The Return of the Condor Heroes Chapter 11 – Part 7

Yang Guo’s body tilted slightly backward, preparing to evade. But at Huang Rong’s current level of skill, once she struck, how could she possibly allow him to dodge? Her palm was already descending on his skull. In his shock, Yang Guo instinctively reached up to block. His mind raced, his right hand twitched, then dropped back down. For someone as slow-witted as Guo Jing, understanding and action happened almost simultaneously. But Yang Guo’s mind was far quicker. In that instant, he realised: Auntie Guo is testing my martial arts. If I block this palm, I will be admitting that I lied. Yet he could see that Huang Rong’s strike was genuinely a lethal killer move. If she was not merely testing him, and he did not defend himself, would he not be throwing his life away for nothing? In that flash of a moment, as quick as lightning and sparks from flint, his stubborn, reckless nature surged up. So I die! So be it! Though his martial arts had not yet reached Huang Rong’s level, blocking her palm would not have been difficult. Yet he chose to risk death and let his hands hang motionless.

Huang Rong’s strike was indeed a test of his martial arts. Her palm reached his head, but she applied no force. She saw the look of alarm on his face, he neither raised his hands to block nor secretly circulated neili to protect his vital points. He appeared to have no martial arts whatsoever. She smiled faintly. “I did not teach you martial arts for your own good,” she said. “It seems the Daoist masters of Quanzhen shared my thinking.” She returned to her seat and whispered to Guo Jing, “He truly has not learned any Quanzhen martial arts.”

No sooner had the words left her lips than she silently cried out: Ah, no! I nearly fell for this little devil’s trick. She remembered how, back on Peach Blossom Island, Yang Guo had used the Toad Skill¹ to injure Wu Xiuwen. He already had a foundation in martial arts then. Even if he had made no progress in the years since, when her palm descended on his skull just now, he would have blocked it no matter what. Boy, oh boy, she thought, your cunning has outsmarted itself. If you had panicked and blocked my strike, you might have fooled me. But by pretending to know absolutely nothing, you have revealed the crack in your story. She did not expose him, deciding instead to watch what tricks he would play next. She glanced at Zhao Zhijing, then at Yang Guo, and merely smiled.

Zhao Zhijing had seen Huang Rong test Yang Guo and Yang Guo not fight back. He assumed Huang Rong had been deceived, which only made his own position look worse. Fury blazing, he bellowed, “This little beast is full of schemes. Chief Huang, since you could not expose him, let me try!” He walked up to Yang Guo, pointed at his nose, and said, “Little beast, do you truly know no martial arts? If you do not block my strikes, this Daoist’s hand will show no mercy. Whether you live or die, you have only yourself to blame.” He knew Yang Guo’s martial arts were in fact superior to his own. But by striking with lethal intent, he would force Yang Guo to reveal his true ability. If Yang Guo kept up the pretence, then he would simply kill him with one blow. At worst, he would fall out with Guo Jing and his wife and accept severe punishment from the zhangmen and his own master. Truly, fury rose from his heart and evil surged toward his gall. You are betting that Chief Huang would not take your life, he thought, so you boldly put on this ghostly act. Let us see if you dare keep up the act under my hand! He shook his sleeve, ready to strike.

Guo Jing cried, “Hold!” Afraid Zhao Zhijing would take Yang Guo’s life, he moved to intervene. But Huang Rong pulled at his sleeve and whispered, “Stay out of this.” She knew Zhao Zhijing was exceptionally enraged and would strike with deadly force. Yang Guo would have no choice but to fight back, and then the truth would come out. Guo Jing had no idea of all these hidden undercurrents. Uneasy as he was, he trusted that his wife’s judgment was never wrong. He said nothing more, though he took a step forward so that if real danger came, he could still intervene in time.

Zhao Zhijing addressed Sun Bu’er and Zhen Zhibing: “Sun shishu, Zhen shidi, this little beast is pretending to know no martial arts. I have been left with no choice but to test him. If he stubbornly persists in his act and I kill him with one palm, I ask you to bear witness before the zhangmen shibo², Qiu shibo, and my own shifu.”

The reasons behind Yang Guo’s rebellion against Quanzhen were perfectly clear to Sun Bu’er. Seeing him now use his cunning tricks to corner Zhao Zhijing and make Quanzhen look completely in the wrong, and hearing him insult the order with every other word, she too hoped Zhao Zhijing would force him to reveal his true colours. “A disciple who destroys his teacher and betrays his order like this,” she said coldly, “should simply be struck dead.” She was a Daoist of high attainment, how could she truly advocate killing? The intent of her words was to intimidate Yang Guo, to make him afraid to continue his charade.

