Young martial heroes.

Yelü Qi¹ said, “Third Sister, watch carefully. I will strike her Biru² acupoint, she will be forced to retreat at an angle. Then I will move to seize her Jugu³ acupoint, and she will have no choice but to raise her blade and counter-slash. If I move quickly enough, I can disarm her.” The black-clad girl snapped, “Pei! It won’t be that easy.”

Yelü Qi said, “It will.” As he spoke, his right palm shot toward her Biru acupoint. The strike came at a crooked, off-centre angle, yet it sealed every avenue of retreat around her, leaving only a single gap to her rear left. To evade the strike, the girl had no choice but to retreat two steps at that angle. Yelü Qi nodded, then reached out exactly as he had said, aiming for her Jugu acupoint. The girl kept telling herself, Whatever you do, do not raise your blade to counter-slash. But the situation demanded it, raising the blade for a counter-slash was the only move that simultaneously neutralised his attack and launched one of her own. In the heat of the moment, unable to think further, she raised her blade and slashed.

Yelü Qi said, “Just so!” Everyone assumed he would reach out to seize her weapon, but instead his right hand withdrew, meeting his left, and both hands disappeared into his sleeves. The girl’s blade cut through empty air. She stared, momentarily stunned, at his hands tucked inside his sleeves. Then Yelü Qi’s right hand shot out, two fingers clamping the spine of her blade. With a flick, he lifted it from her grip.

The crowd stood dumbstruck by this display of skill. A long silence, then a thunderous roar of applause. The black-clad girl’s face fell, and she stood motionless. Everyone thought, The Second Young Master did not strike to capture you, he is clearly letting you walk free. Why do you still stand here?

Yelü Qi withdrew with measured steps and said to Yelü Yan,⁴ “She no longer has her weapon. Try her again. Be bold, but watch her palms and her kicks.” Yelü Yan stepped forward and said, “Wanyan Ping,⁵ we have spared you time and again, yet you hound us relentlessly. After all this, have you still not given up?”

Wanyan Ping did not answer. She stood with her head lowered, lost in thought. Yelü Yan said, “If you are determined to settle this with me, let us fight openly and be done with it!” She charged forward and threw two punches at Wanyan Ping’s face. Wanyan Ping leapt back to evade and said mournfully, “Return my blade.” Yelü Yan paused, thinking, My brother disarmed you precisely so we could fight on equal terms. Why do you demand your weapon back? She said, “Very well,” took the willow-leaf blade from her brother, and tossed it to Wanyan Ping. A guard reversed his own single-edged blade and offered it, saying, “Third Miss, use a weapon yourself.” Yelü Yan said, “No need.” But on second thought, she reconsidered: I cannot beat her bare-handed. We shall contest with blades. She took the blade and made two practice cuts through the air, it was slightly heavier than she preferred, but it would serve.

Wanyan Ping’s face was deathly pale. Blade in her left hand, she pointed at Yelü Chucai⁶ with her right and said, “Yelü Chucai, you aided the Mongols and brought about the deaths of my father and mother. I cannot avenge them in this life. Let us settle our accounts in the world below.” Before she had even finished speaking, she swept the blade horizontally toward her own throat.

Yang Guo,⁷ watching her, saw the desolation in her eyes as she spoke these words. His heart gave a violent lurch. A pain shot through his chest. He cried out, “Gugu!”⁸

In that same instant, Wanyan Ping had already begun to cut her own throat. Yelü Qi surged forward two steps, his right hand extending, again, two fingers seized her willow-leaf blade and pulled it away. In the same fluid motion, he sealed an acupoint on her arm. “Why seek a senseless end,” he said, “when all is well?”

The self-slashing of the blade and the two-fingered disarmament, both had happened in the span of a single breath. By the time the onlookers had registered what they saw, the blade was already back in Yelü Qi’s hands.

A chorus of horrified cries rose from the room, and no one paid any attention to Yang Guo’s cry of “Gugu.” But Lu Wushuang,⁹ standing beside him, heard it clearly. She asked in a low voice, “Who are you calling? Is she your gugu?” Yang Guo hurriedly said, “No, no! Not her.” What had happened was this: he had seen in Wanyan Ping’s eyes a look of fathomless grief and utter despair, a look of one who had renounced all attachment to the world, exactly the same expression that had been in Xiaolongnü’s¹⁰ eyes when she parted from him forever. Seeing it so suddenly, he had lost himself entirely, as if in a dream, not knowing where he stood.

Yelü Chucai spoke slowly. “Miss Wanyan, you have attempted to assassinate me three times now. I am the Grand Chancellor of the Great Mongol Empire. I destroyed your Great Jin Empire and brought about the deaths of your parents. But tell me, do you know who destroyed my ancestors?”

Wanyan Ping shook her head slightly. “I do not.”

Yelü Chucai said, “The name Yelü is the royal surname of the Great Liao Empire. The Great Liao was destroyed by your Jin Empire. Of us descendants of the Yelü clan of the Great Liao, your Wanyan clan slaughtered all but a handful. I swore revenge from childhood, and so I aided the Mongol Khan in destroying your Jin Empire. Ah, hatred begetting hatred, when will it ever end?” As he spoke these last words, he lifted his gaze to the window, thinking how, for the sake of a few families contending for the imperial throne, great cities had been reduced to ruins, and for ten thousand li,¹¹ corpses were piled like mountains and blood flowed like rivers.

Wanyan Ping was speechless. She bared her startlingly white teeth and bit down on her upper lip. With a heng, she said to Yelü Qi, “Three times I have failed to take my revenge. I blame only my own lack of skill. So be it. But if I wish to die, what business is it of yours?”

Yelü Qi said, “If the young lady will only promise to seek no further vengeance, you may leave this very moment.” Wanyan Ping gave another heng and glared at him. Yelü Qi reversed the willow-leaf blade and tapped her waist lightly several times with the hilt, releasing her sealed acupoints. Then he handed the blade back to her.

Wanyan Ping hesitated, caught between taking it and leaving it. After a moment’s indecision, she finally accepted it. “Young Master Yelü,” she said, “time and again you have shown me mercy and treated me with courtesy. Do you think I do not know this? But the hatred between my Wanyan family and your Yelü family is deeper than the sea. No matter how noble your generosity, the blood debt of my parents must be repaid.”

Yelü Qi thought, This woman will not let go. Her martial arts are not weak, and I cannot stand guard at my father’s side every moment. If anything should happen, what then? Perhaps I can use words to corner her, so that she can only come looking for me. He spoke in a clear voice: “Miss Wanyan, your determination to avenge your parents is admirable. But the debts of the older generation should be settled by the older generation themselves. We of the younger generation have our own grievances. If you wish to settle the blood debt between our families, come settle it with me alone. Should you target my father again, I will find myself in an extremely difficult position the next time we meet.”

Wanyan Ping said, “Heng. My martial arts are far beneath yours. How can I seek revenge against you? Enough, enough.” She covered her face and turned to leave.

Yelü Qi knew that once she walked out, she would surely attempt suicide again. Determined to save her life, he gave a cold laugh. “Heh heh. The women of the Wanyan clan have no spine.”

Wanyan Ping spun around. “What do you mean, no spine?”

Yelü Qi laughed coldly. “My martial arts surpass yours, true enough. But what is so remarkable about that? It is only because I had the guidance of an enlightened master, not because I possess any extraordinary natural talent. The Iron Palm¹² skill that you have learned is, in itself, a formidable martial art. It is only that the master who taught you did not master it fully, and your time of practice has been brief. That you are temporarily outmatched is only natural. If you apply yourself to seeking a better teacher, do you truly believe you cannot find one?”

Wanyan Ping had been seething with resentment, but hearing these words, she could not help nodding to herself.

Yelü Qi continued, “Every time I have crossed hands with you, I have used only my right hand. This is not arrogance or rudeness on my part. It is simply that my left hand is too powerful, and if I use it, I tend to injure people. Let us agree on this: once you have found a worthy teacher, you may come find me at any time. If you can force me to use my left hand, I will stretch out my neck for your blade without the slightest complaint.” He knew that Wanyan Ping’s skill was far, far below his own, even with the guidance of a master, she could never surpass his single-handed ability. He reasoned that a person’s desire for suicide is only a momentary surge of despair. If she focused her mind on seeking a teacher and training, after a period of time, the thought of suicide would naturally fade.

Wanyan Ping thought, You are no immortal. If I train with bitter determination, can my two hands truly never defeat your one? She raised her blade and cut once through the empty air, then said in a grave voice, “Good! A gentleman’s word…”

“A swift horse’s whip!”¹³ Yelü Qi finished.

Wanyan Ping cast not a single glance back at the assembled company. She strode out with her head held high, though her face could not hide the desolation beneath.

The guards, seeing that the Second Young Master had let her go, naturally did not dare stop her. They came forward one by one to pay their respects to Yelü Chucai and withdrew from the chamber. Yelü Zhu¹⁴ marvelled at how the room had been turned upside down, yet Yang Guo had never once revealed himself. Yelü Yan said, “Second Brother, why did you let her go again?”

Yelü Qi said, “What else? Kill her?”

Yelü Yan pressed her lips together in a smile. “Letting her go, it’s never the right thing.”

“What do you mean?”

Yelü Yan laughed. “If you want her to be my sister-in-law, you shouldn’t have let her go.”

Yelü Qi’s expression turned stern. “Don’t talk nonsense.” Seeing that he was serious and fearing his anger, Yelü Yan dared not continue her teasing.

Outside the window, when Yang Guo heard Yelü Yan say the words “want her to be my sister-in-law,” a sudden, inexplicable pang of jealousy shot through his heart. He saw Wanyan Ping heading southeast and said to Lu Wushuang, “I am going to have a look.”

“Look at what?” Lu Wushuang asked.

Yang Guo did not answer. He deployed his lightness skill and gave chase.

Wanyan Ping’s martial arts were not particularly strong, but her lightness skill was quite accomplished. Yang Guo held his breath and chased her all the way beyond the town of Longju Fort¹⁵ before catching sight of her silhouette. He saw her drop into the courtyard of a house and push open the door. Yang Guo followed, leaping in after her and concealing himself beside the wall. After a long while, lamplight appeared in the western wing, followed by a long sigh. This single sigh seemed to contain a thousand grievances and ten thousand sorrows.

Listening outside the window, Yang Guo stood frozen, as if bewitched. The sigh stirred the grief in his own heart, and before he knew it, he too let out a long sigh. Wanyan Ping, hearing someone sigh outside her window, was badly startled. She hastily blew out the lamp and retreated against the wall, demanding in a low voice, “Who is it?”

Yang Guo said, “The same as you, another wounded heart.”

Wanyan Ping was even more taken aback, but his tone did not seem hostile. She asked again, “Who are you, exactly?”

Yang Guo said, “As the saying goes: a gentleman’s revenge, ten years is not too late.¹⁶ You failed a few assassination attempts and immediately wanted to die. Is that not treating your own life too lightly? And treating this blood debt of yours even more lightly?”

With a ya sound, the two door panels swung open. Wanyan Ping lit the candle and said, “Please come in, sir.” Yang Guo clasped his hands in salute outside the door and entered the room. Wanyan Ping saw that he wore the uniform of a Mongol officer and was very young, and felt a mild surprise. “Your guidance is correct, sir. May I ask your honoured name?”

Yang Guo did not answer. He tucked both hands into his sleeves and said, “Yelü Qi boasts too much, thinking that using only his right hand counts as real skill. The truth is, to disarm a person or seal their acupoints, what is so difficult about using no hands at all?” Wanyan Ping was unconvinced, but not knowing the full measure of this stranger, she did not argue. Yang Guo said, “I will teach you three moves, and with them you can force Yelü Qi to use both hands. First, let me test something with you. I will use neither hands nor feet, how about we exchange a few moves?” Wanyan Ping was astonished. Does he possess some sorcery, she thought, that he can blow me over with a single breath? Seeing her hesitation, Yang Guo said, “Just use your blade and strike at me. If I cannot evade it, it is my own lack of skill. I will die without complaint.”

Wanyan Ping said, “Very well. I will not use my blade either, only fists and palms.”

Yang Guo shook his head. “No. I must disarm you without using hands or feet, only then will you believe me.”

Wanyan Ping saw the half-smiling, half-mocking look on his face and felt a flicker of irritation. “Such ability as yours, sir, truly unheard of.” She drew her blade and hacked at his shoulder. Seeing Yang Guo with both hands still tucked in his sleeves, utterly unconcerned, she feared wounding him and aimed her strike slightly off-target. Yang Guo saw this clearly and did not move a muscle. “No need to hold back,” he said. “Strike true!” The willow-leaf blade swept down past his shoulder, missing his body by barely an inch. Wanyan Ping, seeing him pay it no mind at all, could not help admiring his nerve, though she also wondered, Is this man a simpleton? She angled the blade and swept it across horizontally, this time without mercy. Yang Guo suddenly ducked low, and the blade’s edge passed over his head, still missing by barely an inch.

Wanyan Ping gathered her focus and hacked straight down. Yang Guo flowed with the blade’s momentum to evade. “You can mix palm strikes in with your blade work,” he said. Wanyan Ping said, “Good!” She slashed horizontally with the blade while her left palm struck out simultaneously. Yang Guo sidestepped. “Faster is fine.” Wanyan Ping launched into her full repertoire, palm strikes threaded through blade cuts, faster and faster. Yang Guo said, “Your palm technique is fierce, superior to your blade work. Yelü Qi said this is Iron Palm skill. Is that so?” Wanyan Ping nodded and pressed her attack even more ruthlessly. Yang Guo kept both hands in his sleeves the entire time, drifting and dancing through the storm of palm shadows and blade edges. Her blade and Iron Palm alike could not so much as graze his clothing.

When she had performed more than half her repertoire, Yang Guo said, “Careful now. Within three moves, I will take your blade.” By this point Wanyan Ping had come to deeply respect him, but the claim that he could disarm her in three moves was still hard to believe. She tightened her grip on the hilt involuntarily. “Take it, then!” she said, and launched a horizontal slash called “Clouds Spanning the Qin Ridges”¹⁷ at his neck. Yang Guo ducked his head and slipped beneath the blade, then turned his head sideways so that his forehead struck precisely against the Quchi¹⁸ acupoint in the crook of her right elbow. Wanyan Ping’s arm went numb, her fingers powerless. Yang Guo tilted his head up, opened his mouth, and bit down on the spine of the blade, effortlessly seizing the weapon. He then turned his head, driving the hilt into her side and sealing an acupoint in the same motion.

