Exceptions from Return Of the Condor Heroes about Dugu Seeking-A-Loss

Written by Jin Yong, Translated by Lanny Lin

Excerpt from Chapter 23:

It was pass midnight already. Something woke Yang Guo. Chirrups from a condor rose from the northwest. The chirrups were somewhat croaked, bleak yet intense and lofty. Feeling very curious, he leapt off the rope bed gently and sought his way toward the direction of the sounds. The chirrups would sometimes rise and sometimes stop, but they were much louder than the chirrups from the two condors on the Peach-Blossom Island. The path in front of him descended as he went forth and soon he found himself in a valley. The chirrups weren’t far from where he was. He crept forward on tiptoes and then quietly pushed aside the bushes in front of him. After a quick peep, he was astonished.

Right in front of Yang Guo’s eyes stood a giant condor, taller than a human, yet more ugly even than one’s wildest imagination. Sparse feathers covered the condor’s entire body as if most of its feathers were simply pulled off by somebody. The feathers were in the color of darkish yellow, which made the condor appear dirty and filthy. It did look somewhat similar to the two condors on the Peach-Blossom Island, but its ugliness made the difference as vast as from Heaven to earth. The giant condor had a hooked beak, and a big lump of tumor, as red as blood, occupied the top of its head. There were probably thousands of bird species in the world, but Yang Guo had never seen any bird of prey as imposing and grand as this one. The condor strode about in big steps with its two extremely thick legs. Sometimes it would extend its two short wings, so short that one would wonder if the condor was capable of flying. But the way it walked, with its head held high, certainly showed great power and grandeur.

After some more chirrups from the condor, rustling sounds came from nearby, and suddenly, under the vivid moonlight, four poisonous snakes in bright colors shot at the ugly condor like four arrows. The ugly condor turned its head back and forth swiftly, and with four precise pecks, killed the four snakes instantly. The accuracy of the pecks and the speed it displayed were almost in match with first-class elite fighters in the Marital World.

Yang Guo was shocked by the magnificent skills the condor had put on display. Immediately, his belittling thoughts turned into surprise and admiration. The ugly condor opened its giant mouth and soon swallowed the four snakes down its throat.

“If I can catch this ugly condor and put him next to Guo Fu’s two condors, I am sure this condor would be no inferior to her condors,” Yang Guo thought aloud.

As he was still pondering hard how to trap the condor, a sudden stinking smell caught his attention. Something poisonous and big must be close by.

The ugly condor raised its head and chirped three times as if sending a signal of challenge to the hidden enemy. A loud whistling sound echoed as a giant serpent, as thick as the diameter of a bowl, with a triangle shaped head, emerged, hanging down from a big tree. And within a fraction of a second, the giant serpent had launched its attack on the condor viciously. The ugly condor didn’t yield, but lunged forward instead. Thrusting its beak out like a flash, the condor had taken the poisonous giant serpent’s right eye out. The condor’s neck looked short and thick, and it seemed as if it would have a hard time turning its head around, but when the condor shot the beak out and then retracted it back in lightening speed, Yang Guo couldn’t even tell how the condor had blinded the giant serpent even though he had sharp eyes.

The giant poisonous serpent apparently experienced excruciating pain from losing its right eye. It opened its giant mouth wide and then clamped the huge jaws down hard, biting onto the big tumor on the ugly condor’s head. Yang Guo was astounded. He couldn’t help but utter a cry of shock.

Excited by the success, the giant poisonous serpent let itself fall off the tree, and then immediately wrapped its over-twenty-feet-long body around the ugly condor tightly. It seemed that the ugly condor was not going to get out alive this time.

Not wishing to see the ugly condor die from the poisonous serpent’s attack, Yang Guo sprang forward with his sword and hacked the blade toward the serpent’s body. Suddenly, the condor swung its right wing swiftly and smacked on Yang Guo’s right arm with tremendous force. Yang Guo was taken by complete surprise. His “Gentleman Sword”[1] flew out of his grip and traveled dozens of feet in the air before falling back down to the ground. Dumbfounded, Yang Guo stared at the ongoing fight and saw the condor pecking continuously on the serpent’s back. Every peck would end up with blood spurting out of the wound like a small fountain.

“I guess you must be certain about your victory and don’t want any help from me then!” Yang Guo thought.

The poisonous serpent squeezed tighter and tighter with its giant body. The ugly condor’s feathers almost stood up as it struggled to get out of the grip. Seeing that the condor seemed to be losing the battle, Yang Guo picked up a large rock and smacked the serpent’s body with it again and again. Feeling the pain, the giant serpent let lose of its grip slightly when the ugly condor suddenly reached out its beak and blinded the serpent’s right eye with a swift peck. The giant serpent opened its jaws wide and bit madly. Because both of its eyes were taken out, the bites were vicious but aimless. Its huge and poisonous fangs only landed on thin air. The ugly condor grabbed the serpent’s neck with its claws and pressed it against the ground with all its weight on top. Meanwhile, its sharp beak never stopped pecking down hard on the serpent’s head again and again. The serpent twisted and turned and slapped the ground hard with its giant body, trying to get out of the grip, but the condor seemed to have endless of strength and kept the serpent’s head under his claws. After a long while, the serpent finally stopped twitching and lay still, dead.

The ugly condor raised its head high and let out three loud chirps. Then it turned its head toward Yang Guo and chirruped in a much softer tone, as if it was calling out to him.

Hearing the friendly chirrups from the condor, Yang Guo walked slowly near the condor. “Brother Condor, your strength is so incredible! It’s so impressive!” he cheered.

The ugly condor answered with some more soft chirrups. Slowly, it walked next to Yang Guo and then patted him on the shoulder gently with its left wing. Seeing how smart and unusual the condor was, Yang Guo was very pleased, so he also patted the condor gently on its back.

