Legend of Condor Heroes Book 3

by Jin Yong

  “Do you know anything about the Nine Yin Manual?” the scholar asked.

  “We do,” Huang Rong replied, “But what does this Nine Yin Manual have to do with this matter? Ay, this book is really dangerous.” She could not help but recall how her mother had died due to over-exertion in re-writing the manual from memory.

  The scholar said, “In the first Sword Meet of Mount Hua the Quanzhen Sect’s founder was crowned the Number One Martial Artist of The World [wu gong tian xia di yi]; therefore, the manual fell into his hand. It went without saying that the other four experts felt a heartfelt admiration to him. In that Sword Meet of Mount Hua everybody demonstrated his marvelous strength; Chongyang Zhenren was impressed with my Shifu’s Solitary Yang Finger. The following year he came to Dali accompanied by his Shidi [younger martial brother] to pay a visit and discuss martial art skills.”

  “His Shidi?” Huang Rong interrupted, “Isn’t that the Old Urchin Zhou Botong?”

  “That’s correct,” the scholar replied, “Miss is young, yet actually knows a lot of people.”

  “No need to praise me,” Huang Rong said.

  The scholar continued, “Zhou Shishu [Martial Uncle Zhou] was a very funny man, but I did not

  know he was called the Old Urchin. That time my Shifu had not become a monk.”

  “Ah,” Huang Rong said, “He was still an emperor.”

  “Exactly,” the scholar said, “The Quanzhen Sect’s founder and his martial brother stayed for a dozen of days in the imperial palace, we four people were always by their side to accompany them. Our Shifu explained the essence of the Solitary Yang Finger and everything there is to know to Chongyang Zhenren. Chongyang Zhenren was completely delighted; in turn he bequeathed the fiercest ‘xian tian gong’ to our Shifu. We were at their sides when they were discussing these marvelous skills, but because our experience and knowledge were shallow, we heard but did not comprehend anything.”

  “What about the Old Urchin?” Huang Rong asked, “His martial art skill is not low.”

  The scholar replied, “Zhou Shishu liked to move around and did not like to stay still. Several days

  in the Dali palace he wandered to the east and strolled to the west, he played around everywhere; even the empress and the concubines’ palaces did not escape his visits. The court eunuchs were aware he was the emperor’s honorable guest, so they did not do anything to stop him.” Huang Rong and Guo Jing were smiling.

  The scholar continued, “Just before Chongyang Zhenren left he said to our Shifu, ‘Lately my chronic illness has come back to me; I don’t think I am going to live much longer. Fortunately I have found an heir to my ‘xian tian gong’; it will strengthen the Emperor’s Solitary Yang Finger. There will be somebody in this world who can control him. I won’t be afraid he would run amuck with unseemly behavior anymore.’ It was then that my Shifu understood that Chongyang Zhenren had traveled thousands of ‘li’s to the Dali with the sole purpose of bequeathing the ‘xian tian gong’ to Shifu so that after his death there would be somebody who can control the Western Poison Ouyang Feng. But because the Eastern Heretic, the Western Poison, the Southern Emperor, the Northern Beggar and the Central Divinity shared the honor of the present age, if he said he came to impart a skill, it would be disrespectful to my Shifu; therefore, he first asked my Shifu to teach him the Solitary Yang Finger, then in exchange he taught the ‘xian tian gong’. As Shifu understood his intention he was very grateful and straightaway he diligently trained the ‘xian tian gong’. Chongyang Zhenren did not live long after he learned the Solitary Yang Finger; he did not have time to study thoroughly, and I heard he had not bequeathed it to any of his disciples. Later on there were some unfortunate events in our Dali kingdom; my Shifu’s heart was broken. He shaved his head and became a monk.”

  Huang Rong thought, “Emperor Duan did not want to be an emperor anymore, but became a monk; this must be because of an enormously grieving matter. Others did not tell, it would be inconvenient to ask.” Glancing sideways she saw Guo Jing was about to open his mouth to ask; hastily she signaled him with her eyes. “Oh!” Guo Jing muttered and closed his mouth.

