The Legend of the Condor Heroes Chapter 30 – Part 6

The scholar went on, “When Chongyang the Perfected One¹ was about to take his leave, he said to our shifu,² ‘Of late my old ailment has flared again, and I fear I shall not long remain in this world. Ouyang Feng is formidable indeed, but fortunately the Innate Skill³ now has a successor, and with Your Majesty’s divine art of the One Yang Finger⁴ besides, there is now someone in the world who can counter him. We need no longer fear his running rampant and working mischief.

“‘The One Yang Finger is the closely guarded secret of Dali.⁵ I am deeply grateful for your instruction. Now that this humble Daoist has glimpsed the Great Way, my joy is boundless, but I shall never pass it on to anyone.’

“Only then did our shifu understand. Chongyang the Perfected One had come all those thousands of li to Dali for the sole purpose of passing the Innate Skill to him, so that after his death there would remain someone to counter the Western Venom, Ouyang Feng.⁶ The Eastern Heretic, the Western Venom, the Southern Emperor, the Northern Beggar, the Central Divine. These five had long been ranked as equals in their generation. To come and teach our shifu outright would have been disrespectful to him, so first he asked our shifu to teach him the One Yang Finger, and then offered the Innate Skill in exchange.

“Once our shifu understood what he intended, he held him in the deepest respect, and at once set to work diligently on the Innate Skill. After Chongyang the Perfected One learned the One Yang Finger he did not live long. He never studied it, and I have heard he never passed it on to his disciples either. Later a misfortune befell our Kingdom of Dali, and our shifu saw through the vanity of the world. He shaved his head and became a monk.”

Huang Rong thought to herself, Emperor Duan gave up being emperor and chose to become a monk. It must have been some terrible grief. If they will not speak of it, I had better not ask. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Guo Jing part his lips as if to question the scholar, and hastily shot him a look. Guo Jing gave a soft “Oh” and closed his mouth.

The scholar’s expression grew sombre, as if recalling the past. He paused a moment before he went on. “Somehow the news that our shifu had mastered the Innate Skill leaked out in the end. One day my shixiong here,” he pointed at the farmer and continued, “my shixiong⁷ was sent out by our shifu to gather herbs, and in the Great Snow Mountain⁸ on the western borders of Yunnan someone wounded him with the Toad Skill.”⁹

Huang Rong said, “That would naturally be Old Venom.¹⁰”

The farmer said angrily, “Who else could it be? First a young master came and pestered me for no reason, claiming this Great Snow Mountain belonged to his family and that no one else was to enter freely to gather herbs. The Great Snow Mountain covers a thousand li around. How could it belong to his family? He was obviously picking a quarrel with me on purpose. I had my shifu’s teaching to remember, so I gave way to him again and again, but for every inch I gave, the boy took a foot. He said I must kowtow to him three hundred times, loud enough to hear, before he would let me go down the mountain. I could stand no more, and in the end we came to blows. My martial arts are nothing special, and after we had fought a long while it was still even. Unexpectedly, Old Venom suddenly appeared from behind a fold of the mountain. Without a word, he struck me with his palm and left me badly wounded. The boy had his men carry me on their backs to the gates of Tianlong Monastery,¹¹ where our shifu was living at the time.”

Huang Rong said, “Someone has already avenged you. That young fellow Ouyang Ke¹² has been killed.”

The farmer cried angrily, “What, he’s dead? Who killed him?”

Huang Rong said, “My, someone killed your enemy and you’re angry about it?”

The farmer said, “My grievance is one I must avenge with my own hands.”

Huang Rong sighed, “What a pity you cannot avenge it yourself now.”

The farmer asked, “Who killed him?”

Huang Rong said, “He was a villain too, and his martial arts were far inferior to Ouyang Ke’s, yet he tricked and killed him.”

The scholar said, “Well killed! Young lady, do you know Ouyang Feng’s intention in wounding my shixiong?”

Huang Rong said, “What is there to guess? With the Western Venom’s skill, a single palm could have killed your shixiong outright. Yet he only left him gravely wounded, and then delivered him to your shifu’s very doorstep. He plainly meant Shibo¹³ to drain his own neili¹⁴ healing his disciple. By your account, once his vital force is spent, it takes five years of work to repair it, and by the next Huashan Sword Summit Shibo will naturally be no match for him.”

The scholar sighed. “You are clever indeed, Miss, but you have only guessed half of it. Ouyang Feng’s vicious treachery is beyond any man’s reckoning. He waited until my shifu had finished treating shixiong’s injuries, when his profound cultivation had not yet recovered, and then launched a surprise attack, intending to kill my shifu…”

Guo Jing broke in, “Shibo Yideng¹⁵ is so kind and gentle. Can he really have made an enemy of Ouyang Feng?”

