Leisurely ride on a shark.

Original translation by Foxs

Huang Rong saw Ouyang Feng carry his mud-drenched nephew to the shore, his face was beaming happily from ear to ear but never uttering any word reflecting his thankfulness to Guo Jing and herself. She pulled the sleeve of Guo Jing’s clothes and they returned to the cave together.

Guo Jing saw that Huang Rong had a worried expression on her face and asked her, “What are you thinking about?” Huang Rong replied, “I am thinking about three very difficult things.” Guo Jing replied, “You are an intelligent person who always has a way to solve problems.” Huang Rong gave a very light laugh; but a moment later her eyebrows were creased again.

Hong Qigong then opened his mouth to speak, “The first matter really does not matter much. The second and third matters actually cause people to be at a loss of what to do.”

Guo Jing then said, “Wow! You really are amazing! How would you know about the three matters that she is thinking about?”

Hong Qigong replied, “I simply guessed her thoughts. The first matter is how to cure my injury. There is no doctor, medicine and a person with good internal energy here to help me. The Old Beggar can always accept my fate with resignation. Whether I live or die in not of the most important matter now. The second matter is how to defend ourselves from the poisonous hand of Ouyang Feng. This person’s martial art is really solid. The two of you are definitely not his match. The third matter is how we can return to the mainland. Rong’er, am I right or wrong?”

Huang Rong replied, “Yes, at present the most pressing matter is to think of a way to discourage the Old Poison from acting so ruthlessly.”

Hong Qigong said, “In short, we must have a battle of wits with him. The Old Poison may be cunning but he is completely conceited; so conceited that it won’t be difficult to fool him. However, after he has been tricked, he will immediately adapt from the changes followed by a very severe counterattack.”

Two people gave a deep thought. Huang Rong started to think that the enemy’s skill is difficult to differentiate against her father’s and teacher’s. Even if her father were there, he would not necessarily defeat him; how she could she fight him? It seemed like if they could not take his life in one stroke, it would only make him committing more evil deeds.

Hong Qigong suddenly felt pin in his chest and coughed loudly. Huang Rong immediately helped him to lie down. Suddenly a shadow was blocking the sunlight at the mouth of the cave. She raised her head up to see Ouyang Feng carrying his nephew making a hissing sound saying, “Get out all of you! Let me have this cave for my nephew to heal his injury!”

Guo Jing was very angry; he jumped out and said, “This place belongs to my master!”

Ouyang Feng coldly replied, “Even if the Jade Emperor lives here, he must go away!”

Guo Jing furiously tried to answer him, but Huang Rong pulled Guo Jing’s sleeve. She stooped down to help Hong Qigong up and left the cave.

While passing by Ouyang Feng’s side, Hong Qigong opened his eyes and said with a mocking smile, “Impressive power! Very deathly!”

Ouyang Feng’s face turned red. He could have Hong Qigong died violently with just a stroke of his palm, but for some reason he was overwhelmed by Hong Qigong’s righteous air. He shivered and did not answer this insult. He turned his head to avoid Hong Qigong’s penetrating gaze and said, “Come back and deliver us something to eat! If you two small creatures mess with the food, just watch out for your three lives.”

The three of them went down the hill. Guo Jing cursed incessantly, while Huang Rong was deep in thoughts and did not say anything. Guo Jing said, “Master please rest here while I go and look for a suitable place to rest.”

Huang Rong helped Hong Qigong to sit down properly by a big pine tree when she spotted two squirrels hurriedly climbing up the tree trunk then immediately climbing back down again only a few feet from her; watching the two people with their small round eyes. Huang Rong was fascinated; she picked a pine cone and held it out. One of the squirrels came near to sniff at the cone, and used its front paws to slowly pull the cone away. The other squirrel boldly climbed Hong Qigong’s sleeve. Huang Rong sighed and said, “Nobody has been here before. Look at the two squirrels, not afraid of humans at all.”