  The scholar’s face turned dark; he was reminiscing over past events. After a while he opened his mouth and continued, “Somehow the news that Shifu was training the ‘xian tian gong’ leaked out. One day, my martial brother,” he pointed toward the farmer, “received an order to go gather some medicinal herbs. He went to the ‘ta xue shan’ [Big Snow Mountain] at the western border of Yunnan; where somebody injured him using the Toad Stance.”

  “It must be the Old Poison,” Huang Rong said.

  “Who else but him?” the farmer angrily said, “First a young man unreasonably picked a fight with me; he said this Big Snow Mountain belonged to his family. He wouldn’t let anybody trespass and gather herbs without authorization. The Big Snow Mountain spans thousands of ‘li’s; how could it belong to his family? Without a doubt this person was intentionally provoking me. I remembered Shifu’s teaching to endure patiently; I was yielding to him over and over. Who would have thought that this young man got an inch and wanted a foot! He said he wanted me to kowtow to him 300 times before he let me go down the mountain. Finally I couldn’t hold myself much longer and we fought. This young man’s martial art was not bad, we fought for half a day without anybody gaining an upper hand. Unexpectedly the Old Poison suddenly appeared from a valley and without saying anything struck out a palm and severely injured me. That young man then carried me on has back and brought me over to ‘tian long si’ [sky/heaven dragon temple] where Shifu stayed.”

  “Somebody had already avenged you,” Huang Rong said, “This young master Ouyang was killed.”

  The farmer was angry, “Ah, he’s dead. Who killed him?”

  “Hey, somebody avenged you; why are you angry?” Huang Rong asked.

  “I want to seek revenge myself, I want to kill him with my own hand,” the farmer replied.

  Huang Rong sighed, “Too bad you can’t do that anymore.”

  “Who killed him?” the farmer asked.

  “It was another bad person,” Huang Rong replied, “His martial art was below young master Ouyang; but he used craftiness to kill him.”

  “Good riddance!” the scholar said, “Miss, do you know why Ouyang Feng injured my martial brother?”

  “What’s so difficult to guess?” Huang Rong said, “Based on Ouyang Feng’s martial art, he could kill your martial brother with only one strike; but he only injured him severely and sent him to your Shifu’s door. Undoubtedly he wanted the Reverend to waste his energy by treating his disciple’s injury. You told me that this type of treatment would require a lot of internal strength; he would need five years to recover his energy. Then on the next Sword Meet of Mount Hua the Reverend would definitely not able to compete.”

  “Miss is really smart,” the scholar sighed, “But your guess is only half-correct. That Ouyang Feng’s evil heart was difficult to fathom. After Shifu treated my martial brother’s injury, before Shifu recovered, he launched a secret attack with the intention of killing Shifu ...”

  Guo Jing interrupted, “Reverend Yideng is so compassionate and kind, how could he have any enmity with Ouyang Feng?”

  “Xiao Ge [little elder brother],” the scholar replied, “What you said is not right. First, merciful and compassionate good people do not coexist with sinister and ruthless evil people. Second, whenever Ouyang Feng wants to harm anybody, it really doesn’t matter whether that person has any enmity with him or not. Just because he knew that the ‘xian tian gong’ is the black star of his Toad Stance he must kill my Shifu with all possible means.”

  Guo Jing nodded his head repeatedly; “Did the Reverend receive any harm from him?” he asked again.

  The scholar replied, “Shifu saw through Ouyang Feng’s evil scheme as soon as he saw my martial brother’s injury; that very night we moved away and the Western Poison lost our track. We know he has failed once, he would not give up that easily. He h
as looked for us everywhere until finally he found this secret place of ours. After Shifu recovered his strength we martial brothers proposed to go to the White Camel Mountain and settled this account with the Western Poison, but Shifu prohibits us to take any revenge; we must not allow ourselves to create any trouble. With great difficulty we managed to live peacefully all these years, who would have thought that with your craftiness you managed to go up the mountain. We only know you are the Nine-fingered Divine Beggar’s disciples; we did not know you meant to do our Shifu harm, hence we did not stop you with all of our strengths. Otherwise we would put our four lives at stake and in no way would allow you to enter the temple. Who would have thought that the man did not have any intention to harm the tiger, but the tiger is harming the man. Ay! In the end my Shifu still fall under your evil hands.” Speaking thus his face turned fierce, with a tiger like power he slowly stood up. With a ‘shua’ sound the sword on his waist went out its sheath, glimmering cold, dazzling the eye.

