The Legend of the Condor Heroes Chapter 31 – Part 3

Great Master Yideng seemed not to hear. He went on, “A faint smile crossed the child’s face, but the next moment the pain racked his whole body again. She said softly once more, ‘My precious, my heart, once you’re asleep it won’t hurt any more, it won’t hurt one little bit!’ Then all at once there was a soft thud. She had driven the dagger into the child’s heart.”

Huang Rong gave a sharp cry and clutched Guo Jing’s arm. The colour drained from every face in the room.

Great Master Yideng paid them no heed and went on, “I cried out and stumbled back several steps, almost falling, my mind in a fog and utterly lost. I watched her rise slowly to her feet and say in a low voice, ‘One day I shall drive this dagger into your heart too.’ She pointed to the jade bracelet on her wrist and said, ‘You gave me this the day I entered the palace. You just wait. The day I return this bracelet to you is the day this dagger comes too!’” Here Yideng spun the jade bracelet once more around his finger and gave a faint smile. “This very bracelet. I have waited over ten years. Today at last my wait is done.”

Huang Rong said, “Shibo,¹ she killed her own son. What has that got to do with you? You weren’t the one who hurt him. Besides, she poisoned you, so whatever grudge there was back then, it’s been paid in full. Let me go down the mountain and send her packing. I won’t let her come bothering you again…”

Before she could finish, the young novice hurried in and said, “Shifu, they have sent this up from the foot of the mountain again.” He held out a small cloth bundle in both hands. Yideng took it and uncovered it. Everyone cried out at once. Inside lay the dudou² made from the brocade handkerchief.³

The brocade had yellowed, but the pair of mandarin ducks⁴ woven on it were as bright as new. Between the two ducks was a hole made by a blade, and beside it a patch of blood long turned black.

Yideng stared at the dudou in stricken silence. After a long while he said, “‘Mandarin ducks woven, about to take double flight.’ Heh. About to take double flight, and in the end it all comes to nothing but a dream. Clutching her son’s body, she let out a long wail, leapt out of the window, sprang up onto the roof and was gone in the blink of an eye. For three days and three nights I neither ate nor drank but brooded on it, until at last I came to a great awakening. I passed the throne to my eldest son and became a monk.”

He pointed to his four disciples and said, “They had been with me a long time and did not wish to leave. They came with me to Tianlong Monastery outside Dali city. For the first three years they took turns at court to assist my son. Later, when my son had mastered the business of government and the realm was at peace, we ran into the affair of the herb-gathering on the Great Snow Mountains and Ouyang Feng wounding people. While the four disciples were tracking Ouyang Feng, Ziliu⁵ found out that Yinggu was living as a recluse in a marsh in the Taoyuan woods of western Hunan, training in the martial arts. I feared she might suffer a Qi Deviation⁶ while cultivating the higher skills, so I came over from Dali and have long sat in meditation on this wild mountain, hoping to look after her from close by. I sent men to plant woods for her, and had grain and other needs taken to her…” Huang Rong interrupted, “Shibo, you have always loved her dearly in your heart and could not bear to leave her. Is that not so?” Yideng sighed and said, “The four of them would not let me go alone and followed me to wait on me, so we all moved here and never went back to Dali.

“My heart was hard. I would not save the child’s life, and for the ten years and more that followed, day and night I knew no rest. I hoped only to save as many people as I could, to atone for that great sin. But they did not understand my torment and would often try to stop me. Alas, even if I saved a thousand lives, ten thousand, the child would still be dead. Unless I gave my own life in exchange, how could that debt ever be cleared? Every day I waited for Yinggu. I waited for her to come and drive that dagger into my heart. My only fear was that she would not come in time, and my years would run out before the debt was paid. Well, now at last my wait is over. Why did she need to mix poison into the Nine Flower Jade Dew Pills?⁷ Had I known she would come in person straight after the poisoning, I could easily have held out for those few hours. There would have been no need for my shidi⁸ to exhaust himself breaking the poison for me.”