As the squirrels heard Huang Rong’s voice they scurried up the tree. Huang Rong looked up the tree and saw dense leaves growing from the branches of the pine tree. The leaves formed a canopy and the top of the tree was full with green cane. Huang Rong suddenly got an idea and called out, “Brother Jing, no need to look anymore. Let’s go on top of the tree.”

Guo Jing stopped and looked up the pine tree. The tree is indeed a wonderful place as a shelter. Two people folded some branches and made a platform. Then with each of them on either side, they propped Hong Qigong in between and shouted, “Heave!” they flew up and put Hong Qigong safely on the platform they just made.

Huang Rong laughed and said, “We are living on branches like birds. Let them live in caves like beasts.”

Guo Jing then said, “Rong’er, do you want to send them food or not?”

Huang Rong said, “Since I cannot think of any wonderful plan and defeat the Old Poison at the moment, I think we’d better comply with his request.” Guo Jing grumbled incessantly.

Two people went behind the mountain and managed to catch a wild goat. They then made a fire to roast the goat. The roasted goat was then ripped into two. Huang Rong took a piece of the meat and threw it to the ground and said, “Urinate on top of the meat!”

Guo Jiang laughed, “They will find out.”

Huang Rong said, “Don’t you bother about that; just do it.”

Guo Jing blushed and said, “I can’t do it!”

Huang Rong asked, “Why?”

Guo Jing mumbled, “I cannot urinate with you beside me.” Huang Rong burst out in laughter.

From the top of the tree Hong Qigong called out, “Throw the meat up! I will urinate on it myself!” Guo Jing took the meat, laughed and leaped up to the platform so that Hong Qigong can urinate on that mutton. Hong Qigong urinated a lot on the mutton. He laughed out loud and carried the mutton to the cave.

Huang Rong called out, “No! Take this one.”

Guo Jing scratched his head and said, “This is the clean one.”

Huang Rong said, “That’s right. We are going to give them the clean mutton.”

Guo Jing was confused, but he usually listened to whatever Huang Rong said. He turned around and took the clean mutton. Huang Rong took the urine-soaked meat and put it back on the fire while she went out to pick edible wild fruits. Hong Qigong did not understand Huang Rong’s plan and was upset. He drooled over the mutton, but the only one left was the one smeared with his own urine. He has no choice but to be patient.

The roasted mutton released a very good aroma. Inside his cave Ouyang Feng had smelled the wonderful aroma of the meat. Without waiting for Guo Jing to arrive he went out the cave and snatched the meat while his face was showing how pleased he was at the moment. But then a thought came into his mind. “Where is the other half?” he asked. Guo Jing pointed his finger backward.

Ouyang Feng walked in big strides towards the pine tree. He snatched the mutton smeared with urine and threw the clean mutton on the ground while laughing coldly before turning around to leave.

Guo Jing knew that at this moment he must not reveal anything suspicious from his face. However, it was not in his nature to pretend; he was forced to turn around and did not dare to look at Ouyang Feng. He waited for Ouyang Feng to be far away before rushing to Huang Rong. He laughed and said, “How did you know that he will come and exchange the meat?”

Huang Rong smiled and said, “According to the military tactic, void is actually solid, while solid is actually void. The Old Poison knew that we will be applying some kind of trick on the food and does not want to be tricked. As a result, I just let him to trick himself.” Guo Jing listened to all of this in awe while tearing the clean mutton into smaller pieces before taking it up to the pavilion. The three of them ate the mutton.

While all of them were eating happily, Guo Jing suddenly said, “Rong’er, you really came up with a wonderful ruse just now. Nevertheless, it was still a dangerous one.”

Huang Rong immediately asked, “Why?”

Guo Jing then replied, “If the Old Poison did not come and exchange the mutton, wouldn’t we be eating the mutton covered with master’s urine?”

