SWORDS FIGHTS ON MOUNT HUA (Book 3 of Legend Of The Condor Heroes)

Rushing River Rugged Shore Part 2

A few years had passed. An Iron Palm Clan brother happened to be a good friend of the warden where Yue Fei was held prisoner. He learned that after Yue Fei was executed, his belongings were confiscated by the government, among which was a book containing military tactics and strategies. He went to many places to inquire and indeed learned that the book was kept in the imperial palace. A fast horse carrying this piece of information was dispatched to the Iron Palm Peak. That very day Shangguan Jiannan led a group of his highly skilled pugilists to enter the palace in the middle of the night and without too much effort they succeeded in stealing the book away. That very night they delivered the book to his former superior, retired general Han Shizhong.

At that time Han Shizhong was already old; he lived in seclusion by the West Lake (Xihu) with his wife, Madame Liang Hongyu. As he saw Shangguan Jiannan bring over the Yue Fei's Legacy he remembered how the hero died of false accusations and the injustice had not been avenged, he drew his sword and chopped a table in front of him. Holding up his wrist he heaved a long sigh.

In memory of his old friend, Han Shizhong compiled Yue Fei's writings: poetry, essays, military strategies, into one volume and presented this volume to Shangguan Jiannan as a gift; with the hope that he would continue Yue Wumu's [another title of Yue Fei] aspiration of uniting the heroes of the Central Plains to drive away the invaders and restore their land [he2 shan1 – lit. river and mountain].

While Han Shizhong and Shangguan Jiannan were talking, they suddenly remembered: everywhere in this military strategy book Yue Fei always exhorted the people's loyalty and patriotism to dedicate themselves to the service of their country to match Yue Fei's life aspiration. This book contained a lesson in life attitude; in no way Yue Fei would write this book to accompany him to the grave. It must be because Qin Gui's tight guard that he was not able to smuggle it outside the prison. However, considering Yue Fei's extraordinary wisdom, he must have had some way to overcome this obstacle; only it was not clear to whom did he leave his final words. If his message came too late, and that person came to the palace to fetch the book, wouldn't he snatch empty air?

After discussing this matter further, Shangguan Jiannan drew a painting of the Iron Palm Mountain, with a piece of paper hidden in between the layers containing this message: 'Wumu's Legacy at the Iron Palm Mountain, middle finger peak, second knuckle'. Han Shizhong was afraid that person will not understand the message, so he added a poem written by Yue Fei in the old days. He thought the heir of this military strategy book must be either Yue Fei's child or younger brother or his former subordinate; so he must be familiar with this poem, therefore, he added some additional details to the painting. Finally Shangguan Jiannan re-entered the palace and left the painting behind, so that the heir could follow the trail to the Iron Palm Mountain.

Afterwards Shangguan Jiannan returned to the Iron Palm Mountain and assembled a group of patriots to discuss a military expedition to the north. Who would have thought that the government was too afraid of the Jins; not only did they not support this movement, they sent out imperial troops to surround and eventually crush the Iron Palm Clan. After all Iron Palm Clan was smaller and weaker than the army, hence the imperial army managed to break through their defense on the mountain. Shangguan Jiannan himself suffered a heavy injury and eventually died on the Iron Palm Peak.

Guo Jing flipped over the last page and sighed, "I did not think this Shangguan Bangzhu was actually a good man. Up to the point of his death he was still holding dear the Legacy's teachings. I thought he was of the same kind with this Qiu and his brethren; colluding with the Jins and selling our country for his personal gain. I used to despise him very much. If I knew this fact earlier, I would have bowed in front of his remains to show him my respect. I am surprised that the Iron Palm was such a heroic and patriotic Clan in the past, and today it turned into a gang of thieves. If Shangguan Bangzhu's spirit in the underworld knows, he must be very angry."

Meanwhile the sky was turning dark; the boatman cast his anchor nearby a village and went out to butcher the chicken for their dinner. Huang Rong was afraid he might put something into the meal, so with a pretense that she did not want his dirty dishes, she took Guo Jing along and went into the village to find a peasant house and prepare the food herself. The boatman was staring at them angrily, but because he pretended to be mute, he could not openly curse them and was forced to swallow his indignation. He saw Huang Rong make some hand signals, saying 'witticism like a bead of pearl, smart tooth like an ivory' [or something like that J]. He had no way of debating her, so all he could do was clench his teeth and wait until Jing and Rong two people went ashore; only then he went into the cabin and swore under his breath.

After dinner two people enjoyed the cool evening breeze underneath a tree in front of a peasant home. Guo Jing said, "When Shangguan Bangzhu ran to the Iron Palm Peak, why didn't the imperial army go up the Peak to capture him?"

"I don't know the answer either," Huang Rong said, "It is likely the middle finger peak is dangerously rugged, so the soldiers did not want to risk their lives climbing it. Or it could be that some highly skilled Clan members were defending the peak and the soldiers were unable to break through, so they simply declared victory and left." After a moment of silence Huang Rong continued, "I did not expect Qu Lingfeng, Martial Brother Qu had unintentionally rendered this great service."

