Guo Jing blushed. “I thought that Venerable Wang’s martial arts were already number one in the world; even if he trained from the manual himself, he would still be number one. I also thought that his intentions at the sword meet on Mount Hua were not to be the number one but to obtain this
‘Nine Yin Manual’. He wanted it, not to benefit from it, but rather to avoid further bloodshed amongst the heroes of Wulin.”
Zhou Botong raised his head and looked up to the sky; he looked like one whose spirit had left him.
He was silent for a long time. Guo Jing became anxious, he was afraid he had said something wrong and had offended this new brother of his with the strange temperament. Finally Zhou Botong sighed and asked, “How could you think of this truth?”
“I don’t know,” said Guo Jing, scratching his head. “I just thought that because this book had caused numerous deaths; even if it was a precious book, it would still be better if it were destroyed.”
“I know his reasoning, but I have never understood it,” Zhou Botong said. “My martial brother often times said that I am smart and have a natural talent for learning martial arts; also I have the determination to achieve success; but, he said, first of all I am too fascinated with it, and second, I do not have a caring heart towards other people. Even if I had a lifetime to train myself hard; I will never achieve perfection. At that time I listened to him, but did not believe him and thought, ‘What does training myself to move my fist or kick or use a blade have to do with the state of my heart?’
These past ten years or so I have been pondering over it and I can no longer believe it. Brother, your heart is upright, your mind is broad. It’s a pity that my martial brother is dead, otherwise I am sure he would have liked what he saw in you and I am sure he would have bestowed his unparalleled martial arts on you. If only he hadn’t died …” Remembering his late brother, he suddenly bent over a rock and wept bitterly.
Guo Jing did not really understand what he was saying, but seeing his brother crying miserably could not help but feel grief in his own heart. After a while, Zhou Botong suddenly raised his head and said, “Ah! Our story is not finished yet; let us finish it, then we can cry some more. Where were we? Why didn’t you persuade me not to cry?”
Guo Jing smiled and said; “You were telling me about how Venerable Wang hid the ‘Nine Yin Manual’ underneath a flagstone.”
Zhou Botong slapped his thigh and said, “That’s right! He had hidden the book underneath a flagstone. I asked him if I could take look at it, but he scolded me; afterwards I did not dare to ask him again. The Wulin world again enjoyed peace and quiet for some time. Then martial brother died; and at the time of his death there was quite a disturbance in the martial arts world.”
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When Guo Jing heard the tone of his voice he became anxious, knowing that the disturbance must not be small. He opened his ears and listened attentively. Zhou Botong continued, “Martial Brother was aware that he could not avoid his imminent death; therefore, he arranged for us to take care of his unfinished business. He even asked me to take the ‘Nine Yin Manual’ out and bring it to him.
He prepared a fire and was about to burn the book. But after stroking the book for a long time he heaved a deep sigh and said, ‘This book is a Senior’s lifelong effort; how can it be destroyed by my hand? Water can float a boat, yet it can also sink a boat; we’ll have to see if the future generations make good use of it. However, I forbid our Sect’s disciples from practicing what is in this book, so that people cannot accuse me of having wanted to own this book for personal gain.’ After saying those words he closed his eyes and died. That very evening, it was not even the third hour yet, something happened in the temple.”
“Ah!” Guo Jing uttered a cry; Zhou Botong continued, “That night I stayed up with the Quanzhen’s seven first generation disciples and kept a vigil at the side of the coffin. Around midnight enemies came. They were all skilled pugilists. The Quanzhen Seven Masters immediately went out and engaged the enemies in battle. They were afraid the enemies would desecrate their master’s remains. I was the only one left guarding the coffin. I heard someone outside shouting, ‘Hand over the ‘Nine Yin Manual’ quickly, otherwise your temple will be burned to the ground.’ I looked outside and could not help feeling cold fear in my stomach. I saw a man standing on a tree branch and his body was swaying following the branch movements. It was an extraordinary demonstration of lightness kungfu. At that time I thought, ‘This lightness kungfu is superior to mine; if he is willing, I’d like to take him as my master.’ But then I changed my mind, ‘It’s wrong! It’s wrong!
