Drawing the bow to shoot condors.
Original translation by Strunf
A row of people came down the mountain. After walking for a while, they suddenly heard the roars of wild beasts in front of them. Han Baoju leapt on his yellow horse, and went to see what was happening. After galloping for a while, the yellow horse suddenly stopped and no amount of urging would make it move.
Knowing in his heart that there was something strange ahead, he stood in the stirrups and looked into the distance; he could see a group of people with some leopards clawing at the earth. Knowing the yellow horse’s fear of leopards, he jumped off and took hold of his Golden Dragon whip. Moving forward, he saw that the two leopards had uncovered a body. Continuing forward a few more steps, he saw that the body was that of ‘Copper Corpse’ Chen Xuanfeng. The area from his collar bone to his lower abdomen was a blood covered mess, as though the skin had been sliced off.
Surprised, he thought, “He was killed by the boy last night with a dagger thrust through his navel, so why is his corpse here? Since he is already dead, why would anyone do this to his corpse? Who did it and what is the meaning behind it? Do the ‘Twin Killers of the Dark Winds’ have another enemy in the desert with hatred that strong?”
Not long after, Zhu Cong and the others arrived. No one could understand the reason behind the mutilation. They looked at Chen Xuanfeng’s corpse, whose face still showed a fierce expression, which caused a quick shiver of fear in everyone. Thinking back to last night’s terrifying fight on the barren hills, they knew, that if not for Guo Jing’s lucky hit with his dagger, the outcome might have been very different. Just thinking about it brought a chill to their hearts.
By this time, the two leopards were chewing on the corpse. To one side, there was a little boy on a horse loudly urging the leopard handlers to drag the leopards away.
Turning his head, he saw Guo Jing, and shouted to him “Ha! So you are hiding here. You didn’t have the guts to help Tolui fight, what a useless friend!” It was Senggum’s son Dukhsh.
“You all fought Tolui again? Where is he?” worried, Guo Jing asked.
“I’m taking the leopards to eat him up. You’d better surrender now, or else I will include you too,” Dukhsh replied smugly. He had seen the ‘Six Freaks of the South’ at one side, if not for them, Dukhsh would have already sent the leopards to attack Guo Jing.
Guo Jing persisted, “Where is Tolui?”
Ignoring him, Dukhsh shouted loudly, “The leopards will eat Tolui now!”, as he led the leopard handlers away. One leopard handler advised him, “Little master, that boy is Temujin Khan’s son.” Dukhsh immediately hit the leopard handler with a slash of his riding whip, shouting, “What is there to be afraid of? How dare he raise his hand to hit me today? Move aside!” The leopard handler, not daring to disobey his order, followed Dukhsh. The other leopard handler was afraid that this might cause some irreversible problemss; he turned and ran, shouting, “I’m going to inform Temujin Khan.” He was gone before Dukhsh could stop him. Dukhsh said bitterly, “Fine, by the time Uncle Temujin comes, it’ll be too late! Then we’ll see what kind of solution he comes up with.” He whipped his horse, forcing the group to move faster.
Although Guo Jing was terribly afraid of leopards, he was more worried about his sworn brother’s safety. He said to Han Xiaoying, “Shifu, Dukhsh is going to get the leopards to eat my sworn brother. I need to inform him so he can escape.”
“If you hurry there, may be the leopards might eat you too? Aren’t you afraid?” Han Xiaoying asked.
He replied, “I’m afraid.”
“Are you still going?”
After hesitating for a split-second, Guo Jing affirmed, “I’m still going!” before running away rapidly.
Because Zhu Cong’s wound was still painful, he was quietly lying forward on his horse’s neck. Noting Guo Jing’s chivalrous heart, he mused, “This child may not be very smart, but he is, nevertheless, a person worthy of our generation.”
Han Xiaoying replied, “Fourth brother’s perception is right! Let’s go save them.”
