The Return of the Condor Heroes Chapter 7 – Part 3

Xiaolongnü asked, “What happened after that? Did you simply let it go?”

Li Mochou said, “Let it go? When a man’s heart changes, not even a thousand horses can drag him back! Even if you held a steel blade to his throat and forced him to return to your side, his affection would be false, his sweet words mere trickery to deceive you a while longer. What pleasure would there be in that? The men of this world, every one of them, loves the new and discards the old, shifts affections at the first new sight. Even if you were a celestial immortal, a paragon of charm and beauty, you could never make him true to you forever. Little Shimei, this man, he is truly willing to die for you. A man like this, I have yearned for him in my thoughts day and night, hoping only that I might be fortunate enough to meet one. He could be an idiot or a hideous monster. I would still treat him with all my heart. Shimei, you have found one. How fortunate you are! I do not envy you that our master passed on the Jade Maiden Heart Sutra to you. I only envy that you have met such a good disciple.”

Yang Guo said loudly, “Li shibo¹, I am the fortunate one, to have met such a good master!” Li Mochou sighed. “Both of you are fortunate. It is only a pity that you are both so young and must spend the rest of your lives in this lightless ancient tomb, never to see the dazzling world outside. You will regret it someday.”

Yang Guo loudly protested, “Never, never! If I ever feel the slightest regret, let her strike me dead with a single sword stroke. I will never flee.” Xiaolongnü looked at him with gentle tenderness and comforted him. “Guoer, do not be anxious. I believe that being with me, you will never regret it.” Yang Guo reached out and took her hand. The moment their palms touched, their hearts were linked in understanding. They knew deeply that in this life and beyond, they would never betray each other. They gazed at each other. Though the light in the stone chamber was dim, they felt as though they had spoken a thousand, ten thousand words, pledging their devotion, with no fear that either would one day change.

Li Mochou sighed. “Shimei, you are a young girl. You do not understand the treachery of the human heart. No one can blame you for that. Today, your shijie will teach you a technique for self-protection. Our master would not have taught you this, because she never left the stone tomb and did not understand it herself.” Xiaolongnü, hearing the gravity in her voice, said, “Thank you, Shijie, for your guidance.”

Li Mochou said, “The day your man’s manner toward you suddenly changes, when he was once deeply intimate, loving you to the point of madness, and suddenly he becomes distant and polite, that is when his heart has changed. You may not see it at first, but you must be on heightened guard. Watch for any trace or sign. You absolutely must not let it pass.”

Xiaolongnü said, “We are only here in this stone tomb. What trace or sign could there be? Shijie, thank you for telling me your own experience. But I will have no use for it, because for a thousand years, for ten thousand years, he will never change his heart toward me.”

A pang of bitterness shot through Li Mochou’s heart. She continued, “That is wonderful indeed. Then you should go down the mountain and enjoy yourselves thoroughly. The dazzling world, the two of you flying side by side, sharing blissful delights, truly there would be no end to it.” Xiaolongnü raised her head and was lost in thought for a moment, then said softly, “Yes. It is a pity that it is already too late.” Li Mochou said, “Why?” Xiaolongnü said, “The Dragon Severing Stone has already been lowered. Even if our master returned to life, we could never leave again.” Li Mochou had lowered her pride and spent considerable effort with her words, hoping to stir Xiaolongnü’s will to live and, relying on her familiarity with the ancient tomb’s layout, find a path to survival. Who could have known that in the end it was all hopeless? She thought of how she herself had been betrayed, how her lover’s heart had changed, and now, in the end, she was trapped in the ancient tomb to be buried alive. Rage and desperation surged within her, and killing intent arose unbidden. Her wrist turned slightly as she raised her palm to strike down on Xiaolongnü’s crown.

Yang Guo suddenly saw Li Mochou launch a killing strike. In his panic, he instinctively crouched down and let out a loud gua cry, thrusting both palms forward. He had used the Toad Stance² taught to him by Ouyang Feng.³ This was a skill he had learned in his childhood. He had never practised it since entering the ancient tomb, but it was deeply engraved in his mind. At the most critical moment, it emerged without conscious thought. Li Mochou’s palm was descending but had not yet landed when she suddenly felt a fierce, overpowering palm force pressing in from the side. She hurriedly pulled back her palm to block downward. Yang Guo had trained in the ancient tomb for two years, and his internal power had greatly increased. Although it had no connection whatsoever to the Toad Stance, the force of this push was far beyond what it had been before. With a bang, he sent Li Mochou flying backward. She crashed heavily into the stone wall, feeling a searing pain in her spine.

