Return of Condor Heroes (111 page)

Fan Yiweng was extremely angry, he swung his head and his long beard swept towards Zhou Botong. Zhou Botong heard that urgent gust of wind and propped his left foot against the beam and moved his body, his left hand then held onto the beam and hung his body in the air.

Xiaoxiang Zi knew that Fan Yiweng was not a match for Zhou Botong; even if he went up there to join in as well he would not be able to beat him. He turned around to Nimoxing and Ma Guangzou and said, “Brother Ni and Ma, that old man doesn’t give any respect to the six of us; he really has gone too far.”

Nimoxing was a rash person and could be offended, Ma Guangzou was slow witted and wasn’t clear on what was happening, when they heard him say, ‘doesn’t give any respect to the six of us’, they were angered and both of them shouted. They then leapt towards the beam to grab Zhou Botong’s leg. Zhou Botong kicked away their palms with his legs.

Xiaoxiang Zi turned to Yin Kexi and said coldly, “Brother Yin, are you really just going to watch?”

Yin Kexi gave a wry smile and said, “Brother Xiaoxiang, you go first and I’ll be right behind you.”

Xiaoxiang Zi made a strange whistle, the walls trembled and he suddenly leaped up. His knees were not bent; his whole body and arms were straight as a ruler as he went for Zhou Botong’s abdomen.

Zhou Botong saw the incoming attack and pulled in his body and became almost sphere like; his right hand swapped with his left hand in holding the beam. Xiaoxiang Zi clutched thin air and dropped back down. His body was straight as a stick, his feet touched the ground and he jumped up once again. Fan Yiweng was holding onto the pillar and sweeping his beard while Xiaoxiang Zi, Nimoxing and Ma Guangzou kept on going up and down trying to attack him.

Yin Kexi laughed, “This old man’s martial arts really are incredible; I’ll join in as well.” He searched his pockets and took out a weapon. The hall was lit up with the reflection of pearls and the glimmering of gold; there was a whip in his hand. This whip was made out of gold and silver silk and was embedded with pearls and gems. In the world of Jianghu, one would not be able to find such a precious and lavish weapon as this. There were glimmers of gold and glistening of pearls as the whip was swept towards Zhou Botong’s leg.

Yang Guo was amused with what was happening and thought, “These five are showing off their abilities in attacking the Old Urchin; if I don’t do something out of the ordinary, I can’t claim to be capable.” He had an idea; he put on the human skin mask and copied the strange call of Xiaoxiang Zi. He then picked up Fan Yiweng’s staff, stood it up against the floor and used the force to throw himself up into midair. The staff was already over ten feet long, so using it as a lever he was able to face Zhou Botong face to face. He called out, “Old Urchin, watch out for the scissors!” The large scissors cut forwards towards his white beard.

Zhou Botong was delighted, he moved his head and called out, “Little brother, your move is pretty amusing.”

Yang Guo said, “Old Urchin, I haven’t done anything to offend you, why did you make fun of me?”

Zhou Botong, “Things come and go and you haven’t suffered one bit; instead you’ve gained something.”

Yang Guo was startled and said, “What came and went?”

Zhou Botong laughed, “Right now I need to be excused, and I can’t speak with you.” He saw the incoming Golden Dragon whip of Yin Kexi and stretched out his hand to seize it. Yin Kexi’s whip twisted and he was about to counterattack his opponent’s back when he fell back to the floor.

The Old Urchin said, “Your colorful dead snake is pretty funny.” At this moment, Fan Yiweng’s beard came sweeping across; his hands were holding onto the pillar and he was relying on his beard to attack his enemy.

Zhou Botong laughed, “So a beard can be used like that?” He copied him and swung his beard towards him, but his beard was a lot shorter that Fan Yiweng’s and he had never practiced with it before; the move he made with his beard was useless. A ‘shua’ sound was heard as he was struck by Fa Yiweng’s beard across the cheek leaving a red mark; if he didn’t have such profound internal energy, he would have been knocked out. After receiving this attack, Zhou Botong wasn’t angry, instead he had great respect towards Fan Yiweng and said, “My beard can’t compare to yours, I admit defeat, we don’t need to continue.”

