Return of Condor Heroes (84 page)

The crowd all thought that Da’erba would definitely hit his target with this stance; Guo Jing did not wait for the sweep to hit its target and dashed out, wanting to grab his back. He saw a red flash in front of his eyes; Jinlun Fawang’s palm was coming towards him. Guo Jing saw that the palm was coming in extremely fast so he quickly used a stance of “Seeing the Dragon in the Field”. The two of them did not make a sound as the palms clashed; two flashes were seen as the two separated.

Guo Jing took three steps back while Jinlun Fawang stood his ground steadily. His strength was much stronger than Guo Jing’s and his internal energy was profound, but the proficiency of his palms could not compare with Guo Jing’s. Guo Jing took the steps back to disperse the enemy’s force and avoid injury. But Jinlun Fawang was too proud; he forced himself to meet this palm solidly, enduring the pain in his chest, as he stood there without moving. Even great fighters such as Guo Jing and Jinlun Fawang thought that Yang Guo would definitely meet danger, so one of them flew out to save him; one of them came out to hinder the help. Who would have known that Yang Guo would use such an extraordinary stance, escaping in the space where the golden rod was sweeping next to his body. When the two of them saw that he avoided danger, both were surprised, one was comforted, the other lamented, and both of them retreated.

Da’erba didn’t turn around after this failed attack; he swept the golden rod backwards fiercely. Yang Guo saw that this stance was coming in extremely quickly and automatically, he brushed across the floor like a sparrow gliding, he was a foot or so off the floor, going across it evenly, avoiding the golden rod with a few inches to spare. Again, this was kung fu from the “Nine Yin Manual”.

Huang Rong was surprised and said, “Brother Jing, how come Guo’er knows the “Nine Yin Manual”? Did you teach him?” She thought that Guo Jing had taught Yang Guo the “Nine Yin Manual” on the way to Mount Zhongnan out of his feelings and memories of the past.

Guo Jing said, “No, if I did teach him, why would I keep it from you?”

Huang Rong gave an ‘en’ sound; she knew that her husband had always told the truth to other people, towards her he was even more truthful. She saw Yang Guo shifting and moving, every time he was in danger he would rely on the martial arts of the “Nine Yin Manual” to protect himself. But he showed that he had yet to completely master it, he didn’t know how to counterattack according to the manual to achieve victory. Though he was able to protect his life, as the battle continues, he would still end up losing.

Huang Rong sighed to herself, “Guo’er is really an extraordinary talent, if he followed me for a year or so and learns the “Dog Beating Stick Technique” and “Nine Yin Manual” completely, how on earth would this Tibetan monk be a match for him?”

At this troubled time, she glanced over at a space and saw the Beggar Clan traitor Elder Peng in the midst of the Mongolian warriors, his face full of joy. She suddenly had an idea and called out, “Guo’er, “Soul Altering Spell”, “Soul Altering Spell”!”

The “Nine Yin Manual” has a technique called the “Soul Altering Spell”, using the power of the heart and soul to subdue the enemy and achieve victory. Years ago at the Beggar Clan meeting on Mount Jun, Huang Rong had used this technique to subdue Elder Peng’s hypnotizing “Fearful Heart Art”; because of this, when she saw this person she thought of it.

Yang Guo remembered the method of using the “Soul Altering Spell”; he didn’t have the confidence to completely focus on the enemy and subdue them to gain victory so he had never practiced it. But he was conscious of Huang Rong’s abilities, he thought, “Since Auntie Guo mentions this, there must be a reason, anyway, defeat is already definite so I might as well give it a try.”

So his body continued avoiding the attacks, in his mind however he was purging his thoughts, following the method stated in the manual, from ‘controlling the limits of the mind’ to ‘the limits of the real body’; everything became one, there weren’t any other thoughts in his mind. At this time, he relied on his natural reactions, when he heard anything he leapt and darted, when he felt the gust of wind he hurriedly dodged it, his eyes fixed on the opponent.

More stances passed, Da’erba suddenly felt something was wrong with Yang Guo’s movements; he glanced at him and then sent his golden rod forward fiercely.

Yang Guo used another stance of the “Beautiful Maiden Fist”, “Man’s Fine Waist”, his waist swung lightly to avoid the attack. As he’s using the “Soul Altering Spell”, his body and mind have become one, whatever stances his hands and feet are using, then the face will reflect whatever feeling and aura the stances exude.

