by Jin Yong
“What do you mean ‘wonderful’?” Huang Yaoshi asked. “Do you think it was wonderful finding a useless girl like you?”
Huang Rong felt bad. She knew after losing the second half of the ‘Nine Yin Manual’ to his own disciples, Chen Xuanfeng and Mei Chaofeng, her father was determined to master the skill with his own intelligence. He once said that the ‘Nine Yin Manual’ was created by a human being. If a man could create it, why wouldn’t he be able to re-create it? He then made a vow not to leave Peach Blossom Island until he had mastered the skill. Unexpectedly his prodigal daughter had run away so that he was forced to break his own vow and come looking for her.
“Father, I promise to be a good daughter and will listen to you from now on until the day I die,” Huang Rong solemnly promised.
Huang Yaoshi was very happy to find his daughter well and listening to her promise put him in an excellent mood. “Help your Shijie get up,” he said.
Huang Rong immediately complied. Lu Guanying helped his father to kneel down in front of his Master. Huang Yaoshi sighed and said, “Chengfeng, you are a good disciple. I was wrong to lose my temper and act so rashly as to falsely accuse you.”
Lu Chengfeng was sobbing. “Master, are you well?” To which Huang Yaoshi replied, “Luckily I’ve not been irritated to death.” Huang Rong looked at her father with a mischievous look, “Father, you’re not talking about me are you?” Huang Yaoshi snorted and said, “You are part of it.”
Huang Rong stuck out her tongue and diverted his attention. “Father, let me introduce you to my friends. These are the well-known heroes of Jianghu, the Six Freaks of Jiangnan; Jing ge ge’s Masters.”
Huang Yaoshi did not even look at them. “I don’t want to meet outsiders,” he said coldly. The Six Freaks were irritated by his arrogance, but since the man practiced god-like martial arts, they kept their peace.
“Do you have anything you’d like to take home with you?” Huang Yaoshi asked his daughter. “Get them and we’ll go home together.”
“Nothing,” Huang Rong answered with a smile. “But I do have something I need to give back to Martial Brother Lu.” She took out the ‘Nine Flower Jade Dew’ pills from her pocket and gave them back to Lu Chengfeng. “Lu Shige (Elder Martial Brother Lu), these pills are not easy to make. We have two pills from you and that’s enough.”
Lu Chengfeng waved his hand and said to Huang Yaoshi, “The disciple has seen the Benevolent Master today. I am extremely joyful. I want to present those pills to you. I wonder if you could stay for a while in my humble abode. I will be ...”
“Is he your son?” Huang Yaoshi interrupted him, pointing toward Lu Guanying. “He is,” answered
the disciple.
Lu Guanying did not wait for his father’s prompting. He immediately kneeled and kowtowed several times and said, “Disciple pays his respects to Grand Martial Master.”
“It’s all right!” Huang Yaoshi said. Without bending his body he extended his left hand as if he was going to help Guanying to stand up; but unexpectedly his right hand struck Guanying’s shoulder.
Lu Chengfeng was shocked! “Master, he is my only son ...” Huang Yaoshi’s palm was not light. Lu
Guanying was thrown back seven or eight steps then fell face down on the floor.
“You are a very good disciple,” Huang Yaoshi told Lu Chengfeng. “You have not passed your skills to him. Is he a disciple of the ‘Immortal Red Cloud Sect’ [xian xia pai]?”
Lu Chengfeng was relieved to know his master was only testing his son’s martial arts. “Your disciple did not dare to disobey our school’s rule. I did not dare to teach my skills to others without Benevolent Master’s permission. This child is indeed the disciple of ‘Great Teacher Kumu’ [ku mu da shi] of the ‘Immortal Red Cloud Sect’.”
Huang Yaoshi sneered, “Kumu dares to call himself ‘Great Teacher’ [da shi can also mean ‘great master’] with his skills? Your skills exceed his a hundred fold. Starting tomorrow you will teach your son. The ‘Immortal Red Cloud Sect’s’ martial arts do not hold a candle to ours.”
Lu Chengfeng was ecstatic and hastily told his son, “Quick! Express your gratitude to the Grand Martial Master!” Lu Guanying immediately kowtowed again to Huang Yaoshi. Huang Yaoshi lifted his head, completely ignoring Guanying.
