EASTERN HERETIC, WESTERN POISON (Book 2 of Legend Of The Condor Heroes)

The Thousand Pound Rock Part 3

Suddenly Huang Rong launched herself forward and pierced her spike towards him in a backstroke. Ouyang Ke blocked it away and Huang Rong followed up closely with a fierce stab towards his right shoulder. His shoulder was dislocated and he could not exert any strength there, so he tried to use his left hand to intercept that move but the spike made a semi-circle and changed directions midway, stabbing right into his injured shoulder. Huang Rong was elated but suddenly felt her hand go numb and had to drop the spike because her wrist accupoint had been hit.

Ouyang Ke was swift and agile, and saw that she was about to escape, so he hit her 'Xuan Zhong' and 'Zhong Tou' Accupoints with his legs consecutively. Huang Rong was in midair when she was struck so she fell towards the ground. Ouyang Ke moved forward and threw his outer gown on the ground, laughing, "Ah, don't hurt yourself." Huang Rong spun the spike around and tried to jump up but her legs were numb and only managed to get a foot off the ground before falling again.

Ouyang Ke came to help her up. Huang Rong used her only non-immobilized hand and punched him. But in the confusion, her punch lacked the strength and Ouyang Ke laughed, sealing her last accupoint. This time Huang Rong was totally immobilized and she inwardly regretted, "I did not stab myself just now, now I can't even beg for death." She was on fire inside and everything went dark and she fainted. Ouyang Ke smoothly consoled her, saying, "Don't be afraid!" He stretched his hand out to hug her. Suddenly he heard a cold voice above his head, saying, "Do you wish to live or die?"

Ouyang Ke was shocked and twisted his head around and saw Hong Qigong standing at the entrance looking at him with the side of his eye. He once heard his uncle mention the incident where Wang Chong Yang jumped out of his coffin and nearly killed him, so he immediately thought, "The old beggar pretended to be dead, I'm dead now!" He tasted Hong Qigong's skills before and knew he did not even come close, so in his shock he knelt down and said, "I was just playing with Miss Huang. Uncle Hong, please don't be angry."

Hong Qigong spat and shouted, "Scoundrel, aren't you going to free her accupoints or do you need me to do it?" Ouyang Ke repeatedly agreed and hurriedly unblocked her accupoints. Hong Qigong said coldly, "Enter again and I'll show no mercy. Scram!" Ouyang Ke darted out like a rabbit.

Huang Rong awoke as though from a dream. Hong Qigong could not hold on any longer and collasped. Huang Rong was shocked and excited and quickly held him up and found his mouth filled with blood and three teeth fell out. Huang Rong was very sad as she thought, "Even with Master's wonderful abilities, such a fall could actually break his teeth."

Hong Qigong took his teeth and laughed, "Teeth ah teeth, you don't want to savour the exquisite food together with me anymore. I never expected you to leave before I do!" He was actually in a bad shape this time, with the snake poison in his body and with a palm strike by Ouyang Feng which almost shattered his spine, but fortunately with his high skills, he was spared from death, still, now he was as weak as someone without martial arts.

When Huang Rong's accupoints were blocked, Hong Qigong did not have the strength to unblock them for her and had to use his reputation to scare Ouyang Ke into doing it for him. He saw Huang Rong's grave face and said, "Don't worry. With this old beggar around, he wouldn't dare disturb you." Huang Rong asked, "When I'm inside the cave, that creep wouldn't show up, but what about our food?" Though resourceful, she was flustered now and could not think straight.

Hong Qigong asked, "You're thinking of ways to obtain food right?" Huang Rong nodded. Hong Qigong said, "Support me to the beach to view the Sun." Huang Rong complied immediately and said, "OK! Let's go fishing." She let him rest on her shoulder and they walked slowly to the beach.

The weather was good on this day and the sea seemed endless, moving gently under the sea breeze. The Sun shone on her and their spirits were lifted. Ouyang Ke was also standing on the beach, but when he saw them coming, he retreated several zhang immediately and stopped to watch them only when they did not chase him.

They both worried, "This slimy creature is really hard to shake off; he might discover our weakness sooner or later." But now they could not care too much and Hong Qigong sat on a rock while Huang Rong broke off a tree branch and used it as a fishing rod. The fish population was thriving on this island because no one molested the fish, so within a short time, she caught 3 big fishes.

