anding on the bow; he had a big stature and was wearing a scarlet kassaya, it looked like he was Monk Lingzi. As the boat got closer, he saw more clearly, and it was indeed Monk Lingzi. Hastily he told his uncle.

Ouyang Feng concentrates his ‘qi’ on his ‘dan tian’ and loudly called out, “Friends, here, come quickly!”

Under the water Huang Rong did not know what was happening; Guo Jing knew they were in more trouble; he went underwater and pulled Huang Rong’s arm, signaling her that more enemies were coming. Huang Rong was not very clear on his intention, but she was aware something was not right, so she signaled back to Guo Jing to block Ouyang Feng’s palm, while she would sever the rope.

Guo Jing realized his own skill was inferior to the enemy by a long shot; now that he was underwater while the enemy was above the water, the difference was farther away. He knew blocking Ouyang Feng’s palm meant endangering his own life, but it was a critical time, he had no other alternative. Hence he exerted all his strength to his palms and suddenly jumped upward.

“Ugh!” Ouyang Feng grunted, his palms struck to the water; while Guo Jing’s palms were coming up from below. Two forces collided on the surface of the sea, creating a big splash. The raft was lifted several feet upward, and ‘crack! crack!’ the half raft was broken into two parts; it looked like Huang Rong managed to cut the rope just in time.

In the meantime the big boat was already dozens of ‘zhang’s away from the raft. After cutting the rope, immediately Huang Rong dove underwater. She was about to come up and stab Ouyang Feng when she saw Guo Jing was motionless, slowly sinking down. She was alarmed and quickly swam near and pulled his arm. She swam away for several ‘zhang’s before coming up to the surface. Guo Jing’s eyes were tightly shut, his face blue and his lips colorless; he was unconscious.

The boat lowered a small rescue boat with several sailors rowing the oars; they took Ouyang Feng uncle and nephew, as well as Hong Qigong aboard. Huang Rong called three times, “Brother Jing!” but Guo Jing did not wake up. She thought although the boat is full of the enemies, but she had no other alternative; she held on to Guo Jing’s head and swam toward the small boat.

The sailors pulled Guo Jing aboard and held out their hands to draw her, but Huang Rong’s left hand pressed on the boat’s edge and leaped up like a flying fish from the water to the boat, scaring the sailors.

When his palms collided with Ouyang Feng’s, Guo Jing felt a tremendous force surging through his body and he passed out immediately. He awakened and felt he was leaning on Huang Rong’s bosom, and was aware that they were on a small boat. He circulated his breathing and found out that he was not internally injured; he raised his brows and smiled to Huang Rong.

Huang Rong smiled back at him and her anxiety and fear were gone in an instant; at last she had an opportunity to see what kind of boat was coming to rescue them. But once she looked up, she was groaning inwardly; she saw on the bow of the big boat stood seven, eight men, tall and short. They were precisely the Wulin characters she met several months earlier at the Zhao Palace in Yanjing. The one short and stout with bright eyes was ‘qian shou ren tu’ [thousand-hand man slaughterer] Peng Lianhu, the one with a bald, shiny head was ‘gui men long wang’ [dragon king of Guimen (lit. ghost gate) Note to final editor: the earlier chapter has ‘Dragon King of Demonic Group’] Sha Tongtian, the one with three tumors on his head sticking out like horns was ‘san tou jiao’ [three-headed scaly dragon] Hou Tonghai, the one with ruddy face and white hair was ‘shen xian lao guai’ [ginseng immortal old freak] Liang Ziweng, the one wearing scarlet kassaya was the Tibetan monk ‘da shou yin’ [big hand print] Venerable Lingzhi. There were several others that she did not know. She thought, “Recently Brother Jing’s martial arts and mine have enjoyed a tremendous improvement. If we have to fight with Peng Lianhu and the others one to one, I might not win, but Brother Jing will definitely score victory. But there is the Old Poison standing nearby, plus these many people are gathered together. It will be very difficult for us to escape danger today.”

