Page 3 of 64 FirstFirst 1234567891011121353 ... LastLast
Results 41 to 60 of 1266

Thread: ROCH Translation ..... 8 onwards

  1. #41
    Junior Member
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
    Posts
    7

    Post

    great job noodles...ur speed is amazing..

    <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><table border="0" width="80%" bgcolor="#dcdcdc" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="1"><tr><td width="100%"><table border="0" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="10" bgcolor="#DCDCDC"><tr><td width="100%" bgcolor="#eeeeee"><font size="1">Q: While H7G was better than OYF in terms of technique esp Dog Beating Stance, would it be fair to say that OYF has a slight edge in inner power?</font></td></tr></table></td></tr></table></BLOCKQUOTE>

    OYF also had a snake fist which he was saving but he lost that edge when OYH gave it away when he dueled GJ in LOCH. I think their skills are pretty much on par, but H7G prolly coulda won in this fight as indicated. I've always wished H7G didnt die
    omg what the hell im i doing?????

  2. #42
    Senior Member Athena's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2001
    Location
    Mount Olympus, sipping nectar and eating ambrosia
    Posts
    2,074

    Smile

    Sorry made a typo the remaining 30% depends on his intelligence, dilligence and talent.
    So huge, so hopeless, to conceive
    As these that twice befell
    Parting is all we know of heaven
    And all we need of hell.

    Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)

  3. #43
    Senior Member athlonkmf's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2002
    Posts
    426

    Post

    <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><table border="0" width="80%" bgcolor="#dcdcdc" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="1"><tr><td width="100%"><table border="0" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="10" bgcolor="#DCDCDC"><tr><td width="100%" bgcolor="#eeeeee"><font size="1">Originally posted by Han Solo:
    [QB]Great battle.

    Some general comment: H7G only stop his breathing only when YG was checking on him. But why can't YG observe H7G for a long long time, everyone is bound to breath eventually, and with every breath, the chest and abdomen will be distended. Also it would be a simple matter to palpate for the radial pulses, or even the carotids. Chinese doctors were famous for diagnosing diseases via pulses.
    Some of the things in JY stories are beyond belief. <IMG SRC="smilies/smile.gif" border="0">
    </font></td></tr></table></td></tr></table></BLOCKQUOTE>

    H7Q's body should be behind him and YG has to pay more attention to the 5 clowns.
    Weird thing is... even if you manage to hold your breath and stuff in a way that it is unnoticable, IF you breath out in such cold weather, there should be some vapor. How H7Q manage to cool his breath off...
    Proud to be part of http://www.asianfanatics.net/

    *********************************

  4. #44
    Member bigstick's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2003
    Posts
    54

    Post

    Thanx for the great translations Noodles!!! The same goes for ALL translators!!! I'm new here but I've been a Jin Yong fan for over 20 years. I'm finally able to read these novels thanx to you guys/gals. Keep up the good work. Can't wait for more ROCH and HSDS.

    <font size="1">[ June 07, 2003: Message edited by: bigstick ]</font>

  5. #45
    Moderator Noodles's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2002
    Location
    London
    Posts
    836

    Post

    Yang Guo turned around and saw a yellow furred skinny horse pulling a cart of firewood along the main road slowly, he thought that the horse must have seen the other horses galloping freely in the wild lands whereas it was toiling under hard work, it hissed out as it lamented itself. The horse was so skinny that its breast plate was sticking out, its four legs had no muscle, they were as thin as branches, its fur was patchy, its skin was covered in scabies, and they were numerous traces of blood wounds from whipping. A rude man was sitting on the cart, he disliked it when the horse was going slow and whipped it incessantly. Yang Guo has suffered under others many times before, when he saw the horse suffering such punishment, it felt like he himself was suffering the whippings, his chest ached and tears almost escaped from his eyes. He stood in the road and angrily shouted, “Hey you, why are you whipping the horse?”
    The rude man saw a kid in torn and old garments looking like a beggar blocking the road, he raised his whip and shouted, “Move out of the way now, don’t you want your life?” As he said this he flogged his whip on the horse’s back again.
    Yang Guo was furious and called out, “If you hit the horse again, I’ll kill you.”
    The man laughed and lashed out at Yang Guo’s head. Yang Guo stretched out his hand to take the whip and turned it around. He lashed the whip and it made a loop tangling around the man’s neck and pulled him down, beating him in the head and face for a while. Although the skinny horse was ugly, it was very lively, when it saw the man getting beaten, it neighed out in delight and stretched out its head stroking Yang Guo on the leg, displaying signs of affection. Yang Guo pulled apart the cart’s noose and patted the horse on the back, and pointed in the direction of the other horse’s trail and said, “Just go, no one’s going to harm you anymore.”
    The horse raised its front legs and neighed, and galloped forward. But the horse’s body was weak, he wasn’t able to continue this sudden burst, it galloped for around a hundred feet and its front legs softened, falling onto the floor. Yang Guo couldn’t bear it, he ran over there and picked up the horse from its stomach and shouted, “Rise”, pulling the horse back on its feet. The man saw the unbelievable strength of Yang Guo and was scared, so scared that he didn’t want his cart of firewood, he picked himself up and ran. About half a mile away, he shouted, “There’s someone strong stealing horses and firewood!”
    Yang Guo felt this was funny. He pulled up some green grass for the horse. He saw the horse having such a unfortunate life and couldn’t help but feel linked with it, he stroked the horse’s back and said, “Horse, horse, follow me from now on.” He held its rope and walked slowly to a town. He bought some barley for the horse to eat. On the second day the horse seemed to regain its spirit and so rode it slowly. At first the horse struggled and limped, if it didn’t lose its footing it would stumble, but knew that the further it walked the better it got, after seven, eight days of having enough to eat, it regained its strength, its steps were as if it was flying. Yang Guo couldn’t speak his delight and took even more care of it.
    One day Yang Guo was in a restaurant making an order when the horse walked over to a table and kept on neighing at a bowl of wine on the next table, as if he wanted to drink wine. Yang Guo was curious and ordered a large bowl of wine and placed it on the table, and then stroked the horse’s head. The horse drank it all in one go, its tail raised and legs trotted, feeling very pleased. Yang Guo felt that this was interesting and called some more wine, the horse drank over ten bowls in a go, and wasn’t finished. Yang Guo wanted to call some more wine but the waiter saw he was dressed in ragged garments and afraid that he had no money to pay so said that they didn’t have any more wine. Afterwards he got on the horse. The horse was under the influence of the wine and took large steps, galloping like crazy, the trees by the side receded, it was extremely fast. When a normal spirited horse galloped, it would gallop steadily, though this horse was fast, its body would be high and then low, jolting about, if it weren’t for the fact that Yang Guo possessed excellent lightness kung fu, he would not be able to ride it. The horse also has another strange characteristic, whenever there’s another animal on the road, it would speed up and overtake them, no matter whether it was a cow, horse, pony or donkey, it will gallop past them before it stops, this proud and competitive air seems to have come about due to the suffering it has had in its life. Yang Guo thought that this thousand-mile colt has been trapped under the hands the villager, wasting half its life, now that its spirit is free, it will want to gallop and fly over the lands.
    This behaviour was similar to Yang Guo’s, the man and horse were like good friends. He was bored sometimes and would play with the horse, he was happy again in a few days. He has been heading south and had arrived at the bank of Han Shui. On the road he thought about how he teased Lu Wu Shuang and tricked the Li Mo Chou master and disciple, he couldn’t stop laughing on the horse. He then remembered he didn’t know where Xiao Long Nuu was, when were they going to meet again, he became sad and desolate.
    That day he travelled until noon and on the road he kept on seeing beggars. From their appearances, most of them knew kung fu, he thought, “Could it be that the matter between wifey and beggars hasn’t finished yet? Or could it be that the Beggar Clan has summoned all these people to fight with Li Mo Chou? I must take a look.”
    He didn’t like the Beggar Clan much, but because he admired Hong Qi Gong, he couldn’t stop himself from feeling close to the Beggar Clan, he thought as long as the beggars don’t trouble Lu Wu Shuang he will them the news that Hong Qi Gong has passed away. He carried on for a while and saw the road was filling up with more and more beggars. When the beggars saw Yang Guo they were surprised, there was no difference in the way they were dressed but if there wasn’t an urgent matter, members of the clan would not travel by horseback. Yang Guo ignored them and carried on gently.
    He carried on until afternoon and suddenly he heard the cries of condors in the air, two white condors flew past, and descended down ahead of him.
    He heard a beggar say, “Chief Huang is here, there’s probably going to be an assembly tonight.”
    Another beggar said, “Will Hero Guo come?”
    The first beggar replied, “The two are never apart” he saw Yang Guo reign in his horse listening to their words, he gave him a glance and closed his mouth.
    When Yang Guo heard the names Guo Jing and Huang Rong he was slightly alarmed, and then his heart laughed coldly, “Before I lived in your home and ate your food and you made a fool out of me, then I was young and useless, I suffered a lot. Right now I’m relying on the world, who needs your support?” He had another thought, “Why don’t I pretend I have nowhere to go and have come to them for help and then see how they’ll treat me.”
    He then found a quiet place and then messed up his hair, and then punched himself in the left eye, he scratched his cheek a few times; there was now a blue green bruise on his left eye and there were some red scars on his face. His clothes were already torn and old but he tore it up even more making it look even more ragged, he rolled over a few times in the mud and dust and then got up on the horse that was covered in scars and skin ulcers. Indeed, he now looked like he was a person with nowhere to go and on his last breath. As soon as he finished he limped back to the main road, he didn’t ride on the horse and walked amongst the beggars. He didn’t lead the horse along, the horse followed by himself. Someone from the Beggar Clan asked whether he was on his way to attend the great feast, Yang Guo stared and didn’t reply and slipped back into the crowd, walking back and forth. The group of people winded along the road and eventually came up to a large, old and broken temple. He saw the two white condors roosting on top of a pine tree in front of the temple.
    One of the Wu brothers was holding a dish, while the other took a slab of meat from the dish and flung it towards the condors. Yang Guo had seen the two before when they teamed up with Guo Fu to fight Li Mo Chou, but at that time he was too busy thinking about Guo Fu and didn’t take the two to mind, now he took a closer look at the two. He saw Wu Dun Ru looked intense, he was concentrating one hundred percent, Wu Xiu Men was active and lively, he ran to east and darted to the west, not having a moment’s peace. Wu Dun Ru was wearing a purple coloured Chong silk gown, Wu Xiu Men was wearing a large blue coloured Shandong silk gown, around their waist tied an embroidered satin ‘hero’, they were indeed young heroes, standing out from the crowd.
    Yang Guo went up to them and made a bow, and stammered, “Greetings… greetings brother Wu’s, I hope you’ve been…been well.”
    At this time there were beggars everywhere around the temple, their clothes were all ragged, though Yang Guo was covered in dirt, he did not look out of place in the crowd of beggars.
    Wu Dun Ru returned the favour and glanced up and down at Yang Guo, he couldn’t recognise him and said, “Forgive my inexperienced eyes, what is brother’s name?”
    Yang Guo said, “There is no need to worry about such a lowly name, little brother… little brother want to meet with Chief Huang.”
    Wu Dun Ru heard that his voice sounded slightly familiar, he was about to question him when a voice like a silver bell came from the entrance of the mill, “Big brother Wu, I asked you to buy me a soft horse whip, have you bought it?”
    Wu Dun Ru quickly cast Yang Guo aside and walked forward saying, “I bought it ages ago, have a test, does it feel right?” He fished out a horse whip from his pocket as he said this.
    Yang Guo turned his head and saw a girl in a light green dress hurrying from the temple’s doors, he saw that her brows were curved, her little nose slightly raised, her face like white jade, her smile like a flower, it was Guo Fu. Her adornments on her hair wasn’t extravagant, only a pearl was worn on her hair, sending out a simple light, making her look if she was adorned with jade gem make up. Yang Guo only gave her a glance, he couldn’t stop himself from having a sense of inferiority, he turned his head and didn’t look back. Wu Xiu Men also dashed forward and the two brothers spent all their efforts in talking to her. After speaking with Guo Fu for a while, Wu Dun Ru remembered Yang Guo and turned around saying, “You’ve come because of the heroes’ feast?”
    Yang Guo did not know what the heroes’ feast was and just answered agreeably. Wu Dun Ru summoned one of the beggars with his hand and said, “Take care of this friend, tomorrow take him to Da Xing Guan.” After he said this he turned his attention back to Guo Fu and ignored him.
    The beggar agreed and after greeting each other, asked for his name. Yang Guo told him truthfully. He was a nobody, of course the beggar wouldn’t have heard of his name before and didn’t think anything of it. The beggar called himself Wang Shi San, he was a second band Beggar Clan member.
    He asked, “Where has brother Yang come from?”
    Yang Guo said, “From Xia Xi.”
    Wang Shi San said, “Ah, Brother Yang is from Quan Zhen sect?”
    As soon as he heard the words ‘Quan Zhen sect’ Yang Guo’s head ached, he shook his head and said, “No.”
    Wang Shi San, “Brother Yang you’ve got the heroes’ invitation with you?”
    Yang Guo was startled and said, “I just wander around Jiang Hu, how can I call myself a hero? It’s just that I have met your clan’s chief Huang once before, I only want to see her and ask for some money to return to my home.”
    Wang Shi San’s brows crinkled and thought for a while and then said, “Chief Wang is receiving the heroes at the moment, I’m afraid that she won’t have time to see you.” Yang Guo deliberately made himself such a sorry sight, the lower the other person looks down on him, the prouder he’ll get, he made himself more pitiful and pleaded earnestly.
    The members of the Beggar Clan are all people from poor environments, they have always help those in need and distress, they would never look down on poor people.
    Wang Shi San heard that he spoke with such grief and woe, and so said, “Little brother Yang, have a meal first, tomorrow we’ll go to Da Xing Guan together. I’m your big brother, I’ll go and tell the elders, who in turn will inform our chief. We’ll wait and see what orders she’ll give, how about that?”
    Wang Shi San had called him brother Yang, but now he heard that he wasn’t one of the guests of the heroes’ feast, and he himself was a fair few years older than him so he changed his greeting to little brother Yang. Yang Guo thanked him repeatedly. Wang Shi San invited him into the broken temple and bought out some rice and dishes for the guest. One of the rules of the Beggar Clan is when a Beggar Clan member arrives to celebrate a ceremony, they’ll first need to get chicken, fish, beef and lamb and leave it until it starts to rot, until it gets like a soup of spoilt meat, the meaning is that they shouldn’t forget their origins, but when treating guests, proper wine and dishes are bought out.
    As Yang Guo was eating, a flash of light shone in his eyes, he saw Guo Fu enter the hall, her faced filled with a smile, the Wu Brothers followed behind her left and right.
    He heard Wu Xiu Men say, “Fine, we’ll leave tonight and travel through the night to rush to Da Xing Guan. I’ll go and get your red horse.” The three of them were too busy talking to notice Yang Guo who was sitting on the floor and eating. The three of them went to the back garden to take their bags and weapons and exited the temple. Many footsteps sounds could be heard as the horses galloped away. Yang Guo planted his chopsticks into this bowl, and heard the footsteps of the horses became distant, a hundred emotions went through his mind, but was it worry or hate? Anger or sorrow?
    The next day, Wang Shi San looked after him as they went on the road. On the road, apart from the crowds of Beggar Clan members, there were many eminent names of wulin, some travelled by horseback, some travelled bu foot, all heading for the heroes’ feast. Yang Guo didn’t know what the heroes’ feast or what the heroes’ invitation was about, he knew that Wang Shi San wouldn’t dare to reveal it to him so he pretended to be stupid and miserable. They arrived at Da Xing Guan at around seven o’clock that night. Da Xing Guan is an important strategic point in the Henan province, the topography of the area was divine yet there weren’t many towns and cities around, this was because the Mongolian soldiers were situated north of here. Wang Shi San led Yang Guo pass a town and travelled for another seven, eight miles, in front of them were hundred of Japanese Scholar trees surrounding a large manor, all the heroes were heading for this manor. Buildings followed buildings inside the manor, all folding over each other, it was hard to see how many rooms there really were, but it appeared that the manor could easily hold thousands of guests and have room to spare.
    Wang Shi San was just a lowly member of the Beggar Clan, he knew that their Chief was occupied right now, how could he go disturb her over such a trivial matter such as borrowing travelling money? He arranged quarters for Yang Guo and then went away with his friends.
    Yang Guo saw that this was a very grand manor, there were many servants busy with serving the guests, he was curious and wondered who the master of the manor was and how come they had so much respect? He suddenly heard the three blasts from a trumpet and the musical ensemble started their music. Someone said, “The master and mistress of the manor are meeting the guests now, let’s go take a look, who’s the hero that has arrived?” He saw the guest and servant move to one side. The crowd of guests also stood to either side of the hall.
    A man and a woman entered the hall shoulder to shoulder, they were both around forty years of age. The male wore an embroidered gown, he had a slight moustache, exuding an air of authority and prosperity; the woman had white skin, she was courteous and gracious like an affluent mistress.
    The guests quietly discussed amongst themselves, “Master Lu and mistress Lu are greeting this important guest personally.”
    Behind them was another couple, when Yang Guo saw them his heart trembled, he became flustered, it was Guo Jing and Huang Rong. He hasn’t seen them for many years, Guo Jing seems to be more serious, there was a slight smile of Huang Rong’s face, her beauty has not diminished slightly.
    Yang Guo thought, “So auntie Guo is this beautiful, I never noticed this when I was younger.”
    Guo Jing wore a coarse long gown, Huang Rong was wearing a light purple silk gown, but because she was the chief of the Beggar Clan, she could only tie the gown with pins on the places where it doesn’t catch the eye and that’s it. Behind Guo Jing and Huang Rong followed Guo Fu and the Wu brothers. Right then, the hall was lit up with countless red candles, under the candle light the crowd could see that the males were noble and the girl was lovable and glamorous.
    The crowd pointed, “That is hero Guo, that is madam Huang chief Huang.”
    “Who’s that girl who’s cute as a flower?”
    “It is the Guo couple’s daughter.”
    “Are those young men their sons?”
    “No, their disciples.”
    Yang Guo didn’t want to meet the Guo couple in the crowd so he hid behind a tall man and watched, four Taoists appeared from the direction of the music. When Yang Guo saw them, he couldn’t refrain from being angry, the first one that entered was an old Taoist full of white hair, his face was purple, it was the Blithe elder Hao Dao Tong, behind him was a grey haired old Taoist nun, Yang Guo has never seen her before. Behind them entered two middle aged Taoists standing shoulder to shoulder, one was Yin Zhi Ping, the other was Zhao Zhi Jing.
    Master and mistress Lu greeted them, the greeted the old Taoist nun master, they received the Guo couple, Guo Fu and the Wu brothers and led them forward.
    Yang Guo heard from the crowd, “That old Taoist nun is Quan Zhen’s sword heroine, her name is Sun Bu Er.”
    “Ah, she’s the Sage of Tranquillity, famous throughout the northern and southern sides of the Changjian river.”
    “Yes. She is mistress Lu’s master. However, master Lu’s kung fu was not taught by her.”

