The Legend of the Condor Heroes Chapter 40 – Part 2

The morning sun was just rising, and in its glittering light a man in a green robe of plain cloth came walking unhurriedly towards them. It was none other than the Master of Peach Blossom Island,¹ the Eastern Heretic Huang Yaoshi.²

Huang Rong threw herself forward and father and daughter held each other tight. Huang Yaoshi saw that the childishness had all but gone from his daughter’s face. She had grown into a graceful young woman, more like her late mother than ever, and he was overjoyed, yet could not help a pang of sorrow.

Hong Qigong³ said, “Old Heretic Huang, I told you when I was on Peach Blossom Island: your daughter is clever and quick and full of tricks. Others will fall for her schemes, but she will never be the one to come off worse, so you needn’t worry. Now tell me, was this old beggar wrong or not?”

Huang Yaoshi smiled faintly and, holding his daughter’s hand, walked up to him and said, “Congratulations on driving off Old Venom. With that man defeated, a great weight is lifted from both our minds.”

Hong Qigong said, “Among the heroes of the world, only you and this old beggar count. But now that I’ve set eyes on your daughter, the worms in my belly are wriggling and dancing, and my mouth is watering. Let’s get straight on with it. Whether you’re first under heaven or I am, all I’m waiting for is to eat the fine dishes Rong-er cooks.”

Huang Rong laughed, “No. Shifu has to lose before I’ll cook for you.”

Hong Qigong said, “Bah, have you no shame? You’re trying to hold me to ransom, are you?”

Huang Yaoshi said, “Old Beggar, you lost two years of practice after your injury. I’m afraid you’re no match for me now. Rong-er, whoever wins and whoever loses, you must cook the finest meal under heaven for your shifu.”

Hong Qigong said, “Exactly! That’s how a great master speaks. How could the illustrious Master of Peach Blossom Island be as petty as a little girl? Let’s not wait for noon either. Come on!” With that he swung his bamboo staff and was about to step up and attack.

Huang Yaoshi shook his head. “You’ve just been fighting Old Venom for a long while. You may not be utterly spent, but you’ve had a hard bout. How could I, Huang, take advantage of that? Let us wait until noon. Rest your strength.”

Though Hong Qigong knew he was right, he was too impatient to wait and insisted on fighting at once. Huang Yaoshi seated himself on a rock and paid him no heed.

Huang Rong, seeing the two at an impasse, said, “Daddy, Shifu, I have an idea. You can fight at once, and Daddy need not take any advantage.”

Hong Qigong and Huang Yaoshi spoke as one, “Good, what idea?”

Huang Rong said, “You two are old friends. Whoever wins and whoever loses, it is bound to sour your friendship. Yet today’s Huashan Sword Summit requires a clear victor, does it not?”

Hong Qigong and Huang Yaoshi had already been thinking the same. From the way she spoke, she seemed to have some clever plan that would serve all three ends at once: they could fight straight away, Huang Yaoshi need take no advantage, and their friendship need not suffer. They asked together, “What’s your plan?”

Huang Rong said, “Like this. Daddy fights Jing gege first. See how many moves it takes to beat him. Then Shifu fights Jing gege. If Daddy needs ninety-nine moves and Shifu needs a hundred, then Daddy wins. If Shifu needs only ninety-eight, then Shifu wins.”

Hong Qigong laughed. “Brilliant, brilliant!”

Huang Rong said, “Jing gege fights Daddy first, when you’re both fresh. Then when you fight Shifu, you’ve each already had one bout. Isn’t that perfectly fair?”

Huang Yaoshi nodded. “That’s a sound plan. Jing-er, come. Will you use a weapon?”

Guo Jing⁴ said, “No!” He was about to step forward when Huang Rong added, “Wait. There’s one more thing to settle. If neither of you Seniors can beat Jing gege within three hundred moves, then what?”

Hong Qigong roared with laughter. “Old Heretic Huang, at first I envied you for siring such a fine daughter, going to such lengths to help her father. Ahem, but ‘a daughter’s heart turns outward’, and that is a truth that never fails. She’s set on that silly boy winning the title of greatest martial artist under heaven!”

Huang Yaoshi’s nature was eccentric, but his tenderness for his young daughter had always been fierce. He thought, Then I shall grant her this wish. Aloud he said, “Rong-er has a point. If the two of us old men cannot beat Jing-er within three hundred moves, what face have we to call ourselves first under heaven?” Then he thought again, I could hold back on purpose and let him last three hundred moves. But the Old Beggar won’t hold back. He’s sure to beat him within three hundred. Then I wouldn’t be yielding to Jing-er at all, but to the Old Beggar. For a while he pondered, unable to decide.

