Scriptures of the Nine Yin.

Original translation by foxs

Guo Jing and Huang Rong left the Cheng’s residence and were very tired since they have not had any sleep for the rest of the night. They had wanted to go back to the inn to rest, but suddenly heard the sound of hoof beats came galloping fast from the south heading north. The sound was coming near, but suddenly it stopped. Huang Rong’s curiosity was piqued, “There must be something unusual happening. Sounds interesting.” Utilizing her lightness kungfu she immediately went to take a look. Guo Jing followed closely.

To their surprise, what they saw was Yang Kang standing on the roadside, holding a horse’s rein and talking to Ouyang Ke. Guo and Huang did not want to come any closer because they did not want to be detected. They hid themselves quite a distance away; moreover, those two spoke in low voice. So what Huang Rong could hear were bits and pieces. Ouyang Ke mentioned ‘Yue Fei’ and ‘Lin An government office’; while Yang Kang did say ‘my father’. Huang Rong was curious, she wanted to come nearer, but at that time Ouyang Ke cupped his fists and heading east, along with all his female disciples/concubines.

Yang Kang stayed behind. He stared blankly for a while, then let out a long sigh and mounted his horse. “Brother, I am here,” Guo Jing called. Yang Kang heard his voice and he was startled, but stopped his horse anyway. “Elder Brother, you are here as well?” he replied.

“I ran into Miss Huang here and we fought that Ouyang Ke, that’s why we were delayed,” Guo Jing explained. Yang Kang’s face turned red; he felt uneasy since he wasn’t sure if Guo Jing heard his conversation with Ouyang Ke. But Guo Jing’s face remained calm; so Yang Kang felt better. “This man cannot pretend,” he thought, “He wouldn’t be this calm if he heard me.”

“Elder Brother,” he said, “shall we hurry up and continue our trip tonight, or shall we spend the night here? Will Miss Huang go to Beijing with us?”

“It’s not I who go with you, it is you who follow us,” Huang Rong said.

“What’s the difference?” Guo Jing smiled. “Let us go back to that ancestral temple and have some rest. Tomorrow evening we will enjoy the Beggar Clan’s banquet; and then we can continue our trip.”

So the three people walked back to the temple. Huang Rong lighted a candle; grabbing the candlestick she picked up the needles she shot out a moment ago. This time of the year the weather was getting hot, so they took down the doors, and brought the planks outside. They intended to sleep in the courtyard.

Just before they fell asleep, the sound of horses’ hoof beat from a distance can be faintly heard. They tilted their head to listen. The sound was coming fast, sounded like it was more than one horse.

“Three horses in the front, pursued by more than 10 people,” Huang Rong guessed. Guo Jing literally grew up on horseback; he knew exactly the number of the horses.

“There are 16 pursuers altogether,” he said. ”Well, well, well … what do you know?”

“What?” Huang Rong asked.

“The three horses on the front are Mongolian horses, but the pursuers are not,” Guo Jing answered. “What in the world are the Mongolian horses doing in this area?” he wondered.

Huang Rong pulled Guo Jing’s hand and they walked outside the temple gate. Suddenly a swishing sound was heard, and arrow flew above their heads. The three riders rushed toward the temple. An arrow flew from the pursuers and hit the last horse’s thigh. The horse uttered a sad neigh and knelt down on the ground. The rider’s equestrian skill was superb; he managed to leap just before the horse hit the ground. Looked like the rider did not know any lightness kungfu, his step was heavy. The other two riders stopped their horse and turned back.

“I am all right,” shouted the one who fell down. “Quickly, go! I’ll try to block the enemy!”

“I will help you block the enemy. Fourth Prince, you go ahead,” shouted one of the other two.

“How can you do that?” asked the Fourth Prince.

Those three were speaking Mongolians. Guo Jing who was listening thought he knew those voices. They sounded like Toulei, Jebeh, and Bourchu. He was really surprised. “What are they doing here?” he thought.

