Brotherhood and Rivalry.

Yang Guo¹ slept until the middle of the night when he suddenly heard the cry of a condor coming from the northwest. The call was slightly hoarse, yet stirring and desolate, filled with an imposing spirit. His curiosity piqued, he quietly dropped down from his rope and followed the sound. The cry came and went, far louder than the calls of the twin condors on Peach Blossom Island. As he walked, the ground gradually descended, and he entered a valley. The condor’s cry was now close ahead. Softening his footsteps, he parted the thicket and peered through. What he saw astonished him beyond words.

Beneath the pale moonlight stood an enormous condor. The bird was colossal, taller than a man, and ugly beyond compare. Its feathers were sparse and patchy, as though more than half had been plucked away. Their colour was a grimy yellow-black, yet each quill was as rigid as steel, giving them an appearance of formidable toughness. It bore perhaps five parts resemblance to the twin condors of Peach Blossom Island, but the gap between beauty and ugliness was as distant as heaven from earth. This hideous condor had a sharp, hooked beak, a bald crown, and atop its head grew a great, blood-red fleshy tumour. Among the thousands and thousands of birds under heaven, never had anyone seen so archaic and heroic a raptor. The condor strode to and fro with great, sweeping steps, its legs extraordinarily thick. It would occasionally extend its wings, but they were quite short, and it was impossible to tell how such a creature might fly. It walked with its head held high, surveying all around it with an air of commanding majesty.

The condor called out for a while, and soon a rustling came from nearby. Under the moonlight, four venomous serpents shot forth like arrows, their bodies gleaming in five colours as they hurled themselves at the ugly condor. The condor turned its hooked beak and struck four times in succession, pecking each serpent to death with pinpoint precision. The speed and accuracy of its movements would have put a first-rate martial arts adept to shame. Yang Guo watched this divine display of serpent-killing skill, his eyes wide and his jaw hanging slack. In that instant, the scorn and amusement he had felt earlier transformed into stunned admiration.

The ugly condor opened its great beak and swallowed one of the serpents whole. If I could catch this ugly condor, Yang Guo thought, and compare it with Guo Fu²’s twin condors, I would not come out the loser. He was still mulling over how to capture it when a rank, fishy stench struck his nostrils. Clearly, some great serpent or venomous creature was approaching.

The ugly condor raised its head and let out three sharp cries. wah, wah, wah, as if challenging its foe. There was a great rushing roar, and from a large tree opposite, a giant python as thick as a rice bowl and bearing a triangular head dropped down, hurtling straight at the ugly condor. The condor did not retreat in the slightest. Instead, it charged forward, its hooked beak darting out with lightning speed to peck out the python’s right eye. The condor’s neck was short and thick, appearing clumsy and slow to turn, yet it moved with such speed that even Yang Guo’s sharp eyes could not follow how it had blinded the python.

The python, now missing its right eye, convulsed in agony. Its great mouth opened wide and. smack, bit down on the bloody tumour atop the condor’s head. Yang Guo, caught off guard, could not help but cry out. Having succeeded with this one strike, the python’s body, fully two zhang³ in length, suddenly dropped from the treetop and coiled around the condor in several loops.

Unwilling to see the ugly condor fall prey to the serpent, Yang Guo leaped forth and drew his sword, preparing to strike at the python’s body. But suddenly, the condor’s right wing swept out and smacked against Yang Guo’s right arm with terrifying force. Caught completely off guard, Yang Guo lost his grip on the Gentleman’s Sword, and it flew several zhang away. Even as astonishment seized him, he watched the condor’s beak strike the python’s body several times in quick succession. With each peck, a jet of python’s blood shot forth. Could it be, Yang Guo thought, that you are certain of victory and do not wish for my help?

The python coiled tighter and tighter. The ugly condor bristled its feathers, straining with all its might. Fortunately, the condor seemed immune to the serpent’s venom, though the python had bitten its blood tumour, it showed no signs of poisoning. Yet under the python’s crushing embrace, it appeared to be weakening. Yang Guo picked up a large stone and pounded it against the giant python’s body again and again. The python’s coils loosened slightly. The ugly condor’s neck shot out and pecked out the python’s left eye as well. The python opened its great mouth and bit wildly in every direction, but now blind in both eyes, it could not hit anything.

Yang Guo picked up another stone and hurled it into the python’s mouth. The python could not spit it out. Seizing the moment, the ugly condor dug both claws into the python’s throat at the vital seven-inch point,⁴ pinning it to the ground while its sharp beak stabbed and pecked at the python’s head. The giant condor possessed heaven-sent, prodigious strength. The python’s entire body twisted and writhed, thrashing and flailing, but its head could not move in the slightest. After a long while, its body stretched out, stiffened, and lay still at last in death.

The ugly condor raised its head and cried out three times, then turned toward Yang Guo and gave a soft, gentle call.

Yang Guo sensed a friendly intent in its cry and slowly approached, saying with a smile, “Brother Condor, your divine strength is astonishing. I am in awe, in awe.” The ugly condor gave a low call and ambled over to Yang Guo’s side. It extended a wing and patted him lightly on the shoulder several times, as if thanking him for his earlier assistance. Delighted that the condor was so intelligent, Yang Guo reached out and gently stroked its back.

