ROCH Excerpts

[Noodles]

By Athena (from third edition of ROCH)

From chapter 38

After having reached the tenth level of the Dragon and Elephant Wisdom Dexterity, the Imperial Priest wanted to test out his new level on these experts. He saw that Zhou Botong raised his fists and attacked himself, so he too raised his fists and wanted to intercept Zhou's fist. Before they actually exchanged blows, Zhou Botong could hear a series of light popping sounds coming from the Imperial Priest's arms. Zhou Botong was startled and knew that his adversary had a strange fist power and did not dare to receive it straight on.
Zhou Botong lowered his elbow a bit and used his Vacant Fists skill.
The blow by the Imperial Priest had as much power as 1000 jin-(1 jin is 1/2 kilogrammes). One could not say it was comparable to the strength of dragons or elephants but it was impossible for mere flesh and blood to receive such a blow. But when he intercepted the fist of Zhou Botong, it felt empty and vacant like there was no strength in it at all. He was somewhat shocked and used his left palm to strike out again.
Zhou Botong felt that his opponent's power was omnipotent, he had never seen this before. Zhou Botong loves martial arts and whenever he knew someone who had a special skill he would challenge that individual to a duel. He has encountered numerous martial artists in his life, but even he had never heard or seen such strong power released by the Imperial Priest. He did not know what skill the Imperial Priest used, so he used his 72 Vacant Fists to battle the Imperial Priest. He used void to intercept solid and nothingness to block solidity. By doing so he has rendered the awesome power of the Imperial Priest useless, but it was also impossible for him to wound his adversary. The Imperial Priest attacked with several stances now, it seems his stances could not even tickle his adversary. He became frustrated that his dexterity, which he trained many years in, has not helped him gain the upper hand.
At this point he noticed that a whoosing wind from behind, it was Huang Rong who used her bamboo cane to attack his Lintai acupoint. He raised his hand to block that attack and with one block he had broken the bamboo cane in two halves. The remaining energy released by that block was sending the dust to fly upwards and the grit to surge around.
Huang Rong was startled and leapt aside, she was thinking:"This awful monk was quite formidable 16 years ago, but now he seems to be even more powerful. That palm of his was both strange and ominipotent, what kind of martial arts could that be?"
Cheng Ying and Lu Wushuang saw that Huang Rong was in an unfavourable situation, they both attacked the Imperial Priest from two sides. One was using a silver rod and the other a sword, Huang Rong called out:"Be careful!"
As soon as she finished, they were two cracking sounds. Both rod and sword were broken. The Imperial Priest was very saddened by the tragic death of Guo Xiang, he had no intentions of harming anyone else now. He yelled:"Move away!" And he did not pursue Lu Wushuang and Cheng Ying.
Suddenly a black figure appeared and Yinggu was already standing next to him and had started to attack him, the Imperial Priest moved out his palm and wanted to strike her on the waist. Yinggu's martial arts was still inferior to Huang Rong, but she was trained in the Loach Manoeuvres therefore she was very good in evasion and making dodges. When she noticed a huge force coming towards her, she made two turns and three shuns and cleverly avoided that blow. The Imperial Priest does not know that her martial arts has not yet reached the level of a first rate martial arts expert, but somehow she strangely managed to avoid two of his fist attacks. He was quite shocked to see this, furthermore he felt that his omnipotent skill was unable to overwhelm two persons now. He was becoming frightened now and did not want to engage any further combat. He quickly moved away from Yinggu, but Yinggu put in everything she had to evade those two blows and was happy to see the Imperial Priest turning away from her. She did not dare to attack again, Zhou Botong yelled:"Don't run!" and he gave chase.
The Imperial Priest was about to turn around to retaliate, suddenly he heard a light sound coming towards him. A luxuriant but gentle energy force was surging towards his face. Reverend Yideng had used his renowned Yiyang Finger to block the Imperial Priest Jinlun. The Imperial Priest had not considered this monk to be an expert, little did he realise that the energy released from his index finger was that powerful. Reverend Yideng's level of the Yiyang Finger had reached the level of ultimate proficient perfection, the seraphic energy released was pure, gentle but also abundant and forceful; impossible to block.
The Imperial Priest was shocked and moved aside to avoid that blast, he immediately he returned a palm attack back. Reverend Yideng saw that his palm was extremely fierce and aggressive and did not dare to block it too, he glided away with a few steps.
One was an enlightened, eminent Buddhist monk from the south, the other was an extraordinary Buddhist virtuoso from the north, each just exchanged one stance but did not dare to underestimate this adversary.
Zhou Botong enjoyed the one on one duel with the Imperial Priest, and when reverend Yideng joined the battle he felt it was uninteresting now. So he stood aside and was observing the battle.
In the beginning there was only one metre or so in between reverend Yideng and Imperial Priest Jinlun, but soon after dodging palm blasts and evading finger fires the gap between them gradually became bigger. They were now standing about four metres apart from each other and used their internal strenghts to battle each other from afar.
Huang Rong was observing from the side and saw that reverend Yideng the condensation emitted from his head became denser and denser, she knew that he kept gathering his internal power and feared that because of his old age he would not able to withstand the Imperial Priest.
She was devastated by the death of her beloved daughter and wished to step in and help but knew the two of them were battling each other with interal energy and could not intervene now. She did not know what to do at this point, when she suddenly heard her eagles shrieking. She whistled to them and pointed at the Imperial Priest.
The pair of white eagles cried loudly and dove towards the head of the Imperial Priest, if it was the giant eagle of Yang Guo the Imperial Priest might be a bit afraid. Even though these two white eagles were grand but they were still ordinary birds, the Imperial Priest was not afraid of mere birds. He was still battling reverend Yideng with everything he had and could not be diverted to something else. Suddenly a pair of white eagles dove towards him, he could only use his left palm to strike out at the eagles. Two forceful palm energies surged towards the eagles. The eagles could not cope with such force and directly flew up higher. Nonetheless because of this diversion reverend Yideng immediately gained the upper hand. The Imperial Priest struck out a few times with his left palm bringing the battle to a draw again.
The eagles heard the repeated order from Huang Rong, but their enemy's power was too strong and could only resort to creating a diversion, they would cry out loudly and make diving attacks at the Imperial Priest but when they were a few centimetres away from him they would redraw the attacks.They could fly away from his attacks but they could not injure him either, by doing so they were disturbing the concentration of the Imperial Priest. When experts battle, their concentration should be at their peaks, one with their entities only that way their internal strengths could be fully utilized. The palm energies released by Imperial Priest Jinlun were superior to reverend Yideng but when it came to self cultivation he was very much inferior to reverend Yideng. Furthermore he was intensely saddened by the lost of Guo Xiang, that already affected his state of mind and now the eagles kept pestering him adding more frustation to his state of being.
Because of he was feeling frustrated now, it showed in his palm energies. Reverend Yideng smiled and made a step forward, when Huang Rong saw that reverend Yideng was advancing she raised her voice and called out:"Guo Jing, Yang Guo! You're here too, let us capture him together!"
Guo Jing was her husband, she would not call out his entire name, but her intention was to frighten Imperial Priest Jinlun. If she called out [brother Jing], the Imperial Priest would probably think [Who is that?]. And the effect of her trick would not be so effective.
Nonetheless her trick worked now and the Imperial Priest panicked when he heard the names [Guo Jing, Yang Guo], he thought:"These two experts are here too. I will not live to see another day."
At this point, reverend Yideng made half a step forward again. In mid-air the eagles saw an advantage and the female eagle cried and dove towards the face of the Imperial Priest. Her claws were aimed for his eyes, the Imperial Priest cursed:"Confounded bird!" and raised his left palm to hit the eagle. However the female eagle broke off her attack when she was about four metres away from the Imperial Priest, her attack was another diversion. The male eagle silently sneaked up from the side and when the Imperial Priest noticed it, his right claw almost grabbed his bald head. The Imperial Priest was both angry and shocked, he whisked his palm hitting the eagle on the stomache. By this time the male eagle had seized the Buddhist hat of the Imperial Priest away and was flying off, but the whisk of the Imperial Priest was incredible the eagle could not withstand it. The male eagle made somersault in mid-air and fell down the deep ravine.
Huang Rong, Cheng Ying, Lu Wushuang and Yinggu called out with shock. Zhou Botong became angry and yelled:"Damn monk! The old Imp will disregard Wulin traditions today and fight you too now."
He raised his fist and attacked the Imperial Priest from the back.
The female eagle heard the shriek of the male eagle and did not see it flying up from the ravine, she dove towards the ravine too and did not fly up again.
The Imperial Priest was attacked from both sides and was afraid now. Although he had high martial arts but how could he withstand the combined attacks of two great martial arts masters. He did not want to fight anymore, he took out his golden and silver wheels to block the Yiyang Finger and Vacant Fists. He leant to the left and leapt up towards the left and he had made a way to the level area of the valley. Zhou Botong yelled and gave chase.
The Imperial Priest went through a lot to escape and was running as fast as possible, he knew if he was detained by Zhou Botong he had to fight at least another few hundred stances to determine who would win. Furthermore if that old monk would take advantage of that situation he would surely perish here in this valley. Ahead was a thick forest and he was running towards it, suddenly a light sound was headed towards him; it was a small stone.
He was another 100 paces or so away from the forest, but he did not know who shot that little stone towards him. The energy was most awesome, although it was only a small stone but the whoosing sound emitted from it was very loud. It was aimed directly in his face, the Imperial Priest raised his silver wheel and blocked the stone. It broke into ten small pieces and flew around two of them hit the face of the Imperial Priest. Two pieces of debris hit his face, mere debris could of course not injure him but it did hurt.
He thought:"That small rock was shot from afar and shook my wheel. This person's internal strength is not inferior to the old imp and the old monk, how is it possible that such another expert exists?"
While he was stunned for a minute, an old man in a green long robe walked out of the forest. He looked very suave and distinguished, Zhou Botong was happy to see him and shouted:"Old east heretic! This damn monk is responsible for the death of your granddaughter. Let us capture him together."
The old distinguished old man was the lord of the Peach Blossom Isle Huang Yaoshi. After he and Yang Guo went their separate ways he decided to roam about in the north. One particular day he saw the two white eagles at a small village, he knew it was either his daughter or grandchildren that were around. So he decided to follow them, but he did not want to be seen by his daughter and followed them from afar. When he saw that both reverend Yideng and Zhou Botong could not defeat this monk, he was quite pleased. He thought that this monk was a worthy adversary and decided to intervene as well.
The Imperial Priest struck his wheels together creating a loud dang sound, similar to the cry of a dragon. He said:"I take it you are East Heretic Huang Yaoshi?"
Huang Yaoshi nodded and said:"Yes, I am. Reverend, what can I do for you?"
The Imperial Priest said:"Even in Mongolia I have heard that only East Heretic, West Venom, South Emperor, North Beggar and Central Divinity were powerful in the Central Plains. It pleases me to see that you live up to your reputation. I would like to ask where the other four greats are?"
Huang Yaoshi replied:"Central Divinity, North Beggar and West Venom have passed away many years ago. This reverend Yideng here is South Emperor and brother Zhou is the younger martial arts brother of Central Divinity."
Zhou Botong said:"If my martial arts brother was still alive, would you be able to withstand ten of his stances?"

