As soon as the three cried, the Scarlet Serpent Deity will wave out her fly whisk and kill them all. Just as soon as the song was becoming extremely sad and depressing, someone from outside the hut suddenly laughed out loud and clapped as they made their way towards the hut. It was a woman’s voice, it appeared that the voice was not young but what she was singing was a na?ve and innocent song: “Sway, sway, sway, sway until granny’s bridge falls, granny calls me my precious, sweets in one bag, fruit in the other, once I’ve finished I’ll take another.” The song was filled with joy and happiness, Li Mochou’s sadness and the sorrow in her song was disturbed. The song was getting closer and closer. After a while someone entered the hut from the front door, it was a middle-aged woman with disheveled hair and clothes, her eyes round and wide open, she laughed foolishly and her hand held a fire fork (fireplace fork). Li Mochou was startled, “How did she get past those piles of earth and enter through the main door so easily? If she isn’t with them then she must be versed in art of formations and changes.” As she concentrated on this, the power of her song immediately decreased. When Cheng Ying saw this woman she was delighted and called out, “Senior Apprentice Sister, that woman wants to hurt me, help me.” That disheveled hair woman was Sha Gu. She was actually a generation lower than Cheng Ying but she was a lot older, that’s the reason why Cheng Ying called her senior apprentice sister. Sha Gu clapped her hands and laughed, she started to sing some songs at the top of her voice, she would sing songs like ‘Sparkling star in the sky, nothing on the ground my oh my’, ‘Precious Pagoda tip, surging up, the sky it rips’. Sometimes she would remember the wrong lyrics and replace them with whatever she thought of. Li Mochou wanted to use the sorrowful and mournful song to subdue her but how would she know that it wouldn’t affect her. Love comes from the heart, but since her heart was full of confusion and disorder, even if the outside influence was stronger there will be no way to create and stir up these feelings. Instead, Sha Gu’s muddled up songs disturbed Li Mochou’s sorrowful tones, it ended her control over Yang Guo and the others. Li Mochou was furious and thought, “I need to get rid of this person first.” Before the song finished, she waved her fly whisk and attacked her head. Years ago, Huang Yaoshi punished his innocent disciples out of anger and as a result caused his disciple Qu Lingfeng to die at the hands of his enemies. He regretted this and so took in Qu Lingfeng’s daughter Sha Gu under his care and decided to teach everything he knew to her. However, when Sha Gu saw her father being harmed, she suffered a severe shock and it remained in her mind, no matter how many times Huang Yaoshi tried to make her better. A man cannot turn time back, without mentioning the futility of trying to teach her all the arts and martial arts he knew. Even trying to get her to recognize a few words and learn a few coarse martial arts was something that he couldn’t do. But over the last ten years, under the instruction of a great master, Sha Gu had learned a set of palm techniques and a fork technique. It’s called a set but really there were only three stances of palm and fork techniques. Huang Yaoshi knew she would not remember any sort of variations or extraordinary stances so he thought deeply and came up with three palm stances and three fork stances. Those six stances were ordinary and didn’t have any variation behind them; the power of these techniques all comes from practice. When normal people practice martial arts, a little practice will lead to only tens of stances being learned, a lot will lead to variations surpassing a thousand. Sha Gu only practiced the six stances so as time went by, naturally these stances will be refined and precise; though there are few stances, it was not anything ordinary. As to how she went through the formation, it was because she had lived on Peach Blossom Island for a long time, the formation that Cheng Ying had set up was a coarse and basic skill of Peach Blossom Island. Sha Gu didn’t even need to take a look and just naturally followed her steps forward to the hut. Now, she saw Li Mochou’s fly whisk coming towards her; she thrust out the fork towards her chest. Li Mochou heard that the sound of air being sliced through and was furious, she couldn’t stop herself from being alarmed, “Hard to predict that this woman possesses such profound internal strength.” She quickly stepped to the left and sent the fly whisk towards her head. Sha Gu didn’t care what the opponent’s stance was and just thrust her fork forward. Li Mochou’s fly whisk twisted and wrapped around the head of the fork. It was as if Sha Gu didn’t see what had happened, the fork kept on going forward. Li Mochou circulated her internal energy to fling the weapon away but the fire fork didn’t move an inch, in a flash it was now in between her breasts. Li Mochou’s martial arts were high and she managed to use “Steps of the Turning Seven Stars” in this danger, and leapt out of the hole in the wall, avoiding this lightning like attack but, because of the fright, she broke out in a cold sweat. She concentrated and leapt back into the hut and attacked with her fly whisk in midair. Sha Gu didn’t change her stance with the enemy’s and just thrust forwards again but because the enemy was in the air, the fork was now aiming for her opponent’s abdomen. Li Mochou saw the incoming attack was fast and powerful; she turned her fly whisk around and used the handle to block the attack and used its force to dart away. She looked at her stunned, thinking, “Just know, my three attacks contained nine different variations and twelve different follow ups; a skilled fighter of Wulin would not be able to see through them just like that. This woman just uses one fork and neutralized my sixty-three variations in these stances. This person’s martial arts are excellent, I’d better leave!” She didn’t know that Sha Gu’s fork technique only had three stances; if Li Mochou fought for a little while longer she would be able to see through her martial arts and win easily. Sha Gu had three fork stances, just by using one fork stance she scared away an extremely powerful enemy, the master of Peach Blossom Island should be very proud. Li Mochou turned around and was about to leap out of the hut through the hole in the wall when she saw someone sitting down by the hole. The person was in a blue green gown and had a long beard; it was the person who saved Cheng Ying from her clutches all those years ago, Huang Yaoshi. Island Master Huang. He was sitting down and had placed Cheng Ying’s zither on a stool. When Li Mochou was in battle, her eyes and ears were extremely alert; how had Huang Yaoshi entered, how had he taken the zither and when had he sat down on the floor? She failed to