Ever since he’d seen the fight between Zhou Botong and Huang Yaoshi, Ouyang Feng knew that this man’s martial arts were very strange. If for any reason they had to fight, he was certain he would not be defeated, but scoring a victory was not guaranteed either. He decided to endure things patiently for the time being. He wanted to wait until he had mastered the ‘Nine Yin Manual’, then he would come and settle the account with Zhou Botong. Besides, he had the excuse of losing the bet earlier. When all was said and done, it would be better off to send this annoying plague away, so he made up his mind and said, “Very well, your luck was very good! Since you won the bet, let it be as you said.” Turning his head to Wanyan Honglie he said, “Prince, please let down a boat to take these four people ashore.”
Wanyan Honglie hesitated as he thought, “I am afraid that as soon as they are ashore, these four will leak my secret mission to the south.”
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All this time the Venerable Lingzhi was watching with his cold eyes. Earlier he had seen Ouyang Feng’s unkempt appearance and his heart was filled with contempt. He thought that this ‘chicken half-drowned in soup’ did not dare to defy even half a word of whatever Zhou Botong told him to do; it seemed likely he enjoyed an unearned reputation. Even if his martial arts were excellent, he would not necessarily be more skillful than the rest of the people on board. Noticing Wanyan Honglie’s slight hesitation, he moved forward two steps and said, “If we were on the raft we would have to comply with Mr. Ouyang wishes; how could other people dare to speak too much? But we are on this boat and we have to listen to the Prince’s instructions.”
Listening to this, everyone’s heart was stirred and they turned their gaze on Ouyang Feng to see what he was going to do. Ouyang Feng coldly looked the Venerable Lingzhi up and down, sizing him up. He raised his face to the sky and wryly said, “Does this Great Monk deliberately want to make things difficult for this old man?”
Venerable Lingzhi replied, “I don’t dare. The lowly monk has lived at the edge of Tibet, friendless and ignorant. Today is the very first time I heard Mr. Ouyang’s honorable name. I don’t need to have anything to do with you whatsoever …”
Before he could finish, Ouyang Feng had moved forward one step; his left hand swiftly made a false move while his right hand deftly grabbed Venerable Lingzhi. With a little effort he turned the monk over and held him upside down. It had happened so fast that all the others saw was Venerable Lingzhi’s red kasaya sway, and then flutter loosely in midair. Nobody saw clearly what technique Ouyang Feng used.
Venerable Lingzhi was a head taller than anyone else, but Ouyang Feng was able to grab his neck easily. Even if Ouyang Feng lifted his arm up over his head, he would not necessarily be able to lift Lingzhi’s feet off the deck; but when Ouyang Feng turned his body upside down, the top of Lingzhi’s head was actually about four feet above the deck.
Venerable Lingzhi’s legs were kicking wildly in the air and his mouth let out roaring curses.
Everybody had seen Venerable Lingzhi fight Wang Chuyi at the Zhao Palace; they knew his skill was not a trivial matter. But how could he have been turned upside down by Ouyang Feng and held there with his arms flailing weakly beside his head as though the arms were broken and he did not have the strength to struggle free?
With his eyes still looking upward, Ouyang Feng said dryly, “Today was the first time you heard my name; therefore, you look down on the old man, don’t you?”
Venerable Lingzhi was both frightened and angry. He tried to exert his internal energy several times, trying to struggle free, but no matter what he did, he was not able to escape. Peng Lianhu and the others had seen what happened and their faces showed amazement.
Ouyang Feng continued, “You look down on the old man, that’s alright. But I don’t want to stoop to your low level in front of the Honorable Prince. So you want to detain the Old Urchin, Master Zhou and the Nine-fingered Divine Beggar, Master Hong. Heh, heh … do you think you can rely on your magical skills to match them? You are both friendless and unlearned; it’s no wonder you don’t know much and have not had enough lessons to teach you manners. Old Urchin, take this!”
Again, nobody saw Ouyang Feng’s hand move; he merely exerted his strength to his palm and Venerable Lingzhi flew like a cloud from the port to the starboard side of the deck. As soon as he
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felt Ouyang Feng’s palm strength leave his body and he was free, Lingzhi stretched his body like a carp trying to turn his body right side up. Then he suddenly felt a sharp pain on his neck; he cried out and stretched out his left arm to attack. Again he felt his arm go numb and hang helplessly beside his head. Once again his body was suspended midair. As it turned out, Zhou Botong followed Ouyang Feng’s example and grabbed him by the neck.