The ugly condor let out some more chirrups in low pitches. Holding the corner of Yang Guo’s shirt in its mouth, the condor pulled a couple of times before letting lose of the grip and started walking away in big strides. Yang Guo knew the condor had wanted him to follow, so he tagged along. The ugly condor’s legs moved so swiftly that its speed was no slower than a galloping horse. Yang Guo had to use his Qing-Gong techniques in order to keep up with it. He couldn’t help feeling very impressed inwardly. The path the condor took descended lower and lower. Soon, Yang Guo found himself inside a deep valley. After walking continuously for another good while, they came to the entrance of a big cave. The ugly condor nodded its head three times with three chirrups as if it was saluting toward the cave. Then it turned its head to stare at Yang Guo.

“There must be some kind of a hermit master who lives in the cave. Then of course the giant condor must be a tamed pet of his. I must show my respect,” Yang Guo thought to himself. So he knelt down in front of the cave and kowtowed.

“Yang Guo hereby shows his respect to a senior master. Please forgive me for disturbing your peace,” he said and then waited. But no one answered from inside the cave.

The condor pulled Yang Guo’s shirt again and then walked inside the cave. Yang Guo stared at the dark cave in front of him, not knowing if there was really an elite Kung Fu master inside or some kind of goblins or trolls. Feeling a bit uneasy and anxious, he decided to give no thoughts about his own safety and followed in.

The cave was actually not deep at all. Only about thirty feet into the cave, they had already reached the end. Other than a table and a bench made out of stones, there was nothing inside the cave. The ugly condor chirped again, signaling toward a corner of the cave. Casting a glance toward the corner, Yang Guo saw a pile of rocks and stones of all shapes and sizes jumbled together. It looked like a grave.

“This must be the grave of a lofty hermit. Too bad the condor doesn’t know how to speak and can’t tell me more about him,” Yang Guo thought aloud.

He looked up and then something caught his attention. The rock wall seemed to have some words written on it. But thick dust and moss almost covered the entire rock wall, and it was hard to tell what words they were in the dark. Lighting a dry stick, Yang Guo wiped the moss off with his hand, and not to his surprise, three lines of words appeared. The strokes of the words were thin but were carved into the rock wall very deeply. It seems that the words were carved in using a very sharp blade. The three lines of words said,

“Having roamed the martial world for more than thirty years, I have killed all my villainous foes and defeated all heroic champions. There’s no one who can be my equal under the same sky. Without any other choice, I could only retreat to this deep valley, living a hermit’s life in seclusion, having only a condor as my companion. Alas, throughout my life I searched for a match in vain. Unbearable loneliness is my destiny.”

The signature at the bottom was, “Demonic Swordsman Dugu Seeking-A-Loss.”

Yang Guo read the three lines of words back and forth. Astonishment and deep admiration filled his heart. He could clearly feel the sadness and loneliness behind the words. Because there was no match for him in the entire world, this lofty master had to live a hermit’s life in seclusion in the deep valley. His understanding of martial arts must have reached the ultimate high. His title was “Demonic Swordsman,” then his skills in sword art must have been miraculous. And his name was “Seeking-A-Loss,” then he must have traveled all over the world looking for someone who can defeat him, but all his efforts were in vain and he eventually passed away in great disappointment. His mind filled with imaginations of how the sword master had roamed the marital world, Yang Guo was lost in thoughts.

A long while passed before Yang Guo finally got hold of himself again. Holding the burning stick, he searched around in the cave, but failed to find anything else related to the sword master. The grave made out of a pile of rocks and stones didn’t have any sign or tombstone on it. He figured that after the sword master had passed away, it must have been the divine condor that had picked all the rocks and stones and piled them on top of the sword master’s dead body.

Feeling his admiration growing bigger and bigger, Yang Guo couldn’t help but kneel in front of the grave and kowtowed. The divine condor seemed to be pleased to see him show great respect to the grave and gently patted him on the shoulder a couple of times.

“The sword master Dugu had called the condor a companion. Then even though the condor is only an animal, it really is a senior of mine. It would be very appropriate if I call him Brother Condor,” Yang Guo thought to himself. So he said, “Brother Condor, it must be fate that has brought us together. I need to leave now. Would you like to go with me or would you rather stay here guarding sword master Dugu’s grave?”

The divine condor answered with some chirrups. Yang Guo couldn’t understand what the condor had said, but seeing that the condor stayed by the side of the grave, he thought, “The many senior masters in the martial world never mentioned somebody named Dugu Seeing-A-Loss, then he must have been someone only existed sixty or seventy years ago. The divine condor has lived here for a long time and became attached to it. Of course he would rather stay than leaving together with me.”

He put his arms around the divine condor’s neck and stroked the condor’s feathers gently. Then he walked out of the cave.

Throughout his life, other than the intimate relationship he had with Little Dragon Girl, he didn’t have any other closer friend. Now when he met the divine condor, although the condor was only an animal, he really felt for a close relationship, and was reluctant to part with him. After every couple of steps, he would turn and cast a glance back. And every time when he turned around, the divine condor would also answer with a loud chirp. Although the two of them were soon hundreds of feet apart, the divine condor could still see him clearly in the dark and chirped every time when Yang Guo turned his head around.

Suddenly, Yang Guo’s heart burned with indignation. He shouted out loud.

“Brother Condor, I don’t have much life left in me. After I take care of the business regarding Uncle Guo’s baby daughter and after I bid my farewell to my aunty,[2] I will come back here. If I get to be buried next to Great Hero Dugu, then my life wouldn’t have been a waste of time after all.”

He bowed and then headed out in big strides.

Excerpt from Chapter 26:

Yang Guo laid flat on the horseback. In the wooziness, he didn’t care where the horse would take him, as long as Guo Jing wouldn’t be able to find him and he didn’t bump into any Mongolian army. Soon, the horse came near the desolate valley where the Wu brothers had fought each other the night before.

