by Jin Yong
After the banquet was over Guo Jing and Huang Rong discussed what to do next. Wanyan Honglie would not be in Beijing, so it would be difficult to find him in a short period of time. The Peach Blossom Island appointment was drawing near. Guo Jing needed to go back to Jiaxing immediately and consult with his six masters on what action they would take.
Huang Rong nodded her head in agreement. “I think it is best for your six masters not to go to Peach Blossom Island,” she added. “You fought with father and received quite a beating; for him to hit a few more heads is no big deal, is it? If you don’t agree with me, let me hit you a few more times on the head. If your six masters meet my father again, what good will it bring?”
“You’re right,” Guo Jing said. “But you don’t need to hit my head.”
Early the next morning the two rode south. It was the beginning of the sixth month and the weather was burning hot. Natives of Jiangnan had a saying, ‘the sixth day of the sixth month, a duck egg was cooked by the sun.’ Traveling under the hot sun they were very miserable. So they would hurry along early in the mornings and later in the evenings and rested at noon.
A few days later they arrived at Jiaxing. Since it was earlier than the appointed time, the Six Freaks were not there yet. Guo Jing wrote a letter and left it with the innkeeper of the Pavilion of the Drunken Immortal, asking him to deliver the letter in person to the Six Freaks of Jiangnan when they arrived at the beginning of the seventh month.
In the letter he explained that he had met Huang Rong and was going to Peach Blossom Island to fulfill his promise and that with Huang Yaoshi’s beloved daughter’s company, he should not come across any problems. He asked his six masters to not be anxious and that they need not accompany him, and so on.
Even though he said that, he was actually afraid since Huang Yaoshi was very peculiar. He thought he would more likely meet misfortune than good fortune. He was afraid Huang Rong would feel anxious for him, so he did not tell her anything. Knowing that his six masters did not have to go into harm’s way was his only consolation.
The couple headed east. After Zhoushan, they hired a boat and continued by sea. Huang Rong knew that local sailors were afraid of Peach Blossom Island, like some people are afraid of vipers or scorpions. Nobody dared to sail within forty li of the island. If she mentioned the name of Peach Blossom Island, no matter how much money she offered, nobody would be willing to take them. So she said they were going shrimp fishing at a nearby island. It was only after they were quite a distance from shore did she tell the boatman to change course to the north. The boatman was terrified, but Huang Rong wielded a dagger in front of his chest; a cold and bright sparkle emanated from the blade so he had no choice but to comply with their request.
As the boat was nearing the island, Guo Jing smelled a flowery fragrance amidst the salty smell of the sea. He turned his gaze towards the island. It was green and lush with colorful trees and shrubs.
Some were green, some red, some yellow, and some purple. The island looked like a massive flower garden.
Huang Rong smiled. “Isn’t it beautiful?” she asked.
Guo Jing sighed, “I have never seen so many beautiful flowers in my whole life,” he answered.
Huang Rong was very pleased; she smiled and explained, “Come the third month, the peach blossoms are in full bloom. That is really beautiful. Shifu did not want to admit that my father’s martial arts are number one in the world, but he cannot deny the fact that my father’s gardening skill is unrivaled. Too bad he is only interested in food and drink; he doesn’t even know what a good flower or plant is. He’s such an uncouth person.”
“You are talking about Shifu behind his back,” Guo Jing scolded, “Not a good habit.” Huang Rong stuck her tongue out and made a face.
They waited until the boat was closer before they leaped ashore. Guo Jing’s red horse also jumped to the shore. The boatman had heard many horror stories about the island; it was said that the Master of Peach Blossom Island would kill without batting an eye, that he liked to dig out people’s hearts, lungs, livers and intestines. As soon as his passengers disembarked, he turned the rudder, wanting to leave the island as soon as possible.
Huang Rong took out a silver ingot of ten ‘liang’ [ounces] and tossed it to the boat. With a clanking noise it landed on the bow. The boatman did not expect such a generous recompense; he looked ashore delighted, but still did not dare to stay near that island much longer.
