The clam was incredibly strong and even with both hands she could not force it open. The clam gripped her even tighter and her leg felt even more painful. Huang Rong smacked through the water, hoping to yank it out of the bottom but she had not expected it to feel like it weighed around two or three hundred jin. The clam had been living on the seabed for many years and had become part of the reef, how could it be easy to move it?
Huang Rong struggled a while more but felt her foot become even more painful; she was worried and gulped down two mouthfuls of water and thought, “Although I have no wish to live, I cannot leave Master alone here to be bullied by that scoundrel, I wouldn’t die in peace.” She quickly grabbed a large stone and smashed it on the clam, but because its shell was tough and she could not exert much strength through the water, even though she hit it repeatedly, it did not budge.
As the clam was attacked it tightened its grip further and Huang Rong swallowed water again; then she suddenly thought of something and quickly put the stone down, grabbed a handful of sand, and threw it into the open clam. The clam was indeed irritated by the sand and hurriedly opened up, wanting to expel the sand. As soon as her leg was free, she wasted no time swimming to the surface and sucked in some fresh air.
Hong Qigong noticed that she was submerged for such a long time and became worried since he knew she must have met some trouble in the water. Wanting to help her, he anxiously splashed around in the water for a brief moment before he saw Huang Rong surface and hailed her in his excitement. Huang Rong waved to her master and decided to dive again. This time she was
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prepared and dived some distance away from the giant clam and shook it, then used the reef as a pivot to lift it up. She dragged the clam back to the shore. When the clam left the water, it lost its buoyancy and became as heavy as a large rock. Huang Rong could not move it further. Then she grabbed a large stone and struck the clam to vent her anger. When she saw the deep wound the clam had inflicted on her, she thought of her close brush with death and stopped hitting it.
On this night the two of them made the clam into a good meal and they thought that it tasted really good. The next day when Hong Qigong awoke, he felt that the great pain in his body was less intense. His stomach felt really comfortable and he contentedly sighed.
Hong Qigong said, “After sleeping for a night, my injury seemed to have improved by quite a bit.”
Huang Rong was elated and exclaimed, “It must be the clam meat which helped you.” Hong Qigong laughed, “The clam meat didn’t help much, but because the food was delicious, it satisfied my mouth. After that my recovery follows automatically by a small amount.”
Huang Rong giggled and rushed out to the beach to find the remains of the clam meat. In her eagerness, she forgot about Ouyang Ke. Just as she cut off two slices of meat, she suddenly saw a figure that was moving closer to her. Huang Rong bent over and grabbed part of the clam’s shell, threw it and jumped away at the same time, reaching the shoreline.
After observing Hong Qigong from a distance for a day, Ouyang Ke was becoming more suspicious since he could hardly walk, but he did not dare go into the cave. Now he forced himself forward and said, “Sister, don’t go, I want to talk to you.” Huang Rong said, “I’m ignoring you, yet you disregard that…you’re really shameless.” She then made a face at him.
Ouyang Ke watched her childish behavior which caused his face to lose color and his heart to itch; he advanced two steps and laughed, “It’s your fault; it’s because you’re so beautiful that people can’t ignore you.” Huang Rong laughed, “I said I’m ignoring you and I mean it. It’s useless to sweet-talk me.” Ouyang Ke advanced yet another step and said, “I don’t believe you.”
Huang Rong’s face became a shade darker and she said, “Move another step forward and I’ll ask Master to club you.” Ouyang Ke said, “Forget it…can he even walk? I’ll go in and carry him out, OK?” Huang Rong felt a jolt inside and retreated two steps. Ouyang Ke grinned, “If you’d like to jump into the sea then go ahead. I’ll wait here for you and we’ll see who can last the longest.”
Huang Rong said, “Fine, you’re bullying me, so I’ll ignore you forever.” She turned and ran, but tripped on a stone and fell down. Ouyang Ke sort of expected this so he laughed, “You’re really mischievous and naughty, but I love it.” He held his gown in his hand to catch any hidden needles she might throw and walked towards her. Huang Rong shouted, “Don’t come near!” She struggled to her feet but fell again after three steps.
This time her fall was more serious and half her body was in the sea; she seemed to have fainted.
