Enduring his pain Yang Kang said, “I am all right.” He held out his hand to grab the dagger, but his hand was numb, ‘clank!’ the dagger fell on the floor. Hastily he stooped down to pick it up, but strangely his arm was stiff; it did not want to follow his command anymore. He was extremely shocked. He tried to pinch his right arm with his left fingers, but he did not feel anything. He looked up toward Huang Rong and cried out in horror, “Poison! Poison! You used poison to harm me!”
Peng Lianhu and the others knew they were going to offend Ouyang Feng, but Wanyan Honglie was the Great Jin’s prominent Prince; surely this Ouyang Ke affair could be discussed peacefully later. Seeing Yang Kang’s frightened expression, they immediately rushed forward to offer words of sympathy and called out to Huang Rong, “Quickly give the antidote to Xiao Wangye!” but everybody stayed as far as possible from Ouyang Feng.
Huang Rong was indifferent, “Don’t make a fuss; my soft hedgehog armor does not have any poison on it. There is somebody here who wants to kill him, I don’t have to lift a finger to harm him.”
But suddenly Yang Kang shouted, “I … I … I can’t move!” His knees buckled, his body slowly slid down, his mouth was producing a growling noise much like a wild beast.
Huang Rong felt strange and she turned toward Ouyang Feng, but saw that he was carrying a puzzled expression as well. She turned back toward Yang Kang, she saw Yang Kang was strangely happy, a crack of smile appeared on the corners of his mouth. Under the silvery moonlight he looked inhumanly ghastly. Suddenly a thought came into her mind, she said, “It was Uncle Ouyang who poisoned you.”
Ouyang Feng was puzzled, “From the look of him, it was indeed my marvelous snake’s poison. I had wanted him to taste it, this little girl had done it on my behalf. Wonderful! Wonderful! But those snakes, I am the only one in this world who owns them, where did the little girl get it from?”
“Where can I get that kind of snakes?” Huang Rong asked, “This is your own poison, you have unwittingly poison him yourself.”
“You are talking weird,” Ouyang Feng said.
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“Uncle Ouyang,” Huang Rong said, “I remember your bet against the Old Urchin. You took the poison from your snakes and feed it to a shark. As this shark died of the poison, the second shark ate its flesh and died of the same poison. This way the poison was spreading endlessly. Isn’t that so?”
Ouyang Feng laughed, “If my poison is not extraordinary, won’t my title ‘Western Poison’ be in vain?”
“That’s right,” Huang Rong said, “Nan Xiren was the first shark.”
By that time Yang Kang was already rolling around on the ground like a madman. Liang Ziweng wanted to comfort him, but how could he stop him?
Ouyang Feng ignored everything, he knitted his eyebrows trying to understand what Huang Rong was saying, but it was still dark to him. “Please elaborate,” he said.
“Hmm, you used your viper to bite Nan Xiren. That day I came across him on the Peach Blossom Island and he hit me. His fist landed on my left shoulder. The sharp needles of my soft hedgehog armor punctured his hand, so his poisonous blood was transferred to my soft hedgehog armor, which became the second shark. When Xiao Wangye attacked me, heaven’s net tightened, his claw grabbed my shoulder. Nan Xiren’s poisoned blood was transferred once again to him. Hey, hey, he is the third shark.”
Hearing Huang Rong’s explanation everybody realized how deathly Ouyang Feng’s poison was.
They also remembered Yang Kang’s treacherous plan in killing the Five Freaks; in the end it was Nan Xiren’s blood which kill him. It was truly a revenge well-deserved. A chill crept into everybody’s back.
Wanyan Honglie walked toward Ouyang Feng, knelt in front of him and asked, “Mr. Ouyang, please help save my son’s life; Xiao Wang will always remember your benevolence.”
Ouyang Feng laughed sinisterly, “Your son’s life is a life indeed, my nephew’s life was not a life!”
His gaze swept through Peng Lianhu and the others’ faces and coldly said, “Which hero does not agree with me, please speak up!” Everybody recoiled simultaneously. Who would dare to open his mouth?
Yang Kang suddenly leaped up, ‘bang!’ he hit Liang Ziweng, sending him somersaulted in the air and passed out. Wanyan Honglie stood up, calling, “Quick! Take Xiao Wangye back to Lin’an; we’ll find a good doctor to cure his injury.”
Ouyang Feng laughed, “Who in this world can neutralize The Old Poison’s venom? Which doctor won’t want to live and dare to mess up my handiwork?”
