Ouyang Feng was suspicious and looked around but did not find any more danger. He went back to check on his nephew. He noticed that he was still breathing so he tried to push the rock off him, but it did not budge even an inch. He then knelt down and grunting, tried again with both hands. Even though his strength was tremendous, how could even he move a thousand-pound rock?
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He bent down just as Ouyang Ke opened his eyes and called, “Uncle!” Ouyang Feng said, “You’ll have to bear with it for a while.” He hugged him and pulled him, but Ouyang Ke screamed and fainted again. The rock had pinned his legs beneath it, so this pulling only worsened his pain but did not free him. Ouyang Feng was perturbed.
Guo Jing held Huang Rong’s hand and asked, “Where’s master?” Huang Rong pointed, saying,
“Over there.” Guo Jing hearing that his master was alright was elated and wanted her to lead him there. Then he heard Ouyang Ke’s scream and could not bear it; he said to Ouyang Feng, “I’ll help you.” Huang Rong tugged his sleeve, saying, “Let’s go see master, ignore this bad guy!”
Ouyang Feng did not know that this was a trap set up by her since he saw the rock tumble down and it was impossible for anyone to lift it up the cliff. But when he heard Huang Rong stop Guo Jing, his anger flared. Then he heard that Hong Qigong was here and he was startled, thinking, “That beggar took one of my palms and was also poisoned by my snake, yet he’s not dead; even at that he should be ninety percent dead, so why should I fear him?”
He saw Guo Jing and Huang Rong about to leave so he knelt down again and pretended to push the rock as he waited for them to turn away before saying, “Don’t worry, I’ll save you. For now just concentrate on circulating your Qi to protect your heart and pretend that those legs are not yours.”
He followed them and saw them with an arm around each other and talking romantically; he was flabbergasted and thought, “If I don’t torture you until you’re worse than dead, I’m not the Western Poison.”
Huang Rong took Guo Jing to the cave entrance. Guo Jing rushed in and shouted, “Master!” Then he saw that Hong Qigong’s eyes were closed and there was no color in his face. He had been insulted by Ouyang Ke and his injury had relapsed. Huang Rong quickly undid his outer gown while Guo Jing massaged his limbs.
Hong Qigong opened his eyes and saw Guo Jing; he was naturally very happy to see him and smiled, saying in a low voice, “Jing’er, you’re here too!” Guo Jing was about to reply when a rough voice cut in from behind, which said, “Old beggar, so am I.” Guo Jing turned around to block the entrance. Huang Rong snatched her master’s bamboo stick and stood beside Guo Jing.
Ouyang Feng laughed, “Old beggar, come out…if you don’t, I’m coming in.” Guo Jing and Huang Rong looked at each other while thinking, “Even if it costs us our lives, we must not let him molest Master.” Ouyang Feng laughed and stepped in. Guo Jing stepped forward to block him.
Ouyang Feng twisted aside to evade his palm strike and moved to his right. Then a bamboo stick flew over and made a circle that seemed aimed at three separate spots at the same time, making it difficult to deal with. He waved his left hand and swept his leg to force his opponents back. He did not expect Huang Rong’s stick to hit the centre of the circle his leg made.
Ouyang Feng was surprised and jumped back, watching carefully. Huang Rong was using the ‘Dog Beating Skill’ and had managed to force her much stronger opponent backwards. She was feeling very proud of herself. Ouyang Feng had not expected that this girl would learn the old beggar’s wonderful rod skill. He snorted and advanced again to hit her bamboo stick. Huang Rong executed the stick skill she’d just learned as she poked, hit, circled and flew around; although she could not injure him, she managed to evade seven or eight successive moves.
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Guo Jing, who was surprised and happy, kept cheering, “Very good Rong’er, great rod skill!” Then he attacked with a fist and palm from the side. Ouyang Feng shouted in anger, then knelt down while launching both palms. Even before the palms arrived the wind from the palms caused dust to fly. Guo Jing saw that the palms were very powerful and was afraid that Huang Rong might get injured if she was hit; he hurriedly pushed her aside and they managed to evade the strike together.
Ouyang Feng stepped forward two steps and struck out again with both palms. His attack was terribly strong and he had fought to a draw with Hong Qigong on Peach Blossom Island a few days ago. Guo Jing and Huang Rong were far from his match and were forced to retreat step by step.
