Ambidextrous fighting.
Original translation by Sunnysnow
“Did you think my martial brother had become a ghost?” asked Zhou Botong, “Or did you think he came back to life again? No not at all. He was faking dead.”
“Ah!” Guo Jing gasped. “Faking dead?”
“Yes,” Zhou Botong answered. “A few days before he died, my martial brother found out that the Western Poison had been lurking around the temple, waiting for him to die so he could steal the book away. Therefore, my martial brother stopped his breathing by using his excellent internal energy and feigned death. He knew if he told his disciples they would not grieve convincingly. Western Poison is so crafty, he would see through the disguise straight away; that was the reason nobody knew martial brother’s plan. Anyway, my martial brother flew out from the coffin and struck Western Poison with ‘yi yang zhi’ [Solitary ‘Yang’ Finger]. Ouyang Feng clearly saw me when looking from outside the window; I was beside my martial brother’s dead bed. He obviously saw us placing the body inside the coffin. But now suddenly my martial brother jumped out of the coffin; he was so shocked that blood drained from his body. He was completely scared by my martial brother that he did not move. My martial brother’s Solitary ‘Yang’ Finger hit him on the eyebrow and broke his many years of training of the ‘ha ma gong’ [the toad stance]. Ouyang Feng then escaped back to the west and I’ve never heard him returning back to the Central Plains. My martial brother laughed long and hard; he sat cross-legged on the table. I knew launching the Solitary Yang Finger consumed a lot of his energy; so he needed to meditate and restore his strength, so I did not bother him. I ran outside and helping my martial nephews getting rid of the attacking enemies. My nephews heard that their master was not dead, their happiness was unspeakable. We rushed back into the temple but then we stopped dead on our track …”
“What happened?” Guo Jing asked nervously.
“I saw my martial brother’s body skewed to one side, his face looked strange,” Zhou Botong said. “I rushed and checked his pulse; his body was cold as ice. He was really dead this time. Martial brother’s last words were for us to divide the Nine Yin Manual into two parts: top and bottom, so that if somebody should steal it, not the whole book would be lost. I took the top part with the intention of hiding it later on, and brought the bottom part to south to hide it on a mountain peak somewhere. On my way south I came across the Old Heretic Huang.”
“Ah!” Guo Jing exclaimed.
“Even though Old Heretic Huang’s behavior is queer and he is very arrogant; he is unlike the Western Poison who knew no shame, dared to come and tried to steal the book away,” Zhou Botong said. “Old Huang happened to be with a lady who turned out to be his wife.”
“That must be Rong’er’s mother,” Guo Jing thought, “I wonder if she knew that her mother is involved in this matter”
“I saw them so happy together,” he heard Zhou Botong continued. “He said they were just married. I thought Old Heretic Huang was smart, what good does a wife for him? So I teased him about the marriage. Old Heretic Huang did not get angry; he even invited me to have a drink. I told him about how my martial brother played dead and wounded Ouyang Feng. Old Heretic Huang’s wife was listening to my story; she asked me if she could take a look at the book. She told me she did not understand any martial art, she was merely curious on what kind of book had caused the death of numerous masters of the Wulin world. Naturally I did not let her. Now the Old Heretic Huang loved his young wife very much, he wanted to make her happy, so he said to me, ‘Botong, this woman does not know martial art at all. She is still young and loves to see amusing thing. What’s the problem in letting her take a look? If I, Huang Yaoshi, cast a single glance toward your book, I will immediately gauge my eyeball and give it to you.’ Old Heretic Huang is a man who can be ranked among the best in the present age; his words without doubt carry a lot of weight. But to let somebody see the book is a grave matter, so I shook may head. Old Heretic Huang was not happy. He said, ‘How can it be that I didn’t understand your difficulty? If you agree to let my wife take a look, there will be time when this old Huang repay Quan Zhen Sect’s kindness. But if you don’t agree, that is entirely up to you. Who said that I have to have your friendship? I don’t even know any of your Quan Zhen disciples.’ I understood very well his meaning. This man will do what he says. He felt uncomfortable giving me a hard time, but he could make things difficult for Ma Yu, Qiu Chuji and the others. His martial art skill is too high; it was not a good idea to provoke his anger.”
“That’s true,” said Guo Jing. “Priest Ma, Priest Qiu and the others are not his match.”
Zhou Botong continued, “That time I said to him, ‘Old Heretic Huang, if you are angry come and find me, the Old Urchin. Why do you have to look for my martial nephews? Won’t that make you ‘the big bully the little’?’ His wife heard me mentioning my nickname, ‘the Old Urchin’, she burst into laughter and said, ‘Big Brother Zhou, you love to play around; let us forget this whole thing, let us just play around together. I don’t want to see your precious book anymore.’ She turned her head to Old Heretic Huang and said, ‘I think the Nine Yin Manual had been stolen by that Ouyang fellow, that’s why Big Brother Zhou could not show it to me. If you keep pestering him I am afraid you will only make him lose face.’ Old Heretic Huang smiled and said, ‘That’s right. Botong, let me help you find that old poison and deal with him. His martial art is above yours.’”
“Looks like Rong’er inherits her mother’s weird intelligence,” Guo Jing thought. To Botong he said, “They were just provoking you!”
“I know that!” said Zhou Botong, “But I don’t want to lose to them. So I said, ‘The book is in my possession; and I have no problem letting sister-in-law taking a look. But you said the Old Urchin cannot defend the book, you have to prove it to me.’ The Old Heretic Huang smiled, ‘If we fight, we might injure our friendship. You are the Old Urchin; let us just play like little kids.’ His wife already clapped her hands and called out, ‘Goody, goody! Why don’t you two compete in playing with marbles?’ before I could answer him”
Guo Jing showed a faint smile. Zhou Botong continued, “I am an expert in playing marbles; so I cried out, ‘Let’s play marbles then, do you think I am scared of him?’ Madame Huang smiled and said, ‘Big Brother Zhou, if you lose, you will let me take a look at your book. But if you win, what do you want?’ The Old Heretic Huang immediately said, ‘The Quan Zhen Sect has its treasure, don’t you think the Peach Blossom Island also have one?’ He took out a shiny black cloth, completely covered with thorns. Can you guess what this is?”
“Soft hedgehog armor [ruan wei jia],” Guo Jing said.
“That’s right, so you knew it,” Zhou Botong said. “The Old Heretic Huang said, ‘Botong, your martial art is outstanding, naturally you don’t need any protection; but someday you will meet a girl urchin, and soon will have little urchins. This soft hedgehog armor will be invaluable to protect the child; nobody will bully him. If you can beat me in marbles, this Peach Blossom Island treasure will be yours to keep.’ I said, ‘I won’t meet any girl urchin, naturally little urchin will not be born; but your soft hedgehog armor is famous in the Wulin world. If I win it, I will wear it outside my clothes, then I will wander around the Jianghu, let the people know that the Peach Blossom Island Master had lost in the Old Urchin’s hand.’ Madame Huang interrupted, ‘Don’t just talk, after both brothers play then we can talk again.’ So we reached an agreement. Each man had to put nine marbles into nine holes, so I made 18 holes altogether. Whoever put nine marbles first will win the game.”
Listening to this part Guo Jing recalled his own childhood playing marbles with his sworn brother Tuolei in the desert, a smile broke on his face. Meanwhile Zhou Botong continued, “I always carry plenty of marbles in my pocket, so we went outside to play our game. I paid close attention to Madame Huang’s movement, and I found out she really did not know any martial art. I went down and made some holes on the ground. I let Old Heretic Huang to choose his marbles first, and he did. Then we started our game. His special skill in the secret projectile, the ‘tan zhi shen tong’ [divine flicking finger] is still well known throughout the world. He knew his skill with small object was superior to mine. But he did not know that this game had a secret; there was slight difference in the way I made the holes. I made them in such a way that when a marble went in, it would jump right back out. You have to hit the marble with a perfect amount of strength; it had to be just right with a little bit of pulling force behind it, so the marble will stay in the hole.”
