Eagle Shooting Hero 1(98)

Guo Jing had been throttled by her earlier, making him see stars, so it took him a moment to recover. Afterwards, he looked at her only glimpsing, through her shawl of long hair, a face like white paper; it was the face of ‘Iron Corpse’ of the ‘Twin Killers of the Dark Winds’, Mei Chaofeng. Frightened out of his wits, he lifted his left hand to struggle but with her fingers digging into his flesh, how could he escape? In his mind was confusion, “How come? Why did she save my life? It can't be! But she really is Mei Chaofeng!”

Mei Chaofeng sat on the ground, her right hand clutching Guo Jing's neck, her left holding his wrist.

For more than ten years, she had been searching for the man who killed her husband and now, suddenly, he was here. “Is it the work of my ‘Bastard’ husband from below, to have that person die in my hands?” In her heart she was delighted beyond measure; but this was quickly overcome by grief as past events from her life, no matter how much she fought it, came to her in brief flashes.

o0o

She thought, “I was once an innocent young girl who played around and joked all day. My parents treated me as their most precious treasure to which they were much attached. At that time, I was called Mei Ruohua. However, my unfortunate parents died one after another, forcing me to suffer under an evil person. Shifu Huang Yaoshi rescued me and brought me to Taohua Island (Peach Blossom Island) where he accepted me into his school. My name was changed to Mei Chaofeng, for each of his disciples bore the character for "wind" [feng] in their names. Under the peach trees, I saw rugged looking youths standing in front of me. One of them picked a bright red peach and gave it to me to eat. That was apprentice brother Chen Xuanfeng. Among Shifu's disciples, he was the second; I was the third. We practiced kung fu together. He often taught me and treated me very well. Even though he sometimes scolded me for not studying hard, I knew he was only doing what was good for me. Slowly, as everyone grew up, I had him in my heart and he had me in his heart.

One spring evening, when the peach blossoms were turning a brilliant red, he suddenly embraced me under a peach tree.” A blush colored Mei Chaofeng's face and Guo Jing heard her laborious breathing intensify. Then, she let out a soft, gentle sigh.

Mei Chaofeng recalled how she and Chen Xuanfeng secretly married each other and how they feared their Shifu's punishment. When they ran away from the Island, her husband told her to steal the second book of the ‘Nine Yin Manual’ [Jiu Yin Zhen Jing]. Later, they settled on a remote mountain where they trained hard; but after practicing for half a year, her husband said that he could not understand the true meaning of the text. He wanted to smash his head out of frustration. That same year, my husband said, “My ‘Shrew’, we only stole one half of the ‘Nine Yin Manual’. The first half contains the foundation principles needed to practice these secret kung fu techniques. The kung fu scripture belongs to the Taoists and what our Shifu taught us is completely different. We can't master this, what do you suggest we do?” I said, “What choice do we have?” He said, “Return to Taohua Island.” How would I dare to go back? Both our skills had become ten times stronger but our Shifu would only have to use two fingers to defeat us. My husband was also afraid but knowing how many wonderful techniques he could not practice, he was willing to die for them. He had made up his mind to steal the first part and said, “If we are going to be the unmatched couple under the heavens, then ‘My Shrew’ must be prepared to be a widow.” I did not wish to be a widow! If one Eagle Shooting Hero

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must die, then the other must also die in the same place. Both of us decided to risk our lives by going back. We found out later that after we ran away, Shifu, in a great fit of anger, broke the legs of all his disciples and expelled them from his island. That was why there was only him, his wife, the two of us, and his servants. When we arrived at Taohua Island, we discovered two people engaged in a fight. Shifu's opponent looked like an expert. The two of them were arguing about the

‘Nine Yin Manual’ and as they quarreled, one of them opened with a recognizable move. This person was Quanzhen Sect and although he spoke foolish words, his kung fu was very high and had reached a level which I could not even imagine. But Shifu, when compared to him, had a better chance of winning. Witnessing this martial arts duel only served to frighten us out of our wits. I said quietly, “My Bastard, we are inferior. Let's get away!” But he was not willing. We watched as Shifu grabbed his opponent and forced him to take an oath of never voluntarily leaving the Island.

