The Legend of the Condor Heroes Chapter 27 – Part 3

The beggars heard Yang Kang’s voice grow harsher with each question, yet Guo Jing kept nodding. They took it that he was confessing, never guessing that the questions had nothing whatever to do with the treacherous attack on Guild Chief Hong,¹ and were all part of Yang Kang’s cunning scheme to frame them. Even Lu Youjiao² now hated Guo Jing and Huang Rong³ to the bone. He stepped forward and kicked Guo Jing hard several times. Yang Kang cried, “Brothers, these two young villains have owned up freely enough, so we will spare them any further torment. Elders Peng and Liang,⁴ do it now!”

Guo Jing and Huang Rong gazed at each other in misery. Huang Rong suddenly smiled and thought, It’s Jing gege and me dying together, not that Huazheng!⁵ To die like this is a clean end, at least. And since it’s pouring with rain up ahead anyway, there’s no need to run.

Guo Jing raised his head and looked at the sky. He thought of his mother far away in the great desert. Gazing north, he saw the seven stars of the Northern Dipper shining brightly. Something stirred in his mind, and he remembered the formation the Seven Zis of Quanzhen⁶ had used in their fierce fight with Mei Chaofeng⁷ and Huang Yaoshi.⁸ A man on the brink of death thinks with a peculiar keenness, and all at once the attacks and defences, the advances and retreats, the opening and closing of the Big Dipper Formation⁹ stood out before his eyes, clear as day.

Elders Peng and Liang came forward with dao and jian levelled and were about to strike when Lu Youjiao suddenly darted in, planted himself in front of Guo Jing and Huang Rong and shouted, “Wait!” He pulled the gag from Guo Jing’s mouth and asked, “How was the old Guild Chief killed? Tell me plainly.”

Yang Kang said quickly, “There’s no need to ask. I know it all.”

Lu Youjiao said, “Guild Chief, the more carefully we inquire, the better. Not one of the traitors who had a hand in this must get away!”

Yang Kang was secretly frantic. Once Guo Jing told the truth, he thought, everything would go wrong. But Lu Youjiao had every right to press the question, and he could hardly stop him. Beads of sweat broke out on his forehead.

But though the gag was out of his mouth, Guo Jing said nothing. He lay with his head raised, staring at the northern sky, lost in a trance. Lu Youjiao asked him again and again, but Guo Jing never heard a word, for he was wholly absorbed in working out the Big Dipper Formation. Framed by Yang Kang, he and Huang Rong now stood at the very edge of life and death, and with the gag gone he could have spoken up for himself. But he was not quick-witted by nature, and his whole mind was given to martial arts. He was now so utterly absorbed that he was like a man drunk or possessed. How could he pay any heed to what Lu Youjiao was saying? When Huang Rong and Yang Kang saw that he was not seizing this golden chance to defend himself, both were astounded, though their feelings could hardly have been more different, the one secretly grieving, the other secretly glad.

Yang Kang waved his hand. Elders Peng and Liang raised their dao and jian. Suddenly there was a hiss, and a streak of purple flame skimmed across the lake.

Elders Peng and Liang turned in surprise. Two streaks of blue flame shot into the sky, rising from the middle of the lake some li off from Mount Jun.¹⁰ Elder Jian said, “Guild Chief, honoured guests are here.”

Yang Kang was startled. “Who?”

Elder Jian said, “The Chief of the Iron Palm Keep.”

Yang Kang did not know the Iron Palm Keep’s origins. “The Iron Palm Keep?”

Elder Jian said, “It is a great guild in Jinghu.¹¹ Their Chief has come to pay a formal call on our mountain, and we must receive him well. With an honoured guest present, it would not look right for us to deal with traitors. These two young villains can be disposed of later.”

Yang Kang said, “Very well. Please, Elder Jian, go and welcome our guests.”

Elder Jian passed down the order. Three sharp reports sounded, and three red rockets flew up from Junshan Island.¹²

Before long, the visiting boats reached the shore. The beggars lit torches and rose to welcome them. The Xuanyuan Terrace¹³ stood on the summit of Mount Jun, and it was still a good climb from the foot of the hill to the top, so that, though the visitors all had qinggong,¹⁴ it was some time before they arrived.