Guo Jing had never thought that playing marbles in the Central Plains would be so complicated; Mongolian kids would never be able to compete. He heard Zhou Botong proudly continued, “The Old Heretic Huang had launched three marbles, all were right on target. But as soon as they entered the holes they would jump back out. He did not know my secret. In the meantime I flicked five marbles and all went into the holes and stayed in the holes. His secret projectile skill was very good; he tried hard to catch me by flicking three more marbles, while I put another marble in the hole. I was already in the lead, how could I let him catch up? He was having a hard time with the marbles. Secretly I was smug, thinking that his defeat was imminent; even the Heaven wouldn’t be able to help him. Ay! Who knew that the Old Heretic Huang would use a dirty trick to gain victory? Can you guess what he did?”
“He hurt your hand using his superior martial art?” Guo Jing guessed.
“No, no,” Zhou Botong said. “The Old Heretic Huang is bad, but he is not stupid; he wouldn’t use such a foolish method. He knew he was going to lose, so he sent his energy into the marbles; he flicked three marbles and hit my last three. Mine were smashed while his marbles stayed intact.”
“Ah! Then you don’t have any marble left!” Guo Jing exclaimed.
“I have to helplessly watch him put his marbles one by one into the holes. Thus, I lost!” Zhou Botong said.
“But that didn’t count!” Guo Jing said.
“That was what I said,” Zhou Botong answered. “But Old Heretic Huang said, ‘Botong, we have agreed that whoever got all nine marbles inside the holes, he wins. Blame your own inadequacy! It was your own fault that you don’t have enough marbles to put into the holes. Therefore, you lost!’ I still think he was being deceitful, but I had to admit I didn’t expect his move. Also, even if I wanted to destroy his marbles I couldn’t do what he did; I can’t hit a marble without smashing my own. So secretly I admired his ability. I said, ‘Sister-in-law Huang, I will let you see the book, but I want it back by the sundown.’ I said that because I was afraid they would say, ‘We didn’t say how long we might borrow the book; we haven’t finished looking at it, why are you taking it back?’ When that happens, the book would be in their hands for ten, even a hundred years.
Guo Jing nodded his approval. “Right! Luckily Big Brother is smart and could foresee this. If it were me, I would fall into their scheme.”
Zhou Botong shook his head, “Speaking of smartness, who on earth can be compared to the Old Heretic Huang? I don’t know how he did it, but he managed to find a wife who was a smart as he is. That time Sister-in-law Huang only showed a faint smile, she said, ‘Big Brother Zhou, you are known as the Old Urchin, but you are smart. You are afraid it would turn out like Liu Bei borrowed the city of Jingzhou forever, aren’t you? Don’t you worry; I will sit right here and have a look in front of your eyes; I won’t hide in a secret place. If you are feeling uneasy, you can stay by my side and stand guard.’ I listened to her said such; I took the book from my pocket and handed it over to her. Sister-in-law Huang took it and walked to a tree, sat on an upturned rock.
The Old Heretic Huang saw I still had some trepidation on my face, he said, ‘Old Urchin, in this present age, how many people can defeat us, two people in martial arts?’ I replied, ‘Nobody can necessarily defeat you, but to defeat me, including you there are four, five people!’ Old Heretic Huang smiled, ‘You flattered me. Eastern Heretic, Western Poison, Southern Emperor and Northern Beggar four people, each one has his own strength, nobody could defeat anyone else. Ouyang Feng’s Toad Stance had already been broken by your martial brother; within ten years he won’t be able to compete with us. There is Iron Palm Floating over the Water, Qiu Qianren, I heard his martial art is good, but he did not attend the ‘hua shan lun jian’ [Sword Meet of Mount Hua], so I am not sure; but not necessarily his martial art is so superb. Old Urchin, I believe other than these people, you are number one in terms of martial art. If we unite our hands, nobody can beat us.’ I said, ‘Naturally!’ Old Heretic Huang then asked, ‘Why then, are you so anxious? With both of us standing right here, who in the world could come and steal your precious book away?’ I heard he was very reasonable, so I felt better.
I saw Madame Huang flipped one page after another, she read attentively from the beginning; her lips slightly moved which I thought a little funny. The Nine Yin Manual contains high-level secret of martial arts; even if she is well versed in literature, I am afraid she wouldn’t comprehend even half a word. She read slowly from the beginning to the end, taking her time. I became impatient waiting, until at last she flipped the last page. I thought she was done, but unexpectedly she turned to the first page and read again. But this time she read quickly, finished in only a time needed to drink a cup of tea. She gave that book back to me and smiled, ‘Big Brother Zhou, you have been deceived by the Western Poison; this is not the Nine Yin Manual!’ I was shocked. I asked, ‘What do you mean it isn’t? This is obviously left behind by my martial brother, it looks good to me!’ Madame Huang replied, ‘What use is its look? Ouyang Feng obviously swapped your book with this cheap copy on how to do fortune telling and divination’.”
“Could it be that Ouyang Feng had swapped the books before the Venerable Wang came out of the coffin?” Guo Jing asked.
“That was what I thought then,” Zhou Botong replied. “But I’ve already known for some time that Old Heretic Huang is very shrewd; I could not really believe what his mistress had said either. Madame Huang saw me stood silently; she knew I doubted her words, so she asked, ‘Big Brother Zhou, how do you know this is the real Nine Yin Manual?’ I told her, ‘Ever since my martial brother took possession of the book, nobody has ever seen the contents. Martial Brother had said that he fought for seven days and seven nights to avoid further bloodshed in the Wulin world, not for his personal gain. Therefore, he forbade Quan Zhen disciples to learn any martial art from the book.’ Madame Huang then said, ‘Venerable Wang had a just and upright heart; truly deserving an endless admiration. Even so, there are other people who would not hesitate to deceive him. Big Brother Zhou, you go ahead and take a look at the book.’ I hesitated, remembering my deceased martial brother’s last words I did not dare to defy. Madame Huang continued, ‘This is a book of divination that is available anywhere in Jiangnan; not worth half a ‘wen’ [currency, not sure the value]. Besides, even if this book is the real Nine Yin Manual, it is all right too look as long as you do not learn anything from it, isn’t it?’
So I opened the book and looked at the first page. To me the book seemed to be describing methods and techniques to practice martial arts; where was fortune telling and divination stuff? Madame Huang said, ‘I have played with this kind of book since I was five; I know the content from the beginning to the end. We the Jiangnan kids, nine out of ten are familiar with it. If you don’t believe me, just listen to this.’ Having said that words started flowing like water from her mouth; she recited the book from the beginning to the end. I looked at the book to see if she really was reciting it from memory. Indeed, not a single word was wrong. My body turned cold, like I was plunged into a hole full of ice. Madame Huang also said, ‘No matter which page you want me to recite, as long as you read the beginning, I can recite the rest for you. I have read this kind of book since I was little, I won’t forget its content.’ I pulled out several sections just as she said, and she did recite them without hesitation.
The Old Heretic Huang burst in laughter. I was really angry; I ripped the book to pieces and then burned it to ashes. Old Heretic Huang suddenly said, ‘Old Urchin, you don’t need to lose your urchin’s temper. Let me give you this soft hedgehog armor.’ I didn’t know I fell into his scheme; I thought I looked so sorry to him that he wanted to ease my feeling. I was still upset, besides, how could I take the treasure of Peach Blossom Island? So I only thanked him without taking his gift. I went back to my hometown and closed the door. I wanted to practice my martial art. I knew at that time that I was not Ouyang Feng’s match, so I determined to train hard for five years. I thought I would go the west to take the book back from the Western Poison. My martial brother left me the book and the old urchin could not keep it safe. How could I face martial brother in the underworld?”
“The Western Poison is so crafty, I know you must deal with him; but wouldn’t it be a lot better if you take Priest Ma, Priest Qiu and the others to come with you?” Guo Jing asked.
“Ay! I can only blame my own arrogance,” Zhou Botong said, “After suffering from humiliation I did not want to talk to Ma Yu and the others. If I did they would certainly see something was amiss. Several years later there arose a rumor among the Jianghu people that the Peach Blossom Island disciples, The Twin Killers of the Dark Wind had gotten hold of the Nine Yin Manual; they had mastered several kinds of exquisite martial arts from the book, and had created havoc everywhere. At first I did not believe it, but the rumor was getting stronger. A year later, Qiu Chuji came to my home. His visit was in connection with the Nine Yin Manual affair. He said that the book had really fallen into the Peach Blossom Island disciples’ hands. I was fuming mad and said, ‘Old Heretic Huang is not worthy to be my friend!’ Qiu Chuji was taken aback, ‘Martial Uncle, why did you say Huang Yaoshi was not worthy to be your friend?’ I told him, ‘He went to get the book back from Western Poison without consulting me, and did not give the book back to me.’”
