The Legend of the Condor Heroes

"What are you doing?" Huang Yaoshi scolded his daughter. His left sleeve flicked and struck down the steel needle shot from Huang Rong's hand, while with the back of his right hand he pushed her shoulder back.

"Wah!" Huang Rong bawled. "Father, you'd better kill me," she cried. "I'd rather die than marrying this bad thing."

Ouyang Feng thrust the dragon pill into Huang Rong's hand while his other hand gently fended off Huang Yaoshi's palm. "Your daughter is just testing my nephew's martial art, why are you so serious?" Because he was striking his own daughter, naturally Huang Yaoshi's palm did not carry a lot of strength. Ouyang Feng's hand also did not carry a lot of force.

Ouyang Ke had straightened his body; he felt pain in his left chest, so he knew he was being hit by one or two needles. However, he was proud and did not want anybody else to know, so he kept a straight face. Only he was embarrassed. "She did not want to marry me after all," he thought.

Ouyang Feng smiled, "Yao Xiong, since our last meeting at the Mount Hua, we haven't seen each other for more than twenty years. Now that you have accepted my nephew's proposal whenever you have a business for me to do, your brother will not dare to refuse."

"Who dares to provoke you, Old Poison?" Huang Yaoshi replied. "You have stayed in the western region for twenty years, what new fierce martial arts have you mastered? Come, let me see."

As soon as Huang Rong heard her father mentioned 'new martial arts' her interest was piqued. She wiped her tears away and leaned to his father. Her eyes looked closely to Ouyang Feng. She saw a curving black staff in his hand; looked like it was made of steel. The head of the staff resembled a man's face; with its mouth open showing two rows of sharp teeth. The face looked ugly and fearsome. What was more amazing was there were a couple of silver-scaled snakes slithering up and down along the staff.

Ouyang Feng smiled. "I was inferior to you then, and now that I have wasted more than twenty years, I certainly won't be your match," he said. "We become in-laws now. I am thinking of staying in the Peach Blossom Island for a few days and asking your advice."

When Ouyang Feng sent an envoy to propose for his nephew Huang Yaoshi thought that Ouyang Feng was one of only a handful of people whose martial art could be compared to his own. Ouyang Feng was also an educated man, so must be his nephew. He knew his own daughter was stubborn and strong-willed. If she married just anybody, he was afraid she would bully her husband. Besides, he loathed that Guo kid whom his daughter liked. Ouyang Ke was not only highly educated, but was highly skilled in martial arts as well; not too many young men would hold a candle against him. That was the reason he accepted their proposal. But now he listened to Ouyang Feng's sweet mouth, he could not help but feel suspicious. He knew Ouyang Feng was crafty and sly; Ouyang Feng would not easily admit defeat to others in term of martial arts. His Toad Stance had been neutralized by Wang Chongyang's Solitary Yang Finger; could it be that he had recovered completely? So Huang Yaoshi took out his jade flute and said, "Honored guests come from afar, Little Brother is going to play a tune to entertain you. Please sit down and leisurely listen to this song."

Ouyang Feng knew Huang Yaoshi was going to play the [jade-colored tidal wave song] to test his internal strength; so he showed a faint smile and waved his left hand. Immediately the thirty-two white-dressed lantern-carrier maidens step forward and kneeled before them. Ouyang Feng smiled and said, "Your brother has acquired these thirty-two maidens from various regions in the west. Please accept them as my gift to an old friend. They are trained in singing and dancing; yet they came from uncultured places; of course they can't be compared to Jiangnan's beautiful maidens."

"Your Brother does not enjoy this kind of gift very much," Huang Yaoshi replied, "Since my wife passed away, I regard the world's beautiful women as dung. I do not dare to accept Brother Feng's generous gift."

"What's the harm in some entertainment to pass the time away?" Ouyang Feng laughed.

Huang Rong noticed that these women's skin was fair, lighter in color. Their statures were tall, some had blond hair and blue eyes; their noses were high and their eyes deep; totally different from the women from the Central Plains. But they were all beautiful, carrying a seductive look that would attract casual onlookers.

Ouyang Feng clapped his hands three times and eight women took out various musical instruments. They started playing the instruments while the other twenty-four women started dancing to their tune. The musical instruments as well as the tune were different from the ones commonly played in the Central Plains; they sounded weird in Huang Rong's ears.

She saw the front row women bent down, turning to the left and then back to the right; their bodies were very supple. The next rows did the same, row after row dancing in succession, resembled a large snake. After a while each woman extended both their hands apart; from the tip of their left hand to the tip of their right hand, their body swayed following the tune; reminding her of snakes slithering on the ground.

Huang Rong remembered Ouyang Ke's [spirit snake fist]; so she cast a glance toward him, only to see that Ouyang Ke was closely staring at her. She hated him to the guts and wished that her father would not intercept her needles. She would find another way of taking his life that even if her father would force her to marry, the person was already dead. It was called the 'remove-firewood-from-under-the-pot' tactic. Having this thought she was happy and a smile broke on her face. Ouyang Ke saw her sudden smile, and thought that she was smiling to him. He was elated that he momentarily forgot the pain in his chest.

By now the dance movements of the women were getting more intense. Their bodies moved erotically, their hands caressed their own buttocks, moving upward to their breasts, and unfastening their dress they showed their upper bodies and posed in various postures.

The men who shepherd the snakes have early on closed their eyes tight; they did not dare to look. Even then their minds were disturbed.

Huang Yaoshi simply smiled and put the flute on his lips he started playing a tune. The women's bodies suddenly shook; their dance movements were chaotic. A few bars later both their music and their dance were following the flute's sound.

Ouyang Feng knew something was amiss; he clapped his hands and a maiden stepped forward carrying an iron 'zheng' [zither?]. Ouyang Ke started to feel his heart beating faster. The eight women playing the musical instruments have early on lost their control and totally following the flute's tune. The men in charge of the snakes jumped up and down like crazy among the snakes.

Ouyang Feng played a few notes on his zither; producing metallic sound like an iron horse charging toward the enemy; in contrast with the soft murmuring sound of the flute. Huang Yaoshi smiled and said, "Come, come! Let us play a duet." As soon as the flute left his lips, everybody was relieved from their hysterical condition.

"Everybody stop your ears! Island Master Huang and I will play some music," Ouyang Feng shouted. The people who came with him knew the song would not be a small matter; immediately they took anything, including ripping their own clothes, that could be used to cover their ears. Layer after layer they put cotton and pieces of clothes over their ears; yet they were still afraid the sound would penetrate that barrier. Ouyang Ke also took some cotton balls to stop his ears.