Channeling qi...
Gongsun Zhi

Gongsun Zhi

Gongsun Zhi (simplified: 公孙止, traditional: 公孫止, Jyutping: gung1 syun1 zi2, pinyin: Gōngsūn Zhǐ) was the master of Passionless Valley and a formidable martial artist whose abilities, when wielding weapons, ranked him just below the supreme masters of the era—the Five Greats, Qiu Qianren, Zhou Botong, Jinlun Guoshi, Guo Jing, Yang Guo, and Xiaolongnü. Presenting an outward appearance of refined elegance and courtesy, he was in truth a treacherous hypocrite driven by lustful obsessions.

His wife was Qiu Qianchi, the younger sister of Iron Palm Gang leader Qiu Qianren. After growing resentful of Qiu Qianchi’s harsh temperament and her murder of his lover Rou’er, Gongsun Zhi severed the tendons in her limbs and cast her into the crocodile pool beneath his alchemy chamber. Eighteen years later, he rescued the injured Xiaolongnü and, coveting her beauty, forced her into an engagement. He fought Yang Guo three times over Xiaolongnü: first defeated by jade bee poison, then overcome by the combined Pure-hearted Jade Maiden Swordplay, and finally bested when Qiu Qianchi guided Yang Guo to break his Acupoint Sealing Technique by tricking him into drinking blood-contaminated tea. This third defeat left him blinded in his right eye by Qiu Qianchi’s date-stone projectiles, forcing his flight from Passionless Valley. He later allied with Li Mochou but inadvertently caused his daughter Gongsun Lüe’s death. After Qiu Qianchi burned Passionless Valley, Gongsun Zhi fell into her trap at a cliff edge but grabbed her wheelchair as he plunged, dragging them both to their deaths.

Biography

Ancestral heritage and Passionless Valley

The Gongsun family had lived in Passionless Valley for generations, with their ancestors originally serving as officials during the Tang Dynasty’s Xuanzong reign. When Yang Guozhong caused chaos at court, the Gongsun family relocated to Passionless Valley to live in seclusion, passing down three martial arts techniques: the Acupoint Sealing Technique, the Fishing Net Array, and the Yin-Yang Chaotic Blade Technique. However, all three techniques contained critical flaws, leading the Gongsun family to maintain their isolated existence in the valley, avoiding conflicts with the broader jianghu to prevent exposure of these weaknesses.

Gongsun Zhi inherited this legacy along with the valley’s master position. His appearance marked him as a distinguished figure—forty-five to forty-six years of age, with handsome features and elegant bearing. He maintained a small beard on his upper lip and chin, and carried himself with an air of refined superiority. Though his face appeared somewhat sallow and showed signs of illness, his movements conveyed grace and authority. He notably wore a bright sapphire blue silk robe amidst the valley’s predominantly green décor, a sartorial choice that emphasized his distinctive presence. His clothing style also differed from contemporary fashion, marking him as someone who set his own standards.

Marriage to Qiu Qianchi and betrayal

Qiu Qianchi, known as “Iron Palm Lotus,” fled from the Iron Palm Gang after internal family conflicts whilst pursuing a personal enemy. Her travels brought her to Passionless Valley, where she met and married Gongsun Zhi. Qiu Qianchi possessed broad knowledge and keen insight, enabling her to identify and correct the fatal flaws in the Gongsun family’s three hereditary martial arts techniques. She also taught Gongsun Zhi the Iron Palm Gang’s martial arts, dramatically enhancing his abilities. The couple subsequently had a daughter, Gongsun Lüe.

However, Qiu Qianchi’s volatile temperament and strict control over her husband created deep resentment. Gongsun Zhi began a secret affair with a maidservant named Rou’er, intending to flee Passionless Valley with her. When Qiu Qianchi discovered the infidelity, she secretly poisoned hundreds of Passionless Pills with arsenic, leaving only three intact. She then cast both Gongsun Zhi and Rou’er into the Passion Flower thickets. To save his own life, Gongsun Zhi murdered Rou’er and consumed one of the remaining Passionless Pills to neutralize the flower poison.

