Eagle Shooting Hero 1(72)

For his part, Mu Yi could also foretell the outcome of the duel. “My daughter,” he shouted, “it is useless to continue. The young Lord is much stronger than you!”

“This young man has excellent kung fu,” he said to himself, “thus he is not like one of those idle, gambling and whoring sons of certain families. I will ask for information about his family. If he is not related to the Jin government authorities, I will approve the marriage. My daughter's future will be secured ...” He shouted to both to stop their fight. But the battle was full blown and they did not stop.

“If I wanted to injure you now,” the young man thought, “nothing would be easier; but I do not have the heart to do it.” Suddenly, his left palm changed into a claw, and he clutched the wrist of the girl.

Surprised, she sought to break loose. The young man pushed slightly forward and the girl lost her balance. As she was about to fall, the right arm of her adversary pulled her gently, and she fell into his arms. The spectators applauded and hollered with enthusiasm causing a great tumult.

Shame-faced and blushing, the girl begged in a low voice, “Release me, quickly!”

“Say ‘my dear’ to me,” he answered, laughing, “and I'll release you!” Outraged by such impudence, she struggled, but he held her firmly and she could not break loose.

Mu Yi advanced and said, “You've won, please release my daughter!” The young nobleman burst into laughter but did not release her.

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Losing patience, the girl directed a kick in the direction of the solar plexus of her adversary, trying to make him release her. He indeed released his right arm, parried the blow and caught the foot immediately; his qinna [grabbing and holding] technique was perfectly timed and he could seize anything he wanted. The girl panicked, and sought to release her foot by pulling with force. She at last succeeded, but in doing so she lost her small shoe which was embroidered with red flowers. She sat down on the ground, head lowered and flushed with shame, holding her foot covered by a white fabric sock. The young aristocrat smiled unsteadily, moved the embroidered shoe to his nose and sniffed it. In this situation, the hooligans were obviously not going to let this action pass without comment. “Bet that smells good!” they shouted in chorus. [Women’s feet were considered erotic in ancient China, hence her embarrassment.]

“What is your name?” asked Mu Yi.

“It's not worth saying,” laughed the young aristocrat. He put on his brocaded coat, cast a glance in direction of the girl, and placed the small embroidered shoe in his pocket. At that moment, the wind doubled in strength and large snowflakes began to fall.

“We live at the Inn of Prosperity,” said Mu Yi, “in the western part of the city. Let us go there together, in order to make plans.”

“To plan what?” the young aristocrat retorted. “It's snowing now, it is necessary that I hurry home.”

Mu Yi turned pale. “You won this challenge, and I made a promise that I would give you my daughter in marriage. This is a serious business; one cannot treat it so lightly!"

The young aristocrat burst out laughing. “We had a little fun with martial arts,” he said, “it was rather interesting... as for the marriage, ha, I am obliged to decline that honor!”

Anger choked Mu Yi and prevented him from speaking, “You... You...”

“What do you take our young Prince for?” shouted a servant while laughing. “Do you believe that he would wed the daughter of vulgar traveling performers from Jianghu? Only in your dreams, old man, in your dreams"

Mu Yi was so angry that, with a blow, he struck the servant senseless. The young aristocrat did not seek any explanations. He had his servant carried away and was at the point of mounting his horse.

“You make fools of us!” Mu Yi shouted, clutching him by the left arm. “In any event, my daughter cannot marry such an insolent person as you. Please return the shoe to her!"

“It was her that gave it to me!” the young aristocrat said, laughing again, “Why do you make a nuisance of yourself? I won the tournament, I've declined your marriage, but I'll keep the consolation prize!” He pivoted his arm, exerted some inner force and pulled away.

“It won't happen like that!” Mu Yi exclaimed, trembling with anger. He leapt and struck with both fists, sending a blow called the ‘Bell and Drum Sound Together’, towards the temples of his adversary. The young man dodged, placed his left foot in his stirrup and propelled himself from it into the arena.

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“If I beat you, old man,” he said, laughing, “then you won't try to force me to become your son-in-law any more?” The crowd, indignant at the impudent and arrogant attitude of the young man, remained quiet. Only some hooligans and good-for-nothings coarsely burst out laughing.

