n the past, now it’s time for my revenge. I’ll pull out all your hair!” then what are we to do? Before, when Brother Jing fought with that old creature, he could only display the ‘Proud dragon shows remorse’ stance, which though is powerful, though is not spectacular enough right? That old creature must be thinking, ‘ Leader Hong’s skills are so impressive but his disciple is however just an average performer.’”

Hong Qi Gong laughed, “ You are just scaring and provoking me into teaching both of you more skills. Alright, you both don’t have to worry as long as you cook more nice dishes for me.”

Huang Rong was delighted and dragged Qi Gong into the forest. Hong Qi Gong passed the second stance of the ’18 subduing dragon palms”, called the ‘Flying dragon in the sky’ to Guo Jing. The stance falls in mid air and is a powerful one, which attacks one below from high above. Guo Jing only mastered it after three days. In the three days, Hong Qi Gong was able to taste more of Huang Rong’s delicious cooking. She did not pester him to teach her any more skills, she was more than happy as long as he concentrated on teaching Guo Jing. In a month’s time, Hong Qi Gong finally was able to pass fifteen stances of the ’18 subduing dragon palms’ to Guo Jing, from the very first ‘Proud dragon shows remorse’ to the ‘ Dragon battles in the wild’. The ’18 subduing dragon palms’ was Hong Qi Gong’s specialty. Half of it was due to his teacher’s guidance and the other half was his own experimental effort. Although the number of stunts were limited, each stunt carried with it immense force. During the last Hua Shan tournament with Wang Chong Yang and Huang Yao Shi etc, Hong Qi Gong had not fully mastered the skill and yet Wang Chong Yang and the rest were still in awe of it. Hong Qi Gong often lamented later on that if he had fully mastered the skill earlier, he would have gotten the number one title instead of Wang Chong Yang, leader of the Quan Zhen sect.

He was actually only willing to teach Guo Jing two or three stances, which would be sufficient for the latter to protect himself. But who would have guessed that Huang Rong possessed such wonderful culinary skills and was able to wipe up interesting and delicious dishes everyday such that he could not bear to leave. As the days went by, he had actually passed fifteen stances to Guo Jing. Although Guo Jing is not intelligent by nature, every time he learns a new stunt or advice, he would spend the whole time practicing and examining it, such that at the end of one month, he had mastered the fifteen stances perfectly, and would have improved even more if time had permitted it, his skills were totally different and tons more powerful compared to a month ago.

This morning, after Hong Qi Gong had his breakfast, he sighed, “ You two babies, we three have accompanied each other for more than a month, thus it’s time we parted now.”

Huang Rong answered, “ Ah, no way, I still have so much more dishes I haven’t cooked for senior you,”

Hong Qi Gong answered, “ There is no one banquet which doesn’t end on earth, but yet, there are so much food which one cannot fully taste. Old beggar here has never taught anyone more skills for more than three days, and yet, this time I end up teaching someone for more than thirty days. It would really be terrible if I continue.”

Huang Rong asked, “Why?”

Hong Qi Gong answered, “ Very soon, all my skills will be learnt by you two.”

Huang Rong answered, “ Since you’ve started, why not pass the whole set of ’18 subduing dragon palms’ to him, it’ll be a success then no?”

Hong Qi Gong sneered, “ Yes, it’ll be an accomplishment for you two but not for me.”

Before Huang Rong could devise a scheme to make Hong Qicong pass on the remaining three moves of the “18 Dragon Subduing Palms” to Guo Jing, the beggar had already picked up his gourd and walked away without saying another word.

Guo Jing quickly pursued Hong Qicong, but the beggar was so fast that he was already out of sight. Guo Jing continued to chase after the beggar into the forest, all the while shouting, “Master Hong! Master Hong!”

Huang Rong ran into the forest and shouted after Hong Qicong too.

At the very edge of the forest, they perceived the shape of a man. It was Hong Qicong, approaching them once more. “What, you two stinky children want to entangle me — make me teach you more?” he scolded.

