The Return of the Condor Heroes Chapter 14 – Part 4

He saw her jade-like face pale and drawn, her left hand pressed against her lower abdomen, clearly she was enduring pain in silence. Yang Guo immediately thought, Uncle Guo and Auntie Guo forbid Gugu and me from being together, that may be meddlesome, but they have never meant me any harm. Now Auntie Guo is in trouble. How can I simply walk away? But the enemy is far too strong. Even if Gugu and I fight together, we are absolutely no match for this monk. Since I cannot save Auntie Guo anyway, why throw away our lives as well? Better to go straight to Uncle Guo and have him lead a rescue party. At this thought, he gave Huang Rong a meaningful look. Huang Rong understood that he intended to go and summon help, and she felt slightly relieved. Ever so faintly, she nodded.

Yang Guo took Xiaolongnü’s hand and started down the stairs. He saw a Mongol warrior stride up to Huang Rong and bark gruffly: “Move! What are you waiting for?” He reached out to grab her arm as though she were a common prisoner.

Huang Rong had been Chief of the Beggars’ Gang¹ for over ten years. Her status in the jianghu was of the highest honour. Though she now found herself in dire straits, how could she suffer the indignity of this coarse lout? Seeing his large, dark, hairy hand reaching toward her, she flicked her sleeve. The fabric covered his wrist, and in the same motion she seized and flung him. With a whoosh, the Mongol warrior’s bulky frame sailed out the restaurant window and crashed into the street, left half dead. Huang Rong, fastidious by nature, had no wish for her hand to touch his wrist, so she had first covered it with her sleeve before throwing him through the fabric.

The patrons on the upper floor had paid little attention when the parties had been speaking civilly, but at this sudden outbreak of violence, chaos erupted.

Jinlun Guoshi gave a cold laugh. “Chief Huang lives up to her reputation.” Imitating the Mongol warrior’s manner, he strode forward and reached out in exactly the same way to grab her. Huang Rong knew he was deliberately showing off his skill, the same move, but she could no more throw him than she could fly. She had no choice but to retreat a step.

Yang Guo had already descended several stairs when he saw the conflict erupt. Huang Rong was about to be humiliated. His sense of chivalry² blazed up, and he forgot all concerns of life and death. He flew back, snatched up the sword Wu Dunru had dropped, and thrust it fiercely at the National Preceptor’s back. “Chief Huang is ill!” he shouted. “How can you press your advantage against a sick person?”

The National Preceptor heard the whistle of metal cleaving the air behind him but did not even turn his head. He flipped his fingers back and struck the flat of the blade. With a clang, Yang Guo felt his right arm go numb from the impact. The tip of his sword drooped straight down, and he hurriedly leaped away.

The National Preceptor turned around. “Young man, leave quickly,” he said. “You are young, and your martial arts are not weak. Your future achievements will far surpass mine. But at this moment, you are no match for me. Why throw your life away by forcing yourself into this?” These words mixed flattery with menace, praising Yang Guo even as they threatened him. His golden wheel had been knocked from his grasp by Yang Guo and Xiaolongnü, costing him the Alliance Chief position that had been within his reach. In his heart, he hated the two of them bitterly. But now, weighing priorities, he considered capturing Huang Rong the paramount objective and had no wish to make additional enemies. He only hoped Yang Guo and Xiaolongnü would withdraw from this conflict. He could always settle scores with these two youngsters later. Having dominated the great desert, he was a man of considerable strategic acumen, his martial prowess was not his only strength.

These words, neither arrogant nor servile, were indeed no empty boast. Yang Guo, young as he was, could not help feeling pleased to hear that his future achievements would surpass the National Preceptor’s. He laughed and said, “No need for modesty, Great Monk. To reach your level of skill is no easy thing. This Chief Huang raised me from childhood, you had best not trouble her. Her martial arts are astonishingly formidable, and she would most likely defeat you. If she were not ill today, you could not match her. If you doubt it, wait until she recovers and compete against her then. How about that?” He assumed the National Preceptor prided himself on his martial arts and might, thus goaded, cease harassing Huang Rong.

But the National Preceptor had only been courteous to Yang Guo because he had feared the combined force of Huang Rong, Xiaolongnü, and Yang Guo. Now, hearing these words, he studied Huang Rong’s face and indeed saw that she looked haggard, her illness was far from mild. With just these two youngsters, he thought, what does Jinlun Guoshi have to fear? He gave a cold laugh and moved to block the staircase. “Then you shall stay as well,” he said.

Xiaolongnü stood on the stairs, separated from Yang Guo by the National Preceptor. This displeased her. “Monk, move aside,” she said. “Let him come down.” The National Preceptor’s brows shot up. He launched a “Splitting the Stele with One Palm”³ downward with explosive force. He was naturally possessed of great strength, and this attack, delivered from the higher ground, was especially ferocious. Xiaolongnü dared not meet it head-on. Worried about Yang Guo on the upper floor, rather than leaping down to the bottom of the stairs, she pushed off with both feet and, using her superlative lightness skill,⁴ brushed past the enemy’s side to stand shoulder to shoulder with Yang Guo. The National Preceptor had thrown an elbow strike backward as she passed his left flank, but it struck nothing. He could not help but admire the agility of her movement. Yang Guo picked up the sword Wu Xiuwen had dropped and placed it in her hand. “Gugu,” he said, “this monk has no manners. Let us fight him.”

