The Return of the Condor Heroes Chapter 5 – Part 3

Granny Sun knew nothing of formations. She had traded only a few moves when she saw how deadly this one was, and with only one hand free to fight, by the twelfth or thirteenth exchange she was in danger at every turn. Each attack she made was turned aside as Zhen Zhibing shifted the formation, while the Dipper’s assault came on without a break. After ten-odd more exchanges, two Daoists had her right palm tied up and two more came at her from the left. She had to set Yang Guo down and meet them with her left hand, and at once a whistle sounded within the Dipper Formation and two Daoists darted in to seize Yang Guo.

Granny Sun was secretly alarmed. These stinking Daoists really do know a thing or two. This old woman can’t deal with them. Driving two of them off with kicks from under her skirt, she began a low, droning hum. At first it was very faint and the Daoists paid it no heed, but each hum overlapped the one before, layer upon layer, and it grew louder and louder.

From the moment the fighting began, Zhen Zhibing had been on his guard. He knew that the senior who had once lived in this tomb had been a match in martial skill for the Patriarch who founded his own Order, so her successors were naturally no ordinary opponents. At the sound of the humming he took it for some art of carrying sound to seize the mind, and at once held his breath and steadied his spirit so as not to fall under its spell. He listened for a while. Her humming grew louder and louder, yet his mind did not waver in the least. He was just wondering at this when something suddenly came back to him, and he was badly shaken. He was about to order the Daoists to fall back when the droning in the distance merged with the hum from Granny Sun’s lips into a single sound. “Fall back, all of you, quick!” Zhen Zhibing shouted. The Daoists stared blankly, thinking, We have the upper hand. We’ll soon take the old woman and the boy alive. Why be afraid of an old hag’s caterwauling? Suddenly grey shapes flickered in the forest, and a swarm of jade bees flew out and swooped down on their heads. The Daoists had seen what Zhao Zhijing had suffered, and every one of them was frightened out of his wits. They turned and ran, and the bees flew after them in hot pursuit.

It looked as though not one of the Daoists would escape the stings, and Granny Sun roared with laughter. Then an old Daoist came rushing out of the forest with a torch held high in each hand. Thick smoke rose from the flames, and he waved them at the swarm. Under the black smoke the bees fell into confusion and fled far away in a panic. Granny Sun started. She looked at the old Daoist and saw white hair, white brows and a very long face. By the look of him he was one of the Quanzhen Order’s finest. “Hey, you old Daoist, who are you?” she demanded. “Why are you driving off my bees?”

The old Daoist laughed. “I am Hao Datong,¹ and I pay my respects to you, Granny.”

Granny Sun had never had dealings with anyone of the wulin, but living so close to Chongyang Palace, she knew that Guangningzi, Hao Datong, was one of the seven great disciples of Wang Chongyang. If young Daoists like Zhao Zhijing and Zhen Zhibing were already so capable, she thought, this old Daoist would be harder still to deal with. The smoke from his torches reached her nose, and it stank so foully that she wanted to retch. The torches, she guessed, must be bound from herbs used for smoking out poisonous insects. With no jade bees to rely on now, she had better call it a day while she could. “You’ve smoked and spoiled our Miss’s bees,” she snapped, “and you’ll pay for them. I’ll settle with you later.” She picked up Yang Guo and sprang into the forest.

Zhen Zhibing asked, “Hao shishu,² do we go after her?” Hao Datong shook his head. “The Perfected One³ who founded our Order laid down a strict rule that no one may enter that forest. Let us go back to the temple, think it over at our leisure and then decide what to do.”

Granny Sun took Yang Guo by the hand and went back into the tomb. Having come through this danger together, the two of them were closer than ever. Yang Guo was afraid that Xiaolongnü would still refuse to let him stay. “Don’t you worry,” said Granny Sun. “I’ll keep at her till she agrees to take you.” She told him to rest in a stone chamber and went off to plead with Xiaolongnü herself.

Yang Guo waited a long time, but there was no sign of her coming back, and he grew more and more anxious. Aunt Long most likely won’t take me in, he thought. Even if Granny forces her to agree, there’s no joy in staying where I’m not wanted. He thought it over for a little while, made up his mind and quietly slipped out.

