The Return of the Condor Heroes Chapter 1 – Part 3

Lu Liding knew his own daughter was sly and mischievous, forever up to some trick, but Cheng Ying never lied. “What happened?” he asked.

Lu Wushuang chattered away, recounting everything that had just occurred.

Lu Liding knew this boded ill. Without waiting for her to finish, he snatched his dao from the wall and raced for his brother’s and sister-in-law’s graves. When he reached them he found not only the graves broken open but both coffins opened too. He had half expected it from the moment his daughter spoke of grave-digging, yet the sight still set his heart pounding. The bodies were gone without a trace, and the lime, paper wadding and cotton padding in the coffins lay in a jumble.

He steadied himself. The lids of both coffins bore many marks of iron tools, hacked and gouged, and grief and fury, shock and doubt rose in him together. He had not questioned his daughter closely, and now he could not tell what deep enmity this grave-robbing villain bore his brother and sister-in-law, that he should come even after their deaths to defile their bodies and vent his hate. Gripping his dao, he set off in pursuit.

Every scrap of Lu Liding’s martial skill had been taught him by his elder brother, Lu Zhanyuan. He was by nature a placid man, and his family was well off, so he had lived all his life in ease and plenty and never once ventured into the jianghu.¹ He had, it could be said, no experience at all, and no knack for meeting the unexpected. He had no idea how to track a body thief, and after casting about in a circle he came back to the graves without the least notion what to do. He stood there dazed for a long while, and in the end there was nothing for it but to go home.

He went into the main hall, sat down in a chair and propped his dao beside it, staring blankly at the nine bloody handprints on the wall. Over and over he thought, Before my brother died, he told me he had an enemy, a Daoist nun named Li Mochou,² known as the Scarlet Serpent Immortal.³ Her martial arts were formidable, and she was ruthless and merciless in all she did. He expected that ten years after his wedding she would come for revenge on him and his wife. At the time he said, “This illness of mine will never mend, so the Scarlet Serpent Immortal will never have her revenge on me. In three more years her day will come round. Whatever happens, you must persuade your sister-in-law to go far away.” I promised him through my tears. I never imagined that on the very night my brother died, my sister-in-law would cut her own throat to follow him. My brother has been gone three years. By my count this is the very time the nun was to come for her revenge. But with my brother and sister-in-law both dead, the feud and all the rest of it is wiped out. What has the nun come for?

My brother also said that before the nun kills, she will often print bloody handprints on the wall or door of the house, one handprint for each person she will kill. Counting the hired hands and the bondmaids, our household is only seven in all. So why has she printed nine? Ah, I see. She printed the handprints first, and only then learned that my brother and sister-in-law were dead, so she sent someone to dig up their graves and steal the bodies? This… this demon woman is truly vicious… I’ve been at home all day. When were these nine bloody handprints made? To strike so that neither man nor ghost knew of it, this woman… this woman…

At this thought, he could not suppress a shudder.

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Behind him came the soft patter of footsteps, and a pair of small, soft hands covered his eyes. His daughter’s voice said, “Daddy, guess who I am?”

This was a game Lu Wushuang had played with her father since she was small. When she was three, she had covered his eyes with her hands and said, “Daddy, guess who I am?” This sent both parents into gales of laughter. Ever since, whenever her father was downcast, she would use this trick to cheer him up. Even in the depths of fury, Lu Liding’s anger would always melt away when his beloved daughter teased him like this.

But today, he had no heart for playing with her. He brushed her hands aside. “Daddy’s busy. Go play inside.”

Lu Wushuang was stunned. She had been doted on by her parents since birth and had rarely seen him ignore her like this. Her little mouth pursed, and she was about to throw a tantrum when the manservant Agen hurried in. With his hands at his sides, he reported, “Young Master, there are guests outside.”

Lu Liding waved his hand. “Tell them I’m not home.”

Agen said, “Young Master, the lady isn’t asking to see you. She’s a traveller looking to stay the night.”

Lu Liding started. “What? A woman?”

Agen said, “Yes, the lady has two children with her, both quite handsome-looking.”

Hearing that the female guest had two children with her, Lu Liding relaxed slightly. “She’s not a Daoist nun?”

Agen shook his head. “No. She’s dressed neatly, like a respectable lady from a good family.”

Lu Liding said, “Very well. Show her to the guest quarters and serve her a meal.”

Agen acknowledged the order and left. Lu Wushuang said, “I want to go see too.” She ran out after him.

