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

Wandering On A Shark's Back Part 5

'Crack! Crack!' the wooden raft was broken into two halves. Ouyang Ke was on the left half, while Ouyang Feng and Hong Qigong were on the right half. Inwardly Ouyang Feng was anxious; quickly he stretched his hand to grab his nephew; then he stooped looking into the water, ready to strike Huang Rong if she cut another rope.

From under the water Huang Rong could see Ouyang Feng's shadow clearly. Knowing his next attack would be very fierce, she did not dare to cut another rope. Both sides were in deadlock for a long time. Huang Rong swam several 'zhang's away and took another deep breath, then dove right back in, waiting for an opportunity to launch her attack.

With concentrated attention both sides were waiting for an opportunity. For a moment the sea turned very calm. The sun was shining brightly over their heads. The ocean seemed so calm and peaceful; but on this half wooden raft, one above and one below, there was a very thick murderous intention.

Huang Rong thought, "If this half raft is cut into two, the waves would certainly turn it over." While Ouyang Feng thought, "As soon as she pokes her head out, I am going to slap the water. The vibration should be enough to scatter her brain out. Once this little girl is gone, the little thief surnamed Guo should not post any problem to me." Two people waited without blinking their eyes, both were itchy to strike.

Suddenly Ouyang Ke pointed to the left and called out, "A boat! A boat!"

Hong Qigong and Guo Jing turned their heads and saw a big boat with a dragon ship head, its sail was fully raised, it approached riding the wind and breaking the waves. A moment later Ouyang Ke saw someone standing on the bow; he had a big stature and was wearing a scarlet kassaya, it looked like he was Monk Lingzi. As the boat got closer, he saw more clearly, and it was indeed Monk Lingzi. Hastily he told his uncle.

Ouyang Feng concentrates his 'qi' on his 'dan tian' and loudly called out, "Friends, here, come quickly!"

Under the water Huang Rong did not know what was happening; Guo Jing knew they were in more trouble; he went underwater and pulled Huang Rong's arm, signaling her that more enemies were coming. Huang Rong was not very clear on his intention, but she was aware something was not right, so she signaled back to Guo Jing to block Ouyang Feng's palm, while she would sever the rope.

Guo Jing realized his own skill was inferior to the enemy by a long shot; now that he was underwater while the enemy was above the water, the difference was farther away. He knew blocking Ouyang Feng's palm meant endangering his own life, but it was a critical time, he had no other alternative. Hence he exerted all his strength to his palms and suddenly jumped upward.

"Ugh!" Ouyang Feng grunted, his palms struck to the water; while Guo Jing's palms were coming up from below. Two forces collided on the surface of the sea, creating a big splash. The raft was lifted several feet upward, and 'crack! crack!' the half raft was broken into two parts; it looked like Huang Rong managed to cut the rope just in time.

In the meantime the big boat was already dozens of 'zhang's away from the raft. After cutting the rope, immediately Huang Rong dove underwater. She was about to come up and stab Ouyang Feng when she saw Guo Jing was motionless, slowly sinking down. She was alarmed and quickly swam near and pulled his arm. She swam away for several 'zhang's before coming up to the surface. Guo Jing's eyes were tightly shut, his face blue and his lips colorless; he was unconscious.

The boat lowered a small rescue boat with several sailors rowing the oars; they took Ouyang Feng uncle and nephew, as well as Hong Qigong aboard. Huang Rong called three times, "Brother Jing!" but Guo Jing did not wake up. She thought although the boat is full of the enemies, but she had no other alternative; she held on to Guo Jing's head and swam toward the small boat.

The sailors pulled Guo Jing aboard and held out their hands to draw her, but Huang Rong's left hand pressed on the boat's edge and leaped up like a flying fish from the water to the boat, scaring the sailors.

When his palms collided with Ouyang Feng's, Guo Jing felt a tremendous force surging through his body and he passed out immediately. He awakened and felt he was leaning on Huang Rong's bosom, and was aware that they were on a small boat. He circulated his breathing and found out that he was not internally injured; he raised his brows and smiled to Huang Rong.

Huang Rong smiled back at him and her anxiety and fear were gone in an instant; at last she had an opportunity to see what kind of boat was coming to rescue them. But once she looked up, she was groaning inwardly; she saw on the bow of the big boat stood seven, eight men, tall and short. They were precisely the Wulin characters she met several months earlier at the Zhao Palace in Yanjing. The one short and stout with bright eyes was 'qian shou ren tu' [thousand-hand man slaughterer] Peng Lianhu, the one with a bald, shiny head was 'gui men long wang' [dragon king of Guimen (lit. ghost gate) Note to final editor: the earlier chapter has 'Dragon King of Demonic Group'] Sha Tongtian, the one with three tumors on his head sticking out like horns was 'san tou jiao' [three-headed scaly dragon] Hou Tonghai, the one with ruddy face and white hair was 'shen xian lao guai' [ginseng immortal old freak] Liang Ziweng, the one wearing scarlet kassaya was the Tibetan monk 'da shou yin' [big hand print] Venerable Lingzhi. There were several others that she did not know. She thought, "Recently Brother Jing's martial arts and mine have enjoyed a tremendous improvement. If we have to fight with Peng Lianhu and the others one to one, I might not win, but Brother Jing will definitely score victory. But there is the Old Poison standing nearby, plus these many people are gathered together. It will be very difficult for us to escape danger today."

