t of defeat; listening him open up his mouth in foul language, anger started to rise up her chest, she called out, “Scold me again if you have guts!”

The Seven Freaks of Jiangnan grew up in the marketplace where all kinds of people buy and sell, cursing each other for generations, what was so difficult about scolding other people? Ke Zhen’e hated Huang Yaoshi, father and daughter; listened to her say so, immediately his extensive vocabulary of malicious words flew out of his mouth. Huang Rong had always lived alone since she was little; she never had any experience with this kind of foul language. To her advantage she was very intelligent so that each time Ke Zhen’e scolded she was able to figure out what he was talking about and even scold him back; but afterwards the more she listened the more she could not talk back, because the more she did not understand. She spat and said, “Shame on you! You are someone’s shifu yet you are not afraid to have a filthy mouth.”

Ke Zhen’e scolded back, “With a clean person the old man talks clean words, with stinky and lowly people I speak filthy words! You are a filthy person, so the old man here talks even dirtier words.”

Huang Rong was angry; she raised her bamboo stick toward Ke Zhen’e’s face. Ke Zhen’e returned the attack with his iron staff; who would have thought that the Dog Beating Stick Technique was extremely marvelous beyond his imagination. Only several moves later his iron staff was completely under Huang Rong’s control, using the ‘lead’ letter of the technique; as the stick went east the staff went east, when the stick went west the staff followed, it totally did not have the mind of its own.

Ke Zhen’e was occupying the ‘tian xuan’ position of the Formation. As soon as his movement was restrained, the entire formation’s movement was somewhat restricted. Qiu Chuji’s flickering sword stabbing Huang Rong’s back, his intention was to help Ke Zhen’e; but Huang Rong relied on the armor she was wearing, to his surprise she ignored the stab, changing her stick movement she sent out three stances in succession. Qiu Chuji’s sword was about to touch her clothes when he suddenly thought, “What kind of person is the Old Qiu, how can I harm this little girl?” The tip of his sword touched Huang Rong’s back, but he did not push further.

Taking advantage of this slight hesitation Huang Rong’s bamboo stick pulled Ke Zhen’e’s iron staff. Borrowing his ‘fu mo zhang fa’ [demon subduing staff technique] energy Huang Rong push the staff down and then jerked it up to the left. Ke Zhen’e was not able to control his strength; the staff left his grasp and flew to the air, ‘splash!’ it fell into the Nan Hu [South Lake].

Wang Chuyi was afraid Huang Rong might use this opportunity to harm Ke Zhen’e; he rushed in front of Ke Zhen’e with his sword blocking in front of his chest. Although his experience was vast, he had never seen the Dog Beating Technique before, so he was caught in surprise.

Seeing his master suffer a setback, Guo Jing called out, “Da Shifu, go and take a rest, I’ll fight for you.” Leaving the north polar star position he jumped into the ‘tian xuan’ position. By this time his martial art skill had already exceeded those of the Quanzhen Masters, plus he was familiar with the Big Dipper method; so as soon as he made his move the Formation’s power increased substantially.

Actually the Big Dipper Formation revolved around the ‘tian quan’ position, but as soon as he entered, the key position moved to ‘tian xuan’ position, and the Formation’s movement was altered. This modification was actually inferior to the original movement, but in this short moment Huang Yaoshi was not able to find a way to penetrate the formation’s airtight defense; although he had his daughter to help, they were defending themselves with difficulty. Luckily for the most part the Quanzhen Masters took a defensive position; Guo Jing was the only one who fought with his life, forcing Huang Yaoshi to reluctantly face him.

Guo Jing kept pressing forward, forcing Huang Yaoshi to fight a tight battle. With the Quanzhen Masters backing Guo Jing up, Huang Yaoshi was not able to inflict any injury to him, and was forced to use his ‘qing gong’ [lightness kungfu] to evade Guo Jing’s series of a mad-tiger-like attacks.

Huang Rong saw that Guo Jing’s normally genial and kind face was now enveloped by a layer of murderous look; his expression was so frighteningly ferocious that he looked like a different person, completely different from the Guo Jing she used to know. She was startled and frightened at the same time; she stepped in front of her father and said, “Kill me first!”

