The Legend of the Condor Heroes Chapter 2 – Part 4

Qiu Chuji said, “Very well. I’ll offer each of you seven a mouthful of wine. Drink it, and then we’ll fight.” With that his right hand dipped, lowering the vat, and he took a great gulp of wine from it. “Your health!” he cried, and with a flick of his hand the vat went flying at Zhang Asheng again.

Zhang Asheng thought, If I hold the vat over my head again like last time, how am I going to drink? At once he stepped back two paces and held both hands in front of his chest. When the vat reached him, he parted his hands and let it strike him full in the chest. He was a fat man, his chest heaped with layers of flesh, and it took the vat like a soft cushion. Then he circulated his neili,¹ and his chest muscles sprang outward and checked the vat’s flight, and his arms closed round it and hugged it tight. He lowered his head, took a great gulp of wine from the vat and cried, “Good wine!” Suddenly he drew both hands back against his chest, and before the vat could drop, he shoved it violently away with a move called Twin Palms Move the Mountain. The move had both power and lightning speed, external technique² of a high order. Watching from the side, Wanyan Honglie was secretly alarmed.

Qiu Chuji caught the vat and took a great gulp himself. “This humble Daoist offers Big Brother Ke a vat of wine!” he cried, and he tossed the vat towards Ke Zhen’e.

Wanyan Honglie thought, The man is blind. How can he possibly catch it? But he did not know that Ke Zhen’e, chief of the Seven Eccentrics of Jiangnan,³ was also the first of the seven in martial prowess. His hearing could discern the faintest hidden weapon to a hair’s breadth. This enormous bronze vat came at him with a rushing of wind, and he heard it clearly. He sat composed and at ease, as though unaware, until the vat was directly above his head. Only then did his right hand rise, his iron staff already braced against the vat’s base. The vat spun round and round on the end of the staff like a porcelain plate twirled on a bamboo stick by a juggler. Suddenly the staff tilted a little, the vat leaned, and it looked about to fall and strike him on the head. Would that not dash his brains out? But the vat tilted yet did not drop. Instead the wine within streamed down in a thin line. Ke Zhen’e opened his mouth and caught it, the liquor pouring down without cease as he gulped three or four mouthfuls. The remainder splashed onto his robe, but with a slight shift of his staff he had balanced the vat once more upon its centre, then thrust upward, and the vat flew into the air. He swung his staff in a horizontal strike, and with a deafening clang the vat shot towards Qiu Chuji, its humming lingering long in the air.

Qiu Chuji laughed. “Ke daxia must be fond of plate-spinning.” He caught the vat as it came. Ke Zhen’e said coldly, “This younger brother’s family was poor when he was a boy, and he begged for his food with this trick.” Qiu Chuji said, “Poverty and low station cannot make him swerve: this is what is called a great man. I offer Fourth Brother Nan a vat!” He lowered his head and drank a mouthful from the vat, then tossed it towards Nan Xiren, the Southern Woodcutter.

Nan Xiren said not a word. When the vat reached him, he raised his carrying pole and blocked it in mid-air with a clang, and the vat, checked in its flight, dropped. Nan Xiren reached into the vat, scooped up a mouthful of wine and drank it from his hand. Then he swung the pole crosswise, knelt on his right knee with the pole resting across his left, and pressed down on one end with his right hand, so that the other end caught the bottom of the vat and levered it up, and once more it flew into the air.

He was about to push the vat back to Qiu Chuji with his pole when Quan Jinfa, the Hidden Xia of the Busy City,⁴ laughed. “I’m a small tradesman and I like a little something for nothing. I’ll just cadge a drink without any effort.” He darted to Nan Xiren’s side, and as the vat came down again he too scooped up a mouthful of wine. Suddenly he leapt up, braced both feet against the rim of the vat, pushed hard in mid-air with his legs, and shot backwards like an arrow, kicking the vat away with his feet as he went. He and the vat flew off in opposite directions, the vat straight at Qiu Chuji, while he himself shot against the wooden partition and slid lightly down it.

