The Return of the Condor Heroes Chapter 16 – Part 2

Yang Guo saw her wretched state. He picked up the worn outer robe Feng Mofeng had shed and hurled it at her back with neili¹. The robe wrapped around her like a person embracing her with open arms. Li Mochou hastily thrust her arms through the sleeves and pulled the lapels together. For all the great battles she had seen in her life, at this moment she could not help feeling shock and shame intermingled, her face alternating between red and white. She did not know whether to continue fighting. She thought, If I engage again, this garment too will burn. I must swallow my anger for now. She nodded to Yang Guo, thanking him for the gift of the robe, then turned to Feng Mofeng and said, “You use such bizarre weapons, truly the direct heretical line of Old Heretic Huang. Speak honestly: if we fought with true martial skill, could you defeat me? If a disciple of Old Heretic Huang fought me in a proper one-on-one duel, could he gain the upper hand?”

Feng Mofeng said frankly, “If you had not lost your weapon, then given enough time, you would have defeated me.” Li Mochou said proudly, “You know it well. What I wrote on that paper, that Peach Blossom Island disciples rely on numbers to win, was not wrong.”

Feng Mofeng lowered his head in thought. After a moment he said, “Whoever insults my honoured shifu, I will fight to the death! If my four shixiong Qu, Chen, Mei, and Lu were here, any one of them would surpass you. Setting aside Qu shixiong and Chen shixiong with their peerless skill, even Mei Chaofeng shijie, though a woman, you could never have defeated her.”

Li Mochou laughed coldly. “Those people are dead, with no witnesses to confirm your words. What more is there to say? Old Heretic Huang’s skill is merely so-so. I had wanted to test my skills against his own daughter, Madam Guo, but if one example suffices to know the rest, there is no need.” She turned to leave.

A thought stirred in Yang Guo. “Wait!” he called. Li Mochou’s elegant brows lifted. “What?” Yang Guo said, “You claim the Master of Peach Blossom Island’s martial skill is nothing special, then you are mistaken. I once heard him describe a set of Jade Flute Swordplay² that perfectly counters your whisk techniques.” He picked up an iron rod and began tracing diagrams on the ground, explaining as he went. “Look. Your frontal strike here, indeed swift and fierce, but his longsword cuts across from this angle, and you cannot recover in time. If you counter-strike, the sword attacks swiftly from here. If you aim a frontal acupoint strike with your whisk, he uses the Tiger Form Claw to seize your whisk’s tail, then reverses the sword hilt to counter-strike your Shoulder Well acupoint.³ Could you have anticipated this move?” This move was indeed unimaginable, yet exquisitely brilliant. The frontal acupoint strike was one of Li Mochou’s supreme whisk techniques. The move Yang Guo described neutralized it completely, leaving her no room to respond, only to drop her whisk and concede defeat.

Yang Guo continued demonstrating. “Now, regarding your Scarlet Serpent Palm: the Master of Peach Blossom Island keeps his fingernails long. He draws your palm aside like this, and when your palm strike arrives, he uses the Divine Flicking Finger⁴, his nail flicks against the centre of your palm. Would that palm not be crippled on the spot? He need only trim the nail immediately afterward, and your palm’s deadly poison cannot transfer to him.” He then described over ten more techniques by which Huang Yaoshi neutralized her martial arts.

Every word struck Li Mochou with reason and logic. Each technique he described was ingenious beyond measure and, she had to admit, beyond her ability to withstand.

Yang Guo added, “The Master of Peach Blossom Island was angered by your insolent words. As a grandmaster himself, he could not lower himself to deal with you personally, so he transmitted these techniques to me and ordered me to discipline you on his behalf. But I remembered that you and my shifu share the same school, you are my shibo.⁵ Today I merely tell you the Master of Peach Blossom Island’s prowess. The next time you encounter his disciples, best keep your distance.”

Li Mochou was silent for a long moment. Then she said, “Enough, enough!” She turned and left, vanishing behind the mountain in an instant, her speed of movement truly rare.

In truth, though Huang Yaoshi had indeed taught these techniques to Yang Guo, mastering them to the point of practical combat effectiveness would have required at least three more years of training. Yang Guo’s speech, without raising a hand, had intimidated her into heartfelt submission. From that day forward, she would never again dare utter a single word of disrespect toward Huang Yaoshi.

