Mandarin Duck Blades – Part 6

Her dao¹ flashed at an angle and slid along Xiao Zhonghui’s[^xiaozhonghui] long blade towards its hilt. Then, with deft precision, she used the momentum to guide it towards the latter’s fingers. Xiao Zhonghui was startled. The young woman lacked the villain’s strength but her swordsmanship was far more cunning.

The villain, having bandaged his leg wound, raised his blade to flank her. The two of them took turns attacking and parrying with relentless ferocity. Xiao Zhonghui cursed silently, “So these two set a trap to ensnare me.”

Although her blade technique was exquisite, she lacked the seasoned experience of actual combat. Flanked in the desolate midnight graveyard, with the possibility of more hidden foes, a twinge of fear crept into her heart.

As she fought, she cried out, “I have no quarrel with you, why set this cruel trap to harm me?”

The villain cursed, “I don’t even know you. You wretched wench slashed me for no reason.”

“What path do you walk, to wound without discerning right from wrong?” The young woman added. She asked the villain, “Brother Long, how fares your leg?”

Her voice brimmed with concern. The villain replied, “Damn it, it hurts terribly.”

Xiao Zhonghui asked in astonishment, “Aren’t you two out to harm me?”

The young woman replied, “What is it that you want, being so aggressive and overbearing because you think your skills are superior? I disagree. Such utter shamelessness.”

Xiao Zhonghui boiled with anger, her grip tightening on her weapons. “I saw you suffer at the hands of this villain, and came to lend a hand. Yet it turns out you’re just pretending a fight.”

The young woman said, “Who’s pretending to fight? It’s quite normal for husband and wife to quarrel. Why are you meddling?”

Xiao Zhonghui was shocked and stammered, “You… you’re a married couple?”

Xiao Zhonghui leapt backwards instantly, her mind whirling with this new information. The burly man said, “What’s the matter? A man and a woman living in the same room and having borne a child. Are we not husband and wife?”

Xiao Zhonghui asked in surprise, “The child is your son?”

The young woman replied, “He’s the father. I’m the mother. Is that a problem for you? He’s Lin Yulong.² I’m Ren Feiyan.³ What more do you want to know?”

As she spoke, she raised her blade in preparation to strike again.

Xiao Zhonghui said, “If you’re husband and wife and have borne a child together, you should be deeply in love. Why do you fight and curse each other and cross blades? Isn’t that strange?”

Ren Feiyan sneered, “Haha, young maiden, you’ll understand when you marry. If husband and wife don’t fight, are they truly a couple? There’s a saying, ‘Fighting at the head of the bed, making up at the foot of the bed.’⁴ Have you ever seen a married couple that doesn’t quarrel?”

Xiao Zhonghui blurted, “My father and mother never quarrelled or fought.”

Clutching his wounded leg, Lin Yulong spat, “Damn it, what manner of husband and wife is that? Surely their path strays from virtue! Oof, ouch… ”

Hearing her husband’s groans of pain, Ren Feiyan set down her child hastily to check his wound, her concern genuine—proof that they were truly a loving couple. Lin Yulong continued cursing under his breath, “Damn it, if they don’t bicker or draw blades, what manner of husband and wife are they?”

Xiao Zhonghui paused and thought, Hey, he’s slandering my parents!

Fury rose in her chest and she was tempted to teach him a lesson again. However, she knew she could not prevail when outnumbered. Seeing the infant wailing incessantly on the stone, she turned to gather the babe and fled with swift steps.

Having bound her husband’s wound, Ren Feiyan turned to find their child gone. She exclaimed, “Where’s our son?”

Lin Yulong leapt to his feet with a cry and said, “That wretched wench took him!”

Ren Feiyan said, “Why didn’t you say so earlier?”

Lin Yulong retorted, “You were the one holding him. Why did you lay him down?’

Ren Feiyan darted forward in rage and struck him soundly across the face and yelled, “I was tending to your wound! Fool!”

Lin Yulong retaliated with a punch and cursed, “You can’t even take care of our son. Who needs your aid?”