From chapter 39

This part is the final battle between Yang Guo and Imperial Priest Jinlun
Yang Guo put his sword back into his girdle and used his palm to intercept that blow from the Imperial Priest. When the two huge forces collided, both of them rocked about and the wooden ladder shook a few times like it was going to break. Both of them were shocked and praised the opponent:"I haven't seen him for 16 years, I never imagined his internal power would have increased this much."
Yang Guo saw that the situation was dire and would not allow him to compete palm strenghts at the ladder again. He took out his sword again and attacked the Imperial Priest with stabbing, slicing the leg palms. The Imperial Priest was standing above and if he used his wheels to fight he would have to bend over and that would bring himself in a disadvantage. Furthermore his wheels were shorter compared to the sword, so he turned around and wanted to go up the platform again.Yang Guo raised his sword and attacked him ferociously in the back, every stance was as quick as lightning. The Imperial Priest did not turn around, and used his ears to determine the attacked positions. He used his wheel to block every stance, it was like he had eyes in the back of his head.
Yang Guo praised him:"Damn monk! Impressive!"
The Imperial Priest was standing on top of the platform and immediately retaliated with one wheel. Yang Guo avoided that and counter-attacked with his sword. He dove towards the Imperial Priest from mid-air. The Imperial Priest used his golden wheel to block and his silver wheel in his left hand was about to strike the blade. Just a moment ago the two of them exchanged one stance, Yang Guo felt that the palm energy of the Imperial Priest was solid, robust and stong, he had never encountered such power amongst his former adversaries. He was surprised by this and thought he had trained in the waves of the ocean and felt capable of withstanding the strong forces of tidal waves. 16 years ago the Imperial Priest was no match for me, but today after exchanging one blow I was almost incapable of withstanding that blast.
Seeing that his wheels were about to make contact with his blade, he did not retract his sword. He wanted to test the internal strength of the Imperial Priest. At the moment when the wheels and sword collided there was a loud clang sound. The huge powers collided with each other, the sword of Yang Guo broke into two pieces and the wheels flew out of the Imperial Priest's hands. Wheels fell to the ground smashing three Mongolian archers.
Yang Guo was shocked and thought:"For 16 years I have not used the heavy iron sword, I see that I am too overconfident today."
In order to perform the Jade Maiden Combined Swordsmanship, Yang Guo could not use his heavy iron sword therefore he used an ordinary sword instead. When his blade made contact with the wheels of the Imperial Priest it broke immediately.
After exchanging one blow each leapt aside, their arms felt numb. The Imperial Priest took out his iron and bronze wheels and attacked again. Yang Guo did not have another weapon anymore, so he generated his strength to his right hand sleeve and whisked out furthermore he used his left palm to withstand the Imperial Priest.
Guo Xiang shouted:"Old monk, I told you before. You are no match for him! If you're really that powerful, why do you have to use your weapons? Can't you fight him empty-handed? You're a disgrace!"
The Imperial Priest grunted and did not answer, he increased power and speed to his stances.
Huang Yaoshi, Guo Jing, Huang Rong lead their troops back to defend Xiangyang, but when they saw Yang, Long and the divine eagle fighting their way towards the platform they had hopes again of saving Guo Xiang.
Huang Yaoshi waved his command flag and ordered 4000 soldiers from the east, south, west, north and the central in total 20.000, they were to return to attack the rear invading Mongolian troops. The remaining soldiers were to assist Yang Guo in saving Guo Xiang. Although the Song troops were outnumbered but their spirits were raised when they saw Yang Guo on the platform. Each fought for ten, the Mongoliar archers kept shooting their arrows and held their ground. Each time the Song soldiers could advance forward they were soon pushed back by the uncountable arrows.
The battle at the gates of Xiangyang was also at its' peak. The military governor Lu Wenhuan was too afraid to lead the armies, he wore his armour and with his two beloved concubines he was hiding in the castle. He was trembling like mad and kept stuttering:"Merciful Avalokitesvara......please protect m....m....my entire family........Mercif....merciful Avalokitesvara......."
His two concubines were patting his chest and wiping away his saliva, the scouts came and went with news of the battle:"Another 10.000 enemy soldiers have reinforced the attacking troops at the eastern gate....... At the northern gate the enemy troops have put up the ladders........"
Lu Wenhuan rolled his eyes with fear and kept asking:"Is master Guo back yet? Haven't the Mongolians retreated yet?"

At this moment Yang Guo using one arm had fought more than 200 stances with the Imperial Priest. Both of their martial arts are quite different from each other and the battle kept intensifying. The entire platform was overshadowed by the wheels and palm of these two. The smoke coming from the bottom of the platform also thickened and soon a black cloud covered the platform.
Although Yang Guo was not using a weapon he was not in a disadvantage, the Imperial Priest felt the platform was shaking lightly and knew that the fire had started to consume one of the pillars of the platform. It would only be a question of moments before the platform would collapse and then he, Yang Guo and Guo Xiang would all die together. Also he saw that the techniques of Yang Guo were very marvellous and feared that after another 100 stances or more he would be defeated by Yang Guo.
In this dire situation he attacked Yang Guo's right shoulder with his iron wheel and when Yang Guo was about to avoid that wheel he threw his bronze wheel towards Guo Xiang's face. As she was tied to a pole, it was impossible for her to dodge that wheel. Yang Guo was terrified and leapt towards Guo Xiang and used his sleeve to whisk the bronze wheel away. However when two experts battle it was not wise to be distracted, Yang Guo's attention was on Guo Xiang now leaving himself unguarded. The Imperial Priest struck out with his iron wheel the sharp edges were aimed at the left leg of Yang Guo. In mid-air Yang Guo, frantically kicked the Imperial Priest's wrist with his right leg. The Imperial Priest turned his wheel around and Yang Guo could not avoid this anymore and his right leg was cut. Blood immediately flowed from his wound, his injury was not light. Guo Xiang called out with fear, the Imperial Priest took out his lead wheel. With two wheels in his hands again he attacked Guo Xiang again from the top and below. He knew that although Yang Guo was injured he could not overcome him at the moment. So he deliberately launched a fake attack on Guo Xiang and by doing so Yang Guo would try to protect her with everything he had. In a few instances Yang Guo was in a dangerous position and could only fend and not attack anymore.
Guo Xiang shouted:"Don't think of me now! Just kill this old monk to avenge me!" Now Yang Guo called out in pain, his right shoulder was cut again by the wheel.
Xiao Longnu and the great eagle were standing at the ground together with Zhou Botong they prevented the archers from shooting arrows at Guo Xiang. Her attention was entirely focussed on Yang Guo, even when she was killing those soldiers her undivided attention was on Yang Guo. When she saw he was drenched in blood her heart skipped a beat. It was like her soul left her body, the ladder was consumed by the fire and there was no way for her to go up and help. Her mind went blank and she just raised her sword and was unaware where she was and what she was doing there.
Whenever Yang Guo was faced with a great, powerful adversary he would use his melancholic sad palms to defeat his opponent. This style was linked to his state of being, when he was reunited with Xiao Longnu his heart was filled with bliss and happiness. There was not a trace of melancholy or sadness anymore, he was now faced with a dire situation and was using this very style. But somehow the flair of melancholy and longing was gone, every move, stance he made was the same as in the past but the power of it was greatly diminished.
Guo Jing, Huang Rong, etc. saw Yang Guo's battle against the Imperial Priest and saw him being injured, unfortunately they could not rush over to help him. Huang Rong suddenly thought of something and took Yelu Qi's blade and gave it to Guo Jing. She said loudly:"Shoot it towards Guo'er."
Guo Jing took the sword and used two iron bows and placed the sword on it, he aimed and shot the sword towards Yang Guo. A bright flash light pierced through the sky and a loud whooshing sound could be heard.
Yang Guo heard the whoosing sound and used his right sleeve to curl up the sword and immediately used his left hand to wield the sword now. He stabbed the sword through the two wheels of the Imperial Priest, the Imperial Priest twisted his wheels and the sword was broken again. Everyone saw what happened and they looked shocked.
Yang Guo knew it was in vain, he could not rescue Guo Xiang he, himself, would likely die here as well. He tragically looked at Xiao Longnu and said:"Long'er, farewell, farewell. Take good care of yourself." At this moment Imperial Priest Jinlun used his iron wheel to advance forward, wanting to strike Yang Guo on the skull. Yang Guo had given up all hope, he casually whisked his sleeve and struck out his palm, bamm this palm of his struck Imperial Priest Jinlun directly on the shoulder.
Zhou Botong who was standing at the ground shouted:"Good! One impressive "Entangled by the web of love"."
Yang Guo was stunned for a moment and then he realized, because he was feeling lost and hopless earlier and he unintentionally used the stance [Entangled by the web of love]. The heart is the most important factor of this style, it commands the arm, the arm commands the palm. That day Zhou Botong did not feel that emotion of lost, melancholy in the Hundred Flowers Vally, therefore he could not grasp the essence behind this style.
When Yang Guo was reunited with Xiao Longnu again, this style lost its' essence. It was when Yang Guo was faced with death and parting with Xiao Longnu the sorrow and melancholy came back again. The power of the Melancholic Sad Palms was revived once again.
Imperial Priest Jinlun was about to be victorious, suddenly he was hit on the shoulder. His chest hurt a lot and he was shaking, he was furious and surprised and attacked instantly again.
Yang Guo backed away and retaliated with [In A State Of Disunity], [Irrational Direction], [The Settled Cessation] and there was another technique falling these tree attacks, namely [The Meaningless Wanderer]. This stance was a kick, but it was a most elusive attack. The Imperial Priest could only vaguely see a leg, it was there but it was not. It was improbable that he could avoid this kick. Bamm, he suffered a heavy kick at his chest he coughed up blood and fell. Both armies yelled, the Song yelled with joy and the Mongolians cried with surprise.
The platform shook heavily now and was collapsing, if it collapsed entirely now Guo Xiang was bound to die. Suddenly the Imperial Priest refound his benevolence, he leapt up and cut the ropes of Guo Xiang using his iron wheel. He took her in his arms and said to her:"Call me teacher me one more time." Guo Xiang looked up and saw tears in his eyes and called loudly:"Master!"
The Imperial Priest shouted:"Yang Guo, catch!"
Yang Guo saw the Imperial Priest throwing Guo Xiang at him and used his sleeve to catch her and his left arm to tilt her up. He calculated the position of the giant eagle and jumped down. The giant eagle spread its' wings and leapt up, although it could not fly but it could leap about 3, 4 metres into the air. Guo Xiang and Yang Guo landed on the back of the eagle and were descending down with it. At this time the platform had collapsed, the eagle had spead its' wings and could deal with the weight of two persons and fell down. Yang Guo gently pushed Guo Xiang aside and said:"Watch out!"
Guo Xiang performed the technique [The Flying Swallow Circling Away] and descended down. Seeing she was about to be safe, Huang Rong loudly shouted:"Dodge! Quickly dodge!"
A burning heavy beam came down towards her, Guo Xiang was shocked and fell down. Huang Rong and Yang Guo wanted to rush over to rescue her, but they were standing too far away from her. Furthermore they were blocked by Mongolian soldiers, seeing that it was too late Huang Rong fainted.
Guo Xiang had her hands on the ground and wanted to leap away again, but she was trapped by the fiery beam. Her clothes were on fire too and the smoke was choking her. She closed her eyes and awaited death. Suddenly she heard someone landing next to her, she opened her eyes and saw that the Imperial Priest leapt down from the fiery platform. He was kneeling down with one knee and used his hands to lift the heavy, fiery beam. He generated his Dragon and Elephant Wisdom Dexterity and flung the beam away.
Although the beam was very heavy but his Dragon and Elephant Wisdom Dexterity was awesome and generated every bit of his remaining internal energy which was incredible. The beam flew into the sky, like a red ablazing dragon both Song and Mongolian soldiers looked up. The Mongolian soldiers ran away fearing that the beam would land on them. A gap appeared in their formation, Yang Guo helped Huang Rong up and dashed forward.
Guo Xiang escaped from death and was helping Imperial Priest Jinlun up and she was calling:"Master, master!"
The Imperial Priest opened his eyes and said:"Good, good! I have finally managed to rescue you......" he coughed up blood and could not finish anymore. His blood splattered on Guo Xiang's clothes, she saw that pieces of platform kept falling down. She tried her best to lift the Imperial Priest and to move him to safety. Yang Guo saw that she could not lift the Imperial Priest and helped her to drag him away from the falling debris. Imperial Priest Jinlun kept coughing up blood and looked at Guo Xiang, he smiled and closed his eyes for the final time. Guo Xiang embraced his body and was devastated, she cried:"Master, master!"
Yang Guo saw that the Imperial Priest risking his own life to save Guo Xiang, the Imperial Priest had earned his respect and he bowed to his body.
Huang Rong saw her beloved daughter safe again, she hugged her and tears of joy welled up. She was most thankful of Yang Guo and Imperial Priest Jinlun. Guo Jing, Huang Yaoshi, reverend Yideng were also touched by the actions of the Imperial Priest and were very grateful to him.


-Some names of Yang Guo's techniques have been altered by Jin Yong.
- The personality of the Imperial Priest is also different, in the old version he really did not care for Guo Xiang's life when she was tied to the pole. But here he only launched a FAKE attack, in the old version that was no fake attack.
- The military governor of Xiangyang is Lu Wenhuan. This Lu Wenhuan is the actual brother of the old governor Lu Wende. Lu Wende had rendered some merits, therefore he was given the position as the military chancellor and was now in the capital. His worthless brother Lu Wenhuan assumed command of Xiangyang, Guo Jing and Huang Rong were helping Lu Wenhuan all the time and never met Lu Wende.