The ugly condor gave a few low calls, then seized the hem of Yang Guo’s robe in its beak and tugged several times before releasing it and striding off. Yang Guo understood that it must have some purpose, so he followed. The condor’s gait was astonishingly swift, racing through mountain rocks and grassy thickets like a galloping horse. Yang Guo had to use his qinggong just to keep up, and inwardly he was filled with admiration. The condor descended lower and lower until they came to the depths of a secluded valley. After walking for quite some time, they arrived before the mouth of a great cave. The ugly condor nodded its head three times before the cave, called out three times, then turned to look at Yang Guo.

Seeing that it seemed to be paying respects to something within the cave, Yang Guo thought, There must be some venerable senior living in this cave. The giant condor was surely raised and trained by him. I must not be remiss in courtesy. He knelt before the cave and performed several bows, saying, “Disciple Yang Guo pays respects to the senior. I beg forgiveness for trespassing upon your abode.” He waited a moment, but no answer came from within.

The condor tugged at the hem of his robe and strode inside. The cave was pitch black. Yang Guo did not know whether it housed some eccentric martial arts adept or some mountain spirit or tree demon. His heart was uneasy, but he had long since set life and death aside, so he followed the condor in.

The cave was actually quite shallow. After walking less than three zhang, he reached the end. Inside there was nothing but a stone table and a stone stool. The ugly condor called out toward one corner. Yang Guo saw a mound of rocks piled high in that corner, very much like a grave. It seems this is the burial place of some remarkable person, he thought. What a pity the condor cannot speak and tell me who this was. Looking up, he noticed what seemed to be writing on the cave wall, obscured by dust and moss and unreadable in the darkness. He struck a spark, lit a dead branch, and reached out to wipe away the moss from the stone wall. Three lines of text appeared. The strokes were exceedingly fine yet carved deep into the rock, clearly made with an extremely sharp blade. The three lines read:

I have roamed the jianghu⁵ for over thirty years, slain every foe and villain, defeated every hero and champion. Under heaven, none could stand against me. With no recourse left, I could only withdraw to this secluded valley and befriend the condor. Alas! In all my life I have sought a single worthy opponent and could not find one. Truly, this loneliness is unbearable.

Below was the signature: “The Sword Demon, Dugu Qiubai.”⁶

Yang Guo read these three lines over and over. He was both astonished and awed, and he felt deeply the loneliness and anguish contained within them. He thought, This senior was a peerless wonder. Only because he had no equal under heaven was he forced to live in seclusion in this deep valley. The depth and subtlety of his martial arts must have reached a realm beyond imagination. This man styled himself the “Sword Demon,” so naturally his swordsmanship was as divine as the gods. His given name was “Qiubai”. “Seeks Defeat.”⁷ He must have travelled the world seeking someone who could overcome him, yet never found such a person, and in the end passed away here in quiet despair. As Yang Guo reflected on the heroic spirit of this predecessor, he could not help but be carried away in reverie.

He lingered for a long while, then raised the burning branch and searched the cave thoroughly, but found no other trace or relic. The rocky grave mound bore no other markings. He surmised that after this peerless adept had died, the Divine Condor had carried stones in its beak and piled them over his body.

Yang Guo was lost in thought for a time, his admiration for this extraordinary predecessor growing ever deeper. Without thinking, he knelt before the stone grave and performed four full bows. The Divine Condor, seeing him show such respect to the stone grave, seemed pleased at heart. It extended its wing and patted him lightly on the shoulder again.

Yang Guo thought, In his parting words, Elder Dugu called the condor his friend. This condor, then, though a beast, is my senior. It would not be improper for me to call it Brother Condor. So he said, “Brother Condor, we have met by chance, and that too is fate. I must take my leave now. Would you rather stay here and keep vigil over Elder Dugu’s grave, or come with me?” The Divine Condor let out a few cries in reply, but Yang Guo could not understand their meaning. Seeing it stand unmoving beside the stone grave, he thought, None of the senior masters of the jianghu have ever mentioned Dugu Qiubai, so he must have lived at least sixty or seventy years ago. This Divine Condor has dwelt here for so long. Its heart is bound to this old place. Naturally it cannot leave with me. He wrapped his arms around the Divine Condor’s neck and shared a moment of affection with it before emerging from the cave.

In all his life, aside from the mutual devotion he shared with Xiaolongnü⁸, Yang Guo had only ever formed bonds with Huang Yaoshi⁹, Cheng Ying¹⁰, and Lu Wushuang¹¹. Recently he had also come to know Gongsun Lü’e¹², who could be counted as a kindred spirit. Beyond these, he had no close friends. Now, meeting the Divine Condor, though one was man and the other bird, after fighting the python side by side they had formed a deep connection. Leaving the cave, he felt a lingering reluctance to part, turning back for one more look with every few steps he took. Each time he looked back, the Divine Condor answered with a cry. Even from more than ten zhang away, in the darkness, the Divine Condor could see him clearly, and every time Yang Guo turned around, it answered with a call, not a single one missed.

