The Return of the Condor Heroes, also called The Giant Eagle and Its Companion, is a wuxia novel by Jin Yong (Louis Cha). It is the second part of the Condor Trilogy and was preceded by The Legend of the Condor Heroes and followed by The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber. It was first serialised between 20 May 1959 and 5 July 1961 in the Hong Kong newspaper Ming Pao. The story revolves around the protagonist, Yang Guo, and his lover and martial arts master, Xiaolongnü, in their adventures in the jianghu (also called the wulin, the community of martial artists), where love between master and apprentice is seen as taboo. Jin Yong revised the novel in 1970 and again in 2004. There are 40 chapters in the second and third revisions. Each chapter has a title composed of four Chinese characters. Most of the revisions are either clarifications or minor alterations of character motivations or names. The Chinese title of the novel approximately translates to The Heroic Couple of the Godly Condor. Plot The protagonist, Yang Guo, is the orphaned son of Yang Kang, the antagonist in the previous novel. The couple Guo Jing and Huang Rong take care of Yang Guo for a short period of time before sending him to the Quanzhen School on Mount Zhongnan for better guidance in moral values and "orthodox" martial arts. In Quanzhen, Yang Guo is often picked on and bullied by his fellow students, and discriminated against by his master, Zhao Zhijing. Yang Guo flees from Quanzhen and ventures unknowingly into the nearby Tomb of the Living Dead, where the Ancient Tomb School is based. There, he meets Xiaolongnü, a mysterious maiden of unknown origin, and becomes her apprentice. They live together in the tomb for many years until Yang Guo grows up. Yang Guo and Xiaolongnü develop romantic feelings for each other, but their romance is forbidden by the prevailing norms of the wulin (martial artists' community). Throughout the story, their love meets with several tests, such as the misunderstandings that threaten to tear them apart, and their encounter with Gongsun Zhi, whom Xiaolongnü almost marries at one point. Finally, after their reunion and marriage, Xiaolongnü leaves Yang Guo again, owing to her belief she cannot recover from a fatal poison and promises to meet him again 16 years later, to prevent him from committing suicide. While Yang Guo is