miss is the Nine-fingered Divine Beggar’s disciple. Does this Xiao Ge [lit. little/young
elder brother] also belong to Senior Hong’s school? No wonder he is this good.” He
came back to fetch the letter.

Huang Rong nodded, “Hey, he is my martial brother, capable of lifting several

hundreds catties. Speaking of martial art he is not too far below Uncle.” Slowly she
opened her sack, pretending to find the letter; but first she took the soft hedgehog
armor, and then turned her gaze toward Guo Jing, her face had a frightened look.
“Aiyo! Not good!” she called out, “His palms are about to be smashed up. Uncle,
quickly find a way to help him.”
The farmer was startled, but then he laughed, “He is fine,” he said, “Where is the
letter?” He held out his hand to get the letter.

“You don’t know,” Huang Rong anxiously said, “My martial brother is practicing the
‘pi kong zhang’ [hacking/slicing/splitting empty air palm technique]. His palms were
soaked in vinegar just last night, but his training is not complete yet. If his palms are
put under pressure for a long time, they will be destroyed.” On the Peach Blossom
Island her father had trained her in ‘pi kong zhang’ hence she was familiar with the
training method.

Although the farmer did not know this martial art, but he was a martial art expert’s
disciple, his knowledge was extensive; he had heard about this particular martial art,
he thought, “If for no apparent reason I caused injury to the Nine-fingered Divine
Beggar’s disciple, not only my Shifu would rebuke me, but I would also regret it for
the rest of my life. Moreover, he was kind enough to help me. Only I don’t know
whether what this young miss said was a truth or a lie. I am afraid she is just
tricking me into releasing him from underneath the rock.”

Huang Rong understood his hesitation, she took the soft hedgehog armor out and
shook it. “This is the Peach Blossom Island’s most precious treasure, the soft
hedgehog armor; blade and sword cannot harm it. I am asking Uncle to put it on his
shoulder as a cushion and let him support the rock with his shoulder. That way he
won’t be able to walk away, but he won’t suffer any injury, won’t that satisfy both
parties? Or else you will cause injury to his palms and my Shifu won’t hold you
innocent and will find your Shifu to settle the score.”

The farmer had also heard about the soft hedgehog armor; half believing and half
doubting he took the armor. Huang Rong saw that he was not convinced yet, so she
said, “My Shifu taught me not to lie to others, how can I deceive Uncle? If Uncle
does not believe me, then try chopping this armor several times.”

The farmer saw her innocent face, he thought, “Nine-fingered Divine Beggar is an
honorable Senior with high skill, his words are like gold and jade; whenever my Shifu
mentioned his name, he always do so with utmost respect and admiration. This
young miss also does not look like a liar.” It was because he was thinking about his
master’s safety and well-being that he did not dare to act carelessly. Hence he drew
the short blade from his waist and chopped the soft hedgehog armor several times.
Sure enough, the armor did not show any trace of damage; it was truly one of the
Wulin world’s treasures. All his doubts were gone, “Very well, I will put this on his
shoulder as a cushion,” he said.

Not in a million years did he know that behind Huang Rong’s innocent and childlike
face hid a heart and mind full of tricks. He took the soft hedgehog armor and went
toward Guo Jing. He threw the armor on Guo Jing’s shoulder and exerted his
strength toward his arms he lifted up the rock and said, “Let your hands go, support
this rock with your shoulder.”

Leaning on a mountain rock Huang Rong kept her attention toward those two men.
As soon as the farmer picked up the big rock she called out, “Jing Gege, ‘fei long zai
tian’ [dragon fly to the sky]!”

Guo Jing felt his hands were free, he also heard Huang Rong’s shout; almost without
thinking his right palm pushed forward, his left palm made a turn from the right
wrist, launching the ‘fei long zai tian’ from the 18-Dragon Subduing Palms. He leaped
to the air, again his right palm turned ahead of his left palm and pushed forward; he
landed by Huang Rong’s side, with the soft hedgehog armor still perched nicely on
his shoulder. He heard the farmer shouting curses; so he turned his head to see the
farmer with his hands high in the air, supporting the big rock and was not able to
move.

Huang Rong was very proud of herself, she said, “Jing Gege, let’s go.” Turning her
head to the farmer she said, “You have a tremendous strength; nothing bad will
happen to you in three-quarter or an hour time, don’t worry.”

The farmer cursed her, “Little girl, you deceived this old man! You said the Nine-
fingered Divine Beggar always keep his words. Humph! This honorable Senior’s
illustrious name is ruined by a little girl.”

Huang Rong smiled, “What did I ruin?” she said, “My Shifu taught me never to tell a
lie, but my father said that deceiving people once in a while is not a big deal. I love
to listen to my father, my Shifu cannot do anything about that.”

“Who is your father?” the farmer was angry.

“Ah! Didn’t I let you test the soft hedgehog armor?” Huang Rong asked.

The farmer cursed even more, “I deserve to die! I deserve to die! Turned out this sly
little girl is the Old Heretic Huang’s daughter. Why was I so muddleheaded?”

Huang Rong laughed, “That’s right! My Shifu’s words are like a mountain, he has
never deceived anybody. This is very difficult to learn, I don’t want to follow his
teaching. I’ll say my father’s teaching is better!” She giggled and pulled Guo Jing’s
hand, leading him to follow the pathway.

[Author’s note: the popular tune originated from the Northern Song Dynasty during
its peaceful years. Since its appearance, the tune had become a popular folk song
during both the Song and Jin era. The source of “Hillside Sheep” sung by the
woodcutter and Huang Rong was actually the later version of the tune.]

End of Chapter 29.

Chapter 30 – Reverend Yideng
(Translated by Foxs, edited by Eliza Bennet)
Caption to the picture:
Successively crossing seven gaps, they heard someone reading aloud; it seemed like
they had arrived at the end of the stone bridge. On the other side of the gap a
scholar was sitting cross-legged, a book in his hand, from which he was reading.
Behind the scholar there was another short gap.
Two people walked forward following the mountain pathway and before long the
pathway had come to an end. Ahead was a stone bridge about one foot wide,
perched in between two mountain peaks, covered with cloud that the other end was
invisible. If this stone bridge were laid on the ground, it would act just like a narrow
alley, nothing to be afraid of; but under the stone bridge was a deep canyon. Just
looking at it would cause the heart to tremble with fear, let alone walk across it.

Huang Rong sighed, “This Emperor Duan hid himself really well. If an enemy came
full of enmities arrived to this place, half of his hatred would disappear first,” she
said.

“Why did that fisherman say Emperor Duan has left this mortal world?” Guo Jing
asked, “He really caused my heart unrest.”

“I really cannot guess what he meant by that,” Huang Rong replied, “Looking at his
face he didn’t seem to be lying. He also said that our Shifu saw it with his own eyes
when Emperor Duan passed away.”
“Things have come this far, we can only move forward and not go back,” Guo Jing
said. He squatted to carry Huang Rong on his back, and then with his lightness
kungfu walked toward that stone bridge.

The stone bridge’s surface was bumpy, plus it was enveloped in thick cloud all year
long, which made it exceptionally slippery. The slower they walked the higher was
the chance for them to fall down. Hence Guo Jing dashed forward quickly. After
about seven, eight ‘zhang’s later suddenly Huang Rong called out, “Careful, the
bridge’s broken ahead.”

Guo Jing also saw that the stone bridge was suddenly broken with about seven, eight
feet gap in between. Instead of slowing down he ran faster and borrowing the
momentum he leaped across the gap.

Huang Rong had already gone through terrible danger; early on she had already
disregarded life and death. She laughed and said, “Jing Gege, your flying is not as
steady as the white eagles.”

Dashing through a section, jumping over a gap, very soon they had crossed seven
such gaps. Across the mountain ahead they saw a stretch of flat land. Suddenly they
heard someone was reading aloud. Looked like they had arrived at the end of the
stone bridge, but at the end of the bridge there was actually a very long gap, almost
a ‘zhang’ wide [about 10 feet or 3 meters]. On the other side of the gap a scholar
was sitting cross-legged, a book in his hand, from which he was reading aloud.
Behind the scholar there was another short gap.

Guo Jing halted, he stood firm on the bridge, he was at a loss of what to do next,
“Jumping over this gap is not too difficult,” he thought, “But that scholar is sitting
right in the middle of the bridge; other than the place he occupies, there is no place I
can set my feet on.” Thereupon with a loud voice he called out, “Juniors are seeking
audience with your Honorable Master, we are asking Uncle to show us the way.”
The scholar’s head was swaying while he read with rapt attention, as if he did not
hear Guo Jing. Guo Jing raised his voice and called out one more time, the scholar
still turned a deaf ear to him. “Rong’er, what do we do?” Guo Jing said in a low voice.

Huang Rong frowned without saying anything, she looked at the place where that
scholar was sitting and realized this matter could be complicated. The stone bridge
was so narrow that fighting on it meant a life and death situation. Even if Guo Jing
won, they were coming to seek help, how could they harm anybody? She looked at
the scholar again, who still did not pay any attention, and could not help but secretly
feel worried. She tried to listen to what the scholar was reading, and found out that
it was the widely common book of ‘lun yu’ [Analects of Confucius]. He was reading:
“An evening in the spring time, the spring garments were ready. Five, six people
wearing hat, six, seven people were young. Taking a bath by the river bank, the
breeze made the fountain dance, and the song carried back by the wind.”

He was reading with flourish and ardent interest, sighing three times, resembling the
spring breeze carrying the song faraway, like he was enjoying the book immensely.
Huang Rong thought, “If I want him to open his mouth, I must provoke him.”
Thereupon she sneered and said, “It’s useless even if you read the Confucian
Analects a thousand times but do not understand the Master’s sublime words with
deep meaning.”

The scholar was startled and stopped reading immediately. He raised his head and
said, “What sublime words with deep meaning? Please enlighten me.”

Huang Rong took a good look on that scholar; he looked to be around forty years of
age, ‘xiao yao jin’ [scholar hat] on his head, a folding fan in his hand, a long black
beard under his chin, truly he had a scholar’s appearance. She coldly laughed and
asked, “Sire, do you know how many disciples Confucius had?”

The scholar smiled, “What’s so difficult about that?” he said, “Confucius had 3000
disciples altogether, among those, 72 were his best students.”
“From the 72 disciples, some were old and some were young,” Huang Rong
continued, “Do you know how many disciples wore hat [meaning ‘older’] and how
many were young?”

The scholar was startled and said, “It was not recorded in the Confucian Analects;
other classics and commentaries also do not have that information recorded.”

“I said it’s useless if you do not understand the Master’s sublime words with deep
meaning, did I say anything wrong?” Huang Rong asked. “I clearly heard you read
just a moment ago, ‘Five, six people wearing hat; six, seven people were young.’
Five times six is thirty, there were 30 older disciples; six times seven is forty-two,
there were 42 younger disciples. You add two numbers together and you will get
exactly 72 people. I see you are reading without understanding. Hey! Dangerous!
Really dangerous!”

The scholar heard how she made a strong argument on an obscure matter in the
classic book, he could not stifle his laugh, but in his heart he also admitted her
intelligence and quick-wit. He smiled and said, “Young Miss really has a mind filled
with poetry books. My utmost admiration. You want to see my Shifu, may I know for
what business?”

Huang thought, “If I say we are here to seek treatment, he will certainly do his
utmost to make things difficult for us. But his question cannot be left unanswered.
Fine. He was reading the ‘Confucian Analects’, I will also quote from Confucius to
dodge his question.” Thereupon she said, “A Sage I don’t have to see! A Gentleman,
I may see. A friend came from afar, isn’t that a delight to the heart?”

The scholar looked up to the sky and laughed hard for half a day. “All right, all right,”
he said, “I have three subject tests for you. If you pass, I will take you to see my
Shifu. But if you fail even one, I will have to ask you two to go back to where you
came from.”

“Aiyo!” Huang Rong said, “I haven’t read too many books, if it is too difficult I might
not be able to answer.”

“Not difficult, not difficult,” the scholar said, “I have a poem here, inside it hidden my
origin in four characters. Let’s see if you can guess it.”

“Good, a riddle!” Huang Rong said, “It should be interesting. Please say it.”

The scholar twisted his beard and started to recite, “Six scriptures have been in the
chest for a long time, one sword for ten years has been sharpened in the hand …”

Huang Rong stuck out her tongue and said, “Skilled in both pen and sword [wen wu
quan cai – lit. literature and martial art complete skills], that’s terrific!”

The scholar smiled and continued, “On top of an apricot flower a branch hung
horizontally; if you are afraid to divulge the heaven’s secret, don’t open the mouth.
One dot escalated as big fight, nevertheless cannot even cover half a bed. The name
completed, the hat hung, time to turn back home. My true identity, does Sir know?”

Huang Rong thought, “’The name completed, the hat hung, time to turn back home.
My true identity, does Sir know?’ Looking at your appearance, you must be Emperor
Duan’s minister of the days past; hanging your hat following your master, returning
to this hidden wooded mountain. What’s so difficult to guess?” Thereupon she said,
“When you add a character ‘one’ ( ) and ‘ten’ ( ) underneath the character ‘six’
( ), it becomes the character ‘xin’ ( ). Add a horizontal line to the character
‘apricot’ ( ), and take away the character ‘mouth’ ( ), it becomes the character
‘wei’ ( ). Add a character ‘big’ ( ) to half of a bed ( ) and put a dot on it, it
becomes the character ‘zhuang’ ( ). Take the hat off the character ‘complete’ (
), it becomes the character ‘yuan’ ( ). Xin Wei Zhuang Yuan; please accept my
respect. Turned out Sir was the Zhuang Yuan [number one scholar, the title
conferred to a person who came out first in the highest imperial examination] of the
Xin Wei year.”

The scholar was taken aback; he thought his riddle was very difficult. Even if one
could finally come out with an answer, it should have taken at least half a day. These
two youngsters’ martial art skill might be high, but they would not be able to stand
on this narrow stone bridge for too long. He thought he would advice them to give
up and nicely went back down the mountain. Who would have thought that almost
without thinking Huang Rong was able to give him the correct answer. He could not
help but feel utterly surprised. He now knew this girl was exceptionally smart; he
had to find a more difficult question for her.

He swept his gaze around and saw a row of palm trees by the hillside, the leaves
swaying gently in the light breeze, resembling the movement of a fan. He was a
zhongyuan, naturally he was more gifted than an average scholar. He waved the fan
in his hand and said, “I have the top part of a couplet, asking Miss to please
complete it.”

“Completing a couplet is not as interesting as a riddle,” Huang Rong said, “All right,
looks like if I can’t complete it, you won’t let us pass. Bring it on!”

The scholar waved his fan, pointing to the row of palm trees and said, “The wind
sways the palm trees, like a thousand hands waving the folding fan.” This top part
not only depicted the scenery, but clearly lifted up his position as well.

Huang Rong thought, “If I only mention any object without meaningful correlation,
my victory won’t be complete.” She also swept her gaze around and saw a tiny
temple with a lotus pond in front of it. It was the seventh month, the middle of
summer, but on this high mountain the mornings were cold; most part of the lotus
leaf had already withered by frost. Her heart was moved, she smiled and said, “I
have the second part of that couplet, but it will offend Uncle; it’s inconvenient for me
to say it.”

“You might as well say it,” the scholar replied.

“You must promise you are not going to get angry,” Huang Rong said.
“I won’t,” the scholar promised.

Huang Rong pointed to the ‘xiao yao jin’ on his head and said, “Very well. My second
line is: The frost withers the lotus leaf, like a one-legged demon wearing a ‘xiao yao
jin’.”

At this second line the scholar burst out in laughter. “Wonderful! Wonderful!” he
said, “Not only the line is very appropriate, it came very quick too!”

Guo Jing saw the lotus stem did indeed prop up a withered leaf, looking like a single-
legged ghost wearing a ‘xiao yao jin’; he could not help laughing too. Huang Rong
smiled, “Don’t laugh, don’t laugh!” she said, “Once we fall down we will become a
pair of ghosts without the ‘xiao yao jin’!”

The scholar thought, “Ordinary couplet won’t baffle her; I will have to resort to the
ultimate.” Suddenly he remembered when he was a young student his teacher
mentioned a couplet that for dozens of years nobody could ever complete; he
decided to make things difficult for her; thereupon he said, “I have another couplet,
asking Miss to complete it: ‘qin se pi pa ( ) [qin, se and pi pa are all
stringed-instruments], all heads adorned by eight big kings’.”

Listening to this Huang Rong was delighted, “Qin se pi pa four characters altogether
have eight ‘king’ ( ) characters on them; originally it was a very difficult couplet.
It’s a pity this couplet is not your own creation. Father had solved this couplet many
years ago on the Peach Blossom Island when he had nothing else to do. I will
pretend to have difficulty completing it to tease him.”

She wrinkled her brow and made her face looked distressed. The scholar was
delighted she was finally baffled; he felt very smug. But then he was afraid Huang
Rong would ask him back, so he said up front, “This is a very difficult couplet, I don’t
have the answer either. But we have agreed that if Miss cannot answer it then you
must return.”
Huang Rong smiled, “What’s so difficult to complete the couplet? Only I have just
offended Uncle, now with my answer I will offend all four of you, the fisherman, the
woodcutter, the farmer and the scholar; that’s why I was so hesitant to say it.”

The scholar did not believe her, he thought, “Just completing the couplet is an
extremely difficult task to do; how can you offend us four martial brothers at the
same time?” Hence he said, “If you really can complete the couplet, what harm will a
little joke bring?”

Huang Rong smiled, “If that’s the case, let me ask for your forgiveness first. The
second line is, ‘chi mei wang liang ( ) [mountain elf, demon, elf, fairy – all
are fairy tales supernatural characters; all characters have ‘demon’ ( ) on their
sides], four little demons with their belly and intestines’.”

The scholar was astonished, he sprang up to stand; with his long sleeve fluttered he
dashed toward Huang Rong, “I give up with full admiration,” he said.

Huang Rong returned his obeisance and said with a smile, “If four honorable Uncles
did not do your utmost to hinder us going up the mountain, your couplets were really
difficult to complete.”

Turned out when Huang Yaoshi solved this riddle, Chen Xuanfeng, Qu Lingfeng, Lu
Chengfeng and Feng Mofeng, four disciples were by his side; Huang Yaoshi meant
this second line as a joke to his four disciples. That time Huang Rong was not even
born yet. Later she heard her father recalling this story and today she managed to
use the same line to make fun of the fisherman, the woodcutter, the farmer and the
scholar.

“Humph,” the scholar snorted. He turned around to make a small gap and said,
“Please.”

Guo Jing was standing quietly listening to these two exchanging literary attacks to
each other; he was afraid Huang Rong would not be able reply and thus waste all
previous efforts. Seeing that the scholar moved aside to make a way for them, he
was very delighted. He exerted his strength and jumped over the gap; landed on the
spot where the scholar had previously sat. Finally he jumped over the last gap.

The scholar noticed how Guo Jing leaped over the gaps with ease even while carrying
Huang Rong on his back; he sighed and said in his heart, “I pride myself as highly
skilled in both literary and martial art; actually in literature I am inferior to this
young girl, and in martial art I am not this youngster’s match. Ashamed, I am really
ashamed.” He glanced sideways to see Huang Rong’s delighted expression; he
thought this girl had just beat an honorable and highly educated ‘zhuang yuan’, no
wonder she could not hide her upbeat feeling. He thought, “Let me tease her,
teaching her not to be too self-complacent!” Thereupon he said, “Miss’ literary talent
is extraordinary, but your behavior is lacking.”

“I beg your explanation,” Huang Rong said.

The scholar replied, “Mengzi [Mencius] wrote in his book: ‘Men and women do not
get intimate, that is only proper.’ I see Miss is an unmarried woman, this ‘Xiao Ge’
[little elder brother] is not your husband; how can he carried you on his back?
Mengzi said a brother can help a drowning sister-in-law, or an uncle helps his niece.
Miss has not fallen into the water, this ‘Xiao Ge’ is also not your brother-in-law. This
kind of carrying and hugging is truly violating religious teaching.”

“Humph,” Huang Rong thought, “Brother Jing is good to me, yet other people always
make a big deal of the fact that he is not my husband. Shige [martial (older)
brother] Lu Chengfeng also said the same thing as this scholar.” Thereupon she said
point-blankly, “Mengzi loved to talk nonsense; how can you believe what he said?”

The scholar was offended, “Mengzi was a great and worthy sage; why can’t we
believe what he said?”

Huang Rong smiled and recited, “How can a beggar have two wives? Where did the
neighbor have so many chickens from? The Zhou (dynasty) still had an emperor,
why discuss many matters with the Wei and Qi (dynasties)?”

The more the scholar thought, the more he realized the truth in what she said. He
stood there staring blankly, unable to say a single word.

Actually it was Huang Yaoshi who wrote that saying. He loathed the traditions and
despised empty alms; he loved to scrutinize, refute, ridicule and satirize the empty
meanings of old sayings handed down from great and worthy sages. Once he made
many poems and songs to satirize Confucius and Mencius.

Mencius told a story about a man from the Qi dynasty who had a wife and a
concubine and yet he begged for cold rice and spoiled soup; also about another man
who everyday stole a chicken from his neighbor. Huang Yaoshi said that these two
stories were used to swindle others. About the later sayings the story went like this:
During the Warring States period (475 – 221 BC) the Zhou Emperor was still on his
throne, yet why did Mencius not support the royal family; but went to Prince Liang
Hui and Prince Qi Xuan to whom he asked for a governmental position? Huang Yaoshi
thought this action greatly disobeyed the way of the saints and sages.

The scholar thought, “The man of Qi stealing chicken was a metaphor, unworthy of
deeper study; but the last sentence, I am afraid even Mengzi himself under the
ground would have difficulty refuting.” He looked at Huang Rong’s eyes and thought,
“She is so young, how can she possess such weird intelligence?” Without saying
anything else he led two people walked forward.

When passing the lotus pond his gaze was caught by a lotus leaf on the pond; he
could not help stealing a glance toward Huang Rong. Huang Rong stifled her laugh
and turned her head another direction.

The scholar led the two people entering the temple, asked them to sit in the east
wing and had a young monk serve tea. “Please wait for a moment here,” the scholar
said, “I am going to report to the Master.”
“Wait!” Guo Jing said, “That Farmer Uncle is still holding up a big rock on the hillside;
he can’t get away by himself. Uncle please help him first.” The scholar was startled
and dashed out.

“Now we can open the yellow pouch,” Huang Rong said.

“Ah, if you did not mention it, I would have totally forgotten,” Guo Jing said. Hastily
he took out the yellow pouch and tore it open. Inside the pouch was a plain sheet of
paper without any characters written on it, only a drawing.

The drawing depicted a man wearing royal attire of the India. The man was cutting
his own flesh with a knife; his whole body was a mass of cuts and bruises, dripping
with blood. There was a scale in front of him; on one end of the balance stood a
white pigeon, on the other piled his cut flesh. The pigeon looked small, but it was
heavier than the pile of flesh on the other end. A fierce looking hawk stood next to
the scale.

The pen stroke of the drawing was quite shoddy. Huang Rong thought, “Turned out
that Ying Gu has not learned how to draw; her handwriting is not bad, but this
drawing is like a child’s scribbling.” She looked at the drawing for half a day, but
could not decipher what it meant.

Seeing Huang Rong could not guess what the drawing was about, Guo Jing thought it
was useless for him to try. He folded the drawing and held it in his hand.

Not too long after they heard footsteps coming into the hall; the farmer walked in,
ablaze in anger, supported by the scholar. He was very weary supporting that big
rock for a long time.

About the time needed to drink a cup of tea later a young monk walked in; clasping
his hands in front of his chest he said, “Gentleman and lady have come from a far; I
wonder what your noble concern was?”
“We are seeking an audience with Emperor Duan,” Guo Jing replied, “We must
inconvenient you to announce our visit.”

“Emperor Duan is no longer in this mortal world, your wearisome trip has been in
vain,” the young monk clasped his hands again, “Please have some vegetable dish,
and then Little Monk will see you down the mountain.”

Guo Jing was very disappointed; he thought of their untold hardship to get to this
place, and now they have to go back down the mountain, how could this thing be
good? But when Huang Rong saw the temple she was 30% sure, now seeing this
young monk, she was 50, 60% sure. She took the drawing from Guo Jing’s hand and
said, “Disciples Guo Jing and Huang Rong are here, hoping your respectable master
would respect past relationship with the Nine-fingered Divine Beggar and the Peach
Blossom Island, and grant us audience. We would appreciate it if you could give this
sheet of paper to your master.”

The young monk received the drawing. He did not dare to open it up; he only
clasped his hands and turned around to go inside. Before long he came back,
lowered his head and clasping his hands he said, “Respectfully invite you to come.”
Guo Jing was ecstatic, he helped Huang Rong up and together they followed the
young monk went inside.

Although the temple looked small, it was very deep. Three people walked through a
small alley covered with green flagstones, passed through a dense and shady small
bamboo grove. The place was very quiet and serene, causing whoever went inside to
shed their impure thoughts.

There were three stone houses hidden among the bamboo trees. The young monk
lightly shoved the door open and stepped aside, bowing his body to let the two to
enter in.

Guo Jing had a very good impression toward this polite and courteous monk; he
smiled to express his gratitude, then side by side with Huang Rong he walked in.
Inside the room he saw a small table with a sandalwood incense burner on top of it;
next to the table two Buddhist monks sat on circular meditation mats. One monk had
a dark complexion with high nose and deep eyes; apparently he was an Indian
monk. The other monk was wearing a robe made of coarse cloth; his white eyebrows
so long that they drooped down from the corner of his eyes. His face was gentle;
although his eyes showed a trace of sadness, at a glance his overall expression was
that of a graceful and majestic person. The scholar and the farmer were standing
behind him.

All of Huang Rong’s suspicion vanished; she lightly pulled Guo Jing’s hand and
walked to the monk with long eyebrows; she knelt and bowed down to the ground
and said, “Disciples Guo Jing and Huang Rong greet Shibo.” [Translator’s note: Shibo
– martial uncle, the character ‘bo’ here denotes ‘older than one’s father’ or ‘father’s
elder brother’, but since English does not differentiate between ‘older’ and ‘younger’
uncles, the generic word of ‘Uncle’ will be used throughout the chapter.]

Guo Jing was startled, but without thinking he simply followed Huang Rong’s
example and bowed to the ground, kowtowing four times.

The monk with long-eyebrows smiled slightly; he stood up and held out his hands to
raise the two people up. He said with a smile, “Qi Xiong [Brother Qi] had accepted a
fine disciple, and Yao Xiong [Brother Yao] had gotten a fine daughter. I heard them
say,” he pointed his finger to the farmer and the scholar, “Your martial arts are far
superior to my disciples’. Ha … ha … congratulations, congratulations!”

Listening to him speaking Guo Jing thought, “This speech obviously belonged to
Emperor Duan; fitting his position as an emperor, but how come he turned into a
monk? It’s very confusing. Why did they say that he is no longer in this mortal
world? How did Rong’er know he is the Emperor Duan?”

He heard the monk said to Huang Rong, “Are your father and Shifu well? When we
met during the Sword Meet of Mount Hua your father has not married yet.
Unexpectedly it has been twenty years and he got this beautiful daughter. Do you
have any brothers or sisters? Which Senior hero is your mother’s father?”

Huang Rong’s eyes turned red, she said, “My mother gave birth to me only; she
passed away long time ago. I don’t even know her family.”

“Ah!” the monk exclaimed, lightly patting her shoulder consolingly. “I have been
meditating for three days and three nights, and ended just a moment ago,” he said,
“Have you been waiting long?”

Huang Rong pondered, “Looking at his face, he is very happy to see us. If that’s the
case, then stopping us and not letting us go up the mountain was his disciples’ idea.”
Hence, she replied, “Disciples have just arrived. Fortunately these Uncles did their
utmost to make things difficult for us; otherwise we would have arrived much earlier,
Duan Shibo would still be in meditation and our visit would be in vain.”

The monk chuckled and said, “They are afraid that I see too many outsiders. But
actually how can we consider you as outsiders? Young Miss’ sharp tongue must come
from your family. Emperor Duan has early on left this mortal world; I am now called
Monk Yideng. [‘yi deng he shang’ – (Buddhist) monk ‘one lamp’] Your Shifu was
present when I followed the three treasures; but I am afraid your father did not
know.”

It was only then did Guo Jing finally understood, “It turned out that Emperor Duan
shaved his head and became a monk. He left the life of common man; that’s why his
disciples said Emperor Duan has left this mortal world. Shifu witnessed it when he
became a monk; if it was him who told us to come here, naturally he would not tell
us to find Emperor Duan, but to see Reverend Yideng [yi deng da shi – great master
Yideng; ‘da shi’ was a common respectable term to address a Buddhist monk].
Rong’er is really smart; just by looking at him she understood everything.”

He heard Huang Rong say, “My father did not know anything about it; my Shifu also
did not tell disciples.”
Yideng smiled, “Certainly. There are more things going into your Shifu’s mouth than
things coming out of it. He eats a lot, he speaks a little. He wouldn’t discuss the Old
Monk’s business with others. You have been through a lot of hardships; have you
eaten yet? Ah!” Speaking to this point he suddenly startled. He pulled Huang Rong’s
hand and took her to the door to look at her face under the bright sunlight. He
carefully examined her with a puzzled look on his own face.

Although Guo Jing was slow, he was aware that Reverend Yideng had discovered
Huang Rong’s injury. His heart was broken; abruptly he bent his knees and
kowtowed several times. Yideng held out his hands underneath Guo Jing’s arms to
raise him up. Guo Jing felt a burst of energy lifting his body up. He did not dare to
use his strength to resist; riding on the force he slowly stood up and said, “I beg the
Reverend to save her life!”

When Yideng raised Guo Jing up, he was not only asking Guo Jing not to have too
much ritual, but was also testing Guo Jing’s strength. Yideng was only using 50% of
his strength; if he felt that Guo Jing was not able to resist, he would have retracted
his force. He did not have any intention to use force against Guo Jing, if Guo Jing
stayed motionless he would not add any more strength. However, in this one
encounter he found out Guo Jing’s martial art to be deep. He did not expect Guo Jing
to be able to ride on his force and stand up, automatically dispersing his energy. This
surprised Yideng more than if Guo Jing only resisted by staying motionless on the
ground. Yideng secretly thought, “Qi Xiong had really accepted a very fine disciple;
no wonder my own disciples candidly admitted their defeat.”

It was at this moment that Guo Jing said, “I beg the Reverend to save her life!” He
had just finished speaking when suddenly he felt his legs wobble, his body
involuntarily moved forward one step. Quickly he exerted his strength to resist but
his body refused to obey his mind; his face turned red all over. He was shocked.
“Reverend Yideng’s force can continue for so long!” he thought, “I’ve already tried to
disperse it; unexpectedly it continued to lift me up. The incoming force has been
broken, but a short moment later my own opposing force uncontrollably propelled
myself forward. If it were a real fight wouldn’t my little life be gone? Eastern Heretic,
Western Poison, Southern Emperor and Northern Beggar truly deserve their
reputations.” This time he bowed and kowtowed with much more admiration; what
he felt in his heart showed on his face.

Yideng noticed Guo Jing’s countenance showed a scared and admiring look, he
stretched out his hand to gently pat Guo Jing’s shoulder and said with a smile, “You
have trained to this level, it really is not easy.” Meanwhile he had not released
Huang Rong’s hand; he turned his head and smiled, “Child, don’t be afraid, set your
heart at peace,” he said with a gentle voice. Then he helped her to sit on the
meditation mat.

In all her life Huang Rong never had anybody treated her with such compassion. Her
father loved her very much, but his manner was a little bit eccentric. Normally he
would treat her as a friend, without revealing the deep love a father had for his
daughter. This time listening to Yideng’s warm words all of a sudden Huang Rong
was overwhelmed as if she suddenly felt her mother’s tender love; the love she had
never experienced. All the pain and suffering she endured for quite some time since
she was injured suddenly burst out uncontrollably. “Wah!” she broke into tears.

Reverend Yideng said with a comforting voice, “Good child, don’t cry, don’t cry! Uncle
will certainly fix all the pain you feel.” Who would have thought that the gentler and
more comforting his words were, the more Huang Rong was overwhelmed and she
cried even louder. It was not until much later did her cry eventually became sobs as
she tried to regain her composure.

Hearing his promise Guo Jing was ecstatic, but upon turning his head around he saw
the scholar and the farmer’s stiff eyebrows and bulging eyes; they were staring at
him with angry looks on their faces. Guo Jing felt bad while thinking, “We can reach
this place entirely due to Rong’er’s craftiness, no wonder they are mad. Reverend
Yideng is this compassionate, yet his disciples were determined to hinder us. I
wonder why?”
He heard Reverend Yideng say, “Child, how did you get injured? How did you get to
this place? Why don’t you tell your uncle everything?” And so Huang Rong wiped her
tears and told him how she mistook Qiu Qianren as Qiu Qianzhang, how she took his
palms strike and everything that happened.

When Yideng heard the name Iron Palm Qiu Qianren, he frowned slightly, but
immediately went back to listening Huang Rong attentively. While speaking, Huang
Rong kept her eyes open to see Yideng’s face; even though his frown was very slight
it did not escape Huang Rong’s eyes. When she got to the point where they met Ying
Gu at the Black Marsh forest and how she gave them direction to find this place,
Reverend Yideng’s countenance once again momentarily changed; he lowered his
head in deep thought, seemingly he was reminiscing over past events, and was
grieved and pained over them.

A moment after Huang Rong shut her mouth Reverend Yideng heaved a sigh and
asked, “And then what happened?”

Huang Rong continued by recounting how the fisherman, the woodcutter, the farmer
and the scholar had used all possible means to make things difficult for them. The
woodcutter easily let them go up the mountain, therefore, she said some praising
words on his behalf; but to the rest of them she added some spices to make their
offenses worse than they were. Deliberately she made the scholar and the farmer
mad.

Several times Guo Jing interrupted her, saying, “Rong’er, don’t talk nonsense; these
Uncles are not that bad!” But Huang Rong kept talking like a spoiled child in front of
Reverend Yideng, telling him all kind of things, making the faces of the two disciples
standing behind Yideng turn red and blue. They did not dare to open up their mouths
in the presence of their master.

Reverend Yideng repeatedly nodded his head, “(Sigh), how can you treat guests
coming from afar like that? These kids were really rude towards friends; I am going
to tell them to apologize to you two later.”
Huang Rong stared at the scholar and the farmer with a smug expression;
meanwhile her mouth did not stop; she told everything until how they ended up at
the temple’s gate. “Afterwards I gave that drawing for you to see, and you asked me
in; then they did not dare to hinder us anymore,” she said.

“What drawing?” Yideng was surprised.

“It’s about some eagle, some pigeon, and someone cutting his own flesh,” Huang
Rong replied.

“Whom did you give it to?” Yideng asked.

Before Huang Rong could answer the scholar took the drawing from his pocket and
presented it with both hands. “Disciple has it,” he said, “Shifu has not finished
meditation just now, I have not presented it to Shifu yet.”

Yideng held out his hand to take the drawing, he smiled to Huang Rong and said,
“You see, if you did not mention it, I wouldn’t know a thing.” Slowly he opened up
the drawing and looked at it; he knew what the drawing meant. He smiled and said,
“Turned out others were afraid I would not help you and sent this drawing to stir me
up. Don’t you think they underestimated the Old Monk too much?”

Huang Rong turned her head to see anxiety and deep concern on the scholar and the
farmer’s faces; she felt strange. “Why is it that when they heard their Shifu promise
to treat me they looked like they are losing their lifeblood? Is the medicine the most
precious pill that they hate to give it up?” She turned her head back to see Yideng
was carefully examining the drawing. He brought it under the sunlight to see the
quality of the paper, he lightly flicked it several times; his face showed suspicions.

“Did Ying Gu draw this picture?” he asked Huang Rong.

“Yes,” Huang Rong answered.

Yideng was silent for half a day then asked again, “Did you see it with your own eyes
when she did it?”

Huang Rong knew something was amiss; she tried to recollect what happened that
time and said, “When Ying Gu wrote those, her back was toward us. I saw her pen
moved, but I did not see with my own eyes whether she was writing or drawing.”

“You said she gave you two other pouches; let me see the contents of the other
pouches,” Yideng said.

Guo Jing took the pouches from his pocket and Yideng examined them; his face
changed slightly. “Indeed that is so,” he muttered softly. He gave the three sheets of
paper to Huang Rong and said, “Yao Xiong is an expert in calligraphy and paintings;
your educational background came from your family, certainly you understand
connoisseurship. Why don’t you take a look at these three sheets and tell me what
you think.”

Huang Rong took the papers to take a look and immediately said, “These two sheets
are ordinary ‘yu ban zhi’ [jade register paper], but the drawing was made on a ‘jiu
jian zhi’ [old cocoon paper], a rarely seen type of paper.”

Yideng nodded his head, “Hmm, in calligraphy and painting I am a layman, what do
you think about this drawing?”

Huang Rong examined the drawing carefully; she smiled and said, “Uncle is only
pretending to be a layman! You have known from the start that it was not Ying Gu
who draw this picture.”

Yideng’s countenance slightly changed, “Then it is true it was not her painting? I am
only guessing based on logic, I really was not looking at the drawing.”

Huang Rong tugged his arm, saying, “Uncle, look, the writing on these two sheets of
paper are delicate and elegant while the stroke on this drawing is very stiff. Hmm,
this drawing is made by a man. Yes, I am sure it is a man’s pen-stroke. This man did
not know a thing about calligraphy or painting, but his pen-stroke is powerful, it
even penetrated the paper to its back … This ink looked very old, I think it is even
older than my own age.”

Reverend Yideng heaved a heavy sigh; he pointed his finger to a book on top of a
bamboo table, signaling the scholar to fetch it. The scholar walked over and fetched
it, and handed it over to his master. Huang Rong saw on the yellowing page of the
cover two rows of characters that read, ‘The Great Buddist Scripture by Maming
Bodhisattva. Translated by ‘san cang jiu mo luo shen’ [name of a saint] of Guizi in
the Western Region.’ She thought, “I am not going to understand anything if he
starts preaching to me.”

Yideng casually flipped open the cover of the book, put the drawing next to it and
said, “Take a look.”

“Ah!” Huang Rong softly exclaimed, “The same paper quality.” Yideng nodded.

Guo Jing did not understand, he whispered, “What paper quality is the same?”

Huang Rong said, “Look carefully, isn’t the paper quality of this book the same as
that drawing?”

Guo Jing looked over carefully; the paper of the book was coarse and thick, mixed
with strands of yellow silk threads, exactly the same as the paper of the drawing.
“They are the same,” he said, “So what?”

Huang Rong did not reply, she looked at Reverend Yideng, waiting for an
explanation.

Reverend Yideng said, “This book was brought by my martial brother from the
western region.”
During the entire time Guo Jing and Huang Rong talked to Yideng, they had not paid
any attention to the Indian monk; only now did they turn their gaze to him. He was
sitting cross-legged on the meditation mat, as if he was oblivious to the discussion of
these people.

“This book came from the western region, this drawing also came from the western
region,” Yideng continued, “Have you ever heard of the western region’s White
Camel Mountain?”

Huang Rong was startled, “Western Poison Ouyang Feng?” she asked.

Yideng slowly nodded, “Correct,” he said, “This picture was drawn by Ouyang Feng.”
Hearing this Guo Jing and Huang Rong were shocked and could not say anything for
a while.

Yideng smiled and said, “This Ouyang fellow had planned this for a long time; he
truly anticipated far ahead.”

“Uncle,” Huang Rong said, “I didn’t know this drawing came from the Old Poison; this
man always harbors evil intentions.”

Yideng smiled and said, “For a Nine Yin Manual men can do great things.”

“This drawing has something to do with the Nine Yin Manual?” Huang Rong asked.

Yideng saw her excitement and surprise, he noticed her cheeks turned red; looked
like she was straining and was able to stay awake due to her strong internal energy.
Thereupon Yideng held out his hand to support her right arm and said, “Let’s talk
about this some other time, right now it is more important to treat your injury.”

Yideng helped her up and walked slowly toward the building next door. When they
arrived at the door opening, the scholar and the farmer exchanged a glance and
together they rushed toward the door. They knelt down and said, “Shifu, let your
disciples try to treat this Miss’ injury.”

Yideng shook his head, “Do you think your skill is sufficient? Can you treat her until
she is completely cured?”

The scholar and the farmer said, “Disciples will try to do our best.”

Yideng’s face turned serious. “Human life is an important matter, how can you easily
try?”

The scholar said, “These two came here by some evil people’s direction; definitely
without any good intention. Although Shifu’s mercy is abundant, you can’t fall into
evil people’s treacherous plan.”

Yideng heaved a sighed, “What did I teach you day in and day out? Go and take a
good look at this picture.” While speaking he gave the drawing in his hand away.

The farmer knocked his head to the ground and said, “This drawing was made by
Ouyang Feng; Shifu, this is Ouyang Feng’s evil plan.” While speaking thus his anxiety
was obvious; tears flowing down his cheeks.

Jing and Rong two people were puzzled, “How does the evil plan relate to treating an
injury?” they thought.

Reverend Yideng gently said, “Get up, get up. Don’t make our guests’ hearts
uneasy.” His voice was gentle, but full of resolution. The two disciples knew it was
useless to argue further; they stood up with their heads hung low.

Reverend Yideng took Huang Rong to the next door building. He beckoned Guo Jing
and said, “You also come.” Guo Jing followed them entering the room.

Yideng unrolled the bamboo curtain hung above the door down. He took an incense
stick and stuck it on the burner on top of a small bamboo table.

The four walls of the room were drab, other than the small bamboo table there were
only three meditation mats. Yideng ordered Huang Rong to sit on the middle mat
while he himself sat cross-legged on the mat next to her. He turned his gaze toward
the bamboo curtain and said to Guo Jing, “You stay and guard that door, don’t let
anybody come in, including my own disciples.” Guo Jing complied.

Yideng closed his eyes, but suddenly he opened his eyes and added, “If they resort
to violence you must fight. Your martial sister’s life depends on it. Remember, it’s
very important.”

“Yes!” Guo Jing said, but actually he was confused, “His disciples revere him, how
can they dare to disobey their master’s order and come barging in?” he thought.

Yideng turned toward Huang Rong and said, “Relax your whole body; no matter how
much you feel hurt or itchy, you must not resist at all.”

Huang Rong smiled, “I consider myself dead already.”

Yideng also smiled, “You are such a smart doll.” He closed his eyes immediately, his
eyebrows hung down, he circulated his energy. When the incense was about an inch
burnt suddenly he leaped up, left palm on his chest, right index finger stretched out,
slowly he pointed his finger toward the ‘bai hui’ [hundred joins] acupoint on Huang
Rong’s head. Huang Rong’s body slightly jumped up involuntarily; she felt a stream
of heat flowing from the top of her head down.

Reverend Yideng retracted his finger immediately, without moving his body his
second finger hit the ‘hou ding’ [rear peak] acupoint located about one ‘cun’ five ‘fen’
[1 cun is approximately 1 inch, 1 fen is about 1 third of a centimeter (a little over
1/8 of an inch)] behind the ‘bai hui’ acupoint. Successively he hit the ‘qiang jian’
[powerful space], ‘nao hu’ [brain door], ‘feng fu’ [wind manor], ‘da zhui’ [big spine],
‘tao dao’ [pottery way], ‘shen zhu’ [life pillar], ‘shen dao’ [divine way], along the
‘ling tai’ [soul platform] downward; so that when the incense was halfway burnt he
had already hit thirty consecutive main acupoints of the ‘du mai’ [supervised arteries
or channels] group on her body.

By this time Guo Jing’s martial art knowledge and experience was already
incomparable to the past. He stood on the side watching Yideng’s finger move slowly,
his arm floating in the air. He hit these thirty acupoints with thirty different acupoint
sealing techniques. Each one was a mind opening technique; admittedly the Six
Freaks of Jiangnan had never taught him this kind of technique, the ‘sealing acupoint
section’ in the Nine Yin Manual also did not contain this technique. He had never
seen anything like this before, he had never even heard about it. He was having a
blurred vision just by watching; his tongue tied. He only knew that Reverend Yideng
was demonstrating an upper class martial art; it never crossed Guo Jing’s mind that
Yideng was using his lifetime cultivated energy to open up Huang Rong’s eight main
arteries.

After the ‘du mai’ group was done, Yideng sat down to take a rest. After Guo Jing
lighted up another incense he leaped back up and started to hit Huang Rong’s ‘ren
mai’ [assigned arteries/channels] group consisting of twenty-five acupoints. This
time his hand movements were very swift; his arms vibrated, just like dragonflies
soaring above the water. Just in one breath he had finished hitting all ‘ren mai’
acupoints. These twenty-five moves were lightning fast, but each finger movement
did not miss even a single hair width.

Guo Jing was frightened and full of admiration at the same time; he thought, “(Sigh)
There is such skill in the world!”

Meanwhile Yideng had started with the ‘yin wei mai’ [negative preserved
arteries/channels] consisting of fourteen acupoints. Once again he used different
technique; this time he moved powerfully like a flying dragon or striding tiger.
Although Yideng was wearing a kassaya [Buddhist robe], but in Guo Jing’s eyes he
did not look like a monk who followed the three-treasure way, but an emperor, ruler
of tens of thousands people.
The ‘yin wei mai’ group finished, without taking a rest Reverend Yideng continued
with the ‘yang wei mai’ [positive preserved arteries/channels] consisting of thirty-
two acupoints. This time he did it long distance; for instance, he moved about a
‘zhang’ away from Huang Rong, then suddenly pounced forward and hit the ‘feng chi’
[wind reservoir] acupoint on Huang Rong’s neck, followed by leaping backward. He
did this in succession, without any perceivable pause.

Guo Jing thought, “Fighting closely with an expert is dangerous; by using this
technique not only I can overcome the enemy, but putting up a strong defense as
well. This is a very wonderful technique.” With rapt attention he watched Yideng go
back and forth; the movements were truly marvelous. It was especially difficult to
attack and withdrew that fast, with matchless agility of a fish darting in the water or
a rabbit running away from the hunter. Suddenly a thought came into his mind,
“When I fought Ying Gu, her body was very slippery. For a third part her technique
resembled the Reverend’s attacking acupoint technique; seemed like she got her
inspiration from the Reverend, but her skill is fallen short, far below his.”

Two incense sticks later Reverend Yideng had finished with her ‘yin wei mai’ and the
‘yang wei mai’ two arteries [or channels] groups. When he started the ‘ju gu’
[gigantic bone] acupoint on her neck, suddenly Guo Jing’s heart stirred, “Ah! Doesn’t
the Nine Yin Manual contain this? I was so stupid not to understand this earlier.”
Silently he recited the Manual while watching Reverend Yideng’s movements and
compared them with the Manual; he found out that Reverend Yideng’s sealing
acupoint technique carried infinite variations. It was like Reverend Yideng was acting
out and opening out the secret of the marvelous martial arts in the Nine Yin Manual.
Guo Jing had not learned enough and he did not dare to learn Yideng’s Solitary Yang
Finger, but with his knowledge of the Manual he had quite a comprehension of this
unique skill.

At last the ‘dai mai’ [band/belt arteries/channels] group were opened successfully.
The blood was flowing unobstructed through all the seven groups of passageways
contained in the manual. ‘Dai mai’ was the passageway looped around the waist like
a belt. Presently Reverend Yideng was behind Huang Rong’s back, walking backward
with his finger pointed backward slowly hitting her ‘zhang men’ [section gate]
acupoint.

The ‘dai mai’ consisted of eight acupoints. Yideng stretched out his hand slowly, as if
with great difficulty; his mouth gasping for breath, his body swaying, like he could
not even support his own weight.

Guo Jing was shocked; he saw beads of perspirations trickling down Yideng’s
forehead, sweat dripping down like rain from the tip of his long eyebrows. Guo Jing
wanted to step forward and help, but he was afraid he might mess things up. He
turned to look at Huang Rong’s condition and saw her clothes were soaked with
sweat. She was knitting her brows and biting her lips; like she was trying to resist
unbearable pain with all her might.

Suddenly Guo Jing heard a ‘shua’ sound, the bamboo curtain behind him was opened
and somebody shouted loudly, “Shifu!” and somebody barged in through the door.

Almost without thinking Guo Jing launched the ‘divine dragon swings its tail’; his
right palm swung backward and with a slapping sound it hit that person’s shoulder.
Guo Jing turned around to see somebody was staggering two steps backward; it was
the fisherman.

Because his iron boat and iron oars were stolen he was unable to go upstream the
creek to the mountain peak; he had to take a long walk more than 20 ‘li’s around the
back of the mountain. Upon arriving he heard his Shifu has already started treating
that young miss’ injury; he was very anxious and rushed toward the room with the
intention of imploring his master not to do that. Unexpectedly he was pushed back
by Guo Jing’s attack. He stood back up to try again. In the meantime the
woodcutter, the farmer, and the scholar three people had also arrived outside the
door.

“It’s over; what else can we stop?” the scholar angrily said.
Guo Jing turned around to see Reverend Yideng sit cross-legged on the meditation
mat, his face deathly pale, his monk robe completely soaked in sweats. Huang Rong
was lying down on the floor, unmoving; it was not clear whether she was dead or
alive. Guo Jing was very shocked; he rushed forward to prop her up. First thing he
noticed was a fishy stench coming out of her nose. He looked at her face and found it
was bloodless bluish pale, but the faint black shadow on her face had actually gone.
He held out his hand to feel her breathing and was greatly relieved to find a steady
albeit weak breathing.

The fisherman, the woodcutter, the farmer and the scholar were sitting around their
master in silence, with apprehensive looks on their faces. Guo Jing kept his eyes on
Huang Rong. He saw her face gradually turn pink, he was ecstatic; who would have
thought that the pink turned to red and very soon her cheeks were fiery hot. A short
moment later beads of perspiration started to form on her forehead while her
countenance was gradually turning back to white. This cycle happened three times,
every time she was sweating profusely.

“Mmm,” Huang Rong moaned softly then she opened her eyes. “Jing Gege, where is
the stove, uh, the ice?” she asked.

Hearing her voice Guo Jing’s delight was unspeakable, with a trembling voice he
said, “What stove? What ice?”

Huang Rong looked around, shook her head and smiled, “Ah, I was having a
nightmare,” she said, “I saw Ouyang Feng, Ouyang Ke and Qiu Qianren. They put me
inside the stove to be roasted; and when I was hot, they put ice to cool me down.
Once I cool down they put me back into the stove. (Sigh), it was really scary. Uh,
how is Uncle?”

Yideng slowly opened up his eyes and smiled, “Your injury is healed, all you need is a
day or two of total rest – you can’t move unnecessarily; and you will be all right.”
“I don’t have any strength left in my entire body,” Huang Rong said, “I can’t even lift
up a finger.” The farmer was looking at her angrily. Huang Rong ignored him, she
turned to Yideng and said, “Uncle, you have spent so much energy to treat me, you
must be very tired. I have some Nine Flowered Jade Dew Pills, made according to my
father’s recipe. How about you take some?”

Yideng happily said, “Good, I did not think you would bring these energy-booster
miracle pills. That year when we had the Sword Meet of Mount Hua each one of us
was dead tired after the competition; your father gave us some of these pills and the
effectiveness was marvelous.”

Guo Jing quickly took the small bag of pills from Huang Rong’s backpack and handed
it over to Yideng. The woodcutter went to the kitchen to fetch a bowl of clear water,
while the scholar poured the pills on his palm and presented them to his master.

Yideng laughed, “Why so many? These pills are not easy to make, we’ll just take
half.”

The scholar anxiously replied, “Shifu, all the miracle pills in the world won’t be
enough.”

Yideng conceded since he felt extremely exhausted; he took several dozens of Nine
Flowered Jade Dew Pills from his disciple’s hand and swallowed them all, washed by
a bowl of clear water. He turned to Guo Jing and said, “Take your Shimei [Martial
(younger) Sister] to have a couple of days’ rest and then you can go down the
mountain. You don’t need to see me again. Hmm, I have something I want you to
promise me.”

Guo Jing bowed to the ground and ‘bonk, bonk, bonk, bonk’, knocked his head to the
floor. Huang Rong ordinarily loved to joke around and be casual with everybody.
Even in the presence of her father and her master she still did not follow proper
junior-senior relationship; yet this time she actually bowed down reverently and said
with a low voice, “Uncle has saved my life, I will not dare to forget even for a
moment.”

Yideng smiled and said, “It’s better if you forget about it; don’t let it hang in your
mind.” Turning his head to Guo Jing he said, “Don’t tell anybody that you have come
up this mountain; don’t ever tell it, even to your Shifu.”

Guo Jing was just thinking about taking Hong Qigong up the mountain to ask Yideng
to treat his injury; hearing this he could not help but was taken aback and did not
know what to say.

Yideng smiled and continued, “Later on don’t even bother to come back here, since
very soon we are going to move away.”

“Where are you moving to?” Guo Jing hastily asked. Yideng smiled without say
anything.

Huang Rong said in her heart, “Silly Brother, because their whereabouts has been
discovered by us they will have to move away; how can he tell you?” She thought
about how Yideng, master and disciples, had spent a lot of effort laboriously
developing this place and now because of her they would have to abandon
everything; she felt sorry and thought it would be difficult for her to pay back this
kindness. No wonder the fisherman, the woodcutter, the farmer and the scholar did
everything they could to prevent them from going up the mountain. Thinking of this
she turned her gaze toward the four disciples, wanted to say something to express
her apology and gratefulness but she could not find any appropriate words.

Suddenly Reverend Yideng’s countenance changed, his body swayed and he fell to
the ground. The four disciples, along with Guo Jing and Huang Rong were extremely
shocked; they rushed forward trying to help. They saw his face twitching like he was
trying to suppress a great pain. The six of them were very anxious, they stood
around with their hands hanging down, nobody dared to make any noise.

About the time needed to drink a cup of tea later Yideng’s face showed a faint smile,
he said to Huang Rong, “Child, did your father personally make these Nine Flowered
Jade Dew Pills?”

“He did not,” Huang Rong replied, “It was my martial brother Lu Chengfeng who
made them according to my father’s secret recipe.”

“Have you ever heard your father said that these pills would be harmful if taken
excessively?” Yideng asked further.

Huang Rong was stunned, she thought, “Is there something wrong with these Nine
Flowered Jade Dew Pills?” She hastily said, “Father said the more the better; only
because these pills were not easy to make, he did not want to take too much.”

Yideng lowered his head and knitted his brows for half a day; finally he shook his
head and said, “Your father can be considered a genius, but his actions are
unpredictable; how can I guess what he is up to? Could it be that he was punishing
your Martial Brother Lu by giving him a fake recipe? Or could it be that your Martial
Brother Lu had a grudge against you and mixed some poison into the pills?”

Hearing the word ‘poison’ everybody called in alarm in one voice. “Shifu, are you
poisoned?” the scholar asked.

Yideng smiled and said, “It’s a good thing your Shishu [Martial (younger) Uncle] is
here; even a more lethal poison won’t kill anybody.”

The four disciples could not hold their anger anymore, they cursed Huang Rong, “Our
Shifu was so kind to save your life, but you have the guts to actually harm other with
poison?” They surrounded Guo Jing and Huang Rong, ready to strike.

This turn of events happened so abruptly that Guo Jing was at a loss; he did not
know the best action to take. Ever since Yideng’s first question Huang Rong had
correctly guessed that the Nine Flowered Jade Dew Pills had caused a disaster. Her
mind quickly recalled the succession of events concerning these pills since she
received them at the Cloud Manor [gui yun zhuang]; when she arrived at the
thatched hut in the Black Marsh forest she remembered how Ying Gu brought the
pills to the other room and examined them for quite some time before she re-
appeared. Suddenly a thought came into her mind like bright light. “Uncle, I know
it!” she called out, “It was Ying Gu.”

“It was Ying Gu?” Yideng asked.

Immediately Huang Rong told him everything that happened inside the thatched hut
in the Black Marsh forest. She furthermore said, “She repeatedly warned me not to
take any of these pills; apparently it was because she had already mixed some
poison in them.”

“Hmm,” the farmer sneered angrily, “She was really good to you; she was afraid you
might die.”

Ever since she learned that Yideng was poisoned Huang Rong’s heart was full of
regrets; she did not feel like arguing. She lowered her head and said, “She was not
afraid to kill me, but she was afraid that if I take the pill then Uncle would not be
poisoned.”

Yideng could only sigh, “Karma, karma,” he said. His face turned gentle. He turned
toward Guo Jing and Huang Rong and said, “This is the result of my own sin; it has
nothing to do with you. It was that Ying Gu; and I am reaping what I sow. You go
ahead and take some rest, then you can go down the mountain, there is no need to
worry over me. Although I am poisoned, my martial brother is here and he is an
expert in healing poison related sickness.” He finished speaking; he closed his eyes
and did not say another word.

Jing and Rong two people bowed. They saw Yideng’s face showed a smile, he waved
his hand lightly. Two people did not dare to tarry much longer, they slowly turned
around and went out. The young monk was waiting outside, he led two people to rest
at a small building in the rear courtyard. The little building was also empty except for
a couple of bamboo couches and a small bamboo table. Not too long afterwards two
older monks came in with some vegetarian dishes; “Please eat,” they said.

Huang Rong was still concerned over Yideng’s condition. “Is Reverend well?” she
asked.

“Xiao Seng [lowly monk] does not know,” the old monk replied with a sharp voice.
He bowed and went out the door.

“Listening to their voice I thought they were women,” Guo Jing said.

“They are eunuchs,” Huang Rong said, “They must be Emperor Duan’s former
attendants.”

“Oh,” Guo Jing muttered. Their minds were filled with concern, how could they eat?

The courtyard was secluded and very quiet, with light breeze occasionally stirred the
bamboo leaves. After a long time Guo Jing broke the silence, “Rong’er, Reverend
Yideng’s martial art skill is very high.

“Hmm,” Huang Rong mumbled. Guo Jing continued, “Our Shifu, your father, Zhou
Dage [Big Brother Zhou], Ouyang Feng and Qiu Qianren, these five people’s martial
art is also high, but they won’t necessarily superior to Reverend Yideng.”

“In your opinion, which one among these six is the Number One in the world?”
Huang Rong asked.

Guo Jing hesitated for half a day before answering, “I think each one of them has
their strengths and weaknesses, it’s really difficult to judge. This one is stronger than
that one, yet that one is fiercer than this one.”

“What about ‘wen wu quan cai’ [well versed in both literature and martial art]? Who’s
the best?” Huang Rong asked.
“Without question your father is the best,” Guo Jing replied.

Huang Rong was very proud; she smiled showing her dimples, beautiful as flowers.
But then suddenly she sighed and said, “That’s why it’s very strange.”

“What do you mean ‘strange’?” Guo Jing hastily asked.

“Just think about it,” Huang Rong replied, “Reverend Yideng has such high skill; the
fisherman, the woodcutter, the farmer and the scholar, his four disciples’ skills are
not superficial either. Why would they hide themselves in fear in this remote
mountain? Why is it that every time they hear somebody’s coming they shiver in
fear? Among those six experts, perhaps only Ouyang Feng and Qiu Iron Palm are
their enemies; but they are people of high reputation. Could it be that they will
disregard their ranks and join hands in making things difficult for him?”

“Rong’er,” Guo Jing said, “Even if Ouyang Feng and Qiu Qianren join hands to seek
enmity, we don’t need to be scared.”

“How come?” Huang Rong asked in surprise. Guo Jing’s face showed embarrassment,
he looked bashful. Huang Rong laughed, “Ah! Why are you embarrassed all of a
sudden?”

Guo Jing answered, “Reverend Yideng’s martial art is not inferior to the Western
Poison. To say the least they are even. I think his backhand acupoint sealing
technique is the Toad Stance’s black star.”

“What about Qiu Qianren?” Huang Rong asked, “The fisherman, the woodcutter, the
farmer and the scholar are certainly not his match.”

“That’s right,” Guo Jing said, “I have exchanged a palm with him at Dongting Lake,
Mount Jun and the Iron Palm Peak. If it is fifty stances or less, I think I can fight him
evenly; but after a hundred stances I don’t think I can block his attack. Today I saw
the way Reverend Yideng’ acupoint sealing method to treat your injury …”

Huang Rong was delighted, “You learned his skill? Now you can defeat that scoundrel
Qiu the Iron Palm?” she interrupted.

“You know I am dim-witted,” Guo Jing said, “This acupoint sealing technique is so
deep, how can I learn it? Moreover, Reverend did not pass the theory to me,
naturally I can’t learn his skill. But looking at his technique, some things from the
Nine Yin Manual that I did not understand before become clearer. Defeating him, I
can’t do; but I believe I can hold against him for a moment longer.”

Huang Rong sighed, “Too bad you have forgotten one thing,” she said.

“What is it?” Guo Jing asked.

“That the Reverend is poisoned and we don’t know when he is going to be well,”
Huang Rong replied.

Guo Jing was silent. After a while he hatefully said, “That Ying Gu is so evil.”
Suddenly he called out, “Ah, this is bad!”

Huang Rong jumped up in surprise. “What is it?” she asked.

“You have promised Ying Gu that after your recovery you will accompany her for a
year. Shall we fulfill this promise or not?” Guo Jing said.

“What do you say?” Huang Rong asked.

Guo Jing replied, “If she did not give us direction then we would not be able to find
Reverend Yideng. It would be difficult to say what your injury’s condition will be …”

“What would be difficult to say?” Huang Rong cut him off, “Just say it plainly that my
little life could not be preserved. You are a gentleman whose words are as a
mountain; you certainly want me to abide by mine.” She was thinking about how
Guo Jing was not willing to cancel his engagement with Huazheng; she could not
help dejectedly hang down her head.

Guo Jing did not have the slightest idea his girl was pouring out her heart’s contents;
Huang Rong was on the verge of tears, but he was oblivious. He said, “Ying Gu said
your father possesses divine mathematical skill and he is a hundred times superior to
her. Let’s just say you are willing to teach her some mathematical skill, in the end it
will still be difficult to her to even scratch your father’s skin; then why would she still
want you to accompany her for a year?”

Huang Rong covered her face and did not answer. Guo Jing was indifferent, he
repeated his question. Huang Rong was angry, “You are so dumb that you don’t
know anything!” she scolded him.

Guo Jing did not understand why she suddenly lost her patience and scolded him; he
could only scratch his head and said, “Rong’er! I am dumb, that’s why I am asking
you to explain it to me.”

Huang Rong had already regretted her words as soon as they left her mouth, now
listening to him meekly admitting his stupidity she could not hold herself any longer;
she threw herself to his bosom and cried. Guo Jing became more confused than ever,
he gently patted her back trying to console her. Huang Rong pulled Guo Jing’s sleeve
and used it to wipe her tears. She smiled and said, “Jing Gege, I am the bad one;
next time I certainly won’t scold you anymore.”

“I am dumb, so what’s wrong with you saying it out loud?” Guo Jing said.

“Ay, you are a good man, I am a bad girl,” Huang Rong said, “All right, let me tell
you. That Ying Gu has an animosity against my father. She wants to learn
mathematic so she can go to the Peach Blossom Island to seek revenge. Afterwards
she found out that in mathematics she is inferior to me, in martial art she is inferior
to you; she knew it was hopeless for her to seek revenge. Therefore, she wants to
keep me as a hostage and tell my father to rescue me. This way from a guest she
becomes the host and she can build a treacherous plan to harm him.”

Suddenly Guo Jing understood; he slapped his thigh and said, “Ah, that’s totally
right! Then you don’t have to fulfill your promise.”

“What do you mean not fulfilling my promise? I have to fulfill my promise,” Huang
Rong said.

“Huh?” Guo Jing was puzzled.

Huang Rong said, “That Ying Gu is very crafty; just look at how she managed to mix
some poison in the Nine Flowered Jade Dew Pills to harm Reverend Yideng. She
could do the same again. If we don’t get rid of her, this woman will become a thorn
to my father in the future. She wants me to accompany her, I have to accompany
her. Now that I know, I can guard against her craftiness. No matter what kind of
treacherous plan she has, I am confident I can see through them one by one.”

“Ay! But that is like you are living with a tiger,” Guo Jing said.

Huang Rong was about to reply when suddenly they heard commotion from the
direction of the house where Reverend Yideng was. Guo Jing and Huang Rong looked
at each other. They strained their ears to listen closely, but it seemed like the
commotion had ceased.

“I wonder how the Reverend is,” Guo Jing said. Huang Rong shook her head. Guo
Jing continued, “Eat something, and then you take a rest.” Huang Rong shook her
head again. Suddenly, “Somebody’s coming!” she called out. And sure enough, they
heard footsteps coming closer from the front courtyard.

“That little girl is so sly, we’ll kill her first,” an angry voice was heard; it was the
farmer’s voice.
Guo Jing and Huang Rong were startled. They also heard the woodcutter said, “Don’t
be rash, we need to ask them clearly first.”

“What is there to ask?” the farmer said, “These two little thieves must be sent by
Shifu’s enemy. We kill one and let the other live. If we must ask, it’s enough to ask
that dumb kid.” While talking, the fisherman, the woodcutter, the farmer and the
scholar had arrived and stopped at the door. It looked like they were not afraid Jing
and Rong two people would hear them.

Without hesitation Guo Jing launched the Proud Dragon Repents; his palm struck the
wall behind them. With a loud rumbling noise a hole appeared on the earthen wall.
He bent down to let Huang Rong climb on his back and swiftly jumped out the wall.
While they were still airborne the farmer stretched out his hand, quick as the wind,
trying to grab Guo Jing’s leg.

Huang Rong’s left hand swept lightly, brushing the ‘yang chi’ [positive pond]
acupoint on the back of the farmer’s palm. It was her family’s ‘lan hua fu xue shou’
[brushing orchid acupoint sealing technique]. Although she was weakened from the
injury her light and quick stroke floated with elegance, attacking the acupoint in a
strange way; truly it was not a simple matter to parry.

The farmer was no stranger to sealing acupoint techniques; he saw her finger was
lightning fast, he was shocked and hastily withdrew his hand to parry her attack. His
acupoint was saved, but this attack had slowed his grab so that Guo Jing managed to
jump out of the wall carrying Huang Rong on his back.

Guo Jing darted forward a few steps. Suddenly he called out in alarm, it turned out
behind the buildings there were thorn bushes as tall as a person, dense and
numerous, full of thorns covering quite a distance away; there was no way out
through the bushes. He was forced to turn around and saw the fisherman, the
woodcutter, the farmer and the scholar four people had arrived, blocking their way.

Guo Jing said with a clear voice, “The honorable master has given us permission to
go down the mountain. You have heard it with your own ears. Why do you disobey
his order and detain us here?”

The fisherman stared at them and with a thunderous voice said, “My master has
shown you great mercy, willing to sacrifice his life to help you, but you …”

Guo Jing and Huang Rong were shocked, “What do you mean sacrificing his life to
help us?” they asked.

“Pei!” the fisherman and the farmer spat. The scholar sneered and said, “Our Shifu
sacrificed his life to save Miss’ life; do you really not know it?”

“We really don’t know. We beg for your explanation,” Guo Jing and Huang Rong
asked in surprise.

The scholar saw their sincere faces; they did not seem to be pretending. He looked
at the woodcutter and the woodcutter nodded. The scholar said, “Miss had suffered a
very serious internal injury. It was necessary for Shifu to use both ‘yi yang zhi’
[Solitary Yang Finger] and ‘xian tian gong’ [inborn/innate strength/energy] to open
up the eight main arteries’ acupoints and cure the injury. Ever since the death of the
Quanzhen Sect’s founder Chongyang Zhenren [lit. true/real man, a respectful term
to address a Taoist priest], only my Shifu knows the ‘yi yang zhi’ and ‘xian tian
gong’, these two marvelous skills. But by treating injury in this manner, his own
body will suffer a serious injury; he will lose all his martial arts for the next five
years.”

“Ah!” Huang Rong exclaimed, she felt more ashamed.

The scholar continued, “Hereafter for the next five years he will have to diligently
and painstakingly re-cultivate his energy every day and night. If he makes the
slightest mistake, not only his martial art will not recover, but he will at the least be
paralyzed, at the most lose his life. My Shifu has shown such kindness to you; how
could you be so heartless and repaid kindness with enmity?”
Huang Rong wriggled down and knelt on the ground, facing the house where
Reverend Yideng was she kowtowed four times and sobbed, “Uncle has graciously
saved my life; I didn’t know your sacrifice was this deep.”

The fisherman, the woodcutter, the farmer and the scholar saw her bowing down,
their faces turned slightly softer. The fisherman asked, “Your father sent you over to
harm our Shifu; and you really did not know it?”

Huang Rong was indignant, “How could my father send me to harm Uncle? My
father, the Master of the Peach Blossom Island, is what kind of person? How could he
commit such a despicable act?”

The fisherman cupped his fists and said, “If Miss was not sent by your father, then
please forgive my offending words.”

“Humph,” Huang Rong snorted, “If my father heard you, even though you are
Reverend Yideng’s outstanding disciple, he would still make you eat a little bit of
suffering.”

The fisherman smiled and said, “He is known as the Eastern Heretic, his action … his
action … hey, hey … We thought what the Western Poison is able to do, your father
can also do. Now it looks like we have thought erroneously.”

Huang Rong said, “How can you compare my father with the Western Poison? What
has that old thief Ouyang Feng done anyway?”

The scholar said, “All right, now everything is clear; let’s go back to the house and
talk some more.”

Immediately six people returned to the meditation room and sat down. The
fisherman, the woodcutter, the farmer and the scholar sat in such a way that they
blocked the doors and windows. Huang Rong knew they were guarding against them
escaping; she smiled slightly but did not expose her awareness.

“Do you know anything about the Nine Yin Manual?” the scholar asked.

“We do,” Huang Rong replied, “But what does this Nine Yin Manual have to do with
this matter? Ay, this book is really dangerous.” She could not help but recall how her
mother had died due to over-exertion in re-writing the manual from memory.

The scholar said, “In the first Sword Meet of Mount Hua the Quanzhen Sect’s founder
was crowned the Number One Martial Artist of The World [wu gong tian xia di yi];
therefore, the manual fell into his hand. It went without saying that the other four
experts felt a heartfelt admiration to him. In that Sword Meet of Mount Hua
everybody demonstrated his marvelous strength; Chongyang Zhenren was
impressed with my Shifu’s Solitary Yang Finger. The following year he came to Dali
accompanied by his Shidi [younger martial brother] to pay a visit and discuss martial
art skills.”

“His Shidi?” Huang Rong interrupted, “Isn’t that the Old Urchin Zhou Botong?”

“That’s correct,” the scholar replied, “Miss is young, yet actually knows a lot of
people.”

“No need to praise me,” Huang Rong said.

The scholar continued, “Zhou Shishu [Martial Uncle Zhou] was a very funny man, but
I did not know he was called the Old Urchin. That time my Shifu had not become a
monk.”

“Ah,” Huang Rong said, “He was still an emperor.”

“Exactly,” the scholar said, “The Quanzhen Sect’s founder and his martial brother
stayed for a dozen of days in the imperial palace, we four people were always by
their side to accompany them. Our Shifu explained the essence of the Solitary Yang
Finger and everything there is to know to Chongyang Zhenren. Chongyang Zhenren
was completely delighted; in turn he bequeathed the fiercest ‘xian tian gong’ to our
Shifu. We were at their sides when they were discussing these marvelous skills, but
because our experience and knowledge were shallow, we heard but did not
comprehend anything.”

“What about the Old Urchin?” Huang Rong asked, “His martial art skill is not low.”

The scholar replied, “Zhou Shishu liked to move around and did not like to stay still.
Several days in the Dali palace he wandered to the east and strolled to the west, he
played around everywhere; even the empress and the concubines’ palaces did not
escape his visits. The court eunuchs were aware he was the emperor’s honorable
guest, so they did not do anything to stop him.” Huang Rong and Guo Jing were
smiling.

The scholar continued, “Just before Chongyang Zhenren left he said to our Shifu,
‘Lately my chronic illness has come back to me; I don’t think I am going to live much
longer. Fortunately I have found an heir to my ‘xian tian gong’; it will strengthen the
Emperor’s Solitary Yang Finger. There will be somebody in this world who can control
him. I won’t be afraid he would run amuck with unseemly behavior anymore.’ It was
then that my Shifu understood that Chongyang Zhenren had traveled thousands of
‘li’s to the Dali with the sole purpose of bequeathing the ‘xian tian gong’ to Shifu so
that after his death there would be somebody who can control the Western Poison
Ouyang Feng. But because the Eastern Heretic, the Western Poison, the Southern
Emperor, the Northern Beggar and the Central Divinity shared the honor of the
present age, if he said he came to impart a skill, it would be disrespectful to my
Shifu; therefore, he first asked my Shifu to teach him the Solitary Yang Finger, then
in exchange he taught the ‘xian tian gong’. As Shifu understood his intention he was
very grateful and straightaway he diligently trained the ‘xian tian gong’. Chongyang
Zhenren did not live long after he learned the Solitary Yang Finger; he did not have
time to study thoroughly, and I heard he had not bequeathed it to any of his
disciples. Later on there were some unfortunate events in our Dali kingdom; my
Shifu’s heart was broken. He shaved his head and became a monk.”
Huang Rong thought, “Emperor Duan did not want to be an emperor anymore, but
became a monk; this must be because of an enormously grieving matter. Others did
not tell, it would be inconvenient to ask.” Glancing sideways she saw Guo Jing was
about to open his mouth to ask; hastily she signaled him with her eyes. “Oh!” Guo
Jing muttered and closed his mouth.

The scholar’s face turned dark; he was reminiscing over past events. After a while he
opened his mouth and continued, “Somehow the news that Shifu was training the
‘xian tian gong’ leaked out. One day, my martial brother,” he pointed toward the
farmer, “received an order to go gather some medicinal herbs. He went to the ‘ta
xue shan’ [Big Snow Mountain] at the western border of Yunnan; where somebody
injured him using the Toad Stance.”

“It must be the Old Poison,” Huang Rong said.

“Who else but him?” the farmer angrily said, “First a young man unreasonably picked
a fight with me; he said this Big Snow Mountain belonged to his family. He wouldn’t
let anybody trespass and gather herbs without authorization. The Big Snow Mountain
spans thousands of ‘li’s; how could it belong to his family? Without a doubt this
person was intentionally provoking me. I remembered Shifu’s teaching to endure
patiently; I was yielding to him over and over. Who would have thought that this
young man got an inch and wanted a foot! He said he wanted me to kowtow to him
300 times before he let me go down the mountain. Finally I couldn’t hold myself
much longer and we fought. This young man’s martial art was not bad, we fought for
half a day without anybody gaining an upper hand. Unexpectedly the Old Poison
suddenly appeared from a valley and without saying anything struck out a palm and
severely injured me. That young man then carried me on has back and brought me
over to ‘tian long si’ [sky/heaven dragon temple] where Shifu stayed.”

“Somebody had already avenged you,” Huang Rong said, “This young master
Ouyang was killed.”
The farmer was angry, “Ah, he’s dead. Who killed him?”

“Hey, somebody avenged you; why are you angry?” Huang Rong asked.

“I want to seek revenge myself, I want to kill him with my own hand,” the farmer
replied.

Huang Rong sighed, “Too bad you can’t do that anymore.”

“Who killed him?” the farmer asked.

“It was another bad person,” Huang Rong replied, “His martial art was below young
master Ouyang; but he used craftiness to kill him.”

“Good riddance!” the scholar said, “Miss, do you know why Ouyang Feng injured my
martial brother?”

“What’s so difficult to guess?” Huang Rong said, “Based on Ouyang Feng’s martial
art, he could kill your martial brother with only one strike; but he only injured him
severely and sent him to your Shifu’s door. Undoubtedly he wanted the Reverend to
waste his energy by treating his disciple’s injury. You told me that this type of
treatment would require a lot of internal strength; he would need five years to
recover his energy. Then on the next Sword Meet of Mount Hua the Reverend would
definitely not able to compete.”

“Miss is really smart,” the scholar sighed, “But your guess is only half-correct. That
Ouyang Feng’s evil heart was difficult to fathom. After Shifu treated my martial
brother’s injury, before Shifu recovered, he launched a secret attack with the
intention of killing Shifu …”

Guo Jing interrupted, “Reverend Yideng is so compassionate and kind, how could he
have any enmity with Ouyang Feng?”
“Xiao Ge [little elder brother],” the scholar replied, “What you said is not right. First,
merciful and compassionate good people do not coexist with sinister and ruthless evil
people. Second, whenever Ouyang Feng wants to harm anybody, it really doesn’t
matter whether that person has any enmity with him or not. Just because he knew
that the ‘xian tian gong’ is the black star of his Toad Stance he must kill my Shifu
with all possible means.”

Guo Jing nodded his head repeatedly; “Did the Reverend receive any harm from
him?” he asked again.

The scholar replied, “Shifu saw through Ouyang Feng’s evil scheme as soon as he
saw my martial brother’s injury; that very night we moved away and the Western
Poison lost our track. We know he has failed once, he would not give up that easily.
He has looked for us everywhere until finally he found this secret place of ours. After
Shifu recovered his strength we martial brothers proposed to go to the White Camel
Mountain and settled this account with the Western Poison, but Shifu prohibits us to
take any revenge; we must not allow ourselves to create any trouble. With great
difficulty we managed to live peacefully all these years, who would have thought that
with your craftiness you managed to go up the mountain. We only know you are the
Nine-fingered Divine Beggar’s disciples; we did not know you meant to do our Shifu
harm, hence we did not stop you with all of our strengths. Otherwise we would put
our four lives at stake and in no way would allow you to enter the temple. Who
would have thought that the man did not have any intention to harm the tiger, but
the tiger is harming the man. Ay! In the end my Shifu still fall under your evil
hands.” Speaking thus his face turned fierce, with a tiger like power he slowly stood
up. With a ‘shua’ sound the sword on his waist went out its sheath, glimmering cold,
dazzling the eye.

The fisherman, the woodcutter and the farmer also stood up unsheathing their
weapons, surrounding them from four directions. Huang Rong said, “I came to ask
the Reverend to treat my injury, not knowing it would require all of the Reverend’s
strength that he would lose his internal energy for five years. There is poison in
those pills; I was framed by somebody else. The Reverend has shown me this kind of
mercy; even if I don’t have a heart, I still will not repay kindness with evil.”

With a stern voice the fisherman said, “Then why do you take advantage while
Shifu’s strength is gone and he is poisoned you lead the enemy going up the
mountain?”

Jing and Rong two people were stunned, “We did not!” they said with a confused
voice.

“You still deny it?” the fisherman said, “As soon as my Shifu is poisoned, the enemy
delivered a jade bracelet on the foot of the mountain. If you did not scheme it
ahead, how can there be such coincidence?”

“What jade bracelet?” Huang Rong asked.

The fisherman was angry, “You still act stupid!” The iron oars in his hands moved;
the left oar swept horizontally, the right oar went down vertically, attacking both Guo
Jing and Huang Rong.

Guo Jing was sitting side by side with Huang Rong on meditation mats on the floor.
As he saw the oars arrive he leaped up with his right hand forming a hook brushing
away the horizontally sweeping oar, while his left hand caught the flat of the oar and
jerked it hard. This jerking action carried a very strong force; the fisherman felt pain
and tingling sensation which forced him to let the oar go. Guo Jing pushed the oar
forward. ‘Bang!’ it hit the farmer’s iron rake; sparks flew everywhere. Immediately
Guo Jing shoved the iron oar back into the fisherman’s hand. The fisherman was
surprised; he took the oar back. Exerting his strength to his right arm he struck
down together with the woodcutter’s axe.

Guo Jing’s palm came one after another, carrying strong gusts of wind, coming fast
toward the two men’s torso. The scholar knew the fierceness of the ’18-Dragon
Subduing Palms’, “Back off quickly!” he anxiously shouted.
Both the fisherman and the woodcutter were disciples of a well-known expert; their
martial arts were anything but ordinary. Before Guo Jing’s stance arrived they had
hastily withdrew their weapons and leaped back. Suddenly they felt a jerk
dampening their backward movement; turned out their weapons were pulled forward
by Guo Jing’s palm strength. They had no choice but let their weapons go; saving
their own lives was more important.

Guo Jing caught the iron oar and the steel axe, he lightly tossed them back and
called out, “Catch these!”

“Good martial art!” the scholar praised; his long sword threatening Guo Jing’s right
side.

Seeing this attack Guo Jing was startled; among Yideng’s four disciples this scholar
looked the most refined, but actually his martial art surpassed those of his
colleagues; hence Guo Jing did not dare to underestimate him. His palms fluttered in
the air, enveloping Huang Rong and his own body with tremendous force. This
defense was truly stable, like an abyss stopping a mountain peak; there was not a
single hole in it. His palms were like rainbow, continuously circling around bigger and
bigger that the fisherman, the woodcutter, the farmer and the scholar were gradually
pushed back till their backs were against the wall. Never mind counterattacking,
merely defending themselves was not easy.

By this time if Guo Jing added more force to his palms these four people would
inevitably suffer injury. Fighting a moment longer Guo Jing held back his strength,
he attacked hard then backed off hard, struck light then fended off light, it seemed
like his force was there and then disappeared; throughout the battle he steadily held
the power balance so they were on the level ground, nobody won and nobody lost.

The scholar’s sword technique suddenly changed; his long sword vibrated, creating a
continuously buzzing noise. His sword turned into six swords on the top, six swords
on the bottom, six swords on the front, six swords on the back, six swords on the left
and six swords on the right, successively stabbing like six by six, thirty six swords
altogether. It was the Yunnan’s ‘ai lao shan’ [Mount Ailao] thirty-six sword;
considered one of the best offensive sword techniques in the world.

Guo Jing’s left palm parried the fisherman, the woodcutter and the farmer three
people’s weapons; his right palm followed the movements of the scholar’s sword: up
and down, front to back, left to right. Although the sword underwent countless
changes, Guo Jing had always succeeded in diverting the sword stab by the power of
his palm. Each sword stab passed very close to his clothes, but never once did it
manage to even make a scratch on Guo Jing’s skin.

Blocking to the thirty-sixth stab, Guo Jing bent his right middle finger under his
thumb; he waited for the incoming sword to lose its momentum before he suddenly
flicked the body of the sword. It was the ‘tan zhi shen tong’ [Divine Flicking Finger],
Huang Yaoshi’s special skill which was considered unparalleled in the present age.
Huang Yaoshi used this special skill when he played shooting marbles with Zhou
Botong; and again in the Cloud Village, when he was giving direction to Mei
Chaofeng. Guo Jing watched him fighting the Quanzhen’s Seven Masters at the Ox
Village near Lin’an using this special skill. Having learned a certain amount of the
martial art secrets from the Manual he managed to imitate the flicking finger
technique. Although it was inferior to Huang Yaoshi’s subtle and elegant flicking
finger, but it still carried a tremendous force.

With a metallic clank the long sword was shaken; the scholar’s arm was numb, the
sword almost fell from his hand. The scholar was shocked; he leaped backward and
called out, “Hold it!”

The fisherman, the woodcutter and the farmer three people leaped backward at
once. Only their backs were very close to the wall to begin with, so there was no
place they could withdraw to. The fisherman leaped out of the door, the farmer
jumped out over the hole in the wall Guo Jing made earlier. The woodcutter inserted
his axe back into his waist. He smiled and said, “I told you these two did not have
any evil intentions, but you did not believe me.”
The scholar put his sword back into its sheath; he cupped his fists toward Guo Jing
and said, “Xiao Ge [little elder brother] has held back your palms, we are feeling
grateful.”

Guo Jing busily bowed down to return the gesture, but his heart was full of
questions, “From the start we did not have any ill-intention; why didn’t they believe
us? Why is it after we fought they changed their minds and believed us?”

Huang Rong noticed his confused expression, she knew what he was thinking; she
whispered to his ear, “If you harbor ill intentions, then you would have injured these
four people. How can even Reverend Yideng be your match right now?” Guo Jing
thought it was true, he nodded his head repeatedly.

The farmer and the fisherman walked back into the room. Huang Rong asked, “I
wonder who the Reverend’s enemy is? What is this jade bracelet that was delivered
earlier?”

The scholar replied, “It’s not that we don’t want to tell you, but frankly speaking we
don’t even know the truth surrounding this matter. All I know is that the reason my
Shifu became a monk is closely related to this matter.”

Huang Rong was about to inquire further when suddenly the farmer jumped up and
shouted, “Aiyo! It’s dangerous!”

“What is it?” the fisherman asked.

The farmer pointed his finger to the scholar and said, “Shifu has lost all his strength,
he is telling everything, concealing nothing; if these two harbor any ill intention while
the four of us are powerless to hold them up, will Shifu be still alive?”

The woodcutter said, “The Honorable Zhuangyuan can predict with divine accuracy.
If he could not predict the outcome of this small matter, how could he become the
Dali’s Prime Minister? He had known from the start that these two are friends and
not foes; but he deliberately proceeded with fighting them. First, to test these two
friends’ martial art; second, to convince the two of you.”

The scholar showed a faint smile. The farmer and the fisherman looked at each
other; they were partly admiring the scholar, partly blaming their own rashness.

At that moment they heard footsteps coming in from outside the door. A young
monk came in. He clasped his hands and said, “Shifu orders four martial brothers to
send the guests off.” Everybody stood up immediately.

Guo Jing said, “The Reverend is expecting an enemy; how can we walk away just like
that? Forgetting my own inability Xiao Di [little/lowly younger brother] wants to
collaborate with the four martial brothers to face the visitor.”

The fisherman, the woodcutter, the farmer and the scholar looked at each other with
delighted expressions. “Let me ask Shifu,” the scholar said.

Four people went in together. They stayed inside for quite a long time. When they
came back out Guo Jing and Huang Rong saw their crestfallen expression and knew
that Reverend Yideng did not allow them to help. And sure enough; the scholar said,
“Shifu thanks the two of you very much; but he said that everybody reaps what he
sows, other people must not interfere.”

“Jing Gege,” Huang Rong said, “Let us talk to the Reverend.” They went to the
building where Reverend Yideng’s meditation house is. Guo Jing knocked the door for
half a day but nobody answered. He could have shoved the door open, but how could
he dare to play rough?

The woodcutter low-spiritedly said, “Shifu cannot receive the two of you. The
mountain is high and the river is long, we will meet again some other time.”

Guo Jing felt deeply grateful toward Reverend Yideng, his warm blood bubbling up
his chest; he was unable to restrain himself, with a loud voice he said, “Rong’er,
whether the Reverend allows us or not, let us go down the mountain. If we see
anybody messing around, we’ll beat the hell out of him first, then we’ll talk.”

“That is a wonderful idea,” Huang Rong replied. “If the Reverend’s enemy is so fierce
that we die in his hands, consider that we are repaying the Reverend’s kindness.”

Guo Jing spoke with power, Huang Rong also intentionally raised her voice, of course
Reverend Yideng heard them. They were just about to turn around when the wooden
door suddenly opened. An old monk with a sharp voice said, “The Reverend invites
you to come in.”

Guo Jing was pleasantly surprised; alongside Huang Rong he walked into the room.
Reverend Yideng and that Indian monk were still sitting cross-legged on the
meditation mats just as before. Two people bowed down to the ground. They raised
their heads and saw that Yideng’s complexion was yellow and sickly; totally different
from the first time they saw him. Two people’s hearts were overwhelmed with
gratitude and regret at the same time; they did not know what to say.

Yideng turned toward his four disciples on the door, “Everybody come in, I want to
say something.”

The fisherman, the woodcutter, the farmer and the scholar went inside the
meditation room and paid their respects to their master and martial uncle. The
Indian monk nodded his head to acknowledge, then he went back into his
meditation, did not pay more attention to anybody. Reverend Yideng gazed at the
rising incense smoke, he seemed to be lost in thought; his hand played with a
sheep-white colored jade bracelet.

Huang Rong thought, “It is obviously a woman’s bracelet. I wonder what is

Reverend’s enemy’s intention in sending it over?”

A moment later Yideng heaved a sigh and turned to Guo Jing and Huang Rong, “The
Old Monk gratefully accepts your kind intention. This matter relates to a complicated
cause and effect; if I did not talk, I am afraid there will be casualties on both sides,
and that is not the Old Monk’s original intention. Do you know what kind of man I
was?”

“Uncle was the Emperor of the Dali country of Yunnan,” Huang Rong replied, “The
only emperor of the southern sky, with awe-inspiring power and prestige; who in this
world has never heard about you?”

Yideng showed a faint smile. “Emperor is superficial, Old Monk is also superficial,
awe-inspiring power and prestige is fake. You, a young miss, are also a fake.”

Huang Rong did not understand his allegorical words; she stared at him with her
bright, crystal clear beautiful eyes.

Yideng slowly continued, “My Dali kingdom was founded by the Emperor Shen Sheng
Wen Wu Tai Zu [lit. divine/holy literature and martial art (or civil and military) great
ancestor] in the year of Ding You. It was twenty-three years before the Great Song’s
founder, Zhao Kuangyin, Emperor Zhou staged a rebellion and assumed the throne
of the Song Dynasty. Seven generation from the Emperor Shen Sheng Wen Wu, the
throne was passed on to Emperor Bing Yi. He became an emperor for only four years
before he became a monk, bequeathing the throne to his nephew, Emperor Sheng
De. Following Emperor Sheng De were Emperor Xing Zong Xiao De, Emperor Bao
Ding, Emperor Xian Zong Xuan Ren, and then my father, Emperor Jing Zong Zheng
Kang; all had become monks. From Tai Zu [great ancestor/founder] to me, there are
eighteen emperors, among which seven had left their home [meaning: became
monks].”

The fisherman, the woodcutter, the farmer and the scholar were people of Dali;
naturally they knew their country’s history. But Guo Jing and Huang Rong felt
strange, they thought, “Reverend Yideng did not want to become an emperor but
became a monk instead was already surprising; turned out many of his ancestors
had taken the same path. Could it be that being a monk is better than being an
emperor?”
Reverend Yideng continued, “By divine providence our Duan family has been ruling
with a great power over a small area ever since. Each generation realizes his own
virtue and ability. In reality we all are insufficient to bear this heavy responsibility;
hence all along we fulfill our duty with fear and trepidation, did not dare to overstep
our boundary. Didn’t the emperors eat without plowing? Wearing clothes without
weaving? Going out and coming in to the palace in a carriage? Are these not the
common people’s blood and sweat? When the emperors reached their advance years
their own hearts convicted them of all their merit and guilt; always enjoying the toil
of the people while contributing only a few, how they have committed a multitude of
sin while performing their office duty. Therefore, oftentimes they decided to abdicate
their thrones and became monks.”

Speaking to this point he raised his head looking outside, the corners of his mouth
revealed a smile, while his eyebrows showed a grieving heart. Six people listening
silently, nobody dared to make any noise. Reverend Yideng raised up his left index
finger with the jade bracelet on it. He spinned it around several times and said, “As
for me, I did not become a monk for the same reason. Actually, it has something to
do with the Sword Meet of Mount Hua, where we compete over the Manual. That
year the Quanzhen Sect’s founder, Chongyang Zhenren won the Manual. The
following year he paid a visit to Dali, passing along the ‘xian tian gong’ to me. He
stayed in my palace for about half a month. We were having the time of our lives
discussing martial art. But his martial brother Zhou Botong was fidgety after about
ten days of doing nothing; he roamed to the east and strolled to the west inside the
palace, and had caused an incident.”

Huang Rong said in her heart, “It would be strange indeed if the Old Urchin Zhou
Botong did not create any trouble.”

End of Chapter 30.

Chapter 31 – Lovers’ Handkerchief
(Translated by Foxs, edited by Eliza Bennet)
Caption to the picture:
Reverend Yideng narrated all kinds of gratitudes and grudges, love and hate that he
went through with Concubine Liu in the past. Guo Jing and Huang Rong sat on the
mediation mats in front of him, listening intently; while the ‘Fisherman’,
‘Woodcutter’, ‘Farmer’ and ‘Scholar’, his four disciples, stood behind Reverend
Yideng.
Reverend Yideng lowered his head and sighed, “Actually I only have myself to blame
for this unfortunate disaster. You see, my Dali kingdom is small; although it cannot
be compared to the Chinese emperor’s palace where there are more than 3,000
women, speaking about the empress and concubines, I had a few. Ay! It truly was a
sin. I was very fond of martial arts; very seldom did I come near a woman. Even my
own empress could see me only once every few days; how much less time did I have
for my concubines?”

Speaking to this point he said to his four disciples, “This is an inside story, you did
not know the details before. Today I am going to tell you everything so you’ll
understand.”

Huang Rong thought, “They really did not know it, they did not lie to me.”

Yideng continued, “Day in and day out my concubines saw I train martial arts. Some
were interested and expressed their desire to learn. So I casually gave directions to
one or two of them. I thought by learning martial arts they would be healthier and
might have a longer life. Among them a concubine surnamed Liu was the most
gifted. She was so smart that each time I taught her something she would
understand everything right off. She was young and she trained hard everyday; her
martial art advanced greatly. And so it happened one day as she was practicing
martial art in the garden she met Zhou Botong, Zhou Shixiong [Martial Brother
Zhou] quite by accident. First of all Zhou Shixiong was crazy about martial arts; his
natural disposition was also naïve, he did not guard against male-female
relationship. He saw Concubine Liu was training enthusiastically, immediately he
came forward and sparred with her. Zhou Shixiong’s martial art came from his
martial brother, Wang Zhenren [lit. true/real man, a respectful term to address a
Taoist priest]; how could Concubine Liu be his match …?”

“Aiyo!” Huang Rong softly exclaimed, “He did not know whether his hand was light or
heavy and has injured Concubine Liu?”

“Nobody was injured,” Reverend Yideng answered, “Only about three moves or two
stances later he sealed Concubine Liu’s acupoint, and then he asked if she would
admit defeat or not. Naturally Concubine Liu admitted defeat. Zhou Shixiong
unsealed her acupoint. He was so proud of himself that he started to talk about the
wonderful secret of sealing acupoint technique. Concubine Liu had actually asked me
to teach her the acupoint sealing technique before; but just think about it: how could
I pass on this profound martial art to an imperial concubine? What she heard from
Zhou Shixiong was exactly what she desired. Immediately she respectfully asked him
to teach her.”

“(Sigh)! The Old Urchin must be very happy,” Huang Rong said.

“You know Zhou Shixiong?” Yideng asked.

Huang Rong laughed, “We are old acquaintances; he stayed at the Peach Blossom
Island for more than ten years, never once leave the island even for a single step.”
“With his character, how can he stay that long?” Yideng wondered.

Huang Rong smiled, “My father imprisoned him, and he was released just recently.”

“That’s so,” Yideng nodded his head, “Is Zhou Shixiong well?” he asked.

Huang Rong replied, “His body is well, but the older he gets the crazier he becomes.
He doesn’t have any manners.” Pointing her finger to Guo Jing she pursed her lips
and continued with a smile, “The Old Urchin has performed a ritual to become sworn
brothers with him.”

Reverend Yideng could not help smiling; then he continued, “The acupoint sealing
technique is only taught by a father to his daughter, mother to her son, husband to
his wife; other than that no man can teach a woman and no woman can teach a man
…”

“Why is that?” Huang Rong asked.

“Because male and female cannot be intimate,” Yideng replied, “Just think, if we
don’t touch one’s whole body acupoints one by one, how can we teach this skill?”

“But didn’t you touch my whole body’s acupoints?” Huang Rong asked.

The fisherman and the farmer was irritated she kept asking questions and diverting
the story; they stared at her angrily. Huang Rong stared back and them and said,
“What? Can’t I ask any question?”

Yideng smiled, “You can, you can,” he said, “You are a little girl, your life was in
danger, of course we have to make an exception.”

“All right, so be it,” Huang Rong said, “And then what happened?”

Yideng continued, “And then one taught, the other learned. Zhou Shixiong was at the
prime of his life, Concubine Liu was just coming of age; their flesh and skin touched
each other everyday, before long their feelings grew and finally they created a
problem which was very difficult to rectify …”

Huang Rong wanted to ask; her lips were about to move but in the end she held
back. She heard Yideng continue, “Some people came and reported to me. Although
I was angry, I still honored Wang Zhenren’s reputation, I pretended not to know.
Who would have thought that after Wang Zhenren found out; he interrogated Zhou
Shixiong and he did not conceal anything …”

Huang Rong was unable to hold back much longer, she blurted out, “What is it? What
is the problem that was difficult to rectify?”

Yideng temporarily at a loss of what to say, he hesitated before answering, “They

really were not husband and wife, but they acted like one.”

“Ah, I know,” Huang Rong said, “The Old Urchin and Concubine Liu had a child.”

“Ay! It’s not that,” Yideng said, “They had known each other only for about ten days,
how could they have a child? After Wang Zhenren discovered this affair, he bound
Zhou Shixiong’s hands and took him to my presence for me to judge. We are martial
art practitioners; we value loyalty above everything else, we did not put too much of
a regard toward women. How could I injure our friendship over a woman? I
immediately untied him and summoned Concubine Liu at the same time. I ordered
them to get married. Who would have thought that Zhou Shixiong raised a clamor;
he said he did not know what he did was wrong, that if he knew, he would have not
done it even if he were to be killed. No matter what, he was not willing to take
Concubine Liu as his wife. At that time Wang Zhenren sighed and said, ‘If I did not
know any better, that he is a fool who doesn’t know good from evil, a sword would
have already cut him into two as he committed this awful crime.’”

Huang Rong stuck out her tongue and said, “The Old Urchin was in a big trouble!”
Yideng continued, “At first I was offended, I said, ‘Zhou Shixiong, I am sincerely
willing to part with my treasure and give her to you, do you think I have another
agenda? There is an ancient saying, ‘Brothers are like hands and feet, wives are like
clothes’; what is a woman for you to consider it a very big deal?”

“Pei! Pei!” Huang Rong spat, “Uncle, you disregarded women, what you said was a
pile of rubbish!”

The farmer could not hold his patience any longer, he shouted, “Just shut up and
don’t talk nonsense, will you?”

“What he said was wrong, I must refute it,” Huang Rong was adamant.

To the fisherman, the woodcutter, the farmer and the scholar, Reverend Yideng was
not only their lord, but also their teacher. It never occurred to them to talk back, let
alone refuting his words. They regarded him with utmost reverence; now hearing
Huang Rong’s unrestrained mouth they were shocked and angry at the same time.

Reverend Yideng actually did not seem to mind; he continued his narration, “As Zhou
Shixiong heard me, he shook his head. I became angry, I said, ‘If you love her, why
don’t you want her? If you don’t love her, why did you do what you did? My Dali is a
small country, but do you think you can just drop in and throw an insult like this?’
Zhou Shixiong was silent for half a day. Suddenly he bent his knees and kowtowed
to me several times; he said, ‘Emperor Duan, I am guilty. If you want to kill me, just
do it, I won’t dare to hit you back.’ I was taken aback, I have never expected him to
say such thing; I was at a loss momentarily. Finally I said, ‘How can I kill you?’ He
said, ‘Then I am leaving!’ He took out an embroidered handkerchief from his bosom,
handed it over to Concubine Liu and said, ‘I give it back to you.’ Concubine Liu
smiled sadly, she did not take the handkerchief. Zhou Shixiong let the handkerchief
go and it fell near my feet. Zhou Shixiong did not say anything else; he turned
around and stormed out of the palace. It has been more than a dozen years and I
haven’t heard anything about him ever since. Wang Zhenren apologized to me over
and over again; and then he also left. I heard he passed away that autumn. Wang
Zhenren was a brave and heroic man, there was nobody can be compared to him. Ay
…”

“Wang Zhenren’s martial art skill might be higher than yours,” Huang Rong said,
“But speaking of bravery and heroic spirit, I think he did not necessarily exceed
Uncle. He had accepted seven disciples and they are all just average, there is
nothing special about them. Anyway, what happened to the embroidered
handkerchief?”

The four disciples were annoyed that Huang Rong cared so much about trivial things
like handkerchief or clothes; but they heard their master said, “I saw Concubine Liu
was staring blankly, like her soul had left her. I was very angry; I picked up the
handkerchief only to see a couple of embroidered mandarin ducks playing on the
water. (Sigh), it was Concubine Liu’s gift to her lover. I laughed coldly. I then saw
next to the pair of mandarin ducks there was a line of poem …”

Huang Rong’s heart was stirred, she hastily asked, “Was it, ‘Four weaving machines,
the weaving of mandarin ducks desiring to fly together right away’?”

With a stern voice the farmer shouted, “Even we do not know it, how did you know?
Always talk nonsense and disturb the story!” Who would have thought that Reverend
Yideng sighed and said, “It was indeed that poem; you knew it?” At his words the
four disciples looked at each other in astonishment.

Guo Jing sprang up and called out, “I remember now! That day on the Peach
Blossom Island Zhou Dage [Big Brother Zhou] was bitten by a venomous viper; he
was delirious and he muttered this poem. It was, it was … Four weaving machines, a
pair on mandarin ducks, and some head turned white. Rong’er, how did it go? I can’t
remember it anymore.”

With a low voice Huang Rong recited, “Four weaving machines, the weaving of
mandarin ducks desires to fly together right away. It’s a pity not yet old but the hair
on the head has turned white. When the green spring grass ripples in the deepest of
dawn’s cold; standing face to face taking a bath wearing red clothes.”

“Exactly!” Guo Jing slapped his thigh, “Zhou Dage once advised me against good-
looking women; he said he had seen one and as a result he offended a good friend
and provoked his Shige [elder martial brother] to anger. He also said don’t ever let
her touch your acupoints, otherwise you’ll be covered with germs. Rong’er, he even
urged me not to be good to you.”

“Pei!” Huang Rong angrily spat, “Old Urchin! Next time I see him I am going to twist
his ears!” Suddenly she giggled and said, “That day in Lin’an prefecture I teased him
that he wasn’t able to find a wife; the Old Urchin sulked for half a day. Turned out it
was because of this matter.”

“When I heard Ying Gu recited this poem I thought I have heard it somewhere, but
tried as I might, I could not remember where I heard it. Uh, Rong’er, how come Ying
Gu also knew this poem?” Guo Jing said.

Huang sighed, “Ay, it’s because Ying Gu is that Concubine Liu.”

Among the four disciples, the scholar was the only one who had already guessed 50,
60%; the other three were extremely astonished, they turned toward their master at
once. Yideng spoke in a low voice, “Miss is really smart; truly worthy to be Yao
Xiong’s [Brother Yao] daughter. Concubine Liu’s first name was ‘Ying’. That day I
tossed the handkerchief to her, afterwards I no longer called for her. In my
depression I neglected the affairs of the country; I trained martial art every day …”

Huang Rong interrupted him again, “Uncle, do you know that you loved her very
much in your heart? If you did not, you would not be so unhappy.”

The four disciples was shocked at her audacity, “Miss!” angrily they called out in one
voice.

“What?” Huang Rong said, “Did I say something wrong? Uncle, tell me, was I
wrong?”

Yideng gloomily said, “Hereafter in more than half a year I have never called for
Concubine Liu, but in my sleep I often dreamt of being with her. One evening I
dreamt about her, at midnight I woke up; I could not hold my patience much longer
and made up my mind to pay her a visit. I did not let the palace guards or the
eunuchs know about my intention, quietly I went to her quarters, I wanted to know
what she was doing. As I arrived on top of her roof I heard a child was crying inside.
(Sigh), outside the frost was thick and the wind was cold. I stood in shock for half a
night and did not get down until it was dawn. Afterwards I caught a very serious
illness.”

Huang Rong thought how he was revered as the emperor, yet in the middle of the
night roaming around the palace roof to visit his own concubine; it was truly
unusual. The four disciples also recalled their master’s sickness. It was not only very
bad, but also took a long time to recover. All this time they wondered: with his
profound martial art cold wind would not easily make him sick; even if he was sick,
he should not take that long to recover. Only now did they know that it was more of
a crushed spirit than a physical illness that he did not use his own internal strength
to battle the sickness.

Huang Rong asked again, “Concubine Liu had given you a child; certainly it was
good, wasn’t it? Uncle, why were you not happy?”

“Silly kid,” Yideng said, “It was Zhou Shixiong’s child.”

“But Zhou Shixiong had left for a long time,” Huang Rong said, “Could it be that he
came back secretly to see her?”

“No,” Yideng replied, “Have you heard the phrase ‘ten-month pregnancy’?”

Huang Rong was suddenly enlightened, “Ah, I know! That child must look like the
Old Urchin very much, with pointy ears and high nose; otherwise how did you know
it was not your child?”

Reverend Yideng answered, “That is not necessarily so. I haven’t been intimate with
Concubine Liu for some time, naturally the child wasn’t mine.”

Huang Rong seemed to understand but she did not understand, but she was aware it
was not appropriate to keep asking questions, so she did not pursue further.

Meanwhile Yideng continued, “I was sick for more than half a year; after I recovered,
I poured out my attention to internal strength cultivation to dispel boredom and no
longer gave thought to this matter. One night about two years later I was meditating
in my bedroom, suddenly the curtain on the door was raised and Concubine Liu
rushed in. Outside the door a eunuch and two palace guards quickly tried to stop
her, but wherever they went, they were struck away by her palm. I looked up and
saw she was carrying the child on the crook of her elbow. She wore an extremely
panic-stricken expression; she knelt down and cried loudly, she kowtowed in front of
me and called out, ‘I ask the Emperor to show mercy, to be infinitely compassionate
and spare this child’s life!’ I stood up to take a look. That child’s face was deep red;
he was breathing heavily. I took him from her bosom to examine further and found
out that five of his ribs were broken.

Concubine Liu wept, ‘Emperor, your lowly concubine has committed a heinous crime
worthy of ten thousands death; but I am asking the Emperor to spare this child’s
lowly life.’ I was surprised to hear her, so I asked, ‘What happened to the child?’ But
she kept knocking her head entreating me. I asked again, ‘Who injured the child?’
Concubine Liu did not answer but kept weeping, ‘Please Emperor, show mercy to
him.’ I scratched my head in confusion. She said, ‘If the Emperor bestowed death to
me, I would not complain for even half a word, but this child … this child …’

‘Who bestowed death to you?’ I asked, ‘How did the child get injured?’ Concubine Liu
looked up and with a trembling voice asked, ‘So it wasn’t the Emperor who sent a
palace guard to kill this child?’ I knew something was amiss, I busily asked, ‘So it
was a palace guard who injured the child? Which slave did have so much guts?’
Concubine Liu called out, ‘Ah! It was not the Emperor’s imperial edict, so the child’s
life can be saved!’ After saying that she fainted and fell to the ground. I helped her
up and put her on the bed; I also put the child down on her side. Only after about
half a day later she finally awoke. She pulled my hand and weeping she told me what
happened.

Turned out she was patting the child to put him to sleep that night, when suddenly
from outside the window came a palace guard wearing a mask on his face. The guard
pulled the child away and hit his back with a palm. Concubine Liu hurriedly went
forward to stop him, but the guard shoved her away. Then his palm hit the child’s
chest. Finally he laughed a big laugh and jumped over the window. That palace
guard’s martial art skill was very high. She thought it was me who sent him to kill
her son; she did not dare to pursue, but she came to my palace to entreat.

The more I heard her story the more amazed I became; I re-examined the child but
I could not tell what kind of martial art caused the injury. All I can tell was that the
child’s ‘dai mai’ [waist arteries] were shaken and broken. That assassin’s hands were
lethal, but obviously he had shown mercy; the baby was so young and weak, but he
was still breathing after two palm strikes. Immediately I went to her quarter to
investigate, and sure enough, I found very faint tracks on the window sill and on the
tile outside the window. I told Concubine Liu, ‘This assassin’s martial art skill is very
high, especially his lightness kungfu; it was not a small matter. Apart from me there
is no one with this kind of ability in the whole Dali kingdom.’ Suddenly Concubine Liu
called out in alarm, ‘Could it be him? Why would he want to kill his own son?’ After
saying that her face turned ash gray.”

Huang Rong also muttered in a low voice, “The Old Urchin couldn’t be that bad, could
he?”

Reverend Yideng said, “At that time I actually believed it was Zhou Shixiong. Other
than him, who in this present age had that kind of ability, and who without any
reason at all would injure a baby? I guessed he was not willing to leave an
illegitimate child behind and became a disgrace in the Wulin world. After Concubine
Liu uttered those words she was bashful and anxious, frightened and ashamed at the
same time. She was at a loss. But suddenly she said, ‘No, it definitely was not him!
That laughter was not his!’ I said, ‘You were frightened, how could you hear clearly?’
She replied, ‘I will remember this laughter forever, even if I become a ghost I will
still remember that laughter! No, it definitely was not him!’”

Listening to this part everybody suddenly felt a chill in the air, goose bumps
appeared on their skins. Guo Jing and Huang Rong recalled Ying Gu’s voice and
demeanor; they imagined her facial expression when she said those words with
clenched teeth, they could not help but shiver in fear.

Reverend Yideng continued, “I heard her so convinced, I believed her. But for the life
of me I could not guess who the assassin was. I once thought it might be one of
Wang Zhenren’s disciples, maybe Ma Yu, Qiu Chuji or Wang Chuyi? Perhaps they
were trying to save Quanzhen Sect’s reputation that they took the thousands of ‘li’s
journey to a remote place and kill to close someone’s mouth …”

Guo Jing’s lips moved, he wanted to say something, but he did not dare to interrupt
Reverend Yideng’s story. Yideng saw it and said, “You want to say something? You
may as well say it.”

Guo Jing said, “Ma Daozhang [Taoist Priest Ma], Qiu Daozhang, they are all
chivalrous heroes; they can’t possibly do this thing.”

“I have met Wang Chuyi at Mount Hua,” Yideng said, “His conduct was alright, but I
don’t know about the other disciples. But if they could kill the baby with one palm,
why did they leave the baby half dead and half alive?” He raised his head and turned
his gaze toward the window, staring blankly. Obviously he had not been able to
forget the unsolvable mystery of more than ten years ago. The meditation room was
quiet. A moment later Yideng said, “All right, let’s talk about that later …”

Huang Rong suddenly exclaimed, “Without a doubt, it must be Ouyang Feng.”

Yideng said, “Afterwards I also suspected him. But Ouyang Feng is a western
region’s man, he is big and tall; he is at least a head taller than average local men.
Concubine Liu said that compared to average men, the assassin can be considered
short.”

“That’s strange,” Huang Rong said.

“My thought precisely,” Yideng said, “Concubine Liu was hugging the child and
sobbing. This child’s injury was not as severe as Miss Huang’s, but he was very
young; he did not have any immune system yet. If I was to treat his injury, it would
have consumed all my energy. I hesitated for a long time. I saw Concubine Liu was
crying pitifully. Several times I was going to open my mouth to tell her that I would
treat his injury, but every time I remembered that if I do that, I can forget about
competing against the other experts at the incoming second Sword Meet of Mount
Hua to win the Nine Yin Manual. Ay! Wang Zhenren had said that this Manual was
the Wulin world’s big root of trouble; it brought harms to many people and brought
out the worst of human’s heart. He was absolutely right. Because of that book I lost
my compassion towards others. After hesitating for almost two hours I finally started
to lean toward treating his injury. Ay, during these two hours I felt like I was lower
than an animal. The worst part was, my decision to treat his injury was not because
I wanted to do something good, but because I was tired of Concubine Liu’s constant
cry for help.”

“Uncle,” Huang Rong said, “I said you loved her very much, I was not wrong.”

Yideng did not seem to hear her, he simply continued his narration, “As Concubine
Liu heard my promise to help, she was so happy that she fainted again. I massaged
her acupoint to awaken her, then I started to untie the child’s swaddling clothes so
that I could massage his acupoints using the ‘xian tian gong’ [inborn/innate energy].
Who would have thought that under the swaddling clothes that child was wearing a
‘du dou’ [an undergarment covering chest and abdomen] on his chest. I stopped on
my track, unable to say anything; because on the ‘du dou’ was a pair of embroidered
mandarin ducks, and next to the ducks was that ‘four weaving machines’ poem.
Turned out this ‘du dou’ was the handkerchief given to Zhou Shixiong a couple of
years ago.

Concubine Liu saw my expression and she knew things had turned bad for her. Her
face was ashen. Clenching her teeth she pulled a dagger from her waist and pointed
it toward her own chest. ‘Emperor,’ she called out, ‘I do not have any face to live
longer in this world. I am asking your infinite mercy and compassion, I am willing to
trade my life for the child’s. In my next life I will become a dog or a horse to repay
your kindness.’ As she said that she pushed the dagger into her chest, hard.”

Although everybody knew that Concubine Liu was still alive, they could not help but
gasp in horror.

As he narrated this part, it was as if Reverend Yideng did not tell the past events to
others, but it seemed like he was simply thinking out loud, “I quickly used ‘qin na fa’
[grappling, capture and seize technique] to snatch her dagger away. I was fast, but
her dagger had already penetrated her chest. Blood was seeping out her clothes. I
was afraid she might try to kill herself again, so I sealed the acupoints on her hands
and feet. I tended the wound on her chest and let her rest on a chair. She did not
say anything, but her eyes looked at me full of sorrow. Neither of us said anything.
The room was quiet, save the sound of that child gasping for breath.

While listening to that child’s breathing many, many past events flashed in my mind:
how she entered the palace for the first time, how I taught her martial art, how I had
loved her. She had always revered me, feared me, gently attended to all my needs,
never dared to disregard my will; but she had never loved me. At first I was not
aware of her true feelings, but that day I saw the way she looked at Zhou Shixiong,
then I understood. When a woman truly and wholeheartedly loves a man, she will
look at him with that kind of look. I remembered the way she looked when Zhou
Shixiong threw that handkerchief down, the way she looked when he turned around
and left the palace. That scene had haunted me for several years, made my sleeps
restless and my meals taste like sawdust. Even today I can still see it vividly in my
mind.
This time once again her heart was broken; not over her lover, but over her son,
whose life she was willing to trade her own with! I am an honorable man, and I felt
disgraced. Me, the ruler of a country! Having this thought my heart was filled with
fury; I lifted my foot and smashed an ivory stool in front of me. I looked up and was
dumbstruck. I said, ‘You … what happened to your head?’ She did not seem to hear
me, her gaze was fixed to her child. I have never really understood before, how
someone’s gaze could contain so much love, so much compassion. By that time she
had realized I was not going to save her child’s life, so she wanted to look at him as
long as he was still alive.

I took a mirror and held it out in front of her. I said, ‘Look at your hair!’ In just a
short period of time it seemed like she had become several decades older. She was
only eighteen, nineteen years old; yet because of fear, anxiety, remorse, despair,
grieve, and all kinds of deep emotional attacks innumerable hair on her temples had
turned white!

She did not seem to care toward the change in her appearance. She blamed the
mirror to be in the way, obstructing her view to the child. ‘The mirror, take it away!’
she said, candidly. She had forgotten that I was the Emperor, her master. I felt
strange; I thought she had always treasured her own looks, why didn’t she pay any
attention to it now? I tossed the mirror aside only to see without blinking her gaze
was fixed on the child. I had never seen such gaze; full of love and hope, a hope that
her child would live. I understood that if she could, she would gladly take her own
soul and put it inside her child’s body to replace his slowly departing soul.”

Listening to this Guo Jing and Huang Rong looked at each other; both were thinking
in their hearts, “When I was seriously injured and there was little hope for it to be
healed you also looked at me that way.” Forgetting their surroundings they held out
their hands to hold each other. Two hearts beating as one; they felt warmness
creeping up their bodies. Amidst listening to how others were grieving of misfortune
they could not help of thinking their own good fortune; due to the fact that their
loved one was sitting right next to them at that time, that place. Because her injury
had been healed; she would not die. Yes, she would not die. In these two
youngsters’ hearts their loved one would not die forever.