Lu Wushuang, who had lived so long under Li Mochou’s crushing authority that merely hearing her voice set her heart pounding, felt as though a great weight had been lifted. She clapped her hands and laughed. “Fool! What eloquence! You even scared my shifu away!”

Cheng Ying had observed that as Yang Guo described the techniques to Li Mochou, his gestures and movements had revealed that beneath the new robe she had sewn, he still wore that tattered old gown. It was clear that because Xiaolongnü⁶ had sewn that gown, he drew a sharp distinction between the close and the distant, never forgetting the old. A faint bitterness touched Cheng Ying’s heart, but she pretended not to notice.

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Yang Guo said softly to Cheng Ying, “Cheng shijie, Li Mochou could not withstand Feng shixiong’s fierce, death-defying assault and withdrew when she saw the odds. But the next time you encounter her, if you are alone, you will still be in grave danger. Shall we practice the two skills our shifu transmitted?”

Cheng Ying nodded. The two went to the clearing beside the forge and studied Huang Yaoshi’s Divine Flicking Finger and Jade Flute Swordplay. The Divine Flicking Finger required long-term cultivation to develop finger strength reaching divine levels, it could not be used effectively in the short term. Cheng Ying already knew the method of practice. What Yang Guo relied on against the Scarlet Serpent Divine Palm were the lightning-fast, unfathomably varied techniques of the Jade Maiden Divine Palm,⁷ a secret art of the Ancient Tomb School that could not be taught to outsiders. So the two concentrated on Jade Flute Swordplay. Yang Guo demonstrated each of the wondrous techniques Huang Yaoshi had taught him, one by one, for Cheng Ying to analyse, playing the role of Li Mochou while Cheng Ying countered with the jade flute. He swung his belt to simulate the whisk, sweeping it forward. Cheng Ying, who possessed keen insight, suddenly turned and thrust her flute into Yang Guo’s lower back. She was using a fake flute made of hard bamboo. Yang Guo felt little real pain, but to please her he put on a show, leaping high with a cry of “Ow!” his face twisted in agony.

Lu Wushuang watched from the side, clapping and laughing. “Cousin, wonderful skill! Hit the fool again!” Cheng Ying smiled faintly. “You think it’s real? Brother Yang was letting me win.” Lu Wushuang said, “Fine, fine. The two of you keep playing your real-and-fake games here. Are you going to play at bowing to Heaven and Earth next?”⁸ Cheng Ying said, “Better let the little wife play that.” Lu Wushuang pursed her lips. “I think he’d rather play it with you.” Cheng Ying raised her bamboo flute to strike. Lu Wushuang stuck out her tongue and said, “I’ll go see how the Fool’s good big sister is doing.”

Just as she turned, the sound of shouting men and neighing horses came from beyond the mountain, faintly like thunder.

Yang Guo said, “I will go look.” He mounted his horse, rounded the mountain bend, and rode several li⁹ until he reached the main road. Dust filled the air, banners blotted out the sky, a vast column of Mongol soldiers was marching south, iron bows and long sabers stretching like ocean waves. Yang Guo had never seen an army on the march. The heart-stirring spectacle held him transfixed.

Two soldiers brandished their long sabers and shouted, “Hey there, barbarian! What are you staring at?” They charged toward him. Yang Guo wheeled his horse and fled. The two soldiers strung their bows and loosed arrows. whoosh, whoosh, aimed at his back. Yang Guo caught them in midair. He felt the arrows carried fierce, urgent force. Had he not possessed martial skill, they would have pierced straight through his chest. The two soldiers, seeing such ability, reined in their horses in fright and dared not pursue.

Yang Guo returned to the forge and described what he had seen. Feng Mofeng sighed. “The Mongol army is indeed moving south. Our Chinese common folk will suffer terribly!” Yang Guo said, “The Mongols’ mounted archery is truly beyond what Song soldiers can withstand. This calamity is no small matter.” Feng Mofeng said, “Young Master Yang is in the prime of life. Why not return south and join the army to resist the foreign invaders?” Yang Guo was taken aback. “No,” he said. “I must go north to find my aunt. The Mongol forces are so vast, what use could one man be?” Feng Mofeng shook his head. “One man’s strength may be small, but many men’s strength is great. If everyone thought as you do, who would be willing to resist the foreign invasion?”

