The Return of the Condor Heroes Chapter 7 – Part 2

Now, seeing how sincerely Yang Guo treated Xiaolongnü, Li Mochou felt both envy and bitter hatred. She thought of Lu Zhanyuan’s faithless cruelty toward her, and her brows rose sharply. “Shimei,” she called, “you truly have good fortune.” Hatred surged in her heart. She wanted her shimei never to enjoy the love of a true-hearted man either. Her long sword shot forward toward Yang Guo’s throat. Xiaolongnü saw that she truly meant to deliver a killing blow. With the moment at hand, she had no choice but to intervene. Her left hand swept out, and more than ten Jade Bee Needles flew forth in a volley.

Li Mochou leapt up, evading the golden needles. Xiaolongnü had already pulled Yang Guo and dashed toward the doorway. She turned her head and said, “Shijie, whether my vow is broken or not, the four of us are fated to perish together in this tomb. I do not wish to see your face again. Let us each die our own death.” She pressed a spot in the wall corner, and a stone door descended, once again separating the four of them.

Xiaolongnü’s emotions were in turmoil. For a moment she could not take a step. Yang Guo supported her as they went to Granny Sun’s chamber to rest. He poured two cups of Jade Bee Honey Paste¹ and helped her drink one, then drank one himself. Xiaolongnü let out a soft sigh. “Guoer, why were you willing to die for me?” Yang Guo said, “In this world, you are my only family. You treat me well, and I cannot bear to leave you. How could I not die for you?” Xiaolongnü was silent. After a long pause, she said, “If I had known this would happen, we need not have come back into the tomb to die with them. But then again, if we had not come back, I would never have known you were willing to die for me, and my vow could not be considered broken.” Yang Guo said, “Let us think of a way to get out. What do you say?” Xiaolongnü said, “You do not understand how ingeniously this ancient tomb was constructed. We can never leave again.” Yang Guo sighed.

Xiaolongnü said, “You regret it, do you not?” Yang Guo said, “No. Here I am with you. In the outside world, there is no one who cares for me.” Xiaolongnü had once forbidden him to say “you care for me,” and Yang Guo had never mentioned it since. But now her heart had changed. Hearing these words, a warmth she could not describe spread through her. She asked, “Then why did you sigh?” Yang Guo said, “I was thinking, if the two of us went down the mountain together, the world is full of wonderful things to do. With you by my side, it would truly be the happiest thing imaginable.”

Xiaolongnü had lived in the ancient tomb since infancy. Her heart had always been as still as water. Her master and Granny Sun had never told her about the outside world, so she naturally could not imagine it. But now, stirred by Yang Guo’s words, thoughts surged through her like a tide. She felt wave after wave of heat rising in her chest. She tried to use her energy to suppress it, but could not calm herself. She was secretly astonished, in all her life she had never experienced such a state. She supposed it was because, after her severe injury, her internal power was hard to restore. What she did not know was that suppressing the seven emotions and six desires² through the discipline of stillness was in truth acting against nature. It was not that the emotions and desires were thereby eliminated, only that they were rigidly held in check. Now past twenty years of age, suddenly facing mortal peril and with a young man willingly dying for her, her true feelings could not help but be stirred. It was as though a dam had burst, and affection surged forth like floodwaters. A multitude of thoughts rushed upon her all at once.

She sat on the bed and circulated her energy for a while, but restlessness only grew. She paced about the room, yet the more she walked the more stifled she felt. Her steps quickened until she was running. Yang Guo saw both her cheeks flushed crimson and her expression agitated. In all the time he had known her, he had never seen her like this. He was alarmed. Xiaolongnü ran for a while, then sat back down on the bed. She looked at Yang Guo and saw his face filled with deep concern and tender affection. A thought suddenly stirred in her heart: In any case, I am about to die, and he is about to die too. Why should we still distinguish between master and disciple, aunt and nephew? If he came to hold me, I would never push him away. I would let him hold me tight.

Yang Guo saw the shifting light in her eyes, her chest heaving with rapid breaths, and thought her injury had flared up again. “Gugu, what is wrong?” he said urgently. Xiaolongnü’s voice was soft. “Guoer, come here.” Yang Guo walked to the bedside as told. Xiaolongnü took his hand and gently stroked it against her own cheek. In a low voice she said, “Guoer, do you like me?” Yang Guo felt her face burning hot as fire. Panic seized him. His voice trembled. “Does your chest hurt terribly?” Xiaolongnü smiled faintly. “No. I feel very comfortable inside. Guoer, I am about to die. Tell me, do you truly like me?” Yang Guo said, “Of course. In this world, you are my only family.” Xiaolongnü said, “If there were another girl who treated you the way I do, would you treat her well too?” Yang Guo said, “Whoever treats me well, I treat well in return.” The moment these words left his mouth, he suddenly felt Xiaolongnü’s hand, clasping his, tremble several times, then turn ice cold. He raised his head and saw that her face, which had been flushed with a delicate, enchanting bloom, had suddenly returned to its usual pallor.

