Yang Guo added, âYou also said Sun Po Po [Grandma Sun] decided that it was him.â
As Xiao LongnĂź heard him saying that, she immediately recalled something and said, âOh! Sun Po Po said the man who injured my master had to be West Poison Ouyang Feng. She said in the world there were only very few people who could have hurt my master. And Ouyang Feng was the only bad person among those people. Until her death, my master never said that evil personâs name. Sun Po Po asked her âIs it Ouyang Feng, is it Ouyang Feng?â but my master shook her head, smiled, and then passed away. Isnât that Ouyang Feng your adoptive father? His martial skills were really high; no wonder my master couldnât defeat him.â
Yang Guo sighed and said, âMy adoptive father has died. Martial Grandma and Sun Po Po have died. Master Chongyang and Ancestor Grandma have died. Hatred, love, and death were all written off by God. It was like my Martial Grandma could see the future so she was not willing to say my adoptive fatherâs nameâŚâ But suddenly he shouted, âOhâŚthat must be it!â
Xiao LongnĂź asked, âWhat have you figured out?â
Yang Guo replied, âLi Mochou didnât unseal my adoptive fatherâs pressure point that Martial Grandma hit. Actually, it was because Martial Grandma didnât hit the mark in the first place!â
Xiao LongnĂź said, âShe didnât hit the mark? That was not possible. My masterâs accupoint sealing skill was really remarkable.â
Yang Guo said, âMy adoptive father had two of the worldâs strange martial skills. In his whole body, the vital energy could circulate against the normal flow. The opposite circulation shifted all his pressure points so sealing the pressure point actually meant missing the point.â
Xiao LongnĂź said, âThere is something that strange?â
Yang Guo said âLet me try it for you to see.â Having said that, he flipped up-side down and used his hand to prop himself up on the floor, his head down and legs up in the air. Then he quickly spun himself, making a few rounds, and then breathed in a few times. Suddenly he jumped up and bumped his head into a pointed corner of the table in front of the bed. Xiao LongnĂź cried out, âAi yo, be careful!â only to see the âHundred Meetingsâ point [Bai Hui] on his head hit the corner of the stone table hard. This âHundred Meetingsâ point was right on top of the brain, where the vertical line from the front to the back of the head and the horizontal line from the left ear to the right ear intersect, and hence the name âhundred meetings point.â This was a vital pressure point, which controlled all the veins. Doctors usually compared it to the North Star, as in the saying âBai Hui [Hundred Meetings] is sky, Xuan Ji [Jade Pearl -chest] is man, and Yong Quan [Bubbling Spring -legs] is earth,â which was to say that these âthree big pressure pointsâ were the most critical in a human body. Knowing this, Yang Guo bumped it right into a table corner and then turned around to stand erect. With a laugh he said, âYou see, as the energy flew in the opposite direction, my Hundred Meetings point changed its position!â Xiao LongnĂź clucked her tongue in approval and said, âHow very strange. And he came up with that!â
Hitting himself this time, even though Yang Guo didnât seal his pressure point, he used quite a bit of force and his brain couldnât help becoming confused. In his daze, he seemed to have figured out something important all of a sudden but couldnât quite say what it was. Xiao LongnĂź saw him looking dazed and disoriented so she said with a smile, âDumb kid, a gentle demonstration would have been enough. Nobody told you to crash into the table so hard. Does it hurt?â Yang Guo didnât reply just waved his hand for her to stop talking. He concentrated on his thoughts but felt like there was a fuzzy shadow flashing in his brain, barring him from getting a clear picture. It seemed he needed to recall something from the past, yet it was also like heâd suddenly discovered something new. He wished he could have just taken it out from his brain, stopped that moving shadow, put that thought before his eyes and clearly look at it.
He thought for a while. Still he couldnât grasp the main points and couldnât give up thinking either. He grabbed his head. Quite vexed, he asked Xiao LongnĂź, âLongâer, Iâve figured out an extremely important matter but I donât know what. Do you know?â When a person got his thoughts mixed up like entangled threads and he himself didnât have a clue, asking another person what he was thinking was quite ridiculous. But for the two of them who had lived together for a long time and understood each other very well, their guesses would be correct most of the times. Xiao LongnĂź said, âThis is a very important matter?â Yang Guo replied, âYes.â Xiao LongnĂź asked, âIs it related to my injury? Delighted, Yang Guo said, âGood, very good! What matter is that? What have I figured out?â
With a chuckle, Xiao LongnĂź said, âYou just talked about your adoptive father Ouyang Feng. You said he could direct vital energy to circulate in the opposite direction. Is this related to my injured condition? Iâm not the person he injuredâŚâ
Yang Guo suddenly jumped up and shouted out loudly, âGot it!â
These two words âGot it!â were brightly loud. The doors of the stone chambers inside Gu Mu were not closed so each and every word spoken echoed back, âGot it, Got itâŚâ Yang Guo grabbed Xiao LongnĂźâs right arm and repeatedly cried out, âYou could be saved! You could be saved! You could be saved!â He couldnât restrain his happiness; nor could he really find words to express it. Seeing him all excited, Xiao LongnĂź was infected with this joyous feeling. She sat up.
Yang Guo said, âLongâer, you listen to my words. Right now you are seriously injured so you canât use our sectâs Jade Maiden skills. And this makes it difficult for you to recover from the injury. But if you can circulate your vital energy against the flow to heal yourself, the Chilled Jade Bed will precisely be a marvelous aid.â
Xiao LongnĂź had yet to understand. She mumbled, âVital energy against the flow⌠the Chilled Jade BedâŚâ
Happily, Yang Guo said, âWould you say this is fate? Youâve practiced the Jade Maiden skill, which was good enough. On top of that we have the Chilled Jade Bed.â
Xiao LongnĂź became confused so she said, âI still donât quite understand.â
Yang Guo then explained, âThe Jade Maiden skills follow the Yin energy but the reverse flow skills are pure Yang. When I talked about my adoptive fatherâs reverse energy flow skills, I vaguely felt that your injured condition could be healed. Then I hit my head and, afterwards, recalled what Master Chongyang mentioned in his letter about the Chilled Jade. And it all became clear.â
Xiao LongnĂź said, âSo is that to say our Ancestor Grandma, who used the Chilled Jade Bed to treat her injury, could reverse the energy flow as well?â
Yang Guo said, âThatâs not likely. Our Ancestor Grandma would definitely not know this reverse energy flow technique. But I suspect that she was injured by the Yinâs soft internal energy. Your injury, on the other hand, was caused by the opposite force of the hard Yang.â Xiao LongnĂź smiled and nodded. Then with a joyful feeling, she put her mind at ease.
Yang Guo said, âWeâd better not wait. Let us do it now.â He then went into the firewood room and took out a bunch of firewood. He lit them up in the corner of the stone room. Then he taught Xiao LongnĂź the most basic elements of the reverse energy flow skills and helped her sit up on the Chilled Jade Bed. He sat by the fire. As he used his left hand to press against Xiao LongnĂźâs right palm, he said, âIâll push this heat through each of your pressure points and you use your internal energy to circulate it against the normal flow. Weâll do it one point at a time and when the heat comes back to the Chilled Jade Bed, your injured condition should improve a little bit.â With a smile Xiao LongnĂź said, âDo I have to get down and spin myself just like you did?â Yang Guo said, âNah, thatâs not necessary. Spinning is for shifting pressure points. Itâs only good when fighting enemies. We are slowly healing your injury; sitting down here is just as good.â