The Return of the Condor Heroes Chapter 16 – Part 4

At the summit stood a small thatched shelter, open to the winds on all sides. Jinlun Guoshi sat within, eyes closed and brows lowered, in meditation. Da’erba placed the wild fruit on the shelter floor. Turning, he suddenly saw Yang Guo approaching and his face went pale. He cried, “Eldest shixiong! Have you come to harm our shifu?” He rushed at Yang Guo and grabbed for his lapels. His martial skills were originally superior to Yang Guo’s, but at this moment his shifu was in a state of extreme peril, any external disturbance could cost his life instantly. In his panic, his mind scattered, and this move was completely disordered, violating the fundamental principles of martial arts. Yang Guo seized his hand, reversed it, and with a guiding push sent him tumbling away.

Da’erba was utterly convinced in his heart that Yang Guo was the reincarnation of his eldest shixiong. Being thrown to the ground only reinforced his awe. He rolled, scrambled up, and leaped before Yang Guo. Yang Guo thought he was about to attack again and stepped back. But Da’erba suddenly dropped to his knees and kowtowed, saying, “Eldest shixiong, you must remember the bond with our former-life shifu. Our master is gravely wounded and is circulating his energy to heal himself. If you disturb him, it could… it could…” By the end, his throat was choked and tears streamed down his face. Yang Guo did not understand his Mongolian speech, but seeing Da’erba’s intense emotion and the National Preceptor’s haggard appearance, he grasped most of the situation. He quickly helped Da’erba up and said, “I will not harm your honoured shifu.” Da’erba saw his kindly expression and, though he did not understand the words, his hostility dissolved.

Just then, Jinlun Guoshi opened his eyes. Seeing Yang Guo, he was badly startled. He had been deep in meditation, circulating his energy, and had not heard the exchange between Yang Guo and Da’erba. Suddenly finding his great enemy before him, he sighed deeply and said slowly, “I have practiced in vain for so many years, yet I can never break through the barrier of fame. I never imagined I would die here in the Central Plains.” The boulder had struck him and severely injured his internal organs. For days he had been camped on this desolate mountaintop, nursing his wounds. He had never expected Yang Guo to track him here. At this moment he could not exert the slightest force. Even if Da’erba drove Yang Guo away, the struggle would disturb his concentration and make recovery impossible.

But Yang Guo bowed with clasped hands and said, “I have come not as your enemy, Master. Please do not be troubled.” The National Preceptor shook his head and was about to speak when a fierce pain stabbed through his chest. He hurriedly closed his eyes and circulated his energy. Yang Guo entered the shelter, extended his right palm, and pressed it against the “Extreme Yang” acupoint¹ on the Preceptor’s back. This acupoint, located below the seventh vertebra, was a major point on the Governing Vessel. Da’erba, seeing this, went pale with shock and raised his fist to attack Yang Guo. Yang Guo shook his left palm and signalled with his eyes. Da’erba saw that his shifu’s expression was untroubled, even carrying a faint smile, and held his fist back.

Yang Guo’s cultivation was not deep, and he knew nothing of the Esoteric Sect’s inner arts. But he could faintly sense the flow of energy within the Preceptor’s body through his palm. He quietly channelled his own neili, sending a stream of warm energy upward to assist the Spirit Platform, Spirit Path, Body Pillar, and Pottery Path acupoints, and downward to assist the Sinew Contraction, Central Hub, Spine Center, and Suspended Pivot acupoints.² Doing all he could, he was only able to protect the Preceptor’s Governing Vessel. Da’erba, for all his martial strength, had trained only in outer arts and could not help his shifu heal. These past days, he had been able to do nothing but worry. Now, with no threat at his back, Jinlun Guoshi circulated his energy through the Conception Vessel, devoting his full concentration to healing the injuries in his chest and abdomen. In just over one shichen, the pain had greatly diminished. Colour returned to his face. He opened his eyes, nodded to Yang Guo in thanks, pressed his palms together, and said, “Layman Yang, why have you suddenly come to aid me?”

Yang Guo held nothing back. He told of how he had recently learned that Guo Jing and his wife had murdered his father, of his resolution to seek revenge, and of how he had unintentionally followed Da’erba up the mountain.

Jinlun Guoshi knew this youth to be exceedingly cunning, hard to believe even one sentence in ten. But today, when killing him would have been easier than turning over a hand, Yang Guo had instead helped him heal. He clearly harbored no enmity at all. The Preceptor said, “So the layman bears such a deep and bitter wrong. But Guo Jing and his wife possess profound martial learning. For Layman Yang to take this revenge. I fear it will not be easy.” Yang Guo was silent for a moment, then said, “Then let both generations of my family, father and son, die at their hands. So be it.” The Preceptor said, “At first I was arrogant, believing myself peerless under heaven, and thought that with my own strength alone I could overpower the heroes of the Central Plains and seize the position of Wulin Alliance Chief.³ But the martial artists of the Central Plains pay no heed to the rules of single combat. When they all swarm at once, one must make other plans. After my wounds heal, I must invite many masters to aid me. Once our forces are formidable, the Central Plains fighters will be unable to rely on superior numbers. Then we can fairly determine victory or defeat. Would you be willing to join our side?”

Yang Guo was about to agree, but then he recalled the slaughter wrought by the Mongol soldiers and said, “I cannot aid the Mongols.” The National Preceptor shook his head. “You wish to ride alone and kill Guo Jing and his wife to avenge yourself? That will be doubly difficult.”

Yang Guo pondered for a long moment, then said, “Very well. I will help you seize the position of Wulin Alliance Chief, but you must help me take my revenge.” The National Preceptor extended his palm. “A great man’s word, one strike of the palm seals the oath.”⁴ The two struck palms three times and formed their alliance. Yang Guo said, “I will only help you contend for the Alliance Chief position. If you aid the Mongols in conquering Jiangnan and slaughtering the common people, I will become your enemy.”

