Fake scriptures of Nine Yin.

Original translation by Foxs

Hong Qigong and Guo Jing saw that Ouyang Feng uncle and nephew led Zhou Botong to a cabin in the back; while they were taken to a different cabin to change their clothes. Four white-dressed maidens served them. Hong Qigong laughed, “The Old Beggar has not had any luck to enjoy this kind of treatment,” he said. Taking out all his clothes a maiden dried him up with a clean towel.

Guo Jing felt blood flowing up his neck and face and he did not dare to take his clothes off. Hong Qigong laughed, “What are you afraid of? They won’t eat you alive!” he said. Two maidens approached him to take his boot off and loosen up his belt. Guo Jing quickly took his boot and upper garment, then jump to the bed, hiding underneath a blanket, changing his own clothes behind the blanket. Hong Qigong burst out in laughter, those four maidens also giggled.

Once they were finished, two other maidens entered the cabin carrying trays full of wine, dishes of meat and vegetables, and some white rice; saying, “Please two gentlemen eat what we prepared in a hurry.”

Hong Qigong waved his hand, “Please all of you get out of here, every time the Old Beggar sees good-looking ladies I can’t get the food down to my tummy.” The maidens smiled and complied, closing the door on their way out.

Hong Qigong took the wine and the dishes to his nose and sniffed at them, “Don’t eat or drink this,” he whispered, “The Old Poison is so crafty. Just eat the plain white rice.” He took the gourd on his back, pulled the plug and took two mouthfuls of wine, while busily eating three big bowls full of rice. Guo Jing followed his lead and dumped the dishes under the deck.

“I wonder what would they want Big Brother Zhou to do?” with a low voice Guo Jing asked.

“Can’t be anything good,” Hong Qigong replied, “This time the Old Urchin really got himself in trouble.”

Suddenly the cabin door was pushed open and a maiden said, “Master Zhou asked Young Master Guo to come to the rear cabin. He has something to discuss with you.” Guo Jing looked at his master and walked out the cabin following the maiden; they walked alongside the port side of the boat toward the back. The maiden lightly knocked the cabin door and after waiting a moment, shoved the door open, announcing, “Young Master Guo has arrived.”

Guo Jing entered the cabin and the door was closed behind him. There was no one inside the cabin. Guo Jing felt strange, but then the small door to his left was shoved open and Ouyang Feng uncle and nephew walked in.

“Where is Big Brother Zhou?” Guo Jing asked.

Ouyang Feng closed the door with the back of his hand, took two steps forward and grabbed Guo Jing’s wrist. His movement was very swift, besides, not in a million years would Guo Jing guess that Ouyang Feng would do that. He felt like his wrist was pinched by a pair of pliers; he could not move at all. Ouyang Ke pulled a steel-spined folding fan from his sleeve pocket and placed it on a vital acupoint on Guo Jing’s back. Guo Jing was dumbstruck; he could not guess what these uncle and nephew wanted from him.

“The Old Urchin lost a bet to me, but when I asked him to do something for me he refused,” Ouyang Feng coldly said.

“Humph?” Guo Jing was confused.

“I told him to rewrite the Nine Yin Manual from memory for me to see, but unexpectedly he did not keep his word,” Ouyang Feng explained.

“How could Big Brother Zhou give the manual to you?” Guo Jing thought; and again he asked, “Where is Big Brother Zhou?”

“It was he who said that whoever does not keep his words must jump to the sea to be eaten by the sharks. Humph! Finally he made his mind and did what he said he would,” Ouyang Feng coldly said.

Guo Jing was shocked. “He … he …” he stammered. He tried to pull his hand and dash to the door, but Ouyang Feng’s grip was very tight, forcing Guo Jing to stop. Ouyang Ke pushed his fan slightly harder on Guo Jing’s ‘zhi yang’ [lit. the most positive] acupoint.

Ouyang Feng pointed to a table with a stack of paper and some ink on it and said, “Now in the whole wide world you are the only one who knows the manual’s full text. Quickly write it down for me.”

