Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils Chapter 1 – Part 5

“Didn’t you say that they only needed to gather some waternut herb, boil it into a thick soup and drink it as an antidote?” The girl laughed. “I lied. If not, would they have let us leave?”

“You wait for a moment. I’ll go and tell him,” Duan Yu replied in alarm. The girl held him and chided, “Idiot. If you told him, would they let us live? My marten may be powerful but if they were to attack together, how would I be able to hold them off? You said that since we shared melon seeds, we will face the blade together. I definitely can’t abandon you and escape on my own.”

He scratched his head. “Then give him some antidote.”

The girl sighed. “You are such a sentimental person. You were hit and yet you are still so kind.”Duan Yu touched his face. “I was hit once and it’s no longer painful. Why harp over it? It’s a pity that the person who hit me died instead. Mencius says, ‘A compassionate heart is the sign of humanity.’ Buddha says, ‘Saving one life surpasses the seventh level of enlightenment.’ Although their shifu Zuo Zimu is ruthless, he was rather courteous when talking to you. Even though he had grown such a long beard,¹ he still referred to himself lowly² even though he spoke to a young lady like you.”

The girl giggled. “I was sitting on the beam. He was on the ground so naturally he was the one who was below. You are putting in a good word so that I would give him the antidote. But I really don’t have it. Only Father has the antidote. Moreover, those people from Wuliang Sword School will be exterminated by the Shennong Guild shortly. By the time I ask for the antidote from Father, that man’s head would not longer be on his neck. So it wouldn’t matter whether there was the corpse was poisoned or not, would it?”

Duan Yu shook his head and decided to stop pursuing the matter on the antidote. The luminous moon had just risen and it shone on her pale face that was tinged with red, making her appear even more charming. “You couldn’t tell the bearded old man your esteemed name.³ Could you tell me?”

The girl laughed. “What esteemed name? My surname is Zhong. Father and Mother call me Ling’er. I have a surname but not a big name.⁴ Only a small name.⁵ Let’s go sit on that slope over there. Tell me what you are doing here on Wuliang Shan.”

They walked side by side towards the mountain slope on the the north-western face. Duan Yu spoke as he walked, “I escaped from home to wander around. When I reached Pu’er, I ran out of money. Then I heard people saying that Uncle Mawu De is very hospitable, so I went to his home to live off him. He was about to come to Wuliang Shan. I’ve heard of the tranquillity and the scenery of Wuliang Shan, hence I followed him for a scenic tour of the mountain.”

Zhong Ling⁶ nodded and then asked, “Why did you escape from home?”

“Father wants me to learn martial arts, but I refused. He kept forcing me so I had to run away.”

Zhong Ling stared at him wide-eyed and looked at him from top to toe, her curiosity piqued. “Why won’t you learn martial arts? Are you afraid of hardship?”

“It’s not because I’m afraid of hardship. I just couldn’t sort my thoughts, so I disobeyed Father. Father became angry, then he started quarrelling with Mother again…”

Zhong Ling smiled. “Your mother always defends you and argues with your father, right?”

“That’s right.”

“My mother is the same.” Zhong Ling sighed. She let her gaze drift to the distant west and became lost in thought for a while. Then she asked, “What were the thoughts you couldn’t sort out?”

“I grew up under the teachings of Buddha. Father hired a tutor to make me study the Four Books and Five Classics,⁷ poetry and music. He also hired a distinguished monk to teach me about the Buddisht Scripture. For the past ten over years, I’ve been taught the Confucian way of having good morals and helping others selflessly, and studied the Buddhist teaching to be benevolent and to abstain from violence and anger. Father suddenly wants to teach me how to fight, and to learn how to assault and to kill. Naturally, I couldn’t accept it. Father debated with me for three consecutive days but I was not convinced. He recited many quotes from the Buddist Scripture wrongly. His interpretations of the phrases were incorrect as well.”

“So your father got angry and gave you a good beating, right?”

Duan Yu shook his head. “Father did not beat me. He simply reached out and tapped two of my acupoints. Suddenly, I felt as though there were millions of ants biting me all over my body and it was as if many mosquitoes were sucking my blood at the same time. Father said, ‘How do you like this? I’m your father so I would unblock your acupoints in a while. But if you encounter an enemy, you would have to endure the torment. You could try to commit suicide though.’ After he sealed my acupoints, I couldn’t even lift a finger, not to mention suicide. Moreover, I’m enjoying my life so why would I want to kill myself? Later, Mother started quarrelling with Father and he unsealed my acupoints. I secretly ran away the next day.”

Zhong Ling was listening quietly. Then she exclaimed, “Your father actually knows how to seal acupoints and to inflict numbness and itchiness. That’s the top acupoint sealing gongfu in the world. He just need to jab you at some place on your body and you would be immobilised and feeling numb and itchy all over, right?”

“Yeah. What’s strange about that?”The expression on Zhong Ling’s face was one of pure disbelief. “You asked what’s strange about that? You actually asked what’s so strange? If anyone in the wulin is given the chance to learn a little of your father’s acupoint sealing gongfu, he would willingly kowtow ten thousand times and beg for ten to twenty years for it. Yet you refuse to learn. That’s indeed very strange.”

“I think this acupoint sealing gongfu is no big deal.”Zhong Ling sighed a few times. “You mustn’t say that. And it’s important that you don’t let anyone know.”

“Why?” Duan Yu enquired curiously.

