Chapter - 69 Drawing the Bow to Shoot Condors (12) (1/2)
Han Baoju shouted some instructions to him and told him some tricks to master the horse, which ran with renewed vigor for more than an hour, apparently untiring.
His audience was in awe: the old horse herder knelt and whispered some prayers, imploring the sky not to punish the man for having offended the 'Dragon Horse', before shouting to Guo Jing to let him go. But he didn't hear a thing, and stayed glued to the horse as if he was attached by a rope, reacting to all of its movements smoothly.
”Come down off that horse,” Han Xiaoying shouted. ”Let your Third Shifu replace you…”
”Absolutely not!” protested Han Baoju. ”Changing the trainer now would risk all of the work he has done up to now!”
He knew very well that such a stallion had to have a strong character. If someone managed to tame it, it would respect its master and would stay forever faithful to him. But if more than one tried to overcome it, it would rather die than submit!
Guo Jing also had an obstinate character. When he began to get tired, he slipped his arms around the neck of the horse and began to tighten them, making use of his internal energy. The animal bounded, jumped, and shook itself in all directions, without getting rid of this pressure that was suffocating it. It then knew that it had met its master, and stopped.
”Bravo!” exclaimed Han Baoju, delighted. ”That's it! You have succeeded!”
Fearing that the horse would run away again, Guo Jing didn't dare dismount.
”You can come down,” Han Baoju reassured him. ”Now it will follow you all of your life. Even if you wanted to get rid of it you wouldn't be able too…”
The young man jumped to the ground. The horse licked his hand, showing affection that made everyone there laugh. A guard approached it a little too closely and the animal gave him a kick that made him somersault. Guo Jing led it to the water, to wash it and calm it down.
Since this session of horse breaking had tired him a lot, the Six released him from practice for now; but doubts still troubled them.
After the lunch, Guo Jing came into the ger of his masters. ”Jing'er,” Quan Jinfa said, ”I would like to see your practice of the 'Crunching Mountains' palm strokes.”
”Here, in the ger?”
”Yes. One can meet enemies in any place; it's necessary to train to fight even in closed spaces.” He feinted with the left, and delivered a stroke with his right fist.
Guo Jing, respecting the rule of courtesy due to elders, defended three movements before responding. Quan Jinfa then attacked with violence. Suddenly his fists hit the young man's chest, with a movement named 'Penetrating Deeply in the Lair of the Tiger'. It was no longer a practice stroke, but a deadly, violent and heavy one, used to kill! Panicked, Guo Jing wanted to move back, but he already had his back against the wall of the ger. Trying to protect himself when confronted with danger is a natural reaction especially since he had a rather slow mind. Without even thinking about it, he turned his left arm, and blocked the attack of Quan by repulsing his arms. The fists had already touched his chest, when Quan realized with surprise, that it was as soft as cotton, without any resistance. Then he was repulsed with strength, and his arms were afflicted by a jolting pain; he moved back three steps before recovering his balance.
Guo Jing was speechless and knelt before saying, ”I probably did something that I shouldn't have,” he exclaimed, ”I accept the punishment of the Sixth Shifu!” Afraid and surprised, he wondered what crime he could have committed that was worthy of his master's anger, to the point of wanting to kill him!