The Return of the Condor Heroes

Guo Xiang sighed. “Actually, I prefer not to receive any gifts, as long as he comes quickly,” she said softly.

“About the third gift, the Eagle Hero said that Miss needs to go to the field where the election is being held. You need to receive the gift straight from his hand,” the Big Head Ghost continued. “Now that it’s almost that time, I think you’d better go.”

Guo Xiang sighed again, and then laughing she said, “I have told Big Sister I don’t want to see the Chief’s Election. But since Big Brother says to go, I have no choice. Very well, let’s go together.”

The Big Head Ghost nodded his big head and then he whistled. Suddenly a dark shadow jumped over the wall from outside, it was none other than the Divine Eagle itself. As soon as Guo Xiang saw it, she immediately went over and tried to hug its neck like they were a pair of long-lost friends. But the Eagle moved back two steps and stood straight arrogantly, turning its head and only looking at Guo Xiang with the corner of its eyes. The little Miss was amused, she laughed, “Brother Eagle is so proud. You are ignoring me, but I want to hug you.” She jumped forward and tried to hug it again. This time the Eagle did not avoid her and let its neck be hugged tightly; but its attitude was like a father’s resignation over a mischievous loveable daughter. “Brother Eagle,” Guo Xiang said, “Let us go together. I will give you some delicious food. Do you like to drink wine?”

The Big Head Ghost clapped his hands. “Good! The Divine Eagle loves to drink wine,” he said.

And so two people and one Eagle ran toward the field. Entering the area the gathered heroes expressed their admiration by clucking their tongues at seeing the eagle’s huge body and its strange appearance.

Guo Xiang invited the Big Head Ghost and the Eagle to sit on the ground not too far from the stage. The Beggar Clan disciples who acted as the hosts immediately came and asked the Big Head Ghost’s name.

“I don’t have a name and I know nothing! Miss Guo brought me here, I follow her!” he answered coldly.

Huang Rong followed not too far behind, she thought, “Yang Guo is going to appear on the field; that means he’s made a thorough plan; we might have a big fight later.”

At that time both Wu brothers, Dunru and Xiuwen, had been beaten. Zhu Ziliu’s martial nephew, as well as three of the Fisherman’s [Si Shui Yu Yin’s] disciples, four eighth grade and six seventh grade Beggar Clan’s disciples, had gone on stage, to defeat and be defeated by their opponents. Right now Yelu Qi was on the stage. He had defeated three opponents, using Zhou Botong’s 72-stance “Vacant Fist” technique, and now was fighting a forty something year old man.

This man’s name was Lan Tianhe, a Miao [an ethnic group] from Guizhou. When he was young, Tianhe went gathering herbs in the mountainous area of Sichuan province. There he slipped and fell down a ravine, and was rescued by a skilled martial artist. He then learned from his rescuer the external type of martial arts [wai-gong, as opposed to nei-gong]; as a result, his fists created a loud noise. Yelu Qi’s kungfu on the other hand did not create any noise at all; his hands and feet floating silently with fierce attacks interspersed in between. Their match was very impressive.

The opponents had exchanged stances for quite some time. The several hundred spectators who wanted to go on the stage were ashamed by their own inferiority and thought, “Luckily I wasn’t rash enough to go on stage; otherwise I am just going to make a scene with my inadequacy. Even if I trained hard for ten more years I won’t necessarily be able to defeat either of these two combatants.”

Lan Tianhe’s strong and forceful attacks required a lot of energy; he felt he was getting tired. Yelu Qi, on the other hand, kept his attacks steady, not getting too fierce, but also not slacking off. He knew there were more tough contenders out there. He wanted to conserve his energy.

After fighting for quite some time Lan Tianhe became impatient; he had roamed the southwest area for over twenty years and nobody was able to withstand more than thirty stances of his attacks. Unexpectedly that day, in front of thousands of heroes, he met his match. Gradually he increased his strength and very soon the two had exchanged twenty more stances.

Lan Tianhe saw an opening in his opponent’s defense, “Got you!” he shouted. He used one of his trick stances, ‘Nine Demons Seize a Star’ [jiu gui zhai xing]. His fist went straight toward Yelu Qi’s chest.

