by Jin Yong
“I was bitten by a viper! I am dying!” Zhou Botong shouted.
Guo Jing was shocked as he held Zhou Botong’s body. His expression had changed; he leaned on Guo Jing’s shoulder and slowly walked back to the cave. Guo Jing quickly tore a piece of his clothing and tightly wrapped it around Zhou Botong’s thigh to prevent the venom from reaching the heart.
Guo Jing took a piece of flint from his pocket and lit a fire. In the bright firelight he could see more clearly. His heart jumped to his throat. Zhou Botong’s calf was swollen very badly.
“This island does not have this kind of venomous green viper. I wonder where it came from?” Zhou Botong said weakly. “The snake wouldn’t be able to bite me when I practice normally. But this time I was practicing two sets of fist techniques; I had all my attention on my movements ... Ay!”
Guo Jing heard his trembling voice and knew the poison was severe. If Zhou Botong had not possessed a profound internal energy he would have died earlier. Nervously he bent over and sucked on the wound.
“You can’t do that!” Zhou Botong cried out. “The snake’s venom is extraordinary. It will kill you.”
But Guo Jing was only thinking of saving Zhou Botong’s life; he did not even think of his own safety. His right arm held Zhou Botong’s body firmly, while his mouth continued sucking. Zhou Botong tried to struggle, but his body was weak and he could not move. A little while later he passed out.
Guo Jing kept sucking the venom out and spat it on the ground. With the poison drained out of his body, plus his profound internal energy Zhou Botong slowly regained consciousness. His eyes were still heavy lidded. Half awake he said, “Brother, your Big Brother is going to return to heaven today. But before leaving this world I gained your friendship, my heart is extremely happy.”
Even though Guo Jing had only crossed Zhou Botong’s path a short while ago, because they were of the same straightforward and honest nature, they hit it off immediately. He felt like they had known each other for dozens of years. Right now, as he looked at his dying face, he couldn’t prevent tears from flowing down his cheeks.
Zhou Botong smiled sadly and said, “The ‘Nine Yin Manual’ is hidden inside a box beneath the stone where I usually sit. I was going to give it to you; but since you sucked the deadly snake venom, you will not live long. We two will walk hand in hand to the underworld. No need to fear that we won’t have someone to play with. We will play as four people in the clouds ... No, as four ghosts ... that would be interesting. The bigheaded ghost and the grim reaper will be baffled watching us. The ghost world won’t be the same.” Speaking like this made him quite happy.
Guo Jing heard Zhou Botong say that he too was going to die, but he did not feel anything unusual. He used the fire to examine himself. The fire was about to burn out, so he took Huang Rong’s letter and burned it. He then looked around the cave entrance to find a dried branch or grass, but in the hot summer weather the vegetation around him was green and lush.
He was getting more and more anxious. He groped in his pocket to find something that could be used as a torch. But he found nothing, except that leather-like thing wrapped around his dagger that came from Mei Chaofeng. Without giving it a second thought he lit that thing and extended it to examine Zhou Botong’s face. He saw his face turning gray, no longer ruddy like a child’s.
Zhou Botong saw the flickering fire and showed a faint smile. He saw Guo Jing’s countenance had not changed; there was no sign of poison at all. He was confused. He blinked his eyes and looked at the fire. He saw the thing that Guo Jing used as a torch had characters written all over it. He squinted, trying to read what was written; after reading about ten characters or so he was startled. He recognized that the words were taken from the ‘Nine Yin Manual’. He didn’t have time to ask 520 Eagle Shooting Hero
any questions so he just raised his hand and struck out the fire, asking, “Brother, what kind of medicine did you take? How come the deadly poison did not affect you?”
Guo Jing guessed it was because he’d drunk the blood of Liang Ziwong’s big ginseng-fed snake. So he said, “I once drank a big snake’s blood; perhaps that is why I can resist the snake’s venom.”
Zhou Botong pointed to the leather on the ground, “That is a very precious thing; it absolutely cannot be destroyed ...” he passed out before he could finish his sentence.
