By this time Guo Jing had already possessed a powerful internal energy, he was able to break an even stronger rope. Who would have thought that as he exerted strength to his hands and feet, the rope on his body created ‘zheng, zheng’ noise, the rope was not damaged. Turned out it was made from braided cow rawhide mixed with steel wire.
Guo Jing wanted to add his strength and try again, unexpectedly he felt something cold on his face; a piece of ice-cold sword blade was softly patted twice on his cheek. He turned his head and saw four young beggars, each with an unsheathed weapon guarding them at their sides. He had no choice but stopped struggling. He turned his head to look at Huang Rong.
Huang Rong calmed herself down; she knew she needed to assess the overall situation first, and then try to find a way to escape. She turned her body around and was stunned. Turned out they were at the top of a small peak. Under the moonlight she clearly saw lake water all around them. A thin fog hung low on ten of thousands ‘qing’ [unit of area, 1 qing is approximately 6.67 Hectares or 16.47 acres] of bluish green waves. She thought, “It turns out that we are captured and brought to the Mount Jun’s peak on Dongting Lake. How come I didn’t feel anything along the way?”
She turned her head again and saw there was a tall platform a dozen of ‘zhang’s away. The area around the platform was packed with rows after rows of hundreds of beggars. They sat quietly; the moonlight had not illuminated these people yet, which was the reason why Huang Rong did not notice them previously. She was inwardly happy, “Ah, right! Today is the fifteenth day of the seventh month; it’s the Beggar Clan General Assembly. I must think of a way to speak, then I’ll pass down Shifu’s command, how can the beggars here refuse to accept?”
After a long time, the group of beggars still had not shown any activity. Huang Rong could not bear it any longer, but she could not move and had to endure patiently. About half an hour later, her limbs went numb. She saw the moon slowly rose to the middle of the sky, illuminating half of the tall platform. Huang Rong thought, “Li Tai wrote a poem, ‘Pale moon swept through the lake, the surface was clear like a jade mirror, standing on Mount Jun painting a picture.’ He went up the mountain to enjoy the moon that night, so free and unrestrained. Tonight the scenery is the same, but Jing Gege and I are bound in here. It really is irritating and funny at the same time!”
The moonlight slowly moved, shining on the three characters written on the side of the platform, ‘xuan yuan [a name for the Yellow Emperor] tai’ [platform]. Huang Rong recalled the story told by her father about great tales of the Jianghu world. Legend has it that the Huang Di [Yellow Emperor] cast [the word ‘cast’ here is as in ‘casting metal from a mold’] a Ding [tripod, used for drinking utensil. From Wikipedia: a type of ancient Chinese vessel with three legs] on the bank of the Dongting lake. When the ding was finished, he rode a dragon and ascended to the heaven. She believed this platform was built to commemorate that event.
About the time it took to make tea later, the tall platform was completely engulfed by the bright moon. Suddenly she heard ‘bonk, bonk, bonk’ three times then it stopped, then ‘bonk, bonk, bonk’ again. This pattern was repeated, sometimes slow sometimes fast, sometimes high, sometimes low, as if it followed certain rhythm. Turned out each one of the beggars held a small stick in their hands and they tapped the mountain rock in front of them. Huang Rong silently counted the tapping, she counted nine by nine, eighty one times when the noise stopped and four people stood up from the crowd of beggars. Under the bright moonlight she could see them clearly; they were Lu Youjiao and the three elders from the Clean Clothes Faction.
These four beggar elders walked towards the Xuanyuan Platform and stood on its four corners. The crowd of beggars also stood up and cupped their fists across their chests, bowing in respect. The white fat beggar waited until the crowd was seated and then with a clear voice said, “Brothers, the Beggar Clan met a disaster, an astronomical catastrophe, our Hong Lao Bangzhu [Old Clan Leader Hong] returned to heaven in Lin’an prefecture!”
At this word, the crowd of beggars fell into a complete silence. Suddenly someone cried out and threw himself to the ground. Everywhere the beggars beat their chests and stomped their feet, crying and wailing loudly. The noise of grieving shook the forest and echoed back from the surface of the lake down below.
Guo Jing was shocked, “We tried to find Shifu everywhere and could not find him, turned out he has passed away.” He could not help shedding some tears, only his mouth was stuffed with some cloths, or else he would have wailed out too. Huang Rong meanwhile thought: “This fat guy is not a good person, he employed a nefarious way to capture us. I doubt it if we can believe what he said; he must be spreading up false rumors.”
The crowd of beggars remembered Hong Qigong’s kindness, everybody cried out louder and louder. Suddenly Lu Youjiao called out, “Peng Zhanglao, who personally saw Bangzhu returned to heaven?”
That white and plump Peng Zhanglao replied, “Lu Zhanglao, if Bangzhu was still alive; who has eaten leopard’s gall and tiger’s heart, dared to put a curse on him? The one who saw him returning to heaven is here. Yang Xianggong [honorable master], would you please tell the brothers here?”
Someone stood up from among the crowd of beggars; it was none other than Yang Kang. With the dark green bamboo stick in his hand he walked to the front of the platform. The crowd of beggars grew quiet, except for some continuing soft sobbing noise here and there.
Yang Kang slowly said, “About a month ago Hong Bangzhu was having a martial art contest with someone in Lin’an prefecture; unfortunately he lost and was killed.”
As the crowd of beggars listened to him, their anger rose; one after another they shouted, “Who is the enemy? Tell us! Tell us!” “Bangzhu had divine power, how could he lose?” “Certainly the enemy ambushed him; our Bangzhu was overwhelmed by sheer numbers.”
After Guo Jing listened to Yang Kang’s speech, his grief turns to anger; immediately his heart was relieved and he thought, “A month ago, Shifu was obviously with us. Turned out he is just talking nonsense.”
Meanwhile Huang Rong thought, “This kid must be a follower of the old swindler Qiu Qianren; he has completely mastered his stinky skill of spreading lies and deceiving people.”
Yang Kang spread out both of his hands, waiting for the crowd of beggars to calm down, then he continued, “The ones who killed Bangzhu is the Peach Blossom Island’s Master, the Eastern Heretic Huang Yaoshi, and the Quanzhen Sect’s seven thieves.”