Huang Rong used the same method of cooking chicken to cook the fish, allowing them to eat their fill. After resting for a while, Hong Qigong instructed Huang Rong to display the moves of the [Dog Beating Skill] and gave some pointers along the way. Huang Rong understood more of the finer profound changes of the skill. When evening came, she had practised till she was very hot and removed her outer coat and jumped into the sea to bathe. Suddenly she had a thought, "I heard that the Dragon Palace at the bottom of the sea has a very beautiful Dragon Princess, I wonder if Brother Jing had gone to the Dragon Palace?"

She dreamily kicked in the water but felt a sharp pain in her foot and quickly retracted it but felt as though it was being grabbed by something and it could not go free. She played in the sea since young and was not even afraid of large oysters and was about to stretch out her hand to catch it but got a shock instead. The oyster was almost as big as a table; it was larger than any oyster she had seen at Peach Blossom Island. She stretched out both hands to pry it open.

The oyster was incredibly strong and even with both hands she could not force it open. The oyster gripped her even tighter and her leg got even more painful. Huang Rong smacked through the water, hoping to grab it out of the water but she had not expected it to feel like it weighed around 200-300 jin. The oyster had been on the seabed for many years and had already become part of the reef, how would it be easy to move it?

Huang Rong struggled a while more but felt her foot become even more painful, so she was worried and gulped down 2 mouthfuls of water and thought, "Although I have no wish to live, but if I leave Master alone here to be bullied by that scoundrel, I won't die in peace." She quickly grabbed a large stone and smashed it on the oyster, but because its shell was tough and she could not exert much strength in the water, she had to hit it repeatedly but it did not budge.
As the oyster was attacked it tightened its grip further and Huang Rong swallowed the water again but she suddenly thought of something and quickly put the stone down and grabbed a handful of sand and threw it into the oyster. The oyster was indeed allergic to sand and hurriedly opened up, wanting to expel the sand. As soon as her leg was free, she wasted no time in swimming to the surface and heaved in the fresh air.

Hong Qigong noticed that she was submerged for such a long time and became worried as he knew she must have met some trouble in the water and wanted to help her. He anxiously splashed around in the water for a brief moment before he saw Huang Rong surface and hailed her in his excitement. Huang Rong waved to her master and wanted to dive again. This time she was prepared and dived some distance away from the giant oyster and shook it, then used the reef as a pivot to lift it up.

She dragged the oyster back to the shore. When the oyster left the water surface, it lost its bouyancy and became as heavy as a large rock and Huang Rong could not move it further. She then grabbed a large stone and struck the oyster to vent her anger. When she saw the deep wound the oyster had inflicted on her, she thought of her close brush with death and stopped hitting it.

On this night the two of them made the oyster into a good meal and they felt that it tasted really good. The next day when Hong Qigong awoke, he felt that the great pain in his body was less intense. His stomach felt really comfortable and he uncontrollably sighed.

Hong Qigong said, "After sleeping for a night, my injury seemed to have decreased by quite a bit." Huang Rong was elated and exclaimed, "It must be the oyster meat which helped you." Hong Qigong laughed, "The oyster meat didn't help much, but because the food was delicious, it satisfied my mouth. After that my recovery follows automatically by a slight bit."

Huang Rong giggled and rushed out to the beach to find the remains of the oyster meat. In her eagerness, she forgot about Ouyang Ke. Just as she cut off 2 slices of the meat, she suddenly saw a figure which was moving closer to her. Huang Rong bent her waist and grabbed part of the oyster's shell and threw it out and jumped away at the same time, reaching the water line.

After observing Hong Qigong from a distance for a day, Ouyang Ke felt that he was becoming more suspicious as he could hardly walk, but Ouyang Ke did not dare go into the cave, so now he forced himself forward and said, "Sister, don't go, I want to talk to you." Huang Rong said, "I'm ignoring you, yet you disregard that, you're really shameless." She then made a face at him.

Ouyang Ke saw her girlish attitude, causing his face to be deviod of colour and his heart to be itchy, so he advanced 2 steps and laughed, "It's your fault; it's because you're so beautiful that you can't get people to ignore you." Huang Rong laughed, "I said I'm ignoring you and I mean it. It's useless to sweet-talk me." Ouyang Ke advanced yet another step and said, "I don't believe you."

