Legend of Condor Heroes Book 4

by Jin Yong

  Riding for a while, he saw the dust was rising from the ground ahead of him; a group of cavalry was coming his way. Guo Jing held the rein and turned to the east. But his horse had been running for half a night, continuously supporting Guo Jing and his mother’s body; suddenly its front legs gave up, it fell kneeling on the ground, unable to stand any longer. It was a very critical situation, yet Guo Jing still did not want to be separated from his mother’s corpse. With his left arm holding her and his right arm wielding the spear, he charged into the incoming cavalry.

  He saw the cavalry was getting very close; suddenly amidst the rising dust came a swishing noise, an arrow flew in and hit his spear. The arrow was very strong, Guo Jing’s hand was shaken and the spearhead was broken. While he was still in shock, another arrow flew toward his chest. Guo Jing tossed the broken spear sideways and held out his hand in front of his body to catch the arrow. To his surprise, the arrowhead was already broken. He lifted his head only to see a general holding his rein and stopped in front of Guo Jing. It was the man who taught him archery; the Divine Archer Jebeh.

  “Shifu!” Guo Jing called out, “Are you going to take me back?”

  “Absolutely,” Jebeh said.

  Guo Jing thought, “In any way it will be difficult for me to escape this tight siege today. Rather than let others capture me, why don’t I let Shifu have this merit?” Therefore, he said, “Very well, just let me bury my mother first.”

  Looking at four directions he saw toward his left a small mound. He carried his mother’s body to that mound; dug the earth with his broken spear and lowered his mother gently into the hole. He saw the dagger in her chest, but he could not bear to take it out. He knelt on the ground and kowtowed several times before finally pouring the sandy soil on top of her body. He remembered Eagle Shooting Hero 1153 his mother’s bitter suffering in raising him since he was a baby until he became an adult; and in the end he had to bury her just like this. He was overwhelmed with grief that he was unable to cry anymore.

  Jebeh dismounted his horse and kowtowed four times in front of Li Ping’s grave. He stood up, then took his quiver, his bow, and his spear; and gave everything to Guo Jing. He also led his horse by the reins, and placed the reins in Guo Jing’s hand, he said, “Go. I am afraid we are not going to see each other anymore.”

  Guo Jing was taken aback, “Shifu!” he called out.

  “You dared to risk your life for me in the past; am I not a real man that I don’t dare to risk my life for you?” Jebeh said.

  “Shifu, you are defying the Great Khan’s order,” Guo Jing said, “You will be in great danger.”

  “I have followed him attacking to the east and going to war in the west, my contribution is not small,” Jebeh said, “At most the Great Khan will beat me to half dead, he won’t behead me. Just go, quick!”

  Guo Jing was still hesitating; Jebeh continued, “I am afraid my own troops would not want to listen to me, so I took the troops you led in the expedition to the west. Go ahead and asked them, whether they are greedy of riches and honor to turn you in?”

  Leading his horse Guo Jing stepped forward; the cavalry dismounted their horses at once, and then knelt down on the ground, shouted, “Xiao Ren respectfully send General home to the south.” Guo Jing raised his eyes to see, and they were indeed the officers and soldiers who faced death with him in the west. Guo Jing’s heart was so moved. He said, “I have offended the Great Khan, deserving a capital punishment. You let me go; if the Great Khan finds out, all of you will be in big trouble.”

  The soldiers replied, “General has treated us with benevolence as high as the mountain; we won’t forget that.”

  Guo Jing sighed. He raised his hands to say goodbye to the troops, then with the spear in his hand he leaped to the horseback. He was about to move when suddenly the dust rose ahead of him, another group of cavalry came approaching.

  Jebeh, Guo Jing, and the troops’ expression changed. Jebeh thought, “I have deliberately defied Khan’s order by letting Guo Jing go; but if I fight these troops, that would be a blatant rebellion.” Yet he did not change his mind, “Guo Jing, go!” he shouted. However, from the incoming army came a loud shout, “Don’t hurt the Consort!” Everybody was stunned. They saw the rushing army bore the Fourth Prince’s banner.

  Amidst the rising cloud of dust Tuolei appeared and arrived in a flash; turned out he was riding Guo Jing’s swift little red horse. He held his rein and jumped down from the horseback, anxiously asked, “Anda, are you all right?”

