by Jin Yong
He was mulling around these thoughts in his mind when suddenly he felt Huang Rong pull his left hand. With her finger she wrote on his palm one character, ‘qiu’ [ask/request], followed by character after character, ‘.you a favor.’
Ke Zhen'E wrote back on her palm, “What is it?”
Huang Rong wrote, “Tell my father who killed me.”
Ke Zhen'E was startled, he did not understand her intention; he was about to pull her hand to ask
further when he felt a breeze right next to him. Huang Rong had leaped out. He heard her said with a smile, “Uncle Ouyang, how are you?”
Nobody had ever expected that someone was hiding behind the idol. ‘Ca, ca, zheng, zheng’ were heard as the people unsheathed their weapons and surrounded her, while shouting, “Who is it?” “Assassin!” “Who are you?”
Huang Rong smiled and said, “My Father told me to wait for Uncle Ouyang here; what are you making such a fuss for?”
“How did your father know I will be here?” Ouyang Feng asked.
Huang Rong replied, “My father knows medicine, divination and astrology, there is nothing he doesn’t know. He can do the Wang Xiantian divine calculation and he’d know everything.” [Translator’s note: I am not sure about this part]
Nine out of ten Ouyang Feng did not believe her, but he knew even if he asked, she would not tell the truth anyway, so he just smiled and did not say anything. Sha Tongtian and the others went outside the temple to take a look and did not find anybody else, so they went back in and stood around Wanyan Honglie.
Huang Rong sat on a meditation mat, smiling and chuckling she said, “Uncle Ouyang, you have given my father a hard time!”
Ouyang Feng smiled without answering. He knew that although Huang Rong was young, she was full of tricks. If he gave her one wrong answer, she would grab the opportunity to ridicule him; and in front of all these people he simply could not lose face. Therefore, he waited for her to explain her purpose in coming here before he would decide on the appropriate countermeasure. He heard her said, “Uncle Ouyang, my father is surrounded by the Taoist priests of Quanzhen Sect at the Xincheng town of Xiaopenglai; if you don’t rescue him, I am afraid it would be difficult for him to escape.”
Ouyang Feng showed a faint smile; “Is that so?” he asked.
Huang Rong anxiously said, “You say it as it is nothing! A real man will take responsibility of his own action; clearly it was you who killed Tan Chuduan from the Quanzhen Sect, but I don’t know how it started, those stinky priests are always pestering my father. On top of that, Zhou Botong stirred up the muddy waters; while my father refused to argue with them. What do we do?”
Inwardly Ouyang Feng was delighted; he said, “Your father is a martial art expert; how can those several mixed-up hairs from Quanzhen Sect defeat him?”
“The Quanzhen Sect’s ox-nosed plus the Old Urchin, my father is not their match,” Huang Rong said, “My father told me to come to you and say that after painstakingly pondering for seven days and seven nights, finally he understood the meaning of some sentences.”
“What sentences?” Ouyang Feng asked.
Huang Rong said, “Si li xing, ang yi na de. Si re que xu, ha hu wen bo ying.”
To Ke Zhen’E, Wanyan Honglie and the others, these mumbling sentences did not mean anything, but Ouyang Feng was surprised; it was the strange sentence from the last part of the Nine Yin Manual. Could it be that Huang Yaoshi really understood its meaning? His heart was thumping fast, but his face did not show any changes; he indifferently said, “Little girl loves to swindle people. Who can understand those mumbling sentences?”
Huang Rong replied, “Father has translated these strange characters; from top to bottom, clearly. I saw it with my own eyes; how can I swindle you?”
Ouyang Feng knew Huang Yaoshi’s ability very well. Originally he thought that if nobody was able to solve these strange characters, then so be it; but if there was anybody who could find the solution, it must be Huang Yaoshi, for nobody else in this world had the same intelligence. Still, with an unenthusiastic voice he said, “Let me congratulate your father, then.”
Huang Rong caught the real meaning behind his words, she knew he was still half believing and half doubting; she continued, “I think I still remember some of what I saw. I don’t mind if you want to listen to it.” Immediately she recited, “Either when the body moves, or feels heavy as if pressed by something, or feels light like it is ready to fly, or feels constricted, or feels extraordinarily cold or hot, or feels delightful or restless, or feels like touching something nasty and the hair stood on its end, or feels happy while drunk; all these things must be channeled through divine passages according to the following method.”
