olding on to his pants, he said, “Are you leaving? I’m going to let go!” Huang Rong was shocked, as she never expected a reputable clan leader to use such a dirty trick. She feared that he would really let his pants drop so she turned to leave. She heard him laughing behind as he grabbed his pants and chased her. The normally cunning Huang Rong somehow ran out of tricks and simply evaded him, finding it infuriating yet funny. He was about to catch up when he saw Guo Jing jumping out from the corner and shielding Huang Rong with his palms ready to strike. Qiu Qianren saw that this was a powerful stance so he laughed, “Ah! Oh no!” Huang Rong said, “Brother Jing, hit him.” From what Guo Jing saw the previous night, he knew Qiu Qianren’s martial arts level was comparable to Ouyang Feng, Huang Yaoshi and Zhou Botong so he did not dare underestimate him. He concentrated his Qi in his Dan Tian to prepare for his enemy. Qiu Qianren still held on to his pants saying, “You dolls better listen to Master here – today I ate something bad and my stomach’s upset.” Huang Rong repeated, “Brother Jing, hit him.” But she herself stepped backwards. Qiu Qianren said, “I know what you’re up to. You won’t be satisfied unless old Master here teaches you a lesson. But today, I’ve got trouble with my stomach. Fine; listen up, within 7 days, meet me at the foot of Iron Palm Mountain. Do you dare come?” Huang Rong heard him refer to himself as Master and held her bronze needles to throw at him for talking rubbish. Just as she was about to release the needles, she heard “foot of the Iron Palm Mountain” and remembered the 4 lines of words in the painting she saw at Qu Ling Feng’s place. She said, “OK, we should come to take a look. When we meet then, we’re not going to play with you. How do we get there?”

Qiu Qianren said, “From here, head west, pass through Chang De, Chun District, then proceed up Chao Yuan River. There will be a 5-peak mountain shaped like a palm. That’s it. That’s a dangerous place; if you’re afraid, then apologize to me and don’t come.” Huang Rong became more excited and said, “OK, it’s a promise. See you there.” Qiu Qianren nodded before exclaiming, “Ah!” and rushed off clutching his waist.

Guo Jing said, “Rong-er, there’s something I don’t understand. Please explain.” Huang Rong asked, “Yes?” Guo Jing said, “This old man’ martial arts are good; we’re not his match, but why does he try to fool us? That day at the Gui Yun Mansion, he struck my chest. If he’d used his full strength, I’d be dead. What is he driving at?” Huang Rong nibbled her finger, saying, “I’ve got no idea. When I tripped him just now, he did not try to use his skill, maybe what he did with the bronze staff last night was a trick.” Guo Jing shook his head, “He broke Lu Youjiao’s fingers – that can’t be faked.”

Huang Rong bent down and used her hairpin to draw on the ground. After a moment, she sighed, “I can’t figure out what this old thief is up to. Anyway when we reach the 5-peak mountain, we could find out.” Guo Jing asked, “Why should we go there? We should find Master. This old man is a trickster, yet you believe him?” Huang Rong said, “Brother Jing, the painting that Father handed you was wet by the rain and some words were revealed; what were they?” Guo Jing shook his head. “The words were not complete, I can’t infer anything meaningful.” Huang Rong laughed “Really?” Guo Jing knew he could not have understood it on his own, so he quickly said, “Rong-er, you must know it, quick, tell me.” Huang Rong wrote the lines of words and said, “The first line had the word ‘Wu’ missing, so it should be ‘Wu Mu Yi Shu’ (Yue Fei’s War Strategies Manual ‘ 武穆遗书 ’). I couldn’t have guessed the 2nd line if not for that old man, so it should be either ‘Mountain’ or ‘Peak’.” She recited the lines, “Wu Mu Yi Shu, Zhai Tie Zhang Shan (The manual is at the Iron Palm Mountain).” Guo Jing clapped and exclaimed, “Yes! Let’s go! The Iron Palm Sect is corroborating with the Jin troops – they’d surely hand the manual to Wanyan Honglie. What’s next?” Huang Rong laughed, “That old man said the mountain is shaped like a palm, and the 3rd line is ‘Zhong Zhi Feng Xia’ (under the peak of the central finger).” Guo Jing said excitedly, “Yes, Yes Rong-er, you’re brilliant! The 4th line!” Huang Rong said, “I’m not sure. ‘Di er…jie’ (The 2nd … ).” She tossed her hair in the wind, saying. “ I give up. We’ll talk when we get there.”

