The Legend of the Condor Heroes

"In the Central Plain Uncle Hero is invincible," Ouyang Ke replied. "As long as Uncle Hero shows mercy and did not come over here to bully the young and the weak, your young nephew has nothing to fear. My own uncle had instructed me that if I ever see Uncle Hong I should be respectful to you. He had warned me the difference between our skill levels; that Junior simply could not even touch you; that if I insist on trying I would be the laughingstock of all the heroes of the world."

Hong Qigong laughed heartily and said, "You flattered me and tried to prevent me from fighting you, but actually there are a lot of people in the Central Plain who wanted to kill you. I don't have to move my finger if I really want you dead. Earlier you said that you have seen my skills of stealing chicken, stroking dogs, begging for food and catching snake; and you belittled those skills, did you not?"

Ouyang Ke hastily answered, "Your young nephew was not aware this old hero is Uncle Hong's disciple. It was very disrespectful of me. I beg Uncle and this old hero's forgiveness."

Hong Qigong leaped down from the beam. "You called him 'the old hero' but he was defeated by you. Aren't you the hero then? Ha … ha … aren't you ashamed?"

Ouyang Ke was angry, but knew his martial art was way too far below Hong Qigong; so he did not dare to say anything wrong. He suppressed his anger and did not make any sound.

"Your skills were imparted by that old Western Poison and you are thinking of running amuck in the Central Plain. Humph … do you really think I am already dead?" Hong Qigong said.

"Uncle holds the same rank of honor with my own uncle; Junior will have to listen to Uncle's instruction," Ouyang Ke said.

"Is that so?" Hong Qigong said. "You are saying that I put you on the spot; that the older bully the younger?" Ouyang Ke did not say anything, which was the same as agreeing to what Hong Qigong was saying.

"Even though the Old Beggar is the leader of all beggars; old and young alike, but not all beggars are my disciple," Hong Qigong continued. "This man surnamed Li had learned a superficial amount of my martial arts; how could he be regarded as my successor? His 'wandering strides' fist technique has not reached perfection. You belittled my stealing chicken and stroking dogs skill, humph … if the old beggar really takes a disciple, he wouldn't be inferior to you."

"Naturally," Ouyang Ke agreed. "Uncle Hong's disciple would be much stronger than your nephew. But your martial art skill is too high; it wouldn't be easy for anybody to learn."

"Your mouth is sweet," Hong Qigong said, "But I am sure you are scolding me in your heart."

"Your nephew does not dare," Ouyang Ke answered.

"Qigong, don't believe his lie," Huang Rong quipped. "He scolds you in his heart all right, and he scolds you really bad. He said although your martial art is not bad but it only benefits yourself; you don't have the ability to teach. Even if you teach your stealing chicken and stroking dogs skills to your heart's content, nobody would be able to learn it to perfection."

Hong Qigong just stared at her. He snorted and mumbled, "This little girl knows how to provoke me." He turned his head and said, "Good, huh? This kid dares to scold me?" Suddenly he stretched one hand; quick as lighting he snatched the folding fan in Ouyang Ke's hand. He unfolded the fan and saw some peonies painting, with two characters 'Xu Xi'. He did not know that Xu Xi was a poet from Northern Song Dynasty. Although the peonies were beautifully painted, he still said, "Not good!" There was several lines of characters written on the fan, and at the end was a signature, 'bai tuo shan shao zhu' [Young Master of the White Camel Mountain]. It was Ouyang Ke's handwriting.

"What do you think of these characters?" Hong Qigong asked Huang Rong.

Huang Rong raised her eyebrows and said, "Very crude. But what do you expect? A spoiled rich kid like him wouldn't know how to write. I bet he hired a pawnshop clerk to write those characters."

Ouyang Ke pride himself as both martial art and literature expert, which was actually not too far from reality. Hearing Huang Rong he was really angry. He shot an angry look toward her, only to see under the candlelight the corner of her eyes bore a very faint smile. She looked so sweet and innocent that his anger vanished into thin air.

Hong Qigong spread the fan in his hand; lifting it up he wiped his mouth with it. He just ate a chicken, so his mouth was greasy. As soon as he did that, the painting and calligraphy were completely destroyed. Then he casually crumpled the fan, made it a paper ball and tossed it to the ground.

Other people would think nothing of it, but not so to Ouyang Ke; his fan's spines were made of steel. The fan was his weapon. It was a demonstration of a profound internal energy. He was terrified.

"If I personally fight you, you will die unsatisfied. So I am going to take a disciple and let him fight with you," Hong Qigong said.

Ouyang Ke pointed to Guo Jing. "This fellow had fought with me for dozens of stances. If Uncle Hong did not come out, I would gain the upper hand. Brother Guo, don't you agree?" he said.

Guo Jing nodded his head, "I might lose." Ouyang Ke smiled with satisfaction.

Hong Qigong looked up and laughed. "Jing'er, are you my disciple?" he asked.

Guo Jing recalled he kowtowed to Hong Qigong, but Hong Qigong returned those kowtows. "Junior is unfortunate not to be your disciple," he quickly replied.

"Did you hear?" Hong Qigong asked Ouyang Ke.

Ouyang Ke was dissatisfied. "You can't fool me; where did this kid's exquisite palms come from?" he asked.

Hong Qigong turned toward Guo Jing. "If I don't make you my disciple, that little brat girl will not let me die peacefully. She would pester me with hundreds of evil schemes forever. I guess the old beggar has to admit defeat. All right, bow to me, I'll take you as my disciple," he said.

Guo Jing was ecstatic. Quickly he bent his knees and busily kowtowed several times while calling out, "Master!" That day at the Cloud Village he had recounted to his six masters how Hong Qigong had taught him the '18 Dragon-Subduing Palms'. The Six Freaks of Jiangnan were very happy, they all said it was a pity this highly skilled extraordinary character of the Wulin world was not willing to take Guo Jing as his disciple. They told him that if Hong Qigong happened to reveal his willingness to take him, Guo Jing should accept without reservation.

Huang Rong was even happier. She smiled broadly and said, "Qigong, I have helped you find a very fine disciple. My contribution is not small. Starting today you will have somebody you can call your successor. How will you thank me?"

Hong Qigong made a face to her, "Kiss my ass!" Then he turned to Guo Jing and said, "Imbecile, let me teach you three stances first." Immediately he taught Guo Jing the last three stances of the '18 Dragon-Subduing Palms' right in front of everybody else. Of course, compared to Guo Jing's own three desperately-brewed stances, these moves were like a world apart.

Ouyang Ke said to himself, "This old beggar's martial art is outstanding, but he is not too smart. He is concentrating on teaching his disciple, totally forgetting that I am standing here, watching." With rapt attention he watched Guo Jing's every move. But he did not see anything extraordinary. Sometimes Gong Qigong whispered something into Guo Jing's ears. He guessed it must be the theory behind these three moves. Sometimes Guo Jing would nod his head, but most other time he just stood there, staring blankly or shook his head. Hong Qigong would repeat what he just said until Guo Jing reluctantly nodded his head; obviously he did not fully comprehend the theory. "This guy is really stupid," he thought, "This short period of time is not enough for him to learn the three stances. I might as well seize the opportunity to study them."