The Heavenly Sword & the Dragon Sabre – Chapter 10 – Part 4

Zhang Cuishan refuses to reveal Xie Xun's whereabouts even under threat of death, whilst Zhang Songxi produces evidence that a Shaolin disciple crippled Yu Daiyan with the Vajra Finger, prompting Kongzhi to challenge Zhang Sanfeng himself.

Zhang Cuishan spoke clearly and with conviction, “Great Master Kongwen,¹ the seventy-four lives of the Dragon Gate Armed Escort² and the Shaolin monks were not taken by my hand. In all my life, guided by my shifu’s³ teaching, dull-witted though I am, I have never told a lie. As for who did take those seventy-four lives, I do in fact know, but I will not say. That is the first matter.

“The second: when Great Master Kongjian⁴ passed into nirvana, all under heaven mourned. The Golden Haired Lion King Xie Xun⁵ and I are sworn brothers, bound by oath. Where Xie Xun is now, I will not conceal that I also know. But we who walk the wulin⁶ hold righteousness above all else. Zhang Cuishan’s head may be severed, his blood may be spilled, but his sworn brother’s whereabouts I will never reveal. This matter has nothing to do with my shifu, nor with my fellow disciples. It falls on Zhang Cuishan alone. If you wish to press me to the death, to kill or to slice, then do it. In all my life I have done nothing to shame my shimen,⁷ never slain a single innocent. If you insist on forcing me to betray my righteousness today, then death is all I have to give.” He spoke these words with steady conviction, his face alive with righteous resolve.

Kongwen chanted, “Amituofo!”⁸ and thought to himself, From his words, he does not seem to be lying. How then should this be handled?

Just then, beyond the floor-length windows of the great hall, a child’s voice suddenly cried, “Father!”

Zhang Cuishan trembled to his core. That voice was Wuji’s.⁹ Shock and joy surged through him together, and he called out loudly, “Wuji, you’re back?” He dashed towards the hall’s entrance. A disciple each from the Kongtong School¹⁰ and the Shenquan School¹¹ stood at the doorway and, taking Zhang Cuishan for a man attempting to flee, both shouted, “Where do you think you’re going?” They reached out to seize him. Zhang Cuishan, his mind consumed with longing for his son, employed the left-falling and right-falling strokes of the Heaven character form from the Heaven-Reliant Dragon-Slaying Technique.¹² His arms swept apart, each vibrating with force, and the two men were hurled sprawling to left and right, over ten feet away. He ran to the long windows and threw them open, but all was empty. There was not half a figure in sight.

He cried aloud, “Wuji, Wuji!” There was no answer. More than a dozen people from the hall pursued him out. Seeing he had not fled, they did not close in but stood to one side, watching.

Zhang Cuishan called again, “Wuji, Wuji!” Still no reply. He returned to the great hall and bowed to Kongwen. “I was overcome with thoughts of my son and forgot myself. I beg the Great Master’s forgiveness.”

Kongzhi¹³ said, “Excellent, excellent! Zhang the Fifth Xia¹⁴ is so consumed with longing for his beloved son that he is like a man possessed. But tell me, did the countless people that Xie Xun murdered have no parents, no wives, no children?” His frame was slight and wizened, yet his voice rolled forth like a great bronze bell, setting every ear in the hall ringing. Zhang Cuishan’s mind was in such turmoil that he had no answer.

Abbot Kongwen turned to Zhang Sanfeng.¹⁵ “Zhang Sanfeng the Perfected One,¹⁶ how should this matter be resolved today? I must ask the Perfected One to instruct us.”

Zhang Sanfeng said, “This humble disciple of mine has no particular gifts, but he has never dared deceive his shifu, and I trust he would not dare deceive the three eminent Shaolin monks either. The lives of the Dragon Gate Armed Escort and your Order’s disciples were not taken by him. As for Xie Xun’s whereabouts, he will not speak.”

