The Legend of the Condor Heroes Chapter 12 – Part 8

Huang Rong took several turns and came to a row of tall pagoda trees. Seeing no one about, she stopped and laughed. “Beat me and you’ll have it back at once. Let’s have a bout. Not a contest to win a husband, a contest to win a jian.”

Mu Nianci blushed. “Little sister, don’t joke. When I see this short jian, it’s as if I saw my foster father. What do you want with it?”

Huang Rong’s face darkened. “Who’s your little sister?” she snapped. Quick as the wind, she was suddenly at Mu Nianci’s side with a whistling palm. Mu Nianci dodged aside, but Huang Rong’s family art, the Peach Blossom Falling Petals Palm,¹ was subtle in its changes. Smack, smack, two blows, and a fierce pain shot through her side. She had been hit.

Mu Nianci was furious. She darted to the left, then whirled and struck back with a flying palm, which was also extremely fast and fierce. Huang Rong cried, “That’s the Carefree Wandering² fist technique. What’s so special about that?”

Mu Nianci was startled to hear her name it. She thought, This is the special martial art Hong Qigong taught me years ago. How does she know it? Then Huang Rong struck back with her left palm and attacked straight in with her right fist, all three moves from Carefree Wandering, and Mu Nianci was more amazed than ever. She leapt several paces away. “Stop. Who taught you this fist technique?”

Huang Rong laughed. “I made it up myself. What’s so special about crude stuff like this?” Hardly were the words out before she came on again with two more moves of Carefree Wandering, Begging Bowl from Door to Door and Hand Out to Everyone, one after the other.

Mu Nianci was more and more alarmed. She slipped them with Roaming the Four Seas and asked, “Do you know Hong Qigong?”

Huang Rong laughed. “He’s an old friend of mine. Of course I know him. You use what he taught you, and I’ll use just my own martial arts, and we’ll see whether I can beat you.” Laughing and chattering, she struck faster and faster, and it was no longer Carefree Wandering.

Huang Rong had been taught martial arts by her father himself and was far better than Mu Nianci to begin with, and with Hong Qigong’s guidance she had come on further still. How could Mu Nianci hold her off? By now it was too late even to give up the short jian and run. Seeing her opponent’s left palm suddenly rise and slice across at her like a long jian, the palm wind whistling and keen as a blade, she hastily twisted aside, and suddenly the back of her neck went numb. Huang Rong had brushed the Dazhui acupoint³ on her spine with the Orchid Acupoint-Tracing Hand.⁴ This is where the three yang channels of hand and foot meet the Governing Vessel,⁵ and at once her arms and legs went weak. Huang Rong took half a step forward and jabbed at the Zhishi acupoint⁶ below her right waist, and Mu Nianci fell flat at once.

Huang Rong drew the short jian and, hiss, hiss, hiss, hiss, stabbed a dozen and more times beside her left and right cheeks, every stroke grazing past her face with less than an inch to spare. Mu Nianci shut her eyes and waited for death. She felt only an icy chill on her face, but no pain. She opened her eyes to see the short jian stabbing down, a gleam of blue light before her eyes, and the edge of the blade slid past her ear. “If you’re going to kill me, kill me,” she shouted furiously. “Why play with me?”

Huang Rong said, “I’ve no quarrel with you. Why should I kill you? Just swear an oath as I tell you and I’ll let you go.”

Mu Nianci was beaten, but she would never give in. “If you have the guts, kill me,” she said fiercely. “If you want me to beg, you can stop dreaming now.”

Huang Rong sighed. “Such a beautiful girl, dying so young. It really is a pity.”

Mu Nianci kept her eyes shut and paid her no heed.

After a while Huang Rong said softly, “Jing gege truly loves me. Even if you married him, he wouldn’t love you.”

Mu Nianci opened her eyes. “What did you say?”

Huang Rong said, “If you won’t swear, never mind. He won’t marry you anyway, I know he won’t.”

Mu Nianci said in surprise, “Who truly loves you? And who do you say I’m going to marry?”

Huang Rong said, “Jing gege, of course. Guo Jing.”

Mu Nianci said, “Ah, him. What oath do you want me to swear?”

Huang Rong said, “I want you to swear a solemn oath that whatever happens, you’ll never marry him.”

Mu Nianci smiled faintly. “Even if you held a knife to my throat, I couldn’t marry him.”

Huang Rong was overjoyed. “Really? But why?”

Mu Nianci said, “My foster father’s dying wish was to betroth me to House Brother Guo, but really…really…” She lowered her voice. “When my foster father was dying, his mind was confused. He’d forgotten that he had promised me to someone else long before.”

Huang Rong said joyfully, “Oh, I’m so sorry, I wronged you.” She hastily released her acupoints and massaged the numbness out of her arms and legs, most attentively, and asked, “Big sister, who are you promised to?”

Mu Nianci blushed. “You’ve met him too,” she said softly.

Huang Rong tilted her head and thought for a while. “Someone I’ve met? What man is there who’s good enough for someone like you, big sister?”

Mu Nianci laughed. “So of all the men under heaven, only your Jing gege is any good?”

