The Legend of the Condor Heroes Chapter 12 – Part 5

Through the window Guo Jing saw Liang Ziweng kneeling bolt upright with his three disciples kneeling behind him, a sorry sight, and he could not bear it. “Qigong,” he said, “let him off.”

Hong Qigong swore at him. “Spineless thing. Someone beats you and you can’t hold him off. I save you, and now you want to let him off. What sort of thing is that?”

Guo Jing had nothing to say.

Then Hong Qigong thought again and laughed. “Good, good, good! Spare others where you can, that’s the very root of Proud Dragon Repents!”¹

Huang Rong laughed. “I’ll send him packing.” She took the bamboo staff and went outside the inn, where Liang Ziweng was kneeling most respectfully, his face full of dread.

Huang Rong scolded him. “Hong Qigong says you’ve been doing evil, and today he was going to kill you, no question about it. Luckily my Guo gege has a kind heart and pleaded for you for ages, so Qigong agreed to spare you.” With that she raised the bamboo staff and, with a smack, gave him one across the backside. “Off you go!”

Liang Ziweng called towards the window, “Guild Chief Hong,² I’d like to see you and thank you for sparing my life.”

There was silence in the inn. Liang Ziweng stayed on his knees, not daring to get up.

After a while Guo Jing came out, waving his hand, and whispered, “Qigong’s asleep. Don’t disturb him.”

Only then did Liang Ziweng get up. He gave Guo Jing and Huang Rong a few looks full of hatred and left with his disciples.

Huang Rong, in the highest of spirits, went back to their room, and there, sure enough, was Hong Qigong slumped over the table, snoring. She seized his shoulder and gave it a good shaking. “Qigong, Qigong, this precious bamboo staff of yours has such magic powers, and you’ve no use for it. Why not give it to me?”

Hong Qigong raised his head, yawned, stretched and laughed. “You make it sound so easy! This is how your old grandpa earns his bread. What’s a beggar without his Dog-Beating Staff?”³

Huang Rong would not let it go. “With martial arts as great as yours, people are scared of you just from hearing your voice. Why do you still need this bamboo staff?”

Hong Qigong chuckled. “Silly girl, hurry up and make Qigong something good to eat, and I’ll tell you all about it.”

Huang Rong did as she was told and went to the kitchen to make three little dishes.

Hong Qigong, cup in his right hand, slowly gnawing a ham trotter held in his left, said, “As the saying goes, like things gather together and people divide into their own kinds. Rich men are one guild. Greenwood robbers who take rich men’s money are another guild. And we beggars who beg for scraps and cold rice are a guild too…”

Huang Rong clapped her hands. “I know, I know. Old Freak Liang called you Guild Chief Hong, so you’re the chief of the beggars’ guild.”

Hong Qigong said, “Just so. We beggars get pushed around by people and bitten by dogs. If we didn’t band together, what chance would we have of staying alive? Only a great man like your father, who comes and goes alone and whom nobody dares to cross, has no need to go about in a crowd. The common folk in the north are under the Jin for the time being, and the folk in the south are under the Great Song emperor, but the beggars under heaven…”

Huang Rong broke in, “North or south, they’re all under you, sir.”

Hong Qigong smiled and nodded. “Just so. This bamboo staff has come down from the end of the Tang, several hundred years now, held generation after generation by the Guild Chief of the Beggars’ Guild,⁴ like the emperor brat’s jade seal or an official’s golden seal.”

Huang Rong stuck out her tongue. “Good thing you didn’t give it to me, then.”

Hong Qigong laughed. “Why?”

Huang Rong said, “If all the little beggars under heaven came to me whenever they couldn’t beg a meal or catch a snake, and wanted me to sort out their affairs, how awful would that be?”

Hong Qigong sighed. “You’re quite right. All I care about is eating. I hate seeing to things, and being Guild Chief of the Beggars’ Guild is a real nuisance, but I can’t find anyone to hand it over to, so I just have to make do.”

Huang Rong said, “So that’s why Old Freak Liang is so frightened of you. If all the beggars under heaven made trouble for him, he’d have a really bad time of it. If every beggar caught a louse on himself and dropped it down his neck, he’d itch to death.”

