The Legend of the Condor Heroes

Right now they did not know how far were they from the sunken boat and Guo Jing could not be found. Huang Rong suffered great sadness and fainted again. Ouyang Ke could only grip the sides of the small boat tightly as he feared that the next wave would send him tumbling out of the boat into the water.

After another hour, Huang Rong awoke again and thought that since her Brother Jing was buried at the bottom of the sea, it was meaningless for her to live on. When she saw Ouyang Ke's eyes tremble and his pale lips, she felt disgusted and thought, "How can I possibly die together with this beast?" She stood up and snapped, "Jump overboard!" Ouyang Ke was shocked and exclaimed, "What?" Huang Rong said, "You're not jumping? Let me capsize the boat then we shall speak again."

She jumped towards the right, causing a reaction which resulted in the boat springing leftwards. She then jumped towards the left, and the boat rocked even more violently. When she heard Ouyang Ke's frantic shouting, her sadness became joy and she jumped again.

Ouyang Ke knew that if she jumped around a few more times, the boat would definitely capsize, and when he saw her jump again, he quickly jumped to the other side. They landed exactly at the same time and their forces cancelled out, causing the boat to momentarily dip deeper into the water.

Huang Rong repeated this trick twice, but he managed to stop her. Huang Rong said, "Good! I'll make a hole in the boat and see what you can do." She took out the steel spike and jumped to the middle of the boat, but when she saw Hong Qigong lying down motionless at the bottom of the boat, she realised that she had completely forgotten about her master as she yearned for Guo Jing. She hurriedly bent down to place a finger at his nose, and she felt his faint breathing.

She was relieved and supported Hong Qigong up. His eyes were tightly closed and his face was white as sheet, and his pulse was weak. Huang Rong became worried about her master and did not bother about Ouyang Ke, so she undid his shirt to check his injury.

Suddenly the boat trembled violently and Ouyang Ke shouted out excitedly, "Land ahoy! Land ahoy!" Huang Rong lifted up her head and saw a dense cluster of trees in the distance. The boat had now stopped moving as it was grounded on a reef.

They were still some distance from shore but they could see the sea bed; the depth was only up to their waist-level. Ouyang Ke jumped into the water and ran a few steps forward before turning back to look at Huang Rong, then he headed back. Huang Rong saw that Hong Qigong's shoulder had a black handprint which seemed to be quite deep, so she could not help but think, "How could Western Poison's palm strike be so powerful?"

Just then she noticed 2 fine teeth marks on his shoulder. If she did not look carefully, she would have missed them. She pressed them lightly with her fingers and suddenly felt a sharp pain in her hand, so she hastily withdrew it and asked, "Master! How are you now?" Hong Qigong only moaned but did not answer her. Huang Rong said to Ouyang Ke, "Pass me the medicine."

Ouyang Ke threw up his hands impatiently and said, "The antidote is with my uncle." Huang Rong said, "I don't believe that." Ouyang Ke said, "Search me." He undid his outer gown and emptied his stuff onto his hand. Huang Rong saw that there was indeed no medicine and said, "Help me get Master ashore!"

The 2 of them took each arm of Hong Qigong and placed them over their shoulders. Huang Rong stretched out her hand and held Ouyang Ke's hand and allowed Hong Qigong to sit on their arms. They then proceeded to the shore. Huang Rong felt her master shiver unceasingly and felt extremely worried. Ouyang Ke on the other hand was rather pleased as he only only felt a warm and smooth hand tugging his, which was what he could only dream of previously. Unfortunately for him, it was not long before they reached the shore.

Huang Rong bent down and placed Hong Qigong on the ground, saying, "Quick, get the boat ashore, don't let the tide sweep it out to sea." Ouyang Ke released his hand but stared blankly, vaguely hearing Huang Rong's voice but not paying attention to what she was saying. Luckily Huang Rong did not know what he was thinking inside and only stared at him and repeated what she said. Ouyang Ke then dragged the boat up to shore and saw that Huang Rong had turned Hong Qigong over and let him lie on the grass so that she could give him first aid. He then thought, "Where on Earth are we?"

He ran up a small hill and looked around, and could not help but be extremely surprised and pleased. In all directions were the vast sea, and they were on a remote island. The island was filled with lush greenery but there was no sign of human life. He was surprised as there was no sign of food or accomodation, so how could they survive? On the other hand, he was pleased because it seemed like he was fated to be on this deserted island with that angel-like beauty, and with the old beggar was seriously injured, he would not bother them. He thought, "With her staying here, this god-forsaken island is like a paradise; even if I had to die, I would die happy."

When he thought of this, he subconsciously waved his arms about but he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his right shoulder, causing him to remember that it was broken, so he broke off 2 branches and tore a strip of cloth and tied his arm into the splint. Huang Rong was at that time trying to suck out the poison from her master's back. She did not know how else she could help him so she let him lie down on a rock in a cave and shouted over to Ouyang Ke, "Go look around and see if there's any inn around here."

Ouyang Ke laughed, "This is an island, there's absolutely no inn here. Let's see if we're lucky to find anyone else here." Huang Rong was slightly shocked and said, "You go do that." When Ouyang Ke heard her instruction, he was very excited and utilised his Qinggong and ran east, but all he saw were even more wild trees and found no traces of humans. Along the way he killed 2 wild hares and headed north before making his way back in a loop. He told Huang Rong, "It's a deserted island."

That night Huang Rong did not dare sleep for fear of Ouyang Ke attacking them and also due to her anxiety over Hong Qigong. It was only at dawn the following morning did she catch a few hours of sleep. In her sleep she dreamt that Hong Qigong called her several times and she was jolted awake and asked, "Master, how are you?" Hong Qigong pointed at his mouth and moved his teeth. Huang Rong laughed and took out some of the unfinished rabbit meat from the previous night and fed him.

Once he consumed the meat, he felt the Qi stirring within him and he sat upright to breathe properly. Huang Rong did not dare utter a word and only scrutinized his expression. But she saw the reddish tint on his face turn pale, then red again. This cycle repeated several times and soon his head was emitting steamy mist and his sweat decended like the rain, and his body was shivering terribly. Suddenly there was a flash of a shadow – Ouyang Ke was trying to get over.

Huang Rong knew that her master was attempting to treat his injuries, which was a life-and-death situation, so if he forced his way in and distracted her master, nothing would save him then. So she softly snapped, "Get out now!" Ouyang Ke laughed, "Let's discuss how we can survive here on this deserted island. The days would get longer from now, you know!" Hong Qigong blinked and asked, "Is this really a deserted island?" Huang Rong said, "Master, please concentrate, ignore him." She turned to Ouyang Ke and said, "Come, let's talk outside." Ouyang Ke was elated and followed her out of the cave.