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Review: The Legend of the Condor Heroes by Louis Cha (射鵰英雄傳 - 金庸) (1959)
I'm finally finished this book! Legend of the Condor Heroes is the first book to the Condor Trilogy, which is one of Louis Cha's most popular works. Louis Cha is often regarded as the father of the Wuxia genre of Chinese literature. So this book definitely helped me to understand the genre more.
I found this book to be somewhat "fairy tale" like. I'll describe it more under the cut. Overall, I'd recommend it for people who are looking for an intro to the Wuxia genre, and don't mind gullible and overly righteous characters.
This is a no-edit write up so sorry for any sloppy writing XD And there are spoilers!
This book was quite long, so I admit there were some details that I've already forgotten. I'm going to try my best though (y)
Story
I would say that the story is about the adventures of Guo Jing as he meets new people, becomes stronger, and learns to manage his strength in a responsible and righteous way.
I believe this book was originally serialized in the Ming Pao Daily Newspaper. Apparently he'd written these novels to get people to read his paper for his political essays, but people obviously got more invested in the Wuxia stories.
The fact that this story was written in a serialized manner is evident. Guo Jing and Huang Rong jump from adventure to adventure, and to me, it didn't seem that any adventure was more exciting than any other. What I mean by that is even when we reached the climax, I wasn't at the edge of my seat wondering what would happen.
Most of the events of the story are brought about by revenge. There is a back story, and then characters are brought together so that one or both can get revenge. This format happens again and again, but with different characters playing the roles each time. I said that the story was "fairy tale" like because of how event-focused it was. There were several supporting characters who didn't particularly have a personality, but was just there to fulfill a role and perform a duty.
Technically, there were a few overarching story lines. They were:
- Guo Jing getting revenge for his parents
- The war between the Song Dynasty, Jin Dynasty, and the Mongolian Empire
- The lead up to the competition between the Five Greats at Mount Hua
I didn't particularly care for these major story lines. I was more interested in the short adventures that Guo Jing and Huang Rong were caught up in.
There were also several adventures in which Guo Jing and Huang Rong were actually just onlookers. These scenes gave the opportunity to other characters to take the main stage, while also keeping Guo Jing and Huang Rong in the story.
Translation
I read an English fan translation of these books. The various chapters were translated by different people, and there were some chapters that read much smoother than others.
Things got really clunky when translators were having to translate the names of various stances. The other instances of translations that required more explanations were occupation names (e.g. martial siblings, monks, etc.) and idioms from history or literature, that required translators' notes for further elaboration. Overall, I'm not going to give the translators too much shit because the Wuxia setting is already so far removed from a modern Western setting, so they had a lot on their plate.
Characters
There were a lot of characters. As I mentioned, I felt that many of them were role players than characters with actual personalities. I felt this was the case even with some of our major characters. In many cases, characters' personalities were demonstrated through their words rather than their actions.
Guo Jing
Guo Jing is the hero of the story. He was not smart or charming, but he was honest, hard working, a well behaved son and student, and very honourable. I think that Guo Jing was supposed to be kind of a self insert character. Not that most readers are dumb, but Guo Jing started with no natural talent, but amassed the most fearsome of skills throughout the story.
Guo Jing only encountered a personal dilemma near the end of the book. He felt that although he was becoming stronger, he was unable to protect his loved ones. In addition, even though he wanted to be an honourable person, he had hurt many people with his acquired powers. At first, he thought that the only way to go back to being a righteous person was to get rid of his martial arts skills. But as Peter Parker learned from Uncle Ben, Guo Jing learned that "with great power comes great responsibility." He realized that with his powers, he was supposed to use them to fight the bad people and only them.
There was a romantic subplot in this story between Guo Jing and Huang Rong. You could even say there was a love triangle which also included Huazheng. It was less to do with love and more to do with honour though. It was clear that Guo Jing loved Huang Rong romantically, and loved Huazheng as a sister, but he'd made the promise to the Khan first, and he felt it would be a terrible thing to go back on his word. It only became okay to go back on his word when the Khan forced his mother to kill himself, which made Huazheng no longer a good candidate (though that didn't negatively affect Guo Jing's platonic feels for Huazheng).
Overall, Guo Jing was an okay character. He was technically bland and was pretty passive, but I would still say that he has an identifiable personality.
Huang Rong
I actually ended up liking Huang Rong even though she was a bit of a hyperbole in all regards. Huang Rong was both super book-smart and super street-smart. She'd learned from her father about all sorts of things in the fields of literature, history, mathematics, etc. And much of the time, she used her smarts to escape battles that she knew she could not win.
Huang Rong did also learn a few powerful techniques throughout the course of the book, including the technique of the dog-beating stick.
In addition to being smart, Huang Rong was incredibly mischievous and a spoiled brat. Which in theory I would be annoyed about, but it really seemed to go well with her character. She knew when to tone it back when she was dealing with something of gravity.
Guo Jing and Huang Rong were about 15 years old in the book, so they were quite young. Huang Rong didn't know much about romantic or sexual relationships, which was kind of interesting because she was so smart about everything else.
I also thought it was interesting that Huang Rong had a non-conventional view of marriage. She was obviously very sad that Guo Jing was betrothed to Huazheng, but she separated love and marriage in her mind in order to make the seemingly inevitable breakup more bearable. I just though it was interesting that she tried to use logic to help her heartbreak, rather than guilt-tripping Guo Jing.
I think Huang Rong was the character that made the biggest impact in this book. She was smart and crafty but also a mischievous and troublesome, but packaged together in one character in a way that made sense.
Yang Kang
Yang Kang was supposed to be Guo Jing's brother from birth, but he was led astray by several bad teachers. Some of them included Mei Chaofeng and Ouyang Feng.
Yang Kang was supposed to be portrayed as this terrible, no good, very bad kid because he wouldn't avenge his parents. But if we consider his story in the real world, he had it pretty tough. He was raised to believe that Wanyan Honglie was his father, and Bao Xiruo did not ever lead him to believe that his birth father was someone else. Even Bao Xiruo did not know that Wanyan Honglie was responsible for the attack on Ox Village, and learning that bit of information had to have been very jarring for Yang Kang.
After his mother died, Yang Kang mostly sided with his father, which again, in the real world, would've made sense. After all, Wanyan Honglie was pretty much his father in every sense but biological. However, Wanyan Honglie was part of the Jin Empire and therefore supposed to automatically be a bad person (Pariotism is a huge theme in this book. More on this later.).
Yang Kang was a snob from the beginning of the book. He didn't have much respect for others. He'd beaten Mu Nianci in her martial arts competition, but refused to marry her, and continued to lead her on. He eventually convinced her to have sex even though Mu Nianci had reservations, both about Yang Kang as a person, and about having sex before marriage. To Yang Kang, I think Mu Nianci was just a plaything.
Yang Kang died indirectly via Ouyang Feng's poison. Yang Kang was with Ouyang Feng near the end of the book as he wanted to become his disciple. Huang Rong asked Shagu to recount Ouyang Ke's death, and it was revealed that Yang Kang had kille dhim. Yang Kang tried to strike Huang Rong, but he hit her soft hedgehog armour. In addition, her armour had remnants of Ouyang Feng's very potent poison on it. Knowing that Yang Kang was responsible for his nephew/son's death, Ouyang Feng refused to help him.
Mu Nianci
I think Mu Nianci was technically supposed to be a main character, but her character didn't have that much screen time.
Mu Nianci's story line was mostly to do with her romantic relationship with Yang Kang. I would say that Mu Nianci fell in love with Yang Kang against her will. Yang Kang was by definition a bad person. He did not honour the rules of the martial arts tournament. Then he imprisoned her and Mu Yi/Yang Tiexin. Later on he took advantage of Mu Nianci's attraction to him and not only led her on but pushed her to have sex with her, which resulted in a baby. I think that stories like this happen all the time in real life, in which people fall in love with objectively bad people but can't help their feelings.
I think throughout the course of the novel, Mu Nianci was trying to convince herself to leave the relationship. Mu Nianci finally did so when she became pregnant. Though Yang Kang had died, Mu Nianci had already decided to move on.