“Master, you’ve already taught this junior so much, how would I dare to ask you for more?” Guo Jing said. “I just wanted to thank you.” He promptly knelt down and kow-towed.

“Stop!” Hong Qicong shouted as his face colored. “I taught you only in exchange for the magnificent dishes the girl made. There is no master-disciple relationship between us.” He then knelt down to Guo Jing.

Shocked, Guo Jing attempted to kow-tow back as per social custom, but Hong Qicong hit his acupuncture point, which left him without movement. Hong Qicong knelt four more times to Guo Jing before releasing the younger man’s acupuncture point.

“This way, your bowing to me won’t make you my disciple,” Hong Qicong said.

Guo Jing understood Hong Qicong’s strange conduct and decided not to press the matter.

But Huang Rong sighed.

“Master Hong, you have treated us so well that I am sorry to see you leave us,” she said. “I fear … I fear … I just wanted to make you so more small dishes for you to enjoy, so that in the future, we would have no one to fear.”

“Who do you fear?” Hong Qicong said.

“I am afraid we won’t be able to deal with the immortal ginseng fairy,” Huang Rong said. “I fear that we will die at his hands.”

“Death follows death,” Hong Qicong laughed. “Who doesn’t die?”

“I don’t fear death,” Huang Rong reasoned. “I fear being captured and it being made known that I followed your teachings and made you food. They might compel me to make for them the same dishes I made for you — the dishes I learned from the Jade Flute family on Plum Blossom island, including the ’24 Bridges on a Moonlit Night.’ Wouldn’t you be embarrassed if others kept eating these?”

Hong Qicong knew Huang Rong was just trying to get him to teach them more kung fu. But when he thought about others eating her sumptuous dishes, he couldn’t bear the thought. “Who are these people?” he said.

“There is the Yellow River ghost, Sha Tongtian, who might eat my dishes,” Huang Rong said. “He would spoil all my little dishes.”

Hong Qicong shook his head and said, “What can Sha Tongtian do? In another one to two years, Guo Jing can surpass him if he practices.”

Huang Rong then suggested the Tibetan monk Ling Zhi and Peng Lianhu.

“Their techniques are like farts.” Hong Qicong said. “What can they do?”

Then Huang Rong mentioned the master of White Camel Mountain, Ouyang Ke.

Shuddering, Hong Qicong asked about the styles employed by Ouyang Ke. After hearing Huang Rong’s description, he said, “Yes, it’s him!”

Huang Rong noticed Hong Qicong’s serious expression. “This Ouyang Ke is very powerful?” she said.

“What can this Ouyang Ke do but fart?” Hong Qicong said. “No, it is his uncle, the old poison, who is very strong.”

“The old poison?” Huang Rong said. “He might be strong to others but surely not to you.”

Hong Qicong didn’t answer and looked as if he were deeply contemplating the matter.

“We weren’t too far apart over 20 years ago,” he said finally. “But in the 20 years since then, he must have made great progress in his skills compared to me, given that he isn’t lazy or gluttonous like me.”

Hong Qicong laughed. “That isn’t to say he would find me easy to deal with.”

“He can’t possibly defeat you,” Huang Rong said.

Hong Qicong shook his head.

“That remains to be seen,” he said. “Fine, old poison’s nephew will certainly be difficult for you to deal with, but he’s not that big of a problem. I will stay with you for another half month, and you will make me two dishes every day. But if you repeat one dish, I will immediately leave you.”

After getting her heart’s desire, Huang Rong proceeded to make a number of different dishes with skillful variations, including pot stickers, various dumplings, fried rice, lunar new year cakes, steamed rolls and rice noodles.

Hong Qicong taught them the essence of fighting by reacting to the enemy and changing the defense of the body. He did not teach the last three moves of the “18 Dragon-Subduing Palms”

Nevertheless, Guo Jing’s understanding of the first 15 palms solidified under Hong Qicong’s continued tutelage, as did the skills he learned from the Six Freaks of Jiangnan. His improvement was not negligible.

