The Legend of the Condor Heroes Chapter 14 – Part 1

The master of Peach Blossom Island

Five men and a woman walked into the hall. They were the Six Eccentrics of Jiangnan.¹ They had been travelling south from the north, drawing nearer to home with every day, and that day, as they crossed Lake Tai, men of the jianghu² had suddenly come aboard their boat and greeted them with great courtesy. The Six Eccentrics had been away a long time and knew nothing of how things now stood in the Jiangnan wulin.³ Nor did they reveal who they were. Only Zhu Cong⁴ traded a few words with the boarders in jianghu cant.

The man who had come aboard was Stronghold Chief Zhang, one of the chiefs under Returning Clouds Manor.⁵ Lu Guanying⁶ had ordered him to watch the lake and receive the old Manor Master’s enemies. When his scouts reported that the Six Eccentrics of Jiangnan were strange-looking and carried weapons, he guessed they might be the very people the Manor Master was waiting for. Half wary, half full of loathing, he escorted the six into the manor.

Guo Jing was overjoyed at the sudden sight of his six shifus.⁷ He rushed forward, fell to his knees and kowtowed, crying, “Eldest Shifu, Second Shifu, Third Shifu, Fourth Shifu, Sixth Shifu, Seventh Shifu, you’ve all come. This is wonderful.” Naming all six of his shifus one by one was rather long-winded, but he meant every word, and his delight was plain to see.

The Six Eccentrics had been angry that Guo Jing had gone off with Huang Rong, but they were deeply fond of him all the same, and meeting him here so unexpectedly lifted their hearts until most of their anger had melted away.

Han Baoju⁸ cursed, “Brat, where’s that little vixen of yours?” Han Xiaoying,⁹ sharp-eyed as ever, had already spotted Huang Rong dressed as a young man and sitting at the banquet. She tugged at Han Baoju’s sleeve and whispered, “We can talk about all that later.”

Manor Master Lu, too, had at first supposed his enemy had come. But none of the six was anyone he knew, Han Xiaoying looked nothing like the Mei Chaofeng¹⁰ he remembered, and when he heard Guo Jing call them shifu, he relaxed at once. He cupped his fists and said, “My legs are lame and I cannot stand. I beg you all to forgive me.” He quickly ordered the manor servants to lay another table. Guo Jing told him the names and titles of his six shifus, and Manor Master Lu, greatly pleased, said, “This humble one has long heard of the Six Xias’ fame, but though we all live in Jiangnan I never had the chance to meet you, and I have admired you for many years. To meet such worthies today is good fortune indeed.” His warmth was unmistakable. Qiu Qianren,¹¹ however, sat lording it in the seat of honour. When he heard the Six Eccentrics’ names he merely gave a faint smile and went on eating and drinking.

Han Baoju was the first to take offence. “And who’s this?” he asked. Manor Master Lu said, “This will please the Six Xias. He is the lodestar of today’s wulin, a Senior of the very highest attainment.” The Six Xias started. Han Xiaoying asked, “Huang Yaoshi of Peach Blossom Island?” Han Baoju asked, “The Nine-Fingered Divine Beggar?” Manor Master Lu said, “Neither. This is Esteemed Senior Qiu, Iron Palm Skims the Water.”¹² Ke Zhen’e¹³ cried in alarm, “Senior Qiu Qianren?” Qiu Qianren threw back his head and laughed aloud, looking thoroughly pleased with himself.

The manor servants set out the banquet, and the Six Eccentrics took their places in order. Guo Jing went to sit with his shifus. When he tried to bring Huang Rong along, she only smiled and shook her head, refusing to share the Six Eccentrics’ table.

Manor Master Lu laughed and said, “I took young Brother Guo for a man who knew no martial arts, never guessing he was the disciple of a famous school. A good merchant keeps his riches out of sight as though he had none. I misjudged you badly.” Guo Jing rose to his feet and said, “I am slow and dull by nature, and could not learn the fine skills of my honoured shifus. The trifle I have was my shifus’ teaching, and I would not dare make a show of it before others. I beg the Manor Master’s forgiveness.” The Six Eccentrics, hearing the exchange between the two, were pleased that Guo Jing knew how to be modest and did not boast of his own abilities.