Huang Rong who was sitting on a branch while listening to Guo Jing’s words laughed loudly until her waist bended and she tumbled down the tree. She then leaped up the tree again unharmed and said, “Very, very dangerous indeed.”

Hong Qigong sighed and said, “Dumb child, if he did not come to exchange the mutton, can’t you just not eat the tainted mutton?”

Guo Jing was startled at the truth of the statement and gave a loud laugh before falling down from the tree as well.

Ouyang Feng uncle and nephew ate the mutton, they thought the wild goat had urine smell, but they did not suspect anything. In fact, they still praised Huang Rong’s wonderful skill in roasting the mutton that she gave the meat a salty taste. Not long after that, the sky was turning dark. It was at this moment that Ouyang Ke’s wound started to ache, causing him to groan loudly.

Ouyang Feng walked out towards the pine tree and called out, “Come down little girl!”

Huang Rong was startled because she did not expect Ouyang Feng to come that soon. She asked, “What is it?”

Ouyang Feng answered, “My nephew needs tea and water. Quickly go and serve him now.” The three people on the tree listened to everything and could not help but felt very angry. Ouyang Feng shouted angrily, “Hurry up! What are you waiting for?”

Guo Jing whispered, “Let us fight him.”

Hong Qigong added, “The two of you quickly run towards the back of the mountain. Don’t you worry about me.”

Huang Rong had already calculated properly on the two choices that they have now. Whether they flee or duel with Ouyang Feng, their master’s life would be lost. The only thing that can be done now is to compromise for the sake of their master’s safety. She leaped down the tree and said, “Alright, let me go and have a look at his wound.”

Ouyang Feng sneered and said, “The boy surnamed Guo, come down and follow me. Are you still soundly asleep? I have a good idea.” Guo Jing swallowed his anger and leaped down from the tree.

Ouyang Feng said, “Go get 100 lumbers for me by the night fall. If you are short by one lumber, I will break one of your legs. If you are short two lumbers, I will break both of your legs.”

Huang Rong asked, “What do you want to do with the lumbers? Besides, how are we going to see where we are going in the dark?”

Ouyang Feng cursed her, “You talk too much girl! What does this have to do with you? Quickly go and attend to my nephew. If there is something amiss or wrong, all of you will suffer the consequences!”

Huang Rong gave Guo Jing a hand signal telling him not to make things worse. Guo Jing saw Ouyang Feng and Huang Rong’s shadows disappeared in the darkness. He was so angry that tears flowed down from his eyes.

Hong Qigong suddenly said, “When I was young, my grandpa, my father and I were slaves of the Jins. What is this hardship compared to what we went through?”

Guo Jing was startled, he came to his senses, “Turned out benevolent master was once a slave, but later on he mastered a matchless martial art. I feel wronged today; can’t I just endure it patiently?” Guo Jing then leaped down from the tree and lighted a fire using a tree branch before heading towards the back of the mountain. He launched the 18-Dragon Subduing Palms, hacking down trees as big as a rice bowl cup in diameter. He was fully aware that Huang Rong would be able to escape from harm, just as the other day when she was surrounded by a whole bunch of criminals at Zhao palace. No matter how difficult the situation somehow she managed to escape unharmed. Therefore, he concentrated his attention and energy to cut down the trees.

But launching the 18-Dragon Subduing Palms took a lot of his energy. After a while he started to feel strained and numb. In less than an hour Guo Jing managed to knock down twenty one pine trees. While knocking down the twenty-second tree, Guo Jing‘s arm was already sore and tired. When he launched the Seeing Dragon in the Field, his palms were uneven; the branches and leaves were shaken, the trunk swayed but did not break; while he felt his chest tightened. Turned out the energy did not flow to his palm, but went up in reverse to his chest. His master had repeatedly warned him against this condition; the 18-Dragon Subduing Palms carried a tremendous force, but if his own strength was not enough, he would suffer tremendous self-inflicted injury. He was shocked; immediately sat down and focused his attention to control his breathing. After about an hour he struck that tree again; but he felt his body was worn out, his arms and legs were weak.

