Chapter 129: Hong Qigong Sits in the Water Curtain Cave
“According to the Little Prince, the house by the waterfall is Cuihan Hall. Let’s head there.”
Clouds drifted across the firmament, revealing silver light dust through the gaps in the clouds.
In the shaded path among the palace trees, Ouyang Ke’s voice rang out. As he spoke, Ouyang Feng, his uncle and nephew, Sha Tongtian, Hou Tonghai, Liang Zi Weng, Monk Lingzhi, and others emerged one by one from the darkness.
Huang Yaoshi had, at Taihu Lake, injected a bone-attaching needle into Hou Tonghai’s cervical spine. The medicinal properties would only take effect after a hundred days, which was why the “Three-Headed Flood Dragon” with the flesh tumor on its head was currently full of vigor and spirit.
Peng Lianhu had led many disciples and experts from his stronghold southward, but he was killed by Zhou Yan with a spear at Taihu Lake. With the leader gone, his followers scattered, and none accompanied Ouyang Ke and the others to Lin’an.
However, over ten experts from the Yellow River Gang, who had followed Sha Tongtian south, had entered the Imperial Palace.
As the group proceeded, they heard the gentle sound of flowing water. Their vision suddenly opened up to a scene where a waterfall cascaded down from magnificent, rugged rocks, pouring into a pond covered with dense, overlapping lotus leaves.
In front of the pond stood a grand, imposing hall, with the words “Cuihan Hall” inscribed above the entrance.
“This is it,” Ouyang Ke exclaimed in surprise.
“But there are no libraries or towers around here. How can books be hidden?” Liang Zi Weng asked.
“The Little Prince said to come here, so there must be no mistake. Search around.”
The experts from the Yellow River Gang and Monk Lingzhi spread out to search. Sha Tongtian suddenly said, “There seems to be a stone cave behind that waterfall.”
The stone cave was originally concealed by an iron door, making it difficult to find. However, Hong Qigong had pushed open the door and entered the cave. Sha Tongtian, being sharp-eyed and astute, noticed some clues.
“I’ll go take a look,” Hou Tonghai said immediately.
He took a few quick steps and was about to leap when a voice suddenly called out from the night.
“Halt! Who are you?”
Ouyang Ke looked and saw a guard holding a spear standing under a tree not far away. He cursed inwardly, wondering where this impudent fellow had come from.
The one holding the spear was, of course, Zhou Yan.
Sha Tongtian, the “Ghost Gate Dragon King,” was closest to Zhou Yan. His lightness skill, “Shifting Form and Changing Position,” was exceptionally adept. As soon as Zhou Yan finished speaking, his body flickered, and he seemed to cover an inch of ground as he floated over, reaching out to grab Zhou Yan.
Zhou Yan, his face smeared with a lot of ash, seemingly took a hasty step forward, thrusting out his spear, which had a steel knife head.
Sha Tongtian scoffed, “Your spear technique is all wrong. Blame your master for your death.”
“Be careful!” Ouyang Feng’s voice, like the clashing of broken cymbals, suddenly rang out. His robes billowed, and then his entire being seemed to transform into an illusion, flashing behind Sha Tongtian.
At the same time, Zhou Yan’s spear, using the killing move “Three Steps Eighteen Spears” from the “Storm of Pear Blossoms Spear,” extended towards Sha Tongtian. However, when he executed it, he performed three more spears than Yang Miaozhen.
The spear suddenly whirled like a giant dragon, and killing intent exploded.
Seeing Zhou Yan’s spear, Sha Tongtian had intended to use his “empty-handed disarming” technique to snatch the spear with his left hand and crush Zhou Yan’s throat with his right. He never expected Zhou Yan to be disguised as a guard.
By then, it was too late to completely dodge.
In the dim night, Sha Tongtian used “Shifting Form and Changing Position,” his body flashing sideways like a phantom. Zhou Yan’s six spears missed, but the last one grazed the “Ghost Gate Dragon King’s” arm.
The spear tip instantly pierced along the “Qu Chi Acupoint,” bursting at the elbow and piercing towards the shoulder.
At this moment, Ouyang Feng also grabbed Sha Tongtian and yanked him out.
