As soon as he arrived he could already smell the pungent smell of the snake's blood coming from Guo Jing.
Guo Jing was not yet Wanyan Kang's equal when it came to fighting, so from the start he was already at a disadvantage. To make matters worse, he felt his stomach burning with an unbearable heat as if it were full of boiling water. He was terribly thirsty and itched excruciatingly all over his body.
“This time I'm certain to die.” he thought. “The snake's poison is beginning to take hold.”
In the midst of these fearful thoughts he was being struck repeatedly by Wanyan Kang's fists which were made even more painful by the effects of the poison.
“You filthy bastard!” Liang Ziwong yelled, “Who sent you to steal my precious snake?” He couldn't imagine that some stupid kid would know the secret of the snake. He thought it must be someone else who put him up to the task. In fact he was almost certain that it was Wang Chuyi who had sent Guo Jing.
When Guo Jing heard this he was furious. “That precious snake of yours attacked and poisoned me!
I've got a bone of contention to pick with you!” and he leaped towards Liang Ziwong with his fists raised ready to attack.
Liang Ziwong however smelled the scent of medicines mingled with the snake blood and had an evil thought. “He has drunk the snake’s blood. If I kill him now and drink his blood then I may still gain the beneficial effects. Who knows, maybe the drug's effects will be enhanced...” As soon as he thought of this his anger vanished and he leaped towards Guo Jing to meet his attack. With his superior kung fu he was able to easily lock Guo Jing's arms and legs and hold him down. He then prepared to bite into Guo Jing's neck to extract his precious medicine...
o0o
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Meanwhile Huang Rong, no matter how quickly she moved, had not been able to get past Sha Tongtian. She was getting anxious about what would happen if he decided to catch her. She decided that a change of tactics may be appropriate. “If I can get through the door then you promise to let me be, okay?” She asked.
“If you can get through the door I will admit defeat.” Sha Tongtian replied.
“Ai yo! What a pity my father only taught me the skill of entering, not the skill of leaving.” she sighed.
“What is this 'entering' and 'leaving' skill?” Sha Tongtian asked half doubting, half curious.
“Your ‘Change Form Exchange Place’ skill, although not bad, is still far below those of my father's skills. Way below in fact.” she boasted.
“Don't talk nonsense you stupid girl.” Sha Tongtian retorted angrily. “Anyway, who is your father?”
“If I told you my father's name, I'm afraid I would scare you out of your wits, so it's best if I don't say.” Huang Rong replied mischievously. “When he taught me the skill of entering he hid by the door way and I tried to rush in from outside. I tried many times but was never able to get past him.
However, even though I cannot get out against you with your piddling skills, there is no way that you could stop me from getting back in. I wouldn't even have to raise a sweat!”
Sha Tongtian laughed coldly and said, “From outside going in or from inside going out, what's the difference? OK you come here and show me!” With that he moved aside to let her demonstrate the great 'entering' kung fu of which she boasted.
Huang Rong immediately shot outside and laughed, “Ha, you fell for my trick. You said a minute ago that if I could get through the door that you would admit defeat and would let me go. Well am I outside now? Did I not go through the door? Come now Dragon King Sha, you are an honorable man; your word is your bond. You cannot think of going back on what you promised in front of all these gentlemen.”
Although Sha Tongtian knew that she had tricked him, she was correct, his word was his bond and he could hardly go back on what he promised. He scratched his bald head and flushed red but could see no way to get out of it.
Peng Lianhu, however, was not about to let Huang Rong get away. He suddenly shot out a stream of darts [fei biao] towards her. The darts were extremely fast but they were aimed near to the back of her head rather than right at her. When they hit the stone pillar by the door however, they ricocheted towards her. They were too fast for her to catch and she had no choice but to leap forward a pace to avoid them. The darts continued in a stream and each one forced her to move forward a few inches.
Before she knew it she had moved back inside the hall again!
Peng Lianhu’s objective all along had been to force her back into the room and everyone watching proclaimed their praise at his skill. He just laughed and said, “What's this? You've gone back inside again!”
Huang Rong scowled, “Huh! You used your concealed weapons to bully a girl and force her to move, what's so fantastic about that!”
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“Who was bullying you?” he asked incredulously. “I never laid a finger on you or harmed you!”