Remembering that Shifu's wife used to treat me with kindness, I decided to look for her through the window of their home. Who would have thought that all I would see was a mourning hall? Shifu's wife had passed away. In my heart, I felt very sad. Shifu's wife always treated me well but now that she's dead, Shifu was alone. I really felt sorry for him and I couldn't stand it. While I was crying, I suddenly saw, near the mourning hall, a one-year old girl, sitting straight up in a chair and smiling at me. This girl really looked like my Shifu's wife so I supposed she was their daughter. Was it because of childbirth that she died? I was thinking about this when Shifu noticed me. He flew from the mourning hall and stepped outside. I was so frightened, my feet grew weak and I couldn't move.

I heard the girl laughing and calling, “Daddy, hugs!” Her smile was like a flower as she opened her arms towards Shifu. That girl saved my life. Shifu feared that she would fall down and so stretched out a hand to grab her. My husband then pulled me away and we both dashed out and stole a boat with sea water splashing inside. My heart was thumping so hard, it seemed like it was going to jump out of my throat.

‘My Bastard’ saw Shifu fighting and had immediately lost heart. He said, “Not only have we not learned a tenth of Shifu's kung fu, but we now see this Quanzhen master, how can we compare to them?” I said, “You regret coming here? If the Shifu can do it, then one day we can also learn his kung fu.” He said, “If you don't regret it, then I do not regret it.” Thereafter, he used the fiercest martial arts methods he could find and taught me everything. He said that although this method was heretical, it allowed us to increase our skills.

In the beginning, our abilities became astounding and as we ran amok in Jianghu, we earned the nickname of 'Twin Killers of the Dark Winds’. Shen Long who flew through the sky with his axe exorcising evil spirits, was it my husband who killed him or was it me? My memory is not too clear as to who killed who but it is all the same in any case. One day, when we were practicing the

‘Destroying Heart Palm’ [Cui Xin Zhang] in the temple ruins, suddenly, from all directions, appeared dozens of skilled people. They were led by our fellow apprentice, Lu Chengfeng. He hated us after Shifu broke his legs and gathered a large group of people to help him capture us to give to Shifu. This man really thought that he could defeat us. Humph, the ‘Twin Killers of the Dark Winds’ are not that easy to defeat. Though we were able to kill seventy-eight men and run away, we were also heavily injured. After several months, we found out that the Quanzhen Seven Masters were also secretly following us. We did not want to fight these opponents all at once because they were too many, so we left the Central Plains and traveled until we reached the Mongolian steppe.

‘My Bastard’ was worried that people would steal the Taoist scripture so he told me not to look for it. I did not know where he hid it. I said, “Good, my ‘Bastard’, I don't know where to find it.” He said, “My ‘Shrew’, I will be good to you. I'll take care of you and teach you everything except the Taoist nei gong. If we force it, we could harm our bodies.” I said, “Alright! What are you waiting for?” Thereupon, we continued to practice the ‘Nine Yin White Bone Claw’ [Jiu Yin Bai Gu Zhua]

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and the ‘Destroying Heart Palm’ [Cui Xin Zhang]. He said these two techniques were heretical and fierce but did not require one to learn nei gong. Suddenly, one evening on that stark mountainside, the Seven Freaks of Jiangnan attacked me. “My eyes…my eyes!” The pain was burning from the poison. I crawled on the ground, clawing my eyes. I did not die but my eyes were blinded and my husband dead. That was retribution for that time when we killed that blind Ke Zhen’E's elder brother and blinded his (Ke Zhen’E) eyes.

o0o

As Mei Chaofeng thought about this painful matter, both hands tightened instinctively and she created a noise as she ground her teeth. Guo Jing felt as if the bones in his left hand were going to break and secretly thought, “This is not good. What kind of vicious method is she going to use to kill me?” Then, he said, “Hey, I don't know what you plan to do but I want to ask you something, please agree.”

Mei Chaofeng said coldly, “You want to ask me something?”

Guo Jing said, “Yes. I have medicines and I ask you to be generous. Please take these and give them to Taoist Elder Wang in the Prosperity Inn outside the city.”

When Mei Chaofeng did not answer and continued to look blankly at him, Guo Jing said, “Do you agree? If so, many thanks to you!”