Flying Fox of the Snowy Mountain Chapter 1 – Part 2

Cao Yunqi thought to himself, *Shishu wants me to strike the man on the eastern flank, but I'll use my poisoned awls to finish off that little thief Tao Zian first. That avenges the deep wrong done to our shimen and pulls the thorn from my eye. Otherwise, if we take him alive, the night grows long and dreams multiply. Who knows what new mischief Shimei will dream up?* His plan set, he crept closer. The enemy was fewer than fifty paces away. He lowered his body, eyes fixed on the rise and fall of Tao Zian's back, waiting for Ruan Shizhong's hand to fall. The moment the signal came, his three darts would fly.

Clang! Tao Zian’s steel pick struck something iron buried in the earth. Ruan Shizhong raised his left hand high, about to bring it down, when a sharp hiss-hiss-hiss cut through the air. Seven or eight hidden weapons¹ burst from the snow to the side, streaking toward all five of the diggers.

The projectiles came from beneath the ground without the slightest warning, striking from nowhere in a manner too strange to credit. The Tao father and son were skilled fighters, and though the weapons had been launched from close range in a most unexpected fashion, their eyes were sharp and their hands quick. Each raised his hoe or spade and beat the darts from the air. Of the three lookouts, one threw himself flat on his back and rolled into a ravine. Two sleeve-arrows passed scraping over his head and neck, and he escaped by a hair’s breadth. The other two never so much as cried out. A steel dart and a flying knife each found the centre of their backs. They fell face-first into the snow and did not move again.

The change came so swiftly that the Tao father and son were as stunned as Ruan Shizhong and his group.

Tao Zian’s father, “Terror of Guandong”² Tao Baisui,³ cursed, “Rats! You dare ambush from the dark!” His voice rolled like thunder conjured from a clear sky, fierce and overwhelming. Beside him the snow flashed with the gleam of steel, and four figures rose from the earth.

The four had long known the Tao father and son would come to this spot. They had dug pits beneath the snow, covered them with branches, and let the powder blanket everything. Only a few small holes were left for air. How was any passer-by to know?

The Tao pair flung aside hoe and spade and snatched their weapons from their belts. Tao Baisui wielded a steel whip weighing sixteen jin.⁴ Tao Zian carried a single-edged dao.⁵ The Stockade Chief Ma, who had tumbled into the ravine, rolled several times to escape pursuit, then sprang to his feet with a pair of chain-hammers⁶ in his grip.

Their leader was a lean, dark-faced man. Tao Baisui recognised him at once: Xiong Yuanxian,⁷ Escort Chief of the Pingtong Armed Escort⁸ in Beijing, a man who had mastered Ground Tumbling Dao.⁹ The Yinma Creek Stockade¹⁰ had once robbed a great convoy of his, and try as he might, Xiong Yuanxian had never recovered the goods. The grudge between them ran deep. Beside him stood a woman of some thirty-two or thirty-three years. The Stockade Chief Ma knew her for Zheng Sanniang of the Twin Dao.¹¹ Her husband had been an escort captain¹² in the Pingtong Armed Escort, killed by dao-wounds when the convoy was robbed at Yinma Creek. The remaining two were a burly monk wielding a monk’s dao¹³ and a purple-faced man who fought with a pair of iron crutches.¹⁴ Both were strangers. They must be fighters Xiong Yuanxian had recruited to settle old scores.

Tao Baisui sneered, “I wondered who it might be. So it is a man I have beaten before. Apart from that rat Xiong, no one in the wulin¹⁵ is low enough for such cowardly tricks.” Though the words were aimed at Xiong Yuanxian, Yin Ji felt his face warm all the same. He glanced sideways at Ruan Shizhong, but the man’s eyes were fixed on the two parties below, and he seemed not to have heard a word.