Fan Yiweng had just had a successful strike and was not going to hold back; his beard came out again. Zhou Botong did not dare to use his beard to meet it again, so his left hand used the techniques of the “Vacant Light Fist”, throwing out soft fists. The wind created by the fists forced Fan Yiweng’s beard to the right and just at this time, Ma Guangzou had leaped up to make an attack, the beard brushed against his face.

Ma Guangzou’s eyes were covered so he grabbed the beard with his two hands. Fan Yiweng’s beard had originally been under his control but after being forced away by the wind from Zhou Botong’s fists, he lost control of it and it was now in Ma Guangzou’s hands. He was startled and did not use force to pull it back. Ma Guangzou was holding it tightly and as he descended, he dragged Fan Yiweng down to the floor.

Ma Guangzou was thick skinned and the fall didn’t hurt much. However, Fan Yiweng had fallen on top of him.

Fan Yiweng said angrily, “What are you doing, you still haven’t let go?”

Though Ma Guangzou didn’t feel much pain from the fall, Fan Yiweng’s feet had landed on his stomach and it was quite painful; his anger also erupted and he shouted, “I don’t want to let go; what are you going to do about it?” After he said this, he quickly wrapped the beard around his arm.

Fan Yiweng chopped out a right palm and Ma Guangzou moved his head to dodge, however, this was a dummy move and a fist came out from his left hand, landing squarely on Ma Guangzou’s nose.

Ma Guangzou called out and returned a punch. When it came to martial arts, Fan Yiweng was much better than Ma Guangzou; but his beard was trapped and he couldn’t move his head, so the punch landed on his cheekbone. One tall and one short, the two of them began to fight. Though Fan Yiweng was on top, he could not escape from his opponent.

Jinlun Fawang saw that the hall had fallen into chaos; five people from his side had come out and yet still they were unable to take care of the Old Urchin. This was a bit too shameful. Sounds of ‘qiang lang’ ‘qiang lang’ were heard as he took out two wheels, one silver and one bronze. One swept from left to right and the other from right to left forming two arcs of light as they flew towards Zhou Botong. The ringing sounds were urgent and frightening.

Zhou Botong did not know how powerful they were and said, “What are these?” He stretched out his hand to grab them.

Yang Guo called out, “You can’t catch them!”

Yang Guo threw the steel staff upwards. A ‘dang’ sound was heard and the thick, long staff was sent flying towards the corner of the room as sparks flew and dust rose up from the wall. The bronze wheel came back to Fawang and he once again sent it with his left hand. The wheel flew swiftly towards the beam.

After this, Zhou Botong knew that it wasn’t good to annoy this monk. He knew that he wouldn’t be able to fight off all of them so he flipped downwards and called out, “Excuse me everyone, the Old Urchin has to leave, we’ll play again another day.” He then ran towards the door. However, four disciples in green had blocked the exit with a large fish net.

Zhou Botong had experienced the fish net before and called out, “Oh no!” He wanted to escape through the window on the eastern side. He saw a green blur and the window was covered by a fish net as well.

Zhou Botong leapt back into the middle of the room and saw that in all four directions there were four disciples in green holding a fish net, blocking his path. Zhou Botong then leapt up onto the beam and used the stance “Surging Sky Palm” to break a large hole in the ceiling. He was about to leap out through the hole when he raised his head and saw that there was also another fish net above. He had nowhere to go and leapt back to the floor. He pointed to the Valley Master and laughed, “Old yellow face, why do you want to keep me here? Do you need a playmate?”

Valley Master Gongsun said dryly, “All you’ve got to do is return the four things that you took and I’ll immediately let you go.”

Zhou Botong said surprisingly, “What use have I got with your smelly things? Even if a person could learn martial arts to a state equal to yours, who cares?”

Valley Master Gongsun slowly walked to the middle of the hall. He brushed the dust off his clothes and said, “If today wasn’t my wedding day, I would definitely exchange a few stances with you. Just leave the items of the valley here and leave.”

Zhou Botong was furious and called out, “So, you say that I’ve definitely stolen something from you? That’s crap, what have you got here in this valley?” He then started to take off his clothes and very soon, he was stark naked. The Valley Master called out to him to stop but was ignored. Zhou Botong then showed his garments inside out, indeed, there was nothing there. The female disciples in the hall were distressed and turned their heads away.

This turn of events was something that the Valley Master had not predicted. The missing objects from the library, pill room, fungi room and sword room were very important and had to be recovered; could it really be that the missing objects were not stolen by the Old Urchin?

