A Hero Borm

by Jin Yong

  Mercy, meanwhile, had been listening impatiently. Guo Jing had come to rescue them, she wanted to remind her father – there would be time later to talk. And yet, it struck her suddenly, if they were to leave now, she would never see the Prince again. She shrank back and decided not to interrupt.

  Guo Jing was all too aware that time was precious and he must act now if he was going to get them out of the palace alive. He reached back inside the bars and was about to strike at the lock with his dagger. Just at that moment, a light flickered beneath the crack in the door and he heard the sound of footsteps approaching.

  Guo Jing slipped back behind the door just as it was thrown open. He watched what was happening through a small crack in the wood. The first to enter was a guard carrying a lantern, followed by Wanyan Kang’s mother, the Consort.

  “Are these the prisoners my son took into custody yesterday?” she asked the guard.

  “Yes, ma’am,” he answered.

  “Release them at once.”

  The guard hesitated, but the Consort continued, “If my son asks, you may tell him that I gave the order. Now!”

  The guard slid the key into the lock and let the prisoners free. The Consort approached Ironheart Yang with two silver ingots. “Hurry now,” she said.

  But Ironheart merely stood there staring at the Consort.

  He must be angry, she thought, noticing the strange look the old man was giving her. “Please forgive my son,” she said quietly, feeling deeply how they must have suffered. “He has wronged you most gravely.”

  But Ironheart could not take his eyes off her. He reached out, took the silver and placed it inside his robes. He then took his daughter’s hand and led her out.

  “Don’t you have any manners?” the guard said gruffly. “Won’t you thank the Consort?”

  But Ironheart gave no sign that he had heard him.

  Guo Jing waited until everyone had left. Once he was sure the Consort had gone, he opened the door and peered around in the darkness. There was no sign of Mu Yi or his daughter. They must have left the palace, he thought, so he decided to go to the Hall of Perfumed Snow to drag Lotus away from her eavesdropping. He still needed to get the medicine to Elder Wang, after all.

  But before he was even halfway there, he spotted two figures carrying lanterns, rounding a corner up ahead. He ducked behind a small rockery covered in plants. But he had been seen.

  “Who’s there?” The man was running at him, seemingly ready to fight. A palm struck at him. Guo Jing blocked the attack. By the flickering light he saw that it was none other than the young Prince Wanyan Kang.

  The guard had gone straight to the Prince to tell him of the Consort’s orders.

  My mother has always been too kind, she doesn’t see the bigger picture, Wanyan Kang had said to himself. What if they go to my shifu? I won’t be able to deny what I’ve done.

  He had run out at once to try to find father and daughter before they could escape. Guo Jing was the last person he expected to encounter on the way.

  And now they would have to fight – again. Guo Jing tried to run a few times, eager to get the medicines to Elder Wang, but Wanyan Kang blocked his path. He caught sight of the guard drawing his sword, ready to assist the Prince. There was no way out now.

  7

  JUST AS BROWBEATER HOU THOUGHT HE HAD THE YOUNG girl, a cry went up from the onlookers. Lotus jumped up and threw the three bowls of wine straight up above her. She then launched two fists at him in a move known in the wulin as Eight Steps to Catch the Toad. With his hands occupied by his own wine bowls, Browbeater Hou was unable to defend himself, so he lurched to the left. Lotus went in again with her right palm, Browbeater Hou blocked. Wine spilled onto his hands and the bowl balanced on his head fell and broke against the stone floor.

  Lotus leapt and caught two of her bowls, the third landed on her head as if cushioned by a cloud. She had not spilled a single drop. The crowd gasped in wonder, and Gallant Ouyang exclaimed out loud: “Wonderful!”

  Hector Sha shot him an icy glance, but he took no notice. “Most wonderful indeed!”

  “Try again!” Browbeater Hou snarled.

  “Haven’t you had enough?” she said sweetly, tapping him on the cheek.

  “You are a tricky young thing,” Hector Sha said, furious on his martial brother’s behalf. “Who is your shifu?”

  “Let’s save that for another time. Right now, I have to go.”

  But Hector Sha was already in the doorway, blocking Lotus’ exit. She was perfectly aware of the extent of his kung fu, but she did not let her concern show. Instead, she frowned and spoke in a tone of frustration rather than fear. “Why do you stand in my way?”

  “I want to know which school you belong to and why you’re here.”

  “And what if I don’t want to tell you?” she replied, arching her brow.

  “When the Dragon King asks a question, he gets an answer!”

  She was not going to get out easily with all these fighters in the hall. But she saw Old Liang was also making for the door. “Uncle, this horrible man won’t let me go home!”

  Old Liang could not help but be amused by her flirtatious manner. “The Dragon King asked you a question. Be a good girl and tell him what he wants to know? I’m sure he’ll let you go after that.”

  “But I don’t feel like it,” she said, giving him her sweetest smile. She then turned to Hector Sha. “If you won’t step aside, I’ll just have to run past you.”

  “Ha! See if you can,” he sneered.

  “But you mustn’t hit me,” she said.

  “The Dragon King doesn’t go around hitting young ladies.”

