Chapter - 220 Scriptures of the (12) (1/2)

Guo Jing uttered a cry of disbelief. ”That's strange! Could it be that his friends or maybe his disciples had avenged him and killed all his enemies?” he asked.

Again Zhou Botong shook his head, ”No, no. You missed by a hundred and eight thousands li's. He did not have any disciple. He was a government official, his friends were all scholars, not martial artists; how could they avenge him?”

Guo Jing scratched his head. ”Could it be that they were plagued by some disease and died in some kind of epidemic?”

”Also incorrect. His enemies were scattered; some lived in Shandong, some came from Huguang, several were from Hebei and Liangzhe. How could they die from the same epidemic?” Zhou Botong asked, but then he exclaimed. ”Ah! Yes, yes! That's right! Some epidemic could kill you no matter where you are, even if you ran to the end of the earth. Can you guess what kind of epidemic was it?”

Guo Jing mentioned typhus, smallpox, dysentery, and six, seven other type of diseases; but Zhou Botong shook his head every time. Finally Guo Jing exclaimed, ”Foot-and-mouth disease!” Then he faked surprise, covered his mouth, stood up and tapped his head with his left hand and burst into laughter. ”I was kidding! Foot-and-mouth disease is the plague of the cattle at the Mongolian desert; it won't attack human.”

Zhou Botong also burst in laughter. ”The more you guessed the weirder you became. That Huang Shang looked everywhere before he finally found one of his enemies. She was a woman. When they fought, she was only about sixteen, seventeen years old young girl, but when Huang Shang found her, she was some sixty-year old granny …”

Guo Jing's jaw dropped. ”This is really weird! Ah, right, she must have disguised herself as and old lady so Huang Shang wouldn't recognize her.”

”She did not disguise herself,” Zhou Botong answered. ”Just think: Huang Shang had several dozens enemies, each one of them was a martial art expert, each came from a respectable martial art school or family. Can you imagine how profound and complicated each of their skills was? He wanted to defeat each person's unique skill, just how much time did he painstakingly spend to achieve such result? He was hiding in a remote mountain area and diligently trained himself. Day and night only martial art occupied his mind, he did not care about anything else; unconsciously he had spent more than forty years altogether.”

”More than forty years?” Guo Jing was astonished.

”That's right,” Zhou Botong asserted. ”When you are absorbed in learning martial art, forty years will pass quite easily. I have been here for fifteen years yet did not feel like it was that long. Huang Shang saw that young girl turned into an old granny; his heart was heavy with emotion. That old lady was sick to the bone; she was bedridden and was dying. Without him moving his hand she would die in a few days. His heartache and hatred for dozens of years just vanished without a trace. Brother, everybody has to die. The epidemic I was asking you earlier was death. When your time comes, you cannot run away.”

Guo Jing silently nodded. Zhou Botong continued, ”My martial brother and his seven disciples day in and day out dedicated themselves to achieve perfection of life. But tell me: is it really possible to cultivate a divine body that won't see death? That was the reason I did not want to follow those ox-nosed way of living.”

Guo Jing was lost in thought. Zhou Botong continued, ”Huang Shang's enemies were about forty, fifty years of age; another forty years plus, how could they not die? Ha … ha … ha … Actually he did not have to trouble himself by training his martial art and developing new techniques; all he had to do was outlive his enemies. Forty plus years and the Heaven would take care of his personal enemies for him.”

Guo Jing nodded. ”Well then, should I look for Wanyan Honglie to avenge my father, or should I not?” he wondered in his heart.

Zhou Botong again said, ”However, learning martial art diligently could bring endless pleasure to one's life. If one did not practice martial art, what other interesting thing worth doing? There are endless toys and gadgets in the world, but after playing for a while you will get bored eventually. Only martial art; the more you play, the more interesting it becomes. Brother, don't you agree?”