notice all those things; if he had ambushed her from behind, wouldn’t taking her life be as easy as turning his palm? When Li Mochou was exchanging stances with Sha Gu, she was worried about Cheng Ying and the others joining in to help so she did not stop her song, keeping their state of mind unbalanced. As she saw Huang Yaoshi sitting there quietly strumming the zither, she trembled and her song stopped. Huang Yaoshi played one note on the zither and sang; “O mortals, what is love? That binds beyond life on earth?” He sang Li Mochou’s song. The zither only had the ‘yu’ string remaining but he still managed to play the notes of the ‘gong’, ‘shang’, ‘jiao’, ‘zheng’ and ‘yu’. With the mournful tone of the zither, Huang Yaoshi overwhelmed Li Mochou’s song. Li Mochou was extremely familiar with this song; as soon as Huang Yaoshi added the tune, she was affected ten times deeper than when Yang Guo and the others were affected by her song. Huang Yaoshi had known long ago about her evil ways, today he wanted to take the opportunity to get rid of her. Years ago he had used his jade flute to compete against Ouyang Feng’s iron zither and Hong Qi Gong’s whistling and fought to a draw. That was many years ago; because of his age, his vigor wasn’t what it used to be but his internal energy became more and more profound as he practiced. How could Li Mochou resist? In just a short while she felt her mind slipping out of her control. Huang Yaoshi’s song and tune would suddenly turn joyous, then anger, resounding and overbearing, then suddenly lowly and humble, many changes in the wink of an eye. He was forcing Li Mochou to suddenly feel delight and then sorrow, suddenly anger then worry; when this song finishes, Li Mochou would have been forced to go mad. Just at this time, Sha Gu turned her head around and suddenly saw Yang Guo, under the candlelight; he was an image of his father Yang Kang. The thing that Sha Gu is most afraid of are ghosts; the images of what had happened when Yang Kang died due to poison were deeply etched into her mind. She would never forget it. When she saw Yang Guo sitting there, she knew that it was Yang Kang’s ghost coming back to haunt her. She quickly leapt up and pointed to him, saying, “Brother… brother Yang, don’t… don’t hurt me… it… it wasn’t me who killed you… go… go and find someone else.” Huang Yaoshi wasn’t prepared for her disturbance and a ‘zheng’ sound was heard as the final string on the zither snapped. Sha Gu hid behind him and called out, “Ghost… ghost… grandpa, it’s brother Yang’s ghost.” With this pause, Li Mochou quickly used her fly whisk and extinguished all the candles in the room and leapt out through the hole in the wall. Huang Yaoshi had yet to take her life and eventually she managed to escape; he had to uphold his status and so he could not go and chase after her. Sha Gu was even more afraid in the dark and called out even louder, “It’s an evil ghost, grandpa, beat that ghost, beat that ghost!” Huang Yaoshi kept Sha Gu in check. Cheng Ying lit the candles and then knelt on the floor and bowed to her master. She stood up and then told him the simple background of Yang Guo and Lu Wushuang. Huang Yaoshi laughed and said, “My martial grand daughter has always been simple like this. She knew your father. You indeed do look a lot like him.” Yang Guo bent his waist and bowed to him from the bed and said, “Forgive junior, I have an injury and cannot bow properly.” Huang Yaoshi’s face was very friendly and said, “You didn’t give a care about your life and saved my daughter and granddaughter, you really are a good child.” Huang Yaoshi had seen Huang Rong and knew what had happened, he heard that Cheng Ying had rescued him so he took Sha Gu with him and searched for them. Huang Yaoshi took out some effective recuperative medicine and gave it to Yang Guo to take. He then circulated his internal energy and passed it into Yang Guo through his palm to help him recover. Yang Guo felt as if his arms were on fire, his body started to create a force to repel this. Huang Yaoshi felt him tremble and noticed that his veins and chi were circulating, there was a resisting internal energy that was being created so he increased the strength in his hands. After a while, Yang Guo felt his limbs and bones were at ease and soothed, and gradually he fell into a deep sleep. When Yang Guo woke up the next day, he opened his eyes and saw Huang Yaoshi sitting at the end of the bed. He quickly sat up and greeted him. Huang Yaoshi said, “Do you know what title I go by in Jianghu?” Yang Guo said, “Senior is Island Master Huang?” Huang Yaoshi said, “And?” Yang Guo felt that it was inappropriate to say the words ‘Eastern Heretic’ but he had a thought, since his nickname is ‘Eastern Heretic’, his character will be different to normal people so he boldly said, “You are the ‘Eastern Heretic’!” Huang Yaoshi laughed and said, “Correct. I’ve heard that your martial arts are not bad, your heart is good but you do things in heretical ways. I also heard that you want to marry your Master, is that right?” Yang Guo said, “Correct, senior, no one will allow me to do this, but even if I’ll die I still want to marry her.” Those words were like a nail striking metal; Huang Yaoshi stared at him for a while and then suddenly raised his head and laughed towards the sky, shaking the grass on the roof. Yang Guo said angrily, “What’s so funny about that? I thought that because you are called ‘Eastern Heretic’, you would have some extraordinary opinion, but who would have thought that you are just like the others.” Huang Yaoshi loudly said, “Good, good, good!” After he said this, he turned around and left. Yang Guo sat on the bed startled, he thought, “My words really offended that senior. But how come he didn’t show any signs of anger on his face?” He didn’t know that as Huang Yaoshi roamed the world and the one thing he hated most were the present custom and traditions of the world. His actions and words did not match with the normal and because of this he was given the name ‘Heretic’. He had met many people, but in his life, he did not have an understanding friend. Though he had a daughter and son-in-law as loved ones, they did not understand him. He didn’t know that in his later years he would come upon Yang Guo. The events of the heroes meet had already spread to his ears and Huang Rong told him about this young man’s actions and behavior. After speaking to him a few times he found that Yang Guo matched his expectations even more. That night, Huang Yaoshi returned to the room and said, “Yang Guo, I heard you expelled yourself from the Quanzhen sect and beat up your Master, you are rather heretical. Why don’t you leave the Ancient Tomb sect, and then enter my tutelage.” Yang Guo was startled and said, “Why?” Huang Yaoshi laughed and said, “First you’ll acknowledge that Xiao Longnu is not your Master and then marry her, won’t that be proper?” Yang