Wang Chuyi

Wang Chuyi

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Wang Chuyi (simplified: 王处一, traditional: 王處一, pinyin: Wáng Chǔyī, jyutping: wong4 cyu5 jat1), known by his Daoist name Yuyangzi (玉阳子 — Yùyángzǐ) and by the epithet Iron Foot Immortal (铁脚仙 — Tiějiǎo Xiān), was the fifth disciple of Wang Chongyang, the Central Divine of the Five Greats, and one of the Seven Zis of Quanzhen. Among the seven, his renown was second only to Qiu Chuji’s. In Zhongdu he saved the young Guo Jing and was poisoned for it.

Biography

The Iron Foot Immortal

Wang Chuyi was the fifth of the seven, after Ma Yu, Tan Chuduan, Liu Chuxuan and Qiu Chuji. Once, in a wager, he had stood on one foot at the edge of a deep gorge, his wide sleeves streaming as he swayed back and forth, and with the single move Wind Sways the Lotus Leaf he so dazzled several dozen heroes of Shandong and Hebei that they stood speechless. That won him the name Iron Foot Immortal. He had lived nine years in a cave in hard training, and Qiu Chuji, who admired his skill, wrote him a poem with the lines “All summer long he stands to meet the sun, all winter long he sleeps with snow in his arms” to describe the depth of his neigong. Years earlier he had been the only one of the seven to see Huang Yaoshi, Ouyang Feng and Hong Qigong at the summit of Mount Hua, and Great Master Yideng remembered meeting him there and thought well of his character.

Saving Guo Jing in Zhongdu

In Zhongdu, where he had arranged to meet Ma Yu and Qiu Chuji, Wang Chuyi watched Guo Jing fight Wanyan Kang (Yang Kang) at Mu Nianci’s Martial Contest to Win a Bride. When Peng Lianhu was about to kill Guo Jing, Wang Chuyi intervened, and Peng recognised him from the deep print his foot left in the snow and earth. Seeing that Wanyan Kang’s martial arts were Quanzhen, Wang Chuyi guessed that he was Qiu Chuji’s disciple. He took Guo Jing out of the city, tested his speed, and on learning that Ma Yu had taught him was delighted to be able to help him. Like Ma Yu, he hoped the Eccentrics would win the wager, and resolved to go to Jiaxing to mediate. He also visited the wounded Yang Tiexin, then living as Mu Yi, at his inn.

The banquet at Prince Zhao’s Estate

Wanyan Kang invited Wang Chuyi and Guo Jing to a banquet at Prince Zhao’s Estate, where he presented Prince Zhao’s retainers: Sha Tongtian, Peng Lianhu, Liang Ziweng, Venerable Lingzhi, Hou Tonghai and Ouyang Ke. Wanyan Kang mockingly introduced the officer Tang Zude as his “shifu”, and Wang Chuyi retorted by asking him for alms of a thousand taels of silver. When Sha Tongtian, who held that the Eccentrics had wronged his Yellow River Guild, demanded Guo Jing and the whole company turned against them, Wang Chuyi seized Wanyan Kang by the acupoints on his back and traded him for Guo Jing’s safe passage. As they left, Venerable Lingzhi struck palms with him: Lingzhi was injured, but his palm carried Poisonous Sand Palm poison.

Outside the gates Wang Chuyi collapsed. Guo Jing carried him to a small, out-of-the-way inn, where Wang Chuyi sat in vats of clean water and used his neigong to drive the poison out, changing the water three times until it no longer turned black. The poison was still in his organs, and the medicines he prescribed (cinnabar, dragon’s blood, tianqi, bear gall and myrrh) had been bought up from every shop in the city by Prince Zhao’s men. That night Guo Jing went back into the estate and stole them, an errand that led him to Mei Chaofeng. The medicines did not reach Wang Chuyi that night; they came back only after Zhu Cong picked them from Liang Ziweng’s pocket during the fight in which Ma Yu and Qiu Chuji were also wounded. Wang Chuyi, leaning on a stick, joined his shixiong outside the inn, chose the five medicines from the packets and took them.

