The Return of the Condor Heroes

Chapter 4 – Under Quanzhen Sect, Part 1

Seeking a master in Mount Zhongnan.

After Guo Jing escaped from the Taoists, he headed swiftly for Chongyang Palace, when he suddenly heard the ringing of a bell; it was coming from Chongyang Palace. The sound was urgent; it was the alerting signal. Guo Jing turned his head to see what was happening, he saw sparks flying in the air coming from the large courtyard in the back. He thought, “Sure enough, today Quanzhen sect’s enemies have arrived, I’d better rush over there to help.”

He suddenly heard a crowd behind him rushing up, he then understood, “The Taoists must have mistaken him as a confederate of their enemy. With this danger, no wonder they wanted to fight to the death.” He ignored those behind him, and made his way up the mountain.

He used his lightness kung fu, in a flash he had moved over one hundred feet, in less than the time to make a cup of tea; he was already at Chongyang Palace. He saw flames and smoke, the dense smoke was unrestrained, the blaze was fierce, but what was strange was that in Chongyang Palace there were countless Taoists, yet no one had come out and tried to put out the flames.

Guo Jing was afraid. He saw ten Taoist residences empty and untidy about the mountain. The flame in the back courtyard was large, but it had yet to breach into the main courtyard. However, insults could be heard from there, as well as the clashing of weapons. He leapt up onto a roof, and saw a large group of people battling. He stood still and looked on, he saw that forty-nine Taoists dressed in yellow gowns had formed seven “Big Dipper Formations” and were resisting about one hundred enemies. The enemies were all shape and sizes, tall and short, fat and skinny. According to the way they were dressed and the skills they used, it seems that they are from different sects. Some used weapons, some used their palms, and they all were attacking the “Big Dipper Formation” from all sides. The attackers’ skills weren’t weak, and they were large in number. Eventually the Taoists began to lose. But because the enemy was fighting them separately, the “Big Dipper Formation” allowed them to help each other and were able to defend tightly. Though the opponents were strong, they could still resist them. Guo Jing listened carefully, and heard breathing sounds in the hall; there were people battling there as well. From the sounds of the wind generated by the fists in the hall, the skills of the people battling there were superior to those who were fighting outside. He jumped down from the roof, twisted his body and then made a dash forward. He dodged east and then darted west, and was able to go through the cracks of three “Big Dipper Formations”. The Taoists were alarmed, and tried to follow, but because of the onslaught they were facing, they couldn’t separate and chase him.

Normally the hall would be lit with ten large candles, but because of the flames in the back courtyard, its light overpowered the light from the candles. He saw that there were seven mats lined up on the floor, seven Taoists were sitting on them, the left palm of each joined to the next person, their right palms out, resisting the attacks of ten people around them.

Guo Jing ignored the attackers and first studied the Taoists. He saw that there were three old and four young, the old were Ma Yu, Qiu Chuji and Wang Chuyi, he could only recognize one of the four young Taoists and that was Yin Zhiping. The seven were sitting in the positions of “Tian Shu” to “Yao Guang” to form the “Big Dipper Formation”; they sat there and didn’t move. In front of the seven was a Taoist lying on the floor, he didn’t know whether he was alive or dead. He saw his hair was white but could not see his face. Guo Jing saw that Ma Yu and the others were in danger, his blood began to boil, he didn’t care who the enemy was and came out in a flash, and shouted , “How dare you scoundrels come and cause trouble in Chongyang Palace?” He stretched out his hands, and grabbed the backs of two attackers, and wanted to throw the attackers out, but he didn’t know that the two were good fighters. Their feet stood firm to the ground, and couldn’t be pulled from the floor. Guo Jing thought, “Where did all these good fighters come from? No wonder the Quanzhen sect feels that today will end in ruin for them.” He let go and swept his legs out. The two were using the “Thousand Kilogram Fall” (qian jin zhui) skill to resist the attacker, but they didn’t predict that he would suddenly change stance, and in a flash, the two soared in midair and crashed through the door.

The attackers saw that powerful help had come for the Taoists and were alarmed; but they were curious and wanted to know his name. Two of them came out and shouted out, “Who are you?” Guo Jing ignored them, two “fu” sounds were heard, as two palms came out. The two were not near Guo Jing’s body, but they were hit by the palm’s power and couldn’t stand still. Two sounds were heard as the men crashed against the wall, blood came out of their mouths. The remaining attackers saw that Guo Jing had wounded four of them in one go, they were frightened, and no one dared to confront him.

Ma Yu, Qiu Chuji and Wang Chuyi recognized who he was and were delighted, and thought, “Now he’s here, our sect will escape danger!”

