Chapter 13 (Part 1-5 End)
Chapter 13- The Crippled Person of Five Lake
When Huang Rong returned back to the inn for the night, she though in her heart how she had done a good deed and was extremely delighted. Following that, she fell into a sweet sleep, and told Guo Jing all about it when she awoke the next morning. Guo Jing had actually spent a lot of effort on this matter. The last time, he got into a messy situation and had to fight for his life with Wanyan Kang. And he was also forced to marry Mu Nianci, so when he heard that Mu Nianci and Yang Kang were in love, he secretly felt relieved and happy, especially since Qiu Chu Ji and the six freaks of Jiangnan would not be able to force him to marry Mu Nianci anymore. He ate and chatted with Huang Rong and after some time, Mu Nianci still had not come.
Huang Rong smiled and said, “ We don’t have to wait for her, let’s just go.”
Following that, she went back into her room and put on a male disguise. Both of them went to the market and got a camel and rode to the Jiang residence. When they saw the lantern, which read ‘The Jin Ambassador’ at the door smashed, they thought that Wanyan Kang must have left and Mu Nianci must have followed him.
Guo Jing and Huang Rong decided to tour the countryside and rowed a boat to the south of the Yun River. They were lucky that day to see the famous Tao city, which specialized in pottery making. The rows of ceramic creations made with purple sand and clay laid amongst the green hills and blue waters which formed a beautiful sight. They traveled towards the east and not long after, chanced upon a huge lake. Since the lake was situated between three cities and it took about five hundred miles to reach east or south, the lake was named Five Lake. Guo Jing had never seen such huge waters before and pulled Huang Rong to the lakeside. They saw the sky far away from them, a huge, never-ending space in front, with the lake in the middle and couldn’t help but yell out happily.
Huang Rong said, “ Lets go and play on the lake.”
They found a fishing village near the lake, borrowed a small boat and left the camel with the owner before rowing out into the waters. After some distance away from the shore, the space between all four corners looked so empty and huge, and the lake seemed like heaven to them.
Huang Rong’s robes and hair floated gently in the wind and she smiled, “ Long ago, Advisor Fan escorted Xi Shi across the Five Lake…what a clever man. His court position is nothing compared to the peaceful life here.”
Guo Jing didn’t know anything about Advisor Fan’s story and asked, “ Rong’er, how about you tell me the story.”
Huang Rong began to tell about how Fan Li helped King Yue avenge the Yue kingdom and how he successfully retreated with Xi shi to a peaceful life on Lake Tai. And she continued about how Wu Zi Xu and Wen Zhong were killed by King Wu and Kind Yue respectively.
Guo Jing was in a daze after listening to the storey and after a while, he recovered and said, “ Fan Li is clever, but Wu Zi Xu and Wen Zhong are admirable too, for dying for their country,”
Huang Rong gave a little laugh, “ Absolutely. As the saying goes, if a country is virtuous and one does not change, he is the strongest. If a country is corrupted, and one still does not change as well, he remains the strongest.
Guo Jing asked, “What does this mean?”
Huang Rong replied, “ If a country is virtuous, though one rises up to be a powerful official, one would still be as alert and cautious as before. When the country becomes weak one day, and you are still willing to die for your country, then you are the real hero.”
Guo Jing nodded his head and said, “ Rong’er, how clever of you to think of this!”
Huang Rong laughed, “ Ah yar! If I could think of this, I would be a saint. These are Confucius sayings which my father taught me when I was young.”
Guo Jing sighed, “ There are so many matters I can never understand. If I had read more book and learnt more sayings, I would have understood more.”
Huang Rong said, “ That may not always be the case. My father always tells me that a lot of sayings by saints and scholars are nothing but rubbish. I often see my father reading and saying out loud ‘ No, No what nonsense, this is atrocious!’ Sometimes, he would also say ‘ What saint! A pack of rubbish!’”
Guo Jing laughed out loud upon hearing how Huang Rong described her father.
Huang Rong continued, “ I somehow regret spending so much time studying novels and practicing art and calligraphy. If I hadn’t pestered my father to teach me such stuff as well as all sorts of other things such as the interesting ways of calculations, I would have devoted more time to practice my martial skills and we wouldn’t have to be afraid of people like Mei Chao Feng and the old Liang creature! But don’t worry brother Jing, you’ve learnt Qi Gong’s ’18 but short of 3 dragon subduing palms’ and thus, you don’t have to fear that old Liang creature anymore.”
Guo Jing shook his head and said, “ I don’t think that’s possible.”
Huang Rong laughed and said, “ It’s a pity Qi Gong left, if not, I would have confiscated and hide his dog beating stick and force him to teach you the remaining three stances before returning it to him.
Guo Jing hurriedly said, “ No, no. I’m more than satisfied to be able to learn these fifteen stances. How can we make trouble for Senior Qi Gong?”
Both started chatting and stopped rowing, allowing the wind to sail the boat freely. Unknowingly, they were already miles away from the shore. They saw a fisherman lazily fishing from a boat, not far away and there was a servant at the tip of the boat.
Huang Rong pointed and said, “ As the mist clears, one can see the shape of a straight bamboo rod, it’s just like a painting of water inked scenery.”
Guo Jing asked, “ What’s water inked scenery?”
Huang Rong answered, “ That’s paintings which uses only blank ink and no other colours.”
Guo Jing saw the green hills, blue waters, white clouds, and orange sun but could not find anything black in colour. He shook his head and did not understand Huang Rong’s words. Huang Rong chatted more with Guo Jing. After she turned around, she saw that the fisherman was still sitting straightly in front of the boat and his rod had not move an inch.
Huang Rong laughed, “ This person does have a lot of patience.”
A gust of wind blew over and little waves of water clashed gently against the boat. Huang Rong swung her arms freely and started singing (skipped the lyrics) a song entitled ‘The water dragon’s hum” which talks about life on the lake. She finished singing the first part of the song before resting a little. Guo Jing noticed tears in her eyes and was just about to ask her the meaning of the song when suddenly, they heard a melancholic voice singing the exact same song Huang Rong was singing earlier, except that it was the second part of the song. When they looked out, it seemed like the fisherman was the one singing the song. His voice sounded was somewhat forceful yet poised. Guo Jing did not understand what both of them were singing but thought that it sounded very nice. However, when Huang Rong heard the song, she looked stunned.
Guo Jing asked, “ What’s the matter?”
Huang Rong answered, “ My father often sings this song, I didn’t expect a common fisherman to know it too. Let’s check it out.”
Both of them rowed the boat over only to see the fisherman keep his fishing rod and rowed his boat forward. When both boats neared each other, the fisherman asked, “ To think me fortunate enough to meet such special guests, can I invite you in for a drink?”
Huang Rong thought his speech sounded composed and refined, she was secretly curious, and answered, “ We are afraid to bother senior you.”
The fisherman laughed, “ It’s not easy to meet such special guests, but since we meet by chance on the lake, we should treasure it, please come over.”
The two boats sailed even closer. Huang Rong and Guo Jing rowed the boat behind the tail of the other boat and crossed over to greet the fisherman.
The fisherman greeted them whilst being seated and said, “ Please be seated. I am crippled and so can’t stand up, I apologize for any inconvenience.”
Guo Jing and Huang Rong said, “ It’s alright.”
Both of them sat down and observed the fisherman. He looked about forty years of age, had a rather thin face, and looked as if he were ill. He was very tall and even though he was seated, he was still half a head taller than Guo Jing. The servant at the tail of the boat began warming up some wine.
Huang Rong said, “ My older brother’s surname is Guo, whereas junior here is surnamed Huang. I was excited for a moment and started singing in the middle of the lake. But, I haven’t offended senior have I?”
The fisherman laughed, “ I am fortunate to be able to listen to such a clear voice. My surname is Lu. Little brother, is it your first time touring this lake?”
Guo Jing answered, “ Yes,”
The fisherman ordered the servant to bring out some dishes and wine for the guests. Although the four dishes were nothing compared to Huang Rong’s cooking, it tasted good too and the wine cups and dish plates looked very unique, and no doubt belonged to some precious collection.
Three of them started drinking. The fisherman said, “ Just now I heard little brother here singing the song ‘The water dragon’s hum’ which has such perfect lyrics. It is such a surprise that little brother here, though so young in age, is still able to comprehend the deep meanings of the words.”
When Huang Rong heard his matured tone, she gave a little smile and said, “ Ever since the Songs moved south, song writers often write sad songs for the country.”
The fisherman nodded in agreement. Huang Rong continued, “ The song ‘The six cities’ dedicated to Lake Zhang Yu has the same meaning.”
The fisherman started singing the lyrics, “ When people pass by, one would cry tears of loyalty and anger…”
He drank up three cups of wine and engaged in conversation with Huang Rong. Actually Huang Rong is just a young girl and did not experience any real sorrows caused by one’s country. She did not really identify with the deep meaning of the lyrics. It’s just that she listened to her father explain the meanings before and thus used her father’s explanation which was a very refined and sophisticated one, awing that fisherman, who could not help but give praises to Huang Rong. Guo Jing listened in one corner and did not understand a single word, but he was delighted upon hearing the fisherman praise Huang Rong. After chatting awhile, he saw that the landscape had paled and the mist surrounding the lake had thickened.
The fisherman said, “ My area of residence is just by the lake, if both don’t mind, I would like to invite both of you there for more discussions.”
Huang Rong asked, “ How about it, Brother Jing?”
Guo Jing hadn’t had a chance to speak when the fisherman said, “ My house is built amongst the backdrop of beautiful hills, since both are touring the countryside, why not drop by for a visit?”
Guo Jing saw that he looked honest and earnest and thus answered, “ Rong’er, we’ll thus have to impose on Mr Lu.” The fisherman was delighted and implored the servant to row the boat back home.
When they reached the lakeshore, Guo Jing said, “ We will have to return the boat first and collect the two camels.”
The fisherman smiled and said, “ I’m acquainted with everyone here, I’ll just hand this task to the owner of the boat.”
With that, he gestured to the servant. Guo Jing said, “ I think I’ll collect the camels since I’m more rough.”
The fisherman said, “ If you insist, I’ll wait for your arrival at my residence then.” With that, the boat rowed off and disappeared into the distance.
The servant followed Guo Jing and Huang Rong to get the things done. He got a large boat from one of the villagers, which had enough space to fit the camel as well. Six hardy fishermen rowed the boat for some distance before the front of a village came into view. They stopped the boat at the jetty, which was made of green stone. When they arrived on shore, they saw a cluster of small houses, which formed a huge manor. They crossed a large stone bridge and arrived in front of the manor. Guo Jing and Huang Rong looked at each other, as they didn’t expect a fisherman to live in such a luxurious place. Before they could reach the main entrance, they saw a man who looked about twenty years of age come up to them. About six servants followed behind him.
The youth said, “ My father had sent me to receive his guests.”
Guo Jing and Huang Rong made grateful gestures. They noticed that he wore a long robe and had similar facial features as the fisherman, except that he looked stronger and well built.
Guo Jing said, “ May we know brother Lu’s name?”
The youth said, “ Humble one here is named Guanying, please just call me by my name.”
Huang Rong answered politely, “ No, how can we?”
The three began chatting while proceeding towards the main hall. Guo Jing and Huang Rong noticed that the interior of the hall was designed and decorated beautifully. As Huang Rong walked earlier, she concentrated on the outlay of the place and it’s pathways and she looked a little puzzled.
As the three of them crossed the front yard and entered the guest hall, they heard the fisherman call out behind a screen, “ Please come in.”
Lu Guanying said, “ My father is unable to walk and thus has to receive you in his East study room.”
The three of them went by the screen and saw that the door of the study was open; the fisherman was sitting on a couch, inside. However, he was no longer dressed as a fisherman, but as an elderly scholar. He held a white goose feather fan in his hand and was fanning himself cheerfully. Guo Jing and Huang Rong entered and sat, but Lu Guanying didn’t dare sit and stood at a side. Huang Rong saw that the study was filled with shelves of literary classics and poetry collections. The tables were decorated with precious ornaments, such as jade antiques and a black inked painting hung on the wall. The painting depicted a middle-aged scholar who was posing with a sword stance in the backyard, under the moonlight. But the scholar had a lonely expression on his face. On the upper left corner of the painting was a poem.
‘ The night is silent without any chirping from the birds.
It is already late in the night when I fall into deep sleep.
I awake only to carry on alone, there is no one but the bright moon out there. A hundred pieces gain recognition and success.
The aging hills and withering branches block my path.
There are so many things buried within me but no one is willing to listen, to whom can I confide in my problems?’
Huang Rong recognized this poem as one written by Yue Fei, entitled ‘Little Strong Hill’, which was taught to her by her father. She saw the signature at the bottom which read ‘ The crippled person of Five Lake is seriously ill’ and realized that the ‘Crippled person of Five Lake’ must be the term for the owner of this manor. The strokes of the words were however, written in a harsh and forceful manner, and seemed like it was tearing through the paper.
Master Lu saw that Huang Rong was concentrating on the painting and asked, “ Brother, how do you find my painting? Would you care to give me some pointers?”
Huang Rong answered, “ I will express my thoughts then, but I hope Master Lu does not get offended.”
Master Lu said, “ Please go on.”
Huang Rong said, “ The poem in the painting is Yue Fei’s ‘Little Strong Hill’, which he wrote in his Wu Mu collections. The words depict a distressed and depressed mood. However there are specific meanings to them. General Yue was a courageous soul and fought hard for his country and people. The phrase, ‘A hundred pieces for recognition and success’ in the poem is probably to show his humble being. At that time, many court officials were corrupted and were on the side of the Jins. Yue Fei was a strong official but a pity no one was willing to listen to him. This was probably why he wrote the phrase, ‘There are so many things buried within me but no one is willing to listen, to whom can I confide in my problems?’ The phrase depicts a despondent Yue Fei, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that he wanted to oppose the court. However when master here wrote this poem, you were in an agitated and aggressive mood and thus asserted much force in your brush strokes; it seems as if you wanted to fight it out with your sworn enemy and thus, your intentions and mood do not tie in at all with Yue Fei’s at the time when he worked on his Wu Mu collections. Forgive me for my ignorance but from what I know, if one strives to over achieve or over express in literary and art works, the true and pure intentions will be lost and the work will be unable to achieve its brilliance.
When Master Lu heard what Huang Rong said, he gave a long sigh. He wore a miserable expression and was silent. Huang Rong saw his unusual response and thought, “ I’m afraid I have been too direct in my words and offended him. But it’s exactly what father taught me when he explained this poem.”
She said, “ Humble one here has been too ignorant and spouted nonsense. Please forgive me Master Lu.”
Master Lu recovered a little and then wore a delighted expression on his face. He asked happily, “ Brother Huang, please don’t say that. You are the first person who can actually read my feelings, what a great confidant you are. As for the over use of expression, it is one of my worse habits. I thank brother here for your pointers.”
He turned to his son and said, “ Hurry and ask the servants to prepare the banquet.”
Guo Jing and Huang Rong hurriedly conveyed their thanks and said, “ Please do not bother.” But Lu Guanying had already disappeared from the room.
Master Lu said, “ Brother here is wise and knowledgeable, you must have mastered a high level of literary classics and your father must be a brilliant teacher. I wonder what is his honorable name?”
Huang Rong answered, “ Humble one here knows nothing much and thus does not deserve all those praises. My father leaves in isolation and does not have any students, his name is thus not well known.”
Master Lu sighed, “ What a pity it is, not being able to meet such talent.”
After the banquet, they returned to the study for a chat. Master Lu said, “ The scenery outside is one of the best, why don’t both of you reside in one of the houses in the manor and enjoy the sight? Furthermore, it’s getting late and it is time for both to rest.”
Guo Jing and Huang Rong stood up and bid their farewells. Huang Rong was about to leave the room when she looked up sharply and saw that eight pieces of iron strips were fixed above the study’s lintel. The iron strips were arranged to form the eight trigrams, but it was not as neat as the usual arrangement. The iron strips were arranged in a rather sloppy and messy way. Huang Rong’s heart skipped a beat but she remained silent and expressionless and followed Guo Jing to the guest room.
The guest room was decorated in an elegant way, the two beds faced each other and the pillow and sheets were clean.
A servant served them some fragrant tea and said, “ If sir or miss needs anything, just ring the bell beside the bed and I will come. Please be reminded never to leave the room.” With that, he left the room and gently closed the door behind him.
Huang Rong asked in a low voice, “ What do you find peculiar about this place? Why do they ask us not to leave the room?”
Guo Jing said, “ The manor is huge and the pathways lead out to all directions. Maybe they’re afraid that we will get lost?”
Huang Rong gave a little laugh, “ The manor has an unusual architecture. What kind of person do you think Master Lu is?”
Guo Jing said, “ Maybe a retired official?”
Huang Rong shook her head, “ This person is no doubt highly skilled in martial arts. Did you see the eight iron trigrams just now?”
Guo Jing asked, “ Eight iron trigrams? What’s that?”
Huang Rong answered, “ That’s used to practice the ‘Thrusting Air Palms’. Father taught me this set of palm technique before, but I was bored and stopped learning it after a month. I would never have expected to see it here.”
Guo Jing said, “ Master Lu mean us no harm. Since he did not mention anything about it, let’s just pretend that we are unaware of it.”
Huang Rong nodded and smiled, she gently thrust out her palm towards the candle and a ‘chi’ sound was heard, before the candlelight went out.
Guo Jing praised in a low voice, “ Great palm technique!” He asked, “ Is this the ‘Thrusting Air Palm’?
Huang Rong smiled, “ I only learnt till this level. It can be used for fun but it is totally useless when used in a real duel.”
There was a sudden distant humming in the middle of the night, which startled Guo Jing and Huang Rong, who were both sleeping before that. They strained to hear more and there was the sound again, which sounded like someone was blowing a tune from a seashell. After a while, the humming started again. There was definitely more than one person creating the noise as both hums were created at the same time. It seemed like there were two people standing apart and blowing the shell to communicate.
Huang Rong whispered, “ Let’s go and see what’s up.”
Guo Jing answered, “ Let’s not go and find trouble shall we?”
Huang Rong argued, “ Who says we’re finding trouble? I only suggested for us to check out what’s happening.”
Both of them pushed open the window gently and looked out. They saw many people running about with lanterns in their arms, but there was no clue as to why they were rushing about. Huang Rong looked up and saw three or four blurred figures crouching on the nearby rooftop. The light from the lanterns shone briefly onto the figures and Huang Rong saw the swift light reflecting from the weapons, which those people carried in their arms. After a while, the crowd of servants all ran out of the manor. Huang Rong was curious and pulled Guo Jing towards the side of the window. She made sure no one was about and gently leaped out such that the people on the roof weren’t aware of her movements.
Huang Rong signaled to Guo Jing to walk backwards. The pathways in the manor turned and twisted such that the directions were very complicated. The most unusual thing was that the railings and pillars at every turn looked exactly the same. After a few whirls, one would not be able to distinguish between the different directions. Huang Rong however, was not the slightest bothered about this obstacle and walked around without any tint of worry or suspicion. Several times, it looked as if it was no pathway, but she always managed to identify a fake rock and revolve pass it or she would just twirl round the flowers and they would be back on the main path. At times, it looked as if it was a dead end in front, but somehow or another, there would always be a way pass a screen of a huge tree. At times, there would be a path through the opening of a grotto, but Huang Rong would never walk through. Instead, she would miraculously be able to identify a hidden and unnoticeable entrance on the walls and push through to enter. The more Guo Jing proceeded on, the more curious he became.
He whispered, “ Rong’er, the pathways of this manor are really bizarre, how is it that you are always able to identify the right way?”
Huang Rong signaled for him to be quiet and after seven or eight more turns, they arrived by the wall of the backyard. Huang Rong examined the wall and used her fingers to count before walking and counting her footsteps. Guo Jing heard her mumble, “ Form a trigram first, thirdly prepare, fifthly supplement, repeat the seventh…” and did not understand a single word.
Huang Rong counted as she walked, and after a particular count, she stopped in her tracks and said, “ We can only leave by here, the rest of the place is filled with traps.”
She leapt onto the top of the wall and Guo Jing followed suit. Huang Rong continued, “ This manor is built according to the sixty four bearings (positions) which are concealed. My father is a master in this particular type of architecture, which requires one to design eight different types of routes (not really sure of this part). Master Lu can obstruct others, but he can’t trap me.” Her tone was filled with pride.
Both of them climbed up a small mound situated behind the manor and looked out towards the east. They saw a person walking towards the lake, with a lantern raised high up. Huang Rong tugged at Guo Jing’s sleeve and both of them flew forward using their lightness skill. After arriving closer, they hid behind a huge rock and noticed a row of fishing boats near the shores of the lake. A crowd of people slowly boarded the boats and after they did so, each put out their lantern lights. Guo Jing and Huang Rong waited till the last batch of people boarded, and after it was pitch dark, before leaping out and landed on the tail of a large ship. After they heard the fishing boats start to move, they leaped on top of the sail of the ship and looked down. It was then they saw some one sitting inside a room in the boat and the person was none other than the junior owner of the manor, Lu Guanying.
As the row of boats started moving, the tune from the seashell could be heard again. A person on the ship walked to the front and also started blowing into the shell. After the ship drifted some distance, one could see many little boats drifting on the lake. The myriad of little boats looked like tiny ants in the distance; it was as if one had painted millions of black dots on a large sheet or paper. The person on the ship blew his shell three times and the large boat dropped its vessel into the midst of the lake. About ten little boats started moving in from all directions. Guo Jing and Huang Rong were mystified; they were not sure whether a battle was going to take place. They lowered their heads and peeped at Lu Guanying, who however looked calm and normal, he did not show any tint of anxiousness as one would show in times of war.
Not long after, the boats sailed nearer. Every boat saw either two or three people coming out and entering the ship. Every person, after entering the huge boat, would bow to Lu Guanying and were respectful in their behavior. It seemed that seats had been arranged for the visitors from the little boats and according to their status. Some people arrived earlier but sat at the back, whereas some who arrived later got to sit in the front. A tea server ushered the visitors to their seats. The visitors had stern and rough expressions, and their actions were swift and fierce. Although they dressed like fishermen, it seemed as if all of them were versed in martial arts and were definitely not the usual type of fisherman.
Lu Guanying raised his arm and said, “ Brother Zhang, what have you found out?” A skinny man sitting in the middle stood up and said, “ To answer Junior Master, the Jin ambassador has decided to sail across the lake tonight. The captain, who is on the pretext of receiving him, would reach in probably an hour’s time. The latter is late due to the ransacking on the way.”
Lu Guanying asked, “ How much has he ransacked?”
The man answered, “ There have been harvests from every village, and his soldiers are still robbing the villagers now. When I saw him alight the boat, his soldiers were struggling with more than twenty heavy chests of treasures.”
Lu Guanying asked, “ How many soldiers and horses does he have with him?”
The man answered, “ About two thousand. Those who crossed the lake with him do not have horses with them. Since there are not enough boats, there are about a thousand of them who stay back at shore.”
Lu Guanying turned towards the audience and asked, “ Fellow brothers, what do you guys think?”
Everyone answered, “ We will follow Junior Master’s orders.”
Lu Guanying placed both hands into his sleeves and said, “ These corrupted officials go round snatching money through immoral means. We the people from the lake would not be doing justice if we do not get back those treasures and money. We will do our best to grab as much as we can. Half of it will go to the poor villagers by the lake and the other half will be split between us.”
The audience all roared in agreement. It was then that Guo Jing and Huang Rong realize that these people were the pirates of the lake and Lu Guanying was probably they’re leader.
Lu Guanying said, “ Without further a dew, let’s get going. Brother Zhang, take five small boats and continue to keep watch.”
The skinny man took the order and immediately sailed out. Lu Guanying went on to assign everyone their tasks, such as who would lead, who would be the back ups, who would lead the ‘water ghosts’ to swim and create damage to the enemy’s boat, who would grab the treasures, who would capture the official and so on. He dutifully assigned the various tasks in a very organized way.
Guo Jing and Huang Rong were secretly puzzled. They had just dined and chatted with Lu Guanying earlier in the day and found him to be a polite, proper and decent chap, not forgetting that he was from a wealthy and cultivated family. Who would have guessed that he was a pirate leader? Just as Lu Guanying had finished assigning the various tasks and everyone was setting out, someone in the middle stood up and said coldly, “ We people have no assets whatsoever, it is alright to rob some wealthy businessmen. But if we attack such an official, won’t we have trouble living on the lake in the future? We should not offend the Jin Ambassador.”
Guo Jing and Huang Rong thought the voice sounded familiar. When they squinted to have a better look, they realized that is was Sha Tong Tian’s disciple, one of the four ghosts of the yellow rive, stealing souls whip, Ma Qing Xiong; they did not know how he ended up in the group. Lu Guanying’s expression changed, he had yet to answer when a few pirates in the crowd starting hooting.
Lu Guanying said, “ Brother Ma is a first timer and doesn’t know the rules here. Since everyone is determined to carry out the task, we’ll give our all and make sure the soldiers have no chance to retaliate, only then will we die without regrets.”
Ma Qing Xiong answered, “ Alright, you people go ahead then, I would rather not get involved and get myself into trouble.”
With that, he turned and started to walk out of the boat. Two men blocked him and cried out, “ Brother Ma, you swore that you will go through thick and thin with us!”
Ma Qing Xiong pushed out with both palms and retorted, “ Get lost!”
The two men were hit and fell to the side. As Ma Qing Xiong was about to leave the boat, he suddenly felt a gust of wind flow towards his back, when the wind flowed past him; he used his left hand to retrieve a dagger from his boot, twisted his arm and pierced the dagger behind. Lu Guanying stretched out his left arm and positioned it on the entrance door, at the same time, he leaped and thrust his palm forward. Ma Qing Xiong used his right arm to block the attack while using his left arm to pierce the dagger forward. The two men exchanged attacks on the narrow passage of the ship. Guo Jing once fought with Ma Qing Xiong back in Mongolia. When he first saw Lu Guanying’s moves, he thought that it would not be easy for him to win. But after some more moves, Lu Guanying kept gaining the upper hand and was clearly going to win. Guo Jing was suspicious and thought, “ Why is that Ma guy suddenly not strong anymore? Ah, yes, that day when he fought with me, he had the support of his martial brothers, but now, he’s singly surrounded by so many enemies, of course he’ll be afraid.” But Guo Jing did not know that the real reason lied in Hong Qi Gong’s training for the past two months. Guo Jing had mastered fifteen stances of the world’s renowned ‘Eighteen Subduing Dragon Palms’, accompanied by pointers and advice provided by Hong Qi Gong himself. Because of this, although he did not understand the full essence of the skill, his martial arts had improved tremendously and were at a very much higher level than the average skills he learnt from the Seven Freaks of Jiangnan, but at this point in time, Guo Jing was still unaware that his skills had already suppressed his six teachers, and thus, he still thought that he was less superior than Ma Qing Xiong. He saw the two men further exchange a couple of stunts when Lu Guanying shot out his left fist and a “pa” sound was heard; the blow had hit Ma Qing Xiong in the chest, who stumbled and fell back. Two pirates behind him pierced him with their daggers and Ma Qing Xiong laid dead. The two pirates then lifted up the corpse and threw it into the lake.
Lu Guanying continued, “ Brothers, let’s embrace our mission bravely.”
The crowd began to cheer loudly and each separated, went back to their respective boats and began to head east. Lu Guanying’s huge boat sailed right at the back of the others. After awhile, they spotted about ten huge and brightly lit boats from afar, heading west towards them.
Guo Jing and Huang Rong thought to themselves, “ These big boats must belong to those officials.”
The two secretly climbed up the pole of the ship and sat on top at the beam/roof but hid themselves behind the sail. They heard the seashell tune from the little boats and as both opposing sides came closer, there were sounds of yelling, scolding, clashing of weapons and the sounds of splashing as bodies dropped into the water. After awhile, the officials’ boats were on fire which lit up the dark sky and cast a fiery red shadow over the lake.
Guo Jing and Huang Rong knew that the pirates had succeeded in their mission and saw a few little boats sailing forward furiously with shouts of , “ The soldiers have been defeated and the commander has been caught.”
Lu Guanying was delighted, he walked to the head of the ship and shouted, “ Inform the various chiefs of each boat to put in a little more effort so that we can capture the Jin ambassador!”
The pirate who delivered the news obeyed and flew off to pass the message.
Guo Jing and Huang Rong nudged each other at the same time and had the same thoughts: “ That Jin ambassador must be Wanyan Kang, I wonder how will he deal with this.”
They heard the seashell tune coming from various boats again and saw that the group of boats had turned back towards their direction and the pirates were tugging at their sails. The east wind was suddenly blowing furiously, causing the boats to sail like arrows shooting towards the east.
Lu Guanying’s ship was actually right at the back of the fleet but now, his ship had become the lead. Guo Jing and Huang Rong were sitting on the roof with the wind blowing on their backs. They were sailing fast across the misty lake and the myriad of stars in the sky came into view such that they had the urge to sing out loud. Suddenly, the little boats sailed past one by one and ended up in front of the ship Guo Jing and Huang Rong were on.
The boats sailed for about an hour and the sky turned brighter before two boats sailed quickly towards the ship. One of the men in the boat raised a green flag and waved it, shouting, “ We have spotted the Jin ship! The commanding boat has already taken to lead to capture it.”
Lu Guanying was standing in the front of his ship and called out, “ Good!”
After a short while, another small boat sailed back and reported, “ That bastard Jin ambassador has deadly claws, our commander is injured but leader Peng and Dong are currently trying to subdue him.”
After a while, two pirates carried an injured and unconscious commander onto Lu Guan Ying’s ship. Lu Guanying was inspecting the wounds when two small boats rowed up and the pirates helped their two injured commanders of the boats up onto the ship. The pirates also reported that Piao Miao Peak’s Leader Guo suffered a deadly blow from the Jin Ambassador and fell into the lake.
Lu Guanying was furious and shouted, “I am going to personally kill that vicious Jin dog.”
Guo Jing and Huang Rong felt strongly against Wanyan Kang’s actions but could not bear to let him fend off the group of pirates alone as this would also make Mu Nianci hate them forever.
Huang Rong whispered into Guo Jing’s ear, “Are we going to help him?”
Guo Jing replied with a slight sigh, “ Save him but make him repent.” Huang Rong nodded.
At the same time, Lu Guanying leaped onto a small boat and yelled, “Let’s go!”
Huang Rong and Guo Jing said, “Lets go and stop the small boat.”
Both of them leaped onto the side of the small boat and heard some shouting from the group of pirates in front. They looked out and saw the boats under the Jin Ambassador slowly sinking one by one. They thought that it must have been the doings of the “water ghosts” who were in charge of wrecking the bases of the boats under water.
As the pirates waved the green flag, two small boats hurriedly rowed over and reported, “ The Jin dog has fell into the water and has already been captured by us!”
Lu Guanying was delighted and leaped back onto his ship. After awhile, the seashell tune was blown again and the various little boats assembled together, one by one bringing along with them the Jin Ambassador and his guards onto the ship. Guo Jing and Huang Rong saw that Wanyan Kang had his hands and feet bounded by ropes and his eyes were tightly shut. They thought that he must have swallowed too much water but his chest had not contracted and he was still breathing. At this time, the sky was already bright as the sunlight shone brightly from the east revealing a line of boats floating gracefully on the lake.
Lu Guanying commanded, “ The various leaders may return to the manor and hold a banquet to celebrate. Please lead your teams back and await your rewards.”
The pirates cheered clamorously and the boats slowly parted ways and slowly disappeared into the cloud of mist, and the lake became peaceful and quiet once more. Guo Jing and Huang Rong waited for the ship to sail back to the Lu Manor and after Lu Guanying and his group of pirates left did they fly back to the shore. The pirates were overjoyed with their rewards and did not notice that there were people secretly hiding on their ship. Huang Rong thought out the directions and led Guo Jing into the manor via the backyard and back into their room.
At this time, the servant who took care of their orders had checked a few times to see if they had woken up but seeing that the room door was still locked, he thought that the two young men must have had a long day yesterday and thus slept longer. After they got back into their room, Guo Jing opened the door and two servants who had stood outside waiting came forward to greet him before bringing up some breakfast and said, “ Master Lu is waiting in his study. Please go and join him after your breakfast.”
The two ate some snacks and buns before following the servant to the study.
Master Lu smiled and said, “The winds by the lake are strong and when they blow against the shore, the noise might be disturbing so did you two sleep well?”
Guo Jing wasn’t used to lying so when he heard the question, he froze for a moment. Huang Rong answered, “ We only heard sounds of seashell humming during the night, I think it must have been the monks and Taoists priests chanting and practicing their rituals.”
Master Lu laughed and did not ask anymore. Instead, he said, “ I have collected some artistic works and would like two brothers here to have a look.”
Huang Rong answered, “Of course. Anything which Master Lu collects must be priceless.”
Master Lu ordered the study keeper to bring out some artistic pieces and Huang Rong observed each of the pieces curiously. Suddenly there were noises which sounded like they came from outside. They could hear footsteps and it sounded like a group of people chasing a person. A voice said, “ Since you’ve stepped into the manor, it would be impossible for you to escape now!”
