by Jin Yong
Hand in hand the two of them walked down the cliff; they saw Zhou Botong was bending over with laughter, he looked so proud of himself. Qiu Chuji stood on the side with a sword in his hand. Sha Tongtian, Peng Lianhu, Lingzhi Shangren, and Hou Tonghai, four people were seen with weapons in their hands in various postures; some were attacking, some were retreating or eluding an attack, but they all looked like motionless wooden statues. Turned out their acupoints had been sealed by Zhou Botong.
Zhou Botong said, “The other day I made some pills from the dirt on my body and gave them to you. But you stinky thieves are actually crafty and smart; as soon as you found out they were not poisonous, you did not want to obey your grandfather anymore. Hmm, hmm . how about today?”
Even though he managed to overpower these four men, but actually he had no idea what to do with them. Hence, as soon as he saw Guo Jing and Huang Rong walked over he said, “Miss Huang, I present these four stinky thieves to you!” “What do I want to do with them?” Huang Rong said, “Hmm, you don’t want to kill them, you also don’t want to release them. You subdued these four stinky thieves, yet don’t have any idea what to do with them. Call me ‘Good Elder Sister’ three times, I will teach you what to do.”
Zhou Botong was delighted; immediately he called, “Good Elder Sister!” three times; each time he added a cupping of his fists.
Huang Rong pursed her lips and laughed. Pointing her finger to Peng Lianhu she said, “Search his pocket.”
Zhou Botong immediately complied; from Peng Lianghu’s body he took out a ring with poisonous needle on it, and two bottles of antidotes.
“He had once used this needle to prick your Martial Nephew Ma Yu, now prick him several times with that same needle,” Huang Rong said.
Peng Lianhu and the others could hear everything clearly, they were so frightened that they felt their souls were leaving their bodies; but their acupoints were sealed, they could not move. They felt severe pain since each of them was pricked several times by Zhou Botong.
“The antidote is in your hand, whatever you want them to do, I want to see if they will dare to defy,” Huang Rong said.
Zhou Botong was delighted; he rubbed some dirt from his body and mixed them with the antidote, he made some pills from the mixture and gave the pills to Qiu Chuji. He said, “You take these four stinky thieves as prisoners; take them to Mount Zhongnan, imprison them at the Chongyang Palace for twenty years. If they behave well along the way, give each of them one of my wonder pill; otherwise let them enjoy the poison. This is called taking consequences for their own actions. Show no mercy!”
Qiu Chuji bowed and complied.
Huang Rong laughed, “Old Urchin, what you said was very reasonable. I haven’t seen you for a year and look how far you have progressed!”
Zhou Botong was very pleased with himself, he unsealed Peng Lianhu and the others’ acupoints and said, “You go to the Chongyang Palace, stay there meditating your lives for twenty years. If you are really willing to repent, you might still be able to live as good people in the future. But if you don’t want to repent, hmmm ... just know that our Quanzhen people are experts in killing people without batting an eye; we can torture without creasing an eyebrow; we can make you four stinky thieves into meatballs and everybody can come and eat you. By that time I want to see what other trick you have in your sleeve?”
Peng Lianhu and the others did not dare to say anything; they only nodded and mumbled their consents. Qiu Chuji stifled his laughter; he bade Zhou Botong farewell, then with a sword in his hand herded four people walking down the mountain.
Huang Rong laughed, “Old Urchin, when did you learn to teach others? The front part of your speech made a lot of sense, but the latter part was a lot of nonsense.”
Zhou Botong looked up to the sky and laughed; but suddenly he saw toward his left there was a flashing while light. Apparently it was a weapon reflecting the sunlight. “Well, what is that?” he called out.
Jing and Rong lifted their heads to see, but the flashing light was gone. Zhou Botong was afraid Huang Rong would raise Qiu Qianren’s matter to him, he quickly said, “Let me take a look.” And he flew to the nearby peak.
Jing and Rong two people had a lot to talk; they looked for a cave and poured out their hearts’ content to each other. They talked and talked until the sun disappeared behind the western peak; still there were more to talk about. Guo Jing took some dried food from his backpack and gave some to Huang Rong.
