The Beggar Clan people were surprised and thought, “This move obviously is Li Sheng’s unique skill, the ‘Divine Dragon Swings its Tail’, how come this young man can use it? Moreover, his movement was superior to that of Li Sheng.” By now they had already pulled Li Sheng, who had come to his senses, to the side. He also recognized not only the ‘Divine Dragon Swings its Tail’, but other stances as well. He saw Guo Jing’s moves were exquisite and powerful; he was amazed. “The
‘Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Palms’ is Clan Leader Hong’s special skill. Because I had no regard for my own life and rendered a great service, the leader generously rewarded me with one stance.
Where did this youth learn the full set of eighteen stances?” Obviously he did not realize Guo Jing only knew fifteen stances.
Ouyang Ke was also amazed. He secretly admired Guo Jing’s progress. “How could this kid’s martial arts improve so much in just two months?”
In a short time they already exchanged about forty moves. Guo Jing had repeatedly used his fifteen stances several times. It was enough for him to defend himself; but in all honesty he had to admit that Ouyang Ke’s martial arts were several levels above his. He realized he would not win.
Another ten or so moves later Ouyang Ke changed his tactics. He swiftly moved in all directions to divert Guo Jing’s attention then he launched an attack from an unexpected direction. Guo Jing tried hard to fend it off but his left hip was kicked. He stepped backward limping. Luckily his stances were concentrated in his palms, so he could still launch his fifteen moves in succession.
Ouyang Ke did not dare to press the situation for a while. He tried to force an opening in Guo Jing’s defense line. About a dozen or so moves later, he did see an opening and immediately launched an attack. Guo Jing had finished all fifteen moves and was about to repeat the whole set. After the fifteenth stance, the ‘Seeing the Dragon in the Fields’ [jian long zai tian], he could have launched the first stance, the ‘Proud Dragon Shows Remorse’ [kang long you hui]; but he could also repeat the last stance, the ‘Seeing the Dragon in the Fields ’. His mind was not quick enough as he pondered, “Shall I repeat from the beginning, or shall I reverse the order?” This slight hesitation was enough for Ouyang Ke. He immediately took advantage of this small flaw and attacked Guo Jing’s shoulder.
Guo Jing was taken aback; he did not have any chance to think which one of the fifteen stances he could use to parry that attack, so in reflex he stepped backward and slapped his opponent’s hand. It was a move that followed no martial arts principles; it was a move without a move. It took Ouyang Ke by surprise and his arm was squarely hit. Ouyang Ke was shocked; he leaped back and immediately examined his arm. Luckily, even though it hurt, it was not broken.
Guo Jing was delighted with this unexpected result. He thought, “I realized there are three areas on my body that are not protected well: my shoulder, left hip and right waist. If only I could develop more stances using both hands …” His mind was still reeling as Ouyang Ke launched another attack.
Guo Jing was not the smartest kid in the country. Even if he painstakingly racked his brain for ten days or two weeks, he would not necessarily come up with even half of a new move. Right now he Eagle Shooting Hero
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was engaged in fierce combat, how would he have a chance to think? All he could do was clumsily modify whatever principles he had learned from the ‘Dragon Palms’ just to protect these three areas, his shoulder, left hip and right waist.
Ouyang Ke was anxious. “His stances are limited, and given enough time, I am sure I can gain the upper hand. Where did the three additional stances come from?” he thought. He did not know that Guo Jing’s three additional moves were actually useless; but he was a little bit wary since he was hit before. He slowed his pace and concentrating his strength on defense, carefully studied Guo Jing’s new moves. After a while he could see the flaw. “Right! He has not mastered these moves yet, that was the reason he did not use them at the beginning,” he thought. While still moving his body around he thrust his left hand to divert Guo Jing’s attention and at the same time swung his right leg straight toward Guo Jing’s left hip.
Guo Jing was not able to use his three self-developed stances to their full extent yet. Suddenly seeing his opponent attack his weak point, he was nervous. As he was launching a palm, he suddenly retracted it halfway and diverted his palm to parry his opponent’s kick.
