The Legend of the Condor Heroes Chapter 39 – Part 5

Huang Rong tilted her head and thought for a while, then said, “Ah, perhaps forgetting would be no bad thing. The stronger the two of us grow in martial arts, the unhappier we are at heart. We were better off as children, when we knew nothing and hadn’t a care in the world.” Little did she think that anyone who grows older is bound to have troubles and sorrows aplenty, whatever the level of his martial arts. She went on, “Ouyang Feng said tomorrow is the day of the Sword Summit. My father will surely be climbing the mountain. Since you don’t want to fight for first place, let’s think of some way to help my father come out above all the heroes.”

Guo Jing said, “Rong-er, it’s not that I won’t listen to you. But I think Hong shifu¹ is a man of great benevolence and righteousness, a better man than your father.”

Huang Rong had been leaning against him. When she heard him say her father was no good, she flared up and shoved him away. Guo Jing was stunned. Then Huang Rong suddenly laughed. “Well, Hong shifu has been good to us both, it’s true. Let’s do this, then. We’ll help both of them. How about that?”

Guo Jing said, “Your father and Hong shifu are both junzi, open and above board. If they knew we were scheming in secret to help them, they wouldn’t be pleased at all.”

Huang Rong said, “Oh, I see. So because I’m up to tricks, I must be some low, scheming wretch, is that it?” She pulled a stern face.

Guo Jing said, “Oh no. What a dolt I am, forever saying the wrong thing, and now I’ve made you angry again.” Dismay was written all over his face.

Huang Rong gave a little snort of laughter. “I don’t know how many times I’ll be angry with you in the days to come.”

Guo Jing did not understand. He scratched his head and stared at her.

Huang Rong said, “If you truly never abandon me again, we’ve a long life together ahead of us. I can’t think how many silly things you’ll come out with.”

Guo Jing was overjoyed. He clasped both her hands and said again and again, “How could I abandon you? How could I?”

Huang Rong said, “Since the princess won’t have you, naturally you’ve no choice but to want this poor girl.”

Her words brought his troubles back to him. He thought of his mother’s terrible death in the desert and fell silent, his face clouded. A crescent moon had risen, casting silvery light like water over them both. Huang Rong saw his expression change and knew that she too had said the wrong thing. She quickly changed the subject. “Jing gege,² let’s not speak of the past. I’m so happy to be with you again. Shall I let you kiss my cheek?”

Guo Jing blushed and did not dare kiss her. Huang Rong smiled sweetly, then felt embarrassed herself and changed the subject once more. “Tell me, at tomorrow’s Sword Summit, who do you think will win?”

Guo Jing said, “That’s truly hard to say. I wonder if Great Master Yideng³ will come?”

Huang Rong said, “The Great Master has left the world behind and contends with no one. He would never come to fight for an empty title.”

Guo Jing nodded. “I thought the same. Your father, Hong shifu, Big Brother Zhou,⁴ Qiu Qianren and Ouyang Feng each have their own matchless skills. But has Hong shifu fully recovered? Are his martial arts what they were?” He frowned with worry.

Huang Rong said, “By rights, Old Wild Child should have the strongest martial arts. But if he refuses to use the skills from the Nine Yin Manual,⁵ then he falls short of the other four.”

They talked on, and gradually Huang Rong grew weary. She nestled into Guo Jing’s arms and fell asleep. She always wore the Soft Hedgehog Armour, and whenever she leaned against Guo Jing she was in the habit of making sure the spikes did not prick him. She had not held this pose in a long time, and now, returning to it after their long separation, she felt a deep, wordless contentment.

Guo Jing was growing drowsy himself when suddenly he heard the sound of rapid footsteps. Two dark figures burst from behind the cliff, one fleeing, one pursuing. Their clothes flapped in the wind, and they ran with tremendous speed. Judging by their build and footwork, the first was Old Wild Child Zhou Botong, and the one chasing him was none other than Qiu Qianren. Guo Jing did not know that Qiu Qianren had used venomous snakes to gain the upper hand, and was greatly puzzled. He thought, In the Western Regions, Big Brother Zhou had Qiu Qianren running for his life. How is it the other way round now? He nudged Huang Rong and whispered in her ear, “Look!”

Huang Rong raised her head. In the moonlight she saw Zhou Botong darting east and west, never daring to stand still. She heard him shout, “You old scoundrel surnamed Qiu, I’ve got snake-catchers lying in ambush here. You’d better run while you can!”

Qiu Qianren laughed. “Do you take me for a child of three?”

Zhou Botong bellowed, “Brother Guo, Miss Huang, come quick, come quick and help me catch snakes.”

Guo Jing was about to leap out, but Huang Rong, still nestled in his arms, whispered, “Don’t move!”

Zhou Botong ran round in a few circles. When neither Guo Jing nor Huang Rong appeared, he shouted, “You stinking brat, you sly wench, if you don’t come out, I’ll curse your ancestors for eighteen generations back.”