[Noodles]

By Lanny Lin (from ROCH second edition)

Excerpt from Chapter 23:

It was pass midnight already. Something woke Yang Guo. Chirrups from a condor rose from the northwest. The chirrups were somewhat croaked, bleak yet intense and lofty. Feeling very curious, he leapt off the rope bed gently and sought his way toward the direction of the sounds. The chirrups would sometimes rise and sometimes stop, but they were much louder than the chirrups from the two condors on the Peach-Blossom Island. The path in front of him descended as he went forth and soon he found himself in a valley. The chirrups weren’t far from where he was. He crept forward on tiptoes and then quietly pushed aside the bushes in front of him. After a quick peep, he was astonished.

Right in front of Yang Guo’s eyes stood a giant condor, taller than a human, yet more ugly even than one’s wildest imagination. Sparse feathers covered the condor’s entire body as if most of its feathers were simply pulled off by somebody. The feathers were in the color of darkish yellow, which made the condor appear dirty and filthy. It did look somewhat similar to the two condors on the Peach-Blossom Island, but its ugliness made the difference as vast as from Heaven to earth. The giant condor had a hooked beak, and a big lump of tumor, as red as blood, occupied the top of its head. There were probably thousands of bird species in the world, but Yang Guo had never seen any bird of prey as imposing and grand as this one. The condor strode about in big steps with its two extremely thick legs. Sometimes it would extend its two short wings, so short that one would wonder if the condor was capable of flying. But the way it walked, with its head held high, certainly showed great power and grandeur.

After some more chirrups from the condor, rustling sounds came from nearby, and suddenly, under the vivid moonlight, four poisonous snakes in bright colors shot at the ugly condor like four arrows. The ugly condor turned its head back and forth swiftly, and with four precise pecks, killed the four snakes instantly. The accuracy of the pecks and the speed it displayed were almost in match with first-class elite fighters in the Marital World.

Yang Guo was shocked by the magnificent skills the condor had put on display. Immediately, his belittling thoughts turned into surprise and admiration. The ugly condor opened its giant mouth and soon swallowed the four snakes down its throat.

“If I can catch this ugly condor and put him next to Guo Fu’s two condors, I am sure this condor would be no inferior to her condors,” Yang Guo thought aloud.

As he was still pondering hard how to trap the condor, a sudden stinking smell caught his attention. Something poisonous and big must be close by.

The ugly condor raised its head and chirped three times as if sending a signal of challenge to the hidden enemy. A loud whistling sound echoed as a giant serpent, as thick as the diameter of a bowl, with a triangle shaped head, emerged, hanging down from a big tree. And within a fraction of a second, the giant serpent had launched its attack on the condor viciously. The ugly condor didn’t yield, but lunged forward instead. Thrusting its beak out like a flash, the condor had taken the poisonous giant serpent’s right eye out. The condor’s neck looked short and thick, and it seemed as if it would have a hard time turning its head around, but when the condor shot the beak out and then retracted it back in lightening speed, Yang Guo couldn’t even tell how the condor had blinded the giant serpent even though he had sharp eyes.

The giant poisonous serpent apparently experienced excruciating pain from losing its right eye. It opened its giant mouth wide and then clamped the huge jaws down hard, biting onto the big tumor on the ugly condor’s head. Yang Guo was astounded. He couldn’t help but utter a cry of shock.

Excited by the success, the giant poisonous serpent let itself fall off the tree, and then immediately wrapped its over-twenty-feet-long body around the ugly condor tightly. It seemed that the ugly condor was not going to get out alive this time.

Not wishing to see the ugly condor die from the poisonous serpent’s attack, Yang Guo sprang forward with his sword and hacked the blade toward the serpent’s body. Suddenly, the condor swung its right wing swiftly and smacked on Yang Guo’s right arm with tremendous force. Yang Guo was taken by complete surprise. His “Gentleman Sword”[1] flew out of his grip and traveled dozens of feet in the air before falling back down to the ground. Dumbfounded, Yang Guo stared at the ongoing fight and saw the condor pecking continuously on the serpent’s back. Every peck would end up with blood spurting out of the wound like a small fountain.

“I guess you must be certain about your victory and don’t want any help from me then!” Yang Guo thought.

The poisonous serpent squeezed tighter and tighter with its giant body. The ugly condor’s feathers almost stood up as it struggled to get out of the grip. Seeing that the condor seemed to be losing the battle, Yang Guo picked up a large rock and smacked the serpent’s body with it again and again. Feeling the pain, the giant serpent let lose of its grip slightly when the ugly condor suddenly reached out its beak and blinded the serpent’s right eye with a swift peck. The giant serpent opened its jaws wide and bit madly. Because both of its eyes were taken out, the bites were vicious but aimless. Its huge and poisonous fangs only landed on thin air. The ugly condor grabbed the serpent’s neck with its claws and pressed it against the ground with all its weight on top. Meanwhile, its sharp beak never stopped pecking down hard on the serpent’s head again and again. The serpent twisted and turned and slapped the ground hard with its giant body, trying to get out of the grip, but the condor seemed to have endless of strength and kept the serpent’s head under his claws. After a long while, the serpent finally stopped twitching and lay still, dead.

The ugly condor raised its head high and let out three loud chirps. Then it turned its head toward Yang Guo and chirruped in a much softer tone, as if it was calling out to him.

Hearing the friendly chirrups from the condor, Yang Guo walked slowly near the condor. “Brother Condor, your strength is so incredible! It’s so impressive!” he cheered.

The ugly condor answered with some more soft chirrups. Slowly, it walked next to Yang Guo and then patted him on the shoulder gently with its left wing. Seeing how smart and unusual the condor was, Yang Guo was very pleased, so he also patted the condor gently on its back.

The ugly condor let out some more chirrups in low pitches. Holding the corner of Yang Guo’s shirt in its mouth, the condor pulled a couple of times before letting lose of the grip and started walking away in big strides. Yang Guo knew the condor had wanted him to follow, so he tagged along. The ugly condor’s legs moved so swiftly that its speed was no slower than a galloping horse. Yang Guo had to use his Qing-Gong techniques in order to keep up with it. He couldn’t help feeling very impressed inwardly. The path the condor took descended lower and lower. Soon, Yang Guo found himself inside a deep valley. After walking continuously for another good while, they came to the entrance of a big cave. The ugly condor nodded its head three times with three chirrups as if it was saluting toward the cave. Then it turned its head to stare at Yang Guo.

“There must be some kind of a hermit master who lives in the cave. Then of course the giant condor must be a tamed pet of his. I must show my respect,” Yang Guo thought to himself. So he knelt down in front of the cave and kowtowed.

“Yang Guo hereby shows his respect to a senior master. Please forgive me for disturbing your peace,” he said and then waited. But no one answered from inside the cave.

The condor pulled Yang Guo’s shirt again and then walked inside the cave. Yang Guo stared at the dark cave in front of him, not knowing if there was really an elite Kung Fu master inside or some kind of goblins or trolls. Feeling a bit uneasy and anxious, he decided to give no thoughts about his own safety and followed in.

The cave was actually not deep at all. Only about thirty feet into the cave, they had already reached the end. Other than a table and a bench made out of stones, there was nothing inside the cave. The ugly condor chirped again, signaling toward a corner of the cave. Casting a glance toward the corner, Yang Guo saw a pile of rocks and stones of all shapes and sizes jumbled together. It looked like a grave.

“This must be the grave of a lofty hermit. Too bad the condor doesn’t know how to speak and can’t tell me more about him,” Yang Guo thought aloud.

He looked up and then something caught his attention. The rock wall seemed to have some words written on it. But thick dust and moss almost covered the entire rock wall, and it was hard to tell what words they were in the dark. Lighting a dry stick, Yang Guo wiped the moss off with his hand, and not to his surprise, three lines of words appeared. The strokes of the words were thin but were carved into the rock wall very deeply. It seems that the words were carved in using a very sharp blade. The three lines of words said,

“Having roamed the martial world for more than thirty years, I have killed all my villainous foes and defeated all heroic champions. There’s no one who can be my equal under the same sky. Without any other choice, I could only retreat to this deep valley, living a hermit’s life in seclusion, having only a condor as my companion. Alas, throughout my life I searched for a match in vain. Unbearable loneliness is my destiny.”

The signature at the bottom was, “Demonic Swordsman Dugu Seeking-A-Loss.”

Yang Guo read the three lines of words back and forth. Astonishment and deep admiration filled his heart. He could clearly feel the sadness and loneliness behind the words. Because there was no match for him in the entire world, this lofty master had to live a hermit’s life in seclusion in the deep valley. His understanding of martial arts must have reached the ultimate high. His title was “Demonic Swordsman,” then his skills in sword art must have been miraculous. And his name was “Seeking-A-Loss,” then he must have traveled all over the world looking for someone who can defeat him, but all his efforts were in vain and he eventually passed away in great disappointment. His mind filled with imaginations of how the sword master had roamed the marital world, Yang Guo was lost in thoughts.

A long while passed before Yang Guo finally got hold of himself again. Holding the burning stick, he searched around in the cave, but failed to find anything else related to the sword master. The grave made out of a pile of rocks and stones didn’t have any sign or tombstone on it. He figured that after the sword master had passed away, it must have been the divine condor that had picked all the rocks and stones and piled them on top of the sword master’s dead body.

Feeling his admiration growing bigger and bigger, Yang Guo couldn’t help but kneel in front of the grave and kowtowed. The divine condor seemed to be pleased to see him show great respect to the grave and gently patted him on the shoulder a couple of times.

“The sword master Dugu had called the condor a companion. Then even though the condor is only an animal, it really is a senior of mine. It would be very appropriate if I call him Brother Condor,” Yang Guo thought to himself. So he said, “Brother Condor, it must be fate that has brought us together. I need to leave now. Would you like to go with me or would you rather stay here guarding sword master Dugu’s grave?”

The divine condor answered with some chirrups. Yang Guo couldn’t understand what the condor had said, but seeing that the condor stayed by the side of the grave, he thought, “The many senior masters in the martial world never mentioned somebody named Dugu Seeing-A-Loss, then he must have been someone only existed sixty or seventy years ago. The divine condor has lived here for a long time and became attached to it. Of course he would rather stay than leaving together with me.”

He put his arms around the divine condor’s neck and stroked the condor’s feathers gently. Then he walked out of the cave.

Throughout his life, other than the intimate relationship he had with Little Dragon Girl, he didn’t have any other closer friend. Now when he met the divine condor, although the condor was only an animal, he really felt for a close relationship, and was reluctant to part with him. After every couple of steps, he would turn and cast a glance back. And every time when he turned around, the divine condor would also answer with a loud chirp. Although the two of them were soon hundreds of feet apart, the divine condor could still see him clearly in the dark and chirped every time when Yang Guo turned his head around.

Suddenly, Yang Guo’s heart burned with indignation. He shouted out loud.

“Brother Condor, I don’t have much life left in me. After I take care of the business regarding Uncle Guo’s baby daughter and after I bid my farewell to my aunty,[2] I will come back here. If I get to be buried next to Great Hero Dugu, then my life wouldn’t have been a waste of time after all.”

He bowed and then headed out in big strides.

[Noodles]

Excerpt from Chapter 26:

Yang Guo laid flat on the horseback. In the wooziness, he didn’t care where the horse would take him, as long as Guo Jing wouldn’t be able to find him and he didn’t bump into any Mongolian army. Soon, the horse came near the desolate valley where the Wu brothers had fought each other the night before.

It was dusk already. The long grasses in the valley were even taller than knee-highs. Silence swept the night. Yang Guo was quite sure that he was all alone now, so he lay down in the bushes and tried to get some sleep. By then he couldn’t care less about his own safety, and didn’t even bother to guard against poisonous snakes or wild animals. But the excruciating pain from his wounds never stopped throughout the night. He could barely fall asleep.

The next morning when he opened his eyes and sat up, something suddenly caught his attention. Only inches from him lay two dead centipedes, bloodstains in their mouths, stiff as sticks, with red and black stripes all over their bodies, looking frightful even after they were dead. In shock, Yang Guo examined it more closely and found a big pool of blood next to the centipedes. After a short ponder, he had it figured out. It turned out that the much bleeding from his wounds had created the pool of blood, and because of the strong toxin contained in his blood, the two poisonous centipedes had died off poison.

A wry smile flashed across Yang Guo’s lips as he murmured, “Who would have imagined that even poisonous centipedes couldn’t stand my toxic blood.” Anger, indignation, sorrow and bitterness swelled in his heart. He could no longer control his surging emotions. Raising his head high, he burst into mad laughter.

Three chirps came from the top of the peak and caught Yang Guo’s attention. He looked up. It was the divine condor, its head held high, standing on the very top of the peak. Even though it looked ferocious and hideous, there was something about it that made it looking majestic and awe-inspiring.

