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

The Lady Of The Black Marsh Part 3

Ying Gu cast her glance toward Guo Jing and mocked, "It's useless for you to be a man; your intelligence is not even one-tenth of your martial sister's." But she handed out the three pouches to him anyway.

Guo Jing held out his hand. Other than the white pouch, he saw the other pouches were red and yellow. He put everything securely in his pocket and then bowed down to express his gratitude.

Ying Gu quickly moved aside, did not want to accept his gratitude. "You don't have to thank me," she said, "I don't need it. You two are neither my family nor my friends, why would I want to save her? Even if we were related you still don't need thank me profusely! Let me be frank with you in advance, I am helping her for my own behalf. Humph, whoever does not do things for themselves, let the Heaven punishes them to their death."

Her words sounded so cruel in Guo Jing's ears, but he had never been good with words, so he did not want to contradict her; besides, this time he had Huang Rong to think about, he did not dare to say anything even more, he simply listened respectfully.

Ying Gu looked at them condescendingly, she said, "You two must be tired tonight, also hungry. Have some porridge."

Huang Rong lied down on a couch, half awake and half asleep. Guo Jing stood by her side with heart full of disquieting thoughts. A moment later Ying Gu came back with a wooden tray in her hands. There were two big bowls of steaming and sweet-smelling rice porridge on the tray, along with a big plate of wild chicken dish and a small plate of preserved fish.

Guo Jing had been hungry for a while; previously he forgot about food because he was deeply concerned about Huang Rong's condition. Right now he was in a better mood. Seeing the chicken, fish, and rice porridge he was forced to swallow a mouthful of saliva. Gently he tapped Huang Rong's hand and said, "Rong'er, wake up and eat some porridge."

Huang Rong opened her eyes slightly, shook her head and said, "My chest hurt very much, I can't eat."

Ying Gu sneered, "I have medicine to stop the pain, yet you were terribly suspicious."

Huang Rong ignored her, "Jing Gege," she said, "Take a Nine Flowered Jade Dew Pill and give it to me." These were the pills given by Lu Chengfeng at the Cloud Village the other day. Huang Rong always carried them around in her pocket. When Hong Qigong and Guo Jing were injured by Ouyang Feng, they took some of these pills. Although the pills could not heal their injuries, but they could stop the pain and refresh their spirits. Guo Jing complied and untied her pouch, taking a pill out.

When Huang Rong mentioned the 'Nine Flowered Jade Dew Pill', suddenly Ying Gu's body slightly shook; afterwards she saw the red pill, she sternly said, "Is that the Nine Flowered Jade Dew Pill? Let me take a look."

Guo Jing thought the way she spoke was really strange, unconsciously he lifted his head to stare at her. He saw a glint of fierceness in her eyes, he felt even more strange; but he gave the pouch of pills to her nonetheless.

Ying Gu took the pills and brought them up to her nose. A whiff of fragrance attacked her nostrils, giving them a cool feeling. She looked at Guo Jing with penetrating gaze and asked, "This is the Peach Blossom Island's special medicine. Where did you get it? Tell me, tell me!" Her last sentence carried an extremely fierce tone.

Huang Rong's heart was moved, "This lady learned 'qi men wu xing' [mysterious gate five path]; is she related to one of my father's disciples?" She heard Guo Jing replied, "She is the daughter of the Peach Blossom Island's Master."

Ying Gu jumped up in shock, "She is the Old Heretic Huang's daughter?" Her eyes shone brightly, one arm extended, the other pulled back, as if she was about to strike.

"Jing Gege, give those three pouches back to her!" Huang Rong said, "She is my father's enemy, we don't need her pity."

Guo Jing took out the pouches, but he hesitated to hand them over. Huang Rong said, "Jing Gege, Just put them down! I may not necessarily die. Even if I die, so what?"

Guo Jing had never disobeyed Huang Rong from the start; he put down the pouches on the table with tears streaming down his cheeks.

Ying Gu was looking outside the window, muttering, "Heaven, oh Heaven!" Suddenly she walked to the other room. Her back was facing them, so they did not know what she was doing.

"Let us go," Huang Rong said, "I am sick of seeing this woman."

Before Guo Jing could answer, Ying Gu walked in and said, "I diligently studied mathematics because I want to enter the Peach Blossom Island. But judging from the Old Heretic Huang's daughter, even if I study for another hundred years it will still be useless. It was fate. What more can I say? Just go. Take away these pouches." While saying it she pushed the Nine Flowered Jade Dew Pill pouch and the three pouches she made into Guo Jing's hand. To Huang Rong she said, "These Nine Flowered Jade Dew Pills are harmful to your injury. Don't take it no matter what. After you are healed, don't forget your promise to stay with me for a year. Your father had destroyed my life; I'd rather give all these food to the dogs than to let you eat them." She threw the porridge, chicken and fish out the window.

