by Jin Yong
Ouyang Feng, noticing Hong Qigong’s reluctance, took the opportunity to say, “Good.. .let it be that way! Brother Yao has actually accepted my nephew’s proposal, but he honored Brother Qi’s face. So let these two kids be tested. That way it won’t damage our friendship.” Turning towards Ouyang Ke he said, “Later, should you lose, you will only have your own lack of ability to blame and you cannot blame anyone else. We will happily drink Brother Yao’s vintage wine [xi jiu]. If you later have a mind to create other problems, not only will these two seniors not let you off easily, but I myself will not spare you.”
Hong Qigong looked up and burst out in laughter, “Old Poison, you are ninety percent sure that you are going to win. Your speech was actually directed at me and my disciple; what you are saying is ‘be a dear and just admit defeat’.”
Ouyang Feng smiled and said, “Who wins and who loses, how would you know in advance? Even for people of our level, do you think it is easy to claim victory so shamelessly? Brother Yao, please present the subjects of your test.”
Huang Yaoshi had determined to give his daughter to Ouyang Ke, therefore, he had to come up with three subjects that would guarantee victory for Ouyang Ke. But first of all, a man of his stature could not be blatantly one-sided; secondly, he did not want to offend Hong Qigong. But while he was still carefully considering what he was about to say, Hong Qigong opened his mouth, “We all live by our fists and kicks, the test Brother Yao will administer must be related to martial arts. If your subjects are poetry, music, reciting scriptures or painting, then we - master and disciple, will simply admit defeat and take our butts out of here; there’s no need to lose face.”
“Naturally,” Huang Yaoshi assured him, “The first subject is a martial arts competition.”
“That won’t do,” Ouyang Feng said, “My nephew is injured at present.”
Huang Yaoshi smiled. “I know that,” he said, “I cannot let two brothers have a martial arts contest on Peach Blossom Island and damage their friendship.”
“They are not going to fight?” Ouyang Feng was baffled.
“That’s correct,” Huang Yaoshi answered.
“Ah!” Ouyang Feng smiled, “Then the test giver will try each person’s martial arts?”
Huang Yaoshi shook his head, “No, if I do that, no one can guarantee that I will be fair since I can make my moves heavy or light at will. Brother Feng, you and Brother Qi have reached the pinnacle of your respective martial arts skills and the fight just now was the proof. You have fought for more than a thousand moves, yet nobody knows who gained victory or suffered defeat. Brother Feng, you test Brother Guo, and Brother Qi, you try Brother Ouyang.”
Hong Qigong thought to himself, “This is very fair indeed. Old Heretic Huang is really smart to have thought of this method. Old Beggar would never come up with something like that.” He laughed and said, “This method is not bad! Come. come. come! Let us play!” He beckoned Ouyang Ke.
“Wait!” Huang Yaoshi said, “There are some rules for the game we need to address. Rule number one: Brother Ouyang is injured and he cannot exert any energy; both of them, therefore, will be tested in terms of martial arts, not in terms of strength. Rule number two: The four of you will fight on top of these pine trees,” he pointed to two big pine trees outside the bamboo pavilion, “The junior who falls to the ground first will lose. Rule number three: Brother Feng and Brother Qi, if one of you puts too heavy a pressure on the junior and accidentally injures him, he will lose.” “Injuring a junior is considered losing?” Hong Qigong mused.
“Certainly,” Huang Yaoshi explained, “The two of you have such high skills, so if I didn’t have this rule, should you put forth a heavy hand, do you think the junior will live? Brother Qi, if you even scratch Brother Ouyang’s skin, you lose. The same goes for Brother Feng. Of these two juniors, one will be my son-in-law; how can they be injured by your hands?”
Hong Qigong scratched his head and laughed, “Old Heretic Huang is quite strange and really lives up to his reputation. Injuring an opponent will be considered a loss; this strange rule has never been heard of in thousands of years. Fine! As long as it is fair, the Old Beggar will comply.”
Huang Yaoshi gave a hand signal and the four of them jumped up into the pine trees, forming two parties. Hong Qigong and Ouyang Ke were in the right tree and Ouyang Feng and Guo Jing in the left. Hong Qigong still had an amused look on his face, while the other three looked serious, almost tense.