They rode towards the place described and reached it within a day. They asked around but everybody shook their heads. They were disappointed and put up at an inn. Huang Rong asked the waiter but he did not mention anything relevant. Huang Rong said, “This place is boring. Is there anything worth seeing?” The waiter could not resist and said, “There’s this Monkey’s Claw Mountain – the scenery is unparalleled.” Huang Rong asked, “Where is that?” The waiter did not reply but instead said, “Never mind,” and walked out.

Huang Rong chased him and pulled him back and placed a silver ingot on the table, saying, “Tell me more and this is yours.” The waiter gently touched the ingot and said, “You are sure about this?” Huang Rong nodded with a smile. The waiter said in a low voice, “I’ll talk, but you must not go. That place is reputed to be inhabited by beasts and demons. Whoever goes within 5 miles of the mountain can only dream of coming back alive.” The couple nodded. Huang Rong said, “The mountain has 5 peaks shaped like a monkey’s hand, isn’t it?” The waiter exclaimed, “Yes! So you already knew! I didn’t say that. But there’s something strange about the mountain.” Guo Jing asked, “What?” He replied, “The mountain being shaped like a hand isn’t really strange, what’s strange is that every ‘finger’ on the mountain has 3 segments, just like our fingers.” Huang Rong jumped up, shouting, “The 2nd segment, the 2nd segment!” Guo Jing yelled happily, “Correct! Precisely!” The waiter did not know what was going on and starred at the couple blankly. Huang Rong asked for more details and handed him the silver. The waiter left happily.

Huang Rong stood up and said, “Brother Jing, Let’s go.” Guo Jing said, “It’s less than 30km from here. We can use the Red Horse to rush there now, and we can pay them a visit tomorrow morning.” Huang Rong laughed, “What visit? Steal the book!” Guo Jing exclaimed, “Yes! I’m so dense, I didn’t think of that.” They did not want to arouse any attention so they left through the window and galloped southeast. The waist-length grass hindered their movement, but when they were 20km away, they saw the 5-peak mountain in the distance. Guo Jing excitedly said, “The mountain looks exactly like the painting; see the pine trees at the summit?” Huang Rong laughed, “We’re short of a general up there. Brother Jing, go up and display your sword skills.” Guo Jing laughed, “But I’m not a general.” Huang Rong replied, “Isn’t that easy? Eventually Genghis Khan…” Her words trailed off. Guo Jing knew what she meant and turned his head away, not daring to face her.

They left their horse at the foot of the mountain and utilized their Qinggong to scale the mountain. After many twists and turns, they came to a thick clump of pine trees. They stopped to discuss if they should continue upwards or investigate the clump of trees when they saw a faint light among the trees. They exchanged hand signs and crept stealthily towards the light. Suddenly, there was a whoosh and two black-clad armed men jumped up and blocked the road. Huang Rong thought, “If we fight them, it would be difficult to steal the book.” She had an idea and took out Qiu Qianren’s Iron Palm token and showed them wordlessly. When the two men saw it, they were shocked and quickly bowed and stepped aside. Huang Rong swiftly drew her bamboo stick and struck their accupoints then kicked them into the tall grass. She crept closer and saw a large stone house with two boxes on the left and right of the entrance. In the center, a large urn was burning on a stove and the burning smell was easily detectable. Two young attendants stood on each side of the stove, one of them stirring the mixture inside with an iron ladle. From the sizzling sound, it was clear that the urn contained iron filings. An old man sat close by, breathing deeply – it was Qiu Qianren. After a while, he lifted his palms then stood up suddenly and struck his palms into the urn. Qiu Qianren practiced on the burning iron filings for a while then struck towards a cloth sack suspended above. The palm hit the sack with a solid slap, yet the sack did not even move.