Kongzhi said with a cold smile, “And yet there are witnesses who saw Zhang the Fifth Xia murder our disciples. Are we to believe that Wudang disciples never lie but Shaolin men do?” He waved his left hand, and from behind him emerged three middle-aged monks.

Each of the three monks was blind in his right eye. They were Yuanxin,¹⁷ Yuanyin¹⁸ and Yuanye,¹⁹ the very Shaolin monks whose eyes Yin Susu²⁰ had put out with silver needles beside West Lake at Lin’an.²¹

Zhang Cuishan had noticed the three monks arrive with Kongwen and the others, and he had known at once that they would be called upon to testify about the fighting and killing at West Lake. Sure enough, Kongzhi had barely finished speaking before summoning them forth. Zhang Cuishan’s distress was beyond measure. The murders at West Lake had indeed not been done by his hand, but the one who had truly wielded the blade was now his wife. Their bond as husband and wife ran deep. How could he fail to shield her? Yet in this moment, how could he shield her?

Of the three monks of the Yuan generation, Yuanye had the most violent temper. By nature he would have charged at Zhang Cuishan the moment he set eyes on him, but out of deference to his shibo²² and shishu²³ being present he had restrained himself. Now his shifu had called him forth, and he spoke in a loud voice: “Zhang Cuishan, beside West Lake at Lin’an you fired a poisoned needle into Huifeng’s mouth and took his life. I saw it with my own eyes. Am I lying? The three of us had our right eyes shot out by your poisoned needles. Do you still mean to deny it?”

Zhang Cuishan knew that every point he could make was worth making. “Among the arts of the Wudang Order, we have many hidden weapons, but they are all substantial things — steel darts and sleeve arrows.²⁴ The seven of us of the same shimen have walked the jianghu²⁵ for many a year. Has anyone ever seen a Wudang disciple use golden needles or silver needles as hidden weapons? As for poisoning the needles, that need not even be mentioned.” The Seven Xias of Wudang²⁶ had always fought openly and above board. This was common knowledge throughout the wulin. To say that Zhang Cuishan had harmed men with poisoned needles was something people found hard indeed to believe.

Yuanye flared with rage. “Even now, you still quibble? That day, when the needle killed Huifeng, Yuanyin shixiong and I saw it plain and clear. If it was not you, then who was it?”

Zhang Cuishan said, “When men of your Order are injured or killed, you expect the Wudang Order to tell you who did it. Is that the custom of the world? Since the Shaolin Order was founded in the early Tang, hundreds of years have passed. Among all your men who have been hurt or slain, if not a dozen, then eight hundred — are they all to be charged to the Wudang Order’s account?” His tongue was sharp and his reasoning keen. Yuanye, in his blind fury, grew ever more incoherent, and a cause that had begun with the Shaolin Order very much in the right was twisted by his own ravings into something that sounded like bullying and distortion.

Zhang Songxi²⁷ took up the thread. “Yuanye shixiong, precisely which Shaolin monks fell to whose hands cannot be settled by argument here and now. But our shixiong Yu Daiyan was very clearly injured by the Vajra Finger²⁸ of the Shaolin Order. You have come at an opportune moment. We have been meaning to ask: who was it that used the Vajra Finger to injure our Third Brother?”

Yuanye gaped, his tongue stuck fast. “It wasn’t me!”

