Return of Condor Heroes, page 70
Yang Guo took off the golden silk gloves and put them on his Master before stepping back. Xiao Longnu took out a white silk belt from her pockets, the belt flew out and met the wind, a golden sphere was tied to the white belt. Something was inside the golden sphere, as the belt moved, the sphere rang like a bell, ‘ding ling, ding ling’, it was crisp and clear.
Everyone saw that the two’s weapons were extremely strange, they thought that today they would really experience something, one weapon was extremely short, the other was extremely long, one extremely hard, the other extremely soft, and by coincidence, both weapons made ‘ding dang’ noises.
The golden wheel that Jinlun Fawang uses traps the opponent’s weapon; no matter if it’s a saber, sword, spear, lance, pike, whip or stick. When the weapon meets the wheel, they would be tangled up; when a normal person sends a stance over, the weapon in their hand will be lost. If he didn’t see how impressive Yang Guo’s martial arts were, he would never have said ten stances. In his life, very few people have managed to take three stances of his golden wheel.
Xiao Longnu’s belt flew out, she was attacking first.
Jinlun Fawang said, “What is this?” He sent out his left hand to grab the belt, he saw that the silk belt moving gently and swiftly, he knew that there would be many variations. That grab he sent out covered all directions, up, down, left, right and middle, wherever the belt goes, it would not escape his clutches. He couldn’t have known that the golden sphere would counterattack, ringing as it moved, it was heading for his ‘Central Islet’ pressure point on the back of his hand. Jinlun Fawang was extremely swift in changing his stance, his palm turned around and went for the sphere again. Xiao Longnu’s wrist moved slightly, the sphere turned around, moving up and down, aiming to strike his arm’s ‘Combined Valley’ pressure point. Jinlun Fawang’s palm turned again, this time he stretched out his two fingers to catch the sphere. Xiao Longnu understood what he was doing, the belt rushed forward slightly, the sphere went for the ‘Crooked Marsh’ pressure point around the elbow area.
Those few variations were done within just the turn of a hand, Jinlun Fawang turned his palm twice, Xiao Longnu twisted her wrist three times; the two had exchanged five stances.
Yang Guo understood what was happening and loudly counted, “One, two, three, four, five… that’s five stances!” There are five stances left.”
Jinlun Fawang wanted Xiao Longnu to take ten of his stances, wanting her to defend against ten of his attacks. Yang Guo tried to be clever and counted the stances exchanged by both sides. Jinlun Fawang is a leading master of martial arts, why would he allow himself to get into an argument over numbers with this crafty young man? His left arm went to the side and avoided the sphere, and then sent his golden wheel forward.
Xiao Longnu heard the urgent ‘lang lang’ noise and saw a gold flash in front of her eyes, the enemy’s golden wheel was now only a foot or so in front of her. This move was sudden, she couldn’t even think about repelling this move, evading this attack was impossible. In this danger she flicked her wrist again, the silk belt went straight forward, the sphere attacked Fawang’s ‘Wind Pond’ pressure point on the front of his head. This is a fatal pressure point, even if you’re martial arts were higher, once this point has been struck, your life would be at risk. She had no other choice but to use this risky stance of making both sides suffer great losses and to force the opponent to take back his wheel.
Indeed, Jinlun Fawang did not want to risk his life with her, he lowered his head to avoid the attack, but once his head was lowered, the wheel in his hand became slower. Xiao Longnu took this opportunity and summoned back her silk belt and a ‘ding ding dang dang’ sound was heard as the sphere collided with the golden wheel, neutralizing Jinlun Fawang’s attack. All that happened in the blink of an eye, Xiao Longnu went from facing death to staying alive in a matter of seconds, she urgently utilized her lightness kung fu and retreated to the side, her face had a fearful expression.
Jinlun Fawang had just used one stance to attack but Yang Guo called out loudly, “Six, seven, eight, nine, ten… great, my master has received ten stances of yours, what more have you got to say?”
