Huang Rong saw his face was ruddy and resplendent in divine brightness; her heart was overjoyed. She pressed her eyes against the small hole again to look outside and she was shocked. She saw her father’s steps were sluggish; he moved according to the ‘ba gua’ [eight diagram]; while slowly launching palm attack by palm attack. She knew her father would not easily use this highest footwork technique. She knew that victory or defeat will soon be decided; it was a defining moment of life and death.
The Quanzhen Seven Masters were also fighting with all their might while shouting encouragement to each other. The top of their heads were emitting steaming mist, their robes were stuck to their sweating bodies. Their condition was totally different from when they were leisurely fighting Mei Chaofeng earlier.
Ouyang Feng was standing at the side with his sleeves down, looking intently at the Seven Masters’ Big Dipper Formation. He was hoping that Huang Yaoshi would be exhausted and suffer a serious injury so that on the second Sword Meet of Mount Hua he would have one less powerful enemy. Who would have thought that Huang Yaoshi’s martial art came out one after another; even though the Seven Masters were not defeated, it was obvious that they would not achieve victory easily either. “The Old Heretic Huang is really good!” he thought. He saw both sides moved slower and slower, a sign that the situation had become more critical than ever; in less than the time to drink a tea this battle would reach its conclusion.
Huang Yaoshi sent out two palm attacks toward Sun Bu’er and Tan Chuduan. They raised their hands to parry, while Liu Chuxuan and Ma Yu came to their rescue. Ouyang Feng let out a long whistle and called out, “Yao Xiong, let me help you.” He squatted down and thrust both palms ferociously toward Tan Chuduan’s back. Tan Chuduan was using all his power to fight Huang Yaoshi. Suddenly he felt an earth shattering force coming from behind with a lightning speed. Not only his martial brothers and sister did not have time to rescue, he also did not have time to evade. ‘Bang!’ his whole body was thrown forward.
“Who wants your help?” Huang Yaoshi roared angrily. Right at that moment Qiu Chuji’s and Wang Chuyi’s palms arrived together. He brushed his sleeve to neutralize those attacks, while his right palm blocked Ma Yu’s and Hao Datong’s palms.
Ouyang Feng laughed and said, “All right, let me help them then!” Suddenly his palms struck toward Huang Yaoshi’s back. When he attacked Tan Chuduan, he was only using 30% of his strength, but now he was using all of his lifelong cultivated energy; taking the opportunity while Huang Yaoshi was busy blocking the attack of Four Masters. He wanted to strike Huang Yaoshi down in one blow. He had planned it carefully: he would kill one of the Seven Masters and then kill Huang Yaoshi. As soon as the Big Dipper Formation was broken, he would not be afraid of their revenge. This evil scheme of his was perfect; even if Huang Yaoshi’s skill were higher he would not be able to resist Four Masters and Western Poison on his back all at once.
“I am finished!” Huang Yaoshi secretly sighed; he had no choice but to concentrate his ‘qi’ on his back, staking his all to receive the brunt of Ouyang Feng’s Toad Stance attack. Ouyang Feng’s push carried an enormous force, but the speed was slower. He was sure his plan would prevail, he was secretly delighted. All of a sudden a dark shadow flashed by. Someone from the side flew toward Huang Yaoshi’s back, receiving the hit with a loud shout.
Huang Yaoshi, Ma Yu and the others stopped fighting immediately and leaped back. They saw that the person who risked her life to protect her master was Mei Chaofeng. Huang Yaoshi turned his head around and coldly laughed, “The Old Poison is really poisonous, you truly live up to your reputation!”
As his attack accidentally hit someone else, Ouyang Feng cried out in his heart, “What a pity!” He was aware that if Huang Yaoshi joined hands with the Quanzhen Seven Masters, his life would be difficult to protect. With a loud laugh he flew out the door and ran away.
