The Return of the Condor Heroes Chapter 15 – Part 6

Huang Yaoshi heard the absolute finality in these words. He stared at Yang Guo for a long moment, then suddenly raised his head and laughed to the heavens, so loudly that the thatch on the roof rustled and shook. Yang Guo said angrily, “What is so funny? I thought you, who are called the Eastern Heretic, would have some remarkable insight. I never imagined you would be just the same as every other conventional person.” Huang Yaoshi declared loudly, “Good! Good! Good!” After saying the word “good” several times, he turned and walked out. Yang Guo sat there, stunned. With those words, I must have offended this venerable elder terribly. But why did he show no anger?

What Yang Guo did not realise was that throughout his life, Huang Yaoshi had roamed the world with utter contempt for the ritual proprieties and conventional opinions of his age. Everything he said and did was utterly unorthodox, which was precisely why he had earned the name “Heretic.” He was aloof and solitary, and in all his life had never truly had a kindred spirit. Even with his own daughter and son-in-law, the bond was not one of true understanding. Guo Jing was upright and solemn, qualities Huang Yaoshi found particularly distasteful. He had never expected that after all these years drifting through the jianghu, he would encounter Yang Guo. News of Yang Guo’s various deeds at the Heroes’ Assembly had already reached his ears, and Huang Rong had also spoken briefly of this youth’s conduct and character. Now, after exchanging only a few words with him, Huang Yaoshi found him perfectly to his liking.

That evening, Huang Yaoshi returned to the room. “Yang Guo,” he said, “I hear you turned against the Quanzhen Order and struck your own shifu, heretical enough indeed. Why not go a step further and turn against the Ancient Tomb School as well, and take me as your shifu instead?” Yang Guo was taken aback. “Why?” he asked. Huang Yaoshi laughed. “First you stop acknowledging Xiaolongnü as your shifu, then you marry her as your wife. Wouldn’t that be perfectly proper and aboveboard?” Yang Guo said, “That method is indeed clever. But who made the rule that shifu and disciple may not marry? I insist on having her be both my shifu and my wife.”

Huang Yaoshi clapped his hands and laughed. “Excellent! Thinking like that, you surpass even me.” He reached out and massaged Yang Guo’s wounds, then sighed. “I had wanted you to inherit my mantle, so the world would know that after Huang the Old Heretic comes Yang the Young Heretic. But since you won’t become my disciple, there is nothing to be done.”

Yang Guo said, “One doesn’t have to be shifu and disciple to spread your heretical name. If you don’t mind my youth and shallow martial skills, the two of us could simply become friends, or else swear brotherhood.” Huang Yaoshi feigned anger. “You little whelp, your gall is not small. I’m not that Old Mischief Zhou Botong¹, how could I be so lacking in decorum with you?” Yang Guo asked, “Who is this Old Mischief Zhou Botong?” So Huang Yaoshi briefly told him about Zhou Botong’s character, and how he had become sworn brothers with Guo Jing.

The two talked and talked, their hearts in perfect harmony. As the saying goes, “With a bosom friend, a thousand cups of wine are too few. When words don’t click, half a sentence is too many.” Yang Guo was quick-witted and eloquent, and by nature he was remarkably similar to Huang Yaoshi. Whatever he said, Huang Yaoshi would exclaim that it captured his own heart exactly. It was truly a case of becoming fast friends at first meeting, regretting only that they had not met sooner. Though Huang Yaoshi refused to admit it aloud, in his heart he already regarded Yang Guo as a friend despite the vast gap in their ages. That night, he ordered Cheng Ying to set up an extra cot in Yang Guo’s room, and the two lay side by side, talking through the night. At the time, Yang Guo was not yet twenty, while Huang Yaoshi was nearly eighty. Between them stood Guo Jing and Huang Rong, a couple in their forties. Yang Guo was, in truth, already of his grandchildren’s generation.

