Literally this title can be translated as 'The Lament of
the Exile.' The birth of the protagonist, Cai Wunchang, was regarded as an omen. He could
not speak until he was three years old, and when he started talking, a plague took away
hundreds of lives including his parents. He was raised by his uncle, and people looked
down him and maltreated him as if he were the devil's messenger. One day he came across a
strange old man by the side of a pond called Heilong Tan. The old man taught him wugong,
gave him magic pills and commanded him to dive down into the pond and cut some precious
herbs, which could detoxify him (Cai). However when he completed the mission, the old man
intended to take Cai's life. All the peculiar things happening to him made him became an
impulsive person and half-righteous and half-evil. He left his
hometown to work in a smith's shop in a town called Longjyu Jhai at the age of fifteen. He
learned how to make sharp and concealed weapons and became friends with two martial arts
masters. Two years later he coincidentally got involved with the gangs and gained his
outlaw status. He wandered around, made friends with strange people, and irritated both
officials and gangs.
Cai Wunchang's wugong improved dramatically after he gained
an illuminating wugong panting. He also got help from both the martial arts mistress,
Cianmian Shihtai, to increase his internal strength and the master, Shemo Jyushih, who
taught him the marvelous fencing forms, Mohuan Sanjian. Although Cai was not the first
rank wugong master, he could use Mohuan Sanjian to defeat enemies when his life was
threatened.
He had three female friends. Shih Yuying was the first one,
and was like an angel as well as a mother to him. The second girl, Fang Siaojyuan, was his
beggar friend, Fang Siaoshan's sister. Siaoshan ran away from home, so in order to get him
back his sister, Siaojyuan gradually got to know Cai Wunchang and found out that he was
not a hopeless gang member. Then they fell in love with each other. The third one was the
beautiful Sia Wanjyun. There were many misunderstandings between them, so their friendship
could not develop smoothly.
Cai pretended to drown himself in the Heilong Tan pond in
order to avoid pursuit by both the officials and the gangs. For two years he led a hermit
life and practiced wugong. He planned to avenge himself by killing all his opponents and
to be elected as the head of the martial arts circle. Shih Yuying stopped him from killing
people. And he also realized that the leadership of the martial arts circle was not
suitable for him. At the end of this book he was accompanied by Shih and Fang Siaojyuan to
visit Sia.
The first third of this book flashes back to the
protagonist's youth when he was already an outlaw hero. This way makes this story more
interesting and nostalgic. This hero in this story was not a perfect man, although the
hero in most of the wusia novels is described as a flawless sage. This story tries to make
readers to empathize with the important character in the gangs by tracing back his
miserable fate as it took place in his youth. The love triangle is another interesting
part of this book. |
