The Legend of the Condor Heroes Chapter 18 – Part 4

Huang Yaoshi¹ cried out in approval and made no move to stop them. He wanted to see how far these two masters of the wulin,² whose fame matched his own, had advanced in all these years.

Hong Qigong³ and Ouyang Feng⁴ were each the head of a great school, and their martial arts had reached the summit of perfection many years before. After the Huashan Sword Summit,⁵ they had each devoted themselves to hard training, and their skills had grown ever more refined and pure. Now that they met again on Peach Blossom Island⁶ to test their strength, the contest was vastly different from their encounter at Mount Hua years ago.

At first they exchanged rapid moves, each withdrawn before it could land, sounding out the other’s strengths and weaknesses. Their fists and the shadows of their palms flew to and fro among the bamboo leaves, and though they were only trying each other out, every blow held profound martial learning.

Guo Jing⁷ watched from the side, utterly absorbed. In attack and defence alike, every move was a marvel beyond anything one could have expected. The Nine Yin Manual⁸ held the essence of all the martial learning under heaven. Internal school or external, fist or jian, all the most fundamental methods and secrets were contained in its first volume. Guo Jing had memorised it all, and though he did not yet understand its deepest truths, his understanding had grown without his knowing it, until it was no longer what it once had been. Now every attack and parry of the two masters seemed to fit the formulas Zhou Botong⁹ had taught him like the halves of a tally, and yet each was a strange and ingenious move he could never have dreamt of. Whenever he tried to look deeper, their palms had already changed, leaving only a blurred shadow in his mind. Earlier, when Huang Yaoshi and Ouyang Feng had duelled with flute and zither, it had been a contest of formless neili,¹⁰ hard to check against the formulas. Fists and feet that he could see were far easier to understand. His face lit up with glee, and he itched to try for himself.

In the space of a glance, the two had exchanged over three hundred moves, and both Hong Qigong and Ouyang Feng felt a stir of alarm, each admiring the other’s prowess.

Watching from the side, Huang Yaoshi could not help sighing inwardly, and thought, I have trained so hard on Peach Blossom Island, and I believed that with Wang Chongyang¹¹ dead my martial arts stood first under heaven. Yet the old beggar and Old Venom have each gone their own way, and each has forged skills to be admired and feared!

Ouyang Ke¹² and Huang Rong¹³ each had their own concerns, hoping one of the two combatants would soon prevail. But the subtleties within those fist-moves lay beyond their understanding. Out of the corner of her eye Huang Rong saw a dark shadow on the ground beside her, waving its arms and legs about wildly. She looked up and saw it was Guo Jing. His expression was strange, as though he had fallen into a rapture of joy and wonder. Startled, she called softly, “Jing gege!”

Guo Jing did not hear her. He went on punching and kicking at the air. Huang Rong was greatly puzzled. She watched more closely and realised he was mimicking the fist-techniques of Hong Qigong and Ouyang Feng.

By now the two combatants had changed their approach. Every move came slowly, deliberately. Sometimes one would pause in thought for a moment before throwing out a fist. His opponent would dodge it, then sit down to rest a while before rising to return a blow. This was hardly a fight at all. It was slower and more leisurely even than a master teaching a pupil. Yet their demeanour was graver still than in their earlier exchange of swift moves.

Huang Rong turned to watch her father. He was gazing at the two fighters as if in a trance, and his face too wore a strange look. Only Ouyang Ke kept making eyes at her, waving his folding fan lightly, very much the debonair gallant.

Carried away by what he saw, Guo Jing could not help shouting his applause aloud. Ouyang Ke snapped, “You stupid boy, you don’t understand a thing. What are you shouting about?”

Huang Rong said, “If you don’t understand, how do you know he doesn’t?”

Ouyang Ke laughed. “He’s just putting on airs and playing the fool. A youngster like him, how could he possibly appreciate my uncle’s wondrous skills?”

Huang Rong said, “You’re not him. How do you know he doesn’t understand?”

The two bickered to one side, but Huang Yaoshi and Guo Jing heard nothing, their whole attention on the duel.

