Chapter - 20 Child of an Old Friend (10)

Ouyang Feng said, "The "Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms", good stuff, good stuff!" A mad laugh followed as he ran away, in a blink of an eye he was nowhere to be seen.

Presently, the inn was in the midst of chaos. Huang Rong knew that they couldn't stay here any longer, and from the hand of Ke Zhen E grabbed her daughter and said, "Master, you carry brother Jing and follow us." Ke Zhen E put Guo Jing on his shoulder and step by step slowly headed north. After a while, Huang Rong suddenly remembered Yang Guo, she didn't know where he had gone to, but she was more concerned about her husband's injuries so left this matter until later on. Guo Jing understood, but because of the injury caused by Ouyang Feng, he couldn't speak. He breathed evenly while on Ke Zhen E's back, circulating his energy to unravel his veins, after they had travel about seven, eight miles, his veins had all been cleared and said, "Master, I'm okay." He put Guo Jing down and said, "You've recovered?"

Guo Jing shook his head and said, "The "Toad Stance" is a great skill!" He saw his daughter supporting herself on her mother's shoulder sleeping peacefully, and said, "Where's Guo'er?" Ke Zhen E had forgotten about Yang Guo, and struggled for words.

Huang Rong said, "Don't worry, first we'll find a place to rest. Then I'll go back and look for him."

The sky was beginning to brighten, and under the moon they recognized a house by the forest. Guo Jing said, "My injury is not serious, we'll go find him together."

Huang Rong frowned and said, "That boy is extremely clever, you don't have to be too concerned." As they said this they arrived at the house, suddenly they saw someone come out from behind the white wall and then was about to return again. Huang Rong went over there and grabbed the person, it was Yang Guo.

He laughed and said, "Auntie," and carried on saying, "You guys arrived? I've been waiting for a long time now."

Huang Rong couldn't explain but she suspected something and replied, "Fine, follow us."

Yang Guo laughed, and followed. Guo Fu opened her eyes, and asked, "Where have you been?"

Yang Guo replied, "I went to catch some crickets to see them fight. It was great fun."

"What's so much fun about that?" Guo Fu said.

"Huh, what's not fun about that? A large cricket was fighting with an old cricket. When the old one lost, two little crickets came to help out, three versus one. The large cricket jumped around, kicked out a foot there, and bit one over there, it was extremely powerful." When he reached this point, he didn't add anything else. Guo Fu had listened carefully and asked, "Then what happened?"

Yang Guo said, "You said it's not fun, so why are you interested?"

Guo Fu touched her nail, and angrily turned her head away, ignoring him. Huang Rong could tell that his words were praising Ouyang Feng and ridiculing the couple and Ke Zhen E. She said, "Tell Auntie, who won in the end?"

Yang Guo laughed and said, "Just when things were getting interesting, you came along, the cricket jumped away."

Huang Rong thought: "Like father like son," but kept her suspicions of him to herself.

After a while, they arrived at a village. Huang Rong went to a large residence to look for the owner. The owner was very hospitable, when they heard someone was hurt, they quickly prepared two rooms for the guests. Guo Jing ate three bowls of rice, and then sat on the couch, closed his eyes and meditated. Huang Rong saw that her husband was resting, and managed to relax, sitting next to her husband guarding him. She thought about Yang Guo in all the situations they have been in, and felt although he was young, there are a lot of strange things that couldn't be explained, and when he was asked for detailed explanations, half of it was a lie. She made a mental note to herself to pay extra attention to Yang Guo and be wary of him. She'd had a tiresome day, and after a meal, she went to bed.

Yang Guo and Ke Zhen E were sharing the same room, and in the middle of the night he quietly got up. When he heard Ke Zhen E snoring in his deep sleep, he quietly opened the door, he slipped out of the room and went over to the wall, and to a Cinnamonum Cassia tree, climbed it, and leapt over the wall slipping away. The dogs outside the wall picked up a human scent, and started to bark. Yang Guo was prepared; he took out a piece of bone out of his bag, and threw it to them. The dogs bit onto the bone, and stopped their barking.

Yang Guo checked his bearings, and headed southwest, and in seven, eight li, he had reached the Iron Spear Monastery. He pushed open the doors and called out, "Father, I'm here!" He heard a noise coming in from within. It was Ouyang Feng. Yang Guo was happy, he went inside and felt out a table, and found candle. He lit it and saw Ouyang Feng reclining on top of some statues, his body unwell, and his breathing weak. He and Guo Jing have suffered similar injuries, but because Guo Jing has amassed an abundant amount of rich internal energy over the years, he is able to recover very rapidly; Ouyang Feng is closer to old age, his energy isn't as good.

What had happened on the previous night was that Ouyang Feng had come again for Yang Guo, but Ke Zhen E was awake in the room, so they started to fight. Afterwards when Huang Rong and Guo Jing came and joined in the battle, Yang Guo was watching. Eventually both Ouyang Feng and Guo Jing had suffered injuries, and so Ouyang Feng escaped. In the chaos, everyone forgot about Yang Guo, and he sneaked away after Ouyang Feng. At first Ouyang Feng was moving at a fast pace, Yang Guo could not catch up, but Ouyang Feng's injury was agitated, moving was hard. Yang Guo eventually caught up and took him aside to rest. Yang Guo knew that if he didn't return Huang Rong and Ke Zhen E would come and look for him, and feared his stepfather's life would be in danger. So he arranged with Ouyang Feng to meet in the Iron Spear Monastery. Both were familiar with the monastery so knew where it was. When Yang Guo was guarding the road, Guo Jing and the others had come up behind them. Only now, in the middle of the night, was he able to come and check. Yang Guo took seven or eight buns out of his bag and handed them over to Ouyang Feng, "Father, eat something." Ouyang Feng had nothing to eat for the whole day, he was frightened he would meet one of his enemies, and was stuck in the monastery all day. He ate a few of the buns and was conscious for a while and asked, "Where are you and the others at?" Yang Guo told him everything.

Ouyang Feng said, "The one named Guo suffered from one of my palms, it would be difficult for him to recover within seven days. His wife will have to look after him, she won't leave his side, and I'm worried about that Ke old man. If he doesn't come tonight, he will be here tomorrow. It's a pity I don't have an ounce of energy in me. Hmm…I think I did kill his brothers but I don't know whether is it four or five." As he said this he let out a cough.

Yang Guo sat on the floor, his hand on his cheeks, many thoughts going through his little mind and suddenly thought to himself, "I've got it, I'll put some sharp objects on the floor first, so when the old man comes he'll suffer some injuries."