Several days passed. Yang Guo’s wounds healed completely, and he and Huang Yaoshi had become as close as lacquer and glue, inseparable. Huang Yaoshi had originally planned to take Shagu and head south, but now he said not a word about leaving. Cheng Ying and Lu Wushuang watched this old man and young man, drinking together before the wine cups by day, trimming the lamp and talking through the night, their lofty discussions flowing in endless torrents, and could not help secretly laughing. They both felt that the elder had abandoned all dignity of age and status, while the younger was far too unrestrained. In terms of knowledge and learning, Yang Guo did not possess even a fraction of a fraction of Huang Yaoshi’s. It was simply that whatever Huang Yaoshi said, Yang Guo agreed with from the depths of his soul, and his occasional interjections were always perfectly apt. Their temperaments were naturally in tune. Huang Yaoshi could not help but regard Yang Guo as the foremost kindred spirit of his entire life.

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During these days, aside from keeping Huang Yaoshi company in conversation, Yang Guo often thought about what Shagu had said the night she mistook him for someone else. She had said, “You weren’t killed by me. Go find someone else!” He guessed she must know who had killed his father. Others had kept it hidden, but Shagu was muddled and deranged, perhaps he could coax the truth from her lips.

One afternoon, Yang Guo said, “Shagu, come here. I have something to tell you.” Shagu thought he looked too much like Yang Kang and was always afraid of him. She shook her head. “I don’t want to play with you.” Yang Guo said, “I can do magic tricks. Want to see?” Shagu shook her head. “You’re lying. I won’t look!” She squeezed her eyes shut. Yang Guo suddenly flipped upside down, standing on his head. “Look, quick!” Using the technique Ouyang Feng had taught him, he inverted his body and walked on his hands, crossing them as he moved. Shagu opened her eyes, saw this, and was overjoyed. Clapping and cheering, she ran after him.

Yang Guo continued walking upside down until they reached a place where the trees grew thick, far from the thatched cottage. He flipped upright and said, “Let’s play hide-and-seek, all right? But the loser has to pay a forfeit.” In all these years following Huang Yaoshi, Shagu had never had anyone to play with. Hearing this, she was beside herself with delight and clapped repeatedly, her fear of him instantly cast to the winds. “Wonderful, wonderful! Good brother, what’s the forfeit?” She had called Yang Guo’s father “good brother,” and now called Yang Guo the same.

Yang Guo took out a handkerchief and blindfolded her. “You try to catch me. If you catch me, you can ask me anything, and I’ll answer truthfully, without hiding a single word. If you can’t catch me, then I get to ask you, and you must answer truthfully too.” Shagu said over and over, “Wonderful, wonderful!” Yang Guo called out, “I’m over here! Come catch me!” Shagu spread her arms and chased the sound. Yang Guo had trained in the Ancient Tomb School’s qinggong, which was matchless in its time. Even if Shagu’s eyes were uncovered, she could never have caught him. She chased this way and that for a while, crashing into tree trunks until she had raised several large bumps on her forehead, crying out in pain.

Fearing Shagu would lose interest and quit the game, Yang Guo deliberately slowed his steps and gave a soft cough. Shagu lunged forward and seized his back, shouting, “Caught you, caught you!” She pulled off the blindfold, her face glowing with delight.

Yang Guo said, “All right, I lost. Ask me your question.” This, in fact, presented her with a difficult problem. She stared blankly at Yang Guo, her mind utterly blank, having no idea what to ask. After a long silence, she asked, “Good brother, have you eaten yet?” Yang Guo saw that after all that thinking, she had asked something so trivial, and nearly burst out laughing. Keeping a straight face, he answered seriously, “I have eaten.” Shagu nodded and said nothing more. Yang Guo said, “Is there anything else you want to ask?” Shagu shook her head. “No more questions. Let’s play again.” Yang Guo said, “All right, hurry and catch me.”

Shagu touched the bumps on her forehead and said, “This time, you catch me.” That she suddenly became not so foolish caught Yang Guo off guard, but it suited his purpose perfectly. He took the handkerchief and blindfolded himself.

