Elder Liang was a well-known figure, so he was furious that such a young inexperienced girl did not take him seriously. He immediately chopped towards her shoulder using his special move. Elder Jian no longer felt any enmity towards Huang Rong and instead thought that there was more to it then it met the eye, so on seeing Elder Liang’s ferocity, he cautioned, “Elder Liang, don’t apply lethal force!” Huang Rong laughed, “It’s OK!” Her motion changed abruptly, punching and kicking, pushing and jabbing, changing between more than 10 different martial arts in rapid succession.
The beggars around glued their eyes to the action. An 8-Pocket skinny beggar shouted, “Ah! ‘Lotus Palms’!” The fat beggar then exclaimed, “Eh, she knows the ‘Bronze Hammer Boxing’!” Before he finished, she changed martial arts again, and the experts each exclaimed, “Ah it’s the Chief’s ‘Sky-Striking Skill’.” “Hey, she’s using the ‘Iron-Curtain Kicking Technique’!” “This move is ‘Limp Hands Overcoming the Enemy’!”
Hong Qigong was actually a lazy person who disliked taking martial disciples. It was only when the Beggars’ Clan members made some important contribution that he would teach 1 or 2 strokes as a reward. Even when Li Sheng (see Chapter 15) performed his duties without regard for his life, Hong Qigong only taught him one of the strokes of the ’18 Dragon Subduing Palms’ – the ‘Divine Dragon Displays its Tail’. Hong Qigong also had another habit where he would not teach the same stroke to more than 1 person, so whatever the Beggars’ Clan members learnt would not share any common ground. It was only due to Huang Rong’s intelligence and fantastic culinary skills that pleased him into teaching her dozens of different martial arts. But because she loved to play, she only learnt a few strokes each. Besides, Hong Qigong was too lazy to train her properly, so Huang Rong could only display the skills without the finesse. Still, her purpose was just to display the martial arts Hong Qigong taught her, and the beggars exclaimed when they saw that it was something they knew. Elder Liang’s sabre skills were far better than Huang Rong’s; it was due to her rapid change in martial arts that momentarily dazzled him, preventing him from attacking and forcing him to defend himself.
As the sabre flashed, Huang Rong suddenly withdrew her palms to her side and laughed, “Do you admit defeat?” Elder Liang had yet to use all his stances, why should he admit defeat? His sabre flipped outwards from his bosom. Huang Rong did not evade the strike, causing the beggars around to call out in surprise as the sabre flew towards her. Elder Jian and Lu Youjiao shouted for him to stop. Elder Liang also knew something was not right and hastily tried to pull the sabre upwards, but could not pull back in time and it hit her left shoulder. He groaned silently, “Oh no!” The force behind the strike was not very light and he felt that he must have injured her. Suddenly his arm went numb and the sabre hit the ground with a clang. Little did he know that Huang Rong was wearing the Soft Armour and that she seized the opportunity when he hesitated with his strike to tap his accupoint using her family’s ‘Flower-Plucking Hands’. She stepped on the sabre and smiled, “Well?” Elder Liang was so certain that he injured her in his strike that he was shocked by this sudden turn of events and wordlessly stepped away. Yang Kang said, “She’s Huang Yao Shi’s daughter, so there’s nothing strange about her wearing the Soft Armour.” Elder Jian creased his eyebrows in doubt. Huang Rong laughed, “You don’t believe it?” Lu Youjiao observed that though her martial arts were good, she was still far behind Elder Liang. If not for her trick, she could only hope for a draw at best. Elder Jian was much better than Elder Liang and she was not his match, yet she was still giggling indifferently. Lu Youjiao was worried but the pain in his broken fingers was preventing him from speaking as he sweated profusely. Elder Jian lifted his head and said, “Miss, allow me to spar with you!” Guo Jing saw his imposing figure and solid steps and also knew Huang Rong was not his match, so he picked up the bundled cow skin and rushed forward. He tossed it out and wrapped it around Elder Jian’s bronze staff (which Qiu Qianren lodged in the stone) and shouted, “Up!” The staff trembled and jerked upwards. The staff was facing Elder Jian but Guo Jing dashed in between and struck out with the ‘Six Dragon Palms’ and hit it from the side. This was one of the strokes from the ’18 Dragon Subduing Palms’ and its force was something to be reckoned with. The impact caused the staff to change direction abruptly. Guo Jing caught hold of the staff and used it to execute the stroke ‘Clouds Without Rain’ while his right hand executed the stroke ‘Convincing Sarcasm’. He applied the ‘Dual-Hand Skill’ to execute 2 moves at the same time and the bronze staff rose up steadily. He then used the move ‘Sighting the Dragon in the Farm’ and struck the middle of the staff. He shouted, “Watch it!” as it flew towards Elder Jian.
The staff flew like the snow and Elder Jian knew if he stretched out to intercept it, his hand would be dislocated, so he jumped aside. He feared that it may hit the beggars around so he shouted, “Get away!” However Huang Rong stretched out the bamboo stick and tapped the middle of the bronze staff and gently pressed it downwards. This was a good example of the saying “4 liang moving a thousand jin”. Though the move was gentle, it was one of the ingenious strokes of the ‘Dog-Beating Skill’ called ‘Pressure on the Dog’s Back’ which made very efficient use of the applied forces. She pressed down on the staff and laughed, “You use the staff, I use the stick. Let’s have some fun.”
Elder Jian was stunned and gave up all thoughts of sparring. He bent down to pick up the staff and held it head-down, then bowed and said, “Miss, please show leniency.” This action was actually supposed to be a mark of respect of a junior to an elder indicating inequality between their skills and the desire to seek pointers from the elder.
Huang Rong stretched out the bamboo stick and used the stroke ‘Facing the Dog to the Sky’ and tossed the head of the staff upwards. She laughed, “Please dispense on ceremony. I may not be as skillful as you.” This bronze staff had been Elder Jian’s precious weapon for decades and yet he almost could not hold on to it firmly as it brushed his forehead as he hastily withdrew the weapon. He was surprised and quickly applied the stroke ‘Qin King Whips the Stone’ and hit downwards from behind – a stroke originated from the martial arts of the heroes from Liang Mountain Slope (Liang Shan Po) called the ‘Mad Demon’s Staff Skill’. Huang Rong saw that this strike was strong and fierce and felt that if he managed to sweep her down, she would still sustain internal injuries even with the Soft Armour. She increased her pace and used the ‘Dog-Beating Skill’ and slid the stick up the bronze staff. The bronze staff weighed around 30 jin while the stick was only about 10 liang but the skill was profound and ingenious and easily allowed the bamboo stick to prevent the staff from breaking through within just a few strokes.