“I think he intended to do it, but right after he got the book back it was stolen by his renegade disciples,” Guo Jing reasoned. “I know he was quite angry because of this, that he cut the legs’ ligament of his other innocent disciples and expelled them from his school.”
Zhou Botong shook his head. “You are as naive as I was, if this affair happened to you, you would surely be bullied without knowing it,” he said. “That day Qiu Chuji discussed martial arts with me, we talked at length before he finally left. Two months later he suddenly reappeared. He had visited Chen Xuanfeng and Mei Chaofeng, the couple that had stolen the Old Heretic Huang’s book. They were practicing ‘Nine Yin White Bone Claw’ and ‘Heart Destroying Palm’, two evil martial arts. He took a big risk to eavesdrop the Twin Killers of the Dark Wind’s conversation and found out that Old Heretic Huang did not get the book from Ouyang Feng. Not at all. He stole it from my own hands.”
“You have obviously burned the book. Did Madame Huang swap the books, and gave you the fake one?” Guo Jing asked.
“I have guarded against that possibility early on,” Zhou Botong said. “When Madame Huang looked at the book, I did not dare to leave even half a step from her side. She did not know martial art. Even if her hands and feet were swift she could not get away from us who practice secret projectiles. No, she did not make the swap; she merely recorded it I her mind!”
Guo Jing did not understand. “How did she record it?” he asked.
Zhou Botong answered his question with another, “Brother, when you are reading a book, how many times do you have to read until you committed what you read into your memory?”
“If it is easy then maybe thirty, forty times. If it is difficult or long, probably seventy, eighty times, even a hundred times. Even after I read it for more than 100 times, I still cannot guarantee its accuracy,” Guo Jing replied.
“Speaking of brain power, I am afraid you cannot be considered smart,” Zhou Botong said.
“Your Brother is dumb by nature,” Guo Jing admitted. “Doesn’t matter whether I am studying literature or martial art, I am always very slow.”
Zhou Botong sighed. “Let’s not talk about studying literature,” he said. “Just talk about practicing martial arts. When you learned a fist or palm technique, didn’t your masters have to teach you dozens of time before you could understand it?”
Guo Jing’s face was red from shame. “That’s true,” he said. “Sometimes I knew it, but couldn’t remember; sometimes I remembered it, but could not apply.”
“But there are people in the world who by simply watching other people do a stance will be able to remember it forever,” Zhou Botong said.
“Totally correct!” Guo Jing exclaimed. “Island Master Huang’s daughter is just like that. When Benevolent Master Hong taught her martial art, at most he would teach her twice, very seldom he had to repeat the lesson three times.”
“This girl is so smart,” Zhou Botong slowly said, “Let’s just hope she won’t share her mother’s short life! That day when Madame Huang borrowed my book she only read twice, yet she did not miss a single word. After we bade farewell she wrote down everything for her husband to see.”
Guo Jing could not restrain his amazement, he was silent for a while only to say, “Madame Huang did not understand what she was reading; yet she was able to memorize the whole thing. How can there be such an intelligent person on the earth?”
“I am afraid your little friend that Huang girl is also capable of doing that,” Zhou Botong said. “Anyway, after listening to Qiu Chuji I was ashamed. Immediately I summoned the Quan Zhen Sect’s seven first generation disciples to discuss this matter over. Everybody agreed we should deal with the Twin Killers of The Dark Wind to get the book back from them. Qiu Chuji said, ‘Those Twin Killers of The Dark Wind’s martial art skills may be high, but they won’t necessarily be victorious over Quan Zhen Sect’s disciples. They are your junior, Martial Uncle does not need to go into action personally; otherwise the heroes of Jianghu would say that the older generation bullied the younger one.’ I thought he was right, so I assigned one or two of them to find the Twin Killers of The Dark Wind; while the rest shadowed from the side to guard against the twin killers escaping.”
Guo Jing nodded his head in agreement, “If all the Quan Zhen Seven Masters went into action the Twin Killers of The Dark Wind wouldn’t have any chance.” His mind wandered to the time Priest Ma Yu along with his six masters masquerading as the Quan Zhen Seven Masters atop the Mongolian barren hill.
“They pursued the twin killers as far as Henan, when unexpectedly those two disappeared,” Zhou Botong continued. “The Quan Zhen Seven tried to find information, turned out another disciple of Old Heretic Huang, Lu Chengfeng had gathered dozens of heroes and valiant people of the Central Plains to fight those two with the intention of capturing them and send them back to the Peach Blossom Island and hand them over to the Old Heretic Huang. Nevertheless, they were still able to escape and vanished without a trace.”
“No wonder Village Master Lu hated his martial brother and martial sister so much; he was expelled innocently from his school,” Guo Jing said.
“Since I couldn’t find the Twin Killers of The Dark Wind, naturally I looked for Old Heretic Huang. I carried along the first volume of the Nine Yin Manual, because I was afraid I might lose this one as well. Upon arrival at the Peach Blossom Island I scolded the Old Heretic Huang, but he said, ‘Botong, Huang Yaoshi always meant what he says. I had said I wouldn’t cast a glance at your book; when did I look at your book? The Nine Yin Manual that I saw was the one recorded by my wife, certainly not your book.’ His words sounded reasonable, but I was furious, so I spoke harsh words to him and asked to talk to his wife. He smiled bitterly, and led me to the main hall. As soon as we were there I was shocked. Turned out Madame Huang had passed away. There in the main hall was her memorial tablet.
I was going to pay my respect to her spirit, but Old Heretic Huang sneered and said, ‘Old Urchin! You don’t have to be pretentious on my face. If not because of your damned ‘gou pi zhen jing’ [dog fart manual] my wife wouldn’t have left me.’ I was startled, ‘What?!?’ I asked. He didn’t answer, only looking at me with angry eyes; but then tears started rolling down his cheeks. After a long while, he started to tell me what really happened.
Initially Madame Huang recorded the book for the first time for her husband’s sake. Huang Yaoshi then found out that the book in his hands was the second volume; which was harmful to train without knowing the first volume. So he decided to set the book aside while he was trying to get hold of the first volume. Who would have thought that the book would be stolen by Chen Xuanfeng and Mei Chaofeng? Madame Huang wanted to comfort her husband, so she quietly determined to rewrite the whole book.
First of all, she did not understand the meaning of what she wrote; she merely memorized the words. Secondly, it had been several years since she wrote it for the first time; how could she remember everything? At that time she was entering the eighth month of her pregnancy. After painstakingly thinking hard she was able to re-write about seven, eight thousand words, but not every word was accurate. Her heart and mind were exhausted; and because of that she gave birth to a baby girl prematurely. The baby was healthy, but her condition was like a lantern ran out of oil. Even though Huang Yaoshi’s skill was peerless, in the end, he was not able to save his beloved wife’s life.
Old Heretic Huang always loves to vent his anger and blame others; during this time his wife had passed away, he was like a madman; talked incoherently to me. I knew his was grieving badly, so I did not want to argue with him. I simply smiled and said to him, ‘You are a pugilist, yet you put too much feeling toward husband and wife relationship. Aren’t you afraid you are becoming the laughing stock of other people?’ ‘My wife was different,’ he said. I told him, ‘Your wife died, this is the best time to train your martial art. If it were me, that was exactly what I expected. The earlier your wife died the better. Congratulations! Congratulations!’”
“Ah!” Guo Jing gasped. “How could you say such thing?”
Zhou Botong eyes rolled, “I said what I was thinking; what’s wrong with that?” he snapped. “But that Old Heretic Huang got angry, without saying anything he struck me with his palm and we fought. In the end I had to stay in this stupid place for fifteen years.”
“Did you lose to him?” Guo Jing asked.