He had just stepped out of the chamber when Granny Sun came hurrying towards him. “Where are you going?” she asked. “Granny, I’m going,” said Yang Guo. “When I’m older I’ll come back and see you.” “No,” said Granny Sun. “I’ll take you somewhere where nobody can bully you.” At this, Yang Guo knew that Xiaolongnü had indeed refused to keep him. A pang went through his heart, and he hung his head. “There’s no need for that. I’m a naughty boy. Wherever I go, nobody wants me. Granny, don’t go to any more trouble over me.” Granny Sun had argued with Xiaolongnü for a long while, and seeing her refuse so stubbornly, she had lost her temper too. Now, seeing how pitiful Yang Guo was, she felt the hot blood surge up in her breast. “Child,” she cried, “if nobody else wants you, Granny loves you all the same. Come with me. Wherever we go, Granny will always be with you.”

Yang Guo was overjoyed. He took her hand, and the two of them went out of the tomb gate together. Granny Sun was so angry that she did not even turn back to fetch her things. She felt inside her robe and touched a bottle, and remembered that it was the bee honey meant to cure Zhao Zhijing of the venom. That stinking Daoist is a nasty piece of work, she thought, but he doesn’t deserve to die. If he doesn’t take this honey, there’ll be no end of trouble. And she set off with Yang Guo towards Chongyang Palace.

When Yang Guo saw that she was making for Chongyang Palace, he got a fright. “Granny,” he whispered, “what are you going there for?” “To take medicine to that stinking shifu of yours,” said Granny Sun. A few bounds brought her close to the temple. She leapt onto the top of the wall and was about to drop down into the courtyard when, out of the darkness, a bell suddenly clanged in urgent alarm, and whistles shrilled far and near. Out of utter silence, a clamour burst out on every side at once.

The Quanzhen Order was one of the greatest schools in the wulin, and even its everyday precautions were uncommonly strict. That day, after one incident after another, guards had been posted on every side, and the moment they saw someone break into the palace they raised the alarm and passed the word, and the disciples in the palace at once went out in squads to meet the enemy. Band after band of Daoists also fanned out far afield, both to encircle the attackers and to cut off any help that might come to them.

Granny Sun swore under her breath. This old woman hasn’t come to fight. Who do you think you’re frightening with all this stinking show? “Zhao Zhijing, come out here,” she shouted. “I’ve something to say to you.” A middle-aged Daoist came out of the Great Hall in answer. “What brings you breaking into our humble temple in the dead of night?” “This is medicine for his bee venom,” said Granny Sun. “Take it!” She tossed the bottle of jade bee honey across to him. The Daoist caught it, half believing and half doubting. Why should she be so kind as to bring us medicine? he wondered. “What kind of medicine is it?” he called out. “No need to ask so many questions,” said Granny Sun. “Make him drink every drop, and you’ll see what it does.” “How do I know whether you mean well or ill,” said the Daoist, “or whether this is an antidote or a poison? Zhao shixiong⁴ is in a terrible state already, thanks to you. How is it you’ve suddenly grown a bodhisattva’s heart?”

Granny Sun heard him speak so insolently, twisting her kindness into an attempt at poisoning, and her anger was past holding back. She set Yang Guo down on the ground, leapt forward, snatched the jade bee honey out of his hand and pulled out the stopper. “Open your mouth!” she said to Yang Guo. Yang Guo did not know what she meant to do, but he did as he was told and opened wide. Granny Sun tipped up the porcelain bottle and poured the whole bottleful of jade bee honey into his mouth. “There,” she said. “Now they needn’t suspect it’s poison. Guoer, let’s go!” With that she took Yang Guo’s hand and made for the wall.

This Daoist was called Zhang Zhiguang,⁵ and he was Hao Datong’s second disciple. Now he was privately sorry he had doubted her for no reason. It looked as though what she had brought really was the antidote, and without it, Zhao Zhijing might well not pull through. He hurried forward and spread his arms to bar the way. “Esteemed Senior,” he said with a laugh, “why such a temper? I made a joke without thinking, and you took it seriously. We’ve been neighbours all these years, so surely there’s a little goodwill between us. Ha ha. Since it’s the antidote, please be so kind as to let us have it.”

