The Deer and The Cauldron

[tweety365]

Ah foxs, you twisted my words around.
Nice update as always!

[Gubrak]

Thanks Foxs.

[crazee]

Thanks Foxs....

Wonder what XB is going to do ?
I suppose play a prank on the proud Zheng Keshuang again.

I suppose I'll have to wait till the next update.....heh heh heh.

[KChill]

To be honest WXB is a liar, crook, scoundrel and not much better.


Plus he is also a
[ SPOILER]
pervert and a multiple rapist, so....
[ /SPOILER]

Worst. Spoiler. Fail. Ever.

[Anh Nam]

Thanks Foxs

[foxs]

bchin, I think the character was created as the opposite of WXB. Sky, that was what Jin Yong said, but then again, I haven't read the book. Smurf, I still don't like Ah Ke, 'beauty without brain' ... Ace, right, I missed that one. I remember the yellow magua though. Ah, Tweety, didn't you see the wink? Can't I tease you? (run and sulk in the corner ...) Gubrak, Anh, you are welcome. Crazee, thumbs up. You are one of a few people who have not read Minford's. Anybody else? KChill, I don't think the spoiler tag works. Or perhaps just my system?

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“Yes,” Zheng Keshuang said, “Fortunately there are no other people in here. These crude peasants won’t understand even if they heard it.”

Actually, the Tian Di Hui warriors were dressed as peasants, they were all bare-footed, some even carried a hoe or toothed rake. There were too many people in the meeting last night that Zheng Keshuang did not recognize them.

Wei Xiaobao lowered his head and ate the noodle, he said in a low voice, “This fellow is very arrogant; in Hejian Prefecture these past few days he boasted everywhere, saying that our Tian Di Hui is his Taiwan Yan Ping Mansion’s subordinate, he said that when Zongduozhu sees him, he is very respectful that he does not even dare to breath out loud. He also said that our certain hall’s Xiangzhu Cai Laoge [old brother] was formerly his yeye’s [paternal grandfather] stable hand, that certain hall’s Xiangzhu Li Laoge also fetched chamber pot for his yeye …”

Guan Anji angrily said, “How can there be such thing? Although Cai Xiangzhu, Li Xiangzhu were Koxinga’s [orig. Guo Xing Ye – master of Guoxing] subordinates, they were military officers who went to fight battles …”

Xu Tianchuan said in a low voice, “Guan Fuzi [master, as in old form of ‘mister’, or teacher or scholar], lower your voice.” Guan Anji nodded.

Wei Xiaobao continued, “He also made many negative remarks and malicious words about our Green Wood Hall’s Yin Xiangzhu. Others commented that Yin Xiangzhu has died early on. This fellow responded, ‘That’s right. This fellow surnamed Yin’s martial art skill was low, his leadership skill was also second rate, I knew early on that he would be a short-lived ghost' …”

Guan Anji was extremely angry; he raised his palm to strike the table heavily. Xu Tianchuan deftly reached up and caught his wrist.

Wei Xiaobao knew that this group of warriors would not want to offend Yan Ping Mansion’s people, much less this fellow was their Wangye’s [master king] son. If he did not instigate wantonly, it would be hard for him to provoke them into action. Seeing these people getting angry, he was secretly delighted, but he maintained grim expression on his face. He said, “This fellow talked nonsense; which is not a big deal, actually. But along the way he kept bragging, he mentioned many secret and important matters of our Society. Even to people he has just met he said something like ‘high mountain ridge arose from the earth, a group of mountain creeks is elegant for all eternity’. He claimed to have sat on the Red Flower Pavilion on the mountain peak, Zongduozhu burned six incense sticks, he himself burned seven incense sticks. Other people did not understand what he was saying, he then explained in details …”

The crowd of warriors shook their heads. He revealed a secret of their society just like that, if this information ever reached the imperial court’s eagle claw’s ears, the lives of Tian Di Hui’s brothers would be in danger. But with their own eyes they had seen Zheng Keshuang’s frivolous expression, even the attendants he brought were bossy and domineering; why would they think Wei Xiaobao was telling lies? Moreover, just now they heard him bragging to a woman about the ‘turtle-slaying assembly’ the previous night, immensely proud of himself he proclaimed to be the Fujian province’s alliance leader.

