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

Wandering On A Shark's Back Part 7

Ever since he saw the fight between Zhou Botong and Huang Yaoshi, Ouyang Feng knew that this man's martial art was really strange. If for any reason they had to fight, he was certain he would not be defeated, but scoring a victory was not guaranteed either. Therefore, he decided to endure patiently for the time being. He wanted to wait until he had mastered the Nine Yin Manual, then he would come and settle the account with Zhou Botong. Besides, he had an excuse of losing the bet earlier. When all was said and done, it would be better off to send this annoying plague away anyway, so he made up his mind and said, " Very well, your luck was very good! Since you won the bet, let it be as you said." Turning his head to Wanyan Honglie he said, "Prince, please let down a boat to take this four people ashore."

Wanyan Hongli hesitated, he thought, "I am afraid as soon as they are ashore, these four people will leak my secret mission to the south."

All along the Venerable Lingzhi was watching with his cold eyes; earlier he had seen Ouyang Feng's unkempt appearance and already his heart was filled with contempt. He thought that this chicken-half-drown-in-soup did not dare to defy even for half a word of whatever Zhou Botong told him to do; most likely he had been enjoying an unearned reputation. Even if his martial art was excellent, he would not be necessarily more skillful than the rest of the people on board. Noticing Wanyan Honglie had a slight hesitation, he moved forward two steps and said, "If we are on the raft, then whatever Mr. Ouyang wishes we must comply, how can other people dare to speak too much? But we are on the boat, we have to listen to the Prince's instruction."

Listening to this, everybody's heart was stirred and they turned their gaze toward Ouyang Feng to see what he was going to do. Coldly Ouyang Feng looked up and down Venerable Lingzhi, sizing him up. He raised his head to the sky and wryly said, "This Great Monk deliberately wants to make things difficult for this old man?"

Venerable Lingzhi replied, "I don't dare. The lowly monk lived at the edge of Tibet; friendless and ignorant. Today was the very first time I heard Mr. Ouyang's honorable name. I don't have anything to do with you whatsoever ..."

Before he could finish, Ouyang Feng had moved forward one step; his left hand swiftly made a false move, his right hand deftly grab Venerable Lingzhi's tall and grand stature. With a little effort he turned the monk around and held him upside down. It had happened so fast; all the others saw was Venerable Lingzhi's red kassaya sway and then loosely flutter in midair; nobody saw clearly what kind of technique Ouyang Feng used.

Venerable Lingzhi was a head taller than everybody else, but Ouyang Feng was able to grab his neck like holding a slice of fat meat. Even if Ouyang Feng stretched out his arm completely upward, he would not necessarily be able to lift Lingzhi's feet off the ground; but when Ouyang Feng turned his body upside down, the top of Lingzhi's head was actually about four feet above the deck.

Venerable Lingzhi's legs were kicking randomly in the air, his mouth let out roaring curses. Everybody had seen Venerable Lingzhi fought Wang Chuyi at the Zhao Palace the other day; they knew his skill was not a trivial matter. But how could he be turned upside down by Ouyang Feng, his arms flailing weakly on the sides of his ears, like those arms were broken and he did not have any strength to struggle free?

With his eyes still looking upward, Ouyang Feng dryly said, "Today was the first time you heard my name; therefore, you look down upon the old man, don't you?"

Venerable Lingzhi was both scared and angry. He tried to exert his energy several times, trying to struggle free, but no matter what, he was not able to escape. Peng Lianhu and the others saw what happened, their countenances changed of amazement.

Ouyang Feng continued, "You look down upon the old man, that's alright. But I don't want to stoop down to your low level in front of the Honorable Prince. You want to detain the Old Urchin, Master Zhou, the Nine-fingered Divine Beggar, Master Hong. Heh, heh ... do you think you can rely on your magical skill to match them? You are both friendless and unlearned; no wonder you don't know much and have not had enough lessons to teach you manners. Old Urchin, take this!"