    Master Lu’s first names are Guan Ying, his father Lu Cheng Feng was a disciple of Huang Rong’s father Huang Yao Shi, and so, they could be regarded a generation lower than Guo Jing and Huang Rong. Lu Guan Ying’s wife Cheng Yao Jia is Sun Bu Er’s disciple. The couple originally resided in lake Tai’s Returning Echo Manor. The manor was burnt down by Ou Yang Feng. Lu Cheng Feng was furious and under the influence of anger, he told his son that he didn’t want to be on the minds of Lake Tai’s bandits again, so he took his family north and resided in Da Xing Guan. Lu Cheng Feng has now passed away. Years ago, Cheng Yao Shi was in trouble, she was rescued by Guo Jing, Huang Rong and the Beggar Clan, she has always remembered this. When the Beggar Clan sent out the heroes’ invitation, the Lu couple took the task on themselves and arranged the heroes’ feast here at their manor.

    Guo Jing waited for the greetings to be over and led Hao Da Tong and Sun Bu Er towards the hall to meet the gathering of heroes.
    Hao Da Tong stroked his beard as he said, “When Ma, Qiu, Liu and Wang received chief Huang’s invitation, they wanted to come here in person but apprentice brother Ma has not been feeling well, apprentice brother Liu and the others are helping him to recuperate and can’t leave him, they can only apologise to chief Huang.”
    Huang Rong said, “Well said, well said. Those seniors are too polite.”
    Though she was young, she was the leader of the world’s greatest clan, Hao Da Tong and the others treated her with great respect. Guo Jing and Yin Zhi Ping knew each other when they were young, when they saw each other both of them were delighted, the two of them entered together. Guo Jing asked about Ma Yu’s illness and missed him very much. The main hall was arranged for the feast, the noise of people and the reflection of the red candles created a great atmosphere.
    Yin Zhi Ping looked to the east and then west, it was as if he was searching for someone in the crowd of people.
    Zhao Zhi Jing chuckled and quietly said, “Apprentice brother Yin, will the one named Long make an appearance here?” Yin Zhi Ping became red and didn’t reply.
    Guo Jing did not know they were talking about Xiao Long Nuu and interrupted, “There’s a hero named Long? Are they your friend?”
    Zhao Zhi Jing said, “It’s apprentice brother Yin’s friend, I dare not to make such a friend.”
    Guo Jing saw they looked strange and there was something else going on and so he didn’t inquire any further.
    Suddenly, Yin Zhi Ping spotted Yang Guo in the crowd, his whole body trembled like as if he was struck by lightning, he knew that if he’s here, Xiao Long Nuu would also be here. Zhao Zhi Jing followed his gaze and his face suddenly changed, he angrily shouted, “Yang Guo! It’s Yang Guo! That … That Xiao is here as well!”
    When Guo Jing heard the two words ‘Yang Guo’ he immediately turned around. The two haven’t seen each other for years, Yang Guo has now grown up, Guo Jing would have not been able to recognise him straight away but when he heard Zhao Zhi Jing’s shout, he immediately recognised who he was. He was shocked and delighted, he dashed over and took his hand and said with joy, “Guo Er, you’re here as well? I was afraid that I was going to disturb your training so I did not request your presence. It’s great that your master has bought you here.”
    Everyone in Quan Zhen was ashamed of the incident with Yang Guo expelling himself out of Chong Yang Palace, no one leaked a word about this to outsiders, Guo Jing did not now about this all the time he was on Peach Blossom Island.
    The reason that Zhao Zhi Jing came to the heroes’ feast was to tell Guo Jing about this event, he couldn’t predict that he would encounter Yang Guo here. He was afraid that has heard Yang Guo’s account of the events and take his side, but judging from his reaction he knew that the two have just met, his face became clear and faced the sky saying, “How can Taoist here dream of being master Yang’s master?”
    Guo Jing was shocked and asked, “Why does brother Zhao say this? The child does not listen to your teachings?”
    Zhao Zhi Jing saw that the hall was filled with heroes, if he talked about this he would definitely get into an argument with Yang Guo, Quan Zhen sect will lose their face, he just chuckled coldly and didn’t say a word.
    Guo Jing was worried about Yang Guo, he saw his eye was bruised and nose blue, his garments was torn and ragged, his body covered in mud, it showed that he has suffered a lot, he held him in his chest. As soon as Yang Guo was held, he secretly circulated his chi to protect his body from harm. This hug was out of love, why would Guo Jing have any intentions to harm him? He called out to Huang Rong, “Rong Er, look who’s here.”
    When Huang Rong saw Yang Guo she was shocked. She did not have Guo Jing’s delight and calmly said, “Great, you’re here as well.”
    Yang Guo lightly struggled free and said, “My body is filthy, there is no need to dirty your clothes.” His two sentences were said coldly, he had an scorned tone in his voice. Guo Jing felt slightly sad and thought, “This child hasn’t got a father or mother, it looks like even his master doesn’t care for him.” He held his hand, wanting him to sit on the same table as him. Yang Guo was arranged to sit in the corner table, he didn’t want to sit with such people and said coldly, “I’ll sit over there. Uncle Guo, take care of your important guests.”
    Guo Jing felt that there were many guests here, it wasn’t convenient to drop the guests so he lightly patted his shoulder and made a toast at the main guest’s table.
    After three rounds of wine, Huang Rong stood up and said clearly, “Tomorrow is the day for the heroes’ feast. There are still many heroes and good men who have yet to arrive. Tonight I ask you to open your appetite and don’t stop drinking until you are drunk, we’ll talk about the serious matters tomorrow.”
    Meat piled up like mountains on the tables, wine flowed like rivers, the guests either played drinking games or told stories. That day, the amount of pigs and sheep that were prepared and the amount of wine that was poured in the Lu manor were beyond measure.

