The Legend of the Condor Heroes Chapter 34 – Part 7

Huang Rong flew into a rage. She raised her bamboo staff and jabbed it straight at Ke Zhen’e’s face. Ke Zhen’e struck back with his iron staff, but the Dog-Beating Staff Technique¹ was subtle beyond compare. After a few moves Huang Rong had caught his iron staff with the Lure Formula² and was dragging it along, and as she whirled her bamboo staff, wherever it went east his went east, wherever it went west his went west, and he had no freedom at all. Ke Zhen’e held the Tianxuan³ position in the Big Dipper Formation,⁴ and once he was held in check the whole formation at once grew sluggish.

Qiu Chuji’s jian flashed as he struck at Huang Rong from behind. The move might well have relieved Ke Zhen’e’s peril, but Huang Rong, trusting in the Soft Hedgehog Armour⁵ she wore, paid it no heed. Her staff changed its moves and struck three times in a row. Qiu Chuji’s long jian had reached the middle of her back when a thought stirred in him, What kind of man am I, Qiu, that I should hurt so small a girl? The point touched her back but went no further.

Because the rescue came that little bit late, Huang Rong found her opening. Her bamboo staff hooked on and snapped back, and using the outward-bursting force of the Demon-Taming Staff Technique⁶ itself, she flung the iron staff away to the left. All Ke Zhen’e’s force was now going the wrong way. The iron staff tore out of his grasp, flew up into the air and fell with a splash into the edge of South Lake.⁷

Wang Chuyi,⁸ fearing she would press her advantage, had already leapt before Ke Zhen’e, jian raised to bar her way. He had seen much and knew much, yet he had never met the Dog-Beating Staff Technique before, and he was greatly alarmed and puzzled.

Guo Jing saw his shifu⁹ worsted and called out, “Eldest Shifu, rest a while. I’ll take your place.” He leapt from the North Star position and took Tianxuan. By now his martial arts surpassed any of the Quanzhen Zis’, and he knew the formation’s deepest secrets besides, so that once he set it in motion its power grew enormously. The Big Dipper Formation was properly centred on Tianquan,¹⁰ but as soon as he entered it the pivot moved to Tianxuan and the formation changed at once. This irregular arrangement was not as firm as the regular one, but Huang Yaoshi could not work it out on the spur of the moment, and even with his daughter’s help he found it hard to withstand. Fortunately the Quanzhen Zis all held something back and struck no killing blows, and only Guo Jing was fighting with his life at stake, so Huang Yaoshi could still hold out.

As the bout wore on, Guo Jing pressed closer and closer. With the Zis to back him, Huang Yaoshi could not hurt him, and had to use his finest qinggong¹¹ again and again to escape Guo Jing’s rapid, unbroken attacks, which came on like a maddened tiger. Huang Rong saw a pall of murderous intent over Guo Jing’s face, always so kind and gentle, and it was hideous and frightening, as though he had suddenly become someone else, a stranger she had never known. Startled and afraid, she stepped in front of her father and said to Guo Jing, “Kill me first!”

Guo Jing glared at her and barked, “Out of the way!”

Huang Rong was stunned and thought, How can you shout at me like this too?

Guo Jing rushed forward, put out an arm and pushed her aside, and leapt straight at Huang Yaoshi.

Suddenly someone behind them gave a loud laugh and called out, “Brother Yao, don’t fret. Your brother has come to help you!” The voice rang like metal and grated on the ear. No one dared simply turn round. Only when they had swung the Big Dipper Formation round behind Huang Yaoshi did they see five or six people, tall and short, standing by the lake. The one in front, long in arm and leg, was the Western Venom, Ouyang Feng.¹²

The Seven Zis of Quanzhen¹³ whistled as one. Qiu Chuji said, “Jing-er, let’s settle accounts with the Western Venom first!” He swung his long jian, and the Six Zis of Quanzhen closed in around Ouyang Feng. But Guo Jing’s whole mind was on Huang Yaoshi, and he never even heard Qiu Chuji. The moment the Six Zis drew off, he was at Huang Yaoshi again, and the two of them traded blow for blow at speed, five or six moves in a flash. Neither landed a hit, and both sprang apart, shoulders sunk and backs braced, glaring at each other. Then Guo Jing gave a great shout and went for him again, and after a few moves they broke apart once more.