Guo Jing did not even consider the attackers as he knelt down and kowtowed to Ma Yu and said, “Disciple Guo Jing greets you.” Ma Yu, Qiu Chuji and Wang Chuyi nodded and greeted him in return. Yin Zhiping suddenly called out, “Brother Guo, careful!” Guo Jing heard a noise from behind, and knew someone wanted to ambush him from behind. He pushed against the floor with his arm and elbow, his body in the air, and pushed out his knees and hit the two attackers on their “Soul Entrance” (hun men) pressure points. The two of them fell immediately to the floor. Guo Jing remained kneeling down with two mats beneath his knee.

Ma Yu smiled, and said, “Jing’er rise, I haven’t seen you in ten years; your skills have improved tremendously!”

Guo Jing got up and said, “I’ll let the elder decide on how I should get rid of the others.” Before Ma Yu replied, Guo Jing heard two laughs from behind; the laughs were very strange. He turned around, and saw two people standing there. One was wearing a red gown, his head was shiny, his body lanky, and he was a monk. The other wore a light yellow embroidered gown, his hand holding a folded fan. He was dressed like a wealthy man, and was about thirty, his face carrying an arrogant expression. Guo Jing saw that their breathing was measured and deep, and were completely different to the others. He didn’t dare to be rash. He asked, “Who are you? Why have you come here?”

The nobleman said, “And who are you? Why have you come here?” His pronunciations weren’t exactly correct; he wasn’t from the central plains.

Guo Jing said, “I am the disciple of these elders.”

The man chuckled, “Who would have thought that there resided a man like this in the Quanzhen sect.” He was younger than Guo Jing by a few years, but he spoke with the air of an old man, and with arrogance.

Guo Jing did not regard himself as a true disciple of the Quanzhen sect, but when he heard him speak, he could tell they had a hidden agenda. He didn’t want to talk but under these circumstances he had to say something. “What is the story behind your intrusion into the Quanzhen sect? Why have you brought so many people and set the place on fire?”

The man chuckled again, “Since you belong to the lower generation of the Quanzhen sect, how can you speak out.”

Guo Jing said, “You have come here and have caused trouble, you have been too reckless.” The flames were getting closer, and it wouldn’t be long before the main courtyard was set on fire.

The man opened his fan and took a step forward; he laughed and said, “I brought those people along! If you can receive thirty stances of mine, I’ll let the old Taoists go, how about that?”

Gou Jing saw that they were in an urgent situation, he couldn’t hesitate. He stretched out his right hand, and grabbed the man’s fan and pulled it, the man did not let go of the fan, and tried to pull him closer.

With this pull, the man wobbled slightly but he held onto his fan. Guo Jing thought, “This man isn’t old; he could actually fend off my pull. The way he circulated his chi was similar to the monk Lingzhi Shangren but compared to Lingzhi Shangren his was more fluid. It appears that he must belong to a sect in the west. The frame of his fan is made of metal, it’s actually a weapon.” He increased the power in his hands and said, “Let go!” The nobleman’s face suddenly turned a shade of purple, but in a second it had disappeared. Guo Jing knew that he had urgently raised his chi to try to resist him; he too increased his strength at the same time. He knew that if the man’s face turned purple three times, he would suffer serious internal injuries, but thought that learning this type of kung fu wasn’t an easy task. He didn’t want to harm him seriously so he gave a sly smile.

With the fan in his hand, the man’s strength began to decrease. Guo Jing had transferred all the power in his palm into the fan and into the opponent’s hand, wanting to neutralize the man’s energy. The man used all the strength he had accumulated during his life but he couldn’t transfer any of it into the fan, and was about to lose hold of it. The man realized that his opponent’s skills exceeded his so he kept a calm face, let go of the fan and jumped back. His face was red, and said, “Please allow me to know your famous name.”

Guo Jing said, “My name is not worth knowing, just know that elders Ma, Qiu and Wang are my teachers.”

The man questioned this, and thought that he had just fought with a bunch of old Quanzhen Taoists. “If they fought one on one and didn’t rely on the power of the “Big Dipper Formation”, they wouldn’t be a match for him, so how could a student of theirs be so good,” he took another look at Guo Jing to get the measure of him. His face looked ordinary, his clothes were coarse, he looked just like a villager, but he possessed great skills, he said, “Your skills are alarmingly good, I am in awe, I will come again in ten years time and test myself again. I have some unfinished business so I must leave now.” He folded his arms in salute as he said this. Guo Jing held his fist in salute and acknowledged, “We will meet again in ten years time.”