    After the meal, the servants led the guests to their rooms to rest.
    Zhao Zhi Jing said a few quiet words to Hao Da Tong, Hao Da Tong nodded. Zhao Zhi Jing stood up and saluted his hands towards Guo Jing and said, “Hero Guo, Taoist has an heavy burden to reveal, it is extremely shameful, today I have come to apologise because of this.”
    Guo Jing quickly returned the greeting and said, “You are too modest apprentice brother Zhao. We’ll go and speak in the study. Whatever the child has done to offend apprentice brother Zhao, I will heavily punish him to ease apprentice brother Zhao’s anger.”
    He said these words clearly, though Yang Guo was a couple of tables away, Yang Guo heard it and decided, “If he shouts at me just once, I will get up and leave, never seeing again. Though my kung fu cannot compare to his, if he beats me I will fight him with my life.”
    Once he made this decision he felt slightly more comfortable, he wasn’t as fearful as he was when he first saw Zhao Zhi Jing, he saw Guo Jing signalling to him with his hand and went over to him and followed behind him.

    Guo Fu and the Wu brothers were drinking wine on another table, she didn’t know who Yang Guo was, but after being told the news by Guo Jing and Huang Rong, she remembered that it was the boy who they played with when they were younger on Peach Blossom Island. They have been separated for a long time, young people change their appearances the most, after a few months great changes can be seen, let alone a few years and the fact that Yang Guo had made himself to look such a sorry state, and then hiding himself in the crowd, of course Guo Fu would not know who he was.
    When she saw Yang Guo had returned, she couldn’t help herself from thinking, she remembered how they had a little argument when they were little on the island, would he still be angry at this event? She saw him in such a weary state, compared with the gracefulness and the distinguished of the Wu brothers, they were poles apart, she couldn’t help but feel some pity for him and said to the Wu Dun Ru, “Father sent him to Quan Zhen to learn martial arts, I wonder how his skills are compared to us?”
    Before Wu Sun Ru replied, Wu Xiu Men interrupted, “Master skills are unequalled, how can he compete with us?”
    Guo Fu nodded, “His foundation was bad before, it would be difficult for him to make any progress, how did he end up in such a state?”
    Wu Xiu Men said, “Those old Taoists stared at him as if they wanted to swallow him whole. That kid has such a bad temper, he must have caused an major incident.”
    The three of them talked quietly for a while, they heard Guo Jing inviting Hao Da Tong and the others to the study and said he was going to heavily punish Yang Guo, she was curious and said, “Quick, we’ll go and hide ourselves in the study first and listen to what they are talking about.”
    Wu Dun Ru was worried about being punished by their master if they found out and didn’t reply. Wu Xiu Men agreed and went ahead. Guo Fu’s right leg stopped, a slightly angry expression came across her face and said to Wu Dun Ru, “Don’t listen to me then.”
    Wu Du Run saw her lips showed signs of anger but her brows, eyes and smile were still exuding its beauty, his heart jumped and couldn’t disobey anymore and followed her quickly.
    As soon as they hid behind the bookshelf, Guo Jing and Huang Rong had led Hao Da Tong and the others to the study, and sat down. Yang Guo followed and stood to one side.
    Guo Jing said, “Guo Er, just sit!”
    Yang Guo shook his head and said, “I won’t sit.” Even in the presence of six great fighters of the wulin world, his was still bold but he couldn’t help but feel a little bit restless.
    Guo Jing has always treated Yang Guo as his own son, he was also extremely respectful of the Quan Zhen seven masters. He thought that it wasn’t necessary to ask about the rights and wrongs of what happened, it must be the junior’s fault, he put on a face and said to Yang Guo, “You are very bold, how dare you not greet your master. Quick, kowtow to your martial grandmasters, your master and your martial uncle to apologise.”
    The relationship between a monarch and his subjects, a father and son, a master and disciple were all very significant. So called when a monarch wants his subjects to die, they dare not to stay alive; if the father wants the son to perish, the son must do so; the same can be said for the wulin relationship between master and disciple, a hint of disobedience is not allowed. Guo Jing reprimanded him this way because he pitied him for the suffering he has had alone, his tone was very gentle and soft, if it was someone else, he would have shouted out ‘bastard, animal’ long ago, and struck him with his fists in the head and face.
    Zhao Zhi Jing stood up and chuckled, “How can I be master Yang’s master? Hero Guo, there is no need for you to ridicule me. Our Quan Zhen sect has done nothing to offend hero Guo, why is it necessary to insult me in public? Master Yang, little Taoist here will kowtow to apologise to senior, it was my fault for being blind, I can’t recognise such a hero and good man.”
    The Guo couple saw that his expression had changed completely, the more he said the angrier he became, both of the them were shocked, if a disciple did something wrong, the master punishing them would be normal, why is it necessary for such a reaction? Huang Rong knew that whatever Yang Guo did, it was very serious, after this bout of anger by Zhao Zhi Jing, Guo Jing couldn’t speak so she slowly said, “I am extremely sorry for giving apprentice brother Zhao such trouble. Please don’t get angry apprentice brother Zhao, please sit down and discuss what the child has done to offend his master.”
    Zhao Zhi Jing said loudly, “How can I, Zhao Zhi Jing dare to be someone’s master with my lowly skills? Won’t that just make the heroes and good men of the world laugh their teeth off? How does that make me look?”
    Huang Rong’s brows crinkled, she was resentful. She and the Quan Zhen sect weren’t the greatest of friends, years ago they used the [Big Dipper Formation] against her father, Qiu Chu Ji also tried to arrange Mu Nian Ci to be Guo Jing’s bride, though these events happened long ago, the animosity has disappeared but this outburst by Zhao Zhi Jing in front of her may have been a bit too impolite.
    Though both Hao Da Tong and Sun Bu Er felt that it was hard to blame Zhao Zhi Jing for getting so angry, but the way he was acting was not how a Taoist person should act.
    Sun Bu Er said, “Zhao Jing, explain everything to hero Guo and chief Huang. Look at the way you’re acting, how does it look? We are Taoists, what kind of Taoism have we been studying.” Though Sun Bu Er was a woman, she was very stern, her juniors all feared her, when Zhao Zhi Jing heard her speak slowly he didn’t dare to make any more outbursts and said, “Yes, yes.” He returned to his seat.
    Guo Jing said, “Guo Er, look how your master treat his seniors with such respect, why don’t you follow his example.”
    Zhao Zhi Jing wanted to say, “I’m not his master”, but he took a look at Sun Bu Er and managed to restrain himself but who knew that Yang Guo would say loudly, “He’s not my master!”
    When he said this, Guo Jing and Huang Rong were both extremely shocked, Guo Fu and the Wu brothers who were hiding behind the bookshelf were also extremely surprised. The master disciple relationship was very significant in the world of wulin, there’s a saying, “A master for one day, a father for life.”
    Guo Jing was bought up the Jiang Nan Seven Freaks and was taught martial arts by Hong Qi Gong, he was very grateful to his masters, ever since he was young he believed that the way of his masters was right and proper, how would he know that Yang Guo would dismiss his master in public, and say such treasonous and heretical thing? He got up and pointed at Yang Guo, his voice trembled as he said, “What…what… what did you say?” He wouldn’t scold anyone but his face went green, he was very angry. Huang Rong has very rarely seen him get so angry, she whispered to him, “Brother Jing, that child has always been bad, there is no need to get angry over him.”
    Yang Guo was actually afraid but when he saw his loving uncle Guo change his face to such an angry expression, he made a decision and thought, “Nothing is greater than death, the worse that will happen is that you lot will kill me.”
    So he said clearly, “My character has always been bad, but I have never begged you to teach me martial arts. You two are eminent people of the wulin world, why was it necessary for you to use such a crafty plan to harm a child who doesn’t have a mother or father?” When he said ‘who doesn’t have a mother or father’, he pitied himself, his eyes became slightly red but he bit down on his lips and thought, “Even I die today, I won’t shed a single tear.”
    Guo Jing angrily said, “Your auntie Guo and master taught you martial arts sincerely because of the friendship between me and you deceased father, who… who used a crafty plan? Who… who wants to harm you?” He wasn’t the most articulate, he stuttered even more now that he is angry.
    Yang Guo saw how impatient he was and spoke even slower, “Uncle Guo has treated me very well, I will never forget this.”
    Huang Rong slowly said, “Auntie Guo naturally has wronged you. If you want to remember this for the rest of your life its up to you.”
    At this stage, he might as well boldly go on, he said, “Auntie Guo has not treated me well, nor has she wronged me. You said you were going to teach me martial arts, in reality, you taught me to study, you didn’t teach me an ounce of kung fu. Studying is a good thing, nephew here has learnt a few more words and heard you speak about the stories of the past. But those old Taoists” He pointed to Hao Da Tong and Zhao Zhi Jing and said furiously, “There will be a day where I will take my revenge.”
    Guo Jing was shocked and asked quickly, “Wha… What? What revenge… what happened?
    Yang Guo said, “The one named Zhao calls himself my master, he didn’t teach me any martial arts, fine, but he ordered many young Taoists to beat me up. Auntie Guo didn’t teach me martial arts and the Quan Zhen sect didn’t teach me martial arts, I could only take the beats. The one named Hao, he saw that there was a grandma that loved me, he killed her. The rotten Taoist named Hao, speak, isn’t this the truth?”
    When he remembered how grandma Sun died for her, he grinded his teeth and wanted to leap over to Hao Da Tong and kill him.
    Hao Da Tong was an eminent Taoist of Quan Zhen, he has learnt martial arts, he has reached a deep level in both areas. He accidentally killed grandma Sun and all these years he hasn’t had a moment’s peace, this was the most hated thing he has done in his life. The Seven Masters of Quan Zhen has killed countless people in their lives, but all the people have killed were scoundrels, traitors and crooks, they have never harmed an innocent. Now, he heard Yang Guo blaming him in front of everyone, he couldn’t stop his face from turning grey, the events of that day where he made grandma Sun throw up blood with him palm repeated in front of his very eyes. He didn’t have a weapon so he stretched out his left hand and took out a long sword from Zhao Zhi Jing’s waist.
    Everyone thought that he wanted to stab Yang Guo with the sword, Guo Jing took a step forward to protect Yang Guo but who could have known that he would turn the long sword around with the handle facing Yang Guo and said, “Correct. I killed the wrong person. Take revenge for grandma Sun, I won’t retaliate.”
    When everyone saw him like this, they were all surprised. Guo Jing was afraid that Yang Guo would take the sword and harm him so he called out, “Guo Er, don’t be impolite.”
    Yang Guo knew that he won’t be able to avenge grandma Sun in front of Guo Jing and Huang Rong, he said coldly, “You know that uncle Guo won’t let me attack, so why are you pretending to be so gracious? If you really want me to kill you, then why don’t you hand me over the sword in a place where there isn’t anyone about?”
    Hao Da Tong was a senior of wulin, he was made speechless by the words of this young man, he couldn’t hand over the long sword or take it back, he circulated his chi through his hands and forced the sword to snap in half. He flung the sword on the floor and gave a long sigh, he said, “It’s finished, it’s finished!” He exited the study. Guo Jing wanted to persuade him to remain behind but his head did not turn back.
    Guo Jing looked at Yang Guo and then at Sun Bu Er and the others, he thought that from what has happened, the child has not lied, he thought for a while and said, “Why didn’t Quan Zhen teach you any martial arts? What have you been doing for the past few years?” As he said this, his words had slowed down a lot more.
    Yang Guo said, “When uncle Guo went up mount Zhong Nan, he defeated hundreds of Taoist without reply, even if Ma, Qiu, Liu, Wang and the others didn’t mind, would the others just forget about it? They couldn’t do anything to uncle Guo but could it be that they couldn’t vent their anger on a child like me? They wished they could kill me, why would they teach me martial arts? These few years I have experienced days where there was no light, the fact that today I have the chance to see uncle Guo again is all down to heaven opening its eyes.”
    Those words did not mention the fact that he expelled himself from Quan Zhen and pushed all the blame on Guo Jing. He said he has endured ‘days where there was no light’, this wasn’t a lie exactly, when he was living in the tomb, he didn’t see light or day, when Guo Jing heard these words, he couldn’t stop his pity and compassion from flourishing.
    Zhao Zhi Jing saw that Guo Jing more or less believed him and became anxious, he said, “You… you bastard talking such crap, the name of Quan Zhen has been tarnished by... by”
    Guo Jing believed that what Yang Guo said was the truth. Huang Rong’s face was not moved, she saw Yang Guo’s eyes sparkled and he had a clever expression on his face, she thought, “This child is extremely crafty, there must be a lie somewhere.” She said, “From what you said, you don’t know any martial arts? All these years in Quan Zhen were wasted?” As she asked these questions she slowly got up, she suddenly stretched out her left hand and sent put a palm towards the crown of his head. The fingers of the palm was aiming for the head’s ‘Hundred Meetings’ pressure point, the base of the palm was heading for the ‘Rising Star’ pressure point that was an inch from the hairline, these two main pressure points were fatal, if there was a heavy blow to these places the person would die, there would be no saving them.
    Guo Jing was shocked, he called out, “Rong Er!” But Huang Rong was extremely fast, this palm was her family’s [Descending Brave Divine Sword Palm], there was no warning, as soon as the hand moved the palm arrived, if Guo Jing wanted to save him, it was too late.