Zhou Botong smiled, “If I win, I won’t be here. He hit me until I was spitting up blood. I ran away until I found this cave. He pursued me, wanted to break my legs, He wanted to snatch the first volume of the Nine Yin Manual to be burned in front of his wife’s memorial tablet. I hid the book inside the hole and sat at the cave entrance guarding. I said that if he resorted to force I would destroy the book immediately. He said, ‘I will find a way to force you out of there.’ I said, ‘We’ll see!’
Just like that and I have been here for fifteen years. This man is arrogant, and he is not desperate yet, so I am sure he won’t put poison in my food. But he had used every means possible to force me out of here. I leave the cave only to urinate and defecate, he won’t have any opportunity to sneak in. Only I have to live with this stench. Sometimes I pretend to have a bowel movement. His heart itches to lay his fingers in, but he ended up enjoying the smelly thing.” He ended his narration by laughing heartily.
Listening to his story Guo Jing was fascinated. He found this big brother of his to be smart and witty. Zhou Botong continued, “After fifteen years he started to attack my heart and mind, but so far I was able to defend myself. Only last night I was almost fallen; fortunately ghost or angel has brought you here and helped me. If not, this book would certainly fall into Old Heretic Huang’s hands. Ay! Old Heretic Huang’s ‘jade-colored tidal wave song’ contains a strong internal energy, very profound.”
Guo Jing listened to him recounting this gratitude and grudges; his heart was troubled. “Big Brother, what will you do now?” he asked.
Zhou Botong smiled, “I will just continue our competition. We’ll see if Old Heretic Huang will outlive me, or I’ll live a few years longer than he will. I told you the life story of Huang Shanga moment ago; he had outlived all his enemies.”
Guo Jing felt it was not a good idea, but he didn’t have anything better, so he asked, “How come Priest Ma Yu and the others did not come to rescue you?”
“Most probably they don’t even know I am here,” Zhou Botong said. “Even if they do, the vegetation in this island is so strange that unless Old Heretic Huang himself gives consent, other people won’t be able to enter the Peach Blossom Island. Also, even if they come to rescue me, I won’t go. I haven’t finished the competition with Old Heretic Huang yet.”
After talking with Zhou Botong for half a day, Guo Jing found that even though this man is old, he was filled with childlike innocence and always spoke straightforwardly, without any pretension.
In the meantime the sun had climbed high in the sky. That old servant came back delivering their meal. After done eating Zhou Botong continued, “I have stayed on the Peach Blossom Island for fifteen years, yet my time did not totally go to waste. Here my heart and mind are clear, without any disruption. I can achieve here what I can achieve elsewhere for twenty-five years. But although I know I have advanced greatly, too bad I don’t have any sparring partner; so I had to use my left hand to fight my right hand.”
Guo Jing was astonished. “How can the left hand fight with the right hand?” he asked.
“I pretend my right hand to be the Old Heretic Huang, the left hand to be the Old Urchin. The right hand attacks, the left hand neutralizes that attack and launches a counterattack, like this,” Zhou Botong said, then moved his hands to battle each other.
At first Guo Jing thought it was very funny, but after several moves he realized that the stances were mysteriously wonderful, he couldn’t help but feeling great admiration. People who practice martial arts, regardless of whether they are barehanded or wielding a saber or thrusting a spear, will always use both hands either to attack or to defend; but Zhou Botong was different. He used one hand to attack and the other to defend; each attack was fierce and always aimed vital points, while the defending hand would parry and counterattack with no less fierceness; truly like two people fighting each other. Guo Jing had never seen nor heard anything like this before.
After watching Zhou Botong fought himself for a moment Guo Jing commented, “Big Brother, why don’t you use your feet too?”
Zhou Botong halted and smiled, “Not a bad observation! You could see through my moves. Come, come, come! You try!” While speaking thus he stretched his palm to attack. Guo Jing also stretched his to parry.
“Careful! I am going to push you to the left,” Zhou Botong said. As soon as he finished speaking he exerted his energy. Guo Jing was ready, even before Zhou Botong warned him he had prepared himself to use the ’18-Dragon Subduing Palms’. Two great forces collided, and Guo Jing staggered back seven, eight steps. He felt his arm sore and numb.
“Last time I borrowed the strength from my feet and you were pushed back,” Zhou Botong said, “Now I am not going to use my feet. You try again.”
Guo Jing followed his bidding to attack again; but suddenly he felt a pushing and pulling force. He was unable to stand steadily; he fell forward; his forehead hit the ground. He crawled trying to stand up; he was in a daze.
Zhou Botong smiled, “Do you understand?”
“No, I don’t,” Guo Jing replied.
“I developed this technique after toiling for more than ten years through training and meditation inside this hole,” Zhou Botong said. “My martial brother had told me once about a technique of using emptiness to gain victory. That time my understanding of Taoist principles was still shallow. I heard him but I didn’t understand. About five years ago I was moving my two hands when it suddenly dawned on me that I can develop palm technique using that principle. I was still unsure about it since it was only a theory; I have never tried it in a real combat. Brother, come and fight me again. Please don’t fear the pain. I am going to make you fall some more times.”
He saw Guo Jing was hesitant, so he persuaded again, “Good Brother, I have been here for fifteen years, and always longed for someone to come over and train with me. Several months ago Old Heretic Huang’s daughter came and talked with me to chase my boredom. I was thinking of training with her, but she did not return the next day. Good Brother, I certainly am not going to hit you too hard.”
Guo Jing saw his both hands were itching to move; his face showing eagerness that was hard to resist, so he complied and said, “What is falling some more times?” He launched his palm and fought a few stances; but he felt Zhou Botong palm was sometimes void of strength. He was about to fall again when suddenly Zhou Botong’s left hand hit his shoulder from below. His body was sent somersaulting in the air and he fell hard to the ground. His shoulder was hurting very bad.
Zhou Botong face showed regret, he said, “Good Brother, I can’t let you fall for nothing. Hear me out, I am going to teach you this technique.” Guo Jing endured the pain, crawling up and came near.
Zhou Botong said, “In the Lao Zi’s [Taoist Founder] ‘dao de jing’ [Taoist Holy Scripture – I don’t know the correct English translation] there is a saying: ‘a clay utensil is useful because it is empty, a room is useful because it is empty.’ Do you understand this saying?”
Guo Jing’s literary knowledge was limited; naturally he did not understand the saying. He smiled sheepishly and shook his head.
Zhou Botong took the rice bowl they used earlier. “This bowl is empty inside, that’s why we can fill it with rice. If it is a solid clay clump, how can we put food inside?” he asked.
Guo Jing nodded; he thought, “It is a very simple truth, but I’ve never thought about it.”
“Likewise a house can be occupied by people because it has four walls and windows and doors on those walls,” Zhou Botong added. “What good it is if the building is made of solid bricks without windows and doors?
Guo Jing nodded again; his heart was more open to this truth.
Zhou Botong continued, “Our Quan Zhen Sect’s highest martial art is based on ‘gong’ [empty] and ‘ruo’ [soft], these two characters. It was so-called because ‘lacking accomplishment does not necessarily mean weak, lacking fullness does not necessarily mean empty.’”
Following these deep and profound thinking Guo Jing listened attentively and pondered deeply.
Zhou Botong added, “In terms of energy exertion, your master Hong Qigong’s martial art is on the external side of the spectrum. Even though I know Quan Zhen Sect’s martial art, I am not his match. But I am afraid once you reach certain level of the external type of martial art you cannot go much higher. Not so with the internal type of martial art, the type that my martial brother practiced. That time when my martial brother won the title ‘Number One in the Martial Art World’ he was not just being lucky. If he were still alive today, with the additional of more than ten years of training, if he again fights Eastern Heretic, Western Poison and the others, I believe he would probably need only half a day, not seven whole days and nights to subdue them.”
“Venerable Wang’s martial art was truly amazing; brother is unfortunate not to make his acquaintance,” Guo Jing said. “Benevolent Master Hong’s ’18-Dragon Subduing Palms’ is the pinnacle of the ‘hard’ type of martial art; but a moment ago Big Brother had made me fall to the ground using the world ‘softest’ type of martial art, isn’t that so?”
