Legend of Condor Heroes Book 4

by Jin Yong

  Two people fought without ceasing. As soon as Guo Jing lost they would stop, then Guo Jing would train himself in new stances. Guo Jing slept soundly during the nights, but Ouyang Feng slept with trepidation; he was afraid Guo Jing might attack him in the middle of the night, or that he would try to escape in the dark.

  They lived like that in the stone house for over a month, and had eaten almost half of the cattle and sheep in the village. Within this one month Guo Jing was forced to train his martial art, while Ouyang Feng tried hard to steal it. What Ouyang Feng had learned was already profound, but when he verified what he saw at Guo Jing, he realized there were many discrepancies; it was very difficult from him to link from one sentence to the next. The more he pondered, the more he did not understand; and he could not get anything from Guo Jing. In the meantime, within this month Guo Jing’s martial art had unexpectedly advanced by leaps and bounds.

  Ouyang Feng could not help but secretly anxious, “If we continue like this, before I understand the essence of the manual, I might not be this dumb kid’s match.”

  The first several days Guo Jing was filled with hatred; after every fight he would be more determined than ever to score a victory, he wanted to master a fierce martial art to kill his enemy. However, he soon learned that this matter was extremely difficult. He was not discouraged nonetheless; his anger had decreased somewhat, but his firm resolution had actually increased.

  1136 Eagle Shooting Hero

  One day he picked a steel sword from among the corpses lying around in the village; then trained hard on swordsmanship to fight Ouyang Feng’s wooden staff.

  Ouyang Feng’s original snake staff fell and was lost in the ocean when he was fighting Hong Qigong on the boat. Afterwards he made another cast steel staff complete with new pair of strange snake; but it was also lost when he was trapped inside the ice block, destroyed by Lu Youjiao. Right now he was using an ordinary wooden staff, without any assistance from his strange snakes; but his staff technique was still out-of-this-world, with infinite variations. Several times the staff shook the sword in Guo Jing’s hand and made it fly. If there were snakes on his staff, definitely Guo Jing would not be able to resist at all.

  In the meantime they heard Genghis Khan’s army returning to the east; the people and the horses were marching noisily, the noise did not stop for several days. But two people were engrossed in fighting each other violently, they did not pay the slightest attention to this. One evening the noise simply stopped, the army had all gone and nothing was heard except the quietness of the night.

  Guo Jing raised his sword straight up, thinking, “Although I can’t win over you tonight, your wooden staff won’t shake my sword in any way.” He was anxious to try the new stance he had just learned, but he waited calmly for the opponent to attack first. Suddenly from outside the house somebody was shouting loudly, “Traitor! Where are you running to?” Guo Jing was absolutely certain it was the Old Urchin Zhou Botong’s voice.

  Ouyang Feng and Guo Jing looked at each other in bewilderment, they both thought, “Why did he go thousands of miles to the west?” They wanted to say something, but heard footsteps came approaching; then two people, one after another, rushed toward the stone house. There were numerous other buildings in the village, but apparently they saw that firelight came from this house.

  Ouyang Feng waved his left hand and with his internal strength extinguished the fire. By that time the front door was shoved open, somebody rushed in, with somebody else hot on his heels; the latter one was indeed Zhou Botong. Both men’s footsteps were extraordinarily light and nimble; the man in the front’s martial art certainly not below Zhou Botong’s.

  Ouyang Feng marveled greatly, “This man surprisingly able to escape the Old Urchin’s hand. His skill is very rare among the experts of this generation. If it were Huang Yaoshi or Hong Qigong, the Old Poison won’t be so surprised.” Because of this thought he refrained from making any move.

  They heard the man in the front jump vertically up and sat on the beam. Zhou Botong laughed, “The Old Urchin’s favorite game is the hide-and-seek; I won’t let you slip away anymore.” In the darkness they heard him closing down the front door, and placed a nearby big rock behind it. He called out, “Stinky thief, where are you?” At the same time he groped around back and forth to find him.

  Guo Jing was thinking of making some noise to tell him the enemy was on the beam, when suddenly Zhou Botong leaped high while laughing loudly, grabbing that man on the beam. Turned out he was aware from the start that his enemy was on the beam. He was deliberately groping around to the east and to the west to throw him off guard, then suddenly launched a sudden attack.

