The Legend of the Condor Heroes Chapter 6 – Part 4

Han Xiaoying asked, “Tan shige,¹ what do you say?” Nan Xiren replied, “Death is too good for her.” Zhu Cong said, “Tan shige, your Finger-Brush Skill² has come on greatly of late. When that demon woman arrives, how about showing your hand and opening our brothers’ eyes?” Nan Xiren said, “Better let Wang shidi use his Iron Foot Skill and kick her off the cliff, to be dashed to pieces body and soul.”

Among the Seven Zis of Quanzhen,³ Qiu Chuji enjoyed the greatest fame, and next to him was Yuyangzi Wang Chuyi.⁴ Once, in a wager, he had stood on one foot over a gorge a hundred thousand feet deep, his wide sleeves fluttering as he swayed to and fro, until dozens of heroes and brave men from Shandong and Hebei were so dazzled and giddy that they stood agape and speechless. That had won him the name Iron Foot Immortal.⁵ He had lived nine years in a cave, training with bitter diligence, and even Qiu Chuji greatly admired his skill and had once given him a poem with the lines “All summer long he stands to meet the sun, all winter long he sleeps with snow in his arms”, to describe the depth of his neigong.⁶

Ma Yu, Zhu Cong and the others took turns to speak, and every word had been agreed beforehand. Ke Zhen’e had spoken with the Twin Evils of Dark Wind⁷ on several occasions and feared she might recognise his voice, so he kept silent throughout.

The more Mei Chaofeng listened, the more alarmed she grew. She thought, So all seven of the Seven Zis of Quanzhen are here. Even one of those ox-nosed Daoists I might not beat, let alone all seven together. Once they find me, what hope have I of coming away alive?

By now a bright moon stood in mid-sky, lighting the whole cliff-top. Yet Zhu Cong said, “It’s black with cloud tonight, you can’t see your hand in front of your face. Everyone be careful, and don’t let that demon woman slip away in the dark.” Mei Chaofeng thought with secret glee, Thank goodness it’s pitch dark, or with their sharp eyes they’d have seen me long ago. Heaven be thanked, and may the moon stay hidden.

Guo Jing had been watching Huazheng without ceasing. Suddenly he saw her eyelids slowly open. Knowing she was safe, he was filled with joy and waved both hands at her, signalling her to keep silent. Huazheng saw him too and cried out, “Save me, save me!” Guo Jing, frantic, cried, “Don’t talk!”

Mei Chaofeng was no less startled than he. She at once reached out and sealed Huazheng’s dumb acupoint,⁸ her mind swirling with suspicion.

Quan Jinfa asked, “Zhiping, was it you who spoke just now?” Guo Jing, playing the part of the young Daoist Yin Zhiping,⁹ stammered, “This disciple… this disciple…” Zhu Cong said, “I seemed to hear a woman’s voice.” Guo Jing said hastily, “Yes, that’s right.” A thought stirred in Mei Chaofeng, The Seven Zis of Quanzhen suddenly come to the desert and gather on top of this lonely cliff? How could there be such a coincidence? Could someone be taking advantage of my blindness, laying a false trail to trick me?

Ma Yu saw her slowly edging out from behind the rock and knew suspicion had taken root. If she detected the deception and attacked at once, he himself would be safe enough, but Huazheng would certainly be killed, and the Six Eccentrics might well lose one of their number. Anxiety gripped him, but he had never been quick-witted in a crisis and could not see what to do.

Zhu Cong saw that Mei Chaofeng held a silver whip gleaming in her hand and was slowly raising it, plainly about to strike, and said in a loud, clear voice,

“Eldest Shige, you have spent these years in diligent cultivation of the Twenty-Four Secrets of Golden Gates and Jade Locks,¹⁰ which our shifu bequeathed to us. You must have gained much insight. Please demonstrate a few moves, so that we may all learn something.”

Ma Yu understood. He saw that Zhu Cong wished him to display his skill at once and overawe Mei Chaofeng. He replied without hesitation, “Though I am eldest among my fellow disciples, my talent is dull and my wit slow. How can I compare with my shidis? Of the heart-methods our shifu transmitted, I am ashamed to say that of ten parts I have grasped scarcely one or two.” He spoke each word slowly, his breath welling up full and deep from his centre, and his voice carried far into the distance. His tone was measured and modest, yet every syllable set the valley ringing. Before the last sentence was finished, the echo of the first was already rolling back from far away, mingling with the wind across the clifftop like the humming of dragons and the roaring of tigers.

