Eagle Shooting Hero 1(39)

“I need to go now.” Guo Jing finally relented and began to walk away hand in hand with Tolui.

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“Hey…hey! You can't go now. Let that little friend of yours go back by himself.” Han Baoju almost panicked and yelled at the top of his lungs.

The two little kids were scared of the man's ugly complexion and immediately started to run as soon as he began to yell. Han Baoju chased them and was just about to grab the back of Guo Jing's neck with his fat hands when Zhu Cong cut him off.

“Third Brother, don't be so rude.” Zhu Cong lightly parried Han Baoju's hand and stopped it in mid-move, much to Han Baoju's surprise. Picking up a little speed, Zhu Cong quickly got in front of the two little kids.

“I'm going to do some magic, you guys just watch, ok?” He smiled at the kids as he picked up three stones. Guo Jing and Tolui's curiosity was immediately piqued and both of them stopped and watched him. Zhu Cong held his right hand out for all to see and placed the stones in the middle of his

hand.



“Gone!” He shouted as he balled his hand into a fist. When he opened his hand again, the stones were gone, shocking the little kids.

“Get in there!” Zhu Cong pointed at the old hat that was on top of his head before taking it off. The stones were sitting right in the middle of the hat. Guo Jing and Tolui let out a loud cheer and applauded with joy.

At this moment, a flock of wild geese flew toward them in a spear formation. This gave Zhu Cong an idea.

“Now we’ll let my Big Brother show you a trick.” He fished out a handkerchief, handed it to Tolui, and pointed at Ke Zhen’E. “Put this blindfold on him.”

“Is it hide and go seek?” Tolui hopefully wondered out loud as he put the blindfold on Ke Zhen’E.

“No. He will shoot a wild goose out of the sky while blindfolded.” Zhu Cong answered as he produced a bow and an arrow.

“How could he? I don't believe you.” Tolui concluded.

While the conversation was going on, the wild geese flew straight overhead. Zhu Cong flicked his arm and tossed the three stones in his hand up at the geese. Because of his powerful hands, the stones shot up and startled the geese, causing the lead goose to honk several times as he readied to lead the formation in a different direction. But Ke Zhen’E had already determined its location, drew his bow to the fullest, and let loose. He hit the goose squarely in the belly and the goose, with the arrow still in it, tumbled down onto the ground.

Tolui and Guo Jing exploded with another cheer. They ran off to retrieve the goose and brought it back to Ke Zhen’E, their young hearts filled with admiration.

“Remember how the eight boys ganged up on you two earlier? Well, if you know some martial arts, then you wouldn't have to worry about there being more than one of them.” Zhu Cong told the kids.

“We will fight some more tomorrow and I'm going to get my older brother to help.” Tolui told him.

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“Get help from your older brother! Hmph, that's something that useless kids do. I'll teach you a couple of moves that I guarantee will help you win tomorrow.” Zhu Cong replied.

“You mean the two of us beating the eight of them?” Tolui asked.

“Yes!”



“Yay! Come on, teach me!” Tolui was greatly excited at the prospect of beating Dukhsh.

“How about you, don't you want to learn too?” Zhu Cong asked him. He’d noticed that Guo Jing was standing to the side, seemingly uninterested.

“Mom told me that I shouldn't fight others; if I learn how to fight, then my mom will be unhappy.”

“Little chicken!” Han Baoju lightly berated him.

“If that’s true, why were you in a fight just now?” Zhu Cong asked again.

“Because they started it.”

“So what are you going to do when you see your enemy, Duan Tiande?” Ke Zhen’E asked in a heavy tone.

“I'll kill him to avenge my father!” Just hearing that name made a fiery glare flash from Guo Jing's young eyes.

“Your father was an expert in martial arts yet was still killed by him; how could you kill him if you don't know any martial arts? How can you get your revenge then?” Ke Zhen’E rendered Guo Jing speechless with those questions.

“See? You have to learn some martial arts.” Han Xiaoying concluded for him.

“See that peak over there?” Zhu Cong pointed at a deserted mountain top to his left. “If you want to learn martial arts and get your revenge then come to the top of that mountain tonight at midnight.

But you have to come by yourself. Besides this little friend of yours, you can't let anybody else find out about it. Brave enough to do it; afraid of ghosts?”

Guo Jing was still stupidly standing there, but Tolui was getting impatient.