He wanted to come nearer, but the pursuers had already surrounded the three riders. The three Mongolians were experts in shooting arrows; so the pursuers did not dare to come too close; they only shot their own arrows from a distance.

“Let’s go up!” one of the Mongolian shouted, his hand pointing to a flagpole. Three people scurried to the flagpole and climbed up. They were trying to gain a better position.

The pursuers dismounted their horses and surrounded the flagpole on all directions. Somebody shouted an order and four soldiers lifted high their shields; came near the flagpole and tried to chop it down with their swords.

“You are wrong,” Huang Rong whispered, “There are only 15 pursuers.”

“No, I can’t be wrong,” Guo Jing countered. “Maybe one of them was shot dead.” He just closed his mouth when a horse came wandering, there was a rider on it, but he was dead; his foot was stuck on the stirrup so the horse was dragging him along, an arrow sticking out from his chest.

Guo Jing crawled toward that corpse. He drew the arrow out. As soon as he traced his fingers on the arrow, he could feel that it was made of wrought iron, and had an engraving of a leopard head. It was the arrow used by the Master Archer Jebeh; heavier than average arrows. His suspicion was gone; he called out, “On the flagpole, are you Master Jebeh, Brother Toulei and Master Bourchu? This is Guo Jing!”

The three people were delighted. “How can you be here?” they asked.

“Who pursued you?” Guo Jing asked.

“The Jin soldiers!” Toulei answered.

Guo Jing took the dead Jin soldier’s body, lifted it up and rushed forward. He threw the corpse toward the soldiers at the foot of the flagpole. The corpse did knock down two soldiers that the other two was scared and ran away.

Out of the blue two white shadows swooped down to Guo Jing. He recognized those were his two condors, which together Huazheng and he raised back in Mongolia. Those two birds also recognized their master amidst the dark night, so they uttered a loud cry and came down on Guo Jing’s shoulder.

Huang Rong had heard Guo Jing’s story on how he had shot down an eagle, and how he raised a pair of condors as his playmates; and now suddenly saw the white condors she ignored the surrounding soldiers. She came running toward Guo Jing and called out, “Let me play with them!” She held out her hand to stroke the condor’s feather. But the condor did not know Huang Rong, so it moved its head to hit Huang Rong’s hand with its beak. Luckily Huang Rong was quick; if not, the back of her hand would be injured.

Guo Jing hurriedly pulled the birds away. Huang Rong sulked, “Your pet birds are bad!” But actually she was happy, she leaned her head to take a closer look at the birds.

“Rong’er, watch out!” suddenly Guo Jing shouted. Two fast arrows flew toward Huang Rong’s chest. She ignored the arrows, nonchalantly reached toward the dead soldier’s pocket. The arrows hit were right on target, but they hit the soft hedgehog armor and simply fell down near her foot. Huang Rong continued groping the pocket until she found some dried meat and fed them to the birds.

“Rong’er, play with the condors, I am going to kill some Jin soldiers!” Guo Jing said. He jumped to strike an arrow flying toward him, stretched his left palm and with a cracking sound broke a nearby Jin soldier’s arm.

“Where did the dog that creates trouble in here come from?” suddenly a voice called out in the dark. Surprisingly, he was speaking Chinese. Guo Jing was startled, “This voice sounds familiar,” he thought. At that time a couple of metal came flashing down his way; two short hatchets came chopping down on him, one slashing his chest, the other slashing toward his lower abdomen.

Guo Jing saw the incoming force was fierce; he knew the attacker was not an ordinary officer. Immediately he shot his palm using the ‘divine dragon swings its tail’. His palm hit that man on the shoulder, broke the shoulder blade into pieces and sent the man flying backward a few feet. The man cried out pitifully. Suddenly Guo Jing remembered, “This is one of the ‘huang he si gui’ [four demons of the Yellow River], the ‘sang men fu’ [deadly gate hatchet] Qian Qingjian.”