In over 35 years of training in the martial arts, Hong Qicong had learned a lot of diverse techniques. He passed on some of these strange fist techniques to Huang Rong Although the skills possessed many strange variations, the techniques were inferior to the simple power of the first 15 palms of the “18 Dragon-Subduing Palms.” Furthermore, Huang Rong only learned them to amuse herself.

Guo Jing was practicing his palms one evening, when Huang Rong climed a tree to gather bamboo shoots and plums for an unconventional dish called “The Three Friends of Winter,” which tastes of three distinct flavors.

Hong Qicong couldn’t stop himself from drooling. He then suddenly bent into a thicket of grass and fished out a two-foot-long blue snake.

“Snake!” Huang Rong shouted.

With his left hand, Hong Qicong lightly pushed Huang Rong on her shoulder, forcing her a few feet away.

The thick patch of grass rustled again, revealing more snakes. Hong Qicong struck each snake with the doggy-beating stick on the center of its head. The blow immediately killed them.

Huang Rong shouted as her face colored. Two snakes didn’t flee from Hong Qicong. They climbed the tree and bit Huang Rong.

Hong Qicong knew the blue snakes, although small, possessed a highly venomous poison without compare. He immediately wanted to cure Huang Rong, but suddenly a large hoard of blues snakes materialized. He grabbed Huang Rong by her waistband and took Guo Jing’s hand before running back to the inn. There, he knelt to examine Huang Rong and discovered her complexion to be normal. “How?” he said.

“It’s not a problem,” Huang Rong laughed.

Fear struck Guo Jing when he saw the two snakes bite Huang Rong. He reached down to pull them off of her body.

Hong Qicong told Guo Jing to be careful. As Guo Jing prepared himself to remove the snakes, he noticed blood dripping from their heads. They were already dead.

Hong Qicong understood. “Your father gave you his soft hedgehog armor.”

When the snakes bit Huang Rong, they were immediately killed by the spikes on her armor, which pierced their heads.

Guo Jing went to pull the other snake off of Huang Rong when more snakes emerged from the forest.

Hong Qicong placed a yellow herb in his mouth and chewed.

By this time, over a thousand snakes had emerged from the forest. Many more were out of the sight of the heroes.

“Master Hong, let’s get out of here,” Guo Jing said.

Hong Qicong didn’t answer. Instead, he unstopped his gourd and took a large swig from it. He mixed the yellow herb with the wine, which he spit from left to right, creating an arc in front of the three.

When one blue snake attempted to cross the medicated wine, it immediately keeled over. None of the other blue snakes dared to cross the wine afterwards. Indeed, the ones in the front attempted to retreat, but more snakes were emerging from the forest. Both groups crashed into one another causing a great deal of chaos.

Huang Rong clapped her hands and shouted in pleasure.

The forest suddenly emitted a strange noise before three men dressed in white emerged from it. They used a pole to shepherd the snakes as if they were oxen.

Huang Rong found this all amusing. But then she suddenly felt like vomiting.

Hong Qicong struck at a snake with his doggy-beating stick. He then took the snake and used two fingers to extract its gallbladder.

“Quickly swallow this,” he said to Huang Rong. “Don’t bite or chew them, or you will feel pain.”

After swallowing the gallbladders, Huang Rong’s chest immediately felt at ease.

“Brother Jing, do you feel dizzy?” Huang Rong said.

Guo Jing shook his head.

Because he drank the blood of the giant snake, Guo Jing had become impervious to over a hundred poisons. The snakes also felt fear whenever they smelled the scent of the blood on Guo Jing. When they emerged from the forest, they were really after just Hong Qicong and Huang Rong.

“Master Hong, these snakes were raised by people,” Huang Rong said.

Hong Qicong nodded and angrily glared at the three men in white.

The three men were also angry after they saw Hong Qicong feed the gallbladder to Huang Rong. They reorganized the snake line.

“You three bastards!” one of them shouted. “Are you tired of living?”

“No, you must be the three bastards who are tired of living!’ Huang Rong shouted back.