Wei Xiaobao said, “I’ll say we must kill his loftiness, otherwise he might harm our important matter.” The crowd of heroes slowly nodded their heads. Wei Xiaobao continued, “I am asking Feng Dage to beat him up, but don’t hit him too hard, just teach him a lesson. And then I will come out to avenge his grievance. I am asking Feng Dage to pretend that you lost to me.” Feng Jizhong nodded slightly. Wei Xiaobao added, “Qian Laoben, you spoke in the meeting last night, I am afraid this fellow would recognize you.”

“Yes,” Qian Laoben said in a low voice, “I am going to make myself scarce first.”

There were still quite a number of Zheng Mansion attendants who did not have any seat. Seeing a few empty seats among the Tian Di Hui warriors’ tables, one of them nudged Xu Tianchuan’s back lightly and said, “Hey, there are still empty seats over there, why don’t you move and let us have this table?”

Xu Tianchuan sprang up and cursed, “We let you have one table and that’s still not enough? Laozi hates to see young masters of rich family relying on force to bully others the most.” Coughing out, ‘whoosh!’ thick phlegm shot out toward Zheng Keshuang.

Zheng Keshuang was talking to Ah Ke, he was caught totally off-guard; by the time he heard the wind, the phlegm was already too close to his cheek. Hastily he dodged, but the phlegm still landed on his neck. It was slimy and sticky; really disgusting. Hurriedly he pulled his handkerchief and busily wiped it, while cursing loudly and angrily, “Disregarding the law and natural morality these several mud-footed peasants are attacking me!”

An attendant immediately sent a punch toward Xu Tianchuan. “Aiyo!” Xu Tianchuan cried out. Without waiting for the punch to reach his face, Xu Tianchuan threw his body backward; he was pretending to be in a very difficult situation, while bellowing, “Help! Murder! Murder!” Zheng Keshuang and Ah Ke laughed aloud.

Feng Jizhong stood up, pointed at Zheng Keshuang and shouted, “What’s so funny?”

Zheng Keshuang angrily replied, “I want to laugh, what does it have to do with you?”

Feng Jizhong stretched out his hand. ‘Slap!’ A heavy slap landed on Zheng Keshuang’s face. Zheng Keshuang was both startled and angered; he threw his body forward and repeatedly punched with both fists. Feng Jizhong dodged to the left and evaded to the right, and then he turned around and ran out of the door. Zheng Keshuang ran after him, while sending a punch straight to Feng Jizhong’s face. Feng Jizhong leaned sideways to evade.

Feng Jizhong understood Wei Xiaobao’s intention; he must let this young master Zheng to suffer as much humiliation as possible to pull down his arrogance. Hence he only sent a punch to the east and a kick to the west, going around and around fighting with him.

Xu Tianchuan called out, “As heroes of Henan’s Mount Funiu, we must not let our prestige to fall under this fellow’s hands.”

The rest of the warriors also cheered and yelled; they all knew that although there was no harm in fooling around with this young man, they must not let him know their real background. Therefore, although they were cursing and shouting, they did not utter even half an inappropriate word, or anything that would disgrace his family or school.

Li Lishi shouted, “This time we go out from Funiu Mountain to do business, before even reaching the marketplace we are lucky to come across this richly bedecked fellow. We might as well capture him, have his old man to pay us one million taels as the ransom.”

Seeing their young master was unable to defeat this crude peasant in a short time, plus hearing from their shouts that these people were actually bandits and robbers from Mount Funiu, the Zheng Mansion attendants pulled out their weapons and charged forward. Xu Tianchuan, Fan Gang, Priest Xuanzhen, Gao Yanchao, Guan Anji, Li Lishi, and the others immediately made their moves. ‘Bing, bing, bang, bang!’ The fight was very noisy.

