Earlier, Ouyang Feng had cooked up a plan as to how to get rid of these three people: Hong Qigong must be eliminated first to avoid his own dishonorable behavior from becoming public; next, he Eagle Shooting Hero
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would force Guo Jing to explain the difficult sentences from the manual and then he would kill him.
As for Huang Rong, even though his nephew loved her, if he let her live, she would cause an enormous disaster in the future. However, if he personally killed her, Huang Yaoshi would not let him have a single moment’s peace. Therefore he decided to use someone else’s hand to kill her and thus shift the blame from his shoulders. Since the three were aboard the boat, he was not afraid they would fly away and escape. He stepped forward and said to Wanyan Honglie, “These three people are very crafty and they are also highly skilled in martial arts. I beseech the Prince to assign some people to guard them well.”
Liang Ziweng was very pleased; he leaned to the left and squeezed past Sha Tongtian to grab Guo Jing’s hand. Guo Jing turned his wrist over and slapped Liang Ziweng’s shoulder. He’d used the
‘Sighting the Dragon in the Field’, a swift and heavy stance; even though Liang Ziweng’s martial arts skill was high, he was unexpectedly forced to stagger back two steps.
Peng Lianhu and Liang Ziweng continually competed to win the favor of Wanyan Honglie. They always tried to outdo the other and what their faces showed was different from what they felt in their hearts. Seeing Liang Ziweng stumble, Peng Lianhu was inwardly very pleased. He stepped closer to Hong Qigong and the others; but he was waiting for Liang Ziweng to fall before taking any action.
When Liang Ziweng slipped past Sha Tongtian to pull Guo Jing away, he was prepared for Guo Jing’s single stance, the ‘Proud Dragon Shows Remorse’; he knew he would not be able to face it head on, hence the attack from the side. Who would have thought that in less than a month the
‘Proud Dragon Shows Remorse’ was not the only move Guo Jing knew? Because Guo Jing did not pursue, he jumped up and attacked with his fists, launching his life’s worth of training in martial arts, the ‘Wild Fox from Liaodong Fist’ technique [liao dong ye hu quan fa], determined to take Guo Jing’s life, both for embarrassing him just now and also for killing his precious snake.
One time Liang Ziweng went to gather ginseng on Mount Changbai [located in Jilin province]; he saw a hound fighting with a wild fox in the snow. The fox was very cunning; it leaped to the east and hopped to the west, very quick and agile. Although the hound’s claws and teeth were sharp, after battling for a long time it had yet not scored victory. Liang Ziweng noticed the ability of the fox to jump very high and he had a sudden inspiration. He abandoned his intention to gather ginseng and decided to stay in a thatched hut on the snowy mountain, painstakingly pondering martial arts moves for several months. As a result, the ‘Wild Fox Fist technique’ was born.
The technique incorporates four fundamental principles, namely ‘ling’ [alert/quick], ‘shan’ [dodge],
‘pu’ [pounce], and ‘die’ [tumble]. This technique had come in handy in dealing with powerful enemies. First of all, he did not give the enemy an opportunity to catch him since he was very quick to retreat and he was able to hasten to the left and escape to the right; then he struck back as the opportunity arose.
Now he did not dare to underestimate his opponent any longer and launched this fist technique right away. His attacks were lightning fast as he threw everything he had at Guo Jing. The fist technique was weird; Guo Jing had never seen anything like it before. He thought, “In Rong’er’s ‘Peach Blossom Island Divine Sword Palm’ technique there are many trick moves; out of five attacks only one is real, or sometimes one out of eight. But it seems this old man’s fists are all empty strikes. I wonder what kind of strange technique this is?” However, he remembered Hong Qigong’s advice,
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that regardless the technique his opponent is using all he needed to do was to keep using the
‘Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Palms’.
After watching the two men fighting for a while, everybody began to silently shake their heads, thinking, “The Old Freak Liang can be considered a grand master of martial arts; why is it that when fighting this new born kid [very inexperienced] he keeps moving around and does not dare to attack head on?”
Several moves later Guo Jing’s palm strength began to force him back step by step; it seemed that very soon he would fall into the ocean. Realizing his ‘Wild Fox Fist’ would not help him score a victory, Liang Ziweng thought of using a different set of fist techniques; but it was too late. Guo Jing’s palms enveloped him completely, not giving him any chance to counterattack. Amidst the strong gusts of wind Hong Qigong’s voice was heard, “Attack the lower part!”
