they did not dare to carelessly ignore the offensive energy from the flute.

The flute sound was suddenly turning high and low; ever changing, strange yet wonderful. Suddenly Guo Jing felt a burst of cold air flying in, carried by the flute sound. He felt like his body was wrapped by a thick layer of ice, which sent him shivering profusely.

The flute sound gently climbed up the hill, getting more and more intense. Guo Jing felt cold to his bone. He struggled hard to divert his mind into thinking about a burning sun in the sky, or touching an iron exposed to the heat of the day, or holding a burning coal in his hand, or that he was entering a very hot stove; in short, all kinds of heat inducing thought. He succeeded. Huang Yaoshi saw Guo Jing’s left side was blue, shivering from the cold, while his right side was red, sweltering from the heat.

Huang Yaoshi was secretly amazed. Once again he changed the flute sound, now the winter had passed, and the summer came around. Guo Jing struggled hard to resist, but his clapping tempo started to follow the flute rhythm. Huang Yaoshi said in his heart, “If this kid keep on resisting like this – even though he is still young, he won’t be able to withstand hot and cold successively; he will suffer a severe illness in the future.” The flute sound turned graceful, dispersed into the forest, and stopped.

Guo Jing exhaled a long breath, stood up and staggered; nearly fell again to the ground. Only after taking several deep breaths did he manage to steady himself. He knew Huang Yaoshi was showing mercy; so he stepped forward, bowed and thanked him. “Thank you very much for showing mercy, Island Master Huang,” he said, “Disciple is very grateful.”

Huang Rong noticed Guo Jing’s left hand was still holding his shoe; could not stifled her laugh, “Brother Jing, put your shoe back,” she said.

“Yes,” Guo Jing replied, finally put the shoe back on his left foot.

A thought suddenly came into Huang Yaoshi’s mind, “This kid is so young, yet his martial art is actually quite profound. Could it be that he was just pretending to be a fool, but in reality is a very intelligent person? If that’s the case, what would hinder me if I want to give my daughter to her?” A faint smile appeared on his face and he said, “You are very good, why do you still call me Island Master Huang?” Obviously he was saying that since Guo Jing had won two out of three tests, then Guo Jing should call him ‘Father-in-law’.

Who would have thought that Guo Jing was really did not have any clue what he was talking about, so he only stammered, “I … I …” his eyes looked at Huang Rong; asking for help. Huang Rong was in the seventh heaven; she bent her right thumb, signaling Guo Jing he should kowtow. Guo Jing understood this signal, so he bent his knees and kowtowed four times to Huang Yaoshi, but he still did not open his mouth to speak.

Huang Yaoshi smiled and asked, “What do you kowtow to me for?”

“Rong’er told me to,” Guo Jing honestly answered.

Huang Yaoshi silently sighed, “A dumb kid is a dumb kid,” he thought. Extending his hand he took the silk handkerchiefs from Ouyang Ke’s ears, and gave his decision. “Regarding internal energy, Guo Xianzhi is stronger; but my test subject was music knowledge, in which Ouyang Xianzhi is much better … Let’s just say that the second test was a draw. I am going to present the third subject, let two Xianzhis decide victory or defeat.”

Ouyang Feng knew his nephew had lost, but he did not expect Huang Yaoshi would give him favor, so he quickly replied, “True, true! Let them compete one more time.”

Hong Qigong was upset but didn’t say anything, he thought, “The girl is your own daughter, and others can’t meddle in if you want to give her to that rotten playboy. I always want to fight you, but right now it is difficult for my two fists to fight your four hands. Wait till I ask Emperor Duan to help me. We’ll see …”

Huang Yaoshi produced a thin book with red silk cover from his bosom and said, “My wife and I only have this one daughter. Unfortunately she had died prematurely. Today Feng Xiong and Qi Xiong are both here to ask her hand in marriage. If my wife were here, I am sure she would be very delighted …” Listening to her father speak, Huang Rong’s eyes turned red. Huang Yaoshi continued, “This book was written by my wife, the same year she passed away. It was the fruit of her hard work. I am going to let both Xianzhis to read it, then recite it back from memory. Whoever manage to recite the most will be betrothed to my daughter.” He caught a sight of Hong Qigong had a slight cold smile on his face, but he continued on, “Actually, Guo Xianzhi had won by one subject, but this book has impacted my life tremendously; my wife died because of it. Now I silently wish her soul in heaven would personally choose our son-in-law; that she would bless the Xianzhi to win.”

Hong Qigong could not hold his patience much longer, he shouted loud and clear, “Old Heretic Huang! Who want to listen to your crummy ghost story? You knew perfectly well my disciple is a dummy; does not know book or poetry, yet you insist on testing him on that very subject, then frightening him with your died young wife. You are shameless!” He brushed his long sleeve and turned his body to walk away.

