The Return of the Condor Heroes Chapter 16 – Part 7

Zhou Botong was delighted. He clapped his hands and rose to his feet. But suddenly his expression fell, and he sat back down. “Ah, no,” he said. “I have to go to Xiangyang.” Yang Guo said, “What’s so fun about Xiangyang? Better not go.” Zhou Botong said, “Brother Guo left a letter for me at the Lu Estate, saying the Mongol army is marching south and will certainly attack Xiangyang. He is leading the heroes of the Central Plains there to help defend the city and told me to lend my strength. I’ve been searching for him along the way with no luck. I can only chase him to Xiangyang.”

Kublai and Jinlun Guoshi exchanged a glance. Both thought, So the martial artists of the Central Plains are gathering in Xiangyang to help defend the city.

At that moment, a monk entered the tent, about forty years of age, with a refined, scholarly appearance, his manner and bearing like that of a man of letters. He walked to Kublai’s side, and the two whispered together for a moment. This monk was Han Chinese, his Dharma name Zicong, and he was Kublai’s chief strategist. His secular surname was Liu, his given name Kan, and he was also known as Liu Bingzhong. In his youth he had served as a clerk in the county office before leaving home to become a monk. He was profoundly learned and meticulous in judgment, and Kublai trusted him deeply. Having received reports from the guards that strange visitors had arrived in the prince’s tent, he had come at once.

Zhou Botong rubbed his belly and said, “Monk, step aside. I’m talking with this Young Brother. Hey, Young Brother, what’s your name?” Yang Guo said, “My surname is Yang, my given name Guo.” Zhou Botong said, “Who is your shifu?” Yang Guo said, “My master is a woman. She is beautiful beyond compare and her martial skill is transcendent, she forbids anyone from speaking her name.”

Zhou Botong shuddered. He thought, A woman whose beauty is beyond compare and whose martial skill is so high, who else could it be but my old flame Yinggu?¹ He immediately dared not ask further. He stood, brushed the dust from his sleeves, and at once the tent was filled with swirling dust. Zicong could not help sneezing twice. Zhou Botong was overjoyed and waved his sleeves even more vigorously. Suddenly he laughed loudly and cried, “I’m off!” His left hand flicked, and the four broken spearheads shot toward Xiaoxiangzi, Nimoxing, Yin Kexi, and Ma Guangzuo. The four spearheads screamed through the air with terrifying speed. The distance was short, in a flash they were before the four men’s faces.

Xiaoxiangzi and the others were alarmed. Seeing evasion was impossible, each exerted neili to catch them. But four hands reached out and all four caught empty air. With a loud thud, the four spearheads embedded themselves in the earth before each man’s feet. The force of the throw had erupted and withdrawn in the same instant, just as the spearheads reached the four men, they suddenly changed direction and plunged into the ground. Ma Guangzuo, being simple-minded, found it only amusing and laughed heartily, shouting, “White Beard, your magic tricks are endless!” But Xiaoxiangzi and the other two were deeply shaken and could not help changing colour. Each thought, If I had missed that catch and the spearhead had changed direction, if instead of plunging into the ground, it had driven into my abdomen, with the ferocious force of that throw, how could I have survived?

Zhou Botong, having succeeded in playing his trick on the four, was immensely pleased. His laughter continued without end. Reaching the tent entrance, a sudden childish impulse seized him. He struck the tent’s support pillar with his palm. With a crack, the pillar snapped, and the great ox-hide tent came crashing down, enveloping Kublai, Jinlun Guoshi, Yang Guo, and everyone else inside. Zhou Botong was overjoyed. He leaped onto the collapsed tent and ran back and forth across it, trampling everyone within. Jinlun Guoshi struck upward with his palm from inside the tent, the blow landed squarely on the sole of Zhou Botong’s foot. Zhou Botong felt a tremendous force surge up. Unable to withstand it, he flipped head over heels and landed outside, shouting, “Fun! Fun!” He strode away.

