The Return of the Condor Heroes Chapter 12 – Part 6

The heroes all knew Huang Rong was wise and full of stratagems, and with one accord they turned to look at her, thinking, However strong their martial arts, these few dozen men are no match for the several thousand of us here. Single combat or a free-for-all, we’ll never come off worse. We’ll just do whatever Guild Chief Huang says.

Huang Rong knew that unless it came to blows, this would never be settled peacefully. A free-for-all they were sure to win, but it would never make the other side submit in their hearts. She said in a clear voice, “The heroes here have already chosen Old Guild Chief Hong as Alliance Leader, and now this brave man from Mongolia barges in and interrupts, wanting to choose some State Preceptor Jinlun whom nobody has ever heard of and nobody knows. Were Old Guild Chief Hong here, he and State Preceptor Jinlun could each show what he can do and settle which is the better man. But the old gentleman is travelling the world, killing Mongol barbarians wherever he goes and rooting out the Han traitors who run the tiger’s errands for it.¹ He never expected you all to come of your own accord today, and so he is not here to receive you. When he hears of it, he will surely be sorry. Fortunately, Old Guild Chief Hong and State Preceptor Jinlun both have disciples. Why not let the disciples of each house compete on their shifus’² behalf?”

Most of the heroes of the Central Plains knew that Guo Jing’s martial arts were astounding, and that, in the prime of life as he was, he might already count as the finest in the world. Even Hong Qigong himself might not outdo him now. Pitted against a disciple of State Preceptor Jinlun, he was certain to win and could not possibly lose. At once they burst into cheers that shook the roof tiles. The heroes feasting in the side halls and rear halls heard the news and came pouring in, until the corridors, the courtyard and the doorways were packed with people shouting encouragement. The Mongol fighters were few, and their side was quite outshouted.

Years before, at the Chongyang Palace, Huo Du had crossed hands with Guo Jing and lost in a single move. At the time he had taken him for a Quanzhen disciple, but a few enquiries afterwards had naturally told him who he was. His shixiong³ Darba was about his equal, and even if the two of them went in together, they would most likely be no match for Guo daxia, Hong Qigong’s disciple. But if he refused Huang Rong’s proposal, there would be no seizing the leadership of the alliance today. He had never foreseen such a turn, and he was at a loss what to do.

“Very well,” said State Preceptor Jinlun. “Huo Du, go down and try your hand against Hong Qigong’s disciple.”

His voice was deep and thick, and he said the whole sentence at a stretch without needing to draw breath. He had been living at Karakorum,⁴ the seat of the Mongol court, where the Empress Dowager who now ruled from behind the screen kept him in honour and had made him State Preceptor. He had supposed that with the martial arts of Huo Du, his own disciple whom he had taught himself, there would be few in the Central Plains to match him. At most he might lose to a handful of the older generation such as the Northern Beggar, the Eastern Heretic and the Western Venom. He had no idea Huo Du had already come to grief at Guo Jing’s hands.

Huo Du answered yes, then said under his breath, “Shifu, that old beggar’s disciple is very formidable. I’m afraid I may not beat him, and I mustn’t bring shame on your name.”

State Preceptor Jinlun’s face darkened, and he gave a snort. “You can’t even beat another man’s disciple? Get down there.”

Huo Du was in an awkward spot. He had always kept his defeat by Guo Jing from his shifu, and he dared not confess it now, at the last moment. He had thought his shifu’s powers reached up to heaven and down through the earth, that no one alive could match him, and that the moment his shifu’s august person arrived at the Hero Assembly, the leadership would drop into their hands. Who could have guessed he would be made to fight Guo Jing himself?

He was growing frantic when a big, fat man in the robes of a Mongol official came up and murmured a few words in his ear. Huo Du was overjoyed. He stood up, opened his fan, gave it a few flicks and said in a ringing voice, “I have long heard that the guardian treasure of the Beggars’ Guild is something called the Dog-Beating Staff Technique, the most formidable skill Old Guild Chief Hong ever had. Untalented as I am, I mean to break it with this fan of mine. If I can, then it seems Hong Qigong’s skill was nothing so very special after all!”

