Xiaoxiang Zi called out, “Good skill!”
Khubilai knew that the two were using advanced martial arts to test each other but he couldn’t see what type of martial arts they were using. Ma Guangzuo’s eyes were wide open; he looked at them, puzzled.
Yin Kexi laughed and said, “Everyone’s too polite! You’re offering it to the others, but don’t want to eat it yourself, nor do you want anybody else to. Everything will be cold by the time you’ve finished.” He then slowly stretched out his chopsticks, the emerald and jade bracelets collided with each other noisily. Before his chopsticks touched the beef, Fawang’s chopsticks were forced to tremble slightly by his internal energy; he was getting in the first attack, keeping Fawang’s chopsticks in check. Fawang moved his chopsticks forward and allowed him to take the piece of beef. When his internal energy reaches his chopstick, he attacked his arm.
Yin Kexi urgently circulated his internal energy and counterattacked. How would he know that Fawang’s internal energy would suddenly withdraw? The beef was initially held by him but his internal energy moved it forward and Fawang once again got hold of the piece of beef.
Fawang laughed, “Brother Yin is too polite by offering it to me.” This time he used cleverness to win. Yin Kexi fell into the trap and at the same time found out that the opponent’s internal energy far exceeded his own. Luckily he hadn’t embarrassed himself yet; he gave a wry laugh and picked up a small piece of beef from the plate. He said, “The only things I love in life are treasures and precious objects, I don’t really like fatty meat; I better just eat a small piece.” He placed the small piece of beef in his mouth and then slowly chewed.
Jinlun Fawang thought, “This Hu merchant is broad-minded.” He turned to Xiaoxiang Zi and said, “Since you offered it to me so modestly, I will accept.” He slowly took the chopsticks back half a foot. He guessed that Xiaoxiang Zi’s internal energy wasn’t weak and so didn’t dare to be careless, by taking it back half a foot, if he needed to circulate his internal energy it will be half a foot closer and half a foot further away from his enemy.
Xiaoxiang Zi chuckled and slowly raised his chopsticks; suddenly he sent them forward and caught the piece of beef. He used the force to take it back and he managed to pull it back half a foot.
Jinlun Fawang did not predict that the opponent’s movements would be so quick; he quickly circulated his internal energy and pulled back. The piece of beef moved back towards him inch by inch.
Xiaoxiang Zi stood up and placed his left hand on the table. The table made ‘ka la’ noises under this force but he still could not stop the force that Fawang produced in taking back the piece of beef.
Fawang looked at ease whereas drops of sweat poured from the forehead of Xiaoxiang Zi, the result was clear.
Suddenly a loud call by someone faraway could be heard, “Guo Jing, brother Guo, where are you? Quickly come out Guo Jing, the punk named Guo!”
At first the call came from the east but then it came from the west. There was a distance of a couple of li between the calls from the east and west and it appeared as if there were two people calling out from the east and west. But the voice was the same and there was no pause between the calls from the east and west. This person’s movements were extremely fast and the internal energy behind the calls was profound; this was something that was little seen in the world.
Everyone looked at each other startled. Xiaoxiang Zi loosened his chopsticks and sat back down in his seat.
Jinlun Fawang laughed and said, “Thank you, thank you!” He was about to place the piece of beef in his mouth when suddenly the tent door opened, someone flashed across and stretched out their hand and snatched Fawang’s beef and then took a large bite out of it.
This shocked everyone; they all stood up and looked to see who this person was. It was an old man with white hair, a white beard and a smiling red face. He sat down on the rug and started chewing the beef noisily. Jinlun Fawang thought back on the movements of this man when he took his piece of beef; the more he thought about, the more shocked he was.
The guards outside the tent who failed to stop this man all called out, “Stop the assassin!” Four spears were thrust towards the man’s chest. The old man stretched out his left hand and grabbed all the spearheads at once; he turned to Yang Guo and said, “Little brother, I’m really hungry, pass over some more beef to me.”
The four Mongolian soldiers pushed forward with all their strength but they couldn’t move an inch; the four then tried to pull back but again it was to no avail. As they strained with red faces, the spearheads seemed as if they were trapped under an iron mountain, they were not even able to pull them back half an inch.
Yang Guo thought this guy was entertaining and picked up the plate of beef, he threw it easily to him and said, “Help your self!”