Qiu Qianren said, “The Six Xias may also be counted among the established names of the Jiangnan wulin. I happen to have a matter of great import, and if the Six Xias could lend their aid, so much the better.” Manor Master Lu said, “Esteemed Senior Qiu was speaking of it just as you six came in. Esteemed Senior, please, show us the way.” Qiu Qianren said, “We who move in the wulin must above all cherish the spirit of xia¹⁴ and relieve the suffering of the people. The great armies of the Jin will march south any day now. If the Song court does not know what is good for it and refuses to submit, then once the fighting begins, who knows how many lives will be lost? As the saying goes, ‘Who follows Heaven prospers, who defies Heaven perishes.’ I have come south to rally the men of valour of Jiangnan to rise in answer to the Jin armies, so that the Song court, seeing itself beset from within and without, will be powerless and surrender without a fight. Once this great enterprise is done, never mind glory and riches, the gratitude of the common people alone will prove our fine skills were not wasted, and that we were worthy of the words ‘xia and righteousness.’”

At these words the Six Eccentrics of Jiangnan changed colour at once. The Han siblings were about to burst out in fury. Quan Jinfa,¹⁵ seated between them, pulled at both their lapels with his hands and shot a glance at Manor Master Lu, signalling that they should watch how the host responded.

Manor Master Lu had hitherto admired Qiu Qianren to the point of worship, but on hearing these words could not help being greatly startled. He forced a smile and said, “Though I am unworthy and live in the wilds, I have never forgotten my loyalty and righteousness. If the Jin armies mean to march south and seize our land and harm our people, then I shall certainly follow the men of valour of Jiangnan and fight to the death against them. What you said just now, Senior, was surely meant only to test me.”

Qiu Qianren said, “Young brother, how can you be so short-sighted? What good is there in helping the court resist the Jin? The most you could hope to be is another Yue Wumu,¹⁶ and all he got was a miserable death at Fengbo Pavilion.”

Manor Master Lu was seized with shock and fury together. He had been counting on this man’s help against the Twin Evils of Dark Wind,¹⁷ only to find that for all his peerless skill he was utterly without shame. He said sternly, “An enemy is coming to take revenge on me, and I had hoped the Esteemed Senior would lend me a hand. But men who walk different roads cannot make plans together. Even if my blood spatters the ground, I would not dare trouble you. Please go.” He cupped his fists, dismissing his guest then and there.

The Six Eccentrics of Jiangnan, Guo Jing and Huang Rong all secretly admired him for it.

Qiu Qianren smiled without speaking. His left hand held his wine cup while two fingers of his right pinched its rim and turned it round and round. Suddenly his right hand shot out flat, and the edge of his palm struck the rim. There was a tock, and a ring of porcelain about half an inch high flew off and dropped onto the table. He set the cup down in the middle of the table with his left hand. Its rim was now perfectly level, a band lower than before. He had sheared a ring off the cup with neigong.¹⁸ Smashing a cup is easy enough, but to slice one so cleanly and smoothly in two with a light wave of the palm showed a depth of neili¹⁹ that was truly frightening.

Manor Master Lu knew the man was using his skill to threaten him, and he was still weighing how to answer it when Han Baoju the Divine Horse King lost his temper. Han Baoju sprang from his seat, planted himself before the table and shouted, “You shameless lout, let’s see which of us is the better man.”

Qiu Qianren said, “I have long heard the fame of the Seven Eccentrics of Jiangnan. Today is a fine day to see whether it is deserved. All six of you, come at me together.”

Manor Master Lu knew that Han Baoju’s martial arts were far below this man’s. Hearing him call for all six to come at once suited him perfectly, and he hastened to say, “The Six Xias of Jiangnan have always advanced together and retreated together. Against a single foe they are six, and against a thousand men and ten thousand horses they are still just six. Not one of them has ever been willing to hang back.” Zhu Cong understood what he meant and called out, “Good. Today we six brothers will see what this famous Senior of the wulin is made of.” He waved his hand and the other five Eccentrics rose from their seats together.

Qiu Qianren stood, picked up the chair he had been sitting in, and walked slowly to the centre of the hall. He set the chair down, sat upon it, crossed his right foot over his left and kept it swinging. Without a flicker of expression he said, “This old man shall sit and have a little sport with you all.”

Zhu Cong and the others all drew in a sharp breath, each thinking, Unless this man possesses supreme martial arts, how would he dare be so arrogant?

