The Legend of the Condor Heroes Chapter 4 – Part 4

The seven were still dispirited when Han Baoju suddenly gave a cry of surprise and pointed into the grass. “What’s that?” Under the moonlight three white shapes sat among the green turf, grotesque and strange.

Quan Jinfa¹ walked over and saw that all three were human skulls, stacked in neat order. He laughed. “That’ll be those naughty children, lining up dead men’s heads here… Ah, what’s this?… Second Brother, come quickly!”

The others heard the sudden alarm in his tone, and all five except Ke Zhen’e hurried over. Quan Jinfa lifted a skull and handed it to Zhu Cong.² “Look at this!” Zhu Cong looked at it in his hand. The forehead bore five holes, as if fingers had been driven into it. He slid his own fingers into the apertures. All five fitted perfectly. The thumb-hole was the largest, the little-finger hole the smallest, as though carefully carved to the shape of the fingers. This was plainly no child’s game.

Zhu Cong’s face changed a little. He bent and lifted two more skulls. Each bore the same holes in the crown, just wide enough for five fingers, and a deep suspicion rose in him. He thought, Could someone have made these with his fingers? But surely no one in the world had martial prowess so great that five fingers could pierce a skull. He turned it over in silence and said nothing.

Han Xiaoying³ called out, “Is it a man-eating mountain demon?”

Han Baoju answered, “That’s it. Must be a mountain demon.”

Quan Jinfa mused, “If it were a mountain demon, why would it stack the skulls so neatly?”

Ke Zhen’e heard this, leapt over, and asked, “How are they arranged?”

“Three piles, in the shape of the character pin,⁴ nine skulls in each pile.”

Ke Zhen’e asked in alarm, “Are they in three layers? Five on the bottom, three in the middle, one on top?”

Quan Jinfa was startled. “Yes! Big Brother, how did you know?”

Ke Zhen’e ignored the question and said urgently, “Quick, go a hundred paces northeast and a hundred northwest. See what’s there.”

The six saw how grave his manner had become, almost frantic, nothing like his usual composure. They dared not delay. Three went one way, three the other, counting their paces to the northeast and the northwest. In moments Han Xiaoying in the northeast and Quan Jinfa in the northwest both cried out together, “There are skull piles here too.”

Ke Zhen’e darted to the northwest pile and hissed, “This is life and death. Make no sound.” The three stood bewildered. Ke Zhen’e had already hurried over to Han Xiaoying and the others in the northeast and silenced them the same way. Zhang Asheng⁵ asked in a low voice, “Demons, or enemies?”

“Evildoers, and terribly powerful. They killed my brother!”

By now Quan Jinfa and the others from the northwest had run over too and gathered round Ke Zhen’e. When they heard this, every heart sank.

They knew well that Ke Zhen’e’s elder brother Ke Pixie⁶ had surpassed him in martial arts and was shrewd beyond measure, yet he had died at these people’s hands. Their enemies must be fearsome indeed. Among the Seven Eccentrics nothing was hidden from one another, but Ke Pixie’s death had come only a year or two ago, and Ke Zhen’e had never once told them how it happened or who the killers were.

Ke Zhen’e took up a skull and ran his hands carefully over it. He slid the five fingers of his right hand into the holes and murmured, “They’ve mastered it. They’ve mastered it. Just as I feared, they’ve mastered it.” He asked, “Three piles here too?”

“Yes.”

“Nine skulls in each?”

“Nine in one pile. The other two have only eight.”

“Go count the ones over there.”

Han Xiaoying ran to the northwest pile, bent to look, and ran back. “Seven in every pile. All dead men’s heads, and the flesh hasn’t rotted yet.”

Ke Zhen’e said softly, “Then they’ll be here at any moment.” He handed the skull back to Quan Jinfa. “Put it back carefully. Don’t let them see it’s been moved.”

Quan Jinfa replaced the skulls and returned to Ke Zhen’e’s side. The six gazed at their Big Brother in bewilderment and waited for him to explain.

He looked up at the sky, the muscles in his face twitching. In a chilling voice he said, “It’s the Copper Corpse and the Iron Corpse!”

Zhu Cong started. “The Copper Corpse and the Iron Corpse? Didn’t they die long ago? How can they still be alive?”

“I thought so too. It seems they’ve been hiding here, secretly practising the Nine Yin White Bone Claw.⁷ Brothers, mount your horses at once. Ride hard due south. Never come back. Ride a thousand li⁸ and wait for me ten days. If I have not arrived by the eleventh, wait no longer.”

Han Xiaoying cried, “Big Brother, what are you saying? We drank the blood-wine and swore to live and die as one. Why are you telling us to leave?”

Ke Zhen’e waved his hand again and again. “Go, go now, or it will be too late!”

Han Baoju flared up. “Do you take us for oath-breakers?”