Guo Jing knew that his martial art skill had improved tremendously these past several months; of course he was in entirely different league compared to when he fought the Four Demons of the Yellow River in Mongolia a while back; but to be able to strike the enemy more than ten feet away with only one palm? He was blown away. While he was still amazed by it, a couple more metal objects came down flashing toward him. This time it was a saber and a spear.

Guo Jing guessed they must be ‘duan hu dao’ [severing soul blade] Shen Qinggang and ‘zhui ming qiang’ [pursuing life spear] Wu Qinglie. His right hand forming a hook and caught the spear near its head and pulled it hard. Wu Qinglie tried to resist, but he was pulled along and fell face down in front of Guo Jing. Right at that moment Guo Jing was stepping back to elude the chopping saber; that Shen Qinggang’s blade was hacking toward his martial brother’s skull.

Guo Jing’s leg flew up, kicked Shen Qinggang’s right wrist. A streak of blue light flashed in the dark night, his saber flew up from his hand; Wu Qinglie’s life was saved. Guo Jing then picked up Wu Qinglie from his back and whirled him against his martial brother. With a ‘bang’ sound two brothers collided and passed out immediately.

Among the Four Demons of the Yellow River, only three left, since ‘duo po bian’ [soul snatching whip] Ma Qingxiong was killed by Lu Guanying when he was trying to penetrate the robber gang of Lake Tai. These three people were the elite fighters of the Jin soldiers who pursued Toulei and his company. The rest of the Jin soldiers were not aware that their leaders had fallen due to the dark. They were still engaging Toulei, Jebeh and Bourchu in shooting battle.

“You are not running away, do all of you want to die here?” Guo Jing roared. He rushed toward the enemy soldiers, hit here and grabbed there, throwing bodies everywhere. Very soon the soldiers panicked and scattered in all directions. Shen Qinggang and Wu Qinglie slowly came out to their senses, each with a splitting headache. They were seeing things, but realizing that their company scattered they also ran away without hesitation. Accidentally they stumbled upon Qian Qingjian and woke him up. He mumbled indistinctly, but seeing the rest of the soldiers scattered away, he ignored his pain and ran different direction.

Jebeh and Bourchu were skilled archers; they kept shooting their arrows and managed to kill three more Jin soldiers. Toulei looked down and saw his sworn brothers had scattered the enemy; he was delighted and called out, “Anda [Mongolian term for sworn brother]! How are you?” Holding the flagpole he slid down to the ground.

Guo Jing and Toulei held each other’s hand; they were very happy that they were speechless for a while. A moment later Jebeh and Bourchu joined them. “Those three Han people holding shields to block our arrows, prevented us from shooting them,” Jebeh said. “If Jing’er did not come and rescue us, we won’t be able to drink Onon River’s clear water anymore.”

Guo Jing pulled Huang Rong’s hand and have her meet Toulei and company. “This is my sworn sister,” he introduced her.

“Will you give me these two white condors?” Huang Rong asked, smiling. Toulei did not understand Chinese, his translator ran away when they were being attacked by the Jin soldiers. He only noticed that Huang Rong’s voice was clear and sounded pleasant to his ears, but actually he had no idea what she was saying.

Guo Jing ignored Huang Rong’s request. “Anda, why did you bring the condors here?” he asked.

“Father sent me to see the Song Emperor; to make a bilateral agreement between the north and south, so that we can dispatch troops together and attack the Jins from both directions,” Toulei explained. “My sister thought I might meet you here, so she sent these condors to you. She guessed right, didn’t I meet you here?”

Guo Jing heard him mentioning Huazheng, his heart was saddened. He had fallen in love with Huang Rong; but occasionally Huazheng came into his mind. Not that he had any romantic feeling toward her, but actually he did not know how to sort this thing out. Sometimes he chased that thought away; but now hearing Toulei he was at a loss. His only thought was, “Within a month I am going to the Peach Blossom Island where Rong’er’s father might kill me. How could I attend to her?” Therefore, he turned toward Huang Rong and told her, “These two birds are mine. You can have them to play with.”

