A Heart Divided

by Jin Yong

  Why’s he acting so strange? Graybeard Liang wondered. He decided to give Guo Jing a little prod.

  Not daring to draw near, he threw a stone at the boy’s back. Guo Jing merely turned a fraction to the side to evade the projectile. He did not acknowledge the culprit with so much as a glance.

  Taking courage from this, the old man drew nearer. “Guo Jing, what are you doing here?”

  “I’m wondering if it’s right to inflict harm on another with my kung fu,” came the honest answer.

  It took a moment for the Ginseng Immortal to grasp the significance of this response. The boy really is a fool, he thought with excitement, taking a couple more steps forward.

  “Certainly not! It’s deeply wrong to use one’s martial skills to hurt others.”

  “You think so too? I really want to purge everything I know from my head and my body.”

  Old Liang kept his eyes locked on Guo Jing, who was gazing at the sky, and said in his most soothing tone, “I’ve been trying to forget my martial knowledge too. I can help you, if you like.” As he spoke, he crept up to a spot right behind the young man.

  Taking no notice of his furtive approach, Guo Jing replied, “Great! Tell me what I should do.”

  “I know an excellent way.”

  The Ginseng Immortal seized Guo Jing, locking two major pressure points, Celestial Pillar, at the nape of his neck and Spirit Hall, near the right shoulder blade. By the time the young man had registered the contact, his whole body had gone numb and he had lost control of his limbs.

  Graybeard Liang sniggered. “You’ll know no kung fu when I’m finished with you.” Then he clamped his teeth over Guo Jing’s throat, breaking the skin. He lapped up the blood, careful not to waste a single drop, for it had been fortified by the vital fluid of the python he had spent many years cultivating with precious medicinal herbs.

  Your kung fu improved so much after you drank my snake’s blood, whereas I’m still stuck at the same level. Old Liang sucked harder at the memory of that fateful night. I’m going to take back what’s mine—I’ll drink you dry! He slurped away, too worked up to give any thought to whether the python blood was still potent after two years in the boy’s veins.

  Stars danced before Guo Jing’s eyes. Whether from pain or from blood loss, he was not certain, but he knew he ought to resist. He summoned his strength, but, with the two acupoints sealed, he could not channel his energy at all. He watched as crimson webs spread across the whites of his attacker’s eyes and a feral snarl took over the man’s face.

  He’s going to bite through my windpipe! The young man’s body screamed as Old Liang’s teeth sank deeper into his flesh.

  Guo Jing no longer had the mental capacity to agonize over whether or not it was acceptable to use his martial knowledge. Instinct took over. Drawing on the Transforming Muscles, Forging Bones technique from the Nine Yin Manual, he sent a blast of elemental qi from his Elixir Field to the two vital points in his enemy’s control. The force disrupted the joints in Graybeard Liang’s thumbs and index fingers, making his hands slip off the vital points.

  Guo Jing dipped his chin, hunched his shoulders and tugged in his stomach sharply. This series of subtle movements generated an explosive burst of energy from his waist, far more powerful than anything the arms or legs could muster. It rocked the older man’s footing and tossed him up into the air.

  Over Guo Jing’s head and over the cliff edge.

  Graybeard Liang’s spine-chilling cries echoed between the bare crags, amplified by the sheer rocky surfaces. Guo Jing stared into the depths in shock, trying to come to terms with what he had done.

  I have killed yet another person with my martial learning … But, if I hadn’t reacted that way, I’d be dead. It’s not right to take his life, but am I supposed to do nothing and let him kill me?

  Accepting that he had no answer to this, Guo Jing leaned over the edge and looked down into the gorge. He was so high up that he could not see all the way to the bottom—it was impossible to determine the Ginseng Codger’s final resting place.

  * * *

  GUO JING sat back down, still in a daze. After a while, he remembered the wound on his neck and tore a strip from his robe. He had just finished bandaging when—clack … clack clack—he heard a series of intermittent, arrhythmic taps coming from behind him.

  As he turned, a strange sight came into view. It was a moment before he registered the figure as human.

