by Jin Yong
“He did not,” Guo Jing answered truthfully.
The old man looked up and thought aloud, “He looks so young. Even if he cultivated his internal energy inside his mother’s womb, it would be at most eighteen or nineteen year’s worth of internal energy. How could he resist the flute sound, while I could not?” He was deep in thought for a moment; then he looked at Guo Jing from top to bottom and again from bottom to top. He stretched out his right palm and said, “Push my palm; I want to test your martial arts.”
Guo Jing complied; he extended his right palm and pushed. The old man said, “Qi’ [internal energy] in your ‘dan tian’ [lower stomach region] and push hard!” Guo Jing exerted his strength. The old man pulled back his palm slightly then pushed hard while calling out, “Be careful!”
Guo Jing sensed a powerful force pushing him. He could not resist it, so he used his left hand to reinforce his right palm. Surprisingly, old man flipped his palm and pushed Guo Jing’s wrist with four fingers. The power of these fingers was enough to send Guo Jing flying backwards seven or eight steps until his back hit a tree. Only then did Guo Jing manage to stand steady.
“His martial arts are not bad, but nothing extraordinary either,” the old man muttered, “But how could he resist the Old Heretic Huang’s ‘Jade-Colored Tidal Wave song’ [bi hai chao sheng qu]?”
Guo Jing felt his chest tighten; he was astonished, “This man’s martial arts are about the same level as Shifu’s and Master Huang’s. How could there be an expert of his caliber on Peach Blossom Island? Could it be he is the Western Poison or the Southern Emperor?” As soon as he remembered ‘Western Poison’ his heart turned cold, “Did I fall for his trickery?” Quickly he lifted his palm in the sunlight and checked it. He did not see any inflammation or black marks and was relieved; at least he wasn’t being poisoned.
“Can you guess who I am?” the old man laughed.
“Disciple heard people say that in the martial arts realm there are five experts. The Quanzhen’s founder Venerable Wang has passed away; the disciples have met the ‘Nine-fingered Divine Beggar’ Benevolent Master Hong and the Master of Peach Blossom Island. Could you be the Senior Ouyang or the Emperor Duan?”
“You thought my martial arts are comparable to the Eastern Heretic and Northern Beggar didn’t you?” the old man smiled.
“This disciple’s martial arts are mediocre and my experience modest, I do not dare to speak nonsense. But when Senior pushed me a moment ago, I can say with confidence that other than Benevolent Master Hong and Master Huang, I have never experienced such force,” Guo Jing said.
The old man was delighted with Guo Jing’s praise; his face looked like a child’s happy face. “I am neither the Western Poison Ouyang Feng, nor the Emperor Duan,” he smiled broadly. “Guess again.”
Guo Jing hesitated. “This disciple has met somebody whose name was as well known as Benevolent Master Hong, Qiu Qianren. But that person’s martial arts are just ordinary. Disciple is really not smart, I cannot guess Senior’s honored name,” he said.
That old man laughed heartily, “My surname is Zhou; can you guess now?” he asked.
“Ah, you are Zhou Botong?” Guo Jing blurted. As the words came out of his mouth Guo Jing froze. Mentioning someone’s name, especially a Senior, could be considered disrespectful. He quickly bowed and apologized, “Disciple has shown disrespect, will Senior Zhou please forgive me.”
he old man laughed, “You are right! I am Zhou Botong. My name is Zhou Botong, and you called me Zhou Botong; when did you show me disrespect? The Quanzhen Sect’s founder, Wang Chongyang, was my martial brother; Ma Yu, Qiu Chuji and the others are my martial nephews. You are not a Quanzhen disciple, you don’t have to call me Senior this or Senior that; just call me Zhou Botong.”
“How would disciple dare?” Guo Jing asked.
Zhou Botong had lived on Peach Blossom Island for a long time; he was bored and now Guo Jing suddenly came along. Talking with him he found relief; he was thrilled. Suddenly a strange thought came into his mind. “Little friend, what do you say you and I become sworn brothers?” he asked.
No matter how strange his words were, this was the strangest of all. Guo Jing’s jaw dropped and he looked at Zhou Botong in disbelief; he thought Zhou was joking. After a while he opened his mouth, “This disciple is Priest Ma and Priest Qiu’s junior; I should address you as my grand martial master.”