Feigning reconciliation with Qiu Qianchi, Gongsun Zhi waited for an opportune moment, then drugged her wine. Once she fell unconscious, he severed the tendons in all four of her limbs and imprisoned her in the dungeon beneath Fiend Peak, maintaining a pool of crocodiles to guard her. After committing this heinous act, Gongsun Zhi no longer showed affection toward his daughter Gongsun Lüe, instead remaining constantly vigilant against any potential revenge she might seek for her mother.

Obsession with Xiaolongnü and forced betrothal

Eighteen years later, Xiaolongnü, consumed by lovesick madness whilst wandering the wilderness thinking of Yang Guo, was found and rescued by Gongsun Zhi. Upon seeing her extraordinary beauty, he became obsessed and treated her with excessive attentiveness. Xiaolongnü, wishing to avoid burdening Yang Guo, reluctantly agreed to Gongsun Zhi’s marriage proposal. Subsequently, Zhou Botong caused chaos in Passionless Valley, drawing Jinlun Guoshi, Yang Guo, and others to the scene, resulting in Xiaolongnü and Yang Guo’s reunion.

Realizing his matrimonial hopes were dashed, Gongsun Zhi attempted to kill Yang Guo. However, both Yang Guo and Xiaolongnü had been poisoned by Passion Flower thorns, preventing them from executing their Pure-hearted Jade Maiden Swordplay effectively. Gongsun Zhi defeated them both, leaving them severely poisoned by the flowers’ venom.

Three battles with Yang Guo

During the first confrontation, Gongsun Zhi’s Iron Palm and unique Acupoint Sealing Technique gave him the advantage, but Yang Guo employed a ruse, causing Gongsun Zhi to be stung by jade bees and collapse. In their second battle, despite Gongsun Zhi’s deployment of his mysterious and unpredictable Yin-Yang Chaotic Blade Technique, he proved unable to defeat Yang Guo and Xiaolongnü’s coordinated Pure-hearted Jade Maiden Swordplay.

The third and decisive confrontation occurred after Gongsun Lüe entered the alchemy chamber to steal Passionless Pills for Yang Guo. Gongsun Zhi discovered her and seized the opportunity to push both Yang Guo and Gongsun Lüe into the dungeon imprisoning Qiu Qianchi, whilst continuing to force Xiaolongnü toward marriage. Yang Guo and Gongsun Lüe helped Qiu Qianchi escape and returned to Passionless Valley, where Yang Guo engaged Gongsun Zhi in fierce combat. Following Qiu Qianchi’s guidance, servants added drops of her blood to Gongsun Zhi’s tea. When he unknowingly consumed it, his Acupoint Sealing Technique—which required absolute abstention from any meat or blood products—was completely destroyed. Qiu Qianchi then struck him with date-stone projectiles, blinding his right eye and forcing his panicked flight from the valley.

Alliance with Li Mochou and final death

After his expulsion from Passionless Valley, Gongsun Zhi lurked nearby, seeking opportunities to reclaim his domain. He encountered Wanyan Ping and others, and seeing Wanyan Ping’s beauty, his lustful nature resurged. However, he proved unable to withstand the combined assault of Huang Rong and her companions, forcing his retreat. Subsequently meeting Li Mochou, Gongsun Zhi coveted her beauty whilst also desiring to retake Passionless Valley. He allied with Li Mochou to seize the remaining Passionless Pills, going so far as to use his own daughter as leverage against Qiu Qianchi and Yang Guo. At Heartbreak Cliff, Gongsun Zhi fought Xiaolongnü but proved no match for her Ambidextrous Self-Combat technique, forcing him to surrender the Passionless Pills.

After Qiu Qianchi set fire to Passionless Valley, Gongsun Zhi attempted revenge by attacking her. However, he stepped into a trap she had prepared. In his final moments, as he fell toward death, Gongsun Zhi grabbed the edge of Qiu Qianchi’s wheelchair and pulled it down with him. The couple who had destroyed each other plunged together to their deaths, forever inseparable in their mutual annihilation.