The old man caught it with his right hand and placed it against his chest; suddenly a piece of meat from the plate jumped up and flew into his mouth as if it were alive. This entertained Khubilai, he thought the old man was performing magic and gave out a cheer. But Jinlun Fawang and the others knew that the old man had circulated internal energy through his palm into the plate, forcing the piece of meat upwards.
An ordinary person could force a piece of meat to jump if they tap the plate, but they would definitely knock everything up at once sending the juices everywhere. It would be impossible for them to knock them up piece by piece; the palm power of this old man had reached a stage where he could do as he pleased. Everyone else at the feast knew that they would not be able to do it themselves; fear and respect sprang up in their hearts.
The old man chewed and swallowed; as soon as one piece went down another piece jumped up. In a short while he had completely cleared the plate. His right hand waved out and sent the plate flying out in an arc towards Yang Guo and Yin Kexi. The two of them had already seen how good this man’s martial arts were; they were afraid that he had used some kind of strange move in throwing the plate and didn’t dare to stretch out their hand to catch it. The two quickly moved out of the way. The plate flew steadily through the air and landed on the table, knocking into a plate of roast lamb. The plate of roast lamb flew towards the old man while the empty plate stopped dead after a couple of turns.
He had used a stream of “Tai Chi Energy”, according to the continuous intent of Tai Chi. Uninterrupted, if it were shot outwards towards an open space, the plate would circle around. It is not difficult to use this force. There were a fair number of people who were skilled in using the variations of this force, but what was difficult was using the right amount of energy to get the most benefit. Skillfully sending the plate onto the table, stopping the empty plate dead and sending a plateful of food to his hand was such a skill.
The old man laughed out loud extremely proud of himself; he circulated internal energy into his hands and a piece of roast lamb jumped from the plate into his mouth. He finished the plate shortly. The four soldiers that were still in his hands were looking pitiful, they could not take back their spears but they didn’t dare to let go. The rules of the Mongolian army were strict; abandoning a weapon in battle was an offence that led to execution. There was that, and the fact that they were responsible for the safety of Khubilai; they could only use all their strength and try to struggle free.
The old man saw that they were at a loss and was becoming more and more pleased. He suddenly shouted, “Change, change, change, two of you kowtow, two of you face the sky! One…two…three!” On three, their arms shook and the spears snapped. The forces from his fingers were directed in two directions, on two of the spears he circulated energy to push away, on the other two he circulated energy to pull. An ‘ai yo’ sound was heard as two soldiers fell and kowtowed and the other two fell backwards facing the sky.
The old man clapped and sang, “Little precious, the harder you fall, the taller you grow!” This was a song that adults sing to console children after they’ve fallen.
Yin Kexi suddenly got up and asked, “Senior is named Zhou?”
The old man laughed, “Yep, ha-ha, do you know me?”
Yin Kexi folded his fists and said, “So it’s the Old Urchin Zhou Botong, Senior Zhou Lao.”
Xiaoxiang Zi had heard of him before but Jinlun Fawang and Nimoxing had not heard of Zhou Botong before. They saw his martial arts were profound but his actions were rather mischievous and childish; indeed, the title ‘Old Urchin’ is not in vain. Everyone’s wariness disappeared slightly as their faces showed a smile.
Jinlun Fawang said, “Forgive me for not knowing this Senior of Wulin. How about a seat? Our highness is eager to meet great people, he will be extremely happy at meeting such an eminent person today.”
Khubilai saluted with his hands and said, “That is correct; please have a seat Mr. Zhou.”
Zhou Botong shook his head and said, “I’m full, I don’t need to eat anymore. Where’s Guo Jing, is he around?”
Huang Yaoshi had told Yang Guo about how Zhou Botong and Guo Jing became sworn brothers, immediately he replied coldly, “Why are you looking for him?”
Zhou Botong had always been childlike and loved making acquaintances with young people; he was pleased when he saw that Yang Guo was young and he was even more pleased when he heard him say ‘you’ and not something like ‘Mr. Zhou’ or ‘old Senior’. He said, “Guo Jing is my sworn brother, do you know him? He loved being around Mongols ever since he was young; because of this, when I saw this camp I came over to see whether he’s here or not.”
Yang Guo frowned and said, “Why are you looking for Guo Jing?”