Mu Nianci bumped into Guo Jing and Huang Rong once after giving birth to the baby, and she asked Guo Jing to give him a name. Guo Jing named him Yang Guo, in hopes that Guo'er would overcome the mistakes that his dad had made.
I think that Yang Guo will meet Guo Jing at least once in the Return of the Condor Heroes, but we'll see!
Parents
The parents of Guo Jing and Yang Kang were pretty bland. They were all about righteousness and honour, and honestly I didn't feel that they were real characters, but rather representations of the moral potential that Guo Jing and Yang Kang could live up to.
Guo Xiaotian
Guo Xiaotian was Guo Jing's father. We didn't know much about him.
Li Ping
Li Ping was Guo Jing's mother. She fled her captor and went to Mongolia to raise Guo Jing. She raised him to be a very honourable, honest, and well-behaved kid.
Li Ping only came back into the picture near the end of the book. Guo Jing was a general under Genghis Khan's command. However, he didn't agree with Genghis Khan's initiative to conquer the Song Empire. The Khan took his mother hostage and had her convince Guo Jing to agree to do so.
However, Li Ping stood by her morals and told her son that patriotism came first. So Li Ping committed suicide so that the Khan would no longer have leverage to force Guo Jing to fight the Song Empire.
Yang Tiexin
Yang Tiexin was Yang Kang's father. He made it out of the Ox Village attack alive, and took on an alias of Mu Yi. He adopted Mu Nianci as his daughter in the mean time.
Yang Tiexin was eventually killed by Wanyan Honglie when trying to escape with Bao Xiruo.
Bao Xiruo
Bao Xiruo was Yang Kang's mother. She was kind-hearted, and had helped a wounded soldier who had hid in her barn. This soldier ended up being Wanyan Honglie, who had fallen in love with her for her kindness.
Though she ended up remarrying, she never forgot Yang Tiexin. When she realized that Mu Yiwas her long lost husband, she agreed to flee with him immediately. However, as mentioned above, they were cornered by Wanyan Honglie and killed.
It's kind of a mystery that such a kind woman would raise a son like Yang Kang. The contextual reason would likely be because Yang Kang took after Wanyan Honglie, but I still felt that Bao Xiruo as a character dodged the criticism that she could've done more to guide Yang Kang on the right path. Perhaps telling him that Wanyan Honglie wasn't his birth father would help. Or even telling him why she wanted to live in a modest home despite being a princess consort. Anyway, I felt that Bao Xiruo in theory was a good person, but there were several instances in which her flaws and mistakes were not recognized.
Freaks of Jiangnan
The Freaks of Jiangnan were Ke Zhen'e, Zhu Cong, Han Baoju, Nan Xiren, Zhang Asheng, Quan Jinfa, and Han Xiaoying. In general, they acted as one unit. The only two characters that I felt stuck out were Ke Zhen'e and Zhu Cong.
Ke Zhen'e was the only Freak who was left alive at the end of the book. It was presumed that he was kept alive because he was blind. He could not see that it was Ouyang Feng and Yang Ke killing his martial brothers and sister, and so he'd probably invest a lot of effort into killing Huang Yaoshi. He eventually discovered through Shagu that he had wrongly accused Huang Yaoshi.
Zhu Cong left an impression on me because his skills as a pickpocket came in handy when out of battle. There were several instances when he'd pickpocket the opponent and our protagonists would learn some information that would help them.
Five Greats
Huang Yaoshi
Huang Yaoshi was known as the Eastern Heretic. He was a huge snob and preferred to live alone on Peach Blossom Island. His character is an interesting contrast to his daughter's which is very bubbly and enthusiastic.
Huang Yaoshi's wife Feng Heng was kind of his emotional rock. She was obviously the more amicable of the two, and was very smart in her own way. Chen Xuanfeng and Mei Chaofeng had stolen Huang Yaoshi's copy of the Nine Yin Manual and ran away. Feng Heng decided to rewrite another copy from memory, and the stress caused her to go through a difficult pregnancy resulting in death. In his grief, Huang Yaoshi crippled the rest of his students and banished them. Huang Yaoshi also had a feud with Zhou Botong and imprisoned him on Peach Blossom Island.
At the beginning of the book, Huang Yaoshi and Huang Rong had a falling out and she ran away from the island. Over the course of the book, Huang Yaoshi made amends and reconciled with all those he'd wronged.
Huang Rong very easily forgave her father, as they did have a loving relationship. Huang Yaoshi eventually met Mei Chaofeng, and forgave her for her misdeeds. This meant a lot to Mei Chaofeng, and she became an ally from then on. In addition, Huang Yaoshi reconciled with the other students whose legs he'd crippled, and even tried to take care of Shagu.
I think Huang Yaoshi came off as a cold man because of his huge ego, and that was often the obstacle to him expressing his true feelings. We see that he was actually rather protective of his disciples, but had not left the island and sought them out because he didn't want to. And of course, there were several instances in which he was accused of doing something he didn't do but he didn't defend himself because he thought defending himself was somehow below someone of his status.
The nickname "Eastern Heretic" definitely works well here because he wasn't an evil person. He was just very erratic and strange in his beliefs.
Hong Qigong
Hong Qigong was the head of the Beggars' Clan. He was also a kindly old guy. He'd taught Guo Jing that "Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Palms" in exchange for Huang Rong cooking him excellent dishes. Hong Qigong knew he was being used, but he didn't seem to mind.
During the course of the story, Hong Qigong was wounded terribly. Believing that he would die soon, Hong Qigong passed on the leadership to Huang Rong, and taught her the Dog Beating Staff Technique, which is honestly a style of fighting that seemed to suit her very well. It was not a traditional fighting style of attacking and defending, but rather something more practical, something that disrupted this simple structure.
Fortunately, Hong Qigong did not die. As Guo Jing started to understand the Nine Yin Manual, he passed on information to Hong Qigong that allowed him to regain his health and martial arts proficiencies to the point that he could attend the competition at Mount Hua.
Ouyang Feng
Ouyang Feng was the big bad of the story. Everything about him was fishy. We learned that his nephew Ouyang Ke was actually his biological son, as he'd had an affair with his sister-in-law.
Ouyang Feng was known as the Western Poison, so in addition to being a very great martial artist, he was also very adept at poison. Luckily for Guo Jing, this posed no threat to him because early on, he'd acquired an immunity to snake poison by sucking the blood of Liang Ziweng's snake.
For much of the book, Ouyang Feng was after the Nine Yin Manual. He'd captured Guo Jing and tried to extract it from him. Guo Jing was suggested to recite it, but to make small changes so that Ouyang Feng would never get to the right idea.
Eventually, Ouyang Feng got to the parts of the Nine Yin Manual which were in Sanskrit. Huang Rong claimed that she knew the translation so that he would keep her alive.
Ouyang Feng also hunted down Guo Jing in Mongolia because he wanted to find Huang Rong. He made a pact with Guo Jing that Guo Jing would save him three times, so that Ouyang Feng would not kill Huang Rong.
Eventually, Ouyang Feng caught up to Huang Rong, who at this point just made up things to keep Ouyang Feng busy. Ouyang Feng did become extremely powerful, defeating Guo Jing, Huang Yaoshi, and Hong Qigong at Mount Hua, but he became insane.
Despite Ouyang Feng being portrayed as a bad guy throughout the book, he was also said to be a person who kept his word. He actually tried pretty hard to stick to his promises with Guo Jing, which I thought was a bit surprising.
It seems that Ouyang Feng remains a character in Return of the Condor Heroes, so we shall stay tuned.
Reverend Yideng
I actually quite liked the character of Reverend Yideng. He was a kindly old man, who of course had a backstory of misery.
Reverend Yideng was an emperor whose beloved concubine had become embroiled in an affair with Zhou Botong. Reverend Yideng had the opportunity to save his concubine's illegitimate child but in a moment of anger he refused.
I don't remember the exact reason he decided to abdicate the throne. It might've been just due to the stress of the job. Anyway, he left to become a monk, and four of his officials and generals left with him.
We met Reverend Yideng when Huang Rong had been injured by Qiu Qianren and only Reverend Yideng could help her. He lived atop a mountain that was guarded by a fisher, a farmer, a woodcutter, and a scholer (who were the aforementioned officials and generals).