It was dusk already. The long grasses in the valley were even taller than knee-highs. Silence swept the night. Yang Guo was quite sure that he was all alone now, so he lay down in the bushes and tried to get some sleep. By then he couldn’t care less about his own safety, and didn’t even bother to guard against poisonous snakes or wild animals. But the excruciating pain from his wounds never stopped throughout the night. He could barely fall asleep.

The next morning when he opened his eyes and sat up, something suddenly caught his attention. Only inches from him lay two dead centipedes, bloodstains in their mouths, stiff as sticks, with red and black stripes all over their bodies, looking frightful even after they were dead. In shock, Yang Guo examined it more closely and found a big pool of blood next to the centipedes. After a short ponder, he had it figured out. It turned out that the much bleeding from his wounds had created the pool of blood, and because of the strong toxin contained in his blood, the two poisonous centipedes had died off poison.

A wry smile flashed across Yang Guo’s lips as he murmured, “Who would have imagined that even poisonous centipedes couldn’t stand my toxic blood.” Anger, indignation, sorrow and bitterness swelled in his heart. He could no longer control his surging emotions. Raising his head high, he burst into mad laughter.

Three chirps came from the top of the peak and caught Yang Guo’s attention. He looked up. It was the divine condor, its head held high, standing on the very top of the peak. Even though it looked ferocious and hideous, there was something about it that made it looking majestic and awe-inspiring.

Yang Guo was overjoyed as if he had just seen an old friend. “Brother Condor, we have met again!” he shouted.

A long chirp echoed as the divine condor darted down from the peak. It couldn’t fly because of the heavy body and the two short wings, but it could run like a stallion. Within moments, it had already arrived by Yang Guo. Having noticed that one of Yang Guo’s arms was missing the condor fixed its stare at Yang Guo.

“Brother Condor, great misfortune has fallen upon me. That’s why I’ve come to you for shelter,” Yang Guo explained with a wry smile.

He couldn’t tell whether the condor understood him. It simply turned around and started walking. So he grabbed the rein of the horse and followed.

Only after several steps, the divine condor suddenly turned its head back and smacked the belly of the horse with its left wing. Taking a couple of steps back, the horse neighed in pain and jumped up and down.

“I see,” Yang Guo nodded. “Once I enter Brother Condor’s valley, there will be no need to leave again. Why bother keeping the horse?” Deep in his heart, he was already convinced that the condor was really no less intelligent than a human being, so he let go of the rein and followed the divine condor in big strides. Because of his severe wounds, he had to sit down to rest every little while, and the divine condor would then hold its steps and wait for him.

After close to two hours of walking, with many breaks along the way, the two of them arrived at the cave where the Demonic Swordsman Dugu Seeking-A-Loss had been buried in.

Seeing the grave made out of rocks and stones, Yang Guo heaved a long sigh. All sorts of feelings welled up in his mind. “If this legendary master was able to roam the Martial World with no equal, his Kung Fu skills must have been extraordinary,” Yang Guo thought to himself. “But he must have also been very eccentric and arrogant because of his unmatched talents and didn’t get along with ordinary people. That was probably why he just passed away so quietly in such a desolated valley while no great stories or legends of his were told in the Martial World and no sword art manuals or apprentices of his were left behind to pass down his invisible martial arts techniques. His life must have been very exciting and admirable, yet at the same time sad and gloomy. Even though the divine condor is very intelligent, it is so unfortunate that it doesn’t speak, otherwise it could have told a little about the senior master’s life story.”

He stared at the grave blankly, lost in thoughts. When he finally got hold of himself, the divine condor had brought back two wild rabbits from outside the cave. Yang Guo barbecued the rabbits and made a good meal out of them.

Days went by. The wounds started to heal gradually, and Yang Guo found himself on a path of recovery. Every time when he thought of the Little Dragon Girl, he would still feel pain from his chest, but it was far from the kind of unbearable pain he used to have. Yang Guo was the restless type. Having spent so many days in the desolated valley accompanied only by the divine condor, he soon became very bored.

On this no particular day, the verdant hill at the back of the cave caught his attention. It was a beautiful day, so he decided to take on a random scenery walk. About half a mile into the walk, he found himself in front of a big cliff. The cliff towered straight into the sky almost like a huge screen. In the middle of the cliff, probably two hundred feet above the ground, a huge rock, about thirty or forty feet wide, stuck out from the cliff like a platform, and vaguely, he thought he could see words carved on the rock. Raising his head high, he stared up. Only after a long while was he able to tell what they were. Carved on the rock were two large characters: Sword Tomb.

“Why would a sword have a tomb? Could senior master Dugu have somehow broken his favorite sword and decided to bury it here?” Yang Guo’s curiosity started growing.

He walked next to the bottom of the cliff and looked around. The cliff wall was made out of bald rocks. There wasn’t even any grass or bush on the rock wall. There was no rock edges for grabbing or stepping on, which made him wonder how the senior master had been able to climb up the cliff.

He stared at the rock wall for a good while, and the more he stared at it, the bigger the urge to climb up he felt.

“He was also just a human being,” he thought aloud. “How did he climb up so high? He’s got to have some kind of tricks. If he had been able to climb up there using pure martial arts skills, then his skills had to be god like.”

He stared at the rock wall again even more carefully. After a while he noticed something. On the rock wall, there were dozens of patches of moss, each patch several feet away from the other, going upwards in a straight line. An idea popped out. He leapt up and reached for the lowest patch of moss. Not to his surprise, a small hole emerged after he scrubbed out the dark soil. He figured that Dugu Seeking-A-Loss must have dug these holes with sharp blades. After so many years, dirt had accumulated in the holes and mosses had started to grow.

Having nothing else urgent to do, Yang Guo decided to check out this Sword Tomb. But having only one arm left certainly made climbing a more difficult task.

“If I can’t climb up the platform, then I can’t. Who’s going to laugh at me here?” he thought.

