Perguruan Sejati

I don't know the real title of this book. Although it was published with the name of Gu Long, but I cannot find this in the list of Gu Long works. In English the title can be translated to -more or less- "True School".

The lead character was a young scholar, who learnt martial arts secretly, named In Tiong Giok. His teacher left suddenly after leaving a message to In Tiong Giok to deliver a letter. On his way, our hero saw that a sect named Pok Thian Pang was looking for a Sanskrit translator, and since he could speak the language, he applied for the job, and got it. It turned out he was to translate a martial arts manual and that he would be killed after completing the job.

In short, our hero ran away from the sect, taking the book with him. He was chased by people who wanted the manual. To solve the problem, In Tiong Giok went to a printing house and printed the manual 550 copies and gave them away. --> I found this very funny... Often I wonder why in wuxia stories people fight for a manual, why not borrow and copy it...? A kungfu manual usually only consists of not so many pages anyway. Stupid Kwee Ceng even could memorize the whole Kiu Im Cin Keng 九陰真經.

Then they began to fight for a pair of swords, which were hidden in a lake. [This reminded me a bit of King Arthur's sword.] Our hero won, of course.

On his journey, In Tiong Giok would find his true identity, became the head of a school, and destroyed the evil Pok Thian Pang. The "True School" in the title was not mentioned much. It was actually a group of 3 people, 1 Buddhist monk, 1 Buddhist nun and 1 Lama: who fought for the pair of swords many years ago.

Twisted Prey - John Sandford

I finished The Woman in The Window by A.J. Finn and had no idea why it had become a best selling novel. It was quite slow. After that I tried to read The Girl on The Train by Paula Hawkins, but after a while I lost my interest completely and jumped to the end to see the conclusion. I also had no idea why this became a best selling novel.

I moved on to read the new John Sandford novel - Twisted Prey and was happy to find that there was still a novel to my liking. I really enjoyed reading this book. Compared to the 2 books above, this one had richer plots.

Lucas Davenport, a U.S. Marshal, was asked by his friend, U.S. Senator Porter Smalls, to look into a strange car accident in West Virginia that had taken the life of his mistress. The investigation would take Lucas to his old 'enemy', a beautiful, rich U.S. Senator Taryn Grant. [From Silken Prey] The danger of this task also put Lucas's wife's life in danger.

I actually didn't really believe that a senator would kill with her own hands, and we talk here about a calculative person who planned everything meticulously. The ending, however, was very satisfying and I liked it very much. Our hero was not a saint... not then, not ever.

Judge Dee - R.H. Van Gulik

Lately I read Judge Dee books by Robert Van Gulik and have been enjoying them a lot. Before this I only knew a Chinese judge character named Judge Bao - from some popular TV series. Only after I watched movies Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame and Young Detective Dee: Rise of the Sea Dragon, only I knew about this Judge Dee character.

A judge in Chinese administration is responsible for registration of births, deaths, marriages; land registrations, tax collection, the hearing of civil and criminal cases and punishing criminals. In this Judge Dee books the writer focused on the criminal cases, so that is why the movie version changed  the title from 'judge' to 'detective' so the western audience can grasp the meaning easily.

Judge Dee Jen-chieh was a real historical person, lived in the Tang dynasty. He lived from 630 till 700 A.D. Later he became a minister of the Imperial Court. In Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame we could see Dee vs Empress Wu, and this was historically correct. In 692 A.D. Dee was sent to prison, accused of treason. He then petitioned the Empress, who exiled him in P'eng-tse.

In the stories, Judge Dee was helped by Sergeant Hoong Liang, and later also by his three lieutenants Ma Joong, Chiao Tai dan Tao Gan. From the Magistrate of Peng-lai, to Han-yuan, Poo-yang, Lan-fang, Pei-chow, until the capital where he became Lord Chief Justice.

The writer, a Dutch man,  took the plots from Chinese mystery stories and illustrated the books himself. He mentioned, however, that the clothes styles were taken from Ming dynasty era.

An illustration from The Chinese Maze Murders by Van Gulik

Van Gulik (1910 - 1967) entered Dutch foreign service in 1935 and later became an ambassador to Japan and Korea.

It's hard to pick a favourite book from the collection, but I was impressed with the Chinese Nail Murders, where Judge Dee was almost defeated by a woman, when his coroner could not find the sign of a murder. The Chinese Bell Murders was also as captivating, imagine finding a skeleton under a giant bell; and it was a tragic story, too.

The Winemaker - Noah Gordon

The other title of this book is La Bodega. I enjoyed reading this book. Noah Gordon is one of authors whose works I like, anyway. Set mostly in Spain in the 19th century, it followed the story of Josep Alvarez.

Being a second son of a winemaker, Josep knew that he should be looking for a job soon. His older brother, the eldest, would inherit the land. The opportunity came when a stranger arrived in the village, recruiting new soldiers. Josep enlisted, along with some boys in the village. After the training, they were taken to Madrid, where they became accessories in the assassination of  President Prim. Josep was the only one left alive when witnesses had been getting rid of. He fled to Languedoc and worked for a winemaker for four years, until when he heard about the death of his father.

Josep returned to Catalonia and found that his older brother wanted to sell their father's land. He bought the land. Later he bought his neighbour's vineyard and married the widow who lived next to this neighbour. The widow had a son and a vineyard, too. To become a successful winemaker, Josep began to make good wine, adopting the technique he had learned from the winemaker in Languedoc. Before this, they had grown grapes only to be made as vinegar.

Noah Gordon's writing style is easy to follow and the story flows well.

Magpie Murders - Anthony Horowitz

I see this book as a tribute to Agatha Christie. It consists of two stories. The first one could be considered as a book within a book, a detective story about 2-3 murders. The detective was a survivor from German concentration camp, a dying man named Atticus Pund. If Sherlock Holmes has Dr Watson and Hercule Poirot has Arthur Hastings, Atticus Pund has James Fraser. In this story, a young woman came to ask the detective's help to clear her fiance's name. The boy had been accused of murdering his own mother, a housekeeper in Pye Hall. At first Pund didn't want to take her case, until when he read a news about another murder in the same house, where the owner of the Pye Hall had been found decapitated. Were the two murders related?

