EASTERN HERETIC, WESTERN POISON (Book 2 of Legend Of The Condor Heroes)

The Three Tests Part 2

Huang Yaoshi was delighted, he turned to Hong Qigong, "Qi Xiong had approved my daughter; your brother appreciates that very much. Only my daughter is mischievous, I do hope Qi Xiong would teach her some lessons." Speaking thus he raised his hands in respect.

Hong Qigong smiled. "Yao Xiong's own martial arts are both broad and profound; this girl won't be able to learn them all in her lifetime; why would I need to come meddling? But since you asked, the reason I took her as my disciple was so that I can eat for free. She prepared a lot of good food for me. So you don't need to thank me," he said. Huang Yaoshi and Hong Qigong both laughed heartily.

Huang Rong pointed her finger to Ouyang Ke and said, "Father, this bad man bullied me. If not for Senior Qigong looking after me on your behalf, you won't see Rong'er early on."

"Nonsense!" Huang Yaoshi reprimanded her, "How could he bully you for no reason?"

"If you don't believe me, ask him!" Huang Rong replied. Turning her head toward Ouyang Ke she said, "You have to make an oath that if you answer my father's question with half-a-word of lies there will come a day when the viper on your uncle's staff will bite you to death."

Listening to her words Ouyang Feng and Ouyang Ke's faces changed. Ouyang Feng had spent more than ten years to raise the vipers on his staff. They were breed from various venomous snakes so the poison was really-really lethal. Ouyang Feng used to punish his rebellious disciples or his enemy by a bite of these snakes. Once the poison entered somebody's system, the victim would suffer a terrible itch all over, followed by a violent death. Ouyang Feng did have the antidote; but after the poison entered one's body, even if the antidote could save one's life, one would lose all one's martial arts and would forever live as a disabled person. Huang Rong of course did not know this; she simply felt that the snakes entwined on Ouyang Feng's staff were peculiar so she capriciously mentioned them. Who would have thought that she had touched exactly the taboo matter of Western Poison, both the uncle and the nephew.

"Honorable Father-in-law's question, I do not dare not to answer truthfully," Ouyang Ke promised.

"You are speaking nonsense again!" Huang Rong spat. "You made me want to slap your ears really good. Let me ask you this: Did you or did you not see me in Beijing at the Zhao Palace?"

Ouyang Ke broke his rib; his chest was hit by her steel needle, his pain was unbearable; but he was too proud to show his own weakness in front of others; so far he gritted his teeth and was able to speak, but this time the pain was getting worse; resulted in cold sweat on his forehead. So even though he wanted to answer Huang Rong, he did not dare to open his mouth. All he could do was nodded in affirmative.

"At that time you, along with Sha Tongtian, Peng Lianhu, Liang Ziweng, and Monk Lingzhi had surrounded and bullied me, had you not?" Huang Rong asked again.

Ouyang Ke wanted to defend himself by explaining that he was not in cohort with those people to bully her, but all he could say was, "I ... I did not collaborate with them ..." and his chest was so painful that he could not say another word.

"Very well," Huang Rong said, "I don't need your answer; all you need to do is just nod or shake your head in reply to my question. Let me ask you this: Sha Tongtian, Peng Lianhu, Liang Ziweng, and Monk Lingzhi meant to harm me, did they not?" Ouyang Ke nodded.

"They wanted to capture me, but failed miserably. Then you showed up and went into action, did you not?" Huang Rong asked again. Ouyang Ke had no choice but nodded his head again.

"At that time I was alone inside the Zhao Palace, I had nobody to help me; my situation was precarious. My own father did not know my whereabouts, so even if he wanted to rescue me, he would not be able to do so. Isn't that right?" Huang Rong continued. Ouyang Ke knew she was trying to win sympathy from her father and inciting her father's hatred toward him; however, what she said was a fact, so he had no choice but nodded his head again.

Huang Rong reached out to her father's hand and said, "Father, look! You don't love Rong'er anymore. If Mother were still alive you wouldn't treat me like this ..." Huang Yaoshi heard her mentioning his beloved wife and he felt a stab of pain in his heart. He stretched his left arm and hugged her.

Ouyang Feng was smart; he felt something was not right, so before Huang Rong could ask another question he interrupted her. "Miss Huang," he asked, "Those well-known martial art characters wanted to capture you; but you have mastered your family's peerless skill in wushu; they could not overcome you, could they?" Huang Rong nodded her head and smiled sweetly. Huang Yaoshi listened to Ouyang Feng praising his family's martial art showed a faint smile.