Yang Guo raised his head, released his teeth, and flung the blade upward. He had thrown the blade aside so he could speak clearly. “Well?” he said. “Convinced?” He had spoken six words, and as the blade came falling back down, he opened his mouth and caught it again, then looked at her with a grin. Wanyan Ping, startled and delighted in equal measure, nodded.

Yang Guo saw the liquid autumn light swimming in her eyes, so alluring and lovely, and an impulse to embrace her, to kiss her, rose up unbidden. But the act was far too bold and outrageous. He bit down on the blade’s spine, his face flushing bright red. Wanyan Ping had no idea what was passing through his mind, but seeing his strange expression, she felt a flicker of curiosity. She was aware of a numbness throughout her body, and her legs had gone so weak that she seemed about to collapse. Yang Guo stepped forward, now less than a foot from her. He was just about to toss the blade aside and press his lips to her eyelids in a kiss when a thought struck him with sudden force: She is so deeply grateful that Yelü Qi treated her with courtesy. Am I beneath him? Heng. I will surpass him in every way. He lowered his head, swung his chin to tap her waist with the hilt, released her sealed acupoints, and offered the blade back to her.

Wanyan Ping did not take the blade. She dropped to her knees and said, “I beg you, Master, to instruct me. If this humble woman can avenge her parents’ blood debt, I will be eternally grateful.” Yang Guo was utterly flustered. He hurriedly helped her up, reached into his mouth and removed the blade, and said, “How could I be your master? But I can teach you a method to kill Yelü Qi.” Wanyan Ping was overjoyed. “If I can kill Yelü Qi, I will not fear his brother or sister. Then I can kill his father…” She paused, and a shadow crossed her face. “Ah, but by the time I have learned enough skill to kill him, how can that old man Yelü still be alive? My parents’ blood debt, in the end, it can never be repaid.”

Yang Guo laughed. “That old man Yelü still has some days left in him.”

“What do you mean?”

Yang Guo said, “What is so difficult about killing Yelü Qi? Right now, I will teach you three moves. Tonight, you can kill him.”

Wanyan Ping had attempted to assassinate Yelü Chucai three times and had been defeated with casual ease by Yelü Qi each time. She knew his skill was ten times her own. This young Mongol officer’s martial arts are strong, she thought, but not necessarily stronger than Yelü Qi’s. And even if they were, teaching me just three moves could never be enough to kill him, and tonight at that, absolutely impossible. Fearing she might anger Yang Guo, she did not voice her objections. She merely shook her head slightly, while those eyes of hers, the eyes that could drive a man to madness, rolled restlessly back and forth.

Yang Guo understood her thoughts. “True,” he said, “my martial arts may not surpass his. In a real fight, I might well lose more than I win. But to teach you three moves that will let you kill him tonight, that is by no means difficult. The only worry is that he has spared you three times, and you may not have the heart to follow through.”

Wanyan Ping’s heart stirred, but she hardened herself. “He has shown me kindness, but the blood debt of my parents must be repaid.”

Yang Guo said, “Good. I will teach you these three moves. But if you are able to kill him and cannot bring yourself to do it, what then?”

Wanyan Ping said, “Then you may do with me as you please. With such high skill as yours, if you want to beat me or kill me, could I possibly escape?”

Yang Guo thought, How could I bear to beat you or kill you? Whether you kill him or not, what does it have to do with me? He smiled faintly and said, “In truth, these three moves are nothing remarkable. Watch closely.”

He raised the blade and slowly cut from left to right. “The first move is ‘Clouds Spanning the Qin Ridges.’” Wanyan Ping thought, I already know this move. Why do I need you to teach it? She sidestepped to evade the horizontal blade. Yang Guo suddenly extended his left hand and seized her right hand. “The second move is ‘Withered Vine Coiling the Tree,’¹⁹ which you used twice earlier.” Wanyan Ping nodded. “Yes. That is a move from my Iron Palm grappling technique.” Yang Guo held her soft, smooth hand and felt his heart flutter. He laughed. “You should be learning the Lambent Jade Palm Skill²⁰, why study Iron Palm grappling instead?”

Wanyan Ping did not realise he was teasing her. “There is a Lambent Jade Palm Skill?” she said. “The name is quite beautiful.” She felt him squeezing her hand, tightening and loosening his grip with the lightest of touches, and thought this technique was nowhere near as formidable as her own Iron Palm grappling. Your first and second moves are both techniques I already know, she thought. Can the third move alone really be enough to kill Yelü Qi?

Yang Guo stared into her eyes. “Watch closely!” he called. Suddenly his wrist flipped, and he swept the blade horizontally toward his own throat.

Wanyan Ping was horrified. “What are you doing?” she cried. Her right hand was held fast by Yang Guo, so she shot out her left hand to seize the blade. Even in such a desperate moment, her Iron Palm grappling was exquisitely precise, she caught Yang Guo’s wrist and wrenched it outward, preventing the blade from reaching his throat. Yang Guo released his grip and stepped back two paces. “Have you learned it?” he said with a smile.

Wanyan Ping’s heart was still hammering wildly. She had no idea what he meant. Yang Guo laughed. “First you use ‘Clouds Spanning the Qin Ridges’ to cut horizontally. Then you use ‘Withered Vine Coiling the Tree’ to seize his right hand. For the third move, you raise the blade to slit your own throat, and he will have no choice but to use his left hand to save you. He swore an oath to you: if you ever force him to use his left hand, he will let you kill him without complaint. There, is it not done?”

Wanyan Ping saw the logic. She stared at him, dumbfounded. Yang Guo said, “These three moves cannot fail. If they do not work, I will kowtow to you.” Wanyan Ping shook her head slightly. “He said he would never use his left hand, and he meant it. What if he simply does not?”

Yang Guo said, “Then what? You will never avenge yourself. Wouldn’t you be better off dead?”

Wanyan Ping nodded sorrowfully. “You are right. Thank you for pointing the way. But who, exactly, are you?”

Before Yang Guo could answer, a woman’s voice called from outside the window: “His name is Fool. Don’t believe his nonsense.” Yang Guo recognised Lu Wushuang’s voice. He merely smiled and paid it no mind. Wanyan Ping dashed to the window and saw a black shadow vault over the courtyard wall.

Wanyan Ping was about to give chase, but Yang Guo caught her hand. “No need to follow,” he said, laughing. “That is my companion. She loves to make trouble for me.” Wanyan Ping gazed at him for a long moment, then said, “Since you will not tell me your name, so be it. I trust that your intentions toward me are good.” Yang Guo saw the autumn light turn in her eyes and the gentle, plaintive look upon her face, and a surge of tender pity welled up within him. Taking her by the hand, he sat down beside her on the edge of the bed. “My surname is Yang,” he said softly, “and my given name is Guo. I am of Han blood, not Mongol. My father and mother are both dead, my story is the same as yours…”

Hearing him speak these words, Wanyan Ping felt a pang in her heart, and two teardrops spilled from her eyes. Yang Guo’s emotions surged, and suddenly he burst out weeping. Wanyan Ping drew a handkerchief from her bosom and passed it to him. Yang Guo pressed it to his face, but the more he thought of his own life, the more the tears flowed.

Wanyan Ping forced a smile. “Master Yang, look. I have made you cry.”

“Don’t call me Master Yang. How old are you?”

“I am eighteen. And you?”

“I am also eighteen.” He thought, If my birth month is later than hers, and she calls me “little brother”, that would be no good. He said, “I was born in the first month. From now on, you can call me Big Brother Yang. And I won’t stand on ceremony. I will call you Sister Wanyan.” Wanyan Ping blushed. She found this man’s manner, so direct, so peculiar, thoroughly strange. But it was clear he meant her no harm. She nodded.

Seeing her nod, Yang Guo was so delighted his heart itched unbearably. Wanyan Ping’s features were delicate and refined, her figure slender. Having suffered misfortune, she seemed born to inspire pity, and most important of all, the liquid light in her eyes was remarkably like Xiaolongnü’s. What he did not realise was that anyone who carried sorrow in their heart would naturally show a trace of melancholy in their gaze, this was true of all people under heaven. That he saw Xiaolongnü’s eyes in hers was only because he had searched so long for Xiaolongnü without finding her, and his longing was so intense that he deceived and comforted himself with this fantasy. He stared into her eyes, and in his mind he transformed her black robes to white, her slender oval face into Xiaolongnü’s exquisitely beautiful features. He gazed at her, lost in a trance, and his face unconsciously revealed a mixture of yearning, longing, and tender love.

Wanyan Ping grew somewhat afraid. She gently pulled her hand free and asked in a low voice, “What is wrong?” Yang Guo awoke as if from a dream. He sighed. “Nothing. Are you going to kill him or not?”

Wanyan Ping said, “I will go now. Big Brother Yang, will you come with me?”

Yang Guo was about to say, “Of course I will come with you.” But then reconsidered. If I am present, she will feel secure and her suicidal gesture will lack conviction. Yelü Qi will not fall for it. He said, “It would not be convenient for me to accompany you.”

Disappointment immediately showed in Wanyan Ping’s eyes. Yang Guo’s heart softened, and he nearly agreed to go with her after all. But Wanyan Ping said quietly, “Very well, Big Brother Yang. I fear I will never see you again.”

Yang Guo said hastily, “Nonsense! Nonsense! I…”

Wanyan Ping shook her head sorrowfully and dashed out of the house. In moments, she had returned to Yelü Zhu’s residence.

By now, Yelü Chucai and the others had withdrawn to their chambers and were preparing for bed. Wanyan Ping knocked twice on the main gate and called out in a clear voice, “Wanyan Ping requests an audience with Young Master Yelü Qi.” Several guards rushed over to stop her, but Yelü Qi opened the door himself and said, “What instructions does Miss Wanyan have?”

Wanyan Ping said, “I have come to receive more of your exalted instruction.”

Yelü Qi was puzzled. Why is she so lacking in self-awareness? He stepped aside, extended his right hand, and said, “Please enter.”

Wanyan Ping entered the chamber, drew her blade, and launched three rapid circling strikes, hu hu hu, threading six Iron Palm techniques through her blade work, this “one blade with two palms” converging from left and right. Yelü Qi kept his left hand lowered and used his right to chop, thrust, jab, and seize, neutralising all three blade cuts and six palm strikes. He thought, I need to find some way to make her understand the gap between us, so she will give up and never trouble us again.

The two fought for a while. Wanyan Ping was just about to use the three moves Yang Guo had taught her when a woman’s voice suddenly called from outside the door: “Yelü Qi, she is trying to trick you into using your left hand. Be careful!” It was Lu Wushuang. Yelü Qi froze in surprise. Before he could fully register what she meant, Wanyan Ping launched “Clouds Spanning the Qin Ridges,” cutting across at him. As he sidestepped to evade, she suddenly extended her left hand. “Withered Vine Coiling the Tree”, and seized his right hand. Her right hand reversed, and she swept the blade fiercely toward her own throat.

In that flash of lightning, Yelü Qi’s mind raced through several thoughts: I must save her! But she is tricking me into using my left hand. The moment I use it, my life is forfeit to her. A true man dies when he must, but how can I watch someone die and do nothing? Yang Guo had predicted Yelü Qi’s reasoning perfectly: confronted with these three sudden moves, he would have no choice but to use his left hand to save her. But Lu Wushuang’s interference had given him advance warning. The scheme should have failed, yet Yelü Qi was a man of generous and gallant spirit. Even knowing full well that reaching out to save her would cost him his own life, in that critical moment he still extended his left hand. He blocked Wanyan Ping’s right wrist, flipped his hand, and seized her willow-leaf blade away.

The two had exchanged these three moves. Each leapt back two steps. Before she could speak, Yelü Qi tossed the blade back to her and said, “You have forced me to use my left hand. Kill me, then. But I have one request.”

Wanyan Ping’s face was ashen. “What is it?”

Yelü Qi said, “I beg you, do not harm my father further.”

Wanyan Ping gave a heng. She walked slowly toward him and raised the blade. In the candlelight, she saw his expression, calm and composed, radiating a solemn, awe-inspiring dignity. Seeing the heroic spirit of this man, and remembering that he had used his left hand only to save her, how could she possibly bring the blade down? The killing intent in her eyes softened. She threw the blade to the floor, covered her face, and fled.

Utterly lost, Wanyan Ping wandered aimlessly out of town. She came to a small stream and stared at the faint starlight reflected in the water, her heart a tangled mess. After a very long time, she let out a long sigh.

Suddenly, a sigh echoed from behind her. Startled, Wanyan Ping spun around. A person stood there. Yang Guo. She called out “Big Brother Yang” and lowered her head in silence. Yang Guo stepped forward and took her hands in his. “To avenge one’s parents is never an easy thing,” he said, comforting her. “There is no need to rush.”

Wanyan Ping said, “You saw everything?” Yang Guo nodded. Wanyan Ping said, “For someone as useless as I am, revenge is naturally impossible. If I had even half your skill, I would not have come to such a pass.”

Yang Guo took her hand and sat with her beneath a large tree. “Even if you learned my martial arts,” he said, “what use would it be? You may not be able to take revenge now, but at least you know who your enemy is. Won’t there be opportunities in the future? What about me? I do not even know how my father died, or who killed him. As for vengeance, there is none to speak of.”

Wanyan Ping was stunned. “Your parents were murdered too?”

Yang Guo sighed. “My mother died of illness. But my father’s death. I do not know how it happened. I have never even seen my father’s face.”

“How can that be?”

Yang Guo said, “My father was already dead when my mother gave birth to me. I used to ask my mother, how exactly did Father die? Who was his enemy? Every time I asked, she would weep and give no answer. Later, I stopped daring to ask. I thought, when I am older, it will not be too late to ask then. Who could have known that my mother would suddenly fall ill and never recover? On her deathbed, I asked again. My mother just shook her head and said, ‘Your father… your father… Ah, child, for all your life, never think of revenge. Promise Mother, you must never think of avenging your father.’ I was overcome with grief and pain. I cried out, ‘I won’t promise! I won’t promise!’ Mother’s breath failed her, and she was gone. Ah, tell me, what am I supposed to do?” He had meant these words to comfort Wanyan Ping, but as he spoke, his own sorrow welled up. As the saying goes, “The hatred for a father’s killer cannot share the same sky.”²¹ For a man not to avenge his father is the greatest of filial failures, a lifelong shame, despised by all the world. That Yang Guo did not even know his father’s killer’s name, this bitter grievance had been buried in his heart for so long. Now, pouring it out, his voice was naturally filled with grief and resentment.

