The Legend of the Condor Heroes Chapter 35 – Part 2

Zhou Botong¹ stood among the throng with a grin, calling out in a loud voice, “So many people, such a lively crowd. Splendid, splendid!” He rubbed his right hand a few times in the crook of his left arm, rolled off a pellet of grime, and said, “Here, eat some poison!” He thrust it towards Sha Tongtian’s² mouth. Sha Tongtian dodged, but for all his mastery of Shifting Forms Changing Positions he could not get clear. Zhou Botong’s left hand seized him and stuffed the pellet between his lips. He had suffered enough at the Old Wild Child’s hands to know that spitting it straight out would only earn him a sound thrashing, so he kept it in his mouth without a word. He reckoned the pellet was harmless, and was not really afraid.

Wang Chuyi³ saw Zhou Botong appear so suddenly and was overjoyed. “Shishu,⁴ so Island Master Huang really didn’t kill you after all,” he cried.

Zhou Botong said angrily, “Who says I’m dead? Old Heretic Huang has been trying to do away with me for more than ten years, and he’s never once managed it. Ha, Old Heretic Huang, go on, have another try.” He threw a punch at Huang Yaoshi’s⁵ shoulder as he spoke.

Huang Yaoshi did not dare take him lightly. He returned the attack with a stroke of Peach Blossom Falling Petals Palm⁶ and called out, “Those mangy old Quanzhen⁷ Daoists blame me for killing you. They’ve been tangling with me over it, saying they’ll avenge you.”

“You, kill me? Stop bragging!” Zhou Botong said angrily. “When did you ever kill me? What a tangle you’re in. Take a good look. Am I the Old Wild Child or the Old Wild Ghost?” And he fought faster and faster.

Huang Yaoshi saw there was no reasoning with him. If anyone was in a tangle, it was the man himself. But his moves were exquisite and uncanny, and Huang Yaoshi had to give the fight everything he had.

The Quanzhen zis had been sure that once their shishu arrived, he and Huang Yaoshi could join forces against Ouyang Feng.⁸ They had not reckoned on a shishu who never did as he was told, and in no time he and Huang Yaoshi were locked in a fight neither could break off. Ma Yu⁹ called out again and again, “Shishu, don’t fight Island Master Huang!”

Ouyang Feng cut in, “That’s right, Old Wild Child. You’re no match for Old Heretic Huang. Run for your life, that’s what matters. Run, run!”

Goaded, Zhou Botong was all the less willing to stop.

Huang Rong¹⁰ shouted, “Old Wild Child, you’re using the Nine Yin Manual’s¹¹ techniques against my father. What would your shixiong¹² say down in the Nine Springs?”

Zhou Botong roared with laughter, enormously pleased with himself. “Does it look as if I’m using moves from the Manual? It took me no end of trouble to forget it. Heh heh. Learning’s easy, it’s forgetting that’s the bother! What I’m using is the Seventy-Two Paths of the Void Clarity Fist¹³ and the Ambidextrous Self-Combat Urchin Fist, which the Old Wild Child thought up all by himself. What the fart has it got to do with the Nine Yin Manual?”

When Huang Yaoshi had fought him on Peach Blossom Island, he had found the force behind his fists and feet astonishing. Now his fist work was as exquisite and strange as ever, but its force was weaker than before, so that he could only just hold Huang Yaoshi to a draw. Huang Yaoshi was wondering at this when he heard what Zhou said, and he was privately baffled. What peculiar method could the man have used to wipe a supreme martial art clean out of his mind?

From within the fog Ouyang Feng could make out Zhou Botong and Huang Yaoshi locked in urgent combat. He was secretly pleased, but he feared that once Zhou Botong had beaten Huang Yaoshi he would join the Quanzhen zis against him. This was the perfect chance, he thought, to break the Big Dipper Formation¹⁴ first. He plied his Snake Staff, every move an attack, and in moments the formation was in peril on every side.

Wang Chuyi and Liu Chuxuan¹⁵ shouted, “Shishu Zhou, kill Ouyang Feng first!”

