The Legend of the Condor Heroes: From Being Expelled from Peach Blossom Island

Chapter 552 The Eighteen-Year Agreement Ends Today

Back in the Mongolian grasslands, Guo Jing and Yang Kang fought for the first time. In fact, Guo Jing was the loser. He only survived because of his fearless, mutually destructive fighting style, Yang Kang's underestimation of him, and the timely rescue by the Seven Freaks of Jiangnan.

If the fight had continued, Guo Jing, who had only learned the rudimentary martial arts of the Seven Freaks of Jiangnan and had just begun to master the Quanzhen internal energy, would have been defeated, and might even have faced mortal danger.

After all, with Wu Chengyu's interference, Yang Kang learned Wang Chongyang's version of the Innate Skill. Regardless of any flaws, under Wu Chengyu's forced growth, Yang Kang's Innate Skill at that time was already at a top-tier second-rate level.

Although it was an encounter, it didn't take many years. Guo Jing still had a deep impression of Yang Kang and recognized the noble young man's identity at a glance.

Now he also knows that this guy is actually his brother. After all, Guo Xiaotian and Yang Tiexin once made a pact that if the children in Li Ping and Bao Xiruo's wombs were both boys, they would become sworn brothers.

However, under the influence of Wu Chengyu over the years, his thoughts and values ​​have changed slightly. He agrees with Wu Chengyu's ideas that a noble young master who has grown up in the Jin Kingdom's palace for many years and has been pampered by his adoptive father would never recognize a down-on-his-luck performer as his father.

This time, besides finding Yang Tiexin, Qiu Chuji has another mission upon returning to the Jin Kingdom: to finally resolve the eighteen-year agreement between Qiu Chuji and the Seven Freaks of Jiangnan.

Qiu Chuji is one thing, but the Seven Heroes of Jiangnan painstakingly searched for Guo Jing and his mother for many years, and even stayed in the desert for ten years. If we're talking about keeping one's word, how many people in the entire martial arts world can compare to them?

The Seven Freaks of Jiangnan no longer cared about the outcome, but Guo Jing, as their disciple, still had to fight for his masters' honor.

The agreed-upon location was the Misty Rain Pavilion in Jiaxing, but now it's impossible to get Yang Kang to go to Jiaxing for the duel. That kid has grown too big for his britches; he won't listen to Qiu Chuji's orders anymore.

A-Ku said, "According to the news from the Beggars' Sect's Zhongdu branch in the Jin Kingdom, this Wanyan Kang has become quite extraordinary in recent years. At only eighteen years old, he is already one of the top experts among first-class masters. His Taoist skills are extremely remarkable, and every move he makes has great power."

Over the years, he has been invincible among the younger generation in the Jin Kingdom, with no one as his match. Moreover, he acts recklessly, often taking lives. Master Qiu originally intended to teach him a lesson, but he was surrounded and attacked by him and several experts from the Prince's Mansion, and was seriously injured and forced to flee.

His father, Wanyan Honglie, went to the Mongolian grasslands to stir up trouble but failed. However, he is still the most prestigious among the princes of the current Jin emperor.

When he divorced his wife and remarried, he married a noblewoman from the Jin Dynasty. Unfortunately, he has been unable to have children all these years, which is why he has been unable to ascend to the position of crown prince for so long.

Therefore, Wanyan Kang was still officially Wanyan Honglie's only son, and his power became even more unstoppable, making him a local tyrant in Zhongdu.

Wu Chengyu nodded. Everything was going as he had expected. Yang Kang was quite talented and made rapid progress after cultivating the Innate Skill. He was now close to mastering it and would become a top-tier expert.

After all, the Innate Skill is one of the top divine skills of the metal element. Even if one tries to force its growth, it is still natural for it to become a top-tier master. However, its upper limit has been locked by Wu Chengyu.