  “I am fine,” Guo Jing replied, “Master Jebeh is going to take me back to see the Great Khan.” He was deliberately protecting Jebeh; so that the Great Khan would not find out the real story.

  Toulei cast a sidelong glance toward Jebeh, he said, “Anda, take this little red horse and leave quickly.” He also put a bundle on the saddle and continued, “Here is a thousand ‘liang’ of gold; we brothers will see each other again some other time.”

  They were both great warriors; in time like this there was no need to say another word. Guo Jing stood up and mounted his little red horse. “Tell Huazheng Meizi [little sister - term of endearment] to take a good care of herself. Tell her to marry another man, just forget about me.”

  Tuolei heaved a long sigh, “Huazheng Meizi will never agree to marry another. I think she is going to look for you in the south. At that time I will send somebody to escort her.”

  “No, don’t come looking for me,” Guo Jing hastily said, “Not to mention the world is big, but even if she can find me, that will only add to our agony.”

  Tuolei was silent; they looked at each other without saying anything. After half a day finally Tuolei said, “Just go, I will see you off for a while.”

  Two people rode fast to the south; very soon they have covered more than thirty ‘li’s. “Anda,” Guo Jing said, “‘Even if one sees someone off a thousand ‘li’s, in the end they must part’, you can go back now!”

  “Let me see you off some more time,” Tuolei answered.

  About ten more ‘li’s later, both men dismounted their horses and said their goodbyes; tears rolling down their cheeks.

  Tuolei gazed at Guo Jing’s back, which became smaller and smaller; it looked like a dark shadow on the vastness of the desert, finally disappeared on the southern horizon. He stood motionless for a long time, then sadly mounted his horse and headed back north.

  Chapter 39 - Discerning Good From Evil

  Translated by Frans Soetomo

  It was actually Mount Hua’s most dangerous place, called the ‘to give one’s life cliff’ [she shen ya]; whoever jumped from this place would certainly meet a cruel death. Huang Rong dashed forward to grab Guo Jing’s clothes. Her hand pulled hard a she jumped over his shoulder and a moment later she was the one standing at the edge of the cliff.

  Guo Jing rode his horse for several days, leaving the dangerous area, slowly heading south. The day was getting warmer, the grass looked longer; along the way he saw the remnants of war: broken walls and ruined homes, human bones scattered here and there. The sights, the smell ... Everything brought a dreadful and nauseating feeling in his heart.

  One day he stopped to take a rest in a pavilion by the roadside. He saw these inscriptions on the pavilion’s wall, “A poem from a Tang Dynasty man: ‘Water trickles downward day by day, ultimately overpowering the cry of chicken and dogs. Thousand villages fell to become food to the wild animals. The people vanished in smoke to give way to the flowers.’ My Central Plains’ beautiful river and mountain unexpectedly fallen victim to violent battles. People turned into ashes as if the above poem was written for today’s situation.”

  Looking at these lines of characters Guo Jing was entranced, sadness came creeping into his heart and he could not refrain from shedding some tears.

  He had roamed this vast and boundless world, but actually did not know where he should go. Within just one short year his mother, Huang Rong, his five masters, the people that were dear to him had all died. Ouyan
g Feng had killed his masters and Huang Rong; he was going to find him and seek revenge. But as soon as he thought about the words ‘seek revenge’, the tragic massacre of the people of Khoresm came into his mind. In order for him to avenge his father’s death he had to kill so many innocent civilians, how could he have peace in his heart? It looked like this ‘seeking revenge’ matter was not necessarily a right thing to do.

  Thinking about all other things, he came into this thought, “All my life I painstakingly trained myself in martial arts that finally I reached my current level, and then what? I can’t even protect my own mother and Rong’er, then what use is my martial art skill? I wanted with all my heart to be a good person, but in the end who would be happy because of me? Mother, Rong’er, both died because of me. Huazheng Meizi has to suffer forever because of me. Truly the number of people who suffered miserably because of me is not a few.”

  “Wanyan Honglie and Muhammad were bad people. But what about Genghis Khan? He killed Wanyan Honglie; so I should say he is a good person. But then he ordered me to attack the Great Song. He took care of my mother and me for twenty years, but in the end he had caused my mother’s death.”

