Legend of Condor Heroes Book 1

by Jin Yong

  “So what is it that you have that's so powerful that it could defeat all four of the ‘Aces’?” he said, as he casually sat back down onto the tiger-fur covered chair that his personal servants had carried out.

  “I invite Your Highness to get ready to see something very special. ‘Four Aces’ my foot; they probably won't even measure up to those two bastards of mine.” Senggum quietly said with a smile before turning around to the troops and loudly asked. “Where are my Brother Temujin's ‘Four Aces’?”

  The four men came walking up and saluted their superiors. Senggum turned and whispered something to the trusted servant at his side who nodded before running off. Soon after, the sound of roaring beasts could be heard as a pair of huge golden leopards came gracefully out from behind the ger. As they slowly approached in the darkness, the leopard eyes glowed like a pair of jade lanterns. This gave Wanyan Hongxi quite a fright as he immediately gripped the handle of his saber tightly. Only when the leopards walked close to one of bonfires did he see that, in fact, there was a leash and collar around their necks and each leopard had a big fellow on the other end of the leash. Both had a long stick in their other hand, and, as it turned out, they were specially charged with raising and taking care of the leopards. Mongolians love raising leopards for hunting purposes. Not only do leopards run faster than hunting dogs, they are especially feisty; being caught by the leopard means instant death for whatever they are set upon. The only draw back was that the leopards consumed a great deal of food; so only royalty or top officials could afford to keep leopards. Although the leopards were restrained by men, they were still snarling and clawing while glaring viciously at everyone. The muscles on their bodies looked as if they contained boundless energy within them, ready to explode at any moment. Wanyan Hongxi felt his heart get a little fluttery and he was exceedingly uncomfortable. From the power and might that these two leopards were showing, it looked as if they could easily break out of the grip of their masters should they choose.

  “Brother, if those ‘Four Aces’ of yours are truly great warriors and can subdue these two leopards of mine bare handed; then I'll be truly convinced.” Senggum said, turning towards Temujin.

  The ‘Four Aces’ were furious as the same thought ran through their minds. “You humiliated Jebe, now you are going to humiliate us? Are we just game? Are we wild wolves? Why should we fight your leopards?”

  Temujin was far from happy about this whole proposal as well. “I love my men like my own life, how can I let them fight a leopard?”

  “Is that so?” Senggum burst out with a loud laugh. “Then why claim to be ‘Four Aces’ or whatever you want to call them. They’re not even brave enough to fight my leopards!”

  Of the ‘Four Aces’, Tchila'un’s temper was the shortest and he could not stand such an insult any longer. He took a huge step forward. “My great Khan, it doesn't matter if they laugh at us, but we cannot allow you to be shamed.” He said to Temujin. “I'll fight the leopards!”

  Wanyan Hongxi was ecstatic to hear this. So much so that he removed a bright red ruby-studded ring from his finger and tossed it on the ground, proclaiming, “If you can beat the leopard, then that's yours.”

  Tchila'un did not even give the ring a look before lunging forward, only to be held back by Muqali. “Our names are known throughout the Steppe because we have defeated so many foes. Can a leopard command an army? Can a leopard ambush or surround enemies?” Muqali reasoned loudly.

  “Brother Senggum, you win.” Temujin said as he bent down, picked up the ring, and placed it in Senggum's hand. Senggum immediately put the ring on one of his fingers and let out a triumphant laugh as he raised his hand to show off his newly won ring. Ong Khan's troops began to cheer in response. Jamuka stayed silent throughout but was frowning heavily. Temujin kept a calm expression on his face. The ‘Four Aces’ bitterly retreated back to their ranks. Disappointed and terribly unhappy about not seeing a man versus leopard fight, Wanyan Hongxi asked Ong Khan for two female slaves and retired to his own ger.

  Next morning, Tolui and Guo Jing ran off to play. Hand in hand, they made their way far from the main camp. Suddenly a white rabbit ran by right in front of them. Tolui brought up his little bow and arrow, aimed, shot, and hit the rabbit squarely in the belly. Because he was so young the arrow lacked power, so even though it was a direct hit, it was not immediately fatal and the rabbit scuttled off screeching with the arrow imbedded in it. The two little kids, screaming at the top of their lungs, chased after the rabbit.