Wanyan Ping said, “Who raised you?”

Yang Guo said, “Who else? I raised myself. After my mother died, I roamed the jianghu,²² begging a meal here, finding a place to sleep there. Sometimes when the hunger was unbearable, I would steal a melon or a sweet potato. I often got caught and beaten badly. Look, all these scars, this bone sticking out here, all from beatings when I was young.” As he spoke, he rolled up his sleeves and trouser legs to show her. In the dim starlight, Wanyan Ping could not see clearly, so Yang Guo took her hand and guided it over the scars on his shin. Wanyan Ping’s fingers traced the bumps and hollows of his scars, and her heart ached. She thought how, although her own kingdom had fallen and her family destroyed, her father had left behind many loyal friends and old retainers, and gold and silver beyond counting. Compared to his life, she had been fortunate indeed.

The two sat in silence for a long while. Wanyan Ping gently withdrew her hand from his leg, though she let him continue holding it. She asked softly, “How did you learn such formidable martial arts? And how did you come to be a Mongol officer?”

Yang Guo smiled faintly. “I am no Mongol officer. I wear Mongol clothing to hide from an enemy who is hunting me.”

Wanyan Ping’s face lit up. “That is good.”

“What is good about it?”

Wanyan Ping blushed slightly. “The Mongols are the mortal enemies of my Great Jin. Naturally I am glad you are not a Mongol officer.” Yang Guo held her warm, soft, smooth hand, his mind unsettled. “If I were an officer of the Great Jin,” he said, “what would you think of me then?”

Wanyan Ping had liked him from the start, for his handsome features and his high martial skill, and that was already three parts of the way. In her time of distress, he had helped her with sincere devotion, and then, hearing him tell the story of his life, she had come to feel an added measure of pity. Now, though she sensed a certain impropriety in his words, she was not angered. She only sighed and said, “If my father were still alive, whatever you wished for, my father could give it to you. But now that both my parents are gone, what is there left to say?”

Hearing the gentleness in her tone, Yang Guo placed a hand on her shoulder and whispered in her ear, “Little Sister, I have a request.” Wanyan Ping’s heart pounded wildly. She had already guessed three parts of what he was going to say. “What is it?” she asked softly.

Yang Guo said, “I want to kiss your eyes. Do not worry. I will only kiss your eyes. I will do nothing else to you.”

At first, Wanyan Ping had thought he was about to propose marriage, or that he wanted physical intimacy. If she refused, and he used force, even the slightest force, how could she be his match? Besides, in her maiden’s heart, with her hand held in his strong, rough palm, she was already lost in confusion. Even if he did not use force, it would be difficult to refuse him. To learn that he only wanted to kiss her eyes, she breathed a sigh of relief, yet at the same time felt a faint, inexplicable disappointment, even some surprise. Truly, her heart was a tangled skein of silk.

Her lovely eyes rippled as she gazed at him, a trace of shyness in her look. Yang Guo stared into her eyes, and suddenly he remembered Xiaolongnü, how, at their final parting, she had looked at him with that same mixture of shyness and deep affection. He could not stop himself from crying out and leaping to his feet. Wanyan Ping was startled, but could not bring herself to ask what was wrong.

Yang Guo’s mind was in turmoil. Before his eyes, Xiaolongnü’s gaze flickered everywhere. The day he had seen that look, he had been an unawakened youth, and toward Xiaolongnü he had always been respectful, so much so that he had not understood its meaning at all. But since descending the mountain, spending days with Lu Wushuang, and now in this intimate moment with Wanyan Ping, a sudden flash of illumination had burst through his mind. He understood at last. He understood the tenderness and affection Xiaolongnü had held for him, and he was overcome with such bitter regret that he nearly dashed his head against the great tree and ended his life. Gugu felt such deep love for me, he thought, and said she would be my wife. I failed to understand her feelings, and now, where can I find her? Suddenly he gave a great cry, threw himself forward, and seized Wanyan Ping in his arms, pressing fierce kisses to her eyelids.

Yang Guo was by nature somewhat frivolous and wayward. Only because he both revered and feared Xiaolongnü, and loved her with all his heart, had he never, in all their time together in the stone chamber, dared show the slightest impropriety. But now, as he grew older and the fires of desire kindled, he felt neither reverence nor restraint toward Lu Wushuang and Wanyan Ping. In his heart, he treated them only as incarnations of Xiaolongnü, embracing them, kissing them, to ease the ache of his longing.

Wanyan Ping saw that he seemed half-crazed, half-delirious. She felt both startled and stirred. His arms were like iron bands locked around her waist. She closed her eyes and let him savour that tender pleasure as he wished, aware that his lips moved back and forth but never left the vicinity of her left and right eyes. This man may be wild, she thought, but he keeps his word. Yet why does he only kiss my eyes, and never my lips? Suddenly she heard Yang Guo cry out, “Gugu! Gugu!” His voice was feverish with passion, yet laced with the most terrible anguish. Wanyan Ping was about to ask what he was calling when a woman’s voice spoke from behind her:

“Sorry to interrupt you two.”

Yang Guo and Wanyan Ping both started and leapt apart. Standing beside the great tree was a person in a green robe. Wanyan Ping’s heart hammered wildly, her face burning red. She lowered her head and fidgeted with the hem of her robe, not daring to glance at the newcomer. But Yang Guo recognised her at once, it was the very person who had stolen the donkey to draw Li Mochou away at the inn, the one to whom he and Lu Wushuang owed their lives. He saw that she wore her hair in twin coils, a young woman. He bowed deeply. “A few days ago, I was indebted to you for your timely aid, Miss. I shall never forget such great kindness.”

The young woman returned the salute with the utmost respect. “Does Master Yang still remember the companion who shared life and death with him?”

Yang Guo said, “You mean…”

The young woman said, “Li Mochou²³ and her disciple captured her just now!”

Yang Guo was horrified. His voice trembled. “Truly? Is she… is she all right?”

The young woman said, “For the moment, she is in no immediate danger. Miss Lu insists that the secret manual fell into the hands of the Beggars’ Guild,²⁴ so the Scarlet Serpent Demon has taken her along to demand its return. Her life should be safe for now, though she will certainly suffer some torment.”

Yang Guo cried, “We must go save her at once!”

The young woman shook her head. “Master Yang’s martial arts are high, but I fear you are still no match for the Scarlet Serpent Demon. We would only throw our lives away, to no avail.”

In the faint starlight, Yang Guo saw that this green-robed young woman’s face was indescribably strange and ugly. Her facial muscles did not move at all, she resembled a corpse. The sight sent an involuntary shiver of dread through anyone who looked upon her. After a few glances, Yang Guo dared not look directly at her. He thought, This young lady is so kind-hearted, yet she has been born with such a strange face. What a pity. If I keep looking at her features, I will surely reveal my shock, and that would offend her. He asked, “May I have the honour of knowing the young lady’s name?”

The young woman said, “My humble surname is not worth mentioning. Master Yang will learn it in due course. Right now, we must think of a way to save her.” As she spoke, the muscles of her face did not stir in the slightest. Had her voice not clearly emerged from her mouth, one would have thought her a walking corpse, a zombie. Yet strangely, her voice was exquisitely soft, delicate, and clear, a sound that could rouse the weary and banish all care. Yang Guo said, “In that case, I will defer entirely to your plan for the rescue, Miss. This humble one awaits your command.”

The young woman was perfectly courteous. “Master Yang, you need not be so modest. Your martial arts are ten times greater than mine, and in intelligence and wisdom, I am not even worthy to behold your dust. You are older than I, and a man of grand bearing. Whatever you decide, I shall carry out. This humble woman awaits your orders.”

Yang Guo, hearing these words, so modest, so sincere, felt an indescribable comfort in his heart. This young lady’s face is so frightful, he thought, yet her speech is so gentle and gracious. Truly, one cannot judge a person by appearance. He thought for a moment and said, “Then we shall quietly follow behind and wait for an opportunity to rescue her.” The young woman said, “That is very good. But what does Miss Wanyan think?” So saying, she walked a distance away, leaving Yang Guo and Wanyan Ping to confer.

Yang Guo said, “Little Sister, I must go rescue a companion. We shall meet again.”

Wanyan Ping lowered her head. “My skills may be modest, but perhaps I can be of some small use. Big Brother Yang, let me go with you to save her.”

Yang Guo was overjoyed. “Good, good!” He raised his voice and called to the green-robed young woman, “Miss, Miss Wanyan wishes to help us rescue her.”

The young woman approached and said to Wanyan Ping, “Miss Wanyan, you are of noble lineage, you should think carefully before acting. Our adversary is vicious beyond measure. In the jianghu she is called the Scarlet Serpent Demon, she is not someone to provoke lightly.” Her manner was refined and courteous. Wanyan Ping said, “Never mind that Big Brother Yang has shown me kindness, his affairs are my affairs. But just on the strength of having met you, Elder Sister, I, Wanyan Ping, very much wish to be your friend. I will go with you, Elder Sister, and be careful in all things.” The young woman came over and took her hand, saying softly, “Nothing could be better. Elder Sister, you are older than I am, you had better call me Little Sister.”

In the darkness, Wanyan Ping could not see her ugly features, but hearing her sweet voice and feeling the soft, tender hand that held her own, she assumed she was a beautiful young woman and felt a surge of fondness. “How old are you?” she asked. The young woman gave a light laugh. “Let us not worry about who is older now. Master Yang, saving the person is what matters, do you not agree?” Yang Guo said, “Yes. Please show us the way, Miss.” The young woman said, “I saw them heading southeast. They are surely making for Dasheng Pass.”²⁵

The three immediately deployed their lightness skills and sped southeast. The Ancient Tomb Sect²⁶ had always excelled in lightness skill, it could claim to be the finest under heaven. Wanyan Ping’s martial arts were nothing remarkable, but her lightness skill was genuinely impressive. Yet the green-robed young woman followed behind Wanyan Ping with unhurried ease. When Wanyan Ping ran fast, she kept pace, when Wanyan Ping slowed, she too slowed, always maintaining a distance of one or two paces. Yang Guo was secretly astonished. Which school does this young lady belong to? Her lightness skill is clearly superior to Wanyan Meizi’s. Not wishing to show off before the two young women, he deliberately kept to the rear.

When the sky brightened with dawn, the young woman took dried provisions from her pouch and shared them with the other two. Yang Guo noticed that though her green robe was made of plain cloth, the stitching was exquisite and the cut perfectly fitted, worn on her body, it accentuated her slender, graceful figure far better than any brocade or embroidered silk could. Her dried rations, water flask, and every other item were all impeccably arranged, revealing an attention to detail as fine as a hair. Wanyan Ping, seeing her features, was deeply unsettled and did not dare look at her much. She thought, How can there be such an ugly woman in the world?

When the two had finished eating, the young woman said to Yang Guo, “Master Yang, Li Mochou knows your face, does she not?” Yang Guo said, “She has seen me several times.” The young woman took out a thin, silk-like object from her pouch. “This is a human-skin mask. Once you put it on, she will not recognise you.” Yang Guo took it and saw that it had four holes cut for the eyes, nostrils, and mouth. He pressed it onto his face, and it conformed perfectly to every contour, as if it had grown there. Delighted, he thanked her profusely.

When Wanyan Ping saw that Yang Guo’s appearance had suddenly transformed into something hideous, understanding dawned on her. “Little Sister,” she said, “so you are also wearing a human-skin mask. How foolish of me. I thought you were born with those strange features. I am so sorry.” The young woman smiled. “Master Yang’s handsome face, wearing a mask does it an injustice. As for my appearance, with or without the mask, it is much the same.” Wanyan Ping said, “I don’t believe it! Little Sister, take off the mask and let me see. Will you?” Yang Guo too was burning with curiosity to see her real face, but the young woman retreated two steps and laughed. “Don’t look, don’t look. My strange face will frighten you.” Seeing that she was determined not to reveal herself, Wanyan Ping had to let it go.

Around noon, the three passed through Shangzhou²⁷ and reached Wuguan.²⁸ They chose a table in a tavern in town and sat down to eat. The innkeeper, seeing Yang Guo dressed as a Mongol officer, dared not be negligent and served them with extreme deference.

Halfway through the meal, the door curtain lifted and three women entered. Li Mochou and her disciple, escorting Lu Wushuang. Yang Guo thought that although Li Mochou could never recognise him now, such a bizarre face might still arouse her suspicion and cause trouble. He turned away and concentrated on his rice, listening to Li Mochou and the others talk. But Lu Wushuang, unsurprisingly, remained silent, and Li Mochou and Hong Lingbo,²⁹ once they had ordered their food, also said nothing.

Wanyan Ping, having heard Yang Guo describe the appearances of Li Mochou and her disciple, grew anxious. She reversed her chopsticks, dipped them in the soup, and wrote on the table: “Strike?” Yang Guo thought, With the strength of us three, plus my wife, we are still no match for the master and disciple. This must be handled with cunning, not force. He slowly shook his chopsticks.

Footsteps sounded on the stairs. Two people ascended. Wanyan Ping glanced sideways, it was Yelü Qi and his sister Yelü Yan. The two were startled to see Wanyan Ping here and nodded to her, then found seats. Since Wanyan Ping had left, the siblings had known she would not attempt another assassination. They had bid farewell to their father and elder brother and set out to travel and enjoy the scenery. Encountering her here again brought them even greater peace of mind.

Li Mochou, distressed that the Secret Manual of the Five Venoms³⁰ had fallen into the Beggars’ Guild’s hands, had eaten little these past few days. Now, after only half a bowl of noodles, she set down her chopsticks and gazed idly out the window. Suddenly she noticed two beggars standing at the street corner, each carrying five pouches on his back. Five-Pouch Disciples of the Beggars’ Guild.³¹ A thought stirred. She went to the window and beckoned. “Two heroes of the Beggars’ Guild, please come upstairs. This humble Daoist has a message that I must trouble you to convey to your guild master.” She knew that if she simply called out to them without reason, the two might not come. But if she claimed to have a message for the guild master, Beggars’ Guild disciples could not refuse.