Guo Jing and Huang Rong were brought into the crowd, where Elder Peng ordered disciples to guard them. Huang Rong looked Guo Jing over. His face was blank, his head tilted to the sky, and he was muttering on and on, she could not tell what. She was puzzled, and supposed that the monstrous injustice had left his mind somewhat confused. Whoever the newcomers were, she thought, there would now be some opening to exploit. While she was still turning it over, the guests arrived. In the torchlight several dozen men in black came up to the platform with an old man in their midst.

The old man wore a short jacket of yellow grass-cloth and was waving a palm-leaf fan. Who else could it be but Qiu Qianren?¹⁵ Huang Rong did not know whether to be angry or amused, and she was bitterly disappointed. Nothing good would ever come of this man’s arrival.

Elder Jian went forward to meet him, exchanged the usual jianghu courtesies with great respect, then introduced him to Yang Kang, saying, “This is the venerable Chief Qiu, Iron Palm Skims the Water,¹⁶ whose divine palm has no equal and whose might awes the age. Our old Guild Chief Hong, alas, has passed away in Lin’an Prefecture,¹⁷ and this is Guild Chief Yang, who took office as our new chief today, a young hero. I hope you two will be the best of friends.”

At Returning Clouds Manor on Lake Tai, Yang Kang had seen Qiu Qianren disgrace himself with his own eyes, and he thought very little of the man. So the great fraud was chief of some guild or other, he thought. An idea came to him, and pretending not to know him, he smiled and said, “A pleasure, a pleasure,” and held out his hand to clasp the other’s.

The moment their palms met, Yang Kang drove the strength of his whole body into his hand, meaning to squeeze until the old man howled and begged for mercy. He thought, Everyone believes your martial arts are supreme, but I’ll make you come a cropper at my hands. This is a heaven-sent chance. I’ll use you, old man, to show my prowess and make my authority felt before the beggars.

But the instant he applied his strength, his palm turned unbearably hot, as though he had grasped a red-hot coal. He tried to snatch his hand back, but the other man had it gripped fast, and the burning seemed to sear straight through to his heart. He could not help crying out, “Aagh!” His face went deathly white, tears streamed from his eyes, and he doubled over in agony, close to fainting.

The four great elders of the Beggars’ Guild were shocked and rushed forward to protect him. Elder Jian, foremost of the four, brought his steel staff down on the rock with a clang and a shower of sparks, and said angrily, “Chief Qiu, you have come a long way as our guest, and our Guild Chief Yang is young. How can you start testing his skill like this?”

Qiu Qianren said coldly, “I was shaking hands in good faith. It was your honourable Guild Chief who tested this decrepit old man first. Guild Chief Yang intended to crush these old bones of mine.”

All the while he spoke, his grip did not slacken in the least. At every sentence Yang Kang let out a cry of pain, and by the time he had finished, Yang Kang’s cries had grown faint and he had fainted from the pain.

Qiu Qianren let go and flung him away. Yang Kang, senseless, went sprawling backwards, and Lu Youjiao sprang forward to catch him.

Elder Jian said angrily, “Chief Qiu, you… you… what do you mean by this? This is an outrage!”

Qiu Qianren snorted and slapped his left palm towards Elder Jian’s face. Elder Jian raised his steel staff to block. Qiu Qianren changed his move with lightning speed. His left hand pressed down and caught the head of the staff, and the moment the edge of his palm touched it, before he even had a firm hold, he was already wrenching it towards him. Elder Jian’s martial arts were far from ordinary. Startled, he clung on, and Qiu Qianren failed to tear the staff away. Then his right palm swept across to the left like a gust of wind and struck the middle of the staff with a clang. The webs between Elder Jian’s thumbs and forefingers split, blood streamed, he could hold on no longer, and the staff was torn from him.

