The Return of the Condor Heroes Chapter 8 – Part 2

Shen Zhifan said, “Since you have come alone, we cannot fight you. We give you ten days’ grace. After ten days, bring four more helpers and meet us here.” The maiden said, “I already told you I have a helper. To deal with a bunch of wine-sacks and rice-bags like you, why would I need to bring anyone else?” Shen Zhifan said angrily, “You little girl, your arrogance is truly beyond belief…” He was about to unleash a torrent of abuse, but in the end he suppressed his rage and asked, “Are you from the Ancient Tomb School¹ or not?” The maiden said, “What if I am? What if I’m not? You stinking old Daoist, do you dare to fight me or not?” Shen Zhifan saw that she was alone yet utterly fearless, and concluded that she must have skilled fighters lying in ambush nearby. Li Mochou² of the Ancient Tomb School was not someone to be trifled with. He said, “Young lady, I would like to ask, you injured members of our sect without any cause. What exactly is the reason? If the fault lies with us, this humble Daoist will go to your master to offer apologies. But if you cannot give a reason, then do not blame us for being discourteous.”

The maiden laughed coldly. “Naturally it was because those two stinking Daoists of yours were discourteous that I taught them a lesson. Otherwise, with all the mangy-haired priests under heaven, why would I single out the two of them to cut off their ears?” The more Shen Zhifan saw her brazen confidence, the more uncertain and suspicious he became. The old beggar Chen, though advanced in years, had a fiery temper. He stepped forward and barked, “Little girl, you’re speaking to your seniors, why haven’t you dismounted from that donkey yet?” Even as he spoke, his body blurred and he closed in before the black donkey, reaching out to grab her right arm. This strike was lightning-fast, and the maiden could not dodge in time. He seized her immediately. With her right hand holding the blade and her right arm now caught, she had no way to swing her weapon in defence.

But then, with a flash of cold light, the maiden twisted her arm and brought the curved blade hacking down. Chen was horrified and hurriedly released his grip. He had reacted swiftly enough and changed his move with lightning speed, but two of his fingers had still been slashed by the blade’s edge. He leapt back, drew his broadsword, and bellowed, “You filthy little slut, are you truly tired of living?” Han took a pair of chain-hammers from his waist, while Shen Zhifan unsheathed his longsword. Ji Qingxu and Pi Qingxuan also gripped their sword hilts and drew their blades from their scabbards, only to feel something wrong with the weight. Both men let out simultaneous startled cries. They looked down and saw that each was holding only half a broken sword.

When the maiden saw the two Daoists’ flustered and awkward expressions, she could not help but let out a puchi of laughter. Yang Guo, who had been steeped in sorrow, heard her laugh and saw the two Daoists’ bizarre predicament. He too could not help bursting into laughter through his tears. The maiden bent forward and with a shua brought her blade slicing toward Pi Qingxuan’s head. Pi Qingxuan ducked hurriedly, but who could have known that her stroke was not yet spent, with a slight flick of her wrist, the blade curved in midair and finally cut across Pi Qingxuan’s right forehead, blood immediately streaming forth. This move was extraordinarily ingenious, its landing point utterly unpredictable and unfathomable, a classic technique of the Ancient Tomb School. The other four, both shocked and enraged, surrounded her black donkey in a tight circle. The two Daoists, Ji and Pi, hung back, each clutching half a broken sword, they could not bear to throw the fragments away, yet they were useless to hold. They had no idea what to do.

The maiden let out a clear whistle, pulled the reins with her left hand, and her black donkey suddenly bounded several zhang forward. The two beggars, Han and Chen, immediately gave chase, their blade and hammers raised as they attacked. Shen Zhifan followed close behind, deploying the Quanzhen swordplay,³ every thrust aimed at a vital point. Yang Guo observed that although his swordplay was fierce, it fell far short of Zhen Zhibing or Zhao Zhijing, he was clearly a third- or fourth-rate figure among the “Zhi” generation.

His mind now somewhat settled, Yang Guo took a closer look at the maiden’s features. She had an oval face, rather pretty, and seemed a year or two younger than himself. No wonder the inn servant had not believed that this “beautiful maiden in white” was his elder sister. She too wore white clothing, but her complexion had a faint yellowish tint, entirely different from Xiaolongnü’s snow-white purity. Her blade work was light and flowing, but for the most part followed the path of swordsmanship, more thrusting and slicing than hacking and chopping. After watching only a few moves, Yang Guo thought, She is indeed using our sect’s martial arts. Could she be another disciple of Li Mochou? He reflected that neither side were good people, it did not matter who won or lost, and added to himself, And what gives you the right to call yourself a “beautiful maiden in white”? White, well, your clothes are white enough. Maiden, yes, you are a maiden. But “beautiful” is pure dogshit. You are not even fit to be my Gugu’s serving maid. He bent his arm to pillow his head, lay on his back, and watched the fight from the corner of his eye.

