by Jin Yong
This accupoint was beneath the throat, and once hit, Qiu Qian Zhang felt as though a thousand ants were crawling all over him, and he felt extremely numb and itchy. He kept squealing, “Ah! Ah, are you trying to kill me?” Guo Jing, “Then answer me now and I’ll release you.” Qiu Qian Zhang shouted, “Alright, I can’t win you.” Bearing with the discomfort, he revealed everything. So Qiu Qian Ren and Qiu Qian Zhang were actually twins, and their similarities in looks made it difficult to differentiate them. When they were 13, Qiu Qian Ren unintentionally saved the life of the previous Iron Palm Sect Leader; The Leader repaid him by teaching him all his martial arts. When he was 24, Qiu Qian Ren’s martial arts were very outstanding, so when the previous leader passed away, he became the new sect leader. With his talent and determination, he managed to expand his sect and improve its reputation; hence Jiang Hu was well aware of the name “Iron Palms Floating On Water.” During the first Mt. Hua Sword meet, Wang Chong Yang invited him, but though his palm skills were powerful, he knew he was no match for Wang Chong Yang, so he declined to attend the tournament. During the past decade he practiced diligently, hoping to clinch the ‘World No. 1’ title at the 2nd Mt. Hua Sword Meet. It was at this stage that Qiu Qian Zhang took on his brother’s name for himself to brag around outside. The one Guo Jing and Huang Rong met at Gui Yun Manor and Lin’an Mansion was Qiu Qian Zhang. Because of their resemblance and Huang Rong’s carelessness, she sustained such a life-threatening injury. Now this second segment of the middle ‘finger’ was designated as the burial ground for all the previous leaders. The leader would enter this cave to await death when he was about to breathe his last. If the leader died while away, it was considered an honor for any disciple to bring the leader’s remains inside and die with him. Hence, it was declared a sacred and forbidden ground and all who entered must not leave alive. Therefore, when Guo Jing and Huang Rong barged into the cave, the members could only curse them from a Eagle Shooting Hero 851 distance as none dared enter. Even the leader himself had to stoop to cursing them. Why then, did Qiu Qian Zhang dare to enter? Whenever a leader was close to death, he had to bring his favorite weapons and treasures with him, so the cave accumulated a lot of valuables. Hence, Qiu Qian Zhang wanted the weapons for himself to show off. He never expected to see Guo Jing and Huang Rong turn up here. Guo Jing listened to his narration and thought, “This place is forbidden to them, but there’s no other way down, how do we get out of this?” Huang Rong said, “Brother Jing, try looking inside.” Guo Jing said, “Allow me to check your injuries first.” He lit a torch and proceeded to undo her outer dress and Soft Armour. Her snow-white shoulders revealed two black palm-marks, indicating the grave condition of the injuries. If left untreated, the injuries would eventually claim her life. Guo Jing thought, “Ouyang Feng and Qiu Qian Ren’s martial arts are about the same, so Huang Rong’s injuries are probably just as a huge problem as Master’s injuries.” He stared into blank space. Qiu Qian Zhang yelled, “What rubbish is this lass talking now? Hurry up and unseal my accupoint. The itch is killing me, why don’t you try it yourself?” Guo Jing, though, was oblivious to all that.
Huang Rong smiled, “Silly boy, relax. Release that old man.” Guo Jing then walked over and released his accupoint. Qiu Qian Zhang’s itch stopped but his ‘Yin Du’ accupoint was still sealed, so he remained motionless apart from his pupils. Guo Jing found a 2-foot long club and lit it as a torch, saying, “Rong-er, I’ll go take a look inside, will you be OK here alone?” Huang Rong’s temperature rose and dropped rapidly and the pain was almost unbearable, but she forced a smile, “With this old man, I’m not afraid, go ahead.”
Guo Jing raised up the torch and treaded carefully. After 2 turns, he came to a large natural cave which was 10 times larger than the cave outside. He scanned the room and observed many skeletons; some sitting, some lying, some scattered on the ground while some had missing bones. Each skeleton had some sort of weapon or treasure at its side. Guo Jing dreamily thought, “These ex-leaders must have been the great men of their day, yet today they are reduced to bones. Still, at least they have each other for company. This is good; at least it beats being buried alone.” It was as though he did not notice the weapons and treasure in his anxiety for Huang Rong. Just as he was about to leave, he happened to lay his eyes on a wooden box next to a skeleton. He shone his torch on it and looked closely and saw the inscription, “Secrets to Overcoming the Jin,” He started, “Maybe this is the manual by Grand Marshal Yue,” He tugged at the box when the skeleton suddenly ‘leapt’ toward him.
