The Return of the Condor Heroes Chapter 23 – Part 2

Thus he wandered the jianghu in madness for several years. As time passed, his madness gradually subsided. Diancang Yuyin,¹ after attending the Heroic Assembly at Dasheng Pass, was returning to the mountain when he travelled with a group of martial arts friends. In idle conversation, he heard them speak of such a person, whose appearance resembled that of his shixiong Wu Santong. After much searching, he finally found him.

Wu Santong learned that his beloved sons had grown up and, overjoyed, came to Xiangyang to see them. He arrived just as Jinlun Guoshi was wreaking havoc in the city, Guo Jing lay wounded, and Huang Rong² had just given birth. After meeting with Zhu Ziliu and Guo Fu, he discovered that his two sons had drawn swords against each other. Remembering his wife’s dying words, his grief knew no bounds. He hurried out of the city in pursuit. Passing a dilapidated temple, he heard the clash of blades within. He entered to find Wu Dunru and Wu Xiuwen locked in combat. He had been separated from his sons for so long that, now grown, he could not recognise them at first. But seeing them wield swords in their right hands while using the Solitary Solar Finger technique with their left, he stepped forward at once and shouted for them to stop.

The Wu brothers, reunited with their father, wept tears of joy. Yet the moment Guo Fu was mentioned, neither would yield to the other. Wu Santong raged and scolded, pleaded and reasoned, trying every means to quell their love for Guo Fu, but he could never succeed. In their father’s presence, the Wu brothers dared not show open hostility, but the moment he took a few steps away, they began quarrelling again. That night, the two brothers secretly agreed to slip out at midnight to this desolate mountain and settle the matter once and for all. Wu Santong overheard their words. Overwhelmed with grief and fury, he rushed ahead to their appointed place, determined to stop his sons from fighting. Unable to control his emotions, the more he thought about it, the more anguish consumed him, until at last he could not help but wail his grief into the wilderness.

Now, his spirit in turmoil, he suddenly saw a young man emerge from a mountain cave. Immediately bristling with hostility, he barked, “Who are you? How do you know my name?” Hearing him admit his identity, Yang Guo said, “Uncle Wu, your nephew Yang Guo once lived together with your sons Dunru and Xiuwen at Great Hero Guo’s residence on Peach Blossom Island. I have long admired your esteemed name.”

Wu Santong nodded and said, “What are you doing here? Ah, I see. Dunru and Xiuwen are to duel here, and you have come to serve as witness. Humph! If you are truly their close friend, why did you not try to stop them? Instead you fan the flames, eager to watch the excitement. What kind of friend is that?” By the end, his voice had turned harsh, and he poured all his fury onto Yang Guo. Cursing, he stepped forward and raised a massive palm, intent on teaching this faithless youth a lesson.

Yang Guo saw his bristling whiskers and imposing bearing, and thought there was no reason to fight him. He retreated two steps and said with an apologetic smile, “Your nephew had no idea the two Brother Wus were coming to duel. Uncle, you must not blame the wrong person.” Wu Santong bellowed, “Still trying to talk your way out of it? If you did not know beforehand, why are you here? The world is vast, yet you happen to be in this desolate mountain valley?” Yang Guo thought, This man is beyond reason. And indeed, meeting him in this remote place was quite a coincidence. For a moment, he did not know how to explain.

Wu Santong saw his hesitation and was convinced this young man was up to no good. Having suffered heartbreak in his youth, he had always felt an instinctive loathing for handsome young men. A thought stirred: This boy may not even know my sons. Skulking about here, he must have some other scheme. In his fury, he gave no further thought and swung his right palm down toward Yang Guo’s shoulder. Yang Guo shifted aside. Wu Santong’s right palm struck empty air. He crooked his left arm and drove an elbow strike forward. Yang Guo saw the heavy power behind the move and dared not be careless. He stepped diagonally and evaded again. Wu Santong shouted, “Not bad, boy, your qinggong is passable! Draw your sword and fight!”

At that moment, the baby in the cave suddenly woke and cried a few times. Yang Guo’s heart stirred: He and Li Mochou share the blood-debt of his wife’s murder. The moment they lay eyes on each other, it will be a fight to the death. Once they start trading lethal blows, I may not be able to protect the baby. So he smiled and said, “Uncle Wu, your nephew is a junior. How could I dare fight you? But since you insist on suspecting me, there is nothing to be done. How about this: I will let you strike three more times. If you cannot kill me, then you must leave this place at once. What do you say?”