After that exchange, Jinlun Fawang knew that although Xiao Longnu’s martial arts were high, it was no where near his level. If they exchanged moves properly, he would definitely defeat her within ten stances. He did not like Yang Guo stirring the situation from the side, talking rubbish, and disturbing his concentration. He thought, “I’ll ignore the young man’s rubbish, I’ll intensify my attacks and beat the little girl first and then reason with them.” His sleeve carried forward and the golden wheel flashed, it was another extremely lethal fatal attack.
Yang Guo called out loudly, “You don’t want face! Ten moves have passed and you’re continuing, eleven, twelve, thirteen, and fourteen…” He didn’t care how many stances were exchanged in defense and attack by the two, his mouth kept on counting up.
After receiving one of his stances, Xiao Longnu was extremely afraid; she didn’t dare to receive another attack head on. She utilized her lightness kung fu and flew around the hall, the belt in her hand floating in the air, the golden sphere quickly turning, forming a streak of fog, a path of yellow light. The sounds that the golden sphere was producing sped up suddenly, slowed suddenly, lightened suddenly and loud suddenly, it was like a song. When she lived in the tomb, she studied the zither manuscripts left by Lin Chaoying and played the zither accordingly; she became rather wonderful with it. Later on, she started to practice with the silk belt and gold sphere, she noticed that the tones made by the sphere possessed a rhythm and tone, her character was still childlike then, and she managed to integrate music into this set of kung fu techniques.
Everything possesses a rhythm, from the way the world passes on, how trees and grass grow, to a person’s heartbeat and pulse. Music is created by the natural manipulation of the sounds of nature by people; music pleases the ear whereas noise creates trouble in the heart. When kung fu and music is combined, it is performed even more smoothly and softly, the body following whatever the mind wants.
The lightness kung fu of the Ancient Tomb sect belongs to its own class, other sects’ lightness kung fu cannot compare with it. When using it in the open plains, it is difficult to identify the strong points of the technique, right now, it was being used in the hall, the grace and ease of it was unparalleled, moving in thousands of different directions. She has practiced her martial arts in the rooms of the ancient tomb, within a radius of over ten feet, she really did move like a goddess.
Though Jinlun Fawang’s martial arts were much superior to hers, as she hurriedly leaped and suddenly shifted, there wasn’t anything he could do about it. He heard the ‘ding ling ding ling’ sounds of the sphere was like a song, after listening to it a while, he found himself fighting along with the music. He quickly swung his golden wheel to create a noise, mixing up the ‘ling’ sounds. In a flash the room was filled with the clashing of the two sounds, suddenly it was soft then loud, high then low. The sounds from the bell was crisp and clear, when one hears them they felt carefree and joyous, the sounds that Jinlun Fawang produced were like metal being forged, like a scraping of a cauldron, like killing a pig, beating a dog, many indescribable noises.
Guo Jing and Huang Rong were watching from the side and remembered how years ago they heard Hong Qigong, Ouyang Feng and Huang Yaoshi use the sounds of music to battle with each other on Peach Blossom Island. As they reminisced about it, it felt like it was lifetime ago. Though the martial arts of the two were masterly, when it comes to using music to fight, they could not compare with Hong, Huang and Ouyang.
Yang Guo had already counted up to, “One thousand and five, one thousand and six, one thousand and seven…” But Xiao Longnu had kept away from facing her opponent; Jinlun Fawang had yet to use ten stances. Guo Fu was unconscious in her mother’s arms but she was awakened by the sounds of the golden wheel, she raised her head, her face as dazed and she did not know what was going on.
Jinlun Fawang felt very impatient, he felt that with the status of a leading martial artist, if he was unable to beat this young girl after so long, and if the battle went on, he would eventually win but he would have lost all face. He suddenly stretched out his left arm, the golden wheel slanted across; his left palm pushed out low towards the left, the golden wheel went upwards towards the right. The two of them had fought for a long time, now Jinlun Fawang had grasped half of Xiao Longnu’s lightness kung fu; those two attacks were meant to block her escape routes, only allowing her to move forward, escaping backwards was not an option.
In this danger, Xiao Longnu waved her silk belt and wrapped it around a group of white flowers, her body quickly flew up.