Huang Rong knew Ouyang Ke’s martial arts were actually higher than Guo Jing’s, but luckily he was injured. However, the competition on top of the pine trees relies heavily on lightness kungfu, in which Ouyang Ke obviously had some advantages over Guo Jing. She was unable to avoid feeling anxious. In the meantime she heard her father’s loud and clear voice, “I will count to three, then you can start. Brother Ouyang, Brother Guo, whoever falls to the ground first will lose!”
Huang Rong thought of helping Guo Jing somehow, but Ouyang Feng’s martial arts were very high; how could she fight him with her present abilities?
Huang Yaoshi had started counting, “One...two...three!” Four shadows danced on top of the pine trees; they had begun.
Huang Rong’s gaze never left Guo Jing and saw him fight more than ten stances against Ouyang Feng in the blink of an eye. Both Huang Rong and Huang Yaoshi were secretly surprised, “How did his martial arts suddenly improve by leaps and bounds? He’s managed to fight this many moves without showing any signs of losing.”
Ouyang Feng was anxious, so he gradually increased his strength bit by bit. But he was afraid to injure Guo Jing. Suddenly an idea came into his mind and his legs rotated like a wheel, trying to sweep Guo Jing from the pine tree. Guo Jing used the ‘Flying Dragon Soaring Through the Heavens’ [fei long zai tian] from his Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Palms; he repeatedly leaped high with both palms hacking down like knives trying to hit his opponent’s legs.
Huang Rong’s heart was thumping madly. She turned her gaze toward Hong Qigong only to see his fight taking a different path. Ouyang Ke was using his lightness kungfu and leaped to the east and dodged to the west; he did not want to engage with even half of Hong Qigong’s moves. Hong Qigong was compelled to chase him, but Ouyang Ke kept running around. Hong Qigong thought, “This stinky creature is cunning and he is trying to buy time. Guo Jing is a dumb kid; he actually fights the Old Poison. If he keeps it up, he will certainly fall to the ground first. Humph! Little rapist! Do you think the Old Beggar cannot fold you under my arm?” Suddenly he leaped high into the air and with fingers like two steel claws he struck towards Ouyang Ke’s head.
Ouyang Ke saw that this incoming force was swift and fierce; it was certainly not a contest type attack but was intended to take his life. He was shocked and hastily tried to flee to the right.
Eagle Shooting Hero 549
Unbeknownst to him, Hong Qigong’s attack was a feint. Hong Qigong had anticipated this movement and as soon as Ouyang Ke turned right, Hong Qigong bent over mid-air and flew to the right. His hands came fast towards Ouyang Ke and he shouted clearly, “I don’t care if I lose; today I am going to kill you stinky kid.”
Ouyang Ke was startled because Hong Qigong was able to turn his body in mid-air; he was frightened and froze for a moment after hearing Hong Qigong’s shout. He did not dare to parry this attack, so he frantically stepped back onto empty air. He fell down from the tree with this thought in his mind, “I’ve lost the first test!” Suddenly he heard a rustling noise beside him as Guo Jing also fell down from the tree next to him.
After fighting Guo Jing for quite a while, Ouyang Feng lost patience, “If I let this kid fight me for another fifty moves, how can I maintain the Western Poison’s pride?” he thought. Suddenly a wicked thought came into his mind. His left hand moved lightning fast towards Guo Jing’s neck while shouting loudly, “Down you go!”
Guo Jing ducked this attack and lifted his left hand and tried to parry with the back of his hand. But Ouyang Feng suddenly put mo
re force into his hand. “You . you .” Guo Jing stammered. He was going to say, “You don’t follow Huang Yaoshi’s rules?” but was not able to say it because he was forced to use all his energy to withstand this attack. Ouyang Feng smiled and coldly said, “I what?” and put even more force into his hand.
Guo Jing tried to get a strong foothold for fear that he might be internally injured by this ‘Toad Stance’ force. Who could have imagined that the tremendous force pushing him down would suddenly disappear? It was fortunate for him that his skills had improved; if not, he wouldn’t have been able to withstand Ouyang Feng’s force which suddenly got stronger, then suddenly disappeared. Luckily it was similar to the seventy-two moves of the ‘Vacant Fist’ he learned from Zhou Botong, in which a hard force contained softness in it. If not for this knowledge he would’ve been injured just like when he fought Huang Yaoshi at Cloud Manor and his hand was caught and broken. Nevertheless, he lost his balance and was thrown down from the tree head first.
