At the end of the novel "The Condor Heroes", Yang Guo relieved the sixteen-year siege of Xiangyang and said goodbye to Xiaolongnu without saying goodbye. This ending undoubtedly leaves readers with infinite room for reverie, for example, where did Yang Guo and Xiaolongnu end up? What level does Yang Guo's kung fu belong to compared to the heroes in the book? None of this has been clearly explained.
In fact, this is a more ingenious part of Jin Yong's book, and an in-depth study of the "Jin Yong Trilogy" will find that he has already answered these questions.
The first is where Yang Guo went, in "Heaven and Dragon Slayer", the "Zhongnan Mountain, the Tomb of the Living Dead" mentioned by the girl in the yellow shirt when she appeared is actually the place where Yang Guo and Xiaolongnu live in seclusion. As for Yang Guo's kung fu level, he also laid a foreshadowing in the book, and if you study it carefully, you will find that Yang Guo's kung fu is not better than the three heirs left by Zhou Botong. So, who are these three people?
1. Guo Jing
Speaking of Guo Jing, everyone knows that he is a generation of martial arts masters with the title of "one of the new five uniques", he is simple and upright, attaches great importance to love and righteousness, is loyal and patriotic, and has the most exemplary chivalrous spirit.
This has to start with the encounter between Guo Jing and Zhou Botong. In "The Legend of the Condor Heroes", Guo Jing was imprisoned on Peach Blossom Island by Huang Yaoshi due to a misunderstanding, and only then did he meet Zhou Botong, who was also trapped on the island by Huang Yaoshi.
Zhou Botong is an innocent and unrestrained martial arts senior, after the two met by chance, he deeply appreciated Guo Jing's innocence and perseverance, and decided to teach his martial arts to Guo Jing.
So, he taught Guo Jing not only the two-handed fighting technique and Kongming Fist that he created when he was trapped on Peach Blossom Island, but also taught Guo Jing the "Nine Yin True Scripture" that Huang Yaoshi had trapped him for many years but never obtained, so in a sense, these two are not only confidants and friends, but also have a teacher-student friendship.
The most important thing is that Zhou Botong is Wang Chongyang's junior brother, while Guo Jing is the apprentice of Quanzhen's seventh son, from this level of relationship, it is not an exaggeration to say that he is Zhou Botong's descendant.
However, from the perspective of martial arts cultivation and internal strength, Guo Jing and Yang Guo are both top masters under Mr. Jin Yong's pen, and their respective martial arts and internal strength are very deep, why do you think that Yang Guo will not be able to beat Guo Jing?
In fact, in terms of skill and internal strength, it is really hard to say which of these two people is stronger and who is weak. However, judging from the combat experience, Guo Jing grew up in the Mongolian desert since he was a child, and has fought with the Jin soldiers for a long time, and his actual combat experience is indeed very rich, and he has a resolute personality, acts decisively, and can quickly make judgments and respond in battle, which is very advantageous to a certain extent.
Yang Guo is different, although he has also experienced many grievances and battles, but also because of the mystery of his life experience, emotional entanglements and other reasons, his mentality is more complicated, in actual combat, compared to Guo Jing, he is more emotional, which means that his strength may not be fully exerted in the battle, so, from this point, Guo Jing is more powerful than Yang Guo.
Moreover, Yang Guo was once cut off by Guo Fu, although he also cultivated divine skills to protect his body in the later period, but it also depends on who the opponent is, in the face of a strong duel, it is naturally Guo Jing who has sound limbs and has more advantages, so Yang Guo is still weaker than Guo Jing.
Second, the little dragon girl
The first encounter between Xiaolongnu and Zhou Botong was in a cave, at that time, Zhou Botong was being chased and killed by King Jinlun and others, and he fled into a cave in a hurry, and then he met Xiaolongnu.
