SWORDS FIGHTS ON MOUNT HUA (Book 3 of Legend Of The Condor Heroes)

The Lady Of The Black Marsh Part 2

Guo Jing and Huang Rong looked at each other; they thought this lady's behavior was so weird.

That lady had not spoken anything when suddenly there was an intermittent call from the outside. It was the Iron Palm Clan pursuers. "Are they friends or enemies?" the lady asked.

"They are enemies pursuing us," Guo Jing said.

"Iron Palm Clan?" the lady asked.

"Yes," Guo Jing replied.

The lady inclined her ear to listen for a while and then said, "Qiu Bangzhu [Clan Leader Qiu] personally leads his clan to pursue. Who are you actually?" When asking this her voice was stern.

Guo Jing moved forward one step, stood up in front of Huang Rong, and with poise in his voice he said, "We are the Nine-fingered Divine Beggar Hong Bangzhu's disciples. My martial sister is injured by the Iron Palm Clan's Qiu Qianren. We took refuge here. If Senior has a close relation to the Iron Palm Clan and is unwilling to give us shelter; then we will take our leave." Having said this he raised his cupped fist and then turned around to help Huang Rong stood up.

That lady smiled indifferently and said, "You are young, yet so mule-headed. You can survive but do you think your martial sister can? So you are Hong Qigong's disciples, no wonder you have this kind of skill."

She heard the shouts of Iron Palm Clan people were sometimes far and sometimes near, sometimes high and sometimes low; she sighed and said, "They can't find the way, they can't come in; just relax. Even if they manage to enter, you are my guests, how can Divine ... Divine ... Ying Gu let other people bully her esteemed guests?" She thought, "Originally I was called 'shen suan zi' [Divine Mathematician] Ying Gu; but this young miss' mathematical skill is a hundred times better than mine. How could I call myself 'shen suan zi' anymore?" Therefore, she only said the first word 'shen' but could not bring herself to utter the next two characters.

Guo Jing bowed to express his gratitude. Ying Gu slipped the clothes from Huang Rong's shoulder to see her injury. She creased her brows but did not say anything; she took the vial from her bosom and dissolved the green pill in a bowl of water.

Huang Rong took the bowl but she hesitated, they did not know whether the lady was a friend or a foe; how could she took her medicine?

Ying Gu saw her hesitation, she coldly said, "You are injured by Qiu Qianren's Iron Palm; do you still think you can recover? If I want to harm you, do you think I need to bother myself? This medicine is a pain-reliever; you don't want it? Fine!" She grabbed the bowl back and poured the content on the ground.

Seeing her rudeness toward Huang Rong, Guo Jing was unable to restrain his anger. "My martial sister is seriously injured; how can you be so mad at her?" he said, "Rong'er, let's go."

Ying Gu coldly smiled and said, "Ying Gu's two small huts; do you think two juniors like you can easily come and easily go?" With two bamboo strips in her hands, she stood on the doorway, blocking the exit.

Guo Jing thought, "Talk is useless, must use force." He called out, "Senior, forgive me for being rude." He bent his knees a little bit; making a circle with his arms he launched the Proud Dragon Repents straight to the door. This stance was his fiercest one; he was afraid Ying Gu could not resist it, so he only used 30% of his strength. His intention was simply to clear the way; he did not want to harm anybody. As the gust of wind arrived at Ying Gu's body, Guo Jing watched closely how Ying Gu would block this attack; whether he should increase his strength or retract it immediately. Who would have thought that Ying Gu only leaned her body slightly, her left palm made a diagonal moved to lightly push his arm and Guo Jing's strength was diverted sideways.

Guo Jing did not expect her to posses such a high skill; he was pushed forward half a step from the momentum of his own force. Ying Gu was also surprised that with such strong attack Guo Jing was able to hold his stance firmly on the sand and did not fall down. From this one exchange, both were secretly admiring their opponent's skill.

"Kid, have you learned your Shifu's entire skill?" Ying Gu loudly called out. While shouting out she used her bamboo strip to hit the 'qu ze' [crooked marsh] acupoint on the bend of Guo Jing's right arm. It was a vital acupoint, Guo Jing did not dare to neglect this attack. He counterattacked with another stance from the 18-Dragon Subduing Palms.

After exchanging several moves Guo Jing realized that Ying Gu's martial art was purely 'yin' [negative, female] in character, from the 'soft' side. Obviously she did not have a single frontal strike, but each one of her moves contained a lethal counter-strike; if Guo Jing did not know mutual hands combat, he would have been injured early on.

The more he fought, the more he did not dare to underestimate her; gradually he increased the strength of his palms, but Ying Gu's martial art was one of a kind; her stances appeared to be soft and powerless, yet it was like a mercury flowing swiftly, penetrating every hole, making her very nearly impossible to guard against.

Several moves later Guo Jing was compelled to withdraw two steps back. Suddenly he remembered Hong Qigong's advice when he was sparring with Huang Rong's 'luo ying shen jian zhang' [falling leaves divine sword palm technique]; that regardless of thousands of changes or tens of thousands variations the opponent used, he should ignore them all and keep fighting using the '18-Dragon Subduing Palms' to secure a victory.

