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

Reverend Yideng Part 3

Yideng nodded his head, "Hmm, in calligraphy and painting I am a layman, what do you think about this drawing?"

Huang Rong examined the drawing carefully; she smiled and said, "Uncle is only pretending to be a layman! You have known from the start that it was not Ying Gu who draw this picture."

Yideng's countenance slightly changed, "Then it is true it was not her painting? I am only guessing based on logic, I really was not looking at the drawing."

Huang Rong tugged his arm, saying, "Uncle, look, the writing on these two sheets of paper are delicate and elegant while the stroke on this drawing is very stiff. Hmm, this drawing is made by a man. Yes, I am sure it is a man's pen-stroke. This man did not know a thing about calligraphy or painting, but his pen-stroke is powerful, it even penetrated the paper to its back ... This ink looked very old, I think it is even older than my own age."

Reverend Yideng heaved a heavy sigh; he pointed his finger to a book on top of a bamboo table, signaling the scholar to fetch it. The scholar walked over and fetched it, and handed it over to his master. Huang Rong saw on the yellowing page of the cover two rows of characters that read, 'The Great Buddist Scripture by Maming Bodhisattva. Translated by 'san cang jiu mo luo shen' [name of a saint] of Guizi in the Western Region.' She thought, "I am not going to understand anything if he starts preaching to me."

Yideng casually flipped open the cover of the book, put the drawing next to it and said, "Take a look."

"Ah!" Huang Rong softly exclaimed, "The same paper quality." Yideng nodded.

Guo Jing did not understand, he whispered, "What paper quality is the same?"

Huang Rong said, "Look carefully, isn't the paper quality of this book the same as that drawing?"

Guo Jing looked over carefully; the paper of the book was coarse and thick, mixed with strands of yellow silk threads, exactly the same as the paper of the drawing. "They are the same," he said, "So what?"

Huang Rong did not reply, she looked at Reverend Yideng, waiting for an explanation.

Reverend Yideng said, "This book was brought by my martial brother from the western region."

During the entire time Guo Jing and Huang Rong talked to Yideng, they had not paid any attention to the Indian monk; only now did they turn their gaze to him. He was sitting cross-legged on the meditation mat, as if he was oblivious to the discussion of these people.

"This book came from the western region, this drawing also came from the western region," Yideng continued, "Have you ever heard of the western region's White Camel Mountain?"

Huang Rong was startled, "Western Poison Ouyang Feng?" she asked.

Yideng slowly nodded, "Correct," he said, "This picture was drawn by Ouyang Feng." Hearing this Guo Jing and Huang Rong were shocked and could not say anything for a while.

Yideng smiled and said, "This Ouyang fellow had planned this for a long time; he truly anticipated far ahead."

"Uncle," Huang Rong said, "I didn't know this drawing came from the Old Poison; this man always harbors evil intentions."

Yideng smiled and said, "For a Nine Yin Manual men can do great things."

"This drawing has something to do with the Nine Yin Manual?" Huang Rong asked.

Yideng saw her excitement and surprise, he noticed her cheeks turned red; looked like she was straining and was able to stay awake due to her strong internal energy. Thereupon Yideng held out his hand to support her right arm and said, "Let's talk about this some other time, right now it is more important to treat your injury."

Yideng helped her up and walked slowly toward the building next door. When they arrived at the door opening, the scholar and the farmer exchanged a glance and together they rushed toward the door. They knelt down and said, "Shifu, let your disciples try to treat this Miss' injury."

Yideng shook his head, "Do you think your skill is sufficient? Can you treat her until she is completely cured?"

The scholar and the farmer said, "Disciples will try to do our best."

Yideng's face turned serious. "Human life is an important matter, how can you easily try?"

The scholar said, "These two came here by some evil people's direction; definitely without any good intention. Although Shifu's mercy is abundant, you can't fall into evil people's treacherous plan."

Yideng heaved a sighed, "What did I teach you day in and day out? Go and take a good look at this picture." While speaking he gave the drawing in his hand away.

The farmer knocked his head to the ground and said, "This drawing was made by Ouyang Feng; Shifu, this is Ouyang Feng's evil plan." While speaking thus his anxiety was obvious; tears flowing down his cheeks.

Jing and Rong two people were puzzled, "How does the evil plan relate to treating an injury?" they thought.

Reverend Yideng gently said, "Get up, get up. Don't make our guests' hearts uneasy." His voice was gentle, but full of resolution. The two disciples knew it was useless to argue further; they stood up with their heads hung low.

Reverend Yideng took Huang Rong to the next door building. He beckoned Guo Jing and said, "You also come." Guo Jing followed them entering the room.

Yideng unrolled the bamboo curtain hung above the door down. He took an incense stick and stuck it on the burner on top of a small bamboo table.

The four walls of the room were drab, other than the small bamboo table there were only three meditation mats. Yideng ordered Huang Rong to sit on the middle mat while he himself sat cross-legged on the mat next to her. He turned his gaze toward the bamboo curtain and said to Guo Jing, "You stay and guard that door, don't let anybody come in, including my own disciples." Guo Jing complied.

Yideng closed his eyes, but suddenly he opened his eyes and added, "If they resort to violence you must fight. Your martial sister's life depends on it. Remember, it's very important."

"Yes!" Guo Jing said, but actually he was confused, "His disciples revere him, how can they dare to disobey their master's order and come barging in?" he thought.

Yideng turned toward Huang Rong and said, "Relax your whole body; no matter how much you feel hurt or itchy, you must not resist at all."

Huang Rong smiled, "I consider myself dead already."

Yideng also smiled, "You are such a smart doll." He closed his eyes immediately, his eyebrows hung down, he circulated his energy. When the incense was about an inch burnt suddenly he leaped up, left palm on his chest, right index finger stretched out, slowly he pointed his finger toward the 'bai hui' [hundred joins] acupoint on Huang Rong's head. Huang Rong's body slightly jumped up involuntarily; she felt a stream of heat flowing from the top of her head down.

Reverend Yideng retracted his finger immediately, without moving his body his second finger hit the 'hou ding' [rear peak] acupoint located about one 'cun' five 'fen' [1 cun is approximately 1 inch, 1 fen is about 1 third of a centimeter (a little over 1/8 of an inch)] behind the 'bai hui' acupoint. Successively he hit the 'qiang jian' [powerful space], 'nao hu' [brain door], 'feng fu' [wind manor], 'da zhui' [big spine], 'tao dao' [pottery way], 'shen zhu' [life pillar], 'shen dao' [divine way], along the 'ling tai' [soul platform] downward; so that when the incense was halfway burnt he had already hit thirty consecutive main acupoints of the 'du mai' [supervised arteries or channels] group on her body.

By this time Guo Jing's martial art knowledge and experience was already incomparable to the past. He stood on the side watching Yideng's finger move slowly, his arm floating in the air. He hit these thirty acupoints with thirty different acupoint sealing techniques. Each one was a mind opening technique; admittedly the Six Freaks of Jiangnan had never taught him this kind of technique, the 'sealing acupoint section' in the Nine Yin Manual also did not contain this technique. He had never seen anything like this before, he had never even heard about it. He was having a blurred vision just by watching; his tongue tied. He only knew that Reverend Yideng was demonstrating an upper class martial art; it never crossed Guo Jing's mind that Yideng was using his lifetime cultivated energy to open up Huang Rong's eight main arteries.