  “Yang Kang and I became sworn brothers, but our hearts were a world apart from the start. Sister Mu Nianci is a good person, but why did her heart set on loving only Yang Kang? Tuolei Anda and I love each other, but when he leads the army attacking south and we meet each other on the battlefield, should he and I kill each other? No, no. Everybody has a mother, a mother who carries him for ten months, who painstakingly nurture and raise him up; how could I kill somebody’s son and cause his mother to weep bitterly? He doesn’t have a heart to kill me; I don’t have a heart to kill him. However, shall I ignore the fact that he kills my Great Song’s innocent people?”

  “Training martial art is for beating and killing people, it looks like I spent twenty years of my life incorrectly; I studied and learned diligently, painstakingly; in the end all I can do is bringing harm to other people. If I knew it from the start, I wouldn’t train to have a better skill in martial art. But if I don’t learn martial art, then what should I do? I live in this world, in the end, what is my purpose of life? Decades from now, what will happen to me? Is it better to live longer, or to die sooner? Right now I have already had endless anxiety, if I live longer, won’t I have more anxiety? But if I die sooner, why would my mother give birth to me? Why would she endure hardship and suffering to raise me up?” Tossing and turning with these thought, the more he thought, the more confused he became.

  For several days he could not eat during the day, and could not sleep during the night; he went back and forth in the wilderness pondering all these things.

  “Mother and my benevolent masters all taught me to uphold justice and keep my words. Therefore, although I loved Rong’er dearly I could not ask the Great Khan to cancel our betrothal. But in the end, not only I drove mother and Rong’er to their injustice death, but did I make the Great Khan, Tuolei, and Huazheng happy? The Seven Heroes of Jiangnan, my seven masters, and benevolent master Hong, are all heroic people of honor, yet none of them ended up enjoying the fruit of their good deeds. Ouyang Feng and Qiu Qianren do not uphold justice and righteousness, yet they live free and unrestrained. Is there any justice in this world? Can ‘lao tian ye’ [the Heaven, God] really see?”

  One day he arrived at a small town in Jinan prefecture, Shandong province. He stopped by a restaurant to drink some wine. He had just drunk three cups when suddenly a man rushed in, pointed his finger to Guo Jing and cursed him, “Barbarian thief, you have destroyed my home and killed my family; I must kill you!” While saying that his fist flew toward Guo Jing’s face.

  Guo Jing was startled, he turned his left hand around and caught his hand, gently twisted it; and the man fell tumbling down. Apparently that man did not know martial art at all. Guo Jing did not have any intention to harm him; he felt really bad that he had caused that man to fall down and bleed from his head. Hastily he held out his hand to raise that man up, saying, “Brother, you must have mistaken me for others!”

  That man was bawling and kept cursing him, “Barbarian thief!” Dozens more men came from outside and start kicking and hitting Guo Jing for no reason at all. After pondering about the dire consequences of using martial art, Guo Jing had made a decision not to harm others using his martial art skill. Besides, these people were neither known to him nor did they know any martial arts; they were attacking him randomly. Hence he only evaded to the east and dodged to the west, but did not fight back at all. However, there were more and more people coming in from outside; the restaurant was small, so against his will Guo Jing had to taste some fists and kicks nonetheless.

  He was about to use his strength to shove his way out of the restaurant when suddenly somebody loudly called from outside, “Jing’er! What are you doing here?”

  Guo Jing raised his head up and saw the person calling was wearing a Taoist robe, with a long white beard; it was none other than the Changchun Zi [Eternal Spring] Qiu Chuji. Guo Jing was delighted, “Qiu Daozhang [Taoist Priest Qiu],” he called, “These people are hitting me for no reason at all.”

  Qiu Chuji pushed his arms out and opened up a way for Guo Jing to escape; he pulled Guo Jing out of the restaurant. The people rushed out to attack them, but Qiu and Guo, two people faced them while moving backward step by step. Once outside Guo Jing whistled to call his red horse and not too long afterwards two people riding on one horse sped out of the town and disappeared into the wilderness.

