“Every elder here must have suffered greatly from being here for all these years, my teacher is grateful to you beyond words. He specially commanded this disciple to come and thank each of you.”
Ke Zhen’E let out a hmph, thinking, “If that truly is the reason you are here, then why did you fight Jing’er till he fell over? Were you trying to make us feel inferior before the competition?”
Zhu Cong had by now opened the envelope and taken out the letter. In his clear and resonant voice, he read out: “Quanzhen disciple, Qiu Chuji respectfully greets the ‘Six Heroes of the South’. Master Ke, Master Zhu, Master Han, Master Nan, Master Quan and Heroine Han. The years have passed quickly since we parted in the south. The ‘Seven Heroes’ are people of their words and your Eagle Shooting Hero
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righteousness and your integrity is awe-inspiring. Your benevolence and chivalry matches the ancients of old.”
After hearing this, the wrinkled face of Ke Zhen'E looked somewhat pleased.
Zhu Cong continued: “Hearing that Master Zhang died in Mongolia was very saddening. I am still very shaken by Master Zhang's death. Due to your good fortune and my good luck, I was able to find the son of the late Mr. Yang nine years ago....”
"Ah..." the other five Freaks said simultaneously. They knew that Qiu Chuji was very capable and the disciples of the Quanzhen sect are spread throughout the country. It was to be expected that he would find Yang Tiexin's offspring. He must always have kept in mind the scheduled meeting for the competition in Jiaxing. Finding the mother, whose whereabouts were unknown, was like searching for a needle in a haystack. Whether the child was a girl or boy, was up to the heavens.
Had it been a girl, there would be a limit to the power of her martial arts. Hearing that the child had been found, gave them a momentarily shock. The six had never told Guo Jing’s mother or him about this matter. Zhu Cong slid his eyes towards Guo Jing; seeing no change in his expression he read on, “After two years, when the flowers are blooming and the grass is long in Jiangnan, I will meet and drink with all of you masters at the Pavilion of the Drunken Immortal. Life passes like the dew, and these eighteen years are like a dream. Will the brave heroes of the world laugh at my foolishness?” When he read to this point, he stopped.
Han Baoju asked, “What is below?”
“The letter ends there. It is definitely his handwriting,” Zhu Cong replied. That day in the inn, Zhu Cong had stolen a piece of poetry from Qiu Chuji's pocket and recognized his handwriting.
Ke Zhen’E asked in a somber voice, “The Yang family's child is a male? His name is Yang Kang?”
Yin Zhiping replied, “Yes.”
Ke Zhen’E continued, “So he is your junior brother?”
“He is my senior brother. Although this disciple is older than him by a year, senior brother Yang started learning from the Quanzhen two years earlier,” Yin Zhiping replied.
The ‘Six Freaks of the South’ had seen his kung fu, and Guo Jing was definitely not his match. If the junior brother is already so good, his senior brother must be even more powerful. At this point, they felt their hearts sinking. It seemed Qiu Chuji knew of their actions in detail; he even knew of Zhang Ahsheng's death. They all felt that they were on the losing end already.
Ke Zhen’E said coldly, "When you sparred with him earlier, was it to test his abilities?"
Yin Zhiping heard the hostile tone in his voice and felt anxious. He hurriedly said, “Disciple would not dare.”
Ke Zhen’E said, “Go back and tell your teacher that, although the ‘Six Freaks of the South’ may not be as good as he, they will definitely not miss the appointment at the Pavilion of the Drunken Immortal. Tell your teacher not to worry. There will be no replying letter!”
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After hearing these sentences, Yin Zhiping did not know whether to reply or not, and felt very awkward. He’d followed his teacher's instructions to come up to the north and pass on the letter, and Qiu Chuji had indeed told him to find a way to test Guo Jing's character and kung fu. The elder
‘Chang Chun Zi’ actually cared about his friend's son and his intentions were good. But Yin Zhiping, as a youth, was naturally more adventurous; upon reaching the Mongolian plains, he did not hurry to see the ‘Six Freaks’, but instead sparred with Guo Jing in the middle of the night.
Seeing the unfriendly expressions the ‘Six Freaks’ were wearing, he felt afraid and did not dare to delay leaving. He bowed to everyone, saying, “The disciple will go now.”
Ke Zhen’E suddenly said, with a sharp tone in his voice, “You should turn a somersault too!”