Yelu Qi’s right palm made a sweeping motion, his hands intersecting, and parried the opponent’s fist. They stood motionless for a few seconds. The fight turned into an inner strength contest. Then Lan Tianhe’s expression changed; he staggered backward then cupped his fists to his opponent and said, “I concede!” He proceeded to the edge of the stage and loudly said, “Mr. Yelu has a benevolent heart; he didn’t want to take my life, for which I am very grateful!” He took a deep breath, shook his head and leaped down from the stage.

Yelu Qi also cupped his hands and said, “I have the same admiration for Lan Xiong [Brother Lan].”

When Lan Tianhe’s fist met with Yelu Qi’s palm, immediately he sent his inner strength out he felt like his force was hitting water; it felt empty yet not empty, it felt solid yet not solid; and he felt his energy being sucked in. Then he felt his opponent’s force entering his hand, flowing to his chest through his arm, and attacking his ‘dan tian’ like bowls of boiling water. Stunned and feeling like he was going to explode, he nervously tried to pull his fist back, but it was stuck as though glued to his opponent’s palm, even after he pulled it back about half a foot. He then remembered his master’s instructions that with his “Wind and Thunder” technique he could roam Jianghu, but he had to be very careful fighting against a nei-gong martial artist; as soon as the opponent’s energy entered his ‘dan tian’ he would die violently. As soon as this thought entered his mind he closed his eyes, ready to die. But suddenly his fist was free; the heat in his ‘dan tian’ was also slowly dispersed. He circulated his ‘qi’ and did not feel any injury within; then he knew his opponent had shown mercy and spared his life. He felt ashamed and willingly admitted defeat to the public.

When the two fought the long fight on stage everybody could see Lan Tianhe’s overwhelming palm strength; it was both swift and fierce. But Yelu Qi unexpectedly defeated him with an invisible force. Nobody knew what exactly happened, but after his victory nobody dared to challenge him on stage.

As Guo Jing and Huang Rong’s son-in-law, Yelu Qi had close ties with the Beggar Clan. The four elders and twelve eighth grade disciples all agreed to elect him as the Clan Chief. Yelu Qi was Zhou Botong’s disciple, hence all Quanzhen disciples present were his juniors. Because other people regarded Guo Jing, husband and wife, and the Quanzhen Sect with respect, nobody was really keen on challenging him. Several other people who did not realize their own lower skills had come onstage but he defeated them one by one.

Seeing her husband had gone this far, Guo Fu’s delight was unspeakable. But then she saw the Eagle and the dwarf with a big head she met at Fenglingdu were sitting next to Guo Xiang; she was startled. When Guo Xiang made her entrance to the field along with the Big Head Ghost and the eagle Yelu Qi’s fight with Lan Tianhe was very intense so that Guo Fu’s attention was focused on the stage. Although the eagle was impressive, she completely missed their entrance. f𝙧𝒆𝚎𝑤e𝚋𝓷o𝘷𝗲l.c𝐨m

Now that a strong opponent had been defeated she wondered, when did her little sister tell her about coming to the field? She was secretly startled, “Not good! Yang Guo’s title is Divine Eagle Big Hero [shen diao da xia]; could it be that this big and ugly bird is his Divine Eagle [shen diao]? The bird is here, chances are that Yang Guo is close by. He is going to be the Clan Chief … He is going to be the Clan Chief …!”

From a mood of delight, this young mistress became upset. She recalled the incident when Yang Guo bent her sword just using his empty sleeve. She thought, “Brother Qi is good, but he is no match for this one-armed freak. It looks like he is my Black Star (opposing opposite) always appearing at critical moments like this …!” She looked around in all directions, but not even his shadow could be seen.

The sky was getting darker; Yelu Qi had defeated seven opponents. After waiting for quite some time and since no one appeared to challenge, Elder Liang went up and announced loud and clear, “Master Yelu is intelligent and chivalrous. We all admire him; the whole Beggar Clan supports his election to the Clan Chief position …”