Swordswoman Riding West on White Horse

"The White Horse in the West Wind" (zh-tsp|t=白馬嘯西風|s=白马啸西风|p=bái mǎ xiào xī fēng) is a wuxia novella written by Jinyong. The title in Chinese could be roughly translated to White Horse Neighing in the West Wind. It was first published in 1961 in "Ming Pao".It is the first Jinyong tale featuring a female protagonist.

Plot

The protagonist, Li Wenxiu, lost her parents in Gobi desert while trying to escape from a group of pugilists who wanted their map of the Gaochang labyrinth. Legend has it that the labyrinth contained riches beyond imagination. Placed on a faithful white steed, the young girl fled to an oasis and met a kind elder Ji. Li lived in his house and he took care of Li as if she were his own child. One night, Li was driven by her curiosity to see birds that were famed to sing well. She met a young Kazakh boy called Su Pu, who was trying to catch the birds. They developed a friendship and soon became a pair of lovers. Li, being an ethnic Han Chinese, did not win the approval of Su Pu's father. Su Pu was beaten by his father on learning that he has fallen for a Han. Some time later, Li was heartbroken to discover that Su Pu had fallen for a Kazakh girl.

Su Pu and Li part for years, but Li didn't forget Su Pu. She saw Su Pu winning a tournament and how he and his lover subsequently reacted. Li was depressed and let her horse wander the Gobi desert. Suddenly, she found herself trapped by the same group of pugilists who attacked her parents 12 years ago. The only way to escape is to ride deeper into the desert, where there were purportedly ghosts for wanderers. The horse galloped in the desert into a hillock with trees and took cover there.

After curing a sick hermit of his sickness caused by three venomous needles, she learnt martial arts from him.

She returned home to sudden, heavy snow. She did not wish to meet Su Pu and his lover, who were taking cover in her house from the snow, so she pretended to be a man who was seeking shelter. The leader of the group of greedy pugilists, Chen Da Hai, noticed Li's house and suspected that Li and the map may be inside. He questioned everyone in the house, and Ji, the man who brought Li up, deceived Chen by saying that Li had died. Chen impolitely ransacked Li's possessions in his search for the map, and angered Su Pu, who still remembered Li after all those years, when he threatened to dig up Li's grave to find the map. Su Pu and his father were subsequently defeated by Chen. Chen eventually found the map, which is an ordinary-looking handkerchief (the map only becomes apparent when the handkerchief is stained with blood). Li was forced to fight when Chen threatened to kill Su Pu's father and kidnap Su Pu's lover, and managed to severely injure Chen. Amidst the excitement of her victory, everyone fails to notice that Chen escaped into the desert to find the labyrinth.

A group of seven, including Su Pu, Su Pu's father and Li, set off to find Chen and the labyrinth. Tracing Chen's footsteps, they eventually found the labyrinth.

The group somehow found a way to the center of the labyrinth, finding not riches, but books, statues, furniture commonly used in Han society and unexpected horror. A "ghost" scared them away by killing two strong men in the group. The group fled to a grassland near to the labyrinth, in an attempt to warn the soldiers they sent to find the riches. They succeeded in doing so but the "ghost" disturbed their sleep at night. The "ghost" used "magic" to kill horses and a men without touching them.

They were planning to leave when Su Pu suddenly discovered that his lover was kidnapped by the "ghost". Su Pu rushed into the labyrinth to save the girl, forgetting how scary it was the night before. It was revealed at this point that the "ghost" was human, and that his "magic" was actually poisoned needles, and the group's fears were dispelled. Su Pu, Li, Ji, Su Pu's father and Su Pu's lover's father ventured into the labyrinth.

The "ghost" admitted that he was human, exiled by his clan 12 years ago. After that, he learned martial arts from Han people and planned to kill the whole clan by instructing his disciple to poison their well. His disciple did not want anyone to die, so he betrayed his master, poisoning his master with three needles, and eventually became Ji, the elder who raised Li. Upon learning each other's identity, Ji and the "ghost" fought. After injuring each other badly, the "ghost" was revealed to the rest of the group to be the hermit whom Li had saved and who taught her martial arts. Li was shocked to know that the only two people who loved and cared about her were enemies.

The "ghost" attempted to kill everyone in the labyrinth. Fortunately, the fire burned out and it was dark enough for them to flee. Li didn't flee because she wanted to accompany her master before he dies. Wanting Li to accompany him forever, he slowly pushed his poison needle towards Li. Li didn't notice that but the "ghost" died when the poison needle was only inches away from Li.

After leaving the labyrinth, Li found out that it was built by the king of a once-affluent and peaceful country, called Gaochang Guo. The country was forced by the Tang government to submit to the Tang emperor. Had Gaochang Guo accepted, the Tang government would give them many benefits. However, the majority of the country wished to be independent and lead a simple, but happy, existence. When the Tang government sent troops to conquer the Gaochang Guo, its king ordered a labyrinth to be built, within which its people and all their riches could seek refuge. Inevitably, they lost the war and hid in the labyrinth, but were, unfortunately, found quickly, and the Tang soldiers looted all the treasures. The troops wanted to "introduce" the good culture of Han into the "primitive" country, so only common things in Han society were found in the labyrinth.

Miserable from the death of her two loved ones and the marriage of Su Pu to another woman, Li left the oasis, despite the locals' promise of benefits. Just like the king of Gaochang Guo, she said, "The benefits are all very good, but I just don't like them."

External links

*en icon [http://wuxiapedia.com/novels/jin_yong/white_horse_in_the_west_wind White Horse in the West Wind] - English translation of the novel at Wuxiapedia.com