A Bond Undone

by Jin Yong

  She clawed and slashed, desperate to deal the death blow, so intent on revenge and so surprised by Guo Jing’s improvement that she had forgotten a frenzied mind in combat can lead to the downfall of even the most seasoned martial master. She had driven herself into a state that – compounded by her blindness – curtailed the power of her far superior martial skills.

  So far, thanks to his strength and stubbornness, Guo Jing had managed to keep Cyclone Mei at arm’s length. However, he had already repeated Count Seven Hong’s formidable palm thrusts in the same sequence half a dozen times.

  Soon, he had reached a hundred moves.

  Cyclone Mei was confident she had the measure of his limited repertoire and changed tactics. No more fighting at close quarters. She stepped back ten paces. Flitting back and forth, she drew out his palm thrusts to drain his strength.

  As she had predicted, great focus and much energy was required to launch the Dragon-Subduing Palm. Soon, the might of Guo Jing’s blows began to diminish.

  Cyclone Mei lunged, sweeping her arms up and down. A deadly fusion of the Nine Yin Skeleton Claw and Heartbreaker Palm.

  Fearing for Guo Jing, Lotus Huang shouted, “Sister Mei, why won’t you admit you’ve lost? It’s almost two hundred moves now!”

  Mei was by now a whirlwind of palm thrusts and sharp claws, impervious to any distraction.

  “Psst! Over here!” Lotus beckoned Guo Jing.

  He threw a Traverse Great Rivers, followed by a Wild Goose Approaches Land, pushing Mei away. Then he looked up.

  Why is she pointing and running around the pillar? He could not understand.

  “Fight her from here!” Lotus cried.

  Ah! Now he got it.

  Guo Jing leapt to the closest column. Cyclone Mei lunged, following the sound of his feet. He ducked. Her talons sunk into the wood.

  Whoosh! A palm thrust.

  No time to dodge. Mei pushed back with her left hand. The fierce force sent her stumbling back, freeing her claws from the wooden support.

  Immediately, she pounced. Her talons flashed with the fury of lightning.

  Guo Jing was still finding his footing after the last clash. A strip ripped from his sleeve. His arm was scored, but no blood was drawn. He threw another palm thrust and ducked.

  Once more, Mei’s left claw dug into the column. She shrieked in frustration.

  “Master Mei, my kung fu is no match for yours. Please have mercy!” Guo Jing lowered his guard.

  It was obvious Guo Jing could not lose, fighting in this new way, but his words gave Cyclone Mei the chance to claim victory and save face. Zephyr Lu hoped this would signal the end of the duel.

  “If this was a simple martial contest, I would have admitted defeat after three moves. But this is revenge. I may have lost, but I shall kill you all the same!” Cyclone Mei replied.

  Three thrusts from her right hand, then three from her left. All striking the same spot on the pillar. With a roar, she launched both palms.

  Crack! The support snapped.

  There was barely time to react. A thunderous crash pursued Laurel Lu into the courtyard as he ran with his father in his arms. Half of the hall had collapsed.

  The only one who failed to escape was Commander Duan of the warden’s office. Without the benefit of martial-arts training, he could not foresee the consequences of the blind woman’s actions. He screeched for help, his legs pinned under the main lintel. Wanyan Kang dived into the rubble, shoved away the wooden beam and yanked the man back to his feet. He did so only because he thought the chaos would give them a chance to escape. Just as he turned to make a run for it, the Jin Prince felt a spot of numbness spreading from the small of his back. He did not see the person hitting his acupressure point.

  Cyclone Mei had ears only for Guo Jing. She picked out his footsteps, despite the commotion, and lunged.

  They were once again consumed by their duel. Their faint silhouettes blurred into one shadowy storm. Hands sliced the moonless night with shrill cries. Kicks whipped up a dusty wind. Cyclone Mei’s joints cracked and popped.

  The night robbed Guo Jing of his sight; defeat was surely imminent. He dodged and ducked blindly. A murky shadow of Mei’s sweeping left foot. A hasty right kick at her shin.

  “It’s a feint!” Laurel Lu cried. That was how Wanyan Kang had defeated him the other day.

  If Guo Jing’s kick found its target, it would fracture the leg at contact. But Cyclone Mei had already twisted away. He was now swinging straight into her talons. He shot his left hand at her wrist with the inner strength he held in reserve.