“Then let me go!” she said angrily.
“First tell us who taught you your kung fu.” he demanded.
Huang Rong smiled and said, “I taught myself whilst in my mother's womb!”
Peng Lianhu said, “If you're not willing to tell us then perhaps I can find out another way!” With this he shot his fist straight towards her shoulder. Huang Rong didn't move or try to block the blow.
She figured that he wouldn't dare to act so shamelessly as to hit a girl who refused to fight back.
When Peng Lianhu saw she wasn't going to fight he pulled his punch and withdrew his arm shouting, “Come on, show me what you've got. Stupid girl! I bet I can find out who your master by your style of fighting within ten moves.” He had seen many styles during his life and although he had seen that Huang Rong was a very crafty girl, he was confident that she would not be able to hide her real martial arts style from him in a true fight. In fact he thought he needed no more than ten moves to do so.
Huang Rong asked, “And if you have not found out within ten moves?”
“Then I will let you walk free.” he replied. Without further ado he launched an attack using 'Triple Linked Penetration' so called because it incorporated three movements.
Huang Rong turned her body and dodged while forming a ring with her thumb and little finger and stretching the remaining fingers to form a three-pronged fork. Using this she counter attacked using the 'Night Trident Searches the Sea'.
Hou Tonghai cried out, "'Night Trident Searches the Sea’! Senior Brother, this brat must be from the ... our school of martial arts!”
“Rubbish!” Sha Tongtian scolded. He knew the Huang Rong had already been teasing and making fun of Hou Tonghai for some time before tonight. He figured that she must have picked up the
'Night Trident Searches the Sea!' from her earlier encounters fighting with Hou Tonghai.
Peng Lianhu couldn't suppress a laugh as he whirled around to attack again. Huang Rong turned obliquely to the left and without bending a knee or taking a step suddenly 'moved' to the side.
Hou Tonghai again exclaimed, "‘Change Form Exchange Place’ ! Senior Brother, did you teach her that?”
Sha Tonghai again scolded him saying, “Can you shut up - okay? You’re always saying stupid things!” However, inside he couldn't help but admire Huang Rong's intelligence and skill in learning the basics of such a move after only having seen it once. Even if the execution of the move wasn't entirely correct, she had been able to dodge Peng Lianhu's strike. An amazing achievement!
As the fight continued Huang Rong attacked using the ‘Soul Smashing Knife’ followed by the 'Soul Snatching Whip’ strikes. When Hou Tonghai saw these attacks and heard her call out "Yi Yi Yi"
with each strike he couldn't help but call out, “Senior Brother! This brat must be from our school...”
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If he hadn't seen Sha Tonghai's face growing angrier by the minute he would have again called out the name of the sects moves.
Peng Lianhu was also getting angrier. He thought to himself, “So far I've been kind and have shown mercy with my attacks, but this girl is craftier than a witch. If I don't start using more vicious attacks I take the chance of not forcing her to reveal her true style.”
Martial Artists, after training in their chosen style, may pick up moves from other styles and over time can even become quite proficient at them. However, in a life and death struggle, they will always return to their roots and use the style that they first learned and are most familiar with.
Peng Lianhu's first four strikes had been mild and contained no desire to injure. However from his fifth strike on his moves became like a whirlwind. When the spectators saw his moves take on a vicious turn they couldn't help but become worried for Huang Rong. No one had any idea of her background and although she had been stubborn, no one actually had any real grievance with her or wanted to see such a young, pretty and charming girl come to harm.
No one except for Hou Tonghai that is, who actually thought, “The sooner the bitch is dead the better!”
Huang Rong continued to hide her style by using strikes from Wanyan Kang's ‘Absolute Perfection School' [Quanzhen] and Guo Jing's 'Southern Mountain Fists' style. She had only just learned these moves by seeing them earlier the same day when Guo Jing and Wanyan Kang fought using them in the arena. For the seventh move she even used Peng Lianhu's 'Triple Linked Penetration' that she first saw only six moves ago! However now it was getting more and more dangerous. Even in a straight fight with Huang Rong using all her strength and true skills against Peng Lianhu she would not be able to prevail, how could she expect to survive using tricks picked up by observing others?