Guo Jing was secretly shocked, thinking, “This cloth sack is not supported by anything behind, yet it didn’t move. His palm skill must be extremely good.” Huang Rong, however felt that it must be a trick; if she wanted to steal the book first, she would have said so earlier. He struck his palms into the urn then struck the cloth sack again, repeating this process several times. Huang Rong just could not figure out how he did this trick and thought, “If 2nd Master were here, he’d surely guess it. I’m not as smart as he is.” They peeped into the adjacent room and had another shock. Inside, a male and female seated together – it was Yang Kang and Mu Nianci. Both Guo Jing and Huang Rong wondered, “How did Sister Mu get here?” They heard Yang Kang’s sweet and flattering words and discovered that he was trying to trick her into marriage earlier. Mu Nianci, however, insisted that he kill Wanyan Hong Lie first before going into a relationship. Yang Kang said, “My dear, how could you be so short-sighted?” Mu Nianci queried curiously, “How so?” Yang Kang said, “Yes! Wanyan Hong Lie is surrounded by many bodyguards. Based on just myself alone, how could I succeed? If you marry me, I could pretend to take you to visit your in-laws. With the two of us, our chances are naturally better.” Mu Nian Ci felt that this made sense, so she remained silent. Yang Kang saw that she was willing and so he held her hand and gently stroke it, then stretched his hand to hug her waist. Huang Rong could not take it and wanted to step forward and expose his plan when she heard an old rasping voice behind her, “Who dares trespass my mountain?” The couple turned around and saw Qiu Qianren’s face glowering under the moonlight. Though he must have been playing a trick, his menacing gaze showed that he should not be trifled with. Huang Rong was startled, then thought, “He’s on his own mountain now, of course he’d try to put on airs. Yup, he already discovered our presence earlier on, so he deliberately set this up for us, isn’t it?” She laughed, “Old Qiu, we are here on your invitation. Have you forgotten the 7 –day appointment?” Qiu Qianren snapped, “What appointment? Rubbish!” Huang Rong laughed, “Hmm, how could you forget it so soon? Is your stomach upset gone yet? If not, you should consult a physician before exchanging blows with me, to prevent … hehehe!” Qiu Qianren did not respond but launched both palms towards Huang Rong’s shoulder fiercely. She giggled and ignored his strike, wanting to use her Soft Armour to pierce his palms. Just then Guo Jing exclaimed, “Get down!” She felt a guest of wind and knew Guo Jing tried to intercept him but felt a heavy blow smashing right into her. She fell backwards and everything went black.

Qiu Qianren felt a shock to his palms as they bled profusely. He was shocked and furious when he saw Guo Jing’s palms flying to him, so he quickly retracted his palms and met Guo Jing’s strike. Their palms met with a smack and both retreated three steps. Qiu Qianren stood firmly while Guo Jing stumbled, which clearly showed the difference between their palm strengths. The previous night when they exchanged blows, Guo Jing appeared to be on par only because he used the Big Dipper Formation. Guo Jing was concerned about Huang Rong, so he withdrew from the battle and hugged her up to go, but he heard the wind gust from behind – he was being attacked again. Guo Jing struck his right hand backwards without turning around, using the move ‘Dragon Displays Its Tail’ – this was a special move designed to save lives, and now when he was in great danger, the power of the move was increased. Qiu Qianren hit his palms and felt his body go slightly numb. He checked his hands and found the blood glistening in the moonlight and was afraid Huang Rong’s protective vest could be poisoned. He looked closely and saw that the blood was still bright red, so he breathed a sigh of relief. Guo Jing took advantage of his procrastination to grab Huang Rong and dash out towards the summit. He only ran a few dozen steps when he heard angry shouts from behind. He turned and saw numerous black–clad men with torches swarming towards him. In the chaos he happened to discover that Huang Rong was not breathing. He screamed, “Rong-er! Rong-er!” There was no response. With this slight delay, Qiu Qianren’s men came within a dangerous distance. Guo Jing thought, “If I were alone, I could break through this encirclement easily, but Rong-er is severely injured. I can’t take this risk.”