Zhou Botong waved his hands. “My martial arts skill came from my martial brother. Ma Yu, Qiu Chuji and the others do not consider me their senior; they also did not respect me as a senior. You are not my son, I am not yours; we do not have older-younger generation difference.” As he spoke he heard footsteps approaching; an old servant appeared carrying a food basket. Zhou Botong beamed, “Our food is here!”
The servant opened the basket and took out four dishes of food, two pots of wine and a woven basket full of rice. He placed the food in front of Zhou Botong on top of a big rock, poured out two cups of wine and stood silently to one side.
“Where is Miss Huang? Why doesn’t she come looking for me?” Guo Jing asked. That servant shook his head, pointing to his ear and his mouth, signaling that he was deaf and mute.
“Huang Yaoshi punctured his ear drums. You can ask him to open his mouth wide and take a look,” Zhou Botong chuckled.
Guo Jing made a signal, asking that servant to open his mouth. Guo Jing was startled and frightened; that servant’s tongue had been cut in half.
“The servants of Peach Blossom Island are all like that,” Zhou Botong said. “You have come here and if you don’t die, you will end up like them.”
Guo Jing heard what he said and he was silent for a long time. “How could Rong’er’s father be so cruel?” he thought.
“That Old Heretic Huang tortures me every night,” Zhou Botong continued, “I don’t want to admit defeat to him. Last night I almost fell into his hands; if not for you, little brother, my more than ten plus years of effort resisting him might have crumbled in one evening. Come little brother, we have wine and food. Today we will take an oath to be sworn brothers; in the future we will share fortune and bear difficult times together. The year when Wang Chongyang and I became sworn brothers he also resisted in every way ... Why? Do you really not know? My sworn brother Wang Chongyang’s martial arts were much higher than mine; that was why he was not willing to swear brotherhood with me. Are your martial arts also much higher than mine? I don’t think so.”
“Junior’s martial arts are way below yours,” Guo Jing answered. “I don’t deserve to swear brotherhood with you.”
“If you say to swear brotherhood you have to have the same level of martial arts, then I have to swear brotherhood with Old Heretic Huang, or Old Poison,” Zhou Botong said. “That’s ridiculous! I only like to fight with them! Do you want me to swear brotherhood with this deaf and mute fellow?” He pointed to that old servant and jumped up and down in a fit of rage.
Guo Jing saw his red face and he quickly said, “Disciple and Senior are two generations apart. If I follow Senior’s directions, people will laugh at us and ridicule me. When I meet Priest Ma and Priest Qiu, how can I not be ashamed?” “You have these many considerations. You certainly don’t want to swear brotherhood with me because I am too old”, he sputtered. Zhou Botong covered his face and cried while unconsciously pulling his beard.
Guo Jing nervously waved his hands, “Disciple will do whatever Senior instructs.”
Zhou Botong cried even harder. “You said that because of my coercion, you reluctantly agreed; that doesn’t count. When someone asks in the future, you will say that it was entirely my fault. I know you are not willing to call me your sworn brother.”
Guo Jing was secretly amused. How could such an old man not act his age? He saw him pick up a dish and toss it outside; he did not want to eat any longer. The old servant promptly picked it up; he didn’t know what was going on and he was terrified.
Guo Jing had no choice; suppressing a laugh he said, �
�Since Elder Brother had shown kindness, how could Little Brother not accept? Let us use earth in place of incense and become sworn brothers.”
Zhou Botong smiled through his tears. “I have sworn to Old Heretic Huang that as long as I cannot defeat him, I will never leave this hole except for bowel movements or urinating. I will kowtow inside, you kowtow outside,” he said.
“If you can’t defeat Master Huang, then you will live in this hole all your life?” Guo Jing thought; but he did not say anything and simply knelt down on the ground.
Zhou Botong knelt alongside; with a clear voice he said, “Today the Old Urchin Zhou Botong and Guo Jing are swearing a brotherhood [lit. ‘jin lan’ - golden orchid]. We will share good fortune together and will face difficulty together. If I break this oath, may my martial arts perish so that I can’t even fight a puppy or a kitten.”
