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

Expedition To The West Part 2

Ouyang Feng laughed sinisterly, "Your son's life is a life indeed, my nephew's life was not a life!" His gaze swept through Peng Lianhu and the others' faces and coldly said, "Which hero does not agree with me, please speak up!" Everybody recoiled simultaneously. Who would dare to open his mouth?

Yang Kang suddenly leaped up, 'bang!' he hit Liang Ziweng, sending him somersaulted in the air and passed out. Wanyan Honglie stood up, calling, "Quick! Take Xiao Wangye back to Lin'an; we'll find a good doctor to cure his injury."

Ouyang Feng laughed, "Who in this world can neutralize The Old Poison's venom? Which doctor won't want to live and dare to mess up my handiwork?"

Wanyan Honglie ignored him, he shouted toward his martial artists, "What are you waiting for? Quickly take Xiao Wangye away."

Suddenly Yang Kang jumped high until his head almost hit the beam. He pointed his finger at Wanyan Honglie and he shouted, "You are not my father! You killed my mother, now you kill me!"

Wanyan Honglie stepped back and stumbled down. Sha Tongtian said, "Xiao Wangye, please calm down." He stepped forward to grab Yang Kang's arms. Unexpectedly Yang Kang flipped his hand to push away Sha Tongtian's hand and quickly seized his arm. Yang Kang's left hand formed a claw scratching Sha Tongtian's arm.

Sha Tongtian cried in pain, hastily he rolled backward to escape, but a moment later he felt itchiness on his arm. He was terror-stricken!

"This is the fourth shark," Huang Rong coldly said.

Peng Lianhu and Sha Tongtian were good friends, moreover, Peng Lianhu was also an expert poison user, he knew Sha Tongtian was poisoned and his life was in grave danger. In this critical moment almost without thinking he took the saber from his waist and swiftly chopped Sha Tongtian's arm halfway down.

Hou Tonghai did not understand Peng Lianhu's good intention, "Peng Lianhu, you dare to hurt my 'Shige'? [Elder martial brother]" He charged Peng Lianhu disregarding his own safety.

Sha Tongtian endured the pain and shouted, "Idiot, back-off! Brother Peng was saving my life!"

By this time Yang Kang's mind was cloudy, he was charging to the east and striking to the west, kicking and biting randomly. Everybody saw what happened to Sha Tongtian, nobody dared to come close to him; shouting and yelling they darted out of the temple.

It was a very chaotic situation; the crows on the pagoda were startled, they flew around in confusion under the moonlight around the temple's courtyard. Their noisy cries intermingled with Yang Kang's neighing voice.

As Wanyan Honglie was heading toward the temple door he turned his head one more time and called out, "Kang'er! Kang'er!"

Yang Kang's eyes were brimming with tears; he also called out, "Fu Wang! Fu Wang! [Father King]" He walked toward Wanyan Honglie.

Wanyan Honglie was delighted, he spread out his arms and hugged Yang Kang tightly, "Child, are you feeling better?"

Under the moonlight Yang Kang's face suddenly changed; he opened his mouth, revealing two rows of white teeth, ready to bite. Wanyan Honglie was shocked. His left hand pushed out, breaking the hug. Yang Kang's strength was completely gone; he fell backwards. He struggled hard to crawl back up to no avail.

Wanyan Honglie did not dare to linger much longer, without looking back he hurriedly went out the temple, mounted his horse and ran as fast as he could. The others were close on his heels, and in a short moment the temple was quiet again.

Ouyang Feng and Huang Rong saw Yang Kang was rolling around on the ground, each with his/her own thought, nobody said anything. A moment later Yang Kang's body curled up and then ceased to move altogether.

"Enough commotion for half a night," Ouyang Feng coldly said, "It's almost daybreak; let us go looking for your father."

"Right now my father is on the Peach Blossom Island," Huang Rong said, "Why do you want to look for him?"

Ouyang Ke was taken aback, "So the little girl was lying all along," he sneered.

"The first few sentences were indeed to swindle you," Huang Rong admitted, "What kind of man do you think my father is? How could he let himself surrounded by a bunch of stinky Quanzhen priests? If I did not mention the Nine Yin Manual you wouldn't let me interrogate Shagu."

By this time Ke Zhen'e had totally admired Huang Rong, but he was sad and full of regret at the same time. He only hoped she would find a clever trick to escape soon. He heard Ouyang Feng said, "There were three parts truth in your lies, otherwise, the Old Poison wouldn't be so easily deceived. All right then, recite your father's translation to me from the beginning to the end, don't skip even half a word."