The 2nd story tells about the publishing house who had published 8 books of the Atticus Pund series by Alan Conway. The last book, called Magpie Murders, was missing the last chapters, where the conclusion was, where Atticus Pund told the readers who the killer was. The heroine in this part of the story was the editor, Susan Ryeland. Susan had been given the 9th book (also the last) of the series by the publisher, the CEO of the Cloverleaf Books, Charles Clover; but it lacked the last chapters. Meanwhile, the author, Alan Conway, had been dead. It had been said that he had committed suicide by throwing himself from the tower of his castle. Susan believed that Alan Conway had been murdered, so she started her own investigation to solve the mystery of the murder and to find the missing chapters.

I quite enjoy the book and thinks that the idea of this book was good. However I found the reason behind Alan Conway's murder was silly.

Violent Crimes - Phillip Margolin

Having read Phillip Margolin's books before, I was eager to read this one. It was an easy and quick read and I finished it in 2 nights. However I read this book right after I finished Huang Yi's A Step Into The Past and compared to Huang Yi's work, Violent Crimes was quite disappointing. It's a far cry from Gone But Not Forgotten.

I supposed this book was okay if someone wanted to make it into a blockbuster movie. There was nothing new in the plot. The heroine, Amanda Jaffe, was a lawyer who tries to free her 2 innocent clients, one was accused of brutal murders - and the other one had admitted to killing his own father.

A Step Into The Past (book) - Huang Yi

It took me more than 3 months to finish this book. I am not sure if there is a copyrighted English translation, but this one I read was available at internet, translated by several volunteers. (Thanks to you all!) I converted it to .epub format contained 2850+ pages.

The author, Huang Yi, was fond of science fiction – and wrote very thick books. I know 3 of his books have been made into TV series, including this one, with Raymond Lam in all of them. [The other two are: 'Lethal Weapons of Love and Passion' and 'A Pair of Dragons in Tang Dinasty'/'Twin of Brothers'.]

When I was reading about a hundred pages I began to regret what I was doing, realizing it would take months to finish the book. It was because I had many books to read. I had that same feeling when I was reading Romance of Three Kingdoms. A Step Into The Past, however, was more interesting and attractive to read, and after finishing the book, I was satisfied with how it ended and glad that I spent some time to read it. It is definitely one of the best historical fictions I have ever read.

The main character was a 20 year old elite soldier, a member of a task force, named Xiang Shao-long. He was sent with a time machine to the warring states era. He was supposed to land in the year when Qin Shi-huang, the first emperor of Qin, who united 7 states in China, ascended the throne, in 246 B.C.  But he landed 5 years earlier.

So the story in this book spans 5 years, from the time when Xiang Shao-long arrived in the warring states era, until when Qin Shi-huang ascended the throne. We see the development in Xiang Shao-long’s character, especially in the field of love. When he first arrived he was a lecher and would sleep around, but after the ones he loved died one by one, he then took the matter of love seriously.  From a troublemaker in the 21th century, in a few years Xiang Shao-long became the Great General of Qin and was respected by many.

With his background and knowledge from the 21th century, it was easy for him to impress people and also to win the heart and hands of the most beautiful ladies in that era. We also see how he met and interacted with famous and important people, the one most interesting was with Ying Zheng, the Qin Shi-huang. There were some twists, of course, and the moral lesson is: It is the winner who writes (or re-writes) history.

In the 2001 TV series version, Xiang Shao-long was given a sort of disc, a tool that could make him return to the 21th century. He did tried to return to the 21th century, although actually from the start we knew that in the end he didn’t, because in the beginning of episode 1, the disc was found in the ancient grave with the terracotta soldiers. In the book, we know clearly that he could not return because right after he had been sent to the warring states era, the time machine and the laboratory were blown to pieces.

Xiang Shao-long had one son, Xiang Bao-er; who would later became the famous Chu general: Xiang Yu. Bao-er was actually the 2^nd son of Teng Yi, one of Xiang Shaolong’s sworn brothers. Perhaps due to time machine radiation, Xiang Shao-long could not impregnate his wives; so Teng Yi gave him his 2^nd son.

The Legend of the Passionate Daqi Hero - by Gu Long

I really like the hero in this story, a member of Tay Ki (=Daqi) Clan, named Thiat Tiong-tong. He was not very tall, small built, had a black-skinned face and a pair of sharp eyes. He was very smart and loyal.

Tay Kin Clan had few members, but the rules were very strict. This little clan had a feud with five big families. Thiat Tiong-tong and his fellow brother, Im Ceng, broke the clan's rules and they were banished from the clan for three years. If after 3 years they could show that they were worth to be Tay Ki members, they could rejoin the Clan.

In his difficulties, Thiat Tiong-tong always be able to evade his enemies. He even be able to save others. Unfortunately, Im Ceng mistakenly thought that Thiat Tiong-tong had betrayed Tay Ki Clan and tried to kill him every time.  When Im Ceng realized his mistake, it was a moving scene. He was told that 'surrounded by many enemies, Thiat Tiong-tong had a chance to save only one person. And he chose to save you, while he himself fell off a cliff.'

The relationship between Thiat Tiong-tong and Sui Leng-kong, the girl he loved, was unique and strong. He was, at first, afraid to develop his feelings for her because he believed that she perhaps was his cousin, his father's brother's daughter. [It was okay to marry her if she was his cousin from his mother's side.] This couple understood each other perfectly without saying any words.

I was surprised when I reached the end of the book. The enemies were eliminated by supporting characters, while our hero was trapped in an underground cave. Thiat Tiong-tong was learning the highest level of fighting skills but he didn't use it in this story because he was still trapped in a cave when the story ended. I know Khu Lung often ended his books badly, but this has gone too far, don't you agree?

There was still an addendum, though, a conclusion. [Is it written by the author or someone else?] Thiat Tiong-tong finally could escape from the cave after all, with helps from his friends. He married Sui Leng-kong and their son probably was the famous Coh Liu-hiang (=Chu Liu-hsiang).

First published in 1965, this book is one of Khu Lung's best works. Wish he had spent more time to write the ending, though.

Sword Stained with Royal Blood - by Chin Yung

I watched 3 movie versions based on this book, 1980 version with Wang Yue, 1982 version with Kuo Chui, and the 1993 version with Yuen Biao. The 1982 version is closer to the book, the 1980 version has different twists, and the 1993 version makes me think whether it was based on the same book :-)

Chin Yung books are always interesting to read. Reading this one, I again was reminded why he had become the most successful wuxia writers all the time.

