The Return of the Condor Heroes Chapter 6 – Part 10

Yang Guo took it that she meant to talk him into kowtowing to Li Mochou. He had no wish to, but he bent his ear down all the same. Xiaolongnü’s voice was as thin as a mosquito’s whine. “At the corner of the bed by my feet there’s a stone slab that sticks up,” she breathed. “Pull it hard to the left, then jump up on the bed at once.” Li Mochou also took it that she was telling her disciple to bow his head and beg for mercy. With one of them badly hurt and the other a mere boy of the younger generation, she paid them no heed, but went on turning over in her mind some clever way to force her shimei to hand over the Jade Maiden Heart Sutra.¹

Yang Guo nodded. “Very well,” he said in a ringing voice. “Your disciple pays his respects to Eldest Shibo!” Slowly he reached into the corner of the bed by Xiaolongnü’s feet and felt about, and sure enough his hand met a stone slab that stuck up. He wrenched at it and leapt up on to the bed. There was a grinding and rumbling, and the stone bed suddenly sank. Li Mochou started. She knew the ancient tomb was full of mechanisms, and that their shifu, partial as she was, had kept the secret of working them from her and handed it all down to her shimei. At once she sprang forward and grabbed at Xiaolongnü.

Xiaolongnü had no strength left to resist. The stone bed was sinking, but Li Mochou had seen her chance with lightning speed and struck so fast that she was about to haul Xiaolongnü bodily off the bed. Horrified, Yang Guo struck out with all his strength and knocked her hand away. Everything went black. There were two heavy thuds as the stone bed dropped into the stone chamber below. The stones of the ceiling slid back into place of their own accord, and in an instant the four of them were cut off from each other, Xiaolongnü and her disciple below and Li Mochou and hers above.

In the gloom Yang Guo could make out what seemed to be a table and chairs. He went to the table, struck his tinder and lit the stub of candle on it. “My blood is running too low,” sighed Xiaolongnü. “I can’t circulate my power to heal the injury. But even if I weren’t hurt, the two of us together could never beat my shijie…” At the words “my blood is running too low” Yang Guo did not wait for her to finish. He raised his left hand, picked out the vein in his wrist and bit down with all his might, and the blood spurted out. He put the wound to Xiaolongnü’s lips, and the blood gurgled into her mouth.

Xiaolongnü had been icy cold all over, but as the warm blood went down, a faint warmth spread through her. Yet she knew it was not right and tried to struggle, but Yang Guo’s right arm held her fast round the waist, and she could not move. Before long the wound clotted, and Yang Guo bit it open again, and then bit his right wrist too. When he had fed her his blood several times over, his head was swimming and his whole body was drained of strength, and only then did he sit up. Xiaolongnü gazed at him a long while without a word. Then she gave a soft sigh and went back to her training. Yang Guo saw that the candle was about to gutter out and put in a new one.

That night each of them worked alone, Yang Guo to restore himself after losing so much blood. Yang Guo’s blood had greatly revived Xiaolongnü’s spirits, and two shichen² later she knew her life was saved. She opened her eyes and gave him a faint smile. Her cheeks had been deathly pale, and now there were suddenly two patches of pink on them, like a faint wash of rouge on white jade. “Aunt, you’re better,” cried Yang Guo in delight. Xiaolongnü nodded. Yang Guo was so happy he did not know what to say. He did not know, of course, that to make good lost blood it must be put into the veins, and that drinking blood will not necessarily replace it. But Xiaolongnü had been so weak and so close to death that the sudden surge of qi and blood in her body did something, at least, to rally her spirits and build up her strength.

“Let’s go to Granny Sun’s room,” said Xiaolongnü. “I have something to say to you.” “Aren’t you tired?” said Yang Guo. “It doesn’t matter,” said Xiaolongnü. She reached out and worked the mechanism in the stone wall a few times. The stones turned and a doorway opened. Yang Guo knew none of the passages down here. Xiaolongnü led him round and about in the dark until they came to Granny Sun’s room.

