The Return of the Condor Heroes Chapter 3

Seeking a master on Mount Zhongnan

Aboard the boat Guo Jing quietly circulated his prodigious neigong,¹ and within a few days his injuries were more than half healed. The couple talked of Ouyang Feng.² In more than ten years he had shown no sign of age. If anything, his martial skill was greater than before. Had that palm caught Guo Jing on a vital point of the chest, ten days or a fortnight would not have seen him mended. They talked too of their shifu,³ Hong Qigong,⁴ wondering where he was and whether his old injury had returned, and they worried for him a great deal. Though Huang Rong lived in seclusion on Peach Blossom Island,⁵ she still held the office of Guild Chief of the Beggars’ Guild⁶ from afar, and Lu Youjiao⁷ managed the Guild’s affairs in her name. She had come to Jiangnan⁸ meaning to take the chance to meet the Guild’s Elders and settle its business with them, and to seek news of her father and of Hong Qigong. But with Guo Jing wounded, there was nothing for it but to go back to the island first.

Then the talk turned to Yang Guo. “I have always had one wish,” said Guo Jing, “as you well know. Today, by heaven’s grace, we have found Guoer, and now that wish can be granted.” Long ago Guo Jing’s father, Guo Xiaotian,⁹ and Yang Guo’s grandfather, Yang Tiexin,¹⁰ had sworn brotherhood, and their wives had been with child at the same time. The two men made a pact. If both children were boys, they would be sworn brothers; if both were girls, sworn sisters; and if one was a boy and the other a girl, they would be husband and wife. As it turned out, both families had sons, and Guo Jing and Yang Guo’s father, Yang Kang,¹¹ became sworn brothers as agreed. But Yang Kang took the enemy for his father, did a great deal of evil, and in the end died a wretched death in the Iron Spear Temple¹² in Jiaxing.¹³ It was a thing Guo Jing often brooded over. Huang Rong had long known his mind, and when he raised it now she shook her head. “I won’t agree to it.”

Guo Jing was taken aback. “Why not?” “How can Fu’er be promised to that boy?” said Huang Rong. “His father may have behaved badly,” said Guo Jing, “but the Guo and Yang families have been friends for generations. He’s a fine-looking boy, and quick-witted. If he grows up with the two of us, there’s no fear he won’t make something of himself.” “It’s his being too quick-witted that worries me,” said Huang Rong. “Aren’t you terribly quick-witted yourself? What’s wrong with that?” Huang Rong laughed. “And yet I’m fond of my silly gege.¹⁴” Guo Jing smiled. “When Fu’er grows up she may not be like you and fond of silly boys. Besides, a great fool like me, I doubt there’s a second to be found under heaven.” Huang Rong drew a finger down her cheek at him to shame him. “As if that were anything to boast of. Have you no shame?”

They bantered a little longer, then Guo Jing went back to the matter. “My father left only this one dying wish, and Uncle Yang Tiexin laid the same charge on me as he died. But for Brother Yang Kang and House Sister Mu, I’ve really done nothing at all. If I don’t treat Guoer as one of our own, how can I face my father and Uncle Yang? I often thought of bringing House Sister Mu here so that she and her son could live in comfort, but I was afraid you’d read something into it. I never thought she would die so young.” He heaved a long sigh, and his face was full of sorrow. Huang Rong laughed. “Can’t bear to lose her, can you? You’re the one with designs, and you blame me for reading things into it. Have you no shame!” Guo Jing went red to the ears in his agitation. “I… how have I had designs?” Huang Rong tossed her head. “What? Now you’re flustered, and so embarrassed you’re angry. Do you want to hit me?” Guo Jing smiled. “Would I dare, do you think?” He threw his arms round his wife, and Huang Rong could not stir. “Help, help!” she cried. “Murder!” Guo Jing laughed, kissed her cheek and let her go. “Luckily both children are still small,” said Huang Rong gently, “so there’s no need to hurry. If Guoer really turns out to have no bad in him, you can do as you like.”

Guo Jing rose and bowed deeply. “Thank you for consenting,” he said gravely. “I am more grateful than I can say.” Huang Rong was just as grave. “I haven’t consented. I said we must see whether the boy turns out bad.” Guo Jing had bowed to the ground and was only just straightening up when he heard this. He stopped short, then said, “Brother Yang Kang grew up in a Jin prince’s palace, and that is what spoiled him. Guoer is on our island. He can’t possibly go bad. Besides, it was you who named him all those years ago. His name is Yang Guo, his courtesy name Gaizhi:¹⁵ even if he errs, he will put it right. You needn’t worry.” Huang Rong laughed. “What does a name count for? You’re called Guo Jing,¹⁶ and are you so quiet? You’ve been leaping about like a great monkey since you were small.” Guo Jing gaped, and no words came. Huang Rong smiled, turned the conversation to something else, and said no more about it.

