Friday, September 19, 2008

Chen Xuanfeng

Chen Xuanfeng is a fictional character in Jinyong's ''wuxia'' novel ''The Legend of the Condor Heroes''. He is one of the novel's main antagonists, best known for eloping with fellow martial artist Mei Chaofeng , and being despised by the martial arts community for unethical behaviour. He died in the hands of a young Guo Jing .

Life



Chen and the ''Jiu Yin Zhen Jing''



Chen Xuanfeng was a disciple of Huang Yaoshi, one of the "" in the story. Huang is known for his ruthlessness and often-erratic nature, so when Chen Xuanfeng and fellow disciple Mei Chaofeng fell in love, they were too afraid to seek approval for marriage. Instead, they conspired to escape from their place of residence, and in the process stole their master's prized martial arts article, ''Jiu Yin Zhen Jing'' .

The latter move brought dire consequences for the pair. An enraged Huang Yaoshi dismissed all of his remaining disciples after crippling them; these disciples who were both deeply embittered by their suffering and their hatred of Chen and Mei for betraying their beloved master spurred them to pursue their former brethren in revenge. In addition, because Chen and Mei lacked the necessary martial arts foundations to practice the ''Jiu Yin Zhen Jing'' properly, they were forced to employ methods that are despicable and unethical to the martial arts community, such as using poison and striking their opponents' skull with their claws .

Death



In order to escape from the hordes of martial artists eager for revenge , Chen and Mei fled to Mongolia, where they encountered the Jiangnan Qi Guai , or the Seven Freaks of Jiangnan. The head of the group, Ke Zhen'e , is a mortal enemy, as his brother was killed by Chen and Mei in combat, and was himself blinded.

In a fierce battle, Chen and Mei were on the verge of defeating the Seven Freaks, when a young Guo Jing inadvertently walked into the battle. Guo was at the scene to fulfill an earlier promise to meet the Seven Freaks to become their disciple; and when Chen stumbled over Guo, he sensed no imminent danger and was about to toss him aside. In fear, Guo produced his dagger, and struck a fatal blow on Chen.

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