At this time Guo Jing did not care about any precious objects; he was busy sealing Zhou Botong’s ‘Palace Crossing’ [gong guo] acupoint, but it did not help. He felt Zhou Botong’s calf; it was hot and very swollen.
“Four weaving machines, mandarin ducks fly in pairs ...” he heard Zhou Botong mutter indistinctly.
“What did you say?” Guo Jing asked.
“Too bad that old fellow’s head has turned white, too bad ...” Zhou Botong sighed.
Guo Jing knew he was delirious from the poison and he was very anxious. He dashed out of the cave and climbed a tree outside, shouting loudly, “Rong’er! Rong’er! Island Master Huang! Island Master Huang! Help.. .help!” But Peach Blossom Island encompassed an area of more than ten li across; it was a big island. Huang Yaoshi’s residence was located on the other side of the island. Guo Jing’s shout was in vain. The only response he heard was his own voice echoing from the mountain and valley ahead, “ ... Island Master Huang! Help! Help .!”
Guo Jing jumped down from the tree, at a loss. In that critical moment an idea flashed into his mind, “Snake’s venom cannot harm me; perhaps my blood contains an antidote to the snake’s poison.” Without wasting another second he fumbled about on the ground, looking for the big green bowl that Zhou Botong used to drink tea from everyday. He took his dagger and without hesitation sliced his left arm and let his blood drip into the bowl until the dripping stopped by itself. He made another cut until blood filled the bowl. Then he propped Zhou Botong up on his knee and with his left hand he forced Zhou Botong’s mouth open and with his right hand fed him the blood.
Although he was young and his body strong, losing that much blood had drained his energy. After feeding it all to Zhou Botong he leaned against the cave wall and closed his eyes; he fell asleep not long afterward.
He didn’t know how long he slept, but he felt someone tending his wounds. He opened his eyes and saw Zhou Botong’s white hair and beard. Guo Jing was delighted. “You ... you ... are you well?” he called out.
“I am well, Brother. You have sacrificed yourself to save my life,” Zhou Botong said. “I am sure the grim reaper is greatly disappointed; I am not that easy to kill.”
Guo Jing looked at Zhou Botong’s calf and saw that the dark swelling was no longer there, only a red inflammation that was not life threatening.
That morning the two sat together to meditate, cultivate their inner strength and revitalize their bodies. After lunch Zhou Botong asked Guo Jing the origins of the leather wrap. Guo Jing gathered his thoughts for a moment then started narrating how his Second Shifu at Cloud Manor had taken some things from Mei Chaofeng; the dagger was amongst those things and the leather was wrapped around it. Later he also noticed the characters, but he did not know what they were so he simply kept it in his pocket without giving it another thought.
Zhou Botong mumbled and was lost in thought for a long time. “Big Brother, you said it was a very precious object, what is it?” Guo Jing asked.
“I have to examine it before I can answer your question. I don’t know if it is the real thing; but since it came from Mei Chaofeng, I have strong reasons to believe it is,” Zhou Botong replied. Taking the leather he looked at it from top to bottom.
Wang Chongyang won the book, not for his personal gain, but to avoid bloodshed amongst the people of Wulin; therefore, he had strictly forbidden his disciples from ever learning any martial arts from the book. Zhou Botong naturally did not dare to disobey his martial brother’s last words. But he recalled what Madame Huang said, ‘Simply taking a look without training it can not be considered disobeying.’ He’d spent fifteen years in the ca
ve without anything to do, so out of boredom he had read the first volume of the ‘Nine Yin Manual’ that was in his possession. However, the first volume only contained the methods of cultivating internal energy as well as the basics of swordsmanship; there were no real profound martial arts to defeat an opponent. It was useless if one did not learn the second volume.
Over these past ten years or so, Zhou Botong read the first volume over and over again; he even made some guesses as to what the second volume contained. As soon as he read the leather wrap, he immediately knew it was related to what he had already memorized.
Zhou Botong raised his eyes to the distant hills and was deep in thought. He loved martial arts; in fact he was obsessed with them. Now he had in his hand the world’s greatest and most profound martial arts manual. In all honesty he wanted very much to learn what was in the book; not to build up his own reputation, not to seek vengeance, also not to show off his prowess or to rule the world; he was simply and purely curious to see how profound the martial arts in the book actually were.