Master Lu acted as if nothing had happened and as if he didn’t hear anything and asked, “ The art of calligraphy in our dynasty is dominated by the four families of Su, Huang, Mi and Cai. I wonder which family does brother Huang like best?”
Huang Rong was about to answer when the door of the study suddenly slammed open and a person, who was wet from head to toe, rushed in. It was Wanyan Kang.
Huang Rong tugged on Guo Jing’s sleeve and whispered, “ Look at the art pieces, don’t look at him.”
The two turned around and lowered their heads to the calligraphy works. Actually Wanyan Kang didn’t know how to swim and thus when his boat sunk earlier on, although he was well versed in martial arts, he could not save himself. He then fainted and when he regained conscious, he was already captured and brought to the manor for questioning by Lu Guanying. Wanyan Kang saw that the guarding pirate did not carry his usual dagger and secretly came out with a plan. He summoned his internal strength and used his fingers to grab onto the ropes, which bounded him before yelling out and used the “Nine Yin White Bone Claws” to free himself of the ropes. The group of guards were stunned and rushed forward to capture him but were attacked by his claws and fell to the ground. Wanyan Kang ran off but who would have guessed that the manor was structured with bizarre mazes and if a stranger did not know the secret to the formations and did not have a guide from the manor, he or she would get stuck in the manor. Wanyan Kang got anxious after he could not find his way out and barged into Master Lu’s study. Although Lu Guanying saw that he had freed himself of the ropes, he knew that Wanyan Kang would not be able to find his way out of the manor and thus did not worry. He chased after Wanyan Kang and saw him dash into Master Lu’s study. Afraid that his father would get hurt, he hurriedly dashed forward and stood in front of his father. The various section leaders of Lake Tai blocked the doorway.
Wanyan Kang was furious for being trapped, he pointed a finger at Lu Guanying and yelled, “ Despicable pirates! You people used dirty tricks to sink my boat, have you no sense of shame, aren’t you afraid to be mocked by other Jiang Hu swordsmen?”
Lu Guanying laughed heartily and said, “You are a Jin Prince, what business do you have with us Han swordsmen? What has Jiang Hu people got to do with you?”
Wanyan Kang answered, “ When I was in Beijing, I heard of many stories regarding the heroes in Jiangnan and thought that the men in Jiangnan were all upright and courageous but hah! Who would have thought in actual fact, you people…hai, you people do not live up to your reputations at all!”
Lu Guanying was furious and shouted, “ So?”
Wanyan Kang answered, “ You people are no more than just despicable cowards who use vast strengths to win over one person!”
Lu Guanying laughed coldly, “ So if anyone takes you on solely and win, then you will die without regrets?”
Wanyan Kang was actually using words to infuriate Lu Guanying so as to trick him into saying exactly this. He immediately replied, “ If the manor has one person who can win me in terms of fighting, I willingly give in and will die without regrets. But I wonder who would I spar with?” As he said this, he arrogantly looked through the crowd with hands behind him and laughed coldly.
These words angered Lake Tai’s Mo Li Peak’s chief, the section leader, Golden Rock head who shouted, “ Bastard, I am going to beat you up!”
With that, he rushed into the study, stretched out both fists and using the stance “Sounds of the striking bells” he aimed towards Wanyan Kang’s Taiyang point. Wanyan Kang gently shifts his body and flips his left palm to grab hold of his opponent’s back robe before swinging him out of the door.
Lu Guanying seeing Wanyan Kang’s vicious strikes, was secretly alarmed. He knew that none of the section heads were his match and yelled, “ Excellent skills, let me exchange a few stances with you. Lets go out to the yard.” Lu Guanying knew that his opponent was strong and was afraid that if they fought in the study, one of them would accidentally harm his father and his guests, as none of them knew how to fight.
Wanyan Kang answered, “ It’s the same wherever we fight, why not just stay here? Please display your stance section leader!” when actually his tone was hinting another meaning which Wanyan Kang was actually thinking in his heart, “ I only have to use a few stances to defeat you, why bother to change a place to fight?”
Lu Guanying was secretly seething and said, “ Alright, since you are the guest, please start first then.”
Wanyan Kang relaxed his right palm but used his left palm to attack Lu Guanying’s chest. His first stance was already using that of the “Nine Yin white Bone Claws”, bent on injuring his opponent.
Lu Guanying secretly scolded, “ Arrogant fellow, let me show you what I am capable of.”
He sucked in his chest subtly but did not retreat. Instead, he used his right fist to attack his opponent’s moving elbow, while two of his left fingers pointed towards Wanyan Kang’s face, with the intention of piercing his eyes. Wanyan Kang saw that his stances were swift and was a little nervous; he secretly thought to himself, “ Who would have thought there would be such a skilled fighter in this rural place?”
With that, he hurriedly retreated half a step, flipped his wrist and aimed at Lu Guanying’s shoulder. Lu Guanying twisted his waist towards the right and took back both of his arms. Wanyan Kang knew that his opponent was strong and did not dare disregard him anymore. He became serious and displayed the Quanzhen fist techniques, which Qiu Chuji had taught him. Lu Guanying was the favourite pupil of Reverend Ku Mo of Yun Qi monastery. He learnt the fist techniques of the Xian Xia School, which was affiliated to Shaolin monastery in the hills of Henan. Therefore, the skills Lu Guanying learnt were also orthodox; he was cautious of his opponent and used different skills to counter whatever his opponent used. He knew that Wanyan Kang’s claw techniques were superior and thus made sure that he didn’t let Wanyang Kang’s fingers touch his body. When he saw the chance to attack Wanyan Kang, he used his legs. His teacher had taught him, “ Use thirty percent of your fists and seventy percent of your legs. Your hands are just like fans, concentrate on using your kicks.”
Lu Guanying learnt skills that did not belong to his family and his kicking techniques were excellent. The longer the two fought, the faster their stances became and it looked like two dancing shadows sparring with each other in the study. Guo Jing and Huang Rong did not want Wanyan Kang to recognize them and thus retreated to the sides of the bookshelf and secretly observed the fight.
Wanyang Kang was getting agitated the longer he fought on and secretly thought to himself, “ If this goes on, even if I can defeat him this round, there will still be others wanting to spar with me and by that time, how will I have any energy left to fight?”
His skills were actually much more superior than Lu Guanying but because he was nearly drowned and swallowed too much water such that he lost quite a bit of energy and his body was exhausted. Furthermore, it was the first time he was trapped in this sort of situation and thus, was somewhat nervous, therefore allowing Lu Guanying to gain the upper hand for more than ten stances. He forced himself to concentrate and put more force in his attacks. A crack sound was heard as Lu Guanying shoulder was injured by Wanyan Kang’s fist. Lu Guanying stumbled and retreated backwards, he saw that his opponent was taking the chance to attack further and leaped up, kicking his right leg forward towards Wanyan Kang’s chest. The stance, called “ Bosom kick” is a very swift and powerful stunt, which Lu Guanying had practiced since young. He had to tie himself to a rope so as to train his speed since the stunt emphasizes on the swiftness of the kick such that the opponent is caught by surprise and cannot defend himself in time.
Wanyan Kang’s felt a pain in his chest and he twirled his right hand and pierced his fingers into Lu Guanying’s calf. He used his left palm and thrust towards Lu Guanying’s calf before yelling, “Lay down!”
Lu Guanying was actually standing on one foot but after that strong push by Wanyan Kang’s, he lost balance and fell backwards towards his father. Master Lu stretched out his left arm and caught Lu Guanying before gently placing him on the ground. When he saw the blood, which flowed from his son’s leg, he was shocked and furious. Master Lu shouted, “ How are you related to the Twin Killers of the Dark Winds?”
Everyone was surprised when Master Lu intervened. Wanyan Kang and the various section leaders were unaware that that Master Lu knew martial arts, even his son, Lu Guanying did not know that. Everyone thought that since Master Lu was crippled, it was natural that he did not know and could not fight. Even since he was young, Lu Guanying never asked or probed into his father’s businesses but who would have known that that stance which Master Lu displayed to save his son was steady and strong. Huang Rong saw the eight iron diagrams on the study’s lintel last night and pointed it out to Guo Jing. They were thus, the only ones who did not seem that surprised.
When Wanyan Kang heard Master Lu ask about the Twin Killers of the Dark Winds, he froze for a moment before answering, “ What is the Twin Killer of the Dark Winds?” Although Mei Chaofeng taught him martial arts, she never told him about her past before and Wanyan Kang did not even know her name. Therefore it was understandable that he did not know anything about the Twin Killers of the Dark Winds.
Master Lu was furious and shouted, “Who are you bluffing? Who taught you the deadly Nine Yin White Bone Claws?”
Wanyan Kang replied, “ I have no time to listen to your nonsense, good bye!” With that, he turned and headed towards the door.
The various section leaders were furious and took up their weapons, ready to guard the doorway. Wanyan Kang turned towards Lu Guanying and laughed coldly, “Didn’t you give your word just now?”
Lu Guanying was pale and waved his arm saying, “ Heroes of the lake keep to their promises, brothers, just let him go. Brother Zhang, please lead him out.”
The section leaders were all unwilling to do so but since the junior master had given orders, they could not oppose him.
Leader Zhang said, “ Follow me then, I bet you rascal here would not be able to find the way out yourself.”
Wanyan Kang said, “ Where are my men?”
Lu Guanying replied, “ Let them all go.”
Wanyan Kang pointed to him and said, “ Good, you are a man of your words. As for the rest of you leaders, till we meet again.” He said rudely and arrogantly.
Just as he was about to leave the room, Master Lu suddenly called out, “ Hold it! Elderly here is untalented but would like to have a taste of your Nine Yin White Bone Claws.”
Wanyan Kang stopped in his tracks and laughed, “Alright!”
Lu Guanying hurriedly said, “ Father, you should not deal with this rascal at your age.”
Master Lu replied, “ Don’t worry, his Nine Yin White Bone Claws is not up to standard yet.” He stared at Wanyan Kang and said weakly, “ I am crippled and am unable to move, come here.”
Wanyan Kang laughed but did not move. Lu Guanying’s leg wounds were hurting but he did not want his father to fight with Wanyan Kang and leaped out of the door shouting, “ I will represent my father to exchange a few blows with you.” Wanyan Kang laughed and said, “ Good! Let’s practice again.”
Master Lu shouted, “ Ying’er move away!”
With that, he leaped up, his left arm gripped the couch he was sitting on and he used his left arm strength to support his weight of his body. His right palm lashed out towards Wanyan Kang’s head. At the sound of the crowd’s anxious gasps, Wanyan Kang raised his hands to counter the blow but felt his left wrist tighten and trapped. He saw that swift shadow of his opponent’s palm, which was heading towards his shoulder. Wanyan Kang did not expect his opponent’s seizing stance to be so fast and unique; he hurriedly used his right hand to strike back while struggling to free his left hand from his opponent. Master Lu shifted his weight onto Wanyan Kang’s wrist and was able to float in midair. His left palm unleashed several killer strikes while Wanyan Kang used all his might to escape his grip but to no avail. He tried to unleash a flying kick towards Master Lu but missed. The crowd was delighted as they watched the ongoing fight. Master Lu raised his palm, ready to unleash a strike onto Wanyan Kang when the latter stuck out his fingers and aimed towards Master Lu’s palm. Master Lu suddenly lowered his palm and struck Wanyan Kang’s shoulder point. Wanyan Kang felt his upper body going numb and following that, his right wrist was also seized by Master Lu. Two sounds were heard before Wanyan Kang’s wrists were released. Master Lu’s stance was very quick as he used his right hand to push against Wanyan Kang’s waist while his left hand pushed against Wanyan Kang’s shoulder, thus borrowing Wanyan Kang’s strength to leap back steadily into his couch. Wanyan Kang felt both his legs giving way and he collapsed. The leaders were stunned and it was only after a moment’s silence when they started to cheer.
Lu Guanying hurriedly run towards the couch and asked, “Father, are you alright?”
Master Lu smiled and shook his head but his expression turned suspicious and said, “ When the teacher of this Jin dog comes for him, I will have to talk to him properly.”
Two section leaders took some rope and tied Wanyan Kang up. Leader Zhang said, “ Amongst the belongings of that Commander Ma, we found iron locks and chains, let’s use it for this rascal and see whether he can break through them.” The crowd cheered in agreement and someone ran out to retrieve the chains and locks before returning to bind Wanyan Kang with them. The pain in his wrists was killing him and Wanyan Kang sweated profusely but he bore with it and refused to make any sound.
Master Lu said, “ Bring him here.” Two men grabbed Wanyan Kang by the shoulders and brought him in front of the couch. Master Lu tapped onto the points of Wanyan Kang’s lower spine and left chest. Wanyan Kang suddenly felt the pain subsiding and though he was still fuming inside, he was secretly surprised but before he could say anything, he was brought away while the other section leaders all left the room slowly.
Master Lu then turned towards Huang Rong and Guo Jing and smiled, “ I only concentrated on fighting with that young man and forgot all my manners just now, I hope you wont laugh.”
Huang Rong saw that his palm and acupoint techniques were that of her family’s and was even more puzzled. She smiled and asked, “ Who was that? Did he steal from the manor and thus made Master angry?”
Master Lu laughed heartily and said, “ Yes, he did steal a lot from us. Come, let us not get distracted by that evil rascal, let’s continue to appreciate the art pieces.”
Lu Guanying left the room to the three of them. Master Lu chatted about the scenic backdrops, human expression and more with Huang Rong while Guo Jing just listened without understanding a single thing as usual. After lunch, Master Lu ordered two servants to accompany them to tour the countryside and they enjoyed themselves till nightfall before returning back to the manor. Before sleeping, Guo Jing asked, “ How Rong’er? Are we going to save him?”
Huang Rong answered, “ Lets stay here for a few more days because I still can’t guess Master Lu’s true identity.”
Guo Jing answered, “ His skills are very similar to yours.”
Huang Rong sighed deeply, “ That’s the unusual part, and hmmm does he know Mei Chaofeng?”
The two could not guess and were afraid that someone would eavesdrop and thus did not discuss further. In the middle of the night, they suddenly heard a slight sound on the rooftop, followed by a sound on the ground. They immediately got out of the their beds, gently pushed open the window and peered out. They saw a black shadow amongst the roses. That person looked around before heading towards the east. The person did not seem to be a resident of the manor as he or she was alert and on guard. Huang Rong actually thought that this manor housed heroic pirates of the lake but after seeing Master Lu’s display of skills earlier, she felt curious and decided to find out more. She waved to Guo Jing and they leaped out of the window, secretly trailing that intruder. After following that person for a while, the moonlight showed that she was a lady with average skills. Huang Rong quickened her pace and moved nearer to that lady who turned her head slightly, revealing that it was Mu Nianci.
Huang Rong laughed secretly and thought, “ Good, now his rescuer has come, let’s see what tricks you will use.”
Mu Nianci circled the garden and lost sense of direction after a while. Huang Rong knew the architecture of this garden (sorry I don’t understand the explanation, maybe someone would want to help me out here) as her father Huang Yao Shi was a master of this and would discuss it with her once in a while. She thought the architecture of this garden unusual but it was nothing compared to that of Peach Blossom Island, which was weird and confusing, just like its owner.
Huang Rong thought to herself, “ If you carry on walking like that, you wont be able to find him even in a hundred years.”
With that, she picked up some soil from the ground and when she saw Mu Nianci hesitating in her tracks, she threw a pile of soil to the left side of the track and said in a low voice, “ Go by that way” before hiding behind some flowers.
Mu Nianci was alarmed; she turned around but saw no one and thus grabbed her dagger and walked towards the left. Huang Rong and Guo Jing’s lightness skill were much better than hers and had earlier hid themselves, not allowing her to spot them.
Mu Nianci was worried, she thought to herself, “ I wonder whether this person is helping or harming me. But since I cant find my way, I might as well just follow the directions given.”
With that, she followed the directions given and walked towards the left. Every time she came to a junction or crossroad, a small pile of soil would always lead her to the correct direction and after some time, she heard a sound as a pile of soil was thrown forward and hit the window of a small hut. Mu Nianci saw a blur vision as two black figures quickly flew by and disappeared, Mu Nianci thought a while and ran towards the small hut. She saw two guards lying on the floor, though their eyes were wide open and looking at her, they were motionless and did not make a grab for their weapons; Mu Nianci guessed that they must have had their acupoints sealed by someone.
Mu Nianci knew that someone was secretly helping her. She pushed open the door gently and listened, there seemed to be someone breathing inside. She called out in a low voice, “ Brother Kang, is that you?”
Wanyan Kang was surprised when he saw the guards at the door collapse but when he heard Mu Nianci’s voice, he was even more surprised and delighted. He called out hurriedly, “ It’s me!”
Mu Nianci was overjoyed and walked towards the voice in the dark and said, “ Thank god I found you, that’s great, let’s go.”
Wanyan Kang replied, “ Did you bring any weapons?”
Mu Nianci asked, “ Why?”
Wanyan Kang gently shook himself and chain sounds could be heard. Mu Nianci stretched out her hand and touched the chains. She was full of regret and said furiously, “ I shouldn’t have give that dagger to Sister Huang!”
Huang Rong and Guo Jing were listening outside and the former secretly laughed and thought to herself, “ Let you worry for awhile before I return you the dagger.”
Mu Nianci was anxious and said, “ I’ll go and steal the keys.”
Wanyan Kang replied, “ Don’t go. The people in this manor are highly skilled it’s no point to risk youself and get caught.”
Mu Nianci replied, “ Then, I’ll carry you out.”
Wanyan Kang laughed, “ You give me a kiss.”
Mu Nianci moved away and said, “ I’m so worried and you still can joke.”
Wanyan Kang laughed cheekily, “ Who’s joking? I’m serious.”
Mu Nianci ignored him and tried to think of a plan. Wanyan Kang asked, “ How did you know I’m here?”
Mu Nianci answered, “ I followed you.”
Wanyan Kang was touched and said, “ You lean on me, I’ll tell you something.” Mu Nianci sat on the ground and leaned into his arms.
Wanyan Kang said, “ I am the Jin ambassador so I don’t think they will dare do anything to me. But if I stay here any longer, it will affect father’s plans. What shall we do? Sister, help me with something.”
Mu Nianci asked, “ What is it?”
Wanyang Kang answered, “ Take off that golden seal hung on my neck.”
Mu Nianci stretched out her hand and took off the golden seal.
Wanyan Kang continued, “ This is the seal of the Jin ambassador, take it to Lin An manor and seek assistance from Prime Minister Shi of the Song Dynasty.”
Mu Nianci asked, “ Prime Minister Shi? Would he see a commoner like me?”
Wanyan Kang laughed, “ When he sees this golden seal, he’ll welcome you. Tell him that I’ve been captured by the pirates of Lake Tai and cannot see him personally. But you must remember one thing, if the Mongolian ambassador is there, make sure that you avoid letting him and the prime minister meet at all costs. This is the secret mission ordered by the Jin emperor, you must fulfill it.”
Mu Nianci asked, “ Why?”
Wanyan Kang answered, “ These are army matters, you wont understand. You will be doing me a great favor by telling Prime Minister Shi what I just I asked you to. If the Mongolian ambassador reaches Lin An first and meets with the Song Officials, it will put us Jins in a very unfavorable position.”
Mu Nianci replied indignantly, “ What? Us Jins? I am a citizen of the Song Dynasty. If you don’t explain clearly to me, I’m not going to help you with this mission.”
Wanyan Kang smiled faintly, “ Aren’t you going to be the concubine of the Jins in the future?”
Mu Nianci stood up angrily and said, “ My god father is your real father, you are in fact a Han. So you still want to be your Jin Prince? I know…know you…”
Wanyan Kang answered, “ What?”
Mu Nianci answered, “ I always thought that you were a strong, smart and upright man. I thought you were pretending to be the Jin Prince for a while so as to help Great Song. But yet, you…you really want to acknowledge the enemy as your father?”
Wanyan Kang heard her tone change to a furious one, she was choking with anger and could not speak for a moment.
Mu Nianci continued, “ Great Song has lost half of our empire to the Jins and so many Hans have been tortured and slaughtered by them. Doesn’t that bother you at all? You…you…” She stopped here and could not go on. Following that, she threw the golden seal on the floor and was about to leave when Wanyan Kang called out, “ Sister, I’m wrong, come back.”
Mu Nianci stopped and turned, “ What?”
Wanyan Kang said, “ When I am freed of the burdens of the Jin ambassador, I wont go back to the Jins anymore alright? I will live a carefree and simple life with you, which is much better than having to suffer in silence like now.”
Mu Nianci sighed and was silent. Ever since she sparred with Wanyan Kang, she fell for him deeply and had viewed him as an upright and just hero. She thought that there must be some reason that Wanyan Kang did not want to acknowledge his real father; when he became the Jin ambassador, she thought of an excuse for him that he was secretly spying for the Songs and help crush the enemy for the Songs. Who would have guessed that it was all wishful thinking on her part; Wanyan Kang was nothing more than a greedy and shameful traitor. She was heartbroken and felt dejected.
Wanyan Kang asked in a low voice, “ Sister, what’s wrong?”
Mu Nianci did not reply.
Wanyan Kang asked, “ My mother told me that your god father is my real father. I did not have a chance to clarify when they both died. I have been really confused all along. My birthrights and origins cannot just simply be haphazardly defined right?”
Mu Nianci was secretly comforted and thought to herself, “ So he is not clear about his birthrights. He cannot really be blamed then.” She said out loud, “ Don’t mention anything about bringing the golden seal to Prime Minister Shi anymore. I will find Sister Huang and ask her for the dagger to save you.”
Huang Rong had actually thought of returning the dagger to Mu Nianci but when she heard what Wanyan Kang said about aiding the Jins, she was fuming and thought, “ Father hates the Jins, let him stay here for a couple more days then.”
Wanyan Kang continued, “ The pathways in this manor are bizarre, how did you find your way through?”
Mu Nianci replied, “ Luckily there were two masters secretly directing me thought I don’t know who they are and they do not want to reveal themselves.”
Wanyan Kang sighed deeply, “ Sister, I’m afraid that you’ll be discovered the next time you come here. If you want to save me, then help me find a person.”
Mu Nianci replied angrily, “ I’m not going to find any Prime Minister for you.”
Wanyan Kang replied, “ Not Prime Minister, but help me look for my teacher.”
Mu Nianci replied, “ Ah!”
Wanyan Kang continued, “ Take my belt with you and use a knife to carve ‘Wanyan Kang is in danger at Gui Yun Manor located at the west bank of Lake Tai’ on the gold buckle. Following that, go to Suzhou and travel thirty miles north to a deserted hill. Find nine human skulls and stack them together into a pyramid, with five skulls at the base, followed by three in the middle and one on top. Lastly, place the belt under the top skull.”
Mu Nianci was puzzled and asked, “ Why?”
Wanyan Kang replied, “ My teacher is blind but when she finds the belt and feels the carvings, she will come and save me. Therefore, you must carve the words deep.”
Mu Nianci asked, “ Isn’t your teacher Master of Eternal Spring, Taoist Qiu?” How can he be blind?”
Wanyan Kang answered, “ No, it’s not Taoist Qiu, it’s my other teacher. After you place the belt, you must leave immediately. My teacher has a weird temper, if she finds someone near the skulls, she might harm you. She is highly skilled and can save me. You just have to wait for me in front of the Xuan Miao monastery in Suzhou. ”
Mu Nianci said, “ You have to swear that you will not acknowledge the enemy as your father and betray your people.”
Wanyan Kang refused and replied, “ After I find out the truth about everything, I will then act accordingly to my morals. What use is it to force me to swear now? If you are not willing to save me, then so be it.”
Mu Nianci replied, “ Alright! I’ll help you seek help.” With that, she removed Wanyan Kang’s belt.
Wanyan Kang asked, “ Sister, are you leaving? Come over and let me kiss you.”
Mu Nianci replied, “ No!” With that, she stood up and headed for the door.
Wanyan Kang said, “ I’m afraid that they might kill me before my teacher reaches and then I’ll never get to see you again.”
Mu Nianci’s heart soften, she gave a long sigh and walked back into his arms, allowing him to kiss her on the cheek a few times.
She suddenly beat the chains and said, “ If you do not walk the right path in the future, I cannot do anything but blame myself for my ill fate and die in front of you.”
Wanyan Kang wanted to cuddle and sweet-talk with her a while, half hoping that she would change her mind and agree to take the golden seal to Prime Minister Shi but he felt her body shaking and her breathing was hard, signaling that she was worked up. He did not expect her to say anything like that and was in shock for a moment but Mu Nianci had already stood up and walked out of the door.
After she came out, Huang Rong again guided her and Mu Nianci ran till she saw a wall leading to the outskirts of the manor. Before she left, she called out softly, “ Since senior does not want to show himself or herself, junior here will just have to look into the sky and express my gratitude.”
With that, she kneeled on the ground and kowtowed three times. She heard a gentle giggle and a clear voice spoke out, “ Ah, I cannot accept this!”
When she raised her head, she only saw stars in the sky and the surroundings were deserted. Mu Nianci was puzzled and thought that the voice sounded like Huang Rong’s but how can she be here and how would she know the way through this confusing place? She pondered on this matter as she walked on but was not able to come up with an explanation. After walking about ten miles from the manor, she decided to rest under a large tree and wait for the boat to bring her to Suzhou the next day.
Suzhou is a busy Southeast district and although it isnt’t comparable to the capital of Hangzhou, it is still a prosperous and booming city. The Song officials in the South were also given rule over the territory of Jiangnan, and had almost forgotten about the sufferings of the people under the Jins in the North since the cities of Suzhou and Hangzhou were rich and prosperous. There was a saying ‘Heaven above, Su Hang below’ indicating the importance and grandeur of these two cities. Actually, the River Huai is the source of wealth and also a symbol of beauty for these two cities in the south. Mu Nianci admired the colorful scenes in the city before settling down in an inn. She then started to carefully carve the words Wanyan kang told her to do so on his belt. She thought how recent the belt had left its owner and prayed for Wanyan kang’s safety, hoping that the belt will return back to its owner once more. She secretly wished that Wanyan Kang would come to his senses and marry her and that she would personally wear the belt for him.
After dreaming awhile, she wore the belt beneath her robe and couldn’t help thinking, “ This belt is like his arm, wrapping around my waist.” She immediately blushed and didn’t dare think more. After eating a quick bowl of noodles, she saw the sun heading to the west and she hurriedly travel towards the north, following Wanyan Kang’s instructions to find his teacher.
The road to the hill was deserted, Mu Nianci felt uneasy when she heard weird sounds made by the birds and the sun had started to set. She left the main path and went to the back valley of the hill to search for the skulls, which Wanyan Kang had asked her to search for, but it had slowly turned to nightfall and she was still unable to find them. She mulled over the matter and decided to continue the search the next day. With that, she went nearby to see if there was any place in which she could seek shelter for the night. She ran up a mound and looked out in the distance; it was then that she spotted a manor towards the west. She was relieved and immediately rushed there.
As she approached the place, she realised that the manor was actually a run downed temple and there was a signboard above the door, which read ‘Temple Earth’. She pushed open the door gently and the door gave a creak before dropping down, fluffing up a pile of dust. It was then that Mu Nianci realized that it was an abandoned temple where no one lived in. She walked into the hall and saw cobwebs on the statutes of mother and father earth. She pressed on a table and gave a blow but found that the table was still steady and did not break. Thus, she found some hay to clean the table and went on to place the broken door back into position. She ate some dried snacks before lying on the table and slept with her bag as her pillow. She could not help but feel heartbroken and ashamed when she thought about Wanyan Kang’s personality and tears rowed down her cheeks. But when she thought about his gentleness and honey words, she felt a tint of sweetness in her heart. She thought about many things and tossed a million times before she finally able to fall asleep.
In the middle of the night, Mu Nianci heard a funny noise; she was alarmed and sat upright as the noise grew louder. She hurried to the door and peered out. It was then that she got a shock of her life as the moonlight shone onto the ground, revealing thousands of snakes gliding throughout the floor; a stench came in from the main door. After a long while, the snakes began to lessen when she suddenly heard some footsteps as three men in white appeared with long poles in their hands, subsiding the snakes. Mu Nianci was afraid that she would be discovered and hid behind the hall door, not daring to look anymore. She heard a few footsteps and peered out again. The snakes were gone and the surrounding was quiet and deserted; she thought was dreaming, as she couldn’t believe what she just saw.
She pushed open the main door gently and peered out. She walked a little towards the direction, which the snakes had gone but could not find those men in white. She was somewhat relieved and was about to return to the temple when she saw the moonlight revealing a weird pile of white stuff from afar. She went closer for a look and let out a low gasp; it was a pile of skulls neatly arranged in the form of a pyramid, with five skulls as the base, three in the middle and one on top. Mu Nianci had been searching for these skulls the whole day and who would have thought that it would suddenly appear in front of her in the middle of the night? She thought the skull formation scary but her heart beat fast as she was happy. She approached the skulls slowly and took out Wanyan Kang’s belt. With hands shivering, she stretched out to take the skull stacked on top. She touched the skull and felt five holes on it, which fitted her five fingers; it was as if the skull had formed mouths, which swallowed her fingers. Mu Nianci was astonished and screamed before turning about to run. She had run awhile when she stopped again and realised that she was just scaring herself. She giggled nervously and went back to put the belt on top of the three skulls before placing the skull in her hands back onto the top of the formation.
She thought to herself, “ His teacher is really weird, I wonder whether she looks frightening as well.” After placing the skull back into place, she secretly hoped to herself, “ I hope that teacher will get the belt and immediately go and save him. I hope that you will teach him proper so that he kick his bad habits and change his ways.”
She was thinking about the chained up but handsome sweet-talker Wanyan Kang when she felt someone gently patting her shoulder. She was shocked and did not dare turn around. Due to her nervousness, she accidentally fell onto the pile of skulls. Mu Nianci used her arms to clench her chest and turned around. She had just turned around when someone patted her shoulder gently again.
She turned around about six more times but still could not spot the person behind her, she didn’t know whether it was ghost or a demon. Mu Nianci broke out in cold sweat and did not dare move. Quivering, she asked, “ Who are you?”
The person placed his head near her neck and sniffed before laughing out, “ What a nice scent! Guess who am I.”
Mu Niaci hurriedly turned around and saw a scholarly dressed man, a fan in his hand with a charming expression: It was one of the culprits who had forced her godfather to death back in Beijing, Ouyang Ke. She was both surprised and angry and since she knew that she was not his match, she turned to run. Ouyang Ke was however, already in front of her, laughing out aloud with arms stretched out, ready to hug her if she took a few more steps forward. Mu Nianci hurriedly retreated a few steps and ran to her right, but had only ran a few steps when Ouyang Ke was in front of her again. She ran in all directions but still could not escape him.
Ouyang Ke saw the pale colour on her beautiful face and was delighted. He knew that he could capture her in one move but he wanted to play the cat and mouse game with her, trapping her but letting her off again. Mu Nianci knew that she was in danger and pulled out a green dagger, aiming for his head.
Ouyang Ke laughed and said, “ Aiyah, don’t be rough.”
He twisted his body, grabbed her arms with his left hand while holding her waist with his right arm. Mu Nianci struggled but felt numb at her throat and her dagger was already snatched away by Ouyang Ke. She managed to free herself after awhile, only to be captured into his arms again. This was like the time Ouyang Ke held Huang Rong at Wanyan Kang’s residence; his opponent’s pulse froze the hand movement and could not move at all.
Ouyang Ke laughed lightly and said, “ Accept me as your teacher and I’ll immediately release you and teach you this stance. But I’m afraid that by that time, you won’t want me to let go of you already.”
Mu Nianci was trapped by his arms and Ouyang Ke used his right hand to gently brush against her cheeks. She knew that he was up to no good and was so frightened that she passed out unknowingly. After awhile, Mu Nianci woke up but she felt numb and weak all over. Someone was hugging her tightly and in the confusion, she thought it was Wanyan Kang and was delighted but after she opened her eyes, she realized that the person hugging her was Ouyang Ke. She was bashful and nervous and struggled to stand up only to realize that her could not move. She opened her mouth to call out but realized that Ouyang Ke had staffed a handkerchief in her mouth. She saw him sitting on the ground but he wore an anxious expression. On both sides of Ouyang Ke were eight women in white who each had a weapon in their hands, all of them staring suspiciously but silently at the pile of skulls.
Mu Nianci was curious and tried thinking what they were up to. When she turned around, she was scared out of her wits as she saw thousands of green snakes behind Ouyang Ke. The snakes were motionless but were hissing with their tongues out; the moonlight shone on the thousands of red tongues, which looked like a sea of red tongues; it was a frightening sight. Amongst the snakes stood three men in white with long poles in their hands; it was the exact same men Mu Nianci had seen earlier. She didn’t dare look anymore and turned back. It was then that she saw the shiny gold belt amongst the nine skulls and thought anxiously, “ Ah, they must be waiting for his teacher. From their expressions, they must have prepared to deal with his teacher. But his teacher is traveling alone, then how can he defeat so many people? And there are so many poisonous snakes around as well.”
