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

Healing In The Secret Room Part 3

Huang Rong's speculation was right on target. When Cheng Yaojia was held captive by Ouyang Ke, it was true that it was the Beggar Clan's Li Sheng and his men who helped her; but they were not Ouyang Ke's match. If Guo Jing and Huang Rong did not go into action, she would have suffered disgrace. She saw Guo Jing was still young. Not only his skill was superb, but also his manner was sincere. A strand of love thread unexpectedly floated from her and stuck on Guo Jing.

She was the young lady of a very rich family; she had never left home before, and she had reached the age where she started to have interest in the opposite sex. As she saw an attractive young man she unexpectedly fell in love.

Even after Guo Jing left, he was always in this Cheng Da Xiaojie's mind. Thinking left and right she mustered up enough courage and left home in the middle of the night. She was a pugilist, but had never left home; she did not have the slightest idea about the way of the Jianghu people. She happened to hear Guo Jing was from the Ox Village of Lin'an prefecture, thereupon she asked around the way to the Ox Village.

Her appearance was elegant and her bearing was noble; along the way bad people did not dare to bully her. At the previous village she was told that the Ox Village was near; but when she suddenly heard Shagu say this was the Ox Village she had no idea what to do next. She had come thousands of 'li's to find Guo Jing, but now she was hoping Guo Jing would not be home. Her thought was, "I will go secretly to his home in the evening, take one look at him, and then go home. I can't let him know I came for him; I would die of embarrassment if he finds out."

Right at that moment Lu Guanying arrived and inquired about Guo Jing. Cheng Yaojia was afraid he had found out her heart's contents. She was at a lost for a moment then decided she would stand up and leave. But suddenly from outside the door an ugly face appeared then vanished. Cheng Yaojia was startled; she drew back two steps. That ugly face reappeared and called out, "Double-headed ghost! Come out in the sun if you have the ability. San Tou Jiao Master Hou challenges you to fight. I have one more head than you do. Under the bright sun, Master Hou does not fear you!" His meaning was clear: as soon as it was dark, Master Hou would candidly admit defeat although he had more heads. Lu and Cheng two people obviously did not understand.

"Humph!" Huang Rong snorted. "All right, finally they come back," she murmured. She believed Lu's and Cheng's martial art skills were not too high, it would be difficult for them to fight Peng Lianhu and the others. If she and Guo Jing wanted to help, all they did would be delivering two more lives. The best way would be telling them to get out of the way quickly. But how could she let them know? She went over other possibilities, but after thinking back and forth she still could not produce any good idea. All they had was each other and their courage.

When Peng Lianhu and the others saw the double-headed ghost, they all thought it was the same expert, dressed as a ghost, who humiliated them the previous night. Therefore, they all ran away as far as possible from the village. Nobody dared to come back, with the exception of Hou Tonghai. He was a simple man, and actually believed it was a real ghost. He felt the blazing sun on his head, hurting his scalp. While everybody else had disappeared, he cursed, "Ghosts will meet their dooms under the sun. They did not know that, yet they dare to roam the Jianghu. I, Lao Hou [the Old Hou], am not afraid. I am going back to face the ghost. Let them respect me."

Thereupon he came back in big strides to the inn albeit with trepidation in his heart. When he stuck his head on the door, he saw Cheng Yaojia and Lu Guanying sat in the middle of the room. "Not good!" he said to himself, "The double-headed ghost has transformed itself into a man and a woman. Old Hou, oh, Old Hou, you have to be very careful."

Lu Guanying and Cheng Yaojia heard his challenge, but they did not understand the reason. They looked at each other and decided he was a mad man; hence they ignored him.

Hou Tonghai kept cursing, but the ghost did not come out to fight. He believed the ghost was afraid of the sun. But to barge in and capture the ghost inside, the Old Hou did not have any nerve. They were in a stalemate situation for half a day. He was waiting for the two ghosts to transform themselves to other forms, who would have thought that the ghosts did not show any activities at all. Suddenly he remembered an old saying that ghosts were afraid of filthy things. So he left at once to find some dung.