Qiu Qianren flicked the staff up and across, turning aside the dao and jian of Elders Peng and Liang in one sweep, and as he drew it back, his right elbow drove at Lu Youjiao’s face. In an instant he had forced all four elders of the Beggars’ Guild back. The beggars looked at one another in horror and snatched up their weapons, waiting only for their Guild Chief’s word to surge forward and fight it out with the Iron Palm Keep.

Qiu Qianren gripped the head of the steel staff in his left hand and hurled it with both hands. The staff flew through the air and shot towards the rocks opposite. With a great clang its head drove straight into the stone, and the ring of steel on rock went on a long while before it died away.

This display left the beggars awed and cowed, and Huang Rong more astonished still. She thought, This old man is clearly a fraud with no real skill. How has he suddenly become so formidable? Most likely he has conspired with Yang Kang and Elder Jian, plotting some scheme. There must be something strange about that steel staff.

With the moon shining overhead and torches all around, she could see plainly that this was indeed the same Qiu Qianren she had seen at Returning Clouds Manor and at Niu Family Village.

She turned to look at Guo Jing. He was still gazing upward, studying the heavens at this moment of mortal danger. Had shock and fury really driven him out of his mind? Or was he so torn between his marriage to Huazheng and his love for her, Huang Rong, that he could find no way out and his wits had given way? And he was not even admiring the moon but looking at the stars, which made no sense at all. In her anxiety for Guo Jing she thought no more about whatever trick Qiu Qianren was playing, and her lovely eyes watched nothing but his face.

Qiu Qianren said coldly, “The Iron Palm Keep and your honourable Guild have always been like river water not invading well water.¹⁸ I heard your Guild was holding a great assembly on Mount Jun today, and this humble one came in all goodwill to call on you. Why does your Guild Chief give me a show of force the moment we meet?”

Elder Jian, cowed by the man’s might and afraid of him, heard little hostility in his words and said hastily, “Chief Qiu has misunderstood. Your might is known across the four seas, venerable Chief, and we have always revered you. To have you honour us with your presence today is a great privilege for our whole Guild. We offer you nothing but the warmest welcome, and mean no disrespect at all.”

Qiu Qianren tilted his head back and made no answer, overbearing arrogance in every line of him. At length he said, “So old Guild Chief Hong has passed on, alas. The world has one hero fewer. A pity, a great pity. And for your Guild to install a new chief like this one. Lamentable, truly lamentable!”

By now Yang Kang had come round. He heard himself mocked to his face, but angry as he was, he dared not say a word. His right palm still burned as if scorched by fire, and his five fingers had swollen like five yams. The four elders of the Beggars’ Guild looked at each other, not knowing how to respond.

Qiu Qianren said, “I have come today with a question for your honourable Guild, and a handsome gift to present besides.”

Elder Jian said, “We would not presume. Pray tell us, Chief Qiu.”

Qiu Qianren said, “A few days ago, several brothers of our humble Keep went out on my orders to attend to affairs. I know not how they offended two of your honourable Guild’s friends, who beat them severely. Our Keep’s brothers are unskilled in their arts, and there is nothing to be said. But when it spreads through the jianghu, the Iron Palm Keep cannot afford to lose face. This decrepit old man does not know what is good for him, and would like to try for himself what these two friends of your honourable Guild can do.”

Yang Kang had never cared a straw for the brothers of the Beggars’ Guild. He was hardly going to offend Qiu Qianren again for the sake of two of its men. He said, “Who has been making trouble on his own account and come to blows with our friends of the Iron Palm Keep? Come forward at once and beg Chief Qiu’s pardon.”

Ever since Hong Qigong had become Guild Chief, the Beggars’ Guild had never lost one jot of its standing in the jianghu, and now, with Hong Qigong dead, the new chief was this spineless. Hearing his words, every beggar there seethed with an anger he could barely contain.

Li Sheng¹⁹ and Yu Zhaoxing²⁰ emerged from the crowd again and stepped forward several paces. Li Sheng said loudly, “May it please the Guild Chief, the fourth rule of our Guild states plainly that every one of us must act with chivalry and justice, relieve suffering and help those in need. The other day the two of us came upon our friends of the Iron Palm Keep bullying honest folk, and on the point of carrying off women of good family besides. We could not contain ourselves and stepped forward to stop them. In the fight that followed, we injured the Iron Palm Keep’s friends.”