Although those Zheng Mansion attendants were hand-picked warriors, how could they match the Tian Di Hui warriors? Much less just a few days ago they were injured by the lamas, every one of them suffered either broken arm or broken leg. In just a short period of time, they were all subdued by Tian Di Hui heroes. Only Tian Di Hui heroes were being lenient to them; they only snatched away their weapons and surrounded them, but when snatching their sabers or swords, they did not harm them at all.

On the other side, Zheng Keshuang had fought more than a dozen rounds; he saw Feng Jizhong’s hands and feet were clumsy, he kept staggering along as if his stances were extremely unsteady. Zheng Keshuang gathered his spirits, unleashing everything he had learned his entire life. He wanted to show off in front of Ah Ke, to win favor of this extremely beautiful woman. His fists created strong winds, his kicks made noise; move by move he pressed on. Feng Jizhong appeared to have barely enough strength to parry; often times he managed to evade at the nick of time [orig. jian jun yi fa – a thousand jun (unit of measure equivalent to thirty catties) one hair, ‘a thousand pounds hang by a thread’].

Ah Ke watched with anxious heart; she did not stop calling softly, “Aiyo, what a pity, he missed only a little.”

Wei Xiaobao came near and said, “Shifu, you, Senior has not completely recovered, these bandits are very vicious, when Zheng Gongzi is defeated, you, Senior, must not fight with them.”

Ah Ke angrily said, “Don’t you see he has complete upper hand? How can he lose? Really talk nonsense.”

Jiu Nan smiled and said, “These people do not seem to have evil intention toward Zheng Gongzi at all; they are just playing with him. The opponent’s martial art skill is a lot higher compared to Zheng Gongzi’s.”

Ah Ke was incredulous. “Shifu,” she asked, “Are you saying that this robber’s martial art is stronger than Zheng Gongzi?”

Jiu Nan smiled and said, “Do I need to tell you that? This man’s martial art skill is indeed excellent, I am afraid they are not necessarily some Funiu Mountain robbers. If they were really robbers, they would not carelessly blurt it out, saying that they were going to kidnap him and ask for a ransom.”

Wei Xiaobao thought, “In the end, Shifu’s insight is very clear.” He said, “In that case, why don’t disciple urge them not to fight?”

Ah Ke shot him a malicious look; she said, “What face do you have? What skill do you have that you can urge them not to fight?”

Wei Xiaobao said, “Although this robber’s martial art is strong, there must be holes in his punching and kicking. Zheng Gongzi cannot beat him, I guarantee that within ten moves I will beat him and make him flee to the wilderness.”

Jiu Nan knew his martial art skill was meager, but perhaps he had some strange or weird tactics, enough to score victory. “These people do not seem to be evil people, you must not harm their lives.” After a short pause, she continued, “Those lowly tricks such us knock-out drug, poison and so on, must not be used, unless you are facing a life and death situation. You have entered my Iron Sword School, you must not spoil our school’s reputation.”

“Yes, yes,” Wei Xiaobao said, “I hear and obey Shifu’s instruction, I simply will not harm them.”

Jiu Nan sighed gently, as her mind suddenly revisited the Huashan’s summit, when the Iron Sword School’s Sect Leader Yuzhen Zi came to pick a fight with Priest Mu Sang. Yuzhen Zi had committed any imaginable misdeed: raping, looting, and so on. Speaking about Iron Sword School’s reputation, first of all, the number of disciples was very few, their reputation was not resounding; secondly, due to Yuzhen Zi’s conduct, in reality their reputation was not too great anyway. This young disciple was frivolous and jumpy, if he did not step into the proper way, it was very likely that in the future he would become Yuzhen Zi’s direct descendant, and that would be greatly inappropriate.

Seeing the sudden appearance of worried look on her face, naturally Wei Xiaobao did not understand the reason, he still thought that it was because she saw the Tian Di Hui warriors’ martial art was not weak, while her own martial art had not recovered, hence she felt it would be very difficult to deal with this situation. Thereupon he said, “Shifu, please set your heart at ease, I have a way to save Zheng Gongzi’s life.”

Ah Ke spat and said, “You speak nonsense again. Zheng Gongzi is going to win in a flash, what life do you want to save?”

