(1) The jade-faced fire monkey
This creature has been taken out of the 2nd edition completely.
(a) In the original, Zhang Cuishan and Yin Susu were attacked by a bear when they first arrived at the cave that they later used as their home. They promptly killed the bear, but they were then pursued and chased up a tree by 13 other angry bears! Zhang Cuishan and Yin Susu were eventually rescued by a cute-looking 3-foot-tall monkey with blood-red fur and a snow-white face. This monkey was the nemesis of the bears, for it liked eating the brain of bears. It would tear the heads of the bears apart and scoop out the brains in a blink.
After rescuing Zhang Cuishan and Yin Susu, the jade-faced fire monkey displayed its head-tearing skills and offered the raw bear-brains that it obtained to the couple. Not wanting to offend the monkey, the couple ate the brains. It turned out to be quite tasty.
Ed: The couple actually found the bear-brains of tastier than those of the goat or the fish after they got over the initial disgust and apprehension towards them.
In the revised edition, Zhang Cuishan and Yin Susu were attacked by only two bears, which they despatched by themselves.
(b) The monkey was immune to fire. When Zhang Cuishan came up with the idea of using the active volcano as a source of fire, they could not get close enough to it for their tinder to light up. The monkey had to carry the tinder all the way to the crater for them. After the fire was taken successfully back to the bear-cave, the monkey jumped into it and rolled playfully around.
In the revised edition, Zhang Cuishan and Yin Susu gave up on the idea of obtaining fire from the volcano, and used a flint with their sword instead.
Ed: The couple picked up a lava-stone from the ground and struck their sword against it in a bid to obtain sparks.
(c) The monkey was Xie Xun's hunting partner for a short time. When it became too efficient at hunting bears, Xie Xun insisted that it play with young Zhang Wuji instead.
(d) The monkey was eventually poisoned to death by Daiqisi (Taykis) -- who was also known as the Golden-Flower Granny and the Purple-Clothed Dragon King.
Ed: Daiqisi met the monkey when she went to Ice-Fire Island to see Xie Xun.
(2) The young Zhang Wuji
The young Zhang Wuji in the first edition strikes me as being generally less... nice, and more crafty.
(a) When Xie Xun told his tale, young Zhang Wuji vowed to seek Cheng Kun for revenge on his behalf. Since Cheng Kun killed all of Xie Xun's family, Zhang Wuji wanted to do the same to Cheng Kun's family in return. This earned him a harsh scolding from Zhang Cuishan.
Ed: This exchange/scene did not exist in the revised edition.
(b) Young Zhang Wuji wanted revenge for his parents' deaths in the original story. He carefully memorised his "enemies" appearances, and actively asked Zhang Sanfeng to teach him martial arts, so he could take his revenge. At the same time, he was reluctant to learn the Shaolin Nine-Yang Technique due to the role that the Shaolin monks played in the tragedy.
In the revised edition, young Zhang Wuji never wanted revenge for his parents' deaths.
Ed: In a heart-wrenching scene towards the end of Chapter 10 (after Zhang Cuishan and Yin Susu had committed suicide) in the revised edition, the young Zhang Wuji shouted: "I do not want redress! I do not want redress! I just want Father and Mother to come alive again. Second Uncle, let us spare all those evil people and think of a way to rescue Father and Mother instead."
(3) The Nine-Yang and Nine-Yin Manuals
In the first edition, both Nine-Yang and Nine-Yin were written by Dharma (Da Mo). They were of equal power and complementary in use, yet each was capable of countering the other. The inner power of Nine-Yang was deeper than that of Nine-Yin, but lacked the latter's strange moves. Zhang Sanfeng was apparently unaware of the Nine-Yin, but theorised about its existence from the large gaps he saw in the Nine-Yang. He developed his Taiji techniques in part to fill these gaps.
Ed: Please refer to the text excerpts below.
However, the complementary nature of the Nine-Yang and the Nine-Yin was contradicted later when Zhang Wuji tried to purge Zhou Zhiruo of poison. Zhang Wuji said that the two forms of energy clashed.
Ed: In the first edition, Yu Lianzhou told Zhang Cuishan and Yin Susu: "According to our teacher, the martial arts techniques of our Wudang School are founded primarily on a book known as 'The Nine-Yang Manual'. However, our teacher was too young when he heard Grandteacher Jue Yuan recite the book. The process was also too rushed for him to remember everything, so the resultant marital arts techniques used in our school do indeed have their shortfalls. The Nine-Yang Manual originated from the venerated Dharma, but as our teacher delved deeper into it, he found an increasing number of gaps in the text, as if the manual was only half of a whole. There should be another volume called 'The Nine-Yin Manual' to complement it. But where could our teacher start looking for the Nine-Yin Manual, when he has not even learnt the Nine-Yang in its entirety? Besides, no one knows whether the Nine-Yin actually exists or not. Elder Dharma was a rare and talented man from India, but our teacher is not necessarily beneath him in intelligence and resourcefulness. Since he is unable to obtain these manuals, could he not re-create them himself? Hence, he spends time in closed-door meditation every year with the desire to bring honour to our ancestors and prosperity to our descendants, as the eastern reflection of Dharma in the west ..."