Although Wanyan Honglie understood Lingzhi’s precarious situation, he knew nobody could accuse Ouyang Feng of not giving forewarning. None amongst his warriors had the ability to deal with Zhou Botong, just this one man; hence he hastily said, “Mister Zhou, you don’t have to play any longer, Little Prince will send a boat out to take the four of you ashore.”
“Very good,” Zhou Botong said, “You can also try to take this!” Following Ouyang Feng’s example, he exerted his strength to his palm and sent the Venerable Lingzhi flying towards the Prince.
Of course Wanyan Honglie knew martial arts, but his skill was limited to the saber, spear and bow and arrow from horseback. The flying monk from Zhou Botong’s hand carried a swift and strong force; how could he take it? Even if he didn’t die he would certainly suffer a heavy injury; so he hastily stepped aside to avoid him.
Sha Tongtian knew the Prince was in danger and straight away stepped forward in front of the Prince, trying to protect him. He saw the Venerable Lingzhi coming fast and if he struck with his palm, he might injure the monk. Following Ouyang Feng and Zhou Botong’s earlier example, he wanted to grab the monk’s neck, turn him right side up, and then lay him down gently. However, he had forgotten one important detail; namely, his martial arts were way below that of those two people. He had seen Ouyang Feng and Zhou Botong, seemingly without effort, grabbing and throwing Venerable Lingzhi’s heavy body. Therefore he leaped up to intercept Lingzhi, stretching his hand to grab his neck. As he touched Venerable Lingzhi’s neck he unexpectedly felt a burning sensation followed by a strong force attacking his hand and wrist. He knew if he did not ward off this attack his wrist would be broken immediately. At this critical moment he quickly withdrew his right hand, while his left fist launched his ‘Splitting Armor Awl’ [po jia zhui].
What had happened was when Venerable Lingzhi was thrown back and forth between Ouyang Feng and Zhou Botong, his blood was flowing adversely, his head was dizzy while his heart burned with anger. He heard Zhou Botong calling out for someone else to take his body; all he knew was that person must be an enemy, so while he was still airborne he had already exerted his strength in anger. As soon as Sha Tongtian’s hand touched his neck, Venerable Lingzhi’s ‘Big Handprint’ [da shou yin] slashed out.
In terms of strength these two were on par with each other; Sha Tongtian had the advantage of standing upright, but Venerable Lingzhi had prepared his attack beforehand, and thus caught him off guard. Two equal forces collided; Sha Tongtian was pushed back three steps, but Venerable Lingzhi, also shaken by the collision, fell flat on the deck. He immediately stood up and saw that the person he thought attacked him was Sha Tongtian; he thought, “Even you, a stinky thief, want to take advantage of me!” With a loud roar he pounced forward.
Peng Lianhu knew he misunderstood the situation and hastily stepped in between the two people, calling out, “Reverend, please don’t get angry, Brother Sha only had good intentions.”
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In the meantime the small boat had been lowered. Zhou Botong grabbed the stick inside the shark’s mouth; he lifted and hurled the huge shark into the sea while simultaneously exerting his strength and breaking the stick into two parts. As it splashed into the sea, the shark felt the stick in its mouth had been broken and was very happy. It dove deep into the water to hunt for some fish.
Huang Rong smiled, “Jing ge ge, later on the two of us and Big Brother Zhou can ride sharks together and we can have a race.” Guo Jing did not answer but Zhou Botong clapped his hands and cheered. He said, “We can ask the Old Beggar to be our judge.”
After watching Zhou Botong and the others leave on the small boat, Wanyan Honglie started to think. With his kind of martial arts, Ouyang Feng would provide valuable assistance in his plan to steal the book. He took Venerable Lingzhi’s hand and walked towards Ouyang Feng. “Everyone here are good friends and I hope Sir was not offended; I am sure Reverend was not serious. I wish both gentlemen to give Little Prince face and consider everything as a joke,” he said.
Ouyang Feng smiled and extended his hand. Venerable Lingzhi, on the other hand, was still upset.
He mused, “You only used the seizing technique [qin na] and caught me off guard. I have trained painstakingly for dozens of years to develop my ‘Big Handprint’ power; do you think I am inferior to you?” Then he also stretched out his hand while sending energy to his palm with the intention of gripping Ouyang Feng’s palm hard. Just as he was about to exert his strength he suddenly jumped away. He felt as though he was touching red-hot steel and his hand was in so much pain that he dropped it in a hurry. Ouyang Feng did not want to pursue the matter so he faintly smiled.