Friday, September 19, 2008

Qu Lingfeng

Qu Lingfeng is a fictional character in Jinyong's wuxia ''Condor Trilogy''. He was the third of six disciples and like the rest of his brothers was crippled by the Eastern Heretic in anger, is regarded by Huang Yaoshi as one of the most talented of his disciples.

Qu fled to the ''Niu Clan Village'' situated not far from the Southern Song capital of Lin'an . He adopted the name of Qu San ; it is likely that he chose this village because of its proximity to Lin'an with the purpose of stealing the cultural treasures inside the palace complex. He made friends with Yang Tiexin and Guo Xiaotian, fathers respectively to Yang Kang and Guo Jing and would engage in political discussions with them passionately.

Qu Lingfeng did manage to steal into the palace and escape with large quantities of cultural artifacts, gold and jade treaures, and pearls. However during one trip he was followed by a powerful Imperial Guard Zhang Dali who struck Qu in the back with a powerful palm attack, fatally injuring the latter. Qu was able to bury his dagger inside Zhang and both died inside Qu's secret chamber. Before dying Qu left a letter addressed to his master. From this letter it can be judged that Qu was the disciple closest to Huang's heart and knew that his master had a deep appreciation for cultural artifacts, hoping that the stolen artifacts would be accepted by Huang as a gift, and also reacceptance of Qu as a disciple. Qu left behind a daughter known only as "Sha Gu" or "Crazy Lady". It is not known whether this girl was Qu's biological daughter or adopted by him. But considering Qu's situation from the time of his exile until his death, it is unlikely that he did have a wife or had the mood to sire a daughter.

Huang Yaoshi eventually came to know what had become of his disciple and was overcome with remorse what his fit of anger had wrought on his beloved disciple and as compensation took back Sa Gu and taught her everything that Qu had wanted to learn but had never been able to.

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