man.

Suddenly that old man’s eyes opened. His eyes were bright and twinkling. He smiled faintly and asked, “Which one of the Quan Zhen Seven Masters is your master?”

Guo Jing saw his countenance was kind, he was put at ease. He stood up and bowed respectfully, “Disciple Guo Jing pays his respect to Senior. I am the disciple of the Seven Heroes of Jiangnan.”

That old man seemed surprised. “Seven Heroes of Jiangnan? Is that Ke Zhen’E and the others? How could they teach you the internal energy cultivation of Quan Zhen Sect?” he asked.

“Actually, Venerable Dan Yang, Taoist Priest Ma had spent two years teaching disciple, but he had not included me inside the Quan Zhen Sect’s gate and wall,” Guo Jing answered.

That old man laughed heartily and then made faces. He looked so funny, like a child playing jokes. “So that’s how it is” he said, “How did you come to the Peach Blossom Island?”

“Master Huang told me to come,” replied Guo Jing.

The old man’s face suddenly changed, “What for?” he asked.

“Disciple had offended Master Huang,” Guo Jing answered. “I come here to accept my fate.”

“Are you telling the truth?” the old man asked.

“Disciple does not dare to lie,” answered Guo Jing.

The old man nodded, “Very good! Sit down!” he commanded.

Guo Jing sat on a big rock. Now he could see clearly that the old man was sitting inside a cave on the rock wall.

“Other than your Masters who had taught you martial arts?” the old man asked again.

“The Nine-fingered Divine Beggar, Benevolent Master Hong …” Guo Jing said.

The old man’s face changed again, it was so weird, like he was going to smile but restrained himself. “Hong Qigong also taught you martial art?” he interrupted.

“Yes,” replied Guo Jing. “Benevolent Master Hong taught me the ’18 Dragon-Subduing Palms’.”

The old man’s face showed happiness and envy at the same time, “You know ’18 Dragon-Subduing Palms’? This martial art is so amazing. How about teaching me that? I will take you as my master.” But then he shook his head and said, “Won’t do! Won’t do! As the Old Hong’s disciple your energy must not that strong. Did Old Beggar Hong teach you internal energy?”

“He did not,” answered Guo Jing truthfully.

The old man looked up and thought aloud, “He looks so young. Even if he cultivated his internal energy inside his mother’s womb, that would at most 18, 19 years worth of internal energy. How could he resist the flute sound, while I could not?” He was deep in thought for a moment; then he looked at Guo Jing from top to bottom and again from bottom to top. He stretched his right palm and said, “Push my palm; I want to test your martial art.”

Guo Jing complied; he extended his right palm and pushed. The old man said, “”Qi’ at your ‘dan tian’, push hard!” Guo Jing exerted his strength. The old man pulled his palm slightly then push hard while cried out, “Be careful!”

Guo Jing sensed a powerful force pushing him. He could not hold it, so he used his left hand to enforce his right palm. Who would have thought that old man flipped his palm and push Guo Jing’s wrist with his four fingers. The power of these fingers was enough to send Guo Jing flew backward seven, eight steps until his back hit a tree. Only then did Guo Jing manage to stand.

“His martial art is not bad, but nothing extraordinary either,” the old man muttered, “But how could he resist the Old Heretic Huang’s ‘bi hai chao sheng qu’ [jade-colored tidal wave song]?”

Guo Jing felt his chest tightened; he was astonished, “This man’s martial art is about the same level as Benevolent Master Hong’s and Master Huang’s. How could there be an expert his caliber in the Peach Blossom Island? Could it be he was the Western Poison or the Southern Emperor?” As soon as he remembered ‘Western Poison’ his heart turned cold, “Did I fall into his trickery?” Quickly he lifted his palm under the sunlight and checked it out. But he did not see any inflammation or black mark; he was relieved, at least he wasn’t being poisoned.

“Can you guess who I am?” that old man laughed.