Fawang’s golden wheel turned around, binding the silk belt. If it were a normal weapon, he would have taken it away long ago, but the silk belt did not have any stiffness, it just lightly slipped away from the hole of the golden wheel. Jinlun Fawang shouted, “That is the second stance, the third stance is coming!” He took a step forward; the golden wheel suddenly escaped from his hands, and was sent flying towards Xiao Longnu.
No one predicted that stance, the golden wheel spun urgently as it slashed towards Xiao Longnu. Xiao Longnu was extremely startled, she lowered her body and darted backwards, she suddenly heard a ‘chi chi’ sound, a yellow light passed her face within an inch, the gusts of wind created by the wheel hurt her tender face.
In the startled calls of the crowd, Fawang dashed forward and stretched out his arm, his palm gave a push on the wheel’s rim, turning it in midair, heading towards Xiao Longnu again. Xiao Longnu saw that the force the wheel was spinning with was extraordinary, how could she dare to use the silk belt to trap it? She could only use her matchless lightness kung fu to jump to the side to avoid it.
Jinlun Fawang had missed twice and called out, “Great lightness kung fu!”
He dashed forwards and stretched out his left fist, a ‘dang’ sound was heard as he struck the wheel, at the same time he sent out both palms, blocking Xiao Longnu’s path forward, while the golden wheel flew with a ‘lang lang’ sound towards the back of her head.
The golden wheel wasn’t extremely quick, but before the wheel arrived, the gusts of wind created by the wheel moved towards Xiao Longnu, it was an extremely ferocious force. When Fawang punched the wheel, he had already calculated where the opponent could escape to, that is why the wheel seemed to have grown an eye; after making half a circle in midair, the wheel returned and headed for Xiao Longnu’s back. Xiao Longnu jumped and used all the skills that she had learnt in her life, but she still saw the Tibetan monk’s palms opened in front of her, blocking her way. The heroes’ ears were filled with calls, their eyes were dazzled, and all of them had fear in their hearts.
Yang Guo saw that Xiao Longnu was in danger; he was extremely concerned and picked up Da’erba’s golden rod. He used all his strength and flung it upwards towards the wheel, a loud ‘dang’ sound was heard, the rod managed to go through the wheel’s opening in the middle, but the force of the wheel was really ferocious, it shook his arms so much that his wrists split open, blood poured out, as he brought the wheel and rod crashing to the floor.
Xiao Longnu glanced over and saw that the wheel was on the floor, the threat from behind was taken away but her body was in midair, how could she avoid the enemy that was in front of her? She urgently waved out her silk belt, wrapping it around the pillar in the west and then pulled with all her strength, her body used this force to fly away towards the pillar, she smoothly and lightly slipped down behind the pillar, in the space of a hair’s breadth, she managed to avoid Fawang’s mountain shattering palm.
Jinlun Fawang had victory in his grasp but was again stopped by Yang Guo. Not only did the enemy get away, even his unbeatable weapon was knocked on to the floor by him; he has never experienced such a frustrating setback in his life. He originally was meticulous, wise and intelligent, yet right now he couldn’t stop himself from reacting without thinking. He didn’t wait for Yang Guo to get up and sent a palm chopping down on him.
According to his status as head of a school, what he was doing did not match how he had always thought of himself; Yang Guo was a junior, and he was on the floor when he sent out this palm, but in his great anger he couldn’t care less.
Guo Jing saw him staring angrily at Yang Guo, his shoulder was raised and arm taken back, Guo Jing knew that he was about to kill him, he called out in quietly, “Oh no!” If he took a step forward, he would still be able to block this attack but Yang Guo would still suffer a serious injury. In this urgent situation there was no time to think carefully, he used a stance of “Flying Dragon in the Sky”, his whole body leapt into the air, and attacked Jinlun Fawang’s head. If Jinlun Fawang didn’t take back this palm, though he would be able to kill Yang Guo, his life would be taken away under the matchless lethal and swift Dragon Subduing Palm. The force of his palm quickly turned around, he gave a ‘hei’ shout, and exchanged palms with Guo Jing.