Personality and traits

Gongsun Zhi embodied the archetype of the refined hypocrite—presenting an exterior of cultured elegance whilst concealing a corrupt and treacherous nature beneath. His outward appearance suggested a man of refinement: handsome features, elegant bearing, distinguished dress, and courteous manners that created an impression of a gentleman of superior breeding. This carefully maintained façade of respectability made his true character all the more reprehensible.

His defining characteristic was insatiable lust combined with ruthless treachery. Each woman who entered his life became an object of obsessive desire: first Rou’er, then Xiaolongnü, Wanyan Ping, and finally Li Mochou. This pattern of serial obsession revealed not romantic passion but predatory objectification. His willingness to murder Rou’er to save himself, imprison his wife after mutilating her, and use his own daughter as a hostage demonstrated the complete absence of genuine human connection or moral restraint.

Gongsun Zhi’s hypocrisy extended to his self-perception. Despite his vicious cruelty toward his wife—severing her tendons and imprisoning her for eighteen years—he maintained an air of injured dignity, as if he were the wronged party. His resentment of Qiu Qianchi’s “harsh temperament” served as justification in his own mind for unspeakable brutality, revealing profound moral bankruptcy beneath his cultured exterior.

His treatment of his daughter Gongsun Lüe illustrated the depths of his paranoia and selfishness. After maiming Qiu Qianchi, he ceased showing his daughter any paternal affection, instead viewing her perpetually through the lens of suspicion and potential threat. His willingness to use her as leverage against Yang Guo and ultimately cause her death demonstrated that his capacity for self-interested calculation overwhelmed any vestige of parental love.

Gongsun Zhi’s cowardice manifested consistently throughout his story. When defeated in combat, he invariably fled rather than face consequences with honour. When confronting superior opponents, he readily allied with anyone who might serve his purposes, regardless of their character or methods. His final act—dragging Qiu Qianchi to death with him—represented not courageous defiance but spiteful vindictiveness, ensuring that if he could not win, at least his enemy would share his fate.

Martial arts abilities

Overall combat capability and comparative ranking

Gongsun Zhi ranked among the era’s most formidable martial artists when wielding weapons, positioned just below the absolute supreme masters—the Five Greats, Qiu Qianren, Zhou Botong, Jinlun Guoshi, Guo Jing, Yang Guo (after mastering the heavy sword), and Xiaolongnü (with Ambidextrous Self-Combat and Pure-hearted Jade Maiden Swordplay). His unarmed martial arts skills proved less exceptional; he could gain an advantage over Yang Guo (before Yang Guo learned the heavy sword) within ten-odd moves, though this hardly exceeded the abilities of Quanzhen Order’s strongest members like Qiu Chuji.

However, his weapon-based combat abilities reached extraordinary levels. Even Huang Rong, shortly after childbirth and not yet recovered to full strength, could match him in combat. His techniques proved sophisticated enough that observers remarked they had “never seen such strange moves in their lives.” Both Huang Rong and Li Mochou, assessing the situation independently, reached the same conclusion: “This man’s martial arts are formidable and he’s cunning. If I were alone, I might not be his match.”

Contemporary martial artists held his abilities in high regard. When Gongsun Zhi retreated after an engagement, displaying graceful movement and martial bearing, “even Huang Rong and the others dared not pursue.” The narrative explicitly notes that six skilled fighters combined—including Yelü Qi and the Wu family—could normally contend with Gongsun Zhi, but when Wu Santong’s leg injury reduced mobility, only Yelü Qi remained as a truly formidable opponent, rendering them unable to withstand his attacks.

Iron Palm

Gongsun Zhi’s Iron Palm technique derived from the Iron Palm Gang’s martial arts, taught to him by Qiu Qianchi. His palms contained a faint aura of dark energy, and when striking, they produced metallic clanging sounds resembling steel meeting steel. The palm techniques combined intricate sophistication with devastating power, employing the same methods that had allowed Qiu Qianren to dominate the jianghu. Gongsun Zhi’s strikes delivered earth-shaking force; one palm blow left even experienced opponents struggling to resist, requiring intervention from skilled fighters like Huang Rong to prevent severe injury.