The book started with the story of Hau Tiau Cong, a scholar, and his servant, who were attacked by robbers. They were saved by farmers - or swordsmen in disguise - who were taking care of the only son of General Wang Cong Hoan. General Wang Cong Hoan had been very loyal to the country, but the emperor sentenced him to death because of a false accusation. Chased by the royal army, the general's son, Wan Sin Cie, was taken to a teacher from Hoa San Clan.

Years passed. Wan Sin Cie was now a young man and very skillful in martial arts. He found the legacy of the Golden Snake swordsman in a hidden cave in Hoa San. In his next journey, he met the Golden Snake swordsman's wife and daughter. He learned the tragic story of the Golden Snake swordsman. He also fell in love with the Golden Snake swordsman's daughter, who was -unfortunately - a very jealous girl. That time was a turmoil - it was the end of Ming dynasty - and Wan Sin Cie's girlfriend a couple of times ranaway, made him busy to find her back.

Wan Sin Cie also found a treasure map, another legacy from the Golden Snake swordsman. He used the money to help the rebels against the emperor. In his journey, Wan Sin Cie also met with the Princess -in disguise. This princess, who lost an arm when the dynasty fell, cut off by her own father, appeared again in other Chin Yung book: The Deer and The Cauldron.

The rebel story also did not end happily here. Wan Sin Cie's sworn brother, like his father, was convicted of treason and executed. On the grave of his sworn brother, Wan Sin Cie met again with Hau Tiau Cong, the scholar he met when he was a little boy. So the character Hau Tiau Cong was used for the opening and ending of this book. Disappointed with the way how the country was run, Wan Sin Cie brought his friends to the South Sea, to seclusion.

The Golden Knight - by Qing Hong

This book by Qing Hong / Chin Hung is one of the best I have read. I don't know its original title, but in Indonesia it was published with the title 'Raja Silat'. I remembered there was a Shaw Brothers movie 'The Golden Knight' (1970) based on this book.

I really enjoyed reading this book. It was written with much humour and the plot was more complicated that the movie version.

The central character was a handsome 20-year-old swordsman named Ie Lip Tong. He was very smart and romantic-or at least he thought he was. His father had been killed by leaders of the 5 main clans under a false accusation, so he tried to clean his fathers's good name and re-build his clan.

The story began with a new security bureau, Boan Chio Security in Tiang An. This security bureau did not escort goods, but solved mysteries. In the martial arts world at that time, the good guys was led by Hong-lay-sian-ong. If there was a problem between or among different clans, they had to go to Hong-lay-sian-ong and he would be the judge. Under Hong-lay-siang-ong, there was 12 emissaries who wore yellow robes as their identity. These 12 chosen swordsmen were more skillful fighters and smarter than others.

There had been mysterious murderer who targeted people from the 5 clans. Since they couldn’t catch the murderer, the people from 5 clans accused Ie Lip Tong, whose father had been killed by the leaders of the 5 clans. They couldn’t think of other suspect than Ie Lip Tong. Only Ie Lip Tong had a grudge on them. The 12 emissaries from Lu San (Mountain Lu) – the headquarters of Hong-lay-sian-ong – couldn’t find Ie Lip Tong, so Emissary No.8 went to Boan Chio Security to ask them to find Ie Lip Tong.

With much ease, the owner of Boan Chio Security found Ie Lip Tong. Swordsman no.8 brought the young man to Lu San for trial, but the people from the 5 clans wouldn’t believe that Ie Lip Tong was not the murderer. They sentenced him to death.

But as Ie Lip Tong was our main character, surely he wasn’t dead. He went out and found the real murderer and found a gang who flayed people and used the skin for disguise. He cleaned his name, twice, and his father’s name. He also became Emissary No.13.

Golden Sword, Eagle Feathers by Wolong Sheng

I wanted to read this book after reading in a discussion, how the translator, Tjan ID, mentioned that the story was very exciting. The translator had translated many wuxia books and I like his style, so I believed his judgement. Here, the book was published into 4 parts - due to its long story. Today I finished reading them all and hoped that it would have been longer.

When I was reading the first part, I thought that the book was very action packed. The characters ran and fought over and over again After escaped from one enemy, another enemy was waiting ahead. It seemed that they never rest. Even I as a reader felt tired. I read this first part slowly. When I got to the end of the second book, the characters had grown on me. So when reading book 3 and 4, I almost couldn't it down and read until 3 o'clock in the morning, when I said to myself that I really needed to put it down and get some sleep.

This is the first book of Wolong Sheng I've read. After reading this book for days, of course I couldn't say that I didn't like it. I only hope that it had more dialogues so the characters could rest. They could be talking instead of fighting all the time.

The central character was a hero named Siau Ling, the only son of a rich retired official. When the story began, Siau Ling was a 12 year old weak boy. He suffered a strange illness so that he couldn't live until 20 years old. His parents saved a grave-wounded heroine, who months later died in the house. The heroine's only daughter, Gak Siau-cha, who was 4-5 years older than Siau Ling, came and took her mother's body away. Siau Ling begged to come with her because he also wanted to bury the body and he wanted to see the outside world, since he would be dead in a couple of years. After leaving the house, Gak Siau-cha and Siau Ling were chased by many people. It had been said that Gak Siau-cha's mother had had the only key to a place called 'The Forbidden Palace" [when I first read this I kept thinking of the palace in the Forbidden City. but it was not.]. The rumor said that ten great swordsmen had been trapped in that place and who could get into the place, he would inherit their kung-fu manuals.

After long chases, Siau Ling was separated from Gak Siau-cha. He fell into a river, was saved, brought into a cave in a mountain, where he fell off a cliff and ate 1000 year old rare mushrooms. He also met three great people who became his kung-fu teachers. During this time, his illness had been cured and he surely could live a long life. Five years later he appeared in the martial arts world as a handsome, brave young hero; and found that somebody else had been using his name. Soon he was tricked and became a member of the White Flower Village. The leader was an smart evil swordsman called Jen Bok-hong. When Siau Ling realized his mistake and wanted to break free, Jen Bok-hong caught his parents to threaten him.

But Siau Ling - who at this time should be about 17 years old - didn't gave up and kept fighting Jen Bok-hong. As the story went, we would learn how lucky our hero was. He was caught, poisoned, and almost died a couple of times... yet he could live until the end of the book - because he was the hero. It took 2 years for Siau Ling to became a greatly admired hero. In the beginning he was the only one who would stand up against Jen Bok-hong, but near the end of the book, almost all heroes supported him in his battle. He was supposed to be smart, but he was tricked again and again. Only in book 4 he indeed had learned a lot from his mistakes and showed the readers that he was smart.