Hong Qigong and Guo Jing roared with laughter.

When they had laughed a while, Hong Qigong said, “That’s not why he’s afraid of me.”

Huang Rong asked quickly, “Then why?”

Hong Qigong said, “About twenty years ago he was doing something wicked, and I ran into him at it.”

Huang Rong asked, “What wicked thing?”

Hong Qigong hesitated. “The old freak believed some evil doctrine about gathering yin to nourish yang.⁵ He found a great many virgin girls and took their maidenhood, saying it would let him live for ever without growing old.”

Huang Rong asked, “How did he take their maidenhood?”

Huang Rong’s mother had died giving birth to her, and she had been brought up by her father. When Chen Xuanfeng and Mei Chaofeng betrayed their shifu and fled together in secret, Huang Yaoshi in his fury had broken the leg bones of all his other disciples and driven them off the island. Only a few mute servants were left on Peach Blossom Island. There were some maidservants too, but Huang Yaoshi did not allow them to speak freely, on pain of severe punishment. Huang Rong had never heard an older woman talk of what passes between men and women. She and Guo Jing were of one heart, and when she was with him she felt a joy and sweetness she could not describe, and if they were apart for only a moment she felt lonely and wretched. All she knew was that when a man and a woman married they would never be parted, and so in her heart she had long since thought of Guo Jing as her husband. But of what passes between husband and wife in the bedchamber she knew nothing.

Her question left Hong Qigong at a loss for an answer.

Huang Rong asked again, “Taking their maidenhood, does that mean he killed them?”

Hong Qigong said, “No. When a woman is wronged like that, it can be worse than being killed. When people say, ‘Losing her virtue is a great matter, starving to death a small one,’ that’s what they mean.”

Huang Rong was none the wiser. “Did he cut off their ears and noses with a knife?”

Hong Qigong laughed and swore. “Pah! Not that either. Silly girl, go home and ask your mother.”

Huang Rong said, “My mother died long ago.”

Hong Qigong gave an “Ah.” “When you and this silly boy have your wedding night, you’ll understand soon enough.”

Only then did Huang Rong realise it was something shameful between men and women. She asked, “So you caught Old Freak Liang doing this wicked thing. What happened then?”

Hong Qigong, relieved that she was not going to pursue the matter, let out a breath. “Naturally I had to step in. I caught the fellow and gave him a good thrashing, pulled out every white hair on his head, made him send those girls back home, and made him swear a solemn oath never to do anything so evil again. If I ever caught him at it again, I’d make him beg to live and beg to die and get neither. I hear he hasn’t dared do it again all these years, so today I spared his life. Damn his grandmother, has his hair grown back yet?”

Huang Rong giggled. “It’s grown back! You pulled out a whole headful of hair. That must have hurt him plenty.”

The three of them finished their meal.

Huang Rong said, “Qigong, even if you gave me the bamboo staff now, I wouldn’t dare take it. But we can’t stay with you all our lives. Next time we meet that man Liang, he’ll say, ‘Little girl, last time you used Guild Chief Hong’s name to hit me with a bamboo staff. Today I’m having my revenge. I’ll pull out all your hair!’ Then what do we do? Earlier, when Jing gege fought the old freak, back and forth he had only the one move, Proud Dragon Repents. It’s endlessly powerful, no doubt about it, but wasn’t it rather a poor show? The old freak must be thinking, ‘Guild Chief Hong’s martial arts may be unfathomable, but what he teaches others doesn’t amount to much.’”

Hong Qigong laughed. “You’re painting a frightening picture and egging me on, all so that I’ll teach you two some more. Be a good girl and cook plenty of fine dishes, and Qigong won’t let you come off worse.”

Huang Rong was overjoyed and dragged Hong Qigong back to the pine wood.

Hong Qigong taught Guo Jing the second move of the Eighteen Palms of Dragon Subduing, Flying Dragon in the Sky.⁶ In this move you leap into the air and strike down from above, and its power is extraordinary. It took Guo Jing three days to learn it. In those three days Hong Qigong tasted a dozen more rare delicacies, but Huang Rong did not pester him to teach her anything else. As long as he was willing to teach Guo Jing all he could, she was perfectly content.