Guo Jing knew that if he forced himself to exert more strength, not only it would still be difficult to accomplish his task, but he would suffer internal injury as well. In this desolate island there was no saber or hatchet, how would he be able to chop down more trees?

He noticed that out of the hundred lumbers needed he was still about seventy, eighty lumbers short; while his pair of legs was about ready to give up. He thought aloud, “His nephews legs are crushed; he must have hated me to his guts. Even if I manage to give him a hundred lumbers tonight, tomorrow night he will require a thousand. When will it end? We can’t fight him, and on this desolate island nobody would help us.” Having thought this he heaved a long sigh, “We are stuck here on this desolate island, who in the world would come to rescue us? Benevolent master Hong has lost his martial art, whether he will live or die is difficult to tell. Rong’er’s father despised me. All Quan Zhen Seven Masters and six benevolent masters are not the Western Poison’s match. If only … if only my sworn brother Zhou Botong were here … but he had killed himself by jumping into the sea early on.” As soon as Zhou Botong came into his mind, he hated Ouyang Feng even more; thinking that this old sworn brother of his, who was skilled in the Nine Yin Manual and had created the mutual hands combat technique, was forced to his death by Ouyang Feng.

“Ah! Nine Yin Manual! Mutual hands combat technique?” these several words flashed through his mind just like seeing a bright star on the horizon in a dark and endless night. “My martial art may not be enough to fight the Western Poison, but the Nine Yin Manual contains the most wonderful secrets of the martial art world; plus the mutual hands combat technique will double my skill. If both Rong’er and I train hard day and night, then we can fight the Old Poison with everything we have. Only regardless of which martial art we use, we still need to fight him for a whole day and night; then how can this be good?”

He stood in the forest thinking deeply; suddenly thought, “Why don’t I go and ask Shifu? His martial art might be gone, but his knowledge is not; he should be able to give me clear directions.” He went back to the tree right away, then explained to Hong Qigong every single one of his thought.

“Read the Nine Yin Manual slowly for me to hear,” Hong Qigong suggested, “Let us see if there is a marvelous martial art you can learn in a short period of time. Guo Jing immediately recited the Manual sentence by sentence. When Hong Qigong heard Guo Jing recited, ‘One knew that by sitting down and pondering deeply one can accomplish virtue; but unknowingly to attain excellence one requires flexibility, as well as clear and bright understanding. The body is cultivated two-folds; namely movement and stillness. Being attacked but stay still.’ he suddenly stood up, “Ah!” he exclaimed.

“What is it?” Guo Jing worriedly asked. Hong Qigong did not answer. He thought those sentences over for a while and then said, “Repeat the last part you were reading a moment ago.”

Guo Jing was delighted, he thought, “Shifu must have found some methods to fight the Old Poison in the last part.” Right away he re-read those sentences slowly.

Hong Qigong nodded his head and said, “That’s true. Carry on.” Guo Jing continued reciting the Manual from memory. Toward the end he recited, “Mo han si ge er, pin te huo ji en, jin qie hu si, ge shan ni ke …”

Hong Qigong was baffled, “What are you saying?”

Guo Jing answered, “Big Brother Zhou told me to memorize those sentences.”

Hong Qigong creased his brows, “What do they mean?” he asked.

“I don’t know,” Guo Jing replied, “Big Brother Zhou himself did not understand.”

“Carry on, then,” Hong Qigong said.

Guo Jing continued, “Bie er fa si, ge luo wu li …” until he came to the end; reciting all kinds of these tongue-twisting sentences.

“Hmm,” Hong Qigong said, “Turned out the Manual also contains some incantations to catch the ghosts.” He wanted to add, “Crafty priest, cheating people with cheap tricks,” but remembering the Manual contained an extensive profound mystery, this mumbo-jumbo must have had a deep meaning; he simply did not understand it for the time being. Hence, the words were about to leave his lips, but he swallowed them back.