Just as she finished speaking, there was ripping noise, Zheng Keshuang’s long gown was pulled and ripped. Zheng Keshuang was furious, he fought faster, but there was a series of continuous ripping noise; like the talon of an eagle Feng Jizhong’s ten fingers ripped his long gown, his undergarment and trousers, piece by piece. But he used just enough strength so that Zheng Keshuang’s flesh was not harmed.

Zheng Keshuang realized that with several more rips, he would be stark naked. In his fright he turned around trying to flee. Feng Jizhong bent his arms, both of his elbows were already stationed in front of Zheng Keshuang’s chest. Zheng Keshuang hastily pulled back, while sending out a double-punch. Suddenly he felt his wrist tightened, Feng Jizhong’s left hand grabbed his right hand, his left hand gripped Zheng Keshuang’s left hand. In one fluid motion he twisted around, sending Zheng Keshuang’s away. “Catch this!” he shouted. Unexpectedly this throw had sent Zheng Keshuang’s body seven, eight zhang away.

Priest Xuanzhen launched his qinggong to catch up, he raised his head and called out, “Gao Xiongdi, your turn!”

Gao Yanchao leaped immediately. Fan Gang, Xu Tianchuan, Guan Anji, and the others thought it was fun; they all shouted and rushed to join the game. Priest Xuanzhen caught Zheng Keshuang and tossed him over, he fell just as Gao Yanchao rushed over. Gao Yanchao caught him and threw him several zhang away toward Xu Tianchuan.

These people’s strength varied, some were stronger than the others, their qinggong also varied, some high, some low; when they threw Zheng Keshuang, some managed to throw him farther than the other, when they rushed to catch him, some could move faster than the other, yet Zheng Keshuang stayed in the air for several dozen zhang, and had never fallen to the ground. The Tian Di Hui warriors displayed what they were really good at; it was only now that they revealed their true skill.

Guan Anji’s physical strength was amazing; he tossed Zheng Keshuang about four, five zhang high in the air, and when he fell, he gave Zheng Keshuang’s back a push with both palms, two lines of force working together to send Zheng Keshuang high to the air, as if he was soaring to the clouds or riding in the fog.

Wei Xiaobao was watching with extreme delight; he clapped and laughed heartily. ‘Bang!’ Suddenly Ah Ke knocked the back of his head heavily with her knuckles. He was startled and quickly turned his head around. Ah Ke was frightened and angry at the same time; she anxiously said, “They are going to kidnap him, you … quickly save him.”

[szfong]

Thanks for the update foxs!!

[Ace High]

“Yes,” Zheng Keshuang said, “Fortunately there are no other people in here. These crude peasants won’t understand even if they heard it.”

That's plain stupid. He didn't even consider the possibility of spies disguising themselves as peasants. Or the possibility some peasants felt the Qing administration are better than the Ming. Furthermore, with such a big meeting, the local Qing officials should probably caught a wind of it. Hence the need for extra caution. But to ZKS, all that were secondary than to impress Ah Ke.

Wei Xiaobao knew that this group of warriors would not want to offend Yan Ping Mansion’s people, much less this fellow was their Wangye’s [master king] son. If he did not instigate wantonly, it would be hard for him to provoke them into action. Seeing these people getting angry, he was secretly delighted, but he maintained grim expression on his face.

WXB's plan certainly will not succeed if ZKS and his men weren't arrogant and rude. Even though they were humbled in their fight with the lamas, it seemed they still haven't learned their lesson.

[tweety365]

I haven't read Minford's version yet. Too expensive to buy and it's not available at the local library. So thanks a lot for all your hard work, foxs!

[aliderhamy]

I haven't read Minford's version yet. Too expensive to buy and it's not available at the local library. So thanks a lot for all your hard work, foxs!

me 2 im jewish... i wouldnt mind paying foxs... but cant bring my self to pay amazon

[crazee]

Whoops.....using a human body for a ball ???? that's what you get for crossing with XB. I wonder what our hero with his "mighty kungfu" ( of a different kind ) will do to create more sufferings for his adversary.