At first Huang Rong had paid no heed when she saw someone speaking into his ear. But then he brought up the Dog-Beating Staff Technique, and with a few light words had set Guo Jing, the strongest of them all, to one side. Who had handed him so clever a plan? She looked at the Mongol and knew him at once. It was Elder Peng,⁵ one of the four great Elders of the Beggars’ Guild. So he had gone over to the Mongols. He had changed into Mongol dress and grown a great bushy beard that covered his cheeks, and his hat was pulled down so low it hid his eyes, and unless you looked closely, you really would not know him. Only he could know that the Dog-Beating Staff Technique was passed to no one but the Guild Chief of the Beggars’ Guild, and that Guo Jing, for all his great martial arts, did not know it.

Huo Du’s words were plainly a challenge to her and Lu Youjiao by name. Lu Youjiao had only just learnt the staff technique and had barely begun to practise it, and he understood too little of it to use it. She would have to go out herself.

Guo Jing knew that his wife’s Dog-Beating Staff Technique was the wonder of the world and thought she could probably beat Huo Du. But for these past few months the baby had been unsettled and her inner breath out of order, and she must on no account fight anyone. So he stepped out from his seat, stood in the open space among the tables and said in a ringing voice, “Old Guild Chief Hong uses his Dog-Beating Staff Technique only against the very finest masters under heaven. I’m afraid your paltry skills are not worthy of it. Come and try his Eighteen Palms of Dragon Subduing instead.”

The heroes roared their approval.

State Preceptor Jinlun’s eyes were half open and half shut. When Guo Jing stepped out and stood there, he was like a deep, still pool, like a towering mountain, with a bearing quite out of the ordinary, and the State Preceptor was secretly startled. He thought, This man truly is remarkable.

Huo Du laughed. “I had the pleasure of meeting you once before, at the Chongyang Palace on Mount Zhongnan. That day you called yourself a disciple of Ma Yu,⁶ Qiu Chuji⁷ and the other Daoists. How is it you’re now passing yourself off as Hong Qigong’s disciple?”

Guo Jing was about to reply, but Huo Du got in first. “Of course it’s common enough for one man to study under several shifus. But today the contest is between State Preceptor Jinlun and Old Guild Chief Hong. Your martial arts may be strong, sir, but they draw on many schools, so they can’t show Old Guild Chief Hong’s true skill.”

There was a good deal of reason in this, and Guo Jing, never good with words, could find no answer for the moment.

But the heroes set up a shout, “If you’ve got the guts, fight Guo daxia. If you haven’t, tuck your tail between your legs and clear off.” “Guo daxia is Old Guild Chief Hong’s own disciple. If he can’t stand in for him, who can?” “If you’re so set on tasting the Dog-Beating Staff Technique, you’re owning that you’re a dog.”

Huang Rong said clearly, “The alliance we’re forming today is the ‘Resist the Mongols and Defend the Nation Alliance’. It’s the Mongols we’re resisting, and the nation we’re defending is the Great Song. If you three want to contend for Alliance Leader, you’ll first have to join the alliance. Is the State Preceptor ready to resign as the Mongols’ foremost State Preceptor and join our alliance, to resist the Mongols and defend the Great Song along with us?”

The heroes all laughed and shouted, “Yes, yes! Come and resist the Mongols and defend the Song with us! You’d be very welcome!”

Huo Du threw back his head and laughed long and loud, secretly working his neili as he did. Ha ha ha ha, ho ho ho ho, his laughter bore down the heroes’ clamour and set the candle flames in the great hall shuddering. The heroes looked at one another and paled, and all of them thought, Who’d have guessed it? Young as he is, a dandy like that, and he has neigong this formidable. In an instant every one of them fell silent.

Huo Du said in a ringing voice, “What my shifu means to be is Alliance Leader of all the heroes under heaven. Once he is Alliance Leader, whatever he says, all of you will do as you’re told, and no one may disobey. If he says defend the Mongols, you’ll defend the Mongols. If he says destroy the Song, you’ll destroy the Song on his orders.”

