On October 16,
soengyee asked for a brief synopsis of
Flying Eagle. However, I need to give this novel a “long” synopsis because this novel has so many twists and turns that a brief synopsis will not make sense.
No, soengyee, none of what you said happens in the book. And there are no twins as well.
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The book opens in the Gobi Desert. A consignment of 300,000 taels of gold owned by a tycoon Lv San (呂三) has been robbed by some (seemingly supernatural) “Cat Bandits”. The man transporting the gold, with 36 other highly skilled fighters, are all slain.
Fang Wei (方偉), known as Xiao Fang (小方) in the novel, is a martial artist in the desert, dying from the lack of water and food. Vultures are watching him die. He is a swordsman with the sword Demon Eye (魔眼), coveted by many people. He has killed Lv San’s only son. Another martial artist, Bu Ying (卜鷹), is watching him die because he says he wants Xiao Fang’s sword. Bu Ying is an invincible fighter who has never lost a fight before. But he will not lift a finger to kill Xiao Fang.
A leader who is there to receive the gold, Wei Tianpeng (魏天鵬), realizes that either Bu Ying and Xiao Fang must have robbed the gold. He saves Xiao Fang and wants him to investigate if Bu Ying was the one who had robbed the gold. Xiao Fang rejects his offer. After that, a nameless swordsman enters the tent and challenges Xiao Fang to a duel. But he wants Xiao Fang to recover with good food and water first. He sets the date of the duel many days later.
Xiao Fang recovers. He then discovers a nude woman in a tent called Bo Wa (波娃) and she becomes his lover. When he returns for the duel with that nameless swordsman, the man does not turn up. Bu Ying appears again, makes some cryptic comments and leaves.
Xiao Fang and Bo Wa join a caravan with many highly skilled fighters. Five of them are slain over a few days and the leader thinks Xiao Fang must be the killer. One of their leaders, a Tibetan called Banchaba (班察巴), arrives. He is a deadly archer and he claims that Xiao Fang is innocent when his deadly arrows fail to kill Xiao Fang.
Xiao Fang realizes that this caravan and their merchandise belongs to Bu Ying. The killer turns out to be Bo Wa but Bu Ying lets her go. Bu Ying has been injured in a fight but he says he still manages to hurt his opponent. His opponent was that nameless swordsman. Bu Ying has the reputation of never having lost a fight. After a drinking session, Xiao Fang becomes Bu Ying’s “friend”.
Bu Ying and his men has a showdown with Lv San’s people including Wei Tianpeng and defeat them handily. Then he lets them search his merchandise. The gold is not with the caravan.
The caravan arrives at Tibet and they meet a bubbly girl called Lan Yangguang (藍陽光) who is Bu Ying’s fiancee. She keeps Xiao Fang company. They enter Lhasa, Bu Ying’s hometown.
While at Lhasa, Xiao Fang encounters a boy who likes playing with worms. The boy leads him to the nameless swordsman who actually has a name, Dugu Chi (獨孤痴), a peerless swordsman. He had fought with Bu Ying and their duel ended in a draw: Dugu Chi managed to stab Bu Ying’s chest but Bu Ying also crushed his hand. The bones of his hand are all crushed. Dugu Chi says that the important thing is, the sword is still “in his heart.” So he will try again to defeat Bu Ying.
Dugu Chi asks from Xiao Fang two favors: Xiao Fang must find him 300 taels of silver every 10 days. And kill Bo Wa for him, because Bo Wa can shatter “that sword in his heart.”
Xiao Fang is assassinated by a young lama who is infatuated with Bo Wa. Xiao Fang manages to kill him. Then a senior lama gives him an ancient sword and asks Xiao Fang to kill Bo Wa to avenge the young lama, as Bo Wa is a wicked woman who has instigated him.
Xiao Fang goes to see Bo Wa but decides not to kill her. The senior lama then attacks her, but she is saved by Bu Ying who appears. During the fight, the senior lama (somehow) attains enlightenment and no longer wants to kill Bo Wa.
