The Legend of the Condor Heroes Chapter 6 – Part 2

That night Guo Jing climbed the cliff. The Daoist was already waiting at the summit. Seeing him arrive, the Daoist pointed to the side of the great boulder and whispered, “Look!”

Guo Jing stepped closer. In the moonlight he saw that they were nine skulls. He jumped, and said in a trembling voice, “The Twin Evils of Dark Wind¹ have… have… come again.”

The Daoist asked in surprise, “You know the Twin Evils of Dark Wind?”

Guo Jing told him about the night fight on the barren hill years before, how his Fifth Shifu had lost his life, and how he himself had unwittingly stabbed Chen Xuanfeng² to death. As he told the story, all that had happened that night on the barren hill against the two Corpses came back to him, and he shivered all over though he was not cold, his voice trembling all the while. He had been very young when he killed Chen Xuanfeng, too young to know the name of the Twin Evils or the full story behind them. Only later, growing up, had his shifus told him everything.

The Daoist sighed. “There was no evil the Copper Corpse³ would not do. And so he died at your hand!”

Guo Jing said, “My six shifus often speak of the Twin Evils. Third Shifu and Seventh Shifu reckon the Iron Corpse must be dead by now, but Eldest Shifu always says, ‘Not necessarily, not necessarily!’ These nine skulls were laid here today, which means the Iron Corpse really hasn’t… hasn’t died!” The thought made him shudder, and he asked, “Have you seen her?”

“I only arrived a little while ago myself,” the Daoist replied, “and the moment I came up I saw this pile of things. In that case the Iron Corpse has surely come after your six shifus and you.”

Guo Jing said, “Eldest Shifu put out both her eyes. We’re not afraid of her.”

The Daoist picked up one of the skulls and ran his fingers carefully over it. Then he shook his head. “This woman’s martial arts are truly formidable. I’m afraid your six shifus are no match for her, and even with me added we could not win.”

Hearing how gravely he spoke, Guo Jing was alarmed and uneasy. “Ten years ago, in that terrible fight, she could still see, and even then she was no match for my seven shifus. Now there are eight of us. You… of course you’ll help us, won’t you?”

The Daoist stood lost in thought for a while, then said, “I had already been puzzling over it for a long time before you came, and I cannot make out how her fingers have grown so strong. Those who come in good will don’t come like this, and those who come like this mean no good. If she dares come seeking revenge, she must have something to rely on.”

Guo Jing asked, “Why would she lay out the skulls here? Won’t that give us warning and time to prepare?”

The Daoist said, “I suppose it’s one of the rules for practising the Nine Yin White Bone Claw.⁴ Most likely she thought this cliff was so high and sheer that no one would ever come up here, never dreaming that by some quirk of chance we would stumble on it.”

Guo Jing was afraid that Mei Chaofeng⁵ had already found his six shifus. “I’ll go down at once and tell them.”

“Good,” said the Daoist. “Tell them a good friend asked you to pass on word that they had best keep out of her way for now and think of a sound plan. There’s no call to fight it out with her.”

Guo Jing agreed. He was about to slip down the cliff when the Daoist suddenly swept an arm around his waist, leapt into the air, and landed lightly behind a great boulder, crouching low. Guo Jing opened his mouth to ask what was happening, but a hand clamped over his lips. He lay flat on the ground, not daring to make a sound, and peered out from behind the rock with only his eyes showing.

Before long a dark figure came leaping up the back of the cliff, long hair flying in the moonlight. It was the Iron Corpse, Mei Chaofeng. The back of the cliff was even steeper than the front, but presumably, unable to see, she could not tell which was the harder climb. It was lucky she could not, for the Six Eccentrics of Jiangnan were all keeping watch below the front of the cliff, and had she come up that way and the two sides come to blows, one or more of the Six might already have fallen to her deadly hands.

Mei Chaofeng wheeled about abruptly. Guo Jing ducked his head below the rock in terror. After a moment he remembered that she was blind, and quietly poked his head out again. She was sitting cross-legged on the very boulder where he usually meditated, practising her breathing exercises.

Suddenly Guo Jing understood. So this breathing and circulating of neili⁶ really was the cultivation of neigong, and in his heart he was silently grateful to the Daoist.

After a while a cracking sound began to come from all over Mei Chaofeng’s body, very slow at first, then faster and faster, like beans roasting in sand in a great wok and bursting one after another as they cooked. The sound came from her joints, yet her body did not move a hair’s breadth. Every joint in her frame was cracking of its own accord. Guo Jing did not know this was a supreme and unorthodox form of neigong,⁷ but even he could tell that her skill was no ordinary affair.

The rapid crackling went on for a long time, then gradually slowed and stopped. She rose slowly to her feet. Her left hand gave a tug and a shake at her waist, and in the moonlight a long snake like gleaming silver suddenly flew out. Guo Jing started. Looking harder, he saw it was a silver soft whip of extraordinary length. His Third Shifu Han Baoju’s Golden Dragon Whip was no more than six feet long. Mei Chaofeng’s whip was far longer, well over thirty feet by the look of it.