Zhang Songxi smiled coldly. “I know it was not you. I doubt you have mastered so demanding a skill.” He paused, then went on, “If our Third Shixiong had been in full health and met one of your Order’s experts in combat, and fallen beneath the Vajra Finger, then he would have had only his own imperfect training to blame. When men cross blades, there are always casualties. What complaint could there be? Could one sign a guarantee before a bout promising not a hair would be harmed? But our Third Shixiong was grievously ill, unable so much as to move, and yet a Shaolin disciple used the Vajra Finger to break his limbs, one by one, and force from him the whereabouts of the Dragon-Slaying Dao.”²⁹ His voice rose as he continued, “The Shaolin Order’s martial arts are pre-eminent under heaven. You have long been supreme in the wulin. Why must you also have that Dragon-Slaying dao? Moreover, my Third Shixiong had glimpsed the Dragon-Slaying Dao but once. That your disciple should resort to such cruelty in pressing him — the means were savage indeed. Yu Daiyan has a modest name in the jianghu. All his life he has upheld the code of xia³⁰ and done many a good deed in the wulin. Now, thanks to a Shaolin disciple, he is crippled for life and has not risen from his bed in ten years. We should very much like the three eminent monks to give us an account of this.”

Over Yu Daiyan’s injury and the massacre of the Dragon Gate Armed Escort, the Shaolin and Wudang orders had already exchanged no end of words across ten years, but with Zhang Cuishan vanished, the matter had never been brought to a close. Zhang Songxi, seeing Kongzhi and Yuanye pressing their case with such ferocity, raised this old suit once more.

Kongwen said, “This old monk has said it before. I conducted a thorough inquiry among our Order’s disciples, and not one harmed Xia Yu.”³¹

Zhang Songxi reached into his robe and drew out a gold ingot.³² The finger-marks upon it were plain to see. He raised his voice: “All the heroes of the world bear witness. The man who crippled our Third Brother left these finger-marks upon this gold ingot. Apart from the Shaolin Order’s Vajra Finger, what school, what Order’s art can press marks into gold as though it were clay?” Yuanyin and Yuanye had testified against Zhang Cuishan on the strength of words alone. Zhang Songxi had produced physical evidence, and it carried a weight that mere assertions could not.

Kongwen said, “Well spoken, well spoken! Among our Order, those who have mastered the Vajra Finger are, apart from the three of us brothers, only three senior elders. But those three elders have not stepped beyond the gates of Shaolin Monastery for thirty or forty years. How could they have injured Xia Yu?”

Mo Shenggu³³ broke in suddenly, “The Great Master does not believe my Fifth Shixiong’s word and calls it one-sided. But is the Great Master’s own word not one-sided as well?”

Kongwen was a man of considerable forbearance. Though Mo Shenggu’s words were blunt, he took no offence. “If Xia Mo does not credit this old monk’s word, there is nothing to be done.”

Mo Shenggu said, “How would I dare disbelieve the Great Master’s word? Yet the world shifts and changes, and right and false often confound expectation. You say those Shaolin high monks were injured by my Fifth Shixiong’s hand. We, in turn, hold that our Third Shixiong was injured by a Shaolin expert’s finger. Perhaps there is some hidden truth between the two versions. In my view, this matter ought to be considered at length, lest we damage the goodwill between Shaolin and Wudang. If we act in haste and the truth later comes to light, there will be regret.”

Kongwen nodded. “Xia Mo’s words are not wrong.”

Kongzhi said in a fierce voice, “Are we simply to let my shixiong Kongjian’s great wrong go unavenged? Zhang the Fifth Xia, we shall set the Dragon Gate Armed Escort matter aside for now. But the whereabouts of that villain Xie Xun — today, whether you wish to speak or not, you will speak.”

Yu Lianzhou,³⁴ who had been silent until this moment, now spoke in a clear, ringing voice: “If the Dragon-Slaying Dao is not in Xie Xun’s hands, is the Great Master still so eager to track him down?” He spoke seldom, but these two words struck to the quick, directly accusing Kongzhi of coveting a treasure and harbouring greed.

Kongzhi’s fury blazed. With a sharp crack of his palm he struck the wooden table before him. A splintering crash followed. The table’s four legs snapped clean through, and the planks of its top flew apart. It was reduced to fragments in an instant. The force behind that single strike was astounding. He bellowed, “I have long heard that the Perfected One’s martial arts have their root in Shaolin. The wulin says the Perfected One’s skill has surpassed that of his teachers. We have coveted the chance to test this for some time, but did not know whether the saying outstrips the reality. Today, before all the heroes of the world, we presumptuously invite the Perfected One to deign to instruct us.”

