The Six Masters knew him as an honest person; moreover, he had shown so much hatred toward Huang Yaoshi, so what he said must be the truth.
It was beyond Huang Yaoshi’s expectation to hear him saying things in his favor; he was astonished and asked, “Why do you hate me so much? Where is Rong’er?”
Ke Zhen’e cut him off, “You don’t know what you did? Jing’er, although we can’t win, we must fight this old thief to our deaths.” Finished speaking he lifted his iron staff and swept it toward Huang Yaoshi.
Hearing his shifu, Guo Jing knew that he was forgiven; he felt very happy and immediately tears flowed down his face. “Da Shifu,” he called out, “Er Shifu and the others, they … all five of them died a miserable death!”
Huang Yaoshi was grabbing the head of Ke Zhen’e staff with an outstretched hand, he turned to Guo Jing and asked, “What did you say? Zhu Cong, Han Baoju and the others were nicely received as guests on my island, why did you say they are dead?”
Ke Zhen’e furiously tried to pull his iron staff, but it did not even budge. Huang Yaoshi asked Guo Jing again, “Disregarding your elders and superiors you talked nonsense to me, attacking me like crazy, is that because of Zhu Cong and the others?”
Guo Jing’s eyes looked like they were spurting blood; he called out, “You have harmed my five Shifus with your own hands, and now you pretend you did not know?” Lifting his dagger up, he stabbed it forward with a straight arm.
Huang Yaoshi moved the iron staff in his hand to block; ‘bang!’ the staff and the dagger collided, sparks flew out everywhere. The dagger was so sharp that it actually nicked the iron staff. Huang Yaoshi asked again, “Who saw it?”
Guo Jing said, “I buried my Five Shifus with my own hands, are you saying that I slander you?”
Hung Yaoshi laughed coldly and said, “So what if you slander me? For all my life the Old Heretic Huang come and go alone; why would I deny killing these several people? You are correct, I killed your shifus!”
Suddenly a female voice was calling out, “No, Father, it wasn’t you. Don’t take the blame on your own shoulder.”
Everybody turned their heads around and saw the one who spoke was indeed Huang Rong. They had been so engrossed in the fierce battle that nobody knew she had arrived. As Guo Jing saw her again, he was lost in thought, he did not know whether he should feel happy or anxious.
As Huang Yaoshi saw his daughter was alive and well, he was very happy; his hatred toward Guo Jing disappeared, he laughed a big laugh and said, “Good child, come, let Father hug you.”
For the past several days Huang Rong had been suffering a lot of heartache, it was only today she heard a loving word for the first time; she dashed forward and threw herself into her father’s bosom and cried, “Father, this dumb kid slandered you, he … he also bullied me.”
Huang Yaoshi embraced his daughter and said with a smile, “The Old Heretic Huang always does as he pleases, ever since dozens of years ago ignorant people have always put the crime of the world on your father’s head, so what difference will it make to add several more crimes to the pile? The Five Freaks of Jiangnan were your Mei Shijie’s [martial (older) sister] archenemies, so of course I killed them with my own hands.”
“No, no,” Huang Rong anxiously said, “It wasn’t you. I know it wasn’t you.”
Huang Yaoshi showed a faint smile and said, “That dumb kid is so bold, he dares to bully my good child. Just watch, Father will teach him a lesson.” He had just finished speaking when suddenly like a lightning the back of his palm struck, without a shadow, without a trace. Guo Jing was thinking about what these father and daughter were talking about, when ‘slap!’ he felt a burning sensation on his left cheek. He was just about to raise his hand to block, but Huang Yaoshi’s palm had already returned to Huang Rong’s head, gently stroking her elegant hair.
This palm made a loud noise, but actually the force was weak; Guo Jing felt his cheek burning, but he did not suffer any injury. He was at a loss; did not know whether he should charge forward or he should stay where he was.
Ke Zhen’e heard the slap on Guo Jing’s face, he was afraid Huang Yaoshi might have stricken him with a deadly blow. “Jing’er, how are you?” he anxiously asked.
“I am all right,” Guo Jing replied.
Ke Zhen’e said, “Don’t listen to this demon and this witch telling lies. I don’t have eyes to see, but your Si Shifu [Fourth Shifu] said: he saw this old thief killed your Er Shifu and forced to death your Qi [Seventh] …” Guo Jing did not wait for him to finish, he charged forward toward Huang Yaoshi. Ke Zhen’e followed by wielding his iron staff.
Huang Yaoshi let his daughter go and evaded Guo Jing’s palm, while at the same time stretched his hand to grab Ke Zhen’e’s iron staff. This time Ke Zhen’e had guarded against his grab so that Huang Yaoshi missed the staff. Master and disciple joined hands fighting a tight battle with Huang Yaoshi.
Although Guo Jing had repeatedly met some outstandingly able people and had learned not a few of wonderful martial art skills, he was still too far behind compared to this grandmaster of a martial art school, the Master of the Peach Blossom Island. Even with Ke Zhen’e’s help he could not do much. After only about twenty, thirty moves he had already moved his hands and feet with great difficulty.
Qiu Chuji thought, “In a critical time Quanzhen Sect has received these master and disciple’s help; currently these two are in the brink of defeat, how can we sit down and watch without doing anything? Whether Zhou Shishu is alive or dead, we need to defeat the Old Heretic Huang first, then we’ll talk later.” Brandishing his sword he called out, “Ke Daxia [Chivalrous Hero], go back to your position!”
By this time Yin Zhiping had already crawled down form the Misty Rain Tavern’s roof. Although he was black and blue and had a swollen nose from the fall, he did not suffer a serious injury. He rushed toward Ke Zhen’e’s back and wielded his sword to protect him. Once again the Big Dipper Formation went into action, encircled Huang Yaoshi, father and daughter in the middle.
Huang Yaoshi was enraged, he thought, “Before it was a misunderstanding, so I can understand you attacking me; but after this dumb kid explained everything this crowd of mixed-up hairs still rely on sheer numbers to attack me. Do you think the Old Heretic Huang cannot kill people?” Like a flash of shadow he had already moved toward Ke Zhen’e’s left.
Huang Rong saw the murderous look on her father’s face; she knew his hands would not be light, her heart turned cold. She saw that Wang Chuyi and Ma Yu blocked her father’s palm; Ke Zhen’e’s iron staff ferociously struck toward her shoulder while his mouth shot curses, “Unforgivable lowly criminal, female demon! The Peach Blossom Island’s ****!”