Legend of Condor Heroes Book 4
Page 21
Peng Lianhu knew the critical situation had passed as he saw Guo Jing was tied down by Qiu Qianren while Liang Ziweng and Sha Tongtian were guarding in front of Wanyan Honglie; he
turned his attention to Ke Zhen'E and said with a smile, “Ke Daxia, how come only one freak out of the Seven Freaks of Jiangnan showed up?”
Ke Zhen’E’s iron staff was thrown into the Southern Lake by Huang Rong; hearing the enemy’s insult he waved his hand to send out an iron caltrop, while he immediately jumped backward. Under the dim moonlight the iron caltrop looked so swift and powerful. Peng Lianhu had experienced suffering because of this poisonous secret projectile; he was scared like a bird was scared of a bow, he did not dare to fend off with his judge pen, so he hastily pushed the pens on the ground to using it as a brace to help him jump high in the air. With a ‘swish’ sound the iron caltrop barely missed
the bottom of his foot. He noticed Ke Zhen'E did not have any weapon in his hand; clenching his teeth he struck forward with his pens.
Ke Zhen'E was disabled; he usually walked aided by his staff. He heard the wind as the enemy attack arrived, he had no choice but using all his strength he leaped two steps to the side, and almost fell down as his left foot landed on soft earth.
Peng Lianhu was delighted; with his left pen he guarded against Ke Zhen’E, should he be desperate enough to launch an attack to save his own life, while his right pen fiercely smashed down toward Ke Zhen’E’s chest.
Ke Zhen'E listened to the sound to distinguish the shape, he rolled away to evade. Peng Lianhu’s
steel judge pen struck a rock on the ground, sparks flew everywhere. “Blind thief,” he cursed, “You are very slippery!” The pen in his left hand also struck.
While he was rolling away, ‘swish!’ he released another iron caltrop. Lingzhi Shangren was standing nearby, his left hand was holding his right hand, his mouth was busy cursing in Tibetan; as
he saw Ke Zhen'E was rolling near him, he raised his foot trying to trample him.
Ke Zhen'E heard the wind; using his left hand to brace the ground he threw himself sideways to escape. But evading the Tibetan monk’s foot he could not escape the pair of judge pen on his back. He felt a stabbing pain and secretly shouted, “Not good!” He closed his eyes, ready to die. Suddenly he heard a tender voice called out, “Off you go!” followed by “Aiyo!” finally he heard a loud ‘bang!’
Turned out Huang Rong used the Dog Beating Stick Technique to block the judge pen, turned it around and jerked it up, throwing both the pen and Peng Lianhu away. This stick technique was exactly the same stance Huang Rong used to fling Ke Zhen’E’s iron staff away; only Peng Lianhu held his pens tight and would not let them go no matter what, so both Peng Lianhu and his pen fell down together.
Peng Lianhu was shocked and angry at the same time, he crawled back up only to see Huang Rong was using her stick to protect Ke Zhen’E, giving him the opportunity to stand up. “Little witch [Translator’s note: the Chinese characters used were ‘xiao yao nu’, with ‘yao’ being ‘goblin/witch/demon/monster’, see also Chapter 25], who asked for your help?”
Ignoring him Huang Rong called out, “Father, look after this blind muddle-head, don’t let anybody harm him.” While saying that she rushed toward Guo Jing to help him fight Qiu Qianren.
Ke Zhen'E was dumbstruck; he stood motionless not knowing what to do. Peng Lianhu saw Huang Yaoshi was standing quite a distant away, with his back facing them, apparently he did not hear his daughter’s call. Quietly Peng Lianhu went behind Ke Zhen'E and suddenly lunged his judge pen
toward Ke Zhen’E’s back. This move was both swift and violent, so much so that even if Ke Zhen'E still had the iron staff in his hand he would not necessarily be able to block it. Peng Lianhu saw he was about to succeed when suddenly a ‘swish’ sound was heard; something flew splitting the air, hit the judge pen, and shattered into dust; turned out it was a small grain of gravel. Peng Lianhu’s palm was numb and the judge pen fell to the ground.
Peng Lianhu was shocked; he did not know where the gravel came from, and how could it carry such a tremendous force. He saw Huang Yaoshi with his hands behind his back, still looking at the black clouds on the horizon.