He ran faster and climbed directly upwards. He had learnt mountain-scaling skills before, so it was not long before he threw his pursuers far behind. Still, he did not stop, and when his face came into contact with Huang Rong’s face, he felt the warmth of her cheeks and felt greatly relived. However, she had yet to respond to him. He looked up and saw that the summit was quite narrow and could be easily surrounded, so he tried to find somewhere where he could save Huang Rong first. He thought he saw a cave in the darkness, so he dashed in that direction and found that it was really a cave, and its entrance had some stacks of jade stones. Guo Jing ignored any danger which may have lurked inside and rush in. He placed her down and put his hand on her “Ling Tai” accupoint to aid her breathing. The Iron Palm Sect members could be heard shouting and yelling in the distance, but even if an army charged in row, he would still save her first. After some time, she coughed and regained consciousness, groaning feebly, “My chest hurts.” Guo Jing was delighted and exclaimed, “Rong-er, don’t be afraid, I’m here.” He walked to the entrance and looked down, and got a shock. The torches below formed a neat wall surrounding them and one prominent figure stood in the middle – it was Qiu Qianren. Yet for all the yelling and shouting, none of the people below moved any closer. He could not guess what they were up to, so he went back in to check on her when he suddenly heard footsteps in the darkness. Guo Jing was surprised and used his palm to guard his rear while he tuned around, but he could not see who it was in the darkness. He called out, “Who’s that? Come out now.” The echo could be clearly heard in the cave, and after a slight pause, there was someone laughing, and he sounded just like Qiu Qianren. Guo Jing could make out a figure walking into the light – it was indeed Qiu Qianren. Guo Jing had clearly seen him down the mountain shouting and cursing, yet how could he get there in the blink of an eye? He felt the cold sweat trickling down his spine. Qiu Qianren laughed, “You 2 dolls aren’t afraid of death and came here to find your master, good.” He then said loudly, “This is the forbidden territory of the Iron Palm Sect, and all who trespasses it shall die, are you dolls tired of living?” Guo Jing could not guess his intention, but Huang Rong quietly said, “Since it’s forbidden, why are you here?” Qiu Qianren was taken aback and said, “I’ve got something important to do and I’ve got no time for your question.” He tried to leave the cave. Guo Jing saw his quick steps and feared that he would try to ambush him and harm Huang Rong, so he thought, “I should strike first.” Both his palms flew out toward Qiu Qianren’s shoulders and he expected Qiu Qianren to block him, so Guo Jing would then strike his waist. This move was invented by the scholar Zhu Cong, with emphasis on masking the actual target so that the enemy could not block it. As expected, Qiu Qianren blocked him, but just as Guo Jing changed direction to hit him, Guo Jing felt that his opponent was not using any strength at all, totally unlike what he experienced just moments ago. Guo Jing did not think as fast as he moved, so he naturally grabbed his opponent’s hands. Qiu Qianren struggled frantically but could not break free. But with this struggle, he allowed Guo Jing to see through his martial arts. Guo Jing knew there was no danger and released him. Qiu Qianren stumbled towards him, allowing him to simply seal his “Yin Du” accupoint. Qiu Qianren collapsed immobilized onto the ground and said, “Young master, this is a dangerous situation, how could you play games with me?” Now the yelling and chanting were getting much louder – the rest of the Iron Palm Sect members had rushed to the scene. Guo Jing said, “Bring us safely down the mountain.” Qiu Qianren numbly shook his head saying, “My own life is in danger, how could I still help you?” Guo Jing said, “Ask your disciples to make way. When we reach the foot of the mountain, I’ll release your accupoint.” Qiu Qianren frowned, “Master, why torture me? Go the the entrance and see for yourself.”