This explanation of the Manual made Ouyang Feng’s heart unbearably itch. Turned out Huang Rong recited the section Reverend Yideng translated from the Nine Yin Manual. All these strange conditions were actually the actual situations anybody who cultivated internal energy would experience; each one of these conditions was enough to intimidate the state of mind that may cause the practitioner to suffer a fire-deviation. If there was a method to channel these conditions through the divine passages; then the method could truly be considered as highly valuable. So what Huang Rong said was indeed from the Manual and not from her own random fabrication. Ouyang Feng’s internal energy was exquisite, naturally he knew whether what he heard was real or fake. His suspicion was gone. “What comes next?” he asked.
Huang Rong said, “I don’t remember the rest, but I vaguely remember something like this: At the time the pores all over the body are empty, right away with careful consideration examine the thirty 1052 Eagle Shooting Hero six matters inside the body; it will be like opening the door to the barn and see various kinds of straw and peas, the heart is pleasantly surprised, and quickly becomes quiet and peaceful.” First she explained the strange conditions from the Manual, and then she described the marvelous method of training; in a way she had divulged the secret method of the Manual. But Ouyang Feng was silent; he thought with her intelligence, it was impossible for her to forget, so she must be deliberately unwilling to tell him; he wondered what her intention really was.
Huang Rong continued, “My father told me to ask Uncle Ouyang: Do you want 5,000 characters, or 3,000 characters?”
“Please explain it to me,” Ouyang Feng said.
Huang Rong said, “If you go and help my father, two people join forces to destroy the Quanzhen Masters. In that case I am going to recite all 5,000 characters of this marvelous ‘jiu yin shen gong’ [Nine Yin Divine Energy] for you.”
Ouyang Feng smiled, “And if I don’t go?” he asked.
Huang Rong replied, “Then Father asked you to avenge him. After you kill Zhou Botong and the Quanzhen Six Masters, I will read the 3,000 characters for you.”
Ouyang Feng smiled and said, “Your father and I are just casual acquaintances, how come he suddenly places so much respect toward the Old Poison?”
Huang Rong said, “My father said that: First, the killer of your nephew is a Quanzhen Sect’s disciple, so he supposed you will want to seek revenge .”
Listening to this part Yang Kang could not help but shiver; he was Qiu Chuji’s disciple, so with her words Huang Rong obviously meant him. Shagu was standing right next to him, she asked, “Good Brother, are you cold?” Yang Kang mumbled his reply.
Huang Rong continued, “Second, after translating the Manual, he was challenged into battle by the Quanzhen priests; he did not have time to explain everything to me. Thinking that this matchlessly wonderful book is difficult to find, how can he let it be lost with his demise? Nowadays you are the only one who has similar personality with him. He remembered Uncle Ouyang went to the Peach Blossom Island to seek a marriage alliance. Although your nephew was unfortunate to fall under the Quanzhen Sect’s disciple, my father said you should not thinking about him too much; therefore, he wanted you to train this ‘shen gong’ [divine power/energy] and teach it to me later on.”
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Ouyang Feng felt a pang of pain in his heart; but he thought, “What she said was reasonable; if there is no direction from an expert, although this little girl memorized the Manual in its entirety it will still be useless.” But then something else came into his mind, he said, “How do I know you will tell me the real Manual or a fake one?”
Huang Rong replied, “Guo Jing, that muddle-head has written the Manual for you; as I read the crucial points from the translation, you check it against your copy, then you’ll know whether it is real or fake.”
Ouyang Feng said, “You are right. Let me think about it; we’ll leave in the morning to rescue your father.”
Huang Rong anxiously said, “Helping people is like fighting fire, how can we wait till tomorrow?”
Ouyang Feng said with a laugh, “Then I will avenge your father; won’t that be the same?” He had made a decision that as the Manual had already been in his hand, later on he could compel Huang Rong to recite to him the crucial points; and then he could think it over to understand the meaning. For now, let Huang Yaoshi and the Quanzhen Sect fight each other. Hopefully both sides would hurt each other; wouldn’t that be great?