Originally, Wang Chongyang achieved the Innate Skill through this version of the Innate Skill, but Yang Kang's chances of becoming a top master were extremely slim, and he had no chance of becoming a supreme master or an Innate Skill. However, having such martial arts skills at such a young age was enough for him to show off in Zhongdu.

As for Wanyan Honglie, he was secretly harmed by Wu Chengyu, which damaged his kidney meridian. Even if he married a hundred wives, he would not have any children. Therefore, Yang Kang's position as the young prince is absolutely secure.

Just then, there was a knock on the door behind him. Guo Jing turned around and opened the door. Three Taoist priests stepped in first, namely Ma Yu, Qiu Chuji and Wang Chuyi.

Following them were the Seven Freaks of Jiangnan. After recuperating in Jiangnan for several years, they all looked much younger, especially Ke Zhen'e, who no longer had a full head of white hair.

This time, when Guo Jing comes to Zhongdu to compete with Yang Kang, Qiu Chuji will definitely be there, while Ma Yu and Wang Chuyi will be there to observe the ceremony.

Although Yang Kang no longer acknowledged him as his master, a disciple who knew nothing of loyalty and righteousness was no longer qualified to compete with Guo Jing and had already lost completely.

But since Guo Jing has come, this fight still has to be fought. For the Seven Freaks of Jiangnan, this is a knot in their hearts that has been tied up for many years, and it must eventually come to a conclusion.

Previously, the three Taoist priests and the Seven Heroes of Jiangnan were in two other private rooms, but now that Yang Kang has appeared, they naturally can't sit still anymore.

As Qiu Chuji grew older, his temper became more and more fierce. He looked at Yang Kang outside the window, his face ashen and his brows furrowed.

"It is my incompetence, Qiu Chuji, that has turned Yang Kang into such a disloyal and unrighteous person. Now that he has appeared, Jing'er, you should go and fight him. However, let me make this clear first: I have already lost the agreement from back then, so there is no need to say more."

The Seven Heroes of Jiangnan exchanged glances, while Ke Zhen'e, the only one who didn't open his eyes to look at the others, habitually slammed his iron staff down.

“Brother Wu is right. One is influenced by one’s surroundings. Yang Kang has been around the powerful and wealthy Jin people since he was a child. How could he know the loyalty and righteousness of the Han people? He actually dared to lay a hand on you, his mentor. This is truly outrageous.”

"Master Qiu was terribly wrong back then; he should have taken him away. It's a pity that such a loyal and righteous son has turned out like this."

Ke Zhen was straightforward and his words were often unpleasant, but Qiu Chuji was always an upright person. He admitted his mistake: "At that time, Yang Bao begged me so much that I didn't take Yang Kang away. It was indeed because I was a little too lenient."

Ma Yu said, "I just don't know where Yang Kang learned the Innate Skill. After our master passed away, the Innate Skill was sealed away by us, and no one in the Quanzhen Sect has been able to pass it on. If it weren't for that, Junior Brother Qiu wouldn't have been seriously injured when he was surrounded by Yang Kang."

Afterwards, we made many inquiries and finally learned that a man named Tian Boguang, who was known as Wanli Duxing, taught Yang Kang the Innate Skill. However, this man's origins were completely untraceable, and he disappeared without a trace. We really couldn't understand why he knew this Innate Skill and what connection he had with our Quanzhen Sect.

"Jing'er, the Innate Skill is my master's fundamental martial arts technique. Although it has flaws, its power is still unparalleled in the martial arts world. Do not underestimate your opponent later."

Guo Jing nodded in agreement. As they were talking, Yang Kang was about to attack Mu Nianci.

He is now highly skilled in martial arts, and his father's status is even higher. He is more arrogant than in the original work. In the original work, he pretended to be dashing and had a bit of a flirtatious air. He flirted with Mu Nianci several times, which made Mu Nianci fall in love with him.

But now he's a complete lecher; he no longer cares about any pretense and is even more shameless when flirting.

