312
Eagle Shooting Hero
Ma Yu sighed. “I shook hands with that fellow Peng and he hid poison needles in his palm.”
“Ah. He’s not that great.” Turning to Ke Zhen’E, he said, “Elder Brother, pass me a caltrop.” Not understanding his intentions, Ke Zhen’E retrieved a poisonous caltrop [water chestnut] from his bag and handed it to him. Zhu Cong turned to look at the fight between Qiu Chuji and Peng Lianhu. The fight was intense, and it would be impossible to break it up with his level of kung fu alone.
“Elder Brother, let’s go and break them apart. I have a plan that can save Priest Ma,” he said. Ke Zhen’E nodded.
“So it is the ‘Butcher with a Thousand Hands’, Chief Peng!” shouted Zhu Cong. “We’re all on the same side, stop fighting. I have something to say.” Pulling Ke Zhen’E along, the two went forward and broke them apart – Zhu Cong with his fan and Ke Zhen’E with his staff.
Both Qiu Chuji and Peng Lianhu felt surprise hearing Zhu Cong’s remark and thought, “How come we’re ‘on the same side’ now?” Seeing the two Freaks come forward, they broke apart and waited to hear exactly how they were ‘on the same side’.
Laughing cheerfully, Zhu Cong said to Peng Lianhu: “Eighteen years ago, the ‘Seven Freaks of Jiangnan’ and Priest Qiu had a small dispute that ended with five of our brothers injured. On the other hand, the famed Priest Qiu also sustained heavy injuries that nearly left him dead. This dispute has yet to be resolved…” Zhu Cong turned to Qiu Chuji. “Am I right, Priest Qiu?”
Qiu Chuji was enraged, thinking: “Fantastic, you’re going to take advantage of my precarious situation.” Aloud, he retorted: “That’s right, now what?”
Zhu Cong continued, “But we also have a small feud with ‘Dragon King’ Sha. One inept disciple of ours once single-handedly defeated ‘Dragon King’ Sha’s top four disciples. We’ve also heard that
‘Dragon King’ Sha and Chief Peng are the closest of friends. Since we’ve offended ‘Dragon King’
Sha, then we’ve also offended Chief Peng.”
“Heh..heh, how dare I?” said Peng Lianhu.
Zhu Cong laughed. “Since Chief Peng and Priest Qiu both have feuds with the ‘Seven Freaks of Jiangnan’, wouldn’t you then be on the same side against a common enemy? Ha ha, what are you still fighting for? Wouldn’t Chief Peng and I also be on the same side? Come; let’s get to know each other.” Zhu Cong stretched out his hand for a handshake.
Having listened to this warped nonsense, Peng Lianhu thought, “The Quanzhen Sect saved the
‘Seven Freaks’ disciple, so they’re obviously in it together. I won’t fall for your trickery. Want to trick the antidote from me? It’s not so easy.” Seeing Zhu Cong’s outstretched hand, Peng Lianhu laughed and said, “Splendid!” He tucked his Brush back into his waist and slipped on his ‘Poison Needle Ring’.
Startled, Qiu Chuji said: “Brother Zhu, be careful.” Zhu Cong ignored this and stretched out his hand. With a slight crook of his little finger, he had hooked the ‘Poison Needle Ring’ from Peng Lianhu’s finger. Peng Lianhu did not realize this and went ahead with the handshake, both parties exerting strength.
Eagle Shooting Hero
313
Suddenly, a small pain penetrated Peng Lianhu’s palm and he struggled to let go. Raising his hand, he saw three holes in his palm that were much bigger than those of his Poison Needles, with black blood oozing from them. Instead of pain, the wound felt both numb and itchy and the sensation was rather nice. He knew that the more potent the poison, the less painful the wound would be because the numbness would be overpowering. Both angry and frightened, he had no idea how he had fallen into this trap.
Looking up, he saw Zhu Cong hiding behind Qiu Chuji, holding up an object in each hand. In between two fingers of his left hand was Peng Lianhu’s ‘Poison Needle Ring’. In between two fingers of his right, however, was a black object shaped like a water chestnut with a sharp tail, and it was stained with blood.
Nicknamed the ‘Magical Hands Scholar’, Zhu Cong’s skill with his hands was near magical and impossible for any human to detect. To first take Peng Lianhu’s ring then pierce his palm with the poison caltrop was child’s play to him. Fuming, Peng Lianhu attacked.
Qiu Chuji raised his sword and warded off the blow, shouting: “What are you going to do?”
Zhu Cong grinned. “Chief Peng, the poisonous caltrops are my Elder Brother’s specialty projectiles.
