Huang Rong busily waved her left hand behind her back, making a hand signal, ‘scolding’ the mute boatman. In any case nobody was watching her, so she could be as vulgar as she wished.
Even though the mute boatman and his two helpers were holding to the silt for their dear lives, the vortex was too strong; in a blink of an eye they were sucked into the bottom of the river.
The black-flagged boat was floating swiftly so that when Huang Rong turned her head around, they were already two, three ‘li’s away from the vortex. The pair of eagles was flying in circles above them, continuously crying. Huang Rong wielded her bamboo stick to push the Iron Palm Clan people from the bow; she intended to help Guo Jing fight Qiu Qianren. Suddenly with the corner of her eye she caught a flash of a blade inside the cabin, somebody was about to chop something inside. Without knowing clearly what it was, her left hand launched a steel needle, hitting that person’s arm. That person’s saber fell and slashed his own right thigh, and he screamed loudly.
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Huang Rong rushed into the cabin, lifted up her leg to kick him out of the way, only to see someone was lying on the deck; with all her hands and feet bound that she could not move. Her cold eyes were staring at Huang Rong; she was the Divine Mathematician Ying Gu.
Never in her life did Huang Rong expect to save Ying Gu’s life in this place. She picked the saber from the deck and cut of the ropes binding Ying Gu’s hands. As soon as her hands were free Ying Gu stretched out her right hand and snatched the saber from Huang Rong’s hand. Huang Rong was startled; she saw the blade flash and Ying Gu had killed that black-dressed man. Only then did she stoop down to cut off the ropes on her own feet.
“Although you have saved my life, don’t expect me to repay you in the future,” she said.
Huang Rong smiled. “Who wants you to repay?” she said, “You have saved my life, and today I saved yours. Now we are even, nobody owes anybody anything.”
Before she finished speaking she had dashed forward to the bow with her bamboo stick to help Guo Jing. Qiu Qianren was attacked from both front and rear; he increased the strength of his palms, trying to stay on the offensive side. But then he heard ‘splash, splash’ and ‘aiyo, aiyo’ successively; Ying Gu with saber in her hand had attacked the Iron Palm Clan people and forced them to fall into the river. In this turbulent water they could not expect to keep their lives.
Initially when he was fighting Guo Jing, Qiu Qianren had gradually gained an upper hand; but now Huang Rong came to Guo Jing’s rescue with her Dog Beating Stick technique, he was alone against two enemies. A dozen or so stances later he was forced to move back around the boat defending himself. His back was facing the water so that Huang Rong could not attack him from behind.
Guo Jing launched several fierce attacks successively, but Qiu Qianren’s feet were as if nailed to the deck, he could not be pushed further even for half an inch. By now he was so close to the edge that one more step backward would make him fall into the river.
Huang Rong said in her heart, “Although your title is ‘Iron Palm Floating on the Water’, but with the ‘floating on the water’ part you are merely boasting your excellent lightness kungfu. Not to mention this turbulent water and wild waves of this river, even on a mirror-like calm lake you won’t be able to float on the water; unless you have mastered your older brother’s trick by planting several thousands or several hundreds wooden stakes under the water beforehand.” She noticed that while his palms moved steadily, his eyes were repeatedly scanning the water; it seemed like he was hoping another boat would come to his rescue. She thought, “This old fellow’s martial art skill might be high; but with three against one today, if we cannot defeat you, we can consider ourselves as dung.”
By then Ying Gu had swept the boat clean of all Iron Palm Clan people, except the man who control the rudder. She saw Guo Jing and Huang Rong could not gain an upper hand, she coldly said,
“Little girl, move away, I am coming!”
Hearing the condescending tone in her remarks Huang Rong could not help but be angry; her bamboo stick moved forward and she launched two stances successively; while her feet kept moving forward. When Qiu Qianren stepped aside to evade, she leaped backward two steps while pulling Guo Jing’s sleeve and said, “Let her fight.” Guo Jing used his palm to guard then he pulled back.
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Ying Gu coldly said, “Qiu Bangzhu, your reputation in Jianghu cannot be considered small, but while I was resting in an inn unguarded you used incense to drug me. It was low, even for you.”