Guo Jing glowered at her and barked, “Get out of my way!”

Huang Rong was taken aback, “How can you speak to me like that?” she thought.

Guo Jing charged forward and shoved her aside then he pounced towards Huang Yaoshi. Suddenly he heard someone laughed loudly and called out behind him, “Don’t worry Yao Xiong [Brother Yao], I have come to help you!” His voice was like ear-piercing grating metals.

Nobody dared to turn their bodies right away; the entire Big Dipper Formation turned around Huang Yaoshi’s back before they finally saw five, six tall and short people standing on the lakeside, led by someone with long arms and long legs, which was none other than the Western Poison Ouyang Feng.

The Quanzhen Six Masters cried out in anger. Qiu Chuji said, “Jing’er, let us settle the debt with the Western Poison first!” His long sword raised, the Quanzhen Six Masters surrounded Ouyang Feng. Who would have thought that Guo Jing’s gaze was fixed on Huang Yaoshi; it seemed like he did not hear Qiu Chuji at all. As soon as the Quanzhen Six Masters left, he pounced toward Huang Yaoshi again and in a short moment two people had quickly exchanged five, six moves.

Both sides did not hit their target, so both leaped backward, looking over their shoulders, staring at each other. Guo Jing gave out a loud shout then attacked forward. Several times they exchanged several stances and then separated again.

This time the Quanzhen Six Masters had rearranged their battle formation. They looked at Ke Zhen’e and saw him barehanded, standing behind Huang Yaoshi, his head inclined, listening attentively; his arms were open wide, revealing his intention to sacrifice himself, throwing himself to grab Huang Yaoshi firmly, giving Guo Jing the opportunity to strike Huang Yaoshi’s vital point. Because of this Qiu Chuji beckoned to Yin Zhiping, telling him to occupy the ‘tian xuan’ position.

Ma Yu loudly recited, “Holding hands the departed soul forcing itself to leave like a bead of pearls. Heart opens to hear the sound of nature, unlike the blowing flute!” It was the poem Tan Chuduan recited just before he closed his eyes. As the Quanzhen Masters heard it, their anger rose; with flickering swords and floating palms they attacked Ouyang Feng together.

The snake staff in Ouyang Feng’s hand pushed and pulled abruptly, forcing the seven Quanzhen people to back off. Ouyang Feng had seen the Big Dipper Formation’s fierceness at the Ox Village; he was quite intimidated by that, so he decided to keep a tight defense and wait for the enemy to reveal its own flaw. Once the Big Dipper Formation unfolded, it struck to the front and hit to the back, like a continuous wave of attacks. Ouyang Feng carefully met stance with stance, while opening his eyes wide to see any potential to break the formation. A moment later he noticed Yin Zhiping’s ‘tian xuan’ was the Formation’s weak link. He thought if he could destroy this link, he did not have anything else to fear; therefore, he brandished the snake staff in his hand trying to inflict some harm, while his eyes scanning around, assessing the situation around him.

Guo Jing and Huang Yaoshi were still engaged in a tight combat. Huang Rong moved her bamboo stick to keep Ke Zhen’e more than a ‘zhang’ away from these two people. She kept shouting, “Please stop fighting; please listen to me!” But Guo Jing turned a deaf ear to her; palm by palm he struck ferociously, in total disregard of his own life.

At first Huang Rong saw her father holding back, but Guo Jing kept provoking him so that gradually she saw his anger rise, his hands were getting heavier and heavier. She knew the situation was critical; either one of them would certainly suffer a heavy injury if he made a slight mistake. She lifted his head and saw Hong Qigong was leaning against the railing of the Misty Rain Tavern, watching the battle. “Shifu, Shifu,” she hastily called, “Come down and help me explain everything.”

Hong Qigong has seen early on that the situation was far from good, he regretted losing his martial art skill and was powerless to settle this dispute, and hence he was really anxious. Hearing Huang Rong cry out he had an idea, “If only the Old Heretic Huang still has some respect to me left, I think I can still do something.” His hands pressed on the railing and he floated in the air coming down. “Everybody hold your hand!” he called out, “The Old Beggar has something to say.” The Nine-fingered Divine Beggar had such a prestige in the Jianghu that when they saw his sudden appearance everybody’s heart shivered and they could not help but to stop fighting.

