Eagle Shooting Hero 2(7)

Ouyang Ke said.

“Is that so?” Hong Qigong said. “You are saying that I’ve put you on the spot; that the older bully the younger?” Ouyang Ke did not say anything, which was the same as agreeing to what Hong Qigong was saying.

“Even though the Old Beggar is the leader of all beggars, old and young alike, not all beggars are my disciples,” Hong Qigong continued. “This man surnamed Li has learned a superficial amount of my martial arts; how could he be regarded as my successor? His ‘Wandering Strides’ fist technique has not yet reached perfection. You belittled my stealing chickens and stroking dogs skill, humph

… if the old beggar really takes a disciple, he wouldn’t be inferior to you.”

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“Naturally,” Ouyang Ke agreed. “Uncle Hong’s disciple would be much stronger than your nephew.

But your martial arts skill is too high; it wouldn’t be easy for anybody to learn.”

“Your mouth is sweet,” Hong Qigong said, “But I am sure you are scolding me in your heart.”

“Your nephew does not dare,” Ouyang Ke answered.

“Qigong, don’t believe his lies,” Huang Rong quipped. “He scolds you in his heart all right and he scolds you really bad. He said that although your martial arts are not bad, it only benefits you; you don’t have the ability to teach. Even if you teach your stealing chickens and stroking dogs’ skills to the end of your life, nobody would be able to learn it to perfection.”

Hong Qigong just stared at her. He snorted and mumbled, “This little girl knows how to provoke me.” He turned his head and said, “So? This kid dares to scold me?” Suddenly he stretched out one hand and, quick as lighting, he snatched the folding fan from Ouyang Ke’s hand. He unfolded the fan and saw some painted peonies and two characters ‘Xu Xi’. He did not know that Xu Xi was a poet from the Northern Song Dynasty. Although the peonies were beautifully painted, he still said,

“Not good!” There were several lines of characters written on the fan and at the end was a signature,

‘Young Master of the White Camel Mountain’ [bai tuo shan shao zhu]. It was Ouyang Ke’s handwriting.

“What do you think of these characters?” Hong Qigong asked Huang Rong.

Huang Rong raised her eyebrows and said, “Very crude. But what do you expect? A spoiled rich kid like him wouldn’t know how to write. I bet he hired a pawnshop clerk to write those characters.”

Ouyang Ke prided himself on being both a martial arts and literature expert, which was actually not too far from the truth. Upon hearing Huang Rong’s words he was really angry. He shot a glare towards her, only to see in the candlelight the corners of her eyes showed a very faint smile. She looked so sweet and innocent that his anger vanished into thin air.

Hong Qigong spread the fan in his hand, raised it, and wiped his mouth with it. He had just eaten a chicken, so his mouth was greasy. As soon as he did that, the painting and calligraphy were completely destroyed. Then he casually crumpled the fan, made a paper ball and tossed it to the floor.

Other people would think nothing of it, but not Ouyang Ke; his fan’s spines were made of steel. The fan was his weapon. It was a demonstration of profound internal energy. He was terrified.

“If I personally fight you, you will die unsatisfied. So I am going to take a disciple and let him fight with you,” Hong Qigong said.

Ouyang Ke pointed to Guo Jing. “This fellow has fought with me for dozens of stances. If Uncle Hong had not appeared, I would have gained the upper hand. Brother Guo, don’t you agree?” he said.

Guo Jing nodded his head, “I might lose.” Ouyang Ke smiled with satisfaction.

Hong Qigong looked up and laughed. “Jing’er, are you my disciple?” he asked.

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Guo Jing recalled he kowtowed to Hong Qigong, but Hong Qigong returned those kowtows. “Junior is not fortunate enough to be your disciple,” he quickly replied.

“Did you hear?” Hong Qigong asked Ouyang Ke.

Ouyang Ke was dissatisfied. “You can’t fool me; where did this kid’s exquisite palms come from?”

he asked.

Hong Qigong turned toward Guo Jing. “If I don’t make you my disciple, that little girl brat will not let me die peacefully. She will pester me with hundreds of evil schemes forever. I guess the old beggar has to admit defeat. All right, bow to me; I’ll take you as my disciple,” he said.