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The voyage passed without event, and they came to Peach Blossom Island. Guo Fu¹⁷ suddenly had three playmates of about her own age, and she was overjoyed.

Once Yang Guo had taken Huang Rong’s antidote, the last of the poison left his body. He and Guo Fu had not hit it off at their first meeting, but children are children, and after a few days everyone had forgotten it. All through those days the four of them amused themselves catching crickets and setting them to fight.

One day Yang Guo came out of the house to catch more crickets. He went past the Finger Flick Pavilion,¹⁸ over Two-Forgetting Peak,¹⁹ and had just rounded Clear-Whistling Pavilion²⁰ when he heard laughter and chatter behind the hill. He ran over and found Guo Fu and the Wu brothers turning over stones and parting the grass, catching crickets too. Wu Dunru²¹ held a little bamboo tube, and Guo Fu carried an earthenware pot in both hands.

Wu Xiuwen²² turned over a stone, and with a rasp a big cricket sprang out. He threw himself on it, trapped it under both hands and gave a whoop of delight. “Give it to me, give it to me,” cried Guo Fu. Wu Xiuwen picked up the cricket. “All right, it’s yours.” He lifted the lid of the pot and put it inside. It was a splendid creature: square head, sturdy legs, huge jaws and a thick waist. “This one is sure to be the Invincible General,” said Wu Xiuwen. “Yang gege,²³ not one of all those crickets of yours can beat it.”

Yang Guo would not have it. He took several bamboo tubes of crickets out of his shirt and picked the fiercest to fight it. After a few rounds the big cricket opened its huge jaws, caught Yang Guo’s cricket round the middle and flung it out of the pot, then spread its wings and chirped, thoroughly pleased with itself. Guo Fu clapped her hands. “Mine won!” “Not so fast,” said Yang Guo. “There are more.” But he put in three crickets one after another, and every one was routed. The third was even bitten clean in two by the giant.

Yang Guo had lost face. “I’m not playing any more!” he said, and turned to go. Just then, from the grass behind him, came three quick chirps. It was a cricket’s call, but it had something odd about it. “Here’s another one,” said Wu Dunru. He parted the grass, then sprang back. “A snake, a snake!” Yang Guo turned round, and there indeed was a gaudily patterned venomous snake coiled in the grass, head raised, tongue flickering. Yang Guo picked up a stone, took aim and threw it. It struck the snake full on the head, and the snake writhed a few times and died. Beside the place where it had coiled sat a small, jet-black cricket, remarkably ugly, spreading its wings and chirping.

“Yang gege,” Guo Fu laughed, “go on, catch that little black devil.” Yang Guo heard the mockery in her voice, and his pride was roused. “Fine. I will.” And he caught the black cricket there and then. Guo Fu laughed again. “What do you want that little black devil for? To fight my Invincible General?” “It’ll fight if it has to,” Yang Guo said angrily. “A little black devil won’t be bullied either.” And he put the black cricket in Guo Fu’s pot.

Strange to say, the big cricket seemed to fear the little black one and kept backing away. Guo Fu and the Wu brothers yelled and cheered it on. The little black cricket lifted its head and leapt forward. The big cricket dared not close with it and tried to jump out of the pot, but the little black one sprang up too, caught the big one by the tail in mid-air, and the two fell together. The big cricket gave a few shudders, rolled onto its back and died. Among crickets, as it happens, there is a kind that likes to live with poisonous creatures. Those that live with centipedes are called “centipede crickets”, and those that live with venomous snakes “snake crickets”.²⁴ Because they carry the reek of the poisonous creature on them, no ordinary cricket can stand against them. The little black cricket Yang Guo had caught was just such a snake cricket.

Guo Fu was most put out to see her Invincible General die in a single bout. Then she thought again. “Yang gege, give me your little black devil.” “Giving it to you would be no great thing,” said Yang Guo, “but why did you call it a little black devil?” Guo Fu’s little mouth turned down. “Don’t, then,” she said sulkily. “As if I cared.” She picked up the pot, shook the little black cricket out onto the ground and stamped on it with her right foot, crushing it dead. Yang Guo was shocked and furious. The blood rushed to his head, his whole face went scarlet, and before he could stop himself he swung his hand back and slapped her hard across the face.