Huang Rong stood up and laughed. “I won’t come out, so there. Curse my father, if you dare.”

Zhou Botong saw Qiu Qianren holding a viper in each hand, the snakes rearing up and flicking their tongues. He was so frightened his legs turned to water, and he begged, “Miss Huang, come quick, come quick. What if I curse eighteen generations of my own Zhou ancestors instead?”

Qiu Qianren, seeing Guo Jing and Huang Rong waiting to one side, was inwardly alarmed. He thought he must slip away while he had the chance. If the three of them joined forces, he would surely come to grief. But once noon came tomorrow, it would be single combat for supremacy, and he had nothing to fear from them. He pushed off with both feet and shot forward, and thrust the vipers towards Zhou Botong’s face.

Zhou Botong swept his sleeve to block and twisted aside. Suddenly there was a faint sound above his head. He felt something cold slide down his neck and into the back of his robe, something alive, wriggling and bouncing inside his clothes, slippery and slimy. He was frightened out of his wits and shrieked, “I’m dead, I’m dead!” He dared not reach into his own clothes to pull the creature out, and simply ran and leapt about wildly. Then he felt what he thought was a bite on his back. Sure that this time he was done for, he went numb all over and crumpled to the ground.

Guo Jing and Huang Rong were horrified and flew to his rescue.

Qiu Qianren saw Zhou Botong suddenly in dire straits and was greatly surprised. He was looking for a way down the mountain when a dark figure stepped out of the trees and said coldly, “Old villain Qiu, this time you won’t get away.” The figure had its back to the moonlight, and the face could not be made out. Qiu Qianren’s heart lurched. “Who are you?” he barked.

Zhou Botong, crouched dazed on the ground, thought he was already on his way to the underworld. Suddenly someone lifted him up and said, “Old Zhou, don’t be afraid. That’s not a snake.”

Zhou Botong gave a start and scrambled to his feet. He felt the cold thing wriggling on his back again and screamed, “It’s biting me again. It is a snake, it’s a snake!”

The man said, “It’s a golden salamander,⁶ not a snake.”

By now Guo Jing and Huang Rong could see the newcomer clearly. It was the Fisherman, one of Great Master Yideng’s four great disciples, the Fisherman, the Woodcutter, the Farmer and the Scholar. He reached into the collar at the back of Zhou Botong’s neck and pulled out a golden salamander. It turned out that he had found a pair of them in a mountain stream on Mount Hua, caught them and put them in his robe. One had slipped out, climbed up a tree, and by the merest chance had fallen right inside Zhou Botong’s collar. Golden salamanders do not in fact bite, but Zhou Botong, thinking only of venomous snakes, was convinced the cold, slimy thing on his back was biting him and pumping in poison. Had the Fisherman come a moment later, Zhou Botong would very likely have fainted from fright.

Zhou Botong opened his eyes and saw the Fisherman. His wits were still scattered, and he felt the man looked familiar, though he could not place who he was. He turned his head and saw Qiu Qianren backing away steadily, while a dark shadow closed slowly upon him. Zhou Botong collected himself a little, and then the fright all but drove the soul out of him. The shadow was none other than Yinggu,⁷ the Imperial Consort Liu from the palace of the Dali Kingdom.⁸

Qiu Qianren had believed that in all the world, only Zhou Botong’s martial arts surpassed his own. If he could drive Zhou Botong away with snakes, then tomorrow at the contest he would have an excellent chance of standing above every other fighter. He had not expected Yinggu to appear on the eve of the Sword Summit. At Azure Dragon Shallows some time ago, he had seen her fight in a mad frenzy. He thought, If that madwoman wraps herself around me, with all these enemies watching, my life is surely forfeit. He heard her rasping voice cry, “Give me back my son’s life!”

Qiu Qianren’s heart lurched. Years ago he had disguised himself and crept into the palace at night to wound her child. He had meant to make Emperor Duan drain his neili saving the boy, never dreaming that the Emperor could bring himself to leave the child unhealed. How had she discovered the truth? He forced a smile. “Madwoman, why do you keep pestering me?”

Yinggu cried, “Give me back my son’s life!”

Qiu Qianren said, “What son? Your son’s death has nothing to do with me.”

Yinggu said, “Hmph, I didn’t see your face that night, but I remember your laugh. Laugh again! Laugh, go on, laugh!”

Seeing her hands reaching out, as if she might throw herself on him at any moment, Qiu Qianren retreated two more steps, shifted his body slightly, clapped his left palm against his right, and sent his right palm flying sideways straight at Yinggu’s lower abdomen. It was one of the Thirteen Ultimate Moves of his Iron Palm skill,⁹ called Yin Yang Return to One,¹⁰ and the most savage of them all. Yinggu saw the danger and was about to slip it with her Loach Skill,¹¹ but the strike came with shocking speed. Before her feet had even shifted, his palm was less than half a foot from her body.