Gak Siau-cha, after she and Siau Ling met again, had become an admired heroine. She lived in seclusion, but three high-skilled young handsome swordsmen were crazy about her, and the three would kill Siau Ling for he was the only obstacle if they wanted to marry Gak Siau-cha. But Siau Ling himself thought of Gak Siau-cha as his older sister. He was rather afraid of her, out of respect. "Siau Ling fears no heaven no earth, but he fears Gak Siau-cha."

Siau Ling himself, was described as very handsome. He was even more handsome than the 3 swordsmen who wanted Gak Siau-cha's hand. Plus, he was brave, sincere, righteous.... All females in this book fell in love with him - a situation which I never believe because every woman sees handsomeness differently. The journey of Siau Ling's love life was told very well here. He was not romantic and in his struggles against Jen Bok-hong he didn't have time for romance.

There was a golden sword appeared near the end of the book, and Siau Ling was saved by an eagle in a scene. So it took me a while to find this book's title in English. The Indonesian titles - for 4 books - are far from that.

I wanted to write more, but if you are reading this, you perhaps should read the book yourself - if you haven't. It's nice to read books from different cultures. They always have different expressions, different terms. Like if you are bored while watching an American movie - why the dialogues are dull and repetitive? Try watching a movie from another country.

The Smiling, Proud Wanderer

First published in 1969, this novel by Chin Yung is very enjoyable to read. I read that some people said this book was Chin Yung's best work - and some other chose The Deer and the Cauldron. I have read both books and both are interesting in their own ways. The Deer and The Cauldron is more a historical fiction; I did have a great time reading that book. The time frame in The Smiling, Proud Wanderer is not clear, but it can be guessed that it's a couple hundred years after the events in  The Heavenly Sword and The Dragon Sabre.

One of the many things I like about this book, is how the author constructed a web of intrigue from the very beginning. The central character of this book is a young swordsman named Lenghou Tiong (or Linghu Chong in Mandarin), the first student of Gak Put-kun, the chief of Hoa-san-pay (pay=sect, san=mountain). From the title we can guess that he is a merry, proud young man who likes to travel.

The book begins with the story of Lim Peng-ci, a handsome young man and the only son of a security bureau owner. The Lim family is well-known for its invincible swordplay, pi-sia-kiam-hoat; but Lim Peng-ci and his father's skill themselves are not very good. So there should be a secret behind it. People from Jing-sia-pay attack the Lim family's security bureau, arrest Lim Peng-ci's parents and kill the employees. Lim Peng-ci runs away and is saved by Gak Put-kun, the chief of Hoa-san-pay, and becomes a student.

Then the readers are introduced to Lenghou Tiong from a story told by a young beautiful nun, who have been saved by Lenghou Tiong from a rapist. In his effort to save the nun, Lenghou Tiong is gravely wounded. We finally meet this heroic character when he is recuperating in a brothel.

Wounded Lenghuo Tiong then meets two dying characters who gives him a music book. The notes are of a song called 'The Smiling, Proud Wanderer', made for a duet for a khim and a flute. They ask him to give the music book to a talented person. Soon after he receives this task, he meets the dying parents of Lim Peng-ci. The dying father gives him a message for his son, probably how to find the most wanted manual swordplay.

But on saving the young nun, Lenghou Tiong have befriended the rapist and for Gak Put-kun, this is a big sin. Hoa-san-pay's people should not make friends with bad people. On their return to Hoa-san, Lenghou Tiong is punished. He is to go to a secluded area in Hoa-san to reflect in his sins for a couple of months. In here our hero meets an elder of Hoa-san-pay, who teaches him the invincible Tokko-kiu-kiam (=nine sword moves by a man named Tokko). In his life-time, Tokko always won in every fight.

Lenghou Tiong is an orphan. Gak Put-kun and his wife brought him up as their own son, so he loves them and respect them very much. He grew up with Gak Put-kun's only daughter, Gak Leng-sian. As Lenghou Tiong is Hoa-san-pay's first student, many people hope that one day he will replace Gak Put-kun as the chief. Lenghou Tiong also hopes to marry Gak Leng-sian someday.

But while Lenghou Tiong is punished on the secluded area, Gak Leng-sian becomes closer to the new student, Lim Peng-ci.

Lenghou Tiong's suffering does not end here. Because Lim Peng-ci's father gives his last message to him, Gak Put-kun accuses him of stealing the pi-sia-kiam manual. When they search him, they find the music book and think that it is the swordplay manual in codes. To prove that the book is a music book, they go to a khim player. In this occasion Lenghou Tiong meets Yim Ing-ing, the daughter of the tiau-yang-sin-kau's chief. Tiau-yang-sin-kau is considered an evil sect.

Although Yim Ing-ing is from an evil sect, when Lenghou Tiong first meets her, he doesn't know her identity and her face. He only knows that she plays khim beautifully and someone who can play music like that should not be a bad person. He trusts her completely and tell her all his secrets. He hopes he can play the duet song with her in the future, so Yim Ing-ing teaches him how to play khim.

Because Lenghou Tiong befriends people from the evil sect - plus the accusation of stealing the swordsplay manual - he is fired from Hoa-san-pay. Our broken hearted hero will try to be forgiven and taken back to Hoa-san-pay - until he realizes that it is all his teacher's evil scheme to rule to martial arts world. Meanwhile, he learns how much Yim Ing-ing loves him, that she doesn't hesitate to sacrifice herself for him. The young lady agrees to be confined in Shaolin Temple, and in return, the abbot teaches Lenghou Tiong a skill to cure his inner injury.

The character we meet in the beginning of the book, Lim Peng-ci, is like Lenghou Tiong at first. He is brave and not afraid to die in fight for justice. With his limited skill, Lim Peng-ci saves Gak Leng-sian from evil men, although he almost lose his life. As the story progresses, his lust for revenge is bigger than his love for Gak Leng-sian. He can have a happy ending with a loving wife, but he chooses to castrate himself a few days before his wedding because he cannot restrain himself from learning the pi-sia-kiam-hoat he has just found. He also becomes evil and kills his wife, but Lenghou Tiong has promised dying Gak Leng-sian that he will not kill Lim Peng-ci and take care of him all his life.

In this story, we learn that not all people from good sects are good and not all people from bad sects are bad. Greed can change a good person. Hoa-san-pay is destroyed, in the end, by greed of one man.