Guo Fu stood stunned, still undecided whether to cry. “You brat, hitting people!” Wu Xiuwen swore, and drove a punch at Yang Guo’s chest. He came of a family steeped in martial skill and had been taught by his parents since he was small, so he already had a good grounding. The punch caught Yang Guo full in the chest, and it was no light blow. Yang Guo, enraged, punched back, but Wu Xiuwen dodged aside. Yang Guo went after him, and Wu Dunru hooked a foot round his leg. Yang Guo went sprawling. Wu Xiuwen spun round, leapt on him and sat astride him. The brothers pinned him fast, and their four fists hammered down on his body.

Yang Guo was a year or two older than either of them, but two fists cannot fight four hands. The Wu brothers had trained in superior martial skill, while all Yang Guo had learned was a little rough-and-ready fighting from Mu Nianci,²⁵ and he was no match for them. So he set his teeth and took the beating without a sound. “Beg for mercy and we’ll let you go,” said Wu Dunru. “Like hell!” Yang Guo spat. Thump, thump: Wu Xiuwen hit him twice more. Guo Fu, watching the Wu brothers take her revenge for her, had cried for only a moment before she stopped, and now she was thoroughly enjoying herself.

The Wu brothers knew that if they hit him in the face and left marks, Guo Jing and Huang Rong would see and they would be scolded, so every punch and kick went to his body. Guo Fu, seeing how savage the beating was, grew a little frightened. But when she touched her own cheek and felt the hot, stinging pain, the beating seemed to her well deserved, and she could not help shouting, “Hit him hard, hit him!” At her cries the Wu brothers laid into him harder than ever.

Yang Guo lay face down on the ground. When he heard Guo Fu shouting like that, he thought, You vicious little wretch. One day I will pay you back for this. The pain in his waist, back and buttocks was past bearing, and he could hold out less and less. The Wu brothers had trained since early childhood, and their fists and feet carried a force that would have been too much for an ordinary grown man. Had Yang Guo not also practised a little neigong, he would have passed out long ago. Gritting his teeth, he held on, his hands clawing and scrabbling at the ground. Suddenly his left hand closed on something cold and slippery: the snake he had killed a little while before. He snatched it up and lashed it round behind him.

Footnotes

1. 内功 – nèigōng. Literally internal skill. Practice of developing neili through breathing, meditation and qi cultivation. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

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

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

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

5. 桃花岛 – Táohuā Dǎo. Huang Yaoshi’s island stronghold, continued from LOCH era. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

6. 丐帮 – Gàibāng. Largest guild in the jianghu, continued from LOCH era. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

7. 鲁有脚 – Lǔ Yǒujiǎo. His name meaning “having feet”. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

8. 江南 – Jiāngnán. Prosperous region south of Yangtze River, continued from LOCH era. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

9. 郭啸天 – Guō Xiàotiān. His name meaning “roaring at heaven”. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

10. 杨铁心 – Yáng Tiěxīn. His name meaning “iron heart”. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

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

12. 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. ↩

13. 嘉兴 – Jiāxīng. City in northern Zhejiang Province, known for its South Lake and its role as a key location in Jin Yong’s novels. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

14. 傻哥哥 – shǎ gēge. Literally silly elder brother; an intimate form of address, not a claim of kinship. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

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

16. 郭靖 – Guō Jìng. His name meaning “tranquillity” or “pacification”. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

17. 郭芙 – Guō Fú. Her name meaning “lotus”. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

18. 弹指阁 – Tánzhǐ Gé. Finger Flick Pavilion on Peach Blossom Island, named after Huang Yaoshi’s signature technique, the Divine Finger Flick. ↩

19. 两忘峰 – Liǎngwàng Fēng. Two-Forgetting Peak on Peach Blossom Island. Name evokes the Daoist concept of mutual forgetting from the Zhuangzi. ↩

20. 清啸亭 – Qīngxiào Tíng. Clear-Whistling Pavilion, a landmark on Peach Blossom Island. ↩

21. 武敦儒 – Wǔ Dūnrú. His name meaning “earnest scholar”. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

22. 武修文 – Wǔ Xiūwén. His name meaning “cultivate literature”. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

23. 杨哥哥 – Yáng gēge. A child’s affectionate address to an older boy, literally elder brother Yang; it marks familiarity, not kinship. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

24. 蛇蟀 – shéshuài. Literally snake cricket, a type of cricket that lives alongside venomous snakes and carries their scent, making it fearsome to ordinary crickets. ↩

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