A pang of anguish seized Yinggu’s heart. She knew revenge was beyond her. She braced herself to take the blow, meaning to throw her arms round him and roll with him down into the valley so that they would die together. Suddenly the wind of a fist grazed her ear, sharp as a blade against her cheek. Qiu Qianren’s palm had not yet landed solidly when he was forced to snatch back his arm and deflect a punch that had struck in from the side. He snarled, “Old Wild Child, you again.” It was Zhou Botong, who had seen Yinggu in mortal danger and used one of the supreme skills of the Nine Yin Manual to break that deadly Iron Palm move.

Zhou Botong dared not look directly at Yinggu. He kept his back to her and said, “Yinggu, you’re no match for this old man. Go quickly. I’m off!” He was about to flee down the mountain when Yinggu cried, “Zhou Botong, why won’t you avenge your son?”

Zhou Botong froze. “What? My son?”

Yinggu said, “Yes. The man who killed your son is this Qiu Qianren here.”

Zhou Botong had never known that those few days of love with Yinggu had given her a son, and in his confusion he could not make sense of it. He turned his head and saw that several more people had gathered beside Yinggu. Besides Guo Jing and Huang Rong, Great Master Yideng and his four disciples all stood behind him.

Qiu Qianren was now less than three feet from the cliff edge. Every fighter before him was a formidable foe. The peril was greater than any he had ever faced. He clapped his palms together and said proudly, “I came to Mount Hua to compete for the title of greatest in martial arts under heaven. Hmph, hmph, and you mean to join forces and do me harm, to be rid of a dangerous rival before the contest. Such low treachery, and you have the gall to do it.”

Zhou Botong thought the man had a point and said, “Fine. After tomorrow’s Sword Summit, we’ll take your cur’s life then.”

But Yinggu cried fiercely, “You cursed wretch, how can I wait until tomorrow?”

Huang Rong also said, “Old Wild Child, you keep your word with honourable men, and you use tricks against treacherous ones. Right now we’re openly ganging up on him, several against one, and what can he do about it?”

Qiu Qianren’s face was deathly white. He could see the odds were against him, and he shouted, “By what right do you kill me?”

The Scholar said, “You have done evil without end. Any man may put you to death.”

Qiu Qianren threw back his head and laughed. “If it comes to fighting, you are using your numbers against one man, and alone I’m no match for you. But when it comes to right and wrong, good and evil, heh heh, here I stand, Qiu Qianren, alone. Whichever of you has never in his life killed a man or done any wrong or wicked deed, let him come forward and strike. This humble one will stretch out his neck for the blade, and if I so much as frown, call me no brave man.”

Great Master Yideng let out a long sigh and was the first to step back. He sat cross-legged, head bowed. The others were struck dumb by Qiu Qianren’s words, each recalling the transgressions of their own lives. The Fisherman, Woodcutter, Farmer and Scholar had all put men to death during their years as ministers of the Dali Kingdom. Though they had acted with justice, there were bound to have been mistakes. Zhou Botong and Yinggu exchanged a glance, each remembering the deepest regret of their lives, each privately ashamed. Guo Jing had killed many men in battle on the western campaign and was already eaten up with guilt and self-reproach. Huang Rong thought of how she had caused her father nothing but worry these last years, how very unfilial she had been, and as for the tricks, deceptions and pranks she had played on people, they were past counting.

Qiu Qianren’s words had rendered them all speechless. Not one to waste such a chance, he strode towards Guo Jing. Guo Jing shifted to one side to let him pass. Qiu Qianren braced his feet, about to spring, when suddenly a bamboo staff came flying out from behind a boulder and chopped straight at his face.

The blow came with staggering suddenness. Qiu Qianren’s left palm flew up, and he was about to turn his wrist and catch the end of the staff when it jabbed three times, and in the blink of an eye it had struck at three major acupoints on his chest. Qiu Qianren was appalled. The staff came as fast as the wind, and there was no blocking it, no dodging it. He had no choice but to retreat once more to the cliff edge.

A dark figure came out from behind the boulder hard on the heels of the staff and planted itself there.

Footnotes

1. 洪师父 — Hóng shīfù. Literally Shifu Hong. ↩

2. 靖哥哥 — Jìng gēge. Literally elder brother Jing. ↩

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

4. 周大哥 — Zhōu dàgē. Literally big brother Zhou. ↩

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

6. 金娃娃 — jīn wáwa. Literally golden baby. A golden giant salamander, which is called 娃娃鱼 (wáwayú), baby fish, because its cry sounds like a baby’s. ↩

7. 瑛姑 — Yīnggū. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

8. 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. ↩

9. 铁掌功 — Tiězhǎng Gōng. Qiu Qianren’s palm art, on which his fame rests. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

10. 阴阳归一 — Yīnyáng Guīyī. One of thirteen ultimate moves where left palm strikes right palm which flies out to hit opponent. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

11. 泥鳅功 — Níqiū Gōng. Unique martial art developed by Yinggu making her body slippery like a loach. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