She lit a candle and tied up Yang Guo’s clothes in a bundle, and wrapped her own pair of gold-thread gloves in with them. Yang Guo stared at her blankly. “Aunt,” he said, puzzled, “what are you doing?” Xiaolongnü did not answer, but put two big bottles of Jade Bee paste into the bundle as well. “Aunt, we’re going out, aren’t we?” said Yang Guo happily. “That’s wonderful.”

“Go, and go well,” said Xiaolongnü. “I know you’re a good boy, and you’ve been very good to me.” Yang Guo was horrified. “Aunt, what about you?” “I swore to my shifu that I would never leave this tomb as long as I lived,” said Xiaolongnü. “Unless… unless… No. I’m not going out.” She shook her head sadly.

Yang Guo saw how stern her face was and how firm her voice, and knew she would allow no argument. He dared not say any more. But this was too grave a matter, and at last he plucked up his courage again. “Aunt, if you don’t go, I won’t either. I’ll stay with you.” “By now my shijie must be guarding the way out of the tomb,” said Xiaolongnü, “to force me to give up the Jade Maiden Heart Sutra. My skill is far below hers, and I’m hurt besides. I can’t possibly beat her, can I?” “No,” said Yang Guo. “By my reckoning,” said Xiaolongnü, “the food we’ve laid by will barely last twenty days or so. With some honey and the like, a month at most. And after a month, what then?” Yang Guo was dumbfounded. “We’ll fight our way out. We can’t beat Shibo, but that doesn’t mean we can’t escape with our lives.” Xiaolongnü shook her head. “If you knew your shibo’s martial arts and her temper, you’d know we could never escape. Not only would she shame and torment us cruelly, we’d die in agony.” “If that’s so,” said Yang Guo, “it would be still harder for me to get out on my own.”

Xiaolongnü shook her head. “No! I’ll go and challenge her to fight and lead her deep into the ancient tomb, and you can slip out while she’s gone. When you’re outside, move the great stone to the left of the tomb, pull out the lever behind it, and two ten-thousand-jin³ boulders will drop and seal the tomb door for ever.” The more Yang Guo heard, the more alarmed he grew. “Aunt,” he asked, “you’ll work the mechanism and come out too, won’t you?”

Xiaolongnü shook her head. “No. Long ago, when Wang Chongyang rose against the Jin and was planning a great campaign, this stone tomb was his great storehouse for money, grain and weapons. Its mechanisms are layered one inside another and laid out with great care, and at the door of the tomb he installed these two ten-thousand-jin³ boulders, which he called the ‘Dragon-Breaking Stones’.⁴ He reckoned that if the Jin troops got wind of it and attacked before his volunteer army had risen, and he could not hold out against their numbers, he would drop the boulders and shut himself in the tomb to die, and the enemy who had broken into the tomb would never get out alive either. Once the Dragon-Breaking Stones have fallen they can never be raised again. You know the passage into the tomb is very narrow and lets only one person through at a time, so even if a thousand enemies came into the tomb, they could only stand in one long file, and only the man at the front could lay hands on the boulder blocking the door. No one man, however strong, could ever lift it. When that old Daoist arranged it so, he meant to die rather than yield, and take the enemy with him besides. After his rising against the Jin failed and he lived alone in the stone tomb, the Jin ruler found out where he was and sent dozens of masters, one after another, to kill him, and he captured or killed every one of them. Not a single man escaped. Later the Jin ruler died suddenly, and the emperor who came after him knew nothing of the matter and sent no one else after him, so the two Dragon-Breaking Stones were never used. When Wang Chongyang gave up the Tomb of the Living Dead, he told our founding matriarch about every mechanism in it.” She spoke slowly, panting all the while.

The more Yang Guo heard, the more frightened he grew. “Aunt,” he said, the tears running down his face, “live or die, I’m staying with you.” “What good would it do you to stay with me?” said Xiaolongnü. “You said the world outside was great fun, so go out and have your fun. With the skill you have now, those stinking Quanzhen Daoists can’t trouble you any more. You tricked Hong Lingbo. You’re far cleverer than I am, and you won’t need me to look after you any more.”

Yang Guo ran to her and threw his arms round her, weeping. “Aunt, if I can’t be with you, I’ll never be happy as long as I live.”

