At the point where his blood was beginning to flow quickly, where his body felt lucid and smooth, he suddenly heard a shout from behind. He was caught unawares and fell down, his legs and arms numb, he couldnât get back up. It was Guo Fu and the Wu brothers arriving on the scene. Behind the cliff face was an extremely quiet and peaceful area, with no one around. Because the paths of the island were designed to follow the five changes, Guo Fu and the brothers didnât dare to run about blindly. They were looking for a place to play and followed a path, eventually winding up here where Yang Guo was practicing.
It was fortunate that Yang Guoâs internal strength was shallow; otherwise the interruption by the three would have scrambled his veins and meridians, causing him to suffer paralysis.
Guo Fu clapped her hand and said, âWhat are you doing here?â
Yang Guo supported himself on the cliff face and slowly pulled himself up, gave Guo Fu a stare, turned around and walked away.
Wu Xiuwen called out, âHey, apprentice, sister asked a question; are you pretending to not care or are you ignoring us?â
Yang Guo coldly said, âHow can you take charge in this matter?â
Wu Xiuwen was offended and said, âWe only care about having a good time, not greeting mad dogs.â
Yang Guo replied, âYou are right, mad dogs will bite when they see people, three mad dogs have just come, barking and howling madly.â
Wu Dunru angrily said, âYou said three mad dogs? You abuse people?â
Yang Guo laughed and replied, âNo, I only scold dogs, not people.â
Wu Dunru could not take anymore and curled a fist and threw it out at Yang Guo, who managed to avoid it. Wu Xiuwen remembered what their teacher had said about not fighting amongst each other. If news of this ever got to teacher, they would be punished, so he grabbed hold of his brotherâs arm and laughed coldly at Yang Guo saying, âBig brother Yang, youâve been under the care of master wife learning martial arts, we three from master. A few months have passed but we donât know who has advanced the most. How about sparring with each other, comparing skills, do you dare?â
Yang Guo was aggravated and originally wanted to say, âI donât have your luck. Master wife has not taught me any kind of martial arts.â But when he heard the four words âdo you dare toâ, he extinguished his angry feelings and prevented himself from saying what he intended to. He gave out a grunt and stared coldly at him.
Wu Xiuwen said, âWe are here to test each others skill, no matter who wins and who loses, no one is allowed to tell master or master wife. Even if your head is cracked open, you must say you fell. If the loser complains about the winner, then they are born of dogs, a bastard; big brother Yang, do you dare?â
As he said the words âdo you dareâ his eyes went blank, as Yang Guo threw a heavy fist into Wu Xiuwenâs left eye. Wu Xiuwen jumped back to prevent himself falling over.
Wu Dunru said, âYou donât care about face do you with a punch like that.â He then used the punches and kicks that Guo Jing taught him, and attacked Yang Guo in the abdomen. Yang Guo could not avoid this punch and got hit. Then he saw Wu Dunru throw out a kick at him, and then he suddenly thought of something and he remembered the moves that Guo Jing taught to the Wu brothers yesterday. He bent his right leg, and with his left hand pushed the incoming right leg, it was the âSecret Hero in the Noisy Cityâ Quan Jin Faâs âTrapping Handâ, the stance of âHolding the Bridge, Changing the Pillarâ (tuo liang huan zhu), though it wasnât a very special move, it is useful when facing an enemy. Yesterday when Guo Jing repeated the move, the Wu brothers learned it, but when it was put in use for real, it didnât compare with the Yang Guoâs, who only had a glance at it and just went over it once. Wu Dunru fell over after this move by Yang Guo.
Wu Xiuwen was already aggravated with the punch he received in his eye, but when he saw his brother fall he picked himself up and threw out a left punch. Yang Guo dodged to the left, but he only knew very little of the stances of the punches, so he couldnât compete as a right fist of Wu Xiuwen hit him squarely on the right side. Wu Dunru picked himself up and the brothers attacked from both sides. The brothersâ martial arts foundation was already stronger than Yang Guoâs, and he wasnât a match. Added to the fact that the Wu brothers had been training under Guo Jing for a few months, how would he be able to stand up against them? After a while, seven, eight punches had landed on Yang Guoâs head, back and waist. Yang Guo flared up and thought, âEven if I get beaten to death by you, I wonât try to escape.â He wildly threw some punches out; they werenât at all from any set of orthodox skills.
Wu Xiuwen saw the state that Yang Guo was in and was slightly afraid. They had already taught him a lesson and didnât want to carry on. He said, âYouâve already lost, weâll let you go, thereâs no need to fight more.â
Yang Guo shouted, âWho wants you to ease off?â and dashed at him, attacking fiercely. Wu Xiuwen stretched out his left hand and with his right hand grabbed hold of his chest, trying to pull him forward in a rush. At this time, Wu Dunru threw two punches at Yang Guoâs back. Yang Guo couldnât stand steadily, and fell forwards. Wu Dunru held his head with two hands and said, âYou ready to give up?â
âWho wants to give up to you mad dogs?â
Wu Dunru was offended and pushed Yang Guoâs face in the sand and said, âIf you donât give up then suffocate to death.â
Yang Guoâs eyes, nose, and face were full of sand and dirt; he couldnât breathe, after a while, his body felt like cracking. Wu Dunru was holding his head with two hands, Wu Xiuwen was on his back, Yang Guo could not escape and as he was finding it difficult to breathe, the internal energy of the âToad Stanceâ that he has been practicing over the last few days suddenly became fluent; a warm chi was flowing through his âdan tianâ. All of a sudden, his body was full of energy as he leapt up fiercely, his eyes closed when he threw out two palms.
It hit Wu Xiuwen in the lower abdomen; Wu Xiuwen gave out a cry before falling to the ground unconscious. The palmâs power came from Ouyang Fengâs âToad Stanceâ, the power of it of course could not compare to Ouyang Fengâs, and Yang Guo had not intentionally used it. But since he was in danger he involuntarily used it, and Wu Xiuwen could not withstand it.
Wu Dunru jumped back but when he saw his brother didnât move and his eyes were rolled back, he knew that Yang Guo had killed his brother. He was startled but shouted out, âMaster, master, brother has died!â He sobbed as ran to take the news to Guo Jing.
Guo Fu was scared, and followed.
Yang Guo spat out the sand and dirt, and rubbed the sand off his face, but felt he didnât have an ounce of strength left in his body; it was extremely difficult for him to even move one step. He saw Wu Xiuwen in front of him, not moving, and heard Wu Dunru cry out, âMy brother is dead!â and knew something was wrong but he didnât have the strength to run away.