The National Preceptor laughed. “You are a Han man, that cannot be forced. Brother Yang, your martial arts are varied and numerous. I do not say this to flaunt my seniority, but absorbing widely from many schools is certainly excellent, yet it can also lead to being mixed without purity. What is your strongest discipline? What martial skill will you use against Guo Jing and his wife?”

These words left Yang Guo speechless, unable to answer. His life had been extraordinary, and his nature was one of insatiable acquisition: the Quanzhen Order, Ouyang Feng⁵’s arts, the Ancient Tomb School, the Nine Yin Manual, Hong Qigong⁶’s techniques, Huang Yaoshi’s, he had studied a considerable number of martial disciplines. Yet he had merely scratched the surface of each, never delving deep. Each of these arts was unfathomably profound. Even devoting a lifetime of intellect and energy to a single one, one could hardly hope to reach its farthest shores. He had plucked a scale here, seized half a claw there, but in not a single discipline had he reached a truly first-class level. Against secondary opponents, his display was dazzling in its variety, dazzling to the eye. But against the supreme masters, he could not help falling short. Even compared to the National Preceptor’s own disciples, Da’erba and Huodu, he was still lacking. He lowered his head in deep contemplation, feeling that the National Preceptor’s words were truly a blow to the head, a shout of awakening, they had struck precisely at the fundamental flaw in his martial studies.

His thoughts turned further: I have already resolved to marry Gugu as my wife, yet why do I keep leaving traces of affection everywhere? Sister Cheng, the little wife, and even Wanyan Ping⁷. If I feel no true love for them, why can I not behave properly? This is truly biting off more than I can chew. He thought further, Whether Hong Qigong, Huang Yaoshi, my sworn father Ouyang Feng, Uncle Guo, Jinlun Guoshi, or even the Seven Masters of Quanzhen, all who have achieved fame and distinction have devoted themselves purely to their own school’s arts. They are not ignorant of other schools, but they merely understand their principles without practising them. So which school should I devote myself to? In sentiment and in reason, he ought to specialize in the Ancient Tomb School’s Jade Maiden Heart Sutra.⁸ But when he thought of Hong Qigong’s Dog-Beating Staff Technique⁹, so profoundly wondrous, and Huang Yaoshi’s Jade Flute Swordplay, so exquisitely subtle, to set them aside, would that not be a waste? And his sworn father’s Toad Skill,¹⁰ the Reverse Meridian Circulation, the various techniques of the Nine Yin Manual, any one of them could make one’s name resound across the world. Having gone to such lengths to learn them, how could he abandon them like cast-off remnants?

He walked out of the shelter and paced the mountaintop with his hands behind his back, deep in anguished thought. After a long while, a thought suddenly stirred: Why not take the strengths of each school and create my own? All martial arts under heaven were created by people. If others could create them, can I not? At this thought, a great light seemed to illuminate everything before him.

From the chen hour¹¹ to the afternoon, and from the afternoon through deep contemplation until late at night, he neither ate nor drank upon that peak. All the exquisite martial arts he had witnessed in his life surged back and forth through his mind, clashing and contending with one another. He had seen Hong Qigong and Ouyang Feng duel through spoken description, and he himself had driven off Li Mochou through speech and gesture alone. Now, in his mind, the martial arts of every school vied for supremacy, far more rapid and intense than any spoken description. Eventually, he could not help but begin to move, punching and kicking, performing the techniques. At first he could still distinguish this move as learned from Hong Qigong, that move from Ouyang Feng. But as time passed, they became hopelessly tangled, his mind a twisted knot of tangled silk. He could no longer sustain it. He fell backward, sprawled upon the ground, and lost consciousness.

Footnotes

1. 至阳穴 – Zhìyáng Xué. Literally reaching yang. Acupoint on the back along the spine on the governing vessel meridian. See Wikipedia. ↩

2. Governing Vessel acupoints. Spirit Platform (灵台, Língtái), Spirit Path (神道, Shéndào), Body Pillar (身柱, Shēnzhù), Pottery Path (陶道, Táodào), Sinew Contraction (筋缩, Jīnsuō), Central Hub (中枢, Zhōngshū), Spine Center (脊中, Jǐzhōng), and Suspended Pivot (悬枢, Xuánshū) are all acupoints along the Governing Vessel (Du Mai), one of the Eight Extraordinary Meridians in traditional Chinese medicine and internal martial arts. ↩

3. 武林 – wǔlín. Literally martial forest. Those who actually practise, teach or study martial arts. Wulin sits inside the jianghu and is narrower than it: every member of the wulin belongs to the jianghu, but a pedlar or physician of the jianghu who never trained is no part of the wulin. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

4. 击掌以誓 – Strike the palm to seal the oath. Traditional Chinese gesture of binding agreement, similar to a handshake but with ritual significance. Three strikes symbolize the unbreakable nature of the vow. ↩

5. 欧阳锋 – Ōuyáng Fēng. His name meaning “blade” or “cutting edge”. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

6. 洪七公 – Hóng Qīgōng. Literally Hong the Seventh Lord; the numeral seven marks seniority among sworn brothers. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

7. 完颜萍 – Wányán Píng. Her name meaning “duckweed”. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

8. 玉女心经 – Yùnǚ Xīnjīng. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

9. 打狗棒法 – Dǎgǒu Bàngfǎ. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

10. 蛤蟆功 – Hámá Gōng. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

11. 辰时 – Chen* hour. Fifth of the twelve traditional Chinese hours, approximately 7:00—9:00 AM. ↩