For the first dozen or so moves, the young girl did not seem to be at a disadvantage. Mounted on the donkey’s back, she held the high ground, and wherever her curved blade swung, the five men were forced to leap and dodge. After another dozen exchanges, Ji Qingxu, seeing that the half-sword in his hand was truly useless, had an idea. He called out, “Brother Pi, follow me!” He ran toward a nearby thicket, selected a slender young tree, cut it down at the root with his broken sword, and trimmed off the branches and leaves, producing a staff. Pi Qingxuan did the same. The two Daoists attacked from both flanks, thrusting their staves at the black donkey.

The young girl snapped, “Shameless!” She swung her blade to deflect both staves. But with her attention divided, Han’s chain-hammer and Shen Zhifan’s longsword arrived simultaneously, one from the front, one from behind. The girl was forced to use a desperate move, she ducked her head and twisted sideways, the iron hammer sweeping past her face with a gust of force. Clang!, her curved blade met the longsword. At that very moment, the black donkey let out a long, pained bray and reared up on its forelegs. Ji Qingxu had already stabbed it with his staff. Chen rolled on the ground, executing his Ground-Sweeping Saber Technique,⁴ and landed a heavy blow with the back of his blade on the donkey’s leg. The black donkey immediately collapsed to its knees. With this, the young girl could no longer fight from the donkey’s back. Seeing sword and hammer closing in, she immediately launched herself into the air, seized Pi Qingxuan’s staff with her left hand, and snapped it in two with a twist of force. She landed on both feet, swept her blade across, and parried a slash from Chen. Yang Guo was startled. What? She’s already wounded?

For the young girl’s left foot was slightly lame, and she was clearly unsteady when leaping and landing. The reason she had been unwilling to dismount was obviously because of this. Yang Guo’s chivalrous heart was stirred. He was about to intervene, but then reconsidered: Gugu and I were living together peacefully in the ancient tomb, until that wicked woman Li Mochou came and caused all this chaos. And this girl is impersonating my Gugu, demanding to be called “beautiful maiden in white”, she deceived me bitterly. How shameless! He turned his head away and refused to watch.

But the clanging of weapons rang unceasingly in his ears, and at last his curiosity could not be restrained. He turned back again and saw that the battle had shifted. The young girl was dodging east and evading west, now parrying far more than she attacked. Suddenly Han hurled his iron hammer. The girl tilted her head to evade it, and at that exact moment Shen Zhifan’s longsword sliced in. With a light ding, it severed one of the silver bands binding her hair, and half her tresses came cascading down. The young girl’s fine brows rose, her lips moved, and her face instantly became as if coated in a layer of harsh frost. She struck back with a counter-slash.

Seeing the anger in her raised brows and moving lips, Yang Guo felt a violent jolt in his heart. That is exactly the expression Gugu wears when she is angry with me. And because of that one flash of anger from the young girl, Yang Guo immediately resolved to help. He picked up seven or eight small pebbles and tucked them into his robes. He watched as she struggled to fend off attacks from both sides, her situation already quite desperate. Shen Zhifan shouted, “What exactly is your relationship with the Scarlet Serpent Immortal Li Mochou? If you do not tell the truth, do not blame us for being merciless!” The young girl’s curved blade swept back and suddenly hooked toward the back of his skull. Shen Zhifan had not anticipated this sudden ambush and could not block in time. Chen cried urgently, “Watch out!” Ji Qingxu swung his staff with all his might against the back of the curved blade, barely saving Shen Zhifan’s life.

The five men, seeing how vicious her moves were, redoubled their ferocity. In an instant, the young girl faced danger after danger. Shen Zhifan reasoned that this girl must have some connection to Li Mochou, and that killing her would bring endless trouble. But since the Quanzhen Order had already clashed with Li Mochou in Shanxi, he need not fear his shibo⁵’s reproach. Seeing that she clearly had no reinforcements, he might as well kill her to silence her, and so every stroke was aimed at her vital points.