They heard Reverend Yideng continue, “I could not take it much longer; several
times I wanted to just take the child and treat his injury, but I kept looking at that
handkerchief wrapped around the child’s chest. The handkerchief with a pair of
mandarin ducks embroidered on it, their necks intertwined with each other. The
mandarin ducks had white heads, symbolizing they would grow old together. But
why it was written, ‘It’s a pity not yet old but the hair on the head has turned
white.’? As I turned my head I saw the hair on her temples had turned white, I broke
in cold sweats. At that time my heart turned hard, I said, ‘Fine, go ahead and grow
old together; just leave me lonely and cast away in this palace as an emperor! This
is you and your lover’s child; why would I sacrifice my whole energy to revive him?’

She looked at me, her last glance. It was full of blame and hatred. Afterwards she
had never looked at me anymore, but this one look I will not forget till the day I die.
She coldly said, ‘Let me go, I want to hold my child!’ She was speaking with
authority and determination; it was as if she was my master, made it difficult for me
to disobey. Thereupon I unsealed her acupoints.

She held the child in her bosom. The child was so much in pain that he wanted to
cry, but no sound came out of his tiny lips. His small face had turned purple; he
looked at his mother as if asking her to help him. I was so hard-hearted; I did not
have the least bit of compassion. I saw one by one her black hair had turned to ash
grey, and from ash grey to white. I don’t know whether it really did happen, or it
was my imagination playing tricks on me.

I heard her gently saying, ‘Child, Mama does not have the ability to save you, but
Mama also can’t let you suffer. Child, have a peaceful rest. Sleep Child, sleep. Don’t
wake up forever!’ I heard she sang a gentle lullaby. It was a very beautiful song. It
went like this, ‘hmm, hmm …’ Listen!”

Everybody heard him say those words, but actually they did not hear the least bit of
a song. They looked at each other in bewilderment.

“Shifu,” the scholar said, “You have talked long enough, you must be tired. Please
take a rest.”

Reverend Yideng did not seem to hear, he kept talking, “The child’s face showed a
faint happiness, but the pain made his whole body spasm. With a gentle voice she
said, ‘My precious, my heart and my soul, sleep tight, then you won’t feel the pain
anymore, not the least bit of pain!’ Suddenly ‘stab!’, her dagger went straight into
the child’s heart.”

Huang Rong screamed in fright; she grabbed Guo Jing’s arm tightly. The rest of the
listeners were also so shocked that their faces did not show any trace of blood.

Reverend Yideng was oblivious to his surroundings, he continued, “I was so shocked

that I cried out and drew back several steps, almost tumbled down. My heart was in
turmoil, I was totally at a loss. I saw her slowly stand up and in a low voice she said,
‘There will come a day, I will stab your heart with this dagger.’ She pointed her
finger to the jade bracelet on her wrist and said, ‘You gave this to me the day I
entered the palace. Just wait, the day I return this jade bracelet to you, will be the
day my dagger will follow!’”

Speaking to this point Yideng spun the jade bracelet on his forefinger one time; he
showed a faint smile and said, “This is the jade bracelet, I have waited several years
for this. At last that day has come.”

“Uncle,” Huang Rong said, “She killed her own son, what did it have to do with you?
You did not injure her child. Moreover, she had used poison trying to kill you; what
enmity she had for you had been paid in full. I am going down the mountain to send
her off, I won’t allow her to create any disturbance here …”

She had not finished her words when that young monk came rushing in. “Shifu,” he
said, “Somebody delivered this at the foot of the mountain.” He held out both hands
to present a small cloth bundle to his master.

Yideng took the bundle and unwrapped it. Everybody called out in alarm as one
voice. Turned out inside that bundle was the ‘du dou’ made of the embroidered
handkerchief. The silk had turned yellow of age, but the embroidered mandarin
ducks were still bright as new. There was a knife hole in between the ducks; the
edge of the hole was black from the bloodstain. Yideng stared blankly at the ‘du
dou’, overwhelmed with grief. After a long time he finally said, “The weaving of
mandarin ducks desiring to fly together right away, hey, desiring to fly together; in
the end it was just a dream. She hugged her child’s lifeless body tightly, uttered a
long laugh, and jumped over the window sill, flew out of the room and in the blink of
an eye disappeared without any trace. I couldn’t drink, I couldn’t eat, and was
miserable for three days and three nights. Finally I came to my senses. I bequeathed
the throne to my eldest son and decided to tread the immortal path by becoming a
monk.” He pointed at his four disciples and said, “They have followed me for a long
time and did not want to leave me. Together we went out of the Dali city wall and
lived at the ‘tian long si’ [celestial dragon temple]. For the first three years they took
turns in helping my son to run the country. Later my son has understood the
government affairs; the kingdom was at peace and nothing serious happened. So we
went to the Big Snow Mountain to gather medicinal herbs. There Ouyang Feng
injured my disciple and we moved to this place. We have never gone back to Dali
ever since.

I was so hard-hearted that I was not willing to save that child’s life. Hereafter for the
last ten years or so, day and night I have never had a peaceful rest. I always hoped
to save many people to redeem my great sin. They did not know my miserable inner
feeling, so they always tried to hinder me. Ay, even if I could save thousand people,
ten thousand people, that child would still be dead. How else would I repay his life if
not with my own? Everyday I have been waiting for Ying Gu, waiting for her to stab
her dagger into my heart. I was afraid she might come here too late; I am already
dead, then it would be difficult to redeem my sin. Good, finally she will be here. Why
would she mix the poison into the Nine-flowered Jade Dew Pills? If I knew she would
arrive soon after she poisoned me, I wouldn’t have wasted these past several hours
trying to survive, also my martial brother would not need to waste his divine power
to neutralize the poison.”

Huang Rong indignantly said, “This woman’s heart is so evil! She had found out
Uncle’s dwelling early on, but was afraid that her own martial art would be
insufficient; so she deliberately waited for a good opportunity. Coincidentally she met
me, suffering the Iron Palm injury, so she guided me to seek your help. She wanted
to employ two methods to achieve one goal; first she wanted you to waste your
strength, then to seize that opportunity to poison you. I was so gullible to become
the unaware weapon of this wicked woman. Uncle, how did Ouyang Feng’s drawing
ended up in her hand? What does this drawing have to do with her?”

Reverend Yideng took The Great Buddist Scripture from the small table beside him,
turned several pages and started to read, “The story of the picture is originated from
an ancient Indian city: Once there was a king, his name was Shipi. He was a diligent
ascetic practitioner, always followed the way of the true enlightenment. One day
there was a hawk chasing a pigeon. The pigeon flew in and hid underneath Shipi’s
arm, seeking refuge. The hawk demanded the king to return the pigeon to him, he
said, ‘If the king saves the pigeon, the hawk will die of starvation.’ The king realized
he could not save one without harming the other. Thereupon he took a knife and cut
his own flesh for the hawk. The hawk said, ‘If the king cuts his own flesh, it must be
the same weight as the pigeon.’ Shipi ordered his guard to fetch a balance. He
placed the pigeon on one end and his flesh on the other; but no matter how much he
cut his flesh, the pigeon end was still low. The king cut his chest, his back, his arm,
his side, but the pigeon was still heavier. Finally he put his whole body onto the
balance. Right away the earth shook; music came from the sky, the deities scattered
flowers and sweet fragrance filled the whole earth. The dragons, the demons and all
heavenly creatures sighed, ‘Shan zai, shan zai [lit. good, peace], there has never
been this kind of bravery.’”

It was only a myth, but Yideng narrated it full of compassion and mercy, and the
audience’s hearts were moved.
“Uncle,” Huang Rong said, “She was afraid you might not be willing to treat my
injury, so she used this picture to move your heart.”

Yideng smiled and said, “It seemed that way. When she left Dali that day, her heart
was set on seeking revenge, so it seems logical for her to roam the Jianghu [lit.
rivers and lakes] to learn martial art from a highly skilled person. Some way or
another she met Ouyang Feng, and as Ouyang Feng learned about her intention he
helped her plan this scheme, he drew this picture and gave it to her. This book is
well-spread in the western region, and Ouyang Feng is from the western region, so
he must be familiar with this story.”

Full of hatred Huang Rong said, “The Old Poison used Ying Gu, in turn Ying Gu used
me. This is an evil plan of murder with a borrowed knife.”

Yideng sighed, “You don’t need to be upset. If you had not met her, she would injure
someone else and send that person to me to be treated. Only if that person does not
have a highly skilled escort, he won’t be able to go up the mountain easily. Ouyang
Feng must have drawn this picture a long time ago; they have been setting up this
plan for at least ten years. Contrary to their expectation, they were unable to find
someone for ten years; that is also because of fate.”

“Uncle, I know it,” Huang Rong said, “She has something else in her mind which is
more important than harming you.”

“Ah!” Yideng exclaimed, “What matter?”

Huang Rong replied, “The Old Urchin was imprisoned by my father on the Peach
Blossom Island. She wanted to help him out.” And then Huang Rong told him how
Ying Gu painstakingly learned ‘qi men’ [strange/wonderful/mysterious gate] and
mathematics. Finally she said, “Afterwards she found out that even if she studied for
a hundred years more it would still be difficult for her to overcome my father, plus
she saw me getting injured, thereupon …”
Yideng uttered a long laugh; he stood up and said, “Fine, fine. All’s well that ends
well. Everything has come together. Today finally she will get her wish.” With a calm
face he turned to his four disciples and said, “You go and welcome Concubine Liu,
no, welcome Ying Gu and take her up the mountain. You must not utter even half a
word of disrespect.”

As if by prior agreement the four disciples bowed to the ground and cried, they called
out together, “Shifu!”

Yideng sighed, “You have followed me for many, many years, don’t you understand
your Shifu’s heart?”

Toward Guo Jing and Huang Rong he said, “I am asking you two a favor.”

Jing and Rong answered together, “Just say it, we won’t dare to disobey.”

“Good,” Yideng said, “Now I want you to go down the mountain. All my life I owed
Ying Gu a lot. In the future, whenever she is facing a difficulty or is in danger, I am
asking you for the Old Monk’s sake, to lend a hand as much as you can. If you two
can help in the matter of successful conclusion of her and Zhou Shixiong’s affair, the
Old Monk will be forever grateful.”

Guo Jing and Huang Rong looked at each other in astonishment; they did not dare to
reply. Yideng saw those two were silent, he pressed again, “This Old Monk’s request,
is it difficult for you to give your consent?”

Huang Rong reluctantly replied, “Since Uncle has asked, we will obey.” She tugged
Guo Jing’s sleeve and bowed down to bid farewell.

“You don’t have to meet Ying Gu,” Yideng said, “Go down from the back of the
mountain.”

Huang Rong gave her reply, pulled Guo Jing’s hand and turned around to go. The
four disciples saw she appeared calm without any trace of grief, they secretly scolded
her as cold-hearted and mean, seeing her savior was facing danger she was
indifferent and walked away. Guo Jing knew Huang Rong would not rest before she
cooked another plan, so he followed her out.

When they got to the door Huang Rong whispered something in his ear. Guo Jing
looked hesitant but finally he nodded his head. He turned around and slowly walked
back.

Yideng said, “Your heart is honest and upright, you will accomplish great things in
the future. I am entrusting Ying Gu’s business to you.”

“Very well!” Guo Jing replied, “Junior will do my utmost to tend to the Reverend’s
business.” Suddenly he reached backward and grabbed the Indian Monk’s hand
sitting next to Yideng. Guo Jing’s left hand went straight and hit his ‘hua gai’ [fancy
canopy] and ‘tian zhu’ [heaven’s pillar] two main acupoints. These acupoints were
located one on the hand, the other on the foot; once they were sealed then four
limbs would be immobilized.

This move totally took Yideng and his four disciples by surprise; they called out,
“What are you doing?”

Guo Jing did not reply, his left hand went straight toward Yideng’s shoulder. Yideng’s
right palm made a turn and fast as lighting grabbed Guo Jing’s left hand. Guo Jing
was startled; he thought Yideng was already shrouded inside his palm’s strength,
unexpectedly not only he managed to break through but launched a counterattack as
well. Moreover, Yideng’s attack was targeting his vital point. It was truly an exquisite
skill. Only as Yideng’s palm came within an inch of his hand he could feel Yideng’s
palm was weak. Guo Jing took this opportunity to turn his palm around to protect his
hand, while his right hand launched ‘Divine Dragon Swings Its Tail’ to repel the
fisherman and the woodcutter who attacked him from behind. The forefinger of his
left hand was still moving straight forward to seal the ‘feng wei’ [phoenix’s tail] and
‘jing cu’ [near energy] on Yideng’s side. “Uncle,” he said, “I beg your forgiveness.”
Meanwhile Huang Rong had pushed the farmer out of the door using the Dog Beating
Stick technique. The scholar was surprised with this abrupt turn of events; he did not
understand Guo Jing and Huang Rong’s intention. “If you have something to discuss,
say it; please don’t fight!” he repeatedly shouted.

Seeing his Shifu’s condition the farmer was like a mad tiger; neglecting his own life
he charged toward the meditation room. But the Dog Beating Stick was too much for
him, he charged three times and three times Huang Rong’s stick pushed him back.

Guo Jing’s palms moved in circles with a strong gust of wind, forcing the fisherman,
the woodcutter and the scholar to move back step by step toward the door. Huang
Rong abruptly swung her stick from the ground upward to the farmer’s eyebrow. This
move was so swift that the farmer cried out, “Aiyo!” He threw his head backward and
leaped back several feet.

“Good!” Huang Rong exclaimed. She reached backward and closed the door. With a
chuckle she said, “Gentlemen, please hold your hands! I have something to say.”

Every time the woodcutter and the fisherman met with Guo Jing’s palm they felt
their arms went numb and their feet staggered. They saw Guo Jing was about to
strike again, quickly they stood side by side, ready to receive Guo Jing’s palm with
their combine forces. As Guo Jing heard Huang Rong’s words he stopped his palm
midway and withdrew it back. Cupping his fists he said, “Please forgive my offense.”

The fisherman, the woodcutter, the farmer and the scholar looked at each other in
consternation. With a serious face Huang Rong said, “I have received Honorable
Master’s kindness; now I know that Honorable Master is facing a difficulty, how can I
just leave and do nothing? We have offended you with the intention to help.”

The scholar stepped forward, bowed deeply and said, “The enemy is our Master’s
wife; it would be inconvenient for us to offend her. If she wants to go up the
mountain, we won’t have any way of stopping her. Moreover, ever since that … that
young master died, for more than ten years our Shifu’s heart was restless. Even if
his energy were still intact and he were not poisoned, when he saw Concubine Liu
arrive he would not defend himself against her dagger. We cannot disobey our
master, yet our hearts are burning with anxiety. We have exhausted our wisdom and
used up all our strengths, still we don’t know what to do. Miss is so smart; if you can
show us a way, even if our bodies and bones are ground to dust we will wish to
repay your kindness.”

Hearing him speaking earnestly Huang Rong did not dare to joke around like she
previously did, she said, “We, martial brother and sister, are very grateful for the
Honorable Master’s kindness, no different than the four of you, we will use all means
possible to help. It will be best if we can prevent Ying Gu from entering the
meditation room, but to think that she has been waiting patiently at the Black Marsh
for more than ten years, she must have made ample preparation. I am afraid it
won’t be easy to block her. Little sister’s plan involves a great danger. If we succeed,
we can expect smooth sailing in the future, without any imminent trouble. But it is
extremely risky, that Ying Gu is very astute and sly, her martial art skill is also high,
so there is a possibility for failure. My ability and wisdom is very shallow and simple,
I can’t think of any foolproof plan.”

The fisherman, the woodcutter, the farmer and the scholar said, “We beg your
explanation.”

Huang Rong raised her pretty eyebrows and laid down her plan. As the four disciples
listened to it, they looked at each other and did not say anything for half a day.

.o0o.

It was the tenth hour (5 – 7 pm), the sun slowly sank behind the mountain. The
strong mountain breeze swayed the leaves of the palm trees planted in rows outside
the meditation courtyard. The withered lotus leaves on the pond also made a rustling
noise. The evening sun cast its light from behind the mountain peaks, the mountain
ridges looked like a silhouette of a giant reclining on the ground. The fisherman, the
woodcutter, the farmer and the scholar sat cross-legged on the ground by the stone
bridge. They opened their eyes wide looking to the front. Each heart was heavy with
restlessness.

They had waited for a long time. The sky had darkened, the dusk gradually turned
into night. The crows crowed while they were flying in the valley below. A thin white
mist rose up from the canyon below. But still no one appeared from the turn at the
mountain cliff beyond the stone bridge. The fisherman thought, “If only Concubine
Liu has a sudden change of heart and does not blame Shifu, maybe she reined her
horse beyond the cliff and decided not to come over …”

The woodcutter thought, “This Concubine Liu is very crafty; she must have been
preparing a really sinister plot.”

The farmer was more anxious and impatient than the others, he thought, “The
sooner she arrives, the sooner we can get it over with; whether it will be disaster or
fortune, good or evil, we will find out sooner. She said she would come and she
hasn’t arrived yet, it really is exasperating.”

The scholar thought, “The more delayed she is, the more dangerous the threat will
be. This matter is really difficult to be solved nicely.” It goes without saying that he
was a good schemer and tactician; he had been the prime minister of Dali kingdom
for more than a dozen of years. He had seen major battle and faced many difficult
situations, yet this time he was nervous. He had given this matter a lot of thoughts,
but could not put out the least bit of idea. His eyes scanned the darkened
surrounding area; his ears heard the distant cry of an owl. Suddenly he remembered
when he was a child he often heard people say, ‘The owl [lit. night cat] hides in a
secret place and stealthily counts human’s eyebrows. Whoever got his eyebrows
counted correctly, that person will not live to see the daylight.’ It was obviously a
myth to deceive little children, but in this situation suddenly hearing the cry of the
owl, he involuntarily shuddered. “Could it be that Shifu won’t be able to escape this
disaster and die under this woman’s hands?” He had just finished his thought when
suddenly the woodcutter whispered urgently with a trembling voice, “She is here!”

The scholar lifted his head and saw a black shadow flew across the stone bridge and
light as a feather jumped over the gap, as if floating without exerting any energy at
all. The four people were astonished, “When she started training with Shifu, we have
already been under his tutelage for a long time. How can her martial art exceed
ours? In this last dozen of years or so, where did she go to learn such a marvelous
skill?” they thought. As they saw that dark shadow come near, four people stood up
and positioned themselves on either side of the way.

In a blink of an eye that dark shadow has arrived at the end of the stone bridge; she
was wearing black clothes, and her facial features could be vaguely recognized as
Concubine Liu whom the Emperor Duan loved very much in the years past.

Four people knelt down and kowtowed, “Xiao Ren [little/lowly people] greets Niang-
niang [madam, or in this case can be translated as ‘empress’].”

“Humph,” Ying Gu snorted. Her gaze swept the four people’s faces and she said,
“What Niang-niang? Concubine Liu had died long ago, I am Ying Gu. Hmm, the Prime
Minister, the General, the Admiral, and the Commanding Officer of the ‘yu lin jun’
[lit. defending woods troops. I am not sure, but I think ‘yu lin jun’ is the personal
bodyguards of the emperor] are all here. I thought the Emperor had forsaken
worldliness and became a monk, who would have thought that he is hiding in this
remote mountain and lives in peace and security as an emperor.” Her voice carried
so much hatred that their hearts trembled.
The scholar said, “The Emperor does not look like his former self. I am sure Niang-
niang will not recognize him anymore.”

Ying Gu laughed a cold laugh, “You keep saying Niang-niang this and Niang-niang
that; are you mocking me? You are stiffly sitting on your knees down here, are you
wishing me dead?”

The fisherman, the woodcutter, the farmer and the scholar looked at each other and
then they stood up. “Your servants wish for your health,” they said.

Ying Gu waved her hand, “The Emperor ordered you to stop me here, do you still
have to perform this empty obeisance? If you want to fight, then just fight. You are
lords and royalties, I don’t know how many common people you have harmed; why
would you still pretend in front of an ordinary woman like me?”

The scholar said, “Our Emperor loves the people like his children, full of generosity
and benevolence, the common people of Dali country still praise him even until
today. Our Emperor not only has never harmed the innocent all his life, even toward
criminal with grave offense oftentimes he bestowed abundant favor. Doesn’t Niang-
niang know?”

Ying Gu’s face turned red, with stern voice she said, “Do you dare to offend me?”

“Wei chen [lowly officer] doesn’t dare,” the scholar replied.

Ying Gu said, “With your mouth you acknowledge me as your superior, but in your
heart how can you still think there is any royalty-officer relationship between us? I
want to see Duan Zhixing; will you let me or will you not?”

‘Duan Zhixing’ was Reverend Yideng’s given name. Although the fisherman, the
woodcutter, the farmer and the scholar knew it, they never dared to mention it
casually. Now that Ying Gu mentioned his name irreverently they could not help but
feel offended. The farmer was formerly the Emperor Duan’s personal bodyguards’
captain; he could not endure patiently. With a loud voice he shouted, “One day
became an emperor, he will be honored for the rest of his life. How can it be that you
speak without propriety?”

Ying Gu let out a long laugh and without saying anything charged forward. Four
people respectively shot out their arms to block; they thought, “Even though her
martial art skill is high, with us combining our efforts we should be able to stop her.
We are going to disobey our order, but the situation is dire, we’ll talk later.”

Who would have thought that Ying Gu did not use her palm or fist to attack, but
utilizing her lightness kungfu she bumped them. The woodcutter saw her coming
fast, he did not dare to touch her body, he moved aside swiftly, then stretched out
his hand trying to grab her shoulder. His hand was quick and powerful, but as soon
as he touched her shoulder he felt like he was trying to grab something exceptionally
slick, so that his hand slipped away.

By this time with a loud shout the farmer and the fisherman attacked from left and
right. Ying Gu ducked and just like a slithery snake she slipped underneath the
fisherman’s armpit. The fisherman’s nostrils caught a faint whiff of fragrance, it
smelled like an orchid but not quite like an orchid, like musk deer but not quite like
musk deer. He was frantic and did not dare to catch her body in between his arms;
he opened up his arms instead for fear of touching her body.

The farmer was indignant, “What are you doing?” he shouted. With his ten fingers
forming a pair of claws he tried to grab Ying Gu’s waist.

“Don’t be impolite!” the woodcutter called out.

The farmer turned a deaf ear to him, very soon his fingers had reached Ying Gu’s
waist, but somehow it was like his fingers were touching a very smooth and oily
surface that they slipped away from her waist.

Ying Gu had used the ‘ni qiu gong’ [mud loach maneuver] she perfected in the Black
Marsh to go through these three people. Now she knew that these four were helpless
to block her. Her palm slapped backward toward the farmer. The scholar swung his
arm with his finger aimed toward the acupoint on her hand. To his surprise Ying Gu
did not retract her hand but stuck her index finger up and quick as lightning two
fingers collided in the air. The scholar had exerted all his strength to his right hand
finger, suddenly he felt his finger went numb, his body felt like he was electrocuted.
“Aiyo!” he cried out and fumbled down to the ground. The woodcutter and the
fisherman busily stooped down to help.

The farmer’s left fist went straight ahead like a hammer hurled toward Ying Gu’s
body. This attack carried a strong gust of wind, the force was astonishing. Seeing
this strong attack Ying Gu stood her ground and did not evade. The farmer was
alarmed; he thought if his fist hit her head, her skull would be cracked. Hastily he
tried to withdraw his power, but by that time his fist had already touched the tip of
Ying Gu’s nose. Ying Gu leaned her head slightly, the fist slipped from her nose and
slid to her cheek. The farmer retracted his left arm, but it was too late. His hand was
grabbed by his opponent and with a ‘crack’ sound he felt a shot of pain on his arm.
His elbow joint was broken by the back of her fist. The farmer gritted his teeth,
ignoring the pain, his right hand index finger swiftly attacked the crook of the
opponent’s elbow.

The fisherman, the woodcutter, the farmer and the scholar’s acupoint sealing
technique was taught by Reverend Yideng. It was inferior to the Solitary Yang Finger
with its infinite variations, but it could be considered as a first class acupoint sealing
technique in the Wulin world; how would they know that fighting Ying Gu they were
like fighting their black star. She was determined to avenge the death of her son;
she fully realized Reverend Yideng’s finger skill was very fierce, thereupon she spent
a great deal of time and energy to find a method to subdue that skill. She was very
skillful in embroidery, so she found her inspiration from the wonderful needlework
technique. She wore a tiny golden hoop on the tip of her right hand index finger; on
the hoop was a three-fen (about 1 cm) long golden needle, which tip was dipped in
poison. Her vision was excellent, her hand was steady; after training hard for several
years she was able to prick a fly flying in the air. This time fighting the enemy she
was able to prick the scholar’s index finger. Seeing the direction of the farmer’s
finger she laughed coldly, lifting up her delicate hand she aimed her fingertip to his
and pricked the farmer’s finger.

As the saying goes, ‘ten fingers join the heart’, the tip of the index finger is
connected to the hand’s ‘yang ming’ [positive and bright] passage to the large
intestine. As the golden needle pricked in, it hit the ‘shang yang xue’ [positive
quotient acupoint] squarely.

In his last effort to score victory amidst a defeat, the farmer had exerted all his
strength to his finger. Ying Gu on the other hand, did not have to exert any strength;
all she needed to do was to position her golden needle right on the path of the
farmer’s finger. Hence she let the farmer prick his own finger by the needle.

As his finger was pricked, the farmer roared like a tiger and fumbled to the ground.
Ying Gu coldly mocked, “Nice Captain!” and she dashed toward the courtyard in front
of the meditation building.

“Niang-niang, stop!” the fisherman shouted.

Ying Gu halted her step and turned around; “And just how are you going to stop
me?” she sneered. By that time she had already at the front of the lotus pond. The
pond was connected to the meditation building by a small stone bridge. Ying Gu was
standing on the bridge’s end, staring at the fisherman. The night was dark, barely
enough ambient light to recognize her face. The fisherman stood facing her, he felt
her stares were very cold; he shivered involuntarily and did not dare to step forward
to stop her.

Ying Gu coldly said, “The Prime Minister and the Captain have been hit by my ‘qi jue
zhen’ [seven lethal needle], nobody in this world can save their lives. Do you want to
send your own life off?” Without waiting for an answer she turned around and slowly
walked forward. Not once did she turn her head; apparently she was not afraid of
any sneak attack.

It was only about twenty steps from the small bridge to the building. As she reached
the end of the pathway, suddenly someone came out from the darkness; cupping up
his fists he said, “Senior, how are you?”

Ying Gu was startled; she thought, “This person waited quietly here and appeared
suddenly; why didn’t I heard his breathing before? If he had evil intention I would
have been dead or at least wounded.” She fixed her eyes to look closer and saw this
person was tall and broad-shouldered, with thick eyebrows and big eyes; it was
precisely the person she gave directions to, Guo Jing. “Is the young miss’ injury
healed?” she asked.

Guo Jing bowed and said, “Thank you so much for your directions, Senior. Reverend
Yideng has cured my martial sister’s injury.

“Humph,” Ying Gu snorted, “Why didn’t she thank me in person?” Her mouth was
speaking, but her feet also kept walking forward.

Guo Jing was standing at the other end of the bridge. “Senior, please return!” he
hastily said.

Ying Gu ignored him; she slightly leaned her body sideways and utilizing the ‘ni qiu
gong’ she slipped past by him. Even though Guo Jing had fought Ying Gu at the Black
Marsh, he did not anticipate she would slip pass him while still talking and that her
body could be this slippery. In his desperation Guo Jing flung his left arm backward,
attacking Ying Gu using the marvelous Vacant Fist of Zhou Botong.
Ying Gu thought that she had already slipped through Guo Jing; who would have
thought that suddenly a soft yet strong gust of wind came from his fist pounced
toward her face, forcing her to draw back. But Ying Gu was determined not to return,
so no matter how strong Guo Jing’s attack was, she bravely charged forward as if
wanted to receive the blow head-on.

“Watch out!” Guo Jing hurriedly shouted. He felt a warm and soft female body was
thrown into the crook of his own elbow. He was stunned. Taking advantage of his
situation Ying Gu swept his feet and both of them fell into the lotus pond.

When they were still midair, Ying Gu’s left hand slipped underneath Guo Jing’s right
arm pit, wound around his back and grabbed his left shoulder, her middle finger
curled toward Guo Jing’s throat while her thumb and index finger pinched the back of
his neck with all her strength. It was the fiercest ‘qian feng hou bi qi’ [sealing front
throat shutting air] technique from the ‘qin na shou’ [grab and capture]; so long as
one pinch hit the mark, the enemy’s air passage would be sealed and he would not
be able to breathe.

While he was falling down Guo Jing felt his shoulder was grabbed, he knew his
situation was not good. He bent his right arm to clasp Ying Gu’s neck. It was also a
technique from the ‘qin na shou’ called the ‘hou xie jing bi qi’ [clasping the back of
the neck to close up breathing]. Ying Gu knew Guo Jing’s arm strength was
devastating, and that her own strength was far too inferior; she knew although she
attacked first but she could not compete with him in terms of brute force, so she let
her hand off Guo Jing shoulder and stretched her finger to prick him instead. Guo
Jing used his left arm to parry her finger.

Falling from the stone bridge to the lotus pond actually took a short moment, but
two people had exchanged attacks and counterattacks swiftly; in a blink of an eye
they had exchanged no less than three stances. Both were utilizing close combat
techniques of ‘qin na shou’. Ying Gu’s skill was profound, yet Guo Jing’s strength was
astonishing. In these three stances victory and defeat could not be decided. ‘Splash!’
two people fell into the pond.

The bottom of the pond was covered with mud about three feet high; as they fell,
they were immersed in the water up to their chests. Ying Gu’s left hand scooped
down some mud and smeared it toward Guo Jing’s mouth. Guo Jing was shocked and
lowered his head to avoid the mud. Ying Gu had lived on the Black Marsh for more
than ten years. Her Loach Maneuver was developed based on watching loach diving
and moving around in the mud. Fighting on land she was exceptionally slippery, how
much more in the mud? She was like a tiger that grew wings. She intentionally
dragged Guo Jing to the pond because she was aware of his martial art; she knew it
would be difficult to cross the bridge with Guo Jing guarding it. Her finger-pricking
technique was actually several times faster in the mud than on dry land; plus every
now and then she scooped a handful of mud and smeared it on Guo Jing’s face.

Both of Guo Jing’s feet sank deep into the mud; moreover, he did not dare to use too
much strength and accidentally injure her, so after about only four or five stances he
was already at a disadvantage. He heard a swishing sound of mud coming toward his
face; hastily he dodged sideways. Who would have thought that as the first mud flew
past; the second mud had arrived, followed by the third handful of mud, which hit
him squarely on his face so that his mouth, nose and eyes were covered in stinky
mud.
The Six Freaks of Jiangnan had taught him well, so he knew if he was hit by a secret
projectile, he must not frantically trying to pull out the projectile, because then the
enemy would seize the opportunity to assault and make a kill. At this moment he
could not breathe and could not open his eyes; he moved his palms and launched
three fierce stances so no one would be able to come within five feet near him. Just
then he wiped the mud from his face with his left hand and opened his eyes; but
Ying Gu had already leaped up to the stone bridge and dashed toward the meditation
courtyard.

As Ying Gu successfully went through Guo Jing she secretly scolded herself,
“Ashamed! If there were no pond, how would I overcome this dumb kid? It looks like
the Heaven is helping me to seek revenge today.”

She sped up her steps and arrived at the temple door shortly. She raised her hand to
push; the door was not bolted, it opened immediately with a soft creaking sound.
This time she did not rush in, expecting an ambush or some booby trap on the door.
She waited outside the door only to see the room was empty, nothing astir. Slowly
Ying Gu entered the room. She saw it was a meditation room with a single oil lamp
illuminating the image of Buddha with a dignified face. Ying Gu’s heart turned sour,
she knelt on the meditation mat and offered a silent prayer.

She just barely prayed for a short moment when suddenly she heard someone
chuckle softly behind her. Immediately her left hand flung backward in a sweeping
movement to block any potential sneak attack, while her right hand pushed down
the mediation mat, borrowing the momentum to leap upward and made a graceful
somersault in the air before landing back down to the ground.

“Excellent skill!” she heard a woman’s voice applaud. Ying Gu turned to look and saw
a young girl wearing green clothes with red belt around her waist and a bunch of
golden hoops flickering under the lamp light on her hair, her pair of beautiful eyes
stared at Ying Gu with a hint of smile in them; there was a gleaming dark green
bamboo stick in her hand. Needless to say, it was Huang Rong. “Senior Ying Gu, I
thank you for your kindness in saving my life,” she said.

“I gave you directions to treat your injury, but my real intention was to harm
others,” Ying Gu said matter-of-factly, “So I really was not saving your life. Why
should you thank me?”

Huang Rong sighed, “Vengeance and debt of kindness is really difficult to

understand. My father imprisoned the Old Urchin Zhou Botong on the Peach Blossom
Island for fifteen years. In the end he still could not save my mother’s life.”

As she heard the name ‘Zhou Botong’ was mentioned, Ying Gu was extremely
shocked. “What relation did your mother have with Zhou Botong?” she asked sternly.

Hearing her tone Huang Rong knew she suspected Zhou Botong had some love affair
with her mother and consequently was imprisoned by her father on the Peach
Blossom Island. Apparently even after more than a dozen years her feeling toward
Zhou Botong did not subside; otherwise why would she drink vinegar over nothing?

Lowering her head, in a mournful voice Huang Rong said, “My mother died of
exhaustion due to the Old Urchin.”
Ying Gu was more suspicious than ever. Under the dim light she could see Huang
Rong’s skin was as white as snow, her eyes and eyebrows were beautiful; even Ying
Gu in her prime years was not as beautiful as she was. She deducted that Huang
Rong’s mother must also be beautiful; it would be difficult for Zhou Botong to see
her and not be attracted to her. Ying Gu frowned involuntarily.

“Don’t you have any ideas,” Huang Rong said, “My mother is like an angel; that Zhou
Botong is as stupid and stubborn as a cow. Unless the woman has eyes but fails to
see, nobody would have a crush on him.”

Ying Gu knew Huang Rong was mocking her, but her suspicion was gone; she was
instantly relieved. Without batting an eyelid she coldly retorted, “Since there is
someone who loves Guo Jing who is as stupid as a pig, there must be someone who
loves a man as stupid and stubborn as a cow. How did the Old Urchin cause your
mother’s death?”

Huang Rong pouted and said, “You scold my martial brother; I won’t talk to you.”
She brushed her sleeve and turned around, pretending to be mad.

Ying Gu really wanted to know about Zhou Botong, so she busily said, “All right, I
won’t do that anymore. Your martial brother is actually very smart.”

Huang Rong halted her steps and turned around. “That Old Urchin did not
intentionally cause my mother’s death,” she said, “It was very unfortunate of my
mother to die because of him. In his anger my father imprisoned him on the Peach
Blossom Island; but afterwards my father regretted it. Injustice has its cause, debt
has its originator. If someone killed your loved one you should go to the ends of the
earth to seek vengeance on the murderer. Why would you vent your anger toward
others?”

This speech was like a severe blow on Ying Gu’s head; she stood still without making
any noise. She heard Huang Rong continue, “My father had long ago freed the Old
Urchin …” Ying Gu was pleasantly surprised, “Then I don’t have to rescue him?” she
asked.

Huang Rong smiled, “If my father had not released him, were you going to rescue
the Old Urchin?” she asked. Ying Gu was silent.

When Ying Gu left Dali her intention was to look for Zhou Botong. The first few years
was spent without hearing any news about him. Then quite by accident she heard
from the Twin Killers of the Dark Wind that Zhou Botong was imprisoned on the
Peach Blossom Island by Huang Yaoshi; but as for the reason behind it she could not
inquire. That day when Zhou Botong renounced her and left Dali she knew that it
would be very difficult for him to have a change of heart if not because of some
significant cause. This time as she learned about his predicament she was both
happy and sad at the same time; sad because the man she loved was in trouble,
happy because she thought this was a good opportunity. If she managed to rescue
him, how could he not have deep affection toward her? Who would have thought that
the roads and pathways on the Peach Blossom Island had a thousand turns and a
hundred detours? No need to mention rescuing anybody, she almost died of
starvation for three days and three nights. If Huang Yaoshi did not send a deaf and
mute servant to show her the way, she would never leave that island alive.
Thereupon she made the Black Marsh her residence, diligently learning math and
theory of numbers. Now she heard that Zhou Botong had been released she stared
blankly with all kinds of thoughts bubbling up in her heart.

Huang Rong smiled and gently said, “The Old Urchin is most willing to listen to me;
he won’t dare to turn down whatever I say. If you want to see him, follow me and go
down the mountain. Let me be the matchmaker between the two of you; just
consider it my way of saying thanks for saving my life.” Her words had made Ying
Gu’s cheeks turn red with her heart thumping wild.

Seeing her speech might turn murderous intent into a happy occasion Huang Rong
felt smug. Suddenly she heard a slapping sound; Ying Gu’s palms struck each other.
Her face looked like it was covered with a layer of frost; sternly she said, “What
makes him listen to you, a girl surnamed Huang? Why would he follow your
direction? Because of your good looks? I have never shown kindness to you, I don’t
need you to repay. Quickly make way for me, or else don’t blame me for being
merciless.”

“Aiyo, you want to kill me?” Huang Rong laughed.

Ying Gu raised her eyebrows. “What if I do?” she coldly said, “Others are scared of
the Old Heretic Huang, I am not afraid of the heaven and the earth.”

Huang Rong chuckled, “Killing me is not a big deal,” she said cheekily, “But who
would help you solve the three mathematical problems I left for you?”

Since that day Huang Rong wrote three mathematical problems on the sand inside
the thatched hut at the Black Marsh, Ying Gu had painstakingly racked her brain day
and night; but she did not have any clue on how to solve them. At first she studied
mathematics with the intention of rescuing Zhou Botong; but later on she was
captivated with this complex yet mysterious subject. The further she dug into it, the
more fascinated she became that sometimes she forgot to eat or sleep, and could
not stop even if she wanted to. She knew perfectly well that even if she could solve
these problems, compared to Huang Yaoshi’s, her skill would still be like heaven from
earth; in other words, it would not help her the least a bit in her plan to rescue Zhou
Botong. But curiosity had forced her to rack her brain; without a clear answer it
would be difficult for her to keep her mind at peace. Now that Huang Rong
mentioned it, the three subjects immediately flashed on her mind clearly; without
realizing it her face showed hesitation.

“Don’t kill me, I’ll teach you,” Huang Rong said. She took the oil lamp from the
image of Buddha and placed it on the ground. Taking a golden needle out, she
started writing numbers and letters on the brick floor.

The first subject was the ‘qi yao jiu zhi tian zhu bi suan’ [seven dazzling nine
grasping Indian method of calculation]. As Ying Gu saw the solution she was dazzled
and could not help but secretly sigh in praise. Huang Rong continued with the second
subject, the ‘li fang zhao bing zhi yin gei mi ti’ [lit. standing up soldier supplying
silver topic] had profound changes in it. As Ying Gu waited for her to write the last
answer she sighed and said, “This middle subject surely has an endless wonderful
secret.”

A moment later she said, “If we say the third subject to be easy, then it is easy; but
if we regard it as difficult, then it is difficult. There is an unknown number; three and
three has a remainder of two, five and five has a remainder of three, seven and
seven has a remainder of two. What number is that? I know it was twenty-three; but
that was a hard guess. I need to line up every number for all interchangeable
computational patterns, but even after thinking until I split my head I could not
figure it out.”

[Translator’s note: I tried to translate the following as is, I don’t have the slightest
idea the mathematical operands being discussed. Any help will be greatly
appreciated.]

Huang Rong smiled, “It is very easy. Calculating three and three, it amounts to
seventy. Calculating five and five, it amounts to twenty-one. Calculating seven and
seven, it amounts to fifteen. Adding three numbers together, if not greater than 105,
then that’s the correct answer. Otherwise, subtract 105 or its multiple.”

Ying Gu calculated it in her heart and sure enough she got the correct answer. With a
low voice she recited, “Calculating three and three, it amounts to seventy.
Calculating five and five …”

Huang Rong said, “You don’t have to memorize it like that. Let me give you a poem
to help you memorize it easier: Three people travel together in seventy directions,
five plum blossom trees have twenty one branches, seven children reunite for half a
month, a hundred and five remained to be known.”

Listening to ‘three people travel together’ and ‘reunite for half a month’ Ying Gu felt
offended, she thought, “This girl knows him, she knew my shameful secret from
early on. ‘Three people traveling together’ is me one woman serving two men. Could
it be that by ‘reunite for half a month’ she was ridiculing me of having a love affair
knowing him for only a dozen of days?” What she did in the years past had become a
matter of the heart to her, unavoidably she became quite over-suspicious to
everybody. “All right,” she said flatly, “Thank you for your directions. ‘Asking
direction in the morning, bored to death in the evening’. Must I stay to listen to you
speaking more nonsense?”

Huang Rong smiled, “’Asking direction in the morning, bored to death in the
evening.’ The one who died is the one asking; but I’ve never heard the one asking
question kill the one preaching the sermon.”

Ying Gu stole a glance toward the meditation room; she knew Emperor Duan must
be residing in the back. She saw Huang Rong kept pestering her, something was
amiss. Even though Huang Rong was young, her intelligence and eccentricity was not
inferior to her father’s. How could a thirty-year-old lady bicker with a baby? She was
afraid her luck would turn bad just like a ship capsized in the gutter. She had wasted
not a few moments because she wanted to look at Huang Rong’s calculations; while
a very important matter was still ahead of her. How could she allow senseless
thought over mathematics consume her energy? Therefore, she decided not to
answer and immediately lifted up her feet to walk inside.

Crossing over the worship hall she saw there was a dark room ahead with only one
flickering light inside. As a wary person she did not dare to rush in; raising her voice
up she called out, “Duan Zhixing, are you or are you not going to see me? You hide
your tail in the dark, what kind of real man are you?”
Huang Rong followed behind her, laughing, “You don’t like there is no lamp in here?
The Reverend was afraid too much light would scare you away, so he ordered us to
put the lights out.”

“Humph,” Ying Gu snorted, “I am the kind of person who is not afraid to go to hell,
why would a mountain of blades or boiling oil scare me?”

Huang Rong clapped her hands and laughed, “That’s very good! I want to play
around the mountain of blades with you.” Taking out a flint from her pocket, lighted
it up, then she stooped down and lighted a lamp next to her feet.

Turned out there was an oil lamp on the ground; it surprised even Ying Gu. She
looked closer to see that it was not an oil lamp, but a small porcelain tea cup filled
halfway with oil, with a cotton ball dipped in it as the wick. Next to the cup was a
sharpened bamboo stick about a foot long, inserted on the ground with the
sharpened end on the top; it looked really sharp.

Huang Rong did not pause, she kept moving and in just a short moment the floor
was filled with flickering lights like stars on a dark night. Next to each cup was a
sharp bamboo stick. Before Huang Rong even finished Ying Gu had started counting,
and she found out there were 113 teacups with 113 bamboo sticks next to them.
She was greatly baffled, “If it is the ‘mei hua zhuang’ [plum blossom stake]
arrangement, then it must have either 72 sticks or 108 sticks, but it has 113 sticks;
what kind of arrangement is this? The array seems random, not the ‘jiu gong ba gua’
[nine-palace eight-diagram], also not ‘mei hua wu chu’ [plum blossom five
arrangements]. Moreover, these bamboo sticks are so sharp, how can somebody
stand on them? Ah, right, she must be wearing iron-soled shoes.” She further
thought, “This girl is prepared, I can’t fight her on these things yet I can’t ignore
this. I’ll just go through it then.” Thereupon with big strides she walked forward, but
the bamboo sticks were densely packed, it was difficult to walk through them, so she
kicked around and broke five, six sticks while saying, “What crafty trick is this? The
old lady doesn’t have time to play around with the baby.”

Hurriedly Huang Rong called, “Ah, ah! Don’t do that! Don’t do that!” Ying Gu ignored
her and kept kicking. “All right!” Huang Rong called out, “You don’t want to talk
reason with me, I am going to turn off the lights. Quickly memorize the bamboo
sticks’ positions.”

Ying Gu was startled, she thought, “If these people gang up and plan to attack me,
they must have memorized the position of these sticks early on. I could get killed
among the bamboo sticks in the dark. I must leave this dangerous place quickly!”
She gave her spirit a boost and sped her steps up, kicking furiously.

“Shameless!” Huang Rong called out. She brandished her bamboo stick trying to
block Ying Gu. The oil lamp shone on the dark-green bamboo stick, creating a
spooky shadow dancing in front of Ying Gu’s face. Of course Ying Gu did not think
much about a teenage girl’s stick technique. Her left palm hacked vertically down;
she thought one palm should be enough to break the bamboo stick. Who would have
thought that Huang Rong’s stick technique was the Dog Beating Stick’s sealing
technique; the stick moved horizontally, it was not aimed at the enemy’s body, but it
turned into a piece of jade-green wall blocking in front of the door. As long as the
enemy did not tread a step, the wall would not hurt the least bit, but if one attacked
one would immediately hit.

As Ying Gu hacked down her palm, ‘crack!’ her palm was hit by the end of the stick.
Hastily she withdrew her already pain and numb hand. She was not hit on a vital
acupoint, but the pain was severe. Formerly Ying Gu did not think much of Huang
Rong’s martial art, but as she was hit she became startled and angry. She realized
now that this young crafty kid was not easy to deal with. She swallowed her anger
and cautiously guarded against the opponent’s martial art, trying to gain more
understanding before deciding on the next course of action. She thought, “I have
seen the Twin Killers of the Dark Wind’s martial art. Their skills were very profound,
but they were already thirty, forty years old. How can this little girl attain this kind of
level? It must be that Huang Yaoshi has passed on his lifelong achievement to his
only beloved daughter.”

When she went to the Peach Blossom Island she had suffered a bitter defeat without
even seeing Huang Yaoshi, almost died on the island; therefore, she always feared
the Master of the Peach Blossom Island. She actually did not know that this Dog
Beating Technique was the Beggar Clan Leader’s unique skill, that even if Huang
Yaoshi were there, he would not necessarily be able to penetrate the stick’s defense
immediately.

While Ying Gu hesitated and held her attack back, Huang Rong kept moving her stick
with the sealing technique, blocking Ying Gu from entering the door. In the
meantime Huang Rong’s feet did not stay idle, she moved from one bamboo stick to
the other with agility like a dancing butterfly, kicking the flames one by one. In a
short moment she had extinguished most of the 113 oil lamps.

The way she kicked the lamps was amazing; not only she did not step on any
teacup, none of the teacups was kicked upside down or smashed, also only a little bit
of oil was splashed over. She was fully utilizing the Peach Blossom Island’s ‘sao ye
tui fa’ [sweeping leaves leg/kicking technique]. Her movement was swift and
accurate, but Ying Gu could see that her skill had not yet reached perfection, it was
far inferior to the marvelous changes of the bamboo stick technique. Moreover,
although her injury had been healed, her strength had not fully recovered yet. Ying
Gu thought that if she attacked the lower part of Huang Rong’s body she might score
a victory within dozens of stances. However, as Ying Gu was contemplating her
course of action only about seven or eight oil lamps were left flickering in the wind
on the northeast corner of the room; while the other three corners were already
pitch-black.

Suddenly Huang Rong’s stick moved twice, Ying Gu was startled; under the faint
yellow light of the oil lamp she saw a clearance in between two sharp bamboo stick
on the ground, giving her an opportunity to retreat one step. Huang Rong stuck her
stick on the ground and using it as a pole her body floated in the air horizontally; her
long sleeve whisked off and extinguished the seven, eight remaining lamps.

Ying Gu groaned inwardly, “Although I believe I have a way to score victory, among
these sharp bamboo sticks every step I take can pierce a hole on my foot; how am I
going to fight?” she thought. In the darkness she heard Huang Rong call out, “Have
you memorized the bamboo sticks position? Let us fight for thirty stances; if you can
defeat me, I will let you go in to see Emperor Duan, all right?”

Ying Gu replied, “You are the one who arranged these sticks. I don’t know how much
time you spent practicing here; while you only gave others a wink to look at these
many oil lamps.”

Huang Rong was still young and proud, she always tried to outdo others, she also
had a high confidence on her excellent memory, so she smiled and said, “What’s so
difficult about it? If you want you can light up the oil lamps rearrange the bamboo
sticks as you wish, then extinguish the lamps before we fight again, all right?”

Ying Gu thought, “This is not a martial art contest, but a memorization competition.
This little demon’s intelligence is matchless, how can I risk my life playing memory
game with her while my big enmity is not avenged?” But suddenly she got an
inspiration; after thinking about it for a moment she said, “Fine, that’s fair enough.
Let the Old Lady accompany you playing.” Taking a flint from her pocket she lighted
the oil lamps.

“Why do you keep calling yourself an old lady?” Huang Rong laughed, “I think you
are beautiful, you are prettier than a sixteen years old girl. No wonder Emperor Duan
was so crazy about you.”

Ying Gu was about to pull a bamboo stick and move it someplace else; hearing this
she stopped dead on her track. “He was crazy about me?” she coldly said, “I was in
the palace two whole years; just when did he pay any attention to other people?”

“Ah,” Huang Rong was surprised, “Didn’t he teach you martial art?” she asked.

Ying Gu retorted, “Is teaching martial art considered paying attention?”

“Ah, I know,” Huang Rong said, “Emperor Duan was training the ‘xian tian gong’
[innate/inborn strength/energy], that’s why he could not get intimate with you.”

“Humph,” Ying Gu snorted, “What do you know? How come he got the crown
prince?”

Huang Rong leaned her head sideways; she thought for a moment before answering,
“The crown prince was born before he started training ‘xian tian gong’.”

Ying Gu snorted again but did not say anything. She kept pulling the sticks and
inserted them back in different places. As she inserted the bamboo sticks one by one
Huang Rong memorized their positions carefully; she did not dare to be careless. It
was a matter of life and death, if she missed just a few inches during the fight, it
would mean immediate disaster to her foot.

A moment later Huang Rong spoke again, “Emperor Duan was not willing to save
your son because of his love for you.”

“You knew everything?” Ying Gu said, “Humph, because of his love to me?” Her voice
was brimming with bitterness.

“He was jealous of the Old Urchin,” Huang Rong said, “If he did not love you, why
would he be jealous? He saw your ‘four weaving machines’ mandarin ducks
handkerchief and was extremely grieved because of it.”

Ying Gu had never thought Emperor Duan had this kind of feeling toward her, she
could not help but be lost in thought. Huang Rong continued, “I think you’d better
come back.”

Ying Gu coldly said, “Only if you have the ability to defeat me.”

“All right,” Huang Rong said, “Since you insist, I have no alternative but risking my
life to accompany you. If you can break through my defense, I definitely will not
hinder you anymore. But what if you can’t?”

“I will never go up this mountain again,” Ying Gu said, “I will also free you from your
obligation to accompany me for a year.”

“Wonderful!” Huang Rong clapped her hands, “It would be really unbearable for me
to accompany you on that rotten black marsh.”

While talking Ying Gu had already inserted about fifty, sixty sticks; immediately she
kicked the oil lamps one by one and said, “The rest of them can stay as they are.” In
the darkness her five fingers formed a claw fiercely attacking Huang Rong.

Remembering the sticks location Huang Rong slanted her body sideways and without
hesitation her left foot landed exactly in between two sticks; while the dog beating
stick in her hand shook and attacked Ying Gu’s left shoulder. Who would have
thought that Ying Gu ignored her attack, she kept moving forward in big strides and
with a series of cracking sound she broke about a dozen bamboo sticks with her feet;
hence freely she walked to the rear courtyard.

“Aiyo!” Huang Rong was startled; she realized immediately what had happened, “I
am duped. Turned out when moving the sticks around she exerted her strength and
secretly pinched the sticks broken.” Because she was trying to outdo others she had
not suspected Ying Gu would do such thing; she could not help but feel really vexed.

Rushing to the rear courtyard Ying Gu stretched out her hand to shove the door
open. She saw an old monk sitting on a meditation mat in the middle of the room;
his silvery beard hung down to his chest, a thick monk robe wrapped around his
body up to his cheeks, his head hung low in meditation. The fisherman, the
woodcutter, the farmer and the scholar, along with several old monks and young
apprentices stood on either side.

The woodcutter saw Ying Gu came in, he stepped forward to the old monk, clasped
his palms and said, “Shifu, Liu Niang-niang has come to visit.” The old monk slightly
nodded his head without saying anything.

There was only a single oil lamp in the entire meditation room, so Ying Gu could not
see everybody’s face clearly. She had known earlier that Emperor Duan had become
a monk, but actually she did not think that after about a dozen years without seeing
each other a heroic martial artist emperor could turn into such a fragile old monk.
Recalling Huang Rong’s speech she realized now that the Emperor was not totally
pitiless toward her. Her heart melted and her firm grip of the dagger slowly turned
loose.

Lowering her head she saw the embroidered handkerchief that was wrapped around
her baby was laid in front of the meditation mat where Emperor Duan was sitting. On
top of that ‘du dou’ was the jade bracelet which the Emperor gave her.
Instantaneously past events like entering the palace, training martial art, meeting
Zhou, love and passion, giving birth to her son, mourning his death, everything
came flashing through her mind one by one like scenes on the stage; then she saw
her son’s look when he was in so much pain. Although he was still a baby it seemed
like his eyes spoke thousand sentences ten thousand words wondering why his
mother did not alleviate his pain and suffering. Her anger rose, she raised her
dagger up and with a swift movement the dagger stabbed Emperor Duan’s chest, all
through the handle.

She knew Emperor Duan’s martial art skill, this stab might not necessarily kill him;
moreover, when the dagger went into his chest she had a slightly different feeling.
Right away she pulled the dagger back to stab him the second time. Who would have
thought that the dagger was firmly stuck between his ribs; she was unable to pull it
back in a moment.

The four disciples called out in alarm and rushed forward simultaneously. In her
bitterness Ying Gu had painstakingly practiced this stab thousands of times over a
dozen of years period. She knew perfectly well that Emperor Duan would surely
guard against her attack, so while her right hand did the stabbing, her left palm had
already fluttered around, guarding the left, right and the back, three sides of her
own body. Now that she could not pull the dagger back, she saw the circumstances
had turned to her disadvantage. Her feet moved and she leaped toward the door.
Turning her head around she caught a glimpse of Emperor Duan with his left hand on
his chest, seemingly in great pain.

Now that her big enmity had been avenged, just as quick she was not sure of what
she did anymore; suddenly remembered, “I had an affair with someone else and
gave birth to a child, he did not speak even half a word of reproach and left me live
freely in the palace. Not only he did not execute me, but he abundantly provided
everything for me. In actuality he was always very good to me.” All along she only
remembered that Emperor Duan did not save her son’s life, her heart was filled with
hatred. Only after stabbing his chest did she remember all his kindness. She heaved
a deep sigh, turned around and went out the door.

As she turned around she gasped in horror with sweats came pouring down her
body, because she saw an old monk clasping his palms in front of his chest was
standing on the door. Under the lamp light she could see his face looked grand and
his eyes showed compassion; although he was wearing a monk robe it was as clear
as the day that he was the former ruler of the southern kingdom, Emperor Duan. It
was as if Ying Gu was seeing an apparition; like a flash of lightning a thought came
into her mind, “Did I just kill the wrong person?” She swept her gaze backward and
saw the monk she had just stabbed was slowly standing up; while removing his
monk attire his left hand pulled on his chin and the white long beard came off. Ying
Gu uttered another cry of shock; it turned out that old monk was Guo Jing in
disguise.

It was precisely Huang Rong’s scheme: Guo Jing sealed Reverend Yideng’s acupoint
and deliberately took his place to receive Ying Gu’s dagger. He was afraid the Indian
Monk’s martial art skill might be high, so he attacked him first; who would have
thought that the Indian Monk did not even know martial arts. Later on Huang Rong
delayed Ying Gu by explaining the three mathematical problems in the courtyard;
and then using the dog beating technique she fought her amidst the sharpened
bamboo sticks by the oil lamps. In the meantime the four disciples quickly helped
Guo Jing wash up the mud and shave his head clean. They also shaved Reverend
Yideng’s long white beard and stuck it underneath Guo Jing’s chin. Actually the four
disciples did not feel comfortable treating their master in such a disrespectful manner
and to let Guo Jing brave a grave danger; they were feeling very uneasy. But in
order to save their master’s life they did not have any other choice; if it were one of
the four disciples disguising themselves, their martial art was inferior to Ying Gu,
they might die under Ying Gu’s dagger.

As Ying Gu stabbed her dagger Guo Jing deftly moved his two fingers inside the
monk robe to pinch the flat sides of the dagger. Who would have thought that Ying
Gu’s stab was so powerful that even with Guo Jing’s finger strength the blade still cut
through about half an inch of his flesh; luckily it did not break his ribs and he only
suffered a superficial wound. He could have worn the soft hedgehog armor, which
was impenetrable by the dagger; but Ying Gu was cunning; she would perceive the
difference, then they would not get rid of the source of the disaster. If she failed this
time, she would come back to seek revenge in the future.

Everybody was delighted to see this ‘jin chan tuo qiao zhi ji’ [lit. golden cicada sheds
its shell tactic] accomplished successfully; who would have thought that Yideng
chose this very moment to make a sudden appearance. Not only Ying Gu was
startled, but everybody else also did not anticipate this to happen.

Because Yideng suffered a heavy injury and lost his strength, Guo Jing did not dare
to seal his acupoint with too much strength for fear of injuring him further. In the
back room Yideng slowly circulated his internal energy to unseal his own acupoint,
and then he went back to the meditation room, arriving exactly at this moment.

Ying Gu’s face was pale like that of a corpse, she thought she had fallen into this trap
and certainly would not have a good fortune. But Yideng told Guo Jing, “Return the
dagger to her.”

Guo Jing did not dare to defy, he returned the dagger to Ying Gu. Ying Gu
absentmindedly took the dagger while staring at Yideng. She was wondering what
kind of torture he would use against her. But she saw that he slowly removed his
monk robe and also his undergarment, and then said, “Nobody shall give her any
trouble, let her go down the mountain in peace. All right, go ahead and stab me; I
have been waiting for you for a long, long time.”

These words were said very gently, but in Ying Gu’s ears they were like thunderous
lightning in a bright daylight. She stood motionless for half a day, then her grip
loosened and the dagger fell to the ground with a clanking sound. Covering her face
with both hands she rushed out of the room. They heard her footsteps as she went
farther and farther away until finally they could hear her anymore.

Everybody looked at each other in shock, nobody made any noise. Suddenly ‘thump,
thump’ the student and the farmer fell backward to the ground. Turned out because
their fingers were poisoned, in the commotion that followed they suppressed the
poison using their internal energy; by now the saw their master was well, their
hearts were relieved and could not hold the poison much longer.

“Hurry, invite Martial Uncle!” the woodcutter called out.

Before he finished Huang Rong had already accompanied the Indian Monk walking
into the room. He was an expert in treating poison related illness. He quickly gave
two people some medicine to take, also cut their fingers to get rid of the black blood.
His face looked very serious, while his mouth mumbling in sanskrit, “A ma li, ha shi
tu, si gu er, qi nuo dan ji.”

Yideng understood Sanskrit, he knew his disciples’ lives were not in danger. They
would have to be treated for two months then they would be healed completely.

Meanwhile Guo Jing had removed his monk robe and treated the wound on his chest;
he bowed to the ground in front of Yideng to apologize. Yideng busily held out his
hand to raise him up; he sighed and said, “You risked your life to save mine; nothing
to forgive.” Then he turned toward his martial brother and explained in Sanskrit what
Guo Jing had done.

The Indian monk said, “Si li xing, ang yi na de.”

Guo Jing was startled; he knew these two sentences, and he could even recite the
next line, “Si re que xu, ha hu wen bo ying …”

Zhou Botong had taught him to recite the Nine Yin Manual in its entirety. The last
part of Manual was full of all these strange sentences. Guo Jing did not understand
its meaning, but he was forced to memorize the entire Manual including all these
mumbo-jumbo; hence he was able to recite it effortlessly.

Hearing him speaking Sanskrit Yideng and the Indian Monk were stunned; moreover,
what he had just said was related to excellent technique to cultivate internal energy;
they were even more astonished. Yideng asked him the whole story and Guo Jing
told him without concealing anything. Yideng was endlessly marveled, he said, “I
have heard the story behind the Nine Yin Manual from Chongyang Zhenren. Huang
Shang, the person who compiled the manual was not only highly skilled, he was also
well-versed in the Daoist canon, skilled in the internal energy cultivation, and
understood Sanskrit. When the manual was complete, the last chapter was actually
the essence of it. Suddenly he realized that if this manual falls into the hand of
criminals, they would be able to turn the world upside down without anybody
controlling them. But he was also unwilling to destroy this last chapter; thereupon he
rewrote the chapter in Sanskrit, but with Chinese transliteration. He thought that it
was difficult to say whether the Manual could be passed on to the future generation;
the people of Central Plains who knew Sanskrit was very few, and even more rare
was the number of people who were well-versed both in martial art and Sanskrit
literature. If the Manual fall into the hand of an Indian, although he is proficient in
Sanskrit, but he does not speak Chinese. Huang Shang arranged it this way; actually
it was the same as not allowing the future generation to understand the content.
Because of this Sanskrit part even Chongyang Zhenren did not understand the
Manual’s meaning. Who would have thought that through divine intervention you
who do not understand Sanskrit can actually memorize this lengthy great theory that
sounds like incantations? It is truly a very rare opportunity.” Thereupon he asked
Guo Jing to recite the Sanskrit part slowly while he translated it into Chinese, wrote
it on a piece of paper and gave it to Guo Jing and Huang Rong.

The overall guiding principle of energy cultivation in the Nine Yin Manual was
mysteriously deep; although Reverend Yideng was a proficient scholar with profound
internal energy, he could not dissect the theory completely in such a short period of
time. “Stay on the mountain for a few days, let me dig into it comprehensively, then
I will transfer my knowledge to you two,” he said. He further said, “Usually as my
internal strength is damaged, I will need five years of continuous training for a full
recovery; but if I practice according to the Manual, it seems like in less than three
months I will get a five-year-worth of internal energy cultivation. Although what I
practiced is a Buddhist martial art, which was different from the Taoism method of
internal energy cultivation in the Manual, but looking at this principle, as the martial
art is trained to the highest level, different approaches will lead to the same result; it
is no different than the Buddhism method.”

Huang Rong told him how Hong Qigong was injured by Ouyang Feng. Reverend
Yideng showed great concern. “You two must tell your Shifu about the Nine Yin
internal energy cultivation method; I am certain he will recover his internal
strength,” he said. Guo Jing and Huang Rong were very delighted to hear this.

Two people stayed on the mountain for more than ten days. Everyday Reverend
Yideng explained the Nine Yin energy cultivation method to them. Huang Rong also
took this opportunity for her own recovery.

One particular day they were walking idly outside the meditation building when
suddenly they heard anxious cry of eagles in the air; they saw a pair of white eagles
in the distance coming from the east. Huang Rong clapped her hands, “Jin wawa [lit.
golden baby – see Chapter 29] is here!” The pair of eagles folded their wings and
landed, they looked weary. Two people could not help to be alarmed; they saw a
gaping wound on the breast of the female eagle. It looked like an arrow wound, but
the arrow was no longer there; apparently the eagles had pulled the arrow
themselves. There was a piece of green cloth tied on the male eagle’s foot; but they
did not bring any ‘jin wawa’ with them.

Huang Rong recognized this piece of green cloth as coming from her father’s robe;
then the pair of eagles had indeed been to the Peach Blossom Island. Could it be that
there were powerful enemies on the Island? Could it be that Huang Yaoshi was too
busy engaging the enemy that he did not have a chance to fulfill his daughter’s
request?

The pair of eagles was smart animals, yet the female eagle was hit by an arrow;
indicating the person shooting the arrow must have been an excellent martial artist.
Guo Jing quickly applied some ointment and wrapped the wound on the female
eagle’s breast. Huang Rong was thinking hard for half a day, but in the end she still
did not have any clue as to what was happening. Too bad the eagles could not talk,
otherwise they would be able to tell what they saw on the Peach Blossom Island.

Two people worried over Huang Yaoshi’s safety; hence they bid farewell to Reverend
Yideng immediately. “We can still be together for many days to come, but since
there is something happening on the Peach Blossom Island I cannot retain you
anymore. However, Yao Xiong [Brother Yao] is all-resourceful; he is wise and smart.
I believe no one in the present age is able to harm him; you two do not have to be
too anxious.”

Yideng then sent for the fisherman, the woodcutter, the farmer and the scholar;
together with Guo Jing and Huang Rong they sat on meditation mats in front of him.
He explained the essence of martial art for several hours. When he was finished Guo
Jing and Huang Rong bid their farewell reluctantly. The scholar and the farmer had
not recovered yet, so they only sent them off to the gate. The fisherman and the
woodcutter walked them off to the foot of the mountain. They waited until the two
people found their little red horse and at last said their goodbyes with heavy hearts.

Guo Jing and Huang Rong returned via the same road, the scenery was still the
same; but their feeling was entirely different from when they went up the mountain
just several days ago. Remembering Reverend Yideng’s profound kindness could not
help but cause her to bend her knees and bow toward the mountain peak. Guo Jing
followed her and kowtowed several times.

Along the way although Huang Rong was concerned about her father, she thought
that all the time he had roamed the world far and wide he rarely suffered any
setback. Even if he met a powerful enemy, perhaps he would not win, but at least he
had enough ability to defend himself; just like Reverend Yideng had said, “No one in
the present age is able to harm him.” Therefore, she was not overly anxious.

Two people sat on the little red horse’s back, chatting casually in light mood. Huang
Rong laughed, “I don’t know how many times we faced dangers since we met each
other, but every time we suffered some loss, we also had some gains. Like this time
I suffered injury under that old Qiu Qianren’s palms; in the end we found out the
marvelous secret of the ‘jiu yin shen gong’ [lit. nine yin divine strength/energy];
which Wang Chongyang himself did not understand.”

“I would rather not know any martial art as long as you are safe and well,” Guo Jing
said.

In her heart Huang Rong was very happy but she laughed and said, “Aiyo, if you
want to flatter others you don’t need to blow such a big horn! If you don’t know
martial art, you would be long dead. Let’s not talk about Ouyang Feng, Sha Tongtian
and the others; even a black-dressed Iron Palm Clan member would be able to cut
your head with a knife.”

“No matter what I can’t allow you to be injured anymore,” Guo Jing said, “Last time
when I was injured in Lin’an I felt all right; but these past few days looking at you
suffering so much pain, ay, that was really not good.”

“Humph,” Huang Rong smiled, “You are a heartless man.”

“Why?” Guo Jing wondered.

“You would rather be injured,” Huang Rong said, “Do you think I will feel all right?”

Guo Jing was taken aback; and then he let out a long laugh. His legs kicked the little
red horse’s ribs and the horse ran faster; it looked like its four feet were flying above
the ground that by noon they had arrived at Taoyuan prefecture. Huang Rong had
not yet recovered fully; after half a day of riding she was very tired, her cheeks were
flushed and she was panting for breath. There was only one decent restaurant in the
city of Taoyuan, it was called ‘bi qin jiu lou’ [evading qin (dynasty) wine shop; lou –
multi-story building]. Its name came from the ‘tao hua yuan ji’ [a note on the origin
of peach blossom] a literary work of Tao Yuanming [Translator’s note: different
characters from the ‘Taoyuan’ prefecture].

Guo Jing and Huang Rong took a seat and immediately called for food and wine. To
the wine shop attendant Guo Jing said, “Brother, we need to go to Hankou; I am
wondering if you could go down to the river and invite a boatman to come over here
to talk to us.”

The wine shop attendant said, “If Sir is willing to ride the boat together with other
people, you will save quite a bit of money. To charter a boat just for the two of you
will cost you a lot of money.”

Huang Rong rolled her eyes; she took a silver ingot worth five ‘liang’s and tossed it
to the table. “Is it enough?” she asked.

“Enough, enough,” the wine shop attendant busily said with a smile. He turned
around and went downstairs.

Guo Jing was afraid Huang Rong’s condition has worsened, so he forbade her from
drinking wine; as a result, he also restrained from drinking himself, they only ate the
meals. They just ate half a bowl of food when the wine shop attendant came back
with a boatman; saying that the boatman agreed to take them to Hankou, the rice
was included but the dishes were not, and the total cost would be three ‘liang’s and
six ‘qian’s of silver. Huang Rong did not bargain; she simply gave the silver ingot to
the boatman. The boatman took the silver and cupped his hands in an expression of
gratitude; he pointed to his own mouth and made several hoarse throaty ‘Ah’
sounds. Turned out he was a mute. His hand flailing to the east and pointing to the
west, making some hand signals. Huang Rong nodded and also made some hand
signals. It seemed like their signals were very complicated and they were
communicating at length, exchanging signals incessantly. At last the mute looked
pleased, he nodded his head repeatedly and left.

“What were the two of you discussing?” Guo Jing asked.

“He said we’ll leave as soon as we finish eating here,” Huang Rong replied, “I told
him to buy several chickens, several catties of meat, some good wine and
vegetables; and not to worry about money. I will reimburse everything later.”

Guo Jing sighed, “If I met this mute boatman by myself, I wouldn’t know what to
do,” he said. Since all the servants on the Peach Blossom Island were deaf and
mute, Huang Rong had learned how to communicate in sign language since she was
two years old.

The honey-steamed cured fish of that restaurant was really tasty; Guo Jing ate
several pieces and remembered Hong Qigong. “I wonder where ‘en shi’ [benevolent
master] is, and how is his injury?” he said, “Thinking about him makes me worried.”
He wished he could wrap some cured fish and gave it to Hong Qigong.

Huang Rong was about to reply when she heard footsteps coming up the stairs. A
Taoist priestess appeared. She wore grey Taoist robe with a veil over her face to
protect her against the dust. The veil covered her mouth and nose so that only her
eyes were visible. The priestess chose a table in the corner and sat down. The wine
shop attendant promptly greeted her. The priestess talked in low voice. The wine
shop attendant gave his reply and went downstairs. A short moment later he came
back with a bowl of vegetable noodle. Huang Rong thought this priestess looked
familiar, but she could not figure out where she saw her.

Guo Jing followed her gaze and turned his head toward the priestess, who hastily
turned her head around. Apparently the priestess was also looking at him. Huang
Rong smiled and whispered, “Jing Gege, that priestess’ heart is moved by worldly
desire; she must thinks that you are outstandingly good-looking.”

“Pei,” Guo Jing spat, “Don’t talk nonsense. How can you make fun of ‘chu jia ren’ [lit.
people who leave their homes to become monks or priests]?”

Huang Rong laughed, “If you don’t believe me, just wait and see.”

They finished eating and walked to the stairs. Huang Rong was still in doubt, she
cast another glance toward that priestess, who at that moment lifted up her veil a
little bit, revealing her face. Huang Rong gasped and almost cried out in surprise.
The priestess shook her hand, put the veil back down immediately and lowering her
head she resumed eating the noodle. Guo Jing had walked down and was oblivious to
what was going on.

They went downstairs and settled the bill. The mute boatman was already waiting
outside the restaurant door. Huang Rong made several hand signals, saying that
they needed to buy some things and would be little bit late coming to the boat. The
mute boatman nodded, pointed to a boat with a black sail by the river. Huang Rong
nodded, but she saw the boatman did not leave, so she took Guo Jing walking to the
eastern end of the road. As they walked to a corner they stopped and hid behind a
wall, so that they were not visible from the restaurant while they could still see the
restaurant entrance.

Not too long afterwards the priestess left the restaurant; she looked at the little red
horse and the pair of eagles nearby. It appeared she was looking for Guo Jing and
Huang Rong. After looking at four directions without seeing anybody she turned and
walked to the west.

“Right, just as I expected,” Huang Rong said in a low voice. She pulled Guo Jing’s
sleeve and hastened to the east. Guo Jing was baffled, but he did not ask any
questions, he simply followed her obediently.

The town of Taoyuan was not big; in a short moment they had arrived at the eastern
gate. Huang Rong turned around to the south. After passing the southern gate they
turned again to the west.

“Are we following that priestess?” Guo Jing asked in a low voice, “Don’t play a joke
on me.”

Huang Rong laughed, “What joke?” she said, “The priestess is so beautiful like an
angel; if you don’t pursue her you will regret it later.”

Guo Jing anxiously halted his steps, “Rong’er, if you keep making this kind of talk I
will be angry,” he said.

“I am not afraid,” Huang Rong said, “I want to see you mad.”

Guo Jing was dumbfounded; he had no choice but to continue walking.

Approximately five, six ‘li’s later they saw in the distant that priestess was sitting
underneath a locust tree. As soon as the priestess saw Jing and Rong arrive, she
stood up and walked along a small pathway leading to a hill. Huang Rong pulled Guo
Jing’s hand and they walked toward the pathway.

“Rong’er,” Guo Jing anxiously said, “If you deliberately want to create trouble, then
I’ll have to hold you and drag you back.”

“I am really tired of walking,” Huang Rong said, “I think you’d better follow her by
yourself.”

Guo Jing’s face showed a deep concern; he squatted and said, “If you are tired then
let me carry you on my back.”

Huang Rong giggled and said, “I am going to pull her veil away so you can take a
look at her face.” She sped up her footsteps to pursue the priestess. The priestess
turned around, waiting for them. Huang Rong grabbed her veil and uncovered her
face.

Guo Jing followed behind, he called out, “Rong’er, don’t create trouble!” But as he
saw the priestess’ face he was stunned and was at a loss of words. He saw a deep
crease between her beautiful eyebrows, her eyes brimming with tears, her face had
a pitiful look; obviously she was in distress. She was none other than Mu Nianci.

Huang Rong hugged her waist, “Mu Jiejie [elder sister Mu], what happened? Did that
kid Yang Kang bully you?” she asked. Mu Nianci hang down her head without saying
anything.

Guo Jing came near and greeted her, “Sister.” Mu Nianci uttered a soft ‘mmm’
sound.

Huang Rong pulled Mu Nianci’s hand toward a weeping willow by a small creek; they
sat down underneath the tree. “Sister, how did he bully you?” Huang Rong asked,
“We’ll find him to settle the score. Brother Jing and I also suffered and our two lives
were almost gone under his hands.” Mu Nianci lowered her head, still did not say
anything. Huang Rong and her images were reflected on the clear creek water.
Petals of flowers fell down on the water and slowly floated by, disrupting the
reflections.

Guo Jing sat on a rock a few feet apart from the two, his mind was filled with
questions: why did Sister Mu dressed as a priestess? Why didn’t she greet them at
the restaurant? Where did Yang Kang go?

Seeing Mu Nianci’s grieving look Huang Rong did not ask anymore questions; she
quietly held her hands tight.

After a quite while Mu Nianci opened her mouth, “Meizi [younger sister, term of
endearment], Brother Guo, the boat you hired belongs to the Iron Palm Clan. They
are setting up a trap to harm you.”

Jing and Rong two people were startled; “That mute boatman?” they asked with
uneven voices.

“Exactly,” Mu Nianci said, “But he is not mute. He is one of the Iron Palm Clan’s
henchmen, his voice is so loud that he is afraid if he opens his mouth he will rouse
your suspicion; hence he pretends to be mute.”
Huang Rong was secretly alarmed, “If you did not say I wouldn’t see through his
disguise,” she said, “No wonder this fellow’s sign language is very good; he has often
disguised himself as a mute many times.”

Guo Jing leaped up the willow tree; he swept his gaze around, but other than two,
three farmers in the field he did not see anybody else. He thought, “If not because of
Rong’er and Sister Mu walked in circle I am afraid the Iron Palm Clan people would
be here by now.”

Mu Nianci heaved a long sigh and slowly said, “You have already known my affair
with Yang Kang. Later on I brought adoptive father’s and mother’s coffin to the
south. I met him again on a desolate place in the Ox Village of Lin’an.”

Huang Rong opened her mouth, “That, we also knew; we even saw him killing
Ouyang Ke with our own eyes.” Mu Nianci looked at her with eyes wide open, Huang
Rong’s words were hard to believed. Thereupon Huang Rong told her briefly how Guo
Jing and she were hiding in the secret room to treat his internal injury, also how
Yang Kang had assumed false identity as the Beggar Clan Leader, how two people
narrowly escaped danger and so on. It was a long story with all its takes and turns,
but Huang Rong was eager to know Mu Nianci’s experience, so she only raised the
important parts.

Gritting her teeth Mu Nianci said, “This man did all kinds of evil, someday he will not
have a good end. I regretted myself to have eyes but failed to see, that I will have to
go through all these calamities by unexpectedly meeting him.”

Huang Rong groped her pocket for a handkerchief and gently wiped the tears on her
cheeks. Mu Nianci’s heart was troubled; all kinds of bad things had come her way
that in a moment she did not know where to start. She tried to gather her thoughts
and slowly calmed herself down; only then did she open her mouth to tell her story.

End of Chapter 31
Chapter 32 – Rushing River Rugged Shore
(Translated by Foxs, Edited by Eliza Bennet)
Caption to the picture:
The mute boatman took out an axe and with two chops he cut the mooring rope.
Immediately afterwards he raised the anchor. As the boat came free, the rushing
water washed it out down the river. It made a sudden turn as the hull slanted
sideways and rushed away as though flying down the river.
Mu Nianci let Huang Rong hold her right hand; she looked at the fallen flowers
floating on the water and said, “When I saw him kill Ouyang Ke I thought he was
going to repent from his evil ways. Moreover I saw the two masters from the Beggar
Clan were so respectful toward him when they went to the west. I’ve met those two
Beggar Clan uncles before; they were Senior Qigong’s trusted aides. Seeing them
treat him that way I was very happy; so I followed them till we get to Yuezhou,
where the Beggar Clan was having their congress on Mount Jun.

Before then he quietly told me that he had received Hong Enshi’s [Benevolent Master
Hong] order to become the Beggar Clan’s Bangzhu [Clan Leader]. I was surprised
and happy. In all honesty it was hard to believe, but I saw even the highest ranking
Elders of the Beggar Clan treat him with utmost respect, I didn’t have any choice but
to believe him. I am not a member of the Beggar Clan, so naturally I could not
participate in the congress and had to wait for him in Yuezhou city. I thought that as
he become the leader of the Beggar Clan heroes he would be able to do much good
for the people and the country, to achieve great things, and in the future would be
able to repel the invaders and avenge adoptive father and mother.
That night my mind went back and forth and I couldn’t sleep; I thought from now on
everything would be all right. It was almost daybreak when I finally felt tired and
was about to fall asleep when suddenly he jumped in from the window. I jumped in
fright; I thought he was having some ideas towards me. But he actually spoke in low
voice, ‘Meizi [younger sister, term of endearment], things did not go well, we must
go.’ I was surprised and asked him what happened; he said, ‘There was an internal
dispute in the Beggar Clan; the Dirty Clothes Faction refused to accept Hong
Bangzhu’s order. The Clean Clothes Faction and the Dirty Clothes Faction battled
each other in this new Clan Leader business; many people were killed.’ I was
shocked, ‘What should we do?’ I asked. He said, ‘Because too many people has died,
I withdrew my nomination, I did not want to become the Clan Leader anymore.’
Taking the entire situation into consideration, I thought he was doing the right thing.
He said further, ‘The Clean Clothes Faction did not want to let me go; fortunately Qiu
Bangzhu from the Iron Palm Clan came to my assistance and helped me leave Mount
Jun. Right now we’d better go to the Iron Palm Mountain first and we’ll talk it over
later.’ I did not know whether the Iron Palm Clan was a good clan or an evil one; but
since he said so, I followed him.

When we got to the Iron Palm Mountain, I did not see the Qiu Bangzhu from the Iron
Palm Clan, but I was watched over with cold eyes. I noticed that the Iron Palm Clan’s
behavior was sneaky, I saw strange things everywhere. I said to him, ‘Although you
did not become the Beggar Clan leader, you shouldn’t walk away from them. I think
you’d better find your Shifu, the Changchun Zi [Eternal Spring] Qiu Daozhang [Taoist
Priest], and ask him to gather the heroes of the Jianghu to uphold the justice, to
help the Beggar Clan elect a person of virtue and prestige within their clan to assume
the Clan Leader position to avoid a bloodbath within the clan. Hence you will be
fulfilling Hong Enshi’s order to you.’ He mumbled indistinctly, neither said yes nor
no; but actually raised the matter of his marriage with me. I rebuked him severely;
he became angry. We ended up having a heated argument.

The next day I started to regret my harshness; I thought even though he could not
differentiate the important from the trivial, friends from foe, and oftentimes acted
childish, nevertheless he was always kind to me. I felt I was being too hard on him,
no wonder he was mad at me. That evening the more I thought about it the more
restless I became. I lit a lamp to write a note, saying I did not blame him. Quietly I
went to his room; I was going to slip the note through his window, but suddenly I
heard him talking with somebody. I took a peek from the window; I saw a rather
short white-bearded old man, he was wearing a yellow coarse-linen short robe, with
a large palm leaf fan in his hand.”

Guo Jing and Huang Rong exchanged glances, they both thought, “I wonder if he
was Qiu Qianren or Qiu Qianzhang?”

Mu Nianci continued, “That old man took a small porcelain vial from his pocket and
put it on the table, he said, ‘Brother Yang, if your fiancée does not listen to you, that
is a very simple matter. Just take some medicinal powder from this vial and put it in
a cup of green tea, let her drink it, I guarantee you will enjoy a wedding night
tonight.”

As Jing and Rong two people heard this, they both thought, “It was Qiu Qianzhang.”

Mu Nianci continued, “To my surprise that boy Yang Kang beamed with joy and
repeatedly said thanks. I was so angry that I almost passed out. A moment later that
old man took his leave. Quietly I followed behind him. After it was far enough, I
pounced on him, I beat his chest and struck him down. If I were not in a dangerous
place, I would’ve taken a knife and killed him right then and there. I repeatedly hit
him until he passed out, then I searched his body. This old man’s pocket really did
contain many things; some rings, broken sword, a piece of brick, and all kinds of
strange things. I think all of them are things to harm people. I also found a book. I
didn’t know what it was, but I thought it might be useful somehow, so I put it in my
pocket. The more I thought, the madder I became. I made up my mind to deal with
Yang Kang.

I went back to Yang Kang’s room. Who would have thought that he was standing at
the door? He smiled at me and said, ‘Meizi, please come in.’ Early on I have decided
that tonight I must make myself clear to him, so I went in. He pointed to the
porcelain vial on the table and smiled, ‘Meizi,’ he said, ‘Can you guess what’s inside
this vial?’ I was angry, ‘Who knows all these kinds of dirty things?’ I said. He smiled
and said, ‘A friend gave it to me a moment ago, he said if I take some of this
medicinal powder and put it in a cup of green tea and give it to you, then everything
will happen as I wish.’ His words have actually blown me away, my anger vanished
immediately. I took that porcelain vial and threw it out over the window. ‘Did you do
it?’ I asked. ‘I respect and adore Meizi like a deity, how can I engage myself in this
kind of filthy business?’ he replied.”

Guo Jing nodded his head, “Brother Yang has done the right thing,” he said.
“Humph,” Mu Nianci snorted but did not say anything. Huang Rong recalled that day
on the Iron Palm Mountain she peeked through the window and saw Yang Kang sit
on the edge of the bed, embracing her and talking softly with Mu Nianci. At that time
Mu Nianci was smiling, her face was tender. Apparently that happened after she
threw the vial away.

“And then what happened?” Guo Jing asked. Zhou Botong told him that whenever
somebody was telling a story, a ‘And then what happened?’ every now and then
would help keep the story-teller’s interest high; but unexpectedly Mu Nianci’s face
turned red, she turned her head away and hang her head low without saying
anything.

“Ah, I know!” Huang Rong suddenly called out, “Afterwards you bowed to the heaven
and earth and became man and wife.”

Mu Nianci turned her head back, actually her face was a little pale; she bit her lower
lip and her eyes shone with a strange look. Huang Rong was scared; she knew she
said something wrong. “I am sorry, I talked nonsense,” she hastily said, “Good
Sister, please don’t be offended.”

Chapter 32- Part 2

Mu Nianci spoke with a low voice, “You did not talk nonsense, it was I who messed
up. I … I have become his wife, but we did not … we did not bow to the heaven and
earth. I hate myself for not having a stronger self control …” Speaking to this point
tears came streaming down her face.

Seeing her miserable look Huang Rong stretched out her left arm to hold her
shoulder. She wanted to say something to comfort her so after a while she pointed
to Guo Jing and said, “Sister, you don’t have to feel sorry, it was nothing. That day
in the Ox Village Jing Gege and I also became man and wife.”

As he heard this, Guo Jing was dumbstruck. He was blushing profusely and did not
dare to look up; he only mumbled, “We … we did not … did not …”

Huang Rong laughed, “Don’t tell me you did not think about that?” she asked.

Guo Jing’s face was red from ear to ear; he lowered his head and said softly, “I was
not being good.”

Huang Rong stretched her right arm and patted Guo Jing’s shoulder. “You want to
become man and wife with me, and I like that very much. What do you mean you
were not being good?” she said with a gentle voice.

Mu Nianci sighed and thought, “Although Sister Huang is extraordinarily smart, she is
too young to understand the man-woman relationship. It is truly fortunate for her to
meet such an honest and considerate fellow like this Brother Guo.”

“Sister,” Huang Rong asked, “And then what happened?”

Mu Nianci looked at the creek and said in low voice, “And then … and then … I heard
commotion outside, like there was a fight going on. He told me not to make any
noise, that it was the Iron Palm Clan’s internal affair, it had nothing to do with us.
Some time later somebody knocked our door, saying that Qiu Bangzhu wanted to
talk. He hastily got up and told me to hide in the bed and not to move. He lit up a
lamp and someone came in. I looked through the curtain and to my surprise I saw
that bad old man I met a while ago. I was worried to find out that he was the Clan
Leader of the Iron Palm Clan; I feared he came to interrogate me about why I
plotted against him. How would I know that … that he was the Clan Leader? Luckily
he did not bring this matter up; actually Yang Kang and he discussed things like how
to destroy the Beggar Clan and how to support the Jin army movement to the
south.”

Huang Rong smiled, “Sister, those two old men are not the same person,” she said.

“Not the same person?” Mu Nianci was surprised.

Huang Rong laughed, “Those two are twin brothers; they look exactly alike. The one
you flattened was called Qiu Qianzhang; his martial art was only so-so, all he could
do was just some tricks to deceive people. This Qiu Bangzhu, Qiu Qianren is
amazing. Luckily you beat the fake Clan Leader; if you came across the real Clan
Leader, with just one strike of his Iron Palm, I am afraid your little life would be
difficult to protect.”

“That’s so,” Mu Nianci gloomily said, “Actually it would be better if I met with the real
Qiu Bangzhu that day and if he struck me dead with one palm.”

Huang Rong laughed, “Our Brother Yang might not want to give you up,” she said.

Mu Nianci twisted her body around so that Huang Rong’s hand fell from her shoulder.
“Don’t talk to me like that,” she said sternly.

Huang Rong stuck out her tongue and laughed, “All right, it’s me who don’t want to
give you up.”

Mu Nianci stood up and said, “Brother Guo, Sister Huang, I am leaving. You two take
care; be careful of the Iron Palm Clan’s evil scheme on the boat.”

Huang Rong hastily stood up and held her hand. “Good Sister, please don’t be
angry,” she pleaded, “I won’t dare to talk nonsense anymore.”

Mu Nianci heaved a deep sigh, “I wasn’t angry with you, I … I was grieving.”

“Why?” Huang Rong asked, “Did that boy Yang Kang provoke your anger?” She
pulled Mu Nianci to sit back down.

Mu Nianci said, “That night from behind the curtain I heard Yang Kang and that old
man surnamed Qiu discussing all kind of plans to betray our country and harm the
people; the more I heard the angrier I became. I wanted very much to jump out and
kill that old man. They were talking for a long time. Suddenly the commotion outside
got louder. That old man said, ‘Xiao Wangye [Young Prince, lit. young king master], I
am going to take a look. We’ll talk again later.’ Then he left the room.”

“That’s right,” Huang Rong interrupted, “He went out to pursue Jing Gege and me.”

“After that old man left,” Mu Nianci continued, “Yang Kang went back to make small
talk with me. I asked him whether the things he discussed with that old man was a
real thing or was he only pretending. He said, ‘We have become man and wife; I
don’t need to conceal anything from you. It won’t be long before the Jin army will
invade the south. We have received Iron Palm Clan’s great help to strike from both
inside and outside. By attacking from two fronts, our victory is guaranteed.’ He was
talking excitedly. He said that after the Great Jin destroyed the Song Dynasty, his
father king, Zhao Wangye [Prince, lit. king master] will ascend to the great treasure,
becoming the Emperor of the Great Jin; he will then be the crown prince. By that
time riches and honor will be limitless. I listened without saying anything. He
suddenly said, ‘Meizi, at that time you will be the Empress.’ I … I could not hold my
patience much longer; I slapped his face fiercely and ran out the door, anxiously
rushed down the mountain.

By then the commotion on the Iron Palm Peak had worsened; countless clan
members with torches in their hands rushed toward the highest mountain peak. I
was the only one going down the mountain, so I did not meet any resistance.
After this incident my heart felt like it was dying; as a matter of fact, I wanted to die
very much. I did not know east from west, north from south, I just kept walking and
walking, wandering aimlessly. Finally I saw a Taoist temple. I rushed toward the
temple and barely stepped into the door when I fainted. Fortunately there was an old
priestess living in that temple who gave me shelter. I was sick for more than ten
days and I just got well not a few days ago. I donned this priestess garb and set on
a journey to the Ox Village. Unexpectedly I met with you two here.”

Huang Rong was delighted, “Sister, we are on our way to the Peach Blossom Island
and happened to go the same way. What do you say the three of us travel together?
Then our journey will be more fun. If you don’t look down on me, I’ll teach you some
martial arts along the way.”

Mu Nianci shook her head and said, “No, I … I want to go alone. I appreciate Sister’s
good intention very much.” She stood up, took out a book from her pocket and gave
it to Guo Jing; she said, “Brother Guo, this book contains some matters concerning
the Iron Palm Clan. Please give it to Senior Qigong whenever you see him; perhaps
he will have some use for it.”

“Yes,” Guo Jing said, holding out his hand to receive the book.

Mu Nianci walked quickly so that in a short moment she was far away; never once
did she turn her head around to see them. Guo Jing and Huang Rong watched her
back disappear behind a row of willow trees in the distance. They were silent for half
a day.

Guo Jing said, “She is all alone, traveling thousands of ‘li’s to Zhejiang. I do hope she
won’t meet some bullies along the way. It’s a good thing that her martial art is not
weak; she does not have to fear ordinary criminals.”

“That is difficult to say,” Huang Rong said, “Even people like you and I are still
bullied by some bad people.”
Guo Jing sighed, “Er Shifu [Second Master] often said, ‘In a tumultuous time, people
are not better than dogs.’ There is nothing we can do about it.”

Chapter 32- Part 3

“All right, let’s kill that mute dog then,” Huang Rong said.

“What mute dog?” Guo Jing asked.

Huang Rong made some ‘ah, ah, uh, uh’ noise, flailing her hands and feet. Guo Jing
laughed. “Are we going to ride this mute’s boat?” he asked.

“Absolutely,” Huang Rong said, “That old traitor Qiu Qianren had caused me a lot of
pain, how can I just let it go? I am not his match, but I want to kill some of his
disciples and followers first and talk about it later.”

They went back to the restaurant immediately, and saw that mute boatman snooping
around the restaurant to find them. As he saw them, his face was beaming, he busily
greeted them. Jing and Rong two people acted like nothing happened; they followed
him boarding the boat.

The boat was not too big nor it was too small, it was covered with black matting; it
held around eighty, ninety sacks of rice. This kind of boat was very common along
the Yuanjiang [Yuan River], transporting commodities from the hills of Xiangxi and
rice from the fields of the lake front. Two bare-chested young men were scrubbing
the deck.

As soon as Jing and Rong two people embarked, the boatman untied the rope and
pushed the boat to the river, raising the sail. Under the strong southerly wind and
following the current, the boat sailed down the river like an arrow. Guo Jing thought
about the affair between Yang Kang and Mu Nianci, and could not help but heave a
deep sigh. “Yang Kang is my sworn brother,” he said in his heart, “We have made a
vow to share fortune and disaster. Now he is making a wrong choice, I cannot ignore
it; no matter what, I have to persuade him to leave his evil ways and go back
treading the path of righteousness.” Leaning against the cabin wall he was lost in
thought.

Huang Rong suddenly said, “Let me see the book Sister Mu gave you. I wonder
what’s written in it.”

Guo Jing took the book out of his pocket and gave it to her. Huang Rong flipped the
pages, browsing the book. “Ah, so that’s how it is!” she suddenly called out, “Take a
look here.”

Guo Jing moved closer, sat right next to her and read the book in her hand. It was
late afternoon, the bright red sunset shone on the river reflecting the ripple of the
water on Huang Rong’s face, her clothes, and the book in her hand, creating a
waving light dancing on her body.

It turned out that the book was written by the thirteenth Clan Leader of the Iron
Palm Clan, Shangguan Jiannan; a journal of important events within the Clan year
after year. Shangguan Jiannan was formerly a high-ranking army officer serving
under General Han Shizhong. After Qin Gui killed Yue Fei, Han Shizhong resigned
from his military duty to live as a commoner. Most of his officers and soldiers also
returned to civilian lives [jie3 jia3 gui1 tian2 – lit. removed armor return to the (rice)
field].

Shangguan Jiannan loathed the way the traitor ministers run the government, so he
led a group of brethrens to become outlaws in the Jing Xiang district, and later on
they joined the Iron Palm Clan. Not long afterwards the old clan leader died and
Shangguan Jiannan took over the clan leader position. The Iron Palm Clan was
originally a tiny underworld organization, after he consolidated it, the clan managed
to do much chivalrous deeds. A lot or heroes and warriors around the two Hu’s [i.e.
Hunan and Hubei] heard of his patriotism and joined the clan so that in a few years
the Clan enjoyed equal reputation among the Jianghu people with the Beggar Clan of
the north.
Shangguan Jiannan had never forgotten where his loyalty and patriotism lie,
although he lived in the wilderness he had never forgotten his duty to defend the
country and destroy the enemy, and to restore his homeland; therefore, he
frequently dispatched his men to Lin’an, Bianliang and the surrounding areas to
gather information, waiting for a good opportunity.

A few years had passed. An Iron Palm Clan brother happened to be a good friend of
the warden where Yue Fei was held prisoner. He learned that after Yue Fei was
executed, his belongings were confiscated by the government, among which was a
book containing military tactics and strategies. He went to many places to inquire
and indeed learned that the book was kept in the imperial palace. A fast horse
carrying this piece of information was dispatched to the Iron Palm Peak. That very
day Shangguan Jiannan led a group of his highly skilled pugilists to enter the palace
in the middle of the night and without too much effort they succeeded in stealing the
book away. That very night they delivered the book to his former superior, retired
general Han Shizhong.

At that time Han Shizhong was already old; he lived in seclusion by the West Lake
(Xihu) with his wife, Madame Liang Hongyu. As he saw Shangguan Jiannan bring
over the Yue Fei’s Legacy he remembered how the hero died of false accusations and
the injustice had not been avenged, he drew his sword and chopped a table in front
of him. Holding up his wrist he heaved a long sigh.

In memory of his old friend, Han Shizhong compiled Yue Fei’s writings: poetry,
essays, military strategies, into one volume and presented this volume to Shangguan
Jiannan as a gift; with the hope that he would continue Yue Wumu’s [another title of
Yue Fei] aspiration of uniting the heroes of the Central Plains to drive away the
invaders and restore their land [he2 shan1 – lit. river and mountain].

While Han Shizhong and Shangguan Jiannan were talking, they suddenly
remembered: everywhere in this military strategy book Yue Fei always exhorted the
people’s loyalty and patriotism to dedicate themselves to the service of their country
to match Yue Fei’s life aspiration. This book contained a lesson in life attitude; in no
way Yue Fei would write this book to accompany him to the grave. It must be
because Qin Gui’s tight guard that he was not able to smuggle it outside the prison.
However, considering Yue Fei’s extraordinary wisdom, he must have had some way
to overcome this obstacle; only it was not clear to whom did he leave his final words.
If his message came too late, and that person came to the palace to fetch the book,
wouldn’t he snatch empty air?

After discussing this matter further, Shangguan Jiannan drew a painting of the Iron
Palm Mountain, with a piece of paper hidden in between the layers containing this
message: ‘Wumu’s Legacy at the Iron Palm Mountain, middle finger peak, second
knuckle’. Han Shizhong was afraid that person will not understand the message, so
he added a poem written by Yue Fei in the old days. He thought the heir of this
military strategy book must be either Yue Fei’s child or younger brother or his former
subordinate; so he must be familiar with this poem, therefore, he added some
additional details to the painting. Finally Shangguan Jiannan re-entered the palace
and left the painting behind, so that the heir could follow the trail to the Iron Palm
Mountain.

Afterwards Shangguan Jiannan returned to the Iron Palm Mountain and assembled a
group of patriots to discuss a military expedition to the north. Who would have
thought that the government was too afraid of the Jins; not only did they not support
this movement, they sent out imperial troops to surround and eventually crush the
Iron Palm Clan. After all Iron Palm Clan was smaller and weaker than the army,
hence the imperial army managed to break through their defense on the mountain.
Shangguan Jiannan himself suffered a heavy injury and eventually died on the Iron
Palm Peak.

Guo Jing flipped over the last page and sighed, “I did not think this Shangguan
Bangzhu was actually a good man. Up to the point of his death he was still holding
dear the Legacy’s teachings. I thought he was of the same kind with this Qiu and his
brethren; colluding with the Jins and selling our country for his personal gain. I used
to despise him very much. If I knew this fact earlier, I would have bowed in front of
his remains to show him my respect. I am surprised that the Iron Palm was such a
heroic and patriotic Clan in the past, and today it turned into a gang of thieves. If
Shangguan Bangzhu’s spirit in the underworld knows, he must be very angry.”

Chapter 32- Part 4

Meanwhile the sky was turning dark; the boatman cast his anchor nearby a village
and went out to butcher the chicken for their dinner. Huang Rong was afraid he
might put something into the meal, so with a pretense that she did not want his dirty
dishes, she took Guo Jing along and went into the village to find a peasant house
and prepare the food herself. The boatman was staring at them angrily, but because
he pretended to be mute, he could not openly curse them and was forced to swallow
his indignation. He saw Huang Rong make some hand signals, saying ‘witticism like a
bead of pearl, smart tooth like an ivory’ [or something like that ☺]. He had no way of
debating her, so all he could do was clench his teeth and wait until Jing and Rong
two people went ashore; only then he went into the cabin and swore under his
breath.

After dinner two people enjoyed the cool evening breeze underneath a tree in front
of a peasant home. Guo Jing said, “When Shangguan Bangzhu ran to the Iron Palm
Peak, why didn’t the imperial army go up the Peak to capture him?”

“I don’t know the answer either,” Huang Rong said, “It is likely the middle finger
peak is dangerously rugged, so the soldiers did not want to risk their lives climbing
it. Or it could be that some highly skilled Clan members were defending the peak and
the soldiers were unable to break through, so they simply declared victory and left.”
After a moment of silence Huang Rong continued, “I did not expect Qu Lingfeng,
Martial Brother Qu had unintentionally rendered this great service.”

Guo Jing just stared at her with a dumb look. Huang Rong explained, “This ‘Wumu
Legacy’ was originally hidden in the cave behind the waterfall near the Cui Han Tang
[Jade-Green Cold Hall], Shangguan Jiannan had stolen the book, he drew that
painting, naturally he would put the painting on the original place where the book
laid, wouldn’t he?”
Guo Jing nodded, “That’s true.”

“After my Qu Shige [martial (older) brother] was expelled from the Peach Blossom
Island, he longed for his school to take him back. He knew my father loves
calligraphy, paintings and antiques; he also knew that the imperial palace naturally
was the best place to find the world’s rarest treasures. Therefore, he took a risk by
entering the palace and robbed not a few of famous paintings, calligraphy, books …”

“That’s right, that’s right,” Guo Jing cut her off, “Your Qu Shige stole this painting
together with others artworks, and stashed it away inside that secret chamber in the
Ox Village. He meant to present them all to your father; unfortunately he was killed
by a palace guard. And then when that old traitor Wanyan Honglie came, not only
the Wumu Legacy was gone, the painting containing the directions to find it was also
gone. Ay, if we knew this early on, we did not need to desperately risking our lives
defending the cave; I wouldn’t be injured by the Old Poison, and you did not need to
worry for seven whole days and nights.”

“That’s not necessarily true,” Huang Rong said, “If you did not treat your injury
inside that secret room in the Ox Village, how could you have seen the painting? Also
how could …” Suddenly she recalled seeing Huazheng in the Ox Village, she could not
help but feel depressed. Trying to change the subject she said, “I wonder how father
is doing these past few days?” Looking up she saw the crescent moon on the
horizon. “Very soon it will be Mid-autumn festival of the eight month. After the
martial art contest at the Misty Rain Tavern of Jiaxing, are you going back to
Mongolia?” she gently asked.

“No,” Guo Jing replied, “I must kill the traitor Wanyan Honglie first, to avenge my
father and Uncle Yang.”

Staring at the moon Huang Rong asked again, “After you kill him, then what?”

“We still have many businesses to tend,” Guo Jing said, “I want to treat Shifu’s injury
then I want to take Zhou Dage [Big Brother Zhou]to the Black Marsh to see Ying Gu.
And there are my six Shifus, I want to go and visit them one by one at their homes.
I also want to find my father’s grave.”

“And after you take care of all these business, must you go back to Mongolia?”
Huang Rong asked.

Guo Jing could not say he must go, but he also could not say he would not go; in all
honesty he did not know what would be the best thing to do.

All of a sudden Huang Rong laughed and said, “Silly me, why should I worry about all
these things? As long as we are together, an hour of happiness must be enjoyed for
a full hour. As we go through one day, we will have one less of these kind of happy
days. Let us go back to the boat and play a joke on that fake mute boatman.”

At the time the two returned to the boat, the boatman and his two helpers had
actually fallen asleep on the stern. Guo Jing whispered on Huang Rong’s ear, “Go
ahead and sleep, I am going to watch over them.”

Huang Rong said with a low voice, “I’ll teach you some curse words in sign
languages; tomorrow you can show them to him.”

“Why don’t you do it yourself?” Guo Jing asked.

Huang Rong chuckled lightly, “Those are vulgar language; a girl from an honorable
family shouldn’t say those kind of words.”

“It turns out mute people can curse others too,” Guo Jing said in his heart; but his
mouth said, “Go and take a rest now; it won’t be too late to curse him tomorrow.”
After recovering from her injury Huang Rong had not gotten her strength back. In all
honesty she was tired, so she put her head down on Guo Jing’s legs and slowly she
fell asleep.
Initially Guo Jing was thinking of meditating to cultivate his internal energy, but he
was afraid the boatman might be suspicious, so he decided to lie down on the cabin
deck, silently reciting the theory of energy cultivation from the Nine Yin Manual,
which Reverend Yideng translated from Sanskrit. Then he practiced according to the
theory for about an hour and he felt his four limbs and all the bones in his body were
full of energy. He was delighted. Suddenly he heard Huang Rong mumbled, “Jing
Gege, don’t marry the Mongolian Princess; I want to be your wife.”

Guo Jing was startled, he did not know how to answer her; but then he heard Huang
Rong said again, “No, no. I was wrong; I don’t want anything. I know in your heart
you love me very much, and that is enough for me.”

“Rong’er, Rong’er,” Guo Jing called in a low voice. But Huang Rong did not reply, her
breathing was even, apparently she was sleeping. Turned out she was talking in her
sleep. Guo Jing felt deep affection and pity toward her at the same time. He started
blankly at Huang Rong’s face illuminated by the moonlight. She was just starting to
recover from her injury, her face was still pale and under the moonlight it looked like
her face was translucent. Guo Jing stared at her for a long time. He saw her
eyebrows wrinkle slightly and there were drops of tears in her eyes. Guo Jing said in
his heart, “She must be dreaming of the challenges we are facing. All day she acted
like she was carefree, laughing and joking, but in her heart she actually was
grieving. Ay, it was I who caused her worries. I wish we did not meet at
Zhangjiakou, then her life would be better. But what about me? Would I be willing to
give her up?”

One was sleeping with a sad dream, the other was awake with heavy heart;
suddenly he heard the water ripple, a boat was coming downstream. Guo Jing
thought, “The terrain of this River Yuan is so rugged; what kind of boat is so daring
as to travel here in the middle of the night?” He was about to poke his head out of
the cabin to take a look when suddenly from the stern of his own boat came three
clapping sounds. The clapping was very light, but in the stillness of the night the
sound traveled far on the surface of the water. He then heard the sound of a sail
being lowered and the oars paddling the water. That incoming boat came closer to
the right hand side riverbank and slowly positioned near their boat. A short moment
later it was side to side with the boat Guo Jing rode.

Chapter 32- Part 5

Guo Jing gently patted Huang Rong to wake her up; he felt the hull shook slightly.
Quickly he raised the cabin covering to look outside, right in time to see a dark
shadow leaping from his boat to the incoming boat. Judging from the appearance,
that shadow looked like the mute boatman.

“I’ll go over to take a look, you stay and guard here,” Guo Jing said. Huang Rong
nodded.

Guo Jing crouched and stealthily walked to the bow; he saw that the incoming boat
was swaying on the water, he leaped and landed on the horizontal part of the sail
mast, which happened to be the center of gravity of the boat. The hull slightly sunk
in, but the inclination of the boat did not change one bit; nobody on that boat
noticed. He opened his eyes wide, trying to see through some openings on the
cabin’s roof. He saw three men standing in the cabin; they wore the black uniform of
the Iron Palm Clan. One of them was quite tall; he was wearing a green cloth
wrapped around his head, looked like he was the leader.

Guo Jing’s movement was so quick that even though that pretend-to-be-mute
boatman leaped to this boat first, by this time he was just entering the cabin. He
cupped his fists and greeted the tall man, “Leader Qiao.”

“Those two little thieves are still in?” Leader Qiao asked.

“Yes,” the boatman replied.

“Do they have any suspicion?” Leader Qiao asked again.

“No suspicion,” the boatman replied, “But those two thieves did not want to dine on
board, so I did not have any chance to do anything.”
“Humph,” Leader Qiao said, “They are going to die at the ‘qing long tan’ [green
dragon shore]. The day after tomorrow at noon you will arrive at the Green Dragon
Shore. About three ‘li’s from the beach is the Green Dragon Village. Break the boat’s
rudder there; we will be waiting for you.”

The boatman gave his reply. Leader Qiao continued, “Those two little thieves are
very skilled in martial arts, you must be very careful. After the successful completion
of this mission our Bangzhu will heap you with generous reward. Now go back from
the water, don’t rock the boat and alert them.”

“Yes,” the boatman replied, “Do you have further instructions, Leader Qiao?”

“No,” Leader Qiao waved his hand. The boatman cupped his fists again and
retreated; he went down the water from the side of the boat and quietly swam back.

Guo Jing leaped from the mast back to his own boat and told Huang Rong everything
he just heard. Huang Rong smiled coldly and said, “We have been through Reverend
Yideng’s torrential stream going up the mountain; why should we be scared away by
Green Dragon Rugged Shore or White Tiger Rugged Shore? Let’s sleep.”

Their minds were at ease knowing the bandits’ plot. The next day they enjoyed the
scenery light-heartedly; and had a good rest in the evening, did not even bother to
keep a night watch. Early morning the third day the boatman was about to raise the
anchor when suddenly Huang Rong said, “Hold on, let the horse come ashore first,
otherwise it will die when the boat capsizes at the Green Dragon Shore.”

The boatman’s face changed slightly, which could not be disguised. Huang Rong
raised her both hands, she could not help to ‘say’ several vulgar words to curse him.
Each one of the deaf and mute servants of the Peach Blossom Island was a criminal;
their skills at cursing people were naturally above average. When Huang Rong
started learning those words, she did not understand their real meaning. This time
two of her left fingers made a circle, carrying a vulgar sense; with a giggle she let
her hand dropped; and then she came alongside Guo Jing taking the horse ashore.

Suddenly Guo Jing said, “Rong’er, let’s not play around with them anymore. We
leave the boat and ride the horse from here.”

“Why?” Huang Rong asked.

Guo Jing replied, “These Iron Palm Clan people are criminals, why should we
squabble with them? As long as we can live together peacefully, we don’t have to
prove that we are stronger.”

“Can we live together peacefully forever?” Huang Rong asked. Guo Jing was silent.
He saw Huang Rong loosen the little red horse’s rein and point to the north. The little
red horse had a divine intelligence, it had been separated from its master several
times and right now understood that its masters wanted to part again temporarily.
Without hesitation it ran to the north and in a short moment its shadow could not be
seen anymore.

Huang Rong clapped her hands, “Let’s get on board.”

“You are not fully recovered yet,” Guo Jing said, “Must you brave the danger?”

“You can’t just let it go,” Huang Rong replied and walked the downward slope toward
the boat. Guo Jing had no other choice but follow her to the boat. Huang Rong
smiled, “Sha gege [dumb older brother], we have been through many strange and
fantastic adventures together. Someday when we are not together anymore, we will
have many memories we can cherish, wouldn’t that be good?”

“In the future, must we … must we really part?” Guo Jing stammered. Huang Rong
stared at him but did not say anything. Guo Jing did not have the slightest idea until
today that when at the Ox Village he promised Tuolei he would marry Huazheng he
had caused a deep wound in Huang Rong’s heart.
It was almost noon; they have been sailing for a few hours. The further they went,
the steeper and steeper the banks became on both sides of the River Yuan. The
Green Dragon Shore must be not too far ahead. Jing and Rong two people stood on
the bow looking into the distance. They saw that the passing boats were pulled by
porters on the banks. Big boats needed more than a dozen men, while the smallest
boats needed three, four men. The porters were stooping down at their waists, at
several places their foreheads were almost touching the ground; step by step they
pulled the boats upstream against the strong current, sometimes as if the boats
were motionless, dead as a nail.

The porters wore white headbands, their upper bodies naked, with beads of sweats
trickling down their bronze skins, glittering under the bright hot sun; their mouths
shouted heave-ho. Several ‘li’s up and down the river the valley was full of their
continuous shouts. With these porters’ help the boats were able to move gently and
rapidly through the rushing water.

Seeing this Guo Jing was secretly alarmed, he came near Huang Rong and in a low
voice said, “Rong’er, I did not know there is such a dangerous part on the Yuan
River; we must never let our guards down. It looks to me that the rushing water
covers quite some distance. If our boat capsizes while you are not completely fit, I
am afraid we’ll face disaster.”

“What do you think we should do?” Huang Rong asked.

“Overthrow the mute boatman, steer the boat to the shore,” Guo Jing replied.

Huang Rong shook her head, “That is not fun.”

“At a time like this you still want to have fun?” Guo Jing anxiously said.

Huang Rong pursed her lips and smiled, “I love to play!”

Looking at the muddy water between the steep river banks, Guo Jing saw the current
was very strong. Frantically he tried to think some way out of this, but he was slow,
what could he possibly come out with?

Ahead of them, there was a bent on the river. In the distance they saw several
dozens of houses by the river banks. The houses were scattered high and low on the
side of the hill. The current carried the boat rapidly along the river, swifter than a
running horse, so that in a short moment they had arrived near those houses. They
saw that several dozens of porters were waiting along the bank. The mute boatman
tossed a couple of ropes from the boat to the shore. The porters took the ropes and
wound them around a big capstan. More than a dozen porters turned the capstan,
pulling the boat closer to the shore. This boat was of a very good size, it required
about thirty men huffing and puffing to pull it ashore. As they were done, some of
the porters lied down by the water, exhausted; it looked like they were unable to
move again.

Chapter 32- Part 6

Guo Jing thought, “It looks like the undercurrent is much stronger than on the
surface.” He saw among the porters were some old men with grey hair, yet some of
them were youngsters of fourteen, fifteen years of age; all of them were so thin that
their ribs were visible. Suddenly Guo Jing realized that everybody in the world had to
work hard to earn a living; his throat choked up involuntarily.

As the boat was ashore, the boatman dropped out the anchor. Guo Jing saw there
were more than twenty boats that also dropped their anchors on the nearby bank.
Huang Rong asked a man standing nearby, “Brother, what is this place?”

“Green Dragon Village,” that man replied.

Huang Rong nodded. She kept a close attention to the mute boatman. She saw him
make some hand signals with a big man standing on the sloping bank. Suddenly the
boatman took out an axe and with two chops he cut the mooring rope. Immediately
afterwards he raised the anchor. As the boat became free, the rushing water washed
it out down the river. It made a sudden turn until the hull slanted sideways and
flushed away like flying down the river. The people on the shore cried out in alarm.

After the Green Dragon Shore the riverbed changed abruptly, creating a short
waterfall. The river current was so strong that water was splashing everywhere. The
mute boatman kept his hands on the rudder, with eyes steadily fixed on the surface
of the river. His two helpers held long punting poles in their hands, standing on the
either side of him. It seemed like they were guarding against the boat from having
an accident, but it also looked like they were protecting the boatman from Jing and
Rong, two people’s attack.

Guo Jing saw that the current was getting stronger and stronger, the boat sailed like
crazy; it could smash against a rock any moment and would certainly break.
“Rong’er, snatch the rudder!” he loudly called out and ran to the stern.

The two helpers heard his shout; they raised the poles up and blocked Guo Jing from
both sides. Guo Jing ignored these two; he kept going toward the starboard.

“Hold on!” suddenly he heard Huang Rong shouted.

Guo Jing halted his steps and turned his head, “Why?”

With a low voice Huang Rong said, “Are you forgetting about our eagles? We’ll wait
for the boat to capsize then we’ll fly away with the eagles. I want to see what they
are going to do.”

Guo Jing was delighted, he thought, “No wonder Rong’er is not scared of this
torrential river; she has already thought about it early on.” He then beckoned to the
pair of eagles to land on his sides.

The mute boatman saw Guo Jing came rushing toward him but suddenly stop dead
on his tracks; he did not know that those two had already prepared an escape plan.
He thought these two babies, who were still wet behind their ears, were helplessly
frightened by the rushing river that they did not know what to do. Inwardly he was
very happy.

Amidst the rumbling sound of the water they could hear the heave-ho of the porters
in the distance. A moment later they saw another boat similar to their own was
pulled against the current; a black flag was fluttering from this incoming boat’s mast.
As the mute boatman saw this boat, he raised his axe and with several cracking
sound he hacked down the tiller; and then he stood at the port side, ready to jump
toward the incoming boat.

Guo Jing pressed down the female eagle’s back and called out, “Rong’er, you go
first!”

“No need to rush!” Huang Rong replied. Suddenly an idea came into her mind, “Jing
Gege, throw the anchor to that boat.” Guo Jing complied and snatched the anchor.

By now their boat had already lost its rudder, it floated along the fierce current
uncontrollably. Very soon the distance between two boats was only a little over one
‘zhang’ [about 3 meters or 10 feet]. The incoming boat changed its course to avoid
collision. The men on the incoming boat, together with the porters on the hill
shouted in alarm. Guo Jing threw the anchor with all his might; the iron anchor flew
and hit the pole where the towing rope was tied on the bow of the incoming boat.