Hong Qicong clapped Huang Rong on the shoulders in approval.

The three men became even angrier. The sallow-cheeked, middle-aged man standing in the middle thrust the long pole at Huang Rong with a surprising amount of force.

Hong Qicong pressed the doggy-beating stick against the pole, which immediately stopped.

Startled, the man pulled on the pole with both of his hands.

Hong Qicong shook the doggy-beating stick and shouted, “Be gone!”

The man stumbled and flipped over, landing right in the middle of all the deadly snakes. He had luckily eaten a herb earlier, so the snakes were unwilling to bite him.

Shocked, the other two men took a step back. “How?” they said.

Indeed, the other man had fallen so hard that he crushed 10 snakes and felt sore all over.

One of his companions, a fair-skinned man, held out the pole to the sallow-cheeked man to support him. They were reluctant to fight again.

“Who dares to stop our snakes with that herb?” the sallow-cheeked man said.

Laughing, Hong Qicong paid no attention to them.

“Who are you to send out so many poisonous snakes to injure people?” Huang Rong replied.

The three men looked at one another, trying to figure out how to respond when another man dressed in white appeared at the edge of the forest. He walked through a narrow path between the snakes while fanning himself.

Both Guo Jing and Huang Rong recognized him as Ouyang Ke, the master of White Camel Mountain, whose presence amongst their ranks caused the snakes to disperse.

The three men welcomed their master and told him of Hong Qicong’s amazing ability and the situation that had just transpired.

Ouyang Ke was surprised. Then he nodded.

“These three brothers were ignorant and affronted seniors,” he said. “They apologize.”

Then he turned to Huang Rong and smiled.

“The lady is here,” he said. “I am at your service.”

Huang Rong turned her attention to Hong Qicong.

“Master Hong, you should take care of this bad egg,” she said.

Hong Qicong nodded and said to Ouyang Ke, “How can you lawlessly herd these snakes through the country in broad daylight? You obviously intend to use these snakes for reckless acts. Who do you intend to use them on?”

“These snakes have traveled a long distance,” Ouyang Ke said. “They can’t feed themselves in the conventional manner.”

“How many people have you hurt?” Hong Qicong said.

“We’ve herded the snakes though the country,” Ouyang Ke said. “Not many people have gotten hurt.”

Hong Qicong glared at the other man.

“Not wounded many people!” he said. “Your family name is Ouyang is it not?”

“That’s correct,” Ouyang Ke said. “The lady must have told you. And what is the venerable one’s name?”

“This man’s rank is a generation above yours,” Huang Rong said. “If he told you, he’d scare you to death!”

But Ouyang Ke didn’t get angry. He laughed instead and cast a sidelong glance at her.

“You are the son of Ouyang Feng, aren’t you?” Hong Qicong said.

Ouyang Ke didn’t respond, but the three snake herders shouted in anger, “Old man, how dare you use the given name of our master!”

“I say what others do not,” Hong Qicong said with a smile.

The three snake herders continued to yell at Hong Qicong, when the beggar, who was on the ground with the doggy-beating stick, suddenly appeared in sky like a large bird. He struck down three times so quickly that the three men had no time to react. Before their bodies hit the ground, Hong Qicong had already jumped into the air again.*

“Good move!” Huang Rong said. “Why haven’t you taught it to me yet, Master Hong?”

The three men could not make a sound because Hong Qicong hit them on the tiny muscle near the chin that connects to the jaw.

Startled, Ouyang Ke said to Hong Qicong, “Senior knows my uncle?”

“You are Ouyang Feng’s nephew,” Hong Qicong said. “It’s been over 20 years since I’ve seen the old poison. Is he still not dead?”

Ouyang Ke grew angry, but he knew the level of Hong Qicong’s wugong was very high. And since he knew his uncle, he must also be a senior figure of enormous ability.

“Uncle has often said that he would never die before any of his friends,” Ouyang Ke said. “So he dares not go to heaven before you.”

