internal injury as well,” he said.

“Now quickly think carefully how you are going to alter the manual; once he is suspicious, our plan will be foiled,” Hong Qigong said with a smile; then he added, “The content of the second volume had been read and rewritten by Huang Yaoshi’s wife, moreover, that little rascal had read it on the Peach Blossom Island; hence this part you can’t change too much, just add some incorrect words here and there; I am sure that little rascal won’t know the difference.”

Guo Jing silently recited the manual in his head, trying to think which sentences he could alter, where he could insert some misleading sentences. He replaced hold with move, above with below, and other simple altering that did not require him to recompose the whole sentence; in short, he was following his master’s instruction to make subtle changes every where in the manual. For example, he changed the sentence ‘hand and mind toward the sky’ to ‘foot and buttock toward the sky’; or ‘feet firmly on the ground’ into ‘hands lightly moving on the ground’. On the internal energy cultivation he changed ‘concentrate ‘qi’ in the pubic region (dan tian)’ into ‘concentrate ‘qi’ in the chest and throat’.

While thinking about all these changes he could not restrain from heaving a heavy sigh and said in his heart, “Playing practical jokes like this is Rong’er and Big Brother Zhou’s delight. It’s a pity that one is nowhere near, the other is already died. Someday I will see Rong’er again, but I will never be able to tell this story to Big Brother Zhou.”

Early morning on the next day Hong Qigong called Ouyang Ke and proudly told him, “The Old Beggar’s martial art is already unique; I don’t need to see all kinds of Nine Yin Manual. As a matter of fact, even if you show the manual in front of my face I won’t even cast a glance to it. Only some bird brain whose martial art is useless would be dying to steal all kinds of gold and silver [play of words here: shen jing – divine scripture, shen jin – pure gold, shen yin – pure silver]. Tell your dog uncle that the manual will be written just for him. Tell him to shut himself up and train hard; and when he’s done, to come to the Old Beggar to test his newfound skill. The Manual naturally is a good thing, but I don’t want to look at it even with one eye. I want to see if with the Manual’s help he would be able to defeat the Old Beggar. I want to see whether after he has painstakingly practiced the martial arts from the manual he wouldn’t just ‘ban jin ba liang’ [the same, equal to] with the Old Beggar? I’ll say he’s just taking off his pants to fart; totally useless!”

Ouyang Feng was actually standing behind his cabin door, so he heard everything, but he was delighted instead of getting angry. “It’s a very good thing the Old Beggar is very proud, he doesn’t mind letting me have the manual,” he thought, “Otherwise, even if I fight him, threaten him with snakes or poison, or I starve him to death, it would still be difficult to force him.”

“Uncle Hong, you are wrong!” Ouyang Ke said, “My Uncle’s martial art has reached perfection. With Uncle Hong’s ability, you could not gain even half a move advantage; so why would Uncle want to learn the Nine Yin Manual? My Uncle once told Little Nephew that he is convinced the Nine Yin Manual had enjoyed undeserved reputation. Otherwise, when Wang Chongyang won the book, why didn’t he learn anything from it and demonstrate it in front of everybody? My Uncle wants to take a look at it to point out the errors and prove that the manual is actually a hoax. Wouldn’t you say that it will benefit the Wulin world tremendously?”

Hong Qigong burst out in laughter, “You are blindly blowing your horn too hard!” he mocked. “Jing’er, go ahead and write the manual from your memory. If the Old Poison can point out any error in the Nine Yin Manual, the Old Beggar will kowtow to him.”

Guo Jing said yes and came out. Ouyang Ke led him to the big cabin where there was a stack of paper and some ink stick; he even prepared the ink himself and respectfully waited on the side.

Guo Jing’s school years were not too many, his handwriting was shoddy; oftentimes he had to think the characters he had to write; so he worked very slowly. More than once he did not know how to write certain character, so he had to ask Ouyang Ke to write it for him. Working until noon that day he barely finished the first half of the first volume.