Lu Wushuang, hearing her master summon Beggars’ Guild members, knew she must be about to interrogate them about the whereabouts of the Secret Manual of the Five Venoms. Her face went ashen. Yelü Qi, aware that the Beggars’ Guild held enormous power in the north, was curious: This beautiful Daoist nun has a message for their guild master, what is her background and status? He set down his cup and watched from the corner of his eye.

In moments, the stair boards creaked and the two beggars came up. They saluted Li Mochou and said, “Whatever instructions the Immortal Maiden has, we shall obey.”

Li Mochou straightened her robes and returned the salute. “Please, do not stand on ceremony, you two.” One of the beggars caught sight of Lu Wushuang at her side and his face suddenly changed colour, he had intercepted her on the road before. He tugged at his companion, and the two sprang back to the head of the stairs.

Li Mochou gave a faint smile. “Gentlemen, please look at the backs of your hands.” Both beggars’ eyes shot simultaneously to their own hands, on the back of each hand were three vermilion finger marks. They had absolutely no idea how she had applied the Scarlet Serpent Divine Palm³² with such lightning speed, so imperceptibly. Her strike had been invisible not only to the two beggars but even to Yang Guo and Yelü Qi. The two beggars cried out in unison, “You… you are the Scarlet Serpent Fairy?”³³

Li Mochou said softly, “Please inform your guild master that between your Beggars’ Guild and myself, the river water has never interfered with the well water. I have long admired the heroes of your noble guild, but have never had the good fortune to meet them and receive their instruction, a deep regret.” The two beggars exchanged glances, thinking, You speak so pleasantly, yet without cause or reason you have suddenly struck us with your poison. Li Mochou paused, then continued, “The two of you have been struck by the Scarlet Serpent Divine Palm, but do not worry, as long as you return the book you seized, this humble Daoist will naturally cure you.” One beggar said, “What book?” Li Mochou laughed. “That worthless book, to tell the truth, it is not worth much. If your noble guild is determined not to return it, it hardly matters. This humble Daoist will simply take a thousand beggar lives as compensation.”

The two beggars had not yet felt any unusual sensations in their hands, but with every word she spoke, they could not help glancing at the backs of their hands. They had long heard that the Scarlet Serpent Divine Palm was sinister and venomous beyond measure, that those struck by it died in agony and unbearable itching. Now their minds conjured phantoms: the three vermilion finger marks on their hands seemed to be slowly expanding. Hearing her vicious words, they decided they had no choice but to report to their regional elder and make further plans. They exchanged a look and bolted down the stairs.

Li Mochou thought, If your guild master wants the two of you to live, he will have no choice but to bring the Secret Manual of the Five Venoms and beg me… Aiyo, no, what if he copies a duplicate and returns only the original? She reconsidered: The antidotes for all the poisons in my divine palm and hidden weapons are recorded in that book. Once they have the book, why would they need to beg me for anything? At this thought, her face changed dramatically. She flew forward, cut off the two beggars’ escape midway down the stairs, and struck out with two palms, peng peng, driving them back up to the landing. She descended and ascended in a blur of motion, a flash of blue shadow, and was back on the upper floor. She seized one beggar’s arm and twisted, kala, the bone snapped, and the arm dangled limp. The other beggar was horrified, but he was a man of loyalty and did not flee. He rushed forward to shield his injured companion. Seeing Li Mochou closing in, he threw a straight punch. Li Mochou casually caught his wrist and gave a flick, snapping his arm bone as well.

Both beggars had been crippled in a single exchange. Knowing they could not survive, they pressed their backs together and each raised one uninjured arm, determined to fight to the last. Li Mochou said with perfect refinement, “You two may as well stay. Wait until your guild master comes with the book to ransom you.” The two beggars saw her return to her table, sit, and drink, her back to them. Step by step, they edged toward the stairs, hoping to seize an opportunity to flee. Li Mochou turned and smiled. “It seems I will have to break your leg bones as well before you will condescend to remain as my guests.” She rose. Hong Lingbo, unable to bear the sight, said, “Shifu, I can guard them and ensure they do not escape.” Li Mochou gave a cold laugh. “Heng. Your conscience is so tender.” She advanced slowly toward the two beggars, who burned with both fury and terror.

Yelü Qi and his sister had been watching all along. Now they could restrain themselves no longer and rose as one. Yelü Qi said in a low voice, “Third Sister, leave quickly. This woman is extremely formidable.” Yelü Yan said, “And you?” Yelü Qi said, “Once I rescue the two beggars, I will flee immediately.” Yelü Yan had thought her second brother had few equals in the world. Hearing him say he too would have to flee, she could scarcely believe it.

At that moment, Yang Guo slammed his hand on the table, strode over to Yelü Qi, and said, “Brother Yelü, shall we join hands and save them?” He knew that to rescue Lu Wushuang, sooner or later he would have to fight Li Mochou. With a fine fighter like Yelü Qi stepping forward in righteous indignation, if he did not pull him into the water now, when would he?

Yelü Qi saw that Yang Guo wore Mongol military uniform and was exceedingly ugly, he was certain he had never met this man in his life. He thought, Since he is with Wanyan Ping, he must know who I am. But against Li Mochou’s skill, even I can scarcely hope to win. An ordinary person intervening would only throw his life away. He hesitated and did not answer.

Li Mochou heard Yang Guo speak and studied him from head to toe. His voice was familiar, but this was a face that, once seen, could never be forgotten, and she was certain she had never seen it before.

Yang Guo said, “I have no weapon. Let me borrow one.” His form flickered, he brushed past Hong Lingbo, and in passing, plucked the sword and scabbard from her sash. He planted a kiss on her cheek. “How fragrant!” he cried. Hong Lingbo’s backhand slap shot out, but he ducked his head and slipped beneath her palm. This movement was extraordinarily fast, the highest level of lightness skill, trained by catching sparrows in the cramped chambers of the ancient tomb. Except toward Xiaolongnü, for whom his feelings ran so deep that he always maintained self-restraint and respect, toward any other young woman Yang Guo could not resist indulging his frivolous nature. The moment Li Mochou saw his superb lightness skill, she was secretly alarmed. Yelü Qi, on the other hand, was overjoyed. “May I ask this brother’s honoured name?” he called.

Yang Guo waved his left hand. “This humble one is surnamed Yang.” He raised the scabbard and said, “I suspect the sword inside is broken.” He drew the blade, indeed, it was broken. Hong Lingbo suddenly understood. “So it is you, you little wretch!” she cried. “Shifu, it is him!” Yang Guo peeled the mask from his face and said, “Shi Bo,³⁴ Shi Jie,³⁵ Yang Guo pays his respects.”

The moment he called out “Shi Bo, Shi Jie,” Yelü Qi felt as though he had fallen into a fog, while Lu Wushuang was caught between shock and delight. How does this fool call them Shi Bo and Shi Jie? Li Mochou gave a faint smile. “Oh? And how is your master?”

Yang Guo’s heart clenched, and his eyes reddened instantly.

Li Mochou said coldly, “Your master has certainly trained a fine disciple.” A few days earlier, Yang Guo had used bizarre moves to neutralise her life’s work, the Triple Threat Hand,³⁶ and had even seized her whisk with his teeth. The strangeness of his martial arts was simply beyond belief. Though she had ultimately recovered her whisk, and knew his skill was still far below hers, reflecting on it afterward still sent a chill through her heart. This vile whelp is progressing terrifyingly fast. Shimei³⁷ must be even more formidable. So the martial arts of the Jade Maiden Heart Sutra are truly this powerful. It is fortunate Shimei did not join hands with him that day, otherwise… otherwise… Now, seeing him appear again, she felt a surge of wariness. Involuntarily, she glanced around, was Xiaolongnü here too?

Yang Guo guessed her thoughts. With a grin, he said, “My master sends her regards to Shi Bo.”

Li Mochou said, “Where is she? We sisters have not seen each other for so long.”

Yang Guo said, “Master is nearby. She will arrive shortly to see you.” He knew he was far from Li Mochou’s match, and even with Yelü Qi, victory was uncertain. So he staged an “empty-city stratagem,”³⁸ invoking his master’s name to frighten her. Li Mochou said, “I am disciplining my own disciple. What does it have to do with your master?”

Yang Guo laughed. “My master begs Shi Bo to show mercy and release Junior Sister Lu.”

Li Mochou smiled faintly. “You have violated every moral bond, committing beastly indecencies with your own master, and yet you go about calling her ‘Master’ this and ‘Master’ that. Have you no shame?”

Hearing her slander his master, the blood surged hot in Yang Guo’s chest. He raised the scabbard like a sword and stabbed at her with ferocious speed. Li Mochou laughed. “You dare do such filthy things, yet you fear others speaking of them?” Yang Guo launched a relentless barrage with the scabbard, fierce and extraordinary, these were the techniques Wang Chongyang³⁹ had carved into the stone, designed specifically to counter Lin Chaoying’s⁴⁰ Jade Maiden Swordplay.⁴¹ Li Mochou dared not be careless. Her whisk danced as she neutralised each move, her full concentration on the fight.

Li Mochou’s whisk techniques were all derived from the Jade Maiden Swordplay. After several exchanges, she realised that her opponent’s sword techniques were wondrously ingenious, every move she made, every stance she took, he seemed to anticipate, seizing the initiative at every turn. Had her own power not far surpassed his, she would have been forced onto the defensive. She thought bitterly, Master was so biased, teaching this sword art only to Shimei. Heng, it was surely meant for Shimei to use against me. This sword art may be strange, but do you think I fear it? Her moves shifted. Suddenly she sprang up and landed on a table, her right foot kicking sideways while her left foot steadied her on the table’s edge. Her body swayed forward and back with effortless grace, like a lotus leaf stirring in the wind. “Did your paramour ever teach you this move?” she said with a coquettish smile. “I doubt she can perform it herself.”

Yang Guo froze. “What paramour?” he demanded angrily.

Li Mochou laughed. “My Shimei swore a solemn oath: unless a man was willing to die for her, she would remain in the ancient tomb her entire life and never descend the mountain. Since she came down the mountain with you, and the two of you are not husband and wife, what else could you be but her paramour?” Yang Guo was beside himself with rage. He said not another word but swung the scabbard and leapt onto the table as well. But his lightness skill was inferior to hers, and he dared not stand on the table’s edge. Both feet shattered several rice bowls and vegetable dishes, but he stood firm and swept the scabbard across in a ferocious slash. Li Mochou raised her whisk to parry the scabbard. “Your lightness skill is not bad!” she laughed. “Your paramour certainly treats you well, one might even say with true feeling and devotion.”

Yang Guo’s fury erupted beyond control. “Li, are you human or not?” he shouted. “Does a human mouth speak human words?” He thrust and stabbed with the scabbard in a frenzy of attacks. Li Mochou said coolly, “If you don’t want people to know, don’t do it. Our Ancient Tomb Sect has produced two such degenerates as you, our face is utterly lost.” While her hands parried, her mouth never stopped its taunts. Her methods were cruel, but her speech and bearing had always been refined and courteous. To speak such words was profoundly against her nature, she did so only because she feared Xiaolongnü was lurking nearby. If Xiaolongnü suddenly sprang out to attack, she would be hard-pressed to defend herself. So she poured forth a stream of filth and insults, hoping to shame Xiaolongnü into staying hidden.

The more Yang Guo heard, the more unbearable it became. If she had only cursed him, he would not have cared in the slightest. But to slander Xiaolongnü like this, his rage shook him so violently that his hands and feet trembled. His head suddenly swam, and everything went black before his eyes. Unable to keep his footing, he cried out and toppled from the table. Li Mochou brought her whisk sweeping down toward the crown of his head.

Seeing the crisis, Yelü Qi snatched up two wine cups from the table and hurled them at Li Mochou’s back. Li Mochou heard the projectiles coming. From the corner of her eye, she saw they were only wine cups. She drew a breath and sealed the acupoints on her back, determined to kill Yang Guo first. What harm can two little wine cups do? But before the cups arrived, the wine reached her first. She felt a faint numbness at her Zhiyang⁴² and Zhongshu⁴³ acupoints where the wine splashed. Not good! she thought. Shimei is here! If the wine alone is like this, what of the cups? She hastily reversed her whisk and swept the two cups aside just in time, feeling the impact jar her arm. Her anxiety deepened. How has that little girl trained her strength to such a level?

When she turned around, she saw that the thrower was not Xiaolongnü but that tall young man in Mongol attire. She was astonished. So many fine fighters among the younger generation? He had drawn his longsword and was saying in a clear voice, “Immortal Maiden, your methods are far too cruel. This humble one requests a few pointers.” Li Mochou watched him approach with measured, weighty steps. He could not be more than twenty, yet the power with which he had thrown those cups, and the posture with which he now drew his sword and advanced, seemed to carry more than twenty years of cultivated skill. She fixed her gaze on him and smiled. “Who are you, sir? Who is your honoured master?”

Yelü Qi bowed. “This humble one is Yelü Qi, a disciple of the Quanzhen Sect.”⁴⁴

Yang Guo, who had already retreated to the side, heard Yelü Qi say he was of the Quanzhen Sect and thought, So he really is Quanzhen. Could he be a disciple of Liu Chuxuan?⁴⁵ I doubt Hao Datong⁴⁶ could have produced such a fine fighter.

Li Mochou asked, “Is your honoured master Ma Yu,⁴⁷ or is it Qiu Chuji?”⁴⁸

Yelü Qi said, “Neither.”

Li Mochou said, “Then one of Liu, Wang, or Hao?”

Yelü Qi said, “None of them.”

Li Mochou gave a silvery laugh and pointed at Yang Guo. “He claims to be a disciple of Wang Chongyang. That would make the two of you fellow disciples.”

Yelü Qi was astonished. “That cannot be. The Chongyang Zhenren⁴⁹ departed this world long ago. How could this brother be his disciple?”

Li Mochou frowned. “Heh heh. The Quanzhen Sect is full of little wretches who lie without blinking. They should change their name from ‘Quanzhen’ to ‘Quanjia’, the ‘School of Complete Falsehood.’⁵⁰ Watch this!” Her whisk swept up and came crashing down.