Hong Qicong looked skyward and laughed.

“Good! You turn my words around and insult me!” he said.

“Now, why did you bring all these treasures?” he said, indicating the snakes.

“I have spent all my life in the West,” Ouyang Ke said. “This is the first time I have ventured south of the Yellow River. The journey is lonely and solitary, so I thought I’d bring these snakes for some fun.”

“That’s a lie,” Huang Rong said. “How can your journey be lonely and solitary with so many of your wives and concubines to accompany you?”

Ouyang Ke snapped open his fan and looked over it at Huang Rong. Laughing, he recited, “My distant heart held no one within, but today I have met its princess.”

Huang Rong made a funny face at Ouyang Ke and laughed.

“I don’t need your compliments, just as much as I don’t need you to miss me,” she said.

Ouyang Ke was speechless: He was enthralled by the goddess-like Huang Rong and her pleasant expression.

“Your uncle rules the western region tyrannically, so obviously no one has disciplined you,” Hong Qicong shouted. “So you’ve come into central China with the same idea of doing as you pleased. Well, today, I will give your uncle face and leave you alone. Get out of my sight right now.”

Ouyang Ke stopped himself from spitting out hateful words. Knowing himself to be no match for Hong Qicong, he began to retreat obediently, though his heart was full of distaste.

“Junior wishes senior a new year, free of any awful misfortune,” he said. “If you should have any trouble, please come to the White Camel Moutain.”

Hong Qicong laughed. “Little punk, you dare challenge me to a duel? If I come, it has nothing to do with an agreement. Your uncle isn’t afraid of me, and I’m not afraid of your uncle. Twenty years before yesterday, in the early morning, a group of us fought one another and found ourselves to be evenly matched. We need not fight ever again.”

His face abruptly changed. “You are still here in front of me instead of being far away!” Hong Qicong shouted.

Ouyang Ke was startled again.

“I’ve only learned 30 percent of uncle’s wugong,” he thought. “This man here doesn’t seem to be lying. I’ll accept this loss of face for now and get back at him later.”

Ouyang Ke didn’t respond, and the three men, with their chins still in pain, made no sound. Casting a glance at Huang Rong, Ouyang Ke turned and walked back into the forest.

The three men then made strange noises to order the snakes, but because of the injury to their chins, their voices at their loudest only came out as a weak rasp.

Like a wave, the snakes moved back into the forest, leaving a trail of gleaming slime across the ground.

“Master Hong, do you know where these snakes come from?” Huang Rong said. “Were they raised?”

Hong Qicong gave no response. He took a swig from his gourd, used his sleeve to wipe off the sweat from his brow and let out a sigh of relief.

“How dangerous! How dangerous!” he said.

“How so?” both Guo Jing and Huang Rong asked.

“Those poisonous snakes were only temporarily blocked by my efforts,” Hong Qicong said. “They would have soon been able to come over. With so many snakes, they would have been like a flood. How would we be able to stop them? Luckily, those people were inexperienced and didn’t realize my ruse since I scared them so much.”

“If the old poison had come, you two kids would have been in a terrible position,” he added.

“We wouldn’t stay — we’d run away,” Huang Rong said.

“This senior wouldn’t be scared, but you two kids would run away,” Hong Qicong laughed. “But how would you flee if the old poison sent out one of his palms?”

“Is that man’s uncle really that powerful?” Huang Rong said.

Hong Qicong laughed. “Not powerful? ‘Eastern Heretic,’ ‘Western Poison,’ ‘Northern Beggar,’ ‘Southern Emperor’ and ‘Central Divinity’: Your father is the Eastern Heretic, and Ouyang Feng is the Western Poison. The number one martial artist, Wang Zhenren, passed away. The remaining four of us, who fought against one another in eight pairs, were found to be equal.

“Is your father not fierce?” he added. “Is my own ability negligible?”

Huang Rong had secretly pondered these points before and was not able to put the pieces together. “My father is a good person, so why is he called ‘heretical’ and ‘evil?’ I don’t like his nickname.”