Zhou Botong laughed. “That’s true, that’s true,” he said. “Although the soft can subdue the hard, I wouldn’t be able to push you that easy if your ‘18-Dragon Subduing Palms’ was as fierce as Hong Qigong’s. It all depends on the depth of your comprehension. Do you remember the move I used to push you down just a moment ago? Try to remember it well.” And then he carefully recounted how to move the hand and how to exert the energy. He knew Guo Jing’s comprehension was slow, so he took his time explaining everything.
Guo Jing tried the move dozens of time; fortunately he had a good foundation of profound internal energy technique from Quan Zhen Sect, so he had a good grasp albeit slowly.
Zhou Botong was elated, he said, “Brother, if your pain has lessened, let me make you fall one more time.”
Guo Jing laughed. “Pain is nothing,” he said, “But I am afraid I won’t be able to remember your lesson.” While speaking he was still trying hard to memorize everything.
Zhou Botong had a childlike enthusiasm; he kept urging, “Is it enough? Have you memorized it? Come on, quick!”
But actually his nagging was disturbing Guo Jing’s mind. After some time was he finally able to memorize the move. So again he charged toward Zhou Botong; and again he fell down.
Day and night those two people trained together. Guo Jing was a young man, he did not need too much sleep; but even when he did, Zhou Botong wouldn’t let him to. He kept urging him to train. Guo Jing fell down seven, eight hundreds times. His body was swollen and hurt all over, full of purple bruises. Fortunately he was strong, so he just gritted his teeth and doggedly learned and finally mastered Zhou Botong’s special skill which he created during his fifteen years inside the cave, the 72-move ‘kong ming quan’ [lit. empty and clear fist technique – the Vacant Fist].
Two people were so engrossed in training martial arts that they did not know how many days had passed. Guo Jing was thinking about Huang Rong all day, but since he was unable to seek her, he had to be content in waiting painstakingly. Several times he wanted to go with the mute servant who delivers their meals to find her, but every time, Zhou Botong called him back.
One day right after lunch Zhou Botong said, “You have mastered the entire Vacant Fist. After this I won’t be able to make you fall easily; so we have to change they way we play.”
“Very well. How should we play?” Guo Jing laughed and asked.
“We play as four people fighting each other,” Zhou Botong replied.
“Four people?” Guo Jing was perplexed.
“Absolutely!” Zhou Botong said. “Four people. My left hand is one person, my right the other. Your pair of hands are two other people. Four separate individuals, nobody helps anybody else. Four people in a tangled battle! That should be more interesting.”
Guo Jing’s interest was piqued. “It certainly is interesting; too bad I cannot separate my left and right hands,” he smiled and said.
“I meant to teach you later,” Zhou Botong said. “For now, let us just have a three-way fight.” His pair of hands made two people and attack Guo Jing immediately. He separated himself into two different entities, each hand launched different stance, they did not complement each other; totally different from one person using two hands. When his left hand was giving Guo Jing a hard time, his right hand would come to Guo Jing’s rescue. Likewise when his right was gaining an upper hand, his left would fight his right. When Guo Jing gained an upper hand, his both hands would fight together like two people facing one opponent. In short, it was like three separate individuals fighting each other. After fighting for a while they stopped for a rest.
Guo Jing thought this way of playing was so amusing; he could not help but remembering Huang Rong. He thought if she were there, three people would be able to fight as six individuals. He was sure Huang Rong would be very interested.
Zhou Botong was full of enthusiasm. As soon as Guo Jing caught his breath he immediately taught him how to divide his hands in a mutual hands combat. This technique was actually more difficult than the Vacant Fist.
There was a saying, ‘Mind cannot be divided,’ and somewhere along the same line, ‘Left hand draws a square, right hand draws a circle; is not a good habit.’ But this mutual hands combat technique was precisely dividing one’s mind into two, and the way to train it was by drawing a square with the left hand and a circle with the right hand. Guo Jing practiced doing the drawings. Initially his square resembled a circle, and his circle looked like a square. He painstakingly practiced for a long time before he finally got the hang of it; both hands could draw perfect square and circle at will.
Zhou Botong was very excited. “If you haven’t practiced our Quan Zhen’s internal energy cultivation – which enables you to combine inner and outer strength, how could you master this mutual hands combat technique so quickly?” he said. “Now, use your left hand to launch ‘nan shan quan’ [south mountain fist technique] and your right hand ‘yue nu jian’ [Yueh Maiden sword technique].” These were the martial arts Guo Jing learned from Nan Xiren and Han Xiaoying. Guo Jing knew these techniques by heart, but launching them at the same time with different hands was actually very difficult.
Zhou Botong was dying to play the ‘four people mutual combat’, so he urged Guo Jing to train. He himself did not stop giving instructions and pointers. A few days later Guo Jing had mastered the mutual hands combat technique. Zhou Botong’s delight was unspeakable. “Come, come!” he urged, “Your left hand and my left one form an alliance against your right hand and mine. Let us have a martial art contest.”
Guo Jing was still young, how could this kind of game not interest him? Immediately his right hand fought Zhou Botong’s left while his left hand fiercely fought Zhou Botong’s right. Nobody had ever seen or heard about this kind of battle.
While they were fighting each other and themselves, Zhou Botong incessantly gave Guo Jing pointers on how to attack swiftly and fiercely, and how to form a stable defense. Guo Jing listened and committed each and every one of them in his memory.
Zhou Botong only wanted to have an interesting playtime, but Guo Jing’s mind came up with other thoughts. One day when they were playing, he thought, “If our legs can also be divided, wouldn’t two people be able to fight as eight individuals?” But he knew if he brought this up, Zhou Botong would go on indefinitely, so he refrained himself from saying anything.
Several more days passed. Guo Jing and Zhou Botong fought as four separate individuals. Zhou Botong was having fun; he fought and laughed heartily. Guo Jing’s skill was still shallow, so when one of his hands was unable to withstand, the other involuntarily would come to its rescue. Zhou Botong’s fists moved rapidly, Guo Jing was not able to keep up fighting as four separate individuals, so oftentimes he became one individual fighting two people, as in three people mutual combat. But his two hands launched different moves, so it was like two Guo Jing fought together hand-in-hand against two opponents.
Zhou Botong laughed heartily, “You are fighting disregarding the rules,” he said.
Guo Jing jumped back. He was silent for a while than opened his mouth, “Big Brother, I have been thinking of something.”
“What is it?” Zhou Botong asked.
“Well, your both hands can launch completely different moves. Why can’t they work together as two people facing a common enemy? This technique can be very useful; if your enemy is strong, you can divide your mind and helping yourself. Although the force won’t be doubled, but the stances would enjoy a great advantage.”
Zhou Botong had created the mutual hands combat technique out of his boredom living in the cave alone. It never occurred to him that he could actually use the technique in a real combat. Now that Guo Jing reminded him a thought suddenly came flashing back and forth in his mind. Suddenly he leaped out of the cave and walked back and forth on the cave entrance; laughing incessantly.
Guo Jing saw a sudden change in his action like an evil spirit possessed him; he became anxious and called out, “Big Brother, what happened to you? What is it?”
Zhou Botong did not answer; but he kept laughing. After a while he said, “Brother, I am coming out of this hole! I am not going to urinate, I don’t have a bowel movement; but I am coming out.”
“You are!” Guo Jing exclaimed.
Zhou Botong smiled, “Right now my martial art is number one in the world, why should I fear Huang Yaoshi? I only hope he would show up so I can beat him really good.”
“Are you sure you can defeat him?” Guo Jing asked.
“Actually my martial art is still a notch below his, but by dividing my mind I can be two people against one; nobody can defeat me. Huang Yaoshi, Hong Qigong, Ouyang Feng; their martial arts are superb, but how can they defeat two Zhou Botongs?” Guo Jing was delighted; what Zhou Botong said was very reasonable.
“Brother,” Zhou Botong continued, “You have understood this mutual hands combat technique; all you need is just a few more years of practice, then your martial art skill will be doubled.” As they chatted, the two became more and more excited.
Before then Zhou Botong was afraid Huang Yaoshi would come and made things difficult for him, but now he hoped Huang Yaoshi would show up. He would beat him up and leave this awfully smelly cave forever. He impatiently looked outside hoping to catch a glimpse of Huang Yaoshi’s shadow. He would dash out to seek him if he didn’t know the pathways on the island were mysteriously arranged.
