Legend of Condor Heroes Book 3 Read online

  She Diao Ying Xiong Chuan (Eagle Shooting Hero)

  by Jin Yong

  Translators:

  Minglei Huang,

  Foreva,

  Strunf,

  Patudo,

  Taihan,

  Du Gu seeking a win, SunnySnow,

  James Worsley,

  Rayon,

  Xuelian,

  Xfiberloss,

  Hugh (aka IcyFox), William Lee Chong Beng, Daniel Shultz,

  Bluebook,

  Owbjhx,

  Gimel Gimeno,

  Frans Soetomo

  Editors:

  James Gataiant, Percy Cael,

  Qiu Shuyi,

  Elif Kaya

  Disclaimer

  This work is an unofficial fan translation of Jin Yong's She Diao Ying Xiong Chuan. The Copyright owner is Jin Yong and the publisher of his original Chinese text. The copyright owner of the English translations posted here is the respective translator(s). No part of this translation may be reproduced or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the copyright owner(s) nor be otherwise circulated for commercial purpose. Except for Chapter 26, this translation is from the 2nd Edition.

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 21 - The Thousand-catty Rock

  Chapter 22 - Wandering on a Shark’s Back

  Reaching this point Huang Yaoshi’s doubts were com

  Chapter 23 - Big Trouble in the Imperial Palace

  End of Chapter 23.

  End of Chapter 24.

  Mei Chaofeng’s ‘du long bian’ was moving toward Su

  Chapter 26 - New Allies, Old Arrangements

  End of Chapter 26.

  End of Chapter 27.

  Chapter 28 - The Lady of the Black Marsh

  End of Chapter 29.

  End of Chapter 30.

  Chapter 21 - The Thousand-catty Rock

  Translated by Hugh (aka IcyFox)

  They acted together and used the oak tree as the pivot to pull the crisscross shaped rope formation. The rope became taut and the rock was lifted slowly. The Sun was about to set and the sky was red, illuminating the surface of the water. The tide had already gone out and Ouyang Ke's body was in the mud with his eyes fixed onto the rock. It moved slowly and steadily with a creaking sound, causing him to be anxious yet happy.

  Ouyang Feng felt his surroundings becoming hotter and the deck of the boat was shaking violently; he knew the boat would sink any moment. But Hong Qigong was attacking more furiously and did not slacken his pace; if he did not use his special skills now, he might not get out of this contest alive. He pulled back his Snake Rod with his right hand and kicked out viciously with his right leg.

  Hong Qigong used his bamboo rod to chase the Snake Rod while using his left hand to block the incoming kick. Ouyang Feng suddenly twisted his arms and punched towards Hong Qigong’s ‘Right Sun’ Acupoint. This ‘Spirit Snake Fist’ was developed by Ouyang Feng’s own harsh training and was meant for use during the second Mount Hua Tournament. He had not yet used this snakelike boxing skill even after exchanging a thousand strokes with Hong Qigong on Peach Blossom Island.

  A snake seems to be boneless and can turn in all directions at will, so the main point of this boxing skill is to be able to twist the arms unpredictably, so that when the opponent blocks the fists, the attacker would be able to throw a punch from an unexpected angle at close proximity. Of course to expect the arms to move exactly like a snake would be unreasonable but to the eyes of the opponent, the movements of the arms greatly resemble the movements of snakes.

  With Ouyang Feng executing such a strange move at this critical moment, Hong Qigong should have found it hard to counter, and even if he wasn’t injured, he would still be in danger. However Ouyang Ke had already used the move against Guo Jing, and although he won, he actually gave Hong Qigong a chance to spot a flaw in the move.

  That day he did not attend the feast with Li Sheng and the group of beggars but instead thought deeply on how to counter the move. Now that Ouyang Feng finally used this move, he inwardly rejoiced; he extended his fingers to form a claw and caught hold of his fist. His response was perfect and he managed to swiftly and accurately counter this special move of the ‘Spirit Snake Fist’.

  It looked like it happened by chance, but in reality Hong Qigong had pondered over it for many days and nights and followed it with long hours of practice which finally allowed him to deal with the entire ‘Spirit Snake Fist’ move. Although it had not been perfected yet, it had the element of surprise and managed to catch Ouyang Feng off guard.

