The Legend of the Condor Heroes

He whispered, " Rong'er, the pathways of this manor are really bizarre, how is it that you are always able to identify the right way?"

Huang Rong signaled for him to be quiet and after seven or eight more turns, they arrived by the wall of the backyard. Huang Rong examined the wall and used her fingers to count before walking and counting her footsteps. Guo Jing heard her mumble, " Form a trigram first, thirdly prepare, fifthly supplement, repeat the seventh…" and did not understand a single word.

Huang Rong counted as she walked, and after a particular count, she stopped in her tracks and said, " We can only leave by here, the rest of the place is filled with traps."

She leapt onto the top of the wall and Guo Jing followed suit. Huang Rong continued, " This manor is built according to the sixty four bearings (positions) which are concealed. My father is a master in this particular type of architecture, which requires one to design eight different types of routes (not really sure of this part). Master Lu can obstruct others, but he can't trap me." Her tone was filled with pride.

Both of them climbed up a small mound situated behind the manor and looked out towards the east. They saw a person walking towards the lake, with a lantern raised high up. Huang Rong tugged at Guo Jing's sleeve and both of them flew forward using their lightness skill. After arriving closer, they hid behind a huge rock and noticed a row of fishing boats near the shores of the lake. A crowd of people slowly boarded the boats and after they did so, each put out their lantern lights. Guo Jing and Huang Rong waited till the last batch of people boarded, and after it was pitch dark, before leaping out and landed on the tail of a large ship. After they heard the fishing boats start to move, they leaped on top of the sail of the ship and looked down. It was then they saw some one sitting inside a room in the boat and the person was none other than the junior owner of the manor, Lu Guanying.

As the row of boats started moving, the tune from the seashell could be heard again. A person on the ship walked to the front and also started blowing into the shell. After the ship drifted some distance, one could see many little boats drifting on the lake. The myriad of little boats looked like tiny ants in the distance; it was as if one had painted millions of black dots on a large sheet or paper. The person on the ship blew his shell three times and the large boat dropped its vessel into the midst of the lake. About ten little boats started moving in from all directions. Guo Jing and Huang Rong were mystified; they were not sure whether a battle was going to take place. They lowered their heads and peeped at Lu Guanying, who however looked calm and normal, he did not show any tint of anxiousness as one would show in times of war.

Not long after, the boats sailed nearer. Every boat saw either two or three people coming out and entering the ship. Every person, after entering the huge boat, would bow to Lu Guanying and were respectful in their behavior. It seemed that seats had been arranged for the visitors from the little boats and according to their status. Some people arrived earlier but sat at the back, whereas some who arrived later got to sit in the front. A tea server ushered the visitors to their seats. The visitors had stern and rough expressions, and their actions were swift and fierce. Although they dressed like fishermen, it seemed as if all of them were versed in martial arts and were definitely not the usual type of fisherman.

Lu Guanying raised his arm and said, " Brother Zhang, what have you found out?" A skinny man sitting in the middle stood up and said, " To answer Junior Master, the Jin ambassador has decided to sail across the lake tonight. The captain, who is on the pretext of receiving him, would reach in probably an hour's time. The latter is late due to the ransacking on the way."

Lu Guanying asked, " How much has he ransacked?"

The man answered, " There have been harvests from every village, and his soldiers are still robbing the villagers now. When I saw him alight the boat, his soldiers were struggling with more than twenty heavy chests of treasures."

Lu Guanying asked, " How many soldiers and horses does he have with him?"

The man answered, " About two thousand. Those who crossed the lake with him do not have horses with them. Since there are not enough boats, there are about a thousand of them who stay back at shore."

Lu Guanying turned towards the audience and asked, " Fellow brothers, what do you guys think?"

Everyone answered, " We will follow Junior Master's orders."

Lu Guanying placed both hands into his sleeves and said, " These corrupted officials go round snatching money through immoral means. We the people from the lake would not be doing justice if we do not get back those treasures and money. We will do our best to grab as much as we can. Half of it will go to the poor villagers by the lake and the other half will be split between us."