  But it was upside down, as though doing a handstand.

  The man clutched a round stone in each hand. With each “step,” he struck them against the rocky ground, which accounted for the clacking sounds.

  Astonished that anybody would choose to move around in such a curious manner, Guo Jing squatted down and tilted his head to get a better look at the man’s face.

  Viper Ouyang!

  He backed away, eyeing the Martial Great with caution, convinced that some infernal plot was unfolding—the timing of the Venom’s appearance, so soon after the unpleasant encounter with Graybeard Liang, and the peculiar manner of his entrance were too strange to be a coincidence.

  Viper bent his arms, then straightened them out, springing onto a boulder. He landed on his head, pressed his arms to his sides and extended his feet into the sky in a headstand. His body was as stiff as a corpse.

  Intrigued, Guo Jing could not resist asking about the meaning of this series of bizarre moves. “Master Ouyang, what are you doing?”

  But the martial Master did not grant him an answer. He looked as if he had not heard a word he had said. Guo Jing retreated a few more paces and held his left arm over his chest to guard it. Thus protected, he observed the Venom from a safe distance. He waited for some time, long enough to drink a pot of tea, and yet Viper did not move from that awkward stance. The young man was eager to get to the bottom of this perplexing display, but it was hard to read the Martial Great’s face because of his inverted posture. So, Guo Jing turned his back on the Venom and bent over to look through his parted legs. Now that he was oriented the same way, he noticed that his nemesis was sweating profusely. He seemed to be in great discomfort.

  He must be practicing some strange neigong technique. Just as the thought presented itself to Guo Jing, Viper stretched his arms out until they leveled with his shoulders and began to rotate, pirouetting on his head like a spinning top. He whirled faster and faster, his sleeves flapping noisily in the gust whipped up by his movement.

  He is indeed practicing internal kung fu, Guo Jing said to himself. What a curious technique that it requires him to be upside down like this!

  Suddenly, it struck him that Viper Ouyang was at his most vulnerable right now, for, when cultivating advanced inner-strength skills, one had to center all the energy in the body, to the point where there was nothing left to defend against even the smallest external provocation. It was customary to ask teachers or friends accomplished in the martial arts to stand guard, or to find a secluded place, to avoid being disturbed.

  Yet, it seemed to Guo Jing that the Venom was practicing here alone, neglecting to take any of the usual precautions. It was especially baffling that he would do so on Mount Hua, at a time when the greatest martial Masters under the heavens were assembling in that very place. Most heroes of the wulin were at odds with Venom of the West, and there were probably enough plots against his person brewing on an ordinary day, let alone on the eve of the second Contest. What had made him so brazen as to train by himself? In his current state, it would take no more than a simple punch or a regular kick from a well-built man without any knowledge of kung fu to cause him grievous internal injuries. Right now, Viper Ouyang was a piece of meat lying on the chopping block, waiting for the carver’s knife.

  As that image flashed by, Guo Jing thought of Lotus and his shifus. Killed or murdered at the hands of this unscrupulous man. This was the chance for revenge he had been dreaming of. What was he waiting for? He took a couple of steps toward the man who had taken so much from him, but, all of a s
udden, he saw Graybeard Liang plunging to his death in his mind’s eye again.

  Laden with guilt, the young man halted, unable to steel his heart to take yet another life.

  By now, the Venom had started to slow down, and he soon came to a complete stop. He held the inverted position for some time before flipping upright in a half somersault. Drawing himself up to his full height, he walked back the way he had come—on his feet, this time—gazing straight ahead.

  Guo Jing tiptoed after the Martial Great, burning with curiosity.

  4

  Guo Jing followed Viper Ouyang up a verdant slope to a slate ridge, where the Venom stopped at the mouth of a cave and spoke in a gruff tone. “Hahoramanpayas sinajaya sagara. Your interpretation of this line is wrong. It doesn’t work in practice.”

  Sheltering behind a boulder, Guo Jing was astonished to hear him quoting from the final passage of the Nine Yin Manual. He recalled how he had set down this portion of the text without altering a single character because Count Seven Hong feared that the Venom might be able to understand the mysterious language it was written in.