Xiong Yuanxian spoke in a soft, careful voice, “Stockade Chief Tao, allow me to make some introductions. This is Great Master Jingzhi¹⁶ of the Baihui Monastery in Shandong. And this is Lord Liu Yuanhe,¹⁷ First-Rank Imperial Guard in the capital. He is my tongmen shixiong.¹⁸ Do get acquainted.” Tao Baisui was a mountain of a man, his voice like thunder. Xiong Yuanxian was his opposite in every way: one all vigour, the other all restraint. The two seemed born to be foils. Tao Baisui barked, “Fine, then. Come on, all of you. Let’s get acquainted on the edge of a blade.” His steel whip whistled through the air in a practice swing. The wind it raised told of terrifying strength. Xiong Yuanxian did not flinch. “This humble one is a defeated man of the Stockade Chief’s. I dare not trade blows. I have come only to ask for a certain object.” Tao Baisui growled, “What?” Xiong Yuanxian pointed to the hole the Taos had been digging. “What lies in there.”

Tao Baisui stroked his grey-white beard. Without another word, he lashed the whip straight at Xiong Yuanxian’s face. Xiong Yuanxian sidestepped and called, “Hold your strike!” Tao Baisui barked, “What more is there to say?” Xiong Yuanxian said, “This humble one has waited here three days and three nights for the Stockade Chief. Were it not out of respect for father and son, I would have taken the thing long since. What lies buried here never belonged to Yinma Creek. It has been kept under the Tianlong School’s care. A change of hands now is not unjust.” Tao Zian said, “Escort Chief Xiong speaks prettily. This snowy mountain is a thousand li of ice. If you knew where it lay, why hadn’t you taken it long ago?”

Zheng Sanniang, burning to avenge her husband’s death, cried, “Enough talk. Fight!” Before the words had left her mouth, three flying knives flew shua-shua-shua at the Stockade Chief Ma. Ma’s chain-hammers rose and beat down two. The third came fiercer still, driving straight at his chest. He stretched the chain between his hammers taut across his breast, and the flying knife struck the iron links and fell. His left hammer drew back while his right smashed towards her face. Zheng Sanniang was light on her feet. She ducked low, her paired dao sweeping in a single move called Whirlwind Force, and drove straight into his guard. Ma’s left hammer flew out to meet the strike.

The two engaged, and at once the monk swung his monk’s dao at Tao Baisui. The Terror of Guandong did not dodge but charged to meet him. Dao and whip met with a crash that threw off a shower of sparks. The monk’s arms went numb, and a chip flew from his blade. Tao Zian dashed towards Xiong Yuanxian. The six fighters split into three pairs, their lives staked on the snow. Liu Yuanhe stood to one side, iron crutches in hand, watching. When he saw the monk could not match Tao Baisui, he called, “Great Master Jingzhi, step aside. Let me face the Terror of Guandong.” The monk would not yield. Liu Yuanhe took one step forward and drove his shoulder hard into Jingzhi’s. The monk lost his footing and stumbled three paces. He broke into a string of curses, “Curse your ancestors! You shoved me!” Before he could finish, a blade whistled past his skull. He ducked just in time. It was Tao Zian, seizing the moment to cut at him while he was off-balance. Jingzhi broke into a cold sweat. Fury and alarm together, he raised his dao and joined Xiong Yuanxian in attacking Tao Zian.

Liu Yuanhe’s skill was far beyond his shidi’s. Tao Baisui’s iron whip swept in a great arc, and Liu Yuanhe met it blow for blow. He planted his iron crutch upright. Steel struck steel with a ringing crash. Liu Yuanhe did not so much as flinch. His right crutch dipped a fraction, trapping the whip’s shaft, while his left came down at Tao Baisui’s head. After a handful of exchanges, Tao Baisui knew he faced a formidable enemy. He rallied his spirit and unleashed the Six Harmonies Whip Technique,¹⁹ his single weapon against the paired crutches in a fierce and relentless assault.

As time passed, Liu Yuanhe drew gradually ahead. Tao Baisui was pressed to defend, his counter-attacks few. Tao Zian, fighting two opponents at once, was harder-pressed still. His only hope, he thought, was that the Stockade Chief Ma would strike down Zheng Sanniang quickly and take over Xiong Yuanxian, leaving him free to kill the monk. But Zheng Sanniang had read the battle as well. So long as she held out, the Tao father and son must fall one after the other. She gave up attack entirely. Her paired dao formed a guard so tight that the Stockade Chief Ma’s hammers rained down like a tempest and could find no way through. Several dozen exchanges passed, and though Zheng Sanniang was, after all, but a woman, her strength began to fail. She gave ground with every move. Ma stepped forward in pursuit. Suddenly Zheng Sanniang’s left blade wavered, exposing a great gap in her defence. Ma lunged forward in delight, raising his hammer to strike. All at once his right foot found nothing beneath it. He had stepped on the edge of the earth pit Xiong Yuanxian’s party had hidden in earlier. The pit was still mostly buried under the snow, and in the heat of combat he had not noticed. Zheng Sanniang had lured him here on purpose. His foot missed its footing and he pitched forward. His heart sank. He tried to leap clear, but Zheng Sanniang’s right dao came down fast and sheared off his left shoulder.

