by Jin Yong
The Quanzhen Masters were listening, half believing and half doubting. Qiu Chuji loudly asked, “Are you telling the truth?”
Guo Jing pointed his finger to Huang Yaoshi and said, “Disciple hates this old thief that I do not wish to live in the same earth with him, why would I help him? Only it was the truth, so disciple cannot keep his mouth shut.”
The Six Masters knew him as an honest person; moreover, he had shown so much hatred toward Huang Yaoshi, so what he said must be the truth.
It was beyond Huang Yaoshi’s expectation to hear him saying things in his favor; he was astonished and asked, “Why do you hate me so much? Where is Rong’er?”
Ke Zhen’E cut him off, “You don’t know what you did? Jing’er, although we can’t win, we must fight this old thief to our deaths.” Finished speaking he lifted his iron staff and swept it toward Huang Yaoshi.
Hearing his shifu, Guo Jing knew that he was forgiven; he felt very happy and immediately tears flowed down his face. “Da Shifu,” he called out, “Er Shifu and the others, they ... all five of them died a miserable death!”
Huang Yaoshi was grabbing the head of Ke Zhen’E staff with an outstretched hand, he turned to Guo Jing and asked, “What did you say? Zhu Cong, Han Baoju and the others were nicely received as guests on my island, why did you say they are dead?”
Ke Zhen’E furiously tried to pull his iron staff, but it did not even budge. Huang Yaoshi asked Guo Jing again, “Disregarding your elders and superiors you talked nonsense to me, attacking me like crazy, is that because of Zhu Cong and the others?”
Guo Jing’s eyes looked like they were spurting blood; he called out, “You have harmed my five Shifus with your own hands, and now you pretend you did not know?” Lifting his dagger up, he stabbed it forward with a straight arm.
Huang Yaoshi moved the iron staff in his hand to block; ‘bang!’ the staff and the dagger collided, sparks flew out everywhere. The dagger was so sharp that it actually nicked the iron staff. Huang Yaoshi asked again, “Who saw it?”
Guo Jing said, “I buried my Five Shifus with my own hands, are you saying that I slander you?”
Hung Yaoshi laughed coldly and said, “So what if you slander me? For all my life the Old Heretic Huang come and go alone; why would I deny killing these several people? You are correct, I killed your shifus!”
Suddenly a female voice was calling out, “No, Father, it wasn’t you. Don’t take the blame on your own shoulder.”
Everybody turned their heads around and saw the one who spoke was indeed Huang Rong. They had been so engrossed in the fierce battle that nobody knew she had arrived. As Guo Jing saw her again, he was lost in thought, he did not know whether he should feel happy or anxious.
As Huang Yaoshi saw his daughter was alive and well, he was very happy; his hatred toward Guo Jing disappeared, he laughed a big laugh and said, “Good child, come, let Father hug you.”
For the past several days Huang Rong had been suffering a lot of heartache, it was only today she heard a loving word for the first time; she dashed forward and threw herself into her father’s bosom and cried, “Father, this dumb kid slandered you, he . he also bullied me.”
Huang Yaoshi embraced his daughter and said with a smile, “The Old Heretic Huang always does as he pleases, ever since dozens of years ago ignorant people have always put the crime of the world on your father’s head, so what difference will it make to add several more crimes to the pile? The Five Freaks of Jiangnan were your Mei Shijie’s [martial (older) sister] archenemies, so of course I killed them with my own hands.”
“No, no,” Huang Rong anxiously said, “It wasn’t you. I know it wasn’t you.”
Huang Yaoshi showed a faint smile and said, “That dumb kid is so bold, he dares to bully my good child. Just watch, Father will teach him a lesson.” He had just finished speaking when suddenly like a lightning the back of his palm struck, without a shadow, without a trace. Guo Jing was thinking about what these father and daughter were talking about, when ‘slap!’ he felt a burning sensation on his left cheek. He was just about to raise his hand to block, but Huang Yaoshi’s palm had already returned to Huang Rong’s head, gently stroking her elegant hair.
This palm made a loud noise, but actually the force was weak; Guo Jing felt his cheek burning, but he did not suffer any injury. He was at a loss; did not know whether he should charge forward or he should stay where he was.
Ke Zhen’E heard the slap on Guo Jing’s face, he was afraid Huang Yaoshi might have stricken him with a deadly blow. “Jing’er, how are you?” he anxiously asked.
“I am all right,” Guo Jing replied.