Guo Jing shook his head. Ouyang Ke smiled and said, “The food and wine you and the Old Beggar ate just now was poisoned. If you don’t take my Uncle’s only antidote you will die within twelve hours, just like the sharks you saw earlier. If you comply, we will spare both your and your master’s lives.”

Guo Jing was secretly startled, “If Master was not alert we would certainly fall into their trap.” He stared at Ouyang Feng and thought, “You are a great master of martial art, yet you commit this despicable act.”

Seeing Guo Jing just stared at him without saying anything Ouyang Feng said, “You have memorized the manual in your heart anyway. You won’t lose anything by writing it down. What are you waiting for?”

Guo Jing shivered from rage, “You have harmed my sworn brother’s life; there is hatred as deep as the ocean between you and I; if you want to kill me then go ahead. But if you think you can force me, dream on!”

“Humph!” Ouyang Feng said, “Good kid, you have guts! You are not scared of death, but does your master’s life mean nothing to you?”

Before Guo Jing could reply a loud bang was suddenly heard; the cabin door was shattered with wood fragments flying everywhere. Ouyang Feng turned his head only to see Hong Qigong with a couple of wooden barrels in his hands. Hong Qigong threw the water out, two deep green transparent water columns flew toward Ouyang Feng uncle and nephew. Ouyang Feng knew the fierceness of this water attack; he leaped to the left to elude while his left hand still holding Guo Jing’s wrist tight. The water hit the cabin’s wall and splashed to all direction. Ouyang Ke loudly called out in alarm because Hong Qigong had grabbed the back of his head.

Hong Qigong laughed out loud, “Old Poison, you always want to kill me by any means possible, fortunately the Heaven won’t allow that to happen!”

Ouyang Feng saw his nephew had fallen into Hong Qigong’s hand so he smiled and said, “Qi Xiong, are you going to challenge me again? It won’t be too late if we wait till we are ashore.”

“I see you like my disciple very much that you won’t let his hand go,” Hong Qigong laughed.

“I made a bet with the Old Urchin and I won, didn’t I?” Ouyang Feng asked, “You are our witness, are you not? Let me ask you this: The Old Urchin did not keep his word, did he?”

Hong Qigong repeatedly nodded his head in answer to his questions, “That’s correct. Where is the Old Urchin?”

Guo Jing was grieved, he shouted, “Big Brother Zhou was … he was forced to jump into the sea and die!”

Hong Qigong was startled, with Ouyang Ke still in his grip he jumped out of the cabin, looked to all direction, but all he saw was the billows rolled, did not see even Zhou Botong’s shadow.

Ouyang Feng with Guo Jing still in his grip also walked out to the deck. Loosening up his grip he said, “Guo Xianzhi, your skill is still very far from adequate. You let others grab your hand without you able to do anything. Go and learn ten more years from your master, then you can roam the Jianghu again.”

Guo Jing was worried about Zhou Botong’s safety, so he ignored his derogatory remark and climbed the mast, looking at all directions.

Hong Qigong lifted Ouyang Ke up and tossed him toward Ouyang Feng. He shouted, “Old Poison, you forced the Old Urchin to his death, the Quan Zhen people will deal with you. Your martial art may be profound, but I don’t believe you’ll survive the Quan Zhen Seven’s besiege.”

Ouyang Ke did not wait until his body touched the deck, his right hand pushed the deck and he somersault to an upright position; secretly cursed, “Stinky beggar! By this time tomorrow you will crawl in front of me, begging me to save your life.”

Listening to Hong Qigong’s remark Ouyang Feng simply smiled faintly, “I am afraid you won’t be able to witness this when it happens.”

“Very well!” Hong Qigong said, “Until that time I am going to use my dog beating stick to beat some wet dogs.”

Ouyang Feng raised his hands to salute then entered the cabin.