“Disciple had heard people say that in the martial art realm there are five experts. The Quan Zhen’s founder Venerable Wang had passed away; disciples have met the ‘Nine-fingered Divine Beggar’ Benevolent Master Hong and the Master of Peach Blossom Island. Could Senior be Senior Ouyang or Emperor Duan?”

“You thought my martial art is comparable to the Eastern Heretic and Northern Beggar, didn’t you?” the old man smiled.

“Disciple’s martial art is mediocre, my experience shallow, I do not dare to speak nonsense. But when Senior pushed me a moment ago, I can say with confidence that other than Benevolent Master Hong and Master Huang, I have never experience such force,” Guo Jing said.

That old man was delighted with Guo Jing’s praise; his face looked like a child’s happy face. “I am neither the Western Poison Ouyang Feng, nor the Emperor Duan,” he smiled broadly. “Guess again.”

Guo Jing hesitated. “Disciple had met somebody whose name was as well known as Benevolent Master Hong, Qiu Qianren. But this person’s martial art is just ordinary. Disciple is really not smart, I cannot guess Senior’s honored name,” he said.

That old man laughed heartily, “My surname is Zhou; can you guess now?” he asked.

“Ah, you are Zhou Botong?” Guo Jing blurted. As the words came out of his mouth Guo Jing froze. Mentioning someone’s name, especially a Senior, could be considered disrespectful. He quickly bowed and apologized, “Disciple had shown disrespect, would Senior Zhou please forgive me.”

The old man laughed, “You are right! I am precisely Zhou Botong. My name is Zhou Botong, and you called me Zhou Botong; when did you show me disrespect? The Quan Zhen Sect’s Founder Wang Chongyang was my martial brother; Ma Yu, Qiu Chuji and the others are my martial nephews. You are not a Quan Zhen disciple, you don’t have to call me Senior this or Senior that; just call me Zhou Botong.”

“How would disciple dare?” Guo Jing asked.

Zhou Botong had lived in the Peach Blossom Island for a long time; he was bored, but suddenly Guo Jing came along. Talking with him he found relief; he was thrilled. Suddenly a strange thought came into his mind. “Little friend, what do you say you and I become sworn brothers?” he asked.

No matter how strange his words were, this was the weirdest of all. Guo Jing’s jaw dropped, he looked at Zhou Botong in disbelief; he thought Zhou was joking. After a while he opened his mouth, “Disciple is Priest Ma and Priest Qiu’s junior; I deserve to address you as my grand martial master.”

Zhou Botong busily shook his hands. “My martial art skill came from my martial brother. Ma Yu, Qiu Chuji and the others did not consider me their senior; they also did not respect me as a senior. You are not my son, I am not yours; we do not have older-younger generation difference.” Speaking thus he heard footsteps approaching; an old servant appeared, carrying a food basket. Zhou Botong beamed, “Our food is here!”

The servant opened the basket and took out four dishes of food, two pots of wine and a wooden basket full of rice. He placed the food in front of Zhou Botong, on top of a big rock; poured out two cups of wine and stood silently aside.

“Where is Miss Huang? Why didn’t she come looking for me?” Guo Jing asked. That servant shook his head, pointing to his ear and his mouth, signaling that he was deaf and mute.

“Huang Yaoshi had punctured his ears. You can ask him to open his mouth wide and take a look,” Zhou Botong chuckled.

Guo Jing made a signal, asking that servant to open his mouth. Guo Jing was startled and scared; that servant’s tongue had been cut in half.

“The servants of Peach Blossom Island are just like that,” Zhou Botong said. “You have come here; if you don’t die, you will end up like them.”

Guo Jing heard what he said; he was silent for a long time. “How could Rong’er’s father be so cruel?” he thought.