Huang Rong ate and smiled, “That old scoundrel Ouyang Feng compelled me to explain to him the Nine Yin Manual; his source was the one you wrote randomly, so I also gave him a random explanation. He accepted it as real, and he trained hard on it for several months. I told him that this type of martial art has to be practiced upside down; he really turned head over heels training diligently. He managed to reverse the whole body passage through which vital energy circulates. It was really not easy; his ‘yin wei’ [negative dimension], ‘yang wei’ [positive dimension], yin and yang; four main arteries are flowing in reverse. I don’t know how he will look like if his entire system flows in reverse.” Having said that she giggled.
Guo Jing was also smiling, “No wonder I saw him upside down in the middle of the road,” he said, “It was really not easy to do.”
“You are coming to Mount Hua; are you going to join the contest to win the title Number One Martial Artist of the World?” Huang Rong asked.
“Rong’er, why are you teasing me?” Guo Jing said, “I am here to ask Zhou Dage on how I can forget the martial arts I have already learned.” And then he told Huang Rong everything he had pondered in his heart these past several days.
Huang Rong leaned her head slightly and thought for a moment. “Ay! It’s good if we can forget it,” she said, “The more we train, the stronger our martial art become; but actually our heart is not getting happier. I wish we were just like little children who don’t know anything; nothing burdened our minds, no worry, no anxiety.” She forgot that as one grew older, the more hardship and anxiety one would have to face; it had nothing to do with whether one’s martial art skill was high or not.
Huang Rong continued, “I heard Ouyang Feng saying that tomorrow is the sword meet day; I am sure my father will come to this mountain. You said you are not going to join the contest; how about we think of something to help my father win the title?”
“Rong’er,” Guo Jing said, “It’s not that I don’t want to help you, but I think in term of conduct, Benevolent Master Hong is superior to your father.”
Originally Huang Rong was leaning against Guo Jing’s body, but as she heard him saying her father was not good, she pushed him away in anger. Guo Jing was startled, he was confused. But suddenly Huang Rong laughed, “Hmm, actually Benevolent Master Hong’s treatment to us was not bad. Let’s just not help any of them, what do you think?” “Both your father and Benevolent Master Hong are honorable warriors; they won’t like it if we secretly help them,” Guo Jing said.
“Fine! Now you are saying that I am sly and crafty, that I am a wicked traitor coward?” Huang Rong said pulling up her face.
“I am sorry,” Guo Jing said, “I am a fool, always say wrong things and provoke you to anger.” His face looked really terrified.
Huang Rong stifled her laughter, “I don’t know how many more times I am going to be mad at you.”
Guo Jing was perplexed; he scratched his head and looked at her with blank expression.
“If you don’t dump me anymore, we will have many days to be together. I really don’t care how many more times you are going to say stupid things,” Huang Rong said.
Guo Jing was ecstatic, he gripped her hands tight and earnestly said, “How can I dump you? How can I?”
“It was because the princess didn’t want you that naturally you have no choice but looking for me, a poor little girl,” Huang Rong said.
What Huang Rong said had brought back a flood of sad memories into Guo Jing’s mind; he remembered his mother’s t
ragic death in the desert, he looked so dispirited and was silent. It was a new moon, silver light like water shone on them. Huang Rong saw his dejected countenance and realized she had offended him deeply; she quickly tried to change the subject. “Jing Gege, let us not talk about past matters. Being together with you like this makes my heart so happy. How about I let you kiss my cheek?”
Guo Jing’s entire face turned red; indeed he did not dare to kiss her. Huang Rong flashed a captivating smile; she was fully aware that she had embarrassed both Guo Jing and herself, so she changed the subject again, “On the sword meet tomorrow, who do you say will win?” she asked.
“That is really difficult to say,” Guo Jing replied, “I wonder if Reverend Yideng is coming?”
“The reverend has entered emptiness; he would not want to fight over empty reputation,” Huang Rong reasoned.
Guo Jing nodded his agreement, “I think so too. Your father, Benevolent Master Hong, Big Brother Zhou, Qiu Qianren and Ouyang Feng, five people; each one is the grandmaster of their respective school, each one has their own unique skill. I am just wondering if Benevolent Master Hong has recovered from his injury. Can his skill level back to where it was?” Remembering his master Guo Jing was saddened.