Ouyang Feng was the first to secretly groan, he thought, “How can the Old Beggar’s martial art come back?” He did not know that after listening to Guo Jing’s explanation on the Sanskrit part of the Nine Yin Manual Hong Qigong spent these past few days to practice according to the technique and was able to open up his ‘qi jing ba mai’ [marvelous/mysterious passage 8 pulses, Eight Extraordinary Channels].

Hong Qigong’s martial art skill was very profound to begin with, after listening to an excellent internal energy secret such as treating one’s own internal injury, with his divine comprehension within this short period of time he managed to open up one of the eight pulses; his lightness kungfu was 30, 40% recovered. Strictly speaking, if he were involved in a brawl just relying on his fists’ and palms’ strength, he could not even defeat a strong man who did not know any martial art. But in leaping up and down his movement was light and lively, at least in Ouyang Feng’s eyes he did not look like someone who was devoid of any internal strength.

Hong Qigong was amazed to see these people were still in awe of him, he considered it carefully, “If the Old Beggar does not put on some airs, today’s crisis will be difficult to resolve; but what can I say, so that the Quanzhen Masters will listen to my order, and also the Old Poison will comply without giving me too much difficulty?” Momentarily not knowing what to do he threw his head backward and laughed a big laugh; while he was looking up, he saw the moon was beginning to rise up, the bright circle looked like a wheel made of ice with one side of it slightly broken. An idea came into his mind, he said, “You are all experts in the Wulin world, but you deal with each other just like scoundrels and rascals, your words are just like farts.”

Everybody was startled. They knew Hong Qigong always talked crazy words without any restrain, so they did not think much about his language; however, he must have a reason to say such thing. Ma Yu bowed in respect and asked, “Asking Qianbei [Senior] to grant us instruction.”

Hong Qigong angrily said, “The Old Beggar heard some people say that on the eighth month’s mid-autumn day this year there will be people fighting at the Misty Rain Tavern. The Old Beggar was afraid that his hearing was not clear, so while it is still early I want to laze around and sleep in peace and quiet here. Who knew that since early this morning I have been hearing clackety-clack and yakety-yak of people quarreling and fighting nonstop. I heard chamber pot formation or bed urinal formation, and then there was a husband beating his wife, a son-in-law attacking his father-in-law; very noisy just like killing pig or slaughtering dog, so noisy that the Old Beggar cannot take a nap in peace and quiet. Look at the moon, what day is today?”

Listening to his speech everybody remembered that today was the fourteenth of the eight month, so the martial art contest was going to be the next day. Besides, Peng Lianhu, Sha Tongtian and their company had not arrived yet, so fighting today did not make much sense. Qiu Chuji said, “Lao Qianbei [Senior] is right, we should not have made disturbance here today.” He turned his head toward Ouyang Feng and said, “Ouyang Feng, let us find someplace else to decide who will be alive and who will be dead.”

“Wonderful, wonderful,” Ouyang Feng laughed, “I’ll gladly accompany you.”

Hong Qigong’s face turned sour, he said, “As soon as Wang Chongyang returned to heaven, the Quanzhen Sect’s bunch of mixed-up hair has become a reckless empty-headed bunch. Let me tell you something: five priests and one priestess, plus a little priest with low martial art skill, all of you join hands, you are still not the Old Poison’s match. Wang Chongyang has never left anything good for me; it is none of the Old Beggar’s business whether the bunch of mixed-up hairs will be alive or dead, but let me ask you this: you have a martial art contest appointment tomorrow, who will keep the appointment? Will seven dead Taoists be able to fight?”

This speech sounded like he was ridiculing the Quanzhen priests, but in it he reminded them that by fighting Ouyang Feng they would die and would not live. The seven of them could not defeat Huang Yaoshi then, obviously now they were not Ouyang Feng’s match. All of the Six Masters were experienced Jianghu characters, how could they fail to catch the real meaning of his speech? But they were facing their archenemy right now, how could they cower?

