Eagle Shooting Hero 2(24)

Zhou Botong smiled, “If I’d won, I wouldn’t be here. He hit me until I was spitting up blood. I ran away until I found this cave. He pursued me, wanting to break my legs. He also wanted to snatch the first volume of the ‘Nine Yin Manual’ and burn it in front of his wife’s memorial tablet. I hid the book in a hole and sat at the cave entrance guarding it. I said that if he resorted to force I would destroy the book immediately. He said, ‘I will find a way to force you out of there.’ I said, ‘We’ll see!’

Just like that and I have been here for fifteen years. That man is arrogant, but he is not desperate yet, so I am sure he won’t put poison in my food. But he has used every means possible to force me out of here. I leave the cave only to urinate and defecate so he won’t have any opportunity to sneak in.

Only I have to live with this stench. Sometimes I pretend to have a bowel movement. His heart itches to lay his fingers on it, but he ended up enjoying the smelly thing.” He ended his narration by laughing heartily.

Listening to his story Guo Jing was fascinated. He found this big brother of his to be smart and witty. Zhou Botong continued, “After fifteen years he started to attack my heart and mind, but so far I’ve been able to defend myself. Last night I was almost broke; fortunately a ghost or angel brought 512



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you here and you helped me. If not, this book would certainly have fallen into Old Heretic Huang’s hands. Ay! Old Heretic Huang’s ‘Jade-Colored Tidal Wave Song’ contains strong internal energy, very profound.”

Guo Jing listened to him recounting this tale of gratitude and grudges; his heart was troubled. “Big Brother, what will you do now?” he asked.

Zhou Botong smiled, “I will continue our competition. We’ll see if Old Heretic Huang outlives me, or I’ll live a few years longer than him. I told you the life story of Huang Shang a while ago; he outlived all his enemies.”

Guo Jing felt this was not a good idea, but he didn’t have anything better, so he asked, “How come Priest Ma Yu and the others did not come to rescue you?”

“Most probably they don’t even know I am here,” Zhou Botong said. “Even if they do, the vegetation on this island is so strange that unless Old Heretic Huang himself gives consent, other people won’t be able to enter Peach Blossom Island. Also, even if they come to rescue me, I won’t go. I haven’t finished the competition with Old Heretic Huang yet.”

After talking with Zhou Botong for half a day, Guo Jing decided that even though this man was old, he was filled with childlike innocence and always spoke straightforwardly and without any pretensions.

In the meantime the sun had climbed high in the sky. The old servant came to deliver their meal.

After finishing eating Zhou Botong continued, “I have stayed on Peach Blossom Island for fifteen years, yet my time was not totally wasted. Here my heart and mind are clear, without any distractions. Here I have achieved what would take twenty-five years to achieve elsewhere.

Although I know I have advanced greatly, it’s too bad I didn’t have a sparring partner. I had to use my left hand to fight my right hand.”

Guo Jing was astonished. “How can the left hand fight with the right hand?” he asked.

“I pretend my right hand is the Old Heretic Huang and the left hand is the Old Urchin. The right hand attacks, the left hand neutralizes that attack and launches a counterattack, like this,” Zhou Botong said, then moved his hands to battle each other.

At first Guo Jing thought it was very funny; but after several moves he realized that the stances were wonderfully mysterious. He couldn’t help but feel great admiration. People who practice martial arts, regardless as to whether they are barehanded or wield a saber or thrust a spear, will always use both hands either to attack or to defend. But Zhou Botong was different. He used one hand to attack and the other to defend; each attack was fierce and always aimed at vital points, while the defending hand would parry and counterattack with no less fierceness. It truly was like two people fighting each other. Guo Jing had never seen nor heard of anything like this before.

After watching Zhou Botong fight himself for a moment Guo Jing commented, “Big Brother, why don’t you use your feet too?”

Zhou Botong halted and smiled, “Not a bad observation! You could see through my moves. Come, come! You try!” While speaking thus he stretched his palm to attack. Guo Jing also stretched his to parry.