"What if I don't remember?" Huang Rong asked.

"It will be best if you remember, otherwise the beautiful face of a smart little girl would be bitten by my snakes, now that won't be fun, will it?" Ouyang Feng threatened.

When Huang Rong jumped out from behind the idol she was ready to die; but seeing Yang Kang's pitiful death she could not help but feeling frightened. She thought, "Even if I give him Reverend Yideng's translation he still won't let me go. Is it so difficult to escape from his grip?"

She paced back and forth for a while but still could not think of a good way to escape, so she decided to buy some time and think again later. "If I read the original text I might remember the interpretation. Why don't you recite it to me, let me try explaining it to you," she said.

"Who could memorize these mumbo jumbo sentences?" Ouyang Feng said, "You don't have to confuse me."

As she heard Ouyang Feng was not able to recite it from memory Huang Rong got a sudden inspiration. After contemplating it back and forth she came to a conclusion, "He can't memorize it, so he must treat the manual as precious as his life." She quickly said, "All right then, take out the manual and read it to me."

Ouyang Feng was determined to hear the explanation; immediately he took an oil-cloth package from his pocket, after opening three layers of cloth he produced Guo Jing's altered manual from it. Huang Rong was amused, "Jing Gege wrote a whole bunch of nonsense, yet the Old Poison treats it as the most precious object."

Ouyang Feng lighted a fire and found a half-burned candle from the worship table, with which light he started to read the manual, "Hu bu er, ken xing duo de, si gen liu bu."

"That means 'differentiate it well then divide it into twelve air passages'," Huang Rong said.

Ouyang Feng was delighted, "Ji er wen hua si, ha hu," he read again.

"Capable of healing various illness, gradually entering divine perfection," Huang Rong said.

Ouyang Feng read, "Qu da bie si tu, en ni qu."

Huang Rong hesitated for a moment, shaking her head she said, "Not right, you did not read correctly."

"No, I read it correctly," Ouyang Feng said, "That is what was written."

"That's strange," Huang Rong said, "How come it's so muddled?" Her left hand on her head, she pretended to be thinking hard.

Ouyang Feng was anxious. He stared at her, hoping she would find the answer quickly. A moment later Huang Rong exclaimed, "Ah, I know! It must be that dumb kid Guo Jing writing it wrong. Let me see."

Ouyang Feng was not afraid Huang Rong would steal it from him, he handed the manual over. Huang Rong held out her right hand to take the manual, while her left hand took the candlestick, pretending to examine the manual closely. Suddenly her feet kicked the ground; she leaped backward for more than a 'zhang' [10 feet/3 meter]. She held the manual within half a 'chi' [approximately half a foot] to the candle and shouted, "Uncle Ouyang, this manual is fake, I'd better burn it down."

Ouyang Feng was shocked, hastily said, "Hey, hey, what are you doing? Quickly give that back to me."

Huang Rong smiled, "Do you want the manual, or my life?"

"What do I want your life for? Quickly give that back to me," Ouyang Feng said. His voice was urgent, unusually anxious. His body leaned forward as if ready to strike anytime.

Huang Rong held the manual two more inches closer to the candle. "Stop! I am going to burn this manual as soon as you move one more step, then you'll regret it for the rest of your life."

Ouyang Feng silently agreed with what she said. "Humph, you win," he said, "Put that manual down and go before I change my mind!"

"You are a grand master of your school, you must not go back on your own words," Huang Rong said.

Ouyang Feng calmly said, "I said just put the manual down and you can go."

Huang Rong knew that he was a proud man; although he was evil and cruel he had never broken his promise to anybody, so she put the manual along with the candle on the ground and smiled, "Uncle Ouyang, please excuse me." Carrying her dog-beating stick she turned around and walked away.

Contrary to what she was expecting, Ouyang Feng did not even look at her. He jumped back and with a loud 'bang!' he smashed the Wang Yanzhang idol with the back of his hand, the idol broke halfway down. "Blind man Ke, roll out!" he shouted.

Huang Rong was startled; she turned her head only to see Ke Zhen'e had jumped out from behind the idol, brandishing his iron spear in front of his body. Huang Rong immediately realized her misjudgment, "With the Old Poison's ability how could he not know Master Ke was hiding behind the idol? He must've heard his breathing early on, only he waited patiently for a good opportunity to expose him." She dashed forward quickly, standing in front of Ke Zhen'e with the bamboo stick in front of her body.

"Uncle Ouyang, I am not going, you let him go," said Huang Rong.

"No, Rong'er, you go" Ke Zhen'e said, "Go find Jing'er, tell him to avenge our six lives."