  Ouyang Feng had expected Hong Qigong to be greatly surprised and be rendered helpless, allowing him to seize the opportunity and move in for the kill. Unexpectedly it was he who ended up surprised and forced to retreat several steps. Suddenly a mass of fire descended upon him, immediately covering his body. Hong Qigong was also startled; he leapt back and saw that it was actually a large sail which had caught fire and fallen.

  Normally with Ouyang Feng’s level of martial arts, even had that sail fallen several times faster, it would not have hit him. But he had just seen the ‘Spirit Snake Fist’, which he painstakingly created over many years, unexpectedly and casually neutralized; he was stunned and he did not even attempt to evade the burning sail. The sail, along with the mast, weighed several hundred jin and Ouyang Feng was not able to lift the sail even after jumping twice. Although he was in great danger, he was still calm; he tried to raise the Snake Rod to lift the sail, but the Snake Rod was pinned under the mast and could not be lifted. In his heart he sighed, "Forget it! I’ll return to heaven today!" Suddenly he felt the weight lifting and his head was no longer covered by the sail. He saw that Hong Qigong had raised the anchor, hooked it onto the sail and pulled the sail away. Hong Qigong did not want to see him being burned alive so he went to save him.

  By now Ouyang Feng’s clothes and brows were on fire and he immediately rolled on the deck of the boat frantically attempting to put out the fire. Unfortunately bad things do not come singly and the boat suddenly lurched to one side, causing a huge chain to sweep right into him.

  Hong Qigong shouted, “Ah!” and dashed forward to grab the chain. The chain had been heated by the fire and caused a sizzling sound when it came into contact with his hand, burning his palm. He quickly let it go as he threw it into the sea. He was just about to jump from the boat when he felt a slight numbness in his back. He stopped for a second and a thought flashed through his mind, “I saved West Poison’s life, can it be possible that he’s using his snake to poison me?” He turned around and saw that it was indeed a snake and it had fresh blood in its mouth. Enraged, he threw two palms towards Ouyang Feng. Ouyang Feng casually stepped aside and Hong Qigong’s palms hit a mast, splitting it in two.

  Ouyang Feng was happy that his sneak attack worked but when he saw Hong Qigong lashing out crazily he became more serious and did not dare take the blows head-on, avoiding them instead. Guo Jing shouted, “Master! Climb aboard the small boat.” Hong Qigong suddenly felt dizzy and staggered.

  Ouyang Feng charged forward and struck out with his palms which landed on Hong Qigong’s back. Ouyang Feng’s lethal snake poison was unmatched, but fortunately he already used up most of the poison when he made the bet with Zhou Botong days ago, so today the poison was not as lethal. When Hong Qigong was bitten, he was not severely poisoned and because of his high internal energy, the poison took some time to take effect. When he was hit by Ouyang Feng he was in a daze and he did not circulate his qi to protect himself. The blow caused him to throw up blood and collapse.

  Since Hong Qigong was very highly-skilled, Ouyang Feng knew that this blow would not kill h
im; when he recovered some time later, Ouyang Feng would be in trouble. He jumped over and raised his foot to strike his chest. Guo Jing had just climbed aboard from the small boat and saw that the situation was very urgent and he might not be able to save Hong Qigong in time. So he struck out with both palms using the ‘Twin Dragons Fetch Water’ stance to attack Ouyang Feng’s waist.

  Although Ouyang Feng knew his martial arts were not weak, he did not think very highly of him and used his left hand to block the strike while his right foot slammed down. Guo Jing was shocked and did not care about his own safety; he jumped forward to clutch Ouyang Feng’s head. By doing this he left his acupoints exposed and his side was swept at by Ouyang Feng.

  Although this counterattack was not very forceful, every one of his strikes was enough to kill his opponent. If not for Guo Jing’s good internal strength, he would have suffered serious injuries. He felt a sharp pain followed by numbness in half his body, but he continued to cling tenaciously to Ouyang Feng’s head.

