The Legend of the Condor Heroes

Ouyang Feng concentrates his 'qi' on his 'dan tian' and loudly called out, "Friends, here, come quickly!"

Under the water Huang Rong did not know what was happening; Guo Jing knew they were in more trouble; he went underwater and pulled Huang Rong's arm, signaling her that more enemies were coming. Huang Rong was not very clear on his intention, but she was aware something was not right, so she signaled back to Guo Jing to block Ouyang Feng's palm, while she would sever the rope.

Guo Jing realized his own skill was inferior to the enemy by a long shot; now that he was underwater while the enemy was above the water, the difference was farther away. He knew blocking Ouyang Feng's palm meant endangering his own life, but it was a critical time, he had no other alternative. Hence he exerted all his strength to his palms and suddenly jumped upward.

"Ugh!" Ouyang Feng grunted, his palms struck to the water; while Guo Jing's palms were coming up from below. Two forces collided on the surface of the sea, creating a big splash. The raft was lifted several feet upward, and 'crack! crack!' the half raft was broken into two parts; it looked like Huang Rong managed to cut the rope just in time.

In the meantime the big boat was already dozens of 'zhang's away from the raft. After cutting the rope, immediately Huang Rong dove underwater. She was about to come up and stab Ouyang Feng when she saw Guo Jing was motionless, slowly sinking down. She was alarmed and quickly swam near and pulled his arm. She swam away for several 'zhang's before coming up to the surface. Guo Jing's eyes were tightly shut, his face blue and his lips colorless; he was unconscious.

The boat lowered a small rescue boat with several sailors rowing the oars; they took Ouyang Feng uncle and nephew, as well as Hong Qigong aboard. Huang Rong called three times, "Brother Jing!" but Guo Jing did not wake up. She thought although the boat is full of the enemies, but she had no other alternative; she held on to Guo Jing's head and swam toward the small boat.

The sailors pulled Guo Jing aboard and held out their hands to draw her, but Huang Rong's left hand pressed on the boat's edge and leaped up like a flying fish from the water to the boat, scaring the sailors.

When his palms collided with Ouyang Feng's, Guo Jing felt a tremendous force surging through his body and he passed out immediately. He awakened and felt he was leaning on Huang Rong's bosom, and was aware that they were on a small boat. He circulated his breathing and found out that he was not internally injured; he raised his brows and smiled to Huang Rong.

Huang Rong smiled back at him and her anxiety and fear were gone in an instant; at last she had an opportunity to see what kind of boat was coming to rescue them. But once she looked up, she was groaning inwardly; she saw on the bow of the big boat stood seven, eight men, tall and short. They were precisely the Wulin characters she met several months earlier at the Zhao Palace in Yanjing. The one short and stout with bright eyes was 'qian shou ren tu' [thousand-hand man slaughterer] Peng Lianhu, the one with a bald, shiny head was 'gui men long wang' [dragon king of Guimen (lit. ghost gate) Note to final editor: the earlier chapter has 'Dragon King of Demonic Group'] Sha Tongtian, the one with three tumors on his head sticking out like horns was 'san tou jiao' [three-headed scaly dragon] Hou Tonghai, the one with ruddy face and white hair was 'shen xian lao guai' [ginseng immortal old freak] Liang Ziweng, the one wearing scarlet kassaya was the Tibetan monk 'da shou yin' [big hand print] Venerable Lingzhi. There were several others that she did not know. She thought, "Recently Brother Jing's martial arts and mine have enjoyed a tremendous improvement. If we have to fight with Peng Lianhu and the others one to one, I might not win, but Brother Jing will definitely score victory. But there is the Old Poison standing nearby, plus these many people are gathered together. It will be very difficult for us to escape danger today."

The people on the big boat were surprised to hear Ouyang Feng's shouts from the raft. Now they saw Guo Jing and the others, they were even more surprised. Ouyang Feng was holding his nephew; Guo Jing and Huang Rong carried Hong Qigong, five people in two groups jumped up one after another from the small rescue boat to the big boat.

Soon a man was coming out the cabin to welcome them; he wore an embroidered colored robe. As soon as he saw Guo Jing, both men were stunned. That man wore a neat beard on his chin, he had a handsome face; it was none other than the Sixth Prince of the Great Jin, Wanyan Honglie.

After escaping from the Liu family ancestral hall in Baoying, Wanyan Honglie was afraid Guo Jing might pursue him to the north, hence he did not dare to go home. He came across Peng Lianhu, Sha Tongtian and the others and decided to go down south to steal the book left behind by Yue Wumu (the Wumu Legacy). At that time the Mongolian army had dispatched a large scale military expedition against the Jins; the capital, Yanjing, had been besieged for several months, the sixteen prefectures surrounding it had fallen under Mongolian invasion. As the days past, the situation of the Jin was getting more and more critical. Wanyan Honglie was very worried about the fate of his country; he saw with his own eyes that the Mongolians were very swift and fierce. Although the Jin army was ten times in terms of number, each time they met, the Jins were routed left and right. Wanyan Honglie painstakingly pondered any idea to rebuild his country's lofty aspirations, and came to the conclusion that what he needed right at that time was the Wumu Legacy. He thought that as long as this book on military strategy was in his possession, he would be able to build a divine and invincible army; just like Yue Fei's own army. Even though Mongolian army was strong, they would flee just at the sight of his army.

Presently he led this expedition going south, trying to track the whereabouts of the Legacy; only he feared the Southern Song would uncover his intention and be on guard against the intruders. Therefore, he decided to go by the sea; hoping nobody would know his itinerary and he could land at the Zhejiang coast undetected and quietly enter Lin'an to steal the book.

Actually before departing he was looking for Ouyang Ke; he knew he was a martial art expert and would become a highly useful companion, but after a long time did not have any news about him, he decided to leave without waiting for this man. This time suddenly they met quite by accident on the sea, not only Ouyang Ke, but also Guo Jing at his side, he could not help but secretly feeling anxious; he was afraid his big secret mission had been compromised.

Seeing the enemy who killed his father, Guo Jing was seething with anger; he did not care if he was being surrounded by powerful enemies, he looked at Wanyan Honglie with blazing gaze.

Just then someone else was coming out of the cabin, but only half step through the door he immediately shrunk back in. Huang Rong's sharp eyes saw that man looked like Yang Kang.

In the meantime Ouyang Ke introduced his uncle to the prince, "Uncle, this is the Sixth Prince of the Great Jin who loves people of high skill." Ouyang Feng cupped his fists in front of his chest.

Wanyan Honglie did not know that Ouyang Feng had a very big name in the martial art realms; he saw Ouyang Feng showed an arrogant expression, but for Ouyang Ke's sake he returned the respect.