Huang Rong was seething with anger; she wanted to answer back sarcastically, but then she changed her mind. She held Guo Jing's hand and stood up, then with her bamboo stick she wrote three mathematics problems on the ground:

The first one included the 'ri, yue, shui, huo, mu, jin, tu' [sun, moon, water, fire, wood, metal and earth] collection of the 'qi yao jiu zhi tian zhu bi suan' [seven dazzling nine grasping Indian method of calculation].

The second one was 'li fang zhao bing zhi yin gei mi ti' [lit. 'standing up soldier supplying silver' topic]. [Author's note: This is the vertical theory of numbers in western mathematics].

The third one was 'gui gu suan ti' [ghost valley mathematic problem]: "There is an unknown number; three and three has two as the remainder, five and five has three as the remainder, seven and seven has two as the remainder, what mathematical operand is that?" [Author's note: this problem belongs to the theory of numbers of higher mathematics; our Song Dynasty scholars have been quite profound in this kind of study.]

[Translator's note: for the life of me, I have no idea what kind of theory of numbers Jin Yong was talking about; therefore, I translated this part as best as I could; although they still don't make any sense, I am afraid. I am an engineer and not a mathematician, so I am not familiar with theory of numbers. If any of you can help, we (both I and the other readers) will certainly appreciate it. ]

After writing these three problems, Huang Rong slowly walked out, holding on Guo Jing's arm. As he stepped over the door, Guo Jing turned his head around and saw Ying Gu's hand grasping her computing device, her eyes fixed to the ground like she was entranced. As soon as they were outside Guo Jing carried Huang Rong on his back, still following Huang Rong's direction, walking step by step out of the marsh. Guo Jing was afraid he might miscount his steps, so he did not dare to say anything; but as soon as they left the forest he asked, "Rong'er, what did you write on the sand?"

Huang Rong smiled, "I gave three mathematical problems to her. Humph, I doubt it if she will be able to solve them in half a year. Let all her gray hair turn white. Who told her to be so rude?"

"What enmity does she have toward your father?" Guo Jing asked.

"I have never heard Father mentioned it," Huang Rong replied. After being silent for about half a day she suddenly said, "She must be very beautiful when she was young. Jing Gege, don't you agree?" Actually she bore a suspicion in her heart, "Is it possible that in the former days my father and she were lovers? Humph, most likely she wanted my father to marry her but my father did not want her."

Guo Jing replied, "Doesn't matter if she was beautiful or not; even if she cannot solve your problems she still won't be able to chase us and take the pouches back."

"I wonder what's inside those pouches. I doubt it if she had our well-beings in her mind. Let's open them and take a look," Huang Rong said.

"No, no!" Guo Jing hastily said, "We must follow her instructions, we must not open it until we arrive at Taoyuan."

Huang Rong was very curious; she persuaded Guo Jing to open it, but Guo Jing firmly refused; finally Huang Rong resigned.

After being busy the whole night finally the sky turned brighter. Guo Jing leaped up a tree to take a good look around; he was relieved not to see any trail of the Iron Palm Clan disciples. He whistled loudly several times, and the little red horse came galloping fast. Not too long afterwards his pair of eagles was also seen flying above their heads.

Two people were just mounting the horse when suddenly they heard shouts coming out of the forest. Dozens of Iron Palm Clan disciples came rushing forward. They have been guarding around the forest for half a night. As soon as they heard Guo Jing's whistle they came out to catch them. Luckily Qiu Qianren was not among these people. Guo Jing called out, "You missed!" He squeezed his legs on the horse's belly and the little red horse ran like the wind; in a moment they could not see their pursuers anymore.

By noon that day the little red horse had run for more than a hundred 'li's; they stopped by a small restaurant by the roadside. Huang Rong's chest was still hurting, but she managed to drink half a bowl of rice soup. Guo Jing asked around and found out that they had arrived within Taoyuan County border. Quickly he took the white pouch and cut the thread. Inside he found a map with two lines of characters which read, "Follow the route shown on the map. At the end of the road you will find a waterfall with a thatched hut next to it. Open the red pouch when you arrive there." Guo Jing did not tarry any longer; they remounted the horse and galloped away.

After traveling for about seventy, eighty 'li's, the road was getting narrower. Eight, nine 'li's later they entered a narrow passageway with mountain walls on both sides. Soon the pathway turned into a winding alley so narrow that one person could barely squeeze through. They were compelled to leave little red horse to graze by itself on the side of the hill. Guo Jing took Huang Rong and carried her on his back; together they entered the alley. Following the steep mountain pathway they walked for about two hours. Sometimes the alley was so narrow that Guo Jing had to lift Huang Rong up and he walked sideways, squeezing in between the mountain walls.

