Eagle Shooting Hero 2(25)

“Founder Wang’s martial arts were truly amazing; Brother is unfortunate not to have made his acquaintance,” Guo Jing said. “Benevolent Master Hong’s ‘Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Palms’ are the pinnacle of the ‘hard’ type of martial arts; but a moment ago Big Brother made me fall to the ground using the worlds ‘softest’ type of martial arts, isn’t that so?”

Zhou Botong laughed. “That’s true, that’s true,” he said. “Although the soft can subdue the hard, I wouldn’t be able to push you that easily if your ‘Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Palms’ was as fierce as Hong Qigong’s. It all depends on the depth of your comprehension. Do you remember the move I used to push you down just a moment ago? Try to remember it well.” And then he carefully explained how to move the hand and how to exert the energy. He knew Guo Jing’s comprehension was slow, so he took his time explaining everything.

Guo Jing tried the move dozens of times; fortunately he had a good foundation in profound internal energy techniques from the Quanzhen Sect, so he was able to grasp it, albeit slowly.

Zhou Botong was elated and said, “Brother, if your pain has lessened, let me make you fall one more time.”

Guo Jing laughed. “Pain is nothing,” he said, “But I am afraid I won’t be able to remember your lesson.” While speaking he was still trying hard to memorize everything.

Zhou Botong had childlike enthusiasm so he kept urging, “Is it enough? Have you memorized it?

Come on, quickly!”

But his nagging was actually disturbing Guo Jing’s mind. After some time was he finally able to memorize the move. So again he charged towards Zhou Botong and again he fell down.

Eagle Shooting Hero

515

Day and night those two trained together. Guo Jing was a young man, so he did not need too much sleep; but even when he did, Zhou Botong wouldn’t let him. He kept urging him to train. Guo Jing fell down seven or eight hundred times. His body was swollen, hurt all over and covered with purple bruises. Fortunately he was strong, so he just gritted his teeth and doggedly learned and finally mastered Zhou Botong’s special skill which he’d created during his fifteen years inside the cave, the seventy-two move ‘Vacant Fist’ [kong ming quan].

The two were so engrossed in training their martial arts that they did not know how many days passed. Guo Jing thought about Huang Rong all day, but since he was unable to seek her, he had to be content with waiting patiently. Several times he wanted to go with the mute servant who delivered their meals to find her; but every time, Zhou Botong called him back.

One day right after lunch Zhou Botong said, “You have mastered the entire ‘Vacant Fist’. After this I won’t be able to make you fall so easily; so we have to change the way we play.”

“Very well. How should we play?” Guo Jing asked, laughing.

“We will play as though four people were fighting each other,” Zhou Botong replied.

“Four people?” Guo Jing was perplexed.

“Absolutely,” Zhou Botong said. “Four people! My left hand is one person, my right the other and your pair of hands are the two other people. Four separate individuals and nobody help anybody.

Four people in a tangled battle! That should be more interesting.”

Guo Jing’s interest was piqued. “It certainly is interesting; too bad I cannot separate my left and right hands,” he smiled as he said it.

“I mean to teach you that later,” Zhou Botong said. “For now, let us just have a three-way fight.”

His hands made two people and attacked Guo Jing immediately. He separated himself into two different entities and each hand launched a different stance. They did not complement each other and it was completely different to one person using two hands. When his left hand was giving Guo Jing a hard time, his right hand would come to Guo Jing’s rescue. Likewise when his right was gaining the upper hand, his left fought his right. When Guo Jing gained the upper hand, Botong’s hands would fight together like two people facing one opponent. In short, it was like three separate individuals fighting with each other. After fighting for a while they stopped for a rest.

Guo Jing thought this way of playing was very amusing; but he could not help but remember Huang Rong. He thought that if she was here, the three people would be able to fight as six individuals. He was sure Huang Rong would be very interested.

Zhou Botong was full of enthusiasm. As soon as Guo Jing caught his breath he taught him how to divide his hands into the ‘Mutual Hands Combat’. This technique was actually more difficult than the ‘Vacant Fist’.