Swiftly sweeping his left arm out, he caught hold of Yin Zhiping's collar. Yin Zhiping felt fear and used both his hands, trying to push Ke Zhen’E's arms away. He wasn’t aware that if he had not attempted to get away, he would only have been made to fall with a somersault. By resisting, he only made Ke Zhen’E angrier. He bent his left arm, he lifted up Yin Zhiping's body and with a
"hey" sound, threw the little priest heavily onto the ger’s floor.
After landing, Yin Zhiping's back hurt badly as though it was cracked; but after awhile, he slowly struggled up and limped away.
Han Baoju said, “The little priest has no manners. It's a good thing that big brother taught him a lesson.”
Ke Zhen’E was thinking, and after quite a long while, took a deep breath. The five ‘Freaks’ felt the same way and everyone was depressed.
Nan Xiren suddenly said, “No matter what, we still have to fight, even if it can not be won!”
Han Xiaoying said, “Fourth brother is right. After we seven became sworn siblings, we traveled over the world together. We went through many dangers and the ‘Seven Freaks of the South’ never retreated."
Ke Zhen’E nodded and said to Guo Jing, “Go back to sleep. We will work even harder starting from tomorrow.”
Thereafter, the ‘Six Freaks of the Jiangnan’ were even stricter in their training. However, in studies or martial arts, as in music or mahjong, when someone tries for quick success, he risks getting precisely the opposite result and progress stops. The Six hoped for so much from their disciple that they put immense pressure on him. To make things even more difficult, Guo Jing didn't have a quick intelligent mind; on the contrary, he was slower than most young people his age. The more they wanted from him, the more he panicked and lost concentration. Since the nocturnal visit of Yin Zhiping, he hadn’t made much progress for three months; he even seemed to have regressed somewhat. It was precisely what the popular belief says: ‘The one that hurries too much doesn't arrive safely’, and ‘The one that swallows too much gets a stomach ache’.
The ‘Six Freaks’ were remarkable masters in their respective arts, acquired at the cost of constant effort over a long period. Wasn’t it an illusion to wish for Guo Jing to acquire a mastery of all those arts in just a few years? An extremely gifted person would have a lot of trouble to accomplish such a prodigious feat; how could someone hope for the same thing from a young and not very gifted boy? The Six were conscious of the problem, and considering the character of Guo Jing, he could have practiced the techniques of Han Baoju or Nan Xiren alone and, after twenty or thirty years of Eagle Shooting Hero
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fierce effort, maybe have half of their respective skills. If Zhang Ahsheng had not died prematurely, his teaching would have been the most compatible with Guo Jing’s abilities. The Six wanted to beat Qiu Chuji so much that, even knowing it would be better to teach one skill rather than teach all, they could not restrain themselves and tried teaching everything they knew to this dumb disciple. During the last sixteen years, Zhu Cong had not stopped thinking about the fight in the Pavilion of the Drunken Immortal and in the Buddhist Fahua Monastery. He reviewed with precision every movement and every stroke made by Qiu Chuji. Though he had a great memory and replayed them in his mind, he didn't succeed in finding any flaws. Sometimes, he even thought that only ‘Copper Corpse’ and ‘Iron Corpse’ would be able to beat the Taoist.
In the morning, Han Xiaoying taught Guo Jing two movements of the ‘Sword of the Yue Maiden’.
To execute the first, ‘The Branch Hits the White Gorilla’, it was necessary to leap, make two turns with the sword before straightening it to attack. Guo Jing had worked hard on the stability of his lower body, but lacked the agility for the jumps. He could hardly make a half a turn in air before landing heavily. After seven or eight attempts, he didn't succeed in making it any better. Han Xiaoying began to get angry and had to force herself to stay calm. She continued her explanations, indicating to him how to land on tiptoe, how to make his jumps, etc. But when he jumped sufficiently high, he forgot to do the turns, and his landings remained clumsy.
Han Xiaoying thought that, after suffering the rigors of the Mongolian steppe for more than ten years, and Fifth brother losing his life here, the end result was so disappointing! She felt a pain in her heart and began sobbing. Throwing her sword to the ground, she left with her hands covering her face.
Guo Jing ran after her, but didn't catch her. He stood there, stupidly immobile, with his heart broken. He knew that he owed everything to his Shifus and had hoped to succeed in the martial arts to prove to them his recognition of their teaching. Though he made every effort, he still couldn't succeed and he didn't know what to do any longer. He was lost in thought when he suddenly heard Hua Zheng’s voice calling him, “Guo Jing, come quickly! Come quickly!”