Return of Condor Heroes, page 1
RETURN OF THE CONDOR HEROES
JIN YONG
Original Title Shen Diao Xia Lu
English Title Return of The Condor Heroes
Author Jin Yong
Initial Editor JamesG
Lead Translator Noodles
Translators Lanny Lin, Rayon, Hanky Panky, Athena, BeeDreamer, Dugu Seeking a Win, Xuelian, Xiao_Long_Nu, Frans Soetomo, IcyFox, Jin_yong_fan.
Table of Contents
Title
Table of Contents
Chapter 1 - No Love Under the Wind and Moon
Chapter 2 - A Friend's Son
Chapter 3 - Seeking Turtelage at Mount Zhong Nan
Chapter 4 - Under the Teaching of Quan Zhen Sect
Chapter 5 - The Tomb of Living Dead
Chapter 6 - The Jade Heart Manual
Chapter 7 - Chong Yang's Marking
Chapter 8 - Girl in White
Chapter 9 - A Hundred Ideas to Avoid the Enemy
Chapter 10 - The Young Hero
Chapter 11 - A Pause from Roaming
Chapter 12 - The Heroes' Feast
Chapter 13 - The Chancellor of Wulin
Chapter 14 - Defending against Custom and Tradition
Chapter 15 - The Disciples of Eastern Heretic
Chapter 16 - Avenging a Father's Death
Chapter 17 - The Secluded Passionless Valley
Chapter 18 - A Vallet Master Gongsun
Chapter 19 - The Old Woman Underground
Chapter 20 - A Hero's Imperative
Chapter 21 - Fierce Fighting at Xiangyang
Chapter 22 - The Baby Girl of the City in Danger
Chapter 23 - Sibling Rivalry
Chapter 24 - Turbulent Emotions
Chapter 25 - Domestic Strive, Foreign Aggression
Chapter 26 - Divine Eagle's Heavy Sword
Chapter 27 - Fighting Strength with Wisdom
Chapter 28 - Wedding Festivities
Chapter 29 - Ultimate Disaster
Chapter 30 - Strange Encounters
Chapter 31 - The Other Half of the Antidote
Chapter 32 - What is Love
Chapter 33 - Tales in the Night
Chapter 34 - Settling a Dispute
Chapter 35 - The Three Golden Needles
Chapter 36 - The Birthday Celebration
Chapter 37 - Gratitudes and Grudges Over Three Generations
Chapter 38 - Life and Death are Boundless
Chapter 39 - Battle of Xiang Yang
Chapter 40 - The Summit of Hua Shan
Chapter 1 - No Love Under the Wind and Moon
Within the boat were five girls picking lotuses … a lonely heart like a string struggling to be untangled … there are no lovers meeting under the wind and moon, the past is like a dream cut short.
The fog has lightened due to the strong winds, but as time approaches, solitude lies by the stream. A mysterious song is heard from afar, seemingly from the Jiangnan province. A soft and graceful tune was played which carried across the lake’s surface under the cover of the mist. Once the song had finished, a small boat appeared. Within the boat were five girls who were singing and laughing, picking lotuses into the boat. The lyrics the girls sang were from the poem The Butterfly Loves the Flower, written by the Song poet Ouyang Xiu, the words sung matched what the girl was feeling inside; though only sixty words were sung, the season, time of day, place, scenery and the girl’s face, clothes, hair adornments, emotions were all described meticulously. The next part of the song is as if someone is narrating a scene, a love story, which is close at heart yet far away, but a love which isn’t yet exhausted.
Ouyang Xiu was in Jiangnan as a court official where he lived a leisurely lifestyle, doing as he pleased, absorbed in what he was doing (reading, writing etc.,). People of Song shouldn’t use their position to abuse the town’s people, but it is not forbidden to use poetry for leisure. As long as a line of poetry came out, as long as there is well water to accompany a song, as the Jiangnan spring comes and the willow buds, as lotuses are on the autumn lake, everything that follows is an Ou poem.
