The Return of the Condor Heroes Chapter 9 – Part 3

Yang Guo let out an “Ah!” He smiled at her. Lu Wushuang felt there was a deeper meaning in that smile, and recalling how she had said “wandering in a daze, who knows what you’ve been thinking about,” she could not help blushing. Just then, a horse suddenly gave a long, piercing whinny. Lu Wushuang turned her head. At the bend in the road, two old beggars were walking toward them side by side.

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Yang Guo caught a glimpse of two more figures ducking back behind the mountain bend. Shen Zhifan and Ji Qingxu. So that’s it, he understood. Those three stinking Daoists went and told the Beggars’ Guild that we’re disguised as Daoists. He clasped his hands in salute and said, “Two Beggar elders, you beg for rice in all eight directions, but we humble Daoists beg for alms in all ten directions. Today we must ask for your charitable donations.”

One beggar, whose voice boomed like a great bell, said, “Even if you shaved your heads and dressed as Buddhist monks or nuns, you still couldn’t escape our notice. Stop playing the fool. Come with us, nice and easy, to present your case before the Law Enforcement Elder.”

Yang Guo thought, This old beggar’s voice is full of power, his martial skills are probably considerable. The two men were Seven-Bag Disciples¹ of the Beggars’ Guild. Seeing that Yang Guo and Lu Wushuang were both youths under twenty yet possessed remarkable martial skill, they suspected something strange was afoot.

While both sides hesitated, the golden bells rang out from the northwest, ding-ling, ding-ling, light and flowing, rhythmic and pleasing. Lu Wushuang thought grimly, This is bad. Real bad. I’ve changed my face and clothes, but now of all times these two damned beggars have to show up. Once they expose me, how can I escape my shifu’s deadly hands? My luck is truly rotten, so many obstacles, one after another. All these people with nothing better to do, all finding me, tangling me up endlessly.

In moments the sound of bells drew even closer. Yang Guo thought, I can’t beat Li Mochou. I’ll have to break through forward and flee. “If the two of you won’t offer alms, no matter,” he said. “Just let us pass.” He strode forward in great steps. The two beggars saw that his stride seemed hollow and unsteady, as though he knew nothing of martial arts. Each reached out a right hand to seize him. Yang Guo’s right palm lashed out, meeting both their hands. Three palms met and held for a brief, tense moment, then all three retreated three steps. These two Seven-Bag Disciples had trained for decades, their internal power deep and profound. In the jianghu, they had rarely met their match. In terms of pure martial foundation, they far surpassed Yang Guo, but in the strange cunning and subtle brilliance of his moves, they fell short. Yang Guo had borrowed their force to neutralise theirs, dissolving their palm power, yet he could not break through. All three men were secretly alarmed.

At that moment, Li Mochou and her disciple arrived. Hong Lingbo called out, “Hey! Beggars, little Daoist, have you seen a girl with a lame foot pass by?” The two old beggars held senior rank in the jianghu and were offended by Hong Lingbo’s manner of questioning. But the Beggars’ Guild’s rules were strict and forbade members from quarrelling with outsiders at will. They answered curtly, “Haven’t seen her.” Li Mochou’s eyes were sharp. She studied the backs of Yang Guo and Lu Wushuang and a faint suspicion stirred: I seem to have seen these two somewhere before. She also noted the four facing off, poised for violence, and thought she might as well stay and watch the show.

Yang Guo glanced at her from the corner of his eye. She wore a faint smile and stood with her hands in her sleeves, watching the fight. An idea stirred. There is a way, do this, and I can throw off her suspicion. He turned, walked up to Hong Lingbo, and made a Daoist salute. “Fellow traveller of the Way,” he said in a hoarse voice, “my greetings.” Hong Lingbo returned the salute in Daoist fashion. Yang Guo said, “This humble Daoist was passing through when two villainous beggars blocked my path for no reason and insist on violence. I carry no weapon. I beseech you, fellow traveller, in the name of the Most High Lord Lao,² to lend me your treasured sword.” He bowed deeply again. Hong Lingbo saw that his face was pitted and bumpy, dark and ugly, yet his manner was humble and courteous, and he had even invoked the name of the Most High Lord Lao, the patriarch of the Daoist faith. It seemed hard to refuse. She drew her longsword, looked toward her shifu, and seeing Li Mochou nod her approval, reversed the blade and passed it over.