After looking around for a while without seeing anything Guo Jing got back down to the deck and told his master how Ouyang Feng had forced him to rewrite the manual. Hong Qigong nodded without saying anything, he quietly pondered, “Once the Old Poison set his mind, he won’t easily let go. Before he gets hold of the manual he will entangle my disciple continually.”

Guo Jing remembered Zhou Botong’s death, he cried mournfully. Hong Qigong was also grieving. He knew the boat was sailing fast to the west, so within two days they were going to reach land. He was afraid Ouyang Feng would poison their food, so he went to the kitchen and plundered some dishes and plenty of rice; and after eating it with Guo Jing he nodded his head and snored.

Ouyang Feng uncle and nephew waited until the afternoon of the next day, practically sixteen, eighteen hours had passed, yet they have not heard Hong Qigong and his disciple made any noise. Ouyang Feng was afraid his poison was too strong for them and killed them. Killing Hong Qigong was not a big deal, but killing Guo Jing meant the Nine Yin Manual would be lost forever. Secretly he took a peek through a crack on the door, only to see two people were sitting comfortably and chatting amiably; Hong Qigong’s voice was loud and clear. Ouyang Feng was enraged, “Looked like the Old Beggar was alert. They aren’t poisoned at all.” His poison collection was vast, but in order to poison Hong Qigong without harming Guo Jing, he had to think of some better plan.

Hong Qigong was telling Guo Jing the ins and outs of the Beggar Clan; that although they begged for a living, actually every member had the responsibility to uphold justice, to help those in distress, to follow their predecessors’ good deeds, not the bad ones. These facts were mostly hidden from the public eyes. He further talked about the election procedure of the Beggar Clan Leader when the time comes to find a successor. “It’s a pity you don’t like being a beggar,” he said, “Otherwise you have a perfect character to be a leader; there is no one inside the clan superior to you. I’d really like to bestow the ‘da gou bang’ [dog beating stick] to you.” While they were still chatting suddenly there came banging noise from outside, it sounded like a hatchet or a chisel hitting the wall.

Hong Qigong jumped in alarm, “Not good! This stinky snake is going to sink the boat,” he cried out. Rushing toward the door he shouted to Guo Jing, “Quickly go to the small life boat at the back!” He was just finished shouting when with a loud crash a big hole appeared on the wooden partition, followed by loud hissing noise; it was not seawater came rushing in, but dozens of venomous snakes.

“The Old Poison’s snake attack!” Hong Qigong mocked; his right hand swept, scattering dozens of steel needles. Dozens of snakes were nailed onto the wooden deck; with loud hissing noise their bodies coiled and were not able to move anymore.

“Rong’er is very good at this scattering needles technique, yet compared to Master she still falls far short,” Guo Jing thought.

By that time dozens more snakes coming through the hole in the wall. Hong Qigong kept shooting steel needles and more and more snakes were nailed to the floor. A wooden whistle sound was still heard outside, and more and more snakes were driven into the cabin.

Hong Qigong shot more and more needles, “The Old Poison sends all these target for me to practice my martial art skill, truly it is a rare opportunity,” he said. But when he put his hand into his pocket to grab some more needles he was startled since only a few left. Secretly he was alarmed seeing the snakes kept coming continuously. He was thinking hard on what to do next when suddenly a loud crash was heard and the wall behind him fell down; a palm was swiftly moving toward his back.

Guo Jing was standing beside his master, but suddenly heard the swift and fierce wind he turned around and using both hands he blocked the sneak attack. The incoming attack was so strong that he felt his stomach turned upside down and he almost passed out.

Having his attack unexpectedly blocked Ouyang Feng uttered a cry of surprise. He stepped back a little bit and then horizontally hacked with the back of his hand.

Guo Jing knew this attack would be hard to defend, so with his left palm he parried the attack, while his right hand launched a counterattack toward Ouyang Feng’s side, forcing him to withdraw. Ouyang Feng did not dare to take Guo Jing’s palm on his side, so he ducked while sending out a hand in chopping motion toward Guo Jing’s lower body.

