The Legend of the Condor Heroes Chapter 10 – Part 7

Guo Jing’s heart leapt when he heard her agree. He raised his voice and called, “Rong-er, come here! Rong-er…” He had barely called twice when there was a rustle and Huang Rong burst out of the rose bushes beside him, saying, “I’ve been here all along!” Guo Jing was overjoyed. “Rong-er, come quickly. She’s promised to save you. No one will dare harm you now.”

Huang Rong had been listening to Guo Jing and Mei Chaofeng from among the flowers for a good while. When she heard him heedless of his own life, his thoughts all for her safety, her heart filled with gratitude, and two hot tears rolled down her cheeks. Then she heard Mei Chaofeng call her his “little sweetheart”,¹ and her heart grew warm and sweet.

She called out sharply to Mei Chaofeng, “Mei Ruohua, let go at once!”

“Mei Ruohua” was the name Mei Chaofeng had borne before she became a disciple.² No one in the jianghu knew it. She had not heard those three words spoken for a very long time, and to hear them called out so suddenly gave her a tremendous shock. She asked in a trembling voice, “Who are you?”

Huang Rong answered in a clear voice, “Where peach-blossom shadows fall, the divine jian flies. As the tide rises on the azure sea, the jade flute plays!³ My surname is Huang.”

Mei Chaofeng was still more astonished. She could only stammer, “You… you… you…”

Huang Rong called out, “You what? Finger-Flick Peak, Clear Sound Cave, the Green Bamboo Grove, the Jian-Testing Pavilion on Peach Blossom Island in the Eastern Sea, do you still remember them?”

These were all places Mei Chaofeng had known in the days when she was learning her art, and to hear them now was like hearing of another life. She asked in a trembling voice, “The Huang… Huang shifu of Peach Blossom Island, what… what… what is he to you?”

Huang Rong said, “Well! So you haven’t forgotten my father, and he hasn’t forgotten you either. He’s come to see you himself!”

At these words, Mei Chaofeng’s first thought was to turn and flee at once, but how could her feet move even a fraction? She was frightened out of her wits. Then the thought that she was about to see her shifu again filled her with such joy that she cried, “Shifu… Shifu…”

Huang Rong called out, “Let him go at once.”

Mei Chaofeng suddenly thought, How could Shifu come here? All these years he has never left Peach Blossom Island. When thief gege and I stole his Nine Yin Manual, he never even left the island to come after us. I mustn’t let anyone fool me.

Seeing her hesitate, Huang Rong pushed off with her left foot, leapt more than ten feet into the air, spun twice in mid-air and struck down with her palm at the crown of Mei Chaofeng’s head. It was the move “Flowers Flying Over the River City”⁴ from the Peach Blossom Falling Petals Palm. She called out, “My father taught you this move. You haven’t forgotten it, have you?”

Mei Chaofeng heard the rush of air as she turned, and not a shred of doubt remained. She raised her hand and lightly turned the strike aside, calling, “Shimei, where is Shifu?”

Huang Rong landed and, with a casual tug, pulled Guo Jing over to her side.

Huang Rong, it turned out, was the only and beloved daughter of Huang Yaoshi, the Master of Peach Blossom Island. At the time of her birth her mother had been caught up in a certain matter that wore out her heart and strength, and she died in childbirth. Huang Yaoshi had already driven all his disciples off the island, so father and daughter had only each other. Huang Yaoshi had long been known as the Eastern Heretic, and his ways were strange and wayward. He often said that all the rites and rules of the world were so many dog farts, and he loved his daughter more than his own life, so naturally he never reined her in at all, and she had grown up wildly spoilt. Clever as she was, she would not settle to martial arts. Whatever her father was master of, yin and yang and the Five Phases, mathematics and divination, she insisted on learning every one of them, and she was still very young. So although her father was a grandmaster of his age whose martial arts had reached the realm of the miraculous, she had only glimpsed the threshold of Peach Blossom Island’s martial learning.