“That Old Heretic Huang tortures me every night,” Zhou Botong continued, “I don’t want to admit defeat to him. Last night I was almost fallen in his hand; if not for you, little brother, my more than 10 years effort of resisting him might crumble in one evening. Come little brother, here we have wine and food. Today we will take an oath to be sworn brothers; in the future we will share fortune and bear difficult times together. That year when Wang Chongyang and I became sworn brothers he also refused in every way … Why? Do you really not know? My sworn brother Wang Chongyang’s martial art was much higher than mine; that was why he was not willing to swear brotherhood with me. Is your martial art also much higher than mine? I don’t think so.”

“Junior’s martial art is way below yours,” Guo Jing answered. “I don’t deserve to swear brotherhood with you.”

“If you say to swear brotherhood have to have the same level of martial art, then I have to swear brotherhood with Old Heretic Huang, or Old Poison,” Zhou Botong said. “I only like to fight with them! That’s ridiculous! Do you want me to swear brotherhood with this deaf and mute fellow?” He pointed to that old servant; jumped up and down in a fit of rage.

Guo Jing saw his face was red, he quickly said, “Disciple and Senior differ by two generations. If I follow Senior’s direction, people will laugh at us and ridicule me. If later on I meet Priest Ma and Priest Qiu; how could I not be ashamed?”

“You have these many considerations. You certainly don’t want to swear brotherhood with me because I am too old. Boo hoo hoo …” Zhou Botong covered his face and cried, randomly pulling his beard.

Guo Jing nervously waved his hands, “Disciple will do whatever Senior instructed.”

Zhou Botong cried even harder. “You said that because of my coercion, you reluctantly agreed; that doesn’t count. When someone asks in the future, you will say that it was entirely my fault. I know you are not willing to call me your sworn brother.”

Guo Jing was secretly amused. How could such an old man not act his age? He saw him taking up a dish and tossed it outside, did not want to eat anymore. The old servant promptly picked it up; he didn’t know what was going on and he was terrified.

Guo Jing had no choice; suppressing his laugh he said, “Since Elder Brother had shown kindness, how could Little Brother not accept? Let us use the earth in place of incense; we become sworn brothers.”

Zhou Botong smiled through his tears. “I have sworn to Old Heretic Huang that as long as I cannot defeat him, I will never leave this hole except for bowel movement or urinating. I kowtow inside, you kowtow outside,” he said.

“If you fight Master Huang all your life, then you will live in this hole all your life?” Guo Jing thought; but he did not say anything; simply knelt down on the ground.

Zhou Botong knelt alongside; with a clear voice he said, “Today the Old Urchin Zhou Botong and Guo Jing are tying a brotherhood [lit. ‘jin lan’ – golden orchid]. We will share good fortune together and will face difficulty together. If I break this oath, may my martial art perish that I can’t even fight a puppy or a kitten.”

Guo Jing heard he called himself ‘Old Urchin’, and his oath was sort of peculiar; he could not restrain his smile. Zhou Botong stared at him. “What are you smiling at? Quickly say your oath.” Guo Jing quickly recited his oath; then two people poured down the wine on the ground. Guo Jing then paid his respect to his elder brother.

Zhou Botong laughed heartily and loudly shouted, “That’s enough! That’s enough!” He poured some more wine and drank. “The Old Heretic Huang is very stingy; he served me only insipid wine. One day a little miss came and brought me some good wine; it’s a pity she never came back.”

Guo Jing remembered Huang Rong told him she stole some wine and brought it to Zhou Botong, and because of that she was scolded by her father; which caused her to leave the island in anger. It looked like Zhou Botong was not aware of it. Guo Jing had been hungry for the whole day, he did not want to drink any wine; but he ate five big bowls of plain rice. Now at least he was full. As soon as two people finished eating, the old servant cleaned up and took the leftovers back.

“Brother,” Zhou Botong asked, “How did you offend the Old Heretic Huang? Tell your big brother.”