Guo Jing had seen Qiu Qianren’s many strange abilities and knew his six shifus were no match for him. He owed his shifus so much. How could he not be the first to stand in the way? Once the fighting began he would be killed or maimed, but now that it had come to this, he could not spare himself. He hurried out in front of the Six Eccentrics, cupped his fists to Qiu Qianren and said, “Esteemed Senior, let me be the first to ask you for a few lessons.”

Qiu Qianren was taken aback, then threw back his head and roared with laughter. “Your parents did not raise you easily. Why throw away your young life here?”

Ke Zhen’e and the others cried together, “Jing-er, get back!” Afraid his shifus would stop him, Guo Jing did not dare say another word. He bent his left leg a little, swept a circle with his right hand and drove out a palm with a whoosh. The move was “Proud Dragon Repents”²⁰ from the Eighteen Palms of Dragon Subduing.²¹ After all these days of ceaseless practice it was far more powerful than when Hong Qigong²² had first taught it to him. But fearing his opponent’s prowess, he put only four tenths of his strength into the blow and held six tenths in reserve. That was the very heart of “Proud Dragon Repents”.

Qiu Qianren had seen that Han Baoju’s leap showed no great skill, and supposed that the Eccentrics’ disciple would be more ordinary still. But this palm came at him with such force that he kicked off sharply with both feet and sprang into the air. There was a crack, and the rosewood chair he had been sitting in burst apart under Guo Jing’s palm. When Qiu Qianren came down he looked more than a little flustered. “Insolent brat!” he roared.

Still wary of his opponent, Guo Jing did not dare follow up. He stood respectfully and said, “Please instruct me, Senior.”

Huang Rong, meaning to unsettle Qiu Qianren’s mind, called out, “Jing gege, don’t be polite with that doddering old fool!”

Since Qiu Qianren had made his name, who had ever dared call him a “doddering old fool” to his face? In his fury he was about to leap across and strike, but then he remembered his standing. He gave a cold laugh, drew Guo Jing with a feint of his right hand and sent out his left in a Palm of Brushing the Brows. When Guo Jing turned aside, the feinting hand at once hooked back in a grab, the Palm of Brushing the Brows drove on in its wake, and he turned and dropped into a low crouch, his right hand flicking out and already changing into a Collapsing Palm.

Huang Rong cried out, “What’s so impressive about that? That’s ‘Lone Goose Leaves the Flock’ from the Linked-Arm Six Harmonies Palm!”²³ Qiu Qianren’s palm technique was indeed the Linked-Arm Six Harmonies Palm, derived from the Linked-Arm Five Elements Palm.²⁴ The moves themselves were nothing extraordinary, but he had spent decades of practice upon this very palm technique. “Linked-arm” meant that both arms were joined in a single force, not that the left arm could really shrink into the right, or the right into the left. Guo Jing saw that as the right hand struck, the left drove its strength into it, and as the left struck, the right drew back to add force to the left. The two hands truly did support each other in an unbroken chain. He had seen the man’s many strange feats, and he had little judgement in a real fight, so his nerve failed him. He did not dare strike back or even parry, but remembered the “Repent” and “Retreat” principles Hong Qigong had taught him, and kept backing away.

Qiu Qianren thought, So the boy who broke a chair with one palm is merely strong. His martial arts are thoroughly ordinary. He followed with “Threading Palm, Flashing Strike,” “Nether Palm” and “Striding Tiger Ascends the Mountain”, fighting with more spirit by the moment. Seeing Guo Jing about to lose, Huang Rong grew anxious. She moved up close beside him, ready to step in the instant he was in danger. Guo Jing dodged a slanting kick, saw the strange look on Huang Rong’s face and the concern in it, and his attention slipped for a moment. Qiu Qianren pressed his advantage without mercy. With “White Snake Thrusts Forth Its Tongue”, his palm landed with a smack, flat and square on Guo Jing’s chest. Huang Rong, the Six Eccentrics of Jiangnan, and the Lu father and son all cried out in alarm, thinking that with the depth of this man’s neili, a palm striking the vital centre of the chest would surely kill or gravely wound Guo Jing.

Guo Jing was badly shaken by the blow himself. But when he braced his arms, his chest hardly hurt at all, and he was baffled. Seeing him suddenly stand there dazed, Huang Rong was sure the wretched old man’s palm had knocked him senseless. She rushed to hold him up, crying, “Jing gege, are you hurt?” In her fright, tears ran down her cheeks.