Guo Jing was shocked and hurriedly jumped back while the skeleton smashed on the ground. He grabbed the box and dashed out. He then supported Huang Rong up and opened the box in front of her. There were two books inside. Flipping through the first book, Guo Jing saw that its contents were Yue Fei’s essays and other literary works. As he glanced through the words and passages he was filled with a strong surge of loyalty and righteousness, and he sighed in admiration. Huang Rong said, “Read a passage to me.” He flipped through casually and recited the passage , “Since the strife in the Central Plains began, the Barbarians have invaded, anger flowed like the spring river; rising united, armies assembled, fighting hundreds of battles. Though we failed to advance far, we cleansed their lair, and swiftly ending the feud between states. Yet today the lone army marches on, for Yixing. The war of Jing Kang defeated and humiliated our lands, and our hatred will not rein our horses. The troops lay in wait for the enemy, raising the morale of the soldiers; battling through time, moving through the northern desert, shedding blood in the cities, exterminating the Barbarians, welcoming the return of the 2 sages, capturing their land; the Imperial Court had no worries, the Emperor slept in peace, and so Yue Fei wrote.” The passage summarized Yue Fei’s life ambitions. Though Guo Jing’s literacy was limited, he was filled with the desire to serve the people. While he read some of the words wrongly, he nevertheless felt the essay was extremely well written.
If they were back at Gui Yun manor, Qiu Qian Zhang would not have hesitated to mock and scorn Yue Fei, but now he feared his accupoint would be sealed again. Though he was not well informed about Yue Fei, he still nodded his head, saying, “Yes, it’s indeed well written, and a worthy hero is reading a hero’s essay, nothing could be better.”
Huang Rong sighed, “No wonder Father kept lamenting that he was born decades late; if not he would definitely meet such a great hero. Please recite his poems,” Guo Jing went through a few poems, and some like were familiar to her, while others like were new to her.<br /><br /> The Iron Palm Sect members continued to shout and curse; Guo Jing let Huang Rong’s head rest on his thigh while he continued to recite Yue Fei’s works, “The title is <Title of the Sun Dragon’s Residence> : At the Wei Mountain Monastery, the mountain spring defeats the stillness. At the Buddha’s statue in Zijin, the snow covered the old monk’s head. The cold lake water welcomes a new month, and the pine tree welcomes the autumn wind. I leave the dragon’s words, hoping to aid the people in the storm.” The wind blew and the birds chirped as Huang Rong rested snugly in Guo Jing’s arms. Guo Jing said, “Grand Marshal Yue deeply remembered the suffering of the people; he is a true hero indeed.” Huang Rong nodded and smiled, “The young hero is reading the works of a great hero while and old ‘hero’ is listening in. How redundant.” She then asked, “What’s the contents of the other book?” Guo Jing read a few lines inside and excitedly exclaimed, “This, this is really Grand Marshal Yue’s hand written text on the war strategies! Wanyan Hong Lie would never have imagined that this it. Fortunately it’s not been taken by him.” On the first page was written, in 18 bold words: Repeatedly examine plans, Tough/rigorous training, Equal rewards/punishments, Clear uncompromising orders, Fair/just rules, Everyone sharing hardship.<br /><br /> As they were reading, the shouting below abruptly ceased and not a single voice was heard. Suddenly, they were left in the unnatural silence. Guo <br/>Jing and Huang Rong listened carefully and heard the crackling of burning grass in the distance as Qiu Qian Zhang groaned loudly, “Today you<br /><br /> 2 dolls have caused my destruction.” In his panic, he called them “dolls” again. Guo Jing rushed out and saw a whole wall of fire swiftly burning towards them. As the mountain was filled with tall grass, the flames rapidly spread to form a sea of fire.<br /><br /> Guo Jing gasped, “They don’t dare step into this forbidden territory, so they’re attacking by fire. The cave doesn’t have any flammable objects, but we’d surely be fried.” He immediately grabbed Huang Rong when he heard Qiu Qian Zhang screaming on the ground, so he kicked him lightly to unseal his accupoint to let him make his own escape. He then snatched the wooden box and ran up the mountain. They were still a few hundred metres from the summit. Guo Jing gathered his concentration and sprinted upwards with Qiu Qian Zhang following behind. Guo Jing looked down and saw the fire spreading in the distance and knew that thought they temporarily safe, it would not be for long, so he gave a long sigh. Huang Rong suddenly said, “Grand Marshal Yue’s given name is ‘Fei’ (fly), styled ‘Crane’. Let’s try ‘Condor’, how about that?” Guo Jing asked, “What condor?” Huang Rong said, “Call the condors up to fetch us down.” Guo Jing jumped up and exclaimed, “That would be fun. I’ll summon them. But I’m not sure they can take our weight.” Huang Rong sighed, “After all we’re heading for doom, so we might as well take the risk.” Guo Jing sat properly and gathered his Qi in his Dan Tian and made a loud, shrill whistle which propagated in all directions. This was the result of his internal energy training