Huang Yaoshi sneered, “Qi Xiong, if you come to the Peach Blossom Island to flaunt your power, you still need to practice for several more years,” he coldly said.

Hong Qigong stopped dead on his track, “What?” he raised his eyebrows, “You want to fight me?” he asked.

“You don’t understand ‘wu xing qi men’ [lit. five ways strange/wonderful gates, don’t know the correct translation] techniques,” Huang Yaoshi replied, “If not by my permission, don’t even think of leaving this island alive.”

Hong Qigong was angry, “I am going to burn down your stinky trees and flower bushes!”

“If you have the ability, go ahead and try!” Huang Yaoshi coldly challenged.

Guo Jing saw those two were about to fight, he also knew that the Peach Blossom Island was really not to be trifled with; he was afraid his master would fall into an enemy trap on the island. Quickly he stepped forward and said, “Island Master Huang, Shifu, let disciple and big brother Ouyang compete in this book memorization contest. Disciple is really stupid, if I lose, I lose.” But in his heart he was thinking, “I’ll wait till Shifu is save, then Rong’er and I will jump into the sea, we will swim as far as our strength would take us; then we will die together in the sea.”

“Great!” Hong Qigong said mockingly, “You just can’t wait to lose face, can you? Be my guest, then! Be my guest.” His thought was, ‘if you are going to lose anyway, why compete?’ so he intended to take his disciples along, three people just walked away to the seashore, snatched a boat and sailed away from the island. Who would have thought that the stupid disciple of his could not act according to the circumstance? He had no alternatives but conceded.

“Be a good girl and sit quietly; and don’t you have any weird ideas,” Huang Yaoshi told his daughter.

Huang Rong did not say anything, but she expected Guo Jing would fail this next test. Her father said that he would let her deceased mother to pick their son-in-law; then the previous two tests Guo Jing had won did not count at all. Among the three tests, Guo Jing had obviously won the second one, so the decision that it was a draw was hard to accept. In short, she believed that the reason her father insisted on administering the third test was so that Ouyang Ke would win. So she started to cook an escape plan; how would she take Guo Jing out of the island.

Huang Yaoshi told Ouyang Ke and Guo Jing to sit side by side on a big rock; then he presented the book in front of them. Ouyang Ke saw on the cover was written in the seal characters [the ones found on official documents] these six characters, ‘jiu yin zhen jing’ [Nine Yin Manual]; he was ecstatic. “This Nine Yin Manual is the world’s most profound martial arts manual; Father-in-law must be very fond of me to let me read this wonderful book.” Guo Jing, on the other hand, also saw the six characters but had no idea what they were; he thought, “He intentionally wants to make things difficult for me. How do I know this kind of curving-tadpole characters? In any case I am going to admit defeat.”

Huang Yaoshi opened the cover and the book was actually written in normal/modern characters. The handwriting was graceful; obviously written by a female hand. Guo Jing started to read and his heart skipped a beat. The first line read, “The way of the Heaven: A simple fix is not enough to repair damage; it truly is an empty victory, insufficient for a real one.” [?not sure?] It was exactly the sentence Zhou Botong told him to memorize. He looked further down, and to his surprise, the sentences were the ones he had already known by heart.

Huang Yaoshi waited a moment, and when he thought the two had finished, he flipped the page. On the second page the words and phrases were slightly out of order; and further down the book, the sentences were becoming more confusing while the characters looked soft and weak.

Guo Jing’s heart was shaken again, he recalled Zhou Botong’s story on how Madame Huang had re-written the Nine Yin Manual from memory, and how it drained her emotionally and physically that she died while giving birth to her child. This book was obviously the one she wrote before she died. “Could it be that what Big Brother Zhou taught me was the Nine Yin Manual?” he wondered in his heart. “No. It can’t be. The second volume of Nine Yin Manual is lost in Mei Chaofeng’s hands; where did he get it from?”

Huang Yaoshi saw him staring blankly; lost in thought, even looked dazed; he did not pay any attention and slowly turned the page one by one. At first Ouyang Ke was able to memorize what was written, but later on when it got to the training method the sentences were garbled; there was no clear relation between the previous to the next ones. Further down the book, even the characters were unclear. His heart sank; he could not help sighing inwardly, “Turned out he is still unwilling to show me the real full-text Manual.” But then he had another thought, “Even though I can’t see the full Manual, but compared to this dumb kid I am sure I have memorized more text. In this test my victory has been decided.” Having this thought he felt smug and could not help to cast a glance toward Huang Rong.

