Legend of Condor Heroes Book 4

by Jin Yong

  While he was busy with his own thoughts, Huang Rong had already applied some cut wound medicine and wrapped it up properly; he felt his wound was cool and for the most part the pain was gone, but suddenly he heard rumbles from inside his tummy.

  Huang Rong coldly said, “I thought you were not hungry, but it turns out you are really starving. Too bad we don’t have anything to eat right now. All right, let’s go!” With two ‘slap, slap’ sounds

  her stick beat the two soldiers, telling those two to lift Ke Zhen'E up and continue their journey.

  About thirty, forty ‘li’s later, the sky was getting dark. They heard the loud cry of crows; hundreds of thousands crows flew back and forth in the air. Hearing these crows Ke Zhen'E knew they were in the vicinity of the ‘tie qiang miao’ [Temple of the Iron Spear]. This Temple of the Iron Spear was built to honor a well known general from the Five Dynasties period, the Iron Spear, Wang Yanzhang. Next to the temple there was a tall pagoda. For generations the crows had made their nest on top of this pagoda. There was a legend among the locals that the crows of the Temple of the Eagle Shooting Hero 1045

  Iron Spear were the spirits of dead soldiers and generals, so nobody dared to disturb them to such an extent that the crows breed and multiplied, became as many as they were that day.

  “Hey,” Huang Rong said, “The sky is getting dark, where can we spend the night?”

  Ke Zhen'E thought for a moment, “If we lodge at someone’s residence I am afraid they might open

  their mouths and lead the soldiers to come and arrest us.” So he said, “Not too far from here there is an old temple.”

  “What’s so interesting about crows?” Huang Rong scolded, “You have never seen one before? Go!” This time Ke Zhen'E did not hear the sound of the stick, nevertheless the two soldiers cried out in pain. He wondered whether she pierced them with her finger or kicked them with her foot.

  Not too long afterwards they arrived in front of the Temple of the Iron Spear. Ke Zhen'E heard

  Huang Rong kick the temple door open. The strong odor of crows’ dung and dust assaulted their nostrils. Apparently this temple had been deserted for a long time. He was afraid she would complain of the filth, but surprisingly it seemed like she did not even notice. He heard her ordering the two soldiers to sweep the floor; she also ordered them to go to the kitchen and boil some water. Then he heard she was softly singing a song about some ‘pair of mandarin ducks desire to fly together’ and some ‘not yet old but the hair on the head has turned white.’

  A moment later the soldiers brought the hot water over. Huang Rong changed the wrap on Ke Zhen’E’s wound first before washing her own face and feet. Ke Zhen'E was lying down on the ground, using the meditation mat as his pillow. Suddenly he heard she spat and said, “Why are you looking at my feet? Do you think my feet are for you to look? I’ll dig your eyeballs out!”

  That soldier was so scared that his soul almost left him; ‘bonk, bonk, bonk’ he knocked his head on the ground. Huang Rong asked, “Tell me, why did you look at me washing my feet?”

  That soldier did not dare to lie; while still knocking his head he said, “Xiao De [lit. little/lowly one] deserves to die. Xiao De saw Miss’ feet are very ... very beautiful ...”

  Ke Zhen'E was startled, he thought, “This thief male servant bird’s death is imminent, he still has a lewd heart! I wonder if the little demon will pull his muscle out or peel his skin alive.” Surprisingly Huang Rong only laughed and said, “A crude and stupid man like you knows what’s good and what’s ugly?” ‘Bang!’ the stick in her hand shot out and that soldier rolling around on the ground, but she did not pursue this matter further.

  The two soldiers ran to the rear courtyard with their tails between their legs, and did not dare to

  reappear. Ke Zhen'E stayed still, quietly waiting for what would happen next. He heard Huang

  Rong pacing back and forth in the main hall; she muttered, “Wang the Iron Spear’s prestige shook the world in his era; in the end he was captured and decapitated. How could he flaunt himself as a hero? As some kind of warrior? Hmm, I am afraid this iron spear is not made of real cast iron.”

  When he was little, Ke Zhen’E, along with Zhu Cong, Han Baoju, Nan Xiren, Zhang Asheng and the others, often came to this temple to play. Although they were kids, every one of them had already had exceptional strength; they took turn brandishing that iron spear to play. When he heard what Huang Rong had just said he opened his mouth, “Of course it is made of real iron; how can it be faked?”