The people on the big boat were surprised to hear Ouyang Feng’s shouts from the raft. Now they saw Guo Jing and the others, they were even more surprised. Ouyang Feng was holding his nephew; Guo Jing and Huang Rong carried Hong Qigong, five people in two groups jumped up one after another from the small rescue boat to the big boat.

Soon a man was coming out the cabin to welcome them; he wore an embroidered colored robe. As soon as he saw Guo Jing, both men were stunned. That man wore a neat beard on his chin, he had a handsome face; it was none other than the Sixth Prince of the Great Jin, Wanyan Honglie.

After escaping from the Liu family ancestral hall in Baoying, Wanyan Honglie was afraid Guo Jing might pursue him to the north, hence he did not dare to go home. He came across Peng Lianhu, Sha Tongtian and the others and decided to go down south to steal the book left behind by Yue Wumu (the Wumu Legacy). At that time the Mongolian army had dispatched a large scale military expedition against the Jins; the capital, Yanjing, had been besieged for several months, the sixteen prefectures surrounding it had fallen under Mongolian invasion. As the days past, the situation of the Jin was getting more and more critical. Wanyan Honglie was very worried about the fate of his country; he saw with his own eyes that the Mongolians were very swift and fierce. Although the Jin army was ten times in terms of number, each time they met, the Jins were routed left and right. Wanyan Honglie painstakingly pondered any idea to rebuild his country’s lofty aspirations, and came to the conclusion that what he needed right at that time was the Wumu Legacy. He thought that as long as this book on military strategy was in his possession, he would be able to build a divine and invincible army; just like Yue Fei’s own army. Even though Mongolian army was strong, they would flee just at the sight of his army.

Presently he led this expedition going south, trying to track the whereabouts of the Legacy; only he feared the Southern Song would uncover his intention and be on guard against the intruders. Therefore, he decided to go by the sea; hoping nobody would know his itinerary and he could land at the Zhejiang coast undetected and quietly enter Lin’an to steal the book.

Actually before departing he was looking for Ouyang Ke; he knew he was a martial art expert and would become a highly useful companion, but after a long time did not have any news about him, he decided to leave without waiting for this man. This time suddenly they met quite by accident on the sea, not only Ouyang Ke, but also Guo Jing at his side, he could not help but secretly feeling anxious; he was afraid his big secret mission had been compromised.

Seeing the enemy who killed his father, Guo Jing was seething with anger; he did not care if he was being surrounded by powerful enemies, he looked at Wanyan Honglie with blazing gaze.

Just then someone else was coming out of the cabin, but only half step through the door he immediately shrunk back in. Huang Rong’s sharp eyes saw that man looked like Yang Kang.

In the meantime Ouyang Ke introduced his uncle to the prince, “Uncle, this is the Sixth Prince of the Great Jin who loves people of high skill.” Ouyang Feng cupped his fists in front of his chest.

Wanyan Honglie did not know that Ouyang Feng had a very big name in the martial art realms; he saw Ouyang Feng showed an arrogant expression, but for Ouyang Ke’s sake he returned the respect.

As Peng Lianhu, Sha Tongtian and the others heard his name, they bowed and sang their praises, “For a long time Mr. Ouyang is the Mount Tai and the Big Dipper [meaning ‘ultimate’] of the Wulin world; today we are fortunate to finally meet you.” Ouyang Feng slightly bowed, returning their respect half-heartedly.

The ‘da shou yin’ Venerable Lingzhi came from Tibet, he did not know the Western Poison’s reputation; he merely put his palms together without saying anything.

Wanyan Honglie knew that Sha Tongtian and the others were conceited men, they always looked down towards others; but he noticed they were very respectful toward Ouyang Feng almost to the point of fear and heaped him with flattering words, and their faces looked very unusual. Wanyan Honglie realized that this swollen man with disheveled hair and bare feet was not an ordinary person; immediately he treated Ouyang Feng with respect and uttered some polite words.