Xiaolongnü had always been cold and proud and without feeling, and when she spoke it was final, with no room left to argue. But now, somehow, hearing Yang Guo’s words, she felt the hot blood surge in her breast, and her eyes stung until she could hardly keep back the tears. She was badly frightened, for she remembered how her shifu, on her deathbed, had warned her again and again, “The skill you train is a superior art that cuts off the seven emotions and the six desires. If ever you shed tears for anyone or let true feeling move you, and above all if you shed tears for a man, not only will your martial arts suffer greatly, your very life will be in danger. Remember it, remember it.” She pushed Yang Guo away hard. “When I tell you to do something,” she said coldly, “you do as I say.”

Yang Guo saw how suddenly stern she had become, and dared not say any more. Xiaolongnü tied the bundle on his back, took a long jian down from the wall and put it into his hand. “In a moment, when I tell you to go,” she said sharply, “go at once. The moment you’re out of the tomb door, drop the great boulders and seal it. Your shibo is fearsome beyond words, and the chance will be gone in a moment. Will you do as I say?” “I’ll do as you say,” said Yang Guo, his voice choking. “If you don’t do as I tell you,” said Xiaolongnü, “I’ll hate you for ever, dead in the world below. Go!” She took Yang Guo by the hand, opened the door and went out.

Whenever Yang Guo had touched her hand before, it had always been as cold as ice. But now, as she held his, he felt her palm go hot and then cold, quite unlike its usual self. His heart was boiling with anguish, though, and he had no thought to spare for such small things, but followed her all the way. After a while Xiaolongnü felt along a stone wall. “They’re in there,” she whispered. “As soon as I’ve drawn my shijie away, you dash out through the side door in the north-west corner. If Hong Lingbo comes after you, hit her with the Jade Bee Needles.”⁵ Yang Guo’s mind was in a turmoil. He nodded.

The Jade Bee Needles were a concealed weapon of the Ancient Tomb School and no other. In her day Lin Chaoying had had two concealed weapons more deadly than any others, one the Soul-Freezing Silver Needles and the other the Jade Bee Needles. The Jade Bee Needles were gold needles as fine as a hair, with a core of tempered steel plated over with several coats of gold, then steeped in the venom from the stings of the jade bees. Tiny as they were, the weight of the gold let them carry a long way when thrown. But the weapon was too vicious and too hard to guard against, and Lin Chaoying had seldom used it, and once in her middle years her martial arts had passed into the realm of the divine, she had no need of it at all. Xiaolongnü’s shifu had taught Li Mochou the Soul-Freezing Silver Needles, but because Li Mochou would not swear to live in the ancient tomb for ever and carry on the school, she never taught her the art of the Jade Bee Needles. Yang Guo, though, had learned it from Xiaolongnü.

Xiaolongnü gathered herself for a moment, then pressed the mechanism in the stone wall. With a grinding rumble the wall slid slowly away to the left. At once her two silk ribbons lashed out, the left at Li Mochou and the right at Hong Lingbo, and she went in behind them with astonishing speed. By now Li Mochou had long since freed Hong Lingbo’s acupoints and given her a few sharp words, and she was working out the layout of the tomb, looking for a way out of the chamber, when Xiaolongnü came at them. Shifu and disciple both started. Li Mochou swept out her horsetail whisk and turned the silk ribbon aside. Whisk and silk ribbon are the softest of things, soft against soft, but Li Mochou’s power was far greater, and the moment the two weapons met, Xiaolongnü’s ribbon came curling straight back.

Footnotes

1. 玉女心经 – Yùnǚ Xīnjīng. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

2. 时辰 – shíchen. Traditional Chinese double hour; one twelfth of a day, equal to two modern hours. ↩

3. 斤 – jīn. Traditional Chinese unit of weight, approximately 500 grams or 1.1 pounds. Ten thousand jin is a conventional expression for an immense weight. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩ ↩²

4. 断龙石 – Duànlóng Shí. Dragon-Breaking Stone, two massive ten-thousand-jin blocks installed by Wang Chongyang at the tomb entrance. Once dropped, they seal the tomb permanently. ↩

5. 玉蜂针 – Yùfēng Zhēn. Fine needles coated with Jade Bee poison, a signature concealed weapon of the Ancient Tomb School. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