The Return of the Condor Heroes Chapter 2 – Part 5

Guo Jing called out, “Young Brother, don’t rush off. The residual poison in your body hasn’t been cleared, if it flares up, it’ll be terrible.” What the boy hated most was being looked down upon by others. Guo Fu’s words had stabbed at his heart. He held his head high and walked straight on, ignoring Guo Jing’s calls as if he had not heard them. Guo Jing hurried forward and blocked his path. “How did you get poisoned? Let us treat you before you go.” The boy said, “I don’t even know you. What business is it of yours?” He quickened his pace, trying to slip past Guo Jing. Guo Jing saw the resentment on his face, and something about his brows and eyes reminded him powerfully of an old friend. A thought stirred in his heart. “Young Brother,” he said, “what is your surname?” The boy rolled his eyes at him, turned sideways, and tried to bolt past. Guo Jing flipped his palm and caught the boy’s wrist. The boy struggled several times but could not break free. His left fist shot out and landed heavily on Guo Jing’s abdomen.

Guo Jing smiled faintly and paid it no mind. The boy tried to pull his arm back to strike again, but his fist was sunk deep into Guo Jing’s belly and would not come out. His small face flushed crimson. He pulled with all his might until his arm ached, yet he could not escape that suction force from Guo Jing’s abdomen. Guo Jing laughed. “Tell me your surname, and I’ll let you go.” The boy said, “My surname is Ni, and my given name is Laozi.¹ Now let me go!” Guo Jing was deeply disappointed. He relaxed his abdominal muscles. He had no idea that the boy was actually saying his name was “Ni Laozi”, “your father”, and was taking advantage of him. The boy’s fist came free. He looked at Guo Jing and thought, Your skills are impressive, but your father here is even more impressive than his good son.

Huang Rong had seen the sly, mischievous look on his face and could not shake the feeling that he bore a strong resemblance to that person. She could not resist testing him once more. “Young Brother,” she said with a laugh, “you want to be my husband’s father, wouldn’t that make you my father-in-law?” Her left hand shot out and pressed down on his right shoulder. The boy felt the force of her grip and quickly summoned his strength to resist. Huang Rong suddenly released the pressure, and the boy pitched forward involuntarily, peng!, his forehead slamming hard against the ground. Guo Fu clapped her hands and laughed. The boy was furious. He sprang to his feet, covered in dust, and backed away several steps. He was just about to spew a stream of foul curses when Huang Rong darted forward, pressed both hands on his shoulders, and gazed steadily into his eyes. Slowly, she said, “Your surname is Yang, and your given name is Guo.² Your mother’s surname is Mu, isn’t that right?”

The boy was indeed named Yang Guo. Having Huang Rong speak his name so suddenly shocked him beyond measure. Blood and qi surged up in his chest, the poison in his hand suddenly rushed backward, and his mind went blank. He fainted.

Huang Rong was alarmed. She caught him and supported his body. Guo Jing massaged him a few times. The boy’s eyes slowly opened, he had bitten through his tongue, and his mouth was full of blood. Guo Jing was both startled and overjoyed. “So… so he is the child of my sworn brother Yang Kang!”³ Huang Rong saw that Yang Guo’s poisoning was extremely deep. “Let’s find an inn first,” she said quietly. “We’ll go into town and prepare some medicine.” Yang Guo asked, “You… how do you know me?” Guo Jing said, “We were friends of your mother. Where is your mother?” Yang Guo said, “My mother is dead. She died a long time ago.” Guo Jing was shaken by these words. His hand tightened involuntarily, and Yang Guo fainted again.

What had happened was this: Huang Rong had noticed that the boy’s features closely resembled Yang Kang’s. She recalled how, years ago, Wang Chuyi⁴ had tested Mu Nianci’s⁵ martial arts background at an inn in Zhongdu⁶, he had pressed down on her shoulder, and Mu Nianci had pitched forward instead of backward. That was the unique qi-circulation training method of Hong Qigong’s⁷ school. If this boy was Mu Nianci’s son, the martial arts he practised would follow the same lineage. Huang Rong was Hong Qigong’s disciple and knew the secrets of her school’s training methods intimately. With one test, she had indeed exposed his true identity.

Guo Jing picked up Yang Guo and, together with Ke Zhen’e, Huang Rong, Guo Fu, and the twin condors, returned to the inn. Huang Rong wrote out a prescription, and the inn attendant went to the apothecary to fill it. Most of the medicines she used were rare and obscure. Though Jiaxing was a major commercial hub, even so, they could not be gathered all at once. Guo Jing saw that Yang Guo’s intense pain showed no sign of abating and was deeply worried. Huang Rong knew that ever since the death of his sworn brother Yang Kang, her husband had carried a constant burden of guilt in his heart. Meeting Yang Kang’s son today had filled him with boundless joy, yet the boy had been struck with a deadly poison, and his fate hung in the balance. “Let’s go out and gather the herbs ourselves,” she said. Guo Jing knew that if there were even the slightest hope of a cure, she would have offered words of comfort. Seeing the gravity in her expression only made him more anxious. He instructed Guo Fu not to wander off, and the couple went out to search for medicinal herbs.

