Mi Jian Shen Sing

This book was first published here in 1979. Some people speculated that it had been written by Gu Long, but some people thought it had not. I myself think this was enjoyable enough to read, although the plot was not complicated, compared to [my favourite] Gu Long books.

The Indonesian title is 'Kemelut di Ujung Ruyung Emas' which loosely means 'Chaos caused by the golden rod/whip'. I couldn't find the right English word for 'ruyung', which is one of weapons used in martial arts world. It's like a bamboo horse-whip, but made of metal. I couldn't find any picture of it with Google, but I have a comic book where 'ruyung' is pictured. See below.

'Ruyung' is used by the man on the left side.
This pic comes from Sie Jin-kui comic, adapted & illustrated by Siauw Tik-kwie

The story spanned for 2 years. The main character was a young man named Bok Ji-sia. Bok Ji-sia was handsome, but very proud and stubborn. He had a very embarrassing past, that he lived only to avenge his parents's deaths and after it was completed, he planned to commit suicide, for he had no face to live anymore. In his bitterness, he refused every girl who loved him because he believed the relationship would come to nothing.

The story began with Bok Ji-sia secretly broke into Thian-seng-po (name of a fortress), to 'borrow' a manual, to cure his illness. This illness made him weak that he couldn't use his fighting skill to start his revenge. In Thian-seng-po, he met the real owner of the fortress who had been prisoned for 18 years by his two brothers. The dying old man cured his illness and gave him his powerful inner strength. He also gave Bok Ji-sia a famous gold rod and made the young man promise to guard it, for it was a key to open a big secret. The gold rod would put Bok Ji-sia in danger because many swordsmen wanted the weapon. Readers could guess that the secret would involve a manual of a unbeatable fighting skill.

The actions in this book came right after another that at points I felt tired reading them. Bok Ji-sia wanted to pay revenge but he didn't know who his enemy was. He didn't know who had killed his parents and who had harmed him that he had no face to live. At several points, although he was clever, he was stupid enough not to realize that his so-called friend wanted to kill him. When he knew who he enemy was, it was not through his own investigation, for he had not even a tiny clue where to start, but he was told by someone who directly connected to the tragic event.

The story could end in a happy ending, but the author probably made Bok Ji-sia an arrogant young man that readers would feel it was okay if he was dead in the end. It was no matter how talented Bok Ji-sia was nor he could be a great swordsman in the future.