Initially he thought he did not have any desire to fight; besides, the lady looked like a good and kind-hearted Senior. But without having any enmity or committing any wrongdoing she had prevented them from going out the gate. Guo Jing still did not want to be entangled or worse, to injure her life; hence he only used 30% of his strength; who would have thought that this lady was very ferocious. If he was being negligent even so slightly, both of them would die in that place.

Guo Jing took a deep breath, raised up both of his elbows slightly, right hand forming a fist and left hand a palm, one struck vertically, the other pushed horizontally, one quick the other slow, both hands moved out. It was the sixteenth stance of the '18-Dragon Subduing Palms', the 'lu shuang bing zhi' [treading on frost to reach the ice], which was taught by Hong Qigong at the Liu ancestral hall in Baoying. Within this stance hard and soft complemented each other, upright and upside down completed each other; its advantage was unlimited.

Hong Qigong's martial art was from the 'hard' and 'yang' [positive, male] side, but when the hardness reached its peak, by default there would be softness in the middle of hardness. The fundamental of this martial art can be found in the Book of Changes ['I Ching'], where the older 'yang' gave birth to the younger 'yin'. Hence, within the Proud Dragon Repents and the Treading on Frost to Reach the Ice the hard energy and soft power blended together and was impossible to distinguish.

"Ah!" Ying Gu softly exclaimed and hastily eluded; she managed to get away from Guo Jing's right fist, but was hit by his left kick. She also could not avoid Guo Jing's horizontal left palm, which pushed her right shoulder.

As his palm strength hit its target, Guo Jing was certain she would be pushed back against the wall. He was afraid the dirt wall of this thatched-roof hut would not be strong enough and collapse; but strangely as his palm was touching her shoulder he felt like her body was covered with a layer of exceptionally slippery thick lubricant that his palm slipped to her side. But her body was also shaking and the two pieces of bamboo strips in her hand fell to the ground.

Guo Jing was startled, quickly he restrained his force; but Ying Gu's agility was extraordinary, she had already taken advantage of a favorable situation. Her ten fingers shot forward and attacked the 'shen feng' [divine grace] and 'yu shu' [jade letter] acupoints on Guo Jing's chest. Her acupoint sealing technique was excellent.

Guo Jing found it was too late to parry; he leaned slightly to the side. His move resembled the stance he used just now, but a killing strike was concealed within the move. Something stirred in his heart, "Her acupoint sealing technique is somewhat similar to Zhou Dage's [Big Brother Zhou]; if I had not practiced with Zhou Dage for thousands and tens of thousands times in that cave, I wouldn't be able to avoid her attack just now."

Ying Gu felt a burst of energy coming out from Guo Jing's body through his right arm heading toward her own arm; she realized that if her arms were hit by the enemy's power, her arms would be broken for sure. Hence once again she used her Loach Maneuver to make Guo Jing's palm slipped by her shoulder.

These several moves were very exquisite, each one of them was unanticipated by the opponent; both were startled, they leaped back several steps almost simultaneously, both were taking defensive position. Guo Jing thought, "This lady's martial art is so weird! If I can't touch her, then I will be the one who will always fall under attack."

Ying Gu was also astonished, she thought, "This youngster is so young, how can he possess this kind of martial art skill?" Following which she thought, "I have been hiding here for more than a dozen of years, diligently training hard; inadvertently mastering a wonderful martial art skill, thinking I have become invincible in the world, very soon I can go out of this forest to seek revenge and to rescue someone. Who would have thought that in mathematics I am inferior to this young girl by a long shot, in term of martial art I can't even match this youngster who is still wet behind his ears? Much less he is carrying somebody on his back. If we fight for real, I would have lost early on. For dozens of years I endured pain and suffering, will it all be flushed in running water? Shall I give up my desire to seek revenge and rescue someone?" Having thought this, her eyes turned red and her nose ache; she could not restrain tears from rolling down her cheeks.

Guo Jing knew the strength of his own palm had shaken her, he busily said, "Junior had rudely offended Senior, I truly did not mean it; please forgive me and let us go."

Ying Gu noticed that while speaking Guo Jing repeatedly looked at Huang Rong with utmost concern in his face. She recalled her own misfortune, how she was separated from her lover and could not see each other until that day; her jealousy raged and she coldly said, "This girl was hit by Qiu Qianren's Iron Palm. There is a dark shadow on her face, she won't live to see the fourth day; why are you still concerned about her?"

Guo Jing was shocked, straightaway he examined Huang Rong's face, and indeed he could see a layer of dark shadow in between her eyebrows like it was smeared with ink. His heart turned cold, immediately he held Huang Rong up and with a trembling voice asked, "Rong'er, you ... how do you feel?"

Huang Rong felt her chest and abdomen fiery hot while her four limbs were icy cold. She knew that that lady did not speak nonsense; she sighed and said, "Jing Gege, during these three days, don't ever leave me even for a single step. Can you?"