Hiding behind the idol Ke Zhen’E was listening to two people conversing about the Nine Yin Manual; he wondered why Huang Rong wrote on his palm ‘Tell my father who killed me,’ seven characters [the original Chinese was ‘gao wo fu he ren sha wo,’ 7 characters]; he did not understand her intention. He heard Huang Rong say, “Then we will leave early in the morning tomorrow, is that all right?”
“Absolutely,” Ouyang Feng said with a smile, “Now you go take a rest!”
Ke Zhen'E heard Huang Rong drag a meditation mat over to sit nearby Shagu. “Shagu,” she said, “Yeye [lit. paternal grandfather] took you to the Peach Blossom Island, how come you are here?”
“I don’t want to follow Yeye, I want to go home,” Shagu said.
“This good brother surnamed Yang; didn’t he come to the island and took you on his boat, and come over here together?” Huang Rong asked.
“That’s right,” Shagu said, “He treats me really good.”
Ke Zhen’E’s heart was stirred, “When did Yang Kang come to the Peach Blossom Island?” He heard Huang Rong asked again, “Where did Yeye go?”
Shagu was startled, “Don’t tell him I am running away,” she said, “Yeye will beat me.”
Huang Rong smiled, “I won’t tell him, but whatever I ask you, you must answer me nicely.”
“You must not tell Yeye,” Shagu said, “He wants to take me back and teach me to write.”
Huang Rong laughed, “I certainly won’t tell him,” she said, “Did you say Yeye wanted to teach you to write?”
“That’s right,” Shagu said, “That day Yeye took me to his study room and taught me to write; he said my father’s surname was Qu Qu-something, so my surname is also Qu Qu-something. He wrote the Qu Qu-something character and told me to remember. He also told me my father’s name was Qu Qu-something, something Feng. I could not remember the name. Yeye got angry and scolded me that I am very dumb. I AM called Shagu [sha - dumb, gu - paternal aunt, see also my note in Chapter 23]!”
Huang Rong laughed, “Shagu is naturally dumb. Yeye scolded you, Yeye is bad, Shagu is good!” Shagu was very happy to hear that. “And then what happened?” Huang Rong asked.
Shagu said, “I said I want to go home, Yeye was even angrier. Suddenly a deaf and mute servant came, his finger pointing to the east and to the west, his mouth uttered ‘yi yi ah ah’. Yeye said, ‘I 1054 Eagle Shooting Hero don’t want to receive any guest; tell them to go back!’ A moment later that mute servant came back with a piece of paper in his hand. Yeye took a look and then put it down on the table. He told me to go with the mute servant to receive the guest. Ha, ha, that short and fat man was so ugly! I stared at him and he stared back at me.”
Ke Zhen'E remembered that when they visited the Peach Blossom Island to seek audience, it was
exactly like Shagu had just said; at first Huang Yaoshi did not want to see the six of them, then Zhu Cong wrote a letter to be delivered, afterwards Shagu came out to receive them. But the Third Brother was no longer alive; he could not help but feel grief in his heart.
He heard Huang Rong ask again, “Did Yeye see them?”
Shagu said, “Yeye told me to accompany the guests to eat, but he went out. I don’t like to see that short and fat man, so I slipped away and went out. I saw Yeye was sitting behind a rock, looking out at the ocean. I also looked at the ocean. I saw a boat in the distant coming toward the island. On the boat there were some Taoist priests.”
Ke Zhen'E thought, “That day we heard the Quanzhen Sect was going to go to the Peach Blossom Island to seek revenge; so we went ahead of them to inform Huang Yaoshi to temporarily keep himself away from them, and wait for the Six Freaks of Jiangnan to explain the whole story to the Quanzhen Sect. But all along we have never seen the Quanzhen Masters on the Island, why did this Shagu said that there were Taoist priests came in by boat?”
He heard Huang Rong asked, “Then what did Yeye do?”
Shagu replied, “Yeye beckoned me to come over. I jumped in fright; turned out he had already seen me slipping out to play. I did not dare to come over, I was afraid he would hit me. He said “I won’t hit you, you come over here”. So I went over. He said he wanted to take a boat ride and go fishing, he told me to wait for the Taoist priests and to let them in as soon as they came ashore; he told me to let them eat together with the short and fat man six people. I said I wanted to go fishing too. Yeye said I could not come; I had to wait for the Taoist priests and let them in, because they did not know the way on the Island.”