Quan Jinfa cautioned the rest, “This little lord keeps leopards at home; he must be the son of an important general. We’d better be careful not to create trouble, since three of us are injured.”
Han Baoju used his lightness kung fu to catch, pick up, and place Guo Jing on his shoulders. Although Han Baoju is small with short legs, he can still move very quickly. For Guo Jing, sitting on his fat and sturdy shoulders was like riding on a good war horse, fast and steady. Han Baoju rushed to ‘Wind Chaser’s’ side, and with a great leap, he took Guo Jing with him onto the horse’s back. Within moments, they caught up with Dukhsh and the leopard handlers. After a short gallop, they saw ten or more kids surrounding Tolui. It was Dukhsh’s gang following his orders. They were not trying to attack him, just trying to keep Tolui from leaving.
Having been taught three skillful moves by Zhu Cong, Tolui had practiced the moves that night until he was familiar with them all. Come morning, he was not able to find Guo Jing or to get his third brother Ogedai to help him. Tolui bravely went to fight Dukhsh by himself. Dukhsh had brought along ten or so reinforcements. Seeing him alone rather surprised him. When Tolui requested that they only fight one on one and not attack him as a group, Dukhsh agreed immediately. He thought that there’s no way Tolui could beat him. But once they started fighting, Tolui kept using the three moves that Zhu Cong taught him, and incredibly, he managed to best Dukhsh. Although the three moves that Zhu Cong taught him were simple, they were actually the essence of the ‘Vacant Fist’ technique. Furthermore, since these three moves had no complicated changes, Tolui, being very smart, picked it up immediately. So when he used them, the other Mongolian kids were no match for him. The Mongolians place great importance on keeping promises. Since they had agreed to battle one on one only and even though they were upset, they could not do anything about it. Tolui made Dukhsh fall twice, and even hit him on the nose. Dukhsh was furious, so he ran off to get his father’s hunting leopards.
After single handedly winning against so many kids, Tolui was very proud of himself. That was why he stood quietly in the center of the surrounding kids, not even thinking about running away. Unknown to him, big trouble was coming.
From the distance, Tolui heard Guo Jing’s faint shouts, “Tolui, Tolui, run away now. Dukhsh is bringing his leopards to eat you up!”
Tolui was shocked and tried to rush out of the circle. But the kids surrounding him kept blocking him; there was no way for him to escape. Soon the Six Freaks of the South, together with Dukhsh, arrived one after the other. Following them, the leopard handlers led the leopards there. Though the Six Freaks of the South could have prevented the oncoming danger by catching Dukhsh, they did not want to create more trouble. They also wanted to see how Tolui and Guo Jing faced the danger, so they did not offer any help.
Suddenly, they heard sound of numerous horses coming like the wind. Someone shouted at the top of their lungs, “Don’t let the leopards go, don’t let go of the leopards!” Muqali, Boroqul and the rest of the ‘Four Aces’ had arrived. When they heard the leopard handler’s report, they didn’t have enough time to inform Temujin, and hurriedly rushed to the scene. Temujin, Ong Khan, Jamuka, Senggum and the others were at the Mongolian camp chatting with Wanyan Honglie and his brother. Hearing the leopard handler’s report, they were shocked and ran out of the ger and leapt on their horses.
“Quickly inform them that I order Dukhsh not to do this. It is important that Temujin Khan’s son is not injured,” Ong Khan ordered. His men rode their most spirited horses to where the trouble was.
Because Wanyan Hongxi was not able to see the leopards fighting against men yesterday, he was still feeling bored. Hearing this, he felt excitement rise and stood up exclaiming, “Let’s all go take a look!”
Wanyan Honglie speculated, “If Senggum’s leopards really kill Temujin’s son, then their families will no longer be friendly. After that happens, they may start fighting. Who knows, maybe both sides will suffer terrible loses and be severely weakened. That will definitely be good fortune for my Jin country!”