  Who was he talking to?

  A light, melodious voice drifted from the cave. “My interpretation isn’t the problem. It’s you. Your kung fu isn’t up to the task. No wonder you failed.”

  Lotus!

  Guo Jing nearly cried out her name. The very person he had mourned night and day for months. How did she survive the swamp? Am I dreaming? Is this an illusion? Am I so maddened by grief that I’m hearing voices?

  Viper’s harsh tones cut through the storm of questions in Guo Jing’s head.

  “I tried what you described. There can’t be any mistake on my part, but the flow in the Conception Vessel and the Yang Link Meridian won’t reverse.”

  “Force is futile in kung fu when you haven’t reached the necessary level.”

  That is Lotus’s voice! There’s no doubt about it, Guo Jing told himself, trembling with excitement. Light-headed and overjoyed, he had somehow torn open the bite wound in his agitation and blood was seeping from the bandage, but the pain did not bother him in the slightest.

  “The Contest begins at midday tomorrow. I don’t have time for this. Explain the rest of the passage now!”

  Guo Jing now understood why Viper Ouyang had risked practicing neigong in the open earlier without taking any of the usual precautions.

  A peal of laughter beat back the Martial Great’s wrath. “Have you forgotten your pact with my Guo Jing? He promised to spare your life three times—on the condition that it would be up to me whether or not I was willing to teach you.”

  An indescribable warmth spread through the young man’s heart at the sound of his beloved’s voice uttering the words “my Guo Jing.” He wanted to jump up and shout at the top of his lungs to let out the euphoria inside.

  “We may have an agreement, but the situation changes things.” Viper dropped the stones he had held in his hands while he was walking upside down and strode into the cave.

  “Have you no shame? I won’t tell you anything!”

  “We shall see…”

  A wild cackle, followed by a scream and the sound of fabric ripping.

  Guo Jing rushed into the cave, holding his left palm before him in defense. Once more, he acted out of instinct. There was no time to consider the moral implications of using his kung fu.

  “Lotus, I’m here!”

  The fingers of Viper’s left hand were wrapped around the end of the Dog-Beating Cane, while his right hand reached for Lotus’s shoulder. She thrust the bamboo stick forward and it slid out of the Venom’s grasp at an angle.

  Flick the Mangy Dog Away, a move from the Dog-Beating repertoire, known only to the Chief of the Beggar Clan.

  The Venom applauded the nimble maneuver, but, now that Guo Jing was here, he knew he could not continue to coerce Lotus into sharing her knowledge. After all, he was a grandmaster of the martial arts, and it was not befitting for a man of his status to be caught breaking his word. The last thing he needed was to be grilled by the boy over his failure to honor their pact. He shook out his sleeve with a wave of his arm to hide his burning cheeks and shot out of the cave, disappearing down the slope in the blink of an eye.

  Quivering with joy, Guo Jing hurried over to Lotus and clasped her hands between his. “I’ve missed you so much!”

  She pulled away and shot him a black look. “Who are you? Why do you take my hands?”

  “I—I am Guo Jing … You—”

  “I don’t know who you are.” She cut him off and stalked out of the cave.

  Guo Jing hastened after her, bowing as he spoke: “Lotus! Lotus! Hear me out!”

  “Huh! Who are you to me? How dare you address me by my given name!”

  Guo Jing opened his mouth to answer, but no words came out.

  Lotus stole a glance at him. She had never seen him so haggard and withered, and a pang of pity hit her. But as she recalled how he had chosen time and again to turn his back on her—and their future together—she felt her heart harden and she walked away with a pah!

  Panicking, Guo Jing caught her flowing sleeve to hold her back. “Allow me to say one thing,” he begged in a faltering voice.

  “Go on.”

  “When I found your golden hair band and your sable coat in the swamp, I thought you—”

  “There, you’ve said your one thing.” She pulled the fabric out of his grasp and headed down the crest to find the way to the summit.