Huang Rong was delighted; she found more dried meat to feed the condors.

Toulei proceeded by telling how his father, Genghis Khan had gained victory over the Jins on several fronts; but the Jin army was strong in numbers. They consolidated themselves and for many years strengthen their forts that for a while they have managed to defend their borders. Thereupon Genghis Khan had sent Toulei to make contact with the south to form an alliance with the Songs to attack the Jins. Unfortunately they ran into a brigade of the Jin army and could not prevent a battle. Their company perished and only three of them managed to escape and ran away there.

Guo Jing remembered that day at the Cloud Village he heard Yang Kang asking Mu Nianci to go to Lin An and see the Prime Minister Shi Miyuan, to ask him to kill the Mongolian messengers. At that time he did not know anything, but now he knew that the Jins had found out the conspiracy and had sent Yang Kang to prevent the Songs and the Mongols to form an alliance.

Toulei continued, “Looked like the Jins have determined to kill me to avoid Mongolia and the Song Dynasty formed the alliance successfully; that the Sixth Prince himself personally led the troop to capture me.”

“Wanyan Honglie?” Guo Jing asked in surprise.

“That’s right!” Toulei answered. “He was wearing a golden helmet, I saw him clearly and even shot three arrows to him, too bad they were blocked by his bodyguards’ shields.”

Guo Jing was ecstatic, “Rong’er, Brother Kang! Wanyan Honglie is here, let us quickly find him.” Huang Rong quickly came, but Yang Kang was nowhere to be seen. Guo Jing was impatient, he shouted, “Rong’er, you go to the east, I will search to the west.” Two people launched their lightness kungfu and ran very fast opposite directions.

After several li’s Guo Jing managed to catch up with several ran away Jin soldiers. He captured one of them and found out that indeed it was the Sixth Prince Wanyang Honglie who personally led the pursuers, but that soldier did not know his whereabouts.

“We have deserted the Prince without any regard of his safety; if we went back, we will be executed. Hence we are throwing away our uniforms and try to hide among the common people,” that soldier said.

Guo Jing turned and resumed his chase. It was almost dawn, but where was Wanyan Honglie’s shadow? He knew the enemy who killed his father was near, but seemed to be unreachable. He was anxious.

He rushed forward a little bit further and arrived at a small wooded area where he saw a white shadow flashing by. It was Huang Rong. Two people met, they looked at each other and knew they did not find him. Dejectedly they decided to go back to the temple.

“Wanyan Honglie led quite a number of troops pursuing us; he was riding a fast horse. I think by now he must be going back to fetch enforcement to capture us,” Toulei tried to reason. “Anda, I am bearing my father’s decree; I can’t stay for long. Let us part here. My little sister asked me to deliver this message to you: Please go back home to Mongolia as soon as possible.”

Guo Jing agreed to what he said, but feared that it would be difficult for them to meet again in the future. His heart was heavy. He hugged Toulei, Jebeh and Bourchu farewell, but said very little. They mounted their horses and galloped away. The sound of hoof beats gradually vanished away; men and horses slowly hidden behind a cloud of yellow dust.

“Let us hide and wait for Wanyan Honglie to come back,” proposed Huang Rong. “If the troops are numerous, we will simply following them and try to assassinate him in the evening. Don’t you think it’s a good idea?”

Guo Jing was delighted. He praised Huang Rong incessantly. Huang Rong was very happy too, she smiled and said, “It was nothing, I was just using the common tactic of ‘yi an jiu chuan’ [leaving to shore to move to a ship].”

“I’ll go to the woods to hide our horses,” Guo Jing said. He walked toward the backyard of the temple, and suddenly saw something gleaming among the grass under the morning sun. He bent down to take a closer look and found that thing was a golden helmet, inlaid with three big jewels. Guo Jing picked it up and walked back to Huang Rong. “What do you think this is?” he quietly asked.

“Wanyan Honglie’s golden helmet?” Huang Rong guessed.