Da’erba saw that his face suddenly seemed to look like a scroll of literature, how on earth could he know that Yang Guo was copying the posture of the Tang’s dynasty poet Zhu Letian’s concubine Xiao Man’ He couldn’t stop himself from being taken aback, the golden rod attacked forward towards his head. Yang Guo moved his head to avoid it, he spread his five fingers and brushed it through his hair, his five fingers then gently waved out, a slight smile on his face; it was a stance of “Dressing of Li Hua”. Zhang Lihua was Li Hou’s favorite imperial concubine, her hair was seven feet long, its light could reflect people, because of her, Li Hou abandoned his political duty and let the country go to ruin; her beauty was immensely enchanting.

Yang Guo’s smile infected Da’erba, he followed and smiled. Yang Guo’s face was handsome and striking, when he smiled, he was even more so, Da’erba’s cheekbones were high and his cheeks deep, when the crowd saw him follow Yang Guo and smile, all of them shivered.

Yang Guo saw that he was taken aback and stretched out his finger, jabbing out; it was the stance “The Divine Needle Ping Ji”. Da’erba slanted his body and moved away, his face copied Yang Guo’s in making an expression that one has when concentrating on sewing.

Huang Rong saw that Yang Guo understood her and managed to affect the opponent using the “Soul Altering Spell”, she was delighted; she whispered to Guo Jing, “Guo’er is extraordinary; when you were his age you didn’t have such a level of kung fu.”

Guo Jing expressed his joy, he nodded his head and concentrated on the two people in the middle of the hall without blinking.

The “Soul Altering Spell” uses the power of the heart and soul to affect the opponent; if the opponent’s mind and will was strong and still, it would not be effective. If the opponent’s internal energy was higher as well, the attack would be reflected back towards the user and they, instead, would fall under the control of the other person. When two people are dueling, if the user’s martial arts were better than the other person’s, then they could defeat them through weaponry, fists and kicks. There would be no need to resort to this technique. If on the other hand the user’s internal energy was weaker, they wouldn’t dare use this technique hastily. Though this technique is deep and profound, it didn’t have much use when facing a superior enemy.

Da’erba had heard Yang Guo speak a whole lot of Tibetan and had believed with some certainty that he was the reincarnation of his senior apprentice brother, but because there was fear in his heart, he was affected very quickly by this technique. Yang Guo was able to succeed in one go; if the target was Huo Dou, Yang Guo would definitely be in danger because he had never practiced this technique before and his internal energy could not match Huo Dou’s.

Yang Guo performed the “Beautiful Maiden Fist”, whatever he did, whether his steps made lotuses or he moved like a willow, Da’erba copied. The watching crowd was startled and amused.

Guo Fu had felt this was extremely amusing, she said to her mother, “Mother, this technique of brother Yang is really something, why don’t you teach me?”

Huang Rong said, “If you learned the “Soul Altering Spell”, heaven and earth would definitely be turned upside down; it would be trouble, you would suffer and so would others.” She held her hand and said seriously, “Don’t think this is fun, brother Yang and that monk are fighting with their lives; this is much more dangerous than fighting with sabers and swords!”

Guo Fu stuck her tongue out and watched Yang Guo, she still felt this was fun, when Yang Guo smiled, so did Da’erba, when Yang Guo was angry Da’erba was angry, so she copied him. How would she know how powerful the “Soul Affecting Spell” was, she copied just two movements when her heart and mind became unclear and blurred, and she started to take steps towards the centre of the hall.

Huang Rong was shocked and quickly pulled her hand. At this time, Guo Fu was being controlled and used her strength to fling her mother away. Huang Rong twisted her hand and Guo Fu’s wrist, turning her face around, stopping her from facing Yang Guo. Guo Fu struggled for a bit, the hold restricted her vein’s movements, she fainted and fell unconscious into her mother’s arms.

Right now, Da’erba was completely controlled by Yang Guo, when he saw Yang Guo use a stance of “Xi Zi Offers the Heart” immediately followed by “Dong Shi Knits her Brows”, then another stance of “Descending Goddess’ Subtle Step”, he copied the steps and scurries, “Gliding like a frightened Crow, Slithering like a slippery Snake”.

Jinlun Fawang had noticed something was wrong long ago, he had called out many times but Da’erba acted like he didn’t hear. Yang Guo saw that time had come, he suddenly used a stance of “Cao Ling Slices her Nose”, and he waved his hand and cut a palm across his face, a left palm cut across followed by a right without stop.

