Flying Fox of the Snowy Mountain Chapter 9 – Part 2

Hu Fei had always been playful with his enemies. In his former temper, he would at a moment like this have lifted the mattress and taken a great leak under the bed, drenching those guards from crown to sole. But the thought had barely taken shape when he remembered Miao Ruolan sleeping at his side. How could he behave so recklessly? And he had yet to learn what scheme these men were plotting against Miao Renfeng. He could not expose himself and act first.

Before long, Du Ximeng and Old Fist Master Jiang and the others strode in with loud laughter, escorting a man into the side hall. The man was Miao Renfeng. Someone bore a candlestick and walked ahead. Du Ximeng puzzled inwardly. Where had his own family and servants got to? Not a single soul in sight. But with Commander Sai here and Miao Renfeng at his heels, he had no spare mind to look into household matters. He glanced sideways at Miao Renfeng. His face was wooden, betraying nothing of what he thought.

The party settled into the side hall. Du Ximeng said, “Brother Miao, I agreed with that Flying Fox of the Snowy Mountain to settle an old account here today. That you and these good friends have travelled so far to lend your fists is a kindness for which I am truly grateful. It is dark now, and that Flying Fox has not appeared. He must have heard the names of those gathered here and fled in terror, his fox tail tucked between his legs.”

Hu Fei’s rage boiled over. He wanted nothing more than to leap out and smash his fist into Du Ximeng’s face.

Miao Renfeng grunted and turned to Guild Chief Fan.¹ “So you escaped after all, Brother Fan?”

Guild Chief Fan rose and bowed deep. “Brother Miao, you braved danger and entered the lion’s den to save me in person. I shall never forget that debt so long as I live. You raised havoc in Beijing, and soon after the brothers of my guild came in force to mount a rescue. Fortune favoured us. There were many of us and few of them, and I rode on Brother Miao’s renown to slip away.”

Every word was a lie. Miao Renfeng had indeed entered the imperial prison, and though Commander Sai had failed to take him, the fracas that followed had not freed Guild Chief Fan either. The Beggars’ Guild storming the prison was pure invention. Commander Sai’s first scheme having failed, he devised a second. He visited Guild Chief Fan in the prison himself and talked with him, threatening him with death. Guild Chief Fan was hard-boned enough. No matter how Commander Sai threatened or tempted, he would not yield a single inch. But Commander Sai was a crafty old fox who could read a man’s heart.² After days of conversation, he saw that against a man of this stamp, neither profit nor the axe would serve. But flatter him, pile a tall hat on his head, and that might well yield results. He personally escorted Guild Chief Fan to his own mansion and set his most silver-tongued flatterers to work, pouring praise into his ears day after day: the Guild Chief is invincible, the Guild Chief’s might shakes the jianghu,³ one stream of sweet words after another. At first Guild Chief Fan still seethed. But after days of it, the honeyed phrases worked on him, and soon he was laughing and chatting. Then Commander Sai took the field himself, pumping him up with ever loftier praise. When the talk turned to the heroes of the age, Guild Chief Fan, proud as he was, still ranked Miao Renfeng first under heaven. Commander Sai said, “Guild Chief Fan, you are too modest. That Golden-Faced Buddha may call himself He Who Has Fought All Under Heaven and Found No Equal, but in my view he need not be your better.” Guild Chief Fan, thus inflated, felt supremely content. He reflected that Miao Renfeng’s fame was great enough and his skill real enough, but he himself need not be far behind. Of late his body was strong and his neigong⁴ grew by the day. He might even edge out Miao by a fraction.

The two talked far into the night. The next day, Commander Sai began speaking of his own martial skill. Before long the guards at the mansion joined the conversation. All said that days ago, when Commander Sai and Miao Renfeng crossed blades, the first two hundred moves ended even, but after that Commander Sai had victory in his grasp. Had Miao Renfeng not seized his chance to flee, another hundred moves and he would have been beaten. Guild Chief Fan listened, disbelief plain on his face.