Ke Zhen’E said, “Don’t listen to this demon and this witch telling lies. I don’t have eyes to see, but your Si Shifu [Fourth Shifu] said: he saw this old thief killed your Er Shifu and forced to death your Qi [Seventh] ...” Guo Jing did not wait for him to finish, he charged forward toward Huang Yaoshi. Ke Zhen’E followed by wielding his iron staff.
Huang Yaoshi let his daughter go and evaded Guo Jing’s palm, while at the same time stretched his hand to grab Ke Zhen’E’s iron staff. This time Ke Zhen’E had guarded against his grab so that Huang Yaoshi missed the staff. Master and disciple joined hands fighting a tight battle with Huang Yaoshi.
Although Guo Jing had repeatedly met some outstandingly able people and had learned not a few of wonderful martial art skills, he was still too far behind compared to this grandmaster of a martial art school, the Master of the Peach Blossom Island. Even with Ke Zhen’E’s help he could not do much. After only about twenty, thirty moves he had already moved his hands and feet with great difficulty.
Qiu Chuji thought, “In a critical time Quanzhen Sect has received these master and disciple’s help; currently these two are in the brink of defeat, how can we sit down and watch without doing anything? Whether Zhou Shishu is alive or dead, we need to defeat the Old Heretic Huang first, then we’ll talk later.” Brandishing his sword he called out, “Ke Daxia [Chivalrous Hero], go back to your position!”
By this time Yin Zhiping had already crawled down form the Misty Rain Tavern’s roof. Although he was black and blue and had a swollen nose from the fall, he did not suffer a serious injury. He rushed toward Ke Zhen’E’s back and wielded his sword to protect him. Once again the Big Dipper Formation went into action, encircled Huang Yaoshi, father and daughter in the middle.
Huang Yaoshi was enraged, he thought, “Before it was a misunderstanding, so I can understand you attacking me; but after this dumb kid explained everything this crowd of mixed-up hairs still rely on sheer numbers to attack me. Do you think the Old Heretic Huang cannot kill people?” Like a flash of shadow he had already moved toward Ke Zhen’E’s left.
Huang Rong saw the murderous look on her father’s face; she knew his hands would not be light, her heart turned cold. She saw that Wang Chuyi and Ma Yu blocked her father’s palm; Ke Zhen’E’s iron staff ferociously struck toward her shoulder while his mouth shot curses, “Unforgivable lowly criminal, female demon! The Peach Blossom Island’s slut!”
Huang Rong had never been willing to swallow the least bit of defeat; listening him open up his mouth in foul language, anger started to rise up her chest, she called out, “Scold me again if you have guts!”
The Seven Freaks of Jiangnan grew up in the marketplace where all kinds of people buy and sell, cursing each other for generations, what was so difficult about scolding other people? Ke Zhen’E hated Huang Yaoshi, father and daughter; listened to her say so, immediately his extensive vocabulary of malicious words flew out of his mouth. Huang Rong had always lived alone since she was little; she never had any experience with this kind of foul language. To her advantage she was very intelligent so that each time Ke Zhen’E scolded she was able to figure out what he was talking about and even scold him back; but afterwards the more she listened the more she could not talk back, because the more she did not understand. She spat and said, “Shame on you! You are someone’s shifu yet you are not afrai
d to have a filthy mouth.”
Ke Zhen’E scolded back, “With a clean person the old man talks clean words, with stinky and lowly
people I speak filthy words! You are a filthy person, so the old man here talks even dirtier words.”
Huang Rong was angry; she raised her bamboo stick toward Ke Zhen’E’s face. Ke Zhen’E returned the attack with his iron staff; who would have thought that the Dog Beating Stick Technique was extremely marvelous beyond his imagination. Only several moves later his iron staff was completely under Huang Rong’s control, using the ‘lead’ letter of the technique; as the stick went east the staff went east, when the stick went west the staff followed, it totally did not have the mind of its own.
Ke Zhen’E was occupying the ‘tian xuan’ position of the Formation. As soon as his movement was restrained, the entire formation’s movement was somewhat restricted. Qiu Chuji’s flickering sword stabbing Huang Rong’s back, his intention was to help Ke Zhen’E; but Huang Rong relied on the armor she was wearing, to his surprise she ignored the stab, changing her stick movement she sent out three stances in succession. Qiu Chuji’s sword was about to touch her clothes when he suddenly thought, “What kind of person is the Old Qiu, how can I harm this little girl?” The tip of his sword
touched Huang Rong’s back, but he did not push further.