Being home again, Huang Rong’s was ecstatic. “Father! Father! Rong’er is back!” she shouted loudly. Beckoning Guo Jing to come, she then dashed forward.
Guo Jing saw her turning east and dodging west amongst the flowers and very soon disappeared from his sight. He hastily chased her, but after several ‘zhang’ he had already lost track of her. He saw there were trails heading east, south, west and north; but did not know which one he should take.
When he arbitrarily took a path and walked for while and he seemed to be returning to where he’d started. He recalled the pathways of Cloud Manor Manor; Huang Rong had said that although that manor’s layout was wonderfully arranged it still paled in comparison with Peach Blossom Island, whose design was based on yin-yang and open-closed elements. If he forced himself to walk in this wonderful, almost magical place he would end up wasting his strength in vain. So he decided to just sit underneath a peach tree and wait for Huang Rong to fetch him. Who would have thought that after waiting for half a day Huang Rong still had not come. He looked around in all directions but did not see even the shadow of a human being; not even a single sound was heard. He was lost!
Anxiously he stood up and climbed atop a nearby tree. Again he looked everywhere; to the south of him was the sea, to the west was a barren rock hill, to the north and east were forests of flowers of all kinds and colors; he could not even see the end of it. His head became dizzy. He did not see anything that resembled a wall or a chimney; he did not even hear a dog’s bark. It was so extremely quiet and lonely that it scared him.
Quickly he slid down the tree and ran in panic towards the dark forest. He suddenly stopped in his tracks and anxiously cried, “Not good! I am running around aimlessly! If Rong’er comes looking for me, she won’t find me!” Having had this thought he turned around and ran back; but he was lost again! He couldn’t even find the place where he started.
The little red horse was following him closely, but when he ran among the bushes and climbed trees and soon the horse was also lost. The sky was growing dark and Guo Jing did not know what to do; so he simply sat on the ground and waited for Huang Rong. It was a good thing that that place was covered with thick green grass, so he was quite comfortable sitting down.
He started to get hungry and thirsty too. His mind wandered to the delicious food Huang Rong used to prepare for Hong Qigong and he was getting hungrier. Suddenly a thought came into his mind. “What if Rong’er’s father locked her up? She won’t be able to rescue me. How can I let myself starve to death in this forest?”
He recalled he still had to sort out the enmity with Huang Rong’s father; he also remembered he had not paid back his masters’ kindness. Then his mind wandered to his mother in far away Mongolia; if he died here, who would take care of her? With these heavy thoughts he became tired and fell asleep.
It was deep into the night when he dreamt he was on a trip with Huang Rong. They visited a lake near Beijing. They got to a beautiful spot and Huang Rong was singing a tune in a soft voice. Out of the blue there came another sound singing along; it was a bamboo flute. He woke up, startled. The flute sound still lingered in the air. Guo Jing got up and looked around. The moon shone brightly in the sky, and the sweet fragrance of the flowers was thickened by the dark night. The flute sound came from a distance; he was not dreaming!
Guo Jing was delighted. He walked towards the flute sound following the path in front of him. It was a winding path, and sometimes there was no path in front of him, but the flute sound was still coming from the front. He remembere
d the pathways of the Cloud Manor; so he ignored the winding path and just went straight to the sound. If a tree or shrubs were in front of him, he simply climbed or jumped over them.
The flute sound was getting clearer. Guo Jing walked faster. Rounding a bend, he arrived at an area of white flowering shrubs. Layer upon layer of flowers glistened in the bright moonlight; so many they looked like a small white lake. In the middle of these white flowers he saw something big and tall, looking massive. Here the sound of the flute suddenly changed. Sometimes high, sometimes low; sometimes the sound came from his front, sometimes it moved to his back. He thought the sound was coming from the east, but when he rushed to the east, the sound moved to the west; when he chased to the north, the sound swiftly moved to the south. It sounded like more than ten people were playing flutes all around him. This flute sound really drove him crazy.