Reverend Yideng felt an immediate connection with Huang Rong, seeing as how she was the daughter of a friend/acquaintance. He decided to heal her despite knowing that it would use up much of his energy. In gratitude, Huang Rong and Guo Jing devised up a strategy to proect Reverend Yideng from the impending attack from Yinggu.
Wang Chonyang
He was the last of the five greats, but died before the beginning of the book.
Mongol Empire
Temujin
Genghis Khan was one of the major supporting characters. He treated Guo Jing like a son and betrothed his daughter to him.
He became an antagonist when Guo Jing found out that he wanted to attack the Song Empire. At the end of the book, Guo Jing basically chastised the Khan for being dishonourable and not upholding the values of a true hero. Everybody dreams about telling their boss what's what, but in real life Guo Jing would've been executed because of how ballsy that was. This was their last conversation before Genghis Khan died.
Tolui
Tolui was Genghis Khan's youngest son, and Guo Jing's sworn brother. Despite acting under his father's command, Tolui repeatedly defied orders in small ways in order to help Guo Jing. He never forgot their brotherhood.
Huazheng
Princess Huazheng was Genghis Khan's beloved daughter. She did love Guo Jing but Guo Jing only saw her as a sister (after all, they had grown up together).
I think she was a bit unaware in terms of how things worked in the real world. This was realistic, seeing as how she was a princess who lived lavishly.
Huazheng ratted out Guo Jing and his mother to the Khan when she found out that they didn't want to attack the Song Empire. She hoped that Guo Jing would have to stay in Mongolia but ultimately it had graver consequences, resulting in Li Ping's death.
By the end of the book, Huazheng went away to live with Jochi. When Huang Rong asked Guo Jing whether he was going to see her, Guo Jing said he had no reason to because she was living among riches. That being said, in her last message to Guo Jing, Huazheng did express much guilt, and she told him of the Mongols' plan to attack Xiangyang.
Quanzhen Sect
Zhou Botong
Zhou Botong was known as the Old Urchin. He had even more of a disregard for the rules than Huang Yaoshi. He was basically a kid in an old man's body.
Zhou Botong thought it'd be fun to be sworn brothers with Guo Jing despite them being so far away from each other in terms of social status. Zhou Botong taught him to recite the Nine Yin Manual from memory, as well as the Vacant Fist and the Ambidexterity Technique. These three were all very, very useful tools for Guo Jing.
He had an affair with Concubine Liu Ying which resulted in a child, but he had no idea he had a child. Later on, Zhou Botong was imprisoned on Peach Blossom Island because Huang Yaoshi felt that Zhou Botong and his Nine Yin Manual were the cause of his wife's death. After he was released from the island with the help of Guo Jing, he was basically free in the world, continuing on as his usual wild self.
Seven Immortals of Quanzhen
The Seven Immortals of Quanzhen wereMa Yu, Tan Chuduan, Liu Chuxua, Qiu Chuji, Wang Chuyi, Hao Datong, and Sun Bu'er. I believe a few of these characters were real historical figures.
Ma Yu taught Guo Jing breathing techniques that helped him strengthen his internal energy. I interpret internal energy as more of a defensive tool, so I think this was a huge help for Guo Jing, who was mostly about attack power.
Qiu Chuji had gotten into a squabble with the Freaks of Jiangnan. They'd agreed to each track down one of the kids (Guo Jing and Yang Kang) and pass on their skils to that kid. Then, their kids would battle on their behalf. This was because a 7 vs. 1 battle didn't seem fair. Unfortunately, Qiu Chuji wasn't a very good teacher, and wasn't able to rein in Yang Kang's wild ways.
Disciples
Yin Zhiping
Yin Zhiping was Qiu Chuji's disciple, and popped in from time to time as needed.
Cheng Yaojia
Cheng Yaojia was a blushing maiden who was a student of Sun Bu'er. She'd initially fallen ni love with Guo Jing for saving her from being raped by Ouyang Ke. She went to Ox Village in search of Guo Jia but fell in love with Lu Guanying, and they were married with Huang Yaoshi's arrangement.
Peach Blossom Island
Chen Xuanfeng
He was a disciple of Huang Yaoshi. He fell in love with Mei Chaofeng, and then ran away with the Nine Yin Manual. He was nicknamed "Copper Corpse." He died near the beginning of the novel, after being stabbed by Guo Jing.
Mei Chaofeng
Mei Chaofeng was "Iron Corpse." She sought revenge on Guo Jing for killing her husband. However, she'd also become blind so that was an obstacle.
Mei Chaofeng was learning from the Nine Yin Manual but she didn't understand the Taoism behind it, and as such, was learning it in the wrong way. That being said, Mei Chaofeng was still very strong. Near the beginning of the novel, Mei Chaofeng was one of the most dangerous villains, which I thought was pretty cool.
Mei Chaofeng eventually bumped into Huang Yaoshi again. He forgave her, and this meant a lot to Mei Chaofeng. She'd wanted to atone, but I think she was probably too ashamed. After their reconciliation, she was allied with Huang Yaoshi, and was killed by Ouyang Feng.
Despite being kind of a fearsome character, literally nicknamed "Iron Corpse," I'm kind of here for the aesthetic. When I imagined Mei Chaofeng, I thought of her as kind of a witch-like character, except she was obviously very dangerous and deadly with her direct attacks.
Qu Lingfeng/Qu San
Qu San actually appeared very early in the book, as a neighbour of Guo Xiaotian and Yang Tiexin. He was actually Qu Lingfeng, a former disciple of Huang Yaoshi. He stole treasures from the palace, and hoped to present them to Huang Yaoshi so that they would be back on better terms.
His skeleton was discovered by Guo Jing and Huang Rong in an abandoned inn several years later. He left behind a daughter, Shagu.
Lu Chengfeng
He was a student of Huang Yaoshi, and seemed to become a man of good repute. He also happened to lead a band of pirates, which seemed funny when compared to his cultured background.
He also reconciled with Huang Yaoshi, who gave him some techniques taht would hopefully heal his legs.
Feng Heng
Feng Heng was Huang Yaoshi's wife. She was very smart, so we can see where Huang Rong got her craftiness from. Feng Heng did not know martial arts at all, but had a very good memory. She asked Zhou Botong to look at the manual. She read it once, and then told Zhou Botong that it was nothing special, that she'd seen it elsewhere before. She "proved" it by reciting it, implying that she'd seen it elsewhere.
I believe this caused Zhou Botong to destroy his copy of the second volume of the Nine Yin Manual. Then Feng Heng wrote down the manual from memory, and so Huang Yaoshi had the only copy of the second volume.
As mentioned above, she tried to rewrite the manual from memory after it was stolen by Mei Chaofeng and Chen Xuanfeng. Obviously, her memory was not as fresh, so it was implied that this version was not accurate. She later died in childbirth and Huang Yaoshi blamed it on the stress.
Shagu
She was the daughter of Qu Lingfeng. She was called thus because she seemed to have an mental disability. She guarded the inn in Ox Village while Huang Rong helped Guo Jing heal from his injuries after being attacked by Ouyang Feng.
Shagu had seemed to learn some moves from her father, and Huang Yaoshi recognized this. Seeing as how she had no family, Huang Yaoshi took her back to Peach Blossom Island. She got tired of the lessons and snuck out, only to be captured in the massacre of the Freaks of Jiangnan.
Lu Guanying
He was Lu Chengfeng's son. His father was not technically allowed to pass on Huang Yaoshi's martial arts to him, so he learned from Reverend Kumu instead. Huang Yaoshi eventually granted him the permission to learn the Peach Blossom Island martial arts.
He eventually married Cheng Yaojia after getting the okay from Huang Yaoshi.
Iron Palm Sect
Qiu Qianren
He was a bad guy for most of the book. He was responsible for killing Liu Ying's child. Later on, he'd injured Huang Rong mightily, thought that was because Qiu Qianzhang was purposely causing a misunderstanding between the two.
I had actually forgotten what had happened to this character. Wikipedia told me that he repented and became Yideng's apprentice, so that's neat.