Taking advantage of this slight hesitation Huang Rong’s bamboo stick pulled Ke Zhen’E’s iron staff. Borrowing his ‘fu mo zhang fa’ [demon subduing staff technique] energy Huang Rong push the staff down and then jerked it up to the left. Ke Zhen’E was not able to control his strength; the staff left his grasp and flew to the air, ‘splash!’ it fell into the Nan Hu [South Lake].
Wang Chuyi was afraid Huang Rong might use this opportunity to harm Ke Zhen’E; he rushed in front of Ke Zhen’E with his sword blocking in front of his chest. Although his experience was vast, he had never seen the Dog Beating Technique before, so he was caught in surprise.
Seeing his master suffer a setback, Guo Jing called out, “Da Shifu, go and take a rest, I’ll fight for you.” Leaving the north polar star position he jumped into the ‘tian xuan’ position. By this time his martial art skill had already exceeded those of the Quanzhen Masters, plus he was familiar with the Big Dipper method; so as soon as he made his move the Formation’s power increased substantially.
Actually the Big Dipper Formation revolved around the ‘tian quan’ position, but as soon as he
entered, the key position moved to ‘tian xuan’ position, and the Formation’s movement was altered. This modification was actually inferior to the original movement, but in this short moment Huang Yaoshi was not able to find a way to penetrate the formation’s airtight defense; although he had his daughter to help, they were defending themselves with difficulty. Luckily for the most part the Quanzhen Masters took a defensive position; Guo Jing was the only one who fought with his life, forcing Huang Yaoshi to reluctantly face him.
Guo Jing kept pressing forward, forcing Huang Yaoshi to fight a tight battle. With the Quanzhen Masters backing Guo Jing up, Huang Yaoshi was not able to inflict any injury to him, and was forced to use his ‘qing gong’ [lightness kungfu] to evade Guo Jing’s series of a mad-tiger-like attacks.
Huang Rong saw that Guo Jing’s normally genial and kind face was now enveloped by a layer of murderous look; his expression was so frighteningly ferocious that he looked like a different person, completely different from the Guo Jing she used to know. She was startled and frightened at the same time; she stepped in front of her father and said, “Kill me first!”
Guo Jing glowered at her and barked, “Get out of my way!”
Huang Rong was taken aback, “How can you speak to me like that?” she thought.
Guo Jing charged forward and shoved her aside then he pounced towards Huang Yaoshi. Suddenly he heard someone laughed loudly and called out behind him, “Don’t worry Yao Xiong [Brother Yao], I have come to help you!” His voice was like ear-piercing grating metals.
Nobody dared to turn their bodies right away; the entire Big Dipper Formation turned around Huang Yaoshi’s back before they finally saw five, six tall and short people standing on the lakeside, led by someone with long arms and long legs, which was none other than the Western Poison Ouyang Feng.
The Quanzhen Six Masters cried out in anger. Qiu Chuji said, “Jing’er, let us settle the debt with the Western Poison first!” His long sword raised, the Quanzhen Six Masters surrounded Ouyang Feng. Who would have thought that Guo Jing’s gaze was fixed on Huang Yaoshi; it seemed like he did not hear Qiu Chuji at all. As soon as the Quanzhen Six Masters left, he pounced toward Huang Yaoshi again and in a short moment two people had quickly exchanged five, six moves.
Both sides did not hit their target, so both leaped backward, looking over their shoulders, staring at each other. Guo Jing gave out a loud shout then attacked forward. Several times they exchanged several stances and then separated again.
This time the Quanzhen Six Masters had rearranged their battle formation. They looked at Ke Zhen’E and saw him barehanded, standing behind Huang Yaoshi, his head inclined, listening attentively; his arms were open wide, revealing his intention to sacrifice himself, throwing himself to grab Huang Yaoshi firmly, giving Guo Jing the opportunity to strike Huang Yaoshi’s vital point. Because of this Qiu Chuji beckoned to Yin Zhiping, telling him to occupy the ‘tian xuan’ position.
Ma Yu loudly recited, “Holding hands the departed soul forcing itself to leave like a bead of pearls. Heart opens to hear the sound of nature, unlike the blowing flute!” It was the poem Tan Chuduan recited just before he closed his eyes. As the Quanzhen Masters heard it, their anger rose; with flickering swords and floating palms they attacked Ouyang Feng together.