At the Cloud Village Ke Zhen'E had heard this Divine Flicking Finger skill; he knew it was Huang
Yaoshi who saved him. In rage he pounced toward Huang Yaoshi’s back, while shouting, “Seven brothers and sister only one left, why would I want to live?”
Huang Yaoshi still did not turn his head; he waited until Ke Zhen'E was about three feet away
before his left hand lightly waved backward. Ke Zhen'E felt a strong force pushing him back that he fell face up. Quickly he sat down, but felt his blood surging up his chest and he was not able to stand up.
By this time the sky was getting darker, the fog hovering on the surface of the lake was getting thicker, it spilled over to the ground; submerging everybody’s legs in it. Guo Jing and Huang Rong managed to fight Qiu Qianren evenly. On the other side, the Quanzhen Sect was in dire circumstances; Hao Datong’s thigh was swept by the snake staff, half of Sun Bu’er’s Taoist robe was torn. Wang Chuyi was secretly alarmed; he knew that if this fight continued, someone would be either dead or wounded before long. So when Ma Yu and Liu Chuxuan were launching a flank attack, he took a rocket from his pocket. With a hissing sound the rocket flew up to the sky, like a meteor with a long tail in the dark sky.
Actually, all Seven Masters of the Quanzhen Sect had accepted not a few disciples; they formed quite a number of the third generation disciples. Besides Yin Zhiping, there were Li Zhichang, Zhang Zhijing, Wang Zhitan, Qi Zhicheng, Zhang Zhixian, Zhao Zhijing, and the others; they were all outstanding people. In the martial art contest at Misty Rain Tavern in Jiaxing this time, the Seven Masters were afraid that Peng Lianhu, Sha Tongtian and the others would bring their disciples in their attempt to gain victory by sheer numbers; therefore, they also took their disciples along to Jiaxing and told them to wait by the shore of the Southern Lake. As soon as they saw the rocket they were supposed to immediately come and render their assistance. So now recognizing their precarious situation Wang Chuyi released the rocket. Unfortunately the fog was too thick; even separated by several feet it was already difficult to distinguish people, so he was afraid the disciples would not be able to see through this fog.
Later on, after fighting a little while, the white fog was getting heavier, everybody was enveloped inside the thick fog that they suddenly felt alone. The gathering dark clouds in the sky were getting thicker and thicker; the dim moonlight which penetrated these layers of cloud was getting weaker and weaker, until finally it disappeared all together. Everybody was alarmed; although they did not stop fighting, the distance between them were getting farther and farther away, their stances were most of the time defensives and very few offensives.
Guo Jing and Huang Rong were fighting Qiu Qianren together; suddenly the thick fog welled up and shrouded these three people. Guo Jing saw Qiu and Huang two people suddenly disappear, he decided to look for Wanyan Honglie immediately. His eyes were wide open, trying to catch a glimpse of the flashing of the golden crown on Wanyan Honglie’s head. But the fog was very dense; he could not even see anything beyond three feet. He hurried to the east and dashed to the west to seek the enemy, suddenly he heard someone was calling out in the fog, “Zhou Botong is here, who wants to fight with me?”
Guo Jing was ecstatic, he was about to reply but Qiu Chuji beat him, “Zhou Shishu [martial uncle], are you Senior well?”
Right at this moment the dark clouds revealed a gap and suddenly everybody could see their enemies were actually almost within reach of each other, if anybody launched any attack, they would certainly be injured. As if by prior agreement they all cried out in alarm and leaped back.
Zhou Botong was giggling as he stood among these people, he said in a loud voice, “There are so many people here, very lively. Wonderful! Wonderful!” His right hand reached beneath the crook of his left
elbow, he rubbed some dirt and rolled it, he said, “I’ll give you some poison!” and he shoved the dirt into Sha Tongtian’s mouth nearby.
Sha Tongtian quickly evaded, but although he used his ‘yi xing huan wei’, he was still not fast enough; his left arm was grabbed by Zhou Botong and the dirt was squeezed into his mouth. He had suffered quite a bit under Zhou Botong’s hand, he knew if he spat the dirt, he would certainly be beaten; therefore, he had no choice but stay silent and keep the dirt in his mouth. He knew the dirt was not poison, so he certainly was not afraid.