Ma bellowed in agony and crumpled into unconsciousness. Zheng Sanniang’s right hand followed through and cut him down in the pit. Tao Zian heard the cry and knew things had gone badly wrong, but Xiong Yuanxian and the monk pressed him from both sides. He could scarcely save himself, let alone lend aid. Zheng Sanniang drew several breaths, smoothed her hair, and bound a white cloth around her head. Then she raised her paired dao and joined the assault on Tao Baisui. Tao Baisui had always been known for the raw power of his strikes, but he was old now, and his strength was not what it had been. Against Liu Yuanhe alone he was already hard-pressed, and with Zheng Sanniang darting in from the flank, the danger redoubled with every moment.

The fight reached its height. Liu Yuanhe cried, “Take this!” His iron crutches fell in a move called Dragon Soars, Phoenix Dances. Tao Baisui raised his whip to block, only to find Zheng Sanniang’s paired dao circling in from another angle, both blades arriving at once. His whip could not ward off four weapons. He roared and kicked Zheng Sanniang sprawling with his left foot, but her blade caught him under the ribs. Blood welled at once and dyed the snow crimson. Yet he fought on without a flicker of fear.

Tao Zian saw how dire his father’s situation had become. He drove three swift cuts at the monk, forcing Jingzhi back two paces, then leapt away and called, “Enough! We yield. Do you want the treasure, or our lives?” Zheng Sanniang pressed her attack on Tao Baisui without pause, crying, “Both!” Xiong Yuanxian, however, had his own calculations. He had lost a great convoy the year before and paid out until he was near ruin. Better, he thought, to let Yinma Creek ransom the father and son with gold and silver than to kill them outright. “Everyone, hold!” he called. “I have something to say.”

Liu Yuanhe was a careful man, and Zheng Sanniang always deferred to her Escort Chief. At his words, both sprang aside. But the monk Jingzhi was a reckless fellow. The fight had roused him, and he would have no part of stopping. His monk’s dao whirled like a windmill, driving straight at Tao Zian. Xiong Yuanxian called again and again, “Great Master Jingzhi! Great Master Jingzhi!” Jingzhi might have been deaf. Tao Zian gave a cold laugh, flung his dao to the ground, and bared his chest. “You dare kill me?”

Jingzhi raised his dao for a crushing blow. Then he saw the young man standing unarmed and unafraid, and something in him hesitated. The dao hung in the air, frozen. Tao Zian cursed, “Bald thief!” and punched him square in the nose. Jingzhi, taken wholly by surprise, stumbled backwards and fell sitting in the snow. He touched his face. His hand came away covered in blood. How could that not enrage him? He scrambled to his feet with a roar of fury, cursing as he lunged at Tao Zian. Xiong Yuanxian threw out an arm and held him fast. “Hold!”

Tao Zian leapt into the pit, swung the steel hoe several times, then flung it aside. He lifted out a rectangular iron box some two feet long and sprang back up. Liu Yuanhe and the others showed their pleasure and stepped towards him.

Ruan Shizhong murmured to Yin Ji, “Yin shixiong, you and Yunqi launch your darts. I’ll take the treasure.” Yin Ji murmured back, “Which side do we strike?” Ruan Shizhong curved the three middle fingers of his left hand and extended his thumb and little finger, forming the character for six. The meaning was plain: strike all six. Yin Ji thought, Ruthless indeed. He nodded and drew his poisoned awls tight in his grip. He glanced sideways at Cao Yunqi and saw the young man’s eyes fixed on Tao Zian. Throughout the whole affair, those eyes had never left him for an instant.