Thanks Foxs.... awesome translation. Love it and am addicted to it. Waiting for the next dose.

BTW, I'm with Tweety and Aliderhamy.....I read the 1st vol from somewhere in the forum and no, I do not like the way it was translated. As compared to Foxs, and other translators in SPCnet, it's different and somehow I'm not comfortable with literal translations of names......

[Anh Nam]

Thanks Foxs I have not read Minford. I have only seen the Steven Chow version which is not very close to the story. It is good for a laugh though.

[foxs]

szfong, you are welcome. Ace, I started to feel sorry for this guy. I think Jin Yong created this character for comedic purpose only. Tweety, Ali, Crazee, Anh, I have never read this book before HuntingX started the project. And then I got a copy and read it. Just like almost everybody else reading this thread, I felt something was missing. Now that we are more than halfway, I realized that not only Minford skipped considerable details (granted, those details are not important as the story goes, but to me those are interesting details nonetheless), he also altered the interaction between the characters to be a lot more casual, a lot less formal and respectful. For example, during his stay in Shaolin, he was a 'Father', while all the other monks were simply 'Brothers'. In the original, he was a 'Shishu' and 'Shishuzu' [martial uncle and granduncle, respectively]. In my simple mind, a Shishu or Shishuzu carries a lot more weight than 'Father' in a Catholic monastery. Anyway, as someone pointed out a long time ago, if you really want to read Minford's without paying Amazon, I am sure there is a free link out there.

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Wei Xiaobao said, “They have no enmity with Zheng Gongzi, Shifu said that they are just playing with him; why would you be worry?”

“No, they are not,” Ah Ke said, “They are going to kidnap him, to demand ransom for one million taels.”

Wei Xiaobao said, “There are lots of money in Zheng Gongzi’s home. They can easily afford to pay three millions, four millions taels. One million taels is not a big deal.”

Ah Ke stomped her right foot heavily on the floor. “Ay, don’t you have eyes?” she said, “These bandits will … will make him suffer extreme distress.”

Wei Xiaobao whispered in her ear, “You want me to save him? It’s not difficult, as long as you agree to be my wife.”

“Nonsense,” Ah Ke angrily said.

Looking up, she saw that after the last man caught Zheng Keshuang, he did not throw him up anymore; she heard someone calling out, “Hey, quickly go get the money and come back to Mount Funiu to redeem him. We won’t harm this fellow’s life, we will only give him three hundred floggings. The money is here one day early, he will suffer three hundred less floggings. If you are ten days late, he will suffer three thousand more floggings.”

Ah Ke grabbed Wei Xiaobao’s hand and anxiously said, “Did you hear that? Did you hear that? They are going to give him three hundred floggings every day. From here to Taiwan is very far, they won’t necessarily make it back in one month.”

Wei Xiaobao said, “Three hundred floggings every day. Supposing they took two months, two months is 60 days, three times six is eighteen, it’s only 1800 floggings …”

“Ay, you are wrong,” Ah Ke said, “It’s 18,000 floggings. You are really …”

Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, “I am not good in counting. With 18,000 floggings, his ‘pigu gong’ [buttocks skill] can be trained to perfection.”

Ah Ke was extremely angry; she flung his hand and said, “I won’t pay you any attention.” In her anger and anxiety, she broke up crying.

“Alright, alright,” Wei Xiaobao said, “Don’t cry, I’ll think of something. But my proposal just now, you must not go back on your words.”

“You quickly save him, we’ll talk about it later,” Ah Ke said.

Wei Xiaobao knew that she was only blurting perfunctorily, she would never agree under any circumstances to really marry him; he said, “I will go through water and tread on fire for you, I won’t decline your request under any circumstances, but in the future you must not bully me again.”

“Yes, yes,” Ah Ke said, “Quickly go, quickly go!” While saying that, her eyes had never met his, she kept her gaze on the distant Zheng Keshuang. She saw those bandits tied his hands behind his back, and put him onto the horseback; very soon they were going to take him away. In a moment of desperation, she put her hand on Wei Xiaobao’s back and gave him a push.