In ancient times, a man called Cao Wenshu had a wife whose last name was Ling, after her husband died; she cut off her nose, showing that she will never marry again.

This stance originally uses the cut across the face to repel an enemy’s attack, however, Yang Guo had made the cuts closer to his face by a few inches, cutting across his cheeks, it looked like it was a very heavy blow but in reality he just lightly brushed across his face. But how would Da’erba know this, his palms attacked his own face with the great force. He possessed frightening strength, every palm had a force of over a hundred kilos (220lbs), over ten palms later, he couldn’t stand it, and he knocked himself dizzily to the floor.

Yang Guo quietly retreated a few steps and sat next to Xiao Longnu, his right hand supported his cheek, his left waved out lightly; he gave a long sigh, a lonely feeling on his face. This was the last stance of the “Beautiful Maiden Fist”, it’s called “Secluded in the Ancient Tomb” but this stance was invented by Yang Guo himself, Lin Chaoying did not know about this and Xiao Longnu too, did not know it. When Yang Guo completed learning the “Beautiful Maiden Fist”, he thought about how Ancestor Grandma excelled in beauty and grace, she did not lose compared to beauties of the ancient times, she was not in this fist technique, the beauty aspect is not really complete, so he devised his own stance. Though he said he invented this stance because of Lin Chaoying, the aura and feeling of this stance was that of his master Xiao Longnu. When Xiao Longnu first saw this, she just gave a little smile and let him be.

The heroes all cheered out in delight and called out, “We’ve won the second round as well!” “The position of Chancellor of Wulin belongs to the skilled fighters of the Song!” “You Mongols better crawl out of here and don’t show your face again in the central plains!”

The Mongolian warriors dashed out during this commotion and carried Da’erba back.

Jinlun Fawang saw that his two disciples had lost but not because their kung fu wasn’t good enough, they lost in some stupid way. He was furious but his face showed no signs of emotion, he sat on the chair and called out, “Young man, who is your Master?” Apart from excelling in martial arts, he was also knowledgeable in many things; he even knew how to speak Chinese.

Yang Guo pointed to Xiao Longnu and laughed as he said, “This is my Master, come and bow down to the Chancellor of Wulin!”

Jinlun Fawang saw that Xiao Longnu was beautiful and delicate, she was younger than Yang Guo, he did not believe that she was his master and thought, “The Han of the central plains are very sly and crafty but can you trick me?” He suddenly stood up; a clanking sound was heard as he took out a gold wheel from his compartment. The golden wheel was a foot and a half in diameter, cast out of solid gold, the Tibetan scriptures were inscribed on the wheel, in the middle were nine little spheres, a shake of the hands and a prolonged noise was heard.

Jinlun Fawang pointed to Xiao Longnu and said, “Huh, how is that this little girl is worthy of being the Chancellor of Wulin? If you can withstand ten stances of my golden wheel I’ll acknowledge you as the Chancellor of Wulin.”

Yang Guo laughed and said, “I’ve already won two rounds, two out of three, and your side said that at the start, so why are you trying to deny it?”

Jinlun Fawang said, “I want to test out her kung fu and see if she has the ability to take this task on.”

Xiao Longnu did not know that Jinlun Fawang’s abilities are shockingly brilliant, neither did she know what the Chancellor of Wulin was, the thought of whether to take this on had never crossed her mind. When she heard him say that he wanted to test whether she can withstand ten stances of his golden wheel, she stood up and said, “In that case I’ll have a try.”

Jinlun Fawang said, “If you can’t withstand ten stances, what then?”

Xiao Longnu said, “If I can’t, I can’t, what about it?” Though she treated Yang Guo with love and compassion, when it comes to other things she didn’t have a care.

The heroes of the central plains and the Mongolian warriors did not know that this was her character, and they saw that she didn’t give Jinlun Fawang any consideration; they thought that she really must possess deep and profound martial arts. After seeing Yang Guo use the “Soul Altering Spell”, others thought that she knew witchcraft and was a young witch. At that time, they all burst into conversation.

Jinlun Fawang really was afraid that she knew witchcraft, he started to chant a mantra, “ji li gu lu, ji li gu lu”, he recited the “Devil Subduing Mantra” from the Tibetan scriptures. Yang Guo heard this and thought that the monk was insulting his master in Tibetan so he quickly concentrated and remembered every single word clearly. Once Jinlun Fawang finished reciting the mantra, from the golden wheel a period of ‘lang lang’ noises was heard, he shouted, “Young man, I’m about to start!” He said these two words in Chinese.