That night the mute servant came back delivering their dinner. Zhou Botong grabbed his neck and said, “Quickly tell Huang Yaoshi to come over, tell him to try my new technique!” But that old servant only shook his head.
Zhou Botong swore and uttered some indistinct remark before he suddenly realized, “Bah! I forgot you are deaf and mute!” Turned his head to Guo Jing he said, “Tonight we must eat really good.” Then he stretched his hand to grab the food basket.
Guo Jing’s nostril caught delicious smell from the basket, unlike the meal they usually got. So he hastily opened the basket and saw two small dishes of vegetable with a big bowl of chicken cooked with winter-picked mushroom; one of his favorite. With a thumping heart he took a porcelain spoon to scoop a spoonful of soup. It tasted exactly like the one Huang Rong prepared for him; so he was certain it was Huang Rong. His heart was thumping even harder. Quickly he looked at the basket to see if there was anything unusual. He found a box with ten steamed buns inside. One of them had an image of a gourd, carved using a nail. The marking was so subtle that if he did not pay attention he would surely miss it. Guo Jing knew this bun was unusual. With a trembling hand he picked the bun, broke it into halves and found a wax pill inside. Guo Jing saw Zhou Botong and the old servant did not look his way, so quickly he slipped the pill inside his pocket.
This time two people ate their dinner without caring for its taste: one person was eating while thinking how to have a peerless martial art in the world; while the right hand grabbed a steamed bun the left hand threw some fists, both hands were very busy; sometimes they were fighting each other while the mouth was chewing; the other person wanted to eat as fast as he could so that he could see what Huang Rong had hidden inside the wax pill.
Zhou Botong ate the steamed bun with some effort; with a noisy sound he finished the soup too. The old servant cleaned up and took the basket away. Guo Jing hurriedly pulled out the wax pill, crushed it and took the paper hidden inside. It was indeed Huang Rong’s handwriting. It said, ‘Brother Jing, please do not worry. Father and I are reconciled. I will slowly ask him to release you.’ The letter was closed with two characters, ‘Rong’er’. Guo Jing was ecstatic; he showed the letter to Zhou Botong.
Zhou Botong laughed. “Leave it to me,” he said. “He can’t not release you. We will compel him to; don’t need to ask him nicely. If he refuses, I will imprison him in this hole for fifteen years. Aiyo! That’s not right! What if in fifteen years he found the secret of mutual hands combat?”
The sky was gradually turning dark. Guo Jing sat cross-legged and was going to cultivate his energy. But his mind kept wandering back to Huang Rong. He could not concentrate for a long time. Finally he was able to calm himself and his chest was relieved; he started to breath evenly. A sudden thought came to his mind: if he could divide his mind to control two hands using two different martial arts, why not try dividing his breathing into two? So he closed one of his nostrils and practice breathing using only one nostril.
He had practiced for about an hour and felt that he had made some progress when he heard some rustling sound. He opened his eyes and could see in the dark somebody with long hair and long beard was moving around: Zhou Botong was practicing martial arts. He opened his eyes wide and looked closely. He saw Zhou Botong’s left hand was doing the seventy-two stance of Vacant Fist, while his right hand was doing some other Quan Zhen Sect’s fist technique. The fists moved slowly, but they created gusts of wind that created the rustling sound he heard earlier. Guo Jing admired this amazing skill.
While he was half watching and half lost in thought, suddenly he heard Zhou Botong cried anxiously, “Aiyo!” then busily brushed something from his body. A long black and shiny thing flew from his body and hit a distance tree; like he was throwing a secret projectile of some sort. Guo Jing saw Zhou Botong was shaking; he was startled, hurriedly came near and called out, “Big Brother, what happened?”
“I am bitten by a viper! I am dying!” Zhou Botong shouted.
Guo Jing was shocked. Immediately he held Zhou Botong’s body. His expression had changed; he leaned on Guo Jing’s shoulder and slowly walked back to the cave. Guo Jing quickly tore a piece of his clothes and tightly wrapped it around Zhou Botong’s thigh to prevent the venom from entering the heart.
Guo Jing took a flint from his pocket and lighted a paper fire. Under the bright firelight he could see more clearly. His heart jumped to his throat. Zhou Botong’s calf was swollen really bad.
“This island does not have this kind of green venomous viper. I wonder where it came from?” Zhou Botong weakly said. “The snake wouldn’t be able to bite me when I practice regularly. But this time I was practicing two sets of fist technique; I put all my attention to my movements … Ay!”
Guo Jing heard his voice trembled, he knew the poison was severe. If Zhou Botong did not possess a profound internal energy he would have died early on. Nervously he bent his waist and sucked at the wound.
“You can’t do that!” Zhou Botong cried out. “The snake’s venom is extraordinary. It will kill you.”
But Guo Jing was only thinking of saving his life; he did not even care of his own safety. His right arm held Zhou Botong’s body firmly, while his mouth continued sucking. Zhou Botong tried to struggle, but his body was weak; he could not move. A little while later he passed out.
Guo Jing kept sucking the venom out and spat it to the ground. With the poison drained out of his body, plus his profound internal energy Zhou Botong slowly regained his consciousness. His eyes were still heavy. Half awake he said, “Brother, your big brother is going to return to the heaven today. But before leaving this world I can make your friendship, my heart is extremely happy.”
Even though Guo Jing crossed Zhou Botong’s path only a short while ago, but they were of the same straightforward and honest type, so they hit it off immediately. He felt like they have known each other for dozens of years. Right now he saw his dying face and he couldn’t restrain tears from flowing down his cheeks.
Zhou Botong smiled sadly and said, “That Nine Yin Manual was hidden inside a box beneath the stone where I usually sit. I was going to give it to you, but you have sucked deadly venom from the snake, so you will not live long. We two people will walk hand in hand to the underworld. No need to fear we won’t have someone to play with. We will play as four people in the cloud … No, as four ghosts … that would be interesting. The bigheaded ghost and the grim reaper will be baffled looking at us. The ghost world won’t be the same.” Speaking thus he was quite happy.
Guo Jing heard Zhou Botong said that he was going to die, but he did not feel anything unusual. He took the fire to examine himself. The paper fire was about to be burned out, so he took Huang Rong’s letter and burned it. He then looked round the cave entrance to find a dried branch or grass, but amidst the hot summer weather the vegetation around him was green and lush.
He was getting more and more anxious. He groped his pocket to find something that would be used as a torch. But he found nothing, except that leather-like thing wrapped around his dagger that came from Mei Chaofeng. Without giving a second thought he lighted that thing and extended it to examine Zhou Botong’s face. He saw the face was turning gray, no longer ruddy like a child as usual.
Zhou Botong saw the flickering fire, he gave a faint smile. He saw Guo Jing’s countenance did not change, no sign of poison at all. He was confused. He blinked his eyes and looked at the fire. He saw the thing that Guo Jing used as a torch had some characters written all over. He squinted trying to read what was written, but after reading about ten characters or so he was so startled. He recognized the words as taken from the Nine Yin Manual. He didn’t have time to ask any question so he just raised his hand and struck the fire; asking, “Brother, what kind of medicine did you take? How come this deathly poison did not affect you?”
Guo Jing guessed it was because he drank the blood of Liang Ziwong’s ginseng-fed big snake; so he said, “Once I drank a big snake’s blood; perhaps that was why I can resist snake’s venom.”
Zhou Botong pointed to the leather on the ground, “That is a very precious thing, absolutely can’t be destroyed …” he passed out before he could finish his sentence.
At this time Guo Jing did not care about any precious object; he was busy sealing Zhou Botong’s ‘gong guo’ [palace crossing] acupoint, but it did not help. He tried to feel Zhou Botong’s calf; it was hot and swelling big.
“Four weaving machines, the weaving of mandarin ducks desiring to fly together right away …” he heard Zhou Botong muttered indistinctly.
“What did you say?” Guo Jing asked.
“It’s a pity not yet old but the hair on the head has turned white; it’s a pity …” Zhou Botong sighed.
Guo Jing knew he was delirious from the illness; he was very anxious. He dashed out of the cave and climbed a tree outside, shouting loudly, “Rong’er! Rong’er! Island Master Huang! Island Master Huang! Help! Help!” But Peach Blossom Island encompassed an area of more than ten li’s across; it was a big island. Huang Yaoshi’s residence was located at the other side of the island. Guo Jing’s shout was in vain. The only response he heard was his own voice echoed from the mountain and valley ahead, “ … Island Master Huang! Help! Help …!”