The people on the big boat were surprised to hear Ouyang Feng's shouts from the raft. Now they saw Guo Jing and the others, they were even more surprised. Ouyang Feng was holding his nephew; Guo Jing and Huang Rong carried Hong Qigong, five people in two groups jumped up one after another from the small rescue boat to the big boat.

Soon a man was coming out the cabin to welcome them; he wore an embroidered colored robe. As soon as he saw Guo Jing, both men were stunned. That man wore a neat beard on his chin, he had a handsome face; it was none other than the Sixth Prince of the Great Jin, Wanyan Honglie.

After escaping from the Liu family ancestral hall in Baoying, Wanyan Honglie was afraid Guo Jing might pursue him to the north, hence he did not dare to go home. He came across Peng Lianhu, Sha Tongtian and the others and decided to go down south to steal the book left behind by Yue Wumu (the Wumu Legacy). At that time the Mongolian army had dispatched a large scale military expedition against the Jins; the capital, Yanjing, had been besieged for several months, the sixteen prefectures surrounding it had fallen under Mongolian invasion. As the days past, the situation of the Jin was getting more and more critical. Wanyan Honglie was very worried about the fate of his country; he saw with his own eyes that the Mongolians were very swift and fierce. Although the Jin army was ten times in terms of number, each time they met, the Jins were routed left and right. Wanyan Honglie painstakingly pondered any idea to rebuild his country's lofty aspirations, and came to the conclusion that what he needed right at that time was the Wumu Legacy. He thought that as long as this book on military strategy was in his possession, he would be able to build a divine and invincible army; just like Yue Fei's own army. Even though Mongolian army was strong, they would flee just at the sight of his army.

Presently he led this expedition going south, trying to track the whereabouts of the Legacy; only he feared the Southern Song would uncover his intention and be on guard against the intruders. Therefore, he decided to go by the sea; hoping nobody would know his itinerary and he could land at the Zhejiang coast undetected and quietly enter Lin'an to steal the book.

Actually before departing he was looking for Ouyang Ke; he knew he was a martial art expert and would become a highly useful companion, but after a long time did not have any news about him, he decided to leave without waiting for this man. This time suddenly they met quite by accident on the sea, not only Ouyang Ke, but also Guo Jing at his side, he could not help but secretly feeling anxious; he was afraid his big secret mission had been compromised.

Seeing the enemy who killed his father, Guo Jing was seething with anger; he did not care if he was being surrounded by powerful enemies, he looked at Wanyan Honglie with blazing gaze.

Just then someone else was coming out of the cabin, but only half step through the door he immediately shrunk back in. Huang Rong's sharp eyes saw that man looked like Yang Kang.

In the meantime Ouyang Ke introduced his uncle to the prince, "Uncle, this is the Sixth Prince of the Great Jin who loves people of high skill." Ouyang Feng cupped his fists in front of his chest.

Wanyan Honglie did not know that Ouyang Feng had a very big name in the martial art realms; he saw Ouyang Feng showed an arrogant expression, but for Ouyang Ke's sake he returned the respect.

As Peng Lianhu, Sha Tongtian and the others heard his name, they bowed and sang their praises, "For a long time Mr. Ouyang is the Mount Tai and the Big Dipper [meaning 'ultimate'] of the Wulin world; today we are fortunate to finally meet you." Ouyang Feng slightly bowed, returning their respect half-heartedly.

The 'da shou yin' Venerable Lingzhi came from Tibet, he did not know the Western Poison's reputation; he merely put his palms together without saying anything.

Wanyan Honglie knew that Sha Tongtian and the others were conceited men, they always looked down towards others; but he noticed they were very respectful toward Ouyang Feng almost to the point of fear and heaped him with flattering words, and their faces looked very unusual. Wanyan Honglie realized that this swollen man with disheveled hair and bare feet was not an ordinary person; immediately he treated Ouyang Feng with respect and uttered some polite words.

Among these people, Liang Ziweng was the only one with different feeling. Guo Jing had drunk the valuable blood of his precious viper; now that they saw each other, how could he not feel angry? But he noticed that the person he was most afraid of, Hong Qigong, was with Guo Jing. So even though he was very angry, he managed to keep a smiling face. He went forward and bowed respectfully, "The little Liang Ziweng greets Clan Leader Hong, wishing you, Senior well."

