The Return of the Condor Heroes Chapter 18 – Part 4

Xiaolongnü took a small sewing kit from her bosom, threaded a needle, and measured the tear in the back of his robe where Fan Yiweng had clawed it. She sighed. “All these days, I kept thinking, when I am not by your side, who mends your clothes when they tear? Who patches them when they wear through? I had already resolved never to see your face again, yet sometimes I wondered if you would come looking for me. Ah, I never imagined you truly would find your way here.” As she spoke, her sorrowful expression shifted to one of joy. She took a small pair of scissors, cut a piece of white cloth from the hem of her own robe, and slowly began to mend his. The outer robe Yang Guo now wore had been sewn by Cheng Ying¹. Beneath it, he still wore the tattered robe Xiaolongnü had made for him. After a long and dusty journey, the outer robe was no longer new. Xiaolongnü said, “Who sewed this robe for you?” Yang Guo recounted how Cheng Ying had rescued him and sewn him a new robe. The two of them talked on and on, as if this den of dragons and lair of tigers were their secluded home in the ancient tomb.

In the days when the two had lived together in the ancient tomb, whenever Yang Guo’s clothes tore, Xiaolongnü would draw him to her side and mend them, just like this. It had happened countless times over the years. Now, reunited after great tribulations, it felt as though they had been parted across separate lifetimes. They were utterly oblivious to everyone around them. Though every eye in the great hall was upon them, the two were exactly as they had been in the ancient tomb, relying on each other for life itself.

Yang Guo’s joy knew no bounds. Hot tears spilled from his eyes. Choking, he said, “Gugu, just now I provoked you until you vomited blood. I… I am truly terrible.” Xiaolongnü smiled faintly. “That has nothing to do with you. You know I have long had this underlying ailment. When I had not seen you for so long, I thought of you every day. Your martial skill has advanced so quickly. You vomited blood too just now, are you all right?” Yang Guo laughed. “It’s nothing. I have plenty of blood in my belly.” Xiaolongnü smiled. “You always love to talk such nonsense.”

As the two spoke back and forth, their words were plain and unremarkable. Yet everyone present could clearly perceive the depth of their mutual love and affection, and the profound bond they shared from the past. The Imperial Preceptor saw the two reconciled and knew this did not bode well for him. For the moment, he could think of nothing to do. The Valley Master was torn between shock and jealousy, standing frozen in place, not knowing what to do. The numbness and itching on his back, however, were gradually subsiding.

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Yang Guo said, “These past few days I have met several interesting people. Gugu, guess where I got this great pair of scissors.” Xiaolongnü said, “I was wondering about that myself. It almost seems as though you knew in advance there would be a man with a long beard here, and had these scissors made especially to cut it. Ah, you are so mischievous. That man spent decades painstakingly growing his long beard, and you snipped it off in an instant. Is that not a pity?” As she spoke, she pressed her lips together in a smile. Her bright eyes flowed, her bearing was enchanting.

The Valley Master could endure no more. He thrust out a hand to grab Yang Guo by the chest and roared, “Little bastard, you carry your insolence too far!” Yang Guo did not even raise a hand to block. “No need to hurry,” he said. “Wait until Gugu has finished mending my robe, then I will fight you.”

The Valley Master’s fingers hovered mere inches from Yang Guo’s chest. After all, he was a grandmaster of the jianghu². Though his chest heaved with rage, he could not quite bring himself to deliver this blow upon Yang Guo. Suddenly he heard Lü’e’s voice behind him: “Father, the weapons are here.” Without turning, he shrugged his shoulders, retreated several chi, and took the weapons in hand.

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Everyone looked. In his left hand, the Valley Master held a serrated sabre, thick of spine and broad of blade, gleaming with a golden light, clearly a steel blade plated with gold. In his right hand he held a black sword, slender and long, trembling faintly in his grip, its blade evidently extremely flexible. Both edges glowed with a blue light, a sure sign of exceptional sharpness. The two weapons were complete opposites, one supremely hard and heavy, the other the very extreme of softness and lightness.

Yang Guo glanced at the bizarre pair of weapons. “Gugu,” he said, “a few days ago I met a woman. She told me who my father’s killer was.” Xiaolongnü’s heart tightened. “Who is your enemy?” she asked. Yang Guo ground his teeth and said with bitter hatred, “You could guess for a lifetime and never guess it. All this time, I thought they treated me wonderfully well.” Xiaolongnü said, “They? They treated you wonderfully well?” Yang Guo said, “Yes, they are…”

A humming sound rang out, pure, resonant, lingering long in the air. It was the Valley Master’s black sword striking against his golden sabre. With a flick of his wrist, he thrust three times in rapid succession. weng weng weng. One thrust toward the crown of Yang Guo’s head, one toward his left neck, one toward his right neck. Each passed so close it grazed the skin, missing by less than half an inch. The Valley Master, conscious of his status, would not strike an opponent who offered no resistance. Yet the precision of those three thrusts was indeed a display of divine skill.