“Exactly!” whispered Guo Jing. “I believe he is still hiding somewhere close to this temple. Let’s spread out and find him.”

Huang Rong turned her back, her hands pressed down on the wall and she floated atop the wall in no time. “I am searching from above, you from below,” she called out. Guo Jing entered the temple.

“Was my lightness kungfu a moment ago good?” Huang Rong called.

Guo Jing was taken aback, he stopped in his track. “It was very good! Why?” he asked.

“Then why didn’t you praise me?” Huang Rong said with a laugh.

Guo Jing stomped his feet. “Oh, you mischievous kid! You still want to joke at a time like this,” he said.

Huang Rong simply laughed; raising her hands she flew to the rear courtyard.

When Guo Jing was fighting the Jin soldiers, Yang Kang had observed from the side. Despite the darkness he could recognize the Sixth Prince Wanyan Honglie. Although by now Yang Kang knew he was not his own father, but nonetheless he had raised Yang Kang for more than ten years; he had been a father’s figure for Yang Kang all this time. Yang Kang saw how Guo Jing had dispersed the Jin soldiers; if Wanyan Honglie was seen by Guo Jing, he would lose his life for sure. It was a critical time, Yang Kang did not have too much time to think; so he jumped to the battleground. At that time Guo Jing was hurling a Jin soldier’s body to the air. Wanyan Honglie’s horse got scared, so he was busy holding the rein. Yang Kang grabbed him from behind and pulled him to safety.

“Fu Wang [Father King], it’s me, Kang’er. Don’t make a sound!” Yang Kang whispered urgently.

Guo Jing was still fighting, and Huang Rong’s attention was occupied by the condors. The night was dark, so nobody saw him with Wanyan Honglie moved toward the rear courtyard of the temple.

Yang Kang quietly pushed open the door to the west wing, and equally quietly two people hid themselves there. Their ears could still hear the battle cry outside, then the noise of Jin soldiers scampered away; finally they heard the mumbling sound of the three Mongolians talking to Guo Jing.

Wanyan Honglie thought he was dreaming, “Kang’er,” he whispered, “What brought you here?”

“It was a fortunate coincidence,” Yang Kang replied. “Ah … but that man surnamed Guo meant you harm.”

By that time Wanyan Honglie heard Guo Jing and Huang Rong were going separate ways to look for him. He also saw a moment ago how Guo Jing had defeated the Three Ghosts of the Yellow River; and how fiercely and swiftly Guo Jing had beaten and killed numerous Jin soldiers. If he were discovered by those two, what would happen? He shuddered involuntarily.

“Father King, if we exit now, I am afraid we’ll run into them. Let’s just hide in here, they will eventually leave. Wait till they are far away, then we can slowly come out,” Yang Kang said.

“That’s not a bad idea,” Wanyan Honglie said. He paused, then said, “Kang’er, why did you call me ‘fu wang’ [father king], and not father?”

Yang Kang was silent. He remembered his late mother’s fate; his heart was filled with turbulent emotions.

Wanyan Honglie slowly said, “You were thinking of your mother, were you not?” He stretched his arm to hold Yang Kang’s hand; that hand was icy cold, Yang Kang’s cold sweat.

Yang Kang gently pulled his hand away. He changed the subject, “This Guo Jing’s martial art is high. He is seeking vengeance for his father; he is determined to find and kill you. He also has befriended many-many experts in martial art; it will be impossible for you to guard against him. I think it will be to your benefit that you do not go back to Beijing in the next six months or so.”

Wanyan Honglie recalled what happened at the Ox Village of Lin An nineteen years ago; he was saddened, yet there was a tinge of guilty feeling in him, so he was silent for a quite a while. “Very well,” he finally said, “I’ll avoid Beijing for a while. Have you gone to Lin An yet? What did the Prime Minister Shi say?”

“I haven’t been there,” Yang Kang coldly replied.

Wanyan Honglie heard the tone of his voice, he could guess that Yang Kang had probably found out about his own life story; but why did Yang Kang save him? Could he have another plan in mind?

