The Return of the Condor Heroes Chapter 13 – Part 2

Zhu Ziliu roared with laughter. “Correct, ‘Thou art a barbarian.’”¹ The heroes of the Central Plains, who bitterly resented the Mongol cavalry’s invasions and their slaughter of the common people, all nursed deep grievances in their hearts. Hearing Zhu Ziliu curse him with “Thou art a barbarian,” they burst into a thunderous cheer.

Huo Dou, battered by Zhu Ziliu’s four styles, regular, cursive, clerical, and seal², in the “Yiyang Calligraphy Finger” technique, could barely hold on. His courage had long since failed him. The roar of applause threw his mind into further chaos. He saw Zhu Ziliu brandish his brush and write three more characters in the air. The thought of trying to read them never even crossed his mind. He could only raise his fan with all his might to protect his face and vital points in the chest. Suddenly he felt a numbing sensation at his knee, his opponent had reversed the brush and struck his acupoint³ with the handle. Huo Dou felt a piercing ache and weakness in the hollow of his knee. He was about to collapse to his knees. If I kneel, he thought, I will never be able to hold my head up again. He forcibly drew a breath and rushed it toward the acupoint in his knee, trying to leap away and concede defeat. But Zhu Ziliu’s brush came swift as lightning, striking again. Using the brush handle in place of a finger, he applied the Yiyang Finger technique in a chain of attacks, how could Huo Dou withstand it? His knee went numb and soft, and at last he dropped to his knees, his face drained of all colour.

The heroes erupted in jubilation. Guo Jing⁴ said to Huang Rong, “Your clever scheme has worked.” Huang Rong smiled faintly.

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The Wu brothers⁵ had been watching from the sidelines, deeply awed by the endless transformations of their Zhu shishu⁶’s Yiyang Finger technique. “If only I could one day reach his level,” each thought privately. One called, “Elder Brother!” and the other, “Brother!” Both had the same thought, to voice their admiration for their shishu’s skill, when suddenly they heard Zhu Ziliu cry out in agony. They whipped their heads around and saw him toppling backward onto the ground.

The shock struck everyone at once. What had happened? Huo Dou had been unable to support himself and had knelt. Zhu Ziliu, believing he had sealed the man’s acupoint with the Yiyang Finger, a method wholly different from ordinary pressure-point techniques and difficult for anyone else to undo, reached out and pressed several spots on Huo Dou’s ribs, circulating his energy to release the sealed point. But the moment Huo Dou’s acupoint was freed, murderous intent surged within him. Groaning faintly, before he had even straightened up, his right thumb pressed the mechanism on his fan handle. Four poisoned darts⁷ flew from the fan ribs and embedded themselves in Zhu Ziliu’s body. In a contest between masters, once victory and defeat are decided, no further attack is permitted. With the entire hall watching, who could have imagined he would launch a treacherous ambush? Had Huo Dou fired his hidden weapons during the fight, the fan-rib darts, clever as they were, could never have harmed his opponent. But now, as Zhu Ziliu was releasing his acupoint, the two stood barely a foot apart, and with Zhu Ziliu acting in good faith to help him, he could never have expected his kindness to be repaid with malice. When hidden weapons are launched at close range, even the highest martial arts cannot evade them. The four darts were coated with a fierce poison harvested from the snowy mountains of Mongolia. The moment Zhu Ziliu was struck, unbearable pain and itching coursed through his entire body, and he could no longer stand.

The heroes were beside themselves with shock and fury. They jabbed their fingers at Huo Dou, denouncing his vile treachery. Huo Dou laughed. “This prince has turned defeat into victory. Where is the shame in that? Before our contest, no one said hidden weapons were forbidden. If this Brother Zhu had struck this prince with hidden weapons first, I would simply have accepted my fate.” Though everyone felt his argument was sheer sophistry, they could not refute it on the spot, and the torrent of abuse continued.

Guo Jing rushed forward and gathered Zhu Ziliu in his arms. He saw the four small darts embedded in his chest and the strange expression on his face. Realising the poison on the hidden weapons was unusual, he swiftly sealed three major acupoints to slow the blood flow, close the meridians, and prevent the poison from spreading to the heart. “What do we do?” he asked Huang Rong. Huang Rong frowned in silence, knowing that to counteract this poison they would certainly need Huo Dou or the Golden Wheel National Preceptor to administer the antidote personally. But how to seize the antidote, for the moment, she was at a loss.

The Diancang Fisherman,⁸ seeing his shidi⁹ so gravely poisoned, was torn between worry and rage. He hitched up the hem of his robe, stuffed it into his sash, and was about to charge out to fight Huo Dou. Huang Rong, weighing the overall strategy of the contest, thought, The enemy has already won one bout. If the Fisherman shixiong¹⁰ goes out, Da’erba¹¹ will answer, and we have no certainty of victory. She quickly called, “Shixiong, wait!” The Diancang Fisherman asked, “What is it?” For all her bottomless resourcefulness, Huang Rong could find no words. Having already lost the first bout, the next two would be exceedingly difficult.