Huang Rong laughed. “Big sister, is it because you think he’s too stupid that you won’t marry him?”

Mu Nianci said, “How is House Brother Guo stupid? He’s honest and kind by nature, and his heart is set on what is chivalrous and right. I admire him very much. He was good to my father and to me. That day he stood up for me against injustice with no thought for his own life, and I’m truly grateful. A man like that is rare in this world.”

Huang Rong was anxious again. “Then why did you say that even with a knife at your throat you couldn’t marry him?”

Seeing how innocently she asked and how deep her love was, Mu Nianci took her hand and said slowly, “Little sister, you already have House Brother Guo in your heart. Even if one day you met someone a thousand, ten thousand times better, you could never give your love to anyone else, could you?”

Huang Rong nodded. “Of course not. But there won’t be anyone better than him.”

Mu Nianci laughed. “If House Brother Guo heard you praise him like that, there’s no knowing how happy he’d be…That day my father took me to Zhongdu for the contest to win a husband, and someone beat me…”

Huang Rong broke in, “Oh, I know. The one you love is the little prince, Wanyan Kang.⁷”

Mu Nianci said, “Prince or beggar, he’s in my heart. Good man or scoundrel, I’m his.” She said it very softly, but her tone was utterly resolute.

Huang Rong nodded, turning her words over carefully, and felt that her own feelings for Guo Jing were just the same, as if Mu Nianci had spoken her own heart for her. The two of them sat side by side under the pagoda trees, holding hands, and in that moment they felt that they understood each other perfectly and got on wonderfully.

Huang Rong thought for a moment, then gave the short jian back to her. “Here, big sister.”

Mu Nianci would not take it. “It’s your Jing gege’s, so it should be yours. House Brother Guo’s name is carved on the short jian. If I carried it with me every…every day, that wouldn’t be right.”

Huang Rong was delighted. She tucked the short jian into her clothes. “Big sister, you’re so good.” She wanted to give her some precious present in return, but could not think of anything just then. “Big sister, what brings you south on your own? Do you want your little sister to help?”

Mu Nianci blushed, lowered her head and said softly, “Nothing very important.”

Huang Rong said, “Then I’ll take you to see Qigong.⁸”

Mu Nianci was delighted. “Qigong is here?”

Huang Rong nodded, took her hand and stood up, when there was a faint rustle in the branches overhead. A piece of bark fell, and a figure went leaping from treetop to treetop along the pagoda trees and was gone in a moment. From the back it was certainly Hong Qigong.

Huang Rong picked up the bark. Scratched on it with a needle were a few lines: “You two girls are doing very well like this. If Rong-er dares make any more mischief, Qigong will box your ears good and hard.” There was no signature underneath, only a drawing of a gourd. Huang Rong knew it was Qigong’s writing, and she could not help blushing. She thought, So Qigong saw me knock Mu jiejie⁹ down just now and make her swear. She handed the bark to Mu Nianci to read.

The two of them went to the pine wood, and sure enough there was no sign of Hong Qigong. Guo Jing, however, was back at the inn. He was astonished to see Mu Nianci suddenly arrive hand in hand with Huang Rong, and asked at once, “House Sister Mu, have you seen my six shifus?”

Mu Nianci said, “I came south from Zhongdu with your six honoured shifus, back to Shandong, and after we parted I haven’t seen them again.”

Guo Jing asked, “Are my shifus well?”

Mu Nianci smiled. “Don’t worry, House Brother Guo. You haven’t made them die of rage yet.”

Guo Jing was very uneasy. He thought his shifus must be terribly angry, and at once he lost all interest in food and drink and sat staring into space. Mu Nianci, meanwhile, was asking Huang Rong how she had come to meet Hong Qigong.

Huang Rong told her all about it. Mu Nianci sighed. “You’re so lucky, little sister, spending so long with him. I’d like to see him just once more, and I can’t.”

Huang Rong comforted her. “He’s been watching over you in secret. If I’d really hurt you just now, do you think he wouldn’t have stepped in to save you?”

Mu Nianci nodded and agreed.

Guo Jing asked in surprise, “Rong-er, what’s this about really hurting House Sister Mu?”

Huang Rong said hastily, “That’s not to be told.”

Mu Nianci laughed. “She was afraid…afraid I’d…” But at that point she grew a little shy herself.

Huang Rong reached under her arm and tickled her, laughing. “Will you dare tell?”

Mu Nianci stuck out her tongue and shook her head. “How would I dare? Shall I swear an oath?”

Huang Rong gave her a playful “Pah”, then, remembering how she had just forced her to swear never to marry Guo Jing, could not help blushing. Guo Jing was pleased to see how close the two of them were.

After the meal the three of them strolled and chatted in the pine wood, and Huang Rong asked Mu Nianci how she had come to be taught by Hong Qigong.

Mu Nianci said, “I was still small then. One day I went with my father to Bianliang.¹⁰ We were staying at an inn, and I was playing at the door when I saw two beggars lying on the ground, all cut about and covered in blood. It was horrible. Everyone thought they were filthy, and no one would go near them…”

Huang Rong broke in, “Oh, I see. You were kind and treated their wounds.”