Huang Rong's face became a shade darker and said, "Move another step forward and I'll ask Master to club you." Ouyang Ke said, "Forget it, can he even walk? I'll go in and carry him out, OK?" Huang Rong got a shock inside and retreated 2 steps. Ouyang Ke grinned, "If you like to jump into the sea then go ahead. I'll wait here for you. Let's see who can last longer."

Huang Rong said, "Fine, you're bullying me, I'll ignore you forever." She turned and ran, but tripped on a stone and fell down. Ouyang Ke sort of expected this so he laughed, "You're really mischevious and naughty, but I love it." He held his gown in his hand to catch any secret needles she might throw and walked towards her. Huang Rong shouted, "Don't come over!" She struggled up but fell again after 3 steps.

This time her fall was more serious and half her body was in the sea and she seemed to have fainted. Ouyang Ke thought, "This girl is very crafty, I won't fall for her trick. With your skills, how did you fall without any apparent reason?" He stood there and observed her. After some time, he saw that she was still motionless and the tide was about to engulf her whole body.

Ouyang Ke became worried and thought, "This time she has really fainted, if I don't save her she might drown." He ran forward and tried to pull her legs. When he tugged her legs, he got a shock as he felt that her body was stiff, so he quickly hugged her up but Huang Rong hugged his legs instead and called out, "Go down!" Ouyang Ke could not stand properly and the 2 of them went into the water together.

In the water, despite his high skills, he could not use them and thought, "Even with such precautions, I fell for her trick, this time my life is lost!" Huang Rong originally wanted to dunk his head in the water to appease her anger. However as Ouyang Ke felt the water fill his mouth, he could not feel where his body was and struggled wildly, wanting to grab onto Huang Rong.

However she had already expected that and swam around him, so how could he catch her? In the struggle, Ouyang Ke drank a few mouthfuls of water and his body sank deeper with his feet touching the seabed. Though his martial arts were good and he was quick-thinking, he was at a great disadvantage in the water and he felt his body float aimlessly in the water. He hurriedly grabbed a rock on the seabed and used his internal energy to hold his breath and looked around to find the direction to the shore. But the water was murky and he could not tell east from west.

He walked around for a few steps and felt that walking upwards was a good idea, so he hit the rock and took large steps towards the shallower region. With the reef on the seabed, his movement was very difficult, but he used his internal energy to dash across in one go. Huang Rong saw that he did not surface for some time, so she quickly looked around and saw him walking in the water and was surprised. She swam behind him and used her spike to pierce towards him.

Ouyang Ke felt the water flowing faster, so he quickly evaded and moved even faster. Now he felt the lack of air in his lungs and let go of the large stone he was carrying and tried to surface to breathe, and when he stuck his head out, he saw that he was already close to the shore. Huang Rong knew she could not stop him now so she sighed and dived again.

Ouyang Ke did not die and crawled onto the beach completely drenched and his senses were blur. He threw up all the water he drank and felt his body go weak as if he suffered from some great illness. He was very angry and thought, "I'll go kill that old beggar and see if that girl listens to me!"

Although he had such thoughts, he was still wary of Hong Qigong and breathed for a few moments to get rid of his fatigue, so he broke off a tree branch and used it as a makeshift weapon then ran towards the cave.

He avoided going in directly and tried to slip in at the side. He listened for a moment and did not pick up any movements in the room, so he looked in and saw Hong Qigong sitting down on the ground, meditating; his face showed no signs of any injury.

Ouyang Ke thought, "I'll test him to see if he can move." He said in a loud voice, "Uncle Hong, this is bad, this is bad!" Hong Qigong opened his eyes and asked, "What?" Ouyang Ke pretended to be in a state of panic and said, "Sister Huang tried to catch a rabbit but fell into a deep valley and is injured. She can't climb out now!"

Hong Qigong was shocked and said, "Quickly save her!" Ouyang Ke was excited and thought, "If he could walk, why doesn't he come out and save her?" He walked in and laughed, "She tried ways and means to take my life, why should I help her? You go save her."

Hong Qigong observed his expression and knew that he was faking it, and thought, "This scum has discovered that I'd lost my martial arts, I'm in danger!" In this situation, he could only try to bring him down as well, and secretly channeled all his strength to his arm, and waited for him to come before he would strike. However when he did that, he felt a sharp pain near his heart and his body felt like it was about to collaspe apart, but when he saw Ouyang Ke's perverted smile, he gave a long sigh and waited for death.