With the corner of his eye Hong Qigong saw Guo Jing was staring angrily at Huang Yaoshi; while Huang Rong was crying with tears streaming down her cheeks. He knew whatever it was, it must be a very complicated matter; he thought carefully, “I’ll wait for the Old Urchin; with his martial art skill he will be able to subdue everybody. At that time the Old Beggar will speak again.” Thereupon he shouted, “The Old Beggar is going to take a nap; whoever lift up his fist or his kick deliberately wants to offend me. Come tomorrow evening, I don’t care if you turn the sky over or shake the earth, the Old Beggar will not help anybody. Ma Yu, take this bunch of mixed-up hairs and sit down here with me cultivating your internal energy. Make a one notch internal strength gain is a gain; waiting for the last minute will not guarantee your victory. Jing’er, Rong’er, come over here and massage my legs.”

Ouyang Feng was rather scared of him; he thought that if Hong Qigong joined hands with the Quanzhen Masters, they would be difficult for him to fight. He said, “Old Beggar, Yao Xiong and I two guys have some unfinished business with the Quanzhen Sect. The Nine-fingered Divine Beggar’s words are like mountain; I’ll follow your direction today, and tomorrow you may not help either side.”

Hong Qigong was secretly amused, “If you push me with your little finger now, I am afraid I will fall down.” Thereupon he loudly said, “The Old Beggar’s fart is still sweeter than your words; I said I won’t help, then I won’t help. Are you sure you’ll win?” Then he laid down face up on the ground, using his wine gourd as a pillow and called out, “Two children, come and massage my legs!”

By now only the bone was left of the lamb leg in his hand, but he was still reluctant to throw it away, he kept gnawing and licking like it was still tasty. He looked at the clouds looming over the horizon and said, “Those clouds look strange, I am afraid the weather will change very soon!” He also noticed thin mist rose from the surface of the lake; he took several deep breaths and shook his head, “It’s very strange!” Turning his head toward Huang Yaoshi he said, “Yao Xiong, do you think I can borrow your daughter to massage my legs?”

Huang Yaoshi only showed a faint smile. Huang Rong came over and sat next to Hong Qigong, then started to massage his leg gently. Hong Qigong sighed, “Ay, these old bones have never enjoyed this kind of good fortune!” Staring at Guo Jing he said, “Dumb kid, are your dog’s paws broken by the Old Heretic Huang?”

“Yes,” Guo Jing replied. He came over the other side of Hong Qigong and started massaging his leg.

Ke Zhen’e was leaning on a willow tree by the lakeside; his pair of blind eyes was fixed at Huang Yaoshi. He was using his ears in place of his eyes. Huang Yaoshi was pacing around by the water. He walked to the east, Ke Zhen’e’s head followed his movement to the east, he turned west Ke Zhen’e followed him to the west. Huang Yaoshi did not pay him any attention, only the corners of his mouth showed a cold smile.

The Quanzhen Six Masters and Yin Zhiping were sitting cross-legged on the ground, maintaining their respective positions of the Big Dipper Formation; their heads were hung low, they were quietly training their internal energy.

Ouyang Feng’s servants, the snake shepherds, took out a table and a chair, set them up underneath the Misty Rain Tavern and served wine and food. With his back toward everybody else Ouyang Feng sat alone eating and drinking; he was wondering in his heart how Hong Qigong could recover that quick from the heavy injury his palm inflicted.

Meanwhile the weather was stifling hot, small insects were flying everywhere, and thin mist hovered on the surface of the lake. Hong Qigong said, “My thigh bone is sore, a storm must be coming; if we can see moon tomorrow at the mid-autumn festival, I will chop my own thigh and give it to you.” Casting a sidelong glance toward Guo Jing and Huang Rong, he noticed that their eyes had always looked somewhere else, and had never looked at each other. Hong Qigong was always frank and honest; seeing this awkward situation, how could he keep his peace? But after asking several questions, those two mumbled indistinctly without giving him any answer.

Hong Qigong raised his voice asking Huang Yaoshi, “Yao Xiong, what is the other name of this Nan Hu?”