But Guo Jing said, “I’m fine! Let me try again.” He threw out his chest, walked up to Qiu Qianren and called, “You’re the grand old hero of the Iron Palm. Hit me again.” In a towering rage, Qiu Qianren summoned his strength and struck Guo Jing hard on the chest once more, thump. Guo Jing roared with laughter and cried, “Shifu, Rong-er, the old fellow’s martial arts are nothing special. If he’d left me alone, that would have been that. But he hit me, and gave himself away.” The words were barely out when he swept his left arm across, closing on Qiu Qianren, and shouted, “Now you take one from me!”

Qiu Qianren saw the left arm sweeping in while the boy shouted “take one from me”, and thought, A fist tucked inside the arm. Who doesn’t know that one? He drew both hands in to his chest and drove them at Guo Jing’s left arm. But Guo Jing’s move “Dragon Battles in the Wild”²⁵ was among the most subtle arts of the Eighteen Palms of Dragon Subduing. Both left arm and right palm could be real or feint, never locked into a single pattern. When he saw his opponent block the left arm, his right palm came up without warning and, with another thump, struck Qiu Qianren squarely where his right arm joined his chest. Qiu Qianren flew straight out towards the door like a kite whose string has snapped.

Amid the cries of alarm from the onlookers, a figure suddenly appeared in the doorway. A hand reached out and seized Qiu Qianren by the collar. The figure strode into the hall and set him down on the ground, then stood still, face cold and without the faintest trace of a smile.

When they looked, they saw long hair hanging loose over the shoulders and a face turned up to the sky. It was none other than the Iron Corpse, Mei Chaofeng.

A chill went through them all. Behind her came a second figure, tall and thin, in a green cloth robe, with the strangest face imaginable. His two eyes seemed just able to move a little, but every other muscle, his mouth and his nose, were as rigid as wood or stone. It was a dead man’s head set on a living body, and at the sight of it a chill ran straight down every spine. No one whose eyes met that face dared look at it again. Each of them turned away at once, heart pounding.

Footnotes

1. 江南六怪 — Jiāngnán Liù Guài. Literally six eccentrics of Jiangnan. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

2. 江湖 — jiānghú. Literally rivers and lakes. The world of martial artists, outside mainstream society. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

3. 武林 — wǔlín. Literally martial forest. Those who actually practise, teach or study martial arts. The wulin sits inside the jianghu and is narrower than it: every member of the wulin belongs to the jianghu, but a pedlar or physician of the jianghu who never trained is no part of the wulin. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

4. 朱聪 — Zhū Cōng. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

5. 归云庄 — Guīyún Zhuāng. Literally returning clouds manor. The Lu family manor on Lake Tai. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

6. 陆冠英 — Lù Guānyīng. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

7. 师父 — shīfù. Teacher responsible for technical instruction and moral guidance. Shī means teacher. Fù means father. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

8. 韩宝驹 — Hán Bǎojū. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

9. 韩小莹 — Hán Xiǎoyíng. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

10. 梅超风 — Méi Chāofēng. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

11. 裘千仞 — Qiú Qiānrèn. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

12. 铁掌水上飘 — Tiězhǎng Shuǐshàng Piāo. Literally iron palm floating on water. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

13. 柯镇恶 — Kē Zhèn’è. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

14. 侠 — xiá. A person adept in the martial arts who acts with chivalry and upholds the right. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

15. 全金发 — Quán Jīnfā. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

16. 岳武穆 — Yuè Wǔmù. Yue Fei (1103—1142), the Song general, by his posthumous name Wumu, meaning martial and solemn, granted after his rehabilitation. See Wikipedia. ↩

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

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

19. 内力 — nèilì. Literally internal force. The kinetic manifestation of cultivated qi. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

20. 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. ↩

21. 降龙十八掌 — Xiánglóng Shíbā Zhǎng. Literally eighteen dragon-subduing palms. Hong Qigong’s palm technique. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

22. 洪七公 — Hóng Qīgōng. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

23. 通臂六合掌 — Tōngbì Liùhé Zhǎng. Literally through-arm six harmonies palm. A palm technique in which both arms work as a single force. ↩

24. 通臂五行掌 — Tōngbì Wǔxíng Zhǎng. Literally through-arm five elements palm. ↩

25. 龙战于野 — Lóng Zhàn Yú Yě. Literally dragons battle in the wild. A move of the Eighteen Palms of Dragon Subduing, named from a line of the Book of Changes. ↩