by Jin Yong
After quite a while Huang Rong gently pried herself loose. They sat side by side on a round-stonelike ice block. “If I did not see how crazily you missed me, I wouldn’t want to see you,” she said.
Guo Jing only stared at her, did not say even half a word. After a long time he opened his mouth, “Rong’er.” “Mmm?” Huang Rong answered.
Guo Jing was extremely joyful; he called again, “Rong’er.”
Huang Rong smiled, “Haven’t you called me enough?” she asked, “These past few days, even though I was not with you, haven’t you called me dozens of times every day?”
“How did you know?” Guo Jing asked.
Huang Rong smiled again, “You could not see me, but actually I saw you quite often.”
“You are always in our army, how come you did not let me see you?” Guo Jing asked.
“You still have a face to ask me?” Huang Rong was angry. “Once you found out I am alive and well, aren’t you going to marry that Princess Huazheng? I’d rather not let you know my whereabouts. Do you think I am dumb?”
As soon as he heard she mentioned the name ‘Huazheng’ Guo Jing’s delight was gone; his face looked so depressed that Huang Rong quickly looked around and said, “That crystal palace is so beautiful, let us go inside and find someplace to sit and chat.”
Guo Jing followed her gaze and saw a bulk solid ice resembling a cavern; under the dim moonlight it glowed beautifully. It did look like a big crystal block carved into a palace. Two people walked hand in hand entering the cave, and then found someplace to sit on.
“Speaking about how you treated me on the Peach Blossom Island, tell me, should I forgive you?” Huang Rong said.
Guo Jing stood up and said, “Rong’er, let me kowtow to you a hundred times to apologize.” He was serious, immediately knelt down and started kowtowing.
Huang Rong sweetly smiled, held out her hands to stand him up. “Let it be. If I haven’t forgiven you, I wouldn’t want to crawl to this peak even if you chop Lu Youjiao’s head a hundred times!”
Guo Jing was really happy, “Rong’er, you are really good.”
“What are you talking about good or not good?” Huang Rong said, “Originally I thought you wholeheartedly wanted to avenge your masters, certainly you don’t have the least of me in your heart; naturally I was really angry! Later on I learned about how you strike an agreement with Ouyang Feng; you are willing to spare his life three times for my sake. Only then did I know that you still have me in your heart.”
Guo Jing shook his head, “I can’t believe it’s only now that you know my heart.”
Huang Rong pursed her lips and smiled, “Did you see what I am wearing?” she asked.
Thus far Guo Jing’s eyes only looked at Huang Rong’s face; only after Huang Rong mentioned it that he turned his gaze to her clothes. Turned out she was wearing the black sable fur coat that he gave her when they first met at Zhangjiakou [Kalgan]. His heart was moved, he held out his hand and tightly hold Huang Rong’s hand.
Two people sat leaning to each other for a moment. Finally Guo Jing broke the silence, “Rong’er, Da Shifu [First Master] said that you were captured by Ouyang Feng at the Temple of the Iron Spear; how did you manage to escape from his hand?”
Huang Rong sighed. “I feel sorry for Lu Shige’s [Martial (older) Brother] nice Cloud Village. The Old Poison wanted me to explain the Nine Yin Manual for him. I said the explanation is not difficult, but I needed a good and quiet place. The Old Poison said if that was the case, we would find some secluded temple. I said Buddhist monks are disgusting, I don’t like eating vegetarian food. The Old Poison then asked what I wanted. I said nearby Lake Tai there was a place called the Cloud Village; the scenery is beautiful, the food and wine are superb. The only thing is that the village master is my friend; it made him rather suspicious.”
“That’s right,” Guo Jing said, “Did he decide not to go?”
“No, he is arrogant,” Huang Rong said, “He is never afraid of other people. The more I told him, the more he wanted to go. He said no matter how many friends I have, the Old Poison would face them all. When we arrived at the Cloud Village, actually Lu Shige father and son were not home; they went north of the river to the city of Baoying, to visit their in-laws, Cheng Da Xiaojie’s [Eldest Miss Cheng] family. You know that the Zhuangzhu [Village Master] had learned building technique from my father according to the ‘wu xing ba gua’ [five ways eight diagram]. As soon as the Old Poison stepped into the village, he felt something was not right. He wanted to pull me out of there, but I entered to the east and turned to the west, very soon he lost my track. Hard as he tried, he could not find me, and in his anger he burned the Cloud Village down.”