With his master uncle backing him, Zhao Zhijing grew even bolder. He raised his right foot and drove it savagely toward Yang Guo’s lower abdomen. This move, “Tianshan Flying Crossing,”³ blended hardness with softness, with fierce yang energy concealing subtle yin force, it was truly formidable. But though the kick carried great power, it was not a profound technique. It was, in fact, the very first lesson of Quanzhen’s introductory martial arts, plain and unremarkable, something anyone with even a trace of martial skill could counter. Every Quanzhen disciple, on their first day of training, learned “Tianshan Flying Crossing” first, followed immediately by “Retreating Horse Stance,”⁴ which was the defence against “Tianshan Flying Crossing.” One attack, one defence, the simplest set in the curriculum. Zhao Zhijing chose this move to make it clear to Guo Jing and Huang Rong: Even if I did not teach him advanced martial arts, could I have failed to teach him the very first lesson?

Yang Guo saw the flying kick coming but did not use the “Retreating Horse Stance.” He cried, “Ow!” He let his left hand drop to shield his lower abdomen. Zhao Zhijing saw that he had the audacity to neither dodge nor block, so he held nothing back and drove the kick straight in. When his foot was no more than three inches from Yang Guo’s abdomen, he suddenly saw, by the lamplight, Yang Guo’s left thumb raised slightly, aimed precisely at the Dahuo⁵ acupoint on the inner ankle of his right foot.

If he kicked through with full force, before his toes even touched his opponent’s body, his own acupoint would be struck first. This was not a case of the opponent reaching out to seal his acupoint, he would be delivering his own acupoint onto the opponent’s fingertip. As the foremost master among Quanzhen’s third-generation disciples, Zhao Zhijing reacted instantly to the danger. He forcibly altered the direction of his kick, his right foot brushing past Yang Guo’s side. He barely avoided having his acupoint sealed, but his body could not help swaying, and his face flushed bright red.

Guo Jing and Huang Rong had both been behind Yang Guo and could not see his fingers. They assumed Zhao Zhijing had held back at the final moment and diverted his kick. But Sun Bu’er and Zhen Zhibing had seen everything clearly. Zhen Zhibing remained silent. Sun Bu’er shot to her feet and shouted, “You little wretch! Such treachery!”

Zhao Zhijing feinted with his left palm, then brought his right palm slashing diagonally toward Yang Guo’s left cheek. This move, “Purple Lightning Pierces the Clouds,”⁶ was an exquisitely refined high-level technique. Midway through, the strike’s direction shifted abruptly, it seemed to be chopping at the left cheek, but the edge of the palm was actually aimed at the right side of the opponent’s neck. But Yang Guo had long since mastered the Jade Maiden Heart Sutra⁷ to the point of effortless fluency, and this sutra was precisely the great nemesis of Quanzhen martial arts. For every formidable fist or palm technique Wang Chongyang⁸ had created, Lin Chaoying⁹ had devised an ingenious counter. Now, seeing Zhao Zhijing’s left palm feint, Yang Guo hurriedly raised his hands to cover his head as though terrified. But beneath his right palm, the index finger of his left hand was already hidden at the right side of his neck. When Zhao Zhijing’s palm edge came chopping down, Yang Guo’s right hand shifted slightly, and with a soft bo, his left index finger landed exactly on the Houxi¹⁰ acupoint at the centre of Zhao Zhijing’s palm edge.

Once again, Zhao Zhijing had delivered his own hand onto Yang Guo’s finger for the acupoint to be sealed. Yang Guo had merely anticipated his opponent’s move and placed his finger at the precise location. With the acupoint on his palm sealed, Zhao Zhijing’s arm went numb. Realising he had fallen for another trick, he swept his left foot across in a blind rage. Yang Guo cried out, “Ow!” He bent his left arm slightly, positioning his elbow precisely one inch and five fen above his left waist. Zhao Zhijing’s kick arrived, and the Zhaohai¹¹ and Taixi¹² acupoints on his ankle struck Yang Guo’s elbow tip simultaneously. The kick had been thrown in a fury, carrying ferocious force, the shock to his acupoints was correspondingly severe. His left leg went numb, and he collapsed to one knee.