By now both Hong Qigong and Ouyang Feng were crouched on the ground. One was lightly flicking his own forehead with his left middle finger, and the other cupped his hands over his ears. Both had closed their eyes and were thinking hard. Suddenly they both cried out, leapt up at the same moment, traded a punch and a kick, then broke apart to think again. Their martial arts had reached such a pitch that each knew the other as well as himself. They understood every killing move either side could bring to bear, and knew the opponent could dissolve it with ease. They must invent new and wondrous techniques if they were to overcome the other and win.

Many years had passed since their last Sword Summit. One in the Central Plains, one in the Western Regions, they had never corresponded, never learned what new arts the other had devised. Now, testing each other blow for blow, they discovered that both had advanced greatly, yet when they compared their skills, the balance between them remained unchanged from years ago. Each had his strengths, each had his weaknesses, and neither could gain the upper hand. The moonlight faded and the red sun rose in the east. The two exhausted every trick of wit and thought, devising countless new moves. Fist-methods and palm-forces shifted through a thousand transformations, yet their neili was so evenly matched that neither could break the deadlock.

Guo Jing watched the two greatest fighters in the world exchange blow after blow, each more ingenious than the last. Every move hovered on the edge of his understanding. Sometimes he caught a hint of the fist-principles Zhou Botong had taught him, and at once began to mimic what he had seen. But before he had finished copying half a technique, Hong Qigong and Ouyang Feng had already produced something new, and what he had just memorised slipped away.

Huang Rong was secretly amazed to see him like this, and thought, I haven’t seen him for ten days or more. Can he suddenly have been taught by the gods and made great strides in his martial arts? I can’t make head or tail of it, so how can he be so delighted and amazed? Then she thought, Can my silly gege¹⁴ have gone mad from missing me? Yes, that must be it. All these days I’ve been going mad missing him too. When we landed on the island that day, I should never have gone rushing off to find Father the moment we arrived, just because I missed him, and left him behind. When I went back to look for him, I couldn’t find him anywhere. I was frantic, and I expect he was the same. She stepped forward to take his hand.

Guo Jing was at that moment mimicking Ouyang Feng’s reverse-thrusting palm. The move looked quite ordinary, but there was tremendous hidden power in it. Huang Rong had just caught hold of his hand when, without warning, the force in his palm burst out. She felt a great power thrust her violently away, and at once she was flying helplessly up into the air. Only as his palm went out did Guo Jing realise what he had done. He cried, “Oh no!” and leapt up to catch her, but with a twist of her slender waist Huang Rong was already standing on the roof of the bamboo pavilion. Guo Jing touched ground and sprang up after her, catching the flying eaves of the pavilion’s corner with his left hand and using the momentum to swing himself up. The two sat side by side on the pavilion roof, looking down upon the duel.

The situation below had changed again. Ouyang Feng was crouched on the ground, his hands bent level with his shoulders, for all the world like a great green frog about to spring. From his mouth came a deep croaking like the lowing of a bull, now stopping, now starting again.

Huang Rong saw his absurd posture and laughed softly, “Jing gege, what’s he doing?”

Guo Jing had just said, “I don’t know either!” when suddenly he remembered what Zhou Botong had told him of how Wang Chongyang used One Yang Finger¹⁵ to defeat Ouyang Feng’s Toad Skill.¹⁶ He nodded. “I see. This is one of his most fearsome techniques. It’s called Toad Skill.”

Huang Rong clapped her hands and laughed. “He really does look like a toad!”

The toad sleeps long through winter, hidden in the earth for months, gathering its strength, so that when it emerges it is brimming with vigour. The principle of Ouyang Feng’s Toad Skill was the same. In daily training he stored his power over long periods, then released it all in one burst when facing an enemy. Moreover, the toad said to live in the moon is commonly called a hama, and since the skill was practised at night facing the dark shadow on the moon, that was how it got its name.

Ouyang Ke saw the two of them nestled together, pointing, chatting and laughing, and he was eaten up with jealousy. He wanted to leap up there and fight Guo Jing, but the pain in his chest was still fierce and he had no strength, and he reckoned besides that he was no match for him. Then he faintly heard Huang Rong say, “He really does look like a toad.” He thought they were mocking him as a toad lusting after a swan,¹⁷ and his rage burned hotter still. His right hand drew three Flying Swallow Silver Shuttles¹⁸ and he slipped quietly behind the bamboo pavilion. Gritting his teeth, he flung his hand, and all three silver shuttles flew straight at Guo Jing’s back.

