The Return of the Condor Heroes

Chapter 16 – Deep hatred for father’s killer, Part 10

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?”