by Jin Yong
On the sideline Guo Jing was watching with full attention; whether it was an attack or a defense, every single move was a wonderful one and beyond his wildest imagination. The ‘Nine Yin Manual’ contained the deepest martial arts theory in the world whether it be internal or external energy cultivation, bare hands or swordplay, and other kinds of the most profound martial arts imaginable. After Guo Jing memorized the content by heart and even though he did not understand every single one of them, those theories were actually ingrained in his brain. Now as he watched those two combatants exchanging exquisite moves, those theories came flooding back into his mind, forming a fuzzy shadow in his brain.
Earlier he’d listened to Huang Yaoshi and Ouyang Feng’s flute versus zither battle. That was an invisible internal energy battle and it was extremely difficult to clearly see their relationship to the theory in the manual. This time the battle was fists and kicks and much easier to perceive. In his delight, his heart was itching to try what he had seen.
Very quickly Hong Qigong and Ouyang Feng had exchanged more than three hundred stances. Both were surprised at their opponent’s skill and could not help but praise each other in their hearts. On the side-lines Huang Yaoshi looked on with a sigh and thought, “I have trained myself painstakingly on Peach Blossom Island and I thought, after Wang Chongyang passed away, my martial arts would be number one in the world. Who would have thought that the Old Beggar and Old Poison have both taken their own paths and reached these frightfully respectable levels of martial arts?”
Both Ouyang Ke and Huang Rong were deep in their own thoughts and each hoped that their side would gain a quick victory. But they actually could not comprehend the exquisiteness of the martial arts being displayed in front of their eyes. From the corner of her eye Huang Rong saw a black shadow dancing erratically with flailing hands and feet moving constantly. She turned her head and discovered that the shadow was Guo Jing. Guo Jing’s expression was strange and it looked like he was in ecstasy. Her heart skipped a beat. “Jing ge ge!” she called with a low voice.
Guo Jing did not hear her; he was too busy moving his hands and feet. Huang Rong felt anxious, so she watched attentively and discovered that Guo Jing was actually imitating Hong Qigong and Ouyang Feng’s movements.
By now those two had changed the way they were fighting; every fist and every kick was sent out slowly. Sometimes they would stand still for a moment, and then send out a fist. After they
exchanged one stance, they would sit down on the ground to take a rest; then stand up and exchange
another move. In fact, the way they were fighting was slower than two disciples practicing martial arts. But looking at their faces, one could see the seriousness of their expressions, almost to the point of being very tense.
Huang Rong glanced towards her father and saw him looking intently at those two and his face was also unusually tense. Ouyang Ke was the only person around who’d maintained his calmness. He looked at her flirtatiously while lightly waving his folding fan.
Guo Jing saw an unconventional move and he could not restrain from cheering loudly. Ouyang Ke was irritated, “Your dirty kid does not understand anything, what is he shouting about?”
“Just because you don’t understand, how would you know whether or not other people understand?” Huang Rong shot back.
Ouyang Ke laughed, “He’s just flailing his hands and feet foolishly. Given his young age, how would he know the wonder of my uncle’s divine martial arts?”
“You are not him; how would you know what he knows?” Huang Rong replied.
While the two were bickering on the side, Huang Yaoshi and Guo Jing turned a deaf ear on them; they were watching the fight with rapt attention.
By that time both Hong Qigong and Ouyang Feng were squatting on the ground; one with his left middle finger pointed to his forehead and the other used both hands to cover his ears. Both were thinking very hard with their eyes closed. Suddenly they shouted and simultaneously leapt towards each other; one sent his fist and the other used his leg; then they separated again.
Those two people had reached the level where each and every single one of the martial arts belonging to their own family or school had no flaws whatsoever. However, they both knew that no matter how fierce their stance was, the opponent would easily break it. Therefore, they had to create a new and unknown move in order to gain the upper hand.
After their sword meet twenty years ago, both men, one residing on the Central Plains, the other from the Western Regions, had not met or even heard of the other’s present state, so they did not know how much the other man had improved his martial arts. Now that they were fighting each other, the situation was not much different. Each had his own strengths; each had his own weaknesses and neither could tell who would overcome who. In the meantime the moonlight had faded and one could see a streak of sunlight glowing in the east. Both had racked their brains and had created innumerable new and wonderful moves; fist or palm techniques along with tens of thousands variations thereof, but still, no one could tell which one was better.