    Yang Guo moved back slightly and wanted to avoid it, but with Huang Rong’s kung fu, now that she has attacked, how could he dodge it, he saw the palm going towards his head. Yang Guo was shocked, he quickly stretched out his arm to react but his mind had a quick thought, his right arm moved slightly and hung down. Someone such as Guo Jing who was greatly skilled but slow in thought would not understand what was happening, they would quickly repel this attack. But Yang Guo was extremely quick, he immediately understood, “Auntie Guo is trying to test my kung fu, if I avoid this palm, then it shows that I’ve been lying.” He saw Huang Rong’s attack was fatal, if she wasn’t testing out his kung fu and he himself didn’t react, wouldn’t that mean he would have lost his life in vain? In a flash he fired up his stubborn nature and thought, “Fine, if I die then I die!” Though his kung fu may not be as good as Huang Rong, if he wanted to stretch out his hand and repel her palm, it wouldn’t be hard but now he risked his life and didn’t move his arms.
    Indeed Huang Rong was testing his kung fu with this stance, as soon as the palm reached his head she didn’t increase her strength, she saw a frightened and shocked expression appeared on his face, he didn’t stretch out his hand to repel this attack and he didn’t secretly circulate his chi to protect his vital pressure points, showing he didn’t know an ounce of martial arts, she smiled and said, “I didn’t teach you kung fu because I wanted what was best for you. It looks like the Taoists of Quan Zhen had the same thought as me.”
    She returned to her seat and quietly said to Guo Jing, “He really hasn’t learned any of Quan Zhen’s martial arts.” As soon as she said this, her mind secretly called out, “Ai yo, something’s wrong! I almost fell for his lie.” She remembered how when he was little he used the [Toad Stance] to attack Wu Dun Ru, he had some kung fu foundation, even if he hasn’t made an inch of progress but just know when she was about to strike down with her palm, he would definitely block the attack, she thought, Young man, young man, you’re too clever, if you scrambled and waved your hands in an frantic state to block my attack, I may have believed your lie. But there is one point that doesn’t make sense in your charade, you’ve left a flaw.” She didn’t reveal this and thought that she would watch him and see what other schemes that he’ll come up with. She looked at Zhao Zhi Jing and then at Yang Guo, she just smiled slightly.
    Zhao Zhi Jing saw Huang Rong test out a stance on Yang Guo who didn’t fight back, he knew that Yang Guo had managed to conceal his kung fu from her, displaying even more signs that he was in the wrong, his anger erupted and said loudly, “That bastard is very crafty, chief Huang couldn’t find anything then let me try.” He went over to Yang Guo and pointed to his nose and said, “Little bastard, you really don’t know any martial arts? If you don’t defend, I will not hold back, if you want to live or die, it’s up to you.” He knew that Yang Guo’s kung fu was above his, but under his fatal attacks, there would be no other option for him but to reveal the truth, if he still kept up this charade, he might as well take his life, the worst that will happen is he will lose the Guo’s couple’s friendship and be heavily punished by his sect’s leader. Fury filled his chest, hate filled his guts, he thought, “You knew that chief Huang wouldn’t harm your life that’s why you were so bold, you acted very well. Let’s see if you still have the guts to keep up the charade?” His sleeve waved, he was about to attack.
    Guo Jing called out, “Please wait!”
    He was afraid that he will harm Yang Guo’s life and wanted to intervene. Huang Rong tugged his sleeve and quietly said, “Don’t do anything.”
    She knew that Zhao Zhi Jing was extremely angry, his attacks would not be light, Yang Guo has no way to avoid his attacks by mere luck, when he defends, the truth will come out. How would Guo Jing know that there are so many other things going on here, he was worried but knew that his wife’s plans has never failed before, he didn’t say anything else he just took one step forward, if there was a real danger he will still be able to make a rescue.
    Zhao Zhi Jing said to Sun Bu Er and Yin Zhi Ping, “Martial uncle Sun, apprentice brother Yin, that bastard is pretending that he doesn’t know martial arts, I am forced with no other option but to test him myself. If he keeps it up to the end and I kill him, please be a witness for me in front of our leader, martial uncle Qiu and my master.”
    Sun Bu Er knew what had happened with the incident of Yang Guo expelling himself from the Quan Zhen sect, she saw him using his wits and craft to make sure Zhao Zhi Jing could not back down and made sure it was Quan Zhen sect who was in the wrong, she hoped Zhao Zhi Jing would force him to use his martial arts and chuckled, “That disobedient disciple and traitor to our Quan Zhen sect, killing him wouldn’t be anything.”
    She is an eminent Taoist, how could she tell someone to kill? Those words were actually meant to scare Yang Guo, wanting him to stop pretending.
    Zhao Zhi Jing had his martial uncle’s support and was even more daring, he raised his right foot and aimed for Yang Guo’s abdomen. The stance [Flying Past Heaven’s Mountains] had softness within its hardness, in the yang there was yin, it was a really lethal stance. Though this kick was very powerful, it wasn’t very profound, it was a stance is taught when one enters the Quan Zhen sect, it was a very ordinary stance when it is used, as long as someone knows a little kung fu, they will be able to neutralize it. One the first day of practising martial arts, the disciples of Quan Zhen will first learn the stance of [Flying Past Heaven’s Mountains] and then [Force of the Retreating Horse], this was the stance to avoid the stance of [Flying Past Heaven’s Mountains], one attack one defence, this was the most basic set of kung fu.
    By using this stance, he wanted Guo Jing and Huang Rong to understand one thing, “Even if I did not teach him advanced martial arts, could it be that I didn’t even teach him the basic kung fu of our sect’s very first lesson?”
    When Yang Guo saw the kick come, he did not use the [Force of the Retreating Horse], his left hand hung down protecting his abdomen. Zhao Zhi Jing saw that he was so bold that he didn’t even more or dodge, he didn’t hold back on his kick and kicked straight across, when the tip of his foot was about three inches away from Yang Guo’s abdomen, he saw Yang Guo left thumb slightly sticking out under the moonlight, aiming for his right foot’s ankle ‘Large Opening’ pressure point.
    If he kicked out with power, before the tip of the foot has reached the abdomen, his pressure point will be sealed first; the opponent wouldn’t actually seal the pressure point themselves, as the foot strikes his finger, it will be struck on the pressure point, sealing it in the process.
    He was the best fighter of Quan Zhen’s third generation, in the midst of danger he quickly changed his stance, he turned and changed the direction of the kick, his right leg passing Yang Guo’s side, at least he was able to avoid this but his body hung down, his whole face turned red.
    Guo Jing and Huang Rong was behind Yang Guo and didn’t see his thumb, they thought it was because Zhao Zhi Jing was holding back, at the very last second he changed his stance. But Sun Bu Er and Yin Zhi Ping could see this clearly. Yin Zhi Ping didn’t say a word.
    Sun Bu Er stood up and shouted, “Little punk, very crafty!”
    Zhao Zhi Jing’s left palm hung in the air, his right palm aimed to chop across Yang Guo’s left cheek, this stance of [Purple Lightning Striking through Words] was a refined stance of advanced martial arts, as the palm arrives halfway, the direction suddenly changes, originally it was aiming to the left cheek but now it was aiming to chop down on his neck on the right side. How could he know that Yang Guo has learnt the [Jade Heart Manual] to a very fluent state, the manual was black star of Quan Zhen’s kung fu. Every lethal fist techniques and palm stances that Wong Chong Yang invented were all defeated ingeniously by Lin Chao Ying years ago. When Yang Guo saw his left palm hanging in the air, he quickly covered his head with his arms as if he was scared, his left index finger hid itself by his neck on the right side but because he covered it with his right palm, Zhao Zhi Jing had no way to see it, as soon as the palm arrives, Yang Guo’s right hand slanted slightly, a ‘bo’ sound was heard as the finger sealed the ‘Back Stream’ pressure point on Zhao Zhi Jing’s palm.
    Once again, it was Zhao Zhi Jing himself who forced his own pressure point to be sealed by placing it on his finger, Yang Guo knew what the opponent would do and prepared his finger in place. Once Zhao Zhi Jing’s pressure point on his palm was sealed, his arm immediately went numb, he knew he had falling into his trap, he was furious and his left leg came sweeping out.
    Yang Guo called out, “Oh no!” He bent his left arm and placed his elbow two and a half inches above his waist. When Zhao Zhi Jing’s left leg came, the elbow struck his ankle’s ‘Reflecting Sea’ and ‘Great River’ pressure points. This kick came out of fury, it was kicked out with great strength. The pressure points were severely struck, his left leg went numb and kneeled down on the floor.
    Sun Bu Er saw that her martial nephew was being embarrassed, she stretched out her left arm and pulled him up with her hand and then pushed his back a few times, unsealing his pressure points. Though she has been practising Taoism for many years, she was still very stubborn and strong, she saw that his kung fu was extremely crafty, it looked like that it was their sect’s black star, if she fought herself she may not be able to win so she called out, “Let’s go!” She then say goodbye to Guo Jing and Huang Rong, her sleeve swept over and leapt out of the study through the window, and then jumped up onto the roof.
    Yin Zhi Ping has seemed to be out of it all this time, he wanted to tell Guo Jing and Huang Rong what happened when Zhao Zhi Jing angrily shouted, “What more is there to talk about?” He pulled on his sleeve and the two of them leapt out of the window and then followed Sun Bu Er.
    With Guo Jing’s and Huang Rong’s awareness, of course they knew that Zhao Zhi Jing’s pressure points had been sealed, but Yang Guo had not stretched out his finger, could it be that a eminent person was secretly helping him?
    Guo Jing immediately went over to the window to take a look, where was the person? Guo Jing thought that as Zhao Zhi Jing was about to kill him, Zhao Zhi Jing couldn’t bear to and so pretended to have his pressure points being sealed and leave in the confusion. However, Huang Rong could see this was the doing of Yang Guo, but because firstly she was behind him and couldn’t see his elbow and secondly, she was not aware of the existence of a martial art skill such as the [Jade Heart Manual], it enabled the prediction of the enemy’s reaction and countered the skills of Quan Zhen without reply, she wasn’t able to understand exactly what had happened. She wouldn’t act like Guo Jing and view others with the heart of a gentleman, when she saw the four Quan Zhen Taoists sweeping their sleeves and leave, it was very impolite, secretly, she was furious.
    She pondered and turned around to see Guo Fu’s dark green shoes sticking out from under the bookshelf, she immediately called out, “Fu Er, what are you doing here?”
    Guo Fu laughed and came out with a silly face and said, “Me and the Wu brothers are looking for a book to read.”
    Huang Rong knows that the three of them have never been interested in books, why would they have suddenly taken an interest today? One look at her daughter’s face and she knew that they must sneaked in earlier to hide so they can eavesdrop on what was happening. As she was about to tell them off, a Beggar Clan member came with news of a guest arriving, she took a look at Yang Guo and then she and Guo Jing went out to meet the guest.
    Guo Jing said to the Wu brothers, “Brother Yang is a childhood friend of yours, take good care of him.”
    The Wu brothers have never been friendly with Yang Guo, right now they looked at the state that he was in, they knew that he hasn’t learnt any martial arts at the Quan Zhen sect and was called ‘bastard, animal’ by his master, they looked down on him even more, they summoned a servant and told him to take of Yang Guo.
    However, Guo Fu was very curious of Yang Guo, she asked, “Brother Yang, why doesn’t your master want you?”
    Yang Guo said, “There are many reasons. I’m dumb and lazy, I have a bad temper and I don’t know how to treat the relatives of my master well, buying horse whips and donkey whips and what not.”
    When the Wu brothers heard this their faces changed, Wu Xiu Men was the first who couldn’t control himself anymore and shouted, “What did you say?”
    Yang Guo said, “I said I’m useless, I don’t know how to please my master.”
    Guo Fu smiled captivatingly, and said, “Your master is a Taoist, how would he have a daughter?”
    Yang Guo saw her smile, it was as if a flower suddenly blossomed, bright, beautiful and glamorous, unconsciously his heart jumped, his face went red and turned his head away. Guo Fu has managed to control the Wu brothers and could mess them around a long ago, now she saw Yang Guo turn his head away and knew that he was moved by her beauty, she was very proud of herself.
    Yang Guo looked to the west and saw a couplet on the wall, the first line said: ‘The image of peach blossoms descending with the divine flying sword’, the second line was ‘The jade sea brings new waves according the jade flute’. Yang Guo has seen this couplet in the practising sword pavilion on Peach Blossom Island, he knew that it was Huang Yao Shi who wrote it but underneath this couplet was signed ‘The five useless people who were ill fated’. Compared to the three people in front of him, he was only a few years older but as he read and studied the writing it was as if he was ten years older, when he saw the words ‘the five useless people’, he remembered about himself how all those close to him have either died or have gone away, he wandered the world alone, there was no difference between himself and a useless person, the pride he felt just know to force Zhao Zhi Jing to scamper away disappeared, a sad, lamenting feeling filled his heart, he couldn’t stop himself from dropping his head and pity himself.
    Guo Fu softly said, “Brother Yang, go and rest, I’ll come and speak with you tomorrow.”
    Yang Guo calmly, “Fine!” He followed the servant out of the study and heard Guo flare up at the Wu brothers, “I want to speak with him, can you two stop me? His kung fu is not good, I’ll ask father to teach him.”