Qiu Qianzhang
Qiu Qianzhang was Qiu Qianren's twin brother. He used his brother's fearsome reputation to deceive other people. In the end, he died in the ruckus between Guo Jing and Huang Rong and Qiu Qianren.
Dali Kingdom
Liu Ying
Liu Ying was a concubine of Duan Zhixing (aka Reverend Yideng's former name). He loved her dearly, and taught her martial arts as an expression of his love. However, she later had an affair with Zhou Botong and bore his child. This child was hurt by Qiu Qianren. Liu Ying asked Duan Zhixing to save the child, but he refused this and the child died.
Liu Ying tried to gain entrance to Peach Blossom Island to save Zhou Botong. To do so, she became super proficient in mathematics. However, seeing as how she was stumped by a few problems from Huang Rong, it became clear to her that perhaps she would never get on the island.
When Huang Rong was severely injured by Qiu Qianren, Yinggu directed Guo Jing and Huang Rong to visit Reverend Yideng. She also gave Huang Rong a poisoned pill that looked like medicine. After Reverend Yideng healed Huang Rong, he would become ill and exhausted, and Huang Rong would undoubtedly offer the pill to Revereng Yideng.
Later on, Liu Ying came up the mountain to try to get revenge on Reverend Yideng. Huang Rong stalled Liu Ying a bit using some brain teasers. Liu Ying stabbed who she thought was Reverend Yideng, but was actually Guo Jing, who was better equipped to receive the blow. After Liu Ying turned around, she saw the real Reverend Yideng, who was not supposed to be there. However, Liu Ying couldn't bring herself to attack him again and left.
Yideng's Aides
Reverend Yideng was guarded by a fisherman, a woodcutter, a farmer, and a scholar. The fisherman was Chu Dongshan, who was his naval admiral. The woodcutter was Zhang Shaoshou, who was an army general. The farmer was Wu Santong, who was a palace guard. The scholar was Zhu Ziliu, who was a premier.
I thought these "new identities" were quite neat.
Anyway, these four aides mostly acted as a unit, and as Reverend Yideng's defense squad.
Indian Monk
The Indian Monk was Reverend Yideng's junior. He translated the Sanskrit parts of the Nine Yin Manual for Guo Jing and Huang Rong.
Beggar's Sect
Lu Youjiao
He was one of the few elders that I recalled lol. He befriended Guo Jing and Huang Rong and were one of the few to defend them when Yang Kang had temporarily usurped the leadership possition.
Jin Dynasty and Associates
Wanyan Honglie
He was a prince of the Jin Dynasty. He had been saved by Bao Xiruo and fell in love with her. Thus, he orchestrated an attack on Ox Village so that he could steal her away and marry her.
He continued to be the villain throughuot the rest of the book. One subplot of the book involved Wanyan Honglie trying to retrieve a military strategy manual written by Yue Fei. In this mission, he collaborated with Ouyang Feng.
Despited being a major villain, and the killer of Guo Jing and Yang Kang's parents, I didn't really feel any distinct sense of personality from this character. I really felt that the only reason we were supposed to think he was evil was being he was not Han.
Ouyang Ke
He was Ouyang Feng's nephew in name, but biological son in truth. He was an overall scumbag. One of his joys in life was collecting wives, and he was extremely in love with Huang Rong's good looks. He was always on the lookout to rape pretty ladies. Mu Nianci and Cheng Yaojia were among some of his almost-victims.
His legs were crushed in a trap that Huang Rong had set when they were stuck on an island. She did help release him, though, and the entire group left the island together.
Ouyang Ke was eventually killed by Yang Kang in Ox Village. One of the reasons that Yang Kang killed him was that Ouyang Feng only took on one apprentice at a time, so killing Ouyang Ke would free up a spot for Yang Kang.
Other associates
There were so many random cronies that popped up from time to time. These included the likes of Sha Tongtian, Hou Tonghai, Liang Ziweng, Peng Lianhu, etc. I had initially separated out these characters but I couldn't possibly describe to you what they'd done. They were really just placeholder characters for when one of the major baddies needed some extra muscle.
The only one I distinctly remembered was Liang Ziweng because Guo Jing had drank the blood of his snake, which caused Guo Jing to gain immunity to snake venom.
Themes
Martial Arts
Wuxia novels are known to have exaggerated action. This is akin to action movies where near-impossible things happen. The martial arts in Wuxia novels are almost magic-like in their simplicity.
I grew up watching dramas based on Wuxia novels, but I am willing to bet that most people who are new to Wuxia would not be able to differentiate between Wuxia and Xianxia because Wuxia is just as fantastical in how it's written.
That being said, I felt there was something comforting in the simplicity of the martial arts, especially when it came to things like acupuncture points and internal energy. Pressing on the right acupuncture points could render someone entirely immovable, and internal energy is a sort of technique for breathing and steadying oneself.
I liked reading about these sorts of techniques more than the actual fight scenes. Though the scenes in which our characters were learning new techniques were pretty fun to read too.
Patriotism
This was a very central theme to this book. It was very anti-Jin dynasty. Guo Jing and Yang Kang were even named after the Jingkang Incident in which the Song Dynasty lost a humiliating war to the Jin Dynasty. Wanyan Honglie was the big bad not only because he killed Guo Jing and Yang Kang's parents, but because of the crimes of his dynasty against the Song people.
I have heard that Louis Cha becomes a little more questioning of his patriotism and nationalism in later books, but it was a bit eye-opening to see it expressed so strongly in this book.
Revenge
Revenge is almost always a main theme of Wuxia and action stories. Guo Jing and Yang Kang were supposed to get revenge on Wanyan Honglie for killing their fathers, but only Guo Jing took this to heart. It was no coincidence that Guo Jing was the hero and Yang Kang was the villain for this.
Revenge is closely tied to honour, and many of the characters in this novel valued these intangible virtues. As a modern person, obviously I don't have the same views on honour, but I wonder if people really felt that way about honour.
Good and evil
Towards the end, Guo Jing had some interesting reflection. He thought about how he'd become so strong, but was still unable to protect so many people he loved, including his mother and Huang Rong (who he believed to be dead). In addition, if he wanted to get revenge for his dead parents and dead masters, he had to kill more people, which was inherently a bad thing.
He wondered about the morality of killing a Jin soldier, because that Jin soldier had family who loved him, and yet he was attacking the Song Dynasty that Guo Jing held so dear.
Guo Jing also thought about why good people did bad things or went through bad experiences. He wondered by Mu Nianci, a good person, would fall in love with a douchebag like Yang Kang. And he saw how so many of the great masters he met had such high levels of martial arts, but they'd all gone through unspeakable suffering.
It was a bit of a pity that this reflection was brought up so late in the story, because this was a very valid discussion. Morality in fighting was probably a topic that should have been brought up more in a book that was all about fighting, but we know that this book was never about deep philosophical discussions.
How can one who fights call themselves a moral and kind person? That is the question. Is there anybody who does not fight to hurt? And who are you to decide whether another person is worthy of martial punishment? These are all questions that do not have definitive answers in the real world.
The contextual answer that was brought up by Hong Qigong was oversimplified. He stated that he had no qualms about his morality because he only ever used his martial arts to kill bad people. Now, this is easy in the context of this story because people are labelled as bad or good depending on their actions. But in real life, it is obviously not so easy to differentiate.
Overall
This book definitely is an important piece of cultural literature, and I appreciated what I learned about the Wuxia genre by reading it.
I think that the things about this book that stuck with me were a few of the main characters, such as Huang Rong, Huang Yaoshi, and Hong Qigong. As well, some of the fighting techniques and important items (such as the Nine Yin Manual) which become important later on in the Condor Trilogy are introduced here. The Heavenly Saber and Dragon Slaying Sword was actually the first drama based on the Condor Trilogy that I'd watched as a child, so I'm kind of moving backwards, but it's still nice to have a starting point.
That being said, there are weak points to this book. Namely, that there are many characters without personalities, and are only there to serve a role. However, this didn't annoy me as much as it might've because these characters do only appear when they are needed, and thus do not "obstruct" the story. It's just that they felt like literal cardboard cutouts that were there to fill a role and nothing else.