After half a day Hong Qigong shook his head, “Jing’er,” he said, “There are many marvelous martial arts in the Manual, but none of them can be mastered in one whole day and night.”

Guo Jing was disappointed. Hong Qigong continued, “Quickly go and build a raft from those twenty lumbers, then go away as far as you can. Rong’er and I will stay here and devise a plan to deal with the Old Poison.”

“No,” Guo Jing hastily said, “How can I leave you, Senior?”

Hong Qigong sighed, “The Western Poison is scared of the Old Heretic Huang, he won’t harm Rong’er. In any case The Old Beggar is invalid. You quickly go!”

Guo Jing burst out in grieve and indignation; he raised his hand and struck the tree trunk with his palm.

This strike was extremely heavy, the sound echoed on the mountain and valley. Hong Qigong was startled, he quickly asked, “Jing’er, the palm you launched, what technique did you use?”

“Why?” Guo Jing was perplexed.

“You hit so hard, but the trunk did not even shake,” Hong Qigong said.

Guo Jing was very embarrassed, “I used up all my strength striking trees, my hands are so sore; I don’t have any more strength left,” he said.

“No, no,” Hong Qigong shook his head, “Your palm strike technique was a little strange. Strike again!”

Raising his hand he struck the tree with his palm. The sound shook the forest, but the tree did not budge. Suddenly it dawned on him. “That was the seventy-two stances Vacant Fist Big Brother Zhou taught disciple.”

“Vacant Fist? I have never heard of it,” Hong Qigong mused.

“That’s right,” Guo Jing said, “Big Brother Zhou was held prisoner on the Peach Blossom Island. He had nothing to do, so he invented this technique. He taught me these sixteen-character secret of the technique: ‘kong meng dong song, feng tong rong meng, chong qiong zhong nong, tong yong gong chong’ [empty and hazy like a loose cave, the wind blow carrying a dream, playing around in power or exhaustion, a child can use a worm as a weapon]”

Hong Qigong laughed, “What kind of empty hole?” he asked. [Play of words here, Hong Qigong said ‘tong nong ku long’ which rhymes with whatever Guo Jing was saying. I can’t translate it properly.]

Guo Jing explained, “Each one of these sixteen characters has their own meaning. The word ‘song’ [loose] means the fist must be devoid of strength; ‘chong’ [worm] means the body must be flexible like a worm; ‘meng’ [hazy] means the fist movement must be obscure, must not be too clear. Disciple will play it out for you to watch, what do you think?”

“The night is so dark, I can’t see anything,” Hong Qigong said, “Why don’t you explain it to me? This is an excellent martial art, I don’t have to see in order to understand it.”

Guo Jing explained from the first stance, ‘kong wan cheng fan’ [empty bowl filled with rice], to the second stance, ‘kong wu zhu ren’ [empty house occupied with people], with all variations therein, including how to send out the force, to Hong Qigong.

By nature Zhou Botong was mischievous, he gave each and every stance a funny name. Hong Qigong only heard up to the eighteenth stance, his heart was already filled with admiration. He cut Guo Jing off, “You don’t need to continue, I have found a way to fight the Western Poison.”

“With Vacant Fist?” Guo Jing asked, “I am afraid the disciple’s skill is insufficient.”

“I know that,” Hong Qigong said, “But we are in a desperate situation, we have to take a risk. Do you still have the dagger given by Qiu Chuji on you?” A cold light flashed in the dark night; Guo Jing took out his dagger. Hong Qigong said, “With the Vacant Fist technique, use this dagger to cut down some trees.” Guo Jing held his dagger by the hilt, the thin blade was only about one foot long. He was doubtful and did not say anything.