Among these people, Liang Ziweng was the only one with different feeling. Guo Jing had drunk the valuable blood of his precious viper; now that they saw each other, how could he not feel angry? But he noticed that the person he was most afraid of, Hong Qigong, was with Guo Jing. So even though he was very angry, he managed to keep a smiling face. He went forward and bowed respectfully, “The little Liang Ziweng greets Clan Leader Hong, wishing you, Senior well.”

His speech had startled everybody else; they have heard the stellar reputation of the Western Poison and the Northern Beggar for a long time, but they have never met them in person. Who would have expected that two of the biggest names of the martial art world actually made their appearance at the same time? They were about to rush forward and pay their respects when Hong Qigong laughed big and said, “The Old Beggar is having a very bad luck, a vicious dog has bitten me half dead and half alive, what are you paying respect for? It’s better for you to bring me something to eat.”

Everybody was startled, they thought, “This Hong Qigong only laying down motionless, turned out he is severely injured. We don’t have anything to fear, then.” They looked at Ouyang Feng, wanted to see what he was going to do.

Early on Ouyang Feng had cooked up a plan on how to get rid of these three people: Hong Qigong must be eliminated first to avoid his own lowly behavior to be publicly known; next, he would force Guo Jing to explain the difficult sentences from the manual, and then he would execute him. As for Huang Rong, although his nephew loved her, if he left her alive, she would bring enormous disaster in the future. However, if he personally killed her, Huang Yaoshi would not let him have a single moment of peace. Therefore, he wanted to borrow someone else’s hand to have her killed thus shifting the blame from his own shoulders. Presently these three were aboard the boat, thus he was not afraid they would fly to the sky to escape. He stepped forward and said to Wanyan Honglie, “These three people are very crafty; they are also highly skilled in martial arts. I beseech the Prince to assign some people to guard them well.”

Liang Ziweng was very pleased; he leaned to the left and squeezed through Sha Tongtian to grab Guo Jing’s hand. Guo Jing turned his wrist over and slapped Liang Ziweng’s shoulder. It was the ‘seeing dragon in the field’; a swift and heavy stance; even though Liang Ziweng’s martial art skill was high, unexpectedly he was forced to stagger back two steps.

Peng Lianhu and Liang Ziweng were continually in competition to win favor in the presence of Wanyan Honglie. They always wanted to outdo the other; their faces were different from their hearts. Seeing Liang Ziweng stumble, Peng Lianhu was secretly very pleased. He stepped forward to surround Hong Qigong and the others; but he waited for Liang Ziweng to fall flat before making any action.

When Liang Ziweng squeezed through Sha Tongtian’s side to pull Guo Jing away; he was prepared against Guo Jing’s single stance of the Proud Dragon Repents; he knew he would not be able to block it head on, hence the sideways attack. Who would have thought that in less than a month the Proud Dragon Repents was not the only one Guo Jing knew? Seeing Guo Jing did not pursue, he jumped up and attacked with his fists, launching his lifelong trained martial art, the ‘liao dong ye hu quan fa’ [wild fox from Liaodong fist technique]; determined to take Guo Jing’s life, both for embarrassing him just now, also for killing his precious snake in the past.

One time Liang Ziweng went to pick ginseng on Mount Changbai [located in Jilin province]; he saw a hound was fighting with a wild fox on the snow. The fox was very cunning, it leaped to the east and hopped to the west, very quick and agile. Although the hound’s claws and teeth were sharp, after battling for a long time it had not scored victory yet. Liang Ziweng noticed the ability of the fox to jump very high; he got a sudden inspiration. He abandoned his intention to pick ginseng and decided to stay inside a thatched hut on the deep snowy mountain, painstakingly pondering martial art moves for several months. As a result, the ‘wild fox fist technique’ was born.

