The Legend of the Condor Heroes

"Quick, help me!" Ouyang Feng cried out.

Guo Jing gritted his teeth and said, "You killed my benevolent masters, you also killed Miss Huang; do you still want me to save you? Dream on!"

With a stern voice Ouyang Feng replied, "We had made an agreement, you have to spare my life three times. This is the third time. Are you saying you don't give a thought to the good faith?"

With tears in his eyes Guo Jing said, "Miss Huang is no longer alive, what use is our agreement?"

Ouyang Feng shouted curse and abusive words, but Guo Jing simply ignored him; he rode his horse away. Only a dozen 'zhang's later he heard Ouyang Feng's pitiful cry. Guo Jing could not bear it anymore. He heaved a sigh and turned his horse around. The mud had already reached Ouyang Feng's neck. "I am willing to save you, but if both of us ride on this horse, we will sink into the mud together," he said.

"Use a rope to tow me," Ouyang Feng suggested. Guo Jing did not carry any rope, but he remembered his long robe. Grabbing one end, he let his horse ran close to Ouyang Feng. Ouyang Feng held out his hand and grabbed the other end. Guo Jing squeezed his legs and gave a loud shout. The little red horse furiously charged forward and with a loud splashing sound Ouyang Feng was pulled out of the mire and dragged along on the snowy ground.

If they were heading east, very soon they were going to leave the marsh area; but Guo Jing was very anxious over Huang Rong, how would he be willing to give up searching for her? Therefore, they were galloping to the west. Ouyang Feng was still holding on to the robe, he laid down facing up, being dragged rapidly on the snow. He used this opportunity to catch his breath.

The little red horse ran very fast, before daybreak they had crossed the marsh. Guo Jing saw horse's track on the snow; it was Huang Rong's horse entering the marsh area. The track was still there, but what about Huang Rong? Guo Jing dismounted his horse, stood on the snow, lost in thought.

In his grief he had completely forgotten his archenemy; he stood with his left hand holding the rein, and his right hand holding the fur coat, his eyes gazing into the distance, his heart was shaken, beating rapidly.

Suddenly he felt a light touch on his shoulder. He turned around in shock, only to see Ouyang Feng's palm was touching his 'tao dao' [pottery way] acupoint. When Ouyang Feng fell into Guo Jing's trap and he came out from the sand, Guo Jing had sealed his 'tao dao' acupoint. This time Ouyang Feng managed to do the same to Guo Jing, it was a pay back time; Ouyang Feng could not help but laugh merrily.

Guo Jing was overwhelmed with grief, he had no regard of his life anymore; "If you want to kill me then just kill me; we don't have any agreement that you should spare my life anyway," he wryly said.

Ouyang Feng was taken aback; he had thought of torturing Guo Jing to disgrace him before finally taking his life. Who would have thought that Guo Jing did not expect to live? Ouyang Feng thought, "This dumb kid loves that little girl very much; if I kill him, then I am helping him fulfilling his desire to die together in the name of love." He changed his mind and thought, "That little girl is already buried beneath this snow; he becomes my only hope of the explanation of the manual." Grabbing Guo Jing's arm he lifted him up and leaped to the horseback. They rode toward a valley in the south.

About the sixth hour [between 9 – 11 am] he saw a village by the roadside. Ouyang Feng steered the horse to enter the village, but everywhere he looked there were corpses scattered around the village. Because the weather was cold, the corpses were preserved; they looked exactly like the day they were mutilated and killed by the passing Mongolian army. Ouyang Feng called out several times, but nobody answered; looked like everybody in that village had died. Instead, he heard cattle mooing and sheep bleating. Ouyang Feng was delighted. He took Guo Jing to a stone house and said, "You are my prisoner now. I won't kill you. If you can defeat me, you are free to go." Having said that he took a sheep, butchered it, and boiled it in the kitchen.

The more Guo Jing saw his smug expression, the more he hated Ouyang Feng. Ouyang Feng threw a mutton leg to him and said, "I'll wait until your stomach is full, then we'll fight."

Guo Jing was angry, "You want to fight then fight. Why wait for the full stomach?" His body flew, his palm hacked down. Ouyang Feng raised his hand to block then sent out a fist to counterattack.

Very soon they were fighting inside the stone house, among upturned table and broken chairs. About thirty stances later Guo Jing had to admit his inferiority; he was half a step in front of Ouyang Feng when Ouyang Feng's right palm swung onto his side. It was very difficult for Guo Jing to fend off, all he could do was to wait for his death. Unexpectedly Ouyang Feng did not exert any strength; he laughed and said, "It's enough for today. You go ahead and train martial art from the manual; tomorrow we'll fight again."

"Bah!" Guo Jing spat; he sat on an overturned chair, picked the mutton leg up and started to eat. He thought, "He wanted to see me using the martial art from the manual, so that he might observe and steal it. I won't be fooled. If he wants to kill me, let him kill … Hmm, his swing just now, how would I block it?"

Thinking about all kinds of fist techniques and palm methods in the manual, he could not find a single move capable of blocking Ouyang Feng's attack. He did remember, however, that there was a technique in the manual called 'fei xu jin' [flying cotton strength], which would allow him to strengthen his back and render Ouyang Feng's attack useless.

"I'd better train internal strength; even if he wants to see it, he can't," Guo Jing thought. Immediately he ate the mutton leg clean then sat cross-legged on the ground; he recited the manual in his heart then started practicing according to the manual. Since mastering the 'yi jin duan gu pian' [changing muscle forging bone technique], his foundation was getting stronger; moreover, with what Reverend Yideng had taught him the Manual became like a second nature to him. This 'fei xu jin' for instance, in less than four hours he had learned how to use it.

With the corner of his eye he looked at Ouyang Feng, who was also sitting quietly, meditating. "Watch out!" Guo Jing called out. Without standing up his palm hacked down on the enemy.

Ouyang Feng parried the attack while sending out a counterattack. He wanted to repeat his earlier stance toward Guo Jing's side. But to his surprise his palm slid down Guo Jing's back, slanting to one side; because of his own strength he was slightly propelled forward. Taking that opportunity Guo Jing's left palm shot toward his neck.

Ouyang Feng was startled and pleased at the same time; he continued moving forward and thus had evaded the attack. He turned around and called out, "Good move! Was it from the Manual? What is it called?"

"Sha cha yi tui, ai mo qin er," Guo Jing said.

Ouyang Feng was startled, but then he remembered the weird sentences from the manual. He thought, "This dumb kid has a profound strength, but he is as hardheaded as a bull. I have to trick him since brute force will be useless." Changing his tactic he fought Guo Jing carefully.