    End of Chapter 11

    <font size="1">[ June 08, 2003: Message edited by: Noodles ]</font>
    I'm worse at what I do best
    And for this gift I feel blessed

  6. #46
    Moderator Noodles's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2002
    Location
    London
    Posts
    836

    Post

    <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><table border="0" width="80%" bgcolor="#dcdcdc" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="1"><tr><td width="100%"><table border="0" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="10" bgcolor="#DCDCDC"><tr><td width="100%" bgcolor="#eeeeee"><font size="1">Originally posted by Han Solo:
    <STRONG>Great battle.

    Some general comment: H7G only stop his breathing only when YG was checking on him. But why can't YG observe H7G for a long long time, everyone is bound to breath eventually, and with every breath, the chest and abdomen will be distended. Also it would be a simple matter to palpate for the radial pulses, or even the carotids. Chinese doctors were famous for diagnosing diseases via pulses.
    Some of the things in JY stories are beyond belief. <IMG SRC="smilies/smile.gif" border="0">

    Q: While H7G was better than OYF in terms of technique esp Dog Beating Stance, would it be fair to say that OYF has a slight edge in inner power?

    Q2: I realise the importance of internal formulation that acompanied the dog beating stance, but surely YG after receiving such extensive tutoring on the external aspects of the dog beating stance, should be able to piece everything together and figure out the purpose of the stances.
    In addition, as long as he has adequate inner power, why worry about what drives the external techniques? kind of like Zhiu Mo Chi of DSGD displaying Shaolin's skill.

    Thanks.</STRONG></font></td></tr></table></td></tr></table></BLOCKQUOTE>

    I think someone pretty much answered about your question about watching YG watching H7G. H7G was behind him and he was busy watching the clowns, plus he himself was trying to meditate and conserve strength so he couldn't keep a close eye on him all the time. As for checking his pulse, well Yang Guo did actually notice he had a very faint heartbeat, if he examined his pulse, he would get the same result. He thought H7Q was going to die in his sleep. As for H7Q not breathing out vapour, well H7Q had managed to conserve his heat somehow, snow didn't even melt on him, if he's cold enough to do this then he would not breath out vapour.

    About H7G versus OYF. Their internal energy were pretty much even but if one had to be higher, I hedge my bets on OYF. For the last ten or so years, he's probably been going over the fake 9 yin, whereas all H7G has been doing is stuffing himself with food most of the time, he still practise his kung fu but it takes second place to his stomach. As for technique, undoubtly the dog beating sticks are very good, but if he used it OYF may not have lost. He took a long time to figure out ways to break the dog beating sticks because he was trying to defeat it. In a real battle, he might be able to defend against it, though he may not be able to attack. But that's the only technque thats he got thats really superior to OYF.

    I think Athena answered the dog beating sticks question. The formulae that accompanies it isn't internal energy based so even if you put the internal energy of 9 yang behind it, you will not be able to utilize it's finer points. What the dog beating sticks really tries to do is over awe the opponent with its mastery changes and stances, the formulae that accompanies it enable the user to do this with purpose. It's actually quite a hard technique to master, intelligence it pretty important, quite fitting that Huang Rong and Yang Guo learnt it.
    I'm worse at what I do best
    And for this gift I feel blessed

  7. #47
    Senior Member Athena's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2001
    Location
    Mount Olympus, sipping nectar and eating ambrosia
    Posts
    2,074

    Smile

    I don't want to nitpick, but when those heroes were talking about Sun Buer. They mentioned she was famous on the northern and southern sides of the Chang Jiang River.
    In other words she is famous throughout the realm of martial arts not only in Jiangnan.
    So huge, so hopeless, to conceive
    As these that twice befell
    Parting is all we know of heaven
    And all we need of hell.

    Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)

  8. #48
    Moderator Noodles's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2002
    Location
    London
    Posts
    836

    Post

    Feel free to nitpick <IMG SRC="smilies/smile.gif" border="0">

    Sorry, I read it wrong slightly, adding a word da in front of jiang makes the changjiang river, I read it as famous throughtout and north of jiang nan province. Thx, now i know that when they mention dajiang, xiajaing and shangjiang they are talking about the changjiang river. Didn't know there was so many names for it.

    <font size="1">[ June 11, 2003: Message edited by: Noodles ]</font>
    I'm worse at what I do best
    And for this gift I feel blessed

  9. #49
    Senior Member Han Solo's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2002
    Posts
    5,569

    Post

    My 200th post. <IMG SRC="smilies/biggrin.gif" border="0"> Still got 300 more to go. Do they still allow ppl with 500 posts to have personalised avatar?

    Geez, what a long long read. At last the gathering of heroes.
    A silly question:
    1) How big the condors? I presume they are not huge like the one YG eventually found, but in the LOCH 94 (TVB), they show HR escaping from KCY by hanging to the condors.

    <font size="1">[ June 08, 2003: Message edited by: Han Solo ]</font>
    Wuxiapedia

    Quote Originally Posted by bliss
    I think they're probably at the same level as or one level below Ah Qing, which is about the level of a 2nd or 3rd generation Quan Zhen disciple.
    Troll Control

  10. #50
    Junior Member GoldenArm's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Posts
    35

    Post

    This story is the shnizzznit! Thanks again Noodles!

  11. #51
    Senior Member BluLotus's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2003
    Location
    Frantasy Land, CA AKA / Alias / Pen Name: Frantasy Honorary Title: 蓝莲花
    Posts
    2,102

    Post

    On how big the condors are...I guess big enough to carry humans...

    Yup, in LOCH94 & LOCH03, you see condor carry GJ off the Mt. I just saw LOCH03, they made the condor as big/lil bigger than size of GJ...

    Yup, ROCH is the "shnizzznit!"

    Doing a great job Noodles!

    <font size="1">[ June 08, 2003: Message edited by: BluLotus ]</font>
    AKA: Frantasy

    Translating: Ni Tian Xie Shen (逆天邪神) – Against the Gods by Mars Gravity @ https://alyschu.wordpress.com/

  12. #52
    Senior Member athlonkmf's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2002
    Posts
    426

    Post

    A reallife condor (or bettter said, an eagle. I don't think Guo Jing has ugly birds like condors as pets <IMG SRC="smilies/biggrin.gif" border="0"> ) should be strong enough to carry a carcass several meters. A small sheep is no problem.