Yang Kang said loudly, “Be that as it may, apologise to Chief Qiu.”

Li Sheng and Yu Zhaoxing looked at each other, fury filling their breasts. If they did not apologise, they violated the Guild Chief’s order. If they did, the insult was too bitter to swallow.

Li Sheng cried loudly, “Brothers, if the old Guild Chief were still alive, he would never let us suffer such shame. Today I would rather die than be dishonoured!” He pulled a short dao from inside his leggings, drove it into his heart, and died on the spot.

Yu Zhaoxing threw himself forward, seized the short dao, and stabbed himself in the chest, dying on Li Sheng’s body.

Seeing the two take their own lives rather than suffer disgrace, the beggars seethed with feeling. But the Beggars’ Guild’s rules were strict, and without the Guild Chief’s order, none dared make a move.

Qiu Qianren smiled faintly. “This matter is settled cleanly enough. Now I wish to present your honourable Guild with a batch of gifts.” He waved his left hand. Behind him, dozens of black-clad men opened the chests they had brought. Each man took up a tray and, bowing, set it down beside Yang Kang. The trays glittered with gold, every one heaped with gold, silver and jewels. The beggars, seeing them suddenly produce such treasure, were still more astonished.

Qiu Qianren said, “Though the Iron Palm Keep has rice to eat, we could not produce such a heavy gift. This present was entrusted to me by Prince Zhao of the Great Jin Empire to deliver on his behalf.”

Yang Kang was both startled and delighted. “Where is Prince Zhao? I must see him.”

Qiu Qianren said, “This was sent to my humble abode several months ago by Prince Zhao’s men, with orders for me to pass a message on to your honourable Guild.”

Yang Kang grunted. He thought, That was arranged by Father before he went south. But why would he send gifts to these beggars?

Qiu Qianren said, “Prince Zhao admires your honourable Guild’s heroes and has specifically ordered me to come in person with gifts to forge friendship.”

Yang Kang said gladly, “You have gone to the trouble of coming in person, venerable Chief. How can I deserve such an honour?”

Qiu Qianren laughed. “Young as Guild Chief Yang is, he is a reasonable man, far more so than Guild Chief Hong.”

Footnotes

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

2. 鲁有脚 — Lǔ Yǒujiǎo. His name meaning “has feet”. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

3. 黄蓉 — Huáng Róng. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

4. 彭长老、梁长老 — Péng Zhǎnglǎo, Liáng Zhǎnglǎo. Literally Elder Peng and Elder Liang. ↩

5. 华筝 — Huázhēng. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

6. 全真七子 — Quánzhēn Qīzǐ. Literally the seven zi of Quanzhen, zi being an honorific for a master. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

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

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

9. 天罡北斗阵 — Tiāngāng Běidǒu Zhèn. Literally Big Dipper formation of the Heavenly Ladle. A Quanzhen formation of seven, laid out on the stars of the Big Dipper. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

10. 君山 — Jūnshān. Mount Jun, a hilly island in Dongting Lake, Hunan. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

11. 荆湖 — Jīnghú. A Song region covering parts of modern Hubei and Hunan. ↩

12. 君山岛 — Jūnshān Dǎo. Literally lord mountain island. An island in Dongting Lake. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

13. 轩辕台 — Xuānyuán Tái. Literally Xuanyuan terrace, Xuanyuan being the Yellow Emperor. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

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

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

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

17. 临安府 — Lín’ān Fǔ. Capital prefecture of the Southern Song dynasty, modern-day Hangzhou. See Wikipedia. ↩

18. 河水不犯井水 — héshuǐ bù fàn jǐngshuǐ. Literally river water does not intrude on well water. A saying for two parties who keep to their own affairs. ↩

19. 黎生 — Lí Shēng. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

20. 余兆兴 — Yú Zhàoxīng. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