Wang Chuyi thought, “No wonder the ‘Dragon King of the Demonic Group’ rules the Yellow River area, his skills are indeed spectacular.” Turning his head, he saw that the snow pile had received another wave of seeds, forming the ‘he’ [river] character and the ‘jiu’ [nine] character; it seemed Sha Tongtian wanted to form four words, reading ‘huang he jiu qu’ [Nine Songs of the Yellow River].
Peng Lianhu laughed, “Brother Sha, I cannot help but admire your remarkable finger skills. Let us make a deal; since elder Wang wants to study our skills, I will borrow Brother Sha’s finger skills to display some of my own.” With that, he threw his body forward and landed near the doorway. By this time, Brother Sha had already shot out the rest of the seeds to form the remaining ‘qu’ [song]
character. Peng Lianhu suddenly stretched out both hands to catch the seeds; it looked as if he were picking the seeds from midair. The seeds were very tiny and traveled at amazing speed, but Peng Lianhu did not miss a single one and had them all in his hands.
The audience broke into praise and Peng Lianhu retuned to his seat with a smile. Only then did Sha Tongtian manage to finish forming the ‘qu’ [song] character with the seeds. Peng Lianhu’s sudden display did steal away some of Sha Tongtian’s limelight, but the two were very close and Sha Tongtian did not seem displeased and even smiled a little. He turned to Ouyang Ke and asked,
“What does master Ouyang plan on displaying to enlighten us inexperienced people?”
Ouyang Ke heard the sarcasm in Sha Tongtian’s words and knew that he was still sore at him for interrupting his hits earlier. He thought hard about what to display so as to make Sha Tongtian admire him. At that moment, the servants brought in four types of dessert and replaced the used chopsticks with clean ones. Ouyang Ke snatched up the used chopsticks and, with a wave of his hand, twenty chopsticks flew out at the same time, stuck into the snow and neatly formed four flower shapes. To throw a chopstick and stick it into the snow with a wave of the hand is child’s play, but to neatly form the shape of a flower using twenty chopsticks was more difficult. This skill was deep and complex, so much so that Guo Jing and Wanyan Kang were not able to comprehend it fully; but people such as Wang Chuyi and Sha Tongtian secretly praised him.
Considering the high number of experts, Wang Chuyi thought, “One of them would be quite a handful, yet there are so many gathered together here. Why? Even people like the young Chief of White Camel Mountain, ‘Supreme Virtue’ Ling Zhi and the ‘Ginseng Immortal’, who do not reside on the central plains are here. There must be a dangerous plan here!”
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The ‘Ginseng Immortal’, Liang Ziwong laughed as he stood up and acknowledged the group. He reached the centre of the courtyard with light steps. He stretched out his right foot and lightly landed on the chopsticks, which Ouyang Ke had stuck into the snow. Then he started his display of skills , ‘Hugging the Moon’, ‘Two Gentlemen up the Hills’, ‘Pulling the Arrow’, ‘Turning Without Shoes’, and then displayed his ‘Sparrow Light Fists’. His feet looked like he was jumping one moment and flying at the next moment; every step he took would end by landing on a chopstick.
After his ‘Giving Way to Step on a Tiger’ and ‘Retreating to Wrap it Up’, Liang Ziwong finished his display with his ‘Sparrow Light Fists’. The amazing thing was that the twenty chopsticks were still neatly in place. With a satisfied smile on his face, Liang Ziwong retreated back to his seat. The hall exploded into applause and even Guo Jing praised him. At this moment, the banquet ended and the servants brought golden bowls of warm water for the guests to wash up a little.
Wang Chuyi thought, “Now, Superior Virtue, Ling Zhi will display his skills before they all attack.”
Wang Chuyi glanced his way only to see him still dipping his hands in the water slowly, disregarding everything else. After everyone finished washing, his hands were still in the bowl of water, as if thinking of something. Everyone was feeling a bit curious and after a while, steam began rising from his bowl. The bowl made a noise just before bubbles rose from the bottom of the bowl as if water was boiling. Wang Chuyi was secretly anxious, “His internal energy is powerful! I have to take a chance and attack first.”
Because all the attention was focused on Ling Zhi, Wang Chuyi thought, “I have to take them by surprise and make the first move to gain the upper hand.” Suddenly, he flew forward, with supreme speed, caught and pulled Wanyan Kang away with his right hand, before sealing his accupoints. Sha Tongtian and the rest were taken by surprise and did not know how to react.
