The Legend of the Condor Heroes Chapter 36 – Part 2

Wanyan Honglie stepped forward and caught hold of him. “Kang-er, what is it? Where are you wounded?” He drew the dao from his own waist and pressed it into Yang Kang’s hand, reasoning that Ouyang Feng would never let the matter rest, and hoping only that by weight of numbers father and son might escape with their lives that night.

Yang Kang fought down the pain and said, “It’s nothing.” He had barely taken the dao when his hand suddenly went numb and limp, and the blade clattered to the ground with a clang. He stooped hastily to pick it up, but, strange to say, his arm had gone rigid and would no longer obey him. This was no small fright. He squeezed the back of his right hand hard with his left and felt not the faintest sensation. He looked up at Huang Rong and cried, “Poison! Poison! You hurt me with a poisoned needle.”

Peng Lianhu and the rest were wary of Ouyang Feng, but they reasoned that Wanyan Honglie was a prince of the Jin court and that Ouyang Ke’s grudge might yet be resolved by some means. Seeing how panic-stricken Yang Kang looked, some hurried over to comfort him while others rushed up to Huang Rong, crying again and again, “Quick, fetch the antidote and save the Young Prince.” Yet all of them kept as far from Ouyang Feng as they could.

Huang Rong said coolly, “My Soft Hedgehog Armour¹ carries no poison. There is no need to fret over nothing. There is someone here who means to kill him anyway. Why should I need to harm him?”

Then Yang Kang cried out in agony, “I… I… I can’t move!” His knees buckled and his body sank slowly to the ground. From his mouth came a rasping, gurgling sound, half human, half beast.

Huang Rong was greatly puzzled. She turned and saw that Ouyang Feng, too, looked thoroughly taken aback. When she looked at Yang Kang again, his face was suddenly wreathed in delight, his mouth split in a wide grin. In the silver moonlight the sight was uncanny beyond words. A thought struck her and she said, “So it was Uncle Ouyang who laid the poison.”

Ouyang Feng said in surprise, “From the look of him, he has certainly been struck by my strange snakes’ venom. I meant to give him a taste of it myself, and the little girl has saved me the trouble. Excellent, excellent. But I alone in all the world possess these strange snakes. Where could the little girl have got hold of one?”

Huang Rong said, “How should I have a strange snake? The poison was yours. Perhaps you do not yet know it yourself.”

Ouyang Feng said, “That is strange indeed.”

Huang Rong said, “Uncle Ouyang, I remember you once made a wager with the Old Wild Child.² You gave a shark the venom of your strange snake. The shark died of the poison, and a second shark that ate its flesh was poisoned in turn. So the venom passed from one to the next, so that its poison spread without end. Isn’t that right?”

Ouyang Feng laughed. “If my poisons were not extraordinary, would the name Western Venom be anything more than an empty title?”

Huang Rong said, “Just so. Nan Xiren³ was the first shark.”

By now Yang Kang was like a man gone mad, rolling over and over on the ground. Liang Ziweng⁴ tried to hold him, but how could he get near?

Ouyang Feng frowned and thought hard, but still could not make sense of it. “Please explain more clearly.”

Huang Rong said, “Well, you set your strange snake to bite Nan Xiren. That day on Peach Blossom Island I met him and he struck me a blow. The blow landed on my left shoulder, and his poisoned blood was left on the spikes of my Soft Hedgehog Armour. My armour was the second shark. Just now the Young Prince lashed out and grabbed me. Heaven’s net is wide, and he grabbed those very spikes, so Nan Xiren’s poisoned blood went into his. Heh, heh, he is the third shark.”

Hearing this, they all thought how fearsome Ouyang Feng’s strange snakes truly were, and how Yang Kang had devised a vicious scheme to murder the Five Eccentrics of Jiangnan, only to be tainted in the end with Nan Xiren’s poisoned blood. Retribution had come, and it had not missed. A chill ran through every one of them.

Wanyan Honglie walked up to Ouyang Feng and suddenly dropped to his knees. “Mister Ouyang, save my son’s life, and this humble prince will be grateful to you for ever.” Though Wanyan Honglie knew Yang Kang was not his own child, Yang Kang had called him father from the day he was born, and he had raised him as his own. He doted on Bao Xiruo, and love for her extended to the boy. He had always treated Yang Kang no differently from a son of his own blood.

Ouyang Feng gave a great roar of laughter. “So your son’s life is a life, and my nephew’s life is not!” His gaze swept slowly across the faces of Peng Lianhu and the rest, and he said darkly, “If any hero here disagrees, let him step forward and say so!”

Without meaning to, they all drew back at once. Who would dare say a word?

Yang Kang suddenly sprang up from the ground, and with a thud his fist sent Liang Ziweng tumbling head over heels. Wanyan Honglie rose to his feet and shouted, “Quick, help the Young Prince to Lin’an. We must find a famous physician to treat him without delay.”

Ouyang Feng laughed. “The poison Old Venom laid, what famous physician in the world can cure it? And what famous physician is so tired of living that he would dare spoil my business?”

Wanyan Honglie ignored him and barked at his retainers and martial instructors, “What are you waiting for? Why aren’t you helping the Young Prince?”

Yang Kang suddenly leapt high into the air, his head nearly striking a crossbeam. He pointed at Wanyan Honglie and screamed, “You’re not my father. You killed my mother, and now you want to kill me too!” Wanyan Honglie backed hastily away several paces and staggered.

Sha Tongtian⁵ said, “Young Prince, calm yourself.” He stepped forward and seized Yang Kang’s arms. But Yang Kang’s right hand twisted back and caught Sha Tongtian’s wrist, while his left hand clawed savagely at Sha Tongtian’s arm. Stung by the pain, Sha Tongtian hastily shook him off. He stood dazed for a moment, then felt a faint numbness and itching in his left arm, and his heart turned to ice.