Ouyang Feng did not show himself at all, but every time Guo Jing finished writing a page Ouyang Ke would take that page and gave it to his uncle. Ouyang Feng looked at them carefully. Some sentences did not make any sense to him, but even though shoddy, the characters were clear. He thought those sentences must have very deep meaning behind them, so when he’s back to the west he would slowly digest the manual. He believed with his intelligence and ability he would eventually understand the manual thoroughly; and after a dozen of years or so he would master the entire martial arts from the manual. He could not help but feeling elated. He knew Guo Jing was dumb, he also noticed Guo Jing’s handwriting was so plain and naïve, almost child-like. He believed this kind of person would not be able to fabricate a complex manual such as this one. Besides, his nephew had told him that many characters Guo Jing knew the sounds, but did not know how to write, so his nephew had to teach him or write the characters himself, so without a doubt this was the real manual. How would he know that this dumb kid had conspired with his master to deliberately alter the manual and so deceive him? As for the confusing sentences, he blamed that on Guo Jing’s inability to remember the text correctly.

Guo Jing did not stop writing even though the sky had turned dark; he had finished more than half of the second volume. Ouyang Feng did not allow him to return to his cabin for fear that Hong Qigong would influence him to change his mind and make things difficult for him. Even though he had already had most of the manual in his hands; he wanted to have the complete manual. So he arranged for a sumptuous meal and wine to be brought to Guo Jing, let Guo Jing continue to write without interruption.

Hong Qigong waited until about the end of the eleventh hour, early twelfth hour [about 9 pm] but did not see Guo Jing came back. He felt queasy, afraid that Ouyang Feng had discovered their scheme and his dumb disciple might suffer the worst. He sneaked out of his cabin and quietly walked toward the main cabin. There were two snake shepherds stood guard in front of the main cabin. Hong Qigong sent his left palm forward creating a gust of wind making the sail rope moved. Those two snake shepherds heard the noise and looked around while Hong Qigong had already moved to the right. His movement was so quick that those two did not see anything; they thought it was a ghost or something. Very soon Hong Qigong was at the starboard of the main cabin.

Hong Qigong could see a faint glow coming out of the main cabin’s window. He took a peek inside and saw Guo Jing was still crouching on the desk, writing. Two white-dressed maidens stood beside him, busily serving tea or lighting some incense or replenishing some papers or preparing some more ink. Guo Jing was well taken care of. Hong Qigong was relieved; but then his nostrils caught a scent of the wine. He fixed his gaze for a long time and saw in front of Guo Jing a cup of amber brown aged wine, the color is almost rouge, the sweet fragrant attacking his nose mercilessly.

Hong Qigong secretly cursed, “The Old Poison is very stingy, just because my disciple writes for him he serves the best wine to entertain him, while for the Old Beggar he only serves insipid cheap wine.” He was the world’s number one glutton and drunkard; seeing his disciple with this kind of excellent wine, how could he restrain himself from wanting some of that wine? “The Old Poison must have stored the good wine in the boat’s hold downstairs; I am going to drink for his happiness, then replace the wine with my urine, let him taste the Old Beggar’s own brewed urine wine. Compared to what the Old Beggar and his disciple went through with the sharks, his drinking of some urine in his wine won’t be too bad, at least he won’t die because of it.”

Having this thought he could not help but smile; stealing wine and food was the skill he most proud of. Once he spent three whole months inside the imperial palace in Lin An; he hid on a beam in the imperial kitchen, he had tasted practically every single food and wine that was supposed to be served to the emperor. The imperial palace was heavily guarded, yet he was able to come and go like there were no other people there. Stealing food and wine from a boat’s kitchen certainly would not give him any trouble.

Immediately he looked for the steps that would lead him downstairs, and after making sure nobody was watching he carefully went downstairs, relying on his nose to find where the food supply was. The hold was pitch black, but Hong Qigong’s nose was able to smell food from a mile away. Slowly he walked along the wall, lighted his torch just to see six, seven wooden barrels piled up in the corner. Hong Qigong was delighted; he extinguished the fire after picking up a broken bowl he found laying around and put it back in his pocket. He walked groping around toward the barrel and tried to lift one up. The barrel was very heavy, it could contain anything.

His left hand he found the plug, while his right hand placed the bowl under it. He was about to pull the plug when suddenly his sensitive ears heard some footsteps. It looked like there were two people walking toward the hold. Their steps were nimble, so Hong Qigong knew they were Ouyang Feng uncle and nephew since nobody on board had that kind of ability. He thought those two came to the boat hold late at night, they must have some evil intentions, like poisoning the food to harm others; so he shrunk his body and hid curled up among the barrels.

He heard the door opened quietly, a flame flashed, and two people walked in; they stopped right in front of the barrels. Hong Qigong’s heart skipped a beat, “Are they going to poison the wine?” he wondered in his heart; but what he heard next turned his heart cold.

“Have you placed oil, firewood and sulfur in each cabin?” he heard Ouyang Feng asked.