With a ringing clash, the National Preceptor drew a wheel from beneath his robes. It was the same size as the golden wheel he had used before, but its colour was a dull, deep black, forged of refined iron, and also inscribed with the sacred mantras of the Vajrayana⁵ sect. He possessed five wheels in total: gold, silver, copper, iron, and lead. When facing a truly formidable opponent, he could deploy all five simultaneously. But in the past, he had used only the single golden wheel and already defeated countless powerful enemies, earning him the title “Golden Wheel National Preceptor.” The silver, copper, iron, and lead wheels had never been used. In truth, given his level of martial attainment, he ought to have been called the “Five-Wheel National Preceptor.” During the contest at Lu Village, Yang Guo had knocked the golden wheel from his grasp with the vajra⁶ pestle. Now he brought out the iron wheel instead. “Chief Huang,” he said, “will you join in as well?” Though he could see the pallor of illness on Huang Rong’s face, he still dreaded her martial prowess. By addressing her as “Chief Huang,” he was reminding her that she was the leader of a great gang, to join forces with others against a single opponent would tarnish the dignity of her position.

Yang Guo called out: “Chief Huang is going home. She has no time for your nonsense.” He turned to Huang Rong and said, “Auntie Guo, take Sister Fu and go.” He had already made up his mind: he and Xiaolongnü would combine their strength to hold off the enemy. They could not win, but if they could resist for a while and then find a way to escape, they would probably manage it. Fortunately, this was no contest of martial superiority, as long as they could slip free of the demon’s clutches, what did it matter if they fled in utter disarray? He thrust his sword at the National Preceptor. Xiaolongnü, seeing him use the Jade Maiden Heart Sutra techniques, followed with a flanking slash of her own. Having no plan of her own, she simply joined the fight because Yang Guo was fighting this monk.

Jinlun Guoshi whirled his iron wheel, deflecting both swords. He found the restaurant too cluttered with tables and chairs to move freely, so as he fought, he kicked the furniture aside. Yang Guo thought, If we match strength against strength, we will certainly lose. Only by entangling him can we hold out for a while. Seeing the National Preceptor kick away the tables and chairs, Yang Guo pushed them back, placing them between the combatants. Both he and Xiaolongnü excelled at lightness skills. They darted and wove, never engaging the enemy directly, and occasionally hurled wine jugs or flung plates of food, until the upper floor was awash in spilled wine, sauce, and broth.

In the midst of this chaos, Huang Rong had seized the opportunity to pull Guo Fu to safety. Da’erba,⁷ still dazed from Yang Guo’s “Soul-Shifting Art,”⁸ drifted in and out of consciousness. Huo Dou was gravely wounded by poison. The remaining Mongol warriors were of negligible skill, how could they stop Huang Rong? Yang Guo shouted, “Auntie Guo, go quickly!” But Huang Rong saw the ferocity of the National Preceptor’s attacks. Yang Guo and Xiaolongnü were giving everything they had, yet barely managing to hold on. Their present strategy of chaotic, unorthodox harassment could only delay the enemy for a time. If he found an opening and struck with lethal force, these two young people would have no chance of survival. She thought, He is risking his life to save me. How can I think only of myself and abandon him? After releasing the Wu brothers’ acupoints, she stood at the head of the stairs, watching the battle in silence.

The Wu brothers, however, urged repeatedly: “Master’s wife, let us leave first. You are unwell, you must take care of yourself.” Huang Rong ignored them at first, but as their urging grew more insistent, she said angrily, “If a person does not speak of ‘chivalry and righteousness,’² what is the use of training in martial arts? What is the use of living at all? This Yang Guo surpasses you a hundred times over. Hmph. You two had best think on that carefully.” The Wu brothers had meant well, but receiving this scolding from their shiniang⁹, they stood awkwardly, feeling thoroughly embarrassed.

Guo Fu picked up a broken table leg from the floor and cried, “Brothers Wu, let us all attack together!” Huang Rong pulled her back. “With your meagre skills, do you want to throw your life away?” Guo Fu pouted in disbelief. She had watched Yang Guo and Xiaolongnü fight and had seen nothing particularly remarkable or profound in their moves. Sometimes their postures were graceful, but their sword strokes were never fierce or lethal.

Each time the National Preceptor pursued, the overturned tables and chairs blocked his path, while Yang Guo and Xiaolongnü, agile and elusive, flitted back and forth in evasive combat. An idea struck him. He suddenly drove force into his feet. With a series of loud cracks, the fallen tables and chairs shattered beneath his tread. As his hands worked the iron wheel in attack and defence, his feet employed the “Thousand-Jin Anchor”¹⁰ technique. Wherever his feet landed, the furniture broke. After several more exchanges, the floor was covered with a layer of splintered wood, and the three combatants fought atop the debris. No more chairs or tables remained to hinder movement.

