Chapter - 219 Scriptures of the (11)

"It was because of a scripture …" Zhou Botong said.

"The Nine Yin Manual!" Guo Jing exclaimed.

"That's right!" Zhou Botong said. "Brother, you are young, but your knowledge of Wulin matters is not shallow. Do you know the origin of the 'Nine Yin Manual', then?"

"That I actually do not know," Guo Jing replied.

Zhou Botong playfully pulled his ears and long hair and his face showed that he was very pleased with himself. "A moment ago you told me a very interesting story, now …"

"What I told you was not a story; that was really happening to me," Guo Jing interrupted.

"What is the difference? As long as it is good to listen to," Zhou Botong said. "Some people spend their lives eating, sleeping, urinating and defecating. If those people tell me every single details of their life, the Old Urchin will die of suffocation."

Guo Jing nodded his head. "That's true," he said. "Then why doesn't Big Brother tell the story of the 'Nine Yin Manual' for little brother to hear."

"The Emperor Hui Zong in the year of Zheng He wanted to compile Taoist books and scriptures from all over the world. He wanted to publish the work, which consisted of 5481 Chapters altogether. They were called the 'wan shou dao zang' [the Everlasting Life Taoist canon]. The Emperor commissioned someone to do the work; he was called Huang Shang …"

"He was also surnamed Huang?" Guo Jing asked.

"Bah! What's so special about the family name Huang?" Zhou Botong spat. "This person had nothing to do with the Old Heretic Huang Yaoshi; don't you have any wrong ideas. There are numerous people surnamed Huang in this world; that 'huang' [yellow] dog or yellow cat also surnamed Huang."

Guo Jing thought that yellow dog and yellow cat did not necessarily have 'huang' as their surnames, but he did not want to debate him; so he let him continue with his story.

"This Old Heretic Huang is not as smart as that Huang Shang. He was extremely intelligent …" Zhou Botong continued. Guo Jing wanted to say, "It turned out he was also an extremely intelligent person," but that thought stopped at his mouth.

"This Huang Shang was very afraid he might make any mistake in the writing of the canon; because if the Emperor found out later, he would surely lose his head. Therefore, he read and re-read each volume to make sure his work was error-free. Unexpectedly after several years of studying the scriptures he became very proficient in the Taoist doctrines; he had found the profound truth of martial arts. He did not have any master; he trained himself in internal and external energy cultivation and became a grand master in martial art. Brother, this Huang Shang was many times smarter than you are. I don't have his kind of intelligence, and I don't think you do too."

"Naturally," Guo Jing said. "If I were to study more than five thousand chapters of scripture; it will take me a life time just to read them from beginning to the end. How can I comprehend the martial art inside them?"

Zhou Botong sighed. "This kind of intelligent people still exist in the world today," he said, "But if you meet this kind of people chances are you will face unfortunate events."

Guo Jing did not agree with his view, he secretly thought, "Rong'er is very intelligent; but since I met her I have always found good luck; how can he say 'unfortunate'?" But he was not the kind who likes to argue, so he kept his thought to himself.

"They began to fight each other," Guo Jing said.

"Without question, wasn't it?" Zhou Botong said. "Huang Shang's martial art was strange; none of his enemies had seen it. Because of this he could kill some of them quite easily. However, his enemies were numerous; he was also injured from the fight, so in desperation he ran away. Those enemies of him then wiped his parents, wife and children clean."

Listening to this part Guo Jing heaved a sigh. He thought that people who practiced martial art would unavoidably kill others. This Huang Shang was no different; if he did not practice martial art, he would not experience such tragedy.

"That Huang Shang fellow had ran away to a deserted place and hid himself there," Zhou Botong continued. "There he tried to remember his enemies' martial art one by one. He painstakingly pondered on how to defeat each and every one of them. He thought that as soon as he succeeded in developing the martial art, he would go back and seek his revenge. A long time passed; finally he was able to master the new martial art. He was very happy; expecting that very soon he would be able to avenge his family. Thereupon he left the mountain to seek his enemies. But unexpectedly the people he was looking for had disappeared. Can you guess what happened to them?"

"Perhaps his enemies have found out his intention, and they knew his martial art was good, so they were scared and hid from him," Guo Jing guessed.

Zhou Botong shook his head, "No, no. When my martial brother told me this story he also asked me to guess what happened, and I also said the same thing. I even made seven, eight guesses but none of them was right."

"Well, if Big Brother guessed seven, eight times yet did not hit the target then I don't have to make any guess at all; since even if I guessed seventy, eighty times I certainly cannot guess right," Guo Jing said.

Zhou Botong roared in laughter, "No chance, you have no chance at all! All right, since you admit defeat I won't ask you to guess anymore. Actually several dozens of his enemies had all died."