Ouyang Ke laughed, “Everything is ready, as soon as we start the fire this boat will turn into ashes and the stinky Beggar will be scorched to death instantly.”

“They are going to burn the boat?” Hong Qigong was shocked.

“We must wait a little bit longer,” Ouyang Feng said, “As soon as that kid surnamed Guo falls asleep you go first to the life boat; just be really careful not to wake the Old Beggar up. I’ll come over here and light up the fire.”

“What are we going to do with those maidservants and the snake shepherds?” Ouyang Ke asked.

“The stinky Beggar is a great master of this age; it’s worthy of his reputation to sacrifice some people to accompany him in his death,” Ouyang Feng coldly said.

While still talking their hands did not stay idle, they unplug the barrel and the smell of oil attacked Hong Qigong’s nose. Turned out the barrels were full of vegetable oils. Ouyang Feng uncle and nephew also took some sulfur from a stack of wooden boxes, some firewood and sacks of wood shavings from the shelves, and scattered them on the floor.

Not too long afterward they have finished their job and turned around to go out when Ouyang Ke laughed and said, “Uncle, in less than 12 hours that kid surnamed Guo will be buried in the sea; the only person who knows the Nine Yin Manual will be just you, Senior.”

“No, there will be two. Won’t I pass it on to you?” Ouyang Feng replied. Ouyang Ke was delighted; he pushed the door closed with the back of his hand.

Hong Qigong was furious and shocked at the same time, he thought if there was no ghost or spirit telling him to steal some wine how would he found out these two people’s treacherous plan? If the boat was suddenly on fire, how would he escape the disaster? After could not hear the footsteps of those two anymore, he carefully sneaked out and went back to his own cabin. Guo Jing had already gone back and was sleeping soundly on the bed. He was about to wake him up and discuss what they were going to do when suddenly there was a slight rustling noise outside the door. He knew it must be Ouyang Feng trying to see if they were sound asleep, so he pretended to talk in his sleep, “Good wine! Good wine! I want ten more pots!”

Ouyang Feng was startled, at first he thought the Old Beggar was still awake, drinking wine, but then Hong Qigong cried out loud again, “Old Poison, let us fight for another thousand stances … (giggling) … Good boy! That was awesome!”

Standing outside the door Ouyang Feng listened to him speaking nonsense, he was confused, but then realized that Hong Qigong was talking in his sleep. “This stinky Beggar’s death is imminent, yet he still drinks and fights in his dream,” he thought.

With his mouth Hong Qigong talked nonsense, but with his ears he listened attentively. Ouyang Feng’s lightness kungfu was superb, but Hong Qigong was still able to hear him walking toward the port side of the boat. Hong Qigong put his mouth on Guo Jing’s ear and lightly shook his shoulder, “Jing’er!” he whispered.

“Mmm!” Guo Jing awoke.

“Just follow my lead, don’t ask any question,” Hong Qigong said urgently, “Get out quietly, make sure nobody’s watching you.”

Guo Jing rolled over and crawled quietly toward the door. Hong Qigong silently opened the door and tugging Guo Jing’s sleeve they moved toward the starboard. He was afraid they would be detected by Ouyang Feng; so instead of jumping out he climbed over the edge. With his left hand hanging on the edge his right hand pulled Guo Jing along; both of them hanging outside the boat’s side. Guo Jing felt strange, but did not dare to make any noise. Hong Qigong slowly released his hands from the edge and quietly crawled downward; keeping his eyes on Guo Jing for fear that the boat was too slippery for him, that if he should fall, he would surely make noise.

The boat was smoothly painted, plus, it was wet. Secondly, they were going downward, where the boat was sloping toward the water; thirdly, the boat was moving above the waves that made the boat rocked; so climbing downward was truly not an easy matter. Luckily Guo Jing was trained by Ma Yu going up and down the cliff everyday in the desert; besides, his skill had been improved tremendously this past year or so. He would stick his fingers in between the wood plank, or grab the head of a nail, or find a crack somewhere; slowly but steadily going down.

Half of Hong Qigong’s body was already under water. He moved toward the stern, with Guo Jing following close behind. His target was the small life boat tied on a rope behind the boat. “Get on that boat!” he told Guo Jing. He loosened up his grip and separated his body from the big boat.