Overall, I'd still say that I had a good experience reading this book. I think mostly, I just enjoyed learning about the Wuxia world from a piece of iconic literature.
I found this book to be somewhat "fairy tale" like. I'll describe it more under the cut. Overall, I'd recommend it for people who are looking for an intro to the Wuxia genre, and don't mind gullible and overly righteous characters.
This is a no-edit write up so sorry for any sloppy writing XD And there are spoilers!
This book was quite long, so I admit there were some details that I've already forgotten. I'm going to try my best though (y)
Story
I would say that the story is about the adventures of Guo Jing as he meets new people, becomes stronger, and learns to manage his strength in a responsible and righteous way.
I believe this book was originally serialized in the Ming Pao Daily Newspaper. Apparently he'd written these novels to get people to read his paper for his political essays, but people obviously got more invested in the Wuxia stories.
The fact that this story was written in a serialized manner is evident. Guo Jing and Huang Rong jump from adventure to adventure, and to me, it didn't seem that any adventure was more exciting than any other. What I mean by that is even when we reached the climax, I wasn't at the edge of my seat wondering what would happen.
Most of the events of the story are brought about by revenge. There is a back story, and then characters are brought together so that one or both can get revenge. This format happens again and again, but with different characters playing the roles each time. I said that the story was "fairy tale" like because of how event-focused it was. There were several supporting characters who didn't particularly have a personality, but was just there to fulfill a role and perform a duty.
Technically, there were a few overarching story lines. They were:
- Guo Jing getting revenge for his parents
- The war between the Song Dynasty, Jin Dynasty, and the Mongolian Empire
- The lead up to the competition between the Five Greats at Mount Hua
I didn't particularly care for these major story lines. I was more interested in the short adventures that Guo Jing and Huang Rong were caught up in.
There were also several adventures in which Guo Jing and Huang Rong were actually just onlookers. These scenes gave the opportunity to other characters to take the main stage, while also keeping Guo Jing and Huang Rong in the story.
Translation
I read an English fan translation of these books. The various chapters were translated by different people, and there were some chapters that read much smoother than others.
Things got really clunky when translators were having to translate the names of various stances. The other instances of translations that required more explanations were occupation names (e.g. martial siblings, monks, etc.) and idioms from history or literature, that required translators' notes for further elaboration. Overall, I'm not going to give the translators too much shit because the Wuxia setting is already so far removed from a modern Western setting, so they had a lot on their plate.
Characters
There were a lot of characters. As I mentioned, I felt that many of them were role players than characters with actual personalities. I felt this was the case even with some of our major characters. In many cases, characters' personalities were demonstrated through their words rather than their actions.
Guo Jing
Guo Jing is the hero of the story. He was not smart or charming, but he was honest, hard working, a well behaved son and student, and very honourable. I think that Guo Jing was supposed to be kind of a self insert character. Not that most readers are dumb, but Guo Jing started with no natural talent, but amassed the most fearsome of skills throughout the story.
Guo Jing only encountered a personal dilemma near the end of the book. He felt that although he was becoming stronger, he was unable to protect his loved ones. In addition, even though he wanted to be an honourable person, he had hurt many people with his acquired powers. At first, he thought that the only way to go back to being a righteous person was to get rid of his martial arts skills. But as Peter Parker learned from Uncle Ben, Guo Jing learned that "with great power comes great responsibility." He realized that with his powers, he was supposed to use them to fight the bad people and only them.
There was a romantic subplot in this story between Guo Jing and Huang Rong. You could even say there was a love triangle which also included Huazheng. It was less to do with love and more to do with honour though. It was clear that Guo Jing loved Huang Rong romantically, and loved Huazheng as a sister, but he'd made the promise to the Khan first, and he felt it would be a terrible thing to go back on his word. It only became okay to go back on his word when the Khan forced his mother to kill himself, which made Huazheng no longer a good candidate (though that didn't negatively affect Guo Jing's platonic feels for Huazheng).
Overall, Guo Jing was an okay character. He was technically bland and was pretty passive, but I would still say that he has an identifiable personality.
Huang Rong
I actually ended up liking Huang Rong even though she was a bit of a hyperbole in all regards. Huang Rong was both super book-smart and super street-smart. She'd learned from her father about all sorts of things in the fields of literature, history, mathematics, etc. And much of the time, she used her smarts to escape battles that she knew she could not win.
Huang Rong did also learn a few powerful techniques throughout the course of the book, including the technique of the dog-beating stick.
In addition to being smart, Huang Rong was incredibly mischievous and a spoiled brat. Which in theory I would be annoyed about, but it really seemed to go well with her character. She knew when to tone it back when she was dealing with something of gravity.
Guo Jing and Huang Rong were about 15 years old in the book, so they were quite young. Huang Rong didn't know much about romantic or sexual relationships, which was kind of interesting because she was so smart about everything else.
I also thought it was interesting that Huang Rong had a non-conventional view of marriage. She was obviously very sad that Guo Jing was betrothed to Huazheng, but she separated love and marriage in her mind in order to make the seemingly inevitable breakup more bearable. I just though it was interesting that she tried to use logic to help her heartbreak, rather than guilt-tripping Guo Jing.
I think Huang Rong was the character that made the biggest impact in this book. She was smart and crafty but also a mischievous and troublesome, but packaged together in one character in a way that made sense.
Yang Kang
Yang Kang was supposed to be Guo Jing's brother from birth, but he was led astray by several bad teachers. Some of them included Mei Chaofeng and Ouyang Feng.
Yang Kang was supposed to be portrayed as this terrible, no good, very bad kid because he wouldn't avenge his parents. But if we consider his story in the real world, he had it pretty tough. He was raised to believe that Wanyan Honglie was his father, and Bao Xiruo did not ever lead him to believe that his birth father was someone else. Even Bao Xiruo did not know that Wanyan Honglie was responsible for the attack on Ox Village, and learning that bit of information had to have been very jarring for Yang Kang.
After his mother died, Yang Kang mostly sided with his father, which again, in the real world, would've made sense. After all, Wanyan Honglie was pretty much his father in every sense but biological. However, Wanyan Honglie was part of the Jin Empire and therefore supposed to automatically be a bad person (Pariotism is a huge theme in this book. More on this later.).
Yang Kang was a snob from the beginning of the book. He didn't have much respect for others. He'd beaten Mu Nianci in her martial arts competition, but refused to marry her, and continued to lead her on. He eventually convinced her to have sex even though Mu Nianci had reservations, both about Yang Kang as a person, and about having sex before marriage. To Yang Kang, I think Mu Nianci was just a plaything.
Yang Kang died indirectly via Ouyang Feng's poison. Yang Kang was with Ouyang Feng near the end of the book as he wanted to become his disciple. Huang Rong asked Shagu to recount Ouyang Ke's death, and it was revealed that Yang Kang had kille dhim. Yang Kang tried to strike Huang Rong, but he hit her soft hedgehog armour. In addition, her armour had remnants of Ouyang Feng's very potent poison on it. Knowing that Yang Kang was responsible for his nephew/son's death, Ouyang Feng refused to help him.
Mu Nianci
I think Mu Nianci was technically supposed to be a main character, but her character didn't have that much screen time.
Mu Nianci's story line was mostly to do with her romantic relationship with Yang Kang. I would say that Mu Nianci fell in love with Yang Kang against her will. Yang Kang was by definition a bad person. He did not honour the rules of the martial arts tournament. Then he imprisoned her and Mu Yi/Yang Tiexin. Later on he took advantage of Mu Nianci's attraction to him and not only led her on but pushed her to have sex with her, which resulted in a baby. I think that stories like this happen all the time in real life, in which people fall in love with objectively bad people but can't help their feelings.
I think throughout the course of the novel, Mu Nianci was trying to convince herself to leave the relationship. Mu Nianci finally did so when she became pregnant. Though Yang Kang had died, Mu Nianci had already decided to move on.
Mu Nianci bumped into Guo Jing and Huang Rong once after giving birth to the baby, and she asked Guo Jing to give him a name. Guo Jing named him Yang Guo, in hopes that Guo'er would overcome the mistakes that his dad had made.