Guo Jing then narrated how he accidentally killed Chen Xuanfeng in his childhood; how at the Cloud Village he had fought and defeated Mei Chaofeng; how Huang Yaoshi made things difficult for the Six Freaks of Jiangnan; how because of that he had made a promise to come to the Peach Blossom Island within a month to die; he told Zhou everything.

Zhou Botong loved to listen to stories; he leaned his head and narrowed his eyes to focus, he listened with enthusiasm, when Guo Jing only recounted something briefly he would ask every detail of it. Every time Guo Jing paused even for the slightest time he urged him, “Then what happened?”

“Then I arrived here,” Guo Jing finally said.

Zhou Botong hesitated a moment. “Hmm, turned out that pretty little girl is the Old Heretic Huang’s daughter. She is good to you. Why did she disappear soon after arriving at the island? Must have a reason, maybe Old Heretic Huang lock her up.”

Guo Jing’s anxiety showed on his face, “Disciple also has this thought …”

“What did you say?” Zhou Botong snapped, his face changed color.

Guo Jing knew he made a mistake, quickly said, “Little brother made an indiscreet remark, please don’t mind me, Big Brother.”

Zhou Botong smiled. “The way you address me cannot be wrong. If you call me any name, then you’d better call me ‘wifey’, or ‘mommy’, or ‘daughter’. No, can’t make a mistake,” he said. Guo Jing agreed.

Zhou Botong leaned his head and asked, “Could you guess how I ended up being here?”

“Brother is just about to ask,” Guo Jing said.

“It’s a long story, I will tell you leisurely,” Zhou Botong said. “Do you know when the Eastern Heretic, Western Poison, Southern Emperor, Northern Beggar and the Central Divinity, the five experts were having a sword meet on Mount Hua?”

Guo Jing nodded, “I’ve heard people say that.”

“It was the dead of wintertime at Mount Hua,” Zhou Botong continued. “The peak was covered with heavy snow. Five people were having a meeting there; their hands contended in martial arts straight for seven whole days and nights. In the end the Eastern Heretic, Western Poison, Southern Emperor, and the Northern Beggar admitted that my martial brother, Wang Congyang’s martial art was number one in the world. Do you know why those five people were having that sword meeting at Mount Hua?”

“This, brother had not heard,” Guo Jing replied.

“It was because of a scripture …” Zhou Botong said.

“The Nine Yin Manual!” Guo Jing exclaimed.

“That’s right!” Zhou Botong said. “Brother, you are young, but your knowledge of Wulin matters is not shallow. Do you know the origin of the ‘Nine Yin Manual’, then?”

“That I actually do not know,” Guo Jing replied.

Zhou Botong playfully pulled his ears and long hair and his face showed that he was very pleased with himself. “A moment ago you told me a very interesting story, now …”

“What I told you was not a story; that was really happening to me,” Guo Jing interrupted.

“What is the difference? As long as it is good to listen to,” Zhou Botong said. “Some people spend their lives eating, sleeping, urinating and defecating. If those people tell me every single details of their life, the Old Urchin will die of suffocation.”

Guo Jing nodded his head. “That’s true,” he said. “Then why doesn’t Big Brother tell the story of the ‘Nine Yin Manual’ for little brother to hear.”

“The Emperor Hui Zong in the year of Zheng He wanted to compile Taoist books and scriptures from all over the world. He wanted to publish the work, which consisted of 5481 Chapters altogether. They were called the ‘wan shou dao zang’ [the Everlasting Life Taoist canon]. The Emperor commissioned someone to do the work; he was called Huang Shang …”

“He was also surnamed Huang?” Guo Jing asked.

“Bah! What’s so special about the family name Huang?” Zhou Botong spat. “This person had nothing to do with the Old Heretic Huang Yaoshi; don’t you have any wrong ideas. There are numerous people surnamed Huang in this world; that ‘huang’ [yellow] dog or yellow cat also surnamed Huang.”

