The Legend of the Condor Heroes

Who would have thought that Guo Jing was really did not have any clue what he was talking about, so he only stammered, "I … I …" his eyes looked at Huang Rong; asking for help. Huang Rong was in the seventh heaven; she bent her right thumb, signaling Guo Jing he should kowtow. Guo Jing understood this signal, so he bent his knees and kowtowed four times to Huang Yaoshi, but he still did not open his mouth to speak.

Huang Yaoshi smiled and asked, "What do you kowtow to me for?"

"Rong'er told me to," Guo Jing honestly answered.

Huang Yaoshi silently sighed, "A dumb kid is a dumb kid," he thought. Extending his hand he took the silk handkerchiefs from Ouyang Ke's ears, and gave his decision. "Regarding internal energy, Guo Xianzhi is stronger; but my test subject was music knowledge, in which Ouyang Xianzhi is much better … Let's just say that the second test was a draw. I am going to present the third subject, let two Xianzhis decide victory or defeat."

Ouyang Feng knew his nephew had lost, but he did not expect Huang Yaoshi would give him favor, so he quickly replied, "True, true! Let them compete one more time."

Hong Qigong was upset but didn't say anything, he thought, "The girl is your own daughter, and others can't meddle in if you want to give her to that rotten playboy. I always want to fight you, but right now it is difficult for my two fists to fight your four hands. Wait till I ask Emperor Duan to help me. We'll see …"

Huang Yaoshi produced a thin book with red silk cover from his bosom and said, "My wife and I only have this one daughter. Unfortunately she had died prematurely. Today Feng Xiong and Qi Xiong are both here to ask her hand in marriage. If my wife were here, I am sure she would be very delighted …" Listening to her father speak, Huang Rong's eyes turned red. Huang Yaoshi continued, "This book was written by my wife, the same year she passed away. It was the fruit of her hard work. I am going to let both Xianzhis to read it, then recite it back from memory. Whoever manage to recite the most will be betrothed to my daughter." He caught a sight of Hong Qigong had a slight cold smile on his face, but he continued on, "Actually, Guo Xianzhi had won by one subject, but this book has impacted my life tremendously; my wife died because of it. Now I silently wish her soul in heaven would personally choose our son-in-law; that she would bless the Xianzhi to win."

Hong Qigong could not hold his patience much longer, he shouted loud and clear, "Old Heretic Huang! Who want to listen to your crummy ghost story? You knew perfectly well my disciple is a dummy; does not know book or poetry, yet you insist on testing him on that very subject, then frightening him with your died young wife. You are shameless!" He brushed his long sleeve and turned his body to walk away.

Huang Yaoshi sneered, "Qi Xiong, if you come to the Peach Blossom Island to flaunt your power, you still need to practice for several more years," he coldly said.

Hong Qigong stopped dead on his track, "What?" he raised his eyebrows, "You want to fight me?" he asked.

"You don't understand 'wu xing qi men' [lit. five ways strange/wonderful gates, don't know the correct translation] techniques," Huang Yaoshi replied, "If not by my permission, don't even think of leaving this island alive."

Hong Qigong was angry, "I am going to burn down your stinky trees and flower bushes!"

"If you have the ability, go ahead and try!" Huang Yaoshi coldly challenged.

Guo Jing saw those two were about to fight, he also knew that the Peach Blossom Island was really not to be trifled with; he was afraid his master would fall into an enemy trap on the island. Quickly he stepped forward and said, "Island Master Huang, Shifu, let disciple and big brother Ouyang compete in this book memorization contest. Disciple is really stupid, if I lose, I lose." But in his heart he was thinking, "I'll wait till Shifu is save, then Rong'er and I will jump into the sea, we will swim as far as our strength would take us; then we will die together in the sea."

"Great!" Hong Qigong said mockingly, "You just can't wait to lose face, can you? Be my guest, then! Be my guest." His thought was, 'if you are going to lose anyway, why compete?' so he intended to take his disciples along, three people just walked away to the seashore, snatched a boat and sailed away from the island. Who would have thought that the stupid disciple of his could not act according to the circumstance? He had no alternatives but conceded.

"Be a good girl and sit quietly; and don't you have any weird ideas," Huang Yaoshi told his daughter.

Huang Rong did not say anything, but she expected Guo Jing would fail this next test. Her father said that he would let her deceased mother to pick their son-in-law; then the previous two tests Guo Jing had won did not count at all. Among the three tests, Guo Jing had obviously won the second one, so the decision that it was a draw was hard to accept. In short, she believed that the reason her father insisted on administering the third test was so that Ouyang Ke would win. So she started to cook an escape plan; how would she take Guo Jing out of the island.

Huang Yaoshi told Ouyang Ke and Guo Jing to sit side by side on a big rock; then he presented the book in front of them. Ouyang Ke saw on the cover was written in the seal characters [the ones found on official documents] these six characters, 'jiu yin zhen jing' [Nine Yin Manual]; he was ecstatic. "This Nine Yin Manual is the world's most profound martial arts manual; Father-in-law must be very fond of me to let me read this wonderful book." Guo Jing, on the other hand, also saw the six characters but had no idea what they were; he thought, "He intentionally wants to make things difficult for me. How do I know this kind of curving-tadpole characters? In any case I am going to admit defeat."

Huang Yaoshi opened the cover and the book was actually written in normal/modern characters. The handwriting was graceful; obviously written by a female hand. Guo Jing started to read and his heart skipped a beat. The first line read, "The way of the Heaven: A simple fix is not enough to repair damage; it truly is an empty victory, insufficient for a real one." [?not sure?] It was exactly the sentence Zhou Botong told him to memorize. He looked further down, and to his surprise, the sentences were the ones he had already known by heart.

Huang Yaoshi waited a moment, and when he thought the two had finished, he flipped the page. On the second page the words and phrases were slightly out of order; and further down the book, the sentences were becoming more confusing while the characters looked soft and weak.

Guo Jing's heart was shaken again, he recalled Zhou Botong's story on how Madame Huang had re-written the Nine Yin Manual from memory, and how it drained her emotionally and physically that she died while giving birth to her child. This book was obviously the one she wrote before she died. "Could it be that what Big Brother Zhou taught me was the Nine Yin Manual?" he wondered in his heart. "No. It can't be. The second volume of Nine Yin Manual is lost in Mei Chaofeng's hands; where did he get it from?"

Huang Yaoshi saw him staring blankly; lost in thought, even looked dazed; he did not pay any attention and slowly turned the page one by one. At first Ouyang Ke was able to memorize what was written, but later on when it got to the training method the sentences were garbled; there was no clear relation between the previous to the next ones. Further down the book, even the characters were unclear. His heart sank; he could not help sighing inwardly, "Turned out he is still unwilling to show me the real full-text Manual." But then he had another thought, "Even though I can't see the full Manual, but compared to this dumb kid I am sure I have memorized more text. In this test my victory has been decided." Having this thought he felt smug and could not help to cast a glance toward Huang Rong.