The tow rope was made of several hundreds ‘zhang’s of bamboo fibers tightly
braided together; it was strung tight like the string of a bow. The iron anchor hit the
pole squarely and with a loud ‘crack’ it broke into two pieces. Dozens of porters were
pulling the rope with all their might; as the pole broke, they tumbled down to the
ground. The incoming boat was like a kite with its string broken; the strong current
turned it around so that its stern faced forward and its bow faced backward, it was
flushed away downstream. Everybody shouted in alarm; their voices reverberated on
the surrounding hills above the noise of the rushing river.

The mute boatman was taken by surprise; his face turned deathly pale and with a
loud voice he screamed, “Hey! Help! Help!”
Huang Rong laughed, “The mute can speak, it truly is a wonder of the world.”

Guo Jing had thrown one anchor away; the boat still had one more anchor. He saw
that their boat and the incoming boat floated together almost side by side at a very
close distance. He took a deep breath and lifted the other anchor, turned his body
around three times and hurled the anchor toward the rudder of the incoming boat.
He was sure the anchor would hit the rudder and then both boats would be
completely destroyed; but suddenly somebody leaped in front of the cabin. That
person snatched the long punting pole and shook it toward the handle of the anchor.
He exerted his strength toward the pole and made it bent like a bow. ‘Crack!’ the
pole broke; but the anchor’s trajectory was also diverted. With a loud splash both
the anchor and the half punting pole fell into the water.

The person holding the pole wore a short yellow coarse robe, his white beard curled
to his ear, blown by the river wind. Even though the boat was violently jolted by the
water, he was standing steadily on the deck. His presence brought an impressive air
around him. He was none other than the Clan Leader of the Iron Palm Clan, Qiu
Qianren.

Seeing Qiu Qianren on the boat Guo Jing and Huang Rong were startled. They have
not recovered from the shock when suddenly there was a loud crashing sound; the
bow of their boat was colliding with a reef. The crash was so hard that two people
were sent flying until their backs hit the cabin door.

The boat sank so fast that in a short moment the water had risen to their ankles;
they did not have enough time even if they wanted to escape by riding the eagles. In
this critical moment Guo Jing acted without thinking; he flew forward and called out,
“Follow me!” With the ‘dragon flies to the sky’ he threw his body toward Qiu Qianren.
He knew at this moment the difference between life and death was only as wide as a
hair strand; if he landed someplace else on the enemy’s boat, Qiu Qianren would
definitely make a surprise attack from the side. With his power right now he knew he
would be able to bear that attack, but it would compel him to take the defensive and
would not give him any chance to set a foothold on the enemy’s boat.

Qiu Qianren was fully aware of his intention; he swung the broken pole in his hands
to stab several points on Guo Jing’s body in the air, forcing him to change his
direction and not land on the boat. Guo Jing inwardly groaned, “Not good!”
Stretching his arm toward the pole his body continued falling toward the enemy’s
boat; but because of this the ‘dragon flies to the sky’ lost its momentum.

With a long laughter Qiu Qianren let the pole go and his palm struck toward Guo
Jing’s chest. With him standing steadily on the deck while the enemy was in the air,
and his palm striking up, the enemy would be forced to plunge into the water. But
before the pole fell, another bamboo stick intercepted it, and borrowing the
momentum someone was leaping to the boat; it was Huang Rong. Before the person
landed, her stick had already arrived, striking downward three times with killer
strikes. Qiu Qianren did not anticipate she was capable of moving this fast; his left
eye was in danger of being poked, so he had no choice but immediately withdrew his
palm.

Chapter 32- Part 7

Guo Jing seized the opportunity to land on the bow and immediately launched a
converging attack. Qiu Qianren did not dare to underestimate this attack, he moved
sideways to evade the bamboo stick, while his right leg swept away, forcing Guo Jing
to retreat one step; and then ‘swish, swish’ both of his palms struck out.

How can Iron Palm martial art be ordinary? The Iron Palm Clan built their
headquarters on a mountain and for the last several hundred years its power and
prestige spread over the Central Plains; it was all because of the exquisiteness of
their palm technique. Shangguan Jiannan and Qiu Qianren added even many more
subtle variations and refined the stances. Although its overwhelming power was
inferior to the ‘Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms’, but its palm technique was
ingenious and finer than the ‘Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms’.

In a short moment two men had exchanged seven, eight stances on the bow of the
boat. Although they were wary of each other, their palms and feet did not stop
moving. The noise of the rushing water was loud, but it could not cover the strong
gusts of wind from the four palms.

By now an Iron Palm Clan member had taken over the rudder, slowly steering the
boat on the right direction so that they were swiftly floating downstream. The mute
boatman’s boat had already broken into two sections; the planks, the sail, the mute
boatman and his two helpers were marooned on a big silt in the middle of the river
with vortex of water all around them. The mute boatman’s miserable cry for help
could be heard from a distance; surely his voice was loud and clear.

Huang Rong busily waved her left hand behind her back, making a hand signal,
‘scolding’ the mute boatman. In any case nobody was watching her, so she could be
as vulgar as she wished.

Even though the mute boatman and his two helpers were holding to the silt for their
dear lives, the vortex was too strong; in a blink of an eye they were sucked into the
bottom of the river.

The black-flagged boat was floating swiftly so that when Huang Rong turned her
head around, they were already two, three ‘li’s away from the vortex. The pair of
eagles was flying in circles above them, continuously crying. Huang Rong wielded her
bamboo stick to push the Iron Palm Clan people from the bow; she intended to help
Guo Jing fight Qiu Qianren. Suddenly with the corner of her eye she caught a flash of
a blade inside the cabin, somebody was about to chop something inside. Without
knowing clearly what it was, her left hand launched a steel needle, hitting that
person’s arm. That person’s saber fell and slashed his own right thigh, and he
screamed loudly.

Huang Rong rushed into the cabin, lifted up her leg to kick him out of the way, only
to see someone was lying on the deck; with all her hands and feet bound that she
could not move. Her cold eyes were staring at Huang Rong; she was the Divine
Mathematician Ying Gu.
Never in her life did Huang Rong expect to save Ying Gu’s life in this place. She
picked the saber from the deck and cut of the ropes binding Ying Gu’s hands. As
soon as her hands were free Ying Gu stretched out her right hand and snatched the
saber from Huang Rong’s hand. Huang Rong was startled; she saw the blade flash
and Ying Gu had killed that black-dressed man. Only then did she stoop down to cut
off the ropes on her own feet.

“Although you have saved my life, don’t expect me to repay you in the future,” she
said.

Huang Rong smiled. “Who wants you to repay?” she said, “You have saved my life,
and today I saved yours. Now we are even, nobody owes anybody anything.”

Before she finished speaking she had dashed forward to the bow with her bamboo
stick to help Guo Jing. Qiu Qianren was attacked from both front and rear; he
increased the strength of his palms, trying to stay on the offensive side. But then he
heard ‘splash, splash’ and ‘aiyo, aiyo’ successively; Ying Gu with saber in her hand
had attacked the Iron Palm Clan people and forced them to fall into the river. In this
turbulent water they could not expect to keep their lives.

Initially when he was fighting Guo Jing, Qiu Qianren had gradually gained an upper
hand; but now Huang Rong came to Guo Jing’s rescue with her Dog Beating Stick
technique, he was alone against two enemies. A dozen or so stances later he was
forced to move back around the boat defending himself. His back was facing the
water so that Huang Rong could not attack him from behind.

Guo Jing launched several fierce attacks successively, but Qiu Qianren’s feet were as
if nailed to the deck, he could not be pushed further even for half an inch. By now he
was so close to the edge that one more step backward would make him fall into the
river.

Huang Rong said in her heart, “Although your title is ‘Iron Palm Floating on the
Water’, but with the ‘floating on the water’ part you are merely boasting your
excellent lightness kungfu. Not to mention this turbulent water and wild waves of
this river, even on a mirror-like calm lake you won’t be able to float on the water;
unless you have mastered your older brother’s trick by planting several thousands or
several hundreds wooden stakes under the water beforehand.” She noticed that
while his palms moved steadily, his eyes were repeatedly scanning the water; it
seemed like he was hoping another boat would come to his rescue. She thought,
“This old fellow’s martial art skill might be high; but with three against one today, if
we cannot defeat you, we can consider ourselves as dung.”

By then Ying Gu had swept the boat clean of all Iron Palm Clan people, except the
man who control the rudder. She saw Guo Jing and Huang Rong could not gain an
upper hand, she coldly said, “Little girl, move away, I am coming!”

Hearing the condescending tone in her remarks Huang Rong could not help but be
angry; her bamboo stick moved forward and she launched two stances successively;
while her feet kept moving forward. When Qiu Qianren stepped aside to evade, she
leaped backward two steps while pulling Guo Jing’s sleeve and said, “Let her fight.”
Guo Jing used his palm to guard then he pulled back.

Ying Gu coldly said, “Qiu Bangzhu, your reputation in Jianghu cannot be considered
small, but while I was resting in an inn unguarded you used incense to drug me. It
was low, even for you.”

“You are captured by my subordinates, what else do you have to say?” Qiu Qianren
replied, “If I personally went into action, using only this pair of hands I would be able
to capture even ten Divine Mathematicians.”

Ying Gu coldly said, “When did I ever offend the Iron Palm Clan?”

Qiu Qianren replied, “These two little thieves without authorization broke into our
Iron Palm Peak’s holy ground; why did you give them asylum at the Black Marsh? I
spoke nicely to you asking you to release them, but you dared to lie to me; do you
think I, Qiu Qianren, am an easygoing person?”

“Ah, turns out it was because of these two little thieves,” Ying Gu said, “If you have
the ability, go and get them; I won’t mind other people’s business anymore.” After
saying that she went back several steps and sat cross-legged on the side of the boat,
her face looked indifferent; it seemed like she determined to watch the tigers fight,
expected Jing and Rong two people and Qiu Qianren to suffer injury. Her action was
truly unexpected by Qiu Qianren, Guo Jing and Huang Rong.

It turned out that when her plan to assassinate Reverend Yideng was thwarted by
Guo Jing in disguise, and then seeing Yideng bare his chest to her, suddenly she
realized Yideng’s kindness to her and she did not have a heart to make a move. She
went down the mountain dejectedly, with memory of the tragic death of her son
lingering in her mind. She stopped by at an inn to spend the night; confusion, anger
and resentment filling her heart, putting her in a very vulnerable situation. Right at
that time the Iron Palm Clan people used incense to drug her. Otherwise, with her
skill and intelligence, how could she fall into the hands of some lowly, nameless
juniors? Right now she saw Guo Jing, Huang Rong, two people, she wanted to vent
her anger and frustration by hoping those three people all die in this rushing river.

Chapter 32- Part 8

Huang Rong thought, “All right, we will cope with Qiu Qianren first, we’ll deal with
you later.” She made a facial signal to Guo Jing and two people, one with a bamboo
stick, the other with his pair of palms, attacked Qiu Qianren side by side. In a
moment three people were engaged in a fierce an inextricable combat.

Ying Gu watched the fight with rapt attention. She saw that even though Qiu
Qianren’s palm technique was swift and fierce, in the end it would be difficult for him
to score victory against these couple. She noticed Qiu Qianren kept moving step by
step; it looked like he was trying to defeat the enemies by a surprise attack.

Guo Jing was concerned over Huang Rong’s condition; her serious injury had just
recovered, she might lose her strength if this fight was prolonged. “Rong’er,” he
said, “Take a rest for a while, then you can come back to help me later.”

“All right!” Huang Rong said with a smile. She raised her stick and withdrew from the
fight.

Ying Gu saw the closeness of these two people; Guo Jing loved Huang Rong very
much. “Throughout my life, when did someone treat me this way?” she thought.
From envy she became jealous, from jealousy came hatred. Suddenly she stood up
and called out, “Two against one, what kind of skill is that? Come, let us four people
fight in two pairs to determine victory or defeat.” She reached into her pocket with
both of her hands and took out two bamboo planks. Without waiting for Huang Rong
to reply the pair of planks went down vertically and swept away horizontally,
attacking Huang Rong.

“You are a crazy old woman,” Huang Rong cursed her; “No wonder the Old Urchin
did not love you.”

Ying Gu raised her eyebrows and intensified her attacks. Once she went into action,
the situation on the boat changed considerably. Although Huang Rong’s Dog Beating
Stick technique was exquisite, her internal energy level was still inferior to Ying Gu’s;
not to mention after a heavy injury her internal strength had not fully recovered, her
movements were not as agile as they used to be. She had to rely on the ‘sealing’
technique with all her strength to barely guard herself against the enemy. Ying Gu
was slippery as a fish, the jolting and swaying of the boat only added to her
fierceness.

On the other front Guo Jing fought Qiu Qianren; for a while it would be difficult to
decide victory and defeat. After receiving instructions from Reverend Yideng on the
internal energy cultivation his level of energy actually increased one layer; to his own
surprise by exerting all his strength he was able to protect himself thus far. On the
other hand Qiu Qianren was baffled by Ying Gu’s action; first she acted as his enemy
and did not care to help either side, suddenly now she came to lend him a hand.
Inwardly he was delighted, his spirit rose and his palms became fiercer. He believed
with a prolonged fight he would eventually subdue Guo Jing.

Qiu Qianren saw Guo Jing’s palm wipe out fiercely, he leaned sideways to avoid a
frontal attack, his right palm high, left palm low, they clapped down together. Guo
Jing responded by stretching out his palms and four palms collided with a great
force. “Hey!” two people shouted together and both withdrew three steps.

Qiu Qianren stumbled toward the stern and grabbed the rudder to steady himself.
Guo Jing’s left foot tripped on a rope and he nearly tumbled down. Afraid of the
enemy’s subsequent attack while his defense line was empty he continued by rolling
down on the deck while readied his palms to protect his body. Qiu Qianren thought
victory was at hand, watching the enemy tumble down and at a disadvantage he let
out a long laugh and stepped forward.

In the meantime Ying Gu had succeeded in making Huang Rong huffing and puffing,
panting for breath; she saw beads of sweat trickling down her forehead, she was
delighted. Suddenly she heard the laughter, she was greatly shocked; her
countenance abruptly changed and absentmindedly she withdrew the attack with the
bamboo plank in her left hand.

Huang Rong saw this opportunity and she did not want to miss it; the bamboo stick
in her hand turned to attack Ying Gu’s chest. But as the bamboo stick was about to
hit the ‘shen cang’ [divine storage] acupoint on her chest, Ying Gu’s body shook as if
she was suffering from a sudden illness. “So it was you!” Ying Gu screamed and
pounced toward Qiu Qianren as a mad tiger.

Qiu Qianren saw her with arms opened wide, fiercely throwing herself at him without
any regard for her own life. Her mouth opened wide exposing rows of white teeth, as
if she wanted to bite him alive. Although his martial art skill was high, seeing this
disregarding-her-own-life kind of attack he could not help but was startled. Hastily
he leaped sideways to evade and called out, “What are you doing?”

Ying Gu did not answer; she kept throwing herself on him. As soon as her feet
landed, she would pound him again and again. Qiu Qianren struck with his left palm
toward her head, but Ying Gu kept going with arms extended as if she wanted
something; she completely ignored the incoming attack, still ferociously trying to
throw herself at him. Qiu Qianren was shocked; he thought if he was caught by this
insane woman, he would not be able to break free easily, and if at that time Guo Jing
came up with a palm, how could he still alive? Therefore, he abandoned his palm
strike immediately; saving his own life was more important, hastily he ducked to the
left.

Huang Rong pulled Guo Jing’s hand; they moved to the side. Seeing Ying Gu
suddenly lost her mind they could not help but feel scared. They saw Ying Gu madly
pounced forward, her mouth let out ‘heh, heh’ sound, her lips opened to reveal her
teeth, trying to embrace Qiu Qianren without regard of her own life.

Although Qiu Qianren’s martial art skill was high, but Ying Gu attacked him like she
did not want to live anymore, he could not keep up with her; he was forced to dodge
to the west and evade to the east. He saw the muscle on her face twitch, her
expression so ferocious, he became more and more afraid. “Revenge, revenge!” he
inwardly groaned, “Today I will die under this mad woman’s hands.”

Ying Gu pounced several more times, Qiu Qianren evaded her until he arrived next to
the rudder. Ying Gu’s eyes were red as if they were going to spurt blood. One more
time her grab missed its target. She raised her palm and ‘bang!’ she struck the man
controlling the rudder throwing him into the river; then her leg flew and she kicked
the rudder broken. The boat immediately floated chaotically as it lost its rudder.

Huang Rong groaned inwardly, “This woman was going to turn mad sooner or later;it
seems that we, four people, will have difficulty escaping death this time.”
Immediately she pursed her lips and whistled loudly to summon the eagles down to
save their lives.

Right at this moment the boat hit a big rock. With a loud crashing sound a big hole
appeared on the bow. As Qiu Qianren saw Ying Gu break the rudder he knew she had
made up her mind to die together with him. He saw the shore was not too far; he
thought whether dead or alive he must risk everything to escape; therefore, he
jumped toward the shore with all his might. But the shore was still a distance away,
‘splash!’ he fell into the water and immediately drowned to the bottom of the river.
He was aware that as soon as he went up to the surface, the strong current would
flush him away and it would be impossible for him to struggle free; hence he firmly
held onto the rock at the bottom of the river and using his hands and feet he crawled
underwater toward the shore. Utilizing his outstanding martial art, plus the fact that
near the shore the current was not as strong as at the middle of the river, although
he had to swallow about a dozen mouthful of water, he finally reached the shore. He
was utterly exhausted, he sat on a rock to catch his breath and saw the boat quickly
turned into a black dot in the distance. Remembering Ying Gu’s clenched teeth and
scary expression he shivered in fear.

Chapter 32- Part 9

As Ying Gu saw Qiu Qianren jump out the boat she loudly called out, “Evil thief,
where are you running to?” She rushed toward the side of the boat, ready to jump
into the water. But by then the boat had been flushed to the middle of the river
where the current was strongest; in this dangerous billows, how would she survive if
she really jumped into the water?

Guo Jing could not bear to see her; he rushed forward to grab her back. Ying Gu was
angry, she reached behind her back to attack. Guo Jing hastily ducked to evade.
Huang Rong saw the pair of eagles had landed in front of the cabin. “Brother Jing,”
she called out, “Why do you mind this mad woman? Let us go quickly.”

The water violently surged up and very soon it rose up to their ankles. Guo Jing let
his grab went loose. Ying Gu covered her face with both hands, crying loudly. “Child!
Child!” she shouted miserably.

Huang Rong repeatedly urged him to go, but Guo Jing remembered Reverend
Yideng’s request to look after Ying Gu. “Go ashore with the eagle, then send them
back here to rescue us,” he called out.
“There’s not enough time,” Huang Rong anxiously objected.

“Go, quick!” Guo Jing said, “We can’t neglect Reverend Yideng’s entrusting.”

Huang Rong recalled Yideng’s kindness in saving her life, reluctantly she mounted
the eagle, knowing she did not have any choice. Suddenly her body shook. With a
violent crash the boat hit a big reef in the middle of the river. The water bubbled up
toward the cabin, in a flash the hull sank several feet.

“Jump to the reef!” Huang Rong called out. Guo Jing nodded, he went over to take
Ying Gu along.

By then Ying Gu was in daze, she knew Guo Jing held out his hand to hold her, she
did not resist. Her eyes were staring blankly at the river. Guo Jing slipped his right
hand under her armpit and called out, “Jump!” Three people jumped to the reef.

That reef was actually about a foot under the water; the river surrounded three
people, splashing their clothes wet. When they stood firm on the reef, they saw the
boat slowly sank beside them. Although she had played in the great waves since her
childhood, but seeing the muddy water swirling around her Huang Rong could not
restrain from having a dizzy spell; she raised her head up looking at the sky, did not
dare to look directly into the water.

Guo Jing whistled to call the eagles to come and carry them over; but the eagles
were afraid of the water. They flew in circles overhead but did not dare to set their
feet on the submerged reef.

Huang Rong looked around and saw a big willow tree on the bank toward their left,
about a dozen ‘zhang’s away. Immediately she had an idea, “Jing Gege,” she said,
“Hold my hand.” Guo Jing took a good grip of her left hand. With a splash Huang
Rong disappeared into the water.
Guo Jing was startled; he saw she dove to the sunken boat, he quickly stooped down
until his upper body also went into the water. He extended his arm as far as possible
while his legs firmly gripped a sticking rock on the reef. With all his strength his right
hand gripped her left wrist, lest the current was too strong and he lost his grip, then
she might never be able to come up.

Huang Rong dove toward the mast; she pulled down the sail rope, then wound it
around the reef. Next, her hands alternately pulled the sail rope until she got about
twenty ‘zhang’s of rope; then she took out her dagger and cut the rope down.
Afterwards she extended her arm, calling the female eagle to perch on her shoulder.

By now the pair of eagles was grown and they were quite heavy. Guo Jing was afraid
Huang Rong could not take it, so he extended his arm to take the eagle. Huang Rong
wound the end of the rope to the female eagle’s foot, she pointed to the big willow
tree and made a hand signal telling the eagle to fly.

The eagle took the rope and flew in circle several times above the willow tree, then
flew back. Huang Rong anxiously said, “Ay! I told you to fly around the tree before
coming back.” But of course the eagle did not understand what she said, so Huang
Rong sighed anxiously. They tried again and on the eight try the eagle coincidentally
flew around the tree and came back. Jing and Rong two people were delighted; they
pulled the rope to tighten it, then firmly tied the other end to the protruding rock on
the reef.

“Rong’er, you go first,” Guo Jing said.

“No,” Huang Rong replied, “I am staying with you. Let her go first.”

Ying Gu stared hard at them. Without saying anything using both hands she pulled
herself along the rope, coming ashore.

Huang Rong laughed, “This is my way of having fun when I was little. Master Guo,
please be generous with your rewards!” With one leap she landed on the tight rope
and utilizing her lightness kungfu to the fullest she walked along the rope just like a
tight-rope walker; brandishing her bamboo stick, traversing the great waves of the
rushing river below, toward the willow tree on the shore.

Guo Jing had not learned the same trick, he was afraid to make a wrong step, so he
did not dare to fool around like her. Just like Ying Gu, he used both hands to pull
himself hanging on the rope, heading to the shore.

He was still about several ‘zhang’s from the shore when suddenly he heard Huang
Rong called out, “Hey, where are you going?” She sounded baffled. Guo Jing was
afraid Ying Gu had not come to her senses and did something foolish, so he sped up
and before even arrived at the willow tree he jumped down.

Huang Rong pointed to the south and said, “She is leaving.”

Guo Jing focused his eyes and saw Ying Gu was running with all her might over the
rocky mountain path. “Her mind is confused, I am afraid she would hurt herself. Let
us pursue her,” he said.

“All right!” Huang Rong said; lifting up her legs she was ready to run, but suddenly
her legs went weak and she fell sitting down, shaking her head.

Guo Jing knew that she had used excessive strength after the injury; she was
exhausted and did not have enough energy to run. “Just sit here and take a rest, I
will pursue her and take her back,” he said. Immediately he ran toward the direction
Ying Gu was last seen; but after crossing a plain in front of him was a fork on the
road going three separate directions. Ying Gu’s shadow was nowhere to be seen; he
did not know which way she took. Here the rocks were big, the grass reached his
chest; everywhere he looked he did not see anybody else. Meanwhile the sun was
setting behind the mountain, the sky was turning dark; he was afraid Huang Rong
would be worried over him, so he decided to go back.

Two people spent the night among the rocks, hungry and tired. At daybreak they
woke up and started to walk along the small pathway by the river banks. They had
to find their little red horse before coming back to the main road.

After walking for half a day they found a small inn by the roadside; they bought
three chickens, one for them to eat, while with the other two they fed their eagles.
The pair of eagles perched on top of a tall tree, eating their cockerels that the
feathers fluttered down like snowfall.

They were eating heartily when suddenly the female eagle let out a long cry,
dropped the half-eaten cockerel, raised its wing and flew to the north. The male
eagle followed its mate with an anxious cry.

“Those two eagles sound very angry, I wonder what they saw?” Guo Jing said.

“Let’s take a look,” Huang Rong said. Two people ran along the main road. They saw
the eagles fly in circles in the distance; suddenly they swooped down and soared up
again. They circled several more times, then swooped down again.

“They are fighting an enemy,” Guo Jing said.

Chapter 32- Part 10

They sped up their steps and after about two, three ‘li’s they saw a row of houses
standing very close to each other; it was a small town. The pair of eagles circled
above this town, it seemed like they had lost their enemy’s track. Guo Jing and
Huang Rong hasted to the outskirt of the town; they tried to call their eagles down,
but the eagles ignored them, they kept circling above as if they were still looking for
the enemy.

“I wonder with whom do these eagles have big enmity with,” Guo Jing said.

Only some times later the pair of eagles finally did come down one after another.
The male eagle’s left foot was dripping with blood from a really deep saber cut;
looked like if its muscle and bone were not strong, that foot would be chopped
through. The female eagle’s right claw was firmly grabbing a piece of blackish object.
They looked closer and found out that it was a piece of human scalp, with a big
clump of hair on it. It looked like the scalp was freshly plucked right from a head,
with stains of blood still around it.

Huang Rong applied some cut wound medicine on the male eagle’s foot. Guo Jing
flipped over the scalp he took from the female eagle and muttered, “This pair of
eagles is so tame ever since they were small; they had never harmed anybody
unless they are provoked, how could they suddenly fight with someone?”

“Something is amiss here,” Huang Rong said, “If we can find this person who lost the
scalp, we’ll understand everything.”

Two people went into town and found an inn to spend the night; then they went out
separately to inquire. But that town was rather big, with quite a large number of
people around; they investigated until dark, but did not find the slightest clue.

“I’ve been everywhere to look for a person without a scalp, but could not find
anything,” Guo Jing said.

Huang Rong smiled, “A person without scalp could always wear a hat to cover his
head,” she said.

“Ah!” Guo Jing exclaimed, suddenly enlightened. He remembered seeing quite a lot
of people wearing hat in town, but of course he could not take their hats off one by
one to take a look.

By daybreak the pair of eagles came back with their little red horse. Guo Jing and
Huang Rong were worried about Hong Qigong’s injury, also the martial art match at
the Misty Rain Tavern on the mid-autumn festival was drawing near, besides, the
enmity the eagles had with whoever was not that important, so they decided to start
their journey to the east immediately.
Two people rode on the speeding little red horse with the pair of eagles followed
above them. Along the way Huang Rong kept talking and laughing, playing around,
looking a lot more lively than she was; sometimes far into the night she was not
willing to take a rest. Guo Jing knew she was exhausted, he often urged her to take
a rest, but Huang Rong simply ignored him. Sometimes late at night she sat cross-
legged on the bed chit-chatting with him over some trivial matters.

One day from the western Jiangnan road they arrived at the southern road within the
Zhejiang border. They had been riding the horse for a whole day. It was not too far
from the Eastern Sea shore. They stopped by an inn to spend the night. Huang Rong
borrowed a shopping basket from the innkeeper; she wanted to go to town to buy
some meat and vegetables to prepare some dishes.

“You are tired after traveling the whole day,” Guo Jing tried to persuade her, “Let us
just eat in the restaurant here.”

“I want to cook for you,” Huang Rong replied, “Don’t you like my cooking anymore?”

“Naturally I like your cooking,” Guo Jing said, “But I want you to take a lot of rest.
Wait till you are well, then you can cook for me. It won’t be too late, will it?”

“Wait till I am well; at that time …” Huang Rong said. Her arm carried the shopping
basket, one foot had already stepped outside the room, she paused as if she was
startled.

Guo Jing did not understand her thought; he gently pulled the shopping basket from
her arm and said, “That’s right. Wait till we find Shifu, then we can enjoy the food
you prepare together.”

Huang Rong stared blankly for half a day. Finally she returned to the bed and soon
she looked like she was asleep. The innkeeper came with their food. Guo Jing called
her to eat. Huang Rong jumped out of bed at once and said with a laugh, “Jing Gege,
we won’t eat this food, come with me.”
Guo Jing complied and followed her out of the inn, they walked toward downtown.
Huang Rong randomly picked a house with white fence wall and black door, a rich
family’s house. They circled to the back and leaped over the wall, broke into the
house. Guo Jing did not know what was going on, but he followed her nonetheless.
Straightaway Huang Rong went to the front hall only to see the hall was bright with
candles; the host was having a party.

“Wonderful!” Huang Rong called out in delight, “I picked the right house.” Giggling
and walking forward she shouted loud and clear, “Everybody get out of my way!”

There were three banquet tables in the hall; the host and about his thirty guests
were startled. They saw her as a beautiful looking young girl; they looked at each
other, puzzled. Huang Rong casually seized a fat man, her foot moved to trip that fat
man, sending him tumbling to the floor. “You still don’t want to scramble?” she said
with a laugh.

The guests scrambled at once in great confusion. The host cried out, “Guards! Where
are the guards?”

Amidst the commotion two martial art instructors led about a dozen villagers with
sabers and sticks in their hands came rushing in. With a laugh Huang Rong rushed
forward and with two moves she flattened the two instructors. She snatched a saber
and brandished it, creating a bright white light, pretending she was about to make a
kill. The guests screamed in terror; they staggered along and running against each
other trying to escape.

As the host saw the unfavorable situation, he tried to slip away; but Huang Rong
reached out and pulled his beard, her right hand brandished the saber as if she was
going to chop him away. The host was so scared that he dropped to his knees and
with a trembling voice said, “Nu … Nu Da Wang [lit. female big king; ‘Da Wang’ was
how the people addressed a robber], Good … Good Miss; you want gold or silver, I
will certainly present everything to you. Please just spare my old life …”
Huang Rong laughed, “Who wants your money?” she said, “I want you to accompany
us to drink.” Grabbing his beard with her left hand she pulled him up. The host was
in pain but he did not dare to cry out. Huang Rong pulled Guo Jing along to sit at the
head table.

“Everybody sit down!” Huang Rong ordered, “Why are you still standing?” Raising the
saber in her hand she hacked down and the saber stuck on the table.

The guests were startled and scared, they crowded around the other two tables,
nobody dared to sit at the head table.

Huang Rong shouted, “You don’t want to accompany me drinking, do you? Whoever
don’t come over, I’ll butcher him first!”

Everybody rushed forward, shoving and elbowing one another, causing seven, eight
chairs to tumble over. Huang Rong shouted again, “You are not three years old, are
you? Why can’t you sit nicely?”

Still shoving and elbowing one another the guests scrambled over and after half a
day they finally managed to sit nicely around the three banquet tables.

Huang Rong poured herself a cup of wine and gulped it down in one go. “What kind
of party is this?” she asked the host, “Anybody died in your family? How many have
died?”

The host stammered, “Actually, a child was born for me in my later years. Today he
is one month old, so I invited friends, relatives and close neighbors to celebrate.”

Huang Rong laughed, “That’s wonderful! Let me take a look at your child,” she said.

Chapter 32- Part 11

The host turned pale; he was afraid Huang Rong would harm the child, but seeing
the saber stuck on the table he did not dare to refuse; he ordered the wet nurse to
bring the child out.

Huang Rong held the child in her arms; she looked at his small face under the
candlelight, and then she looked up to the host. Leaning her head sideways she said,
“He doesn’t look the least bit like you; are you sure he is your child?”

The host looked awkward; his whole body quivered, he said, “Yes, yes!” It was
unclear if he was saying that the child was his, or he was saying, “What Miss said
was true.” The guests felt funny, but nobody dared to laugh.

Huang Rong took out a gold ingot from her pocket and gave it to the wet nurse; she
also handed over the child back to her. “It’s a small gift. Just consider it a first
meeting gift from his maternal grandmother,” she said.

Everybody could see that she is very young, but she called herself a grandmother;
they could also see her grand appearance, she looked both heroic and rich; they
looked at each other.

The host was overjoyed with this unexpected turn of events, he repeatedly
expressed his thanks.

“Come,” Huang Rong said, “I’ll toast you one bowl!” She took a big bowl and poured
wine to the brim, shoving it in front of the host.

The host said, “This old man’s drinking capacity is shallow. Miss, please forgive me.”

Huang Rong raised her beautiful eyebrows, stretched out her hand to pull his beard.
“Are you or are you not going to drink?” she barked.

The host had no choice but to raise his bowl and ‘glug, glug’ he drank the whole bowl
down.
“That’s right!” Huang Rong laughed, “Now we are having fun. Come, we’ll have
drinking stories.”

If she wanted to have drinking stories, who at the banquet table dared to refuse? But
the guests around the table were not rich merchant or educated people, only
peasants and villagers, how could she find a true scholar among them? Everybody
was trembling with fear trying to make up some wild stories.

After a while Huang Rong became impatient and shouted loudly, “Everybody stands
aside!”

Like they had just received pardon everybody scrambled to stand up. Suddenly
‘boom!’ the host fell backward on his chair. Turned out he was totally drunk and
could not stand up anymore. Huang Rong burst out in laughter. She kept drinking
wine and talking with Guo Jing as if there was nobody else around, letting the guests
helplessly standing on the side just watching them.

They were eating and drinking until the first watch of the night. Several times Guo
Jing tried to persuade her and finally Huang Rong had enough and was willing to
leave.

Returning to their inn Huang Rong asked with a laugh, “Jing Gege, are you having
fun today?”

Guo Jing replied, “Without reasons you scared people to their deaths; why bother to
come in the first place?”

“I am looking for my own well-being and enjoyment,” Huang Rong said, “Why would
I bother over other people’s life and death?”

Guo Jing was startled; he felt her manner of speaking was rather unusual, but
momentarily he could not figure out the profound meaning behind those words.
Huang Rong suddenly said, “I want to go out and take a walk. Are you coming?”

“It’s the middle of the night,” Guo Jing said, “Where do you want to go?”

“I think that child is amusing,” Huang Rong said, “Grandmother wants to hold him
and play with him for a few days; then I’ll give him back to his family.”

“How can you do that?” Guo Jing anxiously said.

Huang Rong only smiled and headed out the door, leaping over the wall. Guo Jing
hastily overtook her, pulled her arm trying to stop her, “Rong’er, you have played
around for along time,” he said, “Don’t you have enough?”

“Definitely not enough,” Huang Rong stood still and replied. She paused for a second
then continued, “I want you to keep me company. Only then will I have enough fun.
In a few more days you will leave me, you will be with that Princess Huazheng; she
definitely won’t let you see me again. Our time together is numbered. Each day that
passed means one less day I am with you. I want to make one day lasts like two
days, like three days, like four days. Still it’s not enough for me. Jing Gege, I don’t
want to sleep at night, I want to play around and talk with you. Do you understand
my feelings? Please don’t try to stop me.”

Guo Jing grabbed her hands tight, he felt deep compassion and love. “Rong’er,” he
said, “I am so dumb, I have never realized you have this kind of love to me. I … I …”
Speaking to this point he actually did not know what else to say.

Huang Rong smiled slightly. “Father used to teach me to read many classic poems
about anxiety, about hatred, and the like. I only know that he missed my departed
mother, that’s why he loved to read about those kinds of things. Today I discovered
that happiness and joy only come for a moment, but pain and suffering are the
matters of a lifetime.”

The crescent moon rose atop the willow tree, the night was as cold as the water,
gentle breeze brushed their clothes. Initially Guo Jing was ignorant, even though he
knew Huang Rong’s deep feelings toward him, he did not realize she loved him this
much. As he listened to her speaking, everything that happened all throughout that
day became clear to him. He said in his heart, “I am a crude and straightforward
man. In the future I won’t be with her. Although I will certainly think about her
often, miss her, eventually I will get over her. But what about her? She will live alone
on the Peach Blossom Island with only her father to keep her company. Won’t she be
lonely?” He thought further, “Someday her father will die, then only some deaf and
mute servants will accompany her. She loves to have new ideas, doing new things.
With nobody to accompany her, won’t she die of boredom?”

Thinking about these things his body trembled involuntarily. His grip on her hands
tightened, his eyes stared hard at her face. “Rong’er,” he said, “Even if the sky falls
down, I want to be with you on the Peach Blossom Island for as long as I live!”

Huang Rong trembled, she raised her head and said, “You … what did you say?”

Guo Jing said, “I don’t care about Genghis Khan, about Princess Huazheng. All my
life I want to be with you.”

Huang Rong let out a soft cry and buried her head in his bosom. Guo Jing stretched
out his arms and embraced her tightly. This matter had been vexing him for a while.
This moment, ignoring everything else he suddenly made up his mind; his heart felt
happy and relieved. Two people hugged each other tightly; they had forgotten
everything else around them.

After a while Huang Rong gently asked, “What about your mother?”

“I will fetch her and take her to the Peach Blossom Island,” Guo Jing replied.

“Aren’t you afraid of your master, Jebeh, and your sworn brother Tuolei?” Huang
Rong asked again.
“They love me very much, but I can’t have a divided heart,” Guo Jing answered.

“What about your six masters of Jiangnan? What about Ma Daozhang [Taoist Priest],
Qiu Daozhang? What will they say?” Huang Rong asked.

Guo Jing heaved a sigh and said, “They will surely be enraged, but I will slowly talk
to them earnestly. Rong’er, you must not leave me, I also won’t leave you.”

Huang Rong said with a laugh, “I have an idea. We can go hiding on the Peach
Blossom Island and do not come out forever. My father arranged the island in such a
mysterious way that even if they come to the island, they won’t be able to find you
and scold you.”

Guo Jing thought this idea of hers might not be appropriate; he was about to ask her
of a better idea when suddenly they heard footsteps about a dozen ‘zhang’s away
outside the room. Two night-walkers were using their lightness kungfu rushing from
the south heading north. One of them said, “The Old Urchin has fallen into Brother
Peng’s trick; we don’t have to be afraid of him. Let us go quickly.”

End of Chapter 32
Chapter 33 – Upcoming Disaster
(Translated by Foxs, Edited by Eliza Bennet)
Caption to the picture:
Huang Rong cursed, “Do you want to die?” and pushed lightly on Lingzhi Shangren’s
shoulder. Without answering that monk tumbled to the ground face up, his hands
and his feet did not move, maintaining the cross-legged sitting position; he looked
very strange.
At this moment Guo Jing and Huang Rong were enjoying happiness and contentment
in their hearts; they did not want to mind other people’s business. But hearing ‘The
Old Urchin’ three characters their hearts were stirred. They both jumped at the same
time and pursued those two men. The men’s martial art skills looked ordinary; they
did not have the slightest idea that they were being followed. Leaving the town they
ran for about five, six ‘li’s more before turning into a valley. They heard continuous
shouts and curses coming from behind the mountain.

Guo Jing and Huang Rong picked up their speed and followed into the valley. They
saw that a bunch of people were gathered on a part of a field. Two of them had
torches in their hands. In the middle of the field Zhou Botong was sitting motionless.
It was not clear if he was alive or dead. Facing Zhou Botong there was someone
sitting cross-legged, wearing a red kassaya; it was Lingzhi Shangren [lit.
upper/above man, a respectful term to address Buddhist monk]. He too, was
motionless. On Zhou Botong’s left there was a cave. Its entrance was small, so
anybody wanted to enter must stoop down. Outside the cave there were five, six
people shouting and cursing, but nobody dared to get within a few ‘zhang’s of the
cave, as if they were afraid something might come out of the cave and hurt them.

Guo Jing recalled one of the night walkers say, “The Old Urchin has fallen into
Brother Peng’s trick;” and now he saw Zhou Botong was sitting motionless just like a
corpse. He was afraid that Zhou Botong was injured; he was very anxious and was
about to jump forward when Huang Rong pulled his arm and whispered, “Before we
do anything, let’s investigate what happened first.”

Two people hid behind a mountain rock and looked at the people outside the cave. It
turned out they were all old acquaintances: Shen Xian Lao Guai [Ginseng Immortal
Old Freak] Liang Ziweng, Gui Men Long Wang [Dragon King of Guimen (lit. ghost
gate)] Sha Tongtian, Qian Shou Ren Tu [Thousand Hands Butcher] Peng Lianhu, San
Tou Jiao [Three Headed Scaly Dragon] Hou Tonghai, plus the two night-walkers they
followed earlier. The light from the torches illuminated their faces and Jing and Rong
recognized those two as Liang Ziweng’s disciples; Guo Jing had fought them the first
time he learned the Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms.

Huang Rong thought that now these people were not Guo Jing’s and her matches;
she looked to all directions but did not see anybody else. With a low voice she said,
“With the Old Urchin’s skill, how could these several fellows defeat him? It seems like
the Western Poison Ouyang Feng is lurking somewhere.”

She was about to think of a way to investigate further when Peng Lianhu shouted
loud and clear, “Thief male servant bird! [I know this one sounds weird, but it is the
literal translation. I’ll leave it to the editors to find a more suitable curse words ... J]
If you don’t come out, Old Man here will smoke you out!”

From the cave came a stern voice, “Whatever stinky tricks you have; bring it on!”

Guo Jing recognized it was his Da Shifu [First Master] Ke Zhen’e’s voice; he did not
care if Ouyang Feng was lurking around somewhere. “Shifu!” he shouted, “Your
disciple Guo Jing is here!” His hands had already made some moves while he was
still shouting. He grabbed Hou Tonghai’s back and flung him aside.

The people outside the cave were thrown into confusion. Sha Tongtian and Peng
Lianhu made a simultaneous attack. Liang Ziweng turned around Guo Jing’s back,
ready to make a sneak attack. Ke Zhen’e inside the cave heard everything; he raised
his hand and launched a ‘du ling’ [poisonous water caltrop] toward Liang Ziweng’s
back.

The projectile carried a fierce gust of wind. Liang Ziweng hastily lowered his head;
the ‘du ling’ flew over his head, cutting several strands of his hair. He was so
shocked that cold sweats trickled down his back. He knew Ke Zhen’e’s secret
projectiles contained a violent poison on it; the other day Peng Lianhu nearly got
killed under this weapon. Hastily he leaped back several ‘zhang’s, stretched out his
hand to feel the top of his head. Luckily his scalp was not injured. Straightaway he
took some ‘tou gu ding’ [Bone Penetrating Nails] from his pocket and walked quietly
toward the left of the cave; he wanted to enter the cave to extract his revenge.

He was just about to raise his hand when suddenly his wrist was numb; something
hit his hand. With a clanking noise the ‘tou gu ding’ fell to the ground. And then he
heard a female voice said with a laugh, “Kneel down! Or you’ll eat my stick!”

Liang Ziweng quickly turned his head and saw Huang Rong stood smiling, with a
bamboo stick in her hand. He was scared and angry at the same time; his left palm
struck toward her shoulder, his right hand tried to grab the bamboo stick. Huang
Rong stepped aside to evade his left palm, but did not move the bamboo stick, she
let him to have a good grip on it. Liang Ziweng was delighted, he held out his hand,
thinking that if this young girl did not let go, he would snatch the stick away. As soon
as he pulled, he did indeed manage to pull the bamboo stick away, but unexpectedly
the end of the stick shook and slid right out of his palm. By this time the end of the
bamboo stick had entered his circle of defense. His hands were so close to the stick
that he hurriedly reached back to grab; but he was too late. A dark green shadow
flashed and ‘slap!’ his head was squarely hit by the bamboo stick.
Overall his martial art skill was not weak; in this critical moment he was still able to
throw himself to the ground and he rolled away more than a ‘zhang’ away before he
sprang back up. He looked with a shocked expression at this young girl with bright
eyes and ivory teeth. The top of his head was hurting, his mind was confused, and
his face looked awkward.

Huang Rong said with a laugh, “Do you know the name of this stick method? You
have been beaten by me, so what did you turn into?”

Liang Ziweng had suffered hardship under this Dog Beating Stick Technique in the
past; he was beaten half dead and half alive under Hong Qigong’s hands. It had been
several years since then, but he still had a lingering fear in his heart. He noticed that
the stick was indeed Hong Qigong’s Dog Beating Stick, and the stick method was
indeed Hong Qigong’s Dog Beating Stick Technique, used up against him. It looked
like this young girl was truly Hong Qigong’s heir. With the corner of his eyes he saw
Sha and Peng two people continuously step back under the power of Guo Jing’s
palms without being able to counterattack; he called out, “In honor of the Old Hong
Bangzhu [Clan Leader Hong] we’d better go!” He called out his two disciples and
turned around to flee.

Guo Jing’s left elbow circled around forcing Sha Tongtian to retreat three steps;
followed by the sweep of his left hand. Peng Lianhu saw that this palm carried a
strong gust of wind, he did not dare to take it head-on, he hastily stepped aside to
evade. Guo Jing’s right hand made a hook, grabbed his back and lifted him up.

Peng Lianhu was rather short, being lifted high in the air his legs were kicking around
frantically. He tried to hit and kick to free himself, but he did not have any strength
left. He saw Guo Jing’s left hand make a fist, ready to strike his chest like a hammer
pounding a nail; how could he endure this strike? He hastily shouted, “What date is
today?”

“What?” Guo Jing was startled.

“Are you going to keep a good faith? Do you stay true to your own promise?” Peng
Lianhu asked.

“What?” Guo Jing asked again; his right hand was still holding Peng Lianhu high in
the air.

“We have agreed to have a martial art contest in Jiaxing on the fifteenth of the
eighth month, at the Misty Rain Tavern,” Peng Lianhu said, “We are not in Jiaxing,
and today is not the Mid-autumn Festival. How can you injure me?”

Guo Jing thought he was right; he was about to release him when suddenly he
remembered something. “What did you do to my Zhou Dage [big brother Zhou]?”

Chapter 33 – Part 2
Peng Lianhu replied, “The Old Urchin is betting against that Tibetan monk; whoever
moves first lose. What does it have to do with me?”

Guo Jing cast a glance toward the two people sitting on the ground, he felt relieved.
“So that’s how it is,” he thought. Then he shouted, “Da Shifu [first master], are you
Senior well?” Ke Zhen’e only uttered an ‘Hm’ sound from inside the cave.

Guo Jing was afraid as soon as he let Peng Lianhu go, he would kick him on the
chest; hence with his right hand he flung Peng Lianhu several feet away, while
calling out, “Off you go!”

Peng Lianhu took that opportunity to somersault and land on the ground. He saw
Sha Tongtian and Liang Ziweng had already run away. He inwardly scolded them for
not remembering their friend. He cupped his fists toward Guo Jing and said, “Seven
days later at Misty Rain Tavern we will decide victory and defeat.” He turned around
and displaying his ‘qing gong’ [lightness kungfu] he ran away. He was wondering
about one thing, “Each time I meet this kid, his martial art is improving by leaps and
bounds. Isn’t that strange? Did he eat some magic pills or find some immortal
secret?”

Huang Rong went toward Zhou Botong and Lingzhi Shangren; she noticed that both
of them were staring at each other without blinking their eyes. Looking at the
situation she recalled the conversation between those two night-walkers and knew
that this must be Peng Lianhu’s evil scheme. They must be scared of the Old Urchin’s
martial art, so they tricked him into making a bet against this Tibetan monk to stay
still. Lingzhi Shangren’s martial art was nowhere near the Old Urchin’s; but by
keeping him from moving, others would have the opportunity to deal with Ke Zhen’e.

The Old Urchin would be happy to have someone accompany him to play; he would
not care about other matters, so it would be useless to speak reason with him.
Although there was an earth-shattering fight going on next to him, he would sit still
like Taishan [Mount Tai]; he would not even move his little finger, he was
determined to win his bet against Lingzhi Shangren.

“Old Urchin! I’m here!” Huang Rong called out.

Zhou Botong heard her, but he was afraid to lose, so he did not respond.

Huang Rong said, “The way you bet, even if you sit for several more hours you won’t
know who wins and who loses; what kind of fun is that? You know what, let me do
this: I will tickle both of you on your ‘xiao yao xue’ [laugh waist acupoint] with my
both hands; I will make both hands have the same strength. Whoever laughs first
will lose.”

Zhou Botong had been sitting impatiently; hearing Huang Rong’s words he agreed
wholeheartedly, but he did not dare to show his approval. Huang Rong did not say
anything more, she went in between the two and sat down. She put her Dog Beating
Stick on the ground and stretched both arms, two index fingers hit both men’s ‘xiao
yao xue’. She knew Zhou Botong’s internal energy far surpassed the Tibetan monk’s,
so she was not being unfair; she exerted equal strength. But to her surprise while
Zhou Botong admittedly did not move, Lingzhi Shangren also seemed like he did not
feel anything.

Huang Rong secretly admired him; she thought, “This monk’s skill in closing up his
acupoints is really good. If I were hit like this, I would have rolled around in
laughter.” Then she exerted more strength to her hands.

Zhou Botong used his internal energy trying hard to resist the strength of Huang
Rong’s finger; but this ‘xiao yao xue’ was located very close to the ribs, the muscle
was very tender, it was very difficult to send the energy to that spot. If he
straightened up his back he could borrow the momentum from the movement to
unload the strength; but that would cause him to move and lose the bet. He felt
Huang Rong’s finger getting stronger and stronger, he had no choice but desperately
resist her finger.

A moment later he could not take it any longer, the muscle under his ribs contract
and expand to repel Huang Rong’s finger. He leaped up and laughed out loud,
saying, “Fat Monk, you are good! The Old Urchin admits defeat!”

Seeing him admit defeat, Huang Rong was regretful, “If I knew this would happen, I
would have add a little more strength to the fat monk’s body,” she thought; and then
she stood up and said toward Lingzhi Shangren, “You won. Your grand-aunt does not
want your life. Just go! Go!”

Interestingly Lingzhi Shangren seemed not to hear her; he was still sitting
motionless. Huang Rong put out a hand and pushed his shoulder, while shouted
loudly, “Who wants to see your stupid face here? Do you want to die?” She only
pushed lightly, but to her surprise Lingzhi Shangren fell down to the ground, still in
the cross-legged sitting position, just like a wooden carving of Buddha.

Zhou Botong, Jing and Rong were stunned. Huang Rong thought, “Could it be that
his closing up acupoints skill is not perfected yet and he died while doing it?” She
held out her hand to feel his breathing and found that Lingzhi Shangren was still
breathing. Immediately she understood what was going on; she was angry but
amused at the same time. To Zhou Botong she said, “Old Urchin, you fell into others’
trick without knowing it. You are really dumb!”

Zhou Botong opened his eyes wide. “What?” he was angry.

Huang Rong said with a smile, “You unseal his acupoints first, then we’ll talk.”

Zhou Botong rolled his eyes then he stooped down and traced Lingzhi Shangren’s
body. He tapped several places and found out that eight of Lingzhi Shangren’s major
acupoints were sealed by someone else. He jumped up in anger and shouted, “That
did not count! That did not count!”

“What did not count?” Huang Rong asked.

Zhou Botong replied, “His friends sealed up his acupoints after he was seated, of
course this fat monk could not move. Even if we sit for three more days and nights
he won’t lose.” Turning toward Lingzhi Shangren lying on the ground, he called out,
“Come, we’ll compete again.”

Seeing Zhou Botong was exuberant, he was not by any means injured, Guo Jing was
worried about his Shifu. He no longer listened to Zhou Botong talking nonsense, he
sneaked into the cave to see Ke Zhen’e without saying anything.

Zhou Botong stooped down to unseal Lingzhi Shangren’s acupoints while talking
nonstop, “Come, we’ll compete again, we’ll compete again!”

Huang Rong coldly said, “What about my Shifu? Where did you throw him?”
Zhou Botong was taken aback. “Aiyo!” he cried and turned around, rushing toward
the cave. He moved so abruptly that he almost collided with Guo Jing at the cave
entrance. Guo Jing was holding Ke Zhen’e’s hand, leading him out of the cave. He
saw his Shifu was wearing plain white cloth and white headband; Guo Jing was
startled, “Shifu!” he asked, “Have any of your family members died? Where are Er
Shifu [Second Master] and the others?”

Ke Zhen’e raised his head to the sky without saying anything, two lines of tears
flowed down on his cheeks. Guo Jing was shocked, but did not dare to ask. Then he
saw Zhou Botong was helping someone else going out of the cave. That person’s left
hand was holding a wine gourd, his right hand holding half a chicken, his mouth
busily nibble on the chicken leg, a broad smile on his face, and he kept nodding his
head. He was none other than the Nine-fingered Divine Beggar Hong Qigong.

Jing and Rong two people were overjoyed, “Shifu!” they called out together.

Ke Zhen’e’s face suddenly appeared very angry; he lifted up the iron staff and
fiercely hit the back of Huang Rong’s head. The staff movement was swift and fierce,
it was a lethal strike from the ‘fu mo zhang fa’ [demon subduing staff technique],
which he had painstakingly trained to perfection in the Mongolian desert, with the
intention to use it against the blinded Mei Chaofeng. It was created so that even
though Mei Chaofeng could hear the staff’s wind, she would not be able to evade it.

Huang Rong had just seen Hong Qigong after a long time and was squealing with
delight; she had never guarded against any sneak attack from her back. By the time
she was feeling the wind, the blast of the iron staff had already enveloped her
completely. Guo Jing saw the staff was about to shatter her skull, in his desperation
his left hand swept horizontally shoving the staff aside; while his right hand
stretched out and grabbed the head of the staff. In panic he had used too much
power, without realizing that by this time his strength had increased tremendously.
The move of his left palm was from the Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms.

Chapter 33 – Part 3
Ke Zhen’e felt a sudden surge of strong energy. He was unable to block and the iron
staff fell down from his hand, he himself also tumbling down to the ground. Guo Jing
was startled; hastily he stooped down to pick him up. “Da Shifu! [First Master]” he
called out. Guo Jing saw Ke Zhen’e’s nose was swollen and two of his teeth were
broken.

Ke Zhen’e spat the teeth, along with some blood, into his palm. “For you!” he said in
a cold voice.

Guo Jing was dumbstruck. He knelt down and said, “Disciple deserves to die. Shifu,
please punish me severely.”

Ke Zhen’e was still holding out his hand, saying, “For you!”

Guo Jing wept. “Da Shifu …” He chocked, not knowing what to say or do.

Zhou Botong laughed and said, “I’ve seen master beating his disciple, but I’ve never
seen disciple beating his master until today. Amusing! Truly amusing!”
Hearing this Ke Zhen’e was more furious. “Fine,” he said, “There is a saying: swallow
the knocked down tooth and the blood. Shall I do it for you?” Holding out his hand
he tossed the teeth into his mouth, throwing his head backward he swallowed the
teeth into his belly. Zhou Botong clapped his hands, burst out in laughter and
cheered loudly.

Huang Rong noticed the situation was unusual. The grievous expression on Ke
Zhen’e’s face had not disappeared. It was unclear why he wanted to kill her; her
heart was full of questions. Slowly she went to Hong Qigong and pulled his hand.

Guo Jing knocked his head to the ground and said, “Even if I have to die ten
thousands times, disciple will never dare to offend Da Shifu. I was out of my mind to
let my hand slip and struck Da Shifu.”

Ke Zhen’e said, “Shifu this and Shifu that, who is your Shifu? You have the Master of
the Peach Blossom Island as your father-in-law, why would you need a Shifu? The
Seven Freaks of Jiangnan do not have the ability, how can we be worthy to be Guo
Daye’s [big master Guo] Shifu?”

Guo Jing heard his words were getting sharper and sharper; he kept knocking his
head to the ground.

Finally Hong Qigong could not bear it much longer; he interrupted by saying, “Ke
Daxia [Great Hero Ke], Master and disciple spar with each other, somebody losing
control is a common occurrence. The stance Jing’er used just now was taught by me.
Just blame it on the Old Beggar. Please accept my apology.” And he did indeed cup
his fists in respect.

Listening to Hong Qigong, Zhou Botong thought, “Why don’t I say something too?”
Thereupon he said, “Ke Daxia, Master and disciple spar with each other, somebody
losing control is a common occurrence. The technique Brother Guo Jing used to grab
your iron staff just now was taught by me. Just blame it on the Old Urchin. Please
accept my apology.” And he also cupped his fists in respect.

He was just talking nonsense and meant it as a joke, but Ke Zhen’e was livid. He
believed Zhou Botong intentionally insulted him, and as a result he also regarded
Hong Qigong’s good intention as a bad one. With a loud voice he said, “You, Eastern
Heretic, Western Poison, Southern Emperor and Northern Beggar, always think that
your martial art skills are matchless and you can turn this world upside-down?
Humph! I say many of your deeds are not righteous, certainly nothing good comes
out of you.”

With a surprised voice Zhou Botong asked, “Hey, what did the Southern Emperor do
to you that you include him in your curse?”

Huang Rong was listening quietly on the side; she knew the more they talked, the
worse the situation had become. The Old Urchin being there would only make it
more difficult to make Ke Zhen’e’s fury subsided. She opened her mouth and said,
“Old Urchin, ‘the weaving of mandarin ducks desiring to fly together right away’ is
looking for you; aren’t you going to see her?”

Zhou Botong was startled; he jumped three feet into the air and shouted, “What?!?”
Huang Rong said, “She wants to ‘stand face to face taking a bath wearing red clothes
when the green spring grass ripples in the deepest of dawn’s cold’ with you.”

Zhou Botong was even more shocked. “Where? Where?” he shouted.

Huang Rong pointed to the south and said, “Over there! Go see her, quick!”

Zhou Botong said, “I won’t see her. Good Miss, I will do whatever you tell me to do;
just don’t ever tell her that you have seen me …” Before he even finished talking, his
feet moved and he ran to the north.

“I’ll hold on to your promise!” Huang Rong called out.

From a distant came Zhou Botong’s reply, “Once the Old Urchin make a promise, I
won’t regret it.” As the words ‘regret it’ came out of his mouth, like a flash of
lightning his shadow had already disappeared.

Huang Rong’s original intention was for him to see Ying Gu. Who would have thought
that Zhou Botong avoided Ying Gu like a serpent or a scorpion and ran away from
her in fear. It totally blew her mind away; nevertheless she succeeded in getting rid
of him.

Up to this time Guo Jing was still kneeling in front of Ke Zhen’e. With tears in his
eyes, he said, “For disciple’s sake Seven Shifus had traveled to a faraway desert.
Even if disciple’s body is ground to dust and my bones are shattered, it will still be
difficult for me to repay Seven Shifus’ kindness. This palm of mine had offended Da
Shifu, disciple does not want it anymore!” Drawing the dagger from his waist Guo
Jing chopped it down on his left wrist.

Ke Zhen’e swung his iron staff horizontally, striking the dagger to the side. Although
the dagger was light and the iron staff heavy, when the two weapons collided sparks
flew up; Ke Zhen’e felt a tingling sensation on his palms. He knew Guo Jing was
using his entire strength, thus showing his sincerity.

“Fine,” he said, “If that’s the case, then you must do what I say.”

Guo Jing was very happy. “Whatever Da Shifu says, disciple will not dare to
disobey,” he said.

“If you don’t do what I say, I forbid you to see my face in the future and thus our
master-disciple relationship is severed,” Ke Zhen’e said.

Guo Jing said, “Disciple will do my best. If I can’t do it, I’d rather die.”

Ke Zhen’e struck his iron staff heavily on the ground and shouted, “Go and cut the
Old Heretic Huang’s and his daughter’s heads; then you can comeback to see me.”

To say Guo Jing was shocked was an understatement. “Da … Shi … Shifu …” he
stammered with a trembling voice.

“What?” Ke Zhen’e asked.

“I wonder how did Huang Daozhu [Island Master Huang] offend you?” Guo Jing
asked.

Ke Zhen’e heaved two heavy sighs. Suddenly he gritted his teeth and said, “I really
wish the Heaven would restore my sight if only for a moment so I can see your face;
you, an ungrateful little animal!” Lifting his iron staff high he hacked it down toward
the top of Guo Jing’s head.

As Ke Zhen’e asked Guo Jing to do something for him, Huang Rong had already had
a vague guess. When Ke Zhen’e’s iron staff suddenly struck and Guo Jing did not
evade, she thought whatever happened, saving Guo Jing’s life was more important;
hence from the side her bamboo stick intercepted the iron staff before it reached
Guo Jing’s head with the ‘e gou lan lu’ [cutting off a vicious dog’s path] stance. As it
hit the iron staff, the bamboo stick shook and coiled around the staff, pushing it
slanting sideways. This Dog Beating Stick Technique was truly marvelous; although
her strength was inferior, by borrowing the staff’s strength she managed to re-orient
its path.

Ke Zhen’e staggered; without waiting for his feet to come to a complete stop he
fiercely beat his own chest twice and then ran away to the north. Guo Jing ran after
him while calling out, “Da Shifu, wait!”

Ke Zhen’e halted his steps and turned around; with a stern voice he said, “Guo Daye
wants to take my old life?” His expression looked mean and ferocious. Guo Jing was
taken aback; he did not dare to continue. Hanging his head down he heard the
sound of the iron staff against the ground getting farther and farther away, before
completely faded away. Remembering his Shifu’s kindness he could not help but go
down on his knees and wept bitterly.

Chapter 33 – Part 4
Taking Huang Rong’s hand Hong Qigong walked to his side. He said, “Ke Daxia and
the Old Heretic Huang both have a very strange temperament; they are always in
some kind of disagreement with each other. Don’t worry, leave it to the Old Beggar
to be the mediator between them.”

Guo Jing wiped his tears and stood up. “Shifu,” he said, “Do you know … do you
know what it was about?”

Hong Qigong shook his head. “The Old Urchin fell into their trick and was betting
against them in staying still. Those traitors wanted to harm me. Luckily we met your
Da Shifu outside the Ox Village by accident, and he protected me by taking me
hiding in this cave. Thanks to the fierceness of his ‘du ling’ secret projectiles those
traitors did not dare to rush in, so we could hold our ground this long. Ay, your Da
Shifu has a noble heart, he was very brave in battle defending justice. He
accompanied me in that cave resisting the enemy. Undoubtedly he was determined
to fight to the death.”

Speaking to this point he took two mouthfuls of wine, and then took a bite on the
chicken leg. Biting and chewing the chicken went into his belly; and then he wiped
his greasy mouth with his sleeve. Only then did he continued speaking, “The battle
was fierce; my martial art skill is gone. I could not offer any help in fighting the
enemy. I only saw your Da Shifu’s face, but did not have the luxury of talking to him
about anything. Judging from how he was very angry, I don’t think it was because of
your slip of hand. He is a chivalrous hero, how can he have such a narrow mind?
Luckily in just a few more days it will be the Mid-autumn Festival of the eight month.
Wait till the martial art contest at the Misty Rain Tavern is over, the Old Beggar will
speak on your behalf.” Swallowing his tears Guo Jing uttered his gratitude.

Hong Qigong laughed and said, “Your two babies’ martial art skills have advanced
tremendously. Ke Daxia can be considered a prominent character in the Wulin world,
yet as soon as you two babies made your moves he fell into awkward positions.
What is the story behind it?”

In his heart Guo Jing was ashamed; he did not know what to say. Laughing and
giggling Huang Rong told Hong Qigong everything they went through after they were
separated.

Hong Qigong cheered loudly when he heard that Yang Kang killed Ouyang Ke; he
shot curse words when he heard the Beggar Clan’s Elders were swindled by Yang
Kang, “Little Bastard! Four old muddle-headed! Lu Youjiao has feet does not have
brain!” He was entranced when he listened to how Yideng Dashi [Reverend Yideng –
great master Yideng] saved Huang Rong’s life; and how Ying Gu came at midnight to
seek vengeance. Finally his expression slightly changed when he heard Ying Gu
suddenly went insane at the ‘qing long tan’ [green dragon shore]. “Ah!” he
exclaimed.

“Shifu, what is it?” Huang Rong asked, “Do you also know Ying Gu?” While in her
heart she mused, “All his life Shifu has never had a wife. Could it be that he was also
mesmerized by Ying Gu? Hmm, what’s so good about this Ying Gu anyway?
Mystifying, acting like a mad woman, but can captivate the attention of so many
experts of the Wulin world?” Luckily Hong Qigong’s answer was pleasing to her ears.

“Nothing,” Hong Qigong said, “I don’t know Ying Gu, but when Emperor Duan left
home [meaning: become a monk], I was there by his side. That day he sent a letter
to the north, inviting me to go to the south. I knew he wouldn’t send for the Old
Beggar if he did not have a very important matter. I also remembered Yunnan’s
ham, the ‘over the bridge’ rice-flour noodle, and the chunk of cakes and delicacies;
so I left at once. When I saw him, his face was haggard, like he was suffering from a
serious illness; it was completely different from when I saw him during the Sword
Meet of Mount Hua, where he looked alive with a dragon or a tiger’s appearance. I
felt very strange. After I have been there for a few days with the pretense of
discussing martial art he wanted to teach me the ‘xian tian gong’ [inborn/innate
strength/energy] and ‘yi yang zhi’ [solitary yang finger]. The Old Beggar thought: in
the past his Solitary Yang Finger was in a level ground with my Eighteen Dragon
Subduing Palms, the Old Poison’s Toad Stance, the Old Heretic Huang’s ‘pi kong
zhang’ [splitting the air palm] and Divine Flicking Finger; nowadays he had mastered
Wang Chongyang’s ‘xian tian gong’. In the second Sword Meet of Mount Hua the title
of Number One Martial Artist in the World would certainly belong to him; why would
he want to pass on these two special skills to the Old Beggar, without any reason
whatsoever? If he wanted to exchange knowledge, why wasn’t he willing to learn my
Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms? There must be something behind this.

Later on the Old Beggar mulled over this matter, I talked to him and his four main
disciples; finally I found a clue. It turned out that after he passed on these two skills
to me he was going to commit suicide. Only why he was grieving so much, even his
own disciples were unclear.”
Huang Rong said, “Shifu, Emperor Duan was afraid that after he died nobody will be
able to control Ouyang Feng anymore.”

“That’s right,” Hong Qigong said, “When I found out, I was adamant of not willing to
learn anything from him. At last he told me the truth; he said that although his four
disciples were loyal and diligent, their minds have been occupied by the kingdom’s
affairs for a long time, that they could not concentrate on training martial art, hence
it would be difficult for them to achieve success. It seemed like the Quanzhen Seven
Masters’ martial art also could not reach the pinnacle of perfection. He said it was
fine for me not willing to learn the Solitary Yang Finger, but if the ‘xian tian gong’ is
lost, he would not have any face to meet Wang Chongyang Zhenren [lit. true/real
person, a respectful term to address a Taoist priest] in the underworld. I asked him
to reconsider his decision, but my persuasion was useless. Only, I was unyielding in
my stand not to learn from him, with the hope of saving his life. Emperor Duan could
not change my mind; finally he relented by abdicating his throne and becoming a
monk. I was by his side the day they shaved his head. It has been more than ten
years ago. Ay, finally this enmity can be resolved, this is very good.”

“Shifu,” Huang Rong said, “We have finished telling our story, what about you?”

“About me?” Hong Qigong asked, “Hmm, at the imperial kitchen I ate four dishes of
‘yuan yang wu zhen kuai’ [minced five-treasure mandarin duck]; it was enough to
satiate my craving; and then I ate litchi fruit and kidney, quail soup, sheep tongue in
thick sauce, snail in ginger and vinegar sauce, oyster fermented in sheep’s tripe …”
on and on he listed the name of the dishes he ate at the imperial kitchen, while
constantly swallowing his own saliva and licking his own lips.

“Why is it that later on the Old Urchin could not find you?” Huang Rong interrupted.

Hong Qigong smiled, “The imperial kitchen chefs repeatedly found their prepared
dishes vanished into thin air; they thought there was a fox fairy making disturbance
in that place, so they burned incense and lighted candles to worship me. Later on
they told the chief of the imperial palace guards, who then dispatched eight palace
guards to the imperial kitchen to catch the fox. The Old Beggar thought it was a
serious situation; and neither the Old Urchin nor his shadow could be seen. I had no
choice but slipped away to a remote part to hide for a while. That place was called ‘e
lu hua tang’ [green calyx flower hall] or something, it was full of plum flower trees.
From the look of it, it was the winter quarter where that fellow, the Emperor, spends
his days enjoying the plum blossoms. Only it was the middle of summer; except
several old eunuchs sweeping the ground everyday early in the morning, not even a
ghost’s shadow came to that place. The Old Beggar was free to roam around.
Everywhere in the imperial palace there were things to eat; even a hundred beggars
won’t die of starvation in that place, thereupon I was able to heal my injury in peace
and quiet.

Chapter 33 – Part 5
I stayed there for more than ten days. One day in the middle of the night I suddenly
heard the Old Urchin’s voice pretending to be a ghost; and then the voice turned into
dog’s howling and cat’s meowing. He was turning the palace upside down with the
noise. And then I heard some people call out, ‘Hong Qigong, Hong laoyezi [old
master Hong], Hong Qigong, Hong laoyezi!’ I took a peek. Turned out they were
Peng Lianhu, Sha Tongtian, Liang Ziweng and the other crafty fellows.”
“Ah!” Huang Rong exclaimed in surprise, “Why did they look for you?”

“I thought it was very strange too,” Hong Qigong said, “As soon as I saw them I
went back into hiding. Who would have thought that the Old Urchin had already
spotted me. He was ecstatic; he dashed forward and hugged me, saying, ‘Thank the
heaven and thank the earth for letting me find you at last.’ Immediately he ordered
Liang Ziweng and the others to follow behind us …”

“How could Liang Ziweng and the others listen to the Old Urchin’s order?” Huang
Rong wondered.

Hong Qigong laughed and said, “At that time I was also racking my brain but could
not figure out the reason. All I can say was that they were very afraid of the Old
Urchin. Whatever he said, they did not dare to disobey. He ordered Liang Ziweng and
the others to follow behind us, while he carried me to the Ox Village to find you two
people. Along the way he told me that he had looked for me everywhere but could
not find me, he was very worried. And then quite by accident he bumped into Liang
Ziweng and the others by the city wall. In his frustration he beat each and every one
of them really bad, and then ordered them to comb all streets and alleys the whole
day and the whole night to look for me. He said they had been searching around the
imperial palace for a while, but the palace was huge while I was hiding in a remote
place. All throughout, they did not see me.”

Huang Rong said with a smile, “I did not expect the Old Urchin to be that smart, able
to make those devil heads to follow his orders obediently. I wonder why they did not
run away.”

Hong Qigong smiled and said, “The Old Urchin employed a mischievous trick. He
rubbed some dirt from his body and made more than a dozen pills. He forced them
to take three pills for each person, said that this poison would react in seven by
seven, forty nine days. The poison was so lethal and nobody in the world other than
himself would be able to neutralize it. If they were obedient, he would give them the
antidote on the forty-eighth day. Although these wicked thieves half believed and
half doubted, they certainly could not take a risk with their own lives; in the end they
did not have any choice but to believe and they were compelled to listen to the Old
Urchin’s yelling and screaming, without daring to defy.”

Initially Guo Jing was grieving, but hearing Hong Qigong’s story he could not help
but smile. Hong Qigong continued, “When we arrived at the Ox Village we could not
find you two. The Old Urchin again forced them to go out and search for you. Last
night they all came back with their heads hung low. The Old Urchin scolded and
cursed them. He was getting angrier and angrier until suddenly he said, ‘If by
tomorrow you still cannot find those two babies Guo Jing and Huang Rong, I will
make urine pulp pills and give them to you!’ Of course they began to get suspicious
and repeatedly provoked him to talk. The Old Urchin was screaming and kicking,
finally they found out that the pills they took earlier were not poison at all. I know
the situation would turn dangerous; these traitors would certainly create not a small
trouble. I told the Old Urchin to kill them all. Who would have thought that Peng
Lianhu also saw the danger, immediately he hatched a deception; he told that fat
Tibetan monk to compete against the Old Urchin in sitting still in meditation. I could
not stop them, and was forced to run out of the Ox Village. I came across Ke Daxia
outside the village. He protected me and we ran to this place. Peng Lianhu and the
others chased us. Although the Old Urchin was muddle-headed, he knew better than
leaving me alone, so he busily overtook us here. These traitors constantly provoked
him, until finally the Old Urchin could not take it anymore and agreed to bet against
the monk.”

Listening to this story Huang Rong was both angry and amused at the same time,
she said, “If we did not meet them by accident, Shifu, your life would be delivered
under the Old Urchin’s hand.”

Hong Qigong said, “My life is almost gone anyway, it doesn’t really matter whose
hand will deliver it away.”

Huang Rong suddenly remembered something. “Shifu,” she said, “That day when we
came back from Ming Xia Dao [bright red clouds island] …”

“It’s not Ming Xia Dao, it’s ‘ya gui dao’ [crushing ghost island],” Hong Qigong
interrupted.

“Fine,” Huang Rong smiled slightly, “It’s Ya Gui Dao then. Now, that Ouyang Ke is
not the least bit a fake ghost, he is a real ghost. That day when we rescued Ouyang
Feng uncle and nephew, on the wooden raft the Old Poison said that there was one
man in this whole wide world who can heal your injury. Only this person’s martial art
is matchless; so we can’t use force against him, and you are not willing to harm
others to benefit yourself by asking him to help you. At that time you were not
willing to mention this person’s name. Later on Jing Gege and I went to Xiangxi.
Naturally now we know that other than Emperor Duan then, or Reverend Yideng
now, there is no one else.”

Hong Qigong sighed, “If he used Yiyang Zhi [Solitary Yang Finger] to attack my ‘qi
jing ba mai’ [lit. marvelous/mysterious passage 8 pulses, Kwok & Huang Yushi from
Wuxiapedia translated it as: Eight Extraordinary Channels], without a doubt he would
heal my injury. But this kind of skill will injure his own internal strength for as long
as five years or as few as three years, it’s hard to say. Let’s just say that he does not
care about the second Sword Meet of Mount Hua, but he is already over sixty years
of age; just how much longer is he going to live? How can the Old Beggar open his
mouth and ask for his help?”

“Shifu,” Guo Jing said happily, “This is great! We don’t need anybody’s help, I can go
through your ‘qi jing ba mai’.”

Hong Qigong was surprised, “What?” he asked.

Huang Rong said, “Jing Gege recited that babbling and mumbling part from the
Manual and Reverend Yideng has translated it for us. He told us to tell you, Senior,
to use this technique to open your own ‘qi jing ba mai’.” Straightaway she recited
Yideng’s translation from memory.

After listening to this Hong Qigong pondered for a long time, and then he jumped in
joy and exclaimed, “Wonderful! Wonderful! I believe I will need only about one and a
half year to recover.”

Huang Rong said, “In the Misty Rain Tavern martial art contest our opponent will
surely invite Ouyang Feng to help their side. The Old Urchin’s martial art might not
be inferior to his, but he is a wild person. I am afraid he won’t show up during the
competition time. We must go to the Peach Blossom Island to get my father’s help to
ensure victory.”

“What you said is not wrong,” Hong Qigong said, “I will go to Jiaxing first, the two of
you go to the Peach Blossom Island.”

Guo Jing was reluctant to leave his shifu, he insisted on escorting Hong Qigong to
Jiaxing. Hong Qigong said, “I will ride your little red horse. If there is any problem
along the way, the Old Beggar will just run away. Who can chase after me?”
Immediately he mounted the horse. With a couple of ‘glug, glug’ he drank his wine,
and then pressed the horse’s belly with his legs. The little red horse let out a long
neigh toward Guo Jing and Huang Rong, as if it did not want to leave them, and then
galloped like the wind to the north.

Guo Jing watched until he could not see Hong Qigong’s shadow anymore, he also
recalled how Ke Zhen’e wanted to kill Huang Rong, his heart was heavy. Huang Rong
did not try to comfort him. She went alone to find a boat for hire then they set sail
toward the Peach Blossom Island.

Chapter 33 – Part 6
When they arrived on the Island, they immediately sent the boat away. Huang Rong
said, “Jing Gege, I am going to ask a favor from you. Will you promise to grant it?”

“What is it?” Guo Jing asked, “I don’t want to do something I won’t be able to do.”

Huang Rong laughed and said, “I am not going to ask you to cut off your six masters’
heads.”

Guo Jing was upset. “Rong’er,” he said, “Can’t you not mention this matter
anymore?”

“Why can’t I mention it?” Huang Rong countered, “You may have already forgotten
about it; but I can’t. Even though I am good to you, I don’t want you to cut down my
head.”

Guo Jing sighed and said, “I really don’t understand why Da Shifu was so angry. He
knew you are the love of my life. I’d rather die a thousand times, ten thousand
times, than hurting you the least bit.”

Huang Rong could hear the sincerity in his voice, her heart was moved. She pulled
his hand and leaned against his body. Pointing to a row of willow trees by the creek
she said with a tender voice, “Jing Gege, do you think this Peach Blossom Island is
beautiful?”

“It truly looks like a fairyland,” Guo Jing replied.

Huang Rong sighed, “I want to live here forever, I don’t want to be killed by you,”
she said.

Guo Jing gently stroked her hair and said, “Good Rong’er, how can I kill you?”

Huang Rong said, “What if your six masters, your Mama, your good friend, they all
ask you to kill me? Will you do it or not?”
Guo Jing confidently said, “Even though everybody in the world wants to make
things difficult for you, I will always protect you.”

Huang Rong held his hand tightly and asked, “Will you be willing to leave all these
people for me?”

Guo Jing hesitated and did not answer. Huang Rong looked up and gazed at his eyes,
with anxious expression on her face, waiting for his answer.

Guo Jing finally said, “Rong’er, I said that I would accompany you on the Peach
Blossom Island for the rest of my life. I have made that decision before I opened my
mouth.”

“Good!” Huang Rong said, “Then from this day on, you are not going to leave this
island.”

Guo Jing was taken aback, “From this day on?”

“Um, yes,” Huang Rong said, “From this day on! I am going to ask Father to go to
Misty Rain Tavern and fight for us. Father and I will go to kill Wanyan Honglie to
avenge your father. Father and I will go to Mongolia to fetch your Mama. I will even
ask Father not to blame your six masters. I am going to take care of every single
one of your concerns for you.”

Guo Jing saw the expression on her face was a little bit unusual; he said, “Rong’er,
what I said to you, you can definitely count on it. Don’t you worry; you don’t have to
do all these things.”

Huang Rong sighed, “The matters in this world are difficult to say,” she said, “When
you agreed to marry that Mongolian Princess, did you ever think that someday you’ll
regret your own decision? Previously I only knew that whatever I wanted, I got it.
But now I know … Ay! Whatever you wish you have, just pray that the Heaven will
not make things difficult for you.” Speaking to this point she could not restrain her
eyes from turning red. She hung her head low.

Guo Jing was silent; his heart was filled with tumultuous thoughts. He realized how
much Huang Rong loved him, and it made him wanting to stay on the Island to be
with her forever. But he felt it was inappropriate for him to ignore all his concerns;
only why it was inappropriate, he did not know.

Huang Rong softly said, “It’s not that I don’t believe you or want to force you to live
here; it’s just that I am really scared.” Speaking of this she suddenly threw herself
into his arms and sobbed on his shoulder.

Guo Jing was caught by surprise; he was at a loss of what to do. He quickly said,
“Rong’er, what are you afraid of?” Huang Rong did not reply, but she started to
weep.

Ever since Guo Jing knew her, they had been through many difficult and dangerous,
sometimes miserable situations, but he had always seen her smiling and laughing.
This time she was back in her home and very soon will see her father; why was she
scared all of a sudden? He asked, “Are you afraid your father has met some
accident?”

Huang Rong shook her head. Guo Jing asked again, “Are you afraid once I leave this
island I won’t be coming back?” Again Huang Rong shook her head. Guo Jing
successively asked four, five questions but she shook her head again and again.

After a while Huang Rong lifted her head up and said, “Jing Gege, I don’t know what
I am afraid of. I remember your Da Shifu’s expression when he told you to kill me, I
just can’t shake it off my mind. I always feel there will come a day you are going to
listen to him and kill me. That was the reason I asked you not to leave this place.
Will you promise me?”

Guo Jing smiled and said, “I was wondering what important matter worries you so
much; turns out it is only over this. That day in Beijing didn’t my Six Shifus cursed
you as little female demon [xiao yao nu, yao – goblin/witch/devil/monster] or
something like that? Afterwards I ran away with you, but we don’t have any problem
until today. My Six Shifus seem strict and mean, but their hearts are kind and loving.
Once you get to know each other I am sure they will certainly like you. Er Shifu’s
[Second Shifu] skill in picking other people’s pocket is amazing; you can learn from
him. I am sure you’ll have a lot of fun. Qi Shifu [Seventh Shifu] is tender and
friendly …”

Huang Rong cut him off, “So you are determined to leave this place?” she asked.

Guo Jing replied, “The two of us will leave together; we’ll both go to Mongolia to
fetch my Mother, we’ll kill Wanyan Honglie together, and then together we will come
back to this place. Won’t that be great?”

With a startled look on her face Huang Rong said, “If that’s the case, I am afraid we
won’t be coming back together forever, we won’t be together for rest of our lives.”

“Why?” Guo Jing wondered.

Huang Rong shook her head and said, “I don’t know. But when I saw your Da Shifu’s
expression that was what I felt. It seemed like killing me is not enough; his hatred
went deep into his bones and marrow.”

As Guo Jing listened to her, he could see that her heart was broken. Although her
face still showed that childlike naïveté, her eyebrows and the corner of her eyes
clearly showed her feelings towards the upcoming disaster. He recalled that she was
always right; if this time he did not listen to what she said and some day a disaster
befell her, how would that be good? Thinking about this his heart ached; he was
overwhelmed with emotion and blurted out, “All right! I am not going to leave this
place, ever!”

Hearing him Huang Rong fixed her gaze to his face for half a day without saying
anything; two streams of tears slowly flowed down her cheeks. Guo Jing said in low
voice, “Rong’er, what else do you want?”

“What else do I want?” Huang Rong said, “I want nothing else!” She raised her
beautiful eyebrows up. “Even if I want something else, the Heaven won’t let me.”
Her long sleeve gently rose up, she danced underneath the flower trees. As she
turned her head around, the golden band on her hair glittered under the sun. Her
clothes fluttered in the breeze. She danced faster and faster; every now and then
she held out her hand to shake down the trees and petals of flowers fell down like
rain: red flower, white flower, yellow flower, purple flower, they fluttered in the air
just like butterflies dancing around her, creating a very beautiful scenery.

She danced for a moment, suddenly leaped up a tree, and then leaped over to
another tree, dancing from tree to tree performing the ‘yan shuang fei’ [the fly of a
pair of swallows] and ‘luo ying shen jian zhang’ [falling (leaves) divine sword palm
technique] stances. She looked so happy.

Guo Jing thought, “Mama often told me stories about a fairy mountain on the eastern
sea, where many fairies lived. I wonder if there is a fairy mountain more beautiful
than the Peach Blossom Island, and if there is a fairy more beautiful than Rong’er?”

End of Chapter

Chapter 34 – Radical Changes on the Island

(Translated by Foxs, Edited by Eliza Bennet)

Caption to the picture:
Inside the room the table was flipped over and the stool lay on its side, books, pen
and ink were scattered on the floor and half the scrolls of painting and poems on the
wall were pulled down. Guo Jing stood motionless; his eyes looked straight without
any expression on his face.
While Huang Rong was dancing in the air, suddenly she let out a soft exclaim, “Ah!”
and jumped down the tree. Beckoning to Guo Jing she walked into the forest. Guo
Jing was afraid he would get lost, so he followed closely and did not dare to lag more
than half a step behind her. Huang Rong walked fast along the winding pathway and
then abruptly stopped. Pointing her finger to a yellow pile on the ground she asked,
“What is that?”

Guo Jing rushed forward several steps and saw it was a yellow horse lying on the
ground. He quickly came closer and stooped down to take a look; he recognized it
was his San Shifu [Third Shifu] Han Baoju’s yellow horse. He held out his hand to
feel the horse’s back and found it was already cold; the horse had died many days
ago. This horse had followed Han Baoju to the far away desert; Guo Jing had known
the horse since he was little. It was like a good friend to him. To suddenly see the
horse dead here Guo Jing was grieved. He carefully considered, “This horse was old,
but it was a divine steed and not an ordinary horse. It had galloped north and south
all these years with nimble footsteps, it did not show any sign of old age; how could
it unexpectedly fall dead in here? San Shifu must be very sad.”

He looked closer and noticed that the yellow horse did not lie on its side, but curled
with its legs under its belly, crumpled together into one heap of meat. Guo Jing’s
heart turned cold; he remembered how with just a strike of his palm Huang Yaoshi
had killed Princess Huazheng’s horse just like this. Quickly he stretched out his left
arm trying to lift underneath the horse’s neck, and held out his right hand to
examine the horse’s front legs. He found out that the bones of the legs were broken.
He withdrew his hands and retraced the horse’s back, only to find that the backbones
were also broken. Guo Jing was increasingly alarmed. He took his hand off the horse
and jumped in fright because he saw that his palm was full of blood. The blood had
turned purplish black, but the blood smell remained. It seemed like the blood was
about three, four days old. Quickly he turned the horse’s body around to examine it
closely, but he did not see a single wound on its entire body. Absentmindedly he sat
on the ground and thought, “Could it be San Shifu’s blood? Where is he?”

While Guo Jing was examining the horse Huang Rong stood quietly on the side; only
then did she say in a low voice, “Don’t you worry, let us investigate this matter
carefully.” Brushing the flower bushes away she looked to the ground and slowly
walked forward. Guo Jing also saw the trace of dripping blood on the ground.
Without thinking that he might get lost, he slipped through Huang Rong and
anxiously rushed ahead to follow the bloodstain.

The trace sometimes disappeared so Guo Jing took the wrong turn several times.
Huang Rong was always careful; she would examine the nearby bushes or the thick
patch of grass among the rocks to find the trace of blood. Sometimes the bloodstain
vanished altogether so she looked for a hoof print or some horse hair.

After following the trace for several ‘li’s they saw that ahead of them was a row of
short flower bushes, with a grave in the middle of the grove. Huang Rong anxiously
rushed toward the grave. Guo Jing had seen this grave before when he first came to
the Peach Blossom Island, so he knew it was Huang Rong’s mother’s grave. He saw
the tombstone lying on the ground, so he raised it up to stand. He saw the line of
characters on the tombstone, ‘tao hua dao nu zhu feng shi mai xiang zhi zhong’ [the
fragrant burial ground of Mistress surnamed Feng of the Peach Blossom Island].

Huang Rong saw the grave’s door was open and vaguely guessed that there were
radical changes on the island. She did not enter the tomb right away, but looked
carefully around the grave. She saw the green grass toward the left of the grave was
trampled really bad, while there were some vestiges made by blade on the door of
the grave. She listened attentively for half a day by the doorway and did not hear
anything from the inside, finally she stooped down and entered in.

Guo Jing was afraid he might lost her, he immediately followed. Everywhere along
the pathway inside the tomb he saw chipped or even shattered stones from the wall,
a sign of a very fierce fight. Two people were very alarmed.

Several ‘zhang’s ahead Huang Rong stooped down to pick something from the floor.
The pathway inside the tomb was dim, but they vaguely recognized that it was a half
of Quan Jinfa’s balance beam. This balance beam was made of wrought iron, it was
as thick as a child’s arm; but right now they saw the beam was broken by someone.
Huang Rong and Guo Jing looked at each other, they did not dare to say anything.
They knew in their hearts that there were only a handful of people in this whole wide
world capable of breaking this balance beam barehanded; on this Peach Blossom
Island, naturally there was nobody else aside from Huang Yaoshi.

Huang Rong held the broken beam with trembling hands. Guo Jing took the beam
from Huang Rong’s hand and inserted it in his belt. He stooped down trying to find
the other half of the beam. He felt like his heart was pulled down by fifteen buckets
of water; filled with tumultuous thoughts. Part of him hoped he would find it, part of
him hoped he would not.

Several steps later the pathway was getting darker. Guo Jing groped on the floor and
found a round object. Turned out it was the balance weight, which Quan Jinfa usually
used as flying hammer to strike the enemy. Guo Jing put it inside his pocket.
Suddenly he felt his hand touching something cold, soft and somewhat greasy; it felt
like someone’s face. He jumped up in fright and bumped his head to the ceiling of
the tomb pathway. Without feeling the pain he hastily fetched his fire paper and lit it.
He let out a bitter cry, feeling like the sky was turning around him and the earth
shook beneath him, he fell backward and fainted.

The fire paper was still in Guo Jing’s hand and the fire was still flickering. Under the
fire light Huang Rong saw Quan Jinfa with his eyes open, dead on the ground; the
other half of the balance beam stuck out from his chest. Everything became clear to
Huang Rong now. She calmed herself down, and then gathering up her courage she
took the fire paper from Guo Jing’s hand. She placed the fire underneath Guo Jing’s
nostrils. The smoke rose up, Guo Jing sneezed hard twice and regained his
consciousness. He stared blankly at Huang Rong before finally standing up, and two
people walked to enter to tomb.

They saw the tomb was in chaos; one corner of the sacrificial table was broken, Nan
Xiren’s shoulder pole was laid slanting on the floor. On the left corner they saw
someone lying down; he was wearing a cloth headband on his head, his shoes fallen
down. From the look of his back who else but Zhu Cong?

Guo Jing quietly walked near and pulled Zhu Cong’s body. Under the fire light he saw
that the corner of Zhu Cong’s mouth showed a faint smile, while his body had been
cold for a long time. In his condition, the smile appeared to be strange yet sad. With
a low voice Guo Jing said, “Er Shifu [Second Shifu], disciple Guo Jing is here!” Gently
he picked Zhu Cong’s body up. ‘Clink, clink, clank, clank’ there was a series of light
noise, countless pearls and precious stones fell down from Zhu Cong’s pocket,
scattered on the floor.

Huang Rong picked a handful of jewels to take a closer look, but threw them away
immediately. With a long sigh she said, “These are things my Father placed here to
accompany my Mother.”

Guo Jing fixed his gaze at her, his eyes looked like they are about to spurt out blood,
with a low and calm voice he said, “You are saying … saying that my Er Shifu came
here to steal the gems? You dare to say my Er Shifu …”

Huang Rong did not flinch under his glowering stare at all; she stared back at Guo
Jing, only her stare was full of desperation and painful anxiety.

Guo Jing continued, “My Shifu was a warrior and a true hero, how could he steal
your father’s jewels? He couldn’t possibly … couldn’t possibly come over to plunder
your Mama’s grave.” But looking at Huang Rong’s expression his tone gradually
changed from angry to sad. The fact was, the jewels fell from Zhu Cong’s pocket, he
also remembered his Er Shifu was known as ‘miao shou shu sheng’ [Magic Hand
Scholar]; he was able to effortlessly pick anything from anybody’s pocket. Could it
be that he really came over here to steal the jewels from this grave? No, no, his Er
Shifu was always honest and frank, he simply could not do such a dirty and
despicable act; there must be an explanation to this. Guo Jing was grieved and angry
at the same time, the hair on his forehead was wet with sweat, his mind was dark,
he clasped his fists so hard that the joins were making cracking sounds.

Huang Rong softly said, “When I saw your Da Shifu’s expression the other day, I had
a feeling that it would be difficult for you and I to have something good between us.
If you want to kill me, just do it. My Mama is here. I only ask you to bury me by her
side. After burying me, quickly leave the island, don’t let my father see you.”

Guo Jing did not answer; he walked back and forth in big strides, breathing heavily
at the same time. Huang Rong’s gaze was fixed on the painting of her mother on the
wall. Suddenly she saw something of the face of the painting. She came closer and
saw two secret projectiles. Carefully she took them down and gave them to Guo
Jing; they were the ‘du ling’ [poisonous water caltrop] Ke Zhen’e used. She pulled
the curtain behind the sacrificial table open, revealing her mother’s coffin behind it.
She walked to the coffin’s side, and was unable to restrain exclaiming, “Ah!” She saw
Han Baoju and Han Xiaoying, brother and sister have died behind the jade coffin.

It seemed like Han Xiaoying had slashed her own throat, her hand was still holding
tight the sword hilt. Half of Han Baoju’s body was draped over the coffin, five finger
holes were clearly seen on the center of his forehead.

Guo Jing walked past Huang Rong to take Han Baoju’s body away, while mumbling,
“I personally saw Mei Chaofeng has died; who else but Huang Yaoshi in this world
who can use this ‘jiu yin bai gu zhua’ [Nine Yin White Bone Claw]?” He gently put
Han Baoju’s body on the floor, then he went back to take Han Xiaoying’s body, and
brought the body outside. He walked past Huang Rong without looking at her, as if
he did not even know she was there.

Huang Rong’s heart turned cold; she stared blankly for half a day. Suddenly the
tomb was dark; the fire paper had been burned out. She was used to coming over to
this tomb, but now there were four dead people inside. She could not help but feel
afraid of the darkness and hastily ran out of the tomb. She tripped on something and
almost fell over, but she ran ahead. Only after she was out of the tomb did she recall
that she must be stumbling over Quan Jinfa’s body.

She noticed the tombstone was askew; she put out her hand to straighten it up. She
was about to close the grave’s door when suddenly something dawned on her, “After
killing the Four Freaks of Jiangnan, how come Father did not close the door of the
grave? He loves Mama very much. Even though he was in such a hurry, he would not
leave this door open wide like this.” One thought led to another, her suspicion
aroused, “How could Father let the Four Freaks accompany Mama in the grave? It’s
impossible. Could it be that Father also met a mishap?” Immediately she pushed the
tombstone three times to the right and three times to the left to close the door, and
then rushed to the house.

Guo Jing left the tomb earlier than she did, but after walking a dozen of steps,
turning to the left and circling to the right, he was lost. He saw Huang Rong walking
by and immediately followed behind her.

Without saying anything two people walked through the bamboo grove, over the
lotus pond, toward the study room where Huang Yaoshi took up his residence. They
saw the building was in a mess; the beams were broken and the pillars bent.
“Father! Father!” Huang Rong called out; rushing inside she saw that the table was
flipped over and the stool laid on its side, books, pen and ink were scattered on the
floor, half of the scrolls of painting and poems on the wall were pulled down, but
where was Huang Yaoshi’s shadow? Huang Rong propped herself on the turned over
table, her body shook and she was about to fall.

After half a day she managed to calm herself down. She rushed toward the mute
servants’ quarter, but did not see a single soul. The ashes on the stove had turned
cold. If they did not die, all of them had left some time ago. It looked like there was
nobody else on this island except Guo Jing and herself.

Slowly she walked back to the study room, only to see Guo Jing inside standing
motionless; his eyes looked straight without any expression on his face. With a
trembling voice Huang Rong said, “Jing Gege, go ahead and cry. Quickly cry, then
we’ll talk!” She knew Guo Jing and his six shifus had a parents and child relationship;
right now his heart was extremely grieved. His internal energy had been trained to
such an excellent level, that if he was unable to vent his great sadness and pain he
would suffer a serious internal injury. Who would have thought that Guo Jing did not
seem to hear anything; he only stared at her blankly.

Huang Rong wanted to urge him again, but she was overwhelmed with grief as well.
She only said, “Jing Gege,” and could not say anything else.

Two people stood silently for half a day; Guo Jing mumbled with a low voice, “I must
not kill Rong’er, I must not kill Rong’er!”

Huang Rong’s heart was bitter, she said, “Your Shifus are dead, just cry your heart
out.”

Guo Jing thought aloud, “I am not crying, I am not crying.”

After this exchange, the room fell into silence one more time. The sound of the
distant waves was faintly heard; in just a short moment a multitude of thoughts
swirling inside Huang Rong’s mind. All kinds of things she went through on this
island, since she was little until she was fifteen years old, one by one flashed through
her brain clearly; and then her body shook again.

She heard Guo Jing said as if he was talking to himself, “I must bury my Shifus first.
Must I? Must I bury my Shifus first?”

“Right,” Huang Rong replied, “We must bury Shifus first.” She went out to show the
way, back to her mother’s grave. Without saying anything Guo Jing followed behind
her.

Huang Rong held out her hand to open the grave, suddenly Guo Jing rushed ahead,
his right leg flew up, sweeping toward the middle of the tombstone. The tombstone
was made from solid and extremely hard granite; even if Guo Jing’s kick was ten
times stronger all he could do was to push the tombstone slightly askew, and not
making the slightest dent on it. His right foot was bleeding, but he did not seem to
feel the pain. His pair of palms ferociously struck and pushed the stone. He pulled
the half of Quan Jinfa’s balance beam and struck the tombstone over and over.
Sparks and debris flew everywhere. Suddenly, ‘crack!’ the beam snapped. With both
of his hands Guo Jing furiously cracked the stone open, revealing the steel rod inside
it. He grabbed the steel rod, trying to break it; but the grave door had actually
opened before the rod was bent.

Guo Jing stared with a dull expression; suddenly he shouted, “Other than Huang
Yaoshi, who can open the gate? Who can lure my ‘en shi’ [benevolent/kind master]
to enter this crafty grave? If it is not he then who is? Who is it?” He threw his head
back and shouted, then ran into the grave.

Guo Jing’s blood on the broken stone flowed down to cover his hand print. Seeing his
deep hatred toward her mother’s grave Huang Rong was determined, “If he destroys
my mother’s jade coffin to vent his anger, I am going to die over it first.” She was
about to enter the grave when Guo Jing walked back out carrying Quan Jinfa’s body.
He put the body down on the ground, then went back in and respectfully carried Zhu
Cong, Han Baoju and Han Xiaoying one by one and laid them down on the ground.

Huang Rong stole a glance toward him and saw the love and admiration on his face;
her heart turned icy cold, “He loves his shifus a lot more than he loves me. I must
look for my Father, I must look for my Father!”

Guo Jing carried his four shifus’ bodies into the forest, several hundreds steps away
from the grave, before he finally stooped down to dig a hole. At first he dug using
Han Xiaoying’s long sword, he dug faster and faster and finally the sword snapped;
even the handle was broken. Suddenly a burst of heat bubbled up from his chest and
he spat out two mouthfuls of blood. He did not stop; he bent down his waist and
used his hands to continue digging; scooping the earth and throwing it aside like
crazy.

Huang Rong went to the quarter of the mute servants in charge of planting the tree
and took two shovels. She tossed one shovel to Guo Jing and used the other to help
digging the hole. Without saying anything Guo Jing snatched the shovel from her
hand, broke it into two and tossed it to the ground; while he continued to dig alone
with the other shovel. Huang Rong did not cry at all; she simply sat on the ground to
watch.

Guo Jing exerted all his strength and he managed to dig two holes, one big and the
other small, within the time needed to cook rice. He put Han Xiaoying’s body into the
small hole. He knelt down and knocked his head on the ground several times; and
then stared blankly at Han Xiaoying’s face for half a day before he finally covered it
with earth. Next, he picked Zhu Cong’s body and was about to put it into the big hole
when suddenly his heart was stirred, “How can Huang Yaoshi’s filthy jewels
accompany my Er Shifu in his grave?” Thereupon he put forth his hand into Zhu
Cong’s pocket and took the pearls, jade, and gemstones one by one and without
looking at them he tossed everything to the ground. At last he reached the bottom of
the pocket and took a sheet of paper out. He unfolded the paper and read these
words:

‘From Jiangnan, the humble Ke Zhen’e, Zhu Cong, Han Baoju, Nan Xiren, Quan Jinfa
and Han Xiaoying are paying a visit to the Senior, Master of the Peach Blossom
Island. A short while ago we heard a rumor that disregarding their own lack of ability
the Quanzhen Six Masters are about to settle their matter with the Peach Blossom
Island. Juniors here realize this matter involves some miscommunication, only we
regret that we are not able to act as the mediator between the two parties involved.
Senior is an expert of the present age, a peer of the late Wang Chongyang, Wang
Zhenren [lit. true/real man, a term of respect to a Taoist priest]; how can Senior let
your honor and prestige fall by arguing with younger generations about right and
wrong? In the past Lin Xiangru yielded to Lian Po, and it was regarded as a grand
occasion in history. A heroic gentleman’s heart is as broad as the sea, and would
certainly not be bothered by bickering chicken and worms. The day will come when
the Quanzhen disciples will humble themselves in front of the Island Master, and the
warriors of the world will admire Senior’s honorable chivalry; wouldn’t that be great?’

Guo Jing recognized his Er Shifu’s handwriting, he held the paper with trembling
hands; he said in his heart, “When the Quanzhen Seven Masters were fighting Huang
Yaoshi at the Ox Village, Ouyang Feng launched a sneak attack and killed Changzhen
Zi [Eternal Truth] Tan Chuduan. At that time Ouyang Feng shifted the blame to
Huang Yaoshi. This Old Heretic Huang is a haughty man, he did not bother to argue,
so naturally the Quanzhen Sect hates him to the bone. When my six Shifus learned
the Quanzhen Sect was coming in full power to seek revenge, they were afraid both
sides would suffer injury, so they wrote this letter urging Huang Yaoshi to
temporarily avoid confrontation and think of ways to reveal the truth in the future.
My Shifus had a kind intention, how could this old thief Huang Yaoshi made his move
and brought this calamity upon them?” But then he thought, “Er Shifu had already
written this letter, why didn’t he deliver it, but kept it in his pocket? Ah, right, the
situation must be pressing, the Quanzhen Six Masters were coming quickly, so they
did not have enough time to deliver this letter; therefore, my Six Shifus came in a
hurry to prevent the battle.” Following which he thought, “Old Heretic Huang, oh, Old
Heretic Huang, you must think my Six Shifus came to help the Quanzhen Sect; and
thus without separating the green from the red or black or white you just attacked
with your poisonous hand.”

He was busy with his own thought for a while, and then he folded the paper to put it
back into his pocket, suddenly he saw several characters were scribbled on the back
of the letter. He quickly turned it over and his heart was thumping hard and jumping
madly since he saw some crooked writing, “This business has turned for the worse,
everybody guard against …” the last character was only written three strokes; looked
like the disaster had already stricken, so it was unfinished.

Guo Jing called out, “This is obviously the character ‘east’; Er Shifu warned
everybody to guard against the Eastern Heretic; what a pity he did not have enough
time.” He crushed the paper into a ball; clenching his jaws he said, “Er Shifu, Er
Shifu, the Old Heretic Huang has viewed your good intention as an evil one.” His grip
loosened and the paper ball fell to the ground. Stooping down he picked Zhu Cong’s
body.

Huang Rong had always kept her eyes on Guo Jing as he was reading the paper; she
saw his expression change several times, she knew the letter must be very
important. As the paper fell, she slowly walked over and picked it up, she read both
sides and said in her heart, “His Six Shifus came to the Peach Blossom Island with a
good intention. Too bad this Magic Hand Scholar had a crooked heart; he was
accustomed to stealing his entire life, so that when he saw my mother’s many rare
treasures he could not help but violating my Father’s biggest taboo …”

In her grief and remorse she saw that Guo Jing was laying down Zhu Cong’s body.
Zhu Cong’s left hand was tightly curled into a fist. Guo Jing pried it open and took
something out and held it in his hand. Huang Rong looked closer and saw it was a
women’s shoe carved from a green jade, approximately an inch long. Although it was
a toy, it looked just like a real shoe; the carving was fine and exquisite, truly it was
an expensive work of art. Only she had never seen this shoe in her mother’s grave
before; she wondered where Zhu Cong got it from.

Guo Jing turned the shoe over in his hand to take a look; there was a ‘zhao’ [to
recruit] character engraved on the sole, while another character ‘bi’
[contest/compete] was engraved inside, other than these characters there was
nothing unusual about the shoe. Guo Jing hated these treasures very much, ‘swish!’
he tossed the shoe to the ground. He stared blankly for a while, then slowly picked
Zhu Cong’s, Han Baoju’s and Quan Jinfa’s bodies and put them in the hole. He was
about to cover them with earth, but looking at his three shifus’ faces he could not
bear to do so. He called out, “Er Shifu, San Shifu, Liu Shifu [Sixth Shifu], you … you
died!” His voice was gentle, the same voice he had used when talking to his shifus in
the past.

After about half a day he cast a sidelong gaze toward the pile of treasure by the
hole; his anger rose. With both of his hands he scooped them up and walked briskly
toward Huang Rong’s mother’s grave. Huang Rong was afraid he was going to violate
her mother’s jade coffin; she anxiously caught up, stretching out her arms she
blocked the entrance of the grave. “What are you doing?” she imposingly asked.

Guo Jing did not answer, his left arm gently shoved her aside; both of his hands
threw the treasures inside the grave. A series of long clinking noise was heard as the
jewels hit the ground. Huang Rong saw that jade-green shoe fell near her feet; she
stooped down to pick it up and said, “This one is not my Mother’s.” She handed the
shoe over to him. Guo Jing only stared at her blankly, ignoring her. Huang Rong put
the shoe in her pocket. Guo Jing turned around and returned to the hole; he
shoveled the earth and buried his three shifus’ bodies.

Guo Jing was busy for half a day. The sky had gradually turned dark. Huang Rong
still did not see him cry; she was getting more and more concerned. She thought
perhaps if she leaves him alone he would cry; so she went back to the house to fetch
some salted fish and ham and cooked some simple dishes. She put everything in a
basket and went back to see that Guo Jing was still standing next to his shifus’
grave. It took Huang Rong approximately an hour to prepare the dishes, yet not only
Guo Jing did not move a single step; his expression also did not change the slightest
bit.

To see Guo Jing standing like a stone statue in the dark Huang Rong was alarmed
and scared. “Jing Gege, how are you feeling?” she called out; but Guo Jing did not
pay her any attention. Huang Rong called again, “Come here and eat, you have been
hungry for a whole day!”

“I’d rather die of starvation that to eat anything on the Peach Blossom Island,” Guo
Jing said.

Hearing him talking Huang Rong was somewhat relieved; she knew his stubborn
temperament. His heart was broken and hurt, once he said he would not eat
anything on this island then he would not eat. Thereupon she slowly put the basket
down on the ground and sat down.

One standing up the other sitting down, time quietly passed, the crescent moon rose
from the sea and slowly reached the top of their heads. The food in the basket had
already turned cold, as cold as the hearts of this couple.

In this chilly wind under the cold moon, amidst the faint sound of waves breaking the
shore, suddenly from a distance came a cry. The sound was intensely mournful, like
a wolf’s howl or a tiger’s roar, but it also sounded like a human’s voice. The sound
was transmitted by the wind, so when the wind died, the sound also disappeared.
Huang Rong inclined her ears to listen attentively; she vaguely recognized it was the
voice of someone struggling in severe pain, only it was not clear whether the voice
belonged to a human or a beast. After determining where the voice came from, she
moved her feet and rushed toward that voice.

Actually she wanted to take Guo Jing along, but then she changed her mind, “Most
likely this is not something good, it will only increase his anxiety.” Darkness
enveloped her on every side, she was actually afraid to go alone; fortunately she
knew every grass and every tree on the Peach Blossom Island very well, hence
although her heart was thumping hard, she gathered all her courage and went
forward.

She had only walked for about a dozen of steps when suddenly felt a gust of wind by
her side; Guo Jing dashed past her and was running ahead of her. He did not know
the way, so very soon he was lost. Huang Rong saw his hands hacking and his feet
kicking, trying to destroy the trees and bushes blocking his way, as if he was losing
his mind. “Follow me,” Huang Rong said.

“Si Shifu [Fourth Shifu], Si Shifu!” Guo Jing called out. He had recognized his Si
Shifu, Nan Xiren’s voice.

Huang Rong’s heart turned cold, she thought, “It will be very strange if his Si Shifu
saw me and did not want to take my life.” But by now she had already disregarded
all consequences; she knew perfectly well a big disaster was looming ahead, but she
did not even try to run away from it. She led Guo Jing into the thick forest on the
east side of the island. They saw underneath a peach tree a man was rolling around
with twisted body.

Guo Jing cried out and rushed ahead to hug him. Nan Xiren’s face showed a smile,
his mouth produced ‘heh, heh’ sound. Guo Jing was scared but also happy; suddenly,
‘wah!’ he broke into crying. He was crying and calling out, “Si Shifu! Si Shifu!”

Nan Xiren did not say anything; he struck Guo Jing with the back of his palm. Guo
Jing was taken by surprise; instinctively he ducked to avoid the blow. As his palm did
not hit its target Nan Xiren’s left fist struck out. This time Guo Jing thought that his
shifu was punishing him; he was happy, so he let Nan Xiren’s fist to hit him. Who
would have thought that Nan Xiren’s fist carried a surprisingly strong force. ‘Bang!’
Guo Jing was sent rolling down on the ground.

Since he was little Guo Jing had practiced fist technique with Nan Xiren several
hundreds or thousands times; he knew perfectly well the strength of Nan Xiren’s fists
and palms, he was greatly surprised to find Nan Xiren’s strength suddenly increased
several folds. Guo Jing had just barely stood up when Nan Xiren’s fist came again.
Guo Jing still did not want to fend off. This fist carried an even stronger force; Guo
Jing saw stars dancing in front of his eyes, he almost passed out. Nan Xiren stooped
down to pick a big rock up, and fiercely pounded it down on top of Guo Jing’s head.
If Guo Jing did not evade, this big rock would certainly crack his skull open and turn
his brain to mush.

From the sideline Huang Rong saw the critical situation, she quickly flew forward and
pushed Nan Xiren’s arm with her left hand. Nan Xiren, with the rock still in his hands,
fell down to the ground. His mouth made a ‘heh, heh’ sound and to everybody’s
surprise he did not crawl back up.

“Why did you push my Si Shifu?” Guo Jing shouted angrily.

Huang Rong’s sole purpose was to save Guo Jing, she did not expect Nan Xiren
would be this weak; as soon as she pushed, she hastily held out her hands to help
him up. Under the moonlight she saw his face was smiling, but this smile resembled
the exaggerated smile of an actor on stage; his face looked very frightening. Huang
Rong called out in alarm and withdrew her hands immediately, she did not dare to
touch his body. All of a sudden Nan Xiren turned over and struck her left shoulder
with his fist. Two people shouted in pain simultaneously.

Although her body was protected by the soft hedgehog armor, this fist had given her
enough pain and sent her staggered a few steps back. Blood was dripping from Nan
Xiren’s fist, which was pricked by the thorns on the armor. Amidst the two people’s
shouts Guo Jing called out, “Si Shifu!”

Nan Xiren looked at Guo Jing as if he had just recognized him; he opened his mouth
to speak, but no matter how much the muscle around his mouth twitched, he still
could not say anything. His face showed a smile, but his eyes showed extreme
despair.

“Si Shifu,” Guo Jing said, “Please take a rest. Whatever it is you want to say, you can
say it later.”

Nan Xiren tried hard to say something, he lifted his neck to look up, but his lips were
unable to form the words. After straining for a while his head dropped, looking down
to the ground.

“Si Shifu!” Guo Jing repeatedly called out; he rushed forward to lift Nan Xiren up.

From the side Huang Rong could see clearly. “Your Shifu is writing,” she said.

Guo Jing looked sideways and saw Nan Xiren’s right index finger was slowly writing
on the soft earth. Under the moonlight he saw Nan Xiren wrote character by
character: “My … killer … is …”

Huang Rong noticed he wrote with great difficulty, her heart was thumping hard;
suddenly she remembered something, “He is on the Peach Blossom Island, even an
idiot will know that it is my Father who killed him. But he is on the verge of death
and is still using his very last strength to write the killer’s name, could it be that the
murderer is someone else?” She was watching Nan Xiren’s finger with a rapt
attention; she noticed that the finger moved slower as if losing its strength, so she
kept praying in her heart, “If he is going to write some other name, please, please
let him write it down quickly.”

Nan Xiren was writing the fifth character [Chinese character, that is], he started from
the upper left hand corner and wrote a small ‘ten’ ( ) character, then his finger
trembled and stopped moving all together.

Guo Jing was kneeling on the ground, hugging his shifu. He felt Nan Xiren’s body
shook violently then he stopped breathing. He looked at the small ‘ten’ character and
called out, “Si Shifu, I know you were going to write the Huang ( ) character, you
were going to write the Huang character!” He threw himself on Nan Xiren’s body and
wept bitterly. In this one cry he had vented up the grief and indignation that had
been welled up in his heart the whole day. He cried for quite a while, then his body
fell on top of Nan Xiren’s lifeless body; he had fainted.

Without knowing how much time had passed, he woke up under the bright morning
sunlight. He stood up and swept his gaze around. Huang Rong was gone, and Nan
Xiren’s body was still lying down on the ground with his eyes open. Guo Jing
remembered a saying, ‘die without closing his eyes’; he was unable to restrain tears
from flowing down his cheeks again. Stretching out his hand he gently closed Nan
Xiren’s eyes. Suddenly he recalled just before he died Nan Xiren’s facial expression
was very strange; he wonder what kind of injury was so fatal. Thereupon he untied
Nan Xiren’s clothes to examine his whole body. Strange to say, except for the
pricked hand from hitting Huang Rong’s soft hedgehog armor last night, from head
to toe, Guo Jing could not find a single scar on Nan Xiren’s body. Neither his chest
nor his back showed any sign of injury by internal strength strike; the skin was
neither black nor burnt, so there was no sign of poisoning either.

Guo Jing picked up Nan Xiren’s body and carried it to be buried together with Zhu
Cong and the others; but the pathways in the forest were so strange that after about
dozens of steps he lost his bearing. He had no choice but turn back and dig a hole
underneath a peach tree to bury Nan Xiren.

Guo Jing had not eaten for a whole day; his stomach hurt from hunger. He wanted to
find a way to go back to the shore and find a boat to return to the mainland, but the
farther he went, the more confused he became. He sat down to take a rest for a
while, then he stood up with a renewed vigor and walked again. This time he had an
idea, regardless of he found a pathway or not, he would keep his eyes toward the
sun in the east.

After walking for a while ahead of him was a dense forest, seemingly impassable.
Nothing strange about the forest, it was just that each tree was full of long and
thorny rattan cane; it would be truly difficult for him to set his feet on. He made the
decision, “I am not coming back today!” and then jumped up to the tree top.

He only walked one step on the tree when ‘rip!’ the corner of his trouser was tore by
a thorn and his calf was bleeding from several cuts. He walked two more steps, and
his left leg was entangled in some long canes. He took his dagger out and cut the
canes. Lifting his head up he saw far ahead the rattan trees were very dense,
seemingly without end. He called out, “Even if my legs are sheared, I have to leave
this cursed island!”

He was about to jump ahead when suddenly Huang Rong called out from the ground,
“Get down, I’ll take you out.” He looked down and saw Huang Rong standing
underneath a rattan tree on his left.

Guo Jing did not reply, he jumped down and saw Huang Rong’s face was deathly
pale, as if her blood was drained completely out. He could not help but startle; he
wanted to ask whether her injury recurred, but he forced himself to bite his lips.
Huang Rong noticed he wanted to say something, but as soon as his lips started to
move he turned his head around. She waited for a moment without seeing any
response from Guo Jing; she sighed gently and said, “Let’s go!” Two people walked
along the winding path heading east.

Huang Rong’s injury had not been completely healed, and she had to face this heavy
misfortune; she was tossing and turning in her sleep the previous night. She knew
she could not blame her Jing Gege, she could not blame her father, and she could
not even blame the Six Freaks of Jiangnan. She only resented herself; why would
she have to endure the Heaven’s punishment like this? Did the Heaven hate people
who lead a happy life?

She led Guo Jing toward the beach; knowing in her heart that this time he would
never come back, it would be difficult for them to see each other anymore, so she
felt that with every step a piece of her heart was also taken away.

Just beyond the rattan trees forest they could see the beach ahead. Huang Rong felt
weary, she was unable to restrain her body from shaking; hastily she used the
bamboo stick to brace herself, but unexpectedly there was no strength left on her
arm, the bamboo stick skewed and she fell down to the ground.

Instinctively Guo Jing outstretched his right hand to hold her, but just as his finger
was about to touch her arm, the injustice his shifus suffered flashed in his mind. His
left hand moved and ‘slap!’ it struck his own right wrist. He was using Zhou Botong’s
Mutual Hands Combat Technique; as his right hand was stricken, he turned his palm
over and leapt backward immediately.