Again, nobody saw Ouyang Feng's hand move; he merely exert his strength to his palm and Venerable Lingzhi flew like a cloud from the port side to the starboard of the deck. As soon as he felt Ouyang Feng's palm strength left his body and he was free, Lingzhi stretched his body like a carp trying to turn his body right side up. But suddenly he felt a shot of pain on his neck; he cried out in pain, and stretched out his left arm to attack, but again he felt his arm went numb and hung helplessly on the side of his head. Once again his body was suspended midair. Turned out Zhou Botong followed Ouyang Feng's example and grabbed him by the neck.

Wanyan Honglie understood Lingzhi's precarious situation; he knew nobody could accuse Ouyang Feng of not giving forewarning. No one among his warriors had the ability to deal with Zhou Botong, this one man; hence he hastily said, "Mister Zhou, you don't have to play anymore, Little Prince is sending out a boat to take the four of you ashore."

"Very good," Zhou Botong said, "You can also try; take this!" Following Ouyang Feng's example, he exerted his strength to his palm and sent Venerable Lingzhi flying toward the Prince.

Of course Wanyan Honglie knew martial art, but his skill was limited to saber, spear and bow and arrow on a horseback. The flying plump monk from Zhou Botong's hand carried a swift and strong force; how could he take it? Even if he didn't die he would certainly suffer a heavy injury; so he hastily stepped aside to elude.

Sha Tongtian knew the Prince was in danger and right away he stepped forward in front of the Prince, trying to protect him. He saw Venerable Lingzhi was coming fast; if he struck with his palm, he might injure the monk. Following Ouyang Feng and Zhou Botong's example earlier, he wanted to grab the monk's neck and turn him right side up, and then lay him down nicely.

However, he had forgotten one important detail; namely, his martial art was way below of those two people. He saw Ouyang Feng and Zhou Botong seemingly without any effort grabbing and throwing Venerable Lingzhi's heavy body. Hence he leaped up to intercept Lingzhi, stretching his hand to grab his neck. Unexpectedly as he touched Venerable Lingzhi's neck he felt a burning sensation following a strong force attacking his hand and wrist. He knew if he did not ward off this attack his wrist would be broken immediately. In this critical time he quickly withdrew his right hand, while his left fist launched the 'po jia zhui' [splitting armor awl].

What happened was when Venerable Lingzhi was thrown away back and forth between Ouyang Feng and Zhou Botong, his blood was flowing adversely, his head was dizzy while his heart was burning with anger. He heard Zhou Botong calling out someone else to take his body, all he knew was that person must be an enemy; hence when he was still airborne he had already exerted his strength in anger. As soon as Sha Tongtian's hand bumped onto his neck his 'da shou yin' slapped out.

In term of strength these two were in par with each other; Sha Tongtian had the advantage of standing upright, but Venerable Lingzhi had prepared his attack beforehand, and thus caught him off guard. Two equal forces collided, Sha Tongtian was pushed back three steps, but Venerable Lingzhi was also shaken from the collision that he fell flat on the deck. Immediately he stood up and saw that the person who attacked him was Sha Tongtian; he thought, "Even you, a stinky thief, want to take advantage of me!" With a loud roar he pounced forward.

Peng Lianhu knew he misunderstood; hastily he blocked in between two people, calling out, "Reverend please don't get angry, Brother Sha only has a good intention."

In the meantime the small boat had been lowered down. Zhou Botong grabbed the stick inside the shark's mouth; he lifted and hurled the huge shark to the sea, simultaneously exerting his strength and broke the stick into two parts. While diving into the sea, that shark suddenly felt the stick in its mouth was broken, it was very happy. It dove deep into the water to hunt for some fish.

Huang Rong smiled, "Brother Jing, later on the two of us and Big Brother Zhou can ride sharks together and then we can have a race." Guo Jing did not answer, Zhou Botong clapped his hands and cheered, he said, "We can ask the Old Beggar to be our judge."

After seeing Zhou Botong and the others went out on the small boat, Wanyan Honglie started to think that with this kind of martial art, Ouyang Feng would provide a valuable assistance to his plan of stealing the book. He pulled Venerable Lingzhi's hand and walked toward Ouyang Feng. "Everybody here is good friend, I hope Sir would not be offended, I am sure Reverend was not serious. I wish both gentlemen would give Little Prince face and consider everything as a joke," he said.