Chapter 34 – Mediating disputes, Part 10
Yang Guo was surprised. He suddenly remembered the granny mentioned something about her child, whom she said was injured but nobody was willing to help. “Is this about the death of a child?” he asked.
Yideng slightly shivered. “So Brother Yang knows,” he said.
“Disciple does not know the details,” said Yang Guo. “I said that because the granny mentioned it.” He proceeded by narrating the reason for his visit to the Black Dragon Marsh and his conversation with the granny.
“She was my wife, her name is Yinggu,” said Yideng softly. “She has a very strong character …” he sighed “If this situation persists, Ci’en won’t be able to hold on.”
Yang Guo sighed and sadly said, “Who has never done anything wrong? Whenever somebody repents, all could be forgotten. Yinggu is rather shortsighted.”
Seeing Ci’en was nearing his end, Yang Guo’s valiant character was stirred. “Reverend, by ignoring my meager ability, I would like to force her to come out,” he said. “Will you permit me?”
Yideng thought for a moment, “Ci’en and I have come this far to ask Yinggu’s forgiveness. We can’t force her, but we have been here a long time without meeting her and looks like our effort will be in vain. If this Yang Guo has any ideas, we might as well try them. Worst case is we still cannot meet her.” So finally he said, “If Brother Yang could persuade her to come out, I would be delighted. But in your efforts, I wish for you not to cause any trouble and worsen this already deep hatred.”
Yang Guo nodded and took a handkerchief and tore it into four pieces. He put two pieces in Ci’en’s ears and gave the other two to Guo Xiang; signaling her to put them in her ears. Guo Xiang understood and immediately did as she was told.
Yang Guo then exerted his internal energy and gathered his ‘chi’ in his ‘dan tian’. [The ‘dan tian’ is somewhat below the navel and between the kidneys. It’s somewhere in the centre of the cross-section of the body. All the ‘chi’ arises from this central point].
He bowed in front of Yideng and said, “Disciple will show off my lack of ability, I hope Reverend won’t laugh at me.”
Yideng clasped his hands and said, “Not many people in this world can match Brother Yang’s skill. This old monk has long wanted to see it.”
Yang Guo put his hand on his waist, looked up, and he shouted loud and long. The shout was loud and sharp, slowly becoming unbearable. It was like earth shattering thunderbolts. Even though her ears were stopped, Guo Xiang’s heart pounded and her face paled. Not too long after there came a sound like the waves of the tide, continuously crashing onto the shore. One after another, the next one was louder than the previous one.
“Big Brother, stop! I can’t take it any longer!” shouted Guo Xiang. But her cries were overcome by Yang Guo’s cry so that she could not even hear her own voice. She felt like her spirit was snatched out and her body was swaying. At that time she suddenly felt Yideng holding her hand and out of his hand came a warm energy flowing into her body. Guo Xiang understood Yideng was helping her with his profound internal energy. Therefore, she quickly exerted her own energy and calmed her perturbed heart. A moment later her heart was steadied and her mind cleared.
After the time needed to eat a bowl of rice Yang Guo’s voice had not weakened. On the contrary, the intensity was increased. Yideng was very impressed, because he had not achieved that level when he was Yang Guo’s age.
In the time it took to light a joss stick a black shadow came out of the Black Dragon Marsh; immediately Yang Guo shook his sleeve and stopped the roar.
“Emperor Duan,” a voice was heard. “You are too much! You forced me to come out. What do you want?”
“It wasn’t me. It was Brother Yang’s voice,” said Yideng.
While still speaking the shadow kept coming near and when it stopped, all could see that it was Yinggu.
She looked puzzled. “Is that true, that there is someone besides Emperor Duan who possesses internal energy that profound?” she asked in her heart. “Even though he is wearing a mask, I can tell from his hair that he is only thirty-something. It’s amazing for him to reach this level.”
She was forced to come out of her lair by the loud roar. She realized that if she refused, the roar would get louder and she will be heavily injured, possibly her nervous system ruined. So even though she was irritated, she had to comply. Little did she know that the roar came out of Yang Guo’s throat.
After calming herself she turned to Yang Guo and coldly said, “Take my fox. I admit defeat. But I want you to leave immediately.” She lifted the fox by the scruff of its neck and gave it to Yang Guo.
“Hold a moment,” Yang Guo said. “The fox can wait. Reverend Yideng wants to talk to you. Please listen to him.”
Yinggu looked coldly at Yideng. “Very well, I await the Emperor’s decree.”
“Let bygones be bygones,” said Yideng. “Why do you still use that term? Yinggu, do you know him?” He pointed to Ci’en who was still lying on the ground.
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