It was during the year when Southern Song was established, and when the South Lake became popular. It was near mid autumn, as lotus leaves began to decay, and when lotus pods were at their best. A song spread across the lake to a Taoist priestess’s ear. As she sat alone underneath a willow tree quietly, the night winds forced her to place an apricot yellow robe on. The winds managed to brush a piece of dirt on her neck. She hid her feelings, as ‘a lonely heart like a string struggling to be untangled’. The song gradually moves away, the song is a verse of Ouyang Xiu’s Butterfly Loves a Flower. A light breeze carried two sentences; “there are no lovers meeting under the wind and moon, the past is like a dream cut short”. The song comes to a rest. A smile came upon her lips.
She let out a sigh and raised a left hand revealing a bloody palm. “What do you find so funny?” she mumbled to herself. She sang to herself, without understanding the regret and sorrow within the poem.
Standing about one hundred feet away from the priestess, a plainly dressed bearded old man was standing silently unmoved but as he heard the two sentences he let out an extremely quiet sigh.
A little boat gently glides across the blue jade lake. The girls on the boat were young; three of them about fifteen or sixteen, the other two were around nine. Two of the girls were cousins. The older of the two was called Cheng Ying; the younger was called Lu Wushuang. The difference in age was about six months.
The other three girls were singing songs constantly, the boat emerging from a pile of lotus leaves.
Cheng Ying said, “Cousin, can you guess who that old man is?” pointing to the man underneath the willow tree.
The hair on that man is all messed up, his beard loose, the colour of his beard was black like a crow’s, indicating that he is not very old, although his face has traces of wrinkles like those of a seventy or eighty year old. He is wearing blue, around his neck is hung a bright satin bib. On it was embroidery of cat jumping at a butterfly, though the picture is now old and fading away.
Lu Wushuang said, “That strange man has sat there for half a day now, why doesn’t he move?”
Cheng Ying said, “If you want to call him something, call him old grandpa. If you call him strange, surely he would get angry.”
Lu Wushuang laughed, “Is he not strange? He’s old yet he is still wearing a bib. If the bearded man gets up and becomes angry, that is surely something to be watched.”
From within the boat a disheveled lotus was lifted up and is thrown towards the man. The boat is about ten feet from the man. Lu Wushuang is young but the strength in her arms is not feeble, the one stroke was very accurate.
Cheng Ying shouted out,” Cousin!”
It was meant to delay her but she saw the lotus was in front of her face and flew past.
As the man looked up, he saw the lotus flying towards him, but he didn’t put his hand up to catch it and let it hit him in the face. He started to eat the petals from his face and clothes even though the petals were bitter, and smiled as the boat is rowed closer and eventually came ashore.
Cheng Ying ran towards the man and tugged his clothes saying, “Old grandpa, those are not nice to eat.”
She reached into a pocket and pulled out a lotus flower, split it open, peeled off eighteen petals, then split open the blue green skin of the lotus and removed the bitter core, and then passed it onto the man’s hand. The man put it into his mouth and started to chew, and felt an extremely sweet taste, completely different to what he had eaten before. He cracked a smile at Cheng Ying and nodded his head. Cheng Ying did this again and gave another lotus to the man. The man put it in his mouth and chewed for a while and then looked up at the sky and said, “Follow me?” While he said this he was striding in a westerly direction.
Lu Wushuang grabbed hold of Cheng Ying’s hand and said, “Cousin lets follow him.”
The one of the other three girls spoke up and said, “Let’s go home, if you go now, Lady will scold at us.”
Lu Wushuang put on a naughty face after she saw the strange man had run away extremely quickly and said, “If you don’t come, fine”, then released her cousin’s hand and chased after the man. Cheng Ying had come out to play with her cousin and couldn’t leave her alone and so followed.
The other three girls were older than them, but they didn’t have the same courage and just called out a few times, as they watched the old man disappear into the mulberry forest followed by the two cousins.
The old man ran very fast, but saw that the two cousins couldn’t keep up so stopped and waited. However, in the end he would not wait any longer and turned around towards them, grabbed the girls, put one underneath each of his armpits, and flew towards his destination. The two girls could only hear the sound of the wind in their ear, the stones and grass on the ground flew past their eyes. Lu Wushuang became frightened and shouted, “Let me go! Let me go!” The strange man ignored her, and instead moved even quicker. Lu Wushuang looked up, and bit fiercely on the man’s hand. Teeth marks were left on the man’s palm but he hid the pain. Lu Wushuang loosened her teeth. She shouted and screamed with all her life. Cheng Ying stayed quiet.
