The Legend of the Condor Heroes

Guo Jing nodded his head in agreement, "If all the Quan Zhen Seven Masters went into action the Twin Killers of The Dark Wind wouldn't have any chance." His mind wandered to the time Priest Ma Yu along with his six masters masquerading as the Quan Zhen Seven Masters atop the Mongolian barren hill.

"They pursued the twin killers as far as Henan, when unexpectedly those two disappeared," Zhou Botong continued. "The Quan Zhen Seven tried to find information, turned out another disciple of Old Heretic Huang, Lu Chengfeng had gathered dozens of heroes and valiant people of the Central Plains to fight those two with the intention of capturing them and send them back to the Peach Blossom Island and hand them over to the Old Heretic Huang. Nevertheless, they were still able to escape and vanished without a trace."

"No wonder Village Master Lu hated his martial brother and martial sister so much; he was expelled innocently from his school," Guo Jing said.

"Since I couldn't find the Twin Killers of The Dark Wind, naturally I looked for Old Heretic Huang. I carried along the first volume of the Nine Yin Manual, because I was afraid I might lose this one as well. Upon arrival at the Peach Blossom Island I scolded the Old Heretic Huang, but he said, 'Botong, Huang Yaoshi always meant what he says. I had said I wouldn't cast a glance at your book; when did I look at your book? The Nine Yin Manual that I saw was the one recorded by my wife, certainly not your book.' His words sounded reasonable, but I was furious, so I spoke harsh words to him and asked to talk to his wife. He smiled bitterly, and led me to the main hall. As soon as we were there I was shocked. Turned out Madame Huang had passed away. There in the main hall was her memorial tablet.

I was going to pay my respect to her spirit, but Old Heretic Huang sneered and said, 'Old Urchin! You don't have to be pretentious on my face. If not because of your damned 'gou pi zhen jing' [dog fart manual] my wife wouldn't have left me.' I was startled, 'What?!?' I asked. He didn't answer, only looking at me with angry eyes; but then tears started rolling down his cheeks. After a long while, he started to tell me what really happened.

Initially Madame Huang recorded the book for the first time for her husband's sake. Huang Yaoshi then found out that the book in his hands was the second volume; which was harmful to train without knowing the first volume. So he decided to set the book aside while he was trying to get hold of the first volume. Who would have thought that the book would be stolen by Chen Xuanfeng and Mei Chaofeng? Madame Huang wanted to comfort her husband, so she quietly determined to rewrite the whole book.

First of all, she did not understand the meaning of what she wrote; she merely memorized the words. Secondly, it had been several years since she wrote it for the first time; how could she remember everything? At that time she was entering the eighth month of her pregnancy. After painstakingly thinking hard she was able to re-write about seven, eight thousand words, but not every word was accurate. Her heart and mind were exhausted; and because of that she gave birth to a baby girl prematurely. The baby was healthy, but her condition was like a lantern ran out of oil. Even though Huang Yaoshi's skill was peerless, in the end, he was not able to save his beloved wife's life.

Old Heretic Huang always loves to vent his anger and blame others; during this time his wife had passed away, he was like a madman; talked incoherently to me. I knew his was grieving badly, so I did not want to argue with him. I simply smiled and said to him, 'You are a pugilist, yet you put too much feeling toward husband and wife relationship. Aren't you afraid you are becoming the laughing stock of other people?' 'My wife was different,' he said. I told him, 'Your wife died, this is the best time to train your martial art. If it were me, that was exactly what I expected. The earlier your wife died the better. Congratulations! Congratulations!'"

"Ah!" Guo Jing gasped. "How could you say such thing?"

Zhou Botong eyes rolled, "I said what I was thinking; what's wrong with that?" he snapped. "But that Old Heretic Huang got angry, without saying anything he struck me with his palm and we fought. In the end I had to stay in this stupid place for fifteen years."

"Did you lose to him?" Guo Jing asked.

Zhou Botong smiled, "If I win, I won't be here. He hit me until I was spitting up blood. I ran away until I found this cave. He pursued me, wanted to break my legs, He wanted to snatch the first volume of the Nine Yin Manual to be burned in front of his wife's memorial tablet. I hid the book inside the hole and sat at the cave entrance guarding. I said that if he resorted to force I would destroy the book immediately. He said, 'I will find a way to force you out of there.' I said, 'We'll see!'

Just like that and I have been here for fifteen years. This man is arrogant, and he is not desperate yet, so I am sure he won't put poison in my food. But he had used every means possible to force me out of here. I leave the cave only to urinate and defecate, he won't have any opportunity to sneak in. Only I have to live with this stench. Sometimes I pretend to have a bowel movement. His heart itches to lay his fingers in, but he ended up enjoying the smelly thing." He ended his narration by laughing heartily.

Listening to his story Guo Jing was fascinated. He found this big brother of his to be smart and witty. Zhou Botong continued, "After fifteen years he started to attack my heart and mind, but so far I was able to defend myself. Only last night I was almost fallen; fortunately ghost or angel has brought you here and helped me. If not, this book would certainly fall into Old Heretic Huang's hands. Ay! Old Heretic Huang's 'jade-colored tidal wave song' contains a strong internal energy, very profound."

Guo Jing listened to him recounting this gratitude and grudges; his heart was troubled. "Big Brother, what will you do now?" he asked.

Zhou Botong smiled, "I will just continue our competition. We'll see if Old Heretic Huang will outlive me, or I'll live a few years longer than he will. I told you the life story of Huang Shanga moment ago; he had outlived all his enemies."

Guo Jing felt it was not a good idea, but he didn't have anything better, so he asked, "How come Priest Ma Yu and the others did not come to rescue you?"

"Most probably they don't even know I am here," Zhou Botong said. "Even if they do, the vegetation in this island is so strange that unless Old Heretic Huang himself gives consent, other people won't be able to enter the Peach Blossom Island. Also, even if they come to rescue me, I won't go. I haven't finished the competition with Old Heretic Huang yet."

After talking with Zhou Botong for half a day, Guo Jing found that even though this man is old, he was filled with childlike innocence and always spoke straightforwardly, without any pretension.

In the meantime the sun had climbed high in the sky. That old servant came back delivering their meal. After done eating Zhou Botong continued, "I have stayed on the Peach Blossom Island for fifteen years, yet my time did not totally go to waste. Here my heart and mind are clear, without any disruption. I can achieve here what I can achieve elsewhere for twenty-five years. But although I know I have advanced greatly, too bad I don't have any sparring partner; so I had to use my left hand to fight my right hand."