Yang Guo slept in a dazed stupor until nightfall without improvement. Ke Zhen’e came in to check on him several times but was helpless, the toxicity of his poison caltrops⁸ was entirely different from that of the Bingpo Silver Needles, and their antidotes could not be used interchangeably. He also feared Guo Fu might slip out, so he kept coaxing her to sleep.

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Yang Guo did not know how much time had passed in his stupor when he suddenly felt someone massaging his chest. He slowly came to and opened his eyes. A dark shadow flickered, someone had darted out through the window. He forced himself to stand, leaned on the table, and walked to the window to look out. There, upside down on the eaves, stood a person, head down, feet up. It was the strange person who had told him to call him “Papa” that day. The figure swayed unsteadily, as if he might fall from the roof at any moment.

Yang Guo was both surprised and overjoyed. “It’s you!” he called. The strange person said, “Why aren’t you calling me Papa?” Yang Guo called out, “Papa!” He thought to himself, You’re my son, I’ll just switch big for small and call you Papa. The strange person was very pleased. “Come up,” he said. Yang Guo climbed onto the window ledge and jumped for the roof. But his body was weak from the poison, and his strength was insufficient, his fingers missed the eaves, and he fell. “Ah!” he cried out in alarm.

The strange person reached out and caught him by the back of his collar, setting him gently on the roof. He flipped upright and was about to speak when he heard a soft ka from the window lattice of the western room. Realising someone had discovered him, he scooped up Yang Guo and fled at top speed. By the time Ke Zhen’e leapt onto the roof, all was silent.

The strange person carried Yang Guo to a patch of wasteland outside the town and set him down. “Use the method I taught you,” he said. “Force out a bit more of the poison.” Yang Guo did as instructed. After about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, several drops of black blood oozed from his fingertips, and he felt a great easing in his chest. The strange person said, “You’re a very clever child, you learn as soon as you’re taught, sharper than my own flesh-and-blood son was. Ai! My child!” Thinking of his deceased son, his eyes grew moist. He stroked Yang Guo’s head and sighed softly.

Yang Guo had never had a father. His mother had also died of illness when he was eleven. On her deathbed, Mu Nianci had told him that his father had died at Iron Spear Temple⁹ in Jiaxing. She instructed him to cremate her body and bury her ashes outside Iron Spear Temple, and to go seek refuge with his shifu¹⁰ Guo Jing. Yang Guo had followed his mother’s last wishes. He had travelled from Changxing¹¹ by Lake Tai to Jiaxing, not a long journey. After burying his mother, he had drifted through Jiaxing ever since, living in this ruined kiln, scraping by through petty thievery. Though Yang Guo was young, he was born stubborn and proud. He was unwilling to go to Peach Blossom Island to throw himself on others’ mercy and live on their charity. Mu Nianci had taught him some rudimentary martial arts, but her own skills had never been high to begin with, and Yang Guo had been so young when she died that she had really not been able to teach him much. Over these past few years, Yang Guo had faced cold stares everywhere and suffered constant bullying. This strange person, a complete stranger, had treated him so well, seeing the genuine emotion in his eyes, Yang Guo was deeply moved. He leapt up and threw his arms around the man’s neck. “Papa! Papa!” he cried. Ever since he was two or three years old, he had longed for a father who would love him and protect him. Sometimes in his dreams, a kind and heroic father would appear, but when he woke, that father was gone, and he would often cry bitterly over it. Now, the wish of so many years had suddenly been granted. In those two cries of “Papa,” all the pent-up longing of his heart poured forth. He no longer had any thought of getting the better of the man in his mind.

Yang Guo was deeply moved, but the strange person, sensing the genuine emotion in the boy’s calls, was even more overjoyed. When they had first met, Yang Guo had been forced to acknowledge him as father and had been a hundred times unwilling. Now their hearts were in communion, and they were truly as close as father and son. Each felt that if the other were in danger, he would gladly die for him. The strange person laughed and shouted with joy. “Good child, good child! Good son, call me Papa again.” Yang Guo did so twice more, leaning against him.

The strange person laughed. “Good son, come, I’ll teach you the martial art I’m most proud of.” He crouched down and made three strange sounds from his throat: gu, gu, gu. Both hands pushed forward, and, hong!, with a thunderous crash, half a wall of rammed earth before them collapsed at the strike. Dust and grit billowed everywhere. Yang Guo was dumbstruck, his tongue hanging out. Overwhelmed with shock and delight, he asked, “What kind of skill is that? Can I learn it?” The strange person said, “This is called Toad Skill.¹² As long as you’re willing to train hard, you’ll naturally learn it.” Yang Guo said, “After I learn it, will no one dare bully me anymore?” The strange person’s brows shot up. “Who dares bully my son? I’ll tear out his tendons and flay his skin! With just one push like this, no matter how many villains, you’ll send them all sprawling, unable to get up.”