He recalled his martial brother’s story of Huang Shang compiling the 5481 chapters of the Everlasting Life Taoist Canon [aka The Book of Salvation]; then later on he spent forty years painstakingly studying various exquisite martial arts from various schools. This was no small matter. The ‘Twin Killers of the Dark Winds’ only got hold of the second volume and they only managed to learn two techniques among the many; yet they were able to wreak havoc in Jianghu. What if they had been able to learn the entire second volume? The result would be inconceivable. But martial brother’s last words could not be disobeyed. Zhou Botong pondered these things in his heart; he heaved a heavy sigh, put the leather inside his pocket, closed his eyes and fell asleep.
After having a good rest, he took a tree branch to dig a hole in which he intended to bury both volumes. He was digging and sighing at the same time. Suddenly an idea came to him and he exploded in laughter and cheers, “That’s right! That’s right! I can have it both ways!” He was so ecstatic that he startled Guo Jing, “Big Brother, what both ways?” But Zhou Botong merely laughed without saying anything. It looked like he’d come up with a really great idea.
“Brother Guo is not my Quanzhen Sect’s disciple. I will teach him and let him train; then I will see the results,” he thought. “That way I can satisfy my curiosity and follow martial brother’s dying wish at the same time.” He was going to tell this idea to Guo Jing when he suddenly had another thought, “From the way he speaks I gather he detests the ‘Nine Yin Manual’. He thinks it is an evil martial art; but that is because the ‘Twin Killers of the Dark Winds’ who only looked at the second volume. They did not learn the first volume. It would have told them how to cultivate their inner energy and build a foundation for the subsequent techniques. They only took the fiercest martial arts they could find and that resulted in the monstrosity of their martial arts. I’d better not tell him anything; I’ll let him practice and let him know afterwards. By that time he will have mastered the books’ martial arts and even if he wanted to get rid of them he won’t be able to do anything about it. Won’t that be interesting?”
By nature he was mischievous; other people would scold him or get mad at him, he did not care. Other people loved him or showed him favor, but he did not give it a thought. As long as he could play or make practical jokes and have fun, he would be happy. Now that he had thought of this idea he maintained his composure and with a straight face he told Guo Jing, “Younger Brother [Xian Di], during my fifteen years inside this cave I have created not only the ‘Vacant Fist’ and the ‘Mutual Hands Combat’ techniques, but also some other ones. Now that we don’t have anything to do, what do you say to me teaching you some more to pass the time away?”
“Nothing could be better,” Guo Jing said, “But Rong’er said she is thinking of a way to get us out of here .”
“Has she found a way out for us?” Zhou Botong asked.
“Not yet,” Guo Jing replied.
“Then what’s wrong with learning new things while waiting for her?” Zhou Botong suggested.
Guo Jing happily complied, “That will work. Big Brother’s other martial arts must be marvelous.”
Zhou Botong laughed inside, “Don’t you be happy yet,” he thought, “You have fallen for my scheme!” So he immediately passed on the essence of the ‘Nine Yin Manual’ a little at a time from his memory. Naturally Guo Jing did not immediately understand it, but Zhou Botong was very patient. He would repeat the lesson as many times as needed. As for the lessons from the second volume on the leather wrap, he would memorize it first when Guo Jing was not looking, and then he would pass it on as he had memorized it.
The ‘Nine Yin Manual’ contained various martial arts techniques which were different from each other. Zhou Botong taught the theory but did not give any examples on how to do it. He let Guo Jing ponder them and find out on his own. Afterward he would test the newly learned technique against his Quanzhen Sect’s martial arts.
After several days he started to see the marvelous martial arts of the ‘Nine Yin Manual’ which Guo Jing was gradually mastering; however, Guo Jing was still completely unaware that he was learning the ‘Nine Yin Manual’. Zhou Botong was very happy; he would often smile in his sleep.