Mu Nianci and the wager

Recovering at the inn, Wang Chuyi tested Mu Nianci with a press on her shoulder and recognised from how she fell that she had learnt from Hong Qigong, the Nine-Fingered Divine Beggar; he told the Eccentrics who Hong Qigong was. He was a witness when Qiu Chuji conceded the wager to the Eccentrics.

Niu Family Village

Wang Chuyi went into Niu Family Village with Ma Yu, Qiu Chuji, Sun Buer and Yin Zhiping, heard Yang Kang’s false report of Guo Jing’s death, and urged Yang Kang and Mu Nianci to marry soon. Against Mei Chaofeng the seven sat in the Big Dipper Formation, and Wang Chuyi, the second strongest, held Yuheng, the chief star of the handle. When Huang Yaoshi arrived, Wang Chuyi stepped forward to greet him as an old acquaintance and was slapped across the face before he could bow. In the fight that followed, he and Qiu Chuji attacked together with their jian, and Ouyang Feng killed Tan Chuduan.

Misty Rain Pavilion and the Iron Spear Temple

At the Misty Rain Pavilion, Wang Chuyi directed the handle of the formation by whistling, keeping Huang Yaoshi from reaching the North Star position. At the Iron Spear Temple, seeing that his side would soon suffer losses, he lit a signal flare to summon the Quanzhen disciples. Afterwards the Zis apologised to Huang Yaoshi when it was clear Ouyang Feng had killed Tan Chuduan.

Personality & traits

Physical appearance

Wang Chuyi had long eyebrows and fine eyes, three sparse tufts of black beard, white socks and grey shoes, and clothes kept neat, like a Daoist who paid attention to his appearance. Peng Lianhu and the others could hardly believe that he was the Iron Foot Immortal until they had seen his skill.

Character traits

He was polite to strangers but fierce towards wrongdoing: his face turned cold as frost when he questioned Wanyan Kang. He admired Guo Jing’s readiness to help others and his forgiving nature, and faced death from the poison calmly, telling the weeping Guo Jing that all who live must die.

Martial arts abilities

Iron Foot Skill

Wang Chuyi’s epithet came from his feat of standing on one foot over a gorge. Nan Xiren, posing as Tan Chuduan in Ma Yu’s bluff, spoke of his “Iron Foot Skill” (铁脚功 — Tiějiǎo Gōng). His footwork could stamp a deep print in the frozen ground.

Wind Sways the Lotus Leaf

Wind Sways the Lotus Leaf (风摆荷叶 — Fēng Bǎi Héyè) was the single move he performed on one foot over the gorge.

Neigong

His neigong was deep enough to force Venerable Lingzhi’s poison out into water and to injure Lingzhi with the same exchange of palms.

Big Dipper Formation

In the Big Dipper Formation (天罡北斗阵 — Tiāngāng Běidǒu Zhèn) he held Yuheng, the chief star of the handle, as the second strongest of the seven.

Relationships

Guo Jing

Wang Chuyi saved Guo Jing’s life in Zhongdu, and Guo Jing in turn carried him to safety and risked his life to fetch his medicines. He was never Guo Jing’s shifu; Guo Jing called him Daoist Elder.

Qiu Chuji

Qiu Chuji admired his skill. Wang Chuyi supported the Eccentrics in the wager as Ma Yu did, but as the junior would not openly urge Qiu Chuji to give way.

Behind the scenes

Wang Chuyi is based on the historical Quanzhen master of the same name (1142–1217), one of the Seven Zis. In the 3rd edition’s appendix on the Quanzhen Order, Jin Yong lists him among Wang Chongyang’s seven disciples under the name Yuyang.

Portrayals

Wang Chuyi has appeared in television adaptations of Jin Yong’s novels:

The Legend of the Condor Heroes

The Return of the Condor Heroes

See also

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