  After running for quite a while, the rabbit finally collapsed. The two kids let out a simultaneous cheer and were just about to retrieve the rabbit when seven or eight kids suddenly came pouring out from the woods from one side. One particular kid, who was of about 12 years or so, was quick to recognize the situation and grabbed the rabbit. He pulled the arrow from the rabbit's belly, threw it on the ground, shot a fierce look in Tolui and Guo Jing's direction, before stomping off with the rabbit.

  “Hey, I shot that rabbit, why are you taking it?” Tolui shouted. The kid whirled around and came back.

  “Who says that you shot it?” He laughed.

  “Well, this arrow is mine isn't it?”

  The older kid's eyebrows suddenly rose and his eyes bulged out. “This rabbit was my pet, you are lucky I'm not asking you to pay for it!” He shouted back.

  “You are lying, this is obviously a wild rabbit.” Tolui shot back.

  The kid became even angrier and he walked up and shoved Tolui. “Watch out who you are accusing! My grandpa is the Ong Khan, my dad is Senggum; do you know that? Even if you did shoot this rabbit, I'm taking it anyway; what can you do?”

  “My dad is Temujin!” Tolui proudly answered.

  “Pei! So what if he's Temujin? Your dad's a coward! He's scared of my grandpa and scared of my dad!” The kid's name was Dukhsh and he was Senggum's only son. After having a daughter, Senggum had to wait several years before finally having a son; after him he had no other offspring. He had always spoiled his son, letting him bully as he pleased. Temujin, Ong Khan, and Senggum had not met for a long time; even though their sons had met before, this was, for all practical purposes, their first true meeting.

  Hearing someone make fun of his father, Tolui was filled with anger and proudly shouted back: “Says who? My dad's not afraid of anybody!”

  “When your mom was kidnapped, it was my grandpa and my dad who went and took her back for your dad. You think I didn't know that? So what's the big deal if I just take this measly little rabbit of yours?” Even in the past, Senggum was envious of Temujin's fame. When they helped Temujin that one time, Senggum made sure to tell everyone about it; even his son had heard it many times.

  Temujin had always viewed that event as an incredible embarrassment for himself, he naturally never told Tolui about it. Hearing this at this moment, Tolui was so mad that his face turned purple. “You’re a liar! I'm going to tell my dad!” He angrily threatened before turning around and walking off.

  “Your dad's afraid of my dad, so what if you tell him?” Dukhsh laughed at Tolui. “Last night, when my dad brought out his two leopards, your dad's ‘Four Asses’ were so afraid they couldn't even move!”

  Of the ‘Four Aces’, Boroqul was Tolui's master. Hearing this only made Tolui even angrier. So angry he could barely speak. “My master isn't even afraid of tigers, why would he be afraid of leopards? He just didn't want to fight wild animals.” He finally stuttered out.

  Dukhsh took a step forward and suddenly slapped Tolui squarely on his face. “How dare you talk back to me? Aren’t you afraid of me?” He yelled. Tolui was startled as his cheeks instantly turned blood red. He wanted to cry, but would not let himself.

  Guo Jing had been seething on the side all this time, but now he could no longer hold back. He suddenly lunged forward and rammed his head squarely into Dukhsh’s stomach. This caught him by surprise and knocked him flat on his back.

  “Yay!” Tolui clapped for joy for a moment before gr
abbing Guo Jing's hand and trying to run away.

  “Kill those two boys!” Dukhsh screamed, still on the ground. Dukhsh's companions ran up to the two boys and a fierce fight quickly broke out. Dukhsh picked himself up from the ground and angrily charged into the fray. Dukhsh's gang was older than the boys to begin with and also outnumbered them; they were able to pin down Tolui and Guo Jing very quickly.

  “Give up? Give up?” Dukhsh shouted as he continually rained punches onto Guo Jing's back. Guo Jing tried with all his might to get back up, but was weighed down by his foe's weight. At his side, Tolui was also being ganged up on by two kids.

  It was at this precarious moment that the sound of horse bells could be heard coming from just over a sand dune as a small group of riders appeared. The leading rider was a short, fat fellow riding on a yellow horse. Seeing the kids fighting in the distance, he let out a little laugh.