  A quick move, but of limited power.

  Mei twirled her claws, deflecting the shove with ease. She dug three nails into his hand and dragged. Guo Jing thrust his right palm in a last-ditch defensive block. She swerved away and, laughing, jumped back, out of range.

  Guo Jing looked at the back of his hand.

  Three red lines. Each with a hint of something darker than blood. Scorching hot and a little numbing. Like he had been burned.

  Mongolia, the cliff. A long night, like tonight. Fragments came to Guo Jing. Skulls, in a stack of nine. His shifus talking. The Nine Yin Skeleton Claw. Deadly venom. Her talons.

  She scratched my arm earlier tonight, but did not draw blood, and now . . .

  “Lotus, I’ve been poisoned.”

  Guo Jing lunged, throwing two palm strikes at once. In desperation, he stamped and swatted in one movement. He wanted to subdue her quickly so he could force her to give him the antidote.

  Mei felt the air stirring long before the blows could find their mark.

  Ke Zhen’e charged, with his iron staff raised. His martial siblings and Lotus Huang followed, hot on his heels, forming a ring around Cyclone Mei.

  “Sister Mei, why are you still fighting?” Lotus demanded. “You have lost! Give him the antidote!”

  No answer.

  Mei had to keep her focus on the gusts of air that hinted at Guo Jing’s palm thrusts. She could not afford to be careless against such powerful moves.

  Picking up on his exertions, she thought with satisfaction, The poison will only spread faster. I don’t care if I die here today – I have at last avenged my Hurricane.

  Guo Jing was now blundering about with a lazy half-smile on his lips. His head felt light. His sight was becoming blurry. He was not sure why he was fighting. A rising tide of tranquillity washed over his body. The numbing ache had deadened his left arm.

  The poison was taking root.

  “Guo Jing, step back!” Lotus charged at Cyclone Mei with her Emei Needles.

  Her voice dispelled the fogginess in his head for a moment. He pushed his left palm in a Sudden Advance, the eleventh move of the Dragon-Subduing Palm. Sluggishly, his palm drifted towards Cyclone Mei.

  She stood firm and let it hit her on the shoulder.

  The blow pushed her over.

  Ryder Han, Woodcutter Nan and Gilden Quan rushed to restrain Mei. She flexed her arms and flung Han and Quan away. Then she swiped at Nan with her claws. He ducked and rolled out of her reach.

  Mei had just got to her feet when Guo Jing’s palm arced into her back. She fell forwards and landed, sprawled, face down on the floor.

  Had she not heard him coming? No-one had the mental energy to comprehend how Guo Jing could have sent Cyclone Mei flying, not once, but twice.

  The world had become a swaying blur. Guo Jing fell to his knees, not far from his opponent.

  Lotus dashed over to steady him. Cyclone Mei’s talons flashed once more at the sound of footsteps, and she climbed to her feet.

  An incredible pain ripped through her fingertips. Hedgehog Chainmail! She flipped into a Jumping Carp to put some distance between her and Lotus.

  “Hey, catch!”

  Cyclone Mei did not recognise the voice, but she could sense something sizeable hurtling towards her. What kind of weapon is this? she wondered, as she swung her right arm to block. Crack! The object was smashed into pieces.

  An
even stranger noise followed. She could feel the shift in the air. Something even larger was hurtling towards her. She shot out her left hand to bat it away.

  Everywhere she struck was flat, smooth and hard.

  Unable to find anything to grip on to, Cyclone Mei sent it flying with a kick. Just then, she felt something wriggling inside her shirt. Cold and slimy.

  What kind of sorcery is this? She reached in and closed her fingers around . . .

  Cyclone Mei froze, still as a statue, her hand held awkwardly in her shirt pocket. The only signs of life were the beads of sweat rapidly forming along her hairline.

  Where are my things?

  She could hear a bottle being uncorked.

  “Is this it?” The same voice that shouted at her just now.

  Sniffing.

  “Ingest it and put it on the wound.” An older, gruffer voice.

  Cyclone Mei understood. Distractions, they were, so the thief could empty her pocket.