Turning to Huang Yaoshi, Ouyang Feng said, "Yao Xiong, ever since my nephew saw your daughter his heart was captivated by her beauty and excellent skills. He sent a pigeon to summon me, so that from the White Camel Mountain I came thousands of miles away crossing the Central Plains and the sea to the Peach Blossom Island to ask your daughter's hand in marriage. You have considered my haste and, although unworthy, have received me well. Other than Yao Xiong, there is no one in this present age that would do such thing."

"I do not dare to accept such compliment," Huang Yaoshi smiled. He thought that with his high position, Ouyang Feng was still willing to travel a long way to see him; he felt honored.

Ouyang Feng then turned to Hong Qigong and said, "Qi Xiong, we uncle and nephew admire Peach Blossom Island's martial art; but you; how could you belittle us by bullying the juniors? If my nephew was unfortunate, he would have died under your unique skill of steel needle rain."

Actually, it was Hong Qigong who saved Ouyang Ke from the steel needle rain launched by Huang Rong; but now Ouyang Feng had placed the blame on him. He knew Ouyang Ke must have lied to his uncle and his uncle had used that to discredit Hong Qigong. But Qigong was an honest and straightforward man, he did not want to argue; he simply laughed a big laugh, unplugged his wine gourd and took a big gulp.

Guo Jing could not hold his patience any longer, "It was Senior Qigong who saved your nephew's life; how could you say such thing to blame him?"

"We are still talking, how dare you kid interrupt?" Huang Yaoshi barked.

"Rong'er, tell him ... tell your Father what happened to Miss Cheng," Guo Jing hastily said.

Huang Rong knew her father's temperament very well; he was not one who followed customs and traditions. He often said, "What do those customs have to do with us?" His way of thinking was different than common people of his time. What other people thought to be right, he would consider that wrong; what other people thought to be wrong, he might think that to be right. That was how he earned his title 'Eastern Heretic.' Huang Rong thought, "This Ouyang Ke's behavior is really disgusting, but Father might think that he did what a normal romantic young men would do." She noticed that her father was looking at Guo Jing with a fiery eyes; she hastily came up with an idea.

"I am not done with you," she said turning to Ouyang Ke, "That day when we were having a martial art contest at the Zhao Palace you tied both your hands behind your back and said that you didn't need any hand to subdue me, did you not?" Ouyang Ke admitted with a nod of his head.

"Later on after I took Senior Qigong as my master we met again in Baoying," Huang Rong continued. "You said that no matter what kind of martial arts I used, whether it be from my father or the ones taught by Hong Qigong; you would only use your Uncle's martial art to defeat me, didn't you?"

Ouyang Ke thought, "It was your own idea, I did not say such thing."

Seeing his hesitation Huang Rong quickly continued, "You have drawn a circle on the ground with your feet and said that if I can compel you out of the circle using the martial arts I learned from my father you would admit defeat, didn't you?" Ouyang Ke nodded again.

Turning to her father Huang Rong said, "Father, did you hear that? He did not have any regards toward Hong Qigong; he also did not have any regards toward you. He said that the martial arts of the two of you are inferior to his uncle's; that even if you two come together still cannot defeat his uncle. I don't believe it."

"Little girl has a long tongue," Huang Yaoshi said. "Who among the people under the heaven did not know that Eastern Heretic, Western Poison, Southern Emperor and Northern Beggar's martial arts are like a pound to sixteen ounces? No one is superior to the others." Although his mouth said those words, but he resented Ouyang Ke's arrogance; only he did not want to raise this matter anymore. He turned his head to Hong Qigong and asked, "Qi Xiong, your presence has brought honor to the Peach Blossom Island. I wonder if there is anything I can do for you?"

"I come here to ask you a favor," Hong Qigong replied.

Although Hong Qigong loved to joke around, but he was an honest and straightforward man, always upholding justice; his martial art skill was very high, so Huang Yaoshi had always respected him. Huang Yaoshi knew that whatever business Hong Qigong was dealing with, it was always taken care of, if not personally, then with the help of his numerous Beggar Clan's members. This time Hong Qigong was asking him a favor he was extremely delighted, busily said, "We have been friends for dozens of years; Qi Xiong has anything to say, how can your younger brother dare not to comply?"

"Don't comply too quickly," Hong Qigong said, "I am afraid this matter is not easy to manage."

Huang Yaoshi smiled, "If the matter is easy, Qi Xiong won't think of asking your younger brother."

Hong Qigong clapped his hands. "That's right!" he laughed, "That was the sign of a real friendship! You have decided to comply to my request then?"

"Speak up!" Huang Yaoshi said. "Whether going through fire or water, I'll do it."