The Wanyan brothers, Ong Khan, Senggum, Jamuka and the others arrived at the scene, only to see that the two hunting leopards’ chains had already been unfastened. The leopards crouched on the ground with low growling noises coming from their throats. In front of the leopards stood two kids, Tolui and his younger sworn brother Guo Jing. Temujin and his ‘Four Aces’ raised their bows and pointed them at the leopards; they were ready for action. Although Temujin saw his youngest son in a dangerous situation, he also knew that those two hunting leopards were very precious to Senggum. Senggum had caught the leopards when they were young; he reared and trained them until they grew strong and ferocious. Since that could not be achieved easily and took much time, Temujin felt that if the leopards did not attack, he wouldn’t harm them.
Seeing the crowd arriving and relying on his grandfather’s and father’s adoration for him, Dukhsh felt even more courageous. He kept urging the leopards to attack.
Ong Khan then shouted, “Stop this now!”
The sounds hooves were heard as someone riding a red horse arrived. On the horse was a middle-aged woman, clad in leopard fur, and in her arms, a little girl. It was Temujin’s wife, Tolui’s mother.
She had been chatting in the camp with Senggum’s wife. When she heard the news, she immediately rushed out with her daughter Hua Zheng. Seeing the danger, she was both shocked and worried. She shouted “Quickly, shoot the arrow!” With all her being focused on her son, she absentmindedly placed her daughter on the ground, forgetting about her safety.
As a little girl of four years, how was Hua Zheng supposed to know of the leopard’s ferocious nature? She happily bounded over to her brother’s side. Spotting the leopards with their pretty colored fur, she was reminded of her second brother Ogedai’s hunting dogs. She stretched her hand out, wanting to pat the leopard’s head. The crowd was startled, and yelled at her to stop; but it was already too late. The two leopards, already nervous and agitated, growled at the same time, and leapt forward fiercely. Alarmed, the crowd called out in distress.
Although Temujin had already aimed his arrow, Hua Zheng’s sudden appearance was something that no one had expected. In the blink of an eye, the leopards were in the air. Hua Zheng was blocking Temujin’s aim at the strategic spot on the leopard’s head where they have to be hit to ensure an instant kill. A shot by Temujin now would only injure the leopard, and that would aggravate it further. The ‘Four Aces’ threw down their bows and drew their knives. As they moved forward, they saw Guo Jing roll forward to pick up Hua Zheng; at the same time one leopard’s front claws was on Guo Jing’s shoulder. The ‘Four Aces’ raised their knives, only to hear several faint sounds. When the noises passed, the two leopards suddenly fell growling and rolling from side to side. After a short time they were motionless.
Boroqul went forward to find out what had happened. He saw blood running from the leopards’ foreheads. It was obvious that a kung fu master had used a hidden weapon to hit the leopards’ brains. He turned around and saw six calm, composed Han people standing to one side watching the on-going scene. He knew that the hidden weapons had been thrown by them. Temujin’s wife hurriedly picked up the now bawling Hua Zheng from Guo Jing’s arms and pulled Tolui to her bosom as she tried to comfort Hua Zheng.
Senggum asked angrily, “Who killed the leopards?”
The crowd remained silent and no one answered. Ke Zhen’E had heard the leopards’ growls, and fearing that the leopards would harm Guo Jing, had thrown four projectiles with poisonous tips. Since that action only took a wave of the hand, and since everyone had their eyes focused on the leopards, there was no one who actually saw who fired them.
Temujin smiled and said, “Brother Senggum, I’ll repay you with four good leopards when we get back, and I’ll add eight pairs of black eagles.”
Senggum was seething with anger when he heard that, but he remained silent. By now, Ong Khan was angrily scolding Dukhsh. Humiliated at receiving this treatment in front of the crowd, he tried to deflect the blame from himself. In a fit of temper he lay down on the ground and began rolling and hitting, crying and shouting. Ong Khan loudly commanded him to stop, but he did not care.
