Lu Youjiao anxiously said, “Our Hong Lao Bangzhu was widely known as the Northern Beggar.
Everybody in the world knows that our base is in the north. How can we move so easily? Our Clan has vowed our loyalty and patriotism to serve our country, we have been enemies with the Jins forever. We surely cannot accept their gift; and most certainly we cannot move across the Changjiang.”
Yang Kang was furious; he was about to reply when Peng Zhanglao said with a smile, “Lu Zhanglao, the important matter in our Clan is decided by our Bangzhu; it is not decided by you, is it?”
Lu Youjiao imposingly said, “I would rather die than forgetting about loyalty and patriotism to my country.”
“Jian, Peng, Liang Zhanglaos, what do you say” Yang Kang asked.
Jian and Liang Zhanglaos hesitated before answering; they also thought moving across the Changjiang was not an appropriate thing to do. But Peng Zhanglao with a loud voice replied, “We rely on Bangzhu’s decision. How can subordinates dare to disobey?”
“Good,” Yang Kang said, “We will move across the Dajiang [Great River] by the first of the eight month.”
As he said this, more than half of the crowd of beggars broke in clamor. Hearing this reaction Yang Kang was temporarily at a loss. Jian, Peng and Liang three Elders shouted their orders for the noise
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to stop, but most of those who were angered were from the Dirty Clothes Faction; they ignored these three Elders.
Peng Zhanglao shouted, “Lu Zhanglao, are you going to rebel against our Bangzhu?”
Lu Youjiao imposingly said, “Even if a thousand sabers chop my body to pieces, I will not dare to rebel against Bangzhu. But Lu Youjiao does not dare to abandon the wishes of our forefathers even more! The Jin kingdom is our Great Song’s archenemy. What would Hong Lao Bangzhu say to us?”
Jian and Liang two Elders hung their heads without saying anything; they started to regret their indecisiveness.
Qiu Qianren saw the situation was not good; he was afraid it would be difficult to attain success if he does not deal with Lu Youjiao. He coldly laughed and said to Yang Kang, “Yang Bangzhu, is this Lu Zhanglao always this bossy?” As his words come out, his palms ferociously struck out to grab Lu Youjiao’s shoulder.
As soon as Qiu Qianren sneered, Lu Youjiao was ready to protect himself; he knew Qiu Qianren was fierce, he did not dare to parry. He bent his waist and slipped through under Qiu Qianren’s crotch. Without straightening up his body, ‘whoosh! whoosh! whoosh!’ he already sent three kicks toward Qiu Qianren’s buttocks. He was called Lu Youjiao [Lu with a foot/kick], it was because his leg skill was really good; the kicks were very swift and fierce.
Qiu Qianren thought this man’s way of evading his attack by slipping underneath his crotch was very strange; and then he felt the gust of wind from behind, quickly his palm slapped backwards. If Lu Youjiao’s third kick hit its target, it would certainly cause some damage; but if the kick was hit by the opponent’s Iron Palm, his own shin could break. Hence Lu Youjiao pulled it back abruptly when it was still midway; he rolled sideways and suddenly spat thick phlegm toward Qiu Qianren’s face. Qiu Qianren leaned his head sideways to evade; he was startled by the opponent’s strange move.
“Lu Zhanglao, don’t be rude to the honored guest!” Yang Kang shouted.
Lu Youjiao immediately went back two steps as soon as he heard his Clan Leader’s order. But Qiu Qianren actually showed no mercy whatsoever; his hands went straight toward Lu Youjiao’s throat like a pair of pliers. Lu Youjiao was startled; he turned around to evade, but heard the enemy shout
‘hey’ and both of his hands were grabbed.
Lu Youjiao had fought hundreds of battles; he stayed calm in face of defeat. With all his might he raised his hands but failed to lift the enemy, he immediately struck the enemy’s stomach using his head. Since he was little, Lu Youjiao had trained his head in ‘tong chui tie tou’ [copper hammer iron head]; with his head he was able to make a hole in the wall. Many times he made a bet with his fellow beggars to strike his head against a bullock’s. Each time the two heads collided, his head was not injured, but the bullock actually passed out.
This time he understood that he might not be able to injure the enemy, but he hoped he could get his hands freed up from the enemy’s grasp. Who would have thought that as the top of his head touched the enemy’s stomach he felt he was hitting a soft object; as if he was entering a soft cotton pillow.