Guo said, “That’s a good idea. But who set the rule that you can’t marry your Master? I want her to be my Master and my wife.” Huang Yaoshi clapped and laughed, he said, “Good! The way you think is a level higher than me.” He stretched out his hand to help him recuperate through his palms and said, “I originally wanted you to enter my tutelage so I could let the world know that after Senior Heretic Huang, there’s a young Heretic Yang. You don’t want to be my disciple; I can’t do anything about that.” Yang Guo said, “I don’t have to be your disciple to spread your ‘Heretic’ name. If you don’t mind me being of a young age and have poor martial arts, we could be friends or else we could become brothers.” Huang Yaoshi angrily said, “You sure are bold for a little kid. I’m not the Old Urchin Zhou Botong, how can there be no order between us?” Yang Guo said, “Who’s the Old Urchin Zhou Botong?” Huang Yaoshi then told him a few things about Zhou Botong’s character and how he became sworn brothers with Guo Jing. The two of them chatted and hit it off perfectly, there’s a saying: ‘A thousand cups is too little for understanding friends who meet through wine, half a word is too much for those whose words don’t get along’. Yang Guo was good with words and they got along because of the closeness of his character to Huang Yaoshi’s. Whenever he spoke, Huang Yaoshi would sigh as someone who understood him. For Huang Yaoshi, it really was like the first meeting of an old friend, a meeting that has come extremely late in life. Though he didn’t admit it through his words, in his heart he treated him as a friend of old. That night he told Cheng Ying to prepare another bed for him in the same room and the two continued their exchange. Days passed and Yang Guo recovered from his injury. He and Huang Yaoshi were like glue, like paint, it was difficult to separate the two. Huang Yaoshi had originally wanted to take Sha Gu south but now he didn’t mention one word about leaving. Cheng Ying and Lu Wushuang watched the old and young with amusement; in the day they would drink wine together and at night, they would talk in the candlelight without end. They felt that the old man didn’t maintain the status of a Senior and the young man was too unrestrained and fearless. When it came to discussions of knowledge, Yang Guo wasn’t anywhere as knowledgeable as Huang Yaoshi. But whatever Huang Yaoshi said, Yang Guo would concentrate on understanding. When he made a comment he would just add a single word yet his comment had its fine points. Huang Yaoshi couldn’t stop himself from treating him as the closest friend in his life. In these past few days, apart from spending time with Huang Yaoshi talking, he would always think about how Sha Gu mistakenly recognized him as his father and the words that she said, “It wasn’t me who killed you, go and find someone else!” He knew that Sha Gu must know who had killed his father; other people might not say, but Sha Gu is mad and crazy and maybe he could get the truth from her. After midday, Yang Guo said, “Sha Gu, come, I have something to say to you.” Sha Gu felt that he looked too much like Yang Kang and was still afraid; she shook her head and said, “I don’t want to play with you.” Yang Guo said, “I know circus tricks, are you going to watch?” Sha Gu shook her head and said, “You’re lying, I don’t want to watch.” She closed her eyes after she said this. Yang Guo suddenly flipped upside down with his legs above his head and called out, “Quickly look!” He used the martial arts that Ouyang Feng taught him of walking upside down and leaping forward. Sha Gu opened her eyes and was delighted as soon as she saw this, she clapped and cheered and followed behind him. Yang Guo kept on leaping forward and arrived at a hidden and covered wood faraway from the hut, he turned upright and said, “Let’s play hide and seek, you want to? But the loser has to be punished.” Sha Gu has been following Huang Yaoshi for the past few years; nobody played with her. When she heard Yang Guo say this, she was ecstatic and clapped her hands, most of the fear she had for him disappeared and she said, “Yes, yes. Good brother, what is the punishment?” She called his father brother, and she also called him brother. Yang Guo took out a handkerchief and blindfolded her and said, “Come and catch me. If you catch me, then whatever question you ask I’ll have to answer it truthfully. If you can’t catch me then I get to ask you a question, you have to answer it truthfully as well.” Sha Gu replied, “Good, good!” Yang Guo called out, “I’m over here, come and catch me!” Sha Gu opened her arms and followed the calls. Yang Guo possessed the lightness kung fu of the Ancient Tomb sect, even if Sha Gu wasn’t blindfolded she would not be able to catch him, after chasing for a while, she crashed into a tree and bruised her forehead as a result; she started to cry out in pain. Yang Guo was afraid that Sha Gu would not want to play anymore so he deliberately slowed down and made light noise. Sha Gu rushed forward and grabbed his back and called out, “I’ve caught you, I’ve caught you!” Her face was full of delight as she took off her blindfold. Yang Guo said, “Fine, I’ve lost, ask me ask a question.” She stared at him, startled, her mind was uncertain; she didn’t know what to ask. After a long while, she asked, “Good brother, have you eaten yet?” She thought for so long but came up with such a simple question, Yang Guo almost laughed. He didn’t make a sound and seriously replied, “I’ve eaten already.” Sha Gu nodded and didn’t say anything else. Yang Guo said, “What else do you want to ask?” Sha Gu shook her head and said, “I don’t want to ask anymore, let’s play again.” Yang Guo said, “Fine, come and catch me.” Sha Gu touched the bruise on her forehead and said, “This time it’s your turn to catch me.” This time, she didn’t act crazy, Yang Guo didn’t predict this but since this was what he wanted he took the handkerchief and blindfolded himself. Though Sha Gu was mad, her lightness kung fu was pretty good; Yang Guo couldn’t see, how could he catch her? He leapt forward a few times and then secretly he tore an opening in the blindfold and saw her hiding on the right behind a large tree. He deliberately faced the left, pretending to think, he said, “Where are you? Where are you?” He suddenly flipped over and caught her wrist. He quickly put the handkerchief in his pockets with his left hand in case she saw the ripped handkerchief. He laughed and said, “This time it’s my turn to ask you a question.” Sha Gu said, “I’ve eaten already.” Yang Guo laughed and said, “I’m not asking about that. This is my question, you know my father, right?” His face was extremely serious as he said this. Sha Gu said, “Who’s your father?” Yang Guo said, “There’s a person who looks just like me, who is that?” Sha Gu said, “Ah, that’s brother Yang.” Yang Guo asked, “You saw that brother Yang