Bu Ying rides with Xiao Fang into the Gobi Desert and reveals his secret. He was the one who had robbed the gold from Lv San. He and Banchaba had buried the gold in the desert and not tried to smuggle it out.
Bu Ying had robbed Lv San because Lv San is a Manichean who worships fire and wants to overthrow Tibetan Buddhism in Tibet. So Bu Ying has to rob him to cut off his financial supply. Bo Wa is really their spy with Lv San, who has sacrificed a lot for them.
Xiao Fang decides to leave their organization to return to Jiangnan. The fighters in Bu Ying’s organization try to stop him to keep their secret but fail. Bu Ying allows him to leave with Yangguang.
They are tailed by Banchaba, who is peerless in qinggong. Midway in the journey, they realize Bu Ying had let them go because Lv San is about to attack Bu Ying’s headquarters.
They rush back to find Bu Ying’s house burned down in a conflagration and Bu Ying missing. Banchaba catches up with them and decides to change their looks with a kind of latex from a tree. He makes them join another caravan of small traders.
Xiao Fang and Yangguang disguise themselves as a couple and realize there is another couple in the caravan. They are attacked and the other couple save them. The other couple claim they had defected from Lv San. The woman has a very good figure.
The man calls himself Zhao Qun (趙群) and the woman Susu (蘇蘇). While Susu is with Yangguang, someone manages to abduct Yangguang. Later, Xiao Fang comes across a bandit trying to rape Susu. When he saves her from him, both he and Susu fall prey to an aphrodisiac and they have a sexual relationship.
He and Susu spend months together. He realizes Susu is pregnant. Susu says the child is his. Then, they meet Zhao Qun again and Zhao Qun later reveals himself to be really Lv San. He wants to hold hostage Xiao Fang’s unborn son so he engineers his concubine and Xiaofang having sex.
When Banchaba enters the fray, Lv San escapes.
Xiao Fang tries to find Bu Ying, but comes across a pretty girl instead. This girl turns out to be the boy with Dugu Chi who likes worms. Her name is Qi Xiaoyan (齊小燕). She was only pretending to be a boy to learn swordsmanship from Dugu Chi. She makes a deal with Xiaofang. She will teach him Dugu Chi’s swordsmanship and Xiao Fang will teach her his. After they master each other’s swordsmanship, they fight a life-and-death duel. They end up having sex instead, because their sexual impulses could not find any outlet when they trained.
Xiao Fang has a showdown with Dugu Chi but neither has the confidence to slay each other. They decide to find Bu Ying instead. The three of them go to Gobi Desert to excavate the gold hoard but find it gone. They wonder if Banchaba has betrayed Bu Ying.
They head for Lhasa and Bu Ying’s shop where they find wax figures of himself, Bu Ying, Banchaba in the shop. Anyone who enters the shop will be killed mysteriously. While fighting a group of ruffians, Xiao Fang steps into the shop. He is seized by hallucinations and loses consciousness.
When he wakes up, he finds Yangguang, Qi Xiaoyan and Susu with him. There is a baby in Susu’s arms, supposed his. Banchaba explains the mystery of the wax figures. They were put there by Lv San and they contain a toxin that can kill anyone who stares into their eyes. Human beings are also encased inside the wax figures. (These explanations I find very absurd.)
Banchaba sets up a scheme to trap Lv San and two parties play cat and mouse. The mind games are too complicated (and somewhat ludicrous as well) to explain. Lv San sends many assassins to kill Xiao Fang and find his weakness.
Qi Xiaoyan defects to Lv San and Lv San shows her a tunnel created out of pure gold. Lv San claims that Dugu Chi has defected to him because he wants to defeat Xiao Fang. Dugu Chi will check the corpses of the slain men to know Xiao Fang's stroke techniques. Banchaba traps them in the tunnel, including Dugu Chi and Xiao Fang, by cutting off the escape routes.
In the end, however, Gu Long says neither Dugu Chi or Xiaofang is stupid. He ends the novel in three paragraphs. They manage to escape and slay Banchaba. Before Banchaba dies, he says he has no regrets because he had chosen this path himself.
Does it make sense? Probably not. I don’t think this is one of Gu Long’s better novels.