  “Hah, fighting!” Only when he rode closer for a better look did he realize that it was seven kids bullying two much smaller kids. They’d pinned them down on the ground and were beating them. The two smaller kids' faces were already full of bruises.

  “Shame on you; let them go!” He shouted.

  “Piss off!” Dukhsh shouted back. “Do you know who I am? I'll beat up whoever I want to, and you can't do anything about it!” His father was one of the most powerful men in the North, so he was used to bullying everyone and nobody dared to challenge him.

  “How dare you act like that? Let go of them!” The rider on the yellow horse yelled back. By this time, the rest of his group had joined him.

  “Third Brother, stop meddling in affairs that don't concern us, let's go.” There was a woman in that group.

  “Look at them, what kind of fighting is this?” The rider on the yellow horse replied.

  These riders were the Seven Freaks of the South. They had followed Duan Tiande all the way north onto the Steppe before losing his trail. These past six years, they had roamed up and down the Steppe in search of Duan Tiande and Li Ping. All seven of them had actually learned Mongolian by this time, but they still could not find any clues as to the whereabouts of Li Ping. The Seven Freaks were all stubborn characters, and very competitive as well, so even if faced with ordeals ten times more difficult and more dangerous than this, they would not concede this bet to Qiu Chuji. Without ever conferring, the seven of them had the same plan, even if they never find Li Ping, they would still search until the eighteen years was up. At that time they would go to Pavilion of the Drunken Immortal in Jiaxing and admit defeat to Qiu Chuji's face. Besides, Qiu Chuji might not find Yang Tiexin's widow either. If neither side could find their widow, then a tie would result and then maybe another challenge would be issued.

  “Two against one, we can't allow that.” Han Xiaoying hopped off of her horse and pulled the two kids that were sitting on Tolui's back off of him. Suddenly realizing that all the weight was off of his back Tolui struggled to get up. Dukhsh paused for a moment and Guo Jing took advantage; he flipped his body violently and crawled out from between Dukhsh's legs. The two, having finally freed themselves, immediately tried to run away.

  “Go after them!” Dukhsh yelled as he led the rest of his gang in hot pursuit.

  Seeing these little Mongolian kids fight reminded the Seven Freaks of all the misadventures that they had together when they were little, causing them to smile quite fondly at the memories.

  “It’s time to go. Let's get to the market ahead before it disperses, or else we will miss a chance to ask the people there!” Ke Zhen’E suggested. By this time, Dukhsh's little gang had caught up to Tolui and Guo Jing once again and surrounded them.

  “Do you give up?” Dukhsh demanded. Tolui, still looking very angry, did not reply but instead fiercely shook his head.

  “Well you asked for it!” The kids converged upon one another yet again.

  Suddenly there was a cold flash as a little dagger suddenly materialized in Guo Jing's hand. “You want some of this?”

  Li Ping, out of love for her son, had already given him the dagger, that her husband left her, to carry around. She felt that this object was good for warding off evil and had intended that this dagger protect her son from evil spirits. Because of the bullying Guo Jing was receiving, he pulled it out.

  Seeing that he had a weapon with him, none of Dukhsh's gang was brave enough to challenge him.

  ‘Magical Hands Scholar’ Zhu Cong was already on his way when a sudden flash caught his eyes. The way the dagger reflected the sunlight lit up his heart.

  “This reflection is incredibly strong; I’ve got to see what this precious little toy is.” Having stolen from government treasuries and rich gentry’s vaults all his life, he was quite an expert at discerning precious objects. He immediately pulled his horse around and saw that one of the kids had a dagger in his hand. The dagger reflected a blue light that flickered endlessly, obviously an extremely rare weapon. But how did it end up in the hands of a little kid? Looking over the kids again, he noticed that other than Guo Jing, all the other kids were wearing expensive shirts made of leopard skins. But Guo Jing made up for it by having a golden crown-looking ring on top of his head. Obviously the kids were all members of wealthy and influential Mongol families.

  “The kid probably stole his father's favorite knife to play with. Stealing from kings and aristocrats won't cause too much harm.” Once he made up his mind, he jumped off of his horse and smiled sweetly as he approached the kids.