This strange person, of course, was none other than Western Poison Ouyang Feng.¹³

Ever since Huang Rong had driven him mad with her schemes at the Huashan Sword Summit,¹⁴ Ouyang Feng had wandered to the farthest corners of the earth for over ten years, ceaselessly pondering: Who am I, really? Wherever the scenery seemed vaguely familiar, he would linger, hoping to find himself. He had been staying in Jiaxing these past few months for precisely this reason. In recent years, he had been practicing the Nine Yin Manual¹⁵ in reverse, and his neili had advanced considerably. His mind had also cleared a great deal. Though he was still mad, he had gradually recovered many old memories. Only the question of who he himself was remained forever beyond his grasp.

And so Ouyang Feng now transmitted to Yang Guo the introductory mental techniques for cultivating Toad Skill. Among all the martial arts under heaven, Toad Skill was a supreme discipline. The toad as a creature first burrows deep into the earth for a long period, storing up energy, when it emerges, it needs little sustenance. Toad Skill likewise emphasized the principle of accumulating power and storing strength, which was why the cultivation of neili was extraordinarily difficult. The slightest error in practice could result in severe internal injury, even vomiting blood and death, so much so that Ouyang Feng had not even taught it to his own biological son, Ouyang Ke.¹⁶ Now, his emotions in turmoil and his mind confused, heedless of proportion, he taught it without the slightest reservation to this newly adopted son. Yang Guo had no foundation in martial arts whatsoever. Though he memorized the introductory formulas firmly, how could he possibly grasp their essential meaning? And because he was so clever, he would impose his own interpretations on the parts he did not understand. Ouyang Feng taught for half the day, but listening to the boy’s wild tangents and nonsense, as far off the mark as a horse’s mouth on a cow’s head, he grew annoyed and raised his hand to slap him across the face. But in the moonlight, he saw the boy’s handsome, lovely features, even more beautiful than the young Ouyang Ke had been, and the slap would not come down. “You’re tired,” he sighed. “Go back and rest. I’ll teach you more tomorrow.”

Ever since Guo Fu had called him dirty, Yang Guo had conceived a loathing for her entire family. “I’ll stay with Papa,” he said. “I’m not going back.” Ouyang Feng was only confused about his own affairs. About other matters, he was not muddled at all. “There’s something not quite right with my head,” he said. “I’m afraid I might bring trouble on you. Go back for now. Once I’ve figured something out, we two, father and son, will stay together forever and never part, all right?” Since his mother’s death, Yang Guo had never in his life heard anyone speak such warm words to him. He stepped forward and took the man’s hand, choking back tears. “Then come get me soon,” he said. Ouyang Feng nodded. “I’ll follow you in secret. Wherever you go, I’ll know. If anyone bullies you, I’ll break his ribs into seventy or eighty pieces.” He picked up Yang Guo and carried him back to the inn.

Footnotes

1. 你老子 – nǐ lǎozi. Pun: 倪 (Ní) is a real surname, but 你老子 means your father, an insult. Yang Guo is cleverly insulting Guo Jing while pretending to give his name. ↩

2. 杨过 – Yáng Guò. His name meaning “fault or transgression”; his courtesy name Gaizhi means “to correct it”. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

3. 杨康 – Yáng Kāng. His name meaning “health” or “peace”. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

4. 王处一 – Wáng Chùyī. His name meaning “dwelling in oneness”. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

5. 穆念慈 – Mù Niàncí. Her name meaning “cherishing kindness”. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

6. 中都 – Zhōngdū. Jin dynasty’s central capital, present-day Beijing. ↩

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

8. 毒蒺藜 – Dú Jílí. Poison caltrops, Ke Zhen’e’s signature hidden weapons, coated with a different type of poison than Li Mochou’s silver needles. ↩

9. 铁枪庙 – Tiěqiāng Miào. Iron Spear Temple in Jiaxing, named after the iron spear of the Five Dynasties general Wang Yanzhang. It is where Yang Kang met his death. ↩

10. 师父 – shīfù. Teacher responsible for technical instruction and moral guidance. Shī means teacher. Fù means father. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

11. 长兴 – Chángxīng. County near Lake Tai in Zhejiang Province, where Mu Nianci lived and raised Yang Guo. ↩

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

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

14. 华山论剑 – Huàshān Lùnjiàn. Literally sword discussion at Huashan. Use of discussion is key as the participants were engaged in a martial arts exchange and a philosophical debate on mastery, rather than just a physical contest. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

15. 九阴真经 – Jiǔyīn Zhēnjīng. Nine Yin Manual, the most comprehensive martial arts text in the Condor Trilogy, containing the accumulated wisdom of countless masters. ↩

16. 欧阳克 – Ōuyáng Kè. Ouyang Feng’s nephew (actually his illegitimate son). He was a skilled but lecherous martial artist who died during the events of The Legend of the Condor Heroes. ↩