  The fisherman, the woodcutter and the farmer also stood up unsheathing their weapons, surrounding them from four directions. Huang Rong said, “I came to ask the Reverend to treat my injury, not knowing it would require all of the Reverend’s strength that he would lose his internal energy for five years. There is poison in those pills; I was framed by somebody else. The Reverend has shown me this kind of mercy; even if I don’t have a heart, I still will not repay kindness with evil.”

  With a stern voice the fisherman said, “Then why do you take advantage while Shifu’s strength is gone and he is poisoned you lead the enemy going up the mountain?”

  Jing and Rong two people were stunned, “We did not!” they said with a confused voice.

  “You still deny it?” the fisherman said, “As soon as my Shifu is poisoned, the enemy delivered a jade bracelet on the foot of the mountain. If you did not scheme it ahead, how can there be such coincidence?”

  “What jade bracelet?” Huang Rong asked.

  The fisherman was angry, “You still act stupid!” The iron oars in his hands moved; the left oar swept horizontally, the right oar went down vertically, attacking both Guo Jing and Huang Rong.

  Guo Jing was sitting side by side with Huang Rong on meditation mats on the floor. As he saw the oars arrive he leaped up with his right hand forming a hook brushing away the horizontally sweeping oar, while his left hand caught the flat of the oar and jerked it hard. This jerking action carried a very strong force; the fisherman felt pain and tingling sensation which forced him to let the oar go. Guo Jing pushed the oar forward. ‘Bang!’ it hit the farmer’s iron rake; sparks flew everywhere. Immediately Guo Jing shoved the iron oar back into the fisherman’s hand. The fisherman was surprised; he took the oar back. Exerting his strength to his right arm he struck down together with the woodcutter’s axe.

  Guo Jing’s palm came one after another, carrying strong gusts of wind, coming fast toward the two men’s torso. The scholar knew the fierceness of the ’18-Dragon Subduing Palms’, “Back off quickly!” he anxiously shouted.

  Both the fisherman and the woodcutter were disciples of a well-known expert; their martial arts were anything but ordinary. Before Guo Jing’s stance arrived they had hastily withdrew their weapons and leaped back. Suddenly they felt a jerk dampening their backward movement; turned out their weapons were pulled forward by Guo Jing’s palm strength. They had no choice but let their weapons go; saving their own lives was more important.

  Guo Jing caught the iron oar and the steel axe, he lightly tossed them back and called out, “Catch these!”

  “Good martial art!” the scholar praised; his long sword threatening Guo Jing’s right side.

  Seeing this attack Guo Jing was startled; among Yideng’s four disciples this scholar looked the most refined, but actually his martial art surpassed those of his colleagues; hence Guo Jing did not dare to underestimate him. His palms fluttered in the air, enveloping Huang Rong and his own body with tremendous force. This defense was truly stable, like an abyss stopping a mountain peak; there was not a single hole in it. His palms were like rainbow, continuously circling around bigger and bigger that the fisherman, the woodcutter, the farmer and the scholar were gradually pushed back till their backs were against the wall. Never mind counterattacking, merely defending themselves was not easy.

  By this time if Guo Jing added more force to his palms these four people would inevitably suffer injury. Fighting a moment longer Guo Jing held back his strength, he attacked hard then backed off hard, struck light then fended off light, it seemed like his force was there and then disappeared;

  914 Eagle Shooting Hero throughout the battle he steadily held the power balance so they were on the level ground, nobody won and nobody lost.

  The scholar’s sword technique suddenly changed; his long sword vibrated, creating a continuously buzzing noise. His sword turned into six swords on the top, six swords on the bottom, six swords on the front, six swords on the back, six swords on the left and six swords on the right, successively stabbing like six by six, thirty six swords altogether. It was the Yunnan’s ‘ai lao shan’ [Mount Ailao] thirty-six sword; considered one of the best offensive sword techniques in the world.