Ren Feiyan said, “Brute, go get our son back. We’ll settle this later.”

With that, she darted off in pursuit. Lin Yulong said, “Indeed, reclaiming our son is paramount. Wretched woman, you can’t even take care of your own child. What good are you for?”

He followed in pursuit.

Xiao Zhonghui hid herself behind a great tree, her hand pressed against the child’s mouth to stifle his cries. She was secretly amused watching Lin and Ren bicker as they gave chase.

Suddenly, she felt a warmth on her body and looked down to find her clothes soaked. The child had relieved himself. She was quite vexed and patted the child gently as she chided, “You should have said so if you needed to take a piss!”

The child was less than a year old, how could he speak? Her gentle pat made him wail loudly.

Xiao Zhonghui’s heart softened and she soothed the child in soft tones, “There, there. Dear child.”

After a while, the baby closed his eyes and fell asleep. Xiao Zhonghui looked at his chubby face, rosy cheeks, and found his silly appearance endearing. She found herself feeling fond of him and thought, I better return him to his parents. They’ve already had a good fright.

Seeing the couple head north, she decided against returning to the inn and followed them northward.

After traveling more than ten miles, dawn broke but she had yet to catch sight of the couple. As daylight fully emerged, she found herself in a dense forest, filled with melodious birdsong and the fragrance of wildflowers.

Seeing the tranquil scenery and feeling the weariness of a sleepless night, Xiao Zhonghui chose a soft patch of grass to rest. She looked down at the child sleeping soundly in her arms and soon drifted into slumber herself.

The sun’s rays grew more intense, the dense shade of the forest covered the ground, and the fragrance of flowers deepened. Xiao Zhonghui[^xiaozhonghui] was suddenly roused from her slumber by the distant chants of an escort agency.

“Valour and Honour! Valour and Honour!”

She yawned, her eyes still closed, as the sounds drew nearer steadily.

It was the escort team from Weixin Armed Escort approaching.

Zhou Weixin,⁵ the Iron Whip that Quells All Directions,⁶ led his team along the meandering path near the forest filled with the scent of jujube. Beyond this grove, the road to Jinzhou would be a straight and open path. With the radiant sun overhead, it seemed like a perfect day and there would be no cause for concern. Yet, an uneasy feeling made his hair stand. Each time the old blind man behind the escort team struck the ground with his iron staff, and Zhou’s heart skipped a beat.

Since they set off at first light, the old blind man had trailed behind the escort team. At first, no one paid much attention, but as their horses and carriages hastened, the blind man, curiously, kept pace. Zhou Weixin felt something was amiss and signalled to escorts Zhang and Zhan to whip the beasts into a gallop, quickly leaving the old man far behind.

He felt relieved, but the heavy carts could not maintain their speed for long and soon slowed their pace. Before long, the faint tapping from behind indicated that the blind man had caught up again.

Such a display of skill left the entire escort team pale with shock. The blind man’s qinggong⁷ was no mean feat. When the convoy slowed, the blind man did not hurry past but continued tapping his iron staff on the ground and maintained a distance of ten yards.

As a dense forest loomed ahead, and Zhou Weixin whispered, “Brother Zhang, make sure everyone stay alert. This old blind man is rather uncanny. As the saying goes, ‘Always be as vigilant as facing an enemy, as cautious as crossing a bridge.’”

Escort Zhang, still feeling full of his own heroism, having driven off the Four Xias of Mount Taiyue the previous day, thought to himself, Even if his qinggong is commendable, what’s there to fear from an old blind man? Methinks you’re behaving taking a rat for a tiger.

He bent down to pick up a small stone, and using the Flying Locust Stone flicking technique, he took aim and flung the stone at the blind man with a twist of his elbow and flick of his wrist. The stone whistled through the air. The blind man, without even lifting his head, raised his iron staff slightly and deflected the stone back with a clang. Escort Zhang cried out, “Ouch!”

The stone struck his forehead and drawing blood. The escort team fell into disarray.

Escort Zhang shouted, “Damn blind scum, it’s you or me who lives!”