Commander Sai laughed. “I have long admired your Eighty-One Moves of the Five Tiger Dao,⁵ Guild Chief Fan, unmatched in the world. This time we offended your might. The Emperor’s decree was one reason, but half the reason too was that the brothers wished to see your skill with their own eyes. Only, we were too eager for the prize and had to bring out all eighteen of the Emperor’s finest masters to persuade you to come. I never had the chance to match you one on one, which I much regret. Since we are in such a mood, why not trade a few moves here and now?”

Guild Chief Fan said, proud and lofty, “If even Miao Renfeng fell to the Commander, I fear I am no match.”

Commander Sai laughed. “The Guild Chief is too modest.” A few words more, and the two moved to the practice hall of the Commander’s mansion to spar.

Guild Chief Fan wielded a dao.⁶ Commander Sai’s weapon was most unusual: a matched pair of short-handled wolf-fang maces.⁷ His strength was great, his strikes fierce, and his martial arts truly formidable. The two rolled through three hundred moves and more without a hair’s breadth between them. They fought on for the time of a meal, and Commander Sai began to tire. Guild Chief Fan pressed him into a corner with his blade, and try as he might, Commander Sai could not break out of that circle of steel. Helpless, he said at last, “The Guild Chief’s skill is indeed beyond question. I concede.”

Guild Chief Fan smiled and leapt back, dao raised. Commander Sai flung his twin maces to the ground in spite. “I called myself invincible under heaven. It turns out there is always a sky beyond the sky, a man beyond the man.” He mopped his sleeve across his brow, breathing hard.

After that bout, the others pumped Guild Chief Fan up to the clouds. He took the guards for sworn friends and treated Commander Sai’s every word as law. The rough-hewn man had no notion that Commander Sai had thrown the fight. Had they fought in genuine earnest, he would have lost to those twin wolf-fang maces inside a hundred moves.

Then why had Commander Sai gone to such lengths to befriend him? The reason was this: Guild Chief Fan’s martial arts did not rank among the very finest, but he held one hereditary skill that no other man could match: the twenty-three paths of the Dragon Claw Grasping Hand.⁸ Once his fingers touched you, it was as though drilling through sinew into bone, a nail struck and turned. No matter how supreme the enemy’s skill, let any part of his body brush those fingers and he was held fast. There was no breaking free. On Tian Guinong’s word, Commander Sai meant to seize Miao Renfeng, the key to the treasure. The “cage in the prison” scheme having failed, he turned to borrowing Guild Chief Fan’s art. Consider what manner of man the Golden-Faced Buddha was. Would he let the Dragon Claw touch him in open combat? But Guild Chief Fan and he were friends of long standing. Strike without warning from behind that friendship, and there was a chance of success.

Miao Renfeng, hearing Guild Chief Fan’s thanks, cupped his fists in return.⁹ “A trifling matter, hardly worth mentioning.” He turned to Du Ximeng. “But tell me, what sort of man is this Flying Fox of the Snowy Mountain, and how did you come to be at odds with him?”

Du Ximeng’s face reddened. He hedged, “I have never met the man. I don’t know what rumours he has heard, but he claims I took some family heirloom of his and has come demanding it again and again. I know his martial arts are formidable and his manner overbearing. I am old and no match for him, so I invited you gentlemen up the peak to put the matter straight. If he still leans on force and will not listen, you can teach the young pup a lesson.”

Miao Renfeng said, “He claims you took his family heirloom. What is this object?”

Du Ximeng said, “What heirloom? Pure nonsense.”

Years ago, after Hu Yidao’s death, Miao Renfeng had been heavy of heart. He travelled at once to Liaodong, hoping to find Hu Yidao’s old companions and hear tales of the one man he had counted his only soulmate. His enquiries led him to learn that Du Ximeng had known Hu Yidao, so he came up to Jade Brush Peak and Du Family Manor to pay a visit. Du Ximeng could say little of Hu Yidao’s deeds, but he received Miao Renfeng with the greatest warmth and personally accompanied him to see Hu Yidao’s old residence, only to find the walls crumbling, the house deserted long since.

It was on the strength of that affection for Hu Yidao that Miao Renfeng befriended Du Ximeng, and that was more than twenty years ago. Now, hearing him talk in such evasive circles, Miao Renfeng said, “If the object truly belongs to that Flying Fox, then when he arrives at the peak, Brother Du, you simply return it to him. That is the end of it.”