I think that Yang Guo will meet Guo Jing at least once in the Return of the Condor Heroes, but we'll see!
Parents
The parents of Guo Jing and Yang Kang were pretty bland. They were all about righteousness and honour, and honestly I didn't feel that they were real characters, but rather representations of the moral potential that Guo Jing and Yang Kang could live up to.
Guo Xiaotian
Guo Xiaotian was Guo Jing's father. We didn't know much about him.
Li Ping
Li Ping was Guo Jing's mother. She fled her captor and went to Mongolia to raise Guo Jing. She raised him to be a very honourable, honest, and well-behaved kid.
Li Ping only came back into the picture near the end of the book. Guo Jing was a general under Genghis Khan's command. However, he didn't agree with Genghis Khan's initiative to conquer the Song Empire. The Khan took his mother hostage and had her convince Guo Jing to agree to do so.
However, Li Ping stood by her morals and told her son that patriotism came first. So Li Ping committed suicide so that the Khan would no longer have leverage to force Guo Jing to fight the Song Empire.
Yang Tiexin
Yang Tiexin was Yang Kang's father. He made it out of the Ox Village attack alive, and took on an alias of Mu Yi. He adopted Mu Nianci as his daughter in the mean time.
Yang Tiexin was eventually killed by Wanyan Honglie when trying to escape with Bao Xiruo.
Bao Xiruo
Bao Xiruo was Yang Kang's mother. She was kind-hearted, and had helped a wounded soldier who had hid in her barn. This soldier ended up being Wanyan Honglie, who had fallen in love with her for her kindness.
Though she ended up remarrying, she never forgot Yang Tiexin. When she realized that Mu Yiwas her long lost husband, she agreed to flee with him immediately. However, as mentioned above, they were cornered by Wanyan Honglie and killed.
It's kind of a mystery that such a kind woman would raise a son like Yang Kang. The contextual reason would likely be because Yang Kang took after Wanyan Honglie, but I still felt that Bao Xiruo as a character dodged the criticism that she could've done more to guide Yang Kang on the right path. Perhaps telling him that Wanyan Honglie wasn't his birth father would help. Or even telling him why she wanted to live in a modest home despite being a princess consort. Anyway, I felt that Bao Xiruo in theory was a good person, but there were several instances in which her flaws and mistakes were not recognized.
Freaks of Jiangnan
The Freaks of Jiangnan were Ke Zhen'e, Zhu Cong, Han Baoju, Nan Xiren, Zhang Asheng, Quan Jinfa, and Han Xiaoying. In general, they acted as one unit. The only two characters that I felt stuck out were Ke Zhen'e and Zhu Cong.
Ke Zhen'e was the only Freak who was left alive at the end of the book. It was presumed that he was kept alive because he was blind. He could not see that it was Ouyang Feng and Yang Ke killing his martial brothers and sister, and so he'd probably invest a lot of effort into killing Huang Yaoshi. He eventually discovered through Shagu that he had wrongly accused Huang Yaoshi.
Zhu Cong left an impression on me because his skills as a pickpocket came in handy when out of battle. There were several instances when he'd pickpocket the opponent and our protagonists would learn some information that would help them.
Five Greats
Huang Yaoshi
Huang Yaoshi was known as the Eastern Heretic. He was a huge snob and preferred to live alone on Peach Blossom Island. His character is an interesting contrast to his daughter's which is very bubbly and enthusiastic.
Huang Yaoshi's wife Feng Heng was kind of his emotional rock. She was obviously the more amicable of the two, and was very smart in her own way. Chen Xuanfeng and Mei Chaofeng had stolen Huang Yaoshi's copy of the Nine Yin Manual and ran away. Feng Heng decided to rewrite another copy from memory, and the stress caused her to go through a difficult pregnancy resulting in death. In his grief, Huang Yaoshi crippled the rest of his students and banished them. Huang Yaoshi also had a feud with Zhou Botong and imprisoned him on Peach Blossom Island.
At the beginning of the book, Huang Yaoshi and Huang Rong had a falling out and she ran away from the island. Over the course of the book, Huang Yaoshi made amends and reconciled with all those he'd wronged.
Huang Rong very easily forgave her father, as they did have a loving relationship. Huang Yaoshi eventually met Mei Chaofeng, and forgave her for her misdeeds. This meant a lot to Mei Chaofeng, and she became an ally from then on. In addition, Huang Yaoshi reconciled with the other students whose legs he'd crippled, and even tried to take care of Shagu.
I think Huang Yaoshi came off as a cold man because of his huge ego, and that was often the obstacle to him expressing his true feelings. We see that he was actually rather protective of his disciples, but had not left the island and sought them out because he didn't want to. And of course, there were several instances in which he was accused of doing something he didn't do but he didn't defend himself because he thought defending himself was somehow below someone of his status.
The nickname "Eastern Heretic" definitely works well here because he wasn't an evil person. He was just very erratic and strange in his beliefs.
Hong Qigong
Hong Qigong was the head of the Beggars' Clan. He was also a kindly old guy. He'd taught Guo Jing that "Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Palms" in exchange for Huang Rong cooking him excellent dishes. Hong Qigong knew he was being used, but he didn't seem to mind.
During the course of the story, Hong Qigong was wounded terribly. Believing that he would die soon, Hong Qigong passed on the leadership to Huang Rong, and taught her the Dog Beating Staff Technique, which is honestly a style of fighting that seemed to suit her very well. It was not a traditional fighting style of attacking and defending, but rather something more practical, something that disrupted this simple structure.
Fortunately, Hong Qigong did not die. As Guo Jing started to understand the Nine Yin Manual, he passed on information to Hong Qigong that allowed him to regain his health and martial arts proficiencies to the point that he could attend the competition at Mount Hua.
Ouyang Feng
Ouyang Feng was the big bad of the story. Everything about him was fishy. We learned that his nephew Ouyang Ke was actually his biological son, as he'd had an affair with his sister-in-law.
Ouyang Feng was known as the Western Poison, so in addition to being a very great martial artist, he was also very adept at poison. Luckily for Guo Jing, this posed no threat to him because early on, he'd acquired an immunity to snake poison by sucking the blood of Liang Ziweng's snake.
For much of the book, Ouyang Feng was after the Nine Yin Manual. He'd captured Guo Jing and tried to extract it from him. Guo Jing was suggested to recite it, but to make small changes so that Ouyang Feng would never get to the right idea.
Eventually, Ouyang Feng got to the parts of the Nine Yin Manual which were in Sanskrit. Huang Rong claimed that she knew the translation so that he would keep her alive.
Ouyang Feng also hunted down Guo Jing in Mongolia because he wanted to find Huang Rong. He made a pact with Guo Jing that Guo Jing would save him three times, so that Ouyang Feng would not kill Huang Rong.
Eventually, Ouyang Feng caught up to Huang Rong, who at this point just made up things to keep Ouyang Feng busy. Ouyang Feng did become extremely powerful, defeating Guo Jing, Huang Yaoshi, and Hong Qigong at Mount Hua, but he became insane.
Despite Ouyang Feng being portrayed as a bad guy throughout the book, he was also said to be a person who kept his word. He actually tried pretty hard to stick to his promises with Guo Jing, which I thought was a bit surprising.
It seems that Ouyang Feng remains a character in Return of the Condor Heroes, so we shall stay tuned.
Reverend Yideng
I actually quite liked the character of Reverend Yideng. He was a kindly old man, who of course had a backstory of misery.
Reverend Yideng was an emperor whose beloved concubine had become embroiled in an affair with Zhou Botong. Reverend Yideng had the opportunity to save his concubine's illegitimate child but in a moment of anger he refused.
I don't remember the exact reason he decided to abdicate the throne. It might've been just due to the stress of the job. Anyway, he left to become a monk, and four of his officials and generals left with him.
We met Reverend Yideng when Huang Rong had been injured by Qiu Qianren and only Reverend Yideng could help her. He lived atop a mountain that was guarded by a fisher, a farmer, a woodcutter, and a scholer (who were the aforementioned officials and generals).