“Reasonably speaking, the Old Urchin’s martial art is the strongest,” Huang Rong said, “However, if he does not use the martial art from the Nine Yin Manual, then he is still inferior to the other four.”
Two people talked until Huang Rong felt tired; then she leaned on Guo Jing’s bosom and fell asleep. Guo Jing was also weary and was dozing off when suddenly he heard footsteps approaching. Two dark shadows, one in front of the other, were rushing over the cliff. Those two people’s clothes were fluttering in the wind, they were running very fast. From their footwork, looked like the one in the front was the Old Urchin Zhou Botong, and the one pursuing him was surprisingly Qiu Qianren. Guo Jing did not know that Qiu Qianren had used vipers to scare Zhou Botong off; he was baffled, in the western region Qiu Qianren was running away for his life because of Zhou Botong, how come the situation was reversed now? Lightly he nudged Huang Rong and whispered in her ear, “Look!”
Huang Rong raised her head and saw under the moonlight Zhou Botong eloped to the east and escaped to the west; did not dare to face the enemy at all. Zhou Botong was heard shouting, “Old thief surnamed Qiu, I have somebody here who is an expert in catching viper; you’d better run away as quick as you can!”
Qiu Qianren laughed, “Do you think I am a three-year old kid?” he said.
“Guo Xiongdi [Brother Guo], Miss Huang! Come and help me, please!” Zhou Botong shouted.
Guo Jing was about to leap out, but Huang Rong pushed his chest back, “Don’t move!” she hissed.
Zhou Botong had run around in circles yet did not see Jing and Rong two people come out, he started to curse, “Stinky Kid, Crafty Girl, if you don’t come out, I am going to curse your ancestors to the eighteenth generation.”
Huang Rong stood up and laughed, “I don’t want to come out, curse if you can.”
Zhou Botong saw the vipers in Qiu Qianren’s hands lifted their heads high with their tongues stuck out; he was so scared that his knees turned into jelly. “Miss Huang, please come, please come. What about if I curse my own ancestors to the eighteenth generation?” he begged.
Qiu Qianren was shocked to see Jing and Rong two people were standing nearby. Quickly he cooked up some ideas to slip away; otherwise if those three people ganged up against him, definitely things would not go well for him. Tomorrow would be another story; he would fight each of them on a one-to-one battle, he was not afraid of any of them. He started to move his feet, but before running away he flung the vipers toward Zhou Botong’s face.
Zhou Botong wielded his sleeve in panic, he stepped aside to elude; suddenly there was a light plopping sound and he felt something cold fell on his neck, straight through his collar into his back. That something wiggled and bounced around inside his clothes; it felt slippery. He was so scared, it felt like his soul was leaving his body. “I am dying, I am dying!” he cried. He did not dare to put his hands into his clothes to pull the ‘snakes’ out; he only jumped around wildly. Suddenly he felt the ‘snake’ bit him in the chest; he thought he really died this time, his whole body tingled with numbness and he fell down to the ground.
Jing and Rong two people were shocked, they quickly leaped forward to help. Seeing Zhou Botong suddenly fall down, Qiu Qianren was also surprised; he was about to seek a way to go down the mountain when suddenly a black shadow appeared from among the trees. That shadow coldly said, “Old thief Qiu, today you can’t run away anymore.”
That person’s back was facing the moon, so Qiu Qianren could not see that person’s face clearly. Qiu Qianren felt a chill creep up his back. “Who are you?” he barked.
Zhou Botong was lying on the ground, bedazzled. He felt he would soon be gone to the underworld; but suddenly he felt someone helped him up. “Master Zhou, don’t be afraid, that is not a snake,” he heard that person said. Zhou Botong was startled, he quickly stood up, but that cold thing on his back started to bounce around again; he jumped around and shouted madly, “It is biting me, it’s a snake, it’s a snake!”
“It’s a ‘jin wa wa’ [golden baby doll, see Chapter 29] fish, not a snake,” that person said. By now Jing and Rong two people could see clearly that person’s appearance; turned out it was the Fisherman from the Fisherman, Woodcutter, Farmer, and Scholar, four main disciples of Reverend Yideng. They saw him stretching out his arm and took a ‘jin wa wa’ from Zhou Botong’s clothes.