The old man hurried for a while and then put the two girls down onto the ground. They had arrived at a cemetery. Cheng Ying’s face was pale white, while Lu Wushuang’s face was swollen and red. Cheng Ying said, “Old grandpa, we need to go home, we don’t want to play anymore!”
The strange man stared at her without flinching. Cheng Ying saw that his eyes revealed a sorrow, a lonely aura, and filled her with pity. She gently said, “If you’ve got no one to play with; then wait by the lake again tomorrow and I’ll peel lotus for you to eat again.”
The strange man sighed and said, “Yes, it has been ten years, I’ve had no one for company within these last ten years.” His eyes were still exuding an ominous light. He then fiercely said, “Where’s Yuanjun? Where do you live?”
Cheng Ying heard his serious voice, and became frightened. Quietly she said, “I, I? I don’t know.”
The man grabbed her arm, shook her a few times. His voice sunk, “Where’s Yuanjun?”
Cheng Ying was scared and wanted to cry, tears rolled from her eyes. Yet she didn’t cry.
The old man clenched his teeth. “Cry, cry. You won’t cry? Hmm, you were like this ten years ago. I won’t let you marry him. You said you couldn’t bear to leave me, so why did you leave with him. You said you were touched by my kindness, leaving me would leave you heartbroken. Ha! Those are all deceiving words! If you are really hurt, why don’t you cry?”
He held onto Cheng Ying fiercely. Cheng Ying had been pale due to fright but still the tears wouldn’t come. The man shook her again. Cheng Ying clenched her teeth and said to herself “I won’t cry, I won’t cry!”
The strange man said, “You won’t even cry one tear for me, not even one. What use is my life now?” He suddenly let go of Cheng Ying, bent his legs, crouched, and thrust himself into a tombstone causing a crashing sound. He lay on the ground unconscious.
Lu Wushuang said, “Cousin, quickly escape” and grabbed hold of Cheng Ying’s hand, turned and ran. Cheng Ying hurried a few steps, but as she saw the strange man lying with blood on his head, her heart couldn’t stand it and said, “Old grandpa is dead”. Lu Wushuang said, “Now he’s dead, won’t he turn into a ghost?”
Cheng Ying gulped, scared that he would turn into a ghost, scared that he would suddenly wake up, and remembered the mad words he was saying. She saw his head covered in blood and felt pity, she comforted herself, by saying, “Old grandpa is not a ghost, I’m not scared, he won’t blame me”. She slowly walked towards the old man. “Grandpa, are you hurt?”
The man let out a groan. Cheng Ying got a bit braver, and tended to his wounds with a handkerchief. But the force of the collision was great, so the wound on his head was very severe. The handkerchief was soaked in blood. She used her left hand to press hard on the wound and after a while the bleeding stopped. The man began to open his eyes, and saw Cheng Ying by his side. “Why did you save me? Why don’t you let me die?” As Cheng Ying saw he had awakened, her spirits raised and said softly “Does your head hurt?” The strange man shook his head. “My head doesn’t hurt, my heart hurts.” Cheng Ying thought this was strange thinking, “There is a large wound on his head, yet while his head doesn’t hurt, his heart does.” She thought no more of this as she untied her waistband and gave it to the man to tie his wound.
The man took a breath and sat up. “You agreed not to see me ever again; we are going to part now. You won’t shed a single tear for me?”
Cheng Ying heard his words were full of sorrow; saw his head full of blood, eyes earnest, and couldn’t help but be filled with sorrow and two drops of tears emerged. As the man saw the tears, his face changed to a more joyful expression, but at the same time a mournful sound came out. Cheng Ying saw his sobs, her own tears like drops of pearls, rolled down her cheeks, then reached out and hugged his neck. Lu Wushuang saw how these two strangers are sobbing together, and wanted to laugh. She couldn’t hold it in any longer and burst out in a laugh.