Ouyang Feng rushed into the cave and flipped his palm, hitting the stone wall and causing bits of stone to flake off. He brought the other palm up above Hong Qigong’s head and held it there to sense his condition.
Huang Rong said, “My master saved your life, yet you want to hurt him… aren’t you ashamed?”
Ouyang Feng pushed Hong Qigong’s chest lightly and felt his chest muscles contract, indicating that his martial abilities were really gone. He was happy inside and lifted him, saying, “If you help me rescue my nephew, I’ll spare the beggar’s life.”
Huang Rong said, “Heaven released the rock that pins him, you saw that yourself, so who can save him? Try any more tricks and Heaven will crush you with a rock too.” Guo Jing noticed that Ouyang Feng had lifted Hong Qigong higher and was prepared to throw him down…but he doubted that he would really do it. Still he was worried and quickly said, “Put him down and we’ll go save your nephew.”
Ouyang Feng missed his nephew and was very eager to hurry to him, but he kept his face impassive and put Hong Qigong down very slowly.
Huang Rong said, “Helping him is not difficult, but let’s make an agreement.” Ouyang Feng said,
“What do you want?” Huang Rong said, “After we save your nephew, you must not harm the three of us while we’re here on this island.” Ouyang Feng thought, “My nephew and I are afraid of water; if we want to get back I may need to depend on these three people.” He nodded his head, saying,
“OK, I’ll not kill any of you now, but I can’t promise anything after we leave this island.”
Huang Rong said, “When the time comes, even if you leave us alone, we’ll come after you. Another thing, my father has betrothed me to him and you saw that for yourself. If your nephew bothers me again, you’re worse than a pig or a dog.” Ouyang Feng spat, saying, “OK, but that only applies on this island, once we leave, then we’ll see.”
Huang Rong smiled, saying, “Finally, although we’ll try our best to help you, we’re not gods; if fate has decreed that your nephew must die, you can’t blame us.” Ouyang Feng said, “If my nephew dies, you two can forget about living. Little girl, shut up and come save my nephew.” He then ran to where the rock was.
Guo Jing was about to follow when Huang Rong said, “Jing ge ge, when he uses his strength to push the rock, you can strike his back when he least expects it.” Guo Jing answered, “We must honour our word; let’s save his nephew first, then try to avenge Master.” Huang Rong sighed and knew that it was useless to try to get him to backstab someone.
For the past two days she had thought that he’d died in the sea; now that she was with him again her heart exploded with happiness. Even if Guo Jing made any unreasonable demands, she would listen Eagle Shooting Hero
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to him; moreover his actions were those of an honorable gentleman, so she smiled sweetly and said,
“OK, you’re a saint and I’ll listen to you.”
They ran to the base of the cliff and heard Ouyang Ke groaning in the distance. Ouyang Feng shouted, “Hurry up!” They went over and stood beside him and three pairs of hands pushed the rock together. Ouyang Feng said, “Up!” and they pushed at the same time. The rock moved an inch before slamming down again. Ouyang Ke screamed and his eyes rolled up.
Ouyang Feng was shocked and immediately supported him and felt his breathing was weak. To bear the pain he’d bitten through his tongue, filling his mouth with blood. Even with Ouyang Feng’s outstanding martial arts, he was powerless to move the rock. Now he had made it worse for his nephew and also lost a shoe in the sand. Ouyang Feng bent down to pick up his shoe and got another shock…the tide was slowly rising and was already reaching the rock. Ouyang Feng menacingly said, “Little girl, if you want your master to live, you’d better save my nephew quickly.”
Huang Rong was already thinking about it. The rock was enormous and there was no one else who could help them…how could they move it? She had come up with more than ten ideas in a flash, but none seemed workable; when she heard Ouyang Feng, she said, “If Master wasn’t injured, we could easily move this rock with his tremendous strength. Now…” She threw up her hands to indicate that it was useless.
Though his sentence was said in anger, Ouyang Feng thought, “Maybe it really is fate; if the old beggar wasn’t injured and with his chivalrous nature, he’d definitely help. Who knew that when I injured him, it was as good as killing my own nephew?” Although Ouyang Ke was officially his nephew, he’d had an affair with his sister-in-law and he was in fact his son.