The scholar said, “My young friend, that is the wrong question to ask. First, a good man whose heart is compassion and a villain whose heart is cunning cruelty have always been irreconcilable. Second, when Ouyang Feng seeks to harm someone, it is not necessarily because of a personal grudge. He simply knows that the Innate Skill is the bane of his Toad Skill, and so he will stop at nothing to kill my shifu.”

Guo Jing nodded repeatedly and asked, “Did Shibo come to harm at his hands?”

The scholar said, “The moment my shifu saw the injuries on my shixiong’s body, he at once saw through Ouyang Feng’s treacherous scheme. Once he had healed my shixiong, we moved that same night, and luckily the Western Venom did not find us. We knew that once he had started he would see it through, and never let the matter drop. We searched far and wide, and at last found this hidden refuge. After my shifu’s neili was fully restored, we brothers urged him to go to White Camel Mountain¹⁶ and settle accounts with the Western Venom, but my shifu insisted that resentment must not be answered with resentment, and forbade us to go abroad and stir up trouble. We had peace at last, hard-won, all these years, and then the two of you came looking for us. We reasoned that as disciples of the Nine-Fingered Divine Beggar,¹⁷ you could harbour no intention of harming our shifu, so we did not oppose your ascent with our full strength. Otherwise, even at the cost of our four lives, we would never have allowed you through the monastery gates. Yet though the man means no harm to the tiger, the tiger means harm to the man. Alas, my shifu has still fallen victim to your treachery.”

As he said this, his straight brows shot up and he looked as formidable as a tiger. He rose slowly to his feet, and with a swish the long jian at his waist leapt from its scabbard, a cold gleam of light dazzling the eyes.

The fisherman, woodcutter and farmer rose at the same time, each drawing his weapon, and took up positions at the four corners.

Huang Rong said, “When I came to beg Shibo to heal me, I truly did not know that lifting his hand for me would cost him five years of neili. And the poison pills mixed in with the medicine were someone else’s plot against me. Shibo’s kindness in saving me is as high as Heaven and as deep as the earth. Even if I were utterly without conscience, I could not repay kindness with enmity.”

The fisherman said sharply, “Then why did you take advantage of the moment when our shifu’s neili was depleted and he had been gravely poisoned, to lead his enemy up the mountain?”

Guo Jing and Huang Rong were both startled and cried in unison, “We did nothing of the sort!”

The fisherman said, “You still deny it? The very moment our shifu was poisoned, a jade ring belonging to that enemy was received at the foot of the mountain. Without prior collusion, how could the world produce such a coincidence?”

Huang Rong asked, “What jade ring?”

The fisherman cried angrily, “Still playing the fool!” He swung his two iron oars apart, the left sweeping sideways, the right jabbing straight ahead, one at Guo Jing and one at Huang Rong.

Guo Jing had been sitting side by side with Huang Rong on the rush cushion on the floor. Seeing the twin oars strike in, he leapt to his feet. His right hand lashed out in a hooked claw, brushing aside the oar that swept at him. His left hand followed, reaching forward to seize the oar blade, and shook it once, up and down. There was stored power in that shake, and fierce power at that. The fisherman felt the web of his thumb go numb, and could not help but release his grip on the oar handle. Guo Jing swung the iron oar back. With a clang it met the farmer’s iron rake, sparks flying in all directions, and then he passed the oar back into the fisherman’s hands.

The fisherman was taken aback, but caught it on the fly. Putting all his strength into his right arm, he brought the oar down together with the woodcutter’s axe. Guo Jing’s twin palms, though launched later, arrived first, their force driving a fierce wind that surged at the two men’s chests. The scholar recognised the ferocity of the Eighteen Palms of Dragon Subduing¹⁸ and cried urgently, “Back, quick.”

The fisherman and the woodcutter were the finest disciples of a renowned master, their martial arts far from ordinary. Neither of these two strikes had been fully spent, and they hastily checked their momentum and retreated. Suddenly their bodies jolted. Their backward rush was violently arrested, for the weapons in their hands had been drawn forward by the rebound of Guo Jing’s palm force. Helpless, they were forced to release their grip and attend first to saving their own lives. Guo Jing caught the iron oar and the steel axe, and tossed them out lightly, calling, “Catch, please.”

The scholar cried, “Splendid skill!” His long jian shot forward, stabbing obliquely at Guo Jing’s right flank.