Yelü Qi formed a sword sigil with his left hand, stepped out with his left foot, and thrust upward at an angle with the move “Fixing the Yang Needle”⁵¹, pure, orthodox Quanzhen swordplay. This move was perfect in spirit and substance: power, technique, form, and force, all flawlessly balanced. It appeared plain and unremarkable, yet to execute it with such absolute flawlessness, a person of even slightly inferior natural talent could labour an entire lifetime without achieving it. Yang Guo had studied Quanzhen swordplay in the ancient tomb and naturally recognised its subtleties, but his martial studies had grown too eclectic, this move “Fixing the Yang Needle” was something he could never execute with such solemn, weighty precision, no matter what.

Li Mochou knew the moment she saw this move that she faced a worthy opponent. She sidestepped at an angle and swept her whisk behind her. Yelü Qi saw the grey shadow flash, the whisk filaments closing in from left and right, from all directions. His experience in real combat was limited, and now facing a powerful adversary for the first time, he summoned every ounce of his spirit and responded with all his might. In the space of a few breaths, the two had exchanged over forty moves. Li Mochou pressed her attack ever closer, and Yelü Qi shrank his sword circle, concentrating purely on defence. The signs of defeat were already visible, but for Li Mochou to finish him immediately was still impossible. She silently praised him, This boy’s Quanzhen martial arts are indeed exquisitely pure. Though he cannot yet match Qiu, Wang, or Liu, he is not inferior to Sun Bu’er.⁵² Truly, the Quanzhen Sect produces talent in every generation.

After several more exchanges, Li Mochou deliberately left an opening. Yelü Qi, not recognising the trap, thrust his sword straight in. Li Mochou suddenly kicked out with her left foot, striking his wrist. Pain flared, and Yelü Qi’s longsword flew from his grip. But even in defeat, his composure did not break. He slashed diagonally with his left palm while his right hand used grappling techniques to seize her whisk. Li Mochou laughed. “Fine skill!” she praised. Within a few moves, she sensed that Yelü Qi’s grappling method contained a subtle, lingering soft power, something neither Liu Chuxuan nor Sun Bu’er possessed, and her surprise deepened.

Yang Guo roared curses: “Vile witch! In this life and for all lives to come, I will never acknowledge you as Shi Bo!” He raised the scabbard and charged in to attack from the flank. Li Mochou saw Yelü Qi’s longsword falling. Her whisk coiled around it and flung it at Yang Guo’s face. “Your master is your man,” she laughed, “so you might as well call me Shi Jie.” Yang Guo gauged the sword’s trajectory and raised the scabbard to meet it. Lu Wushuang, Wanyan Ping, and the others cried out in alarm, but with a shua, the longsword slid perfectly into the scabbard.

This feat of sheathing a flying sword, the timing could not have been tighter. Had the scabbard been off by a hair, with the force of Li Mochou’s throw, the blade would have passed straight through his body. But Yang Guo had trained relentlessly with hidden weapons in the ancient tomb. His mastery of timing, force, aim, and precision had reached a level where not the slightest error was possible, he could strike unerringly with Jade Bee Needles⁵³ as fine as human hair. Catching this longsword was nothing to him. He now used the scabbard as his weapon and joined Yelü Qi in a two-on-one assault. His training with Xiaolongnü had been conducted with blunt swords lacking sharp tips or cutting edges, weapons designed primarily for striking acupoints. Using this scabbard was much like wielding a blunt “edgeless sword,” and it suited him quite well.

By now the tavern was a shambles, stools overturned, tables askew, bowls shattered, plates broken. The other patrons had long since fled. Hong Lingbo, since she had followed her master into the jianghu, had never once seen her master at a disadvantage in battle. The setback in the ancient tomb against Xiaolongnü was only because she could not swim, though Yang Guo had seized her whisk, she had reclaimed it in the blink of an eye and still driven Yang Guo to flee in defeat. So even watching two opponents attack her master together, Hong Lingbo felt not the slightest concern. She merely stood to one side and observed.

The three fought to a fever pitch. Li Mochou’s techniques shifted again, and from her whisk surged a forceful wind that made it impossible for the two men to keep their footing. In moments, Yelü Qi and Yang Guo were beset by danger after danger.

Yelü Yan and Wanyan Ping cried, “Not good!” They rushed forward together to help. After barely three exchanges, Yelü Yan’s left leg was swept by the whisk, and she stumbled backward, crashing against the edge of a table, which was all that kept her from falling. Seeing his sister injured, Yelü Qi’s concentration wavered. Under Li Mochou’s fierce assault, he was forced into a continuous retreat.

Seeing the crisis deepen, the green-robed young woman darted forward to help Yelü Yan up and draw her back. Even in the heat of battle, Li Mochou observed everything in every direction. She saw the young woman’s graceful, lightweight movement as she sprang forward, clearly a disciple of a distinguished school. She swept her whisk toward the young woman’s face. “May I ask the young lady’s name? And who is your honoured master?”

They were eleven feet apart, yet the whisk arrived as soon as it was mentioned. In the blink of an eye, the filaments were brushing the young woman’s face. The green-robed girl was badly startled. Her right hand shot up, and from her sleeve emerged a weapon that blocked the whisk. Li Mochou saw that the weapon was exceedingly strange, translucent and gleaming, about three feet long, resembling a flute of ivory or jade. What school, what sect, she wondered, uses such a weapon? She launched a flurry of attacks, determined to force the girl to reveal her full capabilities. The young woman could not hold her off. Yang Guo and Yelü Qi hurried to her rescue, but against Li Mochou’s battle style, striking east, slashing west, drifting and darting with ghostly unpredictability, they could barely cope. In moments, danger loomed on every side.

Yang Guo thought, If we slip up even slightly, every one of us here will lose our lives. He opened his mouth and yelled, “Good little wife! My good little sister! Good Elder Sister in green! Good Junior Sister Yelü! Little Sister Hong Lingbo! Everyone, go downstairs and take a stroll! This little girl Li Mochou is too fierce, your old brother can’t handle her!” The women, hearing his wild shouting, every one of them getting a “good” attached to their name, could not help frowning. But the situation was indeed desperate. Lu Wushuang was the first to go downstairs, and the green-robed young woman helped Yelü Yan down as well.

The two beggars, seeing these young heroes fighting heaven and earth for their sake against Li Mochou, desperately wanted to join the battle, but their broken arms made it impossible. They were men of strong loyalty, and though Li Mochou had no time to attend to them, they stood their ground and refused to flee before Yang Guo and the others.

Yang Guo and Yelü Qi fought side by side, struggling against Li Mochou’s increasingly ferocious techniques. Then Wanyan Ping also retreated downstairs. Yang Guo said, “Brother Yelü, there is no room to manoeuvre here. Let us take the fight downstairs.” He was thinking that once they reached a crowded area, they could seize the chance to slip away. Yelü Qi said, “Good!” The two retreated down the stairs shoulder to shoulder. Li Mochou pressed her attack every step of the way. Though she was winning, fury seethed within her. All my life, I have killed whomever I wished to kill. Yet today, two brats have held me off. If that wretch Lu Wushuang escapes because of this, where will the Scarlet Serpent Fairy’s reputation be? Determined to recapture Lu Wushuang, she pursued them down.

Everyone fought with everything they had, from the tavern out into the wilderness. Yang Guo kept shouting, “Dearest little wife! Good little sister Wanyan, run faster! Junior Sister Yelü, Miss Green Robe, you run too! A young, pretty girl like Li Mochou is a rare sight among the Mongols. I want to capture her and make her my wife!” Yelü Qi, by contrast, said not a word. He was only a few years older than Yang Guo, but his bearing was solemn and dignified, steady and profound, completely unlike Yang Guo’s darting, restless, impetuous nature. The two formed the rearguard, holding off the enemy. Yelü Qi met her deadly moves head-on, while Yang Guo darted forward and back, disrupting her focus.

Seeing that Xiaolongnü still had not appeared, Li Mochou grew bolder and unleashed her full power. Yang Guo and Yelü Qi were, after all, far beneath her in skill. By this point, both men’s faces were flushed, their hearts pounding, their breath coming in ragged gasps. Li Mochou was delighted. In less than half a shichen,⁵⁴ she thought, I will have taken the lives of every one of these whelps.

In the midst of the fierce battle, piercing cries suddenly rang out from the sky. Two great eagles swooped down at Li Mochou’s head, their four wings beating up clouds of sand and dust in a terrifying display. Yang Guo recognised these twin eagles, they were raised by Guo Jing⁵⁵ and his wife. He had played with them as a child on Peach Blossom Island.⁵⁶ If the twin eagles are here, he thought, Guo Jing and his wife must be nearby. But I rebelled against the Chongyang Palace. I do not wish to see them again. He hastily leapt back several paces and put on his human-skin mask.

The twin eagles darted left and right, swooping and climbing, harrying Li Mochou relentlessly with wings and beaks. The eagles had long memories, they had suffered from her Soul-freezing Silver Needles⁵⁷ years ago and had nursed a grudge ever since. Spotting her from high above, they had immediately flown down to attack. Yet they still feared the power of her silver needles and would soar upward the moment they saw her raise her hand.

Yelü Qi watched this strange spectacle. Seeing that the eagles could not prevail alone, he called out, “Brother Yang, let us attack again, surround her on all sides! Let us see how she handles it!” He was just about to spring forward when he heard hoofbeats from the southeast. A single horse came galloping toward them.

The horse moved with incredible speed. The sound of its hooves had barely reached them before it was already there, long-legged and tall-bodied, covered in a coat of deep red, magnificent beyond compare. Li Mochou and Yelü Qi were both startled. How can a horse be this fast? On its back rode a young woman in crimson, horse and rider together looked like a great blazing coal hurtling toward them, with only her snow-white face untouched by the redness. Seeing the twin eagles and the red horse, Yang Guo already knew the rider was Guo Jing and Huang Rong’s⁵⁸ daughter, Guo Fu.⁵⁹ She reined in her horse, and the red horse stopped instantly. In the midst of its headlong gallop, to halt so abruptly, neither rearing nor neighing, perfectly composed, was a marvel. Yelü Qi had grown up in Mongolia and had seen countless fine horses, but never such a specimen as this. He had no idea that this horse was the Ferghana blood-sweat steed Guo Jing had obtained in the Mongolian desert. It had been a little red horse then. Now its teeth showed its age, well past middle years by a horse’s reckoning. But a divine steed was, after all, different from ordinary horses, though its years were advanced, its sinews and bones remained strong, its legs still powerful, no less vigorous than in its prime.

Yang Guo had not seen Guo Fu for many years. Whenever he had thought of her, he always remembered her as that arrogant, wilful girl. He had never imagined she would have grown into such a beautiful young woman, her face like spring blossoms. After her hard ride, a faint sheen of sweat glistened on her brow, and her cheeks, set off by her crimson dress, seemed even more radiant. She watched the twin eagles for a moment, then glanced at Yelü Qi and the others. When her eyes swept over Yang Guo’s face, seeing him in Mongol attire, his masked features so bizarre, her fine brows drew together slightly, her expression one of distinct disdain.

Yang Guo had never gotten along with her since childhood. Seeing that she still despised him now at this reunion, his self-loathing and wounded pride only intensified. You look down on me, he thought. Do I need you to look up to me? Your father is a great hero of the age. Your mother is the chief of the Beggars’ Guild. Your grandfather is a grandmaster of martial arts. Every martial artist under heaven respects your Guo family. But what of my parents? My mother was a country woman. I have never even seen my father, and he died under mysterious circumstances… Heng. Of course I cannot compare with you. I was born to suffer, born to be insulted. If you insult me too, that is just one more person who looks down on me. Does this old man care? He stood to one side, nursing his secret grief, feeling that no one in the world valued him, that living was utterly meaningless. Only his master, Xiaolongnü, had ever been truly devoted to him, and now where had she gone? Would he ever, in this life, see her again?

While he was lost in sorrow, more hoofbeats sounded. Two more horses arrived, one green, one yellow, both fine breeds, but next to Guo Fu’s red horse they paled to insignificance. Each horse carried a young man in yellow robes.

Guo Fu called out, “Brothers Wu, we meet this evil woman again!” The riders were Wu Dunru⁶⁰ and Wu Xiuwen.⁶¹ The moment they saw Li Mochou, the great enemy who had killed their mother, a face they had not forgotten for a single day in all these years, they leapt from their horses, drew their longswords, and attacked from left and right. Guo Fu cried, “I will join too!” She drew her treasured sword from beside her saddle, dismounted, and rushed forward to help.

Li Mochou saw her enemies multiplying, yet all of them so young. The two young men attacked with savage desperation, their eyes blazing, their sword techniques pure and orthodox, clearly also disciples of a distinguished school. Then the beautiful girl in red joined the assault. Her first thrust made the sword tip tremble faintly, dazzling to the eye. The diagonal stab seemed straightforward but concealed a deeply cunning follow-up. Though her power was shallow, her sword technique was exquisitely profound. Li Mochou’s heart chilled. “Are you Miss Guo of Peach Blossom Island?” she called.

Guo Fu laughed. “So you recognise me.” She unleashed two rapid thrusts, shua shua, both aimed at the vital points between chest and abdomen. Li Mochou raised her whisk to block. What an arrogant little girl, she thought. With your meagre skills, you dare show me disrespect? If not for fear of your parents, I would have finished off ten of you by now. She reversed her whisk, intending to seize the girl’s sword, when suddenly the wind whistled at both her flanks. Wu Dunru and Wu Xiuwen’s longswords thrust in simultaneously. The two brothers and Guo Fu had all been personally taught by Guo Jing. The three had trained together day and night on Peach Blossom Island, practising the same sword techniques. Their three blades coordinated with seamless precision, one advancing as another retreated, one rising as another fell. Though it was not a formal formation, with the three swords working in concert, each covering the others, their combined power was far from negligible.

The three fighters and two eagles surrounded Li Mochou in the centre of a whirling melee. In terms of their true skill, given enough time, Li Mochou would eventually find an opening to wound one of them, and the other two would then be unable to defend themselves. But she saw that the enemy had numbers on their side. If they all rushed her at once, she would be hard-pressed. And if she provoked Guo Jing and his wife into joining the fight, she would certainly come out the worse. She swept her whisk back and laughed. “Little children, behold the Scarlet Serpent Fairy’s monkey-taming technique!” She launched six rapid attacks, hu hu hu, each aimed at a vital point, forcing Guo Fu and the Wu brothers into frantic leaps and dodges that truly made them look somewhat like monkeys. Li Mochou balanced on her left foot and, with a silvery laugh, spun in a complete circle. “Lingbo,” she called, “let us go!” Master and disciple fled toward the northwest.