Huang Rong mournfully answered, "If he is ever going to believe what I say, he would have already believed what I said. Master Ke, if you don't go, my father and I will have a hard time proving our innocence. Tell Guo Jing that I don't blame him, tell him not to feel bad." But how could Ke Zhen'e let her embrace danger to save his own life? Two people were bickering incessantly.

Ouyang Feng became impatient, "Little girl, I let you go, you don't want to go. What are you waiting for?"

"I'd love to stay," Huang Rong said, "Uncle Ouyang, get this blind man out of here, I will accompany you chit-chatting, just don't hurt him."

Ouyang Feng thought, "You want to stay, that was what I want. Whether this blind man lives or dies, what does it have anything to do with me?" With big strides he went forward, holding out his hand to grab Ke Zhen'e on his chest.

Ke Zhen'e moved his spear to attack the incoming hand. Ouyang Feng raised his arm a little bit and Ke Zhen'e's arms were numb, he felt pressure on his chest. 'Clank!' his spear flew upward, made a hole on the ceiling and landed on the temple's roof.

Ke Zhen'e hastily leaped backward, but before his feet landed on the floor he felt his collar was pulled, his body was hung in front of Ouyang Feng. His battle experience was vast; in this dangerous moment he did not get nervous. His left hand moved slightly and two 'du ling' [poisonous water chestnut] flew toward the enemy's face.

Ouyang Feng did not anticipate that in the face of danger Ke Zhen'e was still able to attack. They were very close to each other, the incoming attack was strong, it was difficult to parry; Ouyang Feng bent his body backward but his hand did not let Ke Zhen'e go, Ke Zhen'e was thrown across the top of his head.

When he jumped out from behind the idol Ke Zhen'e was facing the temple's door, so Ouyang Feng's throw made him fly out of the door. Because Ouyang Feng's force was so strong, Ke Zhen'e's body was actually flying faster than his own 'du ling'. The 'du ling' missed Ouyang Feng's head and flew straight toward Ke Zhen'e's body.

"Aiyo!" Huang Rong cried out. But she saw that while he was airborne Ke Zhen'e was able to turn his body slightly, stretched out his right hand and deftly caught his own two 'du ling's. His ability to hear and differentiate secret-projectiles wind had been trained to near perfection; his ears could hear as clearly as other people could see.

"You are good!" Ouyang Feng exclaimed, "Blind man Ke, I'll let you go."

Ke Zhen'e landed on his feet, he was reluctant to go. Huang Rong laughed, "Master Ke, Ouyang Feng wanted to be my disciple; he wants to learn the Nine Yin Manual from me. You still want to stay; do you also want to be my disciple?"

Ke Zhen'e knew that although Huang Rong talked jokingly, but her situation was extremely precarious. He stood on the temple courtyard, but was hesitant to go.

Ouyang Feng looked up to the sky and said, "It's daybreak. Let's go!" Pulling Huang Rong's hand they walked out the temple's door.

"Master Ke, remember the letter I wrote on your palm," Huang Rong called out. They moved really fast, Huang Rong's last few words were heard from several 'zhang's away.

Ke Zhen'e stayed motionless for a long time. He heard flock upon flock of crows that came into the temple to feast on the corpse, so he leaped onto the roof to find his spear pole. Leaning against his pole on the roof again he stayed motionless for a while, thinking the heaven and earth are boundless, but what kind of place could a blind man like him call home? Then he heard the crows cried mournfully and they dropped to the ground one by one. Turned out those crows were feasting on Yang Kang's corpse and they were poisoned one after another. Ke Zhen'e could not help but heaving a long sighed. He jumped back down to the ground, wielding his spear he walked to the north.

On the third day suddenly he heard eagle cry high up in the sky. He thought that if the birds were close by, then Guo Jing must not be very far; therefore, he raised his voice and shouted in the middle of the wilderness, "Jing'er, Jing'er!"

Not too long afterwards he heard hoof beats; it was indeed Guo Jing riding the little red horse coming toward him. He was separated from Ke Zhen'e in the chaotic battle the other night; this time he saw his master was well his joy was unspeakable. He did not even wait for the horse to stop; he jumped from the horseback and rushed to embrace his master, calling loudly, "Da Shifu!"

Unexpectedly Ke Zhen'e slapped him left and right until his ears were red. Guo Jing was stunned, but did not dare to fend off. He let his master off his embrace. Ke Zhen'e continued to slap Guo Jing with his left hand, while his right hand slapped his own face until his own ears were red.

Guo Jing was confounded, "Da Shifu, what happened to you?"