Tao Zian held the iron box high and said in a clear voice, “Today my father and I have fallen into a trap. This wulin treasure, heh heh, we naturally surrender with both hands. But there is one matter I do not understand, and I should like to ask.” Xiong Yuanxian narrowed his small eyes. “What does the Young Stockade Chief wish to know?” Tao Zian said, “How did you know this iron box was buried here? And how did you know we would come to dig it up these past few days?” Xiong Yuanxian said, “Since the Young Stockade Chief wishes to know, there is no harm in telling. When the former zhangmen²⁰ of the Tianlong School sheathed his jian and held the great banquet, the Young Stockade Chief was surely in attendance? You are the Tian family’s son-in-law, after all.” Tao Zian nodded. Xiong Yuanxian pointed at Liu Yuanhe. “My shixiong here was also a guest that day. Only the Young Stockade Chief, young and full of spirit, did not deign to notice him.” Tao Zian laughed coldly, “Ha! My father-in-law hosts honoured guests, and it turns out he’s invited a spy.”

Xiong Yuanxian did not take offence. His voice remained soft and measured, “You overstate things. My shixiong had long heard of the Young Stockade Chief’s fame and could not help but keep his eyes open. That was only because the renown of Yinma Creek reaches far. That day, the Stockade Chief’s every move remained within my shixiong’s sight.” Tao Zian said, “Splendid, splendid! Then the chest ought to be presented to Lord Liu.” He stretched out both hands and offered the iron box forward.

Liu Yuanhe’s brow did not lift, his face did not shift. He reached out to take it. Tao Zian pressed a catch at the edge of the chest. Thwip-thwip-thwip. Three short arrows shot from within, flying straight at Liu Yuanhe’s chest. The two stood less than three feet apart. How could he dodge in time?

In desperation, Liu Yuanhe seized Jingzhi and dragged him in front as a shield. Two of the arrows buried themselves in the monk’s throat. Jingzhi died on the spot. The third arrow veered wide and struck Xiong Yuanxian in the left shoulder, burying itself to the feathers. The wound was no light one.

This change was more startling still than Xiong Yuanxian’s own ambush. Tian Qingwen²¹ could not help crying, “Ah!” Liu Yuanhe heard voices behind him. Forgetting the Tao father and son, he leapt towards a cluster of rocks, guarding his back first, then turned to look.

Ruan Shizhong shouted, “Strike!” and hurled himself down the slope. Cao Yunqi’s hand rose, and three poisoned awls flew straight at Tao Zian. Tian Qingwen had read his intention. The instant his hand rose, she drove her shoulder hard into his left side. Cao Yunqi lurched. “What are you doing?” he snarled. His aim was thrown off. All three darts sailed wide and buried themselves in the snow.

Yin Ji’s poisoned awls had been aimed at Liu Yuanhe, but at Tian Qingwen’s cry Liu Yuanhe was instantly on guard. The man’s reactions were swift beyond the ordinary, and there was no opening to exploit. Ruan Shizhong cried, “The treasure returns to its rightful owner!” His left hand curved like a claw, raking at Tao Zian’s eyes, while his right fingers closed on the edge of the iron box.

Liu Yuanhe planted his iron crutch and engaged Yin Ji’s jian. The two had met once before, at Tian Guinong’s banquet, and each knew the other for a renowned fighter. Several exchanges passed, and each was privately shaken.

Zhou Yunyang²² darted forward with his jian towards Xiong Yuanxian. Tian Qingwen’s single jian met Zheng Sanniang’s paired dao. Cao Yunqi’s jian flashed, but instead of engaging Tao Baisui, who stood idle to one side, he drove straight at Tao Zian’s chest. His move, called White Pierces the Sun, carried his body behind the blade. He attacked as though he would risk his life without a thought. Tao Zian had no weapon in hand. He had no choice but to release the iron box and leap backwards. Then he snatched up his dao from the ground and turned to fight for it. Ruan Shizhong clutched the chest under one arm, his face dark. “So it’s you who killed your father-in-law with a hidden arrow! You wanted the Tianlong School’s treasure for yourself!” Tao Zian cried, “Who says I killed my father-in-law?” He attacked fiercely, desperate to reclaim the chest.