“Privately, your father probably likes his nickname,” Hong Qicong said with a laugh. “That man possesses a strange, spirit. He follows his own unorthodox way — is that not perverse? I am convinced that the proper ancestry of all orthodox wugong is through Quan Zhen’s teachings.”

“You’ve learned Quan Zhen’s neigong haven’t you?” he said to Guo Jing.

“Ma Yu taught me at length for over two years,” Guo Jing said.

“Indeed, indeed — you didn’t learn that in any short span of time,” Hong Qicong said. “Otherwise, how would you be able to learn my ’18 Dragon-Subduing Palms’ if you didn’t possess a good nei gong basis?”

“Who is Southern Emperor?” Huang Rong said.

“Southern Emperor is indeed a king,” Hong Qicong said.

Guo Jing and Huang Rong were surprised.

“Do you mean the emperor of the Song?” Huang Rong said.

Hong Qicong erupted in laughter. “That kid emperor is only strong enough to eat from a golden rice bowl. If there are two, he wouldn’t be able to pick it up! Southern Emperor is not the Song emperor. No, this Southern Emperor possesses very powerful kung fu. Between the three of us, your father and I were slightly inferior. But the southern fire overcoming the western gold? Indeed, the old poison, Ouyang Feng, was able to overcome his star.”

Guo Jing and Huang Rong wanted Hong Qicong to finish his story, but the beggar was lost in thought and fell into silence. They didn’t press him.

Hong Qicong looked skyward. His eyebrows creased as if were pondering some sort of difficult problem. He walked back into the inn alone.

Suddenly, Huang Rong and Guo Jing heard the sound of tearing. As Hong Qicong passed through the gate into the inn, a rivet got caught on his sleeve and tore a large hole into it. Huang Rong gasped in surprise.

But Hong Qicong didn’t notice. He kept walking as if he were in a daze.

“I’ll mend it for you,” Huang Rong said.

Huang Rong went to the proprietress of the inn and borrowed a needle and thread. Then she fixed the hole in Hong Qicong’s sleeve.

Hong Qicong shook himself from his reverie when he saw Huang Rong with the needle in her hand. He abruptly snatched the needle and ran outside the gate. Curious, Guo Jing and Huang Rong followed, only to see Hong Qicong throw the gleaming needle out. Huang Rong watched the needle arc and pierced a grasshopper. She shouted in delight.

“This will do,” Hong Qicong said, looking satisfied. “This style will do nicely.”

Guo Jing and Huang Rong waited for Hong Qicong to continue.

“Ouyang Feng, the old poison, loves to raise poisonous snakes and poisonous insects,” Hong Qicong said. “Coming up with a way to deal with all those blue snakes is not an easy thing.” He paused before continuing. “When I saw that younger Ouyang and found him to be no good, and knowing his uncle who opposes everyone, I realized that you two needed some way to disperse the snakes since I might not always be around to save you.”

Huang Rong clapped her hands. “You would use the needles for the snakes to the ground.”

Hong Qicong smiled at Huang Rong. “This girl is so clever,” he said. “You say one sentence, and she already knows the next one.”

“You don’t want to use the yellow herb anymore?” Huang Rong said. “You just spit it out with the wine and the poisonous snakes will refuse to cross it.”

“That will only work for so long,” Hong Qicong said. “I have to practice this stance ‘Blossoms Rain from the Sky,’ which would use this needle. The snakes will approach in the future, and I will throw out these needles, hitting each snake, one by one. After I get enough needles, I will go kill all those snakes in about a fortnight.”

Both Guo Jing and Huang Rong laughed.

“I’ll go get you your needles,” Huang Rong said, before immediately heading off in the direction of the town market.

Hong Qicong sighed in admiration. “Jing-er, why don’t you have her split her intelligence and cleverness apart and give one half to you?”

“Split apart her intelligence and cleverness?” Guo Jing said. “You can’t split those apart.”

