With a groan he collapsed and fainted. Huang Rong was shocked and shouted, “Master…master!”
She hurriedly supported him but noticed his limbs were cold and his breathing was weak; he seemed almost beyond hope.
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Huang Rong had been severely tried for the past few days but now she could not cry. She listened to his heart beat and found it barely audible so she quickly massaged his chest to aid his breathing. Just at this critical moment she heard noises behind her and a hand reached out to take her wrist. She was concentrating fully on saving her master and did not even notice when Ouyang Ke entered the cave. Now she ignored the fact that the person behind her was a vicious wolf and quietly said,
“Master may not make it; think of something to save him.”
When Ouyang Ke heard her plead so sincerely, saw the tears welling up in her eyes and her face looking pitiful, his heart quivered. When he bent down to look at Hong Qigong, he saw that his face was white as sheet and his eyes were rolled up; he felt happier. The distance between Huang Rong and himself was less than half a zhang and he could even feel her breathing and smell her fragrance.
A few strands of hair caressed her face and his heart thumped madly until he could no longer restrain himself and he grabbed her by her waist.
Huang Rong was taken aback, struck out with force and took the chance to jump away when he evaded her blow. Ouyang Ke had been afraid of Hong Qigong so he did not dare be disrespectful to Huang Rong; now he saw that Hong Qigong was half dead, so he did not worry any longer and laughed, “Good girl, I normally don’t bother about other girls, but for a beauty such as yourself, I’ll make an exception; come kiss me.”
Then he moved menacingly towards her. Huang Rong was frightened out of her wits and thought,
“This is a terrible situation. Looks like I’ll be killed here, with some indignities.” She took out her needles. Ouyang Ke smiled, used his outer gown as a weapon and even advanced another two steps.
Huang Rong waited for him to advance another step before crouching low and dodging to the left.
Ouyang Ke followed her and Huang Rong waved her hand. He waved his long sleeve and blocked the spike. Huang Rong knew that she was like an arrow away from the bow and anxiously tried to run out of the cave. Ouyang Ke was faster. Huang Rong heard the wind behind her back and knew he was attacking her. She was wearing the soft armour so she was not afraid of that and furthermore she was prepared to die, but she wanted to injure him first, so she did not defend herself and even sent a strike towards his chest.
Ouyang Ke did not intend to injure her and his strike was only meant to tire her out, so he quickly struck towards her wrist, neutralizing her move. At the same time, he jumped to the cave entrance, effectively trapping her inside. But the entrance was narrow and he could barely turn around, so with Huang Rong’s fierce onslaught coupled with her indifference to defense, her power seemed to have increased tremendously. Although Ouyang Ke was better than her, he did not want to injure her, so he was at a disadvantage.
In a brief moment they had exchanged fifty or sixty moves and Huang Rong was in danger. Her martial arts had been taught to her by her father while Ouyang Ke’s were taught by his uncle.
Huang Yaoshi’s and Ouyang Feng’s martial arts were about the same level, but Huang Rong was only around fifteen while Ouyang Ke was almost thirty, so the difference in their martial arts was almost twenty years’ worth of training. Moreover Huang Rong was not as hard working as Ouyang Ke and although she learned some skills from Hong Qigong, she’d hardly practiced them. At this time, even with Ouyang Ke’s injuries, she was still unable to gain an advantage.
Suddenly Huang Rong launched herself forward and sent her spike towards him with a backstroke.
Ouyang Ke blocked it and Huang Rong followed up closely with a fierce stab towards his right
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shoulder. His right arm was broken and in a splint so he could not exert any strength there. He tried to use his left hand to intercept that move, but the spike made a semi-circle, changed directions midway, and stabbed into his right shoulder. Huang Rong was elated, only to feel her hand suddenly go numb and had to drop the spike because her wrist’s acupoint had been hit.
Ouyang Ke was swift and agile; seeing that she was about to escape, he hit her ‘Xuan Zhong’ and
‘Zhong Tou’ acupoints consecutively with his legs. Huang Rong was in midair when she was struck and she fell towards the ground. Ouyang Ke moved forward and threw his outer gown on the ground, laughing, “Ah, don’t hurt yourself.” Huang Rong spun the spike around and tried to jump up but her legs were numb and she only managed to get a foot off the ground before falling again.