Huang Rong was secretly disappointed. “To hesitate in a match like this is truly martial arts biggest taboo. In this one single move Jing ge ge has wasted seven or eight opportunities. Not only that, even if he won’t be able to injure the enemy, he should be able to defend himself. By turning his palm around like that, he actually made the flaw bigger,” she reasoned. She knew for sure that Ouyang Ke had put all his strength into that kick and Guo Jing might not be able to parry it.
Immediately seven or eight steel needles flew swiftly from her hand.
Ouyang Ke quickly drew the folding fan from his waist and in one fluid motion opened it and waved it gently to block the needles. He was sure all needles were knocked down so he did not slow down his kick toward Guo Jing. He was confident Guo Jing would get hit hard and fall to the floor; but then he felt a slight numbness as though the acupoint above his ankle was sealed. His kick did not stop, but it had lost all its strength. Ouyang Ke leaped back in great surprise. “Which meddler was brave enough to backstab your Young Master?” he fumed, “Come out if you have guts …”
But before he finished he heard a noise from above and something flew his way. He lifted his hand to block that thing, but it came too fast. Before he knew it something had entered his mouth. It was a little bit salty and hard. He was startled and frightened. Quickly he spat that thing out. As it turned out it was a chicken bone.
Nervously he looked above him, but at that precise moment more debris came down on him. He quickly leaped sideways while spitting the dust from his mouth. Just as he opened his mouth several chicken bones came hitting his teeth. They were not knocked out but it was painful! Ouyang Ke was wild with rage. Suddenly he saw something fly down from a shadow on the roof beam above; he immediately launched a palm to strike that something. He managed to knock it down to the floor only to see that something was a half-eaten chicken foot. Then he heard the shadow on the beam explode in laughter. “How is the beggar’s stealing chickens skill?”
Huang Rong and Guo Jing leapt with joy as soon as they heard his voice. “Qigong!” they shouted together.
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Everybody looked up and saw Hong Qigong sitting on the roof beam, his legs spread and with half of a chicken in his hand, which he ate enthusiastically. The Beggar Clan people bowed and open their mouths together, “Clan Leader! We wish you well Senior.”
Ouyang Ke saw it was indeed Hong Qigong and his heart sank. “If what he threw at me was not chicken bones but projectiles, I would be dead by now. Real men are not afraid of defeat; the most important thing now is escaping.” He bowed and said, “Uncle Hong, your nephew kowtows to you.” His mouth said ‘kowtow’ but he did not kneel.
Hong Qigong was still chewing the chicken. “Are you not returning to the west? You have committed evil acts here, do you want to end your little life in the ‘Central Plain’ [zhong yuan]?” he asked indistinctly.
“In the Central Plain Uncle Hero is invincible,” Ouyang Ke replied. “As long as Uncle Hero shows mercy and did not come here to bully the young and the weak, your young nephew has nothing to fear. My uncle has instructed me that if I ever see Uncle Hong I should be respectful to you. He warned me about the difference between our skill levels and that Junior simply could not even touch you. Should I insist on trying I would be the laughingstock of all the heroes of the world.”
Hong Qigong laughed heartily and said, “You flatter me and try to prevent me from fighting you.
But there are actually a lot of people on the Central Plain who want to kill you. I don’t have to move my finger if I really want you dead. Earlier you said that you have seen my skills of stealing chickens, stroking dogs, begging for food and catching snakes and you belittled those skills, did you not?”
Ouyang Ke hastily answered, “Your young nephew was not aware this old hero is Uncle Hong’s disciple. It was very disrespectful of me. I beg Uncle and this old hero’s forgiveness.”
Hong Qigong leaped down from the beam. “You called him ‘the old hero’ but he was defeated by you. Aren’t you the hero then? Ha … ha … aren’t you ashamed?”
Ouyang Ke was angry, but knew his martial arts were too far below Hong Qigong’s so he did not dare to say anything wrong. He suppressed his anger and did not make a sound.
“Your skills were imparted by that old Western Poison and you are thinking of running amuck in the Central Plain. Humph … did you really think I am already dead?” Hong Qigong said.
“Uncle holds the same rank of honor as my uncle; Junior will have to listen to Uncle’s instructions,”