When those words left his mouth, a stir ran through the hall. Zhang Sanfeng’s name had been renowned for close on seventy years. Anyone who had ever crossed hands with him was long dead. Not a single soul remained in the world. How formidable his martial arts truly were, the wulin knew only through the various marvellous legends that had accrued. Apart from his seven personally taught disciples, no one had ever seen them with their own eyes. Yet Song Yuanqiao³⁵ and the Seven Xias of Wudang shook the world — if the students were so, what of the shifu? Those beyond either Shaolin or Wudang, hearing Kongzhi openly challenge Zhang Sanfeng, were all but electrified, thinking that today they would see the foremost expert of the age display his skill in person, and the journey would not have been in vain.

Every eye turned to Zhang Sanfeng’s face, watching to see whether he would consent. He merely smiled faintly, neither accepting nor declining.

Kongzhi said, “The Perfected One’s martial arts overshadow all under heaven. There is no match for him. The three of us Shaolin monks are no opponents for the Perfected One. But circumstances compel us. The entanglement between your Order and ours, if it is not judged by martial skill, will never be resolved. The three of us, knowing our own insufficiency, wish to join forces and invite the Perfected One to instruct us. The Perfected One stands two generations above us. Were it one against one, that would be a grave discourtesy.”

The crowd thought, Fine words. So you mean to fight three against one. Zhang Sanfeng’s martial arts are lofty indeed, but he is a centenarian, his vigour must be spent. He may not withstand the combined assault of Shaolin’s three eminent monks.

Yu Lianzhou said, “Today is our shifu’s hundredth birthday. How could we engage in combat with honoured guests…”

The crowd thought, So Wudang does not dare accept the challenge after all.

But Yu Lianzhou continued, “Moreover, as Great Master Kongzhi has said, our shifu and the three eminent monks are not of a generation. Were they truly to fight, would that not earn the reproach of bullying one’s juniors? But since a Shaolin expert has issued a challenge, we seven disciples of Wudang are willing to test the subtle arts of twelve Shaolin high monks.”

At these words the hall erupted again in a great clamour of discussion. Kongwen, Kongzhi and Kongxing each brought three disciples up the mountain, twelve Shaolin monks in all. Everyone knew that Yu Daiyan was disabled and the Seven Xias of Wudang reduced to six. Six against twelve meant each man facing two. Yu Lianzhou’s counter-challenge could only be read as a bold assertion of Wudang Order’s stature.

Footnotes

1. 空闻 – Kōngwén. Abbot of Shaolin Monastery. One of the three senior Kong-generation monks, alongside Kongzhi and Kongxing. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

2. 龙门镖局 – Lóngmén Biāojú. The Dragon Gate Armed Escort. An armed escort whose entire household was murdered, an act initially blamed on Zhang Cuishan. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

3. 师父 – shīfù. Teacher responsible for technical instruction and moral guidance. Shī means teacher. Fù means father. ↩

4. 空见 – Kōngjiàn. A senior Shaolin monk of the Kong generation, murdered by Xie Xun. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

5. 谢逊 – Xiè Xùn. The Golden Haired Lion King, one of the Ming Order’s Four Guardian Kings and Zhang Cuishan’s sworn brother. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

6. 武林 – wǔlín. Literally martial forest. The community of martial artists and their affairs. ↩

7. 师门 – shīmén. The house of one’s shifu: the master, the fellow disciples, and the rules and obligations binding them. ↩

8. 阿弥陀佛 – Āmítuófó. The Buddha Amitābha. A Buddhist invocation, equivalent to “Namo Amitābha Buddha.” ↩

9. 张无忌 – Zhāng Wújì. Son of Zhang Cuishan and Yin Susu, later the protagonist of the novel. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