Lu Chengfeng had learned martial arts on Peach Blossom Island; even though both his legs were lame he did not lose any skills pertaining to his upper body. He realized very well the superiority of his own school. He had seen with his own eyes how hard Lu Guanying trained, yet his achievements were limited. This upset him, but since he did not dare to violate his school’s rule, he had to restrain himself. In order not to disappoint his son, he pretended he did not know martial arts at all. Now that his master had given him permission he knew his son’s martial arts skills would improve by leaps and bounds; how could he be not happy? He wanted to say some grateful words, but he was choked up.
Huang Yaoshi saw this and he simply said, “Take this!” He waved his right hand and two sheets of paper gently flew toward Chengfeng. The distance between them was actually more than ten feet, but the papers flew gently like they were hand delivered to Lu Chengfeng. This demonstration of internal energy was even more impressive than flicking pebbles, since the paper was flimsy and more difficult to throw. No one could help but feel very impressed.
Huang Rong was very happy, she quietly approached Guo Jing and asked, “Jing ge ge, what do you think of my Father’s martial arts?”
“Your Father’s martial arts are superb,” Guo Jing answered. “Rong’er, as soon as you are home, you have to train diligently, don’t waste your time playing.”
“You are coming with us, aren’t you?” Huang Rong asked.
“I have to follow my Masters,” Guo Jing said. “I will look for you later.”
Huang Rong was anxious. “No! I don’t want to leave you.” Guo Jing grinned; he did not want to be separated from her either, but he knew they did not have much choice and was sad too.
Lu Chengfeng took the papers and examined them. He saw the papers were full of characters. Lu Guanying took a torch from a manorr; he came close to his father and held the light for his father to read. Lu Chengfeng could see the papers were full of characters and symbols. They were instructions for training martial arts in Huang Yaoshi’s own handwriting. He had not seen his master’s handwriting for twenty years, yet he recognized it. The Master’s handwriting was tall and straight, as elegant as he remembered it. On the right hand was the title, ‘Sweeping Leaves Whirlwind Leg’ technique [xuan feng sao ye tui fa], six characters. Lu Chengfeng knew that the ‘Sweeping Leaves Whirlwind Leg’ and the ‘Peach Blossom Island Divine Sword Palms’ [luo ying shen jian zhang] were his Master’s own ingenious martial arts creations. None of his master’s six Eagle Shooting Hero 437 disciples had ever learned this leg technique. He imagined how delighted he would have been if he’d learned this technique. But still, due to his master’s mercy, he could still teach this technique to his son. He was grateful. He put the papers into his pocket and bent down to express his gratitude.
“This set of leg techniques is entirely different from the ones you knew,” Huang Yaoshi said. “The external techniques remain, but the energy to drive the technique must be developed internally. If you practice and meditate daily, and if your progress is good, you will be able to walk without a cane within five or six years.”
Lu Chengfeng was emotional with all kinds of feelings flowing in his heart.
“Your disability is permanent,” Huang Yaoshi added. “You won’t be able to fight relying on your leg techniques; but if you diligently train, you won’t have any problem walking like normal people. Oh .” He regretted that consumed with anger he had punished his four innocent disciples severely. In recent years he’d racked his brain to create the new ‘Sweeping Leaves Whirlwind Leg’ technique with improved internal energy training methods. His plan was to find his four disciples and bestow this new technique so that they would
be able to walk again. He was too arrogant, so even when his heart was full of regret, his mouth was not willing to admit it. Therefore, although this leg technique was entirely a new creation of his, he still used the irrelevant old name; pretending he had not done anything wrong. After a while he continued, “Look for your three other brothers and teach them this new technique.”
“Yes,” Lu Chengfeng answered. Then he added, “Qu shige (older martial brother) and Feng shidi’s whereabouts are unknown to me, but Wu shidi passed away many years ago.”
Huang Yaoshi felt a stab of pain in his heart and his eyes glistened. Then his penetrating gaze turned toward Mei Chaofeng. Luckily she was blind and could not see it, but the other people around her shuddered just looking at his gaze.
“Chaofeng,” he said icily. “You have been extremely wicked, but you also have suffered greatly. When that old man Qiu said I was dead, you shed tears and even wanted to seek revenge for me. Because of those tears I am willing to let you live a few more years.”