Guo Jing witnessed the fight between two top experts of the present age’s martial arts world; wonderful moves and exquisite techniques came one after another. Sometimes he understood, but
more often he did not. Sometimes he saw something that was related to the theory taught him by Zhou Botong which made him excited and he wanted to try. But before he could finish half a stance, Hong Qigong and Ouyang Feng had already launched new moves and Guo Jing had already forgotten the previous move he was trying to master.
When Huang Rong saw Guo Jing like that, she was alarmed. “I have not seen him for dozens of days; could it be that he’s had some profound martial arts lessons from a divine being?” she thought, “I’m watching the fight and I got confused; how could he exclaim in admiration?” But then another thought came to her mind, “Could it be that this silly brother of mine missed me so much that he went insane?”
She had not seen Guo Jing for quite some time and now that they’ve seen each other again, the situation was not conducive for them to be affectionate. She moved forward, wanting to hold Guo Jing’s hand. Right at that moment Guo Jing was imitating Ouyang Feng’s palm technique; he was turning his body around and launched a palm attack. It looked ordinary, but in actuality it carried enormous hidden energy. Her hand barely touched Guo Jing’s palm when she suddenly felt a surge of incredible energy pushing her. She was sent flying upward.
After touching Huang Rong’s hand, Guo Jing came back to reality. “Aiyo!” he shouted and jumped up to grab Huang Rong’s waist. While falling back down to the ground, Guo Jing’s left hand grabbed the bamboo pavilion’s eave. He swung their bodies and they landed on the roof. The two sat shoulder to shoulder on top of the bamboo pavilion watching the fight on the ground.
By that time the battle situation on the ground had changed again. Ouyang Feng was squatting on the ground with both arms bent at the shoulder, resembling a big frog about to strike at its enemy. His mouth created some deep rumbling noises like a cow mooing; sometimes it was audible and sometimes it wasn’t.
Huang Rong was amused; she smiled and with a low voice asked, “Jing ge ge, what is he doing?”
“I don’t know,” Guo Jing replied. But suddenly he remembered Zhou Botong’s story about Wang Chongyang’s ‘Solitary Yang Finger’ breaking Ouyang Feng’s ‘Toad Stance’. “That must be it!” he exclaimed, “This is his fiercest martial art; it is called the ‘Toad Stance’.”
Huang Rong clapped her hands and laughed, “He does look like a toad!”
Ouyang Ke had observed the two sitting close and leaning toward each other, talking and laughing; his heart was burning with jealousy. He wanted to leap up and fight Guo Jing, but his chest was still hurting and he could not exert any strength. Besides, he did not have any confidence that his martial arts were superior to Guo Jing’s. But hearing Huang Rong say ‘he looks like a toad’ he thought they were ridiculing him and saying that he looked like a
dirty toad desiring to eat swan’s meat [a lascivious man lusting after an innocent maiden?]; he was furious. With his right hand holding three hidden projectiles he quietly walked around toward the back of the bamboo pavilion. Gritting his teeth he moved his hand and three silvery streaks flew towards Guo Jing’s chest.
In the meantime Hong Qigong was launching his palms to the front and to the back, busily fighting Ouyang Feng’s ‘Toad Stance’ with his Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Palms. These two martial arts were the highest skills of each combatant, so the fight was no longer slow and sluggish like it was before. Now it became fierce as the two used their dozens of years of martial arts training trying to gain victory; life or death could be decided in the twinkling of an eye. Guo Jing had learned the 544 Eagle Shooting Hero
Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Palms, but he had not seen his master using this technique before. It sent shivers along his spine to see how wonderful the palm techniques were, with infinite variations in them. It was truly incomparable to the ones he had already mastered. He was completely captivated with what was happening on the ground; why would he expect that someone would sneak in from behind and stealthily attack him?