  “Good. A gentleman never goes back on his word. Look, over there!” She pointed up into a corner of the room. Despite himself, Hector Sha glanced in the direction she was pointing and Lotus dashed at him.

  She moved like lightning, but he was even faster. He held out two fingers at the same height as her eyes. If she didn’t stop she would be blinded. Lotus jumped back just in time. She kept trying, each time from a different angle, but still she could find no way past the bulky man. When one last attempt nearly resulted in her nose breaking against Hector Sha’s shiny bald head, she squealed with frustration.

  “You can’t beat the Dragon King at this game.” Old Liang laughed. “Why not give up?” He slipped past Sha and hurried for his storeroom.

  8

  THE SMELL OF FRESH BLOOD ASSAILED HIS NOSTRILS. ALL WAS not well. He raised his torch. There, on the ground, was his red snake, its body already shrivelled. Its blood had been sucked dry. Everywhere, medicine jars had been knocked over and opened. More than ten years of collecting, now in ruins. And his precious snake. He could not help the tears from gathering in his eyes.

  Greybeard Liang had started out as a hermit in the Mountain of Eternal Snow, until one day, an injured old traveller came by. When the hermit realised the man was carrying a manual full of secrets of the martial world, he decided to kill him. There, in the man’s bag, he also found a dozen or so assorted herbs and medicinal potions. From that day forward, Old Liang devoted himself to studying the book and its many prescriptions, the most potent of which required the venom of a specific species of deadly snake. He had searched deep in the mountains and forests to find just one specimen, which he then raised on a strict diet of marten flesh and medicinal remedies such as cinnabar, ginseng and deer antler. Gradually, over many years, the snake began to turn from greyish black to scarlet red. It had been only a few days away from completing its final transformation when Old Liang was called to the Jin capital by the elder Prince Wanyan Honglie. Once the snake was ready, he would only need to drink its blood to become immortal, and one of the most powerful fighters of the wulin.

  But now it lay dead on the stone floor, all his hard work lost for good. The thought that someone else might have drunk the blood and gained the benefit of all those years of careful nurturing was almost too much for him to bear.

  He managed to regain his c
omposure and studied the scene before him. The spots of blood had yet to congeal. The thief must have just left. He ran out and found a nearby tree from where he could get a better view. That’s when he saw the Prince and Guo Jing fighting.

  By the time he had drawn close, he could smell the stench of the snake’s blood on Guo Jing’s clothes. He burned with fury.

  9

  GUO JING HAD STARTED THIS FIGHT AT A DISADVANTAGE, AND now he was distracted by a fiery sensation in his stomach, as if his blood had become a pot of boiling water. His mouth was dry, his skin was itchy and felt like it was going to split open.

  I’m dying, he thought. The snake poison is taking hold.

  Wanyan Kang continued to beat and punch at his back, but he could no longer feel it.

  Old Liang was sure the young man did not know to drink the blood himself; it was a most guarded secret in the wulin. Someone must have sent him to collect it on their behalf. And he was almost certain it was Wang Chuyi. “You little thief!” he snarled from the fringes of the fight. “Who sent you to steal my precious snake?”

  Guo Jing looked up and saw Greybeard Liang. “So the snake was yours? It attacked and poisoned me!” He ran at the old man with his fists at the ready.

  Old Liang could smell the herbs on the boy’s body. A thought struck him. If he killed the boy and drank his blood, perhaps he could still gain the effects of the potion? Perhaps they might even be enhanced? Buoyed by this thought, Old Liang fought back, and within seconds he had Guo Jing in a powerful lock and pinned to the ground. Now he would at last harvest the fruits of his labours.

  10

  LOTUS WAS TRAPPED. WHAT IF HECTOR SHA DECIDED TO STOP toying with her? She needed a new tactic.

  “If I get past you,” she said to Sha, “and through the door, do you promise not to come after me?”

  “Then I will admit defeat, yes,” he replied.

  “But my father only taught me how to enter, not how to leave.” She sighed.

  “How to enter but not to leave? What good is that?” Hector Sha said, unsure what she meant.

  “Your Shape Changing kung fu is good, but not as good as my father’s. Not even close. At least a hundred thousand li behind, in fact.”

  “Stop talking nonsense, you silly little girl. Who is your father?”

  “If I told you that, it would scare you senseless. So I won’t. He taught me how to enter a room using kung fu. He stood blocking the doorway just like you are now. He knew all the tricks. Made it very difficult. But if it were you trying to block me, I’d have no problem.”

  “What difference does it make whether you’re going in or going out of the room?” Hector Sha sneered. “Come on then, show me.” He moved aside so that she might demonstrate these great skills of “entering”.

  “Ha!” Lotus cried out as she ran outside then turned to face them. “Tricked you! Now I’m through, you must admit defeat – you said so yourself. I got out, didn’t I? You are an honourable man, Dragon King, I’m sure you will keep your word. And so, goodbye to you, sir.”

  He scratched his head. She was right, he could not go back on his promise. His cheeks flushed red. There was nothing he could do.

  But Tiger Peng was not about to let her get away so easily.

