Han Guo Ba You

The Eight Friends of HanGu are eight former disciples of Su XingHe who preserve their bond with him and with one another despite expulsion from their sect. Their story turns on the contrast between outwardly eccentric pursuits and a serious shared inheritance: they remain loyal to their master, keep apart to avoid being destroyed together by Ding ChunQiu, and reunite when danger arrives before their next planned meeting.

Identity and Background

The eight are fellow apprentices who trained under Su XingHe at HanGu Pass. After their expulsion, they adopted the name Eight Friends of HanGu to commemorate the place where their master taught them. Their common origin is not generally known; outsiders are more familiar with their individual eccentricities than with their shared school or history.

Their abilities and interests are varied. Feng ASan was already a skilled carpenter before entering Su XingHe’s tutelage and became more capable under him. Shi QingFeng cultivates exotic flowers and rare herbs; pollen from her flowers can also account for a substance that makes people dizzy without being poison. Li KuiLei is devoted to opera and has neglected martial arts through that passion. Xue MuHua likewise admits that he pursued other people’s distinctive techniques instead of concentrating on the martial arts his master taught him, which he doubts he can ever master in his lifetime. Their different pursuits make the group feel less like a uniform martial order than a collection of highly individual lives joined by apprenticeship.

Separation and the Two-Year Meeting

The Friends were expelled from their sect, but separation did not erase their gratitude or respect for Su XingHe. To guard against Ding ChunQiu returning to the Central Plains and killing them all at once, they ordinarily live far apart and meet only once every two years. The arrangement is a practical answer to a particular threat: their shared identity gives them solidarity, but it also makes them vulnerable if an enemy can find them together.

Their reunion is therefore both a source of strength and a risk. When Xue MuHua’s old servant mistakes visitors for enemies and sets off a signal firework, it brings the Friends together before the scheduled meeting. Feng ASan made the fireworks; each of the eight has a distinct signal, and one can illuminate the sky for several li. Xue MuHua calls the result fortunate because the Friends can assemble in an emergency, yet dangerous because Ding ChunQiu could use the gathering to attack them all at once. Their custom does not eliminate the danger of their bond; it manages the cost of making that bond visible.

Loyalty to Su XingHe

The Friends’ relationship with Su XingHe persists even after he formally expels them. They have not seen him for years, and when they visit, he refuses to receive them. They understand that they no longer have a sect to rely on, but do not treat that loss as the end of their relationship with their master. Fan BaiLing expresses the principle that a master-disciple bond lasts for life, while Xue MuHua makes clear that he will treat a patient only on the instructions of Su XingHe. For the Friends, loyalty is not contingent on access, status, or continued formal membership.

Their position is put to a direct test when Ding ChunQiu asks whether they still consider Su XingHe their master. They understand that affirming the relationship could cost them their lives, but seven of them answer together that expulsion has not changed their enduring bond with him. Shi QingFeng is seriously injured and remains behind in the cave, so she is not among those who go out to face him. The seven who do answer make their allegiance public rather than preserving themselves through denial. Their response gives concrete form to the group’s identity: its defining tie is not merely a shared past, but a loyalty they continue to choose under threat.

Conflict and Narrative Significance

The Friends’ opposition to Ding ChunQiu stems from his betrayal of their master and the rupture that left them without a sect. When the confrontation becomes unavoidable, Feng ASan proposes that they go out together by the original path and surprise their enemy. The Friends agree. XuanNan also decides to take part, explaining that Shaolin intervenes in Central Plains martial affairs and that the death of his martial brother XuanTong, caused by poison from a Xingxiu disciple, gives Shaolin a direct grievance against the Xingxiu Sect.

The Friends’ distinct temperaments remain visible even as they prepare to fight. Feng ASan suggests that the injured Bao BuTong and Feng BoE stay in the cave, but Bao BuTong rejects the idea, insisting that serious injury will only give them greater energy once fighting begins. His defiance is characteristic of the group’s irreverent humor, but it does not change the practical fact that the Friends are entering a dangerous confrontation with a powerful enemy.

When the battle comes, the Friends are among those defeated by Ding ChunQiu and You TanZhi. GongYe Gan and Fan BaiLing are overcome by You TanZhi’s frost-poison palm, while other members continue fighting Ding ChunQiu’s disciples. Xue MuHua is left uninjured, in part because the Xingxiu disciples evade his attacks rather than engage him. The defeat shows the limits of their solidarity: their loyalty brings them together and gives them a reason to resist, but it cannot by itself overcome the force arrayed against them. Their role in the story is thus defined by the tension between vulnerability and fidelity—their sect may be gone, their meeting pattern may expose them, and their opponents may prevail, yet their chosen bond with Su XingHe remains intact.