By the time the National Preceptor and the others had protected Kublai and crawled out, and the guards had frantically replaced the pillar and raised the tent, Zhou Botong was long gone. The National Preceptor and Xiaoxiangzi and the others all apologised to Kublai, ashamed at having failed to protect him and allowed His Highness to be disturbed. Kublai did not take it to heart at all. Instead, he praised Zhou Botong’s abilities without end, lamenting that such a remarkable man could not be recruited to his service. The National Preceptor and the others all wore expressions of shame.

Kublai said, “The Mongol army has attacked Xiangyang repeatedly but has never been able to take it. Now the heroes of the Central Plains are gathering to defend the city, and this Zhou Botong has gone to help them, this will be a troublesome matter. I wonder if any of you have wise counsel?” Yin Kexi said, “Zhou Botong’s martial arts may be strong, but we are not necessarily weaker than him. Let His Highness proceed with the siege. Soldiers against soldiers, generals against generals, the Central Plains may have its heroes, but the Western Regions have capable men as well.” Kublai said, “Your words are not wrong, but as the Han military texts say: ‘He who wins through calculation in the temple before battle has the greater advantage. More calculation means victory. Less calculation means defeat.’² Before advancing the army, we must have a complete strategy in mind.” Zicong said, “His Highness’s insight is most wise…”

Before he could finish, a shout came from outside the tent: “I said I’m not going, and I’m not going! Your soft invitations and hard demands, none of it works!” It was Zhou Botong, shouting and bellowing. No one knew why he had returned, or who he was talking to. Curiosity stirred in everyone, and they all wanted to go out and look. Kublai laughed. “Let us all go see. I wonder who the Old Urchin is causing trouble for now.”

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Everyone stepped outside the tent. In the distance, Zhou Botong stood on an open stretch of ground to the west. Four people stood at the south, west, northwest, and north positions, forming an arc that surrounded him, leaving the east open. Zhou Botong waved his arms and shook his fists, shouting loudly: “Not going! Not going!” Yang Guo thought it strange. If he doesn’t want to go, who could force him? Why argue so loudly? He looked at the four people. All wore identical green robes of an ancient, peculiar cut, unlike contemporary attire. Three were middle-aged men, each wearing a tall hat. The one at the northwest was a young woman, a green silk sash fluttering in the wind at her waist.

The man at the north position spoke: “We certainly do not mean to make things difficult. But since you kicked over the pill furnace, broke the lingzhi, tore up the Daoist texts, and burned the sword chamber, we can only humbly request that you come in person to explain to our shifu. Otherwise, if our shifu places blame, we disciples cannot bear the responsibility.” Zhou Botong said with a mischievous grin, “Just say a wild old man passed by and accidentally caused some trouble. Won’t that do?” The man said, “You are absolutely determined not to come?” Zhou Botong shook his head.

The man pointed east and said, “Ah, yes, yes, here he comes.” Zhou Botong turned to look but saw no one. The man made a gesture. The four suddenly pulled open a large green fishing net and cast it over Zhou Botong’s head. The four’s teamwork was flawlessly practiced and bizarre beyond belief. Even with Zhou Botong’s divine martial skill, once the net covered him, he was instantly helpless. All that could be heard were his shouts and yells, calling for his parents. The four, carrying the net, wound him east and west, binding him up firmly and tightly. One man hoisted him onto his shoulders while the other three guarded with drawn swords, and they fled eastward.

Yang Guo had originally harbored thoughts of secretly harming Zhou Botong, but only because it would aid his revenge. That wicked thought had flashed through his mind and vanished in an instant. He had no grievance with the Old Urchin and found him innocently charming, he had even thought of befriending him. Seeing Zhou Botong captured, he thought, I must save him. He summoned his qinggong and gave chase, shouting, “Hey! Hey! Where are you taking him? Release him!”

Kublai gave a low command: “National Preceptor, this Master Zhou is a man of talent. It would be best to recruit him and prevent him from aiding the defence of Xiangyang, which would only strengthen the enemy.” The National Preceptor answered, “Yes. This humble monk will follow and see what happens, acting as circumstances dictate.” Nimoxing and the others also wished to go, and they all set off swiftly in pursuit.