Huang Rong returned from the market around the next meal time. She removed from a food basket two packages of sewing needles, and, while smiling, said, “I searched all over the town to buy these needles, but all the men seem to let the women talk amongst each other till they die.”

“How did you get them?” Guo Jing said.

“I yelled at them!” Huang Rong said. “I told them they were all useless. It’s impossible to not be able to buy needles in a town.”

Hong Qicong burst into laughter. “You are indeed very clever! Luckily, I have not married and it will spare me from having the torment of daughters,” he said. “Come, come, come, we need to practice kung fu! You two kids won’t get another opportunity to learn from this old man.”

Laughing, Huang Rong followed him out.

“I don’t want to learn Master Hong,” Guo Jing said.

“Why?” Hong Qicong said.

“Senior has already taught me so much kung fu that I haven’t practiced enough,” Guo Jing said.

Hong Qicong understood: Guo Jing refused to be greedy. The beggar had said he would no longer teach anymore wugong to Guo Jing, but the recent emergency situation made teaching more techniques imperative. Nevertheless, if Guo Jing allowed Hong Qicong to teach him again, it would appear to be opportunistic.

Nodding, Hong Qicong pulled Huang Rong by the hand and said, “We practice.”

Once alone, Guo Jing went out and practiced the first 15 palms of the “18-Dragon Subduing Palms,” thereby increasing his understanding.

Huang Rong studied “Blossoms Rain from the Sky” for 10 days. She learned how to throw 10 needles to simultaneously hit a person’s vital areas, but could not master hitting the vital points of multiple targets at once.

One day, Hong Qicong and Huang Rong were out practicing with the needles. The beggar threw them all at once. The needles fell to the ground in two groups — each ten feet across. Satisfied, he looked skyward and fell into contemplation. But his thinking was dull, so he said aloud, “Old poison, why did you train all these snakes?”

“With his wugong already at such a powerful state, he can handle almost anyone near him,” Huang Rong said. “So what would the snakes do?”

Hong Qicong slapped his head. “Of course!” he said. “It’s to deal with the Eastern Heretic and the Southern Emperor. Both the beggars and Quan Zhen are numerous in manpower, and the Southern Emperor is an actual king with many bodyguards and soldiers protecting him. Your father is a cultivated intellect possessing many strange and powerful skills, which can help him face multiple enemies alone. When the old poison fights alone, no one in his generation can completely face him. But if his enemy brings a companion and so on, then the old poison facing them alone is in a terrible position.”

“Therefore, the old poison has raised the snakes to help him,” Huang Rong said.

Hong Qicong sighed. “Us beggars often catch snakes and raise them for the purpose of food,” he said. “We’ve been able to do this for about 17 to 18 snakes. We sometimes even release them into fields at night to catch frogs. But the whole process isn’t easy at all. Now, the old poison has actually had the time to catch innumerable amounts of snakes. Huang-er, the old poison has spent a great deal of time on this, which means he must be planning something.”

“He is certainly planning something,” Huang Rong said. “But luckily for us, his nephew revealed the snakes.”

Hong Qicong slapped his head. “Of course, this Ouyang kid revealed with the secret with his frivolousness,” he said. “But what does the old poison know about what others have? These thousands of snakes could not have come from the western region. They must have been collected from the mountains in the East. And though that Ouyang Kid betrayed a part of the plan, he might not have completely revealed the whole scheme in which he plays a part.”

“That’s not a good thing,” Huang Rong said. “Luckily, this style prepares us in advance to take care of those snakes when we observed them, as opposed to having to deal with them while fighting with the old poison himself.”

Hong Qicong hesitated. “But suppose he wraps me up and prevents me from throwing the needles,” he said. “How would I deal with those thousands of snakes?”

Huang Rong thought for a while, “Just run away,” she said.

“Bah!” Hong Qicong said with a smile. “What kind of method is turning around and running away?”

Suddenly, Huang Rong exclaimed, “I got it! I just thought of a good plan.”

Joyful, Hong Qicong said, “What kind of plan is this?”

“Just keep the two of us by your side,” she said. “Should we m