Eagle Shooting Hero 2(88)
Guo Jing sighed. “The emperor really knows how to enjoy life,” he said.
Huang Rong laughed. “Now you can be one,” she said, pulling Guo Jing along to sit on a couch.
She offered him the bowl of fruits and knelt down. “Long live master. Please enjoy some fresh fruits,” she said.
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Guo Jing smiled and picked up a loquat. “Please rise,” he said.
Huang Rong laughed, “Emperors never says ‘please’. That is too polite,” she said.
As they talked and laughed in low voices they suddenly heard someone shout in the distance,
“Who’s there?” They were startled. Leaping out of the hall they hid behind a fake hill. They heard heavy footsteps as two men came shouting loudly. Guo Jing and Huang Rong listened to these people and knew their martial arts skills were low. They was nothing to worry about. The guards brandished their sabers while rushing towards the front of the hall. They looked around but didn’t see anything out of the ordinary.
“You saw a ghost,” one guard said, laughing.
The other one was also laughing. “I am always seeing things these past few days,” he said. They walked away, still talking and laughing.
Huang Rong was inwardly amused. She tugged Guo Jing’s hand to leave, but suddenly heard those two guards grunt…‘hey…hey’. Although the noise was deep and muffled, they knew it was the sound of exhaling because their acupoints were being sealed. Guo Jing and Huang Rong both thought, “Did Big Brother Zhou get bored and came out to play?”
They heard someone speak in a low voice, “According to the Imperial Palace map, the building next to the waterfall is the ‘Jade-Green Cold Hall’. We are going there.” The voice belonged to Wanyan Honglie.
Guo Jing and Huang Rong were very shocked. They grabbed each other’s hands and hid even deeper behind the fake hill, not daring to make a sound. In the dim glimmering starlight they saw shadows moving in front of the hall. They vaguely recognized that, besides Wanyan Honglie, there was Ouyang Feng, Peng Lianhu, Sha Tongtian, the Venerable Lingzhi, Liang Ziweng and Hou Tonghai.
Guo Jing and Huang Rong were puzzled. “What are these people doing in the Imperial Palace?”
they thought. “Could it be they also want to steal some food from the imperial kitchen?”
They heard Wanyan Honglie speak again, still in low voice. “The Little Prince has carefully examined the secret letter Yue Fei left behind and also the documents from the dynasties two emperors, Gaozong and Xiaozong. I concluded that the Wumu Legacy is hidden fifteen steps east of the ‘Jade-Green Cold Hall’.”
Everyone’s eyes automatically followed the direction of his hand. Fifteen steps east of the hall was the waterfall and nothing else. Wanyan Honglie said, “How the book could be hidden in the waterfall? The Little Prince found hard to understand, but according to the documents, this is the correct place.”
Sha Tongtian was known as the ‘Dragon King of the Demonic Group’ [gui men long wang] and his water skills were excellent. “I’ll go and take a look at the waterfall,” he said. Without waiting, he stepped forward and jumped into the water. Not long afterward he reemerged. Everybody rushed forward to meet him, only to hear him say, “The Prince reasoned correctly. Behind the waterfall there is a cave with a closed iron gate.”
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Wanyan Honglie was ecstatic. “The Wumu Legacy must be inside the cave,” he said. “I am afraid I’ll have to inconvenience you gentlemen and have you to open the iron gate.”
Everybody unsheathed their prized sabers and sharp blades, ready to comply with his request and each wanting to render meritorious service. They raced to the waterfall. Ouyang Feng laughed coldly and stayed at Wanyan Honglie’s side. He felt his reputation was different, so he was not willing to fetch the book with the others.
Sha Tongtian was the first to duck under the flowing water. Suddenly a gust of wind assaulted his face. He’d just come in to take a look and saw nothing. How could he guess an enemy would suddenly attack him? He hurriedly avoided the attack, but his left wrist was suddenly grabbed by the enemy and he was pushed hard. Against his wish, his body flew out and hit Liang Ziweng hard.
Luckily both men’s martial arts skills were quite high and they were not injured.
Everyone was taken by surprise. In the meantime, Sha Tongtian entered the waterfall again…but this time he was ready. He raised both palms in front of his face and, sure enough, from behind the waterfall a fist came flying out. He used his left hand to parry while launching a counterattack with his right. During all this, he had not seen clearly who the enemy was.