Wei Xiaobao cursed in his heart, “His granny, laozi met a beautiful girl, she always asks me to save her sweetheart. Laozi may be extremely skillful in becoming a fool [orig. ‘yuan da tou’ – someone with more money than sense]; perhaps my ‘yuan da tou gong’ is also trained to perfection.” Quickly he rushed forward and called out, “Hey, hey Funiu Montain’s big kings[4], zaixia has something to say.”

The crowd of heroes was already waiting for him to bravely step forward; they turned around immediately. “Xiao Xiongdi,” Gao Yanchao said, “What is it that you want to say?”

“Why did you catch him?” Wei Xiaobao asked.

Gao Yanchao replied, “The brethren in mountain fort is many, yet we lack provision. Today we temporarily detain him, because we want to borrow one million taels from his father.”

Wei Xiaobao said, “One million taels, that’s a small matter. Why don’t I lend it to you?”

Gao Yanchao laughed aloud and said, “Xiao Xiongdi, what is your honored surname and great given name? What makes you talk big like that?”

“My name is Wei Xiaobao,” Wei Xiaobao replied.

“Aiyo,” Gao Yanchao exclaimed; he cupped his fist and bowed, saying, “Turns out it’s the Little White Dragon Hero Wei [the word here is ‘ying xiong’, not ‘da xia’]. You killed the Number One Warrior of Manchuria Oboi, your name became famous throughout the world, we admire you very much. Today we can pay our respect to our revered model, it is indeed the blessing of three lifetimes.”

Fan Gang and the others respectfully bowed and saluted. Wei Xiaobao cupped his fist to return the salute while saying, “I do not dare to accept the honor.”

Gao Yanchao said, “In view of Hero Wei’s great face, we’ll let this fellow go. That one million taels we do not dare to ask anymore.”

Xu Tianchuan fetched two big silver yuanbao from his pocket and presented the money respectfully with both hands, saying, “Hero Wei, if you do not have enough traveling expense along the way, here is a hundred taels, please accept it and use it first.”

“Thank you very much,” Wei Xiaobao said, while accepting the yuanbao. And then he turned around to give it to Ah Ke.

Not in a million years would Ah Ke expect this little vile creature’s reputation was this resounding. When these devils and monsters big robbers heard him announcing his name, they acted as if they had met their superior. How could she know that this ‘little vile creature’ was indeed those ‘big robbers’ immediate superior? In order to please their superior, these ‘big robbers’ had deliberately redoubled their effort to flatter him, and thus had performed a good play. She was pleasantly surprised, thinking that finally Zheng Gongzi would escape from danger.

But she saw Feng Jizhong took a step forward and said, “Wait a moment. Hero Wei, you killed Oboi, we extremely admire you. It’s just that we do not know each other. How do we know that you are indeed Hero Wei and not someone pretending to be him, assuming the Senior’s great name to come out and swindle us?”

“What you said makes sense,” Wei Xiaobao replied, “What can I do so that Sire is convinced?”

Feng Jizhong said, “Zaixia brazenly asks Hero Wei to give me direction with three moves. The Number One Warrior of Manchuria died in your hands, naturally Honored Sir’s martial art skill is no small matter. Whether you are real or fake, once we test it we will find out.”

“Very well,” Wei Xiaobao said, “We will only try the style, one touch and we stop.”

“Absolutely,” Feng Jizhong said, “I am asking Hero Wei to be lenient, so that zaixia will not seriously hurt.”

Wei Xiaobao was secretly amused; he thought, “Feng Dage usually does not like to talk; who would have thought that when playacting, he could emulate the actors very well.” Thereupon he said, “Laoxiong needs not be polite, perhaps I am not your match.”

With left hand finger pointed out, light as a feather his right palm struck out; only after moving for half a chi, the palm suddenly circled around and struck down diagonally. It was precisely the move from Bo’re Palm that Cheng Guan demonstrated, called the ‘without color without shape’.

Feng Jizhong’s had a vast knowledge and experience. “Wonderful!” he called out, “This is a masterstroke from Bo’re Palm, called ‘without color …’ something.” Stretching out his hand to block, he threw his upper body backward to evade too far that he nearly fell down.