Huang Rong said furiously, “That woman has a heart of pure poison! She found out long ago where Uncle lived, and she knew Shibo had been looking after her all along. She was only afraid her own skill wasn’t up to it, so she schemed and bided her time, and when I happened to be hurt by Iron Palm Qiu, she sent me here to be healed. She came at you from both sides. First she made you spend your neili,⁹ then she took her chance to poison you. To think I became the steel blade in that wicked woman’s hand. Shibo, how did Ouyang Feng’s painting come into her possession? What does the painting have to do with any of this?”

Great Master Yideng took up the Da Zhuangyan Lun Jing¹⁰ from the small table beside him and turned to a certain page. He read: “Once there was a king named Shibi, who practised bitter austerities in pursuit of the doctrine of perfect enlightenment. One day a great eagle pursued a dove. The dove flew into King Shibi’s armpit and trembled there in terror. The eagle demanded the king return its prey, saying, ‘Your Majesty saves the dove, but the eagle shall starve.’ The king reflected that to save one by harming the other was not right, and so he took a sharp knife and cut flesh from his own thigh to give the eagle. The eagle said, ‘The flesh your Majesty cuts must weigh the same as the dove.’ King Shibi ordered a balance fetched. The dove and the thigh-flesh were placed each upon a pan. But when all the flesh of his thigh was cut away, the dove’s pan still hung lower. The king cut flesh from his breast, his back, his arms, his ribs. All was spent, and still the dove outweighed it. At last the king placed his whole body upon the balance. Then the earth trembled, the heavenly gods made music, celestial maidens scattered flowers, and fragrance filled the roads. The dragons, gods and yakshas¹¹ all cried out from the sky, ‘Well done, well done. Such courage as this has never been.’” It was only a myth, but Yideng read it with such compassion and solemnity that everyone who heard it was moved.

Huang Rong said, “Shibo, she feared you would not agree to treat my injuries. So she used this painting to move your heart.”

Yideng smiled faintly. “Just so. When she left Dali, her heart full of bitterness and anger, she must have sought out the finest martial artists in the jianghu,¹² meaning to learn skills and take her revenge. From that she likely met Ouyang Feng. It must have been he who devised this plan for her and painted the picture for her. This sutra circulates widely in the Western Regions. Ouyang Feng is a man of the Western Regions and would certainly know the story.” Huang Rong said bitterly, “The Old Venom used Yinggu, and Yinggu used me. It’s a whole chain of vicious schemes to kill with a borrowed blade.” Yideng sighed. “You need not blame yourself. Had you never met her, she would simply have wounded someone else at random and pointed him to me for healing. Only, without a skilled fighter to escort him, no one could easily get up the peak. Ouyang Feng painted this picture long ago, and he must have laid this plan ten years ago at the least. That not one chance came her way in all those ten years, that too was fate.”

Huang Rong said, “Shibo, I know now. There’s something else on her mind, something that matters to her even more than harming you.” Yideng said, “Ah? What is it?” Huang Rong said, “My father has the Old Wild Child shut up on Peach Blossom Island. She wants to rescue him.” She told him of Yinggu’s years of studying qimen¹³ arts and numerology, and added, “Later she realised that even another hundred years of study could never match my father’s skill. Then she saw that I was already wounded, and so…”

Yideng gave a long laugh and rose to his feet. “Good, good. Settle this and all is settled. Everything has fallen into place, and today at last she shall have her wish.” He turned to his four disciples, his face stern. “Go and bring Consort Liu, no, bring Yinggu up the mountain with all due courtesy, and not one disrespectful word.”

The four disciples prostrated themselves in unison, weeping, and cried, “Shifu!”

Yideng sighed. “You have been with me all these years. Do you still not understand your shifu’s heart?” He turned to Guo Jing and Huang Rong. “I have one request of you both.” The two said together, “Whatever you command, we shall obey.” Yideng said, “Good. Go down the mountain at once. I have wronged Yinggu deeply. If she should face any danger or hardship in the days to come, I beg you both, for this aged monk’s sake, lend her your aid. If you could also bring about a happy match between her and my shixiong¹⁴ Zhou, I would be grateful beyond measure.”