Guo Jing immediately launched the stance ‘The Divine Dragon Swings Its Tail’ [shen long bai wei]
and his left arm swept him away. Liang Ziweng called out in alarm and tumbled over the rail of the boat.
Everybody was stunned and rushed to the edge to look, only to hear somebody on the sea laughing a long laugh. Liang Ziweng’s body suddenly flew back up and with a loud grunt landed back on deck, unconscious.
What had just happened confounded everyone on board. Could it be that the waves bounced his body back up? Everybody crowded to the rail of the boat, looked down to the sea below and saw an old man with a white beard and white hair rushing to the east and dashing to the west on the surface of the sea at unusual speed. They strained their eyes to see more clearly; as it turned out, that man was riding on the back of a huge shark at a speed not inferior to someone galloping on horseback on dry land.
Guo Jing was delightedly surprised and with a loud voice he shouted, “Big Brother Zhou, I am here!” That shark rider was indeed the Old Urchin Zhou Botong.
Zhou Botong heard Guo Jing’s shout and he cheered with delight; then he hit the shark’s head near its right eye with his fist and the shark turned left immediately, coming near the boat’s side.
“Is that Brother Guo?” Zhou Botong called out, “How are you? There is a whale ahead and I have been chasing it for a whole day and night. I want to continue chasing it. See you later!”
“Big Brother! Come here quickly!” Guo Jing anxiously called, “There are many bad people here who want to bully your little brother!”
Zhou Botong was angry, “Is that so?” His right hand held onto something inside of the shark’s mouth, while his left hand grabbed onto the rail of the big boat. He pulled hard and both man and shark suddenly flew up above everybody’s heads and landed on the deck. He roared, “Who dares to bully my little brother?”
Almost every single one of the people aboard had extensive knowledge of Jianghu matters; but this white bearded old man who suddenly appeared in a most bizarre way stupefied everyone. Even Hong Qigong and Ouyang Feng were dumbstruck.
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Zhou Botong saw Huang Rong and he felt strange. “How come you are also here?” he asked.
Huang Rong smiled, “Why not?” she replied, “I figured you’d come back today, that’s why I am here waiting for you. Quickly teach me how to ride a shark.”
Zhou Botong laughed, “Very well, I’ll teach you.”
Huang Rong replied, “First you have to help us get rid of these bad people, and then you can teach me.”
Zhou Botong swept his gaze across the people on the deck and he said to Ouyang Feng, “I knew other people wouldn’t dare to act so savagely, so it turns out to be you.”
Ouyang Feng replied coldly, “A man who does not keep his word, while he is alive in this world, will be the laughing stock of all the warriors of the world.”
“Totally correct,” Zhou Botong said, “A man of integrity certainly won’t cause trouble. But those who speak truly and those who fart [lies] has to be distinguished clearly, otherwise people who hear it might not know if the sound comes from above or from below. I am indeed looking for you to settle an old score and nothing could better than seeing you here. Old Beggar, you are our witness; stand up and give us your judgment.”
Hong Qigong lay on deck and he smiled slightly. Huang Rong said, “The Old Poison was almost dead nine times and my Master was kind enough to rescue him every single time. Who would have thought that he has the heart of a wolf and the lungs of a dog and repays kindness with evil; he injured my Master and sealed his acupoints.”
Actually, Hong Qigong only saved Ouyang Feng’s life three times, but Huang Rong intentionally exaggerated by a factor of three. Ouyang Feng knew this but did not want to argue; he only looked at her with blazing eyes.
Zhou Botong stooped down trying to unseal Hong Qigong’s ‘Song Reservoir’ [qu xhi] and
‘Bubbling Spring’ [yong quan] acupoints by rubbing them. “Old Urchin, it’s useless,” Hong Qigong said.
It turned out that the acupoint sealing method Ouyang Feng used was somewhat unusual; other than Huang Yaoshi and himself, there was no one else in this whole wide world who could unseal them.
Ouyang Feng was very smug, “Old Urchin, unseal his acupoints if you have the ability,” he challenged.