There were several outhouses in the village; there was one big one next to the inn. In his effort to capture the ghost he was not afraid of filth, so he took out his outer garment and scooped out a large bundle of dung, then he returned to the inn. He saw Lu and Cheng two people were still sitting in the inn. The secret weapon in his hands boosted his courage considerably. He called out loudly, "All right, daring ghost! Master Hou wants you to return to your original form." With a three-pronged fork in his left hand and the bundle of dung in his right hand, he boldly entered the room.

As Lu and Cheng two people saw this lunatic come back, they were slightly startled. But before the man arrived they had already caught the bad smell he was bringing. Hou Tonghai pondered, "I heard people say that men are more vicious than women, but female ghost is more dangerous than the male one." Therefore, he lifted the bundle and threw it toward Cheng Yaojia.

Cheng Yaojia called out in alarm; she moved sideways to evade. Lu Guanying had already lifted up a long bench to strike the bundle. It fell to the ground and broke, dung flew everywhere, bad smell attacked their nostrils making them want to throw up.

Hou Tonghai shouted loudly, "Double-headed ghost, quickly go back to your original form." Lifting his fork he attacked Cheng Yaojia ferociously. He was simple-minded, but his martial art skill was not bad. His fork attack was both rapid and fierce.

Lu and Cheng two people were alarmed; they both thought, "This man is obviously a Wulin expert; he is by no means a lunatic."

Lu Guanying saw Cheng Yaojia as a lady from a renowned family, she looked so frail and tender that a whiff of wind might blow her away. He was afraid this mad man might hurt her, so he lifted the long bench to parry the three-pronged steel fork. "Who are you, Sir?" he asked. Hou Tonghai ignored his question and stabbed him three times with his fork. Lu Guanying kept using the bench as his weapon and repeatedly asked his name.

Hou Tonghai noticed that although the ghost's martial art skill was not weak, but actually it was entirely different from the mysteriously appearing and disappearing ghost of last night. He concluded it was the result of his dung attack earlier. He was very smug and called out, "You, the enchanting ghost, want to know my name so that you can put a curse on me, don't you? Your master won't fall into your trick."

Initially he called himself 'Master Hou', but now that he got a sudden inspiration he omitted the word 'Hou' and only used the word 'Master' to avoid the ghost from throwing up a curse on him. The steel rings on his fork made a ding-dong noise as he intensified his attack.

Lu Guanying's martial art was inferior to his opponent to begin with; and now he was using a bench as a weapon. He wanted to draw the saber on his waist but did not have any chance to do so. He was forced to step back so that after a while his back was already against the wall, covering the small hole through which Huang Rong was looking out.

Hou Tonghai stabbed with his steel fork, Lu Guanying hastily moved sideways to evade. 'Bang!' the fork pricked the wall, less than a foot away from Huang Rong's hole. Before he pulled his fork back, the bench in Lu Guanying's hand struck vertically toward the top of his head. Hou Tonghai's foot flew to kick Lu Guanying's hand, while his left fist attacked Lu Guanying's face. The bench fell from Lu Guanying's hands, while he was forced to duck to avoid the blow. Meanwhile Hou Tonghai had withdrawn his steel fork from the wall.

Cheng Yaojia saw the critical situation; she jumped forward and pulled the saber from Lu Guanying's waist, then handed it over to him. "Many thanks!" Lu Guanying said. He had never imagined that in this critical moment this polite and charming girl would have the courage to enter such a fierce battle and draw the saber to help him.

He saw a bright flickering light from the steel fork coming into his chest; immediately his saber went up horizontally in front of his chest and 'clang!' sparks flew everywhere. The steel fork was forced sideways, but he felt a chest pain. It seemed like this lunatic's strength was not small; but with a saber in his hand he was greatly encouraged.

After exchanging several stances both men's feet had stepped over the dung and brought it everywhere they treaded. In the beginning Hou Tonghai was fighting with trepidation; he always thought about darting out the door to escape, he did not dare to use all his strength. But the longer they fought, he saw the ghost was unable to defeat him; obviously his enchantment was restrained by the dung. He became bolder and his attacks became fiercer. In the end Lu Guanying was having a hard time blocking his attacks.

