Return of Condor Heroes (14 page)

It was fortunate that Yang Guo’s internal strength was shallow; otherwise the interruption by the three would have scrambled his veins and meridians, causing him to suffer paralysis.

Guo Fu clapped her hand and said, “What are you doing here?”

Yang Guo supported himself on the cliff face and slowly pulled himself up, gave Guo Fu a stare, turned around and walked away.

Wu Xiuwen called out, “Hey, apprentice, sister asked a question; are you pretending to not care or are you ignoring us?”

Yang Guo coldly said, “How can you take charge in this matter?”

Wu Xiuwen was offended and said, “We only care about having a good time, not greeting mad dogs.”

Yang Guo replied, “You are right, mad dogs will bite when they see people, three mad dogs have just come, barking and howling madly.”

Wu Dunru angrily said, “You said three mad dogs? You abuse people?”

Yang Guo laughed and replied, “No, I only scold dogs, not people.”

Wu Dunru could not take anymore and curled a fist and threw it out at Yang Guo, who managed to avoid it. Wu Xiuwen remembered what their teacher had said about not fighting amongst each other. If news of this ever got to teacher, they would be punished, so he grabbed hold of his brother’s arm and laughed coldly at Yang Guo saying, “Big brother Yang, you’ve been under the care of master wife learning martial arts, we three from master. A few months have passed but we don’t know who has advanced the most. How about sparring with each other, comparing skills, do you dare?”

Yang Guo was aggravated and originally wanted to say, “I don’t have your luck. Master wife has not taught me any kind of martial arts.” But when he heard the four words “do you dare to”, he extinguished his angry feelings and prevented himself from saying what he intended to. He gave out a grunt and stared coldly at him.

Wu Xiuwen said, “We are here to test each others skill, no matter who wins and who loses, no one is allowed to tell master or master wife. Even if your head is cracked open, you must say you fell. If the loser complains about the winner, then they are born of dogs, a bastard; big brother Yang, do you dare?”

As he said the words “do you dare” his eyes went blank, as Yang Guo threw a heavy fist into Wu Xiuwen’s left eye. Wu Xiuwen jumped back to prevent himself falling over.

Wu Dunru said, “You don’t care about face do you with a punch like that.” He then used the punches and kicks that Guo Jing taught him, and attacked Yang Guo in the abdomen. Yang Guo could not avoid this punch and got hit. Then he saw Wu Dunru throw out a kick at him, and then he suddenly thought of something and he remembered the moves that Guo Jing taught to the Wu brothers yesterday. He bent his right leg, and with his left hand pushed the incoming right leg, it was the “Secret Hero in the Noisy City” Quan Jin Fa’s “Trapping Hand”, the stance of “Holding the Bridge, Changing the Pillar” (tuo liang huan zhu), though it wasn’t a very special move, it is useful when facing an enemy. Yesterday when Guo Jing repeated the move, the Wu brothers learned it, but when it was put in use for real, it didn’t compare with the Yang Guo’s, who only had a glance at it and just went over it once. Wu Dunru fell over after this move by Yang Guo.

Wu Xiuwen was already aggravated with the punch he received in his eye, but when he saw his brother fall he picked himself up and threw out a left punch. Yang Guo dodged to the left, but he only knew very little of the stances of the punches, so he couldn’t compete as a right fist of Wu Xiuwen hit him squarely on the right side. Wu Dunru picked himself up and the brothers attacked from both sides. The brothers’ martial arts foundation was already stronger than Yang Guo’s, and he wasn’t a match. Added to the fact that the Wu brothers had been training under Guo Jing for a few months, how would he be able to stand up against them? After a while, seven, eight punches had landed on Yang Guo’s head, back and waist. Yang Guo flared up and thought, “Even if I get beaten to death by you, I won’t try to escape.” He wildly threw some punches out; they weren’t at all from any set of orthodox skills.

Wu Xiuwen saw the state that Yang Guo was in and was slightly afraid. They had already taught him a lesson and didn’t want to carry on. He said, “You’ve already lost, we’ll let you go, there’s no need to fight more.”

Yang Guo shouted, “Who wants you to ease off?” and dashed at him, attacking fiercely. Wu Xiuwen stretched out his left hand and with his right hand grabbed hold of his chest, trying to pull him forward in a rush. At this time, Wu Dunru threw two punches at Yang Guo’s back. Yang Guo couldn’t stand steadily, and fell forwards. Wu Dunru held his head with two hands and said, “You ready to give up?”

“Who wants to give up to you mad dogs?”

Wu Dunru was offended and pushed Yang Guo’s face in the sand and said, “If you don’t give up then suffocate to death.”

