The Legend of the Condor Heroes

It was indeed Ouyang Ke who concocted this wicked plan to prop-up a wooden stick inside the shark's mouth, so that it would not be able to eat and eventually die of starvation. This, Ouyang Feng had seen with his own eyes. Right now he saw a huge shark with a wooden stick in its mouth; he also saw the wound caused by the hook on the shark's mouth. Without any doubt this was the very same shark they returned to the sea that day. "So what?" he asked.

Zhou Botong clapped his hands and laughed, "That means you lost! Our bet was you killed every single one of the sharks, but this good fellow was bestowed a good fortune by your nephew, it could not eat the dead sharks, hence could not eat the poison. It was the only shark left alive. So how can't you say the Old Urchin has won?" He burst out in laughter. Ouyang Feng's countenance changed, he could not say anything.

Guo Jing delightedly asked, "Big Brother, where were you these past few days? I was so miserable thinking about you."

Zhou Botong laughed, "I am playing and having fun. Not long after I jumped into the sea, I saw this fellow grasping for breath on the surface, it seemed to be in agony. I said, 'Old Shark, oh Old Shark, looks like today you and I share the same fate!' And then I jumped suddenly on the shark's back. It furiously went down under the water, I had to hold my breath, my both hands holding tightly to its neck and my feet randomly kicked its belly. With great difficulty it went back up to the surface. Without giving me a chance to take two mouthfuls of breathe this fellow dove back underwater. The two of us fought for half a day and finally he became obedient and was willing to listen to what I say; I want it go to the east, it went to the east, I want it to head north, he wouldn't dare of going south." While saying those words he gently patted the shark's head, looking so pleased.

Among those who were present, Huang Rong was the only one who admired and envied him. Her eyes shone and she asked, "I have played in the sea for many years, why hadn't I thought of this trick? I was so stupid!"

"Look at its mouth full of teeth, they are as sharp as knives," Zhou Botong said, "If there is no stick in its mouth, do you dare to ride it?"

"You spent the last few days riding on the back of the fish?" Huang Rong asked.

"Certainly," Zhou Botong replied, "The two of us have a pretty good skill of catching fish. As soon as we saw a fish, we chased it; I sent a fist or a palm to kill it. Out of ten fish, I only ate one and this fellow ate the other nine."

Huang Rong traced the shark's belly and asked, "You dumped dead fish into its belly? It did not need its teeth to eat?"

"Oh, he is a good eater," Zhou Botong answered, "There was a time the two of us chasing an extremely big cuttlefish …"

Two people, one old the other young, were having an animated discussion, totally ignoring everybody else on board the ship. Ouyang Feng groaned inwardly, silently thinking of some ideas to deal with this situation. Suddenly Zhou Botong turned to him and said, "Hey, Old Poison, do you admit defeat?"

Ouyang Feng was the one making the speech earlier; how could he swallow his own words in front of these many people? He was obliged to say, "So what if I lost? Do you think there is anything I can't do?"

"Hmm," Zhou Botong said, "I must think of a difficult thing for you to do. Very well, you scolded me just now that I was farting; I want you to fart immediately! Let everybody smell."

Hearing Zhou Botong only asked Ouyang Feng to break wind for no reason at all Huang Rong was annoyed. Breaking wind at will was naturally not easy for an average person, but with a strong internal energy, it was not difficult to circulate the breathing to the whole body, hence it was an extremely trivial thing to do. She was afraid of Ouyang Feng's craftiness and of his venomous snake staff; she was afraid he would grab this opportunity and gently broke wind, hence put it all behind without too much trouble. Therefore, hastily she said, "Not good, not good! First you want to tell him to unseal my Shifu's acupoints, then we can talk again."

"Look!" Zhou Botong said, "Even a young miss is afraid of your smelly fart. Alright, I'll let you go this time. I am not going to ask you to do a difficult thing anyway; quickly tend to the Old Beggar's injury. The Old Beggar's skill is not under yours; if not of your sneakiness, no way you would be able to injure him. After he is healed, the two of you can fight again. That time let the Old Urchin be the judge."

Ouyang Feng knew Hong Qigong's injury was incurable; he was not afraid of future retaliation. But he was afraid Zhou Botong would come up with a more difficult and strange request. Under the eyes of numerous people he felt really awkward; he did not want to comply, yet he was too proud to deny. Without saying anything he bent down and exerted his strength to his palm and unsealed Hong Qigong's acupoints. Huang Rong and Guo Jing rushed forward to help their master standing up.

Zhou Botong again swept his gaze to the people on the deck, he said, "The Old Urchin is most afraid to smell the urine taste of the sheep eaten by barbarians. Quickly let down a small boat to send us four people ashore."

Ever since he saw the fight between Zhou Botong and Huang Yaoshi, Ouyang Feng knew that this man's martial art was really strange. If for any reason they had to fight, he was certain he would not be defeated, but scoring a victory was not guaranteed either. Therefore, he decided to endure patiently for the time being. He wanted to wait until he had mastered the Nine Yin Manual, then he would come and settle the account with Zhou Botong. Besides, he had an excuse of losing the bet earlier. When all was said and done, it would be better off to send this annoying plague away anyway, so he made up his mind and said, " Very well, your luck was very good! Since you won the bet, let it be as you said." Turning his head to Wanyan Honglie he said, "Prince, please let down a boat to take this four people ashore."

Wanyan Hongli hesitated, he thought, "I am afraid as soon as they are ashore, these four people will leak my secret mission to the south."

All along the Venerable Lingzhi was watching with his cold eyes; earlier he had seen Ouyang Feng's unkempt appearance and already his heart was filled with contempt. He thought that this chicken-half-drown-in-soup did not dare to defy even for half a word of whatever Zhou Botong told him to do; most likely he had been enjoying an unearned reputation. Even if his martial art was excellent, he would not be necessarily more skillful than the rest of the people on board. Noticing Wanyan Honglie had a slight hesitation, he moved forward two steps and said, "If we are on the raft, then whatever Mr. Ouyang wishes we must comply, how can other people dare to speak too much? But we are on the boat, we have to listen to the Prince's instruction."

Listening to this, everybody's heart was stirred and they turned their gaze toward Ouyang Feng to see what he was going to do. Coldly Ouyang Feng looked up and down Venerable Lingzhi, sizing him up. He raised his head to the sky and wryly said, "This Great Monk deliberately wants to make things difficult for this old man?"