The Legend of the Condor Heroes – Chapter 17

Guo Jing guessed it was because he drank the blood of Liang Ziwong’s ginseng-fed big snake; so he said, “Once I drank a big snake’s blood; perhaps that was why I can resist snake’s venom.”

Zhou Botong pointed to the leather on the ground, “That is a very precious thing, absolutely can’t be destroyed …” he passed out before he could finish his sentence.

At this time Guo Jing did not care about any precious object; he was busy sealing Zhou Botong’s ‘gong guo’ [palace crossing] acupoint, but it did not help. He tried to feel Zhou Botong’s calf; it was hot and swelling big.

“Four weaving machines, the weaving of mandarin ducks desiring to fly together right away …” he heard Zhou Botong muttered indistinctly.

“What did you say?” Guo Jing asked.

“It’s a pity not yet old but the hair on the head has turned white; it’s a pity …” Zhou Botong sighed.

Guo Jing knew he was delirious from the illness; he was very anxious. He dashed out of the cave and climbed a tree outside, shouting loudly, “Rong’er! Rong’er! Island Master Huang! Island Master Huang! Help! Help!” But Peach Blossom Island encompassed an area of more than ten li’s across; it was a big island. Huang Yaoshi’s residence was located at the other side of the island. Guo Jing’s shout was in vain. The only response he heard was his own voice echoed from the mountain and valley ahead, “ … Island Master Huang! Help! Help …!”

Guo Jing jumped down, he was at a loss. In that critical time an idea came flashing into his mind, “Snake’s venom cannot harm me, perhaps my blood contain some antidote to the snake’s poison.” Without wasting another second he fumbled about the ground, looking for the big green bowl that Zhou Botong used to drink tea everyday. He took his dagger and without hesitation sliced his own left arm and let his blood dripped into the bowl until the drip stopped by itself. He made another cut and again filled the bowl; then he propped Zhou Botong up on his knee. With his left hand he force Zhou Botong’s mouth open and with his right hand fed him the blood.

Although he was young and his body strong, losing that much blood drained his energy. After feeding Zhou Botong he leaned against the cave wall and closed his eyes; he fell asleep not long afterward.

He did not know how long had he slept, but he felt someone was tending his wound. He opened his eyes and saw Zhou Botong’s white hair and beard. Guo Jing was delighted. “You … you … are you well?” he called out.

“I am well, brother. You have sacrificed yourself to save my life,” Zhou Botong said. “I am sure the grim reaper was greatly disappointed; I am not that easy to die.”

Guo Jing looked at Zhou Botong’s calf and saw that the dark swelling was no longer there, only red inflammation which was not life threatening.

That morning those two people sat to meditate and cultivate their inner strength, revitalizing their body. After lunch Zhou Botong asked Guo Jing the origin of the leather wrap. Guo Jing gathered his thoughts for a moment then started narrating how his Second Master at the Cloud Village had took some things from Mei Chaofeng; that dagger was among those things, and that the leather was wrapped on it. Afterward he also noticed the characters, but he did not know what they were, so he simply kept it in his pocket without giving it another thought.

Zhou Botong mumbled and was lost in thought for half a day. “Big Brother, you said it was a very precious object, what is it?” Guo Jing asked.

“I have to examine it before I can answer your question. I don’t know if it is the real thing, but since it came from Mei Chaofeng, I have a strong reason to believe it is,” Zhou Botong replied. Taking the leather he looked at it from top to bottom.

Wang Chongyang won the book not for his personal gain but to avoid bloodshed among the Wulin people; therefore, he had strictly forbidden his disciples to ever learn any martial art from the book. Zhou Botong naturally did not dare to disobey his martial brother’s last words. But he recalled what Madame Huang said, ‘Simply taking a look without training it can not be considered disobeying.’ He had spent fifteen years in the cave without anything to do, so out of his boredom he had read the first volume of Nine Yin Manual in his possession. However, the first volume only contained the method to cultivate internal energy, as well as the basic of swordsmanship; there was no real profound martial art to defeat opponent. It was useless if one did not train the second volume.

For these past ten years or so, Zhou Botong had read the first volume over and over again; he even made some guesses as to what the second volume contained. Therefore, as soon as he read the leather wrap, he immediately knew it was related to what he had already memorized.

Zhou Botong lifted his eyes to the distant hill and was deep in thought. He loved martial art; he was obsessed with it. Now he had in his hand the world’s greatest and most profound martial arts manual. In all honesty he wanted very much to train what was in the book; not to build up his own reputation, not to seek vengeance, also not to show off his prowess or to rule the world; he was simply and purely curious to see how profound the martial arts in the book were.

He recalled his martial brother’s story on Huang Shang compiling the 5481 chapters on the Everlasting Life Taoist Canon; then later on he spent forty years painstakingly studied various exquisite martial arts from various schools. It really was not a small matter. The Twin Killers of the Dark Wind only got hold of the second volume; and they only managed to learn two techniques among so many; yet they were able to create havoc in the Jianghu. What if they were able to learn the entire second volume? The result would be inconceivable. But martial brother’s last words could not be disobeyed. Zhou Botong pondered these things in his heart; he heaved a heavy sigh, put the leather inside his pocket, closed his eyes and fell asleep.

After taking a good rest he took a tree branch to dig a hole in which he intended to bury both volumes together. He was digging and sighing at the same time. But suddenly an idea came to his mind, he exploded in laughter and cheers, “That’s right! That’s right! This way I can have both ways!” He was so ecstatic that Guo Jing was startled, “Big Brother, what both ways?” But Zhou Botong merely laughed without saying anything. It looked like he came out with a really great idea.

“Brother Guo is not my Quan Zhen Sect’s disciple. I will teach him and let him train, then I will see the result,” he thought. “This way I can satisfy my curiosity and following martial brother’s dying wish at the same time.” He was going to tell this idea to Guo Jing when suddenly he had another thought, “From the way he speaks I gathered he detests the Nine Yin Manual. He thinks it was an evil martial art; but that was because the Twin Killers of the Dark Wind only looked at the second volume; they did not train the first volume, which would tell them how to cultivate the inner energy and build a foundation for the subsequent techniques. They only took the fiercest martial arts they could find, which resulted in monstrosity of their martial arts. I’d better not tell him anything; I’ll let him practice and let him know afterwards. That time he will have mastered the martial arts; even if he wants to get rid of it he won’t be able to do anything. Won’t that be interesting?”

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