She was extremely anxious and hoped that Wanyan Kang’s teacher won’t come. But she also hoped that his teacher would know what to expect and come prepared, defeating all these evil people and save her. After waiting for more than half an hour, the moon rose even higher and she saw Ouyang Ke constantly looking up at the moon. She thought to herself, “ Will his teacher only appear when the moon shifts to the middle of the sky?”
She saw the moon rise above the top of a tree. The surroundings were empty, the wild worms were making noises and there were sounds of birdcalls in the distance. Ouyang Ke glanced at the moon once more before placing Mu Nianci into the arms of a woman beside him. He took out his fan with his right hand and stared on the corner of the hill. Mu Nianci knew that the person they were waiting for was coming soon. The silence was soon broken by a strong and piercing flute tune, which grew nearer after awhile. A figure flashed by and a woman with long hair suddenly appeared from the cliff. As she passed by the cliff, she slowed down and it seemed like she had noticed that there were people nearby. It was iron corpse, Mei Chaofeng.
After Mei Chaofeng had gotten the a few verses of the secret formulas for the cultivation of her internal energy, she studied them carefully and it was not more than a month before her legs recovered and she could work normally. Furthermore, her internal energy had improved tremendously. Ever since she found out that the Six Freaks of Jiangnan had returned from Mongolia, she had started to plot for revenge, following the little prince as he set out for his mission. She practiced her skills every night. Mei Chaofeng found riding the boats with many people inconvenient and thus decided to travel by herself every night, and had arranged to meet Wanyan Kang in Suzhou. She did not know that Wanyan Kang was in the hands of the Heroes of Lake Tai nor was she aware that Ouyang Ke who wanted to take revenge on her for killing his men and humiliating him earlier, as well as to lay hands on her “Nine Yin Manual” had earlier spied on and found out her whereabouts, and had thus got together thousands of snakes and is now secretly waiting for her at the spot she practices her skills every night. She had just passed the cliff when she heard the breathing of several people and stopped in her tracks immediately to listen. She heard tons of weird noises behind the group of people.
Ouyang Ke saw her alarmed expression and cursed secretly, “ What a brilliant blind Bi*ch!” Fanning himself gently, he stood up and summoned his internal energy. He was about to strike out at Mei Chaofeng when he saw another person coming from the cliff. He hurriedly took back his strike and studied that person. He saw that the man was slim and tall; he was wearing a green robe and part of his hair was bound with a squared cloth. He looked like any cultured person but Ouyang Ke was unable to see his face clearly.
The amazing thing however, was that Ouyang Ke was unable to hear any footsteps or breathing coming from that man. Even a highly skilled person like Mei Chaofeng would inevitably make some light noises when she walked but this person was walking casually, as if his body were floating, forming a somewhat ghostly image. It seemed as if nothing could cause him to make any noise while moving. That person glanced at Ouyang Ke before standing behind Mei Chaofeng. Ouyang Ke studied his face in detail and gasped unexpectedly. That person had a very weird face, besides a pair of eyes glancing around, the rest of his face was like a dead person’s. The skin of his face was stiff, it was not ugly but neither was it charming. The man looked extremely cold and emotionless and gave one the chills. Ouyang Ke gained back his senses and saw that Mei Chaofeng was approaching him. He knew that her strikes were going to be vicious and deadly and thought that he had to gain the upper hand first. He made a signal with his left hand and the three men controlling the snakes started blowing their flutes, causing the snakes to glide forward. The eight women in white sat still as they had applied some substance on them, which caused the snakes to ignore and slide pass them.
Mei Chaofeng heard the sounds of snakes approaching and knew there were countless numbers of them. She was secretly alarmed and kicked back some distance. The snake men used their poles to cause the thousands of snakes to disperse into all directions. Mu Nianci saw that Mei Chaofeng’s expression had paled as she was frightened and could not help but worry for her. She thought, “ Is this weird woman his teacher?”
She saw Mei Chaofeng suddenly turn around and retrieve a long silver whip from her waist to protect herself. She was however surrounded by the poisonous snakes from all directions and several snakes, which were excited by the flute tune started to attack her, only to be stroked by her whip.
Ouyang Ke yelled out, “ Hey demoness Mei, I don’t want your life, you just have to hand me the “Nine Yin Manual” and I’ll let you off.”
That day when he was at Prince Zhao’s residence, he heard that the “Nine Yin Manual” was in Mei Chaofeng’s hands and being greedy as he was, he was very much tempted to get it at any cost. It would definitely make his uncle, who has been trying all means to get the manual, very happy. Mei chaofeng ignored Ouyang Ke and used her whip to strike out even more furiously.
Ouyang Ke called out, “ Since you’re so stubborn, I’ll see how long more you can dance. I’ll wait till tomorrow and lets see whether you will hand the manual over to me or not.”
Mei Chaofeng was secretly anxious and tried thinking of a plan to escape. She listened carefully and realized that there were snakes surrounding her everywhere. She didn’t dare move much and she was afraid that the poisonous snakes would bite her if she stepped on them.
Ouyang Ke sat down and after awhile, called out arrogantly, “ Big sister Mei, you stole the manual and have been familiarizing yourself with the contents for the past twenty years. What use is it to hug it to your deathbed? Why not you lend it to me for a look, let’s be friends, isn’t it better that way?”
Mei Chaofeng replied, “ Take away the snakes first.”
Ouyang Ke laughed, “ Hand me the manual first.”
The contents of the “Nine Yin Manual” was tattooed on her late husband’s skin and Mei Chaofeng valued it more than her life and of course was unwilling to hand it over. She decided that it she was bitten by the snakes, she would immediately tear the manual to pieces.
Mu Nianci wanted to shout and tell her to jump onto the tree so that the snakes would not be able to bite her but she could not do so as a cloth bound her mouth. Mei Chaofeng was not aware of the few tall trees near her. She realized that if she continued fighting, her internal energy would deplete and thus pulled out something from her pockets and shouted, “ Alright, I give in, take it.”
Ouyang Ke called out, “ Throw it over her.”
Mei Chaofeng called out, “ Catch!” And flung something from her right hand.
Mu Nianci heard a few faint cries and saw two women in white collapse. Ouyang Ke had fallen onto the ground but managed to avoid her deadly secret weapons. He broke out in cold sweat and was shocked and angry at the same time. He retreated back a few steps and yelled, “ Alright Bi*ch, I’ll let you suffer horribly!”
Mei Chaofeng had shot out three “Shapeless Needles” which traveled as fast as lightening. She was secretly impressed with Ouyang Ke’s ability to escape her attacks but was all the more anxious. Ouyang Ke studied her arms and plotted to set the snakes on her once she relaxed a little. At this time, Mei Chaofeng had already killed hundreds of snakes, but there were thousands more surrounding her. How would she be able to kill all of them? Ouyang Ke saw that her whip skills were excellent and knew that she had secret weapons and thus did not dare to go near her.
After half an hour, the moon was moving towards the west and Mei Chaofeng was beginning to feel more and more anxious such that her breathing became harder and her whipping dance was not as smooth as earlier. She thus struck out at a shorter distance so as to preserve her energy. Ouyang Ke was delighted and commanded the snakes to move nearer and nearer her. But he was also afraid that if she was still unwilling to surrender and destroyed the book, it would ruin his plans. This point in time now was thus crucial to him. Mei Chaofeng heard the snakes moving closer and closer towards her and could not help but feel the manual in her pocket. She looked very pale and curse silently, “ I haven’t seek my revenge yet but who would have thought that I would die under the hands of this bloody rascal.”
All of a sudden, there came a noise which sounded like the tune from a qin, but it also sounded like the sounds made by jade. Following that, there was the sound of a clear and smooth flute tune. Everyone was taken by surprise. Ouyang Ke looked up and saw the weird man in green sitting on top of a tall tree, blowing his flute. Ouyang Ke was secretly puzzled. He knew that he had very sharp eyesight and yet, even under such a bright moonlight, he did not notice that that man had gone up the tree. The wind was blowing and the trees were swaying but that man was still able to sit steadily and motionless on top. Ouyang Ke was taught by his uncle since he was young and he knew that even if he trained for another twenty years, he will still be unable to achieve the standard the man has now, is that man a ghost then?
At this time, the tune from the flute flowed continuously and Ouyang Ke lost control of his emotions, smiling unnaturally. He felt his blood pounding and messing up inside him and had to dance crazily in order to feel better. He just stretched out his arm to dance and was immediately shocked. He summoned all his concentration and saw that the snakes were all rushing to the bottom of a tree, sliding about according to the flute tune. The three men and six women in white collapsed under the tree as well dancing around crazily. They tore their clothes and scratched their faces furiously leaving bloody scars on them and laughed stupidly at nothing. It seemed like they had all gone mad and were thus unaware of any pain.
Ouyang Ke was extremely shocked and knew that he had encountered a strong opponent tonight. He took out six poisoned projectiles and flung it towards the man’s head, chest and limbs. The projectiles were about to strike the man when he gently waved the end of his flute and blocked the projectiles. When he used his flute to block the projectiles, his lips continued to blow and did not leave the flute hole for a single moment. The tune coming out from the flute was never interrupted for a single second. Ouyang Ke could not stand it anymore and opened his fan, wanting to dance.
Luckily Ouyang Ke had a somewhat good grasp of his internal energy, as he knew that if he started dancing with his arms, unless his opponent stopped blowing the flute, he would not stop dancing till he dies of exhaustion. Ouyang Ke was all along a clear-minded and sharp man and forced himself to take back his arm with the fan in it. He suddenly thought of a plan, “ Tear some cloth off my robe and stuff the cloth in my ears so as to block the sound. But the flute sound was marvelous; although Ouyang Ke had tore off some cloth the flute tune made him lose control of his actions and he struggled but could not put the cloth into his ears. He was alarmed and frightened and broke out in more cold sweat. He saw Mei Chaofeng sitting on the floor with her head lowered, circulating her internal energy. He guessed that she must have been summoning her internal energy to combat the flute sounds.
At this moment, three of Ouyang Ke’s worse skilled apprentices had fallen onto the ground, ripping and tearing their clothes but twisting and turning uncontrollably on the ground. Mu Nianci had her acupoints sealed and could not move. Thus, even though her emotions and concentration was deeply disturbed and provoked by the flute tune, she did not kick out or dance madly because she could not move and laid silently on the ground.
Ouyang Ke’s cheeks had turned bright red, his head was burning and his throat was dry and uncomfortable. He knew that if he did not stop this now and escape, he would die and thus summoned up all his determination and bit on his tongue. The pain diverted his attention from the flute tune and the sound had less impact on him for a while. He grabbed this opportunity to escape and ran for his life. It was not until he was several miles away from the place when he could not hear the flute sound anymore and was thus relieved. Ouyang Ke was thoroughly exhausted and felt extremely weak, as if he had fallen very sick,
He thought to himself, “ Who is that weird man? Who is that weird man?”
Meanwhile, Huang Rong and Guo Jing returned to their rooms to sleep after they sent Mu Nianci off. They were pleased with their relaxing trip on the lake so far. Guo Jing knew that once Mu Nianci was off, Mei Chaofeng would soon appear. She was vicious and deadly in her attacks. He worried that there will be no one to match her and many people would thus get hurt. Guo Jing decided to consult Huang Rong and asked her, “ I think we better tell Master Lu about Mei Chaofeng and plead with him to let Wanyang Kang off so as to save the people in the manor from any hurt.”
Huang Rong waved her hand and replied, “ That’s not a good idea. Wanyang Kang is an evil brat; let him suffer a few more days. If he is let off so easily, then he will not learn his lesson.”
Actually Huang Rong couldn’t care less about whether Wanyan Kang repents or not. She thought that since he was the disciple of the “two bad eggs” Qiu Chuji and Mei Chaofeng, then he might as well stay a baddie. She thought it fun to make life difficult for Wanyan Kang. But Huang Rong was afraid that if Wanyan Kang does not repent, Mu Nianci would seriously not marry him and if Mu Nianci does not have a husband, the busybodies would once again force Guo Jing to marry her which would be disastrous, therefore, she decided that it would be better for Wanyan kang to repent.
Guo Jing asked, “ What shall we do if Mei Chaofeng arrives?”
Huang Rong smiled, “ Let’s try out what Qigong has taught us on her then!”
Guo Jing knew that it was pointless to argue with Huang Rong and thus returned her smile. But he thought secretly that since Master Lu had taken such good care of them, he would risk his life to protect everyone in the manor no matter what.
Two days later, both of them told Master Lu that they would not leave yet. Master Lu was even nicer to them as he had hoped that they would stay longer. On the third morning, Master Lu was chatting with Huang Rong and Guo Jing in his study when Lu Guanying rushed in with a paled expression. Behind him was one of the housekeepers who carried a wooden tray. There was something on the tray but it was wrapped up with a green cloth.
Lu Guanying said, “ Father, someone sent this just now.” With that, he unwrapped the green cloth to reveal a white skull with five finger holes on top of it; it was indeed Mei Chaofeng’s work.
Guo Jing and Huand Rong were not surprised, as they knew that Mei Chaofeng would appear sooner or later. Master Lu was however in shock and he paled. Quivering, he asked, “ Who…who brought this here?” He straightened up his body as he asked.
Lu Guanying knew that skull appeared weirdly but he was a daring and skilled fighter and furthermore, he was the leader of the the pirates of the lake. He thus, did not really take this matter too seriously. But when he saw how worked up his father was, he was even more frightened and surprised.
He answered hurriedly, “ Someone put this in a box and sent it here. The housekeeper thought it was a normal gift and thus tipped the person without asking the origins of the gift. When he brought it to the accounts room and opened the box, he found this and was about to ask the person who sent the gift but that person was already gone. Father, what do you think is the going on here?”
Master Lu did not answer but used his fingers and dug into the holes in the skull, which fitted his fingers perfectly.
Lu Guanying asked in shock, “ The holes in the skull are made by fingers? Are the fingers that powerful?”
Master Lu nodded and sighed deeply before saying, “ Ask the servants to pack up and send your mother to the north manor in the city to stay for the time being. Order the section leaders to gather and stay in their sections for three days. No matter what happens to Gui Yun Manor, tell them not to interfere.”
Lu Guanying was astonished and asked, “ Why, father?”
Master Lu smiled weakly and turned towards Guo Jing and Huang Rong saying, “ It is a blessing to be able to make friends with both of you. I had hope that both of you could stay longer but I made two enemies when I was younger and they are coming to seek revenge. It’s not that I want to chase you all away but Gu Yun Manor is…is in danger. If I am fortunate enough to survive, we will meet again. But…but there is only a slight chance.”
He laughed bitterly and shook his head before turning to the study keeper and said, “ Retrieve forty gold taels for me.” The keeper did so; Lu Guanying did not dare ask any more questions and left the study to carry out his father’s instructions.
After a while, the keeper came back with the money and Master Lu offered it to Guo Jing saying, “ The lady is beautiful and talented and is perfect match with you. This little money is a gift for your upcoming marriage ceremony, please accept this humble gift.”
Huang Rong blushed and thought, “ This person is very sharp, so he knew all along that I’m a girl. But how did he know that I am not married to Brother Jing?”
Guo Jing did not know the art of politeness and just thanked Master Lu before accepting the gift. Master Lu then retrieved a glass bottle from the study table and poured out more than ten red pills before wrapping them up in some paper. He continued, “ I am not talented but my teacher taught me some medical formulas before and I used them to make these pills which can prolong lives if eaten. Take these as a form of my respect.”
When Master Lu poured out the pills, there was a sweet scent in the air and when Huang Rong smelled it, she immediately knew that those were the “Nine Flower Dew Pills”. She had helped her father make those pills before and had to collect the dewdrops from nine different types of flowers. To make the pills, one had to know how to brew the substance on the correct days and season of the year. It was a very painstaking process and the pills also consisted of many different types of scarce and precious herbs.
Huang Rong knew that Master Lu was too generous to give them more than ten pills and spoke out, “ It is not easy to create the nine flower dew pills. We are more than grateful to accept two pills each.”
Master Lu was slightly surprised and asked, “ How did Miss know the name of the pills?”
Huang Rong answered, “ I know because I was weak when I was young and an honorable master gave me three pills which saw positive effects when I took it.”
Master Lu gave a smile and said, “ Both of you don’t have to resist. It would be a waste to keep it anyway.”
Huang Rong knew that he was prepared to die and thus did not argue and kept the pills.
Master Lu continued in a serious tone, “ I have already prepared a boat, please cross the river quickly and even if you notice anything weird, do not stop and bother. Remember this!”
Guo Jing wanted to stay back and help but he caught Huang Rong’s eye signal and had no choice but to agree with Master Lu.
Huang Rong said, “ Forgive little sister here for her ignorance, but I have something to ask.”
Master Lu answered, “ Please speak, Miss.”
Huang Rong replied, “ Since Master Lu knows that there were be a formidable enemy coming to seek revenge, why not hide from them? As the saying goes, a hero avoids obvious dangers.”
Master Lu let out a huge sigh and answered, “ This two people have made me suffered so much! They are the ones who caused me to be crippled. For the past twenty years, I have not sought revenge because I am unable to walk. Since they are coming now, no matter what, I will risk my life to fight them. Anyway, they offended my teacher. Even if I am unable to seek revenge for myself, I will definitely have to seek revenge for my teacher at all costs. I don’t hope to defeat them. I am more than happy as long as I can die together with them and thus, repay my teacher’s kindness.”
Huang Rong thought, “ How come he keeps saying there are two people? Ah, I know, he still thinks that copper corpse Chen Xuanfeng is alive. I wonder what animosity he has towards them? It is unfortunate for him then and I won’t probe anymore but I am still curious over something.”
Huang Rong asked out loud, “ Master Lu, its not surprising that you are able to see through my male disguise but how did you know that we are not married since we’re staying in the same room?”
Master Lu was dumbfounded by her question and thought to himself, “ It’s obvious that you are still a virgin but how do I explain it to her? This little Miss is intelligent and talented in all areas but how come she’s so blur when it comes to matters like these?”
He was thinking of a way to answer her when Lu Guanying entered the study and said in a low voice, “ I have given the command but leaders Zhang, Gu, Wang and Tan refuse to leave. They say that they will remain in Gu Yun Manor even if it means risking their lives.”
Master Lu sighed and said, “ It is not often that you find such loyal and courageous people! Hurry and send these two guests off.”
Huang Rong and Guo Jing bid Master Lu farewell before following Lu Guanying out. The housekeeper had already prepared Guo Jing’s little red horse and their camels in a boat. Guo Jing whispered to Huang Rong, “ Are we going to get on the boat?”
Huang Rong whispered back, “ We’ll go and come back.”
Lu Guanying wasn’t bothered by their whispering as he was in a state of confusion and wanted to hurriedly send off the guests so as to help come out with the preparations against his father’s enemy. Guo Jing and Huang Rong were about to board the boat when Huang Rong spied someone on the bank, walking fast towards them. The person looked weird as he supported a huge jar on his head as he walked towards them without a pause.
When he came nearer, Guo Jing, Huang Rong and Lu Guanying saw that the man’s hair was white; he wore a short yellow robe and carried a huge feather fan in his right hand, fanning himself gently as he quickened his pace. The jar looked as if it was made from iron and seemed like it weighed a hundred pounds.
The man walked pass Lu Guanying, glanced nonchalantly at them and continued walking. He had not taken a few steps when his body hunched a little and some water spilled out from the jar. The three then realized that the jar was filled with water, which would add on to the weight of the jar, which would now weigh about a hundred pounds more. The old man must be highly skilled to be able to balance such a heavy weight on his head.
Lu Guanying thought nervously, “ Is this man father’s enemy?”
He ignored the danger and went up to the man, while Guo Jing and Huang Rong stole a glance at each other before following him. Guo Jing heard his six teachers mention about their fight with Qiu Chuji at Jia Xing Zui Xian inn before and knew that Qiu Chuiji was skilled enough to lift up a huge jar. But the size of the jar Qiu Chuji lifted as descriped by his teachers did not seem as big as this jar the man was lifting now. Guo Jing suspected that this old man’s skills were above that of Master of Eternal Spring, Qiu Chuiji. The old man walked on before reaching the bank of a small river with graves all over the place.
Lu Guanying thought to himself, “ There is no bridge here, lets see whether he crosses the river to the north or go towards the west.”
Lu Guanying was stunned by what he saw next: The old man walked without a pause over the river; his body was steady and only his lower legs were submerged in the water. When he reached the opposite side of the riverbank, he placed the huge jar among the grasses, next to a hill before turning and flew to the river, walking on the water back to the other side again.
Huang Rong and Guo Jing had heard their seniors talk about all sorts of skills from various sects and schools but they never heard of such skills which the old man just displayed: Carrying a huge jar on his head and walking on water. They thought that such skills only existed in myths and legends, who would have thought that such skills actually exist on earth? If they did not see for themselves, they would never have believed such stuff and were secretly in awe of that old master.
The old man’s hair was all white and laughed heartily before turning to Lu Guanying, “ You must be the leader of the pirates, Junior Master Lu right?”
Lu Guanying bowed and answered, “ I dare not accept such praise, I wonder what is elder’s name?”
The old man pointed towards Guo Jing and Huang Rong and said, “ Come here as well you two boys.”
Lu Guanying turned around and got a fright when he saw Guo Jing and Huang Rong behind him. It was then that he realized that the two had been following him but their lightness skill were so good that they made no noise and he was not even aware of them following him.
Guo Jing and Huang Rong bowed and said, “ Greetings to elder.”
The old man laughed, “ No need for such greetings.”
He turned towards Lu Guanying and said, “ Here is not a place to talk, let’s find somewhere to sit.”
Lu Guanying was suspicious and thought silently, “ Is he father’s enemy?”
He decided to be direct and asked, “ Does elder know my father?”
The old man replied, “ Master Lu? I have never met him before.”
Lu Guanying thought that the man didn’t seem like he was lying and asked some more, “ My father received a weird gift earlier in the day, does elder know of this matter?”
The old man asked, “ What weird gift?”
Lu Guanying replied, “ It’s a dead person’s skull, on the top of the skull are five finger holes.”
The old man said, “ That’s funny, could it be someone playing with your father?”
Lu Guanying thought silently, “ This man’s skills are exceptional. Even if he wants to fight father, he would do so openly and does not need to lie about it. It seems like he really doesn’t know anything. Why not invite him to the manor to help us instead? If he agrees to help us, it will be alright no matter how great father’s enemy is.”
The more he thought about it, the more delighted he was and answered, “ If elder does not mind, why not come to my residence for some tea?”
The old man hummed slightly and replied, “ That will be good.”
Lu Guanying was overjoyed and waved for the old man to go first.
The old man pointed towards Guo Jing and said, “ These two young men are guests of the manor right?”
Lu Guanying answered, “ They are father’s friends.”
The old man did not probe further and walked in front with Guo Jing and Huang Rong following behind. When they reached the manor, Lu Guanying ushered the old man to a sit in the main hall and sped off to find his father.
Not long after, two servants carried in a bamboo couch with Master Lu on it. Master Lu greeted the old man politely and said, “ I hope my ignorant son has not offended elder in any way.”
The old man shifted his body slightly but did not greet him back. He replied blandly, “ Mater Lu may dispense with the formalities.”
Master Lu asked, “ I wonder what is elder’s name?”
The old man replied, “ My surname is Qiu and my name is Qianren.”
Master Lu was shocked and asked, “ Could it be that elder is the renowned iron palm who floats on water, elder Qiu?”
Qiu Qianren smiled slightly and answered, “ To think that you can remember my nickname, you really have a good memory. I have not been active in Jiang Hu for the past twenty over years and thought that people have long forgotten me! ”
The name “Iron Palm who floats on water” was indeed a formidable name twenty years ago. Master Lu knew that the old man was the chief of the Iron Palm Sect in Hu Nan. He was actually famous and active in Jiang Hu but disappeared all of a sudden for a very long time so it was not surprising that many juniors born later would not know him.
Master Lu was surprised and curious by his visit and asked, “ I wonder what has caused Senior Qiu to come here? If you need junior’s help, I would be more than happy to offer it.”
Qiu Qianren stroked his beard and laughed, “ It’s nothing big actually, just that that I haven been too softhearted and fate has it that it will not end…erm, I would like to seek a secluded place to practice my skills, we talk again in the night.”
Master Lu saw that he wore no evil expression but was still unsettled and asked, “ I wonder did Senior happen to meet the Twin Killers of the Dark Winds?”
Qiu Qianren replied, “ The Twin Killers of the Dark Winds? This evil pair are not dead yet?”
Master Lu was greatly comforted by what he heard and spoke out, “ Ying’er, please bring Senior Qiu to my study to rest.” Qiu Qianren gave everyone a nod and left with Lu Guanying.
Although Master Lu had never seen Qiu Qianren’s skills before, he had heard of his formidable name. He knew that when the five greats, Eastern Heretic, Western Poison, Southern Emperor, Northern Beggar and Central Divinity met for the Hua Shan tournament, they had invited him but he had something to attend to and thus turned down the invitation. But his skills must have been exceptional to get the invitation, even if he was not up to the standard of the greats, he should not be far from their standard. Even if the Twin Killers of the Dark Winds came, they would not be able to mess around with him.
He turned to Guo Jing and Huang Rong, “ Both of you haven’t left? That’s great. The elderly Qiu’s skills are formidable, how lucky that he should appear this moment. I do not have to fear my opponents anymore! Later you can rest in your rooms but please do not leave them and you will be fine.”
Huang Rong gave a little laugh, “ Can I watch the fun?”
Master Lu have a deep sigh and replied, “ I’m afraid that my enemy will bring lots of people and I’m afraid that I wont be able to protect myself and allow you two to be hurt. Alright then, but you two must stick with me later. With Senior Qiu around, it would be useless no matter how many people they bring!”
Huang Rong clapped her hands in delight and laughed, “ I love seeing people fight. It was so interesting that day when you defeated that Little Jin Prince.”
Master Lu replied, “ This time, it would be the Little Prince’s teacher who is much more skilful and hence I’m worried.”
Huang Rong answered, “ Ah! How do you know?”
Master Lu replied, “ Miss Huang, you wont understand these fighting matters. That claw technique which the Little Jin Prince used to attack my Ying’er’s thigh is the same as the skill used to create those finger holes on the top of the skull.”
Huang Rong answered, “ Oh, I understand now. Wang Xianzhi’s calligraphy was taught by Wang Yizhi and Wang Yizhi was taught by Lady Wei whose teacher was Zhong You. Thus, any professional would be able to guess the family or sect the calligrapher belongs to merely by looking at him works.”
Master Lu laughed, “ Miss is highly intelligent. I just have to give you a hint and you are able to understand everything. My two opponents are evil and vicious. Compared to Zhong Wang, they have smeared the reputation of their teacher and ancestors.”
Huang Rong pulled Guo Jing’s hand and said, “ Let’s see what great skill white bearded Grandpa is practicing.”
Master Lu was alarmed and said, “ Ah, don’t, don’t disturb him.”
Huang Rong laughed, “ It’s alright.” And stood up to leave.
Master Lu was sitting on the couch and could not move; he thought nervously, “ This lady is too mischievous, how can she spy on him?”
He hurriedly ordered the servants to lift up the bamboo couch and hurry to the study to stop them. When he reached, he saw both of them bending down and looking into the room through a hole made in the paper covering the window frame. When Huang Rong heard the servants’ footsteps, she hurriedly turned and signaled to them not to make a single sound, at the same time, she waved to Master Lu, asking him to come over and see.
Master Lu was afraid that if he did not go over, the little miss would throw a temper and alert Qiu Qianren. He immediately ordered the servants to walk gently and help him over to the window. When he looked through the hole Huang Rong made, he was baffled as he saw Qiu Qianren sitting cross-legged with eyes shut but smoke was continuously coming out from his mouth.
Master Lu’s teacher was highly skilled and knowledgeable. When he trained under his teacher during his younger days, he often listen to his teacher talk about the various skills of different sects and schools but he never heard of a skill in which one could breathe out smoke. He did not dare look anymore and pulled Guo Jing’s sleeve, signaling him not to look anymore. Guo Jing respected him and anyway, he never thought it proper to spy on others. Guo Jing immediately stood up and took Huang Rong by the hand, following Master Lu back to the hall.
Huang Rong giggled, “ This old fellow’s skills are fun. There’s a fire burning inside his stomach!”
Master Lu answered, “ You do not understand. This is an amazing type of internal energy.”
Huang Rong asked, “ Can he breathe out fire to burn someone?” Huang Rong was not joking was she said this, she was indeed curious over Qiu Qianren’s mysterious skills.
Master Lu replied, “ No one can breathe out fire but to be able to attain such profound internal skills would mean that he can probably injure someone by the mere use of flowers and leaves.”
Huang Rong laughed, “ Ah, tear a flower to hurt someone!”
Master Lu smiled slightly and answered, “ Miss is very smart.”
There was a poem entitled “Barbaric Buddhist” which was written by an anonymous poet during the Tang dynasty, which read:
“ When the peonies reveal real pearls, a beauty walks by the hall.
With a gentle laugh, she asks the gentleman, “ Which is prettier, the flower or the lady?” The gentleman mulls over it but answers, “ The flower is beautiful. “
The lady throws a mild tantrum and flings the smashed flower at him.”
(The underlying meaning is actually used to refer to a an insolent woman, who is not respected in the past as the ideal woman is supposed to be gentle and docile.)
The poem thus spread far and wide. Once, there was a court case in which an evil wife broke the legs of her husband. When the Tang Emperor, Xuan Zhong learnt about it, he laughed and said to his Prime Minister “ Isn’t this tearing a flower to hurt someone?”
Master Lu was relieved after he saw how powerful Qiu Qianren was. He ordered Lu Guanying to send people to inspect the lake and politely invite any suspicious-looking person back to the manor. He also ordered the servants to open the main entrance to the manor so as to welcome any guests. Evening came and the servants lit up many candles in the main hall of Gui Yun Manor. The bright lights surrounded the whole hall, as if waiting for a banquet to begin. Lu Guanying personally went to invite Qiu Qianren to the hall in which he was offered the middle host seat. Guo Jing and Huang Rong sat beside him while Master Lu and his son sat on seats beneath their tables. Master Lu made his toasts but did not dare ask Qiu Qianren the purpose of his visit and thus, only engaged in casual talk with his guests.
After the drinks, Qiu Qianren spoke out, “ Brother Lu, Gui Yun Manor is leader among all heroes of the lake, and thus your skills must be good. I wonder whether you are wiling to display a stance or two for me?”
Master Lu answered hurriedly, “ Junior’s skills are nothing compare to senior’s, I’m afraid I’ll make an embarrassment of myself. Furthermore, I have been crippled for a long time now and have given up on the skills my teacher taught me long ago.”
Qiu Qianren replied, “ Who is your teacher? I may know him.”
Master Lu gave a long sigh and his face paled. After a long while, he answered, “ Junior is dumb and rough and is unable to serve my teacher. Due to the doings of others, my teacher has disowned me. This is such a shameful story and I do not want my teacher’s name to be smeared due to this. I hope Senior understands.”
Lu Guanying thought silently, “ So father was disowned by his teacher and thus never displayed his skills. Even I don’t know what a skilled fighter he is. If it weren’t for that Jin dog who hurt me, father would never have displayed his skills. He must experienced a very devastating and hateful event in his life.” Lu Guanying was deeply saddened and disturbed by this thought.
Qiu Qianren answered, “ Brother here is at the peak of his life and is the leader of a group of heroes. Why not take this opportunity to make your name known? It will help extinguish the wrongdoings made to you and make the seniors in your school regret.”
Master Lu replied, “ Junior is crippled and is hopeless. Senior’s advice is insightful but I cannot accept it.”
Qiu Qianren answered, “ Brother is too courteous. There is a pathway but I’m not sure whether brother will agree to take it.”
Master Lu answered, “ Then I shall bother Senior here to help me out.”
Qiu Qianren laughed softly but continued eating and did not answer. Master Lu knew that this man had hidden himself for twenty years and thought, “ There must be some reason why he has resurfaced in Jiang Hu. Since he is a senior master, it is not proper for me to probe further and I can only wait for him to tell me.”
Qiu Qianren spoke, “ If brother does not want to display your skills, it’s fine by me. Gui Yun Manor is famous for it’s name and the leader must be from a famous school.”
Master Lu gave a small laugh, “ The matters in Gui Yun Manor has all along been handled by my son Guanying. His teacher is Reverend Ku Mo of Yun Qi monastery.”
Qiu Qianren answered, “ Ah, Ku Mo is a skilled fighter of Xian Xia sect which is affiliated to Shaolin. His skills are also commendable. How about Junior Master display some stances for me?”
Master Lu said, “ It is the child’s fortune to receive some pointers from Senior Qiu.”