Yin-Yang Chaotic Blade Technique

The Yin-Yang Chaotic Blade Technique represented Gongsun Zhi’s hereditary family technique, originally containing numerous flaws. Qiu Qianchi’s careful refinements transformed it into a complete and perfected system. The technique employed dual weapons simultaneously: one hand wielded a serrated golden blade whilst the other grasped a black sword. When executed together, the blade and sword techniques achieved perfect complementarity—hard and soft mutually supporting, yin and yang in balance.

The technique’s sophistication manifested in its paradoxical nature: when employing the chaotic yin-yang assault, the normally supple black sword would suddenly hack and chop with extreme ferocity, transforming into blade techniques of devastating power. Simultaneously, the golden blade would execute thrusts, lifts, cuts, and washes—all movements from refined sword technique, following paths of supreme agility. Blade became sword, sword became blade, creating an unpredictable and mysterious combat style.

Jinlun Guoshi, observing this technique, remarked that it proved “extremely formidable, not at all inferior to my own golden wheels.” Even Yang Guo and Xiaolongnü’s combined Pure-hearted Jade Maiden Swordplay struggled against it. Huang Rong noted the technique’s strange and unprecedented nature, forcing her to intervene when the Wu brothers faced mortal danger. The technique’s sophistication positioned it among the era’s most advanced weapon-based martial arts.

Acupoint Sealing Technique

The Acupoint Sealing Technique constituted another Gongsun family hereditary art, allowing practitioners to seal their own acupoints and prevent enemies from effectively attacking pressure points. However, this technique imposed a severe restriction: practitioners could consume absolutely no meat or anything contaminated with the slightest trace of blood. This limitation led Qiu Qianchi to dismiss it as “difficult to practice and easy to break—better not to train it at all.”

During Gongsun Zhi’s second battle with Yang Guo, Qiu Qianchi devised a stratagem: she had servants secretly add drops of her blood to Gongsun Zhi’s tea. Upon unknowingly consuming this blood-contaminated beverage, his Acupoint Sealing Technique collapsed entirely, destroying years of painstaking cultivation and contributing to his defeat.

Fishing Net Array and tactical methods

Beyond his personal combat techniques, Gongsun Zhi employed strategic weapons and formations. The Fishing Net Array represented one of his tactical specialities, using large nets to capture and restrain opponents. His comprehensive martial education encompassed both direct combat techniques and battlefield tactics, making him dangerous in various combat scenarios. His ability to coordinate multiple approaches—personal combat skills, weapon mastery, tactical formations, and environmental advantages like the Passion Flowers and crocodile pool—demonstrated sophisticated strategic thinking that extended beyond mere technical proficiency.

Relationships

Qiu Qianchi: From marriage to mutual destruction

Gongsun Zhi’s relationship with Qiu Qianchi began as what appeared to be a fortuitous marriage. “Iron Palm Lotus” Qiu Qianchi brought him invaluable gifts: her broad knowledge corrected the fatal flaws in his family’s three hereditary martial arts techniques, and she taught him Iron Palm Gang methods that dramatically elevated his combat abilities. Their union produced a daughter, Gongsun Lüe, suggesting an initially functional if not affectionate partnership.

However, the relationship’s foundation proved unstable. Qiu Qianchi’s volatile temperament and strict control over her husband—described as managing him with extreme severity—bred deep resentment. When Gongsun Zhi began his affair with the maidservant Rou’er and attempted to flee Passionless Valley, Qiu Qianchi’s response demonstrated her own capacity for ruthlessness: she poisoned hundreds of Passionless Pills and cast both her husband and his lover into the Passion Flower thickets.

The relationship’s transformation into active mutual hatred occurred when Gongsun Zhi murdered Rou’er to save himself, then feigned reconciliation to drug Qiu Qianchi and mutilate her. His actions—severing the tendons in all four of her limbs and imprisoning her for eighteen years—represented one of the novel’s most horrific acts of domestic violence. Yet Qiu Qianchi’s own earlier actions (poisoning the pills, casting him into deadly flowers) demonstrated that both partners possessed capacity for extreme cruelty.

Their final confrontation ended in mutual annihilation. After Qiu Qianchi set fire to Passionless Valley and lured Gongsun Zhi into a trap, his last act was dragging her wheelchair over the cliff edge as he fell to his death. This ending provided grim poetic justice: the couple who had destroyed each other’s lives remained inseparable even in death, their mutual hatred binding them together for eternity.