That day she had been wandering about the island and came to the mouth of the cave where her father kept an enemy imprisoned. Lonely, she began to talk to him. They talked for a long while, and she found what he said wonderfully entertaining. When he complained that the wine her father gave him was too weak, she brought him a bottle of good wine and a few fine dishes besides. He praised them to the skies, and the two of them, one old and one young, got on famously. But the next day Huang Yaoshi found out and gave her a severe scolding. Huang Rong had never been scolded so harshly by her father. Hurt and bitter, her wilful temper flared up, and she actually took a little boat and ran away from Peach Blossom Island. Feeling sorry for herself, with no one to love her, she deliberately dressed herself as a poor, ragged boy and wandered from place to place, quarrelling with her father in her heart all the while, and thinking, If you don’t love me, then I’ll be the most pitiful little beggar in the world!

Then, quite by chance, she had met Guo Jing at Zhangjiakou. At first, squandering money at the wineshop, she had really been taking out on Guo Jing her grievance against her father. Who would have thought that they would get on so well, like old friends at their first meeting? Guo Jing had given her his coat, given her gold, given her his horse, and cared for her in every way. She had been miserable and lonely, and his open-hearted kindness was like charcoal sent in the snow. She was deeply grateful, and the two of them became the closest of friends.

Huang Rong had once heard her father talk of Chen Xuanfeng and Mei Chaofeng and their past, and so she knew the name Mei Chaofeng had had as a girl. As for the couplet “Where peach-blossom shadows fall, the divine jian flies. As the tide rises on the azure sea, the jade flute plays”, it hung in the Jian-Testing Pavilion on Peach Blossom Island and held within it two of Huang Yaoshi’s proudest martial arts, and there was no disciple of Peach Blossom Island who did not know it. She knew her own martial arts were no match for Mei Chaofeng’s, so she pretended that her father had come. Sure enough, in her fright Mei Chaofeng let go of Guo Jing.

Mei Chaofeng remembered how harsh Huang Yaoshi was by nature and how ruthless his methods, and her face turned the colour of earth. She trembled all over, as though she could see him already standing before her, stern of face, and her whole body went limp, as though all her martial arts had left her. She bowed down to the ground and said in a quavering voice, “This disciple deserves ten thousand deaths. I only beg you, Shifu, to pity me, blind in both eyes and crippled in half my body, and deal with me leniently. I have wronged you, and I am truly lower than a pig or a dog.” Ever since she had parted from Huang Yaoshi, she had never for a moment forgotten her shifu’s love and kindness, nor her longing for him as a child longs for a parent, and now, though she dreaded seeing him, her joy was greater than her fear. She said, “No, Shifu, don’t be lenient. The harsher you punish me, the better.”

Every time Guo Jing had met her, she had been like some fierce demon god. Even with great enemies before her, even surrounded on the cliff top, she had paid them no heed, yet at a mere mention of Huang Rong’s father she was reduced to this. He found it very strange.

Huang Rong laughed inwardly. She tugged Guo Jing’s hand and pointed over the wall. The two were about to leap the wall and escape when they heard a clear whistle behind them, followed by a long laugh. A man approached, fanning himself, laughing, “Little girl, I’m not falling for your tricks again.”

Huang Rong saw it was Ouyang Ke. She knew his martial arts were formidable. Now that he had spotted them, escape would be difficult. She turned to Mei Chaofeng and said, “Mei shijie, my father listens to me more than anyone. I’ll put in a good word for you later. First, do me a few favours, and he’ll be sure to spare you.”

Mei Chaofeng asked, “What favours?”

Huang Rong said, “Bad men are trying to bully me. I’ll pretend I can’t beat them. You deal with them for me. When my father arrives and sees you helping me, he’ll be delighted.”

At this, Mei Chaofeng’s spirits rose sharply.

While they spoke, Ouyang Ke had already arrived with his four concubines.

Huang Rong pulled Guo Jing behind Mei Chaofeng, waiting for her to engage Ouyang Ke so they could slip away.