In the cave, Zhou Botong witnessed the battle between the little dragon girl and the Golden Wheel Dharma King, and was deeply impressed by the little dragon girl's martial arts in winning the Golden Wheel Dharma King with a bee. Later, after seeing Xiaolongnu's talent of drawing circles with her left hand and square with her right hand, she was even more admired.
So, he taught his left and right fighting techniques to Xiaolongnu, so there is also a master-apprentice relationship between the two of them.
And part of the reason why Yang Guo couldn't beat Xiaolongnu was because Xiaolongnu was the one who taught him martial arts.
This has to start with Yang Guo's entry into the Quanzhen Sect. After Yang Guo was adopted by Guo Jing and his wife, he had a conflict with Guo Jing and his wife because of his stubborn personality and disobedience to discipline, so he was sent to Quanzhen to learn martial arts. But because the senior brother of the Quanzhen Sect often bullied him, he turned to the Tomb Sect by chance and became the apprentice of Xiaolongnu.
It can be said that most of Yang Guo's kung fu is taught by Xiaolongnu, including bird hunting, Tianluo and Earth Net Palm Technique, Quanzhen Sword Technique, Ancient Tomb Sword Technique and Jiuyin True Scripture, it can be said that Yang Guo will, Xiaolongnu will basically know, Yang Guo will not, Xiaolongnu will also.
Moreover, Xiaolongnu's moves are both light and sharp, although Yang Guo has learned a variety of martial arts, but there is a certain restraint between the characteristics of each martial arts and Xiaolongnu's martial arts, in some cases, Xiaolongnu's martial arts will restrain Yang Guo's martial arts, so the two fight, Yang Guo may not be able to win.
3. Zhang Sanfeng
The first two people have a direct intersection with Zhou Botong, and it is reasonable to say that they are Zhou Botong's descendants. But Zhang Sanfeng is different, in Jin Yong's trilogy, there is no direct description of the plot of Zhou Botong teaching martial arts to Zhang Sanfeng, why do you still say that he is Zhou Botong's descendant?
In "The Condor Heroes", Zhou Botong is a person with strong martial arts and unique personality, and his self-created martial arts such as left and right fighting techniques and Kongming Fist are extremely unique, and are deeply admired by martial arts people. As an important role in "Heaven and Dragon Slayer", Zhang Sanfeng's Wudang School also enjoys a high status, and the Taijiquan method he founded is also very admirable.
Although the relationship between the two is not clearly described in the book, some clues can be found in their kung fu.
From the perspective of boxing, Zhou Botong's Kongming Boxing and Zhang Sanfeng's Taijiquan both belong to Taoist boxing, both of which emphasize overcoming rigidity with softness and braking with static. Both of these styles seek to contain strong internal strength in a seemingly soft move, able to subtly defuse their opponent's power when they attack, and counter at the right time.
And from the perspective of internal force cultivation, these two people are known for their superb internal force cultivation. Zhou Botong's internal strength cultivation is exquisite, and his boxing moves are varied, while Zhang Sanfeng cultivates his internal strength to the transformation realm through martial arts such as Taijiquan, and can easily deal with various attacks.
From these two perspectives, it is not difficult to find that the martial arts between them have a certain inheritance relationship, otherwise they would not be so similar, so everyone will infer that Zhang Sanfeng is also one of Zhou Botong's descendants.
And the reason why it is inferred that Yang Guo is better than Zhang Sanfeng is also from the comparison of their martial arts differences.
Yang Guo's martial arts are mainly reflected in his internal strength, strength and tenacity, as well as the high realm he has achieved between clumsiness and ingenuity. His Xuantie sword technique is simple and violent, and he pays attention to breaking ten thousand methods with one force, which is the same as his self-created Gloomy Ecstasy Palm, which is a typical strength-based martial art.
The difference between Zhang Sanfeng is that his martial arts are known for being soft, mellow and dense, and the Tai Chi and Tai Chi swords he practiced are even more focused on borrowing strength, overcoming rigidity with softness, and dialing thousands of catties in four or two.