Actually, there was not even half a part of internal energy; Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, “Sire is right. This move is called ‘without color without shape’.” And then he raised his left hand and struck down diagonally from upper right corner to lower left. Suddenly his five fingers turned into a claw and moved down several times.

Feng Jizhong loudly shouted, “Amazing! There is the ‘Bo’re Palm’ divine skill, and then there is ‘spirited vulture listening to the scripture’.” Assuming the horse stance, he pushed both palms slowly forward, the center of his palm lightly touched Wei Xiaobao’s fingertips. Immediately he cried out, “Ah!” and tumbled anxiously backward three times. While somersaulting, he secretly circulated his internal energy so that by the time he stood up, his entire face was red as if he had just drunk seventeen, eighteen bowls of strong wine. Hid body swayed several times, and then he fell sitting down. Shaking his head, he said, “Can’t … can’t do it … no more fight. My utmost admiration! Hero Wei, thank you very much for sparing my life.”

Wei Xiaobao cupped his fist and said, “Laoxiong deliberately yielded to me.” While saying that, he winked several times.

Feng Jizhong’s appearance looked very real; he had a dejected expression, mixed with gratitude, on his face, but there was also a hint of heartfelt admiration.

Xu Tianchuan took a step forward and said, “Hero Wei’s martial art is astonishing, indeed your name is not in vain. Let ziaxia experience several moves.”

“Very well!” Wei Xiaobao said. Moving swiftly forward, his hands crossed each other, one hand swung to Xu Tianchuan’s left chest, one hand seized his right flank. It was a move from Shaolin Pai’s upper class martial art, ‘picking flower qinna [grab and capture]’.

Xu Tianchuan saw the brilliance of this qinna technique, he could not help but admiring him in his heart, “Wei Xiangzhu is extremely smart, as soon as he started learning martial art, his progress is amazingly quick.” He did not know that although Wei Xiaobao executed the style correctly, he did not have the slightest bit of internal strength, so that even if he was seized by him, he would not suffer any damage. Xu Tianchuan’s stature was short and small, the type of martial art he was most adept was, coincidentally, the qinna. Immediately he unleashed his special skill and sparred with Wei Xiaobao.

After several moves, the hands of both men interlocked with each other. “Ah!” Xu Tianchuan cried out, his right hand hung limply on his side, he was pretending that it was twisted out of joint. “My utmost admiration,” he said, and took two steps backward. His left hand cradling his own right hand, lifted it up and pulled it out, as if he was fixing the joint. This fixing joint skill was also an upper class technique of qinna martial art. He performed the procedure with ‘not one thread loose’, his movement was clean and deft.

One after another Fan Gang, Priest Xuanzhen and Li Lishi stepped forward asking for a match. Wei Xiaobao kept using the upper-class styles that Cheng Guan taught him. In just three or four moves, or perhaps seven, eight moves, Fan Gang and the others were defeated.

In a loud and clear voice Gao Yanchao said, “We have witnessed Hero Wei’s brilliant moves today, indeed our horizons have been expanded. Xiao Ren [lowly one] all are full of admiration. When Hero Wei pass by Funiu Mountain someday, please do not forget to go up the mountain and stay for several days.”

“Naturally I will receive the benefit of disturbing you,” Wei Xiaobao replied.

The group of heroes bowed with cupped fists, and led their horses away. They walked to the edge of the town before mounting their horses and galloped away. Unexpectedly they did not dare to mount their horses in front of Wei Xiaobao; it was a display of utmost respect.

Ah Ke finally submitted to him, “Turns out this ‘little vile creature’ has superior martial art; every time he pretended he was beaten, he was simply yielding to me.”

Things had come to this, Zheng Keshuang had no choice but to come to Wei Xiaobao to express his thanks. Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, “Zheng Gongzi does not need to be polite, I was simply lucky that I accidentally defeated them. Speaking about real martial art, I am far too inferior compared to Sire.”

He was speaking the truth, but to Zheng Keshuang’s ears it was highly sarcastic; he could not stop his face from turning deep red.