Xiaolongnü said, “All mended!” She gave Yang Guo a light pat on the back. Yang Guo turned his head and smiled at her, then walked to the centre of the hall holding the Golden Bell Chain. In a clear voice, he said, “Gongsun Valley Master, just now when the numbness and itching were unbearable and you were rolling on the ground, you agreed to let us leave the valley in peace, without hindrance. Do those words no longer count?”

The Valley Master’s brows shot up. Darkly, he said, “How have my words not counted? But it will have to be after ten years. Miss Liu must first perform the wedding rites with me. And you, Young Brother, will stay in the valley to chop firewood and tend the flowers. After ten years, then I shall let you leave the valley in peace, without hindrance. Did I specify when I would release you? All my life, my word has been my bond. I never go back on what I say!” Had this been Gongsun Valley Master’s ordinary temperament, he would never have broken his word and lost face before so many people, especially before his own disciples, among whom he had always maintained an unblemished dignity of benevolence, righteousness, and moral integrity. But over these past days, his entire heart and soul had been consumed by the infatuated dream of marrying Xiaolongnü, a woman as transcendent as a celestial immortal descended to earth. How could a single slip of the hand make him release them from the valley, turning all his hopes and longings into painted cakes? By uttering the phrase “after ten years,” he felt he was not reneging on his promise, merely playing a trick with words, far cleverer than Yang Guo.

Ma Guangzuo, hearing this, bellowed in fury: “Your mother’s dog fart! Speech that doesn’t sound like human speech! Brother Yang, use your concealed weapon on him again. Let him itch to death, and don’t give him the antidote even then!” Xiaoxiangzi and Nimoxing, who had been neutral, and Fan Yiweng and Gongsun Lü’e, who had originally sided with the Valley Master, all, upon hearing the Valley Master’s sophistry that inverted right and wrong, felt it was thoroughly unreasonable and could not approve.

The Valley Master raised the black sword in his right hand and traced rapid circles, weaving a black ring of gleaming steel around his body in every direction. Even if Yang Guo’s body technique were ten times faster, he could never slip close enough to prick the man’s skin with needles and then withdraw unscathed. This sword circle first shielded the Valley Master himself, making it impossible for Yang Guo to draw near. Then, gradually, it pressed forward. The sword tip traced whirling rings before Yang Guo’s body.

Yang Guo had no idea where the black sword would thrust next. In great alarm, he sprang backward. But the Valley Master’s hand was impossibly fast. Even as Yang Guo leaped back to evade, the circles traced by the black sword had already shifted to face him again. The rings grew larger and larger. At first, they had merely circled before his chest. After several moves, they encompassed his abdomen as well. A few moves more, and the sword rings gradually expanded to cover his head and neck. From crown to belly, every vital point of Yang Guo’s body now lay within the envelope of the Valley Master’s sword tip. Jinlun Guoshi, Yin Kexi, Xiaoxiangzi, Nimoxing, none of them had ever seen a sword technique that traced circles to press an opponent in this manner. All were deeply astonished.

Each time the Valley Master made a move, Yang Guo immediately darted away. Ten times the Valley Master traced sword circles, and ten times Yang Guo fled, unable to land even a single counterstrike. He could see the enemy’s moves growing sharper by the moment. Darting to the left, he shook the Golden Bell Chain. ding-ling-ling, the golden bell flew forth, striking at the enemy’s left eye. Gongsun Valley Master tilted his head to evade and thrust his sword in counter. Yang Guo flicked the bell chain and wrapped it around the Valley Master’s right leg. Just as he was about to pull it tight, the Valley Master’s black sword swept down. With a soft chi, the Golden Bell Chain was severed in two. That black sword was a blade of matchless sharpness.

A collective gasp of “Ah!” rose from the onlookers. The wind howled as Gongsun Valley Master swung the serrated sabre down at Yang Guo. Yang Guo dropped and rolled desperately. A tremendous dang rang out, shaking the walls on all four sides, he had snatched up Fan Yiweng’s steel staff to block. Staff met sabre, and both men’s arms went numb from the reverberation. The Valley Master slashed horizontally with the sabre in his left hand and thrust diagonally with the sword in his right. By nature, sabre technique emphasises fierce strength, while sword technique favours lightness and agility. The natures of the two weapons are diametrically opposed. For one person to wield both sabre and sword simultaneously is nearly impossible. Yet Gongsun Valley Master’s two weapons moved faster and faster, the sabre technique and sword technique kept clearly distinct, hardness and softness complementing each other, yin and yang in mutual support. It was truly a rare and peerless skill in the jianghu.