Suddenly, a rush of hot blood surged through Yang Guo’s chest. He cried out, “Brother Condor, Brother Condor! My days are numbered. Once the matter of Uncle Guo’s infant daughter is settled and I have bid my final farewell to Gugu¹³, I shall return here. To have my bones buried beside the great hero Dugu, that would be a life not lived in vain.” He bowed deeply, then strode away.

Worried about the safety of Guo Jing¹⁴’s baby daughter, Yang Guo retrieved the Gentleman’s Sword and hurried back toward the cave. As he neared the entrance, he heard Li Mochou¹⁵’s voice: “Where have you been? There’s a wandering ghost out here, weeping and wailing without end. Thoroughly irritating.” Yang Guo replied, “How could there be any ghost?” Before he had finished speaking, the sound of loud, unrestrained sobbing came from the distance.

Yang Guo started. Lowering his voice, he said, “Li shibo¹⁶, look after the child. Let me deal with this.” The sound of weeping drew nearer. Someone was crying and shouting as they approached: “How wretched I am, how wretched I am! My wife was murdered, and now my two sons want to fight each other to the death.” Yang Guo craned his neck to look. Under the starlight, he saw a large man with dishevelled hair, his face buried in his hands as he wept. He kept running in frantic circles, his clothes tattered and torn, his features impossible to make out clearly.

Li Mochou spat and said, “So it’s just a madman. Drive him away quickly, before he wakes the child.”

But the man wailed on: “In this world I have only these two sons, and they insist on killing each other. What use is an old man like me still living?” He shouted and cried with boundless grief. A thought stirred in Yang Guo’s heart: Could it be him? He stepped slowly out of the cave and said clearly, “Could this be Elder Wu?”

The man, who had been weeping in the wilderness with grief beyond restraint, had never imagined anyone would be here. He stopped his crying at once and barked fiercely, “Who are you? What are you doing skulking about here?”

Yang Guo cupped his fists and said, “This humble one is Yang Guo. Might the senior be surnamed Wu, with the given name Santong?”

This man was indeed the father of the Wu brothers, Wu Santong. Back in Jiaxing, he had been wounded by Li Mochou’s silver needles and had fainted as though dead. When he finally came to, he found his wife, Madam Wu, lying on the ground, sucking the poisoned blood from the wound on his left leg. Horrified, he cried, “San’niang,¹⁷ the poison on those needles is deadly beyond measure! How can you suck it out?” He pushed her away. Madam Wu spat a mouthful of poisoned blood onto the ground, smiled faintly, and said, “The black blood has turned red. It’s all right now.” Wu Santong saw that both sides of her face had turned a dark purple and was horrified. His voice trembling, he said, “San’niang, you… you…” Madam Wu had sacrificed herself to save her husband, knowing she would die. Stroking her two sons’ heads, she said in a low voice, “Ever since we married, you have been unhappy. A great mistake was made at the start, and there is no undoing it. I only beg you to raise our two children to adulthood and teach them to love and cherish each other all their lives…” Before she could finish, she breathed her last. Wu Santong, in the depths of his grief, went mad once again. He saw his two sons weeping over their mother’s body, but his own mind was an utter blank, knowing nothing. He simply turned and walked away.

杨过 – Yáng Guò. His name meaning “fault or transgression”; his courtesy name Gaizhi means “to correct it”. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩
郭芙 – Guō Fú. Her name meaning “lotus”. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩
丈 – zhàng. Traditional Chinese unit of length, approximately 3.33 metres or 10.9 feet. ↩
寸 – cùn. Traditional Chinese unit of length, about 3.3 centimetres. Ten cun make one chi. ↩
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. ↩
独孤求败 – Dúgū Qiúbài. Sword Demon; a peerless swordsman who sought a worthy opponent and could find none. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩
求败 – Qiúbài. Literally seeks defeat; Dugu Qiubai’s given name. ↩
小龙女 – Xiǎolóngnǚ. Literally little dragon maiden. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩
黄药师 – Huáng Yàoshī. His name meaning “medicine master”. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩
程英 – Chéng Yīng. Her name meaning “heroine” or “outstanding”. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩
陆无双 – Lù Wúshuāng. Her name meaning “peerless” or “without equal”. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩
公孙绿萼 – Gōngsūn Lǜ’è. Her name meaning “green calyx”. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩
Gugu (姑姑) — Literally “paternal aunt,” but used here as a term of respectful address for a young woman of the older generation. Yang Guo uses this to address Xiaolongnü, his shifu. ↩
郭靖 – Guō Jìng. His name meaning “tranquillity” or “pacification”. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩
李莫愁 – Lǐ Mòchóu. Her name meaning “do not sorrow”. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩
师伯 – shībó. Senior lineage uncle. Shixiong or shijie of one’s shifu. Shī means teacher. Bó means father’s elder brother. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩
武三娘 – Wǔ Sānniáng. Literally third lady Wu; a married woman’s honorific title. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

The Return of the Condor Heroes Chapter 23

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