Huo Dou, having taken the victory from Zhu Ziliu by trickery, stood at the entrance to the hall, thoroughly pleased with himself, sweeping his gaze around with an air of insufferable arrogance. His glance fell upon Xiaolongnü and Yang Guo, sitting side by side on the stone plinth, holding hands and talking with rapt attention, treating his victory as though it were beneath notice. Rage surged within him. He jabbed his fan at Yang Guo and barked, “Little beast, stand up.”

Yang Guo was utterly absorbed in Xiaolongnü. It seemed to him that in all the vast world, nothing else could divide his attention. Thus, while Huo Dou and Zhu Ziliu had fought until the heavens turned upside down, he had neither seen nor heard a thing. During those years with Xiaolongnü in the Ancient Tomb, he had not truly realised that his feelings for her were carved into his very bones, that he would live and die for her. When she had asked him that day whether he wanted her as his wife, the question had come so suddenly, he had never dared entertain such a thought in his heart, that he had been stunned into silence. After Xiaolongnü vanished without a trace, he had said it to himself thousands upon thousands of times: “I want it. Of course I want it. I would rather die this instant than not have Gugu as my wife.”

The love between him and Xiaolongnü had sprouted without either of them knowing it. Only when they parted did it burst forth, lush and wild, beyond all restraint. Yang Guo was, of course, a boy who feared neither heaven nor earth, and Xiaolongnü understood nothing whatsoever of the world’s customs and proprieties. She simply thought, If I wish to love, I shall love. If I wish to rejoice, I shall rejoice. What business is it of anyone else? And so, one indifferent and one oblivious, the two of them sat amid a thousand watching eyes, on a field of savage combat, holding hands and speaking words of tender passion.

Yang Guo’s heart surged with emotion. “I am used to calling you ‘Gugu’ with my mouth,” he said, “but in my heart I call you ‘wife.’”

Xiaolongnü smiled faintly. “Good. When no one else is around, you may call me ‘wife.’ Mm, wife, wife. I love it when you call me that.”

Yang Guo said, “Then for all your life you must be my wife.”

Xiaolongnü said, “That goes without saying. Would I only do it for three days or four? I will not allow it, and neither can you. You must be my husband forever. You are not allowed to change your heart.”

Yang Guo said, “Of course I will never, ever change my heart or betray you. Li shibo¹²¹³ stirs up trouble and spreads lies, always trying to make you sad. Do not believe her.”

Xiaolongnü nodded and said with absolute finality, “Mm. She is a bad woman.”

Huo Dou cursed again, but Yang Guo still did not hear. Huo Dou was about to rebuke him further when the Golden Wheel National Preceptor commanded: “Our side has won one bout. We may proceed to the second contest.” Huo Dou shot Yang Guo a venomous glare, withdrew to his seat, and announced loudly, “Our side has won the first bout. For the second, my second shixiong Da’erba will take the field. Which hero from your side will offer instruction?”

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Da’erba drew a weapon from beneath his crimson kasaya¹⁴ and strode to the centre of the hall. The sight of his weapon sent a chill through the crowd: it was a golden vajra pestle,¹⁵ thick and long. Such vajra demon-subduing pestles were customarily wielded by dharma-protecting elders¹⁶ in Esoteric Buddhism.¹⁷ It was not unusual for Tibetan or Mongolian monks to carry them as weapons, but Da’erba’s demon-subduing pestle was a full four feet in length, its head as thick as a rice bowl, its shaft gleaming with golden light as though forged from a mixture of gold and steel, or perhaps a steel pestle coated with layers of gold. Its weight was obvious at a glance.

He came to the centre of the hall, pressed his palms together in salute to the assembled heroes, then raised the golden pestle and hurled it high into the air. It came crashing down with a thunderous bang, smashing two large grey-blue floor tiles to powder and burying itself more than a foot deep in the earth. This opening display spoke volumes, the pestle’s weight was plain, and that a monk so lean and wizened could wield it spoke equally plainly of his martial prowess and physical strength.

Huang Rong thought, Jing gege¹⁸ could certainly subdue this reckless monk, but then the National Preceptor would take the third bout, and we have no one who can stop him. This contest is already lost. I have no choice. I will have to pit my skill against his and fight by cunning. She picked up the Dog-Beating Staff¹⁹ and said, “I will go.”

Guo Jing was horrified. “No, no, you cannot. You are unwell. How can you fight?” Huang Rong herself felt far from certain of victory, but if she lost this bout, there would be no need for a third. As she hesitated, the Diancang Fisherman called out: “Chief Huang, let me face this villainous monk.” Seeing his shidi writhing in unbearable numbness and itching from the poison, his heart burned with urgency, and he was desperate for revenge. Huang Rong, having no better plan, thought, All we can do now is fight with all we have. If he defeats the Mongol monk, Jing gege can then match strength against strength and settle matters with the National Preceptor. She said, “Shixiong, please be careful.”