Seeing his shizhis¹⁶ in such danger, Zhou Botong struck out with left palm and right fist, chopping sideways and thrusting straight. When his blows reached Huang Yaoshi’s face he suddenly burst out laughing, palm becoming fist, fist becoming palm, horizontal and vertical exchanging in an instant. Huang Yaoshi had never dreamt of so freakish a move. He threw up his arm to block, but Zhou Botong’s fingertips had already brushed the tail of his eyebrow. It did him no harm, but it stung with a burning pain.

The moment his palm landed, Zhou Botong realised with a start what he had done. His left hand slapped his own right wrist with a smack. “Curse it, curse it, that’s from the Nine Yin Manual!” he swore.

Huang Yaoshi was taken aback for an instant, but his palm was already on its way, as fast as anything could be, and it came down without a sound on Zhou Botong’s shoulder.

Zhou Botong doubled over, his shoulder sagging, and cried, “Ow! Karma works fast.”

The fog spread ever thicker, and it grew harder and harder to see. Afraid that some mishap might befall his two shifus,¹⁷ Guo Jing¹⁸ reached down and helped Ke Zhen’e¹⁹ up, took him by the arm and walked him over to Hong Qigong.²⁰ “Shifus,” he said quietly, “go up into the Misty Rain Pavilion²¹ and rest a while. We can decide what to do once the fog clears.”

Huang Rong called out, “Old Wild Child, will you listen to me or not?”

“I can’t beat your father, so you can rest easy,” Zhou Botong replied.

“I want you to go and fight the Old Venom, quick. But you’re not to kill him.”

“Why?” He talked on without letting his fists and feet slacken one whit.

“If you won’t do as you’re told, I’ll shake out all your smelly old secrets.”

“What smelly secrets? You’re talking rubbish.”

Huang Rong drew out her words. “Very well. On the fourth loom, the mandarin ducks are woven, longing to fly as a pair.”

Those two lines frightened Zhou Botong out of his wits. “All right, all right, I’ll do as you say,” he said hastily. “Old Venom, where are you?”

Ma Yu’s voice came through the fog. “Shishu Zhou, take the Pole Star position and close the ring around him.”

Huang Rong called again, “Papa, this Qiu Qianren²² is in secret league with the barbarians. He’s a great traitor. Kill him, quick.”

“Child, come over to me,” Huang Yaoshi replied. But in the dense fog there was no telling where Qiu Qianren had gone.

Then came Zhou Botong’s roar of laughter. “Old Venom, get down on your knees and kowtow to your grandpa, and I’ll spare your life today.”

Guo Jing escorted Hong Qigong and Ke Zhen’e to the edge of the pavilion, then turned back to search for Wanyan Honglie.²³ But in the moment it had taken him to reach the pavilion and turn round, not only had Wanyan Honglie vanished without trace, but Sha Tongtian, Qiu Qianren and the rest were gone as well.

Then Zhou Botong called out, “Eh? Where’s the Old Venom? Where’s he run off to?”

By now the damp fog was extraordinarily thick, a strange thing rarely seen. Though it was the Mid-Autumn Festival, neither moon nor stars gave any light. Men stood right beside one another yet could not see each other’s faces, only vague, shadowy human shapes, and voices sounded strangely thick and muffled, as if something lay between them. Every one of them had faced great enemies many times over, but now, suddenly as good as blind, not one of them was easy in his heart.

Huang Rong pressed close to her father. Ma Yu issued low commands, drawing the formation tighter. Everyone strained their ears for any movement from the enemy.

For a time, all was silent. Then Qiu Chuji²⁴ suddenly cried, “Listen! What’s that?” All around them rose a strange hissing and sighing, coming nearer from far off.

Huang Rong cried out in alarm, “The Old Venom is letting loose his snakes. Has he no shame!”

Up in the pavilion Hong Qigong had heard it too, and he shouted, “The Old Venom is setting out a snake array. Everyone up into the pavilion, quick.”

Zhou Botong’s martial arts were the best of anyone’s there, but all his life he had been mortally afraid of snakes. With a yell he dashed for the Misty Rain Pavilion ahead of everyone. Afraid the snakes would bite his heels, he did not dare even take the stairs, but leapt up onto the building with his qinggong,²⁵ reckoning that no snake could jump that high to bite him. Even sitting on the highest ridge of the roof, he was still quaking with fear.