Yang Guo’s eyes, nose, and face were full of sand and dirt; he couldn’t breathe, after a while, his body felt like cracking. Wu Dunru was holding his head with two hands, Wu Xiuwen was on his back, Yang Guo could not escape and as he was finding it difficult to breathe, the internal energy of the “Toad Stance” that he has been practicing over the last few days suddenly became fluent; a warm chi was flowing through his “dan tian”. All of a sudden, his body was full of energy as he leapt up fiercely, his eyes closed when he threw out two palms.

It hit Wu Xiuwen in the lower abdomen; Wu Xiuwen gave out a cry before falling to the ground unconscious. The palm’s power came from Ouyang Feng’s “Toad Stance”, the power of it of course could not compare to Ouyang Feng’s, and Yang Guo had not intentionally used it. But since he was in danger he involuntarily used it, and Wu Xiuwen could not withstand it.

Wu Dunru jumped back but when he saw his brother didn’t move and his eyes were rolled back, he knew that Yang Guo had killed his brother. He was startled but shouted out, “Master, master, brother has died!” He sobbed as ran to take the news to Guo Jing.

Guo Fu was scared, and followed.

Yang Guo spat out the sand and dirt, and rubbed the sand off his face, but felt he didn’t have an ounce of strength left in his body; it was extremely difficult for him to even move one step. He saw Wu Xiuwen in front of him, not moving, and heard Wu Dunru cry out, “My brother is dead!” and knew something was wrong but he didn’t have the strength to run away.

Some time passed before he saw Guo Jing and Huang Rong hurriedly leaping to the scene. Guo Jing picked up Wu Xiuwen and placed his palm on Wu Xiuwen’s chest. Huang Rong ran to Yang Guo’s side and asked, “Where’s Ouyang Feng? Where is he?” Yang Guo did not reply. Huang Rong asked, “When did he teach you the “Toad Stance”?” It looked like Yang Guo was listening, but it also seemed that he wasn’t, his eyes losing their focus, just staring in front, his mouth tightly closed, scared of letting one word slip out. Huang Rong saw that he didn’t care, so held his two arms and said, “Tell me! Where’s Ouyang Feng?” Yang Guo still did not move.

After a while, Wu Xiuwen regained consciousness after Guo Jing had channeled his internal energy into him. Guo Jing then brought Ke Zhen E and Guo Fu to the scene. When Ke Zhen E heard from Guo Fu that Yang Guo flipped his body, and heard that he had killed Wu Xiuwen, he knew that Yang Guo was Ouyang Feng’s heir. Full of hate and revenge, he rushed to Yang Guo’s side, hearing Huang Rong ask, “Where is Ouyang Feng.” But Yang Guo still didn’t care. He walked up to Yang Guo and held his iron staff high, and shouted out, “Where is Ouyang Feng that scoundrel? If you don’t tell me, I’ll kill you with one strike!”

Without care for his life he shouted back, “He’s not a scoundrel, he’s a good person. You can kill me if you want, but I won’t say a word.”

Ke Zhen E was angry and raised his weapon, ready to strike down. Guo Jing shouted out, “Senior Master, don’t! Only to hear a thudding sound, as the staff evaded Yang Guo’s body and struck into the sand. Ke Zhen E had wanted to scare him into saying something but as the weapon reached his head, there was still no reply so he let his weapon slip.

Ke Zhe E shouted out, “You refuse to speak?”

Yang Guo shouted back, “If you’ve got guts go ahead and kill me, I’m not scared of you blind man.” Guo Jing rushed over, and slapped Yang Guo across the face fiercely. “You dare to be disrespectful towards your Grand Master!”

Yang Guo did not cry, and calmly said, “You people won’t raise your hands to kill me, fine. I’ll do it myself!” He turned around and rushed towards the sea.

Guo Jing shouted, “Guo’er, come back!” Yang Guo walked even faster. Guo Jing went over to stop him but Huang Rong said, “Stop.” Guo Jing stopped only to see Yang Guo enter the sea, heading into the waves.

Guo Jing gasped and said, “He can’t swim well, Rong’er, we need to save him.” and went to rescue Yang Guo.

Huang Rong said, “He’s not dead yet, there’s no need to rush.” After a while, Yang Guo had not returned. She admitted defeat to Yang Guo’s pride, and went into the sea. She was a good swimmer, rescuing someone close to the shore was easy for her, she dived into the water and pulled up Yang Guo and carried him back to the beach. She put him on the cliff side rocks, letting him spit out the sea water by himself and slowly regain consciousness.

Guo Jing looked at his master, and then his wife and asked, “So?”