Guo Jing and Huang Rong exchanged a startled glance. They did not dare agree. Yideng saw their silence and pressed, “Is this aged monk’s request too much for you to grant?” After a moment’s hesitation Huang Rong said, “Since Shibo puts it so, we obey.” She tugged Guo Jing’s sleeve, and they bowed and took their leave. Yideng added, “You need not meet Yinggu. Go down by the back of the mountain.” Huang Rong agreed again, and took Guo Jing’s hand, turning towards the door.

Seeing no sorrow on her face, the four disciples silently cursed her for a heartless creature. The man who had saved her life was on the brink of death, and she could simply walk off without a care.

Guo Jing, though, knew Huang Rong would never fold her hands and do nothing. She must have some plan, and he followed her out. At the door, Huang Rong leaned close to his ear and whispered a few words. Guo Jing halted, hesitated, then at last nodded. He turned and walked slowly back into the room.

Yideng said, “Your heart is true and loyal. You will achieve great things. I entrust Yinggu’s matter to you.” Guo Jing said, “I will! Whatever Shibo asks, this junior will spare no effort to do.” Suddenly his hand shot out backwards and seized the wrist of the Sindhu monk¹⁵ beside Yideng, and his left hand followed through, jabbing to seal the Huagai¹⁶ and Tianzhu¹⁷ acupoints, two major points, one governing the hands, the other the feet. With both sealed, the monk could not move a limb. No one had expected anything of the kind. Yideng and the four disciples cried out in alarm, “What are you doing?” Guo Jing said nothing. His left hand reached for Yideng’s shoulder.

Seeing the grab coming, Great Master Yideng flipped his right palm over, quick as lightning, and had caught Guo Jing’s left wrist first. Guo Jing was startled. Yideng’s whole body had been under the cover of his palm force, yet the monk had broken out of it and struck back, and struck right at a vital point. It was profound skill indeed. But the moment Yideng’s fingers touched the pulse at his wrist, it was plain that his neili was weak, and the grip wavered without force. Guo Jing at once wrested the advantage, reversed the hold and pinned the numbing nerve on the back of Yideng’s hand. His right palm struck out with Divine Dragon Sweeps Its Tail,¹⁸ beating off the two blows that the fisherman and the woodcutter aimed at him from behind. His left forefinger darted out and struck the Fengwei¹⁹ and Jingcu²⁰ acupoints beneath Yideng’s ribs. He said, “Shibo, I am deeply sorry.”

By now Huang Rong had loosed the Dog-Beating Staff Technique²¹ and driven the farmer right out through the door of the meditation room. It had all happened so suddenly that the scholar could not make out what Guo Jing and Huang Rong meant by it, and he kept calling, “If you have something to say, say it. There is no need to fight.” The farmer, seeing his shifu in another man’s hands, hurled himself at the meditation room like a maddened tiger, heedless of his life. But the Dog-Beating Staff Technique is a thing of exquisite subtlety. Three times he charged, and three times Huang Rong drove him back to where he had started. Guo Jing’s palms whistled through the air in great arcs. He fought his way out of the meditation room in a ring of blows, and the fisherman, the woodcutter and the scholar, forced back by his palm force, gave ground step by step through the doorway. Suddenly Huang Rong struck, straight at the point between the farmer’s brows. The thrust was blindingly fast. With a yelp the farmer flung himself backwards and sprang several feet away, his body flat. Huang Rong cried, “Good!” She reached behind her, pulled the door shut, and said with a broad smile, “Everyone stop. I have something to say.”

Each time the woodcutter and the fisherman met one of Guo Jing’s palms, their arms went numb and they staggered. Seeing him strike again, the two went in shoulder to shoulder to meet it together. But at Huang Rong’s words Guo Jing stopped the blow halfway, pulled it back and saluted with his fists. “Forgive me, forgive me.” The fisherman, the woodcutter, the farmer and the scholar looked at one another, dumbfounded. Huang Rong said gravely, “We owe your shifu a great debt of kindness. How could we stand by and do nothing when he is in danger? We gave offence just now only because we mean to save him.”