Hong Qigong said, “The 18-Dragon Subduing Palms I passed on to you is the pinnacle of the external type of martial art; that Vacant Fist is a very profound inner type of martial art. Your dagger can cut through metal and carve jade; what would be the problem of cutting tree trunk? The important thing is, your hand strength must follow the ‘kong’ [empty] and ‘song’ [loose] principles.”

Guo Jing pondered about it for half a day. Hong Qigong also gave him some more directions. Finally he understood. He jumped down the tree and went to find a medium size pine tree. With the Vacant Fist method of exerting energy, as if with force and without force, he lightly struck the trunk and sure enough the dagger went through the tree trunk. He exerted his strength and cut around the trunk; that tree fell down immediately. Guo Jing was ecstatic, with the same method he cut dozens on trees one after another. Looked like before daybreak he would be able to cut down a hundred lumbers.

While he was cutting trees, suddenly he heard Hong Qigong called out, “Jing’er, come up here.”

Guo Jing leaped up to the platform. “It really worked,” he said, “I did not even use too much energy.”

“Certainly we can’t waste our energy, can we?” Hong Qigong said.

“That’s right! That’s right!” Guo Jing exclaimed, “Now I understand the ‘kong meng dong song’ principle. Big Brother Zhou had explained it to me, but I did not understand it.”

“This martial art is more than enough to cut down trees,” Hong Qigong said, “But it is still far from adequate to fight the Western Poison. You must train in the Nine Yin Manual again, only then will you have a chance to defeat him. Let us think of some way to buy some time.” Speaking about plan and strategy, Guo Jing could only stay silent, letting his master to think.

After a long time, Hong Qigong shook his head and said, “I can’t think of anything good. Let us wait till tomorrow, perhaps Rong’er can come up with some clever ideas. Jing’er, listening to you reciting the Nine Yin Manual I had a thought; I believe I am not wrong. Help me get down this tree, I am going to practice my martial art.”

Guo Jing was shocked. “Your injury is not healed yet, how can you train?” he asked.

Hong Qigong answered, “The Manual said, ‘The body is cultivated two-folds; namely movement and stillness. Being attacked but stay still.’ These sentences had opened my eyes. Let us go down.”

Guo Jing did not understand the meaning of these sentences, but he did not dare to defy his master; hence he propped his master’s body and gently jumped down the tree.

Hong Qigong calmed himself down, then opened up his arms and launched a palm strike. In the darkness Guo Jing saw his master’s body was staggering forward like he was falling down. Guo Jing rushed forward to help, but Hong Qigong had already steadied himself. His breathing was heavy, but he said, “I am alright.”

A moment later he launched a left palm strike. Guo Jing saw him staggering along, his feet stumbled; he appeared to be extremely exhausted. Guo Jing fought hard the urge to rush forward and help his master; who would have thought that the more Hong Qigong practiced, the stronger he became. Initially he had to catch his breath for every single stance he launched, but afterwards he was able to launch several stances in succession; his footsteps were getting steadier as well. It was a tremendous improvement. Hong Qigong launched the whole set of ’18-dragon subduing fist’, followed by a set of ‘fu hu quan’ [crouching tiger fist].

Guo Jing waited until he finished, then he shouted happily, “You are healed!”

“Help me back up,” Hong Qigong said.

Guo Jing wrapped his arm around his master’s waist and jumped up to the platform. His delight was unspeakable, he mumbled repeatedly, “Very good! Very good!”

Hong Qigong sighed and said, “Not so good, this martial art is only good to behold, it’s actually useless.” Guo Jing did not understand, Hong Qigong explained, “After suffering an injury, all I did was resting, trying to recuperate. It never occurred to me that my martial art is of the external type; the more I move the better. It’s too bad I realized it way too late; now although my life will be spared, but my martial art will be very difficult to be restored.”

Guo Jing wanted to utter some words of comfort, but he did not know what to say; so after a while he simply said, “I’ll go down and chop some more trees.”