Yang Guo was overjoyed as if he had just seen an old friend. “Brother Condor, we have met again!” he shouted.

A long chirp echoed as the divine condor darted down from the peak. It couldn’t fly because of the heavy body and the two short wings, but it could run like a stallion. Within moments, it had already arrived by Yang Guo. Having noticed that one of Yang Guo’s arms was missing the condor fixed its stare at Yang Guo.

“Brother Condor, great misfortune has fallen upon me. That’s why I’ve come to you for shelter,” Yang Guo explained with a wry smile.

He couldn’t tell whether the condor understood him. It simply turned around and started walking. So he grabbed the rein of the horse and followed.

Only after several steps, the divine condor suddenly turned its head back and smacked the belly of the horse with its left wing. Taking a couple of steps back, the horse neighed in pain and jumped up and down.

“I see,” Yang Guo nodded. “Once I enter Brother Condor’s valley, there will be no need to leave again. Why bother keeping the horse?” Deep in his heart, he was already convinced that the condor was really no less intelligent than a human being, so he let go of the rein and followed the divine condor in big strides. Because of his severe wounds, he had to sit down to rest every little while, and the divine condor would then hold its steps and wait for him.

After close to two hours of walking, with many breaks along the way, the two of them arrived at the cave where the Demonic Swordsman Dugu Seeking-A-Loss had been buried in.

Seeing the grave made out of rocks and stones, Yang Guo heaved a long sigh. All sorts of feelings welled up in his mind. “If this legendary master was able to roam the Martial World with no equal, his Kung Fu skills must have been extraordinary,” Yang Guo thought to himself. “But he must have also been very eccentric and arrogant because of his unmatched talents and didn’t get along with ordinary people. That was probably why he just passed away so quietly in such a desolated valley while no great stories or legends of his were told in the Martial World and no sword art manuals or apprentices of his were left behind to pass down his invisible martial arts techniques. His life must have been very exciting and admirable, yet at the same time sad and gloomy. Even though the divine condor is very intelligent, it is so unfortunate that it doesn’t speak, otherwise it could have told a little about the senior master’s life story.”

He stared at the grave blankly, lost in thoughts. When he finally got hold of himself, the divine condor had brought back two wild rabbits from outside the cave. Yang Guo barbecued the rabbits and made a good meal out of them.

Days went by. The wounds started to heal gradually, and Yang Guo found himself on a path of recovery. Every time when he thought of the Little Dragon Girl, he would still feel pain from his chest, but it was far from the kind of unbearable pain he used to have. Yang Guo was the restless type. Having spent so many days in the desolated valley accompanied only by the divine condor, he soon became very bored.

On this no particular day, the verdant hill at the back of the cave caught his attention. It was a beautiful day, so he decided to take on a random scenery walk. About half a mile into the walk, he found himself in front of a big cliff. The cliff towered straight into the sky almost like a huge screen. In the middle of the cliff, probably two hundred feet above the ground, a huge rock, about thirty or forty feet wide, stuck out from the cliff like a platform, and vaguely, he thought he could see words carved on the rock. Raising his head high, he stared up. Only after a long while was he able to tell what they were. Carved on the rock were two large characters: Sword Tomb.

“Why would a sword have a tomb? Could senior master Dugu have somehow broken his favorite sword and decided to bury it here?” Yang Guo’s curiosity started growing.

He walked next to the bottom of the cliff and looked around. The cliff wall was made out of bald rocks. There wasn’t even any grass or bush on the rock wall. There was no rock edges for grabbing or stepping on, which made him wonder how the senior master had been able to climb up the cliff.

He stared at the rock wall for a good while, and the more he stared at it, the bigger the urge to climb up he felt.

“He was also just a human being,” he thought aloud. “How did he climb up so high? He’s got to have some kind of tricks. If he had been able to climb up there using pure martial arts skills, then his skills had to be god like.”

He stared at the rock wall again even more carefully. After a while he noticed something. On the rock wall, there were dozens of patches of moss, each patch several feet away from the other, going upwards in a straight line. An idea popped out. He leapt up and reached for the lowest patch of moss. Not to his surprise, a small hole emerged after he scrubbed out the dark soil. He figured that Dugu Seeking-A-Loss must have dug these holes with sharp blades. After so many years, dirt had accumulated in the holes and mosses had started to grow.

Having nothing else urgent to do, Yang Guo decided to check out this Sword Tomb. But having only one arm left certainly made climbing a more difficult task.

“If I can’t climb up the platform, then I can’t. Who’s going to laugh at me here?” he thought.

After tightening his waistband, he took a deep breath and leapt a few feet up, stepping his left foot in the first small hole. Then he leapt upward again, kicking his right foot toward the second patch of moss. The soft soil fell, and sure enough, there was another small hole on the rock wall just big enough for a foot.

His first attempt at climbing the cliff only lasted a little bit over one hundred feet before he ran out of breath, so he slid back down to the ground.

“I’ve already found over twenty stepping spots. The second attempt should be much easier,” he told himself.

After some meditation at the bottom of the cliff, he gathered enough strength and finally climbed up the rock platform. Although he only had one arm left, his Qing-Gong skills didn’t weaken a single bit. He couldn’t help but feel some relief.

Next to the two large characters “Sword Tomb,” there were two rows of words carved on the rock in smaller font size:

“The Demonic Swordsman Dugu Seeking-A-Loss has become the invincible and unchallenged warrior under Heaven; he therefore buried his swords here. Alas, the heroes of the realm had laid down their arms, now my long sword are sharp as usual yet useless...the agony!”

A mixed feeling of shock and admiration welled up in Yang Guo’s heart. He couldn’t help but feel that this senior master’s personality was very similar to that of his own. Both of them were lofty and defied the entire world. But he himself was certainly far from invincible and unchallenged. And since now he only had one arm left, even if he could survive this time, the chance of him becoming invincible would be too slim. He stared at the two rows of words for a while and then looked down. Rocks and stones formed a big pile in the shape of a tomb, its back facing the deep and broad valley. Putting aside the fact that how brilliant the Demonic Swordsman was, just the sword tomb was impressive enough by its own. It was apparent that this senior master must have been outstanding in both his wits and his martial arts skills, and had high aspirations. He wished that he could have been born many years earlier for a chance to meet such a legendary master in person. Feeling thrilled, he shouted out loud by the sword tomb in a long roar, and moments later, echoes rose in all directions. He suddenly remembered the kind of joy Huang Yaoshi[3] had described to him: “To flick my robe on zenith of the high peak and to wash my feet in the river thousands of miles long.” At the current moment, he could almost feel the same kind of lofty sentiments and aspirations. Although he really yearned to find out what kind of blade had been buried in the tomb, feeling afraid to offend the deceased master, he finally gave up the thought and simply sat down, holding his knees in his arms, and breathed in against the wind. Soon, he almost felt as if his chest had been filled with pure energy and he could just ride the wind and glide in the air.

Several chirrups came from the bottom of the cliff. Yang Guo looked down and saw the divine condor jumping its way up the cliff by holding the small holes with its claws. Although the condor had a heavy body, its leg and claw strength was simply amazing. Only moments later, the condor had already made its way up the rock platform.

After taking a brief look around, the divine condor nodded toward Yang Guo and chirped. The sounds of the chirps were quite different from the sound of its regular chirps.

“Brother Condor, unfortunately I don’t have the skills of Gongye Chang[4] and can’t understand anything you say. Otherwise you could have told me the entire life story of this senior master Dugu,” Yang Guo said with a smile.

The divine condor let out several more chirrups and then reached out with its claws. Grabbing onto some of the rocks on the sword tomb, it started moving them aside.

A thought suddenly popped into Yang Guo’s head. “Senior master Dugu had superior martial arts skills. Could he have left behind some kind of sword arts manual or manuscript?”

The divine condor’s claws kept moving and soon had moved away all the stones on top of the sword tomb, exposing three long swords lying side by side. Between the first sword and the second sword lay a long rock strip. The three long swords and the long rock strip lay neatly on a slab stone.

Yang Guo picked up the first sword on the left and saw two rows of small words carved on the slab stone underneath where the sword was placed.

“Fierce and aggressive, able to penetrate any obstacle. With it, I competed with the heroes of the Northern Plains during my teenage years.”

Looking more carefully at the sword, he found it to be about four feet long. The blade flashed under the daylight. It was indeed a very sharp sword.

Laying the sword back to its original place, he then picked up the long rock strip. There were also two rows of small words underneath carved on the slab stone.

“Flexible Sword of the Purple Rose, used it prior to the age of thirty. With it, I accidentally wounded a righteous man. A weapon of doom, I abandoned it in a deep valley.”

“The sword is missing because he had abandoned it,” Yang Guo thought. “I wonder how he ended up wounding a righteous man. Perhaps no one will ever get to know the story behind.”

After a short daze, he reached out to pick up the second sword. But only inches off the slab stone, the sword fell out of his grip and smacked back onto the slab stone. A loud clank echoed as sparks sparkled everywhere. That gave Yang Guo a good shock.

Although the sword looked dark with nothing unusual, it turned out to be extremely heavy. The sword was only slightly longer than three feet, but it weighed at least one hundred and ten to one hundred and thirty pounds, several times heavier even than the heaviest saber or halberd used in battlefield. He had not expected it to be this heavy when he picked it up. Caught by surprise, he had lost grip of the sword. The second time when he picked it up, knowing what to expect, he had a good grip on the sword. When prepared, something as heavy as one hundred and thirty pounds really wasn’t hard for him at all. Taking a better look at the sword, he found both sides of the blade blunt, and the tip of the sword was more like a half circle.

“This sword is too heavy. How can someone wield a sword like this and still able to control it well? Besides, the blades on both sides and the sword tip are all blunt. How strange!” he thought aloud.

Looking down on the slab stone underneath where the sword was, he also found two rows of small words.

“Heavy sword with blunt edges, simplicity brings superiority. Before I reached the age of forty, I used it to roam the entire world under Heaven.”

Yang Guo murmured the words “heavy sword with blunt edges, simplicity brings superiority” repeatedly. He seemed to have comprehended part of the idea, but the idea was still very vague in his head. There were many styles of sword arts in the world, but regardless of style or school, each sword art always emphasized in flexibility and speed. How should this heavy sword be used? He couldn’t help imagining how the senior master had wielded the heavy sword and soon fell into a trance.

Only after a long while did Yang Guo lay the heavy sword down and reached out for the third sword. But this time something went wrong again. He had thought that this third sword must have been even heavier than the previous one, so when he reached out to pick up the sword, he made sure he had shifted enough strength to his left arm, but the sword turned out to be so light that he felt as if he had only picked up empty air. Casting a closer glance at it, he found a wooden sword in his hand. After the many years, part of the sword body and the hilt were almost completely rotten. The words underneath said,

“After the age of forty, I no longer relied on weaponry. Even bushes, trees, bamboo sticks or rocks call all be my swords. From then on, I achieved great progress and slowly reached the realm of overcoming the sword without a sword.”

Laying the wooden sword back to its original place respectfully, Yang Guo sighed in great admiration.

“The senior master’s brilliant skills must have exceeded way beyond my imagination,” he murmured.

Thinking of the idea that there might be sword art manuals or the kind underneath the slab stone, he grabbed the slab stone and lifted it up. But there was nothing under except the hard surface of the rock platform. He couldn’t help but feel slightly disappointed.

The divine condor let out a loud chirp. Lowering its head, he picked the heavy sword up with his beak and then placed it in Yang Guo’s hand. With another loud chirp, the condor suddenly swung his left wing and smacked down toward Yang Guo’s head. The swing was so fierce and powerful that Yang Guo could feel the strong wind generated from the powerful swing long before the condor’s wing even came close to him. In the split of the second, Yang Guo felt as if he couldn’t even breathe, and when he finally broke out from the brief shock, the divine condor had held its wing still only about one foot away from his head. Another two chirps came from the condor.

“Brother Condor, are you interested in checking out my Kung Fu skills?” Yang Guo grinned. “I’ve got nothing else to do. Fine, let’s have some fun.”

But it would be too hard to wield the over-one-hundred-pound heavy sword, so he put it down and picked up the first sword. To his surprise, the divine condor suddenly retracted its two wings and turned his head aside, paying no more attention to him, its face covered with disdain.

Yang Guo immediately understood. “You want me to wield the heavy sword? But my Kung Fu skills are so ordinary. I am certain I would be no match for you, especially on top of this steep cliff, Brother Condor. You’ve got to cut me some slacks!” he said with a grin.