“And then what happened?” Huang Rong asked.
Shagu said, “And then Yeye went beyond the big rock and set sail. I know, these Taoist priests are ugly, Yeye did not want to meet them.”
Huang Rong praised her, “That’s right, what you said is totally correct. When did Yeye come back?”
“Come back?” Shagu said, “He did not come back.”
Ke Zhen’E was shaken; he heard Huang Rong ask, “Are you sure? Then what happened?” He could hear her voice was slightly trembling; apparently she also realized this was a crucial point.
Shagu replied, “Yeye was about to set sail, suddenly a pair of big birds came flying by; they were your birds. Yeye beckoned and whistled toward the birds, this pair of birds came down. There was something tied on the bird’s foot, it looked so amusing. I shouted, ‘Yeye, give it to me, give it to me!’ ...” Speaking to this point she actually shouted loudly.
Yang Kang chided her, “Quiet! Everybody is trying to sleep.”
“Shagu,” Huang Rong said, “Just continue your story.”
Shagu said, “I will speak quietly.” And she indeed lowered her voice, “Yeye ignored me; he ripped a cloth from his robe and tied it up on the big bird’s foot, then he let them go.”
“Hmm,” Huang Rong talked to herself, “Father was going to avoid the Quanzhen Masters, no wonder he did not have time to fetch the ‘jin wawa’ [see Chapter 29]. But who shot the female eagle with an arrow?” So she asked, “Who shot an arrow to the bird?”
“Arrow? There was no arrow,” Shagu said; and then she went silent like she was lost in thought.
“All right,” Huang Rong said, “Why don’t you continue?”
Shagu continued, “Yeye saw his robe was torn, he took it off and told me to go and get another one for him. But when I came back Yeye was gone, the Taoist priests’ boat was also gone, I only saw that torn robe lying on the ground.”
Listening to her to this point Huang Rong no longer asked; she silently mulled it over in her head. Half a day later she said, “Where did they go?”
“I saw them,” Shagu said, “I called Yeye, but he did not reply. I climbed to the top of a big tree and looked, I saw Yeye’s little boat in front, the Taoist priests’ big boat followed behind, slowly they sailed on the ocean and disappeared. I don’t like to see th
at short and fat man, I stayed on the beach, kicking the gravel and playing all day until dark, and came back with this Yeye and this good brother.”
“So it was this Yeye, and not the one who taught you to write?” Huang Rong asked.
Shagu giggled and said, “This Yeye is good, not only he did not want to teach me to write, he even gave me a piece of cake.”
“Uncle Ouyang,” Huang Rong said, “Do you still have the cake? Can you give her some more?” Ouyang Feng dryly laughed, “I do.”
Ke Zhen’E felt as if his heart was jumping out his throat, “Turned out Ouyang Feng was on the Island that day,” he thought.
“Aiyo!” suddenly he heard Shagu cry out, followed by ‘slap, slap’ two times, some people were fighting, and then someone leaped back and landed again. He heard Huang Rong call out, “You want to kill her to close her mouth?”
Ouyang Feng laughed, “This matter might be hidden from other people, but certainly won’t be hidden from your father. Why would I want to kill this dumb girl? If you want to ask, then just ask her.” But Shagu was moaning and groaning and could not talk anymore. Ke Zhen’E wondered which part of her was hit by Ouyang Feng.
“I don’t have to ask,” Huang Rong said, “I’ve already guessed correctly; I only want Shagu to say it with her own mouth.”
Ouyang Feng laughed and said, “This little girl is really smart. How did you guess? Why don’t you tell me?”
Huang Rong said, “When I first saw the situation of the Island, I also thought that Father had killed the Five Freaks of Jiangnan. But then I remembered something, and I knew it must not be him. Just think, how can my father leave these stinky male corpses in my mother’s grave to accompany her? How can he leave the grave without closing the door?”
“Aiyo,” Ouyang Feng slapped his thigh, “We really overlooked that. Kang’er, isn’t that so?”