Wu Santong flew into a rage. “Arrogant brat! Just now I held back, showing mercy. And now you dare to scorn me?” His right index finger shot forth, it was the Solitary Solar Finger.³ Decades of bitter training had given him profound power. Yang Guo watched the finger waver. Though its approach seemed slow, every major acupoint on the upper half of his body lay within the finger’s range. He had no idea which point it was aimed at, and because he did not know, all nine major points were in danger. He immediately extended his middle finger and flicked it against Wu Santong’s finger, it was the Divine Finger Flick technique that Huang Yaoshi had taught him.⁴

The Divine Finger Flick and the Solitary Solar Finger had stood as equals in reputation for decades, each supreme in its own way. But Yang Guo’s power was shallow, he had studied for only a short time, and after learning it he had never devoted himself to deep practice. How could he compare with Wu Santong’s decades of single-minded dedication? The two fingers met. Yang Guo felt his right arm shake violently and his whole body grow hot. He staggered back five or six steps before barely managing to steady himself and avoid falling.

Wu Santong let out a surprised “Yi!” and said, “The boy really did stay on Peach Blossom Island.” On one hand, he was bound by regard for Huang Yaoshi. On the other, seeing one so young actually block his life’s consummate technique stirred a fondness for talent. He shouted, “The second finger is coming! If you cannot block it, then don’t try. I would not have you shatter your internal organs. I will not take your life.” Saying this, he advanced several steps and thrust another finger, this time aimed at Yang Guo’s abdomen.

This finger covered an even wider range of acupoints. All twelve major points of the chong meridian across the belly, from the Youmen and Tonggu above, down through the Zhongzhu and Siman, all the way to the Henggu and Huiyin below, fell entirely within the power of this one finger.⁵ Yang Guo saw how swift and fierce the strike was. If he tried to counter with the Divine Finger Flick again, he feared not only would his finger break, but as the man had warned, his internal organs might be shaken apart. In desperation, he used the move “The Zither’s Heart Communicates in Secret.”⁶ With a soft ring, the Gentleman’s Sword left its sheath and stood guard two inches before his belly. Wu Santong’s finger was about to touch the blade when he hastily pulled back. The third finger followed immediately, swift as lightning, aimed straight at Yang Guo’s brow. He was certain the boy could not possibly draw his sword back to guard in time.

Yang Guo saw the finger coming with terrifying speed, impossible to neutralise. In this crisis, he used the Heaven-spanning Net, Earth-binding Snare technique that Xiaolongnü had taught him.⁷ With a whoosh, he suddenly dropped low and darted between Wu Santong’s legs, moving with indescribable swiftness. Though this move was lightning-quick, the posture was utterly undignified, a complete loss of face. Fortunately, he was the junior, passing beneath a senior’s legs was not such a great matter.

Wu Santong did not even have time to cry “Ow!” before he felt the other’s palm pat his left shoulder lightly. Then he heard Yang Guo laugh and say, “Uncle Wu, your third finger is truly formidable.” Wu Santong stood stunned for a moment, then lowered his hands and retreated. His expression bleak, he said, “Heh heh, heroes truly do emerge from the young. This old man is useless now.”

Yang Guo hurriedly sheathed his sword and bowed, saying, “Your nephew’s dodge was too unsightly. If this were a real contest, your nephew would already have lost.” Wu Santong felt slightly better and sighed. “Not necessarily. Just now, if you had thrust your sword into my back, this old life would be gone. That move of yours was truly clever. A crude old fellow like me was never meant to best clever, nimble youngsters…” Before he could finish, the sound of footsteps came from the distance, two people were approaching side by side. Yang Guo pulled Wu Santong’s sleeve and hid him behind a thicket. The footsteps drew nearer. Sure enough, it was the two brothers, Wu Dunru and Wu Xiuwen.

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Wu Xiuwen halted his steps and looked around. “Big Brother,” he said, “this place is open enough. Let us do it here.” Wu Dunru said, “Good.” He was a man of few words. With a shing, he drew his longsword. Wu Xiuwen did not draw his. Instead he said, “Big Brother, in today’s duel, if I prove no match for you, even if you spare my life, I as your brother could not go on living. Those three great duties, avenging our mother, caring for our aged father, and cherishing Sister Fu, you, Big Brother, must shoulder them all alone.” Hearing this, Wu Santong’s heart ached, and two teardrops fell.