Lu Liding rose to go inside and discuss with his wife how to deal with the enemy, but Lady Lu had already come into the hall. Lu Liding showed her the bloody palm prints and told her about the broken graves and missing bodies. Lady Lu frowned. “Where can we send the two children to hide?”

Lu Liding pointed at the bloody handprints on the wall. “The two children are counted too. Now that this demon has set her bloody handprints on our wall, I’m afraid hiding them won’t be easy. Heh, the two of us have trained in martial arts all these years for nothing. Someone came and went in our house without our noticing a thing. This… this…”

Lady Lu gazed at the white wall, gripping the back of a chair. “Why nine handprints? There are only seven of us in this household.”

As the words left her lips, her limbs went weak. She stared at her husband, on the verge of tears. Lu Liding reached out and held her by the arm. “My dear, now that it’s come to this, there’s no use being afraid. These two handprints at the top are meant for my brother and sister-in-law. The two below naturally fall on you and me. Two in the third row are for Wushuang and little Ying, and the last three for Agen and the two maidservants. Heh heh, this is what they call blood spattered through the whole household.”

Lady Lu said in a trembling voice, “Brother and sister-in-law?”

Lu Liding said, “I don’t know what deep grudge this demon bears against my brother and sister-in-law. Even though they’re dead, she still sent someone to dig up their bodies from the graves to humiliate them.”

Lady Lu said, “You mean that madman was sent by her?”

Lu Liding said, “Of course.”

Lady Lu saw that his face was covered in sweat and dust. Gently she said, “Go back to our room and wash your face, change your clothes, and rest a while before we discuss this further.”

Lu Liding rose and walked back to their room with her. “My dear,” he said, “if the entire Lu family is doomed to die today, let us at least die in a way that does not disgrace the name of my brother and sister-in-law.”

Lady Lu felt a pang of sorrow. “You are right, Second Master.”

Both of them reflected that although Lu Liding was unknown and obscure, his elder brother Lu Zhanyuan and sister-in-law He Yuanjun were famed throughout the jianghu for their chivalry, and the name of Lu Family Manor of Jiaxing had never been taken lightly in the wulin.

As they walked into the rear courtyard, they suddenly heard a click from the eastern wall. Someone was up high. Lu Liding stepped forward to shield his wife and looked up. A boy was sitting on top of the wall, reaching out to pluck a trumpet creeper flower. From the foot of the wall came a voice calling, “Careful, don’t fall.”

It was Cheng Ying, Lu Wushuang, and a boy, crouched behind the flower trellis at the base of the wall. Lu Liding thought to himself, These two children must belong to the family staying the night. How can they be so mischievous?

The boy on the wall plucked a flower. Lu Wushuang called, “Give it to me, give it to me!” The boy grinned and tossed it towards Cheng Ying instead. Cheng Ying caught it and handed it to her cousin. Lu Wushuang was annoyed. She took the flower, threw it on the ground, and stamped on it a few times. “Who cares about that?” she huffed. “I don’t want it.”

Lu Liding and his wife watched the children playing with such enthusiasm, utterly oblivious that a bloody catastrophe was bearing down upon them. They sighed and went into their room together.

Cheng Ying saw Lu Wushuang trample the flower. “Cousin, what are you angry about now?”

Lu Wushuang pouted. “I don’t want his. I’ll pick my own.” With that, she pushed off with her right foot, leapt up, caught hold of a wisteria vine hanging from the trellis, used it to propel herself several feet upward, and darted towards the branch of a silver osmanthus tree.

The boy on the wall clapped and cheered. “Come over here!”

Lu Wushuang grabbed the osmanthus branch with both hands, swung back and forth in the air a few times, then released the branch and launched herself towards the top of the wall.

Given the meagre qinggong⁴ she had trained in, this leap was far too dangerous. But she was angry that the boy had thrown the flower to her cousin instead of her, and as a young girl determined not to lose face before strangers, she hurled herself through the air without a second thought.

The boy was startled. “Watch out!” he cried, reaching out to catch her. If he had not extended his hands, Lu Wushuang could have grabbed the top of the wall, but seeing him reach for her in midair, she snapped, “Get out of the way!” She twisted aside to avoid his hands. The art of turning one’s body in midair is an extremely advanced qinggong technique. She had once seen her father perform it, but even her mother could not do it. How could a little girl possibly execute it? The turn caused her fingers to miss the wall, and with a cry of alarm, she plummeted straight down.

The boy at the foot of the wall saw her falling and dashed over, reaching out to catch her. The wall was over ten feet high. Though Lu Wushuang was light, the force of the fall was considerable. The boy caught her around the waist, and the two of them crashed heavily to the ground together. Two sharp cracks rang out. Lu Wushuang’s left leg had snapped, and the boy’s forehead had struck the corner of the flower bed, sending blood spurting.

