The fisherman, the woodcutter and the farmer also stood up unsheathing their weapons, surrounding them from four directions. Huang Rong said, “I came to ask the Reverend to treat my injury, not knowing it would require all of the Reverend’s strength that he would lose his internal energy for five years. There is poison in those pills; I was framed by somebody else. The Reverend has shown me this kind of mercy; even if I don’t have a heart, I still will not repay kindness with evil.”
With a stern voice the fisherman said, “Then why do you take advantage while Shifu’s strength is gone and he is poisoned you lead the enemy going up the mountain?”
Jing and Rong two people were stunned, “We did not!” they said with a confused voice.
“You still deny it?” the fisherman said, “As soon as my Shifu is poisoned, the enemy delivered a jade bracelet on the foot of the mountain. If you did not scheme it ahead, how can there be such coincidence?”
“What jade bracelet?” Huang Rong asked.
The fisherman was angry, “You still act stupid!” The iron oars in his hands moved; the left oar swept horizontally, the right oar went down vertically, attacking both Guo Jing and Huang Rong.
Guo Jing was sitting side by side with Huang Rong on meditation mats on the floor. As he saw the oars arrive he leaped up with his right hand forming a hook brushing away the horizontally sweeping oar, while his left hand caught the flat of the oar and jerked it hard. This jerking action carried a very strong force; the fisherman felt pain and tingling sensation which forced him to let the oar go. Guo Jing pushed the oar forward. ‘Bang!’ it hit the farmer’s iron rake; sparks flew everywhere. Immediately Guo Jing shoved the iron oar back into the fisherman’s hand. The fisherman was surprised; he took the oar back. Exerting his strength to his right arm he struck down together with the woodcutter’s axe.
Guo Jing’s palm came one after another, carrying strong gusts of wind, coming fast toward the two men’s torso. The scholar knew the fierceness of the ’18-Dragon Subduing Palms’, “Back off quickly!” he anxiously shouted.
Both the fisherman and the woodcutter were disciples of a well-known expert; their martial arts were anything but ordinary. Before Guo Jing’s stance arrived they had hastily withdrew their weapons and leaped back. Suddenly they felt a jerk dampening their backward movement; turned out their weapons were pulled forward by Guo Jing’s palm strength. They had no choice but let their weapons go; saving their own lives was more important.
Guo Jing caught the iron oar and the steel axe, he lightly tossed them back and called out, “Catch these!”
“Good martial art!” the scholar praised; his long sword threatening Guo Jing’s right side.
Seeing this attack Guo Jing was startled; among Yideng’s four disciples this scholar looked the most refined, but actually his martial art surpassed those of his colleagues; hence Guo Jing did not dare to underestimate him. His palms fluttered in the air, enveloping Huang Rong and his own body with tremendous force. This defense was truly stable, like an abyss stopping a mountain peak; there was not a single hole in it. His palms were like rainbow, continuously circling around bigger and bigger that the fisherman, the woodcutter, the farmer and the scholar were gradually pushed back till their backs were against the wall. Never mind counterattacking, merely defending themselves was not easy.
By this time if Guo Jing added more force to his palms these four people would inevitably suffer injury. Fighting a moment longer Guo Jing held back his strength, he attacked hard then backed off hard, struck light then fended off light, it seemed like his force was there and then disappeared; throughout the battle he steadily held the power balance so they were on the level ground, nobody won and nobody lost.
The scholar’s sword technique suddenly changed; his long sword vibrated, creating a continuously buzzing noise. His sword turned into six swords on the top, six swords on the bottom, six swords on the front, six swords on the back, six swords on the left and six swords on the right, successively stabbing like six by six, thirty six swords altogether. It was the Yunnan’s ‘ai lao shan’ [Mount Ailao] thirty-six sword; considered one of the best offensive sword techniques in the world.
Guo Jing’s left palm parried the fisherman, the woodcutter and the farmer three people’s weapons; his right palm followed the movements of the scholar’s sword: up and down, front to back, left to right. Although the sword underwent countless changes, Guo Jing had always succeeded in diverting the sword stab by the power of his palm. Each sword stab passed very close to his clothes, but never once did it manage to even make a scratch on Guo Jing’s skin.
Blocking to the thirty-sixth stab, Guo Jing bent his right middle finger under his thumb; he waited for the incoming sword to lose its momentum before he suddenly flicked the body of the sword. It was the ‘tan zhi shen tong’ [Divine Flicking Finger], Huang Yaoshi’s special skill which was considered unparalleled in the present age. Huang Yaoshi used this special skill when he played shooting marbles with Zhou Botong; and again in the Cloud Village, when he was giving direction to Mei Chaofeng. Guo Jing watched him fighting the Quanzhen’s Seven Masters at the Ox Village near Lin’an using this special skill. Having learned a certain amount of the martial art secrets from the Manual he managed to imitate the flicking finger technique. Although it was inferior to Huang Yaoshi’s subtle and elegant flicking finger, but it still carried a tremendous force.
With a metallic clank the long sword was shaken; the scholar’s arm was numb, the sword almost fell from his hand. The scholar was shocked; he leaped backward and called out, “Hold it!”
The fisherman, the woodcutter and the farmer three people leaped backward at once. Only their backs were very close to the wall to begin with, so there was no place they could withdraw to. The fisherman leaped out of the door, the farmer jumped out over the hole in the wall Guo Jing made earlier. The woodcutter inserted his axe back into his waist. He smiled and said, “I told you these two did not have any evil intentions, but you did not believe me.”
The scholar put his sword back into its sheath; he cupped his fists toward Guo Jing and said, “Xiao Ge [little elder brother] has held back your palms, we are feeling grateful.”
Guo Jing busily bowed down to return the gesture, but his heart was full of questions, “From the start we did not have any ill-intention; why didn’t they believe us? Why is it after we fought they changed their minds and believed us?”
Huang Rong noticed his confused expression, she knew what he was thinking; she whispered to his ear, “If you harbor ill intentions, then you would have injured these four people. How can even Reverend Yideng be your match right now?” Guo Jing thought it was true, he nodded his head repeatedly.