In the meantime Huang Rong kept preparing food for Guo Jing, although she did not show up personally. Guo Jing’s heart became contented and his skills advanced more quickly.
One day Zhou Botong was teaching the ‘Nine Yin Divine Claw’ [jiu yin shen zhua]; he instructed Guo Jing to use all of his fingers to practice against the cave’s wall. Guo Jing had practiced this several times when he suddenly realized something. “Big Brother,” he said, “I think Mei Chaofeng also learned this kind of martial arts, only she practiced against humans. She could insert her five fingers inside someone’s skull. It was very cruel.”
Zhou Botong was startled, “That’s true,” he thought, “Mei Chaofeng did not know the first volume’s contents so she followed the instructions literally. The second volume only stated ‘concentrate the energy in the five fingers and firmly attack the enemy’s head.’ She did not know that ‘the enemy’s head’ means the enemy’s vital points and not literally to insert five fingers into the enemy’s skull. It’s no wonder she thought she had to train using real skulls. The ‘Nine Yin Manual’ contains lessons for spiritual purity to chase evil spirits away; how could it teach anyone to practice her type of cruel and ferocious martial arts? That old hag strayed too far from the truth. Brother Guo is already suspicious so I’d better not teach him that kind of martial arts.” Thereupon he smiled and said, “Mei Chaofeng practices a demonic type of martial arts; how can she be compared with our true orthodox school of martial arts? All right, we won’t train this ‘Divine Claw’ martial art for the time being; instead, I will teach you more of our Quanzhen heritage martial arts.”
While speaking he hatched another good idea, “I will teach him the first volume until he really comprehends everything. Then I will continue with the second volume. He will see the logical connection between the first and the second and he won’t be suspicious any longer.” So he started to recite the theory from the first volume and told Guo Jing to memorize it.
The lessons in the manual were very deep and profound; how could Guo Jing comprehend everything? Zhou Botong realized Guo Jing was slow, so he told him to recite it aloud. After repeating them dozens of times Guo Jing was able to memorize almost everything. He did not understand the meaning of some of it, but he memorized it anyway. Several days passed and Zhou Botong had passed on most of the book, so he told Guo Jing to start practicing his internal energy cultivation.
Guo Jing felt that the internal energy cultivation method was similar to the one he’d learned from Ma Yu, only this one was deeper and more difficult. He credited that to the fact that Zhou Botong was Ma Yu’s martial uncle, so naturally his way of cultivating internal energy would be profounder than Ma Yu’s. He also recalled that when Mei Chaofeng sat
on his shoulder battling enemies in the Zhao palace she’d asked him some questions about internal energy cultivation which he was able to answer. He did not suspect anything at all. Although he frequently noticed Zhou Botong’s funny expression, as though he was amused by something, he thought it was Zhou Botong’s natural disposition to play jokes. Maybe he was thinking of other amusing things.
The manual contained more than one thousand gibberish characters without any clear meaning. For the past several years Zhou Botong had repeatedly pondered over those words in the cave, but he still did not have a clue as to what they meant. Nevertheless he passed them on to Guo Jing anyway. When Guo Jing asked what they meant, Zhou Botong simply said, “This secret can’t be divulged right now, you will understand it when the time comes.”
Memorizing those thousand or so words without understanding what they meant was a hundred times more difficult than memorizing a regular book. It might not be too difficult for a sharp minded person; but even though Guo Jing was slow, he had strong determination. After more than a thousand times of reciting those words he eventually was able to memorize everything.
Guo Jing woke up early one morning and immediately started practicing his martial arts. When breakfast came he noticed another unusual steamed bun. Without waiting to finish his meal he took the bun into the forest and immediately crushed the wax pill inside to get the letter. Once he had taken a glance he could not help but feel very anxious. The letter said, ‘Jing ge ge, Western Poison has proposed to Father to give my hand in marriage to his nephew, and Father answered ...” The letter was not finished, indicating that she was writing it in a hurry. It looked like the word after ‘answered’ was ‘yes’.
Guo Jing’s mind was frantic; he waited impatiently for the old servant to clean up then he hastily showed the letter to Zhou Botong.
