Ouyang Feng

Ouyang Feng
Created by	Jin Yong
Novel appearances	The Legend of the Condor Heroes, The Return of the Condor Heroes
Information
Nickname(s)	"Western Venom" (西毒)
Alias(es)	"Old Venomous Creature" (老毒物)
Gender	Male
Children	Ouyang Ke (illegitimate son), Yang Guo (godson)
Affliations
Sects and organizations	White Camel Mountain Manor
Skills and abilities
Qinggong	Thousand Li in one moment
Neigong	Edited version of Nine Yin Manual's skills, Force-reverse Meridian
Unarmed combat skills	Toad Skill, Divine Camel Snowy Mountain Palm, Divine Serpent Fist, Bone-penetrating Dianxue Skill
Armed combat skills	Divine Serpent Staff Skill
Weapons	Serpent Staff

This is a Chinese name; the family name is Ouyang.

Ouyang Feng
Traditional Chinese	歐陽鋒
Simplified Chinese	欧阳锋
Transcriptions Mandarin - Hanyu Pinyin Ōuyáng Fēng Cantonese (Yue) - Jyutping àu joeng fùng

Ouyang Feng is a fictional character in Jin Yong's wuxia novel The Legend of the Condor Heroes and its sequel The Return of the Condor Heroes. As the "Western Venom" (西毒) of the Five Greats (五绝), the top five champions of the first martial arts contest on Mount Hua, Ouyang is best known for his trademark martial arts technique "Toad Skill" (蛤蟆功) and his expertise in toxicology.

In the first novel, Ouyang is depicted as a ruthless villain, who resorts to all sorts of unscrupulous means to achieve his goal of becoming the most powerful pugilist in the jianghu. He attempts to seize the fabled Nine Yin Manual, a manual detailing powerful martial arts and inner energy techniques, but is tricked into practicing an edited version of the skills, which causes him to become insane eventually, but ironically, his prowess in martial arts also increases tremendously. In the sequel novel, Ouyang dies amidst laughter and forgotten past feuds together with his rival, Hong Qigong. He is buried on Mount Hua beside Hong by his godson Yang Guo, who succeeds him as the "Western Eccentric" of the new generation of the Five Greats.

Roles

The Legend of the Condor Heroes

Ouyang is the master of a manor on Mount White Camel in western China. He specializes in using poison and rears venomous snakes as pets. He participates in the first martial arts contest held on Mount Hua and emerges as one of the top five champions, earning himself the nickname of "Western Venom" (西毒). He makes his first appearance while visiting Huang Yaoshi on Peach Blossom Island with his nephew Ouyang Ke. Ouyang wishes to arrange for a marriage between his nephew and Huang's daughter Huang Rong. However, Guo Jing is also present and he contends with Ouyang Ke for Huang Rong's hand-in-marriage, with Zhou Botong and Hong Qigong supporting him. After a competition involving three rounds of tests between the two young men, Guo wins the contest, incurring the displeasure of the Ouyangs.

Later in the novel, Hong, Zhou and Guo are stranded at sea and are picked up by Ouyang's ship. When Ouyang realises that Guo had memorized the Nine Yin Manual, he attempts to trick and force Guo into writing a copy of the manual for him. However, under the instructions of Hong, Guo deliberately writes a wrong version of the manual for Ouyang, with verses written in reverse manner. Ouyang believes that he has succeeded in getting what he wants and attempts to kill Guo and Hong. Hong and Ouyang engage in a battle on the ship later and the ship sinks. Hong is poisoned by Ouyang during the fight and loses all his inner energy after using it to purge the venom from his body. The now powerless Hong, accompanied by Guo Jing and Huang Rong, are at the mercy of the Ouyangs, as the five of them are marooned on an island. Ouyang Ke is tricked by Huang into loosening a boulder, which falls on and crushes his leg. Ouyang Feng coerces the three of them to look after his nephew and provide them with food, and in return, he promises not to harm them as long as they are still on the island. At one point, Ouyang reveals that he is actually Ouyang Ke's biological father, after having an affair with his sister-in-law. He is eventually picked up by Wanyan Honglie's ship.