Zhu Cong, the Swift-Handed Scholar, waved his folding fan and kept saying, “Marvellous, marvellous!”

Qiu Chuji caught the vat and drank another great gulp, saying, “Marvellous, marvellous indeed! I offer Second Brother Zhu a vat.” Zhu Cong began to wail. “Aiyo, no, no, this humble scholar hasn’t the strength to truss a chicken, nor the stomach for a single cup of wine. If it doesn’t crush me to death it’ll make me drink myself to death…” His cries were not finished before the vat flew at his head. Zhu Cong bawled, “I’m being crushed to death, help, hel…” He dipped his fan into the vat and brought it to his lips, then reversed the fan’s handle and braced it against the vat’s rim, thrusting outward. With a thud, he had kicked a great hole through the floorboards, and his body fell through. Cries of “Help, help” kept floating up through it. Everyone knew he was feigning, and none was surprised. Wanyan Honglie, watching, saw that with the slightest touch of his fan’s handle the vat had flown back. That a little folding fan could put out as much force as Nan Xiren’s heavy steel carrying pole secretly appalled him.

Han Xiaoying, the Yue Maiden Swordswoman, called, “I’ll have a drink!” She pushed off with her right foot and flew like a swallow skimming the waves. In an instant she had leaped above the bronze vat, dipped her head, and sucked a mouthful of wine, then landed lightly on the opposite window lattice. She excelled in swordplay and qinggong,⁵ but physical strength was not her forte. She had thought, When it’s my turn to have this great clumsy vat thrown at me, I won’t have the strength to stop it, and throwing it back to this Daoist is quite out of the question. So she had seized the chance to drink by a display of qinggong.

Meanwhile the vat was still flying hard out towards the street, where people were coming and going. If it came down there, it was bound to cause a terrible disaster. Qiu Chuji was secretly alarmed, and was about to leap down into the street and catch it when there came a whoosh, and Han Baoju flashed past him at a slant, giving a whistle as he went. The yellow horse downstairs came galloping to the end of the street. Everyone upstairs rushed to the windows to watch. In mid-air a ball of flesh collided with the vat, turning its plunge into a slanting fall forward, and ball of flesh and vat came down together on the yellow horse’s saddle. The horse galloped on for some tens of feet to take the force of the weight, then turned and raced straight upstairs, breaking a good many steps on the way but never once stumbling.

Han Baoju, the Divine Horse King, was beneath the horse’s belly, his left foot hooked in the stirrup, while his hands and right foot held the vat squarely on the saddle so that it could not tip. The yellow horse galloped both swift and true, mounting the stairs as though on level ground. Han Baoju vaulted onto the saddle, leaned down and drank a great mouthful, then with a jerk of his left arm pushed the vat down on to the floor. He roared with laughter, twitched the reins, and the yellow horse shot from the window like a heavenly steed soaring through the sky, landing steadily in the street below. Han Baoju jumped down and came back upstairs hand in hand with Zhu Cong.

Qiu Chuji said, “The Seven Xias of Jiangnan truly live up to their name! Each is highly skilled, and I am full of admiration. For your sakes, I’ll make no more trouble for this monk. As long as he hands over those two poor women, we’ll let bygones be bygones.”

Ke Zhen’e said, “Daoist Elder Qiu, now you are in the wrong. Great Master Jiaomu here has led a pure religious life for decades. He is an eminent monk of true virtue, and we have always held him in respect. Fahua Monastery, too, is a famous Buddhist house in Jiaxing Prefecture. How could it be secretly harbouring respectable women?” Qiu Chuji said, “The world is a big place, and there is no shortage of men who win their name by fooling it.” Han Baoju said angrily, “So you don’t believe what we say, Daoist Elder?” Qiu Chuji said, “I would rather believe my own eyes.” Han Baoju said, “Then what do you mean to do, Daoist Elder?” Short as he was, his voice rang out, and there was a fierce authority in the way he spoke.