Mei Chaofeng, hearing neigong of such depth, no longer dared to strike. Slowly she drew back behind the rock.

Ma Yu continued, “I have heard that Mei Chaofeng is blind, and that deserves some pity. If she can truly repent her past misdeeds, harm no more innocents, and cease her feud with the Six Eccentrics of Jiangnan, then we might let the matter pass. Moreover, our late shifu, in his lifetime, shared a bond of mutual respect with Island Master Huang of Peach Blossom Island.¹¹ Qiu shidi, you are on friendly terms with the Six Eccentrics of Jiangnan. Go and speak with them on our behalf. Ask them to abandon their old grievances with Mei Chaofeng. Let both sides lay the past aside and call a halt.” This time he spoke without channelling neili¹² into his words, lest the others’ neili seem feeble by comparison. Zhu Cong took up the thread at once, “That’s easily done. The crux is whether Mei Chaofeng is willing to mend her ways and make peace.”

Suddenly a cold voice sounded from behind the rock, “I thank the Seven Zis of Quanzhen for their kind intentions. I, Mei Chaofeng, am here.” She stepped out into the open.

Ma Yu had hoped to startle her into flight and trust that she might afterwards repent and reform. He had never expected the Iron Corpse to be so bold, with her great skill, as to show herself openly. Then Mei Chaofeng said, “I am a woman and would not presume to ask instruction of the Daoist Elders. I have long heard of the fine martial arts of the Unbound Adept Qingjing,¹³ and I should like to learn one move from her.” With that she stood with her whip held sideways, waiting for Han Xiaoying to make a sound.

By now Guo Jing saw Huazheng lying on the ground, her fate unknown. He and Tolui and Huazheng had grown up together, close as brothers and sister. With no thought for how dangerous Mei Chaofeng was, he suddenly sprang forward and lifted Huazheng up. Mei Chaofeng’s left hand hooked back and seized his left wrist. Guo Jing had learned two years of orthodox Daoist neigong from Ma Yu, and his whole body now had a strength of its own. His right hand shot out and hurled Huazheng towards Han Xiaoying, while his left wrist twisted and wrenched with all his strength. Suddenly he was free.

But Mei Chaofeng’s hands were fast beyond reckoning. The instant she felt his wrist slip away, she reached out again and caught him a second time. This time she locked his pulse-gate,¹⁴ so that he could not stir a muscle, and barked, “Who are you?”

Zhu Cong called out, “Zhiping, be careful!” Guo Jing, gripped in her hand, was badly shaken. The words I am Guo Jing were on the tip of his tongue. Only on hearing Second Shifu’s words did he say, “This disciple is of the school of the Perfected One Chang… Changchun, Yin… Yin Zhiping.”

He had repeated those words to himself thirty or forty times already, yet even now, in his panic, they came out in a stutter.

Mei Chaofeng thought, A mere young disciple of Quanzhen, and his neigong is no weak thing. Not only did he rescue someone under my palm, but the first time I caught him he actually broke free. It seems I had better keep clear of them. She snorted and loosened her fingers.

Guo Jing scrambled back. Five finger-marks were sunk deep into the flesh of his left wrist. He knew she had been wary and had not used her full strength, or his wrist would long since have been crushed, and he was aghast.

After that, Mei Chaofeng no longer dared to test her skill against Han Xiaoying, who was pretending to be Sun Buer. A sudden thought occurred to her, and she said in a clear voice, “Daoist Elder Ma, what is the meaning of ‘Lead and mercury, carefully store’?” Ma Yu answered without thinking, “Lead is heavy and sinks, and stands for the water of the kidneys. Mercury is restless and flows, and stands for the fire of the heart. ‘Lead and mercury carefully store’ means one must hold fast the water of the kidneys and still the fire of the heart. Only then can the practice of stillness succeed.” Mei Chaofeng pressed on, “And ‘Three Flowers Converge at the Summit’,¹⁵ ‘Five Qi Pay Homage to the Origin’?¹⁶ My own school on Peach Blossom Island explains them very finely. May I ask what the Quanzhen Order says?”

