Gan Nineteenth Sister Chapter 3 – Part 1

Yin Jianping¹ said, “Old Patriarch, is there something you wish to entrust to your disciples?”

Xian Bing the Lone Gull² nodded, grief-stricken and on the verge of tears. “There is…”

“Then speak, Old Patriarch, and your disciples listen with the utmost reverence,” said Yin Jianping. Xian Bing’s³ glazed eyes drifted slowly across the faces gathered in the room, yet the words caught in his throat and would not come.

Understanding struck Yin Jianping like a bolt of lightning. Yet though he grasped what lay behind the old patriarch’s hesitation, his own honest nature would not permit him to speak the words aloud. Of course, he was not the only one who perceived it. Xie Shan⁴ the Hunyuan Palm⁵ understood at once. He said, “Shixiong, you wish to speak with disciple Yin Jianping alone?”

Xian Bing gazed at him with an expression of unspeakable sorrow and slowly nodded. Every person in the room understood immediately why the old patriarch had been unable to bring himself to speak. They exchanged uneasy glances.

Xie Shan retreated a step and bowed low. “If that is so, we shall withdraw and await your instructions. Once Shixiong has finished giving instructions, we shall return to pay our respects. Will that serve?”

Xian Bing gave a faint nod. His eyelids drifted shut, and two lines of tears spilled forth, streaming silently down his weathered face. The sight sent a chill through every heart in the room, yet since the old patriarch had given his command, none dared disobey. One by one they bowed and filed out through the latticed doors, passing along the short corridor that connected the elixir chamber⁶ to the main hall.

They withdrew in silence and waited within the hall, not one of them uttering a word.

Only after the last of them had gone did Xian Bing open his eyes again. A single glance was all it took. Yin Jianping understood his meaning. He first eased the old patriarch’s body into the reclining chair, then crossed the room to draw the latticed doors shut before returning to stand before him.

Xian Bing the Lone Gull let out a soft sigh. “Do you know that my true strength has been scattered and the five vital breaths exhausted? That I stand at the very brink of death?”

Yin Jianping nodded once. His face was dark with grief.

“You… You already knew earlier,” Xian Bing murmured. “Is that not so…?”

Yin Jianping nodded again. He could no longer hold back his tears, and they fell in a torrent.

A bitter smile crossed Xian Bing’s lips. “It speaks well of you… that you understand such restraint… holding back the sorrow in your heart until now… before letting it show… As they say, ‘If one cannot endure small things… one will ruin great plans.’⁷ In years past, I saw only that your bones and constitution were extraordinary… that your nature was honest and true… I never suspected you were one who could bear heavy burdens in silence… even less did I perceive that you were a young prodigy concealing consummate skill… Child, is it so?”

Yin Jianping started in surprise and dropped to his knees.

Xian Bing gave a wretched laugh. “Rise! I bear you not the slightest ill will… Your loyalty to the school has been beyond question since the day you entered our gates. I observed as much from the very beginning… The zhangmen saw it clearly too. Otherwise, he would never have placed you to serve at my side.”

“The Old Patriarch’s wisdom sees all!” Yin Jianping pressed his forehead to the floor. “It is true that this disciple entered the school already trained in another art. But my skill falls far short of the Old Patriarch’s generous praise. I had no intention of concealing this from the zhangmen or from you, Old Patriarch. It was only because the time was not right to make my confession. I humbly beg the Old Patriarch’s forgiveness!”

Xian Bing the Lone Gull sighed softly. “Had you not just now channelled your own Little Star⁸ neili into my body, I would already have breathed my last. You are so young, yet you have mastered the essence of the Six Harmonies Gate’s⁹ neigong—that is no small achievement. But if you possess such skill, why would you willingly demean yourself as a mere servant disciple at my side…? What… is the reason for this?”

Yin Jianping’s voice was steady and solemn. “There is something the Old Patriarch does not know… I acted in obedience to my late father’s dying command, that I endure the bitterest hardships the world could offer and master the highest arts the world could teach!”

“Endure the bitterest… hardships… master the highest… arts.” Xian Bing regarded him with astonishment. “And did you… do so?”

Yin Jianping nodded. “I did. My father passed away when I was nine years old. From that day forth, I wandered the four corners of the realm. First I studied under Master Zhong,¹⁰ training the Foundation Art¹¹ and studying the classical texts for three years. After that, I entered Xingyi School¹², known today as the Double Crane Hall¹³, where I spent three years mastering the Vajra Wrist.¹⁴”

“What!” Xian Bing cut in. “The Vajra Wrist is Xingyi School’s guarded secret. How could they possibly have transmitted it to an outsider like you? Moreover, you were able to master it within a mere three years?”