Ma Yu stooped down to hold Tan Chuduan and he was shocked. Tan Chuduan’s body was askew, his head was drooping to the side. It turned out this one strike of Ouyang Feng had broken the ribs on his back and his spine. Seeing his Shi Di’s life was cut short Ma Yu’s tears flowed down like rain.
Qiu Chuji pursued out with a sword in his hand, only to hear Ouyang Feng calling out from a far, “Old Heretic Huang, I helped you breaking the Wang Chongyang’s formation, I also punished the Peach Blossom Island’s renegade disciple on your behalf. You can take care of the remaining six mixed-up hairs by yourself. We’ll see each other again later!”
“Humph!” Huang Yaoshi snorted; he knew Ouyang Feng was spreading his poison again, trying to incite tension between him and the Quanzhen Sect by placing the blame of the killing of Tan Chuduan on his shoulder, so that the Quanzhen Sect would seek their revenge on him. He understood very well Ouyang Feng’s ill intention, yet he was not willing to explain anything to Quanzhen Seven Masters. Slowly he held Mei Chaofeng up; he saw the blood spurting out from her to the ground, he knew she would not live.
Qiu Chuji pursued for dozens of ‘zhang’s but he could not see which direction Ouyang Feng took. Ma Yu was afraid if he was chasing on his own he would also fall into Ouyang Feng’s poisonous hand, so Ma Yu shouted, “Qiu Shi Di! Come Back!”
Qiu Chuji’s eyes were on fire; he came back in big strides, pointed his finger to Huang Yaoshi and scolded him, “What enmity do you have with the Quanzhen Sect? You are a wicked ghost! First you killed our Zhou Shishu, now you harmed our Tan Shi Ge. Why did you come over here?”
Huang Yaoshi was startled. “Zhou Botong?” he asked, “I killed him?”
“You still don’t want to admit it?” Qiu Chuji said.
Actually Huang Yaoshi was having a race with Zhou Botong and Ouyang Feng. They had run for several hundreds ‘li’s and were inseparable from each other; nobody was willing to give up. While they were running, Zhou Botong suddenly remembered he left Hong Qigong alone at the imperial palace. Hong Qigong had lost his martial art skill; if he was discovered by the palace guards, his life would be in danger. So he said, “The Old Urchin has a business to attend. I don’t want to race anymore!” Once he said he did not want to race, he did not want to race. Huang Yaoshi and Ouyang Feng could not make him do otherwise and were forced to let him go. Huang Yaoshi had wanted to ask Zhou Botong for news about his beloved daughter but all along he did not have the opportunity to do so.
Tan Chuduan and the others were pursuing behind, but very soon they lost track of the three’s shadows. However, Huang Yaoshi and the other two could see them clearly. So as the Old Urchin left to tend his business, the Eastern Heretic and the Western Poison two people decided to return to the Ox Village without expecting what was waiting for them over there.
By now Qiu Chuji was stomping his feet in fury, Sun Bu’er was crying while holding Tan Chuduan’s body. Everybody wanted to stake it all to fight Huang Yaoshi. Huang Yaoshi knew there was a misunderstanding here, but being a man of his position he simply laughed coldly without saying anything.
Tan Chuduan opened his eyes slowly and in a low voice said, “I am leaving.” Qiu Chuji and the others quickly gathered around him, sitting cross-legged on the ground. They heard Tan Chuduan softly recite, “Holding hands the departed soul like a bead of pearls forcing itself to leave. Heart opens to hear the sound of nature unlike the blowing flute.” As he finished reciting he closed his eyes and died.
The Quanzhen Six Masters lowered their heads to pray. Finished praying Ma Yu held Tan Chuduan’s lifeless body in his arms. Qiu Chuji, Yin Zhiping and the others followed behind without even looking back. At this moment Qiu Chuji, Sun Bu’er and the others realized that with the death of Tan Chuduan the Big Dipper Formation was broken. If they continued fighting Huang Yaoshi they would only deliver six more lives. Therefore, the revenge had to wait some other day.