Guo Jing went to the entrance and looked down and was startled. Qiu Qianren stood in front of his disciples yelling away. Guo Jing quickly turned around and saw him lying down. He asked in a confused voice, “You…you…Why are there 2 of you?” Huang Rong said, “Silly boy, don’t you see, there are 2 of them. One is highly skilled in martial arts while the other can only brag and boast. They look exactly alike and this is the big-mouthed one.” Guo Jing was perplexed for a while before the truth dawned on him and he said, “Is that right?” Qiu Qianren made a sour face and said, “Since she said so, then it’s so. We’re twins and I’m the elder. At first I was better in martial arts but my brother’s improved drastically later.” Guo Jing said, “Then who is Qiu Qianren?” He replied, “What difference does it make? Isn’t it the same if I’m Qian Ren or he is? We were pretty close since young, so we share the same name.” Guo Jing said, “Quick, tell me.” Huang Rong said, “Isn’t it obvious? He’s the impersonator.” Guo Jing said, “Eh, old man, then what’s your name?” He could not avoid the question so he said, “I remember Father called me something like ‘Qian Zhang’. I felt it didn’t sound nice, so I didn’t use it.” Guo Jing laughed, “Ha, you’re Qiu Qianzhang.” He replied, “So, what can you do about that? Ten ‘chi’ makes one ‘zhang’, and 7 ‘chi’ make one ‘ren’, so 1000 ‘zhang’ is longer than 1000 ‘ren’ by 3000 ‘chi’.” (Refers to the meaning of their names.) Huang Rong said, “I think you should change your name to ‘Qian Fen’ (1000 cm).”

Guo Jing said, “Why is he yelling there? What doesn’t he come up?” Qiu Qianzhang said, “Without my orders, who dares come up?” Guo Jing half-believed him. Huang Rong said, “Brother Jing, don’t trust this wily old fox. Hit his ‘Tian Tu’ accupoint!” Guo Jing stretched out finger and tapped it.

This accupoint was beneath the throat, and once hit, Qiu Qianzhang felt as though a thousand ants were crawling all over him, and he felt extremely numb and itchy. He kept squealing, “Ah! Ah, are you trying to kill me?” Guo Jing, “Then answer me now and I’ll release you.” Qiu Qianzhang shouted, “Alright, I can’t win you.” Bearing with the discomfort, he revealed everything. So Qiu Qianren and Qiu Qianzhang were actually twins, and their similarities in looks made it difficult to differentiate them. When they were 13, Qiu Qianren unintentionally saved the life of the previous Iron Palm Sect Leader; The Leader repaid him by teaching him all his martial arts. When he was 24, Qiu Qianren’s martial arts were very outstanding, so when the previous leader (titled Shang – Guan Bang – Zhu) passed away, Qiu Qianren succeeded him as the new sect leader. With his astonishing martial arts, coupled with his talent and determination, he managed to expand the sect and improve its reputation; ever since he destroyed the Hengshan Sect with one strike, Jiang Hu was well aware of the name “Iron Palms Floating On Water”. During the first Mt. Hua Sword Meet, Wang Chongyang invited him, but though his palm skills were powerful, he knew he was no match for Wang Chongyang, so he declined to attend the tournament. During the past decade he practiced diligently, hoping to clinch the ‘World No. 1’ title at the 2nd Mt. Hua Sword Meet. It was at this stage that Qiu Qianzhang took on his brother’s name for himself to brag around outside. The one that Guo Jing and Huang Rong met at Gui Yun Manor and Lin’an Mansion was Qiu Qianzhang. Because of their resemblance and Huang Rong’s carelessness, she sustained such a life-threatening injury. Now this second segment of the central ‘finger’ was designated as the burial ground for all the previous leaders. The leader would enter this cave to await death when he was about to breathe his last. If the leader died while away, it was considered an honor for any disciple to bring the leader’s remains inside and die with him. Hence, it was declared a sacred and forbidden ground and all who entered must not leave alive. Therefore, when Guo Jing and Huang Rong barged into the cave, the members could only curse them from a distance as none dared enter. Even the leader himself had to stoop to cursing them. Why then, did Qiu Qianzhang dare to enter? Whenever a leader was close to death, he had to bring his favorite weapons and treasures with him, so the cave accumulated a lot of valuables. Hence, Qiu Qianzhang wanted the weapons for himself to show off. He never expected to see Guo Jing and Huang Rong turn up here. Guo Jing listened to his narration and thought, “This place is forbidden to them, but there’s no other way down, how do we get out of this?” Huang Rong said, “Brother Jing, try looking inside.” Guo Jing said, “Allow me to check your injuries first.” He lit a torch and proceeded to undo her outer dress and Soft Armour. Her snow-white shoulders revealed two black palm-marks, indicating the grave condition of the injuries. If left untreated, the injuries would eventually claim her life. Guo Jing thought, “Ouyang Feng and Qiu Qianren’s martial arts are about the same, so Huang Rong’s injuries are probably just as bad as Master’s injuries.” He stared into blank space. Qiu Qianzhang yelled, “What rubbish is this lass talking now? Hurry up and unseal my accupoint. The itch is killing me, why don’t you try it yourself?” Guo Jing, though, was oblivious to all that.