Ma Yu realised with a start that she was probing for neigong secrets. He barked, “Go and ask your own shifu. Go, go now!” Mei Chaofeng laughed aloud. “Many thanks, Daoist Elder, for your instruction.” In a flash she sprang skywards. Her silver whip coiled once around the stone, and she rode it down, somersaulting off the clifftop into empty air. The speed of her departure struck everyone as the swiftest they had ever seen.

They watched her slide down the cliff-face and only then did they breathe again. Leaning over the edge, they saw her already racing across the desert like a column of black smoke, coming and going like a ghost or demon. Even gone, she left an awe of her behind.

Ma Yu released Huazheng’s sealed acupoints and let her rest on the stone.

Zhu Cong thanked him. “In ten years we never dreamed the Iron Corpse’s skill could have reached such heights. If Daoist Elder had not come to our aid, we seven, teachers and pupil, would never have escaped disaster today.” Ma Yu answered modestly, but his brows were knitted tight, as though something weighed on him. Zhu Cong said, “If Daoist Elder has any business left unfinished, we brothers, poor as our skills are, can at least run errands for you. Do not hesitate to command us.”

Ma Yu sighed. “I was careless for a moment and fell into that cunning woman’s trap.” Everyone was alarmed. “She wounded you with a hidden weapon?” Ma Yu said, “Not that. She asked me a question just now, and in my haste I answered without thinking. I fear it will bring trouble in days to come.” None of them understood.

Ma Yu said, “The Iron Corpse’s external skills are already far beyond mine or yours. Even if Qiu shidi and Wang shidi were really here, they might not beat her. For the Master of Peach Blossom Island to have such a disciple, he must be a man of godlike powers. But this Mei Chaofeng has never found the gate to neigong. Somewhere or other she has eavesdropped on some secrets of Daoist neigong, but without a teacher to guide her she has been unable to make it her own. The question she sprang on me just now must be one of the puzzles she has long agonised over. I saw through it at once and did not answer her second question, but that first answer alone will let her make great strides in her neigong.” Han Xiaoying said, “Let us hope she suddenly sees the error of her ways and does no more evil.” Ma Yu said, “Let us hope so. Otherwise, once her neili deepens and she turns to evil again, she will be harder still to stop. Ah, it was my own muddle-headedness. I was not on my guard against her.” He mused, “The martial arts of Peach Blossom Island and our Daoist tradition are wholly different. Yet the two questions Mei Chaofeng asked were pure Daoist neigong. I cannot fathom why.”

Just as he said this, Huazheng gave a cry and sat up on the stone. “Guo Jing, my father did not believe me. He has gone to Wang Khan’s camp.” Guo Jing was badly startled. “Why didn’t he believe you?”

Huazheng said, “I told him Uncle Senggum and Uncle Jamukha were plotting against him. He roared with laughter and said I was making up lies to trick him because I didn’t want to marry Tusakha. I told him you had heard it, and he believed it even less, and said he would punish you when he got back. I saw him set off with my three elder brothers and several troops of guards. I hurried to find you, but that blind woman caught me on the way. Did she bring me to see you?” The others thought, If we had not been here, your skull would have five more holes in it by now.

Guo Jing asked urgently, “How long ago did the Great Khan leave?” Huazheng said, “Ages, most of a day. My father said he would ride hard and set out before dawn. They were all on fast horses. They must be far away by now. Is it true that Uncle Senggum means to harm my father? What can we do?” She began to cry.

For the first time in his life Guo Jing faced a grave crisis. He was lost and could think of nothing.

Zhu Cong said, “Jing-er, go down at once. Ride the little red horse after the Great Khan. Even if he does not believe you, ask him to send scouts ahead to investigate. Huazheng, go and tell the brothers you left behind to muster their troops at once and ride to your father’s aid.”

Guo Jing agreed repeatedly and scrambled down the cliff first. Ma Yu then tied a long rope around Huazheng and lowered her after him.

Guo Jing ran back to the yurt where he and his mother lived, swung onto the little red horse and galloped north. The first light of dawn was showing and the waning moon slowly fading, and Guo Jing was frantic with worry, thinking, If the Great Khan has already ridden into Senggum’s ambush, it will be no use even if I catch up.