  “Hmm,” Huang Rong stretched out her hand to pull out the iron spear; she said, “It is about thirty ‘jin’s [catty; 1 jin = about 0.5kg]. I have lost your iron staff and momentarily can not give you any replacement. Tomorrow we’ll bid good-bye; we’ll go our own ways. You don’t have any weapon with which to defend yourself. Why don’t you use this spear as temporary replacement of your iron

  staff?” Without waiting for Ke Zhen'E to reply she went out and took a large rock from the courtyard; ‘bang, bang’ she broke the spearhead and handed the pole over to him.

  Since his parents and brother died, Ke Zhen'E was inseparable with his six brothers and sister. Right now he did not have any relative left. Although he had been together with Huang Rong for only a day, unconsciously he felt that he hated to part with her; listening to her saying, ‘Tomorrow we’ll bid good-bye; we’ll go our own ways’ he suddenly felt something was lost. Absent-mindedly he received the iron spear, thinking that this spear was approximately the same size and weight as his lost staff, so definitely he could use this weapon. He also thought, “She gave me this weapon, so she did not have any evil intention.”

  He heard her saying, “This is the ‘tian qi sha dan san’ [powdered medicine made of tian qi (lit. field/farm seven) shark’s gallbladder] made by my father; it is very beneficial to your wound. You hate us father and daughter; whether you want to use it or not, it’s up to you!” She handed the

  medicine pouch over to him. Ke Zhen'E held out his hand to receive it, and then slowly put it in his

  pocket. He wanted to say something, but nothing came out of his mouth. He hoped she would say something else, but she only said, “All right, let’s take a rest!”

  Ke Zhen'E laid down on his side, with the iron spear by his side; his heart was filled with

  disquieting thoughts, how could he sleep? He heard the noisy crows on top of the pagoda eventually quiet down until all he could hear was silence everywhere. He did not hear her sleeping, but he heard her tossing and turning; it seemed like she was also restless.

  After half a day he heard she was reciting quietly, “Four weaving machines, the weaving of mandarin ducks desires to fly together right away. It’s a pity not yet old but the hair on the head has turned white. When the green spring grass ripples in the deepest of dawn’s cold; standing face to face taking a bath wearing red clothes.”

  He heard she repeated the recitation softly, as if she was trying to understand its meaning. Ke Zhen’E did not understand literature, he did not understand what she was reciting, but he could hear the sadness in her voice, as if she was grieving of a heart break; he could not help but feel dazed.

  A long time passed. He heard her arrange some meditation mats for her bed; then she lay down and her breathing gradually slowed down, sounded like she was falling asleep. Ke Zhen’E gently stroked the iron spear by his side; all kinds of childhood memories came flooding back into his mind. He saw Zhu Cong with an old book in his hand, reading aloud with his head swaying back and forth. He saw Han Baoju and Quan Jinfa were riding on the idol’s shoulders, pulling its beard; Nan Xiren and himself were pulling one end of the iron spear while Zhang Asheng was pulling the other end; they were playing tug-of-war with each other. At that time Han Xiaoying was only about four, five years old; two lengths of braided hair on her head, giggling and laughing, cheering over them. There were bright red ribbons on her braids, bobbing along as she moved her head. Suddenly everything turned pitch-black. Six
sworn brothers and sister, his own brother, and his pair of eyes, everything was successively destroyed under Huang Yaoshi’s and his disciples’ hands. His heart was burned with hatred, which was very difficult to suppress.

  Slowly he raised his iron spear, he quietly walked toward Huang Rong. He heard her gentle and even breathing, she was sleeping soundly. He thought, “Once my iron spear goes down, she will die without feeling anything. Hey, if not, the Old Heretic Huang’s martial art is matchless, how can I avenge this deep enmity in this lifetime? His daughter is sleeping right here; the Heaven is granting me a very good opportunity, so that he knows the pain of mourning for his daughter.”