Qiu Chuji said, “This matter never concerned you seven. Since you have thrust yourselves into it, you must be confident that your skills are greater than other men’s. I am a man of small talent, but I have no choice but to try my strength against you seven. If I lose, you may deal with me however you please.” Ke Zhen’e said, “If you are set on it, Daoist Elder, then name your terms.”

Qiu Chuji considered a moment, then said, “I have no quarrel with you, sirs. The Seven Eccentrics of Jiangnan are valiant xia,⁶ and I have long held you in esteem. If we come to blades and fists, there’s bound to be bad blood. Let’s do it this way.” He called loudly, “Boy, bring fourteen big bowls!”

The serving boy had been hiding below, but now, hearing silence above and then the summons, he hurried upstairs with the bowls.

Qiu Chuji had him fill each bowl from the bronze vat, then arranged them in two rows upon the upper floor. He said to the Seven Eccentrics, “I will match you at drinking. Between you, you seven drink seven bowls, and I drink seven by myself, and we go on until one side has won. How does that suit you?”

Han Baoju, Zhang Asheng, and the others were men of mighty capacity, and they approved at once. But Ke Zhen’e said, “Seven against one. If we win, it is no honour. Daoist Elder, you had better name some other terms.” Qiu Chuji said, “How do you know you will win?”

Han Xiaoying, though a woman, was bold by nature. She said loudly, “Good, let’s have the drinking match first and talk afterwards. This is the first time this little sister has met anyone who thinks so little of us seven.” She picked up a bowl and gulped it down. She had drunk too hastily, and in moments a peach-bloom rose upon her white cheeks.

Qiu Chuji said, “Miss Han is a true hero among women. Drink up, everyone!” The other six Eccentrics each raised a bowl and drank. Qiu Chuji emptied every bowl as soon as it reached his lips, and in a moment had drained seven, one after another. Each bowl went from his mouth into his belly with a single glug, without pausing for an instant in his throat. The serving boy was delighted and called out praise, then refilled the fourteen bowls. The eight drank again.

By the third round of fourteen bowls, Han Xiaoying, whose head for wine was the weakest after all, had drunk only half a bowl, her right hand trembling slightly. Zhang Asheng took the half-bowl from her and said, “Seventh Sister, I’ll drink this for you.” Han Xiaoying said, “Daoist Elder, is that allowed?” Qiu Chuji said, “Yes. It’s all the same who drinks it.” After another round, Quan Jinfa dropped out too.

The Seven Eccentrics saw Qiu Chuji drink twenty-eight bowls without a change to his face or bearing, and they were all astonished. Wanyan Honglie, watching from the side, was struck dumb with amazement. He thought, Best of all if the old Daoist drinks himself senseless and the Seven Eccentrics of Jiangnan seize the chance to kill him.

Quan Jinfa reckoned that five of their number remained, each of prodigious capacity, who could manage three or four bowls more. Could the Daoist’s belly truly hold twenty-odd bowls beyond that? Even if his capacity for drink were truly boundless, his stomach must have some limit. Victory seemed assured, and he was pleased. But then, glancing at the floorboards, he saw a great wet patch beside Qiu Chuji’s feet. He was startled and whispered to Zhu Cong, “Second Brother, look at the Daoist’s feet.” Zhu Cong looked and said in a low voice, “This is bad. He is using neigong to force the wine out through his feet.” Quan Jinfa whispered, “So it is. I did not expect his neigong to be so formidable. What shall we do?”

Footnotes

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

2. 外家 — wàijiā. Literally outer school. Martial arts built on strength, speed and hard force, as opposed to neigong. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

3. 江南七怪 — Jiāngnán Qī Guài. Literally seven eccentrics of Jiangnan. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

4. 闹市侠隐 — Nàoshì Xiáyǐn. Literally the xia hidden in the busy market. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

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

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