The Legend of the Condor Heroes

Hong Qigong laughed heartily, "Well said, well said. Only the Old Beggar's real skill is known to you now," he said.

"Good Miss," Ouyang Feng said, "Could you spare something for us to eat? We have been hungry for several days."

Huang Rong replied, "We have food and water on this raft enough only for three people. I can give you some, but then what do we eat?"

"Very well," Ouyang Feng said, "Please give a little bit of food to my nephew then, his legs are heavily injured, he won't survive without food."

"In that case let's make a deal," Huang Rong said, "Your viper hurt my Shifu; he has not recovered until now. Give him the antidote."

Ouyang Feng groped his pocket and produced two vials, handed them over to her and said, "Miss, please take a look; the vials were drowned in the water, the antidote has been washed out clean!"

Huang Rong took the vials, she shook them and sniffed them; the vials were really filled with seawater. "In this case, tell us prescription of the antidote, as soon as we are ashore we can brew some."

"If I want to swindle you, I can always give you any prescription, you won't know if it is genuine or fake; but how can Ouyang Feng be this kind of person?" Ouyang Feng said, "Let me tell you the truth: my vipers are the most poisonous in the world, nothing can match its lethality; if one is bitten, although one won't immediately die due to one's excellence in martial art, within eight times eight, sixty-four days half of one's body will be paralyzed and one will be invalid for the rest of one's life. I have no problem giving you the antidote prescription, but not only the ingredients are hard to find, it also requires processing of three successive winters and summers. By the time the antidote is ready, I am afraid it would be much too late. I have told you the truth, if you still want to take my life it is entirely up to you."

Huang Rong and Guo Jing listened to him, they secretly admired him; they thought, "Although this man is evil and cruel, he did not lost his dignity as a grand master of his martial art school in a matter of life and death."

"Rong'er," Hong Qigong also said, "He is telling the truth. A man's life has been decided by fate; the Old Beggar has nothing to be worried about. You give them something to eat."

Huang Rong's heart was secretly crushed, she knew her master would not recover from his injury. Silently she took a roasted wild goat leg and tossed it toward Ouyang Feng. Ouyang Feng tore some meat for his nephew first before he took a big bite and chewed the meat.

Huang Rong coldly said, "Uncle Ouyang, you have injured my master, in the second Sword Meet of Mount Hua you will be the winner among the heroes. Let me congratulate you first."

"That is not necessarily true," Ouyang Feng replied, "There is at least one person in this whole wide world who can heal Qi Xiong's injury."

Guo Jing and Huang Rong jumped in shock so that the raft was leaning to one side. They both asked in unison, "Is that true?"

While biting the mutton leg Ouyang Feng said, "Only it is very difficult to ask this person to help. Your Shifu also knows about it."

Two people's eyes turned to their master. Hong Qigong smiled, "You know it is difficult, why did you say it?"

Huang Rong pulled her master's sleeve, asking for explanation, "Shifu, tell us. Even if it is difficult, we still have to try. I will ask my father to help, surely he'll find a way." Ouyang Feng softly snorted. "What are you snorting about?" Huang Rong said. Ouyang Feng did not answer.

Hong Qigong said, "He was laughing at you to think your father is all powerful. But that person is really not a small matter, how could your father make that person help?"

Huang Rong was astonished, "That person! Who is that person?"

Hong Qigong continued, "Let's not talk about that person's high level of martial art skill, even if he is so weak that he can't even kill a chicken, the Old Beggar will never harm others to benefit my own self."

Huang Rong hesitantly said, "High level of martial art skill? Ah! I know. He is the Southern Emperor, Emperor Duan. Shifu, let's ask him to heal your injury, how does that harm others to benefit yourself?"

"Go sleep! Don't ask anymore questions. I prohibit you from bringing this matter up anymore. Understand?" Hong Qigong said. Huang Rong did not dare to say anything; she was afraid Ouyang Feng might steal their food, so she leaned against the food bucket and sleep.

Waking early the next morning Huang Rong looked at Ouyang Feng uncle and nephew, she jumped in fright, because the complexions of those two were very pale, their whole bodies swollen from being under seawater these past several days.

The raft was sailing until about ninth hour [3-5pm] when they saw a dark line in the distant. It appeared to be land. Guo Jing was the first to jump up and shout in delight. A time needed to eat a bowl of rice later they could see clearer, it was indeed land. The sea was calm, the sun was shining brightly, scorching those people, making them miserable. Ouyang Feng suddenly stood up; he swayed his body a little bit and stretched out his hands, grabbing both Guo Jing and Huang Rong. With the tip of his foot he also kicked and sealed Hong Qigong's acupoint.

Guo and Huang were taken up by surprise, their vital acupoints were sealed; immediately half of their bodies were numb. Startled they asked, "What are you doing?" Ouyang Feng grinned evilly, but did not say anything.

Hong Qigong sighed, "The Old Poison is very conceited; he is not willing to accept other's mercy. We have saved his life; if he did not kill his saviors, how can his heart be at peace? Ay, I can only blame my own benevolence of heart, rescuing others in the middle of the night, forgetting this fact, that now I endanger the lives of these two weary kids."

"You knew it very well," Ouyang Feng said, "Also the Nine Yin Manual is in my hand, if I leave a copy in this boy surnamed Guo's mind, I will only invite infinite misfortune for myself."

Hearing him mentioning the Nine Yin Manual Hong Qigong's heart was stirred; with a loud voice he recited, "Nu er qi liu, ha gua er, ning xie qi qia, ping dao er …"

Ouyang Feng was startled; he recognized the sentence to be the one among hundreds of difficult sentences he did not know the meaning of. Listening to Hong Qigong recited it, he thought Hong Qigong understood the meaning, he thought, "There are many strange sentences in the manual, there must be a key to unlock its secret. If I kill these three, I am afraid there is nobody else in this world who understands it; then my taking possession of the manual will be in vain." Therefore, he asked, "What does it mean?"

Hong Qigong replied, "Hun hua cha cha, xue gen xu bat u, mi er mi er …" Even though he had listened to Guo Jing reciting the strange sentences of the manual, how could he memorize everything? He was just talking nonsense, but his face showed a deep veneration.

Ouyang Feng actually thought the sentences carried a very profound meaning, he focused his attention and thought deeply. Hong Qigong shouted, "Jing'er, now!"

Guo Jing pulled back his left hand, sent out his right palm while his left leg flew forward simultaneously. Actually when Ouyang Feng sent out his kick and launched a surprise attack, his vital acupoint was grabbed and he was unable to move, but Hong Qigong had talked nonsense and confused Ouyang Feng, causing him to lose his concentration and thus slightly loosen his grip. Guo Jing grabbed this opportunity to free himself and launched a counterattack. Guo Jing had trained the Changing Muscle Forging Bones to the second stage, although he did not learn any new fist of kick techniques, his original strength was actually increased by at least 20%. This one pull, one palm and one kick were executed without any extraordinary move, but the force within his attack was unexpectedly very strong.