Granny Sun gave a cold laugh. “There was only the one bottle of antidote, and there’s no more where that came from. As for Zhao Zhijing’s wounds, you can find a way to cure them yourselves!” “I don’t believe there was only one bottle,” said Zhang Zhiguang. “I’ll just come along with you and fetch some more.” He winked and pulled faces and gave a sly snigger. Granny Sun loathed his glib tongue and his flippancy. She swung her hand back and slapped him across the face. “You’ve no respect for your seniors,” she snapped. “Here’s a lesson for you.” The blow came astonishingly fast. Zhang Zhiguang had no time to dodge, and with a sharp smack it caught him full on the cheek, crisp and stinging.

The two Daoists by the door changed colour. “Senior you may be,” they said together, “but do you think we’ll let you run riot in Chongyang Palace?” One struck with his left palm and the other with his right, closing in on her from both sides at once. Granny Sun had had a taste of the Quanzhen Order’s Dipper Formation skills and knew they were not to be trifled with. Here in the very heart of their ground, how could she afford to fight it out? She swayed, slipped through the gap between their palms, scooped up Yang Guo and leapt for the top of the wall.

There seemed to be no one on the wall, but just as she was about to set foot on it, someone outside sprang up. “Get down!” he shouted, driving both palms at her face. Granny Sun was in mid-air with nothing to push against, and could only answer with her right hand. One palm met two, and each side was driven back, so that they landed on opposite sides of the wall. Six or seven Daoists whistled one after another and hemmed her into a corner of the wall.

These six or seven were all crack fighters of the Quanzhen Order’s third generation, specially chosen to guard the Great Hall of the palace. In a flash they had surged at her several times in waves, one advancing as another fell back, one falling back as another advanced. Granny Sun was pinned in the corner. She tried to break out with Yang Guo, but the wall of men those Daoists made stopped her dead, and every charge was driven back.

After ten-odd more exchanges, Zhang Zhiguang, who was in charge of defending the Great Hall, knew the enemy was finished, and at once gave orders for the candles to be lit. More than ten huge candles flared up round the Great Hall, lighting up Granny Sun’s ashen face, her ugly features grim and frightening. “Hold the formation. Stop fighting,” Zhang Zhiguang called. The seven Daoists who had been trading palm blows with Granny Sun sprang back together, palms raised before their chests, each holding his position. Granny Sun caught her breath and gave a cold laugh. “The Quanzhen Order’s might shakes the world, and it’s a reputation well earned. Dozens of strapping young mangy Daoists ganging up to bully one old woman and one little boy. Heh heh. Formidable, oh, formidable!”

Zhang Zhiguang reddened. “We’re only arresting an assassin who broke into Chongyang Palace. Old woman or grown man, it makes no odds: whoever walks in standing tall goes out bent low.” Granny Sun sneered. “And what’s going out bent low supposed to mean? You want this old woman to crawl out of your gate on all fours, is that it?” Zhang Zhiguang’s face was still smarting badly from her slap, and he had no intention of letting the matter drop. “Letting you go isn’t hard,” he said. “You need only agree to three things. First, you set your bees on Zhao shixiong, so you must leave the antidote. Second, this boy is a disciple of the Quanzhen Order. Without leave from the Perfected One who heads our Order, how can he turn his back on his school as he pleases? You’ll leave him here. Third, you forced your way into Chongyang Palace, so you must kowtow before Patriarch Chongyang and beg forgiveness.”

Granny Sun roared with laughter. “I told our Miss long ago that the Daoists of the Quanzhen Order are a worthless lot. When has this old woman ever been wrong? Come, come, come, I’ll kowtow and beg your pardon.” With that she dipped into a woman’s bow, as if about to kneel.

Footnotes

1. 郝大通 – Hǎo Dàtōng. His name meaning “great penetration”. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

2. 师叔 – shīshū. Junior lineage uncle. Shidi or shimei of one’s shifu. Shī means teacher. Shū means father’s younger brother. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

3. 真人 – zhēnrén. The Perfected One; literally true person. Honorific title for a Daoist master of the highest attainment. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

4. 师兄 – shīxiōng. Male senior. Both apprenticed to the same shifu. Shī means teacher. Xiōng means older brother. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

5. 张志光 – Zhāng Zhìguāng. His name meaning “aspiring to brightness”. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