Without saying a word, Mu Yi tightened his belt, and attacked with the move ‘Sea Swallow Skimming the Flood’ at the young aristocrat. The young aristocrat knew that he was extremely angry and did not take the attack lightly. He dodged, replied with a blow to the belly, ‘The Poisonous Snake Seeks its Den’. Mu Yi dodged, and struck with his left palm at his shoulder. The young man turned, advanced his right palm under Mu Yi’s left arm. It was an extremely vicious blow, called ‘Benefit from the Cloud to Change the Sun’, executed without the knowledge of his adversary. However, Mu Yi parried effectively and clapped his two hands on the cheeks of the young aristocrat.

At that moment, no matter what move the aristocrat made, he could not avoid the blow! He frowned, bit his lips, and decided to employ another technique. His two hands flew like flashes and his ten fingers were planted in the back of the hands of Mu Yi. When he withdrew them, the ends of his fingers were smeared red! The spectators shouted in surprise. The girl, now in a panic, supported her father. She tore a strip from her tunic to wrap his hands, which bled profusely.

Mu Yi pushed his daughter back. “Move aside,” he said. “This day, it's either him or me!”

The girl, pale faced, looked at the young aristocrat fixedly, and drew a dagger intending to plunge it into her own heart. Surprised, Mu Yi sought to stop her hand, and the girl did not have time to pull the blade aside, which was planted in the hand of her father.

The spectators sighed. They deplored seeing a beautiful scene finishing in such a bloody way! Even the hooligans seemed indignant at such an outcome. The comments started to focus on the improper attitude of this young aristocrat.

Faced with such unrighteousness, Guo Jing could not remain standing by. He gently moved aside the people in front of him and advanced into the open space. “Ha!” he shouted, “to act like that, that's not good!”

Disconcerted for a moment, the young aristocrat laughingly retorted, “Ah, not good? Just why is it necessary to act well?" The young aristocrat’s servants, noticing that Guo Jing was dressed like a peasant and that he spoke with a marked southern accent, made fun of him.

Guo Jing did not understand the mockery, and said seriously, “You should marry this young lady!”

“And if I don't marry her?”

“If you didn't want to marry her, why did you come down to fight? It was well marked, on the banner, ‘Joust to Find a Spouse’!”

“Kid, why are you interfering?” the young aristocrat retorted, in a threatening voice.

“This young lady is not only very beautiful, but she has excellent kung fu. Why don't you want her?

Didn't you see that she felt so offended that she wanted to commit suicide?”

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“You're such a moron that it isn't worthwhile explaining it to you...” The young aristocrat turned on his heels to leave.

Guo Jing restrained him. “Huh! How can you leave like that?”

“What do you want?”

“Didn't I tell you to marry this young lady?” The aristocrat laughed and again was about to leave.

Mu Yi, seeing Guo Jing’s intervention, understood that he was affronted but naive and little acquainted with the ways of the world. He approached and said to him, “Little brother, don't worry about him. So long as I have the breath of life, I will avenge this insult.” Then he shouted at the young aristocrat, “At least leave your name!”

“I told you I can't call you ‘father-in-law’,” he retorted insolently, “why do you still want to know my name?”

Very annoyed by this, Guo Jing leapt forward while shouting, “Then return that embroidered shoe to the young lady!”

“Is this any of your damn business!” the nobleman said furiously. “You've taken a fancy to this young miss yourself, haven’t you?”

Guo Jing shook his head and said, “No! Are you going to return it, or not?” The young aristocrat stiffened his hand suddenly and slapped Guo Jing heavily. Guo Jing moved instantly, and employed a qinna technique, seizing the wrists of his adversary by crossing his hands.

He sought to escape, in vain. “Do you want to die?” he shouted, surprised and annoyed, while aiming a kick towards Guo Jing's lower abdomen.

He flexed his muscles and pushed the young aristocrat back towards the open space. Obviously, this person had a good lightness technique [Qinggong], for, instead of falling on his back, he kept his balance and landed on his feet. He nimbly removed his brocaded coat and exclaimed, “Don't you want to continue living, little fool? If you've got guts, come and test yourself against me!”