Yang Guo said, âIâll go and bury the chicken again, and lure some more centipedes.â
Hong Qigong said, âItâs no use, one, the chicken has lost its attraction, secondly, there arenât anymore fat and large centipedes around here anymore.â Hong Qigong stretched and yawned, he got down onto snowy ground and said, âI have rushed here without sleeping for five days and five nights; now that Iâve had a great meal, Iâm going to sleep for three days. Donât wake me even if the sky falls down. Look after me, donât let any monsters bite my head off in one go while Iâm not aware.â
Yang Guo laughed, âYes sir.â Hong Qigong closed his eyes and in a short while, he fell into a deep sleep.
Yang Guo thought, âThis Senior is really an extraordinary person. Is he really going to sleep for three days? It doesnât matter if heâs lying or telling the truth, I have nowhere to go anyway, Iâll just wait for three days.â
The Mount Hua centipedes are one of the coolest objects in the world, after Yang Guo ate them, he felt a chill in his stomach so he found a rock to sit on and after a while of meditating, his body became more comfortable. Right now the sky was filled with falling snow that was like the feathers of swans; it snowed without stopping. Hong Qigongâs head and body was covered with snow, he was like a lump of cotton wool. A person breathes warm air, as soon as a snowflake meets it, it will immediately melt; how did the snow remain intact on his face? Yang Guo did not understand at first but then it was clear to him, âThatâs it; when he is sleeping he is circulating his incredible internal energy, keeping the warm air within his body. He is a living person, but when he is sleeping he looks like a corpse, this level of internal energy is frightening. Gu Gu let me sleep on the âChilled Jade Bedâ in hopes that I would be able to refine my internal energy to a such profound state. Ai⊠âChilled Jade Bed, Chilled Jade Bedâ.â
Dawn came. Hong Qigongâs body was buried within the snow, nothing could be seen where he was except for the fact that the snow on the ground was higher there. Everywhere was deep with snow, but Yang Guo was not tired. He suddenly heard footsteps in the snow towards the mountains in the northeast, he looked carefully and saw five black shadows approaching; their movements were rapid, the sabers on their backs glittered.
Yang Guo thought, âThey are probably the Five Clowns of the Tibetan Border that senior mentioned.â He hid behind a large rock.
In a short while, the five people arrived in front of the rock. One of them said âahâ, and called out, âItâs the old beggarâs gourd!â
Another oneâs voice quivered as he said, âHeâsâŠheâs on Mount Hua?â The five of them were frightened; they came together and quietly consulted with each other. Suddenly, the five of them separated, and descended down the peak. The paths of the peak were narrow; one of them dashed forward a few steps and stepped onto Hong Qigong, and felt something soft below his feet. The person called out âaiâ. The other four stopped and drew near; they wiped away the layers of snow and saw Hong Qigong lying on the ground, appearing as if he had died a long time ago.
The five of them were delighted, they stretched out their finger across his nose, there was no breathing, and his body was as cold as ice. The five of them shouted out in joy and leapt about, they were a hundred times happier than the joy they would feel if they found a precious treasure.
One of them said, âThe old beggar has been following all along, he made things hard for me and he died here.â
Another person said, âThat scoundrel Hong Qigong has extraordinary martial arts, why would he die all of a sudden?â
Another one said, âEven if oneâs martial arts are high, does that mean they donât have to die? Just think, that old scoundrel it pretty old.â
The other four called out together, âItâs lucky that the devil has come and taken him, otherwise heâd be difficult to handle.â
The one ranked first said, âCome, letâs vent our anger on the old beggar by chopping him a few times. No matter if he is the âNine Fingered Wondrous Beggarâ Hong Qigong, hero of the world; in the end, heâs going to end up being chopped into seventeen or twenty eight pieces by the Five Heroes of the Tibetan Border.â
Yang Guo thought, âSo that old Senior is Hong Qigong, no wonder his martial arts are so good.â
He had heard Hong Qigongâs name and of his famous âEighteen Subduing Dragon Palmsâ from Xiao Longnu before when they were talking. But Hong Qigongâs appearance and behavior werenât known to Lin Chaoying let alone Xiao Longnu. His hand held some âJade Bee Needlesâ, thinking fighting the five of them together would be hard, he could only ambush them with his projectiles. After hurting two or three of them, he could deal with the remaining ones. As he heard them say that they would chop up Hong Qigong to vent their anger; he was afraid that they would harm him. He didnât shoot out the needles and immediately shouted and leapt out from behind the rock. He didnât have a weapon so he picked up two twigs; he quickly unleashed his swift stances diverting the five. The five stances were extremely fast, it was a pity that he called out first and gave the five clowns some time to prepare, otherwise one or two of them would have been hit. The five clowns were worried about themselves first and darted and dodged away to avoid the attacks.
The five turned around and saw it was a young kid with old and torn garments, his hands holding two branches, their fright now dissipated.
The big clown shouted, âLittle punk, youâre a little beggar of the Beggar Clan arenât you? Your old beggar ancestor has gone to heaven, quickly kneel and kowtow to us five Masters.â
Yang Guo saw how they moved; their movements revealed their kung fu. The five of them had a large saber on their backs, their kung fu came from the same Master; there were some difference between their abilities but they all had the same type of stances. If it was one on one, he would definitely win, but if the five of them attacked all at once he would not be able to fight them off. He heard the big clown telling him to kowtow and replied, âYes, junior here will kowtow to the five Masters.â He took a step forward and bowed down. He kneeled and bowed according to the stance âFirst Greet Bow Afterâ, this move was used by Grandma Sun on the Quanzhen Taoist Zhang Zhi Guang when he wasnât expecting it. An empty container shot out and almost took his eye. After Yang Guo used the stance âFirst Greet Bow Afterâ, he followed with a stance of âPush the Window to see the Moonâ, his arms swept across and the two branches came out from the left and right. On his left was the fifth clown; on his right was the third clown. This stance of âPush the Window to see the Moonâ was extremely evil; the third clownâs kung fu was quite high, he quickly bought down his saber to block it. The back of his saber had been struck and his hand heated up, he almost lost his saber. The fifth clown was struck on the leg, a âka laâ sound was heard, although the leg wasnât broken it was still painful, he couldnât stand up. The other four clowns were angry, four sabers chopped down, âfu fu fu fuâ. Yang Guo was swift and nimble, he darted east and dodged west, the four clowns couldnât do anything to him for the time being. After fighting for a while, the fifth clown joined in, he was extremely angry and fought with his life.