But once the iron box passed into the hands of “Seven-Star Hand”²³ Ruan Shizhong, never mind Cao Yunqi at his side with jian in hand, Ruan Shizhong’s bare hands alone would have kept Tao Zian from ever taking it back. Tao Baisui called, “You surnamed Ruan! This iron box was handed to my son by my in-law Tian himself. Are you refusing to accept it, or what?” He swung his whip at Ruan Shizhong’s head. Ruan Shizhong leapt a good ten feet and landed beside Tian Qingwen. He raised the chest towards Zheng Sanniang. Zheng Sanniang, who had seen the hidden weapons burst from the chest moments before, ducked in fear of another volley. But Ruan Shizhong was making a feint. He waited for Tian Qingwen to break clear of her opponent, then passed the chest to her. “Guard the chest. Let me deal with the enemy.”

His hands free at last, he turned to face Tao Baisui. The foremost fighter of the Tianlong School’s Northern Branch lived up to his reputation. Tao Baisui’s whip was heavy and fierce, yet Ruan Shizhong’s bare palms drove him back step by step. Xiong Yuanxian, his shoulder still pierced by the arrow, was pinned by Zhou Yunyang’s jian and could not free a hand to pull it out. Every exertion sent pain lancing through half his body. Only Liu Yuanhe and Yin Ji fought to a stand-off.

Tian Qingwen clutched the iron box and activated her qinggong,²⁴ sprinting hard towards the north-west. Tao Zian raised his dao and brought it down at Cao Yunqi in a great cleaving strike. Cao Yunqi raised his jian to guard, but the blow never fell. Tao Zian spun away and dashed after Tian Qingwen. Cao Yunqi, furious, gave chase. He had run fewer than a dozen paces when a pair of dao slashed in from the side. Zheng Sanniang had cut him off. Cao Yunqi, frantic, pressed with dangerous techniques. Zheng Sanniang’s skill was modest, but she had mastered a defensive dao form called the Iron Gate Bolt,²⁵ and once its thirty-six moves were underway, no opponent, however superior, could break through easily. Cao Yunqi shifted through three sword forms and could not get past her.

Tian Qingwen had run close on a li.²⁶ She saw Tao Zian following close behind, which was precisely what she wanted. She rounded a slope, stopped, and turned to face him. Her expression held both playfulness and reproach. “Why are you chasing me?” Tao Zian said, “Little sister, let us join forces against those treacherous dogs. Afterwards, our own affairs can be settled by talking.” Tian Qingwen said, “Who is your little sister? Why did you harm my father?” Tao Zian dropped to his knees in the snow. He pointed at Heaven and swore a great oath, “Heaven above, if I, Tao Zian, harmed the former zhangmen of the Tianlong School, may my body be pierced by ten thousand arrows and torn apart by a thousand blades!”

Tian Qingwen’s face broke into a smile. She reached out and took his arm. Her voice softened. “If it wasn’t you, then that’s all that matters. I knew all along it wasn’t you. They — they —” Tao Zian rose to his feet and took her left hand. “Little sister —” He had spoken only one word when Tian Qingwen’s expression shifted. Someone was coming. He spun round. A voice barked, “What are you two doing, skulking about?” Tian Qingwen flared, “Skulking? Watch your tongue!”

Tao Zian saw that Cao Yunqi had caught up. “Cao shixiong, you misunderstand.” Cao Yunqi’s eyes were wide with fury. “Misunderstand your mother’s —!” He thrust his jian at Tao Zian’s chest. Tao Zian raised his dao to block.

They exchanged several moves. Footsteps crunched in the snow. Zheng Sanniang came running like the wind. Cao Yunqi cursed, “Stinking bitch, won’t let up, will you?” He slashed at her with a backhand cut. Zheng Sanniang’s left dao blocked while her right returned the strike. Tao Zian called, “Zheng Sanniang, let’s tackle this oaf together. Kill him first, then we talk.”