  Guo Jing found himself in a familiar bind. He was desperate to explain himself, but he did not know how to put all that he had been feeling into words, and he could see that Lotus was determined to cut all ties with him. Fearing that, if he let her out of his sight, he would never see her again, he trailed after her in silence.

  Lotus marched away in agitation, her robe fluttering in the wind. This unplanned reunion was stirring up memories and feelings from the past few months that she would rather forget. The great dangers she had faced, casting off her golden hair band, her pearl brooch and her sable coat in the marsh to throw Viper Ouyang off her trail. The misery of traveling thousands of li eastward on her own, without any company, then falling grievous sick in Shandong, when all she wanted was to be home with her father on Peach Blossom Island. The bitter reality of being bedridden, with nothing to occupy her but thoughts of how faithless and heartless Guo Jing had been, and how she wished her parents had not brought her into this world and exposed her to such anguish. And the despair when Viper Ouyang captured her in southern Shandong and dragged her along to Mount Hua so she could explain the Nine Yin Manual.

  These unpleasant ghosts of the recent past shadowed Lotus as she picked her way along the dangerous pass, as did the light scuffle of Guo Jing’s footsteps. She sped up, only to hear him pick up his pace; the opposite happened when she slowed down. Losing patience with him, she whipped around and snapped, “Why are you following me?”

  “I will follow you always. I will never leave you again this lifetime.”

  Lotus responded with a sneer. “Why would the Prince of the Golden Blade, the son-in-law of the great Genghis Khan, wish to follow this poor nobody?”

  “How could I have anything more to do with that man when he caused the death of my mother?”

  Guo Jing’s reply made Lotus flush red with fury. “There I was thinking you hadn’t forgotten about me entirely, but it turns out you only came looking for me because you’ve been kicked out by Genghis Khan. Now that you’re neither a prince nor the conqueror’s son-in-law, you remember this poor nobody. Do you think I’m so base and low that I’m happy to be at your beck and call when you need me, and cast aside when you don’t?” Tears of anger rolled down her cheeks.

  The sight of her crying sent Guo Jing into a blind panic. He wanted to explain himself, he wanted to say something to comfort her, but no words would come to him. He stood there, mouth agape, until he eventually managed to say, “Do what you want with me. Hit me. Kill me. I’m right here, Lotus.”
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  “Why would I want to do that?” she said feebly, heartsick. “Can’t you pretend we’ve never met?… I beg you. Stop following me.”

  All color drained from Guo Jing’s face. “Tell me how I can convince you that I am true of heart.”

  “You’ll make up with me today, but, when Princess Khojin turns up tomorrow, you’ll cast me to the back of your mind. Nothing you do or say will convince me that you’ll be constant. Unless you’re dead, maybe.”

  Hot blood surged in Guo Jing’s chest. Nodding at her words, he strode toward the brink. They had reached one of the most perilous sections of Mount Hua, known as the Cliff of Sacrifice. To leap from here would break every bone in his body. Seeing that he was taking her words literally, in his usual pig-headed way, she lunged, grabbing the back of his robe to hoist herself up. With a tap of her foot on his shoulder, she propelled herself over his head and landed between him and the precipice.

  “I know you don’t care for me! Now you won’t even let a few words said in anger pass. I’ll say this once—you don’t have to upset me like this. Just don’t ever come near me again.”

  Lotus was visibly shaking, her face white as snow. Perched on the very brink above the jagged rocks below, she resembled a white camellia shivering in a storm.

  Guo Jing was ready to jump, but, seeing Lotus balancing so precariously, he stepped back. “Don’t stand so close to the edge.”

  His apparent concern made Lotus’s heart ache. “Who wants your false words and false feelings?” she hissed. “When I was alone and sick in Shandong, why didn’t you come to see me? When I failed to shake off the pesky Old Toad, why didn’t you come to rescue me? My ma didn’t want to have anything to do with me. She passed on from this world, leaving me behind. My pa doesn’t want me—he never bothered to look for me. And you don’t want me either! No one in this world wants me. No one cares for me!” She stamped her foot and sobbed helplessly, the bitter heartbreak and disillusion built up over the past year pouring out with her tears.