The Legend of the Condor Heroes Chapter 6 – Part 1

A ruse atop the cliff

After the midday meal, Guo Jing went to his shifu’s tent. Quan Jinfa said, “Jing-er, let me see how your Mountain-Cleaving Palm¹ is coming along.” Guo Jing asked, “Here?” Quan Jinfa said, “Yes. An enemy can come upon you anywhere, so you must also practise fighting in a cramped little room.” With that, his left hand feinted and his right fist shot out. Ke Zhen’e and the others sat and watched.

As the rules required, Guo Jing yielded three moves, and on the fourth he raised his hand and struck back. Quan Jinfa’s attack was ferocious and gave no quarter. Suddenly both his fists drove in with Plunging into the Tiger’s Den, straight at the vital point of Guo Jing’s chest. This was no practice move. It was a killing stroke, the fists vicious and immensely heavy. Guo Jing backed hastily away, and his back was already against the felt wall of the yurt. He was badly startled. In danger the urge to save oneself is simple instinct, and his wits had always been slow, so with no time to think his left arm summoned its strength, swept round in a circle, caught both of Quan Jinfa’s arms and flung them hard outward. By then Quan Jinfa’s knuckles had already reached the vital point, too fast for him to check his force, and he felt the boy’s chest muscles give like a ball of soft floss, as though they took no blow at all. In the same instant his arms were caught in that circle and flung aside, numb and aching, and he swung away and staggered back three steps before he could steady himself. Guo Jing stood dazed for a moment, then dropped to his knees and cried, “I have done wrong. Punish me as you see fit, Sixth Shifu.” He was startled and afraid, with no idea what grave wrong he had done that Sixth Shifu should strike to kill him.

Ke Zhen’e and the rest rose to their feet, their faces grim. Zhu Cong said, “You have been training in secret with someone. Why did you not tell us? If Sixth Shifu had not tested you just now, you would have kept on hiding it, wouldn’t you?”

Guo Jing said anxiously, “Only Jebe shifu² has taught me anything, archery and the spear.” Zhu Cong’s face darkened. “Still lying?” Guo Jing was so frantic that the tears streamed down his face. “I… I would never dare deceive my shifus.” Zhu Cong said, “Then who taught you all this neigong?³ You think you have a great master backing you and look down on the six of us, do you? Hmph!” Guo Jing said blankly, “Neigong? I don’t know any at all!”

Zhu Cong spat and jabbed a finger at the Jiuwei acupoint,⁴ two inches below Guo Jing’s breastbone. It is one of the body’s vital points, and a strike there brings instant unconsciousness. Guo Jing dared neither dodge nor block, and only stood rooted to the spot. But he had trained diligently with the three-topknot Daoist for nearly two years, and though he did not know it himself, internal force now flowed through every bone of his body. As Zhu Cong’s finger arrived, his muscles of their own accord produced a deflecting force, tightened and sprang back, and rolled the finger aside. It still struck him, but it only gave him a twinge in the chest and sealed nothing. Zhu Cong had not used his full strength, but to have his finger thrown off by the boy’s internal force astonished him all the more, and at the same time his anger flared. “And that’s not neigong?” he barked.

A thought struck Guo Jing, Could it be that what Uncle Daoist taught me is neigong? He said, “For these two years someone has come every night to teach me how to breathe and how to sleep. I’ve done just as he said, and it’s been good fun. But truly, he never taught me the least bit of martial arts. He told me never on any account to tell anyone. I thought it was no bad thing, and I wasn’t neglecting my martial training, so I didn’t tell my shifus.” He knelt and kowtowed. “I know I was wrong. I won’t go and play with him again.”

The Six⁵ heard the sincerity in his voice and judged it no lie. Han Xiaoying said, “You didn’t know it was neigong?” Guo Jing said, “I truly don’t know what neigong is. He taught me to sit and breathe out slowly, to think of nothing at all, only of how a current of breath moves up and down in my belly. It didn’t work at first, but lately it really feels as if there’s a warm little mouse scurrying about inside me. It’s great fun.” The Six were astonished and delighted, thinking it no easy thing that this simple boy had reached such a stage. Guo Jing’s mind was simple, almost free of wandering thought, and simple minds advance swiftly in neigong, far more easily than clever heads plagued by the ceaseless come-and-go of ideas. The master who had taught him was clearly a man of great skill, so in less than two years the boy had already made real progress. It did mean less time for his evening lessons in reading and writing with Zhu Cong, but Zhu Cong knew he had no love of books and paid it little attention.