Du Ximeng cried, “There never was any heirloom! Where am I meant to conjure one out of?”

Guild Chief Fan thought, Miao Renfeng is shrewd and keen. Given time, he will surely discover the men hidden in the house. He urged, “Manor Master Du, Brother Miao is right. A thing belongs to its owner, all the more so a family heirloom. Return it and be done. Why raise an army over it and sour the friendship?”

Du Ximeng grew agitated. “You say the same? You don’t believe me either?”

Guild Chief Fan said, “I do not know the rights of this affair. But if Brother Miao the Golden-Faced Buddha says so, it must be right. I have walked the jianghu all my days and never take anyone’s word at face value. The one man I follow is Brother Miao the Golden-Faced Buddha, and him alone.”

As he spoke, he walked to stand behind Miao Renfeng, hands waving to lend force to his words.

Miao Renfeng thought, He is the head of a great guild. He sees things clearly. Suddenly he felt a numbness at the Fengchi acupoint¹⁰ behind his ear and the Shendao acupoint¹¹ on his back. He knew at once that something was gravely amiss and swung his left arm out in a hurry. But those two great acupoints were locked in Guild Chief Fan’s Dragon Claw Grasping Hand. In an instant his whole body went numb and limp. For all his towering skill and boundless resource, he could not summon a shred of it.

But the Golden-Faced Buddha’s name was “He Who Has Fought All Under Heaven and Found No Equal.” He had passed through more strange perils and desperate straits in his life than he could count. How could he submit to capture like this? He roared, ducked his head, drove strength through his waist, and with a heave flung Guild Chief Fan’s great body clean over his head.

Commander Sai and the others shouted as one and burst from their hiding-places.

Guild Chief Fan had been flung over Miao Renfeng’s head, but the Dragon Claw Grasping Hand clung like a shadow, like a maggot to a bone. His body had passed in front of Miao Renfeng, yet his two claws still gripped the acupoints on Miao Renfeng’s back as though cast in iron.

Miao Renfeng saw figures converging from every direction. I have ridden the jianghu all my life, he thought, and today I capsize in a filthy ditch, ambushed by vermin. A guard rushed forward, arms reaching for his neck. There was no dodging in his rage. Miao Renfeng snapped his head back, then drove it forward like a battering ram. All his neijin¹² he gathered into his forehead. His skull struck the guard between the eyes with a crack, and the man died on the spot. The rest recoiled in shock. They had been leaping in together. Now every one of them halted several feet from Miao Renfeng.

Miao Renfeng’s limbs were limp, but his neck could still turn. One strike having worked, he whipped his head sideways at Guild Chief Fan. Guild Chief Fan was terrified out of his wits. Desperate wit seized him. He ducked, locked his arms around Miao Renfeng’s waist, and pressed his own head against Miao Renfeng’s belly.

Miao Renfeng’s acupoints released. His limbs worked again. He kicked away a guard pressing close, then reached for Guild Chief Fan’s back with his palm. But the moment his hand rose into the air, his limbs went numb again. That strike never landed. Guild Chief Fan had already seized the Zhangmen acupoint¹³ at his waist.

The exchange unfolded in heartbeats, several turns in the space of a breath. Commander Sai knew that Guild Chief Fan’s ambush could only hold for an instant. Given time, Miao Renfeng would break free. He darted forward and tapped twice at the Jingmen acupoint.¹⁴ His dianxue¹⁵ was slow in the release but devastating in the strike. Miao Renfeng grunted, near to fainting, and went limp.

Guild Chief Fan burrowed into Miao Renfeng’s embrace, knowing nothing of the world outside, his ten fingers locked in the Zhangmen acupoint. Commander Sai laughed. “Guild Chief Fan, you have earned a merit. Let go.” Only on the third saying did Guild Chief Fan hear him. He raised his head, but still did not dare release his grip.

A guard drew fine steel shackles from a pouch and bound Miao Renfeng’s hands and feet. Only then did Guild Chief Fan let go.

