e we don’t have any gift to offer the master, we will do it properly in the future.”

Ouyang Feng sighed and said, “Pearls and jewels, the White Camel Mountain also has some. Ouyang Feng simply looks at this child’s intelligence; I only wish to have an heir of the martial art I possess.”

“Xiao Wang [lit. little king, referring to himself] spoke incorrectly,” Wanyan Honglie said, “Mister, please forgive me.”

Immediately one by one Liang Ziweng and the others offered their congratulations to these three people. In this clamor suddenly someone was calling out, “Shagu is hungry, I am starving to death; how come nobody is giving me food to eat?”

Ke Zhen’E was greatly surprised to hear Shagu’s cry; he wondered how did this girl hang around with Wanyan Honglie, Ouyang Feng and the others? He heard Yang Kang say with a laugh, “That’s right, quickly get some refreshments for this Miss to eat; don’t let her get ill from starvation.”

A moment later Shagu was heard chewing loudly, she was eating. While still chewing she said, “Good Brother, you said you are going to take me home if I listen to what you say; how come we are not home yet?”

“We’ll get there tomorrow,” Yang Kang replied, “Eat until you are full, then go to bed.”

Yet another moment later Shagu suddenly said, “Good Brother, there is some noise in that pagoda, what is that?”

“If not bird, then it must be a mouse,” Yang Kang answered.

“I am scared,” Shagu said.

Yang Kang laughed, “Sha Guniang [dumb miss], what are you afraid of?” he asked.

“I am scared of ghosts,” Shagu replied.

Yang Kang laughed, “We have many people here, ghosts won’t dare to come.”

“I am scared of that short and fat man’s ghost,” Shagu said.

Forcing a laugh Yang Kang said, “Don’t talk nonsense, what short and fat man?”

“Hmm,” Shagu said, “I know, that short and fat man died inside ‘popo’s [maternal grandmother] grave; popo’s ghost will chase that short and fat man’s ghost away, she won’t let that him stay in the grave. He will come over here to ask retribution from you.”

“You talk too much,” Yang Kang shouted, “I am going to call your grandfather and he’ll come and get you, he’ll take you back to the Peach Blossom Island.”

Shagu did not dare to say anything anymore. Suddenly Sha Tongtian shouted, “Hey, don’t step on my foot! Just sit nicely and don’t move!” It seemed that because of her fear of ghosts Shagu had randomly squeezed herself into the crowd.

As Ke Zhen’E heard this exchange, his doubt arose: the short and fat man Shagu mentioned must be his San Shidi [third martial (younger) brother], Han Baoju. He died on the Peach Blossom Island, obviously was killed by Huang Yaoshi; how could his ghost come looking for Yang Kang for retribution? Although Shagu was dumb, there must be a reason behind what she had said earlier. Too bad there were too many powerful enemies in their presence that he could not go out and ask her clearly. He further thought, “In front of the Misty Rain Tavern Huang Yaoshi said to me, ‘What kind of a man is Huang Yaoshi? How can I lower myself to the same level with you?’ If he did not want to kill me, why did he kill my five brothers and sister? But if it was not Huang Yaoshi, why did Si Di [fourth (younger) brother] said he saw with his own eyes that Huang Yaoshi killed Er Di [second (younger) brother] and Qi Mei [seventh (younger) sister]?”

He was mulling around these thoughts in his mind when suddenly he felt Huang Rong pull his left hand. With her finger she wrote on his palm one character, ‘qiu’ [ask/request], followed by character after character, ‘…you a favor.’

Ke Zhen’E wrote back on her palm, “What is it?”

Huang Rong wrote, “Tell my father who killed me.”

Ke Zhen’E was startled, he did not understand her intention; he was about to pull her hand to ask further when he felt a breeze right next to him. Huang Rong had leaped out. He heard her said with a smile, “Uncle Ouyang, how are you?”

Nobody had ever expected that someone was hiding behind the idol. ‘Ca, ca, zheng, zheng’ were heard as the people unsheathed their weapons and surrounded her, while shouting, “Who is it?” “Assassin!” “Who are you?”