He spurred his horse forward, raising his blade and swung his blade at the blind man’s shoulder. The blind man raised his staff to block and parried, deflecting Zhang’s blade upwards. Zhang felt his arm go numb and a dull pain throbbed in his tiger’s mouth.⁸

Escort Zhan shouted, “We’ve got a formidable foe here, form up and attack together!”

Though the others had witnessed the blind man’s martial prowess, he was just one person and blind at that. Even a skilled fighter was no match when outnumbered. Thus, eight escorts and guards surged forth and surrounded him with swords and spears raised. The blind man seemed unconcerned. With a light sweep of his iron staff and a couple of deft jabs, he had knocked a guard to the ground in just a few moves.

From a distance, Zhou Weixin watched as the old blind man moved with deliberate calmness, seemingly unperturbed by the numerous opponents. Suddenly, the man’s eyelids flicked open, revealing eyes that gleamed with keen light—he was not blind at all! With a swift turn, the man kicked Escort Zhan, sending him tumbling.

Zhou Weixin was struck with terror, realising this man was far superior to Xiaoyaozi⁹ of the Four Xias of Taiyue,¹⁰ and was a true master of exceptional skill. Remembering the gravity of his mission, he shouted, “Brother Zhang, seize this old blind man, but spare his life. I’ll go on ahead, and we’ll meet in Jinzhou.”

He thought, As the saying goes, ‘When faced with perils, one must avoid it; don’t indulge in poetry if one isn’t talented.’

Clenching his legs, he spurred his horse and galloped into the forest.

As he plunged into the forest, he saw a glint of a blade behind a large tree. Being an experienced veteran, he cursed inwardly, “So, the blind man isn’t a working alone, there are accomplices lying in wait here.”

He whipped his horse furiously to speed ahead but had only gone four or five yards when a figure darted out from behind a tree.

Zhou Weixin saw the person wielding a single dao and wearing a fierce expression. Without a word, he raised his hand and shot a dart at the person while charging forward on his steed. The person deflected the dart with his blade and cursed, “Who are you, using hidden weapons?”

Another person emerged and shouted, “You have hidden weapons, you think I don’t?”

She tensed a slingshot, and released near a dozen of pellets. Two struck the horse’s rump, causing it to buck and throw Zhou Weixin to the ground.

Zhou Weixin already had his whip in hand. He rolled on the ground and sprang up, only for another pellet to strike his wrist soundly, causing him to drop the iron whip. The two flanked him in a rush, both their daos pressed to his neck at the same moment.

Footnotes

1. 刀 – dāo. A single-edge sword used for slashing and chopping. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

2. 林玉龙 – Lín Yùlóng ↩

3. 任飞燕 – Rèn Fēiyàn. ↩

4. 床头打架床尾和 – chuáng tóu dǎjià chuáng wěi hé. A Chinese idiom that literally means fighting at the head of the bed and reconciling at the foot. It is used to illustrate that conficts between couples are common and temporary, and they will make up quickly. ↩

5. 周威信 – Zhoū Weīxìn. ↩

6. 八方 – bāfāng. Literally eight directions, encompassing north, south, east, west, northeast, southeast, northwest, and southwest. In Chinese culture and philosophy, it symbolises completeness, universality, and balance. It is often used to describe the entirety of space around a point, indicating something that extends or has influence in every direction. ↩

7. 轻功 – qīnggōng. Literally lightness skill. The ability to move with superhuman agility, and weightlessness through qi redistribution to leap over trees and roofs, and skip over water. See Wikipedia. ↩

8. 虎口 – húkǒu. Literally Tiger’s Mouth. It is used in martial arts and traditional Chinese medicine to refer to the area between the thumb and index finger, also known as the purlicue. ↩

9. 逍遥子 – Xiāoyáozǐ. Literally the carefree wise man. Zi is a Chinese honorific used for a wise or learnt man. Not to be confused with the Xiaoyaozi from Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils. ↩

10. 太岳 – Tàiyuè. Taiyue is the ancient name of modern day Tianzhu Mountain in Anqing, Anhui. See Wikipedia. ↩