“You are captured by my subordinates, what else do you have to say?” Qiu Qianren replied, “If I personally went into action, using only this pair of hands I would be able to capture even ten Divine Mathematicians.”
Ying Gu coldly said, “When did I ever offend the Iron Palm Clan?”
Qiu Qianren replied, “These two little thieves without authorization broke into our Iron Palm Peak’s holy ground; why did you give them asylum at the Black Marsh? I spoke nicely to you asking you to release them, but you dared to lie to me; do you think I, Qiu Qianren, am an easygoing person?”
“Ah, turns out it was because of these two little thieves,” Ying Gu said, “If you have the ability, go and get them; I won’t mind other people’s business anymore.” After saying that she went back several steps and sat cross-legged on the side of the boat, her face looked indifferent; it seemed like she determined to watch the tigers fight, expected Jing and Rong two people and Qiu Qianren to suffer injury. Her action was truly unexpected by Qiu Qianren, Guo Jing and Huang Rong.
It turned out that when her plan to assassinate Reverend Yideng was thwarted by Guo Jing in disguise, and then seeing Yideng bare his chest to her, suddenly she realized Yideng’s kindness to her and she did not have a heart to make a move. She went down the mountain dejectedly, with memory of the tragic death of her son lingering in her mind. She stopped by at an inn to spend the night; confusion, anger and resentment filling her heart, putting her in a very vulnerable situation.
Right at that time the Iron Palm Clan people used incense to drug her. Otherwise, with her skill and intelligence, how could she fall into the hands of some lowly, nameless juniors? Right now she saw Guo Jing, Huang Rong, two people, she wanted to vent her anger and frustration by hoping those three people all die in this rushing river.
Huang Rong thought, “All right, we will cope with Qiu Qianren first, we’ll deal with you later.” She made a facial signal to Guo Jing and two people, one with a bamboo stick, the other with his pair of palms, attacked Qiu Qianren side by side. In a moment three people were engaged in a fierce an inextricable combat.
Ying Gu watched the fight with rapt attention. She saw that even though Qiu Qianren’s palm technique was swift and fierce, in the end it would be difficult for him to score victory against these couple. She noticed Qiu Qianren kept moving step by step; it looked like he was trying to defeat the enemies by a surprise attack.
Guo Jing was concerned over Huang Rong’s condition; her serious injury had just recovered, she might lose her strength if this fight was prolonged. “Rong’er,” he said, “Take a rest for a while, then you can come back to help me later.”
“All right!” Huang Rong said with a smile. She raised her stick and withdrew from the fight.
Ying Gu saw the closeness of these two people; Guo Jing loved Huang Rong very much.
“Throughout my life, when did someone treat me this way?” she thought. From envy she became jealous, from jealousy came hatred. Suddenly she stood up and called out, “Two against one, what kind of skill is that? Come, let us four people fight in two pairs to determine victory or defeat.” She reached into her pocket with both of her hands and took out two bamboo planks. Without waiting Eagle Shooting Hero
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for Huang Rong to reply the pair of planks went down vertically and swept away horizontally, attacking Huang Rong.
“You are a crazy old woman,” Huang Rong cursed her; “No wonder the Old Urchin did not love you.”
Ying Gu raised her eyebrows and intensified her attacks. Once she went into action, the situation on the boat changed considerably. Although Huang Rong’s Dog Beating Stick technique was exquisite, her internal energy level was still inferior to Ying Gu’s; not to mention after a heavy injury her internal strength had not fully recovered, her movements were not as agile as they used to be. She had to rely on the ‘sealing’ technique with all her strength to barely guard herself against the enemy.
Ying Gu was slippery as a fish, the jolting and swaying of the boat only added to her fierceness.
On the other front Guo Jing fought Qiu Qianren; for a while it would be difficult to decide victory and defeat. After receiving instructions from Reverend Yideng on the internal energy cultivation his level of energy actually increased one layer; to his own surprise by exerting all his strength he was able to protect himself thus far. On the other hand Qiu Qianren was baffled by Ying Gu’s action; first she acted as his enemy and did not care to help either side, suddenly now she came to lend him a hand. Inwardly he was delighted, his spirit rose and his palms became fiercer. He believed with a prolonged fight he would eventually subdue Guo Jing.