Huang Rong smiled and said, “My Father told me to wait for Uncle Ouyang here; what are you making such a fuss for?”

“How did your father know I will be here?” Ouyang Feng asked.

Huang Rong replied, “My father knows medicine, divination and astrology, there is nothing he doesn’t know. He can do the Wang Xiantian divine calculation and he’d know everything.” [Translator’s note: I am not sure about this part]

Nine out of ten Ouyang Feng did not believe her, but he knew even if he asked, she would not tell the truth anyway, so he just smiled and did not say anything. Sha Tongtian and the others went outside the temple to take a look and did not find anybody else, so they went back in and stood around Wanyan Honglie.

Huang Rong sat on a meditation mat, smiling and chuckling she said, “Uncle Ouyang, you have given my father a hard time!”

Ouyang Feng smiled without answering. He knew that although Huang Rong was young, she was full of tricks. If he gave her one wrong answer, she would grab the opportunity to ridicule him; and in front of all these people he simply could not lose face. Therefore, he waited for her to explain her purpose in coming here before he would decide on the appropriate countermeasure. He heard her said, “Uncle Ouyang, my father is surrounded by the Taoist priests of Quanzhen Sect at the Xincheng town of Xiaopenglai; if you don’t rescue him, I am afraid it would be difficult for him to escape.”

Ouyang Feng showed a faint smile; “Is that so?” he asked.

Huang Rong anxiously said, “You say it as it is nothing! A real man will take responsibility of his own action; clearly it was you who killed Tan Chuduan from the Quanzhen Sect, but I don’t know how it started, those stinky priests are always pestering my father. On top of that, Zhou Botong stirred up the muddy waters; while my father refused to argue with them. What do we do?”

Inwardly Ouyang Feng was delighted; he said, “Your father is a martial art expert; how can those several mixed-up hairs from Quanzhen Sect defeat him?”

“The Quanzhen Sect’s ox-nosed plus the Old Urchin, my father is not their match,” Huang Rong said, “My father told me to come to you and say that after painstakingly pondering for seven days and seven nights, finally he understood the meaning of some sentences.”

“What sentences?” Ouyang Feng asked.

Huang Rong said, “Si li xing, ang yi na de. Si re que xu, ha hu wen bo ying.”

To Ke Zhen’E, Wanyan Honglie and the others, these mumbling sentences did not mean anything, but Ouyang Feng was surprised; it was the strange sentence from the last part of the Nine Yin Manual. Could it be that Huang Yaoshi really understood its meaning? His heart was thumping fast, but his face did not show any changes; he indifferently said, “Little girl loves to swindle people. Who can understand those mumbling sentences?”

Huang Rong replied, “Father has translated these strange characters; from top to bottom, clearly. I saw it with my own eyes; how can I swindle you?”

Ouyang Feng knew Huang Yaoshi’s ability very well. Originally he thought that if nobody was able to solve these strange characters, then so be it; but if there was anybody who could find the solution, it must be Huang Yaoshi, for nobody else in this world had the same intelligence. Still, with an unenthusiastic voice he said, “Let me congratulate your father, then.”

Huang Rong caught the real meaning behind his words, she knew he was still half believing and half doubting; she continued, “I think I still remember some of what I saw. I don’t mind if you want to listen to it.” Immediately she recited, “Either when the body moves, or feels heavy as if pressed by something, or feels light like it is ready to fly, or feels constricted, or feels extraordinarily cold or hot, or feels delightful or restless, or feels like touching something nasty and the hair stood on its end, or feels happy while drunk; all these things must be channeled through divine passages according to the following method.”