Shagu might have been simple, but her qinggong was considerable. In total darkness, how could Yang Guo catch her? He leaped and bounded several times, then secretly tore a small slit in the handkerchief. Spotting her hiding behind a large tree to the right, he deliberately groped to the left, saying, “Where are you? Where are you?” Then, with a sudden spin, he seized her wrist. His left hand pulled down the handkerchief and tucked it into his clothing to prevent her from seeing through his ruse. “Now it’s my turn to question you,” he said, laughing.

Shagu immediately said, “I’ve already eaten.” Yang Guo laughed. “I’m not asking about that. Let me ask you, you knew my father, didn’t you?” As he spoke, his expression became very grave. Shagu said, “Who is your father? I don’t know him.” Yang Guo said, “There was someone who looked exactly like me. Who was that?” Shagu said, “Ah, that was Brother Yang.” Yang Guo said, “You saw Brother Yang killed by someone, didn’t you?” Shagu answered, “Yes, in the middle of the night, in that temple. So many crows cawing loudly, caw, caw, caw!” She imitated the hoarse cries of crows. The forest was already dark and gloomy, the foliage blocking the sun. Her cawing made it feel even more chilling and sinister.

Yang Guo could not help trembling. He asked, “How did Brother Yang die?” Shagu said, “Gugu wanted me to say, but Brother Yang wouldn’t let me. So he hit Gugu with a palm strike, and then he laughed, haha! hehe! haha!” She tried her best to imitate Yang Kang’s laughter as he lay dying, and frightened even herself in the process, her face contorted with terror. Yang Guo was utterly baffled. He asked, “Who is Gugu?” Shagu said, “Gugu is Gugu.”²

Yang Guo knew that the mystery of his father’s murder was on the verge of being solved. The blood surged hot in his chest. He was about to ask more when he suddenly heard a voice behind him: “What are you two playing at here?” It was Huang Yaoshi. Shagu said, “Good brother was playing hide-and-seek with me. He’s the one who wanted to play, not me. Don’t scold me.” Huang Yaoshi smiled faintly and glanced at Yang Guo. His expression carried a deep knowing, as though he had already seen through Yang Guo’s intentions.

Yang Guo’s heart pounded. He was about to say something to cover up when he heard rapid footsteps outside the woods. Cheng Ying came running, leading Lu Wushuang by the hand. She said to Huang Yaoshi, “You were right, Old Master. She is still over there.” She pointed to the west, beyond the mountain. Yang Guo asked, “Who?” Cheng Ying said, “Li Mochou!”

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Yang Guo was greatly astonished. How can that woman be so bold? He looked at Huang Yaoshi, hoping for an explanation. Huang Yaoshi smiled and said, “Let us go and have a look.” With him present, the others naturally feared nothing, so they all walked toward the west side of the mountain.

Knowing the question still burned in Yang Guo’s heart, Cheng Ying said quietly, “Master says that Li Mochou knows he is a Great Master. Since that night in the cottage he intended to kill her but failed, he is like Kong Kong’er in the Biography of Nie Yinniang³, having struck once and missed, he would be ashamed to strike a second time.” Yang Guo suddenly understood. Startled, he said, “So she has been waiting here with perfect confidence, biding her time to take the lives of the three of us. If Island Master Huang had not foreseen this, we would have assumed she had fled far away long ago, let down our guard, and inevitably fallen victim to her deadly hands.” Cheng Ying smiled gently and nodded. Lu Wushuang broke in, “You think you’re so clever, but compared to Island Master Huang, you’re nowhere close.” Yang Guo laughed. “I’m a fool, overflowing with foolishness. I’m Shagu’s good brother.”

Footnotes

1. 周伯通 – Zhōu Bótōng. His name meaning “elder who understands all”. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

2. Gugu (姑姑) — Literally “paternal aunt,” but used here as a term of respectful address for a young woman of the older generation. Yang Guo uses this to address Xiaolongnü, his shifu. ↩

3. 聂隐娘传 – Kong Kong’er in the *Biography of Nie Yinniang. Legendary assassin from the Tang dynasty tale Nie Yinniang. Kong Kong’er was a master thief and assassin of such skill that he could enter any room unseen. His code of honour dictated that if he failed in an assassination attempt, he would never attempt the same target again. Huang Yaoshi, as a Great Master, follows a similar principle. ↩