Eagle Shooting Hero 2(77)
Even though Huang Rong could not unseal them, she was familiar with the sealing method; she pressed her lips together and said, “What’s so strange about that? My father can unseal this
‘Penetrating Bone’ [tou gu da xue fa] acupoint sealing technique without very much effort.”
Hearing her mentioning the correct name for his acupoint sealing technique, Ouyang Feng was amazed that this little girl’s knowledge was as deep as a bottomless abyss, even encompassing acupoint sealing techniques. However, he did not pay any attention to her; turning to Zhou Botong he asked, “You lost our bet; why are you talking like breaking smelly wind?”
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Zhou Botong covered up his nose and called out, “Break wind? Bad smell, bad smell! But let me ask you this: what did we bet on?”
“Everyone here, except this Guo kid and this little girl, is a well-known warrior. I’ll tell what happened and ask these gentlemen to be our judges,” Ouyang Feng replied.
“Well said, well said,” Peng Lianhu said, “Mr. Ouyang, please tell us.”
“This gentleman is the Quanzhen Sect’s Zhou Botong, Master Zhou, known in the Jianghu world as the Old Urchin. In terms of seniority, he holds a very high position; Qiu Chuji, Wang Chuyi and the other Quanzhen Seven Masters are his martial nephews.“
For the past dozen years or so, Zhou Botong had been detained on Peach Blossom Island; before that time his martial arts skills were obscure. Aside from some mischievous troubles, he never accomplished anything worth mentioning, so his reputation did not spread far and wide in the Jianghu world. However, everybody had seen him riding a shark, a feat not easily accomplished by any of them. Since he is the martial uncle of the Quanzhen Seven Masters, it’s no wonder he is this good. As a result everybody talked amongst themselves in low voices. Peng Lianhu remembered their appointment on the eighth month’s mid-autumn festival in Jiaxing; if the Quanzhen Seven Masters had this strange man as their ally, they would not be easy to deal with. He could not help but feel anxious.
Ouyang Feng continued, “Brother Zhou was stranded in the sea amongst a mass of sharks and I rescued him. I said this mass of sharks was nothing much and without too much effort I could kill every single one of them. Brother Zhou did not believe me, so the two of us made a bet. Brother Zhou, isn’t what I said true?”
Zhou Botong nodded his head repeatedly, “It was absolutely true. But you need to explain to everyone what we were betting on exactly,” he said.
“Correct!” Ouyang Feng said, “I said that if I lost, I would do whatever you wanted me to do. If I am not willing to do it, then I must jump into the sea and become fish food. You said the same thing, is that correct?”
Zhou Botong nodded his head again, “Right, right, that was absolutely correct, and then what happened?” he asked.
“What do you mean ‘what happened’? You lost!” Ouyang Feng said.
This time Zhou Botong shook his head repeatedly, “Not true, not true!” he said, “It was you who lost, not me.”
Ouyang Feng was angry, “A real man can distinguish between right and wrong; how can you deny your own words? If I lost, how come you were willing to plunge into the sea to kill yourself?”
Zhou Botong sighed, “That’s true. I originally said that the Old Urchin’s fortune was bad so I lost to you; who would have thought that as I went into the water the Heavens sent something we could regard as a coincidence. Only then did I know that the Old Poison had lost and the Old Urchin had really won.”
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Ouyang Feng, Hong Qigong and Huang Rong asked together, “What coincidence?”
Zhou Botong stooped down with his left hand, grabbed a piece of stick stuck inside the shark’s mouth, lifted the shark and said, “I met my riding animal. Old Poison, take a look; it was your precious nephew who stuck this stick inside its mouth, wasn’t it?”
It was indeed Ouyang Ke who concocted this wicked plan to insert a stick inside the shark’s mouth, so that it would not be able to eat and eventually die of starvation. Ouyang Feng had seen this with his own eyes. He saw a huge shark with a wooden stick in its mouth and he also saw the wound caused by the hook in the shark’s mouth. Without any doubt this was the very same shark they’d returned to the sea that day. “So what?” he said.