It was already the seventh month, the weather was scorching hot and it felt like the heat would be enough to melt metal. Fortunately there were skyscraping mountain peaks around them cooling down their path.

A moment later Guo Jing was hungry; he took some dried buns from his pocket and tore several pieces to feed Huang Rong. He did not stop walking however; he was eating while walking forward. After eating three buns he was thirsty. Suddenly he heard from a distant a faint sound of a waterfall. His spirit arose and he sped up his steps.

In the quietness of the mountain, that waterfall echoed in the valley, creating a loud rumbling noise like a torrential flood. The closer he got, the louder the noise became. When he reached the top of the hill he saw a big waterfall like a white dragon coming out from in between a pair of peaks opposite the hill where he was standing, falling down to a big pond below with astonishing force.

From the top of the hill Guo Jing looked down and saw a thatched hut next to the waterfall. Guo Jing sat on a piece of rock and took the red pouch from his pocket. Inside was a piece of paper with these words: 'The injury this girl suffers can only be healed by Emperor Duan ...'

Seeing those three characters 'Duan huang ye' [Emperor Duan] Guo Jing was startled, "Emperor Duan, isn't he the Southern Emperor who share the same fame as your father?" he asked.

Huang Rong was exhausted, but hearing him mentioned the Southern Emperor her heart was stirred. "Emperor Duan?" she said, "Shifu also said that his injury can only be healed by Emperor Duan. I heard my father mentioned Emperor Duan is the emperor of Dali in Yunnan. Isn't that ..." Suddenly she remembered that this place was separated with Yunnan by 'ten thousand rivers and a thousand mountains' [wan shui qian shan – meaning 'the trails and tribulations of a long journey']. It was impossible to reach in three days. Suddenly her chest felt cold. She made an effort to sit down and leaning on Guo Jing they read the paper together.

'The injury this girl suffers can only be healed by Emperor Duan. Because many of his conducts were not righteous he hid himself in Taoyuan and made it very difficult for outsiders to see him. Anyone seeking medical help is a taboo to him; if you mention your intention, before you reach his residence you will be stopped by the vicious hands of a fisherman, a woodcutter, a farmer and a scholar. Therefore, you must say that you have an important message from your master Hong Qigong and want to have an audience with the Emperor. Once you are in the presence of the Southern Emperor, give him the yellow pouch. Your fate depends on this.'

Finished reading Guo Jing turned his head to Huang Rong only to see her frowning silently. "Rong'er," he asked, "Why did Emperor Duan do many unrighteous conducts? Why is it seeking medical help is a taboo to him? What are the vicious hands of a fisherman, a woodcutter, a farmer and a scholar?"

Huang Rong sighed, "Jing Gege, please don't think that I am so smart that I know everything."

Guo Jing was taken aback; he held out his arms and gave Huang Rong a hug. "Very well, let us go down," he said. Casting his glance to the distant he could see there was a man sitting under the willow tree next to the waterfall. That man was wearing a bamboo hat, but because the distance was quite far he could not see clearly what that man was doing.

First, he was in a hurry, second, the pathway down was a lot easier, therefore, without needing to much time Guo Jing with Huang Rong on his back quickly arrived by the waterfall. He saw that man was wearing a raincoat, sitting on a piece of rock, fishing.

The falling water created a strong rapids, the water flowed too fast, how could there be any fish? Even if there was, how could the fish have time to take the bait?

Guo Jing saw that man was about forty years old, his face was black like the bottom of a pot, full with beards and whiskers sprouting out like wire brush. His eyes stared motionless toward the water. Seeing he was fishing with a full concentration Guo Jing did not dare to disturb, he put Huang Rong down by the willow tree to rest, while they waited to see what kind of fish live in that waterfall.

After waiting for a long time suddenly a golden streak of light came flashing out of the water; that fisherman's face showed delight, his fishing pole was bent downward. They saw something about a foot long biting the fishing line. That something did not look like either a fish or a snake, it looked so strange.

Guo Jing was astounded, he could not restrain from calling out, "Ah! What is that?"

By that time another golden streak jumped up the water to bite the fishing line. That fisherman was delighted, he kept the fishing pole steady. But the pole was bent more and more. The fisherman struggled to keep it straight. 'Crack!' suddenly the pole broke. Two strange fish let the fishing line go, then swam away complacently. The water current was very strong but it seemed like those fish were swimming in a still water. In an instant they disappeared under a rock.