Wanyan Honglie ignored him, he shouted toward his martial artists, “What are you waiting for?
Quickly take Xiao Wangye away.”
Suddenly Yang Kang jumped high until his head almost hit the beam. He pointed his finger at Wanyan Honglie and he shouted, “You are not my father! You killed my mother, now you kill me!”
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Wanyan Honglie stepped back and stumbled down. Sha Tongtian said, “Xiao Wangye, please calm down.” He stepped forward to grab Yang Kang’s arms. Unexpectedly Yang Kang flipped his hand to push away Sha Tongtian’s hand and quickly seized his arm. Yang Kang’s left hand formed a claw scratching Sha Tongtian’s arm.
Sha Tongtian cried in pain, hastily he rolled backward to escape, but a moment later he felt itchiness on his arm. He was terror-stricken!
“This is the fourth shark,” Huang Rong coldly said.
Peng Lianhu and Sha Tongtian were good friends, moreover, Peng Lianhu was also an expert poison user, he knew Sha Tongtian was poisoned and his life was in grave danger. In this critical moment almost without thinking he took the saber from his waist and swiftly chopped Sha Tongtian’s arm halfway down.
Hou Tonghai did not understand Peng Lianhu’s good intention, “Peng Lianhu, you dare to hurt my
‘Shige’? [Elder martial brother]” He charged Peng Lianhu disregarding his own safety.
Sha Tongtian endured the pain and shouted, “Idiot, back-off! Brother Peng was saving my life!”
By this time Yang Kang’s mind was cloudy, he was charging to the east and striking to the west, kicking and biting randomly. Everybody saw what happened to Sha Tongtian, nobody dared to come close to him; shouting and yelling they darted out of the temple.
It was a very chaotic situation; the crows on the pagoda were startled, they flew around in confusion under the moonlight around the temple’s courtyard. Their noisy cries intermingled with Yang Kang’s neighing voice.
As Wanyan Honglie was heading toward the temple door he turned his head one more time and called out, “Kang’er! Kang’er!”
Yang Kang’s eyes were brimming with tears; he also called out, “Fu Wang! Fu Wang! [Father King]” He walked toward Wanyan Honglie.
Wanyan Honglie was delighted, he spread out his arms and hugged Yang Kang tightly, “Child, are you feeling better?”
Under the moonlight Yang Kang’s face suddenly changed; he opened his mouth, revealing two rows of white teeth, ready to bite. Wanyan Honglie was shocked. His left hand pushed out, breaking the hug. Yang Kang’s strength was completely gone; he fell backwards. He struggled hard to crawl back up to no avail.
Wanyan Honglie did not dare to linger much longer, without looking back he hurriedly went out the temple, mounted his horse and ran as fast as he could. The others were close on his heels, and in a short moment the temple was quiet again.
Ouyang Feng and Huang Rong saw Yang Kang was rolling around on the ground, each with his/her own thought, nobody said anything. A moment later Yang Kang’s body curled up and then ceased to move altogether.
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“Enough commotion for half a night,” Ouyang Feng coldly said, “It’s almost daybreak; let us go looking for your father.”
“Right now my father is on the Peach Blossom Island,” Huang Rong said, “Why do you want to look for him?”
Ouyang Feng was taken aback, “So the little girl was lying all along,” he sneered.
“The first few sentences were indeed to swindle you,” Huang Rong admitted, “What kind of man do you think my father is? How could he let himself surrounded by a bunch of stinky Quanzhen priests? If I did not mention the Nine Yin Manual you wouldn’t let me interrogate Shagu.”
By this time Ke Zhen’E had totally admired Huang Rong, but he was sad and full of regret at the same time. He only hoped she would find a clever trick to escape soon. He heard Ouyang Feng said,
“There were three parts truth in your lies, otherwise, the Old Poison wouldn’t be so easily deceived.
All right then, recite your father’s translation to me from the beginning to the end, don’t skip even half a word.”
“What if I don’t remember?” Huang Rong asked.
“It will be best if you remember, otherwise the beautiful face of a smart little girl would be bitten by my snakes, now that won’t be fun, will it?” Ouyang Feng threatened.
When Huang Rong jumped out from behind the idol she was ready to die; but seeing Yang Kang’s pitiful death she could not help but feeling frightened. She thought, “Even if I give him Reverend Yideng’s translation he still won’t let me go. Is it so difficult to escape from his grip?”