The technique incorporates four fundamental principles, namely ‘ling’ [alert/quick], ‘shan’ [dodge], ‘pu’ [pounce], and ‘die’ [tumble]. This technique had come in handy in dealing with powerful enemies of his. First of all, he did not give the enemy any opportunity to catch him as he was very quick to retreat, as he was able to hasten to the left and escape to the right; and then struck back as opportunity arose.

This time he did not dare to underestimate his opponent anymore and launched this fist technique right away. His attacks were lightning fast as he threw everything he got on Guo Jing. The fist technique was weird, Guo Jing had never seen anything like it before. He thought, “In Rong’er’s ‘luo ying shen jian zhang’ [falling leaves divine sword palm technique] there are many trick moves; out of five attacks only one is real; or perhaps one out of eight. But seems like this old man’s fists are all empty strikes. I wonder what kind of strange technique is this?” However, he still remembered Hong Qigong’s advice that regardless of the technique his opponent was using, all he needed to do was to keep fighting using the 18-Dragon Subduing Palms.

After watching these two men fighting for a while, everybody started to silently shake their heads, thinking, “The Old Freak Liang can be considered a grand master of martial art; how come in fighting this new born kid he keeps moving around and does not dare to attack head on?”

Several moves later Guo Jing’s palm strength started to push him back step by step; looked like very soon he would fall into the ocean. Realizing his ‘wild fox fist’ would not help him scoring the victory, Liang Ziweng was thinking of using a different set of fist technique; but it was too late. Guo Jing’s palms had enveloped him completely, did not give him any chance to counterattack.

Amidst the strong gusts of wind Hong Qigong’s voice was heard, “Attack the lower part!”

Guo Jing immediately launched the stance ‘zhan long zai ye’ [exhausted battling dragon] and his left arm swept away. Liang Ziweng cried out in alarm and tumbled down over the edge of the boat.

Everybody was stunned and rushed forward to the edge to watch, only to hear somebody on the sea laugh a long laugh. Suddenly Liang Ziweng’s body flew back up and with a loud grunt he fell straight back to the deck, unconscious.

What had just happened confounded everybody on board. Could it be that the sea water bounced his body back up? Everybody crowded by the edge of the boat, looking down to the sea below, only to see an old man with white beard and white hair rushing to the east and dashing to the west on the surface of the sea with an unusual speed. They strained their eyes to see more clearly; turned out that man was riding on the back of a huge shark, with a speed not inferior to those riding on horseback galloping on dry land.

Guo Jing was pleasantly surprised, with a loud voice he shouted, “Big Brother Zhou, I am here!” That shark rider was indeed the Old Urchin Zhou Botong.

Zhou Botong heard Guo Jing’s shout; he cheered in delight and hit the shark head near its right eye with his fist; the shark turned left immediately, coming near by the boat’s side.

“Is that Brother Guo?” Zhou Botong called out, “How are you? There is a whale ahead. I have been chasing it for a whole day and night. I want to continue chasing it. See you later!”

“Big Brother! Come here, quick!” Guo Jing anxiously called, “There are so many bad people in here want to bully your little brother!”

Zhou Botong was angry, “Is that so?” His right hand held on something inside the shark’s mouth and pulled, while his left hand dangled on the ledge of the big boat. Both man and shark suddenly flew up and above everybody’s head, and landed on the deck. He roared, “Who dares to bully my little brother?”

Every single one of the people aboard had an extensive knowledge of Jianghu matters, but this white bearded old man who suddenly appeared in a most bizarre way caused everybody to be stupefied. Even Hong Qigong and Ouyang Feng were dumbstruck.

Zhou Botong saw Huang Rong; he felt strange. “How come you are also here?” he asked.

Huang Rong smiled, “Why not?” she replied, “I figured out you will come back today, that’s why I am waiting for you here. Quickly teach me how to ride a shark.”

