by Jin Yong
Huang Rong replied, “Old Urchin, that’s not a bad idea.” Hearing Huang Rong supporting him, Zhou Botong was very pleased with himself.
Hong Qigong, shaking his head in disapproval, replied, “Not a chance. To make flavorful minced ‘Five-Treasures Mandarin Duck’, the kitchen implements, charcoal fire, and dishes must form a complete set. If even one is missing, the taste will be off. We still need to go to the Imperial
Palace.” Seeing that the three still had some misgivings, he said “It will be quite superb and if we
go, you will all gain valuable experience.”
Guo Jing immediately placed Hong Qigong on his back and set off to the north. Upon reaching a small town, Huang Rong sold some of her jewelry for cash and purchased a small mule cart to allow Hong Qigong to relax and recover from his injury. Eventually they passed the Qiangtang River and arrived at the outskirts of Lin’an Prefecture where they watched a vast misty sunset and heard the intermittent cawing of a crow. By nightfall they still had not reached the city and were forced to seek lodgings for the night. Looking around, they saw only a small village of several households near the riverbank.
Huang Rong spoke out, “This village looks good. We can rest here.”
Zhou Botong replied sullenly, “What’s so good about it?”
Huang Rong replied, “Take a look.. .doesn’t this scenery sort of look like a painting?”
Zhou Botong replied, “How does it resemble a painting then?” Huang Rong stared blankly, having difficulty coming up with a response. Zhou Botong said, “That painting must be very ugly. Unless it is similar to the ‘Old Urchin’s’ paintings, I’m afraid it must be inferior.”
Huang Rong said with a smile, “Heaven has the ability to create a landscape, just like the ‘Old Urchin’s’ random scribbling of a painting.”
Zhou Botong, extremely pleased with himself, replied, “Are you certain? If you don’t believe it, then I’ll make a painting right now and you can ask Heaven to look.”
Huang Rong replied, “Of course I believe it, but you’ve already said that this place is not good enough so don’t rest here.. .but us three will stay.”
Zhou Botong replied, “If the three of you won’t go on, why on earth would I want to?”
In the midst of this chatter, they arrived at the village. The village center looked very desolate and dilapidated, with only a wine shop banner hanging off a pole at the eastern corner of the village near what sort of looked like the village inn. They arrived in front of the inn and saw two tables under the eaves, on top of which lay an extremely thick layer of dust.
Zhou Botong yelled “Hey!” loudly several times and a young girl of indeterminate age with disheveled hair and clothing came out. She opened her eyes and gave the three a blank, lifeless stare. Huang Rong ordered wine and food, but the girl only shook her head continuously.
Zhou Botong said, “You have neither wine nor food here.. .what kind of shop are you running?”
The girl shook her head and replied, “I don’t know.”
Zhou Botong replied, “Ai, you really are a silly girl.”
The girl grinned and laughed, saying, “That’s right, I’m called Sha Gu [silly girl /aunt].”
The three of them laughed and understood. Huang Rong went to take a look at the interior and the kitchen. She found them dust and cobweb covered along with a few pots and other old things. On a bed was a torn mat. One couldn’t help but feel sympathy and sadness. She went back outside and inquired, “Is it just you living here?”
Sha Gu smiled and nodded. Huang Rong asked again, “What about your mother?”
Sha Gu replied, “Dead!” and wiped her hands across her eyes in imitation of somebody grieving. Huang Rong asked again, “What about your father?”
Sha Gu shook her head, indicating she didn’t know. They noticed that her face and hands were filthy and her long fingernails filled with black crud. Who knew how long it had been since she’d washed her face and hands.
Huang Rong said sadly, “Even if she did cook, we wouldn’t be able to eat it.” She asked, “Do you have any rice?”
Sha Gu smiled and nodded, producing half a jar of unpolished rice. Huang Rong immediately washed the rice and began preparing the meal. Guo Jing went to the west side of the village and bought two fish and a chicken. By the time everything was prepared it was already dark. Huang Rong brought out the food, placed it on one of the tables, and searched for an oil lamp. Sha Gu again shook her head, indicating there was none.