Gongsun Lüe: Paternal betrayal and tragedy

Gongsun Zhi’s relationship with his daughter Gongsun Lüe illustrated how his paranoia and selfishness poisoned even the most fundamental human bonds. After mutilating Qiu Qianchi, he ceased showing Gongsun Lüe any paternal affection, instead viewing her perpetually with suspicion. He feared she might seek revenge for her mother’s suffering, transforming what should have been protective fatherly concern into constant vigilance against potential threat.

His treatment of Gongsun Lüe reached its nadir when he used her as leverage in his schemes. During his confrontation with Yang Guo and Qiu Qianchi, he proved willing to threaten his own daughter’s life to obtain the Passionless Pills. This willingness to endanger Gongsun Lüe for personal benefit demonstrated that whatever paternal feelings he might once have possessed had been completely corrupted by self-interest.

The ultimate tragedy occurred when Gongsun Lüe died as an indirect consequence of his actions and alliance with Li Mochou. Though he did not kill her directly, his schemes, his alliance with dangerous allies, and his creation of the chaotic situation in Passionless Valley all contributed to circumstances that led to her death. That he showed no particular grief or remorse following her death revealed the complete absence of genuine paternal love beneath his self-centered obsessions.

Xiaolongnü: Predatory obsession

Gongsun Zhi’s fixation on Xiaolongnü exemplified his pattern of predatory obsession. Upon rescuing her when she wandered the wilderness consumed by lovesick madness, he saw not a vulnerable person requiring compassionate assistance but an object of extraordinary beauty to possess. His subsequent treatment of her—excessive attentiveness masking coercive intent—demonstrated his inability to distinguish between genuine affection and selfish desire.

His attempted forced marriage to Xiaolongnü revealed his willingness to exploit vulnerability for personal gratification. When Yang Guo and Xiaolongnü reunited, destroying his matrimonial hopes, Gongsun Zhi’s immediate resort to violence showed that his supposed “love” contained no element of concern for Xiaolongnü’s welfare or happiness. Her preferences, her existing relationship with Yang Guo, and her expressed wishes meant nothing compared to his determination to possess her.

The three battles fought over Xiaolongnü demonstrated the extent of his obsessive persistence. Even after repeated defeats—jade bee poisoning, defeat by Pure-hearted Jade Maiden Swordplay, the breaking of his Acupoint Sealing Technique and blinding—he continued pursuing schemes to reclaim Passionless Valley and potentially recapture Xiaolongnü. His fixation proved so consuming that it overrode rational self-interest, driving him toward increasingly desperate and ultimately fatal courses of action.

Yang Guo: Rivalry and repeated humiliation

Gongsun Zhi’s relationship with Yang Guo existed purely as antagonistic rivalry. Yang Guo represented everything that thwarted Gongsun Zhi’s desires: Xiaolongnü’s chosen partner, a formidable martial artist despite his youth, and someone whose moral character highlighted Gongsun Zhi’s own corruption by contrast. Their three major confrontations traced Gongsun Zhi’s progressive decline from confident advantage to humiliating defeat.

In their first battle, Gongsun Zhi held the advantage through his Iron Palm and Acupoint Sealing Technique, only to be defeated by Yang Guo’s stratagem with jade bees. This initial humiliation—being overcome not by superior martial arts but by cunning—planted seeds of resentment. Their second confrontation, where Yang Guo and Xiaolongnü’s combined Pure-hearted Jade Maiden Swordplay overcame his Yin-Yang Chaotic Blade Technique, further damaged his pride.

The third battle, orchestrated by Qiu Qianchi’s guidance, delivered the most devastating blow. Yang Guo’s breaking of his Acupoint Sealing Technique destroyed years of cultivation, whilst Qiu Qianchi’s date-stone projectiles blinded his right eye. This defeat forced his flight from Passionless Valley, transforming him from master of his domain to homeless fugitive. Each subsequent encounter with Yang Guo reinforced his diminished status, culminating in his final defeat when Xiaolongnü’s Ambidextrous Self-Combat technique forced him to surrender the Passionless Pills.