This explanation of the Manual made Ouyang Feng’s heart unbearably itch. Turned out Huang Rong recited the section Reverend Yideng translated from the Nine Yin Manual. All these strange conditions were actually the actual situations anybody who cultivated internal energy would experience; each one of these conditions was enough to intimidate the state of mind that may cause the practitioner to suffer a fire-deviation. If there was a method to channel these conditions through the divine passages; then the method could truly be considered as highly valuable. So what Huang Rong said was indeed from the Manual and not from her own random fabrication. Ouyang Feng’s internal energy was exquisite, naturally he knew whether what he heard was real or fake. His suspicion was gone. “What comes next?” he asked.

Huang Rong said, “I don’t remember the rest, but I vaguely remember something like this: At the time the pores all over the body are empty, right away with careful consideration examine the thirty six matters inside the body; it will be like opening the door to the barn and see various kinds of straw and peas, the heart is pleasantly surprised, and quickly becomes quiet and peaceful.” First she explained the strange conditions from the Manual, and then she described the marvelous method of training; in a way she had divulged the secret method of the Manual. But Ouyang Feng was silent; he thought with her intelligence, it was impossible for her to forget, so she must be deliberately unwilling to tell him; he wondered what her intention really was.

Huang Rong continued, “My father told me to ask Uncle Ouyang: Do you want 5,000 characters, or 3,000 characters?”

“Please explain it to me,” Ouyang Feng said.

Huang Rong said, “If you go and help my father, two people join forces to destroy the Quanzhen Masters. In that case I am going to recite all 5,000 characters of this marvelous ‘jiu yin shen gong’ [Nine Yin Divine Energy] for you.”

Ouyang Feng smiled, “And if I don’t go?” he asked.

Huang Rong replied, “Then Father asked you to avenge him. After you kill Zhou Botong and the Quanzhen Six Masters, I will read the 3,000 characters for you.”

Ouyang Feng smiled and said, “Your father and I are just casual acquaintances, how come he suddenly places so much respect toward the Old Poison?”

Huang Rong said, “My father said that: First, the killer of your nephew is a Quanzhen Sect’s disciple, so he supposed you will want to seek revenge …”

Listening to this part Yang Kang could not help but shiver; he was Qiu Chuji’s disciple, so with her words Huang Rong obviously meant him. Shagu was standing right next to him, she asked, “Good Brother, are you cold?” Yang Kang mumbled his reply.

Huang Rong continued, “Second, after translating the Manual, he was challenged into battle by the Quanzhen priests; he did not have time to explain everything to me. Thinking that this matchlessly wonderful book is difficult to find, how can he let it be lost with his demise? Nowadays you are the only one who has similar personality with him. He remembered Uncle Ouyang went to the Peach Blossom Island to seek a marriage alliance. Although your nephew was unfortunate to fall under the Quanzhen Sect’s disciple, my father said you should not thinking about him too much; therefore, he wanted you to train this ‘shen gong’ [divine power/energy] and teach it to me later on.”

Ouyang Feng felt a pang of pain in his heart; but he thought, “What she said was reasonable; if there is no direction from an expert, although this little girl memorized the Manual in its entirety it will still be useless.” But then something else came into his mind, he said, “How do I know you will tell me the real Manual or a fake one?”

Huang Rong replied, “Guo Jing, that muddle-head has written the Manual for you; as I read the crucial points from the translation, you check it against your copy, then you’ll know whether it is real or fake.”

Ouyang Feng said, “You are right. Let me think about it; we’ll leave in the morning to rescue your father.”

Huang Rong anxiously said, “Helping people is like fighting fire, how can we wait till tomorrow?”

Ouyang Feng said with a laugh, “Then I will avenge your father; won’t that be the same?” He had made a decision that as the Manual had already been in his hand, later on he could compel Huang Rong to recite to him the crucial points; and then he could think it over to understand the meaning. For now, let Huang Yaoshi and the Quanzhen Sect fight each other. Hopefully both sides would hurt each other; wouldn’t that be great?

Hiding behind the idol Ke Zhen’E was listening to two people conversing about the Nine Yin Manual; he wondered why Huang Rong wrote on his palm ‘Tell my father who killed me,’ seven characters [the original Chinese was ‘gao wo fu he ren sha wo,’ 7 characters]; he did not understand her intention. He heard Huang Rong say, “Then we will leave early in the morning tomorrow, is that all right?”