The two characters who gives Lenghou Tiong the music book, one is from the evil sect and one from one of the righteous sects. The people from the 'righteous sects' don't like this kind of friendship and force the man from the good sect to kill his friend. He refuses, of course. They have attracted to each other because of the sound of the music they play. They have learned that no one can guess one's heart, but the sound of music cannot be deceitful.

I watched the 1984 TVB version of this story, the one with Chow Yun-fat as Lenghou Tiong; but I remember I didn't like it very much. Considering I like this book very much, then the 1984 series must not be a good adaptation.

Heaven Sword and Dragon Sabre

After watching 2 versions Heaven Sword and Dragon Sabre TV-series (1978 & 1986), I wanted to read the book. Far as I remember, Chin Yung's books always contain heroic themes, how the protagonists love their homeland, which made me not too eager to read them. I enjoyed reading this one very much, though, because of the complexity of the plot.

The main plot of the novel is how the heroes fought over a famous sabre, The Dragon Sabre, because it was said that the owner of the sabre would conquer the martial arts world. It was frustating to read how greed those people were. This book has many characters (wikipedia says the number is 956), but it was not hard to remember most of them; at least that was my experience. I think it's more difficult to remember names in Russian novels.

In the beginning of the story, the Dragon Sabre fell into the hands of Jie Thay Giam, 3rd student of Thio Sam Hong from Bu-tong-pay. He had meant to give the sabre to his teacher, but on his way he was attacked and became paralyzed. Thio Sam Hong's 5th student, Thio Coei San, went out to look for the culprit and he met the beautiful In So So, who was actually from a heretical clan, who had grabbed the sabre from Jie Thay Giam. The sabre would fall into the hand of Cia Soen, and with Thio Coei San and In So So, the three sailed off to a deserted island up north. Thio Coei San married In So So and they would have a boy, named Thio Boe Ki; who was the main hero in this novel.

Ten years passed. Thio Coei San, In So So, and Boe Ki returned to the mainland. In the deserted island they lived happily, but in the mainland they were forced to tell Cia Soen's whereabout, because Cia Soen had the sabre. Thio Coei San and In So So committed suicide and Thio Boe Ki was poisoned. Helpless to help Boe Ki, Thio Sam Hong - who was at this time 100 years old - finally sent the boy to an eccentric physician, who had actually refused to treat Boe Ki because the boy was not belong to Beng Kauw. Beng Kauw was considered as a heretical clan. The physician treated the boy anyway because the case was a real challege, but after he had been healed, the boy would be killed. In this years Boe Ki learned medicine. Later he would became a very skilled physician and cured Jie Thay Giam.

The physician then died after meeting his nemesis, while Boe Ki fell into a ravine and found a long lost Shaolin book. From this book he learned how to heal himself and gained powerful inner strength. When he got out from the ravine, Boe Ki was about 20 year-old.

At this time, six clans had cooperated to attack Beng Kauw. Boe Ki saw that the massacre was not right, so he used all his power to defend Beng Kauw. Beng Kauw people then made him their chief and Boe Ki used this opportunity to show the world that Beng Kauw was actually not evil.

Originally Beng Kauw was founded with an intention to drive off the Goan (Mongol) soldiers. Under Boe Ki's leadership, Beng Kauw worked together with 6 clans to drive away Goan soldiers. Although still young, Boe Ki had the charisma to lead Beng Kauw - and later to lead the martial arts world. It was evident in both TV series, how the great Thio Sam Song was proud of Boe Ki.

Four beautiful girls loved Thio Boe Ki, but finally he realized that the one he truly loved was the Mongolian princess: Tio Beng. She didn't mind to leave her wealth, kin, and position to follow him. On the other hand, as the Beng Kauw chief, Boe Ki also knew that it was inappropriate if he was with her; so he left his position and lived happily ever after with his beloved.

In the end, Boe Ki finally became a true hero, a wise man who had forgiven all the people who had forced his parents to commit suicide. He also forgave all who had cheated him and harmed him.

After the 'rebellion' led by Beng Kauw, the Goan soldiers were gone, and the Beng (Ming) dynasty began.

Among the characters, I think the most evil was the chief of Go-bi-pay, Biat-coat Soethay. [although the main antagonist was Seng Koen] She was very narrow minded, stubborn, merciless, and thought that she was always right. In this book, those who were supposed to be from good clans, did wicked things; while those had been considered from bad clans, actually were not that evil. Although Boe Ki was kind-hearted, honest, and sincere, other characters could easily think bad of him, just because of his mother came from a heretical clan, because he himself belonged to Beng Kauw and seeing a Mongolian princess. Like when his uncles caught him red-handed holding his 7th uncle's dead body. In this scene, Tio Beng desperately tried to protect Boe Ki's good name and she was ready to take all the blame because they had already branded her as a bad character.

So much Boe Ki loved his god-father, Cia Soen, that the boy did everything he could to save him - including leaving his bride on the altar. Boe Ki always remembered how Cia Soen raised him (along with his true parents) and taught him martial arts theories (for then he was too young to practice). Apart from the fact that Cia Soen was holding the Dragon Sabre, many people also looked for him because he had killed too many - but in martial arts world, who had not? For Twenty years Cia Sun tried to solve the sabre's secret without result. Only the chief of Go-bi-pay knew the answer.

Beside the Dragon Sabre, the Heaven Sword was also a famous weapon. However, people in this book chased Cia Soen until the end of the earth, while it seemed noboby wanted the Heaven Sword. Go-bi-pay had the Heaven Sword until it fell into Tio Beng's hands.

Both TV series each had a scene how complicated Tio Beng's situation during a war between Goan soldiers vs Beng Kaw + six clans. In 1978 version, Tio Beng released her father and brother from the clans's prison (an act of betrayal to Boe Ki vs her filial duty); while in 1986 version the clans used her as a hostage to threaten the Goan soldiers. These scenes were not in the book. However, I hear that Chin Yung has revised his works a couple of times.

Watching the 1978 version in the 80's, we children wanted Thio Boe Ki (or Thio mBoe Ki as we called him with our thick Javanese accent) to end with Coei Cie Jiak, for Angie Chiu was the most beautiful among the four girls. Now as I see recent pictures of Liza Wang and re-watch how she looked like in 1978, I must say that she was also very beautiful then, and appropriate to play the clever Tio Beng. As for Adam Cheng, for years we (as) children still referred him as Thio (m)Boe Ki. Even then I was blushed to see him in the torn clothes. In the story, Boe Ki was in the ravine for four years and during that time he never changed clothes.