Guo Jing heard him call himself ‘Old Urchin’, and his oath was sort of peculiar; he could not restrain a smile. Zhou Botong stared at him. “What are you smiling at? Quickly say your oath.” Guo Jing quickly recited his oath; then two people poured wine on the ground. Guo Jing then paid his respects to his elder brother.
Zhou Botong laughed heartily and loudly shouted, “That’s enough! That’s enough!” He poured some more wine and drank. “The Old Heretic Huang is very stingy; he serves me insipid wine only. One day a little miss came and brought me some good wine; it’s a pity she never came back.”
Guo Jing remembered Huang Rong had told him how she stole some wine and brought it to Zhou Botong; because of that she was scolded by her father. This caused her to leave the island in anger. It seemed like Zhou Botong was not aware of it. Guo Jing had been hungry for the whole day; he did not want to drink any wine but he ate five big bowls of rice. Now at least he was full. As soon as the two finished eating, the old servant cleaned up and took the leftovers back.
“Brother,” Zhou Botong asked, “How did you offend the Old Heretic Huang? Tell your big brother.”
Guo Jing then narrated how he accidentally killed Chen Xuanfeng in his childhood; how at the Cloud Manor he had fought and defeated Mei Chaofeng; how Huang Yaoshi made things difficult for the Six Freaks of Jiangnan; how because of that he had made a promise to come to Peach Blossom Island within a month to die; he told Zhou everything.
Zhou Botong loved to listen to stories; he bent his head, squinted, and listened with enthusiasm. When Guo Jing only recounted something briefly he would ask for every detail of it. Every time Guo Jing paused even for the slightest time he urged him, “Then what happened?”
“Then I arrived here,” Guo Jing finally said.
Zhou Botong hesitated a moment. “Hmm...so turns out that pretty little girl is the Old Heretic Huang’s daughter. She is good to you. Why did she disappear soon after arriving on the island? There must be a reason, maybe Old Heretic Huang locked her up.”
Guo Jing’s anxiety showed on his face, “This disciple also had this thought ...”
“What did you say?” Zhou Botong snapped as his face changed color.
Guo Jing knew he made a mistake and quickly said, “Little brother made an indiscreet remark, please don’t mind me, Big Brother.”
Zhou Botong smiled. “The way you address me cannot be wrong. If you call me any name, then you’d better call me ‘wifey’, or ‘mommy’, or ‘daughter’. No, don’t make a mistake,” he said. Guo Jing agreed.
Zhou Botong leaned his head and asked, “Can you guess how I ended up here?”
“Brother is just about to ask,” Guo Jing said.
“It’s a long story, I will tell to you completely,” Zhou Botong said. “Do you know when the five experts, the Eastern Heretic, Western Poison, Southern Emperor, Northern Beggar and the Central Divinity, were having a sword meet on Mount Hua?”
Guo Jing nodded, “I’ve heard people talk of it.”
“It was in the dead of winter at Mount Hua,” Zhou Botong continued. “The peak was covered with a heavy snow. Five people were having a meet there; their hands contended in martial arts for seven straight days and nights. In the end the Eastern Heretic, Western Poison, Southern Emperor, and the Northern Beggar admitted that my martial brother, Wang Chongyang’s martial arts was number one in the world. Do you know why those five people were having that sword meet at Mount Hua?”
“This, brother has not heard,” Guo Jing replied.
“It was because of a scripture ...” Zhou Botong said.
“The ‘Nine Yin Manual’!” Guo Jing exclaimed.
“That’s right!” Zhou Botong said. “Brother, you are young, but your knowledge of Wulin matters is not shallow. Do you know the origin of the ‘Nine Yin Manual’, then?”
“That I actually do not know,” Guo Jing replied.
Zhou Botong playfully pulled his ears and long hair and his face showed that he was very pleased with himself. “A moment ago you told me a very interesting story, now .”
“What I told you was not a story; that really happened to me,” Guo Jing interrupted.
“What is the difference? As long as it is good to listen to,” Zhou Botong said. “Some people spend their lives eating, sleeping, urinating and defecating. If those people tell me every single detail of their life, the Old Urchin will die of suffocation.”
Guo Jing nodded his head. “That’s true,” he said. “Then why doesn’t Big Brother tell the story of the ‘Nine Yin Manual’ for little brother to hear.”