“Absolutely,” Ouyang Feng said with a smile, “Now you go take a rest!”

Ke Zhen’E heard Huang Rong drag a meditation mat over to sit nearby Shagu. “Shagu,” she said, “Yeye [lit. paternal grandfather] took you to the Peach Blossom Island, how come you are here?”

“I don’t want to follow Yeye, I want to go home,” Shagu said.

“This good brother surnamed Yang; didn’t he come to the island and took you on his boat, and come over here together?” Huang Rong asked.

“That’s right,” Shagu said, “He treats me really good.”

Ke Zhen’E’s heart was stirred, “When did Yang Kang come to the Peach Blossom Island?” He heard Huang Rong asked again, “Where did Yeye go?”

Shagu was startled, “Don’t tell him I am running away,” she said, “Yeye will beat me.”

Huang Rong smiled, “I won’t tell him, but whatever I ask you, you must answer me nicely.”

“You must not tell Yeye,” Shagu said, “He wants to take me back and teach me to write.”

Huang Rong laughed, “I certainly won’t tell him,” she said, “Did you say Yeye wanted to teach you to write?”

“That’s right,” Shagu said, “That day Yeye took me to his study room and taught me to write; he said my father’s surname was Qu Qu-something, so my surname is also Qu Qu-something. He wrote the Qu Qu-something character and told me to remember. He also told me my father’s name was Qu Qu-something, something Feng. I could not remember the name. Yeye got angry and scolded me that I am very dumb. I AM called Shagu [sha – dumb, gu – paternal aunt, see also my note in Chapter 23]!”

Huang Rong laughed, “Shagu is naturally dumb. Yeye scolded you, Yeye is bad, Shagu is good!” Shagu was very happy to hear that. “And then what happened?” Huang Rong asked.

Shagu said, “I said I want to go home, Yeye was even angrier. Suddenly a deaf and mute servant came, his finger pointing to the east and to the west, his mouth uttered ‘yi yi ah ah’. Yeye said, ‘I don’t want to receive any guest; tell them to go back!’ A moment later that mute servant came back with a piece of paper in his hand. Yeye took a look and then put it down on the table. He told me to go with the mute servant to receive the guest. Ha, ha, that short and fat man was so ugly! I stared at him and he stared back at me.”

Ke Zhen’E remembered that when they visited the Peach Blossom Island to seek audience, it was exactly like Shagu had just said; at first Huang Yaoshi did not want to see the six of them, then Zhu Cong wrote a letter to be delivered, afterwards Shagu came out to receive them. But the Third Brother was no longer alive; he could not help but feel grief in his heart.

He heard Huang Rong ask again, “Did Yeye see them?”

Shagu said, “Yeye told me to accompany the guests to eat, but he went out. I don’t like to see that short and fat man, so I slipped away and went out. I saw Yeye was sitting behind a rock, looking out at the ocean. I also looked at the ocean. I saw a boat in the distant coming toward the island. On the boat there were some Taoist priests.”

Ke Zhen’E thought, “That day we heard the Quanzhen Sect was going to go to the Peach Blossom Island to seek revenge; so we went ahead of them to inform Huang Yaoshi to temporarily keep himself away from them, and wait for the Six Freaks of Jiangnan to explain the whole story to the Quanzhen Sect. But all along we have never seen the Quanzhen Masters on the Island, why did this Shagu said that there were Taoist priests came in by boat?”

He heard Huang Rong asked, “Then what did Yeye do?”

Shagu replied, “Yeye beckoned me to come over. I jumped in fright; turned out he had already seen me slipping out to play. I did not dare to come over, I was afraid he would hit me. He said “I won’t hit you, you come over here”. So I went over. He said he wanted to take a boat ride and go fishing, he told me to wait for the Taoist priests and to let them in as soon as they came ashore; he told me to let them eat together with the short and fat man six people. I said I wanted to go fishing too. Yeye said I could not come; I had to wait for the Taoist priests and let them in, because they did not know the way on the Island.”