Commander Sai stood in extreme dread of Miao Renfeng. If the man wriggled free, the consequences would be endless. He took a single dao from a guard and said, “Miao Renfeng, it is not that I, Sai, am short on friendship. It is only that your skill is too great. If we do not sever the tendons in your arms and legs, not one of us will eat in peace or sleep at night.” His left hand clamped Miao Renfeng’s right arm. His right raised the blade, ready to cut the tendons. Four strokes, and Miao Renfeng would be a cripple for life.

Guild Chief Fan caught Commander Sai’s wrist. “You must not harm him! You gave your word. You swore a venomous oath!”

Commander Sai laughed cold. You still think I truly could not beat you. If I don’t show you a thing or two, you’ll walk tall in your arrogance for the rest of your days. He sank his wrist, coiled power through his waist, and drove his right shoulder into Guild Chief Fan with a sudden bump. The force of the impact was extraordinary, and Guild Chief Fan was not braced for it. With a thud, his body flew backwards clean through the wooden wall of the side hall, bursting out the other side. Commander Sai roared with laughter and raised his dao for Miao Renfeng’s right arm once more.

Hu Fei had heard every word from behind the bed curtains. Miao Renfeng is the man who killed my father. But he is the greatest daxia¹⁶ of this age. He cannot die at the hands of rats. He shouted and leapt from the curtain, striking out with a palm that sent one guard flying into Commander Sai. The sudden upheaval caught Commander Sai off guard. He dropped his dao to catch the man.

In that instant of respite, Hu Fei seized two guards by the head and cracked them together. Their skulls burst. Both men died on the spot. With left palm and right fist he struck at two more. In the chaos, no one could tell how many enemies had arrived. Hu Fei’s first exchange had been so devastating that fear took them before their feet could move.

Hu Fei’s right fist struck a guard’s head and knocked him senseless. His left palm lashed out, and suddenly he felt the enemy stick and redirect. His own palm slid away as though striking water. A chill ran through him. He fixed his eyes on the man: silver beard past his belly, face flushed with health. He did not know him, but that single move, “Primordial Chaos Parts”,¹⁷ defensive yet coiled with attack, was the hallmark of a master of internal cultivation.¹⁸ There was only one man it could be: Old Fist Master Jiang of the Wuji School.

Seeing the number of foes and the skill among them, Hu Fei without warning drove a flying kick at Adept Lingqing’s chest. Adept Lingqing practised external techniques.¹⁹ Seeing the foot come, he chopped his palm down at the instep. Hu Fei shrank with the momentum, thrust both hands forward, and grabbed into the throng. The side hall was cramped, a dozen men wedged together with nowhere to dodge. Amid shouts and yells, Hu Fei’s one hand seized Du Ximeng by the chest, his other seized Xuanmingzi by the belly. He used the two men like weapons and drove them bodily into the crowd. Those pressed together could not strike back for fear of hitting their own. They could only retreat. More than a dozen were herded into a corner of the room in sorry disorder.

Commander Sai saw the tide turn and roared, “Who goes there?” He leapt from the throng, fingers hooked like claws, and struck ferociously at the crown of Hu Fei’s head.

Hu Fei recognised his voice at once. This was the man he wanted. He laughed loudly, leapt back several paces, and cried, “Old Sai, oh, old Sai, have you no shame at all?”

Commander Sai froze. “No shame?”

Hu Fei still held Du Ximeng and Xuanmingzi. He gripped them both at vital acupoints. The two men had skill enough, but could not summon a shred of it. They hung in his hands like wet silk, at his mercy. Hu Fei said, “You took a dozen men and a web of tricks to catch the Golden-Faced Buddha, and you call yourself the finest fighter in all Manchuria?”

Commander Sai’s face went red. He waved his left hand, and the men spread to four corners, encircling Hu Fei. “So you are that Flying Fox of the Snowy Mountain?”

Hu Fei laughed. “I am he, the very man. I had heard there was a certain Commander Sai in Beijing, a man of some consequence. Who knew he was nothing but a shameless wretch? What sort of pus-filled fool goes strutting about putting on airs? Go home and nurse your children!”