Liang Ziweng had also jumped into the waterfall. A stick suddenly came sweeping close to the ground. Liang Ziweng tried to evade it, but he was too late. The lower part of his leg was hit squarely and he could not maintain his balance and fell backwards. As his chest was being hit by the waterfall, his leg was again hit by the stick. Against his will, his body fell outside the waterfall.
By this time Sha Tongtian had also been pushed outside of the waterfall by a swift and fierce palm.
The ‘Three-Headed Dragon’ Hou Tonghai did not think about the martial arts skills his martial brother had compared to his own skills. If his martial brother was so easily defeated, how could he hope to achieve success? Relying on his superb water skills and his ability to open his eyes and see underwater, he charged into the waterfall.
Looking at the adverse situation, Peng Lianhu rushed forward to join the battle. Suddenly a dark and rather shiny shadow flew above his head. With a ‘Bang!’ that shadow fell to the ground and then he heard Hou Tonghai cry loudly in pain. Peng Lianhu quickly went over and said in a low voice, “Brother Hou [Hou Xiong]…be quiet! What happened?”
“Damn his granny!” Hou Tonghai cursed. “My butt is broken into four pieces from the fall.”
Peng Lianhu was confounded and amused at the same time. “Is there such a thing?” he whispered.
He stretched his hand to check Hou Tonghai’s buttocks, seemingly checking to see if they were still in one piece. He found nothing injured. He knew something was amiss, but he did not want to face the danger rashly. “Who’s inside?” he asked.
Still in pain Hou Tonghai became angry. “How would I know?” he snapped. “As soon as I went in, I was thrown back out. That scoundrel of a bastard!”
In the starlight they saw the Venerable Lingzhi’s red robe fluttering as he entered the waterfall in big strides. Amidst the sound of the water gurgling, they could hear his loud shouts in Tibetan. It seemed like he was fighting an intense battle with the man inside.
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Everyone looked at each other in surprise. Sha Tongtian and Liang Ziweng had been thrown out.
But in the darkness they vaguely saw, behind the curtain of water, a man and a woman. The man was barehanded and the woman had a stick in her hand. At this time they heard the Venerable Lingzhi’s loud roar. It seemed he had suffered hardships as well.
Wanyan Honglie frowned. “Why is this Venerable so reckless? He called out so earth shatteringly loud. If the palace guards heard it and come here, how will we get the book?” he said.
He had just finished speaking when they saw the Venerable Lingzhi’s red kasaya [Tibetan Robe] fly out from the waterfall and land floating on the red lotus pond, followed by two clanking sounds as the two copper cymbals that he used as weapons also flew out. Peng Lianhu was afraid the cymbals would make a loud noise if they hit the ground and thus alert the palace guards. He stretched out his hands and caught the cymbals. They heard loud shouts of Tibetan curse words coming from the waterfall, which nobody could understand, followed by a huge body flying out.
Luckily the Venerable Lingzhi’s martial arts were different from Hou Tonghai’s. Although he fell backwards, he was able to land softly, so his buttocks were not injured at all. He cursed aloud, “It’s the boy and the girl we met on the boat.”
When Guo Jing and Huang Rong were hiding behind the fake hill, they heard Wanyan Honglie order the people to go into the cave and steal the book. They thought that if the Wumu Legacy was obtained by him, the Jin army could follow Yue Wumu’s military strategies to invade the south, which would be disastrous. They realized that Ouyang Feng was around and that they were not his match, but if they did not step forward bravely, how would they bear it if, in the future, the common people of the world suffered such a disaster?
At first Huang Rong wanted to find a way to scare these people away, but Guo Jing knew that the situation was critical and they had no time to hesitate. He immediately grabbed Huang Rong’s hand and slipped behind the waterfall. They were hoping to set up an ambush and attack Ouyang Feng by surprise. Luckily the waterfall’s rumbling was so loud that nobody heard their movements.
The two did all they could to repel Sha Tongtian and the others. They were pleasantly surprised with the results and did not expect the Manual’s ‘Changing Muscles Forging Bones’ to be that marvelous. Huang Rong’s ‘Dog-Beating Stick’ had infinite variations. So amazing were they that even men of Sha Tongtian and the Venerable Lingzhi’s caliber were thrown into confused helplessness. Guo Jing took advantage of the situation to send out his palms and as a result they managed to throw everyone out of the waterfall.