Ambidextrous fighting.

Original translation by Sunnysnow

“Did you think my martial brother had become a ghost?” asked Zhou Botong, “Or did you think he came back to life again? No not at all. He was faking dead.”

“Ah!” Guo Jing gasped. “Faking dead?”

“Yes,” Zhou Botong answered. “A few days before he died, my martial brother found out that the Western Poison had been lurking around the temple, waiting for him to die so he could steal the book away. Therefore, my martial brother stopped his breathing by using his excellent internal energy and feigned death. He knew if he told his disciples they would not grieve convincingly. Western Poison is so crafty, he would see through the disguise straight away; that was the reason nobody knew martial brother’s plan. Anyway, my martial brother flew out from the coffin and struck Western Poison with ‘yi yang zhi’ [Solitary ‘Yang’ Finger]. Ouyang Feng clearly saw me when looking from outside the window; I was beside my martial brother’s dead bed. He obviously saw us placing the body inside the coffin. But now suddenly my martial brother jumped out of the coffin; he was so shocked that blood drained from his body. He was completely scared by my martial brother that he did not move. My martial brother’s Solitary ‘Yang’ Finger hit him on the eyebrow and broke his many years of training of the ‘ha ma gong’ [the toad stance]. Ouyang Feng then escaped back to the west and I’ve never heard him returning back to the Central Plains. My martial brother laughed long and hard; he sat cross-legged on the table. I knew launching the Solitary Yang Finger consumed a lot of his energy; so he needed to meditate and restore his strength, so I did not bother him. I ran outside and helping my martial nephews getting rid of the attacking enemies. My nephews heard that their master was not dead, their happiness was unspeakable. We rushed back into the temple but then we stopped dead on our track …”

“What happened?” Guo Jing asked nervously.

“I saw my martial brother’s body skewed to one side, his face looked strange,” Zhou Botong said. “I rushed and checked his pulse; his body was cold as ice. He was really dead this time. Martial brother’s last words were for us to divide the Nine Yin Manual into two parts: top and bottom, so that if somebody should steal it, not the whole book would be lost. I took the top part with the intention of hiding it later on, and brought the bottom part to south to hide it on a mountain peak somewhere. On my way south I came across the Old Heretic Huang.”

“Ah!” Guo Jing exclaimed.

“Even though Old Heretic Huang’s behavior is queer and he is very arrogant; he is unlike the Western Poison who knew no shame, dared to come and tried to steal the book away,” Zhou Botong said. “Old Huang happened to be with a lady who turned out to be his wife.”

“That must be Rong’er’s mother,” Guo Jing thought, “I wonder if she knew that her mother is involved in this matter”

“I saw them so happy together,” he heard Zhou Botong continued. “He said they were just married. I thought Old Heretic Huang was smart, what good does a wife for him? So I teased him about the marriage. Old Heretic Huang did not get angry; he even invited me to have a drink. I told him about how my martial brother played dead and wounded Ouyang Feng. Old Heretic Huang’s wife was listening to my story; she asked me if she could take a look at the book. She told me she did not understand any martial art, she was merely curious on what kind of book had caused the death of numerous masters of the Wulin world. Naturally I did not let her. Now the Old Heretic Huang loved his young wife very much, he wanted to make her happy, so he said to me, ‘Botong, this woman does not know martial art at all. She is still young and loves to see amusing thing. What’s the problem in letting her take a look? If I, Huang Yaoshi, cast a single glance toward your book, I will immediately gauge my eyeball and give it to you.’ Old Heretic Huang is a man who can be ranked among the best in the present age; his words without doubt carry a lot of weight. But to let somebody see the book is a grave matter, so I shook may head. Old Heretic Huang was not happy. He said, ‘How can it be that I didn’t understand your difficulty? If you agree to let my wife take a look, there will be time when this old Huang repay Quan Zhen Sect’s kindness. But if you don’t agree, that is entirely up to you. Who said that I have to have your friendship? I don’t even know any of your Quan Zhen disciples.’ I understood very well his meaning. This man will do what he says. He felt uncomfortable giving me a hard time, but he could make things difficult for Ma Yu, Qiu Chuji and the others. His martial art skill is too high; it was not a good idea to provoke his anger.”

“That’s true,” said Guo Jing. “Priest Ma, Priest Qiu and the others are not his match.”