Lu Guanying thought it rare to be able to meet such a highly skilled master and his advice would be insightful and precious and thus, had hoped to receive a few pointers. He immediately walked to the centre of the hall and said, “ Elder, please give some pointers.”
With that, he positioned himself and displayed his best stance, “The Luo Han subduing the tiger fists” which created some wind while he punched; he was indeed the disciple of a skilled martial artist. His skills were unique and he displayed for a while more before roaring out aloud which sounded like a tiger’s roar; the candle lights wavered and a gust of wind breezed past the four corners of the room. The servants felt a chilling sensation and were startled by his performance. Lu Guanying continued with a palm technique while shouting out aloud, looking very impressive. He did a flip and crouched on the floor, suddenly stretching his left palm out straightly, displaying a stance of the “Ru Lai Buddha Palm”. After a while more, his roar grew softer but the pace of his Luo Han Fists quickened and at his last stance, he attacked the ground and the force traveled and broke some bricks nearby. Lu Guanying flipped back up into position, and with his left arm into the air and his right leg kicking out, he steadily and motionlessly forming an image of a Luo Han Buddha.
Guo Jing and Huang Rong cheered out loud and shouted, “ Excellent Palm Technique!”
Lu Guanying took back his stances and stood in normal position again and turned to face Qiu Qianren who gave a slight smile.
Master Lu asked, “ How is this child’s set of palm techniques?”
Qiu Qianren answered, “ Passable.”
Master Lu said, “ If it’s far from perfect, I hope Senior gives some pointers.”
Qiu Qianren replied, “ Your son’s palm techniques can be used to build up his body but is useless when fighting an opponent.”
Master Lu answered, “ I would like to hear Senior’s comments so that he can improve.”
Guo Jing could not understand as well and thought silently, “Junior Master’s skills are not formidable, but how can Elder say that it’s useless?”
Qiu Qianren stood up and walked to the middle of the hall and returned back to his seat with a two pieces of bricks, which Lu Guanying had earlier broken. He did something with his hand and a cracking sound was heard as the brick broke into little pieces. He kneaded the pieces and it turned to powder, which floated off the table. Everyone was astonished by what they saw.
Qiu Qianren swept the dust and powder on the table into his clothes and walked to the middle of the hall before shaking off the powder onto the ground. He laughed softly as he went back to his seat and said, “ It is commendable for Junior Master to be able to break the bricks with a palm but think about this: The opponent is not a brick and will not stand there deadly, waiting for you to attack him or her. Furthermore, if the opponent’s internal energy is stronger than yours and your palm strikes him or her and she reflects the strike, you will be heavily injured yourself.”
Lu Guanying nodded silently.
Qiu Qianren sighed and continued, “ There are many martial artist these days but only a few can be considered skilled fighters.”
Huang Rong asked, “ Which few?”
Qiu Qianren replied, “ Wulin’s well-known five greats. Eastern Heretic, Western Poison, Southern Emperor, Northern Beggar and Central Divinity. However, Central Divinity Wang Chongyang has the most profound skills. As for the other four, they are skilled in their own ways. But a person has strengths as well as weakness. If one knows their weakness, it is not difficult to defeat them.”
With those words, Qiu Qianren shocked Master Lu, Huang Rong and Guo Jing. Lu Guanying did not know of the five greats and did not know why the rest were surprised. Huang Rong was actually in awe of Qiu Qianren when she saw his various display of skills but when she heard his disrespect towards her father, she was furious and gave a polite laugh before asking, “ Then if Elder can defeat the five greats, wouldn’t it be great for you?”
Qiu Qianren answered, “ Wang Chongyang has already passed away. I was caught up with some affairs at home during the Hua Shan tournament, and hence, could not attend it, allowing that old Taoist to steal the number one title. That time, five of them were competing for the “Nine Yin Manual”, saying that the most skilful fighter and winner would get the manual. They dueled for seven days and seven nights and Eastern Heretic, Western Poison, Northern Beggar and Southern Emperor lost. After that, when Wang Chongyang passed away, there was chaos again. I heard that that old Taoist passed the manual to his martial brother, Zhou Botong. Eastern Heretic, Huang Yaoshi rushed there and Zhou Botong was not his match, therefore allowing the former to steal half of the manual away. No one knows what happened later.
Huang Rong and Guo Jing thought silently, “ So there were things which happened in between. Now, half of the manual has been stolen by The Twin Killers of the Dark Winds.
Huang Rong said, “ Since Elder is the highest skilled, then the manual should belong to you!”
Qiu Qianren replied, “ I cannot be bothered to fight for it. The four greats are mediocre and have been practicing all these years so as to compete for the number one title. It would be fun to see the second Hua Shan Tournament though.”
Huang Rong asked, “ There is a second Hua Shan Tournament?”
Qiu Qianren replied, “ Once in every twenty-five years. If the old ones die, the young ones will take over. The next Hua Shan Tournament will take place in a year’s time. But all these years have passed without any outstanding talent. I think it will be us old fellows once again. Ah, there are no outstanding descendants, the skills of the future generations will not be as great as the earlier ones.” He shook his head as his spoke as if in deep regret.
Huang Rong asked, “ Is elder going to participate in the next Hua Shan Tournament? If yes, please bring us alright? I love to see people spar with each other.”
Qiu Qianren grunted, “ Ah, childish talk! How can you call that sparring? I didn’t want to go initially. I am so old already, why bother about fighting for all these useless titles? However, I have a very important matter at hand, which involves the lives of everyone. I would be a selfish and greedy person I if do not step forward to help and the matter will turn into a catastrophe.”
The four of them were astonished by his agitated tone and hurriedly asked him what was it.
Qiu Qianren answered, “ This is a highly secretive matter. Since Brother Guo and Huang are not Jiang Hu people, it’s better you don’t hear about it.”
Huang Rong laughed, “ Master Lu is my good friend, if you tell it to him, he will tell it to me.”
Master Lu secretly scolded Huang Rong for being cheeky but did not deny her words.
Qiu Qianren replied, “ Since this is so, I will tell all of you then. But before the matter is solved, I would like all of you to keep it a secret.”
Guo Jing thought silently, “ We are not related to him in anyway and since it’s a secretive issue, it’s better not to hear it.”
With that, he stood up and announced, “ Both us Junior bid our farewells.”
He pulled Huang Rong’s hand and was about to leave when Qiu Qianren replied, “ Since both of you are Master Lu’s good friends, you are not outsiders. Please sit,”
With that, he tapped Guo Jing on the shoulder. Guo Jing did not find his energy spectacular but obeyed and returned to his seat.
Qiu Qianren stood up and toasted wine to the four people before saying, “ Not more than half a year later, Great Song will be in trouble. Does anyone know why?”
The others were stunned by his serious expression. Lu Guanying waved to signal to the servants to leave the room and ordered them not to bring in any more food.
Qiu Qianren continued, “ I have gotten news that in six months time, the Jins will attack the south with a formidable army and our Song Empire will be lost. Hai, this is so sudden that we cannot do much about it.”
Guo Jing was alarmed and asked, “ Then Elder Qiu had better go and inform the imperial court and ask them to prepare and make plans to counter the enemy.”
Qiu Qianren stared at him and scolded, “ What does a young man like you know? If Great Song is prepared, they will lose out even more.”
Everyone did not understand what he was saying and looked at him in alarm.
He continued, “ I have wrecked my brains for a plan to protect the safety and happiness of the people and there is only one way to protect the country. I have traveled all the way to Jiangnan for this. I heard that the Little Jin Prince and his General, Official Duan is held in this manor. Why not we invite them for a discussion?”
Master Lu did not know how Qiu Qianren knew of this but hurriedly ordered two servants to bring them in. He ordered to have their chains removed but asked the servants to place them on the lower floor and denied them any utensils for dinning. Guo Jing and Huang Rong saw that Wanyan Kang looked weak and exhausted. Official Duan looked like he was in his early fifties and had a thick beard but he wore a frightened expression.
Qiu Qianren looked at Wanyan Kang and said, “ Little Prince has suffered.”
Wanyan Kang nodded and thought silently, “ I wonder why Guo Jing and Huang Rong are here?”
That day when he fought in Master Lu’s study, he didn’t notice them hiding in one corner. The three looked at each other but did not greet each other.
Qiu Qianren faced Master Lu and said, “ There is a plot of wealth in front of your manor but why hasn’t brother retrieved it?”
Master Lu was curious and asked, “ I live a simple, rural life? What wealth is Elder talking about?”
Qiu Qianren answered, “ When the Jin Army attacks the South, a great war will start and many lives will be lost. If brother gathers the heroes of Jiangnan and fight together, you all will banish the Jins and attain peace.”
Master Lu thought silently, “ This is a serious matter indeed.”
He answered hurriedly, “ It is my honor to help fight for my country and something that I am responsible for. I am loyal to my country but the imperial court does not appreciate it. If a person is evil, even if he becomes a priest, it is useless if he still does not have the right morals. I hope Senior creates a pathway for me and Junior will be more than grateful. And I do not crave for any wealth or rewards.”
Qiu Qianren stroked his beard and laughed out aloud. He was about the answer when the housekeeper rushed forward and said, “ Leader Zhang has spotted six suspicious-looking people on the lake. They have already reached the Manor.”
Master Lu paled and called out, “ Invite them in quickly.”
He thought silently, “ Why are there six people? Could it be that The Twin Killers of The Dark Winds have found helpers?”
------------------------------(END of Chapter 13)--------------------------------
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Chapter 14 - The Master of Peach Blossom Island
Chapter 14 – The Master of Peach Blossom Island
(Translated by Foxs, edited by Eliza Bennet)
What he saw was six people - five men and one woman entering the hall, they were the Six Freaks of Jiangnan. They have been wandering around the north and south, and on that particular day had arrived at the Tai Lake, where they met some Jianghu people on a boat who received them attentively.
They have left their hometown for such a long time that they did not know the current affair of the martial arts world. They weren’t sure who these people were, so Zhu Cong exchanged some pleasantries with them. Turned out these people were Zhang ‘zhai zhu’ [village manager(?)] and his men from the ‘gui yun zhuang’ [Cloud Village – lit. returning cloud village/manor].
They have received order from Lu Guanying to guard the lake and to report any unusual activities. They did not know who these six people were, and since these six wield weapons, they inclined to think these six were the enemies of the Old Village Master. Therefore, Manager Zhang acted in utmost prudence and received the six cordially, inviting them to enter the village; while at the same time sent report to the Village Master immediately.
Guo Jing however, was ecstatic to see his six masters. Quickly he knelt down and greeted them one by one, “First Master, Second Master, Third Master, Fourth Master, Sixth Master, and Seventh Master! All of you are here! This really is wonderful!” He was rather boorish; but through his spontaneity everybody could see his sincerity and genuine delight.
The Six Freaks were angry with him over Huang Rong affair, yet in all honesty they loved him dearly. They were pleasantly surprised to see him and all angers simply vanished into the thin air.
“Child, where is that female demon of yours?” Han Baoju could not help scolding him.
Han Xiaoying however, had a pair of sharp eyes. She saw Huang Rong wearing men’s clothing sat among the people. She tugged Han Baoju’s sleeve and whispered, “Calm down. We will talk this over later.”
Initially Village Master Lu also suspected that his enemies had arrived, but then he saw that these six were total strangers to him; moreover, Guo Jing had addressed them as his masters. He was relieved. Cupping his fists in respect he apologized, “I am invalid on the legs; please forgive me for not standing up to welcome you,” and immediately gave order to prepare another banquet table for the guests.
Without wasting another second Guo Jing immediately introduced his Masters. Village Master Lu was delighted, he said, “I have heard your illustrious names and admired you for a long time. It is very fortunate to finally meet you in person today.” His manner was very cordial.
Qiu Qianren on the other hand, did not show any interest in these six guests. He simply smiled faintly and kept eating and drinking.
Han Baoju was irritated and could not keep his temper. “And who is this gentleman?” he asked.
“I am pleased to introduce to you, Six Masters,” Village Master Lu proudly said, “This is the highly respected Senior of the Wulin world, the Taishan (Mount Tai) and the Big Dipper (or Big Bear) Constellation [meaning – the ultimate] of this present age.”
The Six Freaks were startled. “Is he the Peach Blossom Island Master Huang Yaoshi?” asked Han Xiaoying. “Could he be the ‘jiu zhi shen gai’ [nine-fingered divine beggar – Hong Qigong]?” asked Han Baoju.
Village Master Lu smiled and explained, “No, he is neither. He is the ‘tie zhang shui shang piao’ [iron palm floating on the water], Senior Qiu.”
“He is Senior Qiu Qianren?” Ke Zhen’E asked, surprised by the revelation.
Qiu Qianren laughed heartily, his face was smug.
By that time the villagers had finished preparing a new banquet table and the Six Freaks took their seats. Guo Jing wanted to sit with his masters. He tugged Huang Rong’s hand to go together, but Huang Rong simply smiled and shook her head. She was not willing to sit with the Six Freaks.
Village Master Lu laughed and said, “I thought Brother Guo did not know martial arts. Who would have known that you are the disciple of the well-known Masters. Truly my eyes are blind, could not see the hidden treasure right in front of me …”
Guo Jing stood up. “My skill is mediocre,” he said, “I was indeed taught by my Masters. I do not dare to show off in front of Village Master. I beg your forgiveness.”
Ke Zhen’E was delighted listening to their conversation. He was proud that Guo Jing was well-behaved.
Qiu Qianren suddenly said, “The Six Freaks of the South [Jiangnan] are the prominent characters of the Jianghu world. This old man has a very important matter to deal. It would be great if I could acquire your valuable assistance.”
“Senior Qiu was just about to explain the matter when the six guests arrived,” explained the Village Master. “Now would Senior please enlighten us?”
Qiu Qianren complied, he said, “For us who live in the Jianghu world, the ultimate purpose of our existence is chivalry: helping the suffering people. Right now we see it with our own eyes the Jin army is moving south. If our Song Dynasty cannot discern good from bad and is not willing to surrender, as soon as the war breaks I wonder how many lives will perish? As the saying goes, ‘shun tian zhe chang, ni tian zhe wang’ [following Heaven’s will means prosperity, opposing Heaven’s will means death]. Therefore, this old man is going to the South to make contact with the valiant people of the South; to take arms together with the Jin army and attack the Song Dynasty from both sides, to render it helpless, and thus it does not have any choice but surrender. If we succeed, not only we will gain riches and honor, but the gratefulness of the common people as well. That way our martial arts skills are not useless, and we do not render these two characters ‘xia yi’ (chivalry) in vain.”
Hearing this, the Six Freaks’ countenances were flushed. Both Han brother and sister were ready to open their mouths. Luckily Quan Jinfa – who sat between them, quickly pulled their sleeves and signaled with his eyes toward the Village Master, hinting that they should wait to see how the master would respond.
So far Village Master Lu had showed great admiration to Qiu Qianren; but to suddenly listen to his speech he was unable to restrain his great surprise. He forced a smile and said, “Even though Junior is unworthy, my body is as worthless as mere grass, but I have never dared to forget ‘zhong yi’ [loyalty and brotherhood]. The Jin army is going south to attack my country; they mean harm to the people. Junior will certainly join other Jiangnan heroes to fight the invaders to my death. Senior, what you just said, was that to test me?”
“Brother Lu, how could you be so short sighted?” Qiu Qianren asked. “What good is it to help the Song fight the Jin? Most likely you will end up as Yue Wu Mu [i.e. General Yue Fei], who suffered a tragic death at the ‘Feng Bo Ting’ [Crisis/Disturbance Pavilion].”
Listening to this the Village Master Lu was shocked and angered at the same time. Initially he thought he could count on Qiu to help him deal with ‘hei feng shuang sha’ [Twin Killers of the Dark Wind]; who would have thought that he was persuaded to betray his own country instead. It was useless to possess a high skill of martial arts if the person had such a low character and this shameless. He flicked his sleeve and said, “Junior is facing a formidable enemy even tonight. I was going to ask Senior to help me uphold the justice; but since we do not hold the same value, I do not dare to entertain your honorable presence even if blood would splash from my neck. Please!” He cupped his fists. His intention was clear; he did not want the guest to stay any longer.
The Six Freaks of Jiangnan – along with Guo Jing and Huang Rong, were delighted and secretly admired their host.
Qiu Qianren smiled, but did not say anything. His left hand gripped the wine cup, his right hand moved toward the cup mouth, revolving the cup around in his hand. Suddenly he flipped his right hand and flicked the cup away. To everybody’s amazement the cup was cut smooth into two parts: the cup bottom and about half an inch of porcelain ring. To crush the cup is not difficult, but to cut the cup smooth was a demonstration of profound energy worthy of everybody’s respect.
Village Master Lu realized he was being threatened. But while he was still hesitating, ‘ma wang shen’ [Horse God] Han Baoju had already leaped out of his seat. Angrily he called out, “Shameless scoundrel, let us see who is superior, you or I!”
Qiu Qianren did not falter. “I have heard the Seven Freaks of Jiangnan’s stellar reputation for a long time. Today I want to see whether what I heard is true or not. All six of you, come!”
Village Master Lu knew Han Baoju was no match to the old man. He was delighted to hear the old man challenged all six of them. He quickly said, “The Six Freaks of Jiangnan always move forward and backward together. Facing a single enemy or fighting an army, the six go together, not a single one of them willing to be left behind.”
Zhu Cong understood very well the Village Master’s intention. “Very well,” he said, “let us six brothers and sister fight this famous Wulin character!” He waved his hand and immediately his five brothers and sister left their seats.
Qiu Qianren also stood up; he picked his chair up and strolled to the center of the hall, laid down the chair and sat down; his right foot above his left. Calmly he said, “This old man will fight you sitting down.”
Ke Zhen’E and the others were startled. He knew that the old man would not dare to act so arrogantly if he did not have a very high level of martial arts.
While his six masters have not made any move yet, Guo Jing quickly moved forward. He had heard amazing stories about this old man’s kungfu, and knew his masters were not this old man’s match. He had received his masters’ kindness and even though he knew the risk, he stepped in front of his masters and boldly said, “Junior is asking for some lessons from the Senior.”
Qiu Qianren was surprised, but then exploded in laughter. “It wasn’t easy for your parent to raise you. Why would you waste your unworthy life for nothing in this place?”
Ke Zhen’E and the others called out almost in unison, “Jing’er, move back!”
But Guo Jing was determined. He was afraid his masters would hold him back, so without saying anything he bent his left leg a little bit and moved his right palm in a circular motion, and then thrust it forward, hard. It was the ‘kang long you hui’ [The Proud Dragon Show Remorse] from the ‘18 Dragon-Subduing Palms’, which he had trained hard unceasingly up to that day; therefore, it could not be compared with when Hong Qigong first taught him.
Qiu Qianren had seen Han Baoju’s skill when he leaped out of his seat. It wasn’t extraordinary. Naturally, he thought Han’s disciple would not be good either. It was beyond his comprehension that Guo Jing’s attack was so fierce. He was shocked and hastily leaped up from his chair, only to hear a loud cracking sound. His chair was destroyed by Guo Jing’s palm.
“Confounded kid!” he shouted angrily when his body had landed back on the ground.
Guo Jing was a bit wary; he did not dare to advance. “Senior, please give me some pointers,” he said politely.
Huang Rong wanted to disturb Qiu Qianren’s mind, she called out, “Brother Jing, don’t be so polite to this old scoundrel!”
The old man was livid! Ever since he roamed the Jianghu, who would dare to call him ‘old scoundrel’ in front of his face? He was about to jump and thrust his palm to attack her, but suddenly remembered his own reputation. He sneered and lifted his right hand and positioned his left hand on his eyebrows. And then right when Guo Jing moved sideways to fend, redirected his hand to make a claw and retracted it, while the hand on his eyebrows moved forward in circular motion. His right hand followed, changed from fist to palm.
Huang Rong called out, “What’s so special about the move? That is the ‘gu yan chu qun’ [Lone Goose Leaves the Flock] from the ‘tong bi lu he zhang’ [Open Arm Six Palms Technique]!”
Qiu Qianren was surprised she recognized his move. It was indeed the ‘tong bi lu he zhang’, which was created based on the ‘tong bi wu hang zhang’ [Open Arm Five Elements Technique]. It was not an extraordinary move; but he had perfected this move for decades. The word ‘open’ here actually meant that his right and left arms were interchangeable. Guo Jing saw his right hand coming fast, while his left hand moving to the right, then the right hand went back and supported the left hand. So both hands were supporting each other, increasing the strength of both hands. Very fierce.
Guo Jing had seen his amazing strength, and then actually faced him in combat. He was a little bit nervous and did not dare to counterattack. He kept stepping back.
Qiu Qianren thought, “This kid could destroy a chair due to his strength, but actually his martial arts is only so-so.” He immediately launched several stances: ‘chuan zhang shan pi’ [lit. penetrating palm hacking down in a flash], ‘liao yin zhang’ [lit. lifting the cloud palm technique], ‘kua hu deng shan’ [lit. step across the tiger to climb a mountain], getting stronger with each stance.
Huang Rong was anxious seeing Guo Jing was losing. She approached the two with the intention of stepping in if Guo Jing was in danger.
Guo Jing saw her coming near, he turned his head to see her anxious face and could not help but feel nervous. Qiu Qianren saw this and wasting no time he attacked with ‘bai she tu zhi’ [White Snake Spitting Sign], his palm hit Guo Jing squarely on the chest.
Huang Rong and the Six Freaks – as well as Master Lu and his son, all cried in alarm. They thought with Qiu’s strength hitting such a vital part, Guo Jing must have been dead or at least severely injured.
Guo Jing was also shocked, so he immediately circulated his chi and lifted both arms up. Strangely, he did not feel too much pain, which puzzled him to no end. Huang Rong saw him staring blankly, thought that he was internally injured and was about to pass out. She immediately jumped forward to support him and asked anxiously, “Brother Jing, are you all right?” Her heart was so shaken that tears flowed from her eyes involuntarily.
Guo Jing’s response was unexpected, “I am all right! Let me try again.” He stuck his chest out and walked toward Qiu Qianren, boldly said, “You are the Senior Hero Iron Palm, hit me again!”
Qiu Qianren was furious; he immediately hit another palm to Guo Jing’s chest with all his might. But instead of collapsing, Guo Jing laughed loudly and shouted, “Masters! Rong’er! This old scoundrel’s skill is only ordinary. As long as he did not hit me, his secret was safe, but as soon as he hit me, his secret is revealed!” His word was followed by a sweep of his left arm; forcing Qiu Qianren to step back. “You can feel my palm too!” he shouted.
Qiu Qianren saw his movement and thought, “You said ‘palm’ but your hand forms a fist, do you think I am blind?” He underestimated Guo Jing’s attack; he simply blocked the fist with both hands in front of his chest. Who would have known that Guo Jing was using the ‘long zhan yu ye’ [Dragon Fight out of the Field], the most mysterious stance of the ‘18 Dragon-Subduing Palms’; where both left and right arms could be either solid or void without any specific rule.
Qiu Qianren saw Guo Jing’s left arm moved while his right arm loose; but suddenly the right arm thrust forward and hit Qiu Qianren on the right shoulder, followed by a punch on his chest. Qiu Qianren’s body flew out of the hall through the main entrance like a kite with broken string!
Everybody uttered a startled cry. But somebody suddenly appeared at the entrance. She held Qiu Qianren on his collar, entering the main hall in big strides. She put Qiu Qianren down on the floor and stood stoically at the center of the hall. Her face was cold without any expression. Her long hair scattered on her shoulder. Her head looked up. She was none other than the Iron Corpse Mei Chaofeng. Every heart skipped a beat.
Behind her was another person no less peculiar than the Iron Corpse. That person was tall and rather thin; wearing a dark green robe. His countenance was pale and expressionless. Other than his rolling eyes, the rest of his face was stiff like a wooden statue. He stood still and stiff like a standing corpse. As soon as everybody saw this person, a chill crept on their backs. They immediately turned their gaze away from this person, did not dare to look at his face anymore; their hearts thumping.
Master Lu was perplexed. He would never think that the world famous Qiu Qianren would unexpectedly collapsed just from the first blow of his opponent. He was going to smile, but seeing Mei Chaofeng arrived his smile froze.
Wanyan Kang saw his master and was very excited. He immediately stepped forward to pay his respect. Everybody could see these two: master and disciple were actually similar in appearance and could not help but were astonished.
Master Lu raised his cupped fists and said, “Martial Sister Mei, it’s been twenty long years. Finally we meet here. How is Martial Brother Chen?”
The Six Freaks exchanged glances with Guo Jing. They clearly heard Master Lu calling her ‘Martial Sister’, and could not help but feel dismayed. Ke Zhen’E was upset. “We fall into a trap today,” he said. “Mei Chaofeng alone is not easy to deal with, now she has her martial brother along.”
Huang Rong on the other hand secretly nodded her head. “This Master’s martial arts and literature knowledge, as well as his general conduct and manner of speaking resemble those of my father. I had suspected he must have a family relationship with us. Who would have thought he is my father’s disciple.”
Mei Chaofeng coldly replied, “Is the speaker my martial brother Lu Chengfeng?”
“Yes, I am,” answered Master Lu. “Has Martial Sister been well since our last meeting?”
“Why did you ask?” answered Mei Chaofeng. “Both my eyes are blind. Can’t you see it? Your Martial Brother Xuanfeng has been murdered a long time ago. That was your expectation, wasn’t it?”
Master Lu was both pleasantly surprised and shocked. The Twin Killers of the Dark Wind had roamed the Jianghu and turned it upside-down. How could the Copper Corpse be murdered? But he was also relieved because he had one less formidable enemy; moreover, the one left behind was blind. However, he recalled their apprenticeship together at the Peach Blossom Island, and could not help but feeling sad. “Who had killed Martial Brother Chen?” he sighed and asked. “Has Martial Sister sought revenge?”
“I have wandered everywhere looking for them,” Mei Chaofeng answered.
“Let Little Brother help you,” Master Lu said. “Afterward we can sort out our own business.”
“Humph!” Mei Chaofeng sneered.
“Mei Chaofeng!” Han Baoju could not hold himself. He slapped the table and shouted, “Your archenemies are here!”
He was going to pounce on her, but Quan Jinfa quickly pulled him back. Mei Chaofeng on the other hand, was taken aback. “You … you …” she stammered.
At that time Qiu Qianren – who was silent because he felt chest pain from Guo Jing’s punch, felt his pain subsided. He opened his mouth to say, “What is it you were talking about? Revenge? Why, your own master was killed and you don’t know it? What kind of hero are you?”
“What did you say?” Mei Chaofeng almost screamed. She tightly crushed Qiu Qianren’s hand that he cried in pain, “Let go! Let go!”
Mei Chaofeng ignored him, “What did you say?” she repeated.
“The Master of Peach Blossom Island has been killed!” Qiu Qianren answered.
Lu Chengfeng was really shocked. “Is that true?” he anxiously asked.
“Why not true?” Qiu Qianren answered. “He was surrounded and killed by the Quan Zhen Seven Masters, Wang Chongyang’s disciples.”
Before he finished speaking Mei Chaofeng and Lu Chengfeng have already cried loudly. With a loud thud Huang Rong fell backward from her chair; passed out. Everybody else initially did not believe that with his expertise Huang Yaoshi would easily be killed by anybody, but since it was the Quan Zhen Seven Masters, they had to believe. They knew very well the combined power of Ma Yu, Qiu Chuji, Wang Chuyi and the others would be difficult for Huang Yaoshi to fight.
Guo Jing panic, he hugged Huang Rong and called out, “Rong’er, wake up!” He saw Huang Rong’s countenance was deathly pale and her breathing uneven; he was even more anxious and called his masters, “Master! Master! Help!”
Zhu Cong immediately came over and examined her nose. “Don’t worry,” he said. “She was only shocked; she is not going to die.” Then he rubbed her ‘lao gong xue’ [lit. fatigue palace acupoint] slowly transferring his internal energy.
Huang Rong slowly recovered. “Father? Father! I want my Father!” she cried.
Lu Chengfeng was surprised, but immediately realized. “She is Master’s daughter. No wonder she knew about the ‘Nine Flower Dew Jade Pill’.” He shed some tears and loudly called out, “Little Martial Sister, let us go to those scoundrel priests from Quan Zhen to seek revenge. Mei Chaofeng! Are you … are you coming or not? If you don’t go, let me fight you to the death right now! It … it was because of you that Master had met his fate.”
Lu Guanying saw his father was too deep in sorrow to speak coherently. He quickly support him and urged, “Father, please don’t be so sad. We need further consideration.”
Lu Chengfeng ignored his son, he cried louder. “Mei Chaofeng! You b***h! How you have done me much harm! You are shameless! You ran away with your man, it was all right with me, but why did you have to steal Master’s Nine Yin Manual as well? In his anger he had severed our legs’ ligament, we four martial brothers. Not only that, he expelled us from the Peach Blossom Island. I was hoping Master would change his mind and have compassion on us who didn’t do anything deserving our punishment. Now he passed away, my hope is shattered …”
“I always thought you are spineless,” Mei Chaofeng scolded, “and you are still spineless. Three – four times you have taken other people to deal with us, forcing us – husband and wife to be without shelter, we had to run away for our lives and ended up suffering in the Mongolian desert. Now you don’t have guts to seek revenge for our Master, but nagging to settle your own old debts with me. I’ll say we go and find those seven scoundrels and deal with them. If you can’t walk, I’ll carry you!”
All the while Huang Rong was still weeping, “Father! I want my Father!”
Zhu Cong intervened, “Let us ask more clearly,” he said, walking toward Qiu Qianren. He brushed some dust on Qiu Qianren’s clothes and apologetically said, “My young disciple was ignorant and had offended you, he has no regard of seniority.”
Qiu Qianren was angry, “I am old, my eyes are not clear, I let it slipped. Come, let us fight again!”
Zhu Cong patted his shoulder, pulled his left hand gently and persuaded with a smile, “Senior is an expert, no need to fight with him.” As soon as they got to the table, Zhu Cong picked a wine cup up with his left hand, while his right hand covered the cup mouth, revolving it around just like Qiu did, and flicked the cup to the table.
With a clanking sound the wine cup landed on the table, broken into two parts: the cup bottom and about half an inch of porcelain ring. Exactly like what Qiu Qianren demonstrated earlier. Everybody was amazed!
Zhu Cong smiled and said, “Senior’s skill is extraordinary. Junior has stolen it from you. Please forgive my offense. Many thanks to you.”
Qiu Qianren’s face changed color immediately. Now everybody knew there must be some tricks somehow, but nobody knew what was really going on.
“Jing’er, come here!” Zhu Cong called, “Let me teach you a trick, later on you can use it to deceive other people.”
Guo Jing came near, and Zhu Cong showed him a ring on his left middle finger. “This is the Senior Qiu’s belonging, I borrowed it from him a moment ago. You go ahead and put it on you,” he said while taking the ring off his own finger.
Qiu Qianren was startled, then fuming mad. He did not understand how the ring on his finger could move to Zhu’s finger. In the meantime Guo Jing had already taken the ring. Zhu Cong explained, “This ring has a diamond piece on it, the hardest material on earth. Put the diamond tip on the wine cup and rotate the cup with your right hand.”
Guo Jing did so. Now Lu Guanying and the others started to understand. They were unable to restrain a smile and softly murmured among themselves. Guo Jing turned the cup in his right hand and sure enough, the cup was smoothly broken into two parts. If one looked carefully, actually the diamond had left a deep mark on the porcelain pieces; so it wasn’t profound internal energy at all.
Huang Rong was amused, she was smiling through her tears; but then the memory of her father came flooding back and she cried again.
“Don’t cry, Miss,” Zhu Cong comforted her, “This Senior Qiu loves to deceive people, and his words cannot be necessarily true.” Huang Rong was puzzled; she looked at him with a questioning look.
“Your father, the Venerable Huang’s martial art is so profound, how could he be easily killed by other people?” Zhu Cong said with a smile. “Also, the Quan Zhen Seven Masters are respectable people, plus, they have no enmity with your father. How could they kill him without any reason?”
“Perhaps it was over Qiu Chuji and the other ox-nose’s [derogatory term for Taoist priests] martial uncle Zhou Botong’s business,” Huang Rong expressed her guess.
“What business is that?” Zhu Cong asked.
“You don’t know,” Huang Rong said, crying again. Even with her intelligence, she was not really sure what was really happening. First of all, it has something to do with her mother; that Huang Yaoshi did not want to talk too much about. Second, the business between her father and Zhou Botong was more complicated than her young mind could grasp. She did not want to believe the Quan Zhen Seven Masters would attack her father, but the fact was: she was not sure.
“Whatever it was, I’d say this old man’s word is a little bit smelly,” Zhu Cong said.
“You mean he was only … only …,” Huang Rong stuttered.
“Yes, he was just farting!” Zhu Cong laughed. “He has so many tricks stored in his pocket; guess what he would do with them.” Then he groped into his pocket and produced some things which he placed on the table. Among those things were two bricks, some dry grass, a piece of cloth to light up fire, a knife with the same purpose, and a flint.