“Ah!” Guo Jing gasped, “I did stop by the Cloud Village looking for you, but I found it in rubble. Turned out it was the Old Poison’s doing.”
“I knew he was going to destroy the village,” Huang Rong said, “So I warned everybody to get out. Although he could not catch me, the Old Poison is really evil and cruel. He guarded the way toward the Peach Blossom Island, hoping to catch me there. Several times I was nearly caught. Afterwards I ran to the north, toward the Mongolian border, and he followed. ‘Sha gege’ [dumb big brother], luckily you are dumb. If you are as smart as the Old Poison, you two will surround me from both directions. I may not know where to hide.”
Guo Jing simply blushed and smiled stupidly.
“But finally you are getting smarter, you knew how to push Lu Youjiao to think of something,” Huang Rong said.
“Rong’er, it was you who taught me,” Guo Jing said.
Huang Rong was astonished, “I taught you?”
“You taught me in a dream,” Guo Jing replied. Then he told her the dream he had the other night.
This time Huang Rong did not laugh at him, in fact, her heart was moved. She said quietly, “The people of ancient times used to say that perfect honesty and sincerity could open up metal and stone. You think about me and miss me this much; I should’ve let you see me sooner.”
“Rong’er,” Guo Jing said, “Later on you will never leave me forever, won’t that be good?” Eagle Shooting Hero
Huang Rong swept her gaze around the marvelous structures cluttered on the peak. “Jing Gege, I am cold,” she suddenly said.
Guo Jing hastily took his own fur coat off and wrapped it on Huang Rong’s body. “Let us go down,” he said.
“All right,” Huang Rong said, “We’ll come back here tomorrow night. I am going to explain the Nine Yin Manual in detail for you.”
Guo Jing was astounded, “What?” he asked.
Huang Rong’s right hand was still holding Guo Jing’s left hand; she squeezed her hand and said, “My father has translated the last part of the manual, where the sentences were jumbled. I’ll explain everything to you tomorrow night.”
“This Sanskrit part is obviously translated by Reverend Yideng,” Guo Jing thought, “Why did she say it was his father?” He was full of doubts, was about to ask again when Huang Rong squeezed his hand one more time. He knew there must be a reason, so he agreed without asking anymore questions. Two people went down the peak.
Once they were in his tent, Huang Rong whispered in his ear, “Ouyang Feng also climbed the ‘bald wooden peak’, he hid behind us as we speak, secretly listening to us.”
Guo Jing was startled, “Ah! I didn’t even know he was there.”
“He was hiding behind a huge ice block,” Huang Rong said, “The Old Poison is extremely crafty, but this time he forgot that the ice is transparent, it could not conceal anything. It was not until the moonlight shone on it did I see a blurry shadow behind it.”
“So you talked about the Nine Yin Manual was actually for his benefit,” Guo Jing said.
“Hmm, I want to lure him to the peak, then we remove the ‘sheep ladder’; let’s see if he can meditate to become an immortal on that mountain peak, maybe he’ll become a deity,” Huang Rong said.
Guo Jing was very happy; he clappe
d his hands and cheered.
The next day Genghis Khan attacked the city again. Another thousand or so Mongolian soldiers died. The Khoresm soldiers on the city wall threw some insults and cursed their enemy. Genghis Khan flew into rage; but sweeping the battlefield with his eyes he saw the dead body of Mongolian soldiers and horses; he was upset.
That very evening Guo Jing, Huang Rong and the three Beggar Clan Elders readied themselves, they only had to wait for Ouyang Feng to climb the peak, then they would destroy the sheep ladder immediately. Who would have thought that Ouyang Feng was so cunning and had anticipated this; as long as Guo Jing and Huang Rong did not climb up, he also stayed down, hiding.
Huang Rong was forced to think of something else. She took some ropes and soaked them in oil. Khoresm was rich in petroleum; more than a thousand years ago the people dug a well to find water, but they found oil instead. Since then the people had used oil to cook their meals. The Mongolian army had seized several barrels of this oil and used them as fuel.