under Ma Yu, and with the [Nine Yin<br /><br /> Manual], his internal energy improved by leaps and bounds. Though it was quite a great distance between the base and the summit, it was not long before the condors flew up and stopped in front of them. Guo Jing helped Huang Rong remove the Soft Armour and placed her on a condor’s back. He was worried that she might not be able to hold on tightly to it with her injury, so he strapped her down with a cloth belt. Mounting the other condor, he whistled and the condors flapped their wings. They trembled greatly as they took off, but once in flight, the condors stabilized. At first, Guo Jing feared that he might be too heavy, but once it spread it s wings, it flew effortlessly. Huang Rong, being a child at heart, felt this was an interesting sight, so she guided the condor towards Qiu Qian Zhang and it glided gracefully past him. Qiu Qian Zhang was shocked and shouted, “Miss, take me along. The fire will consume me soon!” Huang Rong laughed, “It can’t take the weight of 2 people. Why don’t you try begging your brother? Since his shorter by 3000 chi, wouldn’t he listen to you?” She tapped the bird and flew away; Qiu Qian Zhang became more and nervous and called out, “Miss, don’t you think this is interesting?” Her curiosity was aroused and she turned around to what he was up to. Suddenly, he launched himself forward, throwing his body off the mountain to grab her. He knew that either way he would die, so he took such a desperate gamble. With the sudden increase in weight, the condor plunged swiftly. It flapped its wings frantically but still could not produce enough lift. Qiu Qian Zhang grabbed Huang Rong’s back and tried to yank her off and toss her down, but she was strapped to the condor which prevented her from falling off. They were about to plunge to their death, and the Iron Palm Sect members who witnessed them were too shocked to speak. At this critical moment, Guo Jing’s condor flew straight at them and pecked at Qiu Qian Zhang’s head. He felt a sharp pain shoot through his head and he stretched out his hands to shield his head. But he lost his grip and flipped downwards, screaming madly as he fell into the valley below. The decrease in weight allowed the condor to regain its thrust and it gained altitude. The two condors then flew north.<br /><br /> End of Chapter 28.<br /><br /> Author’s Note:<br /><br /> Yue Fei’s poem <The crimson River> ( ) was very well known, but the Song Dynasty had<br /><br /> no known records of it. Yue Fei and Sun Yue He’s <Jin Soldier’s Passages> and <Domestic Calling Volume>, a compilation of Yue Fei’s literary works have not been found to date. The text quoted above first appeared in the Ming Dynasty, so some believe that it belongs to the works of Ming Dynasty authors. Some sources claim that these works are of no value as they merely used Yue Fei’s name for the works.<br /><br /> Chapter 29 - The Lady of the Black Marsh<br /><br /> Translated by Frans Soetomo<br /><br /> On the long table were seven oil lamps, arranged in the Big Dipper formation; on the ground squatted a grey-haired lady, her attention focused on the countless bamboo strips scattered on the ground. So deep was her concentration that even when she heard people come in, she did not raise her head to look.<br /><br /> Riding on the back of the eagle Guo Jing repeatedly shouted, calling the little red horse on the ground to follow them. In a short moment the pair of eagles had covered quite a distance. Although this pair of eagles was extraordinarily big, they were not able to fly too far while carrying humans on their back. Not too long afterwards, they started to descend and finally landed on the ground.<br /><br /> Guo Jing immediately jumped down the eagle’s back and rushed to see Huang Rong’s condition. He found out that Huang Rong had passed out while on the eagle’s back. Hastily he untied her belt and massaged her pulse. After a while Huang Rong regained her consciousness, but she was still in a daze and was unable to utter any word.<br /><br /> By that time the dark clouds were hanging on the sky, blocking the moon and stars from shining their lights to the ground. Having barely escaped from death, when he recalled what had just happened Guo Jing still shivered with fear. He held Huang Rong in his hands, standing in the middle of the wilderness. He felt the world was vast and obscure and did not know where he should go. He did not dare to call his little red horse for fear that Qiu Qianren would hear his call.<br /><br /> After standing still for half a day, he had no choice but to start walking. Every step he took he treaded on either a bush or tall grass; there was no pathway at all. His calves were pricked by thorns along the way. Although feeling the pain, he doggedly walked forward. All around him was pitch-black; even if he tried to open his eyes wide he still could not see his hands in front of his eyes. He was forced to walk very slow, for fear that he would step into an empty space; yet because he feared the Iron Palm Clan people would pursue, he did not dare to pause.