Zhou Botong continued, “That time I said to him, ‘Old Heretic Huang, if you are angry come and find me, the Old Urchin. Why do you have to look for my martial nephews? Won’t that make you ‘the big bully the little’?’ His wife heard me mentioning my nickname, ‘the Old Urchin’, she burst into laughter and said, ‘Big Brother Zhou, you love to play around; let us forget this whole thing, let us just play around together. I don’t want to see your precious book anymore.’ She turned her head to Old Heretic Huang and said, ‘I think the Nine Yin Manual had been stolen by that Ouyang fellow, that’s why Big Brother Zhou could not show it to me. If you keep pestering him I am afraid you will only make him lose face.’ Old Heretic Huang smiled and said, ‘That’s right. Botong, let me help you find that old poison and deal with him. His martial art is above yours.’”

“Looks like Rong’er inherits her mother’s weird intelligence,” Guo Jing thought. To Botong he said, “They were just provoking you!”

“I know that!” said Zhou Botong, “But I don’t want to lose to them. So I said, ‘The book is in my possession; and I have no problem letting sister-in-law taking a look. But you said the Old Urchin cannot defend the book, you have to prove it to me.’ The Old Heretic Huang smiled, ‘If we fight, we might injure our friendship. You are the Old Urchin; let us just play like little kids.’ His wife already clapped her hands and called out, ‘Goody, goody! Why don’t you two compete in playing with marbles?’ before I could answer him”

Guo Jing showed a faint smile. Zhou Botong continued, “I am an expert in playing marbles; so I cried out, ‘Let’s play marbles then, do you think I am scared of him?’ Madame Huang smiled and said, ‘Big Brother Zhou, if you lose, you will let me take a look at your book. But if you win, what do you want?’ The Old Heretic Huang immediately said, ‘The Quan Zhen Sect has its treasure, don’t you think the Peach Blossom Island also have one?’ He took out a shiny black cloth, completely covered with thorns. Can you guess what this is?”

“Soft hedgehog armor [ruan wei jia],” Guo Jing said.

“That’s right, so you knew it,” Zhou Botong said. “The Old Heretic Huang said, ‘Botong, your martial art is outstanding, naturally you don’t need any protection; but someday you will meet a girl urchin, and soon will have little urchins. This soft hedgehog armor will be invaluable to protect the child; nobody will bully him. If you can beat me in marbles, this Peach Blossom Island treasure will be yours to keep.’ I said, ‘I won’t meet any girl urchin, naturally little urchin will not be born; but your soft hedgehog armor is famous in the Wulin world. If I win it, I will wear it outside my clothes, then I will wander around the Jianghu, let the people know that the Peach Blossom Island Master had lost in the Old Urchin’s hand.’ Madame Huang interrupted, ‘Don’t just talk, after both brothers play then we can talk again.’ So we reached an agreement. Each man had to put nine marbles into nine holes, so I made 18 holes altogether. Whoever put nine marbles first will win the game.”

Listening to this part Guo Jing recalled his own childhood playing marbles with his sworn brother Tuolei in the desert, a smile broke on his face. Meanwhile Zhou Botong continued, “I always carry plenty of marbles in my pocket, so we went outside to play our game. I paid close attention to Madame Huang’s movement, and I found out she really did not know any martial art. I went down and made some holes on the ground. I let Old Heretic Huang to choose his marbles first, and he did. Then we started our game. His special skill in the secret projectile, the ‘tan zhi shen tong’ [divine flicking finger] is still well known throughout the world. He knew his skill with small object was superior to mine. But he did not know that this game had a secret; there was slight difference in the way I made the holes. I made them in such a way that when a marble went in, it would jump right back out. You have to hit the marble with a perfect amount of strength; it had to be just right with a little bit of pulling force behind it, so the marble will stay in the hole.”

Guo Jing had never thought that playing marbles in the Central Plains would be so complicated; Mongolian kids would never be able to compete. He heard Zhou Botong proudly continued, “The Old Heretic Huang had launched three marbles, all were right on target. But as soon as they entered the holes they would jump back out. He did not know my secret. In the meantime I flicked five marbles and all went into the holes and stayed in the holes. His secret projectile skill was very good; he tried hard to catch me by flicking three more marbles, while I put another marble in the hole. I was already in the lead, how could I let him catch up? He was having a hard time with the marbles. Secretly I was smug, thinking that his defeat was imminent; even the Heaven wouldn’t be able to help him. Ay! Who knew that the Old Heretic Huang would use a dirty trick to gain victory? Can you guess what he did?”

“He hurt your hand using his superior martial art?” Guo Jing guessed.