Li Mochou was furious. She rubbed her palms together, and the small chamber was instantly filled with a foul, nauseating stench. Xiaolongnü knew that Yang Guo’s successful strike just now had been nothing but luck. If her shijie truly unleashed her lethal Scarlet Serpent Divine Palm,⁴ the combined strength of herself and Yang Guo would not be enough to withstand it. She immediately seized Yang Guo’s arm and darted out through the chamber door.

Li Mochou swung her palm to strike, but before her hand had travelled halfway, she suddenly felt a slap land on her left cheek. It did not hurt, but the sound was remarkably crisp. She heard Xiaolongnü call out, “You wanted to learn the skill of the Jade Maiden Heart Sutra, this is it!” Li Mochou had barely registered the shock when another slap landed on her right cheek. She had always known that her master’s Jade Maiden Heart Sutra contained martial arts of terrifying power. Now, seeing Xiaolongnü’s strikes come with such incredible speed, her palms shifting and transforming unpredictably, clearly following the path of their own school’s martial arts, yet with subtleties she herself could not begin to fathom, she was convinced this was indeed the skill of the Jade Maiden Heart Sutra. Fear immediately took hold in her heart. She could only watch helplessly as her shimei, holding Yang Guo’s hand, walked into another chamber and closed the stone door behind them. She stood there rubbing her cheeks and thought to herself, At least she showed mercy. If she had put force into those two palms, would I still be alive? What she did not know was that the skill of the Jade Maiden Heart Sutra sought speed, surprise, and ferocity. Though Xiaolongnü’s palm technique was exquisite, the force of her palms was ordinarily not enough to injure.

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Yang Guo, seeing his master land two clean slaps on Li Mochou’s face, was overjoyed. “Gugu, the skill of the Heart Sutra. Li Mochou is no match for it…” Before he could finish, he suddenly saw Xiaolongnü trembling uncontrollably, as if she could barely restrain herself. He cried out in alarm, “Gugu, what is… you…” Xiaolongnü’s voice quavered. “I… I am so cold…” When she had delivered those two palm strikes, though she had used the lightest of force, they had been executed with the zhenli of internal cultivation. With her original strength still unrecovered after her severe injury, this exertion had caused no small damage. She had trained on the Cold Jade Bed⁵ all her life and had a foundation of extreme cold. Now, with her self-control gone, she felt as though she had been plunged into a fathomless abyss of black ice. The cold pierced her to the bone, and her teeth chattered uncontrollably. Yang Guo, frantic, could only cry, “What do I do?” In desperation, he wrapped his arms tightly around her, hoping to use his own body heat to help her resist the cold. But after holding her only a short while, he felt Xiaolongnü’s body growing colder and colder. Before long, he himself could barely endure it.

Xiaolongnü felt her neili draining away, bit by bit. She said, “Guoer, I cannot go on. You… carry me to… to the place where the stone coffins are kept.” Yang Guo was grief-stricken, unable to speak. But then it occurred to him: in any case, they had only a few days left to live. Dying with her now would be just the same. He said cheerfully, “All right.” He carried her to the chamber with the stone coffins and laid her on the ground beside one of them. He lit a candle. In the flickering candlelight, the stone coffin appeared heavy and massive, making Xiaolongnü seem all the more slender and fragile.

Xiaolongnü said, “Push open… the lid of this stone coffin. Place me inside.” Yang Guo said, “All right.” Xiaolongnü detected no trace of sorrow in his voice and found it slightly strange. Yang Guo pushed open the coffin lid, lifted her gently, and laid her inside. Then he immediately leapt into the coffin himself and lay down beside her, head to head. The two were squeezed together with no room to turn.

Xiaolongnü was both delighted and puzzled. “What are you doing?” she asked. Yang Guo said, “Naturally, I am staying with you. Let those two wicked women have the other stone coffin.” Xiaolongnü let out a long sigh. Peace settled in her heart, and the cold in her body eased somewhat. She turned her eyes toward Yang Guo and saw that his gaze was also fixed upon her. She nestled against him, a surge of heat rushing through her heart. Yang Guo stretched out his arm and held her tight.