Those two men had lived together for eighteen years as father and son; they loved each other dearly. But now that they were together in that small room, suddenly Yang Kang thought there was a deep hatred between them. There was a raging battle inside his heart: “With just a whack of my palm I will avenge my father and mother, but how can I do that? That Yang Tiexin fellow was my biological father, but what did he give me? Normally Mama treated Father King well, if I kill him now, would Mama like it? Besides, if I really forsake being a prince, will I end up wandering around in the wilderness, destitute just like Guo Jing?”

He was still having these disquieting thoughts when Wanyan Honglie said, “Kang’er, we have had father-son relationship. No matter what, you are my son and I love you. Within ten years our great Jin will conquer the Song. At that time I will have enormous power and authority in my hands; with unlimited riches and honor. This beautiful country, this mortal world, will eventually fall into your hands.”

Yang Kang understood the implication of his speech; Wanyan Honglie aimed to be the emperor. Thinking about ‘unlimited riches and honor’, his heart was thumping loudly, secretly thought, “With the power of the Great Jin, it is not difficult to crush the Song. Mongolia will pose another problem, but it will be temporary. They are just a bunch of barbarians with excellent riding and archery skills; nothing refine. Father King’s management skill is superb. Which Great Jin’s other prince can be compared to him? When all’s said and done, I will definitely become the crown prince of this world.” Thinking thus far his blood boiled. He stretched his hand to grab Wanyan Honglie’s. “Father, your child will certainly help you in this great undertaking.”

Wanyan Honglie felt Yang Kang’s hand was warm, he was delighted. “I am Li Yuan, you are Li Shi Min.” [Translator note: Li Yuan and Li Shi Min were father and son, founder of the Tang Dynasty]

Yang Kang was about to reply when suddenly they heard a noise behind them. Two men froze. Quickly they turned their heads. It was already morning; a bright sunlight came through the window. They saw seven, eight coffins scattered throughout the room. Turned out this west wing was the temporary placement of the dead before burial. They listened carefully; the noise sounded like it came from one of the coffin.

“What was that?” Wanyan Honglie asked.

“Probably a mouse,” Yang Kang replied. At that moment they heard Guo Jing and Huang Rong were talking outside about the golden helmet; then joking around looking for them.

“Confound it!” Yang Kang thought, “Father’s golden helmet is left outside! This could be bad.” With a low voice he said, “I am going to lead them away.” Quietly he opened the door and jumped outside, toward the roof.

Huang Rong was on the roof; suddenly she saw a shadow flashing on the roof peak. “Good! He is here!” She dashed toward that shadow, but the shadow quickly jumped down and disappeared over a corner.

Guo Jing heard her voice and came. “He can’t run away, he must be hiding in the woods,” Huang Rong said.

Two people were about to run into the woods when suddenly there was a noise from the bush and out came Yang Kang. Guo Jing was pleasantly surprised. “Brother, where did you come from?” he asked. “Did you see Wanyan Honglie?”

“Wanyan Honglie is here?” Yang Kang feigned surprise.

“He was the commander of that troop. Look, his golden helmet is here,” Guo Jing said.

“So that’s how it is,” Yang Kang said.

Huang Rong saw his expression was unusual; she also remembered he was speaking with Ouyang Ke earlier; she was suspicious. “We were looking for you everywhere just a moment ago. Where were you?” she asked.

“I ate too much strange food yesterday, I think I suffered a food poisoning, so I relieved myself over there,” Yang Kang said, pointing to a small wooded area.

Huang Rong did not believe him, but she was uncomfortable to chase him. “Brother,” Guo Jing said, “Let’s look together.”

Yang Kang was worried; he was not sure if Wanyan Honglie had run away or was still there; but his face did not show anything. “He came here to die! We could not have asked anything better,” he said, “Why don’t you two search to the east, I’ll go to the west.”

“Very well!” Guo Jing said, and immediately walked to the east; pushing open the door to the ‘jie xiao tang’ [clemency and filial hall].