Not in a million years did Mei Chaofeng expect her master to forgive her that easily. She was delighted and quickly kowtowed. “All right, all right!” Huang Yaoshi said. Then he stretched his hand toward her back and tapped gently three times.
Mei Chaofeng suddenly felt a stabbing pain, which gradually became more intense and she almost passed out. With a trembling voice she begged, “Benevolent Master, your disciple deserves to die ten thousand times. I ask for your mercy to kill me quickly, but please spare me from the ‘Bone-Penetrating Needle’ [fu gu zhen].” She had heard for a long time from her husband that once their master’s ‘fu gu zhen’ entered their bodies, it would attach itself to the bone and slowly dispense poison. Six times a day, following the circulation of the blood, the poison would cause excruciating pain, but it would not kill immediately. It could take as long as a year or two for that person to die slowly from the pain. A highly skilled martial artist would channel his internal energy to counter the pain, but the more he does so the greater the pain. A normal person would only grit their teeth when in pain. Using internal energy to suppress the pain would be like drinking poison to satisfy a thirst, because the next attack would be more intense than the previous one. As far as they knew, there was no antidote for this poison.
Mei Chaofeng was desperate; she had entered a living hell, why would she want to live much longer? She frantically thrashed her whip fiercely trying to take her own life. Huang Yaoshi quickly stretched his hand and snatched the whip away. “Why are you so anxious to die? It’s not that easy!” he said coldly.
Mei Chaofeng did not give up easily. “Master must want to torture me, that’s why he won’t allow me to die,” she thought. Unable to restrain her grief she turned toward Guo Jing and smiled sadly, “I have to thank you for killing my husband; at least that way my bastard husband died an easy death.”
Huang Yaoshi ignored her remark and said, “The ‘Bone-Penetrating Needle’ will work after a year. I’ll give you three assignments to do within this one-year period. Once you complete your assignments, come and see me at Peach Blossom Island. I have a way to neutralize the poison.”
Mei Chaofeng’s hope was rekindled. “Your disciple will go through fire or water to accomplish whatever Master cares to assign to me.” But Huang Yaoshi coldly answered, “You haven’t heard what I have to say, yet you comply that quickly?” Mei Chaofeng did not dare to answer, she only kowtowed.
“First, you have lost the ‘Nine Yin Manual’,” Huang Yaoshi continued. “You have to find it and give it back to me. If somebody else laid their eyes on it, you must kill that person. If there are a hundred people who have seen it, kill the hundred people. If you only kill ninety-nine, don’t even think of coming to see me.”
All who listened shuddered involuntarily. The Six Freaks of Jiangnan thought, “Huang Yaoshi is known as the Eastern Heretic; his character is very evil.”
They heard him continue, “Qu, Lu, Wu and Feng, your four martial brothers have endured suffering and hardships because of you. You are to find your brothers Lingfeng and Mofeng, and find out if Mianfeng left behind any family. You are to bring them all to ‘Returning Cloud Manor’ [gui yun zhuang] and let your martial brother Chengfeng take care of them. This is your second assignment.”
Mei Chaofeng nodded her head repeatedly. Lu Chengfeng thought, “I could manage this.” But knowing his master’s temperament he did not dare to say anything.
Huang Yaoshi raised his head, looking at the starry sky above and slowly said, “You stole the ‘Nine Yin Manual’. I did not teach you nor did I tell you to practice it. You know what to do.” He paused for a moment then said, “This is the third.”
Mei Chaofeng was silent for a moment; she did not fully grasp her master’s intention. After pondering in her heart she suddenly understood. With a trembling voice she said, “After I have completed the first two assignments, your disciple knows how to get rid of the ‘Nine Yin White Bone Claw’ and ‘Heart Destroying Palm’ I have learned.”
Guo Jing did not understand; he pulled Huang Rong’s sleeve and, signaling her with his eyes, asked for an explanation. Huang Rong’s countenance was sad; she lifted her right hand and made a chopping action toward her left arm. Guo Jing finally understood, “Oh, she is going to chop off her own arms.” His mind kept wandering, “This Mei Chaofeng is really wicked, but she repented. Why is the punishment so harsh? I need to talk to Rong’er; perhaps we can ask her father to show mercy.”