By now Hong Qigong, one palm forward and one behind, was circling Ouyang Feng, pitting the Eighteen Palms of Dragon Subduing¹⁹ against his Toad Skill. These were the purest arts either of them had. The fight had gone beyond the slow match of wits and display of ingenuity of a little earlier, a contest of who could find the stranger move. Each was now pitting the supreme attainment of his life and decades of neili against the other, and life and death would be decided in an instant.

Of all his martial arts, Guo Jing had learned the Eighteen Palms of Dragon Subduing best. Now, watching his shifu unleash them, ever-changing and endlessly subtle, he saw that they were as different from what he knew as heaven from earth, and he was utterly enthralled. How could he guess that someone behind him was about to strike in secret?

Huang Rong did not know that the two greatest fighters in the world had reached the most critical juncture of their duel. She was still pointing and laughing when out of the corner of her eye she saw that one figure had vanished from beside the pavilion. At once she suspected Ouyang Ke was up to something. She was about to look when she heard a fierce rush of wind behind her, a hidden weapon aimed at Guo Jing’s back. From the corner of her eye she saw he had not noticed. She threw herself across his back, and with three soft thuds all three Flying Swallow Silver Shuttles struck her square in the back. She was wearing the Soft Hedgehog Armour,²⁰ and the shuttles only hurt a little and did her no harm. She reached behind her, caught the three shuttles in her hand and laughed. “You were scratching my back for me, weren’t you? Thank you so much. Here, have them back.”

Seeing her take the three shuttles for Guo Jing, Ouyang Ke grew more jealous still. Hearing her words, he waited for her to throw them back. A moment passed, but she merely held the shuttles in her open palm, not throwing, only reaching them out for him to take.

Ouyang Ke pushed off with his left foot and sprang onto the pavilion. Meaning to show off his qinggong,²¹ he alighted feather-light on a corner of the roof, his white robe stirring in the breeze, and he did indeed look handsome and graceful, as airy as an immortal.

Huang Rong cried out in admiration. “Your qinggong is truly wonderful!” She stepped forward and held out the shuttles to return them.

Ouyang Ke saw her wrist, white as snow, and his mind blurred for a moment. He was thinking of brushing it as he took the shuttles when suddenly a flash of gold glittered before his eyes. He had already suffered twice from those needles. He tumbled backwards off the pavilion in a somersault, his long sleeves dancing as he sent a hail of golden needles clattering down.

Huang Rong gave a peal of giggles and flung the three silver shuttles straight at the crown of Ouyang Feng’s head, where he still crouched on the ground.

Guo Jing cried out in alarm, “Don’t!” He caught her round the waist and leapt down with her, and before his feet had touched the ground he heard Huang Yaoshi cry out, “Brother Feng, spare her!” Guo Jing felt a tremendous force bearing down on him, like toppling mountains and overturning seas. He hurriedly set Huang Rong down beside him, summoned his strength and thrust both palms straight out in Seeing the Dragon in the Field²² from the Eighteen Palms of Dragon Subduing. All he could think of was protecting Huang Rong, and he held nothing back. There was a loud bang, and the force of Ouyang Feng’s Toad Skill drove him back seven or eight paces. His chest heaved with churning blood and he felt sick to death. Afraid that Ouyang Feng’s fearsome palm-force might still reach Huang Rong, he forced himself to stand firm, drew a deep breath, and crossed his palms ready to face whatever came next. Then he saw Hong Qigong and Huang Yaoshi both standing before him.

Ouyang Feng rose to his full height and called, “How shameful, how shameful. I couldn’t check myself in time. I haven’t hurt you, Miss Huang, have I?”

Huang Rong had been frightened white. Hearing his words, she forced a smile. “My father is here. How could you harm me?”

Huang Yaoshi was deeply worried. He caught her hand and whispered, “Do you feel anything wrong? Quick, take a few breaths.”