“And then what happened?” Huang Rong asked.

Shagu said, “And then Yeye went beyond the big rock and set sail. I know, these Taoist priests are ugly, Yeye did not want to meet them.”

Huang Rong praised her, “That’s right, what you said is totally correct. When did Yeye come back?”

“Come back?” Shagu said, “He did not come back.”

Ke Zhen’E was shaken; he heard Huang Rong ask, “Are you sure? Then what happened?” He could hear her voice was slightly trembling; apparently she also realized this was a crucial point.

Shagu replied, “Yeye was about to set sail, suddenly a pair of big birds came flying by; they were your birds. Yeye beckoned and whistled toward the birds, this pair of birds came down. There was something tied on the bird’s foot, it looked so amusing. I shouted, ‘Yeye, give it to me, give it to me!’ …” Speaking to this point she actually shouted loudly.

Yang Kang chided her, “Quiet! Everybody is trying to sleep.”

“Shagu,” Huang Rong said, “Just continue your story.”

Shagu said, “I will speak quietly.” And she indeed lowered her voice, “Yeye ignored me; he ripped a cloth from his robe and tied it up on the big bird’s foot, then he let them go.”

“Hmm,” Huang Rong talked to herself, “Father was going to avoid the Quanzhen Masters, no wonder he did not have time to fetch the ‘jin wawa’ [see Chapter 29]. But who shot the female eagle with an arrow?” So she asked, “Who shot an arrow to the bird?”

“Arrow? There was no arrow,” Shagu said; and then she went silent like she was lost in thought.

“All right,” Huang Rong said, “Why don’t you continue?”

Shagu continued, “Yeye saw his robe was torn, he took it off and told me to go and get another one for him. But when I came back Yeye was gone, the Taoist priests’ boat was also gone, I only saw that torn robe lying on the ground.”

Listening to her to this point Huang Rong no longer asked; she silently mulled it over in her head. Half a day later she said, “Where did they go?”

“I saw them,” Shagu said, “I called Yeye, but he did not reply. I climbed to the top of a big tree and looked, I saw Yeye’s little boat in front, the Taoist priests’ big boat followed behind, slowly they sailed on the ocean and disappeared. I don’t like to see that short and fat man, I stayed on the beach, kicking the gravel and playing all day until dark, and came back with this Yeye and this good brother.”

“So it was this Yeye, and not the one who taught you to write?” Huang Rong asked.

Shagu giggled and said, “This Yeye is good, not only he did not want to teach me to write, he even gave me a piece of cake.”

“Uncle Ouyang,” Huang Rong said, “Do you still have the cake? Can you give her some more?”

Ouyang Feng dryly laughed, “I do.”

Ke Zhen’E felt as if his heart was jumping out his throat, “Turned out Ouyang Feng was on the Island that day,” he thought.

“Aiyo!” suddenly he heard Shagu cry out, followed by ‘slap, slap’ two times, some people were fighting, and then someone leaped back and landed again. He heard Huang Rong call out, “You want to kill her to close her mouth?”

Ouyang Feng laughed, “This matter might be hidden from other people, but certainly won’t be hidden from your father. Why would I want to kill this dumb girl? If you want to ask, then just ask her.” But Shagu was moaning and groaning and could not talk anymore. Ke Zhen’E wondered which part of her was hit by Ouyang Feng.

“I don’t have to ask,” Huang Rong said, “I’ve already guessed correctly; I only want Shagu to say it with her own mouth.”

Ouyang Feng laughed and said, “This little girl is really smart. How did you guess? Why don’t you tell me?”

Huang Rong said, “When I first saw the situation of the Island, I also thought that Father had killed the Five Freaks of Jiangnan. But then I remembered something, and I knew it must not be him. Just think, how can my father leave these stinky male corpses in my mother’s grave to accompany her? How can he leave the grave without closing the door?”

“Aiyo,” Ouyang Feng slapped his thigh, “We really overlooked that. Kang’er, isn’t that so?”