Zhou Botong clapped his hands and laughed, “That means you lost! Our bet was that you would kill every single one of the sharks, but this good fellow was bestowed with good fortune by your nephew. It could not eat the dead sharks, hence could not eat the poison. It was the only shark left alive. How can you say that the Old Urchin didn’t win?” He burst out laughing. Ouyang Feng’s countenance changed and he could not say anything.
Guo Jing delightedly asked, “Big Brother, where were you these past few days? I was so miserable thinking about you.”
Zhou Botong laughed, “I was playing and having fun. Not long after I jumped into the sea, I saw this fellow gasping for breath on the surface and it seemed to be in agony. I said, ‘Old Shark, oh Old Shark, seems like today you and I share the same fate!’ Then I suddenly jumped on the shark’s back. It furiously went under the water and I had to hold my breath with both hands holding tightly to its neck and my feet periodically kicked its belly. In great difficulty it went back up to the surface. Without giving me a chance to take two mouthfuls of air this fellow dove back under. The two of us fought for half a day and he finally became obedient and was willing to listen to what I said. I wanted it go to the east and it went to the east, I wanted it to head north and he wouldn’t dare think of going south.” As he spoke he gently patted the shark’s head, looking extremely pleased.
Of those who were present, only Huang Rong admired and envied him. Her eyes shone and she asked, “I played in the sea for many years, why didn’t I think of this trick? I was so stupid!”
“Look at its mouth full of teeth; they are as sharp as knives,” Zhou Botong said, “If there was no stick in its mouth, would you dare to ride it?”
“You spent the last few days riding on the back of this fish?” Huang Rong asked.
“Certainly,” Zhou Botong replied, “The two of us have pretty good skills at catching fish. As soon as we saw a fish, we chased it and I sent a fist or a palm to kill it. Out of ten fish, I only ate one and this fellow ate the other nine.”
Huang Rong felt the shark’s belly and asked, “You dumped dead fish into its belly? It did not need its teeth to eat?”
“He’s a good eater,” Zhou Botong answered, “There was a time the two of us chased an extremely big cuttlefish …”
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Two people, one old, the other young, were having an animated discussion, totally ignoring everybody else on board the ship. Ouyang Feng groaned inwardly and silently thought of some methods to deal with this situation. Zhou Botong suddenly turned to him and said, “Hey, Old Poison, do you admit defeat?”
Ouyang Feng had been the one making the speech earlier; how could he swallow his own words in front of this many people? He was obliged to say, “So what if I lost? Do you think there is anything I can’t do?”
“Hmm,” Zhou Botong said, “I must think of a difficult thing for you to do. Very well, you scolded me just now saying that I was farting; I want you to fart immediately and let everybody smell it.”
Hearing Zhou Botong ask Ouyang Feng to break wind for no reason at all, Huang Rong was annoyed. Breaking wind at will was naturally not easy for the average person, but with strong internal energy, it was not difficult to circulate the breathing to all parts of the body, hence it was an extremely trivial thing to do. She was afraid of Ouyang Feng’s craftiness, of his venomous snake staff and was afraid he would grab this opportunity to gently break wind and put everything behind him without too much trouble. So she hastily said, “Not good, not good! First you want to tell him to unseal my Master’s acupoints, then we can talk some more.”
“See!” Zhou Botong said, “Even a young miss is afraid of your smelly fart. Alright, I’ll let you go this time. I was not going to ask you to do a difficult thing anyway; quickly tend to the Old Beggar’s injury. The Old Beggar’s skill is not less than yours; if not of your sneakiness, there’s no way you would be able to injure him. After he is healed, the two of you can fight again. At that time let the Old Urchin be the judge.”
Ouyang Feng knew Hong Qigong’s injury was incurable, so he was not afraid of future retaliation.
But he was afraid that Zhou Botong would come up with a more difficult and strange request.
Under the scrutiny of numerous people he felt really awkward; he did not want to comply, yet he was too proud not to. Without saying anything he bent down, exerted strength to his palm and unsealed Hong Qigong’s acupoints. Huang Rong and Guo Jing rushed forward to help their master stand.
Zhou Botong swept his gaze to the other people on the deck, he said, “The Old Urchin is most afraid to smell the urine scent of the sheep eaten by you barbarians. Quickly let down a small boat and send us four people ashore.”