Picking the heavy sword back up, he gathered his inner energy around his lower stomach and shifted his strength to his left arm before stabbing the sword out slowly. The divine condor didn’t even turn around. Swinging its left wing backwards, the divine condor attacked, its wing colliding with the heavy sword. Yang Guo felt a stream of vigorous force rushing toward him passing through the sword, so powerful that he almost ran out of breath. In a rush, he let out a roar and fought the force back with all his strength. The sword shook slightly between the two forces and suddenly all Yang Guo could see was complete darkness, and seconds later he fell unconscious.

Slowly, he regained consciousness, not knowing how long it had passed. Something unbearably bitter in his mouth immediately caught his attention. Meanwhile, some kind of bitter juice kept dripping down his throat. He opened his eyes and saw the divine condor placing a dark purple ball shaped thing into his mouth. This thingy stunk like a rotten fish, but Yang Guo ate it anyway, thinking that since the divine condor was extremely intelligent, this thingy in its mouth had to be something good. With only a gentle bite, the skin of the ball shaped thingy cracked open and immediately his mouth was filled with bitter juice.

The juice was extremely bitter and smelly. It tasted terrible. Yang Guo really wanted to spit them all out, but he didn’t want to go against the divine condor’s good will and finally managed to swallow them down. A few moments later, he tried to slightly control his inner energy flow, and to his surprise, he found his breathing smooth and fluent. He stood back up, and again, not only didn’t he feel tired or exhausted, instead, he felt totally refreshed, no, it was even better than before.

Yang Guo was puzzled. Logically, when someone got knocked out with a strong blow, even if the person was lucky enough to not get injured seriously, he would at least feel soreness all over his body. Could that dark purple ball shaped thingy be some kind of magical cure?

He bent over and picked the heavy sword up. It felt as if the sword had become slightly lighter than before. Right at the second, the divine condor let out another loud chirp before striking with its wing again. This time Yang Guo dared not taking on the blow directly and dodged to the side. The divine condor took a step forward and struck again with both wings, fierce and powerful. Yang Guo knew that the condor had no ill intention toward him, but even though the condor was extremely intelligent, it was still just an animal, with the kind of mighty power it possessed, when it attacked with its wings, it wouldn’t really know when to stop and how to restrain its power. If he had gotten hit by the wing and fallen off the rock platform, that would for sure kill him. Seeing the two wings striking toward him, he took two steps back in a hurry. By then, his left foot was already on the edge of the rock platform.

Who would have thought that the condor showed no mercy? With a quick stretch, its sharp beak had shot out toward Yang Guo’s chest. Having no space to retreat back, Yang Guo had no choice but to block the attack with the sword. The peck landed squarely on the sword. A tremendous shock ran through Yang Guo’s arm and he almost had to let go the heavy sword. The divine condor immediately followed with a low sweep using its right wing and strike toward Yang Guo’s ankles. Astonished, Yang Guo jumped up and leapt over the divine condor’s head, rushing toward the inside of the platform. In fear that the condor would follow up with its attacks, he waved the sword backward. A loud clank echoed as the sword collided with another peck from the condor.

Having so narrowly escaped death, Yang Guo broke out in a cold sweat. “Brother Condor,” he shouted, “I am not Master Dugu!” Feeling aching and limp in his feet, he sat down. The divine condor let out two low chirps and halted its attack.

Having blurted out the words “I am not Master Dugu” without much thinking, Yang Guo suddenly thought of something. The condor had been a long time companion of senior master Dugu. The way it had struck and moved about actually had matched with martial arts principles loosely. Perhaps when senior master Dugu sometimes became bored living in the desolated valley all by himself, he had treated the condor as if it was a spar partner of his. Senior master Dugu had long perished, along with all his superior martial arts techniques. But it might be possible to find some traces of this great Master’s martial arts style and essence from the condor. At that thought, he became pleased and stood up.

“Brother Condor, watch out!” he shouted. “Here comes another sword move!” Pushing the heavy sword forward as fast as he could, he stabbed it toward the divine condor’s chest.

The divine condor blocked the sword with its left wing and then struck another heavy blow with its right wing. Its strength was simply too strong. Every time when it swung its wings, the force it generated was on par with the kind of force generated by several first-class fighters hitting out their palm strikes at the same time. Besides, the sword in Yang Guo’s hand was simply too heavy for him to use any sword moves out of the Quan-Zhen Sword Art or Jade-Maiden Sword Art. So for defense, all he could do was to dodge to the sides, and for offense, all he did was stabbing the sword forward clumsily.

After a few moments into the fight, Yang Guo became tired and sat down to rest. As soon as he sat down, the divine condor would step aside. The two of them played like this for well over two hours before they finally slid down the platform and went back to the cave.

When Yang Guo woke up the next morning, the divine condor had already placed three dark purple stinking balls by his side. After some careful examination, Yang Guo finally realized that these were animal gallbladders. He remembered that when he met the divine condor the first time, it was feeding on poisonous snakes and also fought with a giant serpent. Then these must have been snake gallbladders. He wondered if the gallbladder of a poisonous snake would also be venomous, but after he had eaten a gallbladder the day before, he had felt totally refreshed and rejuvenated, having even more strength in him than before. Besides, there were already strong toxins from the Flower of Love and the Icy Silver Needles inside his body; he really couldn’t care less. So in a few bites, he quickly swallowed the gallbladders, and then sat up to meditate. To his great surprise, many of the pressure points along his inner channels that he had a hard time sending inner energy flowing through before suddenly all opened up, and the energy flow inside him became so smooth and fluent. In great happiness, Yang Guo uttered a loud cry of joy. Usually, when someone was in the middle of cultivating his inner energy flow in a meditation stance, it was critical for him to abstain from irrelevant thoughts, especially extreme joy or extreme grief, but this time his inner energy continued to flow smoothly around his body with no glitches or any blockage.

Jumping back onto his feet, Yang Guo picked up the heavy sword and stepped out of the cave for some more rounds of sword training. Having no more fear and worries, even though he still dodged a lot more than blocking, once in a while, he was actually able to organize some sneak attacks in between the fierce and powerful forces created from the divine condor’s waving of its mighty wings.

This kind of training went on for several days, and gradually, he was able to wield the heavy sword with better control. It almost felt as if the heavy sword was no longer as heavy as the time when he first wielded it. In the meantime, he also came to realize that all the sword arts he had learned before were too intricate with too many fancy techniques. He kept thinking about Dugu Seeking-A-Loss’s words “heavy sword with blunt edges, simplicity brings superiority” on the slab stone. They had described a realm of sword art much more advanced compared to even the most ingenious sword techniques in the world. While sparring with the divine condor, he concentrated on comprehending the movement of his sword, and what he started to realize was that the more ordinary a sword move is, the more difficult it was for the opponent to defend against it. For example, if he simply stabbed out straight forward, as long as he had fierce and resourceful power to back it, the might of the stab would be actually more powerful than the kind of sword arts like the Jade Maiden Sword Art that relied on fluctuating and unpredictable techniques. Even though he only has one arm – his left arm, from eating those snake gallbladders the divine condor had brought to him, he had no idea that his arm had become much stronger than before.

One day while strolling about the valley, he discovered the bodies of three giant poisonous snakes on the ground. Their bellies had been ripped open and cuts from sharp claws left snake blood all over their bodies. By then, he was sure that the bitter things he had been eating were snake gallbladders. The bodies of these poisonous snakes shinned vaguely in a golden color. He had never seen any snakes like these before and had no idea what kind of snakes they were.

“I suppose the reason why the divine condor has such tremendous strength is because it had eaten a lot of snake gallbladders of this strange specie of snakes,” he thought to himself.

After over a month worth of sparring, with some hard efforts, Yang Guo could actually take on the divine condor’s mighty force head to head now, and each of his stab had also become so powerful that it would whistle in the air. He couldn’t help but feel much gratified about himself. Since his skills in martial arts had advanced to a new level, the martial arts he learned before all seemed to be so insignificant, just like once one climbs to the top of Mount Tai, the whole world looked small and insignificant. But in another thought, he realized that without his previous foundation in martial arts training, he wouldn’t have been able to advance to such a new level. After all, the divine condor was just an animal that couldn’t speak. It might be able to guide some, but it would never be able to explain things or provide advice. Besides, the divine condor didn’t really know any true martial arts skills. All it had was the god-given mighty strength plus the handful of moving and dodging techniques it had picked up while sparring with Dugu Seeking-A-Loss in the many years of companionship.

One morning, after Yang Guo got up, he found heavy rain pouring down from the dark cloud covered sky.

“Brother Condor, it’s raining very hard. Are we still going to train today?” he asked the divine condor.

The condor held Yang Guo’s sleeve in its beak and pulled him toward the northeast. Then it let go of the sleeve and strode out.

“Is there something strange again in the northeast?” Yang Guo thought aloud. He grabbed the heavy sword and then followed in the rain.

After a couple of miles into the journey, some vague but continuous rumbling sound came to Yang Guo’s attention. And the further they walked, the louder the rumbling sound became. It was the sound of a waterfall.

“With such a pouring rain, I’d better watch out for mountain torrents,” Yang Guo reminded himself.

After turning over a mountain gorge, the sound of the waterfall all of a sudden became so much louder that it could almost deafen one’s hearing. Between two peaks, the waterfall crashed down poured into the creek below like a white dragon. In the thunderous echoes, the swift currents rushed downward with mighty force. The many broken branches and rocks, carried forward by the currents, only took a split of a second to be flushed down the stream.

By then, the rain had become even heavier and Yang Guo had become soaking wet. A think mist from the smashing waterfall surrounded everything, creating a magnificent view. But seeing the mighty force from the mountain tolerance, Yang Guo couldn’t help but feel a slight dread inside of him.

Holding Yang Guo’s sleeve in its beak, the divine condor dragged him toward the creek as if it wanted Yang Guo to jump down.

“Why do you want me to go down there? The stream is running very swift. I am afraid that I would be able to hold myself steady,” Yang Guo asked in surprise.

The divine condor let go of Yang Guo’s sleeve, and after a long and loud roar, it jumped into the creek and landed steadily on a huge rock in the middle of the creek. The condor swung its left wing forward. A rock that had been carried down by the rushing current was sent back up the stream from the swing. As soon as the rock came back down with the current again, it swung its wing once again, which sent the rock flying up the stream the second time. Thus the condor did the same thing five or six more times, and the rock never made it pass the condor. By the seventh time, the divine condor gave it a good smack, which sent the rock flying out of the water and finally landing on the bank. The divine condor then leapt back onto the bank and stood next to Yang Guo.

Yang Guo understood. Demonic Swordsman Dugu Seeking-A-Loss must have come here often to train sword arts in the mountain tolerance every time when it rained. But he knew very well that he didn’t yet possess such skills and strength. Feeling afraid, he hesitated.

Suddenly, the divine condor extended its wing out and pushed Yang Guo in the arm. Since it was standing so close to Yang Guo, and the push caught Yang Guo by surprise, he lost his footing and fell into the creek.

In the rush, Yang Guo quickly used a technique called the “thousand-pound plummet” and landed on that huge rock the divine condor had stood on. As soon as his feet entered the water, the great force from the swift current almost swept him off his feet. Yang Guo tumbled back and forth and had a hard time maintaining his balance.

“Senior master Dugu is a human, I am also a human. If he could hold himself steady, why can’t I?” Yang Guo thought to himself. So he took a deep breath and then concentrated all his attention in the effort to fight the force from the swift currents. That alone had exhausted all his strength. It was simply impossible for him to spare any strength to hit the rocks in the currents with the heavy sword.

In the amount of time of burning down a joss stick, Yang Guo had exhausted all his strength, so he jabbed his sword on the rock, and with the push, leapt back on to the bank. Before he even had a moment to catch his breath, the divine condor had already swung its wing toward him once again. Having being on his guard, he dodged the push swiftly. Quickly taking in a few deep breaths, he jumped back down into the creek himself, thinking, “This condor brother is indeed a strict teacher and a forthcoming friend. He wouldn’t cut me any slacks in the training. He certainly has high expectations, and I, of course, want good improvements.”

At this thought, he directed all his energy to the lower half of his body and held his footing steadily. As time went by, he gradually comprehended some techniques as to how to focus his energy and how to best utilize his strength. Even though the mountain torrent had grown larger and water had rose up to his waist, he was able to hold his own a little easier compared to the previous efforts. A few moments passed and by then water had rose up to his chest and soon up to his mouth.

“Even though I can hold my footing now, I don’t think I’ll just stand here and get drowned!” he thought. So he leapt back on to the bank.