Guo Jing thought that yellow dog and yellow cat did not necessarily have ‘huang’ as their surnames, but he did not want to debate him; so he let him continue with his story.

“This Old Heretic Huang is not as smart as that Huang Shang. He was extremely intelligent …” Zhou Botong continued. Guo Jing wanted to say, “It turned out he was also an extremely intelligent person,” but that thought stopped at his mouth.

“This Huang Shang was very afraid he might make any mistake in the writing of the canon; because if the Emperor found out later, he would surely lose his head. Therefore, he read and re-read each volume to make sure his work was error-free. Unexpectedly after several years of studying the scriptures he became very proficient in the Taoist doctrines; he had found the profound truth of martial arts. He did not have any master; he trained himself in internal and external energy cultivation and became a grand master in martial art. Brother, this Huang Shang was many times smarter than you are. I don’t have his kind of intelligence, and I don’t think you do too.”

“Naturally,” Guo Jing said. “If I were to study more than five thousand chapters of scripture; it will take me a life time just to read them from beginning to the end. How can I comprehend the martial art inside them?”

Zhou Botong sighed. “This kind of intelligent people still exist in the world today,” he said, “But if you meet this kind of people chances are you will face unfortunate events.”

Guo Jing did not agree with his view, he secretly thought, “Rong’er is very intelligent; but since I met her I have always found good luck; how can he say ‘unfortunate’?” But he was not the kind who likes to argue, so he kept his thought to himself.

“That Huang Shang had mastered the martial art, yet he still held an office in the government,” Zhou Botong continued. “There came a time when suddenly there arose a religious movement in the kingdom; they called themselves ‘ming jiao’ [Ming Cult] something. It was said that this movement was originated from central Asia; a place called Persia. The follower of this Ming Cult were: first – did not worship ‘tai shang lao jun’ [translator note: I think he was a Taoist Deity]; second – did not worship ancestor’s spirit; third – did not worship Buddha; they only worship old foreign devil. They did not eat meat nor drink wine; they were vegetarians. The Emperor Hui Zong only believed in Taoism; so as soon as he found out he issued an imperial decree assigning Huang Shang to eradicate this devil cult. Unexpectedly there were many martial art masters among the members of the cult. They were fearless of death and fought Huang Shang and his troops, rendered them useless. After several battles Huang Shang and his troops suffered big loss. Huang Shang was indignant. He went out and challenged the Devil Cult’s martial art masters on one-to-one combat. He personally killed several ‘fa wang’ [imperial priest – just like Jin Lun Fa Wang of RoCH and ‘kings’ of Ming Cult in HSDS] and some envoys. Who would have known that the people he killed were disciples of well-known Wulin characters, some were their martial uncles, aunts, brothers, sisters; or their immediate families. Of course these people were enraged and they came together to face him. They scolded him as not handling the affairs according to the Wulin custom. To which Huang Shang replied, ‘I am a government officer, and am not part of the Wulin world; what do I know about your Wulin custom?’ Those whom family or relative was killed argued, ‘If you are not part of the Wulin world, then how did you know martial art? Are you saying that your master only taught you martial art, but did not tell you anything about the Wulin custom?’ Huang Shang replied, ‘I don’t have any master.’ Of course they did not believe him; so they were involved in heated argument. What do you think happened?”

“They began to fight each other,” Guo Jing said.

“Without question, wasn’t it?” Zhou Botong said. “Huang Shang’s martial art was strange; none of his enemies had seen it. Because of this he could kill some of them quite easily. However, his enemies were numerous; he was also injured from the fight, so in desperation he ran away. Those enemies of him then wiped his parents, wife and children clean.”

Listening to this part Guo Jing heaved a sigh. He thought that people who practiced martial art would unavoidably kill others. This Huang Shang was no different; if he did not practice martial art, he would not experience such tragedy.