As Wang Chuyi saw Zhou Botong suddenly arrive he was overjoyed, “Shishu,” he called out, “Turned out it’s true that you are not killed by Huang Daozhu [Island Master].”
“Who said I am dead?” Zhou Botong angrily asked, “The Old Heretic Huang had always wanted to harm me, but it’s been more than ten years and he still has not succeeded yet. Ha, Old Heretic Huang, come and try again.” While saying that he waved his fist toward Huang Yaoshi’s shoulder.
Huang Yaoshi did not dare to ignore him; he counterattacked with a stance from the ‘shen jian luo ying zhang’ [divine sword falling leaves palm] while calling out at the same time, “The mixed-up hairs from Quanzhen Sect blamed me of killing you, they are pestering me without any reason, saying that they were seeking revenge for you.”
Zhou Botong was angry, “You killed me? Are you dreaming? When did you kill me? Look clearly, am I a human or am I a ghost?” While spouting nonsense he fought faster and faster.
Huang Yaoshi knew Zhou Botong would not listen to reason, and he was attacking him out of a whim, but his moves were very exquisite and marvelous; Huang Yaoshi had no choice but fight him with all his might.
The Quanzhen Masters thought that as soon as their Shishu arrived, he would join hands with Huang Yaoshi to fight Ouyang Feng; who would have thought that this Shishu did not want to listen to them but entangled Huang Yaoshi in a close combat instead. “Shishu, don’t fight with Huang Daozhu!” Ma Yu repeatedly called.
Ouyang Feng interjected, “That’s right Old Urchin, you are in no way the Old Heretic’s match; quickly run away to save your life! Quick, quick!”
Listening to this provocation Zhou Botong was all the more not willing to give up. Huang Rong called out, “Old Urchin, you use the martial art from the Nine Yin Manual to fight my father; what would your Shixiong [martial brother] say in the underworld?”
Zhou Botong burst out in laughter, he sounded very smug when he said, “Look carefully, do you see I am using the martial art from the Manual? I have spent a great deal of effort trying to forget the Manual. Hey, hey, learning was easy, forgetting is actually a lot of trouble! What I am using now is the 72-stance Vacant Fist, the Old Urchin’s very own creation, do you think it is the same as the Nine Yin Manual even for a fart?”
When fighting him at the Peach Blossom Island, Huang Yaoshi thought his fist and kick strength was much stronger; now he saw that although his fist technique was refined and wonderful, the strength was actually less than he remembered, but Zhou Botong was able to fight evenly with him, which he thought was very strange. Listening to Zhou Botong’s words Huang Yaoshi was secretly impressed; regardless of what kind of bizarre technique he employed, Zhou Botong was able to create an excellent martial art all by himself and thus he founded his own martial art school.
From inside the fog Ouyang Feng could indistinctly see the fight between Zhou Botong and Huang Yaoshi; he was inwardly very happy, but was also afraid that as soon as he defeated Huang Yaoshi Zhou Botong would join hands with the Quanzhen Masters and deal with him. Thereupon he thought as he had the opportunity, he should break the Big Dipper Formation first. Immediately he wielded his snake staff and pressed on bit by bit, placing the Big Dipper Formation in more and more dangerous situation.
Eagle Shooting Hero 1037
Wang Chuyi and Liu Chuxuan called out, “Zhou Shishu, kill Ouyang Feng first!”
Zhou Botong saw his martial nephews’ desperate situation, with a left palm and a right fist he swept horizontally. When he was very close to Huang Yaoshi’s face, suddenly with a laughter the fist changed into a palm and the palm became a fist, continuing their attack across each other.
Huang Yaoshi had never anticipated this kind of strange move, he hurriedly raised his arms to block, but the tip of his eyebrow was brushed lightly by the edge of Zhou Botong’s palm. He was not injured, but Huang Yaoshi felt his eyebrow was burning hot.
As Zhou Botong’s palm brushed his opponent suddenly he was shocked; his left hand slapped his own right wrist and he cursed, “Damn it! Damn it! This is the martial art from the Nine Yin
Manual!”
Huang Yaoshi was slightly startled; but his palm had already struck with a lightning fast speed, without any noise landed on Zhou Botong’s shoulder. Zhou Botong bent his waist and shrunk his shoulder. “Aiyo!” he cried out, “The payback is so quick!”