  Ouyang Feng assumed that with his vicious strike, his opponent would retreat, but he did not expect the dumb kid to use a move that could get both of them injured. He had to retract the foot which was halfway to Hong Qigong in order to twist his body around to attack Guo Jing. In such close proximity, he could not execute any of his refined ‘Snake’ moves.

  Whenever highly-skilled martial artists fight, they will not allow their opponent to get close to them even if they were targeting acupoints. There was hardly any close-contact grappling involved. When it came to advanced martial arts, there were no moves for scuffling.

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  Ouyang Feng felt his throat being gripped forcefully by Guo Jing and he struck out backwards, but Guo Jing managed to avoid the blows. It was becoming harder for him to breathe and he felt the grip was becoming tighter, so he jabbed his elbow backwards. Guo Jing evaded to the right and had to let go with his left hand, but at the same time used his legs to execute a Mongolian wrestling technique while his left hand slipped past Ouyang Feng’s shoulder.

  He slammed down forcefully on Ouyang Feng’s back, causing Ouyang Feng to suffer intense pain even with his high level martial arts. This technique was called the ‘Camel’s Pull’, and it was so effective that only a wrestling expert could deal with it. Ouyang Feng did not know wrestling, so he suffered the full extent of the strike.

  Guo Jing was happy and his right hand released its grip and slipped upwards behind Ouyang Feng’s back. With a loud yell he pressed both palms down. In Mongolian wrestling this move was called the ‘Mountain Breaking Move’ and was used when the opponent had fallen, so that no matter how strong his shoulders were or how good his wrestling techniques were, there would be nothing much he could do as his shoulder would break if he tried to move.

  However Ouyang Feng’s martial arts were much better than the Mongolian wrestlers, so even with such a disadvantage he still managed to think of a way to turn defeat into victory. When Guo Jing’s hands came down, he used his qinggong [lightness kungfu] to duck aside and rolled away under Guo Jing’s waist.

  With his status as a highly skilled martial arts master, rolling under a junior’s waist was a great disgrace, but that did not bother him. He broke free from the ‘Mountain Breaking Move’ and immediately threw his fists at Guo Jing’s back to counterattack. He did not expect that before his fists reached Guo Jing, his left leg was immobilized. Guo Jing knew he was no match for his opponent, but in a close-combat situation and with his wrestling background, coupled with the fact that he had no regard for his own safety, Ouyang Feng could not get closer to his master to injure him further. At this point the fire became fiercer and the planks twisted, causing them to lose their balance, fall and their clothes to catch fire.

  Huang Rong was worried sick and anxious as she saw Hong Qigong’s motionless body slumped at the side of the boat; she could not tell if he was dead or alive. Meanwhile Guo Jing and Ouyang Feng were still rolling and struggling without showing any signs of stopping. Their clothes were on fire and the situation was getting dangerous, so she lifted the oar and swung it at Ouyang Ke’s head. Although his right arm was broken, his martial arts were still good enough for him to evade the oar and stretch out his left hand to grab Huang Rong’s bracelet. Huang Rong stomped her feet fiercely and the small boat almost capsized. Ouyang Ke could not swim and he was about to fall overboard, so he had to let go of Huang Rong. When the boat stabilized, Huang Rong took the opportunity to jump into the sea.

  She swam quickly towards the big boat. The boat was already half submerged and the deck was almost touching the water’s surface. Huang Rong climbed aboard to help Guo Jing and took out the ‘Emei Sting’ from her waist. [The Emei Sting is a spike-like weapon which is pointed on each end and has a finger-ring in the middle] Guo Jing and Ouyang Feng were locked in a bundle and rolling about. Ouyang Feng’s martial arts were better and he managed to pin Guo Jing beneath him, but Guo Jing tenaciously held on to his shoulders, preventing him from counterattacking. Huang Rong fought through the smoke, went up to Ouyang Feng, and pierced his back with the spike.

  Ouyang Feng was struggling madly with Guo Jing, but when he felt the prick, he was surprised and twisted around forcefully, causing Guo Jing to land on top. Huang Rong now wanted to poke Ouyang Feng’s head with the spike, but Ouyang Feng’s agility allowed him to evade her attacks and she ended up jabbing the spike into the deck.