At first Cheng Yaojia was afraid of the dung on the ground; she stood up in a corner watching the fight. But then she saw this handsome young man would lose his life under the lunatic's steel fork; she hesitated for a moment, finally she made up her mind and drew a sword from her bundle. She called out to Lu Guanying, "Xiang Gong, I ... I am going to help you. Please pardon me." Her manner was truly thorough; she was apologizing before helping someone to fight. Her sword flashed toward Hou Tonghai's chest.

She was the Qing Jing San Ren [Sage of Tranquility], Sun Bu'er's disciple; naturally she was well-versed in the Quanzhen Sect's sword technique. Hou Tonghai had anticipated her move; he thought that the double-headed ghost had transformed itself into two, and the female ghost would attack him soon as an evil spirit, so he was not surprised. But Lu Guanying was pleasantly surprised. He saw her movement was quick, her sword technique exquisite; his heart was full of admiration. His own saber was starting to be chaotic, he was sweating profusely; now suddenly someone came to help, his spirit rose.

At first Hou Tonghai was quite worried by the female ghost's fierceness, but after a few stances he noticed that although her sword technique was proficient, but her strength was just ordinary; moreover, she looked nervous. Probably she had not been a ghost for long, she had not reached the 'old ghost' level yet. Thereupon he gradually felt relieved. His three-pronged fork created strong gusts of wind. One against two, he still was able to attack more than his opponents.

Watching from the other room Huang Rong was very anxious; she knew Lu and Cheng two people would eventually fall under their enemy. She wanted to lend them a hand, but she must not leave Guo Jing even for half a step. Otherwise, with her intelligence and abundant experience it would be very easy for her to play tricks on this Three-headed Scaly Dragon.

She heard Lu Guanying call out, "Miss, go away, you don't have to entangle yourself with him."

Cheng Yaojia knew he was worried that she might be injured and wanted to fight this mad man alone; she was very grateful, but she also knew fighting alone he would not be able to resist the enemy. She shook her head, unwilling to draw back.

Lu Guanying fought furiously, he shouted to Hou Tonghai, "As a real man you are making things difficult for a young girl, what kind of hero are you? Just deal with me, a man surnamed Lu, and let this Miss go."

Although Hou Tonghai was muddle-headed, he knew by now that these two were not ghosts; but seeing Cheng Yaojia was beautiful, while he had gained an upper hand, how could he let her go? With laughter he said, "I want to capture the male ghost, I also want to take the female ghost." His steel fork went straight horizontally with a violent thrust; he was being 30% lenient toward Cheng Yaojia, otherwise he would have already stabbed her.

"Miss, quickly go!" Lu Guanying anxiously said, "The man surnamed Lu is grateful or your kindness."

"Xiang Gong's honorable surname is Lu, isn't it?" in a low voice Cheng Yaojia asked.

"Exactly," Lu Guanying replied, "Miss, what is your name? What school do you belong to?"

"My Shifu's surname is Sun, people call her the Sage of Tranquility," Cheng Yaojia said, "I ... I ..." She was going to say her name, but suddenly felt shy and closed her mouth.

"Miss, I'll block him, you run quickly," Lu Guanying said, "As long as the man surnamed Lu is still alive, I will look for you. I thank you for your help today."

Cheng Yaojia was blushing, she stammered, "I ... I don't ... Xiang Gong ..." Turning her head to Hou Tonghai she said, "Hey, mad man! Don't you dare injuring this Xiang Gong. My Shifu is the Sun Zhenren [lit. true/real person, a respectful term to address a Taoist priest] from Quanzhen Sect. She will arrive shortly."

The names of Quanzhen Seven Masters were well-known throughout the world. That day Hou Tonghai had seen it with his own eyes when the Tie Jiao Xian [Iron Feet Immortal], Yuyang [jade-sun] Zi, Wang Chuyi intimidated the group of pugilists at the Zhao Palace. Now hearing what Cheng Da Xiaojie said, he was somewhat afraid. But after a slight shock he cursed, "Even if the Quanzhen Seven Masters come together, your master here will butcher them all one by one!"

Suddenly from outside the door came someone's clear voice saying, "Who in here doesn't want to live by speaking nonsense?"

Three people were engaged in a fierce battle, but as they heard this voice they all leaped backward. Lu Guanying was afraid Hou Tonghai would launch a sneak attack, he pulled Cheng Yaojia behind him and stood wielding his saber in front of her; only then he did raise his head to take a look.