The little red horse was a creature of unmatched spirit. It was born with a love of galloping flat out, and once the mood took it, the farther it ran the faster it went and the livelier it grew, until on the great grassland it seemed it could not stop at all. Afraid it would founder, Guo Jing reined in to rest it, but the horse would have none of it. The instant he loosened the reins it let out a joyful neigh and charged forwards. Even at full gallop its breathing showed little sign of strain, as though the effort cost it nothing. Since Guo Jing had practised neigong, his internal force had greatly increased, and long hard riding did not tire him either. He rode hard for two shichen¹⁷ before he reined in and dismounted for a brief rest, then mounted and rode on. After another shichen and more, he saw in the distance three dense bodies of cavalry drawn up on the grassland, three units of a thousand men by the look of their numbers. In the blink of an eye the red horse had swept close.

Guo Jing recognised the banners as Wang Khan’s men. Every soldier stood with bow strung and dao drawn, arrayed in battle readiness. He groaned inwardly, The Great Khan has already gone past, and his road back is cut off. He clamped his legs to its flanks and the little red horse shot off like an arrow from the bow, hooves flying, and swept past the side of the ranks. The officer in command shouted a challenge, but horse and rider were already far beyond reach.

Guo Jing dared not pause. He skirted round three more bodies of hidden troops, one after another. Then, after a further gallop, he saw Temüjin’s great white-tufted standard raised high ahead of him. Several hundred riders were formed in a single line, their mounts trotting at an easy pace, heading north. Guo Jing spurred his horse forwards until he reached Temüjin’s side and cried, “Great Khan, turn back, quickly, you can’t go on!”

Temüjin pulled up in surprise. “What is it?” Guo Jing told him everything he had seen and heard outside Senggum’s camp two nights before, and how the rear road had been blocked. Temüjin half believed, half doubted. He eyed Guo Jing sidelong to see whether the boy was playing some trick, thinking, Senggum has always been at odds with me, but my sworn father Wang Khan relies on my strength. Sworn brother Jamukha and I have pledged our lives to each other. How could they plot against me in secret? Could it truly be the Sixth Prince of the Great Jin sowing discord between us?

Seeing that Temüjin seemed not to believe him, Guo Jing said, “Great Khan, send men back along the road you came and you will see for yourself.”

Temüjin had fought a hundred battles and grown up battling through intrigue and treachery. Though he judged an alliance of Wang Khan and Jamukha against him all but impossible, he thought, Too much caution a thousand times over does no harm. Rushing to your death even once is once too many! He ordered his second son Chagatai and the great general Tchila’un,¹⁸ “Go back and scout!” The two set off at a gallop along the road they had come.

Footnotes

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

2. 指笔功 — zhǐbǐ gōng. Literally finger-brush skill. A finger technique that wields the finger like a writing brush. ↩

3. 全真七子 — Quánzhēn Qīzǐ. Literally the seven zi of Quanzhen, zi being an honorific for a master. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

4. 王处一 — Wáng Chǔyī. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

5. 铁脚仙 — Tiějiǎo Xiān. Literally iron-footed immortal. ↩

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

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

8. 穴道 — xuédào. Acupoints, the nodes along the body’s meridians through which qi flows. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

9. 尹志平 — Yǐn Zhìpíng. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

10. 金关玉锁二十四诀 — Jīnguān Yùsuǒ Èrshísì Jué. Literally twenty-four secrets of the golden gates and jade locks. A Quanzhen neigong method. ↩

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

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

13. 清静散人 — Qīngjìng Sǎnrén. Literally the unbound adept of purity and stillness. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

14. 脉门 — màimén. Literally pulse gate. The point on the inner wrist where the pulse is felt; a hard grip there robs an opponent of strength. ↩

15. 三花聚顶 — sān huā jù dǐng. Literally three flowers gather at the crown. A Daoist term for the stage of cultivation at which essence, qi and spirit unite. ↩

16. 五气朝元 — wǔ qì cháo yuán. Literally five qi pay homage to the origin. A Daoist term for the stage of internal cultivation at which the qi of the five viscera returns to its primal source. ↩

17. 时辰 — shíchén. Traditional Chinese unit of time equal to two hours; the day was divided into twelve shichen. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

18. 赤老温 — Chìlǎowēn. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