being killed by someone didn’t you?” Sha Gu said, “Yeah, it was in the middle of the night in a temple, there were lots of crows calling out ‘wu ai’, ‘wu ai’, ‘wu ai’!” The forest was covered and hidden and was already dark; the calls made the forest seem even more eerie. Yang Guo trembled and asked, “How did brother Yang die?” Sha Gu said, “Auntie wanted me to say something but brother Yang didn’t allow me to say it; he struck Auntie with a palm and laughed out loud, ha-ha! Ha-ha! Ha-ha!” She used all her efforts in copying Yang Kang’s laugh before he died, her laugh even scared herself and her face was filled with fear. Yang Guo listened puzzled, he asked, “Who is Auntie?” Sha Gu said, “Auntie is Auntie.” Yang Guo knew that the puzzle to his father’s death was about to be solved, he was full of emotions and was about to ask another question when suddenly someone from behind said, “What are you two playing here?” It was Huang Yaoshi’s voice. Sha Gu said, “Good brother is playing hide and seek with me. It was he who wanted me to play, not me wanting him to play. Don’t scold me.” Huang Yaoshi smiled a little and then looked at Yang Guo, he looked as if he has seen through what Yang Guo was thinking about. Yang Guo’s heart raced, he was about to say a few words to cover it up. Suddenly, footsteps could be heard from outside the forest, Cheng Ying was holding Lu Wushuang as they hurried towards them and she said to Huang Yaoshi, “Master is right, she is still around.” She then pointed to the hill in the west. Yang Guo asked, “Who?” Cheng Ying said, “Li Mochou!” Yang Guo was extremely shocked; he was thinking why on earth was she so bold, he looked at Huang Yaoshi, hoping that he will be able to explain. Huang Yaoshi gave laugh and said, “Let’s go over there and take a look.” None of them had any fear with him around, so they headed towards that hill in the west. Cheng Ying knew that Yang Guo had questions in his heart and quietly said, “Master said that Li Mochou knows that he has the status of a great Master. That night he wanted to take her life but he was unable to at the first attempt, a second attempt on her life would be shameful.” Yang Guo understood. Alarmed he said, “Because of this she could guard this place confidently and wait for the chance to take our lives. If Island Master Huang hadn’t seen through this, we would have thought that she had long gone and let our guard down and eventually suffered by her hands.” Cheng Ying smiled warmly and nodded. Lu Wushuang interrupted, “You think you are cleverer than most people; but compared with Island Master Huang, there’s a long way to go.” Yang Guo laughed and said, “I’m Sha Dan, I’m dumber than most people; I’m Sha Gu’s good brother.” The five of them soon arrived on the hill. There was a small hut beside a large tree, it was broken and dilapidated; there was a piece of paper nailed onto the door. On it were four lines: The master of Peach Blossom Island, Disciples he has many, Five against one, It’s the laughing stock of Jianghu! Huang Yaoshi laughed and casually picked up two pebbles and placed them in between his middle finger and thumb, after a ‘chi’ ‘chi’ sound, the pebbles shot forward forcefully. A ‘pai’ sound was heard as the two small pebbles, from over ten paces away, knocked the doors open. When Yang Guo was on Peach Blossom Island, he heard from Guo Fu that her grandfather had a skill called the “Divine Flicking Finger”; today, he saw it with his own eyes and it far exceeded the tales about it; he was in awe. Once the doors opened, they saw Li Mochou sitting on a mat on the floor, her hands holding her fly whisk, her eyes closed; she looked collected and was meditating just like a Taoist. She was in the hut by herself; Hong Lingbo was nowhere to be seen. A thought went through Yang Guo’s mind and he understood, “She’s laughing at Island Master Huang for having many disciples and winning through numbers, that’s why she sent Hong Lingbo away to make it even more apparent. She’s confident not because she can defend against Island Master Huang, it’s because since she’s by herself. With Island Master Huang’s status, it would not be appropriate to attack her.” The memories of her parents death and the torment she’s had through the years stirred in Lu Wushuang; she suddenly drew out her sword and called out, “Cousin, Sha Dan, we don’t have the same restraints as Island Master Huang about fighting her, let’s all attack her.” Sha Gu rubbed her knuckles and palms and said, “And me!” Li Mochou opened her eyes and glanced across at the five; a look of contempt was on her face and she closed her eyes again; it was as if she was ignoring the enemies in front of her. Cheng Ying looked at her master, waiting for his orders. Huang Yaoshi sighed and said, “Indeed, old Heretic Huang has many disciples, if any of my four senior disciples Qu, Chen, Mei, Lu were here, how would she be allowed to say a word?” He then waved his hand and said, “Let’s leave.” The four of them did not understand what he was thinking and followed him back to the hut. They saw that he was unhappy; he went to bed and didn’t even eat supper. Yang Guo slept on the bed next to his and recalled the things he said with Sha Gu; he then pondered about Li Mochou, and he thought, “She’s laughing at us because its five against one. I’ve recovered from my injury now, with my strength alone I might not lose to her; why don’t I sneak away and fight a round with her. This way I can clear her insults about me and Gu Gu and help Island Master Huang vent his anger.” He made his decision and dressed himself quietly. Though he was impulsive, he did things rather carefully; he knew Li Mochou was a very strong foe, if he made just one wrong move he would die by her hands. So he sat on his bed circulating his chi and prepared himself, once he was at his peak, he would go and fight the duel to the death. He had sat there for around an hour when suddenly his eyes lit up, chi was everywhere in his body and he couldn’t stop himself from calling out. The call was like the roar of a dragon, like a tiger bellowing in a deep valley, the sound spreading far and wide. Huang Yaoshi had noticed that he was awake when he had got up to dress himself; when he heard this extraordinary call, he was shocked and delighted. He hadn’t predicted that Yang Guo’s internal energy would make a break through right at this time. When someone’s internal energy reaches a certain stage, they would unconsciously call out. Later on in the Ming Dynasty, the Da Ru King Yang Ming was practicing his chi in the middle in the night in his encampment when he suddenly made a prolonged call, shocking his entire camp. Yang Guo’s chi was abundant and it was hard for him to control, the bellow spread for many li. Cheng Ying and Lu Wushuang were extremely startled; even Li Mochou was frightened when she heard it. But she thought that it was Huang Yaoshi who was exercising