Hong Qigong gave Guo Jing a push from behind. “Hurry up and fight. What are you waiting for?” Guo Jing staggered and lurched forward to land in front of Huang Yaoshi. Huang Yaoshi thought, Good. Let me first test his skill, then decide. He flipped up his left palm and struck diagonally at the boy’s shoulder, calling out, “First move!”

While Huang Yaoshi wavered, Guo Jing was just as torn, thinking, I must never take the title of finest under heaven. But should I let Island Master Huang win, or let Shifu win? He was still dithering when Huang Yaoshi’s palm came slicing down. He raised his right arm to block, swayed, and nearly fell. He thought, How muddled I am. What am I doing, thinking about yielding? Even at full strength, I can’t hold out for three hundred moves. He saw Huang Yaoshi’s second strike arriving and steeled himself to fight. His mind was made up now. Let the two of them each beat him with their real skill. Whether one was quicker and the other slower was theirs to settle, and he would not favour either in the slightest.

After a few moves Huang Yaoshi was astonished, and thought, How has this silly boy’s skill come so far? If I yield even a little, never mind letting him last beyond three hundred moves, I might even lose to him. In a duel between masters, one cannot concede the slightest advantage. At first Huang Yaoshi had used only seven-tenths of his strength. He had not expected Guo Jing to fight back with all his might, and he found himself at a disadvantage. Alarmed, Huang Yaoshi hurriedly unleashed the Peach Blossom Falling Petals Palm,⁵ his form flitting and elusive as he fought to seize the initiative.

Guo Jing’s skill had indeed grown far beyond what it once was. Huang Yaoshi shifted through more than ten varieties of fist and palm, yet could not regain the lead. After a hundred-odd moves he launched a sudden feint. Guo Jing, not expecting him to resort to trickery, nearly took a kick from his left foot and had to retreat two paces before he could restore the balance. Huang Yaoshi let out a breath, and thought, For shame! He meant to seize the chance to gain the upper hand, but Guo Jing’s defence was rock solid. Though Huang Yaoshi’s attack broke over him like a sudden gale and towering waves, the boy sought no gain, only to make no mistake, and his fists and feet showed not the slightest flaw. He heard his daughter already counting, “Two hundred and three, two hundred and four.” Huang Yaoshi grew agitated, and thought, The Old Beggar strikes with fierce, hard power. If he beats Jing-er within a hundred moves, where will I hide my face? He changed his approach. His palm-shadows drifted and flickered, and his strikes came faster than anything.

At this Guo Jing fell at once onto the back foot. His breath came short, as if a great mountain were pressing down upon him. Stars swam before his eyes and he could barely hold on. Huang Yaoshi’s attacks quickened and his onslaught swelled, and Huang Rong’s counting quickened to match. Guo Jing’s lips were dry and his tongue parched. His arms and legs ached and went weak. Harder and harder he found it to hold, and only sheer stubborn will kept him on his feet. At the most desperate moment he heard Huang Rong shout, “Three hundred!” Huang Yaoshi’s expression changed and he leapt back.

Guo Jing had been driven into such a press that his head spun and his vision blurred. He spun helplessly to the left, whirling round more than a dozen times, and he could see that a few more turns would bring him crashing down. In desperation he rooted his left foot with the Thousand-Jin Drop⁶ technique, trying to anchor himself. But the lingering force of Huang Yaoshi’s neili⁷ was immense. Though the man himself had leapt away, the residual power of his palm-stroke had not faded, and Guo Jing could not steady himself. He had no choice but to bend low, press his right hand hard against the ground and, borrowing the fierce momentum of the Eighteen Palms of Dragon Subduing,⁸ whirl round more than a dozen times to the right. Only then did clarity return to his head. He stood dazed for a moment, then said to Huang Yaoshi, “Father-in-law, Father, one more move and I’ll fall for certain.”

Huang Rong was overjoyed, and laughed, “Jing gege, the way you called my daddy ‘Father’ was just right!”

Huang Yaoshi saw that Guo Jing had the composure to withstand his Strange Gates Five Turns,⁹ a technique more than ten years in the making, and far from being angry, he was pleased. He said with a laugh, “Old Beggar, the title of finest under heaven is yours.” He cupped his fists in salute and turned to leave.

Hong Qigong said, “Hold on, hold on. I may not succeed either. Lend Jing-er your iron flute.¹⁰” Huang Yaoshi’s jade flute had been broken, but an iron flute was thrust through his belt. He drew it out and handed it to Guo Jing. Hong Qigong then said to Guo Jing, “You take the weapon. I’ll fight you bare-handed.”