“The Emperor Hui Zong in the year of Zheng He wanted to compile Taoist books and scriptures from all over the world. He wanted to publish the work, which consisted of 5481 Chapters altogether. They were called the ‘Taoist Canon of Everlasting Life’ [wan shou dao zang]. The Emperor commissioned someone to do the work; he was called Huang Shang .”
“He was also surnamed Huang?” Guo Jing asked.
“Bah! What’s so special about the family name Huang?” Zhou Botong spat. “This person had nothing to do with the Old Heretic Huang Yaoshi; don’t get any wrong ideas. There are numerous people surnamed Huang in this world; the ‘yellow’ [huang] dog or yellow cat are also surnamed Huang.”
Guo Jing thought that a yellow dog and a yellow cat did not necessarily have ‘huang’ as their surnames, but he did not want to debate him; so he let him continue with his story.
“This Old Heretic Huang is not as smart as that Huang Shang. He was extremely intelligent ...” Zhou Botong continued. Guo Jing wanted to say, “It turns out he was also an extremely intelligent person,” but that thought stopped at his mouth.
“This Huang Shang was very afraid he might make a mistake in the writing of the canon; because if the Emperor found out later, he would surely lose his head. Therefore, he read and re-read each volume to make sure his work was error-free. Unexpectedly, after several years of studying the scriptures, he became very proficient in the Taoist doctrines; he had found the profound truths of martial arts. He did not have a master, so he trained himself in internal and external energy cultivation and became a grand master of martial arts. Brother, this Huang Shang was many times smarter than you are. I don’t have his kind of intelligence and I don’t think you do either.”
“Naturally,” Guo Jing said. “If I were to study more than five thousand chapters of scripture, it will take me a life time just to read them from beginning to the end. How would I comprehend the martial arts inside them as well?”
Zhou Botong sighed. “These kinds of intelligent people still exist in the world today,” he said, “But if you meet this kind of people, chances are, you will face unfortunate events.”
Guo Jing did not agree with his view and secretly thought, “Rong’er is very intelligent; but since I met her I have always found good luck. How can he say ‘unfortunate’?” But he was not the kind who liked to argue, so he kept his thoughts to himself.
“Huang Shang had mastered the martial arts, yet he still held an office in the government,” Zhou Botong continued. “There came a time when there suddenly arose a religious movement in the k
ingdom; they called themselves the ‘Ming Cult’ [ming jiao]. It was said that this movement originated in central Asia; a place called Persia. The followers of this Ming Cult: first - did not worship the ‘Supreme Master Lao’ [tai shang lao jun translator note: I think he was a Taoist Deity]; second - did not worship ancestor spirits; third - did not worship Buddha. They only worshipped an old foreign devil. They did not eat meat or drink wine; they were vegetarians. The Emperor Hui Zong only believed in Taoism; so as soon as he found out about this devil cult he issued an imperial decree assigning Huang Shang to eradicate it. Unexpectedly, there were many martial arts masters among the members of the cult. They were fearless of death and fought Huang Shang and his troops, rendering them useless. After several battles Huang Shang and his troops suffered heavy losses. Huang Shang was indignant. He went out and challenged the Devil Cult’s martial arts masters to a one-to-one combat. He personally killed several ‘imperial priests’ [fa wang] and some envoys. How could he know that the people he killed were disciples of well-known Wulin characters; some were their martial uncles, aunts, brothers, sisters or their immediate families. Of course those people were enraged and they came together to face him. They scolded him for not handling the affairs according to Wulin customs, to which Huang Shang replied, ‘I am a government officer and not part of the Wulin world. What do I know about your Wulin customs?’ Those whose family or relatives were killed argued, ‘If you are not part of the Wulin world, then how do you know martial arts? Are you saying that your master only taught you martial arts but did not tell you anything about the Wulin customs?’ Huang Shang replied, ‘I didn’t have a master.’ Of course they did not believe him; so they became involved in a heated argument. What do you think happened?”
“They began to fight each other,” Guo Jing said.
“Obvious, wasn’t it?” Zhou Botong said. “Huang Shang’s martial arts were strange and none of his enemies had seen it before. Because of this he could kill some of them quite easily. However, his enemies were numerous and he was also injured in the fight, so in desperation he ran away. Those enemies then wiped out his parents, wife and children completely.”