680 Eagle Shooting Hero
Huang Rong took some firewood and lit a fire in the furnace. Then she tried to find some bowls and chopsticks in the cupboard. She opened the cupboard’s door and a foul stench attacked her nose. She held a burning piece of wood and saw there were about seven or eight shabby bowls. Inside and around the bowls were dozens of dead insects of all kinds. Guo Jing helped her fetch the bowls.
“Wash them thoroughly and then get some small branches to use as chopsticks,” Huang Rong said. Guo Jing mumbled his compliance and took the bowls outside.
Huang Rong reached out to pick up the last bowl and immediately felt a difference. This bowl was cold, colder than a regular porcelain bowl. She tried to pick it up, but the bowl would not budge, as though it was attached to the cupboard. Huang Rong was astonished. She was afraid she might break the bowl, so she did not dare use too much strength. She tried it one more time but the bowl still refused to move. “Could it be that it has been there so long that the dirt made the bowl stick to the cupboard?” she wondered. She took a closer look and saw that the bowl was covered with many layers of rust. It was an iron bowl.
Huang Rong let out a soft laugh and thought, “I have seen rice bowls made of gold, silver and jade, but I have never ever heard of a rice bowl made of iron.” She exerted her strength and tried to lift the bowl up, but still the bowl did not move. She was even more surprised. She thought that with her strength, even if the bowl was nailed to the shelf, the shelf could be cracked. Then she had another thought, “Could it be that the shelf is also made of iron?” She stretched out her middle finger to tap the shelf and heard a metallic sound. The shelf was indeed made of iron.
Her curiosity was piqued and she tried lifting the bowl again but the bowl remained motionless. She tried turning the bowl to the left and did not perceive any movement. She tried turning it to the right and felt movement. She tried turning it harder and the bowl moved. Suddenly she heard a cracking sound and the cupboard slid aside, revealing a dark hole behind it. An even fouler stench came out of the hole, almost making her throw-up.
Huang Rong let out an “Ah!” and quickly leaped to the side. Guo Jing and Zhou Botong heard her cry and immediately came and saw the dark hole.
Huang Rong thought out loud, “Is it possible that this is a illegal wine shop and that Sha Gu is just pretending to be insane?”
She handed her burning branch to Guo Jing and walked over to Sha Gu and tried to grab her hand. Sha Gu waved her hand trying to avoid the grab and counterattacked by sending her palm towards Huang Rong’s shoulder. Even though Huang Rong suspected she did not have good intentions, she never expected that this incoming palm would carry such a powerful technique. She could not help but feel slightly startled. Her left hand formed a hook and her right hand came forward as she launched two strikes in succession.
Ever since she mastered the ‘Changing the Muscle Forging the Bone’ technique [yi jin duan gu bian] from the ‘Nine Yin Manual’, her speed and strength had increased tremendously. With a loud slap Sha Gu cried out as her right arm was hit, but her attack did not slow down. She counterattacked with two stances one after another. After several more stances Huang Rong was really astonished. Sha Gu’s moves were actually the Peach Blossom Island’s basic skill of the ‘Jade-Green Waves Palm technique’ [bi bo zhang fa]. Although it was performed with shallow skills, it was actually the foundation of all Peach Blossom Island’s martial arts. Every disciple had to learn it. Huang Rong intensified her attacks
in an attempt to identify Sha Gu’s martial arts school, but Sha Gu dodged and weaved and was able to resist her for six or seven stances.
The situation was similar to when Guo Jing fought Liang Ziweng with only one stance, namely the ‘Proud Dragon Shows Remorse’, but her strength was greatly inferior to Guo Jing’s. Moreover, her palm technique was very straightforward and showed not even the simplest variation. It was beyond anyone’s expectations that in this remote village there was a illegal wine shop with a poor filthy girl who could fight Huang Rong for more than ten stances.
Zhou Botong found all these things very amusing. He noted that the gust of wind from Huang Rong’s palm was swift and fierce. Sha Gu repeatedly cried out, “Aiyo!” while resisting Huang Rong’s attack. Zhou Botong shouted, “Hey! Rong’er, don’t harm her. Let me fight her.” Along the way he heard Hong Qigong and Guo Jing calling her ‘Rong’er’ and she did not seem to mind, so he thought he did not need to be polite by calling her ‘Huang guniang’ or ‘Huang xiaojie’ [both mean Miss Huang].