Yin Jianping said, “All martial arts share a common root. Though world’s martial arts branch into countless, myriad paths, their foundational principles are unchanging. Although there are schools and tradition, they merely vary in their approach. I won the heart of Xingyi School’s Kanli¹⁵ Shangren¹⁶ through sincerity alone. It was not until two years and seven months after I entered the school that he consented to impart the Vajra Wrist’s secret teachings. I did not let his trust go to waste…”

Xian Bing’s eyes widened. He whispered, “You mean to say… you only used five months… to… learn… the Vajra Wrist…?”

“Indeed!” said Yin Jianping. “Five months actually too long…”

Xian Bing blinked, then stammered, “Go… go on.”

Yin Jianping said, “To receive a drop of kindness and repay it with a spring.¹⁷. Having received so great a favour from Xingyi School, I spent the following three years repaying it. I transcribed and organised the school’s histories, records, and seventy-two martial arts manuals—seven hundred and thirty-six volumes in all. These texts had been in disarray for generations. Once I had collated and recopied them, they were fit to be preserved and handed down for a thousand years. I also served three years as an instructor, personally selecting thirty disciples for Xingyi School and training twelve of them myself. It was these men who laid the foundation for what is now the Double Crane Hall.”

Xian Bing nodded. “Well said… it was worth it. More than worth it!”

Yin Jianping shifted forward on his knees and studied the old patriarch’s face. “Old Patriarch, you dismissed your disciples from the room… surely not merely to hear such trifling chapters of this disciple’s past?”

Xian Bing shook his head. “Of course… not. But I have changed my mind… I wish to hear the rest… Jianping, continue!”

Yin Jianping assented and went on. “When this disciple departed Xingyi School, Kanli Shangren saw me off with rice, incense, and full ceremony. Once he learnt of my purpose, he wrote a letter of introduction of his own accord, recommending me to the Cold Zither Pavilion¹⁸ on South Putuo Mountain.”¹⁹

“What!” Xian Bing’s eyes flew wide. “The Cold… Zither… Pavilion… you are saying you switched your apprenticeship and became a disciple of… the Cold Zither Virtuoso?”²⁰

“Just… so…” said Yin Jianping.

Xian Bing’s breath came in ragged gasps, yet his spirit burned with fierce intensity. “Go… on!”

Yin Jianping said, “The Cold Zither Virtuoso guarded his own arts even more tightly than Kanli Shangren. Once he divined my true intent, he resolved to make things as difficult as possible, hoping I would abandon the attempt of my own accord. He set me an impossible task…”

“Go… go on… go on!”

“Yes!” Yin Jianping said, “The Cold Zither Virtuoso bade me emulate the Foolish Old Man who moved the mountains.²¹ He declared that if I wished to learn his Spring and Autumn Righteous Qi,²² I must first move the rear promontory of South Putuo Mountain into the inner sea. Only when that labour was complete would he consent to teach me.”

Xian Bing managed between laboured breaths, “Let me interrupt… this Spring and Autumn Righteous Qi… I have heard the name… yet I never understood what manner of art it is…”

Yin Jianping gave a slight nod. “Old Patriarch, it is a form of elevated intellectual cultivation, not a martial art that can be demonstrated through physical movement.”

“Oh,” Xian Bing murmured softly and said no more.

Yin Jianping continued, “Having accepted the Cold Zither Virtuoso’s terms, I spent one year and six months working alone at the rear of Putuo Mountain, carving out a transverse channel through the rock.”

Then, he heaved a sigh and said, “Those were months of extraordinary hardship. I laboured day and night, often sleeping no more than one or two shichen²³ in a full day. Fortunately, I had already mastered the Entering Sun²⁴ technique in my childhood, and that sustained me.”

“But the Virtuoso commanded you to move the mountain into the sea,” Xian Bing murmured. “Why did you only cut a transverse channel?”

“There is something the Old Patriarch does not know,” said Yin Jianping. “Putuo Mountain is ringed on all sides by the sea, and the waters behind the rear promontory are especially fierce—surging, churning, and ripping in powerful eddies. After studying the currents, I devised this expedien!”

“What… manner of… expedient?”

“By cutting that single channel, I effectively severed the rear promontory from the mountain.”

Xian Bing’s eyes widened, as though he still did not comprehend.

Yin Jianping explained, “Once the channel was open, the entire rear promontory lay exposed to the full fury of the tidal vortex. The rock there is largely composed of soft earth. Within three months, the sea had devoured it entirely, scouring it flat. And so I completed a task that had seemed impossible.”