After casually making a few jokes, he angered Mu Nianci so much that her face turned red. Yang Kang didn't waste any words: "Since we're holding a martial arts contest to choose a husband, let's decide the winner based on our martial arts skills. I've just come of age, so you're not worthy to be my wife, but you'd be qualified to be my maid."

Yang Kang stepped forward, flicked his sleeve, turned to the right, and suddenly his left sleeve brushed against Mu Nianci's shoulder from behind.

Seeing his extraordinary skill, Mu Nianci was slightly startled. She bent down and darted forward, slipping through his sleeve.

Little did she know that Yang Kang's moves were incredibly fast. Just as she emerged from under his sleeve, his right sleeve, carrying a powerful gust of wind, pounced on her. This left her with a sleeve in front of her and a sleeve above her head, caught in a pincer attack, making it impossible for her to dodge.

Mu Nianci lightly touched the ground with her left foot, and her body leaped backward like an arrow released from a bow. This quick change of move was a display of her agility.

Ah Ku, who was watching the fight from the restaurant, exclaimed softly, "This is Master Qi's 'Free and Easy Wandering'. It seems he has mastered it quite well. I've never heard Master Qi mention teaching it to anyone else. Brother, do you know something?"

Wu Chengyu shook his head and said, "How would I know that Mu Nianci knows the Free and Easy Wandering? Seventh Master is your master, not mine."

"You don't know she can travel freely, but you happen to know her name is Mu Nianci. Before, when you asked my Beggars' Sect disciples to find them, you couldn't describe their appearance. Now that you've met them, you're being mysterious and not saying anything. I hate it when you do that."

Wu Chengyu knew that Hong Qigong had taught Mu Nianci martial arts for three days, but he really didn't know how to explain it, so he quickly turned to Guo Jing and changed the subject.

“Your sworn sister’s martial arts skills are mediocre, and she is no match for Yang Kang. Yang Kang is just toying with her. Why don’t you go and protect your sworn sister, and have a good fight with Yang Kang? It will also be a way to settle the eighteen-year agreement.”

Guo Jing nodded slightly, then clasped his hands in a salute to the three Quanzhen masters and his seven teachers. Without further delay, he turned and went downstairs.

At this moment, in the arena, Mu Nianci was already in a state of continuous defeat. In the original novel, she was not as good as Yang Kang, and Yang Kang mostly toyed with her. Facing the current Yang Kang, after a few exchanges of punches and kicks, she was beaten until her whole body was weak and she was forced to retreat.

Yang Kang's temperament was completely different from that in The Legend of the Condor Heroes; he was now more unscrupulous. In the original story, he at least played around a bit, but now he was completely too lazy to pretend. After a few moves, he tried to take advantage of her. Mu Nianci was in danger repeatedly, but fortunately, she was quick-witted and managed to avoid being taken advantage of by Yang Kang. But at this point, she was desperate. In her desperation, Mu Nianci kicked Yang Kang in the temple. Yang Kang's right arm loosened, and he raised his hand to block, hooked his wrist, and caught her right foot that was kicking at him. In an instant, he grabbed Mu Nianci's embroidered shoe in his hand.

Mu Nianci took several steps back, feeling both ashamed and angry. Yang Kang's behavior this time was unlikely to win her heart again; instead, it only fueled her resentment.

Yang Tiexin's eyes flashed and he quickly went to her side to help her up. Since it was a martial arts contest to choose a husband, the outcome was now decided. According to the rules, Mu Nianci should marry this noble young man in front of her. However, he also knew in his heart that the young man in front of him was probably not a good match.

He was about to speak when Yang Kang cut him off: "I won. From now on, she will be my concubine and will serve me tonight."

Yang Tiexin angrily said, "My daughter is to be married off properly as a wife. Since you have no intention of marrying, why humiliate us? In that case, let's not mention this matter again."