Huang Rong caught his glance and she stuck her tongue out, making an ugly face. “Brother Ouyang,” she said, “You have captured Sister Mu and put her inside the coffin at that ancestral temple. You have suffocated her to death. She came into my dream last night; her hair disheveled, her face full of blood; and she told me she is looking for you, she wanted to take your life.”

Ouyang Ke had long ago forgotten about her; out of the blue Huang Rong mentioned her name, he was startled, “Aiyo! I forgot to get her out of there!” He thought in his heart, “It’s a pity a young girl like her died of suffocation.” But then he saw Huang Rong was smiling, apparently she was joking. “How did you know she was in the coffin? Did you rescue her?” he asked.

Ouyang Feng knew Huang Rong was trying to divide his nephew’s mind, so that he would not be able to remember the text. “Ke’er,” he said, “Don’t bother with other matters, just concentrate on the book.” Ouyang Ke shivered. “Yes,” he said; and quickly turned his eyes back to the book.

Guo Jing noticed that the sentences on the book were exactly the same as the ones Zhou Botong taught him. The ones in his memory even had better integrity than the ones on the book, since the book contained so many holes – incomplete sentences and missing words, in it. He raised his head and looked up at the tree branches, trying to make any sense out of it all.

A little while later Huang Yaoshi turned the last page. “Who will recite first?” he asked.

Ouyang Ke thought, “This book is confusing, very difficult to memorize. I’d better recite it while it is still fresh in my memory.” Snatching the opportunity he said, “I will.”

Huang Yaoshi nodded his head, then to Guo Jing he said, “Please go to that bamboo groove over there. You cannot listen to him reciting.”

Guo Jing obeyed him and walked dozens of steps toward the bamboo groove. Huang Rong saw this as a good opportunity to escape together, so quietly she walked toward him. But suddenly Huang Yaoshi called out, “Rong’er, come here! You have to listen to them recite, otherwise you’d say I am one-sided.”

“You are one-sided,” Huang Rong replied, “You don’t need other people to say that.”

“That’s nonsense!” Huang Yaoshi laughed, “Come here!”

With her mouth Huang Rong said, “I don’t want to come,” but she knew her father’s temperament very well; once he decided to keep her under his watchful eyes, it would be more difficult for her to escape. So slowly she walked toward them, giving Ouyang Ke her sweetest smile and said, “Brother Ouyang, what good do I have that you like me very much?”

Ouyang Ke’s heart melted, his vision blurred, grinning wide he replied, “Little sister, you … you …” he could not say more than that.

“Don’t go back to the west too soon,” Huang Rong added, “Stay in the Peach Blossom Island for several days. The west is very cold, isn’t it?”

“The west is much bigger than you think, there are some cold regions, no doubt, but other parts are warm and sunny, much like the south (Jiangnan),” Ouyang Ke replied.

“I don’t believe you,” Huang Rong smiled, “You love to deceive people.”

Ouyang Ke was about to debate her, but Ouyang Feng coldly said, “Child, you can chat again later; right now you need to recite the book.”

Ouyang Ke was startled; he realized that Huang Rong’s disturbance was intended to confuse him, and indeed he had forgotten many characters of the confusing parts. Therefore, he refocused his attention and slowly recited the book. “The way of the Heaven: A simple fix is not enough to repair damage; it truly is an empty victory, insufficient for a real one …”

His memory was really good; he managed to remember most of the theory in the front, but toward the back of the book – where the training method was explained, he missed a lot. It was not surprising actually, since Madame Huang did not know martial arts and it was some times later that she re-wrote the book from memory, so the words were jumbled. Ouyang Ke only managed to recall about 10% of this later part. Plus, on the side Huang Rong kept trying to divert his attention by saying, “Not right! You remembered wrong!” He could not even remember 10% toward the back of the book.

Huang Yaoshi smiled and said, “You can remember that much and that was very good!” Raising his voice he called out, “Guo Xianzhi, it’s your turn to recite.”

Guo Jing walked back, seeing the smug expression on Ouyang Ke’s face he thought, “This man is really smart, he only read once, yet he can recite these mumbo-jumbo texts. I don’t have that capability, so I’d better recite the ones Big Brother Zhou taught me. If that is incorrect, oh well … I don’t have any choice.”

Hong Qigong said, “Stupid kid, they intentionally want to make a scene out of us; they have planned it all.”

Suddenly Huang Rong kicked the ground and leaped to the top of the bamboo pavilion. With a flick of her hand she pointed a dagger to her own chest and said, “Father, if you insist on me going to the west with that stinky boy, I will die right here right now in your presence.”

