I read this second installment of Legend of the Condor Heroes in
Chinese, as I wanted to savor Jin Yong's writing in the original.
Like A Hero Born, this volume is also action-packed with a mind-blowing panoply of martial arts feats, while the story follows Guo Jing's breathless adventures in Southern China in the company of his beloved, Lotus. They stumble across the supreme kung fu grandmaster and Beggar Clan Chief, Count Seven, and in no time they hit it off with each other. He accepts them both as his disciples.
Back stories of the villainous Cyclone Mei as well as of Lotus's father, the vicious lone wolf Apothecary Huang titled as Lord of the Peach Blossom Island, are disclosed. Just as Guo Jing feels secure in Lotus's love for him, he happens upon a formidable contender from the far west, who has the support of Lotus's father. This contender is also the nephew of one of the four supreme kung fu grandmasters - Viper Ouyang, who is a matchless expert in the use of poison.
There was a passage that particularly caught my eye, and it was a description of Apothecary Huang's hallucinating flute melody called "Ode to the Billowing Tide". The writing in Chinese is quite magical. I've checked the English translation in A Bond Undone and found it equally good. Below is the English translation:
The song began as a perfectly calm sea, undisturbed by even the gentlest ripple. Then, the tide crept closer, the water moved faster, churning and frothing. The once gleaming mirror now splintered into white spray and snowy crests. Fish leaped, gulls swooped, the wind howled. Water sprites and sea monsters stole forth as the tide swelled. Icebergs drifted by. The sea boiled, bubbling and steaming. Mermen and mermaids frolicked in the undertow, intermingling, embracing, their lovemaking more arousing and sensual than it could ever be on land. As the tide receded, a dark current prowled unseen beneath the calm surface, tugging, pulling with each ebb and flow, ensnaring its heedless listeners.
Like A Hero Born, this volume is also action-packed with a mind-blowing panoply of martial arts feats, while the story follows Guo Jing's breathless adventures in Southern China in the company of his beloved, Lotus. They stumble across the supreme kung fu grandmaster and Beggar Clan Chief, Count Seven, and in no time they hit it off with each other. He accepts them both as his disciples.
Back stories of the villainous Cyclone Mei as well as of Lotus's father, the vicious lone wolf Apothecary Huang titled as Lord of the Peach Blossom Island, are disclosed. Just as Guo Jing feels secure in Lotus's love for him, he happens upon a formidable contender from the far west, who has the support of Lotus's father. This contender is also the nephew of one of the four supreme kung fu grandmasters - Viper Ouyang, who is a matchless expert in the use of poison.
There was a passage that particularly caught my eye, and it was a description of Apothecary Huang's hallucinating flute melody called "Ode to the Billowing Tide". The writing in Chinese is quite magical. I've checked the English translation in A Bond Undone and found it equally good. Below is the English translation:
The song began as a perfectly calm sea, undisturbed by even the gentlest ripple. Then, the tide crept closer, the water moved faster, churning and frothing. The once gleaming mirror now splintered into white spray and snowy crests. Fish leaped, gulls swooped, the wind howled. Water sprites and sea monsters stole forth as the tide swelled. Icebergs drifted by. The sea boiled, bubbling and steaming. Mermen and mermaids frolicked in the undertow, intermingling, embracing, their lovemaking more arousing and sensual than it could ever be on land. As the tide receded, a dark current prowled unseen beneath the calm surface, tugging, pulling with each ebb and flow, ensnaring its heedless listeners.
No comments:
Post a Comment