After tightening his waistband, he took a deep breath and leapt a few feet up, stepping his left foot in the first small hole. Then he leapt upward again, kicking his right foot toward the second patch of moss. The soft soil fell, and sure enough, there was another small hole on the rock wall just big enough for a foot.

His first attempt at climbing the cliff only lasted a little bit over one hundred feet before he ran out of breath, so he slid back down to the ground.

“I’ve already found over twenty stepping spots. The second attempt should be much easier,” he told himself.

After some meditation at the bottom of the cliff, he gathered enough strength and finally climbed up the rock platform. Although he only had one arm left, his Qing-Gong skills didn’t weaken a single bit. He couldn’t help but feel some relief.

Next to the two large characters “Sword Tomb,” there were two rows of words carved on the rock in smaller font size:

“The Demonic Swordsman Dugu Seeking-A-Loss has become the invincible and unchallenged warrior under Heaven; he therefore buried his swords here. Alas, the heroes of the realm had laid down their arms, now my long sword are sharp as usual yet useless...the agony!”

A mixed feeling of shock and admiration welled up in Yang Guo’s heart. He couldn’t help but feel that this senior master’s personality was very similar to that of his own. Both of them were lofty and defied the entire world. But he himself was certainly far from invincible and unchallenged. And since now he only had one arm left, even if he could survive this time, the chance of him becoming invincible would be too slim. He stared at the two rows of words for a while and then looked down. Rocks and stones formed a big pile in the shape of a tomb, its back facing the deep and broad valley. Putting aside the fact that how brilliant the Demonic Swordsman was, just the sword tomb was impressive enough by its own. It was apparent that this senior master must have been outstanding in both his wits and his martial arts skills, and had high aspirations. He wished that he could have been born many years earlier for a chance to meet such a legendary master in person. Feeling thrilled, he shouted out loud by the sword tomb in a long roar, and moments later, echoes rose in all directions. He suddenly remembered the kind of joy Huang Yaoshi[3] had described to him: “To flick my robe on zenith of the high peak and to wash my feet in the river thousands of miles long.” At the current moment, he could almost feel the same kind of lofty sentiments and aspirations. Although he really yearned to find out what kind of blade had been buried in the tomb, feeling afraid to offend the deceased master, he finally gave up the thought and simply sat down, holding his knees in his arms, and breathed in against the wind. Soon, he almost felt as if his chest had been filled with pure energy and he could just ride the wind and glide in the air.

Several chirrups came from the bottom of the cliff. Yang Guo looked down and saw the divine condor jumping its way up the cliff by holding the small holes with its claws. Although the condor had a heavy body, its leg and claw strength was simply amazing. Only moments later, the condor had already made its way up the rock platform.

After taking a brief look around, the divine condor nodded toward Yang Guo and chirped. The sounds of the chirps were quite different from the sound of its regular chirps.

“Brother Condor, unfortunately I don’t have the skills of Gongye Chang[4] and can’t understand anything you say. Otherwise you could have told me the entire life story of this senior master Dugu,” Yang Guo said with a smile.

The divine condor let out several more chirrups and then reached out with its claws. Grabbing onto some of the rocks on the sword tomb, it started moving them aside.

A thought suddenly popped into Yang Guo’s head. “Senior master Dugu had superior martial arts skills. Could he have left behind some kind of sword arts manual or manuscript?”

The divine condor’s claws kept moving and soon had moved away all the stones on top of the sword tomb, exposing three long swords lying side by side. Between the first sword and the second sword lay a long rock strip. The three long swords and the long rock strip lay neatly on a slab stone.

Yang Guo picked up the first sword on the left and saw two rows of small words carved on the slab stone underneath where the sword was placed.

“Fierce and aggressive, able to penetrate any obstacle. With it, I competed with the heroes of the Northern Plains during my teenage years.”

Looking more carefully at the sword, he found it to be about four feet long. The blade flashed under the daylight. It was indeed a very sharp sword.

Laying the sword back to its original place, he then picked up the long rock strip. There were also two rows of small words underneath carved on the slab stone.

“Flexible Sword of the Purple Rose, used it prior to the age of thirty. With it, I accidentally wounded a righteous man. A weapon of doom, I abandoned it in a deep valley.”

“The sword is missing because he had abandoned it,” Yang Guo thought. “I wonder how he ended up wounding a righteous man. Perhaps no one will ever get to know the story behind.”

After a short daze, he reached out to pick up the second sword. But only inches off the slab stone, the sword fell out of his grip and smacked back onto the slab stone. A loud clank echoed as sparks sparkled everywhere. That gave Yang Guo a good shock.

Although the sword looked dark with nothing unusual, it turned out to be extremely heavy. The sword was only slightly longer than three feet, but it weighed at least one hundred and ten to one hundred and thirty pounds, several times heavier even than the heaviest saber or halberd used in battlefield. He had not expected it to be this heavy when he picked it up. Caught by surprise, he had lost grip of the sword. The second time when he picked it up, knowing what to expect, he had a good grip on the sword. When prepared, something as heavy as one hundred and thirty pounds really wasn’t hard for him at all. Taking a better look at the sword, he found both sides of the blade blunt, and the tip of the sword was more like a half circle.

“This sword is too heavy. How can someone wield a sword like this and still able to control it well? Besides, the blades on both sides and the sword tip are all blunt. How strange!” he thought aloud.

Looking down on the slab stone underneath where the sword was, he also found two rows of small words.

“Heavy sword with blunt edges, simplicity brings superiority. Before I reached the age of forty, I used it to roam the entire world under Heaven.”

Yang Guo murmured the words “heavy sword with blunt edges, simplicity brings superiority” repeatedly. He seemed to have comprehended part of the idea, but the idea was still very vague in his head. There were many styles of sword arts in the world, but regardless of style or school, each sword art always emphasized in flexibility and speed. How should this heavy sword be used? He couldn’t help imagining how the senior master had wielded the heavy sword and soon fell into a trance.

Only after a long while did Yang Guo lay the heavy sword down and reached out for the third sword. But this time something went wrong again. He had thought that this third sword must have been even heavier than the previous one, so when he reached out to pick up the sword, he made sure he had shifted enough strength to his left arm, but the sword turned out to be so light that he felt as if he had only picked up empty air. Casting a closer glance at it, he found a wooden sword in his hand. After the many years, part of the sword body and the hilt were almost completely rotten. The words underneath said,

“After the age of forty, I no longer relied on weaponry. Even bushes, trees, bamboo sticks or rocks call all be my swords. From then on, I achieved great progress and slowly reached the realm of overcoming the sword without a sword.”

Laying the wooden sword back to its original place respectfully, Yang Guo sighed in great admiration.

“The senior master’s brilliant skills must have exceeded way beyond my imagination,” he murmured.

Thinking of the idea that there might be sword art manuals or the kind underneath the slab stone, he grabbed the slab stone and lifted it up. But there was nothing under except the hard surface of the rock platform. He couldn’t help but feel slightly disappointed.

The divine condor let out a loud chirp. Lowering its head, he picked the heavy sword up with his beak and then placed it in Yang Guo’s hand. With another loud chirp, the condor suddenly swung his left wing and smacked down toward Yang Guo’s head. The swing was so fierce and powerful that Yang Guo could feel the strong wind generated from the powerful swing long before the condor’s wing even came close to him. In the split of the second, Yang Guo felt as if he couldn’t even breathe, and when he finally broke out from the brief shock, the divine condor had held its wing still only about one foot away from his head. Another two chirps came from the condor.

“Brother Condor, are you interested in checking out my Kung Fu skills?” Yang Guo grinned. “I’ve got nothing else to do. Fine, let’s have some fun.”

But it would be too hard to wield the over-one-hundred-pound heavy sword, so he put it down and picked up the first sword. To his surprise, the divine condor suddenly retracted its two wings and turned his head aside, paying no more attention to him, its face covered with disdain.

Yang Guo immediately understood. “You want me to wield the heavy sword? But my Kung Fu skills are so ordinary. I am certain I would be no match for you, especially on top of this steep cliff, Brother Condor. You’ve got to cut me some slacks!” he said with a grin.

Picking the heavy sword back up, he gathered his inner energy around his lower stomach and shifted his strength to his left arm before stabbing the sword out slowly. The divine condor didn’t even turn around. Swinging its left wing backwards, the divine condor attacked, its wing colliding with the heavy sword. Yang Guo felt a stream of vigorous force rushing toward him passing through the sword, so powerful that he almost ran out of breath. In a rush, he let out a roar and fought the force back with all his strength. The sword shook slightly between the two forces and suddenly all Yang Guo could see was complete darkness, and seconds later he fell unconscious.

Slowly, he regained consciousness, not knowing how long it had passed. Something unbearably bitter in his mouth immediately caught his attention. Meanwhile, some kind of bitter juice kept dripping down his throat. He opened his eyes and saw the divine condor placing a dark purple ball shaped thing into his mouth. This thingy stunk like a rotten fish, but Yang Guo ate it anyway, thinking that since the divine condor was extremely intelligent, this thingy in its mouth had to be something good. With only a gentle bite, the skin of the ball shaped thingy cracked open and immediately his mouth was filled with bitter juice.

The juice was extremely bitter and smelly. It tasted terrible. Yang Guo really wanted to spit them all out, but he didn’t want to go against the divine condor’s good will and finally managed to swallow them down. A few moments later, he tried to slightly control his inner energy flow, and to his surprise, he found his breathing smooth and fluent. He stood back up, and again, not only didn’t he feel tired or exhausted, instead, he felt totally refreshed, no, it was even better than before.

Yang Guo was puzzled. Logically, when someone got knocked out with a strong blow, even if the person was lucky enough to not get injured seriously, he would at least feel soreness all over his body. Could that dark purple ball shaped thingy be some kind of magical cure?

He bent over and picked the heavy sword up. It felt as if the sword had become slightly lighter than before. Right at the second, the divine condor let out another loud chirp before striking with its wing again. This time Yang Guo dared not taking on the blow directly and dodged to the side. The divine condor took a step forward and struck again with both wings, fierce and powerful. Yang Guo knew that the condor had no ill intention toward him, but even though the condor was extremely intelligent, it was still just an animal, with the kind of mighty power it possessed, when it attacked with its wings, it wouldn’t really know when to stop and how to restrain its power. If he had gotten hit by the wing and fallen off the rock platform, that would for sure kill him. Seeing the two wings striking toward him, he took two steps back in a hurry. By then, his left foot was already on the edge of the rock platform.

Who would have thought that the condor showed no mercy? With a quick stretch, its sharp beak had shot out toward Yang Guo’s chest. Having no space to retreat back, Yang Guo had no choice but to block the attack with the sword. The peck landed squarely on the sword. A tremendous shock ran through Yang Guo’s arm and he almost had to let go the heavy sword. The divine condor immediately followed with a low sweep using its right wing and strike toward Yang Guo’s ankles. Astonished, Yang Guo jumped up and leapt over the divine condor’s head, rushing toward the inside of the platform. In fear that the condor would follow up with its attacks, he waved the sword backward. A loud clank echoed as the sword collided with another peck from the condor.

Having so narrowly escaped death, Yang Guo broke out in a cold sweat. “Brother Condor,” he shouted, “I am not Master Dugu!” Feeling aching and limp in his feet, he sat down. The divine condor let out two low chirps and halted its attack.

Having blurted out the words “I am not Master Dugu” without much thinking, Yang Guo suddenly thought of something. The condor had been a long time companion of senior master Dugu. The way it had struck and moved about actually had matched with martial arts principles loosely. Perhaps when senior master Dugu sometimes became bored living in the desolated valley all by himself, he had treated the condor as if it was a spar partner of his. Senior master Dugu had long perished, along with all his superior martial arts techniques. But it might be possible to find some traces of this great Master’s martial arts style and essence from the condor. At that thought, he became pleased and stood up.

“Brother Condor, watch out!” he shouted. “Here comes another sword move!” Pushing the heavy sword forward as fast as he could, he stabbed it toward the divine condor’s chest.

The divine condor blocked the sword with its left wing and then struck another heavy blow with its right wing. Its strength was simply too strong. Every time when it swung its wings, the force it generated was on par with the kind of force generated by several first-class fighters hitting out their palm strikes at the same time. Besides, the sword in Yang Guo’s hand was simply too heavy for him to use any sword moves out of the Quan-Zhen Sword Art or Jade-Maiden Sword Art. So for defense, all he could do was to dodge to the sides, and for offense, all he did was stabbing the sword forward clumsily.

After a few moments into the fight, Yang Guo became tired and sat down to rest. As soon as he sat down, the divine condor would step aside. The two of them played like this for well over two hours before they finally slid down the platform and went back to the cave.

When Yang Guo woke up the next morning, the divine condor had already placed three dark purple stinking balls by his side. After some careful examination, Yang Guo finally realized that these were animal gallbladders. He remembered that when he met the divine condor the first time, it was feeding on poisonous snakes and also fought with a giant serpent. Then these must have been snake gallbladders. He wondered if the gallbladder of a poisonous snake would also be venomous, but after he had eaten a gallbladder the day before, he had felt totally refreshed and rejuvenated, having even more strength in him than before. Besides, there were already strong toxins from the Flower of Love and the Icy Silver Needles inside his body; he really couldn’t care less. So in a few bites, he quickly swallowed the gallbladders, and then sat up to meditate. To his great surprise, many of the pressure points along his inner channels that he had a hard time sending inner energy flowing through before suddenly all opened up, and the energy flow inside him became so smooth and fluent. In great happiness, Yang Guo uttered a loud cry of joy. Usually, when someone was in the middle of cultivating his inner energy flow in a meditation stance, it was critical for him to abstain from irrelevant thoughts, especially extreme joy or extreme grief, but this time his inner energy continued to flow smoothly around his body with no glitches or any blockage.

Jumping back onto his feet, Yang Guo picked up the heavy sword and stepped out of the cave for some more rounds of sword training. Having no more fear and worries, even though he still dodged a lot more than blocking, once in a while, he was actually able to organize some sneak attacks in between the fierce and powerful forces created from the divine condor’s waving of its mighty wings.

This kind of training went on for several days, and gradually, he was able to wield the heavy sword with better control. It almost felt as if the heavy sword was no longer as heavy as the time when he first wielded it. In the meantime, he also came to realize that all the sword arts he had learned before were too intricate with too many fancy techniques. He kept thinking about Dugu Seeking-A-Loss’s words “heavy sword with blunt edges, simplicity brings superiority” on the slab stone. They had described a realm of sword art much more advanced compared to even the most ingenious sword techniques in the world. While sparring with the divine condor, he concentrated on comprehending the movement of his sword, and what he started to realize was that the more ordinary a sword move is, the more difficult it was for the opponent to defend against it. For example, if he simply stabbed out straight forward, as long as he had fierce and resourceful power to back it, the might of the stab would be actually more powerful than the kind of sword arts like the Jade Maiden Sword Art that relied on fluctuating and unpredictable techniques. Even though he only has one arm – his left arm, from eating those snake gallbladders the divine condor had brought to him, he had no idea that his arm had become much stronger than before.

One day while strolling about the valley, he discovered the bodies of three giant poisonous snakes on the ground. Their bellies had been ripped open and cuts from sharp claws left snake blood all over their bodies. By then, he was sure that the bitter things he had been eating were snake gallbladders. The bodies of these poisonous snakes shinned vaguely in a golden color. He had never seen any snakes like these before and had no idea what kind of snakes they were.

“I suppose the reason why the divine condor has such tremendous strength is because it had eaten a lot of snake gallbladders of this strange specie of snakes,” he thought to himself.

After over a month worth of sparring, with some hard efforts, Yang Guo could actually take on the divine condor’s mighty force head to head now, and each of his stab had also become so powerful that it would whistle in the air. He couldn’t help but feel much gratified about himself. Since his skills in martial arts had advanced to a new level, the martial arts he learned before all seemed to be so insignificant, just like once one climbs to the top of Mount Tai, the whole world looked small and insignificant. But in another thought, he realized that without his previous foundation in martial arts training, he wouldn’t have been able to advance to such a new level. After all, the divine condor was just an animal that couldn’t speak. It might be able to guide some, but it would never be able to explain things or provide advice. Besides, the divine condor didn’t really know any true martial arts skills. All it had was the god-given mighty strength plus the handful of moving and dodging techniques it had picked up while sparring with Dugu Seeking-A-Loss in the many years of companionship.

One morning, after Yang Guo got up, he found heavy rain pouring down from the dark cloud covered sky.

“Brother Condor, it’s raining very hard. Are we still going to train today?” he asked the divine condor.

The condor held Yang Guo’s sleeve in its beak and pulled him toward the northeast. Then it let go of the sleeve and strode out.

“Is there something strange again in the northeast?” Yang Guo thought aloud. He grabbed the heavy sword and then followed in the rain.

After a couple of miles into the journey, some vague but continuous rumbling sound came to Yang Guo’s attention. And the further they walked, the louder the rumbling sound became. It was the sound of a waterfall.

“With such a pouring rain, I’d better watch out for mountain torrents,” Yang Guo reminded himself.

After turning over a mountain gorge, the sound of the waterfall all of a sudden became so much louder that it could almost deafen one’s hearing. Between two peaks, the waterfall crashed down poured into the creek below like a white dragon. In the thunderous echoes, the swift currents rushed downward with mighty force. The many broken branches and rocks, carried forward by the currents, only took a split of a second to be flushed down the stream.

By then, the rain had become even heavier and Yang Guo had become soaking wet. A think mist from the smashing waterfall surrounded everything, creating a magnificent view. But seeing the mighty force from the mountain tolerance, Yang Guo couldn’t help but feel a slight dread inside of him.

Holding Yang Guo’s sleeve in its beak, the divine condor dragged him toward the creek as if it wanted Yang Guo to jump down.

“Why do you want me to go down there? The stream is running very swift. I am afraid that I would be able to hold myself steady,” Yang Guo asked in surprise.

The divine condor let go of Yang Guo’s sleeve, and after a long and loud roar, it jumped into the creek and landed steadily on a huge rock in the middle of the creek. The condor swung its left wing forward. A rock that had been carried down by the rushing current was sent back up the stream from the swing. As soon as the rock came back down with the current again, it swung its wing once again, which sent the rock flying up the stream the second time. Thus the condor did the same thing five or six more times, and the rock never made it pass the condor. By the seventh time, the divine condor gave it a good smack, which sent the rock flying out of the water and finally landing on the bank. The divine condor then leapt back onto the bank and stood next to Yang Guo.

Yang Guo understood. Demonic Swordsman Dugu Seeking-A-Loss must have come here often to train sword arts in the mountain tolerance every time when it rained. But he knew very well that he didn’t yet possess such skills and strength. Feeling afraid, he hesitated.

Suddenly, the divine condor extended its wing out and pushed Yang Guo in the arm. Since it was standing so close to Yang Guo, and the push caught Yang Guo by surprise, he lost his footing and fell into the creek.

In the rush, Yang Guo quickly used a technique called the “thousand-pound plummet” and landed on that huge rock the divine condor had stood on. As soon as his feet entered the water, the great force from the swift current almost swept him off his feet. Yang Guo tumbled back and forth and had a hard time maintaining his balance.

“Senior master Dugu is a human, I am also a human. If he could hold himself steady, why can’t I?” Yang Guo thought to himself. So he took a deep breath and then concentrated all his attention in the effort to fight the force from the swift currents. That alone had exhausted all his strength. It was simply impossible for him to spare any strength to hit the rocks in the currents with the heavy sword.

In the amount of time of burning down a joss stick, Yang Guo had exhausted all his strength, so he jabbed his sword on the rock, and with the push, leapt back on to the bank. Before he even had a moment to catch his breath, the divine condor had already swung its wing toward him once again. Having being on his guard, he dodged the push swiftly. Quickly taking in a few deep breaths, he jumped back down into the creek himself, thinking, “This condor brother is indeed a strict teacher and a forthcoming friend. He wouldn’t cut me any slacks in the training. He certainly has high expectations, and I, of course, want good improvements.”

At this thought, he directed all his energy to the lower half of his body and held his footing steadily. As time went by, he gradually comprehended some techniques as to how to focus his energy and how to best utilize his strength. Even though the mountain torrent had grown larger and water had rose up to his waist, he was able to hold his own a little easier compared to the previous efforts. A few moments passed and by then water had rose up to his chest and soon up to his mouth.

“Even though I can hold my footing now, I don’t think I’ll just stand here and get drowned!” he thought. So he leapt back on to the bank.

Who had expected that the divine condor had been waiting by the bank? Before his feet touched the ground, the condor struck out with its wing. Yang Guo hurriedly blocked it using the heavy sword, but the striking force sent Yang Guo right back into the creak. Splash, he fell back into the water.

When his feet touched the giant rock under the steam, his entire boy was under the surface. Water had filled his mouth as he was falling down. Yang Guo knew that if he had spit the water out of his mouth, then his inner energy would shift upward, thus reducing the strength in his legs, so he held his breath and took a stable stance. A few moments later, he pushed hard with his feet and leapt in the air. A stream of water darted out from his mouth. Taking another quick breath, Yang Guo fell back down to the bottom of the creek. The turbulences and swift currents rumbled through above his head. He simply stayed still like a firm rock in midstream. Gradually his mind calmed down.

“Brother Condor wanted me to stand in the middle of the mountain torrent, but if I don’t hit the rocks in the currents, for sure he would belittle me,” Yang Guo thought.

He was a man of great pride and was always eager to excel. Even though the condor was only an animal, he would still rather not lose face in front of it. So when he spotted the branches and rocks brought down by the current, he jabbed and stabbed and tried hard to push them back them way they came from. In the water, the rocks had become lighter. The heavy sword also felt lighter and easier to control when he waved it around under water. He waved and swung and jabbed and stabbed the sword until he was completely exhausted and begun to have a hard time holding his footing. Then he finally leapt back onto the bank.

He was quite afraid that the divine condor would once again force him back into the creek again. Without some rest, his tiring legs probably wouldn’t be able to stand the forces from the mountain torrent. Not to his surprise, the divine condor didn’t want him on the bank at all. As soon as it saw him leaping out of the water, the condor struck out with its wing.

“Brother Condor,” Yang Guo shouted in complaint, “you know you are just killing me right now?”

He jumped back into the creek for a little while but simply could not stand the currents any longer and had to leapt back to the bank. Seeing the divine condor’s wing striking toward him, not willing to sit down and give in, he had no other choices but to stab the sword at the divine condor. The two of them soon exchanged three moves, and to his great surprise, the divine condor was forced to take one step back.

“Excuse me!” Yang Guo shouted as he extended his arm and stabbed forth the sword again. Sound of whistling echoed as the blade cut through thin air – this was something quite different from his past experience.

Seeing the tip of Yang Guo’s sword approaching rapidly toward it, the divine condor no longer dared to take it straight on and had to dodge aside.