Yang Guo bowed in thanks, took the sword, and turned to Lu Wushuang, saying loudly, “Shidi³, stand aside and watch. No need to join in. Let the Beggars’ Guild beggars witness the skill of the Quanzhen Order.”⁴

Li Mochou was startled. So these two little Daoists are from Quanzhen. But the Quanzhen Order and the Beggars’ Guild have always been on good terms, why would disciples of the two sects be fighting?

Yang Guo was afraid the two beggars would shout something out and expose Lu Wushuang’s secret. He charged forward, sword levelled, calling, “Come, come. I’ll fight the two of you alone.” Lu Wushuang, however, was deeply worried: Fool, you don’t know that my shifu has fought the Quanzhen Daoists more than ten times, large and small. Is there a single move or form of Quanzhen martial arts that she wouldn’t recognise? There are Daoist sects all over the world. Zhengyi, Dadao, Taiyi⁵, he could have passed himself off as any of them. Why did he have to pick Quanzhen, of all sects?

The two old beggars were startled when they heard the words “of the Quanzhen Order.” They shouted in unison, “You really are a disciple of the Quanzhen Order? You and that…”

Yang Guo gave them no chance to mention Lu Wushuang. His longsword darted out, attacking both men’s chests and abdomens, the authentic swordplay of the Quanzhen Order. The two old beggars held high rank and would never willingly gang up on a junior, but Yang Guo’s strike came with such uncanny speed that they were forced to raise their iron staves together to block. The staves had barely lifted when Yang Guo’s sword slipped through the gap between them, still thrusting at their chests. The two old beggars had never imagined his swordplay could be so swift and retreated hastily. Yang Guo showed no mercy, pressing his attack relentlessly. In the span of a few breaths, he had thrust eighteen times in succession, each thrust splitting into two, a single thrust that, with a flick of the wrist, became two strikes. This was the Quanzhen Order’s advanced technique, the “One Breath Transforms into Three Pure Ones”⁶ sword art, where every move could split into three. Each time Yang Guo thrust his sword, the two old beggars retreated three steps. After these eighteen thrusts, the two beggars had not managed a single counter-stroke and had retreated a total of fifty-four steps. The Jade Maiden Heart Sutra⁷ martial arts were designed specifically to counter the Quanzhen Order. Yang Guo had not yet practised the Jade Maiden Heart Sutra, he had trained in Quanzhen martial arts first, but his training was far from refined. He could not manage “transforming into three pure ones,” but “transforming into two pure ones” he could pull off convincingly enough.

Li Mochou watched the little Daoist’s swordplay, so refined and extraordinary, and could not help a secret shock. No wonder the Quanzhen Order’s name rings so loudly, she thought. They truly produce talent in every generation. Give this man another ten years, and how could I possibly be his match? The leadership of the Quanzhen Order may well fall to this little Daoist one day. If she had crossed hands with Yang Guo, within a few moves she would have known that his Quanzhen swordplay was only half-true, his foundation really being the Ancient Tomb School’s⁸ martial arts. But to the eye, truth and falsehood were hard to distinguish. Yang Guo had received the Quanzhen Order’s oral formulae from Zhao Zhijing⁹ and had practised them since, so his Quanzhen martial arts were not entirely counterfeit. Hong Lingbo and Lu Wushuang, naturally, were even more dazzled by the spectacle.

Yang Guo’s eighteen thrusts completed, he shook his sword and darted behind the two beggars, again splitting one strike into two. The two beggars spun around hastily to defend. Yang Guo gave them no chance to let their iron staves meet his sword, he shifted behind them once more. The two beggars whirled again, but Yang Guo was already at their backs. He knew that in a contest of true skill, let alone one against two, he could not even match a single beggar. So he kept spinning and circling, relying entirely on qinggong as he orbited the two men.

Every Quanzhen disciple, upon reaching the appropriate level of martial training, was required to practise this qinggong in preparation for the footwork of the Big Dipper Formation.¹⁰ Yang Guo’s footwork was Quanzhen, but his breathing and energy circulation followed the methods of the Jade Maiden Heart Sutra. The Ancient Tomb School’s qinggong was the finest under heaven. The moment he began moving, the two Beggars’ Guild experts could not keep up. They saw only a blur of lightning speed, a flash of white light as the longsword thrust again and again. Had Yang Guo truly intended to take their lives, twenty beggars would already be dead. The two beggars spun frantically, swinging their staves to protect their vital points, no longer able to think of countering, only of guarding their lives.