Without receiving any help Huang Rong fell down to the ground. As Guo Jing saw her
falling down, remorse, affection, grief, indignation and all kinds of emotions bubbled
up inside his heart. Even if his heart was made of stone he could not restrain himself
from stooping down and pick her up. He looked at all directions trying to find a
comfortable place to lay her down, and it was then did he saw a green cloth flutter in
the wind on the rock toward his northeast.

Huang Rong opened her eyes and saw Guo Jing’s gaze was fixed on a distant place;
she followed his gaze and also saw the green cloth. “Father!” she called out in alarm.
Guo Jing let her down, and hand in hand they ran toward the rock. They saw it was a
long gown, stuck in the crook of the rock; they also saw a piece of human skin mask
lying next to it. Obviously they belonged to Huang Yaoshi.

Huang Rong was really alarmed; she stooped down to pick up the gown and clearly
saw a bloody hand print on the lapel of the gown, with the fingers left winding
traces. It looked very scary.

Guo Jing remembered, “After killing my San Shifu with the Nine Yin White Bone Claw
Huang Yaoshi must have wiped his fingers with this cloth.”

Initially he was holding Huang Rong’s hand, but now his blood was boiling inside his
chest; he shook Huang Rong’s hand away, snatched the gown, and with a ‘rip!’
sound he tore the gown into two parts. He saw the corner of the gown was torn,
looked like it was the green piece of cloth tied on the eagle’s foot. The blood print
was so clear that under the bright sunlight it looked as if the palm would jump out of
the clothes and slap someone on the face; but it provoked Guo Jing’s anger even
more so that he felt he was going to go insane from grief and indignation. He tucked
his own gown into his belt and waded into the water towards a sailboat.

The mute and deaf servants on the boat had long gone, disappeared without a trace.
Without looking back to Huang Rong he drew his dagger out and cut the rope,
hoisted the anchor and sailed to the sea.

Huang Rong watched the boat sail to the west. At first she was hoping that he would
change his mind, turn the rudder and head back to the island to take her traveling
together; but then she saw the boat was getting smaller and smaller, while her heart
was turning colder and colder. She stared blankly at the sea until the boat
disappeared on the horizon. Suddenly she remembered that she was alone on the
island; Jing Gege had gone, and she did not know whether her father would ever
return. How could she pass the rest of her days? Would she just stand on this shore
forever? Rong’er, Rong’er, you must not take a short cut and die!

All by himself Guo Jing steered the boat, leaving the Peach Blossom Island, heading
west. He had sailed for several dozen ‘li’s when he suddenly heard the eagles’
anxious cry high above his head. The pair of eagles had followed him and perched on
the sail arms. Guo Jing thought, “The eagles come after me, Rong’er is alone on the
island, she must be very lonely!” Overcome with pity and regret he spontaneously
turned the rudder around, wanting to take her to travel together. But after sailing for
a short while he remembered, “Da Shifu told me to cut Huang Yaoshi’s and Rong’er’s
heads before I can come and see him. Da Shifu, Er Shifu and the others came to the
Peach Blossom Island and fell under Huang Yaoshi’s poisonous hands. Although Da
Shifu is blind, he can hear clearly. For some reason he was fortunate to escape and
stay alive. He raised his iron staff to kill Rong’er; he wanted me to kill Rong’er, what
did Rong’er do? I can’t kill Rong’er; Er Shifu and the others were not killed by
Rong’er. But how can I be together with her? I must cut Huang Yaoshi’s head and
take it away to see Da Shifu. If I am not the Old Heretic Huang’s match, then I’ll let
him kill me.” Immediately he turned the rudder again, making a circle on the sea
surface, heading west once more.

Late on the third day the boat reached the shore. Out of hatred of everything from
the Peach Blossom Island he took the anchor and smashed the bottom of the boat
before leaping onto the beach. He watched while the sailboat slowly leaned sideways
and sunk to the bottom of the ocean. He could not help but feel a loss in his heart.
Leaving the shore he walked to the west; he found a peasant home and bought
some rice to eat. After finding the right direction he went straight to Jiaxing.

That evening he spent the night by the bank of Qiantang River; he saw the reflection
of the bright moon on the river, like a big golden wheel floating on the water.
Suddenly he jumped up with a start; he was afraid he missed the martial art contest
appointment at the Misty Rain Tavern. Immediately he asked the host where he
lodged, and found out that today was the thirteenth of the eighth month. Hastily he
crossed the river that very same night; he bought a healthy horse and whipped the
horse to gallop quickly, and arrived at Jiaxing by early afternoon of the next day.

Since his childhood he had heard his six shifus recounted their battle with Qiu Chuji;
how they had a wine drinking contest out of the huge copper vat at the Drunken
Immortal Tavern [zui xian lou], the exquisiteness of their martial art skills and the
heroism surrounding that battle. Six people loved to tell the story good-naturedly. So
as soon as he entered the southern gate he asked the location of the Drunken
Immortal Tavern.

The Drunken Immortal Tavern was located by the bank of Nan Hu [South Lake]. Guo
Jing arrived at the front of the tavern. He looked up and saw this tavern’s
appearance was exactly like what Han Xiaoying had told him. The tavern had been
imprinted in his mind for a dozen of years, today he had seen it for the first time
with his own eyes; he noticed the exquisiteness of the carving of the eaves, it was
truly a beautiful building. At the front of the tavern stood a big wooden sign with ‘tai
bai yi feng’ [the great (Li) Bai (a famous poet of the Tang Dynasty)’s left behind
manner/custom/air] four letters engraved on it; while above the main entrance there
was a sign with ‘zui xian lou’ [Drunken Immortal Tavern], inscribed by Su Dongpo [a
famous calligrapher of the Song Dynasty], in golden letters, gleaming under the
bright sunlight.

Guo Jing’s heart was thumping madly; walking and leaping, he went upstairs. A wine
shop attendant welcomed him and said, “Honorable Guest, please use the downstairs
room, since the upstairs is already reserved for some other guests.”

Guo Jing was about to reply when suddenly someone was calling, “Jing’er, you are
here!” Guo Jing looked up and saw a Taoist priest sitting and drinking wine, his long
beard reached his chest, his face was ruddy; it was none other than Changchun Zi
[Eternal Spring] Qiu Chuji.

Guo Jing rushed forward and bowed to the ground, “Qiu Daozhang [Taoist Priest
Qiu]!” he called out. His voice was somewhat choked.

Qiu Chuji held out his hand to raise him up; he said, “You are a day early, that is
very good. I am also a day early. I thought tomorrow we are going to fight Peng
Lianhu, Sha Tongtian and the others, so I want to be here early to drink wine and
reminisce about the past with your Six Shifus. Have your Six Shifus arrived? I have
prepared some tables for them.”

Guo Jing saw there were nine tables on this upstairs floor; except for Qiu Chuji’s
table, which was full with dishes and wine, the other eight tables only had a pair of
chopsticks and a wine cup. Qiu Chuji said, “Eighteen years ago I met your Seven
Shifus for the very first time in this place; they arranged the tables just like this. This
one table of vegetarian dishes was for Jiaomu Da Shi [Reverend Burnt Wood], it’s a
pity that I can no longer meet him and your Wu Shifu [Fifth Shifu].” He sounded very
grieved. Guo Jing turned his head around, did not dare to look at him straight ahead.

Qiu Chuji did not notice anything, he kept talking, “That day we had a contest on
drinking from the copper vat, so today I went to ‘fa hua si’ [magnificent (Buddhist)
way temple] and fetched the vat. As soon as your Six Shifus are here we can drink
again just like in the old days.”

Guo Jing turned his head to look at the big copper vat by the screen. The outside of
the vat was blackish green from the copper rust, but the inside had been washed and
scrubbed clean, and filled to the brim with high quality wine, the fragrance attacked
his nostrils. Guo Jing stared blankly at the copper vat for half a day then he turned
his attention to the eight empty tables. He thought, “Other than Da Shifu, nobody
would be able to enjoy the banquet again. If only I can see my seven benevolent
masters sit together, drinking wine, talking and laughing, getting drunk for the whole
day, I would be very happy even if I have to die immediately.”

He heard Qiu Chuji continue, “At that time we agreed that on the twenty-fourth day
of the third month this year, you and Yang Kang will have a martial art contest in
here. I respect your Seven Shifus as noble hearted chivalrous warriors; I was hoping
you would win and lift up the name of the Seven Freaks of Jiangnan in the world.
Besides, I was always wandering everywhere, weeding out the criminals from this
world; I did not have enough time to spend on nurturing Yang Kang. It was all right
not to teach him a good martial art, but I should have taught him to have loyalty and
chivalry. For this I am so ashamed toward your Uncle Yang. Although he now
thoroughly repented of his former misdeeds, the evil influence in his life will be
difficult to eradicate completely; when I think about this, my heart is filled with
utmost regret.”

Guo Jing wanted to recount Yang Kang’s dishonorable behavior, but it was a long
story so he did not know where to start. Meanwhile Qiu Chuji continued, “In a
person’s life, literary or martial art skill is not everything, the most important things
are two characters, loyalty and patriotism. Even if Yang Kang’s martial art skill is
better than yours a hundred folds, speaking of character, the martial art contest of
the Drunken Immortal Tavern is still won by your shifus. Hey, hey, Qiu Chuji lost
with a satisfied heart.” He laughed a big laugh. Suddenly he saw Guo Jing’s tears
flow down like rain, he was surprised, “Ah, why are you so sad?”

Guo Jing scrambled over one step, he bowed to the ground and wept, “My … my …
my five benevolent masters have passed away.”

Qiu Chuji was shocked. “What?!?” he almost shouted.

Still crying Guo Jing said, “Except for my Da Shifu, the other five are … are dead.”

These two sentences struck Qiu Chuji like a loud thunder in bright sunlight; he was
silent for half a day. He was hoping he would meet some old friends and have a good
time together, who would have thought that suddenly disaster struck. Although his
time together with the Seven Freaks of Jiangnan was not much, for the last eighteen
years he had already regarded them as his lifelong friends. Now that he heard this
shocking news, his heart was filled with grief. He went over to the railings in big
strides; he looked out toward the vast lake in front of him, throwing his head
backward he let out a long cry. One by one faces of the Seven Freaks flashed in his
mind. He turned around and picked up the copper vat, with a loud voice he cried out,
“My friends are dead, what use do I have of you?” Sending his strength to his arms
he threw the vat away. The copper vat fell into the lake with a loud splash, the water
flew everywhere. Turning his head toward Guo Jing he grabbed Guo Jing’s arms and
asked, “How did they die? Tell me!”

Guo Jing was about to reply when with the corner of his eye he caught sight of
someone silently enter the room; he was wearing green clothes, his face was elegant
and unrestrained, it was the Master of the Peach Blossom Island, Huang Yaoshi. Guo
Jing looked twice, he was afraid of mistaking him for someone else; he fixed his eyes
with rapt attention. Who was he but Huang Yaoshi?

Huang Yaoshi also saw him here and was surprised. Suddenly he felt a gust of wind
on his face; Guo Jing attacked him over the table using the Proud Dragon Repents.
In this one palm Guo Jing had sent out his whole strength, the power was
astonishing. Huang Yaoshi slightly moved sideways, his left hand shot out and
pushed Guo Jing’s palm to the side. A series of cracking noise were heard, Guo Jing
could not hold his ground; he bored through the wooden partition and fell
downstairs.

It was a bad day for the Drunken Immortal Tavern, Guo Jing happened to land on
the shelf containing cups and bowls. ‘Bing! Bang! Bing! Bang!’ bowls, plates, trays,
wine cups; everything was smashed to hundreds and thousands of pieces.

That afternoon, when the old innkeeper heard Qiu Chuji ordered the tables to be
arranged in such a way, also saw him bringing the huge copper vat upstairs, he
remembered what happened eighteen years ago; he had already had a queasy
feeling about it. Now that the upstairs and downstairs were shattered, he could not
help but bitterly cry out. He prayed head over heels, “Please help those in distress,
oh Goddess of Mercy, the Jade Emperor of Heaven, the God of the City …”

Guo Jing was afraid the dishes and bowls fragments would injure his palm, so he did
not dare to push himself up. He twisted his waist and leaped up, and rushed back
upstairs immediately. He only saw a grey shadow flashed, followed by a green
shadow; Qiu Chuji and Huang Yaoshi leaped down the window one after another.
Guo Jing thought, “This old thief’s martial art is above mine; I can’t fight him
barehanded.” He drew two kinds of weapons from his waist, with his mouth he bit
the dagger given by Qiu Chuji, in his right hand he held the golden blade given by
Genghis Khan. He thought, “Even if I have to stake it all and endure that old thief’s
fist or kick, I have to make a couple of holes on his body.” He rushed to the window
and jumped down.

By now the street was bustling with pedestrians; they heard that some people
jumped out from the tavern and came to take a look. Suddenly they saw that
someone else was jumping out of the window with a shining blade in his hand; the
crowd cried out in alarm, they pushed and shoved each other and several people
tumbled down. Guo Jing could not see Qiu, Huang two people because of the crowd;
he quickly took the dagger from his mouth and asked an old man nearby, “Where did
the two people that jumped down from the upstairs go?”

That old man was startled, he cried out, “Mr. Hero, please spare my life, it’s none of
my business.”

Guo Jing repeated his question, but that old man was so scared that he kept calling
out, “Help! Help!” Guo Jing gently pushed him aside and rushed out from the crowd,
but Qiu and Huang two people had disappeared completely.

He rushed back upstairs and looked to all directions, he saw a small boat on the lake
carrying Qiu and Huang two people; it looked like they were heading toward the
Misty Rain Tavern on the island in the middle of the lake. Huang Yaoshi sat in the
cabin, while Qiu Chuji sat on the stern, rowing. When he saw this Guo Jing was
startled, he thought, “Those two people will certainly fight to the death at the Misty
Rain Tavern. Qiu Daozhang is brave, but how can he be that old thief’s match?”
Anxiously he rushed back downstairs, grabbed a small boat and paddled furiously to
catch up with them.

Seeing his enemy ahead it was very difficulty for him to be calm, but he knew he
ought to be patient on the water; ‘snap’ the handle of oar was broken because he
exerted too much energy. He was furious and anxious at the same time; he took a
plank from the boat and used it to paddle the boat. Now instead of going faster he
was going slower; the distance between his boat and the two people’s boat gradually
increased. By the time he managed to land the boat with a great deal of trouble,
those two had already gone.

Guo Jing thought aloud, “I have to swallow my anger, I can’t lose my life before
avenging this enmity.” He took a deep breath and spat three times; then he cocked
his ears in full attention. He heard from behind the tavern faintly came the noise of
blades splitting the air, mixed with people calling and responding each other;
apparently it was not Qiu and Huang two people. Guo Jing looked around assessing
the situation around him, and then tiptoeing into the Misty Rain Tavern. He saw
nobody downstairs, so he rushed upstairs only to see by the window someone was
leaning against the railings, looking out, his mouth was still noisily chewing
something. It was none other than Hong Qigong.

“Shifu!” Guo Jing rushed forward and called out. Hong Qigong nodded his head,
pointed outside and raised a cooked half lamb leg in his hand and took a big bite.

Guo Jing quickly went to the window. He saw flashing swords in the clearing behind
the tavern, eight, nine people were surrounding Huang Yaoshi. Seeing the enemy
was fighting a multitude of opponents he was slightly relieved; but after looking
clearly at who these people were, he could not help but feel surprised. He saw his Da
Shifu Ke Zhen’e wielding his iron staff with a young Taoist priest standing behind
him. He thought, “How come Da Shifu is also here?” He looked again and found out
that the young priest was Qiu Chuji’s disciple Yin Zhiping; who was wielding his long
sword to protect Ke Zhen’e’s back, not to attack Huang Yaoshi. The other six were all
Taoist priests, they were Ma Yu, Qiu Chuji and the rest of the Quanzhen Six Masters.

Guo Jing watched for a moment and realized the Quanzhen Sect was using their Big
Dipper Formation to fight the enemy. Only the Changzhen Zi [Eternal Truth] Tan
Chuduan had died, so the ‘tian xuan’ [sky jade/gem] position was occupied by Ke
Zhen’e. Too bad his martial art skill was not on par with the others, plus he was not
familiar with the formation, so Yin Zhiping was protecting his back while giving him
directions. The Quanzhen Six Masters were brandishing their swords, advancing and
retreating, dispersing and gathering together, keeping Huang Yaoshi inside their
circle fighting an intense battle.

That day during the fierce battle at the Ox Village only two of the Quanzhen Seven
Masters wielded their long swords; the rest of them were fighting using their bare
palms, the battle was already very intense. This time there were seven long swords
and one iron staff, so the fierceness was scary.

Huang Yaoshi remained barehanded; he floated around amidst the flashing swords
and staff, as if he was forced to defend himself without being able to launch any
counterattack; for dozens of moves he only moved around to avoid the enemies’
blades without launching a single fist or kick. Guo Jing was secretly delighted,
“Regardless of your resourcefulness, it will be difficult for you to run away from
justice today.”

Suddenly he saw that Huang Yaoshi swept his right foot around his body twice with
his left foot firmly on the ground; compelling eight people to simultaneously
withdraw three steps. “Excellent Sweeping Leaves Kick Technique!” Guo Jing praised.
Huang Yaoshi turned his head and waved his hand toward Hong and Guo two people
upstairs and nodded his head in greeting. Guo Jing saw his face was relaxed and
composed; he did not look like someone who was gasping for breath, which caused
Guo Jing to be suspicious. He saw Huang Yaoshi’s left palm sweep diagonally towards
the top of Changsheng Zi [Eternal Life], Liu Chuxuan’s head; so Huang Yaoshi had
moved abruptly from defensive to offensive.

Actually Liu Chuxuan should not fend off against this palm; the ‘tian quan’ [sky
power/authority], Qiu Chuji and the ‘tian xuan’ Ke Zhen’e should have made flank
attacks from the side to rescue him; however, Ke Zhen’e was blind, unlike average
people, he relied on his acute hearing, how could he guard against Huang Yaoshi’s
silent and brilliant palm technique? Qiu Chuji’s sword flickered toward Huang Yaoshi’s
right armpit, Ke Zhen’e moved following Yin Zhiping’s direction, but he was one step
too late. Liu Chuxuan heard the palm slicing the wind just above his head, in his
shock he threw himself to the ground and rolled away.

Ma Yu and Wang Chuyi realized the situation was critically dangerous, they launched
a simultaneous flank attacks with their swords. Liu Chuxuan escaped the danger, but
the Big Dipper Formation was broken. Huang Yaoshi laughed and dashed toward Sun
Bu’er; he only moved for three steps, suddenly turned around and hit Guangning Zi
[Infinite Peace] Hao Datong’s chest. Hao Datong had never seen this kind of strange
move, he hesitated slightly before stabbing his sword toward Huang Yaoshi’s back.
Huang Yaoshi moved like a rabbit, he broke through the encirclement and stood
about two ‘zhang’s away from the crowd.

Hong Qigong laughed and said, “Old Heretic Huang, that was a very smart move!”

“I am going down,” Guo Jing called out and moved toward the stairs.

“Slow down, slow down!” Hong Qigong said, “From the start your father-in-law has
never hit back. At first I was worried about your Da Shifu, but looks like he does not
have any intention to harm anybody.”

Guo Jing returned to the window and asked, “How can you tell?”

Hong Qigong replied, “If he wanted to harm anybody, do you think that skinny
monkey priest will still be alive? That little priest is not his match, not his match at
all!” He took another bite at the lamb leg and said, “Before your father-in-law and
Qiu Chuji arrived, I saw these old priests and your Da Shifu arrange their formation
over there; but how can the Big Dipper Formation be learned in such a short time?
Those old priests persuaded your Da Shifu to temporarily fill the empty position. Your
Da Shifu clenched his teeth without saying anything. I don’t know what enmity your
Da Shifu has against your father-in-law. He followed that young priest to take the
‘tian xuan’ position; but in the end they still cannot block your father-in-law’s deathly
hand.”

“He is not my father-in-law,” Guo Jing said, full of hatred.

Hong Qigong was surprised, “Eh, what do you mean he is not your father-in-law?” he
asked.

Clenching his teeth Guo Jing said, “He … he … humph!”

“How is Rong’er?” Hong Qigong asked, “You had an argument with her, didn’t you?”

“It doesn’t have anything to do with Rong’er,” Guo Jing answered, “This old thief, he,
he has killed my five shifus. My hatred to him is as deep as the ocean.”

Hong Qigong jumped in surprise, he quickly asked, “Is that so?” But Guo Jing did not
hear his question; his attention was focused on the fierce battle downstairs. By now
the situation has changed, Huang Yaoshi was using his ‘pi kong zhang fa’ [splitting
the air palm technique], creating strong gusts of wind, blocking his eight opponents’
attacks.

Speaking about martial art skills of Ma Yu, Qiu Chuji, Wang Chuyi and the others,
Huang Yaoshi should not be able to penetrate within a ‘zhang’ of their defense by
relying on his bare palm only; but in the Big Dipper Formation they moved forward
and backward together, Sun Bu’er, Ke Zhen’e and Yin Zhiping three people’s martial
art was comparatively weaker, as one person was compelled to draw back, the rest
of the formation would have no choice but to follow. And so for each step forward
everybody was forced to retreat two steps; they were separated farther and farther
away from Huang Yaoshi, but the Big Dipper Formation was not the slightest bit
chaotic.

By this time the Quanzhen Sect’s long swords were already too far to reach Huang
Yaoshi’s body; it looked like he was just waiting for an opportunity to attack. Several
moves later Hong Qigong said, “Hmm, so that’s how it is.”

“What is it?” Guo Jing busily asked.

Hong Qigong replied, “The Old Heretic Huang is deliberately forcing them to open up
their formation, because he wants to learn the Big Dipper Formation’s mystery;
that’s why he has not launched any killer attack yet. In less than ten moves he is
going to reduce the circle once again.”

Although Hong Qigong had lost his martial art power, his judgment was still very
clear; and sure enough, Huang Yaoshi hacking palm’s strength weakened and the
Quanzhen Masters gradually tightened their encirclement. In less than a time to
drink tea later everybody crowded together into one lump of people. Liu Chuxuan,
Qiu Chuji, Wang Chuyi and Hao Datong were simultaneously stabbing their swords
into Huang Yaoshi’s body, but somehow when their swords almost reached Huang
Yaoshi’s skin, they all missed by several inches. If not for their fast reactions, these
four swords would have pierced a hole on their fellow apprentice’s body.

Fighting in this tight circle the difference between one move to the other was only a
hair’s width. Guo Jing knew that as soon as Huang Yaoshi was well acquainted with
the formation he would not leisurely fight these people anymore. To break the
formation he must struck the weakest link, which was his Da Shifu and Yin Zhiping
two people. He was too far from those people, if the situation became critical he
would not have time to help, while right now he saw dangerous situations occur one
after another. “Disciple goes down,” he said to Hong Qigong. Without waiting for an
answer he dashed downstairs.

When he got near the battle situation was again changed; Huang Yaoshi continuously
moved toward Ma Yu’s left side, but the more he moved the farther away he was
from the crowd, as if he was trying to run away. Guo Jing held the dagger in his
hand, ready to pound as soon as he had the opportunity. Suddenly Wang Chuyi let
out a whistle and he, along with Hao Datong and Sun Bu’er, who formed the handle
of the Big Dipper, turned forward from the left, to keep Huang Yaoshi in the middle
of the formation.

Huang Yaoshi changed his position three times, but Wang Chuyi also moved the
handle of the Big Dipper, just like Qiu Chuji was also moving the four stars of the
Dipper, preventing Huang Yaoshi from occupying the position by Ma Yu’s left side. As
he was making his fourth attempt suddenly Guo Jing understood, “Ah, right, he
wants to steal the north polar star position.”

When he was treating his injury at the Ox Village, from behind the wall he saw the
Quanzhen Seven Masters fought Mai Chaofeng, and later on Huang Yaoshi, using the
Big Dipper Formation. Later on he learned in detail from Huang Rong the Big Dipper
constellation and the north polar star; he knew that the ‘tian shu’ [sky pivot] and
‘tian xuan’ [sky jade/gem] were linked in a straight line with the north polar star.
Since the north polar star is always on the north, every night the Big Dipper
constellation would revolve around this star. Later on he was captured by the Beggar
Clan on Mount Jun at the Dongting Lake, again he pondered about this Big Dipper
constellation; not only did he gain more than a few understanding of the Big Dipper
characteristics, but also the movement of the Big Dipper Formation, and applied this
ingenious method to advance his own martial art skill.

Huang Yaoshi’s intelligence was a hundred folds better than Guo Jing’s; he was also
well-versed in astronomy and the study of yin-yang wu hang [lit. negative and
positive five lines]. After he failed to break the Quanzhen Seven Masters’ Big Dipper
Formation during the battle at the Ox Village he meditated over this for a long time,
until he finally comprehended the flaw of this formation.

Guo Jing was thinking about this formation because he wanted to ‘learn’ it; while
Huang Yaoshi thought it was not worth his time to learn Wang Chongyang’s
technique, so he concentrated on ‘breaking’ the formation. He knew that all he
needed to do was to snatch the north polar star position, and the formation would
break; or at least if he occupied the central position, he would be able to control the
formation, he could wait leisurely for the enemy to be exhausted, while he himself
would stand in an invincible position.

The Quanzhen Masters were also aware that he was trying to break the formation by
stealing the crucial position; they were inwardly anxious. If Tan Chuduan were still
alive, the seven of them could move as one body, certainly they would not let Huang
Yaoshi steal the north polar star position. This time the ‘tian xuan’ was occupied by
Ke Zhen’e and Yin Zhiping; which, admittedly had inferior martial art skill, and were
not familiar with the formation technique, as a result the Big Dipper Formation’s
effectiveness was significantly reduced.

Ma Yu and the others knew that a prolonged fight would not do them any good;
moreover, Guo Jing was standing on the side, if Huang Yaoshi was in a real danger,
as a son-in-law, how could he not help? But their martial uncle’s and brother’s death
must be avenged. Their deceased master Wang Chongyang was the number one
martial artist of the world; if six of his disciples joined forces against one Huang
Yaoshi and still could not gain any victory, the reputation of Quanzhen Sect would be
ruined.
They heard Huang Yaoshi laugh and say, “I didn’t know Chongyang’s disciples are so
stubborn that they do not know what’s good for them!” While talking he moved
swiftly towards Sun Bu’er and hacked with his palms three times. Ma Yu and Hao
Datong raised their swords to rescue her. Huang Yaoshi slightly leaned sideways to
evade the swords, ‘swish! swish! swish!’ he hacked three more times toward Sun
Bu’er.

The Master of the Peach Blossom Island’s palm technique was naturally very
exquisite. Even if Wang Chongyang lived again, or Hong Qigong recovered from his
injury, they would not be able to evade these six palms easily; how could Sun Bu’er
block them off? She saw the palm was coming swiftly, she had no choice but to
brandish her sword in a flower pattern and furiously protect her face with all her
might. Suddenly Huang Yaoshi swept his legs repeatedly and kicked her six times.
These ‘luo ying shen jian zhang’ [falling (leaves) divine sword palm technique] and
‘sao ye tui’ [sweeping leaves kick technique] were the Peach Blossom Island’s ‘kuang
feng jue ji’ [fierce wind stunt/unique skill]; if the enemy did not retreat within the
first six moves, the next six moves would follow, faster than the previous ones.
Within six by six, thirty six moves even if a hero or a warrior could avoid the slap, he
would not be able to evade the kick.

Ma Yu and the others noticed that Huang Yaoshi concentrated his ferocious attack
toward Sun Bu’er; immediately they came to her rescue, as a result, in this pressing
situation the formation became disorderly. Ke Zhen’e was blind, so the movement of
the formation was somewhat delayed; Huang Yaoshi let out a long laugh and he was
already on Ke Zhen’e’s back. “Aiyo!” suddenly Ke Zhen’e heard someone cry out in
midair, that person was flying to the top of the roof of the Misty Rain Tavern. It
turned out that Huang Yaoshi grabbed Yin Zhiping’s back and threw him away.

The gap in the formation was getting bigger. Without giving the enemy any
opportunity to mend the formation, Huang Yaoshi dashed toward Ma Yu, fully
expecting Ma Yu to evade. To his surprise as his sword fended off the attack, the
sword in Ma Yu’s left hand went straight toward Huang Yaoshi’s eyebrow; his
movement was steady, backed by a profound internal energy.

Huang Yaoshi was forced to lean sideways to evade, he could not restrain from
praising, “Good! You deserve to be the Quanzhen Sect’s head disciple.” Suddenly his
leg swept downward, kicking Hao Datong’s leg while at the same time he stooped
down to snatch Hao Datong’s sword and stabbed it toward his chest. Liu Chuxuan
was shocked; he wielded his sword to parry. Huang Yaoshi laughed a big laugh and
flicked his hand. ‘Crack!’ both swords were broken.

A dark green shadow flashed, the Master of the Peach Blossom Island was moving
toward the north polar star position. By this moment the formation was in total
chaos, nobody was able to stop him. The Quanzhen Masters cried out bitterly, they
knew Huang Yaoshi was about to exercise mastery over them. Ma Yu heaved a deep
sigh and was about to throw his sword to admit defeat and ready to take whatever
punishment the enemy would send their way. Suddenly he saw the dark green
shadow flashed back; there was already someone occupying the north polar star
position. It was Guo Jing.

Among the Quanzhen Masters, only Qiu Chuji was overjoyed; he had seen Guo Jing
staked it all in attacking Huang Yaoshi at the Drunken Immortal Tavern. Ma Yu and
Wang Chuyi knew Guo Jing was kind-hearted and honest; even though they thought
he was going to help his father-in-law, certainly he would not harm his own shifu Ke
Zhen’e. The rest of the Masters were shocked, they saw Guo Jing had already
occupied the north polar star position; as soon as these father-in-law and son-in-law
joined hands, Quanzhen Sect would die without any burial place. But they were even
more surprised to see Guo Jing was attacking Huang Yaoshi with a bare left palm
and a sword in his right hand.

As he succeeded in breaking the formation, Huang Yaoshi wanted to force Quanzhen

Sect to admit they were wrong; who would have thought that suddenly someone was
occupying the north polar star position. His attention was focused on fighting the
Quanzhen Masters, so without looking back he sent his palm backward using the ‘pi
kong zhang’ toward the enemy’s chest. That person stretched out his left palm to
parry the incoming force, yet he did not move even for half a step. Huang Yaoshi
was surprised, he thought, “Very few people in the world have the strength to block
my palm, who is this person?” He turned his head to look and saw that it was Guo
Jing.

By this time Huang Yaoshi was surrounded by the enemies front and rear; if he could
not drive Guo Jing away, the Big Dipper Formation would outflank him from behind
and that would put him in a very dangerous situation. He sent out three palm attacks
in succession toward Guo Jing, one palm was fiercer than the last, but each time Guo
Jing simply blocked it away. The fourth palm contain a fake and a real attack,
expecting Guo Jing to take advantage of an opening and launch a counterattack;
who would have thought that Guo Jing only took a defensive position and did not
counterattack. Guo Jing lifted the dagger up in front of his chest, while his left palm
slowly swept across his own lower abdomen. In this way although he received one
stance with two attacks from Huang Yaoshi, both attacks were neutralized.

Huang Yaoshi was startled, he thought, “This dumb kid knew how to defend and
break the formation; he steadily defending the north polar star position and did not
want to move even half a step. Ah, right, he must have received Quanzhen Masters’
instruction and came here to help them to fight me.”

He did not know that his guess was only half correct. Guo Jing did indeed know the
secret of the Big Dipper Formation, but he learned it from the Nine Yin Manual and
not from the Quanzhen Masters. As Guo Jing was facing the enemy with whom he
held an enormous enmity, he suppressed his anger to keep his position; it was as if
his feet were firmly planted to the ground, he simply turned his eyes blind to
whatever trick Huang Yaoshi used to tempt him to attack.

Huang Yaoshi groaned silently; he thought, “This dumb kid doesn’t know when to
proceed and when to retreat! Humph! Even if Rong’er blames me, I am going to hurt
you today; otherwise you won’t want to back off.” His left hand made a circle about
seven inches in front of his chest, his right palm rode on the left hand; borrowing the
strength from the left hand it was propelled forward, the force doubled. But before it
hit Guo Jing’s face, he suddenly remembered, “If he doesn’t evade, this palm will
certainly cause him a heavy injury. Whatever the reason, Rong’er will not be happy
for the rest of her life.”

Guo Jing saw him borrow the strength of his left hand to launch a palm attack, he
knew the incoming force would not be a small matter; gritting his teeth he launched
the ‘xian long zai tian’ [dragon appears on the field], a stake-it-all stance from the
Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms. He realized his martial art was far inferior to the
enemy’s; he would suffer serious injury if he took the incoming palm head-on, but in
order to evade the attack, he would have to leave the north polar star position,
which would set him back into a more difficult situation. Hence in this one move he
was ready to sacrifice his own life. Who would have thought that as his palm was
about a foot away from his face, Huang Yaoshi suddenly withdrew his attack and
called out, “Dumb Kid, go away! Why do you make things difficult for me?”

Guo Jing held his sword tight, he looked at Huang Yaoshi with full attention to
protect himself against any trick he might do; he did not reply. By now the
Quanzhen Masters had already reorganized their formation; they made encirclement
some distance away from Huang Yaoshi’s back, waiting for an opportunity to attack.

“Where is Rong’er?” Huang Yaoshi asked.

Guo Jing still did not answer, his face looked gloomy, his eyes spouted anger. Seeing
his expression Huang Yaoshi’s suspicion grew; he was afraid his daughter had met
some accident. “What did you do to her? Speak up!” he barked.

Guo Jing gritted his teeth and bit his lips; his right hand, which was holding the
sword, slightly trembled. Huang Yaoshi’s attention was focused on him; each slight
movement Guo Jing made did not escape his eyes. Seeing Guo Jing’s unusual
expression he was even more alarmed. “Why is your hand trembling? Why aren’t you
talking?” he called out.

Guo Jing recalled how his shifus died a horrible death on the Peach Blossom Island,
grief and indignation burst forth in his heart; his body shook violently, his eyes
bloodshot. Seeing him not willing to talk, tears streaming down his face, Huang
Yaoshi was more alarmed. He knew his daughter had a heated argument with Guo
Jing over the Princess Huazheng’s affair; he was afraid Guo Jing had killed Huang
Rong. He kicked his feet and pounced forward.

As soon as Huang Yaoshi made his move Qiu Chuji thrust his long sword out, at the
same time the Big Dipper Formation started to move. Wang Chuyi and Hao Datong
attacked from Huang Yaoshi’s left and right, one with sword in his hand, the other
with a bare palm. Guo Jing’s palm neutralized the incoming attack, while his dagger
stung with a lightning speed to make a counterattack move. Huang Yaoshi did not
fend it off; he flipped his hand over trying to seize the dagger. Although his
movement was accurate and swift, Wang Chuyi’s sword had already arrived at his
back; he had no choice but to twist his waist to evade, and thus his fingers missed
Guo Jing’s dagger by two inches. Guo Jing used this opportunity to stab forward. This
fierce battle was several times more intense than the previous one.

The Quanzhen Masters’ sole desire was to kill Huang Yaoshi to avenge Zhou Botong
and Tan Chuduan. Huang Yaoshi knew perfectly well that there was a
misunderstanding here, but he was a proud man, he also felt that as someone of
higher rank it would be beneath his dignity to explain. He wanted to defeat them
completely; to make them throw their swords and surrender, and then he would
make everything clear. Thereupon he launched attack after attack while being
lenient; otherwise, although Ma Yu, Qiu Chuji and the others might be able to defend
themselves, but how could Sun Bu’er and Yin Zhiping keep their lives? Unexpectedly
Guo Jing appeared and not only he did not help Huang Yaoshi, but it seemed like he
hated Huang Yaoshi to his death. Huang Yaoshi thought that if Guo Jing did not kill
Huang Rong, why was he so afraid of him?

This time Huang Yaoshi did not show any mercy; he wanted to grab Guo Jing and
ask for some explanation. If Guo Jing did indeed kill Huang Rong, even if he tore him
apart to pieces it would not be enough to vent his anger. Unfortunately Guo Jing
occupied the north polar star position; although Yin Zhiping had not crawled down
from the Misty Rain Tavern’s roof, the battle situation had been reversed. The Big
Dipper Formation moved like a billowing wave; they launched offensive moves
without ceasing.

Huang Yaoshi tried several times to penetrate Guo Jing’s defense but failed, he
started to get impatient. Each time he launched a fierce attack the Quanzhen
Masters were always there to block him. He wanted to launch a deathly attack and
kill some of them to break the formation, but the Big Dipper Formation gradually
tightened its encirclement. He started to think that although he could shake himself
loose, it would be difficult for him to escape unscathed.

Fighting for a while Ma Yu pointed his sword and called out, “Hold on!”

The Quanzhen Masters held their hands, firmly stood on their respective positions.
Ma Yu said, “Huang Daozhu [Island Master Huang], you are a prominent
grandmaster of your martial art school; how can we, the younger generation, dare to
offend you? Today we rely on sheer number to fight you; it is because the situation
forces us to do so. We want to know how you are going to settle the blood debts of
our Zhou Shishu [martial uncle] and Tan Shidi [martial (younger) brother]!”

With a cold laugh Huang Yaoshi said, “What else there is to say? Just go ahead and
kill the Old Heretic Huang to protect the Quanzhen Sect’s reputation; won’t that be
great? Be on your guard!” Without moving his body or lifting up his arm his right
palm had already chopped toward Ma Yu’s face.

Ma Yu tried to evade sideways in panic, but Huang Yaoshi’s palm came without
warning; this feign hack was immediately followed by the real attack. This
combination of void and solid was a killer stance from the ‘luo ying shen jian zhang
fa’. Huang Yaoshi had perfected it for ten years; he intended to use it in the second
sword meet of Mount Hua. This stance was not designed to fight a group of enemies,
but it was very effective in a one on one combat. Danyang Zi’s [Scarlet Sun] skill
might be profound, but how could he be the Eastern Heretic’s match?

It would be better if Ma Yu did not evade; once he moved to the right, the second
attack came. Ma Yu groaned inwardly, “Not good!” He was going to block by
stretching out his hand, but the enemy’s palm had already arrived at his chest. As
soon as Huang Yaoshi exerted his strength, Ma Yu’s internal organs would be shaken
and he would suffer serious internal injury.

The Quanzhen Five Masters were shocked; swords and palms came to the rescue,
but how could there still be time? They saw Ma Yu was at the point of death,
surprisingly Huang Yaoshi laughed and withdrew his palm; he said, “If I break your
formation this way, you won’t accept your defeat easily. The Old Heretic Huang may
die, but how can I let myself be the laughingstock of all the heroes under the sky?
Good Priests, come, let us fight!”

Liu Chuxuan snorted and shook his fist, Wang Chuyi followed with his sword; the Big
Dipper Formation was ready to go into action. It was to be the seventeenth stance,
Wang Chuyi was supposed to move after Ma Yu. He stabbed his sword into the air,
ready to strike; but Ma Yu did not move forward, on the contrary, he retreated two
steps backward and called out, “Hold it!” Everybody held their steps again. Ma Yu
said, “Huang Daozhu, thank you for holding your hand.”

“You flattered me,” Huang Yaoshi replied.

Ma Yu said, “Reasonably said, right now wanbei’s [younger generation, he was

referring to himself] life should have been gone, and this formation developed by my
deceased master should have been broken by you. If we know good from evil, we
should admit defeat and throw ourselves at your mercy. But we do not dare not to
seek revenge because of our deep enmity with you. After this matter is settled,
wanbei will slash my own throat as a gesture of gratitude toward Daozhu.”

Huang Yaoshi’s expression was gloomy, he waved his hand and said, “It’s useless to
talk too much, you can just begin. The matter of kindness and enmity in this world is
difficult to understand.”

Guo Jing thought, “Turned out Ma Daozhang and the others fight him to avenge their
Shisu and Shidi. But Zhou Dage [Big Brother Zhou] is still alive and well, also Tan
Daozhang’s death has nothing to do with Huang Daozhu. However, if I explain the
real situation the Quanzhen Masters will withdraw themselves from the battle,
leaving Da Shifu and me two people; how can we be his match? Let’s not talk about
avenging Shifus’ death, we can’t even guarantee we will still be alive by the time we
are done.” But then he remembered, “If I do not tell the truth, how am I going to be
different from a coward? Shifus often said that we might lose our head, but not our
righteousness.” Thereupon with a loud and clear voice he said, “Ma Daozhang, Qiu
Daozhang, Wang Daozhang, your Zhou Shisu has not died yet; and it was Ouyang
Feng who killed Tan Daozhang.”

“What did you say?” Qiu Chuji was surprised. Thereupon Guo Jing recounted how he
treated his injury inside a secret room at the Ox Village, how from behind the wall he
saw and heard Qiu Qianzhang fabricate a rumor to incite both sides to fight each
other, how Ouyang Feng place the blame on Huang Yaoshi, he told them everything.
Although he was clumsy with words, everybody understood his explanation very
clearly.

The Quanzhen Masters were listening, half believing and half doubting. Qiu Chuji
loudly asked, “Are you telling the truth?”

Guo Jing pointed his finger to Huang Yaoshi and said, “Disciple hates this old thief
that I do not wish to live in the same earth with him, why would I help him? Only it
was the truth, so disciple cannot keep his mouth shut.”

The Six Masters knew him as an honest person; moreover, he had shown so much
hatred toward Huang Yaoshi, so what he said must be the truth.

It was beyond Huang Yaoshi’s expectation to hear him saying things in his favor; he
was astonished and asked, “Why do you hate me so much? Where is Rong’er?”

Ke Zhen’e cut him off, “You don’t know what you did? Jing’er, although we can’t win,
we must fight this old thief to our deaths.” Finished speaking he lifted his iron staff
and swept it toward Huang Yaoshi.

Hearing his shifu, Guo Jing knew that he was forgiven; he felt very happy and
immediately tears flowed down his face. “Da Shifu,” he called out, “Er Shifu and the
others, they … all five of them died a miserable death!”

Huang Yaoshi was grabbing the head of Ke Zhen’e staff with an outstretched hand,
he turned to Guo Jing and asked, “What did you say? Zhu Cong, Han Baoju and the
others were nicely received as guests on my island, why did you say they are dead?”

Ke Zhen’e furiously tried to pull his iron staff, but it did not even budge. Huang
Yaoshi asked Guo Jing again, “Disregarding your elders and superiors you talked
nonsense to me, attacking me like crazy, is that because of Zhu Cong and the
others?”

Guo Jing’s eyes looked like they were spurting blood; he called out, “You have
harmed my five Shifus with your own hands, and now you pretend you did not
know?” Lifting his dagger up, he stabbed it forward with a straight arm.

Huang Yaoshi moved the iron staff in his hand to block; ‘bang!’ the staff and the
dagger collided, sparks flew out everywhere. The dagger was so sharp that it
actually nicked the iron staff. Huang Yaoshi asked again, “Who saw it?”

Guo Jing said, “I buried my Five Shifus with my own hands, are you saying that I
slander you?”

Hung Yaoshi laughed coldly and said, “So what if you slander me? For all my life the
Old Heretic Huang come and go alone; why would I deny killing these several
people? You are correct, I killed your shifus!”

Suddenly a female voice was calling out, “No, Father, it wasn’t you. Don’t take the
blame on your own shoulder.”

Everybody turned their heads around and saw the one who spoke was indeed Huang
Rong. They had been so engrossed in the fierce battle that nobody knew she had
arrived. As Guo Jing saw her again, he was lost in thought, he did not know whether
he should feel happy or anxious.

As Huang Yaoshi saw his daughter was alive and well, he was very happy; his hatred
toward Guo Jing disappeared, he laughed a big laugh and said, “Good child, come,
let Father hug you.”

For the past several days Huang Rong had been suffering a lot of heartache, it was
only today she heard a loving word for the first time; she dashed forward and threw
herself into her father’s bosom and cried, “Father, this dumb kid slandered you, he …
he also bullied me.”

Huang Yaoshi embraced his daughter and said with a smile, “The Old Heretic Huang
always does as he pleases, ever since dozens of years ago ignorant people have
always put the crime of the world on your father’s head, so what difference will it
make to add several more crimes to the pile? The Five Freaks of Jiangnan were your
Mei Shijie’s [martial (older) sister] archenemies, so of course I killed them with my
own hands.”
“No, no,” Huang Rong anxiously said, “It wasn’t you. I know it wasn’t you.”

Huang Yaoshi showed a faint smile and said, “That dumb kid is so bold, he dares to
bully my good child. Just watch, Father will teach him a lesson.” He had just finished
speaking when suddenly like a lightning the back of his palm struck, without a
shadow, without a trace. Guo Jing was thinking about what these father and
daughter were talking about, when ‘slap!’ he felt a burning sensation on his left
cheek. He was just about to raise his hand to block, but Huang Yaoshi’s palm had
already returned to Huang Rong’s head, gently stroking her elegant hair.

This palm made a loud noise, but actually the force was weak; Guo Jing felt his
cheek burning, but he did not suffer any injury. He was at a loss; did not know
whether he should charge forward or he should stay where he was.

Ke Zhen’e heard the slap on Guo Jing’s face, he was afraid Huang Yaoshi might have
stricken him with a deadly blow. “Jing’er, how are you?” he anxiously asked.

“I am all right,” Guo Jing replied.

Ke Zhen’e said, “Don’t listen to this demon and this witch telling lies. I don’t have
eyes to see, but your Si Shifu [Fourth Shifu] said: he saw this old thief killed your Er
Shifu and forced to death your Qi [Seventh] …” Guo Jing did not wait for him to
finish, he charged forward toward Huang Yaoshi. Ke Zhen’e followed by wielding his
iron staff.

Huang Yaoshi let his daughter go and evaded Guo Jing’s palm, while at the same
time stretched his hand to grab Ke Zhen’e’s iron staff. This time Ke Zhen’e had
guarded against his grab so that Huang Yaoshi missed the staff. Master and disciple
joined hands fighting a tight battle with Huang Yaoshi.

Although Guo Jing had repeatedly met some outstandingly able people and had
learned not a few of wonderful martial art skills, he was still too far behind compared
to this grandmaster of a martial art school, the Master of the Peach Blossom Island.
Even with Ke Zhen’e’s help he could not do much. After only about twenty, thirty
moves he had already moved his hands and feet with great difficulty.

Qiu Chuji thought, “In a critical time Quanzhen Sect has received these master and
disciple’s help; currently these two are in the brink of defeat, how can we sit down
and watch without doing anything? Whether Zhou Shishu is alive or dead, we need
to defeat the Old Heretic Huang first, then we’ll talk later.” Brandishing his sword he
called out, “Ke Daxia [Chivalrous Hero], go back to your position!”

By this time Yin Zhiping had already crawled down form the Misty Rain Tavern’s roof.
Although he was black and blue and had a swollen nose from the fall, he did not
suffer a serious injury. He rushed toward Ke Zhen’e’s back and wielded his sword to
protect him. Once again the Big Dipper Formation went into action, encircled Huang
Yaoshi, father and daughter in the middle.

Huang Yaoshi was enraged, he thought, “Before it was a misunderstanding, so I can

understand you attacking me; but after this dumb kid explained everything this
crowd of mixed-up hairs still rely on sheer numbers to attack me. Do you think the
Old Heretic Huang cannot kill people?” Like a flash of shadow he had already moved
toward Ke Zhen’e’s left.

Huang Rong saw the murderous look on her father’s face; she knew his hands would
not be light, her heart turned cold. She saw that Wang Chuyi and Ma Yu blocked her
father’s palm; Ke Zhen’e’s iron staff ferociously struck toward her shoulder while his
mouth shot curses, “Unforgivable lowly criminal, female demon! The Peach Blossom
Island’s ****!”

Huang Rong had never been willing to swallow the least bit of defeat; listening him
open up his mouth in foul language, anger started to rise up her chest, she called
out, “Scold me again if you have guts!”

The Seven Freaks of Jiangnan grew up in the marketplace where all kinds of people
buy and sell, cursing each other for generations, what was so difficult about scolding
other people? Ke Zhen’e hated Huang Yaoshi, father and daughter; listened to her
say so, immediately his extensive vocabulary of malicious words flew out of his
mouth. Huang Rong had always lived alone since she was little; she never had any
experience with this kind of foul language. To her advantage she was very intelligent
so that each time Ke Zhen’e scolded she was able to figure out what he was talking
about and even scold him back; but afterwards the more she listened the more she
could not talk back, because the more she did not understand. She spat and said,
“Shame on you! You are someone’s shifu yet you are not afraid to have a filthy
mouth.”

Ke Zhen’e scolded back, “With a clean person the old man talks clean words, with
stinky and lowly people I speak filthy words! You are a filthy person, so the old man
here talks even dirtier words.”

Huang Rong was angry; she raised her bamboo stick toward Ke Zhen’e’s face. Ke
Zhen’e returned the attack with his iron staff; who would have thought that the Dog
Beating Stick Technique was extremely marvelous beyond his imagination. Only
several moves later his iron staff was completely under Huang Rong’s control, using
the ‘lead’ letter of the technique; as the stick went east the staff went east, when the
stick went west the staff followed, it totally did not have the mind of its own.

Ke Zhen’e was occupying the ‘tian xuan’ position of the Formation. As soon as his
movement was restrained, the entire formation’s movement was somewhat
restricted. Qiu Chuji’s flickering sword stabbing Huang Rong’s back, his intention was
to help Ke Zhen’e; but Huang Rong relied on the armor she was wearing, to his
surprise she ignored the stab, changing her stick movement she sent out three
stances in succession. Qiu Chuji’s sword was about to touch her clothes when he
suddenly thought, “What kind of person is the Old Qiu, how can I harm this little
girl?” The tip of his sword touched Huang Rong’s back, but he did not push further.

Taking advantage of this slight hesitation Huang Rong’s bamboo stick pulled Ke
Zhen’e’s iron staff. Borrowing his ‘fu mo zhang fa’ [demon subduing staff technique]
energy Huang Rong push the staff down and then jerked it up to the left. Ke Zhen’e
was not able to control his strength; the staff left his grasp and flew to the air,
‘splash!’ it fell into the Nan Hu [South Lake].

Wang Chuyi was afraid Huang Rong might use this opportunity to harm Ke Zhen’e;
he rushed in front of Ke Zhen’e with his sword blocking in front of his chest. Although
his experience was vast, he had never seen the Dog Beating Technique before, so he
was caught in surprise.

Seeing his master suffer a setback, Guo Jing called out, “Da Shifu, go and take a
rest, I’ll fight for you.” Leaving the north polar star position he jumped into the ‘tian
xuan’ position. By this time his martial art skill had already exceeded those of the
Quanzhen Masters, plus he was familiar with the Big Dipper method; so as soon as
he made his move the Formation’s power increased substantially.

Actually the Big Dipper Formation revolved around the ‘tian quan’ position, but as
soon as he entered, the key position moved to ‘tian xuan’ position, and the
Formation’s movement was altered. This modification was actually inferior to the
original movement, but in this short moment Huang Yaoshi was not able to find a
way to penetrate the formation’s airtight defense; although he had his daughter to
help, they were defending themselves with difficulty. Luckily for the most part the
Quanzhen Masters took a defensive position; Guo Jing was the only one who fought
with his life, forcing Huang Yaoshi to reluctantly face him.

Guo Jing kept pressing forward, forcing Huang Yaoshi to fight a tight battle. With the
Quanzhen Masters backing Guo Jing up, Huang Yaoshi was not able to inflict any
injury to him, and was forced to use his ‘qing gong’ [lightness kungfu] to evade Guo
Jing’s series of a mad-tiger-like attacks.

Huang Rong saw that Guo Jing’s normally genial and kind face was now enveloped
by a layer of murderous look; his expression was so frighteningly ferocious that he
looked like a different person, completely different from the Guo Jing she used to
know. She was startled and frightened at the same time; she stepped in front of her
father and said, “Kill me first!”

Guo Jing glowered at her and barked, “Get out of my way!”

Huang Rong was taken aback, “How can you speak to me like that?” she thought.

Guo Jing charged forward and shoved her aside then he pounced towards Huang
Yaoshi. Suddenly he heard someone laughed loudly and called out behind him,
“Don’t worry Yao Xiong [Brother Yao], I have come to help you!” His voice was like
ear-piercing grating metals.

Nobody dared to turn their bodies right away; the entire Big Dipper Formation turned
around Huang Yaoshi’s back before they finally saw five, six tall and short people
standing on the lakeside, led by someone with long arms and long legs, which was
none other than the Western Poison Ouyang Feng.

The Quanzhen Six Masters cried out in anger. Qiu Chuji said, “Jing’er, let us settle
the debt with the Western Poison first!” His long sword raised, the Quanzhen Six
Masters surrounded Ouyang Feng. Who would have thought that Guo Jing’s gaze was
fixed on Huang Yaoshi; it seemed like he did not hear Qiu Chuji at all. As soon as the
Quanzhen Six Masters left, he pounced toward Huang Yaoshi again and in a short
moment two people had quickly exchanged five, six moves.

Both sides did not hit their target, so both leaped backward, looking over their
shoulders, staring at each other. Guo Jing gave out a loud shout then attacked
forward. Several times they exchanged several stances and then separated again.
This time the Quanzhen Six Masters had rearranged their battle formation. They
looked at Ke Zhen’e and saw him barehanded, standing behind Huang Yaoshi, his
head inclined, listening attentively; his arms were open wide, revealing his intention
to sacrifice himself, throwing himself to grab Huang Yaoshi firmly, giving Guo Jing
the opportunity to strike Huang Yaoshi’s vital point. Because of this Qiu Chuji
beckoned to Yin Zhiping, telling him to occupy the ‘tian xuan’ position.

Ma Yu loudly recited, “Holding hands the departed soul forcing itself to leave like a
bead of pearls. Heart opens to hear the sound of nature, unlike the blowing flute!” It
was the poem Tan Chuduan recited just before he closed his eyes. As the Quanzhen
Masters heard it, their anger rose; with flickering swords and floating palms they
attacked Ouyang Feng together.

The snake staff in Ouyang Feng’s hand pushed and pulled abruptly, forcing the seven
Quanzhen people to back off. Ouyang Feng had seen the Big Dipper Formation’s
fierceness at the Ox Village; he was quite intimidated by that, so he decided to keep
a tight defense and wait for the enemy to reveal its own flaw. Once the Big Dipper
Formation unfolded, it struck to the front and hit to the back, like a continuous wave
of attacks. Ouyang Feng carefully met stance with stance, while opening his eyes
wide to see any potential to break the formation. A moment later he noticed Yin
Zhiping’s ‘tian xuan’ was the Formation’s weak link. He thought if he could destroy
this link, he did not have anything else to fear; therefore, he brandished the snake
staff in his hand trying to inflict some harm, while his eyes scanning around,
assessing the situation around him.

Guo Jing and Huang Yaoshi were still engaged in a tight combat. Huang Rong moved
her bamboo stick to keep Ke Zhen’e more than a ‘zhang’ away from these two
people. She kept shouting, “Please stop fighting; please listen to me!” But Guo Jing
turned a deaf ear to her; palm by palm he struck ferociously, in total disregard of his
own life.

At first Huang Rong saw her father holding back, but Guo Jing kept provoking him so
that gradually she saw his anger rise, his hands were getting heavier and heavier.
She knew the situation was critical; either one of them would certainly suffer a heavy
injury if he made a slight mistake. She lifted his head and saw Hong Qigong was
leaning against the railing of the Misty Rain Tavern, watching the battle. “Shifu,
Shifu,” she hastily called, “Come down and help me explain everything.”

Hong Qigong has seen early on that the situation was far from good, he regretted
losing his martial art skill and was powerless to settle this dispute, and hence he was
really anxious. Hearing Huang Rong cry out he had an idea, “If only the Old Heretic
Huang still has some respect to me left, I think I can still do something.” His hands
pressed on the railing and he floated in the air coming down. “Everybody hold your
hand!” he called out, “The Old Beggar has something to say.” The Nine-fingered
Divine Beggar had such a prestige in the Jianghu that when they saw his sudden
appearance everybody’s heart shivered and they could not help but to stop fighting.

Ouyang Feng was the first to secretly groan, he thought, “How can the Old Beggar’s
martial art come back?” He did not know that after listening to Guo Jing’s
explanation on the Sanskrit part of the Nine Yin Manual Hong Qigong spent these
past few days to practice according to the technique and was able to open up his ‘qi
jing ba mai’ [marvelous/mysterious passage 8 pulses, Eight Extraordinary Channels].
Hong Qigong’s martial art skill was very profound to begin with, after listening to an
excellent internal energy secret such as treating one’s own internal injury, with his
divine comprehension within this short period of time he managed to open up one of
the eight pulses; his lightness kungfu was 30, 40% recovered. Strictly speaking, if
he were involved in a brawl just relying on his fists’ and palms’ strength, he could
not even defeat a strong man who did not know any martial art. But in leaping up
and down his movement was light and lively, at least in Ouyang Feng’s eyes he did
not look like someone who was devoid of any internal strength.

Hong Qigong was amazed to see these people were still in awe of him, he considered
it carefully, “If the Old Beggar does not put on some airs, today’s crisis will be
difficult to resolve; but what can I say, so that the Quanzhen Masters will listen to
my order, and also the Old Poison will comply without giving me too much difficulty?”
Momentarily not knowing what to do he threw his head backward and laughed a big
laugh; while he was looking up, he saw the moon was beginning to rise up, the
bright circle looked like a wheel made of ice with one side of it slightly broken. An
idea came into his mind, he said, “You are all experts in the Wulin world, but you
deal with each other just like scoundrels and rascals, your words are just like farts.”

Everybody was startled. They knew Hong Qigong always talked crazy words without
any restrain, so they did not think much about his language; however, he must have
a reason to say such thing. Ma Yu bowed in respect and asked, “Asking Qianbei
[Senior] to grant us instruction.”

Hong Qigong angrily said, “The Old Beggar heard some people say that on the eighth
month’s mid-autumn day this year there will be people fighting at the Misty Rain
Tavern. The Old Beggar was afraid that his hearing was not clear, so while it is still
early I want to laze around and sleep in peace and quiet here. Who knew that since
early this morning I have been hearing clackety-clack and yakety-yak of people
quarreling and fighting nonstop. I heard chamber pot formation or bed urinal
formation, and then there was a husband beating his wife, a son-in-law attacking his
father-in-law; very noisy just like killing pig or slaughtering dog, so noisy that the
Old Beggar cannot take a nap in peace and quiet. Look at the moon, what day is
today?”

Listening to his speech everybody remembered that today was the fourteenth of the
eight month, so the martial art contest was going to be the next day. Besides, Peng
Lianhu, Sha Tongtian and their company had not arrived yet, so fighting today did
not make much sense. Qiu Chuji said, “Lao Qianbei [Senior] is right, we should not
have made disturbance here today.” He turned his head toward Ouyang Feng and
said, “Ouyang Feng, let us find someplace else to decide who will be alive and who
will be dead.”

“Wonderful, wonderful,” Ouyang Feng laughed, “I’ll gladly accompany you.”

Hong Qigong’s face turned sour, he said, “As soon as Wang Chongyang returned to
heaven, the Quanzhen Sect’s bunch of mixed-up hair has become a reckless empty-
headed bunch. Let me tell you something: five priests and one priestess, plus a little
priest with low martial art skill, all of you join hands, you are still not the Old
Poison’s match. Wang Chongyang has never left anything good for me; it is none of
the Old Beggar’s business whether the bunch of mixed-up hairs will be alive or dead,
but let me ask you this: you have a martial art contest appointment tomorrow, who
will keep the appointment? Will seven dead Taoists be able to fight?”
This speech sounded like he was ridiculing the Quanzhen priests, but in it he
reminded them that by fighting Ouyang Feng they would die and would not live. The
seven of them could not defeat Huang Yaoshi then, obviously now they were not
Ouyang Feng’s match. All of the Six Masters were experienced Jianghu characters,
how could they fail to catch the real meaning of his speech? But they were facing
their archenemy right now, how could they cower?

With the corner of his eye Hong Qigong saw Guo Jing was staring angrily at Huang
Yaoshi; while Huang Rong was crying with tears streaming down her cheeks. He
knew whatever it was, it must be a very complicated matter; he thought carefully,
“I’ll wait for the Old Urchin; with his martial art skill he will be able to subdue
everybody. At that time the Old Beggar will speak again.” Thereupon he shouted,
“The Old Beggar is going to take a nap; whoever lift up his fist or his kick
deliberately wants to offend me. Come tomorrow evening, I don’t care if you turn the
sky over or shake the earth, the Old Beggar will not help anybody. Ma Yu, take this
bunch of mixed-up hairs and sit down here with me cultivating your internal energy.
Make a one notch internal strength gain is a gain; waiting for the last minute will not
guarantee your victory. Jing’er, Rong’er, come over here and massage my legs.”

Ouyang Feng was rather scared of him; he thought that if Hong Qigong joined hands
with the Quanzhen Masters, they would be difficult for him to fight. He said, “Old
Beggar, Yao Xiong and I two guys have some unfinished business with the Quanzhen
Sect. The Nine-fingered Divine Beggar’s words are like mountain; I’ll follow your
direction today, and tomorrow you may not help either side.”

Hong Qigong was secretly amused, “If you push me with your little finger now, I am
afraid I will fall down.” Thereupon he loudly said, “The Old Beggar’s fart is still
sweeter than your words; I said I won’t help, then I won’t help. Are you sure you’ll
win?” Then he laid down face up on the ground, using his wine gourd as a pillow and
called out, “Two children, come and massage my legs!”

By now only the bone was left of the lamb leg in his hand, but he was still reluctant
to throw it away, he kept gnawing and licking like it was still tasty. He looked at the
clouds looming over the horizon and said, “Those clouds look strange, I am afraid
the weather will change very soon!” He also noticed thin mist rose from the surface
of the lake; he took several deep breaths and shook his head, “It’s very strange!”
Turning his head toward Huang Yaoshi he said, “Yao Xiong, do you think I can
borrow your daughter to massage my legs?”

Huang Yaoshi only showed a faint smile. Huang Rong came over and sat next to
Hong Qigong, then started to massage his leg gently. Hong Qigong sighed, “Ay,
these old bones have never enjoyed this kind of good fortune!” Staring at Guo Jing
he said, “Dumb kid, are your dog’s paws broken by the Old Heretic Huang?”

“Yes,” Guo Jing replied. He came over the other side of Hong Qigong and started
massaging his leg.

Ke Zhen’e was leaning on a willow tree by the lakeside; his pair of blind eyes was
fixed at Huang Yaoshi. He was using his ears in place of his eyes. Huang Yaoshi was
pacing around by the water. He walked to the east, Ke Zhen’e’s head followed his
movement to the east, he turned west Ke Zhen’e followed him to the west. Huang
Yaoshi did not pay him any attention, only the corners of his mouth showed a cold
smile.

The Quanzhen Six Masters and Yin Zhiping were sitting cross-legged on the ground,
maintaining their respective positions of the Big Dipper Formation; their heads were
hung low, they were quietly training their internal energy.

Ouyang Feng’s servants, the snake shepherds, took out a table and a chair, set them
up underneath the Misty Rain Tavern and served wine and food. With his back
toward everybody else Ouyang Feng sat alone eating and drinking; he was
wondering in his heart how Hong Qigong could recover that quick from the heavy
injury his palm inflicted.

Meanwhile the weather was stifling hot, small insects were flying everywhere, and
thin mist hovered on the surface of the lake. Hong Qigong said, “My thigh bone is
sore, a storm must be coming; if we can see moon tomorrow at the mid-autumn
festival, I will chop my own thigh and give it to you.” Casting a sidelong glance
toward Guo Jing and Huang Rong, he noticed that their eyes had always looked
somewhere else, and had never looked at each other. Hong Qigong was always frank
and honest; seeing this awkward situation, how could he keep his peace? But after
asking several questions, those two mumbled indistinctly without giving him any
answer.

Hong Qigong raised his voice asking Huang Yaoshi, “Yao Xiong, what is the other
name of this Nan Hu?”

“It’s called ‘yuan yang hu’ [Mandarin Duck Lake],” Huang Yaoshi replied.

“Indeed!” Hong Qigong said, “How come on this ‘yuan yang hu’ [Translator’s note:
mandarin ducks have always been regarded as the symbol of lovers] your daughter
and your son-in-law are having an argument and the father and father-in-law did not
advise them?”

Guo Jing stood up immediately, he pointed to Huang Yaoshi and said, “He … he …
has killed my five shifus, how can I still call him my father-in-law?”

Huang Yaoshi coldly laughed and said, “Is that strange? The Seven Freaks of
Jiangnan are not completely dead; there is still a stinky blind kid left. I’ll say he
won’t live to see tomorrow …”

Without waiting for him to finish Ke Zhen’e had already pounced toward him. Guo
Jing also jumped forward, and despite the fact he moved later, he arrived sooner.
Huang Yaoshi launched a single stance, his palms crossed and ‘bang!’ he shook Guo
Jing’s body, forcing him to retreat two steps.

Hong Qigong shouted, “I said don’t fight! Do you think the Old Beggar’s words are
just fart?”

Guo Jing did not dare to attack again, his stared angrily at Huang Yaoshi. Hong
Qigong asked, “Old Heretic Huang, the Six Freaks of Jiangnan are chivalrous heroes,
why did you kill the innocents? The Old Beggar thinks this kind of behavior is not
pleasing to the eyes.”

Huang Yaoshi said, “I kill whomever I want, why do you care?”

Huang Rong called out, “Father, his five shifus were not killed by you; I know it.
Please say that you did not kill them.”

Under the moonlight Huang Yaoshi saw his daughter’s face was thin and pale, he
could not help but feel compassion toward her; but when he turned his eyes toward
Guo Jing he saw murder written all over Guo Jing’s face, his heart turned hard and
he said, “I killed them.”

With a choking voice Huang Rong said, “Father, why do you insist on confessing the
murder?”

With a loud voice Huang Yaoshi replied, “Everybody says your father is wicked and
strange, didn’t you know it? Can a criminal do a good deed? All crimes in the world
are your father’s. The Six Freaks of Jiangnan considered themselves righteous and
chivalrous heroes; when I see this kind of self-proclaimed hero I become angry.”

Ouyang Feng burst out in laughter and loudly said, “Yao Xiong, your words are right
on target. Let Xiong Di [younger brother, referring to himself] toast you!” Lifting up
his wine cup he drank it in one go; he said, “Yao Xiong, let me present you a gift.”
His right hand slightly waved, he threw a cloth bundle away.

He was several ‘zhang’s apart from Huang Yaoshi, but by a casual wave of the hand
the bundle flew like a bullet cutting the air; everyone was astonished and impressed.
Huang Yaoshi held out his hand to receive it; the content of the bundle felt like a
human head to him. After unwrapping the bundle he found it was indeed a human
head, newly beheaded; the head wore a square hat, with beard on its chin, the face
was not of someone he knew.

Ouyang Feng said with a laugh, “Xiong Di left for the west this morning and took a
rest at a schoolhouse. I heard this rotten scholar taught the students to be loyal
ministers and filial sons. Xiong Di loathes hearing such things, so I killed this rotten
scholar. You and I are the Eastern Heretic and the Western Poison, we both are of
the same kind.” Then he let out a long laugh.

Huang Yaoshi’s face changed, he said, “All my life I always respect loyal ministers
and filial sons.” Stooping down he dug a hole with his hand, buried that human’s
head, and respectfully bowed three times.

Ouyang Feng lost his interest, but he laughed and said, “The Old Heretic Huang has
enjoyed a false reputation, turns out he also adheres to propriety and etiquette.”

Huang Yaoshi imposingly said, “Loyalty and being filial is integrity, it is not propriety
and etiquette!”

He had just closed his mouth when suddenly a thunder crashed. Everybody looked
up and saw black clouds covering half of the sky; a thunderstorm was coming. Right
at that moment they heard loud music; seven, eight big boats on the lake
approached near. The boats were decorated with red lanterns; on the bows stood
signs like ‘Su Jing’ and ‘Hui Bi’; looked like they belong to a high ranking government
officer.

End of Chapter 34
Chapter 35 – In the Temple of the Iron Spear
(Translated by Foxs, Edited by Eliza Bennet)
Caption to the picture:
Two soldiers were forced to carry Ke Zhen’E as they continued their journey. Huang
Rong moved her bamboo stick, constantly whipping them. Towards the evening they
arrived at the Temple of the Iron Spear. On the tall pagoda next to the temple crows
had made their nests for generations; thousands crows flew back and forth in the air.
As the boat reached the shore, twenty, thirty people came ashore; among them
were Peng Lianhu, Sha Tongtian and their company. The last ones to come ashore
were two men, one tall the other short; the tall one was the Great Jin’s Prince Zhao,
Wanyan Honglie, the short one was the Clan Leader of the Iron Palm Clan, Qiu
Qianren. Apparently Wanyan Honglie relied on Ouyang Feng and Qiu Qianren to help
them; so he was confident they would win this martial contest, hence he went as far
as personally come over to Jiangnan.

Pointing to Qiu Qianren Huang Rong said, “Father, this old man has hit your
daughter with his palm that I nearly lost my life.”

At the Cloud Village Huang Yaoshi had seen Qiu Qianren’s disgraceful act; he did not
know it was actually Qiu Qianzhang in disguise. He thought it was strange how with
just a little bit of trick this man could injure his daughter.

In the meantime Ouyang Feng was having a discussion with Wanyan Honglie and the
others; they were talking in a low voice. After about half a day Ouyang Feng came to
Hong Qigong and said, “Qi Xiong, you have said that in the upcoming martial art
contest you are not going to help either side, haven’t you?”

Hong Qigong said in his heart, “I have the desire but am powerless; even if I want to
help I don’t have the ability to do so.” With no other choice he replied, “Contest or
no contest, I said the fifteenth of the eighth month.”

“That is so,” Ouyang Feng said, “Yao Xiong, the Quanzhen Sect and the Seven
Freaks of Jiangnan are seeking enmity with you; you are a grandmaster and a
senior, it will be below your dignity to deal with these people. Let Xiong Di [younger
brother, referring to himself] deal with them on your behalf, you can just stand on
the side and be the spectator, what do you say?”

Huang Yaoshi thought about the battle situation from both sides’ point of view: if
Hong Qigong did not go into action, the Quanzhen Masters would certainly fall under
Ouyang Feng’s deadly hand, thus the Quanzhen Sect faced an imminent destruction.
If Guo Jing helped them by defending the ‘tian xuan’, Ouyang Feng would not be the
Big Dipper Formation’s match; but if this dumb kid kept pestering Huang Yaoshi, the
situation would not be the same, he thought, “This kid Guo Jing is still wet behind his
ears, the Quanzhen Sect’s life or death, fortune or disaster, actually depends on him.
If Wang Chongyang in the underworld knew, all he could do is to laugh bitterly.”

Ouyang Feng saw that he looked indifferent without answering his question, if Zhou
Botong arrived, the situation would be detrimental to him; therefore, he let out a
long laugh and called out, “Everybody, attack! What are you waiting for?”

Hong Qigong was angry, “Was that a human speaking or a dog farting?”

Ouyang Feng pointed to the sky and said with a smile, “’Zi shi’ [first hour, midnight,
between 11pm and 1 am] has passed, right now it is already early morning of the
fifteenth of the eighth month.”

Hong Qigong looked up only to see that the moon had slightly shifted to the west,
half of it was still covered by the dark clouds, it was indeed the end of the ‘zi shi’ and
the start of ‘chou shi’ [second hour, between 1 am and 3 am].

Ouyang Feng’s snake staff struck, its target was Qiu Chuji’s chest. Facing their
archenemy, with Peng Lianhu watching intently on the side, ready to strike, the
Quanzhen Six Masters knew that the slightest mistake today would result in their
demise; hence they pulled themselves together immediately and fought Ouyang
Feng with all their might, but after just a few stances, the six of them groaned
inwardly.

This time the Western Poison’s intention was to show off his power in front of
everybody; everything he displayed was swift and deadly move, particularly the two
snakes on the head of his staff, which was extended or withdrawn, striking or
evading in sudden movements, it was virtually impossible to guard against. Qiu
Chuji, Wang Chuyi and the others had tried several times to stab these snakes, but
how could they match their speed?

Huang Rong saw Guo Jing was still staring angrily at her father; it was only because
Hong Qigong was on his way that he did not dare to attack. She got a sudden
inspiration and said, “All day long talking about avenging his father, humph, now
that the killer is here he is afraid.”

Her words reminded Guo Jing, he turned his gaze to her and thought, “Kill the Jin
dog first, then look for Huang Yaoshi; it won’t be too late.” Drawing his dagger he
charged toward Wanyan Honglie.

Together Sha Tongtian and Peng Lianhu dashed forward, blocking in front of Wanyan
Honglie. Guo Jing flicked his wrist and the dagger in his hand stabbed slanting down.
Peng Lianhu blocked with his pair of judge pens, ‘clang!’ the weapons collided and he
felt tingling sensation on his palms. Guo Jing successively went passed two people.
Sha Tongtian’s ‘yi xing huan wei’ [altering form changing position] technique was
also unable to stop him; hastily Sha Tongtian tried to pursue him. Lingzhi Shangren
and Liang Ziweng, each with weapon in their hands positioned themselves to
intercept Guo Jing.
Guo Jing flashed sideways to evade two of Liang Ziweng’s ‘tou gu ding’ [bone
penetrating nail]; his both hands, one with a dagger the other with a palm, launched
‘di yang chu fan’ [ram charging fence], throwing his whole body forward.

Liang Ziweng saw that the incoming force was swift and fierce; he rolled away on the
ground to evade. Lingzhi Shangren was big and fat, he was not as agile; he thought
if he evaded, the enemy would have clear access to the Prince Zhao, so he raised his
pair of cymbals, trying to block this attack. With two loud ‘Bang! Bang!’ his hands
were shaken and the two cymbals flew to the air, while the wind from Guo Jing’s
palm continued hacking toward his face. Relying on the strength of, and poison on,
his palms, Lingzhi Shangren fended off Guo Jing’s palm, only to feel his chest
constricted and his arm sore and numb; his palms hang loosely down, his wrist joints
were shaken and to his shock he could not use his poisonous palm skill. He stood
dumbly without knowing what to do. If Guo Jing took this opportunity and sent out a
palm, he could easily take Lingzhi Shangren’s life, but he remembered his main
target was Wanyan Honglie, so he did not give Lingzhi Shangren another look.

The pair of copper cymbals flew in the air and glimmering under the moonlight one
after another they fell back down to the earth. ‘Bang!’ the first cymbal landed on
Lingzhi Shangren’s head. Luckily it was in a horizontal position; otherwise with its
knife-like sharp edge it would chop the Tibetan monk’s bald head in two. Another
loud ‘Bang!’ followed, louder and brighter than the first; the second cymbal landed
on the first, creating a continuous buzzing noise, which reached far into the lake and
echoed back on the surface of the lake.

Wanyan Honglie saw how Guo Jing was able to go through four martial art masters
without missing a step and suddenly arrive in front of him, he was unable to restrain
his great shock and cried out, “Aiyo!” while turning his body around and run away.

With the dagger in his hand Guo Jing chased him; but he only managed to pursue
several steps when suddenly a yellow shadow flashed by, a pair of palms came
slanting down on him. Guo Jing stepped aside to evade, while the dagger in his hand
stabbed forward; but his body was swayed by the incoming palms; hastily he
steadied his step and saw that the enemy was the Clan Leader of the Iron Palm Clan,
Qiu Qianren. Guo Jing knew the enemy’s martial art skill is superior to his own, so he
would not be able to pursue his personal enemy; immediately, with the dagger in his
right hand and a bare palm on his left, he focused his attention to fight the enemy.

Peng Lianhu knew the critical situation had passed as he saw Guo Jing was tied down
by Qiu Qianren while Liang Ziweng and Sha Tongtian were guarding in front of
Wanyan Honglie; he turned his attention to Ke Zhen’E and said with a smile, “Ke
Daxia, how come only one freak out of the Seven Freaks of Jiangnan showed up?”

Ke Zhen’E’s iron staff was thrown into the Southern Lake by Huang Rong; hearing
the enemy’s insult he waved his hand to send out an iron caltrop, while he
immediately jumped backward. Under the dim moonlight the iron caltrop looked so
swift and powerful. Peng Lianhu had experienced suffering because of this poisonous
secret projectile; he was scared like a bird was scared of a bow, he did not dare to
fend off with his judge pen, so he hastily pushed the pens on the ground to using it
as a brace to help him jump high in the air. With a ‘swish’ sound the iron caltrop
barely missed the bottom of his foot. He noticed Ke Zhen’E did not have any weapon
in his hand; clenching his teeth he struck forward with his pens.

Ke Zhen’E was disabled; he usually walked aided by his staff. He heard the wind as
the enemy attack arrived, he had no choice but using all his strength he leaped two
steps to the side, and almost fell down as his left foot landed on soft earth.

Peng Lianhu was delighted; with his left pen he guarded against Ke Zhen’E, should
he be desperate enough to launch an attack to save his own life, while his right pen
fiercely smashed down toward Ke Zhen’E’s chest.

Ke Zhen’E listened to the sound to distinguish the shape, he rolled away to evade.
Peng Lianhu’s steel judge pen struck a rock on the ground, sparks flew everywhere.
“Blind thief,” he cursed, “You are very slippery!” The pen in his left hand also struck.
While he was rolling away, ‘swish!’ he released another iron caltrop. Lingzhi
Shangren was standing nearby, his left hand was holding his right hand, his mouth
was busy cursing in Tibetan; as he saw Ke Zhen’E was rolling near him, he raised his
foot trying to trample him.

Ke Zhen’E heard the wind; using his left hand to brace the ground he threw himself
sideways to escape. But evading the Tibetan monk’s foot he could not escape the
pair of judge pen on his back. He felt a stabbing pain and secretly shouted, “Not
good!” He closed his eyes, ready to die. Suddenly he heard a tender voice called out,
“Off you go!” followed by “Aiyo!” finally he heard a loud ‘bang!’

Turned out Huang Rong used the Dog Beating Stick Technique to block the judge
pen, turned it around and jerked it up, throwing both the pen and Peng Lianhu away.
This stick technique was exactly the same stance Huang Rong used to fling Ke
Zhen’E’s iron staff away; only Peng Lianhu held his pens tight and would not let them
go no matter what, so both Peng Lianhu and his pen fell down together.

Peng Lianhu was shocked and angry at the same time, he crawled back up only to
see Huang Rong was using her stick to protect Ke Zhen’E, giving him the opportunity
to stand up. “Little witch [Translator’s note: the Chinese characters used were ‘xiao
yao nu’, with ‘yao’ being ‘goblin/witch/demon/monster’, see also Chapter 25], who
asked for your help?”

Ignoring him Huang Rong called out, “Father, look after this blind muddle-head,
don’t let anybody harm him.” While saying that she rushed toward Guo Jing to help
him fight Qiu Qianren.

Ke Zhen’E was dumbstruck; he stood motionless not knowing what to do. Peng
Lianhu saw Huang Yaoshi was standing quite a distant away, with his back facing
them, apparently he did not hear his daughter’s call. Quietly Peng Lianhu went
behind Ke Zhen’E and suddenly lunged his judge pen toward Ke Zhen’E’s back. This
move was both swift and violent, so much so that even if Ke Zhen’E still had the iron
staff in his hand he would not necessarily be able to block it. Peng Lianhu saw he
was about to succeed when suddenly a ‘swish’ sound was heard; something flew
splitting the air, hit the judge pen, and shattered into dust; turned out it was a small
grain of gravel. Peng Lianhu’s palm was numb and the judge pen fell to the ground.

Peng Lianhu was shocked; he did not know where the gravel came from, and how
could it carry such a tremendous force. He saw Huang Yaoshi with his hands behind
his back, still looking at the black clouds on the horizon.

At the Cloud Village Ke Zhen’E had heard this Divine Flicking Finger skill; he knew it
was Huang Yaoshi who saved him. In rage he pounced toward Huang Yaoshi’s back,
while shouting, “Seven brothers and sister only one left, why would I want to live?”

Huang Yaoshi still did not turn his head; he waited until Ke Zhen’E was about three
feet away before his left hand lightly waved backward. Ke Zhen’E felt a strong force
pushing him back that he fell face up. Quickly he sat down, but felt his blood surging
up his chest and he was not able to stand up.

By this time the sky was getting darker, the fog hovering on the surface of the lake
was getting thicker, it spilled over to the ground; submerging everybody’s legs in it.
Guo Jing and Huang Rong managed to fight Qiu Qianren evenly. On the other side,
the Quanzhen Sect was in dire circumstances; Hao Datong’s thigh was swept by the
snake staff, half of Sun Bu’er’s Taoist robe was torn. Wang Chuyi was secretly
alarmed; he knew that if this fight continued, someone would be either dead or
wounded before long. So when Ma Yu and Liu Chuxuan were launching a flank
attack, he took a rocket from his pocket. With a hissing sound the rocket flew up to
the sky, like a meteor with a long tail in the dark sky.

Actually, all Seven Masters of the Quanzhen Sect had accepted not a few disciples;
they formed quite a number of the third generation disciples. Besides Yin Zhiping,
there were Li Zhichang, Zhang Zhijing, Wang Zhitan, Qi Zhicheng, Zhang Zhixian,
Zhao Zhijing, and the others; they were all outstanding people. In the martial art
contest at Misty Rain Tavern in Jiaxing this time, the Seven Masters were afraid that
Peng Lianhu, Sha Tongtian and the others would bring their disciples in their attempt
to gain victory by sheer numbers; therefore, they also took their disciples along to
Jiaxing and told them to wait by the shore of the Southern Lake. As soon as they
saw the rocket they were supposed to immediately come and render their
assistance. So now recognizing their precarious situation Wang Chuyi released the
rocket. Unfortunately the fog was too thick; even separated by several feet it was
already difficult to distinguish people, so he was afraid the disciples would not be
able to see through this fog.

Later on, after fighting a little while, the white fog was getting heavier, everybody
was enveloped inside the thick fog that they suddenly felt alone. The gathering dark
clouds in the sky were getting thicker and thicker; the dim moonlight which
penetrated these layers of cloud was getting weaker and weaker, until finally it
disappeared all together. Everybody was alarmed; although they did not stop
fighting, the distance between them were getting farther and farther away, their
stances were most of the time defensives and very few offensives.

Guo Jing and Huang Rong were fighting Qiu Qianren together; suddenly the thick fog
welled up and shrouded these three people. Guo Jing saw Qiu and Huang two people
suddenly disappear, he decided to look for Wanyan Honglie immediately. His eyes
were wide open, trying to catch a glimpse of the flashing of the golden crown on
Wanyan Honglie’s head. But the fog was very dense; he could not even see anything
beyond three feet. He hurried to the east and dashed to the west to seek the enemy,
suddenly he heard someone was calling out in the fog, “Zhou Botong is here, who
wants to fight with me?”

Guo Jing was ecstatic, he was about to reply but Qiu Chuji beat him, “Zhou Shishu
[martial uncle], are you Senior well?”

Right at this moment the dark clouds revealed a gap and suddenly everybody could
see their enemies were actually almost within reach of each other, if anybody
launched any attack, they would certainly be injured. As if by prior agreement they
all cried out in alarm and leaped back.
Zhou Botong was giggling as he stood among these people, he said in a loud voice,
“There are so many people here, very lively. Wonderful! Wonderful!” His right hand
reached beneath the crook of his left elbow, he rubbed some dirt and rolled it, he
said, “I’ll give you some poison!” and he shoved the dirt into Sha Tongtian’s mouth
nearby.

Sha Tongtian quickly evaded, but although he used his ‘yi xing huan wei’, he was still
not fast enough; his left arm was grabbed by Zhou Botong and the dirt was
squeezed into his mouth. He had suffered quite a bit under Zhou Botong’s hand, he
knew if he spat the dirt, he would certainly be beaten; therefore, he had no choice
but stay silent and keep the dirt in his mouth. He knew the dirt was not poison, so
he certainly was not afraid.

As Wang Chuyi saw Zhou Botong suddenly arrive he was overjoyed, “Shishu,” he
called out, “Turned out it’s true that you are not killed by Huang Daozhu [Island
Master].”

“Who said I am dead?” Zhou Botong angrily asked, “The Old Heretic Huang had
always wanted to harm me, but it’s been more than ten years and he still has not
succeeded yet. Ha, Old Heretic Huang, come and try again.” While saying that he
waved his fist toward Huang Yaoshi’s shoulder.

Huang Yaoshi did not dare to ignore him; he counterattacked with a stance from the
‘shen jian luo ying zhang’ [divine sword falling leaves palm] while calling out at the
same time, “The mixed-up hairs from Quanzhen Sect blamed me of killing you, they
are pestering me without any reason, saying that they were seeking revenge for
you.”

Zhou Botong was angry, “You killed me? Are you dreaming? When did you kill me?
Look clearly, am I a human or am I a ghost?” While spouting nonsense he fought
faster and faster.

Huang Yaoshi knew Zhou Botong would not listen to reason, and he was attacking
him out of a whim, but his moves were very exquisite and marvelous; Huang Yaoshi
had no choice but fight him with all his might.

The Quanzhen Masters thought that as soon as their Shishu arrived, he would join
hands with Huang Yaoshi to fight Ouyang Feng; who would have thought that this
Shishu did not want to listen to them but entangled Huang Yaoshi in a close combat
instead. “Shishu, don’t fight with Huang Daozhu!” Ma Yu repeatedly called.

Ouyang Feng interjected, “That’s right Old Urchin, you are in no way the Old
Heretic’s match; quickly run away to save your life! Quick, quick!”

Listening to this provocation Zhou Botong was all the more not willing to give up.
Huang Rong called out, “Old Urchin, you use the martial art from the Nine Yin Manual
to fight my father; what would your Shixiong [martial brother] say in the
underworld?”

Zhou Botong burst out in laughter, he sounded very smug when he said, “Look
carefully, do you see I am using the martial art from the Manual? I have spent a
great deal of effort trying to forget the Manual. Hey, hey, learning was easy,
forgetting is actually a lot of trouble! What I am using now is the 72-stance Vacant
Fist, the Old Urchin’s very own creation, do you think it is the same as the Nine Yin
Manual even for a fart?”

When fighting him at the Peach Blossom Island, Huang Yaoshi thought his fist and
kick strength was much stronger; now he saw that although his fist technique was
refined and wonderful, the strength was actually less than he remembered, but Zhou
Botong was able to fight evenly with him, which he thought was very strange.
Listening to Zhou Botong’s words Huang Yaoshi was secretly impressed; regardless
of what kind of bizarre technique he employed, Zhou Botong was able to create an
excellent martial art all by himself and thus he founded his own martial art school.

From inside the fog Ouyang Feng could indistinctly see the fight between Zhou
Botong and Huang Yaoshi; he was inwardly very happy, but was also afraid that as
soon as he defeated Huang Yaoshi Zhou Botong would join hands with the Quanzhen
Masters and deal with him. Thereupon he thought as he had the opportunity, he
should break the Big Dipper Formation first. Immediately he wielded his snake staff
and pressed on bit by bit, placing the Big Dipper Formation in more and more
dangerous situation.

Wang Chuyi and Liu Chuxuan called out, “Zhou Shishu, kill Ouyang Feng first!”

Zhou Botong saw his martial nephews’ desperate situation, with a left palm and a
right fist he swept horizontally. When he was very close to Huang Yaoshi’s face,
suddenly with a laughter the fist changed into a palm and the palm became a fist,
continuing their attack across each other.

Huang Yaoshi had never anticipated this kind of strange move, he hurriedly raised
his arms to block, but the tip of his eyebrow was brushed lightly by the edge of Zhou
Botong’s palm. He was not injured, but Huang Yaoshi felt his eyebrow was burning
hot.

As Zhou Botong’s palm brushed his opponent suddenly he was shocked; his left hand
slapped his own right wrist and he cursed, “Damn it! Damn it! This is the martial art
from the Nine Yin Manual!”

Huang Yaoshi was slightly startled; but his palm had already struck with a lightning
fast speed, without any noise landed on Zhou Botong’s shoulder. Zhou Botong bent
his waist and shrunk his shoulder. “Aiyo!” he cried out, “The payback is so quick!”

Meanwhile the fog was getting thicker; it was getting more difficult to see anything.
Guo Jing was afraid his two shifus would be injured; he held out his hand to help Ke
Zhen’E, pulling his arm toward Hong Qigong. With a low voice he said, “Two Shifus,
please take a rest at the Misty Rain Tavern; we’ll wait for the fog to recede then we’ll
talk again.” He heard Huang Rong called out, “Old Urchin, are you going to obey me
or not?”
“I can’t beat your father,” Zhou Botong replied, “So don’t worry.”

“I want you to beat the Old Poison,” Huang Rong said, “Just don’t kill him.”

“Why?” Zhou Botong asked; but his hands and feet were not slowing down.

Huang Rong called out, “If you don’t do what I say, I am going to reveal your stinky
history.”

“What stinky history?” Zhou Botong asked, “You talk nonsense.”

“All right,” with deliberation Huang Rong said, “Four weaving machines, the weaving
of mandarin ducks desiring to fly together right away.”

Hearing these two sentences Zhou Botong was so scared that it was as if his soul
had left him; “All right, all right, I’ll listen to you,” he busily said, “Old Poison, where
are you?” He heard Ma Yu’s voice penetrating the thick fog, “Zhou Shishu, occupy
the north polar star to surround him.”

Huang Rong said again, “Father, this Qiu Qianren collaborates with a foreign
kingdom, he is a big traitor; please kill him quickly.”

“Child,” Huang Yaoshi said, “Come to my side.” In the heavy fog he could not see
where Qiu Qianren was. But he heard Zhou Botong was laughing a big laugh while
calling out, “Old Poison, quickly kneel down and kowtow to your grandfather; I’ll
spare your life today.”

Guo Jing sent Hong and Ke two people to the side of the tavern; then he turned his
body around, trying to find Wanyan Honglie. Who would have thought that as he left
the Misty Rain Tavern, not only he could not find Wanyan Honglie, but also Sha
Tongtian, Qiu Qianren and the others had all disappeared. He heard Zhou Botong call
out, “Uh, where is the Old Poison? Where did he run to?”
This fog was unusually thick, everybody was very close to each other, yet one could
not see the face of someone else standing next to them; they only saw a vague
image of a human form. Their voices were also somewhat muffled by the fog, as if
there was some layers separating each other. Each one of them was an experienced
fighter, yet in this battle they felt like they were blindfolded; not a single one of them
was not anxious. Huang Rong was leaning close to her father, Ma Yu was giving out
orders in low voice to shrink their circle. Everyone was straining their ears to listen
to any enemy’s activity; for a moment nobody made any noise. A little while later
suddenly Qiu Chuji called out, “Listen! What’s that?”

They heard hissing noise all around them, strange noise from a distant coming near.
Huang Rong called out in alarm, “The Old Poison dispatches his snakes! Really
shameless!”

At the end of the tavern Hong Qigong had also heard the snakes, he loudly called
out, “It’s the Old Poison’s snake formation; everybody quickly come up the stairs!”

Zhou Botong’s martial art could be considered number one among those present, but
for all his life he was afraid of snakes, so with a loud cry he dashed wildly toward the
Misty Rain Tavern. He was afraid the snakes would bite his heel, so he skipped the
upstairs room and utilizing his ‘qing gong’ [lightness kungfu] to the fullest he leaped
onto the roof, and sat on the highest ridge, still trembling with fear.

Not too long afterwards the sound of the snakes was getting louder. Huang Rong
pulled her father’s hand to go up the Misty Rain Tavern. Holding each other’s hand
the Quanzhen Masters were groping their way upstairs. Yin Zhiping stepped on a
crack and fell down real hard that his head grew a swollen lump; quickly he crawled
back upstairs.

Huang Rong had not heard Guo Jing’s voice, she was concerned; “Jing Gege, where
are you?” she called. After calling out several times she still had not heard any reply;
she became anxious and said, “Father, I am going back to look for him.”
Suddenly she heard Guo Jing’s cold voice, “Why should you look for me? Don’t call
me; I am not going to answer you.” It turned out he was right next to her.

Huang Yaoshi was angry, “Muddle-headed kid, stinky boy,” he scolded; his arm
swung across sending out a palm. Guo Jing ducked his head to evade; he was just
about to launch a counterattack when suddenly ‘whiz, whiz’ noise of arrows was
heard, several long arrows soared in the air and nailed the window lattice.

Everybody was startled; they heard shouts and feathered arrows came one after
another. In the darkness nobody knew how many soldiers had arrived; they heard
clamoring noise of people outside the building, they were shouting, “Don’t let these
thieves escape!”

Wang Chuyi was angry, “Looks like the Jin dog colludes with Jiaxing’s corrupt
government official; they are sending out troops to deal with us!”

Qiu Chuji called out, “Let’s go down and completely route them.”

“Not good, snake, snake!” Hao Datong shouted. They heard the noise of the arrows
getting thicker, while the hissing noise of the snakes getting closer; they realized
that Wanyan Honglie and Ouyang Feng had arranged this treacherous plan in
advance; only this thick fog was beyond anybody’s anticipation, so whether a curse
or a luck, it was difficult to say.

Hong Qigong called out, “We can fight the arrows, but cannot fight the snakes; if we
evade the snakes, it will be difficult to keep off the arrows! Everybody quickly
withdraw!” They heard Zhou Botong, still shouting abusive words from the top of the
roof; he had caught two arrows and used them to fend off the incoming arrows.

Three sides of the Misty Rain Tavern faced the water. The soldiers rode on small
boats surrounding the building and showered it with arrows. It was because of the
thick fog that they did not dare to press closer to the banks. Hong Qigong called out,
“We go to the west, we take the land route.” He was the chief of the world’s largest
clan; each word he said carried a lot of authority and influence. In this chaotic
situation everybody accepted his leadership without question; they groped their way
back downstairs. They tried hard to open their eyes, but could not see farther than
half a foot ahead; how did they know which direction was east, west, south or north?
They struck down several arrows while walking in line, holding each other’s hand to
avoid getting lost. Qiu Chuji and Wang Chuyi led the way with swords in their hands;
their swords combined and complemented each other, forming a sword umbrella to
keep off the arrow rain.

Guo Jing’s right hand was pulling Hong Qigong, while his left hand grabbed
someone’s hand behind him. He felt this hand was soft, warm and slightly sweaty;
turned out it was Huang Rong’s small hand. His heart skipped a beat; hastily he let
her hand go, only to listen to Huang Rong’s cold voice said, “Who needs your
concern?” Suddenly he heard Qiu Chuji called out, “Turn around, quick! There are
snakes ahead; we can’t go through!”

Huang Yaoshi and Ma Yu were at the end of the line blocking the pursuing soldiers;
hearing Qiu Chuji’s cry they turned their head anxiously. Huang Yaoshi picked a
couple of bamboo sticks and swept them outward to strike the snakes. In the fog
they heard the hissing sound of the snakes, and a foul stench attacked their nostrils.
Huang Rong could not endure it any longer, with a ‘wah!’ sound she threw up. Huang
Yaoshi sighed and said, “There is no way out, everyone fight for your own life!”
Tossing his bamboo sticks aside he carried his daughter in his hands.

Based on everyone’s martial art skill, actually the soldiers’ arrows would not be able
to stop them; but the Western Poison’s snake formation was tens of thousands more
lethal, as soon as one was bitten, one’s life immediately would be gone. Listening to
these frightening snakes everybody could not help but feel terrified. Huang Yaoshi’s
jade flute was broken, Hong Qigong’s steel needles were not easy to be launched;
the most difficult part was the fog was too thick that nobody could see anything.
Even if there were an escape route, nobody knew where to go.

In this critical situation suddenly they heard someone with a cold voice say, “Little
witch, give your bamboo stick to this blind man.” It was Ke Zhen’E’s voice.

Hearing him saying the ‘blind man’, two characters, Huang Rong immediately
understood his intention; she was very happy and without hesitation handed over
the Dog Beating Stick to him. Ke Zhen’E maintained his composure; tapping the stick
on the ground he said, “Everyone, follow this blind man to safety. There is always
fog and mist around the Misty Rain Tavern; what’s so strange about it? Otherwise
how can it be called the Misty Rain Tavern?” He was a native of Jiaxing; ever since
he was little all streets and alleys around the Misty Rain Tavern had been ingrained
in his heart. Both of his eyes were blind, normally he would be inferior to ordinary
man, but now the fog was really thick, black clouds covered the sky; to him it was
not the least bit of obstacle.

Listening to the snakes and the arrows he knew that there was an alley to the west
with no enemies in that direction. Limping away he immediately led the way. Who
would have thought that over the past several years this small alley had been
covered with green bamboos, which render it impassable. Ke Zhen’E was very
familiar with this road; yet he had not visited this place for decades, so he did not
know that this alley had turned into a bamboo grove. He walked only for seven, eight
steps and had to stop because the bamboo was on his way. Qiu Chuji and Wang
Chuyi again brandished their swords and the bamboo flew out, opening up a
passageway where everybody could pass through.

Ma Yu called, “Zhou Shishu, come over here! Where are you?” Zhou Botong was still
sitting on the roof; hearing the sound of snakes all around him, how could he dare to
reply? He was most afraid that the snakes’ favorite food was the Old Urchin’s flesh,
so if he opened his mouth and let the snakes heard his voice, wouldn’t he be finished
then?

Walking for dozens of ‘zhang’s they saw the bamboo grove was getting thin; ahead
they could see an alley. The snakes sound was getting farther away, but the soldiers’
shouts were actually getting closer; it sounded like some of the soldiers came around
to outflank them. This group of warriors was afraid of snakes, they did not even look
at ordinary soldiers. Liu Chuxuan said, “Hao Shidi [martial (younger) brother Hao],
let us kill some of the dog officers to vent our anger.”

“Good!” Hao Datong replied. Two people brandished their swords to block the
incoming arrows which came suddenly like locusts.

Walking a little longer they arrived at a bigger road; above them lightning flashed
and thunder struck, followed by heavy rain pouring down from the sky. But because
of this downpour the fog cleared up. Although the sky was still covered with dark
clouds, they started to be able to see each other’s shadow. “Good, good,” everybody
said, “The thick fog is dispersing.”

Ke Zhen’E said, “The danger has passed, everyone can do as they please.” Giving
the bamboo stick back to Huang Rong he walked to the east without turning his head
back.

“Shifu!” Guo Jing called out.

Ke Zhen’E said, “You go and send Hong Laoxia [Old Hero Hong] someplace peaceful
and quiet where he can recover from his injury; then come to the Ke Jia Cun [Ke
Family Village] to see me.”

“Yes,” Guo Jing replied.

Huang Yaoshi stretched out his hand to block one incoming arrow, then he went to
Ke Zhen’E and said, “I was not willing to explain to you if not for the fact that you
saved my life today …”

Ke Zhen’E did not wait for him to finish, he spat thick phlegm toward the bridge of
Huang Yaoshi’s nose; he cursed, “Because of what I did today, I won’t have any face
to see my six brothers and sister!”

Angrily Huang Yaoshi raised his palm. Guo Jing watched this in shock, he flew in
trying to rescue; he knew that as soon as this palm struck down, his Da Shifu’s life
would be gone. But he was more than a dozen steps away from Ke and Huang two
people, so he knew he would be too late. Under the dim light of the moon he saw
Huang Yaoshi’s palm slowly went down. Huang Yaoshi laughed a big laugh and said,
“What kind of a man is Huang Yaoshi? How can I lower myself to the same level with
you?” With his sleeve he wiped the phlegm from his face; turning around to Huang
Rong he said, “Rong’er, let’s go!”

Hearing these words Guo Jing’s heart was shaken with doubt; only he was unclear of
what had actually stirred his doubt. He only vaguely felt that something was not
completely right. It was like something was flashing in his mind, then suddenly it
disappeared into a thick fog.

Suddenly he heard an outburst of shouting, a group of soldiers came charging in.

The Quanzhen Six Masters with swords in their hands engaged the enemy. Huang
Yaoshi felt it was beneath his dignity to fight soldiers, so he turned around to pull
Hong Qigong’s arm and said, “Qi Xiong, let us two brothers go on ahead and drink
some wine; we’ll talk about it later.”

It was precisely what Hong Qigong had been expecting; he said with a laugh,
“Wonderful, just wonderful!” In a moment two people disappeared into the darkness.

Guo Jing wanted to take Ke Zhen’E away, but another group of soldiers came
attacking them. Guo Jing did not want to kill too many people, so he pushed his
arms forward to open a way. In this confusion he heard Qiu Chuji and the others
were fighting a fierce battle; it turned out Wanyan Honglie had dispatched several of
his own personal bodyguards among the soldiers, also joining their ranks were a
group of valiant Iron Palm Clan people, making them difficult to push back in a short
period of time. Guo Jing was afraid his shifu would be injured in this chaotic battle,
he shouted, “Da Shifu, Da Shifu, where are you?” By now the battle cry and the
clashing of the weapons had merged into one chaotic noise; but all along he did not
hear Ke Zhen’E’s reply.
After taking the bamboo stick back from Ke Zhen’E’s hand Huang Rong had stayed
near him all the time. She saw him spitting her father, her mind was tumultuous.
She believed this matter had grown out of proportion; her long life’s beautiful dream
was shattered into pieces. Hence when the soldiers came she just stood alone,
leaning on a tree; when the soldiers galloped quickly past her, it was as if she did
neither see nor hear them, she was totally lost in her thought.

Suddenly she heard a call, “Aiyo!” It was Ke Zhen’E’s voice. Following the source of
the sound she went out to take a look, only to see Ke Zhen’E was laying by the
roadside; an officer was holding a saber high above his head, ready to chop it down
into Ke Zhen’E’s back. Ke Zhen’E rolled away to evade, he sat up and threw a
backward fist, hitting the officer squarely that he fainted. Ke Zhen’E was about to
stand up when he suddenly fell back down. Huang Rong rushed forward and saw that
his leg was hit by an arrow; immediately she pulled his arm and helped him up.

Ke Zhen’E made an effort to shed her hand away, but one of his legs was lame, the
other was injured by the arrow; his legs lost their strength that his body staggered,
he swayed forward and fell back down. Huang Rong held out her right hand to grab
the collar on the back of his neck; she said with a cold laugh, “Still flaunting your
heroism?” Her left hand lightly waved, she sealed the ‘jian shen xue’ [shoulder
chaste acupoint] on his right shoulder with a move from ‘lan hua fu xue shou’
[brushing orchid acupoint technique]. Then she released his collar and grabbed his
left arm.

Ke Zhen’E wanted to struggle free, but half of his body was numb; he was unable to
move. He had no choice but let her help him up, but his mouth did not stop
muttering curses.

Huang Rong let him away for a dozen of steps and took him hiding behind a big tree.
They were just catching their breath when another group of soldiers spotted these
two people. A dozen or so arrows came whizzing by. Huang Rong stepped forward
and brandished her bamboo stick to protect her head and her face from the arrows;
letting the arrows hitting her soft-hedgehog armor.
Ke Zhen’E heard the arrows and knew she was risking her life to save his; his heart
softened, he said in a low voice, “You don’t need to worry over me, just go save
yourself!”

“Hmm,” Huang Rong said, “I want to save you; I want you to receive my kindness.
What are you going to do about it?”

While they were talking, two people slowly withdrew behind a short wall. The arrows
no longer came, but Ke Zhen’E was heavy, Huang Rong was exhausted, her
breathing was short; she leaned against the wall to rest. Ke Zhen’E sighed, “It is
finished, between you and me gratitude and grudges are over. Off you go, from now
on just consider the blind man Ke has died.”

With a cold voice Huang Rong said, “Obviously you are not dead, why do you
consider yourself dead? You are not seeking revenge against me, I will come looking
for you.” The bamboo stick in her hand swiftly stretched out and swiftly shrunk back,
sealing the ‘wei zhong xue’ [I don’t know how to translate this] on the back of his
knees.

Ke Zhen’E was totally caught off guard, he fell sitting down on the ground. Silently
he cursed and wondered what kind of malicious method this little demon would use
to torture him. His heart was thumping in anger, but he heard her footsteps were
getting father away, it sounded like she was leaving the short wall. By now the battle
noise was farther and weaker; apparently the Quanzhen Masters had either killed or
driven the soldiers away. Amidst this faraway noise he faintly heard Guo Jing’s voice
calling out, “Da Shifu!” But the call was going farther and farther away, indicating
Guo Jing was looking for him in the wrong direction. He wanted to call, but because
of his injury he could not gather enough strength, he could not even hear his own
voice.

A moment later all he could hear was quietness, with roosters started crowing in the
distant. Ke Zhen’E mused, “This is the last time I hear the rooster! Tomorrow all
across the Jiaxing prefecture the roosters will crow again, but I will die under the
little demon’s hands and won’t hear it anymore.” Thinking to this point he suddenly
heard footsteps; three people came over. The first’s footsteps were light, he
recognized it to be Huang Rong; the other two were heavy, sounded like they were
dragging their feet.

He heard Huang Rong say, “This is Daye [lit. big master], quickly lift him up.” While
saying that she stretched out her hand to massage his body and unsealed his
acupoints.

Ke Zhen’E felt he was lifted up by two people and placed on a bamboo stretcher, and
then he was taken away. Ke Zhen’E was flabbergasted; he wanted to ask, but
suddenly remembered the last time he said something it backfired to him. While
hesitating he heard a ‘swish!’ sound, the man carrying him on the front cried out in
pain, “Aiyo!” It sounded like he ate Huang Rong’s stick. He also heard her scolding,
“Walk faster! What are you mumbling about? You, the soldiers, are used to bully
common people; no one is good!” Then another ‘swish!’ was heard; the man on the
back also ate her stick, but this one did not dare to say anything.

Ke Zhen’E understood, “It turned out she captured two soldiers to carry me up; she
is so smart to come up with this idea.” By this time the arrow wound on his leg was
getting more painful, but he was afraid Huang Rong might mock him, so he bit his
lips to prevent any moan from escaping his mouth. He felt his body was jolted up
and down, he knew he was being carried along a rugged pathway. A moment later
he felt tree branches and leaves brushing his head and face, so he knew they were
walking in the woods. The two soldiers staggered along, they were gasping for
breath, but Huang Rong’s bamboo stick kept whipping them mercilessly.

About thirty ‘li’s later Ke Zhen’E estimated that it was already the end of sixth hour
[9 – 11am], early seventh hour [11am – 1pm]; the early morning rain had long
gone, the sun had dried out half of his wet clothes. He heard the cicadas calling and
the dogs barking, a distant sound of men and women singing in the field; it was a
perfect picture of peace and tranquility, a totally different world from the vicious
battle at the South Lake this morning.

They stopped by a peasant home to take a rest. Huang Rong bought two big
pumpkins from the peasant family, she cooked them with rice, and placed a bowl in
front of Ke Zhen’E.

“I am not hungry,” Ke Zhen’E said.

“Your leg hurts, do you think I don’t know?” Huang Rong said, “What hungry or not
hungry? I want you to be in so much pain that you will listen to me.”

Ke Zhen’E was very angry; using both hands he lifted up the bowl full of hot
steaming pumpkin and threw it to her face. Huang Rong laughed coldly, but one of
the soldiers called out in pain. Ke Zhen’E knew she must have moved sideways to
evade and the bowl of hot pumpkin must have splashed on the soldier’s body.

“What?” Huang Rong scolded, “Ke Daye [Big Master Ke] is giving you the pumpkin to
eat, you are not happy? Quickly eat them up.” That soldier was afraid Huang Rong
might beat him again, but also his stomach was very hungry; so enduring the
burning ache on his face he picked the pumpkin up and ate it piece by piece.

This time Ke Zhen’E could not decide whether he should be angry or whether he
should laugh; half standing and half sitting he leaned against the bench. He felt very
awkward; he wanted to pull out the arrow, but was afraid his blood would spurt out
like crazy. She certainly would see someone in danger and not willing to help; most
probably she would even mock him.

While he was still hesitating he heard Huang Rong said, “Go get some fresh water,
quick!” Her speech was followed by a ‘Slap!’ apparently she had just slapped one of
the soldiers on the ear.

In his heart Ke Zhen’E mused, “This little demon, she is all right as long as she does
not say anything; but as soon as she opens her mouth, she makes others suffer.”
Huang Rong continued, “Take this knife and cut the clothes around Ke Daye’s arrow
wound.” One of the soldiers complied and did as she said. Huang Rong said, “You,
the one with surname Ke, you’d better not cry out in pain; otherwise, your Miss may
not pay you any more attention if she is annoyed.”

“Who wants your attention anyway?” Ke Zhen’E angrily replied, “Just scram as far as
possible.” He had not finished his words when suddenly he felt a severe pain on his
wound. It seemed to him that Huang Rong had grabbed the shaft of the arrow, and
instead of pulling it out, she thrust it into his flesh. Ke Zhen’E was shocked and
angry; he was about to throw a punch out when he felt another stab of severe pain
and suddenly his palm was holding a shaft of arrow. Turned out Huang Rong had
pulled the arrow out and squeezed it into his hand.

Ke Zhen’E heard Huang Rong say, “You move one more time, I am going to slap
your ear really good.”

Ke Zhen’E knew she was capable of doing what she said she would do. Currently he
was not the little demon’s match; if she killed him with a blade, then it would be a
clean end to his life, but if she ever slapped his face, he would suffer disgrace for the
rest of his life, so with a pale face he stayed silent. Hearing some ripping sounds he
knew she was tearing several strips of clothes. She wrapped the cloth around his
thigh, above and below the wound, tightly to stop the bleeding; and then he felt icy
cold water on his wound, apparently she was washing his wound with cold water. He
was stupefied, thinking, “If she had evil intention, why did she save me? But if she
said she doesn’t harbor evil intention, humph, humph, can anything good come out
of the Peach Blossom Island’s sorcerers, father and daughter? She must have some
evil plan for me later on. Ay, these people are so full of craftiness; it is really difficult
to guess her real thoughts.”

While he was busy with his own thoughts, Huang Rong had already applied some cut
wound medicine and wrapped it up properly; he felt his wound was cool and for the
most part the pain was gone, but suddenly he heard rumbles from inside his tummy.
Huang Rong coldly said, “I thought you were not hungry, but it turns out you are
really starving. Too bad we don’t have anything to eat right now. All right, let’s go!”
With two ‘slap, slap’ sounds her stick beat the two soldiers, telling those two to lift
Ke Zhen’E up and continue their journey.

About thirty, forty ‘li’s later, the sky was getting dark. They heard the loud cry of
crows; hundreds of thousands crows flew back and forth in the air. Hearing these
crows Ke Zhen’E knew they were in the vicinity of the ‘tie qiang miao’ [Temple of the
Iron Spear]. This Temple of the Iron Spear was built to honor a well known general
from the Five Dynasties period, the Iron Spear, Wang Yanzhang. Next to the temple
there was a tall pagoda. For generations the crows had made their nest on top of this
pagoda. There was a legend among the locals that the crows of the Temple of the
Iron Spear were the spirits of dead soldiers and generals, so nobody dared to disturb
them to such an extent that the crows breed and multiplied, became as many as
they were that day.

“Hey,” Huang Rong said, “The sky is getting dark, where can we spend the night?”

Ke Zhen’E thought for a moment, “If we lodge at someone’s residence I am afraid

they might open their mouths and lead the soldiers to come and arrest us.” So he
said, “Not too far from here there is an old temple.”

“What’s so interesting about crows?” Huang Rong scolded, “You have never seen one
before? Go!” This time Ke Zhen’E did not hear the sound of the stick, nevertheless
the two soldiers cried out in pain. He wondered whether she pierced them with her
finger or kicked them with her foot.

Not too long afterwards they arrived in front of the Temple of the Iron Spear. Ke
Zhen’E heard Huang Rong kick the temple door open. The strong odor of crows’ dung
and dust assaulted their nostrils. Apparently this temple had been deserted for a
long time. He was afraid she would complain of the filth, but surprisingly it seemed
like she did not even notice. He heard her ordering the two soldiers to sweep the
floor; she also ordered them to go to the kitchen and boil some water. Then he
heard she was softly singing a song about some ‘pair of mandarin ducks desire to fly
together’ and some ‘not yet old but the hair on the head has turned white.’

A moment later the soldiers brought the hot water over. Huang Rong changed the
wrap on Ke Zhen’E’s wound first before washing her own face and feet. Ke Zhen’E
was lying down on the ground, using the meditation mat as his pillow. Suddenly he
heard she spat and said, “Why are you looking at my feet? Do you think my feet are
for you to look? I’ll dig your eyeballs out!”

That soldier was so scared that his soul almost left him; ‘bonk, bonk, bonk’ he
knocked his head on the ground. Huang Rong asked, “Tell me, why did you look at
me washing my feet?”

That soldier did not dare to lie; while still knocking his head he said, “Xiao De [lit.
little/lowly one] deserves to die. Xiao De saw Miss’ feet are very … very beautiful …”

Ke Zhen’E was startled, he thought, “This thief male servant bird’s death is
imminent, he still has a lewd heart! I wonder if the little demon will pull his muscle
out or peel his skin alive.” Surprisingly Huang Rong only laughed and said, “A crude
and stupid man like you knows what’s good and what’s ugly?” ‘Bang!’ the stick in her
hand shot out and that soldier rolling around on the ground, but she did not pursue
this matter further.

The two soldiers ran to the rear courtyard with their tails between their legs, and did
not dare to reappear. Ke Zhen’E stayed still, quietly waiting for what would happen
next. He heard Huang Rong pacing back and forth in the main hall; she muttered,
“Wang the Iron Spear’s prestige shook the world in his era; in the end he was
captured and decapitated. How could he flaunt himself as a hero? As some kind of
warrior? Hmm, I am afraid this iron spear is not made of real cast iron.”

When he was little, Ke Zhen’E, along with Zhu Cong, Han Baoju, Nan Xiren, Zhang
Asheng and the others, often came to this temple to play. Although they were kids,
every one of them had already had exceptional strength; they took turn brandishing
that iron spear to play. When he heard what Huang Rong had just said he opened his
mouth, “Of course it is made of real iron; how can it be faked?”

“Hmm,” Huang Rong stretched out her hand to pull out the iron spear; she said, “It
is about thirty ‘jin’s [catty; 1 jin = about 0.5kg]. I have lost your iron staff and
momentarily can not give you any replacement. Tomorrow we’ll bid good-bye; we’ll
go our own ways. You don’t have any weapon with which to defend yourself. Why
don’t you use this spear as temporary replacement of your iron staff?” Without
waiting for Ke Zhen’E to reply she went out and took a large rock from the
courtyard; ‘bang, bang’ she broke the spearhead and handed the pole over to him.

Since his parents and brother died, Ke Zhen’E was inseparable with his six brothers
and sister. Right now he did not have any relative left. Although he had been
together with Huang Rong for only a day, unconsciously he felt that he hated to part
with her; listening to her saying, ‘Tomorrow we’ll bid good-bye; we’ll go our own
ways’ he suddenly felt something was lost. Absent-mindedly he received the iron
spear, thinking that this spear was approximately the same size and weight as his
lost staff, so definitely he could use this weapon. He also thought, “She gave me this
weapon, so she did not have any evil intention.”