Huang Rong was not aware that the two fighting on the ground were using their highest martial arts skills; she was still laughing and joking around when she suddenly realized one person was missing from the bamboo pavilion. Her mind immediately went to Ouyang Ke since she was afraid of his craftiness. Her eyes scanned the area, but it was her ears that heard the wind generated by the hidden projectiles coming towards Guo Jing’s back. From the corner of her eye she could see three silvery streaks coming fast. She did not have time to think and immediately threw herself behind Guo Jing’s back. “Puff.. .puff.. .puff!” three hidden projectiles landed squarely in her back. She was wearing the ‘Soft Hedgehog Armor’ [ruan wei jia] so she was not injured, but she felt some pain nonetheless.
Her hand reached back and grabbed the hidden projectiles. She turned around and smiled sweetly, “You are scratching the itch on my back, aren’t you? Thank you, but I need to give these back to you.”
Ouyang Ke saw how she intercepted the projectiles with her own body to protect Guo Jing and he was more jealous than ever. Hearing what she said he thought she was going to throw the projectiles back his way, so he readied himself. But after a moment he saw Huang Rong holding the projectiles in her hand palm up, as though she was expecting him to take them back from her hand.
Ouyang Ke kicked his left foot and leaped to the bamboo pavilion’s roof. He intended to show off his lightness kungfu and, lightly perched on the edge of the roof, he looked like a white shadow swaying gently in the wind. It was indeed an excellent skill; as elegant as that of a deity.
“Your lightness kungfu is truly wonderful!” Huang Rong exclaimed. She stood up and walked towards him, arm extended with the projectiles in her hand.
Ouyang Ke saw her white complexion and he was mesmerized. Absentmindedly he stretched out his hand to take the projectiles, with the ill intention of rubbing her hand. Suddenly some metallic streaks came his way. He had twice fallen for Huang Rong’s tricks and did not want to repeat it. He somersaulted down from the roof waving his sleeve and parrying an abundance of Huang Rong’s steel needles.
Huang Rong giggled and threw the three silver projectiles to the ground, right in front of the squatting Ouyang Feng.
“NO! Don’t!” Guo Jing shouted in alarm. He grabbed Huang Rong’s waist and jumped down from the roof. Before his feet even touched the ground he heard Huang Yaoshi’s anxious shout, “Brother Feng have mercy!”
Guo Jing felt an earth-shattering force coming his way. Quickly he pushed Huang Rong aside and exerted all his strength to his hands with one of the Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Palms, the ‘Sighting a Dagon in the Fields’ [jian long zai tian].
A loud ‘bang’ was heard as his force collided with Ouyang Feng’s ‘Toad Stance’. As a result he staggered back seven or eight steps. Guo Jing felt blood rising from his chest to his throat. He was alarmed and also afraid Ouyang Feng would send another attack, so he forced himself to move and stood in front of Huang Rong, ready to take another blow. Then he saw Hong Qigong and Huang Yaoshi had already stepped in between them.
“I’m so sorry! I am so ashamed!” Ouyang Feng said as he stood up. “I was not able to retract my force. I hope I did not hurt the young lady, did I?” he called out.
Actually Huang Rong was frightened and her beautiful face was pale; but hearing him say such a thing, she put on a bold face and laughed, “With my Father around, how could you hurt me?”
Huang Yaoshi was very anxious; he took her hands and quietly asked, “Do you feel anything different in your body? Quickly breathe in and out a few times.” Huang Rong listened to her father and quietly circulate her ‘chi’ but did not feel anything unusual, so she laughed and shook her head.
Huang Yaoshi was relieved. “Your two uncles are practicing their martial arts just now, what was a little girl like you doing carelessly intervening?” he reprimanded. “Uncle Ouyang’s ‘Toad Stance’ is not a small matter; if he had not shown you mercy, do you think your little life would be spared?”
In order to launch the powerful ‘Toad Stance’, Ouyang Feng had to concentrate all of his strength in the whole of his body. As soon as the opponent attacked, he would be able to counterattack by launching the full power already stored. That was exactly what happened when he was waiting for Hong Qigong to attack; his strength was concentrated, ready to be launched like an arrow on a completely drawn bow. Unexpectedly Huang Rong tossed something at him that he instinctively counterattacked towards her.