While he was still thinking, Huang Yaoshi beckoned him to come over and asked, “Your name is Guo Jing?” Guo Jing stepped forward and made an obeisance. “Disciple Guo Jing is at Senior Huang’s service.”
“You are the one who killed my disciple Chen Xuanfeng, aren’t you? Your skill must be extraordinary, eh?” Huang Yaoshi said.
Guo Jing understood his sarcasm; his heart turned cold. “I was very young and ignorant. Senior Chen seized me; I was scared and panicked. I injured him inadvertently.”
Huang Yaoshi snorted and coldly said, “Chen Xuanfeng was indeed my rebellious disciple; but it was our right to punish him. How could a disciple of Peach Blossom Island be punished by an outsider?” Guo Jing was dumbstruck.
Huang Rong quickly came to his rescue. “Father, he was only six, what did he know?” Huang Yaoshi did not like what he heard; he continued, “The old man Hong usually does not take disciples and he is very proud of his ‘Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Palms’; but he taught you fifteen moves, so you must have something good in you. If not, you must have sweet-talked him into teaching you. You have defeated my disciple with his skill; next time he sees me, I bet he will boast to no end.”
“Father, the sweet talk part was indeed true,” Huang Rong said with a smile. “But it was not him, it was I. He is just a simple honest kid. Your words were too harsh, you have frightened him.”
After he lost his wife, Huang Yaoshi was very fond of his daughter. In fact, he was too lenient with her so that she became spoilt. That day he scolded her she immediately ran away from home. He thought that being a spoilt kid and after wandering Jianghu for a while Huang Rong would be destitute and in bad condition. Who would have thought that she was not thin and pale, but as tender and beautiful as ever? Then he saw her affection towards Guo Jing and how she was always trying to protect him. Secretly he was jealous because she had never shown the same affection to him. His jealousy turned to anger. He ignored his daughter and said to Guo Jing, “By teaching you the old Beggar obviously does not hold me in high regard. He let you defeat Mei Chaofeng; he thinks my disciples are a bunch of nobodies ...”
Huang Rong understood that her father was upset because Mei Chaofeng was defeated by the ‘Eighteen-Dragon Subduing Palms’. She hurriedly said, “Who says Peach Blossom Island disciples are nobodies? He was lucky because Mei Shijie’s eyes are blind, what’s so special about that? If they were fighting fair and square, he would have been defeated a long time ago. Let your daughter prove it to you.” She jumped out and called to Guo Jing,
“Come! Let me use the skills my Father taught me to fight Hong Qigong’s special skill.”
She knew that by this time both Guo Jing and she had improved tremendously. They were more or less equally matched. She thought that as long as they could fight fairly for about a hundred moves her father would be satisfied. Guo Jing understood her intention; besides, Huang Yaoshi did not say anything, so he agreed and said, “You are always superior to me. All right, I will let you beat me a couple more times.” And he immediately walked to Huang Rong.
“Watch out!” Huang Rong called out. Her hand swept horizontally with a gust of wind, it was the ‘Heavy Rain Fierce Wind’ stance [yu ji feng kuang] from the ‘Peach Blossom Divine Sword Palm [tao hua shen jian zhang]. Guo Jing immediately countered using the ‘Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Palms’. However, he was very fond of Huang Rong so did not use his full strength. Unfortunately,
440 Eagle Shooting Hero the ‘Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Palms’ relied heavily on strong internal energy; in terms of palm techniques, it could not be compared to the exquisite moves of ‘Peach Blossom Divine Sword Palm’. After several moves he was hit several times by Huang Rong’s fist. Huang Rong, on the other hand, knew that Guo Jing was strong and resilient, so to appease her father she used her full strength. “Aren’t you going to admit defeat?” she called out loudly. Her mouth said those words, but her hands did not stop hitting him.
Huang Yaoshi sneered, “What kind of acrobatic show are you demonstrating?” Nobody saw him move, but suddenly he was near the two, stretching both hands to grab and throw them away. Although the movements were similar, he only flung his daughter to the side, while his right arm threw Guo Jing at full strength. His intention was obvious; he wanted Guo Jing to hit the ground hard. However, although Guo Jing was not able to resist the throw, but he was able to turn his body in midair; when he landed, he did not fall down, but stood firmly on the ground. His face was pale and he looked about ready to throw up.