Guo Jing saw the approach and was faintly alarmed. He knew by now that among Yideng’s four disciples, though the scholar was the most refined in appearance, his martial arts surpassed the rest. He dared not be careless. His twin palms wove and fluttered, wrapping Huang Rong and himself within a canopy of palm force. This defence was truly as steady as a deep pool, as immovable as a mountain peak, without the slightest opening. His palms carried an irresistible force, and as the circle grew wider and wider, all four of them were pressed back towards the walls. Let alone attacking, they could barely defend. Had Guo Jing loosed his palm force now, someone among the four would surely have been hurt.

They fought a while longer, and Guo Jing ceased pressing his palm force forward. When the enemy attacked hard, he blocked hard, and when they struck lightly, he parried lightly, meeting each force and dissolving it, and holding a steady balance of neither victory nor defeat.

The scholar’s jian technique suddenly changed. The long jian vibrated with a deep humming that lingered on and on. Then came six strikes above, six below, six ahead, six behind, six to the left, six to the right, thirty-six thrusts in all, six times six. This was the Thirty-Six Jians of Ailao Mountain¹⁹ in Yunnan, said to be the most relentless offensive jian technique under heaven. Guo Jing’s left palm held back the three different weapons of the fisherman, woodcutter and farmer, while his right palm followed the tip of the scholar’s jian, dancing up and down, forward and back, left and right. Though the jian technique changed endlessly, he always used his palm force to deflect the direction of each thrust. Every strike passed flush against his clothing, yet could not touch so much as a corner of his robe.

Just as the thirty-sixth thrust was about to arrive, Guo Jing bent his right middle finger, tucking it beneath his thumb, and watched the jian’s approach. At the right moment he flicked it hard against the blade. This art of the Divine Finger Flick²⁰ was unmatched in all the world in the hands of Huang Yaoshi.²¹ He had used it the day he played at flicking stone marbles with Zhou Botong,²² and again at Returning Clouds Manor²³ when he flicked stones to coach Mei Chaofeng.²⁴ Guo Jing had watched his fight with the Seven Zis of Quanzhen²⁵ at Niu Family Village in Lin’an and had grasped certain essentials of the technique. Though his finger-flick method fell far short of Huang Yaoshi’s subtlety, the force was immense and the impact fierce. There came a sharp ring, and the jian blade shuddered. The scholar’s arm went numb, and the long jian nearly flew from his grip. He leapt back hastily and cried, “Stop!”

The fisherman, woodcutter and farmer all leapt apart, their backs against the walls. The fisherman and farmer sprang out through the doorway. The woodcutter slid his axe back into his belt and said with a laugh, “I told you long ago these two bore no ill intent, but you would never believe me.”

The scholar sheathed his jian and bowed. “You held back your palms, my young friend. We are most grateful for your kindness.”

Guo Jing hastily returned the bow with a deep inclination. Puzzled, he thought, We never meant any harm in the first place. Why were you so set on not believing it at first, only to believe it once we had fought?

Huang Rong saw the expression on his face and guessed his thoughts. She whispered in his ear, “If you had harboured ill intent, you would have hurt all four of them long ago. And right now Shibo Yideng would be no match for you.”

Guo Jing thought she was right and nodded repeatedly.

Footnotes

1. 真人 — zhēnrén. Literally true person. An honorific title for a Daoist master who has attained a high level of cultivation. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

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

3. 先天功 — Xiāntiān Gōng. Literally skill of the primordial. A neigong method. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

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

5. 大理国 — Dàlǐ Guó. Kingdom in southwest China, modern-day Yunnan, ruled by the Bai people of the Duan Clan from 937 to 1253 CE. See Wikipedia. ↩

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

7. 师兄 — shīxiōng. Male senior. Both apprenticed to the same shifu. Shī means teacher. Xiōng means older brother. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

8. 大雪山 — Dàxuěshān. Literally great snow mountain. A snow-capped mountain in the far west of Yunnan. See Wikipedia. ↩

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

10. 老毒物 — lǎo dúwù. Literally old venomous thing. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

11. 天龙寺 — Tiānlóng Sì. Literally temple of the heavenly dragon. A famous Buddhist temple in Dali. ↩

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

13. 师伯 — shībó. Senior lineage uncle. The shixiong or shijie of one’s shifu. Shī means teacher. Bó means father’s elder brother. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

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

15. 一灯大师 — Yīdēng Dàshī. Literally Great Master One Lamp. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

16. 白驼山 — Báituó Shān. Mountain within the Kunlun ranges in the Western Regions. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

17. 九指神丐 — Jiǔzhǐ Shéngài. Literally nine-fingered divine beggar. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

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

19. 哀牢山 — Āiláo Shān. Ailao Mountain, in southern Yunnan. ↩

20. 弹指神通 — Tánzhǐ Shéntōng. Huang Yaoshi’s finger-flicking art, which strikes acupoints or sends small objects flying. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

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

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

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

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

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