his chi, there was no need to be afraid since he wasn’t going to do anything. Yang Guo had the help of the ‘Chilled Jade Bed’ and had practiced the important aspects of the “Jade Heart Manual” and “Nine Yin Manual”; his accumulated internal energy had become profound. A few days before, Huang Yaoshi had helped him to recuperate, but Island Master Huang’s internal energy was of a different nature to his. It was provoked by this extremely profound internal energy, now he couldn’t control himself and released a long bellow. The bellow continued for a while before gradually it quieted and then stilled. Huang Yaoshi thought, “I have always thought that my talents were not of this earth, yet I had to wait until I was thirty before reaching such a stage. This young man has reached this stage at least ten years before me; I wonder what events he has encountered?” He waited for Yang Guo to finish and stand up before asking, “Tell me, what do you think is Li Mochou’s most powerful skill?” When Yang Guo heard this, he knew that his intentions had been seen through and replied, “It is the “Divine Five Poison Palm” and her fly whisk techniques.” Huang Yaoshi said, “Correct, since your internal energy has some foundation it shouldn’t be difficult to neutralize her most proficient skill.” Yang Guo was delighted and bowed down to him. Yang Guo was very proud; though he recognized Huang Yaoshi was a senior and his abilities were superb, he wouldn’t lower his head to him. Now that he heard that the martial arts Li Mochou used to roam the realm could be neutralized, how could he not be in awe?” Huang Yaoshi then taught him the skill of the “Divine Flicking Finger” to neutralize Li Mochou’s “Divine Five Poison Palms” and a sword technique derived from his “Jade Flute Swordplay” to neutralize the fly whisk techniques. Yang Guo listened to him point out the important aspects of these techniques and then asked him to explain some of the difficulties; he concentrated and committed them to memory. But he felt that although these two types of martial arts are profound and masterly, to make some progress, one will need to practice for at least a year. If he wanted to reach a stage where he would be able to beat her, it would take three years and no less. He said, “Island Master Huang, there is no way to beat her right now.” Huang Yaoshi said, “Three years will pass in the blink of an eye. Then you’ll be twenty one or twenty two years of age, and will have learned these two types of martial arts. Isn’t that enough?” Yang Guo said, “I’m… I’m not doing it for me…” Huang Yaoshi patted his shoulder and said warmly, “When you kill her for me three years from now, I will be extremely touched. Years ago I destroyed my disciples, shouldn’t I get some kind of payback today?” He gave a long sigh after he said this. Yang Guo knelt down and kowtowed eight times to him and then called out, “Master!” He knew that Huang Yaoshi had passed on martial arts to him so that he will be able to cleanse the four lines of Li Mochou’s insult. To do this, they will have to be recognized as master and disciple. But Huang Yaoshi knew that his ties with the Ancient Tomb were extremely deep, he would be unwillingly to accept another master so he helped him up and said, “When you fight that witch, you are my disciple, at all other times, you are my friend. Little brother Yang, do you understand?” Yang Guo laughed and said, “To be able to make a friend like you really is a glorious event.” Huang Yaoshi said, “The two of us meeting is the luck of three generations.” The two of them laughed, their sounds moving the four walls. Huang Yaoshi once again explained in detail the secrets and ideas of the “Divine Flicking Finger” and the “Jade Flute Swordplay” to him. Yang Guo noted that he was explaining them thoroughly and knew that he was about to leave. He said gloomily, “We’ve just met and now we are about to part; when will we be able to meet again?” Huang Yaoshi laughed and said, “The two of us are linked; even if we are at the opposite ends of the world, we’ll still be like neighbors. If in the future I find out that someone is blocking your marriage, even if I’m ten thousand li away, I will rush back and help you.” Yang Guo was comforted by this promise and laughed, “I’m afraid that the first person who will come out and stop this marriage will be your loved one.” Huang Yaoshi said, “She marries her ideal man and forgets about the suffering and bitterness of others? My precious daughter only listens to her husband, ha-ha, ‘obey the husband when married’, that really is something!” He laughed loudly after he said this and turned around and left the room, in a flash his laughter could be heard tens of feet away, he really moved like a divine dragon leaving no trace. Yang Guo stood there for a while stunned and then sat down and went over the two martial arts that he had just learned. Not long after, the sky became bright. He saw the door open, Cheng Ying had entered with blue green cloth and a blue green gown in her hands; she gave a little smile and said, “Try this on, see whether it fits you.” Yang Guo was extremely touched; his hands trembled slightly as he received it. Their eyes met and he saw that Cheng Ying’s eyes were full of love and boundless tenderness. He went over to the side of the bed and tried the new gown. He felt that the gown fitted perfectly and said, “I’m… I’m… I’m really grateful.” Cheng Ying showed another smile but immediately a depressed expression was on her face, she sighed and said, “Master has gone, I don’t know when I’ll be able to see him again.” She was about to sit down and say something when she saw a yellow image at the door that immediately disappeared. She knew it was her cousin outside and thought, “That girl has too many thoughts, it’s not appropriate for me to stay in his room for too long.” She stood up and slowly walked out. He carefully studied the gown and noticed that the stitching was careful and tight, he thought, “She and Wifey treat me the same but my heart belongs to someone else, I can’t love any others. If I don’t leave soon, I’ll be giving those two a lot of grief.” He thought about this for half a day. He was also afraid that when he leaves, Li Mochou would come and attack them. He went to her hut to take a look and saw that in its place was a pile of ash, Li Mochou had burned the hut and left. The enemy had left and so that night, he wrote a parting letter by candlelight; he thought about the two girls’ love and felt depressed. He saw that his letter wasn’t worded with great aptitude and his handwriting was poor; he was afraid that Cheng Ying would laugh and so ripped the letter up. That night he tossed and turned in his bed as he tried to sleep. In his blurry state, he suddenly heard Lu Wushuang tapping his door and calling out, “Sha Dan, Sha Dan! Quickly come and take a look.” Her voice sounded rather anxious and afraid. Yang Guo