After running around like that for a while Guo Jing’s head was spinning, so he decided to quit running and walked directly towards that massive thing in the middle of white flower lake. It turned out it was a grave site. There was a stone in front of the tomb with this inscription: ‘The Fragrant Burial Ground of Mistress Feng of Peach Blossom Island’ [tao hua dao nu zhu feng shi mai xiang zhi zhong], in eleven large characters.
“This must be Rong’er’s mother’s tomb,” Guo Jing thought. “Rong’er lost her when she was very small, it was really sad.” He knelt down in front of the tomb and kowtowed four times to pay his respects.
The flute sound suddenly stopped when Guo Jing was kneeling. Everything around him was very quiet; but as soon as he stood up, the flute sound resumed in front of him. “I don’t care if it brings luck or misfortune, I will follow the sound,” Guo Jing thought.
Again he walked amongst the vegetation following the flute. And again sound of the flute changed its personality. First it sounded like laughter, but suddenly changed into anger; it affected his feelings no end. Guo Jing’s pulse quickened, “How come this tune is so pleasant to my ears?” he was fascinated.
The tune increased its tempo, urging him to get up and dance. Guo Jing felt the urge, his face flushed and he felt his blood flowing ever faster through his hundreds of arteries. He immediately sat on the ground and meditated as Ma Yu had taught him: circulating his internal energy.
At first his heart was shaken, several times he felt the urge to stand up and dance to the tune. After breathing in and out several times, his heart calmed down, his mind became clear. No matter how the flute song changed, he heard it like the sound of the waves of the sea, or like a breeze in the tree tops. He felt his ‘dan tian’ bursting with energy; his whole body felt comfortable. No longer did he feel hunger or thirst. He knew that as he reached this state, external elements would not be able to affect him any longer; he slowly opened his eyes only to see in the darkness, about two ‘zhang’s away, a pair of bright eyes looking straight at him.
He was startled, “What kind of beast is that?” he thought while leaping back several steps. But suddenly those eyes disappeared. “This Peach Blossom Island is really strange,” he thought, “even a fast leopard or a swift fox won’t be able to move that fast.” He hesitated for a moment and then heard fast breathing; it was a human’s breathing. Then he realized, “It was a human being! Those sparkling eyes were his. I didn’t see them anymore because he shut his eyes, but he is actually still here.” Having this thought he laughed at his own foolishness; but it was unclear to him whether that person was a friend or a foe, so he did not dare to make a sound and just opened his eyes wide to observe quietly.
At this time the floating flute song carried a passionate, seducing feeling resembling a woman sighing and groaning, then murmuring softly; then at other times it raged wildly with desire.
Guo Jing was still young and although he had trained in martial arts since his childhood he did not know much about sexual relationships. He felt the flute affecting his emotions and the melody was enchanting to the soul, but he did not it give too much thought. But it was not so with the other man; he was gasping for breath and groaning softly. It sounded like he was struggling with all his strength just to resist the enticement coming from the flute.
Guo Jing’s heart was moved with compassion towards this man and slowly he went to him. The trees in this place were dense and the moon was bright, but the moonlight could not penetrate the thick branches and leaves. Guo Jing walked closer and only then he could vaguely see the man’s appearance. He was sitting cross-legged. His hair was long, almost touching the ground and his eyebrows, moustache and beard were long also, covering his mouth and nose. His left hand was on his chest, his right hand on his back.
Guo Jing knew that it was one of the positions for cultivating internal energy that ‘Scarlet Sun [dan yang zi], Ma Yu had taught him atop that barren hill on the Mongolian steppes. It was the technique for closing one’s heart and mind. Whenever someone masters it to perfection, even if thunder rumbles and lighting flashes, or water gushes and creates landslides, it would not bother him at all. This man looked like he knew this advanced skill of internal energy cultivation; but why couldn’t he control himself and feared the sound of the flute?
The flute music quickened and that man’s body was swaying and twitching. Several times he jumped a few feet off the ground and after struggling with all his might he was finally able to sit down again. Guo Jing saw this cycle happen several times: he would be calm for a moment, then agitated, before calming down again, but the cycle was getting shorter and shorter. Guo Jing knew that man was fighting a losing battle, so he started to worry for him.