  The man on the beam was not weak either; without waiting for Zhou’s fingers to touch him he somersaulted and crouched by the north wall. Even though his mouth was babbling nonsense, but

  Zhou Botong was actually very wary of this man. He stopped to listen to his exact location; did not dare to act rashly. In the quietness of the night he heard three distinct breathings. He had known from the start that this house must be occupied, since he saw the fire was extinguished. But since they did not make any sound, he thought they must be frightened; thereupon he called out, “Master of the house please don’t be afraid, I am here to capture this little thief. Once I get him I will go out immediately.”

  He knew ordinary people’s breathing was rough and heavy, while those with strong internal energy would breathe slowly and long, light and deep; with just a little attention they were very easy to distinguish. But when he cocked his ears to listen, the people toward his north, east and west were all breathing low and slowly.

  Zhou Botong was greatly surprised, “Traitor,” he called out, “You have prepared an ambush here!”

  Guo Jing wanted to open his mouth to greet him, but changed his mind at the last minute; he thought, “Ouyang Feng is lurking on the side, the man Zhou Dage [Big Brother Zhou] is chasing is another powerful enemy. I’d better stay quiet and wait for a good opportunity to help him.”

  Zhou Botong moved step by step toward the front door while mumbling, “Looked like before the Old Urchin can capture the enemy, he would be captured by the enemy.” He had made a decision to dash out the door if the situation was unfavorable. Right at that moment came a rumbling noise from a distance; hoof beats sounded like an evening tide came crashing the shore. It looked like a strong army with multitude of horses had arrived to kill.

  Zhou Botong called out, “You have more and more helpers coming, the Old Urchin doesn’t want to play anymore.” While saying that he picked the rock stopping the door as if he was about to open the door and leave; but then suddenly he hurled the rock toward the man he chased. The rock was not light; Ouyang Feng placed that rock behind the door every night, so that if Guo Jing wanted to sneak out he would find out even when he was sleeping.

  Ouyang Feng heard the wind carried a lot of strength in it, he thought that when the Old Urchin threw the stone, his right flank must have been defenseless; if he attacked him first, not only he would have one less enemy for the present time, but also during the second Sword Meet of Mount Hua he would have one less powerful contestant. Having this intention he bent his knee, slightly squatting, pushed both hands together to launch a ‘Toad Stance’ attack.

  He was squatting on the west, therefore, his attack was toward the east, carrying a very strong energy. Guo Jing had fought him for dozens of days, he knew by heart Ouyang Feng’s every action and every movement even though the room was pitch black. As soon as he heard the gust of wind, he knew Ouyang Feng was attacking Zhou Botong. Guo Jing stepped forward and launched the ‘Proud Dragon Repents’ to meet Ouyang Feng’s ‘Toad Stance’ head-on.

  In the meantime the man who was standing on the north also heard the big rock was flying his way; he bent his knees to get a stronger stand, and push both hands forward, creating a strong force striking the big rock.

  Four people from four directions sending out four forces; even though they did no
t release their energy at exactly the same time, but the forces were actually not inferior one to another. The big rock was struck by forces from east, south, west and north; it fell on the center of the room. ‘Crash!’ with a loud noise it broke the table to smithereens.

  The sound was actually very loud; which Zhou Botong thought amusing. He could not restrain from bursting into loud laughter. But his laughter was drowned by the sound of thousands of cavalry soldiers entering the village. They could hear the warhorses neighing, the weapons clashing, and the soldiers shouting their battle cry.

  Guo Jing listened to the officers’ commands, and he found out they were the defeated army of Khoresm entering the village, perhaps trying to hold their ground in the village; but it sounded like the Mongolian army had pursued them. He heard the hoof beats, the sound of battle flag fluttered in the wind, the loud battle cry, as well as flying arrows near and far. It sounded like the armies were engaged in a close hand-to-hand combat. The four people in the house did not know for certain how many soldiers were fighting outside. Suddenly someone shoved the door open and came in. Zhou Botong grabbed that person and flung him back outside; then he lifted the rock and placed it back behind the door.

  As Ouyang Feng’s attack failed, he thought that he had been discovered anyway, so he called out, “Old Urchin, do you know who I am?”