Xiaolongnü felt a faint shyness. In Yang Guo’s embrace, the cold vanished entirely. She turned her head away, not daring to look at him. Her heart was in confusion for a long while when she suddenly noticed that there seemed to be writing on the inside of the coffin lid. She fixed her gaze upon it and saw clearly sixteen large characters:

The Jade Maiden Heart Sutra seeks to surpass Quanzhen. Chongyang, in all his life, was never weaker than anyone.⁶

These sixteen characters were written in thick ink. The brushwork was vigorous and forceful, and the characters were quite large. At that moment the coffin lid was only half pushed open, but looking at an angle, they were still clearly visible. Xiaolongnü let out a soft exclamation. “What does that mean?” Yang Guo followed her gaze and saw the sixteen characters. He pondered briefly, then said, “Was it written by Wang Chongyang?” Xiaolongnü said, “It looks like his writing. He seems to be saying that our Jade Maiden Heart Sutra hoped to surpass the martial arts of the Quanzhen Order, but he himself was not weaker than our Founding Grandmaster. Is that it?” Yang Guo laughed. “That old bull-nose Daoist is bragging.” Xiaolongnü looked at the sixteen characters again and saw that behind them there were many more smaller characters written. But the characters were small, and they were at the far end of the coffin lid. From where she lay at this end, she could not make them out. She said, “Guoer, get out.” Yang Guo shook his head. “I am not getting out.” Xiaolongnü smiled faintly. “Get out just for a moment. You can come back in and keep me company later.” Only then did Yang Guo climb out of the stone coffin.

Xiaolongnü sat up and asked Yang Guo to pass her the candleholder. She turned around and lay down at the other end to study the small characters. She read through them slowly, one by one. After reading them twice, she suddenly felt her hand go weak. The candleholder swayed and fell onto her chest. Yang Guo hurriedly reached out and caught it, then helped her out of the stone coffin. “What is it?” he asked. “What do those characters say?”

Xiaolongnü’s expression was strange. She collected herself for a moment, then sighed. “So it turns out that after Founding Grandmaster passed away, Wang Chongyang came back to the ancient tomb.” Yang Guo said, “What did he come for?” Xiaolongnü said, “He came to pay his respects to Founding Grandmaster. He saw the Jade Maiden Heart Sutra that Founding Grandmaster had left on the ceiling of the stone chamber and discovered that it had completely defeated every single one of the Quanzhen Order’s martial arts. So he left these characters on the underside of the coffin lid, saying that what Founding Grandmaster had defeated was only the Quanzhen Order’s crude and shallow martial arts. Compared to the highest, most profound Quanzhen skills, he said, what does the Jade Maiden Heart Sutra amount to?”

Yang Guo spat. “Founding Grandmaster is already gone. He can say whatever he likes.” Xiaolongnü said, “In his message, he also wrote that in another stone chamber, he left behind the method for defeating the Jade Maiden Heart Sutra. Those who come after, if they are fated, will understand at a glance.” Yang Guo’s curiosity was stirred. “Gugu, let us go and look.” Xiaolongnü said, “Wang Chongyang’s last words say that this stone chamber is beneath this very chamber. I have lived here my entire life and never knew there was such a chamber.” Yang Guo pleaded, “Gugu, let us find a way to go down and see.”

Footnotes

1. 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. ↩

2. 蛤蟆功 – Hámá Gōng. Ouyang Feng’s supreme neili technique, storing and releasing explosive power like a toad’s sudden leap. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

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

4. Scarlet Serpent Divine Palm (赤练神掌). Chìliàn Shénzhǎng. Li Mochou’s palm technique, infused with poison. Name links her palm strikes to her serpentine nickname, the “Scarlet Serpent Immortal,” suggesting that her very touch is as deadly as a venomous snake’s bite. ↩

5. 寒玉床 – Hán Yù Chuáng. Bed carved from rare deep-cold jade found by Lin Chaoying. Training on it greatly accelerates neili cultivation by forcing the practitioner to circulate qi constantly to resist the cold. ↩

6. Sixteen-character couplet (玉女心经，欲胜全真。重阳一生，不弱于人). Wang Chongyang’s declaration that while the Jade Maiden Heart Sutra seeks to surpass Quanzhen martial arts, he himself was never weaker than anyone. Poignant expression of the lifelong rivalry and unspoken love between Wang Chongyang and Lin Chaoying. ↩