Mu Nianci said, “I didn’t know anything about treating wounds. I just felt sorry for them, so I helped them into the room my father and I had, washed their wounds clean and bound them up with cloth. When my father came back, he said I’d done well, and he sighed a few times and said his wife long ago had been just as kind-hearted. Father gave them a few liang¹¹ of silver to get better on, and they thanked us and left. A few months later we came to Xinyang,¹² and suddenly we met those two beggars again. By then their wounds had healed completely. They took me to a ruined temple, and there I met the venerable Hong Qigong. He praised me a little and taught me that set of Carefree Wandering, and in three days I’d learned it. On the fourth day I went back to the temple, but he’d gone, and I’ve never seen him since.”

Huang Rong said, “Qigong won’t let us pass on what he teaches to anyone else. But if you’d like to learn the martial arts my father taught me, big sister, we can stay here ten days or a fortnight, and I’ll teach you a few sets.” Now that she knew Mu Nianci was determined not to marry Guo Jing, the great stone that had weighed on her heart had fallen away at once. She thought this Mu jiejie a really, really good person, and since she had given her the dagger as well, she longed to repay her somehow.

Mu Nianci said, “Thank you, little sister, that’s kind of you. But just now I have urgent business to see to and can’t spare the time. Later on, even if you don’t offer to teach me, I’ll come and ask you.”

Huang Rong had meant to ask what the urgent business was, but from her face it was plain that she wanted no one to know and had no wish to talk about it, so she held her tongue. She thought, She looks so gentle and shy, but her mind is really made up. If she doesn’t want to tell, there’s no getting it out of her.

Around the hour of Wei¹³ in the afternoon, Mu Nianci hurried out of the inn and did not come back until evening. Huang Rong saw the happiness on her face but pretended not to notice. After supper the two girls shared a room. Huang Rong got on to the kang first and, peeping, saw Mu Nianci sitting under the lamp with her chin in her hand, staring into space as if her heart were full of secrets. So she shut her eyes and pretended to be asleep.

After a while she saw Mu Nianci take something out of her small bundle, kiss it gently, and hold it in her hands, gazing at it, her face full of tenderness. Looking from behind her, Huang Rong saw it was a piece of satin like an embroidered handkerchief, with some pattern worked on it in coloured thread. Suddenly Mu Nianci turned sharply and flicked the handkerchief up into the air. Huang Rong was so frightened she shut her eyes at once, her heart thumping.

There was a faint stir of air in the room. Opening her eyes a slit, she saw Mu Nianci wheeling to and fro in front of the kang, going through the moves of a fight against no one, with the handkerchief now draped over her arm. It was really half of a torn-off sleeve. Suddenly Huang Rong understood. She thought, That day she fought the little prince, she tore this off his brocade robe. There was a little smile at the corner of Mu Nianci’s mouth, as if she were going over that day again in her mind. Now she gave a light kick, and a moment later threw a punch, and now and then she raised her eyebrows and gave her sleeve a light flick, just like Wanyan Kang with his frivolous, arrogant airs. She stayed rapt like this for a good while, then went to the kang.

Footnotes

1. 桃华落英掌 — Táohuā Luòyīng Zhǎng. Palm technique with palm shadows like scattering peach blossoms. Originally called 落英神剑掌 (Falling Petals Divine Sword Palm) in earlier editions. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

2. 逍遥游拳法 — Xiāoyáoyóu Quánfǎ. Literally carefree-wandering fist method, after the first chapter of the Zhuangzi. A set of thirty-six fist and palm moves. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

3. 大椎穴 — Dàzhuī Xué. Literally great vertebra point. An acupoint at the base of the neck, below the most prominent vertebra. ↩

4. 兰花拂穴手 — Lánhuā Fú Xuè Shǒu. Huang Rong’s hereditary art of brushing the acupoints with the fingers, prized for being fast, accurate, strange and clear. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

5. 督脉 — Dū Mài. Literally governing vessel. One of the eight extraordinary meridians, running up the spine and governing the yang meridians. ↩

6. 志室穴 — Zhìshì Xué. Literally will chamber. An acupoint on the lower back, on the Bladder meridian. ↩

7. 完颜康 — Wányán Kāng. See Wuxia Wiki (spoiler). ↩

8. 七公 — Qīgōng. His name meaning “Seven Elder” or “Seventh Elder”: 七 is his rank in his generation and 公 an elder’s courtesy. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

9. 姐姐 — jiějie. Literally elder sister, written 姊姊 in the source. Attached to a name it is an intimate address and does not mark kinship. ↩

10. 汴梁 — Biànliáng. The Northern Song capital, modern-day Kaifeng. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

11. 两 — liǎng. A traditional unit of weight, one-sixteenth of a jin, and the unit in which silver was reckoned. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

12. 信阳州 — Xìnyáng Zhōu. Xinyang Prefecture, in modern Henan Province. ↩

13. 未时 — wèishí. The hour of Wei, about 1 to 3 p.m., the eighth of the twelve shichen. ↩