Cheng Ying and the other boy, seeing the disaster they had caused, rushed over to help. The boy slowly got to his feet, pressing his hand against the wound on his forehead, but Lu Wushuang had already fainted. Cheng Ying held her cousin and cried, “Uncle, Aunt, come quickly!”

Lu Liding and his wife heard the cries and rushed out of their room. They saw the two injured children, and also saw a middle-aged woman hurrying out from the western wing, presumably the traveller who had asked to stay the night. The woman scooped up Lu Wushuang and the injured boy and carried them into the hall. Rather than stopping the bleeding first, she set about joining the broken bone in Lu Wushuang’s leg. Lady Lu fetched a cloth and bandaged the boy’s head, then went to check on her daughter’s leg.

The woman pressed two acupoints,⁵ the “White Sea” point⁶ on the inner side of Lu Wushuang’s broken leg and the “Bending Middle” point⁷ behind the knee, to stop the pain. Then she held both sides of the break, preparing to set the bone. Lu Liding watched her swift, practised movements and her expert acupoint-sealing technique, and suspicion surged within him. “Who are you, madam?” he demanded. “What business brings you to my humble home?”

The woman was wholly focused on setting Lu Wushuang’s bone. She merely murmured a few sounds without answering his question.

At that very moment, a laugh rang out from the rooftop, and a woman’s voice called, “I want only the seven lives of the Lu household. Everyone else, get out now.”

The woman was in the middle of setting the bone. The sudden shout from the roof startled her, and her hands twisted of their own accord. There was a crack, and the broken bone was wrenched askew again. At the agony Lu Wushuang gave a great cry and fainted once more.

Everyone looked up. At the edge of the eaves stood a young Daoist nun. The moonlight fell on her face, and she looked no more than fifteen or sixteen. A long jian was slung across her back, and its blood-red tassel snapped in the wind.

Lu Liding said in a clear voice, “I am Lu Liding. Are you a disciple of Immortal Maiden Li?”

The young nun’s mouth twisted. “Since you know, so much the better! Now kill your wife, your daughter and your servants, every one, then kill yourself, and save me the trouble.” She said it lightly, unhurried and unflustered, as though the people before her were beneath her notice.

Lu Liding shook with rage. “You… you…” For a moment he had no idea how to answer. He was about to leap up and fight her, but she was young, and a girl, and he could hardly cross weapons with her in earnest. While he hesitated, someone brushed past him: the woman who had asked to stay the night had already sprung onto the roof, long jian in hand, and was locked in combat with the young nun.

The woman wore a grey jacket and skirt, the young nun an apricot-yellow Daoist robe. In the moonlight a grey shadow and a yellow shadow wheeled and whirled, laced with three streaks of cold light, and now and then came the clash of steel on steel. Lu Liding had never faced a real enemy, but his martial arts had been taught him by his elder brother’s own hand, and his eye was by no means poor: he could follow every move of both women’s swordplay.

He saw the young nun’s long jian switch from defence to attack, the tide turning in an instant, her swordplay fierce and fast. The woman met it with full concentration, slipping in strikes of her own wherever there was an opening. Suddenly there was a ringing clang as the two jians crossed, and the young nun’s long jian went flying into the air. She sprang back, her pretty face flushed. “I’m here on my shifu’s orders to kill the whole Lu household,” she snapped. “Who are you, to meddle in other people’s business?”

Footnotes

1. 江湖 – jiānghú. Literally rivers and lakes. Itinerant world beyond settled society and official reach, holding not only martial artists but the trades that travel with them, including pedlars, physicians, fortune-tellers, entertainers, boatmen, beggars, outlaws and the like. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

2. 李莫愁 – Lǐ Mòchóu. Her name meaning “do not sorrow”. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

3. 赤练仙子 – Chìliàn Xiānzǐ. Literally scarlet chain immortal. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

4. 轻功 – qīnggōng. Literally lightness skill. Martial art of body lightness; practitioners leap great heights and move with extraordinary speed. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

5. 穴位 – xuéwèi. … See Wikipedia. ↩

6. 白海穴 – Báihǎi Xué. Literally white sea. Acupoint on the inner thigh; striking it can numb the leg. See Wikipedia. ↩

7. 委中穴 – Wěizhōng Xué. Literally middle of the bend. Acupoint at the back of the knee on the bladder meridian; striking it can numb the leg. See Wikipedia. ↩