Zhou Botong laughed, “Very well, I’ll teach you.”

Huang Rong replied, “But first you have to help us get rid of these bad people, and then you can teach me.”

Zhou Botong swept his gaze across the people on the deck and he said to Ouyang Feng, “I knew other people won’t dare to act so savagely, turned out it is really you.”

Ouyang Feng coldly replied, “A man who did not keep his word, even if he is alive in this world, he will be the laughingstock of all the warriors of the world.”

“Totally correct,” Zhou Botong said, “A man of integrity certainly won’t cause trouble; but whoever speaks and whoever farts has to be distinguished clearly; otherwise other people who hear it might not know if the sound comes out from above or from below. I am indeed looking for you to settle an old score, so it’s nothing better than to see you here. Old Beggar, you are our witness; stand up and give us your judgment.”

Hong Qigong was lying on the deck, he smiled slightly. Huang Rong said, “The Old Poison was almost dead nine times, and my Shifu was kind enough to rescue him every single time; but who would have thought that he has a heart of a wolf and the lungs of a dog, repaying kindness with evil, he injured my Shifu and sealed his acupoints.”

Actually, overall Hong Qigong only saved Ouyang Feng’s life three times, but Huang Rong intentionally exaggerated that number three times. Ouyang Feng knew this, but he did not want to argue; he only looked at her with blazing eyes.

Zhou Botong stooped down trying to unseal Hong Qigong’s ‘qu xhi’ [song reservoir] and ‘yong quan’ [bubbling spring] acupoints by rubbing them. “Old Urchin, it’s useless,” Hong Qigong said.

Turned out the acupoint sealing method Ouyang Feng used was somewhat unusual, other than himself and Huang Yaoshi, there was nobody else in this whole wide world who would be able to unseal it. Ouyang Feng was so smug, “Old Urchin, unseal his acupoints if you have the ability,” he challenged.

Even though Huang Rong could not unseal them, but she was familiar with the sealing method; she made a flat lip and said, “What’s so strange about that? Without too much effort my father can unseal this ‘tou gu da xue fa’ [penetrating bone acupoint sealing technique].”

Hearing her mentioning the correct name of his acupoint sealing technique, Ouyang Feng was amazed that this little girl knowledge was as deep as a bottomless abyss, even encompassing acupoint sealing techniques. However, he did not pay any attention to her; turning to Zhou Botong he asked, “You have lost our bet; why are you talking like breaking a smelly wind?”

Zhou Botong covered up his nose and called out, “Break wind? Smell bad, smell bad! But let me ask you this: what did we bet on?”

“Everybody here, except this surnamed Guo kid and this little girl, is a well-known warrior. I’ll tell what had happened and ask these gentlemen to be our judge,” Ouyang Feng replied.

“Well said, well said,” Peng Lianhu said, “Mr. Ouyang, please tell us.”

“This gentleman here is the Quan Zhen Sect’s Zhou Botong, Master Zhou, known in the Jianghu world as the Old Urchin. In term of seniority he held a very high position, even Qiu Chuji, Wang Chuyi, and the other Quan Zhen Seven Masters are his martial nephews.

For the last dozen of years or so, Zhou Botong was detained on the Peach Blossom Island, before then his martial art skill was still obscure; except for some mischievous troubles, he had never accomplished anything worth mentioning, therefore, his reputation did not spread loud and wide in the Jianghu world. However, everybody had seen that he was riding a shark, a feat not easily accomplished by any of them. Turned out he was the martial uncle of the Quan Zhen Seven Masters, no wonder he was this good. As a result everybody talked among themselves in low voice.

Peng Lianhu remembered their appointment on the eighth month’s mid-autumn festival in Jiaxing; if the Quan Zhen Seven Masters had this strange man as their helper, they would not be easy to deal with. He could not help but feeling anxious.