    Since WY is so petite they could carry her together.
    Proud to be part of http://www.asianfanatics.net/

    *********************************

  13. #53
    Moderator Noodles's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2002
    Location
    London
    Posts
    836

    Post

    Chapter 12

    The Heroes’ Feast

    The next morning, while Yang Guo was eating breakfast in the hall, Guo Fu signalled him to the courtyard. The Wu brothers were by the side looking a bit troubled. Yang Guo was amused and went over to Guo Fu and asked, “You’re looking for me?”
    Guo Fu laughed and said, “Yes, come with me outside, I want to ask what you’ve done in the last few years.”
    Yang Guo exhaled deeply, thinking that it wasn’t easy to explain, even if he spoke for three days and nights he would not have finished, and how could he reveal these things to her?
    The two of them walked shoulder to shoulder to the main door, Yang Guo slanted his head and saw the two Wu brothers following. Guo Fu noticed a long time ago and pretended that she didn’t see them and talked to Yang Guo. Yang Guo picked some insignificant events to talk about, he pushed and pulled making Guo Fu laugh. She knew that Yang Guo was keeping things from her but she still felt amused by his words.
    The two slowly walked to a Willow tree. Suddenly a neigh was heard, a skinny and scabby horse came hurrying over to Yang Guo, stroking against him in an affectionate manner.
    When the Wu brothers saw such an ugly horse, they couldn’t hold in their laughter and burst out laughing. They went over to the two.
    Wu Xiu Wen laughed and said, “That precious horse is very special, only someone with your ability can one find a horse like that. When are you going to find me one like that?”
    Wu Dun Ru said seriously, “That is a Da Shi Guo’s (big eat/glutton country’s) priceless treasure, how can you buy it?”
    Guo Fu looked at Yang Guo and then at the ugly horse, when she saw the two had the same dirty and pitiful appearance, she couldn’t resist and gave a laugh.
    Yang Guo laughed and said, “I’m ugly, my horse is ugly, we’re a match. The horses that the Wu brothers ride must very spirited horses.”
    Wu Xiu Men said, “The horses that we ride are only a bit better than yours. Sister Fu’s red horse, now that is a precious horse. You’ve seen it before when you were on Peach Blossom Island.”
    Yang Guo said, “So uncle Guo gave the red horse to a girl.”
    The four of them chatted as they walked. Guo Fu suddenly pointed to the west and said, “Look, mother’s teaching stick techniques again.”
    Yang Guo turned his head and saw Huang Rong with an old beggar walking towards the mountainside, the two of them holding a stick in their hands.
    Wu Xiu Men said, “Elder Lu is so dumb, he’s been practising the [Dog Beating Stick Technique] for so long but he still hasn’t managed to learn it.”
    When Yang Guo heard the words [Dog Beating Stick Technique] his heart trembled but he didn’t show any signs of it, he turned around and looked away, pretending to appreciate the scenery.
    He heard Guo Fu say, “The [Dog Beating Stick Technique] is the treasure of the Beggar Clan, my mother said that the mastery and ingenuity of the stances are unbeatable, it has the most powerful stances in the world of weapons, you can’t just learn it in ten days or a fortnight. You said he’s dumb, are you very clever?”
    Wu Dun Ru sighed and said, “It’s a pity that apart from the chief of the Beggar Clan, no one is allowed to learn it.”
    Guo Fu said, “If you become the chief of the Beggar Clan in the future, Chief Lu will impart it to you. Even my father does not know this skill, there’s no need to cry.”
    Wu Dun Ru said, “How can I be the chief of the Beggar Clan? Sister Fu, why did master wife select elder Lu to replace her?”
    Guo Fu said, “Over the last few years, my mother just had the title. The running of the clan is all done by elder Lu You Jiao. All the many bothersome things that go on in the clan gives my mother a headache, she said why is it necessary to have the name and don’t do anything so why not pass the position on to elder Lu and make it official. Once elder Lu learns the [Dog Beating Stick Technique], my mother will pass on the position to him officially.”
    Wu Xiu Men said, “Sister Fu, how exactly do you use the [Dog Beating Stick Technique]? Have you seen it before?”
    Guo Fu said, “I haven’t seen it before. Ah, I have seen it!” She picked up a branch of the floor and lightly attacked his shoulder and laughed, “It’s like this.”
    Wu Xiu Men called out, “Fine, watch if I’ll let you go now you’ve called me a dog.” He stretched out his hand to grab her. Guo Fu laughed and jumped away. Wu Xiu Men chased after her. The two ran around a few times and returned to their original places.
    Guo Fu laughed and said, “Little Brother Wu, don’t get angry, I’ve got an idea.”
    Wu Xiu Men said, “Fine, tell me.”
    Guo Fu said, “We’ll watch in secret, we can see exactly how special the [Dog Beating Technique] is.” Wu Xiu Men clapped his hand in agreement.
    But Wu Dun Ru shook his head and said, “If master wife finds out we are secretly trying to learn the skill she will shout at us severely.”
    Guo Fu said, “We are just going to watch, we’re not trying to learn it in secret. Anyway, an ingenious and mastery kung fu such as this, how can you learn it after just a few glances? Big brother Wu, so you count as someone who’s amazing.”
    After this put down, he just smiled slightly. Guo Fu continued, “Last night when we were in the study eavesdropping, did my mother shout at anyone? You’re just a chicken. Little Brother Wu, let’s go.”
    Wu Dun Ru said, “Fine, fine, you reasoning does make some sense, I’ll go with you.”
    Guo Fu said, “Could it be that you don’t want to watch one of the world’s best skill? It doesn’t matter if you don’t go, once I’ve learnt it I’ll come back and beat you with it.” As she said this she raised her stick and waved it at him.
    The three of them have heard about the [Dog Beating Stick Technique] a long time ago and were fascinated by it but they have never seen what it looks like. Guo Jing once discussed martial arts with them, he told them how years ago on mount Jun Huang Rong used the technique at the Beggar Clan’s gathering to beat everyone there and claimed the position of the chief of the Beggar Clan, the three of them listened enchanted. Right now Guo Fu was encouraging them to take a look, though Wu Dun Ru spoke out against it, in his heart there wasn’t anything he wanted to do more, he pretended to be coerced into it, all he’s doing is listen to Guo Fu’s suggestion, if they got found out then his master wife can’t blame him.
    Guo Fu said, “Brother Yang, you come as well.”
    Yang Guo was gazing at the faraway mountains as if he was absorbed in thought and didn’t hear what they said. Guo Fu called out again and Yang Guo turned his head around, his face looked lost, he asked, “Fine, fine, follow you where?”
    Guo Fu said, “Don’t ask, just follow me.”
    Wu Dun Ru said, “Sister Fu, why do you want him to come, he wouldn’t understand, his dumb brain is going to make some noise, how won’t master wife notice?”
    Guo Fu said, “Relax, I’ll take care of him. You two go first, brother Yang and I will follow. The four of us will make too much noise from our footsteps.”
    The Wu brothers didn’t want to but they knew they couldn’t defy Guo Fu’s orders. The two of them walked ahead discontented.
    Guo Fu called out, “We’ll hide in a large tree nearby first, my mother will not notice if we be careful and don’t make any noise.” The Wu brothers nodded in reply and quickened their steps.
    I'm worse at what I do best
    And for this gift I feel blessed

  14. #54
    Junior Member
    Join Date
    Jul 2002
    Posts
    22

    Post

    Noodles, just to say that I'm thoroughly enjoying your translation <IMG SRC="smilies/thumbsup.gif" border="0">

    cheers, matey.

  15. #55
    Senior Member athlonkmf's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2002
    Posts
    426

    Post

    strange.. that last chapter seems so short in comparison to previous ones..


    but thanks anyway, the plot is getting more and more fun <IMG SRC="smilies/smile.gif" border="0">
    Proud to be part of http://www.asianfanatics.net/

    *********************************

  16. #56
    Senior Member nickianjo's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2002
    Posts
    205

    Post

    Thank you Noodles for taking the time and effort to translate this story. I appreciate it much.
    "share the glory in the story"

    .

    shut up already

  17. #57
    Member bigstick's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2003
    Posts
    54

    Post

    Yeah...Thanx Noodles. You're doing a great job.

  18. #58
    Moderator Noodles's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2002
    Location
    London
    Posts
    836

    Post

    Guo Fu glanced at Yang Guo and saw his clothes were extremely ragged and torn, she said, “When we get back I’ll get mother to buy you some new clothes, once you’ve changed, you won’t be as ugly.”
    Yang Guo shook his head and said, “I’m born ugly, even if I change and tidy myself up it’s not use.”
    Guo Fu said fine and didn’t take it into mind; she glanced at the backs of the Wu brothers and gave out a light sigh.
    Yang Guo said, “Why are you sighing?”
    Guo Fu said, “My mind is really troubled, you wouldn’t understand.”
    Yang Guo saw a delicate redness on her face, her brows slightly wrinkled, she really was an extremely beautiful girl, compared to Lu Wu Shuang, Wan Yan Ping and Ye Luu Yan, she was more beautiful than them. His heart was moved slightly and said, “I know why you are so troubled.”
    Guo Fu said, “That’s strange, how would you know? You really are talking rubbish.”
    Yang Guo said, “Fine, if I guess correctly, you can’t deny it.”
    Guo Fu placed her little white and tender finger against her right cheek, her pupils glimmered, a smile on her lips and said, “Fine, take a guess.”
    Yang Guo said, “It’s not simple. The Wu brothers both like you, they both try to please you, it’s hard for you to give up one of them.”
    After hearing this, Guo Fu’s heart raced. She knows about this, the Wu brothers know about this, her parents know about this and even Ke Zhen E knows about this. But it was hard for everyone to mention this, everyone knew in their heart but no one mentioned a word about this. Right now, Yang Guo suddenly mentioned this matter, she couldn’t stop her face from going red, she was happy but sad, she wanted to laugh but also wanted to cry, droplets of tears rolled across her eyes.
    Yang Guo said, “You’re thinking ‘Big Brother Wu is courteous and reliable, Little Brother Wu can keep me entertained. The two of them are both handsome, their martial arts are excellent and they treat me respect and listen to me, the elder has his good points, the younger has his strong points, I’m just one person, how can I marry two men?”
    Guo Fu listened to him startled, after she heard his last sentence, she said, “Your mouth is full of rubbish, who wants to pay attention to you?”
    From her reaction, Yang Guo knew he had guessed correctly, he quietly repeated, “I’m just one person, how can I marry two men?”
    After repeating it a few times, Guo Fu still seemed to have something on her mind, it was as if she didn’t hear him, after a while she said, “Brother Yang, tell me, who do you think is better out of the brothers?” She asked this quite suddenly. Though she and Yang Guo were childhood friends, there was some animosity between the two and the two haven’t seen each other for a long time, now they’ve grown up, how can she reveal such things to him? Its just that Yang Guo is a lively person, as long as you don’t get on the wrong side of him, he will joke with you, laugh with you, in a flash he will make you feel as if you were in the spring breeze, as if you were drinking beautiful wine. Anyway, Guo Fu has gone over this thousands and hundreds of time in her mind, and she felt that both of them had their good points, when it comes to playing around and joking, she got on with Wu Xiu Wen very well but when it comes to doing something serious Wu Dun Ru was much better. She was a girl in puberty, she would normally get angry with them, be pleased with them, she made the brothers fall for her, in her heart she was really troubled, she didn’t know who to treat better. As she and Yang Guo raised this point she couldn’t help herself but ask this question.
    Yang Guo laughed and said, “I don’t think either of them are good.”
    Guo Fu was startled and asked, “Why?”
    Yang Guo laughed and said, “If those two are good they what chance have I, Yang Guo got?” He has been used to joking around with Lu Wu Shuang on the road and he didn’t mean what he had just said, he was just joking with her and said this.
    Guo Fu was stunned, she was a girl who has been used to being pampered and treated well, no one has ever said half an offensive word to her, right now she didn’t whether or not to be angry, she put on serious face and said, “If you don’t want to say, fine, who wants to joke with you? Let’s go.” As she said this she utilised her lightness kung fu and hurried along the small path to the mountainside.
    Yang Guo felt there was no point to this and thought, “Why am I mixing with them three? I better go faraway on my own!” He turned around and slowly waked away, thinking, “The Wu brothers think that girl is a goddess, they’re afraid that she won’t marry them. If they really married her, spending everyday with such a pretty yet bullying girl, they will definitely experience more pains than joy, huh, crazy people like them are very funny.”