The Six Zis of Quanzhen had by now re-formed their array. Ke Zhen’e stood bare-handed by Huang Yaoshi, head cocked to listen, palms spread wide. Plainly he meant to fling himself on him without a thought for his own safety and hold him fast, so that Guo Jing could strike at his vital points. Qiu Chuji beckoned to Yin Zhiping¹⁴ and told him to take Tianxuan. Ma Yu chanted aloud:

Hand holding the spirit-pearl, ever I take up the brush. Heart opened to Heaven’s music, needing no flute to play!

These were the verses Tan Chuduan¹⁵ had recited at the hour of his death. When the Zis heard them, their hatred of the foe blazed up. Their jians flashed and their palms swept in, and together they fell upon Ouyang Feng. His Snake Staff¹⁶ darted out and back, forcing all seven of the Quanzhen fighters away. He had seen what the Big Dipper Formation could do at Niu Family Village¹⁷ and was wary of it, so he first guarded himself closely, waiting for the enemy to show a flaw. Once the Big Dipper Formation was under way, it attacked from front and rear in an unbroken chain. Ouyang Feng met each move with a counter and broke each attack as it came, and in a short while he had seen that Yin Zhiping at Tianxuan was a great weakness in it. He thought that with one link missing the formation was nothing to fear. He used his Snake Staff to guard his vital points and let his eyes roam round to take in the situation about him.

Guo Jing and Huang Yaoshi fought at close quarters. Huang Rong waved her bamboo rod and kept Ke Zhen’e at bay over ten feet from the two combatants, calling again and again, “Stop fighting a moment and hear what I have to say.” But Guo Jing turned a deaf ear. He put his golden dao¹⁸ back in its sheath and used only his palms, striking palm after palm and flinging himself at Huang Yaoshi with all his might. Huang Rong saw that her father had held back at first, but as Guo Jing pressed him harder the anger grew in his face and his blows grew heavier. She saw how dangerous it had become. If either of them lapsed for an instant, someone was bound to be hurt or killed. Looking up, she saw Hong Qigong¹⁹ leaning on the railing upstairs in Misty Rain Pavilion,²⁰ watching the fight. “Shifu, Shifu,” she cried, “come quickly and explain it to them.”

Hong Qigong had long seen that things were going badly, but with his martial arts entirely gone he had no power to settle the quarrel, and he was frantic with worry. At Huang Rong’s call he thought, If Old Heretic Huang has a little old friendship left for me, something may yet be done. He pressed both hands on the railing and floated lightly down through the air to the ground. “Stop, all of you,” he called. “Old Beggar has something to say.”

The Nine-Fingered Divine Beggar²¹ was a name of great power in the jianghu.²² When they saw him appear so suddenly, every one of them was startled and stopped fighting before they knew it.

Ouyang Feng was the first to groan inwardly. He thought, How has the old beggar got his martial arts back? He did not know that after hearing Huang Rong recite the general principles of the divine art, written in Sanskrit in the Nine Yin Manual,²³ Hong Qigong had spent these past days practising by its method and was opening his Eight Extraordinary Meridians²⁴ by himself. His martial arts had been consummate to begin with, and now that he had the secrets of the highest neigong,²⁵ his practice worked wonders. In a few short days he had opened one of the eight meridians, and three or four parts in ten of his qinggong had come back. In fist and palm power, in fighting and grappling, he was still no match for a sturdy fellow just starting to learn martial arts, yet his leaps and bounds, the nimble lightness of his movement, were such that even Ouyang Feng’s keen eye could not discern that the display was hollow, without substance behind it.