Hearing this Ke Zhen’E felt his chest was about to burst open; only now did he realize that Huang Rong had early on known that the killers were Ouyang Feng and Yang Kang, two people. The reason she suddenly went out and sacrificed her own life was to reveal the truth and clear up her father from being wrongly accused. She knew perfectly well that when she went out, most likely she would be unfortunate rather than fortunate; that was why she asked Ke Zhen’E to tell her father who killed her. Ke Zhen’E was filled with grief and regret, he said in his heart, “Good Miss, it would be enough if you just told me who the killer is; why do you deliver your life in vain?” But then he thought, “I, the ‘fei tian bian fu’ [Flying Bat, lit. bat flying to the sky], am so hot-tempered. I am blind, yet I placed the blame on father and daughter. Even if she told me clearly, would I believe her? Ke Zhen’E, oh, Ke Zhen’E, you stinky blind man, you deserve to be killed with a thousand blades; you have forced this good Miss’ death.”

In his regret he wanted to lift his hand and fiercely slap his own ear, but he heard Ouyang Feng said, “How did you guess it was me?”

Huang Rong said, “Is it difficult? In this present age, those who are able to strike the yellow horse and to break the balance beam are not many. But at first I was thinking of a different person. At the point of his death Nan Xiren had written several characters with his finger on the ground, ‘My killer is ten’; he died before the fifth character [translator’s note: the original Chinese text was ‘sha wo zhe nai shi’] was finished. I thought your name does not start with a ‘ten’ (十 ), so I thought it was the character ‘Qiu’ (裘 ) from Qiu Qianren.”

Ouyang Feng laughed out loud, he said, “This man Nan Xiren was truly a die hard; unexpectedly he survived and saw you.”

Huang Rong said, “I saw his condition before his death, I was sure he was hit by a strange poison; I thought Qiu Qianren practiced poisonous palm skill, that’s why I guessed it was him.”

Ouyang Feng said with a smile, “Qiu Qianren’s martial art is based on palm strength and not poisonous palm. His palms do not have any poison on them. He used boiling poison to train his palms, but it is merely palm strength’s training method. He forced the poison gas to come out, henceforth his palm strength increased. When he died, that Nan Xiren opened his mouth, but could not say anything, his face showed a smiling expression, is that right?”

“That’s right,” Huang Rong said, “What kind of poison is that?”

Ouyang Feng did not answer, he asked again, “His body was twisted, he was rolling around on the ground, he suddenly possessed unusually great strength, is that right?”

“That’s right,” Huang Rong said, “This violent poison, I thought other than the Iron Palm Clan, nobody in the world can possibly have it.”

It was obvious that Huang Rong said that to provoke Ouyang Feng, and he knew it very well, but he still could not restrain from being agitated and angry, “Do you think people call me the Old Poison for nothing?” He stomped his snake staff heavily on the ground and shouted, “The snake on this staff bit him on his tongue, that’s why there was no wound on his body, but he could not speak.”

Hearing this Ke Zhen’E felt warm blood bubbling up straight to his brain, he almost fainted several times. Huang Rong heard movement from behind the idol, she let out some coughs, trying to cover up the noise, and then slowly said, “The Five Freaks of Jiangnan died under your hands, Ke Zhen’E who escaped does not have eyes to see, in the end nobody knew the real killer.”

Listening to her Ke Zhen’E’s heart was stirred, “She is saying that to remind me, telling me not to act rashly so that the two of us will not lose our lives and die without explanation.” He heard Ouyang Feng laugh dryly, “How can that stinky blind man escape my palm? I deliberately let him go.”

“Ah, right,” Huang Rong said, “You killed five people, and let him believe it was my father who killed them. He would go and publicize this matter, then rally the heroes of the world to attack my father.”

Ouyang Feng said with a smile, “It was actually not my idea, but Kang’er’s; isn’t that right?” Yang Kang mumbled his reply.

Huang Rong said, “It is truly a divine and marvelous strategy. My utmost admiration!”