Guo Jing was aware that the situation was very critical. The snakes would keep coming in as long as Ouyang Feng could control the entrance; his master and he would be in grave danger. Therefore, he gritted his teeth and to the utmost of his ability using one hand to fend off the incoming attacks while with the other hand tried to send counterattacks. When his left defend his right hand attack, when his right hand void his left hand solid; following Zhou Botong’s technique of mutual hands combat.

Ouyang Feng had never seen this mutual hands combat technique before, so he was confused for a moment, giving Guo Jing a chance to send several stances. Talking about true martial art skill, Ouyang Feng was still twice as superior to Guo Jing; only this mutual hands combat technique was so strange to him and it took him by surprise, so Guo Jing was able to gain an upper hand for a while. But the Western Poison Ouyang Feng had enjoyed his title for dozens of years; he was a great martial art master, so he was confused only for a short while but soon had thought of a method to deal with this strange technique. “Ugh!” with a loud grunt both his palms shot forward.

Guo Jing would not be able to block this attack single handedly, he was forced to step back, but behind him a flock of snakes was heard hissing loudly.

“Wonderful, wonderful!” Hong Qigong shouted loudly, “Old poison, you can’t even defeat my disciple; how can you flaunt yourself as a great hero?” With ‘fei long zai tian’ [the dragon flies to the sky] he leaped over both Ouyang Feng and Guo Jing’s heads, toward Ouyang Ke. With one kick he knocked Ouyang Ke down. Hong Qigong then used his elbow and struck Ouyang Ke somersaulting toward Ouyang Feng’s back. Ouyang Feng leaned sideways to avoid his nephew, and because of that Guo Jing was freed from his vicious attack.

“Master’s martial art skill is in par with his, while his nephew’s is below mine; plus, he is wounded. So by two against two, we would certainly win,” Guo Jing thought. His spirit rose, and with renewed vigor his hands and feet attacked Ouyang Feng like a violent storm.

While violently fighting the enemy Hong Qigong opened his eyes wide to all directions. He saw dozens of snakes were approaching Guo Jing’s back; ready to strike. Once Guo Jing got bitten he would certainly die. Hong Qigong anxiously called out, “Jing’er, get out of here, quick!” He increased the intensity of his attack toward Ouyang Feng; forcing him to withdraw from Guo Jing.

Ouyang Feng faced attacks from both his front and rear; he felt quite strenuous. Hong Qigong’s attack had forced him to lean sideways, thus giving Guo Jing an opportunity to dash out of the cabin while Ouyang Feng and Hong Qigong were engaged in a fierce battle again.

In the meantime hundreds of snakes crawling around the deck had surrounded the two of them. “Fighting with pets as your helper? You are shameless!” Hong Qigong mocked, but in his heart he was anxious, since the snakes were countless; they were everywhere. With the dog beating stick in his right hand he crushed dozens of snake’s heads; pulling Guo Jing’s hand they headed for the mast.

Ouyang Feng was secretly alarmed, “Not good! If these two leap to the mast they will be unreachable for a while.” He flew to block them.

Hong Qigong’s both palms made a ferocious chopping motion with a roaring gust of wind. Ouyang Feng’s fist swept horizontally to parry. Guo Jing stepped forward to help his master, but Hong Qigong called out, “Just go to the mast, quick!”

“I want to kill his nephew to avenge Big Brother Zhou,” Guo Jing replied.

“Snake! Snake!” Hong Qigong urgently warned him.

Guo Jing saw vipers all around him slithering about; he did not dare to linger much longer. With the back of his hand he caught Ouyang Ke’s ‘fei yan yin suo’ [lit. flying swallow silver shuttle]; leaping dozens of feet high, his left hand grasped the mast. At that very moment he heard the wind of an incoming projectile, so he shot the ‘yin suo’ in his hand and with a loud clang, two projectiles met midair; both changed direction toward the side of the boat and fell down to the sea. Guo Jing moved his hands and feet and in a short while he had reached the middle of the mast.

