The title means 'Watering the Horse on the Huanghe River
Bank.' It starts with the protagonist, a young man named Jhu Zongcian, who ate a magic
fruit and became a very strong man with incredible physical power. He was later on invited
by the wugong masters who formed a team called Longmen Dui to catch the notorious monster
langren, the wolf man, who committed many horrible murders. At
the same time the evil group Helongjhai, including Shen Cianji, fought against Longmen
Dui. But they all were defeated by Jhu Zongcian and the other masters. Finally Jhu learned
that langren was his martial arts teacher, Jhuo Meng. He wrongly took a herb given by Shen
Cianji, and later he would change into the langren on the full-moon nights and commit
crimes. So Jhu decided to cure his teacher.
There was a mysterious group called the Ice Palace. It was
located on the Tibetan Plateau and members of this group were mainly female, and they used
drugs to control wugong masters to work for them. Now they decided to rule the Chinese
martial arts circle, so they sent a mistress, Snow Lady, to the Central Plains. The Snow
Lady fell in love with Jhu, and thus she was replaced by Madam Frost. The Head of the Ice
Palace also came on the scene with many being captured masters. Although the controlled
masters were in black and wore masks, two of them Han Chang and Jinluo Zunjhe were
recognized. They were two of the group, Three Extraordinaries, and their detention showed
the power of the Ice Palace. At the same time Jho became the leader of the martial arts
circle. They fought against the Ice Palace and rescued the captured.
Apart from the Ice Palace, the watchdog of the government,
the office of Dongchang led by Wu Jhan and Miss Chun Meng, also kept an eye on the martial
arts circle. Miss Chun Meng fell in love with Jhu, so she was in trouble.
Jhu was a wise and strong man. After he rescued Han Chang
and Jinluo Zunjhe and found out that the Head of the Ice Palace was the third of
The-three-extraordinary, Jhu successfully persuaded him and his followers to return to
Tibet; then Jhu was able to concentrate on fighting against Dongchang.
At the final stage of this story the background of Jhu was
introduced. He was in fact a prince of Siwang, Prince of the West. Because Dongchang
framed a charge against his family when there was a power struggle in the court, many of
his relatives suffered and he started wandering around. Now he got a great opportunity to
kill Wu Jhan, but Miss Chun Meng stopped him by taking the lethal hit herself. Her action
moved Jhu, so instead of decapitating Wu Jhan he terminated Wu Jhan's wugong, buried Miss
Chun Meng's corpse, and then took a stroll along the riverside of Huanghe.
The main character Jhu Zongcian was created to be an
intelligent and wise young man. He solved all problems and finally avenged his family.
Strategies and schemes pervade every stage of this wusia novel; these were the essential
points attracting readers and formed the writer's style of the latter of his life. |