The Wu brothers brought forth their shibo’s two iron oars.²⁰ The Diancang Fisherman tucked them under his arms and walked to the centre of the hall. His eyes blazed red. He circled Da’erba once. Da’erba, utterly baffled, simply turned to follow him. With a sudden thunderous roar, the Fisherman raised both oars and brought them crashing down toward Da’erba’s skull. Da’erba reached down, pulled his demon-subduing pestle from the ground, and parried. Oar met pestle with a deafening clang that set every ear ringing. Both men felt a dull ache in the webs of their thumbs and knew the other possessed tremendous strength. Each leapt backward. Da’erba spoke a sentence in Mongolian. The Fisherman answered with a curse in the Bai²¹ tongue of Dali. Neither understood a word. Suddenly they closed in again, oar and pestle struck as one, and another metallic crash resounded.

This was a savage contest, nothing like the elegant duel between Zhu Ziliu and Huo Dou. Bronze cauldron against iron jar, brute force against brute force. Each man relied on the highest levels of external hard-style martial arts,²² oar and pestle generating fierce winds as the spectators watched in terror.

Footnotes

1. “Thou art a barbarian” (尔乃蛮夷). Ěr Nǎi Mányí. Classical Chinese insult from the Central Plains perspective, dismissing non-Han peoples as uncivilised. Phrase draws on millennia of Sino-centric worldview. ↩

2. Regular, cursive, clerical, and seal scripts (真草隶篆). Four major styles of Chinese calligraphy, each used by Zhu Ziliu as a different mode of martial expression through the Yiyang Finger. ↩

3. acupoint (穴道). Xuédào. In Chinese martial arts theory, specific points on the body’s meridian system that can be struck to disable, paralyse, or kill. Sealing acupoints is a core technique in advanced martial arts. ↩

4. 郭靖 – Guō Jìng. His name meaning “tranquillity” or “pacification”. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

5. Wu Brothers. Wu Dunru (武敦儒) and Wu Xiuwen (武修文), sons of Wu Santong, disciples of Guo Jing and Huang Rong. ↩

6. 师叔 – shīshū. Junior lineage uncle. Shidi or shimei of one’s shifu. Shī means teacher. Shū means father’s younger brother. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

7. Poison darts (毒钉). Dúdīng. Small darts coated with a poison derived from Mongolian snow mountain toxins, concealed within the ribs of Huo Dou’s folding fan and fired by a spring mechanism. ↩

8. 点苍渔隐 – Diǎncāng Yúyǐn. Hermit Fisherman of Diancang; one of Great Master Yideng’s four disciples. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

9. 师弟 – shīdì. Male junior. Both apprenticed to the same shifu. Shī means teacher. Dì means younger brother. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

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

11. 达尔巴 – Dá’ěrbā. Golden Wheel National Preceptor’s second disciple. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

12. 李莫愁 – Lǐ Mòchóu. Her name meaning “do not sorrow”. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

13. 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. ↩

14. Kasaya (袈裟). Jiāshā. Traditional outer robe worn by Buddhist monastics. Da’erba’s is described as crimson red, following Tibetan Buddhist tradition. ↩

15. Vajra pestle (金刚降魔杵). Jīngāng Xiángmó Chǔ. Literally “vajra demon-subduing pestle.” A ritual implement in Esoteric Buddhism representing the indestructible vajra thunderbolt, adapted as a heavy bludgeoning weapon. ↩

16. Dharma-protecting elder (护法尊者). Hùfǎ Zūnzhě. In Esoteric Buddhism, wrathful deity figures who protect the dharma. Their iconography includes the vajra pestle. ↩

17. Esoteric Buddhism (密宗). Mìzōng. Also known as Vajrayana or Tantric Buddhism, the form of Buddhism practised in Tibet and Mongolia. It emphasises mantras, mandalas, and direct transmission from master to disciple. ↩

18. Jing gege (靖哥哥). Jìng Gēge. Huang Rong’s affectionate term for Guo Jing, literally “Jing gege.” The suffix “-gege” is an intimate form of address. ↩

19. 打狗棒 – Dǎgǒu Bàng. Symbol of Beggars’ Guild chief’s authority; green bamboo staff. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

20. Iron oars (铁桨). Tiějiǎng. Diancang Fisherman’s signature weapons, modelled on boat oars but forged from iron. Each weighs over fifty jin. ↩

21. Bai language (摆夷语). Bǎiyí Yǔ. Language of the Bai ethnic group of the Dali region in modern-day Yunnan. Diancang Fisherman, being from Dali, curses in his native tongue. ↩

22. External hard-style martial arts (外门硬功). Wàimén Yìnggōng. Martial arts that focus on developing external physical strength, conditioning the body to deliver and withstand powerful blows, as opposed to neili cultivation. ↩