Huang Rong took a brick and as soon as she tightened her grips she could feel the brick was soft. She crushed it harder and without too much effort the brick crumbled into powder. After listening to Zhu Cong’s words her sadness was greatly reduced. Her face broke into a smile, showing up her two dimples. “This brick was made from bread flour. He was using it to demonstrate his profound internal energy earlier.”
Qiu Qianren’s face turned from pale to red and back to pale. He was greatly ashamed. He thought with the news of Huang Yaoshi’s death everybody’s attention could be diverted that he would find an opportunity to escape. Who would have thought that his scheme was revealed by Zhu Cong. He flicked his sleeve and turned around to walk out. But Mei Chaofeng reached backward and snatched his body, then threw it on the ground.
“You said my Master passed away, did you tell the truth?” she asked menacingly. Qiu Qianren was too much in pain to say anything, he was only whimpering.
Huang Rong saw the grass was half burnt; she immediately realized what happened. “Second Master, try to light the grass, put it inside your sleeve then inhale and exhale.”
The Six Freaks of Jiangnan initially had some problem with Huang Rong, but Qiu Qianren’s trickery had united them in facing the common enemy. Zhu Cong happily complied. Actually he liked Huang Rong’s cunning mind and her eccentricity; and now Huang Rong called him ‘Second Master’ he liked her even more. He did what was asked and while doing that, he even closed his eyes and swayed his head solemnly.
Huang Rong clapped her hands in delight. “Brother Jing,” she said laughing happily, “Didn’t we see this old man practicing his internal strength a while ago exactly like this?” She walked to Qiu Qianren’s side and said, “Stand up!” She pulled him up, but suddenly struck his ‘shen dao’ [holy way?] acupoint under his fifth rib on his back with her left hand, using the ‘lan hua fu xue shou’ [orchid acupoint sealing technique]; while shouting loudly, “Tell me, did my father die? If you say he did, I will take your life away!” With a flip of her hand she placed a shiny butterfly shaped steel on his chest.
Everybody was amused hearing her threat. She asked him the truth but she didn’t want him to say Huang Yaoshi was dead.
Qiu Qianren was writhing in pain, also suffering from itch. “I am afraid he is not dead yet. I don’t know …” he said, trembling.
Huang Rong beamed from ear to ear. “Very good!” she said, “I will spare you.” She struck his ‘que pen’ [open basin] acupoint to ease up his suffering.
Lu Chengfeng thought, “Little Martial Sister’s question was one-sided and really missed the point.” So he asked, “You said my Master has been killed by the Quan Zhen Seven Masters, did you see it with your own eyes, or did you just hear it from somebody else?”
“I heard it from somebody else,” Qiu Qianren replied. “Who was it?” Lu Chengfeng pursued.
Qiu Qianren hesitated, but finally said, “It was Hong Qigong.”
“When did he tell you that?” asked Huang Rong.
“About a month ago,” Qiu Qianren answered.
“Where did you two meet?” Huang Rong asked again.
“At the summit of Mount Tai [taishan],” Qiu Qianren answered. “We were having a match and he lost to me. He unintentionally mentioned this.”
Huang Rong was ecstatic. She hopped around like a little kid. Her left hand grabbed his chest, her right hand pulled away some of his beard. Giggling she said, “Hong Qigong lost to this old scoundrel? Martial Sister Mei, Martial Brother Lu, don’t listen to him, he was just … just …” Being a girl she didn’t have a heart to say vulgar language.
Zhu Cong continued for her, “He was just farting!” then he covered his mouth, laughing.
Huang Rong continued, “A month ago Hong Qigong was obviously with Brother Jing and I. Brother Jing, give him another blow!”
“Right!” Guo Jing said, moving toward Qiu Qianren.
Qiu Qianren was scared; he turned around to escape, but Mei Chaofeng was standing in the middle of the door. He turned around again, but this time Lu Guanying blocked his way. He quickly pushed until Guanying staggered and fell. Even though he gained his fame by deceiving people, Qiu Qianren still possessed some real martial art skill. If he didn’t, he would not recklessly dare to challenge the Six Freaks and Guo Jing. Lu Guanying was certainly not his match.
Huang Rong jumped to block him. “You carried an iron cauldron over your head and walked on water, how did you do it?” she asked.
“That was my special skill,” Qiu Qianren answered. “My title is ‘Iron Palm Floating above the Water’; that was the ‘Floating above the Water’.”
“You are still boasting,” Huang Rong said with a smile. “Aren’t you going to tell me the truth?”
“I am old, my martial art is not as it used to be,” Qiu Qianren answered. “But my lightness kungfu has been trained to perfection.”
“Very well,” Huang Rong said, “There is a large golden fish bowl outside at the courtyard. Why don’t you demonstrate your ‘Floating above the Water’ that everybody can see your skill? Just go out the hall, turn left underneath the sweet-smelling ‘gui hua’ [osmanthus] tree.”
“How can someone trains in a fish bowl …?” Qiu Qianren had not finished speaking when something flashed brightly in front of his eyes, and without him realizing it his foot had been caught and he was hung upside down.
“Your death is imminent, yet you still open your big mouth!” Mei Chaofeng shouted. Her ‘du long yin bian’ [poisonous silver dragon whip] curled midair and hurled him toward the fish bowl following Huang Rong’s direction.
Huang Rong quickly followed to the fish bowl, waving her butterfly shaped steel menacingly. “I won’t let you out of the bowl unless you explain to me your ‘Floating above the Water’!”
Qiu Qianren kicked the bowl bottom, trying to leap up, but Huang Rong’s steel punctured him on the shoulder. He fell back into the bowl, soaking wet. With face cringed from pain he said, “That cauldron was inlaid with thin sheet of iron, the mouth was sealed, above it I put three inches deep of water. In that creek I had hidden some wooden poles about five, six inches from the surface; to make them invisible.”
Huang Rong laughed, then she re-entered the hall, did not pay Qiu Qianren any more attention. He quickly leaped up the bowl and hastily ran out the hall without looking back.
Mei Chaofeng and Lu Chengfeng smiled in embarrassment. They have fought and cried over nothing. Their master was not killed. Everything was that old scoundrel Qiu Qianren’s blabbering mouth. Now that this matter was made clear, they felt uneasy toward each other. Mei Chaofeng hesitated for a moment, then clearing her throat she said, “Lu Chengfeng, let my disciple go. For the sake of our Master I won’t remember our past differences anymore. As for the fact that both of us husband and wife had to run to Mongolia … oh well, that was our fate.”
Lu Chengfeng heaved a deep sigh. He said in his heart, “Her husband had died, her eyes blinded. She is alone and forsaken in this world. Both my legs are crippled, but I have a wife and a son. I have a family and I have a business. Actually my condition is hundred times better than hers. Both of us are decades older than we were, why would I keep having a resentment toward her?” Therefore, he answered, “You can take your disciple away. Mei Shijie [older martial sister], your little brother will leave for the Peach Blossom Island to visit our benevolent master tomorrow. Are you coming with me?”
“Do you dare?” Mei Chaofeng asked with a trembling voice.
“To visit the Peach Blossom Island without Master’s permission is a big violation of our school, but after listening to that old man Qiu talking nonsense, my heart was troubled. I want to make sure he is all right. If I don’t go, I will be haunted with uncertainty for the rest of my life.”
Before Mei Chaofeng could answer Huang Rong had already said, “Let us all go together. I will ask his forgiveness on your behalf.”
Mei Chaofeng was silent for a moment. Two lines of tears flowed down her cheeks. “I don’t have a face to see him,” she sadly said. “Benevolent Master had compassion on a wretched child like me. He took me as his disciple and raised me up. But because of wild ambition I have betrayed him …” Suddenly she lifted her head and shout, “I only want to seek revenge for my husband. Afterward, I know what to do. The Seven Freaks of Jiangnan, let us sort out our business now. Martial Brother Lu, Little Martial Sister, you stand aside, don’t even think of interfering. No matter who live or who die, I don’t want you to help either side. Do you hear?”
Ke Zhen’E walked in big strides to the main hall. His iron staff knocked the brick floor, then clearly he said with his hoarse voice, “Mei Chaofeng, you can’t see me, neither can I see you. That night when we fought on that barren hill, your husband died a violent death, but our fifth brother had also died in your hands. Did you know that?”
“Oh, so only six of you left?” Mei Chaofeng asked.
“We promised Taoist Priest Ma Yu to no longer seek enmity toward you, but it is you that actually looking for us. Good! Even though the world is wide, we always meet each other. Looks like the heaven won’t allow the six of us to co-exist with you in this world. Come!” Ke Zhen’E coldly said.
Mei Chaofeng snorted. “You six people can come together,” she said icily.
Zhu Cong and the other Freaks quickly arranged themselves near their elder brother, guarding against Mei Chaofeng’s sudden attack. Everybody unsheathed their weapons.
Suddenly Guo Jing moved forward. “Let disciple fight her first,” he said.
Lu Chengfeng was in an awkward situation. He heard Mei Chaofeng challenged and the six accepted. He did not know how to be the mediator. He hated himself for not having authority or influence over these people. But hearing Guo Jing an idea suddenly came to his mind. He quickly said, “Both sides please hold your hands for a moment. Please listen to Little Brother’s word. Although Mei Shijie and the Jiangnan Six have deep enmity between you, but each side had suffer an unfortunate loss. In the Little Brother’s opinion, no more blood needs to be shed. Let today’s match only decides victory or defeat, please don’t deepen the enmity anymore. The Six Freaks, although they always face enemy together, still it is six against one; which, in my opinion, is not fair. Why doesn’t Mei Shijie teach several moves to this young Brother Guo?”
Mei Chaofeng snorted and coldly said, “How could I fight an unknown junior?”
“Your husband died in my hands. What does it have to do with my Masters?” Guo Jing called out.
Mei Chaofeng was furious. She jumped and shouted, “Precisely! I will kill you little scoundrel first!” By listening to voices she knew where her enemy position was. Her five fingers were stretched toward Guo Jing’s skull.
Guo Jing leaped to avoid the attack. “Senior Mei!” he called out. “I was really young and ignorant. I accidentally killed your husband. One has to be responsible for one’s own action. Today you wanted to kill me; I won’t run away. But what if you still look for my Masters in the future?” He realized he was no match to Mei Chaofeng and was ready to die under her fingers; but was determined to protect his Masters in any way.
“You really aren’t going to run away?” Mei Chaofeng asked.
“No!” Guo Jing asserted.
“Good!” shouted Mei Chaofeng. “I am willing to write off the Six Freaks’ debt. Good boy, come follow me!”
“Mei Shijie, he is a real man. You on the other hand, will be the laughingstock of the heroes of Jianghu!” Huang Rong suddenly called out.
“How come?” Mei Chaofeng was angry.
“He is the only heir of Jiangnan’s Six Freaks’ skills,” Huang Rong explained. “The Six Freaks martial arts cannot be compared to the past. It really is a piece of cake if they really wanted to take your life. But actually they have forgiven you. Not only that, they also gave you face. It was you who don’t know the good from the bad; yet you are still boasting.”
“Bah! I want them to forgive me?” Mei Chaofeng was furious. “Six Freaks, your martial arts improved greatly? Want to try?”
“Why would they want to personally fight you? Even their disciple won’t necessarily lose to you,” Huang Rong said.
Mei Chaofeng was so angry she almost screamed, “If I can’t kill him in three stances, I will kill myself right here right now.” She had fought Guo Jing in the Zhao palace that she thought she knew his level of martial arts. What she didn’t know was that in the past few months Guo Jing had received the tutelage of the Nine-fingered Divine Beggar, that his skill now couldn’t be compared with his skill then.
“Good!” Huang Rong said, “Let all the people here bear witness. Three stances are too few, let’s give you ten.”
“I will accompany Senior Mei for fifteen stances,” said Guo Jing. He only learned fifteen out of the eighteen moves of the ‘18 Dragon-Subduing Palms’, hence he thought he could at least survive fifteen stances.
“Ask Martial Brother Lu and the guest who accompany you to be the witnesses,” Huang Rong added.
“Who accompanies me?” Mei Chaofeng was taken aback. “I rushed to this village alone. Who came with me?”
“Who is that behind you then?” Huang Rong asked.
Mei Chaofeng threw a backward punch, quick as lightning. Nobody saw the man moved, but her attack hit an empty space. That person moved like he was a ghost or spirit; the amazing part was that he moved without making any sound.
After she arrived in the south (Jiangnan), Mei Chaofeng always had a feeling that somebody was following her, but no matter how she spoke or she attacked, she could not even hear anything. She thought she was losing her mind, or it was a ghost haunting her. And then she heard the flute driving away the snakes, she was certain someone with a very high level of martial arts was shadowing her. She tried to express her gratitude to the air, but nobody answered. She waited among the trees, but was not sure if that person had already left. Now she heard Huang Rong spoke, she was unable to hide her feeling.
“Who are you?” she tremblingly asked, “What do you want from me?”
That person did not answer. Nobody knew if he even heard the question. Mei Chaofeng thrust herself forward. That person did not seem to move but again she did not touch anything. Everybody was stunned. They had never seen someone with this person immeasurable skill.
Lu Chengfeng boldly asked, “Honorable Guest had come from a long way, I have not had the opportunity to welcome you. Would you please sit down and have a drink with me?”
That person turned around, seemingly floating on air he went outside.
Mei Chaofeng gathered her courage and asked, “Is Honorable Senior the one who played the flute to help me? Mei Chaofeng is deeply grateful.”
Nobody was able to restrain their amazement, being a blind woman, Mei Chaofeng had very sharp ears, but she could not hear that person leaving the hall.
“Mei Shijie, that person has already left,” Huang Rong said.
Mei Chaofeng was startled. “He did? I … How could I not hear him?”
“Go after him quickly, don’t boast yourself in here,” Huang Rong said.
Mei Chaofeng was dumbfounded. Her face showed sadness, yet there was a tinge of anger. Suddenly she shouted, “Guo Kid, take this!” She lifted both hands with all ten fingers stretched, emanating a spooky bluish green light under the candlelight; but she did not attack.
“I am here,” Guo Jing said.
As soon as Mei Chaofeng heard the word ‘I’ her right hand moved, followed by her left hand’s five fingers toward Guo Jing’s face.
Guo Jing saw her fast movement; he slightly leaned his body sideways and sending his left palm toward her. Mei Chaofeng heard the sound of the palm and was about to evade, but she was not fast enough for the ‘18 Dragon-Subduing Palms’ exquisite move and her shoulder was struck. She was shaken and was forced to step back three steps. But her martial art was not weak. While stepping backward she sent her fingernails to counterattack. Guo Jing was taken by surprise; his right wrist was caught by Mei Chaofeng on three acupoints: ‘nei guan’ [inner gate], ‘wai guan’ [outer gate], and ‘hui zong’ [ancestor meeting]. Guo Jing had carefully heeded his masters warning, that Mei Chaofeng’s ‘nine yin white bone claw’ [jiu yin bai gu zhua] was very lethal; hence he guarded himself carefully. But now he could not avoid being grasped by those deadly fingers. “Not good!” he screamed. His whole body felt weak. In that critical moment he managed to bend his two fingers; and with his hand forming a half-palm-half-fist he hit her chest. That was the ‘qian long wu yong’ [hidden dragon is useless (?)]. It was supposed to be followed by his left hook – a brilliant stance difficult to fend off; but since his left wrist was in the enemy’s hand; he could only launch a half stance. But the ‘18 Dragon-Subduing Palms’ was amazing; half stance was no small matter.
Mei Chaofeng heard the wind generated by this half-palm-half-fist move was incredible; she did not dare to parry, but tried to elude it. Still her shoulder was hit real hard and she was forced to let Guo Jing go.
Guo Jing was struggling to free himself; he pulled hard, so when his hand was suddenly free both people were thrown backward and each hit a pillar. The roof was shaken; bricks, stones and dust fell down the hall. Many village people cried and ran out to escape.
The Six Freaks of Jiangnan looked at each other with amazement but pleasantly surprised. “Where did Jing’er learn this kungfu?” they asked in their heart. Han Baoju looked at Huang Rong suspiciously; he thought she was the one who taught Guo Jing and secretly felt admiration, “Peach Blossom Island martial art is amazing.”
By now Guo Jing and Mei Chaofeng had engaged themselves in a fierce battle. Palms, fists, and claws were exchanged. Mei Chaofeng was furious; she fought with gusto. Guo Jing was calm but agile. Both had exerted their full strength, the hall was filled with the sound of their blows.
Suddenly Mei Chaofeng jumped vertically; her attack seemed to come from every direction, one after another, ever changing. Guo Jing knew this attack was fierce; he would suffer defeat if he let any opening in his defense line. He recalled Hong Qigong’s lesson on how to deal with Huang Rong’s ‘luo ying shen jian zhang’ [fallen (flower) divine sword palm]; no matter how much changes his opponent executed he steadily used 15 moves out of the ‘18 Dragon-Subduing Palms’.
By repeating these 15 moves he was able to defend himself for forty – fifty moves; without giving Mei Chaofeng even half a step advantage.
Huang Rong was keeping her eyes on her ‘Brother Jing’ with smile on her pretty face. The Six Freaks stood with amazement, sometimes clucking their tongues in praise. Lu Chengfeng and his son could only look in dismay.
“Mei Shijie has improved so much,” Lu Chengfeng thought. “If I had to fight her, I will certainly lose my life in only ten moves ... This young Brother Guo, how could he master such a profound kungfu in his young age? I was really blind … Luckily I had not been careless or indiscreet, but treated him with nothing but politeness and respect.”
Wanyan Kang was also upset, “I was supposed to contest this boy; but with his kungfu, how could I win?”
“Mei Shijie, you have been fighting for more than 80 moves. Why don’t you admit defeat?” Huang Rong loudly called out. Actually they have fought for only about 60 moves, but she exaggerated by adding twenty more moves.
Mei Chaofeng was fuming mad. “I have trained hard for dozens of years but cannot cope with this kid?” she thought. She ignored Huang Rong’s remark and increased the speed of her attacks. Her kungfu was actually many times better than Guo Jing’s; but first, she was put at a disadvantage because of her blindness, and second, she could not think straight because her heart was filled with rage in her effort to seek revenge for her husband. Anger is a big taboo in a battle between two martial art experts. Third, Guo Jing had the advantage of youth’s strength, plus he had mastered most of the ‘18 Dragon-Subduing Palms’. Therefore, the battle between these two was really fierce.
After about a hundred moves, Mei Chaofeng started to recognize and became more familiar with Guo Jing’s 15 moves. She knew Guo Jing’s line of defense was formidable; she could feel the wind from more than ten feet away. But she also knew that performing the ‘18 Dragon-Subduing Palms’ took a lot of energy, and her internal energy was stronger than Guo Jing’s; therefore, Mei Chaofeng changed her tactic and was trying to tire him off. She used the Nine Yin White Bone Claw and ‘cui xin zhang’ [Devastating Heart Palm Technique] interchangeably.
Huang Rong knew if this fight were prolonged, Guo Jing would suffer defeat. “Mei Shijie, it’s more than 100 moves, quickly it will reach the 200th move. You still don’t want to admit defeat?” she called. But Mei Chaofeng turned a deaf ear and increased the intensity of her attacks.
Suddenly Huang Rong got an idea; she leaped to a nearby pillar and called out, “Brother Jing, look at me!” Guo Jing launched two moves in succession: ‘li she da chuan’ [wading a wide creek] and ‘hong jian yu lu’ [phoenix slowly arise from the land], and managed to push Mei Chaofeng back far enough so that he could turn his eyes to Huang Rong. He saw her running around the pillar and made some hand signals; but did not understand what she wanted. So she called out again, “Fight in here!”
Finally Guo Jing understood; he turned around and leaped toward a nearby pillar. Mei Chaofeng followed with her five fingers to grab him, but her claw ended up penetrating the pillar. As a blind woman, she distinguished sound to know the whereabouts of her opponent; but the pillar was fixed in place and did not make any sound at all. So when Guo Jing hid behind one, how would she know?
As soon as Guo Jing overcame his surprised he immediately launched a palm which Mei Chaofeng parried. Two forces collided and both was pushed back several steps and Mei Chaofeng’s fingers were freed from the pillar. Mei Chaofeng was very angry; she did not waste another second and before Guo Jing could steady himself she sent another attack his way.
Guo Jing was able to elude, but his clothes were ripped and his arm was scratched from her fingernails. Luckily he was not injured, but Mei Chaofeng had scared the hell out of him. Guo Jing quickly counterattacked by launching three successive moves combined with hiding behind the pillar. Mei Chaofeng shouted angrily, once again her fingers pierced the pillar.
Actually Guo Jing did not want to take advantage of her blindness, so he loudly called out, “Senior Mei, my kungfu is far inferior to yours; please show me mercy!”
Everybody could see that Guo Jing had gained an upper hand albeit with the help of the pillar. They knew he was giving Mei Chaofeng a face by asking her to stop. Lu Chengfeng also thought that this was a good time to stop the fight.
But Mei Chaofeng coldly said, “If we are competing martial arts, after I could not defeat you in three moves I should have admitted defeat. But today’s fight is not a martial art competition; it is I am seeking revenge for my husband. I have already lost to you, but I still want to kill you!” As soon as she finished speaking both arms launched successive attacks: three times with her right hand and another three with her left. All attacks hit the pillar squarely on. Finally both her hands hit the pillar at the same time. With a loud crack the pillar broke and the roof collapsed.
The people in the hall were pugilists; even though they were shocked but they could jump out to escape. Lu Guanying grabbed his father and rushed outside; right in time before half of the hall was covered in debris. Unfortunately the Jin’s officer was not able to escape; his legs were pinched underneath a beam. He was screaming for help. Wanyan Kang rushed to his rescue: he lifted the beam up, pulled him up, and grabbed his hands to get out of the hall. But as soon as they turned their back suddenly they felt numbness without knowing who had sealed their acupoints.
Mei Chaofeng had always concentrated her attention to Guo Jing. As soon as she heard Guo Jing moved she followed. By now under the heavy cloud the outside was dark. As soon as everybody was able to calm himself or herself, they could see Guo Jing – Mei Chaofeng fight became fiercer than ever. They fought under the dim starlight; both parties exchanged swift blows one after another, creating gusts of wind everywhere. Compared to the fight inside the hall this fight was more intense.
The dark was disadvantageous to Guo Jing; he started to fall under Mei Chaofeng’s attacks. Mei Chaofeng’s left leg made a sweeping move, followed by her right leg kicked toward his legs. If he were hit, his leg would break for sure. But this kick was a trick move. Unexpectedly Mei Chaofeng held her leg half way and her left arm grabbed Guo Jing’s leg. Lu Guanying was looking from the sideline. “Watch out!” he cried. He had experienced defeat under Wanyan Kang with this exactly same move.
In this dangerous situation Guo Jing tried hard to overcome his fear; he used his left hand to parry Mei Chaofeng’s hand. He was fast enough, but his strength was waning. As soon as their hands collided, Mei Chaofeng understood his situation. She immediately turned her hand around and used her three fingers: middle, ring, and little fingers to scratch the back of Guo Jing’s hand. Guo Jing also realized the danger he was in; his right palm thrust toward her. It was a fierce attack, if Mei Chaofeng did not back off, both of them would be injured. Mei Chaofeng avoided the attack by leaping sideway; then she uttered a sinister laugh.
Guo Jing felt his left hand numb and itchy, then burning sensation. Lowering his head he saw three scratch marks on the back of his left palm. The scratches were bleeding only a little bit, but the blood slowly turned black. Suddenly he remembered the time he climbed that hill in the Mongolian desert; where he saw nine skulls Mei Chaofeng left behind. Priest Ma Yu had told him that Mei’s fingernails contained lethal poison. He knew immediately that his life was in grave danger.
“Rong’er, I have been poisoned!” he called out. Without waiting for Huang Rong’s respond he immediately jumped and threw both palms toward Mei Chaofeng. His intention was to seize her and force her to hand over the antidote. It was his only chance of survival.
Mei Chaofeng realized the fierceness of his attack; she jumped back to elude. Huang Rong and the others were greatly shocked by Guo Jing’s revelation. Almost together Ke Zhen’E with his iron staff followed by Huang Rong and the rest of the Six Freaks jumped and surrounded Mei Chaofeng.
“Mei Shijie!” Huang Rong shouted, “You have already lost! How could you keep fighting? Quickly take the antidote out and save him!”
Mei Chaofeng felt Guo Jing’s attack was both swift and fierce; she did not dare to lose her concentration by replying to Huang Rong’s remark; but in her heart she was delighted, “The more you exert your energy, the quicker the poison will attack your system. If I were to die here and now, I have succeeded in seeking my husband’s revenge.”
Guo Jing felt his vision blurred and his head dizzy; his whole body felt weak. He gradually lost control of his left arm; that he decided to stop fighting. The poison started to enter his system. If he had not drunk the snake’s blood he would have died by now.
Huang Rong saw his stupor condition and loudly called out, “Brother Jing! Get back!” Taking out her butterfly steel needle she jumped toward Mei Chaofeng.
Guo Jing heard her call and it raised his spirit. He thrust his left palm with the eleventh stance of the ’18-dragon subduing palms’, the ‘tu ru qi lai’ [sudden movement(?)]; only his arm moved slower than it was supposed to.
Huang Rong, Han Baoju, Nan Xiren and Quan Jinfa; four people moved together to attack Mei Chaofeng; but they saw Guo Jing’s palm squarely hit Mei Chaofeng’s shoulder and she fell down without even try to fend off. Mei Chaofeng relied on her ears to locate her opponent’s movement; and Guo Jing’s attack was so slow it did not make any noise, that was the reason she was easily hit.
Huang Rong was startled, but Han, Nan and Quan, three people had simultaneously threw themselves on Mei Chaofeng’s body to seize her. But she struggled and was able to send Han Baoju and Quan Jinfa flying backward; while at the same time struck backward to grasp Nan Xiren’s arm. Nan Xiren saw this attack and rolled himself out of the way.
Mei Chaofeng took advantage of this chaotic situation to leap up, but unexpectedly Guo Jing’s palm arrived at her back and she tumbled down one more time. Guo Jing’s palm was swift and silent, but actually it was weak. Even though she was hit on her vital part, she was not injured.
After sending his attack twice Guo Jing’s energy was depleted; he staggered and fell down right next to Mei Chaofeng. Huang Rong immediately threw herself his way to protect him.
Mei Chaofeng heard someone was falling on her side, without wasting a single moment she sent her five fingers to grab, but to her surprise she felt pricking pain. She realized she had hit the thorns on Huang Rong’s ‘ruan wei jia’ [soft hedgehog armor]. Hastily she used ‘li yu da ting’ [carp style leaping] to get away.
Suddenly somebody shouted, “Take this!” and something was thrown her way. Mei Chaofeng did not know what was being thrown to her; so she just lifted her right arm to parry. That thing fell down and broke to pieces. Turned out it was a chair.
That chair was followed by another thing, bigger than the first. This time the Iron Corpse stretched her left hand to grab. It was a tabletop; wide and slippery, so she could not have a good grasp. Who threw all these things to her? It was Zhu Cong. He immediately threw a couple of table legs her way. Mei Chaofeng lifted her leg and kicked the table away. Zhu Cong eluded the table but at the same time stretched his right hand and suddenly Mei Chaofeng felt three things fell down her collar. They were cold and slippery, and kept wiggling inside her clothes. She was scared, “What are these things? Is it some witchcraft or secret weapons?” Hastily she groped around her clothes and caught three goldfish.
She was relieved, but suddenly she froze! Her porcelain bottle of antidote had disappeared, along with her dagger and the scroll of Nine Yin Manual, which was wrapped around the dagger.
The three goldfish were from the fish bowl that was crushed when the roof collapsed. Zhu Cong knew Mei Chaofeng was careful and could not easily deceived, unlike Peng Lianhu or Qiu Qianren; so he used the goldfish to divert her attention while at the same time executed his quick hand to pull away Mei Chaofeng’s pocket’s content. He took the porcelain bottle out, pulled its plug and took it to Ke Zhen’E to smell while whispered softly, “Well?”
Ke Zhen’E himself was an expert in using poison. As soon as he smelled the antidote he said, “To be taken orally, also to be applied to the wound. This is the antidote.”
Mei Chaofeng heard their conversation and immediately realized what happened. Furiously she leaped toward them. Ke Zhen’E swung his iron staff to block her, assisted by Han Baoju’s ‘jin long bian’ [golden dragon whip], Quan Jinfa’s ‘cheng gan’ [balance beam - a merchant’s weight scale], and Nan Xiren’s ‘chun gang bian dan’ [carrying pole made of pure steel]. Mei Chaofeng quickly put her hand to her waist to retrieve her own whip but suddenly she heard a gust of wind from a sword coming her way. It was Han Xiaoying. She was forced to parry this attack first.
Meanwhile Zhu Cong gave the antidote to Huang Rong. “Have him swallow some, then spread some on his wound,” he said. And then he also put the dagger he took from Mei Chaofeng to Guo Jing’s pocket. “This dagger was yours,” he said and joining his brothers and sister he lifted his iron fan to attack Mei Chaofeng. The six had trained hard these past ten years and had improved their martial arts considerably; therefore, this battle was many times fiercer than the one on that Mongolian barren hill.
Lu Chengfeng and his son were amazed witnessing this fierce battle. “Mei Chaofeng’s martial art is no doubt swift, fierce and ruthless; but these Six Freaks of Jiangnan are certainly live up to their names,” they thought. “Ladies and gentlemen, please stop! Please listen to what I have to say!” Lu Chengfeng loudly shouted. But both parties were fighting fiercely, who would actually have time to listen to him?
Not long after he took the antidote, Guo Jing was slowly regaining his consciousness. The poison attacked his system fast, but the antidote also neutralized it fast. His wound was still hurting, but he was able to move his left arm. After putting the dagger away he immediately jumped and joined the battle. As before, he started slowly, and when his palm was almost touching Mei Chaofeng’s body, he added more strength. It was the stance ‘zhen jing bai li’ [hundred li’s shocks]. Mei Chaofeng was busy fending off her attackers and could not hear Guo Jing’s palm. Suddenly she was hit and fell down immediately right at the moment when Han Baoju’s whip and Nan Xiren’s pole were coming down on her.
Guo Jing bent his waist and parried these two weapons. “Masters! Please forgive her!” he shouted. The Six Freaks complied. They held their weapons and leaped back.
Mei Chaofeng stood up and got ready to fight again. Knowing that Guo Jing was fierce and she could not see, she took out her ‘du long yin bian’ and readied it in front of her. Guo Jing did not move, “We are not going to fight you anymore. You are free to go!” he shouted.
Mei Chaofeng put her whip back and said, “Please give my manual back.” Zhu Cong was puzzled. “I did not take your manual,” he said. “You know the Seven Freaks have never lied.” He did not realize that the skin wrapped around the dagger was the Nine Yin Manual.
Mei Chaofeng knew even though the Seven Freaks of Jiangnan had deep enmity toward her, but they always meant what they said and never deceived anybody. She thought the manual must have fallen down when she was fighting Guo Jing a moment ago. So she bent her knees and groped around the floor looking for the manual. Where could that manual be?
A blind lady groping around the floor made a pitiful scene. Lu Chengfeng told his son, “Guanying, help your Martial Uncle Mei to look.” But in his heart he actually thought that the manual belonged to his Master, therefore, it must be returned to the Master. He faked a cough to signal his son, and Lu Guanying understood. He nodded. Guo Jing was also looking around, but where did that manual go?
“Mei Shijie,” Lu Chengfeng said, “Your manual is not here, perhaps you dropped it on your way here.”
Mei Chaofeng did not answer; she kept groping around. Suddenly everybody’s eyes were blurred and that green-robed man reappeared beside her. His movement was so swift that nobody saw anything but Mei Chaofeng’s body was lifted off the ground and an instant later they were gone and vanished among the trees outside the hall. Mei Chaofeng was very skilled, yet that man had captured her without any struggle. They looked at each other in blank dismay. This person’s skill was unbelievable.
The hall was quiet; the only distant noise was from the waves of the lake striking the shore. A long while later Ke Zhen’E broke the silence. “My young disciple had fought that wicked woman and damaged your mansion. I feel deep regret.”
“I do not dare,” Lu Chengfeng answered. “The Six Freaks and Hero Guo have visited our place today; that was an honor to us all; not mentioning that you have helped my family escape a disaster. What Hero Ke just said, wouldn’t that make us look like outsiders?”
“I request the honorable guests to take a rest inside the hall,” Lu Guanying added. “Brother Guo, are you still in pain?”
“I am all right,” answered Guo Jing. At that moment the green-robed man came back along with Mei Chaofeng. They stood in front of the hall. Mei Chaofeng put her hands on her waist and shouted, “Guo Kid! You have used Hong Qigong’s ’18-dragon subduing palms’ to fight me. I am blind and could not see your moves. Mei Chaofeng did not care about life or death, victory or defeat; but if this matter were spread out in the Jianghu world, wouldn’t the reputation of my Benevolent Master of Peach Blossom Island be ruined? Come! Let us fight again!”