  But then another thought came into his mind, “This girl has saved my life, how can I repay kindness with evil? (Sigh!) After killing her, I am going to kill myself right next to her to repay today’s kindness.” Thinking of this, he made up his mind; he thought, “I, Ke Zhen’E, have been an upright man all my life; for decades I have never done anything shameful against the world. Right now I am going to launch a sneak attack toward a sleeping person; it is a cowardly act, but with my death I am going to repay her kindness.”

  Lifting his iron spear, he was just about to strike Huang Rong’s head when suddenly he heard someone was laughing in the distant; the sound was ear-piercing, in the dead of the night it caused the hair on his back stood up on its end.

  Huang Rong was awakened by the laughter; she leaped up and saw Ke Zhen’E with the iron spear lifted up, right in front of her. She was so shocked; she called out, “Ouyang Feng!”

  Hearing her woke up, Ke Zhen’E could not strike his iron spear anymore; he heard people talking and walking toward the temple. Only they were still quite a distance away that he did not hear clearly what they were talking about. A moment later he started to hear some footsteps; there were about thirty, forty people. Ke Zhen’E was very familiar with this temple with its front hall and rear courtyard; with a low voice he said, “The Old Poison and the others must have seen the crow pagoda and come over here. Let us try to hide from them.”

  “Yes,” Huang Rong said. She kicked the meditation mats to scatter them around the hall.

  Ke Zhen’E led her hand toward the rear courtyard; he tried to push the gate, but it was bolted from the outside. “Those two thief soldiers!” he scolded viciously. He guessed those two soldiers were running away in the dark; they were afraid Huang Rong would find out, so they bolted the door in advance.

  By now it was too late to strike the gate with his iron spear, since he heard the main gate was pushed open. He knew there was no hiding place in the main hall; he whispered, “Behind the idol.”

  Two people had barely sat behind the idol when about a dozen people entered the main hall. Ke Zhen’E heard a ‘chi’ sound, followed by a burst of sulfur smell; he knew someone was lighting the fire. Then he heard Ouyang Feng said, “Zhao Wangye [Prince Zhao; lit. master king], although we did not get what we want at the Misty Rain Tavern, in the end, we managed to dampen the enemy’s spirit.”

  Wanyan Honglie laughed and said, “This entire battle was under Mister’s control.”

  1048 Eagle Shooting Hero

  Ouyang Feng let out some ‘heh, heh’ laughter, then he said, “Xiao Wangye [Young Prince] arranged an ingenious plan; gathering the soldiers from Jiaxing prefecture, firing out tens of thousands of arrows. We should have been able to round up the whole gang in one swoop; unexpectedly at the right time the thick fog came and gave this group of traitors the opportunity to slip away.”

  A young voice said, “With Mr. Ouyang and Qiu Bangzhu [clan leader] go into action, although the group of traitors escaped today, they will be annihilated one by one in the future. Only too bad ‘wan bei’ [junior, younger generation] was one step too late that I could not see Mr. Ouyang greatly unfold his divine power. It was truly a pity.”

  Ke Zhen’E recognized it was Yang Kang’s voice; he could not restrain rage from filling his heart. Then he heard Liang Ziweng, Peng Lianhu, Sha Tongtian and the others uttered flattering words; they praised Ouyang Feng to the utmost, saying how he single-handedly fought the Quanzhen Sect, placing the group of Taoists in an extremely difficult situation, Qiu Qianren was nothing compared to him.

  Listening to these many masters gathered together like this, Ke Zhen’E did not dare to breathe out loud. Just now he wanted to end his life together with Huang Rong; but somehow, this time he was afraid to be discovered by the enemy and Huang Rong and he would be killed. He heard Wanyan Honglie’s people prepare some bedding and then invite Wanyan Honglie, Ouyang Feng and Yang Kang three people to sleep on them.

  Yang Kang heaved a deep sigh and said, “Mr. Ouyang, your nephew’s martial art skill was high, his conduct was natural and elegant. Wan bei admired him very much; I hoped to be good friends with him, unexpectedly he was harmed by the Quanzhen Sect’s mixed-up hairs. Each time ‘wan bei’ remembers that, I am always grieved to the utmost. I swear to kill those evil Taoists from Quanzhen Sect one by one with my own hand to console Brother Ouyang’s soul in heaven. It’s a pity ‘wan bei’s martial art skill is meager; I truly have the desire but lack the power to do it.”