Ouyang Feng swung his snake staff and opened his mouth, "Slow down Yao Xiong, first we must ask Qi Xiong what is it that he wants?"

Hong Qigong laughed. "Old Poison, this matter does not concern you. You are being nosy. You'd better prepare your belly to drink 'xi jiu' [lit. happiness wine – the term used for wine served in wedding banquet. I don't know the correct English translation. Any suggestions?]."

"Drink 'xi jiu'?" Ouyang Feng wondered.

"That's correct!" Hong Qigong replied. "Exactly, 'xi jiu'." Pointing to Guo Jing and Huang Rong he continued, "These two are my disciples; I have agreed to ask Yao Xiong on their behalf to let them marry each other; and Yao Xiong has agreed to it."

Guo Jing and Huang Rong were both scared and happy at the same time. They exchanged glances at each other. Ouyang Feng uncle and nephew, along with Huang Yaoshi were startled.

"Qi Xiong!" Ouyang Feng said, "You are wrong! Yao Xiong's 'qian jin' [thousand gold – meaning 'precious'] has early on betrothed to my nephew. We come to the Peach Blossom Island today to deliver the dowry and arrange for the ceremony."

"Yao Xiong," Hong Qigong asked, "Is that so?"

"I am afraid so," Huang Yaoshi replied, "Qi Xiong, please don't play a joke on your younger brother."

Hong Qigong put a sour face. "Who plays joke on you?" he said. "You have betrothed your daughter to two families; your family's reputation is at stake here." Turning his head to Ouyang Feng he asked, "I am the Guo family's primary matchmaker, where is yours?"

Ouyang Feng was dumbfounded; he did not expect Hong Qigong would ask him that question. Stammering he tried to answer, "Yao Xiong has consented to this marriage, I have also consented; why would we need a matchmaker?"

"Are you aware that there is somebody who has not consented to this arrangement?" Hong Qigong cut him off.

"Who?" Ouyang Feng asked.

"Ha ... ha ... it's yours truly, the Old Beggar Hong!" Hong Qigong laughed.

As soon as Ouyang Feng heard this – knowing Hong Qigong's character to be strong-willed; his conduct to be firm and resolute, he knew a fight was unavoidable; but his face did not show even a slight change; only he hesitated to say anything.

Hong Qigong smiled, "Your nephew's behavior was improper, how can he be compared to Yao Xiong's beautiful-as-a-flower daughter? If you force them to get married, they will fight over all kinds of disagreement everyday; they might end up killing each other. What good does it do?"

Huang Yaoshi listened attentively, his heart was stirred. He looked at her, who was gazing lovingly toward Guo Jing. Then he looked at Guo Jing. He hated this dumb kid to the guts: Guo Jing's intelligence was questionable; he knew neither literature nor martial art; music, chess, calligraphy nor painting. He would not be a talented scholar or a gallant knight. Both he and his wife were intelligent people and he knew their only daughter's brainpower was not anywhere below their own. If he let this scattered brain married his daughter, it would be like throwing a fresh flower to the cow dung.

Right now he saw Guo Jing stood alongside Ouyang Ke, he could not help but comparing those two. Ouyang Ke's intelligence and smart appearance was a hundred times better than Guo Jing's. His mind was set to take this young man as his son-in-law; but Hong Qigong's face showed he would not easily give up; so he cooked up a scheme and said, "Feng Xiong, your nephew is injured. You'd better take care of that first; we will discuss this matter further later."

Ouyang Feng had worried about his nephew's condition for a while, and was hoping Huang Yaoshi would give them a chance to take care of the wound. So immediately he beckoned his nephew and two people walked back into the bamboo groove. Huang Yaoshi then engaged Hong Qigong in some pleasantries.

About the time needed to cook some rice later uncle and nephew returned to the pavilion. Ouyang Feng had extracted the steel needles in his nephew's body and mended the broken rib as well.

"My daughter's posture is as weak as a willow tree; she is stubborn and disobedient; hardly worthy to be a gentleman's wife. But unexpectedly Qi Xiong and Feng Xiong both have given me the highest honor by asking her hand in marriage. My daughter has already betrothed to Mr. Ouyang, but Qi Xiong's request is also difficult not to accept. I have an idea, I wonder if you two brothers would tell me if this idea will work or not?" Huang Yaoshi said.

"Quickly say it! Quickly say it!" Hong Qigong interrupted. "The Old Beggar never likes to hear your winding and flowery words."