Ouyang Ke saw Mei Chaofeng sitting on the ground with her hair hanging loose, her whole body a dark lump, and gave her no thought at all. Waving his fan lightly, he went straight for Huang Rong, when suddenly a fierce wind struck at his chest. The old woman on the ground had clawed at him, and the force of that claw was more terrible than anything he had ever met. In his alarm he struck at her wrist with his fan and at the same moment leapt aside. There was a rip, a crack, and four cries, one after another. A great piece of his robe had been torn away, his fan was snapped in two, and his four concubines lay on the ground. One look told him that all four were dead, each struck by a claw on the crown of her head, blood and brains welling from five finger-holes. The speed and ferocity of this enemy’s strike was something rarely seen or heard of.

Ouyang Ke was shocked and furious. But seeing that the old woman sat without moving, as though paralysed from the waist down, he lost much of his fear. He unleashed his family’s Divine Camel Snow Mountain Palm, his body flitting like a phantom as he struck. Mei Chaofeng’s ten fingers were wickedly sharp, and every claw carried a hissing wind. How could Ouyang Ke dare come close?

Huang Rong was pulling Guo Jing away when there was a wild bellow behind them, and Hou Tonghai came at her swinging his fists. Huang Rong leaned a little to one side. Hou Tonghai saw that he was about to catch her on the shoulder and was just rejoicing when, his wits not being quite as dull as all that, he suddenly remembered that she was wearing the Soft Hedgehog Armour with its sharp spikes. He gave a yell and snatched his fists back, and with two smacks they landed right on the three fleshy lumps on his own forehead. It hurt so much that he roared and howled, and how could he spare a thought for grabbing her hair?

In a short while Sha Tongtian, Liang Ziweng, Peng Lianhu and the rest arrived one after another.

Liang Ziweng saw Ouyang Ke meet one dangerous move after another, his long robe clawed to tatters, and realised at once that this woman was the hag who had played ghost in the hole in the ground. Roaring with rage, he rushed in to attack her alongside Ouyang Ke. Sha Tongtian and the others were appalled at the savagery of Mei Chaofeng’s strikes. They stood close by, waiting for their chance, and every one of them thought, Where has this old hag with such fearsome martial arts suddenly sprung from? After watching a few moves, Peng Lianhu cried out, “It’s the Twin Evils of Dark Wind!”⁵

Huang Rong, relying on her nimble body, dodged east and west. How could Hou Tonghai possibly catch her hair? She saw his fingers constantly reaching towards the top of her head, and in a flash of thought she understood his purpose. She ducked low behind the rose bushes, reached behind her head, and thrust her Emei steel thorns up through her topknot, then poked her head out and called, “I’m here!”

Hou Tonghai was delighted and grabbed at the top of her head, crying, “Now I’ve got you, you stinking little… aiyo, aiyo! Shige,⁶ the stinking brat’s got spines on his head too… a hedgehog!” His palm was run clean through by the Emei steel thorn, and the pain had him leaping about on both feet.

Huang Rong laughed, “You’ve got three horns on your head, but you can’t beat my one horn. Let’s go again!”

Hou Tonghai cried, “No more, no more!”

Sha Tongtian rebuked him, “Stop making such a racket!” He hurried over to help.

By now, with two masters attacking her at once, Mei Chaofeng was finding it harder and harder to hold out. Suddenly she reached back, seized Guo Jing by the back, and said, “Hold my legs.”

Guo Jing did not understand her meaning, but since they were now allies against these strong enemies, he did as she said and bent to clasp her legs. Mei Chaofeng blocked a palm-strike from Ouyang Ke with her left arm while her right claw lashed at Liang Ziweng. She said to Guo Jing, “Carry me and chase the one surnamed Liang!”

Suddenly Guo Jing understood, and thought, So she can’t move, and she needs me to help her. He lifted Mei Chaofeng onto his shoulders and, following the directions she called out, darted forward and back to meet the enemy. He was broad and sturdy, and his qinggong was no mean thing to begin with, and Mei Chaofeng was not very heavy, so with her on his shoulders he lost none of his nimbleness in advancing, retreating, dodging and leaping. Striking down from above, Mei Chaofeng at once had the upper hand.