Because Temujin was still grateful for what Ong Khan had done for him in the past, he felt that it would be a pity to break up the two families’ friendship over such a small matter. He smiled and bent over to pick up Dukhsh. Dukhsh was still crying and yelling and tried his best to struggle, but could not. Still smiling, Temujin tried to salvage the situation, “Step-father, the kids were only playing, there’s no need to get worked up. I think he is a good boy and I’m thinking of betrothing my daughter to him. What do you think?”
Ong Khan saw that Hua Zheng had eyes like glistening dew, and skin like a baby lamb, fair and cute, and felt happy in his heart. Laughingly, he said, “What could be wrong with that? Let’s have an even closer relationship; I’ll betroth my eldest granddaughter to your son Jochi.”
Temujin agreed, “Thanks Step-father!” He turned around and said to Senggum, “Brother Senggum, we are now in-laws!”
Senggum had always felt that he was of a higher status than Temujin. He was already jealous of Temujin, yet looked down on him. Although he was not happy about becoming in-laws with Temujin, he could not go against his father’s wishes. He could only smile weakly.
At this point, Wanyan Honglie noticed the ‘Six Freaks of the South’, and he was shocked. “What are they doing here? I’m sure they are chasing me. I wonder if the temperamental Taoist priest with the surname Qiu is around here as well?” he asked himself. Since he currently had the protection of numerous soldiers, he was not afraid of them. But if he gave the command to capture them, he was afraid that it might cause trouble. The ‘Six Freaks’ were listening to Temujin’s and the others’ conversations and had not even noticed him. He turned and moved behind the crowd of soldiers, while at the same time thinking of ways to handle the matter. As for Ong Khan and Temujin’s families’ engagement, he did not think much of it.
Temujin knew that it was the ‘Six Freaks of the South’ that saved his daughter’s life, and he waited for Ong Khan and the others to leave, before commanding Boroqul to reward them richly with furs and gold. He then reached his hand out to stroke the top of Guo Jing’s head and repeatedly praised him for his courage and valor. Temujin said that risking his own life to save another, is something that not all adults will do, much less a small child. When he asked Guo Jing why was he so brave, Guo Jing just stood there dumbly since he could not find an answer. After pondering for some time, he said, “Leopards will eat people.”
Hearing that, Temujin laughed loudly. Tolui then told why he started fighting with Dukhsh. When Temujin heard how Dukhsh kept mentioning embarrassing events from his past, anger boiled deep in his heart. He said nothing about it, only saying, “In the future, don’t bother with him.” Temujin then turned to Quan Jinfa and asked, “How much gold do you want to stay in my camp to teach my son kung fu?”
Quan Jinfa thought, “We were thinking of finding a place to teach Guo Jing kung fu. If we can teach him here, there would no better place.” He replied, “The Great Khan’s willingness to accept the six of us is something we could not have asked for. You can pay us whatever you decide is suitable, we wouldn’t dare to discuss or argue about the amount.” Temujin was pleased and he told Boroqul to look after them; after that, he left to see off the Wanyan brothers.
The Six Freaks of the South rode slowly behind the others while they discussed the matter.
Han Baoju said, “The skin on the chest of Chen Xuanfeng’s corpse was removed by someone; it must have been an enemy of his.”
Quan Jinfa replied, “The ‘Twin Killers of the Dark Winds’ are cruel and ruthless; having many enemies isn’t something to be surprised at. But I don’t understand why his enemy didn’t simply chop up his body, or slash him all over. Why only slice off a large piece of skin from his chest?”
“I have been thinking of that all this time, but I still cannot figure out the reasoning behind it,” Ke Zhen’E replied. “The most pressing task at hand is to find out where ‘Iron Corpse’ is.”
“Precisely! If that person is not killed, she will bring much danger to us in the future. I’m afraid that she will not die from the poison,” Zhu Cong agreed.