They ran several li and caught up with Yang Guo at the edge of a stream. They saw the four green-robed figures carrying Zhou Botong aboard a boat. Two men worked the oars, rowing upstream. Yang Guo shouted, “This old gentleman is my friend! Release him at once!” Everyone pursued along the bank. After about a li, they spotted a small boat in the stream and boarded it. Ma Guangzuo, with his great strength, worked the oars, and in moments they had closed to within a few zhang. But the stream twisted and turned. After several bends, the boat ahead suddenly vanished.

Nimoxing leaped from the boat and scaled the cliff. In an instant, like an ape, he had climbed over ten zhang. He scanned the surroundings and saw that the green-robed figures’ small boat had entered an extremely narrow tributary to the west. The entrance to this tributary was hidden behind a large cluster of trees, without climbing high for a bird’s-eye view, one would never have guessed that such a hidden realm lay within this deep valley. He jumped back into the boat and indicated the direction. The group hastily reversed their boat and rowed back upstream, then entered through the gap in the trees. The stream was so narrow that the mountain rocks were barely three chi above the water’s surface. Everyone had to lie flat in the boat to pass through. They rowed on. On both sides, the mountain cliffs rose like walls. Looking up at the sky, only a thin line remained. The mountains were green, the water clear, the scenery was exquisitely serene. But all around was utter silence, and a faint sense of menace lurked beneath. After another three or four li, nine great boulders suddenly rose from the centre of the stream like a folding screen, blocking the boat’s path. Between the boulders were narrow gaps just wide enough for the stream water to flow through.

Ma Guangzuo was the first to cry out: “Disaster, disaster! This boat can’t go any further!” Xiaoxiangzi said darkly, “You have the strength of an ox, just lift the boat over.” Ma Guangzuo said angrily, “I don’t have that kind of strength, unless you, zombie, use your sorcery.”

Before the two began arguing, Jinlun Guoshi had already been pondering: How did that small boat get past these nine stone screens? Hearing them, he said, “No single person’s strength could lift this boat. But if the six of us combine our strength, it can be done. Brother Yang, Brother Yin, and I on one side. Brother Ni, Brother Xiao, and Brother Ma on the other. Shall we all exert force together?”

Everyone agreed. Following his division, the six took positions on either side, each finding a firm foothold on the mountain rocks. Fortunately, the stream was extremely narrow, standing on both banks, they could easily reach the boat. The National Preceptor called, “Lift!” The six exerted force simultaneously. Among them, only Yang Guo and Yin Kexi were relatively weak. The other four each possessed the strength of several men, and Ma Guangzuo was especially powerful. With a splash, the small boat left the water and cleared the stone screen formed by the nine great boulders.

Everyone leaped back into the boat and clapped and laughed together. These six had originally been scheming against one another, nursing considerable mutual hostility. But after this joint effort, they naturally felt somewhat closer.

Xiaoxiangzi said, “The martial skills of the six of us may not amount to much, but in the jianghu we can still be counted among the first-class masters. Six men combining their strength to lift a small boat is no great feat. But…” Nimoxing cut in, “Those four green-robed men and women, their martial arts are strange and messy. How did they lift a boat past the great rocks?” Five of the six had been silently wondering the same thing. Only Ma Guangzuo was still puzzling over what “strange and messy martial arts” meant. Nimoxing continued, “Their boat is small, their people… their people… four of them… also few. Four people able to… to do this, their strength is… is great.” Yin Kexi said, “The three men are one thing, but that delicate seventeen- or eighteen-year-old girl could never have such ability. There must be some mechanism hidden in these great rocks that we cannot guess at for the moment.”

Footnotes

1. 瑛姑 – Yīnggū. Her name meaning “Jade Maiden”. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

2. 庙算 – Miào Suàn. Concept from Sun Tzu’s The Art of War, referring to the strategic planning done in the ancestral temple before a military campaign. Kublai’s quotation demonstrates his deep study of Chinese military classics. ↩