Ouyang Feng said, “You changed the topic; what made you think of me?”

Huang Rong replied, “I thought Qiu Qianren and I fought at the southern road between Hunan and Hubei; even though it is possible for him to overtake us and arrive at the Peach Blossom Island ahead of us, it was actually very difficult with us riding the little red horse. I thought again about what Zhu Cong wrote at the back of the letter, he called everybody to stay on their guard. The last character was not finished, he only made three strokes: one horizontal line, one vertical, and another horizontal like a hook. It could be the start of ‘east’ ( 東 ) character, or it could be ‘west’ (西 ) character, couldn’t it? If not ‘Eastern Heretic’ then it must be ‘Western Poison’. I have thought about this on the Peach Blossom Island; but there are some details I do not understand yet.”

Ouyang Feng sighed, “I thought I have done everything flawlessly, who would have thought there are so many trails I left behind. That dirty scholar was so quick, I did not even see him moving his pen to write anything.”

“He was known as the Magic Hand Scholar,” Huang Rong said, “Naturally he would not let you see whatever he was doing. I pondered deeply over the character ‘ten’ (十 ) Nan Xiren wrote; I wonder what could it be? It was because I thought this Xiao Wangye’s [young prince, lit. young master king] martial art skill is so low that definitely he did not have the ability to kill the Five Freaks of Jiangnan in one stroke, therefore, I have never suspected him.”

“Humph,” Yang Kang snorted.

Huang Rong continued, “That day I was all alone on the Peach Blossom Island, tossing and turning between being asleep and awake; I could not find the right conclusion. I was dreaming of many, many people, I dreamt about Mu Jiejie [elder sister Mu], I dreamt she was in Beijing, during the joust to find a spouse. I suddenly was awakened from the dream, sprang up, and only then did I know the killer was actually this Xiao Wangye!”

Hearing Huang Rong saying these words with sharp voice Yang Kang was drenched in cold sweats; forcing a laugh he said, “Did Mu Nianci tell you in a dream?”

“That’s right,” Huang Rong said, “If not for this dream, how could I guess it was you? Where is that little emerald shoe of yours?”

Yang Kang was startled, with a stern voice he asked, “How did you know? Did Mu Nianci also tell you in a dream?”

With a cold smile Huang Rong said, “Do you think I need it? After you two killed Zhu Cong, you stuffed the treasures inside my mother’s grave in his pocket; so that when other people see it, they would think he robbed the treasures and was found out by my father; thus he lost his life. Framing someone like this is actually a clever idea; only you forgot one thing: Zhu Cong was known as the Magic Hand Scholar.”

Ouyang Feng’s curiosity arose, “What about the Magic Hand Scholar?” he asked.

“Humph,” Huang Rong sneered, “He only knows putting treasures on other, he actually did not know that other took a treasure from his body.”

Ouyang Feng did not understand, “What treasure?” he asked.

Huang Rong said, “Although Zhu Cong’s martial art skill was inferior to you, at the point of his death again he displayed his magic hand skill; he took something from this Xiao Wangye and grasped it in his hand, of course you did not know. If not because of this thing, not in a million years would I expect this Xiao Wangye to pay a visit on the Peach Blossom Island.”

Ouyang Feng said with a smile, “This matter becomes more and more interesting; this Magic Hand Scholar was actually highly skilled, his life had already gone yet he was still able to leave you a clue. The thing he took must be that little emerald shoe you were talking about.”

“That’s right,” Huang Rong said, “I have seen all the treasures inside Mother’s grave since I was little; and I have never seen this little emerald shoe before. Even in his death Zhu Cong still grasped this shoe tightly; there must be a reason behind it. The front of this shoe has a ‘bi’ [contest, compete] character on it, while on the opposite side there was a ‘zhao’ [to recruit] character. I painstakingly thought about this, but all along could not penetrate the mystery. That night I had a dream, I saw Mu Jiejie on a street corner in Beijing showing off her martial art skill. There was an em