Li Mochou: Alliance of convenience and shared corruption

Gongsun Zhi’s alliance with Li Mochou represented a partnership of mutual exploitation between two morally corrupt individuals. When they encountered each other after his expulsion from Passionless Valley, Gongsun Zhi’s characteristic pattern emerged: seeing Li Mochou’s beauty, he coveted her even whilst pursuing the pragmatic goal of reclaiming his valley. Li Mochou, for her part, needed the Passionless Pills to treat her Passion Flower poisoning, making Gongsun Zhi’s knowledge and resources valuable.

Their alliance demonstrated how shared moral bankruptcy could create functional if unstable partnerships. Both proved willing to use Gongsun Lüe as leverage, both employed treacherous methods without hesitation, and both prioritized their individual goals above any consideration of collateral damage. However, their cooperation remained purely transactional—neither trusted the other, and their alliance would certainly have dissolved into conflict once their immediate mutual interests no longer aligned.

The alliance’s ultimate consequence—contributing to Gongsun Lüe’s death—illustrated how cooperation between corrupt individuals could amplify rather than mitigate destructive outcomes. Li Mochou’s presence and their combined scheming created the chaotic situation that led to tragedy, with Gongsun Zhi’s daughter paying the price for her father’s willingness to ally with anyone who might serve his purposes.

Behind the scenes

Character significance and literary function

Gongsun Zhi serves as one of Jin Yong’s most thoroughly despicable antagonists, embodying the corruption of martial arts prowess by moral bankruptcy. Unlike sympathetic antagonists such as Jinlun Guoshi (who served his nation loyally) or complex villains with redeeming qualities, Gongsun Zhi possessed virtually no admirable characteristics. His refined exterior and sophisticated martial arts made his moral corruption more rather than less reprehensible—he possessed every advantage of education, ability, and position, yet chose treachery, violence, and predatory behavior.

His character demonstrates Jin Yong’s exploration of hypocrisy as a form of villainy. The contrast between Gongsun Zhi’s cultivated appearance—handsome features, elegant dress, courteous manners—and his vicious actions creates dramatic irony throughout his appearances. This pattern of superficial refinement masking moral corruption serves as commentary on the dangers of judging character by external presentation, a theme relevant both within the martial arts world and in broader society.

The relationship between Gongsun Zhi and Qiu Qianchi represents one of Jin Yong’s darkest explorations of marital dysfunction and domestic violence. Their mutual destruction—her initial cruelty provoking his horrific retaliation, escalating into eighteen years of imprisonment and torture, culminating in mutual annihilation—illustrates how cycles of violence and revenge can corrupt all involved parties. Neither spouse emerges as purely victim or purely perpetrator; both possessed capacity for extreme cruelty, making their final death together grimly appropriate.

Gongsun Zhi’s treatment of Gongsun Lüe provided one of the novel’s most tragic secondary storylines. His transformation from father to paranoid jailer, his willingness to use his daughter as leverage, and his apparent indifference to her death demonstrated how thoroughly his moral corruption had destroyed his capacity for genuine human connection. Gongsun Lüe’s fate—dying as collateral damage in conflicts created by her father’s schemes—emphasized the innocent victims who suffer from villains’ actions.

His three defeats by Yang Guo traced a trajectory of progressive humiliation that reinforced thematic messages about the limitations of martial arts without moral foundation. Each defeat exposed another weakness: first his vulnerability to cunning despite superior techniques, then the superiority of coordinated righteous combat over individual skill, and finally the self-destructive nature of techniques (like Acupoint Sealing) that imposed unreasonable restrictions. His final state—blinded, expelled from his valley, reduced to desperate alliances—demonstrated how moral corruption ultimately led to material defeat.

Portrayals

Gongsun Zhi has been portrayed by numerous actors across various adaptations of The Return of the Condor Heroes:

Television series

Notable portrayals include Xu Shaoxiong’s memorable performance in the 1983 TVB adaptation and Zhong Zhentao’s interpretation in the 2006 series, both of which effectively conveyed the character’s superficial charm masking profound moral corruption.