Guo Jing jumped down, he was at a loss. In that critical time an idea came flashing into his mind, “Snake’s venom cannot harm me, perhaps my blood contain some antidote to the snake’s poison.” Without wasting another second he fumbled about the ground, looking for the big green bowl that Zhou Botong used to drink tea everyday. He took his dagger and without hesitation sliced his own left arm and let his blood dripped into the bowl until the drip stopped by itself. He made another cut and again filled the bowl; then he propped Zhou Botong up on his knee. With his left hand he force Zhou Botong’s mouth open and with his right hand fed him the blood.
Although he was young and his body strong, losing that much blood drained his energy. After feeding Zhou Botong he leaned against the cave wall and closed his eyes; he fell asleep not long afterward.
He did not know how long had he slept, but he felt someone was tending his wound. He opened his eyes and saw Zhou Botong’s white hair and beard. Guo Jing was delighted. “You … you … are you well?” he called out.
“I am well, brother. You have sacrificed yourself to save my life,” Zhou Botong said. “I am sure the grim reaper was greatly disappointed; I am not that easy to die.”
Guo Jing looked at Zhou Botong’s calf and saw that the dark swelling was no longer there, only red inflammation which was not life threatening.
That morning those two people sat to meditate and cultivate their inner strength, revitalizing their body. After lunch Zhou Botong asked Guo Jing the origin of the leather wrap. Guo Jing gathered his thoughts for a moment then started narrating how his Second Master at the Cloud Village had took some things from Mei Chaofeng; that dagger was among those things, and that the leather was wrapped on it. Afterward he also noticed the characters, but he did not know what they were, so he simply kept it in his pocket without giving it another thought.
Zhou Botong mumbled and was lost in thought for half a day. “Big Brother, you said it was a very precious object, what is it?” Guo Jing asked.
“I have to examine it before I can answer your question. I don’t know if it is the real thing, but since it came from Mei Chaofeng, I have a strong reason to believe it is,” Zhou Botong replied. Taking the leather he looked at it from top to bottom.
Wang Chongyang won the book not for his personal gain but to avoid bloodshed among the Wulin people; therefore, he had strictly forbidden his disciples to ever learn any martial art from the book. Zhou Botong naturally did not dare to disobey his martial brother’s last words. But he recalled what Madame Huang said, ‘Simply taking a look without training it can not be considered disobeying.’ He had spent fifteen years in the cave without anything to do, so out of his boredom he had read the first volume of Nine Yin Manual in his possession. However, the first volume only contained the method to cultivate internal energy, as well as the basic of swordsmanship; there was no real profound martial art to defeat opponent. It was useless if one did not train the second volume.
For these past ten years or so, Zhou Botong had read the first volume over and over again; he even made some guesses as to what the second volume contained. Therefore, as soon as he read the leather wrap, he immediately knew it was related to what he had already memorized.
Zhou Botong lifted his eyes to the distant hill and was deep in thought. He loved martial art; he was obsessed with it. Now he had in his hand the world’s greatest and most profound martial arts manual. In all honesty he wanted very much to train what was in the book; not to build up his own reputation, not to seek vengeance, also not to show off his prowess or to rule the world; he was simply and purely curious to see how profound the martial arts in the book were.
He recalled his martial brother’s story on Huang Shang compiling the 5481 chapters on the Everlasting Life Taoist Canon; then later on he spent forty years painstakingly studied various exquisite martial arts from various schools. It really was not a small matter. The Twin Killers of the Dark Wind only got hold of the second volume; and they only managed to learn two techniques among so many; yet they were able to create havoc in the Jianghu. What if they were able to learn the entire second volume? The result would be inconceivable. But martial brother’s last words could not be disobeyed. Zhou Botong pondered these things in his heart; he heaved a heavy sigh, put the leather inside his pocket, closed his eyes and fell asleep.
After taking a good rest he took a tree branch to dig a hole in which he intended to bury both volumes together. He was digging and sighing at the same time. But suddenly an idea came to his mind, he exploded in laughter and cheers, “That’s right! That’s right! This way I can have both ways!” He was so ecstatic that Guo Jing was startled, “Big Brother, what both ways?” But Zhou Botong merely laughed without saying anything. It looked like he came out with a really great idea.
“Brother Guo is not my Quan Zhen Sect’s disciple. I will teach him and let him train, then I will see the result,” he thought. “This way I can satisfy my curiosity and following martial brother’s dying wish at the same time.” He was going to tell this idea to Guo Jing when suddenly he had another thought, “From the way he speaks I gathered he detests the Nine Yin Manual. He thinks it was an evil martial art; but that was because the Twin Killers of the Dark Wind only looked at the second volume; they did not train the first volume, which would tell them how to cultivate the inner energy and build a foundation for the subsequent techniques. They only took the fiercest martial arts they could find, which resulted in monstrosity of their martial arts. I’d better not tell him anything; I’ll let him practice and let him know afterwards. That time he will have mastered the martial arts; even if he wants to get rid of it he won’t be able to do anything. Won’t that be interesting?”
By nature he was mischievous; others scold him or get mad at him, he did not care; others love him or show favor to him, he did not give it any thought. As long as he could play or make practical jokes and have fun, he would be happy. Now that he had thought this idea he maintained his composure and with a straight face he told Guo Jing, “Xian Die [worthy brother], during my fifteen years inside this cave I have created not only the Vacant Fist and the Mutual Hands Combat techniques, but also some other techniques. Now that we don’t have anything to do, what do you say I teach you some more to pass the time away?”
“There is nothing better,” Guo Jing said, “But Rong’er said she is thinking of a way to get us out of here …”
“Has she found a way out for us?” Zhou Botong asked.
“Not yet,” Guo Jing replied.
“Then what’s wrong with learning new things while waiting for her?” Zhou Botong suggested.
Guo Jing happily complied, “That will work. Big Brother’s martial arts must be marvelous.”
Zhou Botong secretly laughed, “Don’t you be happy yet,” he thought, “You have fallen into my scheme!” So he immediately passed on the essence of the Nine Yin Manual; a little part at a time from his memory. Naturally Guo Jing did not understand it immediately, but Zhou Botong was very patient. He would repeat the lesson as many times as needed. As for the lessons from the second volume on the leather wrap, he would memorize it first when Guo Jing was not looking, and then he would passed it on when he had memorized it.
The Nine Yin Manual contained various martial art techniques which were different from each other. Zhou Botong taught the theory but did not give any example on how to do it. He let Guo Jing to ponder and find out on his own. Afterward he would test the newly learned technique against his Quan Zhen Sect’s martial art.
After several days he started to see the marvelous martial arts of the Nine Yin Manual which Guo Jing gradually mastered; however, Guo Jing was still completely unaware that he had learned the Nine Yin Manual. Zhou Botong was very happy; he would often smile in his sleep.
In the meantime Huang Rong kept preparing food for Guo Jing although she did not show up personally. So Guo Jing’s heart became content and he managed to achieve quicker advancement.
One day Zhou Botong was teaching the ‘jiu yin shen zhua’ [nine yin divine claw]; he instructed Guo Jing to use his ten fingers to practice against the stonewall. Guo Jing had practiced several times when suddenly he realized something. “Big Brother,” he said, “I think Mei Chaofeng also trained this kind of martial art, only she practiced against human. She would insert her five fingers inside somebody’s skull. It was very cruel.”
Zhou Botong was startled, “That’s true,” he thought, “Mei Chaofeng did not know the first volume, so she followed the instruction literally. The second volume only mentioned ‘concentrate the energy on the five fingers, firmly attack the enemy’s head.’ She did not know that ‘the enemy’s head’ means the enemy’s vital point; not literally insert five fingers on the enemy’s skull. No wonder she thought she had to train using real skulls. This Nine Yin Manual contains lessons of spiritual purity, to chase evil spirits away, how could it teach anybody to practice this cruel and ferocious martial art? That old hag had strayed too far from the truth. Brother Guo Jing is already suspicious so I’d better not teach him that kind of martial art.” Thereupon he smiled and said, “Mei Chaofeng practiced demonical type of martial art; how can she be compared with our true orthodox school of martial arts? All right, we won’t train this ‘divine claw’ martial art for the time being, I will teach you some more of our heritage martial art.”