Who had expected that the divine condor had been waiting by the bank? Before his feet touched the ground, the condor struck out with its wing. Yang Guo hurriedly blocked it using the heavy sword, but the striking force sent Yang Guo right back into the creak. Splash, he fell back into the water.

When his feet touched the giant rock under the steam, his entire boy was under the surface. Water had filled his mouth as he was falling down. Yang Guo knew that if he had spit the water out of his mouth, then his inner energy would shift upward, thus reducing the strength in his legs, so he held his breath and took a stable stance. A few moments later, he pushed hard with his feet and leapt in the air. A stream of water darted out from his mouth. Taking another quick breath, Yang Guo fell back down to the bottom of the creek. The turbulences and swift currents rumbled through above his head. He simply stayed still like a firm rock in midstream. Gradually his mind calmed down.

“Brother Condor wanted me to stand in the middle of the mountain torrent, but if I don’t hit the rocks in the currents, for sure he would belittle me,” Yang Guo thought.

He was a man of great pride and was always eager to excel. Even though the condor was only an animal, he would still rather not lose face in front of it. So when he spotted the branches and rocks brought down by the current, he jabbed and stabbed and tried hard to push them back them way they came from. In the water, the rocks had become lighter. The heavy sword also felt lighter and easier to control when he waved it around under water. He waved and swung and jabbed and stabbed the sword until he was completely exhausted and begun to have a hard time holding his footing. Then he finally leapt back onto the bank.

He was quite afraid that the divine condor would once again force him back into the creek again. Without some rest, his tiring legs probably wouldn’t be able to stand the forces from the mountain torrent. Not to his surprise, the divine condor didn’t want him on the bank at all. As soon as it saw him leaping out of the water, the condor struck out with its wing.

“Brother Condor,” Yang Guo shouted in complaint, “you know you are just killing me right now?”

He jumped back into the creek for a little while but simply could not stand the currents any longer and had to leapt back to the bank. Seeing the divine condor’s wing striking toward him, not willing to sit down and give in, he had no other choices but to stab the sword at the divine condor. The two of them soon exchanged three moves, and to his great surprise, the divine condor was forced to take one step back.

“Excuse me!” Yang Guo shouted as he extended his arm and stabbed forth the sword again. Sound of whistling echoed as the blade cut through thin air – this was something quite different from his past experience.

Seeing the tip of Yang Guo’s sword approaching rapidly toward it, the divine condor no longer dared to take it straight on and had to dodge aside.

Yang Guo knew that the half-day worth of training in the mountain torrents must have improved his strength tremendously. A mixed feeling of shock and joy swarmed in his heart. He couldn’t help but question himself, “It would certainly take more than a couple of weeks to increase one’s strength and power. How did I gain such great strength after wielding the sword underwater for a mere half-day?” He finally concluded that it had to be the snake gallbladders from the snakes of the strange specie. Those gallbladders must have magical effects in increasing one’s power and strength. That was why his strength and inner power had increased tremendously, and he had only noticed it when he released the strength accidentally in the dangerous circumstance.

He sat by the creek and meditated for a while. His strength soon replenished. This time he jumped back into the creek for more training without being forced by the divine condor. By the time he leapt back up the bank, the divine condor was no longer waiting by the creek, leaving no clue as to where it had gone.

The rain had begun to slow down. Yang Guo figured that mountain torrents would have been a lot smaller and weaker the next day. Since he didn’t feel that tired, it would be better to train some more right now while the torrent still lasted. At that thought, he jumped back into the creek.

By the time he got back onto the bank the forth time, he found two snake gallbladders placed closed to the bank. Feeling utterly grateful for the divine condor’s caring, he ate them and then continued on with his training. Night came, and the mountain torrent had slowly become smaller and weaker.

That night he didn’t sleep at all and kept on training in the creek. Gradually he began to realize many sword art principles such as piercing following the force, blocking against the force, slashing from the side, and chopping with a back swing. By then he finally understood: Wielding a sword this way, nothing would be strong enough to stand the force from the sword, and there would be no need for the sword to have a sharp blade. But without such a unique heavy sword, which was twenty or even thirty times heavier compared to a normal sword, this kind of sword art wouldn’t have been effective. If it were just an ordinary blade, the force released from a gentle wrist snap would have shocked the blade into pieces.

The rain finally stopped, and the clear sky shined dimly in dark blue. Moonlight from a new moon illuminated over the trees and the water in the creek, painting everything with silver. Yang Guo watched the swift currents flushing down the creek path non-stop, his mind as clear as the sky. By then, he had understood the principles behind the flow of currents and mastered the techniques with the heavy sword. He knew that he had learned the entire sword art of the heavy sword and there was no more to learn. Even if the Demonic Swordsman could have come back to life, all he could have taught would still be the same. From now on as his inner energy grew, he would be able to used lighter swords, and eventually be able to wield a wooden sword like the heavy sword, but that would all be attributed to the advancement in his own abilities and skills. Regarding the sword art, this was as far as it would ever be.

Yang Guo paced back and forth along the bank. Raising his head high, he stared at the bright moon and soon was lost in thoughts. If senior master Dugu hadn’t left him this heavy sword, or if there wasn’t the divine condor to guide him, furthermore, if he didn’t eat those gallbladders of the strange snakes and thus gained tremendous amount of inner strength, then the entire world wouldn’t have had the luxury of seeing this sword art once again. Dugu Seeking-A-Loss didn’t have any help or reference, yet was able to comprehend such acme of sword arts all by himself. His cleverness must have been a hundred times better than mine.

Yang Guo’s admiration and understanding of this past sword master kept growing as he imagined the senior master’s demeanor in his mind. Suddenly, a thought popped into his head.

“If auntie could see the great kung fu skills I possess now, she would be very happy for me for sure. Alas, where is she now? Is she also staring at the beautiful moon and thinking of me?” As soon as he thought of the Little Dragon Girl, severe pain rose from inside his chest.

“Even though I’ve comprehended the ultimate principles of sword art,” Yang Guo thought, “what good does it do if I stay here in the remote mountain all by myself? What if the poison from the Flower of Love suddenly activated tomorrow and killed me? Wouldn’t this magnificent sword art get lost for eternity?”

At this thought, aspiration rose again in his heart.

“I shall follow senior master Dugu’s footsteps and defeat all heroes under heaven with this sword art. Then I can die with no regrets,” he spoke out his thought loudly.

Looking at what was left of his right arm, Yang Guo knitted his eyebrows into a straight line, and his hatred for Guo Fu, the one person who had mercilessly cut off his arm, swarmed his heart once more.

“This girl relied on the facts that her father is a legendary hero and her mother is the chief of the Beggars Clan. She has never respected me. When I was still a kid and lived in her home, she treated me with so much distain and humiliation. I was actually doing her a favor when I lied to the Wu brothers. If any one of the Wu brothers ended up dead because of her, wouldn’t she be the one to blame for? Humph! She took advantage of my severe illness and cut my arm off. If I don’t settle the score with her one day, I am not a true man!”

He had always been one who took in kindness and grudge to his heart without a forgiving heart. Before, right after his arm was cut off, he had no other choices but to hide in the remote valley for the wound to heal. Now when his wound had sealed and his Kung Fu skills had progressed dramatically, he could no longer hold his urge for revenge. Having made up his mind, he immediately returned to the cave.

“Brother Condor,” he said to the divine condor, “I’ll never be able to repay the great kindness you’ve shown me. There are still several matters in the Martial World that I need to take care of. That’s why I need to leave you temporarily. I’ll be back here again once I’ve taken care of those businesses. If you don’t mind, I need to borrow senior master Dugu’s heavy sword for the trip.”

He bowed down toward the divine condor deeply and then knelt down in front of the stone grave of Dugu Seeking-A-Loss to salute before heading out of the valley. The divine condor walked with him all the way to the opening of the valley. After many affectionate hugs between the man and the condor, Yang Guo bid his farewell and got on with his journey.

The heavy sword was indeed very heavy. If he had tied it to his waistband, the waistband would break in no time. Yang Guo cut down three old vines from the bushes and made a rope out of them. Tying the heavy sword on his back, he ran using his Qing-Gong and headed straight toward the city of Xiangyang.

[The End]

[1] “Gentleman Sword” is the name of Yang Guo’s sword. It is the male-sword out of a pair of ancient swords Yang Guo and Little Dragon Girl found in the Ancient Tomb (if I remembered it right). The female-sword out of the pair is named “Maiden Sword.”

[2] He was referring to Little Dragon Girl here.

[3] Huang Yaoshi, nicknamed East Wicked, was the father of Huang Rong and father-in-law of Guo Jing. He enjoyed great fame as one of the five top fighters. He was also famous for his eccentric personality.

[4] Gongye Chang was a man in ancient Chinese folklore that could understand animal languages.

[Noodles]

By Noodles (from second edition of ROCH)

Rough description of the Yang Guo and Zhou Bo Tong fight from chapter 34:

Zhou Bo Tong started the fight with his Vacant Fist. Yang Guo replied with a palm but felt there was something wrong with the power of the fist; it seemed as if it weren't there. He considered using soft palms as a response but decided against it, as it would be too risky so he used hard palms even though it wouldn't match. He used the palm techniques that he developed over the years in the seas. 3 palms later, petals were flying around everywhere and after another 3, branches from trees fell. Because Yang Guo was worried that Zhou would not be able to take his fierce and overbearing palms because of his age, he retracted the power from his palms as soon as he sent it out but after six stances, Yang Guo knew Zhou's internal energy was very profound and so did not hold anything back any longer because the Vacant Fist's ingenuity was above the martial arts that he was using.

After a while, Zhou had used all 72 fists of his Vacant Fist. He had the advantage of better technique but his internal energy (type) could not compare with overbearing and boundless force of Yang Guo.

After seeing his Vacant Fist could do nothing to Yang Guo, he praised him (to himself) and then suddenly changed stances and used his left right technique to fight.

Yang Guo was already at a disadvantage when it was one hand versus two, now it became even more so. Yang Guo was slightly alarmed and could only increase the power in his palms and used his sleeve to take some of the attacks.

Then Guo Xiang came in complaining about being unfair and all that etc., etc., Zhou thought she was right and thought it would also be fun to fight with one hand so he placed his right hand in his belt to fight. Yang Guo was slightly miffed when he saw Zhou do this because he felt it was looking down on him.

Anyway, some more chatting and then Yang Guo chopped out a left palm. Zhou replied with a left fist and didn't use his right arm.

Twenty stances passed. The yangness in Zhou's fist and palms gradually surfaced. Yang Guo noticed the changed and suddenly remembered the Demon Subduing Fist of the Nine Yin Manual in the tomb. Yang Guo shouted what about the 'Demon Subduing Fist'? Use two hands and take my 'An Ran Xiao Hun Zhang' (Yang Guo's sad palms. I'll think of a translation later).

Zhou was shocked; one, Yang Guo actually knew what technique he was using and two, 'An Ran Xiao Hun Zhang' - Zhou was knowledgeable in the martial arts from the sects of the world but he has never heard of this martial art before. He looked at Yang Guo and saw him with his arm bent, his eyes seemingly far away. His legs seemed floaty and his front was completely open to attack- his form contradicted martial arts norm. Zhou went forward to test him out and threw a fist towards Yang Guo's stomach.

He was afraid that he'll hurt his opponent so he only put thirty percent power in his fist. Just as he was about to make contact, Yang Guo's stomach and chest contracted and extended outwards. Zhou leapt back in shock- skilled fighters contracting their bodies to avoid attacks was fairly normal but he has never seen someone use their chest and stomach to actually attack someone. This was 'An Ran Xiao Hun Zhang's' 13th stance, 'Muscles Jumping with the Frightened Heart'.

The chapter then goes on about how he developed the palms. After the training by the ocean, apart from gradually strengthening his internal energy, he practised no new martial arts. Some more stuff about how his longing for Xiao Long Nuu was etched into his bones etc., etc., One day while walking by the sea, out of boredom he started to throw a few fists and kicks about. By now, his internal energy was at a very high level - anything he threw out contained great power. One of his light palms landed on a turtle back and smashed its shell. From then on, he developed a complete set of palm techniques that were completely different to conventional martial arts. The palms relied on internal energy and there were seventeen stances.

Chapter continues about the martial arts he has learnt from the greats etc., Because he had one arm, he did not try to achieve victory in variation in stances but instead he deliberately chose to go against martial arts norm. Also, the names of this palm technique came from a line in one of Jiang Yan’s works (a poet of the Southern Dynasties). This was the first time that the palms have come across such a strong opponent such as Zhou.