In this way, over a month and more, Hong Qigong passed on fifteen of the Eighteen Palms of Dragon Subduing to Guo Jing, from Proud Dragon Repents all the way through to Dragon Appears in the Field.⁷

The Eighteen Palms of Dragon Subduing could be called the very summit of the external martial arts, truly able to smash anything however hard and break any defence however strong. The moves were few, but every one of them carried tremendous power. In the Northern Song, Xiao Feng,⁸ Guild Chief of the Beggars’ Guild, had used them to challenge the heroes of the world, and hardly anyone could withstand two or three of his moves. His might overshadowed his age, and the heroes of the day were helpless before him. In those days there had been twenty-eight palms of Dragon Subduing, but Xiao Feng and his sworn brother Xuzhu⁹ cut away the superfluous and kept the essence, making them the Eighteen Palms of Dragon Subduing, with even deeper power. When the palms came down to Hong Qigong, he used them at the Huashan Sword Summit,¹⁰ when he debated the jian with Wang Chongyang, Huang Yaoshi and the others on the very top of Mount Hua, and Wang Chongyang and the rest all praised them.

He had meant to teach Guo Jing only two or three of the palms, which would have been enough for him to protect himself, but Huang Rong’s cooking was so brilliant, with rare and wonderful flavours appearing in endless succession day after day, that he could not bring himself to leave. Day after day went by, and he ended up teaching him as many as fifteen. Guo Jing was not quick to understand, but whatever he learned, however little, he worked at day and night, and he mastered the fifteen palms pretty thoroughly, though he was still far from their full power. In little more than a month his martial arts had changed so much that he seemed a different man.

That day, after breakfast, Hong Qigong sighed. “Children, the three of us have been together more than a month now. It’s time we parted.”

Huang Rong said, “Ah, no, you can’t. There are lots of little dishes I haven’t cooked for you yet.”

Hong Qigong said, “There’s no feast under heaven that doesn’t end, though there are dishes without end. Old Beggar takes no disciples, and never in his life has he taught anyone martial arts for more than three days. This time I’ve gone on teaching for over thirty. If I teach any more, ai, it’ll be a fine how-do-you-do.”

Huang Rong asked, “How so?”

Hong Qigong said, “You’d learn every one of the skills I keep for myself.”

Huang Rong said, “When you do a good deed, do it to the end. Teach him all eighteen palms. Wouldn’t that be lovely?”

Hong Qigong spat. “Pah, it would be lovely for you young couple, all right, but not so lovely for Old Beggar.”

Huang Rong was anxious. She was casting about for some scheme to make him teach Guo Jing the last three moves, but Hong Qigong shouldered his gourd and, without another word, strode off.

Guo Jing hurried after him, but Hong Qigong moved so fast that in the blink of an eye he was out of sight. Guo Jing ran after him into the pine wood, shouting, “Qigong, Qigong!”

Huang Rong came running after them, shouting too.

There was a flicker of movement at the edge of the pine wood, and Hong Qigong came over, swearing. “You two stinking brats, what are you pestering me for? If you want me to teach you any more, you can whistle for it.”

Guo Jing said, “You’ve taught me so much already, this disciple is more than satisfied. I wouldn’t dare ask for more. Only I haven’t yet kowtowed to thank you for your kindness.” With that he knelt and kowtowed several times, thud, thud, thud, thud.

Hong Qigong’s face changed. “Stop right there,” he shouted. “I taught you martial arts to pay for eating her little dishes. There’s no shifu and disciple between us.” And all of a sudden he dropped to his knees and kowtowed to Guo Jing.

Guo Jing was aghast and hastily knelt again to return the courtesy, but Hong Qigong’s hand shot out and struck an acupoint below his ribs. Guo Jing’s knees were half bent, and he could not move. Hong Qigong kowtowed to him four more times, and only then released the acupoint. “Remember, you’re never to say you’ve kowtowed to me or that you’re my disciple.”

Only then did Guo Jing realise how eccentric he was, and he dared say no more.