Guo Jing was afraid Sha Gu had other companions waiting in the dark ready to ambush them, so he stayed closed to Hong Qigong and did not dare to leave him.
Several moves later Sha Gu’s left shoulder was hit, which made her left arm go limp and she was unable to move it. If Huang Rong really wanted to injure her, all she had to do was continue her attack, but she showed mercy and called out, “Quickly kneel down and I’ll spare your life.”
“You kneel down too!” replied Sha Gu as she sent out two palms of the ‘Jade-Green Wave Palm’ technique towards Huang Rong. However, only the first two stances were executed repeatedly and her technique was clumsy.
This incomplete ‘Jade-Green Wave Palm’ palm attack lacked internal power but was continuous like waves in water, truly the martial arts style of Peach Blossom Island. Huang Rong’s suspicions about Sha Gu’s martial arts roots became stronger. She called out “How did you learn the ‘Jade-Green Wave Palm’? Who is your master?”
Sha Gu responded with a smile “You can’t hit me no more, ha ... ha ...”
Huang Rong raised her left hand, moved her right hand to the side, feigned an attack with her left elbow and leaned her right shoulder forward. These four moves were fake attacks. Huang Rong followed with the fifth move by sending both hands curving inward. This fifth attack was also false. The next move, a kick, was real. Sha Gu was unable to stay upright. She fell to the floor and called out as she was getting up, “You used a trick, that does not count, let’s fight again,”.
Huang Rong did not allow her to stand up. She pounced and pushed her down, tore her clothes and bound her hands behind her back. “My palm technique is clearly better than yours,” she said.
Sha Gu turned around and shouted in dissent, “You tricked me, unacceptable.. .you tricked me, unacceptable!”
Guo Jing, seeing that Huang Rong was able to control Sha Gu, walked out of the inn and jumped onto the roof. He looked around for any traces of other people but found none. He jumped back down, walked around the building and noticed that this desolate inn was a stand-alone building, a few ‘zhangs’ apart from other houses in the area. There were no other people hiding around it. Now at last he felt relieved.
When he walked inside the inn, he saw Huang Rong holding a dagger in front of Sha Gu’s eyes, threatening her, “Who taught you martial arts? Tell me quickly or else I will kill you”. While saying that she made two stabbing moves with the dagger.
In the light from a candle, Sha Gu’s smile could be seen. Looking at her expression, it did not seem like she was brave or mad. It was more a stupid smile, completely oblivious to the danger. It seemed like she was thinking that she and Huang Rong were just playing around. Huang Rong asked her again and Sha Gu laughed and said, “You kill me, I will kill you too!”
Huang Rong’s eyebrows rose as she said “This stupid girl is not telling us anything, so we should take a look inside the hidden room. Big Brother Zhou, please take care of Master and keep an eye on this girl. Jing ge ge, let’s go in.”
Zhou Botong waved his hands and said, “No, I am going in with you.”
Huang Rong told him, “I don’t want you to come in with me.”
Although Zhou Botong was a Senior with a higher level of martial arts, for some reason he did not dare to defy Huang Rong. He could only beg, “Good Miss, next time I won’t argue with you.”
Huang Rong smiled slightly and nodded her head. Zhou Botong was very happy. He found two pine branches, lit them, and fumigated the dark hidden room for a long time. The fumigated room still emitted a very foul odor. Huang Rong picked up a pine torch and threw it into the room. There was a clatter as the torch hit the far wall and fell to the floor. The room was not very deep at all.
With the light from a torch she looked inside. The room was quiet and there was no trace of people. At that moment Zhou Botong became impatient and snuck past Huang Rong into the room. Huang Rong followed Zhou Botong cautiously. The room was not large. In fact, it was quite small. Zhou Botong cried out “We were fooled.. .we were fooled, this is no good!”
Huang Rong then let out an “ah!” sound as she spotted the skeleton of a person lying on the floor. The skeleton faced upward and the clothes had decayed. Two rows of the skeleton’s ribs were broken. There was another skeleton in the east corner of the room. This skeleton lay on top of an iron chest. There was a long sword blade penetrating the skeleton’s ribs and piercing the iron chest’s lid.