Jing and Rong, two people climbed to the peak with ropes soaked in oil on their back. Then they hid the ropes behind a big ice block. Two people sat inside the crystal palace talking to each other. Not too long afterwards they saw Ouyang Feng’s indistinct shadow appeared behind a big ice block. His lightness kungfu had been trained to perfection; he was extremely quiet, he never expected those two people to be aware that he was there.
Right away Huang Rong started talking about the manual, which they discussed earnestly. Of course they were discussing the real Manual. Ouyang Feng listened attentively, he found the manual was really marvelous; could not help but feeling ecstatic. He thought even if he compelled this little girl to explain, she might not tell him the whole thing, but right now he was eavesdropping he felt very fortunate.
Huang Rong slowly explained, and Guo Jing pretended to ask a lot of questions. Ouyang Feng thought, “He did not get such a simple truth, he is really stupid.”
Suddenly the horn was sounded urgently on the ground. Guo Jing jumped up immediately, “The Great Khan summons the generals, I have to go,” he called out. Actually it was a false alarm; he had made this arrangement in advance.
“We’ll go down together,” Huang Rong said.
“We are going up and down this peak, so much hassle,” Guo Jing said, “Can’t we do it inside my tent?”
“No, that Old Ouyang Feng has been looking for me everywhere, he is so cunning; it is extremely difficult to find a place to hide from him,” Huang Rong said, “But even if he were ten times more cunning, definitely he won’t guess that we are able to come up to this peak.”
Ouyang Feng was really smug, he thought, “Hey, this tiny, tiny peak is nothing; even if you run to the end of the earth I will still chase you.”
“Then you’d better wait here,” Guo Jing said, “I should be finished within an hour or so; I’ll hurry back up here.”
Huang Rong nodded her approval.
Without saying anything else Guo Jing climbed down the peak. He was a little bit apprehensive about leaving Huang Rong alone on the top with Ouyang Feng, but he thought Ouyang Feng must be dying to listen to the Manual’s secret; certainly he would not harm Huang Rong yet.
About the time needed to eat a bowl of rice later Huang Rong stood up and thought aloud, “Why is Jing Gege not back yet? I wonder if there are ghosts on this peak. Maybe Yang Kang or Ouyang Ke’s ghosts are here. I think I’d better go down, I’ll comeback with Jing Gege later on.”
Ouyang Feng was afraid she might see him, he curled up behind the ice block, did not dare to move even so slightly. He saw Huang Rong was climbing down the peak.
Guo Jing and the three elders were waiting on the ground. As soon as Huang Rong was down, they lighted a fire and burned the rope. Turned out when Guo Jing went down, he wrapped the oil-soaked rope on each of the sheep legs. As the rope was burned, the heat melted the ice that held the legs frozen to the wall, so that the legs dropped one by one to the ground.
The fire slowly crept upward along the winding rope. The dark night made the fire’s reflection on
the snow and ice looked frighteningly beautiful. Huang Rong clapped her hands in delight and asked, “Jing Gege, would you say we should spare his life this time?”
“This is the third time,” Guo Jing said, “We can’t break our agreement.”
Huang Rong smiled, “I have an idea,” she said, “You don’t have to break your agreement, but you
can kill him to avenge your masters.”
Guo Jing was delighted, “Rong’er, you are always full of ideas,” he said, “Tell me your marvelous idea.”
Huang Rong smiled, “It’s not difficult,” she said, “We let the Old Poison eats the northwest wind for ten whole days and nights; let him freeze and starve, he will be dead tired. Then we rebuild the ‘sheep ladder’, help him get back down. That will be the third time we spare his life, won’t it?”
“That’s correct,” Guo Jing said.
“You have spared his life three times by then, you don’t have to show leniency anymore,” Huang Rong said. “We wait here on the ground. As soon as he is down, we can start fighting him. We will have the three elders’ help; so with five people against a half-dead man, you say can we kill him?”
“We certainly can,” Guo Jing said, “But this way we are not acting too gentlemanly, don’t you think?”
“Hey,” Huang Rong scolded, “Do we need to talk gentlemanly toward this kind of evil and cruel man? Did he act gentlemanly when he killed your five masters?”