Yang Guo felt his words were not wrong, but in this world, nothing could be more important than finding Xiaolongnü. Having drifted through the jianghu since childhood, he had suffered deeply at the hands of petty officials and minor functionaries. He felt that the Mongols were certainly brutal, but the Song court and its ministers were not necessarily good people either, they were not worth fighting for. He smiled faintly and did not pursue the subject.

Feng Mofeng bound his hammer, tongs, and bellows into a bundle and strapped it to his back. To Cheng Ying he said, “Shijie, when you see our honoured shifu in the future, tell his venerable self that disciple Feng Mofeng has not dared forget his teachings. Today I go to join the Mongol army. Even if it costs my life, I will assassinate one or two of the princes and generals who invade our rivers and mountains. Shijie, take care of yourself. To have met one of our shifu’s new disciples today. I am truly overjoyed.” With that, leaning on his iron crutch, he walked away without looking back, not casting a single glance at Yang Guo.

Yang Guo looked at Cheng Ying and Lu Wushuang and said, “I never expected to meet such a remarkable man here.” Lu Wushuang, whose heart favoured Yang Guo, said, “Cousin, among your shifu’s disciples, apart from you, they are either foolish or mad.” Cheng Ying smiled and said calmly, “Feng shixiong is a loyal and righteous man. He has not forgotten our shifu’s kindness, he is a model for our generation. You call him mad, but perhaps he would say we have no feeling for home and country. Besides, am I not myself a little foolish, a little mad?” Yang Guo’s heart stirred at these words. He studied her expression, it was as composed as ever, and could not tell whether her words carried a double meaning.

Suddenly there was a crash. Shagu¹⁰ had fallen off her stool. The three were alarmed and rushed to help her onto the kang.¹¹ Her face was flushed deep red, her eyes staring straight ahead. They knew the poison of the Scarlet Serpent Divine Palm had flared up again. Cheng Ying administered medicine while Yang Guo pressed her acupoints to circulate her blood. Shagu stared at him blankly, her face full of terror. She cried out, “Brother Yang, don’t make me pay with my life! I didn’t harm you…” Cheng Ying said gently, “Sister, don’t be afraid. He isn’t…”

A thought flashed through Yang Guo’s mind: Her mind is confused right now, this is the perfect moment to force the truth from her. He seized her wrists and said fiercely, “Who killed me? If you won’t tell, I’ll make you pay with your life.” Shagu begged, “Brother Yang, it wasn’t me.” Yang Guo raged, “You won’t talk! Fine, I’ll strangle you.” He reached out and gripped her throat. Shagu screamed in terror. Cheng Ying and Lu Wushuang, not understanding Yang Guo’s purpose, both cried out to stop him, one calling “Brother Yang,” the other “Fool,” one saying “Don’t frighten her,” the other “How can you play around at a time like this?”

Footnotes

1. 内力 – nèilì. Literally internal force. Kinetic manifestation of cultivated qi; generates tangible effects such as deflecting weapons or scaling walls. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

2. 玉箫剑法 – Yùxiāo Jiànfǎ. Huang Yaoshi’s sword technique, so named because he created it while playing the jade flute, merging music with swordsmanship. ↩

3. 肩贞穴 – Jiānzhēn Xué. Acupoint on the Small Intestine meridian, located at the back of the shoulder joint. ↩

4. 弹指神通 – Tánzhǐ Shéntōng. Huang Yaoshi’s signature finger technique. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

5. 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. ↩

6. 小龙女 – Xiǎolóngnǚ. Literally little dragon maiden. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

7. 玉女神掌 – Yùnǚ Shénzhǎng. Palm technique of the Ancient Tomb School, characterized by lightning speed and unpredictable variations. ↩

8. 拜天地 – Bowing to Heaven and Earth. Central ritual of a traditional Chinese wedding, in which the couple bows to Heaven and Earth, to their parents, and to each other. Lu Wushuang is teasingly asking if they’re going to get married. ↩

9. 里 – lǐ. Traditional Chinese unit of distance, approximately 500 metres or a third of a mile. ↩

10. 曲傻姑 – Qū Shǎgū. Daughter of Qu Lingfeng; mentally impaired but possesses formidable martial arts taught by Huang Yaoshi. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

11. 炕 – kàng. Traditional heated brick bed platform common in northern China, built with a flue system that channels heat from a cooking stove or fire underneath. ↩