    Guo Fu hurried for a while and assumed that Yang Guo would go after her and apologise, but after stopping for a while there was still no trace of Yang Guo. She had a thought and said, “That person does not know martial arts, of course he won’t be able to catch up. She turned around and returned to see that he had actually gone further away, she thought this was strange and went over to Yang Guo. She asked, “Why aren’t you coming?”
    Yang Guo said, “Miss Guo, please tell your parents that I’ve gone.”
    Guo Fu was shocked and said, “You’re fine, why are you leaving?”
    Yang Guo gave a dull laugh and said, “There’s no reason, originally I came here for no real reason, since I’ve already been here then I should go.”
    Guo Fu has always like crowded atmospheres, although she didn’t think very highly of Yang Guo, listening to him joking felt fresher and newer than listening to the Wu brothers, she really didn’t want him to leave, she said, “Brother yang, we haven’t seen each other a long time, I have many things to say to you. Anyway, tonight is the heroes’ feast, all the heroes from all over the world will be gathering here, why don’t you want to experience this?”
    Yang Guo said, “I’m not a hero, if I’m actually there, won’t I just become a object of ridicule in front of all the heroes?”
    Guo Fu said, “That makes sense.” She pondered for a while and said, “There are many people in the Lu manor who don’t know martial arts, just eat and drink with the servants.”
    When Yang heard this he was very angry, he thought, “Little *****, you class me with nobodies.” His face didn’t show any sign of anger, he laughed and said, “That’s a pretty good idea.” He had wanted to leave but now had a change of thought, he decided he was going to do something that would embarrass and disgrace her. Guo Fu has always been used to being pampered and cared for, she wasn’t wise and didn’t understand worldly matters, she didn’t have any ill thoughts in her words and didn’t know that she had deeply offended someone.
    She saw that Yang Guo had changed her mind, she laughed and said, “Let’s go, if we’re late and mother gets there first, we won’t be able to peek.” She hurried ahead with Yang Guo following behind, he was out of breath and his footsteps were heavy showing that he was extremely clumsy and inept.
    They easily arrived in time at the place where Huang Rong normally taught Lu You Jiao the stick techniques. They saw the Wu brothers in a tree looking out. Guo Fu leapt up on the branch and then reached out her hand to Yang Guo pulling him up. When Yang Guo held her soft and warm hand, he couldn’t stop his heart from stirring but immediately thought, “Even if you were ten times as beautiful, you can’t compare with my Gu Gu.”
    Guo Fu quietly asked, “My mother hasn’t arrived yet?”
    Wu Xiu Wen pointed to the west and quietly replied, “ Elder Lu is practising over there, master and master wife went away to talk about something.”
    The only person that Guo Fu is afraid of is her father, when she heard that he was here she felt slightly uneasy but when she saw Lu You Jiao holding a bamboo stick pointing to the east and stirring to the west, she forgot her fear and quietly said, “That’s the [Dog Beating Stick Technique]?”
    Wu Dun Ru said, “Most likely. Master wife was teaching him when master came over and said he had something to discuss with her, he led her to the side while elder Lu practised by himself.”
    Guo Fu watched a few stances and felt that it was sluggish and didn’t see anything special about it, she said, “Elder Lu hasn’t learnt it yet, it isn’t nice to watch, let’s go.” Yang Guo that the stances that elder Lu was using was identical to the ones that Hong Qi Gong taught him on top of mount Wah, she chuckled in his heart, “That girl doesn’t know anything coming out with that.”
    The Wu brothers always followed Guo Fu’s orders, they were about to jump down when they heard footsteps below; the Guo couple was walking over.”
    The heard Guo Jing say, “Of course a decision about Fu Er’s future can’t be decided so lightly and suddenly. But Guo Er is young; it is unavoidable that young people will get into trouble. That business with the Quan Zhen sect doesn’t seem to be all his fault.”
    Huang Rong said, “I don’t care about him causing trouble at Quan Zhen. You are respecting the long friendship between the families of Yang and Guo, and you should. But Yang Guo is very crafty, the more I look at him the more he looks like his father, how can I relax and allow Fu Er to get married to him?”
    When Yang Guo, Guo Fu and the Wu brothers heard this, they were all shocked. The four of them knew that the Guo and Yang families had some ties but they didn’t know that the previous generations had such deep ties, and they could never have predicted that Guo Jing wanted to betroth his daughter to Yang Guo. That sentence affects the four of them, they all listened carefully, their hearts all racing.
    Guo Jing said, “Brother Yang Kang was unfortunate that he ended up in the Jin’s palace and fell in with the wrong crowd and that’s how he ended up like he did, in the end he died without a full corpse. If he were under the care of uncle Yang Tie Xin, he would never have ended up like this.”
    Huang Rong sighed as she remembered the frightening events of that night at Jia Xing’s Iron Spear temple, her heart chilled and she quietly said, “You could say that.”
    Yang Go does not fully understand his background, he knew that his father died earlier under someone’s hands but his own mother never revealed how he died and who killed him. Now he heard Guo Jing talking about his father and mentioned ‘ended up in the Jin’s palace and fell in with the wrong crowd’ and ‘died without a full corpse’, his body quivered as if he was struck with lighting, his face was grey. Guo Fu glanced at him and saw that he was looking like as if he was in a trance, she was frightened and worried that he would suddenly fall down and drop to his death.
    Guo Jing and Huang Rong sat down on a rock with their backs to the tree. Guo Jing lightly stroked Huang Rong’s arm and warmly said, “Ever since you’ve been carrying our second child, your body has not been feeling well, quickly pass on all the responsibilities of the Beggar Clan to Lu You Jiao so you can rest properly.”
    Guo Fu was delighted, “So mother’s having a baby, it’ll be great to have a little brother. How come mother never told me about this?”
    Huang Rong said, “I don’t worry about the matters of the Beggar Clan that much. What I’m worried about is Fu Er’s future.”
    Guo Jing said, “Since Quan Zhen won’t take in Guo Er, I’ll teach him myself. He’s a very clever boy, once he’s learned all my skills in the future, the brotherly vow between his father and I won’t be in vain.”
    Yang Guo now knew that Guo Jing was his father’s god brother, the words ‘uncle Guo’ had real a real meaning behind it, when he heard Guo Jing treating him with love in his words he was touched, tears almost rolled out of his eyes.
    Huang Rong said, “That’s what I’m afraid of, in case he’s too clever for his own good, that’s why I taught him to study and didn’t teach him any martial arts. I hoped that he would became a deep, understanding and righteous man, even if he doesn’t know any martial arts I would have happily betrothed Fu Er to him.”
    Guo Jing said, “You have always planned everything to the last detail, this idea would have been good but with Fu Er’s temper and martial arts, won’t wanting her to marry a weak scholar be a bit harsh for Fu Er? Tell me, how would she respect him? In my opinion such a couple would not get one well with each other.”
    Huang Rong laughed and said, “You’re shameless! So the reason why we are such a good couple is because you have better martial arts than me. Hero Guo, come, come, come, let’s have a duel.”
    Guo Jing laughed and said, “Fine, chief Huang, give me what you’ve got.” A light sound was heard as Huang Rong lightly patted down on Guo Jing’s shoulder.
    After a while Huang Rong sighed and said, “Ah… this matter is complicated, even with Guo Er to one side, how can you separate the two Wu brothers? In your opinion who’s better?” Guo Fu and the Wu brother’s hearts naturally jumped. This wasn’t related to Yang Guo but he wanted to hear Guo Jing’s opinion of the two.
    He heard Guo Jing go ‘hmm’ and didn’t say anything for a while, in the end he said, “I can’t give my opinions on them on small matters. Only when a person is faced with an important matter will they show their real character.” His voice became soft and said, “Fu Er is still young, we can still wait a few years. It could be by then everything would have sorted itself out and we wouldn’t have to be worried about it. There’s no need to exert yourself too much when teaching Lu You Jiao the stick techniques. In the last few days I’ve felt that you don’t seem to look well, I’m worried. I’ll go and find Guo Er and talk to him.” After he said this he got up and walk to the road.
    Huang Rong sat on the rock and evened her breaths for a while before she instructed Lu You Jiao to come over and perform the techniques. Lu You Jiao display all thirty-six strokes of the technique, but Lu You Jiao has yet to understand the formulae. Huang Rong kept her patience and explained everything even clearer to him.
    The stances of the [Dog Beating Stick Techniques] are of course ingenious and mastery, the formulae behind it extremely clever and ingenious, otherwise how can a little bamboo stick become the treasure of the Beggar Clan? Even with Ou Yang Feng’s great skills he had to think deep and hard for a long while, how could the opponent overcome a stance or half a move?
    Huang Rong had used a month’s time to teach Lu You Jiao the stances, now she recited the formulae and the principles behind the changes a few times, she told him to remember this, when it comes to understanding and be able to use it, it depends on the person’s ability and intelligence, the master cannot teach the disciple this.
    Guo Fu and the Wu brothers did not understand the stick techniques, they didn’t have a clue to what was going on, how the ‘seal’ point was like, how the ‘coil’ aim was meant to be, how the eighteenth change transforms into the nineteenth change and how the nineteenth change can altered into the twentieth change. The three of them wanted to leap down but were afraid that Huang Rong would discover them, they hoped that she will go through it quickly and then leave with Lu You Jiao. But who could have guessed that Huang Rong had decided to hand over the position of chief to Lu You Jiao today before the heroes’ feast, and decided she would impart all the formulae to him now, if he didn’t understand it she will slowly go over it with him later on. According the rules of the clan, when he takes over the position he must have learnt the [Dog Beating Stick Technique], this is why that she spoke almost non-stop for around two hours. However, Lu You Jiao isn’t the most gifted and he was now old, his memory is fading, how can he remember all this in just a short time? Huang Rong kept on going, passage after passage; it was hard for him to remember everything. Huang Rong had met Guo Jing when she was fifteen and was used to being around those who were slow and not the most gifted, she was angry with Lu You Jiao’s poor memory. The rules of the clan states that the formulae to the technique must be past on down orally and must not be written down, otherwise writing it down and letting him slowly memorise it would have saved a lot of effort and energy.
    That day on the peak of mount Wah after both Hong Qi Gong and Ou Yang Feng had suffered internal injuries in their duel, Hong Qi Gong had taught Yang Guo every stance and every change so that he can perform it to Ou Yang Feng, but he didn’t teach him a single word of the formulae that is needed when fighting an enemy. Hong Qi Gong thought that without the formulae, the techniques would be useless to him, this doesn’t really goes against the rules of the clan and at the time he wasn’t fighting Ou Yang Feng for real, there was no need to pass on the formulae to the technique. Who could have guessed that Yang Guo would now hear the whole thing in its entirety. He was over a hundred times more gifted than Lu You Jiao, after just three recitations he was able to remember the whole thing without forgetting a word but Lu You Jiao still wasn’t able to remember as he recited it ambiguously.
    After Huang Rong became pregnant for the second time, she became careless one day while meditating and disturbed the chi of foetus; because of this she has become very weak. Today she has taught for over half a day and has become very tired, she sat on the rock and rested, she closed her eyes for a while and then called out, “Fu Er, Ru Er, Wen Ru, Guo Er, come down at once!”
    The four of them were shocked and all thought, “So she knew we were here long ago!”
    Guo Fu said, “Mother, you really are great, nothing can be kept from you.” As she said this she used a stance of [The Forest Sends a Sparrow] and lightly leapt down in front of her. The Wu brothers followed while Yang Guo climbed down slowly.
    Huang Rong gave a ‘heng’ sound and said, “You want to steal a look with your kung fu? If I can’t even notice you little rascals, I’m afraid that when that I’m travelling around Jiang Hu I’ll be ambushed in half a day.”
    Guo Fu felt embarrassed by her mother’s comments but knew that her mother was lenient and wasn’t afraid of her scolding her, she laughed and said, “Mother, I bought these three along to take a look at the world famous [Dog Beating Stick Technique], but who knew that when elder Lu uses it, the skill doesn’t look good at all. Mother, perform the skill for us.”
    Huang Rong laughed and took the bamboo stick from Lu You Jiao’s hand, she said, “Fine, watch out, I’m going to trip a little puppy.”
    Guo Fu concentrated on her lower body, as soon as the bamboo stick comes towards her, she will immediately jump up and avid the trip. Huang Rong’s bamboo stick flashed across, Guo Fu quickly leapt up, her legs were half way away from the ground when the bamboo stick came across and skilfully and lightly tripped her up. Guo Fu got up and called out, “I’m not taking that, I’m not taking that. That was my fault.”
    Huang Rong laughed and said, “Fine, you chose what you want to do.”
    Guo Fu steadied herself in the mount posture and stood solidly, she had another thought and then said, “Big brother Wu and little brother Wu, come to my side and get into the mount posture as well.” The Wu brothers did as they were told and stood solidly. Guo Fu stretched out her arm and hooked it around the Wu brothers arms combining the strength of the three, as solid as mount Tai, she said, “Mother, I’m not afraid of you, only father’s [Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms] can push us.”
    Huang Rong gave a slight smile and waved the stick across the three’s face, a strong gust of wind rushed upon them. The three of them all moved backwards to avoid it, the mount posture of the lower body loosened as a result. Huang Rong’s bamboo stick returned and used the ‘turn’ formulae, the stick brushed across the three’s legs, the three of them could not stand up steadily and all fell down at the same time. At least the three’s kung fu have a good foundation, their bodies just touched the ground slightly and they got up immediately.
    Guo Fu called out, “Mother, that’s just trickery, I’m not taking that.”
    Huang Rong laughed and said, “Just now I passed on the eight formulae to Lu You Jiao, ‘trip’, ‘chop’, ‘coil’, ‘poke’, ‘stir’, ‘lead’, ‘seal’ and ‘turn’, which one uses reckless strength? You said this is trickery, that’s correct, in the martial arts, ninety percent of it is used to trick someone, as long as you’ve tricked a skill fighter, you’ve won. Only your father’s [Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms] type of martial arts uses real kung fu to battle and don’t use any sort of trickery. But how many people in the world can reach such a stage?”
    These words made Yang Guo nod in secret, he remembered the formulae that Huang Rong had recited and combined it with the stances that Hong Qi Gong taught him, the ingenuity and mastery behind it really was boundless. Though Guo Fu and the others understood what Huang Rong said, they didn’t appreciate the meaning behind it.
    Huang Rong continued, “The [Dog Beating Stick Technique] is wulin’s most unique kung fu, it forms a branch on its own, and does not involve any other sect’s kung fu. If you just learn the stances but don’t know the formulae to accompany it, it is useless. Even if you are extremely clever it will be very difficult to come up with a formulae to accompany the stances. But if you just know the formulae without me personally teaching you the stances, and only know the eight words ‘trip’, ‘chop’, ‘coil’, ‘poke’, ‘stir’, ‘lead’, ‘seal’ and ‘turn’, the result is the same, because of this I’m not afraid of letting you four rascals eavesdropping. If I teach any sort of kung fu, without my permission, you must not eavesdrop or practise in secret ever, understand?”
    Guo Fu agreed and laughed, “Mother, why should I try to practise your kung fu in secret? Could it be that you have other skills that you dare not teach me?”
    Huang Rong used the bamboo stick to lightly hit Guo Fu’s behind, she laughed, “Go and play with your two Wu brothers. Guo Er, I want to speak with you. Elder Lu, take your time, if you can’t remember it all I’ll teach you again tomorrow.”
    Lu You Jiao, Guo Fu and the Wu brothers went on their way back to the Lu manor, only Yang Guo remained.
    Yang Guo’s heart raced, he was afraid that Huang Rong knew that he had secretly learned the [Dog Beating Stick Technique] and know wanted to take his life.
    Huang Rong saw the frightened expression of Yang Guo; she took his hand and told him to sit down on the rock. She softly said, “Guo Er, there are many things that I don’t understand about you, if I ask you, I know you won’t tell me. But I can’t blame you. When I was young I was extremely eccentric, your uncle Guo had to tolerate me in everything I do. “ As she got up to this point, she lightly sighed and then a smile came upon her face as she remembered the times when she vented her anger when she was younger. She continued, “I didn’t teach you martial arts because I wanted what’s best for you, who could’ve known that this has caused you to suffer many hardships instead. Your uncle Guo loves and adores me, of course I will do my best to repay his love. He has great faith in you and hopes that you will become a great man. I will do my best to help you so his wish can be granted. Guo Er, don’t ever disappoint him, okay?”
    Yang Guo has never heard Huang Rong speak to him like this before, soft, gentle and sincere, he saw her eyes were filled with love and he couldn’t stop himself from being moved, hot blood rose to his chest as he cried out.
    Huang Rong stroked his hair and softly said, “Guo Er, I won’t keep anything from you anymore. In the past I didn’t like your father, which is why I have always disliked you. But from now on, I will treat you very well, once my body’s recovered I will teach you all the martial arts I know. Uncle Guo said he will do the same thing as well.”
    Yang Guo was feeling sadder, he cried even louder and choked, “Auntie Guo, there are many things that I’ve kept from you, I’ll…I’ll… I’ll tell you everything.”
    Huang Rong stroked his hair and said, “Today I’m very tired, it won’t be too late if you tell me in a few days, all you’ve got to do I be a good child and I’ll be happy. When the Beggar Clan’s meeting is on, come and take a look.”
    Yang Guo thought that an important news such as the passing away of Hong Qi Gong needs to be revealed at the meeting, he wiped his tears and kept on nodding.
    The two of them spoke with their true feelings under the tree and managed to scatter away the mutual dislike that they used to have for each other. As they finished, Yang Guo’s tears turned into a smile, he remembered the faith and love that Guo Jing had in his words to him, this is the first time he has felt so warm and affectionate since he and Xiao Long Nuu split up.
    After speaking for a while, Huang Rong felt a slight pain in her stomach; she slowly got up and said, “Let’s go.” She held his hand and slowly walked.
    Yang Guo thought that he should tell her about the news of the Hong Qi Gong’s death and said, “Auntie Guo, I have something very important I have to tell you.”
    Huang Rong just felt the chi in her ‘dan tian’ was feeling uncomfortable and not fluent, she creased her brows and said, “Tell me tomorrow, I’m… I’m not feeling well.”
    Yang Guo saw that she was pale and couldn’t help from worrying, he felt her hand was slightly cold, he became bold and secretly circulated his chi and sent a warm energy from his hand into her. When he and Xiao Long Nuu was practising the [Jade Heart Manual] on mount Zhong Nan, he had become very fluent in this technique of passing energy through the palms, but he was afraid that his and Huang Rong’s internal energy will clash with each other so at the start he only sent a little, afterwards when he felt no resistance, he started to increase the energy. Huang Rong felt the internal energy that he was passing on was soft and concentrated, it was very different to the internal energies of the Quan Zhen sect, but it was soft and fluid, it wasn’t below the skilled fighters of Quan Zhen, her body had a use for it and in a short while she felt the opposing chi and blood of hers became more fluent and comfortable, her cheeks glowed, she was surprised, “Where did the child learnt this advanced internal energy?” She smiled at him.
    Just as she was about to ask him, Guo Fu called out from afar, “Mother, mother, guess who’s here?”
    Huang Rong laughed and said, “Today all the heroes of the world are gathered here, how do I know who’s here?” She suddenly had a thought and said happily, “Ah, it’s the Wu’s martial uncles, I haven’t seen them for many years.”
    Guo Fu said, “Mother, you are really clever, how did you get it in one guess?”
    Huang Rong smiled and said, “What’s hard about that? The Wu brothers never leave your side, since they’re not following, it must be because their relatives have arrived.”
    Yang Guo has always been assured of his intelligence but when he saw that Huang Rong predicted things like a god, he couldn’t stop himself from being startled and be in awe.
    Huang Rong continued, “Fu Er, congratulations, you can learn another advanced martial art but I’m afraid that you might not be able to learn it.”
    Guo Fu asked, “What kung fu?”
    Yang Guo blurted out, “[Solitary Yang Finger]!”
    Guo Fu ignored him and said, “What do you know? Mother, what kung fu is it?”
    Huang Rong laughed and said, “Hasn’t brother Yang mentioned it?”
    Guo Fu said, “Ai… so mother told you.” Yang Guo and Huang Rong both smiled and didn’t say anything. Huang Rong thought, “Guo Er is very intelligent, he’s ten times more clever than the Wu brothers. And there’s no need to mention Fu Er. He knows that the [Solitary Yang Finger] is Reverend Yi Deng’s skill, the Wu brothers’ martial uncles are here, they will pity the Wu brothers because of their parents and will definitely teach them the [Solitary Yang Finger]. The brothers are always trying to please Fu Er, whatever they learn will be passed onto Fu Er.”
    Guo Fu was surprised, “Why did mother tell Yang Guo first, could it be that she wants to betroth me to that little beggar?” When she thought about this, she gave Yang Guo a look and put on a silly face.