Guo Fu shouted, “She fears us! After her!” Sword raised, she gave chase. The Wu brothers deployed their lightness skill and followed. Li Mochou swept her whisk behind her with casual grace, her feet raising not a speck of dust as she drifted away with the lightness of a stroll. Hong Lingbo, however, sprinted at full speed. Guo Fu and the Wu brothers used every ounce of their strength, yet the distance between them and the master-disciple pair only grew. Only the two great eagles, faster than Li Mochou, continued to dive and strike. Wu Dunru, seeing that revenge was hopeless today, whistled to call the eagles back.

Yelü Qi and the others, fearing the three might come to harm, had followed to provide support. Seeing Guo Fu and the others returning, they stepped forward to exchange greetings. They were all young at heart, and within a few words, they were getting along famously. Yelü Qi suddenly remembered and called out, “Where is Brother Yang?”

Wanyan Ping said, “He left on his own. I asked him where he was going, and he ignored me.” She lowered her head.

Yelü Qi ran up a small hill and scanned in all directions. He saw the green-robed young woman and Lu Wushuang walking side by side in the distance, already far away, but of Yang Guo, there was not the slightest trace. Yelü Qi felt a bewildering sense of loss. He had met Yang Guo for the first time today and had fought alongside him against a common enemy. Though their time together had been brief, they had faced death together several times, their lives hanging by a thread, coordinating attacks, covering each other, rescuing one another. This was a bond forged in battle. To see him leave so abruptly, without a word of farewell, felt like losing a close friend of many years.

Yang Guo, seeing the Wu brothers arrive and join Guo Fu in attacking Li Mochou, the three of them so close and coordinated, their sword techniques so exquisite, driving Li Mochou away in just a few moves, had misunderstood the situation. He did not know that Li Mochou had retreated only out of fear of Guo Jing and his wife. He assumed the three’s sword techniques contained some hidden, overwhelmingly powerful neili that had forced her to flee. Years ago, when Guo Jing had escorted him to Mount Zhongnan⁶² to study, Guo Jing had displayed awesome martial prowess, defeating countless Quanzhen Daoists. The loftiness of that skill had left a deep imprint on Yang Guo’s young mind. He believed that disciples trained by Guo Jing would naturally possess skill ten times greater than his own. With this preconception fixed in his mind, even when Guo Fu and the others performed an ordinary sword move, he assumed it must contain profound hidden depths. The more he watched, the more indignant he became. He remembered how, as a child on Peach Blossom Island, the Wu brothers had beaten him twice while Guo Fu stood by shouting, “Good! Hit him harder!” He remembered how Huang Rong had deliberately refused to teach him martial arts. Guo Jing’s martial arts were so magnificent, yet he had not been willing to pass them on, instead sending Yang Guo to the Chongyang Palace to suffer under a pack of villainous Daoists. A bellyful of resentment surged to his chest.

What Yang Guo did not know was that after Guo Jing had sent him to Mount Zhongnan to study, he had often worried about him in his heart. He would bring up the subject with Huang Rong, wondering how Yang Guo’s martial progress was coming along. On Peach Blossom Island, with time stretching long and idle, he frequently felt the urge to accompany Huang Rong to Mount Zhongnan to visit Yang Guo. But Huang Rong could never forget how Yang Guo’s father, Yang Kang,⁶³ had used poison to murder the Five Freaks of Jiangnan,⁶⁴ causing Guo Jing to regard her and her father as enemies. She also saw that Yang Guo was cunning and restless by nature, and she did not wish to see much of him. “Brother Jing,” she would say, “if we go to the Quanzhen Sect to see Yang Guo, I fear those old Daoists will take it the wrong way, thinking we suspect them of not teaching seriously and want to inspect their work ourselves.” Guo Jing shook his head. “Daoist Ma, Daoist Qiu, Daoist Wang, they have always treated me with the greatest warmth. They would never take it the wrong way.” Huang Rong said, “The senior generation certainly wouldn’t. But the last time you single-handedly defeated over ten of their Big Dipper Formations, the Quanzhen Sect lost enormous face. Among the third-generation disciples and below, not everyone will be free of resentment, surely?” Guo Jing pondered this carefully and felt his wife’s words were very reasonable. If he saw Yang Guo, he could not avoid testing his martial arts, and upon testing, he feared someone in the Chongyang Palace might truly take offence. After that, the matter was never raised again. Yang Guo, though he knew Guo Jing had treated him decently, had no idea of these sentiments.

Yang Guo also saw that Wanyan Ping, Lu Wushuang, the green-robed young woman, and Yelü Yan were all looking at him with strange expressions. He thought, Li Mochou slandered my Gugu with filthy words, and all of you believed her. You look down on me, so be it. But how dare you slight my Gugu? My face is ugly right now because I am furious at the Wu brothers and Guo Fu, furious at Uncle Guo and Aunt Guo. And you all think it is because I have done something shameful with my Gugu and feel guilty? Suddenly he broke into a sprint, not following any road, just charging wildly through the wilderness. His mind was in an abnormal state, he felt that the entire world was against him. He did not realise that, wearing a human-skin mask, even if his face had been full of jealousy and resentment, how could Wanyan Ping and the others have seen it? His features were strange. Naturally people found it odd. Li Mochou’s evil name filled the jianghu, she was a common enemy of all. Who would believe anything she said?

He had originally been travelling from northwest to southeast. Now, wanting to put as much distance as possible between himself and these people, he turned back toward the northwest. His mind was in chaos. He loathed the world of men. He tore off his mask and wandered aimlessly through the wild mountains and barren ridges. When hungry, he picked wild fruits and greens to fill his stomach. The further he went, the more he wandered. In less than a month, he had grown haggard and gaunt, his clothes in tatters. He came to a region of towering peaks. He did not know this was Mount Hua⁶⁵. “the most precipitous of the Five Sacred Mountains under heaven.” He only saw that the mountain paths were steep and treacherous, and in his bitterness he resolved to climb to the highest peak.

His lightness skill was high, but Mount Hua was the most dangerous of all mountains, he could not simply ascend at will. By the time he had climbed halfway, the weather had turned abruptly cold. Leaden clouds pressed low, the north wind grew fierce, and then flakes of snow began drifting down from the sky. He wanted to torment himself as much as possible and did not seek shelter from the snow. The heavier the blizzard, the more he sought out the sheerest cliffs and most perilous precipices. By evening, the snow was falling harder than ever. The footing was treacherous, the path nearly impossible to discern. One misstep and he would plunge into a bottomless abyss, smashed to pieces. He did not care. Since Gugu had abandoned him, his life was not worth a copper coin. Life and death meant nothing to him. He continued upward, head held high.

After walking a while longer, he suddenly heard an extremely faint chi chi sound from behind, as though some wild animal were moving through the snow. Yang Guo spun around. A human silhouette flickered behind him and vanished into a valley.

Yang Guo was badly startled. He rushed over and peered into the valley. A person hung suspended in mid-air, hooked onto the rock face by three fingers alone. Yang Guo saw that this man supported his entire body with the strength of three fingers, poised above a bottomless chasm, his martial skill had truly reached an inconceivable level. Yang Guo bowed with the utmost respect and said, “Venerable Senior, please come up!”

The man let out a great roaring laugh that shook the valley walls. With a press of his fingers, he vaulted up from the cliffside. Then suddenly he barked in a fierce voice, “Are you an accomplice of the Five Ugly Men of Sichuan⁶⁶ or not? In the midst of a howling blizzard, in the dead of night, what are you doing skulking about here?”

Yang Guo, scolded so groundlessly, thought, In the midst of a howling blizzard, in the dead of night, what am I doing skulking about here? The question struck a nerve, and suddenly he burst into loud sobs. He thought of the misfortunes of his entire life, the contempt the world had always shown him, and how his most beloved Gugu, for no reason he could fathom, had blamed him and severed all ties, leaving him, most likely never to see her again in this life. He wept until the heavens themselves seemed steeped in sorrow. All the grievances, all the humiliations of his life, came flooding forth.

The man, seeing him suddenly burst into tears, was momentarily taken aback. The more Yang Guo wept, the more heartbroken he became, and the stranger the man found it. When he saw that the weeping showed no sign of stopping, the man abruptly threw back his head and let out a long, ringing laugh. The sounds of weeping and laughter collided and reverberated through the valley, shaking great chunks of snow loose from the mountainside.

Hearing the man laugh, Yang Guo’s tears stopped instantly. “What are you laughing at?” he demanded angrily.

The man laughed. “What are you crying about?”

Yang Guo was about to answer with harsh words, but then he remembered this man’s unfathomable martial prowess and immediately suppressed his anger. He bowed deeply and said, “This humble one is Yang Guo. I pay my respects to Senior.”

The man held a bamboo staff. He tapped it lightly against Yang Guo’s arm, and before Yang Guo felt any great force, his body was sent flying backward. By all rights, this throw should have left him sprawled on the ground, unable to rise. But Yang Guo had trained in the inverted internal skill of circulating energy while standing on his head. In mid-air, he rode the momentum into a somersault and landed squarely on his feet.

Both men were caught off guard. At Yang Guo’s current level of martial arts, for anyone to throw him into a somersault with a single move, even Li Mochou or Qiu Chuji could never manage it. And the man, seeing that after a backward somersault the youth could still stand firm, could not help looking at him with new eyes. “What were you crying about?” he asked again.

Yang Guo studied him. He was an old man with a white beard and white hair, his clothing tattered and torn, he seemed to be a beggar. Though it was night, the white snow on the ground reflected enough light to show his face glowing ruddy and full of vitality. Yang Guo felt a surge of reverence. “I am a man of bitter fate,” he answered. “Living in this world is truly superfluous. Better to die and be done with it.”

The old beggar heard the sour grief in his words, the bellyful of resentment, and nodded. “Who has bullied you? Tell your old grandpa all about it.”

Yang Guo said, “My father was murdered, but I do not know who killed him. Then my mother died of illness. In this world, no one pities me, no one cherishes me.”

The old beggar made an mm sound. “That is truly pitiable. Who is your martial arts master?”

Yang Guo thought, Aunt Guo is my master in name, but she never taught me a single iota of martial arts. The stinking Daoists of Quanzhen, just thinking of them makes me furious. Ouyang Feng⁶⁷ is my godfather, not my master. Gugu taught me my martial arts, but she said she wants to be my wife, if I say she is my master, she will be angry. Patriarch Wang Chongyang and Granny Lin taught me in the stone chamber, but how can I call them my masters? I have many masters, yet not one I can name. The old beggar’s question had touched a raw nerve, and suddenly Yang Guo burst into loud sobs again. “I have no master! I have no master!” he cried.

The old beggar said, “All right, all right. If you won’t say, then forget it.”

Yang Guo wept, “It’s not that I won’t say, it’s that I have none.”

The old beggar said, “None is none. Is that worth crying over? Do you know the Five Ugly Men of Sichuan?”

Yang Guo said, “I do not.”

The old beggar said, “When I saw you walking alone in the night, I thought you were an accomplice of the Five Ugly Men of Sichuan. Since you are not, that is very good.”

This man was none other than the Nine-Fingered Divine Beggar, Hong Qigong.⁶⁸ After passing the position of Beggars’ Guild chief to Huang Rong, he had wandered alone, east and west, searching out the world’s rarest delicacies. Guangdong’s climate was warm, and its treasury of exotic recipes the richest. After arriving in Lingnan,⁶⁹ he had found his paradise and had not returned north of the Central Plains for over ten years. In the land of the Hundred Yue, they made soup of venomous snakes, stewed old cats in double-boilers, served spotted fish that resembled mice and giant prawns called dragons, braised fat oysters with aged ginger, steamed water beetles with rice-worm larvae, sourced shark fin from the Xisha Islands and conch named for the east wind, roasted suckling pig until the skin crackled, and simmered masked palm civets until the meat glowed red. To Hong Qigong, it was like ascending to the realm of the immortals, joy beyond measure.

Whenever he chanced upon an injustice, he would secretly aid the distressed and destroy the wicked. At his current level of skill, no one ever discovered his comings and goings. Sometimes he would eavesdrop on Beggars’ Guild disciples’ conversations and learn that under Huang Rong and Lu Youjiao’s⁷⁰ leadership, the guild was at peace, internally, the conflict between the Dirty Clothes and Clean Clothes factions⁷¹ had been resolved. Externally, the threats of the Jin remnants and the Iron Palm Gang⁷² had been eliminated. With nothing to tie him down, the old man spent his days simply opening his mouth wide to devour and opening his throat to swallow.

That year, the Second Ugly Man of the Five Ugly Men of Sichuan had gone on a killing spree in Guangdong, murdering many innocent people. Hong Qigong, who hated evil as fiercely as he hated a personal enemy, had originally planned to dispose of him casually. But he realised that killing one man was easy, finding the remaining four would be hard. So he had secretly followed, waiting for all five to gather so he could wipe them out in one stroke. He had never imagined that this pursuit would lead him from the south to the north, across a thousand li, all the way up Mount Hua. Now four of the five had assembled, with only the First Ugly Man still to arrive, and here, in the snowy night, he had encountered Yang Guo.

Hong Qigong said, “Let us set that aside for now. I can see your belly is hungry too. We will talk more after we have eaten.” He brushed aside the snow, gathered some dry branches and dead twigs, and built a fire. Yang Guo helped him collect kindling. “What are we cooking?” he asked.

Hong Qigong said, “Centipedes!”

Yang Guo assumed he was joking and only smiled faintly, asking nothing further. Hong Qigong laughed. “I have laboured so hard, chasing the Five Ugly Men of Sichuan all the way from Lingnan to Mount Hua. If I do not find a few exotic flavours to eat, how can I face myself?” He patted his belly as he spoke. Yang Guo noticed that although the old man’s entire frame was lean and hard, this great belly of his was plump and somewhat cumbersome. Hong Qigong continued, “The northern face of Mount Hua is the coldest, most yin⁷³ place under heaven. The centipedes it produces are the plumpest and most tender. In Guangdong, the weather is hot and everything grows fast, the pork is too fatty, the greens too stringy, and the centipede meat is coarse.” Yang Guo, hearing him speak with such earnestness, as if this were no joke, was thoroughly perplexed.