  “Come on everyone, stop fighting. Play nice.” As he was talking, he suddenly flashed into the circle of kids and grabbed the knife. Having devoted an incredible amount of training to capturing weapons with bare hands, only the best martial arts masters could hope to stop him from taking their weapons, never mind a small kid like Guo Jing.

  As soon as the dagger was in his hand, Zhu Cong immediately scuttled out of the circle and hopped onto his horse. With a jerk of the reins, he laughingly galloped off and caught up to the rest of his group.

  “Well, today wasn't a total loss; I ended up with this little gem.” He laughed quite heartily at his success.

  “Second Brother, you won't ever get rid of that stealing habit of yours will you?” ‘Smiling Buddha’ Zhang Ahsheng joined in on the laughter.

  “What little gem? Let me see it.” ‘Hidden Hero of the Bustling City’ Quan Jinfa, being a merchant by trade, was curious. With a flick of his arm, Zhu Cong tossed the dagger over. A streak of blue shot across the sky in the sunlight; the light from the dagger wavered, looking as if a small rainbow had just materialized, causing everyone present to shout in praise.

  “Excellent!” Quan Jinfa involuntarily yelled as the dagger flew towards his face, sending a shiver down his spine. He reached out and caught the dagger by the handle. He "tch"ed endlessly in admiration as he examined the dagger. When his attention moved to the handle, he saw the characters ‘Yang Kang’ carved onto it. “This is a Han name! How did this dagger end up here in Mongolia?” A question shot through his mind. “Yang Kang, Yang Kang? I have never heard of a hero named Yang Kang. If he isn't a martial arts hero, why would he have such an exceptional weapon?”

  “Big Brother! Do you know who Yang Kang is?” He called out.

  “Yang Kang?” Ke Zhen’E searched through his memory for a while and shook his head. “I have never heard of him before.”

  ‘Yang Kang’ was the name that Qiu Chuji had given to the baby that was still inside of Bao Xiruo. The two fathers had exchanged daggers and that was how Li Ping ended up with the dagger that had ‘Yang Kang’ carved on it. Of course, the Seven Freaks did not know of this matter. Of the seven, Ke Zhen’E was the oldest as well as the most knowledgeable. If he did not know, then there was no way that the other six did.

  “Qiu Chuji is searching for Yang Tiexin's widow, could this Yang Kang have something to do with Yang Tiexin?” Quan Jinfa's attention to detail made him ask.

  “Well, if we find Yang Tiexin's widow, we would still have one-upped that Bull Nose.”
Zhu Cong joked. But having searched endlessly and fruitlessly for the past six years, this seemingly remote and completely unrelated lead was something that none of them were willing to let slip by.

  “Let's go back and ask that kid.” Han Xiaoying concluded.

  Han Baoju's horse was the fastest, so he arrived back where the kids were first, only to discover that the kids were at it again. Tolui and Guo Jing were, once again, pinned down to the ground. Han Baoju ordered the kids to break it up, but none of them heeded his words. Getting impatient, he grabbed a couple of kids and threw them off to the side.

  “You two dogs come back tomorrow and we'll fight again!” Dukhsh threatened Tolui, because he was too scared to carry on fighting.

  “OK.. .tomorrow!” Tolui shouted back as Dukhsh led his gang away. He already had plans for what to do; he would go and ask his third brother Ogedai for help as soon as he got back. Of all his brothers, Ogedai was the nicest to him, and strong as well. He would surely help if asked.

  “Give it back!” Despite having his face covered with blood from his nose, Guo Jing put his hand out to Zhu Cong.

  “Sure, no problem,” Zhu Cong waved the dagger back and forth in front of Guo Jing's face. “But you have to tell me where you got this dagger.”

  “My mom gave it to me.” Guo Jing answered, wiping blood away from his still bleeding nose with a sleeve.

  “What's your dad's name?” Guo Jing never had a father and was caught speechless by the question. All he could do was shake his head.

  “Is your surname Yang?” Quan Jinfa asked. Once again, Guo Jing shook his head. Seeing that this kid was rather slow, the Seven Freaks were quite disappointed.

  “Who's Yang Kang?” Zhu Cong probed further. Guo Jing still only shook his head. The Seven Freaks had always valued their integrity above all else, so they always kept their word, even to a kid. Zhu Cong handed the dagger back to Guo Jing.