  Zhu Cong had known that the antidote must be on Cyclone Mei’s person. But what could he do to circumvent her sharp senses and quick reflexes? He noticed a few goldfish flapping in a puddle, their tank shattered by a falling pillar from the hall. They would do, he thought, scooping them up. He hurled the chair at Mei and charged at her with the table, buying enough time to plant three goldfish inside her collar. That final shock had allowed him to put his sleight of hand to use, lifting the contents of her pockets. Not for nothing was Zhu Cong known as both “the Intelligent” and “Quick Hands”.

  Cyclone Mei turned on the last person to speak, and clashed with a metal staff.

  So, it was Ke Zhen’e who figured out my antidote!

  As she began to understand what had just happened, three weapons struck at her simultaneously: Ryder Han’s Golden Dragon whip, Gilden Quan’s steelyard and Woodcutter Nan’s shoulder pole.

  Holding them off with one hand, she reached for the White Python whip, coiled around her waist. A chill blade sliced at her wrist: Jade Han’s sword.

  Zhu Cong handed Lotus Huang the antidote and said to Guo Jing, “Yours, I believe.” He put the dagger he had taken from Cyclone Mei inside his disciple’s shirt, then lunged at Mei, brandishing his folding fan.

  This was the fight Cyclone Mei and the Freaks had trained hard for, over the past decade.

  “Please stop! Please – listen to me!” Much as Zephyr Lu admired the extraordinary skills on display, he wanted to stop it before things got even more out of hand. But no-one heard him.

  The stupor clouding Guo Jing’s mind began to clear. The wound on his arm still hurt, but the venom in his veins was neutralised.

  Once more, Greybeard Liang’s python blood had saved Guo Jing, though the young man had yet to realise it. This time, instead of repelling serpents, it had slowed the spread of Cyclone Mei’s poison. Without it, not even the remedy Zhu Cong stole would have been able to revive him.

  Back on his feet, Guo Jing joined his shifus, biding his time. He let his palm float forward, slow and deliberate. He held his strength back until his hand had almost reached their blind opponent.

  The sudden impact of his Thunder Rocks a Hundred Miles knocked Cyclone Mei off her feet.

  “Shifus, please let her live!” Guo Jing stooped to hold back Ryder Han and Gilden Quan’s weapons.

  Cyclone Mei vaulted back up and lashed the White Python whip into a circle of protection once more. She had been defenceless against Guo Jing’s silent approach.

  “We won’t trouble you again, Master Mei,” Guo Jing said. “Please go in peace.”

  “Give me back the Manual and all our grievances will be forgotten.” She stopped whipping. “Words on paper are no use to a blind woman, but I would like to take it back to its rightful owner.”

  Zhu Cong had witnessed the evil deeds she had committed with the infernal kung fu from the Manual. How could he let her have the book again? Yet, what she said was true. She had no eyes to read. Seeing her standing on her own, lost and crestfallen, he reached inside his shirt.

  “Is it this one?”

  4

  A WHIRL OF GREEN MATERIALISED BEHIND CYCLONE MEI AS she snatched the Manual from Zhu Cong. No-one could tell how the man had crept up on her, nor could they understand how he had seized her. Somehow, he managed to grab the back of the fearsome martial Master’s shirt and carry her off. She did not have the chance to lift a finger against him. In the blink of an eye, they disappeared into the woods beyond the manor, leaving in their wake a shocked silence, broken only by the faint gurgle of waves lapping at the shore.

  The man kept his fingers locked onto the major pressure points on Cyclone Mei’s back, rendering her immobile. Once deep in the forest, he threw her down.

  “You wailed and grieved at the craven’s lie.” He pointed at her heart. “Does that mean Shifu is still in there, somewhere?”

  “Shifu!” Cyclone Mei cried. She crawled over to hug his legs tightly. “Thank the heavens and earth! You are well!”

  “Aren’t you ashamed to call me thus?”

  “Strike me dead. Please. Shifu!” she sobbed. “If I could hear you say yes, I’d die with a smile on my lips. I have wronged you and I have wronged Shimu. Shifu . . .”

  She reached up and took his hand, swinging it gently, as she had done whenever she’d had something to ask of him. He had never once refused her.

  Apothecary Huang grunted in half-hearted agreement. He felt a flush of warmth swell through him, accompanied by a wave of memories.

  Cyclone Mei bowed joyfully, knocking her head against the ground. She lifted the Nine Yin Manual high with both hands.