Reverend Yideng felt an immediate connection with Huang Rong, seeing as how she was the daughter of a friend/acquaintance. He decided to heal her despite knowing that it would use up much of his energy. In gratitude, Huang Rong and Guo Jing devised up a strategy to proect Reverend Yideng from the impending attack from Yinggu.
Wang Chonyang
He was the last of the five greats, but died before the beginning of the book.
Mongol Empire
Temujin
Genghis Khan was one of the major supporting characters. He treated Guo Jing like a son and betrothed his daughter to him.
He became an antagonist when Guo Jing found out that he wanted to attack the Song Empire. At the end of the book, Guo Jing basically chastised the Khan for being dishonourable and not upholding the values of a true hero. Everybody dreams about telling their boss what's what, but in real life Guo Jing would've been executed because of how ballsy that was. This was their last conversation before Genghis Khan died.
Tolui
Tolui was Genghis Khan's youngest son, and Guo Jing's sworn brother. Despite acting under his father's command, Tolui repeatedly defied orders in small ways in order to help Guo Jing. He never forgot their brotherhood.
Huazheng
Princess Huazheng was Genghis Khan's beloved daughter. She did love Guo Jing but Guo Jing only saw her as a sister (after all, they had grown up together).
I think she was a bit unaware in terms of how things worked in the real world. This was realistic, seeing as how she was a princess who lived lavishly.
Huazheng ratted out Guo Jing and his mother to the Khan when she found out that they didn't want to attack the Song Empire. She hoped that Guo Jing would have to stay in Mongolia but ultimately it had graver consequences, resulting in Li Ping's death.
By the end of the book, Huazheng went away to live with Jochi. When Huang Rong asked Guo Jing whether he was going to see her, Guo Jing said he had no reason to because she was living among riches. That being said, in her last message to Guo Jing, Huazheng did express much guilt, and she told him of the Mongols' plan to attack Xiangyang.
Quanzhen Sect
Zhou Botong
Zhou Botong was known as the Old Urchin. He had even more of a disregard for the rules than Huang Yaoshi. He was basically a kid in an old man's body.
Zhou Botong thought it'd be fun to be sworn brothers with Guo Jing despite them being so far away from each other in terms of social status. Zhou Botong taught him to recite the Nine Yin Manual from memory, as well as the Vacant Fist and the Ambidexterity Technique. These three were all very, very useful tools for Guo Jing.
He had an affair with Concubine Liu Ying which resulted in a child, but he had no idea he had a child. Later on, Zhou Botong was imprisoned on Peach Blossom Island because Huang Yaoshi felt that Zhou Botong and his Nine Yin Manual were the cause of his wife's death. After he was released from the island with the help of Guo Jing, he was basically free in the world, continuing on as his usual wild self.
Seven Immortals of Quanzhen
The Seven Immortals of Quanzhen wereMa Yu, Tan Chuduan, Liu Chuxua, Qiu Chuji, Wang Chuyi, Hao Datong, and Sun Bu'er. I believe a few of these characters were real historical figures.
Ma Yu taught Guo Jing breathing techniques that helped him strengthen his internal energy. I interpret internal energy as more of a defensive tool, so I think this was a huge help for Guo Jing, who was mostly about attack power.
Qiu Chuji had gotten into a squabble with the Freaks of Jiangnan. They'd agreed to each track down one of the kids (Guo Jing and Yang Kang) and pass on their skils to that kid. Then, their kids would battle on their behalf. This was because a 7 vs. 1 battle didn't seem fair. Unfortunately, Qiu Chuji wasn't a very good teacher, and wasn't able to rein in Yang Kang's wild ways.
Disciples
Yin Zhiping
Yin Zhiping was Qiu Chuji's disciple, and popped in from time to time as needed.
Cheng Yaojia
Cheng Yaojia was a blushing maiden who was a student of Sun Bu'er. She'd initially fallen ni love with Guo Jing for saving her from being raped by Ouyang Ke. She went to Ox Village in search of Guo Jia but fell in love with Lu Guanying, and they were married with Huang Yaoshi's arrangement.
Peach Blossom Island
Chen Xuanfeng
He was a disciple of Huang Yaoshi. He fell in love with Mei Chaofeng, and then ran away with the Nine Yin Manual. He was nicknamed "Copper Corpse." He died near the beginning of the novel, after being stabbed by Guo Jing.
Mei Chaofeng
Mei Chaofeng was "Iron Corpse." She sought revenge on Guo Jing for killing her husband. However, she'd also become blind so that was an obstacle.
Mei Chaofeng was learning from the Nine Yin Manual but she didn't understand the Taoism behind it, and as such, was learning it in the wrong way. That being said, Mei Chaofeng was still very strong. Near the beginning of the novel, Mei Chaofeng was one of the most dangerous villains, which I thought was pretty cool.
Mei Chaofeng eventually bumped into Huang Yaoshi again. He forgave her, and this meant a lot to Mei Chaofeng. She'd wanted to atone, but I think she was probably too ashamed. After their reconciliation, she was allied with Huang Yaoshi, and was killed by Ouyang Feng.
Despite being kind of a fearsome character, literally nicknamed "Iron Corpse," I'm kind of here for the aesthetic. When I imagined Mei Chaofeng, I thought of her as kind of a witch-like character, except she was obviously very dangerous and deadly with her direct attacks.
Qu Lingfeng/Qu San
Qu San actually appeared very early in the book, as a neighbour of Guo Xiaotian and Yang Tiexin. He was actually Qu Lingfeng, a former disciple of Huang Yaoshi. He stole treasures from the palace, and hoped to present them to Huang Yaoshi so that they would be back on better terms.
His skeleton was discovered by Guo Jing and Huang Rong in an abandoned inn several years later. He left behind a daughter, Shagu.
Lu Chengfeng
He was a student of Huang Yaoshi, and seemed to become a man of good repute. He also happened to lead a band of pirates, which seemed funny when compared to his cultured background.
He also reconciled with Huang Yaoshi, who gave him some techniques taht would hopefully heal his legs.
Feng Heng
Feng Heng was Huang Yaoshi's wife. She was very smart, so we can see where Huang Rong got her craftiness from. Feng Heng did not know martial arts at all, but had a very good memory. She asked Zhou Botong to look at the manual. She read it once, and then told Zhou Botong that it was nothing special, that she'd seen it elsewhere before. She "proved" it by reciting it, implying that she'd seen it elsewhere.
I believe this caused Zhou Botong to destroy his copy of the second volume of the Nine Yin Manual. Then Feng Heng wrote down the manual from memory, and so Huang Yaoshi had the only copy of the second volume.
As mentioned above, she tried to rewrite the manual from memory after it was stolen by Mei Chaofeng and Chen Xuanfeng. Obviously, her memory was not as fresh, so it was implied that this version was not accurate. She later died in childbirth and Huang Yaoshi blamed it on the stress.
Shagu
She was the daughter of Qu Lingfeng. She was called thus because she seemed to have an mental disability. She guarded the inn in Ox Village while Huang Rong helped Guo Jing heal from his injuries after being attacked by Ouyang Feng.
Shagu had seemed to learn some moves from her father, and Huang Yaoshi recognized this. Seeing as how she had no family, Huang Yaoshi took her back to Peach Blossom Island. She got tired of the lessons and snuck out, only to be captured in the massacre of the Freaks of Jiangnan.
Lu Guanying
He was Lu Chengfeng's son. His father was not technically allowed to pass on Huang Yaoshi's martial arts to him, so he learned from Reverend Kumu instead. Huang Yaoshi eventually granted him the permission to learn the Peach Blossom Island martial arts.
He eventually married Cheng Yaojia after getting the okay from Huang Yaoshi.
Iron Palm Sect
Qiu Qianren
He was a bad guy for most of the book. He was responsible for killing Liu Ying's child. Later on, he'd injured Huang Rong mightily, thought that was because Qiu Qianzhang was purposely causing a misunderstanding between the two.
I had actually forgotten what had happened to this character. Wikipedia told me that he repented and became Yideng's apprentice, so that's neat.
Qiu Qianzhang
Qiu Qianzhang was Qiu Qianren's twin brother. He used his brother's fearsome reputation to deceive other people. In the end, he died in the ruckus between Guo Jing and Huang Rong and Qiu Qianren.