Before long the hissing grew louder. Huang Rong took her father by the hand and ran up into the pavilion. The Quanzhen zis groped their way up hand in hand. Yin Zhiping²⁶ missed his footing and pitched headlong down, raising a lump on his head, but he scrambled up at once and rushed back up.

Huang Rong had not heard Guo Jing’s voice, and she was worried about him. “Jing gege, where are you?” she called. She called several times, but no answer came, and she grew more anxious still. “Papa, I’ll go and look for him.”

Then Guo Jing said coldly, “Why should you look for me? You needn’t call me any more, either. I won’t answer you!” He had been right beside her all along.

Huang Yaoshi was furious. “Muddle-headed brat, think you’re so grand?” he swore, and swung a palm across at him.

Guo Jing ducked under it. He was about to strike back when arrows whistled through the air, and several long shafts went thud, thud, thud into the window lattice.

Everyone was startled. Shouting broke out on every side, and arrows came flying thick and fast. There was no knowing how many men and horses were out there in the dark. Outside the pavilion voices clamoured, “Don’t let the rebels get away!”

Wang Chuyi said angrily, “The Jin dogs must have colluded with the corrupt officials of Jiaxing Prefecture and called out the troops against us!”

Qiu Chuji shouted, “Let’s charge down and send them scattering.”

Hao Datong²⁷ cried, “Look out, snakes, snakes!”

As the arrows came thicker and the hissing drew closer, they realised that Wanyan Honglie and Ouyang Feng had secretly laid a vicious plot. The great fog, though, was something nobody had foreseen.

Hong Qigong called out, “Block the arrows and we can’t block the snakes. Dodge the snakes and we can’t dodge the arrows! Everyone, fall back, quick.”

Up on the roof Zhou Botong was cursing the snakes at the top of his voice. He had caught two long arrows, one in each hand, and with them he kept beating aside the arrows that came at him.

The Misty Rain Pavilion had water on three sides. The government troops had ringed it in small boats and were shooting arrows, but the fog was so thick that for the moment they dared not close in.

Hong Qigong shouted, “We go west, overland.” He was the head of the greatest guild in the realm, and even a couple of offhand shouts from him carried an authority of their own. In the confusion everyone did as he said and came down from the pavilion, groping their way forward. The trouble was that even with their eyes wide open they could not see half a foot ahead, so how could they tell east from west, north from south? They could only make for wherever the arrows fell thinnest, holding one another by the hand, each afraid of losing the way and being left alone.

Qiu Chuji and Wang Chuyi went first with jians in hand, clearing the way. Their two jians worked as one, whirling into a dense flurry of steel blossoms that held off the hail of arrows.

Guo Jing held Hong Qigong’s hand in his right and reached out with his left for someone else’s. What his fingers met was warm, soft and smooth. It was Huang Rong’s small hand. He started, and let go at once.

Then Huang Rong said coldly, “Who asked you to pay me any attention?”

Suddenly Qiu Chuji shouted, “Back, quickly. The ground ahead is crawling with snakes, we can’t get through!”

Huang Yaoshi and Ma Yu brought up the rear, holding off pursuit. Hearing Qiu Chuji, they turned at once. Huang Yaoshi broke off two bamboo branches and swept them about him. Through the mist came the hissing of snakes, and a rank, fishy stench hit them full in the face. Huang Rong could hold out no longer, and with a choking sound she was sick.

Huang Yaoshi sighed. “There’s no way out on any side. We must all accept our fate!” He threw down the bamboo branches and swept his daughter up in his arms.

With martial arts like theirs, the soldiers’ arrows alone could never have stopped them. But the Western Venom’s snake array held venomous snakes by the thousand and the ten thousand, and a single bite meant instant death. At the sound of the hissing, every one of them felt his flesh creep. Huang Yaoshi’s jade flute was broken, and Hong Qigong could no longer use his steel needles. Hardest of all was the fog, which left them unable to see. Even if there was a way of escape, they had no means of finding it.