After dozens of such frantic circuits, the two beggars were dizzy and exhausted, staggering on their feet, on the verge of collapse. Li Mochou laughed. “Hey, Beggars’ Guild friends, let me teach you a method. Stand back to back. Then you won’t have to spin.”

The advice struck home. The two beggars were overjoyed and were about to follow it when Yang Guo thought, Not good! If they do that, I’ll lose. He stopped circling and thrust one move in two directions at the beggars’ backs.

The two beggars heard the urgent wind of the strike behind them. There was no time to turn and block with their staves. They hurriedly stepped forward, but the moment their feet touched ground, the sword was at their backs again. In their terror, they could only summon their energy and sprint. Yet Yang Guo’s sword tip was like a shadow, no matter how fast they ran, the blade was always hovering behind them. The moment their pace slackened, the sword tip pricked painfully at their back muscles. The two beggars knew Yang Guo meant them no real harm, otherwise, with a slight push of his hand, the sword tip advancing a mere foot, would the blade not have passed clean through their chests? Yet their feet dared not stop for an instant. All three sprinted with all their might, and in moments had covered over two li, leaving Li Mochou and the others far behind.

Yang Guo suddenly put on a burst of speed, darted ahead of the two beggars, and said with a grin, “Take it easy, careful you don’t fall!” The two beggars swung their iron staves together. Yang Guo’s left hand shot out and seized one staff, while his right hand laid the flat of his longsword against the other staff and pushed sideways. His left palm opened wide, and he gripped both staves at once. The two beggars sensed danger and immediately exerted their strength to pull back. Yang Guo’s internal power was inferior to theirs, how could he contest them in a direct clash of force? He slid his longsword straight down along the staves. If the two beggars did not release their grip, all eight of their fingers would be severed on the spot. They had no choice but to let go and leap back, their expressions deeply chagrined. To keep fighting was hopeless. To simply flee would be a disgrace too great to bear.

Yang Guo said, “Our humble order has always been on good terms with your noble guild. Every wrong has its source, every debt its debtor. The Scarlet Serpent Immortal¹¹ Li Mochou of the Ancient Tomb School is right here before you, why don’t you gentlemen seek her out instead?”

Footnotes

1. 七袋弟子 – qī dài dìzi. Seven-Bag Disciple of the Beggars’ Guild. Members wore bags on their clothing to indicate rank; seven bags denotes a senior position. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

2. 太上老君 – Tàishàng Lǎojūn. Literally the Grand Supreme Elder Lord. Deified form of Laozi and supreme patriarch of the Daoist pantheon; invoking his name was a solemn appeal within Daoist courtesy. See Wikipedia. ↩

3. 师弟 – shīdì. Male junior. Both apprenticed to the same shifu. Shī means teacher. Dì means younger brother. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

4. Quanzhen Order (全真教). Major Daoist school founded by Wang Chongyang. In Jin Yong’s wuxia universe, it is one of the most powerful martial arts sects, based at the Chongyang Palace on Mount Zhongnan. Its seven senior disciples are known as the Seven Masters of Quanzhen. ↩

5. 正一，大道，太一 – Zhèngyǐ, Dàdào, Tàiyī. Three alternative Daoist sects that Yang Guo could have impersonated instead of Quanzhen. Zhengyi (Orthodox Unity) is one of the two major branches of Daoism. Dadao (Great Way) and Taiyi (Supreme Unity) were smaller Daoist schools that flourished during the Jin-Yuan period. ↩

6. 一气化三清 – Yī Qì Huà Sān Qīng. “One Breath Transforms into Three Pure Ones.” An advanced Quanzhen sword technique where a single thrust splits into three simultaneous strikes ↩

7. 玉女心经 – Yùnǚ Xīnjīng. Jade Maiden Heart Sutra, the supreme manual of the Ancient Tomb School, created by Lin Chaoying to counter Quanzhen martial arts. Its advanced internal portions require two practitioners training together. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

8. 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. ↩

9. 赵志敬 – Zhào Zhìjìng. His name meaning “aspiring to reverence”. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

10. 天罡北斗阵 – Tiāngāng Běidǒu Zhèn. Quanzhen battle formation based on the Northern Dipper. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

11. 赤练仙子 – Chìliàn Xiānzǐ. Literally scarlet chain immortal. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