Chapter - 239 The Three Test Questions (7) (1/2)
”Quickly say it! Quickly say it!” Hong Qigong interrupted. ”The Old Beggar never likes to hear your winding and flowery words.”
Huang Yaoshi smiled faintly. ”Brothers, even though this daughter of mine is unworthy, I still hope she will find a good husband,” he continued. ”Mr. Ouyang is Feng Xiong's honorable nephew, while Mr. Guo is Qi Xiong's outstanding disciple. Both are very fine gentlemen, it is very difficult to choose one of them. I have no alternative but to come up with a three-subject test; I will betroth my daughter to whoever passes this test. I will not favor either one of them. Would both old friends tell me if this idea is good?”
Ouyang Feng clapped his hands. ”Clever! Wonderful!” he called out. ”Only thing is, my nephew is injured, if the test involves martial arts then we have to wait until he is fully recovered.” He had seen the fierceness of Guo Jing's attack that injured his nephew; he knew that if they contended in martial arts his nephew would no doubt lose. So he used his nephew's injury to their best advantage.
”Certainly,” Huang Yaoshi said. ”A martial art contest will harm the good relationship between two families anyway.”
Hong Qigong said in his heart, ”This is so typical Old Heretic Huang. All of us are Wulin people; if the test involves literary and not martial art skill, do you expect a 'zhuang yuan' [a title of a scholar, Meh's 'Sentimental Swordman, Ruthless Sword' has an explanation of different titles] to be your son-in-law? If you come up with music or poetry, even if he reincarnated my stupid disciple will not be able to take it. Your mouth says no favor, but obviously you totally favor the other side. My stupid disciple will lose for sure. It is confounding! I will fight Old Poison first, talk later.” He looked upward and laughed hard, staring toward Ouyang Feng he said, ”We are all martial arts practitioners, instead of contesting in martial arts, do you want to have an eating contest or defecating race, then? Your nephew is injured, but you are not. Come, come, come! We will fight in their stead.”
Without waiting for an answer he sent his palm toward Ouyang Feng's shoulder. Ouyang Feng stepped back several feet. Hong Qigong put his bamboo staff down on a small bamboo table. ”Watch for this!” he shouted. His words were still hanging in the air when both his palms had already moved seven times in rapid succession.
Ouyang Feng dodged to the left and evaded to the right and all seven attacks flew by. His right hand pushed the snake staff into the bricks in front of the pavilion, and in a flash his left hand had also sent seven counterattacks.
Huang Yaoshi cheered, but did not prevent them from fighting. He wanted to see these two martial art world-class masters, who were his peers; what kind of improvements they have achieved twenty years after their last meeting.
Both Hong Qigong and Ouyang Feng were the experts of their respective martial art schools. They have reached the pinnacle of their martial arts twenty years ago. After the Sword Meet of Mount Hua both have trained hard and improved their skills tremendously. This time they met again on the Peach Blossom Island, their skills were incomparable with when they had their meet at Mount Hua. Each launched swift attacks and counterattacks, but they were actually still trying to probe the opponent's skill. Both combatants exchanged fast and forceful palms and fists, that the gust of winds created swayed the bamboo leaves around them. Although they were only testing each other, but their moves carried profound martial art techniques.
On the sideline Guo Jing was watching with full attention; whether it was an attack or a defense, every single one was a wonderful move, beyond his wildest imagination. The Nine Yin Manual contained the deepest martial arts theory in the world: whether it be internal or external energy cultivation, bare hands or swordplay, all kinds of the most profound martial arts imaginable. After Guo Jing memorized the content by heart – although he did not understand every single one of them, those theories were actually ingrained in his brain. Now he watched those two combatants exchanging exquisite moves, those theories came flooding back into his mind, forming a fuzzy shadow in his brain.
Early on he listened to Huang Yaoshi and Ouyang Feng's flute versus zither battle. That was an invisible internal energy battle; extremely difficult to clearly see their relation with the theory in the manual. This time the battle was using fists and kicks, much easier to perceive. In his delight, his heart was itching to try what he had seen.