Hong Qigong placed four stones around the fire, then took a small iron pot from his back and set it on the stones. He scooped up two handfuls of snow and dropped them into the pot. “Come with me to gather centipedes,” he said. In a few bounds, he had leapt onto a cliff face twenty feet high. Yang Guo saw how steep the cliff was and did not dare jump up. Hong Qigong called, “Useless boy, get up here!” What Yang Guo hated most was being looked down upon. Hearing these words, he clenched his teeth, summoned his energy, and leapt straight up. What is there to fear? he thought. If I fall and die, I fall and die. With his courage thus stoked, his lightness skill flowed more smoothly than ever. He stayed close behind Hong Qigong, and even on the most treacherous, slippery sections, he managed to scramble up.

In the time it took to drink a cup of tea, the two had scaled a remote peak untouched by human feet. Seeing the boy’s daring and lightness skill, Hong Qigong felt a surge of fondness. With his breadth of experience, he could not identify the origins of this youth’s martial arts. He wanted to question him, but his mind was on fine food. He walked to a large boulder, scooped away the earth around it, and soon uncovered a dead rooster. Yang Guo was astonished. “Yi? How is there a big rooster here?” Then he understood. “Ah, you hid it here, Senior.”

Hong Qigong smiled faintly and lifted the rooster. In the reflected light of the snow, Yang Guo saw clearly: the rooster’s body was covered with over a hundred enormous centipedes, each seven or eight inches long, banded in red and black with brilliant patterns, all of them still squirming. Yang Guo had roamed the jianghu since childhood and was not normally afraid of venomous creatures, but seeing so many giant centipedes at once, he could not suppress a shudder. Hong Qigong was extremely pleased with himself. “Centipedes and chickens are natural enemies,” he said. “Yesterday I buried a dead rooster here, and sure enough, it drew every centipede for miles around.” He took out a coarse cloth bundle, wrapped up the chicken and centipedes together, and slid down the peak in high spirits.

Yang Guo followed, his heart crawling. Is he really going to eat centipedes? Looking at his expression, he does not seem to be trying to frighten me. By now the pot of snow water was boiling furiously. Hong Qigong opened his bundle, grasped the centipedes by their tails, and tossed them one by one into the pot. The centipedes struggled briefly, then were all scalded to death. Hong Qigong said, “When centipedes die, they expel every drop of their venom and urine. This pot of snow water is lethally poisonous.” Yang Guo poured the toxic water into the deep valley.

Hong Qigong took out a small knife, sliced off each centipede’s head and tail, and with a light pinch, the shell came away in his hand, revealing the flesh beneath, snow-white and translucent, like prawn meat, remarkably beautiful. Yang Guo thought, Prepared like this, perhaps it really is edible after all. Hong Qigong boiled two more pots of snow water and rinsed the centipede meat again, removing every last trace of venom. Then he brought out seven or eight iron boxes of various sizes from his pack, filled with oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, and the like. He heated the oil, tossed in the centipede meat, and fried it. Instantly, a rich fragrance rushed into the nostrils. Yang Guo watched him swallow great mouthfuls of drool, his greedy expression fully revealed, and could not help feeling both astonished and amused.

When the centipedes were fried to a pale gold, Hong Qigong added his seasonings and mixed everything together. He reached into the pot, plucked out one centipede, and put it in his mouth. He chewed lightly a few times, his eyes half-closed, and let out a long sigh. In all the world, he felt, there was no pleasure greater than this. He set down the wine gourd he carried on his back and said, “When eating centipedes, do not drink wine, otherwise the tongue goes numb and you waste the flavour.” He ate over ten in one breath, then turned to Yang Guo. “Eat! What are you being polite for?”

Yang Guo shook his head. “I won’t eat.”

Hong Qigong paused, then burst into loud laughter. “True enough. I have seen many heroes in my time, men who would not flinch at execution or bloodshed, but not one who dared eat a centipede with this old beggar. Heh heh. You, boy, are just a coward after all.”

Stung by the taunt, Yang Guo thought, I will close my eyes, swallow without chewing, and get a few down. I won’t let him look down on me. He used two thin twigs as chopsticks and fished out a fried centipede from the pot. Hong Qigong had already guessed his intention. “If you close your eyes and swallow a dozen without chewing,” he said, “that is not heroism, that is shameless cheating.”

Yang Guo said, “Eating poisonous insects counts as heroism?”

Hong Qigong said, “The world is full of men who boast and call themselves heroes, but you would be hard-pressed to find a single one who dares eat a centipede.”

Yang Guo thought, Apart from death, nothing truly matters. He put the centipede in his mouth and chewed. The moment his teeth closed on it, his mouth filled with an exquisite savour, crisp and fragrant, with a sweet, rich depth. In all his life, he had never tasted anything so extraordinary. He chewed a few more times, gulped it down, and reached for a second one. “Wonderful! Wonderful!” he exclaimed.

Seeing him eat with such relish, Hong Qigong was overjoyed, this boy was a kindred spirit. The two competed greedily and soon polished off every one of the hundred-plus giant centipedes. Hong Qigong ran his tongue around his lips to catch every last drop of juice, wishing he had another hundred centipedes to fill his belly. Yang Guo said, “I will bury the rooster again and lure more centipedes.”

Hong Qigong said, “It won’t work. First, the rooster’s potency is spent. Second, there are no more fat centipedes left nearby.” Suddenly he stretched, yawned, and toppled backward onto the snow. “I have been chasing those villains for five days and five nights without sleep. Now, having eaten such a fine meal, I intend to sleep soundly for three days. Even if the sky falls, do not wake me. Keep watch, and do not let any wild beast bite off half my head while I am unaware.” Yang Guo laughed. “As you command.” Hong Qigong closed his eyes and was soon fast asleep.

Yang Guo thought, This senior is truly an eccentric. Can he really sleep for three days? Real or not, I have nowhere to go anyway. I may as well wait three days for him. The Mount Hua centipedes were the coldest creatures under heaven. After eating them, Yang Guo felt a ball of coolness in his belly, just like when he had slept on the Cold Jade Bed.⁷⁴ He found a boulder to sit on and circulated his neili for a long while, until his entire body felt perfectly at ease. The goose-feather snow continued to fall without pause. Hong Qigong’s head and body were soon covered in a layer of white, like a blanket of cotton. The human body naturally radiates heat, and snowflakes melt on contact, how could they accumulate on his face? Yang Guo was baffled at first, but then a thought struck him and he understood. Ah, when he sleeps, he is circulating a divine internal art, drawing all his body’s heat inward. A living man, asleep, yet as cold as a corpse. neili of this depth, truly awe-inspiring, truly enviable. Gugu made me sleep on the Cold Jade Bed precisely in the hope that I would one day develop such profound internal power. Ah, the Cold Jade Bed, the Cold Jade Bed!

Dawn was approaching. Hong Qigong was now buried in a mound of snow, with only a raised shape on the ground to show a human form beneath. Yang Guo felt no fatigue. All around him was darkness and silence. Suddenly, from the northeastern side of the mountain, he heard the crunching of footsteps in the snow. He focused his gaze and saw five black silhouettes racing toward him, their movements swift, the light of blades glinting on their backs. Yang Guo’s heart stirred. Most likely these are the Five Ugly Men of Sichuan the old senior mentioned. He quickly concealed himself behind a large boulder.

Before long, the five men had reached the boulder. One of them gave a startled cry: “The old beggar’s wine gourd!” Another said in a trembling voice, “He… he is on Mount Hua?” Alarm showed on all five faces. They huddled together and conferred in whispers. Then, suddenly, all five scattered at once and bolted down the mountain. The path on the peak was narrow. One man had run only a few steps when his foot came down on Hong Qigong’s body. Feeling the softness beneath his foot, he let out an Ah! of shock. The other four stopped and gathered around. They brushed aside the snow and saw Hong Qigong lying on the ground, seemingly long dead. The five were overjoyed. They reached out to feel his breath, there was none. His body was icy cold. The five cheered and danced with wild abandon, more delighted than if they had discovered a priceless treasure.

One of them said, “This old beggar followed us the whole way, making our lives utter misery. So he died here after all.” Another said, “Hong Qigong, that old scoundrel, had formidable martial arts. How could he just die like this?” A third said, “No matter how good your martial arts, can you escape death? Think about it, how old is the old scoundrel?” Another said, “He’s not that old. With his profound neili, he shouldn’t have died so soon.” The fifth said, “Heaven be praised that King Yama⁷⁵ has seized him. Otherwise, he would have been hard to deal with.” The first speaker said, “Come, let us all hack the old scoundrel a few times to vent our anger! Let the Nine-Fingered Divine Beggar Hong Qigong have been a hero without equal, in the end, he has been chopped into seventeen or twenty-eight pieces by the Five Heroes of Sichuan.”

Yang Guo thought, So this senior is Hong Qigong. No wonder his martial arts are so extraordinary. He had heard Xiaolongnü speak in passing of Hong Qigong’s name and his ultimate techniques such as the Eighteen Palms of Dragon Subduing,⁷⁶ but even Lin Chaoying had not known much about Hong Qigong’s appearance or temperament, so Xiaolongnü naturally knew even less. Yang Guo held Jade Bee Needles ready in his hand, thinking that he could not fight all five at once. He would have to wait for an opportunity to launch his hidden weapons secretly, if he could wound two or three, the rest would be manageable. But then he heard the man say they would hack Hong Qigong to vent their anger. Fearing they would harm him, he did not wait to launch his hidden weapons. With a great roar, he sprang out from behind the boulder. He had no weapon, so he snatched up two dead branches and launched a flurry of swift moves, stabbing at all five men simultaneously. These five strikes were extraordinarily fast, but unfortunately, his battle cry had given the Five Ugly Men warning, otherwise, one or two of them would certainly have been hit. Even so, the five were thrown into considerable disarray, scrambling and dodging just to evade.

The five turned around. Seeing only a ragged youth holding two dead branches, their terror evaporated by eight or nine parts. The First Ugly Man barked, “Stinking brat! Are you a little beggar from the Beggars’ Guild? Your old beggar ancestor has gone to the Western Paradise! Kneel and kowtow to your five grandfathers!”

Yang Guo, having observed the evasive techniques the five had just used, had already roughly gauged the depth of their martial arts. All five wielded thick-backed broadswords. They had clearly studied under the same master. Their skill levels varied, but their styles were identical. In single combat, Yang Guo was confident he could beat any of them, but if all five attacked together, he could not hold them off. Hearing the First Ugly Man order him to kowtow, he said, “Yes, yes. This humble one will kowtow to the five masters.” He stepped forward and prostrated himself. This kneeling bow, the move “Forward Respect, Backward Crouch”⁷⁷, was the very technique Grandma Sun⁷⁸ had once used against the Quanzhen Daoist Zhang Zhiguang,⁷⁹ when she had suddenly hurled a porcelain bottle and nearly blinded him. Now, following “Forward Respect, Backward Crouch,” Yang Guo flowed into “Pushing Open the Window to Gaze at the Moon,”⁸⁰ sweeping both dead branches outward simultaneously, left and right.

On his left was the Fifth Ugly Man, on his right the Third. This move “Pushing Open the Window to Gaze at the Moon” was extremely vicious. The Third Ugly Man, whose skill was higher, hastily raised his blade to block, the dead branch struck his blade’s spine, jarring his hand until it went numb, the broadsword nearly flying from his grip. But the Fifth Ugly Man was struck squarely across the shin. With a kala, though the bone did not break, the pain was so intense he could not stand. The remaining four flew into a rage. Four blades came hacking down, hu hu hu hu. Yang Guo’s body technique was agile. He dodged east and west, and the four could not touch him for the moment. After a while, the Fifth Ugly Man hobbled back into the fray, mad with fury, fighting like a man possessed.

Yang Guo’s lightness skill far exceeded all five of theirs. If he had wanted to flee, it would not have been difficult. But he was worried about Hong Qigong, if he moved even a step away, the five would surely strike a fatal blow. Yet he could not defeat all five together, and in moments he was beset by danger after danger. He bent down and scooped up Hong Qigong in his arms, then wielded the dead branch in his right hand to force a path, sprinting over a hundred feet away. The Five Ugly Men of Sichuan came charging after.

Yang Guo felt that Hong Qigong’s body in his arms was ice-cold. A dark dread crept over him. No matter how deeply he sleeps, he thought, he cannot possibly be impossible to wake. Could he really be dead? He called, “Senior! Senior!” Hong Qigong did not stir in the slightest, exactly like a corpse, except that he was not rigid. Yang Guo reached to feel his chest. The heart seemed to beat faintly, but there was no breath at all.

This brief pause allowed the First Ugly Man to catch up. He had seen that Yang Guo’s martial arts were formidable and, wary of his skill, did not dare close in alone. He waited until the Second and Fourth Ugly Men caught up, by then Yang Guo had already sprinted another well over a hundred feet away. The Five Ugly Men of Sichuan watched him climb toward the summit. There was only one path up that peak, so they thought, Can you fly into the sky? They were in no particular hurry and advanced step by step.

The mountain path grew more treacherous the higher they went. Yang Guo rounded a bend and saw that ahead the path narrowed to the extreme, barely wide enough for one person to pass, and beside it, a bottomless abyss wreathed in cloud and mist, its depths invisible. He thought, I will make my stand here. He quickened his pace through the narrow passage, laid Hong Qigong beside a great boulder, and immediately turned back. The First Ugly Man had already reached the mouth of the narrow path. Yang Guo charged straight at him, shouting, “Ugly freak! Do you dare?”

The First Ugly Man truly feared that if Yang Guo collided with him, they would both tumble into the abyss. He hastily retreated. Yang Guo stood at the passage entrance. By now the morning sun had risen, and the snow had stopped. As far as the eye could see, the mountain was draped in jade and crystal, the sunlight glittering on the white snow with a beauty beyond compare.

Yang Guo pressed the human-skin mask onto his face. “Who is uglier,” he demanded, “you or me?” The features of the Five Ugly Men of Sichuan were certainly unsightly, but not bizarre beyond belief, the character “ugly” in their name referred more to their conduct. Now, seeing Yang Guo sweep his hands across his face and suddenly transform into a different appearance, sallow skin, expressionless features, like a corpse that had crawled out of a grave, the five stared at one another in utter horror.

