The Legend of the Condor Heroes

Original translation by

Foxs

Ouyang Feng felt his the surroundings become hotter and the deck of the boat was shaking trememdously and he knew the boat would sink any moment. But Hong Qigong was attacking more furiously and did not slacken his pace so if he did not use his special skills now he might not get out of this alive so he withdrew his Snake Rod with his right hand and kicked out heavily with his right leg.

Hong Qigong used his bamboo rod to chase the Snake Rod while using his left hand to block the incoming kick but Ouyang Feng suddenly twisted his arms and punched towards Hong Qigong's 'Right Sun' Accupoint. This [Agile Viper Boxing] was developed through Ouyang Feng's own harsh training and was meant for use during the 2nd Hua Shan Tournament. He had not used this snake-like boxing skill even after exchanging 1000 strokes with Hong Qigong on Peach Blossom Island.

A snake seems to be boneless and could turn in all directions at will, so the main point of this boxing skill is to be able to twist the arms unpredictably, so that when the opponent blocks the fists, the exponent would be able to throw out a punch from an unexpected angle at close proximity. Of course to expect the arms to move exactly like a snake would be unreasonable but in the eyes of the opponent, the movements of the arms greatly resemble snakes.

Originally, with Ouyang Feng executing such a strange move in this critical moment, Hong Qigong would have found it hard to defend; even if he were not injured, he would also be in danger. However Ouyang Ke had already used it against Guo Jing before, and although he won, he actually gave Hong Qigong a chance to spot a flaw in the move.

That day he did not attend the feast with Li Sheng and the of group beggars but was instead deeply thinking of how to counter the move. Now when Ouyang Feng finally used this move, he secretly rejoiced, extended his fingers to form a claw and caught hold of his fist. This was perfect as he managed to swiftly and accurately counter the special move of the [Agile Viper Boxing].

It looked like it happened by chance, but in reality it was Hong Qigong who pondered over it for many days and nights, followed by long hours of practice which finally allowed him to deal with the entire [Agile Viper Boxing]. Although it had not been perfected yet, but it had the element of surprise, which managed to catch him off guard.

Ouyang Feng originally expected Hong Qigong to be in great surprise and be rendered helpless, allowing him to seize the opportunity and move in for the kill, but unexpectedly it was he who ended up surprised himself and was forced to retreat several steps. Suddenly a cloud of fire decended upon him, immediately covering his whole body. Hong Qigong was also startled and leapt back and saw that it was actually a large sail which caught fire.

With Ouyang Feng's Wugong, even if that sail fell several times faster ot would not hit him. But now he suddenly saw the [Agile Viper Boxing] which he painstakingly created over many years unexpectedly being so carelessly neutralized, his mind was lost and he did not attempt to evade the burning sail. The sail with the mast weighed several hundred jin and Ouyang Feng was not able to lift the sail even after jumping twice.

Although he was in great danger, he was still calm and he raised up the Snake Rod to lift the sail, but the Snake Rod was pinned under the mast and could not be lifted upright. In his heart sighed, "Forget it! I'll return to heaven today!" Suddenly he felt the weight lifted and his head was no longer blocked by the sail and saw that Hong Qigong had raised the anchor, hooking it onto the sail and pulling the sail away. Actually Hong Qigong did not want to see him being burnt alive so he went forth to save him.

Now Ouyang Feng's clothes and brows were on fire and he immediately jumped up and rolled on the deck of the boat frantically attempting to put out the fire. Unfortunately bad things do not come singly and the boat suddenly lunged to one side, causing a huge chain to sweep right into him.

Hong Qigong shouted, "Ah!" and dashed forward to grab the chain. The chain was already heated by the fire and caused a sizzling sound when it came into contact with his hand, scalding his palm. He let go immediately and threw it into the sea. He was just about to jump when he felt a slight numbness on his back.

He stopped for a second and a thought flashed through his mind, "I saved West Poison's life, can it be possible that he's using his snake to poison me?" He turned around and saw that it was indeed a snake with fresh blood in its mouth. In his rage he threw 2 palms towards Ouyang Feng. Ouyang Feng stepped aside impassively and Hong Qigong's palms hit a mast, splitting it into 2.

Ouyang Feng was happy that his sneak attack worked but when he saw Hong Qigong lashing out crazily he became more serious and did not dare take the blows head-on, avoiding them instead. Guo Jing shouted, "Master! Climb aboard the small boat." Hong Qigong suddenly felt dizzy and staggered.

Ouyang Feng charged forward and hit out with his palms which landed right on Hong Qigong's back. Ouyang Feng's snake's lethal poison was unmatched, but fortunately he already used up most of the poison when he made a bet with Zhou Bo Tong days ago, so the poison was not so lethal that day.

So when Hong Qigong was bitten, he was not very severely poisoned and due to his high internal energy, the poison took some time to take effect. When he was hit by Ouyang Feng he was in a daze and he did not circulate his qi to protect himself, causing him to throw up blood and collapse.

Since Hong Qigong was very highly-skilled, Ouyang Feng knew that this blow would not kill him, so when he recovered some time later, Ouyang Feng would be in trouble. He jumped over and raised his foot to strike his chest. Guo Jing had just climbed aboard from the small boat and saw that the situation was very urgent but he might not be able to save Hong Qigong in time, so he struck out with both palms using the [Double-Dragon Water Rationing] stance to attack Ouyang Feng's waist.

Although Ouyang Feng knew his martial arts were not weak, he did not think very highly of him and used his left hand to block the strike while his right foot slammed down. Guo Jing was shocked and did not care about his own safety and jumped up, hugging Ouyang Feng's head, but by doing this he left his accupoints exposed and his side was swept at by Ouyang Feng.

Although this counterattack was not very forceful, every of his strike was enough to kill the opponent, so if not for Guo Jing's good internal strength, he would have suffered serious injuries. He felt a sharp pain followed by numbness in half his body, but he continued to cling on tenaciously to Ouyang Feng's head.

Ouyang Feng assumed that with his vicious strike, the opponent would retreat, but he did not expect the dumb kid to use such a move that would get them both injured. Thus he had to retract the foot which was halfway towards Hong Qigong to twist his waist around to attack Guo Jing. At such close proximity, he could not execute any of his refined Snake moves.

For highly-skilled exponents, whenever they fight, they would not allow the opponent to get close to them even if they were targeting accupoints, so there was hardly any close-contact grappling involved. When it came to advanced martial arts, there were no moves for scuffling.