Guo Jing was ecstatic. Quickly he dropped to his knees and quickly kowtowed several times while calling out, “Master!” That day at ‘Returning Cloud Manor’ he had recounted to his six masters how Hong Qigong had taught him most of the ‘Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Palms’. The Six Freaks of Jiangnan were very happy and all said it was a pity this highly skilled extraordinary character of the Wulin world was not willing to take Guo Jing as his disciple. They told him that if Hong Qigong happened to reveal his willingness to take him, Guo Jing should accept without reservation.

Huang Rong was even happier. She smiled broadly and said, “Qigong, I have helped you find a very fine disciple. My contribution is not small. Starting today you will have somebody you can call your successor. How will you thank me?”

Hong Qigong made a face at her, “Kiss my ass!” Then he turned to Guo Jing and said, “Stupid kid

[sha xiao zi - it’s a vulgar term, lit. foolish/dumb etc.], let me first teach you three stances.” He immediately taught Guo Jing the last three stances of the ‘Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Palms’ right in front of everyone. Of course, compared to Guo Jing’s own three desperately-brewed stances, these moves were a world apart.

Ouyang Ke said to himself, “This old beggar’s martial arts are outstanding, but he is not too smart.

He is concentrating on teaching his disciple, totally forgetting that I am standing here, watching.”

With rapt attention he watched Guo Jing’s every move. But he did not see anything extraordinary.

Sometimes Hong Qigong whispered something into Guo Jing’s ear. He guessed it must be the theory behind these three moves. Sometimes Guo Jing would nod his head, but most other times he just stood there, staring blankly or shook his head. Hong Qigong would repeat what he just said until Guo Jing reluctantly nodded his head; obviously he did not fully comprehend the theory. “This guy is really stupid,” he thought, “This short period of time is not enough for him to learn the three stances. I might as well take the opportunity to study them.”

In the meantime Hong Qigong had Guo Jing practice them six or seven times. “Good, smart disciple,” he said. “You have mastered about fifty percent of these three stances. Now go and beat this lecherous thief for me.”

“Yes,” Guo Jing answered and moved forward two steps and launched a palm toward Ouyang Ke.

Ouyang Ke slanted his body and counterattacked with a fist. Thus the two engaged in a fight again.

The secret of the ‘Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Palms’ lies in the exact timing of energy exertion.

The moves themselves were quite simple. That was the reason that although Liang Ziweng, Mei Chaofeng and Ouyang Ke’s martial arts were higher than Guo Jing’s, he was able to fight them without losing ground. Just a moment ago Ouyang Ke was watching Hong Qigong pass on the three Eagle Shooting Hero

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stances to Guo Jing and he knew Guo Jing had not fully comprehended the moves while he himself had memorized the stances. Yet, now that he was fighting Guo Jing, he found it difficult to overcome those three stances.

Guo Jing, on the other hand, had now mastered the complete set of the ‘Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Palms’. He was able to use it from head to tail and back to head again. The fierceness of the original fifteen moves he had already mastered was greatly increased.

Ouyang Ke had used four different kinds of martial arts, yet he could only match Guo Jing without being able to gain the upper hand. Dozens of moves later he started to get anxious. “If I don’t use my family’s unique skills I may lose,” he thought. “I was trained by my uncle since childhood. How come I cannot defeat the old beggar’s disciple who received instructions just a moment ago? I am afraid the old beggar will look down on my uncle.”

A dozen or so moves later Guo Jing raised his hand to parry Ouyang Ke’s fist which suddenly turned around and hit Guo Jing’s skull from behind. Guo Jing was stunned. He ducked to avoid a blow while simultaneously throwing a fist slanting upward. Ouyang Ke stepped sideways and sent another fist. Guo Jing did not dare to parry that fist; he dodged to the right. Who would have thought that Ouyang Ke’s arm would suddenly move like a whip! Guo Jing clearly saw it was aiming at his left side but suddenly twisted to the right and struck Guo Jing’s shoulder.

Guo Jing was hit three times in a short period of time. These three hits were heavy; he was anxious for he had no idea how to deal with them. “Jing’er, stop!” Hong Qigong called out, “Let’s just admit defeat this time.”

Guo Jing leaped back about ten feet; he felt pain in the parts hit. To Ouyang Ke he said, “Your martial arts are really brilliant; turning your arm around like that was really odd.” Ouyang Ke was proud of himself; he cast a boastful look toward Huang Rong.