With tears in her eyes, Han Xiaoying spoke up, “Fifth brother’s dead, how could we not avenge him?”
So Han Baoju, Han Xiaoying and Quan Jinfa, rode their fast horses to try to find ‘Iron Corpse’. But after numerous days of searching, they were not able to find a trace of her. Han Baoju considered, “The woman’s eyes were hit by elder brother’s poison projectiles. The poison must have worked on her by now; she probably died in some mountain valley.” The rest of them agreed. Ke Zhen’E knew in his heart that the ‘Twin Killers of the Dark Winds’ were very smart and devious. Unless he could touch her corpse with his own hands, it would always remain a heavy weight on his heart. He did not want to bother his younger brothers and sister with his worries and did not tell them of his concerns.
From then on, the Six Freaks of the South remained on the steppe, teaching Guo Jing and Tolui kung fu. Temujin knew that kung fu is for protecting oneself in close contact with an opponent. He wanted Tolui and Guo Jing to learn these techniques briefly, and to spend most of their time learning riding, shooting with their bows and arrows, and learning other important skills of the battlefield. The ‘Six Freaks of the South’ were not familiar with these Mongol skills so Guo Jing and Tolui learned these from Jebe and Boroqul.
In the evenings, the ‘Six Freaks of the South’ taught Guo Jing alone, teaching him fists, sword, hidden weapons, and lightness kung fu. Although Guo Jing was slow by nature, he knew that he had to avenge his father in the future using kung fu, so he did not complain and worked as hard as he could.
Zhu Cong, Quan Jinfa and Han Xiaoying’s kung fu was a bit too hard for him to comprehend. With Han Baoju and Nan Xiren’s basic kung fu, he just followed their directions exactly and slowly but steadily learned it. This basic kung fu strengthened bodies but was not designed to overcome an enemy and win a fight.
Han Baoju often said, “Training you is like training a camel. Strong is strong, but can a camel be victorious over a leopard?”
Whenever he heard that, Guo Jing only showed a silly smile. When the Six Freaks taught Guo Jing, they only supervised his learning, instead of explaining it to him. Of the ten moves they tried to teach him, he couldn’t learn a single one; they could not help feeling discouraged. Whenever they talked about it, they would only sigh and shake their heads. Although they knew that their chances of being victorious over Qiu Chuji’s disciple were almost non-existent, an agreement had been made so they couldn’t give up. As a business man, Quan Jinfa’s talents lay in the field of intricate calculations. He often said, “For Qiu Chuji to find the Yang family widow, I figure he has about an eighty percent chance of success. That improves our chances by twenty percent. Whether the Yang family widow gave birth to a boy or girl, who knows? The chance that she gave birth to a boy is only half, with that, we potentially gain another forty percent. If it’s a son, maybe he won’t survive to adulthood, we then gain another ten percent. Even if he manages to grow up, maybe he’ll be as stupid as Jing’er. Therefore, I’d say that we still have an eighty percent chance of winning.”
The other five ‘Freaks’ thought that what he said wasn’t wrong, however, saying that the Yang family’s son’s aptitude for learning martial arts might be the same as Guo Jing’s, they had to know that Quan Jinfa was trying to console them. Luckily, Guo Jing had a good heart and he is exceedingly obedient, so the ‘Six Freaks’ really liked his character a lot.
On the prairies of Outer Mongolia, the coming of green summer grass and the brilliant white of winter snows, ten years quickly went by. Guo Jing had become a sturdy youth of sixteen. There were only two years left until the martial arts competition, so the ‘Six Freaks’ stepped up their supervision. They ordered him to stop practicing riding and shooting temporarily, and from dusk to dawn, concentrate on practicing fists and the sword. During these ten years, Temujin had many battles and had swallowed up numerous other tribes into his own. He commanded his subordinates strictly, and all his soldiers were courageous and excelled in fighting. He was both courageous and resourceful and knew when to attack using force or attack using strategy. In all of Mongolia, no one could be compared to him. As the livestock bred and numbers grew, the population also increased, so that the differences between Temujin and Ong Khan’s tribes became smaller.