The strange man heard this, and said to the sky, “The words that came out of your mouth said you won’t leave me, but as you grow older you will forget the things you’ve said; just remember the little white face. You laugh with real joy!” He looked down at Cheng Ying. “Yes, yes, you are Yuan, my little Yuan. I won’t let you leave, I won’t let you leave with the little white face”, as he held tightly onto Cheng Ying. Lu Wushuang saw he had become deeply disturbed and didn’t dare to laugh again.
“Yuan, I’ve finally found you. Let’s go home, from now on you will follow father.” Cheng Ying said, “Old grandpa, my father died a long time ago.” The strange man said, “I know, I know. I’m your stepfather, you don’t recognize me?” Ying shook her head. “I don’t have a stepfather.”
The strange man gave a howl, and pushed Ying away. “Yuan, you don’t even recognize step father?” Ying said, “Old grandpa, my name is Cheng Ying, not your Yuan.”
“You’re not Ah Yuan? You are not Ah Yuan?” he was expressionless for half an hour. “Hmm, around twenty years ago Ah Yuan was your age. Now Yuan has grown up and doesn’t need father anymore. The only thing in your heart is Lu Zhanyuan, that swine.”
Wushuang sighed knowingly; “Lu Zhanyuan?”
The man asked, “You know him, don’t you?? She shook her head smiling, “I just recognized that man is my uncle.” The man’s complexion changed to a vengeful colour. He grabbed hold of Wushuang and asked, “Where is that swine? Lead me to him.”
Though Wushuang is scared inside, she put on a smile and said, “My uncle lives close by. You really want to find him?”
“Yes, yes. I’ve been searching for him for three days, so I could settle my debt with that swine. Little girl lead me to him and old grandpa won’t trouble you.” As he said this, his voice changed tone from angry to gentle and released his grasp. She used her right hand to touch her sore left arm.
“You really hurt me. I don’t know where he lives anymore.” The man’s eyebrows rose, as if he was about to go mad again, but thought it is not right to force the little girl, and put on a clown like smile. He put his hand in his sleeve and said, “It was grandpa’s fault. You don’t have to follow me. Grandpa has some sweets for you.” He reached around his sleeve but couldn’t find any sweets. Wushuang smiled and clapped.
“You don’t have any sweets, aren’t you ashamed to lie? Alright, my uncle lives near here.” She pointed to two faraway giant trees. “It’s near there.”
The man reached out his long arm and carried the girls underneath his armpits again, and hurriedly flew towards the two trees. He followed the path in front, until there is a small obstruction but cleared it in a leap. In a flash, the three of them were by the two trees. The strange man dropped the two girls, and saw two grand tombs below the trees. On the tombstone was written: “Here lies the grave of Lu Zhanyuan.” On another was written” “Here lies the wife of Lu.” The grass around the path to the tombs was knee deep, indicating that the tombs had been here a long time.
The man just stared at the tombstone and said, “Lu Zhanyuan is dead… how long ago?” Wushuang laughed as she replied, “Three years ago.”
“He deserved to die, good. What a pity that he didn’t die beneath my hands!” he said as he laughed at the sky. The laugh could be heard from faraway, but the laugh was a regretful, a lamenting laugh, not one of joy.
It was deep within the night, the field of grass covered by fog. Wushuang tugged at her cousin’s sleeve. “Let’s go now.” The strange man said, “The little white face is dead. Ah Yuan, where can you go now? I’ll take you back to Dali. Hey little girl, take me to your dead uncle’s wife.”
Wushuang pointed to the tombstone, “Can’t you see? My aunt also died.” The man picked himself up and his voice like thunder, shouted, “Are those words real or a lie? She… she really is dead?” Wushuang’s face turned pale, and in a quivering voice said “Father said not long after uncle died, my aunt followed. I don’t know anymore, I don’t know. Don’t shout at me, I’m scared!”
The man beat his chest and shouted, “She’s dead… she’s dead? No, you can’t die before seeing me again. I followed your instructions; ten years later, we’ll meet again. You didn’t wait for me?” He shouted wildly and jumped around madly, his cries like a wild tiger. He swept his leg across the right tree, which shook the branches of the tree. Lu Wushuang and Cheng Ying held each other tightly and retreated a few steps not daring to be closer. The man suddenly grabbed hold of one of the trees, and shook it violently, and tried to pull it out. The tree is around a thousand pounds so how could he pick it up?