<br /><br /> After walking miserably for about two ‘li’s [1 li is approximately 0.5 km] suddenly he saw a big star twinkling low on the horizon to his left. He looked attentively, trying to get his bearing; he found out that that was not a star, but a fire light. And where there was light, there were bound to be people around. Guo Jing was delighted; he sped up his footsteps walking directly to that light. He saw that the light sometimes disappeared among the tree; it looked like the source of that light was inside a thick forest ahead of him. But once he entered the forest he was unable to walk straight, the pathway was bent to the east and turned to the west, so very soon he lost sight of the light. It was difficult to see where he was going in that thick forest, so he jumped up a tree and looked around; he found out that the light was already behind him.<br /><br /> He walked back, but very soon he lost sight again. After seemingly walking in circles his head was spinning; no matter where he went, he simply could not reach that light. He was thinking about his pair of eagles and his horse, but did not know where they went. He was thinking about jumping from tree to tree, but it was so dark that he could not see where to step; also he was afraid the tree branches would hurt Huang Rong. But they had to find lodging for the night for he knew they could not stay in this dark forest waiting for dawn. He determined to keep walking even if he had to bump his head on the trees. Therefore, he decided to calm down and caught his breath first, taking a short break.<br /><br /> By now Huang Rong had slowly regained her consciousness; on Guo Jing’s back she felt how he walked around, turning to the east and curving to the west. Although she could not see anything she began to understand the pathway of the forest. “Jing Gege, walk diagonally to the right,” she said in low voice.<br /><br /> &<br/>nbsp; “Rong’er, are you all right?” Guo Jing happily asked.<br /><br /> Huang Rong mumbled indistinctly, she was still too weak to speak. Guo Jing walked following her direction. Huang Rong silently counted his footsteps. After about seventeen steps she said, “Walk to the left eight steps.” Guo Jing followed her instruction. Huang Rong again said, “Walk diagonally to the right again for thirteen steps.”<br /><br /> With one giving direction the other following, two people made a good progress in that pitch-black winding forest pathway. When Guo Jing walked back and forth earlier, Huang Rong had deducted correctly that this pathway was manmade. She had partially mastered Huang Yaoshi’s wonderful ‘wu xing qi men’ [five ways strange/wonderful/mysterious gates] technique; even though the pathway was confusing, she could see it clearly with her eyes closed. If it were daylight, she would have arrived sooner, but in the dark she could not identify any safe trail at all.<br /><br /> By following Huang Rong’s instructions, Guo Jing walked sometimes to the left, sometimes to the right, sometimes diagonally several steps to the left or to the right; sometimes seemingly he walked further away from the light, but in less than a time needed to drink a cup of tea the light source suddenly appeared in front of them. Guo Jing was delighted, he dashed forward.<br /><br /> “Not too fast!” Huang Rong anxiously called out. “Aiyo!” Guo Jing cried out. His feet sank straight into a moat. Quickly he kicked his feet to pull out from the moat. Once they were back on solid ground, a strong fume of mud from his feet attacked their nostrils. They looked ahead and vaguely saw two thatched huts surrounded by a thin layer of mist. The light was coming from these huts.<br /><br /> Guo Jing loudly called out, “We are passing visitors, also suffering a serious injury. We beseech the master of the house to grant us a place to rest and some water to drink.” But after waiting for half a day no reply came out from the huts. Guo Jing called again, but still nobody answered. After calling out for the third time a female voice answered from the huts, “You can get this far, certainly you have the ability to enter the house. Must I come out to greet you?” Her voice was exceptionally cold and indifferent; obviously she did not welcome the visitor and did not want to be disturbed.<br /><br /> <br/> </p></div> <p class="pr"><a href='https://whosread.com/494629/12150590.amp' class='p' rel='Prev'> ‹ Prev</a> <a href='https://whosread.com/494629/12150609.amp' class='n' rel='next'>Next › </a></p> </article> </div> <div class="sharebar"><amp-social-share layout="flex-item" type="facebook" data-share-endpoint="https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https://whosread.com/494629/12150599.amp" data-param-href=""></amp-social-share><amp-social-share layout="flex-item" type="whatsapp" data-param-text="Legend of Condor Heroes Book 3 Page 43 https://whosread.com/494629/12150599.amp"></amp-social-share><amp-social-share layout="flex-item" type="line" data-param-url="https://whosread.com/494629/12150599.amp" data-param-text="Legend of Condor Heroes Book 3 Page 43"></amp-social-share></div> <amp-analytics type="googleanalytics" config="https://amp.analytics-debugger.com/ga4.json" data-credentials="include"> <script type="application/json"> { "vars": { "GA4_MEASUREMENT_ID": "G-0STZB99JYV", "GA4_ENDPOINT_HOSTNAME": "www.google-analytics.com", "DEFAULT_PAGEVIEW_ENABLED": true, "GOOGLE_CONSENT_ENABLED": false, "WEBVITALS_TRACKING": true, "PERFORMANCE_TIMING_TRACKING": false, "SEND_DOUBLECLICK_BEACON": false } } </script> </amp-analytics> <amp-analytics id="analytics_liveinternet">
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