Chen Xuanfeng

Chen Xuanfeng (陳玄風) 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 (梅超風), and being despised by the martial arts community for unethical behaviour. He died in the hands of a young Guo Jing (郭靖).

Life

Chen and the "Jiu Yin Zhen Jing"

Chen Xuanfeng was a disciple of Huang Yaoshi, one of the "Five Supreme Martial Artists" (五絕) 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" (九陰真經).

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 (seen as deceitful) and striking their opponents' skull with their claws (a move known as "Jiu Yin Bai Gu Zhao" [lit. "Ninefold Yin White-Bone Claws"] , seen as unnecessarily cruel).

Death

In order to escape from the hordes of martial artists eager for revenge (or just to obtain the prized manual), Chen and Mei fled to Mongolia, where they encountered the Jiangnan Qi Guai (江南七怪), or the Seven Freaks of Jiangnan. The head of the group, Ke Zhen'e (柯鎮惡), 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 (quite inadvertently) a fatal blow on Chen.

ee also

* Condor Trilogy
* List of characters in Condor Trilogy