The Legend of the Condor Heroes

They did not pursue me which was really strange. The rain became heavier and the night had grown pitch-dark; they could not see me. I dashed about wildly in the rain. Zei Hanzi's body was at first hot but afterwards, it gradually turned cold. My heart also turned cold with each minute that passed. I was shaking all over; I was very cold. 'Zei Hanzi, are you really dead? Even with your fierce kung fu, how could you die so inexplicably? Who killed you?' I drew out a dagger from his stomach, causing the blood to spurt out. What caused this? Murdered people certainly bleed, but I did not know how many people I murdered. 'I must die with Zei Hanzi! No one else will call him 'zei hanzi', in the netherworld, he would be lonely!' I placed the dagger to my throat and prepared to slice when suddenly, I traced two characters on the dagger handle, the characters "Yang Kang." Mmm, the killer must be this person named Yang Kang. How can I not exact revenge? If I don't kill this Yang Kang first, how can I die? Thereupon, I went through Zei Hanzi's pockets, searching for the secret Taoist scripture, but even though I searched the whole body, I was not able to find a trace of it. I must find it! I started from his hair, not missing an inch until suddenly, while I was feeling the skin on his chest, I felt something strange.

As she came to this thought, she was unable to restrain bitter laughter from coming out of her throat. She said: "After careful investigation, I found that tattooed on his chest is the "Jiu Yin Zhen Jing." 'You were afraid that someone would steal this from you and so you tattooed this on your body so it won't be taken away!' Yes, like shifu's martial arts teachings, someone could also steal the Taoist scripture from us so you came up with a way so it can't be stolen. Your idea is 'a person comes, after he is gone, everything goes with him' (or something like that). I used the dagger to cut your chest, mmm, I must tan this skin so it won't rot. I will keep it with me all the time so it will be like you are accompanying me forever. I was not sad anymore. When I laugh, people are usually frightened even though I was smiling. I used both hands to dig a pit in the ground to bury you inside. You taught me the "Jiu Yin Bai Gu Zhua" before; I used this technique to dig your grave. I hid in the cave, afraid that the Seven Freaks of Chiangnan would find me.

At that time, I was not their match but after some practice, humph, I could grab each of their hearts. Was it really dangerous to practice the Taoist nei gong? It would cause serious injuries but I was not afraid to die only what sort of injury? I must perfect my kung fu in the shortest time. It must have been some divine intervention that Zei Hanzi tattoed the Taoist scripture on his body or with my blind eye, what use would the written words have? All these years, even when he was playing with me, he never removed his clothing on his upper body, now I know it was for this…" When she thought about this, her face burned and she released a long sigh. What is it? Zei Hanzi, can you see me from the netherworld? If you married a female ghost and made it your wife, then we do not have forever…

Two days passed, I was very hungry when suddenly, I heard a large army on horseback pass by the hole. From their dialect, I found out they were from Jin Dynasty. I came out and asked them for something to eat. The leader of the army saw my pitiful state and decided to give me shelter, bringing me all the way to the palace. Afterwards, I discovered that he was actually the sixth son of the Jin emperor, Prince Zhao. I swept the ground in the back gardens for them but in the evening, I secretly trained. Such was that I was able to practice for several years and no one noticed anything. They only thought of me as a pitiful blind married woman.

One evening, oh, that mischievous young prince. He went looking for bird's eggs in the garden at midnight without telling anyone. I did not see him but he saw me practicing with my silver whip and thereupon coerced me into teaching him. I taught him three moves and he learned them; he was really intelligent. Pleased with his progress, I also passed on to him the Jiu3 Yin1 Bai2 Gu3 Zhua3 (Jiu Yin White Bone Claw), tiu1 xin1 zhang3 ye3 (Push the Heart Palm). I wanted him to take the oath of not telling anyone, not even the prince or the princess. If he divulged it to anyone, I told him that I would capture him, break his bones, and send his soul to heaven. Young prince has practiced kung fu and his foundation was not low. He said that 'Shifu, I also have another male shifu. This person is not good. I do not like him. I only like you as my shifu. I will never reveal to him that you are teaching me. He can't compare to you. His kung fu teachings are not effective.'

Humph, the young prince knew how to flatter. His male shifu was definitely not incompetent. But I only asked that he did not tell him that he was studying kung fu with me and I in turn would not question him about his shifu. Several years passed and the young prince said that the prince (Prince Zhao) wanted to go to Mongolia. I asked the prince to allow me to go there with him to offer sacrifice for my husband's grave. Young prince said to me that the prince agreed. The prince doted on him very much and whatever he asked, he agreed.

Oh, even if I couldn't find Zei Hanzi's (Thief Man) bones, I kept the skin from his flesh next to my own skin all day and all night. Also, why would I offer a sacrifice to his grave? I aimed to find the Seven Freaks of Chiangnan for revenge. But my luck was not good because the Seven Elders of Quanzhen were unexpectedly all in Mongolia. My eyes could not see, how could I match these seven people? That Son of the Red Sun Ma Yu's internal strength was profound. Even though he spoke without effort, his voice was able to travel far. But my going to Mongolia was not in vain because that Ma Yu was asked by me right in his face, what, how, why, and he passed on to me some nei gong (internal strength) secrets.

After I came back to the palace, I went to the tunnel to practice diligently. Oh, this internal strength could not be completed without guidance. Two days ago, I was fiercely practicing, leaning on one thigh and vigorously dashing when suddenly my qi arrived at my hip area; I could not move it back up. In light of this, the lower part of my body suffered seriously. If the young prince did not look for me, how would he know that I had an accident while practicing martial arts? Or if this Guo boy did not rush in here, I would have starved to death in that tunnel. Humph, it's Zei Hanzi's ghost that sent him here to rescue me so I could I kill him to avenge Zei Hanzi. Ha ha, ha ha! Ha ha, ah, heh heh, humph, ha ha!

As Mei Chaofeng laughed madly, her whole body hook and her right hand suddenly made an effort to grab Guo Jing's neck. Guo Jing sensed the danger to his life at this critical moment and tried to turn her hand wrong side up by grasping her wrist, using his external strength. Ma Yu's orthodox school teachings were practiced by him for several years so his internal strength was not weak. Mei Chaofeng could not hold her fierce grip as she felt her hand being turned wrong side up by him, forcing it open. Startled, she thought, his boy's kung fu is not bad!