The Legend of the Condor Heroes

"My father plays his flute for your listening enjoyment; that was a big honor to you. Yet all of you cover your ears. That is so rude! You come to the Peach Blossom Island as guests, yet you dare to insult the host!" Huang Rong mocked.

"Don't talk about rudeness here!" Huang Yaoshi scolded her. "They who do not dare to listen to my flute actually have more sense. They had learned their lessons … ha … ha … Your uncle's iron zither's skill is considered best in the world; and you dare to listen to him? Do you want to test yourself?" Then he took a silk handkerchief from his pocket, tore it in halves and told Huang Rong to cover up her ears with them.

Guo Jing was curious about the world's best iron zither; he wanted to hear Ouyang Feng's fierce method, so the came even closer a few more steps.

Huang Yaoshi turned to Ouyang Feng, "Your snakes cannot cover up their ears." Then he turned his head toward his own deaf and mute servant. He made some gesture and the servant nodded his head. The servant then signaled the snakes' shepherds to go away by waving his hand. These men had been waiting for an opportunity to get out of that place; as soon as Ouyang Feng nodded his head in approval, they hurriedly drove the snakes away; with the deaf and mute servant showing the way.

Ouyang Feng said, "Your Brother's martial art is not good enough. I must ask Yao Xiong to reduce your strength by thirty percent." He sat cross-legged on a big rock with the zither on his lap and immediately used his right fingers to pluck some strings.

The original the 'qin zheng' [zither from the short-lived Qin dynasty (221-207BC)] produced sad and shrill sound. This western region iron zither produced an even more intensely sorrowful noise. Guo Jing did not understand music, but the zither sound had affected his feeling. The louder the zither sound, the harder his heart beat. The quicker the zither sound, the quicker his breath had become. He felt his heart was thumping really bad, almost jumping out of his throat. It was really an uneasy feeling. After listening some more time he felt his heart beat intensified; and he struggled hard to keep his consciousness. "If this zither is getting harder and harder, how could I not getting killed by its sound?" he thought; and immediately retreated a few steps back and circulated his 'qi' according to the Quan Zhen's method. After a while he managed to calm his heart and the zither sound did not adversely affect him too much.

The zither sound was getting more intense and in Guo Jing's mind it resembled the metallic armor of a cavalry charging full steam ahead. A thin sound of jade flute appeared riding smoothly in the midst of the clamoring sound of the zither. Guo Jing was trembling; his face was red hot and he was sweating profusely. Quickly he circulated his internal energy trying to calm himself.

Although the zither was loud, it was not able to drown the flute. Two distinct sounds intermingled, creating an eerie melody. The iron zither screamed like an ape of the Wuxia Gorge or a ghost cry in the dead of the night; while the flute sang like a phoenix from the Kunlun mountains or a soft murmur of a woman inside her chamber. One resembled a heartrending cry of a mournful soul; while the other carried a feeling of one leisurely wandered through the wilderness. One high, the other low; one rushing forward, the other leisurely retreating; no one overpowered the other.

Initially Huang Rong watched these two played music with smile on her face; but afterwards she saw their expressions were getting serious. Her father stood up and started to walk around while blowing his flute. His steps were actually following the 'ba gua' [Eight Diagram]. She knew this was the footwork her father followed when he was cultivating his internal energy; showing her how fierce the battle was for her father that he was forced to use up all his strength. Turning toward Ouyang Feng she did not see anything better. Thick steam was coming out from the top of his head; his sleeves were fluttering following his hands' movement plucking the strings; creating gusts of wind blowing everywhere. His face looked seriously focused on his zither playing; obviously he did not dare to act careless.

In the bamboo groove Guo Jing listened to the music attentively. He was pondering in his heart what had these two instruments – the iron zither and the jade flute, had to do with martial arts? They sounded so evil to him; how could the sound affect other people's heart and mind? At first he was too busy circulating his 'qi' and calming his heart and mind, but gradually he was able to control himself and was able to follow the movements of flute and zither sounds. A little while later he started to realize that those two sounds were actually battling each other. When one sound was on the offensive, the other took a defensive position; sometimes one was attacking the other furiously, while the other blocking the attack while waiting for a good opportunity to counterattack; really it was no different than a battle between two martial arts masters. After pondering some more time suddenly it dawned on him, "That's right! The Island Master Huang is having an internal energy match against Ouyang Feng." Because he wanted to understand better, he closed his eyes but open wide his ears with full attention.

He began to hear the two sounds were alternately gaining victory or suffering defeat. Being music illiterate the sound of music would not affect his spirit; but he did feel openness in his heart, like he was looking at something bright. His mind wandered back to when Zhou Botong taught him the 72-stance Vacant Fist; which stemmed from the words 'empty/vacant/open' and 'clear/bright'. With his mind open wide and clear he can 'see' every detail in the internal energy fight between Huang Yaoshi and Ouyang Feng clearly. True, his internal energy was still inferior compared to those two experts, but he had improved greatly without even realizing it; besides, as a spectator he could see better than those two who were involved in the battle. He often wondered why Zhou Botong could not resist the flute sound, while with an inferior strength he could. He did not know that Zhou Botong carried a heavy guilt inside his heart because of what he did in the past. So it was not purely because of one's internal energy strength one could withstand the flute sound.

By now Guo Jing heard Ouyang Feng's zither was crushing Huang Yaoshi's flute with a force as powerful as a thunderbolt. The flute evaded to the east and dodged to the west, and as soon as there was a gap in the zither sound, the flute would counterattack immediately. After a while the zither gradually slowed down, while the flute was getting more intense. Suddenly Guo Jing remembered the theory behind the Vacant Fist which he memorized. It said, 'hard must not last long soft must not defend long'. He thought, "Not too long the zither will launch a counterattack." And sure enough, when the flute was slacking a little bit, abruptly a clank sound was heard, the iron zither again assuming the offensive position.

Guo Jing had memorized the theory well, but his perception was still low. Zhou Botong did not explain the meaning of the words he passed on to Guo Jing. Perhaps his overall comprehension was only about ten percent. Now listening to the battle in music between Huang Yaoshi and Ouyang Feng he started to understand who was doing what; it agreed with the theory he had memorized so well. Secretly he was delighted. The Nine Yin Manual contained some very advance theories of martial arts. If it were left to him to dissect the theory even with somebody's assistance he would probably spend more than a year just to understand what it said. But now listening to two sounds collided he kept comparing the battle to the theory. However, he saw some discrepancies between the theory and the real battle situation; but he attributed those discrepancies to his own shallow comprehension. For example, there were several occasions where Huang Yaoshi was obviously gaining an upper hand; as long as he kept the flute sound steady Ouyang Feng would not be able to withstand. But Ouyang Feng also missed several opportunities to be exploited to his advantage. Guo Jing initially thought they were being modest and backed off, but as he listened more; it didn't appear to be the case.