“No, no,” Zhou Botong said. “The Old Heretic Huang is bad, but he is not stupid; he wouldn’t use such a foolish method. He knew he was going to lose, so he sent his energy into the marbles; he flicked three marbles and hit my last three. Mine were smashed while his marbles stayed intact.”

“Ah! Then you don’t have any marble left!” Guo Jing exclaimed.

“I have to helplessly watch him put his marbles one by one into the holes. Thus, I lost!” Zhou Botong said.

“But that didn’t count!” Guo Jing said.

“That was what I said,” Zhou Botong answered. “But Old Heretic Huang said, ‘Botong, we have agreed that whoever got all nine marbles inside the holes, he wins. Blame your own inadequacy! It was your own fault that you don’t have enough marbles to put into the holes. Therefore, you lost!’ I still think he was being deceitful, but I had to admit I didn’t expect his move. Also, even if I wanted to destroy his marbles I couldn’t do what he did; I can’t hit a marble without smashing my own. So secretly I admired his ability. I said, ‘Sister-in-law Huang, I will let you see the book, but I want it back by the sundown.’ I said that because I was afraid they would say, ‘We didn’t say how long we might borrow the book; we haven’t finished looking at it, why are you taking it back?’ When that happens, the book would be in their hands for ten, even a hundred years.

Guo Jing nodded his approval. “Right! Luckily Big Brother is smart and could foresee this. If it were me, I would fall into their scheme.”

Zhou Botong shook his head, “Speaking of smartness, who on earth can be compared to the Old Heretic Huang? I don’t know how he did it, but he managed to find a wife who was a smart as he is. That time Sister-in-law Huang only showed a faint smile, she said, ‘Big Brother Zhou, you are known as the Old Urchin, but you are smart. You are afraid it would turn out like Liu Bei borrowed the city of Jingzhou forever, aren’t you? Don’t you worry; I will sit right here and have a look in front of your eyes; I won’t hide in a secret place. If you are feeling uneasy, you can stay by my side and stand guard.’ I listened to her said such; I took the book from my pocket and handed it over to her. Sister-in-law Huang took it and walked to a tree, sat on an upturned rock.

The Old Heretic Huang saw I still had some trepidation on my face, he said, ‘Old Urchin, in this present age, how many people can defeat us, two people in martial arts?’ I replied, ‘Nobody can necessarily defeat you, but to defeat me, including you there are four, five people!’ Old Heretic Huang smiled, ‘You flattered me. Eastern Heretic, Western Poison, Southern Emperor and Northern Beggar four people, each one has his own strength, nobody could defeat anyone else. Ouyang Feng’s Toad Stance had already been broken by your martial brother; within ten years he won’t be able to compete with us. There is Iron Palm Floating over the Water, Qiu Qianren, I heard his martial art is good, but he did not attend the ‘hua shan lun jian’ [Sword Meet of Mount Hua], so I am not sure; but not necessarily his martial art is so superb. Old Urchin, I believe other than these people, you are number one in terms of martial art. If we unite our hands, nobody can beat us.’ I said, ‘Naturally!’ Old Heretic Huang then asked, ‘Why then, are you so anxious? With both of us standing right here, who in the world could come and steal your precious book away?’ I heard he was very reasonable, so I felt better.

I saw Madame Huang flipped one page after another, she read attentively from the beginning; her lips slightly moved which I thought a little funny. The Nine Yin Manual contains high-level secret of martial arts; even if she is well versed in literature, I am afraid she wouldn’t comprehend even half a word. She read slowly from the beginning to the end, taking her time. I became impatient waiting, until at last she flipped the last page. I thought she was done, but unexpectedly she turned to the first page and read again. But this time she read quickly, finished in only a time needed to drink a cup of tea. She gave that book back to me and smiled, ‘Big Brother Zhou, you have been deceived by the Western Poison; this is not the Nine Yin Manual!’ I was shocked. I asked, ‘What do you mean it isn’t? This is obviously left behind by my martial brother, it looks good to me!’ Madame Huang replied, ‘What use is its look? Ouyang Feng obviously swapped your book with this cheap copy on how to do fortune telling and divination’.”

“Could it be that Ouyang Feng had swapped the books before the Venerable Wang came out of the coffin?” Guo Jing asked.