Cin cu ling

This is the first Tonghong Giok's work I have read. It's a very interesting story, quite captivating. The Indonesian title was 'Left-handed swordsman', although I think the main character, 21 year-old Ling Kun-gi, was not left-handed. His teacher, an ex-Shaolin-monk, was. So kungfu-moves taught to Ling Kun-gi were left-handed version, which confused his opponents. Ling Kun-gi's teacher was also a master of disguise.

This book was published in 1979, the original title is 'Zhen zhu ling' (Cin cu ling). It referred to a peanut sized pearl with the word 'Ling' on it. Ling means 'order'.

Tong family in the north was famous with their secret weapons and poisons, while Un family in the south famous with anesthetic/drug. Head of the family of both were missing. Under each of their pillows, a pearl with character 'Ling' was found. Then a Shaolin monk who excelled in medicine was also missing. Ling Kun-gi happened to have a similar pearl from his heirloom, so his teacher asked him to see if the pearl found in the Shaolin monk's case was the same as his. Ling Kun-gi's mother had been missing for a year, so he also used this opportunity to see if the cases were connected. Ling Kun-gi's pearl and the pearl from the case turned out to be different in size. [Ling Kun-gi's pearl was the size of a quail egg.]

It seemed that Mr. Tong, Mr. Un and the Shaolin monk had been kidnapped by the same group. Following this pattern, then a Mr. Cu would be the next target. Ling Kun-gi went to the Cu's and disguised himself as Mr. Cu. He was kidnapped and met the 3 missing persons. The kidnappers wanted them to make an antidote to counteract a very deadly poison. Ling Kun-gi's pearl, le liong-cu, could treat any kind of poison, so when he put the pearl in a bowl of poison, the poison turned into water. Knowing that "Mr. Cu" could make the antidote, a group called pek-hoa-pang (White Flower), kidnapped "Mr. Cu" from the previous kidnappers.

The first group of kidnappers was from hek-liong-hwe (Black Dragon), an enemy of pek-hoa-pang. Pek-hoa-pang was afraid of hek-liong-hwe because the latter had the deadly poison. But now as pek-hoa-pang had the antidote, they made a plan to attack hek-liong-hwe. Ling Kun-gi was made the leader of the attack, but later he found out that the master of pek-hoa-pang had planned to sacrifice him and his group.

In hek-liong-hwe's headquarters, Ling Kun-gi found the secret of his own family. His father was the previous leader of hek-liong-hwe, killed in a betrayal; and his mother, who was pregnant- had to flee. His mother had taught him the 3 moves of their family swordsplay, but in the heart of hek-liong-hwe's headquarters, Ling Kun-gi learnt the rest 9 moves. Our hero's next move was, of course, to avenge his father's death. I think when he killed the last enemy he forgot to ask about his father's remains.

It's not clear why the first group of kidnappers left cin-cu-ling under pillows. It was an obvious clue that the three kidnappings were connected. Perhaps the leader of the kidnappers wanted to fish out the owner of the le-liong-cu. Le-liong-cu was originally belonged to the leader of hek-liong-hwe, and when Ling Kun-gi's mother ran to save herself 21 years ago, she had taken the pearl with her. With this pearl in his pocket, the leader of hek-liong-hwe could went under a pool of deadly poison in their headquarters, into a secret cave.

Ling Kun-gi was described as a handsome young man, perhaps too handsome, that all girls whom he met fell in love with him. It doesn't really make sense, but as it's entertaining, it's ok then. He ended up with four wives, looked like the author didn't want the readers felt sorry for any broken-hearted girl.

Pedang Kiri Pedang Kanan

Published in 1977, it is not clear who the author of this book.

Sau Cing-in, the leader of Pak-cay (pak=north), invented an unbeatable swordplay called Siang-liu-kiam-hoat. He showed the swordplay to 3 other leaders, each from Tang-wan (tang=east), Se-koan (se=west) and Lam-han (lam=south). Sau Cing-in never went home after the meeting.

Months later, the martial arts world heard about the unbeatable Siang-liu-kiam-hoat. A team led by a Bu-tong priest tried to find Sau Cing-in, dead or alive; but those people who went looking for him also never returned.

Seven years later, Soat Ciau-hoa and her boyfriend, Tio Tai-peng, found the missing people on top of snowy Ki-lian mountain. The missing people had been all dead and it looked like they killed each other in their greed to get the swordplay manual. The dead Bu-tong priest carried a rare red pearl which could repel cold. Tio Tai-peng agreed that the red pearl should be kept by Soat Siau-hoa. Inside a cave, Soat Ciau-hoa found Sau Sing-in's dead body with the manual. Tio Tai-peng didn't want to share the manual with her, so he grabbed the manual from her and cut off her left hand. Soat Ciau-hoa, in return, made Tio Tai-peng lost his right hand. She also told him that they should go separate ways and that she was pregnant with his kid, but he would never see the kid.

Tio Tai-peng never knew that the swordplay manual consisted of 2 books. Siang-liu-kiam-hoat should be played with two swords: one with left hand, and one with right hand. Luckily he got the left-hand swordplay manual, on the other hand, Soat Ciau-hoa got right-hand-manual.

Fifteen years later, Tio Tai-peng met a servant boy named Soat Peng-say who had a red pearl. He thought the boy was his son. The family name was correct anyway. He took the boy to his home and taught him the left hand swordplay. Although the boy never knew his real father, he also didn't believe that Tio Tai-peng was his father because when he asked Tio Tai-peng to guess his mother's name, the answer was wrong. Soat Peng-say told his teacher that his mother had been dead when he was 10. This caused a misunderstanding because Soat Peng-say's mother was not Soat Siau-hoa. Tio Tai-peng thought Soat Siau-hoa had been dead and that he would never see her again. He wanted to tell her that he had regretted for cutting off her left hand.

Five years later, Soat Peng-say had finished the lesson and returned to his employer. Actually he was the employer's mother's grandson. That same night, someone saw how he played the left-hand-swordplay and kidnapped him with his cousin Cin Yak-leng who was with him in the garden. The kidnapper worked for Sau Cing-in. As Sau Cing-in had never been found, when she saw Soat Peng-say played the left-hand swordplay, she thought she had found a clue. The mistress of Pak-cay told Soat Peng-say the story of Siang-liu-kiam-hoat and asked his help to find Sau Cing-in. Soat Peng-say agreed to help because he didn't believe his teacher killed Sau Cing-in in order to get the swordplay manual.