    Reverend Yi Deng of Dali has four disciples, ‘Fisherman, Woodsman, Farmer, Scholar’. The Wu brothers’ father Wu San Tong is the third disciple, farmer. Ever since the battle with Li Mo Chou where he was wounded, he hasn’t been seen since. The ones that have arrived to the heroes’ feast today are the fisherman, Si Shui Yu Yin and the scholar, Zhu Zi Liu. Whenever Huang Rong and Zhu Zi Liu meet, they will start to battle with their wits, they haven’t seen each other for over ten years and as soon as they saw each other, they were at it again. After the greetings, Si Shui Yu Yin and Zhu Zi Liu found a room and they indeed did start to teach the [Solitary Yang Finger] to the Wu brothers.
    I'm worse at what I do best
    And for this gift I feel blessed

  19. #59
    Senior Member BluLotus's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2003
    Location
    Frantasy Land, CA AKA / Alias / Pen Name: Frantasy Honorary Title: 蓝莲花
    Posts
    2,102

    Post

    Yay! A big update this time, hehe. Keep up the great work! Thanks!
    AKA: Frantasy

    Translating: Ni Tian Xie Shen (逆天邪神) – Against the Gods by Mars Gravity @ https://alyschu.wordpress.com/

  20. #60
    Senior Member Anonymous's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2003
    Posts
    453

    Thumbs up

    Hiya Noodles,
    Just want to thank you for another excellent translation. <IMG SRC="smilies/smile.gif" border="0"> Things sure are getting more interesting now.
    -
    Hmm. Seems GuoFu is not as annoying as I thought she was...so far :P
    -
    Can't wait to see YangGuo kick *** . haha

Similar Threads

  1. RoCH Chap 33 Onwards
    By IcyFox in forum Wuxia Translations
    Replies: 1006
    Last Post: 02-25-16, 10:55 PM
  2. Smiling Proud Wanderer Chapter 29 onwards
    By pokit in forum Wuxia Translations
    Replies: 859
    Last Post: 07-07-07, 07:14 PM
  3. Replies: 14
    Last Post: 10-21-06, 06:32 PM
  4. ROCH: Chapter 24 onwards
    By Noodles in forum Wuxia Translations
    Replies: 239
    Last Post: 02-02-06, 11:49 AM
  5. ROCH Chapter 26 onwards...
    By Black Night Sea in forum Wuxia Translations
    Replies: 631
    Last Post: 01-24-06, 08:16 AM

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •