The Return of the Condor Heroes

Chapter 6 – The Yunü Heart Manual, Part 4

Yang Guo said, “Gu Gu, is it hard to learn?”

Xiao Longnu said, “I heard from master that the manual’s internal energy requires two people to practice at the same time, but I know I will not be able to practice it with you.”

Yang Guo was shocked and quickly said, “Why not?”

Xiao Longnu said, “If you were a girl, then we could.”

Yang Guo said, “What is the difference? Aren’t a boy and girl the same?”

Xiao Longnu shook her head and said, “No, not the same; look up at the ceiling, what kind of shapes are they?”

Yang Guo looked in the direction she pointed, and saw the ceiling was marked with countless forms of body shapes, there were about seventy or eighty of them, a closer look revealed that they were the shape of women, the bodies had lines going away from them. Yang Guo didn’t understand and turned around to look at Xiao Longnu.

Xiao Longnu said, “The manual states, when practicing the whole body will emit heat, a spacious and deserted place is required; the body will need to be free of clothes to practice, this will enable the heat to disperse immediately. There mustn’t be any obstructions, otherwise it will return to the body; a small consequence will be a serious illness, at worst the body will be destroyed.”

Yang Guo said, “We’ll take off our clothes to practice.”

Xiao Long said, “Eventually, the two people will need to use their internal energy to protect the other, you are a boy and I am a girl, how can we do that with decency?”

Yang Guo had concentrated on practicing his kung fu for the last two years, and didn’t take any notice of the difference in sex between him and his master. He felt there was nothing wrong with taking off their clothes and facing each other to practice the manual; he couldn’t see what exactly was wrong with this. Xiao Longnu was now twenty years old and has lived in the tomb ever since she was small; she didn’t know anything about the outside world. One of the important points of her sect’s kung fu is to purge your emotions. Although the two were of different sexes and faced each other night and day, one was cold and emotionless, the other was honest and respectful, so there weren’t any formalities between them. But now when they were talking about taking their clothes off to practice, she felt awkward and didn’t agree with his viewpoint.

Yang Guo suddenly said, “I’ve got it! We could practice on the Chilled Jade Bed.”

Xiao Longnu said, “We mustn’t. The heat will be drawn back by the coolness of the bed, after practicing for a few days, we both would be dead.”

Yang Guo thought for half an hour and asked, “Why do you need two people to practice it? We could practice it by ourselves, if I don’t understand anything, can’t I ask you later?”

Xiao Longnu shook her head and said, “It won’t work. With this type of internal energy, every step is extremely dangerous and you will go wrong at certain points. If there isn’t anyone to help you, you will fire deviate; only if we mutually aid each other can we pass the dangerous phases.”

Yang Guo said, “Learning this type of internal energy is indeed troublesome.”

Xiao Longnu said, “If we master the external techniques, we will be able to beat the Taoists. We aren’t really going to fight with the Taoists, so even if we can’t beat them, so what?”

Yang Guo heard his master’s words and agreed, and didn’t keep the matter to heart.

One day after finishing practicing his kung fu, he went out of the tomb to forage for food. After a while, he chased after a grey rabbit; the rabbit dodged west and darted east, its agility was not like a normal rabbit’s. Yang Guo’s lightness kung fu was proficient, but he couldn’t catch it. He was surprised but he didn’t want to use a projectile to hit it; he wanted to chase after it with his lightness kung fu until the rabbit couldn’t run anymore. The boy and rabbit ran faster and further away. As they went on, the rabbit turned into a treed enclosure in the mountain, and suddenly darted into a thicket of red flowers. The thickets were tens of feet wide, the layers close together; a fragrant scent was produced from them. He went around the thickets, but the rabbit had long disappeared. Yang Guo had chased the rabbit for half a day; but he liked living things, if he had caught up with it he would have let it go, so if he didn’t catch it, it didn’t matter. Yang Guo looked at the thickets; they had red flowers and green branches, and were beautiful to look at. Surrounding them were low hanging branches that hid them, forming a natural room made of flowers and a house made of trees. Yang Guo thought for while, and quickly hurried back and got Xiao Longnu to take a look.

Xiao Longnu calmly said, “I don’t like flowers, if you like it, you can play here.”

Yang Guo said, “No, Gu Gu this is a good place to practice martial arts, you go on one side, I’ll be on the other. When we take off our clothes, we won’t be able to see each other. Isn’t that a good idea?”

Xiao Longnu heard this and thought it made sense. She leaped up onto a tree and looked around, all she could hear was the sound of a spring flowing and birds chirping; it was peaceful and serene all around, and there wasn’t any trace of human activity. It was a good place to practice martial arts, and so she said, “It was lucky that you found this place, we’ll come here tonight and practice.”

That night, the two of them delved deep into the enclosure. In the still of the night, the flowers were even more fragrant. Xiao Longnu then recited the formulae to practice the internal energy of the “Jade Heart Manual”. Yang Guo made sure he understood the intricacies of the manual, and the two went either side of the thickets and took their clothes off, and started practicing. Yang Guo’s left arm went through the thicket, and met with Xiao Longnu’s right palm, if either came up with difficulties during the practice; the other will notice and immediately circulate their chi to help them.

The two then used the night for work, and the day for rest. It was summer; the night was cool when they practiced; after two months of practicing there were no problems. The “Jade Heart Manual” was divided into nine sections, one night, Xiao long Nu had reached the seventh level, and Yang Guo the sixth. That night, the two were practicing their own levels, their body emitted great heat, and the scent of the flowers was carried in the heat, and was even more aromatic. Gradually the moon moved into the middle of the sky, another half an hour and the two will have finished completing their respective levels. Suddenly the sound of footsteps and people talking came from some distance away; two people were talking and coming closer.