The scholar stepped forward and bowed deeply. “The enemy our shifu faces is the Matriarch of us four, and between high and low there are proprieties. Now that she has come up the mountain, we dare not raise a hand against her. Besides, for more than ten years our shifu has carried the death of that… that little Zhou boy on his heart. Even if his neili were undiminished and he had taken no poison, he would neither dodge nor step aside when he saw Consort Liu coming, but would fold his hands and take her blade. We cannot disobey our shifu’s orders, and we are frantic with worry, at our wits’ end and the end of our strength, and do not know what to do. Miss, your gifts are matchless in this world. If you can show us a way out, we will repay your great kindness though we be ground to powder.”

Huang Rong heard the sincerity in his words and could not tease him as she had before. She said, “My shixiong and I are every bit as grateful to your shifu as you four are, and we shall do everything in our power. If we can stop Yinggu from setting foot in the meditation court, that would be best of all. But she has plotted this for years and waited more than ten of them in the Black Marsh below the mountain. She is sure to have come prepared. It will not be easy to hold her off. The plan I have in mind requires a desperate gamble. If it succeeds, it could settle the matter once and for all, with no trouble after. But the risk is great. Yinggu is shrewd and cunning, and her martial arts are formidable, so it may well fail. Still, I am a dull-witted girl and can think of nothing safer.” The fisherman, the woodcutter, the farmer and the scholar said together, “Let us hear it.” Huang Rong’s fine brows lifted, and she spoke at length. The four listened until they could only stare at one another, speechless for a long while.

Footnotes

1. 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. ↩

2. 肚兜 — dùdōu. Literally belly pouch. An undergarment covering the chest and belly, tied with strings at the neck and waist, often worn by children. ↩

3. 锦帕 — jǐnpà. Literally brocade kerchief. A handkerchief of brocade. ↩

4. 鸳鸯 — yuānyāng. Mandarin ducks, always shown in pairs, an emblem of devoted love in Chinese culture. ↩

5. 朱子柳 — Zhū Zǐliǔ. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

6. 走火入魔 — zǒuhuǒrùmó. Literally fire running wild and entering the demonic. The breakdown that follows faulty neigong practice, when zhenqi runs amok in the meridians. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

7. 九花玉露丸 — Jiǔhuā Yùlù Wán. Huang Yaoshi’s elixir, compounded with the dew of nine kinds of flower and hard to make. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

8. 师弟 — shīdì. Male junior. Both apprenticed to the same shifu. Shī means teacher. Dì means younger brother. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

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

10. 大庄严论经 — Dà Zhuāngyán Lùn Jīng. The Treatise on Great Adornment, a collection of Buddhist parables attributed to Ashvaghosha and translated into Chinese by Kumarajiva. ↩

11. 夜叉 — yèchā. Yakshas, nature spirits of Buddhist cosmology, some of them fierce guardians of the Dharma. ↩

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

13. 奇门 — qímén. Literally strange gates. A branch of Chinese cosmology and divination concerned with the arrangement of space and time, applied to strategy and battle formations. ↩

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

15. 天竺僧人 — Tiānzhú sēngrén. Literally monk of Tianzhu, the old name for India. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

16. 华盖 — Huágài. Literally canopy. An acupoint on the Ren Meridian, on the breastbone. ↩

17. 天柱 — Tiānzhù. Literally heavenly pillar. An acupoint at the nape of the neck, on either side of the spine. ↩

18. 神龙摆尾 — Shénlóng Bǎi Wěi. Literally divine dragon swings its tail. A move of the Eighteen Palms of Dragon Subduing. ↩

19. 凤尾 — Fèngwěi. Literally phoenix tail. An acupoint beneath the ribs. ↩

20. 精促 — Jīngcù. An acupoint beneath the ribs. ↩

21. 打狗棒 — Dǎgǒu Bàng. The jade-green bamboo staff carried by the Guild Chief of the Beggars’ Guild as the token of his office. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