Turned out that fisherman saw a pair of ‘jin wa wa’ in a creek nearby; he caught them and kept them in his bosom. One of them slipped and jumped high into a tree; as luck had it, it fell down inside Zhou Botong’s collar. That ‘jin wa wa’ did not bite, but Zhou Botong was so scared of snakes that he imagined this cold and slippery thing was actually a viper biting his back. If the Fisherman was one step late, Zhou Botong might pass out of fright.
Zhou Botong opened his eyes and saw the fisherman; but he was still in shock. He knew he had met this person before, but he could not remember who it was. He turned his head to see Qiu Qianren was walking step-by-step backward, while the black shadow in front of him walked step-by-step forward, slowly approaching. Zhou Botong was a little bit relaxed but then he was startled and frightened out of his wits; he saw clearly that the black shadow was precisely the Concubine Liu Ying Gu from the Dali country’s royal palace.
Qiu Qianren was led to believe at the present time only Zhou Botong’s martial art was superior to his. If he managed to scare Zhou Botong away with his snakes, then on the sword meet the next day he was certain he would have a great chance to come out the winner. Unexpectedly on the eve of the sword meet Ying Gu appeared. That day on the ‘qing long tan’ [green dragon shore] she madly fought him; he thought that if this granny entangled him in another fight while his enemies were standing on the side; his life would be in grave danger. But then he heard she hissed with a throaty voice, “Give me back my son’s life!”
Qiu Qianren’s heart turned cold; he thought that that night when he entered the royal palace and injured her son in his attempt to force Emperor Duan to waste his strength he had disguised himself carefully. Who would have thought that the emperor did not save the child’s life, and now she had somehow learned the truth? He forced a smile and said, “Crazy Granny, why are you bothering me?”
“Give me back my son’s life!” Ying Gu called out.
“What son?” Qiu Qianren asked, “You son died, it has nothing to do with me.”
“Hmm, that night I did not see your face, but I remember your laughter,” Ying Gu said, “You laugh, now! Laugh! Laugh!”
Qiu Qianren saw her stretching both hands to pounce on him; he withdrew two steps, slightly leaned his body to the side, then his left palm slapped his right, and his right palm swept diagonally to 1176 Eagle Shooting Hero strike Ying Gu’s abdomen. It was the fiercest
one of his thirteen stances Iron Palms, called the ‘yin yang gui yi’ [negative and positive converge into one].
Ying Gu realized the fierceness of this attack; she used the Loach Maneuver to evade. Who would have thought that the enemy’s strike was so swift that before she could even move her feet, his palm was already less than half a foot from her body. Ying Gu felt a stab of pain in her heart; knowing that her hope of seeking revenge was shattered. Disregarding his palm, she jumped forward with the intention of grabbing his body so that both of them would fall down into the canyon below. Suddenly she heard a gust of wind and a fist cut like a knife in front of her. Just before his palm reached its target, Qiu Qianren was forced to retract his arm and parry that incoming fist. He was angry, “Old Urchin, it’s you again!”
When Zhou Botong saw the danger threatening Ying Gu, he used the skill he learned from the Nine Yin Manual to its fullest extend to defeat the Iron Palm stance. Zhou Botong did not dare to look straight to Ying Gu; putting his back to her he said, “Ying Gu, you are not this old scoundrel’s match. Quickly go! I will go too!”
He was about to fly down the mountain when suddenly Ying Gu called out, “Zhou Botong, why don’t you avenge your son?”
Zhou Botong was dumbstruck. “What? My son?”
“Exactly,” Ying Gu said, “Your son is killed by Qiu Qianren.”
Zhou Botong still did not know that his affair with Ying Gu had resulted in they having a child. His mind was muddled; he was at lost. He turned his head to see that there were several more people standing next to Ying Gu; other than Guo Jing and Huang Rong, there were Reverend Yideng and his four disciples.
At that time Qiu Qianren had walked away from the edge of the cliff less than three feet, suddenly he saw in front of him a group of formidable enemies while the terrain they were on was really dangerous. He knew he was facing a grave danger. He clapped his hands and boldly said, “I am climbing the Mount Hua to fight over the ‘Number One Martial Artist in the World’ title. Hmm, hmm ... all of you gang up to get rid of a powerful opponent. It’s truly despicable!”