“I am not your match to begin with,” Guo Jing honestly answered. “I took advantage of your blindness to protect my own life. I have admitted defeat a while ago.”
“The ’18-dragon subduing palms’ have 18 moves,” Mei Chaofeng asked, “Why did you only use part of it?”
“Because I am not smart …” Guo Jing answered; Huang Rong had signaled him not to reveal his secret, but Guo Jing continued, “… Senior Hong taught me only 15 moves.”
“Very good!” Mei Chaofeng said. “You only know 15 moves yet you defeated Mei Chaofeng. Is that old man Hong Qigong really good? No! I can’t take it. We must fight again!”
Everybody felt strange; apparently Mei Chaofeng did not come back to avenge her husband, but to dispute Huang Yaoshi and Hong Qigong’s reputation.
Guo Jing was still calm. “Miss Huang is younger than I am, but I still am not her match, how could I be your match?” he said. “I have always admired Peach Blossom Island’s martial arts.”
“Mei Shijie,” Huang Rong interrupted. “What are you talking about? Who in the world can exceed Father’s martial art skill?
“No way! I must fight him again!” Mei Chaofeng insisted. Without waiting for Guo Jing to answer she stretched her claw toward him. Guo Jing could not hold himself much longer; he eluded the attack and said, “If that’s the case, I will ask Senior Mei to teach me some lessons.” Then he launched a strong counterattack.
Mei Chaofeng parried it by turning her claw out. “Use your silent moves!” she said, “You are not my match if you are using loud moves.”
Guo Jing leaped back several steps and said, “My First Master Ke’s eyes are not perfect. I loathe it if others bully him with silent moves. How could I use silent moves to bully you? I was injured by your poison and at that critical moment I inadvertently use a silent move. If we fight fair and square, frankly I am not your match.”
Mei Chaofeng could hear the sincerity in his voice, her heart was stirred. “This kid is kind hearted,” she thought. But she shouted, “I told you to use your silent moves. I have a way to counter it, why do you keep nagging like an old woman?”
Guo Jing looked at that strange green-robed man. “Could it be that he taught her how to cope with silent moves just now?” he thought. But because Mei Chaofeng insisted he did not have any choice but to comply. “Very well,” he finally said. “I will fight you another 15 moves.” He thought that by using the 15 out of 18 dragon subduing palms he might not win, but at least he could defend himself.
Guo Jing jumped to get closer to her, then continued by tiptoeing forward, slowly sent his palm to strike. But before his palm hit its target he heard a light sound and Mei Chaofeng’s turn her wrist to grab his hand. It was like her eyes were not blind at all. Guo Jing was surprised, he immediately pull his left palm and slid his body to the left to launch the [wading a wide creek] slowly.
His palm had only moved several inches when again he heard a light sound and Mei Chaofeng had already blocked his attack. Guo Jing retracted his palm a little bit slower that Mei Chaofeng’s fingernails swept very close to his face. He hastily leaped back and thought, “How could she know where my next attack would be?”
His third attack was his fiercest stance, the ‘kang long you hui’ [the proud dragon show remorse] but again, following a light sound Mei Chaofeng’s steel-like fingernails moved to grab his wrist. Guo Jing knew the secret must be on that light sound, so with his fourth move he stole a glance at that strange man. This time he was able to see that man flicked something to the air and that thing created a light sound.
“Ah, it really is him!” Guo Jing understood. “But how could he know where my next move will be? Hmmm … it was like the time when Huang Rong fought that old man Liang Ziwong; Hong Qigong had broken his attacks in advance. Now this man is using the same method to defeat me. All right, I’ll fight for the full 15 moves, and then I will admit defeat.”
Even though the stances of the ’18-dragon subduing palms’ did not change and Guo Jing did not learn the whole set, but his attacks were not light. However, Mei Chaofeng always knew in advance where his attack would go and sometimes she would move ahead of Guo Jing that instead of in the defensive, she was actually on the offensive.
Several moves later that strange man flicked three pebbles in succession. Mei Chaofeng was following the sound and launched three attacks one after another. Guo Jing was forced to elude one and only managed to parry the other two.
The fight was getting fiercer; the wind generated by their hands was getting stronger. Periodically the light sound of the pebble was heard. Huang Rong understood the situation was not favorable. She silently picked some debris from the floor and flicked them away. Some were just aimed at nothing in particular, trying to confuse Mei Chaofeng; some were aimed to hit the strange man’s pebbles down. But unexpectedly the man’s pebbles were amazing; they were not knocked down by Huang Rong’s debris, on the contrary, Huang Rong’s debris was knocked down while his pebbles kept flying. Hence his clues to Mei Chaofeng were not hindered.
Lu Chengfeng and his son, along with the Six Freaks were greatly amazed. “The strength from this man's fingers is amazing; how is he capable of giving the pebble this kind of force? Even an arrow would not create such a strong noise. If this pebble hits someone, wouldn’t that someone’s bones be shattered by it?” they thought.
By now Huang Rong had stopped her intervention. She stood and stared blankly at that strange man. In the meantime Guo Jing was starting to lose; Mei Chaofeng’s attacks became swifter and fiercer.
Suddenly two loud hums were heard; two pebbles flew from the strange man’s hand. The first one was slower than the latter one. The latter hit the first and two pebbles broke into pieces and flew to all directions. Mei Chaofeng took that opportunity to pounce on Guo Jing. He stumbled trying to avoid the attack. Remembering Nan Xiren’s advice, ‘da bu guo, tao!’ [if no match, run!] he turned around and ran away.
Out of the blue Huang Rong cried out, “Father!” And she rushed toward the strange man, threw herself at his bosom and loudly cried, “Father! Your face … what happened to your face …?” Nobody expected this, so the strange man stood still without saying anything.
Guo Jing turned around and saw Mei Chao Feng stood very close to him. She was trying to listen to the sound of the pebble. Guo Jing saw a very good opportunity and sent his right palm slowly toward her shoulder using only about 10% of his strength. But as soon as his palm hit, his left palm followed with a full strength. Mei Chao Feng was squarely hit by both palms and fell tumbling down; she was not able to stand back up.
Lu Chengfeng heard Huang Rong called that strange man her father; he was overwhelmed with joy and sorrow at the same time. He forgot his legs were lame and jumped toward the man, but fell face down on the floor.
The strange man let his left arm in Huang Rong’s embrace and lifted his right hand to slowly take off a thin mask from his face. He was wearing a genuine skin mask; no wonder his face was emotionless like that of a corpse. His true complexion was clear and good-looking, with a hint of sadness yet bore an aura of dignity around him; resembling an image of deity.
Huang Rong had not dried her tears yet she screamed in joy; snatched the mask and wore it on her own face while bouncing up and down and hugged that man’s neck, giggling incessantly. That man was indeed the Peach Blossom Island Master, Huang Yaoshi.
“Father, why did you come over here?” she asked, grinning from ear to ear. “That old man Qiu had said bad things about you. Why didn’t you teach him a lesson?”
“Why did I come?” Huang Yaoshi sternly asked. “I came looking for you!” Huang Rong was ecstatic, she clapped her hands and shouted, “Father! You are looking for me? Wonderful! That’s just wonderful!”
“What do you mean ‘wonderful’?” Huang Yaoshi asked. “Do you think it was wonderful to find a useless girl like you?”
Huang Rong felt bad. She knew after losing the second half of the Nine Yin Manual to his own disciple, Chen Xuanfeng and Mei Chaofeng, her father had determined to master the skill with his own intelligence. He once said that the Nine Yin Manual was created by a human being. If other man could create it, why wouldn’t he be able to re-create it? He then made a vow not to leave the Peach Blossom Island until he had mastered the skill. Unexpectedly his prodigal daughter had run away that he was forced to break his own vow and came looking for her.
“Father, I promise to be a good daughter and will listen to you from now on until the day I die,” Huang Rong solemnly promised.
Huang Yaoshi was very happy to find his daughter well; and now listening to her promise had put him in an excellent mood. “Help your Shijie to get up,” he said.
Huang Rong immediately complied. Lu Guanying also helped his father to kneel down in front of their Master. Huang Yaoshi sighed and said, “Lu Chengfeng, you are a good disciple. I was wrong to lose my temper and act rash by falsely accusing you.”
Lu Chengfeng was sobbing. “Master, are you well?” To which Huang Yaoshi replied, “Luckily I am not irritated to death.” Huang Rong looked at her father with a naughty look, “Father, you were not talking about me, were you?” Huang Yaoshi snorted and said, “You are part of it.”
Huang Rong stuck her tongue and diverted his attention. “Father, let me introduce you to my friends. These are the well-known heroes of the Jianghu, the Six Freaks of Jiangnan; Brother Jing’s Masters.”
Huang Yaoshi did not even look at them. “I don’t want to meet outsiders,” he said coldly. The Six Freaks was irritated by his arrogance, but since the man owned a god-like martial art, they kept their peace.
“Do you have anything you’d like to take home with you?” Huang Yaoshi asked his daughter. “Get them and let’s go home together.”
“Nothing,” Huang Rong answered with a smile. “But I do have something I need to give back to Martial Brother Lu.” She took out the Nine Flower Revealed Jade pills from her pocket and gave them back to Lu Chengfeng. “Lu Shige (Elder Martial Brother Lu), these pills are not easy to make. We have two pills from you and that’s enough.”
Lu Chengfeng waved his hand and said to Huang Yaoshi, “The disciple has seen the Benevolent Master today. I am extremely joyful. I want to present those pills to you. I wonder if you could stay for a while in my humble abode. I will be …”
“Is he your son?” Huang Yaoshi interrupted him, pointing toward Lu Guanying. “He is,” answered the disciple.
Lu Guanying did not wait for his father prompting. He immediately bent his knees and kowtowed several times and said, “Grand Martial Disciple pays his respect to Grand Martial Master.”
“It’s all right!” Huang Yaoshi said. Without bending his body he extended his left hand as if he was helping Guanying to stand up; but then unexpectedly his right hand struck Guanying’s shoulder.
Lu Chengfeng was shocked! “Master, he is my only son …” Huang Yaoshi’s palm was not light. Lu Guanying was thrown back seven, eight steps, then he fell face down on the floor.
“You are very good,” Huang Yaoshi told Lu Chengfeng. “You have not passed your skill to him. Is he a disciple of the ‘xian xia pai’ [immortal red clouds sect]?”
Lu Chengfeng was relieved to know his master was only testing his son’s martial art. “Your disciple did not dare to disobey our school’s rule. I did not dare to teach my skill to others without Benevolent Master’s permission. This child is indeed the disciple of ‘ku mu da shi’ [Reverend Dead Wood] of the ‘xian xia pai’.”
Huang Yaoshi sneered, “Kumu dare to call himself ‘Reverend’ [da shi could also mean ‘big/grand master’] with his skill? Your skill exceeds his a hundred fold. Starting tomorrow you will teach your own son. Xian Xia Pai’s martial arts do not hold a candle compared to ours.”
Lu Chengfeng was ecstatic, he hastily told his son, “Quick! Express your gratitude to the Grand Martial Master!” Lu Guanying immediately kowtowed some more to Huang Yaoshi. Huang Yaoshi lifted his head, completely ignoring Guan Ying.
Lu Chengfeng had learned martial art in the Peach Blossom Island; even though both his legs were lame he did not lose any skill pertaining to his upper body. He realized very well the superiority of his own school. He had seen it with his own eyes how hard Lu Guanying trained, yet his achievement was limited. He was really upset, but since he did not dare to violate his school’s rule, he had to restrain himself. And in order not to disappoint his son, he pretended he did not know martial arts at all. Now that his master had given him permission he knew his son’s martial art skill would improve in leaps and bounds; how could he be not happy? He wanted to say some grateful words, but he was choked.
Huang Yaoshi saw this, but he simply said, “Take this!” He waved his right hand and two sheets of paper gently flew toward Chengfeng. The distance between them was actually more than ten feet, but the papers flew gently like it was hand delivered to Chengfeng. This demonstration of energy was even more impressive than flicking pebbles, since the paper was flimsy and more difficult to throw. Everybody could not help but feeling very impressed.
Huang Rong was very happy, she quietly approached Guo Jing and asked, “Brother Jing, what do you think of my Father’s martial art?”
“Your Father’s martial art is superb,” Guo Jing answered. “Rong’er, as soon as you are home, you have to train diligently, don’t waste your time playing.”
“You are coming with us, aren’t you?” Huang Rong asked.
“I have to follow my Masters,” Guo Jing said. “I will look for you later.”
Huang Rong was anxious. “No! I don’t want to leave you.” Guo Jing grinned; he did not want to be separated from her either, but he knew they did not have much choice and was sad too.
Lu Chengfeng took the papers and examined them. He saw the papers were full of characters. Lu Guanying took a torch from a villager; he came close to his father and set the light for his father to read. Lu Chengfeng could see the papers were full of characters and symbols. They are instructions to train martial art; Huang Yaoshi’s own handwriting. He had not seen his master’s handwriting for twenty years, yet he recognized the Master’s handwriting was tall and straight, as elegant as he remembered it. On the right hand was the title, ‘xuan feng sao ye tui fa’ [sweeping leave whirlwind/tornado leg/kicking technique], six characters. Lu Chengfeng knew that the ‘xuan feng sao ye tui fa’ and ‘luo ying shen jian zhang’ (see previous part above) were his Master’s own ingeniously martial arts creation. None of his master’s six disciples had ever learned this leg technique. He imagined how delighted he must have been if he learned this technique then. But still, due to his master’s mercy he could teach this technique to his son even now. He was grateful. He put the papers into his pocket and bent down to express his gratitude.
“This set of leg technique is entirely different than the one you knew,” Huang Yaoshi said. “The external techniques remain, but the energy to drive the technique must be developed internally. You practice and meditate daily, if your progress is good, you will be able to walk without a cane within five or six years.”
Lu Chengfeng was emotional, all kind of feelings flowed in his heart.
“Your disability is permanent,” Huang Yaoshi added. “You won’t be able to fight relying on your legs technique; but if you diligently train this, you won’t have any problem walking like normal people. Oh …” He regretted that consumed with anger he had punished his four innocent disciples severely. In recent years he racked his brain to create the new ‘xuan feng sao ye tui fa’ with improved internal energy training method. His plan was to find his four disciples and bestowed this new technique that they would be able to walk again. Only he was too arrogant; even when his heart was full of regrets, his mouth was not willing to admit it. Therefore, although this leg technique was entirely a new creation of his, he still used the irrelevant old name; pretending he did not do anything wrong. After a while he continued, “Go look for your three other brothers, teach them this new technique.”
“Yes,” Lu Chengfeng answered. Then he added, “Qu Shidie (younger martial brother) and Feng Shidie’s whereabouts are unknown to me, but Wu Shidie had passed away many years ago.”
Huang Yaoshi felt a stab of pain in his heart; his eyes glistened. Then his penetrating gaze turned toward Mei Chaofeng. Luckily she was blind and could not see that, for the other people around her shuddered just looking at his gaze.
“Chaofeng,” he called icily. “You have been really wicked, but you also have suffered greatly. When that old man Qiu said I was dead, you shed tears and even wanted to seek revenge for me. Because of those tears I am willing to let you live a few more years.”
Not in a million years did Mei Chaofeng expect her master to forgive her that easy. She was delighted and quickly kowtowed. “All right, all right!” Huang Yaoshi said. Then he stretched his hand toward her back and tapped gently three times.
Mei Chaofeng suddenly felt a stabbing pain, which gradually became more intense that she almost passed out. With a trembling voice she begged, “Benevolent Master, your disciple deserve to die ten thousand times. I ask for your mercy to kill me right now, but please spare me from the ‘fu gu zhen’ [bone-penetrating needle].” She had heard for a long time from her husband that once their master’s ‘fu gu zhen’ entering their bodies, it would attach itself to the bone and slowly dispensing poison. Six times a day, following the circulation of the blood, the poison would cause an excruciating pain, but it would not kill immediately. It would take as long as twelve years for that person to die slowly from pain. The higher the person’s skill, the worse the effect of the poison would be. A normal person in pain would clench his/her teeth and exert energy trying to suppress it. But actually it was like satisfying a thirst by drinking poison, because the next attack would be more intense than the previous ones. As far as they knew it, there was no antidote for this poison.
Mei Chaofeng was desperate; she had entered a living hell, why would she want to live much longer? So frantically she shook her whip fiercely to take her own life. But Huang Yaoshi quickly stretched his hand and snatched the whip away. “Why are you anxious to die? It’s not that easy!” he coldly said.
Mei Chao Feng did not give up easily. “Master must have wanted to torture me, that was why he won’t allow me to die,” she thought. Unable to restrain her grief she turned toward Guo Jing and smiled sadly, “I have to thank you for killing my husband; that way that bastard husband of mine died an easy death.”
Huang Yaoshi ignored her remark and said, “This ‘fu gu zhen’ would work after a year. I’ll give you three assignments to do within this one-year period. Once you complete your assignments, come and see me at the Peach Blossom Island. I have a way to neutralize the poison.”
Mei Chaofeng’s hope was rekindled. “Your disciple will go through fire or water to accomplish whatever Master cares to assign to me.” But Huang Yaoshi coldly answered, “You haven’t heard what I have to say, yet you complied that quick?” Mei Chaofeng did not dare to answer, she only kowtowed.
“First, you have lost the Nine Yin Manual,” Huang Yaoshi continued. “You have to find it and give it back to me. If somebody else had laid eyes on it, you must kill that person. If there were a hundred people had seen it, kill all the hundred people. If you only kill ninety-nine, don’t even think of coming to see me.”
All who listened shuddered involuntarily. The Six Freaks of Jiang Nan thought, “Huang Yaoshi is known as the Eastern Heretic; his character is really evil.”
They heard him continued, “Your Qu, Lu, Wu and Feng, four martial brothers have endured suffering and hardships because of you. You are to find your brothers Lingfeng and Mofeng, and find out if Mianfeng had left behind any family. You are to take them all to this ‘gui yun zhuang’ [Cloud Manor] and let your brother Chengfeng to take care of them. This is your second assignment.”
Mei Chaofeng nodded her head repeatedly. Lu Chengfeng thought, “I could manage this.” But knowing his master’s temperament he did not dare to say anything.
Huang Yaoshi raised his head, looking at the starry sky above and slowly said, “You have taken the Nine Yin Manual voluntarily. I did not teach you nor did I tell you to practice it. You know what to do.” He paused for a moment then said, “This is the third.”
Mei Chaofeng was silent for a moment; she did not fully grasp her master’s intention. After pondering in her heart she suddenly understood. With a trembling voice she said, “After I have completed the first two assignments, your disciple knows how to get rid of the ‘jiu yin bai gu zhua’ and ‘cui xin zhang’ I have learned.”
Guo Jing did not understand; he pulled Huang Rong’s sleeve and signaling her with his eyes, asking for an explanation. Huang Rong’s countenance was sad, she lifted her right hand and made a chopping action toward her left arm. Guo Jing finally understood, “Oh, she is going to chop her own arms.” His mind kept wandering, “This Mei Chaofeng is really wicked, but she repented. Why is the punishment so harsh? I need to talk to Rong’er; perhaps we can ask her father’s forgiveness.”
While he was still thinking, Huang Yaoshi beckoned him to come and asked, “Your name is Guo Jing?” Guo Jing stepped forward and paid an obeisance. “Disciple Guo Jing at Senior Huang’s service.”
“You are the one who killed my disciple Chen Xuanfeng, aren’t you? Your skill must be extraordinary, ha?” Huang Yaoshi said.
Guo Jing understood his sarcasm; his heart turned cold. “I was very young and ignorant. Senior Chen seized me up; I was scared and panic. I had injured him inadvertently.”
Huang Yaoshi snorted and coldly said, “Chen Xuanfeng was indeed my rebellious disciple; but it was our right to punish him. How could a disciple of Peach Blossom Island be punished by an outsider?” Guo Jing was dumbstruck.
Huang Rong quickly came to his rescue. “Father, he was only six, what did he know?” Huang Yaoshi did not like what he heard; he continued, “The old man Hong usually did not take disciple, and he was very proud of his ’18-dragon subduing palms’; but he had taught you 15 moves, you must have something good in you. If not, you must have sweet-talked him into teaching you. You have defeated my disciple with his skill; next time he sees me, I bet he would boast to no end.”
“Father, the sweet talk part was indeed true,” Huang Rong said with a smile. “But it was not he, it was I. He is just an honest kid. Your words were too hard, you have scared him.”
After he lost his wife, Huang Yaoshi was very fond of his daughter. In fact, he was too lenient to her that she was spoilt. That day he scolded her and she immediately ran away from home. He thought being a spoilt kid, after wandering the Jianghu for a while Huang Rong would be destitute and was in bad condition. Who would have thought that she was not thin and pale, but was tender and beautiful as ever? Then he saw her intimacy with Guo Jing; how she was always trying to protect him. Secretly he was jealous because she had never shown the same affection to her father. His jealousy turned to anger. He ignored his daughter and said to Guo Jing, “By teaching you the old Beggar obviously did not hold me in high regard. He let you defeat Mei Chaofeng; he thought my disciples are a whole bunch of nobodies …”
Huang Rong understood that her father was upset because Chaofeng was defeated by the ’18-dragon subduing palms’. She hurriedly said, “Who says the Peach Blossom Island disciples are nobody? He was lucky because Mei Shijie’s eyes are blind, what’s so special about that? If they were fighting fair and square, he would be defeated a long time ago. Let your daughter proves it to you.” She jumped out and called Guo Jing, “Come! Let me use the skills my Father taught me to fight Hong Qigong’s special skill.”
She knew by that time both Guo Jing and she had improved tremendously. They were more or less equally matched. She thought that as long as they could fight fairly for about a hundred moves her father would be satisfied. Guo Jing understood her intention; besides, Huang Yaoshi did not say anything, so he agreed and said, “You are always superior to me. All right, I will let you beat me up a couple more times.” And he immediately walked to Huang Rong.
“Watch out!” Huang Rong called out. Her hand swept horizontally with a gust of wind, it was the ‘yu ji feng kuang’ [heavy rain fierce wind] from the ‘luo ying shen jian zhang’. Guo Jing immediately counterattacked using the ’18-dragon subduing palms’. However, he was very fond of Huang Rong; hence did not use his full strength. Unfortunately, the ’18-dragon subduing palms’ relied heavily on strong internal energy; in term of palm technique, it could not be compared to the exquisite moves of ‘luo ying shen jian zhang’. So after several moves he was beaten several times by Huang Rong’s fist. Huang Rong on the other hand, knew that Guo Jing was strong and resilient, so to appease her father she used her full strength. “Aren’t you going to admit defeat now?” she called out loudly. Her mouth said those words, but her hands did not stop beating him.
Huang Yaoshi sneered, “What kind of acrobatic show are you demonstrating?” Nobody saw him moved, but suddenly he was near the two, stretched both hands to grab and throw them away. Although the movements were similar, actually he only flung his daughter to the side, while his right arm threw Guo Jing at full strength. His intention was obvious, he wanted Guo Jing to roll around on the ground. However, although Guo Jing was not able to resist the throw, he was able to turn his body midair, that when he landed, he did not fall down, but stood firmly on the ground. His face was pale and was about to throw up.
Instead of praising his skill, Huang Yaoshi’s anger flamed. “I don’t have any disciple to fight you. Come! Let me take your few stances.”
Guo Jing hastily bowed and said, “Even if I have courage as high as the sky I still would not dare to fight Senior.”
Huang Yaoshi sneered. “Humph, fight me?” He coldly said. “You are not my match, kid! Tell you what, I will stand still here, you attack me with your ’18-dragon subduing palms’; if I ever move or raise my hand to parry, you win.”
“Disciple still does not dare,” Guo Jing said.
“I don’t care! Dare or not, you have to fight me!” Huang Yaoshi said.
Guo Jing did not know what to do. “I don’t have any choice; I’d better hit him several times, I think he is going to borrow my own strength to shake me up. So what if I have to fall some more times?” he thought.
Huang Yaoshi saw him hesitating, but his face had shown his willingness to try. So he urged him, “Quickly hit me! If not, I am going to hit you!”
“Since Senior commanded me to, I would not dare to disobey,” Guo Jing said. He bent his body and moved his hand in a circling motion, launching the ‘kang long you hui’. He was afraid he might injure Huang Yaoshi; also, he worried that if he used his full strength the counterattack would be fierce; therefore, he used only 60% of his strength. His palm struck Huang Yaoshi’s chest; but to his surprise his palm slid like the chest was slick with oil. “Why, you didn’t even want to hit me,” Huang Yaoshi mocked. “Do you think I cannot take the overwhelming power of the ’18-dragon subduing palms’? Is that it?”
“Disciple did not dare,” Guo Jing answered. Then he launched his second move, the ‘huo yue zai yuan’ [leaping the abyss(?)]. This time he did not restrain anything. Exhaling his breath his left palm lunged toward Huang Yaoshi’s throat, his right palm swiftly moved in front of the left, went straight to Huang Yaoshi’s lower abdomen.
“Now you are fighting,” Huang Yaoshi said. Hong Qigong had taught Guo Jing to train this stance against a pine tree. The tree needs to be held still, then Guo Jing was supposed to hit it with a sudden movement. Only then did he manage to break the tree. He had practiced this stance thousand of times. But as soon as his palm touched Huang Yaoshi’s clothes he felt Huang Yaoshi’s abdomen shrunk and his palm was sucked in real hard that he felt pain because his own joint was dislocated. He immediately leaped back several feet. His hand was limp.
The Six Freaks of Jiangnan saw Huang Yaoshi’s body did not move, nor did he lifted a hand to parry; yet he was capable of dislocating Guo Jing’s wrist. They were amazed, but also worried.
“You have to also receive my palm!” suddenly Huang Yaoshi shouted, “Let you know which one is superior, the Old Beggar’s ’18-dragon subduing palms’ or my Peach Blossom Island’s martial arts.” Before he finished speaking a gust of wind had already blown toward Guo Jing. He endured his pain and jumped to avoid the attack. Unexpectedly Huang Yaoshi did not continue his palm but swept his legs instead. Guo Jing came tumbling down.
Huang Rong was alarmed. “Father, no!” she cried, and quickly jumped forward and bent down to protect him.
Huang Yaoshi did not stop; he simply changed his fist to an open palm. He grabbed his daughter’s vest and lifter her up, while his left fist went straight toward Guo Jing.
The Six Freaks of Jiang Nan realized that if Guo Jing got hit, he would certainly die or at least suffer a very heavy injury. They moved at once. Quan Jinfa was the first. He struck Huang Yaoshi’s left arm with his steel balance arm. Huang Yaoshi calmly put his daughter aside; waved both hands casually and that steel balance arm changed direction; striking the long sword in the hand of Han Xiaoying. Both the balance arm and the sword broke into four pieces.
“Master … !” Lu Chengfeng called out. He wanted to ask his master to stop, but knowing his master’s temperament well, he did not dare to continue.
Huang Rong cried. “Father, kill him!” she shouted. “You will never see me again.” Without further ado she ran out toward the Tai Lake and leaped into the water.
Huang Yaoshi was surprised, then angry. He knew his daughter was very good in water. She used to swim and dive in the ‘tang hay’ [East China Sea]; playing with fish and turtles. Sometime she went swimming for a whole day. But this time he was not sure when he would be able to see her again. So he ran toward the lake to try to grab her, but he was too late. Huang Rong had already vanished in the dark water. Huang Yaoshi stared blankly on the lakeshore.
After a long while he turned his head and saw Zhu Cong was mending Guo Jing’s wrist. His anger flared and he wanted to vent his frustration toward this people. “You seven people! Quickly kill yourselves and save me the trouble,” he coldly said.
Ke Zhen’E wielded his iron staff in front of his chest and proudly said, “Real men do not fear death. Do you think we are afraid of suffering?” Zhu Cong also said, “The Six Freaks of Jiangnan have returned to our hometown. If our bones can be buried here in the Lake Tai, what more could we want?” The six unsheathed their weapons or readied their bare hands and assume the battle formation.
Guo Jing thought hard. “My six masters do not have enmity with this man. They will only give up their lives in vain. How could I let them be in the harm’s way?” he said in his heart. He quickly jumped forward. “Chen Xuanfeng died in my hand! It has nothing to do with my masters! I will pay his life with mine!” But then he had another thought, “The First Master, Third Master and Seventh Master are hot-tempered. If they see me losing my life, they will surely fight to their deaths. I have to stall. I must deal with him later, alone.” He boldly positioned himself between Huang Yaoshi and the Six.
“My only regret is that my father’s death has not been avenged. I beseech Senior to give me a month grace period. After 30 days I will personally come to the Peach Blossom Island to give up my life there,” he fearlessly said.
Huang Yaoshi’s anger has subsided by now; plus, he was worried about his daughter. He lost his appetite to fight. So he waved his hand casually and walked away.
Everybody was surprised; how did Guo Jing’s simple speech could send him off just like that? They were suspicious that he was playing a trick; so they kept their eyes open wide in full alert. But after waiting a while Huang Yaoshi still did not come back.
After a while Lu Chengfeng regained his composure and invited everybody to go back to the hall for some rest.
Mei Chaofeng suddenly laughed; waving her sleeves and then turned around and leaped outside. Before long she had vanished in the dark.
“Mei Shijie!” Lu Chengfeng called out, “Take your disciple with you!”
But the darkness swallowed his voice. Mei Chaofeng had already gone far.
End of Chapter 14
1 Attachment(s)
Chapter 15 – The Divine Dragon Swings Its Tail
He saw in front of her two clay figurines, one resembling a man, the other a woman. These figurines were made in the famous Wuxi city; they were round, fat and really cute. In front of the figurines sat tiny clay bowls filled with flower petals, leaves, and so on.
(Translated by Foxs, Edited by Eliza Bennet, with special thanks to Sunnysnow)
A moment later Lu Guanying remembered their other guests; he helped Wanyan Kang to stand up but he could not move because his acupoints were still sealed; only his two eyes were rolling.
“I have accepted your Master’s request, you may go,” Lu Chengfeng said. He did not want to unseal the acupoints, since it was somebody else outside his school who did that. If he did, he would act in disrespect toward other people. Therefore, he cast his glance toward his guests. But before he even said anything Zhu Cong had come toward Wanyan Kang and hit several times on his waist, and tapped some more on his back; unsealed the acupoints.
Lu Chengfeng was impressed. “This Wanyan Kang’s martial art is not weak, yet this man was able to seal his acupoints without any resistance. His martial art must be good,” he thought. What he did not know was that Zhu Cong took advantage of the commotion because of the collapsed roof that Wanyan Kang did not even realize what was happening.
Wanyan Kang was ashamed; he turned his back and walked away without saying anything. Zhu Cong saw the Jin officer was still lying around; he unsealed his acupoints and called out, “Who is this officer? Take him away.”
Thai officer had thought that he was going to die; but unexpectedly he was released. He was delighted and busily kowtowed, “Valiant Hero … thank you so much for saving my lowly life. Duan Tiande will not forget it as long as I live. Next time when you visit the capital, please make sure you stop by my residence, I will be at your service with all my heart …”
Guo Jing heard the three characters ‘Duan Tiande’; his ears were buzzing. With a trembling voice he asked, “You … your name is Duan Tiande?”
“That’s right,” answered Duan Tiande. “Duan Tiande at your service, Young Hero.”
“Eighteen years ago, were you serving as a military officer in Lin An?” Guo Jing asked.
“How did the Young Hero know?” Duan Tiande asked; and then he remembered Lu Chengfeng mentioned that Lu Guanying was a disciple of Reverend Kumu; he turned his head to Lu Guanying and said, “I am Reverend Kumu’s nephew, only I did not attend the monastery. I say we belong to the same family. Ha … ha …!” He laughed merrily.
Guo Jing looked at him strangely but did not say anything. Meanwhile Duan Tiande was still smiling happily. After a while Guo Jing regained his composure and turned his head to Lu Chengfeng. “Village Master Lu, may I please borrow your courtyard for a moment?” he asked.
“Sure, use it as you wish,” Lu Chengfeng answered.
Guo Jing took Duan Tiande’s arm and led him to the courtyard in big strides. The Six Freaks of Jiangnan were having mixed feeling; they thought the heaven indeed have eyes. If he did not say his own name, they would not have known he was the person they have been looking for these past seven years and tens of thousands miles.
Lu Chengfeng and his son, along with Wanyan Kang followed behind. They had no idea what Guo Jing was about to do.
The courtyard was bright with the torches in the village servants’ hands. Guo Jing requested the use of some writing instruments, which the servants also quickly provided. Guo Jing then turned to Zhu Cong.
“Second Master,” he requested, “Would you please write down my father’s name?” To which Zhu Cong complied. He wrote in large letters, ‘Guo yi shi Xiaotian zhi ling wei’ [memorial tablet for the righteous warrior Guo Xiaotian] and placed it on the center table.
