The Return of the Condor Heroes Chapter 21 – Part 8

Yang Guo still hesitated. Guo Jing crouched down on both legs and pulled Yang Guo onto his back. At that very moment, the horse he had seized was struck by a volley of arrows. With a long, mournful whinny, it collapsed and died. Guo Jing had faced countless deadly perils in his life. The more desperate the situation, the more he summoned his courage and responded with calm deliberation. “Guoer, do not be afraid,” he said. “We will certainly fight our way out.” He straightened to his full height and charged directly north.

By now, the Imperial Preceptor, Nimo Star, and Xiaoxiangzi had once again attacked from the front. Guo Jing saw that troops and horses were massing on all sides, the encirclement had tightened even further than before. Beneath the great banner before the command tent, Khubilai stood holding a wine bowl, watching the battle with a monk beside him, pointing and commenting. Victory seemed assured. His expression was utterly self-satisfied.

Guo Jing let out a great roar. Carrying Yang Guo on his back, he hurled himself toward Khubilai. In just three or four bounds, he was right before him. The personal guards to the left and right were terrified. More than ten of them raised long sabres and long spears to block his path. Guo Jing’s palm winds howled. Whoever stood before him was swept aside. One guard was knocked flying by the force of his palm. Only a few more strides, and Guo Jing’s palm force would reach Khubilai himself. The guards threw their lives away to block him, but how could they withstand Guo Jing’s divine ferocity? The Imperial Preceptor, seeing the danger, sent his golden wheel spinning toward the crown of Guo Jing’s head. Guo Jing ducked and let it pass. His feet did not slow in the slightest.

Yang Guo thought, If he captures Khubilai, the Mongols will be forced to release him, they would not dare risk their prince’s life. If I do not strike now, when will I? He hesitated for a brief moment. Then, amid the chaos, he suddenly remembered the promise he had made to Cheng Ying¹. He asked once more: “Uncle Guo, was my father truly so monstrously evil that you had no choice but to kill him?” Guo Jing was stunned. At this moment, how could he spare any thought for such a question? He answered offhandedly, “He took a traitor as his father, betrayed his country, and harmed the people. Any man had the right to execute him.”

Yang Guo had now asked with absolute clarity. Not a shred of doubt remained. He raised the Gentleman Sword and prepared to plunge it into the back of Guo Jing’s neck. But Guo Jing was running at full speed. Yang Guo could feel waves of heat transmitted from Guo Jing’s back into his own abdomen and chest. Instantly, he remembered how, the night before last, Guo Jing had expended his true energy to help him regulate his qi and calm his breath. And now, now, Guo Jing could clearly have mounted the red horse and escaped the encirclement. He had come charging back into danger solely because he had heard Yang Guo’s cry for help. Yang Guo had never had a father. Whenever he faced peril, deep in his heart, he had always yearned for a father who would love him and protect him. At this moment, carried on Guo Jing’s back, an involuntary sense of filial devotion rose within him. He felt that Guo Jing was the father he had always longed for, a man who would give up everything to protect him. As for his biological father, that was nothing more than a vague, illusory concept. He had never seen the man’s face. He did not even know whether his father had ever loved him. For the sake of those five empty words. “avenge my father’s death”, should he really take his sword and kill this man who was carrying him on his back, fighting with all his might to save him, a man who was like a father to him?

Suddenly, a flash of white darted before his eyes. Xiaoxiangzi was swinging his funeral staff at the back of Guo Jing’s head. At that moment, Guo Jing was using his palm force to fend off the Imperial Preceptor’s golden wheel and Nimo Star’s iron snake simultaneously. Yang Guo, acting purely on instinct, raised his sword and parried the funeral staff. Staff and sword clashed. They exchanged several moves. Guo Jing called out, “Careful! The tip of his staff releases poison.” Xiaoxiangzi circled behind Yang Guo and thrust his staff at a vital acupoint on Yang Guo’s back. Yang Guo was still on Guo Jing’s back. He could neither easily turn his sword to block nor dodge. Guo Jing’s left palm struck backward. “The Divine Dragon Swings Its Tail.” With a peng, the palm met the staff. The impact made Xiaoxiangzi’s entire body burn. His deathly white face instantly flushed bright red.

At that very moment, Nimo Star rolled forward along the ground and thrust his iron snake upward. The snake’s head had already touched Guo Jing’s left flank. Seventy percent of Guo Jing’s neili was currently engaged against the Golden Wheel Imperial Preceptor. Thirty percent had just been used to blast away Xiaoxiangzi’s staff. He had no strength left to resist the iron snake. In this critical instant, his left flank suddenly retracted half a chi. He managed to evade the deadliest edge of the blow. But the iron snake’s head still pierced several cun into his side.

Guo Jing flexed his muscles. The flesh rebounded, blocking the iron snake from penetrating deeper. His left leg flew up and kicked Nimo Star into a somersault. Nimo Star had seen the iron snake pierce a vital point and was certain this blow would end Guo Jing’s life. The title of “Mongolia’s Foremost Warrior” was already his. Overjoyed, he had never imagined his enemy could produce such a desperate, victory-from-defeat technique. The kick landed squarely on his chest. With a kala, three ribs snapped simultaneously.

The Golden Wheel Imperial Preceptor seized the opening and drove his palm force forward with ferocious speed. Guo Jing’s left flank, his qi gate, had been breached. He could no longer resist. He felt an immense force, like a toppling mountain or an overturned sea, crushing toward him. If he met it head-on, he would surely die on the spot. He had no choice but to disperse the palm force and use more than twenty years of supreme neili to forcibly absorb the blow. His body swayed violently. With a wa, he vomited a mouthful of blood. His life hung by a thread, yet his thoughts still turned to Yang Guo. “Guoer!” he cried. “Quick, seize a horse! I will hold off the enemy for you!”

Yang Guo saw how Guo Jing fought with his last breath to save him. Hot blood surged through his chest. All thought of past grievances vanished. Uncle Guo’s righteousness reaches to the heavens, he thought. If I do not repay his life with my own, I am not worthy to walk this earth. He leaped from Guo Jing’s back and wove the Gentleman Sword into a whirlwind of flashing steel, shielding Guo Jing. He fought like a mad tiger, every move a desperate gamble. Guo Jing said, “Guoer, leave me! Save yourself, that is what matters!” Yang Guo only said, “Uncle Guo, today I die together with you.” His blade blazed. He protected Guo Jing alone, entirely heedless of his own safety.

The Imperial Preceptor and Xiaoxiangzi raised their weapons and attacked Guo Jing together. Yang Guo’s sword moves were nimble and unpredictable, forcing the two men to keep their distance. Thousands upon thousands of Mongol cavalry surrounded them on all sides. Battle cries shook the heavens. All eyes watched the three men locked in desperate combat.

Guo Jing repeatedly urged Yang Guo to flee, but seeing how Yang Guo protected him without a thought for himself, he was torn between anxiety and gratitude. His internal injuries flared. He could hold on no longer. Both knees buckled, and he sank to the ground.

Nimo Star, despite his three broken ribs, gritted his teeth against the pain. Gripping his iron snake, he advanced slowly, intent on finishing Guo Jing. Yang Guo stabbed wildly several times, then bent down, hoisted Guo Jing onto his back, and charged outward with ferocious force. His martial arts were already inferior to the Imperial Preceptor’s. Now, carrying Guo Jing, how could he hold out? After several more exchanges, with a chi, the golden wheel sliced a long gash across his left arm.

Footnotes

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