Ouyang Ke fell down right side up, while Guo Jing fell upside down and both men saw the ground approaching fast. Seeing Guo Jing falling beside him Ouyang Ke had an idea; he stretched his hands toward Guo Jing’s legs. He wanted to use Guo Jing as a stepping stone, so he would be able to jump back up while Guo Jing would certainly fall faster to the ground. Or so he thought.
Huang Rong noticed Guo Jing’s precarious situation and called out, “Aiyo!” But incredibly it was Guo Jing who she saw jumping back up into the tree while, with a loud crash, Ouyang Ke was hitting the ground. Guo Jing landed on a tree branch out of breath and panting hard.
Huang Rong was extremely delighted. She did not see clearly how it happened or how, at the critical moment, Guo Jing was able to turn defeat into victory, but she was delighted nonetheless and was unable to restrain herself from crying out, “Aiyo!” But those two ‘aiyos’ carried entirely different emotions.
By that time Ouyang Feng and Hong Qigong had already come down from the trees. Hong Qigong was laughing hard and repeatedly uttered, “Wonderful! Wonderful!” Ouyang Feng’s face was green with anger. “Brother Qi,” he said gloomily, “Your smart disciple’s martial arts are so diverse as to even include Mongolian wrestling skills.”
Hong Qigong laughed and said, “I don’t know how to wrestle, so it wasn’t me who taught him. You can’t blame me.”
What really happened was: as Guo Jing was pushed down by Ouyang Ke, he fell faster. He saw Ouyang Ke’s legs flying up right in front of him. He did not have time to think. In that critical moment he instinctively stretched out both arms to grab Ouyang Ke’s calves and pulled himself up by twisting his body from the upside-down position to the upright one. It was precisely a wrestling technique the Mongolians used.
The Mongolians had trained and perfected their wrestling techniques for generations; they were considered one of the best. Guo Jing grew up on the Mongolian steppes and before he even learned martial arts from the Six Freaks of Jiangnan he had played and wrestled everyday with Tolui and his friends. Mongolian wrestling was to him as natural as eating rice. He was slow by nature and he was falling down fast; even though he knew Mongolian wrestling techniques he would not have had enough time to think. He didn’t consciously think: “Oh, a pair of legs, nice! Hey, why don’t I use those legs to jump back up into the tree?” It happened so fast so that even after he managed to land on his feet on a tree branch he did not know what had happened! And so he won against all odds.
Huang Yaoshi shook his head slightly and thought, “This Guo Jing is a slow-witted kid. This victory is obviously due to sheer luck.” He gave his decision, “The first test was won by Worthy Nephew Guo [Guo Xianzhi]. Please do not to worry Brother Feng, you have taught your honorable nephew well. Who knows, maybe he will score victories in the second and third tests.”
“Brother Yao, please present the second test,” Ouyang Feng replied.
“The second test will be .” Huang Yaoshi started, but before he could finish Huang Rong cut him off, “Father, you are obviously being one-sided. Just a moment ago you said you would only test their martial arts skill, how come you want to test with other subjects? Jing ge ge, you might as well admit defeat and leave.”
“What do you know?” Huang Yaoshi said, “After reaching a certain level of martial arts skills, do you still want to fight everyday? Yes, we are martial arts people; but unlike ordinary military people, we don’t live day after day for martial arts alone. Also, we don’t amuse ourselves by jousting to find a spouse ...” After listening to this part, Huang Rong stole a glance at Guo Jing. Guo Jing was also looking at her. They were thinking of the same thing: Mu Nianci and Yang Kang, who met each other in the capital by ‘jousting to find a spouse’. In the meantime Huang Yaoshi continued his speech, “. My second test subject therefore is to ask these two nephews to listen to this old man playing a tune on my flute.”
Ouyang Ke was ecstatic; he thought, “What does this stupid kid know about wind or string instruments? The victory is mine for sure.”