Guo Jing was taken aback. “Well…”

Hong Qigong said, “Your palm technique is one I taught you. What’s there to compare in fists and feet? Come on!” The five fingers of his left hand curled like hooks and seized Guo Jing’s wrist, snatching the iron flute away. Guo Jing, not understanding his intent, let the weapon go and made no defence at all. Hong Qigong cursed him, “Silly boy, this is a contest!” He handed the iron flute back with his left hand and reached for it again with his right. Only then did Guo Jing pull the xiao back and dodge. Huang Rong counted, “One move!”

In a duel between masters, the presence or absence of a weapon makes little difference. Hong Qigong unleashed the Eighteen Palms of Dragon Subduing in full, and the wind from his palms swept out more than ten feet. Iron flute or no, how could Guo Jing close in to strike back? He had never been skilled with weapons, but since Ouyang Feng had forced him to spar in the stone hut in the Western Regions,¹¹ his skill with the jian had improved greatly. All martial arts train both attack and defence, but the weapon-skill Guo Jing had practised was eight parts defence and two parts attack. The reason was this: the Six Eccentrics of Jiangnan¹² had taught him no truly supreme weapon techniques, and his second period of study after learning the Nine Yin Manual¹³ had taken place in that Western Regions stone hut. There he had sought only to protect himself, with no time to think of wounding an opponent, and in fending off Ouyang Feng’s iron staff with a long jian he had worked out a good many ways of guarding himself and deflecting force. Now, with the xiao serving as a jian against the matchless ferocity of Hong Qigong’s palm-wind, they proved highly effective.

Hong Qigong saw that his guard was tightly held and was well pleased, thinking, The boy has come a long way. My teaching was not wasted. But if I beat him within two hundred moves, Old Heretic Huang will lose face. Once we’re past two hundred, I’ll bring out the heavy blows. He drove the Eighteen Palms of Dragon Subduing through their patterns in order, from the first change to the ninth, wind howling and palm-shadows wrapping about Guo Jing’s body.

Now, had Hong Qigong pressed his heavy strikes at that moment, Guo Jing, whose weapon-skill was far from its peak, could hardly have held out. But in planning to win only after two hundred moves, Hong Qigong had miscalculated by one move. Guo Jing was in the prime of his youth, and after practising the Tendon-Transmuting Bone-Tempering Chapter¹⁴ his neili had grown yet deeper. Hong Qigong, on the other hand, was no longer young. He had taken Ouyang Feng’s serpent-bite and palm-strike, and though his neili had returned, it had been badly damaged all the same. Every stroke of the Eighteen Palms of Dragon Subduing drew on that neili, and by the ninth change he had struck a hundred and sixty-two palms. The force was still fierce and ruthless, but the power behind it was visibly waning.

Past two hundred moves, the jian moves Guo Jing made with the iron flute were nothing much, but the left-hand moves that went with them were growing ever stronger. Hong Qigong knew this was bad. To match strength against strength, he might well lose. The silly boy could be outwitted, not outfought. He spread his palms wide, flung open his guard, and Guo Jing was startled, thinking, Shifu never taught me this palm move. Against a true enemy, he would naturally have driven straight into the centre and struck at the chest. But the man before him was his own shifu. How could he use such a killing move? In that moment’s hesitation, Hong Qigong laughed, “You’ve fallen for it.” His left foot shot up and kicked the iron flute from Guo Jing’s hand. His right palm flipped sideways and struck him on the left shoulder.

Footnotes

1. 桃花岛 — Táohuā Dǎo. Huang Yaoshi’s island in the East China Sea. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

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

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

4. 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. ↩

5. 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. ↩

6. 千斤坠 — qiān jīn zhuì. Literally thousand-jin drop. A rooting technique that sinks the body’s weight so it cannot be moved or thrown. ↩

7. 内力 — nèilì. Literally internal force. The kinetic manifestation of cultivated qi. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

8. 降龙十八掌 — Xiánglóng Shíbā Zhǎng. Literally eighteen dragon-subduing palms. Hong Qigong’s palm technique. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

9. 奇门五转 — Qímén Wǔ Zhuǎn. Literally five turns of the strange gates. An art Huang Yaoshi perfected over more than ten years. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

10. 箫 — xiāo. An end-blown vertical flute. ↩

11. 西域 — Xīyù. Frontier territories west of Yumen Pass. See Wikipedia. ↩

12. 江南六怪 — Jiāngnán Liù Guài. Literally six eccentrics of Jiangnan. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

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

14. 易筋锻骨章 — Yìjīn Duàngǔ Zhāng. Internal cultivation method from the Nine Yin Manual. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