Ouyang Feng knew Hong Qigong also want to go up the mast so he intensified his attacks. Even though Hong Qigong was able to hold his ground steadily he could not move toward the mast.

Guo Jing saw the snakes crowding around his master’s feet he was very anxious; with a loud shout he wrapped his legs around the mast and bent his body down. Hong Qigong understood his intention; his left foot kicked the deck, his right foot flew toward Ouyang Feng’s face while extending his dog beating stick toward Guo Jing. Guo Jing grabbed the end of his stick and flung it up. Hong Qigong’s body flew to the air. With a long laughter Hong Qigong’s left hand caught the mast above Guo Jing. This way these two were high in the air looking down to their opponents; thus occupying a superior position.

Ouyang Feng knew that if he climbed the mast he would certainly be at a disadvantage, so he called out loudly, “Very well! We lost this time. Turn the rudder to the east!” With an abrupt turn the boat was sailing to the east.

From high above the deck with their feet on the mast Hong Qigong and Guo Jing saw the snakes were very dense on the deck. Hong Qigong sat comfortably on the sail yardarm; his mouth loudly sang the ‘lian hua luo’ [falling lotus flower], the song beggars sang when begging for food. His face showed complacency, but actually his heart was very anxious. “How long can we stay on this mast?” he wondered, “Even if the Old Poison won’t chop it down we still can’t go down if he did not withdraw the snakes. The two of them can drink wine and sleep, but all the two of us can do up here is eating wind and urinate. That’s it!” As soon as he remembered urinating, he stood up, pulled his pants down and scattered his urine down to the snakes. “Jing’er,” he shouted, “Let those scoundrels drink your urine to their hearts’ content.”

Guo Jing still had his childish character; he followed his master’s instruction while shouting happily, “Please! Be my guests!” Both master and disciple sent their urine down.

“Get the snakes out of here! Quick!” Ouyang Feng barked while at the same time leaped several steps back. He moved so fast that Hong and Guo’s urine did not touch his body. Ouyang Ke, on the other hand, was startled to hear his uncle’s anxious call; some urine drops splashed on his face and neck. He was a neat and clean person, so naturally he was indignant, but suddenly remembered, “Our snakes fear urine!”

Amidst the wooden whistle sound the snakes slowly flocked away, but dozens of them closest to the mast were already drenched in urine. These vipers were all hybridized from the snake valley in the western region where the Mount White Camel was; their toxicity was really fierce. Ouyang Feng had used big bamboo baskets hanging in between several hundreds pairs of camels to transport these vipers thousands of miles to the Central Plains with the intention of using them as weapons to dominate the Wulin world. Only the snakes were afraid of human’s excrements. As soon as they were wet they started to turn around and coil in confusion, biting each other so the snake shepherds were totally unable to control them.

Hong Qigong and Guo Jing laughed very hard seeing this chaotic situation they have caused. Guo Jing thought, “If Big Brother Zhou saw this I am sure he would be very happy. Ay! A martial art expert of this age had to die in the sea. With their level of martial art skills Island Master Huang and the Old Poison were still drenched in his urine; while my master’s and my urine did not even touch the Old Poison.”

About four hours later the sky gradually turned dark. The boat crew prepared some banquet tables on the deck; meat and wine flowed freely, the sweet smelling aroma drifted upward attacking Hong Qigong and Guo Jing’s nostrils. Ouyang Feng was really shrewd, how could a glutton like Hong Qigong endure this kind of torture? The gourd on Hong Qigong’s back was empty only a short while later.

That night Hong Qigong and Guo Jing took turn for the night watch duty. On the deck below them the crew lighted up dozens of lanterns, while a flock of snakes staying guard around the mast. They really did not have any chance to break up this formidable defense; certainly they could not urinate all the time.

Hong Qigong cursed Ouyang Feng’s ancestors up to 18 generations, with all the fabricated scandals he could think of, adding some spices to make the scandals more dramatic; but Ouyang Feng did not even go out of his cabin. Hong Qigong cursed until his lips were tired and finally he fell asleep.