He heard her saying, “This is the ‘tian qi sha dan san’ [powdered medicine made of
tian qi (lit. field/farm seven) shark’s gallbladder] made by my father; it is very
beneficial to your wound. You hate us father and daughter; whether you want to use
it or not, it’s up to you!” She handed the medicine pouch over to him. Ke Zhen’E held
out his hand to receive it, and then slowly put it in his pocket. He wanted to say
something, but nothing came out of his mouth. He hoped she would say something
else, but she only said, “All right, let’s take a rest!”

Ke Zhen’E laid down on his side, with the iron spear by his side; his heart was filled
with disquieting thoughts, how could he sleep? He heard the noisy crows on top of
the pagoda eventually quiet down until all he could hear was silence everywhere. He
did not hear her sleeping, but he heard her tossing and turning; it seemed like she
was also restless.

After half a day he heard she was reciting quietly, “Four weaving machines, the
weaving of mandarin ducks desires to fly together right away. It’s a pity not yet old
but the hair on the head has turned white. When the green spring grass ripples in
the deepest of dawn’s cold; standing face to face taking a bath wearing red clothes.”

He heard she repeated the recitation softly, as if she was trying to understand its
meaning. Ke Zhen’E did not understand literature, he did not understand what she
was reciting, but he could hear the sadness in her voice, as if she was grieving of a
heart break; he could not help but feel dazed.

A long time passed. He heard her arrange some meditation mats for her bed; then
she lay down and her breathing gradually slowed down, sounded like she was falling
asleep. Ke Zhen’E gently stroked the iron spear by his side; all kinds of childhood
memories came flooding back into his mind. He saw Zhu Cong with an old book in
his hand, reading aloud with his head swaying back and forth. He saw Han Baoju and
Quan Jinfa were riding on the idol’s shoulders, pulling its beard; Nan Xiren and
himself were pulling one end of the iron spear while Zhang Asheng was pulling the
other end; they were playing tug-of-war with each other. At that time Han Xiaoying
was only about four, five years old; two lengths of braided hair on her head, giggling
and laughing, cheering over them. There were bright red ribbons on her braids,
bobbing along as she moved her head. Suddenly everything turned pitch-black. Six
sworn brothers and sister, his own brother, and his pair of eyes, everything was
successively destroyed under Huang Yaoshi’s and his disciples’ hands. His heart was
burned with hatred, which was very difficult to suppress.

Slowly he raised his iron spear, he quietly walked toward Huang Rong. He heard her
gentle and even breathing, she was sleeping soundly. He thought, “Once my iron
spear goes down, she will die without feeling anything. Hey, if not, the Old Heretic
Huang’s martial art is matchless, how can I avenge this deep enmity in this lifetime?
His daughter is sleeping right here; the Heaven is granting me a very good
opportunity, so that he knows the pain of mourning for his daughter.”
But then another thought came into his mind, “This girl has saved my life, how can I
repay kindness with evil? (Sigh!) After killing her, I am going to kill myself right next
to her to repay today’s kindness.” Thinking of this, he made up his mind; he thought,
“I, Ke Zhen’E, have been an upright man all my life; for decades I have never done
anything shameful against the world. Right now I am going to launch a sneak attack
toward a sleeping person; it is a cowardly act, but with my death I am going to
repay her kindness.”

Lifting his iron spear, he was just about to strike Huang Rong’s head when suddenly
he heard someone was laughing in the distant; the sound was ear-piercing, in the
dead of the night it caused the hair on his back stood up on its end.

Huang Rong was awakened by the laughter; she leaped up and saw Ke Zhen’E with
the iron spear lifted up, right in front of her. She was so shocked; she called out,
“Ouyang Feng!”

Hearing her woke up, Ke Zhen’E could not strike his iron spear anymore; he heard
people talking and walking toward the temple. Only they were still quite a distance
away that he did not hear clearly what they were talking about. A moment later he
started to hear some footsteps; there were about thirty, forty people. Ke Zhen’E was
very familiar with this temple with its front hall and rear courtyard; with a low voice
he said, “The Old Poison and the others must have seen the crow pagoda and come
over here. Let us try to hide from them.”

“Yes,” Huang Rong said. She kicked the meditation mats to scatter them around the
hall.

Ke Zhen’E led her hand toward the rear courtyard; he tried to push the gate, but it
was bolted from the outside. “Those two thief soldiers!” he scolded viciously. He
guessed those two soldiers were running away in the dark; they were afraid Huang
Rong would find out, so they bolted the door in advance.
By now it was too late to strike the gate with his iron spear, since he heard the main
gate was pushed open. He knew there was no hiding place in the main hall; he
whispered, “Behind the idol.”

Two people had barely sat behind the idol when about a dozen people entered the
main hall. Ke Zhen’E heard a ‘chi’ sound, followed by a burst of sulfur smell; he knew
someone was lighting the fire. Then he heard Ouyang Feng said, “Zhao Wangye
[Prince Zhao; lit. master king], although we did not get what we want at the Misty
Rain Tavern, in the end, we managed to dampen the enemy’s spirit.”

Wanyan Honglie laughed and said, “This entire battle was under Mister’s control.”

Ouyang Feng let out some ‘heh, heh’ laughter, then he said, “Xiao Wangye [Young
Prince] arranged an ingenious plan; gathering the soldiers from Jiaxing prefecture,
firing out tens of thousands of arrows. We should have been able to round up the
whole gang in one swoop; unexpectedly at the right time the thick fog came and
gave this group of traitors the opportunity to slip away.”

A young voice said, “With Mr. Ouyang and Qiu Bangzhu [clan leader] go into action,
although the group of traitors escaped today, they will be annihilated one by one in
the future. Only too bad ‘wan bei’ [junior, younger generation] was one step too late
that I could not see Mr. Ouyang greatly unfold his divine power. It was truly a pity.”

Ke Zhen’E recognized it was Yang Kang’s voice; he could not restrain rage from
filling his heart. Then he heard Liang Ziweng, Peng Lianhu, Sha Tongtian and the
others uttered flattering words; they praised Ouyang Feng to the utmost, saying how
he single-handedly fought the Quanzhen Sect, placing the group of Taoists in an
extremely difficult situation, Qiu Qianren was nothing compared to him.

Listening to these many masters gathered together like this, Ke Zhen’E did not dare
to breathe out loud. Just now he wanted to end his life together with Huang Rong;
but somehow, this time he was afraid to be discovered by the enemy and Huang
Rong and he would be killed. He heard Wanyan Honglie’s people prepare some
bedding and then invite Wanyan Honglie, Ouyang Feng and Yang Kang three people
to sleep on them.

Yang Kang heaved a deep sigh and said, “Mr. Ouyang, your nephew’s martial art skill
was high, his conduct was natural and elegant. Wan bei admired him very much; I
hoped to be good friends with him, unexpectedly he was harmed by the Quanzhen
Sect’s mixed-up hairs. Each time ‘wan bei’ remembers that, I am always grieved to
the utmost. I swear to kill those evil Taoists from Quanzhen Sect one by one with my
own hand to console Brother Ouyang’s soul in heaven. It’s a pity ‘wan bei’s martial
art skill is meager; I truly have the desire but lack the power to do it.”

Ouyang Feng was silent for a long time then he slowly said, “My nephew was
unfortunate to meet his tragic death. At first I thought he died under Guo Jing’s
violent hand; but listening to you recount Qiu Chuji’s words, I have just found out it
was the Quanzhen Sect’s group of evil Taoists who did it. Nowadays my White Camel
Mountain does not have any heir, let me take you as my disciple.”

“Shifu!” Yang Kang loudly called out, “Disciple pays his respect to you.” His voice
was full of happiness, followed by ‘bonk, bonk, bonk’ noise as he crawled into
Ouyang Feng’s presence and kowtowed several times.

Ke Zhen’E thought this person was a good and loyal man’s descendant, yet he not
only admitted an enemy as his father, but took an evil man as his master as well; he
was drowned deeper and deeper. Ke Zhen’E was afraid it would be too difficult for
Yang Kang to turn around; he was very angry. He heard Wanyan Honglie say, “In
this foreign place we don’t have any gift to offer the master, we will do it properly in
the future.”

Ouyang Feng sighed and said, “Pearls and jewels, the White Camel Mountain also
has some. Ouyang Feng simply looks at this child’s intelligence; I only wish to have
an heir of the martial art I possess.”

“Xiao Wang [lit. little king, referring to himself] spoke incorrectly,” Wanyan Honglie
said, “Mister, please forgive me.”

Immediately one by one Liang Ziweng and the others offered their congratulations to
these three people. In this clamor suddenly someone was calling out, “Shagu is
hungry, I am starving to death; how come nobody is giving me food to eat?”

Ke Zhen’E was greatly surprised to hear Shagu’s cry; he wondered how did this girl
hang around with Wanyan Honglie, Ouyang Feng and the others? He heard Yang
Kang say with a laugh, “That’s right, quickly get some refreshments for this Miss to
eat; don’t let her get ill from starvation.”

A moment later Shagu was heard chewing loudly, she was eating. While still chewing
she said, “Good Brother, you said you are going to take me home if I listen to what
you say; how come we are not home yet?”

“We’ll get there tomorrow,” Yang Kang replied, “Eat until you are full, then go to
bed.”

Yet another moment later Shagu suddenly said, “Good Brother, there is some noise
in that pagoda, what is that?”

“If not bird, then it must be a mouse,” Yang Kang answered.

“I am scared,” Shagu said.

Yang Kang laughed, “Sha Guniang [dumb miss], what are you afraid of?” he asked.

“I am scared of ghosts,” Shagu replied.

Yang Kang laughed, “We have many people here, ghosts won’t dare to come.”

“I am scared of that short and fat man’s ghost,” Shagu said.

Forcing a laugh Yang Kang said, “Don’t talk nonsense, what short and fat man?”

“Hmm,” Shagu said, “I know, that short and fat man died inside ‘popo’s [maternal
grandmother] grave; popo’s ghost will chase that short and fat man’s ghost away,
she won’t let that him stay in the grave. He will come over here to ask retribution
from you.”

“You talk too much,” Yang Kang shouted, “I am going to call your grandfather and
he’ll come and get you, he’ll take you back to the Peach Blossom Island.”

Shagu did not dare to say anything anymore. Suddenly Sha Tongtian shouted, “Hey,
don’t step on my foot! Just sit nicely and don’t move!” It seemed that because of her
fear of ghosts Shagu had randomly squeezed herself into the crowd.

As Ke Zhen’E heard this exchange, his doubt arose: the short and fat man Shagu
mentioned must be his San Shidi [third martial (younger) brother], Han Baoju. He
died on the Peach Blossom Island, obviously was killed by Huang Yaoshi; how could
his ghost come looking for Yang Kang for retribution? Although Shagu was dumb,
there must be a reason behind what she had said earlier. Too bad there were too
many powerful enemies in their presence that he could not go out and ask her
clearly. He further thought, “In front of the Misty Rain Tavern Huang Yaoshi said to
me, ‘What kind of a man is Huang Yaoshi? How can I lower myself to the same level
with you?’ If he did not want to kill me, why did he kill my five brothers and sister?
But if it was not Huang Yaoshi, why did Si Di [fourth (younger) brother] said he saw
with his own eyes that Huang Yaoshi killed Er Di [second (younger) brother] and Qi
Mei [seventh (younger) sister]?”

He was mulling around these thoughts in his mind when suddenly he felt Huang
Rong pull his left hand. With her finger she wrote on his palm one character, ‘qiu’
[ask/request], followed by character after character, ‘…you a favor.’

Ke Zhen’E wrote back on her palm, “What is it?”

Huang Rong wrote, “Tell my father who killed me.”

Ke Zhen’E was startled, he did not understand her intention; he was about to pull
her hand to ask further when he felt a breeze right next to him. Huang Rong had
leaped out. He heard her said with a smile, “Uncle Ouyang, how are you?”

Nobody had ever expected that someone was hiding behind the idol. ‘Ca, ca, zheng,
zheng’ were heard as the people unsheathed their weapons and surrounded her,
while shouting, “Who is it?” “Assassin!” “Who are you?”

Huang Rong smiled and said, “My Father told me to wait for Uncle Ouyang here;
what are you making such a fuss for?”

“How did your father know I will be here?” Ouyang Feng asked.

Huang Rong replied, “My father knows medicine, divination and astrology, there is
nothing he doesn’t know. He can do the Wang Xiantian divine calculation and he’d
know everything.” [Translator’s note: I am not sure about this part]

Nine out of ten Ouyang Feng did not believe her, but he knew even if he asked, she
would not tell the truth anyway, so he just smiled and did not say anything. Sha
Tongtian and the others went outside the temple to take a look and did not find
anybody else, so they went back in and stood around Wanyan Honglie.

Huang Rong sat on a meditation mat, smiling and chuckling she said, “Uncle Ouyang,
you have given my father a hard time!”

Ouyang Feng smiled without answering. He knew that although Huang Rong was
young, she was full of tricks. If he gave her one wrong answer, she would grab the
opportunity to ridicule him; and in front of all these people he simply could not lose
face. Therefore, he waited for her to explain her purpose in coming here before he
would decide on the appropriate countermeasure. He heard her said, “Uncle Ouyang,
my father is surrounded by the Taoist priests of Quanzhen Sect at the Xincheng town
of Xiaopenglai; if you don’t rescue him, I am afraid it would be difficult for him to
escape.”

Ouyang Feng showed a faint smile; “Is that so?” he asked.

Huang Rong anxiously said, “You say it as it is nothing! A real man will take
responsibility of his own action; clearly it was you who killed Tan Chuduan from the
Quanzhen Sect, but I don’t know how it started, those stinky priests are always
pestering my father. On top of that, Zhou Botong stirred up the muddy waters; while
my father refused to argue with them. What do we do?”

Inwardly Ouyang Feng was delighted; he said, “Your father is a martial art expert;
how can those several mixed-up hairs from Quanzhen Sect defeat him?”

“The Quanzhen Sect’s ox-nosed plus the Old Urchin, my father is not their match,”
Huang Rong said, “My father told me to come to you and say that after painstakingly
pondering for seven days and seven nights, finally he understood the meaning of
some sentences.”

“What sentences?” Ouyang Feng asked.

Huang Rong said, “Si li xing, ang yi na de. Si re que xu, ha hu wen bo ying.”

To Ke Zhen’E, Wanyan Honglie and the others, these mumbling sentences did not
mean anything, but Ouyang Feng was surprised; it was the strange sentence from
the last part of the Nine Yin Manual. Could it be that Huang Yaoshi really understood
its meaning? His heart was thumping fast, but his face did not show any changes; he
indifferently said, “Little girl loves to swindle people. Who can understand those
mumbling sentences?”

Huang Rong replied, “Father has translated these strange characters; from top to
bottom, clearly. I saw it with my own eyes; how can I swindle you?”
Ouyang Feng knew Huang Yaoshi’s ability very well. Originally he thought that if
nobody was able to solve these strange characters, then so be it; but if there was
anybody who could find the solution, it must be Huang Yaoshi, for nobody else in this
world had the same intelligence. Still, with an unenthusiastic voice he said, “Let me
congratulate your father, then.”

Huang Rong caught the real meaning behind his words, she knew he was still half
believing and half doubting; she continued, “I think I still remember some of what I
saw. I don’t mind if you want to listen to it.” Immediately she recited, “Either when
the body moves, or feels heavy as if pressed by something, or feels light like it is
ready to fly, or feels constricted, or feels extraordinarily cold or hot, or feels
delightful or restless, or feels like touching something nasty and the hair stood on its
end, or feels happy while drunk; all these things must be channeled through divine
passages according to the following method.”

This explanation of the Manual made Ouyang Feng’s heart unbearably itch. Turned
out Huang Rong recited the section Reverend Yideng translated from the Nine Yin
Manual. All these strange conditions were actually the actual situations anybody who
cultivated internal energy would experience; each one of these conditions was
enough to intimidate the state of mind that may cause the practitioner to suffer a
fire-deviation. If there was a method to channel these conditions through the divine
passages; then the method could truly be considered as highly valuable. So what
Huang Rong said was indeed from the Manual and not from her own random
fabrication. Ouyang Feng’s internal energy was exquisite, naturally he knew whether
what he heard was real or fake. His suspicion was gone. “What comes next?” he
asked.

Huang Rong said, “I don’t remember the rest, but I vaguely remember something
like this: At the time the pores all over the body are empty, right away with careful
consideration examine the thirty six matters inside the body; it will be like opening
the door to the barn and see various kinds of straw and peas, the heart is pleasantly
surprised, and quickly becomes quiet and peaceful.” First she explained the strange
conditions from the Manual, and then she described the marvelous method of
training; in a way she had divulged the secret method of the Manual. But Ouyang
Feng was silent; he thought with her intelligence, it was impossible for her to forget,
so she must be deliberately unwilling to tell him; he wondered what her intention
really was.

Huang Rong continued, “My father told me to ask Uncle Ouyang: Do you want 5,000
characters, or 3,000 characters?”

“Please explain it to me,” Ouyang Feng said.

Huang Rong said, “If you go and help my father, two people join forces to destroy
the Quanzhen Masters. In that case I am going to recite all 5,000 characters of this
marvelous ‘jiu yin shen gong’ [Nine Yin Divine Energy] for you.”

Ouyang Feng smiled, “And if I don’t go?” he asked.

Huang Rong replied, “Then Father asked you to avenge him. After you kill Zhou
Botong and the Quanzhen Six Masters, I will read the 3,000 characters for you.”

Ouyang Feng smiled and said, “Your father and I are just casual acquaintances, how
come he suddenly places so much respect toward the Old Poison?”

Huang Rong said, “My father said that: First, the killer of your nephew is a Quanzhen
Sect’s disciple, so he supposed you will want to seek revenge …”

Listening to this part Yang Kang could not help but shiver; he was Qiu Chuji’s
disciple, so with her words Huang Rong obviously meant him. Shagu was standing
right next to him, she asked, “Good Brother, are you cold?” Yang Kang mumbled his
reply.

Huang Rong continued, “Second, after translating the Manual, he was challenged into
battle by the Quanzhen priests; he did not have time to explain everything to me.
Thinking that this matchlessly wonderful book is difficult to find, how can he let it be
lost with his demise? Nowadays you are the only one who has similar personality
with him. He remembered Uncle Ouyang went to the Peach Blossom Island to seek a
marriage alliance. Although your nephew was unfortunate to fall under the Quanzhen
Sect’s disciple, my father said you should not thinking about him too much;
therefore, he wanted you to train this ‘shen gong’ [divine power/energy] and teach it
to me later on.”

Ouyang Feng felt a pang of pain in his heart; but he thought, “What she said was
reasonable; if there is no direction from an expert, although this little girl memorized
the Manual in its entirety it will still be useless.” But then something else came into
his mind, he said, “How do I know you will tell me the real Manual or a fake one?”

Huang Rong replied, “Guo Jing, that muddle-head has written the Manual for you; as
I read the crucial points from the translation, you check it against your copy, then
you’ll know whether it is real or fake.”

Ouyang Feng said, “You are right. Let me think about it; we’ll leave in the morning to
rescue your father.”

Huang Rong anxiously said, “Helping people is like fighting fire, how can we wait till
tomorrow?”

Ouyang Feng said with a laugh, “Then I will avenge your father; won’t that be the
same?” He had made a decision that as the Manual had already been in his hand,
later on he could compel Huang Rong to recite to him the crucial points; and then he
could think it over to understand the meaning. For now, let Huang Yaoshi and the
Quanzhen Sect fight each other. Hopefully both sides would hurt each other;
wouldn’t that be great?

Hiding behind the idol Ke Zhen’E was listening to two people conversing about the
Nine Yin Manual; he wondered why Huang Rong wrote on his palm ‘Tell my father
who killed me,’ seven characters [the original Chinese was ‘gao wo fu he ren sha
wo,’ 7 characters]; he did not understand her intention. He heard Huang Rong say,
“Then we will leave early in the morning tomorrow, is that all right?”

“Absolutely,” Ouyang Feng said with a smile, “Now you go take a rest!”

Ke Zhen’E heard Huang Rong drag a meditation mat over to sit nearby Shagu.
“Shagu,” she said, “Yeye [lit. paternal grandfather] took you to the Peach Blossom
Island, how come you are here?”

“I don’t want to follow Yeye, I want to go home,” Shagu said.

“This good brother surnamed Yang; didn’t he come to the island and took you on his
boat, and come over here together?” Huang Rong asked.

“That’s right,” Shagu said, “He treats me really good.”

Ke Zhen’E’s heart was stirred, “When did Yang Kang come to the Peach Blossom
Island?” He heard Huang Rong asked again, “Where did Yeye go?”

Shagu was startled, “Don’t tell him I am running away,” she said, “Yeye will beat
me.”

Huang Rong smiled, “I won’t tell him, but whatever I ask you, you must answer me
nicely.”

“You must not tell Yeye,” Shagu said, “He wants to take me back and teach me to
write.”

Huang Rong laughed, “I certainly won’t tell him,” she said, “Did you say Yeye wanted
to teach you to write?”

“That’s right,” Shagu said, “That day Yeye took me to his study room and taught me
to write; he said my father’s surname was Qu Qu-something, so my surname is also
Qu Qu-something. He wrote the Qu Qu-something character and told me to
remember. He also told me my father’s name was Qu Qu-something, something
Feng. I could not remember the name. Yeye got angry and scolded me that I am
very dumb. I AM called Shagu [sha – dumb, gu – paternal aunt, see also my note in
Chapter 23]!”

Huang Rong laughed, “Shagu is naturally dumb. Yeye scolded you, Yeye is bad,
Shagu is good!” Shagu was very happy to hear that. “And then what happened?”
Huang Rong asked.

Shagu said, “I said I want to go home, Yeye was even angrier. Suddenly a deaf and
mute servant came, his finger pointing to the east and to the west, his mouth
uttered ‘yi yi ah ah’. Yeye said, ‘I don’t want to receive any guest; tell them to go
back!’ A moment later that mute servant came back with a piece of paper in his
hand. Yeye took a look and then put it down on the table. He told me to go with the
mute servant to receive the guest. Ha, ha, that short and fat man was so ugly! I
stared at him and he stared back at me.”

Ke Zhen’E remembered that when they visited the Peach Blossom Island to seek
audience, it was exactly like Shagu had just said; at first Huang Yaoshi did not want
to see the six of them, then Zhu Cong wrote a letter to be delivered, afterwards
Shagu came out to receive them. But the Third Brother was no longer alive; he could
not help but feel grief in his heart.

He heard Huang Rong ask again, “Did Yeye see them?”

Shagu said, “Yeye told me to accompany the guests to eat, but he went out. I don’t
like to see that short and fat man, so I slipped away and went out. I saw Yeye was
sitting behind a rock, looking out at the ocean. I also looked at the ocean. I saw a
boat in the distant coming toward the island. On the boat there were some Taoist
priests.”

Ke Zhen’E thought, “That day we heard the Quanzhen Sect was going to go to the
Peach Blossom Island to seek revenge; so we went ahead of them to inform Huang
Yaoshi to temporarily keep himself away from them, and wait for the Six Freaks of
Jiangnan to explain the whole story to the Quanzhen Sect. But all along we have
never seen the Quanzhen Masters on the Island, why did this Shagu said that there
were Taoist priests came in by boat?”

He heard Huang Rong asked, “Then what did Yeye do?”

Shagu replied, “Yeye beckoned me to come over. I jumped in fright; turned out he
had already seen me slipping out to play. I did not dare to come over, I was afraid
he would hit me. He said “I won’t hit you, you come over here”. So I went over. He
said he wanted to take a boat ride and go fishing, he told me to wait for the Taoist
priests and to let them in as soon as they came ashore; he told me to let them eat
together with the short and fat man six people. I said I wanted to go fishing too.
Yeye said I could not come; I had to wait for the Taoist priests and let them in,
because they did not know the way on the Island.”

“And then what happened?” Huang Rong asked.

Shagu said, “And then Yeye went beyond the big rock and set sail. I know, these
Taoist priests are ugly, Yeye did not want to meet them.”

Huang Rong praised her, “That’s right, what you said is totally correct. When did
Yeye come back?”

“Come back?” Shagu said, “He did not come back.”

Ke Zhen’E was shaken; he heard Huang Rong ask, “Are you sure? Then what
happened?” He could hear her voice was slightly trembling; apparently she also
realized this was a crucial point.

Shagu replied, “Yeye was about to set sail, suddenly a pair of big birds came flying
by; they were your birds. Yeye beckoned and whistled toward the birds, this pair of
birds came down. There was something tied on the bird’s foot, it looked so amusing.
I shouted, ‘Yeye, give it to me, give it to me!’ …” Speaking to this point she actually
shouted loudly.

Yang Kang chided her, “Quiet! Everybody is trying to sleep.”

“Shagu,” Huang Rong said, “Just continue your story.”

Shagu said, “I will speak quietly.” And she indeed lowered her voice, “Yeye ignored
me; he ripped a cloth from his robe and tied it up on the big bird’s foot, then he let
them go.”

“Hmm,” Huang Rong talked to herself, “Father was going to avoid the Quanzhen
Masters, no wonder he did not have time to fetch the ‘jin wawa’ [see Chapter 29].
But who shot the female eagle with an arrow?” So she asked, “Who shot an arrow to
the bird?”

“Arrow? There was no arrow,” Shagu said; and then she went silent like she was lost
in thought.

“All right,” Huang Rong said, “Why don’t you continue?”

Shagu continued, “Yeye saw his robe was torn, he took it off and told me to go and
get another one for him. But when I came back Yeye was gone, the Taoist priests’
boat was also gone, I only saw that torn robe lying on the ground.”

Listening to her to this point Huang Rong no longer asked; she silently mulled it over
in her head. Half a day later she said, “Where did they go?”

“I saw them,” Shagu said, “I called Yeye, but he did not reply. I climbed to the top of
a big tree and looked, I saw Yeye’s little boat in front, the Taoist priests’ big boat
followed behind, slowly they sailed on the ocean and disappeared. I don’t like to see
that short and fat man, I stayed on the beach, kicking the gravel and playing all day
until dark, and came back with this Yeye and this good brother.”
“So it was this Yeye, and not the one who taught you to write?” Huang Rong asked.

Shagu giggled and said, “This Yeye is good, not only he did not want to teach me to
write, he even gave me a piece of cake.”

“Uncle Ouyang,” Huang Rong said, “Do you still have the cake? Can you give her
some more?”

Ouyang Feng dryly laughed, “I do.”

Ke Zhen’E felt as if his heart was jumping out his throat, “Turned out Ouyang Feng
was on the Island that day,” he thought.

“Aiyo!” suddenly he heard Shagu cry out, followed by ‘slap, slap’ two times, some
people were fighting, and then someone leaped back and landed again. He heard
Huang Rong call out, “You want to kill her to close her mouth?”

Ouyang Feng laughed, “This matter might be hidden from other people, but certainly
won’t be hidden from your father. Why would I want to kill this dumb girl? If you
want to ask, then just ask her.” But Shagu was moaning and groaning and could not
talk anymore. Ke Zhen’E wondered which part of her was hit by Ouyang Feng.

“I don’t have to ask,” Huang Rong said, “I’ve already guessed correctly; I only want
Shagu to say it with her own mouth.”

Ouyang Feng laughed and said, “This little girl is really smart. How did you guess?
Why don’t you tell me?”

Huang Rong said, “When I first saw the situation of the Island, I also thought that
Father had killed the Five Freaks of Jiangnan. But then I remembered something,
and I knew it must not be him. Just think, how can my father leave these stinky
male corpses in my mother’s grave to accompany her? How can he leave the grave
without closing the door?”

“Aiyo,” Ouyang Feng slapped his thigh, “We really overlooked that. Kang’er, isn’t that
so?”

Hearing this Ke Zhen’E felt his chest was about to burst open; only now did he
realize that Huang Rong had early on known that the killers were Ouyang Feng and
Yang Kang, two people. The reason she suddenly went out and sacrificed her own life
was to reveal the truth and clear up her father from being wrongly accused. She
knew perfectly well that when she went out, most likely she would be unfortunate
rather than fortunate; that was why she asked Ke Zhen’E to tell her father who killed
her. Ke Zhen’E was filled with grief and regret, he said in his heart, “Good Miss, it
would be enough if you just told me who the killer is; why do you deliver your life in
vain?” But then he thought, “I, the ‘fei tian bian fu’ [Flying Bat, lit. bat flying to the
sky], am so hot-tempered. I am blind, yet I placed the blame on father and
daughter. Even if she told me clearly, would I believe her? Ke Zhen’E, oh, Ke Zhen’E,
you stinky blind man, you deserve to be killed with a thousand blades; you have
forced this good Miss’ death.”

In his regret he wanted to lift his hand and fiercely slap his own ear, but he heard
Ouyang Feng said, “How did you guess it was me?”

Huang Rong said, “Is it difficult? In this present age, those who are able to strike the
yellow horse and to break the balance beam are not many. But at first I was thinking
of a different person. At the point of his death Nan Xiren had written several
characters with his finger on the ground, ‘My killer is ten’; he died before the fifth
character [translator’s note: the original Chinese text was ‘sha wo zhe nai shi’] was
finished. I thought your name does not start with a ‘ten’ ( ), so I thought it was the
character ‘Qiu’ ( ) from Qiu Qianren.”

Ouyang Feng laughed out loud, he said, “This man Nan Xiren was truly a die hard;
unexpectedly he survived and saw you.”
Huang Rong said, “I saw his condition before his death, I was sure he was hit by a
strange poison; I thought Qiu Qianren practiced poisonous palm skill, that’s why I
guessed it was him.”

Ouyang Feng said with a smile, “Qiu Qianren’s martial art is based on palm strength
and not poisonous palm. His palms do not have any poison on them. He used boiling
poison to train his palms, but it is merely palm strength’s training method. He forced
the poison gas to come out, henceforth his palm strength increased. When he died,
that Nan Xiren opened his mouth, but could not say anything, his face showed a
smiling expression, is that right?”

“That’s right,” Huang Rong said, “What kind of poison is that?”

Ouyang Feng did not answer, he asked again, “His body was twisted, he was rolling
around on the ground, he suddenly possessed unusually great strength, is that
right?”

“That’s right,” Huang Rong said, “This violent poison, I thought other than the Iron
Palm Clan, nobody in the world can possibly have it.”

It was obvious that Huang Rong said that to provoke Ouyang Feng, and he knew it
very well, but he still could not restrain from being agitated and angry, “Do you think
people call me the Old Poison for nothing?” He stomped his snake staff heavily on
the ground and shouted, “The snake on this staff bit him on his tongue, that’s why
there was no wound on his body, but he could not speak.”

Hearing this Ke Zhen’E felt warm blood bubbling up straight to his brain, he almost
fainted several times. Huang Rong heard movement from behind the idol, she let out
some coughs, trying to cover up the noise, and then slowly said, “The Five Freaks of
Jiangnan died under your hands, Ke Zhen’E who escaped does not have eyes to see,
in the end nobody knew the real killer.”

Listening to her Ke Zhen’E’s heart was stirred, “She is saying that to remind me,
telling me not to act rashly so that the two of us will not lose our lives and die
without explanation.” He heard Ouyang Feng laugh dryly, “How can that stinky blind
man escape my palm? I deliberately let him go.”

“Ah, right,” Huang Rong said, “You killed five people, and let him believe it was my
father who killed them. He would go and publicize this matter, then rally the heroes
of the world to attack my father.”

Ouyang Feng said with a smile, “It was actually not my idea, but Kang’er’s; isn’t that
right?” Yang Kang mumbled his reply.

Huang Rong said, “It is truly a divine and marvelous strategy. My utmost
admiration!”

Ouyang Feng said, “You changed the topic; what made you think of me?”

Huang Rong replied, “I thought Qiu Qianren and I fought at the southern road
between Hunan and Hubei; even though it is possible for him to overtake us and
arrive at the Peach Blossom Island ahead of us, it was actually very difficult with us
riding the little red horse. I thought again about what Zhu Cong wrote at the back of
the letter, he called everybody to stay on their guard. The last character was not
finished, he only made three strokes: one horizontal line, one vertical, and another
horizontal like a hook. It could be the start of ‘east’ ( ) character, or it could be
‘west’ ( ) character, couldn’t it? If not ‘Eastern Heretic’ then it must be ‘Western
Poison’. I have thought about this on the Peach Blossom Island; but there are some
details I do not understand yet.”

Ouyang Feng sighed, “I thought I have done everything flawlessly, who would have
thought there are so many trails I left behind. That dirty scholar was so quick, I did
not even see him moving his pen to write anything.”

“He was known as the Magic Hand Scholar,” Huang Rong said, “Naturally he would
not let you see whatever he was doing. I pondered deeply over the character ‘ten’
( ) Nan Xiren wrote; I wonder what could it be? It was because I thought this Xiao
Wangye’s [young prince, lit. young master king] martial art skill is so low that
definitely he did not have the ability to kill the Five Freaks of Jiangnan in one stroke,
therefore, I have never suspected him.”

“Humph,” Yang Kang snorted.

Huang Rong continued, “That day I was all alone on the Peach Blossom Island,
tossing and turning between being asleep and awake; I could not find the right
conclusion. I was dreaming of many, many people, I dreamt about Mu Jiejie [elder
sister Mu], I dreamt she was in Beijing, during the joust to find a spouse. I suddenly
was awakened from the dream, sprang up, and only then did I know the killer was
actually this Xiao Wangye!”

Hearing Huang Rong saying these words with sharp voice Yang Kang was drenched
in cold sweats; forcing a laugh he said, “Did Mu Nianci tell you in a dream?”

“That’s right,” Huang Rong said, “If not for this dream, how could I guess it was you?
Where is that little emerald shoe of yours?”

Yang Kang was startled, with a stern voice he asked, “How did you know? Did Mu
Nianci also tell you in a dream?”

With a cold smile Huang Rong said, “Do you think I need it? After you two killed Zhu
Cong, you stuffed the treasures inside my mother’s grave in his pocket; so that when
other people see it, they would think he robbed the treasures and was found out by
my father; thus he lost his life. Framing someone like this is actually a clever idea;
only you forgot one thing: Zhu Cong was known as the Magic Hand Scholar.”

Ouyang Feng’s curiosity arose, “What about the Magic Hand Scholar?” he asked.

“Humph,” Huang Rong sneered, “He only knows putting treasures on other, he
actually did not know that other took a treasure from his body.”
Ouyang Feng did not understand, “What treasure?” he asked.

Huang Rong said, “Although Zhu Cong’s martial art skill was inferior to you, at the
point of his death again he displayed his magic hand skill; he took something from
this Xiao Wangye and grasped it in his hand, of course you did not know. If not
because of this thing, not in a million years would I expect this Xiao Wangye to pay a
visit on the Peach Blossom Island.”

Ouyang Feng said with a smile, “This matter becomes more and more interesting;
this Magic Hand Scholar was actually highly skilled, his life had already gone yet he
was still able to leave you a clue. The thing he took must be that little emerald shoe
you were talking about.”

“That’s right,” Huang Rong said, “I have seen all the treasures inside Mother’s grave
since I was little; and I have never seen this little emerald shoe before. Even in his
death Zhu Cong still grasped this shoe tightly; there must be a reason behind it. The
front of this shoe has a ‘bi’ [contest, compete] character on it, while on the opposite
side there was a ‘zhao’ [to recruit] character. I painstakingly thought about this, but
all along could not penetrate the mystery. That night I had a dream, I saw Mu Jiejie
on a street corner in Beijing showing off her martial art skill. There was an
embroidered banner stood on the side, with the word ‘bi wu zhao qin’ [Joust to find a
spouse – lit. martial art contest to recruit a relative/person with intimate relation] on
it. Suddenly it dawned on me and everything clicked together.”

Ouyang Feng laughed and said, “Turned out these two characters on the shoe have
this romantic history! Ha, ha, ha, ha!” He laughed happily, but actually Ke Zhen’E
was listening in indignation, since he did not understand what it was that dawned on
Huang Rong’s mind.

Huang Rong knew Ke Zhen’E did not understand, so with the pretense of talking to
Ouyang Feng, she explained clearly, “That day in Beijing Mu Jiejie was jousting for a
spouse, Xiao Wangye happened to display his full capability. Lucky for me I was
there in the crowd to witness this lively occasion. After contesting for a while, Xiao
Wangye snatched Mu Jiejie’s embroidered shoe. He won the martial art contest, so
he should marry her, but actually there were many complicated affairs involved.”

This joust to find a spouse did indeed have too many repercussions later on. At that
time Liang Ziweng, Sha Tongtian and the others were also present to be the
witnesses: Wanyan Honglie mourned his wife, Yang Kang met his biological father,
and all kinds of circumstances surrounding it. Listening to this point everybody’s
heart was filled with sadness and regret.

Huang Rong said, “After I remembered this, I was able to figure out what had
happened. Xiao Wangye and Mu Jiejie privately agreed to spend their lives together
in the future; naturally they decided the engraved jade shoes would make the best
token of engagement. This pair of jade shoes complement each other; one has the
‘bi’ and ‘zhao’ two characters, the other must have the ‘wu’ [martial art] and ‘qin’
[relative/person with intimate relation] on it. Xiao Wangye, did I guess correctly?”
Yang Kang did not answer.

Huang Rong continued, “Once I figured this thing out, the rest was easy. Han Baoju
was killed by the ‘jiu yin bai gu zhua’ [Nine Yin White Bone Claw]. In this world only
‘hei feng shuang sha’ [the Twin Killers of the Dark Wind] practiced this martial art;
but these two had already died. Others would certainly think that the Twin Killers of
the Dark Wind’s shifu must be also proficient in this skill. Who would have thought
that my father had never practiced this Nine Yin White Bone Claw or any skill similar
to this martial art; yet the Copper Corpse Mei Chaofeng had received a skilled
disciple when she was still alive. Therefore, the tiny ‘ten’ character Nan Xiren wrote
must be the start of ‘yang’ ( ) character. Unexpectedly that muddle-head kid Guo
Jing insisted it was the ‘huang’ ( ) character.” Speaking to this point Huang Rong
could not help feeling gloomy.

Ouyang Feng let out a long laugh and said, “No wonder that Guo Jing kid disregarded
his own life attacking your father at the Misty Rain Tavern.”
Huang Rong sighed, “Your trick was really marvelous; in his anger that muddle-head
kid could not distinguish right from wrong. At first I thought you captured one of the
deaf and mute servants and forced him to show you the way; only today did I realize
it was Shagu who let you in. Xiao Wangye must have promised to take her back to
the Ox Village; Shagu was so happy and did whatever you told her to do. Hmm, you
two must have set up an ambush inside my mother’s grave; then you told Shagu to
invite the Six Freaks of Jiangnan in my father’s name, telling them to come into the
grave. With Uncle Ouyang blocking the grave entrance, how could the Six Freaks of
Jiangnan escape your cruel hands? It was truly capturing the turtle inside an earthen
jar.”

Listening to her Ke Zhen’E got the impression that she was there to witness
everything; the feeling when that day they fought powerful enemy in the tomb came
back to his mind. He heard Huang Rong continue, “Uncle Ouyang had seen my
father’s long robe on the shore; he took and wore it. The light inside the grave room
was dim, in a flash several of the Six Freaks were injured or killed, how could the
rest of them recognize the enemy in that desperate situation? So Nan Xiren told Ke
Zhen’E that the killer was my father. Zhu Cong and Quan Jinfa were killed by Uncle
Ouyang; Han Baoju was killed by Xiao Wangye while Han Xiaoying cut her own
throat. Ke and Nan two people managed to escape from the grave, and fought
furiously in the study room. You deliberately let Ke Zhen’E escape. By the time Nan
Xiren recognized the killer to be the one surnamed Yang, he had already been bitten
by the snake.”

Ouyang Feng sighed, “This little girl has a god-like analytical ability. All these things
happened by chance; it was the Six Freaks’ fate that they should die this way. When
I went to the Peach Blossom Island with Kang’er, we did not know the Six Freaks of
Jiangnan would be there.”

“That’s true,” Huang Rong said, “Although the Six Freaks of Jiangnan enjoyed sound
reputation in the Jianghu, it was because of their ‘xia yi’ [chivalry], two characters. If
we are talking about martial art skill, Uncle Ouyang would not even look at them. So
if you two went through great length executing your scheme, you must have another
big plan in your mind.”

Ouyang Feng smiled and said, “Little girl is very smart; you must have guessed
correctly.”

Huang Rong said, “Indeed I have; but I ask Uncle Ouyang’s forgiveness if it is
incorrect. I believe your initial intention was to see the Quanzhen Masters and my
father fight each other and injure each other, and then just like Bian Zhuang
stabbing the tiger you would destroy both Quanzhen Sect and the Peach Blossom
Island in one fell swoop. Who would have thought that you were one step too late;
my father and the Taoist priests of Quanzhen Sect have already left the Island. Xiao
Wangye interrogated Shagu, and found out that the Six Freaks of Jiangnan were
there. Mmm, thereupon you two fully displaying your capabilities by killing the Five
Freaks, and arranged it so that all blames will fall to my father. You killed all the deaf
and mute servants on the Island, and burned their bodies down to leave no trace;
hence there would be no evidence at all. Later on when this matter is known, how
can Hong Qigong, Emperor Duan and the others not make things difficult for my
father? Xiao Wangye was afraid my father would return early and erase all sorts of
traces you left behind on the Peach Blossom Island; therefore, you intentionally let
Ke Zhen’E escape. This man is blind, but his tongue is not rotten yet. It’s true that
he cannot see, but he can say all kinds of nonsense.”

Listening to this Ke Zhen’E could not help but feeling grieved and angry, but also
ashamed. He heard Ouyang Feng sigh and say, “I really envy the Old Heretic Huang
to have such a good daughter. Everything that happened was really very
complicated, but you guessed everything correctly, as if you have seen everything
with your own eyes. Little baby doll, you are really smart.”

End of Chapter 35
Chapter 36 – Expedition to the West
(Translated by Foxs, Edited by Eliza Bennet)
Caption to the picture:
Ke Zhen’E moved his spear to attack the incoming hand. Ouyang Feng raised his arm
a little and Ke Zhen’E’s arms were numb and he felt pressure on his chest. His spear
flew upward, making a hole in the ceiling and landing on the temple’s roof.
Huang Rong quietly said, “I appreciate Uncle Ouyang’s compliments to me. Too bad
Guo Jing is so gullible that right now he doesn’t even want to live in the same world
as my father and I. After you save my father, if your nephew were still alive, ay!
Couldn’t the marriage proposal of the past be pursued further?”

Ouyang Feng’s heart was stirred, “What is she getting at by bringing this matter up?”
he pondered. In the meantime, Huang Rong continued, “Shagu, this good brother is
very nice to you, isn’t he?”

“Yes,” Shagu answered, “He is going to take me home. I don’t want to play on that
island anymore, I want to go home.”

“What are you going to do at home?” Huang Rong asked, “There is a dead man in
your house; there is a ghost there.”

“Ah!” Shagu cried, she was scared, “Ah! There is a ghost in my house, a ghost! I
don’t want to go home.”

“Who killed that man?” Huang Rong asked.

“I saw it, it was this good brother …” Shagu answered, but before she finished, ‘bing!
bing!’ a couple of metallic sounds were heard, two secret projectiles fell down on the
ground.

Huang Rong laughed, “Xiao Wangye [Young Prince], you don’t want her to talk? Fine.
Just don’t use secret projectiles to hurt her.”

Yang Kang was indignant, “This idiot talked nonsense, with ghost and everything.”

“Shagu,” Huang Rong said, “You can keep talking. This nice Yeye [grandpa] loved to
hear your story.”
“No,” Shagu answered, “Good brother doesn’t want Shagu to talk, Shagu won’t talk.”

“That’s right,” Yang Kang said, “Go lie down and sleep. If you open your mouth for
just one more word, I’ll have the ghost come over and eat you.”

Shagu was very scared, “Oh, Oh,” she said. Then Ke Zhen’e heard some rustling
sound. It was Shagu’s clothes, she lied down and slept.

“Shagu,” Huang Rong said, “If you don’t want to talk to me, I’ll get Yeye to take you
back to the Island.”

“I don’t want to go, I don’t want to go,” Shagu scried.

“Then you’ll have to talk,” Huang Rong said, “This good brother has killed someone
in your house; what kind of man has he killed?” Everybody felt strange on why she
suddenly wanted to talk about Yang Kang killing a man.

Yang Kang’s heart was thumping loudly, he got his right hand ready; as soon as
Shagu revealed his secret about him killing someone at the Ox Village, even if it
would arouse Ouyang Feng’s suspicion, he would use the ‘Nine Yin White-bone Claw’
to kill Shagu. He was wondering in his heart at the same time, “When I killed
Ouyang Ke, only Mu Nianci, Cheng Yaojia and Lu Guanying, three people saw it. Did
any one of them leak the secret? Hmm, it is likely that Shagu was also there to
witness it, I was not being careful.”

The temple was quiet and everybody was waiting for Shagu to open her mouth. Ke
Zhen’E could feel the tension, but he did not dare to make a slightest move.

After waiting for half a day Shagu still did not say anything, only her light snore was
heard; apparently she had fallen asleep.

Yang Kang breathed out a sigh of relief; his palm was sweating cold, “This Shagu
poses a great danger to me,” he thought, “I must think of a way to get rid of her.”
He cast his glance toward Ouyang Feng who was sitting quietly with his eyes closed.
The moon illuminated the side of his face. He looked indifferent, seemed like he was
unconcerned of everything that was going on around him.

Everybody else thought Huang Rong was just talking nonsense. Shagu was asleep;
looked like the case was closed. They started to lie down or sat leaning against the
wall, trying to get some sleep.

Just when the moon was rising higher they heard Shagu’s startled voice. She jumped
up and shouted, “Don’t hurt me! Ouch, it hurt!”

With shrilling voice Huang Rong cried, “Ghost! Ghost! It’s a ghost without legs!
Shagu, you killed that young mister without legs; he is coming to get you!”

In the quietness of the night Huang Rong’s voice made the hair on everybody’s back
rose up.

“No!” Shagu cried, “It wasn’t me! It was this good brother …” she had not finished
when suddenly ‘Ah!’ ‘Bang!’ ‘Aiyo!’ were heard simultaneously. Yang Kang abruptly
sprang up, his arms outstretched, his fingers forming a claw heading straight toward
Shagu’s skull, but Huang Rong had used her dog-beating stick to entangle his legs.

The temple was in chaos; Sha Tongtian and the others immediately surrounded
Huang Rong. Huang Rong, however, seemed oblivious to all this, her left index finger
pointed toward the temple’s door; she cried out, “Mister with no legs, come here,
Shagu is here!”

Shagu looked at the temple door. It was dark, so all she could see was blackness,
but she was always scared of ghosts ever since she was little; quickly she pulled
Huang Rong’s sleeve and cried in panic, “Don’t come to take my life, it was this good
brother who killed you with an iron spearhead. I was in the kitchen watching through
the door … ghost with no legs, don’t come looking for me!”

Not in a million years would Ouyang Feng guess that his beloved nephew was killed
by Yang Kang; yet he always thought that Yang Kang was unable to tell lies.
Obviously Shagu could not lie.

Sad and angry he laughed maniacally, casting a sharp glance toward Yang Kang.
“Xiao Wangye, my nephew deserved to die. It’s good that you killed him, it’s good!”
he said. His laughter sent a chill on everybody’s spine; his voice was very mournful,
making ears buzzing like innumerable needles were piercing their eardrums at the
same time. Everybody was trembling, their teeth chattered. There were thousands of
white-head crows on the temple’s pagoda that night; Ouyang Feng’s laughter
startled them. ‘Caw! Caw! Caw!’ they were crying noisily and then they flew away
loudly flapping their wings.

Yang Kang thought he would not live to see another day; both eyes looking left and
right, trying to find a way to escape.

Wanyan Honglie was also secretly frightened. After the crows noise subsided he said,
“This girl is insane, Mister Ouyang, how can you believe what she said? Your
honorable nephew came by Xiao Wangye’s invitation because Xiao Wang [lit. little
king – he was referring to himself] is relying heavily on his assistance. How could
Xiao Wangye harm him without any reason?”

Seemingly without making any effort Ouyang Feng stood up, his body glided over
and with a slight bend on his knees he landed on Shagu’s side. His left hand grabbed
Shagu’s arm. “Why did he kill my nephew? Speak up!” he roared.

Shagu was scared to death. “I didn’t kill him, don’t hurt me! Don’t hurt me!” she
cried. She struggled hard, but Ouyang Feng’s grip was like a pair of steel pliers, how
could Shagu free herself? The more she struggled, the harder his grip became.
Shagu was frightened and cried, “Mama!”

Ouyang Feng repeated his question several times; Shagu became so scared from
crying that she did not dare to cry anymore. She only stared at Ouyang Feng’s face
with a blank expression.

“Shagu,” Huang Rong soothingly said, “Don’t be afraid, this nice grandpa is going to
give you a cake.”

Her words reminded Ouyang Feng. He realized that if he used force, Shagu would
not dare to talk; therefore, he groped inside his pocket and produced a dried and
already cold steamed bun and held it out to Shagu’s hand. “That’s right! Here, you
can eat this cake.”

Shagu grabbed the bun, her fear was gone. “Yeye, you grabbed my arm, it hurt, you
must not grab me anymore,” she said.

“Good Shagu, you are a good listener,” Ouyang Feng warmly said, “Yeye won’t grab
your arm anymore.”

Huang Rong said, “That day the mister without legs was hugging a lady. Tell me,
was she pretty?”

Shagu nodded. “Very pretty. I wonder where she is going.”

Huang Rong asked again, “Do you know who she is? You don’t know, do you?”

Shagu’s face lit, she was so proud of herself; she clapped her hands and said, “I
know, I know! She is this good brother’s wife!”

Hearing this, any doubt left in Ouyang Feng’s heart was gone. He knew his nephew’s
lecherous character; it must be because of Mu Nianci that his nephew met his fate.
But, Ouyang Ke’s martial art was higher than Yang Kang’s; even though his legs
were injured, Yang Kang was still not his match; he could not figure out how Yang
Kang was able to kill him? He turned his head toward Yang Kang and said, “My
nephew was oblivious to what’s good and what’s not, he dared to offend the Xiao
Wangye’s concubine; he deserved to die ten thousand times.”

“No … No …” Yang Kang stammered. “It wasn’t me …”

“Then who?” Ouyang Feng sternly asked.

Yang Kang was so scared that his knees turned into rubber, cold sweats pouring
down his forehead; his usual shrewdness was gone, he was unable to utter a single
word.

Huang Rong sighed, “Uncle Ouyang, you can’t blame the Xiao Wangye of being
heartless, you can’t blame your nephew flirtatious character either, you have only
your superb martial art to blame.”

“How so?” Ouyang Feng was puzzled.

Huang Rong answered, “I don’t know why, but in that house at the Ox Village I
heard a couple, a man and a woman, were talking. I do not understand what they
were discussing.”

Listening to this muddy talk with so many unknown Ouyang Feng was more
confounded, “What did they say?” he asked.

Huang Rong answered, “I will repeat what they said word for word, I won’t add or
subtract a single word; please Uncle hear me out. I did not see their faces, I don’t
know who the man was, I don’t know who the woman was either; what I heard was
that man said, ‘If this fact that I killed Ouyang Ke ever leaks out, won’t that be a
disaster?’ That woman replied, ‘A real man is not afraid to take responsibility of his
action. If you are afraid, you shouldn’t have killed him yesterday. Even though his
uncle is very fierce, we can run away to some far away place, he won’t be able to
find us.’”

Listening to Huang Rong, Ouyang Feng said, “That woman was right. What did the
man say?”

While these two were talking, one asked the questions and the other answered, Yang
Kang was getting more and more afraid than ever. The moon cast its light through
the temple’s door, throwing a slanting column of light illuminating the face of the
temple’s idol. Yang Kang slowly moved away from the light, quietly walked toward
Huang Rong’s back. He heard Huang Rong answered Ouyang Feng’s question.

“That man said, ‘Meizi [sister/beloved], I have another thought: his uncle’s martial
art is unparalleled, I wanted to take him as my master, I have had this thought for a
while, but they followed a very strict rule: they only take one disciple per generation.
Now that this man is dead, his uncle might take me as his disciple!”

Huang Rong did not mention anybody’s name, but she had an uncanny ability to
imitate Yang Kang’s accent. Yang Kang grew up in the northern area, but Bai Xirou,
his mother, was a native of Lin’an in the south; so Yang Kang’s accent was a mixture
between northerners and southerners. As soon as Huang Rong said these things,
everybody knew it was Yang Kang she was imitating.

Ouyang Feng laughed coldly; he turned his head but did not see Yang Kang.

Suddenly they heard ‘whack!’, then ‘Aiyo!’ Someone was crying in alarm. They saw
Yang Kang standing under the moonlight with blood dripping from his right hand, his
face was deathly pale.

Turned out that when Yang Kang heard Huang Rong was revealing his secret he
could not restrain himself much longer; he leaped ferociously, his claw was aimed
toward Huang Rong’s head. As Huang Rong imitated Yang Kang’s accent, she was
fully aware he would certainly attack her; therefore, she had guarded against this
attack from the start. Her martial art level was higher than Yang Kang’s. As soon as
she heard the gust of wind she leaned her head sideways to elude, so the claw fell
on her shoulder.

Yang Kang had launched the ‘Nine Yin White-bone Claw’ with all his might, his five
fingers landed on the soft hedgehog armor Huang Rong was wearing. A shot of pain
traveled from his fingers to his brain; he almost pass out.

The others were clueless as whether it was Yang Kang who made the sneak attack,
or was it Huang Rong or Ouyang Feng who attacked him. They were all scared of
Ouyang Feng, so nobody dared to say anything.

Wanyan Honglie rushed forward, trying to help. “Kang’er, what happened to you?
Where does it hurt?” he asked. Casually he took out the dagger on his belt and
placed it on Yang Kang’s hand. He realized Ouyang Feng would not have good
intention. He was hoping that in a chaotic battle they, father and son, would be able
to save their lives.
Enduring his pain Yang Kang said, “I am all right.” He held out his hand to grab the
dagger, but his hand was numb, ‘clank!’ the dagger fell on the floor. Hastily he
stooped down to pick it up, but strangely his arm was stiff; it did not want to follow
his command anymore. He was extremely shocked. He tried to pinch his right arm
with his left fingers, but he did not feel anything. He looked up toward Huang Rong
and cried out in horror, “Poison! Poison! You used poison to harm me!”

Peng Lianhu and the others knew they were going to offend Ouyang Feng, but
Wanyan Honglie was the Great Jin’s prominent Prince; surely this Ouyang Ke affair
could be discussed peacefully later. Seeing Yang Kang’s frightened expression, they
immediately rushed forward to offer words of sympathy and called out to Huang
Rong, “Quickly give the antidote to Xiao Wangye!” but everybody stayed as far as
possible from Ouyang Feng.

Huang Rong was indifferent, “Don’t make a fuss; my soft hedgehog armor does not
have any poison on it. There is somebody here who wants to kill him, I don’t have to
lift a finger to harm him.”

But suddenly Yang Kang shouted, “I … I … I can’t move!” His knees buckled, his
body slowly slid down, his mouth was producing a growling noise much like a wild
beast.

Huang Rong felt strange and she turned toward Ouyang Feng, but saw that he was
carrying a puzzled expression as well. She turned back toward Yang Kang, she saw
Yang Kang was strangely happy, a crack of smile appeared on the corners of his
mouth. Under the silvery moonlight he looked inhumanly ghastly. Suddenly a
thought came into her mind, she said, “It was Uncle Ouyang who poisoned you.”

Ouyang Feng was puzzled, “From the look of him, it was indeed my marvelous
snake’s poison. I had wanted him to taste it, this little girl had done it on my behalf.
Wonderful! Wonderful! But those snakes, I am the only one in this world who owns
them, where did the little girl get it from?”

“Where can I get that kind of snakes?” Huang Rong asked, “This is your own poison,
you have unwittingly poison him yourself.”

“You are talking weird,” Ouyang Feng said.

“Uncle Ouyang,” Huang Rong said, “I remember your bet against the Old Urchin. You
took the poison from your snakes and feed it to a shark. As this shark died of the
poison, the second shark ate its flesh and died of the same poison. This way the
poison was spreading endlessly. Isn’t that so?”

Ouyang Feng laughed, “If my poison is not extraordinary, won’t my title ‘Western
Poison’ be in vain?”

“That’s right,” Huang Rong said, “Nan Xiren was the first shark.”

By that time Yang Kang was already rolling around on the ground like a madman.
Liang Ziweng wanted to comfort him, but how could he stop him?

Ouyang Feng ignored everything, he knitted his eyebrows trying to understand what
Huang Rong was saying, but it was still dark to him. “Please elaborate,” he said.
“Hmm, you used your viper to bite Nan Xiren. That day I came across him on the
Peach Blossom Island and he hit me. His fist landed on my left shoulder. The sharp
needles of my soft hedgehog armor punctured his hand, so his poisonous blood was
transferred to my soft hedgehog armor, which became the second shark. When Xiao
Wangye attacked me, heaven’s net tightened, his claw grabbed my shoulder. Nan
Xiren’s poisoned blood was transferred once again to him. Hey, hey, he is the third
shark.”

Hearing Huang Rong’s explanation everybody realized how deathly Ouyang Feng’s
poison was. They also remembered Yang Kang’s treacherous plan in killing the Five
Freaks; in the end it was Nan Xiren’s blood which kill him. It was truly a revenge
well-deserved. A chill crept into everybody’s back.

Wanyan Honglie walked toward Ouyang Feng, knelt in front of him and asked, “Mr.
Ouyang, please help save my son’s life; Xiao Wang will always remember your
benevolence.”

Ouyang Feng laughed sinisterly, “Your son’s life is a life indeed, my nephew’s life was
not a life!” His gaze swept through Peng Lianhu and the others’ faces and coldly said,
“Which hero does not agree with me, please speak up!” Everybody recoiled
simultaneously. Who would dare to open his mouth?

Yang Kang suddenly leaped up, ‘bang!’ he hit Liang Ziweng, sending him
somersaulted in the air and passed out. Wanyan Honglie stood up, calling, “Quick!
Take Xiao Wangye back to Lin’an; we’ll find a good doctor to cure his injury.”

Ouyang Feng laughed, “Who in this world can neutralize The Old Poison’s venom?
Which doctor won’t want to live and dare to mess up my handiwork?”

Wanyan Honglie ignored him, he shouted toward his martial artists, “What are you
waiting for? Quickly take Xiao Wangye away.”

Suddenly Yang Kang jumped high until his head almost hit the beam. He pointed his
finger at Wanyan Honglie and he shouted, “You are not my father! You killed my
mother, now you kill me!”

Wanyan Honglie stepped back and stumbled down. Sha Tongtian said, “Xiao
Wangye, please calm down.” He stepped forward to grab Yang Kang’s arms.
Unexpectedly Yang Kang flipped his hand to push away Sha Tongtian’s hand and
quickly seized his arm. Yang Kang’s left hand formed a claw scratching Sha
Tongtian’s arm.

Sha Tongtian cried in pain, hastily he rolled backward to escape, but a moment later
he felt itchiness on his arm. He was terror-stricken!

“This is the fourth shark,” Huang Rong coldly said.

Peng Lianhu and Sha Tongtian were good friends, moreover, Peng Lianhu was also
an expert poison user, he knew Sha Tongtian was poisoned and his life was in grave
danger. In this critical moment almost without thinking he took the saber from his
waist and swiftly chopped Sha Tongtian’s arm halfway down.
Hou Tonghai did not understand Peng Lianhu’s good intention, “Peng Lianhu, you
dare to hurt my ‘Shige’? [Elder martial brother]” He charged Peng Lianhu
disregarding his own safety.

Sha Tongtian endured the pain and shouted, “Idiot, back-off! Brother Peng was
saving my life!”

By this time Yang Kang’s mind was cloudy, he was charging to the east and striking
to the west, kicking and biting randomly. Everybody saw what happened to Sha
Tongtian, nobody dared to come close to him; shouting and yelling they darted out
of the temple.

It was a very chaotic situation; the crows on the pagoda were startled, they flew
around in confusion under the moonlight around the temple’s courtyard. Their noisy
cries intermingled with Yang Kang’s neighing voice.

As Wanyan Honglie was heading toward the temple door he turned his head one
more time and called out, “Kang’er! Kang’er!”

Yang Kang’s eyes were brimming with tears; he also called out, “Fu Wang! Fu Wang!
[Father King]” He walked toward Wanyan Honglie.

Wanyan Honglie was delighted, he spread out his arms and hugged Yang Kang
tightly, “Child, are you feeling better?”

Under the moonlight Yang Kang’s face suddenly changed; he opened his mouth,
revealing two rows of white teeth, ready to bite. Wanyan Honglie was shocked. His
left hand pushed out, breaking the hug. Yang Kang’s strength was completely gone;
he fell backwards. He struggled hard to crawl back up to no avail.

Wanyan Honglie did not dare to linger much longer, without looking back he
hurriedly went out the temple, mounted his horse and ran as fast as he could. The
others were close on his heels, and in a short moment the temple was quiet again.

Ouyang Feng and Huang Rong saw Yang Kang was rolling around on the ground,
each with his/her own thought, nobody said anything. A moment later Yang Kang’s
body curled up and then ceased to move altogether.

“Enough commotion for half a night,” Ouyang Feng coldly said, “It’s almost
daybreak; let us go looking for your father.”

“Right now my father is on the Peach Blossom Island,” Huang Rong said, “Why do
you want to look for him?”

Ouyang Ke was taken aback, “So the little girl was lying all along,” he sneered.

“The first few sentences were indeed to swindle you,” Huang Rong admitted, “What
kind of man do you think my father is? How could he let himself surrounded by a
bunch of stinky Quanzhen priests? If I did not mention the Nine Yin Manual you
wouldn’t let me interrogate Shagu.”

By this time Ke Zhen’e had totally admired Huang Rong, but he was sad and full of
regret at the same time. He only hoped she would find a clever trick to escape soon.
He heard Ouyang Feng said, “There were three parts truth in your lies, otherwise,
the Old Poison wouldn’t be so easily deceived. All right then, recite your father’s
translation to me from the beginning to the end, don’t skip even half a word.”

“What if I don’t remember?” Huang Rong asked.

“It will be best if you remember, otherwise the beautiful face of a smart little girl
would be bitten by my snakes, now that won’t be fun, will it?” Ouyang Feng
threatened.

When Huang Rong jumped out from behind the idol she was ready to die; but seeing
Yang Kang’s pitiful death she could not help but feeling frightened. She thought,
“Even if I give him Reverend Yideng’s translation he still won’t let me go. Is it so
difficult to escape from his grip?”

She paced back and forth for a while but still could not think of a good way to
escape, so she decided to buy some time and think again later. “If I read the original
text I might remember the interpretation. Why don’t you recite it to me, let me try
explaining it to you,” she said.

“Who could memorize these mumbo jumbo sentences?” Ouyang Feng said, “You
don’t have to confuse me.”

As she heard Ouyang Feng was not able to recite it from memory Huang Rong got a
sudden inspiration. After contemplating it back and forth she came to a conclusion,
“He can’t memorize it, so he must treat the manual as precious as his life.” She
quickly said, “All right then, take out the manual and read it to me.”

Ouyang Feng was determined to hear the explanation; immediately he took an oil-
cloth package from his pocket, after opening three layers of cloth he produced Guo
Jing’s altered manual from it. Huang Rong was amused, “Jing Gege wrote a whole
bunch of nonsense, yet the Old Poison treats it as the most precious object.”

Ouyang Feng lighted a fire and found a half-burned candle from the worship table,
with which light he started to read the manual, “Hu bu er, ken xing duo de, si gen liu
bu.”

“That means ‘differentiate it well then divide it into twelve air passages’,” Huang
Rong said.

Ouyang Feng was delighted, “Ji er wen hua si, ha hu,” he read again.

“Capable of healing various illness, gradually entering divine perfection,” Huang Rong
said.

Ouyang Feng read, “Qu da bie si tu, en ni qu.”

Huang Rong hesitated for a moment, shaking her head she said, “Not right, you did
not read correctly.”

“No, I read it correctly,” Ouyang Feng said, “That is what was written.”

“That’s strange,” Huang Rong said, “How come it’s so muddled?” Her left hand on
her head, she pretended to be thinking hard.

Ouyang Feng was anxious. He stared at her, hoping she would find the answer
quickly. A moment later Huang Rong exclaimed, “Ah, I know! It must be that dumb
kid Guo Jing writing it wrong. Let me see.”

Ouyang Feng was not afraid Huang Rong would steal it from him, he handed the
manual over. Huang Rong held out her right hand to take the manual, while her left
hand took the candlestick, pretending to examine the manual closely. Suddenly her
feet kicked the ground; she leaped backward for more than a ‘zhang’ [10 feet/3
meter]. She held the manual within half a ‘chi’ [approximately half a foot] to the
candle and shouted, “Uncle Ouyang, this manual is fake, I’d better burn it down.”

Ouyang Feng was shocked, hastily said, “Hey, hey, what are you doing? Quickly give
that back to me.”

Huang Rong smiled, “Do you want the manual, or my life?”

“What do I want your life for? Quickly give that back to me,” Ouyang Feng said. His
voice was urgent, unusually anxious. His body leaned forward as if ready to strike
anytime.

Huang Rong held the manual two more inches closer to the candle. “Stop! I am
going to burn this manual as soon as you move one more step, then you’ll regret it
for the rest of your life.”

Ouyang Feng silently agreed with what she said. “Humph, you win,” he said, “Put
that manual down and go before I change my mind!”

“You are a grand master of your school, you must not go back on your own words,”
Huang Rong said.

Ouyang Feng calmly said, “I said just put the manual down and you can go.”

Huang Rong knew that he was a proud man; although he was evil and cruel he had
never broken his promise to anybody, so she put the manual along with the candle
on the ground and smiled, “Uncle Ouyang, please excuse me.” Carrying her dog-
beating stick she turned around and walked away.

Contrary to what she was expecting, Ouyang Feng did not even look at her. He
jumped back and with a loud ‘bang!’ he smashed the Wang Yanzhang idol with the
back of his hand, the idol broke halfway down. “Blind man Ke, roll out!” he shouted.

Huang Rong was startled; she turned her head only to see Ke Zhen’e had jumped
out from behind the idol, brandishing his iron spear in front of his body. Huang Rong
immediately realized her misjudgment, “With the Old Poison’s ability how could he
not know Master Ke was hiding behind the idol? He must’ve heard his breathing early
on, only he waited patiently for a good opportunity to expose him.” She dashed
forward quickly, standing in front of Ke Zhen’e with the bamboo stick in front of her
body.

“Uncle Ouyang, I am not going, you let him go,” said Huang Rong.
“No, Rong’er, you go” Ke Zhen’e said, “Go find Jing’er, tell him to avenge our six
lives.”

Huang Rong mournfully answered, “If he is ever going to believe what I say, he
would have already believed what I said. Master Ke, if you don’t go, my father and I
will have a hard time proving our innocence. Tell Guo Jing that I don’t blame him,
tell him not to feel bad.” But how could Ke Zhen’e let her embrace danger to save his
own life? Two people were bickering incessantly.

Ouyang Feng became impatient, “Little girl, I let you go, you don’t want to go. What
are you waiting for?”

“I’d love to stay,” Huang Rong said, “Uncle Ouyang, get this blind man out of here, I
will accompany you chit-chatting, just don’t hurt him.”

Ouyang Feng thought, “You want to stay, that was what I want. Whether this blind
man lives or dies, what does it have anything to do with me?” With big strides he
went forward, holding out his hand to grab Ke Zhen’e on his chest.

Ke Zhen’e moved his spear to attack the incoming hand. Ouyang Feng raised his arm
a little bit and Ke Zhen’e’s arms were numb, he felt pressure on his chest. ‘Clank!’
his spear flew upward, made a hole on the ceiling and landed on the temple’s roof.

Ke Zhen’e hastily leaped backward, but before his feet landed on the floor he felt his
collar was pulled, his body was hung in front of Ouyang Feng. His battle experience
was vast; in this dangerous moment he did not get nervous. His left hand moved
slightly and two ‘du ling’ [poisonous water chestnut] flew toward the enemy’s face.

Ouyang Feng did not anticipate that in the face of danger Ke Zhen’e was still able to
attack. They were very close to each other, the incoming attack was strong, it was
difficult to parry; Ouyang Feng bent his body backward but his hand did not let Ke
Zhen’e go, Ke Zhen’e was thrown across the top of his head.

When he jumped out from behind the idol Ke Zhen’e was facing the temple’s door, so
Ouyang Feng’s throw made him fly out of the door. Because Ouyang Feng’s force
was so strong, Ke Zhen’e’s body was actually flying faster than his own ‘du ling’. The
‘du ling’ missed Ouyang Feng’s head and flew straight toward Ke Zhen’e’s body.

“Aiyo!” Huang Rong cried out. But she saw that while he was airborne Ke Zhen’e was
able to turn his body slightly, stretched out his right hand and deftly caught his own
two ‘du ling’s. His ability to hear and differentiate secret-projectiles wind had been
trained to near perfection; his ears could hear as clearly as other people could see.

“You are good!” Ouyang Feng exclaimed, “Blind man Ke, I’ll let you go.”

Ke Zhen’e landed on his feet, he was reluctant to go. Huang Rong laughed, “Master
Ke, Ouyang Feng wanted to be my disciple; he wants to learn the Nine Yin Manual
from me. You still want to stay; do you also want to be my disciple?”

Ke Zhen’e knew that although Huang Rong talked jokingly, but her situation was
extremely precarious. He stood on the temple courtyard, but was hesitant to go.

Ouyang Feng looked up to the sky and said, “It’s daybreak. Let’s go!” Pulling Huang
Rong’s hand they walked out the temple’s door.

“Master Ke, remember the letter I wrote on your palm,” Huang Rong called out. They
moved really fast, Huang Rong’s last few words were heard from several ‘zhang’s
away.

Ke Zhen’e stayed motionless for a long time. He heard flock upon flock of crows that
came into the temple to feast on the corpse, so he leaped onto the roof to find his
spear pole. Leaning against his pole on the roof again he stayed motionless for a
while, thinking the heaven and earth are boundless, but what kind of place could a
blind man like him call home? Then he heard the crows cried mournfully and they
dropped to the ground one by one. Turned out those crows were feasting on Yang
Kang’s corpse and they were poisoned one after another. Ke Zhen’e could not help
but heaving a long sighed. He jumped back down to the ground, wielding his spear
he walked to the north.

On the third day suddenly he heard eagle cry high up in the sky. He thought that if
the birds were close by, then Guo Jing must not be very far; therefore, he raised his
voice and shouted in the middle of the wilderness, “Jing’er, Jing’er!”

Not too long afterwards he heard hoof beats; it was indeed Guo Jing riding the little
red horse coming toward him. He was separated from Ke Zhen’e in the chaotic battle
the other night; this time he saw his master was well his joy was unspeakable. He
did not even wait for the horse to stop; he jumped from the horseback and rushed to
embrace his master, calling loudly, “Da Shifu!”

Unexpectedly Ke Zhen’e slapped him left and right until his ears were red. Guo Jing
was stunned, but did not dare to fend off. He let his master off his embrace. Ke
Zhen’e continued to slap Guo Jing with his left hand, while his right hand slapped his
own face until his own ears were red.

Guo Jing was confounded, “Da Shifu, what happened to you?”

Ke Zhen’e viciously scolded, “You are the little muddle-head; I am the old muddle-
head.”

Dozens or so slaps later he calmed down and stopped. Both men’s faces were red
and swollen. Ke Zhen’e kept cursing Guo Jing and himself for half a day before finally
he narrated everything that had happened in the temple.

Guo Jing was surprised yet happy, sorrowful yet ashamed, “So that’s what actually
happened. I had wrongly accused Rong’er,” he thought.

“Tell me, don’t we deserve to die?” Ke Zhen’e shouted. Guo Jing agreed, he also
said, “Disciple deserves to die; Da Shifu’s eyes are not perfect, you cannot be
blamed.”

Ke Zhen’e was angry, “Damn it! My eyes are blind, is my heart also blind?”

Guo Jing tried to divert his attention, “We must quickly think of something to rescue
Rong’er.”

“What about her father?” Ke Zhen’e asked.

“Huang Daozhu [Island Master Huang] had taken Hong Enshi [Benevolent Master
Hong] to recuperate on the Peach Blossom Island,” Guo Jing answered, “Da Shifu,
where do you think Ouyang Feng is taking Rong’er?”

Ke Zhen’e pondered for a moment, then said, “Rong’er is in his hands, even if she
did not die, I don’t know what kind of tortures she would be subjected to. Jing’er,
you quickly rescue her, I am going to kill myself to thank her.”

“No!” Guo Jing cried out in alarm, “Don’t even think of doing such thing.” However,
he knew his first master’s stubbornness very well, he would not listen to other
people; once he said he would die, he was not going to back off; therefore, Guo Jing
quickly said, “Da Shifu, you’d better go to the Peach Blossom Island to ask Huang
Daozhu to lend us a hand. In all honesty, I am not Ouyang Feng’s match.”

Ke Zhen’e thought it was not a bad idea, so he picked his spear and left. Guo Jing
was reluctant to part with his first master, he followed him behind. Ke Zhen’e knew
he was being followed, he swung his spear backward and scolded, “You are still not
going? If you don’t rescue my beloved Rong’er, I am going to take your little life!”

Guo Jing had no choice but stopped, his gaze followed his master until he
disappeared beyond the mulberry grove toward the east. He had no idea where to
start looking for Huang Rong. After thinking hard for quite a while he took his horse
and pair of eagles and walked back to the Temple of the Iron Spear.

Around the temple he saw countless dead crows; on the courtyard he saw a pile of
human remains. Guo Jing hated Yang Kang for killing his masters, but thought that
Yang Kang was already dead, so he was willing to write-off that debt; moreover, he
was his sworn brother. Guo Jing picked the remains and buried Yang Kang on the
temple’s courtyard. He bowed in respect in front of the grave and said, “Brother
Yang, if you know how I buried your remains today, you have to bless me in finding
Rong’er; that way you can make up for your crimes during your lifetime.” Afterward
Guo Jing started to make inquiries everywhere, trying to track Huang Rong’s trail.

Half a year had passed, autumn turned into winter, then winter turned into spring.
Guo Jing, accompanied by his red horse and a pair of eagles have looked
everywhere; he asked the Beggar Clan, went to the Quanzhen Sect, and inquired all
Wulin characters he knew, yet nobody heard even a little bit of news about Huang
Rong. He was miserable. He imagined how much suffering Huang Rong had to
endure this past half a year; it was like a knife was piercing his heart. He was
determined to find her, even to the end of the earth.

He had been to Yanjing, twice he had tried to find Wanyan Honglie at Bianliang, yet
Wanyan Honglie also disappeared without a trace. The Beggar Clan members all over
the country had tried to find their Bangzhu [Clan Leader], but still there were no
words about Huang Rong. Guo Jing also stopped by the Cloud Village, but the village
was burned to the ground. He did not know what kind of disaster Lu Chengfeng and
Lu Guanying had encountered.

One day he arrived within the Shandong border. Nine out of ten houses he saw along
the way were deserted; he barely saw other people walking around. He heard that
the Mongolians and the Jins were fighting each other in that area. The Jins were
defeated and while retreating they stopped at nothing; raping and plundering the
people along their way.

Guo Jing walked for three more days heading north. The further he went, the more
devastation he witnessed. His heart was embittered looking at the suffering of the
common people as the result of war.

That day he arrived at a small village by a river bank in a valley; he was going to
stop by for food and water for him as well as his horse, when suddenly he heard a
commotion just ahead of him. People were screaming and horses were neighing in
panic; dozens of Jin soldiers had entered the village. They set the village on fire,
forcing the people to go out of their houses. If there was a young girl in the house,
the soldiers would seize her and bind her with ropes. The rest of the people, young
and old alike, were killed right there and then.

Guo Jing was seething with anger; he charged his horse toward the leader of this
pack, snatching his spear; the back of Guo Jing’s left hand smacked his ‘tai yang’
[sun] acupoint. By that time Guo Jing had already reached high level in term of
martial art skill; his strength was profound. With just one hit that officer’s eyes came
out of their sockets and he died instantly.

The rest of the soldiers were shouting and yelling; sabers and spears attacked
simultaneously. The little red horse was not afraid of battle; it dashed forward
carrying Guo Jing on its back. Guo Jing snatched a saber with his left hand, and
using the mutual hands combat technique he thrust the spear in his right hand and
hacked the saber in his left, attacking the soldiers left and right.

As soon as the Jin soldiers saw this person’s fierceness, they lost their will to fight;
they turned around and fled from the village. But suddenly a big banner appeared
amidst the smoke; a squad of Mongolian soldiers had arrived. The Jin soldiers who
had been defeated earlier did not dare to fight the Mongolian troops head-on so they
turned back to the village, hoping they would be able to slip by Guo Jing relying on
sheer numbers.

Guo Jing hated the Jin soldiers for cruelly abusing the people; he charged his horse
toward the village entrance and single-handedly defending it against the intruders.
About a dozen or so soldiers courageously attacked him; Guo Jing killed them all.
The rest of the soldiers did not dare to attack but they could not go back either; they
ran around in confusion, screaming in fear.

The Mongolian soldiers saw ahead of them somebody was helping them; they
charged the rest of the Jin soldiers and killed them all. The ‘bai fu zhang’ [leader of a
100 men unit] was about to inquire Guo Jing’s background when suddenly one the
Mongolian solider recognized him. That soldier shouted, “Jin dao fu ma! [the golden-
blade consort]” and immediately kneeled on the ground.

The ‘bai fu zhang’ heard Guo Jing was their Great Khan’s son-in-law, he did not dare
to be impolite; hastily he dismounted his horse and also kneeled on the ground while
dispatching a courier to quickly inform their commander-in-chief.

The villagers, young and old, were coming out of their hiding places to thank Guo
Jing when suddenly from outside the village came a loud thundering noise of
cavalry’s hoof beats. The people were frightened; they looked at each other in blank
dismay.
A bay horse with a black mane came fast, a young general shouted, “Where is Guo
Jing Anda [Mongolian term for sworn brother]?”

Guo Jing saw it was Tuolei, he was delighted. “Tuolei Anda,” he answered. They
rushed forward and hugged each other. The pair of eagles recognized Tuolei, they
flew down and lovingly rubbed their necks to him.

Tuolei ordered a ‘qian fu zhang’ [leader of a 1000-men unit] to pursue the Jin
soldiers, while the rest of his troops pitched their tents right there on the hillside;
then he told Guo Jing everything that had happened since the last time they parted.

Tuolei told the war affair of the northern countries; only then did Guo Jing find out
that within the last few years Genghis Khan attacked to the east and sent expedition
to the west, expanded his territory. Jochi, Chagatai, Ogedei and Tuolei, four princes;
plus Mukhali, Borchu, Boroul and Chilaun, the Great Khan’s four heroes, his right-
hand men, all had established many distinguished services.

Presently Tuolei and Mukhali were leading their troops to attack the Jin toward the
east; they had fought several battles and utterly routed Jin’s army. The Jins ran to
the fortified city of Tongguan; did not dare to come out to Shandong to fight.

Guo Jing stayed with Tuolei’s troops for several days. A fast dispatch came one day;
Genghis Khan ordered all princes and generals to go back north for a general
assembly. Tuolei and Mukhali did not dare to linger much longer, they assigned their
second-in-commands to lead the troops and that very same night they rode north.
Guo Jing missed his mother, so he came along with Tuolei to the north.

In less than a day they had arrived at the bank of River Onon. As far as eyes could
see, the vast prairies were full of tents, tens of thousands of warhorses running
around and neighing, tens of thousands spearheads gleaming brilliantly under the
bright sun light. In the middle of countless gray tents towered a big yellow silk tent.
The tent ornaments were made of cast gold; above it fluttered nine big banners.

Guo Jing’s horse stood on the river bank as he watched this awe-inspiring military
prowess. He thought about how the great power in this Golden Tent had shaken the
desert, wiping out the other rulers of the area. He imagined how Genghis Khan
would issue his commands from the Golden Tent; then fast horses would be
dispatched to deliver the orders to the tens of thousands soldiers under the princes
and the generals. The bugles would sound and the beacons on the prairie would be
lighted, their fires reaching the sky. Arrows would fill the sky like a swarm of locusts,
spears and blades would flash, horses and infantrymen would march amidst the dust
rising to the sky.

Guo Jing thought, “The Great Khan wants to amass this much land, I wonder what
he wants to do with it?” Suddenly he saw the dust rise and a group of cavalry came
to welcome them. Three people, Tuolei, Mukhali and Guo Jing entered the Golden
Tent to see the Great Khan. To his surprise he saw all the princes and the generals
were already sitting on either side of the tent.

Genghis Khan was overjoyed to see these three people. Tuolei and Mukhali
immediately reported the military situation. Guo Jing stepped forward and kneeled,
saying, “The Great Khan has assigned me to sever the Jin prince, Wanyan Honglie’s
head. I met him several times, yet every time he was able to escape. I am ready to
accept The Great Khan’s punishment.”

Genghis Khan laughed, he said, “When the young eagle grows up, there will come a
day when it will catch the fox. Why would I want to punish you? You arrived just in
time; I often thought about you.”

The assembly then proceeded by discussing military plans to destroy the Jins.
Mukhali proposed that since the Jins occupied the fortified city of Tongguan, it would
be difficult to attack; the best plan would be forming an alliance with the Southern
Song and execute a converging attack.

“Good! Let us do it then,” Genghis Khan said. Immediately he assigned his secretary
to write the letter and sent an envoy to go south. The general assembly convened
until dusk that day.

Guo Jing left the Golden Tent, under the darkened sky he walked to his mother’s
tent. Suddenly a pair of hands appeared from behind, about to cover his eyes. With
his current martial art skill how could he let anybody launched a sneak attack? He
leaned sideways and was going to push that person away when suddenly his nostrils
caught a whiff of perfume, then he saw it was a girl. Quickly he pulled back his hand
and called out, “Sister Huazheng!” It was indeed Princess Huazheng standing in the
dark with smile all over her face.

They have not seen each other for several years. This time they met again, Guo Jing
saw she was growing taller. She just stood there among the tall grass, her skin jade-
white; she looked beautiful yet valiant. Guo Jing called again, “’Meizi! [Younger
Sister, used in a more intimate way]”

Huazheng was extremely happy that tears flowed down her cheeks, “You really came
back!”

Guo Jing was touched by the sincere expression of her feeling. Thousands of words
were dancing around his mind, but he did not know where to start.

After a few minutes of silence Huazheng said, “Go see your mother. You came back
alive, guess who will be happier, your mother or I?”

“My mother will be very happy, I am sure,” Guo Jing said.

Huazheng pouted, “Do you think I am not happy?”

The Mongolians were more frank, they would say what they think. Guo Jing had lived
among the southerners for quite some time; unconsciously he had been influenced
by the way the southerners talked. Now he went back to his childhood home and
heard Huazheng talked in a friendly manner, a warm feeling filled his heart.

Two people walked hand in hand toward Li Ping’s tent. Mother and son met and
there were more tears of happiness.

Several days later Genghis Khan summoned Guo Jing, “I have heard your conducts
and deeds from Tuolei. You keep your words and have an upright heart, I like that
very much. Just wait several more days, I am going to give you my daughter’s hand
in marriage.”

Guo Jing was startled, he thought, “Right now I don’t even know if Rong’er is dead or
alive. How can I marry someone else?” Seeing Genghis Khan’s imposing appearance,
although he wanted to disobey, he stammered and nothing intelligible came out of
his mouth. Genghis Khan misunderstood his behavior; he thought Guo Jing was
ecstatic that he turned silly. Immediately Genghis Khan prepared a dowry for Guo
Jing: one thousand maidservants, one hundred catties of gold, five hundred cows,
two thousand sheep, plus he was told to prepare his own wedding and take anything
he needed from Khan’s treasury.

Huazheng was Genghis Khan’s only daughter from his first wife; she was her father’s
beloved since she was very little. By that time Genghis Khan’s power had already
spread throughout the Mongolian desert, he had subdued many other Khans; who,
upon hearing their Great Khan was going to give his daughter’s hand in marriage,
immediately sent precious gifts in abundance. Not too long afterwards, more than a
dozen big tents were needed to store all the gifts.

Princess Huazheng was so happy that she could not erase the smile from her face;
Guo Jing, on the other hand, looked so haggard, his mind was filled with anxiety. He
was often caught looking blankly to a far away place with a dejected look on his face.

Li Ping noticed her son’s countenance was unusual, one evening she asked Guo Jing
point blankly inside their tent. Guo Jing recounted everything about Huang Rong,
from the day they met until they parted a few months ago. Li Ping listened
attentively; she was silent for half a day.

“Ma [Mother],” Guo Jing asked, “Your son is in a difficult situation, I don’t know how
to manage this.”

“Great Khan has shown profound kindness to us, how can we forget it?” Li Ping
answered, “But that Rong’er, that Rong’er, ay! Even though I have never met her, I
believe she is an adorable girl.”

“Ma,” Guo Jing suddenly said, “If Father were in this situation, how would he act?”

This question was unexpected to Li Ping; she was silent for half a day; remembering
her late husband’s personality; and then with conviction in her voice said, “Your
father would rather suffer a hardship than offending other people.”

Guo Jing stood up, with a quivering voice he said, “Even though this son of yours has
never seen his father, I should follow my father’s footsteps. If Rong’er is safe, your
son will honor my promise to marry Princess Huazheng; but if Rong’er faced
calamity, your son will not marry for as long as I live.”

Li Ping thought, “That is a proper thing to do, but how can I let you be the last
descendant of the Guo family? Nevertheless, this child is the same as his father, both
were stubborn. Once they made a decision what other people say would be useless.”
Thereupon she asked, “How are you going to report to the Great Khan?”

“I will tell the Great Khan the truth,” Guo Jing answered.

Li Ping was willing to support her son’s intention. “Good,” she said, “We can’t put this
off much longer. Go ahead and say thank you to the Great Khan, we, mother and
son, will leave for the south even today.” Guo Jing nodded his approval.

That very same evening mother and son prepared their bags. Other than a few
changes of clothes and some silvers, they left the Great Khan’s gifts in the tent.

As soon as they were finished Guo Jing said, “I am going to take my leave from the
Princess.”

Li Ping hesitated, “How can you tell her? We’d better leave quietly, spare her the
heartache,” she said.

“No,” Guo Jing said, “I will personally tell her.” Leaving his tent, he walked towards
Huazheng’s tent.

Huazheng and her mother lived in a big tent; they were busy discussing the wedding
preparation. Suddenly Huazheng heard Guo Jing’s voice calling her from outside the
tent. She was blushing, “Ma!” she said.

Her mother smiled, “You are going to get married in a few days, yet you cannot bear
not to see each other for just a day. All right, you may go.”

Huazheng smiled and walked out the tent. “Guo Jing Gege [big brother],” she called.

“Meizi [younger sister], I have something I need to tell you,” Guo Jing said. He led
her walking to the west. Two people walked several li’s into the prairie, far from the
big camp, and sat side by side on the grass.

Huazheng leaned against Guo Jing’s body. Lowering her head she said, “Jing Gege, I
also have something I want to tell you.”

Guo Jing was slightly startled, “Ah! So you know already?” he said. He thought it
would be better for her to find out, since he did not know where to start.

“Know what?” Huazheng was confused, “I wanted to tell you that I am not the Great
Khan’s daughter.”

“What?” Guo Jing was surprised.

Huazheng lifted up her eyes toward the crescent moon on the horizon, she slowly
said, “After I am married to you, I will forget that I am the Great Khan’s daughter, I
am only Guo Jing’s wife. If you want to beat me or scold me, go ahead and do it.
Don’t think that because my father is the Great Khan you have to submit to me.”

Guo Jing felt a mixture of bitter-sweet and warm and fuzzy feeling in his heart, he
said, “Meizi, you treated me very well. It’s a pity I don’t deserve to have you.”

“What do you mean you don’t deserve me?” Huazheng countered, “You are the
kindest man in the world, except for my father, nobody is better than you. Even my
four elder brothers don’t hold a candle compared to you.”

Guo Jing was silent for a long time; he was going to leave Mongolia for the south
early in the morning the next day, yet he did not know how to tell her.
Huazheng continued, “These past several days I have been so happy. I remember
that time when I heard you had died I was going to die with you. Lucky for me
Brother Tuolei snatched the dagger from my hand; otherwise how can I marry you
now? Guo Jing Gege, I’d rather die than not being your wife.”

Guo Jing silently thought, “Rong’er won’t talk to me like this; but both of them are
very kind to me.” Thinking about Huang Rong he could not help letting out a long
sigh.

“Uh, why did you sigh?” Huazheng wondered.

“It was nothing,” Guo Jing reluctantly said.

Huazheng said, “Hmm, my first brother and second brother didn’t like you, but my
third brother and fourth brother are very fond of you. I have told my father frankly
that the first brother and second brother are not good, third brother and fourth
brother are good, so you don’t have to worry.”

“Why would I worry?” Guo Jing wondered.

Huazheng was very proud of herself, “I heard mother said that since Father is
getting older, he wants to appoint the Khan’s Crown Prince. Can you guess who will
be chosen?”

“Naturally your first brother, Jochi. Not only he is the oldest, but has rendered most
service as well,” Guo Jing said.

Huazheng shook her head, “My guess is not the first brother, most likely the third
brother, or even the fourth brother.”

Guo Jing knew Genghis Khan’s eldest son Jochi was smart and very competent; the
second son, Chagatai was brave and a good strategist. These two men did not bow
to each other, their competition was most ardent. The third son Ogedei loved to
drink and to hunt; generosity was one of his traits. He realized that after his father
passed away, the successor would be either his first or second brother. But among
the four princes of the Khan, actually Tuolei was his father’s favorite. He realized he
had no chance to become the next Khan; therefore, he had never fought over the
position of the crown prince. He was in good terms with all of his three brothers.

Guo Jing was not convinced by Huazheng’s explanation, “Would the Great Khan
appoint the Khan’s Crown Prince based on what you said?” he asked.

“I am not sure about that either,” Huazheng said, “That was my blind guess. But
even if the first brother or the second brother becomes the next Khan, you don’t
have to worry either. If they make things difficult for you, I will fight them to the
death.” Huazheng was Genghis Khan’s beloved daughter; 30% of the time her four
elder brothers yielded to her.

Guo Jing knew she would do what she said; he slightly smile and said, “You don’t
have to do that.”

“Why not?” Huazheng said, “If my brothers don’t treat us nicely, we can go together
to the south.”

“That’s what I was going to say,” Guo Jing blurted, “I must go back to the south.”

Huazheng was silent for a moment, “I am afraid mother and father won’t let me go,”
she said.

“It’s only me …” Guo Jing started to say, but Huazheng cut him off, “Hmm, I will
always listen to you. If you say we are going south, I am coming with you. If mother
and father won’t give their permission, we’ll elope.”

Guo Jing could not hold himself much longer, he jumped and stood up, “It’s only two
people, me and my mother who are going back south,” he said. Having said this, one
was standing up, the other was sitting down, four eyes looked at each other, both
stayed still like a pair or statues.

Huazheng’s face showed confusion and despair, she did not understand what he was
saying. “Meizi,” Guo Jing broke the silence, “Please forgive me! I can’t marry you.”

“Why? What did I do wrong? You are blaming me for not killing myself, are you not?”
Huazheng was confused.

Guo Jing almost shouted, “NO! No! It’s not your fault. I don’t know whose fault it is;
I have thought back and forth, and if I should blame anybody, it should be me.”

Henceforth he started telling Huazheng everything about Huang Rong. When he got
to the part on how Huang Rong was currently held captive by Ouyang Feng, and that
he had searched high and low for half a year without finding any trace of her;
Huazheng could feel the excitement in his voice, she was unable to hold her tears
from falling down.

Finally Guo Jing said, “Meizi, please just forget me, I must go and look for her.”

“After you found her, would you come back here looking for me?” Huazheng asked.

“If she is safe and well, I will certainly go back north,” Guo Jing promised, “At that
time, if you did not shut me off and still want me, I will marry you. I definitely won’t
regret it.”

Huazheng slowly said, “You don’t have to say that. You know I will always want you
to marry me. Go and find her, whether it will be ten years, twenty years, as long as I
am still alive, I am going to wait for you in this grassland.”

Guo Jing was excited, “Yes,” he exclaimed, “Ten years, twenty years, I am going to
look for her. Ten years, twenty years, I will also remember that you are waiting for
me in this grassland.”

Huazheng sprang up and threw herself into his bosom, weeping uncontrollably. Guo
Jing embraced her gently, his eyes were turning red. Two people hugged each other
without saying anything. Things had come this far, they knew if they say another
word they would only grieve the other.

After a long time, they saw four riders from the west came rushing by; they swept
pass by Guo Jing and Huazheng’s side, went directly to the Golden Tent. They were
still about dozens of ‘zhang’s away from the Golden Tent when suddenly one of the
horses fell down and was unable to stand again; it was obvious that this horse was
very tired, it dropped dead right then and there. The rider stood up and without
casting a single glance toward his dead horse he dashed wildly into the Golden Tent.

A short moment later ten men with horns in their hand rushed out of the Golden
Tent; they faced four directions and blow their horns, “Whooo! Whooo! Whooo!”

Guo Jing knew it was Genghis Khan’s most urgent call, whether it was his own son or
his beloved general, if anybody did not show up by the time the Great Khan had bent
all his ten fingers, he would be beheaded immediately, no question asked.

“The Great Khan summons us!” Guo Jing shouted. Without saying anything to
Huazheng he used his lightness kungfu and flew toward the Golden Tent. He heard
hoof beats coming urgently from all directions.

When Guo Jing arrived at the tent, Genghis Khan had only bent three fingers; and
when he had bent eight fingers all the princes and senior generals were fully
assembled. Genghis Khan loudly roared, “Does that dog king Muhammad have
quicker princes? Does he have such gallant generals?”

“NO!” the assembly answered in unison.

Genghis Khan beat his chest and shouted, “Look! These are my special envoys to
Khoresm; see how did that dog king Muhammad treat my loyal servants?” Every eye
followed the Great Khan’s finger. They saw several Mongolians with their faces
swollen black and blue; their beards completely burnt. Beards were the Mongolian
warriors’ sign of dignity; it was considered a great insult just to bump into it, how
much more insulting was it to burn it completely? As soon as the assembly saw this,
everyone exploded in angry roars.

Genghis Khan said, “Khoresm is a big country with a strong army, but are we afraid
of them? Because we have been concentrating our effort to battle the Jins, we were
very lenient to them. Jochi my son, tell everybody how we should deal with that dog
king Muhammad.”

Jochi stepped forward and said with a loud voice, “That year Father King sent your
son to attack the deserved-to-die Mergid people. Your son returned triumphantly.
That dog king Muhammad also sent a big army to attack the Mergids. Two armies
met. Your son sent a good-will envoy, saying that Father King sincerely wished to be
friend with the Khoresm. That red-bearded dog king actually said, ‘Genghis Khan did
not order you to attack me, but Allah had sent me to attack you.’ As a result we
were engaged in a fierce battle. We had gained the upper hand, but because the
enemy was ten-times our number, we quietly withdrew the troops at midnight.”

Boroul suddenly said, “For all that the Great Khan still showed respect towards this
dog king. We sent a trade caravan, but the cargo was robbed by that dog king, while
our merchants were killed. This time we sent ambassadors of goodwill, that dog king
has listened to that Jin dog prince Wanyan Honglie’s instigation; he killed half of the
Great Khan’s messengers, while burning the other half’s beards and sent them back
home.”
Hearing the name Wanyan Honglie, Guo Jing’s heart turned cold, “Is Wanyan Honglie
at the Khoresm?” he asked.

One of the burnt messengers answered, “I recognized him. He sat by that dog king’s
side, constantly talking in low voice with that dog king.”

Genghis Khan called out, “The Jin dog has joined forces with Khoresm, they are
going to press us from both sides, are we afraid of them?”

The assembly answered with one voice, “Our Great Khan is peerless in the world.
You order us to attack the Khoresm, we will crush their cities, burn down their
buildings, kill their men off, taking captive of their women and livestock!”

Genghis Khan shouted, “We must capture Muhammad! We must capture Wanyan
Honglie!” The assembly answered his cry with a cheering so loud that the candle
lights inside the tent swayed. Genghis Khan took his saber out and swung it in front
of him. He rushed outside the tent, leaped onto his horseback. The assembly
followed him out of the tent and mounted their horses.

Genghis Khan rode his horse several ‘li’s into the prairie until he arrived at a small
hill. The assembly knew he wanted to be left alone to think, so they did not go up
the hill, but formed a ring surrounding the small hill. Genghis Khan saw Guo Jing was
standing not too far from him, he called, “Son, come here.” Guo Jing galloped his
horse uphill.

Genghis Khan swept his gaze on the prairie, where the light from his army camp
flickered like stars scattered throughout the vast grassland. He raised his whip and
said, “Son, that day we were surrounded by Sangum and Jamukha on the mountain,
I had said something to you. Do you remember what I said?”

“I remember,” Guo Jing answered, “The Great Khan said that we the Mongolians
have many valiant men. As long as we do not fight our own people and join our
forces, we will be able to call the world our grazing land.”

‘Crack!’ Genghis Khan twirled his horse whip into the air, he called out, “That’s right!
Now the Mongolians have joined forces, let us go and capture that Wanyan Honglie.”

Guo Jing had decided to go back south with his mother the next day, suddenly this
matter arose, how could he forget to avenge his father’s death? Moreover, his
mother and he have received Khan’s generosity. The opportunity had presented itself
for him to repay this debt of gratitude; so he called out, “This time we will surely
capture that scoundrel Wanyan Honglie.”

“Rumor has it that the Khoresm army is one million men strong, but I estimate their
number to be close to six, seven hundred thousands,” Genghis Khan said, “We only
have two-hundred thousand men, but we have to spare several thousands men to
fight the Jin dogs. A hundred and fifty thousands against seven hundreds, what
would you say? Will we win?”

Guo Jing was completely oblivious of battle strategy, but he was not a coward.
Hearing the Great Khan so inquired, he boldly said, “We will win!”

“Of course we will win,” Genghis Khan said, “That day I said I will treat you as my
own son. Once Temujin says something, he won’t forget it. You come with me on this
expedition to the west; once we have captured Muhammad and Wanyan Honglie, we
will go back home and consummate your marriage with my daughter.” This was
precisely what he was hoping for, so Guo Jing agreed immediately.

Genghis Khan rode his horse descending that hill, “Summon the soldiers!” he gave
his command. Immediately his personal guard sounded the bugle while Genghis
Khan speedily went back to his camp.

Along the way men were seen moving around like shadows and horses were
galloping back and forth but not a single voice was heard; a sign of a highly
disciplined army. Before the Khan even arrived at the Golden Tent, his thirty
thousand soldiers had already neatly arranged on the prairie. The bright moonlight
shone on row upon row of spears and blade, making the prairie glittered with silvery
gleams.

Genghis Khan entered the Golden Tent and called his secretary, assigning him to
write a war declaration. The secretary immediately composed a lengthy letter on a
sheet or parchment; then he knelt down in front of the Great Khan to read his letter:
“The Heaven has appointed me as the Great Khan over many nations, enlarged my
territory by tens of thousands ‘li’s, helped me to crush countless countries. From the
ancient of days there is no one who can be called my equal. Once my thunder
strikes, how can you resist? Your country’s existence until today depends on three
things: unless you send a tribute, the great Mongolian army will …”

The more Genghis Khan heard, the angrier he became; he kicked that white-bearded
secretary upside down and cursed him, “Who are you writing to? Why would Genghis
Khan used such flowery words toward a dog king?” Raising his horse whip he struck
the secretary’s face several times, and then called out, “Listen to me, what I say,
you write down.”

That secretary gingerly crawled back up, he took a fresh parchment and knelt on the
floor, looking intently to the Great Khan’s lips.

Genghis Khan walked to the tent entrance and opened up the curtain, looking toward
his thirty-thousand strong cavalry. With a low and calm voice he said, “Write it this
way, only six characters.” He paused for a moment then shouted, “If you want to
fight, then fight!” [ni yao zhan, bian zou zhan – 6 characters]

The secretary was stunned, thinking this kind of official document was so
scandalously unusual, but his face was still burning from the whip earlier, how could
he dare to object? He wrote those six characters in large letters immediately.

“Put my gold seal on it and send it by the fastest horse,” Genghis Khan commanded.
Mukhali put the seal on the letter and dispatch a ‘qian fu zhang’ [leader of a 1000
men unit] with his troops to deliver the letter.

The rest of the assembly learned about the Great Khan’s letter, which only had six
characters on it, their spirit rose. They heard the hoof beats of the messengers
gradually disappear into the prairie, suddenly as if by prior agreement they shouted
in one voice, “If you want to fight, then fight!” While outside, the thirty-thousand
soldiers cheered, “He hu! He hu! [lit. ‘hey! (or ‘I say!) Shout!’] It was the Mongolian
cavalry’s battle cry. As the horses heard their masters shout they neighed loudly
while lifting up their front legs. The noise on the prairie that night was deafening, as
if they were in an actual battle.

Genghis Khan dismissed his army then he sat alone in his Golden Tent, deep in
thought. The chair he was sitting on was taken from the Jins; a dragon snatching a
giant pearl was carved on its back, while a pair of ferocious tiger heads was carved
on its two armrests. It was the throne that belonged to the Jin emperor.

Genghis Khan reminisced his own youth, which was full of sufferings and difficult
times; he recalled his own mother, his wife, his four sons and a beloved daughter;
he also remembered his beautiful concubines, his ever-victorious army, his vast and
boundless empire; at last he thought about the upcoming war against a powerful
enemy.

Although he was getting old his hearing was as keen as when he was young; he
heard a distant mournful cry of a warhorse, then the cry stopped abruptly. He
understood it was an old horse with an incurable disease; its master could not bear
to see it suffer, so he must have killed the horse. Suddenly he remembered, “I am
also getting old, this time I am going to war, will I go back home alive? If I lose my
life in the battlefield, my four sons will fight over the Great Khan position; it
definitely will be a devastating fight. Ay, I wish I can live forever and not see death.”

Even if one was an invincible, fearless warrior; once one’s strength gradually faded,
one’s mind would involuntarily think about ‘death’. He could not help but feeling
trepidation; his heart trembled with fear.

“I heard in the south there exists a class of people called ‘Taoist Priests’ who can
teach people how to become deity who will never grow old and never see death. I
wonder if it is true?” he mused. Clapping his hands twice he called a guard to
summon Guo Jing into the tent.

As soon as Guo Jing arrived Genghis Khan asked him about this matter. “I don’t
know about becoming immortal deity, but there indeed some people who can teach
you how to meditate, to do breathing exercise, circulating your energy; in the end, it
will prolong your life,” Guo Jing answered.

Genghis Khan was delighted, “Do you know such person? Quickly go and find one to
see me,” he said.

“This kind of people won’t come with any casual invitation,” Guo Jing replied.

“Correct,” Genghis Khan said, “I am going to send a high official to invite him to the
north. Tell me, whom should I invite?”

Guo Jing thought, “Among the Taoist orthodox sects, the Quanzhen is the best.
Among the Quanzhen Six Masters, Qiu Daozhang’s [Taoist Priest] martial art is the
highest, he is also the most amiable, perhaps he would be willing to come.”
Therefore, he mentioned the name of Changchun Zi [Eternal Spring] Qiu Chuji.

Genghis Khan was ecstatic; he summoned his secretary immediately, told him his
intention and ordered him to write an imperial letter.

The secretary had a bitter experience earlier that day, he thought for a long time,
then finally wrote the imperial letter, “I have something to talk, please come
immediately [zhen you shi, bian ji lai].” He followed the Great Khan’s literary style,
also only used six characters. He thought this time surely the Great Khan would be
pleased with his work. Who would have thought that as soon as Genghis Khan heard
the letter, he was angry, and once again his whip hit the secretary’s face.

“I said that way to a dog king, but how can I treat an honorable Taoist Priest the
same way?” Genghis Khan scolded, “You must write a long letter, a modest and
respectful one.”

The secretary knelt down on the ground and started to compose this imperial letter:

‘The Heaven despises the arrogant in the Central Plains, I rule in the northern desert
yet I also share the sentiment. I wish for a simple and pure character, shun the
extravagance and embrace frugality. Each clothes each meal, along with the
livestock in the corral enjoying the Heaven providence. Regarding the people like
newborn babies, raising warriors like brothers, seeking harmony with the earth’s
element and the living beings.

Training tens of thousands soldiers, dispatching hundreds of military expeditions with

me leading in the front; within seven years I have completed great undertakings,
uniting six elements into harmony. Not by my own virtue, but because of the Jin’s
government’s lack of patience and the Heaven bestowed its blessing and gave honor
to me.

To the south I made an alliance with the Zhao family’s Song Dynasty, to the north
annexed the Hui Ge, to the east Xia and to the west Yi [name of countries, not sure
the exact location]; all acknowledging Genghis Khan’s sovereignty, unparalleled since
the founding of my Great Mongolia for thousands of years and hundreds of
generations. However, my responsibilities are heavy; there is something I lack to
maintain peace.

Just like marking the side of the boat where the sword fell into the lake, thinking that
the water did not flow [meaning: vanity, something stupid]. I need worthy men to
assist me in achieving peace under the sky. I assumed the throne with diligent mind
to build a better nation; but three out of nine positions is not filled properly.

I seek Master Teacher Qiu to give guidance, governing nature, nourishing an

exhausted mind; applying the strong Taoist virtue, cherishing the respected manners
of honorable people of old; embracing the sage’s elegant deeds, living above the
cliffs and valleys leading an invisible life. Enlightened forefathers have left behind a
message: to devote one’s life in the way of the warrior.

An ancient saying shows the paths to immortality, every single one worthy of praise.
Even after taking up arms, I am aware that the Master still possesses secret ancient
way which I look up to cherish as my own.’

The secretary wrote to this point, he raised his head and asked, “Is it long enough?”

Genghis Khan smiled and said, “Such a nice letter. Enough. Write that I am
dispatching a Han high ranking officer, Liu Zhonglu with my greetings to invite him
over.”
The secretary continued,

‘If not for the battle how can one realize he needs the assistance of a secluded
expert, that he visited the thatched hut three times? [Background info: Liu Bei
visited Zhuge Liang three times before the latter agreed to help the former] The
mountains and rivers are vast, yet missed to give a revered welcome.

It is time for me to leave my position. I fast and clean up my body, and I send my
officer Liu Zhonglu, riding a plain carriage, enduring a thousand ‘li’s travel, to
respectfully invite the Master to spare a moment from your journey treading
immortal path, to brave the desolate desert in distant land, to tend to the affair of
common people; and perhaps to give relief to the weary.

I long to go to the immortal place and wish not the immortal Master to spit on my
desire. I will be happy to hear just one word of encouragement clearly; sincerely
hope the Master would be willing to take the higher road to befriend me and not
disappoint the hope of all living beings. Herewith the imperial letter ends; to be read
by the appropriate addressee.’

Genghis Khan said, “Good, let it be like that.” He rewarded that secretary five ‘liang’s
of gold; he also asked Guo Jing to write a personal letter of invitation to earnestly
ask Qiu Chuji to come over. That very same day he sent Liu Zhonglu with the
imperial letter to the south.

[Author’s note: Genghis Khan’s invitation to Qiu Chuji was based on the original text
according to historical documents]

The next day Genghis Khan held a general assembly of all his high-ranking officials
discussing the expedition to the west; conferring Guo Jing the title of ‘Noyon’, placing
him in command of a ten-thousand men unit. ‘Noyon’ was the Mongolian highest
official title, normally given only to the Great Khan’s close relative or a very senior
general. By this time Guo Jing’s martial art had advanced immensely, but his military
strategy knowledge was next to zero. He had no alternative but went to Jebeh,
Subotai and other senior generals, asking for some advice. But he was slow and
military tactics had an almost infinite variation; how could he learn it all in just a
short period of time?

He saw the other generals were busy preparing their soldiers, gathering provisions
and choosing their horses and weaponry; everybody was very busy. One hundred
and fifty thousands cavalry went on an expedition to the west, going through bitter
cold and barren desert lands, the preparation was certainly not a small matter. He
had no clue on what to do, hence he simply assigned ten ‘qian fu zhang’ [leader of a
1000 men unit] under his command to separately handle the preparations and Jebeh
and Tuolei oftentimes giving their advice to help him out.

A month or so later he still felt his preparation to be inadequate. He realized it was

beyond him to command his troops. To attack a strong army of a million using the
’18-Dragon Subduing Palms’ or even the Nine Yin Manual would not be possible. If he
issued a wrong order even for only one time, he would be defeated by the enemy.
Not only Genghis Khan’s reputation would be marred, but the lives of ten thousand
men would be jeopardized as well.

That day he was seriously contemplating to see the Great Khan and resign from his
position; he was willing to be a low ranking soldier under somebody else’s command,
fighting the enemy as an individual, when suddenly his second-in-command came to
report that more than a thousand Han people were waiting outside, they were
seeking an audience with him.

Guo Jing was delighted, he thought, “Qiu Daozhang has arrived this soon?” Hastily
he went out his tent to welcome the visitor. To his surprised however, he saw on the
prairie stood a group of people dressed as beggars. Three men rushed forward and
bowed to greet him; turned out they were the Beggar Clan’s Lu Youjiao, along with
Jian and Liang Zhanglao [Elders].

“Have you heard anything about Miss Huang Rong?” Guo Jing anxiously asked.

“Xiao Ren [lit. little/lowly person] had anxiously waited for any news, but the
Bangzhu’s whereabouts is still unknown. We heard Sir [‘guan ren’, lit. government
officer] is commanding a troop on the expedition to the west. We come to offer our
assistance,” Lu Youjiao answered.

Guo Jing was greatly surprised, “How did you know?”

“The Great Khan sent a messenger inviting Qiu Chuji, Priest Qiu; we heard it from
the Quanzhen people,” Lu Youjiao replied.

Guo Jing was silent for half a day, staring blankly toward the clouds on the southern
horizon, he thought, “The Beggar Clan has eyes and ears all over the world, yet they
don’t know Rong’er’s whereabouts. I am afraid her being in danger is more likely
than not.” Thinking about Huang Rong his eyes turned red involuntarily. He assigned
his second-in-command to help the newcomers settled down while he himself went
to inform the Great Khan.

“Good,” Genghis Khan said, “Place them under your command.”

When Guo Jing conveyed his intention to resign, Genghis Khan was angry, “Who can
fight a battle as soon as they are born? Nobody can. After fighting several battles
you will pick up. You grew up with me, what are you afraid of? How could Genghis
Khan’s son-in-law not go to war?”

Guo Jing did not dare to say another word. He returned to his tent with an anxious
face. Lu Youjiao asked him what the matter was, and then tried to console him.
When evening came Lu Youjiao came to his tent and said, “If I knew it would be this
way, Xiao Ren would have brought ‘Sun Tzu’s Art of War’, or ‘Tai Gong’s Summary of
Military Strategy’ from the south; then everything will be all right.”

It suddenly dawned on Guo Jing that he had the ‘Wumu’s Legacy’ by his side. It was
a military manual; how could he forget about it? Right away he took the book out
from his clothes pouch, and then read it by the lantern light all night long through
the next day, stopping only because he felt tired.

This book contained all kinds of military strategy; from reconnaissance, planning an
attack, defense strategy, to military training, officer management, troop disposition,
field operation, as well as safety and danger situation overview and escape strategy,
all were discussed in details.
That day Guo Jing had browsed through it on the boat at Yuanjiang, he did not pay
too much attention. But this time he needed military guidance, so he read until he
had a good grasp of what was written. When he did not understand any part of the
book, he would invite Lu Youjiao to ask his advice. Lu Youjiao would answer, “Right
now Xiao Ren does not understand, but let me think about it.” He would leave Guo
Jing’s tent only for a moment then came back with a very detailed explanation. Guo
Jing was delighted and would ask him more questions. Strangely, Lu Youjiao would
always not able to answer immediately; he always asked for some time to think, but
then afterwards would always come up with answers no matter how difficult the
problem was. At first Guo Jing did not notice, but after several days this answer-
finding-process repeated, he could not help but feeling suspicious.

One evening Guo Jing picked a character from the book and asked him what it
meant. Lu Youjiao said he wasn’t clear about that, so he needed sometime to think
about it, then he went out the tent. Guo Jing thought, “The book is difficult, it’s all
right if you need some time to ponder its meaning; but it is only a character, how
could you not know its meaning?”

Although holding a position of general, Guo Jing was still very young and he still had
a childish character. As soon as Lu Youjiao exited his tent he followed immediately.
He stealthily hid among the tall grass wanting to know Lu Youjiao’s secret. He saw Lu
Youjiao entered a tiny tent, and in just a short while he went out the tent again. Guo
Jing hastily went back to his own tent. Lu Youjiao went in and said, “Xiao Ren has
thought about it.” Then he proceeded by explaining the character’s correct
pronunciation and its meaning.

Guo Jing smiled, “Lu Zhanglao, you have an expert master; why don’t you invite
your master to see me?”

Lu Youjiao was startled, “I don’t,” he said.

Guo Jing grabbed his hand and smiled, “We will go out and see.” He pulled his hand
and went out the tent, walked toward that tiny tent he saw earlier.

Outside that tiny tent two Beggar Clan members were standing on guard duty. As
soon as they saw Guo Jing they coughed lightly. Guo Jing noticed their coughs he let
Lu Youjiao’s hand go and darted toward the tent. As soon as he lifted the tent’s
entrance he saw the rear part of the tent fluttered a little bit. Definitely someone has
just gone out the tent. Guo Jing rushed forward and lifted up the tent, but he only
saw tall grass, not a single human’s shadow was to be seen. He was perplexed, was
silent for a while.

Guo Jing turned around and asked Lu Youjiao, but Lu Youjiao said the tent was his,
nobody else lived there.

Guo Jing did not give up, he kept asking Lu Youjiao difficult questions from the
‘Wumu’s Legacy’, but from now on Lu Youjiao would wait for the next day before he
could answer his questions.

Guo Jing knew the person in that tent did not have any ill intention, only did not
want to see him. Guo Jing decided that person must be an expert from the Jianghu,
and it would be difficult to deal with people like that, so he put this matter aside
temporarily.
He studied the book in the evening then trained his soldiers during the day according
to method he learned from the book. The Mongolian cavalry was used to fight an
open battle, now they had to train battle formations; they were having a very
difficult time. But an order is an order, they did not dare to disobey, so they had no
choice and trained hard.

Another month had passed; Genghis Khan’s army and its logistic were ready. Guo
Jing managed to train his ten thousand soldiers in all eight battle formations: ‘tian fu’
[high as the sky], ‘di zai’ [strong as the earth], ‘feng yang’ [scattered like a wind],
‘yun chui’ [dangling like a cloud] , ‘long fei’ [flying dragon], ‘hu yi’ [winged tiger],
‘niao xiang’ [soaring bird], and ‘she pan’ [coiling snake]; which they have mastered
skillfully.

These eight formations were originally created by Zhuge Liang based on ancient
methods; when they got to Yue Fei’s hand, he added many changes and variations.
When Yue Fei was young, he went to war under Zong Ze who said, “Your bravery,
wisdom and skill have exceeded those of the ancient times; however, in a real battle
we can’t predict everything.” He was referring to the troop disposition method. Yue
Fei answered, “In a real battle, the art of war does not change. Whoever manages to
utilize its wonder will save their own hearts and minds.” Zong Ze could not help but
agree to what he said. Later on Yue Fei led many other troop movements. He was
aware that he could not always follow certain method, yet he still trained his officers
and soldiers according to these methods. Only when it came to the real battle he
executed his plan dynamically, thus had defeated countless enemies. This process
was also recorded in the ‘Wumu’s Legacy’ book.