got up, dressed himself, and opened the door; he felt a slightly chilly breeze and the sky wasn’t bright yet. Lu Wushuang’s face was filled with fear and pointed at the outside of the door. Yang Guo followed her hand and was shocked; there were four blood red handprints on the door. Li Mochou must have come over to survey the group and found that Huang Yaoshi had left; the four prints were left to tell them that she was going to kill the four of them. Cheng Ying came out after them and asked, “When did you see this?” Lu Wushuang said, “Before the sky started to get bright.” Once she said this, her face went red. She was longing for Yang Guo and had paced back and forth below his window. Cheng Ying pretended that she didn’t know and said, “Luckily you didn’t bump into her. The sun has begun to rise, that witch won’t come again today. We’ve still got time to plan.” The three of them returned to Yang Guo’s room and discussed what to do about the situation. Lu Wushuang said, “She had a taste of Sha Gu’s kung fu the other day, how come she’s not afraid of her?” Cheng Ying said, “Apprentice sister’s fork technique only has a few stances. She went away and thought about it carefully and must have come up with a way to neutralize it.” Lu Wushuang said, “However, Sha Dan has recovered from his injury; with the two Sha people together, won’t their power be great?” Yang Guo laughed and said, “With Sha Dan plus a Sha Gu, you’ve got dumb and dumber, what power?” The three of them continued their discussion for a while but couldn’t come up with any great plan. They thought about the four of them fighting together; they won’t be able to beat her but could protect themselves. They decided on fighting her with all their might when she came again the next day. Yang Guo said, “The two Sha people will join up and fight her from the front, you two attack from the sides. Let’s go find Sha Gu and practice our plan.” The three of them called for Sha Gu but there was no reply. They didn’t know where she was and the three of them began to worry. The three of them split up to search for her. Cheng Ying searched for a little while and suddenly saw Sha Gu lying on a pile of rocks, her breathing was weak. Cheng Ying was alarmed and quickly took off her clothes to take a look; she saw that there was a red palm print on her back; she had fallen victim to Li Mochou’s “Divine Five Poison Palm”. Cheng Ying quickly called for Yang Guo and Lu Wushuang and then fed a ‘Nine Flower Jade Dew’ pill to her. Yang Guo remembered the method to cure this palm from the ‘Five Poison Codex’ and quickly circulated his internal energy and controlled her pressure points. Sha Gu laughed foolishly and said, “Evil woman, behind, hit me. Sha Gu, hit back, hit her.” The counterattack that Sha Gu used was one of the three palms techniques that Huang Yaoshi taught her. Though Li Mochou succeeded in her ambush, she was struck on the arm and her arm was almost broken; she was frightened and in pain so she left swiftly, not daring to continue her stances and take Sha Gu’s life. The three took Sha Gu back to the hut and sat anxiously; with one of the good fighters hurt, in tomorrow’s battle it would be even harder to defend against her. Sha Gu had a serious injury; if they escaped with her in tow, they would definitely be caught by Li Mochou. Yang Guo looked at Cheng Ying and then at Lu Wushuang. Then he then picked up a piece of string from the needle basket that was at hand and then grabbed a pair of scissors and started to cut. Sha Gu was lying on the bed and suddenly called out “Cut it; cut that evil woman’s broom! Cut that broom!” She didn’t know it was called a ‘fly whisk’ and called it a ‘broom’. Yang Guo had an idea, “That witch’s fly whisk is a soft weapon and she uses it superbly; precious sabers and sharp swords can’t harm her. If there really was a large pair of scissors that could be used as a weapon and cut her fly whisk, that would be great.” As he thought about this, the string in his left hand started to move like a fly whisk, the scissors in his right hand came forward and cut the string in two. He then pondered about the fly whisk’s movements and how to control the scissors to attack; dreaming up a set of techniques. Cheng Ying and Lu Wushuang watched for a while and then understood, delight was on their faces. Cheng Ying said, “There’s a blacksmith seven or eight li north of here...” Lu Wushuang interrupted and said, “Good, we’ll go and get that blacksmith to forge a large pair of scissors.” Yang Guo thought, “It would be difficult to forge this weapon in such a rush and I’ll have to adjust to the change of battle. This is a lot easier than learning the “Jade Flute Swordplay”, and anyway, we don’t have another plan so we’ve got to give it a try.” If one of them leaves and takes the order to the blacksmith, it will be extremely dangerous if Li Mochou were to suddenly ambush that person. Right now the four of them could not be separated. So Cheng Ying and Lu Wushuang set up some bedding on the horse and placed Sha Gu on the back of the horse. They made their way to the blacksmith. After the Mongols conquered the Jin, they entered the boundaries of the Song land. This place was the northern frontier of the Song borders, the Mongols had ransacked cities and towns and the whole place was in ruins. The blacksmith shop was very simple; in the middle was a large anvil, on the floor were pieces of coal and fragments of metals and there were a few plows and sickles hung on the wall. There was no one in the shop. Yang Guo looked at the shop and thought, “How can weapons be made here!” But since they’ve made their way here, he might as well ask so he called out loudly, “Is the blacksmith home?” After a while, an old man entered from a side room; his beard and hair was grey, he was about fifty years old. The man had a hump, most probably from bending down to forge metal over a long time; his eyes were red and small because of smoke from the fires. His left leg was crippled and he had a crutch under his arm. He said, “How can I help you?” Yang Guo was about to reply when suddenly the noise of galloping horses could be heard; two horses rushed towards the shop. On one of the horses was a Mongolian captain, on the other was a Han, Yang Guo didn’t know whether he was a translator or a guide. The Han loudly said, “Blacksmith Feng? Come over here and listen to the orders.” The old man greeted them and said, “I am he.” The Han said, “The captain has the following orders: all the blacksmiths of this town have three days to gather together at Xian city to aid the army. You have to be there tomorrow, you hear?” Blacksmith Feng said, “I am old…” The Mongolian captain raised his whip and said a few words. The Han said, “If you’re not there tomorrow, you’ll watch your head get cut off.” After he said this, the two left. Blacksmith Feng stood there and was lost in thought. Cheng Ying saw that