Meanwhile, the young lord from Tang-wan kidnapped Cin Yak-leng, thought that she was the mistress of Pak-cay. The Tang-wan's young lord wanted to marry the mistress of Pak-cay, who was actually his own sister. In his way to rescue his beloved Cin Yak-leng, Soat Peng-say met Soat Koh, a swordswoman who could play the right-hand-swordplay from Siang-liu-kiam-hoat. Easy to guess that Soat Koh was Tio Tai-peng's real daughter.

If the left-hand or right-hand swordplay was played alone, it was like any ordinary swordplay. But if Soat Peng-say and Soat Koh worked together, the teamwork became unbeatable. However, they hardly worked together. Soat Peng-say even decided to learn the right-hand swordplay so he could use both swords himself.

In his journey, Soat Peng-say would find his real father and changed his name to Sau Peng-say.

Apart from the swordplay which used two swords, there was also a song called Siau-go-yan-he which should be played with a flute and a zither. If played by a flute or zither alone, near the end of the song, the player would suffer a grave inner wound and spit blood. The song, played individually, could make its audience morose; but played in a duet, it was a happy song. If the players were both male, they would have eternal friendship; if played by a couple, they would love each other until the end of the world. The song also could make its audience stunned, which was very dangerous if it was played during a fight.

The book was quite enjoyable to read, although there were minor annoying things. Soat Koh left Sau Peng-say after knowing that he was only after her right-hand swordplay (though it was not the case); but she returned to help him at a critical moment and taught him the right-hand swordplay after all. Tonghong Kui-le, the daughter of Mokau-leader [Mokau was considered a devil sect] who played the zither to accompany Sau Peng-say's flute, did not win Sau Peng-say's love; even though the duet supposed to make them eternal lov3rs. Sau Peng-say's hatred was very strong, though, as Tonghong Kui-le's father killed his father and all his students.

A Graceful Swordsman - Gu Long

First published in 1966, this book had a very good plot. I myself like this one better than Little Li's Flying Dagger, so this is my 3rd favorite among all Gu Long works I have read. [No.1 The Legend of Coh Liu-hiang, No.2 The Remarkable Twins].

Ji Hong-ho - the chief of Bu-kek-pay - had retired from the martial arts world. His only son, a young man named Ji Pwe-giok, was the hero in this story. Ji Pwe-giok saw his father being murdered in front of him. Soon after that, his fianceé Lim Tay-ih came to tell him that her own father and 4 of his friends - each of them first class swordsman - had also been murdered. However, those 5 people who Lim Tay-ih had said had been dead, came to Ji Pwe-giok's house - all alive - and it seemed his father had not been dead as well.

Ji Pwe-giok thought he went crazy. None believed his story and Lim Tay-ih also denied what she had said before. In desperation, Ji Pwe-giok ran from them and went to the big meeting of the 13 clans (Shaolin, Butong, Hoasan etc) [with Bu-kek-pay, all were 14 clans, but since Ji Hong-ho had retired, originally only 13 clans had been scheduled to attend the meeting.] in Hong-ti, hoping to find an answer. On his way to Hong-ti, Ji Pwe-giok made friends with the Beggar's Clan's chief, who would be a great help to him in the future.

In the Hong-ti meeting, the fake Ji Hong-ho were chosen to be the chief of the martial arts world. [The real Ji Hong-ho was the initiator of the first Hong-ti meeting 70 years ago, so this old man was very respected. I don't know if the '70 years ago' was mistranslated. Even if Ji Hong-ho was 20 years old then, that made him 90 years old in the beginning of his story. I'd like to think Ji Pwe-gion's age was 25 years old. The book only said that he was 'a young man'. But probably he was younger, perhaps 18 years old. He had never met his fianceé at the beginning of the story and not much older than Cu Lui-ji who was 11-12 years old.]

With the power given to him, fake Ji Hong-ho was now the most powerful man in the martial arts world. The 13 clans were ready to do what he commanded. Since Ji Pwe-giok was the only person who knew his secret, fake Ji Hong-ho wanted the young man dead.

Being slandered with the murder of two clans' chiefs and hunted by everyone, Ji Pwe-giok ran into Sat-jin-ceng, a place where one could freely kill another, no question asked. In this place, he met an old man who hid him and changed his face (=facial surgery) so he could go out and investigate the mystery behind his father's death. The old man gave him a perfect handsome face, which would soon got 2 cuts by a desperate young woman, despite what his 'friend' believed: "With a face like that, no woman will harm him."

The story in this book spanned 6 months and in his journey, Ji Pwe-giok met characters with higher and higher fighting skills, that in the middle of the book, the 13 clans chiefs were nothing. Ji Pwe-giok himself learned more and more martial arts, and with his patience and intelligence, in the end he finally could avenged his father's death, solved the mystery and cleaned his name.

I really liked the idea of how things started and enjoyed reading this book a lot. I almost couldn't put it down. Ji Pwe-giok was described as: polite, clever, attentive, patient, and meek; all these traits made me like him very much. The dialogues were funny at times and made me giggle. The way how a woman's face was compared to a wall, for example. Khu Lung wrote about it a couple of times that I began to think this was a common thought in China.

I read that the epilogue had been written by someone else (not Gu Long). Gu Long forgot several things, like: 1)Ji Pwe-giok's name had not been cleaned concerning the murder of Tong Bu-siang, Cia Thian-pi and the Kunlun's chief, and 2)Ji Pwe-giok's relationship with Lim Tay-ih. The epilogue given was enlightening, but I don't like how he ended up with three women as his wives.

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.

The Lonestar Swordsman - Gu Long

The story in this book (first published in 1960) started and developed well, but there were too many twists in the end, which I think didn't quite make sense a bit... or perhaps I was just irritated because things didn't go as I had guessed.

Little Hui Giok lost his father and uncle, both murdered by a mysterious masked man who robbed the Jade Frog they had been guarded. [They were from a shipping expedition.] At this time many shipping companies's owners were murdered by the masked man, leaving only Tham Beng. As a sole surviver, Tham Beng's shipping company prospered quickly, for he was the only one they could hire. A dead masked man was later found dead that they thought the dead man was the mysterious murderer. Case closed.