The violent winds gradually stopped and the heavy snows began to decrease, but the outer prairies of Mongolia still remained bitterly cold. A certain day arrived; it was the Pure Brightness Festival. (Note: Qing Ming Festival. A day for paying respects to the dead. The Chinese pay their respects at their ancestor’s / family’s graves, and may clean up the grave and pull out the weeds etc.) The ‘Six Freaks of the South’ arose early and Guo Jing with them; they took cows and sheep as sacrificial items to Zhang Ahsheng’s grave and swept it. Since the Mongolians are nomads, they move around more or less continuously. They have no fixed place to stay. At this point in time, the Mongolian camp was quite far away from Zhang Ahsheng’s grave. Even riding fast horses, it took them more than half of a day to get there. The seven of them climbed the barren hill and swept away the piled up snow from the grave. They then lit candles, burned incense, and knelt in front of the grave praying.
Han Xiaoying secretly prayed, “Fifth brother, for the past ten years we’ve given all of our energy and our hearts to teaching this child. His gift for learning isn’t good and he can’t learn our martial arts properly. I hope that fifth brother’s spirit in the heavens will watch over him now and at the Jiaxing martial arts competition in two years time. Do not let this child spoil the prestige and name of the ‘Seven Freaks of the South’!”
The ‘Six Freaks’ were born and lived their lives in the south, with its warm hills and waters. During the time they stayed in the Mongolian desert with its cold winds, they had become weaker and frailer and their faces looked lean and somber. The hair at their temples had started turning white. Although Han Xiaoying’s charisma and attractiveness had not lessened, she was no longer the pink-cheeked young girl of yesteryear.
Zhu Cong surveyed the graveside piles of skulls. After ten years of enduring winds and snow, the skulls had not started to decay. In his heart, there was a feeling that he could not express. Throughout these years, he had searched all over the surrounding country for hundreds of li with Quan Jinfa. They searched in every mountain valley and in every cave, trying to find Mei Chaofeng. Had she died from poisoning, there should be a skeleton left behind. If she did not die, it would be very hard for a blind woman to live in seclusion for a long time and not leave a trail of some kind. Nonetheless, she had vanished into thin air like a spirit. On this lonely hill in the wilderness, in this grave and the piles of white bones, lay the only marks that the ‘Twin Killers of the Dark Winds’ had left behind in the desert. The seven stayed in front of the grave to have a memorial meal and drink; then returned to their dwellings. After a short rest, the ‘Six Freaks’ took Guo Jing to the hillside to practice his martial arts.
One day his fourth master, ‘Wood Chopper of the Southern Mountains’ Nan Xiren and he practiced using the ‘Open Hills Palms’ Technique (Kai Shan Zhang Fa). Nan Xiren intended that he use as much martial arts as he could. They sparred for around seventy or eighty moves continuously before Nan Xiren suddenly pushed his left palm outwards and flipped his body in the move ‘The Hawk Hunting Rabbits’ (Cang Ying Bu Tu), aiming the palm at Guo Jing’s back. Guo Jing bent over to avoid his move; then moving his leg in a circular motion with the move ‘Autumn Winds Sweeping the Fallen Leaves’ (Qiu Feng Sao Luo Ye), he swept his leg towards his teacher’s lower body. Nan Xiren countered using ‘Iron Bull Tilling the Land’ (Tie Niu Tian Di), attacking with his palms. Guo Jing had just started to withdraw his leg to change his stance, when Nan Xiren suddenly shouted “Remember this move!” His left hand swiftly moved out and tried to hit Guo Jing’s chest from the front. Guo Jing’s right palm hurriedly moved to block, because this palm is considered rather fast. Then Nan Xiren’s left palm flew out, and with a slap, both palms connected. Although Nan Xiren only used about thirty percent of his power, Guo Jing could not help falling over. Both his hands hit the ground, but he immediately jumped up, with a look of shame showing on his face.
