The Legend of the Condor Heroes

Guo Jing released his grip and Huang Rong's body flew to the sky. She somersaulted twice in the air and plunged into the water several 'zhang's away from the raft. It was a beautiful scene to behold. Ouyang Feng uncle and nephew were dazzled; they did not know what she was going to do.

Huang Rong went deep into the water. She did not emerge from the water, but swam underwater toward the raft instead. Once she saw a black shadow overhead she knew she had arrived at the bottom of the raft. Ouyang Feng randomly hit the water with the oar, but he could not hit her at all.

Huang Rong held up her dagger, ready to sever the rope tying up the wooden raft; but suddenly she came up with a bright idea. She reduced the strength of her hand only cutting lightly on the ropes, leaving a third part intact; so that the raft would not be disintegrated until the rough waves of the open sea hit it. She turned around and dove away, emerged to the surface about dozen of 'zhang's away; she gasped for breath, pretending she could not catch the raft. Ouyang Feng laughed wildly and hoisted the sail. Not too long afterwards the raft had traveled far away.

While waiting for her to arrive at the beach Hong Qigong and Guo Jing were cursing incessantly; but they saw Huang Rong's smug expression and were puzzled. After hearing what happened they were delighted to no end. "Even though we are sending these two wicked men to the bottom of the ocean, we will have to start work from the beginning again," Huang Rong said.

Three people ate their meals with high spirit then they cut some lumbers again and built another raft. Several days later they were ready, and when the southeast wind blew, they hoisted the tree bark sail, left the island heading to the west. Huang Rong gazed her eyes toward the island, which was getting smaller and smaller, she sighed and said, "Our lives were almost gone on that island; but leaving it today, my heart is filled with sadness."

"We can always revisit the island in the future," Guo Jing said.

Huang Rong clapped her hands, "Good! We must come back. When that time comes, you can't go back on your words. But first, let us give this small island a good name. Shifu, what do you think?"

"You crushed that little bastard's legs with a big rock on that island," Hong Qigong said, "Let us call it 'ya gui dao' [crushing ghost island]. What do you say?"

Huang Rong shook her head. "That is not very elegant," she said.

"If you want elegance, why did you ask the Old Beggar in the first place?" Hong Qigong said, "If you ask me, the Old Poison ate my urine on the island, I'll say we call it 'chi sui dao' [eat urine island]."

Huang Rong smiled while waving her hand; she leaned her head sideways to think. She saw a cluster of red clouds on the horizon, like bright luster of gems glamorously hovering over the island. "Let's call it 'ming xia dao' [bright red cloud island]!" she called out.

"Not good, not good!" Hong Qigong countered, "That was too elegant."

Guo Jing listened to master and disciple arguing, he smiled and did not say anything. He did not care whether the island had an elegant name or a vulgar name; but deep down in his heart he thought 'ya gui' or 'chi sui' were more interesting than 'ming xia'.

Carried by the blowing wind they sailed for two days, the wind did not change its course. Toward the evening of the third day Hong Qigong and Huang Rong were asleep while Guo Jing was in charge of the rudder for the night. Amidst the ocean breeze and rolling waves suddenly he heard somebody shout, "Help! Help!" twice. The voice sounded like a clashing cymbals, it could be heard clearly amidst the screaming wind and waves.

Hong Qigong sat up and said in a low voice, "That's the Old Poison." They heard the shout one more time. Huang Rong grabbed Hong Qigong's arm, "It's a ghost, it's a ghost!" she said with a trembling voice.

It was the end of the sixth month, the night was dark and moonless; there were only several stars scattered sparsely on the dark night. The sea was pitch-black; a scream in the middle of the night would make anybody terrified to the bone.

"Is that the Old Poison?" Hong Qigong called out. His internal energy was lost, so his voice did not travel too far. Guo Jing gathered the 'qi' on his 'dan tian' and called out, "Is that Uncle Ouyang?"

From a distant they heard Ouyang Feng answered, "It is me, Ouyang Feng. Help!"

Huang Rong was still terrified, "It doesn't matter whether it is a man or a ghost, let us just leave, quick!"

"Help him," Hong Qigong suddenly said.

"No, no!" Huang Rong quickly answered, "I am scared."

"It's not a ghost," Hong Qigong said.

"Even if it is a man we still don't have to help," Huang Rong said.

"Helping others in distress is one of our Beggar Clan's rules," Hong Qigong said, "You and I are two generations of the Clan Leader; we can't abandon the honorable customs handed down from the previous generations' leaders."

"The Beggar Clan's custom is not right," Huang Rong countered, "Clearly Ouyang Feng is a scoundrel, when he becomes a ghost, he will still be a scoundrel ghost. It doesn't matter if it is a man or a ghost, we should not help."

"It is the Clan's regulation, we can't change it," Hong Qigong said.

In her heart Huang Rong was very angry. They heard Ouyang Feng's voice in the distant again, "Qi Xiong [Brother Qi], are you really 'jian si bu jiu' [seeing death, do not help]?"

Huang Rong said, "I got it! Brother Jing, wait until you can see Ouyang Feng clearly, then strike him dead with your stick. You are not a Beggar Clan's member, you don't have to observe this unreasonable rule."

Hong Qigong was angry, "Taking advantage of somebody else's precarious condition; is that the righteous way of the warrior?"

Huang Rong did not have any choice, helplessly she watched Guo Jing steer the raft toward the voice. In the deep dark of the night they vaguely saw two men on the water rocked by the wave; next to their heads was a lumber. It looked like after their raft broke Ouyang Feng uncle and nephew had clung onto that piece of lumber until now.

"Let him make an oath never to harm anybody else, then we will rescue him," Huang Rong said.

Hong Qigong sighed, "You don't know the Old Poison's character; he would rather die than surrender. He won't make this kind of promise. Jing'er, rescue them."

Guo Jing bent down and grabbed Ouyang Ke's collar, lifting him up to the raft. Hong Qigong was eager to help and he forgot his martial art was gone. He held out his hand and Ouyang Feng took it. He wanted to borrow the strength and leap to the raft. But because of his pull Hong Qigong unexpectedly fell into the sea with a splash. Guo Jing and Huang Rong were shocked; they jumped into the sea immediately and saved Hong Qigong. Huang Rong angrily scolded Ouyang Feng, "My Shifu has a good heart rescuing you; how could you drag him into the sea instead?"

Ouyang Feng knew Hong Qigong had lost his martial art; otherwise, how could this simple pull make a martial art expert fall into the sea? But he had been immersed in the water for several days, he was extremely weary. He did not dare to look up, he lowered his head and said, "I … I did not mean to. Qi Xiong, please don't blame your brother."