There is a saying, ‘The mind cannot be divided,’ and something along the same line, ‘The left hand drawing a square, the right hand drawing a circle, is not a good habit.’ But this ‘Mutual Hands Combat’ technique was exactly that: dividing one’s mind into two. And the way to train it was by drawing a square with the left hand and a circle with the right hand. Guo Jing practiced doing the drawings. Initially his square resembled a circle and his circle looked like a square. He 516



Eagle Shooting Hero

painstakingly practiced for a long time before he finally got the hang of it and both hands could simultaneously draw a perfect square and circle at will.

Zhou Botong was very excited. “If you hadn’t practiced our Quanzhen’s internal energy cultivation, which enables you to combine inner and outer strength, how could you master this ‘Mutual Hands Combat’ technique so quickly?” he said. “Now, use your left hand to launch the ‘South Mountain Fist’ technique [nan shan quan] and your right hand the ‘Yue Maiden Sword’ technique [yue nu jian].” These were the martial arts Guo Jing learned from Nan Xiren and Han Xiaoying. Guo Jing knew these techniques by heart, but launching them at the same time, one with each hand, was actually very difficult.

Zhou Botong was dying to play the ‘four persons mutual combat’, so he urged Guo Jing to train and he did not stop giving instructions and pointers. A few days later Guo Jing had mastered the

‘Mutual Hands Combat’ technique. Zhou Botong’s delight was boundless. “Come, come!” he urged, “Your left hand and my left one form an alliance against your right hand and mine. Let us have a martial arts contest.”

Guo Jing was still young, how could this kind of game not interest him? Immediately his right hand fought Zhou Botong’s left while his left hand fiercely fought Zhou Botong’s right. No one had ever seen or heard of this kind of battle.

While they were fighting each other and themselves, Zhou Botong gave Guo Jing pointers unceasingly on how to attack swiftly and fiercely and how to form a stable defense. Guo Jing listened and committed each and every one of them to memory.

Zhou Botong only wanted to have an interesting playtime, but Guo Jing’s mind came up with other thoughts. One day when they were playing, he thought, “If our legs can also be divided, wouldn’t two people be able to fight as eight individuals?” But he knew if he brought this up, Zhou Botong would go on indefinitely, so he refrained from saying anything.

Several more days passed. Guo Jing and Zhou Botong fought as four separate individuals. Zhou Botong was having fun; he fought and laughed heartily. Guo Jing’s skill was still shallow, so when one of his hands was unable to defend, the other involuntarily would come to its rescue. Zhou Botong’s fists moved rapidly and Guo Jing was not able to keep fighting as separate individuals, so he often became one individual fighting two people, as in the ‘three person mutual combat’. But his two hands launched different moves, so it was like two Guo Jings fighting together hand-to-hand against two opponents.

Zhou Botong laughed heartily, “You are fighting without regard to the rules,” he said.

Guo Jing jumped back. He was silent for a while then opened his mouth, “Big Brother, I have been thinking of something.”

“What is it?” Zhou Botong asked.

“Well, your hands can launch completely different moves. Why can’t they work together like two people facing a common enemy? This technique can be very useful; if your enemy is strong, you can divide your mind and help yourself. Although the force won’t be doubled, the stances would enjoy a great advantage.”

Eagle Shooting Hero

517

Zhou Botong had created the ‘Mutual Hands Combat’ technique out of boredom while living in the cave alone. It never occurred to him that he could actually use the technique in real combat. Now that Guo Jing reminded him of it a thought suddenly flashed back and forth in his mind. He suddenly leaped out of the cave and walked back and forth at the cave entrance, laughing incessantly.

Guo Jing saw the sudden change in his actions, like an evil spirit possessed him; he became anxious and called out, “Big Brother, what happened to you? What is it?”

Zhou Botong did not answer but kept laughing. After a while he said, “Brother, I am coming out of this hole! I am not going to urinate, I don’t need to have a bowel movement, but I am coming out.”

“You are!” Guo Jing exclaimed.

Zhou Botong smiled, “Right now my martial arts are number one in the world, why should I fear Huang Yaoshi? I only hope he will show up so I can beat him really good.”