Ouyang Feng continued, “This Zhou Xiong was stranded on the sea among a flock of sharks, and I rescued him out. I said this flock of sharks was nothing; without to much effort I can kill every single one of them. Zhou Xiong did not believe me, thus the two of us made a bet. Zhou Xiong, wasn’t what I said true?”

Zhou Botong nodded his head repeatedly, “It was absolutely true. Betting on what, you need to explain to everybody,” he said.

“Exactly!” Ouyang Feng said, “I said that if I lost, I will do whatever you want me to do. If I am not willing to do it, then I must jump into the sea to become fish food. You have said the same thing, is that correct?”

Zhou Botong nodded his head again, “Right, right, that was absolutely correct; and then what happened?” he asked.

“What do you mean ‘what happened’? You have lost!” Ouyang Feng said.

This time Zhou Botong shook his head repeatedly, “Not true, not true!” he said, “It was you who have lost, not me.”

Ouyang Feng was angry, “A real man can distinguish between right and wrong; how can you deny your own words? If I lost, how come you were willing to plunge into the sea to kill yourself?”

Zhou Botong sighed, “That’s true. Originally I also said that the Old Urchin’s fortune was bad so I lost to you; who would have thought that as I went down into the water the Heaven sent something we can regard as a coincidence. Only then did I know that the Old Poison had lost, the Old Urchin had won.”

Together Ouyang Feng, Hong Qigong and Huang Rong asked, “What coincidence?”

Zhou Botong stooped down and with his left hand, grabbed a piece of stick stuck inside the shark’s mouth. He lifted the shark and said, “I met my riding animal. Old Poison, take a look; it was your precious nephew who stuck this wooden stick inside its mouth, wasn’t it?”

It was indeed Ouyang Ke who concocted this wicked plan to prop-up a wooden stick inside the shark’s mouth, so that it would not be able to eat and eventually die of starvation. This, Ouyang Feng had seen with his own eyes. Right now he saw a huge shark with a wooden stick in its mouth; he also saw the wound caused by the hook on the shark’s mouth. Without any doubt this was the very same shark they returned to the sea that day. “So what?” he asked.

Zhou Botong clapped his hands and laughed, “That means you lost! Our bet was you killed every single one of the sharks, but this good fellow was bestowed a good fortune by your nephew, it could not eat the dead sharks, hence could not eat the poison. It was the only shark left alive. So how can’t you say the Old Urchin has won?” He burst out in laughter. Ouyang Feng’s countenance changed, he could not say anything.

Guo Jing delightedly asked, “Big Brother, where were you these past few days? I was so miserable thinking about you.”

Zhou Botong laughed, “I am playing and having fun. Not long after I jumped into the sea, I saw this fellow grasping for breath on the surface, it seemed to be in agony. I said, ‘Old Shark, oh Old Shark, looks like today you and I share the same fate!’ And then I jumped suddenly on the shark’s back. It furiously went down under the water, I had to hold my breath, my both hands holding tightly to its neck and my feet randomly kicked its belly. With great difficulty it went back up to the surface. Without giving me a chance to take two mouthfuls of breathe this fellow dove back underwater. The two of us fought for half a day and finally he became obedient and was willing to listen to what I say; I want it go to the east, it went to the east, I want it to head north, he wouldn’t dare of going south.” While saying those words he gently patted the shark’s head, looking so pleased.

Among those who were present, Huang Rong was the only one who admired and envied him. Her eyes shone and she asked, “I have played in the sea for many years, why hadn’t I thought of this trick? I was so stupid!”

“Look at its mouth full of teeth, they are as sharp as knives,” Zhou Botong said, “If there is no stick in its mouth, do you dare to ride it?”

“You spent the last few days riding on the back of the fish?” Huang Rong asked.

“Certainly,” Zhou Botong replied, “The two of us have a pretty good skill of catching fish. As soon as we saw a fish, we chased it; I sent a fist or a palm to kill it. Out of ten fish, I only ate one and this fellow ate the other nine.”