  Guo Jing again told about how those town people without any reason pounced on him and beat him. Qiu Chuji smiled, “You are dressed as a Mongolian; they thought you are a Barbarian Mongolian.” Then he proceeded by telling Guo Jing how the Mongolians and the Jins had violent battles in the Shandong province. The local people had been under the Jin’s oppression for a long time, they raised arm to help the Mongolians. Who would have thought that the Mongolian’s officers and soldiers were as oppressive and tyrannical as the Jins were; they destroyed, they killed, they took captive and they plundered; they made the lives of the common people miserable beyond description. When a Mongolian army was passing through, the people did not dare to do anything, but if there was a lone Mongolian officer or soldier left behind, usually he would be killed by the people.

  “Why did you let them beat you?” Qiu Chuji asked, “Just look at you, bruised and swollen all over.”

  Guo Jing heaved a deep sigh and then told him how Genghis Khan had issued a secret order to him to attack the south, and how his mother had died because of it. He told Priest Qiu everything.

  Qiu Chuji was shocked, “If Genghis Khan is going to attack our Great Song, then we must go south immediately to inform the government to guard against this invasion,” he said.

  Guo Jing shook his head, “What good will that bring? The result would be corpses of officers and soldiers from both sides piling up as high as a mountain; innocent people’s families being broken and killed.”

  “But if the Song perishes under the Mongolia, the common people will suffer even more,” Qiu Chuji said, “An endless hardship!”

  “Qiu Daozhang,” Guo Jing said, “There are so many things I am not able to think through; I want to ask you to give me directions.”

  Qiu Chuji pulled his hand, led him to a big locust tree and took him sitting underneath it. “Speak to me!” he said.

  Guo Jing immediately poured out what had been troubling his heart these past few days; how he felt that his skill in martial art only brought harm to other people. Finally he sighed and said, “Therefore, disciple has decided not to fight with anybody for the rest of my life. I wish I could forget everything I know about martial arts, only an old habit will always come back. I was careless today, and made someone bleed from his head.”

  Qiu Chuji shook his head, “Jing’er, your thinking is incorrect,” he said, “Dozens of years ago, the Wulin world secret manual, the Nine Yin Manual, appeared for the first time. I don’t kn
ow how many warriors of the Jianghu had died from fighting over this book. Afterwards at the Sword Meet of Huashan [Mount Hua] my master Chongyang Zhenren [Sage, lit. true/real man, a respectful term to address a Taoist priest] had defeated everybody and took possession of the manual. Initially he intended to destroy the book, but later on he said, ‘Water can carry the boat, but can also capsize it; be it fortune or calamity, in the end it depends on the person who uses it.’ In the end he decided to preserve the manual. Every talent in the world, whether it is ‘wen’ [literature] or ‘wu’ [martial art]; a strong army or a sophisticated device, not a single one of them does not benefit mankind; but the opposite is also true, every single one of them has the potential to bring calamity to the world. As long as you have a good heart, the stronger your martial art, the better it is for you. Why would you want to forget it?”

  Guo Jing hesitated for a moment before saying, “What Daozhang said was not wrong, but among the current Jianghu heroes; the Eastern Heretic, the Western Poison, the Southern Emperor and the Northern Beggar have the strongest martial arts. Disciple has been thinking carefully; to reach the martial art level of these four experts one must undergoes difficulties, to the point of almost impossible, hardship and suffering. Yet even if one is able to endure all that, what good would that be for people other than oneself?”

  Qiu Chuji was silent for a moment before answering, “Huang Yaoshi is an eccentric man; although outwardly he shows anger to the world and detests mundane affair, but in his heart there is an unspeakable bitterness. He acts as he pleases, he does not have any consideration toward other people. I won’t take him as an example. Ouyang Feng does all kinds of evil; we don’t need to talk about him. Emperor Duan is compassionate and benevolent; if he stayed on the throne he would be able to benefit the common people. It’s a pity that because of personal resentment over a tiny, tiny affair he withdrew from society and lives in seclusion; he can’t be regarded as great man with great courage. Only Hong Qigong, Hong Bangzhu [Clan Leader Hong] is left who is a great hero to uphold justice; always helping those in distress. He has my full admiration. The second Sword Meet of Mount Hua is right around the corner; I think there might be someone who can exceed Hong Bangzhu in term of martial art. But I believe the people will elect him as the Number One in the Wulin World.”