“That was what I thought then,” Zhou Botong replied. “But I’ve already known for some time that Old Heretic Huang is very shrewd; I could not really believe what his mistress had said either. Madame Huang saw me stood silently; she knew I doubted her words, so she asked, ‘Big Brother Zhou, how do you know this is the real Nine Yin Manual?’ I told her, ‘Ever since my martial brother took possession of the book, nobody has ever seen the contents. Martial Brother had said that he fought for seven days and seven nights to avoid further bloodshed in the Wulin world, not for his personal gain. Therefore, he forbade Quan Zhen disciples to learn any martial art from the book.’ Madame Huang then said, ‘Venerable Wang had a just and upright heart; truly deserving an endless admiration. Even so, there are other people who would not hesitate to deceive him. Big Brother Zhou, you go ahead and take a look at the book.’ I hesitated, remembering my deceased martial brother’s last words I did not dare to defy. Madame Huang continued, ‘This is a book of divination that is available anywhere in Jiangnan; not worth half a ‘wen’ [currency, not sure the value]. Besides, even if this book is the real Nine Yin Manual, it is all right too look as long as you do not learn anything from it, isn’t it?’

So I opened the book and looked at the first page. To me the book seemed to be describing methods and techniques to practice martial arts; where was fortune telling and divination stuff? Madame Huang said, ‘I have played with this kind of book since I was five; I know the content from the beginning to the end. We the Jiangnan kids, nine out of ten are familiar with it. If you don’t believe me, just listen to this.’ Having said that words started flowing like water from her mouth; she recited the book from the beginning to the end. I looked at the book to see if she really was reciting it from memory. Indeed, not a single word was wrong. My body turned cold, like I was plunged into a hole full of ice. Madame Huang also said, ‘No matter which page you want me to recite, as long as you read the beginning, I can recite the rest for you. I have read this kind of book since I was little, I won’t forget its content.’ I pulled out several sections just as she said, and she did recite them without hesitation.

The Old Heretic Huang burst in laughter. I was really angry; I ripped the book to pieces and then burned it to ashes. Old Heretic Huang suddenly said, ‘Old Urchin, you don’t need to lose your urchin’s temper. Let me give you this soft hedgehog armor.’ I didn’t know I fell into his scheme; I thought I looked so sorry to him that he wanted to ease my feeling. I was still upset, besides, how could I take the treasure of Peach Blossom Island? So I only thanked him without taking his gift. I went back to my hometown and closed the door. I wanted to practice my martial art. I knew at that time that I was not Ouyang Feng’s match, so I determined to train hard for five years. I thought I would go the west to take the book back from the Western Poison. My martial brother left me the book and the old urchin could not keep it safe. How could I face martial brother in the underworld?”

“The Western Poison is so crafty, I know you must deal with him; but wouldn’t it be a lot better if you take Priest Ma, Priest Qiu and the others to come with you?” Guo Jing asked.

“Ay! I can only blame my own arrogance,” Zhou Botong said, “After suffering from humiliation I did not want to talk to Ma Yu and the others. If I did they would certainly see something was amiss. Several years later there arose a rumor among the Jianghu people that the Peach Blossom Island disciples, The Twin Killers of the Dark Wind had gotten hold of the Nine Yin Manual; they had mastered several kinds of exquisite martial arts from the book, and had created havoc everywhere. At first I did not believe it, but the rumor was getting stronger. A year later, Qiu Chuji came to my home. His visit was in connection with the Nine Yin Manual affair. He said that the book had really fallen into the Peach Blossom Island disciples’ hands. I was fuming mad and said, ‘Old Heretic Huang is not worthy to be my friend!’ Qiu Chuji was taken aback, ‘Martial Uncle, why did you say Huang Yaoshi was not worthy to be your friend?’ I told him, ‘He went to get the book back from Western Poison without consulting me, and did not give the book back to me.’”

“I think he intended to do it, but right after he got the book back it was stolen by his renegade disciples,” Guo Jing reasoned. “I know he was quite angry because of this, that he cut the legs’ ligament of his other innocent disciples and expelled them from his school.”

Zhou Botong shook his head. “You are as naive as I was, if this affair happened to you, you would surely be bullied without knowing it,” he said. “That day Qiu Chuji discussed martial arts with me, we talked at length before he finally left. Two months later he suddenly reappeared. He had visited Chen Xuanfeng and Mei Chaofeng, the couple that had stolen the Old Heretic Huang’s book. They were practicing ‘Nine Yin White Bone Claw’ and ‘Heart Destroying Palm’, two evil martial arts. He took a big risk to eavesdrop the Twin Killers of the Dark Wind’s conversation and found out that Old Heretic Huang did not get the book from Ouyang Feng. Not at all. He stole it from my own hands.”