Guo Jing just stared at her with a dumb look. Huang Rong explained, "This 'Wumu Legacy' was originally hidden in the cave behind the waterfall near the Cui Han Tang [Jade-Green Cold Hall], Shangguan Jiannan had stolen the book, he drew that painting, naturally he would put the painting on the original place where the book laid, wouldn't he?"

Guo Jing nodded, "That's true."

"After my Qu Shige [martial (older) brother] was expelled from the Peach Blossom Island, he longed for his school to take him back. He knew my father loves calligraphy, paintings and antiques; he also knew that the imperial palace naturally was the best place to find the world's rarest treasures. Therefore, he took a risk by entering the palace and robbed not a few of famous paintings, calligraphy, books ..."

"That's right, that's right," Guo Jing cut her off, "Your Qu Shige stole this painting together with others artworks, and stashed it away inside that secret chamber in the Ox Village. He meant to present them all to your father; unfortunately he was killed by a palace guard. And then when that old traitor Wanyan Honglie came, not only the Wumu Legacy was gone, the painting containing the directions to find it was also gone. Ay, if we knew this early on, we did not need to desperately risking our lives defending the cave; I wouldn't be injured by the Old Poison, and you did not need to worry for seven whole days and nights."

"That's not necessarily true," Huang Rong said, "If you did not treat your injury inside that secret room in the Ox Village, how could you have seen the painting? Also how could ..." Suddenly she recalled seeing Huazheng in the Ox Village, she could not help but feel depressed. Trying to change the subject she said, "I wonder how father is doing these past few days?" Looking up she saw the crescent moon on the horizon. "Very soon it will be Mid-autumn festival of the eight month. After the martial art contest at the Misty Rain Tavern of Jiaxing, are you going back to Mongolia?" she gently asked.

"No," Guo Jing replied, "I must kill the traitor Wanyan Honglie first, to avenge my father and Uncle Yang."

Staring at the moon Huang Rong asked again, "After you kill him, then what?"

"We still have many businesses to tend," Guo Jing said, "I want to treat Shifu's injury then I want to take Zhou Dage [Big Brother Zhou]to the Black Marsh to see Ying Gu. And there are my six Shifus, I want to go and visit them one by one at their homes. I also want to find my father's grave."

"And after you take care of all these business, must you go back to Mongolia?" Huang Rong asked.

Guo Jing could not say he must go, but he also could not say he would not go; in all honesty he did not know what would be the best thing to do.

All of a sudden Huang Rong laughed and said, "Silly me, why should I worry about all these things? As long as we are together, an hour of happiness must be enjoyed for a full hour. As we go through one day, we will have one less of these kind of happy days. Let us go back to the boat and play a joke on that fake mute boatman."

At the time the two returned to the boat, the boatman and his two helpers had actually fallen asleep on the stern. Guo Jing whispered on Huang Rong's ear, "Go ahead and sleep, I am going to watch over them."

Huang Rong said with a low voice, "I'll teach you some curse words in sign languages; tomorrow you can show them to him."

"Why don't you do it yourself?" Guo Jing asked.

Huang Rong chuckled lightly, "Those are vulgar language; a girl from an honorable family shouldn't say those kind of words."

"It turns out mute people can curse others too," Guo Jing said in his heart; but his mouth said, "Go and take a rest now; it won't be too late to curse him tomorrow." After recovering from her injury Huang Rong had not gotten her strength back. In all honesty she was tired, so she put her head down on Guo Jing's legs and slowly she fell asleep.

Initially Guo Jing was thinking of meditating to cultivate his internal energy, but he was afraid the boatman might be suspicious, so he decided to lie down on the cabin deck, silently reciting the theory of energy cultivation from the Nine Yin Manual, which Reverend Yideng translated from Sanskrit. Then he practiced according to the theory for about an hour and he felt his four limbs and all the bones in his body were full of energy. He was delighted. Suddenly he heard Huang Rong mumbled, "Jing Gege, don't marry the Mongolian Princess; I want to be your wife."

Guo Jing was startled, he did not know how to answer her; but then he heard Huang Rong said again, "No, no. I was wrong; I don't want anything. I know in your heart you love me very much, and that is enough for me."

"Rong'er, Rong'er," Guo Jing called in a low voice. But Huang Rong did not reply, her breathing was even, apparently she was sleeping. Turned out she was talking in her sleep. Guo Jing felt deep affection and pity toward her at the same time. He started blankly at Huang Rong's face illuminated by the moonlight. She was just starting to recover from her injury, her face was still pale and under the moonlight it looked like her face was translucent. Guo Jing stared at her for a long time. He saw her eyebrows wrinkle slightly and there were drops of tears in her eyes. Guo Jing said in his heart, "She must be dreaming of the challenges we are facing. All day she acted like she was carefree, laughing and joking, but in her heart she actually was grieving. Ay, it was I who caused her worries. I wish we did not meet at Zhangjiakou, then her life would be better. But what about me? Would I be willing to give her up?"