Tham Beng took Hui Giok - and other children from murdered shipping companies' owners - to his home and raised them. He separated them and 'intimidated' them. Hui Giok, for example, was told that he was stupid. He was taught fighting skill but he didn't even could defeat a servant. He spent his days lamenting his stupidity. Too bad he fell in love with Tham Beng's daughter, Tham Bun-ki.

Knowing he would never win her hand with his current situation, Hui Giok ran away from Tham Beng's house. He hoped he could become a successful man so Tham Bun-ki could admire him. In his journey, he met interesting people with high skilled kungfu, made a couple of friends, but also became deaf and mute for a while. Due to his good luck, he became the leader of people's union from the south, and became Tham Beng's main rival. Hui Giok gradually learned that he was actually not as stupid as he had believed and his confidence grew. He realized that he was basically very talented and smart and Tham Beng had been afraid of him that Tham Beng had not taught him anything.

Readers could guess that Tham Beng was the masked murderer and he had murdered all his rivals, but had it been really the case? If Hui Giok avenged his father and uncle by killing Tham Beng, how could he face Tham Bun-ki, whom he always loved? Tham Beng was not all guilty for all he had been accused. In the end he got what he deserved and Hui Giok could live happily and peacefully with Tham Bun-ki.

Lady Siang's Sword - Gu Long

First published in 1960, this book was one of Khu Lung's early works. The plot was very interesting and I plan to re-read this sometime in the future. Siu Tok, a high-skilled swordsman, was actually not a bad man; but because of his strange nature, people misunderstood him and believed that his character was bad. Ten people known as 'jit-kiam-sam-pian' [it means seven of them carried swords and three carried flogs/whips] surrounded him when he was alone. When they confronted him for his sins, Siu Tok stayed silent, believing that he had done what was right.

They eventually could kill Siu Tok because he had been paralyzed from waist below, due to Mao Kau's trick. Mao Kau was one of the 10 people. Siu Tok had fallen in love with his sister and Mao Kau used her to harm Siu Tok. Several people from 'jit-kiam-sam-pian' also wanted to kill Siu Tok because they wanted to cover their own crimes. They hated him so much that they ruined his dead body.

Mao Kau's sister regretted what she had done to Siu Tok and she went away. At that time she was pregnant with Siu Tok's baby. She went to a mysterious island inhabited by high-skilled kungfu masters. It can be predicted that Siu Tok's kid would avenge his father's terrible death.

Years passed and appeared this handsome young man who claimed that he came from a rich family and wanted to see the world. Easy to guess that this was Siu Tok's son. He looked like someone who never learned martial arts, but actually it was because he had already perfected his skill, so he was very dangerous, that was, of course, to his enemies. He was also very clever and smart and already had schemes how to deal with his enemies. At this time, Mao Kau had a high position in the martial world and was very respected.

As this story was written by Khu Lung, things didn't go well as planned. Siu Su (it's Siu Tok's son's name) was very smart, but he had lived in a deserted island all his life so he lacked experience. Although he was only appeared for a couple of months in martial art world, it turned out his enemies were not merely those who had killed his father. His life was in great danger when his real identity had been exposed.

To get to his main enemy Mao Kau, Siu Su used Mao Kau's daughter, Mao Bun-ki. Using his handsome face, soon Mao Bun-ki was crazy about Siu Su. Mao Bun-ki had a sworn sister, Buyung Siok-sing. Knew that Siu Su only played with Mao Bun-ki's feeling, Buyung Siok-sing captured Siu Su and took him to look for Mao Bun-ki. It was a pity that during this capture, the author didn't put more effort to tell what had happened [but he did a good job years later in 'The Remarkable Twins'], the next thing we knew, when Siu Su and Buyung Siok-sing appeared again, they were attracted to each other. Mao Bun-ki found out about how Siu Su and Buyung Siok-sing had betrayed her love and she went crazy. She ruined her own beautiful face.

Like The Count of Monte Cristo, Siu Su found a hidden treasure and used it to finance his schemes. This story ended with a happy ending, at least for Siu Su and Buyung Siok-sing, with forgiveness for both sides... quite a rare thing in the martial art world, where men should take revenge for their father, mother, sister, brother, son, daughter, grandmother, grandfather, student, uncle, friend ... or anyone who has any relation to them.

The title means the unique sword used by Mao Bun-ki. It was a magnetic sword and used by high-skilled Mao Bun-ki, it could beat any sword... except swords not made of steel. I think it was a 'bad' title, for Mao Bun-ki's sword was not major issue in this story.

Flower-Guarding Bell - Gu Long

This book was first published in 1962. The story was the adventures of Lamkiong Peng, the 5th student of the Powerful Dragon. Powerful Dragon was number one swordsman at that time. The story began with the long-waited duel between Powerful Dragon and his ex-lover Yap Jiu-pek, to determine which one of them was the best. It ended with Powerful Dragon missing. However, he had a time to left a message to his 5th student, his youngest and most talented student, to keep his sword and guard a coffin.

Separated from other students, Lamkiong Peng, who was the only son of a wealthy merchant, found that the coffin contained a beautiful lady. She was known as an evil woman, but as it was his master's last wish, Lamkiong Peng did what he could to guard her and protect her. As soon as the news about her re-appearance known, people came to kill her. Actually it was a misunderstanding that made the Powerful Dragon fought her ten years ago and it ended with her imprisoned in the coffin since. During that time she did not age and she was still as beautiful as ever. [Like a fairy tale, right?] Lamkiong Peng and she fell in love with each other, but Powerful Dragon also left another wish, that was for Lamkiong Peng to marry Miss Yap Man-jing, the student of Yap Jiu-pek.

Meanwhile, a mysterious man tried to rule the martial world. He gathered best swordsmen to work for him, and those who refused were given drugs that they forgot everything but subdued his commands.

There was also a mysterious island inhabited by legendary swordsmen. Lamkiong Peng was given a task by his parents to deliver all the Lamkiong's wealth to the island as a part of a pact made hundreds of years ago by their anchestors. Those who had gone there would never go back, but as Lamkiong Peng was our hero in this story, he of course came back to the mainland, with high-skilled kungfu to beat the mysterious man and his gang.

As for the title, Lamkiong Peng's parents and uncle used 3 pairs of bells to signal each other if there was a danger. The bells were later given to Lamkiong Peng and he could give them to the woman he liked.

The web of the plots was quite complicated, but still could be enjoyed. This was one of Khu Lung's first works anyway. But because there were so many to tell in this little book, the characters's development was limited. The previous book I read 'Tale of A Wandering Swordsman' was better in this aspect.