One particular day the weather was clear and the air was fresh, the sky stretched
out for tens of thousands miles, blue like it was fresh from the laundry. The one
hundred and fifty thousand Mongolian cavalry were arranged in row after row on the
prairie. Genghis Khan offered a sacrifice to the heaven and earth, making a vow
before going into battle. Toward all his generals he said, “Stone has no skin, but
there is a limit to human’s life. My hair and beard have all turned white. This time I
go to war, don’t know if I am going back home alive. My concubine has reminded me
last night, and I think she was right. I have to assign one of my sons today to lift
high my banner after I am gone.”

The generals had fought hundreds of battle, following Genghis Khan’s attacks to the
east and expeditions to the west. His white hair had been gray. Suddenly hearing the
Great Khan was going to appoint his successor, they were all surprised and delighted
at the same time. All eyes gazed toward his face, waiting for him to say his
successor’s name.

Genghis Khan said, “Jochi, you are my eldest son, tell me, whom should I appoint?”
Jochi’s heart skipped a beat. He was very capable, had rendered the most service,
besides, he was the eldest son. He had always thought that when his father king
died, naturally the position would fall into his lap. Now that the Great Khan suddenly
asked, he did not know how to reply.

Genghis Khan’s second son, Chagatai, was like a raging fire. He did not live
harmoniously with his eldest brother. Hearing his father king asking his brother, he
opened his mouth, “He wants Jochi to speak, what order will he receive? How can we
let this Mergid bastard rule over us?”
Actually when Genghis Khan was young, his army was weak; as a result his wife was
captured by their enemy, the Mergids. After several years in captivity, his wife was
taken back, but by that time she had already given birth to Jochi. Genghis Khan
accepted this fact with an open mind; he regarded Jochi as his own son.

Listening to his own brother’s insult Jochi could not hold his patience any longer, he
charged forward, grabbing Chagatai’s chest, shouted, “Father King had never
regarded me as an outsider, how dare you insulted me? What skill do you have that I
don’t? You are nothing more than an irritable hot-tempered arrogant man. Let’s go
out and have a duel; if I lost to you in archery, I will rip my own thumb. If I lost to
you in martial arts, I will throw myself on the ground and never get up!” Turning his
head toward Genghis Khan he said, “Father King, please give your order.” Two
brothers grabbed each other’s chest, ready to have a duel right then and there.

The rest of the generals stepped forward to separate them; Bourchu pulled Jochi’s
hand, while Mukhali held Chagatai’s hand.

Genghis Khan was silent; he remembered his own disgrace in his youth that he was
not even able to defend his wife’s honor, which had caused today’s dispute. The
generals all blamed Chagatai for bringing up past events and hurt their parents’
hearts.

“Both of you, drop it!” finally Genghis Khan said, “Jochi is my eldest son; I will
always love him no matter what. I forbid anyone to speak bad about him.”

Chagatai let Jochi go, he said, “Jochi is very capable, everybody knows that. But in
term of generosity and benevolence, he is inferior to the third brother, Ogedei. I vote
for Ogedei.”

“Jochi, what do you say?” Genghis Khan asked.

Jochi could see the unfavorable situation; he knew his hope to be the Great Khan
was shattered. He had always had good relationship with his third brother; he knew
the third brother was kindhearted, certainly would not do him any harm in the
future, therefore, he said, “Very well, I also support Ogedei.”

The fourth prince Tuolei did not challenge that nomination, Ogedei was about to
decline; but Genghis Khan said, “You don’t need to decline. Your battle skill is inferior
to your two elder brothers, but you treat people kindly. When you become the Great
Khan in the future, all princes and generals won’t fight each other. We the Mongolian
people will have no enemy as long as we don’t fight each other. What are we anxious
about then?”

That day Genghis Khan threw a big feast in celebration of the newly appointed crown
prince. All the troops, from the generals to the soldiers drank until very late that
night. Guo Jing went back to his tent a little tipsy. He was just about to take out his
clothes to sleep when suddenly one of his officers came rushing in, gave him this
report, “’Fu Ma Ye’ [Master Consort], it’s not good; the First Prince and the Second
Prince were drunk. Each took his troops to kill each other.”

Guo Jing was stunned, quickly said, “Inform the Great Khan!”
“The Great Khan is also drunk, we couldn’t wake him up,” the officer replied.

Guo Jing knew both Jochi and Chagatai had loyal followers, the troops under their
flags were ferocious; if they killed each other the Mongolian army’s strength would
be hurt considerably. They were having a brawl in the Great Khan’s presence earlier,
but this time both were drunk; he had the urge to help, but how could he separate
them? He was lost at what to do, pacing back and forth inside his tent while tapping
his own forehead, musing, “If only Rong’er is here, she would know what to do.” He
heard a distant battle cry, looked like both troops were about to kill each other.

Guo Jing was getting more anxious than ever; but suddenly Lu Youjiao rushed in and
handed him a piece of paper with this message, “Use ‘coiled snake’ to cut off two
armies, then use ‘winged tiger’ to capture those who refuse to surrender.” By that
time Guo Jing had mastered the ‘Wumu’s Legacy’ from top to bottom. As soon as he
saw these two lines of characters his mind was enlightened. He shouted, “How could
I be so stupid? What’s the use of reading the military strategy book?” Immediately
he gave orders for his own troops to move.

The discipline among the Mongolian army was very strict; even though all the
officers and soldiers were drunk once the order was given, they armed themselves
and mounted their horse; in a very short time had formed a neat battle formation.

The drums were sounded three times, the bugle was blown, the troops under Guo
Jing’s command started to move toward the northeast. Several li’s later his scout
came back reporting that the First and the Second Princes’ troops had started to
battle each other; their ‘He hu! He hu!” shouts were heard from afar.

Guo Jing was anxious, “I am afraid I come one step too late and not able to prevent
this big calamity.” Hastily he waved his hand to give orders; his ten thousand men
divided itself, the right-hand ‘hou tian’ [rear sky]’s three axes moved forward, the
right-hand ‘hou di’ [rear earth]’s three axes moved toward the tail; the right ‘hou
tian’ charged, the right ‘hou di’ charged, moved toward northwest and northeast
they occupied the right-hand position. Their corresponding left-hand teams did the
same and occupied the left-hand position; while Guo Jing’s big banner moved in the
center, followed by a ‘coiled snake’ formation fiercely broke through the front.

Jochi and Chagatai had each brought their twenty-thousand men, fighting with long
saber in their hands. Guo Jing’s ‘coiled snake’ suddenly charged in between still
maintaining their neat formation. The battling troops were startled, they scattered
slightly disorderly.

Chagatai’s loud voice was heard, “Who’s there? Who’s there? Are you coming to help
me or to help this bastard Jochi?”

Guo Jing paid no attention, his command flag waved, his teams moved around, the
‘coiled snake’ changed into ‘winged tiger’ immediately, the four smaller groups left-
hand and right-hand ‘qian tian’ [front sky] occupied the front position, the rest of the
groups enveloped Chagatai’s troops from both sides, their corresponding left groups
outflanked Jochi’s troops on the other side.

By this time Chagatai could see Guo Jing’s banner clearly; angrily he swore, “I knew
from the start the southern barbarian is not a good person.” He gave an order to his
troops to kill Guo Jing’s. But those tiger’s wings contained subtle variations; each
was very powerful; it was the formation Han Xin used to crush Xiang Yu at Gai Xia. It
was called, “Ten principles to surround the enemy” in the military strategy books. It
was said to have a power of surrounding the enemy ten times stronger, the principle
of small number surrounding many using ever changing movements.

Chagatai’s troops saw Guo Jing’s small groups came and went continually, they did
not know the exact number of the enemy and their hearts trembled with fear. In a
short moment Chagatai’s twenty-thousand troops had been cut off, each group could
not help the other.

The fight against Jochi’s troops took a different turn since their fighting spirit was
already weakened. First, it was their fellow countrymen, more than half of them were
good friends to each other. Second, they were afraid of the Great Khan’s wrath. As
soon as Guo Jing small groups surrounded them in confusing movements, they lost
their will to fight.

Among the troop movement Guo Jing’s loud voice could be heard, “We are all
Mongolian brothers, no need to kill each other. Quickly put down your sabers,
spears, bows and arrows to avoid the Great Khan’s beheadings.” Almost all officers
and soldiers listened to his plea; immediately they dismounted their horses and
threw their weapons to the ground.

Chagatai and about a thousand of his loyal followers charged ferociously toward Guo
Jing’s troops, but three drumbeats were heard, eight groups of riders came
surrounding them from all directions; they carried horse-tripping ropes. One by one
the thousand troops fell down their horsebacks. From those eight groups, four or five
soldiers surrounded one of Chagatai’s loyal followers. They were forced to sit on the
ground with their hands tied behind their backs.

Jochi saw how Guo Jing’s troops routed Chagatai, he could not help but feeling
scared but happy. He was about to move forward to talk to Guo Jing when suddenly
the horn sounded again, Guo Jing’s front teams moved backward and the rear teams
moved forward, very soon Jochi was surrounded on all directions.

Jochi had an extensive battle experience, but he had never seen anything like this.
Hastily ordered his men to attack, but Guo Jing’s ten thousand men split into twelve
smaller groups, did not charge forward, but moved backward instead. Jochi was
marveled; he did not know that these twelve groups were:

‘da hei zi’ [black darkness, 11pm – 1am, the first hour],
‘po di chou’ [worn out enemy, 1 – 3am, the second hour],
‘zuo tu yin’ [dashing to the left, 3 – 5am, the third hour],
‘qing she mao’ [green snake, 5 – 7am, the fourth hour],
‘cui xiong chen’ [terrible devastation, 7 – 9am, the fifth hour],
‘qian chong si’ [charge forward, 9 – 11am, the sixth hour],
‘da chi wu’ [great scarlet, 11am – 1pm, the seventh hour],
‘xian feng wei’ [first tip (of the tool/weapon), 1 – 3pm, the eight hour],
‘you ji shen’ [right-hand strike, 3 – 5pm, the ninth hour],
‘bai yun you’ [white cloud, 5 – 7pm, the tenth hour],
‘jue sheng xu’ [sure victory, 7 – 9pm, the eleventh hour],
and ‘hou wei hai’ [rear guard, 9 – 11pm, the twelfth hour ], according to the twelve
two-hour periods of the day; with strange variations, swiftly moved back and forth.
These twelve groups moved around, the right-hand groups charged to the left, the
left-hand groups strike to the right; Jochi’s troops were confused. Less than the time
to eat a bowl of rice later Jochi and his men were also surrounded and captured.

Jochi remembered when all of them were kids he had whipped Guo Jing half-dead.
Chagatai also remembered he let his dogs loose and bite Guo Jing really bad. Both
were afraid that Guo Jing would seek revenge; they sobered up immediately. They
were also really scared that their father king would punish them severely.

After capturing these two people Guo Jing thought that as an outsider he had
interfered in this sibling rivalry; he was not sure if his action might result in disaster
or good luck. He was thinking of discussing this matter over with Ogedei and Tuolei
when suddenly he heard loud horn sound; amidst the flickering torches the Great
Khan’s nine big banners came galloping fast.

Genghis Khan had sobered up from wine, he received the report that his two sons
were about to kill each other. He was startled and angrily jumped out of his bed.
Without wearing clothes or armor, with his hair unkempt he jumped on his horse and
sped to the prairie.

When he came near, he saw his sons’ troops sat on the ground, with Guo Jing’s
troops standing around, guarding them. His two sons, although they were still sitting
on the horsebacks, but each were surrounded by eight of Guo Jing’s men wielding
unsheathed blades in their hands. He was very surprised.

Guo Jing stepped forward and knelt down on the ground, reporting everything.
Realizing that a major disaster had been unexpectedly thwarted, Genghis Khan’s
delight was unspeakable. He came rushing in thinking that two Mongolian armies had
fought each other, the casualty must be serious; his two sons might be dead
already. Who would have thought that his two sons were alive and well, three armies
were intact. Of course he was delighted.

Immediately he called a general assembly of all the princes and generals. He scolded
Jochi and Chagatai, and heavily rewarded Guo Jing and his men. He said to Guo Jing,
“Do you still say that you cannot lead troops to war? Your merit in this matter alone
can easily dwarf the war against the Jin country. If we cannot destroy the enemy’s
city wall today, we can always come back tomorrow and try again. But if my sons
were dead, how can we make them alive again?”

Guo Jing took the rewards, but divided the gold, silver and livestock to his troops.
There was a thunderous cheering and applause among his troops that day. All
generals came to congratulate him on this great merit.

After sending off the guests, Guo Jing took out the note given to him by Lu Youjiao.
He examined it carefully, the handwriting was shoddy, most likely it was Lu Youjiao’s
handwriting, but he was suspicious, “Although I have trained my troops in ‘coiled
snake’ and ‘winged tiger’ formations, but I have never mentioned these names to Lu
Zhanglao. The difficult parts of the book that I asked him for advice also do not have
anything to do with this battle formations. How did he know? Did he read my military
strategy book without my knowledge?”

Right away he invited Lu Youjiao into his tent. “Lu Zhanglao, if you like to read this
military strategy book, I will gladly lend it to you.”
Lu Youjiao smiled, “A poor beggar like me will not become a general in my lifetime;
leading a whole bunch of little beggars also did not need to use the art of war. What
use will the military strategy book for me?”

Guo Jing pointed his finger to the note, “Then how did you know about the ‘coiled
snake’ and ‘winged tiger’ formations?”

“Sir has mentioned it to Xiao Ren, have you forgotten?” Lu Youjiao said.

Guo Jing knew he was not telling the truth. The more he thought about it the more
he was perplexed; but he was not sure what did Lu Youjiao hide.

The next day Genghis Khan held another general assembly. The vanguard was under
Chagatai and Ogedei’s command. The left flank was under Jochi’s command, while
the right was under Guo Jing’s. Each of the vanguard, left and right units were thirty
thousand men strong. Genghis Khan and Tuolei commanded over sixty thousand
soldiers as the main army. Each soldier rode on one of a pair of horses; they would
ride one horse at a time to conserve the horses’ strength. The officers took even
more horses. With one hundred and fifty thousand men, they took with them nearly
a million horses.

The horns were sounded, the drums were beaten, the noise was deafening. The
thirty-thousand strong vanguard cavalry unit started to gallop majestically to the
west. The great army moved farther and farther west, entering Khoresm territory
with irresistible force. Muhammad’s army was bigger, but they were not the
Mongolian’s army match.

Guo Jing led his unit destroying cities and killing the enemies, he had rendered not a
few merits.

End of Chapter 36
Chapter 37 – Descending From the Sky
(Translated by Foxs, Edited by Eliza Bennet)
Caption to the picture:
From all over the camp officers and soldiers alike came to the command tent to
watch the marvelous sight. The soldiers joined strength to raise the ice column.
Under the bright torch light they saw Ouyang Feng showing his teeth with an angry
look on his face, his hands and feet splayed wide. He was frozen inside the ice
column and could not move even one bit. The officers and soldiers erupted in
thunderous applause.
One day Guo Jing’s troops pitched a camp by a riverbank. In the evening Guo Jing
was reading the military strategy book when suddenly there was a commotion
outside his tent. The curtain to his tent was opened, and somebody was forcing his
way in. The guards outside shouted, trying to stop him, but that person moved his
hand and one by one the guards fell to the ground. That man lifted up his head and
laughed. Under the bright candlelight Guo Jing could see his face clearly; it was none
other than the Western Poison Ouyang Feng, whom Guo Jing had searched high and
low for tens of thousands ‘li’s. Unexpectedly he appeared here in a foreign land, Guo
Jing was pleasantly surprised. He jumped up from his seat and called out, “Where is
Miss Huang?”

“I was just about to ask you,” Ouyang Feng replied, “Where is that little girl? Quickly
hand her over to me!”

Hearing this, Guo Jing’s delight was beyond measure, “So Rong’er is still alive; not
only that, but she managed to escape from his evil hands too,” he thought.
“Where is that little girl?” Ouyang Feng sternly asked again.

“She went with you in Jiangnan, then what happened? She … is she well? You
haven’t killed her, I really should thank you! I … I must thank you,” Guo Jing said.
He was sobbing from overwhelming delight.

Ouyang Feng knew Guo Jing was not able to lie, but all signs indicated that Huang
Rong was with him; how could he be so oblivious, Ouyang Feng had to re-think his
assumptions. He sat cross-legged on the carpet in Guo Jing’s tent.

Guo Jing wiped out his tears, then unsealed his guards’ acupoints and asked them to
deliver ‘ru jiu lao cha’ [lit. milk wine cream tea – don’t know exactly what kind of
drink it was].

Ouyang Feng drank a bowl of ‘ma ru jiu’ [horse milk wine], he said, “Dumb kid, I
might as well speak frankly with you. That little girl was with me since we were at
the Temple of the Iron Spear in Jiaxing, unexpectedly several days later she escaped
from me.”

Guo Jing cheered ecstatically, he said, “She is so smart, once she decided to escape,
she will find a way to escape. How did she do it?”

Ouyang Feng full of hatred said, “At the Cloud Manor, by Lake Tai … Bah!” he spat,
“Why would I tell you? In short, she ran away.”

Guo Jing knew Ouyang Feng was a conceited man; he did not expect him to
personally reveal his own setback, so he stopped asking question. Knowing Huang
Rong was alive and well he was elated, he kept shouted, “Wonderful! Just
wonderful!”

Ouyang Feng was annoyed, “What do you mean wonderful?” he asked, “After she
escaped I was hot on her trail; several times I almost caught her, but every time she
managed to get away relying on her craftiness. But I always followed her closely, she
could not run away to the Peach Blossom Island. I chased her to the Mongolian
border then suddenly her trail disappeared. I thought she must be hiding in your
troops; therefore, I am standing on my guard to prevent her from running away
again.”

Hearing that Huang Rong was in Mongolia, Guo Jing was pleasantly surprised, “Have
you seen her?” he asked.

Ouyang Feng was indignant, “If I saw her, wouldn’t I capture her?” he said, “Day and
night I stayed in your troops keeping my eyes open, I did not even see this little
girl’s shadow. Dumb kid, what kind of crafty trick are you playing?”

Guo Jing was silent for half a day, he asked, “Day and night you are in my troops?
How come I did not recognize you?”

Ouyang Feng smiled, “I am just a lowly western area soldier in your ‘tian qian’ [front
sky] group; you are the commander-in-chief, how would you recognize me?” In the
Mongolian army, there were many prisoners of war who were then given jobs as
soldiers; Ouyang Feng was from the west, once he intermingled with other soldiers
from the same region, it was really not easy to single him out.

Listening to him Guo Jing was startled, he thought, “If he meant me harm, I would
be dead by now.” He muttered, “Why did you say Rong’er is in my army?”

“You captured the Great Khan’s two sons, you destroyed cities and crushed the
enemies, if not by that little girl’s direction, how can a dumb kid like you accomplish
all that?” Ouyang Feng replied, “But that little girl has never shown herself up; it’s
really strange. I have no choice but forcing you to hand her over to me.”

Guo Jing smiled, “If Rong’er is willing to show herself up that will be my earnest
desire. Just think: would I hand her over to you?”

“Fine,” Ouyang Feng said, “You are not willing to hand her over to me, I’ll find my
way to get hold of her. You have great authority as the commander of tens of
thousands soldiers, but in Ouyang Feng’s eye, hey, hey … outside or inside this tent,
I can come and go as I like; who can stop me?”

Guo Jing nodded, silently agreed to what he said.

“Dumb kid, what do you say we make an agreement?” Ouyang Feng asked.

“What agreement?” Guo Jing replied with a question.

Ouyang Feng said, “You tell me her hiding place, I guarantee not to harm even a
single strand of her hair. But if you don’t want to tell me, I will find her sooner or
later anyway. When that time comes, humph, it doesn’t matter anymore, does it?”

Guo Jing knew Ouyang Feng was smart and resourceful; as long as Huang Rong was
not on the Peach Blossom Island, there would come a day when she would be
captured by him. Ouyang Feng was not making an empty threat. He hesitated for a
moment before finally saying, “All right, I am going to make an agreement with you,
but not like what you said.”

“What do you mean?” Ouyang Feng asked.

“Mr. Ouyang,” Guo Jing said, “Your martial art is a lot higher than mine, but I am a
lot younger than you are. One day you will grow old and your strength will be gone;
you won’t be able to defeat me anymore.” Before, Guo Jing always called him ‘Uncle
Ouyang’ but since he killed Guo Jing’s five benevolent masters, Guo Jing’s hatred
was as deep as the ocean; therefore, he could not say the word ‘Uncle’ anymore.

It never occurred to Ouyang Feng that someday he would grow old and lose his
strength; this revelation send a chill to his heart, “What this dumb said is actually
not dumb at all,” he thought. “What then?” he asked.

“There is very deep enmity between us,” Guo Jing said, “I can’t leave this enmity un-
avenged. Even if you fly to the sky, there will come a day when I will come looking
for you.”

Ouyang Feng lifted up his head and laughed loudly, “Before I grow old and lose my
strength, I will kill you!” As soon as he finished talking he bent his knees slightly,
and thrust both palms forward with an earth-shattering force.

By this time Guo Jing had mastered the ‘yi jin duan gu pian’ [changing muscle
forging bone] from the Nine Yin Manual. Also he had trained himself in the part that
Reverend Yideng had translated; his internal energy had enjoyed quite a bit of
improvement. He leaned his body slightly to avoid the attack, and at the same time
counterattack with ‘jian long zai tian’ [seeing dragon in the field].

Ouyang Feng received Guo Jing’s attack head-on, thinking that he was already
familiar with this ’18-Dragon Subduing Palms’. Besides, Guo Jing was Hong Qigong’s
disciple, so his strength should be a lot less than Hong Qigong. Hence, he did not put
too much energy on his defense. But unexpectedly when their palms met he was
shaken. If his internal energy was not strong enough, he would be seriously injured.
He was being careless and nearly lost in Guo Jing’s hand. He was shocked, “Perhaps
this kid will already catch up with me before I grow old and lose my strength” he
thought. Quickly he sent his left palm out.

Guo Jing again leaned sideways to evade, then returned the attack. This time
Ouyang Feng did not dare to take it head on, he flicked his hand to redirect Guo
Jing’s palm. Guo Jing did not know Ouyang Feng’s real intention, he thought Ouyang
Feng simply parried his attack, who would have thought that inside that defensive
move there was a hidden attack; Guo Jing felt a strong force surging toward his face,
there was not enough time to evade, so he was forced to stretch out his right palm
to block.

Speaking about internal energy strength, Guo Jing was still one level inferior to
Ouyang Feng. The current situation was similar to the day at the imperial palace in
Lin’an, inside the cave behind the waterfall; although Guo Jing would be able to hold
his ground for a while, but in the end he would suffer a heavy injury or even death.

Ouyang Feng’s movement resembled a gourd, enticing the opponent to enter; which
Guo Jing did. Ouyang Feng was delighted, but suddenly sensed Guo Jing pulled his
right palm slightly, like he was losing his strength. Ouyang Feng sent more force to
his palm, pressing harder; who would have thought that Guo Jing’s palm slid a little
bit and thus avoid being crushed.

Ouyang Feng grunted ferociously, sending all his strength to his palm, thinking,
“Today is the day you are going to die.”

Seeing the opponent’s fingertip swept to his chest, Guo Jing parried by sweeping his
left palm horizontally while his right-hand index finger stretched out and fiercely
went to Ouyang Feng’s ‘tai yang’ [sun] acupoint. It was the ‘Solitary Yang Finger’ he
saw Reverend Yideng used. However, what he learned was superficial, he only saw
the form, but did not know the variations within. In this critical moment instinctively
he used mutual hands combat technique.

‘Solitary Yang Finger’ was the ‘Toad Stance’s adversary, how could Ouyang Feng not
startled when he saw it? He leaped backward to elude, shouted angrily, “Old Duan
Zhixing wants to give me a hard time?”

Unfortunately Guo Jing’s finger technique was not the real ‘Solitary Yang Finger’,
hence it could not break the Toad Stance; but Ouyang Feng was scared away,
without looking clearly he jumped back in shock. Only afterwards did he remember
that the Solitary Yang Finger had an infinite variations; how could after launching an
attack Guo Jing retracted his finger? Hence he knew Guo Jing had not learned it in its
entirety. Without waiting for Guo Jing to launch the next stance both of his palms,
one upward the other downward, one attack the other guarded, moved toward Guo
Jing. This attack was so swift that Guo Jing did not have time to think, he simply
jumped back to escape. ‘Crack!’ the small table behind him was smashed by the
Western Poison’s palms.
Since he was gaining an upper hand, Ouyang Feng continued his attack by
successively sending his palms; but suddenly he felt a gust of wind coming from
behind, somebody attacked him. Without turning around he sent his left foot kicking
backward. Turned out the attacker was also using his leg, so two legs collided, the
attacker was thrown backward; luckily his bone was not broken, it looked like he had
anticipated Ouyang Feng’s counterattack.

Ouyang Feng turned his head around only to see three old beggars standing on the
tent’s entrance, they were the Beggar Clan’s three elders, Lu, Jian and Liang. Lu
Youjiao swiftly moved toward Jian and Liang Zhanglao [Elders], then interlinked his
arms with theirs. It was the Beggar Clan’s technique of combining power to fight a
superior enemy using the-weak-subdue-the-strong method. During the Beggar Clan
general assembly at Mount Jun to elect the new Bangzhu [Clan Leader] the other
day, the Beggar Clan disciples had formed a human wall, rendering Guo Jing and
Huang Rong helpless against them.

Ouyang Feng had never fought these three people, but from his first contact with Lu
Youjiao’s leg he knew that Lu’s internal energy was not weak. The other two beggars
looked not much different. If he fight Guo Jing one on one, he was certain he would
win; but with the addition of these three stinky beggars he knew things would not
end too good for him. He laughed a big laugh and said, “Dumb kid, your martial art
has improved tremendously.”

He bent his legs and sat on the carpet, totally ignoring Lu Youjiao and the other two
beggars. “What kind of agreement you want to make? Let me hear it,” he said.

“You want Miss Huang to explain the Nine Yin Manual to you,” Guo Jing said,
“Whether she is willing to do that or not, it is entirely up to her; you must not harm
even a single strand of her hair.”

Ouyang Feng laughed, “If she is willing, of course I won’t want to harm her in any
way. Do you think it is easy to deal with the Old Heretic Huang?” he said, “But if she
is not willing, how can it be that I can’t use a little bit of persuasion?”
Guo Jing shook his head, “No, you can’t.”

“Well, you want me to agree to this, what is there for me?” Ouyang Feng asked.

“From now on, if you fall into my hand, I will spare your life three times,” Guo Jing
replied.

Ouyang Feng stood up, letting out a long laughter. His laugh was supported by a
strong internal energy; it traveled far into the prairie. The horses were disturbed,
they neighed and made commotion.

Guo Jing’s gaze pierced Ouyang Feng’s eyes, with a low voice he said, “This is not
funny, and you know it. There will come a day you will fall into my hand.”

Although he was laughing Ouyang Feng was actually scared. He realized this kid
knew the secret of the Nine Yin Manual, his martial art was improving by leaps and
bounds; he really must not underestimate him. While his mouth was laughing, his
mind had made a decision. “I, Ouyang Feng, am going to ask you, a stinky kid, for
mercy? All right, let’s just wait and see,” he said with a smile.

Guo Jing extended his hand and said, “Once a gentleman said a word.”

Ouyang Feng smiled and replied, “Like a fast horse getting a whip.” He also extended
his hand and patted Guo Jing’s hand three times. This was the way the people of
Song Dynasty sealed their agreement; whoever broke it would be despised and
disgraced for the rest of his life.

After sealing their agreement Ouyang Feng was about to interrogate Guo Jing on
Huang Rong’s whereabouts some more, but suddenly with the corner of his eyes he
caught a shadow moving outside the tent. That shadow was very swift; Ouyang
Feng’s heart was stirred, quickly he went out the tent, but did not see anyone. He
turned his head and said, “Within ten days I am going to visit you again. We’ll see
whether you will spare my life, or will I spare yours?” With a loud laughter he moved
swiftly, and a sort moment later his laughter was heard dozens of ‘zhang’s away.

Lu, Jian and Liang three elders looked at each other in astonishment, they thought,
“This man’s martial art is really high. He is an extraordinary character, truly in par
with our Hong Bangzhu.”

Guo Jing then told the three visitors the reason of Ouyang Feng’s visit. Lu Youjiao
said, “He said Huang Bangzhu is in our army, that’s nonsense. If the Huang Bangzhu
is here, how could we not know? Besides …”

Guo Jing sat back down, one hand supporting his cheek. “I actually think what he
said is very reasonable. Oftentimes I have a feeling that Miss Huang is by my side;
no matter how difficult the problem I am facing, she always gives me a wonderful
solution. Only no matter what I think, I still can’t see her.” Speaking thus his eyes
welled up with tears.

Lu Youjiao tried to console him, “Sir, please don’t worry, to be separated but for a
moment, to be united forever in the future.”

“I have offended Miss Huang,” Guo Jing said, “I am afraid she won’t be willing to see
me again. I don’t know what I must do to pay for this guilt.”

Lu, Jian and Liang three people looked at each other without saying anything.

Guo Jing continued, “Even if she is not willing to talk to me, if only she would let me
see her once, I will be very much comforted.”

“Sir is tired, better go to bed soon,” Jian Zhanglao said, “Tomorrow morning we will
discuss how we are going to deal with Ouyang Feng if he stirs up trouble again.”

The next morning the army continued their journey to the west. That evening after
they pitched camp Lu Youjiao came and said, “Years ago Xiao Ren bought a painting
in Jiangnan. I am a rough uneducated man, how could I comprehend the meaning
behind this painting? While Sir is lonely in this army, Sir may enjoy this leisurely.”
While speaking he put a roll of painting on the table.

Guo Jing unrolled the painting to take a look, he could not help but feeling
astonished. The painting depicted a young maiden with a flower on her hair; she was
sitting weaving silk on a loom. Her appearance resembled Huang Rong’s, only she
looked distressed; her eyebrows were knitted together and her face looked thin and
pale.

Guo Jing looked in surprise for half a day, he saw next to the picture were two lines
of poem. The first one read, “Seven looms, in the springtime silkworms spit their raw
silk, it is not easy to weave them into silk cloth. Do not use a pair of scissors so
recklessly, otherwise the immortal ‘luan’ [a mythical bird] and the phoenix will be
separated on two sides of the clothes.” The other one read, “Nine looms, a pair of
flowers, a pair of leafs, and a pair of branches. From ancient time a shallow love
often parts. From head to toe two hearts are bound together, passing through a
strand of silk thread.” These two stanzas resembled the ‘si zhang ji’ [four
looms/weaving machines] poem of Ying Gu, but the pain they carried was twice the
‘four looms’ had.

Although it was hard for Guo Jing to interpret the poem, he understood the ‘From
ancient time a shallow love often parts’ part. After pondering it for half a day he
thought, “This painting must be Rong’er’s handiwork; where did Lu Zhanglao get it
from?”

He raised his head to ask, but Lu Youjiao had left early on. Hastily Guo Jing ordered
his personal guard to summon him back. Lu Youjiao was persistent with what he said
earlier, that he bought that painting at a bookstore in Jiangnan. Even if Guo Jing was
ten times dumber, he’d know something was wrong. Lu Youjiao was a
straightforward and rough warrior; how could he stroll into a bookstore and buy a
painting? If the painting was a gift, he would throw it away without giving it a second
thought. If he did buy it at a bookstore in Jiangnan, how come the maiden in the
painting bore a very close resemblance to Huang Rong? But Lu Youjiao was
determined not to reveal the truth; there was nothing he could do.

While he was hesitating, Jian Zhanglao walked in and whispered in his ears, “Just
now Xiao Ren saw a shadow of a man moving on the tent toward our northeast; it
swiftly disappeared without any trace. I am afraid that old scoundrel Ouyang Feng is
going to sneak in tonight.”

“Good,” Guo Jing said, “We, four people will cooperate here to capture him.”

“Xiao Ren has an idea,” Jian Zhanglao said, “Let’s see if Sir will agree.”

“Any idea is good,” Guo Jing said, “Please tell me.”

Jian Zhanglao said, “This is a very ordinary idea: we dig a deep hole here, then we
place twenty soldiers with bags of sand waiting outside. If he did not show up,
consider him lucky, but if he did, I guarantee he can come but won’t be able to
leave.”

Guo Jing was delighted, he thought that Ouyang Feng was very conceited, never
considered others worthy to be looked at. This idea was an old trick, but actually
very effective against somebody like him.

The three elders immediately supervised several soldiers to dig a very deep hole.
The top of the hole was then covered with a rug, and a light wooden chair was
placed on top of the rug. Twenty soldiers with sand bags in their hand were waiting
outside the tent.

It was not uncommon for an army to dig holes in the desert, looking for water; so
the activity was gone unnoticed.

The set up was completed and Guo Jing waited by the candlelight, reading. But
Ouyang Feng did not show up that night. After pitching their camp the next day,
again the three elders had some soldiers dug another hole, but again nothing
happened that night. Toward the evening of the fourth day Guo Jing heard some
strange noise among the tents; his heart was thumping fast. Suddenly there was a
rustling noise outside his tent; with a long laugh Ouyang Feng walked inside his tent
then casually walked toward the wooden chair.

‘Crack! Crack!’ with a loud noise both the man and the chair fell into the hole. The
trap’s depth was about seven, eight ‘zhang’s [70 – 80 feet, about 25 meters], the
mouth was narrow. Even if Ouyang Feng’s martial art were higher, how could he
jump back up easily? Twenty soldiers swarmed the tent, and forty bags of sand were
rapidly poured into the hole, burying Ouyang Feng’s body.

Lu Youjiao burst up in laughter, “Huang Bangzhu predicts like a deity …” he said.

Jian Zhanglao cast him a glance; Lu Youjiao closed his mouth immediately.

“What Huang Bangzhu?” Guo Jing quickly asked.

“Xiao Ren had a slip of tongue,” Lu Youjiao said, “I mean Hong Bangzhu. If Hong
Bangzhu were here, he would have been delighted.”

Guo Jing stared at him, hard. He was about to ask another question when suddenly
the soldiers outside his tent were shouting noisily. Guo Jing and the three elders
quickly went out the tent to see the soldiers were pointing their fingers to the
ground, shouting loudly. Guo Jing rushed forward to take a look, he saw the ground
was rising up gradually, looked like something was trying to come out of the ground.
Immediately Guo Jing realized what was going on, “With his excellent martial art
Ouyang Feng is drilling the ground, trying to climb up,” he said. He commanded a
dozen or so of his soldiers to ride their horses and trampled the ground at once.

The weight of the dozens or so soldiers and their horses was heavy enough to
trample the raising ground back down. Even though Ouyang Feng’s strength was
incredible he was not able to penetrate the ground, so the earth was slowly leveled
up as before. To everybody surprise, in another location the ground was starting to
rise again. The soldiers simply rode their horses to wherever the ground rose and
trampled it flat.

Not too long afterwards the ground no longer rose anywhere. They assumed Ouyang
Feng had lost his strength or even died of suffocation. Guo Jing ordered the soldiers
to dismount their horses and dug the ground. It was already the first hour [between
11pm – 1 am]; the soldiers lifted up their torches high, they stood in a circle
surrounding the digging.

About a dozen soldiers used spades and shovels dug a little over a ‘zhang’ before
finally they saw Ouyang Feng was standing inside the sand. This location was a few
‘zhang’s away from the tent. Although the sand was soft, yet by using his bare hands
Ouyang Feng was able to dig underground just like a mole. It was a demonstration
of a very strong internal energy, truly extraordinary. The soldiers were astounded
but full of admiration; they lifted him up and laid him on the ground.

Lu Youjiao probed him for breath, but felt his chest was still warm; he ordered the
soldiers to get some iron chain to tie him up, for fear that Ouyang Feng would create
problem once he was awake. Who would have thought that when he was crawling in
the sand Ouyang Feng was unable to excavate his way upward because of the
horses, he feigned death, thinking he would escape later. He suspended his own
breath, and did not see Lu Youjiao stood beside him. But as soon as Lu Youjiao
shouted his order to take some chain, Ouyang Feng leaped up, gave a loud shout,
and grabbed Lu Youjiao’s main artery on his right hand.

It was a sudden change; a corpse went back to live. Everybody was shocked. Guo
Jing rushed forward, his left hand pressed the ‘tao dao’ [pleasing talk] acupoint on
Ouyang Feng’s back, while his right hand attacked the ‘ji zhong’ [spine’s central]
acupoint on Ouyang Feng’s waist. These two were two main acupoints on the back; if
Ouyang Feng was not buried under the ground, half-dead, and was very tired, how
could he let his main acupoints be sealed that easily?
Ouyang Feng was startled, he swung his hand backward trying to fend off, but his
acupoints were numb. He realized Guo Jing did not use his full strength; otherwise
his internal organs would be shaken. Moreover, his hands and feet were weak; even
if Guo Jing did not seal his acupoints still he would not be Guo Jing’s match. He was
forced to let Lu Youjiao go and stood still.

“Mr. Ouyang,” Guo Jing said, “May I ask did you see Miss Huang?”

“I saw her shadow, that’s why I came looking for her,” Ouyang Feng replied.

“Did you see her clearly?” Guo Jing pressed.

Ouyang Feng hatefully said, “If that sly little girl is not in this, I bet you wouldn’t
think of some clever trap like this.”

Guo Jing was silent for half a day, then he finally said, “You can go. I spare your
life.” His right hand lightly waved, sending Ouyang Feng tumbled down a little over a
‘zhang’. He was afraid if he freed him in close proximity, Ouyang Feng would
suddenly execute a counterattack.

Ouyang Feng turned around and said coldly, “I’ve never used any weapon dealing
with a junior; but you are secretly helped by that sly girl of yours. She is very crafty.
What happened to me tonight was the proof. I will be back within ten days with my
snake staff. You have seen the vipers with your own eyes. Just watch out.” As soon
as he finished speaking, Ouyang Feng flew away.

As Guo Jing looked at his shadow swiftly disappearing into the dark towards the
north a chill crept up his spine. Remembering the venomous snake staff and the
exquisiteness of Ouyang Feng’s stick technique very well; he could not refrain from
feeling apprehensive. Although he had trained extensively in weaponry from the Six
Freaks of Jiangnan, among those he had mastered none would be adequate to fight
someone Ouyang Feng’s caliber; while it certainly was not a good idea to face the
snake staff with his bare hands.
He was at a loss for a while; lifting up his eyes toward the sky he saw white snow
flakes floating down in the darkness. Not long after he returned to his tent the
weather turned cold. His soldiers started bonfires and got their horses inside their
tents to protect them against the bitter cold weather outside.

The Beggar Clan people did not have any fur coats with them; with the sudden
change in temperature they were forced to circulate their internal energy to keep
their bodies warm. Right away Guo Jing ordered his troops to slaughter some sheep
and make some leather coats. They were not as good as the tanned leather coats,
but they helped the beggars to fight the cold.

The next day the weather turned even colder; the snow on the ground had turned
into ice. The Khoresm’s army took advantage of this cold weather and made an
attack; luckily Guo Jing had already anticipated this possibility. Using the ‘flying
dragon’ formation they scored a big victory over the enemy; chasing them far into
the night towards the snow-covered northern plains.

There was an ancient poem about the expedition to the west amidst a bitter cold
weather: “The army general did not take out their golden armor at night. In the
middle of the night the army set aside their spears, the wind blowing like a cutting
knife. The sweats on the horses’ mane rose up like steam in the snow, the five-petal
flower pattern on the (money) coin felt like ice, inside the tent the liquid ink to write
letters froze over.”

Then there was another poem: “The soldiers and prisoners squeezed in the same
station, the bones on the battlefield wrapped around the grassroots. Blowing wind
like the blade of a sword sweeping wide, the horses’ hoofs got away from the frozen
sand and stone.”

Guo Jing grew up in the northern desert, he was used to the bitter cold weather, but
he remembered if Huang Rong were really in his army, she was raised in the south
(Jiangnan), would she be able to withstand this bitter cold weather? His anxiety
multiplied. The next several nights he roamed around the tents without alerting
anybody; quietly investigate each and every tent, but not even Huang Rong’s
shadow was to be seen.

Returning to his command-center tent, he saw Lu Youjiao was supervising the

soldiers to dig another hole. “This Ouyang Feng is sly and alert, first time he fell into
the trap, how can he fall for the second time?” Guo Jing asked.

“He would certainly think that we are going to prepare some other trap, but he would
not expect us to prepare the same trap,” Lu Youjiao said, “It is called ‘a void inside a
solid, and solid in an emptiness,’ an indiscernible combination of void and solid.”

Guo Jing cast a glance toward him, he thought, “You said leading little beggars did
not need to use any military strategy, but you remembered the content of the
military strategy book very well.”

Lu Youjiao continued, “But this man must have thought of a way to escape the sand
piling on top of him, therefore, we must strive for a different method. We are going
to use boiling water to soak him up.”

Guo Jing saw dozens of soldiers preparing about twenty big iron pots outside his
tent. The soldiers used hatchets to break the ice and feed them into the pots using
shovels. “Won’t he die of scalding?” Guo Jing asked.

“Sir had made an agreement with him that if he falls into your hands you will spare
his life three times. But this time if he die from scalding, he won’t die in your hands,
even if you want to spare his life you are powerless, therefore, it can’t be said that
you break your promise,” Lu Youjiao reasoned.

Not too long afterwards the hole was dug, the mouth was covered with a rug, and a
light wooden chair was placed on it. Outside the tent the soldiers were busy adding
fuel to the fire underneath the pots; the ice were slowly melting into water, but the
weather was just too cold; the water on the surface was slowly turning back into ice.
“More heat, more heat!” Lu Youjiao urged.

Suddenly on the snow outside a shadow came lightning fast; Ouyang Feng with the
stick in his hand had arrived on the tent’s entrance. “Dumb kid, whatever trap you
prepared, your grandfather is not scared!” he said while flying toward the chair to
sit.

Elders Lu, Jian, and Liang did not expect Ouyang Feng would arrive this soon; the ice
inside the pots were barely melted into water; a very cold water, which certainly
would not scald people to death. The water was even too cold to take a shower. They
saw Ouyang Feng moved toward the chair, they could not help but feeling
disappointed.

‘Crack!’ one more time with loud cursing the man and the chair fell into the hole.
This time there were no sand bags around. With his level of martial art it was an
easy matter for Ouyang Feng to climb back up. The three elders were helpless, they
were afraid Guo Jing would be injured, “Sir, get out of the tent, quick!” they shouted
in panic.

But suddenly somebody shouted from behind the tent, “Pour the water!” As soon as
Lu Youjiao heard this voice, without hesitation he shouted, “Pour the water!” The
soldiers lifted up the pots and poured the water into the hole.

Ouyang Feng was about to jump back up when the water from the first pot was
poured over his head. He was shocked and was forced to fall back down. He used his
snake staff as a brace against the bottom of the hole, and tried to jump up for the
second time. This time he was prepared, he was sure he would not be forced to fall
down by pouring water. Unexpectedly to him the weather was really cold, as the
water left the pot it froze up immediately; as Ouyang Feng was jumping up, the
water around his feet was turning into ice. With his incredible strength he tried to
jump up, but ‘Bonk!’ he felt a shot of pain as his head was hit by a block of ice. He
tried hard to kick around, but his feet were firmly buried in ice, he could not even
move them. He was extremely shocked; with a loud shout he struggled with all his
might; but just as his feet start to loosen up, his upper body was drenched in cold
water, which also turned into ice.

The soldiers pouring the water had been trained well; four soldiers lifted the pot to
pour water, while the other four-man teams were ready behind them. One team
after another they pour water into the hole like a waterwheel. To protect themselves
from the boiling water, each man bound a cloth on their faces. Who would have
thought that the snow would not boil, but the cold water could also paralyze the
enemy. In a short period of time twenty pots of water had been poured into the hole,
forming a four, five ‘zhang’s and about seven feet in diameter ice column.

Everybody was excited, what they thought was a failure turned into a huge success.
The three elders supervised the soldiers to dig around the hole; then tied a rope
around the ice column. With the help of twenty horses the ice column was pulled up
to the ground.

From all over the camp officers and soldiers alike came to the command-center tent
to watch the marvelous sight. The soldiers joined their strength to raise the ice
column up. Under the bright torch light they saw Ouyang Feng showing his teeth
with an angry look on his face, his hands and feet splayed wide. He was frozen inside
the ice column, could not move even one bit. The officers and soldiers erupted in
thunderous applause.

Lu Youjiao was afraid with his profound internal energy Ouyang Feng would be able
to melt the ice; he ordered the soldiers to melt some more ice and pour the water on
the ice column to make it thicker.

“I had made an agreement with him, to spare his life three times. Break the ice, let
him go!” Guo Jing ordered.

The three elders were disappointed, but a hero ought to keep his words, so they did
not say anything. Lu Youjiao took a hammer and walked toward the ice column to
break it when suddenly Jian Zhanglao called out, “Hold on!” He turned to Guo Jing
and asked, “Sir, with his ability, how long do you think Ouyang Feng will survive
inside the ice?”

“He might be able to survive for a couple of hours,” Guo Jing said, “Longer that that
his life might be in danger.”

“Very well,” Elder Jian said, “Let him suffer two more hours. We can spare his life,
but he has to suffer for a while.”

Remembering Ouyang Feng had killed his masters, Guo Jing nodded his head in
approval.

The news traveled fast, officers and soldiers from other units heard about it and they
came to watch. To the three elders Guo Jing said, “From the ancient times there was
a saying, ‘a hero could be killed, but not humiliated.’ Although he is an evil man, but
he is still a grandmaster of his martial art school. How can we let him be the
laughingstock of others?” Straightaway he ordered his soldiers to erect a tent around
the ice column and arranged a sentry duty. Nobody was allowed to enter the tent to
see, not even a general.

Two hours later the three elders shattered the ice column, let Ouyang Feng free.
Ouyang Feng sat cross-legged on the ground, circulating his energy. After vomiting
three mouthfuls of dark blood he went away angrily.

Guo Jing and the three elders were watching him the whole two hours; although
looked weary he was able to walk away just like that, he had made them sighed in
admiration.

All this time Guo Jing was continuously in a daze. He was afraid when Ouyang Feng
was still inside the ice column, but after Ouyang Feng was gone, he still could not
calm his heart down.

He sat down, thinking hard. Never in his life had he felt so lonely, his heart was
empty. He tried hard to think the reason behind it all. Suddenly it dawned on him
that before Lu Youjiao issued the command to pour the water, he recalled hearing
someone shouted in low voice, ‘Pour the water!’ He felt that voice was so familiar, he
was 80, 90% certain that voice had Huang Rong’s accent; but because Ouyang Feng
was falling into the trap that he was thinking of a more urgent matter and did not
pay too much attention to the voice. ‘Pour the water!’ these words were buzzing in
his ears while his heart was full of doubt. He sprang up and muttered, “Rong’er is
really in the army. I have to examine everybody, officers and soldiers alike, not
overlooking anyone. I am sure she won’t get away this time.” But then another
thought came into his mind, “She doesn’t want to see me, why would I painstakingly
force her to come out?” Unrolling the painting, he stared blankly at the girl in it; his
heart was filled with bitter sweet feeling.

In the quiet night suddenly he heard hoof beats coming fast from afar. A short while
later he heard his guard asked permission and soon a messenger entered his tent,
bringing Genghis Khan’s military dispatch. Turned out the Mongolian army had
advanced far into the enemy’s territory, enjoying victory everywhere they went. Just
a few hundred ‘li’s to the west they would reach Khoresm’s fortified city of
Samarkhand. Genghis Khan had learned that this city had become Khoresm’s new
capital. It was defended by a large army of at least a hundred thousand strong with
enough provision to last a long time. The defense was solid; the city wall had
enjoyed a notorious reputation as unbreakable. Therefore, Genghis Khan ordered the
four armies to join forces and attack simultaneously.

At daybreak the next day, Guo Jing’s army left their camp heading south along the
river. In ten days they arrived outside Samarkhand’s city wall. Seeing Guo Jing’s
small army, the enemy went out the city to engage them in fierce battle. With his
‘feng yang’ [scattering wind] and ‘yun chui’ [dangled cloud] Guo Jing managed to kill
about five thousand enemy’s soldier in just half a day. With this defeat the Khoresm
army was forced to go back inside their fortified city.

On the third day Genghis Khan’s big army, as well as Jochi’s and Chagatai’s, arrived
one after another. More than a hundred thousand soldiers surrounded the city,
attacking it from all directions. But Samarkhand’s defense was so tight; thousands of
Mongolian soldiers and officers were wounded or dead, yet the city was still standing
strong.

The next day Chagatai’s eldest son attempted to render meritorious merit; bravely
he attacked the city wall, unfortunately an arrow was shot from the city wall, hit his
head and he died. Genghis Khan loved this grandson, seeing him die in the
battlefield his grief and anger was unspeakable. When the grandson’s personal
guards brought his body over, Genghis Khan threw himself over the corpse with
tears in his eyes, embracing his dead grandson. He pulled the arrow that killed him,
only to see it was a wolf tooth arrow decorated with an eagle’s feather, the shaft was
inlaid with gold, engraved with four characters, ‘da jin zhao wang’ [Prince Zhao
Wang of the Great Jin]. The people around him who were literate read those words
to him.

“Ah!” Genghis Khan angrily roared, “It’s that scoundrel Wanyan Honglie!” Leaping to
his horseback he issued a decree, “All officers and soldiers, big and small, hear this:
Anybody who is brave enough to break the city’s defense and capture Wanyan
Honglie to avenge my grandson; the city’s women and children, jade and silk,
everything is his.” A hundred riders immediately were dispatch everywhere to
announce the Great Khan’s decree.

The other three armies heard this proclamation and their spirit rose; like a swarm of
locust they attacked the city wall with earth-shattering battle cry. Some were trying
to climb the wall barehanded; some were scaling ladders, some were throwing ropes
with hook, some were using large tree trunk as a battering ram against the city gate.
But the warriors on the city wall defended their city bravely. The battle continued
until evening; the Mongolians had lost about four thousand men, yet the city of
Samarkand was still standing like a mountain.

Since his military expedition against Khoresm started, this was Genghis Khan’s first
major defeat. That night inside his tent he grieved over his beloved grandson’s
death, his anger erupted like a thunder.
Guo Jing went back to his tent, browsing through his ‘Wumu’s Legacy’, trying to find
a way to break the city; but Samarkhand was different from the cities in China,
hence the methods described in the book were useless.

Guo Jing invited Lu Youjiao to his tent to discuss this situation. Knowing Lu Youjiao
would go to Huang Rong for advice, as soon as he left the tent, Guo Jing followed
behind. Who would have thought that Lu Youjiao had arranged Beggar Clan disciples
to stand all the way from Guo Jing’s tent to his own? As they see Guo Jing, those
disciples saluted him with loud voice.

Guo Jing understood immediately, “This must be another one of Rong’er’s schemes,”
he thought, “Ay! She has always found a way to evade me. She is able to predict my
every action and every movement accurately.”

More than two hours later, Lu Youjiao came back and reported, “This big city is really
difficult to break, Xiao Ren has not found any good idea. Let us wait a few more
days, perhaps an opportunity will present itself for us to attack.”

Guo Jing nodded without saying anything. When he left Mongolia heading south for
the first time, he was just a naïve and simple-hearted youngster; but over the past
year he had experienced misery, difficult and sometimes dangerous days. His
experience had matured him tremendously. That night inside his tent he could not
help but feel emotional as he quietly pondered the meaning of two lines of poems in
the painting. He thought, “Rong’er must think I am heartless, she is waiting for me
to apologize. Too bad I am stupid since the day I was born, I don’t know how to
make amends, I don’t know how to do as she wishes.” Thinking these things he
became more anxious than ever.

That night he could not sleep well, his thought was full of Huang Rong; he kept
tossing and turning in his tent. It was after the third hour that he finally was able to
sleep. He dreamt of meeting Huang Rong. He asked her how he could apologize to
her. Huang Rong replied by whispering something in his ears. Guo Jing was elated,
he woke up immediately; but then he could not remember what Huang Rong had
said. He tried painstakingly to remember, but no such luck. He wanted to go back to
sleep again and asked Huang Rong in his dream, but it seemed like the sleep had
already left him.

Burning with anxiety he knocked his own head several times; suddenly he got an
inspiration, “I can’t remember, but why don’t I ask her again?” He loudly shouted,
“Quickly invite Lu Zhanglao to come over.”

Lu Youjiao thought what kind of urgent military affair would need his attention?
Wrapping his body with the sheepskin he went barefooted to Guo Jing’s tent.

“Lu Zhanglao, no matter what I want to meet with Miss Huang tomorrow evening,”
Guo Jing said, “I don’t care how you’d do it. Whether you come up with an idea
yourself, or you ask others, but I want you to present me with a clever idea how I
can see her. I give you until noon tomorrow.”

Lu Youjiao was flabbergasted. “Huang Bangzhu is not here, how can Sir meet with
her?”

“You have a divine wisdom, you should be able to think of something,” Guo Jing
replied, “If you can’t present a good idea by noon tomorrow, I am going to handle
you according to the military law.” Being aware that he was speaking nonsense, Guo
Jing was secretly amused.

Lu Youjiao was about to reason when Guo Jing turned his head to tell his guard,
“Prepare a hundred soldiers to act as executioners tomorrow at noon.” His guard
acknowledged with a loud voice.

Lu Youjiao looked distressed; dejectedly he walked back to his tent.

It was snowing heavily early morning the next day; the city wall was covered with
ice, slick like oil. It was impossible to scale the wall. Genghis Khan withdrew his army
that day. He thought the winter was coming, the coming days would get colder and
colder; they wouldn’t see warmer days until the second or third month, which was
still several months away. If he decided to leave this city and proceeded to the west,
then he would practically leave around a hundred thousand enemies behind him,
with a potential to cut his way back to Mongolia. But if he stationed some of his army
to guard the city, he was afraid the enemy would get some enforcement then his
troops would be overwhelmed by sheer numbers. Once a battle broke, his troops
might be scattered in this foreign land and he would lost considerable men and
horses.

Genghis Khan paced back and forth in front of his tent with his hands behind his
back. He was lost in thought and stared blankly at the snow-covered peak on which
the city was built. That peak was so high that it reached to the clouds above.
Genghis Khan creased his brows. He saw the peak was extremely weird; it towered
alone in the middle of a desert. There was no vegetation grew on it, the locals called
it ‘tu mu feng’ [the bald wooden peak]. Samarkhand was built leaning on this peak,
the foothill was actually served as the west city wall. He imagined whoever built this
city must have spared no expense; the military strategists and the builders who
designed this city must have had incredible ability and wisdom. This hill was very
steep, practically a huge solid rock, nothing could grow on it; even monkeys or apes
had no way of climbing it up. Samarkhand had this kind of truly impenetrable
defense.

Genghis Khan thought, “Ever since the start of my military career, I have been in
hundreds of battles, big and small; yet I have never faced as difficult situation as I
have today. I wonder if the Heaven is going to cut me short?” He sat on the
horseback, staring blankly at the falling snowflakes. The tents were covered with
snow; while inside the city smokes went up the chimneys. Everything just added to
his misery.

Guo Jing’s mind was filled with another kind of apprehension; he was wondering if
his brute force method of forcing Huang Rong to show herself would actually make
her hate him even more. What if Lu Youjiao had determined not to open his mouth?
Certainly he could not behead him, could he?

It was almost noon, with composed face Guo Jing sat in his tent; while on the either
sides of the tent stood the executioners, waiting. Then the bugle sounded,
announcing it was noon.

Lu Youjiao walked into the tent, “Xiao Ren has thought of an idea, but I am afraid Sir
would find it difficult to do,” he said.

Guo Jing was delighted, “Tell me, quick! I don’t care even if it requires my life.
What’s so difficult?” he asked.

Lu Youjiao pointed to the peak of the ‘bald wooden peak’ and said, “Tonight about a
quarter to midnight, Huang Bangzhu will be waiting there.”

Guo Jing was silent. “How can she climb there?” he asked, “Aren’t you just making a
fool out of me?”

“Didn’t I say from the start it’s not going to be easy?” Lu Youjiao said, “Even if I
invented an ingenious plan, it would be in vain anyway.” Finished speaking he made
a bow, turned around and walked out the tent.

Guo Jing thought, “Sure enough it was Huang Rong’s words; she is calling me
useless. This bald peak is a lot steeper than the Iron Palm Peak, the Mongolian cliff
was nothing compared to it. I wonder if there is a deity on the peak who will hang
down a rope for me to climb?”

Dejectedly he dismissed the executioners then walked toward the peak, staring
blankly at the top. He noticed that from top to bottom the peak did not show any
difference, its surface was covered with a thick layer of ice, looked like a slippery
crystal, much like the ice column enclosing Ouyang Feng the other day. It was an
out-of-this-world mountain, other than birds, no man or beast would be able to
reach the top.
Guo Jing looked up to the peak; suddenly ‘splat!’ his fur cap fell on the snow. In an
instant a thought came flashing in his mind, “If I can’t see Rong’er, it would be
better to die anyway. Although this peak is dangerous, I should risk my life climbing
it. Even if I fall down and die, I would still die for her.” Once he reached a decision
he felt better immediately.

That evening he ate until he was full; then he inserted a dagger on his waist and
slung a coil of rope on his back. It was not dark yet when he walked out his tent. To
his surprise he saw the three elders Lu, Jian, and Liang were waiting outside, they
said, “Xiao Ren will see Sir off to the peak.”

“See me off to the peak?” Guo Jing was confused.

“Certainly,” Lu Youjiao said, “Doesn’t Sir have an appointment to meet Huang

Bangzhu on the peak tonight?”

Guo Jing was pleasantly surprised, “So Rong’er is not deceiving me after all,” he
thought. With a delighted heart he walked along the three elders to the ‘bald wooden
peak’.

He saw dozens of his soldiers were waiting by the peak with dozens of cattle and
sheep. Lu Youjiao said, “Butcher!”

The soldier lifted up his saber and slashed the sheep’s hind leg. While the blood was
still warm, the leg was planted on the peak’s wall. The blood froze in short time, the
leg was firmly planted on the stone wall, then it was further reinforced with iron
nails.

Guo Jing had not understood yet what they were doing. Another soldier chopped the
other sheep’s hind leg and stuck it to the wall, approximately four feet above the
first one. Guo Jing was delighted, he understood now that the three elders were
making sheep legs ladder. It was cruelty against the animals, but there was simply
no better way of doing this.

He saw Lu Youjiao leaped vertically up and perched on the second leg; Jian Zhanglao
chopped the next sheep leg and tossed it upward, Lu Youjiao stuck the leg to the
wall. Several legs later, this ‘sheep ladder’ had reached dozens of ‘zhang’s high;
when the legs were chopped on the ground and tossed up, they would freeze up by
the time they reached their destination. Guo Jing helped the three elders hung the
rope down. They hoisted the sheep up alive and butcher them just before sticking up
their legs on the wall.

As the ‘sheep ladder’ had reached about a half way up, they felt the wind was a lot
stronger compared to the ground. Fortunately these four were martial art experts;
their bodies slightly swayed, but their feet were steadily planted on the legs. Still, for
fear that they might skid on the legs and lose their footing they tied a long rope on
their waists, so the four of them would be able to help each other in case of an
accident.

They were busy working until almost midnight when finally the ‘sheep ladder’
reached the peak. The three elders no doubt were exhausted, while Guo Jing himself
was sweating profusely. Lu Youjiao was panting and smiling at the same time, “Sir,
can you forgive Xiao Ren?” he asked.

Guo Jing felt bad, but also grateful, “I really don’t know how to repay three
gentlemen’s kindness,” he said.

“It was Bangzhu’s idea, even if it is more difficult than it was, we still would have to
obey. Who told us to have such a cunning and weird Bangzhu?” Lu Youjiao said.
Three elders burst in laughter, turned around and slowly descended the peak.

Only after watching the three elders step by step scaling the hillside safely that Guo
Jing turned around and saw the magnificent scenery on the hilltop. Ten thousands
years of cold had created a world of crystal of many colors; some resembled reddish-
green flowers and grass; some resembled strange beast or exotic birds; some
resembled a forest of rocks; some resembled tree branches or bamboo grooves. Guo
Jing enjoyed the scenery with amazement; his heart was full of praises.

Thinking that very soon Huang Rong would climb the ‘sheep ladder’ to see him, his
blood rushed through his body, giving him a warm, fuzzy feeling, making his cheeks
red. He was in daze. Suddenly he heard a girl’s soft giggle. This giggle was like an
electric shock surged through Guo Jing. He turned around quickly, and saw under the
moonlight a young girl smiled sweetly looking at him. Who else if not Huang Rong?
Although Guo Jing knew perfectly well that she had promised to see him there, but
to actually see her in person, he felt like he was dreaming.

Two people stared at each other for a moment then both of them rushed toward
each other, ignoring the slippery cold ice of the peak; because of their grief and joy,
they ran and slipped together. Guo Jing was afraid Huang Rong might be injured,
before he even touched the ground he kicked back and propelled his body forward,
grabbing her, embracing her in his arms. They had been separated for more than a
year and they missed each other like crazy. This time they meet again, how could
they not be happy?

After quite a while Huang Rong gently pried herself loose. They sat side by side on a
round-stone-like ice block. “If I did not see how crazily you missed me, I wouldn’t
want to see you,” she said.

Guo Jing only stared at her, did not say even half a word. After a long time he
opened his mouth, “Rong’er.”

“Mmm?” Huang Rong answered.

Guo Jing was extremely joyful; he called again, “Rong’er.”

Huang Rong smiled, “Haven’t you called me enough?” she asked, “These past few
days, even though I was not with you, haven’t you called me dozens of times every
day?”
“How did you know?” Guo Jing asked.

Huang Rong smiled again, “You could not see me, but actually I saw you quite
often.”

“You are always in our army, how come you did not let me see you?” Guo Jing
asked.

“You still have a face to ask me?” Huang Rong was angry. “Once you found out I am
alive and well, aren’t you going to marry that Princess Huazheng? I’d rather not let
you know my whereabouts. Do you think I am dumb?”

As soon as he heard she mentioned the name ‘Huazheng’ Guo Jing’s delight was
gone; his face looked so depressed that Huang Rong quickly looked around and said,
“That crystal palace is so beautiful, let us go inside and find someplace to sit and
chat.”

Guo Jing followed her gaze and saw a bulk solid ice resembling a cavern; under the
dim moonlight it glowed beautifully. It did look like a big crystal block carved into a
palace. Two people walked hand in hand entering the cave, and then found
someplace to sit on.

“Speaking about how you treated me on the Peach Blossom Island, tell me, should I
forgive you?” Huang Rong said.

Guo Jing stood up and said, “Rong’er, let me kowtow to you a hundred times to
apologize.” He was serious, immediately knelt down and started kowtowing.

Huang Rong sweetly smiled, held out her hands to stand him up. “Let it be. If I
haven’t forgiven you, I wouldn’t want to crawl to this peak even if you chop Lu
Youjiao’s head a hundred times!”
Guo Jing was really happy, “Rong’er, you are really good.”

“What are you talking about good or not good?” Huang Rong said, “Originally I
thought you wholeheartedly wanted to avenge your masters, certainly you don’t
have the least of me in your heart; naturally I was really angry! Later on I learned
about how you strike an agreement with Ouyang Feng; you are willing to spare his
life three times for my sake. Only then did I know that you still have me in your
heart.”

Guo Jing shook his head, “I can’t believe it’s only now that you know my heart.”

Huang Rong pursed her lips and smiled, “Did you see what I am wearing?” she
asked.

Thus far Guo Jing’s eyes only looked at Huang Rong’s face; only after Huang Rong
mentioned it that he turned his gaze to her clothes. Turned out she was wearing the
black sable fur coat that he gave her when they first met at Zhangjiakou [Kalgan?].
His heart was moved, he held out his hand and tightly hold Huang Rong’s hand.

Two people sat leaning to each other for a moment. Finally Guo Jing broke the
silence, “Rong’er, Da Shifu [First Master] said that you were captured by Ouyang
Feng at the Temple of the Iron Spear; how did you manage to escape from his
hand?”

Huang Rong sighed. “I feel sorry for Lu Shige’s [Martial (older) Brother] nice Cloud
Village. The Old Poison wanted me to explain the Nine Yin Manual for him. I said the
explanation is not difficult, but I needed a good and quiet place. The Old Poison said
if that was the case, we would find some secluded temple. I said Buddhist monks are
disgusting, I don’t like eating vegetarian food. The Old Poison then asked what I
wanted. I said nearby Lake Tai there was a place called the Cloud Village; the
scenery is beautiful, the food and wine are superb. The only thing is that the village
master is my friend; it made him rather suspicious.”
“That’s right,” Guo Jing said, “Did he decide not to go?”

“No, he is arrogant,” Huang Rong said, “He is never afraid of other people. The more
I told him, the more he wanted to go. He said no matter how many friends I have,
the Old Poison would face them all. When we arrived at the Cloud Village, actually Lu
Shige father and son were not home; they went north of the river to the city of
Baoying, to visit their in-laws, Cheng Da Xiaojie’s [Eldest Miss Cheng] family. You
know that the Zhuangzhu [Village Master] had learned building technique from my
father according to the ‘wu xing ba gua’ [five ways eight diagram]. As soon as the
Old Poison stepped into the village, he felt something was not right. He wanted to
pull me out of there, but I entered to the east and turned to the west, very soon he
lost my track. Hard as he tried, he could not find me, and in his anger he burned the
Cloud Village down.”

“Ah!” Guo Jing gasped, “I did stop by the Cloud Village looking for you, but I found it
in rubble. Turned out it was the Old Poison’s doing.”

“I knew he was going to destroy the village,” Huang Rong said, “So I warned
everybody to get out. Although he could not catch me, the Old Poison is really evil
and cruel. He guarded the way toward the Peach Blossom Island, hoping to catch me
there. Several times I was nearly caught. Afterwards I ran to the north, toward the
Mongolian border, and he followed. ‘Sha gege’ [dumb big brother], luckily you are
dumb. If you are as smart as the Old Poison, you two will surround me from both
directions. I may not know where to hide.”

Guo Jing simply blushed and smiled stupidly.

“But finally you are getting smarter, you knew how to push Lu Youjiao to think of
something,” Huang Rong said.

“Rong’er, it was you who taught me,” Guo Jing said.

Huang Rong was astonished, “I taught you?”

“You taught me in a dream,” Guo Jing replied. Then he told her the dream he had
the other night.

This time Huang Rong did not laugh at him, in fact, her heart was moved. She said
quietly, “The people of ancient times used to say that perfect honesty and sincerity
could open up metal and stone. You think about me and miss me this much; I
should’ve let you see me sooner.”

“Rong’er,” Guo Jing said, “Later on you will never leave me forever, won’t that be
good?”

Huang Rong swept her gaze around the marvelous structures cluttered on the peak.
“Jing Gege, I am cold,” she suddenly said.

Guo Jing hastily took his own fur coat off and wrapped it on Huang Rong’s body. “Let
us go down,” he said.

“All right,” Huang Rong said, “We’ll come back here tomorrow night. I am going to
explain the Nine Yin Manual in detail for you.”

Guo Jing was astounded, “What?” he asked.

Huang Rong’s right hand was still holding Guo Jing’s left hand; she squeezed her
hand and said, “My father has translated the last part of the manual, where the
sentences were jumbled. I’ll explain everything to you tomorrow night.”

“This Sanskrit part is obviously translated by Reverend Yideng,” Guo Jing thought,
“Why did she say it was his father?” He was full of doubts, was about to ask again
when Huang Rong squeezed his hand one more time. He knew there must be a
reason, so he agreed without asking anymore questions. Two people went down the
peak.
Once they were in his tent, Huang Rong whispered in his ear, “Ouyang Feng also
climbed the ‘bald wooden peak’, he hid behind us as we speak, secretly listening to
us.”

Guo Jing was startled, “Ah! I didn’t even know he was there.”

“He was hiding behind a huge ice block,” Huang Rong said, “The Old Poison is
extremely crafty, but this time he forgot that the ice is transparent, it could not
conceal anything. It was not until the moonlight shone on it did I see a blurry
shadow behind it.”

“So you talked about the Nine Yin Manual was actually for his benefit,” Guo Jing said.

“Hmm, I want to lure him to the peak, then we remove the ‘sheep ladder’; let’s see if
he can meditate to become an immortal on that mountain peak, maybe he’ll become
a deity,” Huang Rong said.

Guo Jing was very happy; he clapped his hands and cheered.

The next day Genghis Khan attacked the city again. Another thousand or so
Mongolian soldiers died. The Khoresm soldiers on the city wall threw some insults
and cursed their enemy. Genghis Khan flew into rage; but sweeping the battlefield
with his eyes he saw the dead body of Mongolian soldiers and horses; he was upset.

That very evening Guo Jing, Huang Rong and the three Beggar Clan Elders readied
themselves, they only had to wait for Ouyang Feng to climb the peak, then they
would destroy the sheep ladder immediately. Who would have thought that Ouyang
Feng was so cunning and had anticipated this; as long as Guo Jing and Huang Rong
did not climb up, he also stayed down, hiding.

Huang Rong was forced to think of something else. She took some ropes and soaked
them in oil. Khoresm was rich in petroleum; more than a thousand years ago the
people dug a well to find water, but they found oil instead. Since then the people had
used oil to cook their meals. The Mongolian army had seized several barrels of this
oil and used them as fuel.

Jing and Rong, two people climbed to the peak with ropes soaked in oil on their
back. Then they hid the ropes behind a big ice block. Two people sat inside the
crystal palace talking to each other. Not too long afterwards they saw Ouyang Feng’s
indistinct shadow appeared behind a big ice block. His lightness kungfu had been
trained to perfection; he was extremely quiet, he never expected those two people to
be aware that he was there.

Right away Huang Rong started talking about the manual, which they discussed
earnestly. Of course they were discussing the real Manual. Ouyang Feng listened
attentively, he found the manual was really marvelous; could not help but feeling
ecstatic. He thought even if he compelled this little girl to explain, she might not tell
him the whole thing, but right now he was eavesdropping he felt very fortunate.

Huang Rong slowly explained, and Guo Jing pretended to ask a lot of questions.
Ouyang Feng thought, “He did not get such a simple truth, he is really stupid.”

Suddenly the horn was sounded urgently on the ground. Guo Jing jumped up
immediately, “The Great Khan summons the generals, I have to go,” he called out.
Actually it was a false alarm; he had made this arrangement in advance.

“We’ll go down together,” Huang Rong said.

“We are going up and down this peak, so much hassle,” Guo Jing said, “Can’t we do
it inside my tent?”

“No, that Old Ouyang Feng has been looking for me everywhere, he is so cunning; it
is extremely difficult to find a place to hide from him,” Huang Rong said, “But even if
he were ten times more cunning, definitely he won’t guess that we are able to come
up to this peak.”
Ouyang Feng was really smug, he thought, “Hey, this tiny, tiny peak is nothing; even
if you run to the end of the earth I will still chase you.”

“Then you’d better wait here,” Guo Jing said, “I should be finished within an hour or
so; I’ll hurry back up here.”

Huang Rong nodded her approval.

Without saying anything else Guo Jing climbed down the peak. He was a little bit
apprehensive about leaving Huang Rong alone on the top with Ouyang Feng, but he
thought Ouyang Feng must be dying to listen to the Manual’s secret; certainly he
would not harm Huang Rong yet.

About the time needed to eat a bowl of rice later Huang Rong stood up and thought
aloud, “Why is Jing Gege not back yet? I wonder if there are ghosts on this peak.
Maybe Yang Kang or Ouyang Ke’s ghosts are here. I think I’d better go down, I’ll
comeback with Jing Gege later on.”

Ouyang Feng was afraid she might see him, he curled up behind the ice block, did
not dare to move even so slightly. He saw Huang Rong was climbing down the peak.

Guo Jing and the three elders were waiting on the ground. As soon as Huang Rong
was down, they lighted a fire and burned the rope. Turned out when Guo Jing went
down, he wrapped the oil-soaked rope on each of the sheep legs. As the rope was
burned, the heat melted the ice that held the legs frozen to the wall, so that the legs
dropped one by one to the ground.

The fire slowly crept upward along the winding rope. The dark night made the fire’s
reflection on the snow and ice looked frighteningly beautiful. Huang Rong clapped
her hands in delight and asked, “Jing Gege, would you say we should spare his life
this time?”

“This is the third time,” Guo Jing said, “We can’t break our agreement.”
Huang Rong smiled, “I have an idea,” she said, “You don’t have to break your
agreement, but you can kill him to avenge your masters.”

Guo Jing was delighted, “Rong’er, you are always full of ideas,” he said, “Tell me
your marvelous idea.”

Huang Rong smiled, “It’s not difficult,” she said, “We let the Old Poison eats the
northwest wind for ten whole days and nights; let him freeze and starve, he will be
dead tired. Then we rebuild the ‘sheep ladder’, help him get back down. That will be
the third time we spare his life, won’t it?”

“That’s correct,” Guo Jing said.

“You have spared his life three times by then, you don’t have to show leniency
anymore,” Huang Rong said. “We wait here on the ground. As soon as he is down,
we can start fighting him. We will have the three elders’ help; so with five people
against a half-dead man, you say can we kill him?”

“We certainly can,” Guo Jing said, “But this way we are not acting too gentlemanly,
don’t you think?”

“Hey,” Huang Rong scolded, “Do we need to talk gentlemanly toward this kind of evil
and cruel man? Did he act gentlemanly when he killed your five masters?”

Thinking about his benevolent masters’ cruel death, Guo Jing was enraged. He also
thought that Ouyang Feng’s skill was so high that if he let him off this time, he might
not find another opportunity to seek revenge. Therefore, he gritted his teeth and
said, “Very well, let’s do it.”

Two people went inside the tent. This time they discussed the Nine Yin Manual for
real. They found out that the other party’s martial art was progressing tremendously,
they were really grateful.
After the discussion Guo Jing said, “That traitor Wanyan Honglie is inside the city
wall. We know he is there, but there is nothing we can do. Can you think of some
marvelous way to break the city’s defense?”

Huang Rong was doubtful. “These past several days I have been racking my brain,”
she said, “I can think of at least a dozen ways to do it, but none of these guarantees
victory.”

Guo Jing replied, “Within the Beggar Clan there are some brothers, perhaps a dozen
of them, whose lightness kungfu is superb. What if they plus we, two people, try to
climb the city wall?”

Huang Rong shook her head. “Not that easy,” she said, “Every ‘zhang’ of the wall is
heavily guarded by soldiers with bows and arrows. Let’s not talk about climbing the
wall; once inside, there are more than a hundred-thousand troops. We can’t even
force our way to open up the gate.”

Two people talked all night long; they did not even go to sleep.

The next day Genghis Khan attacked the city again. About ten thousand Mongolian
soldiers used rock-throwers, rained the city with large rocks. But the soldiers
defending the city took shelter inside blockhouses; the stones devastated the
common people’s residences, but the casualty among the defending troops was
actually only a few. The attack went on until the third day. The Mongolian army had
used hundreds of different tactics, but so far the result was minimal.

On the fourth day snowflakes came floating down from the sky. Guo Jing looked up
the peak and said, “I think we don’t have to wait for ten days, Ouyang Feng would
be frozen to half-dead.”

“His internal energy is very profound,” Huang Rong said, “Chances are he will survive
for ten days.” She was just closing her mouth when both of them cried out in alarm;
something was falling from the peak, it looked like Ouyang Feng.

Huang Rong clapped her hands, “The Old Poison can’t take it anymore, he is killing
himself!” she said; but straight away she called out in wonder, “Uh, strange! How did
he do that?” Ouyang Feng did not fall straight down, but his body was floating in the
sky like a kite.

Jing and Rong, two people were extremely astonished; how could someone fall from
thousands of ‘zhang’ tall mountain peak did not meet a violent death, but floating
slowly instead? Could it be the Old Poison possessed some witchcraft?

In the meantime, Ouyang Feng had fallen further down. Now two people could see
clearly that he was naked, but there were two balloon-like things on top of his head.
Suddenly Huang Rong understood what was going on, “It’s too bad!” she called out.

Turned out when Ouyang Feng was stranded on the ‘bald wooden peak’, although his
martial art was profound, he knew he could not slide down this thousand-zhang
peak. After enduring several days of hunger and cold he had a sudden inspiration.
He stripped down to his underpants and firmly tied his trousers into knots. Afraid
that his trousers might not be enough, he took the robe and tied it to his pants, then
tied the whole thing onto his waist. Clenching up his teeth he jumped down from the
mountain peak.

It was an extremely risky endeavor, but he was desperate; he had no other

alternative. Once he jumped from the peak, his pair of trousers ballooned up and
weakened his fall. He was naked, his hands were nearly frozen; he fought the cold
and the wind by circulating his deep internal energy.

Huang Rong was amused and upset at the same time; momentarily she was at lost
on how to deal with this new development.

By this time both armies inside and outside the city wall had found out about this;
tens of thousand pairs of eyes looked up to see this flying man in the sky. Many low-
ranking soldiers thought it was a deity descending to the earth; they all knelt down
on the ground, worshiping.

Guo Jing saw the direction Ouyang Feng was falling; looked like he was going to land
inside the city wall. He waited until Ouyang Feng was dozens of ‘zhang’s away, then
grabbing an iron bow and an arrow he shot Ouyang Feng’s body. He thought being
airborne, Ouyang Feng would not be able to fend off; however, he still remembered
his agreement to spare Ouyang Feng’s life three times, so he aimed at a non-fatal
spot; Ouyang Feng’s thigh.

While he was airborne, however, Ouyang Feng opened his eyes wide, looking to all
directions. He saw the arrow coming his way, he bent his waist, swept his legs and
struck down Guo Jing’s arrows one by one.

Although in a different army unit, Genghis Khan was also aware of Guo Jing’s
agreement. He ordered his troops to shoot arrows. Immediately tens of thousands
arrows shot out like a swarm of locusts flying toward Ouyang Feng.

Even if he had a thousand hands and ten thousands legs, it was no way Ouyang
Feng could knock all the arrows down. He was naked, and being airborne his
movement was limited; perhaps very soon he would look like a porcupine. In this
dire situation Ouyang Feng let his hands go, he fell down head first to the ground.
Hundreds of thousands people shouted with one voice, the noise was earth-
shattering.

Amazingly Ouyang Feng flexed his waist midair and threw himself toward a flag
inside the city. That time the northwesterly wind was blowing very strong, the flag
fluttered straight from west to east. Ouyang Feng stretched out his left hand and
grabbed the corner of the flag, tearing it into two pieces. Borrowing the strength of
the flag, Ouyang Feng made a somersault, hurling his legs toward the flag pole.
Hugging the pole he slid downward and vanished inside the city wall.

Both armies witnessed this marvelous show, they talked about it to each other,
momentarily forgot they are in the midst of a battle.

“This can’t be considered sparing his life,” Guo Jing thought, “How can I still have to
spare his life next time? Rong’er must be very upset.” Who would have thought that
as he turned his head he saw Huang Rong’s eyes were gleaming with smile on her
face. Quickly he asked, “Rong’er, what’s wrong? Why are you so happy?”

Huang Rong clapped her hands and laughed, “I present to you a great gift, wonder if
you’ll like it or not?”

“What gift?” Guo Jing asked.

“The City of Samarkhand,” Huang Rong replied.

Guo Jing was dumbstruck.

“The Old Poison has taught me a method to break the city’s defense,” Huang Rong
said, “Go and prepare your troops. Tonight you will render a great service.” Then she
whispered in Guo Jing’s ear, explaining what to do next. Once he understood, Guo
Jing was so happy that he repeatedly cheered and applauded.

That afternoon Guo Jing issued a secret order, assigned his troops to take their tents
down and cut them into round umbrella shapes; then to tie leather ropes to this
umbrella. He wanted ten thousands of umbrellas to be sewn and ready within an
hour.

All the officers and soldiers were puzzled. They thought without tents in this bitter
cold weather, the nights were unendurable. But the commander-in-chief had issued
an order; they had no alternative but to comply.

Guo Jing also ordered his army to gather the cattle and sheep under the snowy peak.
Furthermore he assigned a ten thousand men unit to be ready outside the north gate
in four battle formations: ‘tian fu’ [sky high], ‘di zai’ [strong earth], ‘feng yang’
[scattered wind], and ‘yun chui’ [dangling cloud]; ready to assault the enemy. Then
he placed another ten thousand men unit on the either sides of the north gate in four
battle formations: ‘long fei’ [flying dragon], ‘hu yi’ [winged tiger], ‘niao xiang’
[soaring bird], and ‘she pan’ [coiled snake]. Their main assignment was to drive the
enemy into the first unit’s ambush. The third ten thousand men unit was readied on
the side to be deployed later.

That evening Guo Jing’s troops ate their provisions until everybody was satisfied,
then the two ten-thousand men units moved to their appointed position on the north
gate. Around the end of the eleventh hour, early the twelfth hour [approximately
9pm] Guo Jing dispatched one of his guards to report to the Great Khan, asking him
to dispatch the army to surround the city, for the gates were about to be broken.
Genghis Khan was surprised, he was doubtful. He told the guard to go and summon
Guo Jing to his Golden Tent. That guard replied, “The Golden Blade Consort [jin dao
fu ma] at this very moment has already led his troops to launch an attack. He is
waiting for the Great Khan to render assistance.”

Right around that moment a horn sounded from the direction of Guo Jing’s troops;
about a thousand soldiers started to butcher the cattle and the sheep, building the
sheep ladder on the peak wall. The Beggar Clan disciples with their high level of
martial arts skill went up and down lending their hands; very soon dozens of ‘sheep
ladders’ were constructed.

Guo Jing shouted his command, and was the first to go up the peak. Ten thousand
officers and soldiers followed, with long ropes tied to their waists, slowly climbing up
the ladder. They were all under a strict order that was issued earlier not to make any
noise at all.

In the dark night dozens of long strings of soldiers crawling and twisting like gigantic
dragon slithering up the peak.

The top was actually not very wide, so it was impossible to hold ten thousand men at
once. As soon as he had gathered enough people, Guo Jing led the soldiers to tie the
umbrella to their waist; then with unsheathed weapons in their hands they were
ready to leap into the city. Their target was the south gate.

With a clap of his hands Guo Jing was the first to jump down, followed by several
hundreds of the Beggar Clan disciples.

Actually this jumping down from the peak was very dangerous, but the Mongolian
soldiers were very brave. Earlier that day they saw Ouyang Feng had jumped from
the peak with a pair of trousers as his parachute; they believed their umbrellas were
a lot safer than the trousers; moreover, their commander-in-chief had given them
the example; therefore, one by one they leaped down courageously. Very soon the
sky was full with thousands of blooming parachutes, taking the officers and soldiers
slowly down.

Huang Rong was sitting on an ice block on the peak. She saw the first phase of their
plan was successfully completed; she could not help but feeling ecstatic. “Whether
Genghis Khan can break the city defense or not, it has nothing to do with me. But if
Jing Gege listens to what I say, he can seize the opportunity to do great things.”

Once his feet landed on the ground Guo Jing tore the parachute from his waist,
brandishing his big saber he fiercely swept the defending troops. By that time there
were some defending troops on night watch duty. They saw thousands of enemy
troops descending from the sky; they were amazed and scared, they lost their will to
fight. Moreover, those who landed first were the Beggar Clan disciples, each one
skilled in martial art. In a short moment they were approaching the city gate.

After that the Mongolian army successively landed. Although there were some
soldiers who lost their lives because their parachutes failed to open, but in ten
soldiers, nine actually made it to the ground safe and sound. Some of them were
blown away by the strong wind and landed outside the city gate; some landed
separate from their unit, these soldiers were either captured or killed by the enemy.
But those who landed successfully were numbered around one or two thousands.
Guo Jing ordered half of them to fight the enemy, while the other half moved toward
the city gate.

Genghis Khan saw Guo Jing’s troops flew into the city, he was amazed and
pleasantly surprised. He ordered all three units of his army to attack concurrently.
They saw the south gate was widely open; several hundreds Mongolian soldiers with
spears in their hands guarded the gate, letting several thousands of their
companions enter the city; and then they immediately joined themselves with Guo
Jing’s troops, decimating the enemies.

The hundred-thousand defending troops were in panic; they did not know where the
enemy came from. The Mongolians killed and splashed oil everywhere, setting the
city on fire. The inferno reached the sky, Khoresm army was in total chaos.

It was almost dawn, the defending troops were scattered everywhere. The Khoresm
king, Muhammad, received a report that there was no enemy at the north gate, so
he rushed to the north to escape. Unexpectedly to him, Guo Jing’s ten thousand men
had already waited at the either sides of the north gate; arrows and spears moved
and made a great kill.

Muhammad did not want to prolong the fight. He ordered Wanyan Honglie to
command the defending troops, while he took his personal guards trying to save his
own life.

Guo Jing’s sole purpose was to find Wanyan Honglie; seeing his golden helmet
flashing among the chaotic battle, Guo Jing ordered his troops to hunt him down.
The Khoresm army knew they had lost, but their number was greater; they fought
desperately, almost to the point of disregarding their own lives. Guo Jing’s troops
were smaller, their movement was hindered. From the front came a fast horse
reporting that the enemy troops soon would make a break through.

Guo Jing remembered the military strategy book had this saying, “Do not eat
enemy’s bait, do not stop retreating troops. Surrounded troops are not necessarily
weak, exhausted enemy should not be pursued too far.” He issued an order to
change tactic immediately. His signal flag unfolding, the four formations: sky, earth,
wind and cloud, dispersed to surround the enemy. By that time the enemy troops
remained around the palace was about ten thousand men; although all were
warriors, but they realized the imminent defeat and had lost their fighting spirit; they
were easily captured by Guo Jing’s troops.

Guo Jing examined the prisoners, but did not see Wanyan Honglie among them.
Even though he had achieved victory, but his heart was unavoidably discontented.

By daybreak the city defense was completely destroyed. Genghis Khan held a
general assembly inside Muhammad’s imperial palace. Guo Jing was in the process of
going through his troops, taking care of the dead and comforting the wounded, when
he heard the Great Khan’s golden horn sounded. Immediately he rushed toward the
royal palace.

By the palace gate he saw a small squad of soldiers; Huang Rong, Lu Youjiao and the
other elders were standing among them. Huang Rong clapped her hands and two
soldiers stepped forward carrying a big gunnysack. She smiled and said, “Hey, can
you guess what’s inside this sack?”

Guo Jing laughed, “This city has all kinds of strange and wonderful things, how can I
guess?” he said.

“This one is my gift to you, I am sure you will like it,” Huang Rong said.

Suddenly Guo Jing remembered; could it be that she found a good looking woman in
the city and gave her to him as a joke? Quickly he shook his head, “I don’t want it,”
he said.

Huang Rong laughed, “Are you sure?” she asked. “You can’t change your mind after
you see it.”

Immediately she shook the sack and indeed somebody rolled out of it. His hair was
disheveled, his face was full of blood; he was wearing a Khoresm army uniform. Guo
Jing looked at his face intently, and to his awe, found out that he was the Great Jin’s
Prince Zhao, Wanyan Honglie. Guo Jing was ecstatic, “Amazing! Where did you
capture him?” he asked.

Huang Rong said, “I saw the defeated and dispersed soldiers were fleeing toward the
north gate. A squad of soldiers bearing the Prince Zhao’s banner were heading east
with someone wearing a golden helmet leading them. I thought this scoundrel
Wanyan Honglie was slyer than that; in no way would he blatantly flaunt the Prince
Zhao’s banner in time of defeat. I thought if his banner flew to the east, he must be
running to the west; so I took Elder Lu and the others to prepare an ambush in the
west. We did indeed capture this scoundrel immediately.”

Guo Jing bowed deeply to her, he said, “Rong’er, you have avenged my dear father
for me. I really don’t know how to express my gratitude.”

Huang Rong pursed her lips and smiled, “It was just a coincidence. You have
rendered this great service, the Great Khan will generously reward you. Won’t that
be great?” she said.

“I don’t want anything,” Guo Jing said.

Huang Rong stepped to the side and whispered, “Come here.” Guo Jing followed.
“You really don’t want anything in the world?” Huang Rong asked.

Guo Jing was taken aback, “All I want is never to be separated from you anymore,”
he earnestly said.

Huang Rong smiled. “Today you have rendered this great service. Whatever you ask,
I believe the Great Khan won’t get angry at you.”

“Hmm,” Guo Jing still did not understand. Huang Rong continued, “Right this
moment if you ask him to appoint you as some high ranking official, he won’t deny
it. If you ask him not to appoint you, it will also be difficult for him to deny.
Important thing is, you have to make him promise in advance. Whatever you ask, he
has to grant it.”

“Right!” Guo Jing said.

Listening to his short reply ‘Right!’ without saying anything else, Huang Rong shook
her head; she was mad. “Looks like becoming the Golden Blade Consort is the best
thing that ever happened to you, isn’t it?”

Her words made Guo Jing understand, he called out, “Hmm, I understand. You want
me to ask the Great Khan to cancel my marriage; but I have to make sure he
promises in advance he won’t deny whatever I ask.”

Huang Rong was hurt, “It all depends on you. You probably do want to be the
Consort?”

“Rong’er,” Guo Jing said, “Sister Huazheng treats me with nothing but sincerity, but
my love to her is a brotherly love. At first I thought I was holding to my gentleman’s
agreement, since I did not object to the marriage arrangement a long time ago. But
if the Great Khan is willing to nullify the agreement, that would certainly satisfy all
parties involved.”

Huang Rong was overjoyed; she cast a sidelong glance to him with the sweetest
smile on her face. Guo Jing wanted to stay and talk with her some more, but the
horn was sounded for the second time from the palace. He placed his hand on hers
and said, “Rong’er, wait for my good news here.” He dragged Wanyan Honglie inside
the palace to see the Great Khan.

Genghis Khan was very delighted to see Guo Jing arrived; he left his throne to greet
him, and then took his hand to enter the hall together. He ordered Guo Jing to take a
stool covered with embroidery work and tell him to sit next to him. Listening to Guo
Jing’s report on the capture of Wanyan Honglie he was even happier. Seeing Wanyan
Honglie kneel down in front of him Genghis Khan lifted his right foot to tread on
Wanyan Honglie’s head. Smiling broadly he said, “That day you came to Mongolia
flaunting your military power and prestige, did you ever think that there will come a
day like today?”

Wanyan Honglie knew his death was imminent, he raised his head boldly and said,
“That time my Great Jin country was rich and powerful. I regret the fact that we did
not extinguish your tiny Mongolia early on, rather than living to this day.”

Genghis Khan laughed a big laugh, ordering his guard to take Wanyan Honglie out
and behead him in front of the palace. Guo Jing remembered his father’s death was
finally avenged; his heart was filled with happiness and grief.

Genghis Khan said, “I have promised that whoever breaks the city defense and
capture Wanyan Honglie I will give this city’s women and children, with all its gold
and silk. Go ahead and receive your rewards.”

Guo Jing shook his head, “My mother and I have enjoyed the Great Khan’s
benevolence. We have enough food and clothing. I don’t have any use of slaves or
gold and silk.”

“Good,” Genghis Khan said, “That was precisely the true quality of a hero. What then
you do want? All you have to do is ask, I will not deny anything.”

Guo Jing left his seat and bowed in front of the Khan. “I do have a favor to ask;
Great Khan, please do not get angry,” he said.

Genghis Khan laughed, “Just say it,” he said.

Guo Jing was about to talk about the betrothal when suddenly he heard a heart-
rending, earth-shaking cry of thousands of people from a distance. The assembled
generals leaped up from their seats, unsheathing their weapons. They thought the
surrendered Khoresm soldiers and people suddenly staged a rebellion; they were
ready to dash out and suppress it. Genghis Khan laughed. “It’s all right! It’s all
right!” he said, “This dog city refuses to subdue under the Heaven’s power, had killed
many of my officers and soldiers, it even killed my beloved grandson; it has to be
cleansed by slaughter. Let us go and take a look.” He left his seat immediately
followed by the generals.

They left the palace on horseback heading toward the western part of the city. The
nearer they got, the more miserable the cry became. Just outside the city gate they
saw hundreds of thousands common people running around wailing loudly, they
pushed and rolled and threw themselves down in panic, with Mongolian soldiers on
horseback chasing them, killing the people with long sabers.

Earlier the Mongolian soldiers ordered all the inhabitants to go out of the city,
nobody was left behind. At the beginning the people thought the Mongolians were
going to search for spies among them; who would have thought that after searching
for weapons, they also searched for all kinds of valuables; then they took all good
looking young women, married or not, tied them together with long ropes.
Samarkhand’s residents now realized that they were facing a grave danger. Some
people showed resistance, but they were killed immediately with long sabers. Finally
several thousands of Mongolian soldiers with loud battle cries charged toward these
people, and went on a killing spree with their long sabers. Male or female, young or
old, they were randomly chopped down. This massacre was truly with unprecedented
brutality; from white or gray haired old men and women, to babies on their mothers’
arms, nobody could escape by luck.

When Genghis Khan and his entourage arrived to watch; more than ten thousands
people had already fallen victim to the soldiers’ brutality; flesh and blood splattered
to all directions, the Mongolian horses’ iron horseshoes tread on corpses everywhere;
going back and forth among the people and kill some more.

Genghis Khan laughed big and called out, “Kill well! Kill well! Let them know my
fierceness.”
After watching for a short moment, Guo Jing could not endure patiently, he dashed
to the front of Genghis Khan’s horse and called out, “Great Khan, please spare their
lives.”

Genghis Khan waved his hand, shouted loudly, “Kill them all, don’t leave anybody
standing.”

Guo Jing did not dare to say anything, but then he saw a boy about seven, eight
years old, dash out from the crowd and threw himself down at a woman who was
just knocked down by a horse, calling out, “Mama!” A Mongolian soldier dashed in
and swung his long saber, mother and son were chopped into four parts. The child’s
hands were still clutching tightly to his mother.

Guo Jing’s blood boiled; he forgot everything and called out, “Great Khan, you said
that this city’s women and children, along with all gold and silk are mine; why did
you give your order to massacre them?”

Genghis Khan was startled; he smiled, “You said you didn’t want it.”

“You said that whatever I ask you, you will not deny it, didn’t you?” Guo Jing asked.

Genghis Khan nodded, still smiling.

With a loud voice Guo Jing said, “The Great Khan’s words are like a mountain; I am
asking you to spare this tens of thousands lives.”

Genghis Khan was greatly astounded, not in his wildest dream would he guess Guo
Jing would ask him this; but he had already given his promise, how could he refuse?
He was enraged, his eyes blazing with fire looking at Guo Jing. His hand squeezed
his saber’s hilt, he roared, “Kid, you really want this?”

All the princes and generals were scared to see Genghis Khan this angry. Genghis
Khan was surrounded by brave warriors, each one had fought countless battles, none
were weak or had a feeble heart, they faced death straight in the face; but facing
Genghis Khan’s anger they could not help but tremble.

Guo Jing had never seen Genghis Khan look at him this way, he was also extremely
scared; his body could not stop shivering, but he said, “I am asking the Great Khan
to spare these people’s lives.”

With a low growling voice Genghis Khan asked, “You won’t regret it?”

Guo Jing remembered Huang Rong told him to ask for cancellation of his betrothal;
now he let this good opportunity slipped away. He had lost the Great Khan’s favor
forever, which he didn’t mind; but he actually realized his relationship with Huang
Rong was just being thrown down the drain. He had seen and heard these hundreds
of thousands common people wailing pitifully; how could he see others facing death
and do nothing? Therefore, boldly he said, “I won’t regret it.”

Genghis Khan heard his trembling voice, he knew Guo Jing was scared to death, but
still he boldly made a request. He was forced to admire Guo Jing’s guts; drawing a
long saber he called out, “Withdraw troops!”

His guard blew the horn. Tens of thousands Mongolian cavalry with blood all over
their bodies reined their horses and arranged themselves in neat formation.

Since Genghis Khan became the Great Khan, nobody had ever dared to defy his
order. This time Guo Jing bravely hampered his order to massacre the city; he was
really angry. With a loud shout he threw his long saber to the ground; then sped his
horse back to the city.

The other generals cast their angry looks toward Guo Jing; now that the Great Khan
was angry who knew who would be unlucky enough to bear the brunt of his anger.
They were also discontented, since as Samarkhand’s defense was broken, they were
hoping to plunder and kill to their hearts’ content for several days; but now their
hopes were shattered.
Guo Jing knew the resentment of others, but he ignored them all, he rode his little
red horse slowly to a secluded place. Since the beginning of the war, thousands upon
thousands homes had been burnt to the ground, corpses scattered everywhere, the
snow covered plain was dyed red with blood. He thought, “War brings wretched
disaster; bad as it is now. In order for me to seek vengeance for my father I have
commanded troops to kill these many people. In order to rule the world, the Great
Khan has killed even more people. But for the officers, soldiers, and the common
people, what did they do to deserve the cruelest death; their bones abandoned in
the wilderness?”

The more he thought, the more restless his heart became, “I destroyed a city to
avenge my father, actually killed these many people. In the end, is it worth it?” He
wandered around the wilderness on horseback, going back and forth while
painstakingly thinking deeply. It was dark when finally decided to go back to his
camp.

As he arrived at the camp’s gate, he saw the Great Khan’s two personal guards were
waiting outside. They stepped forward and bowed, reporting, “The Great Khan
summons Master Consort. Xiao Ren had been waiting for a long time; asking Master
Consort to quickly go.”

Guo Jing thought, “Today I have defied his command; the Great Khan might want to
behead me. It has gone thus far, I just have to wait and see what will happen.”
Beckoning to his own guard he whispered to his ear, ordering him to tell Lu Youjiao
that he is going to the palace. He was anxious, but he had determined, “No matter
how angry he is, I won’t take back my request to spare these people’s lives. He is
the Great Khan, he can’t go back on his words.”

His heart was full of the idea that the Great Khan would unleash his anger, who
would have thought that as he approached the palace gate he actually heard the
Great Khan’s merry laughter were heard intermittently from inside the palace. Guo
Jing could not help but to be a little bit surprised. He sped up his footstep entering
the main hall.

He saw next to the Great Khan sat a man, and next to his foot a young maiden sat
leaning on his knee. The man had a ruddy face with white hair, he was none other
than the Perpetual Spring [Changchun Zi] Qiu Chuji. As for the young woman; who
else but Princess Huazheng?

Guo Jing was delighted, hastily he rushed to meet them. Suddenly Genghis Khan
snatched a long halberd from his guard’s hand, turned around and fiercely attacked
Guo Jing’s head with the halberd.

Guo Jing was shocked, he leaned sideways to elude. ‘Crack!’ the halberd’s shaft hit
his left shoulder and broke into two pieces. Genghis Khan burst into laughter, “Kid,
let the bygone be bygone. If I am not looking at Qiu Daozhang [Taoist Priest] and
my daughter’s face, I should have taken your head away today.”

Princess Huazheng sprang up, she called out, “Father, you must be bullying my
Brother Guo Jing while I am not here.”

Genghis Khan tossed the broken halberd to the floor. He laughed, “Who said that?”

“I’ve seen it with my own eyes, how could you deny it?” Huazheng said, “For that
reason my heart was troubled, I came with Qiu Daozhang to take a look.”

Genghis Khan laughed, he pulled his daughter with one hand, and Guo Jing with the
other; he said, “Let’s not bicker, just sit nicely, listen while Qiu Daozhang recites his
poem.”

At the battle of Misty Rain Tavern [‘yan yu lou’ – ‘lou’ means upper level of buildings
with more than one floor] Qiu Chuji saw with his own eyes that Zhou Botong was
alive and well; he also realized that Tan Chuduan was killed by Ouyang Feng. Along
with Ma Yu and the others they went to apologize to Huang Yaoshi. Later on
Quanzhen Six Masters came across Ke Zhen’e who told them everything, which
made everybody sigh deeply. Qiu Chuji regretted deeply that he had been careless
with his disciple, he taught Yang Kang martial arts, but did not take him out of the
palace. The youngster was spoiled in riches and honor, and finally met his tragic end.

One day he received Genghis Khan’s and Guo Jing’s letter; he thought Mongolia was
getting stronger and might swallow up China. It was exceptional that Genghis Khan
should invite someone to come over. He thought he might want to seize the
opportunity to give the Khan some advice, trying to open up his heart to the truth,
so if he might prevent the slaughter of countless people all over the world, that
would be his greatest contribution to mankind. Also, he missed seeing Guo Jing;
therefore, braving the cold he took more than a dozen of his disciples to the west.

Qiu Chuji saw Guo Jing had been through wind and snow, his skin was darker, but
his body actually looked stronger and healthier; Qiu Chuji was delighted. Before Guo
Jing arrived he had been discussing what he had seen and heard with the Great
Khan. He said that he experienced the harshness of the weather first hand, so he
composed several poems. Stroking his beard he started to recite: “For ten years the
people had dreaded the calamity of war, among millions not even one or two could
survive. The past year met a good fortune receiving merciful imperial order, this
spring braving the cold making the journey. Taming the three-thousand ‘li’ of
northern mountain range, roaming two-hundred eastern hill provinces. Exhausted
and anxious, gasping for the last breath of life; consumed by the people’s suffering.”

An officer with understanding of Chinese literature called Yelu Chucai translated the
poem into Mongolian. Genghis Khan listened; he nodded his head but did not say
anything.

To Guo Jing Qiu Chuji said, “That year when your seven masters and I were having a
martial art contest at the Drunken Immortal Tavern, your Second Master took a half-
finished poem from my pocket. This time I am traveling to the west without being
able to see your seven masters again; but finally I have finished this poem.” He
started reciting immediately, “ ‘Since the ancient time, the moon of ‘zhong-qiu’ [mid-
autumn festival] has always been the brightest; the cool breeze of the night is so
clear. The day the shooting star is brighter than the Milky Way, the dragons of the
four seas leaped from the water.’ These first four lines were the ones your Second
Master had read; I have just finished the next four, he had not seen them yet. ‘The
song from the Wu and Yue kingdoms tower was heard extensively, the military
barrack of Qin kingdom was full with songs, food and wine. I arrived before the
emperor upstream of the river, desiring to stop the spears, wishing for peace and
security.’”

Remembering The Seven Freaks of Jiangnan, Guo Jing’s eyes were brimming in
tears.

Genghis Khan said, “During the journey to the west, the Priest must have seen my
Mongolia’s military prowess. I wonder if you have composed a poem about it?”

Qiu Chuji answered, “Along the way I have seen the Great Khan’s power in
destroying the cities and ransacking the earth. It made a deep impression in my
heart, gave me inspiration to write two stanzas. The first one is, ‘The Heaven has
sent a messenger down to the earth, why not try to save millions of suffering souls?
These millions of souls day and night put to death by dismemberment, drinking the
wrath, swallowing their weeping without uttering a word. They looked up and cried to
the Heaven, but the Heaven did not answer; it was a mere trivial thing unworthy of
Heaven’s attention. Peace among thousands of chaos, without religion building
refined souls.’”

Yelu Chuchai thought Genghis Khan would not be happy listening to this, so he
hesitated and did not translate immediately. Qiu Chuji ignored him, he continued,
“My second poem is this, ‘Alas, the world is opened wide, on it live millions of living
beings. Cruelty and wickedness battle each other incessantly, carrying the human
suffering to its utmost. The Emperor of Heaven, the Queen of the earth, along with
all deities, witnessing death; why not help? The messenger is sad but helpless, day
and night full of heartache in vain’” [Translator’s note: all these poems consist of
seven-character sub-sentences]
These two poems although not really deep, but the essence of lamenting the fate of
mankind was so obvious. Earlier that day Guo Jing had witnessed first hand the
massacre of the people in that city, he was even more somber.

“The Priest’s poems must be good, what did they say? Quick, translate them for me,”
Genghis Khan said.

Yelu Chuchai thought, “I have advised the Great Khan not to kill too many innocent
civilians, but he didn’t want to listen. Luckily this Priest has a deep merciful feeling
and composed these beautiful poems. I hope he can persuade the Great Khan.” He
translated the poem immediately.

Listening to the poems, Genghis Khan was dissatisfied, he turned to Qiu Chuji and
said, “I heard there is a technique to reach immortality, to never get old, in China. I
hope the Priest would teach me that.”

“There is no such thing as reaching immortality, to never get old,” Qiu Chuji replied,
“But there is indeed a Taoist method of circulating the breathing that will result in
preventing illness and prolong life.”

“May I ask what the most important thing in that breathing exercise is?” Genghis
Khan asked.

“The way of Heaven knows no favorite, always recognizes good man,” Qiu Chuji
answered.

“Which one would you call good?” Genghis Khan asked.

“A saint’s heart is undivided, his heart is for the common people,” Qiu Chuji said.

Genghis Khan was silent. Qiu Chuji continued, “There is a scripture in China, it is
called the ‘Dao De Jing’ [Holy Scripture of Virtue] which we, Taoists view as our
treasure. The ‘the way of Heaven knows’ and ‘a saint’s heart’ were taken from that
book. There is another saying in that book, ‘Soldiers and weapons are inauspicious
devices, not the tool of person with noble character. The tool will be used against his
own will, not to gain fame or fortune from it. But woe is the man who loves to
murder. Those who love to kill will not be able to realize his wish under the sky.”

When Qiu Chuji was traveling to the west, he saw the savageness of the war
disaster; his heart was filled with sorrow. He took advantage of Genghis Khan asking
him the secret of long life to repeatedly pleading for common people’s lives.

Genghis Khan was getting old, his strength waned, he wanted to learn the technique
of immortality; he was very delighted to see Qiu Chuji arrive, thinking that very soon
he would learn the technique to defy death and the method to prolong his life. Who
would have thought that instead he was advised not to resort of military power and
not to kill too much? This conversation did not suit his taste. Therefore, after talking
a little bit more he turned to Guo Jing and said, “Go and accompany the Priest to
take a rest.”

[Author’s note:

• Khoresm is a great Islamic country, located on the southern part of Soviet

Union, near Afghanistan and Iran. Samarkhand is located in modern day
Soviet Union’s Uzbekistan Republic. According to the ‘yuan shi’ [the history of
Yuan dynasty], Genghis Khan attacked Khoresm during the year of ‘yu long
jie chi’ [jade dragon, scarlet hero], using petroleum to burn the city down and
break their defense.
• According to historical records, Qiu Chuji and Genghis Khan exchanged
correspondence three times before finally he took eighteen of his disciples
traveling through the snowy Kunlun Mountains. His disciple, Li Zhicang
compiled a book called ‘chang chun zhen ren xi you ji’ [Changchun (perpetual
spring) Sage’s journey to the west], recording their experience en route. This
book is still highly esteemed by the scholars of today.]

End of Chapter 37.

Chapter 38 – Secret Order in Embroidered Pouch
(Translated by Foxs, Edited by Eliza Bennet)
Caption to the picture:
Guo Jing grabbed one end of his long robe and let his horse run close to Ouyang
Feng. Ouyang Feng held out his hand and grabbed the other end. Guo Jing squeezed
his legs and gave a loud shout. The little red horse furiously charged forward and
with a loud splashing sound Ouyang Feng was pulled out of the mire and dragged
along on the snowy ground.
Guo Jing accompanied Qiu Chuji and his eighteen disciples, among them were Li
Zhichang, Yin Zhiping, Xia Zhicheng, Yu Zhike, Zhang Zhizsu, Wang Zhiming, and
Song Defang. When they went out of the palace, they saw Huang Rong and the three
elders, Lu, Jian, and Liang, as well as about a thousand Beggar Clan disciples all on
horseback, waiting outside the palace.

As soon as she saw Guo Jing leave the palace, Huang Rong slapped her horse to
move forward, smiling she asked “Is everything all right?”

Guo Jing smiled, “My luck is not bad; Qiu Daozhang [Taoist Priest] arrived just in
time, changing the Great Khan’s mood to the better,” he said.

Huang Rong paid her respects to Qiu Chuji, then she asked Guo Jing again, “I was
afraid the Great Khan would kill you in his wrath, I took everybody here ready to
rescue you. What did the Great Khan say? Did he agree to cancel your betrothal?”

Guo Jing hesitated for half a day before replying, “I did not ask.”

“Why?” Huang Rong was startled.

“Rong’er, please don’t get angry,” Guo Jing said, “It was because …” Right then
Princess Huazheng rushed out of the palace, loudly called out, “Guo Jing Gege [big
brother – a term of endearment].”

As soon as she saw her, Huang Rong’s face changed immediately. She quickly
mounted her horse and galloped away. Guo Jing was about to open his mouth to
explain, when Huazheng pulled his hand and said, “Weren’t you surprised I came
here? Are you happy to see me?”
Guo Jing nodded, he turned his head to see Huang Rong, but she had already
disappeared. Huazheng only had her eyes to Guo Jing, she did not notice Huang
Rong at all; she held his hand, laughing, giggling and telling him how much she
missed him.

Guo Jing secretly groaned, “Rong’er must think it was because I saw Huazheng that I
did not ask the Great Khan to cancel my betrothal.” He was silent and did not hear
what Huazheng was saying.

A moment later Huazheng realized Guo Jing was in a daze, she was offended,
“What’s the matter with you? I came from far away just to see you and you do not
pay any attention to me?”

“Meizi [younger sister – term of endearment],” Guo Jing said, “I have a very
important matter I need to take care of, we will talk when I come back.” Without
waiting for her answer he assigned his personal guard to take care of Qiu Chuji, then
hurriedly he went back to his camp, looking for Huang Rong.

His guard said, “Miss Huang came back to take the painting, then left toward the
eastern gate.”

Guo Jing was startled, “What painting?” he asked.

“The painting Master Consort frequently looked at,” his guard replied.

Now Guo Jing really freaked out. “She took away this picture that means she really
severed her relationship with me. No matter what, I have to go south to look for
her.” Hurriedly he wrote a letter to Qiu Chuji, then mounting his little red horse he
went out of town to pursue.

That little red horse was very fast; but Guo Jing was afraid he might not see Huang
Rong anymore, so he kept urging the horse to run even faster. In a short moment
they had covered more than ten ‘li’s, already at the outskirt of the city; soldiers and
horses’ remains scattered everywhere. Another dozen or so ‘li’s later, all he saw was
a vast open prairie covered with white snow. To his delight, there were horse’s tracks
on the snow heading east.

“The little red horse is so swift that no other horse in this world is its match. A little
more time and I should be able to catch Rong’er,” he thought, “I will take mother,
then the three of us will go south at once. I don’t care if Huazheng Meizi would
blame me.”

Another dozen of ‘li’s the track suddenly turned north, and there were human
footprints beside the horse’s track. The footprints were really peculiar, since the
distance between two feet was about four feet; also, the size of the feet were big,
but sank into the snow only lightly, only a few inches deep. Guo Jing was startled,
“This person’s lightness kungfu is excellent.” Immediately he recalled something,
“There is no one other than Ouyang Feng who has this kind of ability. Could it be
that he is pursuing Rong’er?” Thinking of this, even though the cold wind was
blowing, he could not help but sweat all over. The little red horse was truly smart,
somehow it knew its master was in distress; so without Guo Jing pulling the rein it
immediately ran following the tracks.
Guo Jing saw the footprints were always right by the horse’s track. Several ‘li’s later
both the track and the footprint suddenly turned west, and then turned south;
turning and winding around, there was not a single section that was straight. Guo
Jing thought, “Rong’er must have found out Ouyang Feng was chasing her, so she
tried to shake him off. But the track is imprinted clearly on the snow, Old Poison
won’t have any difficulty following her.”

Another dozen of ‘li’s or so, the footprint and the horse track intermingled, they were
overlapping another set of footprint and horse track altogether. Guo Jing dismounted
the horse to look closer. He was able to tell which set was made earlier and which
set was made later. Looking both sets of tracks stretched out far on the snow he
suddenly realized something, “Rong’er must have used her father’s ‘qi men zhi shu’
[strange/wonderful/mysterious gate technique]; deliberately winding around to the
east and circling to the west to confuse Ouyang Feng. Once he lost her track, she
came back to her original route.”

He stood back up, his heart was happy and anxious at the same time; happy
because he knew most probably Ouyang Feng would not be able to overtake Huang
Rong, anxious because of the confusing horse’s track he also lost his trail. Standing
on the snow he thought, “Rong’er went in circle, but eventually she must be heading
east. I have to pursue to the east then.” Leaping to his horseback, he looked to the
sky to find his bearing then he rode to the east.

After speeding for quite some times, the horse’s track indeed reappeared. He saw in
the distance, where the blue sky met the snowy plain, a shadow of a person. Guo
Jing urged his horse to run even faster and saw that the person was indeed Ouyang
Feng. By now Ouyang Feng had also recognized Guo Jing, he called out, “Come,
quick! Miss Huang has fallen into the quicksand.” Guo Jing was shocked, his legs
squeezed his horse, and the little red horse shot like an arrow forward.

When he was still about a dozen ‘zhang’s away from where Ouyang Feng was
standing, suddenly he felt his horse’s hoofs no longer tread on a solid ground, as if
under the white snow was some kind of marsh. The little red horse also felt it was
stepping on a softer ground, hurriedly it pulled its leg and sped forward. Guo Jing
brought the horse in a big circle and came back, only to see Ouyang Feng
continuously running around a small tree.

“Is he doing some kind of black magic?” Guo Jing wondered. He pulled his rein to
stop the horse because he wanted to ask a question; who would have thought that
his little red horse did not want to stop, but sped forward and circled back. Guo Jing
realized immediately, “Turned out underneath the snow is a soft-mud marsh; we will
sink down as soon as I stop.” But then his blood froze, “Is it possible that Rong’er fell
into this marsh?”

“Where is Miss Huang?” he called out to Ouyang Feng.

Ouyang Feng did not stop running, he called out, “I followed her horse’s track to this
place, then suddenly it disappeared. Look!” While speaking he pointed his finger
toward the small tree.

Guo Jing sped past the tree on the horseback, he saw a bright yellow ring on the tree
branch. He made the little red horse run close to the tree, stretched out his hand and
snatched that ring. It was the golden band Huang Rong wore on her hair. His heart
almost jumped out through his throat.

He turned his horse’s head toward the east. Several ‘li’s later he saw something
glittering on the snow ahead. Bending his body, hanging from the horseback he
stretched his arm out and scooped that thing. It was the flower-patterned gold inlaid
pearl head ornament that Huang Rong often wore. Guo Jing was very anxious,
“Rong’er, Rong’er, where are you?” he shouted at the top of his lungs. He looked
around as far as his eyes could see, but there was not a single movement on the
vast and boundless white plain.

He went several ‘li’s further, toward his left he saw a black sable fur coat lying on the
snowy ground. It was his own coat that he gave to Huang Rong when they first met
at Zhangjiakou [Kalgan?]. He made the little red horse circle around the coat, while
shouting loudly, “Rong’er!” His voice traveled far on the open snowy plain. There was
no hill or mountain around, therefore, there was no echo answering his call. Guo Jing
was extremely anxious, he wanted to cry but no sound was coming out from his
throat.

A moment later Ouyang Feng arrived, “Let me rest on your horseback, then we will
seek Miss Huang together,” he said.

Guo Jing was indignant, “If you did not chase her, how could she fall into this
marsh?” he scolded. Squeezing his legs he made his little red horse leap forward.

Ouyang Feng was angry, he leaped forward, and in three jumps he had already
behind the horse, stretching his hand to grab the horse’s tail.