When he was taken out of the hall, Duan Tiande thought they were going to enjoy some refreshments; but as soon as he saw the name ‘Guo Xiaotian’ his blood was drained out of his body. He looked around, and found the Six Freaks of Jiangnan have taken their position surrounding him. He was especially wary of Han Baoju with his short and stout stature; involuntarily his pants were wet. That day when he took Guo Jing’s mother to the north with the Seven Freaks of Jiangnan hot on his trail, he stopped by an inn for the night. He heard a commotion and took a peek via a crack in the door. He saw Han Baoju. Han’s short and stout stature was not easily forgettable. Earlier that day they have met in the hall, but since he was a prisoner, he was more worry about his own fate that he did not pay too much attention on everybody else. But now under the bright torch light it was impossible to mistake Han Baoju as someone else.
Guo Jing smashed a table and loudly shouted, “Now tell me, do you want a quick and easy death, or do you want me to chop your body into thousand pieces before killing you?”
Duan Tiande knew he was not going to see another day. He scrambled to find something; anything to save his life. “Your father the chivalrous hero Guo’s death was unfortunate; and I did have a small role in his death, but … what could I do as a lowly officer against the higher authority?” he stammered.
“Who was that? Who sent you to harm my father? Quick, say it!” Guo Jiang shouted.
“It was the Sixth Prince of the Great Jin, Prince Wanyan Honglie,” Duan Tiande said.
“What did you say?” Wanyan Kang was startled.
At this point all Duan Tiande could think of was if he was going down, he wanted to drag other people with him. Who knows? He might get away with his crime. Therefore, without concealing anything he narrated how Wanyan Honglie was infatuated with Yang Tiexin’s wife, Bao Xiruo; how he conspired with Song authority to kill Yang Tiexin while Wanyan Honglie would pretend to be the good guy who rescued Bao Xiruo; how they ransacked Ox Village and ended up killing Guo Xiaotian; how Duan Tiande then took Guo Jing’s mother to Beijing, and then they joined the Jin envoy to the Mongolia; how during the chaotic time in Mongolia he got separated from Guo Jing’s mother; how he decided to go back to Lin An, and worked diligently as a career soldier and finally got promoted to his current position. He ended his story by kneeling in front of Guo Jing.
“Young Hero Guo, Guo Da Ren [‘honorable’ – someone in high position],” he said. “Please do not blame your lowly servant. I saw how chivalrous your father was, how solemn his expression was; I wanted to befriend him, only … only … your lowly servant was a very low ranking officer, I must obey orders. It was useless for me to have a good intention. Heaven is my witness, how I, Duan Tiande, did not have any enmity toward anybody …” He saw Guo Jing expression did not change a bit and did not say anything either; so he quickly scoot over to the table and kneeled in front of Guo Xiaotian’s memorial. “Master Guo,” he continued. “I am sure your spirit in heaven is very clear that it was the Sixth Prince Wanyan Honglie who killed you, and not this lowly creature in front of you. Today I witnessed your son to be an extraordinary young man, your spirit must have been very proud of him. I pray with your blessing he will forgive a lowly dog like me …”
While he was still babbling, Wanyan Kang swiftly leaped, struck with both hands and shattered his skull. He collapsed and died instantly.
Guo Jing kneeled in front of the table, sobbing uncontrollably. Only now did Lu Chengfeng understand the real story, so along with his son and the Six Freaks of Jiangnan they bowed to pay their respect in front of Guo Xiaotian’s memorial. Wanyan Kang also kneeled and kowtowed several times. Then he stood up and said, “Brother Guo, only today I know that … that Wanyan Honglie is our archenemy. Little Brother did not realize it and had committed many-many unrespectable actions, more like heinous crimes.” And then he remembered his mother’s suffering and wept bitterly.
“What are you going to do then?” Guo Jing lifted his head and asked.
“Little Brother found out today, that my surname is actually ‘Yang’, the name ‘Wanyan’ does not have anything to do with me. From now on, I will be called ‘Yang Kang’,” Wanyan Kang answered.
“Good!” Guo Jing exclaimed. “Finally you are a real man who does not forget your own origin. I am going to Beijing tomorrow to kill Wanyan Honglie. Are you coming with me or not?”
Yang Kang still remembered Wanyan Honglie’s kindness in raising him since his childhood; he hesitated for a moment. But seeing Guo Jing’s stern expression he hastily answered, “Little Brother will accompany Big Brother to seek revenge.”
Guo Jing was delighted. “Good! You know that our late parents had become sworn bothers, and my mother told me that they have made a pact to make us sworn brothers too. What do you say?”
“That is precisely my wish,” answered Yang Kang. So they asked each other their age, and turned out Guo Jing was born two months before Yang Kang was. They kneeled in front of Guo Xiaotian’s memorial, bowed eight times toward each other and became sworn brothers.
With everything under control, they turned in to take some rest in the Cloud Village. Early the next morning the Six Freaks, Guo Jing and Yang Kang bade farewell to the Village Master Lu and his son. The Village Master presented each guest with generous amount of money as a farewell gift to cover the traveling expense.
Leaving the village Guo Jing said to his six Masters, “Disciple and Brother Yang are going north to kill Wanyan Honglie. I am asking Masters to give me some advice.”
“The mid-autumn festival is still weeks away, while we do not have anything pressing to do. I think we’d better accompany you to take care of this important business,” Ke Zhen’E said. Zhu Cong and the rest voiced their approval.
“Your kindness toward disciple is as heavy as a mountain. Wanyan Honglie martial art is mediocre. With Brother Yang’s help, I am sure killing him will not be a difficult task. For your disciple’s sake Masters have left Jiangnan for more than ten years. Now that you are back in your hometown, your disciple doest not dare to trouble Masters for my personal business.”
The Six Freaks thought Guo Jing was very reasonable; also, they have seen it with their own eyes how Guo Jing’s martial art had improved tremendously. Hence they did not press on and one by one they gave their blessing to him.
Finally Han Xiaoying said, “On the matter of Peach Blossom Island, I don’t think you should go.” She knew Guo Jing was uprightly honest while that Huang Yaoshi was hot-tempered and strangely cruel. If Guo Jing went to the Peach Blossom Island chances were he would meet some unfortunate events.
“If disciple did not go, wouldn’t that mean I break my promise to him?” Guo Jing asked.
“When dealing with a monster we don’t have to have a good faith,” Yang Kang countered. “Big Brother, I think you adhere too rigidly to old-fashioned value and tradition.”
Ke Zhen’E snorted and said, “Jing’er, as a chivalrous hero we have to keep what we say. Today is the fifth day of the sixth month, we will meet again on the first day of the seventh month at the ‘zui xian lou’ [drunken deity wine shop – actually, ‘lou’ means a building with more than one story] at Jiaxing [in modern day Zhejiang], then we will go to Peach Blossom Island together. Now you’d better rush to Beijing to seek revenge, riding your red horse. You don’t have to always be with your younger brother. If you can achieve your goal, that would be great. If not, we can always look for Quan Zhen Sect’s priests to help us kill the traitor. Their righteousness is as heavy as the mountain, they certainly will not turn down our request.”
Guo Jing could comprehend his First Master’s love toward him by willing to go with him in dangerous situation. His heart was overwhelmed and he kneeled and kowtowed respectfully.
“Your younger brother came from a rich and honorable family, you must be careful,” Nan Xiren reminded him. Guo Jing did not understand, he only looked at his master. Han Xiaoying smiled, “You don’t understand your Fourth Master’s words. It’s OK. You will understand later. Just be careful at all times,” she said. “Yes,” Guo Jing said.
Zhu Cong smiled, “Huang Yaoshi’s daughter is actually very different from her father,” he said. “We’d better not provoke her anymore, wouldn’t we, Third Brother?”
Han Baoju twitched his moustache. “This little brat scolded me short as a winter melon, she thinks herself pretty?” Speaking thus he could not restrain his smile.
Guo Jing knew his masters no longer bear any grudge toward Huang Rong; he was delighted. But when he remembered her whereabouts were unknown, he couldn’t help but feeling depressed.
“Jing’er,” Quan Jinfa said, “The sooner you leave, the sooner you will be back. We will wait patiently in Jiaxing.” With that the Six Freaks of Jiangnan headed south.
Guo Jing held his red horse’s rein, following his masters with his eyes until he no longer could see them. Then he turned his head toward Yang Kang. “My ‘xiandie’ [lit. worthy younger brother], this red horse of mine is extremely fast; we can go to Beijing and back within ten days. What do you say I accompany you spending several days looking around?” Yang Kang agreed. Two young men mounted the horse and walked slowly to the north.
Yang Kang sighed with a heavy feeling. Only a month ago he lived a luxurious life. He came to Jiangnan with a great company as a special emissary of the Great Jin, with all the power and prestige that came with it. But now? He was traveling back to the capital quietly, with nobody pampered him along the way. It was like he was having a pleasant dream and suddenly woke up to the harsh reality of life. Even Guo Jing would not necessarily take him along to kill Wanyan Honglie; which made him more distressed. He contemplated on giving a warning to Wanyan Honglie, but could not make up his mind about it.
Guo Jing noticed his grim expression, but thought that he was mourning the death of his parents, so Guo Jing tried to console him.
Around noon they arrived in Li Yang and straightway tried to find a restaurant for some refreshments. Out of the blue somebody who looked like a restaurant worker came approaching. “Are you two gentlemen Mr. Guo and Mr. Yang?” he bowed and asked, smiling widely. “The table is ready, please come with me to dine.”
Guo Jing and Yang Kang were baffled. “How did you know us?” Yang Kang asked.
“Earlier a guest arrived and asked us to prepare a meal for you. I was even given a detailed description on how Mr. Guo and Mr. Yang look,” he said, still with a smile on his face. He then took over the horses’ reins and led them to the stable.
Yang Kang snorted and cynically said, “The Cloud Village Master Lu is so kind.” They entered the restaurant and sat down. Turned out the food was exquisite, the wine was superb. Guo Jing even found some chicken that he liked very much. They ate to their hearts’ content and were about to pay the bill; but the restaurant worker simply smiled and said, “No need to pay gentlemen, everything has been taken care of.” Yang Kang laughed and tipped him generously. He thanked them profusely and walked them out the restaurant, bowing and smiling all the time.
Guo Jing praised the Village Master Lu’s generosity. Yang Kang however, still bore a grudge because he was captured and held prisoner. “I assume he uses this trick to befriend the Jianghu people; no wonder he can be the leader of the Lake Tai area,” he said.
“Isn’t Village Master Lu your martial uncle?” Guo Jing wondered.
“It’s true that Mei Chaofeng had taught me some martial arts,” Yang Kang answered. “But that doesn’t necessarily make her my master. If I had known they came from a heretical sect, I would not want to learn anything and I wouldn’t have to fall into this situation right now.”
“How so?” Guo Jing was confused.
Yang Kang realized he had made an indiscreet remark. He blushed and said with a smile, “Little Brother feels the ‘nine yin white bone claw’ and her other martial arts are unorthodox.”
Guo Jing concurred. “What my xiandie said was correct. Your master, Priest Eternal Spring’s martial art is exquisite, and he came from the orthodox Taoist school. If you tell him the truth and repent, I am sure he would be willing to forget past matters.” Yang Kang silently agreed.
That evening they arrived at Jin Tan. Again, another restaurant worker welcomed them and led them to a table full of choice foods and wine. This happened for the next three days. The next day the two crossed a river and arrived at Gao You and received the same welcome. Yang Kang sneered and said, “I want to see how far the Cloud Village will extend their hospitality.” However, Guo Jing was started to get suspicious; every time they eat, he would find one or two bowls of his favorite food. If it were Lu Guanying, how would he know what Guo Jing liked?
After they finished eating Guo Jing proposed, “My xiandie, let me walk ahead and investigate.” Mounting his red horse he hastily rode ahead, passing three scheduled stops and soon arrived at Bao Ying. Sure enough, nobody welcomed him there. So Guo Jing found the biggest inn in town and checked in at the best room. That evening he heard a horse with loud ringing bells galloping near, and stopped right in front of the inn. Somebody entered and ordered some foods scheduled for tomorrow, for Mr. Guo and Mr. Yang.
Guo Jing had guessed earlier it must be Huang Rong, but hearing her voice he was overjoyed nonetheless. He restrained himself from coming out to see her. He thought Huang Rong liked to play around, so he would surprise her later that evening. He slept soundly until about the second hour [I am not sure the corresponding time in our 24 hours system], quietly got up and went tiptoeing to scare Huang Rong in her room. But he saw a shadow flashing on the roof; it was Huang Rong. “Where is she going in the middle of the night?” Guo Jing wondered.
Quickly he used his lightness kungfu and followed behind. Huang Rong ran without looking around to the outskirt of town; oblivious that somebody was following her. She stopped at the bank of a small creek and sat underneath a willow tree. She took something out of her pocket and stooping down to play with it.
The moonlight shone on her beautiful face, a cool breeze swayed the willow branches. Huang Rong’s clothes gently fluttered. The creek whispered softly and the insect chirped quietly. It was a beautiful scene to behold. Guo Jing was about to come near when suddenly he heard Huang Rong quietly said, “This is Brother Jing, this one is Rong’er. You two sit down nicely face-to-face. Yes, like this …”
Guo Jing tiptoed behind her. He could not see clearly under the dim moonlight, but he saw in front of her were two clay figurines, one resembled a man, the other a woman. These figurines were made by the famous Wu Xi; they were round and fat, really cute. During their stay at the Cloud Village Guo Jing had learned from Huang Rong that although mere toys, Wu Xi’s products were the result of a very high quality craftsmanship. The locals called them ‘da a fu’ [big lucky]. Huang Rong owned several such figurines at the Peach Blossom Island.
Guo Jing came nearer and saw in front of the figurines there were tiny clay bowls filled with flower petals, leaves, and so on. He heard her saying softly, “Brother Jing can eat this bowl, Rong’er will have this one. Rong’er cooked them herself. Aren’t they delicious?”
“Delicious, very delicious!” Guo Jing stepped out and said.
Huang Rong was startled. She turned her head and smiled sweetly; rushed toward Guo Jing’s bosom and hugged him tightly. They sat shoulder-to-shoulder underneath the willow tree busily talking about what had happened during their few days of separation, which felt like years to them. Actually it was Huang Rong who busily talked, Guo Jing was content by simply looking at her face and listening to her chatter.
Huang Rong told him how that night after her father threatened Guo Jing’s life she had jumped into the lake. After hiding for some time she figured out her father must have left, so she came back to the village. She saw Guo Jing was safe and sound, so she was greatly comforted; but recalling how she had been too harsh to her father she felt really bad. The next morning she saw Guo Jing and Yang Kang heading north to Beijing, thereupon she preceded them and arranged for meals along the way.
They talked all through the night under the warm sixth month’s weather. The weather was pleasant and Huang Rong’s heart was happy; after a while she became sleepy, her speech became fuzzy and not too long afterward felt asleep on Guo Jing’s bosom; her jade-white skin felt cool and her breath blowing softly. Guo Jing was afraid he might awaken her, so he sat motionless against the willow tree and after a while he dozed off.
Guo Jing did not know how long he was sleeping, but by the time he opened his eyes he could hear the birds chirping merrily and he smelled the sweet fragrance of the wild flowers. The sun was rising; but Huang Rong was still asleep. Her eyebrows creased, her complexion ruddy, her smile graceful; looked like she was having a sweet dream.
“Let her sleep a bit longer; I must not make any noise,” Guo Jing thought. He looked like he was counting her long eyelashes when suddenly a voice was heard, coming from about twenty feet to his left.
“I have found out the Eldest Miss Cheng’s room; it is on the second floor of the building surrounded by flower garden behind the Tong Ren pawnshop,” that voice said.
“Good! We will work tonight,” another voice replied, it sounded like an older man. Both men spoke in low voice, but in the quietness of the morning Guo Jing could hear every single word clearly. He was startled; they sounded like some ‘cai hua yin zei’ [lit. flower picking thief – serial rapist], naturally he could not let them do all kinds of evil things.
Suddenly Huang Rong opened her eyes; she leaped out of Guo Jing’s bosom and called out, “Brother Jing, catch me!” She ran toward a big tree. Initially Guo Jing was perplexed, but Huang Rong kept beckoning him to come. Finally he understood. They were pretending to be a young couple playing hide-and-seek in the morning. He pursued her while laughing and joking loudly, intentionally made his footsteps heavy to conceal his lightness kungfu.
Those two men were not expecting anybody else to be around that early in the morning. They were startled, but upon seeing a young man and a young woman noisily playing, their suspicion vanished. However, they did not continue talking and left immediately.
Huang Rong and Guo Jing could see their backs. They were dressed in rags, looked like they were beggars.
“Brother Jing, what do you think they are going to do to that Eldest Miss Cheng?” Huang Rong asked after they have walked far enough.
“Most likely not a good thing,” Guo Jing answered. “Do you think we should help her?”
“That’s for sure,” Huang Rong answered with a smile. “Only I don’t know if they belong to Hong Qigong’s clan or not?”
“I don’t think so,” Guo Jing said. “But then Qigong said that all beggars under the heaven are in his care … Hmm … perhaps those two are impostors.”
“There are tens of thousands beggars in the world, certainly some of them have turned bad. I don’t care how good Qigong is, he would not be able to manage each and every one of them. Looks like these two are the bad ones. Qigong has been so kind to us that it is impossible to ever repay him. I think Qigong will like it if we help him to take care of these bad ones.”
“You are right,” Guo Jing agreed. Even though he was a little bit tired, the thought of repaying Qigong’s kindness lifted his spirit up.
“These two men’s bare legs were covered with boils. I am sure they are not fake, so these two were real beggars. Other people could not disguise themselves like that,” Huang Rong said.
“You really are very observant,” Guo Jing admired.
The young couple went back to town for some breakfast, then they walked idly down the street toward the west end of town. There they saw a very big pawnshop with large characters painted on the white wall, ‘Tong Ren Pawnshop’ four characters, with each character taller than an average man. Behind the shop was a garden, and in the middle was a two-story building. There was a dark green bamboo curtain covering a big window on the second floor. Guo Jing and Huang Rong looked at each other and smiled. Hand in hand they walked away to play elsewhere.
After dinner that evening they retreated to their respective room for some rest and meditation. About one o’clock at night they ran toward the western part of the town; leaped up the garden fence and saw the dark shadow of the big building. Silently they climbed to the roof and swung their bodies down from the eaves. It was a summer night, so the window was open. They looked around the big room and to their surprise there were seven young girls, all about 18, 19 years of age. One beautiful looking girl was sitting next to a lamp, reading. They thought she must be Miss Cheng. The other six dressed as servant girls, all holding unsheathed weapons in their hands; they looked so stern yet graceful, obviously they knew martial arts.
Guo Jing and Huang Rong initially intended to help this young woman, but seeing she was well prepared they thought they would wait and see. So quietly the climbed back to the roof and waited.
Not too long they heard a faint cry from outside the wall. Huang Rong immediately pulled Guo Jing and they looked down to see two shadows leaping the wall and walked toward the building. The shadows looked like the two beggars they met earlier. One of the beggars whistled softly; to which a servant girl opened the curtain and asked, “Have the hero brothers from the Beggar Clan arrived? Please come up.” The two beggars leaped up and entered the room.
In the darkness outside Guo Jing and Huang Rong looked at each other in surprised. Earlier they thought that as soon as the beggars arrived there would be some fighting or something interesting; who would have thought that they knew each other?
Miss Cheng immediately stood up, paid her respect and uttered some pleasantries. “Would you tell me your honorable names, please?” she asked.
“My surname is Li,” the older beggar answered, “And this is my martial nephew Yu Zhao.”
“So you are Senior Li and Elder Brother Yu,” Miss Cheng said. “The valiant heroes of the Beggar Clan always hold justice; and are admired by the people of the martial arts worlds. It really is an honor to me, young disciple to finally meet two revered role models. Please, sit down.” Although what she said was common Jianghu pleasantries, but her facial expression was shy. She paused a lot in between sentences; which showed she was not used to this kind of talk. She said ‘admired by the people of the martial arts worlds’ with sincerity, but sounded like she was not sure what she was talking about. When she finished speaking her head hung low and her face completely blushed.
Shyly she looked up toward the old beggar’s one eye and timidly asked, “Senior Hero, aren’t you the venerable ‘jiang dong she wang’ [Serpent King of the East River] Li Sheng, Senior Li?”
The old beggar laughed. “You have keen eyes, Miss! I have had the honor to meet your master, ‘qing jing san ren’ [Sage of Tranquility]. Even though we are not the best of friends, but always have great respect to each other.”
Guo Jing also heard the name ‘Sage of Tranquility’ mentioned and was delighted, “The Sage of Tranquility Sun Bu’er, Priestess Sun is one of the Quan Zhen Seven Master; therefore, this Miss Cheng and those two beggars are not outsiders.” He heard Miss Cheng continued, “I am very grateful to receive the Senior Hero’s aid in upholding justice. I will listen to Senior Hero’s instruction.”
“Miss, you are worth a thousand gold,” Li Sheng said. “But for this licentious man to look at you even with one eye is still too much.” Hearing this Miss Cheng’s face blushed profusely. Li Sheng continued, “Now I suggest you stay overnight at the main house, along with all of these honorable servants of yours. I will deal with that conceited man alone.”
“Young disciple is not skilled in martial art, but I am not afraid of that villain,” Miss Cheng said. “How could I let Senior to deal with him alone?”
“Please don’t say such thing Miss,” Li Sheng said. “Our Clan Leader Hong and your honorable founder Senior Wang were good friends; that means we belong to the same family. Why do you want to consider it otherwise?”
Actually Miss Cheng wanted to try her own martial art, but listened to Li Sheng she did not dare to defy. So she bowed and said, “Then I will leave everything under Senior Li and Elder Brother Yu’s capable hands.” Having said that she gracefully led her maidservants go downstairs.
Li Sheng walked toward the young lady’s bed, opened the embroidered quilt, and without taking out his shoes laid his dirty body on the sweet smelling bedding. “Go downstairs,” he told Yu Zhao, “Be on guard with everybody else. Do not make any move without my command.” Yu Zhao complied. Li Sheng then hid his entire body under the blanket after extinguished the candle beside the bed.
“That Miss Cheng might not want to sleep under that blanket anymore,” Huang Rong secretly laughed in her heart. “The members of the Beggar Clan are just like their leader, they like to deliberately creating trouble in a funny way. This matter is actually much more amusing than I originally thought.”
Because there were other people standing guard, Huang Rong and Guo Jing quietly hid themselves under the eaves. About an hour later she heard the night watch sounding the signal ‘knock, knock, bang, bang, bang …’ at the front of the building. It was the third hour. Then she heard a pebble fell in the flower garden.
A moment later eight people came leaping over the fence and headed straight to the second floor. They lighted a lantern briefly, enough to see the bed, then quickly extinguished the fire. In that very short time Guo Jing and Huang Rong could see their appearance. Turned out they were the female disciples of Ouyang Ke who dressed like men; all wore white clothing. Four of them opened the bed curtain and covered Li Sheng’s head with a silk hood; firmly held and lifted him up. Two of them opened a big sack and in went the blanket with Li Sheng inside it. They quickly tightened the sack mouth and lifted the sack up. They worked swiftly and quietly in the dark, without making any noise. Seemed like they were very skilled in what they were doing.
They leaped back downstairs. Guo Jing was about to make a move when Huang Rong whispered in his ears, “Let the Beggar Clan people go first.” Guo Jing complied. He stretched his neck and saw four female disciples lifted the sack with Li Sheng in it, while the other four were guarding behind them. Further back about ten yards behind were the Beggar Clan people, each wielding a wooden staff.
Guo Jing and Huang Rong waited a moment to put some distance between them before they quietly leaped out of the garden and followed from afar. A little while later they arrived at the edge of the town. The eight women took the sack to a big house, while the four Beggar Clan members spread out to surround the building.
Huang Rong pulled Guo Jing’s arm and they walked toward the back of the building; jumped over the back wall and saw that the building was actually an ancestral temple. The main hall was full of memorial tablets. On the main beam were hung big banners with the deceased people’s merits and honorable titles written on them. The hall was lit by four, five big red candles; and in the center sat a man wielding a folding fan.
Guo Jing and Huang Rong had guessed earlier it must be Ouyang Ke’s doing, and they were right. They hid themselves under a window, did not dare to move at all, while wondering in their hearts, “Would that Li Sheng fellow be able to fight him?”
They saw the eight women entering the hall and said, “Young Master, Miss Cheng is here.” Ouyang Ke sneered coldly. He looked outside and said, “Friends, you have been so kind to visit, why not come in and introduce yourselves?”
Hiding on top of the wall’s roof, the Beggar Clan people knew they have been found out, but without Li Sheng’s command they did not dare to make any noise.
Ouyang Ke turned his head and looked at the sack. “I did not expect a beautiful lady as you would be so easily invited to come here.” He walked slowly forward, waving his folding fan slowly. When he folded the fan, it resembled an iron pen.
Huang Rong and Guo Jing saw his hand movement and his expression; they were shocked. Looked like Ouyang Ke had already found out an enemy was hiding inside that sack and was going to strike.
Huang Rong immediately took three steel needles in her hand, aiming them toward the fan; ready to strike if Li Sheng was in danger. But suddenly there were swishing sounds; a couple of sleeve-arrows were flying toward Ouyang Ke’s chest. They were released by a beggar who appeared on the windowsill. They also have seen the danger threatening Li Sheng, and launched a preemptive strike.
Ouyang Ke stretched his left hand sideways, his index and middle fingers pinched an arrow, his ring and little fingers pinched the other, with a couple of ‘crack’ sound the two arrows became four pieces.
The Beggars saw this and were amazed. “Martial Uncle Li, come out!” Yu Zhao called out. He was not even finished shouting when the sack was ripped open; out came two blades followed by Li Zheng rolling on the floor. He used the sack as a shield and quickly stood up.
Li Sheng knew Ouyang Ke was fierce and he was not sure he could defeat him; that was the reason he wanted to attack him by surprise by hiding inside the sack; who would have thought that Ouyang Ke fouled his plan.
“A beautiful lady turned into a beggar. It was a good sack trick!” Ouyang Ke laughed.
Li Sheng ignored his remark. “This city has lost four girls in three days. All were your Excellency’s doing, I presume?” he countered.
“This Bao Ying County is certainly not a poor area, how did the law enforcement officer turned into a beggar?” Ouyang Ke smirked.
Li Sheng maintained his calmness. “I am not begging for food here,” he answered. “But I heard yesterday that four adolescent girls suddenly vanished without a trace. My curiosity was piqued, so I took a look.”
Ouyang Ke reluctantly said, “Actually those girls are not exceptional; and since you want them –considering we are the people of the martial arts world, I’d like to give them to you. Beggars usually eat dead crabs; so I am sure you will treat these four girls as your treasures.” He waved his right hand, and several female disciples of his went inside to get those four girls. The girls’ clothes were unkempt, their faces thin and pale, their eyes red from crying.
Li Sheng was outraged to see this. He loudly shouted, “What is your honorable name? Whose disciple are you?”
Ouyang Ke still maintained his carefree attitude. “My surname is Ouyang. What is it that you want, my friend?” he nonchalantly answered.
“I want to play with you!” Li Sheng roared.
“I want nothing better!” Ouyang Ke replied. “Please start!”
“Good!” Li Sheng shouted and moved his right hand. But just before he strike a white shadow flashed with a gust of wind. He was very shocked and leaped up immediately, but his neck was scratched nonetheless. Luckily he was swift, if not; his neck would have a hole in it.
Li Sheng was an eight-bag disciple of his clan; a highly respected position. His martial art was strong; and the beggars in Liang Zhe area came to him for advice. In short, he was one of the Beggar Clan’s elite fighters; who would have thought that he was almost injured in just one stance. His face flushed with anger and embarrassment. Without turning his body he launched his hand backward.
“He knows the ’18-dragon subduing palms’,” whispered Huang Rong to Guo Jing. Guo Jing nodded.
Ouyang Ke could see this move was fierce and did not dare to meet it frontally, he jumped sideways. By this time Li Sheng had turned his body around and stepped forward. He lifted both hands in front of his chest and with a loud cry pushed them forward.
This time it was Guo Jing who whispered into Huang Rong’s ear, “Is that move from the ‘xiao yao you quan fa’ [wandering strides fists technique]?” Huang Rong nodded; but she noticed that Li Sheng’s movement was heavy, not elegant like the ‘wandering strides’ should be executed.
Ouyang Ke saw Li Sheng’s step was steady and his hands were profound in launching wonderful moves; he did not dare to act casual and underestimated his opponent any longer. He slipped his folding fan into his waist and quick as a flash launched a counterattack toward Li Sheng’s shoulder.
Li Sheng parried with the ‘fan lai shen shou’ [begging for rice], still from the ‘wandering strides’ fists technique. Ouyang Ke parried with his left hand, which forced Li Sheng to lift his right arm; then swiftly Ouyang Ke moved toward Li Sheng’s back and stretched both hands with all fingers forming two claws attacking Li Sheng’s vital ‘bei xin’ [sleeveless garment] acupoints.
Huang Rong and Guo Jing were startled, “This move is difficult to fend off.”
By that time the rest of the Beggar Clan people had entered the hall. They saw Li Sheng was in grave danger and were rushing to help.
Li Sheng could hear the wind behind his back and felt the claws almost touching his clothes. Again he launched his hand backward using the ‘shen long bai wei’ [divine dragon swings its tail] from the ’18 Dragon-subduing Palms’. The stance came from the trigram, ‘to thread on’ which is part of the Yi Jing. The master who created the 18 subduing dragon palms actually named the stance “threading on the tiger’s tail”. It was a more powerful description as compared to “attacking the tiger from behind” because if one steps on the tiger’s tail, it will no doubt turn around and attack furiously. However, the later generation felt that this description in the Yi Jing was too soft and not pleasing to the tongue. Thus, they changed it to “the divine dragon swings its tail”.
Ouyang Ke did not dare to meet this attack head on, so he flexed his body and jumped back.
“A very close call!” Li Sheng said in his heart. He turned his body around to face his opponent again. His martial art was inferior to Ouyang Ke’s exquisite moves. They have fought thirty, forty moves and already his life was dangerously threatened five, six times. Fortunately he could always use the [divine dragon swings its tail] to get out of trouble.
“Looks like Hong Qigong only passed on this single move to him,” Huang Rong whispered to Guo Jing. Guo Jing nodded. He recalled the time when Hong Qigong passed the ‘Proud Dragon Show Remorse’ and he fought Liang Ziweng over and over using this single move. Then later on Hong Qigong taught him a total of fifteen moves; while this important figure in the Beggar Clan only knew one move. His heart swelled with gratitude toward Hong Qigong.
In the meantime Ouyang Ke had increased the intensity of his attacks, and step-by-step he forced Li Sheng toward a corner. Earlier Ouyang Ke sent his fierce attacks without any particular target, but now his moves were intended to prevent Li Sheng from turning around and launching his backward palm. Li Sheng understood his intention very well, so he worked hard to step back into the middle of the room.
Suddenly Ouyang Ke let out a long laugh; he whirled the fist straight up from below hitting Li Sheng’s chin. Li Sheng stammered in pain, he cried in alarm. He tried to stretch his hand to counterattack, but he was a split second too late. Ouyang Ke’s fist had struck its target. Li Sheng was hit five, six times on the head and chest. He felt dizzy, his body weakened, he wobbled and fell to the ground.
The Beggar Clan people rushed to help, but Ouyang Ke turned around, grabbed two of the front most attackers and threw them to the wall. They fainted immediately. The rest of the beggars did not dare to continue.
“What do you think I am to think that a bunch of stinky beggars would deceive me so easily?” Ouyang Ke sneered. He clapped his hands and two female disciples came out dragging a young woman along. Her hands were tied behind her back, her face weary, tears flowed down her cheeks; she was none other than Miss Cheng.
Everybody, including Huang Rong and Guo Jing, was shocked and baffled.
Ouyang Ke waved his hand and his disciples took Miss Cheng back inside. With a smug expression he said, “When the old beggar went into the sack, I worked downstairs inviting Miss Cheng and went back here immediately to wait for the rest of you.”
The beggars looked at each other in blank dismay, they thought this time they lost big time.
Ouyang Ke casually waved his fan and mocked, “The Beggar Clan’s name is well-known throughout the world. Today I have seen it with my own eyes, a fame that will make people laugh until their teeth fall out of their mouths! Your special skills of stealing chicken, stroking dogs, begging for food, catching snakes, I have seen them all. Now, do you still dare to mingle in your Young Master’s business? I am willing to spare this old beggar’s life, but I must take his two lights as a souvenir.” After saying that, he stretched out two fingers toward Li Sheng’s eyes.
“Hold it!” suddenly a voice called out. A man leaped into the hall and immediately sent an attack toward Ouyang Ke.
Ouyang Ke sensed the swiftness and fierceness of the attack; he moved sideways to evade, but still could not get out of the wind. His body shook and he was forced to draw back two steps. He could not help but secretly startled. “Ever since I left the western region I had fought many skilled masters; who is this man who has an unexpectedly high martial art skill?” He turned his eyes toward the newcomer and once again he was startled; since he had fought Guo Jing before at the Zhao Palace. His martial art was only average; how did his palm carry a profound strength just now?