She turned slowly, and the moonlight fell on her face. Guo Jing saw that her features were still quite delicate, but her eyes were closed and her long hair hung to her shoulders, and there was something indescribably sinister and uncanny about her.

In the hush she gave a soft, mournful sigh and said in a low voice, “Good shige,⁸ there in the underworld, do you think of me every day too?”

She gripped the whip at its centre with both hands, so that more than ten feet of it dangled on either side. With a low laugh she began to whirl it.

The technique was most unusual. Her movements were not swift, and there was not the slightest sound of the whip cutting air. It coiled to the east, flipped to the west, each move wholly unexpected. Then without warning she lashed the whip against the rock. Stone chips flew. The force of the blow was tremendous. She struck east and west until the hard rock all around was scored with deep whip marks. The whip was most likely forged of solid steel and plated with white copper or silver, or it could never have struck so heavily.

All at once her right hand slid along to grip the end of the whip, and its full thirty-odd feet shot out, caught a large rock and coiled it up, as nimbly and surely as a hand. Guo Jing was still marvelling when the whip’s tip flung the rock away and curled towards his head. In the moonlight he saw clearly that the tip was fitted with more than a dozen gleaming, sharp barbs.

Guo Jing already held his dao in his hand. As the whip came at him, he did not stop to think but swung his dao up at the tip, and suddenly his arm went numb. A hand reached from behind and pinned him to the ground. Before his eyes silver light flickered: the other end of the whip passed slowly over his head.

Guo Jing broke out in a cold sweat and thought, If Uncle Daoist⁹ hadn’t saved me, the moment my dao touched that whip, the whip would have dashed my brains out.

Fortunately the Daoist’s movements had been swift and silent. Mei Chaofeng had noticed nothing. She practised a while longer, coiled the whip about her waist, stretched an arm, raised a leg in a few postures, then cupped her chin in her hand, deep in thought. Only after a long time did she flip back down the cliff.

Guo Jing let out a long breath and stood up.

“Let’s follow her,” the Daoist whispered. “See what mischief she gets up to next.” He caught Guo Jing by the belt and slipped lightly down the back of the cliff.

By the time they reached the ground, Mei Chaofeng’s figure was already far off to the north. The Daoist put his left hand under Guo Jing’s armpit, and at once Guo Jing felt his body lighter by more than half as he went. They sped along as if flying, trailing her at a distance, and covered who knew how many miles of the desert. As the sky began to pale, they made out dozens of great camp tents standing dimly ahead. Mei Chaofeng’s figure flickered and vanished among them.

They quickened their pace, slipped past the patrolling sentries and dashed up to a great yellow tent in the middle. They lay flat on the ground, lifted a corner of the tent wall, and peered inside. A man inside drew the dao at his waist and brought it down hard, cutting a burly man to the ground dead.

The body toppled and fell right in front of where Guo Jing and the Daoist lay. Guo Jing recognised the man as one of Temüjin’s¹⁰ personal guards, and thought with a start, How does he come to be killed here?

He gently lifted the bottom edge of the tent a little higher. The killer, dao in hand, turned just then, and Guo Jing saw him side-on. It was Senggum,¹¹ son of Wang Khan. Wiping the blood from his long dao on the sole of his boot, Senggum said, “Now you have no more doubts, eh?”

Another man replied, “My sworn brother Temüjin has both wits and courage. I’m afraid this won’t be easy.”

Guo Jing recognised the speaker as Jamukha,¹² Temüjin’s sworn brother.

Senggum sneered. “If you love your sworn brother so much, why not go and warn him?”

Jamukha said, “You are my sworn brother too. Your father has treated me with the greatest kindness. Of course I will not fail you. Besides, Temüjin has been trying to swallow up my tribesmen all along. I am not blind to that. The only reason I haven’t broken with him is out of respect for our sworn bond.”

Guo Jing thought, Can they be plotting against Temüjin Khan? How can that be?

Then another man in the tent said, “Strike first, and you strike hardest. Strike second, and you are the one who suffers. If he moves first, you will be in a very bad way. Once it is done, all of Temüjin’s livestock, women, and treasure go to Senggum, and his tribesmen go to Jamukha. And our Great Jin¹³ will appoint Jamukha as Pacification Commissioner of the North.”

Guo Jing could see only the man’s back. He crept a few feet to catch him side-on, and the face was very familiar. The man wore a yellow brocade robe trimmed with sable, rich and splendid. Turning the man’s way of speaking over in his mind, it came to him at last, Ah, he’s the Sixth Prince of the Great Jin.¹⁴

Jamukha seemed much tempted by this and said, “So long as my sworn father Wang Khan gives the order, of course I will carry it out.”

Senggum was delighted. “As things stand, if my father does not give the order, he will be offending the Great Jin. I’ll go and ask him for it later. He won’t refuse the Sixth Prince face.”