Wu Dunru said, “We both understand this in our hearts. Why speak of it further? If you defeat me, it will be the same.” So saying, he raised his sword and assumed a stance. Wu Xiuwen still did not draw. He stepped forward and said, “Big Brother, you and I lost our mother as children. Our father was far away. We two brothers depended on each other for survival, and never once did we quarrel. To have come to this point. Big Brother, you do not blame me, do you?” Wu Dunru replied, “Little Brother, this is the will of heaven. Neither of us can control it.” Wu Xiuwen said, “Whoever lives and whoever dies, we must never let the slightest word of this leak out, lest Father and Sister Fu be grieved.” Wu Dunru nodded. He grasped Wu Xiuwen’s left hand. The two brothers faced each other in silence, and for a long time, neither spoke.

Wu Santong watched the two brothers speak with such deep fraternal affection, and his heart was greatly comforted. He was about to leap out and scold them for even thinking of such a foolish, reckless act when suddenly both brothers shouted in unison, “Good! Come!” They leaped backward simultaneously. Wu Xiuwen reached out, his longsword flashing forth. Shing, shing, shing, three thrusts in quick succession. Under the starlight, the white blade flew like a streak of light, his strikes astonishingly swift. Wu Dunru parried each one, and on the third exchange he turned the blade, deflecting and counter-thrusting, then followed with two strikes of his own, each aimed at Wu Xiuwen’s vital points. Wu Santong’s heart gave a violent lurch, but he saw Wu Xiuwen dart aside at an angle and evade with ease.

In the desolate valley, only the continuous clashing of the two swords could be heard. The two brothers fought with lethal intent, showing no mercy whatsoever. Wu Santong watched, both anxious and grief-stricken. Both were sons he loved more than his own life, and since their childhood he had never shown the slightest favouritism. Seeing their every sword stroke so vicious and cruel, as if they were fighting a mortal enemy rather than each other, he knew that if this continued, one of them would surely be wounded. If he revealed himself now and shouted for them to stop, they would certainly cease at once. But if they did not fight today, they would fight to the death tomorrow. He could not follow his sons at every moment, guarding them without leaving their side. The more he watched, the more his heart ached. Thinking of the tragedy of his own life, tears streamed down his face like rain.

Yang Guo had held a grudge against the Wu brothers since childhood. Even after their reunion, considerable resentment still lingered between them. By nature he was extreme and narrow-minded, and at first he took a certain malicious pleasure in watching the two fight. But then he saw Wu Santong weeping with such grief, and he thought of how his own days were numbered. A benevolent impulse rose within him: In all my life, I have never done anything that benefited another person. After I die, Gugu will of course grieve, but besides her, those who will remember me are only a handful of kindred spirits. Cheng Ying, Lu Wushuang, Gongsun Lü’e. Why not do a good deed today and make this old man remember my kindness for the rest of his life? His mind made up, he brought his lips to Wu Santong’s ear and whispered, “Uncle Wu, your nephew has a plan to make your two sons stop fighting.”

Wu Santong’s heart jolted. He turned his head, his aged face streaked with tears, his eyes filled with gratitude. Yet he still half-doubted, unable to imagine what clever scheme could possibly untie this death knot. Yang Guo said quietly, “But it will offend your two sons. Uncle, you must not hold it against me.”

Footnotes

1. 点苍渔隐 – Diǎncāng Yúyǐn. Hermit Fisherman of Diancang; one of Great Master Yideng’s four disciples. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

2. 黄蓉 – Huáng Róng. Her name meaning “lotus” or “hibiscus”. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

3. 一阳指 – Yīyáng Zhǐ. Literally One Yang Finger. Dali Duan family’s signature finger technique. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

4. 弹指神通 – Tánzhǐ Shéntōng. Huang Yaoshi’s signature finger technique. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

5. 冲脉 – Chong Meridian. One of the Eight Extraordinary Meridians in traditional Chinese medicine, running vertically through the centre of the torso. Martial artists cultivate energy through these meridians. ↩

6. 琴心暗通 – “The Zither’s Heart Communicates in Secret”. Sword technique from the Jade Flute Swordplay, named after the poetic notion of a zither player’s heart communicating wordlessly with the listener. Move uses the sword blade as a shield while preparing a counterattack. ↩

7. 天罗地网势 – Tiānluó Dìwǎng Shì. Ancient Tomb School qinggong for intercepting and capturing. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