The little-known and controversial origin of Cuu Duong Than Cong

Anyone who has ever read a swordplay novel can probably name the two most powerful martial arts in the world of Kim Dung. That’s right, it’s nothing but “Nine Yin and Nine Yang”. If “Nine Yin” appeared quite early and was present throughout the trilogy of “Condor Condor Tam Bo Khuc”, “Cuu Duong” only officially “appeared” in Ỷ Thien Do Long Ky. Appearing late and rarely, but with the art of ingenious story telling, Kim Dung quickly made “Cuu Duong Than Cong” become the most powerful internal martial art in his novels in particular, and even novels. martial arts theory in general.

Cuu Duong Than Cong has a total of 3 origins, edited by Kim Dung over many periods, and clearly shows the change in the author’s own thought. Because of that, many inevitable conflicts will occur between readers of the old and new series. So, what is the true origin of the Cuu Duong Than Cong? Let’s find out together.

In the beginning, both sets of the world-class martial arts Cuu Yin – Cuu Duong had “copyright” belonging to Dat Ma. Because both were composed by the same person, these two sets of martial arts were then “supporting each other, interacting with each other, not distinguishing between high and low”. However, Cuu Duong focuses on protecting himself, while Cuu Yin favors overcoming the enemy and conquering. Therefore, in terms of profound internal strength, Cuu Duong is clearly superior by one level, and in terms of subtle moves, Cuu Yin is slightly better.

In the second version of the original source, which is also the most popular and widely accepted version, the “copyright” of these two canon has been separated. Nine Yin is now identified as being composed by Hoang Thuong, while Cuu Duong is said to belong to Dat Ma Patriarch. And because it is not the same author, the reciprocity between the two canon has also been lost.

Not only that, also in this version, Kim Dung used the words of Truong Tam Phong (at that time Truong Quan Bao) to… rob the copyright of Cuu Duong’s compositions from Dat Ma. That word roughly says that Dat Ma Patriarch is Thien Truc, even knowing Chinese can’t write quintessential words like in Cuu Duong Than Cong. Truong Quan Bao then also guessed that perhaps this set of scriptures was because the Shaolin monk borrowed the name Dat Ma to write in the Tomb of the Old Testament.

In the final version, which is also the most recent edit (and is opposed by many people), the origin of Cuu Duong is changed once again. In order to connect the Nine Yins and the Nine Yangs, Kim Dung turned Cuu Duong into a “post-birth”, a product born of a Shaolin monk who won over Wang Chongyang when he fought with alcohol, borrowed the reading of the Nine Yin and then combined it with ” profound Buddhist studies” and wrote it down. Some people even think that this high monk is Xu Truc, who possesses the Little Wu General Cong that has many similarities with the Cuu Duong Than Cong. However, this is just an unfounded speculation by readers, and not many people agree with it.

In short, the copyright of Cuu Duong Than Cong has been changed 3 times. Reason? Perhaps partly because Kim Dung gradually believed in Taoism in his old age, so he turned the original Buddhist martial art (the Nine Yin in the first version) into a Daoist martial art. Another part is because readers feel that both of Kim Dung’s two most profound martial arts are “foreign”, not orthodox Chinese martial arts, so they write a letter of protest to the editorial office. Kim Dung must also feel this problem, so he edited it to please the reader.