Wanyan Honglie said, “Our Great Jin is about to march south and destroy the Song. At that time each of you will command twenty thousand troops to assist. After the great victory, there will be further rewards.”

Senggum said gleefully, “I’ve always heard the Southern Court is a world of pleasures, with gold all over the ground and every woman like a flower. If the Sixth Prince could take us brothers there for a visit, there would be nothing finer.”

Wanyan Honglie gave a faint smile. “Nothing easier. I only fear the Southern Court has so many beauties you’ll have more than you can want.” At that they both laughed.

Wanyan Honglie said, “How shall we deal with Temüjin? Tell me, both of you.” He paused, then went on, “I have already put it to Temüjin that he should send troops to help us attack the Song, and the fellow simply would not agree. He is a shrewd man, and he must not be put on his guard by this and suspect I have designs on him. We must be doubly careful in this business.”

At that moment the Daoist tugged at the front of Guo Jing’s coat. Guo Jing turned his head. In the distance, Mei Chaofeng had seized a man and seemed to be questioning him. Guo Jing thought, Whatever she is up to here, my shifus are safe for the moment. Let me hear how they mean to trap the Great Khan first, and then decide what to do. So he lay flat again.

Senggum was saying, “He has promised his daughter to my son, and just now he sent a man to settle the wedding day with me.” He pointed at the man he had cut down. “I will send someone at once to invite him to come and speak with my father in person tomorrow. He will certainly come, and he will not bring many men. I will set an ambush along the route. Even if Temüjin had three heads and six arms, he would never escape the palm of my hand.” He roared with laughter.

Jamukha said, “Good. Once Temüjin is dead, our two armies ride straight for his camp and slaughter every last man.”

Guo Jing was angry and frantic. He had never dreamed that men’s hearts could be so treacherous that they would plot against their own sworn brother. He was about to listen further when the Daoist gave him a push at the waist. Guo Jing’s body turned a little aside, the wind of a passing garment stirred by his ear, and Mei Chaofeng brushed past him. She moved remarkably fast and in a twinkling was far away, still gripping a man.

The Daoist seized Guo Jing’s hand and ran several dozen paces, putting distance between them and the camp. “She is asking where your shifus live,” he whispered. “We must hurry. If we’re late, it may be too late.”

They unleashed their qinggong¹⁵ and ran at full speed. By the time they were back outside the Six Eccentrics’ yurt, it was nearly the hour of Wu.¹⁶

The Daoist said, “I never wished to show myself, which is why I told you not to tell your six shifus. But things are urgent now, and I can no longer stand on small points. Go in and announce that Ma Yu¹⁷ of the Quanzhen Order asks to see the Six Xias of Jiangnan.”¹⁸

Guo Jing had spent two years with the Daoist, meeting him night after night on the cliff, and only now learned his name. He did not know how important a person Ma Yu of the Quanzhen Order was, but he nodded and ran to the yurt. He lifted the tent flap, called, “Eldest Shifu!” and stepped inside.

Instantly both his wrists were seized. Then came a savage pain behind his knees and he was kicked to the ground, and with a whoosh an iron staff came smashing down at his head. Falling on his side, Guo Jing saw that the man swinging the staff was his Eldest Shifu, Ke Zhen’e, and he was frightened out of his wits. He did not think of resisting. He shut his eyes and waited for death.

Then came a clang of weapons meeting, and a body flung itself across him.

He opened his eyes. Seventh Shifu Han Xiaoying¹⁹ was shielding him with her body. “Big Brother, wait!” she cried. Her long jian had already been knocked from her hand by Ke Zhen’e’s iron staff.

Ke Zhen’e let out a long sigh and brought his staff down hard on the ground. “Seventh Sister is always so soft-hearted.”

Only now did Guo Jing see clearly: Second Shifu and Sixth Shifu were the ones holding his wrists. He was so terrified he could not think straight.

Ke Zhen’e said grimly, “Where is the man who taught you neigong?”

Guo Jing stammered, “He, he… he’s… outside. He asks to see my six shifus.”

Footnotes

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

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

3. 铜尸 — Tóngshī. Literally copper corpse. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

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

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

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

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

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

9. 伯伯 — bóbo. Literally father’s elder brother. A child’s respectful address to an older man. ↩

10. 铁木真 — Tiěmùzhēn. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

11. 桑昆 — Sāngkūn. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

12. 札木合 — Zhāmùhé. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

13. 大金 — Dà Jīn. The Great Jin, the Jin Empire’s name for itself. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

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

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

16. 午时 — wǔshí. The hour of Wu, about 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., the seventh of the twelve shichen. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

17. 马钰 — Mǎ Yù. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

18. 江南六侠 — Jiāngnán Liù Xiá. Literally six xia of Jiangnan, a courteous form of the Eccentrics’ name with 侠 (xia) in place of 怪 (eccentric). See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

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