The heroes shouted back, “First make it plain. This ‘Resist the Mongols and Defend the Nation Alliance’ of ours, do you three mean to join it or not? Do you mean to resist the Mongols and defend the Song or not?” Someone shouted, “Very good. The Mongol State Preceptor is welcome to forsake darkness for light, see where the greater righteousness lies, and join us in resisting the Mongols and defending the Song.”

Huo Du swept both hands through the air. “Whether to resist the Mongols and defend the Song, or to go over to the Mongols and destroy the Song, will be settled by one word from the Alliance Leader. You put forward Hong Qigong, Guild Chief Hong. We put forward the Holy Monk of Mongolia, State Preceptor Jinlun. I am the State Preceptor’s disciple, and I wish to try Guild Chief Hong’s famous art, the Dog-Beating Staff Technique. Whoever in the Beggars’ Guild knows it, come out at once and fight in Guild Chief Hong’s place. If not, you will all honour my shifu as Alliance Leader and do as the Alliance Leader bids. The Beggars’ Guild need only admit defeat to my shifu and submit, forsaking darkness for light, and we Mongols may yet leave a gap in the net and be generous, and forgive your foolish ignorance.”

Amid the jeers and curses of the heroes of the Central Plains, Lu Youjiao swung his bamboo staff and strode out into the open space. “I am Lu Youjiao, the new Guild Chief of the Beggars’ Guild. I haven’t learnt one part in ten of the Dog-Beating Staff Technique, and really I ought not to use it. But since you’re so set on finding out how it feels to be thrashed with the Dog-Beating Staff, I’ll give you a few strokes of it.”

Lu Youjiao’s martial arts were already highly accomplished, and though he had not learnt the whole Dog-Beating Staff Technique, what he had learnt had added a good deal of power to the skills he had before. He saw that Huo Du was barely thirty and reckoned that, however expert his teacher, his skill could not run deep. And he knew Huang Rong was unwell, and he could not let her put herself in danger.

Huo Du asked only not to have to fight Guo Jing. Anyone else he did not fear in the least. He at once cupped his fist and bowed. “Guild Chief Lu, a pleasure, a pleasure. Nothing could suit me better than to learn from you.”

Huang Rong was secretly worried. But Lu Youjiao was the new Guild Chief, and since he had already spoken out and made the challenge, she could not stop him now. To do so would both humble him and make it look as if her own authority still outranked the Guild Chief’s. There was nothing for it but to let him fight a round first and see.

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The steward of Lu Family Manor had the servants move the banquet tables aside, clearing a space in the great hall the size of seven or eight tables, and more red candles were brought until the middle of the hall was lit as bright as day.

“Begin!” cried Huo Du. The word was barely out of his mouth when he swept his fan, and a strong gust of wind rushed at Lu Youjiao’s face. Strangely, the wind carried a faint fragrance. Afraid it might be poisoned, Lu Youjiao quickly turned his head aside. As the fan swept out there was a crisp snap, and it had closed into an acupoint-striking brush ten inches long, which stabbed straight at his opponent’s ribs.

Lu Youjiao raised his bamboo staff and, ignoring the acupoint strike altogether, tripped and flicked with the Coil Formula.⁸ The Dog-Beating Staff Technique was ingenious indeed, its strokes always coming from where no one could have expected them. Huo Du sprang lightly aside, but the staff suddenly flipped over and caught him across the shin. He staggered and leapt three steps away, only just keeping his feet. The watching heroes cheered as one and shouted, “The dog’s been hit!” “Now you know what the Dog-Beating Staff tastes like!”

At this setback Huo Du flushed red to the ears. He spun lightly round and struck out with his left palm. Lu Youjiao kicked up his left foot and swept his staff across, and at once the shadows of the staff were flying everywhere, shifting without end. Huo Du thought in alarm, The Dog-Beating Staff Technique really does live up to its name! He gathered every scrap of his wits and fought with all his might, fan in his right hand, palm in his left.

But Lu Youjiao had not learnt the whole of the staff technique, after all. Several times victory was within his grasp, yet each time it slipped away at the very last. Watching from the side, Guo Jing and Huang Rong kept crying inwardly, What a pity!

