Lee Kei/Stone Guanyin - a well-traveled and compelling wuxia villainess

The story of Lee Kei/Stone Guanyin from CHOR LAU HEUNG makes for one of wuxia's more compelling and memorable wuxia villainesses. Upon first glance, Stone Guanyin seems cut from the same "cruel nun" mold as Jin Yong's Lee Mok Sau or Mit Jeut See Tai. Stone Guanyin's background story, however, is more complex and intriguing: she started her life as Lee Kei and was a member of the Mt. Huang Sect (firmly in wulin's mainstream). After her entire sect was slaughtered in a battle with the Mt. Hua Sect, she fled to Japan, where she met the ninja master 天楓十四郎 (Tenka Toshiro?), bore two sons (No Flowers Monk and Beggar's Union Chief Nam Gung Ling) with him, and then abandoned her husband and sons and traveled from Japan all the way out to the remote Western regions to further develop her martial arts and become the Stone Guanyin. Her cruelty was not of the direct kind practiced by Lee Mok Sau or Mit Jeut, but more the subtle and manipulative kind practiced by another Gu Long antagonist, Gold and Currency Union Chief Seung Gwoon Gum Hung. She was also arguably the most powerful martial artist in the CHOR LAU HEUNG saga, whom even the combined might of Chor Lau Heung, Wu Teet Fa, and Gei Bing Ngan could not defeat.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Ken Cheng

The story of Lee Kei/Stone Guanyin from CHOR LAU HEUNG makes for one of wuxia's more compelling and memorable wuxia villainesses. Upon first glance, Stone Guanyin seems cut from the same "cruel nun" mold as Jin Yong's Lee Mok Sau or Mit Jeut See Tai. Stone Guanyin's background story, however, is more complex and intriguing: she started her life as Lee Kei and was a member of the Mt. Huang Sect (firmly in wulin's mainstream). After her entire sect was slaughtered in a battle with the Mt. Hua Sect, she fled to Japan, where she met the ninja master 天楓十四郎 (Tenka Toshiro?), bore two sons (No Flowers Monk and Beggar's Union Chief Nam Gung Ling) with him, and then abandoned her husband and sons and traveled from Japan all the way out to the remote Western regions to further develop her martial arts and become the Stone Guanyin. Her cruelty was not of the direct kind practiced by Lee Mok Sau or Mit Jeut, but more the subtle and manipulative kind practiced by another Gu Long antagonist, Gold and Currency Union Chief Seung Gwoon Gum Hung. She was also arguably the most powerful martial artist in the CHOR LAU HEUNG saga, whom even the combined might of Chor Lau Heung, Wu Teet Fa, and Gei Bing Ngan could not defeat.

---

I always thought that in terms of pure fighting ability the Water Matriarch was the most powerful character in the story. The Stone Guanyin was cruel, scheming and had a lot of tricks up her sleeves while the Water Matriarch was a pretty straightforward person who ruled through martial arts superiority and little else. Stone Guanyin was more fearsome, though, as the Water Matriarch would probably leave you alone if you left her alone.