  A gust of wind blew some thick black smoke her way causing her eyes to burn. Just as she was about to rub her eyes she suddenly felt a pain in her leg and fell. Ouyang Feng had kicked her. Huang Rong rolled over and jumped up, but her hair caught fire. She was about to attack him again when Guo Jing shouted, “Save Master first!” Huang Rong silently agreed and ran towards Hong Qigong, grabbed him and jumped into the sea, extinguishing the flames on her body.

  Huang Rong placed Hong Qigong on her back, kicked her legs in the water, and swam to the small boat. Ouyang Ke stood at the side of the boat and raised the oar high, shouting, “Put the old beggar down; I’ll only let you alone board!” Huang Rong said, “Fine! Let’s meet in the water!” She shook the boat violently. The boat rocked and seemed about to capsize. Ouyang Ke became frantic and gripped the side of the boat tightly, saying, “Don’t... don’t shake it, the boat is going to overturn!”

  Huang Rong laughed as she said, “Pull my master up quickly. And watch out.. .if you try any tricks, I’ll dump you in the water for six hours.” Ouyang Ke had no choice but to comply and took hold of Hong Qigong, pulling him onboard.

  Huang Rong smiled and praised him, “Since I first met you, this is the first good deed you’ve done.” Ouyang Ke’s heart stirred and he wanted to speak, but could not open his mouth. Huang Rong was about to swim back to the large boat to help out in the fight when she suddenly heard a thunderous rumble - a huge wall of water loomed over her head.

  She was shocked and quickly held her breath, waiting for the water to hit the boat, but when she looked again her jaw dropped. A whirlpool had formed on the surface of the sea and the burning boat had disappeared together with Guo Jing and Ouyang Feng.

  At this moment, her mind went completely blank and she could not feel or think of anything. She’d become completely lost, not knowing where she was. Suddenly, salty water filled her mouth and she found herself sinking. She jerked and her senses awoke as she swam upwards. When she broke the surface, all she could see in any direction was the small boat; everything else had disappeared under the waves. Huang Rong dived under the water again and struggled to go deeper. Her swimming skills were fantastic and her strokes were powerful, but she could only swim along with the current. She covered the entire area searching for Guo Jing but he had disappeared without a trace. Even Ouyang Feng could not be found - it seemed they had gone down with the boat.

  After some time, she was completely exhausted, but she refused to give up, and swam about wildly. She could only hope Heaven would be merciful and let her bump into Guo Jing, but she was sur
rounded by mountainous waves and there was no trace of him. She had been swimming for over an hour now and could not continue any longer, so she headed towards the small boat, intending to rest for a while before resuming the search.

  Ouyang Ke pulled her up. He knew that his uncle was missing and was equally anxious, asking, “Have you seen my uncle?” Huang Rong was too exhausted and she suddenly saw everything go black as she fainted. After some time she slowly regained consciousness but felt like her body was afloat, as though she was floating among the clouds while the sounds of the winds and waves beat against her ears. She sat upright and realized that the boat was just following the currents.

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  By now they did not know how far they were from the sunken boat and Guo Jing could not be found. Huang Rong felt great sadness and fainted again. Ouyang Ke could only grip the sides of the small boat tightly as he feared that the next wave would send him tumbling out of the boat into the water.

  After another hour, Huang Rong awoke again and thought that since her Jing ge ge was at the bottom of the sea, it was meaningless for her to live on. When she saw Ouyang Ke’s twitching eyes and his pale lips, she felt disgusted and thought, “How can I possibly die together with this beast?” She stood up and snapped, “Jump overboard!” Ouyang Ke was shocked and exclaimed, “What?” Huang Rong said, “You’re not jumping? Let me capsize the boat then we shall speak again.”

  She jumped towards the right, causing a reaction which resulted in the boat springing to the left. She then jumped towards the left, and the boat rocked even more violently. When she heard Ouyang Ke’s frantic shouting, her sadness became joy and she jumped again.

  Ouyang Ke knew that if she jumped a few more times, the boat would definitely capsize. When he saw her jump again, he quickly jumped to the other side. They landed exactly at the same time and their forces cancelled out, causing the boat to momentarily dip deeper into the water.