His words were barely out of his mouth when his left hand rose in a feint and his dao swung in from the side at Cao Yunqi in a move called Removing the Beam and Replacing the Pillar. Cao Yunqi fought two opponents without the slightest fear. He meant to display his skill before the woman he loved, and his jian took unusual angles, pressing the attack instead of giving ground. Tao Zian praised, “Fine swordwork!” He dropped low in a crouch and slashed upwards at Cao Yunqi’s groin in a move called Step Forward and Strike the Groin. Zheng Sanniang expected him to raise his jian vertically to block, which would leave his upper body exposed, and drove both dao at his shoulders. But Tao Zian’s cut, halfway through its arc, twisted suddenly into a move called Retreating Horse-Chopping Dao. His wrist flipped, and the blade came down hard at Zheng Sanniang’s leg. “Down,” he said.

The move was savage beyond measure. A fighter several times stronger than Zheng Sanniang would have struggled to guard against it. How could she dodge? Her leg erupted in pain and she fell backwards. Tao Zian stepped forward and brought his dao down at her throat. With a whoosh, Cao Yunqi’s jian shot out and forced the blade aside. “Have you no shame?” Tao Zian laughed, “I was trying to help you.”

Cao Yunqi was about to curse when Liu Yuanhe, Yin Ji, Tao Baisui, Ruan Shizhong and the rest arrived in turn. All were concerned with the iron box. They had seen Tian Qingwen run off with it and did not wish to waste time fighting. Once the assault slackened, each broke free and gave chase. Tao Zian called, “Father, the Tianlong School are our allies. Don’t fight Shishu Ruan.”

Before Tao Baisui could reply, Cao Yunqi shouted, “You killed my shifu! Who’s your ally?” He slashed three swift cuts at him. Tao Zian blocked two, and the third nearly took him. He dodged desperately to the left. The blade’s edge grazed his right cheek. His face drained of colour. Then he heard Tian Qingwen cry, “Look out!” A hidden weapon flew past him. Close behind it came a faint rush of air, and a blade caught him in the backside.

It turned out that Zheng Sanniang, after being wounded, had lain in the snow, torn between hatred and regret. Yinma Creek is my husband’s killer. That little thief is treacherous by nature. How could I trust his word and drop my guard? She had seen Tao Zian retreat from Cao Yunqi’s sword and seized the chance. She rose and swung her dao at the crown of his head. Tian Qingwen’s eyes were sharp and her hand quick. She flung a poisoned awl that struck Zheng Sanniang in the right shoulder first. That one dart saved Tao Zian’s life. Zheng Sanniang’s dao had fallen short, catching only his backside.

Zheng Sanniang, struck by the poisoned awl, fell backwards again. Tao Zian cursed, “Wretched woman!” His dao left his hand, hurled straight at her chest. The throw was fierce and swift, the distance short. The blade was about to pin her to the earth when a sharp hiss cut the air. A hidden weapon flew from far away and struck the dao full on. Clang! The blade was knocked aside and plunged into the snow beside Zheng Sanniang.

Liu Yuanhe, Ruan Shizhong and the rest had been watching the iron box, some eager to seize it, some set on guarding it. At the strange sound of that projectile hissing through the air, all were startled. The hidden weapon had flown a great distance, struck with unerring aim, and carried force enough to knock the dao aside. In their shock, they all looked towards its source. An old monk with a grey-white beard approached at a brisk pace, his right hand holding a string of prayer beads.²⁷ He murmured, “Sadhu, sadhu.”²⁸ He bent, picked up the object, and threaded it back onto his string. What he had fired was, it turned out, a single prayer bead.

The string of beads seemed weighty, dark as though cast in iron. Yet this monk had flicked one small bead from several dozen feet away and knocked open a dao of eight or nine jin. His finger strength was extraordinary. In their astonishment, all could only stare. His eyes were narrow and triangular, his nose flat, his mouth crooked, his white brows hanging down. His face was mean and strange, his eyes shot through with red veins. By his looks alone, he might have been a market-place old rogue. Who would have guessed his skill was so formidable?

The monk helped Zheng Sanniang to her feet and pulled the poisoned awl from her shoulder. Black blood welled from the wound. Zheng Sanniang groaned aloud. The monk took a red pill from his robe and pressed it between her lips. Then he looked at each of the men in turn and murmured to himself, “That pill will only hold the pain for a time. The Poison Dragon Awls are the Tianlong School’s unique hidden weapon. This humble monk cannot save her.” His gaze settled on Ruan Shizhong. “This benefactor is a master of the Tianlong School, I take it. Even if you have no regard for the monk, have regard for the Buddha. Show mercy, I beg you.” He pressed his palms together and bowed.