In Chapter 9 of the revised edition, this passage has been replaced with the following:
Yu Lianzhou said, "According to our teacher, the martial arts techniques of our Wudang School are founded primarly on a book known as 'The Nine-Yang Manual'. However, he was very young when our Grandteacher Jue Yuan passed the passages in the book on to him. Furthermore, he did not know any martial arts. On his part, Grandteacher Jue Yuan did not deliberately set out to instruct our teacher in anything, for he just repeated the things that he had read in the book. As a result, there have always been defects in the pugilistic techniques of our school. According to Grandteacher Jue Yuan, the Nine-Yang Manual originated from the venerated Dharma, the founder of the Shaolin Clan. However, our teacher has found this statement increasingly untrue as he delves deeper into the passages. Firstly, the essence of the passages are very different from the martial arts foundations of Shaolin. In fact, it seems closer to our Taoist school of pugilistic arts. Secondly, the Nine-Yang was not written in Sanskrit, but in Chinese characters sandwiched between the lines of the Sanskrit Lankavatara Sutra. Elder Dharma might have been an extremely learned man, but coming from India, it was very unlikely that he had a thorough understanding of Chinese characters. Therefore, he could not have written such an important book on martial arts. Even if he did, why did he squeeze the work between the lines of another book, instead of using a separate set of paper?"
Nodding in agreement, Zhang Cuishan asked, "So what has our tecaher concluded from this?"
"Nothing much actually," answered Yu Lianzhou. "All he says is that the Nine-Yang Manual might have been ghost-written in Elder Dharma's name, by a distinguished Shaolin monk of a later generation. Our teacher does not have a full and complete copy of the Nine-Yang, but he thinks that it is possible to fill the gaps in himself. Hence, he spends a lot of time behind closed doors every year to develop a school of pugilistic studies that is totally different from those of the other clans and organisations."
The paragraph about Dharma being the writer of the Nine-Yang Manual was also removed from Chapter 16 of the revised edition, where Zhang Wuji discovers the text in the abdomen of an ancient white ape.
Consequently, there was no contradiction when Zhang Wuji's Nine-Yang clashed against Zhou Zhiruo's Nine-Yin in Chapter 31.
(4) The 18 Dragon-Defeating Palms (Xianglong Shiba Zhang)
In the revised edition, when young Zhang Wuji was grabbed by a beggar wielding a poisonous snake, he was rescued by Yin Susu providing a distraction (slapping Zhang Cuishan, tossing sailors overboard, etc) and Yu Lianzhou taking advantage of it.
In the original edition, things were played out in considerably different way. The young Zhang Wuji lashed backwards with a palm, which struck the beggar in the back and paralysed him. Yu Lianzhou's attempts to free the beggar left him (the beggar) screaming in pain. When questioned about the move, Zhang Wuji said that it was 'Shen Long Bai Wei', or 'The Mystical Dragon Swings its Tail' from the 18 Dragon-Defeating Palms! Zhang Wuji's strike was supposed to be fatal within two hours, but Yu Lianzhou and Zhang Cuishan spent all night saving the beggar's life. But the beggar's martial arts were ruined.
It turned out that Zhang Wuji learnt the technique from Xie Xun, who picked it up from 'an old man' (Ed:
'a recluse of the lakes and the rivers', to be exact). Zhang Wuji knew only three moves: Shen Long Bai Wei (The Mystical Dragon Swings its Tail), Jian Long Zai Tian (Watching the Dragon in the Fields) and Kang Long You Hui (The Proud Dragon Has Regrets). When Zhang Wuji sparred briefly with Zhang Sanfeng, the latter praised the first two moves as 'good', but the last one as 'inadequate'. Apparently, the 'old man' who taught Xie Xun did not fully understand how to use these palm techniques. Zhang Wuji used the palms extensively during his youth.
Ed: In the revised edition, young Zhang Wuji did not know any of the 18 Dragon-Defeating Palms. In fact, Xie Xun hardly taught him any practical moves, preferring instead to concentrate on getting him to memorise as many steps and mnemonics as he could. The only set of techniques that Zhang Wuji could execute to satisfactory effect was the 'Wudang Long Fist', which he learnt briefly from his father on the raft to China from Ice-Fire Island.
It was also explained that the 18 Palms were said to be lost since Guo Jing had no talented successors except the one-armed Yang Guo, who could not learn the technique because it required the use both palms. Zhang Sanfeng also said the palm techniques were lost when Zhang Wuji asked to learn the 'Kang Long You Hui' properly. Later, we see the Elder for Martial Arts Instruction (Ed: 'Chuanggong Zhanglao') of the Beggars' Union, using 12 of the 18 Palms...
Ed: Since Zhang Wuji did not know the 18 Palms in the revised edition, the related paragraphs were deleted.
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