Early the next morning Ouyang Feng sent a servant to shout loudly under the mast, “Hong Bangzhu, Guo Xiaoye [Clan Leader Hong, Young Master Guo], Master Ouyang has prepared a superb wine and banquet for you to enjoy; please come down and enjoy it.”

“You go and invite Ouyang Feng to come out, we will serve him our urine!” Hong Qigong shot back.

Not long afterward the banquet table was ready under the mast. The foods were steaming hot, looked like they were fresh out from the kitchen. They prepared two chairs on each side of the table; it appeared they were waiting for Hong Qigong and Guo Jing to come down and enjoy their banquet.

Several times Hong Qigong wanted to slide down the mast and plunder the food, but he knew they must be poisoned, so he had no choice but restrain himself. He was so upset and starting his ‘your mother is a b***ch’ and ‘you are a male dog with bird’s brain’ series of cursing.

On the third day these two people were so hungry and thirsty that their heads started to spin. “If only my female disciple is here,” Hong Qigong sighed, “She is so smart that I am sure she will come out with something to counter the Old Poison’s tactic. All we, master and disciple, can do is just staring and swallow our own saliva.” Guo Jing also sighed.

About noon that day the sun was shining very bright. Suddenly Guo Jing saw two white dots on the horizon. He thought they were a couple of white clouds, but the dots moved way too fast for a cloud. They flew closer and getting bigger and bigger, uttering a loud cry. Turned out they were two white eagles. Guo Jing was ecstatic; he formed a hook with his left fingers and put it in his mouth, whistling repeatedly.

The eagles circled above the boat several times before diving down and perched on Guo Jing’s shoulders. They were indeed the pair of eagles Guo Jing had raised in the Mongolian desert. “Master, could it be Rong’er is sailing this way?” he happily asked.

“That would be wonderful!” Hong Qigong replied, “Too bad these eagles are too small, won’t be able to carry us master and disciple out of here. We are stuck here, at loss of what to do. Quickly tell her to come over here and think of something.”

Guo Jing took out his dagger and cut two pieces about five inches square from the sail and carved out two characters ‘you nan’ [lit. have trouble], and a picture of a gourd. [I don’t know how Guo Jing carve a piece of cloth with his dagger, but that’s what written] Then he strapped those pieces, one on each white eagle’s leg, and said, “Quickly fly back and get Miss Huang to come here.” The white eagles made some chirping sound, stretched their wings, and flew from Guo Jing’s shoulders. They circled the boat once then flew toward the west.

About an hour after the white eagles left, Ouyang Feng again tried to entice Hong Qigong and Guo Jing to come down the mast by preparing another banquet table, loaded with food and wine. Hong Qigong was indignant, “The Old Beggar is a glutton and the Old Poison is using this dirty trick to torture me. I practice martial art my whole life, but I have to admit my spiritual strength is rather lacking. Jing’er, what do you say we go down and beat them up real good?”

“The white eagles have already delivered our letter; I believe the situation will change very soon. Please be patient and wait a little bit longer,” Guo Jing replied.

Hong Qigong smiled. A while later he asked, “Among the world’s bad aroma, what do you say is the worst?”

“I don’t know. What is it?” Guo Jing replied.

“There was one time I had to wander way up north. I was caught in a heavy snowstorm for eight days without any food; not even a squirrel could be found. I wanted to eat tree bark, yet I couldn’t find any either. Randomly I dug around the snow-covered ground and was lucky to find five living things, so I could extend my life another day. The next day I found a yellow wolf and was able to satisfy my hunger.”

“What were those five living things?” Guo Jing asked.

“They were earthworms, fat and juicy earthworms. I just swallow them alive, did not even dare to chew,” Hong Qigong replied.