Huang Rong smiled, “Silly boy, relax. Release that old man.” Guo Jing then walked over and released his accupoint. Qiu Qianzhang’s itch stopped but his ‘Yin Du’ accupoint was still sealed, so he remained motionless apart from his pupils. Guo Jing found a 2-foot long club and lit it as a torch, saying, “Rong-er, I’ll go take a look inside, will you be OK here alone?” Huang Rong’s temperature rose and dropped rapidly and the pain was almost unbearable, but she forced a smile, “With this old man, I’m not afraid, go ahead.”

Guo Jing raised up the torch and treaded carefully. After 2 turns, he came to a large natural cave which was 10 times larger than the cave outside. He scanned the room and observed many skeletons; some sitting, some lying, some scattered on the ground while some had missing bones. Each skeleton had some sort of weapon or treasure at its side. Guo Jing dreamily thought, “These ex-leaders must have been the great men of their day, yet today they are reduced to bones. Still, at least they have each other for company. This is good; at least it beats being buried alone.” It was as though he did not notice the weapons and treasure in his anxiety for Huang Rong. Just as he was about to leave, he happened to lay his eyes on a wooden box next to a skeleton. He shone his torch on it and looked closely and saw the inscription, “Secrets to Overcoming the Jin.” He started, “Maybe this is the manual by Grand Marshal Yue.” He tugged at the box when the skeleton suddenly ‘leapt’ toward him.

Guo Jing was shocked and hurriedly jumped back while the skeleton smashed on the ground. He grabbed the box and dashed out. He then supported Huang Rong up and opened the box in front of her. There were two books inside. Flipping through the first book, Guo Jing saw that its contents were Yue Fei’s essays and other literary works. As he glanced through the words and passages he was filled with a strong surge of loyalty and righteousness, and he sighed in admiration. Huang Rong said, “Read a passage to me.” He flipped through casually and recited the passage , “Since the strife in the Central Plains began, the Barbarians have invaded, anger flowed like the spring river; rising united, armies assembled, fighting hundreds of battles. Though we failed to advance far, we cleansed their lair, and swiftly ending the feud between states. Yet today the lone army marches on, for Yixing. The Battle of Jing – Kang defeated and humiliated our lands, and our hatred will not rein our horses. The troops lay in wait for the enemy, raising the morale of the soldiers; battling through time, moving through the northern desert, shedding blood in the cities, exterminating the Barbarians, welcoming the return of the 2 sages, capturing their land; the Imperial Court had no worries, the Emperor slept in peace, and so Yue Fei wrote.” The passage summarized Yue Fei’s life ambitions. Though Guo Jing’s literacy was limited, he was filled with the desire to serve the people. While he read some of the words wrongly, he nevertheless felt the essay was extremely well written.