Yang Guo was jolted. There are thousands upon thousands of girls in this world. If thousands upon thousands of girls all treated me well, would I like thousands upon thousands of girls? Take that little Daoist nun Hong Lingbo, for instance. When she held me and spoke to me so warmly and intimately, it was pleasant enough. But how could she compare with Gugu? He said, “Gugu, the way I treat other girls is not the same as the way I treat you. Earlier, when you lowered the Dragon Severing Stone, the thought that I might never be with you again was worse than death. I would rather starve to death with you in this ancient tomb, or be beaten to death by Li Mochou at your side. Gugu, if I could not be near you, I would still rather be dead. If there were another girl in this world who treated me as well as you do, I would regard her as a good person, but only as a good friend. I could never die for her.”

Xiaolongnü said, “Why? Is it because I treat you well?” Yang Guo said, “Gugu, I like seeing you, being at your side. Whether you treat me well or not has nothing to do with it. Even if you beat me and cursed me every day, even if you cut a new scar on me with your sword each day, I would still truly like you. Even if Heaven made me a dog or a cat and you whipped me and kicked me every day, I would still insist on staying at your side. Gugu, in this entire life, I like only you.” Xiaolongnü smiled beautifully. “That is very good. I feel the same about you.”

Master and disciple had spent every waking moment together in the stone tomb. Affection had long since secretly grown between them, its roots sunk deep. Yet neither had clearly recognised it themselves. Apart from martial arts, their daily conversation touched on nothing else. Only now, facing the great barrier between life and death, did they truly understand the depth of feeling in their hearts, that they were, in fact, so inseparable, so unable to part. Xiaolongnü was deeply happy. She sighed and said, “Now I can be at ease.” She gripped his hand tightly and would not let go. Yang Guo felt wave after wave of warmth passing from her hand into his.

Xiaolongnü said, “Guoer, I have been truly bad to you.” Yang Guo hurriedly said, “No, you have always been good.” Xiaolongnü shook her head. “I was very harsh with you before. At first I wanted to drive you away. Thank heaven Granny Sun kept you. If I had not tried to drive you away, Granny Sun would not have died!” At these words, tears could not help but spring from her eyes. Since the age of five, when she had begun her martial training, she had never shed a tear. Now, weeping once more, her heart and spirit were thrown into great turmoil. Her entire body made cracking sounds at the joints, as if her neili was leaving her. Yang Guo was terrified. He could only cry, “You… Gugu, what is happening? How do you feel?”

At that very moment, a grinding sound suddenly rang out. The stone door slid open, and Li Mochou and Hong Lingbo walked in. It turned out that Li Mochou had thought, Since the Dragon Severing Stone has fallen, death is inevitable regardless. There is no need to fear the deadly mechanisms that fill this tomb. Summoning her courage, she pressed forward and, as it happened, passed through several stone chambers in succession until she reached Granny Sun’s room. She secretly rejoiced, thinking her luck had been extraordinarily good, that she had triggered no traps and met no obstacles. She did not realise that the tomb’s mechanisms had been designed to resist large numbers of Jin³ soldiers. They were all constructed from massive stone, crude and heavy, requiring someone to operate them in order to repel enemies. Since Xiaolongnü was not setting any ambushes, the various mechanisms naturally remained inactive. Li Mochou had lived in the ancient tomb in her youth and had a rough understanding of the main mechanisms’ structures and operation. But since her master had resolved not to pass on the mantle to her, she had not been taught the methods for activating the tomb’s many ingenious devices.

Yang Guo immediately sprang forward, placing himself before Xiaolongnü. Li Mochou said, “Step aside. I have something to say to my shimei.” Yang Guo, wary that she might use some trick to harm his master, refused to move. “Say it right there,” he said. Li Mochou stared at him for a long moment, then sighed. “A man like you is truly rare in this world.” Xiaolongnü suddenly rose to her feet and asked, “Shijie, what do you mean? Is he good or not?” Li Mochou said, “Shimei, you have never descended the mountain. You do not know how treacherous the human heart can be. A man of such deep feeling and loyalty as him, you could search the entire world and never find a second.” Having been wounded to the depths of her soul in matters of love, Li Mochou spoke with excessive vehemence born of grief and fury, erasing from existence every true-hearted man under heaven.

Xiaolongnü was immensely comforted. In a low voice she said, “Then, having him accompany me in death, this life has not been lived in vain.” Li Mochou said, “Shimei, what exactly is he to you? Have you married him?” Xiaolongnü said, “No. He is my disciple. He says that in this entire life, he likes only me. He would rather die than leave me.”