Zhou became even more excited when he heard this was a palm that Yang Guo had invented himself and continued to fight – with one hand. Yang Guo faced the sky as if he didn’t even notice that Zhou was there and arched a palm towards his face and then downwards. The palm’s power dispersed all around.

Zhou knew that there was no way to avoid the palm’s power and sent out his palm to meet it. The palms collided and Zhou wobbled- his martial arts were not weaker than his opponents but palm for palm, he could not compete with Yang Guo’s heavy and overbearing palms. This was ‘Gei Ren Yau Tien’ (Causing One to Worry?) Yang Guo called out the next stance – ‘Out of Nothing’.

Yang Guo hung his arm down in a completely unprepared form. As soon as Zhou’s fist came near him, Yang Guo suddenly moved everything; a left palm, a right sleeve, kicks, a head butt, even his chest, back, stomach and waist attacked – they all contained an stance capable of injuring the opponent.

Zhou could never predict a move such as this. In a flash, over ten different stances came at him at once. ‘Out of Nothing’ was ‘one’ stance but it contained tens of variations within. Even someone with martial arts as high as Zhou was forced on the back foot by it. In this situation, he couldn’t help but also use his right arm to fend off the attack. He had to use all his efforts to block this attack, counterattacking never came into the equation. Nevertheless, he managed to block all the attacks and quickly leapt back in case of some more weird moves.

Yang Guo was impressed that Zhou was able to block all these profound sudden attacks and called out the next stance: ‘Bringing Mud with Water’. His right sleeve flowed like water and his left palm slid out heavily like flowing mud and sand.

Zhou recalled something that his apprentice brother Wong Zhong Yang told him about Huang Yao Shi. Huang Yao Shi had a palm technique he invented called the ‘Palms of the Five Elements’, the five elements contained within the palms. Right now, Yang Guo’s right sleeve was like north’s water and his left palm was like central’s earth, light and swift along with heavy and fierce, Zhou did not dare to delay and immediately used the Vacant Fist with his left hand and the Demon Subduing Fist with his right; light against light, heavy against heavy. After the two attacks came together, the both shouted and moved back a couple of steps.

After those four stances, they both had great respect for each other. Yang Guo said something (this is too himself) about how Zhou was the strongest opponent his palms has ever met and if there was going to be a victor, an internal energy competition would be needed – something he was not prepared to do after what happened to Hong Qi Gong and Ou Yang Feng. He swallowed his pride and bowed to him saying he admits defeat. He then tried to leave with Guo Xiang but Zhou had other ideas; he was going to make sure he was going to see the full set of sad palms.

Again, some more talk about if Zhou wanted to see all the palms, he must go and see Ying Gu etc., etc.,

Zhou then blocked Yang Guo’s path and threw out a fist. Yang Guo defended using Quan Zhen martial arts. Zhou changed his fist techniques but Yang Guo kept to using Quan Zhen palm techniques and Nine Yin martial arts to defend.

If Yang Guo wanted to defeat Zhou Bo Tong, it would be no easy task but now that he’s just concentrating on defending, Zhou was not able to do anything to him. No matter what kind of dummies or tricks that Zhou tried, Yang Guo did not fall for any of them. He did not use any new stances of his Sad palms but he repeated the four stances of his Sad palms that he had previously used with different variations to agitate Zhou Bo Tong even more.

The two fought for almost an hour. Zhou Bo Tong was an old man, his vigour has been depleted and his internal energy was no longer the same as it was at the start of the fight. He knew now it would be difficult to get Yang Guo to use a new palm from his ‘An Ren Xiao Hun Zhang’ so he leapt back and begged Yang Guo to take him as his disciple so he can teach him this palm skill. (Zhou is one funny guy).

Fight ends here. They chat for a while, Yang Guo and Guo Xiang found out about the story between Zhou Bo Tong, Yi Deng and Ying Gu. Yang Guo and Zhou Bo Tong talk about his palms for a bit. Then about Xiao Long Nuu and after that Yang Guo and Guo Xiang leave. Zhou follows them a bit later on to see Ying Gu.

The other bit in the chapter that talks about Yang Guo’s internal energy is Yi Deng’s observation on Yang Guo when he was roaring to get Ying Gu out of her hut. Yi Deng said that although his roar was too overbearing and was not a product of pure yang energy, he himself in his prime did not have such abundant internal energy let alone now in his old age. No fighter on earth can compete with the ferociousness of his internal energy. I wonder how he developed it?

Rough translation (may be mistakes or misinterpretations by me)

Excerpt from end of Chapter 32

Yang Guo remained on the Cliff of Anguish for about over a month and imparted the Jade Maiden’s Manual to Lu Wu Shuang. During all this time, he did not find any more clues or news about the whereabouts of Xiao Long Nuu and knew that it would be no use to wait any longer. He gathered a bunch of the anguish grass and then left a parting a message in the sand before leaving the cliff. However, he had still not given up hope on seeing Xiao Long Nuu again so he returned to mount Zhong Nan and went back into the Ancient Tomb. But after seeing that the wedding garments were left untouched and were lying on the bed and floor, his heart was broken once again.

He left the mountain and roamed Jiang Hu for a few months. One day, he found himself near the city of Xiang Yang. The burnt wastelands that the Mongols had left was showing signs of human activity and it appeared that in the past months the Mongols were once again heading south.
He missed Guo Jing but he did not want to see Guo Fu and thought to himself, “It’s been a long time since I parted with brother condor, why don’t I go visit him?” He then made his way to the wild valley.

As he neared the home of Dugu Qiubai, he gave a long whistle. He walked and whistled at the same time and not long after; he heard the chirrup calls from the heel of the mountain. He raised his head and saw the divine condor below a large tree with a wolf in its claws. When the divine condor saw Yang Guo, it released the wolf and made its way to him. After managing to keep its life after facing the jaws of death, the wolf darted straight into the bushes without turning back.
Yang Guo hugged the condor; both man and beast were extremely happy. They made their way back to the cave. In just a few months, Yang Guo had found himself slipping from life to death and from death back to life again, grief and joy both came and went, the trials and tribulations he has gone through countless, it’s a pity that the condor could not speak, otherwise Yang Guo could tell it all the things that has been on his mind.

He stayed in the valley with the condor as his companion for months. One day out of boredom, he made his way to the cliff where Dugu Qiubai buried his swords. He made is way to the top of the cliff and looked at the words underneath the decayed wooden sword:

“After the age of forty, I no longer relied on weaponry. Even bushes, trees, bamboo sticks or rocks call all be my swords. From then on, I achieved great progress and slowly reached the realm of overcoming the sword without a sword.”

Yang Guo thought to himself, “With the heavy iron sword, it can be said that I have no match under heaven’s skies, but from senior Dugu’s words, it appears that the wooden sword can defeat the heavy iron sword and that finally, no sword can defeat the wooden sword. Since Long Er said that we will only be able to see each other again in sixteen years time, with all these years to come, I might as well study the way to defeat the heavy iron sword with the wooden sword and how to overcome a sword without a sword.”

He broke a branch and formed a sword with it and pondered, “The heavy iron sword is around seventy jin in weight, there is only two possibilities on how to overcome it with such a light and fragile wooden sword; one is through ingenuity of the sword strokes, using speed to overcome slow; the other is through overbearing internal energy, using strength to subdue the weak.”

From that day on, he trained hard night and day on his internal energy and studied the art of the sword. Every timed it rained, he went to the mountain torrents to fight the water in order to increase the power in his sword strokes.
Summer ended and autumn arrived, autumn went and winter came. Though Yang Guo trained with dedication, he made little progress in his internal energy and sword arts. However, he knew that his level of martial arts was already of a very high level, to gain any sort of improvement from such a state was in reality a hard task to accomplish so he wasn’t troubled by it.

One day, it started to snow. The divine condor called out in joy and leapt to the open. It spread its wings and created a strong gust of wind, blowing the snow away.
Yang Guo had a thought, “There are no mountain torrents in the winter, practising in the snow is a great alternative.”
He watched on as the gusts of wind created by the condor became stronger and stronger, though the snow was heavy, not a drop landed on its body.

Yang Guo’s interests were stirred. He picked up the wooden sword and he too went into the snow, using his sword in his left hand and motioning his right sleeve at the same time. Whenever flakes of snow got close, either the wind from the wooden sword or the force from his right sleeve would repel it. He continued for a half a day and felt that the power in both his sword and sleeve seemed to have made some improvements.

It snowed for three days and Yang Guo practised in the snow each day. On the afternoon of the third day, the snow became even heavier. Yang Guo was in the middle of concentrating on attacking the snow when suddenly, the divine condor swept its wings at him. Yang Guo was not prepared for this and was almost tripped by this attack, he leapt up urgently to avoid this attack but as soon as he did this, he felt coolness on his forehead, two flakes of snow had landed on his forehead. He immediately understood, “That day on top of the cliff, brother condor used its wings to fight me and helped me to make great improvements in my sword arts, today he is helping me to train my sword skills once again.” He then extended his sword and thrust forwards, a ‘ka la’ sound was heard as the sword met the condor’s wings; the sword broke. The divine condor did not continue its attack and instead it stood up and chirruped with an expression of blame.

Yang Guo thought, “The only way to fight against your frightening strength with a wooden sword is to dodge and evade and wait for a chance to attack from afar.” He made another wooden sword and once again, fought with the divine condor in the snow. This time, he managed ten stances before the sword broke.

Training as hard as this without stop, Yang Guo saw that the divine condor was like a strict teacher and showed no signs of letting up, he was touched by this but he was also ashamed with himself, “If I don’t manage to learn the wooden sword, wouldn’t I have let down brother condor’s good intentions? And anyway, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity, how can I let it slip away?”
From then on, he thought about how to increase his internal energy, about how to evade and how to strike out with the sword even in his dreams. He trained rigorously and as a result, his thoughts on Xiao Long Nuu did not engulf his mind as it was like in the previous months. The poison from the passionflower had now been cleansed from his body, his internal energy has improved, he was in prime shape and he no longer had the haggard and distressed look of old.

It was now the anniversary of his parting with Xiao Long Nuu. Yang Guo said, “Brother condor, I want to visit Passionless Valley, I’m going to have to leave you for a while.” He then picked up his wooden sword and made his way out of the valley. The divine condor followed. When they reached the fork in the road, Yang Guo bowed to the divine condor and made his way on the road to the north. But to his surprise, the divine condor tugged at his clothes and pulled him towards the south.
Yang Guo said, “Brother condor, I have something to do in the north, let’s just part now.” But the condor kept on pulling him south. Yang Guo was curious, “Brother condor has been very understanding, why is he being so stubborn?” He could not get through to it with words and could only follow the divine condor south. When the divine condor saw that Yang Guo was following, it let go of Yang Guo’s clothes but as soon as Yang Guo turned around and tried to go north, it got hold of his clothes once again.
Yang Guo thought, “Brother condor is a divine creature, it must have a reason for wanting me to go to the south with him, I might as well go.” He dropped his thoughts of returning to Passionless Valley and followed the condor to the southeast.

After travelling over ten lis, Yang Guo suddenly had a thought, “Could it be that brother condor is leading me to the South Sea to allow me to see Long Er?” As soon as this thought finished, he was filled with excitement and started to make greater strides as he followed the divine condor. Within a month, they had reached the coast of the South Sea.

He stood on a rock by the sea and gazed into the sea. He watched the waves of the sea as all manners of emotions filled his mind. After a while, he heard the thunderous sounds of the tides that went on without stop. After spending part of his childhood on Peach Blossom Island, he knew that the tides of the sea always kept its cycle, it would come at the first and seventh hour of the day. The sun was in the sky and it appeared that it was the time for the tides. The tides were getting louder and louder, sounding like the hoof sounds of ten thousands of horses. The tides made a white line as it surged towards the coast, the force shown by the tides was greater than the hue and cries of thunder and lightning. Yang Guo could not believe that there existed such a force and after seeing this display, he couldn’t stop his face from changing expression.

In the blink of an eye, the waves had reached him and were about to throw itself on him. Yang Guo leapt backwards but suddenly he felt a great force pushing him from behind, it was the divine condor using its wings to hit him. He was in midair and had no control over where he was going. Splash, he landed in the foamy waves. He felt a salty taste in his mouth as he swallowed two mouthfuls of seawater.

It was an extremely dangerous situation but luckily for him, he has spent a long time training in the mountain torrents and he immediately used the [Thousand Pound Plummet], steadying himself on the rocks below the sea. The bottom of the sea was a lot calmer than the turbulent waves at the top. He gathered his thoughts and immediately knew what was happening, “Brother condor has led me here because he wants me to train my sword arts in the waves of the sea.” He lifted his legs and leapt out of the surface of the sea and into the fierce winds, meeting the first of the waves head on. He pushed against the water with his left arm and leapt above the waves before quickly drawing a deep breath and returning to the bottom of the sea.