Sun Bu’er saw her shizhi¹³ humiliated. She reached out with her left arm, pulled him up, and patted his back several times to unseal his acupoints.

Though Sun Bu’er had cultivated the Way for many years, her temperament was still fiercely strong. She saw that Yang Guo’s techniques were bizarre beyond belief and seemed to be the natural nemesis of her own school’s martial arts. Moreover, he had made it look as though he knew no martial arts at all while thoroughly defeating the foremost master of Quanzhen’s third generation, an even more remarkable feat. She was not certain she could beat him herself. “Let us go!” she said. Without bidding farewell to Guo Jing and Huang Rong, she flicked her sleeve, leapt through the study window, and landed on the roof.

Zhen Zhibing had been standing as though his soul had left his body. He wanted to explain the whole matter to Guo Jing and Huang Rong, but Zhao Zhijing said furiously, “What is there left to say?” He tugged at Zhen Zhibing’s sleeve, and the two of them leapt out the window one after another, following Sun Bu’er.

With the eyesight of Guo Jing and Huang Rong, they could naturally tell that Zhao Zhijing had had his acupoints sealed. But Yang Guo had clearly not extended a hand or a finger. Could it be that some hidden expert had secretly helped him?

Guo Jing immediately stuck his head out the window to look around, but there was no one there. He assumed that Zhao Zhijing, just as he was about to strike the killing blow, had suddenly felt a pang of conscience, or had been intimidated by the presence of himself and his wife and dared not follow through. Or perhaps, because Hao Datong had unjustly killed someone, Quanzhen feared that Yang Guo would go to the great hall and proclaim the matter for all the heroes to judge, and Zhao Zhijing had therefore pretended to have his acupoints sealed as an excuse to leave. Huang Rong, however, saw that Yang Guo must have used some trick. But for one thing, she had been behind Yang Guo and, sharp as her eyes were, could not possibly have seen the movements of his fingers and elbow. For another, she had no idea that a martial art like the Jade Maiden Heart Sutra existed, one that could anticipate an opponent’s moves and counter Quanzhen’s martial arts so completely that they had no power to resist. For the moment, she could not figure it out. She was not like Guo Jing, who measured others by his own honourable heart. Seeing the four Quanzhen Daoists sweep out without a word, a gross breach of courtesy, she could not help feeling anger.

She stood lost in thought for a moment, then turned around, and spotted the tips of Guo Fu’s dark green shoes peeking out from beneath the bookshelf. “Fu’er!” she called at once. “What are you doing here?” Guo Fu giggled and came out, making a funny face. “Brother Wu and I were looking for books to read.” Huang Rong knew that the three of them had never been fond of books, how could they suddenly become so studious today? One look at her daughter’s expression told her they must have been hiding there eavesdropping. She was about to scold them when a Beggars’ Guild disciple reported that guests from afar had arrived. Huang Rong cast one more glance at Yang Guo, then went out with Guo Jing to receive the visitors.

Guo Jing said to the Wu brothers, “Brother Yang was your childhood companion. Treat him well.”

The Wu brothers had never gotten along with Yang Guo. Now, seeing him so destitute, having learned not a shred of martial arts at Quanzhen, and hearing his master curse him as “little beast” and “little bastard”, they looked down on him even more. They summoned a manor servant and told him to attend to Yang Guo and arrange a place for him to sleep. Guo Fu, however, was intensely curious about Yang Guo. “Brother Yang,” she asked, “why does your master not want you?”

Yang Guo said, “Oh, the reasons are many. I am stupid and lazy, my temper is bad, and I do not know how to grovel and serve my master’s relatives, running out to buy horsewhips for them, or donkey whips, and so on…”

The Wu brothers bristled at these pointed words. Wu Xiuwen could not hold back. “What are you saying?” he demanded. Yang Guo said, “I am saying I am useless. I could not win my master’s favour.”

Guo Fu smiled sweetly. “Your master is a Daoist. Does he have a daughter too?” When Yang Guo saw her smile, like a rose suddenly blooming, bright and alluring, his heart stirred despite himself. A faint blush rose to his cheeks, and he turned his head away. Guo Fu had always had the Wu brothers wrapped around her finger and had long stopped thinking anything of it. But now, seeing Yang Guo’s expression, she knew he had been smitten by her beauty. She felt a secret satisfaction.