After leaving the island, Ouyang practices the Nine Yin Manual obsessively, believing it to be genuine. He kidnaps Huang Rong and tries to force her to interpret the verses for him, but she provides him with wrong information, without him realizing that he has been deceived. Before the novel ends, Ouyang is seen to have become insane due to practising the manual's skills wrongly, but ironically, his prowess in martial arts has also improved tremendously.

The Return of the Condor Heroes

Ouyang makes a few brief appearances in the sequel novel. He is now insane and meets the young Yang Guo by coincidence. He likes Yang and makes Yang his godson, promising to teach him martial arts. Yang learns the "Toad Skill" from Ouyang and uses it on two occasions in self-defence against bullies, and refuses to tell the truth when enquired by Guo Jing and Huang Rong on how he learnt the skill. Ouyang appears again when Yang and Xiaolongnü are practising martial arts on Mount Zhongnan. Ouyang wants to teach Yang some skills, but does not want Xiaolongnü to overhear him, so he immobilizes her. He enters a fit of insanity later and leaves.

Ouyang appears for one last time on Mount Hua, where he meets Yang and his old rival Hong Qigong again. The two rivals engage each other in a fierce battle again, which lasted four days. The battle is only interrupted when Yang comes at intervals to serve them meals. The animosity between the two rivals is too strong for them to bear and they continue to pit their inner energies against each other for a full day. Both of them suffer from exhaustion but they are unwilling to back down to uphold their ego. They decide to use Yang, who has been an observer for the past few days, as an intermediate. Ouyang and Hong teach Yang their respective skills and ask Yang to perform for each other to see.

Hong teaches Yang his famous "Dog Beating Staff Technique". Ouyang has apparently lost after Yang performs the last stance "No Dogs Under Heaven". Ouyang spends the following night thinking of a counter move and the next morning he asks Yang to perform for Hong to see. Hong is shocked when he sees that Ouyang has managed to defeat his most powerful move. Hong finally realises that his rivalry with Ouyang is merely an illusion as there will not be an eventual victor between the two of them. Hong laughs hysterically and embraces Ouyang in defeat. At the same time, Ouyang seems to have recovered from his insanity as he finally recognises Hong. The two rivals die together amidst laughter and forgotten past feuds. Yang buries them side by side on Mount Hua.

Martial arts and skills

• Toad Skill (蛤蟆功) – Ouyang's signature martial arts technique. Its greatest weakness is that it can be overcome by a combination of Wang Chongyang's "First Heaven Skill" and Duan Zhixing's "Yiyang Finger".
• Nine Yin Manual skills (九陰「假」經) – Ouyang is tricked into practicing the conventional version of the skills in a reverse manner. He becomes insane as a consequence, but ironically, his prowess in martial arts improves tremendously.
• Divine Serpent Fist (靈蛇拳) – a type of fist style that involves snake-like twirling and curling movements to strike an opponent from various angles.
• Divine Serpent Staff Skill (靈蛇杖法) – Ouyang wields an iron staff that has a poisonous snake perched on it. His staff movements will cause the snake to bite his opponent at will and the snake's venom can cause immediate death.
• Thousand Li in one moment (瞬息千里) – Ouyang's qinggong
• Force-reverse Meridian (逆轉經脈) – Ouyang's inner energy skill
• Divine Camel Snowy Mountain Palm (神駝雪山掌)
• Bone-penetrating Dianxue Skill (透骨打穴法) – a type of acupuncture point sealing technique

Notes

References

• (Chinese) 欧阳锋：机关算尽太聪明 - extract about Ouyang Feng from Rankings of Characters in Jin Yong's Works (金庸人物排行榜) by Tan Xianmao (覃贤茂)

External links

• (Chinese) Ouyang Feng on Baidu Baike