  Guo Jing’s left palm parried the fisherman, the woodcutter and the farmer three people’s weapons; his right palm followed the movements of the scholar’s sword: up and down, front to back, left to right. Although the sword underwent countless changes, Guo Jing had always succeeded in diverting the sword stab by the power of his palm. Each sword stab passed very close to his clothes, but never once did it manage to even make a scratch on Guo Jing’s skin.

  Blocking to the thirty-sixth stab, Guo Jing bent his right middle finger under his thumb; he waited for the incoming sword to lose its momentum before he suddenly flicked the body of the sword. It was the ‘tan zhi shen tong’ [Divine Flicking Finger], Huang Yaoshi’s special skill which was considered unparalleled in the present age. Huang Yaoshi used this special skill when he played shooting marbles with Zhou Botong; and again in the Cloud Village, when he was giving direction to Mei Chaofeng. Guo Jing watched him fighting the Quanzhen’s Seven Masters at the Ox Village near Lin’an using this special skill. Having learned a certain amount of the martial art secrets from the Manual he managed to imitate the flicking finger technique. Although it was inferior to Huang Yaoshi’s subtle and elegant flicking finger, but it still carried a tremendous force.

  With a metallic clank the long sword was shaken; the scholar’s arm was numb, the sword almost fell from his hand. The scholar was shocked; he leaped backward and called out, “Hold it!”

  The fisherman, the woodcutter and the farmer three people leaped backward at once. Only their backs were very close to the wall to begin with, so there was no place they could withdraw to. The fisherman leaped out of the door, the farmer jumped out over the hole in the wall Guo Jing made earlier. The woodcutter inserted his axe back into his waist. He smiled and said, “I told you these two did not have any evil intentions, but you did not believe me.”

  The scholar put his sword back into its sheath; he cupped his fists toward Guo Jing and said, “Xiao Ge [little elder brother] has held back your palms, we are feeling grateful.”

  Guo Jing busily bowed down to return the gesture, but his heart was full of questions, “From the start we did not have any ill-intention; why didn’t they believe us? Why is it after we fought they changed their minds and believed us?”

  Huang Rong noticed his confused expression, she knew what he was thinking; she whispered to his ear, “If you harbor ill intentions, then you would have injured these four people. How can even Reverend Yideng be your match right now?” Guo Jing thought it was true, he nodded his head repeatedly.

  The farmer and the fisherman walked back into the room. Huang Rong asked, “I wonder who the Reverend’s enemy is? What is this jade bracelet that was delivered earlier?”

  The scholar replied, “It’s not that we don’t want to tell you, but frankly speaking we don’t eve
n know the truth surrounding this matter. All I know is that the reason my Shifu became a monk is closely related to this matter.”

  Huang Rong was about to inquire further when suddenly the farmer jumped up and shouted, “Aiyo! It’s dangerous!”

  “What is it?” the fisherman asked.

  The farmer pointed his finger to the scholar and said, “Shifu has lost all his strength, he is telling everything, concealing nothing; if these two harbor any ill intention while the four of us are powerless to hold them up, will Shifu be still alive?”

  The woodcutter said, “The Honorable Zhuangyuan can predict with divine accuracy. If he could not predict the outcome of this small matter, how could he become the Dali’s Prime Minister? He had known from the start that these two are friends and not foes; but he deliberately proceeded with fighting them. First, to test these two friends’ martial art; second, to convince the two of you.”

  The scholar showed a faint smile. The farmer and the fisherman looked at each other; they were partly admiring the scholar, partly blaming their own rashness.

  At that moment they heard footsteps coming in from outside the door. A young monk came in. He clasped his hands and said, “Shifu orders four martial brothers to send the guests off.” Everybody stood up immediately.

  Guo Jing said, “The Reverend is expecting an enemy; how can we walk away just like that? Forgetting my own inability Xiao Di [little/lowly younger brother] wants to collaborate with the four martial brothers to face the visitor.”

  The fisherman, the woodcutter, the farmer and the scholar looked at each other with delighted expressions. “Let me ask Shifu,” the scholar said.

  Four people went in together. They stayed inside for quite a long time. When they came back out Guo Jing and Huang Rong saw their crestfallen expression and knew that Reverend Yideng did not allow them to help. And sure enough; the scholar said, “Shifu thanks the two of you very much; but he said that everybody reaps what he sows, other people must not interfere.”