  He raised both arms and threw two copper coins, which flew just over her head. Lotus watched as they passed her, but just as she was wondering how a master of the martial arts could be so hopelessly inaccurate, she heard a pang! as they hit the marble pillar out in the corridor and came bouncing right towards the back of her head. As she could not block them, she leapt forward. Tiger Peng threw a dozen more, each one forcing her forward a little more, until she found herself standing back in the banqueting hall.

  This had been exactly Tiger Peng’s intention, and the others howled in delight. “Come back to join us?” he laughed.

  “What exactly is honourable about using weapons to bully an unarmed young girl?”

  “Bully you? I never laid a finger on you.”

  “Then let me go!”

  “First tell us who your shifu is.”

  “I taught myself while still in my mother’s womb!”

  “In that case, I will find out another way,” Tiger Peng retorted, and launched himself at her shoulder.

  Lotus neither dodged nor attempted to block the attack. He could not possibly be as dishonourable as to hit a girl who had no wish to fight.

  He noticed her reluctance to engage and pulled back at the last moment. “Come on, silly little girl! I bet I can determine your shifu within ten moves.”

  “And what if you can’t tell after ten moves?”

  “Then you may leave here in peace.” And without waiting for her response, he launched into a Triple Chain Penetration.

  Lotus turned and touched her first finger and thumb as she had done before, creating a fork with the remaining three fingers, in a move known as Trident Searches the Sea by Night.

  “Brother, that’s one of ours!” Browbeater Hou called out.

  “Nonsense!” Hector Sha said, reasoning that she must have observed Browbeater Hou performing the move in one of their earlier encounters.

  Tiger Peng laughed and swirled round to attack again. This time Lotus turned left and suddenly jumped to the side without so much as bending a knee or taking a step.

  “A Shape Changing move!” Browbeater Hou called out again. “Did you teach her that, Brother?”

  “Hold your tongue! Stop talking such hogwash.” But Hector Sha was secretly impressed that she could execute these skills after only observing them once. Perfect they weren’t, but good enough to avoid Tiger Peng’s attacks.

  Lotus followed up with moves from Shen’s Spirit Cleaver blade technique and Ma’s Soul Snatcher whip.

  “Brother! Brother! She has studied with the Daemon Se—!” Browbeater Hou caught sight of Hector Sha’s furious expression just in time to stop himself from blurting out any more.

  Tiger Peng was growing more and more furious. I’ve been gentle so far, he thought, but she is a crafty little witch. I must use fiercer skills on her if I’m going to get her to reveal the identity of her shifu.

  It was common for fighters of the wulin to adopt and experiment with certain moves from rival styles, but when it came to life and death moments, they always reverted to the repertoire they had first learned and were most comfortable with.

  His fifth move came like a hurricane. The others were concerned for the girl. She may have been crafty, irritating even, but they bore her no real grudge. They could not say they wanted such a pretty young girl to actually come to harm.

  Except for Browbeater Hou, of course, who felt the sooner the little vixen was dead the better.

  Lotus defended herself with some of Wanyan Kang’s Quanzhen kung fu to force back the attack, and then a bit of Guo Jing’s Southern Mountain Fists style. She had only learned them the previous day while watching the Prince and Guo Jing fight in the marketplace. Her seventh move was Tiger Peng’s Triple Chain Penetration, which she had only seen for the first time at the start of this very fight!

  The fighting was growing more furious and more dangerous, however, and she would most probably struggle to hold him off using her own kung fu, let alone with borrowed moves she had only seen and never tried. She was taking a risk, based on the assumption that he would not actually try to kill her.

  “Clever girl, using Outlaw Peng’s moves against him. Oh, wait – careful, go left!” Gallant Ouyang found he was now giving her advice.

  Tiger Peng’s style was to mix feigned and real moves, switching between the two at great speed. His eighth was just such a false strike to the left as he lunged to the right. Lotus had expected him to do just the opposite, and come in on his left despite faking a right. She had meant to dodge to her left, Tiger Peng’s right, but after Gallant Ouyang’s cry, she dipped low and sailed right. It was a most elegant move, everyone could see that.

  Tiger Peng was furious. Who was this Gallant Ouyang to interfere? A
nd who said he wouldn’t kill her? He wasn’t known as the Butcher of a Thousand Hands for nothing, after all. He had a terrible cruel streak when he was angry, and with only two moves left and still none the wiser as to the identity of her shifu, his scruples were fast dissolving. He moved into an Open the Window to Gaze at the Moon, his left hand yin, his right hand yang, and with all his strength, pushed both out at once.

  Lotus knew she was in grave danger. She stepped back as his fists came at her face. All she could do was duck, bend both her arms and strike at his chest with the points of her elbows.

  Tiger Peng had expected her to try to block him, and was going to follow with his tenth move. He was halfway through a Falling Star when she made her surprise attack, so all he could do was gather his internal energy to stop himself from falling over from the momentum of his own forward thrust. But it was like pulling on the reins of a horse at the edge of a cliff.

  “You must have studied kung fu under Twice Foul Dark Wind!” he cried out as a shiver shot through him and into his voice.