“You have committed all kinds of evil, but instead of repenting you wanted to injure this good man. Do you really not consider the heroes of the Jianghu anymore?” Guo Jing scolded.
Ouyang Ke thought that Guo Jing’s last attack was just a coincidence. He looked down on Guo Jing, “Are you one of those ‘heroes’?” he mockingly asked.
“I do not dare to call myself a hero,” Guo Jing answered. “But with all due respect I am asking you to release Miss Cheng and then return to the west immediately.”
“And what if I don’t want to listen to your childish request?” Ouyang Ke smirked.
Before Guo Jing had a chance to reply, Huang Rong called from outside the window, “Brother Jing, just punch this bastard!”
Ouyang Ke heard Huang Rong’s voice, his spirit was shaken. “Miss Huang, you want me to release Miss Cheng, that is easy, as long as you follow me wherever I go. Not only Miss Cheng, but I will also release all my female disciples; moreover, I will promise you not to take any other female disciple. Wouldn’t that be good?”
Huang Rong leaped inside the hall, smiling she said, “That is very good! We are going to tour the western region. Brother Jing, are you coming?”
Ouyang Ke shook his head, “No, I want you to come with me. I don’t want this stinky kid to come along,” he said, still smiling.
Huang Rong was angry, her palm slapped backward. “You dare to scold him? You are the stinky one!” she loudly shouted.
Ouyang Ke was mesmerized with Huang Rong’s gracefulness and her sweet smile while talking to him. She looked so innocent yet free. His spirit was captured. Who would have thought that she abruptly turned hostile? He did not guard against her, plus Huang Rong was using the exquisite move from the [fallen flower divine sword palm], the ultimate in palm technique. So his left cheek was slapped. Fortunately Huang Rong did not use her full strength; but his face was burning in pain nonetheless.
“Bah!” Ouyang Ke spat. His left hand suddenly stretched out toward Huang Rong’s breast. Huang Rong did not elude him; she threw both hands toward the top of his head. Ouyang Ke was lascivious, seeing Huang Rong did not move, he was delighted. While ignoring the blow on his head he caressed his hand on her breast. Who would have thought that as soon as his fingers touched her clothes, he felt stabbing pain. Suddenly it dawned on him, “She is wearing the soft hedgehog armor.” Luckily he was being frivolous that he did not use much strength. Quickly he lifted his arm to parry her blow.
“It’s not easy for you to hit me,” Huang Rong smiled. “I can hit you, but you can’t hit me.”
Ouyang Ke was exasperated; he could not enrage Huang Rong, so he vented his anger toward Guo Jing. “Let me kill this kid first, I hope her feeling toward him will die,” he thought. So while his eyes fixed on Huang Rong, his leg flew backward toward Guo Jing’s chest. This leg movement was swift and ruthless. It was the Western Poison Ouyang Feng’s unique family skill. It was difficult to fend off. Once the leg hit its target, the ribcage would be fractured toward the lung.
Guo Jing did not have enough time to jump back, so he turned his body around and launched a backward palm. With a loud crash Guo Jing’s palm hit Ouyang Ke’s leg, while Ouyang Ke’s leg hit Guo Jing’s chest almost simultaneously. Both men felt searing pain to the bone. They turned their bodies around facing each other and staring at each other angrily; immediately they attacked each other.
The Beggar Clan people were surprised, “This move obviously is Li Sheng’s unique skill, the [divine dragon swing its tail], how come this young man can use it? Moreover, his movement is superior to that of Li Sheng.” By now they have already pulled Li Sheng – who had come to his senses, to the side. He also recognized not only the [divine dragon swing its tail], but other stances as well. He saw Guo Jing’s moves were exquisite and powerful; he was amazed. “This ’18 Dragon-subduing Palms’ is Clan Leader Hong’s special skill. Because I had no regard for my own life and rendered a great service, the leader had generously rewarded me with one stance. Where did this youth learn the full set of 18 stances?” Obviously he did not realize Guo Jing only knew 15 stances.
Ouyang Ke was also amazed. He secretly admired Guo Jing’s progress. “How could this kid’s martial art improve so much in just two months?”
In a short time they have already exchanged about forty moves. Guo Jing had repeatedly used his 15 stances several times. It was enough for him to defend himself; but in all honesty he had to admit that Ouyang Ke’s martial art was several levels above his, so he realized he would not win.
Another ten or so moves later Ouyang Ke changed his tactics. He swiftly moved to all directions to divert Guo Jing’s attention then he launched quick attack from unexpected direction. Guo Jing tried hard to fend off but his left hip was kicked. He stepped backward and was limping. Luckily his stances were concentrated on his palms, so he could still launch his 15 moves in succession.
Ouyang Ke did not dare to press on for a while. He tried to force an opening in Guo Jing’s defense line. About a dozen or so moves later he did see an opening and immediately launched an attack. Guo Jing had finished all 15 moves and was about to repeat the whole set. After the fifteenth stance ‘jian long zai tian’ [dragon appeared from (rice) field] he could have launched the first stance, ‘kang long you hui’ [the proud dragon show remorse]; but he could also repeat the last stance, ‘jian long zai tian’. His mind was not quick enough, he pondered, “Shall I repeat from the beginning, or shall I reverse the order?” This slight hesitation was enough for Ouyang Ke. He immediately took advantage of this small flaw and attacked toward Guo Jing’s shoulder.
Guo Jing was taken aback; he did not have any chance to think which one of the 15 stances he could use to parry that attack, so in reflex he stepped backward and slapped his opponent’s hand. It was a move without following any martial art principles; it was a move without a move. But it took Ouyang Ke by surprise and his arm was squarely hit. Ouyang Ke was shocked; he leaped back and immediately examined his arm. Luckily even though it hurt, but it was not broken.
Guo Jing was delighted with this unexpected result. He thought, “I realized there are three areas on my body which are not protected well: my shoulder, left hip, and right waist. If only I can develop more stances using my both hands …” His mind was still reeling when Ouyang Ke had launched another attack.
Guo Jing was not the smartest kid on the block. Even if he painstakingly racked his brain for ten days or two weeks, he would not necessarily come out with even half of a new move; much less now he was engaged in a fierce combat, how would he have a chance to think? All he could do was clumsily modifying whatever principle he had learned from the dragon palms just to protect his shoulder, left hip and right waist; these three areas.
Ouyang Ke was anxious. “His stances were limited, and given enough time, I am sure I can gain an upper hand. Where did these three additional stances come from?” he thought. He did not know that Guo Jing’s three additional moves were actually useless; but he was a little bit wary since he was hit before. So he slowed down his pace and concentrating his strength on defense, carefully studied Guo Jing’s new moves. After a while he could see the flaw. “Right! He had not mastered these moves yet, that was the reason he did not use them at the beginning,” he thought. While still moving his body around he thrust his left hand to divert Guo Jing’s attention; and at the same time swung his right leg straight toward Guo Jing’s left hip.
Guo Jing was not able to use his three self-developed stances to their full extend yet. To suddenly see the opponent attacked his weak point, he was nervous. Actually he was launching a palm, but suddenly retracted it halfway and diverted his palm to parry his opponent’s kick.
Huang Rong was secretly disappointed. “To hesitate in a match like this is truly martial art’s biggest taboo. In this one single move Brother Jing had wasted seven, eight opportunities. Not only that, but even if he won’t be able to injure the enemy, he should be able to defend himself. By turning around his palm like that, he actually made the flaw bigger,” she reasoned. She knew for sure that Ouyang Ke had put all his strength in that kick; Guo Jing might not be able to parry it. So immediately seven, eight steel needles flew hard from her hand.
Ouyang Ke quickly drew the folding fan on his waist and in one fluid motion open up the fan and waved it gently to block the needles. He was sure all needles were down; hence he did not slow down his kick toward Guo Jing. He was confident Guo Jing would get hit hard and fell to the ground; but then he felt a slight numbness like the acupoint above his ankle was sealed. His kick did not stop all right, but it had lost all its strength. Ouyang Ke leaped back in great surprise. “Which meddler is brave enough to backstab your Young Master?” he fumed, “Come out if you have guts …”
But before he finished he heard a noise from above and something flew his way. He lifted his hand to fend that thing, but it came too fast. Before he knew it something had entered his mouth. It was a little bit salty and hard. He was startled and scared. Quickly he spat that thing out. Turned out it was a chicken bone.
Nervously he looked around above him; but at that precise moment some debris came falling down on him. He busily leaped sideways while spitting the dust from his mouth. Just as he opened his mouth, several pieces of chicken bones came hitting his teeth. They were not knocked down, but it was painful! Ouyang Ke was wild with rage. Suddenly he saw something flew down from a shadow on the roof beam above; immediately he launched a palm to strike that something. He managed to strike it down to the ground only to see that something was actually half-eaten chicken claw. Then he heard the shadow on the beam exploded in laughter. “How is the beggar’s stealing chicken skill?”
Huang Rong and Guo Jing leaped in joy as soon as they heard his voice. “Qigong!” they shouted together.
Everybody looked up and saw Hong Qigong sat on the roof beam, his feet splayed out; half of a chicken in his hand, which he ate enthusiastically. The numerous Beggar Clan people bowed and open their mouths together, “Clan Leader! We wish you Senior well.”
Ouyang Ke saw it was indeed Hong Qigong; his heart sank. “If what he threw to me was not chicken bones but projectiles, I would be dead by now. Real men are not afraid of defeat; most important thing now is escaping.” He bowed and said, “Uncle Hong, your nephew kowtows to you.” His mouth said ‘kowtow’ but he did not kneel down.
Hong Qigong was still chewing the chicken. “Are you not returning to the west? You have committed evil acts over here, do you want to deliver your little life in the ‘zhong yuan’ [Central Plain]?” he asked indistinctly.
“In the Central Plain Uncle Hero is invincible,” Ouyang Ke replied. “As long as Uncle Hero shows mercy and did not come over here to bully the young and the weak, your young nephew has nothing to fear. My own uncle had instructed me that if I ever see Uncle Hong I should be respectful to you. He had warned me the difference between our skill levels; that Junior simply could not even touch you; that if I insist on trying I would be the laughingstock of all the heroes of the world.”
Hong Qigong laughed heartily and said, “You flattered me and tried to prevent me from fighting you, but actually there are a lot of people in the Central Plain who wanted to kill you. I don’t have to move my finger if I really want you dead. Earlier you said that you have seen my skills of stealing chicken, stroking dogs, begging for food and catching snake; and you belittled those skills, did you not?”
Ouyang Ke hastily answered, “Your young nephew was not aware this old hero is Uncle Hong’s disciple. It was very disrespectful of me. I beg Uncle and this old hero’s forgiveness.”
Hong Qigong leaped down from the beam. “You called him ‘the old hero’ but he was defeated by you. Aren’t you the hero then? Ha … ha … aren’t you ashamed?”
Ouyang Ke was angry, but knew his martial art was way too far below Hong Qigong; so he did not dare to say anything wrong. He suppressed his anger and did not make any sound.
“Your skills were imparted by that old Western Poison and you are thinking of running amuck in the Central Plain. Humph … do you really think I am already dead?” Hong Qigong said.
“Uncle holds the same rank of honor with my own uncle; Junior will have to listen to Uncle’s instruction,” Ouyang Ke said.
“Is that so?” Hong Qigong said. “You are saying that I put you on the spot; that the older bully the younger?” Ouyang Ke did not say anything, which was the same as agreeing to what Hong Qigong was saying.
“Even though the Old Beggar is the leader of all beggars; old and young alike, but not all beggars are my disciple,” Hong Qigong continued. “This man surnamed Li had learned a superficial amount of my martial arts; how could he be regarded as my successor? His ‘wandering strides’ fist technique has not reached perfection. You belittled my stealing chicken and stroking dogs skill, humph … if the old beggar really takes a disciple, he wouldn’t be inferior to you.”
“Naturally,” Ouyang Ke agreed. “Uncle Hong’s disciple would be much stronger than your nephew. But your martial art skill is too high; it wouldn’t be easy for anybody to learn.”
“Your mouth is sweet,” Hong Qigong said, “But I am sure you are scolding me in your heart.”
“Your nephew does not dare,” Ouyang Ke answered.
“Qigong, don’t believe his lie,” Huang Rong quipped. “He scolds you in his heart all right, and he scolds you really bad. He said although your martial art is not bad but it only benefits yourself; you don’t have the ability to teach. Even if you teach your stealing chicken and stroking dogs skills to your heart’s content, nobody would be able to learn it to perfection.”
Hong Qigong just stared at her. He snorted and mumbled, “This little girl knows how to provoke me.” He turned his head and said, “Good, huh? This kid dares to scold me?” Suddenly he stretched one hand; quick as lighting he snatched the folding fan in Ouyang Ke’s hand. He unfolded the fan and saw some peonies painting, with two characters ‘Xu Xi’. He did not know that Xu Xi was a poet from Northern Song Dynasty. Although the peonies were beautifully painted, he still said, “Not good!” There was several lines of characters written on the fan, and at the end was a signature, ‘bai tuo shan shao zhu’ [Young Master of the White Camel Mountain]. It was Ouyang Ke’s handwriting.
“What do you think of these characters?” Hong Qigong asked Huang Rong.
Huang Rong raised her eyebrows and said, “Very crude. But what do you expect? A spoiled rich kid like him wouldn’t know how to write. I bet he hired a pawnshop clerk to write those characters.”
Ouyang Ke pride himself as both martial art and literature expert, which was actually not too far from reality. Hearing Huang Rong he was really angry. He shot an angry look toward her, only to see under the candlelight the corner of her eyes bore a very faint smile. She looked so sweet and innocent that his anger vanished into thin air.
Hong Qigong spread the fan in his hand; lifting it up he wiped his mouth with it. He just ate a chicken, so his mouth was greasy. As soon as he did that, the painting and calligraphy were completely destroyed. Then he casually crumpled the fan, made it a paper ball and tossed it to the ground.
Other people would think nothing of it, but not so to Ouyang Ke; his fan’s spines were made of steel. The fan was his weapon. It was a demonstration of a profound internal energy. He was terrified.
“If I personally fight you, you will die unsatisfied. So I am going to take a disciple and let him fight with you,” Hong Qigong said.
Ouyang Ke pointed to Guo Jing. “This fellow had fought with me for dozens of stances. If Uncle Hong did not come out, I would gain the upper hand. Brother Guo, don’t you agree?” he said.
Guo Jing nodded his head, “I might lose.” Ouyang Ke smiled with satisfaction.
Hong Qigong looked up and laughed. “Jing’er, are you my disciple?” he asked.
Guo Jing recalled he kowtowed to Hong Qigong, but Hong Qigong returned those kowtows. “Junior is unfortunate not to be your disciple,” he quickly replied.
“Did you hear?” Hong Qigong asked Ouyang Ke.
Ouyang Ke was dissatisfied. “You can’t fool me; where did this kid’s exquisite palms come from?” he asked.
Hong Qigong turned toward Guo Jing. “If I don’t make you my disciple, that little brat girl will not let me die peacefully. She would pester me with hundreds of evil schemes forever. I guess the old beggar has to admit defeat. All right, bow to me, I’ll take you as my disciple,” he said.
Guo Jing was ecstatic. Quickly he bent his knees and busily kowtowed several times while calling out, “Master!” That day at the Cloud Village he had recounted to his six masters how Hong Qigong had taught him the ’18 Dragon-Subduing Palms’. The Six Freaks of Jiangnan were very happy, they all said it was a pity this highly skilled extraordinary character of the Wulin world was not willing to take Guo Jing as his disciple. They told him that if Hong Qigong happened to reveal his willingness to take him, Guo Jing should accept without reservation.
Huang Rong was even happier. She smiled broadly and said, “Qigong, I have helped you find a very fine disciple. My contribution is not small. Starting today you will have somebody you can call your successor. How will you thank me?”
Hong Qigong made a face to her, “Kiss my a**!” Then he turned to Guo Jing and said, “’sha xiao zi’ [it’s a vulgar term, lit. foolish/dumb/stupid kid – take your pick], let me teach you three stances first.” Immediately he taught Guo Jing the last three stances of the ’18 Dragon-Subduing Palms’ right in front of everybody else. Of course, compared to Guo Jing’s own three desperately-brewed stances, these moves were like a world apart.
Ouyang Ke said to himself, “This old beggar’s martial art is outstanding, but he is not too smart. He is concentrating on teaching his disciple, totally forgetting that I am standing here, watching.” With rapt attention he watched Guo Jing’s every move. But he did not see anything extraordinary. Sometimes Gong Qigong whispered something into Guo Jing’s ears. He guessed it must be the theory behind these three moves. Sometimes Guo Jing would nod his head, but most other time he just stood there, staring blankly or shook his head. Hong Qigong would repeat what he just said until Guo Jing reluctantly nodded his head; obviously he did not fully comprehend the theory. “This guy is really stupid,” he thought, “This short period of time is not enough for him to learn the three stances. I might as well seize the opportunity to study them.”
In the meantime Hong Qigong had Guo Jing practice six, seven times. “Good, smart disciple,” he said. “You have mastered about 50% of these three stances. Now go and beat this lecherous thief for me.”
“Yes,” Guo Jing answered and moved forward two steps and launched a palm toward Ouyang Ke. Ouyang Ke slanted his body and counterattacked with a fist. Thus two people engaged in a fight again.
The secret of ’18 Dragon-Subduing Palms’ lies in the exact timing of energy exertion. The moves themselves were quite simple. That was the reason that although Liang Ziweng, Mei Chaofeng and Ouyang Ke’s martial arts were higher than that of Guo Jing’s; yet Guo Jing was able to fight them without losing a ground. Just a moment ago Ouyang Ke was watching Hong Qigong passed on the three stances to Guo Jing, and he knew Guo Jing had not fully comprehend the moves while he himself had memorized the stances; yet now that he was fighting Guo Jing, he found it difficult to overcome those three stances.
Guo Jing on the other hand, had now mastered the complete set of ’18 Dragon-Subduing Palms’. He was able to use it from head to tail and back to head again. The fierceness of the original 15 moves he had already mastered was greatly increased.
Ouyang Ke had used four different kinds of martial arts, yet he could only match Guo Jing without being able to gain an upper hand. Dozens of moves later he started to get anxious. “If I don’t use my family’s unique skill I might lose,” he thought. “I was trained by my uncle since my childhood. How come I cannot defeat the old beggar’s disciple who received instructions just a moment ago? I am afraid the old beggar will look down on my uncle.”
A dozen or so moves later Guo Jing raised his hand to parry Ouyang Ke’s fist; but suddenly Ouyang Ke’s hand turned around and hit Guo Jing’s skull from behind. Guo Jing was stunned. He ducked to avoid the blow while simultaneously threw a fist slanting upward. Ouyang Ke stepped sideways and sent another fist. Guo Jing did not dare to parry that fist; he dodged to the right. Who would have thought that Ouyang Ke’s arm suddenly moved like a whip! Guo Jing clearly saw it was aiming his left side, but suddenly twisted to the right and struck Guo Jing’s shoulder.
Guo Jing was hit three times in a short period of time. These three hits were heavy; he was anxious for he had no idea how to deal with it. “Jing’er, stop!” Hong Qigong called out, “Let’s just admit defeat this time.”
Guo Jing leaped about ten feet back; he felt pain on the parts being hit. To Ouyang Ke he said, “Your martial art is really brilliant; with arm turning around like that, it was really odd.” Ouyang Ke was proud of himself; he cast a boasting look toward Huang Rong.
Hong Qigong said, “The Old Poison raises snake for a living; this set of ‘ruan pi she’ [snake’s flexible skin] fists technique must be developed from the venomous snakes’ movement. It was brilliant. The old beggar has not been able to devise a method to overcome it. Just consider yourself lucky. Now, get out of my way!”
Ouyang Ke’s heart turned cold. “Uncle had warned me a thousand times not to use this ‘ling she quan’ [spirit snake fist] unless in an extremely dangerous situation. Today I have let the old beggar see it. If my uncle finds out, I will be in big trouble.” His self-satisfaction disappeared almost immediately. He bowed toward Hong Qigong and walked out the temple.
“Hold on a second! I have something to say,” Huang Rong called out. Ouyang Ke halted his steps; his heart beat faster. But Huang Rong did not pay any attention to him. She turned toward Hong Qigong and bowed respectfully. “Qigong,” she said. “You have to accept two disciples today. Good things come in pairs; you have accepted a male disciple, now you must accept a female one. Otherwise I won’t let you off easily.”
Hong Qigong shook his head. “I have already made an exception by accepting one disciple,” he smiled. “The old beggar doesn’t want to talk about it. Moreover, your father is also highly skilled in martial art; how could he let you take the old beggar as your master?”
Huang Rong pretended to be suddenly enlightened. “So, you are scared of my father!” she exclaimed. Hong Qigong was provoked. He was actually very fond of her. “Me? Scared of your father?” he said with a straight face. “OK, I’ll take you as my disciple. I want to see if the Old Heretic Huang can eat me alive.”
Huang Rong smiled. “You’ve said it, you can’t take it back,” she said. “You know, my father oftentimes remarked that among the martial experts in this world, after Wong Chongyang died, only you and he two people that count. The Southern Emperor and the rest of them are not even in his book. I am sure father will love it that I take you as my master. Master, how did a beggar catch a snake? Please teach me this skill first.”
Hong Qigong was not sure he knew her intention, but he did know the young girl was smart. She must have had some clever trick in her sleeves. So he simply explained, “Grab the snake seven inches from its head. Use your two fingers like a pair of pliers. As long as you pinch the snake at seven inches, no matter how venomous the snake is, it won’t be able to move.”
“What if the snake is very big?” Huang Rong asked.
“Lure it to bite your left hand, then, use your right hand to hit it at seven inches,” Hong Qigong answered.
“Do you have to be extremely quick?” Huang Rong asked again.
“Of course,” Hong Qigong replied. “You have to put some ointment on your left hand, so even if it gets bitten by the snake you won’t get hurt.”
Huang Rong nodded. She winked to Hong Qigong and asked, “Master, then please apply the ointment on my hand.”
Catching snakes was the Beggar Clan people’s specialty. Hong Qigong had never used any ointment or antidote; he would simply beat the snake with his stick. But seeing Huang Rong’s meaningful glance, he took out the scarlet gourd on his back, which actually contained some wine; and apply the wine on both Huang Rong’s palms.
Huang Rong sniffed her palms, made a face, and said to Ouyang Ke, “Hey, I am now the world famous beggar, the Old Hero Hong’s disciple. I am asking a lesson on the ‘snake’s flexible skin’ from you. But I must warn you that my hands are full of antidote to your poison, so you must be careful.”
“Having a match with you is exactly what I hoped for,” Ouyang Ke thought. “I don’t care whatever witchcraft is on your hands, as long as I don’t touch them.” So he smiled brightly and said, “I am willing to die under your hands.”
Huang Rong said, “Your other martial arts are so sloppy and ordinary, I only want to fight your stinky snake moves. If you use any other martial arts, you lose.”
“Whatever Miss say, I wouldn’t dare to disobey,” Ouyang Ke said.
Huang Rong laughed. “Can’t believe a bastard like you have a very sweet mouth,” she said. “Watch out!” As soon as she finished speaking her fist came flying with Hong Qigong’s ‘wandering strides’ technique.
Ouyang Ke let the fist passed on his side, Huang Rong followed with her left leg kicking horizontally, while her right hand forming a hook. It was a stance from the [fallen flower divine sword palm], her own family heritage. Unfortunately Huang Rong was still too young, the time she spent on training was limited; however, this time her purpose was a victory, so she used whatever kungfu she knew, regardless of who passed it on her.
Ouyang Ke saw the exquisiteness of her moves; he did not dare to be careless. His right arm extended and suddenly curved back to hit her shoulder. This move from the [spirit snake fist] was swift. His hand almost touched Huang Rong body when he suddenly remembered that she was wearing the soft hedgehog armor. If he proceeded, wouldn’t his fist be dripping with blood?
Huang Rong quickly dodged and sent both her palms whishing toward an opening on his face. Ouyang Ke brushed his sleeve and parried her palms.
Huang Rong’s body was protected by the soft hedgehog armor, her hands were covered with ointment; the only part unprotected was her face. Ouyang Ke was in a predicament; he was getting attacked without any chance to hit back. Even though the [spirit snake fist] was wonderful; he was forced to fly east and dodging west trying to elude Huang Rong’s attack, while keeping himself from touching her palms. “If I hit her face to gain victory, that would be offensive to her, and if I pull her hair, I treat her rudely; but other than that I can’t think of anything else,” he thought. But suddenly he got an idea. He stepped aside and quickly tore the corner of his sleeve; made it into two parts and wrapped them on his hands. With protected hands he tried to grab Huang Rong’s palms.
“You lost!” Huang Rong jumped out of the arena and called out. “It was not the stinky snake fist.”
“Oh, I forgot,” Ouyang Ke said.
“Your stinky snake fist is not that special, it cannot defeat Hong Qigong’s disciple,” Huang Rong continued. “At the Zhao Palace you defeated me, but that was because you have Liang Ziweng, Sha Tongtian, Peng Lianhu, Reverend Ling Zhi, and also that wart-headed Hou Tonghai alongside. I was overwhelmed by sheer numbers; also I did not want to get into trouble, so I admitted defeat. OK, now that we have defeated each other, let’s just have a match to decide victory or defeat.”
Li Sheng and the other were taken aback, they thought, “Even though this young girl’s martial art is good, but she is definitely not this man’s match. She won by using a trick. Why would she add something superfluous and ruin the victory? What else does she want to prove?”
Hong Qigong on the other hand fully realized that this girl was full of clever tricks; she must have something in her mind to play trick on the enemy. So he simply smiled but did not say anything. He continued gnawing the chicken leftover and noisily ate, like the chicken was the best food in the world.
“Why are you so serious?” Ouyang Ke laughed. “Either you win or I win, it doesn’t make a difference. But if you really want to play, I will accompany you.”
“At the Zhao Palace we were surrounded by your friends. If I won, they would surely attack me; thus I was not willing to fight you seriously,” Huang Rong said. “But now you have your friends,” she pointed to the female disciples/concubines in whites, “and I also have my friends. Although you have more friends than I do, I am not afraid. Let us fight just like we did before: you may draw a circle on the ground; we will follow the same rule; whoever steps out of the circle first, lose. I have kowtowed and take Senior Qigong as my master; I also have highly skilled martial siblings, including this young man. You do not have to tie your hands behind you back as before.”
Ouyang Ke was amused. What she said was partly funny, but also if you think about it, it did make sense. So he planted his left foot on the ground, and used it as the axis; while his right foot was stretched three feet apart. He turned around and made a circle about six feet in diameter.
The Beggar Clan people did not like him, but seeing this they could not help but secretly praised him.
Huang Rong entered the circle and said, “Are we going to fight ‘soft’ way [‘wen’ – literature] or ‘hard’ way [‘wu’ – military, or martial art]?”
Ouyang Ke was baffled, “You are eccentric,” he said in his heart, but his mouth asked, “How do fight the ‘soft’ way? And how do you fight the ‘hard’ way?”
“If we fight the soft way, I attack you three times, you don’t counterattack; then you attack me three times, I won’t counterattack,” Huang Rong explained. “If we fight the hard way, we can fight each other at will. You can use your dead snake fist or live mouse stance, I don’t care. Whoever steps out of the circle first, lose.”
Ouyang Ke thought for a moment. “I think we’d better fight the soft way,” he said. “That way we can avoid injury and won’t spoil our friendship.”
“If you chose ‘hard’ way, you will certainly lost,” Huang Rong said. “But if we fight ‘soft’ way, you still have a chance. Good! Let us fight as you wish, the ‘soft’ way. Do you go first, or I go first?”
How could Ouyang Ke hit her first? “Certainly ladies first,” he said.
Huang Rong smiled. “You are sly! Always choosy. You know you will suffer loss if you hit me first. OK, I am being generous to you; let me hit you first.”
Ouyang Ke was going to say, “That case I will hit you first.” But before he could open his mouth Huang Rong had already called out, “Watch out!” She immediately sent her palm to attack. Something flashing in her hand; turned out she was throwing some secret projectiles.
Ouyang Ke saw the multitude of projectiles; normally he would use his folding fan to parry an attack like this, but his fan was crushed in Hong Qigong’s hand; he could also use his long sleeve to wrap the projectiles, but his sleeves were torn earlier. The steel needles encompassed an area about six, seven feet wide; if he leaped sideways, he would be out of the circle. He had no time to consider any other alternatives, so he leaped about ten feet vertically upward. The steel needles all flew below him.
Huang Rong waited until he was at the peak and was falling back down before she called out, “Here comes the second attack!” Her two hands launched about a hundred steel needles. It was the ‘man tian hua yu zhi jin zhen’ [blossoms rain from the sky tossing needles technique] from Hong Qigong. She did not even try to aim, just shot out the needles toward Ouyang Ke.
Even if Ouyang Ke’s skill were much higher, his body was midair; there was simply no way he could avoid it. “I am finished!” he sighed in his heart, “This slave girl is so vicious.” Right at that moment he felt someone pulled his collar and his body moved back upward; with swishing noise the needles fell to the ground.
Ouyang Ke knew somebody must have saved him. He was thrown back to the ground. It was not too hard, but the energy behind that throw was peculiar – a sign of highly skilled martial artist; he fell left shoulder first. Naturally he tried to stand back up, but he was unable to do so. He was rolling around on the ground before he finally managed to stand. He knew it must be Hong Qigong, because nobody in that vicinity had that kind of skill. He was terrified yet upset; immediately walked out the temple without saying anything. His female disciples followed.
“Master, why did you save this scoundrel?” Huang Rong asked.
Hong Qigong smiled. “His uncle is an old friend of mine. This kid had committed many disgraceful acts; he deserved to be damned. But it wouldn’t be good for his uncle’s face if he were injured in my hand.” He patted Huang Rong on the shoulder and said, “Smart girl, you have given my face much good today. How should I reward you?”
Huang Rong stuck out her tongue. “I don’t want your bamboo stick,” she said.
“Even if you want it, I cannot give it to you,” Hong Qigong said. “I have a mind to teach you one or two kinds of kungfu; but I am too lazy these past few days, I don’t have any interest to do anything.”
“I’ll prepare some good food for you to boost your interest,” Huang Rong offered.
Hog Qigong’s eyes lit up; but then he heaved a big sigh. “I don’t have time to eat right now. What a pity, what a pity …!” He turned to Li Sheng and the others and said, “The Beggar Clan has several matters we need to discuss internally.”
Li Sheng and the others came to Guo Jing and Huang Rong, expressing their gratefulness for saving their lives. Huang Rong had cut the rope that bind Miss Cheng’s hands and feet. Miss Cheng was extremely shy; she held Huang Rong’s hand and quietly said her thanks. Huang Rong pointed to Guo Jing and said, “Your Eldest Martial Uncle, Priest Ma had taught him kungfu, your Martial Uncles Qiu and Wang are also very fond of him, so I can say that we belong to the same family.”
Miss Cheng turned her head toward Guo Jing and suddenly blushed. She lowered her head and after a while quietly stole a glance toward Guo Jing again.
Li Sheng and the other also congratulated all three people Hong Qigong, Guo Jing and Huang Rong. They knew Qigong did not usually accept any disciple; even among the Beggar Clan members rarely did he teach more than one or two stances. They wondered how Guo Jing and Huang Rong persuaded him that he was willing to take them. In their hearts they envied these two.
“We are going to prepare a banquet tomorrow evening to congratulate Clan Leader on having accepted two very fine disciples,” Li Sheng said.
Hong Qigong smiled, “I am afraid they won’t like filthy foods, the kind we beggars eat.”
“We will certainly come,” Guo Jing hastily said, “Big Brother Li is a Senior Hero, Junior would very much like to know you.” Li Sheng was saved by Guo Jing; thus he kept his eyes on this young man and now listening to his humble speech he was even more delighted. He decided right then and there to befriend Guo Jing.
Hong Qigong said, “I am glad you two feel like old friends at your first meeting; but I warn you not to persuade my first disciple to be a beggar like you! You, my younger disciple, go and take Miss Cheng back home. We, the beggars are going to steal some chicken and beg for some rice.” After saying these words, he left the temple followed by all the beggars. Just before leaving Li Sheng told Guo Jing that the banquet tomorrow would be held in that very same temple.
Guo Jing accompanied Huang Rong to escort Miss Cheng back home.
Miss Cheng quietly told Huang Rong her full name was Cheng Yaojia. Even though she had learned martial art from Sage of Tranquility Sun Bu’Er; but since she was born to a rich family, she was pampered since her childhood; plus by nature she was very shy, did not know too many people. Therefore, she was very different from Huang Rong who was carefree and brave. She did not dare to say even a half word to Guo Jing. Occasionally she would steal a glance and immediately lowered her head, her cheeks blushed profusely.
End of Chapter 15.