The most famous Kungfu Novel in China: Other tales of the Flying Fox
By admin on 2014-12-26

Other Tales of the Flying Fox (飞狐外传) is a Wuxia novel by Louis Cha, who is better known as Jin Yong. Its title is also translated as Young Flying Fox in English. The first publication of the story appeared in 1960 in a magazine called Wuxia and History.

The storyline of Other Tales of the Flying Fox precedes that of Flying Fox of Snowy Mountain, although it was written one year after its literary predecessor. The storyline is based on the adventures of the young hero Hu Fei (胡斐).

 Plot summary
The story begins with the death of the great hero Hu Yidao of Liaodong. His son Hu Fei is raised by Ping A'si and inherits the Hu Family's martial arts manuals and masters the skills, becoming a powerful pugilist. Hu Fei embarks on his adventures around the land. He encounters a local tyrant named Feng Tiannan and wants to kill him to deliver justice for Feng's victims. He meets a young maiden named Yuan Ziyi, who shows signs of affection towards him. She stops him from killing Feng Tiannan time and time again when Hu Fei is close to killing Feng.

Based on his foster father Ping A'si's words, Hu Fei believes that Miao Renfeng, a renowned hero who has past dealings with his father, is responsible for his father's death. Hu Fei sets forth to hunt down and kill Miao Renfeng after hearing the truth from Miao himself. Unexpectedly, he meets Miao, but refrains from killing him, as Miao had been tricked by an enemy and is temporarily blinded by a deadly poison. Hu Fei is impressed with Miao's sense of righteousness and suspects whether Miao is truly responsible for his father's death. Hu Fei decides to help Miao Renfeng and journeys to find a cure for Miao. He meets Cheng Lingsu, the disciple of the King of Venoms. She falls in love with him and agrees to help him cure Miao's eyes immediately.

After Miao has regained his eyesight, he confesses that he had indeed killed Hu Yidao unintentionally several years ago. Hu Fei is filled with anguish and grief upon hearing the truth from Miao Renfeng and he leaves with Cheng Lingsu. They set forth on their new adventure again, which leads them to an election for the leader of the Wulin, hosted by the powerful military commander Fu Kang'an. It is in fact part of Fu Kang'an's evil plans to cause turmoil in the Wulin, by instigating the various sects and pugilists to fight each other for the position of leader. Hu Fei and Cheng Lingsu disguise themselves and participate in the election as well. With help from Yuan Ziyi, the trio use their combined efforts to disrupt the meeting and expose Fu Kang'an's evil plans to make all pugilists in the Wulin fight against each other.

They are attacked by enemies and Hu Fei is poisoned while trying to shield Cheng Lingsu with his body. Cheng Lingsu loses her life trying to rescue Hu Fei. Hu Fei is deeply saddened by the tragic loss of his love Cheng Lingsu and blames himself for her death. After Cheng Lingsu's funeral, he meets Yuan Ziyi again, who tells him the truth that she had already taken the tonsure as a nun since childhood and cannot stay with Hu Fei although she loves him or she will violate the Buddhist code of chastity. She places her palms together and recites a silent prayer for Hu Fei before leaving.