Xian Bing the Lone Gull drew a deep, shuddering breath. He said nothing, yet the expression in his eyes spoke of admiration and awe beyond what any words could have conveyed.

Yin Jianping sighed softly. “And so, I gained the Cold Zither Virtuoso’s Spring and Autumn Righteous Qi. That art has since proven of immeasurable benefit. It is indeed a gift I shall draw upon for the whole of my life.”

Xian Bing coughed several times. He had been hovering on the very precipice of death, yet the force of this revelation had kindled in him an unexpected vitality—a flicker of longing, of hope. That fragile flame was all that kept him clinging to life. Yet he was a man whose time had come. A flush of crimson rose suddenly upon his ashen face—the final radiance²⁵ before the end.

Footnotes

1. 尹剑平 – Yǐn Jiànpíng. His name meaning “Sword’s Balance” or “Balancing the Sword”. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

2. 一鸥子 – Yī Ōu Zǐ. A name evoking solitary mastery, in the manner of Daoist recluses. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

3. 冼冰 – Xiǎn Bīng. His name meaning “Cleansing Ice”. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

4. 谢山 – Xiè Shān. His name meaning “Mountain of Gratitude”. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

5. 混元掌 – Húnyuán Zhǎng. Literally primordial palm. Hunyuan is the chaotic origin energy representing the undifferentiated unity of pre-creation. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

6. 丹房 – dānfáng. Literally elixir room. The inner sanctum or private chambers of a martial arts compound, often used for cultivation, meditation, or storing important items. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

7. 小不忍则乱大谋 – xiǎo bù rěn zé luàn dà móu. Famous Confucian proverb from the Analects, 15.27. Literally: the small unendured ruins the great plan. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

8. 小天星 – Xiǎo Tiānxīng. Literally little star. A neili cultivation technique originating from the Six Harmonies Gate. ↩

9. 六合门 – Liùhé Mén. Literally six harmonies gate. A martial arts school whose neigong methods are founded upon the principle of the six harmonies—three external (hands with feet, elbows with knees, shoulders with hips) and three internal (heart with intent, intent with qi, qi with strength). ↩

10. 钟先生 – Zhōng Xiānshēng. Yin Jianping’s first teacher, who instructed him in foundational cultivation and classical learning. ↩

11. 童子功 – tóngzǐ gōng. Literally juvenile skill. A foundational neigong method that must be begun in childhood, cultivating the body’s innate potential before it is diminished by age and worldly exposure. ↩

12. 行易门 – Xíngyì Mén. Literally act-with-ease school. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

13. 双鹤堂 – Shuānghè Táng. Literally double crane hall. One of the Yueyang School’s most distinguished affiliated branches, whose recommendation carried significant weight. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

14. 金刚铁腕 – jīngāng tiěwàn. Literally vajra wrist. A neigong technique that develops crushing force in the hands and forearms, enabling the practitioner to twist and grind through solid objects. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

15. 坎离 – Kǎnlí Shàngrén. His title derives from the Yijing trigrams Kan (water) and Li (fire), representing the alchemical union of opposites in Daoist internal cultivation. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

16. 上人 – shàngrén. Literally revered person or honoured one. Honorific title for a high-ranking Buddhist or Daoist master. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

17. 受人点水之恩，当报以涌泉 – shòurén diǎnshuǐ zhī ēn, dāng bào yǐ yǒngquán. Literally to receive a drop of kindness and repay it with a gushing spring. A classical proverb on the virtue of gratitude. ↩

18. 冷琴阁 – Lěngqín Gé. Literally cold zither pavilion. A martial arts establishment at South Putuo. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

19. 南普陀山 – Nán Pǔtuó Shān. South Putuo Mountain, a Buddhist sacred site on the coast of Fujian. See Wuxia Wiki. See Wikipedia. ↩

20. 冷琴居士 – Lěngqín Jūshì. Literally cold zither virtuoso. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

21. 愚公移山 – yúgōng yíshān. The Foolish Old Man Who Moved the Mountains, a parable from the Liezi about an elderly man who, despite ridicule, resolved to dig away two mountains blocking his path. The gods, moved by his perseverance, commanded the mountains removed. It is a classical metaphor for the triumph of indomitable will over impossible odds. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

22. 春秋正气 – chūnqiū zhèngqì. Literally spring and autumn righteous qi. ↩

23. 时辰 – shíchén. A traditional Chinese time period equivalent to two modern hours. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

24. 入日 – rù rì. Literally entering the sun. ↩

25. 回光反照 – huíguāng fǎnzhào. Literally reflected light of the setting sun. A phenomenon observed in the dying, when a sudden and deceptive surge of vitality precedes death—the last flare of a guttering candle. ↩