Guo Jing recalled how the slimy earthworms wiggle, he almost threw-up. Hong Qigong laughed heartily. He intentionally talked about the world’s dirtiest and smelliest things to battle the aroma from food and wine below them. He talked some more and cursed some more, before finally said, “Jing’er, the Old Beggar has eaten earthworms, but there is something even more disgusting than they that the Old Beggar would rather eat my own toes than eating that thing. Do you know what it is?”

Guo Jing smiled, “I know! It’s dung!” he exclaimed.

Hong Qigong shook his head, “No, it is dirtier that that.” He let Guo Jing made some more guesses before bursting out in laughter, “I’ll tell you what it is; the world’s dirtiest and most disgusting thing is the Western Poison Ouyang Feng!”

“Right! Right!” Guo Jing also burst in laughter.

After suffering the whole afternoon, that evening Ouyang Ke came out and stood amidst his flock of vipers. He smiled and said, “Uncle Hong, Brother Guo, my uncle wants to borrow the Nine Yin Manual just to take a look, nothing else.”

Hong Qigong cursed under his breath, “Son of a bitch, what a good intention he has!” In his anger suddenly an idea came into his head; but he kept a straight face and shouted loud and clear, “Little Rascal, the old man admits defeat to your dog-like uncle’s evil scheme. Quickly prepare some food and wine, we’ll talk again tomorrow.”

Ouyang Ke was delighted; he knew Hong Qigong’s word was like a mountain, he certainly would live up to his promise, so he gave the command to withdraw the snakes immediately. Hong Qigong and Guo Jing slid down the mast and went into the cabin; where Ouyang Ke’s servants delivered all kind of food and wine. As soon as the door was closed Hong Qigong immediately drank half a pot of wine; ripping half a chicken and started to chew.

“Are these food and wine free of poison?” Guo Jing asked with a low voice.

“Stupid kid,” Hong Qigong said, “That bird brain wants you to write down the manual, he won’t harm your life just yet. Quickly eat as much as you can, we have things to discuss afterward.” Guo Jing silently agreed, in one breath he ate four big bowls of rice.

After eating and drinking to his heart’s content Hong Qigong used the end of his sleeve to wipe his greasy mouth, then whispered in Guo Jing’s ear, “The Old Poison wants the ‘jiu yin zhen jing’ [Nine Yin Manual] from you, you write a ‘jiu yin jia jing’ [Nine Yin Altered Manual] for him.”

Guo Jing was puzzled, “Nine Yin Altered Manual?” he asked in a low voice.

[Translator’s note: jiu yin zhen jing – nine ‘yin’ (negative/female/moon – as opposed to ‘yang’ – positive/male/sun) divine/holy scripture; jiu yin jia jing – nine yin fake/imitation/not the real thing scripture. The term ‘Nine Yin Manual’ has been widely used, so let’s just use that; otherwise we’ll have to change every reference to it, not only in this novel, but in RoCH and HSDS as well]

Hong Qigong smiled, “That’s right!” he said. “In this whole wide world, you are the only one who knows the Nine Yin Manual. Whatever you want to write, just write. Who is going to say that what you write is not the real manual? Intentionally you alter and mix up the sentences, let him use that to train himself in martial art. I am sure even if he practices for a hundred years he won’t master even one fart!”

Guo Jing was delighted, he thought, “This is a really clever trick; the Old Poison will surely fall for it.” But then he remembered something, “Ouyang Feng’s martial art is profound; he is also crafty and vigilant, if disciple just scribbles some nonsense, he will find out eventually, then what?” he asked.

“You have to write something that appeared right but actually wrong,” Hong Qigong explained, “Write three correct sentences then alter the fourth one. Add or subtract some numbers, for example, if the manual says you need to do it eight times, change it to six or perhaps ten. As smart as he is, he will never find it out. I am willing to spend seven days and seven nights without food or wine just to see him training from this fake manual.” Speaking to this point he could not restrain his smile.

Guo Jing also laughed, “If he really practice according to the altered manual, not only he will waste his time and energy, but he could suffer some