His speech had startled everybody else; they have heard the stellar reputation of the Western Poison and the Northern Beggar for a long time, but they have never met them in person. Who would have expected that two of the biggest names of the martial art world actually made their appearance at the same time? They were about to rush forward and pay their respects when Hong Qigong laughed big and said, "The Old Beggar is having a very bad luck, a vicious dog has bitten me half dead and half alive, what are you paying respect for? It's better for you to bring me something to eat."

Everybody was startled, they thought, "This Hong Qigong only laying down motionless, turned out he is severely injured. We don't have anything to fear, then." They looked at Ouyang Feng, wanted to see what he was going to do.

Early on Ouyang Feng had cooked up a plan on how to get rid of these three people: Hong Qigong must be eliminated first to avoid his own lowly behavior to be publicly known; next, he would force Guo Jing to explain the difficult sentences from the manual, and then he would execute him. As for Huang Rong, although his nephew loved her, if he left her alive, she would bring enormous disaster in the future. However, if he personally killed her, Huang Yaoshi would not let him have a single moment of peace. Therefore, he wanted to borrow someone else's hand to have her killed thus shifting the blame from his own shoulders. Presently these three were aboard the boat, thus he was not afraid they would fly to the sky to escape. He stepped forward and said to Wanyan Honglie, "These three people are very crafty; they are also highly skilled in martial arts. I beseech the Prince to assign some people to guard them well."

Liang Ziweng was very pleased; he leaned to the left and squeezed through Sha Tongtian to grab Guo Jing's hand. Guo Jing turned his wrist over and slapped Liang Ziweng's shoulder. It was the 'seeing dragon in the field'; a swift and heavy stance; even though Liang Ziweng's martial art skill was high, unexpectedly he was forced to stagger back two steps.

Peng Lianhu and Liang Ziweng were continually in competition to win favor in the presence of Wanyan Honglie. They always wanted to outdo the other; their faces were different from their hearts. Seeing Liang Ziweng stumble, Peng Lianhu was secretly very pleased. He stepped forward to surround Hong Qigong and the others; but he waited for Liang Ziweng to fall flat before making any action.

When Liang Ziweng squeezed through Sha Tongtian's side to pull Guo Jing away; he was prepared against Guo Jing's single stance of the Proud Dragon Repents; he knew he would not be able to block it head on, hence the sideways attack. Who would have thought that in less than a month the Proud Dragon Repents was not the only one Guo Jing knew? Seeing Guo Jing did not pursue, he jumped up and attacked with his fists, launching his lifelong trained martial art, the 'liao dong ye hu quan fa' [wild fox from Liaodong fist technique]; determined to take Guo Jing's life, both for embarrassing him just now, also for killing his precious snake in the past.

One time Liang Ziweng went to pick ginseng on Mount Changbai [located in Jilin province]; he saw a hound was fighting with a wild fox on the snow. The fox was very cunning, it leaped to the east and hopped to the west, very quick and agile. Although the hound's claws and teeth were sharp, after battling for a long time it had not scored victory yet. Liang Ziweng noticed the ability of the fox to jump very high; he got a sudden inspiration. He abandoned his intention to pick ginseng and decided to stay inside a thatched hut on the deep snowy mountain, painstakingly pondering martial art moves for several months. As a result, the 'wild fox fist technique' was born.

The technique incorporates four fundamental principles, namely 'ling' [alert/quick], 'shan' [dodge], 'pu' [pounce], and 'die' [tumble]. This technique had come in handy in dealing with powerful enemies of his. First of all, he did not give the enemy any opportunity to catch him as he was very quick to retreat, as he was able to hasten to the left and escape to the right; and then struck back as opportunity arose.

This time he did not dare to underestimate his opponent anymore and launched this fist technique right away. His attacks were lightning fast as he threw everything he got on Guo Jing. The fist technique was weird, Guo Jing had never seen anything like it before. He thought, "In Rong'er's 'luo ying shen jian zhang' [falling leaves divine sword palm technique] there are many trick moves; out of five attacks only one is real; or perhaps one out of eight. But seems like this old man's fists are all empty strikes. I wonder what kind of strange technique is this?" However, he still remembered Hong Qigong's advice that regardless of the technique his opponent was using, all he needed to do was to keep fighting using the 18-Dragon Subduing Palms.

After watching these two men fighting for a while, everybody started to silently shake their heads, thinking, "The Old Freak Liang can be considered a grand master of martial art; how come in fighting this new born kid he keeps moving around and does not dare to attack head on?"

Several moves later Guo Jing's palm strength started to push him back step by step; looked like very soon he would fall into the ocean. Realizing his 'wild fox fist' would not help him scoring the victory, Liang Ziweng was thinking of using a different set of fist technique; but it was too late. Guo Jing's palms had enveloped him completely, did not give him any chance to counterattack.