Zhou Botong had no worries, how would he know to conceal his thoughts, he just casually replied, “He sent a letter to me, telling me to attend the ‘Heroes Feast’. I had a few games on the road as I rushed from faraway; when I got there I was a couple of days late, the feast had finished, I was damn disappointed.”
Yang Guo said, “Didn’t he leave a letter for you?”
Zhou Botong eyes rolled over and said, “Why are you asking all the questions? Do you know Guo Jing or not?”
Yang Guo said, “How wouldn’t I know them? Mrs. Guo is called Huang Rong, isn’t she? Their daughter is called Guo Fu, isn’t that right?”
Zhou Botong clapped his hands and said, “Wrong, wrong! That Huang Rong is a little girl herself, what daughter?”
Yang Guo was startled but then immediately understood, he asked, “When was the last time you saw them?”
Zhou Botong counted with his fingers, each finger was counted twice, he said, “At least twenty years.”
Yang Guo laughed, “Is she still a little girl after twenty years? Wouldn’t she have a child in these twenty years?”
Zhou Botong laughed, his beard fluttering about, he said, “You’re right! You’re right! Is their daughter pretty?”
Yang Guo said, “Their daughter looks a lot like Mrs. Guo, a little like Guo Jing, just what you’d think.”
Zhou Botong laughed, “That’s great, if a girl has dense brows and big eyes with a dark oval face like my brother Guo, of course that girl won’t be pretty.”
Yang Guo knew that he wasn’t wary anymore and continued, “Huang Rong’s father is Island Master Huang Yaoshi, he and I are great friends, do you know him?”
Zhou Botong was shocked and said, “You little kid, how can you call old ‘Heretic’ Huang as brother? Who’s your Master?”
Yang Guo said, “My Master’s abilities are extraordinary, I’m afraid if I tell you that I’ll scare you silly.”
Zhou Botong laughed, “I can’t be scared silly any more.” He waved out his right hand and sent the empty plate flying towards him with a tremendous force.
Yang Guo knew that Zhou Botong was the Martial Uncle of Ma Yu and Qiu Chuji and the others. He saw that his arm didn’t bend as he threw the plate, he was using his fingers alone; this was a technique of the Quanzhen. He had no fear of Quanzhen martial arts; he stretched out his left index finger and pushed against the bottom of the plate, the plate spun around on his finger.
This delighted Zhou Botong whereas Xiaoxiang Zi, Yin Kexi, Nimoxing and the others looked at each other startled.
When Xiaoxiang Zi first saw the young Yang Guo in his ragged clothes, he didn’t give him another look but right now he was thinking, “With the force that plate was coming in with, I wouldn’t dare to stretch out my hand to catch it never mind just relying on a single finger. If the force used to catch it were just slightly out of place, the plate would snap a wrist. Who exactly is this young man?”
Zhou Botong called out; “Great!” He could see that he was using a Quanzhen technique and asked, “Do you know Ma Yu and Qiu Chuji?”
Yang Guo said, “How wouldn’t I know those two old goats?”
Zhou Botong was delighted. Though he didn’t have any grudges with Qiu Chuji and the others, he felt that their rules were annoying, they were too prudent; there was some feeling of looking down on them. The person he respects most in his life, apart from his apprentice brother Wang Chongyang, is the carefree Nine Fingered Wondrous Beggar Hong Qigong. He didn’t think too much of Huang Yaoshi’s heretical nature and Huang Rong’s cleverness. When he heard Yang Guo calling Ma Yu and Qiu Chuji ‘old goats’, it was music to his ears, he asked, “How are Hao Datong and the others?”
Yang Guo’s anger erupted as soon as he heard the name ‘Hao Datong’, he insulted, “That old goat is a damn fool, and one day I’ll make him suffer.”
Zhou Botong was getting more and more happy as he listened, he asked, “How are you going to make him suffer?”
Yang Guo said, “I’ll catch him, tie him up and them let him lie in a cesspit for half a day.”
Zhou Botong was delighted and quietly said, “Once you’ve caught him, don’t throw him in the cesspit straight away, first let me know and allow me to take a peek from aside.”
He had no ill intent towards Hao Datong, it was just that he loved evil shows; when others are causing trouble and being mischievous; of course he had to join in.