“That Huang Shang fellow had ran away to a deserted place and hid himself there,” Zhou Botong continued. “There he tried to remember his enemies’ martial art one by one. He painstakingly pondered on how to defeat each and every one of them. He thought that as soon as he succeeded in developing the martial art, he would go back and seek his revenge. A long time passed; finally he was able to master the new martial art. He was very happy; expecting that very soon he would be able to avenge his family. Thereupon he left the mountain to seek his enemies. But unexpectedly the people he was looking for had disappeared. Can you guess what happened to them?”

“Perhaps his enemies have found out his intention, and they knew his martial art was good, so they were scared and hid from him,” Guo Jing guessed.

Zhou Botong shook his head, “No, no. When my martial brother told me this story he also asked me to guess what happened, and I also said the same thing. I even made seven, eight guesses but none of them was right.”

“Well, if Big Brother guessed seven, eight times yet did not hit the target then I don’t have to make any guess at all; since even if I guessed seventy, eighty times I certainly cannot guess right,” Guo Jing said.

Zhou Botong roared in laughter, “No chance, you have no chance at all! All right, since you admit defeat I won’t ask you to guess anymore. Actually several dozens of his enemies had all died.”

Guo Jing uttered a cry of disbelief. “That’s strange! Could it be that his friends or maybe his disciples had avenged him and killed all his enemies?” he asked.

Again Zhou Botong shook his head, “No, no. You missed by a hundred and eight thousands li’s. He did not have any disciple. He was a government official, his friends were all scholars, not martial artists; how could they avenge him?”

Guo Jing scratched his head. “Could it be that they were plagued by some disease and died in some kind of epidemic?”

“Also incorrect. His enemies were scattered; some lived in Shandong, some came from Huguang, several were from Hebei and Liangzhe. How could they die from the same epidemic?” Zhou Botong asked, but then he exclaimed. “Ah! Yes, yes! That’s right! Some epidemic could kill you no matter where you are, even if you ran to the end of the earth. Can you guess what kind of epidemic was it?”

Guo Jing mentioned typhus, smallpox, dysentery, and six, seven other type of diseases; but Zhou Botong shook his head every time. Finally Guo Jing exclaimed, “Foot-and-mouth disease!” Then he faked surprise, covered his mouth, stood up and tapped his head with his left hand and burst into laughter. “I was kidding! Foot-and-mouth disease is the plague of the cattle at the Mongolian desert; it won’t attack human.”

Zhou Botong also burst in laughter. “The more you guessed the weirder you became. That Huang Shang looked everywhere before he finally found one of his enemies. She was a woman. When they fought, she was only about sixteen, seventeen years old young girl, but when Huang Shang found her, she was some sixty-year old granny …”

Guo Jing’s jaw dropped. “This is really weird! Ah, right, she must have disguised herself as and old lady so Huang Shang wouldn’t recognize her.”

“She did not disguise herself,” Zhou Botong answered. “Just think: Huang Shang had several dozens enemies, each one of them was a martial art expert, each came from a respectable martial art school or family. Can you imagine how profound and complicated each of their skills was? He wanted to defeat each person’s unique skill, just how much time did he painstakingly spend to achieve such result? He was hiding in a remote mountain area and diligently trained himself. Day and night only martial art occupied his mind, he did not care about anything else; unconsciously he had spent more than forty years altogether.”

“More than forty years?” Guo Jing was astonished.

“That’s right,” Zhou Botong asserted. “When you are absorbed in learning martial art, forty years will pass quite easily. I have been here for fifteen years yet did not feel like it was that long. Huang Shang saw that young girl turned into an old granny; his heart was heavy with emotion. That old lady was sick to the bone; she was bedridden and was dying. Without him moving his hand she would die in a few days. His heartache and hatred for dozens of years just vanished without a trace. Brother, everybody has to die. The epidemic I was asking you earlier was death. When your time comes, you cannot run away.”