Ouyang Ke came to help her up. Huang Rong used her only non-immobilized arm and punched him. But in the confusion, her punch lacked strength and Ouyang Ke laughed as he sealed her last acupoint. This time Huang Rong was totally immobilized and she inwardly regretted, “Why did I did not stab myself just now? Now I can’t even beg for death.” She was on fire inside and everything went dark as she fainted. Ouyang Ke smoothly consoled her, saying, “Don’t be afraid!”
He stretched his arm out to hug her. Suddenly he heard a cold voice above his head, saying, “Do you wish to live or die?”
Ouyang Ke was shocked, twisted his head around and saw Hong Qigong standing at the entrance looking at him with a side ways glance from his eyes. He once heard his uncle mention the incident where Wang Chongyang jumped out of his coffin and nearly killed him, so he immediately thought,
“The old beggar pretended to be dead and now I’m dead!” He’d tasted Hong Qigong’s skills before and knew he did not even come close, so in shock he knelt down and said, “I was just playing with Miss Huang. Uncle Hong, please don’t be angry.”
Hong Qigong spat and shouted, “Scoundrel, aren’t you going to unseal her acupoints or do you need me to do it?” Ouyang Ke agreed repeatedly and hurriedly unblocked her acupoints. Hong Qigong said coldly, “Enter the cave again and I’ll show no mercy. Scram!” Ouyang Ke darted out like a rabbit.
Huang Rong awoke as though from a dream. Hong Qigong could not hold on any longer and collapsed. Huang Rong was shocked and agitated and quickly held him up. She noticed his mouth filled with blood and three teeth fell out. Huang Rong was very sad as she thought, “Even with Master’s wonderful abilities, such a fall actually broke his teeth.”
Hong Qigong took his teeth and laughed, “Teeth ah teeth, you don’t want to savor exquisite food with me anymore. I never expected you to leave before I did!” He was actually in very bad shape from the snake poison in his body and a palm strike by Ouyang Feng which almost shattered his spine. Because of his high skills, he was fortunately spared from death, but he was as weak as someone without martial arts.
When Huang Rong’s acupoints were blocked, Hong Qigong actually did not have the strength to unblock them for her and had to use his reputation to frighten Ouyang Ke into doing it for him. He saw Huang Rong’s grave expression and said, “Don’t worry. With this old beggar around, he wouldn’t dare to disturb you.” Huang Rong asked, “When I’m inside the cave that creep won’t show up, but what about food?” Though resourceful, she was flustered now and could not think straight.
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Hong Qigong asked, “You’re thinking of ways to obtain food right?” Huang Rong nodded. Hong Qigong said, “Help me down to the beach to view the sun.” Huang Rong complied immediately and said, “OK! Let’s go fishing.” She let him lean on her shoulder and they walked slowly to the beach.
The weather was good on this day and the sea seemed endless, moving gently in the sea breeze. As the sun shone on her, their spirits were lifted. Ouyang Ke was also standing on the beach, but when he saw them coming, he immediately retreated several zhang, then stopped to watch them because they did not chase him.
They both worried, “This slimy creature is really hard to shake off; he may discover our weakness sooner or later.” But right now they could not care too much. Hong Qigong sat on a rock while Huang Rong broke off a tree branch to use as a fishing rod. The fish population thrived around this island because no one molested them, so within a short time she caught three big fish.
Huang Rong used the same method she used to cook chicken to cook the fish and they ate their fill.
After resting for a while, Hong Qigong asked Huang Rong to display the moves of the ‘Dog Beating Skill’ and gave some pointers along the way. Huang Rong then understood more of the finer profound changes of the skill. By the time evening came, she had practiced until she was very hot, so she removed her outer coat and jumped into the sea to bathe. Suddenly she had a thought,
“I’ve heard that the Dragon Palace at the bottom of the sea has a very beautiful Dragon Princess; I wonder if Jing ge ge has gone to the Dragon Palace?”
As she dreamily kicked in the water she felt a sharp pain in her foot and quickly retracted it; but felt as though it was being grabbed by something and she could not get free. She’d played in the sea since young and was not afraid of large clams; she was about to reach out her hand to catch it and got a shock instead. The clam was almost as big as a table; it was larger than any clam she had seen at Peach Blossom Island. She stretched out both hands to pry it open.