  “Shifu, I have been carrying this book on my person. I am blind, I will never see again, but I am determined to return it to you.”

  Apothecary Huang took the Manual and put it inside his shirt. “Far too much damage has been done by this book. The martial arts you learned are included in this second volume for one reason alone – to be unpicked and countered with the skills discussed in the first volume. You would have known, if you had read it. You and Hurricane must have suffered so much trying to master these techniques, but you do realise that it has all been in vain, don’t you? If the Nine Yin Skeleton Claw, Heartbreaker Palm or White Python Whip had any power, do you think Hurricane would have been killed by a child?”

  She kowtowed fervently, agreeing with his every word.

  “Once you defeat that boy who wields the Old Beggar’s Dragon-Subduing Palm, make yourself a quiet life with Zephyr. You wouldn’t want people in the jianghu making trouble with you because you can’t see.”

  Realising he still cared for her, Cyclone Mei let her emotions get the better of her. “Shifu!Shifu!” she cried loudly, tugging the hem of his robe.

  “Come, let’s go.” Apothecary Huang did not want his heart to soften further, for fear it would complicate their already troubled relationship. He offered a few more words of advice and led her back.

  At Roaming Cloud Manor, everyone was struggling to comprehend the latest turn of events. How had the stranger in green managed to spirit Cyclone Mei away so effortlessly?

  Eventually, Ke Zhen’e spoke. “Our heartfelt apologies for the damage our disciple has caused to your beautiful manor.”

  “Master Ke, please,” Zephyr Lu replied. “It would be remiss of me not to thank you for averting disaster with your presence.”

  “Shall we retire to the inner hall?” Laurel Lu said, then turned to Guo Jing. “Brother Guo, does your wound still hurt?”

  “It’s much better—”

  Before Guo Jing could say any more, the green swirl reappeared with Cyclone Mei.

  Crossing her arms over her chest, Cyclone Mei said to Guo Jing, “Boy, you struck me with the Dragon-Subduing Palm you learned from Count Seven Hong. I was not able to counter it because I am blind. I haven’t got long in this world and I don’t care about winning or losing, but if word gets out that Cyclone Mei failed to defeat the Old Beggar’s teenage disciple, I will have brought shame to Peac
h Blossom Island. So, we will fight again.”

  “I was never your match,” Guo Jing replied. “The only reason I escaped with my life was because I took advantage of your impediment. I admitted defeat long ago.”

  “There are eighteen moves to the Dragon-Subduing Palm. Why didn’t you use them all?”

  “Because I am slow and stupid . . .” He saw Lotus signalling at him to hide the truth, but he decided to answer honestly. “Master Hong only taught me fifteen moves. He also said I am not his disciple.”

  “So . . . You only learned fifteen moves and you still got the better of me. Can that Old Beggar be so powerful? No, we must fight again.”

  Cyclone Mei had moved on from the urge for vengeance. This was now a matter of protecting Apothecary Huang’s martial reputation.

  “I can’t even beat young Miss Huang. How could I hope to defeat you? I have always held the martial arts of Peach Blossom Island in the highest regard.”

  “Sister Mei, why are you going on about this? We all know no-one can beat Papa!” Lotus tried to lighten the atmosphere.

  “No! We must fight again!”

  Cyclone Mei decided to let actions speak. She swiped her claws at Guo Jing, forcing him into a hurried response.

  “In that case, I hope to learn from Master Mei,” Guo Jing said humbly.

  “Use your silent palms,” Cyclone Mei demanded, turning her wrists to flash her talons. “You can’t beat me with these noisy moves!”

  Guo Jing hopped back several paces. “No. I cannot oblige. If someone took advantage of my First Shifu’s indisposition with such tricks, I would hate them with every fibre of my being. How could I do to you something I would despise in others? Just now, I fell for your poison and it slowed my movement, so you weren’t able to hear the approach of my attacks. Faced with a life-and-death situation, the silent strikes saved my life. But, in a contest, it would be immoral and unfair. I fear I cannot follow your command.”

  “I told you to use them because I have my ways to overcome it. I have no need of your moralising!” She was quietly impressed by his principled stance.

  Guo Jing glanced at the stranger. Did he teach her a countermove while they were away?