The big boat was traveling quite fast, so a second later Hong Qigong had grabbed the edge of the small boat. Swing his hands his body somersaulted and landed on the small boat without making any sound. When Guo Jing had followed his example he quietly said, “Cut off the rope.” Guo Jing took the dagger out and a moment later that small boat was floating freely on the ocean waves. Hong Qigong pulled the oar to give themselves some distance from the big boat. A moment later the big boat disappeared into the darkness.

Suddenly a flame was seen on the big boat’s stern, it came from the torch in Ouyang Feng’s hand. Ouyang Feng was heard shouting in alarm because the small life boat was nowhere to be seen. He sounded shocked, but also angry and afraid at the same time. Hong Qigong concentrated his ‘qi’ in the ‘dan tian’ region and let out a long laugh.

Out of nowhere another boat appeared, coming rapidly toward the starboard of the big boat. Hong Qigong wondered, “Uh, what boat is that?” Before he finished speaking a pair of white eagles came down from the sky, circling the big boat’s main sail. Someone dressed in white was seen leaving the incoming boat, leaping toward the big boat. Under the bright starlight above one could see a glimmer of golden hair band on her head. “Rong’er!” Guo Jing gasped.

The person who was just leaping onto the big boat was indeed Huang Rong. Just before leaving the Peach Blossom Island she saw the little red horse came galloping from the forest, she thought, “This little red horse is useless on the sea, but those two condors would actually be able to help me find Brother Jing.” Therefore, she whistled loudly to call the white eagles.

The eagles’ eyes are sharp, they can fly extremely fast. On this boundless sea they unexpectedly saw Guo Jing on the big boat. Huang Rong was alarmed, but also pleasantly surprised to find the ‘in danger’ message Guo Jing tied on the eagles’ leg; immediately she let the eagles soar to the sky and steered the boat following them. Eventually her boat caught up with the big boat, but she was a little bit too late, Hong Qigong and Guo Jing had already left the big boat.

Huang Rong had never forgotten the ‘in danger’ message she got earlier, she was afraid she might be too late; hence as soon as the eagles circled above this boat, she ordered her crew to sail alongside the big boat. As soon as the distance was manageable with a butterfly steel projectile in her hand she leaped to the big boat, only to see Ouyang Ke was pacing around nervously, like an ant on a hot pot.

“Where is Guo Jing?” Huang Rong shouted, “What did you do to him?”

Ouyang Feng had lighted the fire in the hold and was going to escape using the small life boat when suddenly he saw the boat was gone. His perspiration came down his forehead like beads or pearl when he heard Hong Qigong’s loud and long laughter. He silently cursed his own stupidity because instead of harming others he had harmed himself; of course he was very anxious. But suddenly Huang Rong arrived on a boat, he rushed to grab this opportunity, “Quickly seize that boat!” he shouted.

Who would have thought that the crews of Huang Rong’s boat were all deaf and mute servants from the island. As long as Huang Rong was on board, they followed her commands out of fear, but as soon as Huang Rong left the boat, immediately they turned the boat around, hoisted the sail and escaped as far as they could.

Not long after Hong Qigong and Guo Jing saw Huang Rong jumped onto the big boat, the fire from the hold was starting to reach the deck. Guo Jing did not know what happened yet, he called out in alarm, “Fire! Fire!”

“That’s right,” Hong Qigong said, “The Old Poison set the boat on fire to burn the two of us, master and disciple to death.”

Guo Jing had a blank expression on his face, he busily said, “We must save Rong’er!”

“Let’s go back to the boat!” Hong Qigong said. With all his might Guo Jing pulled the oar. That big boat was also changed its direction to approach the small life boat. The deck was full of male snake shepherds and female maidservants running around chaotically, shouting for help. Hong Qigong had to raise his voice to be heard, “Rong’er! Jing’er and I are here! Quickly swim over! Quick!”

On the sea the mighty waves rolled, the night was dark, so it was very dangerous to swim; but Hong Qigong knew Huang Rong’s water skill was excellent and also it was a critical moment so he was compelled to take this risk.

Huang Rong heard her master’s voice, she was delighted. No longer paying attention toward Ouyang Feng uncle and nephew she rushed to the boat’s side and jumped into the water below. But suddenly she felt something was holding her back. Huang Rong turned her head in great surprise to see her right wrist in Ouyang Feng’s hand. “Let me go!” she shouted, sending her left fist toward Ouyang Feng’s face; as a result, both of her wrists were in Ouyang Feng’s hands.

