The Legend of the Condor Heroes

Peng Lianhu knew the critical situation had passed as he saw Guo Jing was tied down by Qiu Qianren while Liang Ziweng and Sha Tongtian were guarding in front of Wanyan Honglie; he turned his attention to Ke Zhen'E and said with a smile, "Ke Daxia, how come only one freak out of the Seven Freaks of Jiangnan showed up?"

Ke Zhen'E's iron staff was thrown into the Southern Lake by Huang Rong; hearing the enemy's insult he waved his hand to send out an iron caltrop, while he immediately jumped backward. Under the dim moonlight the iron caltrop looked so swift and powerful. Peng Lianhu had experienced suffering because of this poisonous secret projectile; he was scared like a bird was scared of a bow, he did not dare to fend off with his judge pen, so he hastily pushed the pens on the ground to using it as a brace to help him jump high in the air. With a 'swish' sound the iron caltrop barely missed the bottom of his foot. He noticed Ke Zhen'E did not have any weapon in his hand; clenching his teeth he struck forward with his pens.

Ke Zhen'E was disabled; he usually walked aided by his staff. He heard the wind as the enemy attack arrived, he had no choice but using all his strength he leaped two steps to the side, and almost fell down as his left foot landed on soft earth.

Peng Lianhu was delighted; with his left pen he guarded against Ke Zhen'E, should he be desperate enough to launch an attack to save his own life, while his right pen fiercely smashed down toward Ke Zhen'E's chest.

Ke Zhen'E listened to the sound to distinguish the shape, he rolled away to evade. Peng Lianhu's steel judge pen struck a rock on the ground, sparks flew everywhere. "Blind thief," he cursed, "You are very slippery!" The pen in his left hand also struck.

While he was rolling away, 'swish!' he released another iron caltrop. Lingzhi Shangren was standing nearby, his left hand was holding his right hand, his mouth was busy cursing in Tibetan; as he saw Ke Zhen'E was rolling near him, he raised his foot trying to trample him.

Ke Zhen'E heard the wind; using his left hand to brace the ground he threw himself sideways to escape. But evading the Tibetan monk's foot he could not escape the pair of judge pen on his back. He felt a stabbing pain and secretly shouted, "Not good!" He closed his eyes, ready to die. Suddenly he heard a tender voice called out, "Off you go!" followed by "Aiyo!" finally he heard a loud 'bang!'

Turned out Huang Rong used the Dog Beating Stick Technique to block the judge pen, turned it around and jerked it up, throwing both the pen and Peng Lianhu away. This stick technique was exactly the same stance Huang Rong used to fling Ke Zhen'E's iron staff away; only Peng Lianhu held his pens tight and would not let them go no matter what, so both Peng Lianhu and his pen fell down together.

Ignoring him Huang Rong called out, "Father, look after this blind muddle-head, don't let anybody harm him." While saying that she rushed toward Guo Jing to help him fight Qiu Qianren.

Ke Zhen'E was dumbstruck; he stood motionless not knowing what to do. Peng Lianhu saw Huang Yaoshi was standing quite a distant away, with his back facing them, apparently he did not hear his daughter's call. Quietly Peng Lianhu went behind Ke Zhen'E and suddenly lunged his judge pen toward Ke Zhen'E's back. This move was both swift and violent, so much so that even if Ke Zhen'E still had the iron staff in his hand he would not necessarily be able to block it. Peng Lianhu saw he was about to succeed when suddenly a 'swish' sound was heard; something flew splitting the air, hit the judge pen, and shattered into dust; turned out it was a small grain of gravel. Peng Lianhu's palm was numb and the judge pen fell to the ground.

Peng Lianhu was shocked; he did not know where the gravel came from, and how could it carry such a tremendous force. He saw Huang Yaoshi with his hands behind his back, still looking at the black clouds on the horizon.

At the Cloud Village Ke Zhen'E had heard this Divine Flicking Finger skill; he knew it was Huang Yaoshi who saved him. In rage he pounced toward Huang Yaoshi's back, while shouting, "Seven brothers and sister only one left, why would I want to live?"

Huang Yaoshi still did not turn his head; he waited until Ke Zhen'E was about three feet away before his left hand lightly waved backward. Ke Zhen'E felt a strong force pushing him back that he fell face up. Quickly he sat down, but felt his blood surging up his chest and he was not able to stand up.

By this time the sky was getting darker, the fog hovering on the surface of the lake was getting thicker, it spilled over to the ground; submerging everybody's legs in it. Guo Jing and Huang Rong managed to fight Qiu Qianren evenly. On the other side, the Quanzhen Sect was in dire circumstances; Hao Datong's thigh was swept by the snake staff, half of Sun Bu'er's Taoist robe was torn. Wang Chuyi was secretly alarmed; he knew that if this fight continued, someone would be either dead or wounded before long. So when Ma Yu and Liu Chuxuan were launching a flank attack, he took a rocket from his pocket. With a hissing sound the rocket flew up to the sky, like a meteor with a long tail in the dark sky.

Actually, all Seven Masters of the Quanzhen Sect had accepted not a few disciples; they formed quite a number of the third generation disciples. Besides Yin Zhiping, there were Li Zhichang, Zhang Zhijing, Wang Zhitan, Qi Zhicheng, Zhang Zhixian, Zhao Zhijing, and the others; they were all outstanding people. In the martial art contest at Misty Rain Tavern in Jiaxing this time, the Seven Masters were afraid that Peng Lianhu, Sha Tongtian and the others would bring their disciples in their attempt to gain victory by sheer numbers; therefore, they also took their disciples along to Jiaxing and told them to wait by the shore of the Southern Lake. As soon as they saw the rocket they were supposed to immediately come and render their assistance. So now recognizing their precarious situation Wang Chuyi released the rocket. Unfortunately the fog was too thick; even separated by several feet it was already difficult to distinguish people, so he was afraid the disciples would not be able to see through this fog.

Later on, after fighting a little while, the white fog was getting heavier, everybody was enveloped inside the thick fog that they suddenly felt alone. The gathering dark clouds in the sky were getting thicker and thicker; the dim moonlight which penetrated these layers of cloud was getting weaker and weaker, until finally it disappeared all together. Everybody was alarmed; although they did not stop fighting, the distance between them were getting farther and farther away, their stances were most of the time defensives and very few offensives.

Guo Jing and Huang Rong were fighting Qiu Qianren together; suddenly the thick fog welled up and shrouded these three people. Guo Jing saw Qiu and Huang two people suddenly disappear, he decided to look for Wanyan Honglie immediately. His eyes were wide open, trying to catch a glimpse of the flashing of the golden crown on Wanyan Honglie's head. But the fog was very dense; he could not even see anything beyond three feet. He hurried to the east and dashed to the west to seek the enemy, suddenly he heard someone was calling out in the fog, "Zhou Botong is here, who wants to fight with me?"