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

Radical Changes On The Island Part 5

With a cold laugh Huang Yaoshi said, "What else there is to say? Just go ahead and kill the Old Heretic Huang to protect the Quanzhen Sect's reputation; won't that be great? Be on your guard!" Without moving his body or lifting up his arm his right palm had already chopped toward Ma Yu's face.

Ma Yu tried to evade sideways in panic, but Huang Yaoshi's palm came without warning; this feign hack was immediately followed by the real attack. This combination of void and solid was a killer stance from the 'luo ying shen jian zhang fa'. Huang Yaoshi had perfected it for ten years; he intended to use it in the second sword meet of Mount Hua. This stance was not designed to fight a group of enemies, but it was very effective in a one on one combat. Danyang Zi's [Scarlet Sun] skill might be profound, but how could he be the Eastern Heretic's match?

It would be better if Ma Yu did not evade; once he moved to the right, the second attack came. Ma Yu groaned inwardly, "Not good!" He was going to block by stretching out his hand, but the enemy's palm had already arrived at his chest. As soon as Huang Yaoshi exerted his strength, Ma Yu's internal organs would be shaken and he would suffer serious internal injury.

The Quanzhen Five Masters were shocked; swords and palms came to the rescue, but how could there still be time? They saw Ma Yu was at the point of death, surprisingly Huang Yaoshi laughed and withdrew his palm; he said, "If I break your formation this way, you won't accept your defeat easily. The Old Heretic Huang may die, but how can I let myself be the laughingstock of all the heroes under the sky? Good Priests, come, let us fight!"

Liu Chuxuan snorted and shook his fist, Wang Chuyi followed with his sword; the Big Dipper Formation was ready to go into action. It was to be the seventeenth stance, Wang Chuyi was supposed to move after Ma Yu. He stabbed his sword into the air, ready to strike; but Ma Yu did not move forward, on the contrary, he retreated two steps backward and called out, "Hold it!" Everybody held their steps again. Ma Yu said, "Huang Daozhu, thank you for holding your hand."

"You flattered me," Huang Yaoshi replied.

Ma Yu said, "Reasonably said, right now wanbei's [younger generation, he was referring to himself] life should have been gone, and this formation developed by my deceased master should have been broken by you. If we know good from evil, we should admit defeat and throw ourselves at your mercy. But we do not dare not to seek revenge because of our deep enmity with you. After this matter is settled, wanbei will slash my own throat as a gesture of gratitude toward Daozhu."

Huang Yaoshi's expression was gloomy, he waved his hand and said, "It's useless to talk too much, you can just begin. The matter of kindness and enmity in this world is difficult to understand."

Guo Jing thought, "Turned out Ma Daozhang and the others fight him to avenge their Shisu and Shidi. But Zhou Dage [Big Brother Zhou] is still alive and well, also Tan Daozhang's death has nothing to do with Huang Daozhu. However, if I explain the real situation the Quanzhen Masters will withdraw themselves from the battle, leaving Da Shifu and me two people; how can we be his match? Let's not talk about avenging Shifus' death, we can't even guarantee we will still be alive by the time we are done." But then he remembered, "If I do not tell the truth, how am I going to be different from a coward? Shifus often said that we might lose our head, but not our righteousness." Thereupon with a loud and clear voice he said, "Ma Daozhang, Qiu Daozhang, Wang Daozhang, your Zhou Shisu has not died yet; and it was Ouyang Feng who killed Tan Daozhang."

"What did you say?" Qiu Chuji was surprised. Thereupon Guo Jing recounted how he treated his injury inside a secret room at the Ox Village, how from behind the wall he saw and heard Qiu Qianzhang fabricate a rumor to incite both sides to fight each other, how Ouyang Feng place the blame on Huang Yaoshi, he told them everything. Although he was clumsy with words, everybody understood his explanation very clearly.

The Quanzhen Masters were listening, half believing and half doubting. Qiu Chuji loudly asked, "Are you telling the truth?"

Guo Jing pointed his finger to Huang Yaoshi and said, "Disciple hates this old thief that I do not wish to live in the same earth with him, why would I help him? Only it was the truth, so disciple cannot keep his mouth shut."

The Six Masters knew him as an honest person; moreover, he had shown so much hatred toward Huang Yaoshi, so what he said must be the truth.

It was beyond Huang Yaoshi's expectation to hear him saying things in his favor; he was astonished and asked, "Why do you hate me so much? Where is Rong'er?"

Ke Zhen'e cut him off, "You don't know what you did? Jing'er, although we can't win, we must fight this old thief to our deaths." Finished speaking he lifted his iron staff and swept it toward Huang Yaoshi.

Hearing his shifu, Guo Jing knew that he was forgiven; he felt very happy and immediately tears flowed down his face. "Da Shifu," he called out, "Er Shifu and the others, they ... all five of them died a miserable death!"

Huang Yaoshi was grabbing the head of Ke Zhen'e staff with an outstretched hand, he turned to Guo Jing and asked, "What did you say? Zhu Cong, Han Baoju and the others were nicely received as guests on my island, why did you say they are dead?"

Ke Zhen'e furiously tried to pull his iron staff, but it did not even budge. Huang Yaoshi asked Guo Jing again, "Disregarding your elders and superiors you talked nonsense to me, attacking me like crazy, is that because of Zhu Cong and the others?"

Guo Jing's eyes looked like they were spurting blood; he called out, "You have harmed my five Shifus with your own hands, and now you pretend you did not know?" Lifting his dagger up, he stabbed it forward with a straight arm.

Huang Yaoshi moved the iron staff in his hand to block; 'bang!' the staff and the dagger collided, sparks flew out everywhere. The dagger was so sharp that it actually nicked the iron staff. Huang Yaoshi asked again, "Who saw it?"

Guo Jing said, "I buried my Five Shifus with my own hands, are you saying that I slander you?"

Hung Yaoshi laughed coldly and said, "So what if you slander me? For all my life the Old Heretic Huang come and go alone; why would I deny killing these several people? You are correct, I killed your shifus!"

Suddenly a female voice was calling out, "No, Father, it wasn't you. Don't take the blame on your own shoulder."

Everybody turned their heads around and saw the one who spoke was indeed Huang Rong. They had been so engrossed in the fierce battle that nobody knew she had arrived. As Guo Jing saw her again, he was lost in thought, he did not know whether he should feel happy or anxious.

As Huang Yaoshi saw his daughter was alive and well, he was very happy; his hatred toward Guo Jing disappeared, he laughed a big laugh and said, "Good child, come, let Father hug you."

For the past several days Huang Rong had been suffering a lot of heartache, it was only today she heard a loving word for the first time; she dashed forward and threw herself into her father's bosom and cried, "Father, this dumb kid slandered you, he ... he also bullied me."

Huang Yaoshi embraced his daughter and said with a smile, "The Old Heretic Huang always does as he pleases, ever since dozens of years ago ignorant people have always put the crime of the world on your father's head, so what difference will it make to add several more crimes to the pile? The Five Freaks of Jiangnan were your Mei Shijie's [martial (older) sister] archenemies, so of course I killed them with my own hands."