Yang Guo slowly retreated to the narrowest point of the passage and assumed the “Kui Xing Kicking the Dipper” stance⁸¹, left foot planted, right foot kicking skyward, his body swaying gently in the dawn breeze. In that instant, a heroic spirit swelled in his chest. Even if a thousand troops and ten thousand horses charge at me, he thought, I will hold this pass alone.

The Five Ugly Men muttered among themselves: “Where did the Beggars’ Guild dig up such a strange youth?” Seeing how perilous the terrain was, they dared not charge the narrow passage. They huddled together to discuss: “We will hold this position. Take turns going down the mountain to fetch food. Within two days, we will have him starved and exhausted.” The four formed a line at the mouth of the pass while the Second Ugly Man went down the mountain to bring provisions.

And so the standoff began. Yang Guo dared not advance, and the four Ugly Men dared not approach.

: . A traditional Chinese unit of length equal to ten chi, approximately 3.33 metres or 10.9 feet.

耶律齐 – Yēlǜ Qí. His name meaning “equal” or “together”. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩
臂儒穴 – Bìrú Xué. Literally arm scholar. Acupoint on the arm used in combat point-striking; the name is a fictionalised form found in martial arts fiction. See Wikipedia. ↩
巨骨穴 – Jùgǔ Xué. Literally great bone. Acupoint in the hollow of the shoulder on the large intestine meridian; striking it can numb the limb. See Wikipedia. ↩
耶律燕 – Yēlǜ Yàn. Her name meaning “swallow”, the bird. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩
完颜萍 – Wányán Píng. Her name meaning “duckweed”. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩
耶律楚材 – Yēlǜ Chǔcái. (1190–1244) Historical Khitan statesman who served as Grand Chancellor of the Mongol Empire. See Wikipedia. ↩
杨过 – Yáng Guò. His name meaning “fault or transgression”; his courtesy name Gaizhi means “to correct it”. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩
Gugu (姑姑) — Literally “paternal aunt,” but used here as a term of respectful address for a young woman of the older generation. Yang Guo uses this to address Xiaolongnü, his shifu. ↩
陆无双 – Lù Wúshuāng. Her name meaning “peerless” or “without equal”. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩
小龙女 – Xiǎolóngnǚ. Literally little dragon maiden. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩
里 – lǐ. Traditional Chinese unit of distance, approximately one-third of a mile or five hundred metres. ↩
Iron Palm (铁掌). Powerful palm technique associated with the Iron Palm Gang. Style emphasises hardening the palms through conditioning and striking with devastating force. ↩
Gentleman’s word, a swift horse’s whip (君子一言，快马一鞭). Chinese proverb equivalent to “a gentleman’s word is his bond,” implying that once spoken, a promise is as irreversible as a whip-crack from a galloping horse. ↩
耶律铸 – Yēlǜ Zhù. His name meaning “to cast or forge”. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩
Longju Fort (龙驹寨). Historical garrison town in present-day Shaanxi Province, situated on the strategic route between the Central Plains and the northwest. ↩
Gentleman’s revenge, ten years is not too late (君子报仇，十年未晚). Well-known Chinese proverb meaning that a patient person will wait as long as necessary to achieve just revenge. It emphasises the virtue of patience and long-term planning over rash action. ↩
Clouds Spanning the Qin Ridges (云横秦岭). Poetic blade technique name. Qin Ridges (Qinling Mountains) are a major mountain range dividing northern and southern China. Image evokes clouds stretching across a mountain horizon, mirroring the horizontal sweeping motion of the blade. ↩
曲池穴 – Qūchí Xué. Literally pool at the bend. Acupoint at the lateral end of the elbow crease on the large intestine meridian; striking it can numb the arm. See Wikipedia. ↩
Withered Vine Coiling the Tree (枯藤缠树). Grappling technique from the Iron Palm school. Name evokes the image of a dried vine wrapping tightly around a tree trunk, suggesting an inescapable grip. ↩
Lambent Jade Palm Skill (羊脂玉掌功). Playful, invented name Yang Guo uses to tease Wanyan Ping. “Lambent jade” (yangzhi yu) refers to the finest white jade, smooth and lustrous — a flirtatious contrast to the hard, brutal Iron Palm she actually practises. ↩
Hatred for a father’s killer cannot share the same sky (杀父之仇，不共戴天). Fundamental principle of Confucian filial piety. Phrase originates from the Book of Rites (Liji), meaning that one who has killed your father is an enemy with whom you cannot coexist under the same heaven. Revenge for a parent’s murder was considered the most sacred obligation a child could bear. ↩
江湖 – jiānghú. Literally rivers and lakes. Term refers to the jianghu: the subculture of wandering knights-errant, martial artists, and sect members who live outside mainstream society, governed by its own codes of honour, loyalty, and vengeance. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩
李莫愁 – Lǐ Mòchóu. Her name meaning “do not sorrow”. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩
丐帮 – Gàibāng. Largest martial arts organisation in the jianghu, continued from LOCH era. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩
大胜关 – Dàshèng Guān. Strategic pass between Henan and Hubei; site of Lu Manor and the Hero Assembly. ↩
古墓派 – Gǔmù Pài. Mysterious martial arts school founded by Lin Chaoying, located in the Ancient Tomb beneath Zhongnan Mountain. Known for techniques designed to counter Quanzhen martial arts. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩
商州 – Shāngzhōu. Historical prefecture in present-day southeastern Shaanxi Province, on the route from the Central Plains to the Han River valley. ↩
武关 – Wǔguān. One of the four great passes of the Qin region, in present-day Danfeng County, Shaanxi. ↩
洪凌波 – Hóng Língbō. Her name meaning “treading the waves”. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩
五毒秘传 – Wǔdú Mìchuán. Secret Manual of the Five Venoms, a handwritten compendium recording the preparation and antidotes for various poisons used by Li Mochou. ↩
Five-Pouch Disciple (五袋弟子). In the Beggars’ Guild hierarchy, disciples wear pouches indicating their rank. Five pouches denotes a mid-level disciple with significant experience and authority. ↩
赤练神掌 – Chìliàn Shénzhǎng. Li Mochou’s palm technique, infused with poison. Name links her palm strikes to her serpentine nickname, suggesting that her very touch is as deadly as a venomous snake’s bite. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩
Scarlet Serpent Fairy (赤练仙子). Li Mochou’s martial nickname. “Scarlet Serpent” (chilian) refers to a highly venomous snake, while “Fairy” (xianzi) reflects her beautiful appearance. Her enemies often call her the Scarlet Serpent Demon (Chilian Mo) instead. Name encapsulates the central duality of her character: devastating beauty masking lethal danger. ↩
Shi Bo (师伯). Elder martial aunt; a respectful term for one’s master’s senior sister. ↩
师姐 – shījiě. Female senior. Both apprenticed to the same shifu. Shī means teacher. Jiě means older sister. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩
三无三不手 – Sānwú Sānbù Shǒu. Literally three no’s and three doesn’ts. It refers to the three absolutes of this technique: No crevices it doesn’t penetrate, no place it doesn’t reach, and nothing it doesn’t do. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩
师妹 – shīmèi. Female junior. Both apprenticed to the same shifu. Shī means teacher. Mèi means younger sister. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩
Empty-City Stratagem (空城计). Famous episode from Romance of the Three Kingdoms where Zhuge Liang, with no troops to defend his city, opened the gates wide and sat calmly playing his zither on the wall, bluffing the enemy into thinking an ambush awaited. Term has become proverbial for bluffing when one has nothing to back it up. ↩
王重阳 – Wáng Chóngyáng. His name meaning “double yang”, the ninth day of the ninth lunar month. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩
林朝英 – Lín Cháoyīng. Her name meaning “facing the hero” or “morning hero”. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩
玉女剑法 – Yùnǚ Jiànfǎ. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩
至阳穴 – Zhìyáng Xué. Literally reaching yang. Acupoint on the back along the spine on the governing vessel meridian. See Wikipedia. ↩
中枢穴 – Zhōngshū Xué. Literally central pivot. Acupoint on the lower back along the spine on the governing vessel meridian. See Wikipedia. ↩
Quanzhen Sect (全真教). Major Daoist school founded by Wang Chongyang. In Jin Yong’s wuxia universe, it is one of the most powerful martial arts sects, based at the Chongyang Palace on Mount Zhongnan. Its seven senior disciples are known as the Seven Masters of Quanzhen. ↩
Liu Chuxuan (刘处玄). One of the Seven Masters of Quanzhen, a disciple of Wang Chongyang. ↩
郝大通 – Hǎo Dàtōng. His name meaning “great penetration”. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩
马钰 – Mǎ Yù. His name meaning “precious jade”. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩
丘处机 – Qiū Chǔjī. His name meaning “dwelling in opportunity”. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩
Chongyang Zhenren (重阳真人). “Chongyang the Realised One,” the Daoist honorific title of Wang Chongyang. Zhenren is a title for an enlightened Daoist master. ↩
School of Complete Falsehood (全假派). Pun by Li Mochou. Quanzhen (全真) means “Complete Truth,” while Quanjia (全假) means “Complete Falsehood.” She is mocking the Quanzhen Sect by suggesting they should be renamed. ↩
Fixing the Yang Needle (定阳针). Foundational move in Quanzhen swordplay. Name suggests steadying and fixing the yang energy, reflecting the Quanzhen Sect’s emphasis on internal cultivation alongside external technique. ↩
孙不二 – Sūn Bùèr. Her name meaning “not two”, signifying non-duality. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩
玉蜂针 – Yùfēng Zhēn. Fine needles coated with Jade Bee poison, a signature concealed weapon of the Ancient Tomb School. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩
时辰 – shíchén. Traditional Chinese unit of time equal to two hours. Day was divided into twelve shichen, each named after one of the Earthly Branches. ↩
郭靖 – Guō Jìng. His name meaning “tranquillity” or “pacification”. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩
桃花岛 – Táohuā Dǎo. Huang Yaoshi’s island stronghold, continued from LOCH era. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩
冰魄银针 – Bīngpò Yínzhēn. Li Mochou’s signature concealed weapon. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩
黄蓉 – Huáng Róng. Her name meaning “lotus” or “hibiscus”. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩
郭芙 – Guō Fú. Her name meaning “lotus”. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩
武敦儒 – Wǔ Dūnrú. His name meaning “earnest scholar”. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩
武修文 – Wǔ Xiūwén. His name meaning “cultivate literature”. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩
终南山 – Zhōngnán Shān. Sacred Daoist mountain housing both Quanzhen Order and Ancient Tomb School. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩
杨康 – Yáng Kāng. His name meaning “health” or “peace”. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩
Five Freaks of Jiangnan (江南五怪). Also known as the Seven Freaks of Jiangnan (before two deaths). Group of eccentric martial artists from the Jiangnan region who were Guo Jing’s first teachers. Yang Kang poisoned and killed five of them, framing Huang Yaoshi — an act that created a bitter rift between Guo Jing and Huang Rong. ↩
华山 – Huáshān. One of China’s Five Sacred Mountains, site of martial arts competitions. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩
Five Ugly Men of Sichuan (川边五丑). Five martial artists from the Sichuan border region, known for their villainy. “ugliness” in their name refers more to their evil conduct than their physical appearance. Hong Qigong has been tracking them to eliminate them all at once. ↩
欧阳锋 – Ōuyáng Fēng. His name meaning “blade” or “cutting edge”. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩
洪七公 – Hóng Qīgōng. Literally Hong the Seventh Lord; the numeral seven marks seniority among sworn brothers. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩
岭南 – Lǐngnán. Region south of the Five Ridges, encompassing present-day Guangdong and Guangxi. ↩
鲁有脚 – Lǔ Yǒujiǎo. His name meaning “having feet”. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩
Dirty Clothes and Clean Clothes Factions (污衣派/净衣派). Two internal factions within the Beggars’ Guild. Dirty Clothes faction insisted on maintaining traditional beggar customs including wearing filthy rags, while the Clean Clothes faction preferred to dress neatly despite being beggars. This ideological conflict was a major source of internal strife. ↩
铁掌帮 – Tiězhǎng Bāng. Martial arts organisation based at Iron Palm Peak, known for the Iron Palm technique. ↩
Yin (阴). In Chinese cosmology, yin is the dark, cold, feminine principle that complements yang. Mount Hua’s northern face, perpetually shaded from the sun, is described as the most yin place under heaven — extremely cold, which produces centipedes of exceptional quality. ↩
寒玉床 – Hán Yù Chuáng. Bed carved from rare deep-cold jade found by Lin Chaoying. Training on it greatly accelerates neili cultivation by forcing the practitioner to circulate qi constantly to resist the cold. ↩
King Yama (阎罗王). Judge and ruler of the underworld in Chinese Buddhist and folk mythology. Five Ugly Men invoke him here as the equivalent of Death itself. ↩
降龙十八掌 – Xiánglóng Shíbā Zhǎng. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩
Forward Respect, Backward Crouch (前恭后踞). Deceptive combat technique where the practitioner begins with a respectful bow (appearing to surrender or show deference) before suddenly launching an attack from the crouched position. Name reflects the contrast between the obsequious front and the predatory rear. ↩
Grandma Sun (孙婆婆). Elderly caretaker of the Ancient Tomb who rescued Yang Guo when he fled the Quanzhen Sect. She was killed by Hao Datong while protecting Yang Guo, and with her dying breath she entrusted him to Xiaolongnü’s care. ↩
Zhang Zhiguang (张志光)* — A Quanzhen Daoist whom Grandma Sun attacked using the “Forward Respect, Backward Crouch” technique. He was nearly blinded when she threw a porcelain bottle at him. ↩
Pushing Open the Window to Gaze at the Moon (推窗望月). Combat technique involving a sudden two-handed sweeping attack. Name evokes the image of flinging open window shutters to look at the moon, suggesting a wide, outward-expanding motion. ↩
Kui Xing Kicking the Dipper Stance (魁星踢斗势). Martial stance named after Kui Xing, the Daoist god of examinations and literature, who is often depicted standing on one leg with the other kicking upward toward the Big Dipper constellation. In martial arts, it is a one-legged stance with the other leg raised, combining balance, readiness, and dramatic presence. ↩

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