Guo Jing did not expect him to come this quick, with a ‘Divine Dragon Swings Its
Tail’ his right palm shot backward, crashing Ouyang Feng’s palm, both people were
using their full strength. Guo Jing was blown by Ouyang Feng’s palm strength, his
body flew from his saddle. Fortunately his red horse dashed forward; he stretched
his left hand, grabbing the horse’s buttocks, and swinging his body forward he was
back on his saddle in no time.

Ouyang Feng, on the other hand, was pushed two steps backwards. Because of Guo
Jing’s palm strength he landed heavily; his left leg unexpectedly fell deeply into the
mud, straight to his knee. Ouyang Feng was totally shocked; he knew on this kind of
quicksand, as soon as he exerted his strength and tried to jump out, his right foot
would also fall into the mud. Once both legs were in, it did not matter if his skill was
as high as the sky, he would have a very difficult time pulling his own body out of
the mud. In desperation he laid his body horizontally on the ground, then rolled
around while at the same time kicked his right leg to the air. Using ‘lian huan yuan
yang tui’ [chain mandarin duck’s leg] he borrowed the strength from his right kick to
lift his left foot. Mud splashed everywhere, but his legs were free.

He turned over and stood up, only to hear Guo Jing’s loud calls, “Rong’er! Rong’er!”
The man on the horse had left him for more than a ‘li’. He saw the little red horse
was running steadily; apparently they were already out of the marsh area. Ouyang
Feng decided to pursue, but the further he ran, the more he felt the ground
underneath his feet was getting softer; as if he was at the edge of the marsh and
now he had treaded into the center of it.

Three times had Ouyang Feng fallen under Guo Jing’s hands; the last time he was
forced to be naked in front of hundreds of thousands people. It was an extremely
dangerous situation; other people might admire his martial art skill, but he actually
thought that was his greatest disgrace. This time he met Guo Jing again, alone. Good
or bad he simply had to seek revenge. Even though the terrain was dangerous, he
simply could not let this good opportunity pass. Much less Huang Rong’s life or death
was still unknown; he could not give up in light of this, no way; therefore, in his
anger he decided to pursue Guo Jing.

Displaying his excellent lightness kungfu; in just several ‘li’s he had reached the
speed of a fast horse. Guo Jing heard footsteps on the snow behind him; he turned
his head quickly only to see Ouyang Feng was only several ‘zhang’s behind his
horse’s tail. He was startled, hastily urged his horse to run faster. In just a short
moment they have covered more than a dozen ‘li’s.

Guo Jing did stop calling, “Rong’er!” but he saw the sky was getting darker; Huang
Rong’s fate was increasingly uncertain. His voice was hoarse from shouting, his
occasional choke turned into sobs. The little red horse understood the danger they
were on from the start, as it felt softer ground underneath, it ran even faster;
eventually its four hooves moved so fast as if they were flying above the snow.

‘Han xue bao ma’ [precious horse with blood-like sweats] was a rare animal capable
of running very fast; but Ouyang Feng’s lightness kungfu was not inferior.
Unfortunately he was getting tired, after running for a long time his breathing was
getting heavier, his legs’ strength diminished, his footsteps gradually slowing down.
Little red horse was also sweating profusely; beads of red sweats trickled down from
its body, splashing to the white snow below, next to its hoof tracks, like cherry
blossom in full bloom.

By the time the sky was completely dark the little red horse had completely left the
marsh; early on Ouyang Feng had disappeared without a trace. Guo Jing thought,
“The horse Rong’er was riding did not have this kind of divine speed; it wouldn’t run
for half a li into the marsh without falling into the mud below. Even if I have to lose
my life I must try to rescue her.” He very well realized that Huang Rong had been
missing for a very long time; if she did fall into the marsh, even if he could pull her
out, he would not be able to bring her back to life. So his motivation was really for
his own peace of mind.

Guo Jing dismounted his horse to give it a rest; caressing his horse’s back he said,
“Little horse, oh little horse, today I am asking you not to be afraid of exhaustion.
Let’s take a short rest and then we’ll go again.”

Guo Jing leaped back to his saddle and pulled the rein to turn the horse’ head. The
little red horse was afraid to tread back into the marsh, but Guo Jing kept urging it to
go. Finally with a loud neigh the horse’s four hooves splashed back into the marsh.
The horse knew their destination was still far away, so it ran with all its might, faster
and faster into the marsh.

Suddenly they heard Ouyang Feng’s desperate cry, “Help! Help!” Guo Jing sped his
horse up. Under the glimmering reflection of the white snow he saw Ouyang Feng
had fallen into the mud. His hands were high in the air, flailing chaotically. The mud
was slowly rising, it already reached his chest. As soon as it reached his mouth and
nose, he would certainly be suffocated to death.
Guo Jing could see his desperate situation; he recalled Huang Rong might face
similar danger. His blood boiled inside his chest; he almost dismounted his horse and
fell into the same trap; but decided against doing so at the last minute.

“Quick, help me!” Ouyang Feng cried out.

Guo Jing gritted his teeth and said, “You killed my benevolent masters, you also
killed Miss Huang; do you still want me to save you? Dream on!”

With a stern voice Ouyang Feng replied, “We had made an agreement, you have to
spare my life three times. This is the third time. Are you saying you don’t give a
thought to the good faith?”

With tears in his eyes Guo Jing said, “Miss Huang is no longer alive, what use is our
agreement?”

Ouyang Feng shouted curse and abusive words, but Guo Jing simply ignored him; he
rode his horse away. Only a dozen ‘zhang’s later he heard Ouyang Feng’s pitiful cry.
Guo Jing could not bear it anymore. He heaved a sigh and turned his horse around.
The mud had already reached Ouyang Feng’s neck. “I am willing to save you, but if
both of us ride on this horse, we will sink into the mud together,” he said.

“Use a rope to tow me,” Ouyang Feng suggested. Guo Jing did not carry any rope,
but he remembered his long robe. Grabbing one end, he let his horse ran close to
Ouyang Feng. Ouyang Feng held out his hand and grabbed the other end. Guo Jing
squeezed his legs and gave a loud shout. The little red horse furiously charged
forward and with a loud splashing sound Ouyang Feng was pulled out of the mire and
dragged along on the snowy ground.

If they were heading east, very soon they were going to leave the marsh area; but
Guo Jing was very anxious over Huang Rong, how would he be willing to give up
searching for her? Therefore, they were galloping to the west. Ouyang Feng was still
holding on to the robe, he laid down facing up, being dragged rapidly on the snow.
He used this opportunity to catch his breath.

The little red horse ran very fast, before daybreak they had crossed the marsh. Guo
Jing saw horse’s track on the snow; it was Huang Rong’s horse entering the marsh
area. The track was still there, but what about Huang Rong? Guo Jing dismounted his
horse, stood on the snow, lost in thought.

In his grief he had completely forgotten his archenemy; he stood with his left hand
holding the rein, and his right hand holding the fur coat, his eyes gazing into the
distance, his heart was shaken, beating rapidly.

Suddenly he felt a light touch on his shoulder. He turned around in shock, only to see
Ouyang Feng’s palm was touching his ‘tao dao’ [pottery way] acupoint. When
Ouyang Feng fell into Guo Jing’s trap and he came out from the sand, Guo Jing had
sealed his ‘tao dao’ acupoint. This time Ouyang Feng managed to do the same to
Guo Jing, it was a pay back time; Ouyang Feng could not help but laugh merrily.

Guo Jing was overwhelmed with grief, he had no regard of his life anymore; “If you
want to kill me then just kill me; we don’t have any agreement that you should spare
my life anyway,” he wryly said.
Ouyang Feng was taken aback; he had thought of torturing Guo Jing to disgrace him
before finally taking his life. Who would have thought that Guo Jing did not expect to
live? Ouyang Feng thought, “This dumb kid loves that little girl very much; if I kill
him, then I am helping him fulfilling his desire to die together in the name of love.”
He changed his mind and thought, “That little girl is already buried beneath this
snow; he becomes my only hope of the explanation of the manual.” Grabbing Guo
Jing’s arm he lifted him up and leaped to the horseback. They rode toward a valley in
the south.

About the sixth hour [between 9 – 11 am] he saw a village by the roadside. Ouyang
Feng steered the horse to enter the village, but everywhere he looked there were
corpses scattered around the village. Because the weather was cold, the corpses
were preserved; they looked exactly like the day they were mutilated and killed by
the passing Mongolian army. Ouyang Feng called out several times, but nobody
answered; looked like everybody in that village had died. Instead, he heard cattle
mooing and sheep bleating. Ouyang Feng was delighted. He took Guo Jing to a stone
house and said, “You are my prisoner now. I won’t kill you. If you can defeat me,
you are free to go.” Having said that he took a sheep, butchered it, and boiled it in
the kitchen.

The more Guo Jing saw his smug expression, the more he hated Ouyang Feng.
Ouyang Feng threw a mutton leg to him and said, “I’ll wait until your stomach is full,
then we’ll fight.”

Guo Jing was angry, “You want to fight then fight. Why wait for the full stomach?”
His body flew, his palm hacked down. Ouyang Feng raised his hand to block then
sent out a fist to counterattack.

Very soon they were fighting inside the stone house, among upturned table and
broken chairs. About thirty stances later Guo Jing had to admit his inferiority; he was
half a step in front of Ouyang Feng when Ouyang Feng’s right palm swung onto his
side. It was very difficult for Guo Jing to fend off, all he could do was to wait for his
death. Unexpectedly Ouyang Feng did not exert any strength; he laughed and said,
“It’s enough for today. You go ahead and train martial art from the manual;
tomorrow we’ll fight again.”

“Bah!” Guo Jing spat; he sat on an overturned chair, picked the mutton leg up and
started to eat. He thought, “He wanted to see me using the martial art from the
manual, so that he might observe and steal it. I won’t be fooled. If he wants to kill
me, let him kill … Hmm, his swing just now, how would I block it?”

Thinking about all kinds of fist techniques and palm methods in the manual, he could
not find a single move capable of blocking Ouyang Feng’s attack. He did remember,
however, that there was a technique in the manual called ‘fei xu jin’ [flying cotton
strength], which would allow him to strengthen his back and render Ouyang Feng’s
attack useless.

“I’d better train internal strength; even if he wants to see it, he can’t,” Guo Jing
thought. Immediately he ate the mutton leg clean then sat cross-legged on the
ground; he recited the manual in his heart then started practicing according to the
manual. Since mastering the ‘yi jin duan gu pian’ [changing muscle forging bone
technique], his foundation was getting stronger; moreover, with what Reverend
Yideng had taught him the Manual became like a second nature to him. This ‘fei xu
jin’ for instance, in less than four hours he had learned how to use it.

With the corner of his eye he looked at Ouyang Feng, who was also sitting quietly,
meditating. “Watch out!” Guo Jing called out. Without standing up his palm hacked
down on the enemy.

Ouyang Feng parried the attack while sending out a counterattack. He wanted to
repeat his earlier stance toward Guo Jing’s side. But to his surprise his palm slid
down Guo Jing’s back, slanting to one side; because of his own strength he was
slightly propelled forward. Taking that opportunity Guo Jing’s left palm shot toward
his neck.

Ouyang Feng was startled and pleased at the same time; he continued moving
forward and thus had evaded the attack. He turned around and called out, “Good
move! Was it from the Manual? What is it called?”

“Sha cha yi tui, ai mo qin er,” Guo Jing said.

Ouyang Feng was startled, but then he remembered the weird sentences from the
manual. He thought, “This dumb kid has a profound strength, but he is as
hardheaded as a bull. I have to trick him since brute force will be useless.” Changing
his tactic he fought Guo Jing carefully.

Two people fought without ceasing. As soon as Guo Jing lost they would stop, then
Guo Jing would train himself in new stances. Guo Jing slept soundly during the
nights, but Ouyang Feng slept with trepidation; he was afraid Guo Jing might attack
him in the middle of the night, or that he would try to escape in the dark.

They lived like that in the stone house for over a month, and had eaten almost half
of the cattle and sheep in the village. Within this one month Guo Jing was forced to
train his martial art, while Ouyang Feng tried hard to steal it. What Ouyang Feng had
learned was already profound, but when he verified what he saw at Guo Jing, he
realized there were many discrepancies; it was very difficult from him to link from
one sentence to the next. The more he pondered, the more he did not understand;
and he could not get anything from Guo Jing. In the meantime, within this month
Guo Jing’s martial art had unexpectedly advanced by leaps and bounds.

Ouyang Feng could not help but secretly anxious, “If we continue like this, before I
understand the essence of the manual, I might not be this dumb kid’s match.”

The first several days Guo Jing was filled with hatred; after every fight he would be
more determined than ever to score a victory, he wanted to master a fierce martial
art to kill his enemy. However, he soon learned that this matter was extremely
difficult. He was not discouraged nonetheless; his anger had decreased somewhat,
but his firm resolution had actually increased.

One day he picked a steel sword from among the corpses lying around in the village;
then trained hard on swordsmanship to fight Ouyang Feng’s wooden staff.

Ouyang Feng’s original snake staff fell and was lost in the ocean when he was
fighting Hong Qigong on the boat. Afterwards he made another cast steel staff
complete with new pair of strange snake; but it was also lost when he was trapped
inside the ice block, destroyed by Lu Youjiao. Right now he was using an ordinary
wooden staff, without any assistance from his strange snakes; but his staff technique
was still out-of-this-world, with infinite variations. Several times the staff shook the
sword in Guo Jing’s hand and made it fly. If there were snakes on his staff, definitely
Guo Jing would not be able to resist at all.

In the meantime they heard Genghis Khan’s army returning to the east; the people
and the horses were marching noisily, the noise did not stop for several days. But
two people were engrossed in fighting each other violently, they did not pay the
slightest attention to this. One evening the noise simply stopped, the army had all
gone and nothing was heard except the quietness of the night.

Guo Jing raised his sword straight up, thinking, “Although I can’t win over you
tonight, your wooden staff won’t shake my sword in any way.” He was anxious to try
the new stance he had just learned, but he waited calmly for the opponent to attack
first. Suddenly from outside the house somebody was shouting loudly, “Traitor!
Where are you running to?” Guo Jing was absolutely certain it was the Old Urchin
Zhou Botong’s voice.

Ouyang Feng and Guo Jing looked at each other in bewilderment, they both thought,
“Why did he go thousands of miles to the west?” They wanted to say something, but
heard footsteps came approaching; then two people, one after another, rushed
toward the stone house. There were numerous other buildings in the village, but
apparently they saw that firelight came from this house.

Ouyang Feng waved his left hand and with his internal strength extinguished the fire.
By that time the front door was shoved open, somebody rushed in, with somebody
else hot on his heels; the latter one was indeed Zhou Botong. Both men’s footsteps
were extraordinarily light and nimble; the man in the front’s martial art certainly not
below Zhou Botong’s.

Ouyang Feng marveled greatly, “This man surprisingly able to escape the Old
Urchin’s hand. His skill is very rare among the experts of this generation. If it were
Huang Yaoshi or Hong Qigong, the Old Poison won’t be so surprised.” Because of this
thought he refrained from making any move.

They heard the man in the front jump vertically up and sat on the beam. Zhou
Botong laughed, “The Old Urchin’s favorite game is the hide-and-seek; I won’t let
you slip away anymore.” In the darkness they heard him closing down the front
door, and placed a nearby big rock behind it. He called out, “Stinky thief, where are
you?” At the same time he groped around back and forth to find him.

Guo Jing was thinking of making some noise to tell him the enemy was on the beam,
when suddenly Zhou Botong leaped high while laughing loudly, grabbing that man on
the beam. Turned out he was aware from the start that his enemy was on the beam.
He was deliberately groping around to the east and to the west to throw him off
guard, then suddenly launched a sudden attack.

The man on the beam was not weak either; without waiting for Zhou’s fingers to
touch him he somersaulted and crouched by the north wall. Even though his mouth
was babbling nonsense, but Zhou Botong was actually very wary of this man. He
stopped to listen to his exact location; did not dare to act rashly. In the quietness of
the night he heard three distinct breathings. He had known from the start that this
house must be occupied, since he saw the fire was extinguished. But since they did
not make any sound, he thought they must be frightened; thereupon he called out,
“Master of the house please don’t be afraid, I am here to capture this little thief.
Once I get him I will go out immediately.”

He knew ordinary people’s breathing was rough and heavy, while those with strong
internal energy would breathe slowly and long, light and deep; with just a little
attention they were very easy to distinguish. But when he cocked his ears to listen,
the people toward his north, east and west were all breathing low and slowly.

Zhou Botong was greatly surprised, “Traitor,” he called out, “You have prepared an
ambush here!”

Guo Jing wanted to open his mouth to greet him, but changed his mind at the last
minute; he thought, “Ouyang Feng is lurking on the side, the man Zhou Dage [Big
Brother Zhou] is chasing is another powerful enemy. I’d better stay quiet and wait
for a good opportunity to help him.”

Zhou Botong moved step by step toward the front door while mumbling, “Looked like
before the Old Urchin can capture the enemy, he would be captured by the enemy.”
He had made a decision to dash out the door if the situation was unfavorable. Right
at that moment came a rumbling noise from a distance; hoof beats sounded like an
evening tide came crashing the shore. It looked like a strong army with multitude of
horses had arrived to kill.

Zhou Botong called out, “You have more and more helpers coming, the Old Urchin
doesn’t want to play anymore.” While saying that he picked the rock stopping the
door as if he was about to open the door and leave; but then suddenly he hurled the
rock toward the man he chased. The rock was not light; Ouyang Feng placed that
rock behind the door every night, so that if Guo Jing wanted to sneak out he would
find out even when he was sleeping.

Ouyang Feng heard the wind carried a lot of strength in it, he thought that when the
Old Urchin threw the stone, his right flank must have been defenseless; if he
attacked him first, not only he would have one less enemy for the present time, but
also during the second Sword Meet of Mount Hua he would have one less powerful
contestant. Having this intention he bent his knee, slightly squatting, pushed both
hands together to launch a ‘Toad Stance’ attack.

He was squatting on the west, therefore, his attack was toward the east, carrying a
very strong energy. Guo Jing had fought him for dozens of days, he knew by heart
Ouyang Feng’s every action and every movement even though the room was pitch
black. As soon as he heard the gust of wind, he knew Ouyang Feng was attacking
Zhou Botong. Guo Jing stepped forward and launched the ‘Proud Dragon Repents’ to
meet Ouyang Feng’s ‘Toad Stance’ head-on.

In the meantime the man who was standing on the north also heard the big rock was
flying his way; he bent his knees to get a stronger stand, and push both hands
forward, creating a strong force striking the big rock.

Four people from four directions sending out four forces; even though they did not
release their energy at exactly the same time, but the forces were actually not
inferior one to another. The big rock was struck by forces from east, south, west and
north; it fell on the center of the room. ‘Crash!’ with a loud noise it broke the table to
smithereens.

The sound was actually very loud; which Zhou Botong thought amusing. He could
not restrain from bursting into loud laughter. But his laughter was drowned by the
sound of thousands of cavalry soldiers entering the village. They could hear the
warhorses neighing, the weapons clashing, and the soldiers shouting their battle cry.

Guo Jing listened to the officers’ commands, and he found out they were the
defeated army of Khoresm entering the village, perhaps trying to hold their ground
in the village; but it sounded like the Mongolian army had pursued them. He heard
the hoof beats, the sound of battle flag fluttered in the wind, the loud battle cry, as
well as flying arrows near and far. It sounded like the armies were engaged in a
close hand-to-hand combat. The four people in the house did not know for certain
how many soldiers were fighting outside. Suddenly someone shoved the door open
and came in. Zhou Botong grabbed that person and flung him back outside; then he
lifted the rock and placed it back behind the door.

As Ouyang Feng’s attack failed, he thought that he had been discovered anyway, so
he called out, “Old Urchin, do you know who I am?”

Zhou Botong indistinctly heard someone speaking, but because of the noise he could
not distinguish who the speaker was. He raised his left hand to guard against an
attack while stretching his right hand to grab. Ouyang Feng easily neutralized this
grab with his right hand, while slapping with the back of his left hand. Zhou Botong
parried this attack, he was startled, “The Old Poison! You are here?” he called out.
He swayed his body slightly, leaning to the left. At that very moment the man on the
north took the opportunity to attack Zhou Botong’s back.

Zhou Botong’s right hand engaged Ouyang Feng, while his left fist parried the attack
to his back. He was thinking of testing the mutual hands combat that he created on
the Peach Blossom Island. Until that day Zhou Botong had not tested his special skill
against two masters; so even though he was in danger, he could not let this good
opportunity to pass. But suddenly Guo Jing from the east threw himself into the
fight; his right hand parried Zhou Botong’s fist, while his left hand engaged that
person’s attack.

Three people simultaneously called out in alarm; Zhou Botong shouted, “Guo Xiongdi
[Brother Guo],” that person shouted, “Guo Jing,” and Guo Jing himself cried out,
“Qiu Qianren.”

Zhou Botong was scared by the snakes at the martial art contest at the ‘yan yu lou’
[Misty Rain Tavern]; he saw no way to escape, so he laid down on top of the tavern’s
roof, using layers upon layers of split-bamboo sheets to cover up his body. Because
his ‘armor’ was so thick no arrow could harm him, Ouyang Feng’s vipers were also
helpless to climb to the roof. When the morning fog was gone, the snakes, as well as
the soldiers were also gone; so was everybody else, he did not know where they
went. He was bored to death, so he just wandered around everywhere.

A few months later a Beggar Clan disciple delivered a letter to him; it was from
Huang Rong. In the letter Huang Rong reminded him that he had promised no
matter what Huang Rong asked, he would comply. Now Huang Rong wanted him to
go kill the Clan Leader of the Iron Palm Clan, Qiu Qianren. She explained that
Emperor Duan’s Concubine Liu had a very deep enmity against this man; if he killed
him, Concubine Liu would not look for him anymore. Otherwise, Concubine Liu would
find him even to the end of the earth, to take him as her husband. Huang Rong also
gave him the detail of the Iron Palm Peak’s exact location.

Zhou Botong thought that his promise ‘to comply no matter what’ was actually given
to Huang Rong; but that old scoundrel Qiu Qianren colluded with the Jins, he was a
traitor, so he felt it was appropriate to kill him. As for his own affair with Concubine
Liu, he realized he had offended her deeply; she had a deep enmity against Qiu
Qianren, so if he lent her a hand, she might not come and bother him anymore, and
that would be an awfully good luck for him. Therefore, he decided to go to the Iron
Palm Peak.

At first Qiu Qianren was able to match him stance for stance, but as soon as Zhou
Botong used the mutual hands combat technique, Qiu Qianren was forced to
withdraw. When martial art masters contended, as soon as one admit inferiority,
then victory or defeat should be decided; who would have thought that Zhou Botong
did not want to stop and kept chasing him. Qiu Qianren did ask him the reason
behind it several times, but Zhou Botong only looked at him with a blank expression;
could not tell him the real reason. He only said three characters ‘liu gui fei’
[Concubine Liu]; and that would be enough to take his head.

Two men fought and stop, one ran away the other chased; they went farther and
farther away. Zhou Botong’s martial art was slightly superior to Qiu Qianren’s; yet it
would not be easy for him to kill Qiu Qianren. Qiu Qianren had tried any means
possible to get rid of him; but Zhou Botong doggedly chased him anywhere he went.
He thought, “Would you still chase me if I go to the bitter cold west?” On the other
hand Zhou Botong thought, “I want to see where you would go; then I’ll go back
home.”

As soon as they arrive at the desert outside the great wall, the landscape was flat, it
was easy to follow someone’s trail; Qiu Qianren did not have any place to hide.
Fortunately Zhou Botong had shown a good faith toward him; whenever Qiu Qianren
needed to sleep or sat down to eat his meal, or perhaps he was having a bowel
movement or urinating, Zhou Botong did not disturb him in any way; he simply did
the same. But no matter what Qiu Qianren did, no matter how bad he cursed him,
the Old Urchin haunted him like a ghost, continuously pestering him.

The more Zhou Botong fought Qiu Qianren, the more excited he became. Several
times he did gain an upper hand, but unexpectedly he did not kill Qiu Qianren. That
particular day, two men fought and ran and by a pure coincidence rushed into the
stone building.

Now Zhou and Guo two people knew who the other three people were, but when the
three of them called out each other’s name, their voices were drown by the loud
commotion outside; hence Ouyang Feng still did not know who the other person was.
He only knew that person was Zhou Botong’s enemy. On the other hand, Qiu
Qianren thought the other two were on the same side.

Zhou, Qiu and Ouyang, all three people possessed outstanding martial art skills; but
after battling Ouyang Feng for more than a month, Guo Jing’s martial art level was
also improving by leaps and bound, which enable him to keep pace with the other
three. These four martial art masters were confined in a pitch-black, approximately
two ‘zhang’s square room; they could not see a thing, could not hear each other, and
could not talk to each other. It was as if they had turned into deaf, mute and blind
people.

“If I block Ouyang Feng, then Zhou Dage can finish off Qiu Qianren. After that it
won’t be too difficult for us two people to join forces to kill Ouyang Feng,” Guo Jing
thought. Once he reached that decision, his hands started to move. His right hand
hit an empty air, while his left palm met someone else’s hand.

On the Peach Blossom Island Guo Jing had fought Zhou Botong countless of times;
therefore, as soon as his palm touched Zhou’s hand, he knew immediately it was his
Zhou Dage, he retracted his palm quickly. Unexpectedly Zhou Botong’s childlike
enthusiasm was aroused; he slightly shrank his left arm then sent out a right fist
toward Guo Jing’s shoulder. This hit did not carry any strong internal energy, but
since Guo Jing did not guard against it, he felt pain nonetheless.

“Hao Xiongdi [Good Brother], you want to test your Dage’s martial art? Be careful!”
Zhou Botong said, his left palm shot out. Guo Jing could not hear what he said, but
this time he was prepared; he wielded his arms and neutralized the attack.

By this time Ouyang Feng and Qiu Qianren had also exchanged several stances; as a
result they recognized the opponent by his martial art. These two men did not have
any enmity against each other, but they both thought that the Sword Meet of Mount
Hua was coming. Potentially they were going to fight a life and death battle against
each other anyway; therefore, why not try to inflict as much damage as possible to
the opponent since they have the opportunity now? Hence they did not slack one bit.

After fighting for a moment they felt gusts of wind blowing behind them, to their
surprise Zhou Botong was fighting Guo Jing. They were bewildered, but then they
remembered Zhou Botong always handled matters differently, he was an
unpredictable man; besides, it gave them a good opportunity, why wouldn’t they be
happy? Thus without prior agreement they both attacked Zhou Botong and Guo Jing.

After exchanging more than a dozen moves with Guo Jing; Zhou Botong found out
that Guo Jing’s martial art was far more advanced than what he had known, he was
pleasantly surprised. “Xiongdi, where did you learn your martial art from?” he asked.
But the noise outside was deafening, how could Guo Jing hear what he said? Zhou
Botong was offended, “Fine, you don’t want to tell me. Do you think I care?” Right at
that moment he felt a gust of wind on his face, Ouyang and Qiu’s attacks had
arrived. Zhou Botong kicked the ground and leaped up to the beam. “I’ll let you fight
these two alone!” he called out.

Ouyang Feng and Qiu Qianren felt the wind from Zhou Botong’s sleeves, they
realized he had jumped to the beam; they had the same thought of joining forces
and kill this dumb kid, suddenly Guo Jing had to face a converging attack from left
and right.

Initially Guo Jing was surrounded by Zhou Botong’s attacks; he had tried four, five
different techniques but was unable to free himself. He was waiting for Zhou Botong
to withdraw when two powerful enemies attacked; which forced him to groan
inwardly. He had no choice but braced himself and used the mutual hands combat
technique to resist these two.
After fighting for a while Ouyang Feng and Qiu Qianren were unable to restrain their
amazement. Knowing Guo Jing’s skill, either one of Ouyang Feng or Qiu Qianren
should be able to defeat him easily. Who would have thought that after fighting two
against one, Guo Jing’s left palm could block Ouyang Feng’s attacks, while his right
fist thwarted Qiu’s palms? Two people were helpless against one.

Zhou Botong was sitting on the beam; he had decided to get down, but was afraid
Guo Jing might get hurt, so quietly he slid down the wall, stretching out both his
hands arbitrarily, and by coincidence caught Ouyang Feng’s back.

Ouyang Feng was squatting on the ground, ready to strike Guo Jing with his fierce
Toad Stance; suddenly he felt somebody on his back, hastily he sent his palms
backward. Guo Jing seized this opportunity to kick Qiu Qianren then leap to the
corner of the house, gasping for breath. If Zhou Botong were one step late, he would
be injured by Ouyang Feng’s attack.

Four people in the pitch-black room clashed to each other then separated from each
other. Sometimes Zhou Botong fought Qiu Qianren, sometimes Guo Jing fought Qiu
Qianren, sometimes Ouyang Feng fought Qiu Qianren, sometimes Zhou Botong
fought Ouyang Feng, and sometimes Guo Jing fought Zhou Botong. Four people
engaged in this mixed-up fight, among them Zhou Botong was most excited; it was
the most fun among all of his fights, of course he would not let this opportunity pass.

After fighting for a while an idea popped up in his head. “My two hands can be
considered two people; Ouyang and Qiu are also two. See if you can fight four
people at once. Have you ever tried this?” he asked Guo Jing.

Guo Jing did not hear what he said, but suddenly felt three people attack him at the
same time; desperately he tried to block and evade. “Don’t be afraid, don’t be
afraid,” Zhou Botong encouraged him, “I will help you if you are in danger.” But in
this dark room, as soon as somebody sent out a fist or a kick, his life would be in
grave danger; how could Zhou Botong have time to help?

A dozen or so stances later Guo Jing was already dead-tired; he felt Ouyang and Qiu,
two people’s fists were getting heavier and heavier, he was forced to step back one
step after another. He wanted to jump up the beam to catch his breath, but Zhou
Botong’s palms did not give him any slack. He was both alarmed and angry, finally
he lost his patience, “Zhou Dage, you silly old man, why do you bother me?” but his
words were drowned by the commotion outside, nobody heard him.

Guo Jing withdrew several more steps, suddenly his feet knocked the big rock on the
ground; he nearly tumbled down. Before he had any chance to straighten up his
waist, Qiu Qianren’s iron palm was ready to slap him down. In this dire situation Guo
Jing did not lose his wit, swiftly he picked the big rock up and held it in front of his
chest. Qiu Qianren’s palm hit the rock. Guo Jing focused his strength on his arms and
pushed the rock forward to meet the attack. Suddenly he felt gust of wind coming
from his left; Ouyang Feng’s palm had arrived. With a loud shout Guo Jing threw the
big rock upward, while he jumped sideways to evade the attack.

The big rock flew through the roof; bricks and plasters fell down like rain.
Immediately the stars in the sky above cast a dim light through the hole. Zhou
Botong was angry, “Look what you did! Now we lost all the fun!”
Guo Jing was extremely exhausted; he kicked the ground and jumped out through
the hole. Ouyang Feng hastily flew up to chase him. Zhou Botong shouted, “Don’t
go! Don’t go! Stay here and play with me.” He stretched out his hand to grab
Ouyang Feng’s left foot. Ouyang Feng was startled, quickly his right foot kicked,
forcing Zhou Botong’s hand to let go; but as a result he could not jump and was
forced to land back down.

Qiu Qianren did not wait for him to land, he sent out a kick toward Ouyang Feng’s
chest. Ouyang Feng slightly pulled his chest back while stretching out his arm to
grab Qiu Qianren’s ankle. Three people once again engaged in a fierce battle against
each other. This time they could vaguely see each other’s shadow; while the battle
noise outside was also gradually diminishing. The thrill of the fight decreased
substantially.

Zhou Botong was upset, he lost his interest; he vented his disappointment toward
these two people. His fist technique changed abruptly, he fought the two people with
murderous intention.

After escaping from the house via the roof, Guo Jing saw the troops and horses
running around swiftly; he could also hear the sound of clashing weapons in a
distance. Oftentimes he heard heart-rending groan and cry of soldiers wounded by
blades or arrows. He dashed through these miserable people, running toward a small
wood outside the village to lie down and take some rest.

He had fought fiercely for half a night, as he lay down, he felt his whole body,
muscles and bones were aching, like they were going to crack. Recalling the fight
inside that stone house, he shivered involuntarily. Although worried about Zhou
Botong’s safety, but with his martial art level he knew even if he came back there he
would not be able to help Zhou escape. Finally he closed his eyes and fell into a deep
sleep.

Early morning the next day he felt his face was wet and cold, something was
wiggling around on his face. Startled he opened his eyes and leaped up, only to
listen to a happy neighing sound. Turned out it was his little red horse licking his
face. Guo Jing was delighted, immediately he hugged the horse’s neck; one man and
one horse embraced in a joyful reunion.

When Guo Jing was held captive by Ouyang Feng, the red horse was let loose
outside; it went grazing on the nearby prairie. During the fierce battle last night the
horse utilized its swift legs to escape. When the soldiers were gone, the horse came
back and found its master.

Guo Jing led the red horse returned to the village only to see broken bows and
arrows everywhere, dead soldiers and horses scattered all around. Here and there he
saw injured soldiers who were still alive, crying out pitifully. He had been in a lot of
battles, he was accustomed to dead or wounded soldiers; but recalling his own life
experience he could not refrain from feeling a great sorrow.

Quietly he returned to the stone building. Cocking his ears outside he tried to listen,
but the house was quiet. He took a peek through a crack in the door and saw no one
inside. He pushed the door open to see; but Zhou Botong, Ouyang Feng, and Qiu
Qianren three people had already disappeared without ay trace.
He stared blankly for half a day then mounted his horse heading east. The little red
horse ran very fast, very soon they caught up with Genghis Khan’s main army.

By this time Khoresm cities had either surrendered or been destroyed; hundreds of
thousand warriors had fallen like broken tiles. Khoresm king, Muhammad, was a
haughty tyrant; he was deserted by his friends and allies. He led the remnants of his
defeated army desperately escape to the west. Genghis Khan assigned his senior
generals, Subotai and Jebeh to lead twenty thousand soldiers to pursue to the west;
while he led the main army went home to the east.

Subotai and Jebeh pursued to the west of modern day city of Moscow, to the city of
Kiev nearby the bank of Dnieper River. They crushed several hundred thousands of
Russia and Kipchak alliance army; destroyed the city of Kiev and killed the Hertog
[Grand Duke] of Kiev along with eleven princes by running a chariot over them. This
war was called ‘The Battle of the Kalka River’. Since then the Russian prairie groaned
under the Mongolian horses’ hoofs.

Muhammad went as far west as he could, finally he escaped to a deserted island on

the Caspian Sea and died of illness there.

When suddenly Guo Jing disappeared at Samarkhand, Genghis Khan was very
worried. He was afraid that Guo Jing somehow got killed in the chaotic battle without
anybody knowing it. Seeing him return safe and sound he was really thrilled.
Needless to say, Princess Huazheng was even more overjoyed.

Qiu Chuji followed the main army went back to the east. Along the way he was
always giving advice to the Great Khan to love the people more and kill innocent
civilians less. Although Genghis Khan did not necessarily agree with his view, he
realized the Priest spoke reasonably, hence he did not argue too much. In the
chaotic battles that followed, Qiu Chuji had succeeded in saving innumerable
civilians’ lives.

Khoresm was located tens of thousands of ‘li’s from Mongolia; the return of Genghis
Khan’s army to the east took a very long time. As soon as they arrived back home,
he held a big feast to celebrate their victory by the bank of Onon River; while giving
the injured soldiers time to recuperate. Qiu Chuji and his disciples, along with Lu
Youjiao and the rest of the Beggar Clan disciples took their leave and went back to
the south.

Several months later Genghis Khan saw his warriors had eaten to their hearts’
contents, their horses galloped freely on the prairie; his interest to attack the south
was rekindled. One day he held a general assembly to discuss strategies to defeat
the Jin country.

Ever since Huang Rong’s death, Guo Jing was broken hearted; oftentimes he went
riding alone with only his little red horse and his pair of eagles to keep him company,
wandering the vast Mongolian prairie. Most of the time he would just stare blankly
and not say anything for a few days. Princess Huazheng was always trying to speak
warmly to him, but it seemed like he did not hear anything she said. Everybody
knew his feelings, knew that he was grieving, so nobody dared to bring up the
wedding plan; while Genghis Khan was busy preparing the expedition to the south
and did not pay attention to this matter.
That day at the general assembly inside the Great Khan’s Golden Tent, many
generals proposed various tactics and strategies to attack the south; yet Guo Jing
did not utter a single word.

After dismissing his generals, Genghis Khan went to the top of a small hill and stayed
there for half a day, to think of the actions he would take. The next day he
dispatched his army to attack the Jins from three directions. At that moment his
eldest son Jochi and his second son Chagatai were still busy consolidating their
conquests in the west; therefore, he put the main army to take the Jins down under
his third son, Ogedei; while the left flank was placed under the command of his
fourth son, Tuolei, and the right flank was placed under Guo Jing’s command.

Genghis Khan summoned the three commander-in-chiefs privately; he even ordered

his personal guards to leave the tent. To Ogedei, Tuolei and Guo Jing he said, “The
Jins concentrate their defense in the city of Tongguan; the city is bordered on the
south by a mountain and on the north by a river, it really is difficult to break.
Numerous generals’ proposals all have some ground to them, but if we advance
frontally, unavoidably we will waste a lot of time. Currently our Mongolia has formed
an alliance with the Great Song; I think the best strategy would be advancing
through the Song territory. From Tangzhou the army to proceed via Dengzhou
straight to the Jin capital Daliang.”

As Ogedei, Tuolei and Guo Jing three people heard to this point, they jumped and
hugged each other, loudly shouted, “Ingenious plan!”

Genghis Khan smiled and asked Guo Jing, “You are very good in battle strategy;
truly a man after my own heart. Let me ask you, after attacking Daliang, then
what?”

Guo Jing contemplated for a while then shook his head, “We are not attacking
Daliang,” he said.

Ogedei and Tuolei clearly heard their father king said they were going to attack
Daliang, why did Guo Jing say they were not going to? They were startled and looked
at him with a questioning look. Genghis Khan still showed a faint smile on his face,
“Not attacking Daliang, then what?” he asked.

“Not attacking is actually attacking; attack but do not attack, do not attack but
attack,” Guo Jing said. He made Ogedei and Tuolei more confused than ever.

“Attack but do not attack, do not attack but attack [gong er bu gong, bu gong er
gong],” Genghis Khan smiled, “These eight characters were very well said. Explain it
to your two brothers.”

Guo Jing complied. “I can guess the Great Khan’s troops advancement method; we
pretend to attack the Jin capital, destroying the enemy under the city wall. Daliang is
where the Jin Emperor resides, but the troops stationed there are actually not too
many. As soon as it is under attack, the Jins will immediately send troops from the
neighboring city Tongguan to rescue. Chinese military strategist said, ‘A massive
troops movement can’t be done in a day; traveling hundreds of ‘li’s is draining the
energy and crippling the three generals. Strong at first, weary in the end. This is the
eleventh method.’ By traveling fast for a hundred ‘li’s, the soldiers strength will be
reduced to only 10% of their original strength. As they leave Tongguan and go to
Daliang, the great distance is their biggest disadvantage; they should take ten rest
stops, but can only take one instead. Even if they reach Daliang on time, they will be
weary and unable to fight. Our troops simply have to wait for the exhausted enemy
then we can easily destroy the Jin army. Once the strong Jin army is defeated, then
Daliang will fall. If we concentrate on directly attacking Daliang, not only it will be
difficult, but we can be attacked from both front and rear.”

Genghis Khan clapped his hands and laughed aloud, he called out, “Well said, well
said!” He pulled a scroll out and spread it on the table. Three people looked at it and
were greatly astonished. Turned out it was the map of Daliang and its neighboring
area. On it were drawn routes of troop’s movement, both theirs and the enemy’s. It
also contained strategies on how to attack the enemy’s rear flank, how to attack the
enemy’s main body, how to lure and destroy the incoming enemies from Tongguan,
how to make them weary and obliterate them outside the city wall; everything was
just as Guo Jing had said.

Ogedei and Tuolei looked at their father king, also looked at Guo Jing with
bewilderment and admiration on their face. Guo Jing’s heart was also full of
admiration, he thought, “I learned the military strategy from the ‘Wumu Legacy’,
nothing strange about it; but the Great Khan is illiterate, he possesses a natural
ability for this kind of things.”

Genghis Khan continued, “In our expedition to the south this time, I am sure the Jins
will be destroyed. I have here three embroidered pouches for each one of you. After
Daliang falls, the three of you should gather inside the imperial palace of the Jin
emperor; you can open them up and act accordingly.” Upon saying that he took
those embroidered pouches from his pocket and gave one to each of them.

As Guo Jing received the pouch, he saw that the mouth was sealed with wax and the
seal carried the image of Genghis Khan’s signet ring.

“Before entering Daliang, I forbid you to open the pouch without authorization,”
Genghis Khan said, “Before you open them, I want the three of you to examine each
other’s pouch to see if the seal is damaged.”

The three of them bowed and said, “Who dare to defy The Great Khan’s decree?”

Genghis Khan asked Guo Jing, “You are usually slow in dealing everyday affairs; but
how come you are so resourceful in dealing with military strategy?” Guo Jin then told
him how he studied the military strategy from the ‘Wumu Legacy’. Genghis Khan
asked him the life story of Yue Fei. Guo Jing told him how Yue Fei scored a big
victory over the Jins at the ‘zhu xian zhen’ [vermillion immortal small town]; that the
Jins gave him a nickname, ‘Yue Yeye’ [grandfather Yue]; that they had a saying,
‘shaking a mountain is easy, shaking Yue’s army is difficult’; Guo Jing recounted
everything.

Genghis Khan was silent, carrying his hands behind his back he paced back and forth
inside his tent; sighing, “I regret I was not born a hundred years earlier to befriend
this great hero. In this world today, who can be my rival?” His words carried a great
loneliness.

As he was leaving the Golden Tent, Guo Jing remembered that in the past several
days he had been busy with military business and did not spend as much time with
his mother as he should. Since the next day he was going south leading the troops to
avenge his country, the Great Song, against its archenemy, the Jin; today he wanted
to spend as much time with his mother as he could. Hence he immediately headed
toward his mother’s tent.

To his surprise, the tent was empty, all her clothes and other belongings were moved
someplace else; only an old soldier stayed there on guard duty. He asked the soldier,
and was told that the madam surnamed Li had received the Great Khan’s order to
move to another tent. Guo Jing asked where the new tent was, and quickly walked
over. He was surprised to see the tent was several times bigger than the one she
used to live in. He lifted the curtain to enter, and he was even more surprised; the
tent was full of gold, jade, and precious jewels, as well as fancy clothes and
embroidery works; they were all the spoils of Mongolian army’s military expedition.

Princess Huazheng was sitting next to Li Ping, listening to her story about Guo Jing’s
childhood. As she saw Guo Jing enter, she smiled, stood up and greeted him.

“Ma [mother], where did all these things come from?” Guo Jing asked.

“The Great Khan says you have rendered a great service in the west; therefore, he
bestowed all of these for you to enjoy,” Li Ping answered. “Actually, we are simple
people and have no use of these extravagances.”

Guo Jing nodded, he also saw there were more than eight maids attending to his
mother’s needs; they were also captives that the troops seized.

After making some idle talk with Guo Jing and his mother for a while, Huazheng took
her leave. She thought Guo Jing would leave for another long journey the next day,
so he must have had a lot to talk about with her today. Who would have thought
that after waiting outside the tent for half a day Guo Jing did not come out. Li Ping
understood, she said, “Jing’er, Princess is waiting for you outside, you need to say
goodbye to her.”

Guo Jing replied in affirmative, but did not budge from his chair. Li Ping sighed, “We
have lived in this northern country for twenty years. Although we have received the
Great Khan’s benevolence like we are part of his family, but actually I miss my
hometown very much. I hope you can defeat the Jin country soon, so that we,
mother and son, will be able to return to our hometown. We can live in the Ox
Village, where your father’s home used to be. I know you are not greedy of fame and
fortune, so you don’t need to go back north. Only this business with the Princess, I
don’t know how to deal with; it is a really difficult matter.”

“Your son had early on told the Princess, that if Rong’er died, your son will never
marry for the rest of my life,” Guo Jing said.

Li Ping sighed, “Perhaps the Princess can accept that, but what worries me most is
the Great Khan.”

“What about the Great Khan?” Guo Jing asked.

“These past few days the Great Khan all of a sudden treats us, mother and child,
with an unusual kindness,” Li Ping answered, “He showered us with money, precious
jewels, everything. He said it was your reward from the expedition to the west, but I
have lived in this northern Mongolian desert for twenty years, I know the Great
Khan’s personality. I feel like there is more to it than what meets the eye.”

“Ma,” Guo Jing said, “What do you think it is?”

“I am just a simple woman, how could I have a respected opinion?” Li Ping said, “But
if my intuition is right, the Great Khan wants to compel us to do something for him.”

“Hmm, perhaps he wants me to marry the Princess,” Guo Jing guessed.

“Getting married is a good thing,” Li Ping answered, “Even if the Great Khan does
not know your feeling, he does not need to compel you. The way I see it, you are
commanding a big army to the south; maybe the Great Khan is afraid you will have a
change of heart and rebel against him.”

Guo Jing shook his head, “I have no intention to gain riches and honor, and the
Great Khan knew it. Why would I rebel against him?”

“I have an idea,” Li Ping said, “We will find out quietly what the Great Khan’s real
intention is. Tell him that I miss my hometown very much, and want to go along to
the south with you. Tell him that, see what he would say.”

Guo Jing was delighted, “Ma, why didn’t you say so earlier? We go home together,
that will be wonderful! I am sure the Great Khan will give his permission.” He went
out the tent and did not see Huazheng outside. He thought perhaps she had waited
for a while and could not wait much longer.

Guo Jing was gone for half a day, and he came back dejected. “The Great Khan did
not give us his permission, did he?” Li Ping asked.

“I don’t understand,” Guo Jing replied, “Why would the Great Khan want to keep you
here?” Li Ping was silent. “The Great Khan said,” Guo Jing continued, “That as soon
as the Jin country is defeated, he will let me take you home; we will return with all
the glory and honor. Why would I want that? I said mother misses her home very
much and wants to go home sooner. The Great Khan suddenly looked angry, he kept
shaking his head, did not give us his permission.”

Li Ping hesitated. “What else did the Great Khan say to you today?” she asked.

Guo Jing told her everything that happened inside the Golden Tent earlier, how he
received his assignment, including the secret order he received inside the
embroidered pouch.

“Ay!” Li Ping sighed, “If only your Second Master and Rong’er were here, they should
be able to shed some lights on this matter. It’s a pity I am only a simple country girl.
The more I think about it, the more restless I became; I don’t know why.”

Guo Jing played with the embroidered pouch in his hand; he said, “When the Great
Khan gave this embroidered pouch, his face looked unusual. I am afraid it has
something to do with this secret order.”

Li Ping took the embroidered pouch from his hand; she looked at it carefully, then
she dismissed all the maids and suddenly said, “Let’s open it up and take a look.”
Guo Jing was shocked, “No! Breaking the royal seal means death.”

Li Ping smiled, “Do you know that the embroidery work of the Lin’an prefecture is
well-known throughout the world? Your mother is a Lin’an native, I have learned
embroidery since my childhood. I can open up this pouch without damaging the seal,
and I can sew it back on as good as new. Nobody will find out.”

Guo Jing was delighted. Li Ping fetched her needles and carefully undid the silk
thread that was holding the embroidered pouch together. She took a folded paper
through the seam and spread it out to take a look. As they read the paper, mother
and son looked at each other; a chill crept up their bodies.

Turned out it was Genghis Khan’s secret order to Ogedei, Tuolei and Guo Jing; as
soon as the Jin is defeated, they were to proceed south to Lin’an in the shortest time
possible, to defeat the Song and unify it under the Great Mongolia. The secret order
also said that if Guo Jing rendered a great merit, he was to be crowned the prince
with all glory and honor belonging to that title; but if he harbored a different mind,
Ogedei and Tuolei were to behead him immediately, and his mother must also be
executed.

Guo Jing stared blankly for half a day, finally he said, “Ma, if not for your skill in
opening up this pouch, I don’t know if we, mother and child, could have kept our
lives. I am a citizen of our Great Song, how could I sell my own country for personal
gain?”

“What are we going to do?” Li Ping asked.

“Ma, I regret that you will have to suffer some hardship,” Guo Jing said, “We are
running away to the south, tonight.”

“Absolutely,” Li Ping replied, “Go and make necessary preparation; don’t let anybody
find out our plan.”

Guo Jing nodded; quickly returned to his own tent. He only took several changes of
clothing. Other than his little red horse, he took eight horses, with the thought of his
mother and he could rely on those horses to escape in case the Great Khan’s army
pursued them. He left all the gold and precious jewels the Great Khan gave him,
along with the tiger-head hilt golden blade, in the tent. He removed his general
uniform and put on regular leather clothing. He grew up in the desert, today he was
going to leave for good, never to return, he could not refrain from feeling sadness in
his heart. He left the tent he considered to be home with a heavy heart. He saw the
sky was getting darker, so quickly he went back to his mother’s tent.

Lifting the tent cover his heart skipped a beat. His mother was gone; only two
bundles lying on the ground. “Ma!” he called out, but nobody answered. He felt
something was terribly wrong; he was about to go out of the tent to look for his
mother when suddenly the curtain was lifted up, a bright light from a torch dazzled
his eyes. General Chilaun was standing outside the tent, calling out, “The Great Khan
summons the Golden Blade Consort!” Chilaun was accompanied by a great number
of soldiers, all wielding spears.

Seeing this situation Guo Jing was really anxious. If he relied on his martial art,
Chilaun would not be able to do anything to him, but he remembered his mother,
“Mother must be captured by the Great Khan, how I could escape alone?” he
thought. Thus he followed Chilaun walking toward the Golden Tent.

He saw two-thousand of the Great Khan’s archers were arrayed in row after row
outside the tent, all wielding long sabers or halberds. Chilaun said, “The Great Khan
ordered me to bind you. Please forgive me for offending the Consort.” Guo Jing
nodded, put his hands behind his back, then in big strides he entered the tent.

It was very bright, almost like a daytime, with dozens of butter candles burning
inside the tent. Genghis Khan looked very angry, he slapped a table and shouted, “I
have never treated you badly; I raised you up since you were little; I also gave my
beloved daughter to be your wife. Little thief, you dare to rebel against me?”

Guo Jing saw the embroidered pouch and the letter inside it were lying on the table;
he knew he would die soon. Boldly he answered, “I am the Great Song’s citizen. How
can I obey your order to attack my own country?”

Hearing him boldly defying his words, Genghis Khan was enraged. “Take him out and
execute him!” he shouted.

Guo Jing’s hands were tightly tied behind his back, while eight soldiers wielding
sabers guarded him; he was unable to resist, he shouted loudly, “You made an
alliance with the Great Song to defeat the Jins; halfway there you renounced your
own promise, you failed to keep your word, what kind of hero is that?”

Genghis Khan was livid; his foot flew out and kicked the table upside down, shouted
loudly, “After the Jin is defeated my alliance with the Song will be completed. If I
attack the south, how can you say I break my promise? Quickly behead him!”

A lot of the generals were actually good to Guo Jing, but seeing their Great Khan was
in fury, nobody dared to say anything. Guo Jing did not say another word. He walked
out of the tent in big strides.

Suddenly from the prairie Toulei came rushing in, riding on a horseback, shouting
loudly, “Hold your blade!” His upper body was naked, while only wearing a pair of
leather pants on his lower body. It looked like he was asleep when the report came;
hastily he came over to plead for Guo Jing. He rushed into the Golden Tent and said,
“Father King, Guo Jing Anda has rendered a great service; he had saved your life as
well as mine. Although he had committed a capital crime, you can’t behead him.”

Recalling Guo Jing’s merits Genghis Khan called out, “Bring him back!” The guards
took him back into the tent.

Genghis Khan was silent for half a day; he finally said, “You are loyal to the Song;
what good does it bring you? Once you told me the story of Yue Fei; he was utterly
loyal, serving his country, yet in the end he was executed anyway. You help me
conquering the Song Dynasty, today in front of all these people I give you my oath
that I am going to make you the king of the Song, then you can unify your river and
mountain [jiang shan – meaning country].”

“I have never dared to rebel against the Great Khan,” Guo Jing said, “But if you want
me to sell my own country in exchange of my own riches and honor, then although a
thousand blades and ten thousand arrows should pierce my body, I still cannot follow
your order.”

“Bring his mother here!” Genghis Khan ordered. Two of his guards took Li Ping out
from the back of the tent.

Guo Jing saw his mother, “Ma!” he called out trying to approach her, but the guards
raised their blades to block. “This matter is only known to us, mother and son, who
could have leaked our secret?” Guo Jing thought.

Genghis Khan said, “If you will obey my command, you and your mother will enjoy
abundant riches and glory; if not, your mother will be executed, that means you
bring your own mother’s death. You will become an unfilial son.”

Guo Jing was intimidated by his words, he was terror-stricken, and could only lower
his head without knowing what to do.

“Anda,” Tuolei urged, “You grew up in Mongolia, you are no different than Mongolian
people. The Song Dynasty is a corrupt government, colluding with the Jins in killing
your father and forcing your mother to leave home. If not for my Father King’s
benevolence, where would you be today? You and I are brothers who love each other
so much; I cannot let you become an unfilial person. I do hope you will reconsider
your decision; receive and obey the Great Khan’s command.”

Guo Jing looked at his mother, wanting to ask her opinion; but he recalled what his
mother had taught him all this time he was growing up. He also remembered the
pitiable condition of the people of the western countries Mongolia had conquered;
how families were broken up and killed. It was truly a difficult dilemma he was
facing.

Genghis Khan’s pair of tiger eyes stared at him, waiting for him to speak. The
several hundreds people inside the Golden Tent held their breath; all eyes were
trained toward Guo Jing.

“I …,” Guo Jing said, moved forward one step, but did not continue.

“Great Khan,” suddenly Li Ping opened her mouth, “I am afraid this child doesn’t
understand this matter clearly; why don’t I try to give him some advice?”

Genghis Khan was delighted, he quickly agreed, “Very well, quickly advice him.”

Li Ping stepped forward, pulled Guo Jing’s arm, took him to a corner of the Golden
Tent, then they sat down together. Li Ping embraced her son tight in her bosom,
then gently said, “Twenty years ago at the Ox Village in Lin’an prefecture, I was
expecting a child: you. It was snowing heavily that day, when Priest Qiu Chuji met
your father. He presented a gift of two daggers; one he gave to your father, the
other he gave to your Uncle Yang.” While saying that, she took the dagger from Guo
Jing’s waist, and pointed to the two characters carved on the dagger’s hilt, ‘Guo
Jing’. She said, “Qiu Daozhang gave the name ‘Guo Jing’ to you, and ‘Yang Kang’ to
Uncle Yang’s child. Do you know the story behind those names?”

“Qiu Daozhang wanted us not to forget the disgrace of Jingkang,” Guo Jing
answered.
“Right,” Li Ping said, “That Yang family kid regarded an enemy for a father, and as a
result his body perished and his name disgraced. But it’s useless to talk about him. I
just feel bad for your Uncle Yang; he was such a great hero, his own son has
tarnished his illustrious name.” Sighing heavily she continued, “I have endured
suffering and shame for many years; raising you in this bitter cold desert of the
north, why did I do that? Would I raise someone who would sell his own country and
become a traitor; so that your father in the underworld would be grieved and
disgraced?”

“Ma!” Guo Jing almost shouted; tears flowing down his cheeks.

Li Ping was speaking in Chinese, Genghis Khan, Tuolei, and the other generals did
not understand what she said, but they saw Guo Jing burst into tears; they thought
Li Ping was afraid of death and she had succeeded in persuading her son, they were
secretly pleased.

Li Ping continued, “Man can only live for a hundred years, it will pass in a flash;
what’s the big deal about living or dying? As long as you live with an upright heart
and keep your honor clean; then your life won’t be in vain. If other people treat us
badly, we don’t need to repay their wickedness. Child, remember what I said!” She
looked at Guo Jing intently for a long time; her face looked very tender. Finally she
said, “Child, you must take a good care of yourself!” While saying that she raised the
dagger and cut the ropes binding Guo Jing’s hands; then straightaway turned the
blade and thrust it into her own chest.

Guo Jing untied his hands, and rushed to snatch the dagger away, but he was too
late. The dagger was extremely sharp, it had already entered her chest up to the
hilt.

Genghis Khan was shocked, “Seize him!” he shouted. The eight guards did not dare
to hurt the Consort; they threw their blades to the ground and pounced on Guo Jing.

Guo Jing’s heart was full of sorrow; while holding his mother tight, he swept his leg
and two guards were sent flying and tumbling down to the ground. His left elbow
shot backwards, and with a ‘crack’ sound hit a guard on the chest, breaking his ribs.

Several generals shouted and stepped forward. Guo Jing dashed toward the back of
the tent. His left hand pulled the rope that held the tent taut, and half of the golden
tent collapsed, falling on top of the officers’ heads.

Amidst the confusion he leaped up and out of the tent, still holding his mother tight.
But the horn was sounded, officers and soldiers mounted their horses and pursued
after him. Guo Jing was weeping and calling his mother, “Ma!” yet his mother did not
answer; he felt for her breathing, but his mother had already died. Holding his
mother’s corpse he tried to take advantage of the dark and break through the camp,
but everywhere he heard people shouting and horses neighing; then torches were
lighted up, illuminating the camp like millions of stars illuminating the dark night.

He was nervous not knowing which way he should go; everywhere he looked he saw
Mongolian officers and soldiers. Even if he were supernaturally brave, but he was
only one man; how could he face tens of thousands Mongolian army by himself? If
he were riding on his little red horse, then he could outrun all these people, but he
was on foot carrying his mother. It was a million times more difficult to escape from
danger.

He stopped crying and without saying another word ran forward as fast as he could.
He thought that as long as he could reach the cliff, he could use his lightness kungfu
to climb the cliff. Although Mongolian soldiers were many, nobody could crawl up the
cliff. Hence he might evade their chase momentarily and thought about ways to
escape.

While rushing forward suddenly he heard shouts coming from the front, a cavalry
was coming, under the torch light he saw they were led by a red-face, white-bearded
general; it was one of the four warriors, senior general Chilaun. Guo Jing leaned
sideways to evade Chilaun’s hacking saber. Instead of turning back to run away, he
charged into the cavalry. The Mongolian soldiers were startled and shouted even
louder.

Guo Jing stretched out his left hand, grabbing a ‘shi zhang fu’ [leader of a ten men
unit] right leg; at the same time his right foot kicked the ground and he flew
upwards. He landed on the horseback, put down his mother’s corpse on the
horseback. Without too much trouble he threw the ‘shi zhang fu’ to the ground while
simultaneously snatched his spear.

The jump to the horseback, putting down his mother, throwing the ‘shi zhang fu’
down, and snatching his spear; four actions were executed in one swift and fluid
motion. On the horseback he became like a tiger grew a pair of wings; his legs
squeezed the horse, and sweeping his spear he charged through the cavalry. Chilaun
shouted his order and his troops turned back to pursue Guo Jing.

He managed to escape from the enemy, but the direction his horse was running was
actually opposite to the direction to the cliff; the more the horse ran, the farther they
became. Should he run directly to the south, or should he try to reach the cliff?

While he was still contemplating which way to go, another senior general, Bourchu
had arrived with his troops. This time Genghis Khan had flown into a rage; he passed
an order to capture Guo Jing at all cost. Group by group the cavalries were
dispatched; thousand of riders ran quickly to the south, trying to block all passages
leading to the south. Guo Jing outran the group led by Bourchu; his clothes and his
horse were full of blood.

It was a good thing that the Great Khan ordered them to capture Guo Jing alive;
otherwise the Mongolian soldiers would assault him with arrows. With arrows coming
from all three directions, even if Guo Jing were supernaturally brave, how could he
escape this tight siege?

Guo Jing felt his mother’s body in his hand turned colder and colder; he struggled
hard to hold his tears, urging his horse to keep running south. He had left the
pursuers far behind, but the day was getting brighter, soon it would be dawn; while
he was still in the center of Mongolian territory; ten thousands ‘li’s away from the
Central Plains. With only a horse and a spear, how could he escape to his hometown?

Riding for a while, he saw the dust was rising from the ground ahead of him; a group
of cavalry was coming his way. Guo Jing held the rein and turned to the east. But his
horse had been running for half a night, continuously supporting Guo Jing and his
mother’s body; suddenly its front legs gave up, it fell kneeling on the ground, unable
to stand any longer. It was a very critical situation, yet Guo Jing still did not want to
be separated from his mother’s corpse. With his left arm holding her and his right
arm wielding the spear, he charged into the incoming cavalry.

He saw the cavalry was getting very close; suddenly amidst the rising dust came a
swishing noise, an arrow flew in and hit his spear. The arrow was very strong, Guo
Jing’s hand was shaken and the spearhead was broken. While he was still in shock,
another arrow flew toward his chest. Guo Jing tossed the broken spear sideways and
held out his hand in front of his body to catch the arrow. To his surprise, the
arrowhead was already broken. He lifted his head only to see a general holding his
rein and stopped in front of Guo Jing. It was the man who taught him archery; the
Divine Archer Jebeh.

“Shifu!” Guo Jing called out, “Are you going to take me back?”

“Absolutely,” Jebeh said.

Guo Jing thought, “In any way it will be difficult for me to escape this tight siege
today. Rather than let others capture me, why don’t I let Shifu have this merit?”
Therefore, he said, “Very well, just let me bury my mother first.”

Looking at four directions he saw toward his left a small mound. He carried his
mother’s body to that mound; dug the earth with his broken spear and lowered his
mother gently into the hole. He saw the dagger in her chest, but he could not bear to
take it out. He knelt on the ground and kowtowed several times before finally
pouring the sandy soil on top of her body. He remembered his mother’s bitter
suffering in raising him since he was a baby until he became an adult; and in the end
he had to bury her just like this. He was overwhelmed with grief that he was unable
to cry anymore.

Jebeh dismounted his horse and kowtowed four times in front of Li Ping’s grave. He
stood up, then took his quiver, his bow, and his spear; and gave everything to Guo
Jing. He also led his horse by the reins, and placed the reins in Guo Jing’s hand, he
said, “Go. I am afraid we are not going to see each other anymore.”

Guo Jing was taken aback, “Shifu!” he called out.

“You dared to risk your life for me in the past; am I not a real man that I don’t dare
to risk my life for you?” Jebeh said.

“Shifu, you are defying the Great Khan’s order,” Guo Jing said, “You will be in great
danger.”

“I have followed him attacking to the east and going to war in the west, my
contribution is not small,” Jebeh said, “At most the Great Khan will beat me to half
dead, he won’t behead me. Just go, quick!”

Guo Jing was still hesitating; Jebeh continued, “I am afraid my own troops would not
want to listen to me, so I took the troops you led in the expedition to the west. Go
ahead and asked them, whether they are greedy of riches and honor to turn you in?”

Leading his horse Guo Jing stepped forward; the cavalry dismounted their horses at
once, and then knelt down on the ground, shouted, “Xiao Ren respectfully send
General home to the south.” Guo Jing raised his eyes to see, and they were indeed
the officers and soldiers who faced death with him in the west. Guo Jing’s heart was
so moved. He said, “I have offended the Great Khan, deserving a capital
punishment. You let me go; if the Great Khan finds out, all of you will be in big
trouble.”

The soldiers replied, “General has treated us with benevolence as high as the
mountain; we won’t forget that.”

Guo Jing sighed. He raised his hands to say goodbye to the troops, then with the
spear in his hand he leaped to the horseback. He was about to move when suddenly
the dust rose ahead of him, another group of cavalry came approaching.

Jebeh, Guo Jing, and the troops’ expression changed. Jebeh thought, “I have
deliberately defied Khan’s order by letting Guo Jing go; but if I fight these troops,
that would be a blatant rebellion.” Yet he did not change his mind, “Guo Jing, go!” he
shouted. However, from the incoming army came a loud shout, “Don’t hurt the
Consort!” Everybody was stunned. They saw the rushing army bore the Fourth
Prince’s banner.

Amidst the rising cloud of dust Tuolei appeared and arrived in a flash; turned out he
was riding Guo Jing’s swift little red horse. He held his rein and jumped down from
the horseback, anxiously asked, “Anda, are you all right?”

“I am fine,” Guo Jing replied, “Master Jebeh is going to take me back to see the
Great Khan.” He was deliberately protecting Jebeh; so that the Great Khan would not
find out the real story.

Toulei cast a sidelong glance toward Jebeh, he said, “Anda, take this little red horse
and leave quickly.” He also put a bundle on the saddle and continued, “Here is a
thousand ‘liang’ of gold; we brothers will see each other again some other time.”

They were both great warriors; in time like this there was no need to say another
word. Guo Jing stood up and mounted his little red horse. “Tell Huazheng Meizi [little
sister – term of endearment] to take a good care of herself. Tell her to marry
another man, just forget about me.”

Tuolei heaved a long sigh, “Huazheng Meizi will never agree to marry another. I
think she is going to look for you in the south. At that time I will send somebody to
escort her.”

“No, don’t come looking for me,” Guo Jing hastily said, “Not to mention the world is
big, but even if she can find me, that will only add to our agony.”

Tuolei was silent; they looked at each other without saying anything. After half a day
finally Tuolei said, “Just go, I will see you off for a while.”

Two people rode fast to the south; very soon they have covered more than thirty
‘li’s. “Anda,” Guo Jing said, “ ‘Even if one sees someone off a thousand ‘li’s, in the
end they must part’, you can go back now!”

“Let me see you off some more time,” Tuolei answered.

About ten more ‘li’s later, both men dismounted their horses and said their
goodbyes; tears rolling down their cheeks.

Tuolei gazed at Guo Jing’s back, which became smaller and smaller; it looked like a
dark shadow on the vastness of the desert, finally disappeared on the southern
horizon. He stood motionless for a long time, then sadly mounted his horse and
headed back north.

End of Chapter 38.

Chapter 39 – Discerning Good From Evil

(Translated by Foxs, Edited by Eliza Bennet)
Caption to the picture:
It was actually Mount Hua’s most dangerous place, called the ‘to give one’s life cliff’
[she shen ya]; whoever jumped from this place would certainly meet a cruel death.
Huang Rong dashed forward to grab Guo Jing’s clothes. Her hand pulled hard a she
jumped over his shoulder and a moment later she was the one standing at the edge
of the cliff.
Guo Jing rode his horse for several days, leaving the dangerous area, slowly heading
south. The day was getting warmer, the grass looked longer; along the way he saw
the remnants of war: broken walls and ruined homes, human bones scattered here
and there. The sights, the smell … Everything brought a dreadful and nauseating
feeling in his heart.

One day he stopped to take a rest in a pavilion by the roadside. He saw these
inscriptions on the pavilion’s wall, “A poem from a Tang Dynasty man: ‘Water trickles
downward day by day, ultimately overpowering the cry of chicken and dogs.
Thousand villages fell to become food to the wild animals. The people vanished in
smoke to give way to the flowers.’ My Central Plains’ beautiful river and mountain
unexpectedly fallen victim to violent battles. People turned into ashes as if the above
poem was written for today’s situation.”

Looking at these lines of characters Guo Jing was entranced, sadness came creeping
into his heart and he could not refrain from shedding some tears.

He had roamed this vast and boundless world, but actually did not know where he
should go. Within just one short year his mother, Huang Rong, his five masters, the
people that were dear to him had all died. Ouyang Feng had killed his masters and
Huang Rong; he was going to find him and seek revenge. But as soon as he thought
about the words ‘seek revenge’, the tragic massacre of the people of Khoresm came
into his mind. In order for him to avenge his father’s death he had to kill so many
innocent civilians, how could he have peace in his heart? It looked like this ‘seeking
revenge’ matter was not necessarily a right thing to do.

Thinking about all other things, he came into this thought, “All my life I painstakingly
trained myself in martial arts that finally I reached my current level, and then what?
I can’t even protect my own mother and Rong’er, then what use is my martial art
skill? I wanted with all my heart to be a good person, but in the end who would be
happy because of me? Mother, Rong’er, both died because of me. Huazheng Meizi
has to suffer forever because of me. Truly the number of people who suffered
miserably because of me is not a few.”

“Wanyan Honglie and Muhammad were bad people. But what about Genghis Khan?
He killed Wanyan Honglie; so I should say he is a good person. But then he ordered
me to attack the Great Song. He took care of my mother and me for twenty years,
but in the end he had caused my mother’s death.”

“Yang Kang and I became sworn brothers, but our hearts were a world apart from
the start. Sister Mu Nianci is a good person, but why did her heart set on loving only
Yang Kang? Tuolei Anda and I love each other, but when he leads the army attacking
south and we meet each other on the battlefield, should he and I kill each other? No,
no. Everybody has a mother, a mother who carries him for ten months, who
painstakingly nurture and raise him up; how could I kill somebody’s son and cause
his mother to weep bitterly? He doesn’t have a heart to kill me; I don’t have a heart
to kill him. However, shall I ignore the fact that he kills my Great Song’s innocent
people?”

“Training martial art is for beating and killing people, it looks like I spent twenty
years of my life incorrectly; I studied and learned diligently, painstakingly; in the end
all I can do is bringing harm to other people. If I knew it from the start, I wouldn’t
train to have a better skill in martial art. But if I don’t learn martial art, then what
should I do? I live in this world, in the end, what is my purpose of life? Decades from
now, what will happen to me? Is it better to live longer, or to die sooner? Right now I
have already had endless anxiety, if I live longer, won’t I have more anxiety? But if I
die sooner, why would my mother give birth to me? Why would she endure hardship
and suffering to raise me up?” Tossing and turning with these thought, the more he
thought, the more confused he became.

For several days he could not eat during the day, and could not sleep during the
night; he went back and forth in the wilderness pondering all these things.

“Mother and my benevolent masters all taught me to uphold justice and keep my
words. Therefore, although I loved Rong’er dearly I could not ask the Great Khan to
cancel our betrothal. But in the end, not only I drove mother and Rong’er to their
injustice death, but did I make the Great Khan, Tuolei, and Huazheng happy? The
Seven Heroes of Jiangnan, my seven masters, and benevolent master Hong, are all
heroic people of honor, yet none of them ended up enjoying the fruit of their good
deeds. Ouyang Feng and Qiu Qianren do not uphold justice and righteousness, yet
they live free and unrestrained. Is there any justice in this world? Can ‘lao tian ye’
[the Heaven, God] really see?”

One day he arrived at a small town in Jinan prefecture, Shandong province. He

stopped by a restaurant to drink some wine. He had just drunk three cups when
suddenly a man rushed in, pointed his finger to Guo Jing and cursed him, “Barbarian
thief, you have destroyed my home and killed my family; I must kill you!” While
saying that his fist flew toward Guo Jing’s face.

Guo Jing was startled, he turned his left hand around and caught his hand, gently
twisted it; and the man fell tumbling down. Apparently that man did not know
martial art at all. Guo Jing did not have any intention to harm him; he felt really bad
that he had caused that man to fall down and bleed from his head. Hastily he held
out his hand to raise that man up, saying, “Brother, you must have mistaken me for
others!”

That man was bawling and kept cursing him, “Barbarian thief!” Dozens more men
came from outside and start kicking and hitting Guo Jing for no reason at all. After
pondering about the dire consequences of using martial art, Guo Jing had made a
decision not to harm others using his martial art skill. Besides, these people were
neither known to him nor did they know any martial arts; they were attacking him
randomly. Hence he only evaded to the east and dodged to the west, but did not
fight back at all. However, there were more and more people coming in from
outside; the restaurant was small, so against his will Guo Jing had to taste some fists
and kicks nonetheless.

He was about to use his strength to shove his way out of the restaurant when
suddenly somebody loudly called from outside, “Jing’er! What are you doing here?”

Guo Jing raised his head up and saw the person calling was wearing a Taoist robe,
with a long white beard; it was none other than the Changchun Zi [Eternal Spring]
Qiu Chuji. Guo Jing was delighted, “Qiu Daozhang [Taoist Priest Qiu],” he called,
“These people are hitting me for no reason at all.”

Qiu Chuji pushed his arms out and opened up a way for Guo Jing to escape; he
pulled Guo Jing out of the restaurant. The people rushed out to attack them, but Qiu
and Guo, two people faced them while moving backward step by step. Once outside
Guo Jing whistled to call his red horse and not too long afterwards two people riding
on one horse sped out of the town and disappeared into the wilderness.

Guo Jing again told about how those town people without any reason pounced on
him and beat him. Qiu Chuji smiled, “You are dressed as a Mongolian; they thought
you are a Barbarian Mongolian.” Then he proceeded by telling Guo Jing how the
Mongolians and the Jins had violent battles in the Shandong province. The local
people had been under the Jin’s oppression for a long time, they raised arm to help
the Mongolians. Who would have thought that the Mongolian’s officers and soldiers
were as oppressive and tyrannical as the Jins were; they destroyed, they killed, they
took captive and they plundered; they made the lives of the common people
miserable beyond description. When a Mongolian army was passing through, the
people did not dare to do anything, but if there was a lone Mongolian officer or
soldier left behind, usually he would be killed by the people.

“Why did you let them beat you?” Qiu Chuji asked, “Just look at you, bruised and
swollen all over.”

Guo Jing heaved a deep sigh and then told him how Genghis Khan had issued a
secret order to him to attack the south, and how his mother had died because of it.
He told Priest Qiu everything.

Qiu Chuji was shocked, “If Genghis Khan is going to attack our Great Song, then we
must go south immediately to inform the government to guard against this
invasion,” he said.

Guo Jing shook his head, “What good would that bring? The result would be corpses
of officers and soldiers from both sides piling up as high as a mountain; innocent
people’s families being broken and killed.”

“But if the Song perishes under the Mongolia, the common people will suffer even
more,” Qiu Chuji said, “An endless hardship!”

“Qiu Daozhang,” Guo Jing said, “There are so many things I am not able to think
through; I want to ask you to give me directions.”

Qiu Chuji pulled his hand, led him to a big locust tree and took him sitting
underneath it. “Speak to me!” he said.

Guo Jing immediately poured out what had been troubling his heart these past few
days; how he felt that his skill in martial art only brought harm to other people.
Finally he sighed and said, “Therefore, disciple has decided not to fight with anybody
for the rest of my life. I wish I could forget everything I know about martial arts,
only an old habit will always come back. I was careless today, and made someone
bleed from his head.”

Qiu Chuji shook his head, “Jing’er, your thinking is incorrect,” he said, “Dozens of
years ago, the Wulin world secret manual, the Nine Yin Manual, appeared for the first
time. I don’t know how many warriors of the Jianghu had died from fighting over this
book. Afterwards at the Sword Meet of Huashan [Mount Hua] my master Chongyang
Zhenren [Sage, lit. true/real man, a respectful term to address a Taoist priest] had
defeated everybody and took possession of the manual. Initially he intended to
destroy the book, but later on he said, ‘Water can carry the boat, but can also
capsize it; be it fortune or calamity, in the end it depends on the person who uses it.’
In the end he decided to preserve the manual. Every talent in the world, whether it
is ‘wen’ [literature] or ‘wu’ [martial art]; a strong army or a sophisticated device, not
a single one of them does not benefit mankind; but the opposite is also true, every
single one of them has the potential to bring calamity to the world. As long as you
have a good heart, the stronger your martial art, the better it is for you. Why would
you want to forget it?”

Guo Jing hesitated for a moment before saying, “What Daozhang said was not
wrong, but among the current Jianghu heroes; the Eastern Heretic, the Western
Poison, the Southern Emperor and the Northern Beggar have the strongest martial
arts. Disciple has been thinking carefully; to reach the martial art level of these four
experts one must undergoes difficulties, to the point of almost impossible, hardship
and suffering. Yet even if one is able to endure all that, what good would that be for
people other than oneself?”

Qiu Chuji was silent for a moment before answering, “Huang Yaoshi is an eccentric
man; although outwardly he shows anger to the world and detests mundane affair,
but in his heart there is an unspeakable bitterness. He acts as he pleases, he does
not have any consideration toward other people. I won’t take him as an example.
Ouyang Feng does all kinds of evil; we don’t need to talk about him. Emperor Duan
is compassionate and benevolent; if he stayed on the throne he would be able to
benefit the common people. It’s a pity that because of personal resentment over a
tiny, tiny affair he withdrew from society and lives in seclusion; he can’t be regarded
as great man with great courage. Only Hong Qigong, Hong Bangzhu [Clan Leader
Hong] is left who is a great hero to uphold justice; always helping those in distress.
He has my full admiration. The second Sword Meet of Mount Hua is right around the
corner; I think there might be someone who can exceed Hong Bangzhu in term of
martial art. But I believe the people will elect him as the Number One in the Wulin
World.”

Hearing the four characters ‘Sword Meet of Mount Hua’, Guo Jing’s heart was stirred.
“Is my benevolent master completely healed from his injury? Do you think the Senior
is going to attend the meeting at Mount Hua?” he asked.

“After returning from the west, I have never seen Hong Bangzhu,” Qiu Chuji said,
“But whether he will take part in the Sword Meet or not, I think he will go to Mount
Hua. Actually, I am passing through this place on my way over there; why don’t you
come with me to take a look?”

These past several days Guo Jing was very downhearted; he lost interest in, and
loathed all kinds of, fighting. He shook his head and said, “Disciple is not coming,
please forgive me.”

“Where are you going?” Qiu Chuji asked.

Guo Jing awkwardly said, “Disciple does not know; I’ll go wherever my feet lead
me!”

Qiu Chuji could see that his face had lost its color, he looked so ghastly; like
someone who was just recovered from a severe illness. Qiu Chuji was very
concerned, but no matter how he persuaded, Guo Jing simply shook his head and did
not say anything. Qiu Chuji thought, “He would normally listen to Hong Bangzhu; if
he goes to Mount Hua, then master and disciple will see each other, his spirit might
be aroused and be back to his old kind self. But how can I convince him to go?” All of
a sudden a thought came into his mind, “Jing’er,” he said, “If you really want to
forget the martial art you have already learned, I think I might have a way.”

“Really?” Guo Jing said.

“I know someone who had accidentally learned the Nine Yin Manual’s excellent
martial arts,” Qiu Chuji said, “But later on he realized that he had broken his own
promise, he had betrayed something entrusted to him; in the end he strived to
forget the skills he had learned. If you really want to follow his example, you must
talk to him.”

Guo Jing jumped up immediately. “Right!” he exclaimed, “It’s Zhou Botong, Zhou
Dage [big brother Zhou]!” But suddenly he remembered that Zhou Botong was Qiu
Chuji’s martial uncle, while he casually called him big brother; he felt he was
usurping Qiu Chuji’s seniority by one generation. He could not help but feeling really
awkward.

Qiu Chuji simply smiled slightly, he said, “Zhou Shishu [Martial Uncle Zhou] has
never had any regard of anybody’s seniority; you can call him whatever you like, I
don’t mind a bit.”

“Where is he?” Guo Jing asked.

“I am sure Zhou Shishu will not miss the meeting at Mount Hua,” Qiu Chuji replied.

“Very well,” Guo Jing said, “In that case I will come with Daozhang to Mount Hua.”
Two men traveled together to the nearest town ahead then Guo Jing took out some
silvers and bought a steed for Qiu Chuji to ride. They went riding to the west, and in
less than one day arrived at the foot of Mount Hua.

This Mount Hua was one of the five mountains called the Western Mountains; people
of the ancient time equate these five mountains with five scriptures. They said Mount
Hua was like ‘chun qiu’ [spring and autumn period – 770-476 BC], possessed the
same lethality as the Wei kingdom. Among the mountains in the world, the
ruggedness of Mount Hua was matchless.

Two men arrived at the ‘shan sun ting’ [mountain grass pavilion] at the southern
entrance of Mount Hua. Next to this pavilion they saw twelve big dragon rattans, so
called because their trunks and branches intertwined each other resembled flying
dragons.

Looking at these ancient twelve rattans with their branches rising up to the sky,
suddenly the ‘fei long zai tian’ [dragon flies to the sky] came into Guo Jing’s mind.
Following the Nine Yin Manual principles, these twelve rattans formed different
stances of the dragon postures, creating twelve grand stances where the move might
be executed. From being lost in thought, suddenly he woke up with a start, “I was
hoping I could forget the martial art I already learned, how I could think about
creating a new move to defeat and to kill others? I have fallen too deep, truly I am
incorrigible.”

Suddenly Qiu Chuji voice was heard, “Mount Hua is our Taoist holy mountain; these
twelve dragon rattans were supposedly planted by ‘chen tuan lao zu’, [ancestor Chen
Tuan].

“Chen tuan lao zu?” Guo Jing asked, “Was he the deity who slept for many years
without waking up?”

“Chen tuan lao zu was born toward the latter part of the Tang Dynasty,” Qiu Chuji
explained, “During the Five Dynasties period: Liang, Tang, Jin, Han, Zhou, every
time he heard the kingdom changed ruler, he was always worried and not happy; so
he closed his door and refused to come out. Hence the people said he was sleeping
for many years. Actually he was just troubled by the world’s anxiety, that the
common people always suffered hardships; that’s why he was not willing to go out.
Finally he heard ‘Song Dai Zu’ [the great ancestor of Song Dynasty] rose up to the
throne; he laughed heartily and in his happiness he fell from the donkey’s back,
saying that the world henceforth would be peaceful. Song Dai Zu was kind and had a
deep affection toward the common people; his contribution was truly not a few.”

“If Chen tuan lao zu were born today, he would unavoidably close his door and sleep
for exhausting years and tiring months,” Guo Jing commented.

Qiu Chuji heaved a deep sigh and said, “Mongolians rule in the north, deliberately
will invade the south. It’s a pity the Song Dynasty’s princes and ministers are
muddle-headed idiots; they have eyes but cannot see the problem we are facing. But
we are real men, although we realize we are helpless, still we need to fight. Even
though Chen tuan lao zu was an honorable person, he hid himself whenever the
world was in trouble; that was a bad example of chivalry.”
Guo Jing silently agreed.

Two men had to leave their steeds at the foot of the mountain. They continued on
foot; slowly climbing through the ‘tao hua ping’ [peach blossom plain], crossing the
‘xi yi xia’ [lit. rare barbarian box, I don’t know what it is], climbing ‘sha meng ping’
[grassy dream plain]. The further they went, the more dangerous the terrain
became. After reaching ‘xi xuan men’ [western mysterious gate] they had to ascend
holding on to an iron chain. Utilizing their lightness kungfu, two men climbed up
rapidly. After about seven ‘li’s, they reached the ‘qing ping’ [green plain]. Beyond
this plain they saw a row of rocks that looked like they were truncated. Toward the
north of this wall there was a big rock blocking the pathway.

“This rock is called ‘hui xin shi’ [lit. turn-around heart stone],” Qiu Chuji said,
“Beyond this stone the pathway is getting more rugged and dangerous than ever.
Casual travelers are advised to turn back here.”

In the distant they saw a small stone pavilion. “That is the ‘du qi ting’ [gambling
chess pavilion],” Qiu Chuji explained, “Legend has it that the Song Emperor, Song
Dai Zu made a bet playing chess with Mister Xi Yi [the same ‘xi yi’ as in the
paragraph above]. The Mount Hua was the stake. The Emperor lost, and ever since
the Mount Hua territory is exempt from paying tribute.”

Guo Jing said, “Genghis Khan, the Khoresm King, the Great Jin Emperor, the Great
Song Emperor; seemed like they are all gambling with this world as the stake.”

Qiu Chuji nodded. “Absolutely,” he said, “Jing’er, looks to me like you have done a
lot of thinking lately. I can see the difference; you are no longer your muddle-
headed-dumb-kid previous self.” Then he continued, “These emperors and generals
view the world as their gambling stake; if they lose, not only they will lose the ‘jiang
shan’ [lit. river and mountain – country/homeland], they will also lose their lives, as
well as making the world a living hell for common people.”

Crossing the ‘qian chi xia’ [thousand-foot gorge], the ‘bai chi xia’ [hundred-foot
gorge], they had to walk sideways. Guo Jing thought, “It will be very difficult to ward
off if suddenly an enemy attack in this place.” He was just having this thought when
suddenly someone shouted from ahead of them, “Qiu Chuji, we spared your life at
the Misty Rain Tavern [yan yu lou]; what are you doing climbing Mount Hua?”

Qiu Chuji hastily rushed ahead several steps until he reached a small cavity on the
side of the cliff before he raised his head to see Sha Tongtian, Peng Lianhu, Lingzhi
Shangren [lit. upper/above man, a respectful term to address Buddhist monk], and
Hou Tonghai, four people standing at the end of the pathway.

When he climbed the mountain, Qiu Chuji had expected at some point to see Ouyang
Feng, Qiu Qianren and other archenemies; he thought Zhou Botong, Hong Qigong,
Guo Jing and the others would meet their match. But he had never expected that
Sha Tongtian and the others had the guts to climb this mountain. Although he was
standing on an open space, the terrain was extremely dangerous. If he was crowded
by the enemy, chances are he would fall into the tens of thousands ‘zhang’s deep
canyon below.

In this critical time he did not have time to think, with a ‘shua’ sound he pulled his
sword and with ‘bai hong jing tian’ [bright rainbow across the sky] he ferociously
attacked Hou Tonghai. Among these four enemies, Hou Tonghai was the weakest,
but he was also the closest; Qiu Chuji’s sword stance was precisely aimed to the
weakest point of the enemy.

Hou Tonghai saw the sword was swift and fierce, he had no alternative, he leaned
sideways to evade and lifted up his three-prong fork to block the sword. Peng
Lianhu’s judge pen and Lingzhi Shangren’s copper cymbals made a converging attack
with the intention of forcing Qiu Chuji to fall into the ravine below.

As Qiu Chuji’s sword made contact with Hou Tonghai’s three-prong fork, he
transferred his energy to the tip of the sword and borrowing the strength, his body
soared above Hou Tonghai’s head. Sparks flew everywhere as Peng Lianhu and
Lingzhi Shangren’s weapon hit a rock.

Sha Tongtian had lost an arm at the Temple of the Iron Spear; by this time his
wound was completely healed. Seeing his ‘shi di’ [younger martial brother] fail to
block the enemy, he executed the ‘yi xing huan wei’ [altering shape changing
position] technique right in front of Qiu Chuji to prevent him from running away. Qiu
Chuji’s sword moved swiftly; Sha Tongtian only saw bright lights flashing around
him, aiming his vital points. Sha Tongtian was dazzled and unable to fend off the
sword; he was forced to move back several steps, giving Qiu Chuji an opportunity to
dash forward.

Sha and Peng shouted loudly and pursued him. Qiu Chuji turned his sword around
and launched several stances. At that moment Lingzhi Shangren arrived sweeping
his cymbals. Three different types of weapons clashed.

Seeing Qiu Chuji’s precarious condition Guo Jing should have gone forward and help,
but he felt that people who resort to violence were very bad. He loathed watching
both sides fought violently; turning his head, unwilling to watch, he continued his
journey, holding on to a rattan branch. Unexpectedly the path was sloping down.

While strolling leisurely two thoughts were waging war inside his mind, “Shall I help
Qiu Daozhang? Or shall I stick to my commitment of not fighting anybody anymore?”
The more he thought, the more confused he became. He considered, “If Qiu
Daozhang is killed by Peng Lianhu and the others, how can I not blame myself? But if
I did help and struck Peng Lianhu and the others that they fell into the ravine below,
do they really deserve to die?”

He walked farther and farther away until he could not hear the clashing sound of the
weapons anymore. He sat leaning on a rock, deep in thought. After a long time
suddenly he heard a noise from behind the pine tree next to him, and a man
appeared. Guo Jing turned around to see that man had white hair, but ruddy face;
turned out it was ‘shen xian lao guai’ [ginseng immortal old freak] Liang Ziweng. But
Guo Jing ignored him; he still sat quietly lost in thought.

Liang Ziweng was startled, he knew Guo Jing’s martial art had advanced greatly;
early on he was not Guo Jing match anymore. Immediately he shrunk back behind
the tree. A moment later he saw Guo Jing did not pursue, he also saw that Guo Jing
looked to be absentminded, his eyebrows creased on a distressed face; he was
mumbling indistinctly, like he was possessed by some kind of evil spirit. Liang
Ziweng thought, “Today this kid looks so weird. Let me try provoking him.” He did
not dare to approach; he picked up a pebble and threw it toward Guo Jing’s back.
Guo Jing heard the wind, but he simply leaned sideways to evade, and still did not
pay any attention to Liang Ziweng. Liang Ziweng became bolder; he came out from
behind the tree, came several steps closer, and called out in a soft voice, “Guo Jing,
what are you doing here?”

“I am thinking,” Guo Jing replied, “If I use martial art to fight someone, do I have a
good reason for it?

Liang Ziweng was stupefied and delighted at the same time, he thought, “This dumb
kid has become crazier.” He approached several steps closer and said, “Hurting
people is a very bad thing, of course you don’t have any reason to do it.”

“You think so?” Guo Jing said, “I really hope I can forget all the martial arts I’ve
learned.”

Liang Ziweng saw Guo Jing’s eyes were gazing into the horizon with a blank look on
his face; slowly he came from behind Guo Jing’s back. “I am also in the process of
forgetting my own martial art, how about I lend you a helping hand to forget yours?”
he softly asked.

“Fine,” Guo Jing said, “What should I do?”

“Hmm, I have and idea,” Liang Ziweng said. Both of his hands made a sudden
movement and expertly grabbed two major acupoints: ‘tian zhu’ [sky pillar] on Guo
Jing’s neck and ‘shen tang’ [divine hall] on his back.

Guo Jing was shocked, he felt his whole body went numb and he could not move.
With a wicked grin on his face Liang Ziweng said, “Let me suck the blood out of your
body, then you will forget using your martial art ever again.” Opening his mouth
wide he bit into Guo Jing’s throat and sucked with all his might. He remembered how
this dumb kid had sucked the valuable blood of the viper he laboriously raised so this
dumb kid’s martial art had improved tremendously while his own did not make any
progress; by sucking Guo Jing’s blood he hoped he would gain some benefit while
venting off his anger at the same time. Actually, it had been a long time since Guo
Jing drank the viper’s blood, that the effectiveness of the blood had long gone; but in
his deep resentment he ignored that fact completely.

This sudden turn of event shocked Guo Jing; he felt a severe pain on his neck that
he was seeing stars in his eyes. Hastily he tried to struggle free, but his two major
acupoints were sealed by enemy, his whole body unexpectedly did not have the least
bit of strength. He saw Liang Ziweng’s pair of eyes was red, his face looked so scary;
Guo Jing felt his bite was getting harder and harder. It felt like his throat was about
to be cut, then his life would left him for sure.

In desperation he did not have time to think whether it was appropriate to use
martial art to resist the enemy or not; immediately he used the ‘yi jin duan gu pian’
[changing muscle forging bone] to send out internal energy from his ‘dan tian’
toward the ‘tian zhu’ and ‘shen tang’ acupoints.

Both of Liang Ziweng’s hands were holding Guo Jing extremely tight when suddenly
he felt a surge of energy bursting out from within his victim’s body through the two
major acupoints, his hands shook and they could not help but slip. Guo Jing lowered
his head and shrank his shoulder, and then using his waist’s strength he struggled
up. As a result Liang Ziweng’s body was lifted up and flung away. With a hair-rising
shriek he fell into the tens of thousands ‘zhang’s deep canyon below.

His scream reverberated on the canyon walls, creating a series of terrifying echoes
seemingly coming from everywhere. Guo Jing was horrified; the hair behind his back
rose up involuntarily. He was in a daze for half a day before he gradually calmed
down. Absent-mindedly he caressed his injured neck and only then he remembered
that he had accidentally killed a man using his martial art. But he thought, “If I did
not kill him, he would kill me. If I don’t have any reason to kill him, did he have any
reason to kill me?” He stretched his neck trying to see into the valley below, but the
canyon was so deep that he could not even see the bottom; did not know where
Shen Xian Lao Guai’s body could be.

Guo Jing sat on a rock. Tearing a piece of cloth from his robe he wrapped the wound
on his neck. Suddenly he was startled by a ‘bonk, bonk, bonk’ noise; it sounded like
a monster was coming out from behind the cliff. He was frightened; he turned his
gaze to look, turned out it was a human. But this man stood with his head on the
bottom and his feet on the top; with a stone in each hand. He used those hands in
place of his feet, and those ‘bonk, bonk, bonk’ noise was actually the sound of the
stones knocking the mountain’s stony pathway. Guo Jing was stunned; he squatted
down to take a good look at that man’s face, and he was even more surprised. That
weird man was actually the Western Poison, Ouyang Feng.

Guo Jing had just received a surprise attack; seeing Ouyang Feng in this weird
position he believed he was up to no good. Guo Jing retreated two steps, fully alert
to guard against any potential attack. But Ouyang Feng only bent his arms and
jumped on top of a big rock; standing upside down using his head as his feet, his
arms stretched wide, resembled a stiff corpse.

Guo Jing’s curiosity was piqued, “Mr. Ouyang, what are you doing?” he called out.

Ouyang Feng did not answer; seemed like his mind was someplace else and he did
not even hear his question.

Guo Jing withdrew several more steps to make more distance between them. He
raised his left hand in front of his chest to guard against Ouyang Feng’s sudden
attack; only then did he pay close attention of what Ouyang Feng was doing.

For about the time needed to drink a cup of tea Ouyang Feng stood upside down
motionless. Guo Jing was more curious than ever; he wanted to see more clearly, so
he stooped down and looked through his legs to see Ouyang Feng’s face was
sweating profusely; he looked in pain, like he was cultivating some strange internal
energy. A moment later he stretched his arm horizontally, his body started spinning
like a big top, turning faster and faster until his clothes created a strong gust of
wind.

“He really is practicing martial art,” Guo Jing thought, “But this kind of martial art
that requires upside down position is so strange.” Further he thought that a person
who practice internal energy cultivation was usually vulnerable, probably because
while circulating the energy within, the body itself devoid of any defense against
outside circumstances. That was the reason usually somebody, be it his master or a
friend with high level of martial art skill, would stay alongside to protect that person.
Moreover, they would usually find a secluded place to avoid mishap. But strangely
Ouyang Feng was practicing alone without anybody to accompany him; seemingly
oblivious to outside interference. It was almost time for the second Sword Meet of
Mount Hua; there would be many martial art experts in attendance, with more
enemies than friends to Ouyang Feng; how could he be so bold as to practice martial
art alone in this place? At this time, not to mention an expert in martial art, if even
an ordinary person without any martial art skill would hit or kick him, he would
certainly suffer a severe internal injury.

In Guo Jing’s eyes Ouyang Feng was like a sacrificial animal on the table, ready to be
butchered. If Guo Jing did not seek revenge now, what was he waiting for? Only he
had just killed Liang Ziweng; he had this heavy guilty feeling in his heart. He only
moved forward a couple of steps then stood still, unable to kill Ouyang Feng.

Ouyang Feng practiced for about the time needed to boil tea; he gradually slowed
down until his body stopped spinning. Finally he stretched his arms and grabbed the
rocks, then ‘bonk, bonk, bonk’ he went back to where he was coming from.

Guo Jing’s curiosity was really piqued, he wanted to know where Ouyang Feng was
heading, and what kind of marvelous martial art he practiced by standing upside
down; therefore, quietly Guo Jing followed after him.

Ouyang Feng walked using his hands, surprisingly it was not any slower than walking
with his feet. He climbed to a hill peak, going higher and higher. Guo Jing followed
not too far behind until they arrived at the jade-green lush, beautiful peak. He saw
Ouyang Feng was heading straight into a cave and stopped in front it. Guo Jing hid
himself behind a big rock; suddenly he heard Ouyang Feng sternly said, “Ha hu wen
ying, xing er ji jin, si gu er. Your explanation is not right; I could not practice
appropriately.”

Guo Jing was startled, at first he thought that those three lines were the Sanskrit
lines from the Nine Yin Manual; but it sounded a little bit different. And then he
immediately remembered that those were the lines he deliberately altered per his
benevolent master Hong’s instruction on the boat. But why did Ouyang Feng
suddenly recite those lines? Whom did he speak to?

He heard a crisp and clear female voice came out from the cave, “Your martial art is
not adequate, of course you can’t practice appropriately. How could I explain
incorrectly?” Guo Jing was so surprised that he almost cried out; it was the voice
Huang Rong for whom he day and night mourned with grief. Didn’t she get killed in
the desert? Was he dreaming? Was he in heaven? Or perhaps because of his deep
affection he thought it was Huang Rong’s voice?

“I have practiced according to what you said, no mistake about it, but why did my ‘yi
ren mai’ [appointed arteries] and ‘yang wei mai’ [positive dimension arteries]
unexpectedly flow in reverse?” Ouyang Feng asked.

That female voice answered, “You didn’t want to wait, your strength is wanting.” This
voice was clearly Huang Rong’s voice, Guo Jing had no doubt whatsoever. He was so
surprised and happy at the same time that he became giddy and faltered, almost lost
his conscience. Because of this excitement the wound on his neck was broken, blood
seeped through the wrapped cloth; but he did not seem to notice it.
He heard Ouyang Feng turn angry, “By noon tomorrow the sword meet will start;
how can I practice leisurely? Quickly translate the whole manual for me, don’t try to
mess with me.”

At last Guo Jing understood why Ouyang Feng practiced internal energy cultivation
right there; turned out he was anxious about the sword meet and wanted to get a
quick result. He heard Huang Rong laugh, “You have made an agreement with my
Jing Gege; he would spare your life three times in exchange of you not compelling
me against my wishes. You have to wait until I am happy enough to teach you.”

Hearing her say the word ‘my Jing Gege’ a sweet, happy feeling flooded Guo Jing’s
heart. He was almost unable to refrain from leaping out and shout his delight.

Ouyang Feng coldly said, “This is important, my business today takes precedence
over all agreements I made in the past.” After he said that, he moved his arms,
flexed his body and stood right-side up. Then he walked toward the cave in big
strides.

“You are shameless!” Huang Rong called out, “I am not going to teach you!”

Ouyang Feng grinned wickedly, “I want to see if you are going to teach me or not,”
he said in low voice.

Guo Jing heard Huang Rong cry out, “Aiyo!” then he heard Ouyang Feng’s cold
laugh, followed by a sound of ripping clothes. At a moment like this Guo Jing did not
have any time to think whether it was appropriate to fight anybody using his martial
art; he leaped out and shouted, “Rong’er! I am here!” With the left palm guarding in
front of his body he rushed into the cave.

Ouyang Feng’s left hand was grabbing Huang Rong’s bamboo stick, while his right
hand was just about to grab her left arm. Huang Rong launched the ‘bang tiau lai
quan’ [carrying a skin-diseased dog on a stick] by slanting her stick in front of her
body and with a jerk pulled the stick from Ouyang Feng’s hand. Ouyang Feng
shouted and was about to continue his attack when suddenly he heard Guo Jing’s
voice outside.

Ouyang Feng was the grand master of his martial art school; he had never broken
his words to anybody. This time it was in his desperation that he used force against
Huang Rong; when suddenly Guo Jing arrived. His face turned beet red, he was
ashamed of breaking his own agreement. He flicked his sleeve to cover his own face
then fast as lightning he darted through Guo Jing’s side, went out of the cave in a
hurry and in a moment not even his shadow was to be seen.

Guo Jing rushed forward to grip Huang Rong’s hands, he called out, “I almost died
thinking about you!” He was so agitated that his whole body shivered.

Huang Rong pulled her hands out and coldly said, “Who are you? Why are you
holding my hands?”

Guo Jing was stunned. “I … I am Guo Jing. You … you are not dead. I … I …” he
stuttered.

“I don’t know you!” Huang Rong cut him off; and then she went out the cave.
Guo Jing followed her outside, repeatedly bowing in front of her. “Rong’er, Rong’er,
please listen to me!” he begged.

“Hmm,” Huang Rong snorted, “Do you think you can call Rong’er’s name just like
that? What are you?”

Guo Jing opened his mouth wide, but did not know what to say.

Huang Rong looked at him; she saw he was rather thin, his face haggard; for an
instant she felt sorry for him. But immediately she remembered how he had dumped
her over and over; her anger flared. She took a step forward.

Guo Jing was really anxious, he pulled her sleeve and said, “Please listen to me.”

“Speak!” Huang Rong said.

“I saw your golden hair band and black sable fur coat on the marsh, I thought you
…” Guo Jing said. But Huang Rong cut him off again, “Very well, you wanted me to
listen to you, and I did!” She pulled her sleeve and walked away.

Guo Jing felt awkward and anxious at the same time. He knew how exceptionally
mule-headed Huang Rong could be; he was afraid he might lose her again but he did
not know how to express himself. Seeing her sleeve floating while she was climbing
the mountain, he had no choice but silently follow.

When she came across Guo Jing earlier, Huang Rong was overwhelmed with mixed
feeling. She recalled how she deliberately threw Ouyang Feng from her trail by
leaving her golden hair band and her black sable fur coat on the marsh. Then
heartbroken she headed back to the east. Her intention was to go back to the Peach
Blossom Island to see her father; unfortunately when she reached Shandong she fell
sick with nobody to care for her. On her sickbed, while her body was either feverishly
hot or cold, she lamented the fact that Guo Jing was a fickle lover; she regretted that
her parents had given birth to her that now she had to endure pain and sufferings.
When she recovered from her illness she came across Ouyang Feng on the southern
Shandong road; and was compelled to follow him to Mount Hua to explain the
manual to him.

Looking back to the past she hated everything that had happened. She heard Guo
Jing was following her closely. When she walked quickly, Guo Jing also walked
quickly; when she slowed down, Guo Jing also slowed down. After walking for a while
she turned around abruptly and shouted, “Why are you following me?”

“I will forever follow you, I will never leave you as long as I live,” Guo Jing said.

Huang Rong sneered, “You are the Great Khan’s son-in-law, what do you want from
me, a poor little girl?”

“The Great Khan has caused my mother’s death, how can I become his son-in-law?”
Guo Jing said.

Huang Rong was angry, her entire face turned red, “Good! I thought you still have a
heart for me. Turned out the Great Khan has kicked you out! Now that you are not
the Master Consort anymore you come looking for the poor little girl. Am I that
cheap that you can bully me as you wish?” Speaking to this point she could not
control her anger any longer and broke in uncontrollable sobs.

Seeing her bursting in tears Guo Jing was flabbergasted. He wanted to say some
comforting words, but he was tongue-tied, did not know what to say. After stayed
silent for half a day he finally opened his mouth, “Rong’er, I am here. You want to hit
me or kill me; you can do what you want.”

“Why would I want to hit you or kill you?” Huang Rong asked mournfully, “Let’s just
say that we have known each other in vain. Please, I am asking you, stop following
me.”

Seeing she was not willing to forgive him, Guo Jing’s countenance paled. With a
trembling voice he asked, “What do I have to do to make you understand what’s in
my heart?”

“Today you are good to me, but if tomorrow you see Huazheng Meizi or Huazheng
Jiejie [elder sister], you will immediately shove me away from your brain,” Huang
Rong said, “Only if you die in front of me will I believe what you said.”

The blood in Guo Jing’s chest boiled; he nodded and turned around, walked in big
strides toward the cliff nearby. It was actually Mount Hua’s most dangerous place,
called the ‘she shen ya’ [to give one’s life cliff]; whoever jumped from this place
would certainly meet a cruel death.

Knowing his strong-willed temper well, Huang Rong realized Guo Jing was capable of
doing what he said he would do. Hastily she dashed forward to grab his clothes. Her
hand pulled hard and she jumped over Guo Jing’s shoulder that a moment later she
was the one standing at the edge of the cliff. She was angry and anxious at the same
time; with tears in her eyes she said, “Fine! I know you don’t care about me one bit.
I spoke thoughtless words out of anger and you didn’t miss that opportunity. I am
telling you: you don’t need to get angry with me; just don’t see me anymore.”

Huang Rong’s body trembled, her face was snow-white; she stood on the edge of the
cliff, leaning against ice-covered rock. She looked like a white ‘cha hua’ [camellia]
gently swaying in the wind.

Because he did not care about his own life, Guo Jing had exerted his strength to
jump into the canyon below; but now seeing Huang Rong on the cliff edge he was
afraid she might lost her footing. “Come over here,” he hastily said.

Huang Rong could hear the affection in his voice, she was unable to restrain from
feeling sad; she cried, “Who wants to hear your fake words? I was sick in Shandong,
nobody cared for me; you didn’t even come looking for me. I was captured by that
old scoundrel Ouyang Feng and was unable to escape; you didn’t come to rescue me.
My mother did not want me; she died and left me to fend for myself. My father did
not want me; he did not come looking for me. Worst of all, you obviously did not
want me either! There is nobody in this world wants me, nobody loves me!” While
saying that she stomped her feet and cried loudly; sounded like she was releasing all
anger, sadness, and frustration pent-up for several days.

Guo Jing’s heart was overwhelmed with love and affection, yet he realized what she
said was not wrong; the more he listened to her, the more he hated himself.

A cold wind blew, Huang Rong felt cold, her body trembled a little bit. Guo Jing took
out his outer coat and was about to drape it across her shoulder when suddenly
someone shouted from the side of the cliff, “Who has such guts, dared to bully my
Miss Huang?” A man with white beard and long hair appeared, climbing up the cliff.
It was none other than the Old Urchin Zhou Botong.

Guo Jing’s attention was focused on Huang Rong; he did not care who came toward
them. Huang Rong was not in the mood to joke around, she shouted, “Old Urchin, I
told you to kill Qiu Qianren. Where is his head?”

Zhou Botong giggled, he did not know how to answer her; so before she pursued
further, he tried to shift the blame, “Miss Huang, who made you angry? The Old
Urchin will vent your anger for you.”

Huang Rong pointed her finger to Guo Jing, “Who else if not him?” she said.

Zhou Botong only knew he had to win Huang Rong’s heart, so without saying
anything his hand moved; once with the back of his hand, then another with his
palm, ‘Slap! Slap!’ he whacked Guo Jing’s ears twice.

Guo Jing’s mind was someplace else, he did not guard against any attack; the Old
Urchin’s hand was rather heavy, Guo Jing’s vision turned black and his cheeks were
swollen red.

“Miss Huang, is that enough?” Zhou Botong asked, “If not enough I will beat him
some more.”

Seeing Guo Jing’s face was swollen with red five-finger print on each cheek, Huang
Rong’s anger turned into affection; and her affection toward Guo Jing turned into
anger toward Zhou Botong. “I am angry at him, what does it have to do with you?
Who told you to beat him up?” she angrily said, “I told you to kill Qiu Qianren, why
didn’t you do what I told you?”

Zhou Botong stuck out his tongue, could not answer her question; he said in his
heart, “Turned out in wanting to beat a horse fart the Old Urchin has beaten the
horse’s hoof instead.” In that difficult situation he suddenly heard from behind the
cliff some noise of weapons clashing and indistinct voices of people fighting. He
thought if he did not slip away right now, he would not get another chance; he called
out immediately, “Most probably that old Qiu Qianren has arrived. I am going to kill
him at once.” Before he finished speaking, he had disappeared behind the cliff in a
flash.

Actually, if it was really Qiu Qianren, Zhou Botong would not dare to even come near
to him. That day Zhou Botong blindly fought with Qiu Qianren, Ouyang Feng and Guo
Jing inside the stone house in the western region; Guo Jing escaped and Ouyang
Feng followed not too long afterwards. Then Qiu Qianren finally found an opportunity
to run away. Zhou Botong did not give up chasing him until Qiu Qianren was
exhausted. Qiu Qianren was furious and desperate; he was the clan leader of a big
clan in Wulin world, and he was forced to run away from the enemy, he felt really
humiliated. He thought he would be better off killing himself rather than falling into
the enemy’s hands and suffer further humiliation. He caught a glimpse of several
vipers on the sand and stone by the road side. He knew this kind of viper was very
poisonous; once he got bitten, the whole body would be numb immediately and he
would die without too much pain. Therefore, he caught one viper and held it by
pinching the snake at seven inches from the head; he called out, “Zhou Botong the
old thief, look here!”

He was about to let the viper bite his own hand; but who would have thought that
Zhou Botong was extremely afraid of snakes that he cried out, turned around and
ran away. Qiu Qianren was startled, but after half a day, he realized Zhou Botong
was afraid of his snake. Unexpectedly the situation was reversed to his benefit. With
his left hand he caught another viper, and shouted loudly he gave Zhou Botong a
chase.

Zhou Botong was terrified, he ran like crazy. Qiu Qianren was known as the ‘tie
zhang shui shang piao’ [iron palm floating on the water]; his lightness kungfu was
superior from Zhou Botong’s. If he was not scared of Zhou Botong, he would have
caught up with him early on.

Two men chasing each other noisily until the day turned dark. Zhou Botong ran with
all his might, Qiu Qianren was actually looking for an opportunity to escape; he was
secretly amused and pretended to chase Zhou Botong seriously. On the second day
Zhou Botong found a horse which he quickly mounted and rode back into the east;
afraid that Qiu Qianren might overtake him.

Seeing Zhou Botong sneaked out, Huang Rong cast a sidelong glance toward Guo
Jing, sighed, and lowered her head without saying anything.

“Rong’er,” Guo Jing called.

“Hmm,” Huang Rong mumbled softly.

Guo Jing wanted to apologize and asked for her forgiveness, but realizing he was
clumsy, he was afraid he might say something wrong and actually stirred up her
anger. Two people stood side by side in the wind; suddenly Huang Rong sneezed.
Immediately Guo Jing took his coat off and spread it over Huang Rong’s body. Huang
Rong lowered her head, seemingly oblivious to him. Suddenly they heard Zhou
Botong’s loud laughter, followed by his shouts, “Wonderful! Wonderful!”

Huang Rong held out her hand, touching Guo Jing’s hand, “Jing Gege, let’s take a
look,” she said with a low voice. Guo Jing was so happy that tears rolled down his
cheeks, he could not say anything. Huang Rong wiped out the tears with her sleeve;
she laughed and said, “You have tears on your face; also fingerprints on your
cheeks. People will say I beat you until you cry.” Her smile was so graceful;
signifying the two of them had been reconciled. After this incident, actually the bond
between them grew deeper.

Hand in hand the two of them walked down the cliff; they saw Zhou Botong was
bending over with laughter, he looked so proud of himself. Qiu Chuji stood on the
side with a sword in his hand. Sha Tongtian, Peng Lianhu, Lingzhi Shangren, and
Hou Tonghai, four people were seen with weapons in their hands in various postures;
some were attacking, some were retreating or eluding an attack, but they all looked
like motionless wooden statues. Turned out their acupoints had been sealed by Zhou
Botong.
Zhou Botong said, “The other day I made some pills from the dirt on my body and
gave them to you. But you stinky thieves are actually crafty and smart; as soon as
you found out they were not poisonous, you did not want to obey your grandfather
anymore. Hmm, hmm … how about today?”

Even though he managed to overpower these four men, but actually he had no idea
what to do with them. Hence, as soon as he saw Guo Jing and Huang Rong walked
over he said, “Miss Huang, I present these four stinky thieves to you!”

“What do I want to do with them?” Huang Rong said, “Hmm, you don’t want to kill
them, you also don’t want to release them. You subdued these four stinky thieves,
yet don’t have any idea what to do with them. Call me ‘Good Elder Sister’ three
times, I will teach you what to do.”

Zhou Botong was delighted; immediately he called, “Good Elder Sister!” three times;
each time he added a cupping of his fists.

Huang Rong pursed her lips and laughed. Pointing her finger to Peng Lianhu she
said, “Search his pocket.”

Zhou Botong immediately complied; from Peng Lianghu’s body he took out a ring
with poisonous needle on it, and two bottles of antidotes.

“He had once used this needle to prick your Martial Nephew Ma Yu, now prick him
several times with that same needle,” Huang Rong said.
Peng Lianhu and the others could hear everything clearly, they were so frightened
that they felt their souls were leaving their bodies; but their acupoints were sealed,
they could not move. They felt severe pain since each of them was pricked several
times by Zhou Botong.

“The antidote is in your hand, whatever you want them to do, I want to see if they
will dare to defy,” Huang Rong said.

Zhou Botong was delighted; he rubbed some dirt from his body and mixed them with
the antidote, he made some pills from the mixture and gave the pills to Qiu Chuji. He
said, “You take these four stinky thieves as prisoners; take them to Mount
Zhongnan, imprison them at the Chongyang Palace for twenty years. If they behave
well along the way, give each of them one of my wonder pill; otherwise let them
enjoy the poison. This is called taking consequences for their own actions. Show no
mercy!”
Qiu Chuji bowed and complied.

Huang Rong laughed, “Old Urchin, what you said was very reasonable. I haven’t
seen you for a year and look how far you have progressed!”

Zhou Botong was very pleased with himself, he unsealed Peng Lianhu and the others’
acupoints and said, “You go to the Chongyang Palace, stay there meditating your
lives for twenty years. If you are really willing to repent, you might still be able to
live as good people in the future. But if you don’t want to repent, hmmm … just
know that our Quanzhen people are experts in killing people without batting an eye;
we can torture without creasing an eyebrow; we can make you four stinky thieves
into meatballs and everybody can come and eat you. By that time I want to see what
other trick you have in your sleeve?”

Peng Lianhu and the others did not dare to say anything; they only nodded and
mumbled their consents. Qiu Chuji stifled his laughter; he bade Zhou Botong
farewell, then with a sword in his hand herded four people walking down the
mountain.

Huang Rong laughed, “Old Urchin, when did you learn to teach others? The front part
of your speech made a lot of sense, but the latter part was a lot of nonsense.”

Zhou Botong looked up to the sky and laughed; but suddenly he saw toward his left
there was a flashing while light. Apparently it was a weapon reflecting the sunlight.
“Well, what is that?” he called out.

Jing and Rong lifted their heads to see, but the flashing light was gone. Zhou Botong
was afraid Huang Rong would raise Qiu Qianren’s matter to him, he quickly said, “Let
me take a look.” And he flew to the nearby peak.

Jing and Rong two people had a lot to talk; they looked for a cave and poured out
their hearts’ content to each other. They talked and talked until the sun disappeared
behind the western peak; still there were more to talk about. Guo Jing took some
dried food from his backpack and gave some to Huang Rong.

Huang Rong ate and smiled, “That old scoundrel Ouyang Feng compelled me to
explain to him the Nine Yin Manual; his source was the one you wrote randomly, so I
also gave him a random explanation. He accepted it as real, and he trained hard on
it for several months. I told him that this type of martial art has to be practiced
upside down; he really turned head over heels training diligently. He managed to
reverse the whole body passage through which vital energy circulates. It was really
not easy; his ‘yin wei’ [negative dimension], ‘yang wei’ [positive dimension], yin and
yang; four main arteries are flowing in reverse. I don’t know how he will look like if
his entire system flows in reverse.” Having said that she giggled.

Guo Jing was also smiling, “No wonder I saw him upside down in the middle of the
road,” he said, “It was really not easy to do.”

“You are coming to Mount Hua; are you going to join the contest to win the title
Number One Martial Artist of the World?” Huang Rong asked.

“Rong’er, why are you teasing me?” Guo Jing said, “I am here to ask Zhou Dage on
how I can forget the martial arts I have already learned.” And then he told Huang
Rong everything he had pondered in his heart these past several days.

Huang Rong leaned her head slightly and thought for a moment. “Ay! It’s good if we
can forget it,” she said, “The more we train, the stronger our martial art become; but
actually our heart is not getting happier. I wish we were just like little children who
don’t know anything; nothing burdened our minds, no worry, no anxiety.” She forgot
that as one grew older, the more hardship and anxiety one would have to face; it
had nothing to do with whether one’s martial art skill was high or not.