  Ouyang Feng was silent for a long time then he slowly said, “My nephew was unfortunate to meet his tragic death. At first I thought he died under Guo Jing’s violent hand; but listening to you recount Qiu Chuji’s words, I have just found out it was the Quanzhen Sect’s group of evil Taoists who did it. Nowadays my White Camel Mountain does not have any heir, let me take you as my disciple.”

  “Shifu!” Yang Kang loudly called out, “Disciple pays his respect to you.” His voice was full of happiness, followed by ‘bonk, bonk, bonk’ noise as he crawled into Ouyang Feng’s presence and kowtowed several times.

  Ke Zhen’E thought this person was a good and loyal man’s descendant, yet he not only admitted an enemy as his father, but took an evil man as his master as well; he was drowned deeper and deeper. Ke Zhen’E was afraid it would be too difficult for Yang Kang to turn around; he was very angry. He heard Wanyan Honglie say, “In this foreign place we don’t have any gift to offer the master, we will do it properly in the future.”

  Ouyang Feng sighed and said, “Pearls and jewels, the White Camel Mountain also has some. Ouyang Feng simply looks at this child’s intelligence; I only wish to have an heir of the martial art I possess.” “Xiao Wang [lit. little king, referring to himself] spoke incorrectly,” Wanyan Honglie said, “Mister, please forgive me.”

  Immediately one by one Liang Ziweng and the others offered their congratulations to these three people. In this clamor suddenly someone was calling out, “Shagu is hungry, I am starving to death; how come nobody is giving me food to eat?”

  Ke Zhen’E was greatly surprised to hear Shagu’s cry; he wondered how did this girl hang around with Wanyan Honglie, Ouyang Feng and the others? He heard Yang Kang say with a laugh, “That’s right, quickly get some refreshments for this Miss to eat; don’t let her get ill from starvation.”

  A moment later Shagu was heard chewing loudly, she was eating. While still chewing she said, “Good Brother, you said you are going to take me home if I listen to what you say; how come we are not home yet?”

  “We’ll get there tomorrow,” Yang Kang replied, “Eat until you are full, then go to bed.”

  Yet another moment later Shagu suddenly said, “Good Brother, there is some noise in that pagoda, what is that?”

  “If not bird, then it must be a mouse,” Yang Kang answered.

  “I am scared,” Shagu said.

  Yang Kang laughed, “Sha Guniang [dumb miss], what are you afraid of?” he asked.

  “I am scared of ghosts,” Shagu replied.

  Yang Kang laughed, “We have many people here, ghosts won’t dare to come.”

  “I am scared of that short and fat man’s ghost,” Shagu said.

  Forcing a laugh Yang Kang said, “Don’t talk nonsense, what short and fat man?”

  “Hmm,” Shagu said, “I know, that short and fat m
an died inside ‘popo’s [maternal grandmother] grave; popo’s ghost will chase that short and fat man’s ghost away, she won’t let that him stay in the grave. He will come over here to ask retribution from you.”

  “You talk too much,” Yang Kang shouted, “I am going to call your grandfather and he’ll come and get you, he’ll take you back to the Peach Blossom Island.”

  Shagu did not dare to say anything anymore. Suddenly Sha Tongtian shouted, “Hey, don’t step on my foot! Just sit nicely and don’t move!” It seemed that because of her fear of ghosts Shagu had randomly squeezed herself into the crowd.

  As Ke Zhen’E heard this exchange, his doubt arose: the short and fat man Shagu mentioned must be his San Shidi [third martial (younger) brother], Han Baoju. He died on the Peach Blossom Island, obviously was killed by Huang Yaoshi; how could his ghost come looking for Yang Kang for retribution? Although Shagu was dumb, there must be a reason behind what she had said earlier. Too bad there were too many powerful enemies in their presence that he could not go out and ask her clearly. He further thought, “In front of the Misty Rain Tavern Huang Yaoshi said to me, ‘What kind of a man is Huang Yaoshi? How can I lower myself to the same level with you?’ If he did not want to kill me, why did he kill my five brothers and sister? But if it was not Huang Yaoshi, why did Si Di [fourth (younger) brother] said he saw with his own eyes that Huang Yaoshi killed Er Di [second (younger) brother] and Qi Mei [seventh (younger) sister]?”