Zhou Yan’s subsequent thrusts missed. He flicked his hands, and the spear shot out like a long arrow towards Ouyang Feng. He turned and sprinted towards the forest.
“There are assassins!” Huang Rong’s voice suddenly rang out. “Assassins at Cuihan Hall!”
Huang Rong amplified her voice with internal force, and it carried far.
In the waterside pavilion several dozen yards away, several figures moving in a serpentine manner suddenly stopped.
“Big brother, Ouyang Feng and the others have likely been discovered.”
In an instant, the guards surrounding Cuihan Hall were alerted.
Huang Rong’s voice continued, “Capture the assassins! The bald one, the one in monk’s robes, the one with the flesh tumor on his head, the one with white hair and red complexion, the one with profound features…”
A chorus of responses from all directions converged into a wave of sound that spread outwards.
“Since the guards have discovered Ouyang Feng and the others, their scheme is unlikely to succeed. Let’s go.”
Seven figures retreated the way they came, disappearing into the night.
…
Ouyang Feng was about to pursue Zhou Yan, but Huang Rong’s shout of “Assassin!” made him immediately smash away the spear Zhou Yan had thrown and turn back towards the waterfall.
Hou Tonghai, the Three-Headed Flood Dragon, and Monk Lingzhi had already leaped in, one after the other.
Suddenly, Hou Tonghai, who had just passed through the water curtain, flailed his limbs and was flung out, crashing into the pond with a splash. Immediately after, two bronze cymbals flew out from behind the water curtain. Monk Lingzhi, his burly body wrapped in a crimson kasaya, fell into the pond closely behind Hou Tonghai.
Hou Tonghai, lying in the pond, cursed loudly, “I curse his ancestors!”
Monk Lingzhi also cursed profusely in Tibetan.
“What happened?” Liang Zi Weng asked anxiously from the edge of the pond.
Hou Tonghai cursed, “There’s an old ghost sitting inside.”
Ouyang Feng’s figure surged forward. He let out a shout of “Ge!” and a tremendous force pushed through from outside the waterfall. The figure that suddenly appeared at the cave entrance bent its left leg, curved its right arm, and swept its right palm in a circle, pushing outwards with a whoosh.
The waterfall, which had been between Ouyang Feng and the figure, seemed to pause for a moment, then transformed into fan-shaped streams of light that sprayed outwards. Countless water droplets, strung together like threads, flew several yards before falling like rain on tiles, creating dense holes on the lotus leaves.
An angry voice came from within the waterfall.
“Old beggar, why is it you?”
“Why shouldn’t it be me? I didn’t get enough of a fight in Zhongdu. Let’s go again!”
“Then come on.”
Zhou Yan, who had been sprinting towards the forest, suddenly stopped and turned. He exclaimed in surprise, “How did Hong Qigong get behind the waterfall?”
As this thought flashed through his mind, Zhou Yan realized this was a golden opportunity since Ouyang Feng was being held back.
He looked at Liang Zi Weng.
Guards were already swarming in. Huang Rong shouted, “You, you, you, attack that monk. You, and you, capture that old man. You few, deal with the one with the fan.”
Huang Rong loudly ordered the capture of the assassins, and wearing the attire of a guard leader, the guards who surrounded them in the dim night instinctively obeyed her command, brandishing their sabers and attacking.
Huang Rong found it all incredibly amusing. She drew her saber and charged towards Hou Tonghai.
…
Zhou Yan sprinted forward. As a Yellow River Gang expert lunged, a flash of saber light appeared. He rotated his left hand outwards from his chest and, using the seizing technique of “Yue Family Scattered Hands,” gripped the opponent’s wrist. His right foot spun in an arc, and he moved behind the opponent, forcing the expert’s saber-wielding right hand behind his back.
He snatched the saber with his right hand, drew it across the opponent’s throat, and turned, charging towards Liang Zi Weng.
The Ginseng Immortal Old Freak saw Zhou Yan lunging like a fierce tiger and recognized the ash-faced guard as the person who had previously crippled Sha Tongtian’s arm with a spear.
He dared not be careless, drawing a metal medicine hoe from behind him and striking towards Zhou Yan’s head.