“Brother Yang,” Huang Rong said, “I think that man is hiding in the west; let me come with you.”

Yang Kang groaned inwardly, but his face feigned happiness. “Let us go, quick!” he said, “Don’t let him run away.” Immediately two people searched from room to room.

The Liu family of Bao Ying was originally a big family during the Song Dynasty; naturally their ancestral temple was huge. But because of the war with the Jins, this temple was partially burned and some of the Liu family was killed. Hence the parts of temple were left in ruins without any effort to rebuild it.

With a cold look Huang Rong watched Yang Kang opened dust-laden and full-of-spider-web doors one by one. He searched each and every room. Finally they arrived at the west wing. Huang Rong saw thick dust on the floor, and on that dust there were several footprints, which – from the look of them, were recently made. There were a couple of handprints on the closed door too. “In here!” she shouted excitedly.

Guo Jing and Yang Kang both heard her cry; Guo Jiang was delighted, while Yang Kang was anxious; both rushed toward her.

Huang Rong kicked the door open, but to her surprise, all she saw was several coffins with no signs of Wanyan Honglie.

Yang Kang was greatly relieved, he knew Wanyan Honglie must have escaped; but he entered the room and loudly shouted, “Wanyan Honglie, traitor! Where do you hide? Come out!”

“Brother Yang, he must have heard us a long while ago. You don’t have to kindly let him know we are here,” Huang Rong snickered.

Yang Kang was embarrassed, his face was flushed, “Miss Huang, why do you joke with me?” His embarrassment turned to anger.

“Never mind her, Brother; Rong’er likes to joke,” Guo Jing smiled. He lowered his head and said, “Look here, someone must have left all these footprints. Indeed he was here.”

“Quick, we must pursue him!” Huang Rong urged. Just as she turned her head, there came a noise from behind her. All three people were scared. They saw a coffin moved slightly.

Huang Rong was always scared of coffins; ever since she entered this room, she had been feeling queasy; now that she suddenly a coffin moved by itself, she uttered a cry and tightly held Guo Jing’s arm. But even though her heart was scared, her brain was still working. “That traitor … that traitor hides in the coffin,” she said with a trembling voice.

Yang Kang suddenly pointed his finger outside, “Hey! He is over there!” Without waiting anything he ran outside. But Huang Rong was quick, she reached backward and grabbed Yang Kang’s main artery. “You have seen a ghost?” she sneered.

Half of Yang Kang’s body was numb; he could not move. “You … what are you doing?” he anxiously asked.

Guo Jing was delighted. “Right! That traitor must be hiding in the coffin.” With big strides he walked toward the coffin and lifted his hands, ready if Wanyan Honglie came out.

“Elder Brother, be careful!” Yang Kang called out. “There could be a zombie inside.”

Huang Rong twisted Yang Kang’s hand that he fell to the ground. “You still want to scare me?” she angrily asked.

She was certain that it was Wanyan Honglie hiding inside the coffin, but still, she was scared. What if it were really a zombie inside? You never know, don’t you?

“Brother Jing, not so fast!” she tremblingly said.

Guo Jing halted and turned his head, “What is it?”

“Just hold the lid down,” Huang Rong said. “Don’t let … don’t let that thing come out.”

Guo Jing smiled, “How can it be a zombie?” But he saw that Huang Rong was really scared, so he jumped toward the coffin and comforted her, “He won’t be able to crawl out!”

Huang Rong was still anxious, she hesitated a little bit, and then said, “Brother Jing, let me hit the coffin using the ‘pi kong zhang’ [splitting empty palm] while you keep your eyes open. Whether it is a zombie or Wanyan Honglie, I will split the coffin up. We will see whether it is a person crying or a zombie wailing!”

As soon as finished speaking she exerted her energy toward her palms, treaded two stepped and sent the palms hacking the coffin. Her splitting empty palm was not as strong as Lu Chengfeng’s; therefore, she needed to hack the coffin directly; w