Huang Rong saw Ouyang Ke hit the shore and got worried, thinking, "At this point the scoundrel would be prepared against me; it would be harder to scheme against him now." She swam outwards and headed left. After a while she saw the lush foliage and felt that this beach was different.

She then thought of Peach Blossom Island and became sad, but then she thought, "If I can find a safe place here for us to hide for a while, that scoundrel might not find us." It was not a fantastic plan, but it was better than their situation now and he might not actually find them, giving her master time to recover.

Thus she went ashore but she did not dare explore too deep as she was afraid of bumping into Ouyang Ke so she stuck close to the sea, thinking, "If I wasn't too playful in the past and mastered Father's Five-Element skills, then I'd be able to handle that scoundrel. Hai, no, Father gave him the map to Peach Blossom Island and he'd surely be able to understand it."

She was so absorbed in her thinking when she tripped on a tree vine and stumbled, and above her was some rustling noise followed by the mud and small pebbles raining on her. She dashed aside but hit a tree behind, so a few of the pebbles hit her head. Fortunately she was wearing the Soft Armour, so she was not really hurt. She looked up and was shocked; her heart banged rapidly.

She saw a sheer cliff face with a gigantic rock at the edge of the cliff. Half the rock was sticking out and any slight disturbance could bring the rock crashing down. The top of the cliff had many think vines winding about and the very vine she tripped on just now was connected up to the rock. If she snapped a vine connected directly to the thousand-pound rock, this rock would have smacked right into her, turning her into mincemeat.

The rock vibrated but was not dislodged. Huang Rong became extremely careful and watched where she was going, jumping now and stopping then. She moved back several dozen metres and became curious. She knew that if she could pull the rock down with just an arm but no one ever came here; there was not even a bird in sight and the rock had been here for hundreds of years.

The cliffs surrounded this place and even the sea breeze could not get through, and it seemed like this rock had already vibrated in the wind for the hundreds of years. Huang Rong went back to find her master but along the way she suddenly had this idea, "Heaven wants this scoundrel dead and has presented such a wonderful opportunity; how could I be so dense?" She became excited and sommersaulted twice.

She hurriedly returned to the cliff and carefully examined the place and saw that the trees reached up to the sky and if one wanted to avoid it, one could only jump 4-5 feet away at most, so if that rock came crashing down, even birds and squirrels might not evade it.
She took her spike out and cautiously walked to the base of the cliff and noted the 7 or 8 vines directly connected to the rock so that she would not touch them, then she cut off the remaining vines. When she cut a vine she held her breath as she was afraid that one small mistake and it would be her who would be flattened.

When she finished, she was drenched in sweat and felt that it was more tiring than a fierce battle. She then connected the cut vines together and placed a few heaps of dry grass as markings then memorized the route she took before going back and she hummed a few tunes along the way, feeling proud of herself.

When she got near the cave she still did not see Ouyang Ke's shadow and suddenly heard a perverted laugh coming from inside followed by someone saying, "You claim to be among the best martial artists, yet today you are in Grandfather's power, how do you feel? OK, on account that you're an elder, I'll let you have a 3-move advantage, how's that? You can display each and every one of the [Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms]!" Huang Rong softly exclaimed, "Ah!" She saw that the situation was threatening and shouted, "Father, you're here? Ah, Uncle Ouyang, you're here too!"

Ouyang Ke had already assessed Hong Qigong's abilities and was about to strike when he heard Huang Rong shout, so he was happy and thought, "How is it Uncle and Old Heretic Huang are here?" Then he thought, "It must be that girl shouting rubbish to save that old beggar. Fine, since that old beggar is under my control anyway I might as well go take a look." He then exited the cave.

He saw Huang Rong waving towards the beach and shouting, "Father! Father!" Ouyang Ke looked out but of course he did not see Huang Yaoshi. He laughed, "Sister, you want to trick me out to play, how could I refuse?" Huang Rong laughed and said, "Who's lying?" She then ran to the beach. Ouyang Ke laughed, "This time I'm prepared, you want to drag me into the sea again, let's try it."

He then chased her. His Qinggong was good and he was catching up fast. Huang Rong inwardly exclaimed, "This is bad! I might get caught even before reaching that cave." She ran another few dozen metres and Ouyang Ke was almost reaching her. Huang Rong broke left and left the beach. Ouyang Ke had learnt his lesson and did not dare go near, so he laughed, "OK, let's play hide-and-seek."