Zhu Cong said, “Who has been teaching you?” Guo Jing said, “He’s not a Mongol. He speaks the same as you do, and he won’t tell me his name. He said the martial arts of my six shifus were no worse than his own, and so he could not teach me martial arts. He is not my shifu, and I am certainly not his disciple. He also made me swear an oath never to describe his appearance to anyone.”

The Six grew more puzzled by the moment. At first they had supposed Guo Jing had chanced upon a great master, which was his good fortune, and they could not help being glad for him. But for the man to be so secretive, there seemed to be something grave and strange behind it.

Zhu Cong waved Guo Jing away. Guo Jing said, “I won’t go and play with him again. I won’t go tonight.”

Zhu Cong said, “Continue learning neigong from him. We do not blame you. Go again tonight. But do not tell him we know.”

Guo Jing agreed again and again. Seeing that his shifus no longer blamed him, he went out happily. He lifted the tent flap and found Huazheng⁶ standing outside the yurt, the two white eagles beside her. By now the pair had grown into splendid birds, and standing on the ground they came almost to Huazheng’s head. Huazheng said, “Come on, quick. I’ve been waiting for you for ages.” One of the white eagles leapt into the air and landed on Guo Jing’s shoulder.

Guo Jing said, “I’ve just broken in a little red horse, and it runs ever so fast. I don’t know if it’ll let you ride it.” Huazheng said, “It won’t? Then I’ll kill it.” Guo Jing said, “You mustn’t!” They went off hand in hand across the grassland, racing and flying the eagles.

Inside the tent, the Six conferred in low voices.

Han Xiaoying said, “What that man has been teaching Jing-er is first-rate neigong, so naturally he means no harm.” Quan Jinfa said, “Then why doesn’t he want us to know? And why not tell Jing-er plainly that it’s neigong?” Zhu Cong said, “I fear he may be someone we know.” Han Xiaoying said, “Someone we know? Then either a friend, or an enemy.” Quan Jinfa mused, “Among the friends we keep, not one has such formidable skill.” Han Xiaoying said, “If he is an enemy, why teach Jing-er martial arts?” Ke Zhen’e said coldly, “How do you know it is not part of some sinister plot?” A chill passed through them all. Zhu Cong said, “Tonight, Sixth Brother and I will follow Jing-er in secret and discover who this master is.” The Five nodded.

When darkness fell, Zhu Cong and Quan Jinfa crouched outside the yurt of Guo Jing and his mother. After nearly half a shichen they heard Guo Jing say, “Mother, I’m going!” and he came out of the yurt. The two of them stole after him. He moved remarkably fast and in moments was far ahead, but nothing on the grassland screened him, and even at that distance they could still see him. They quickened their pace and saw him run to the foot of the cliff and, without stopping, climb straight up it.

By now Guo Jing’s qinggong⁷ had come on greatly, and he was so used to climbing this cliff every night that he no longer needed the Daoist to help him. They watched him climb higher and higher until he was over the top. Zhu Cong and Quan Jinfa were more astonished than ever, and for a long while neither could say a word. A little later Ke Zhen’e and the other three arrived. Fearing a powerful enemy, they had all brought their weapons and hidden weapons. Zhu Cong told them Guo Jing had reached the top. Han Xiaoying looked up and saw the upper part of the cliff lost in cloud and mist, and a chill went through her. “We can’t climb that,” she said. Ke Zhen’e said, “Everyone hide in the thicket and wait for them to come down.” They did as he said and lay in wait.

Han Xiaoying remembered the night ten years before when they had fought the Twin Evils of Dark Wind,⁸ the seven sworn siblings lying in wait for the enemy. The cold wind had bitten the skin and a cold moon had peered down at them, with yellow sand stretching away on every side, the barren hills hushed, and now and then a horse neighing far off. The scene was just like tonight. Only, since that night, they had never again seen Zhang Asheng’s fat face with its everlasting foolish grin, and she could not help a pang of grief.

The time crept by, quarter by quarter, and still not a stir came from the cliff-top. They waited until the clouds cleared, the sun rose and it was broad daylight, and still neither Guo Jing nor the man who taught him neigong came down. They waited another shichen,⁹ and still there was no one. Gazing up as far as the eye could reach, they saw nothing on the summit that looked like a man. Zhu Cong said, “Sixth Brother, let’s go up and take a look.” Han Baoju said, “Can you get up there?” Zhu Cong said, “Not for certain. We’ll try and see.” He ran back to the tent for two long ropes, two axes and several dozen large spikes. He and Quan Jinfa cut holes and drove in spikes, hauling each other up, and trusting to their fine qinggong. Exhausted and drenched in sweat, they finally reached the top. They pulled themselves over the edge and both cried out, their faces draining of colour.