The flute played two more intricate melodies softly. Suddenly the man shouted, “All right! All right!” and was about to jump up. Guo Jing realized the time was critical; without thinking he rushed forward and stretched out his hands pushing down on that man’s shoulder. His right hand tapped the ‘Big Spine’ [da zhui xue] acupoint on his neck. He remembered when he was training on that Mongolian cliff; whenever his mind was troubled and could not achieve tranquility, Ma Yu would gently stroke him on his ‘Big Spine’ acupoint and that helped calm him. His internal strength was not as strong as Ma Yu’s so he could not help this man to overcome the flute’s sound; but because he struck the right spot the long-haired old man was able to calm himself. He closed his eyes and seemed like he was in control.
Guo Jing was happy inside; then someone scolded him. “Little beast! You ruined my great effort!” The flute had suddenly stopped. Guo Jing turned his head and did not see anyone, but that voice sounded like Huang Yaoshi. He became anxious and regretted his actions. “I don’t know if this long-haired old man is good or bad and I thoughtlessly helped him. I’ve surely increased Rong’er’s father’s anger. If this old man is a monster or evil witch, then I just committed a big mistake?”
He heard the old man’s breathing slowing down to steady breathing. Guo Jing refrained himself from asking the old man questions. He simply sat quietly opposite him, closed his eyes and used that time to meditate. Soon he was able to calm himself and achieve a state of emptiness. He lost track of time and opened his eyes when the morning stars began to dim in the dawn light.
The morning sun shone through the trees and flowers, illuminating the old man’s face. Guo Jing could see him clearly now; his hair and beard were not entirely white and God only knows how many years a shaving knife had not touched his head. He looked like a cave man.
Suddenly the old man’s eyes opened. His eyes were bright and twinkling. He smiled faintly and asked, “Which one of the Quanzhen Seven Masters is your master?”
Guo Jing saw his kindly countenance and was put at ease. He stood up and bowed respectfully, “Disciple Guo Jing pays his respect to Senior. I am the disciple of the Seven Heroes of Jiangnan.”
The old man seemed surprised. “The Seven Heroes of Jiangnan; is that Ke Zhen’E and the others? How could they teach you the internal energy cultivation of the Quanzhen Sect?” he asked.
“Actually, Ma Dao Zhang [Taoist Priest Ma]
spent two years teaching this disciple, but he did not permit me inside the Quanzhen Sect’s gate and wall,” Guo Jing answered. [Guo Jing meant that he was not taken as Ma Yu’s official disciple.]
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That old man laughed heartily and then made faces. He looked so funny, like a child playing jokes. “So that’s how it is” he said, “How did you come to Peach Blossom Island?”
“Master Huang told me to come,” replied Guo Jing.
The old man’s face suddenly changed, “What for?” he asked.
“This disciple offended Master Huang,” Guo Jing answered. “I come here to accept my fate.”
“Are you telling the truth?” the old man asked.
“Disciple does not dare to lie,” answered Guo Jing.
The old man nodded, “Very good! Sit down!” he commanded.
Guo Jing sat on a big rock and he could see clearly that the old man was sitting inside a cave in a rock wall.
“Other than your Masters who else taught you martial arts?” the old man asked again.
“The Nine-fingered Divine Beggar, Benevolent Master Hong .” Guo Jing said.
The old man’s face changed again, it was strange, like he was going to smile but restrained himself. “Hong Qigong also taught you martial arts?” he interrupted.
“Yes,” replied Guo Jing. “Benevolent Master Hong taught me the ‘Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Palms’.”
The old man’s face showed happiness and envy at the same time, “You know the ‘Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Palms’? That martial art is so amazing. How about teaching it to me? I will take you as my master.” But then he shook his head and said, “Won’t do! Won’t do! As the Old Hong’s disciple your energy must not be that strong. Did Old Beggar Hong teach you internal energy?”