This man must have come here to steal the ‘Nine Yin Manual’; not only can I not bow to him to become his disciple, but I must fight him.’ I did not know him, but whether I wanted it or not, I had to fight him. So I jumped outside and fought with him on the tree. I fought him for thirty or forty moves and I was getting frightened; the enemy was a few years younger than I was, but his martial arts were so fierce that I had a hard time keeping up with him. Finally I got hit on my shoulder by his palm and fell down from the tree.”
“You have such high martial arts skills, yet you lost to him. Who was that?” Guo Jing wondered.
Zhou Botong answered his question with another question, “Can you guess?”
Guo Jing thought for a while then exclaimed, “Western Poison!”
“Ah!” Zhou Botong was amazed. “How did you guess?”
Guo Jing replied, “Little Brother thought that the people whose martial arts were higher than yours must be the people who were involved in the sword meet at Mount Hua. Benevolent Master Hong is straightforward and honest. The Emperor Duan is an Emperor, he would not stoop so low to steal someone else’s possession. Little Brother does not know Island Master Huang’s real character very well, but he is a proud man and not the kind of person who would take advantage of someone else’s precarious condition and make a thief of himself!”
From the flower shrubs outside a shout suddenly came, clear and loud, “The little animal has good judgment!”
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Guo Jing leaped towards that voice, but that person’s movements were too swift. Guo Jing could not even see his shadow; only the trees were still swaying and flower petals fell down to the ground in abundance.
“Brother, come back!” Zhou Botong called out. “That was the Old Heretic Huang. He’s already far away.”
Guo Jing returned to the front of the cave, while Zhou Botong commented, “Old Heretic Huang is proficient in the amazing and weird five-element techniques; he arranged this vegetation according to Zhuge Liang’s maze-laying arts of the past.” [For those interested in more background on the eight trigrams (ba gua) one source on the net is the Feng Shui Institute.]
“Zhuge Liang’s laws?” Guo Jing was amazed.
Zhou Botong sighed, “That’s right. Old Heretic Huang is well versed in music, chess, calligraphy and painting, medicine, divination and astronomy; as well as farming and irrigation; economics and military strategy. Nothing is hidden from him, nothing that he is not proficient at. It’s too bad he likes to give the Old Urchin a hard time and when we fight, I will not necessarily win. Once he flies east and west amongst this vegetation nobody will be able to catch him.”
Guo Jing was silent for a long time. He was thinking about how amazing Huang Yaoshi was and was unable to restrain feeling captivated. After a while he remembered the story and asked, “Big Brother, you were hit by the Western Poison and fell down from the tree. What happened next?”
Zhou Botong slapped his thigh. “Right! This time you did not forget to remind me about the story,”
he exclaimed. “I was hit by Ouyang Feng’s palm; the pain entered my heart and lungs and I wasn’t able to move for half a day. I saw him rushing into the mourning hall, but I couldn’t do anything; I was badly injured. Then I gritted my teeth and, risking my own life, I chased him. I saw him standing in front of my martial brother’s coffin. He stretched his hand to take the book from the table in front of the coffin. I was groaning inwardly; I was not his match and my martial nephews had not come back from fighting the other enemies outside. At this critical moment there was a loud cracking sound; the coffin’s wooden lid burst open and flew away, leaving a gaping hole in the coffin.”
“Did Ouyang Feng use his palm to destroy Venerable Wang’s coffin?” Guo Jing asked.
“No, no!” Zhou Botong replied. “It was my own martial brother who used his palm strength to break open the lid.”
After listening to this strange and absurd tale Guo Jing’s eyes opened wide and his jaw dropped. He was speechless.
End of Chapter 16.
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Chapter 17 – Mutual Hands Combat
Translated by Frans Soetomo
The Old Urchin Zhou Botong and the Eastern Heretic Huang Yaoshi had a marbles competition, with the ‘Nine Yin Manual’ and the Peach Blossom Island’s Soft Hedgehog Armor as bets. Huang Yaoshi's newly-wedded wife watched the