Huang Rong sighed. “Qigong, you’ve been so good to us, and now we’re to part. I’d hoped that some day when I saw you again I could cook you more little dishes, but I’m afraid…I’m afraid…ai, it may not come true.”

Hong Qigong asked, “Why?”

Huang Rong said, “There are lots of enemies out to make trouble for us. Besides that Ginseng Old Eccentric, there are plenty of other bad men. One day the two of us are going to die at somebody’s hands.”

Hong Qigong smiled. “Then die. Who doesn’t?”

Huang Rong shook her head. “Dying doesn’t matter. What I’m most afraid of is that they’ll catch me, find out that I’ve learned martial arts from you and cooked for you, and make me cook them all those weird and wonderful dishes like ‘Hidden Fragrance Stirs in the Moonlit Dusk’ and ‘When Did the River Moon First Shine on Man’, one after another, every one of them a dish you’ve never tasted. Wouldn’t that be a blow to your great name?”

Hong Qigong knew perfectly well she was goading him, but at the thought of someone forcing her to cook, and of rare and marvellous flavours that he himself had never tasted, he could not help being furious. “Who are these fellows?”

Huang Rong said, “One of them is Sha Tongtian, the Dragon King of Devil’s Gate.¹¹ His table manners are the most revolting you ever saw. When he eats, spit flies everywhere, and all my fine little dishes get spattered with it. Isn’t that disgusting?”

Hong Qigong shook his head. “What damn use is Sha Tongtian? Another year or two of practice and this silly boy Guo Jing will beat him. Nothing to be afraid of.”

Huang Rong named Venerable Lingzhi¹² and Peng Lianhu¹³ as well, and each time Hong Qigong said, “What damn use is he?”

But when Huang Rong came to Ouyang Ke,¹⁴ the Young Master of White Camel Mountain, Hong Qigong gave a slight start and questioned her closely about how the man fought and moved. When he had heard her out, he nodded. “So it is him!”

Seeing how grave he looked, Huang Rong asked, “Is he very formidable?”

Hong Qigong said, “What damn use is Ouyang Ke? It’s his uncle, the Old Venom,¹⁵ who’s really formidable.”

Huang Rong said, “The Old Venom? However formidable he is, he can’t be more formidable than you, sir.”

Footnotes

1. 亢龙有悔 — Kàng Lóng Yǒu Huǐ. Literally the proud dragon has cause to repent. A move of the Eighteen Palms of Dragon Subduing, named from a line of the Book of Changes. ↩

2. 帮主 — bāngzhǔ. Literally guild master. The head of a guild. ↩

3. 打狗棒 — Dǎgǒu Bàng. The jade-green bamboo staff carried by the Guild Chief of the Beggars’ Guild as the token of his office. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

4. 丐帮 — Gàibāng. Literally beggars’ guild. The largest band in the jianghu, with members throughout the realm. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

5. 采阴补阳 — cǎi yīn bǔ yáng. Literally gathering yin to nourish yang. A heterodox sexual practice claimed to prolong life by taking in a woman’s yin essence. ↩

6. 飞龙在天 — Fēi Lóng Zài Tiān. Literally flying dragon in the sky, a line of the Book of Changes. A move of the Eighteen Palms of Dragon Subduing. ↩

7. 见龙在田 — Xiàn Lóng Zài Tián. Literally the dragon appears in the field. A move of the Eighteen Palms of Dragon Subduing, named from a line of the Book of Changes. ↩

8. 萧峰 — Xiāo Fēng. Also known as Qiao Feng, the protagonist of Jin Yong’s Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils, chief of the Beggars’ Guild in the Northern Song. ↩

9. 虚竹 — Xū Zhú. One of the three protagonists of Jin Yong’s Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils. ↩

10. 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. ↩

11. 沙通天 — Shā Tōngtiān. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

12. 灵智上人 — Língzhì Shàngrén. Literally the venerable of spiritual wisdom. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

13. 彭连虎 — Péng Liánhǔ. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

14. 欧阳克 — Ōuyáng Kè. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

15. 老毒物 — lǎo dúwù. Literally old venomous thing. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