Huang Rong traced the shark’s belly and asked, “You dumped dead fish into its belly? It did not need its teeth to eat?”

“Oh, he is a good eater,” Zhou Botong answered, “There was a time the two of us chasing an extremely big cuttlefish …”

Two people, one old the other young, were having an animated discussion, totally ignoring everybody else on board the ship. Ouyang Feng groaned inwardly, silently thinking of some ideas to deal with this situation. Suddenly Zhou Botong turned to him and said, “Hey, Old Poison, do you admit defeat?”

Ouyang Feng was the one making the speech earlier; how could he swallow his own words in front of these many people? He was obliged to say, “So what if I lost? Do you think there is anything I can’t do?”

“Hmm,” Zhou Botong said, “I must think of a difficult thing for you to do. Very well, you scolded me just now that I was farting; I want you to fart immediately! Let everybody smell.”

Hearing Zhou Botong only asked Ouyang Feng to break wind for no reason at all Huang Rong was annoyed. Breaking wind at will was naturally not easy for an average person, but with a strong internal energy, it was not difficult to circulate the breathing to the whole body, hence it was an extremely trivial thing to do. She was afraid of Ouyang Feng’s craftiness and of his venomous snake staff; she was afraid he would grab this opportunity and gently broke wind, hence put it all behind without too much trouble. Therefore, hastily she said, “Not good, not good! First you want to tell him to unseal my Shifu’s acupoints, then we can talk again.”

“Look!” Zhou Botong said, “Even a young miss is afraid of your smelly fart. Alright, I’ll let you go this time. I am not going to ask you to do a difficult thing anyway; quickly tend to the Old Beggar’s injury. The Old Beggar’s skill is not under yours; if not of your sneakiness, no way you would be able to injure him. After he is healed, the two of you can fight again. That time let the Old Urchin be the judge.”

Ouyang Feng knew Hong Qigong’s injury was incurable; he was not afraid of future retaliation. But he was afraid Zhou Botong would come up with a more difficult and strange request. Under the eyes of numerous people he felt really awkward; he did not want to comply, yet he was too proud to deny. Without saying anything he bent down and exerted his strength to his palm and unsealed Hong Qigong’s acupoints. Huang Rong and Guo Jing rushed forward to help their master standing up.

Zhou Botong again swept his gaze to the people on the deck, he said, “The Old Urchin is most afraid to smell the urine taste of the sheep eaten by barbarians. Quickly let down a small boat to send us four people ashore.”

Ever since he saw the fight between Zhou Botong and Huang Yaoshi, Ouyang Feng knew that this man’s martial art was really strange. If for any reason they had to fight, he was certain he would not be defeated, but scoring a victory was not guaranteed either. Therefore, he decided to endure patiently for the time being. He wanted to wait until he had mastered the Nine Yin Manual, then he would come and settle the account with Zhou Botong. Besides, he had an excuse of losing the bet earlier. When all was said and done, it would be better off to send this annoying plague away anyway, so he made up his mind and said, “ Very well, your luck was very good! Since you won the bet, let it be as you said.” Turning his head to Wanyan Honglie he said, “Prince, please let down a boat to take this four people ashore.”

Wanyan Hongli hesitated, he thought, “I am afraid as soon as they are ashore, these four people will leak my secret mission to the south.”

All along the Venerable Lingzhi was watching with his cold eyes; earlier he had seen Ouyang Feng’s unkempt appearance and already his heart was filled with contempt. He thought that this chicken-half-drown-in-soup did not dare to defy even for half a word of whatever Zhou Botong told him to do; most likely he had been enjoying an unearned reputation. Even if his martial art was excellent, he would not be necessarily more skillful than the rest of the people on board. Noticing Wanyan Honglie had a slight hesitation, he moved forward two steps and said, “If we are on the raf