Huang Rong replied, “He learned his kung fu before arriving on the island; even if Ouyang Feng did come, we would know about it.” Guo Jing nodded. She asked, “How’s little Wu’s injury?”

Guo Jing replied, “It looks like he’ll need at least two months rest.”

Ke Zhen E said, “Tomorrow I’ll leave for Jiaxing.”

Huang Rong and Guo Jing looked at each other, understanding his intentions; he would never live with someone who was related to Ouyang Feng in any way.

Huang Rong said, “Senior Master, this is your home, why do you give in to the child?”

That night Guo Jing summoned Yang Guo to his room and said, “Guo’er, all that has happened is in the past, we won’t mention it. You were disrespectful to Senior Master, I cannot allow you to stay with my school, from now on, call me Uncle Guo. I’m afraid that Uncle Guo’s inability to teach you will lead to your future failures. In a few days, I’ll take you to Mount Zhongnan to Chongyang Palace and request Quanzhen sect’s elder Changchun Zi (Eternal Spring) to accept you into their sect. Quanzhen sect is famous for its martial arts, I hope you take this opportunity in Chongyang Garden to hone your skills and reflect on your character, and so, hopefully, you will become a gentleman.”

Yang Guo replied, “Yes, Uncle Guo.” He changed his greeting, and didn’t regard Guo Jing as his teacher anymore.

Guo Jing got up early in the morning and prepared money and luggage; he said goodbyes to his wife, his master, his daughter and the Wu brothers. He left with Yang Guo by boat. They arrived at Zheijang’s Red Sea. Guo Jing bought two horses, and he and Yang Guo traveled north. Yang Guo had never ridden a horse before, but now his internal energy has some foundation, and after a few days of adjusting, he could freely control the reins. He was young and eager, always riding ahead of Guo Jing.

The next day, the two passed the Yellow River (Yangtze) and arrived at Xiaxi. Ever since the Jin lost to the Mongols, everywhere north of the Yangtze was under the influence of the Mongols. In Guo Jing’s younger days, he once was a general in the Mongol army. If he met any one who knew him, he knew there would be trouble so he changed his two horses for two rough looking mules and changed into old torn clothing; he disguised himself as a troubled villager. Yang Guo also changed his clothing and wore a blue green hat, and then got on the mule. The mule was bad tempered, and it was slow, Yang Guo spent the next few days trying to break its temper.

One day they arrived at Cage Village (Fanchuan); it was in the area of Mount Zhongnan. The village got its name from the Kai General Fan who had successfully captured a city. Along the way they passed winding mountain ranges, pine forests, fields of vegetables and cotton; its scenery not unlike that of Jiangnan.

After Yang Guo left Peach Blossom Island, his feelings towards the events on the island were still there but he would not mention them. He couldn’t hold onto this stance, and it slipped out, “Uncle Guo, this place is quite similar to our island.”

When Guo Jing heard him say “our island” he was pleased to no end and said, “Guo’er, we are not far from Mount Zhongnan, remember to take this opportunity at Quanzhen and learn from their teachings. A few years later on, I will come back for you and take you back to the island.”

Yang Guo shook his head and said, “I will never go back to the island.” Guo Jing forgot about Yang Guo’s young age, the words that he said came straight from his heart. Guo Jing had no reply to this. After a while he said, “You are angry with Uncle and Auntie Guo?”

Yang Guo replied, “How can I dare to? It’s you that should be angry with me.” Guo Jing gave up, and didn’t open his mouth again.

The two of them went up a hill, and in the afternoon, they arrived at a temple on the hill’s peak. Guo Jing saw three words were written on top of the doors, “Light Everywhere Temple”. He tied the mules to a pine tree outside the temple and went inside for a meal. Inside the temple were seven or eight monks, when they saw he was plainly dressed, the monks calmly gave them two bowls of noodles and seven or eight buns for them to eat. Yang Guo and Guo Jing sat on a rock underneath a pine tree to eat their noodles; they glanced around and saw there was a large stone slab behind the pine tree. Tall grass was concealing what was on the slab, only two words could be seen, “Changchun”. Guo Jing was moved, and went over to take a closer look. It was Changchun Zi Qiu Chuji’s writing, and on it was a poem left by him; “The gloomy sky has come to earth, why doesn’t it teach ten thousand souls to be bitter? The ten thousand souls want to be delayed; the cries of the dead have no sound. Shouting up to the sky but it won’t reply, their fragmented slender forms toil. The thousands are confused in peace, teaching the living to live their soul.”

When Guo Jing saw this poem, it reminded him of the events ten years ago when he was on the plains of Mongolia, touching the stone slab without saying a word, reminiscing about the time when he first met Qiu Chuji.