Huang Yaoshi smiled faintly. "Brothers, even though this daughter of mine is unworthy, I still hope she will find a good husband," he continued. "Mr. Ouyang is Feng Xiong's honorable nephew, while Mr. Guo is Qi Xiong's outstanding disciple. Both are very fine gentlemen, it is very difficult to choose one of them. I have no alternative but to come up with a three-subject test; I will betroth my daughter to whoever passes this test. I will not favor either one of them. Would both old friends tell me if this idea is good?"

Ouyang Feng clapped his hands. "Clever! Wonderful!" he called out. "Only thing is, my nephew is injured, if the test involves martial arts then we have to wait until he is fully recovered." He had seen the fierceness of Guo Jing's attack that injured his nephew; he knew that if they contended in martial arts his nephew would no doubt lose. So he used his nephew's injury to their best advantage.

"Certainly," Huang Yaoshi said. "A martial art contest will harm the good relationship between two families anyway."

Hong Qigong said in his heart, "This is so typical Old Heretic Huang. All of us are Wulin people; if the test involves literary and not martial art skill, do you expect a 'zhuang yuan' [a title of a scholar, Meh's 'Sentimental Swordman, Ruthless Sword' has an explanation of different titles] to be your son-in-law? If you come up with music or poetry, even if he reincarnated my stupid disciple will not be able to take it. Your mouth says no favor, but obviously you totally favor the other side. My stupid disciple will lose for sure. It is confounding! I will fight Old Poison first, talk later." He looked upward and laughed hard, staring toward Ouyang Feng he said, "We are all martial arts practitioners, instead of contesting in martial arts, do you want to have an eating contest or defecating race, then? Your nephew is injured, but you are not. Come, come, come! We will fight in their stead."

Without waiting for an answer he sent his palm toward Ouyang Feng's shoulder. Ouyang Feng stepped back several feet. Hong Qigong put his bamboo staff down on a small bamboo table. "Watch for this!" he shouted. His words were still hanging in the air when both his palms had already moved seven times in rapid succession.

Ouyang Feng dodged to the left and evaded to the right and all seven attacks flew by. His right hand pushed the snake staff into the bricks in front of the pavilion, and in a flash his left hand had also sent seven counterattacks.

Huang Yaoshi cheered, but did not prevent them from fighting. He wanted to see these two martial art world-class masters, who were his peers; what kind of improvements they have achieved twenty years after their last meeting.

Both Hong Qigong and Ouyang Feng were the experts of their respective martial art schools. They have reached the pinnacle of their martial arts twenty years ago. After the Sword Meet of Mount Hua both have trained hard and improved their skills tremendously. This time they met again on the Peach Blossom Island, their skills were incomparable with when they had their meet at Mount Hua. Each launched swift attacks and counterattacks, but they were actually still trying to probe the opponent's skill. Both combatants exchanged fast and forceful palms and fists, that the gust of winds created swayed the bamboo leaves around them. Although they were only testing each other, but their moves carried profound martial art techniques.

On the sideline Guo Jing was watching with full attention; whether it was an attack or a defense, every single one was a wonderful move, beyond his wildest imagination. The Nine Yin Manual contained the deepest martial arts theory in the world: whether it be internal or external energy cultivation, bare hands or swordplay, all kinds of the most profound martial arts imaginable. After Guo Jing memorized the content by heart – although he did not understand every single one of them, those theories were actually ingrained in his brain. Now he watched those two combatants exchanging exquisite moves, those theories came flooding back into his mind, forming a fuzzy shadow in his brain.

Early on he listened to Huang Yaoshi and Ouyang Feng's flute versus zither battle. That was an invisible internal energy battle; extremely difficult to clearly see their relation with the theory in the manual. This time the battle was using fists and kicks, much easier to perceive. In his delight, his heart was itching to try what he had seen.

Very quickly Hong Qigong and Ouyang Feng have exchanged more than three hundred stances. Both were surprised at the opponent's skill and could not help but praising each other in their hearts. On the side Huang Yaoshi looked on with a sigh, he thought, "I have painstakingly trained myself on the Peach Blossom Island; I thought after Wang Chongyang passed away, my martial art would be number one in the world. Who would have thought that these Old Beggar and Old Poison both have taken their own paths and reached these frightfully respectable levels of martial arts?"

Both Ouyang Ke and Huang Rong were deep in their own thoughts; each hoped that their side would gain a quick victory, but actually they could not comprehend the exquisiteness of the martial arts being displayed in front of their eyes. With the corner of her eye Huang Rong saw a black shadow was dancing erratically, flailing his hands and feet incessantly. She turned her head and found the shadow to be Guo Jing. But Guo Jing's expression was weird; looked like he was in ecstasy without any reason. Her heart skipped a beat. "Brother Jing!" she called with a low voice.