Li Mochou found this deeply strange. She shook her head. “Shimei, let me see your arm.” She extended her left hand and gently took hold of Xiaolongnü’s hand, then with her right hand rolled up Xiaolongnü’s sleeve. On that snow-white skin was a single crimson dot, the Guardian Palace Sand⁴ placed there by their master. Li Mochou was inwardly filled with admiration: These two have lived cheek by jowl in the ancient tomb, yet they have maintained propriety. She is still a pure, unsullied maiden. She then rolled up her own sleeve. The single dot of Guardian Palace Sand on her arm was also delicately bright. The two white arms side by side were strikingly beautiful. But she herself had kept her chastity only because she had no choice, whereas her shimei had a man who willingly died for her and yet still preserved her purity like jade. The difference in difficulty was vast. Thinking to this point, she could not help but let out a long sigh and released Xiaolongnü’s arm.

Xiaolongnü said, “What did you wish to say to me?” Li Mochou’s original intent had been to humiliate her, to accuse her of seducing a man and bringing disgrace to the sect, hoping to provoke her into fury and shame so that she would inadvertently reveal the tomb’s exit mechanism. But now she had nothing to say. She was silent for a moment, then a new idea came to her. “Shimei, I have come to apologise to you.” Xiaolongnü was greatly surprised. She had always known this shijie to be proud and arrogant, one who would never bow her head to anyone. She could not guess the intent behind these words. She said coolly, “You do what you do, and I do what I do. Each follows her own path. There is no need to apologise.” Li Mochou said, “Shimei, listen to me. For us women, the greatest blessing in life is to have a true-hearted man. The ancients had a saying: ‘A priceless treasure is easy to find. A loving companion is hard to come by.’⁵ Your shijie has been ill-fated, that goes without saying. This youth treats you so well. In truth, you lack for nothing.” Xiaolongnü smiled faintly. “I am very happy. He will always treat me well. I know it.”

Li Mochou was seized by envy. Thinking of her own misfortune, she said slowly, “Little Shimei, you have lived your entire life in this stone tomb. The only man you know is him. You do not realise that in this world, faithless men are many, and those who are truly loyal to you. I fear there is not even half of one. Your shijie once had a man who was dear to her. He spoke the sweetest words to me, saying he would die for me a thousand, ten thousand times without the slightest regret. Who could have guessed that after we were parted for just two months, he met a young and beautiful girl and immediately became utterly besotted with her. When he saw me again, he would not even look at me, as if we had never known each other. I asked him what was the matter. He said, ‘Miss Li, you and I are friends bound by the code of the jianghu.⁶ I am grateful for how well you treated me in the past. If in the future there is any way I can repay you, I shall not dare forget.’ He even had the shamelessness to say, ‘Miss Li, on the twenty-fourth of next month, I will be marrying Miss He in Dali.⁷ If you are free at that time, I would be honoured if you would attend the wedding banquet.’ I was so enraged that I vomited blood on the spot and collapsed unconscious. He revived me and helped me to an inn to rest, then strode off without a backward glance.” As she recounted the cruel words Lu Zhanyuan had spoken to her all those years ago, her expression and tone perfectly mimicked those of a heartless, faithless man, only infused with the deepest bitterness and hatred. Over these years, she had indeed replayed Lu Zhanyuan’s words to her in her mind at every moment.

Footnotes

1. 玉蜂浆 – Yùfēng Jiāng. Honey-like substance produced by the jade bees kept by the Ancient Tomb School. It serves as both a nourishing tonic and an antidote to the bees’ venom. ↩

2. 七情六欲 – qīqíng liùyù. In traditional Chinese thought, the seven emotions are joy, anger, sorrow, fear, love, hate, and desire; the six desires arise from the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind. ↩

3. Jin Dynasty (金朝). Jurchen-led dynasty (1115—1234) that ruled northern China during this period. Wang Chongyang’s volunteer army fought against the Jin, who had conquered the Central Plains from the Song dynasty. ↩

4. 守宫砂 – shǒugōng shā. Traditional folk belief: a crimson dot applied to a maiden’s arm, said to vanish if she lost her chastity. ↩

5. “A priceless treasure is easy to find; a loving companion is hard to come by” (易求无价宝，难得有情郎). Line from the Tang dynasty poetess Yu Xuanji (鱼玄机). Full couplet reads: “易求无价宝，难得有心郎” (A priceless treasure is easy to find; a man with a true heart is hard to come by). Li Mochou adapts “有心郎” (a man with heart) to “有情郎” (a loving companion). ↩

6. 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. ↩

7. 大理 – Dàlǐ. Historical kingdom in present-day Yunnan Province (937–1253), contemporaneous with the Song dynasty. In the Condor Trilogy it is associated with the Duan imperial family and Great Master Yideng. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