“You don’t practice martial arts that’s why you don’t know about all the bad things in the jianghu. The acupoint sealing gongfu of the Duan family is peerless. It’s called the One Yang Finger.⁸ People from the wulin would drool upon hearing the words One Yang Finger. They would be so envious that they wouldn’t be able to sleep for ten days and ten nights. If someone were to discover that your father knows this gongfu, there might be some evil persons who would kidnap you and to demand your father to use the instruction manual of One Yang Finger to exchange for you. What would happen then?”

Duan Yu heard his parents mention that his father’s skill was indeed One Yang Finger. Duan Yu scratched his head and said, “Father would be angry and give that person a good fight.”

“That’s right. Others won’t dare to pit themselves against the Duan family. However, it’s hard to say if it is for the sake of the manual of One Yang Finger. Moreover, if you were in the hands of those people, it would complicate the situation. How about this, from now on, don’t tell others that your surname is Duan.”

“There are tens of thousands of people in the Dali Kingdom who have the surname Duan. Yet you don’t see everyone using One Yang Finger. If my surname is not Duan, then what surname do you want me to use?”

Zhong Ling smiled. “Then you just use my surname for the time being!”

Duan Yu smiled. “That sounds good. If that’s the case, you would have to call me big brother. How old are you?”

“Sixteen! You?”

“I’m three years older than you,” Duan Yu said.

Zhong Ling plucked a blade of grass and tore it bit by bit. Then she shook her head. “I really can’t believe that you actually don’t want to learn the Yiyang Finger. You are lying, right?”

Duan Yu laughed. “You make the Yiyang Finger sound so amazing but can it really be used to make a living? I think your Lightning Marten is more powerful. But it can kill so swiftly with its bite, so I don’t like it.”

“If Lightning Marten couldn’t kill quickly with a bite, wouldn’t it be useless?” The girl sighed.”You are a young girl, why do you keep thinking about fighting and killing people?”

“Do you really not know or are you pretending?”

“What?” Duan Yu asked curiously. Zhong Ling pointed to the east. “Look!”

Duan Yu’s gaze followed the direction she was pointing. Streaks of dark smoke billowed from the middle of the eastern face of the mountain. There were about ten over clusters of smoke. He was not sure of what it meant. Zhong Ling said, “You might not want to fight or kill, but if others want to attack and kill you, surely you can’t show them your neck and let them kill you, can you? The black smoke is caused by the Shennong Guild’s preparation of poisons that they will be using to deal with the Wuliang Sword School later. I only hope that we can sneak out and not be involved in this.”

Duan Yu waved his fan and disapproval, “The fighting and killing in the jianghu is getting more and more out of hand. Members of Wuliang Sword School killed members of the Shennong Guild. Rong Ziju was murdered by the Shennong Guild today, and Gong Guangjie was harmed as well. An eye for an eye, so now they are even. If there are any grievances, they should bring the matter to the authorities and let the local magistrate pass judgement. How could they resort to violence so casually? Is there no law of the land in our Dali Kingdom?”

Zhong Ling clicked her tongue thrice, disdain showing on her face. “You sound like a relative of the Emperor or an official. We common folk don’t care about you.”

She looked up to check the colour of the sky to gauge the time of the day. Pointing to the south west, she said in a low voice, “We’ll wait till there’s a dark cloud blocking the moonlight, then we leave quietly from there. That way, the members of the Shennong Guild will probably not spot us.”

“No! I want to meet their guild leader to tell him explicitly not to kill so carelessly,” Duan Yu said. Zhong Ling gaze pitifully at him. “Big Brother Duan, you think too highly of yourself. The Shennong Guild is sinister and ruthless. They are experts in the use of poison. You saw for yourself how they killed the two person just now. Let’s not make any trouble and quickly leave.”

“No. I must settle this matter. If you are afraid, then wait for me here.” As he said that, he rose and walked eastward. Zhong Ling waited for him to move several yards before leaping to her feet to chase after him. Reaching out with her right hand, she seized him by the shoulder. Duan Yu heard footsteps behind him and was about to turn around, but his right shoulder was already held. Zhong Ling then hooked his leg with hers. Duan Yu lost his balance and fell forwards. His nose slammed into a rock and blood started pouring from his nose. He scrambled to his feet in a huff and demanded furiously, “Why did you pull such a prank? That was a painful tumble.”

Footnotes

1. 长须 – Cháng xū. A long beard. ↩

2. 在下 – Zàixià. There are several ways to refer to oneself other than using “I”. These are usually used to show superiority or respect for elderly and superior persons. Zuo Zimu used the term “Zaixia” (在下) which literally means the lower one or the one who is below. It is used to express humility. ↩

3. 尊姓大名 – zūnxìng dàmíng. It literally means honoured surname and big name. ↩

4. 大名 – Dàmíng. Literally big name. A proper name, as opposed to a milk name. It is referred to as a big name to differentiate it from a small name. ↩

5. 小名 – Xiǎomíng. Literally small name. A milk name given to babies, oftened retained as a familial nickname. See Wikipedia. ↩

6. 钟灵 – Zhōng Líng. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

7. 四书五经 – Sìshū wǔjīng. The Four Books and Five Classics are authoritative and important books on Confucianism that scholars were expected to study. See Wikipedia. ↩

8. 一阳指 – Yìyáng zhǐ. Literally one-yang finger. A martial art of the Duan family. ↩