he was old and pitiful; she took out some money and placed it on the table. She said, “Master Feng, you’re old and can’t move well, won’t working in the Mongolian camp lead to losing your life for no reason? Take this money and run away!” Blacksmith Feng sighed and said, “Thank you for Miss’s kindness. This old blacksmith has lived for so long, living and dying isn’t much to me. But the thousands and thousands of lives of Jiangnan will be in danger.” The three of them were startled and asked, “Why?” Blacksmith Feng said, “The Mongolian army is gathering blacksmiths to forge weapons. Once they have enough, they will definitely invade south into the land of the Song.” The three of them heard that his words were carefully thought and were very reasonable; they wanted to ask further when Blacksmith Feng said, “What do you three want to order?” Yang Guo said, “Since Master Feng has other matters to attend to, I shouldn’t disturb you but I need it urgently so I have to trouble you.” Yang Guo then described the form and size of the scissors to him. The scissors were a special object but no one would have thought that as soon as Blacksmith Feng heard it, there were not any signs of surprise on his face. He nodded and pushed and pulled the air bellows and started the furnace up. He then placed two pieces of iron into the furnace. Yang Guo said, “Will it be forged by tonight?” Blacksmith Feng said, “I will do my best and go as fast as possible.” He pulled and pushed the air bellows furiously, the coals turned a blood red color. Sha Gu was on a table; half lying down and half sitting up. Yang Guo and the others whose homeland was Jiangnan, though young, when they heard their homeland was in danger, they were worried. The three of them looked at the furnace and thought about the trouble and strife of the world. Human lives weren’t regarded as important and there was worry, hardships and danger everywhere. Though they were facing difficulties the next day, the fear in their hearts diminished a little. In a little over two hours, blacksmith Feng had heated the iron. He used tongs in his left hand and placed the softened metal on the anvil, with his right, he used an iron hammer to forge the metal. Though he was old, he was still strong; it seemed as if he didn’t use any effort in using the hammer. After a while, the two pieces of metal started to take the rough shape of a large pairs of scissors, forming gradually. Lu Wushuang said happily, “Sha Dan, it’s going to be made in time.” Suddenly a voice from behind said coldly, “Making a pair of scissors to cut my fly whisk?” The three of them were startled and turned their heads around, only to see Li Mochou standing at the entrance, lightly waving her fly whisk about. The weapon had yet to be finished but the enemy had arrived. Cheng Ying and Lu Wushuang both drew their swords. Yang Guo looked at an iron rod by the furnace, as soon as the enemy makes her move, he will grab the rod and use it. Li Mochou chuckled, “Forging a pair of large scissors to cut my fly whisk; only you kids would think of that. I’ll sit here and wait for you to finish, there’s still time.” She then sat on a bench, and looked upon the three as nothing to worry about. Yang Guo said, “That’s good. I say that your fly whisk will definitely be cut by the scissors.” Li Mochou saw Sha Gu sitting up on the table and thought, “That woman took a palm of mine and is still able to sit up, she’s quite good.” She asked coldly, “Where’s Huang Yaoshi?” When Blacksmith Feng heard the three words ‘Huang Yaoshi’ he shivered and looked up at her and then immediately lowered his head, continuing with the forging. Cheng Ying said, “You know that my master is not here, so why ask? If you knew he was still here, even if you’ve got the greatest gall of anyone, you wouldn’t dare come.” Li Mochou gave a ‘humph’ sound and took out a piece of paper from her pockets and said, “Huang Yaoshi got his fame by taking in many disciples and relying on numbers to win. Huh! Out of all his disciples, which one was really able?” She waved out her left hand and the paper flew away, her arm moved slightly and a silver needle shot out, pinning the piece of paper on a pillar. She said, “I’ll leave this as evidence. When that old ‘Heretic’ Huang comes back, he’ll know who killed his two precious disciples.” She turned her head around to Blacksmith Feng and said, “Work quicker, I’m getting impatient.” Blacksmith Feng squinted his red eyes and looked at the piece of paper, he saw the words: The Master of Peach Blossom Island, Disciples he has many, Five against one, It’s the laughing stock of Jianghu! He looked up at the roof and was lost in thought. Li Mochou said, “Why aren’t you working quickly?” Blacksmith Feng lowered his head and said, “Yes, quicker, quicker.” His left hand stretched out the iron tongs and held the needle and paper, he placed them into the flaming fire of the furnace; in a flash the paper burned to ash. Everyone was extremely surprised by this event. Li Mochou was furious; she raised her fly whisk and wanted to strike down on his head but thought, “This small town blacksmith is extremely bold, could it be that he is an extraordinary person?” She was now standing, she then slowly sat down asked, “Who are you?” Blacksmith Feng said, “Can’t you see? I’m an old blacksmith.” Li Mochou said, “Why did you burn my piece of paper?” Blacksmith Feng said, “The words on the paper are wrong; it’s best not to hang it in this shop.” Li Mochou said sternly, “What’s wrong with the words?” Blacksmith Feng said, “The Master of Peach Blossom Island has the ability to move heaven and earth, all his disciples need to do is to learn one art of his and they will be able to roam the realm. His first disciple is called Qu Lingfeng, his lightness kung fu is divine, and he is specialized in the art of the Iron Eight Trigram Palms, the variations in his martial arts are incredible. His second disciple is Chen Xuanfeng, he has trained his body to the point of that his bones and muscles are as strong as bronze and iron, impenetrable by sabers and spears. Have you heard about this?” When he was talking, he was still forging at the same time; the hammering sounds increased the force of his words. Li Mochou was surprised when she heard him mention Qu Lingfeng; Yang Guo and others were also surprised. They would never have thought that an old blacksmith in a place like this would know about the people of Jianghu. Li Mochou said, “Humph, there’s a tale around Jianghu, that someone snuck into the imperial palace to steal treasures and he was killed by the imperial guards. That was the Qu Lingfeng with his incredible variations in martial arts. As for the Bronze Corpse Chen Xuanfeng, I heard that a little child stabbed him to death, what is so powerful about him? Impenetrable by sabers and spears, bah, such nonsense!” Blacksmith Feng said: “Hmm, hmmm....The Master of the Peach