When he realized it was Huang Rong he was extremely shocked; but his force had already being released so there was no way he could pull it back. He sighed inwardly, thinking he had created a terrible disaster and that this beautiful flower-of-a-girl would die a violent death at his hands. Moreover he’d heard Huang Yaoshi call out, ‘Brother Feng, have mercy!’ He frantically tried to divert his force, but there simply was not enough time. Then he suddenly felt another force colliding with his. He took this opportunity to retract his force. When he looked carefully, he discovered that the person who rescued Huang Rong was Guo Jing! He secretly admired Hong Qigong, “The Old Beggar is very good; he has succeeded in teaching this young disciple to such a high level of martial arts!”
Huang Yaoshi had seen Guo Jing’s martial arts at Cloud Manor; he thought, “This youngster did not know the height of the sky or the depth of the earth, yet he dared to parry Ouyang Feng’s fierce ‘Toad Stance’. If Ouyang Feng had not seen my face and showed him mercy, his bones would have been shattered.” He did not know that the Guo Jing he met at Cloud Manor was not the same Guo Jing as now. However, he acknowledged that Guo Jing had selflessly saved Huang Rong’s life without any regard for his own safety. His hatred towards him was, for the most part, gone. He thought, “This kid really has a good heart and he really loves Rong’er. I can’t give Rong’er to him, but I can certainly reward him by teaching him something.” The rascal in front of him looked rather stupid and the word ‘foolish’ had stirred up anger in him.
“Old Poison.you are really good!” Hong Qigong called out, “But victory or defeat has not been decided yet; let us fight again!” “Very well!” Ouyang Feng replied, “I will risk my life to accompany a gentleman’s play!”
“I am not a gentleman,” Hong Qigong laughed. “You are risking your life to play with a beggar!” With a jump he was standing in the courtyard again.
Ouyang Feng was about to join him when Huang Yaoshi suddenly lifted his left hand, “Hold it!” he called out, “Brother Qi, Brother Feng, you have fought for more than one thousand moves and you two are equally strong. Today the two of you are Peach Blossom Island’s honored guests; you are entitled to drink several cups of your brother’s own wine. The sword meet at Mount Hua is at hand. At that time not only will you two see who will gain a victory, but your brother, along with the Southern Emperor will be there
to practice our martial arts. Why don’t we end today’s contest right now?”
“That’s fine with me!” Ouyang Feng laughed, “If this fight continues, I will be forced to admit defeat very soon anyway.”
Hong Qigong turned back and laughed, “Old Western Poison is crafty; when he said he will admit defeat, he actually means he’s going to win. I don’t believe what he said one bit.”
“Well, then,” Ouyang Feng replied, “Let me ask Brother Qi’s expert opinion again.”
Hong Qigong flicked his sleeve and said, “Nothing would be better!”
“I see,” Huang Yaoshi interrupted, “So your arrival on Peach Blossom Island today is actually to show off your martial arts,” he said with a smile.
Hong Qigong roared in laughter. “Brother Yao is right! We came here to ask your daughter’s hand in marriage, not to fight each other.”
“I said earlier that I am going to provide three subjects to test both gentlemen,” Huang Yaoshi continued, “The one that passes the test will be my son-in-law; but the one fails won’t be going home empty handed either.”
“What? Do you have another daughter?” Hong Qigong asked.
Huang Yaoshi smiled, “No, I don’t. Even if I found another wife, I don’t think we want to wait that long do we? Your brother has many other skills: medical, astrology and a lot of other stuff. To the gentleman who fails the test, so long as he does not belittle my shallow knowledge and is willing to learn one particular subject, I will devote my time and teach him with all of my heart so that he won’t leave Peach Blossom Island empty handed.”
Hong Qigong was fully aware of Huang Yaoshi’s abilities; he thought that if Guo Jing could not be his son-in-law but managed to learn just one skill from him, he would gain a lifelong benefit nonetheless. He thought that whatever subjects the tests would be, Guo Jing would undoubtedly suffer a loss and he felt badly for him.