Mei Chaofeng had never stopped thinking of the neigong⁷ secrets, and as she fought she asked, “What posture do you take when you train in neigong?”

Guo Jing said, “Sitting cross-legged, the Five Centres Facing Heaven.”

Mei Chaofeng asked, “What are the Five Centres Facing Heaven?”

Guo Jing said, “The palms of both hands, the soles of both feet, and the crown of the head. Those are the Five Centres.”

Mei Chaofeng was greatly pleased, and her fighting spirit surged. With a sharp swish, her claw caught Liang Ziweng on the shoulder, drawing blood at once. He leapt back hastily.

Guo Jing stepped forward to pursue, then saw Sha Tongtian the Dragon King of Devil’s Gate stride forward to help his shidi capture Huang Rong. Startled, he hoisted Mei Chaofeng and ran swiftly towards them, calling, “Deal with these two first!”

Mei Chaofeng shot out her left arm and clawed at Hou Tonghai from behind. Hou Tonghai shrank away, but Mei Chaofeng’s arm followed him, caught him by the back and hoisted him up, and the fingers of her right hand drove down at the crown of his head. Hou Tonghai went limp all over and could not move. He bellowed, “Help, help, I surrender!”

Author’s note 1:

Some critics hold that the name Huashan Sword Summit⁸ is unsuitable, since not one of the five great masters uses a jian, and what they contest is not swordsmanship or swordplay either. They do not realise that Chinese usage is refined, and often names a thing figuratively in place of the real one. When we invite someone to “eat rice”, we do not actually serve him three big bowls of plain rice; there will be chicken, duck, fish and meat, fine wine and choice dishes, and in fact no plain rice at all. When the Cantonese “drink tea”, a lavish spread of dim sum is usually laid out, shrimp dumplings, siu mai, fried noodles, rice dumplings and more besides, and there is brandy and whisky too. When the people of Yangzhou and Suzhou “take tea”, it is mainly soup dumplings and shredded dried tofu, and the tea itself becomes secondary. When the English say, “Please come to have a cup of tea,” what they eat is biscuits, cakes, sandwiches and sliced meats, with whisky, fruit juice and beer, and more coffee is drunk than tea. When the Chinese of old spoke of “asking for the birth card”, they meant proposing marriage; “offering the wild goose” and “presenting the betrothal gifts” meant betrothal; “bowing to Heaven and Earth” and “bowing in the hall” meant holding the wedding ceremony proper, not kowtowing to a hall; “the bridal chamber and the flowered candles” meant the bride and groom becoming husband and wife, not lighting a pair of gaily painted candles. To “talk of heaven and earth” with someone is not to discuss the sun, moon and stars in the sky and the mountains, rivers and seas on the earth, but to talk of anything at all, which often has nothing to do with heaven or earth. To speak of someone’s “rights and wrongs” is not to judge whether he “believes in the truth or has taken up a heretical sect”, but to talk of his “love affairs, graft and corruption”. What is called “beating the challenge stage” is not punching and kicking at a tall stage of timber, but competing in martial arts against someone. “Discussing swords” is an elegant expression, and calls for neither real long and short jian nor a debate of mouth and tongue. “Zhuge Liang⁹ battles the scholars with his tongue” naturally does not mean that Zhuge Liang stuck out his tongue and sent forth his neigong to fight other people’s tongues.

Author’s note 2:

A critic in Taiwan holds that “Three Flowers Converge at the Summit,¹⁰ Five Qi Pay Homage to the Origin”¹¹ is an elementary, entry-level stage of neigong training that every beginner must know, and that Mei Chaofeng had no need to ask. He does not realise that the Daoists use “Three Flowers Converge at the Summit, Five Qi Pay Homage to the Origin” in at least three settings: first, in the practice of neigong, where each school teaches it differently; second, in refining the inner elixir in pursuit of eternal life; third, in returning the elixir in the quest to become an immortal. The Record of the Dao Transmitted from Zhong to Lü records Zhongli Quan imparting to Lü Dongbin the method of “Three Flowers (or Three Yangs) Converge at the Summit, Five Qi Pay Homage to the Origin”: “Lü said: The principle of refining the form I already know. May I hear what is meant by ‘paying homage to the origin’? Zhong said: When the great medicine is near completion, the jade liquor returns as elixir and bathes the heart of the embryo. Once the zhenqi¹² is born, it drives the jade liquor upwards and transforms the mortal bones, and this is called refining the form with jade liquor. Then the golden essence flies up behind the elbows on the River Chariot and enters the inner court, from the upper to the middle and from the middle to the lower, and the golden liquor returns as elixir to refine the golden sand. And ‘the five qi pay homage to the origin, the three yangs converge at the summit’ is the refining of qi into spirit, not merely the refining of qi to remain in the world. What is called ‘paying homage to the origin’ few have known, now or in the past, and if any did know it, the sages did not speak of it. For this is the method by which true immortals reach their great completion. It holds in silence the unfathomable workings of heaven and earth. It is truly a hidden secret of the Three Pure Ones, the primal purport that forgets words and forgets images, the wondrous Dao without question and without answer. I fear that your will is not steadfast, that your study is not single-minded, your heart not settled and your questioning not earnest, and to speak of it lightly and easily would instead make me guilty of leaking the sacred mysteries, and profit neither of us.” After this Lü Dongbin pressed his request resolutely, and Zhongli Quan at last imparted it to him. The great method is subtle and profound, and we ordinary mortals cannot understand it. Even to Lü Dongbin, with all his sincerity in seeking immortality, Zhongli Quan would not lightly give instruction, which shows that “Three Flowers Converge at the Summit, Five Qi Pay Homage to the Origin” is by no means a simple entry-level skill. Among the Daoists the practice of neigong is often mixed up with the arts of seeking immortality. The author does not believe in eternal life, nor that refining elixirs can make a man an immortal, and gives no credence to any of this; nor does he believe that a beginner in neigong could master its meaning. Mei Chaofeng asked at random in her haste, and Guo Jing, half understanding, answered at random, and the author believes that “to speak of it lightly and easily profits neither”.

Footnotes

1. 小情人 — xiǎo qíngrén. Literally little sweetheart. A teasing term for a young lover. ↩

2. 梅若华 — Méi Ruòhuá. Her name meaning “Like a Blossom”. ↩

3. 桃花影落飞神剑，碧海潮生按玉箫 — Táohuā yǐng luò fēi shén jiàn, bìhǎi cháo shēng àn yù xiāo. Literally where peach-blossom shadows fall the divine jian flies; as the tide rises on the azure sea the jade flute plays. ↩

4. 江城飞花 — Jiāngchéng Fēihuā. Literally flowers flying over the river city. A move of the Peach Blossom Falling Petals Palm. ↩

5. 黑风双煞 — Hēifēng Shuāngshà. Literally twin evils of the dark wind. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

6. 师哥 — shīgē. Male senior, the colloquial form of shixiong. Both apprenticed to the same shifu. Shī means teacher. Gē means older brother. ↩

7. 内功 — nèigōng. Literally internal cultivation. The practice of developing neili through breathing and meditation. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

8. 华山论剑 — Huàshān Lùnjiàn. Literally sword discussion at Huashan. Use of discussion is key as the participants were engaged in a martial arts exchange and a philosophical debate on mastery, rather than just a physical contest. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

9. 诸葛亮 — Zhūgě Liàng (181—234). Chancellor and chief strategist of Shu Han in the Three Kingdoms period, known as the Crouching Dragon. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

10. 三花聚顶 — sān huā jù dǐng. Literally three flowers gather at the crown. A Daoist term for the stage of cultivation at which essence, qi and spirit unite. ↩

11. 五气朝元 — wǔ qì cháo yuán. Literally five qi pay homage to the origin. A Daoist term for the stage of internal cultivation at which the qi of the five viscera returns to its primal source. ↩

12. 真气 — zhēnqì. Literally true qi. Qi refined through internal cultivation. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