Blossom Island’s third disciple is called Mei Chaofeng, although she is a woman. Her claw and whip techniques are very fierce.” Li Mochou laughed and said, “Yes, that woman’s claw and whip techniques were just too fierce, because of this the Seven Freaks of Jiangnan blinded her and later on, Western Poison Ouyang Feng shattered her lungs.” Blacksmith Feng was stunned for a while and then said bleakly, “That happened? I didn’t know about it. The Master of Peach Blossom Island’s second disciple is Chen Xuanfeng, his lightness kung fu is divine, the “Slashing Air Palm” extraordinarily powerful.” Li Mochou said, “Someone with two broken legs and who can’t walk, that must be Lu Chengfeng with his divine lightness kung fu. Without working legs, he should rely on the wind (Chengfeng ----> fly off with wind) to fly, Ha-ha! Powerful “Slashing Air Palm”… every palm that comes out meets thin air that is the “Slashing Air Palm” of the Master of Peach Blossom Island.” Blacksmith Feng lowered his head, two ‘chi’ sounds were heard as two tear drops landed on the heated iron and turned into steam. Lu Wushuang was sitting the closest to him and saw his tears clearly; she secretly wondered what it was about. She just saw him raised his hammer even higher, the striking sounds of the metal now even louder. After a while, Blacksmith Feng continued, “Peach Blossom Island has four senior disciples; Qu, Chen, Mei, Lu. The fourth disciple Lu Chengfeng had not only great martial arts; he was also well versed in the arts of formations and changes. If you meet him, you definitely won’t be able to escape.” Li Mochou chuckled and said, “What use is the art of formations and changes? He built the Returning Echo Manor by Lake Tai, the men of Jianghu said that is was extremely ingenious, but someone burned it to the ground. From then onwards there was no news of him; most probably he got burned to death along with his manor.” Feng Mofeng continued: “The beloved daughter of the Master of the Peach Blossom Island is also the leader of the Beggars’ Clan. Chief Huang’s intelligence is unsurpassed and she is famous throughout the realm. If she wanted to deal with you, you would never be able to see it coming.” Li Mochou scoffed: “Young Huang Rong, I dare to say that she doesn’t really have any true martial arts. She just relies on her husband’s fame and great martial arts. The reason why she could become the leader of the Beggars’ Association is due to the fact that her teacher was Hong Qigong and he supported her in becoming the leader.” Blacksmith Feng raised his head and said sternly, “You talk rubbish priestess, all the disciples of the Master of Peach Blossom Island are highly skilled in martial arts, how could they all fall at the hands of others? Are you trying to take advantage of this country bumpkin not knowing the matters of the world?” Li Mochou chuckled and said, “Ask those three kids and you’ll know.” Blacksmith Feng turned his head towards Cheng Ying, his eyes inquiring. Cheng Ying stood up and said gloomily, “My apprentice brothers and sisters have been unfortunate, they have all passed away. I haven’t been in the school for long, my martial arts are low and I can’t help Master fight. I really am ashamed. Do you have ties with my Master?” Blacksmith Feng didn’t reply and examined her; he looked suspicious and said, “The Master of Peach Blossom Island took in another disciple in his later years?” Cheng Ying saw that Blacksmith Feng’s left leg was crippled, she suddenly had a thought and said, “Master was lonely in his later years, he ordered me to serve him at his side. With my age and study, I really wouldn’t dare to say that I’m a disciple of Peach Blossom Island, I haven’t even taken a single step onto Peach Blossom Island.” The way she phrased her words, she admitted that she was a disciple of Peach Blossom Island. Blacksmith Feng nodded, his eyes were very gentle, there was a feeling of being close to someone, he lowered his head and continued to forge metal, it was as if he was in deep thought about something. Cheng Ying saw that when his hammer was in the air, it made half a circle, when it descended onto the anvil, it was tilted and dragged, the hand movements were extremely similar to her school’s “Divine Descending Sword Palm Technique”, she understood further and said, “When Master had spare time, he would talk to me; he talked about how years ago he sent his disciples away from the island, Chen and Mei were the ones who did wrong. Qu, Lu, Wu and Feng were innocent but because of those two they were punished. What was especially tragic was apprentice brother Feng, Feng Mofeng. He was young and had a harsh background; when Master thought about this, he would feel uncomfortable and extremely regretful.” In reality, Huang Yaoshi’s character is eccentric, though his heart had these thoughts, he would never say them. Cheng Ying was warm, kind and understanding, when her Master was lonely and chatted with her, he would reveal a little of his thoughts through his words. She herself guessed what he wanted to say, though what she said right now was not exactly from her Master’s mouth, it wasn’t against his intentions. From the way the two talked, Li Mochou had guessed who he was; then she heard Blacksmith Feng sigh and his tears fell like rain, ‘chi’ ‘chi’ ‘chi’. As the tears struck the hot metal and turned into steam, she couldn’t stop her heart from softening, but after thinking, she became strong again. She thought, “Even if they got another fighter, the old blacksmith is crippled, how could he help?” She chuckled and said, “Feng Mofeng, congratulations on your reunion with your apprentice sister.” That blacksmith was Huang Yaoshi’s junior disciple Feng Mofeng. Years ago when Chen Xuanfeng and Mei Chaofeng stole the “Nine Yin Manual” and escaped from the island, Huang Yaoshi broke the legs of all the remaining disciples before expelling them from the island. Qu Lingfeng, Lu Chengfeng and Wu Tianfeng had both their legs broken, but when he came to Feng Mofeng, because he was young and his martial arts low, pity stirred in his mind and he just broke his left leg. Feng Mofeng was extremely hurt inside; he eventually came to this place and made a living as a blacksmith. He didn’t keep any contacts with the Jianghu world and had silently lived here for the past thirty years. He couldn’t have predicted that today he would have news of his Master and apprentices again. Huang Yaoshi saved his life from his enemies. Huang Yaoshi brought him up, his debts to him were great; no matter how Huang Yaoshi had treated him, there was no hate in his heart. When he heard the words of Cheng Ying, his emotions were stirred and his grief and sorrow came out. Citric acid monohydratefood additivePotassium citratefood additiveSodiumcitrate
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04-12-2010, 05:40 PM
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