Guo Jing silently nodded. Zhou Botong continued, “My martial brother and his seven disciples day in and day out dedicated themselves to achieve perfection of life. But tell me: is it really possible to cultivate a divine body that won’t see death? That was the reason I did not want to follow those ox-nosed way of living.”

Guo Jing was lost in thought. Zhou Botong continued, “Huang Shang’s enemies were about forty, fifty years of age; another forty years plus, how could they not die? Ha … ha … ha … Actually he did not have to trouble himself by training his martial art and developing new techniques; all he had to do was outlive his enemies. Forty plus years and the Heaven would take care of his personal enemies for him.”

Guo Jing nodded. “Well then, should I look for Wanyan Honglie to avenge my father, or should I not?” he wondered in his heart.

Zhou Botong again said, “However, learning martial art diligently could bring endless pleasure to one’s life. If one did not practice martial art, what other interesting thing worth doing? There are endless toys and gadgets in the world, but after playing for a while you will get bored eventually. Only martial art; the more you play, the more interesting it becomes. Brother, don’t you agree?”

Guo Jing only made an ‘hmm’ sound noncommittally, showing neither his approval nor disapproval. He admitted that knowing martial art could be fun; but it was also hard work. He had trained martial art since he was very young and he could not say the training was ‘fun’. He had to work and suffer hard; without a single leisure day.

Zhou Botong saw him did not show enthusiasm, “Why didn’t you ask me what happened next?” he asked.

Guo Jing hastily said, “Right! What happened next?”

Zhou Botong was sulking, “If you don’t prompt me every now and then I will lose my eagerness in telling you the story.”

“Yes, yes, Big Brother, what happened next?” Guo Jing prompted.

“That Huang Shang thought, ‘I realize I am old now, but do not have too many years of good works.’ He had taken these several dozens years in pain to master the martial art technique of almost every martial art schools in the world. But after all this years who would enjoy his works? How could he let his long-life’s work wasted just like that? Therefore, he decided to compile the techniques he had mastered into a two-volume book. What would that be?”

“What is it?” Guo Jing asked.

“Ay! Don’t tell me you cannot guess this one,” Zhou Botong said.

Guo Jing thought for a moment, then asked, “Is it the Nine Yin Manual?”

“We have talked for half a day about the origin of the Nine Yin Manual; why did you still ask?” scolded Zhou Botong.

Guo Jing smiled, “Well, Little Brother was afraid to make another incorrect guess.”

Zhou Botong continued, “After compiling the Nine Yin Manual, Huang Shang wrote it disguised as a literary book; my martial brother later found out. Huang Shang had hidden the book in a very secret place that for dozens of years nobody knew its existence. For some reasons later this book appeared and the Wulin world was troubled. Everybody wanted to get hold of the book. It was a dog-eat-dog situation. My martial brother said that the heroes who fought over this book and lost their lives came from all sides of the Wulin world; the number was over a hundred people. Every time someone got hold of it, before one could practice for half-a-year or a year, somebody else would find that person and snatched the book away. This cycle had repeated don’t know how many times; don’t know how many lives. The one who got it would try to avoid others, but the pursuers were so many and in the end they would always find that person. Sometimes they used force, sometimes used trickery; but I don’t know how many times the book had changed hands.”

“If that’s the case, then this book is actually the most damned thing for mankind,” Guo Jing said. “If Chen Xuanfeng did not have this book he would be able to live peacefully with Mei Chaofeng in some remote village; Island Master Huang would not look for him. If Mei Chaofeng did not have this book, she would not be in her wretched condition today.”

“Brother, why do you have such a negative feeling toward the book?” Zhou Botong asked. “The martial arts contained inside the Nine Yin Manual are very profound and divinely wonderful. If someone is able to learn even a little bit of it, how could that someone’s life not changed? Even though it had created a disaster; what does it have to do with it? Didn’t I say that not everybody was dead because of it?”

“Big Brother,” Guo Jing said, “That was because you are so fasc