The snake staff in Ouyang Feng’s hand pushed and pulled abruptly, forcing the seven Quanzhen people to back off. Ouyang Feng had seen the Big Dipper Formation’s fierceness at the Ox Village; he was quite intimidated by that, so he decided to keep a tight defense and wait for the enemy to reveal its own flaw. Once the Big Dipper Formation unfolded, it struck to the front and hit to the back, like a continuous wave of attacks. Ouyang Feng carefully met stance with stance, while opening his eyes wide to see any potential to break the formation. A moment later he noticed Yin Zhiping’s ‘tian xuan’ was the Formation’s weak link. He thought if he could destroy this link, he did not have anything else to fear; therefore, he brandished the snake staff in his hand trying to inflict some harm, while his eyes scanning around, assessing the situation around him.
Guo Jing and Huang Yaoshi were still engaged in a tight combat. Huang Rong moved her bamboo stick to keep Ke Zhen’E more than a ‘zhang’ away from these two people. She kept shouting, “Please stop fighting; please listen to me!” But Guo Jing turned a deaf ear to her; palm by palm he struck ferociously, in total disregard of his own life.
At first Huang Rong saw her father holding back, but Guo Jing kept provoking him so that gradually she saw his anger rise, his hands were getting heavier and heavier. She knew the situation was critical; either one of them would certainly suffer a heavy injury if he made a slight mistake. She lifted his head and saw Hong Qigong was leaning against the railing of the Misty Rain Tavern, watching the battle. “Shifu, Shifu,” she hastily called, “Come down and help me explain everything.”
Hong Qigong has seen early on that the situation was far from good, he regretted losing his martial art skill and was powerless to settle this dispute, and hence he was really anxious. Hearing Huang Rong cry out he had an idea, “If only the Old Heretic Huang still has some respect to me left, I think I can still do something.” His hands pressed on the railing and he floated in the air coming down. “Everybody hold your hand!” he called out, “The Old Beggar has something to say.” The Ninefingered Divine Beggar had such a prestige in the Jianghu that when they saw his sudden appearance everybody’s heart shivered and they could not help but to stop fighting.
Ouyang Feng was the first to secretly
groan, he thought, “How can the Old Beggar’s martial art come back?” He did not know that after listening to Guo Jing’s explanation on the Sanskrit part of the Nine Yin Manual Hong Qigong spent these past few days to practice according to the technique and was able to open up his ‘qi jing ba mai’ [marvelous/mysterious passage 8 pulses, Eight Extraordinary Channels].
Hong Qigong’s martial art skill was very profound to begin with, after listening to an excellent internal energy secret such as treating one’s own internal injury, with his divine comprehension within this short period of time he managed to open up one of the eight pulses; his lightness kungfu was 30, 40% recovered. Strictly speaking, if he were involved in a brawl just relying on his fists’ and palms’ strength, he could not even defeat a strong man who did not know any martial art. But in leaping up and down his movement was light and lively, at least in Ouyang Feng’s eyes he did not look like someone who was devoid of any internal strength.
Hong Qigong was amazed to see these people were still in awe of him, he considered it carefully, “If the Old Beggar does not put on some airs, today’s crisis will be difficult to resolve; but what can I say, so that the Quanzhen Masters will listen to my order, and also the Old Poison will comply without giving me too much difficulty?” Momentarily not knowing what to do he threw his head backward and laughed a big laugh; while he was looking up, he saw the moon was beginning to rise up, the bright circle looked like a wheel made of ice with one side of it slightly broken. An idea came into his mind, he said, “You are all experts in the Wulin world, but you deal with each other just like scoundrels and rascals, your words are just like farts.”
Everybody was startled. They knew Hong Qigong always talked crazy words without any restrain, so they did not think much about his language; however, he must have a reason to say such thing. Ma Yu bowed in respect and asked, “Asking Qianbei [Senior] to grant us instruction.”
Hong Qigong angrily said, “The Old Beggar heard some people say that on the eighth month’s midautumn day this year there will be people fighting at the Misty Rain Tavern. The Old Beggar was afraid that his hearing was not clear, so while it is still early I want to laze around and sleep in peace and quiet here. Who knew that since early this morning I have been hearing clackety-clack and yakety-yak of people quarreling and fighting nonstop. I heard chamber pot formation or bed urinal formation, and then there was a husband beating his wife, a son-in-law attacking his father-in-law; very noisy just like killing pig or slaughtering dog, so noisy that the Old Beggar cannot take a nap in peace and quiet. Look at the moon, what day is today?”