Huang Rong continued, “I heard Ouyang Feng saying that tomorrow is the sword
meet day; I am sure my father will come to this mountain. You said you are not
going to join the contest; how about we think of something to help my father win the
title?”

“Rong’er,” Guo Jing said, “It’s not that I don’t want to help you, but I think in term of
conduct, Benevolent Master Hong is superior to your father.”

Originally Huang Rong was leaning against Guo Jing’s body, but as she heard him
saying her father was not good, she pushed him away in anger. Guo Jing was
startled, he was confused. But suddenly Huang Rong laughed, “Hmm, actually
Benevolent Master Hong’s treatment to us was not bad. Let’s just not help any of
them, what do you think?”

“Both your father and Benevolent Master Hong are honorable warriors; they won’t
like it if we secretly help them,” Guo Jing said.

“Fine! Now you are saying that I am sly and crafty, that I am a wicked traitor
coward?” Huang Rong said pulling up her face.

“I am sorry,” Guo Jing said, “I am a fool, always say wrong things and provoke you
to anger.” His face looked really terrified.

Huang Rong stifled her laughter, “I don’t know how many more times I am going to
be mad at you.”

Guo Jing was perplexed; he scratched his head and looked at her with blank
expression.

“If you don’t dump me anymore, we will have many days to be together. I really
don’t care how many more times you are going to say stupid things,” Huang Rong
said.

Guo Jing was ecstatic, he grabbed her hands tight and earnestly said, “How can I
dump you? How can I?”

“It was because the princess didn’t want you that naturally you have no choice but
looking for me, a poor little girl,” Huang Rong said.

What Huang Rong said had brought back a flood of sad memories into Guo Jing’s
mind; he remembered his mother’s tragic death in the desert, he looked so dispirited
and was silent. It was a new moon, silver light like water shone on them. Huang
Rong saw his dejected countenance and realized she had offended him deeply; she
quickly tried to change the subject. “Jing Gege, let us not talk about past matters.
Being together with you like this makes my heart so happy. How about I let you kiss
my cheek?”

Guo Jing’s entire face turned red; indeed he did not dare to kiss her. Huang Rong
flashed a captivating smile; she was fully aware that she had embarrassed both Guo
Jing and herself, so she changed the subject again, “On the sword meet tomorrow,
who do you say will win?” she asked.

“That is really difficult to say,” Guo Jing replied, “I wonder if Reverend Yideng is
coming?”

“The reverend has entered emptiness; he would not want to fight over empty
reputation,” Huang Rong reasoned.

Guo Jing nodded his agreement, “I think so too. Your father, Benevolent Master
Hong, Big Brother Zhou, Qiu Qianren and Ouyang Feng, five people; each one is the
grandmaster of their respective school, each one has their own unique skill. I am just
wondering if Benevolent Master Hong has recovered from his injury. Can his skill
level back to where it was?” Remembering his master Guo Jing was saddened.

“Reasonably speaking, the Old Urchin’s martial art is the strongest,” Huang Rong
said, “However, if he does not use the martial art from the Nine Yin Manual, then he
is still inferior to the other four.”

Two people talked until Huang Rong felt tired; then she leaned on Guo Jing’s bosom
and fell asleep. Guo Jing was also weary and was dozing off when suddenly he heard
footsteps approaching. Two dark shadows, one in front of the other, were rushing
over the cliff. Those two people’s clothes were fluttering in the wind, they were
running very fast. From their footwork, looked like the one in the front was the Old
Urchin Zhou Botong, and the one pursuing him was surprisingly Qiu Qianren. Guo
Jing did not know that Qiu Qianren had used vipers to scare Zhou Botong off; he was
baffled, in the western region Qiu Qianren was running away for his life because of
Zhou Botong, how come the situation was reversed now? Lightly he nudged Huang
Rong and whispered in her ear, “Look!”

Huang Rong raised her head and saw under the moonlight Zhou Botong eloped to
the east and escaped to the west; did not dare to face the enemy at all. Zhou Botong
was heard shouting, “Old thief surnamed Qiu, I have somebody here who is an
expert in catching viper; you’d better run away as quick as you can!”

Qiu Qianren laughed, “Do you think I am a three-year old kid?” he said.

“Guo Xiongdi [Brother Guo], Miss Huang! Come and help me, please!” Zhou Botong
shouted.

Guo Jing was about to leap out, but Huang Rong pushed his chest back, “Don’t
move!” she hissed.

Zhou Botong had run around in circles yet did not see Jing and Rong two people
come out, he started to curse, “Stinky Kid, Crafty Girl, if you don’t come out, I am
going to curse your ancestors to the eighteenth generation.”

Huang Rong stood up and laughed, “I don’t want to come out, curse if you can.”

Zhou Botong saw the vipers in Qiu Qianren’s hands lifted their heads high with their
tongues stuck out; he was so scared that his knees turned into jelly. “Miss Huang,
please come, please come. What about if I curse my own ancestors to the eighteenth
generation?” he begged.

Qiu Qianren was shocked to see Jing and Rong two people were standing nearby.
Quickly he cooked up some ideas to slip away; otherwise if those three people
ganged up against him, definitely things would not go well for him. Tomorrow would
be another story; he would fight each of them on a one-to-one battle, he was not
afraid of any of them. He started to move his feet, but before running away he flung
the vipers toward Zhou Botong’s face.
Zhou Botong wielded his sleeve in panic, he stepped aside to elude; suddenly there
was a light plopping sound and he felt something cold fell on his neck, straight
through his collar into his back. That something wiggled and bounced around inside
his clothes; it felt slippery. He was so scared, it felt like his soul was leaving his
body. “I am dying, I am dying!” he cried. He did not dare to put his hands into his
clothes to pull the ‘snakes’ out; he only jumped around wildly. Suddenly he felt the
‘snake’ bit him in the chest; he thought he really died this time, his whole body
tingled with numbness and he fell down to the ground.

Jing and Rong two people were shocked, they quickly leaped forward to help. Seeing
Zhou Botong suddenly fall down, Qiu Qianren was also surprised; he was about to
seek a way to go down the mountain when suddenly a black shadow appeared from
among the trees. That shadow coldly said, “Old thief Qiu, today you can’t run away
anymore.”

That person’s back was facing the moon, so Qiu Qianren could not see that person’s
face clearly. Qiu Qianren felt a chill creep up his back. “Who are you?” he barked.

Zhou Botong was lying on the ground, bedazzled. He felt he would soon be gone to
the underworld; but suddenly he felt someone helped him up. “Master Zhou, don’t be
afraid, that is not a snake,” he heard that person said. Zhou Botong was startled, he
quickly stood up, but that cold thing on his back started to bounce around again; he
jumped around and shouted madly, “It is biting me, it’s a snake, it’s a snake!”

“It’s a ‘jin wa wa’ [golden baby doll, see Chapter 29] fish, not a snake,” that person
said. By now Jing and Rong two people could see clearly that person’s appearance;
turned out it was the Fisherman from the Fisherman, Woodcutter, Farmer, and
Scholar, four main disciples of Reverend Yideng. They saw him stretching out his arm
and took a ‘jin wa wa’ from Zhou Botong’s clothes.

Turned out that fisherman saw a pair of ‘jin wa wa’ in a creek nearby; he caught
them and kept them in his bosom. One of them slipped and jumped high into a tree;
as luck had it, it fell down inside Zhou Botong’s collar. That ‘jin wa wa’ did not bite,
but Zhou Botong was so scared of snakes that he imagined this cold and slippery
thing was actually a viper biting his back. If the Fisherman was one step late, Zhou
Botong might pass out of fright.

Zhou Botong opened his eyes and saw the fisherman; but he was still in shock. He
knew he had met this person before, but he could not remember who it was. He
turned his head to see Qiu Qianren was walking step-by-step backward, while the
black shadow in front of him walked step-by-step forward, slowly approaching. Zhou
Botong was a little bit relaxed but then he was startled and frightened out of his
wits; he saw clearly that the black shadow was precisely the Concubine Liu Ying Gu
from the Dali country’s royal palace.

Qiu Qianren was led to believe at the present time only Zhou Botong’s martial art
was superior to his. If he managed to scare Zhou Botong away with his snakes, then
on the sword meet the next day he was certain he would have a great chance to
come out the winner. Unexpectedly on the eve of the sword meet Ying Gu appeared.
That day on the ‘qing long tan’ [green dragon shore] she madly fought him; he
thought that if this granny entangled him in another fight while his enemies were
standing on the side; his life would be in grave danger. But then he heard she hissed
with a throaty voice, “Give me back my son’s life!”

Qiu Qianren’s heart turned cold; he thought that that night when he entered the
royal palace and injured her son in his attempt to force Emperor Duan to waste his
strength he had disguised himself carefully. Who would have thought that the
emperor did not save the child’s life, and now she had somehow learned the truth?
He forced a smile and said, “Crazy Granny, why are you bothering me?”

“Give me back my son’s life!” Ying Gu called out.

“What son?” Qiu Qianren asked, “You son died, it has nothing to do with me.”

“Hmm, that night I did not see your face, but I remember your laughter,” Ying Gu
said, “You laugh, now! Laugh! Laugh!”

Qiu Qianren saw her stretching both hands to pounce on him; he withdrew two
steps, slightly leaned his body to the side, then his left palm slapped his right, and
his right palm swept diagonally to strike Ying Gu’s abdomen. It was the fiercest one
of his thirteen stances Iron Palms, called the ‘yin yang gui yi’ [negative and positive
converge into one].

Ying Gu realized the fierceness of this attack; she used the Loach Maneuver to
evade. Who would have thought that the enemy’s strike was so swift that before she
could even move her feet, his palm was already less than half a foot from her body.
Ying Gu felt a stab of pain in her heart; knowing that her hope of seeking revenge
was shattered.

Disregarding his palm, she jumped forward with the intention of grabbing his body so
that both of them would fall down into the canyon below. Suddenly she heard a gust
of wind and a fist cut like a knife in front of her. Just before his palm reached its
target, Qiu Qianren was forced to retract his arm and parry that incoming fist. He
was angry, “Old Urchin, it’s you again!”

When Zhou Botong saw the danger threatening Ying Gu, he used the skill he learned
from the Nine Yin Manual to its fullest extend to defeat the Iron Palm stance. Zhou
Botong did not dare to look straight to Ying Gu; putting his back to her he said, “Ying
Gu, you are not this old scoundrel’s match. Quickly go! I will go too!”

He was about to fly down the mountain when suddenly Ying Gu called out, “Zhou
Botong, why don’t you avenge your son?”

Zhou Botong was dumbstruck. “What? My son?”

“Exactly,” Ying Gu said, “Your son is killed by Qiu Qianren.”

Zhou Botong still did not know that his affair with Ying Gu had resulted in they
having a child. His mind was muddled; he was at lost. He turned his head to see that
there were several more people standing next to Ying Gu; other than Guo Jing and
Huang Rong, there were Reverend Yideng and his four disciples.

At that time Qiu Qianren had walked away from the edge of the cliff less than three
feet, suddenly he saw in front of him a group of formidable enemies while the terrain
they were on was really dangerous. He knew he was facing a grave danger. He
clapped his hands and boldly said, “I am climbing the Mount Hua to fight over the
‘Number One Martial Artist in the World’ title. Hmm, hmm … all of you gang up to get
rid of a powerful opponent. It’s truly despicable!”

Zhou Botong thought what this old thief said was reasonable, he said, “All right, I am
going to wait until after the sword meet tomorrow, then I am going to take your dog
life.”

Ying Gu angrily called out, “I want to seek revenge, how can I wait until tomorrow?”

Huang Rong also said, “Old Urchin, toward a person with a good faith we speak with
a good faith; toward a deceitful person we speak deceitfully. Let us just get rid of
him once and for all; I want to see what he is going to do.”

Qiu Qianren face turned deathly pale, he realized his precarious situation; but
suddenly he got an idea, “Why do you want to kill me?” he called out.

The scholar replied, “You have done all kinds of evil deeds; everybody deserved to
punish you.”

Qiu Qianren lifted his face to the sky and laughed, “Speaking about martial art, you
rely on numbers to bully me, certainly I am not your match. But speaking about
right and wrong, good and evil, hey, hey … Qiu Qianren is not alone. Whoever
among you who has never killed anybody or done anything wrong; you can start
punishing me. I will stretch out my neck to die in your hand; if I even creased my
eyebrows; don’t consider me a real man.”

Reverend Yideng heaved a deep sigh, he was the first to step back then he lowered
his head and sat cross-legged on the ground. Everybody else was deeply affected by
Qiu Qianren’s words; each thought how they have committed countless errors in
their lives. The Fisherman, Woodcutter, Farmer, and the Scholar were all high-
ranking government officials of the Dali country; they had killed people. Although
they were acting in enforcing the justice, in the end they had unavoidably made
some mistakes.

Zhou Botong and Ying Gu looked at each other; they recalled the love and hate
between them, and each felt ashamed. During the expedition to the west Guo Jing
had killed numerous people, and he still blamed himself for that. Huang Rong
remembered how she had made her father suffer, how she was being an unfilial
daughter, and how many times she had deceived others; truly she had committed
not a few faults of her own.

Qiu Qianren thought that his speech had silenced everybody, now it was a good time
to slip away; therefore, with big strides he walked pass Guo Jing’s left side to leave.
He saw Guo Jing step aside to let him go; he exerted his strength and about to flee
when suddenly a bamboo stick appeared from behind the mountain rock, blocking
his way. This bamboo stick was so swift, Qiu Qianren’s left palm flew up, his wrist
made a turn, trying to catch the stick’s end; but unexpectedly the stick poked three
times swiftly, targeting three major acupoints on his chest. Qiu Qianren was
shocked; he felt that the bamboo stick’s incoming force was like a strong wind. He
was unable to neither parry nor evade, and had no choice but step backwards and
thus return to where he started, by the edge of the cliff. From behind the rock a dark
shadow appeared with the stick in his hand, and then stood up in front of him.
“Shifu!” Guo Jing and Huang Rong cried out. The ‘jiu zhi shen gai’ [nine-fingered
divine beggar] Hong Qigong had arrived.

“Stinky beggar, you come to meddle. It’s not time for the sword meet yet,” Qiu
Qianren cursed.

“I came to get rid of a traitor. Who wants to have a contest with you?” Hong Qigong
said.

“Fine! What a great hero and warrior [actually, here he used the term ‘da ying xiong
da xia shi’ - I don’t know how to differentiate ‘ying xiong’ and ‘xia’] you are, and I
am a traitor. You are a good man and have never committed any misconduct,” Qiu
Qianren said.

“That’s correct,” Hong Qigong replied, “During my lifetime the Old Beggar has killed
231 people; all these 231 people were wicked, if not greedy and corrupt officials,
then they were local bullies or criminals who oppressed common people; they were
all evil people who had no regard of justice and honor. The Old Beggar is a glutton,
but in all my life I have never killed an innocent person. Qiu Qianren, you are the
232nd person!”

His speech had made Qiu Qianren shiver with fear; he felt like his life had been taken
from him. Hong Qigong continued, “Qiu Qianren, your Iron Palm Clan’s past Clan
Leader Shangguan Jian Nan was a true hero; he devoted his entire life to serve the
country, he was loyal till the day he died. Didn’t your master advise you to be a real
man? You succeeded your master as the Iron Palm Clan Leader; yet you colluded
with the Jins, betraying your own country. When you die, do you have any face to
meet your master and Shangguan Jian Nan, Shangguan Bangzhu? You climb Mount
Hua in a vain attempt to compete against other martial art experts to win the
‘Number One Martial Artist in the World’. Not only your martial art is inferior to
everybody else’s; but even if your martial art were matchless, which hero of this
world would want to submit to a traitor who sells his own country?”

This speech was like a bucket of cold water drenched over Qiu Qianren; everything
he had ever done in the past dozens of years came into his mind one by one. He
remembered his master’s instructions. How his master at his deathbed had imparted
the Iron Palm Clan rules and regulations after he assumed the Clan Leader position;
earnestly warning him to be a patriot, loyal to his country and love its people. Who
would have thought that the older he got, the stronger his martial art became, the
more he forgot his oath to love his country; he has become a traitor and a criminal,
killing people who oppose his personal ambition. He fell deeper and deeper, until the
clan members who were loyal and righteous left him, and in their place he took
criminals as his disciples. He went as far as changing the upright Iron Palm Clan into
a gang of bandits; sheltering evil people and support their evil practices; carrying out
all kinds of evil things.

He lifted up his eyes to see the bright moon in the sky; he lowered his eyes to see
Hong Qigong’s bright pair of eyes with a penetrating gaze looking at him. Suddenly
his conscience was awakened; he felt that among all of his life conducts not one
could be called honorable. His body was drenched in cold sweats; he sighed, “Hong
Bangzhu, you are right.” He turned around and jumped into the canyon below.
Hong Qigong was holding tight his bamboo stick to guard against Qiu Qianren lest he
would launch a sudden attack from shame. This person’s martial art is nothing to be
trifled with; in his desperation his attack must be really fierce. Not in a million years
would he expect him to suddenly attempt to commit suicide. He was stunned, but
suddenly a grey shadow flew by his side; Reverend Yideng had arrived at the cliff
edge. Initially he was sitting cross-legged, and when he moved, he was still cross-
legged. His left arm stretched out and grabbed Qiu Qianren’s feet, pulled him
strongly back to safety.

“Zhan zai, zhan cai!” he said, “The sea of bitterness knows no bounds; turn around
and you will see the shore. You have already repented of your previous wrong
doings; it’s not too late to become a new man.”

Qiu Qianren wept loudly, he knelt down in front of Yideng. He had millions of things
he wanted to say, but was unable to utter a single word.

Ying Gu saw his back was in front of her; it was a very good opportunity for her the
seek her revenge. She took a dagger from her bosom and fiercely thrust it into Qiu
Qianren’s back.

“Wait!” Zhou Botong called out; stretching his hand to block Ying Gu’s dagger.

Ying Gu was angry, “What are you doing?” she asked sternly.

Since the first time Zhou Botong saw Ying Gu, he had been scared. Now that she
scolded him, he shouted, “Aiyo!” and turned around, rushing down the mountain.

“Where are you going?” Ying Gu called out and immediately pursued him.

“I have tummy ache, I need to defecate!” Zhou Botong shouted. Ying Gu was
startled only for a second, then she ignored him and did not stop pursuing Zhou
Botong.

Zhou Botong was stunned, “Aiyo! Not good! I have shits all over my pants; it stinks
to high heaven. Don’t come over here!” he anxiously shouted.

Ying Gu had been searching for him for over twenty years; she believed that if she
missed him again this time, she would not see him anymore. Hence she did not care
whether Zhou Botong was really defecating or just pretending, she kept pursuing
him.

Zhou Botong heard the sound of footsteps approaching; he was scared out of his
wits. Initially he said he was defecating to scare Ying Gu out from coming near him;
he was hoping that he would find an opportunity to slip away. Who would have
thought that Ying Gu ignored his words. He was so frightened that he cried out; and
from pretending, Zhou Botong actually did start urinating and defecating.

Guo Jing and Huang Rong were amused to watch this couple who quickly disappear
beyond the cliff in the distant; and then they turned their heads to see Reverend
Yideng was speaking in low voice on Qiu Qianren’s ears.

Qiu Qianren did not say anything, he simply nodded his head repeatedly. Yideng
spoke for a long while then finally he stood up and said, “Let’s go.”
Jing and Rong two people hurriedly went forward to pay their respects; they also
bowed to the Fisherman, the Woodcutter, the Farmer and the Scholar. Yideng held
out his hand to stroke their heads; he looked at them tenderly with a gentle smile on
his face. “Qi Xiong,” he turned to Hong Qigong, “You are in good shape, your bravery
is as great as I remember it; you also received these two fine disciples. I must
congratulate you.”

Hong Qigong bowed and said, “Reverend is also well.”

Yideng smiled, “The mountain is tall and the river is long; till we meet again,” he
said. Putting his palms together he turned around and left.

“Tomorrow is the sword meet, why are you leaving?” Hong Qigong called out.

Yideng turned his head and smiled, “The Old Monk is an outsider; how could I dare
to compete with world class heroes over a title? The Old Monk is here today to take
care of twenty years’ worth of gratitude and grudges; and I am happy my intention
has been achieved. Qi Xiong, who is the present age hero but you? Why are you
being modest?” Again he put his palms together, took Qiu Qianren’s hand, and
walked down the mountain.

The four main disciples of Dali bowed toward Hong Qigong then followed behind their
master. The Scholar walked by Huang Rong’s side. Seeing her cheeks were glowing
he raised his eyebrows and smiled while reciting a line, “On the marshy land there
was a ‘chang chu’ tree, its branches are soft and willowy!”

Hearing him tease her, Huang Rong replied with another line, “The chicken perched
on their roost, the evening has arrived.”

The Scholar laughed a big laughter, he cupped his fists and left.

Guo Jing was bewildered, “Rong’er,” he asked, “Was that another Sanskrit line?”

“No,” Huang Rong smiled, “It was from ‘the book of poems’” she explained.

Hearing they were exchanging poetry, Guo Jing did not ask further.

Looking at him Huang Rong smiled. She thought, “This ‘zhuang yuan’ [honorable title
conferred to the person who scored highest in the imperial examination] is really
smart; he had guessed correctly what’s in my heart. The next lines of what he
recited from the book of poems are ‘pleasure does not need knowledge, pleasure
does not need a family, pleasure does not need a room’. It was about a maiden
adoring a bachelor’s love song. It is very appropriate to Jing Gege’s situation; he was
saying that this scattered brain dumb kid has finally found a wife. I am very happy!”
Having thought this suddenly she uttered a soft cry, “Aiyo!”

“What is it?” Guo Jing hastily asked.

Huang Rong smiled and said, “The next lines of what I recited are ‘The sheep and the
cows coming down, the sheep and the cows went into the pen.’ The poem says that
it was getting late, the sheep and the cows from the hillside returned to the fold and
the gate was closed. In short I called that ‘zhuang yuan’ an animal. But it can be
considered that I called Reverend Yideng an animal too!”

Guo Jing did not pay too much attention to this poetry exchange; he was pondering
on what Hong Qigong had said to Qiu Qianren earlier. His heart was heavy with
doubts and anxiety for these past several days; all his questions were answered in
just a few words. His mind became open and he understood, “Shifu said he has killed
231 people; but these 231 people were all wicked. As long as he did not kill an
innocent person, then his conscience is clear. Look how Shifu reprimanded Qiu
Qianren, physical prowess is useless. This Qiu Qianren’s martial art is not necessary
below that of Shifu’s, but because his heart was not upright, he cowered in Shifu’s
presence. As long as I use my martial art to uphold justice, why would I want to put
my martial art behind?”

It was actually a clear cut truth, even Qiu Chuji had spoken to him about the same
truth. It was not that he did not believe Qiu Chuji, it was just that he recently joined
Genghis Khan’s expedition to the west; he saw with his own eyes the terrible
massacre, the cruelty on the battlefield, the suffering of the people, the tragic death
of his mother under his own dagger; he loathed all kinds of war and violence and his
mind was overwhelmed with this bitter thought. But after going through this deep
thinking in his mind, finally his determination to do good deeds was getting stronger.

Jing and Rong two people went forward and kowtowed in front of their master; then
they talked about things that happened after they parted. Turned out Hong Qigong
followed Huang Yaoshi back to the Peach Blossom Island to tend to his injury. Using
the method from the Nine Yin Manual he was able to revive his internal strength and
open up the passages through which the vital energy circulate. It took him about half
a year to heal his internal injury, then another half a year to recover his internal
strength.

Huang Yaoshi was worried about his daughter; therefore, as soon as Hong Qigong’s
injury was healed, he went to the north looking for her. Hong Qigong left the island
much later than Huang Yaoshi did, and only a few days ago he came across Lu
Youjiao; thus for the most part he had learned what happened to his disciples Jing
and Rong.

Three people talked for a while. Finally Guo Jing said, “Shifu, please take some rest.
Come daybreak you will compete in the sword meet; you will need a lot of energy.”

Hong Qigong laughed, “The older I get, my desire to outdo others is actually getting
stronger; but thinking that very soon I am going to fight the Eastern Heretic and
Western Poison, my heart is anxious. It is ridiculous! Rong’er, in the recent years
your father’s martial art has improved tremendously. Tell me, in the upcoming
contest between your father and your Shifu, who is strong and who is weak?”

Huang Rong replied, “The martial art of yours, Senior, and that of my father’s are
always difficult to compare; but now you have mastered the ‘jiu yin shen gong’ [nine
yin divine energy]; how can my father be your match? Later when I see my father I
am going to advise him not to compete with you; he’d better go back home to the
Peach Blossom Island early on.”

Listening to her manner of speaking, Hong Qigong felt something was strange. After
pondering it for a while he understood her intention. He laughed loudly and said,
“You don’t need to talk in circle to me; I got the ‘jiu yin shen gong’ from you two.
You don’t have to goad me; the Old Beggar’s face is not thick enough to use that
skill. When I compete with the Old Heretic Huang later, I am going to use only my
own original skills.”

Huang Rong was expecting him to say these exact words; so she smiled and said,
“Shifu, if you lose under my father’s hand, I am going to prepare a hundred types of
food for you to eat. So winning you will no doubt be delighted, losing you will also be
happy.”

Hong Qigong swallowed his saliva. “Hmm, this girl’s heart is not good. You provoke
me then you bribe me. You are wickedly shrewd; you hope wholeheartedly your own
father will win.”

Huang Rong smiled, but before she could answer Hong Qigong suddenly stood up.
He pointed his finger toward Huang Rong’s back and called out, “Old Poison, you
arrived very early!”

Guo Jing and Huang Rong were startled; quickly they sprang up and stood next to
Hong Qigong. They turned their heads and saw Ouyang Feng with his tall stature
standing nearby. He arrived so quietly that these two people were not aware of his
presence; they were greatly astonished.

End of Chapter 39
Chapter 40 – Sword Meet of Mount Hua
(Translated by Foxs, Edited by Eliza Bennet)
Caption to the picture:
Genghis Khan fetched his iron bow and aimed the arrow toward the female eagle.
The eagle was able to skew itself and sweep its wing to strike the arrow. The male
eagle was angry; it let out a long cry and dived to strike Genghis Khan’s head.
Ouyang Feng coldly said, “Arrive early compete early, arrive late compete late. Old
Beggar, tell me, our contest today, is it just to decide victory or defeat, or is it for
our lives?”

“To achieve victory sometimes means risking our lives,” Hong Qigong said, “When
we start, you don’t need to be lenient.”

“Good!” Ouyang Feng said. His left hand was behind his back, but suddenly he
moved it forward, showing a snake staff. Tapping the staff’s end to a rock he asked,
“Here, or do you need a more open space?”

Hong Qigong has not opened his mouth when Huang Rong interrupted, “Mount Hua
is not a good place to compete, we’d better go to find a boat.”

Hong Qigong was puzzled, “What?”

“To give Mr. Ouyang another good opportunity to reply kindness with evil, to make a
sneak attack from behind again,” Huang Rong explained.

Hong Qigong burst out in laughter, “Fall into a trap once, learn to be smart once;
don’t expect the Old Beggar to show mercy anymore.”

Listening to Huang Rong’s insult Ouyang Feng’s face did not show any emotion. He
bent his knees a little bit, moved his staff to his right hand, and launched the Toad
Stance with his left hand.

Huang Rong gave the dog-beating stick in her hand to Hong Qigong, “Shifu, use the
Dog Beating Stick Technique and the Nine Yin Manual’s martial arts. We don’t talk
about honor and honesty with an old traitor like him.”

Hong Qigong thought, “It really is not easy to win relying on my own martial arts
alone; if I spend too much energy fighting the Old Poison, I won’t be able to fight the
Old Heretic Huang later on.” So he nodded his head and took the dog-beating stick.
Immediately his left hand launched ‘da cao jing she’ [beating the grass scaring the
snake], while his right hand launched ‘bo cao xun she’ [brushing the grass aside
looking for snakes]; attacking from both sides.

Ouyang Feng had fought him several times yet he had never seen Hong Qigong use
the Dog Beating Stick Technique. Even in a critical situation when they were fighting
on the burning boat Hong Qigong did not use this technique. Ouyang Feng had seen
Huang Rong use this technique before and he did not dare to look down on the
technique; now that the stick was in Hong Qigong’s hand it moved fast, carrying
gusts of wind, truly not something to be trifled with. The snake staff in his hand
shook; parried the left and evaded the right, he struck toward the middle.

He had lost his snake staff twice; the one currently in his hand was a new one. The
staff had the same scary head carved on it, but the two venomous snakes wrapped
around it were new; even though their poison was as lethal as the previous ones, but
they haven’t been used too long; thus their effectiveness was inferior to the previous
ones.

In the past Hong Qigong had been bitten by this kind of venomous snake, he had
also suffered under Ouyang Feng’s vicious palms to the point of almost losing his
life; which took him nearly two years to recover and get his martial art skill back.
That was his greatest defeat and greatest danger he had to face his entire life; how
could he not avenge this enmity? Thus he moved his stick with all his might,
attacking furiously.

The first time those two fought was over the Nine Yin Manual during the Sword Meet
of Mount Hua. The second time was on the Peach Blossom Island, fighting over Guo
Jing and Ouyang Ke’s marriage proposal; this fight was to decide victory and defeat
only, not a life-and-death situation. The third time was on the small boat in the
middle of the sea; where life and death were separated only by a thin line, but Hong
Qigong still held his uprightness. This fight was the fourth time they battled each
other fiercely; each one threw everything they had, no more mercy. They both knew
that the opponent had trained hard and improved their martial art skill throughout all
these years; their martial arts were very fierce, so if they were careless and yield
even for half a stance, it would be difficult not to lose their own lives.

Two people turning around and hitting each other for about two hundred moves
when suddenly the moon disappeared, the darkness came blanketing everything. It
was the darkest hour of the night before dawn. Both were afraid the opponent would
launch a sneak attack, so they were focusing their attention on defense and did not
care much on offense. Guo Jing and Huang Rong were anxious about their master’s
safety; each moved forward several steps, ready to help if Hong Qigong’s life were
threatened.

While watching intently on the fierce battle in front of his eyes, Guo Jing had a
disquieting thought, “These two people are the top skilled martial artists, but one is
heroically upholding justice, while the other one is deceitfully wicked. Obviously
martial art in itself does not differentiate good from evil; it all comes back to the
person using it. If used to do good deeds, then the higher the skill the better, but if it
used to do evil deeds, then the higher the skill the more wicked the martial art
becomes.”

The darkness made the battle difficult to watch, but the weapons made loud clashing
sound and strong gusts of wind; Guo Jing’s heart was beating faster. “Shifu has
wasted two years worth or training because of his injury. Originally they were in par
with each other; this time the outcome will be decided by a step forward or
backward; I am afraid Ouyang Feng will gain a half-step advantage because of that.
If I knew this would happen I wouldn’t have shown mercy to him three times,” he
silently mused.

Guo Jing remembered Qiu Chuji once explained the ‘xin yi’ [trust and honor], that
big trust and big honor should be differentiated from small trust and small honor. If
a person’s entire being lacking trust and honor, it was the same as if that person did
not have any trust and honor at all. Thinking about this, he felt his blood rushing
through his system, he thought, “Although Shifu and Ouyang Feng clearly said that
the battle will be a one-to-one combat, but what if Ouyang Feng harmed Shifu? What
if from this time on, he would run amuck in the world? I don’t know how many good
people will be hurt in his hands. I wasn’t clear about truth and righteousness before,
hence I committed not a few foolishnesses.” Because of this thought he lifted up his
palms, ready to move forward to help his master.

But suddenly he heard Huang Rong called out, “Ouyang Feng, you and my Jing Gege
had made an agreement which resulted in you being spared from death three times;
who would have thought that you still relying on your strength bullying me? You
proved yourself untrustworthy, much like a nameless pawn of the Wulin; yet you are
still dreaming of becoming the number one martial artist of the world?”

Ouyang Feng had committed countless ruthless acts in his life, but he was a proud
man, he would call ‘one’ as ‘one’, and ‘two’ as ‘two’; never backed off on his own
words. If it was not because of his desire to learn the Nine Yin Manual he wouldn’t
break his promise to Guo Jing. This time he was fighting a fierce battle with Hong
Qigong and suddenly Huang Rong brought it up; his ears turned red and his mind
was muddled; he lost his concentration and the dog beating stick almost hit him.

“You are known as the Western Poison,” Huang Rong continued, “So all kinds of evil
are not stranger to you; but to have a junior sparing your life three times? You have
lost your face. Where is your honor? How could you swallow your own words toward
a junior? You have become the laughingstock of all the valiant people of the Jianghu
till their mouths crooked. Ouyang Feng! Oh, Ouyang Feng! There is one title you
deserve to have: you are the number one shameless man of the world!”

Ouyang Feng was angry, but he realized it was Huang Rong’s clever trick to break
his concentration; to make him feel ashamed. And as long as his internal strength
was affected he would fall under Hong Qigong’s hands, hence he turned a deaf ear
toward Huang Rong. Who would have thought that Huang Rong kept accusing him
with more and more evil and wicked deeds; sounded like every crime ever
committed in the martial art world was his doing. If it was just ruthless deeds,
Ouyang Feng did not care, but Huang Rong’s tongue was getting more and more
vicious. She mentioned all kinds of lowly and cowardice acts that even a bandit in
the Jianghu would not do. Furthermore she said Ouyang Feng kissed Lingzhi
Shangren’s rear end; that he respectfully called Sha Tongtian his ‘beloved uncle’;
that he regarded Peng Lianhu as his ‘honorable father’ and begging for the secret
ingredient of the poison Peng was using; that he repeatedly asked Wanyan Honglie
for the captain of the guards position, so that he could live at the Zhao palace and be
their night watch. She went as far as how Guo Jing in the west had spared his life
three times, how Guo Jing rescued him from the sand, but Huang Rong add some
spices to her story, made Ouyang Feng appear completely helpless and the rescue
ten times more dramatic.

At first Ouyang Feng was still able to control his emotion, but as the story
progressed to extreme nonsense he could not restrain from refuting Huang Rong
several times. It was exactly what Huang Rong wanted: to engage him in useless
debate and deliberately losing his fighting concentration. Thus Ouyang Feng had to
fight in two fronts: with his hands and feet he fiercely battled Hong Qigong, with his
mouth he argued with Huang Rong. Unfortunately for him, Huang Rong’s mouth was
a lot sharper than Hong Qigong’s hands and feet.

After fighting for half a day Ouyang Feng began to feel the pressure, he thought, “It
would be difficult to win if I don’t use the martial art from the Nine Yin Manual.”
Although he had not mastered Huang Rong’s explanation on reversing the blood flow
through vital energy passages, he had been able to train for half a year; due to his
own intelligent and profound martial art, he managed to somewhat improve his
internal strength. Therefore, his snake staff suddenly made strange movements.

Hong Qigong was startled; he had to increase his attention. Huang Rong called out,
“Yuan si ying er, ba ba xi luo zhao, xue liu wen bing.” Ouyang Feng was startled,
“What is the meaning of that?” he asked himself. How would he know that Huang
Rong was letting her tongue loose and talk whatever came into her mind? That it did
not carry any meaning at all? Huang Rong repeatedly talked gibberish, changing the
tone of her voice; sometimes sounded like she was scolding him, other time
encouraging, but suddenly turned to a sigh; then the sigh turned into cheers. Some
sentences sounded like they were questions; or urgently asking for advice. Ouyang
Feng had determined to ignore her, but in the end his curiosity won, “What are you
talking about?”

Huang Rong answered him using Sanskrit sentences she learned. Ouyang Feng was
confused; he tried hard to remember the altered manual Guo Jing wrote for him.
Suddenly a flood of chaotic sounds, images, strategic moves and martial arts
theories came streaming into his mind. He felt dizzy and suffer a momentary
memory loss.

Hong Qigong saw an opening in Ouyang Feng’s staff movement, “Got you!” he cried,
and swung his stick toward the top of Ouyang Feng’s head.

This hit did not carry tremendous strength; Ouyang Feng was already confused, but
after his head was hit he became more confused. He was in a daze; screamed and
dragging along his snake staff he ran away.

“Where are you running to?” Guo Jing called out. He jumped to catch up. Ouyang
Feng leaped high, made three somersaults in the air; then rolling and crawling,
climbing a hill nearby, he disappeared without a trace.
Hong Qigong, Guo Jing and Huang Rong looked at each other, perplexed; then they
smiled out of surprise. Hong Qigong sighed, “Rong’er, your part in my victory over
the Old Poison today is actually big. But with us, master and disciple, against one
opponent, it was a rather shallow victory.”

Huang Rong smiled, “Shifu, it was you who taught me this skill.”

Hong Qigong laughed, “It was your natural ability,” he said, “Only a crafty old fellow
as your father can have a crafty daughter like you.”

Suddenly someone called out from behind the mountain, “Good! You talk about other
people behind their backs. Old Beggar, aren’t you ashamed?”

“Father!” Huang Rong called and leaped to him.

It was dawn, the morning light shone on a man wearing a green robe, walking
leisurely. It was none other than the Master of the Peach Blossom Island, Huang
Yaoshi.

Huang Rong threw herself into her father’s bosom; father and daughter hugged each
other. Huang Yaoshi could see the childish expression had gone from his daughter’s
face; she had grown into a beautiful young woman. She looked much like his late
wife, that his heart was both happy and sad at the same time.

“Old Heretic Huang,” Hong Qigong said, “Didn’t I tell you on the Peach Blossom
Island that your virgin daughter is so smart? She is so crafty; others won’t bully her
that easily, so there is nothing for you to worry. Now tell me, was the Old Beggar
wrong?”

Huang Yaoshi smiled faintly, holding his daughter’s hand he went near and said,
“Congratulations! You made the Old Poison ran away. His defeat means you and I
have one less problem to face.”
“You and I are the current experts of the world,” Hong Qigong said, “As soon as I
saw your daughter the worms in my tummy started to dance around, my mouth
watered. Let us just compete and get it over with; you become the number one is
fine with me, I become the number one is also good. I only want to eat Rong’er’s
cooked meals.”

“Not so fast,” Huang Rong laughed, “Only if you lose I will cook something for you to
eat.”

“Bah!” Hong Qigong spat, “You are shameless. You are extorting me, aren’t you?”

“Old Beggar,” Huang Yaoshi said, “You have wasted two full years to recover from
your injuries. I am afraid you are not my match. Rong’er, no matter who wins and
who loses, you will cook some food for your Shifu to eat.”

“Right!” Hong Qigong exclaimed, “Now THAT is a speech befitting a great master of a
martial art school! How can the Master of the Peach Blossom Island have the same
petty thought as a little girl? We don’t have to wait until noon to start our
competition. Come!” He swung his bamboo stick and moved forward to begin.

Huang Yaoshi shook his head, “You have just fought the Old Poison for quite a while.
Although your energy is not completely depleted, you are tired nonetheless. How can
Old Huang gain a slight advantage over you? We will wait till noon to compete, you
need to restore your strength.”

Even though Hong Qigong knew what he said was right, but he was too impatient to
wait, so he insisted on starting right away. Huang Yaoshi simply sat on a big rock,
totally ignoring him.

Seeing these two could not reach any agreement Huang Rong said, “Father, Shifu, I
have an idea: the two of you can compete immediately without Father taking any
advantage over Shifu.”
“Good! What is it?” Hong Qigong and Huang Yaoshi asked.

“The two of you have been friends for many-many years, no matter who wins or
loses; your friendship will be damaged. But today is the Sword Meet of Mount Hua,
so no matter what, victory and defeat must be decided, does it not?”

Hong and Huang two people’s interests were piqued. They were aware that she was
right; and if she indeed had an excellent idea, then they would kill three birds with
one stone: one, they could compete immediately; two, Huang Yaoshi would not take
any advantage over Hong Qigong; three, their friendship would not be damaged. So
they enthusiastically asked, “Tell us your great idea.”

“My idea is this,” Huang Rong explained, “First, Father compete with Jing Gege. We
will see how many stances Father will need to defeat him. Then Shifu will also
compete with Jing Gege. If Father uses 99 moves to score victory but Shifu needs
100 moves, then Father wins. But if Shifu only need 98 moves, then Shifu wins.”

“Wonderful! Wonderful!” Hong Qigong exclaimed.

Huang Rong continued, “Jing Gege will compete with Father first; both are still fresh.
Then when he competes with Shifu, both parties have each fought one time. Don’t
you say it is a fair deal?”

Chapter 40 – Part 3
Huang Yaoshi nodded his head, “This is a good idea. Jing’er, come! Are you going to
use weapon or not?”

“I am not going to,” Guo Jing said. He was about to step forward when Huang Rong
said again, “Hold on a second. There is one more thing I want to say: What if you
two seniors cannot defeat Jing Gege in 300 moves?”

Hong Qigong burst out in laughter, “Old Heretic Huang, originally I envy you of
having a smart daughter, who is always looking after her Father’s well-being. Ay!
Who would have thought that a girl is always a girl; born to leave home. Actually she
wanted this dumb kid to hold the title ‘Number One Martial Artist in the World’!”

Huang Yaoshi might be eccentric, but he loved his daughter with all his heart. He
secretly thought, “Let me help her achieve her wish.” So he said, “What Rong’er had
said is true. If we two old men cannot defeat Jing’er in 300 moves, would we have
any face to become the Number One?” But suddenly he had another thought, “I
intended to hold back and let him to fight me for 300 stances, but what if the Old
Beggar does not hold back and score victory in less than 300 moves? Then I won’t
be holding back for Jing’er’s sake, but for the Old Beggar’s.” He hesitated on what to
do.

Hong Qigong shoved Guo Jing forward, “Go, fight! What are you waiting for?” he
said.

Guo Jing staggered and stepped forward to face Huang Yaoshi. “All right,” Huang
Yaoshi thought, “Let me try his skill first, then I’ll decide what to do later.” Raising
his left palm he hacked diagonally toward Guo Jing’s neck. “First move!” he called
out.

While Huang Yaoshi was not sure what to do, Guo Jing also had some doubt of his
own, “There is no way I can win the world’s number one title; but shall I let Daozhu
[Island Master] win, or shall I let Shifu win?” He was still thinking when Huang
Yaoshi had made his move. Guo Jing lifted up his right hand to parry. His body shook
and he almost fell down. “Stupid!” he scolded himself, “Why would I worry about
whom I should let to win? Even if I fight will all my might I may not be able to keep
up for 300 stances.”

In the mean time Huang Yaoshi had launched the second move, so he was forced to
focus his attention. He made a decision right then and there, to compete with those
two people with all his might. Who is swift and who is slow, let them use their skill to
defeat him. He would not be one sided.
Several stances later Huang Yaoshi was astonished. “How did this dumb kid reach
this level? If I held back, not only I might not be able to defeat him in 300 stances, I
might even lose in his hands.” In a battle between martial art experts one cannot let
back even half a step. Because initially Huang Yaoshi was only using 70% of his
strength, he fell under Guo Jing’s control. He started to feel alarmed, and busily
launched the ‘luo ying shen jian zhang’ [falling flower divine sword palm technique],
his body floating around at full strength. But Guo Jing now was not the same as Guo
Jing then. Huang Yaoshi had used dozens different palm techniques, yet it was still
difficult for him to gain an upper hand.

After about one hundred moves Huang Yaoshi suddenly launched a trick move. Guo
Jing did not expect him to make such move; he was almost kicked down by Huang
Yaoshi’s left leg. Frantically Guo Jing retreated two steps and steadied himself.
Because of this Huang Yaoshi managed to even up the battle situation.

Huang Yaoshi took that opportunity to take a deep breath. “Amazing!” he secretly
praised.

Huang Yaoshi worked very hard to gain an upper hand, but unexpectedly Guo Jing’s
position was very firm. Guo Jing had decided all along to put up a very tight defense
line; he knew it was impossible for him to win, so he only hoped he would not lose.

Listening to his daughter on the side counting, “Two-hundred and three, two-
hundred and four,” Huang Yaoshi became impatient. “Old Beggar may use a heavy
hand; if he defeats Jing’er in 100 moves, where would I put my face at?” he silently
thought. He changed his attacks: now his palms floating around like a shadow; his
hands were very swift.

Guo Jing started to feel the pressure; his chest tightened, like it was pressed under a
huge mountain. He started to get disoriented, but he bravely stood his ground.

Huang Yaoshi’s hands moved faster and faster, his offensive power increased. In the
meantime Huang Rong’s mouth was also counting faster and faster.
Guo Jing started to feel his lips and tongue dry up, his movements became sluggish;
getting more and more difficult. The only thing kept him going was his strong will. In
this critical moment suddenly he heard Huang Rong call out, “Three hundred!”

Huang Yaoshi’s countenance changed, he leaped back.

Guo Jing, on the other hand, still felt dizzy. His body did not stop spinning; he turned
around more than a dozen times. He knew he was going to fall, hence he focused his
energy to his left leg with ‘qian jin zhui’ [thousand-catty plummet], trying to anchor
his body down. But Huang Yaoshi power was incredible; even after he pulled back his
hands, the force did not vanish away. Guo Jing lost his balance and fell down; but he
used his right hand to push himself back up again. Immediately he launched dozens
of stances from the ’18-Dragon Subduing Palms’ and thus cleared his mind up. He
stayed silent for a moment, then turned his head toward Huang Yaoshi and said,
“Huang Daozhu, several moves more and I will fall down to the ground.”

Seeing Guo Jing was unexpectedly able to withstand his more than ten years worth
of ‘qi men wu zhuan’ [wonderful gate five revolutions] cultivation, Huang Yaoshi was
not angry; on the contrary, he was happy. “Old Beggar,” he said, “I am useless, the
title Number One in the World is yours.” He cupped his fists and turned around to
leave.

“Not too fast! Not too fast!” Hong Qigong said, “I won’t necessarily win. Could you
lend your iron flute to Jing’er, please?”

Huang Yaoshi’s jade flute was already broken, so he wielded an iron flute on his
waist instead. He pulled the flute and gave it to Guo Jing.

Hong Qigong turned to Guo Jing and said, “You use a weapon. I will fight you
barehanded.”

Guo Jing was dumbstruck, “This …”

Hong Qigong said, “Your bare hand techniques came from me. If you use your hands
and feet, how can we call it competition? Come!” His left hand’s fingers forming a
hook, showing off his grabbing skill, trying to snatch the iron flute in Guo Jing’s
hand. Guo Jing did not understand his intention; he let the flute go without any
resistance.

“Dumb kid!” Hong Qigong scolded, “We are competing martial arts skill!” With his left
hand he gave the flute back to Guo Jing, while with his right hand he tried to snatch
it one more time. This time Guo Jing moved his flute to evade the attack. Huang
Rong started counting, “First move!”

In the battle between experts, using weapon or being barehanded did not make too
much difference. Hong Qigong used his ’18-Dragon Subduing Palms’ attacking
ferociously; the gust of wind could be felt a ‘zhang’ [10 feet/3 meters] away. Even
with the iron flute in his hand, how could Guo Jing get close to him? Moreover, Guo
Jing was not used to use weapon until in the western region he was forced to battle
Ouyang Feng on the stone cliff. It was then that he started improving his sword
technique. Even then he did not put too much emphasis on the offense; his
swordsmanship was 80% for defense, and only 20% for offense.

The weapon techniques he learned from the Six Freaks of Jiangnan were inadequate
to battle an expert; it was after he learned the Nine Yin Manual that his weapon
technique improved greatly. Actually it was inside that stone building in the west he
started learning many defensive techniques in using a sword to defend against
Ouyang Feng’s snake staff. This time he was using an iron flute as a sword to ward
off Hong Qigong’s fierce palm attacks; and he was able to defend himself quite well.

Hong Qigong could see his strong defense line and was delighted, he thought, “This
kid made a tremendous advancement; I did not teach him in vain. But it won’t look
good for the Old Heretic Huang if I defeat him in under 200 moves. I’d better wait
until after 200 moves then I am going to increase my power.” And so Hong Qigong
kept using his ’18-Dragon Subduing Palms’, from the first variation to the ninth; with
gusts of wind so strong surrounded Guo Jing completely.

This was where Hong Qigong made a mistake. Guo Jing’s weapon skill had not
reached perfection yet; if he kept pressing Guo Jing with a heavy hand, Guo Jing
would not be able to withstand, but he wanted to wait until after the 200th move.
Initially Guo Jing’s strength was already profound; after completed the ‘yi jin duan
gu pian’ [changing muscle forging bone chapter], his internal strength increased by
leaps and bounds. On the other hand, Hong Qigong had advanced in age, plus he
had suffered a heavy injury under Ouyang Feng’s snake staff. It was true that he had
completely recovered, but his stamina could not compete with Guo Jing’s in an
endurance race. To make matter worse for him, the ’18-Dragon Subduing Palms’
required a lot of energy; so after 9 rounds (or 162 stances) even if his attacks were
still strong and fierce, but his stamina was gradually decreasing.

After about 200 moves not only the iron flute in Guo Jing’s right hand increased in
offensive power, but he was actually getting better in coordinating the right sword
technique with his left hand palm technique. Hong Qigong was secretly groaning;
realizing that he would not win relying on his brute force, he had to use strategy to
defeat this dumb kid, so immediately he changed the way he fought. He opened his
hands wide.

Guo Jing was startled, “Shifu has not taught me this stance yet,” he thought. If it
was a fight against an enemy, he would attack toward the chest since it was wide
open, but the opponent he faced was his own benevolent master, how could he use a
killer strike?

While he hesitated, Hong Qigong smiled and said, “You are tricked!” His left foot
swiftly moved upward to knock the iron flute in Guo Jing’s hand down, while his right
palm slanting downward, attacking Guo Jing’s shoulder. He only used 80% of his
strength on this attack since he did not have any intention to hurt Guo Jing. He only
wanted to knock Guo Jing down, and thus achieved victory.

Who would have thought that these past several years Guo Jing had endured wind
and frost; his body became resilient. This heavy blow made him stagger and caused
him to suffer a severe pain, but he did not fall down.

Hong Qigong was surprised Guo Jing was able to withstand his palm, he busily said,
“Quickly spit three times and breathe in, breathe out; see if you suffer an internal
injury.”

Guo Jing followed his advice, and his chest was not constricted, anymore so he said,
“Disciple has lost.”

“No,” Hong Qigong said, “We have to keep fighting. If you admit defeat, the Old
Heretic Huang won’t accept it. Come!” Immediately he sent his palm to attack.

Guo Jing did not have any weapon in his hand anymore, while the incoming attack
was fierce, so he used Zhou Botong’s Vacant Fist to parry the attack.

The Vacant Fist technique was the softest fist technique in the world; it was created
by Zhou Botong based on the Taoist principles found in the ‘Dao De Jing’
[moral/virtue scripture – Taoist’s holy scripture]. The ‘Dao De Jing’ said, ‘A strong
army can be decimated; a strong tree can be broken. Strength will fail; suppleness
will prevail.” Also, “The most flexible substance under the sky is water, but it is not
easy to withstand its strong attack. Suppleness’ victory is powerful; softness’ victory
is strong. No one in the world is unaware, no one can stand.’

On the other hand, ’18-Dragon Subduing Palms’ technique was the strongest/hardest
martial art. There was a saying, ‘Softness can overcome hardness.’ However, if it
was Hong Qigong’s level of ‘hardness,’ then it would not be easy for Zhou Botong’s
‘softness’ to overcome. Fortunately, Guo Jing had mastered the mutual hands
combat technique, so with his right hand he launch the soft Vacant Fist, while with
his left he employed the Dragon Subduing Palm; hard and soft worked together, yin
and yang complemented each other. No matter how fierce Hong Qigong’s attack
was, he could not penetrate Guo Jing’s defense.
On the side Huang Rong kept counting; it was almost 300 stances, and Guo Jing did
not show any sign that he would be defeated soon. One move after another … Hong
Qigong heard her calling out the number two hundred and ninety-nine; he became
edgy, wanted to win the contest; so for the last move he launched the ‘Proud Dragon
Repents’ full-strength, with earth-shattering power to back it up. But once it was
launched, he began to feel regret; afraid that Guo Jing would not be able to
withstand and suffer a heavy injury, so he shouted, “Watch out!”

Guo Jing understood his warning, but the gust of wind had already reached his face;
he knew it was very strong. He also knew that his Vacant Fist wouldn’t be able to
parry this attack; so in this critical moment his right hand made a circle and with a
loud shout launched the very same ‘Proud Dragon Repents’.

Two palms collided with a deafening sound; both men felt their bodies shook
violently. Huang Yaoshi and Huang Rong both cried out in shock, simultaneously they
jumped toward the men, only to see both men stood still with their palms stuck
together like they were glued to each other.

Guo Jing had a mind to yield, but knew very well that his master’s overbearing
power was still pushing his palm. If he let go and his master did not take his
strength away, he might end up getting seriously injured. Hence he was forced to
wait for his master to take the pressure away then he would admit defeat.

Seeing Guo Jing was able to block this palm, which he sent with his lifetime
cultivation of energy, Hong Qigong could not help but feel pleasantly surprised. He
regretted his proud thinking of wanting to be the number one; now he wanted his
disciple to win this contest and build up a name for himself. Therefore, gradually he
decreased his power to nothing.

Right when these two men were still in a stalemate position, where nobody wins or
loses, suddenly someone was heard shouting three times from behind the cliff; then
someone leaped and made three somersaults in the air before landing on the ground
close to them; it was the Western Poison Ouyang Feng. Hong Qigong and Guo Jing
simultaneously retracted their palms and leaped backward.

Ouyang Feng’s clothes were tattered, his face full of blood, he shouted, “I have
mastered the Nine Yin Manual! My martial art is number one in the world!” Lifting up
his snake staff he swept away all four people.

Hong Qigong picked up his dog-beating stick and parried the snake staff. After a
while all four people were astonished. Ouyang Feng’s stances had always been
unusual, but this time they were weirder than ever: he would suddenly claw his own
face or kick his own buttock; while launching an attack he would suddenly change
direction midway in an unpredictable way. Hong Qigong was extremely amazed; he
put a strong defense with his dog-beating technique and did not dare to act
carelessly.

While fighting ferociously, ‘Slap! Slap! Slap!’ suddenly Ouyang Feng slapped his own
face red, then he shouted loudly; put down his hands and crawled around like an
animal.

Hong Qigong was surprised, but also amused, he thought, “My stick technique is the
best at beating dogs, you act like a dog, aren’t you just coming straight for the
trap?” Lifting up his bamboo stick he aimed for Ouyang Feng’s waist. Unexpectedly
Ouyang Feng rolled his body around and pinched the stick to the ground; then he
rolled alongside the stick upward. Hong Qigong was so startled that his grab
loosened and the bamboo stick fell down. Ouyang Feng suddenly leaped up and
kicked both feet toward Hong Qigong’s head. Hong Qigong was taken by surprise
and forced to step back in anxiety.

By this time Huang Rong had already bent down and picked the iron flute up, giving
it to her father. Huang Yaoshi used that flute as a sword piercing toward Ouyang
Feng. “Emperor Duan! I am not afraid of your ‘Solitary Yang Finger’!” Ouyang Feng
called out; he jumped and threw himself up.

Seeing his behavior like that, Huang Yaoshi knew that his mind was confused; but to
Huang Yaoshi’s amazement his attack was fiercer than before. Even though he was
smart, Huang Yaoshi did not have any idea what had happened. He did not know
that Ouyang Feng had diligently trained himself according to the altered manual Guo
Jing wrote for him; and then Huang Rong led him along the wrong path by giving
him random interpretation. Driven by his desire to win the competition he followed
her instruction blindly and trained hard. Only his martial art was profound, so even
though following the wrong path with lots of mistakes, he somehow managed to
achieve some improvement and gave Hong and Huang, two men of great learning
and integrity, a hard time.

Dozens of stances later Huang Yaoshi was forced to admit defeat. Guo Jing stepped
forward to face the enemy. Ouyang Feng suddenly stopped and wept, “My son, you
died a tragic death!” Throwing his snake staff aside he opened up his arms wide to
hug Guo Jing.

Guo Jing knew he was remembering his nephew, Ouyang Ke. Ouyang Feng’s voice
sounded so miserable that Guo Jing felt sorry for him; but he was also scared, so he
held out his hand to shove Ouyang Feng’s arms away. But Ouyang Feng turned his
left wrist over and grabbed Guo Jing’s arm, while his right arm tightly hugged Guo
Jing’s body. Guo Jing frantically struggled to free himself but Ouyang Feng was too
strong for him; he could not get away from Ouyang Feng’s embrace.

Hong Qigong and Huang Yaoshi, father and daughter, were shocked; they moved
together to rescue Guo Jing. Hong Qigong stretched out his finger to attack the ‘feng
wei’ [phoenix tail] acupoint on Ouyang Feng’s shoulder, to force him loosen up his
grip. Unexpectedly by that time Ouyang Feng’s energy passages had been reversed,
his acupoints were entirely dislodged, that although Hong Qigong’s finger was right
on target seemed like he did not even aware of the attack.

Huang Rong picked up a rock and smashed the top of Ouyang Feng’s head. Ouyang
Feng casually swung his right fist upward; Huang Rong was not able to hold the rock,
it flew toward the valley below. But because of this interference Guo Jing was free
from Ouyang Feng’s right arm; he struggled hard and leaped backward. After
calming down a moment he saw Ouyang Feng and Huang Yaoshi were engaged in a
fierce battle.

Huang Yaoshi had inserted his flute back to his waist and fought barehanded. This
time Ouyag Feng’s movement was really bizarre, weird beyond imagination.
Sometimes he stood upright, some other time he would lean to the side with body as
straight as a stick, yet some other time his body was horizontally off the ground,
supported with one hand while the other hand launched strange attacks. Huang
Yaoshi had to put all his concentration to face this kind of opponent, since Ouyang
Feng’s movement was totally unpredictable.

Hong Qigong, Guo Jing and Huang Rong three people were watching intently with
their hearts beating fast. Seeing her father’s precarious condition, Huang Rong called
out, “Shifu, toward this lunatic we don’t have to follow Wulin’s rules, let us fight
together!”

Hong Qigong shook his head, “If it were some other day, we can cooperate to
capture him, but today is the Sword Meet of Mount Hua; the men of valor under the
heaven must fight one on one. If we relied on numbers we will be disgraced by the
heroes of Jianghu.” But he also could see that Ouyang Feng’s mental condition was
so severe; his mouth foaming, spitting his saliva everywhere. Huang Yaoshi had a
difficult time avoiding this attack and was forced to step back.

A moment later Ouyang Feng stooped down, seemingly in pain; his back was
completely undefended. Huang Yaoshi was delighted, he thought, “His madness is
spreading after all.” With the ‘Divine Flicking Finger’ he attacked the ‘ying xiang’
[welcoming fragrance] acupoint on the side of Ouyang Feng’s nose. This finger
attack was executed swiftly but unexpectedly as soon as it touched his face, Ouyang
Feng slightly turned his head and bit Huang Yaoshi’s index finger.

Huang Yaoshi was so startled and quickly hit the ‘tai yang’ [sun] acupoint with his
left hand; forcing the mouth to loosen up. Ouyang Feng thrust his right hand up
while his mouth bit even harder.
Guo Jing and Huang Rong simultaneously attacked from both sides. Ouyang Feng
was forced to loosen up his bit on Huang Yaoshi’s finger, but his ten fingers forming
two claws tried to grab Huang Rong’s face. Under the bright sunlight his face looked
so nauseatingly fierce and full of blood. Huang Rong was so scared that she ran away
screaming.

Guo Jing hurriedly came to her rescue; Ouyang Feng was forced to parry this palm
attack toward his back, giving Huang Rong an opportunity to escape.

Only about a dozen of so stances later Guo Jing’s shoulder and leg were hit one after
another. “Jing’er, back off! Let me try,” Hong Qigong shouted, rushed ahead
barehanded. Two people were engaged in a fierce battle for the second time in one
day, this time more ferocious than the last.

Hong Qigong had been paying close attention when Ouyang Feng battled Huang
Yaoshi and Guo Jing. He found out that even though Ouyang Feng’s movements
were strange, he could see a pattern on them; they were actually based on the ‘Toad
Stance’ launched backward, like upward movement became downward, left became
right. Although his comprehension was incomplete, but Hong Qigong thought that
with 70, 80% certainty he had a general idea on how to battle him. He proceeded
with utmost caution, and was able to launch a counterattack for roughly every three
attacks he received.

Huang Rong took out her handkerchief and wrapped her father’s wound. Huang
Yaoshi turned his attention to the ongoing battle and after watching a moment he
started to shout one after another, “Qi Xiong, kick him upside down.” “Strike his ‘ju
que’ [gigantic capital]!” “Hack his ‘tian zhu’ [pillar of heaven] with the back of your
hand.”

As a spectator Huang Yaoshi could see clearly; Hong Qigong followed his instructions
and a short while later was able to gain a slight advantage over his opponent. But
actually these two people were ashamed of what they were doing, they thought,
“This time the Eastern Heretic and the Northern Beggar two people join forces to
battle the Western Poison, one person.” Seeing his defeat is imminent, suddenly
Ouyang Feng opened up his mouth and spat his saliva toward Hong Qigong’s face.

Hong Qigong quickly leaned sideways to evade, but unexpectedly Ouyang Feng had
already anticipated his move. Ouyang Feng’s palm flew and slapped the side of Hong
Qigong’s head; while simultaneously spat saliva toward his face. Hong Qigong was in
an awkward position; he did not have any chance to evade. If he let the spittle hit
his eyeball he knew he would suffer an injury, or at least very hurt; and if the
opponent used that opportunity to attack it would be very difficult for him to parry.
He did not have any choice but extending his right hand and took the spittle with his
palm, while his left hand counterattacked.

Several stances later Ouyang Feng again spat his saliva; looked like he was using his
spittle as secret projectile to confuse enemy’s defense. Hong Qigong felt icky and
angry at the same time. He still had the spittle on his right palm; he was not able to
shake it loose or wipe it on his clothes since he had to focus his entire concentration
to fight the enemy. With a sudden movement he stretched his right palm and
shouted, “Got you!” He smeared his right palm on Ouyang Feng’s face. Looked like
he was casually smearing the spittle on Ouyang Feng’s face, but in actuality his palm
carried a murderous intention.

Even though Ouyang Feng’s mind was confused his senses were as keen as before.
Seeing Hong Qigong’s palm was about to wipe his face he leaned sideways slightly,
evading the attack. Hong Qigong flipped his palm and moved vertically up. Ouyang
Feng turned his head slightly and opened his mouth to bite. It was exactly the same
bite that defeated Huang Yaoshi’s unique skill. It looked ridiculous, but since his
movement was so quick that even somebody who had reached martial art perfection
like Huang Yaoshi was not able to evade.

Huang Yaoshi, Huang Rong and Guo Jing could see clearly Hong Qigong’s palm went
straight into Ouyang Feng’s mouth; and within an inch from the target suddenly the
mouth opened showing two rows of white teeth gleaming under the bright sunlight;
ready to bite Hong Qigong’s finger. They could not refrain from shouting in alarm,
“Watch out!”

What these three people, along with Ouyang Feng, forgot was that Hong Qigong was
widely known as the ‘jiu zhi shen gai’ [Nine-fingered Divine Beggar]. One time
because of his gluttonous character he was late in saving the life of a Jianghu’s man
of valor. In his regret and anger toward himself he chopped off his right index finger.

Ouyang Feng’s bite was swift and accurate, if it were other people he would certainly
succeed in biting other’s finger; but because Hong Qigong did not have an index
finger ‘clack!’ his teeth were biting air.

Actually Ouyang Feng, and everybody else for that matter, knew that Hong Qigong
only had nine fingers; but in a ferocious battle situation like this, who would have
time to remember little detail like that? The battle between experts, where both
contenders’ martial arts have been refined through fire, more often than not the end
result would be decided by slight oversight like this. When Ouyang Feng bit an empty
space, how could Hong Qigong let this opportunity pass? With the ‘xiao kou ya ya’
[the laughter of a mute] immediately his middle finger struck the ‘di cang’ [earthen
storehouse] acupoint on the side of Ouyang Feng’s mouth.

Seeing Hong Qigong’s attack went well, the three spectators were ready to applaud,
but their mouths were just saying the word ‘good’ when suddenly Hong Qigong
somersaulted several times backward; while Ouyang Feng staggered backward like a
drunk before finally came to a stop and let out a big laugh.

Turned out the energy passages in his body were reversed, so that when Hong
Qigong hit his major acupoint of ‘zu yang ming wei jing’ [lit. positive foot, bright
stomach passage] he only experienced a slight numbness, then immediately back to
normal. Taking that opportunity his palm hit Hong Qigong’s shoulder. Lucky for him,
because his finger was stretched out, he did not get hit too severely. Hong Qigong
further neutralized the hit by somersaulting backward while launching the ‘jian long
zai tian’ [seeing dragon on the field], which made Ouyang Feng stagger back.
Hong Qigong avoided serious injury by moving fast, yet his body was sore,
temporarily unable to move. Hong Qigong was the grand master of his respective
martial art school; even if he did not want to admit defeat to a confused man, yet he
had to admit that the opponent’s martial art was admirable. He cupped his fists and
said, “Ouyang Xiong, the Old Beggar admits defeat, you are the Number One Martial
Artist in the World!”

Ouyang Feng looked up to the sky and let out a long laugh, his arms waving
chaotically in the air. He turned toward Huang Yaoshi and asked, “Emperor Duan, do
you or do you not admit defeat?”

Huang Yaoshi was not happy, he thought, “The Number One Martial Artist in The
World title fell to a lunatic; won’t the Old Beggar and I become the laughingstock of
the heroes of the world?” But he realized that even if he’d fight again, it would be
difficult for him to score victory anyway, so he did not have any choice but nod his
agreement.

Ouyang Feng turned to Guo Jing and said, “Son, your father’s martial art is
matchless, unrivalled in the world, aren’t you happy?”

Ouyang Ke was officially his nephew, but actually he was his son; they were known
as uncle and nephew but actually they were father and son. In his confused mind he
saw Guo Jing as Ouyang Ke, and thus revealing the secret he had kept for decades.

Guo Jing thought no one present was able to defeat him, so he was worthy of the
title Number One Martial Artist in the World; “We can’t defeat you!” he said.

Ouyang Feng giggled foolishly, he turned toward Huang Rong and said, “Good
daughter-in-law, aren’t you happy?”

Huang Rong saw her father, her master and Guo Jing were defeated one after
another; she had been thinking of a way to cope with this lunatic early on, but could
not think of anything good. Now Ouyang Feng was asking her, she saw he was
dancing joyfully with a strange facial expression. Under the bright sunlight his
shadow was also dancing back and forth in confusion; suddenly an idea came into
her mind, “Who said you are number one in the world?” she asked, “There is one
person you can’t defeat for sure.”

Ouyang Feng was very angry, he beat his chest and roared, “Who? Who? Let him
come here and fight me!”

“This man’s martial art is so high, you are not his match,” Huang Rong said.

“Who? Who? Let him come here and fight me!” Ouyang Feng said.

“He is called Ouyang Feng,” Huang Rong said.

Ouyang Feng scratched his head, musing, “Ouyang Feng?”

Huang Rong continued, “Right! Your martial art may be high, but you won’t stand
against Ouyang Feng.”

Ouyang Feng’s mind was totally confused; he knew the name ‘Ouyang Feng’ to have
a very close relationship with himself, but who could that be? “Who am I?” he asked
nobody in particular.

“You are you,” Huang Rong sneered, “You don’t know who you are, why do you ask
me?”

Ouyang Feng’s heart turned cold, he leaned his head sideways, trying to think hard;
but his brain did not want to cooperate, he could not figure out who he was, he could
not understand anything.

He was an intelligent man; oftentimes when he was alone he liked to ponder the old-
age philosophical questions like, “Who am I? What am I during my lifetime? What
will I become after I die?” Ouyang Feng was a smart person, his comprehension
ability was outstanding; these questions sometimes came flashing in his mind. That
particular day he had defeated three great martial artists but his energy passages
were reversed; he would be happy but suddenly turn angry. Listening to Huang Rong
he looked around in confusion and muttered, “I, who am I? Where am I? What
happened to me?”

“Ouyang Feng wanted to fight you, he wanted to snatch the Nine Yin Manual away
from you!” Huang Rong said.

“Where is he?” Ouyang Feng asked

Huang Rong pointed toward his own shadow and said, “Look! He is behind you!”

Ouyang Feng quickly turned around and saw his own shadow. He was shocked. “This
… this … he … he …”

“He is going to beat you!” Huang Rong said.

Ouyang Feng squatted and hacked the shadow. The shadow also squatted and
hacked him.

Ouyang Feng was scared, he hacked and he chopped left and right, but the shadow
also moving incessantly. Ouyang Feng felt his opponent was so fierce, he turned
around to evade. Facing the sunlight he did not see his shadow anymore “Where did
you run?” he shouted, and ran toward the left.

Their left side was actually a barren rock wall. The sun was behind him, casting a
shadow on the wall. It looked like the enemy was standing straight in front of him.
Ouyang Feng sent out his right palm, striking the wall with all his might. He felt a
shot of pain straight to his bone. “Very fierce!” he shouted. Immediately he sent a
left kick toward the wall, and the shadow also sent him a kick. His foot hit the wall,
hard. The pain was unbearable. Ouyang Feng did not dare to fight again; he turned
around and ran away.

This time he was running toward the sun, the enemy disappeared. Several ‘zhang’s
later he turned around to look, and to his surprise the enemy was right behind him.
He was frightened and shouted loudly, “You can be the world’s number one, I admit
defeat.” But the shadow was motionless.

Ouyang Feng turned around and ran again, but as soon as he turned his head he
saw the shadow was closely following him. He could not run, he could not fight, his
heart was stricken with terror; screaming and cursing he ran toward the valley
below. A moment later his voice could still be heard from the other side of the hill,
“Don’t chase me, don’t chase me!”

Seeing a great grand master of martial art of their generation ended up this way
Huang Yaoshi and Hong Qigong looked at each other and heaved a deep sigh. By
that time Ouyang Feng’s cry was intermittent, it sounded like he was already several
‘li’s away. The mountains and valleys echoed his cry, which sounded like a wolf’s
howl or a ghost’s cry. The four of them were standing under the bright sunlight, yet
they felt coldness creep into their hearts.

Hong Qigong sighed, “This man won’t live much longer.”

All of a sudden Guo Jing mumbled, “I? Who am I?”

Huang Rong knew him to be honest and upright, she was afraid he might think over
this matter too much and as a result being possessed by an evil spirit; quickly she
said, “You are Guo Jing, Jing Gege. Quickly think about yourself, don’t think too
much about other matters.”

Guo Jing shivered in cold, startled, and came to his senses, “Right! Shifu, Huang
Daozhu, let us go down the mountain.”

“Dumb kid!” Hong Qigong scolded him, “You are still calling him Huang Daozhu? I’m
going to give you several slaps on your face.”

Guo Jing was startled; he saw Huang Rong was blushing, looked like she was
smiling, yet she was not. He knew what to do; bashfully he called, “Father-in-law!”
his face was red.

Huang Yaoshi laughed a big laugh; he pulled his daughter’s hand with one hand,
then pulled Guo Jing’s hand with the other, said to Hong Qigong, “Qi Xiong, martial
art study is inexhaustible. Today we’ve seen the Old Poison’s martial art, which made
others frightened and ashamed at the same time. Ever since Chongyang Zhenren
died, there is no more the Number One Martial Artist in the World.”

“Rong’er’s culinary skill is number one in the world, this I can guarantee,” Hong
Qigong said.

Huang Rong pursed up her lips and laughed, “No need to praise me, let us go down
the mountain; I am going to prepare some good food for you to enjoy.”

Hong Qigong, Huang Yaoshi, Guo Jing and Huang Rong four people went down Mount
Hua. Huang Rong demonstrated her superb culinary skill by handpicked the
ingredients and cooked some out-of-this-world quality dishes. Hong Qigong ate to his
heart’s content.

That very evening four people slept in an inn; Huang Yaoshi father and daughter
shared a room, while Guo Jing and Hong Qigong shared another. Early the next
morning Guo Jing awoke only to find the other bed empty; Hong Qigong was
nowhere to be seen. On the table top he saw three letters written with grease: ‘I am
gone’; it was unclear whether the letters were written with a chicken leg’s bone or a
pork hoof.

Guo Jing quickly went to the other room to alert Huang Yaoshi father and daughter.
Huang Yaoshi simply sighed and said, “Qi Xiong leads a busy life, he is like a divine
dragon; we can see its head but not its tail.” He turned his gaze to Jing and Rong
couple and said, “Jing’er, your parents have passed away, the closest relative to you
would be your Da Shifu Ke Zhen’e. Why don’t you come along with us to the Peach
Blossom Island and ask your Da Shifu to act in your parents’ behalf to preside at
your wedding with Rong’er?”

Guo Jing was both grieved and joyful, he could not say anything but nodded his head
repeatedly. Huang Rong pursed her lips and smiled; she wanted to scold him ‘Dumb’
but looking at her father she refrained from saying so.

Three people traveled together crossing mountains and rivers, heading southeast. In
less than a day, they arrived in between the two parts of Zhejiang; the Peach
Blossom Island was not too far ahead. Suddenly they heard an eagle’s cry high up in
the air; two white eagles were seen flying from the north. Guo Jing was delighted, he
whistled and the pair of eagle dived down and perched on his shoulders.

When he left Mongolia Guo Jing was such in a hurry that he did not take his eagles
along; but now that they met his joy was unspeakable. He held out his hands to
stroke the eagles’ back and then he saw a piece of leather rolled into a small cylinder
tied on the male eagle’s foot. Quickly he used his dagger to take the leather and
found a letter carved on it. It was written in Mongolian characters and read, ‘We are
going south to attack Xiangyang, Knowing my lord’s loyalty to his country I braved
death to inform you. I have caused my lord’s mother tragic death, am so ashamed I
don’t have the face to see you. I want to say goodbye, am going to the west to live
with my eldest brother; won’t come back to my homeland forever. I wish my lord’s
good fortune, long life and happiness.’

The letter did not bear any signature, but as soon as he saw it Guo Jing recognized
Princess Huazheng’s handwriting. He translated the letter for Huang Yaoshi father
and daughter, and asked, “Father-in-law, what do you think?”

Huang Yaoshi answered, “This place is close to Lin’an, but if we inform the royal
government they won’t necessarily believe us; even if they did, it will take a long
time for them to react. This is an urgent matter; your little red horse is swift. Leave
for Xiangyang today. If the garrison commander is willing to cooperate, help him
defend the city. If not, kill him and lead the troops and the people to fight the
Mongolians. Rong’er and I will wait for you on the Peach Blossom Island.”

Guo Jing asserted his agreement, but Huang Rong’s countenance changed. There
was nobody who knows her heart better than her father, so Huang Yaoshi smiled and
said, “Very well, Rong’er, you can go too. Come home as soon as you are done; if
the government wants to reward you, don’t take it.”

Huang Rong was ecstatic, “That’s for sure,” she said.

The young couple took their leave from their father, riding the little red horse
heading west. Guo Jing was afraid they would be late; if the Mongolians had already
attacked the city, he knew the massacre would be unimaginable; therefore, they
continued their journey almost nonstop.

One night they stopped by an inn to spend the night. They were already nearing the
two southern roads which linked towards Jiangxi. Guo Jing’s mind was occupied with
Huazheng’s letter; he recalled their childhood together, how he, Huazheng and Toulei
played together in the desert. And then his mind wandered to things that happened
since until today. His heart was depressed. Huang Rong saw he was staring blankly,
lost in thought; she sat by the lamp sewing her clothes.

“Rong’er,” suddenly Guo Jing broke the silence, “She said she had caused my
mother’s tragic death that she is ashamed to see me ever again; what did she mean
by that?”

“Her father had forced your mother to her death; naturally she felt sorry for that,”
Huang Rong reasoned.

“Mmm,” Guo Jing mumbled. Lowering his head he tried to recall the scene
surrounding his mother’s death. Suddenly he leaped up and slap the table, “I know!
So that’s how it is!” Huang Rong was startled that the needle punctured the tip of
her finger and a drop of blood came out. She smiled and asked, “What is it? You
made a fuss about nothing; what did you know?”

Guo Jing said, “When my mother and I opened the Khan’s secret order and decided
to go back south there was nobody around, yet Khan immediately found out and
captured us, mother and son. In the end my mother committed suicide and died.
Who reported on us? I have been thinking hard about it. Turned out … turned out it
was she.”

Huang Rong shook her head, “Princess Huazheng loved you very much; it is
impossible for her to betray you.”

“She did not mean to,” Guo Jing explained, “She was outside, accidentally heard
everything my mother and I said. She told her father so that Khan would prohibit us
from going back home; who would have thought that it ended up in a great
tragedy?” Saying thus he sighed and sighed again.

“Because she did that unwittingly, you must go to the west to find her,” Huang Rong
said.

Guo Jing disagreed, “I love her as my sister. She is now with her brother in the west;
she has all the honor and riches she deserves; why would I go and seek her?”

Huang Rong smiled, secretly she was very happy.

Another day they arrived at the southern Jiangxi town of Shangrao; the horse trotted
along the mountain road where the grass was tall. It was a desolate place. Ahead of
them was a dark forest thick with trees. High above them the pair of eagles let out a
loud angry cry, and then they dived down and in a blink of an eye disappeared into
the forest. Jing and Rong knew something was not right, quickly they urged their
horse to run ahead.

Winding through the forest path they saw their eagles were spiraling down above a
man who was trying to fight them frantically. They came closer and found out that
the man was Peng Zhanglao [Elder Peng] from the Beggar Clan.

Peng Zhanglao was brandishing a steel saber trying to protect himself. The saber
moved swiftly; although the eagles were brave it would be difficult for them to score
victory. The female eagle made a sudden attack from behind and managed to snatch
Elder Peng’s head covering, showing a patch of baldness on his head. Peng
Zhanglao’s saber swept up, cutting down some of its feathers.

As soon as Huang Rong saw the baldness on Elder Peng’s head she remembered
something, “That day the eagle’s breast was injured by a short arrow; turned out it
was this evil beggar who did it. Afterwards the pair of eagle fought the criminal again
by the ‘qing long tan’ [Green Dragon Shore] where they managed to snatch a piece
of scalp; so it was this evil beggar.”

“Surnamed Peng!” Huang Rong loudly called out, “Look who is here.”

Peng Zhanglao lifted up his eye to see two people, he was scared out of his wits; he
turned around and ran away. The male eagle dived down and struck the top of his
head. Peng Zhanglao swung his saber to protect his head. The female eagle swooped
from the side and pecked his left eye. Peng Zhanglao screamed, throwing his saber
away he ran without looking where he was going and entered thick thorn bushes
nearby. Peng Zhanglao valued his life more than a few stabbing pain from the
thorns, so he went even deeper into the bush. The pair of eagles still did not want to
let him go, they circled above the thorn bushes.

“He has lost one eye, just let him go,” Guo Jing called his pair of eagles. Suddenly he
heard a baby’s noise among the thick patch of grass nearby. “Ah!” Guo Jing cried.
Quickly he dismounted his horse and parted the grass only to see a baby sat on the
ground. Next to that baby he saw a pair of a woman’s feet. He parted the grass
further and saw a woman wearing dark green clothing was fainted on the ground. It
was none other than Mu Nianci.
Huang Rong was pleasantly surprised, “Mu Jiejie [Elder sister]!” she cried; then she
stoop down to help her up. Guo Jing carried the baby in his arms. The baby’s bright
eyes were staring at him intently, they did not show any sign of fear at all.

Huang Rong massaged several acupoints on Mu Nianci’s upper body; then she also
pinched the acupoint next to her nose. Mu Nianci slowly regained her consciousness;
she opened her eyes and saw these couple. She thought she was dreaming, “You …
you are Guo Dage [eldest brother Guo] … Huang Jia Meizi [younger sister from the
Huang family] …”

“Sister Mu, why are you here? Are you injured?” Guo Jing asked.

Mu Nianci struggled to stand up, but she fell down again; turned out her hands and
feet were bound by pieces of ropes. Huang Rong quickly took her dagger out and cut
the ropes. Mu Nianci quickly took the baby from Guo Jing’s arms. After calming down
herself for half a day bashfully she started to recount what had happened to her.

Turned out Mu Nianci lost her chastity to Yang Kang at the Iron Palm Peak, and she
was pregnant. She had hoped to return to her hometown at Lin’an, but when she
reached Zhangrao she was too weak to continue; so she found an empty hut in the
forest and took a rest. Not too long afterwards she gave birth to a baby boy. Since
she had no desire to see other people, she stayed in the forest, hunting and picking
up wild fruits to survive. Luckily the baby boy was so smart, so she was comforted
amidst her suffering and loneliness. That particular day she took the baby out to
gather some fire woods, unfortunately they met with Peng Zhanglao. Seeing her
beauty Peng Zhanglao wanted to rape her. Mu Nianci’s martial art was not weak, but
Peng Zhanglao was one of the four Elders of the Beggar Clan; he was the peer of Lu
Youjiao Zhanglao; second only to the Bangzhu [Clan Leader], Hong Qigong. Naturally
Mu Nianci was not his match. She was subdued easily and her hands and feet bound.
In her anger and desperation she passed out. If Jing and Rong, two people did not
arrive at this exact moment, and with their sharp eyes their pair of eagles spotted
their common enemy, Mu Nianci would suffer a terrible fate, molested and disgraced
by this evil man.
That evening Jing and Rong spent the night at Mu Nianci’s hut. When Huang Rong
told her that Yang Kang had died at the Temple of the Iron Spear in Jiaxing, Mu
Nianci’s tears came down like rain. Huang Rong understood the depth of her love to
him, so Huang Rong did not dare to tell her the details surrounding his death; she
only said that Yang Kang was poisoned by Ouyang Feng. “I did not lie, didn’t he die
because of Ouyang Feng’s snake venom?” she said in her heart.

Guo Jing saw the boy was handsome, he recalled how he became sworn brothers
with Yang Kang, could not refrain from heaving a deep sigh.

Amidst her tears Mu Nianci said, “Guo Dage, would you give this child a name,
please?”

Guo Jing thought for a moment, then said, “His father and I were sworn brothers;
it’s a pity he did not finish well. I regretted the fact that I was not able to fulfill my
responsibility to steer him from his wrong way of life. I hope when he grows up this
child will cross over/change (‘guo’) the mistakes and correct (‘gai’) them; he will
uphold justice and righteousness with all his might. I am giving him the name Yang
Guo, alias Gaizhi; is it all right with you?”

Mu Nianci thanked him and said, “I hope it would be like just what Guo Dage said.”

Early the next morning Guo Jing and Huang Rong presented Mu Nianci not a few
silver ‘liang’s to help them, mother and son, to pass the days. Guo Jing urged her to
return to Lin’an; but Mu Nianci shook her head. A moment later she softly said, “We,
mother and son, are going to the Temple of the Iron Spear in Jiaxing so he can see
his father’s grave.”

Three people bid farewell to each other and Guo Jing and Huang Rong left with heavy
hearts.

Two people headed west and arrived at the Hunan-Hubei border, then they turned
north and in less than a day they arrived at Xiangyang. They saw the people were
calm, the city was prosperous, there was no sign of any military activity; they knew
the great Mongolian army had not arrived, they were relieved.

Xiangyang was an important city located on the northern border of the Southern
Song Dynasty. It was under the authority of a garrison commander in charge of the
troop to defend the border. Guo Jing thought the situation is critical, so without
trying to find any inn they went directly to the Commander Lu Wende’s official
residence.

This commander was in charge of the whole garrison, he was a high-ranking officer.
Even though Guo Jing was a marshal in the Mongolian army, but in the Southern
Song Dynasty he was a nobody. How could he seek audience with a high-ranking
officer just like that?

Huang Rong knew that money solved everything, so she gave a ‘liang’ of gold to the
receptionist. Immediately the receptionist treated them nicely; he looked happy, but
still could not guarantee audience that very same day. He said that the earliest
opportunity would be half a month away; even then he could not guarantee the
commander would be willing to receive Guo Jing.

Guo Jing’s temper flared, “This is an urgent military situation, how can I wait?” he
shouted.

Huang Rong quickly cast a meaningful glance toward him, pulled him to the said and
whispered, “We’ll comeback tonight.”

They found a temporary lodging, waited until the second hour that night and using
their lightness kungfu they went to the commander’s mansion. Commander Lu
Wende was having a private party, he hired some professional female entertainer
and was having fun with his concubines. Guo and Huang two people jumped down
from the roof. Guo Jing cupped his fists, “Xiao Ren [little/lowly people] has an urgent
military matter to report,” he said.
Lu Wende was startled, “Assassin!” he shouted; shoving the female entertainers
away he went hiding underneath the table.

Guo Jing stepped forward in big strides and said, “Commander, please calm down.
Xiao Ren does not have any ill intention toward you.” He pulled the commander back
to his seat.

Lu Wende’s face was pale, he kept trembling. Then he saw dozen or so soldiers with
their swords and spears ready to rescue him. Huang Rong immediately took out her
dagger and pointed it toward Lu Wende’s chest. The soldiers yelling and shouting
loudly, but nobody dared to go forward. “Tell them to shut up, we have something to
say to you,” Huang Rong said.

Lu Wende was still trembling all over, he signaled the soldiers to be quiet. Guo Jing
silently sighed seeing the man who held authority over the troop with a heavy
responsibility to guard against the enemy was such a useless fool. He reported that
the Mongolian army was going to attack Xiangyang and asked the commander to
deploy troops immediately and arranged the necessary defense.

In his heart Lu Wende did not believe him at all, but his mouth repeatedly said yes.
Huang Rong saw he kept trembling, “Did you hear what he said?” she asked.

“I did … I heard,” Lu Wende answered.

“What did you hear?” Huang Rong pressed.

“That … that the Jin army are planning a sneak attack, must arrange defense, must
arrange defense,” Lu Wende mumbled.

Huang Rong was angry, “It’s the Mongolian army, not the Jins!” she said.

Lu Wende was scared out of his wits, “Mongolian army? That’s impossible, that’s
impossible. The Mongolians have signed an agreement with our minister to fight the
Jins together; they won’t breach that agreement.”

Huang Rong was really angry, “I said the Mongolian army! It is the Mongolian army!”

Lu Wende repeatedly nodded his head, “If Miss says it is the Mongolian army, then it
is Mongolian army.”

“The whole country and the people’s lives are in the hand of ‘Da Ren’ [lit. big person
– common term for government official]. Xiangyang is the Southern Song’s first
defense, Da Ren must really care about it,” Guo Jing said.

“Right, right,” Lu Wende said, “What ‘lao xiong’ [‘old chap’] said was absolutely
right.”

Jing and Rong two people sighed. They leaped over the wall and went out, amidst
the chaotic shouting, “Catch the assassins! Catch the assassins!”

Two people waited for two more days, but did not see any increased activity on the
city wall at all. “This Commander is to be cursed!” Guo Jing said, “Father-in-law was
right, I’d better kill him and think about something later.”

“The enemy will arrive within the next few days,” Huang Rong said, “Killing this dog
government official is not enough. The city will certainly be chaotic, the troops will
not have anybody to lead them; it will be difficult to fight the enemy.”

Guo Jing creased his brows, “Then, what do we do?”

Huang Rong hesitated, “The ‘zuo zhuan’ [lit. left biography] has a story called ‘xian
gao kao shi’ [Xian Gao presenting a gift to an army]. We might be able to follow this
example.”

Guo Jing was delighted, “Rong’er, reading books truly brings endless wonders. What
story was that? Quickly narrate it for me. Can we do it?”

Huang Rong said, “We can do it, but it all depends on your body.”

Guo Jing was puzzled, “What?”

Huang Rong did not answer, but she softly laughed.

A moment later she continued, “Very well, I’ll narrate the story for you to hear.
During the ‘chun qiu’ period [spring and autumn, ca. 770-476 BC] in the Zheng
country there was a merchant whose name was Xian Gao. While doing business out
of town he came across the Qin army who was going to attack the Zheng country.
That time the Zhengs were not prepared, therefore, if the Qins attacked they would
surely perish. Even though Xian Gao was a businessman he was also a patriot. He
cooked up a plan. He dispatched a courier traveling at night to alert his country,
while he himself prepared twelve oxen and requested an audience with the enemy’s
general. He said he represented the Zheng government to present a gift for the Qin
army. The Qin’s army general thought that the Zheng had already prepared to
battle; he did not dare to proceed and pulled the army back to their own country.”

Guo Jing was delighted, “That was a wonderful story; but what does it have to do
with my body?” he asked.

Huang Rong laughed, “Didn’t he use twelve oxen? Your zodiac is the ox, isn’t it?”

Guo Jing threw his hands in desperation, “Good! You used a story to indirectly curse
me.” He stretched his fingers to tickle Huang Rong. Huang Rong laughed and ran
away.

After having a good laugh, Huang Rong said, “Tonight we’ll plunder the
Commander’s residence for gold and precious jewels. Tomorrow I will disguise myself
as a male government officer and welcome the great army of Mongolia. We’ll see
whether we can deceive them to withdraw their troops.”
Guo Jing applauded.

That very evening two people plundered the Commander’s mansion. They found Lu
Wende had amassed riches as high as a mountain. They took away a large amount
of gold and jewels plus a set of government official’s costume; while the people
inside the mansion slumbered.

Huang Rong dressed herself in the costume and she was transformed into a
handsome high-ranking officer. Taking the gold and jewelry she rode the little red
horse headed north.

Guo Jing was waiting for the news from Huang Rong outside the north gate about
mid-day on the second day when he saw the little red horse came galloping fast;
dust flying behind. Huang Rong pulled the rein; her face was ashen. With a trembling
voice she said, “The Mongolian army is more than a hundred thousand strong; how
can we fight them?”

Guo Jing was shocked! “That many?” he muttered.

“Looked like Genghis Khan has determined to crush the Southern Song in one
swoop,” Huang Rong said, “I presented the gift to the commander of their vanguard
regiment. He did not know that we are already aware of their real intention; he said
they were going to attack the Jins and not the Songs. When I told him point blankly
he was startled and immediately held their movement and sent words to their
general.”

“It certainly is best if they decided to withdraw, but I am afraid … I am afraid …,”
Guo Jing said.

Huang Rong raised her beautiful eyebrows. “Judging from their preparation, they
won’t withdraw that easily.”
“Can you think of another wonderful idea?” Guo Jing asked.

Huang Rong shook her head. “I have racked my brain for a whole day and a whole
night. Brother Jing, if we fight one on one, there are probably only two or three
people in the world that can defeat you; even if the enemy is ten or a hundred men
strong, we won’t be deterred by them; but the enemy is thousands, tens of
thousands, hundreds of thousands strong; what can we do?”

Guo Jing heaved a deep sigh. “Our Great Song people are actually dozens times
more than the Mongolians. If all the millions people are all of one mind; why would
we fear the Mongolian army? It’s a pity our government officials are cowards and
fools; that the people have to suffer.”

“The Mongolians are not here yet; even if they were, we can always kill some of
them. If the situation becomes really critical we can still depend on the little red
horse to escape. The anxiety of this world is enough to burden us down,” Huang
Rong said.

Guo Jing’s expression changed, “Rong’er, please don’t say such a thing. Both of us
have already learned the art of war from the book ‘Wu Mu’ [General Yue Fei] left
behind; how can we forget Yue Wu Mu’s teachings, ‘jin zhong bao guo’ [with utmost
loyalty serving the country]? Even though the two of us won’t make significant
contribution, but we must dedicate our lives to defend the country will all of our
might. Even if we have to lay down our lives here, we won’t let our parents’ and
masters’ upbringing in vain.”

Huang Rong sighed, “I knew early on that it would be difficult to avoid a day like
this. All right! You live I live, you die I will also die!”

Once these two made a decision, their hearts were peaceful. They returned to their
lodging immediately, drinking and chatting. They knew the enemy was threatening
the border; they knew they might part forever, so they felt closer than in the
previous days.
They were drinking until about the second hour that evening, when suddenly a
commotion outside the city wall was heard. It was so loud and sounded really bad.
“They are here!” Huang Rong called out.

Two people jumped and rushed to the top of the city wall to see outside the city
thousands of refugees had arrived; young and old, endless streams of people rushing
to the city. Who would have expected that the captain of the guards had ordered the
soldiers to shut the gate tightly; not allowing the refugees to enter the city? Not too
long afterwards Lu Wende sent reinforcement with bows and arrows. They started
shooting toward the refugees, forcing them to withdraw from the city wall.

“The Mongolian soldiers come and kill us!” the refugees loudly shout. But the captain
did not open the gate. The refugees under the city wall cried and screamed, their
voices shook the sky.

Jing and Rong two people stood atop the city wall; they looked as far as their eyes
could see, and saw in the distant a column of torches flickering in the wind coming
near. The vanguard regiment of the Mongolian army had arrived.

Guo Jing had served under the Genghis Khan for quite a while. He knew that the
Mongolian’s tactic to break city walls was forcing refugees to flee into the city and
attack as soon as the city gate was open. Guo Jing saw tens of thousands of
refugees gathered around the city gate; as soon as the army arrived, they would kill
everybody, outside and inside the Xiangyang’s city wall.

In this critical moment Guo Jing made up his mind. He stood on top of the city wall,
he raised his arm and loudly shouted, “If the Mongolian army breaks Xiangyang’s
wall, nobody will live. Men of valor, quickly follow me to kill the enemy!”

The captain of the guards at the north gate was one of Lu Wende’s trusted aides;
hearing Guo Jing’s shout he was angry, “A traitor trying to trouble people’s mind;
arrest him!”
Guo Jing leaped down from the top of the city wall; stretching his right arm he
grabbed the captain’s chest, lifted his body up and mounted his horse.

There were many patriots among the soldiers and people of the Central Plains. They
saw how the refugees were crying bitterly outside the city wall; they were indignant.
This time Guo Jing grabbed the captain they could not help but feel pleasantly
surprised; obviously nobody went forward to rescue the captain.

Guo Jing barked his order, “Quick, tell the soldiers to open the gate!”

The captain was a coward; he had no alternative but to comply. The north gate was
opened, and the refugees came flooding in.

Guo Jing handed out the captain to Huang Rong while he himself took a spear and
went out of the city gate on the horse back. “Wait!” Huang Rong called. She took the
captain’s helmet and armor and put them on Guo Jing. “Use a fake imperial decree;
command the troop to go out of the city,” she whispered in Guo Jing’s ear. With the
back of her hand Huang Rong struck the captain’s acupoint and threw him by the city
gate.

Guo Jing thought it was a great idea, so he shouted loud and clear, “Hear the
imperial decree: Due to his incapability, the Garrison Commander Lu Wende is
removed from his duty. The army is to follow me going out of the city and fight the
enemy.” His speech was supported by profound internal strength; so that although
the city was in chaos but his voice was clearly heard above the clamoring people. For
a brief moment everybody was quiet. In this panic-stricken situation who could
differentiate whether the decree was real or not? Almost everybody in the army,
from top to bottom, did not hold Lu Wende in high regard; they knew he was a
coward, afraid of death. This time a powerful enemy was threatening their border. In
this time of panic suddenly hearing that the corrupt official is being removed from his
office and somebody stepping up to lead them to face the enemy, they were
cheering with one voice.
Guo Jing lead about six, seven thousands of infantry and cavalry troops going out of
the city. They were not observing military discipline, the troop was scattered in
disorder; how could they be compared to the refined Mongolian army?

Guo Jing recalled Yue Fei’s book had this principle, ‘in a critical situation, use
unconventional tactic’, he ordered over three thousands soldiers and their sergeants
to hide on the eastern hillside; as they heard the canon once, they were to shout at
the top of their lungs, raising and waving flags, but did not go out to fight the
enemy. Then he ordered another three thousands soldiers and their sergeants to
hide on the western hillside; as they heard the canon twice, they were to do the
same.

Both companies could see Guo Jing’s confidence, giving up orders with ease and
competence; they accepted the command and went to their respective positions.

It was already dawn when the entire refugees had entered the city. They heard the
drums and the battle cry, the sound of iron horseshoes treading on the ground. They
also saw the dust rising from the earth; the vanguard regiment of Mongolian army
had arrived at the city wall.

Huang Rong had also donned battle armor; mounting on a horse she took a spear
and rode next to Guo Jing to face death. Guo Jing gave his order loud and clear,
“Open wide all four city gates! Everybody in the city hide inside the houses. Whoever
dares to come out will be beheaded immediately!”

Actually he did not need to issue this order; early on everybody in the city had
disappeared into the houses, while the brave soldiers had positioned themselves on
the east and western hillsides. Lu Wende hid underneath a table, busily read his
prayers with a trembling voice.

Hundreds of Mongolian cavalry galloped like the wind spreading out along the city
wall; they saw Xiangyang’s city gate was wide open and a pair of young people, a
man and a woman, on horsebacks with spears in their hands. Their horses stood in
front of the hanging bridge across the moat.

The vanguard regiment’s ‘qian fu zhang’ [leader of a thousand unit] felt strange; he
did not dare to proceed without authorization. Quickly he dispatched a messenger to
the ‘wan fu zhang’ [leader of a ten thousand unit]. The ‘wan fu zhang’ was a
veteran; listening to this strange report he rode his horse to the city wall. When he
saw Guo Jing he was shocked. He had joined the expedition to the west, time and
again he had seen Guo Jing’s strange and wonderful tactics in battle. Guo Jing’s
troops were invincible. His paratroopers flying down and breaking Samarkhand
defense was a legend, making Guo Jing the object of full admiration of the whole
Mongolian army; as a matter of fact, his accomplishments were still the talk of the
troops. This time he saw Guo Jing was standing in front of the city, while the city
looked empty and deserted; how could he dare to attack? Immediately he
dismounted his horse, raised his hands in salute and called out, “Jin dao fu ma
[golden blade consort], your subordinate pays his respect.”

Guo Jing returned his salute, but did not say anything. That ‘wan fu zhang’ withdrew
and flew to report to his commander-in-chief. About an hour or so later a group of
riders bearing a large military banner came near; a young looking general came
forward to the bridge. It was the Fourth Prince Tuolei. He shouted, “Guo Jing Anda
[Mongolian term for sworn brother], how are you?”

Guo Jing moved his horse forward and said, “Tuolei Anda, so it is you?”

Whenever these two sworn brothers met in the past, they would always hugged each
other in delight, but this time both of them held their horses’ reins when they were
still about five ‘zhang’s [about 50 feet or 15 meters] apart as if they had a prior
agreement.

“Anda, you are leading your troop to attack my Great Song, are you not?” Guo Jing
asked.
“I bear my ‘fu huang’s [Emperor Father] decree, I don’t have liberty. I ask for your
forgiveness,” Tuolei replied.

Guo Jing swept his gaze across the field; he saw flags fluttering like clouds, the
blades gleaming white like snow; he did not know for sure how many soldiers were
there. “Once this cavalry attacks, I, Guo Jing, will give up my life,” he thought. With
a clear voice he said, “Very well! Then go ahead and take my life!”

Tuolei was taken aback, he mused, “This man commands an army like a deity, truly I
am not his match; much less he and I are as close as flesh and blood brothers. How
could I injure this sworn brother’s relationship?” He hesitated and did not know what
to do.

Huang Rong turned her head and signaled with her right hand. Immediately the
soldiers in the city shot a canon. As soon as they heard the canon, the soldiers on
the eastern hillside raised their voices and waved their flags. Tuolei’s face changed.
The canon was shot again, and the soldiers on the western hillside were also
shouting loudly. Tuolei thought, “Not good! I fell into his ambush.”

Tulei had served under Genghis Khan fighting to the east and attacking to the west;
he had been in countless battles. What major battle he had not seen? How could this
little ambush by several thousands soldiers scare him? It was because during the
expedition to the west Guo Jing had demonstrated wonderful and strange warfare.
Tuolei was already scared of Guo Jing. Now he saw the situation was unusual, he
was afraid he might fall into Guo Jing’s trap. He gave an order for his troops to
withdraw about thirty ‘li’s and pitched a camp there.

Seeing the Mongolian army retreat, Guo Jing and Huang Rong looked at each other
and smiled. “Jing Gege, congratulations on your empty city tactic.”

Guo Jing smiled, but his face still showed anxiety, he said, “Tuolei is smart and
brave. He retreated today, but he will be back tomorrow. How would we fight him?”
Huang Rong hesitated for half a day before opened her mouth, “I have an idea, but I
am afraid you love your sworn brother too much and will not be willing to do it.”

Guo Jing’s heart turned cold, “You want me to assassinate him?” he asked.

“He is the youngest and most beloved son of the Great Khan,” Huang Rong replied,
“Unlike other senior generals, he holds incomparable honors. If the Fourth Prince
dies, the troops will retreat immediately.”

Guo Jing lowered his head without saying anything; they turned back and entered
the city. Seeing the enemy retreat, the troops marched back to the city, still in
disorderly manner. Lu Wende heard how Guo Jing made the enemy retreat simply by
talking; he was overjoyed and immediately paid two people a visit at their lodgings,
inviting them back to his mansion for a drink.

Guo Jing wanted to discuss city defense with him, but as soon as Lu Wende heard
that the Mongolian army would be back the next day his knees weakened and he
was speechless for half a day. When he finally opened his mouth what he said was,
“Prepare a sedan chair, I am going home. Prepare a sedan chair, I am going home.”
He determined to abandon the city and head south that very same night.

Guo Jing was very depressed, he could not eat. The sky gradually darkened. He
heard people crying all over the city. He was afraid that by this time the next day
there wouldn’t be a single living Great Song people in Xiangyang. He had seen not a
few times where the Mongolian troops were on a killing spree, washing the city wall
they subdued with the blood of the people. He could never take the massacre of the
people of Samarkhand out of his mind. “Crack!” he slapped the table with his palm
and shouted, “Rong’er, the people of old sacrificed their own family for the country;
today how can I concern myself with sworn brotherhood?”

Huang Rong sighed, “This is actually a very difficult matter.”

As soon as his mind was made up, Guo Jing changed into night clothing. Together
with Huang Rong they rode the little red horse toward the Mongolian camp. They
stopped at a hill nearby to leave the red horse then walked the rest of the way,
looking for Tuolei’s tent.

They caught two night watch guards, sealed their acupoints, and donned their
uniforms. Guo Jing grew up among the Mongolian warriors; he spoke their language,
and was familiar with Mongolian army regulations; so without too much effort they
found the big tent where Tuolei slept.

It was a pitch black night; two people crouched down behind the big tent, peeking
inside through the tent seams. They saw Tuolei was pacing back and forth, his face
gloomy. Tuolei was muttering, “Guo Jing, Anda! Anda, Guo Jing.”

Guo Jing was startled; he thought his presence had been detected. He almost
opened his mouth to answer when Huang Rong, who had anticipated early on what
would happen, immediately covered his mouth with her hand. Guo Jing silently
cursed his own stupidity, he felt partly funny, partly mad at himself.

Huang Rong whispered in his ear, “Do it now, a real man takes the bull by the horns;
wavering is useless.”

Right at that moment they heard a distant sound of horse hoof galloping fast; the
sound was getting closer as the rider came toward the big tent. Guo Jing knew it was
an urgent military dispatch, so he bent back down and whispered in Huang Rong’s
ear, “I want to listen to the military situation, it won’t be too late to kill him later.”

They saw the messenger dressed in yellow dismount his horse and enter the tent. He
bowed to Tuolei, “Fourth Prince, a message from the Great Khan,” he said.

“What did the Great Khan say?” Tuolei asked. The messenger bent his knees and
started to sing. The Mongolian culture had not been developed too long; although
they had written words, Genghis Khan was not literate; he could neither read nor
write. The decree would be issued orally; and to avoid mistakes in the transmission,
oftentimes the decree was made into a song which the messenger memorized and
recited over and over along the way before finally delivering it to the recipient.

The messenger only sang three lines when Toulei and Guo Jing were both shocked;
Tuolei even shed some tears. It turned out that after the expedition to the west
Genghis Khan got sick; for the last few days he got worse, sometimes he lost
consciousness. He summoned Tuolei to go back home as soon as he could. At the
end of his message he said that he missed Guo Jing very much; and if Tuolei in the
south knew his whereabouts, to invite him back north and bade farewell with the
Great Khan. Khan had pardoned every single offense he had committed.

Listening to this part Guo Jing used his dagger to rip open the tent. He jumped in
and called out, “Tuolei Anda, I am coming with you.”

Tuolei was startled, but seeing it was Guo Jing his delight was unspeakable. Finally
they both hugged each other.

The messenger recognized Guo Jing, he stepped forward and kneeled in front of Guo
Jing and said, “Jin dao fu ma, the Great Khan requested you come to the Golden
Tent to see him.”

Hearing the messenger still called him ‘jin dao fu ma’ Guo Jing was anxious for fear
that Huang Rong would make a big deal out of it. Immediately he jumped out
through the rip on the tent and pull Huang Rong’s hand, “Rong’er, you and I will go
together and return together.”

Huang Rong lowered her head but did not say anything.

“Don’t you believe me?” Guo Jing nervously asked.

Huang Rong smiled sweetly, “If you are still thinking of becoming ‘fu ma’ or ‘fu niu’
[fu ma – consort, ma – horse, niu – cow], I’ll kill you with this dagger.”
That very evening Tuolei issued an order to withdraw the army; they would be
leaving at daybreak.

Guo Jing and Huang Rong went back to get the red horse and their pair of eagles,
ready to leave with the army heading north the next morning.

Tuolei was afraid he would not be able to see his father, so he delegated his
command to his second in command, while he himself sped up north with Guo Jing
and Huang Rong.

In less than a month they had arrived at Genghis Khan’s golden tent. From the
distant Tuolei saw in front of the golden tent nine big banners were still fluttering in
the wind. He knew the Khan was still well; he shouted in joy and urged the horse to
run faster.

Guo Jing held his rein. He recalled Khan’s generosity in raising him up; yet the same
Khan had caused the tragic death of his mother. He loved and hated Khan at the
same time. He lowered his head and did not say anything.

Suddenly he heard the bugle being sounded, two rows of Khan’s personal guards
lined up in front of the Golden Tent. Genghis Khan, wearing a black eagle’s feather
coat, walked out in big strides supported by Tuolei’s shoulder. His footsteps were as
majestic as in days past, but he was trembling slightly.

Guo Jing rushed forward and kneeled down. Genghis Khan’s eyes were brimming
with tears, with a trembling voice he said, “Get up, get up! I am thinking of you
every day.”

Guo Jing stood up. He saw the Great Khan’s face was full of wrinkles; his cheeks
were deep, it looked like his days in this world were numbered. Suddenly he felt he
did not hate Khan that much anymore.

Genghis Khan placed his other hand on Guo Jing’s left shoulder. He looked at Tuolei,
then at Guo Jing, and heaved a deep sigh. He lifted up his eyes to the distant desert
and stood silent, lost in thought. Guo Jing and Tuolei did not know what he was
thinking, they did not dare to make any noise.

After a long time Genghis Khan sighed, “A long time ago Anda Jamuqa and I became
sworn brothers; who would have thought that there came a day when I had no
choice but to kill him. I have become the Great Khan; he died under my own hands.
A few more days and what difference will we have? Won’t I be the same with him,
return to the yellow dirt? Who succeeds and who fails, in the end what difference
does it make?” Tapping both men’s shoulders he continued, “You two have to live in
harmony from the beginning to the end; don’t ever think of killing each other. Anda
Jamuqa had died, the matter between us is finished; but every time I remembered
our brotherhood, many, many nights I could not close my eyes to sleep.”

Tuolei and Guo Jing remembered how they almost killed each other outside the
Xiangyang’s city gate, they were secretly ashamed.

After standing up for a while Genghis Khan felt tired. He was about to return to his
tent when suddenly a small group of riders approached fast. The one in the front
wore a white robe with a golden belt on his waist. As soon as Genghis Khan saw his
enemy, his spirit rose.

The men held their reins quite a distance away, dismounted their horses and
anxiously stepped forward. They kneeled on the ground from a far, did not dare to
approach at all. Respectfully the leader said, “The Jin emissary seeks an audience
with the Great Khan.”

“The Jin is not willing to surrender, what does it want by sending someone to see
me?” Genghis Khan angrily asked.

That emissary bowed to the ground and said, “Our lowly country realized that we
have been too bold; offending the divine power of the Great Khan; a crime deserving
death. We are offering one thousand pearls to appease the Great Khan’s anger; we
are asking the Great Khan to pardon our sins. These thousand pearls are our
country’s heritage treasure; we earnestly hope the Great Khan would accept this
humble gift.” The emissary took a big bundle from his back, produced a jade tray,
and again from his sack poured innumerable pearls onto the tray. He knelt on the
ground and lifted the tray high above his head with both hands.

Genghis Khan slightly squinted and looked at the pearls; those were big pearls,
about the size of a fingertip each, surrounding a giant pearl in the middle of the tray.
Just one pearl would worth a fortune, let alone a thousand of them. Except for the
giant pearl in the middle, the rest of them were roughly of the same size. The pearls
were gleaming brilliantly under the sun light; there was a layer of rainbow-like light
above the jade tray.

On a normal day Genghis Khan would love this kind of gift; but that particular day he
only raised his eyebrows and to his personal guard said, “Take it.” The personal
guard took the jade tray.

Seeing the Great Khan accepted the gift, the emissary’s joy was unbounded. He said,
“The Great Khan has accepted our humble gift; our lowly nation, from the ruler to
the people, are very grateful.”

Genghis Khan was indignant, “Who said I accept your gift? I am going to dispatch
my army to attack the Jin dogs left and right. Seize him!” His personal guards
immediately surrounded the emissary and his men.

“Even if there are a thousand more pearls, it is still difficult for me to live longer!”
Genghis Khan sighed. He took the jade tray from his guard and threw everything
high in the air; the pearls scattered everywhere. Everybody was startled.

Many of these pearls were later picked up by the Mongolian soldiers and people; but
many more were still hidden among the tall grass that hundreds of years later lucky
herdsmen would find them.
Genghis Khan was indifferent, he returned to his tent.

That evening just before dusk he told Guo Jing to accompany him for a stroll along
the prairie. Two people on horseback had ridden for about a dozen of ‘li’s when they
heard the cry of eagles high above their heads. They looked up and saw Guo Jing’s
pair of eagles circling in the air. Genghis Khan fetched his iron bow and aimed the
arrow toward the female eagle.

“Great Khan, don’t shoot!” Guo Jing cried out in alarm.

Although Genghis Khan was feeble, his hand was still quick; by the time Guo Jing
cried, the arrow had already left the bow. Guo Jing secretly groaned, he was fully
aware that Genghis Khan had an outstanding physical strength. Once the arrow left
his bow his beloved eagle would be killed for sure. Who would have thought that the
eagle was able to skew itself and sweep its wing to strike the arrow. The male eagle
was angry, it let out a long cry and dived to strike Genghis Khan’s head.

“Eagle, you want to die?” Guo Jing barked and raised his whip to hit the male eagle.
The male eagle saw its master was angry flew back to the sky, letting out a loud cry
a pair of eagles soared to the sky.

Genghis Khan was dejected, he threw his bow and arrow to the ground and sadly
said, “For dozens of years this is the first time I could not shoot an eagle down; I
guess my time is drawing really near.”

Gou Jing wanted to console him but actually he did not know anything good to say.
Suddenly Genghis Khan kicked his legs and his horse sped to the north. Guo Jing
was afraid he would be lost, so he urged his horse to follow. The little red horse ran
like the wind and in a blink of an eye they caught up with the Great Khan.

Genghis Khan held his rein; looking at all direction he suddenly said, “Jing’er, I built
this great country; no other dynasty, past or future, can match its splendor. It will
take one full year to travel from the center of my kingdom to the outermost part of
it, east, west, south and north. Tell me, among the heroes of the world, who
achieved more than I do?”

Guo Jing hesitated a moment before answering, “Great Khan’s accomplishment is

exceptional, no one can match it since time immemorial. However, for Great Khan
one person to achieve this level of awe-inspiring power, I don’t know how many
bones have been piled up, how many orphans and widows out there, and how many
tears have been shed?”

Genghis Khan’s eyebrows were raised. He lifted his horsewhip high, ready to strike
Guo Jing’s head; but seeing Guo Jing imposingly looking at him without any trace of
fear in his eyes, his whip stopped midair. He roared, “What did you say?”

Guo Jing said in his heart, “After today the days for me to say goodbye to the Great
Khan are numbered; even if I provoke him to anger I have to make him understand
what’s in my heart.” Therefore, fearlessly he said, “Great Khan, you raised me up
and taught me, yet you also caused my mother’s tragic death. This is personal
grudge and gratitude; let us not talk about it. I only want to ask you: when
somebody died and buried, how much land would he occupy?”

Genghis Khan was startled, but he answered anyway, “About this big,” he made a
circle with his whip.

Guo Jing said, “That’s right. Then you killed so many people, shed so much blood,
and invaded so many countries; in the end, what’s the use of all that?”

Genghis Khan was silent.

Guo Jing continued, “The true measure of a real hero, the one admired by the future
generation, is how much he did for the benefit of his people; who always seek the
good of the common people. In my opinion, someone who killed many people is not
necessarily a hero.” [Translator’s note: the word ‘hero’ here is ‘ying xiong’.]
“Are you saying that in all my life I did not do a single good deed?” Genghis Khan
asked.

“Good deeds, certainly there are many, but you attacked the south and conquered
the west, piling dead bodies like a mountain. Whether that act could be considered
right or wrong, might be very difficult to say,” Guo Jing answered. His natural
disposition was simple and straightforward, he said what was in his heart.

All of his life Genghis Khan was a conceited man, nobody dared to tell him anything.
This time he was scolded by a youngster, worse yet, he found it difficult to refute
what Guo Jing had said. He looked back to his past, also looked around him on the
horseback. He felt something is suddenly taken away from him. Half a day later,
‘wah!’ he spurted fresh blood to the ground.

Guo Jing was scared, he realized his tongue had been too sharp; busily he held out
his hand to support the Khan and said, “Great Khan, let’s go back and rest. I have
been too bold and affronted you, I beg for your forgiveness.”

Genghis Khan gave a slight wry smile, his face was pale like a yellow wax, he sighed,
“Among the people around me, there is none who is as bold as you are, dare to tell
me what you really think in your heart.” Immediately his eyebrows were raised, put
an arrogant face and proudly said, “I have wandered back and fro over the earth,
crushing countless countries, yet in your opinion I can’t be counted as a hero? Hey!
It truly is childish talk!” He raised his whip and struck his horse’s back, speeding
back to his tent.

That very evening Genghis Khan collapsed inside his Golden Tent. Just before he
died he mumbled, “Hero … hero …” Apparently he had been pondering in his heart
what Guo Jing had said earlier.

Guo Jing and Huang Rong paid their final respect to the Great Khan; and after
bidding Tuolei farewell, they headed south that very same day.
Along the way two people saw the white bones that were scattered among the tall
grass of the prairie; they could not refrain from lamenting incessantly; both were
thinking that the two of them loved each other, they would live harmoniously, they
did not have any regrets; yet the common people’s misery was deep; they did not
know the day peace and prosperity would reign on earth. It was as written:
After the soldiers and fire become ashes,
Only then the poor village sprouting families.
No one’s to know when the war is over,
Until they are buried in the cold sand under the waning moon.
(The end of the entire book. The narration of Guo Jing, Huang Rong, and the
others’ accomplishment is continued in the ‘Divine Eagle, Gallant Knight’.)

THE END