The
Summary

"The Return of the Condor Heroes" can be said to be the continuation of "The Legend of the Condor Heroes". In this story, Guo Jing and Huang Rong are still being featured. However, the main focused characters are Yang Guo and Xiao Longnü. "The Return of the Condor Heroes" is one about the tragic love of Yang Guo and Xiao Longnü and Jin Yong has cleverly made this story into a direct opposite of "The Legend of the Condor Heroes". Why? Well, in "The Legend of the Condor Heroes", Guo Jing is the slow-witted person whereas Huang Rong is the extremely clever person. In this story, it is the opposite as Yang Guo is the intelligent person. In addition to the previous story, Guo Jing set the foundation for moral standards such as respecting one's mentors. However, Yang Guo destroyed these standards by attempting to marry his mentor.

Yang Guo is the offspring of Yang Kang, a villian in "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" whose death was connected to Huang Rong. Thus, Huang Rong is always suspicious of his actions for fear of him taking revenge. She also refuses to teach him martial arts and this led to Yang Guo being bullied in the Quanzhen Sect. Yang Guo's life is full of hardships and many people were against his marriage with his mentor. However, he lead a very charmed life as he managed to master many different kinds of martial arts ranging from Hong Qigong's Da Gou Bang Fa to Huang Yao-Shih's Tan Zhi Shen Tong. He also managed to master some parts of the Jiu Ying Zhen Jin. Finally, due to the many seperations between him and Xiao Longnü, he self-created a 17-stance martial art called An Ran Xiao Hun Zang. However, the weird thing of this martial art is that it can be successfully used only when the person is feeling extremely depressed.

Xiao Longnü is Yang Guo's mentor. She is actually a few years older then him but due to the fact of her staying in the tomb, her complexion is not darkened by the sun. Thus, she appears younger then him. She is very innocent and naive as she had never left the tomb before. She loves Yang Guo deeply and like Huang Rong and Guo Jing, both her and Yang Guo refuses to remain alive if one party dies. This was showned when Yang Guo knew that she was badly injured and would die soon, he refused to take the antidote and threw it down the cliff. Xiao Longnü is also a very skilled martial artist. She is the third person to have mastered the Zhuo You Hu Bo Su from Zhou Bo-Tong and as a result, she can use two different sword skills with each hand and this allowed her to use the skill, Yu Nü Xin Jin, a skill which requires two people.

Guo Jing found Yang Guo at a run down hut and felt sort of guilty as he was not successful in bringing Yang Kang to the right tracks and also because he was accidently killed by Huang Rong, his wife. Thus, he felt it his responsiblity to take care of Yang Guo. As a result, he was brought back to Peach Blossom Island to stay with the Guo family. However, this also marked the beginning of his adventurous journey. Before Yang Guo reached the island, he was already badly poisoned. Lucky for him, he met Ouyang Feng and was taught how to rid himself of the poison. Ouyang Feng also became his foster father. It was also in this way that Yang Guo mastered the Ha Ma (Toad) skill. At the island, Yang Guo was badly treated by Guo Fu, Guo Jing's daughter. During a fight, Yang Guo accidently used the Ha Ma skill to injured one of the disciples and thus, was forced to leave the island. Once again, the righteous Guo Jing felt that it was his fault in not having properly taught Yang Guo and did not blame him. He then took him to Quanzhen Sect. Unluckily, he was once again badly treated and after accidently injuring one of the disciples with the Ha Ma skill again, he was forced to flee for his life. This brought him into contact with Xiao Longnü.

In the tomb, Yang Guo was finally taught some martial arts. At the age of 16, Xiao Longnü's senior entered the tomb. At that time, both Xiao Longnü and Yang Guo were not her match. Thus, the Dragon Stones were released and the tomb's entrance was sealed. As Yang Guo was willing to die for Xiao Longnü, her oath was broken and she was allowed to leave the tomb but unfortunately, the tomb was sealed!!! However, Jin Yong, the author of this novel was not about to let the 2 main characters die this way. Thus, all of them managed to find a way out. Once outside, Xiao Longnü was later raped by Yin Zhiping, one of the disciples of the Quanzhen Sect. Howvever, she was blindfolded at the time and thus, mistook Yang Guo as the one who raped her. When Yang Guo finally returned, he was very confused when she asked him if he took her as his wife. When he refused, she ran off by herself.

Thus, Yang Guo was on his own. He then started to search for Xiao Longnü but in the process met Hong Qigong and his foster father, Ouyang Feng. These two fought on top of Hua Shan and finally, died. Yang Guo also inturn mastered parts of the Da Gou Bang Fa. His search soon brought him back to the Guo family.

At that time, the Guos were holding a gathering so as to find someone to lead the pugilists against the mongolians. However, the mongolians turned up unexpectantly and decided to fight for that place. Their plan was to get the chinese pugilists under their control so that their conquest of the world would be easiler. Fortunately, Yang Guo came to save the day. After setting this matter, Yang Guo and Xiao Longnü, who just turned up at the gathering, declared that they wanted to get married. However, they were greatly critised and thus, they left. Finally due to Huang Rong's persuasions, the naive Xiao Longnü left Yang Guo. Finally, when they did meet again, Yang Guo was already poisoned. Xiao Longnü was also later poisoned by the same flowers. When Yang Guo found the antidote, he refused to take it and gave it to Xao Longnü instead. In order to get another antidote, he was to kill Guo Jing and Huang Rong, which he gladly accepted as he found out that his father, Yang Kang was killed by Huang Rong. Thus, he decided to team up with the mongolians in an attempt to kill Guo Jing.

Yang Guo went back to the Guo family once again. Guo Jing was extremely happy to see Yang Guo and he told him that they would share the same bedroom for the night. Thus, Yang Guo decided to kill him while he was asleep. However, he hesitated as Guo Jing had been really good to him previously and thus he was unable to do it. Upon thinking of how sad Xiao Longnü would be when he dies, he decided to go ahead. His attempt was mistakened by Guo Jing that he was sick and thus decided to cure Yang Guo with his inner strength. This made Yang Guo even more guilty and later, decided not to kill Guo Jing. Later, due to some misunderstandings, Yang Guo's right arm was chopped off by Guo Fu.

After Yang Guo was injured, he went to look for his condor friend. There, he recuperate and with the help of the condor, he mastered the Xuan Tie Jian Fa, a powerful skilled which involved the use of a very heavy sword. After this, he decided to seek revenge on Guo Fu but changed his mind once again. After this, more seperations occurred between the 2 main characters. The most famous and touching one would be the 16 years wait.





This summary is taken from The Return Of The Condor Heroes 83