Footnotes

1. 暗器 – ànqì. Hidden weapons — darts, needles, brushes, or any small projectile thrown or launched in secret during combat. ↩

2. 镇关东 – Zhèn Guāndōng. “Terror of Guandong.” The martial epithet of Tao Baisui. 关东, Guandong, is the land east of Shanhai Pass; 镇 is to hold a region down and overawe it. ↩

3. 陶百岁 – Táo Bǎisuì. A stockade chief of Yinma Creek Stockade. Father of Tao Zian. Known as “Terror of Guandong” for his formidable strength. ↩

4. 斤 – jīn. A unit of weight, roughly 590 grams in the Ming Dynasty. ↩

5. 刀 – dāo. A single-edged blade. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

6. 链子锤 – liànzi chuí. A paired weapon consisting of two hammer-heads connected by a length of chain. ↩

7. 熊元献 – Xióng Yuánxiàn. Escort Chief of the Pingtong Armed Escort in Beijing. A master of Ground Tumbling Dao. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

8. 镖局 – biāojú. An armed escort — a business that provides armed protection for valuable goods in transit. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

9. 地堂刀 – dìtáng dāo. Ground Tumbling Dao: a dao art fought low, with rolls, sweeps and sudden rises from the ground. ↩

10. 饮马川寨 – Yǐnmǎ Chuān Zhài. Yinma Creek Stockade, a martial arts stronghold in Liaodong, led by three stockade-chiefs. ↩

11. 郑三娘 – Zhèng Sānniáng. Known as “Zheng Sanniang of the Twin Dao” for her skill with paired dao. Her husband was an escort captain killed at Horse-watering Creek. ↩

12. 镖头 – biāotóu. An escort captain — a team leader within an armed escort. ↩

13. 戒刀 – jièdāo. A Buddhist monk’s dao, carried as part of a monk’s travelling kit. ↩

14. 铁拐 – tiěguǎi. Iron crutches — heavy iron walking-staffs wielded as weapons. ↩

15. 武林 – wǔlín. Lit. “martial forest.” The community of martial artists, distinct from the broader jianghu. ↩

16. 静智 – Jìngzhì. A burly monk from the Baihui Monastery in Shandong, addressed as Dàshī (Great Master). Allied with Xiong Yuanxian. ↩

17. 刘元鹤 – Liú Yuánhè. A First-Rank Imperial Guard in the capital and Xiong Yuanxian’s tongmen shixiong. A formidable fighter wielding iron crutches. ↩

18. 师兄 – shīxiōng. Male senior fellow-disciple apprenticed to the same shifu. Shī means teacher. Xiōng means older brother. ↩

19. 六合鞭法 – liùhé biānfǎ. The Six Harmonies Whip Technique, a comprehensive and powerful form of whip combat. ↩

20. 掌门 – zhǎngmén. The head of a martial arts school or order. ↩

21. 田青文 – Tián Qīngwén. Daughter of Tian Guinong, betrothed to Tao Zian. Nicknamed “Brocade-Furred Marten” for her beauty and quick wit. ↩

22. 周云阳 – Zhōu Yúnyáng. Nicknamed “Returning Dragon Jian.” A member of the Northern Branch of the Tianlong School; Cao Yunqi’s shidi. ↩

23. 七星手 – Qīxīng Shǒu. Lit. “Seven-Star Hand.” The nickname of Ruan Shizhong, the foremost fighter of the Tianlong School’s Northern Branch. ↩

24. 轻功 – qīnggōng. Lit. “light skill.” A martial art of agility, leaping, and moving with preternatural lightness and speed. ↩

25. 铁门闩 – Tiě Ménshuān. Lit. “Iron Gate Bolt.” A defensive dao technique specialising in impenetrable guard-work. ↩

26. 里 – lǐ. A unit of distance, roughly half a kilometre. ↩

27. 念珠 – niànzhū. Buddhist prayer beads, typically 108 beads strung together for counting mantras. ↩

28. 善哉 – shànzāi. A Buddhist exclamation of approval, rendering the Sanskrit sādhu, “good, excellent”. ↩