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“Careful! I am going to push you to the left,” Zhou Botong said. As soon as he finished speaking he exerted his energy. Guo Jing was ready, even before Zhou Botong warned him he had prepared himself to use the ‘Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Palms’. Two great forces collided and Guo Jing staggered back seven or eight steps. He felt his arm become sore and numb.

“This time I borrowed strength from my feet and you were pushed back,” Zhou Botong said, “Now I am not going to use my feet. You try again.”

Guo Jing followed his bidding to attack again, but suddenly he felt a pushing and pulling force. He was unable to keep steady, so he fell forward and his forehead hit the ground. He crawled as he tried to stand up; he was in a daze.

Zhou Botong smiled, “Do you understand?”

“No, I don’t,” Guo Jing replied.

“I developed this technique through training and meditation after toiling for more than ten years inside this hole,” Zhou Botong said. “My martial brother once told me about the technique of using emptiness to gain victory. At that time my understanding of Taoist principles was still shallow. I heard him but I didn’t understand. About five years ago I was moving my hands when it suddenly dawned on me that I could develop a palm technique using that principle. I was unsure about it since it was only a theory and I have never tried it in real combat. Brother, come and fight me again.

Please don’t fear the pain. I am going to make you fall a few more times.”

He saw Guo Jing hesitate, so he tried to persuade him again, “Good Brother, I have been here for fifteen years and always longed for someone to come and train with me. Several months ago Old Heretic Huang’s daughter came and talked with me to ease my boredom. I was thinking of training with her, but she did not return the next day. Good Brother, I’m certainly not going to hit you too hard.”

Guo Jing saw both of his hands were itching to move and his face showed eagerness that was hard to resist, so he agreed and said, “So what if I fall a few more times?” He launched his palm and fought a few stances; but it seemed that Zhou Botong’s palm was sometimes void of strength. He was about to fall again when Zhou Botong’s left hand suddenly hit his shoulder from below. His body was sent somersaulting in the air and he fell to the ground hard. His shoulder was hurting badly.

Zhou Botong’s face showed regret and he said, “Good Brother, I can’t let you fall for nothing. Hear me out and I’ll teach you this technique.” Guo Jing endured the pain and crawled near to him.

Zhou Botong said, “In Lao Tse’s [the founder of Taoism] ‘The Book of the Way’ [dao de jing] there is a saying: ‘a clay utensil is useful because it is empty, a room is useful because it is empty.’ Do you understand this saying?” [There are several spellings Lao Tse’s name and several translations of the name of his book. I chose these.- ed]

Guo Jing’s literary knowledge was limited so naturally he did not understand the saying. He smiled sheepishly and shook his head.

Zhou Botong took a rice bowl they’d used earlier. “This bowl is empty inside, that’s why we can fill it with rice. If it was a solid clump of clay, how could we put food inside it?” he asked.

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Guo Jing nodded and thought, “It is a very simple truth, but I’ve never thought about it.”

“Likewise a house can be occupied by people because it has four walls and windows and doors in those walls,” Zhou Botong added. “What good is it if the building is made of solid brick without windows and doors?

Guo Jing nodded again; his heart was more open to this truth.

Zhou Botong continued, “Our Quanzhen Sect’s highest martial art is based on these two characters

‘empty’ [gong] and ‘soft’ [ruo]. It was called so because ‘lacking accomplishment does not necessarily mean weak, lacking fullness does not necessarily mean empty.’”

Following these deep and profound thoughts Guo Jing listened attentively and pondered deeply.

Zhou Botong added, “In terms of energy exertion, your master Hong Qigong’s martial arts are on the external side of the spectrum. Even though I know Quanzhen Sect’s martial arts, I am not his match. But I am afraid that once you reach certain level of external type martial arts you cannot go much higher. Not so with the internal type of martial arts, the type that my martial brother practiced.

The time when my martial brother won the title ‘Number One in the Martial Arts World’ he was not just lucky. If he was still alive today and with the additional ten years of training, if he again fought Eastern Heretic, Western Poison and the others, I believe he would probably only need half a day, not seven whole days and nights, to subdue them.”