Dali Kingdom
Liu Ying
Liu Ying was a concubine of Duan Zhixing (aka Reverend Yideng's former name). He loved her dearly, and taught her martial arts as an expression of his love. However, she later had an affair with Zhou Botong and bore his child. This child was hurt by Qiu Qianren. Liu Ying asked Duan Zhixing to save the child, but he refused this and the child died.
Liu Ying tried to gain entrance to Peach Blossom Island to save Zhou Botong. To do so, she became super proficient in mathematics. However, seeing as how she was stumped by a few problems from Huang Rong, it became clear to her that perhaps she would never get on the island.
When Huang Rong was severely injured by Qiu Qianren, Yinggu directed Guo Jing and Huang Rong to visit Reverend Yideng. She also gave Huang Rong a poisoned pill that looked like medicine. After Reverend Yideng healed Huang Rong, he would become ill and exhausted, and Huang Rong would undoubtedly offer the pill to Revereng Yideng.
Later on, Liu Ying came up the mountain to try to get revenge on Reverend Yideng. Huang Rong stalled Liu Ying a bit using some brain teasers. Liu Ying stabbed who she thought was Reverend Yideng, but was actually Guo Jing, who was better equipped to receive the blow. After Liu Ying turned around, she saw the real Reverend Yideng, who was not supposed to be there. However, Liu Ying couldn't bring herself to attack him again and left.
Yideng's Aides
Reverend Yideng was guarded by a fisherman, a woodcutter, a farmer, and a scholar. The fisherman was Chu Dongshan, who was his naval admiral. The woodcutter was Zhang Shaoshou, who was an army general. The farmer was Wu Santong, who was a palace guard. The scholar was Zhu Ziliu, who was a premier.
I thought these "new identities" were quite neat.
Anyway, these four aides mostly acted as a unit, and as Reverend Yideng's defense squad.
Indian Monk
The Indian Monk was Reverend Yideng's junior. He translated the Sanskrit parts of the Nine Yin Manual for Guo Jing and Huang Rong.
Beggar's Sect
Lu Youjiao
He was one of the few elders that I recalled lol. He befriended Guo Jing and Huang Rong and were one of the few to defend them when Yang Kang had temporarily usurped the leadership possition.
Jin Dynasty and Associates
Wanyan Honglie
He was a prince of the Jin Dynasty. He had been saved by Bao Xiruo and fell in love with her. Thus, he orchestrated an attack on Ox Village so that he could steal her away and marry her.
He continued to be the villain throughuot the rest of the book. One subplot of the book involved Wanyan Honglie trying to retrieve a military strategy manual written by Yue Fei. In this mission, he collaborated with Ouyang Feng.
Despited being a major villain, and the killer of Guo Jing and Yang Kang's parents, I didn't really feel any distinct sense of personality from this character. I really felt that the only reason we were supposed to think he was evil was being he was not Han.
Ouyang Ke
He was Ouyang Feng's nephew in name, but biological son in truth. He was an overall scumbag. One of his joys in life was collecting wives, and he was extremely in love with Huang Rong's good looks. He was always on the lookout to rape pretty ladies. Mu Nianci and Cheng Yaojia were among some of his almost-victims.
His legs were crushed in a trap that Huang Rong had set when they were stuck on an island. She did help release him, though, and the entire group left the island together.
Ouyang Ke was eventually killed by Yang Kang in Ox Village. One of the reasons that Yang Kang killed him was that Ouyang Feng only took on one apprentice at a time, so killing Ouyang Ke would free up a spot for Yang Kang.
Other associates
There were so many random cronies that popped up from time to time. These included the likes of Sha Tongtian, Hou Tonghai, Liang Ziweng, Peng Lianhu, etc. I had initially separated out these characters but I couldn't possibly describe to you what they'd done. They were really just placeholder characters for when one of the major baddies needed some extra muscle.
The only one I distinctly remembered was Liang Ziweng because Guo Jing had drank the blood of his snake, which caused Guo Jing to gain immunity to snake venom.
Themes
Martial Arts
Wuxia novels are known to have exaggerated action. This is akin to action movies where near-impossible things happen. The martial arts in Wuxia novels are almost magic-like in their simplicity.
I grew up watching dramas based on Wuxia novels, but I am willing to bet that most people who are new to Wuxia would not be able to differentiate between Wuxia and Xianxia because Wuxia is just as fantastical in how it's written.
That being said, I felt there was something comforting in the simplicity of the martial arts, especially when it came to things like acupuncture points and internal energy. Pressing on the right acupuncture points could render someone entirely immovable, and internal energy is a sort of technique for breathing and steadying oneself.
I liked reading about these sorts of techniques more than the actual fight scenes. Though the scenes in which our characters were learning new techniques were pretty fun to read too.
Patriotism
This was a very central theme to this book. It was very anti-Jin dynasty. Guo Jing and Yang Kang were even named after the Jingkang Incident in which the Song Dynasty lost a humiliating war to the Jin Dynasty. Wanyan Honglie was the big bad not only because he killed Guo Jing and Yang Kang's parents, but because of the crimes of his dynasty against the Song people.
I have heard that Louis Cha becomes a little more questioning of his patriotism and nationalism in later books, but it was a bit eye-opening to see it expressed so strongly in this book.
Revenge
Revenge is almost always a main theme of Wuxia and action stories. Guo Jing and Yang Kang were supposed to get revenge on Wanyan Honglie for killing their fathers, but only Guo Jing took this to heart. It was no coincidence that Guo Jing was the hero and Yang Kang was the villain for this.
Revenge is closely tied to honour, and many of the characters in this novel valued these intangible virtues. As a modern person, obviously I don't have the same views on honour, but I wonder if people really felt that way about honour.
Good and evil
Towards the end, Guo Jing had some interesting reflection. He thought about how he'd become so strong, but was still unable to protect so many people he loved, including his mother and Huang Rong (who he believed to be dead). In addition, if he wanted to get revenge for his dead parents and dead masters, he had to kill more people, which was inherently a bad thing.
He wondered about the morality of killing a Jin soldier, because that Jin soldier had family who loved him, and yet he was attacking the Song Dynasty that Guo Jing held so dear.
Guo Jing also thought about why good people did bad things or went through bad experiences. He wondered by Mu Nianci, a good person, would fall in love with a douchebag like Yang Kang. And he saw how so many of the great masters he met had such high levels of martial arts, but they'd all gone through unspeakable suffering.
It was a bit of a pity that this reflection was brought up so late in the story, because this was a very valid discussion. Morality in fighting was probably a topic that should have been brought up more in a book that was all about fighting, but we know that this book was never about deep philosophical discussions.
How can one who fights call themselves a moral and kind person? That is the question. Is there anybody who does not fight to hurt? And who are you to decide whether another person is worthy of martial punishment? These are all questions that do not have definitive answers in the real world.
The contextual answer that was brought up by Hong Qigong was oversimplified. He stated that he had no qualms about his morality because he only ever used his martial arts to kill bad people. Now, this is easy in the context of this story because people are labelled as bad or good depending on their actions. But in real life, it is obviously not so easy to differentiate.
Overall
This book definitely is an important piece of cultural literature, and I appreciated what I learned about the Wuxia genre by reading it.
I think that the things about this book that stuck with me were a few of the main characters, such as Huang Rong, Huang Yaoshi, and Hong Qigong. As well, some of the fighting techniques and important items (such as the Nine Yin Manual) which become important later on in the Condor Trilogy are introduced here. The Heavenly Saber and Dragon Slaying Sword was actually the first drama based on the Condor Trilogy that I'd watched as a child, so I'm kind of moving backwards, but it's still nice to have a starting point.
That being said, there are weak points to this book. Namely, that there are many characters without personalities, and are only there to serve a role. However, this didn't annoy me as much as it might've because these characters do only appear when they are needed, and thus do not "obstruct" the story. It's just that they felt like literal cardboard cutouts that were there to fill a role and nothing else.
Overall, I'd still say that I had a good experience reading this book. I think mostly, I just enjoyed learning about the Wuxia world from a piece of iconic literature.