IRON BLOODED HEART (Book 1 of Legend Of The Condor Heroes)

Drawing The Bow To Shoot Condors Part 4

Caught in a desperate situation, the words of his Fourth Shifu came to mind, "In this world, there's nothing impossible to the men of good will." Since death stared at him from all sides, rather than remain in an untenable position, it was better to continue. He drew his dagger and dug two small holes, in which he slowly placed one foot and steadied himself, and then the other. He rose thus a few more inches. Then he continued to dig in the wall, making more hand and footholds, rising laboriously a few zhangs. Because of the difficulty of the task, his head started to spin and his limbs burned with exhaustion.

He stopped to clear his mind, holding closely to the wall, controlling his breathing. Then he wondered how many holes it would take before arriving at the summit. As strong as his dagger was, it would probably be able to dig ten more holes, and then it would break. Since he had made it this far, he could no longer go back. After a brief rest, he got ready to dig again; then he heard a burst of laughter coming from the summit of the cliff.

Not daring to lean backward to look, he remained, nose against the smooth wall of the cliff, wondering who this laugh came from. Then he saw a thick rope slip down and stop next to him. He heard the voice of the Taoist saying, "Tie the rope around your waist, I will pull you up."

Delighted, Guo Jing sheathed his dagger. Holding tightly with his left hand, he took the rope with his right hand and wrapped it around his waist two times and made two knots.

"Did you tie it firmly?" the Taoist shouted.

"It's done," Guo Jing said.

The Taoist seemed to not have heard. "Did you tie it?" He asked again.

"It's done," Guo Jing repeated, with out any response.

Some instants later, the Taoist laughed again and said. "Ah, I forgot...your breathing is not yet sufficiently powerful, your voice cannot carry as far as mine. If you tied it well, pull three times on the rope!"

Guo Jing obeyed and pulled three times. Suddenly, the rope grew taught; his body flew up toward the summit of the cliff. He knew that the Taoist was going to pull it, but not with such speed. In the blink of an eye, he landed again on his feet, right in front of the old man.

He knelt and got ready to kowtow, but the Taoist held his arm. "Three days ago, you kowtowed more than a hundred times, it is more than enough! You are a child with good character!"

On the summit of the cliff was flat ground covered with snow. The Taoist showed him two big round rocks that looked vaguely like stools, "Sit there."

"I will remain standing to serve you, Shifu," Guo Jing said.

"You don't belong to my school," the Taoist said, still smiling. "I am not your Master, and you are not my disciple. You may sit."

Guo Jing, perplexed, obeyed and sat down.

"Your six Shifus," the old man continued, "are well known in the martial arts realm. I don't know them personally, but I've always felt a lot of admiration for them. It would be more than enough for you to acquire the techniques of one of them to make yourself a name in the Jianghu. It is not due to a lack of effort on your part, yet, during the past ten years, you haven't progressed that much. Do you know why?"

"It is because I am too dumb. My Shifus have tried very hard to teach me the best they could, but it didn't help."

"It's not really because of you," the Taoist said. "It's, as the popular saying goes, 'If those that teach don't know how to teach, then those that try to learn wont learn anything'!"