Meanwhile the fog was getting thicker; it was getting more difficult to see anything. Guo Jing was afraid his two shifus would be injured; he held out his hand to help Ke Zhen’E, pulling his arm toward Hong Qigong. With a low voice he said, “Two Shifus, please take a rest at the Misty Rain Tavern; we’ll wait for the fog to recede then we’ll talk again.” He heard Huang Rong called out, “Old Urchin, are you going to obey me or not?”
“I can’t beat your father,” Zhou Botong replied, “So don’t worry.”
“I want you to beat the Old Poison,” Huang Rong said, “Just don’t kill him.”
“Why?” Zhou Botong asked; but his hands and feet were not slowing down.
Huang Rong called out, “If you don’t do what I say, I am going to reveal your stinky history.”
“What stinky history?” Zhou Botong asked, “You talk nonsense.”
“All right,” with deliberation Huang Rong said, “Four weaving machines, the weaving of mandarin ducks desiring to fly together right away.”
Hearing these two sentences Zhou Botong was so scared that it was as if his soul had left him; “All right, all right, I’ll listen to you,” he busily said, “Old Poison, where are you?” He heard Ma Yu’s voice penetrating the thick fog, “Zhou Shishu, occupy the north polar star to surround him.”
Huang Rong said again, “Father, this Qiu Qianren collaborates with a foreign kingdom, he is a big traitor; please kill him quickly.”
“Child,” Huang Yaoshi said, “Come to my side.” In the heavy fog he could not see where Qiu Qianren was. But he heard Zhou Botong was laughing a big laugh while calling out, “Old Poison, quickly kneel down and kowtow to your grandfather; I’ll spare your life today.”
Guo Jing sent Hong and Ke two people to the side of the tavern; then he turned his body around, trying to find Wanyan Honglie. Who would have thought that as he left the Misty Rain Tavern, not only he could not find Wanyan Honglie, but also Sha Tongtian, Qiu Qianren and the others had all disappeared. He heard Zhou Botong call out, “Uh, where is the Old Poison? Where did he run to?”
This fog was unusually thick, everybody was very close to each other, yet one could not see the face of someone else standing next to them; they only saw a vague image of a human form. Their voices were also somewhat muffled by the fog, as if there was some layers separating each other. Each one of them was an experienced fighter, yet in this battle they felt like they were blindfolded; not a single one of them was not anxious. Huang Rong was leaning close to her father, Ma Yu was giving out orders in low voice to shrink their circle. Everyone was straining their ears to listen to any enemy’s activity; for a moment nobody made any noise. A little while later suddenly Qiu Chuji called out, “Listen! What’s that?”
They heard hissing noise all around them, strange noise from a distant coming near. Huang Rong called out in alarm, “The Old Poison dispatches his snakes! Really shameless!”
At the end of the tavern Hong Qigong had also heard the snakes, he loudly called out, “It’s the Old Poison’s snake formation; everybody quickly come up the stairs!”
Not too long afterwards the sound of the snakes was getting louder. Huang Rong pulled her father’s hand to go up the Misty Rain Tavern. Holding each other’s hand the Quanzhen Masters were groping their way upstairs. Yin Zhiping stepped on a crack and fell down real hard that his head grew a swollen lump; quickly he crawled back upstairs.
Huang Rong had not heard Guo Jing’s voice, she was concerned; “Jing Gege, where are you?” she called. After calling out several times she still had not heard any reply; she became anxious and said, “Father, I am going back to look for him.”
Suddenly she heard Guo Jing’s cold voice, “Why should you look for me? Don’t call me; I am not going to answer you.” It turned out he was right next to her.
Huang Yaoshi was angry, “Muddle-headed kid, stinky boy,” he scolded; his arm swung across sending out a palm. Guo Jing ducked his head to evade; he was just about to launch a counterattack when suddenly ‘whiz, whiz’ noise of arrows was heard, several long arrows soared in the air and nailed the window lattice.
Everybody was startled; they heard shouts and feathered arrows came one after another. In the darkness nobody knew how many soldiers had arrived; they heard clamoring noise of people outside the building, they were shouting, “Don’t let these thieves escape!”