He saw a young Taoist priest standing at the doorstep, wearing a feather robe and a star crown, his face handsome and his eyes bright, he was holding a Taoist whisk in his hand. "Who said he wants to butcher the Quanzhen Seven Masters?" he coldly asked.

With the fork in his right hand Hou Tonghai inserted his left hand to his waist; with glaring eyes he said loudly, "It's me, your master. So what?"

"All right," the young priest said, "Go ahead and try." Swaying his body forward he swept the whisk toward Hou Tonghai's face.

By now Guo Jing had finished one round of exercise; hearing the clamor of battle outside he looked out through the small hole. Huang Rong asked, "Is this young priest also one of the Quanzhen Seven Masters?"

Guo Jing recognized the young priest as Yin Zhiping, Qiu Chuji's disciple. Two years ago he received an order from his master to deliver a letter to the Jiangnan Six Heroes and had a martial art contest with Guo Jing at night, in which Guo Jing was defeated. Quietly Guo Jing told Huang Rong everything.

Huang Rong saw he had exchanged a few stances with Hou Tonghai; she shook her head and said, "He won't defeat the Three-Headed Scaly Dragon."

Yin Zhiping slightly fell under Hou Tonghai's attacks; with a saber in his hand Lu Guanying immediately stepped forward to help him. Compared to the time he fought Guo Jing at night, he had made some progress; but fighting side by side with Lu Guanying they only managed to face Hou Tonghai evenly.

Just a moment ago Cheng Yaojia's left hand was grabbed by Lu Guanying for a short moment, yet her heart was still pitter-pattering madly. Three people were fighting furiously right next to her, but she was actually daydreaming, gently stroking her hand. Suddenly she was awakened with a startled from her daze-like condition by a clanking noise and Lu Guanying's urgent voice, "Miss, watch out!"

It turned out that Hou Tonghai noticed her condition and thrust his fork to her; Lu Guanying busily fended off the attack while shouting to her. Cheng Yaojia's face turned completely red; she gathered her thoughts and entered the battle.

Cheng Yaojia's martial art skill was not too high, but with one against three Hou Tonghai had a hard time blocking the enemies. He brandished his fork ferociously, trying to open up an opportunity to escape and find some help, but Yin Zhiping's whisk was dancing around in front of his face, making his vision blurry. He was negligent for a split second and Lu Guanying's saber cut his leg.

"Your eighteen ancestors be damned!" Hou Tonghai cursed. But because of this wound he gradually became sluggish. He thrust the steel fork forward, Yin Zhiping parried with his whisk, and the whisk coiled around it. They both pulled their respective weapons back in a tug-of-war game, but because Hou Tonghai was stronger, Yin Zhiping was forced to let his whisk go.

Cheng Yaojia thrust her sword with 'dou yao xing he' [fighting and shaking star and river] and stabbed his right shoulder. Hou Tonghai could not hold his steel fork, it fell to the ground. Yin Zhiping took this opportunity to sweep his leg and Hou Tonghai tumbled to the ground. Lu Guanying immediately pounced on him; taking the leather belt on his waist he bound Hou Tonghai's hands behind his back.

Yin Zhiping laughed and said, "You can't even defeat the Quanzhen Seven Masters' disciple; how would you butcher the Quanzhen Seven Masters?" Hou Tonghai opened his mouth and shouted cursing words, said that it was three against one, that it was not a real hero's deed. Yin Zhiping tore up a piece of his clothes and stuffed it into his mouth. Hou Tonghai's face looked so angry, but he could not say anything.

Yin Zhiping bowed to Cheng Yaojia, "Shijie [Elder Martial Sister] is the disciple of Sun Shishu [Martial (younger) Uncle Sun]? You little brother Yin Zhiping greets you."

Cheng Yaojia hurriedly returned his bow and said, "I don't deserve it. I wonder Shixiong [Martial Brother – 'xiong' is brother in a general term] which Shibo's [Martial (older) Uncle] disciple? Little sister pays my respect to Yin Shixiong."

"Little brother is a disciple of Changchun [perpetual/eternal spring]," Yin Zhiping replied.