The moment their figures met, a metallic clang rang out. Liang Zi Weng staggered back half a step. Zhou Yan employed the “Five Tiger Severing Gate Saber” technique he learned from the Head Escort Wang Kui. His steel saber moved like a storm, each strike heavier than the last, cleaving towards Liang Zi Weng. It unleashed an aggressive and terrifying killing intent that made Liang Zi Weng’s hair stand on end.
Zhou Yan continuously channeled his internal energy, his saber light washing over Liang Zi Weng like waves. The Ginseng Immortal Old Freak dodged left and right, desperately swinging his medicine hoe and shouting repeatedly, “Young Master Ouyang, save me!”
Ouyang Ke wanted to help, but he was unable to be in two places at once. He was being besieged by five or six guards. Killing them one by one was not difficult for Ouyang Ke, but it still required time.
Zhou Yan would not give Liang Zi Weng time to live.
The clanging sounds were like heavy rain pounding on blue tiles. With a “clang,” Liang Zi Weng’s medicine hoe flew out of his hand, and Zhou Yan’s long saber descended like thunder.
Liang Zi Weng suddenly fell to the ground and rolled away with a “lazy donkey roll.” Zhou Yan’s long saber flew out of his hand and was thrown towards a Yellow River Gang expert who was rushing to reinforce. He channeled his internal energy through the Du Meridian, flowing into the Yangming Large Intestine channel of the hand. Potent internal force erupted from the acupoints of his palms, such as Shangyang, Erjian, and Sanjian.
Zhou Yan bent his knees slightly in a soaring posture, and as his body leaped up, his internal energy influenced the external, his palm energy rapidly unleashed.
Liang Zi Weng had just leaped up with a “kite turns over” move when Zhou Yan’s “flying dragon in the sky” palm strike landed.
With two “bang” sounds, Liang Zi Weng was sent flying.
Zhou Yan grabbed the opponent’s collar and yanked him back. The “Double Dragons Taking Water” from the “Dragon Subduing Eighteen Palms” could be split into two. He applied what he had just learned, striking Liang Zi Weng’s face with a palm.
The Ginseng Immortal Old Freak’s head split open, and his body crashed heavily to the ground, kicking up dust.
He squatted down and quickly searched, pulling a martial arts manual and a stack of medicinal formulas from Liang Zi Weng’s embrace.
He didn’t have time to examine them closely but guessed that the formulas contained the Ginseng Immortal Old Freak’s secrets for nurturing snakes with medicine and strengthening the body.
Zhou Yan pocketed the manual and the formulas. He advanced rapidly, quickly seizing a Yellow River Gang disciple and throwing him towards the distant guards.
“Arrest him.”
Just as Zhou Yan was about to expand his gains and attack the crippled Sha Tongtian, Ouyang Feng’s figure burst through the distant waterfall. He was holding a stone box, and his figure leaped over the pond, landing on the ground.
“Still not running?”
Zhou Yan heard Hong Qigong’s voice.
“Catch him!” Huang Rong feinted, abandoning Hou Tonghai and moving away. While shouting for the guards to capture Ouyang Feng, she glided to Zhou Yan’s side.
“Let’s go.”
She had been struck by a sedan chair pole in Zhongdu and had a lingering fear of Ouyang Feng.
“You go first.”
“Alright.”
Huang Rong’s figure flashed and disappeared into the forest.
Ouyang Feng’s sleeves billowed like an iron fan, striking like a storm. His internal energy shattered anything it touched, and the screams of guards rose one after another.
The Western Venom was unstoppable. He led Ouyang Ke, Monk Lingzhi, and others in a swift breakout.
Hong Qigong glanced at Liang Zi Weng’s corpse and sighed. In Zhongdu, this fellow had said he couldn’t do it in a year and would practice martial arts to kill him next year. But in half a year, he had gained this ability. At this rate of martial arts improvement, it would only take ten years, not twenty, to roam the Jianghu with pride.
“Senior,” Zhou Yan said, quickly approaching Hong Qigong’s side.
“Ouyang Feng went madly snatching the stone box. The old beggar put a pile of bones in there. He’s probably going to be so angry he’ll spit blood from all seven orifices.”
Hong Qigong’s face lit up with delight.