Commander Sai had held himself invincible his entire life. How could he swallow this? Hu Fei’s beard was thick, but he was young. Your skill may be fierce, Commander Sai thought, but your neigong cannot run as deep as mine. Yet Hu Fei held Du Ximeng and Xuanmingzi as though they weighed nothing, without the least apparent strain, and that gave Commander Sai pause. He did not dare call the challenge, and stood hesitating.

Hu Fei said, “Come, come. Let us trade moves. If I do not beat you in three, the surname Hu will kowtow to you!”

Commander Sai had been at a loss. At these words he thought, To beat you I have no certainty, but for you to beat me in three moves, I would have to be a dead man. Furious, he laughed. “Very well. This Sai will walk a few paces with you.”

Hu Fei said, “And if you lose to me in three moves?”

Commander Sai said, “Do as you will. What manner of man do you take me for? I would have no face left to live. Enough talk. Take this!” His fists drove straight out at Hu Fei’s chest. Seeing Hu Fei hold the two men, he feared Hu Fei would use them as a shield, so he charged in body and bone, forcing Hu Fei either to release his prisoners or to pull his palms back to block.

Hu Fei waited until the fists reached his chest. He neither dodged nor blocked. Suddenly his chest contracted inwards, and the blow dissolved into nothing. Commander Sai had never imagined that a man so young could possess neigong of such refinement. Alarmed, and fearing a counter-strike, he leapt backwards at once. The onlookers shouted as one, “First move!” In truth that move had been Commander Sai’s attack. Hu Fei had not struck back. But the men meant to favour Commander Sai, and counted it all the same.

Hu Fei smiled faintly. He gave a sudden cough, and a mouthful of spit shot forward, flying straight at Commander Sai’s face. At the same moment his feet kicked out in the Mandarin Ducks in Series.²⁰

Commander Sai started. To dodge that spit he would have to leap up or duck down. If he leapt, his belly was certain to meet Hu Fei’s left foot. If he ducked, he was presenting his jaw to Hu Fei’s right. Up or down, there was no way out. He could only cross his arms before his chest and guard his gates. The spit landed with a wet thud square between his brows. Ordinarily a child of seven or eight could have dodged a mouthful of spit. But the savage follow-up Hu Fei had laid in behind it meant Commander Sai had no choice but to take it standing.

The onlookers saw the spit on his face. To guard against the enemy’s next strike he dared not even raise a hand to wipe it. In such disarray, the cry of “Second move!” was far less hearty than the first.

Commander Sai thought, I have suffered the insult. So long as I hold my gates tight, taking one more move is child’s play. Then we shall see what you have to say for yourself. He shouted, “One move left. Come on!”

Hu Fei smiled faintly. He stepped forward, and suddenly lifted Du Ximeng and Xuanmingzi and swung them at Commander Sai head-on. Commander Sai had foreseen this very move and made his calculation in advance: They say a man who will not harm others is no true man. In this extremity I must hurt my friends. So be it. Seeing the two bodies come sweeping towards him, he braced his arms and swung out with all his might.

Hu Fei, gripping both men at their vital acupoints, released them at the very instant their bodies nearly touched Commander Sai, then seized them again by the flesh away from any acupoint.

Du Ximeng and Xuanmingzi, who had been flailing in his grip, dazed and lost to all sense of where they were, suddenly felt their acupoints ease and their limbs return to them. As one, all four hands flew out. They meant only to wrench free of their captor, and so each struck with the deadliest technique of his entire life, fighting as though death were upon them, without mercy.

Commander Sai gave a great roar. He was struck in four places at once: temple, chest, belly and flank. His legs gave way beneath him and he sat down hard upon the floor.

Hu Fei released and seized in one motion, locking fresh acupoints on the two men. “Third move!”

The words were barely out of his mouth before his grip tightened. Du Ximeng and Xuanmingzi did not even grunt. Both went limp and unconscious. That heavy press upon the acupoints drove force deep into the jingmai.²¹ Even had a master been present to treat them, ten days or a fortnight would pass before the block could be undone. Hu Fei lifted the two men and flung them at two other men before him. The two started in terror, afraid that Du Ximeng and Xuanmingzi would do to them what they had done to Commander Sai. They leapt aside to dodge. Hu Fei sprang forward, and while the two men hung in mid-air, not yet alighted, seized one in each hand. Only then did he turn to face Commander Sai. “What say you now?”