Yang Kang laughed heartily, and his hanger-on said, "Who is our young master? Would he associate with a lowly person like you who travels the world selling his medical skills?"
Keep dreaming your daydreams. If you know what's good for you, send your daughter to the young master's house. If he's satisfied, he might even reward you with a few taels of silver.

Yang Kang didn't speak, but just chuckled and put the embroidered shoe to his nose as if to smell it. But before the shoe could even get close, his expression changed instantly, and the embroidered shoe in his hand vanished in an instant.

Suddenly, a tall, imposing young man with thick eyebrows and large eyes appeared before him. Yang Kang was nearly 1.8 meters tall, but the man in front of him was more than half a head taller than him.

Suddenly, the tall, strong young man appeared out of nowhere. His lightness skill was extremely superb, and he snatched the embroidered shoe from Yang Kang's hand in an instant. Yang Kang had been extremely arrogant and completely unprepared, but not just anyone could easily take something from his hand.

Although he was arrogant now, he was not a brainless person. He knew that if the young man had wanted to kill him instead of taking the embroidered shoes, he might have already succeeded. Thinking of this, Yang Kang felt cold sweat pour down his back and stared intently at Guo Jing.

"Who are you, and why did you attack me? This is against all rules."

However, Guo Jing completely ignored him, leaving only his imposing back. He handed the embroidered shoes to Mu Nianci, who subconsciously took them. The next moment, Guo Jing knelt down and kowtowed three times to his uncle.

Yang Tiexin had no idea who Guo Jing was, only that his features were vaguely familiar. Guo Jing's sudden entrance, moving as fast as a ghost, had already startled him. But then the young man kowtowed to him. In a daze, Yang Tiexin had no idea how to react.

But when Guo Jing's words reached his ears, Yang Tiexin felt as if he had been struck by lightning, his soul almost leaving his body, and his whole body trembled uncontrollably.

"My nephew Guo Jing, my father Guo Xiaotian, and my mother Li Ping greet Uncle Yang."

Guo Jing was the name Qiu Chuji gave to his unborn children when Li Ping and Bao Xiruo were pregnant at the same time, to remember the humiliation of Jingkang. Although he kept the names Guo Xiaotian and Li Ping in his heart all these years, no one ever mentioned them to him.

Yang Tiexin never expected that someone would suddenly appear, kowtow, and say these three names.

His hand slowly rose, but it trembled involuntarily as he pointed at Guo Jing, managing to squeeze out a few words with great difficulty.

"What did you say?"

"My nephew Guo Jing, my father Guo Xiaotian, my mother Li Ping, greet Uncle Yang," Guo Jing repeated, still not getting up.

Yang Kang, who had just felt ambushed and questioned Guo Jing but was ignored, was furious. He leaped at Guo Jing and struck him in the back with a single palm strike.

Yang Tiexin's attention was entirely focused on Guo Jing at the moment, and he was completely unaware of what was happening. He slowly and hesitantly reached out to try to help Guo Jing up.

Only Mu Nianci, besides being equally surprised, was somewhat alert. Seeing the lecherous man suddenly attack from behind, she quickly warned, "Be careful."

Guo Jing seemed oblivious to the force that was about to hit him from behind. With Yang Tiexin's help, he slowly stood up and simultaneously swung his right hand back and horizontally. The move was simple and unchanging, but it carried a powerful and latent force, which was the Dragon's Tail Swing.

Yang Kang channeled the internal force of his innate skill into his single palm, first clashing with the latent force of the Divine Dragon Swings its Tail. He felt that the opponent's palm force, though seemingly fierce, was extremely resilient, like a long whip sweeping across, deflecting his own palm force.

The next moment, the two men struck each other with their palms. After a muffled thud, Yang Kang's eyes narrowed, his feet touched the ground, and he retreated rapidly, putting a distance of two zhang between himself and Guo Jing.

In this exchange, both sides were taken aback, and neither gained the upper hand, but Yang Kang felt a sense of fear.