Hong Qigong saw that they still held him in such awe, and thought, If Old Beggar doesn’t put on a bit of a show, there’ll be no way out of today’s mess. But what can I say to make the Quanzhen Daoists bow their heads and obey, and send the Old Venom off knowing he’s beaten? For the moment he had no idea, so he threw back his head and gave a great laugh to gain time. Then, looking up, he saw the bright moon just risen, and the upper rim of its round disc was faintly incomplete. A thought came to him, and he said, “Every one of you is a master of the wulin,²⁶ and who would have thought you’d behave like worthless scoundrels and talk like so much farting?”

They were all taken aback. They knew he had always said whatever came into his head and took no offence, but such a rebuke must have a reason behind it. Ma Yu bowed and said, “Please instruct us, Senior.”

Hong Qigong said angrily, “Old Beggar heard long ago that there was to be a fight beside Misty Rain Pavilion this year at the Mid-Autumn Festival. Old Beggar hates nothing more than a racket in his ears, but I thought there was plenty of time yet, and I could have a good long lie-in here in peace. Who’d have thought that first thing this morning I’d hear all this banging and crashing without end? First it’s a chamber-pot formation and a piss-pot formation, then it’s men beating women and sons-in-law beating fathers-in-law, like a lot of pig-stickers and dog-butchers, and Old Beggar can’t get a moment’s peaceful sleep. Look up at the moon, all of you. What day is it today?”

At his words they all remembered at once that today was still only the fourteenth of the eighth month, and the contest was not until tomorrow. Besides, Peng Lianhu,²⁷ Sha Tongtian²⁸ and the others who were the real parties to it had not yet come, and to fight now was indeed hardly proper. Qiu Chuji said, “Esteemed Senior, your rebuke is just. We ought not to have caused this disturbance here today.” He turned to Ouyang Feng. “Ouyang Feng, let us find another spot and fight to the death.”

Ouyang Feng laughed. “Splendid, splendid. I shall be glad to oblige.”

Hong Qigong’s face darkened. “The moment Wang Chongyang²⁹ went up to Heaven, the Quanzhen Order’s pack of motley-haired Daoists made a hopeless mess of everything. Let me tell you something for your own good. Five Daoists and a Daoist nun, plus a little Daoist with feeble martial arts, and you’re no match at all for the Old Venom. Wang Chongyang never did me any favours, and if every motley-haired Daoist of Quanzhen dropped dead, Old Beggar wouldn’t give it a thought. But I do have a question for you. You’ve made an appointment for a contest, so how will you keep it tomorrow? What will seven dead Daoists fight them with?”

Footnotes

1. 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. ↩

2. 引字诀 — yǐn zì jué. Literally the lead-character secret. One of the principles of the Dog-Beating Staff Technique. ↩

3. 天璇 — tiānxuán. The second star of the Big Dipper, and the position in the Big Dipper Formation named for it. ↩

4. 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. ↩

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

6. 伏魔杖法 — Fúmó Zhàngfǎ. Ke Zhen’e’s staff art, practised in the Mongol desert. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

7. 南湖 — Nán Hú. Literally south lake. A lake in Jiaxing. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

8. 王处一 — Wáng Chǔyī. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

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

10. 天权 — tiānquán. Literally heavenly authority. The fourth star of the Big Dipper. ↩

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

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

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

14. 尹志平 — Yǐn Zhìpíng. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

15. 谭处端 — Tán Chǔduān. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

16. 蛇杖 — Shézhàng. Ouyang Feng’s staff, with live venomous snakes coiled in its head. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

17. 牛家村 — Niújiā Cūn. Literally Niu Family Village. A village outside Lin’an. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

18. 金刀 — jīndāo. The golden dao Genghis Khan bestows on Guo Jing. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

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

20. 烟雨楼 — Yānyǔ Lóu. Misty Rain Pavilion, on South Lake in Jiaxing. ↩

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

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

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

24. 奇经八脉 — Qíjīng Bāmài. The eight meridians that stand apart from the twelve principal meridians and serve as reservoirs of qi and blood. ↩

25. 内功 — nèigōng. Literally internal cultivation. The practice of developing neili through breathing and meditation. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

26. 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. ↩

27. 彭连虎 — Péng Liánhǔ. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

28. 沙通天 — Shā Tōngtiān. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

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