Nan Xiren was just about to instruct him about the essence of this move, when suddenly, from a grove of trees, came two bursts of laughter. Then a youthful girl came out, clapping her hands and smiling. She shouted, “Guo Jing, are you beaten by your teacher again?”
Guo Jing’s face turned red as he said, “I’m practicing now, don’t bother me!”
The young girl laughed, “I like seeing you getting beaten up!”
The girl was Temujin’s young daughter Hua Zheng. She, Tolui and Guo Jing were around the same age, and they’d played together since they were small. Because her parents doted on her, it is not surprising that she was a bit arrogant and willful. Since birth, Guo Jing’s character was straight forward and simple; whenever she threw a tantrum without reason, they always clashed. However, after arguing, they would soon make up. Hua Zheng knew that she was wrong and would sooth his feelings with soft words. Hua Zheng’s mother still remembered how Guo Jing risked his life at the leopard’s mouth to save her daughter. She was especially fond of him and often gave gifts of clothing and livestock to his mother and him.
Guo Jing said, “I’m practicing with my teacher, go away!”
Hua Zheng laughed and said, “This is practicing? I’d call it getting beaten up!”
While they were talking, several Mongolian soldiers arrived. One Ten Soldier Leader got off his horse, and bowed to Hua Zheng, saying, “Hua Zheng, Great Khan is calling for you.” Mongolians are simple by nature, and do not have the courteous customs of the Han people. Although Hua Zheng is the Khan’s daughter, everyone still called her by her name. Hua Zheng said, “What for?” The Ten Soldier Leader replied, “Ong Khan’s messengers have arrived.”
Hua Zheng wrinkled her brow and said angrily “I’m not going.”
The Ten Soldier Leader continued, “If you don’t go, the Khan will be angry.”
When she was very young, Hua Zheng had been betrothed to Ong Khan’s grandson Dukhsh by her father. But over the years, she had developed a close relationship with Guo Jing, although it really couldn’t be said that there are feelings between them. Yet, whenever she thought about having to part from Guo Jing to marry that infamously arrogant Dukhsh, she couldn’t help but feel sad. She pursed her small mouth and kept silent as she thought. In the end, she did not dare disobey her father’s command, and followed the Ten Soldier Leader back to the camp.
Ong Khan and Senggum decided that Senggum’s son has grown up and wanted to pick a date for the marriage. Therefore they sent people with gifts and Temujin wanted her to meet the messengers.
That night while Guo Jing was sleeping, he suddenly heard the soft sound of someone clapping three times outside the ger. He sat and heard someone speaking the Han language, “Guo Jing, come out.”
Guo Jing was curious but didn’t know the voice. He lifted up a corner of the flap of the door cover and peered outside. In the moonlight he saw a person standing near a large tree.
Guo Jing went out of the ger and moved forward to see that the person was dressed in a large sleeved long robe and hair combed into a bun; this person looked like neither a man nor a woman. The face was hidden by the shadows of the tree and couldn’t be seen clearly. The person was actually a Taoist priest, but Guo Jing had never seen a Taoist priest before and asked, “Who are you? Why are you looking for me?”
The person said, “You are Guo Jing?”
“Yes,” Guo Jing replied.
The person demanded, “Where’s your dagger that can cut iron as though it were mud? Take it out and show me!” He suddenly moved and leapt close by to him; then he sent out a palm aimed right for his chest. Guo Jing knew that the person attacked without reason and his attack was vicious; he was greatly surprised and moved sideways immediately to evade the palm. He shouted, “What was that for?”
The person said with a smile, “Just testing your abilities.” Then with his left arm, he sent out a fist with strength that was fierce and swift.
Guo Jing, feeling anger rising, slanted his body to avoid the move. Then he raised hi