Huang Rong said coldly, “The fourth shark.”

Peng Lianhu and Sha Tongtian had long been close friends, and Peng Lianhu was expert in poisons. He knew at once that Sha Tongtian was poisoned. In desperation he drew the dao at his waist and, with a swish, hacked off half of Sha Tongtian’s arm. Hou Tonghai⁶ had not yet grasped his purpose. He bellowed, “Peng Lianhu, you dare wound my shige?⁷” He hurled himself forward, meaning to fight to the death.

Sha Tongtian endured the pain and shouted, “Fool, stop! Big Brother Peng is doing this for my sake!”

By now Yang Kang’s wits were more confused than ever. He pointed one way and struck another, kicking and biting wildly. The others, seeing what had befallen Sha Tongtian, dared linger no longer. They raised a shout and fled the temple in a body. The commotion startled the crows from the pagoda once more, and in the moonlight their shadows wheeled above the empty ground before the temple, their cawing mingling with Yang Kang’s screams.

Wanyan Honglie stepped out through the temple gate and turned his head. “Kang-er, Kang-er!” Yang Kang’s eyes filled with tears. “Father, Father!” He ran towards him. Wanyan Honglie was overjoyed. He stretched out his arms and gathered the boy to his breast. “Child, are you better?” In the moonlight he saw Yang Kang’s face contort suddenly. The boy’s mouth opened wide, revealing two rows of white, gleaming teeth as he lunged to bite. Wanyan Honglie was seized with horror and thrust him away with his left hand. Yang Kang had no strength left in him. He fell on his back and could not rise again. Wanyan Honglie dared not look again. He ran from the temple, leapt onto his horse, and his retainers closed about him front and rear. In moments they were gone without a trace.

Ouyang Feng and Huang Rong watched Yang Kang rolling on the ground. Each was turning things over in their own mind, and neither spoke. After a while Yang Kang’s whole body writhed in one long spasm, and then he lay still.

Ouyang Feng said coldly, “Half the night gone in all this commotion, and it is nearly dawn. Let us go and see your father.”

Huang Rong said, “I expect my father is back on Peach Blossom Island by now. What is there to see?”

Ouyang Feng started, then laughed coldly. “So all the little girl’s talk was a lie.”

Huang Rong said, “The first part was certainly a lie. What sort of man is my father? Do you suppose a handful of stinking Quanzhen⁸ Daoists could trap him? If I had not mentioned the Nine Yin Manual,⁹ I doubt you would have let me question Silly Girl.”

By now Ke Zhen’e both admired and pitied Huang Rong, and hoped only that she would quickly hit on some clever plan and get away.

Ouyang Feng said, “Your lies held three parts truth in them, or Old Venom would not have been so easily deceived. Very well. You shall recite your father’s translation from beginning to end, and leave out not half a sentence.”

Huang Rong said, “What if I cannot remember?”

Ouyang Feng said, “You had best remember. Otherwise a pretty, clever little girl like you, bitten a few times by my strange snake, would be a most regrettable waste.”

When Huang Rong had leapt out from behind the idol, she had been resolved to die. But now that she had seen with her own eyes how horribly Yang Kang had died, she could not help trembling with fear. She thought, Even if I recite the scripture that Great Master Yideng taught me, he still will not let me go. How can I escape this danger? For a time she was at a loss, then decided she had no choice but to stall him for a while. She said, “If I see the original text, I may be able to translate it. Recite it to me, sentence by sentence, and I will try.”

Ouyang Feng said, “That gibberish, who can memorise it? Do not try to fool me.”

When Huang Rong heard that he could not recite it from memory, a plan formed at once. She thought, If he cannot recite it, he must value the text as dearly as his life. She said, “Very well. Take it out and read it. I will translate for you.”

Ouyang Feng, bent only on hearing her translation, was overjoyed. From his robe he produced a packet wrapped in oiled paper. He unwrapped it layer by layer, three folds in all, and drew out the text that Guo Jing had transcribed from memory. Huang Rong laughed to herself, thinking, Jing gege scribbled down any old nonsense, and this Old Venom actually treats it as a priceless treasure.

Ouyang Feng struck a huozhezi¹⁰ alight and found a half-burnt candle stub on the altar table. He lit it and, by its light, read from the text, “Maha boluo, jiedi gulu…hu bu er, ken xing duo de, sigen liu bu.”

Huang Rong said, “The essence of the Great Scripture lies here: the skilful use of contemplation, and the working of the twelve breaths.”

Ouyang Feng was delighted. He read on, “Ji’er wen hua si, ha hu.”

Huang Rong said, “It can heal all afflictions and lead gradually into spiritual power.”

Ouyang Feng said, “Qu da bie si tu, en ni qu.”

Huang Rong pondered for a moment, then shook her head. “That’s wrong. You’ve misread it!”

Ouyang Feng said, “There is no mistake. That is exactly what is written.”

Huang Rong said, “Then it is most peculiar. That sentence makes no sense at all.” She rested her chin on her left hand and pretended to think hard. Ouyang Feng grew very anxious. He stared at her, willing her to work it out quickly.

Footnotes

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

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

3. 南希仁 — Nán Xīrén. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

4. 梁子翁 — Liáng Zǐwēng. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

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

6. 侯通海 — Hóu Tōnghǎi. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

7. 师哥 — shīgē. Male senior, the colloquial form of shixiong. Both apprenticed to the same shifu. Shī means teacher. Gē means older brother. ↩

8. 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. ↩

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

10. 火折子 — huǒzhézi. A tinder tube: rolled paper or fibre treated with saltpetre, kept smouldering in a tube and revived with a puff of breath. ↩