Huang Yaoshi knew his precious daughter would do what she said; he called out, “Put that dagger down! We can talk it over.”

Ouyang Feng stomped his staff to the ground and with a humming sound something flew from the staff straight toward Huang Rong. The secret projectile was very fast; before Huang Rong could see what it was, she had already heard a clanking sound and the dagger flew from her hand, fell down to the ground. At the same time Huang Yaoshi had leaped to the top; stretched his hand and grab his daughter’s shoulder and softly said, “It’s all right if you don’t want to get married. You can stay on the Peach Blossom Island and accompany your father for the rest of your life.”

Huang Rong flayed her arms and legs, crying, “Father, you don’t love Rong’er! You don’t love Rong’er!”

Hong Qigong was amused seeing this Huang Yaoshi who roamed the lake and the sea fearlessly, who killed people without batting an eye, was actually having trouble controlling his own daughter. He could not help laughing so hard.

Ouyang Feng thought, “I will wait for the final decision, then I’ll take care of this Old Beggar and that boy surnamed Guo. We’ll sort other things later. This girl acts like a spoiled brat, what do I care?” Thus he said, “Guo Xianzhi’s martial art skill is excellent, he is a real young hero. His intelligence must be excellent as well. Yao Xiong, you’d better ask him to recite.”

“Exactly right!” Huang Yaoshi said, “Rong’er, if you keep babbling you will disturb Guo Xianzhi’s concentration.” Huang Rong closed her mouth immediately.

Ouyang Feng wanted to humiliate Guo Jing very much. “Guo Xianzhi, please start reciting. We are going to listen respectfully right here,” he urged.

Guo Jing’s face reddened, he thought, “I can’t do it; I’d better recite what Big Brother Zhou taught me.” Thereupon he started reciting, “The way of the Heaven: A simple fix is not enough to repair damage; it truly is an empty victory, insufficient for a real one …” He had recited the Nine Yin Manual from top to bottom hundreds of time before; by now it was already ingrained in his brain. He recited slowly but steadily, no hesitation at all.

About half a page later everybody was stunned; they thought, “This kid seemed slow and dim-witted, who would have known that he is actually very smart.”

Very soon Guo Jing had already reached the fourth page. Hong Qigong and Huang Rong knew very well that Guo Jing did not have that kind of intelligence; they did not know what had possessed him, but they were pleasantly and extremely surprised.

Huang Yaoshi listened attentively and compared every word with the ones in the book. He found out that Guo Jing’s sentences were ten times more logical; firmly resembled the original text that he remembered. His heart turned cold and unconsciously he broke in cold sweats. “Could it be that my deceased wife’s spirit in the underworld is so smart that she managed to recall the full text and passed it on to this boy?” The words kept coming out of Guo Jing’s mouth like trickling water. Huang Yaoshi was started to be convinced that his wife’s spirit did help this youngster; he looked up to the sky and softly muttered, “A Heng, A Heng, you loved me very much that you have used this boy’s mouth to impart the manual to me. But why didn’t you let me see a glimpse of you? I played my flute every night for you; did you hear that?”

‘A Heng’ was Madame Huang’s nickname; nobody else but him knew this; so naturally everybody else did not know what he was talking about. They saw his face looked different; his eyes glazed in tears, his mouth quivered but nothing came out of it; they were puzzled.

After being in that dazed condition for a while Huang Yaoshi suddenly had another thought. He waved his hand to stop Guo Jing. His face was as cold as if there was a layer of frost on it; fiercely he asked, “The Nine Yin Manual that Mei Chaofeng lost; where did you find it?”

Guo Jing saw his eyes had a murderous look; he was really scared. “Disciple really does not know Mei … Senior Mei’s Manual’s whereabouts. If I do, I will gladly help to retrieve it and return it to the Island Master.”

Huang Yaoshi looked at him with his penetrating gaze, yet did not see even the slightest bit of deceitfulness on Guo Jing’s face. He was compelled to believe it was his late wife from the underworld who taught Guo Jing; he was feeling joyful and grieved at the same time. With a loud and clear voice he gave his verdict, “Very well. Qi Xiong, Feng Xiong, it was my deceased wife who chose our son-in-law; your brother did not have anything else to say. Child, I betroth Rong’er to you. Treat her well. I have spoiled Rong’er badly, so you need to yied 30% of the time.”

Huang Rong was ecstatic, she was grinning from ear to ear, “I am a completely well-behaved girl, who said I am badly spoiled?”

Guo Jing might be stupid, he might be slow, but this time he did not need Huang Rong to prompt him; he immediately kneeled down and kowtowed, “Father-in-law!”

He had not stood back up yet when Ouyang Ke suddenly called out, “Hold on!”