“You have obviously burned the book. Did Madame Huang swap the books, and gave you the fake one?” Guo Jing asked.

“I have guarded against that possibility early on,” Zhou Botong said. “When Madame Huang looked at the book, I did not dare to leave even half a step from her side. She did not know martial art. Even if her hands and feet were swift she could not get away from us who practice secret projectiles. No, she did not make the swap; she merely recorded it I her mind!”

Guo Jing did not understand. “How did she record it?” he asked.

Zhou Botong answered his question with another, “Brother, when you are reading a book, how many times do you have to read until you committed what you read into your memory?”

“If it is easy then maybe thirty, forty times. If it is difficult or long, probably seventy, eighty times, even a hundred times. Even after I read it for more than 100 times, I still cannot guarantee its accuracy,” Guo Jing replied.

“Speaking of brain power, I am afraid you cannot be considered smart,” Zhou Botong said.

“Your Brother is dumb by nature,” Guo Jing admitted. “Doesn’t matter whether I am studying literature or martial art, I am always very slow.”

Zhou Botong sighed. “Let’s not talk about studying literature,” he said. “Just talk about practicing martial arts. When you learned a fist or palm technique, didn’t your masters have to teach you dozens of time before you could understand it?”

Guo Jing’s face was red from shame. “That’s true,” he said. “Sometimes I knew it, but couldn’t remember; sometimes I remembered it, but could not apply.”

“But there are people in the world who by simply watching other people do a stance will be able to remember it forever,” Zhou Botong said.

“Totally correct!” Guo Jing exclaimed. “Island Master Huang’s daughter is just like that. When Benevolent Master Hong taught her martial art, at most he would teach her twice, very seldom he had to repeat the lesson three times.”

“This girl is so smart,” Zhou Botong slowly said, “Let’s just hope she won’t share her mother’s short life! That day when Madame Huang borrowed my book she only read twice, yet she did not miss a single word. After we bade farewell she wrote down everything for her husband to see.”

Guo Jing could not restrain his amazement, he was silent for a while only to say, “Madame Huang did not understand what she was reading; yet she was able to memorize the whole thing. How can there be such an intelligent person on the earth?”

“I am afraid your little friend that Huang girl is also capable of doing that,” Zhou Botong said. “Anyway, after listening to Qiu Chuji I was ashamed. Immediately I summoned the Quan Zhen Sect’s seven first generation disciples to discuss this matter over. Everybody agreed we should deal with the Twin Killers of The Dark Wind to get the book back from them. Qiu Chuji said, ‘Those Twin Killers of The Dark Wind’s martial art skills may be high, but they won’t necessarily be victorious over Quan Zhen Sect’s disciples. They are your junior, Martial Uncle does not need to go into action personally; otherwise the heroes of Jianghu would say that the older generation bullied the younger one.’ I thought he was right, so I assigned one or two of them to find the Twin Killers of The Dark Wind; while the rest shadowed from the side to guard against the twin killers escaping.”

Guo Jing nodded his head in agreement, “If all the Quan Zhen Seven Masters went into action the Twin Killers of The Dark Wind wouldn’t have any chance.” His mind wandered to the time Priest Ma Yu along with his six masters masquerading as the Quan Zhen Seven Masters atop the Mongolian barren hill.

“They pursued the twin killers as far as Henan, when unexpectedly those two disappeared,” Zhou Botong continued. “The Quan Zhen Seven tried to find information, turned out another disciple of Old Heretic Huang, Lu Chengfeng had gathered dozens of heroes and valiant people of the Central Plains to fight those two with the intention of capturing them and send them back to the Peach Blossom Island and hand them over to the Old Heretic Huang. Nevertheless, they were still able to escape and vanished without a trace.”

“No wonder Village Master Lu hated his martial brother and martial sister so much; he was expelled innocently from his school,” Guo Jing said.

“Since I couldn’t find the Twin Killers of The Dark Wind, naturally I looked for Old Heretic Huang. I carried along the first volume of the Nine Yin Manual, because I was afraid I might lose this one as well. Upon arrival at the Peach Blossom Island I scolded the Old Heretic Huang, but he said, ‘Botong, Huang Yaoshi always meant what he says. I had said I wouldn’t cast a glance at your book; when did I look at your book? The Nine Yin Manual that I saw was the one recorded by my wife, certainly not your book.’ His words sounded reasonable, but I was furious, so I spoke harsh words to him and asked to talk to his wife. He smiled bitterly, and led me to the main hall. As soon as we were there I was shocked. Turned out Madame Huang had passed away. There in the main hall was her memorial tablet.