Just as he was in deep thought, Zhou Botong clapped his hands and said, “Look at you, you’re old but why do you not act your age? You speak without thinking and you act mad and crazy, you do such an embarrassing thing in public, aren’t people going to laugh their teeth out?”

These words should have been said to him but he got it in first. The Valley Master didn’t know whether to laugh or cry and did not have a reply. He saw that Fan Yiweng was still battling Ma Guangzou so he shouted, “Get up Yiweng, stop tangling with the guest.”

Zhou Botong laughed, “Long beard, I like your temper, the two of us can be friends.”

In actual fact, Fan Yiweng has been strict and disciplined all his life; he only fought Ma Guangzou because he had no choice. He wanted to stand up many times but his beard was wrapped around Ma Guangzou’s arm and he had no way to escape.

Valley Master Gongsun frowned slightly and pointed to Zhou Botong saying, “I’m afraid that it is you who is embarrassing himself in public and it is you whose actions are laughable.”

Zhou Botong said, “I came out of my mother’s womb naked and I’m pure and innocent as I stand naked now, what’s wrong with that? Look at how old you are yet you still want to marry a beautiful young girl, ha-ha, laughable, laughable!” Those words were like a hammer that smashed into the chest of the Valley Master; his yellow face became red and he couldn’t say anything.

Zhou Botong called out, “Oh no, I’m afraid I might catch a cold without wearing any clothes.” Suddenly he dashed towards the exit.

As soon as the four disciples in green saw the blur, they immediately moved positions and threw the net over him, trapping him in the net. They felt him struggling fiercely and they tied the corners of the net then carried him over to the Valley Master. The fish net was made out of extremely pliable and soft golden silk; even a precious sword or saber would not find it easy to cut through it. The hand movements of the four disciples were unusual and swift, the net covered heaven and earth as it was brought forward. Even an extremely skilled martial artist would find it difficult to deal with. The only disadvantage was that it required four people to work it; one person alone will not be able to use it. The four of them were extremely proud of themselves after they caught him in one swoop; but when they saw the Valley Master examine the net, he had an expression of displeasure. They quickly looked down; they were shocked and broke out in a cold sweat. They quickly opened the net up and let two people out; it was Ma Guangzou and Fan Yiweng.

No one could predict that Zhou Botong would suddenly dash out stark naked without his clothes. His hand movements were extraordinarily quick; he had picked up Ma Guangzou and Fan Yiweng and threw them in the net. When the four disciples took in the net, he quickly dashed out. The deception was unnoticeable.

The Valley Master’s face was full of humiliation because of what Zhou Botong had done; and even Fawang and the others felt shame in their hearts. They were all thinking, “I class myself as a first rate fighter of Wulin and yet all of us together were unable to capture that mad old man, that is shameful.” Only Yang Guo was pleased; he had great respect for Zhou Botong and thought that if he was captured, I would definitely think of a way to rescue him. Since he’s managed to escape by himself, then it couldn’t be better.

Fawang had originally wanted to learn the background of this Valley Master, but after all this trouble with the Old Urchin, he wasn’t in the mood to carry on. He spoke a few words with Xiaoxiang Zi and Yin Kexi then stood up and folded his arms, saying, “Thank you for your hospitality, we ought to stay longer and make acquaintances but we all have other pressing matters to attend to and so we say goodbye.”

The Valley Master had originally suspected that Fawang and the others were friends of the Old Urchin, but he had later seen Xiaoxiang Zi fight for his life and Fawang, Yang Guo, Yin Kexi, Ma Guangzou and Nimoxing attacking Zhou Botong. They all had showed signs of helping him so he folded his hands and said, “I have a request; I wonder will our six guests grant me my wish?”

Fawang said, “If it’s in our ability then we’ll do our best.”

The Valley Master said, “After noon, there will be my wedding procession, I request your presence. This valley is very secluded and remote; there have been very few guests over the last hundreds of years. It is the luck of three generations that today six esteemed guests have arrived.”

Ma Guangzou said, “Will there be wine?”

The Valley Master was about to reply when he saw Yang Guo’s eyes were fixed on something outside, his face was extremely strange; he seemed to be extremely happy but also appeared to be full of anguish. Everyone was surprised and followed his gaze.