Wang Chuyi picked up a bottle of wine with his left hand and said, “To be able to meet with so many heroes today is my honor, let me give a toast to everyone.” From the bottle he took a large mouthful, spat out and drops of wine landed in everyone’s cup. It didn’t matter whether the person’s cup was near or far away from him, or whether the cups were half-filled or empty, the wine kept landing accurately in the cups. Afterwards, every cup had the same proportion of wine, and there was not a single drop of wine spilled. From the way Wang Chuyi spat the wine, ‘Supreme Virtue’
Ling Zhi knew that he had excellent internal energy. Also he was able to hold the wine bottle in one hand while holding Wanyan Kang with the other. Although they knew that it was possible to attack Wang Chuyi at this moment, no one dared to for fear of Wanyan Kang getting hurt. Wang Chuyi poured wine for himself and Guo Jing, and then, raising his cup, said calmly, “I have no animosity towards anyone and have no strong ties with little brother Guo; but seeing that he is compassionate, heroic and has backbone, I want to plead with all present to let him go on my behalf.”
Everyone was silent. Wang Chuyi continued, “If everyone is magnanimous, I will free the little prince. A royal descendent in exchange for a commoner is a very good trade, right?”
Liang Ziwong laughed, “Since Taoist Wang is so forthright, it’s a deal.” Without a moment’s hesitation, Wang Chuyi released Wanyan Kang. Wang Chuyi knew that although these people were well-known for their evil, cold-blooded, unorthodox and underhanded ways, they would not dare to break their promise and attack in front of their fellow Wulin experts for fear of tarnishing their reputation.
Wang Chuyi took Guo Jing’s hand and said, “I bid you farewell and may we meet again”. The crowd, unable to stop them, watched their prey escape from the trap, sighed and looked crushed.
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Wanyan Kang recovered and laughed, “Taoist Wang is superior, please feel free to visit anytime so that I can learn from the great elder.”
Wang Chuyi snorted, “I haven’t solved our problem; we will definitely meet again.”
As they walked towards the doorway, ‘Supreme Virtue’ Ling Zhi suddenly said, “The Taoist elder has brilliant skills of which I am in awe.” He joined his palms in the prayer position and bowed.
Suddenly, he released both palms in the air and dashed forward with all his might.
Wang Chuyi also pushed out both his palms in defense, using internal energy to meet Ling Zhi’s blow. Just as the palms were about to meet, Ling Zhi suddenly switched from internal to external energy and used his left hand to grab Wang Chuyi’s wrist. Wang Chuyi reacted swiftly by grabbing his opponent’s wrist; both sides used their utmost force and both wrists met briefly before separating.
Ling Zhi’s face paled but he forced himself to say, “I really admire the Taoist skills.”
Before retreating Wang Chuyi laughed, “The Abbot is famous throughout Wulin, but why do you not keep your word?”
‘Supreme Virtue’ Ling Zhi was furious and spat out, “I wanted to make you stay behind, not the Guo rascal….” He had received a blow from Wang Chuyi and was injured; had he quietly sat down to recuperate, it would not have become serious. But being mocked by Wang Chuyi had made him furious and he had not finished speaking when he vomited a mouthful of blood. Wang Chuyi did not dare stay any longer and took Guo Jing’s hand and quickly made his way out. Sha Tongtian, Peng Lianhu and the rest did not want to break their promise and, seeing that ‘Supreme Virtue’ Ling Zhi had suffered, they did not move forward to stop them.
Wang Chuyi had left quickly and was quite a distance from Prince Zhao’s residence before he turned back to check if there was anyone behind them. When he confirmed that there was no one, he quietly said to Guo Jing, “Carry me back to the inn.”
Hearing his weak voice, Guo Jing was shocked; he studied Wang Chuyi’s face and saw that it was pale and he looked very sick. It was a vast difference from the quick and swift Wang Chuyi of earlier on. Guo Jing quickly asked, “Taoist Wang, are you injured?”
Wang Chuyi nodded and could not balance himself properly. Guo Jing quickly lowered his back to carry Wang Chuyi and hurried to a large inn. He was about to enter when Wang Chuyi whispered,
“Find…find the most isolated…. and smallest…. smallest inn.”
Guo Jing thought for awhile and then understood that Wang Chuyi was afraid that enemies may be looking for them. If they met rivals, with Wang Chuyi injured and him lowly skilled, they would definitely lose. With that thought, Guo Jing lowered his head and started running to look for another inn. Guo Jing was unfamiliar with the city and headed for roads with very few people on them; the further he went, the more deserted the road became. He felt Wang Chuyi’s breathing getting weaker and weaker before he found a very small inn. The inn was small and dirty, but fearing for Wang Chuyi’s safety, he immediately dashed in and laid Wang Chuyi down.