“It’s called ‘yuan yang hu’ [Mandarin Duck Lake],” Huang Yaoshi replied.

“Indeed!” Hong Qigong said, “How come on this ‘yuan yang hu’ [Translator’s note: mandarin ducks have always been regarded as the symbol of lovers] your daughter and your son-in-law are having an argument and the father and father-in-law did not advise them?”

Guo Jing stood up immediately, he pointed to Huang Yaoshi and said, “He … he … has killed my five shifus, how can I still call him my father-in-law?”

Huang Yaoshi coldly laughed and said, “Is that strange? The Seven Freaks of Jiangnan are not completely dead; there is still a stinky blind kid left. I’ll say he won’t live to see tomorrow …”

Without waiting for him to finish Ke Zhen’e had already pounced toward him. Guo Jing also jumped forward, and despite the fact he moved later, he arrived sooner. Huang Yaoshi launched a single stance, his palms crossed and ‘bang!’ he shook Guo Jing’s body, forcing him to retreat two steps.

Hong Qigong shouted, “I said don’t fight! Do you think the Old Beggar’s words are just fart?”

Guo Jing did not dare to attack again, his stared angrily at Huang Yaoshi. Hong Qigong asked, “Old Heretic Huang, the Six Freaks of Jiangnan are chivalrous heroes, why did you kill the innocents? The Old Beggar thinks this kind of behavior is not pleasing to the eyes.”

Huang Yaoshi said, “I kill whomever I want, why do you care?”

Huang Rong called out, “Father, his five shifus were not killed by you; I know it. Please say that you did not kill them.”

Under the moonlight Huang Yaoshi saw his daughter’s face was thin and pale, he could not help but feel compassion toward her; but when he turned his eyes toward Guo Jing he saw murder written all over Guo Jing’s face, his heart turned hard and he said, “I killed them.”

With a choking voice Huang Rong said, “Father, why do you insist on confessing the murder?”

With a loud voice Huang Yaoshi replied, “Everybody says your father is wicked and strange, didn’t you know it? Can a criminal do a good deed? All crimes in the world are your father’s. The Six Freaks of Jiangnan considered themselves righteous and chivalrous heroes; when I see this kind of self-proclaimed hero I become angry.”

Ouyang Feng burst out in laughter and loudly said, “Yao Xiong, your words are right on target. Let Xiong Di [younger brother, referring to himself] toast you!” Lifting up his wine cup he drank it in one go; he said, “Yao Xiong, let me present you a gift.” His right hand slightly waved, he threw a cloth bundle away.

He was several ‘zhang’s apart from Huang Yaoshi, but by a casual wave of the hand the bundle flew like a bullet cutting the air; everyone was astonished and impressed. Huang Yaoshi held out his hand to receive it; the content of the bundle felt like a human head to him. After unwrapping the bundle he found it was indeed a human head, newly beheaded; the head wore a square hat, with beard on its chin, the face was not of someone he knew.

Ouyang Feng said with a laugh, “Xiong Di left for the west this morning and took a rest at a schoolhouse. I heard this rotten scholar taught the students to be loyal ministers and filial sons. Xiong Di loathes hearing such things, so I killed this rotten scholar. You and I are the Eastern Heretic and the Western Poison, we both are of the same kind.” Then he let out a long laugh.

Huang Yaoshi’s face changed, he said, “All my life I always respect loyal ministers and filial sons.” Stooping down he dug a hole with his hand, buried that human’s head, and respectfully bowed three times.

Ouyang Feng lost his interest, but he laughed and said, “The Old Heretic Huang has enjoyed a false reputation, turns out he also adheres to propriety and etiquette.”

Huang Yaoshi imposingly said, “Loyalty and being filial is integrity, it is not propriety and etiquette!”

He had just closed his mouth when suddenly a thunder crashed. Everybody looked up and saw black clouds covering half of the sky; a thunderstorm was coming. Right at that moment they heard loud music; seven, eight big boats on the lake approached near. The boats were decorated with red lanterns; on the bows stood signs like ‘Su Jing’ and ‘Hui Bi’; looked like they belong to a high ranking government officer.