Yang Guo gazed toward the western wall, where a pair of scrolls hung. The first line read: “Peach blossoms fall like shadows, the divine sword takes flight.” The second: “Jade-green tides rise with the sounding of the jade flute.”¹⁴ He had seen this couplet before, in the Sword-Testing Pavilion on Peach Blossom Island, and knew it was written by Huang Yaoshi. But the couplet here was signed: “Scribbled in illness by the Wanderer of the Five Lakes.”¹⁵ He was only a few years older than the three people before him, yet his heart felt as though it had aged more than ten years. Seeing the words “Wanderer of the Five Lakes”, he thought of how his loved ones were either dead or gone, how he himself drifted east and west, no different from a wastrel. The satisfaction he had felt moments ago at forcing Zhao Zhijing to flee in disgrace vanished completely. A cold, bleak loneliness swept over him. He lowered his head, sunk in sorrow.

Guo Fu spoke softly, “Brother Yang, you should go and rest now. I will come and talk with you tomorrow.” Yang Guo said flatly, “All right.” He followed the manor servant out of the study. Faintly, from behind him, he heard Guo Fu scolding the Wu brothers: “If I want to talk to him, what business is it of yours? If his martial arts are poor, I will ask Father to teach him myself.”

Footnotes

1. 蛤蟆功 – Hámá Gōng. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

2. 师伯 – shībó. Senior lineage uncle. Shixiong or shijie of one’s shifu. Shī means teacher. Bó means father’s elder brother. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

3. Tianshan Flying Crossing (天山飞渡). First technique taught to Quanzhen disciples. Simple but effective kick that blends hard and soft force. Zhao Zhijing used it to test whether Yang Guo had learned even the most basic Quanzhen martial art. ↩

4. Retreating Horse Stance (退马势). Defensive counterpart to “Tianshan Flying Crossing,” also taught on the first day of Quanzhen training. It is a simple evasive step backward. Yang Guo’s refusal to use it was his way of claiming he had learned nothing. ↩

5. Dahuo (大豁). Acupoint on the inner ankle. Yang Guo positioned his thumb to seal this point, forcing Zhao Zhijing to abort his kick or seal his own acupoint. ↩

6. Purple Lightning Pierces the Clouds (紫电穿云). Sophisticated Quanzhen palm technique. It feints toward one target before striking another mid-motion, making it difficult to defend against. One of the advanced techniques that the Jade Maiden Heart Sutra was specifically designed to counter. ↩

7. 玉女心经 – Yùnǚ Xīnjīng. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

8. 王重阳 – Wáng Chóngyáng. His name meaning “double yang”, the ninth day of the ninth lunar month. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

9. 林朝英 – Lín Cháoyīng. Her name meaning “facing the hero” or “morning hero”. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

10. Houxi (后溪). “Back Stream” acupoint on the palm edge (SI-3). Sealing this point causes numbness in the arm and hand. ↩

11. Zhaohai (照海). “Shining Sea” acupoint on the inner ankle (KI-6). ↩

12. Taixi (太溪). “Great Stream” acupoint on the inner ankle (KI-3). ↩

13. 师侄 – shīzhí. Lineage nephew or niece. Disciple of one’s shixiong, shijie, shidi, or shimei. Shī means teacher. Zhí means nephew or niece. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

14. Peach blossom couplet. Couplet “桃花影落飞神剑，碧海潮生按玉箫” (Peach blossoms fall like shadows — the divine sword takes flight / Jade-green tides rise with the sounding of the jade flute) was composed by Huang Yaoshi. It captures the dual essence of his martial arts: the “Peach Blossom Falling Petal Divine Sword” (桃华落英神剑) and the “Jade-Green Tides Flute Melody” (碧海潮生曲), the latter being a sonic attack that disturbs the opponent’s neili. Couplet appears in both the Sword-Testing Pavilion on Peach Blossom Island and, as Yang Guo discovers, in Lu Guanying’s manor at Dasheng Pass. ↩

15. Wanderer of the Five Lakes (五湖废人). Signature Huang Yaoshi used on the couplet at Lu Guanying’s manor. “Five Lakes” refers to the great lakes of China — a term for wandering the rivers and lakes. Addition of “wastrel” or “useless person” (废人) reflects Huang Yaoshi’s self-deprecating humour and his lifelong sense of alienation. For Yang Guo, encountering this phrase triggers a deep resonance with his own sense of being adrift and worthless. ↩