Speaking thus he hatched another good idea, “I will teach him the first volume until he really comprehended everything. Then I will continue with the second volume. He will see the logical connection between the first and the second, so he won’t raise any suspicions anymore.” So he started to recite the theory from the first volume and told Guo Jing to memorize it.
The lessons in the manual were very deep and profound, how could Guo Jing comprehend everything? Zhou Botong realized Guo Jing was slow, so he told him to recite it aloud. After dozens of time Guo Jing was able to memorize almost everything. Some of it he did not understand the meaning, but he memorize it anyway. Several days passed, Zhou Botong had passed most of the book so he told Guo Jing to start practicing his internal energy cultivation.
Guo Jing thought the internal energy cultivation method was similar to the one he learned from Ma Yu, only this one was deeper and more difficult; but he credited that to the fact that Zhou Botong was Ma Yu’s martial uncle, so naturally his way of cultivating internal energy would be more profound than Ma Yu’s. He also recalled when Mei Chaofeng sat on his shoulder battling the enemies in the Zhao palace she asked him some questions about internal energy cultivation which he was able to answer, so he did not suspect anything at all. Although he frequently noticed Zhou Botong’s funny expression, like he was amused by something funny, he thought it was Zhou Botong’s natural disposition that loved to play jokes. Maybe he was thinking of some other amusing things.
The manual contained more than one thousand gibberish characters without any clear meaning. These past several years Zhou Botong had repeatedly pondered about those words in the cave, but he still did not have any clue on what they mean. Nevertheless he passed them on to Guo Jing anyway. And when Guo Jing asked what they mean, Zhou Botong simply said, “This secret can’t be divulged right now, you will understand it when the time comes.”
Memorizing these thousand or so words without understanding what they say was a hundred times more difficult than memorizing a regular book. It may not be too difficult for a sharp person; but although Guo Jing was slow, he had a strong determination. After more than a thousand times reciting he eventually was able to memorize everything.
One early morning Guo Jing woke up and immediately practiced his martial art. When the breakfast came he noticed another unusual steamed bun. Without waiting to finish his meal he took the bun to the forest and immediately crushed the wax pill to get into the letter inside. Once he took a glance he could not help but feeling very anxious. The letter said, ‘Brother Jing, Western Poison had proposed Father to give my hand in marriage to his nephew, and Father answered …” The letter was not finished, indicating that she was writing it in a hurry. Looked like the word after ‘answered’ was ‘yes’.
Guo Jing’s heart was frenetic; he waited impatiently for the old servant to clean up then he hastily showed the letter to Zhou Botong.
“His father gave his consent, that’s good. It’s none of our business,” Zhou Botong said.
“I can’t do that,” Guo Jing said, “Rong’er early on has promised to be with me. She must be insanely anxious right now.”
“If you take a wife, there are some martial arts you cannot practice. It will be too bad,” Zhou Botong said. “I … I feel deep remorse that I didn’t listen to a good advice. Good Brother, listen to my advice: you’d better not to take a wife.”
Guo Jing thought the more Zhou Botong spoke, the more unreasonable he became; that made Guo Jing more concerned than ever. Zhou Botong continued, “If I haven’t lost my virginity and could not practice my martial brother’s fiercest martial arts, how could Old Heretic Huang imprison me in this confounded hole? You see, your thought is focused on your wife, your heart is divided, I am sure today’s martial art practice will not get you anywhere. If you really marry Old Heretic Huang’s girl, ay! That will be too bad! If only I … ay! Never mind that. In short, if you let yourself get entangled in an affair with a woman, you won’t reach the pinnacle of perfection. Moreover, you will offend your friend and disobey your martial brother; yet it is very difficult for you to forget her. Wonder how she is … Anyway, don’t ever see her pretty face, don’t ever caress her beautiful body, and don’t teach her sealing acupoints technique, because then she would feel your body to find those acupoints. Those are great taboos … worse yet, don’t ever ask her to marry you … ”
To Guo Jing Zhou Botong was just mumbling illogically; it was troublesome. “Whether I marry her or not, we’ll sort that out later,” he said, “Big Brother, we have to help her now.”
Zhou Botong laughed, “Western Poison is very evil, his nephew must not be different. Old Heretic Huang’s daughter is pretty, but she must have the same character as Old Heretic Huang: perverted mind. Let Western Poison’s nephew take her to be his wife; let them both suffer, let their martial arts not going anywhere; that way we kill two birds with one stone. No, more precisely: lose two birds with one stone. Nothing good is found in either one of them. Don’t you think this is a good idea?”
Guo Jing sighed and walked to the woods, sat on the ground. His heart was jumbled, “Even if I have to die on the Peach Blossom Island’s pathways, I must find her,” he thought.
Once his mind was set he leaped up to start moving. At that moment he heard two loud calls from the sky, and two white shadows swooping down toward him. They were the white condors Tuolei brought from the desert. Guo Jing was delighted; he extended his arm to let the condors perch. Only then did he see a bamboo tube tied up on the male condor’s foot. Hastily he loosened it and found a letter inside. It was Huang Rong writing to him. She told him the latest development; how the Western Poison would arrive in a few days to arrange the betrothal; how her father had strictly guarded her, not letting her to get out of her quarter even for half a step, including preparing food for Guo Jing. In the end she said that if she could not get away from all these, she would commit suicide to show her love to him. She also told Guo Jing that the pathways on the island were dangerous: they were mysterious and full of booby traps, so she warned Guo Jing not to try to find her.
Guo Jing was dumbstruck. He pulled out his dagger and carved these six characters on the bamboo tube, ‘yi qi huo, yi qi si’ [live together, die together]; then he tied the tube back on the condor’s leg and raised his arm pointing north. The condors circled him several times then they flew north.
Once he made decision his heart was calm. He walked back to Zhou Botong, sat on the ground in front of him and listened to him imparted more lessons in martial arts.
The next ten days passed without any word from Huang Rong. Guo Jing had managed to memorize the first volume in its entirety. Zhou Botong was secretly delighted; he proceeded with reciting the second volume for Guo Jing to memorize. Again, he did not give any example or instruction on how to train them, for fear that Guo Jing would see through his scheme. Guo Jing diligently studied and committed each and every one of them in his memory. Several hundreds times of reciting later he had both the first and second volumes down pat in his mind; including all the gibberish words such as ‘ang li na de’ and ‘ha hu wen bo ying’ [translator’s note: these characters don’t make logical sentences, so I leave them as they are]. He did not miss a single word.
Listening to Guo Jing Zhou Botong’s heart was full of admiration. “This dumb kid can actually memorize the entire dumb martial arts manual. Old Urchin salutes him.”
That night the sky was clear, the sea was calm, reflecting the bright silver moon shining over the island. Zhou Botong just finished checking on Guo Jing’s progress. He found out that Guo Jing had made tremendous advancement in his martial art without even realizing it. He was very happy, thinking that the manual really did contain profound martial arts techniques. He thought that if he were to train with the book, he would eventually surpassed Huang Yaoshi and Hong Qigong.
Two people were sitting on the ground, idly chatting when suddenly they heard rustling noise coming from a distance. Zhou Botong jumped in alarm, “Snake!” he cried. He just closed his mouth when the hissing sound reached their ears. It sounded like there were a flock of snakes coming their way.
Zhou Botong’s face turned pale, he dashed into cave. He was a courageous man, his martial art might be superb, but not when facing snakes. Guo Jing immediately pushed some big rocks and covered the cave entrance.
“Big Brother,” he said, “I’ll go take a look. Don’t come out.”
“Be careful and return quickly,” Zhou Botong answered. “I’ll say you don’t need to take a look. What’s so attractive about vipers? How … how can there be so many snakes in this island? I have lived here for fifteen years and haven’t seen a single snake. Look how bad this island has become! Old Heretic Huang always boasts his vast knowledge and resourcefulness but look how dirty this Peach Blossom Island has become. Sea turtles, vipers, centipedes, and all kind of creepy-crawlies are coming over.”