Nine bone-white skulls were arranged neatly beside a great rock on the summit: five below, three in the middle, one at the top. The pattern was identical to the one the Twin Evils of Dark Wind had laid out on the barren hill ten years before. Each skull, too, bore five finger-holes in the forehead. Only now the holes were as clean as if gouged with a knife, without the least crack around them. The strength in those fingers had plainly grown far greater since those days.

Their hearts hammered. With fearful hearts they made a round of the summit, but apart from long deep scores in the rock they found nothing amiss, and at once they came back down, now on the rope and now sliding.

Han Baoju and the others saw their expressions and demanded an account. Zhu Cong said, “Mei Chaofeng!” The four were thunderstruck. Han Xiaoying cried, “Where is Jing-er?” Quan Jinfa said, “They went down the other side.” He described what they had found.

Ke Zhen’e sighed. “Eighteen years of effort. To think we have been nurturing a tiger at our breast.” Han Xiaoying said, “Jing-er is honest and true. He would never turn on his benefactors.” Ke Zhen’e sneered, “Honest and true? Then how could he train with that demon woman for two years and never breathe a word?” Han Xiaoying fell silent, her mind in turmoil.

Han Baoju said, “Could it be that the demon woman is blind, and so means to use Jing-er to harm us?” Zhu Cong said, “That must be it.” Han Xiaoying said, “Even if Jing-er meant us harm, he could never fake it so well.” Quan Jinfa said, “Perhaps the demon woman felt the time was not yet ripe and had not yet confided her plot to him.” Han Baoju said, “Jing-er’s qinggong is good and his neigong has taken root, but in actual martial skill he is far behind us. Why would the demon woman not teach him?”

Ke Zhen’e said, “The demon woman is using a borrowed blade to kill. She can harbour no good will towards the boy. Did her husband not die at his hand?” Zhu Cong said coldly, “That’s it, that’s it! She wants every one of us to die at Jing-er’s hand. Then she will kill Jing-er herself, and the great revenge will be complete.” The Five saw the logic and shuddered.

Ke Zhen’e brought his iron staff down hard on the ground and said in a low voice, “We go back now and pretend to know nothing. When Jing-er returns, we cripple him first. The demon woman will come looking for him. Even if her neili¹⁰ is far beyond what it was, she cannot see, and the six of us will surely be a match for her.” Han Xiaoying said in alarm, “Cripple Jing-er? Then what of the contest?”

Ke Zhen’e said coldly, “Which matters more, our lives or the contest?” No one said a word.

Nan Xiren suddenly spoke. “Cannot!” Han Baoju said, “Cannot what?” Nan Xiren said, “Cannot cripple him.” Han Baoju said, “Cannot cripple Jing-er?” Nan Xiren nodded. Han Xiaoying said, “Fourth Brother and I are of one mind. We must question him thoroughly before we act.” Quan Jinfa said, “This is no small matter. If we show mercy for a moment and hesitate, and he reveals our secret, then what?” Zhu Cong said, “He who cannot decide will suffer for it. The enemy we face is the demon woman Mei Chaofeng, no one else.” Ke Zhen’e said, “Third Brother, what say you?”

Han Baoju was torn and could not decide. Seeing the tears shining in Seventh Sister’s eyes and how pitiful she looked, he said, “I’m on Fourth Brother’s side. Kill Jing-er? I could never bring myself to do it.”

Three of the Six now favoured killing Guo Jing, and three favoured caution. Zhu Cong sighed. “If Fifth Brother were still alive, we could count which side had more.”

At mention of Zhang Asheng, Han Xiaoying’s heart clenched. She held back her tears and said, “How can Fifth Brother go unavenged? Let’s do as Big Brother says!” Ke Zhen’e said, “Good. We go back.” The six of them returned to the tent, every one of them in turmoil and ill at ease.

Ke Zhen’e said, “When he comes, Second Brother and Sixth Brother will cut off his retreat, and I will strike.”

Footnotes

1. 开山掌法 — Kāishān Zhǎngfǎ. Literally mountain-cleaving palm method. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

2. 哲别 — Zhébié. Literally spear and divine archer, in Mongolian. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

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

4. 鸠尾穴 — jiūwěi xué. Literally turtledove-tail point. An acupoint on the midline of the body just below the breastbone. ↩

5. 六怪 — liù guài. Literally six eccentrics, shorthand for the Seven Eccentrics of Jiangnan. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

6. 华筝 — Huázhēng. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

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

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

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

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