Thinking about his benevolent masters’ cruel death, Guo Jing was enraged. He also thought that Ouyang Feng’s skill was so high that if he let him off this time, he might not find another opportunity to seek revenge. Therefore, he gritted his teeth and said, “Very well, let’s do it.”
Two people went inside the tent. This time they discussed the Nine Yin Manual for real. They found out that the other party’s martial art was progressing tremendously, they were really grateful.
After the discussion Guo Jing said, “That traitor Wanyan Honglie is inside the city wall. We know he is there, but there is nothing we can do. Can you think of some marvelous way to break the city’s defense?”
Huang Rong was doubtful. “These past several days I have been racking my brain,” she said, “I can think of at least a dozen ways to do it, but none of these guarantees victory.”
Guo Jing replied, “Within the Beggar Clan there are some brothers, perhaps a dozen of them, whose lightness kungfu is superb. What if they plus we, two people, try to climb the city wall?”
Huang Rong shook her head. “Not that easy,” she said, “Every ‘zhang’ of the wall is heavily guarded by soldiers with bows and arrows. Let’s not talk about climbing the wall; once inside, there are more than a hundred-thousand troops. We can’t even force our way to open up the gate.”
Two people talked all night long; they did not even go to sleep.
The next day Genghis Khan attacked the city again. About ten thousand Mongolian soldiers used rock-throwers, rained the city with large rocks. But the soldiers defending the city took shelter inside blockhouses; the stones devastated the common people’s residences, but the casualty among the defending troops was actually only a few. The attack went on until the third day. The Mongolian army had used hundreds of different tactics, but so far the result was minimal.
On the fourth day snowflakes came floating down from the sky. Guo Jing looked up the peak and said, “I think we don’t have to wait for ten days, Ouyang Feng would be frozen to half-dead.”
“His internal energy is very profound,” Huang Rong said, “Chances are he will survive for ten days.” She was just closing her mouth when both of them cried out in alarm; something was falling from the peak, it looked like Ouyang Feng.
Huang Rong clapped her hands, “The Old Poison can’t take it anymore, he is killing himself!” she said; but straight away she called out in wonder, “Uh, strange! How did he do that?” Ouyang Feng
did not fall straight down, but his body was floating in the sky like a kite.
Jing and Rong, two people were extremely astonished; how could someone fall from thousands of ‘zhang’ tall mountain peak did not meet a violent death, but floating slowly instead? Could it be the Old Poison possessed some witchcraft?
In the meantime, Ouyang Feng had fallen further down. Now two people could see clearly that he was naked, but there were two balloon-like things on top of his head. Suddenly Huang Rong understood what was going on, “It’s too bad!” she called out.
Turned out when Ouyang Feng was stranded on the ‘bald wooden peak’, although his martial art was profound, he knew he could not slide down this thousand-zhang peak. After enduring several days of hunger and cold he had a sudden inspiration. He stripped down to his underpants and firmly tied his trousers into knots. Afraid that his trousers might not be enough, he took the robe and tied it to his pants, then tied the whole thing onto his waist. Clenching up his teeth he jumped down from the mountain peak.
It was an extremely risky endeavor, but he was desperate; he had no other alternative. Once he jumped from the peak, his pair of trousers ballooned up and weakened his fall. He was naked, his hands were nearly frozen; he fought the cold and the wind by circulating his deep internal energy.
Huang Rong was amused and upset at the same time; momentarily she was at lost on how to deal with this new development.
By this time both armies inside and outside the city wall had found out about this; tens of thousand pairs of eyes looked up to see this flying man in the sky. Many low-ranking soldiers thought it was a deity descending to the earth; they all knelt down on the ground, worshiping.
Guo Jing saw the direction Ouyang Feng was falling; looked like he was going to land inside the city wall. He waited until Ouyang Feng was dozens of ‘zhang’s away, then grabbing an iron bow and an arrow he shot Ouyang Feng’s body. He thought being airborne, Ouyang Feng would not be able to fend off; however, he still remembered his agreement to spare Ouyang Feng’s life three times, so he aimed at a non-fatal spot; Ouyang Feng’s thigh.