Ouyang Feng saw the boat that brought Huang Rong had already gone far away, too far for them to pursue; while the big boat they were on was already ablazed; the main mast was burnt and was about to fall down; the deck was extremely chaotic, the boat would sink any minute. His only hope right now was the small life boat in Hong Qigong’s control; so he loudly shouted, “Stinky Beggar! Miss Huang is in my hand; do you see her?” He lifted Huang Rong high in the air.

By that time the sea was bright red with the fire from the boat. Hong Qigong and Guo Jing could see her clearly. Hong Qigong was very indignant, “Again he is using a dirty trick to get this boat. Humph! I am going the get Rong’er back.”

Guo Jing saw the boat was almost burnt down, “I am coming too!” he said.

“No! You stay and guard this boat, don’t let the Old Poison take it away,” Hong Qigong said.

“Yes!” Guo Jing said and exerted his strength to pull the oar. By that time the big boat was motionless on the sea surface, so with only several pulls they have come close to the big boat.

Hong Qigong kicked the small boat and his body flew toward the big boat. Stretching his left hand out he grabbed the boat’s edge with his strong fingers; and then catapulted his body upward and somersaulted toward the deck.

Ouyang Feng was still holding Huang Rong’s wrists; “Stinky Beggar, what do you want?” he said, smiling ferociously.

Hong Qigong cursed him, “Come! Let us fight another one thousands stances.” ‘Swish, swish, swish!’ He sent three palm attacks toward Ouyang Feng’s face. Ouyang Feng was shrewd; he pushed Huang Rong’s body forward as a shield, forcing Hong Qigong to retract his attacks. Ouyang Feng had sealed Huang Rong’s acupoint, so she was paralyzed.

Hong Qigong loudly shouted, “Old Poison, you are shameless! Quickly release her and let her go; you and I will fight here to decide victory or defeat.”

How could Ouyang Feng release his prisoner so easily? But he saw his nephew was continuously pushed backward by the fire, he threw Huang Rong toward him and called out, “Go to the small boat first!”

Ouyang Ke caught Huang Rong, then looked downward to see Guo Jing waiting on the small boat down below. He thought the small boat was really too small. If he jumped down carrying a person, he might cause the boat to turn upside down, so he found a thick rope. Tying it to the mast he used his right hand to slide down onto the small boat while holding Huang Rong with his left.

Guo Jing was relieved to see Huang Rong on the small boat; he did not know that Huang Rong’s acupoint was sealed. His attention was focused on his master and Ouyang Feng fought a fierce battle on the blazing deck. He was so worried about his master’s safety that his gaze was fixed on the fight and he forgot to speak to Huang Rong.

Both Hong Qigong and Ouyang Feng demonstrated their excellence in martial arts; while leaping around to avoid falling wood and rope they attacked nd counterattacked each other. Hong Qigong had a slight advantage in that his body was still wet from swimming into the small boat earlier; while Ouyang Feng’s clothes and hair had caught a little bit of fire here and there.

Those two people’s martial arts were in par to begin with, a slight advantage was enough for Hong Qigong to gain an upper hand. Ouyang Feng was forced to step back bit by bit until his back was very close to the cabin, while his clothes and beard started to catch fire. He wanted to jump into the sea, but Hong Qigong did not give him any slack. If he tried to jump and thus divert his attention from the fight, he might be seriously wounded or even worse, dead. Ouyang Feng became very anxious and it seemed like defeat was imminent.

Hong Qigong also realized that he would certainly win this time, and that boost his confidence. But then another thought came into his mind, “If I forced him to enter the fire and die, that won’t do me any good. He has obtained the Nine Yin Altered Manual from Jing’er, he won’t die satisfied before he practice that manual. Why don’t I let him go this time?” Thereupon he laughed and said, “Old Poison, I let you go this time, quickly jump into the boat.”

Ouyang Feng looked at him strangely, then turning his body he jumped into the sea. Hong Qigong was about to follow when suddenly Ouyang Feng flew back up. “Hold on! Now my body is also wet; we are on a level ground. Let us fight again to decide victory or defeat.” Holding onto the boat’s edge he swung his body up and landed on the deck.

“Wonderful! Wonderful!” Hong Qigong said, “I have a satisfying fight today!” With him sending his fist forward, the two people were engaged in a fierce battle one more time.

“Rong’er, do you see how fierce the Old Poison is?” Guo Jing asked. Huang Rong’s acupoint was still sealed, so of course she was not able to answer. “Do you think I should go up there and help Master to come down here? The boat is about to sink,” Guo Jing said again. Still no answer from Huang Rong. Guo Jing turned his head to see Ouyang Ke was hugging Huang Rong; he became angry and shouted, “Take your hands off!”