Huang Rong did as she was told, breathing in slowly and out sharply, and felt nothing wrong. She smiled and shook her head. Only then did Huang Yaoshi relax, and he scolded her. “Your two uncles are here comparing their skills. What business has a girl like you meddling? Uncle Ouyang’s Toad Skill is no small thing. If he hadn’t held back, would you still have that little life of yours?”

Ouyang Feng’s Toad Skill was pure stillness overcoming motion. His whole body held its force coiled, its power stored and unspent. The moment an enemy attacked, a devastating counter-force erupted in reply. Years ago Wang Chongyang had wounded him with One Yang Finger, but afterwards he had trained to restore what was lost. Now he was contending with Hong Qigong with all his might, like a bow drawn to the full, its trigger set to loose, and for Huang Rong to blunder against it was as good as seeking her own death. By the time Ouyang Feng realised it was Huang Rong attacking him, his force was already loosed, and he was badly shaken. He thought he had made a terrible blunder, and that this girl, as lovely as a flower and as fair as jade, was about to die beneath his palm. He heard Huang Yaoshi cry, “Brother Feng, spare her!” and tried to draw back his force, but it was far too late. Then all at once a palm-force came pushing against his own, and he seized the chance to pull back. When he saw that it was Guo Jing who had saved Huang Rong, his respect for Hong Qigong grew greater still, and he thought, The old beggar really is something. He has trained even this young disciple to have such neili!

Huang Yaoshi had tested Guo Jing’s martial arts at Returning Clouds Manor.²³ He thought, You stupid boy, you don’t know how high the sky is or how deep the earth, daring to stand against Ouyang Feng’s lifetime masterpiece, Toad Skill. If he hadn’t held back out of regard for me, you’d be lying there with every bone broken and every sinew snapped. He did not know that Guo Jing’s neili was not what it had been at the manor. It was indeed Guo Jing who had just saved Huang Rong’s life. But when he saw the stupid boy throw himself into danger for his daughter’s sake, more than half of Huang Yaoshi’s dislike for him melted away at once, and he thought, The boy is honest and true, and he really is besotted with Rong-er. She can’t marry him, but I must give him a handsome reward. The boy might be a dolt, but that one quality, his besotted devotion, was very much to Huang Yaoshi’s taste.

Hong Qigong shouted again, “Old Venom, you really are something! Our fight is still undecided. Let’s go again!”

Ouyang Feng called back, “Very well, I’ll risk my life to keep a junzi²⁴ company.”

Hong Qigong laughed. “I’m no junzi. Risk your life to keep a beggar company, then!” His body swayed and he leapt back into the fray.

Footnotes

1. 黄药师 — Huáng Yàoshī. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

2. 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. ↩

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

4. 欧阳锋 — Ōuyáng Fēng. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

5. 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. ↩

6. 桃花岛 — Táohuā Dǎo. Huang Yaoshi’s island in the East China Sea. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

7. 郭靖 — Guō Jìng. His name meaning “to pacify”; paired with Yang Kang’s 康 it recalls the Jingkang Shame of 1127. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

8. 九阴真经 — Jiǔyīn Zhēnjīng. Literally true scripture of the nine yin. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

9. 周伯通 — Zhōu Bótōng. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

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

11. 王重阳 — Wáng Chóngyáng. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

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

13. 黄蓉 — Huáng Róng. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

14. 傻哥哥 — shǎ gēge. Literally silly elder brother. ↩

15. 一阳指 — Yīyáng Zhǐ. The finger art of the Duan family of Dali. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

16. 蛤蟆功 — Háma Gōng. Ouyang Feng’s hereditary art, practised crouching like a toad. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

17. 癞蛤蟆想吃天鹅肉 — lài háma xiǎng chī tiān’é ròu. Literally a toad lusting after swan meat. A proverb said of someone who desires what is far beyond their station. ↩

18. 飞燕银梭 — Fēiyàn Yínsuō. Literally flying swallow silver shuttles. Shuttle-shaped silver darts thrown as hidden weapons. ↩

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

20. 软猬甲 — Ruǎnwèijiǎ. A vest set with tiny barbs, proof against blades and fists, treasured on Peach Blossom Island. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

21. 轻功 — qīnggōng. The martial art of body lightness. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

22. 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. ↩

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

24. 君子 — jūnzǐ. Literally noble man. The Confucian ideal of the morally cultivated man. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