The Legend of the Condor Heroes

So I opened the book and looked at the first page. To me the book seemed to be describing methods and techniques to practice martial arts; where was fortune telling and divination stuff? Madame Huang said, 'I have played with this kind of book since I was five; I know the content from the beginning to the end. We the Jiangnan kids, nine out of ten are familiar with it. If you don't believe me, just listen to this.' Having said that words started flowing like water from her mouth; she recited the book from the beginning to the end. I looked at the book to see if she really was reciting it from memory. Indeed, not a single word was wrong. My body turned cold, like I was plunged into a hole full of ice. Madame Huang also said, 'No matter which page you want me to recite, as long as you read the beginning, I can recite the rest for you. I have read this kind of book since I was little, I won't forget its content.' I pulled out several sections just as she said, and she did recite them without hesitation.

The Old Heretic Huang burst in laughter. I was really angry; I ripped the book to pieces and then burned it to ashes. Old Heretic Huang suddenly said, 'Old Urchin, you don't need to lose your urchin's temper. Let me give you this soft hedgehog armor.' I didn't know I fell into his scheme; I thought I looked so sorry to him that he wanted to ease my feeling. I was still upset, besides, how could I take the treasure of Peach Blossom Island? So I only thanked him without taking his gift. I went back to my hometown and closed the door. I wanted to practice my martial art. I knew at that time that I was not Ouyang Feng's match, so I determined to train hard for five years. I thought I would go the west to take the book back from the Western Poison. My martial brother left me the book and the old urchin could not keep it safe. How could I face martial brother in the underworld?"

"The Western Poison is so crafty, I know you must deal with him; but wouldn't it be a lot better if you take Priest Ma, Priest Qiu and the others to come with you?" Guo Jing asked.

"Ay! I can only blame my own arrogance," Zhou Botong said, "After suffering from humiliation I did not want to talk to Ma Yu and the others. If I did they would certainly see something was amiss. Several years later there arose a rumor among the Jianghu people that the Peach Blossom Island disciples, The Twin Killers of the Dark Wind had gotten hold of the Nine Yin Manual; they had mastered several kinds of exquisite martial arts from the book, and had created havoc everywhere. At first I did not believe it, but the rumor was getting stronger. A year later, Qiu Chuji came to my home. His visit was in connection with the Nine Yin Manual affair. He said that the book had really fallen into the Peach Blossom Island disciples' hands. I was fuming mad and said, 'Old Heretic Huang is not worthy to be my friend!' Qiu Chuji was taken aback, 'Martial Uncle, why did you say Huang Yaoshi was not worthy to be your friend?' I told him, 'He went to get the book back from Western Poison without consulting me, and did not give the book back to me.'"

"I think he intended to do it, but right after he got the book back it was stolen by his renegade disciples," Guo Jing reasoned. "I know he was quite angry because of this, that he cut the legs' ligament of his other innocent disciples and expelled them from his school."

Zhou Botong shook his head. "You are as naive as I was, if this affair happened to you, you would surely be bullied without knowing it," he said. "That day Qiu Chuji discussed martial arts with me, we talked at length before he finally left. Two months later he suddenly reappeared. He had visited Chen Xuanfeng and Mei Chaofeng, the couple that had stolen the Old Heretic Huang's book. They were practicing 'Nine Yin White Bone Claw' and 'Heart Destroying Palm', two evil martial arts. He took a big risk to eavesdrop the Twin Killers of the Dark Wind's conversation and found out that Old Heretic Huang did not get the book from Ouyang Feng. Not at all. He stole it from my own hands."

"You have obviously burned the book. Did Madame Huang swap the books, and gave you the fake one?" Guo Jing asked.

"I have guarded against that possibility early on," Zhou Botong said. "When Madame Huang looked at the book, I did not dare to leave even half a step from her side. She did not know martial art. Even if her hands and feet were swift she could not get away from us who practice secret projectiles. No, she did not make the swap; she merely recorded it I her mind!"

Guo Jing did not understand. "How did she record it?" he asked.

Zhou Botong answered his question with another, "Brother, when you are reading a book, how many times do you have to read until you committed what you read into your memory?"

"If it is easy then maybe thirty, forty times. If it is difficult or long, probably seventy, eighty times, even a hundred times. Even after I read it for more than 100 times, I still cannot guarantee its accuracy," Guo Jing replied.

"Speaking of brain power, I am afraid you cannot be considered smart," Zhou Botong said.

"Your Brother is dumb by nature," Guo Jing admitted. "Doesn't matter whether I am studying literature or martial art, I am always very slow."

Zhou Botong sighed. "Let's not talk about studying literature," he said. "Just talk about practicing martial arts. When you learned a fist or palm technique, didn't your masters have to teach you dozens of time before you could understand it?"

Guo Jing's face was red from shame. "That's true," he said. "Sometimes I knew it, but couldn't remember; sometimes I remembered it, but could not apply."

"But there are people in the world who by simply watching other people do a stance will be able to remember it forever," Zhou Botong said.

"Totally correct!" Guo Jing exclaimed. "Island Master Huang's daughter is just like that. When Benevolent Master Hong taught her martial art, at most he would teach her twice, very seldom he had to repeat the lesson three times."

"This girl is so smart," Zhou Botong slowly said, "Let's just hope she won't share her mother's short life! That day when Madame Huang borrowed my book she only read twice, yet she did not miss a single word. After we bade farewell she wrote down everything for her husband to see."

Guo Jing could not restrain his amazement, he was silent for a while only to say, "Madame Huang did not understand what she was reading; yet she was able to memorize the whole thing. How can there be such an intelligent person on the earth?"

"I am afraid your little friend that Huang girl is also capable of doing that," Zhou Botong said. "Anyway, after listening to Qiu Chuji I was ashamed. Immediately I summoned the Quan Zhen Sect's seven first generation disciples to discuss this matter over. Everybody agreed we should deal with the Twin Killers of The Dark Wind to get the book back from them. Qiu Chuji said, 'Those Twin Killers of The Dark Wind's martial art skills may be high, but they won't necessarily be victorious over Quan Zhen Sect's disciples. They are your junior, Martial Uncle does not need to go into action personally; otherwise the heroes of Jianghu would say that the older generation bullied the younger one.' I thought he was right, so I assigned one or two of them to find the Twin Killers of The Dark Wind; while the rest shadowed from the side to guard against the twin killers escaping."