Seeing that she was in mortal peril, Yang Guo could delay no longer. He pulled the bull’s head around to face the six combatants, flipped onto its back, then immediately slipped beneath its belly, hooked both feet over its spine, and jabbed his finger into the bull’s rump. The bull charged straight at the six people on all four hooves.

The six were locked in fierce combat when they suddenly saw a mad bull bearing down on them. All were startled and scattered in all directions to evade it.

Yang Guo, crouched beneath the bull’s belly, took aim at the five men’s back acupoints⁶ and flung his pebbles one by one. Some struck the “Hunmen” point,⁷ others the “Shentang” point.⁸ There was a clatter of weapons and a chorus of pained cries as all five men felt their arms go numb and their weapons drop from their hands. Yang Guo had already driven the bull back up the hillside. He rolled out from beneath its belly and began shouting at the top of his lungs, “Oh no! The big bull has gone mad! This is terrible, terrible!”

Shen Zhifan’s acupoints had been sealed, his weapon knocked from his hand, and he had not even seen who had struck. He assumed it was the work of the young girl’s hidden ally, and that this person’s martial skill was unfathomably high. How could he dare to linger? Fortunately his legs could still move, so he broke into a run. To his credit, he still had a sense of loyalty, and called out, “Brother Chen, Brother Han, let us go!” The others, without pausing to think, all fled as well. Pi Qingxuan, in his panic, lost all sense of direction and actually ran toward the young girl. Ji Qingxu shouted, “Brother Pi, over here!”

Pi Qingxuan was about to turn when the young girl closed in and brought her curved blade chopping down. Pi Qingxuan was horrified, and with no weapon in his hand, he hurriedly twisted aside to evade. But who could have known that her curved blade, appearing to strike east yet landing west, seeming to go high yet coming low, with a flash of cold light, it was already at his face. In desperation, Pi Qingxuan raised his hand to block. Cha! The curved blade sliced off three of his fingers. He had not yet even felt the pain as he turned and fled for his life.

Han had fled a dozen paces when he saw that Lu Wushuang was no longer pursuing. He thought to himself, That girl has a lame foot, how could she possibly catch me? Thinking of her lameness, he could not help glancing at her left leg, then turned to run again. Little did he know that this very glance had struck the young girl’s sorest point. Her fury erupted beyond all control. She screamed, “You thieving beggar, you think I cannot catch you?” She whirled her curved blade several times, then with a hu hurled it through the air. The blade flashed silver in the sunlight and, with a pu, buried itself in Han’s left shoulder. The man staggered, the blade still embedded in his shoulder, and fled at a mad run. In moments, all five had vanished into the forest.

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The young girl laughed coldly a few times, then thought with suspicion: Could someone be lying in ambush nearby? And why would he help me? She was somewhat regretful at losing her accustomed Silver Arc Blade, which Han had carried off with him. She picked up the broadsword that Chen had dropped, gripped it in her hand, and hurried to search the surrounding woods. All was perfectly silent, without a trace of anyone. She returned to the valley. There she saw Yang Guo sitting on the ground with a mournful face, wailing to heaven and earth about his misfortunes.

Footnotes

1. Ancient Tomb School (古墓派). Gǔmù Pài. Martial arts sect founded by Lin Chaoying within the Tomb of the Living Dead. Its martial arts emphasise lightness, speed, and unpredictability, designed to counter the Quanzhen Order’s techniques. ↩

2. 李莫愁 – Lǐ Mòchóu. Her name meaning “do not sorrow”. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

3. 全真剑法 – Quánzhēn Jiànfǎ. Seven swords with seven forms, totalling forty-nine variations emphasising defence. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

4. 地堂刀法 – dìtáng dāofǎ. Ground-Sweeping Saber Technique. Martial style involving rolling and sweeping along the ground while wielding a blade. ↩

5. 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. ↩

6. 穴位 – xuéwèi. Acupoints in traditional Chinese medicine and martial arts. Striking or sealing specific acupoints can numb limbs, immobilise opponents, or cause internal injury. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

7. 魂门穴 – Húnmén Xué. Literally gate of the ethereal soul. Acupoint on the back below the shoulder blade on the bladder meridian; striking it can numb the arm. See Wikipedia. ↩

8. 神堂穴 – Shéntáng Xué. Literally hall of the spirit. Acupoint on the back alongside the spine on the bladder meridian; striking it can numb the arm. See Wikipedia. ↩