“Jing’er,” Hong Qigong suddenly said, “I think I have an idea to intimidate the Old Poison. See if you agree with me.” And then he explained his idea. Guo Jing was delighted, “Splendid! Splendid!” he exclaimed; and immediately jumped down the tree to make preparations.

Early in the morning the next day, Ouyang Feng came under the tree. He counted the lumber Guo Jing chopped down and found only ninety of them. He coldly laughed and shouted, “Little bastard [the same ‘za zhong’ as in Ode to Gallantry]! Quickly roll down here! Where are the other ten?”

Huang Rong had spent the entire night by Ouyang Ke’s side, tending his injury. Listening to his pitiful groaning she felt sorry for him. That morning Ouyang Feng left the cave, she followed behind. Hearing his loud shouts she was worried for Guo Jing.

Ouyang Feng waited for a moment, but nothing was heard from the tree above, except some gust of winds coming out from the distant hill. It sounded like somebody was practicing martial art. Hastily he followed the source of the sound. When he turned on the hillside, what he saw surprised him. Hong Qigong was sparring with Guo Jing; palms and kicks flew toward each other, they were engaged in a tight fight.

Huang Rong saw her master not only was able to walk unaided, but it looked like his skill was restored as well; she was pleasantly surprised. She heard him shouted, “Jing’er, careful with this next stance!” and he launched a palm strike.

Guo Jing raised his palm to parry, but before their palms met his body flew backward and ‘bang!’ he hit a pine tree. That tree was not too big, but it was about the mouth of a bowl in diameter; ‘crack!’ it snapped by the strength of Hong Qigong’s push and fell to the ground.

This strike was nothing but ordinary, but it was enough to stun Ouyang Feng. Huang Rong praised, “Shifu, that was a great ‘pi kong zhang’ [hacking empty air palm technique]!”

“Jing’er, guard your body well, don’t let my palm strength injure you!” Hong Qigong called out.

“Disciple understands,” Guo Jing replied. He was just closing his mouth when Hong Qigong’s palm arrived. ‘Crack!’ again Guo Jing was sent flying and bumping into a tree. Strike after strike came one after another; in a short period of time Hong Qigong had used the ‘pi kong zhang’ to send Guo Jing flying and snapping ten big trees down.

“We have ten trees already!” Huang Rong called out.

Guo Jing was gasping for breath. “Disciple is exhausted,” he said.

Hong Qigong held his palm and laughed, “This Nine Yin Manual is really wonderful. My injury was that heavy; I couldn’t even exert any strength, yet I achieve success just by one morning exercise.”

Ouyang Feng was suspicious; he stooped down to examine the broken tree trunks, but what he saw stunned him even more. Apart from the core of the trunk, the outer ring was exceptionally smooth, even smoother than it would be if the trunk was sawed. He thought, “Could it be that the martial art in the Manual is this marvelous? It looks like the Old Beggar’s martial art has been completely restored. How can I fight them if the three of them gang up against me? It’s been this far, I’d better start training myself on the martial art from that manual.” He cast a glance toward those three and flew back to the cave in a hurry. Immediately he fetch the book Guo Jing wrote, unwrapped layer upon layer of oil paper bundle and straightaway buried his head in the book, diligently studying the Manual.

Hong Qigong and Guo Jing waited until they could not see Ouyang Feng’s shadow anymore before both of them burst out in laughter. Huang Rong was delighted, “Shifu, this Manual is truly wonderful,” she said.

Hong Qigong laughed without giving her any response. Guo Jing rushed to her and said, “Rong’er, we were only pretending.”

Then he told her everything they had thought and done. It turned out that Guo Jing had used his dagger to cut around the trunks, leaving the center part intact. Actually Hong Qigong’s palm did not carry any strength at all; every time Guo Jing got hit, he used his own strength to fly backwards and bump into a tree, breaking it down. Ouyang Feng did not know that with the Vacant Fist energy, the dagger was capable of cutting deep into the bough; naturally he did not suspect that the cut was ma