If they were back at Gui Yun Manor, Qiu Qianzhang would not have hesitated to mock and scorn Yue Fei, but now he feared his accupoint would be sealed again. Though he was not well informed about Yue Fei, he still nodded his head, saying, “Yes, it’s indeed well written, and a worthy hero is reading a hero’s essay, nothing could be better.”

Huang Rong sighed, “No wonder Father kept lamenting that he was born decades late; if not he would definitely meet such a great hero. Please recite his poems,” Guo Jing went through a few poems, and some like were familiar to her, while others like The Crimson River Yue Fei’s poem The Crimson River ( 满江红 ) was very well known, but the Song Dynasty had no known records of it. Yue Fei and Sun Yue He’s Jin Soldier’s Passages and Domestic Calling Volume, a compilation of Yue Fei’s literary works have not been found to date. The text quoted above first appeared in the Ming Dynasty, so some believe that it belongs to the works of Ming Dynasty authors. Some sources claim that these works are of no value as they merely used Yue Fei’s name for the works.were familiar to her, while others like Title of a Soldier’s Pavilion were new to her.

The Iron Palm Sect members continued to shout and curse; Guo Jing let Huang Rong’s head rest on his thigh while he continued to recite Yue Fei’s works, “The title is Title of the Sun Dragon’s Residence : At the Wei Mountain Monastery, the mountain spring defeats the stillness. At the Buddha’s statue in Zijin, the snow covered the old monk’s head. The cold lake water welcomes a new month, and the pine tree welcomes the autumn wind. I leave the dragon’s words, hoping to aid the people in the storm.” The wind blew and the birds chirped as Huang Rong rested snugly in Guo Jing’s arms. Guo Jing said, “Grand Marshal Yue deeply remembered the suffering of the people; he is a true hero indeed.” Huang Rong nodded and smiled, “The young hero is reading the works of a great hero while and old ‘hero’ is listening in. How redundant.” She then asked, “What’s the contents of the other book?” Guo Jing read a few lines inside and excitedly exclaimed, “This… this is really Grand Marshal Yue’s handwritten text on the war strategies! Wanyan Honglie would never have imagined that this it. Fortunately it’s not been taken by him.” On the first page was written, in 18 bold words : Repeatedly examine plans, Tough/rigorous training, Equal rewards/punishments, Clear uncompromising orders, Fair/just rules, Everyone sharing hardship.

As they were reading, the shouting below abruptly ceased and not a single voice was heard. Suddenly, they were left in the unnatural silence. Guo Jing and Huang Rong listened carefully and heard the crackling of burning grass in the distance as Qiu Qianzhang groaned loudly, “Today you 2 dolls have caused my destruction.” In his panic, he called them “dolls” again. Guo Jing rushed out and saw a whole wall of fire swiftly burning towards them. As the mountain was filled with tall grass, the flames rapidly spread to form a sea of fire.

Guo Jing gasped, “They don’t dare step into this forbidden territory, so they’re attacking by fire. The cave doesn’t have any flammable objects, but we’d surely be fried.” He immediately grabbed Huang Rong when he heard Qiu Qianzhang screaming on the ground, so he kicked him lightly to unseal his accupoint to let him make his own escape. He then snatched the wooden box and ran up the mountain. They were still a few hundred metres from the summit. Guo Jing gathered his concentration and sprinted upwards with Qiu Qianzhang following behind. Guo Jing looked down and saw the fire spreading in the distance and knew that thought they were temporarily safe, but it would not be for long, so he gave a long sigh. Huang Rong suddenly said, “Grand Marshal Yue’s given name is ‘Fei’ (fly), styled ‘Crane’. Let’s try ‘Condor’, how about that?” Guo Jing asked, “What condor?” Huang Rong said, “Call the condors up to fetch us down.” Guo Jing jumped up and exclaimed, “That would be fun. I’ll summon them. But I’m not sure they can take our weight.” Huang Rong sighed, “After all we’re heading for doom, so we might as well take the risk.” Guo Jing sat properly and gathered his Qi in his Dan Tian and made a loud, shr