I was going to pay my respect to her spirit, but Old Heretic Huang sneered and said, ‘Old Urchin! You don’t have to be pretentious on my face. If not because of your damned ‘gou pi zhen jing’ [dog fart manual] my wife wouldn’t have left me.’ I was startled, ‘What?!?’ I asked. He didn’t answer, only looking at me with angry eyes; but then tears started rolling down his cheeks. After a long while, he started to tell me what really happened.

Initially Madame Huang recorded the book for the first time for her husband’s sake. Huang Yaoshi then found out that the book in his hands was the second volume; which was harmful to train without knowing the first volume. So he decided to set the book aside while he was trying to get hold of the first volume. Who would have thought that the book would be stolen by Chen Xuanfeng and Mei Chaofeng? Madame Huang wanted to comfort her husband, so she quietly determined to rewrite the whole book.

First of all, she did not understand the meaning of what she wrote; she merely memorized the words. Secondly, it had been several years since she wrote it for the first time; how could she remember everything? At that time she was entering the eighth month of her pregnancy. After painstakingly thinking hard she was able to re-write about seven, eight thousand words, but not every word was accurate. Her heart and mind were exhausted; and because of that she gave birth to a baby girl prematurely. The baby was healthy, but her condition was like a lantern ran out of oil. Even though Huang Yaoshi’s skill was peerless, in the end, he was not able to save his beloved wife’s life.

Old Heretic Huang always loves to vent his anger and blame others; during this time his wife had passed away, he was like a madman; talked incoherently to me. I knew his was grieving badly, so I did not want to argue with him. I simply smiled and said to him, ‘You are a pugilist, yet you put too much feeling toward husband and wife relationship. Aren’t you afraid you are becoming the laughing stock of other people?’ ‘My wife was different,’ he said. I told him, ‘Your wife died, this is the best time to train your martial art. If it were me, that was exactly what I expected. The earlier your wife died the better. Congratulations! Congratulations!’”

“Ah!” Guo Jing gasped. “How could you say such thing?”

Zhou Botong eyes rolled, “I said what I was thinking; what’s wrong with that?” he snapped. “But that Old Heretic Huang got angry, without saying anything he struck me with his palm and we fought. In the end I had to stay in this stupid place for fifteen years.”

“Did you lose to him?” Guo Jing asked.

Zhou Botong smiled, “If I win, I won’t be here. He hit me until I was spitting up blood. I ran away until I found this cave. He pursued me, wanted to break my legs, He wanted to snatch the first volume of the Nine Yin Manual to be burned in front of his wife’s memorial tablet. I hid the book inside the hole and sat at the cave entrance guarding. I said that if he resorted to force I would destroy the book immediately. He said, ‘I will find a way to force you out of there.’ I said, ‘We’ll see!’

Just like that and I have been here for fifteen years. This man is arrogant, and he is not desperate yet, so I am sure he won’t put poison in my food. But he had used every means possible to force me out of here. I leave the cave only to urinate and defecate, he won’t have any opportunity to sneak in. Only I have to live with this stench. Sometimes I pretend to have a bowel movement. His heart itches to lay his fingers in, but he ended up enjoying the smelly thing.” He ended his narration by laughing heartily.

Listening to his story Guo Jing was fascinated. He found this big brother of his to be smart and witty. Zhou Botong continued, “After fifteen years he started to attack my heart and mind, but so far I was able to defend myself. Only last night I was almost fallen; fortunately ghost or angel has brought you here and helped me. If not, this book would certainly fall into Old Heretic Huang’s hands. Ay! Old Heretic Huang’s ‘jade-colored tidal wave song’ contains a strong internal energy, very profound.”

Guo Jing listened to him recounting this gratitude and grudges; his heart was troubled. “Big Brother, what will you do now?” he asked.

Zhou Botong smiled, “I will just continue our competition. We’ll see if Old Heretic Huang will outlive me, or I’ll live a few years longer than he will. I told you the life story of Huang Shanga moment ago; he had outlived all his enemies.”

Guo Jing felt it was not a good idea, but he didn’t have anything better, so he asked, “How come Priest Ma Yu and the others did not come to rescue you?”

“Most probably they don’t even know I am here,” Zhou Botong said. “Even if they do, the vegetation