  Zhou Botong indistinctly heard someone speaking, but because of the noise he could not distinguish who the speaker was. He raised his left hand to guard against an attack while stretching his right hand to grab. Ouyang Feng easily neutralized this grab with his right hand, while slapping with the back of his left hand. Zhou Botong parried this attack, he was startled, “The Old Poison! You are here?” he called out. He swayed his body slightly, leaning to the left. At that very moment the man on the north took the opportunity to attack Zhou Botong’s back.

  Zhou Botong’s right hand engaged Ouyang Feng, while his left fist parried the attack to his back. He was thinking of testing the mutual hands combat that he created on the Peach Blossom Island. Until that day Zhou Botong had not tested his special skill against two masters; so even though he was in danger, he could not let this good opportunity to pass. But suddenly Guo Jing from the east threw himself into the fight; his right hand parried Zhou Botong’s fist, while his left hand engaged that person’s attack.

  Three people simultaneously called out in alarm; Zhou Botong shouted, “Guo Xiongdi [Brother Guo],” that person shouted, “Guo Jing,” and Guo Jing himself cried out, “Qiu Qianren.”

  Zhou Botong was scared by the snakes at the martial art contest at the ‘yan yu lou’ [Misty Rain Tavern]; he saw no way to escape, so he laid down on top of the tavern’s roof, using layers upon layers of split-bamboo sheets to cover up his body. Because his ‘armor’ was so thick no arrow could harm him, Ouyang Feng’s vipers were also helpless to climb to the roof. When the morning fog was gone, the snakes, as well as the soldiers were also gone; so was everybody else, he did not know where they went. He was bored to death, so he just wandered around everywhere.

  A few months later a Beggar Clan disciple delivered a letter to him; it was from Huang Rong. In the letter Huang Rong reminded him that he had promised no matter what Huang Rong asked, he would comply. Now Huang Rong wanted him to go kill the Clan Leader of the Iron Palm Clan, Qiu Qianren. She explained that Emperor Duan’s Concubine Liu had a very deep enmity against this man; if he killed him, Concubine Liu would not look for him anymore. Otherwise, Concubine Liu would find him even to the end of the earth, to take him as her husband. Huang Rong also gave him the detail of the Iron Palm Peak’s exact location.

  Zhou Botong thought that his promise ‘to comply no matter what’ was actually given to Huang Rong; but that old scoundrel Qiu Qianren colluded with the Jins, he was a traitor, so he felt it was appropriate to kill him. As for his own affair with Concubine Liu, he realized he had offended her deeply; she had a deep enmity against Qiu Qianren, so if he lent her a hand, she might not come and bother him anymore, and that would be an awfully good luck for him. Therefore, he decided to go to the Iron Palm Peak.

  At first Qiu Qianren was able to match him stance for stance, but as soon as Zhou Botong used the mutual hands combat technique, Qiu Qianren was forced to withdraw. When martial art masters contended, as soon as one admit inferiority, then victory or defeat should be decided; who would have thought that Zhou Botong did not want to stop and kept chasing him. Qiu Qianren did ask him the reason behind it several times, but Zhou Botong only looked at him with a blank expression; could not tell him the real reason. He only said three characters ‘liu gui fei’ [Concubine Liu]; and that would be enough to take his head.

  Two men fought and stop, one ran away the other chased; they went farther and farther away. Zhou Botong’s martial art was slightly superior to Qiu Qianren’s; yet it would not be easy for him to kill Qiu Qianren. Qiu Qianren had tried any means possible to get rid of him; but Zhou Botong doggedly chased him anywhere he went. He thought, “Would you still chase me if I go to the bitter cold west?” On the other hand Zhou Botong thought, “I want to see where you would go; then I’ll go back home.”

  As soon as they arrive at the desert outside the great wall, the landscape was flat, it was easy to follow someone’s trail; Qiu Qianren did not have any place to hide. Fortunately Zhou Botong had shown a good faith toward him; whenever Qiu Qianren needed to sleep or sat down to eat his meal, or perhaps he was having a bowel movement or urinating, Zhou Botong did not disturb him in any way; he simply did the same. But no matter what Qiu Qianren did, no matter how bad he cursed him, the Old Urchin haunted him like a ghost, continuously pestering him.