Zhang Asheng said, “If the Seven Eccentrics can’t beat them, then we leave our seven lives here, and that’s all there is to it. Who ever heard of us running away?”

Ke Zhen’e urged, “These two were formidable to begin with. Now they’ve mastered the Nine Yin White Bone Claw. The seven of us are no match for them. Why throw our lives away for nothing?”

The six knew that Ke Zhen’e was proud and would never admit defeat. He had dared to fight Qiu Chuji the Changchunzi,⁹ a man of fearsome skill, without flinching. Yet he dreaded these two so much that they must be fearsome beyond compare.

Quan Jinfa said, “Then we leave together.”

Ke Zhen’e answered coldly, “If these two are truly still alive, then my brother’s death demands vengeance.”

Nan Xiren said, “We share fortune and hardship alike.”

His words were few, but once spoken they were never withdrawn.

Ke Zhen’e was silent a moment. He knew each of them too well. None would abandon his brothers in danger. What he had said just now, in the urgency of the moment, had come from fear for their lives, and he had hardly weighed his words. He knew it had been wrong. He sighed. “Very well. But everyone must be careful. The Copper Corpse is a man, and the Iron Corpse a woman. They are husband and wife. In the jianghu¹⁰ they are called the Twin Evils of Dark Wind.”¹¹

“Years ago, when they first began practising the Nine Yin White Bone Claw, they slaughtered the innocent. My brother accepted an invitation to join an assault against them. For years they hunted without success. Two years ago they finally met. In the battle that followed, my brother was killed. There is no time to tell the rest.”

When his brother had first been summoned to join the assault on the Twin Evils, the Seven Eccentrics were in Shandong, tracking Duan Tiande¹² and Li Ping.¹³ They had just picked up a lead. Someone had spotted a man and a heavily pregnant woman cursing and fighting each other. The woman was raving, saying she would kill the man and avenge her husband, and the pair were heading for Daxing Prefecture¹⁴ in the Central Capital. It sounded very much like Duan Tiande and Li Ping. Ke Zhen’e had learned that his brother was joining the hunt for the Twin Evils, but he would not abandon the trail of Li Ping to go and fight. Only later, in the desert, did he hear that his brother had been killed. From the messenger he had also learned the Twin Evils’ history and their martial arts, and he judged himself no match for them. He had not the strength to go after them for revenge, and he was desperate to find Guo Jing besides. So he kept it to himself and said nothing to his six brothers and sisters, rather than risk getting them killed.

Ke Zhen’e’s face was grim. “Everyone must beware of their deadly claws. Sixth Brother, go a hundred paces south. See if there is a coffin.”

Quan Jinfa ran, counting paces. At a hundred he found no coffin, but the corner of a stone slab showed beneath the turf. He pulled at it with all his strength. It did not stir. He turned and beckoned, and the others came over. Zhang Asheng and Han Baoju bent to the slab, heaved, and with a few creaks the two of them lifted it clear. Under the moonlight they saw a pit, and in the pit lay two corpses side by side, dressed in Mongol clothing.

Ke Zhen’e leapt into the pit. “When those two fiends come to train, they’ll need these bodies. I’ll hide here and strike when they least expect it. The rest of you, take positions all around. Above all, let them suspect nothing. Wait until I make the first move, then rush them together. Show no mercy. I know an ambush is not the way of upright men, but these enemies are too ruthless and too strong. Unless we do this, not one of the seven of us will survive.” He spoke each word in a low, steady voice, and the six murmured their assent again and again.

Ke Zhen’e went on, “The two are sharp beyond measure. The slightest strange sound or movement and they’ll notice from far away. Cover the slab. Leave only a crack for air.” He lay flat on his back. The six obeyed, lowering the stone gently, then took up their weapons and found hiding-places among the scrub and trees.

Han Xiaoying, seeing how seriously Ke Zhen’e was taking this, so unlike his usual manner, was torn between worry and curiosity. She hid close to Zhu Cong and whispered, “Who are the Twin Evils of Dark Wind?”

Zhu Cong said, “Two years ago, Big Brother’s brother Ke Pixie sent word that he was going to attack the Twin Evils. Big Brother was afraid of leaking the plan, so only he and I met the messenger. I helped him judge whether the man was telling the truth or playing some trick. The messenger said that the Copper Corpse and the Iron Corpse were disciples of the Master of Peach Blossom Island, in the Eastern Sea…”

Han Xiaoying whispered, “From Peach Blossom Island? Then they’re fellow Zhejiang folk of ours?”

“That’s right. I heard the Master of Peach Blossom Island expelled them. The two are cruel, skilled, and cunning beyond belief. Here one moment, gone the next. After they killed Ke Daxia the jianghu lost track of them. Everyone assumed they had at last filled their cup of wickedness and perished. Who would have guessed they were hiding here, in this barren wilderness of the far north?”