Zhou Botong noted that the room was small and dirty and he found those two corpses not that interesting. While Huang Rong carefully examined the two skeletons, Zhou Botong got really impatient and wanted to interrupt her. But he feared that Huang Rong might get angry so he did not dare say anything and behaved quietly. Inside, his mind was going crazy. He asked her, “Rong’er, Good Miss, I can go out now, can't I?”
Huang Rong said “Fine, you can go. Get Jing ge ge for me.”
Zhou Botong ran out happily and said to Guo Jing, “Go in quickly, it’s very interesting in there,” He was afraid Huang Rong might call him back but he’d found a replacement. Guo Jing went in.
Huang Rong raised her torch to show Guo Jing the skeletons and asked, “How do you think these two people died?”
Guo Jing pointed to the skeleton on the iron chest; “Looks like this person died while trying to open the iron chest. He died from sneak attack with one thrust. The other person has two rows of shattered ribs, so he was probably attacked by a palm of great internal strength.”
Huang Rong said, “I think so too, but there are some things I don’t quite understand.”
Guo Jing replied, “What things?”
“Sha Gu obviously used Peach Blossoming Island’s ‘Jade-Green Wave Palm’ technique. Although she only knew six or seven moves and was not very proficient, her technique was good and correct,” Huang Rong said. “The two dead people.. .I wonder what their connection is to Sha Gu.”
Guo Jing responded, “I will ask the girl.” Because he was often called ‘stupid kid’ by others he was not willing to call that girl ‘Sha Gu’ [stupid / silly aunt].
“I truly think that girl is retarded, so it will be difficult to get any information from her. Perhaps we can investigate what little evidence we have here on our own,” Huang Rong suggested. She lifted her torch and slowly examined the skeleton on the chest and noticed a shiny object beside it. She picked it up and looked carefully. It was a gold medallion. In the middle, there is a gate engraved into the gold. On the back of the medallion, there were several engraved characters that read ‘By royal decree bestowed on the loyal martial arts master responsible for defending the state, special guard Shi Yanming’.
Huang Rong said, “If this medallion is his, this government officer’s rank was not low.”
Guo Jing replied, “A high-ranking official died in here.. .this is strange.”
Huang Rong checked the skeleton on the floor again and she noticed something sticking out of the rib area. She used the tor
ch to push on it. The object fell, raising a cloud of dust, revealing a sheet made of iron. She called out in a low shocked voice and picked up the object.
Guo Jing also saw the object in her hand, “Ah!” he exclaimed.
“Do you recognize this?” Huang Rong asked.
“Certainly,” Guo Jing replied, “This is the iron ‘Eight Trigram’ [ba gua] of Village Master Lu of Cloud Manor.”
“It is an iron ‘ba gua’ alright, but it doesn’t necessarily belong to Martial Brother Lu,” Huang Rong said.
“That’s right!” Guo Jing said, “These two men’s clothes and flesh have decomposed. They have been here for at least ten years.”
Huang Rong was silent for a long time. Suddenly a thought came into her mind. She pulled out the blade stuck in the iron chest’s lid, brought it close to the flame and she saw the character ‘Qu’ engraved on the blade. She could not help blurting, “The one lying on the floor was my older Martial Brother Qu [Qu Shige].”
“Ah!” Guo Jing exclaimed in surprise.
“Martial Brother Lu said that Martial Brother Qu was still alive. Who would have thought that he was already dead in this place . Jing ge ge, look at his leg bones,” Huang Rong said.
Guo Jing stooped down and looked, “Both of his legs were broken. Ah, it was your father who broke them,” he said.
Huang Rong nodded her head. “He is indeed Qu Lingfeng. My father once said that amongst his disciples, Martial Brother Qu had the strongest martial arts. He was also my father’s favorite .” At this point she suddenly dashed out the room. Guo Jing followed.
Huang Rong quickly went over to Sha Gu and asked, “Your surname is Qu, isn’t it?” Sha Gu giggled but did not answer.
Guo Jing gently asked, “Miss, what is your surname?”
“Surname.. .surname!” Sha Gu said giggling.
The two wanted to ask further, but Zhou Botong called out, “I am starving! I am starving!”
“Alright,” Huang Rong said, “We’ll need to eat first.” She untied Sha Gu and invited her to eat with them. Sha Gu was not bashful about it as she smiled, held out her hands to take a bowl, and ate.