  The more Zhou Botong fought Qiu Qianren, the more excited he became. Several times he did gain an upper hand, but unexpectedly he did not kill Qiu Qianren. That particular day, two men fought and ran and by a pure coincidence rushed into the stone building.

  Now Zhou and Guo two people knew who the other three people were, but when the three of them called out each other’s name, their voices were drown by the loud commotion outside; hence Ouyang Feng still did not know who the other person was. He only knew that person was Zhou Botong’s enemy. On the other hand, Qiu Qianren thought the other two were on the same side.

  Zhou, Qiu and Ouyang, all three people possessed outstanding martial art skills; but after battling Ouyang Feng for more than a month, Guo Jing’s martial art level was also improving by leaps and bound, which enable him to keep pace with the other three. These four martial art masters were confined in a pitch-black, approximately two ‘zhang’s square room; they could not see a thing, could not hear each other, and could not talk to each other. It was as if they had turned into deaf, mute and blind people.

  “If I block Ouyang Feng, then Zhou Dage can finish off Qiu Qianren. After that it won’t be too difficult for us two people to join forces to kill Ouyang Feng,” Guo Jing thought. Once he reached that decision, his hands started to move. His right hand hit an empty air, while his left palm met someone else’s hand.

  On the Peach Blossom Island Guo Jing had fought Zhou Botong countless of times; therefore, as soon as his palm touched Zhou’s hand, he knew immediately it was his Zhou Dage, he retracted his palm quickly. Unexpectedly Zhou Botong’s childlike enthusiasm was aroused; he slightly shrank his left arm then sent out a right fist toward Guo Jing’s shoulder. This hit did not carry any strong internal energy, but since Guo Jing did not guard against it, he felt pain nonetheless.

  “Hao Xiongdi [Good Brother], you want to test your Dage’s martial art? Be careful!” Zhou Botong said, his left palm shot out. Guo Jing could not hear what he said, but this time he was prepared; he wielded his arms and neutralized the attack.

  By this time Ouyang Feng and Qiu Qianren had also exchanged several stances; as a result they recognized the opponent by his martial art. These two men did not have any enmity against each other, but they both thought that the Sword Meet of Mount Hua was coming. Potentially they were going to fight a life an
d death battle against each other anyway; therefore, why not try to inflict as much damage as possible to the opponent since they have the opportunity now? Hence they did not slack one bit.

  After fighting for a moment they felt gusts of wind blowing behind them, to their surprise Zhou Botong was fighting Guo Jing. They were bewildered, but then they remembered Zhou Botong always handled matters differently, he was an unpredictable man; besides, it gave them a good opportunity, why wouldn’t they be happy? Thus without prior agreement they both attacked Zhou Botong and Guo Jing.

  After exchanging more than a dozen moves with Guo Jing; Zhou Botong found out that Guo Jing’s martial art was far more advanced than what he had known, he was pleasantly surprised. “Xiongdi, where did you learn your martial art from?” he asked. But the noise outside was deafening, how could Guo Jing hear what he said? Zhou Botong was offended, “Fine, you don’t want to tell me. Do you think I care?” Right at that moment he felt a gust of wind on his face, Ouyang and Qiu’s attacks had arrived. Zhou Botong kicked the ground and leaped up to the beam. “I’ll let you fight these two alone!” he called out.

  Ouyang Feng and Qiu Qianren felt the wind from Zhou Botong’s sleeves, they realized he had jumped to the beam; they had the same thought of joining forces and kill this dumb kid, suddenly Guo Jing had to face a converging attack from left and right.

  Initially Guo Jing was surrounded by Zhou Botong’s attacks; he had tried four, five different techniques but was unable to free himself. He was waiting for Zhou Botong to withdraw when two powerful enemies attacked; which forced him to groan inwardly. He had no choice but braced himself and used the mutual hands combat technique to resist these two.

  After fighting for a while Ouyang Feng and Qiu Qianren were unable to restrain their amazement. Knowing Guo Jing’s skill, either one of Ouyang Feng or Qiu Qianren should be able to defeat him easily. Who would have thought that after fighting two against one, Guo Jing’s left palm could block Ouyang Feng’s attacks, while his right fist thwarted Qiu’s palms? Two people were helpless against one.