He used 70% of his palm force in that last palm strike. With the ferocity of the Innate Skill, no one would dare to turn their back to receive it. But this tall and strong young man in front of him, whose palm strike was of unknown origin, had a masterful control of the force, completely neutralizing his own palm strike.

Yang Kang felt that his internal strength was superior to his opponent's, but he was inferior in terms of moves. His opponent used the changes in moves to bring their internal strength to the same level.

But that's not the main issue. After exchanging blows, my right arm was sore and weak, putting me at a complete disadvantage in terms of arm strength. However, my opponent was facing away from me, keeping their body still and sweeping their right arm backward. Such a movement would inevitably make it difficult to use their full strength, but even so, I still suffered a loss in terms of power.

If this guy were to face me head-on and compete in strength, I would be far inferior to him.

Guo Jing, however, was marveling at his master's unfathomable abilities. Wu Chengyu had told him before that, in terms of the purity of internal energy alone, Guo Jing was still a step behind Yang Kang.

Because Guo Jing's Big Dipper Technique lacked a general outline, it was never able to rise to the ranks of the world's top martial arts techniques.

After leaving Peach Blossom Island, the Old Urchin kept pestering Guo Jing to teach him to sing. Under Wu Chengyu's coercion, Guo Jing had no choice but to teach the Old Urchin those five strange songs.

Then Wu Chengyu lamented the inertia of history, and just like in the original novel, the Old Urchin tricked Guo Jing into memorizing the Sanskrit outline of the Nine Yin Manual.

After arriving in the Jin Kingdom, Guo Jing, along with Wu Chengyu, first met his master's wife, Hong Niangzi. Wu Chengyu instructed Guo Jing to write down the general outline and give it to Hong Niangzi. Since some people in the Jin Kingdom were devout followers of Tantric Buddhism, it was easy to find someone to translate the Sanskrit text.

After giving the translated outline to Guo Jing, he attempted to integrate the outline with the Big Dipper Technique. However, due to the short time available, his Big Dipper Technique had not yet evolved into its complete form.

His master had said that only the complete version of the Big Dipper Technique could rival Yang Kang's Innate Skill. Now, with a single palm strike, Guo Jing immediately knew that his master's words were true.

Having just exchanged blows, Guo Jing already knew that once the General Principles and the Big Dipper Technique were fully integrated, his internal strength would be on par with Yang Kang's. However, in terms of internal strength alone, he had lost the battle just now.

Fortunately, apart from his outstanding internal energy cultivation technique, Yang Kang's other martial arts moves were definitely inferior to the Eighteen Subduing Dragon Palms, and his strength was definitely inferior to Guo Jing's own divine strength. Guo Jing was full of confidence for this battle.

These thoughts flashed through his mind, but Guo Jing still clasped his hands in a fist and said to Yang Tiexin, "Uncle, I will explain the details later. I have an appointment to fight this man, so let's settle it today."

After Guo Jing finished speaking, he turned to face Yang Kang: "Wanyan Kang, do you know about the eighteen-year agreement?"

Yang Kang was taken aback. His cheap master, Qiu Chuji, had once said that he had an eighteen-year agreement with someone, each teaching their own disciple, and then they would settle their differences after eighteen years. But Qiu Chuji never explained why this challenge was made.

After mastering his innate skill, he killed several martial arts masters. His master reappeared and started cursing him. He then led several masters from his mansion to attack him. Unfortunately, Qiu Chuji still managed to escape, and they never met again after that.

He thought he would have no further connection with Qiu Chuji, but unexpectedly, the person with whom he had made an eighteen-year pact suddenly appeared and challenged him to a contest.

Yang Kang considered himself the son of Prince Zhao, Wanyan Honglie, who was also the most likely to inherit the throne of the Jin Dynasty. He had long regarded himself as the future crown prince and had no intention of engaging in pointless competition with others.

"Your martial arts are superb, but this eighteen-year agreement is nothing but nonsense. I disdain it. In my opinion, it would be better to give up."

(End of this chapter)