That evening they arrived at Xian County to the south. After settling down in an inn, Jiu Nan dismissed Ah Ke and asked Wei Xiaobao, “Those people who were playacting with you during the day, they are your friends, aren’t they?”

Jiu Nan’s insight was very keen; Feng Jizhong, Xu Tianchuan and the others putting on an act, they were able to deceive Zheng Keshuang and Ah Ke, but how could they deceive this martial art expert? Wei Xiaobao knew that his trickery was exposed; he laughed and said, “They are not really my friends.”

Jiu Nan said, “The martial art skill of every one of those people is quite established; how could they agree to accompany you playing that trick?”

Wei Xiaobao said with a laugh, “Most likely they cannot bear to see Zheng Gongzi’s arrogance, so they borrowed disciple to knock him down several notches.”

Jiu Nan thought that his answer was very reasonable. She asked, “The way you executed those several moves of yours: Bo’re Palm, Picking Flower Qinna, was not bad at all.”

Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, “I was just putting on airs, the roar of a toothless tiger; totally useless.”

While they were talking, they heard the clamor of hooves beat, a large group of people had arrived at the inn. Someone with a loud voice said, “One upper-level room, must be the best you have. The rest of us can accept whatever you have.”

As soon as Wei Xiaobao heard this, he was delighted, since he recognized the voice to be the Shaking-head Lion Wu Lishen of the Mu Palace. “Shifu,” he asked, “Are we going to kill Wu Sangui?”

Jiu Nan said, “This time the injury I suffered was really not light. Although the injury is healed, my internal energy is not recovered yet. I must find a quiet and secluded place to recuperate several days before we can decide what we are going to do. Otherwise, if I meet some strong enemies again, I won’t be able to fight, and will have to depend on your muddled and crazy techniques; our Iron Sword School’s reputation won’t look too good.” While saying that, she could not help but smiling.

“Yes, yes,” Wei Xiaobao said, “Shifu’s body is important.”

From this traveling sack he fetched some best quality Qiqiang Longjing tea leaves and soaked it inside a covered teacup. He said, “In the future disciple will learn Shifu’s martial art. When I meet the enemy, I can fight him justly and honorably. Shifu, I want to go to the market to see if there are any fresh vegetables.”

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[4] Common people usually address bandits or robbers as ‘kings’.

[szfong]

Thanks again for this very long update for us to enjoy!

[aliderhamy]

I feel a sense of great gratitude towards you

this translation made my day

[crydee]

Thanks Foxs for the constant updates appreciate it!

I hope Ah Ke will elope with Zheng Keshuang soon to some Amazon jungle.....(or just kill themself already)
this arc is getting boring with WXB chasing after Ah Ke, wonder when it will end.

[Anh Nam]

Thanks Foxs

[Ace High]

Ace, I started to feel sorry for this guy. I think Jin Yong created this character for comedic purpose only.

I think ZKS was created as a comparison to both WXB and Kang Xi.

Just like ZKS, KX was also pampered throughout his life. However, KX has shown his abilities in planning and managing his men. KX also knew the importance of secrecy and discretion, even amongst his own personal troops. But, ZKS will blab his mouth at every opportunity to impress Ah Ke.

WXB knew how to treat his men properly, and how to act accordingly in different situations, compared to ZKS who treated his men just like ordinary servants, and expect people will give way to him because of his grandfather is Koxinga.

[crazee]

Just when I was thinking that it not possible jiu nan cannot see the truth, JY beats me to it.

I suppose the reason China's han people were ruled by machurians precisely because the ruling families were too complacent.

Yes there's a link somewhere in Spcnet with a simplified translation....I suppose it's the minford version. I read it and there was some lapse and it was worse than the serials....ie the serials have more actions than the translation.

Thanks Foxs....

[smurf120]

LOL, Jiu Nan approves of WXB's action and actually trusts him in her own way after only knowing him for a short period.

I actually spent a small fortune collecting the Minford books (lets say I spent more than I ever did for a single college textbook). The only part that came in sufficient detail (way more than any adaptation I've ever seen) was part about Russia.