He repeated this until the tides had calmed but by then, he was so exhausted that he face had turned white. When the tides came again that night, he took the wooden sword with him and leapt into the waves to train his sword skills. However, unlike the mountain torrents where all he had to contend with was the force of the water heading in one direction, the forces of the waves came from everywhere, whenever he could take it no more, he would dive down to the sea bed to avoid the waves.

From then on, he trained twice a day and within a month, he felt his internal energy has made great improvements. When he used the wooden sword on dry land, he was able to produce a faint sound that sounded like sound of tides. Whenever the divine condor sparred with him, it now started to avoid the sword and did not dare to meet it with its wings.

One day, Yang Guo was getting deeply engrossed in the sparring sessions and slashed the wooden sword with all his might. The divine condor called out and leapt to the side. Yang Guo could not withdraw the force of his sword in time and it struck a tree. The wooden sword broke but the tree was severed in two.
Yang Guo held the broken sword handle and thought, “This wooden sword is light and fragile but it was still able to cut a tree; this is all down to the internal energy in my hand. If in the future the tree breaks and the sword don’t then I won’t be too far off the divine skill of senior Dugu.”

Spring went and autumn came, months flowed by. He trained his sword arts in the sea’s waves night and day, whatever the weather. The sound produced from the wooden sword was getting louder and louder where eventually it was able to produce great hues of noise but after sounding for a few months, the sound from the wooden sword got lighter and lighter until no more noise came from it. Another few months passed and the sword produced sound again. This process of going from soft to loud and loud to soft repeated itself seven times. Eventually, he was able to produce whatever sound he desired, loud or soft. By the time he reached this stage, he counted his fingers and realised he had been by the sea for six years.

By this time, when Yang Guo trained in the sea’s waves with the wooden sword in his hand, the wind generated from his sword could repel the waves and even the divine condor with its frightening strength could last not more than three stances of the wooden sword. At this point, he realised what the Sword Demon Dugu Qiubai must have felt all those years ago, “With a sword art such as this, who on earth can stand up to it? No wonder senior Dugu felt lonely and buried his sword away in the deep valley.” He then thought, “If brother condor here didn’t witness how senior Dugu trained his sword skills, how would I have been able to obtain such a divine skill? I call him brother condor but in reality it is my kind master. When it comes to age, I don’t know how old it is, I’m afraid that I can even call it grandpa condor, granddad condor.”

During his training by the sea, Yang Guo would often ask the passengers on passing boats about a Divine Nun of the South Sea Island. He has asked thousands of sailors and passengers but there was nothing. He knew that seeing Xiao Long Nuu before the sixteen years was up was going to be a nigh on impossible task.

One dark, windy and rainy day, something stirred in Yang Guo’s heart, he placed the wooden sword in his waist and covered himself with his tattered gown. The man and condor made their way west and from then on, made their way back into central plains and roamed the lands south of the river Yangtze.

[minutemanwayne]

Thanks Noodles. Now we all don't have to search different threads to find these brief translations All that's left to translate is the HYS vs YG spar

[LiarLiar]

Thank for putting it together, saving lots of time search through all the thread. Thank You once again.

[JingRong]

Good stuff!!

Thanks a lot.

[Du Gu seeking a win]

Originally posted by minutemanwayne
Thanks Noodles. Now we all don't have to search different threads to find these brief translations All that's left to translate is the HYS vs YG spar

¶

Athena just translated it.

http://www.spcnet.tv/forums/showthre...241#post212241

[Noodles]

By Athena (from ROCH chapter 37)

Yang Guo raised his eyebrows and laughed:"Long time no see! Why such a hurry?"
Yin Kexi raised his hands and greeted with a smile:"How are you doing, master Yang?"
Xiaoxiang Zi was still angry for the fact that Yang Guo broke his arm at Mount Zhongnan 16 years ago, although his internal strength has increased a lot, he knew he was no match for Yang Guo. He did not bother to look at Yang Guo one more time and turned around and started to descend from the stairs.
The man with the dark face was another famous warrior of Khubilai, together with Yin Kexi and Xiaoxiang Zi they were here to scout the vicinity. When he saw that Xiaoxiang Zi looking angry, he loudly said:"Brother Xiaoxiang, wait! If there is a rogue disturbing our moods let me deal with him."
He walked over and wanted to use his big hand to toss Yang Guo of the first floor.
Yang Guo saw that his palm was coloured purple and knew he was trained in the Poisonous Sand Palms, he thought:"Why don't I use these three men to inquire old master Huang about the Celestial Nun of the South Sea?"
He saw that the man's hand was about to touch his shoulder, he put up his palm and pats he had slapped the man on the cheek.
Huang Yaoshi was shocked:"How very fast!"
Just by seeing that slap, he knew that Yang Guo had invented his own style and this style was unique. He heard another two slaps, Xiaoxiang Zi was slapped on his left and right cheek. Yang Guo spared Yin Kexi because he had shown some courtesy.
Huang Yaoshi laughed:"Young brother Yang, your new invented style is most sophisticated. I would like to see the entire set as to appease my eyes."
Yang Guo said:"I was just about to ask old master Huang for some pointers."
His body rocked about and he was now displaying his Melancholic Sad Palms, his long sleeve whisked around and his left palm was pushing forward. Suddenly he used the stance Entangled by the web of love and following he added the technique, Hesitating on returing to the the empty valley, with these two stances he curled Xiaoxiang Zi, Yin Kexi and the other warrior in his waves of palm energy.
The three of them were like trapped in a tidal wave and were falling back and forth, they were totally submissive to Yang Guo's palm. They were practically unable to stand up straight, let alone trying to break free here. In a few moments they were at the mercy of Yang Guo, Huang Yaoshi was holding a cup and sighed:"The ancients were drinking wine while reading the Han History Analects, today I am drinking wine and beholding your martial arts. This kind of lofty sentiments has surpassed the ancients."
Yang Guo said loudly:"Old master, please give me a few pointers."
He waved his palm and Xiaoxiang Zi was pushed towards Huang Yaoshi.
Huang Yaoshi did not dare to be leisurely, he pushed out with his left hand and returned Xiaoxiang back, he saw that the black-faced warrior was coming towards him now. He first sipped some wine before using his palm to repel that man back too.
Yang Guo carefully examined his stances and saw that although his internal power was strong but his techniques were not extraordinary exquisite. He thought:"If I don't go all out, I cannot force him to display the martial arts of the Celestial Nun of the South Sea."
He accumulated his energy in his public region and increased energy to his palms. That way Xiaoxiang Zi, Yin Kexi and the black-faced warrior were pushed to Huang Yaoshi faster and faster.
After returning a few palms Huang Yaoshi felt that the three men came crashing towards him like tidal waves, the second wave fiercer than the first wave.
He thought:"This child's palms become stronger with every stance, he is really one outstanding martial arts master."
At this point the black-faced warrior soared through the sky, his feet first and head back. He was headed towards the face of Huang Yaoshi tilted his palm to discharge the coming energy force, his right hand trembled a bit and some wine splattered out of the cup. Following were Yin Kexi and Xiaoxiang Zi who were soaring through the sky now, one was directly flying towards him the other diagonally.
Huang Yaoshi called out:"Good!", he put down his cup and used his right palm to retalliate.
Yang Guo and Huang Yaoshi were now several zhang (1 zhang is about 4 metres) apart from each other, and were exchanging palms with each other. Xiaoxiang Zi, Yin Kexi and the black-faced warrior became as it were rubber balls or other toys at the hands of Yang and Huang. They were entirely at their control and were sent soaring back and forth. Only after displaying half of his Melancholic Sad Palms, the Changing Peach and Descending Flower Palms of Huang Yaoshi was paling in comparison now. When he saw that Yin Kexi was soaring towards him and he figured that his palm energy was not able to resist that palm. He flicked his finger and a soft splang sound could be heard, a light and delicate energy burst out and countered the energy blast of Yang Guo. He flicked his finger three times and three shots of splangs could be heard, Xiaoxiang Zi, Yin Kexi and the black-faced warrior had fallen on the floor and fainted. His Divine Finger Flick and the Melancholic Sad Palms of Yang Guo were evenly well-matched. No one was either the winner or the loser.
Both of them laughed heartily and sat down at their table again, they were pouring wine and drinking again.
Huang Yaoshi said:"Young brother Yang, the power of your new created palm stances are very forceful. In the entire realm only the 18 Dragon Subdueing Palms of my son-in-law, Guo Jing can be compared to it. My Changing Peach and Descending Flower Palms is one level inferior."

[Zhen Yu Cao]

Whoa, Moo he he this is awesome ^_^. Thanks to all the translators who did their parts . I'm still gonna be reading whatever you translate though Noodles, GL on doing whatever it is you are currently

[atlantean0208]

wow, all this great excerpt is too good to be true

[Chon-Ji]

thanks noodles, are there any updates or excerpts for chapter 22

[- L1n -]

after reading that last bit my view upon the level of yg just improved by 3 levels,lol

[LuNaR]

Originally posted by - L1n -
after reading that last bit my view upon the level of yg just improved by 3 levels,lol

totally

[darkshineknight]

that was great noodles but can you put it all in the original place along with all the other ROCH translations.

[- L1n -]

this arent's complete chapter summarys, it's just extracts .

[JingRong]

Yeah, Yang Guo seems really good now after I had read these excerpts. There is only 1 ultimate bad guy here in RoCH as in the GFW?? Seems he's only one Yang Guo fighting with for so long in the novel?

[duguxiaojing]

Sup every1 i know sum of u are itching for sum more of ROCH(poor noods cant seem 2 get a break these days) so here's a translation of the origins of YG's sad palms....srry im no where near Athena's or Moin's/Noods ect level of comprehension so i did not(but tried when i could) go word for word but i did not change any meanings of the lines HOPEFULLY=(. And srry if i made any mistakes or misinterpret anything k??




Yang Gou himself and XLN separated at the passionless valley misery/heartbroken? Cliff. Not long after followed the divine condor who brought him to train in the centre of the Ocean waves. Many years later with the exception of gradually increasing his inner power he had nothing else to practice. In his heart all day he thought of XLN. Slowly getting thinner. He feels not reason to exist? /losing interest in life. One day while he was by the sea shore for some time, he was bored and began to throw random punches and kicks. At this time his inner power had reached a level where one strike contained an incredible amount of power. By the seashore using a light palm he was able to smash the shell of a large turtle into powder. Since that incident he went into a deep thought, creating a complete set of palm techniques. His fighting style unique from any other, the most powerful point was the technique’s inner power. All together(the palm tech) contained 17 stances. In his life he has received many pointers from famous masters. From Quan Zhen he learned orthodox inner power recitations. From XLN he learned Jade Maiden Heart manual. He’s seen the 9 Yin scriptures from the Ancient Tomb. Ou Yang Fong used Toad Stance to reverse arteries??(I think I may have misinterpreted this part?). Hong 7 Gong and HR gave him Dog Beating Stick. From WYS he received Divine snap and Jade Flute sword technique. With the exception of Solitary Yang Finger, Eastern Heretic, Western Poison, Northern Beggar and Central Divinities martial arts there’s nothing he did not know. Ancient Tomb’s martial arts diverged to a separate road to reach the level of the five greats. This time combining all into a single working skill he creates his own technique. Since he’s lost an arm he cannot win with variations instead he intentionally strays from martial theory. He names the set of palms “Melancholic Sad Palms”(this is from Athena’s from babel got “low-spirited being overwhelmed with emotion”). The next part is weird its states that YG basically got the name from a line in a writers book I cant read the words because I am pretty illiterate but from Noods the authors name is Jiang Yan cant understand the what the name of book is either srry…). Since he’s created this palm technique till now, ZBT is his only true powerful opponent.

[Ardor]

In the fight against Golden Wheel Monk, YG was beating him with his melancholic sad palms without being sad thus reducing the powers tremendously, weird is it not?

[duguxiaojing]

Hi this is most of the DFBB battle i do the rest on sunday when i have time....
Umm my chinese is crap so there is so much i dont understand but u know i tried...so this is a very rough translation so many lines went over my head even with babelfish its not even funny. But i hope to show the jist of the battle. The two highlighted lines are Lav's words not mine ...not that i need 2 tell u guys because i cant translate lines and make them sound so good lol...sryy 2 all u ROCH fans for jacking u thread but i didnt want 2 start new one ill do the YGvs mongo elites battle to make up for it after my last exam .....