Ouyang Ke thought, “This girl is very crafty, I won’t fall for her tricks. With your skills, why did you fall for no apparent reason?” He stood there and observed her. After some time, he saw that she was still motionless and the tide was about to engulf her whole body.
Ouyang Ke became worried and thought, “This time she really has fainted; if I don’t save her she might drown.” He ran forward and tried to pull her legs. When he tugged her legs, he got a shock because her body was stiff, so he quickly lifted her up. Huang Rong suddenly hugged his legs and called out, “Go down!” Ouyang Ke could not stand and the two went into the water together.
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In the water, despite his high skills, he could not use them and thought, “Even with precautions, I fell for her trick; this time my life is lost!” Huang Rong originally wanted to dunk his head in the water to appease her anger. However as Ouyang Ke felt the water fill his mouth, he could not feel where his body was and struggled wildly, wanting to grab onto Huang Rong.
However she had expected that and swam around him; how could he catch her? In the struggle, Ouyang Ke swallowed a few mouthfuls of water and his body sank deeper until his feet touched the seabed. Even though his martial arts were good and he was quick-thinking, he was at a great disadvantage in the water and could feel his body floating aimlessly. He hurriedly grabbed a rock on the seabed and used his internal energy to hold his breath while he looked around trying to find the direction to the shore. But the water was murky and he could not tell east from west, so he walked around for a few steps and decided that walking upwards was a good idea. He hit rock and took large steps towards the shallower area. With the reef on the seabed, movements were very difficult, so he used his internal energy to dash across in one go. When Huang Rong saw that he did not surface for some time, she quickly looked around and was surprised to see him walking in the water. She swam behind him and used her spike to thrust towards him.
Ouyang Ke felt the water flowing faster, so he quickly evaded and moved even faster. Now he really felt the lack of air in his lungs and let go of the large stone he was carrying trying to surface to breathe. When he stuck his head out, he saw that he was already close to shore. Huang Rong knew she could not stop him now so she sighed and dived again. Ouyang Ke did not die but crawled onto the beach completely drenched and his senses were dull. He threw up all the water he swallowed and felt his body go weak as if he suffered from some great illness. He was very angry and thought, “I’ll go kill that old beggar and see if that girl listens to me then!”
Although he had these thoughts, he was still wary of Hong Qigong and breathed deeply for a few moments to get rid of his fatigue. Then he broke off a tree branch as a makeshift weapon and ran towards the cave.
He avoided going in directly and tried to slip in from the side. He listened for a moment and did not pick up any movements in the room. He looked in and saw Hong Qigong sitting on the ground, meditating. His face showed no signs of any injury.
Ouyang Ke thought, “I’ll test him to see if he can move.” He said in a loud voice, “Uncle Hong, this is bad…this is bad!” Hong Qigong opened his eyes and asked, “What?” Ouyang Ke pretended to be in a state of panic and said, “Sister Huang tried to catch a rabbit but fell into a deep valley and is injured. She can’t climb out!”
Hong Qigong was shocked and said, “Then quickly save her!” Ouyang Ke was excited and thought,
“If he can walk, why doesn’t he come out and save her?” He walked in and laughed, “She tried several ways and means to take my life, why should I help her? You go save her.”
Hong Qigong observed his expression, knew that he was lying, and thought, “This scum has discovered that I’ve lost my martial arts…I’m in danger!” In this situation, he could only try to bring him down as well; he secretly channeled all his strength to his arm, and waited for him to come closer before he struck. However when he did that, he felt a sharp pain near his heart and his body felt like it was about to come apart. When he saw Ouyang Ke’s twisted smile, he let out a long sigh and waited for death.
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Huang Rong saw Ouyang Ke get to shore and got worried, thinking, “At this point the scoundrel will be prepared for me; it will be harder to scheme against him now.” She swam out a ways and headed left. After a while she saw lush foliage and noticed that this beach was different. She thought of Peach Blossom Island and became sad. Then she thought, “If I can find a safe place here for us to hide for a while, that scoundrel might not find us.” It was not a fantastic plan, but it was better than their situation now and he might not actually find them, giving her master time to recover. So she went ashore but she did not dare explore too far inland since she was afraid of bumping into Ouyang Ke. She stuck close to the seashore, thinking, “If I hadn’t been so carefree in the past and had mastered Father’s Five-Element skills, I’d have been able to handle that scoundrel.