Now the National Preceptor strode back and forth with great sweeping steps, his iron wheel clanging as it swung. His arms opened and closed in wide arcs, launching fierce attacks against the two of them. Without the furniture to obstruct them, Yang Guo and Xiaolongnü had no choice but to defend with genuine skill. The National Preceptor pressed forward with three successive attacks. Yang Guo had trained in the Jade Maiden Heart Sutra, which emphasised speed, not power, and his arms lacked the strength to match. As he parried, his arms ached dully from the force. The National Preceptor, pressing his advantage, launched a fourth strike, a crushing downward blow. Before the iron wheel even arrived, the wind of its passage was fierce and terrifying. Yang Guo and Xiaolongnü thrust both swords upward together, their tips meeting the wheel. Only by combining the force of two swords could they block this one attack, but both blades were bent by the impact.

Together, they exerted all their strength to force the wheel back. Yang Guo thrust his longsword at the enemy’s upper body while Xiaolongnü slashed horizontally at his left leg. The National Preceptor kicked at Xiaolongnü’s wrist while angling his wheel to strike Yang Guo’s neck. Yang Guo ducked and crouched, evading the wheel. But then, with shocking suddenness, the National Preceptor’s right hand loosened, the iron wheel plunged toward Yang Guo’s head, and with both hands freed, he simultaneously grabbed at Xiaolongnü’s shoulders. In that split second, both of them faced lethal danger. Huang Rong cried out and moved to intervene, but she saw Yang Guo’s body shoot sideways, skimming the ground. Before he had even landed, his sword was already thrusting at the National Preceptor’s back. This move served dual purposes, it resolved his own peril while using the strategy of “besieging Wei to rescue Zhao”¹¹ to prevent the National Preceptor from attacking Xiaolongnü. The move was called “Wild Goose Flies Slantwise”¹² and belonged to the Quanzhen Swordplay.

The National Preceptor let out a surprised grunt. Before the iron wheel could hit the ground, he hooked it with the instep of his right foot and sent it spinning upward with a loud clatter, smashing toward Yang Guo’s head. In that moment of crisis, Yang Guo had used a Quanzhen sword move to remarkable effect. Now he followed with another Quanzhen technique. “White Rainbow Spans the Heavens”¹³, spinning his sword horizontally to strike the wheel. Wheel against sword, the flat strike should have been useless, but the rotation was perfectly timed, applying the martial principle of “four ounces deflecting a thousand jin.”¹⁴ The wheel’s trajectory shifted and flew back toward the National Preceptor’s own head. Guo Fu, watching from the side, clapped her hands in delight.

Footnotes

1. 丐帮 – Gàibāng. Largest martial arts organisation in the jianghu, continued from LOCH era. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

2. 侠义 (Xiáyì). “Chivalrous righteousness.” The core moral code of the wuxia genre — the obligation of the martial artist to protect the weak, right wrongs, and act with honour, even at great personal cost. ↩ ↩²

3. 单掌开碑 (Dān Zhǎng Kāi Bēi). “Splitting the Stele with One Palm.” A powerful palm strike capable of splitting a stone tablet. ↩

4. 轻功 – qīnggōng. Literally lightness skill. Martial art of body lightness; practitioners leap great heights and move with extraordinary speed. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

5. 金刚宗 – Jīngāng Zōng. Vajra (Diamond/Thunderbolt) school of Esoteric Buddhism, known for distinctive martial arts including the Dragon-Elephant Prajna Skill. ↩

6. 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. ↩

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

8. 移魂大法 – Yíhún Dàfǎ. Technique from the Nine Yin Manual. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

9. 师娘 – shīniáng. Master’s wife; the martial mother of the school. Term used by disciples to address their shifu’s wife. ↩

10. 千斤坠 (Qiānjīn Zhuì). “Thousand-Jin Anchor.” An neili technique that roots the practitioner to the ground with immense weight. ↩

11. 围魏救赵 (Wéi Wèi Jiù Zhào). “Besiege Wei to Rescue Zhao.” A classical Chinese military stratagem from Sun Bin: rather than directly reinforcing an ally under attack, strike at the enemy’s vulnerable rear to force them to withdraw. Here, Yang Guo attacks Jinlun Guoshi’s back to force him to abandon his assault on Xiaolongnü. ↩

12. 雁行斜击 (Yàn Xíng Xié Jī). “Wild Goose Flies Slantwise.” A Quanzhen sword technique in which the practitioner moves at an angle, like a wild goose cutting across the sky, to attack from an unexpected direction while evading the enemy’s strike. ↩

13. 白虹经天 (Bái Hóng Jīng Tiān). “White Rainbow Spans the Heavens.” A Quanzhen sword technique characterised by a horizontal spinning slash, like a white rainbow arching across the sky. ↩

14. 四两拨千斤 (Sì Liǎng Bō Qiān Jīn). “Four liang deflect a thousand jin.” A fundamental principle of Chinese martial arts, particularly taiji: using minimal force, applied at the right angle and moment, to redirect a much greater force. ↩