“What are their names?”

“The Copper Corpse is the man. His name is Chen Xuanfeng.¹⁵ His face is sallow, like red copper, and it never shows joy or anger. It’s like a corpse’s. That’s why people call him the Copper Corpse.”

“Then the woman, the Iron Corpse, must have a swarthy face?”

“That’s right. Her surname is Mei, and her given name is Chaofeng.”¹⁶

“Big Brother said they practise the Nine Yin White Bone Claw. What sort of art is that?”

“I have never heard of it either.”

Han Xiaoying glanced at the nine skulls stacked like a small white pagoda. The topmost skull stared back at her, its two black eye-sockets fixed on her as if glaring straight at her. A chill went through her heart. She turned her head away and dared not look again.

She said slowly, “Why has Big Brother never once mentioned this? Could it be…”

Before she could finish, Zhu Cong’s left hand clapped over her mouth. His right pointed down the hillside. Han Xiaoying peered out through the grass. Far off, under the moonlight, a bulky black shape was racing across the desert at tremendous speed. She thought, Shame on me! All the while Second Brother was talking to me, he never once relaxed his watch on the enemy.

In moments the shape was near the hill, and now they could make out that it was two figures pressed close together, which made them look enormously broad. Han Baoju and the others saw it too, and each thought, The martial arts of the Twin Evils are indeed beyond the ordinary. The two run so fast, yet hold their positions side by side without so much as a finger’s width between them!

The six held their breath and waited. Zhu Cong gripped the fan he used for striking acupoints. Han Xiaoying thrust her jian into the earth so the steel would not flash, and kept her right hand locked on the hilt. From the mountain path came a rustling, and footsteps climbing steadily towards them. Every heart hammered. The moment stretched. The northwest wind blew harder still, and in the west the black clouds surged up one after another, like mountains great and small.

After a time the footsteps stopped. On the open ground of the hilltop stood two figures. One stood motionless, wearing a fur cap, and seemed dressed as a Mongol. The other had long hair streaming in the wind. A woman.

Han Xiaoying thought, That must be the Copper Corpse and the Iron Corpse. Let us see how they train.

The woman walked slowly around the man. From her joints came faint cracking sounds. Her pace quickened, and the cracking grew louder and denser, like several war-drums beating at once. The Six Eccentrics of Jiangnan listened, secretly appalled, and thought, Her neigong¹⁷ has reached such heights. No wonder Big Brother was so grave. Her palms shot out and drew back ceaselessly, and with every extension and retraction her arm-joints cracked. Her long hair streamed straight behind her as she turned, eerie and terrible.

Han Xiaoying felt a coldness rise from the depths of her heart. Every hair on her body stood on end.

Suddenly the woman’s right palm rose upright. Her left palm cracked against the man’s chest with a sharp report. The six were astounded, and each thought, Could her husband really be taking the force of her palms with nothing but flesh and blood? The man toppled backwards. The woman had already circled behind him and struck his back. Her body coiled, the wind of her palms roaring, and she unleashed eight strikes in succession, each faster than the last, each fiercer. The man made no sound.

At the ninth palm the woman sprang into the air, head down and feet above, her left hand seizing the man’s fur cap. With a wet thud her right hand’s fingers drove into his skull.

Han Xiaoying barely stifled a cry. The woman landed, laughing long and loud. The man had fallen face-down and did not stir. The woman held out a hand stained red with blood and brains, turning it in the moonlight as she laughed. Suddenly she turned her head.

Han Xiaoying saw that although her face was a little swarthy, she was rather pretty, and somewhere in her twenties. There was a faint smile on her face, yet it did nothing to lessen the vicious cruelty about her.

Footnotes

1. 全金发 — Quán Jīnfā. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

2. 朱聪 — Zhū Cōng. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

3. 韩小莹 — Hán Xiǎoyíng. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

4. 品 — pǐn. A character formed of three 口 (mouth) components set in a triangle, two below and one above. ↩

5. 张阿生 — Zhāng Āshēng. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

6. 柯辟邪 — Kē Pìxié. His name meaning “Ward Off Evil”. ↩

7. 九阴白骨爪 — Jiǔyīn Báigǔ Zhǎo. Literally nine yin white bone claw. A claw technique. ↩

8. 里 — lǐ. A traditional unit of distance, about 500 metres or one-third of a mile. ↩

9. 丘处机 — Qiū Chǔjī. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

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

11. 黑风双煞 — Hēifēng Shuāngshà. Literally twin evils of the dark wind. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

12. 段天德 — Duàn Tiāndé. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

13. 李萍 — Lǐ Píng. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

14. 大兴府 — Dàxīng Fǔ. Literally Daxing Prefecture. The Central Capital of the Jin, in modern Beijing. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

15. 陈玄风 — Chén Xuánfēng. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

16. 梅超风 — Méi Chāofēng. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

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