After a dozen or so more exchanges, the flaws in Lu Youjiao’s staff technique were showing wider and wider. Yang Guo saw every move clearly and could not help frowning to himself. Luckily the Dog-Beating Staff had cowed Huo Du from the start by catching him across the shin with its very first stroke, and, wary of it, he did not dare press in too close. Otherwise Lu Youjiao would have lost long since.

Seeing things going badly, Huang Rong was about to call him back when Lu Youjiao suddenly used the move “Striking the Dog’s Back at an Angle”.⁹ The bamboo staff wavered and came down full across Huo Du’s left cheek. But he had put too much weight into the stroke and lost the light, deft touch it called for. Smarting with shame and pain, Huo Du snatched at it and caught hold of the staff, and now, with nothing left to hold him back, he drove a palm square into Lu Youjiao’s chest and followed it with a sweeping kick. There was a crack, and Lu Youjiao’s leg was broken. He spat out a mouthful of blood and pitched forward on his face, and two Seven-Pouch¹⁰ disciples rushed in to hold him up and help him away.

Seeing how ruthless Huo Du’s hands were, the heroes were furious, and curses rang out on every side.

Huo Du held the glistening jade-green bamboo staff crosswise in both hands, looking mightily pleased with himself. “So the Dog-Beating Staff, the guardian treasure of the Beggars’ Guild, is nothing special after all.” Meaning to humiliate this great guild of the Central Plains’ chivalrous tradition, he gripped the staff by both ends and made to snap it in two.

Suddenly there was a flicker of green, and a lovely, graceful young woman stood before him. “Wait!” she said. It was Huang Rong.

Huo Du was startled at how fast she moved, and had only got out a single “You…” when Huang Rong’s left hand swept lightly aside and her right hand reached for his eyes. Huo Du quickly raised his hands to ward her off, and in that moment Huang Rong had deftly plucked the bamboo staff away from him.

This way of seizing the staff was called “The Mastiff Snatches the Staff”,¹¹ one of the most advanced moves of the Dog-Beating Staff Technique. Years before, at the Beggars’ Guild assembly on Mount Jun in Lake Dongting,¹² Huang Rong had used it to take the staff from Yang Kang’s¹³ hands three times running. Its changes cannot be foreseen, and in seizing a staff it never misses, and however strong the expert, he cannot get out of its way.

Footnotes

1. 为虎作伥 – wèi hǔ zuò chāng. Literally to serve the tiger as its chang; in legend the ghost of a man killed by a tiger becomes its servant and leads it to fresh victims. A byword for helping an evildoer do evil. ↩

2. 师父 – shīfù. Teacher responsible for technical instruction and moral guidance. Shī means teacher. Fù means father. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

3. 师兄 – shīxiōng. Male senior. Both apprenticed to the same shifu. Shī means teacher. Xiōng means older brother. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

4. Karakorum (和林). Capital of the Mongol Empire, located in present-day Mongolia. ↩

5. 彭长老 – Péng Zhǎnglǎo. Elder Peng, one of the four great Elders of the Beggars’ Guild, who betrayed the Guild. ↩

6. 马钰 – Mǎ Yù. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

7. 丘处机 – Qiū Chǔjī. His name meaning “dwelling in opportunity”. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

8. 缠字诀 – Chán Zì Jué. One of the eight formulae of the Dog-Beating Staff Technique, using coiling motions. ↩

9. Striking the Dog’s Back at an Angle (斜打狗背). One of the thirty-six stances of the Dog-Beating Staff Technique. ↩

10. Seven-Pouch (七袋). Senior rank in the Beggars’ Guild hierarchy. Number of pouches on a beggar’s garment indicates their rank, with nine being the highest. ↩

11. Mastiff Snatches the Staff (獒口夺棒). Advanced Dog-Beating Staff technique for disarming an opponent and seizing their weapon. ↩

12. 洞庭湖 – Dòngtíng Hú. Great lake in Hunan province. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

13. 杨康 – Yáng Kāng. His name meaning “health” or “peace”. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