Once you’re hit, it doesn’t matter if your name is tiger [Peng Lianhu– ‘hu’ means tiger], lion, leopard, pig, dog or any other beast on this earth. You still will not live beyond four hours.”
“Big Brother Peng, he’s insulting you,” said Hou Tonghai.
“You talk too much,” Sha Tongtian reproached. “Do you think Big Brother Peng hasn’t realized that?”
Zhu Cong chuckled and quipped, “Good thing Chief Peng has a ‘Thousand Hands’. Allow me to give you a piece of friendly advice – why not chop off the hand that’s been poisoned? You’ll still be left with nine hundred and ninety-nine. However you’ll have to alter your nickname a bit to become the ‘Butcher with Nine hundred and ninety-nine Hands’.”
By this time, the numbness had already spread to Peng Lianhu’s wrist. Panic-stricken, he couldn’t be bothered with Zhu Cong’s taunts. Beads of cold sweat dripped from his forehead.
“You have your poison needles, I have my poison caltrops; these are two completely different poisons that require completely different antidotes. If you can’t bear to give up the nickname of the
‘Butcher with a Thousand Hands’, how about we exchange antidotes?” suggested Zhu Cong.
“We’re on the same side, after all.
Before Peng Lianhu could reply, Sha Tongtian said quickly, “That will do. Hand the antidote over.”
Zhu Cong said, “Elder Brother, pass him the antidote.” Ke Zhen’E retrieved two small medicine packets from his robes and handed them to Zhu Cong.
“Brother Zhu, don’t fall for his trap,” warned Qiu Chuji. “Let him hand over the antidote first.”
Zhu Cong said cheerily, “We are all men of honor, I’m not afraid.”
314
Eagle Shooting Hero
Peng Lianhu reached into his robes and felt for the antidote and his expression changed at once. He said in a low voice, “Oh no, the antidote is gone.”
Qiu Chuji flew into a rage. “Hmph… up to your tricks again! Brother Zhu, don’t give it to him.”
Zhu Cong laughed. “Take it!” He said. “We said we’d give it to you. The ‘Quanzhen Seven’ and the
‘Seven Freaks of Jiangnan’ are men of our word.”
Sha Tongtian knew that Zhu Cong was skilful with his hands. Not wanting to be taken advantage of, he extended his iron stick horizontally. Zhu Cong placed the antidote on the stick and Sha Tongtian retrieved it. The bystanders were perplexed, not understanding why Zhu Cong gave him the antidote so casually without forcing Peng to handover his. Suspecting that the antidote was not genuine, Sha Tongtian said, “The ‘Seven Freaks of Jiangnan’ are renowned figures in the martial arts world.
Surely you wouldn’t use bogus medicine to harm others?”
Zhu Cong laughed, saying, “Of course, of course.” He then returned the poison caltrops to Ke Zhen’E and started leisurely fishing out item after item from his robes. There was a handkerchief, some notes, a few pieces of loose silver and a white snuff bottle.
Peng Lianhu was dumbfounded. “Those items are mine! How did they end up with him?” he thought.
What happened was that Zhu Cong, while using his right hand to shake hands, employed his
‘Empty Magical Hands’ with his left. As a result, all the items in Peng Lianhu’s robes had been lifted.
Zhu Cong uncorked the snuff bottle. It was divided into two compartments; one side contained red powder, the other side contained grey powder. “How is this applied?” he asked.
Though sly and aggressive by nature, Peng Lianhu’s life now hung by a thread and he dared not be crafty. “The red is for consumption, and the grey for topical application.”
Zhu Cong said to Guo Jing, “Hurry and fetch some water and two bowls.”
Guo Jing bolted into the inn and fetched two bowls of clean water. He gave one bowl to Ma Yu and helped him drink the antidote. He then applied the grey powder to Ma Yu’s palm. Just as he was about to give the other bowl of water to Peng Lianhu, Zhu Cong said, “Hold it. Give the other bowl to Priest Wang.”
Though confused, Guo Jing followed Zhu Cong’s instructions and gave the water to Wang Chuyi.
Wang Chuyi also did not understand but accepted the bowl of water.
Sha Tongtian said, “Hey, how is your antidote applied?”
Zhu Cong replied, “Don’t be anxious, nobody will die in such a short while.” He reached into his robes and took out ten packets of herbs.
Guo Jing was delighted. “Yes, yes, that’s the medicine for Priest Wang!” He opened all the herb packets and laid them in front of Wang Chuyi. “Priest Wang, you pick the ones that you need.”