Commander Sai sat crumpled on the ground. Every last shred of his pride was gone. He mumbled, “Do as you will. Why keep asking?”

Hu Fei said, “Release Miao daxia.¹⁶”

Commander Sai waved at two guards. They went and unlocked Miao Renfeng’s shackles.

The acupoints on Miao Renfeng’s body had been sealed by Commander Sai himself. Those two guards could not unseal them. Hu Fei was about to reach out and free him when Miao Renfeng, drawing on hidden reserves, began to force his own blocked acupoints open. The shackles fell from his hands and feet. He drew a breath, contracted his lower abdomen, and by his own power broke through the seal. His left foot lashed out and sent Adept Lingqing flying. At the same moment his left fist drove forward with a thud, sending another man crashing headlong through the air.

Guild Chief Fan, whom Commander Sai had smashed through the wall, had at last risen and was stepping back through the hole in the boards when the man Miao Renfeng had struck slammed into him full-force. The impact was tremendous. Blood and qi surged within both men. Dazed, unable to tell friend from foe, they fell upon each other at once, each unleashing his utmost skill, locked in a bout that would not end.

Footnotes

1. 帮主 – bāngzhǔ. Guild Chief. The head of a martial arts guild. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

2. 总管 – zǒngguǎn. Commander. The office of the 御前侍卫总管, head of the emperor’s bodyguard. Commander Sai is referred to by his office throughout. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

3. 江湖 – jiānghú. Literally “rivers and lakes.” The itinerant martial world beyond settled society and official reach. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

4. 内功 – nèigōng. Internal cultivation, the training of inner power through meditation and breath. Distinct from neili, which is its manifestation. ↩

5. 五虎刀 – Wǔhǔ Dāo. The Five Tiger Dao, Guild Chief Fan’s bladework of eighty-one moves. ↩

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

7. 狼牙棒 – lángyá bàng. A mace studded with protruding spikes, named for the fangs of a wolf. ↩

8. 龙爪擒拿手 – Lóng Zhǎo Qínná Shǒu. The Dragon Claw Grasping Hand, a hereditary grappling technique of the Fan family comprising twenty-three paths. Once the fingers seize an opponent’s acupoint, escape is near impossible. ↩

9. 拱手 – gǒngshǒu. To cup the fists, a gesture of respect. ↩

10. 风池 – Fēngchí. The Wind Pool acupoint, at the base of the skull behind the ears. ↩

11. 神道 – Shéndào. The Spirit Path acupoint, on the spine at the level of the heart. ↩

12. 内劲 – nèijìn. Internal power, force generated from within through neigong. Distinct from neili, which is the cultivated reservoir; neijin is the explosive application. ↩

13. 章门 – Zhāngmén. The Zhangmen acupoint, on the side of the body at the lower ribs. ↩

14. 京门 – Jīngmén. The Capital Gate acupoint, on the flank of the body. ↩

15. 点穴 – diǎnxué. Point-striking, the art of sealing or striking acupoints to disable an opponent. ↩

16. 大侠 – dàxiá. A title of respect for a renowned martial hero, placed after the name as a suffix. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩ ↩²

17. 混沌初开 – Hùndùn Chūkāi. Primordial Chaos Parts. The opening move of a martial arts form, defensive in nature yet coiled with attacking potential, named for the parting of Heaven and Earth from the primordial void. ↩

18. 内家 – nèijiā. Internal cultivation, martial arts that emphasise neigong over external hardness. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

19. 外家 – wàijiā. External techniques, martial arts that emphasise hardened bodily power over inner cultivation. ↩

20. 鸳鸯连环 – Yuānyāng Liánhuán. Mandarin Ducks in Series, a continuous alternating kick technique in which each foot follows the other without pause. ↩

21. 经脉 – jīngmài. The body’s meridian channels through which qi and neili flow. ↩