This was the second time that two great masters of the present time exchanged palms. Guo Jing was in midair and had nothing to brace against, he used the opponent’s force and made a half somersault, landing backwards. Yet, Jinlun Fawang stood his ground steadily, his body didn’t sway and his legs didn’t shift, it was as if nothing had happened.
Hao Datong, Sun Bu’Er, Diancang Yuyin and the others knew about Guo Jing’s kung fu; after they saw this they all were shocked, that monk’s kung fu really is extraordinary.
In reality, Guo Jing was just following the orthodox rules of martial arts by retreating backwards, naturally dispersing the enemy’s force.
After Yang Guo had interfered many times, Jinlun Fawang had lost face, he wanted to regain it back and so took Guo Jing’s palm; he actually consumed a lot of his chi and internal energy, though he looked like he was superior, he was suffering on the inside. The two of them are outstanding men of the world; it would be difficult to separate the two in tens of moves. Jinlun Fawang forced himself to take this stance without moving, his chest throbbed with pain again, luckily the aim of the opponent was just to stop him and he did not continue to attack. He closed his lips and eyes and circulated his internal energy, unblocking the motionless chi in his chest.
Yang Guo escaped death and picked himself up, he hurried to Xiao Longnu’s side, just as Xiao Longnu was about to come over and take a look at him. Both of them asked at the same time, “Are you okay?” The two nodded at the same time, a smile was on their faces, their hands held each other’s with joy in their hearts.
Yang Guo picked up the golden rod and placed the golden wheel on top, he rotated the wheel and it made ‘lang lang’ noises; he loudly called out, “All you Mongolian warriors listen; I’ve manage to take the weapon of your country’s great protector, how can you still talk about being the Chancellor of Wulin? Go and crawl back to Mongolia you Mongolian asses!”
None of the Mongolian warriors accepted what had happened, they saw that Jinlun Fawang was about to win in the duel between him and Xiao Longnu, the opponents came up with not only Yang Guo, but Guo Jing as well, they all called out, “It was Fawang who flung the wheel away himself, how could a little punk like you take it?” “One versus one” and “without the help of others!” “Correct, fight again,” They all made a clamor but it was all in Mongolian, apart from Guo Jing, no one understood what they were saying.
The heroes of the central plains were all reasonable and understanding people; they felt that when it comes to martial arts, Jinlun Fawang was indeed superior to Xiao Longnu. But they cannot allow a Mongolian to take the position of the Chancellor of Wulin; otherwise, the central plain’s Wulin would have lost all its face. Before it actually began, the spirits of the amassed heroes who planned to defend against the foreign invaders had been dampened. The younger members of the crowd also began to argue and shout. When they heard the clamor of the Mongolian warriors, they began to quarrel with them. Both sides raised their weapons; the situation was developing into a mass brawl.
Yang Guo raised the golden rod and golden wheel; he said to Jinlun Fawang, “You still won’t admit defeat? You have lost your weapons, what face have you got left? How can the world have a Wulin Chancellor whose weapon can be taken away by someone else?”
Jinlun Fawang was secretly circulating his internal energy right now, he heard every single word that Yang Guo said but he didn’t dare to open his mouth and speak.
Yang Guo looked at the situation and knew what was happening, quickly, he loudly said, “All the heroes please can I have your attention: I’m going to ask him three times, if he doesn’t reply then that means he admits defeat.”
He was afraid that as time passes, Fawang will have finished circulating his internal energy, he didn’t waste any time, he asked in one breath, “Did you or did you not lose? Are you still thinking about the position of the Chancellor of Wulin or not? If you don’t say anything then that means you admit defeat, right?”
Fawang had just finished ridding the motionless chi, the pain in his chest had cleared up, he was about to reply when Yang Guo saw his lips move, he quickly got in ahead and said, “Fine, since you’ve admitted defeat we won’t give you any trouble, you had better leave.” He then raised the golden rod and golden wheel and handed them over to Guo Jing. He actually wanted to hand them over to his Master but was afraid that Jinlun Fawang’s fury will erupt again; Xiao Longnu would not be able to block the attack.