Guo Jing did not hear her; he was still busy moving his hands and feet. Huang Rong felt strange, so she watched attentively and found out that Guo Jing was actually imitating Hong Qigong and Ouyang Feng's movements.

By now those two had changed the way they fight; every fist and every kick was sent slowly out. Sometimes they would stand still for a moment, and then sent out a fist. After they exchanged one stance, they would sit down on the ground to take a rest; then stood up and exchanged another move. In short, the way they fight was slower than two disciples practicing martial arts. But looking at their face, one could see the seriousness on their faces, almost to the point of very tense.

Huang Rong glanced toward her father and saw him looking intensely at those two; his face was also unusually tense. Ouyang Ke was the only person around who could maintain his calmness. He looked at her flirtatiously, while lightly waving his folding fan.

Guo Jing saw an unconventional move, he could not restrain from cheering loudly. Ouyang Ke was irritated, "Your muddy kid does not understand anything, what is he shouting about?"

"Just because you don't understand, how would you know whether other people understand or not?" Huang Rong shot back.

Ouyang Ke laughed, "He's just flailing his hands and feet foolishly. Given his young age, how would he know the wonder of my uncle's divine martial arts?"

"You are not him; how would you know what he knows?" Huang Rong replied.

Two people were bickering on the side; Huang Yaoshi and Guo Jing turned a deaf ear to them, they were watching the fight with rapt attention.

By that time both Hong Qigong and Ouyang Feng were squatting on the ground; one with his left middle finger pointed to his brain, the other used both hands to cover his ears. Both were thinking really hard with their eyes closed. Suddenly they shouted and simultaneously leapt toward each other; one sending his fist, the other used his leg; then they were separated again.

Those two people had reached the level where each and every single one of the martial arts belonging to their own family or school had no flaw whatsoever. However, they both know that no matter how fierce the stance was, the opponent would easily break it; therefore, they had to create a new and unknown move in order to gain an upper hand.

After their sword meet twenty years ago, both men – one resided in the Central Plains, the other came all the way from the Western Region, had never met or even heard about the other's condition; so they did not know how far had the other man improved his martial art. Now that they were fighting each other, the situation was not much different. Each had his own strengths, each had his own weaknesses; nobody could tell who would overcome whom. In the meantime the moonlight had faded, and one could see a streak of sunlight glowing in the east. Both had racked their brains and had created innumerable new and wonderful moves; fist techniques or palm strengths, along with tens of thousands variations thereof, but still nobody could tell which one was better.

Guo Jing witnessed the fight between two top experts of their present age martial art world; wonderful moves and exquisite techniques came one after another. Sometimes he understood, more often he did not. Sometimes he saw something that was related to the theory taught by Zhou Botong; which made him excited and wanted to try. But before he could finish half of a stance, Hong Qigong and Ouyang Feng had already launched new moves; and Guo Jing had already forgotten the previous move he was trying to master.

When Huang Rong saw Guo Jing like that, she was secretly alarmed. "I did not see him for dozens of days, could it be that he got some profound martial arts lessons from a divine being?" she thought, "I looked at the fight and I got confused, how could he exclaim in admiration?" But then another thought came to her mind, "Could it be that this silly brother of mine missed me so much that he went insane?"

She had not seen Guo Jing for quite some time, and now that they have seen each other the situation was not conducive for them to be intimate. She moved forward, wanted to hold Guo Jing's hand. Right at that moment Guo Jing was imitating Ouyang Feng's palm technique; he was turning his body around and launched a palm attack. It looked ordinary, but in actuality it carried enormous hidden energy. Her hand barely touched Guo Jing's palm when suddenly she felt a surge of incredible energy pushing her. She was sent flying upward.

After touching Huang Rong's hand, Guo Jing came back to reality. "Aiyo!" he cried and jumped to grab Huang Rong's waist. While falling down back to the ground, Guo Jing's left hand grabbed the bamboo pavilion's eave. Swinging their bodies they landed on the roof. Two people sat shoulder to shoulder on top of the bamboo pavilion watching the fight on the ground.

By that time the battle situation on the ground had changed again; Ouyang Feng was squatting on the ground with both arms bent on the shoulder, resembled a big frog was about to strike its enemy. His mouth created some deep rumbling noise, like a cow mooing; sometimes it was audible, and sometimes it wasn't.

Huang Rong was amused; she smiled and with a low voice asked, "Brother Jing, what is he doing?"

"I don't know," Guo Jing replied, but suddenly he remembered Zhou Botong's story on Wang Chongyang's Solitary Yang Finger breaking Ouyang Feng's Toad Stance. "That must be it!" he exclaimed, "This is his fiercest martial art; it is called the Toad Stance."