The Return of the Condor Heroes

Chapter 40 – The peak of Mount Hua, Part 7

Everybody was stunned. In the past, the ‘Nine Yin Manual’ [Jiu Yin Zhen Jing] had caused people to fight to the death; blood had been shed. It was at the Mount Hua Sword Meet that Wang Zhongyang won the right to that book. But Wang Zhongyang was a man of honor; he was not greedy. He won the book but did not to take advantage of its contents at that time. He later read the book out of curiosity. He divided it into two parts. He wanted to avoid further bloodshed due to people fighting over it. But still, the book created more disasters. For instance, Huang Yaoshi had to expel his disciples, Zhou Botong was kept captive on the Peach Blossom Island, Ouyang Feng went crazy, and, indirectly, Emperor Duan became a monk.

Actually, besides the ‘Nine Yin Manual’ Master Damo had written another book, which was the ‘Nine Yang Manual’. This book had the same value as the ‘Nine Yin Manual’; as a matter of fact, these two books complement each other. Only the name of the ‘Nine Yang Manual’ was not as widely known as the ‘Nine Yin Manual’. It was the first time that everybody heard this book mentioned. No wonder Huang Yaoshi and the others were astonished and amazed.

Jueyuan ignored these astonished people and continued his explanation, “Little Monk is in charge of the library. It is my duty to inspect every single book of the library’s collection. The ‘Nine Yang Manual’ is different from any other book. It contains lessons to make our body healthy and strong, like ‘Replacing Muscles Cleaning the Marrow’. I have mastered the lessons for many-many years, and true enough, I have never been sick. I have taught Junbao the rudimentary lessons from the ‘Nine Yang Manual’ for the last several years. Even though it was Master Damo’s original work, it was not as valuable as the Nijia Jing, which contains great teachings. Benevolent Sirs do not read Sanskrit; the book is useless to you. You’d better return it to me.”

Yang Guo was puzzled. He didn’t understand what the Monk was saying. He thought, “Lessons on health? This is very peculiar. The Monk is also very remarkable. If I didn’t know better, I would say the Monk is just acting. I wonder why Venerable Wuxiang and Wuse – who literally lived together with this Monk for decades, are not aware there is an expert of this caliber in their midst.” Reverend Yideng on the other hand, recognized that Jueyuan has reached perfection, that was the reason he could act so na?vely.

Yin Kexi patted his body. “I don’t have anything on me, how could I have the book?” he said loudly. “I don’t either!” Xiaoxiang Zi said, shaking his clothes.

“Let me see!” Junbao suddenly shouted. His body flew toward Yin Kexi. He grabbed his chest.

Yin Kexi turned his left arm around, eluding the attack. His right arm pushed Junbao’s shoulder. It looked like his movement was light, but it resulted in Junbao’s body collapsing to the ground.

“Aha! That was incorrect, Junbao!” cried Jueyuan, “You have to be patient. Your strength concentrated like a mountain. You will see whether he can push you down or not …”

Zhang Junbao leaped up. “That’s right, Shifu!” he said. Then he leaped toward Yin Kexi again.

Everybody else had lost their patience, but they were delighted hearing Jueyuan’s advice. They thought, “This gentle monk could encourage his disciple to fight after all …”

Yin Kexi repeated his former moves; he eluded the attack and then pushed out. But this time Junbao only staggered and did not collapse to the ground like before. Yin Kexi was astonished, he was afraid of Zhou Botong, Guo Jing and Yang Guo and their peers; who would have thought that he was not even able to overcome the boy? He was anxious and pushed harder.

Zhang Junbao held his ground. But Yin Kexi’s force abruptly disappeared and he fell down, face to the ground. Yin Kexi quickly straightened up and laughed, “Little Master, you shouldn’t have kneeled to me.” Of course he was mocking him.

Junbao’s face flushed. He came to his master and said, “I failed, Shifu.”

Jueyuan scratched his head. “He purposely made an ‘emptiness’,” he said. “He uses nothingness to defeat something. When you are exerting your energy, you must use it freely, don’t mind your opponent’s force’s direction. You see that mountain peak over there?” He pointed to a mountain peak to the west. “It has stood strong from thousands of years ago until today. Storms came from the west, rains from the east, it didn’t budge, but it did not purposely challenge the force of the nature either.”

Junbao was smart, he understood easily. He nodded. “Very well Shifu. I understand,” he said. “Let me try again.” After having said that, he slowly walked toward Yin Kexi.

Yang Guo kept his gaze on the youngster. He saw him leap forward before, and now he was walking slowly. Yang Guo knew it must be the principle taken from the ‘Nine Yang Manual’. So the book not only taught how to keep one’s body healthy, but also how to defeat an opponent.

When he was about four feet away from Yin Kexi, Junbao stretched out his arms to hold Yin’s hand. Yin Kexi laughed. He put forth his left arm as bait, and his right hand punched the boy’s chest. He had no intention to hurt him, so his punch was not frontal; it was slanted toward the boy’s side. He only wanted the boy to experience a little bit of pain and to learn a lesson.

Zhang Junbao did not elude the attack. In a flash his chest was hit. “Shifu, I can hold it!” he said.

Yin Kexi was shocked. His fist hit its target, yet he felt the boy’s body imparting an opposing force, which made his punch bounce back. Fortunately he was skilled. He quickly neutralized the force. His left hand moved toward the boy’s shoulder. He wanted to grab and lift and toss the boy away. When he lifted, the boy did not budge. He was shocked and amazed, and finally anxious. Several times he changed his tactics. Junbao only swayed back and forth, left and right, but he could not make him fall down. He kept throwing punches, and out of embarrassment said, “Little Master, I am not fighting with you! A valiant man would use diplomacy, not brute force. You go away, let us talk as decent people do.”

Each one of Yin Kexi’s punches was stronger than the previous one, but Junbao did not budge. His body kept imparting opposing forces. The harder he was hit, the stronger the opposing force was. After a while Junbao cried, “Ah, Shifu, he hit me hard! I feel pain! Shifu, help me!”

Yin Kexi said, “I won’t hit you if you don’t hit me first. Elder Master, if you want to hit me just do so. If you show mercy to me, I won’t dare to retaliate.”

Jueyuan shook his head. “What Benevolent Master Yin said was true!” he said, “You don’t need to use brute force … No, I can’t help you. You have to overcome your own problem. You have to know which one is empty which one is not. Everything is either empty or full. Remember what I said, your body must be like a drum, with nothing inside. Don’t put in too much, don’t put in too little, and don’t let it break.”

Junbao understood. He had been with Jueyuan since he was only six or seven years old, and his master had bestowed the ‘Nine Yang Manual’ on him. He readied himself. Now he only felt a little bit of pain, not as severe as before.

With a man of his skill, Yin Kexi could hurt the boy severely. But there were Yang Guo, Xiao Longnü, Zhou Botong, Guo Jing and the others standing nearby. He was afraid of them, thus he did not dare to kill or harm the boy. He could not knock the boy down, but the boy could not touch him either; so the two kept fighting.

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