Yang Guo knew that the half-day worth of training in the mountain torrents must have improved his strength tremendously. A mixed feeling of shock and joy swarmed in his heart. He couldn’t help but question himself, “It would certainly take more than a couple of weeks to increase one’s strength and power. How did I gain such great strength after wielding the sword underwater for a mere half-day?” He finally concluded that it had to be the snake gallbladders from the snakes of the strange specie. Those gallbladders must have magical effects in increasing one’s power and strength. That was why his strength and inner power had increased tremendously, and he had only noticed it when he released the strength accidentally in the dangerous circumstance.

He sat by the creek and meditated for a while. His strength soon replenished. This time he jumped back into the creek for more training without being forced by the divine condor. By the time he leapt back up the bank, the divine condor was no longer waiting by the creek, leaving no clue as to where it had gone.

The rain had begun to slow down. Yang Guo figured that mountain torrents would have been a lot smaller and weaker the next day. Since he didn’t feel that tired, it would be better to train some more right now while the torrent still lasted. At that thought, he jumped back into the creek.

By the time he got back onto the bank the forth time, he found two snake gallbladders placed closed to the bank. Feeling utterly grateful for the divine condor’s caring, he ate them and then continued on with his training. Night came, and the mountain torrent had slowly become smaller and weaker.

That night he didn’t sleep at all and kept on training in the creek. Gradually he began to realize many sword art principles such as piercing following the force, blocking against the force, slashing from the side, and chopping with a back swing. By then he finally understood: Wielding a sword this way, nothing would be strong enough to stand the force from the sword, and there would be no need for the sword to have a sharp blade. But without such a unique heavy sword, which was twenty or even thirty times heavier compared to a normal sword, this kind of sword art wouldn’t have been effective. If it were just an ordinary blade, the force released from a gentle wrist snap would have shocked the blade into pieces.

The rain finally stopped, and the clear sky shined dimly in dark blue. Moonlight from a new moon illuminated over the trees and the water in the creek, painting everything with silver. Yang Guo watched the swift currents flushing down the creek path non-stop, his mind as clear as the sky. By then, he had understood the principles behind the flow of currents and mastered the techniques with the heavy sword. He knew that he had learned the entire sword art of the heavy sword and there was no more to learn. Even if the Demonic Swordsman could have come back to life, all he could have taught would still be the same. From now on as his inner energy grew, he would be able to used lighter swords, and eventually be able to wield a wooden sword like the heavy sword, but that would all be attributed to the advancement in his own abilities and skills. Regarding the sword art, this was as far as it would ever be.

Yang Guo paced back and forth along the bank. Raising his head high, he stared at the bright moon and soon was lost in thoughts. If senior master Dugu hadn’t left him this heavy sword, or if there wasn’t the divine condor to guide him, furthermore, if he didn’t eat those gallbladders of the strange snakes and thus gained tremendous amount of inner strength, then the entire world wouldn’t have had the luxury of seeing this sword art once again. Dugu Seeking-A-Loss didn’t have any help or reference, yet was able to comprehend such acme of sword arts all by himself. His cleverness must have been a hundred times better than mine.

Yang Guo’s admiration and understanding of this past sword master kept growing as he imagined the senior master’s demeanor in his mind. Suddenly, a thought popped into his head.

“If auntie could see the great kung fu skills I possess now, she would be very happy for me for sure. Alas, where is she now? Is she also staring at the beautiful moon and thinking of me?” As soon as he thought of the Little Dragon Girl, severe pain rose from inside his chest.

“Even though I’ve comprehended the ultimate principles of sword art,” Yang Guo thought, “what good does it do if I stay here in the remote mountain all by myself? What if the poison from the Flower of Love suddenly activated tomorrow and killed me? Wouldn’t this magnificent sword art get lost for eternity?”

At this thought, aspiration rose again in his heart.

“I shall follow senior master Dugu’s footsteps and defeat all heroes under heaven with this sword art. Then I can die with no regrets,” he spoke out his thought loudly.

Looking at what was left of his right arm, Yang Guo knitted his eyebrows into a straight line, and his hatred for Guo Fu, the one person who had mercilessly cut off his arm, swarmed his heart once more.

“This girl relied on the facts that her father is a legendary hero and her mother is the chief of the Beggars Clan. She has never respected me. When I was still a kid and lived in her home, she treated me with so much distain and humiliation. I was actually doing her a favor when I lied to the Wu brothers. If any one of the Wu brothers ended up dead because of her, wouldn’t she be the one to blame for? Humph! She took advantage of my severe illness and cut my arm off. If I don’t settle the score with her one day, I am not a true man!”

He had always been one who took in kindness and grudge to his heart without a forgiving heart. Before, right after his arm was cut off, he had no other choices but to hide in the remote valley for the wound to heal. Now when his wound had sealed and his Kung Fu skills had progressed dramatically, he could no longer hold his urge for revenge. Having made up his mind, he immediately returned to the cave.

“Brother Condor,” he said to the divine condor, “I’ll never be able to repay the great kindness you’ve shown me. There are still several matters in the Martial World that I need to take care of. That’s why I need to leave you temporarily. I’ll be back here again once I’ve taken care of those businesses. If you don’t mind, I need to borrow senior master Dugu’s heavy sword for the trip.”

He bowed down toward the divine condor deeply and then knelt down in front of the stone grave of Dugu Seeking-A-Loss to salute before heading out of the valley. The divine condor walked with him all the way to the opening of the valley. After many affectionate hugs between the man and the condor, Yang Guo bid his farewell and got on with his journey.

The heavy sword was indeed very heavy. If he had tied it to his waistband, the waistband would break in no time. Yang Guo cut down three old vines from the bushes and made a rope out of them. Tying the heavy sword on his back, he ran using his Qing-Gong and headed straight toward the city of Xiangyang.

[The End]

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