Chapter - 394 Master Yideng (4)

Guo Jing was startled, but without thinking he simply followed Huang Rong's example and bowed to the ground, kowtowing four times.

The monk with long-eyebrows smiled slightly; he stood up and held out his hands to raise the two people up. He said with a smile, "Qi Xiong [Brother Qi] had accepted a fine disciple, and Yao Xiong [Brother Yao] had gotten a fine daughter. I heard them say," he pointed his finger to the farmer and the scholar, "Your martial arts are far superior to my disciples'. Ha … ha … congratulations, congratulations!"

Listening to him speaking Guo Jing thought, "This speech obviously belonged to Emperor Duan; fitting his position as an emperor, but how come he turned into a monk? It's very confusing. Why did they say that he is no longer in this mortal world? How did Rong'er know he is the Emperor Duan?"

He heard the monk said to Huang Rong, "Are your father and Shifu well? When we met during the Sword Meet of Mount Hua your father has not married yet. Unexpectedly it has been twenty years and he got this beautiful daughter. Do you have any brothers or sisters? Which Senior hero is your mother's father?"

Huang Rong's eyes turned red, she said, "My mother gave birth to me only; she passed away long time ago. I don't even know her family."

"Ah!" the monk exclaimed, lightly patting her shoulder consolingly. "I have been meditating for three days and three nights, and ended just a moment ago," he said, "Have you been waiting long?"

Huang Rong pondered, "Looking at his face, he is very happy to see us. If that's the case, then stopping us and not letting us go up the mountain was his disciples' idea." Hence, she replied, "Disciples have just arrived. Fortunately these Uncles did their utmost to make things difficult for us; otherwise we would have arrived much earlier, Duan Shibo would still be in meditation and our visit would be in vain."

The monk chuckled and said, "They are afraid that I see too many outsiders. But actually how can we consider you as outsiders? Young Miss' sharp tongue must come from your family. Emperor Duan has early on left this mortal world; I am now called Monk Yideng. ['yi deng he shang' – (Buddhist) monk 'one lamp'] Your Shifu was present when I followed the three treasures; but I am afraid your father did not know."

It was only then did Guo Jing finally understood, "It turned out that Emperor Duan shaved his head and became a monk. He left the life of common man; that's why his disciples said Emperor Duan has left this mortal world. Shifu witnessed it when he became a monk; if it was him who told us to come here, naturally he would not tell us to find Emperor Duan, but to see Reverend Yideng [yi deng da shi – great master Yideng; 'da shi' was a common respectable term to address a Buddhist monk]. Rong'er is really smart; just by looking at him she understood everything."

He heard Huang Rong say, "My father did not know anything about it; my Shifu also did not tell disciples."

Yideng smiled, "Certainly. There are more things going into your Shifu's mouth than things coming out of it. He eats a lot, he speaks a little. He wouldn't discuss the Old Monk's business with others. You have been through a lot of hardships; have you eaten yet? Ah!" Speaking to this point he suddenly startled. He pulled Huang Rong's hand and took her to the door to look at her face under the bright sunlight. He carefully examined her with a puzzled look on his own face.

Although Guo Jing was slow, he was aware that Reverend Yideng had discovered Huang Rong's injury. His heart was broken; abruptly he bent his knees and kowtowed several times. Yideng held out his hands underneath Guo Jing's arms to raise him up. Guo Jing felt a burst of energy lifting his body up. He did not dare to use his strength to resist; riding on the force he slowly stood up and said, "I beg the Reverend to save her life!"

When Yideng raised Guo Jing up, he was not only asking Guo Jing not to have too much ritual, but was also testing Guo Jing's strength. Yideng was only using 50% of his strength; if he felt that Guo Jing was not able to resist, he would have retracted his force. He did not have any intention to use force against Guo Jing, if Guo Jing stayed motionless he would not add any more strength. However, in this one encounter he found out Guo Jing's martial art to be deep. He did not expect Guo Jing to be able to ride on his force and stand up, automatically dispersing his energy. This surprised Yideng more than if Guo Jing only resisted by staying motionless on the ground. Yideng secretly thought, "Qi Xiong had really accepted a very fine disciple; no wonder my own disciples candidly admitted their defeat."

It was at this moment that Guo Jing said, "I beg the Reverend to save her life!" He had just finished speaking when suddenly he felt his legs wobble, his body involuntarily moved forward one step. Quickly he exerted his strength to resist but his body refused to obey his mind; his face turned red all over. He was shocked. "Reverend Yideng's force can continue for so long!" he thought, "I've already tried to disperse it; unexpectedly it continued to lift me up. The incoming force has been broken, but a short moment later my own opposing force uncontrollably propelled myself forward. If it were a real fight wouldn't my little life be gone? Eastern Heretic, Western Poison, Southern Emperor and Northern Beggar truly deserve their reputations." This time he bowed and kowtowed with much more admiration; what he felt in his heart showed on his face.

Yideng noticed Guo Jing's countenance showed a scared and admiring look, he stretched out his hand to gently pat Guo Jing's shoulder and said with a smile, "You have trained to this level, it really is not easy." Meanwhile he had not released Huang Rong's hand; he turned his head and smiled, "Child, don't be afraid, set your heart at peace," he said with a gentle voice. Then he helped her to sit on the meditation mat.

In all her life Huang Rong never had anybody treated her with such compassion. Her father loved her very much, but his manner was a little bit eccentric. Normally he would treat her as a friend, without revealing the deep love a father had for his daughter. This time listening to Yideng's warm words all of a sudden Huang Rong was overwhelmed as if she suddenly felt her mother's tender love; the love she had never experienced. All the pain and suffering she endured for quite some time since she was injured suddenly burst out uncontrollably. "Wah!" she broke into tears.

Reverend Yideng said with a comforting voice, "Good child, don't cry, don't cry! Uncle will certainly fix all the pain you feel." Who would have thought that the gentler and more comforting his words were, the more Huang Rong was overwhelmed and she cried even louder. It was not until much later did her cry eventually became sobs as she tried to regain her composure.

Hearing his promise Guo Jing was ecstatic, but upon turning his head around he saw the scholar and the farmer's stiff eyebrows and bulging eyes; they were staring at him with angry looks on their faces. Guo Jing felt bad while thinking, "We can reach this place entirely due to Rong'er's craftiness, no wonder they are mad. Reverend Yideng is this compassionate, yet his disciples were determined to hinder us. I wonder why?"

He heard Reverend Yideng say, "Child, how did you get injured? How did you get to this place? Why don't you tell your uncle everything?" And so Huang Rong wiped her tears and told him how she mistook Qiu Qianren as Qiu Qianzhang, how she took his palms strike and everything that happened.