It was with great difficulty that Ouyang Ke finally able to touch Huang Rong’s hands; how could he let go that easily? Smiling he said, “If you move, I am going to hack her brain out with my palm.”

Guo Jing did not even think, he swept the oar in his hand horizontally. Ouyang Ke ducked to avoid this attack, but Guo Jing sent his palm with a whistling sound toward his head. Ouyang Ke was forced to let Huang Rong go, he swung his head backward to avoid this attack. Guo Jing’s fists moved simultaneously, one downward, the other upward, both aimed toward Ouyang Ke’s head.

Ouyang Ke realized this small boat was not the best place to fight; while the enemy attacked fiercely. He stood up and sent a stance from his ‘ling she quan’ [spirit snake fist technique], his hand swept horizontally. Guo Jing extended his left arm to parry, but suddenly Ouyang Ke’s fist curved upward and turning into a palm slapped Guo Jing hard on his cheek.

This hit was really heavy, Guo Jing’s head was spinning because of it; but he realized the danger he was in, so he opened his eyes and saw the second attack was coming. Ouyang Ke’s movement resembled a wine gourd with two successive bends. Guo Jing avoided this attack by throwing his head backward while sending his right arm forward to counterattack. But because his head was moving backward, this attack of his was not effective. Luckily he had learned the mutual hands combat technique from Zhou Botong, so both his left and right hands could move independently of each other. This time his left hand followed his right with a different stance coming toward the opponent. Ouyang Ke’s hand was still coming toward Guo Jing, hence Guo Jing’s arms were surrounding his hand. With a crack sound Ouyang Ke’s bone was broken.

Actually Ouyang Ke’s martial art skill was not under Ma Yu, Wang Chuyi or Sha Tongtian. No matter which technique he used, he should be able to defeat Guo Jing in a fair battle. It was just that Guo Jing’s techniques were more bizarre than any other techniques he had seen that he fell under Guo Jing’s hands twice.

Ouyang Ke fell onto the small boat’s deck. Guo Jing did not pursue his opponent; he quickly took Huang Rong’s yielding body and unsealed her acupoint. Lucky for him when Ouyang Feng sealed her acupoint he did not use too much energy; he was trying to conserve his energy because he anticipated Hong Qigong’s attack, otherwise Guo Jing would not be able to unseal the Western Poison’s sealed acupoint.

Huang Rong came to her senses, “Quickly help Shifu!” she called out.

Guo Jing lifted up his head to see his master and Ouyang Feng were engaged in a close hand-to-hand combat like they were dancing around amidst the blazing fire. The sound of the wind generated by their movements was intermingled with the sound of burning and cracking and falling debris all over them. Suddenly a loud crack was heard, the boat’s body broke; the stern was slowly sinking into the sea and vanished into the dark water. The bow was lighter, but slowly it sank nonetheless. Guo Jing took his oar and started paddling to get the small boat closer with the intention of helping his master.

Hong Qigong’s feet got into the water first. His clothes had been dried out by the fire, while Ouyang Feng’s were still wet from the sea earlier; so this time the Western Poison gained an upper hand against the Northern Beggar. Hong Qigong did not want to surrender so easily, he fought with all his might. At that moment the main mast broke and fell down. Two people hurriedly jumped backwards so they were separated by a burning mast.

Ouyang Feng fetched his snake staff and jumped over the burning mast. Hong Qigong immediately drew the bamboo stick from his waist and fended off the attack. They were fighting barehanded ferociously before, so imagine how fierce the battle had become now that both were wielding weapons.

Guo Jing held the oar in his hands, ready to jump on board. He was very concerned about his master’s safety, yet watching two people’s wonderful weapon techniques he was carried away, clucking his tongue and praising unceasingly.

There was a saying among the martial arts practitioners, “A hundred days to master a blade, a thousand days to master a spear, ten thousand days to master a sword,” showing that sword technique was the most difficult to learn. However, when the martial artists had reached perfection each would develop his/her own unique skill; then the difference between various weapons would be minuscule. Twenty years ago during the Sword Meet of Mount Hua both Hong Qigong and Ouyang Feng had already admired each other’s martial arts very much. Even using swords it was very difficult for them to defeat the other. Now both did not use any sword anymore.

Hong Qigong wield a bamboo stick which he carried anywhere he went, as a token of authority of his