The Return of the Condor Heroes

The Return of the Condor Heroes is the second installment of Jin Yong's "Condor Trilogy," continuing the story of The Legend of the Condor Heroes, in forty chapters. The novel's main thread is the separations and reunions of Yang Guo and Xiaolongnü: Yang Guo, son of Yang Kang, wanders the martial world from childhood, is sent by Guo Jing to the Quanzhen Sect, later flees for certain reasons, stumbles into the Tomb of the Living Dead, and takes as his master Xiaolongnü, heir of the Ancient Tomb Sect; thereafter the two endure misunderstandings, separation, and trials of life and death, their bond deepening all the while. The first half follows young Yang Guo's trials in the martial world and the mystery of his parentage; the middle section turns on the Hero's Banquet, the Valley of Despair, and the sixteen-year pact; the second half depicts Yang Guo, accompanied by the Divine Condor, training with the heavy sword and creating his own martial arts, ultimately growing into the "Divine Condor Hero" and winning great merit in the battle of Xiangyang. Through the contrast between Yang Guo's passionate, unconstrained nature and Guo Jing's creed that "the greatest hero serves the country and the people," the work explores the tension between propriety and true feeling, individual temperament and duty to country and family. It is among Jin Yong's most emotionally charged and most widely circulated works. The SDX Joint Publishing edition is one of the versions most familiar to mainland readers; it includes illustrations before the main text and an afterword by the author at the end.