The audience all roared in agreement. It was then that Guo Jing and Huang Rong realize that these people were the pirates of the lake and Lu Guanying was probably they're leader.

Lu Guanying said, " Without further a dew, let's get going. Brother Zhang, take five small boats and continue to keep watch."

The skinny man took the order and immediately sailed out. Lu Guanying went on to assign everyone their tasks, such as who would lead, who would be the back ups, who would lead the 'water ghosts' to swim and create damage to the enemy's boat, who would grab the treasures, who would capture the official and so on. He dutifully assigned the various tasks in a very organized way.

Guo Jing and Huang Rong were secretly puzzled. They had just dined and chatted with Lu Guanying earlier in the day and found him to be a polite, proper and decent chap, not forgetting that he was from a wealthy and cultivated family. Who would have guessed that he was a pirate leader? Just as Lu Guanying had finished assigning the various tasks and everyone was setting out, someone in the middle stood up and said coldly, " We people have no assets whatsoever, it is alright to rob some wealthy businessmen. But if we attack such an official, won't we have trouble living on the lake in the future? We should not offend the Jin Ambassador."

Guo Jing and Huang Rong thought the voice sounded familiar. When they squinted to have a better look, they realized that is was Sha Tong Tian's disciple, one of the four ghosts of the yellow rive, stealing souls whip, Ma Qing Xiong; they did not know how he ended up in the group. Lu Guanying's expression changed, he had yet to answer when a few pirates in the crowd starting hooting.

Lu Guanying said, " Brother Ma is a first timer and doesn't know the rules here. Since everyone is determined to carry out the task, we'll give our all and make sure the soldiers have no chance to retaliate, only then will we die without regrets."

Ma Qing Xiong answered, " Alright, you people go ahead then, I would rather not get involved and get myself into trouble."

With that, he turned and started to walk out of the boat. Two men blocked him and cried out, " Brother Ma, you swore that you will go through thick and thin with us!"

Ma Qing Xiong pushed out with both palms and retorted, " Get lost!"

The two men were hit and fell to the side. As Ma Qing Xiong was about to leave the boat, he suddenly felt a gust of wind flow towards his back, when the wind flowed past him; he used his left hand to retrieve a dagger from his boot, twisted his arm and pierced the dagger behind. Lu Guanying stretched out his left arm and positioned it on the entrance door, at the same time, he leaped and thrust his palm forward. Ma Qing Xiong used his right arm to block the attack while using his left arm to pierce the dagger forward. The two men exchanged attacks on the narrow passage of the ship. Guo Jing once fought with Ma Qing Xiong back in Mongolia. When he first saw Lu Guanying's moves, he thought that it would not be easy for him to win. But after some more moves, Lu Guanying kept gaining the upper hand and was clearly going to win. Guo Jing was suspicious and thought, " Why is that Ma guy suddenly not strong anymore? Ah, yes, that day when he fought with me, he had the support of his martial brothers, but now, he's singly surrounded by so many enemies, of course he'll be afraid." But Guo Jing did not know that the real reason lied in Hong Qi Gong's training for the past two months. Guo Jing had mastered fifteen stances of the world's renowned 'Eighteen Subduing Dragon Palms', accompanied by pointers and advice provided by Hong Qi Gong himself. Because of this, although he did not understand the full essence of the skill, his martial arts had improved tremendously and were at a very much higher level than the average skills he learnt from the Seven Freaks of Jiangnan, but at this point in time, Guo Jing was still unaware that his skills had already suppressed his six teachers, and thus, he still thought that he was less superior than Ma Qing Xiong. He saw the two men further exchange a couple of stunts when Lu Guanying shot out his left fist and a "pa" sound was heard; the blow had hit Ma Qing Xiong in the chest, who stumbled and fell back. Two pirates behind him pierced him with their daggers and Ma Qing Xiong laid dead. The two pirates then lifted up the corpse and threw it into the lake.