Ouyang Feng on the other hand was not so sure. He suspected that Huang Yaoshi was going to test these two peoples’ internal energy strength with the flute’s sound. He knew Guo Jing’s level of internal energy to be quite strong and his nephew would not necessarily exceed him. Also, he was afraid his nephew would be internally injured by Huang Yaoshi’s flute sound. He said, “The Juniors’ internal energy cultivation is shallow and I am afraid they won’t be able to listen to Brother Yao’s elegant melody. I wonder if Brother Yao would consider ...”
Huang Yaoshi did not give him a chance to finish, “My song is an ordinary one without any high level of internal energy. Brother Feng, set your heart at ease.” Towards Ouyang Ke and Guo Jing he said, “Nephews, please take a bamboo stick and follow my music by tapping it to the rhythm. The one who can follow best will win the second test.”
Guo Jing stepped forward and cupped his hands, “Island Master Huang, disciple is very slow and stupid. I know nothing about music, so let me admit defeat in the second test.”
“Don’t be hasty.don’t be hasty,” Hong Qigong intervened, “At worst you will lose, so why don’t you try? Are you afraid that others will laugh in your face?”
Guo Jing thought his master made some sense; seeing Ouyang Ke take a bamboo stick he did the same.
“Brother Qi, Brother Feng,” Huang Yaoshi smiled, “Younger brother will show off his lack of ability.” Lifting the jade flute to his lips he started to blow. This part of his song did not carry any internal energy and it wasn’t any different than what an ordinary person would play.
Ouyang Ke listened attentively, trying to follow the rhythm; then he started tapping his bamboo stick correctly. Guo Jing did not have a clue, so he held his bamboo stick high in the air but did not dare tap it. It was only after Huang Yaoshi had played for about the time needed to drink a cup of tea, he began to move his stick.
The Ouyangs, uncle and nephew, were very smug. They thought that this time victory was guaranteed. Since the third subject would be literary, they were ninety percent sure they would win.
Huang Rong was feeling anxious so she lightly tapped her right hand finger on her left knuckles with the hope Guo Jing would follow. Who would have thought that Guo Jing would sit staring blankly at the sky, lost in thought; obviously he did not see her signal.
Huang Yaoshi kept blowing the flute. Guo Jing raised his hand and struck the bamboo stick in between two beats of the music. Ouyang Ke stifled a laugh, thinking that this stupid kid strikes on the wrong beat. Guo Jing struck again, still in between two music beats. He had struck four times with his bamboo stick, all in the wrong places.
Huang Rong shook her head in dismay, “My stupid brother does not understand anything about music,” she thought, “Father shouldn’t have tested him.” Having had this thought, she racked her brain, trying to find a way to disrupt the test. But when she turned her gaze toward her father she was surprised; her father was showing astonishment in his face. She heard Guo
Jing tap several more times and the flute sound suddenly became a little bit slow, but then it immediately resumed its original tempo.
Guo Jing kept tapping his bamboo stick, always on the off-beat: sometimes tapping faster, sometimes slower. He drove the tempo faster, and sometimes slower. On several occasions the music from the flute almost could not maintain its steady rhythm and was nearly forced to follow the bamboo stick’s erratic tempo. Huang Yaoshi was not the only one who was astounded; Hong Qigong and Ouyang Feng also felt something strange was happening.
Actually Guo Jing remembered listening to the battle between the three people earlier: the flute, the zither and the whistle. He noticed that the sounds fought each other systematically, like a battle strategy in war. He did not have the slightest degree of comprehension about music theory, but listening to Huang Yaoshi’s flute he wanted to try to battle that sound and thus he struck the bamboo stick erratically to disrupt the melody. He tapped the bamboo stick against an old bamboo tree, creating a loud ‘bonk, bonk’ sound. The sound made Huang Yaoshi feel like he was inside a hot furnace and the fire was glowing white hot, forcing the flute to surrender and follow the erratic tempo of the bamboo stick.
Huang Yaoshi’s spirits were roused as he thought about this kid unexpectedly possessing this kind of ability. The flute sound changed again; this time it flowed faster and slower seemingly having infinite variations. Ouyang Ke only stopped to listen for a moment, then he could not resist lifting his bamboo stick and brandishing it erratically in the air. Ouyang Feng heaved a sigh, quickly took his nephew’s hand, and pressed the main artery on his wrist. Then he took out a silk handkerchief, tore it into two pieces and plugged Ouyang Ke’s ears. After a while Ouyang Ke started to calm down and Ouyang Feng let his hand go.