In this desperate moment a voice said coldly, “Little demoness, give the blind man your bamboo staff.”

It was Ke Zhen’e’s voice.

When she heard him say “the blind man”, Huang Rong understood at once what he meant. Her heart leapt, and she quickly handed him the Dog-Beating Staff.²⁸

Ke Zhen’e took it without a change of expression. He tapped the staff against the ground and said, “Follow the blind man and save your skins. There’s always mist and fog round the Misty Rain Pavilion. What’s so strange about that? Why else would it be called the Misty Rain Pavilion?”

He was a native of Jiaxing and had known every road and path around the pavilion by heart since he was a boy. Blind as he was, he ordinarily fell short of other men, but now, with the fog spread thick and black cloud filling the sky, so that no one could see his own hand held out before him, his blindness was no hindrance at all. Listening to the hiss of the snakes and the whistle of the arrows, he knew there was a narrow path on the west side clear of enemies, and he dashed out at their head, hobbling and limping.

As it happened, that path had in recent years been planted thick with green bamboo, and was passable no more. Ke Zhen’e had known it well as a boy, but decades had passed since he last walked it. He did not know the bamboo was there. Seven or eight steps in, the bamboo barred his way, and he could go no further.

Qiu Chuji and Wang Chuyi struck out together with their jians, sending bamboo stems flying, and the others followed close behind.

Ma Yu shouted, “Shishu Zhou, come quickly. Where are you?”

Zhou Botong sat on the roof, hearing snakes hissing all round him. How could he dare answer? He was afraid that Old Wild Child flesh was what snakes liked to bite best of all, and if the swarm heard his voice, what would become of him then?

The party had gone over a hundred feet when the bamboo gave out and a narrow track opened before them. The hissing of the snakes grew fainter, but the shouts of the government troops grew louder and louder, as though some of them were circling round to outflank them. The heroes feared only the snakes. A handful of government troops they did not give a second thought.

Liu Chuxuan said, “Shidi Hao,²⁹ let’s you and I charge in and cut down a few of those dog officials to let off some steam.”

“Good!” Hao Datong replied.

They raised their jians and were about to charge when arrows came at them thick as locusts, and they hurriedly whirled their blades to fend them off.

A little further on they reached the main road. Lightning flashed and thunder crashed. Rain poured down in sheets. A single violent squall, and the fog was washed clean in moments. Black cloud still filled the sky, but people could be dimly made out once more.

“That’s better, that’s better,” everyone said. “The fog’s lifting at last.”

Ke Zhen’e said, “The peril is past. Each of you may go your way.” He handed the bamboo staff back to Huang Rong and walked east without a backward glance.

Footnotes

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

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

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

4. 师叔 — shīshū. Junior lineage uncle. The shidi or shimei of one’s shifu. Shī means teacher. Shū means father’s younger brother. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

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

6. 桃华落英掌 — Táohuā Luòyīng Zhǎng. Palm technique with palm shadows like scattering peach blossoms. Originally called 落英神剑掌 (Falling Petals Divine Sword Palm) in earlier editions. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

7. 全真教 — Quánzhēn Jiào. Literally complete truth order. Daoist martial-monastic order founded by Wang Chongyang, one of the most influential orthodox factions. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

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

9. 马钰 — Mǎ Yù. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

10. 黄蓉 — Huáng Róng. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

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

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

13. 空明拳 — Kōngmíng Quán. The softest fist art in the world, which Zhou Botong drew from the Daodejing. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

14. 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. ↩

15. 刘处玄 — Liú Chǔxuán. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

16. 师侄 — shīzhí. Lineage nephew. The disciple of one’s shixiong, shidi, shijie or shimei. Shī means teacher. Zhí means nephew. ↩

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

18. 郭靖 — Guō Jìng. His name meaning “to pacify”; paired with Yang Kang’s 康 it recalls the Jingkang Shame of 1127. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

19. 柯镇恶 — Kē Zhèn’è. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

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

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

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

23. 完颜洪烈 — Wányán Hóngliè. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

24. 丘处机 — Qiū Chǔjī. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

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

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

27. 郝大通 — Hǎo Dàtōng. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

28. 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. ↩

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