He knew it was not a good sign; so he hastily withdrew his head, but to his surprise the enemy’s stomach also followed his head. Lu Youjiao struggled with all his strength, yet Qiu Qianren’s Eagle Shooting Hero
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stomach had a very strong suction, holding Lu Youjiao’s head firmly. Lu Youjiao was frightened since he felt his head was gradually burning hot; at the same time he felt as if his hands were also entering a hot furnace. The pain was unbearable.
“Do you surrender?” Qiu Qianren shouted.
“Stinky old thief,” Lu Youjiao cursed, “Why would I surrender to you?”
Qiu Qianren exerted more strength to his left hand. ‘Crack! Crack!’ he broke Lu Youjiao’s right hand fingers. “Do you surrender?” Qiu Qianren asked again.
“Stinky old thief,” Lu Youjiao cursed, “Why would I surrender to you?”
‘Crack! Crack!’ Lu Youjiao’s left hand fingers were broken. He was in so much pain that his mind was in a daze, but his mouth kept shouting curses.
Qiu Qianren said, “If I add more strength to my stomach, your head will be crushed. I want to see if you can keep cursing.”
He had not finished speaking when suddenly someone leaped out from among the crowd of beggars; he was tall and broad-shouldered, it was none other than Guo Jing. He was walking in big strides toward Lu Youjiao’s back. He lifted his right palm high, ‘slap, slap, slap!’ he slapped Lu Youjiao’s buttocks three times so hard that the sound was heard loud and clear.
Although these three slaps hit Lu Youjiao’s buttocks, Qiu Qianren felt strong bursts of energy flowing from Lu Youjiao’s head toward his stomach. ‘Bang! Bang! Bang!’ the energy melted the suction force of his own stomach.
Lu Youjiao felt his head was free, he hastily withdrew, trying to stand up; but his hands were still firmly gripped by the enemy. Guo Jing called out, “You are not Qiu Lao Qianbei’s [old senior Qiu]
match; get out of the way!” His left leg swept away, kicking Lu Youjiao’s left shoulder.
This kick of his looked ordinary, yet although it landed on Lu Youjiao’s body, the force was actually transmitted to Qiu Qianren’s arms. Qiu Qianren felt his palms were shaken and involuntarily loosened his grip. Lu Youjiao took advantage of this good opportunity; he borrowed the strength from Guo Jing’s kick and threw himself aside. Only his head was captured for quite a long time and he felt dizzy; he was not able to stand steadily and tumbled down on the ground.
Qiu Qianren was startled to see Guo Jing’s three slaps and one kick; he thought this man was young, but unexpectedly possessed this kind of transferring force skill. He did not think that there was somebody like this among the Beggar Clan. He immediately put his guard up and did not dare to attack rashly.
The crowd of beggars was not clear on what was going on; they still believed Guo Jing was an accomplice of the enemies who killed their Clan Leader, and then they saw Guo Jing kick Lu Youjiao. They shouted angrily and pressed forward to surround him.
Earlier Guo Jing was bound tightly by the braided steel wire and cowhide rope; he could not move even the slightest bit. His eyes kept looking up to the Big Dipper constellation. He recalled the Quanzhen Seven Masters’ movements he saw at the Ox Village and compared it to the Nine Yin
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Manual he memorized so well, which was difficult to understand. He pondered it in his heart, and one by one those passages became clear to him.
The Nine Yin Manual was the result of a highly-skilled senior’s comprehension of the Taoist Canon; it was closely interlinked with the Quanzhen Sect’s internal energy cultivation technique Ma Yu had passed on to him and with the Quanzhen Seven Masters’ Big Dipper Formation. It was just that the technique was profoundly deep and Guo Jing’s comprehension was rather shallow so even after several months he still had not understood the correlation. This time, looking at the Big Dipper constellation he vaguely saw the link between what he memorized and what he saw.
When Qiu Qianren talked with Yang Kang, Jian Zhanglao, Lu Youjiao and the others, Guo Jing was deeply engrossed in deciphering the ‘shou jin suo gu fa’ [collecting muscles shrinking the bones]. It was the most advanced technique in the Manual; similar to the ability of a mouse to go through small holes. When it was trained to perfection the practitioner would be able to shrink his whole body to minimum, just like a hedgehog would curl up when facing an enemy.
On the Mingxia [bright red clouds] Island Guo Jing followed Hong Qigong’s instruction to train the
‘yi jin duan gu pian’ [changing muscle forging bones technique]. By this time he had mastered a little bit of this technique, and it served as an excellent foundation for him. So it happened that when he started practicing according to the Manual the ropes that bound his hands and his feet were loosened. His skill was so good that it was ten times better than his brain power; although the ropes were loosened he still did not know how it happened.