Yang Guo gave a great shout, hefted the steel staff, and deployed the “Seal” formula of the Dog-Beating Staff Technique,³ tightly guarding his defensive perimeter. The Valley Master attacked with sabre and sword together, yet for a time could not break through. The Dog-Beating Staff Technique, however, was founded on subtlety and refinement of transformation. A light, handy bamboo staff could naturally be wielded with smooth versatility. With a long, heavy steel staff in his hands, after several moves Yang Guo already felt his transformations growing clumsy.

Gongsun Valley Master suddenly spotted an opening. His golden sabre lifted upward, levering the steel staff horizontally into the air. The black sword swept down. With a sharp ka, the steel staff was severed by the black sword. Yang Guo flourished the half-staff. Shorter now, it actually became more nimble. The Valley Master’s golden sabre in his left hand slashed down fiercely. This stroke, a direct downward cleave, seemed rather stiff and dull in technique. Yang Guo had only to shift his body slightly and he could have evaded it with ease. Yet the Valley Master’s black sword traced a sword circle that enveloped him on all sides, front and back, left and right, leaving him nowhere to dodge or retreat. Yang Guo had no choice but to raise the half-staff in the stance “Single Pillar Propping the Heavens,”⁴ meeting the blow head on. A thunderous dang rang out as sabre and staff collided, sparks bursting in all directions. Yang Guo felt a wave of sore numbness sweep through both arms.

Gongsun Valley Master’s second sabre strike followed immediately. The technique was identical to the first. Yang Guo’s martial knowledge was broad, and in combat he was exceptionally quick-witted. But the Ancient Tomb School martial arts he had mastered excelled in speed, not in brute force. He had no way to neutralise this clumsy, heavy, bludgeoning strike. Apart from blocking it the same way, there was no better tactic. Sabre and staff collided a second time. The sore numbness in Yang Guo’s arms deepened. He thought, If he hacks at me like this a few more times, the sinews in my arms will be shaken to shreds. Before the thought had settled, the Valley Master’s third sabre strike came crashing down. After blocking several more strikes, the half of the steel staff in Yang Guo’s hands was already notched and scarred all over by the golden sabre. Blood seeped from the tiger’s mouth of his right hand.⁵

Gongsun Valley Master saw that even in this desperate peril, Yang Guo still wore a slight smile on his face. After the sabre in his left hand hacked across, the black sword in his right hand abruptly thrust toward Yang Guo’s lower abdomen. By now, Yang Guo had been forced into a corner of the hall. He saw the sword tip thrusting toward him and hurriedly extended his hand, palm flat, to block. The sword tip pierced his palm, and the blade bent into an arc before springing back. It turned out that Xiaolongnü’s palm gloves were exceptionally tough and dense. Though the black sword was sharp, it could not harm them.

Yang Guo had now tested that the palm gloves could withstand the black sword. He flipped his palm over and suddenly reached out to grab the blade, intending to emulate the trick Xiaolongnü had once used to snap Hao Datong’s long sword.⁶ He had not anticipated that Gongsun Valley Master would give his wrist the faintest tremor. The black sword suddenly curved around in a sweeping arc, and its tip pierced Yang Guo’s lower arm. Fresh blood gushed forth. Startled, Yang Guo sprang backward in haste. The Valley Master did not pursue. He merely laughed coldly a few times, then advanced once more at a leisurely pace.

Footnotes

1. 程英 – Chéng Yīng. Her name meaning “heroine” or “outstanding”. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

2. 江湖 – jiānghú. Literally rivers and lakes. Itinerant world beyond settled society and official reach, holding not only martial artists but the trades that travel with them, including pedlars, physicians, fortune-tellers, entertainers, boatmen, beggars, outlaws and the like. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

3. 封字诀 – Fēng Zì Jué. One of the eight formulae of the Dog-Beating Staff Technique. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

4. “Single Pillar Propping the Heavens.” 独柱擎天 – Dú Zhù Qíng Tiān. Defensive staff technique in which the weapon is raised vertically to block a downward strike, like a single pillar holding up the sky. ↩

5. 虎口 – hǔkǒu. Literally tiger’s mouth. Web of flesh between the thumb and forefinger. ↩

6. 郝大通 – Hǎo Dàtōng. His name meaning “great penetration”. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