“Come on, teach me, please!”

Zhu Cong suddenly grabbed his wrist, hooked his left foot behind him, and gently tripped him, sending Tolui onto the ground.

“Why did you trip me?” Tolui angrily demanded once he got back up off the ground.

“That was martial arts, did you learn it?” Zhu Cong smiled as he answered. As it turned out, Tolui was quite smart and understood right away. He mimicked Zhu Cong and showed the move against an imaginary foe.

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“Teach me something else.” He said to Zhu Cong. Zhu Cong faked a punch toward Tolui's face.

Tolui dodged to the left, but Zhu Cong's right fist was waiting there for him. This punch had no force behind it and stopped the moment it touched Tolui's nose.

“Yay! Teach me something else!” Tolui was ecstatic. Zhu Cong suddenly braced himself and gently bumped his shoulders squarely into the little kid's stomach; sending him flying off. Quan Jinfa jumped up, caught him in mid air, and gently put him back onto the ground.

“Mister, teach me something else!”

“If you master those three moves, most adults won't be able to beat you, enough is enough.” Zhu Cong smiled and told him before turning towards Guo Jing. “Did you get them?”

Guo Jing was still dumbstruck and not really thinking of anything as he absent mindedly shook his head. When compared to the smart and intelligent Tolui, Guo Jing seemed incredibly stupid and slow to the Seven Freaks, who were very disappointed at this turn of events. Han Xiaoying let out a long sigh and her eyes reddened.

“I say that we stop wasting energy and just take the mother and son back south and hand them over to Qiu Chuji. As for the competition, let's just admit defeat.” Quan Jinfa observed.

“This kid's make up is just too hopeless; he's not the kungfu practicing type.” Zhu Cong agreed.

“There isn't a bit of fight in him; I don't see how it's going to work either.” Han Baoju also agreed and the Seven Freaks began discussing the matter amongst themselves in their Southern dialects.

“You two can go home now.” Han Xiaoying waved at the two little kids. Tolui grabbed hold of Guo Jing’s hand and they happily skipped off.

Having searched for six long and hard years all over the boundless Steppe, the Seven Freaks were joyous beyond description when they finally found Guo Jing. As it turned out, the joy was only temporary; when they discovered that the kid was so dumb that it would be incredibly difficult for him to ever amount to much as a martial artist. They could not help feeling defeated. This set back could only be matched by the one they would experience had they, in fact, never found Guo Jing.

Han Baoju, whip in hand, was relentlessly beating the ground, trying to vent his frustration and nobody could get him to stop. All this time, only the Wood Chopper of the Southern Mountains, Nan Xiren, remained silent.

“Well, what do you think, Fourth Brother?” Ke Zhen’E asked.

“Very good.” Nan Xiren replied.

“What's very good?” Zhu Cong inquired.

“The kid's very good,” he added.

“Fourth Brother always acts as if speaking costs him money.” Han Xiaoying said, letting the frustration get to her. “He will never say a word more than he has to.”

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“I was also very dumb as a kid.” Nan Xiren gently smiled. He was always very quiet and every word that he spoke had already been carefully thought over, meaning that he was rarely wrong.

Hearing him, the other six Freaks found a glimmer of hope and instantly became more confident.

“Right…that's right! Since when have I been smart?” Zhang Ahsheng agreed, looking in Han Xiaoying's direction.

“Let's wait and see if he’s got the guts to come tonight.” Zhu Cong suggested.

“I say most likely not.” Quan Jinfa replied. “I'm going to go find where he lives first.” He jumped off of his horse and trailed far behind Tolui and Guo Jing until he saw them walking into their own gers.

That night, the Seven Freaks waited on the deserted mountain top. It was fifteen minutes to ten and the Big Dipper had noticeably changed its position, but Guo Jing was nowhere to be seen.

Han Baoju sighed, “The Seven Freaks of the South never lost to anyone in our lives. But in the end, we lose to that Taoist priest.”

Zhu Cong said, “The Quanzhen Sect is fighting the Jurchens in the north and helping the poor Chinese citizens there. Everything the sect does is chivalrous and admirable. The Seven Masters of Quanzhen are great martial arts experts and honorable individuals, Qiu Chuji is even said to be the most exceptional one of the Seven Masters. Losing to him won't damage our good name.