10. 崆峒派 – Kōngtóng Pài. The Kongtong School, one of the regional martial arts schools of the wulin. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

11. 神拳门 – Shénquán Mén. The Shenquan School, a martial arts school of the wulin. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

12. 倚天屠龙功 – Yǐtiān Túlóng Gōng. Literally Heaven-Reliant Dragon-Slaying Technique. The martial art Zhang Sanfeng spontaneously created from the calligraphy of the twenty-four-character prophecy. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

13. 空智 – Kōngzhì. A hot-tempered senior monk of Shaolin Monastery, of the Kong generation. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

14. 张五侠 – Zhāng Wǔ Xiá. Zhang the Fifth Xia, i.e. Zhang Cuishan, the fifth disciple of Zhang Sanfeng. ↩

15. 张三丰 – Zhāng Sānfēng. Founder of the Wudang Order and creator of Taiji martial arts. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

16. 真人 – zhēnrén. Literally true person. Honorific title for a Daoist master of the highest attainment. ↩

17. 圆心 – Yuánxīn. A Shaolin monk of the Yuan generation, blinded in his right eye by Yin Susu at West Lake. ↩

18. 圆音 – Yuányīn. A Shaolin monk of the Yuan generation, blinded in his right eye by Yin Susu at West Lake. ↩

19. 圆业 – Yuányè. A Shaolin monk of the Yuan generation, blinded in his right eye by Yin Susu at West Lake. Known for his violent temper. ↩

20. 殷素素 – Yīn Sùsù. Daughter of Yin Tianzheng, Zhang Cuishan’s wife and Zhang Wuji’s mother. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

21. 临安 – Lín’ān. A city in southern China, modern-day Hangzhou. The Song Dynasty capital, frequently a setting for jianghu affairs. ↩

22. 师伯 – shībó. Senior lineage uncle. The shixiong or shijie of one’s shifu. Shī means teacher. Bó means father’s elder brother. ↩

23. 师叔 – shīshū. Junior lineage uncle. The shidi or shimei of one’s shifu. Shī means teacher. Shū means father’s younger brother. ↩

24. 暗器 – ànqì. Hidden weapons. Projectiles or small arms concealed on the person and deployed without warning. ↩

25. 江湖 – jiānghú. Literally rivers and lakes. The itinerant world beyond settled society and official reach, holding not only martial artists but the trades that travel with them. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

26. 武当七侠 – Wǔdāng Qī Xiá. The Seven Xias of Wudang: Song Yuanqiao, Yu Lianzhou, Yu Daiyan, Zhang Songxi, Zhang Cuishan, Yin Liting and Mo Shenggu, the seven disciples of Zhang Sanfeng. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

27. 张松溪 – Zhāng Sōngxī. The fourth of the Seven Xias of Wudang, known for his intelligence and quick wit. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

28. 大力金刚指 – Dàlì Jīngāng Zhǐ. Literally Great Strength Vajra Finger. A Shaolin finger technique capable of crushing bones and severing sinews. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

29. 屠龙刀 – Túlóng Dāo. The Dragon-Slaying Dao. One of the twin legendary weapons forged from Yang Guo’s Heavy Iron Sword. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

30. 侠 – xiá. A martial artist who upholds justice and protects the weak. The code of xia demands righteousness, courage, and self-sacrifice. ↩

31. 俞三侠 – Yú Sān Xiá. Yu Daiyan, the third disciple of Zhang Sanfeng, known as Yu the Third Xia. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

32. 金元宝 – jīn yuánbǎo. A gold ingot, traditionally shaped like a boat with a raised centre. Used as a store of value and a unit of currency. ↩

33. 莫声谷 – Mò Shēnggǔ. The youngest and most hot-tempered of the Seven Xias of Wudang. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

34. 俞莲舟 – Yú Liánzhōu. The second and most skilled of the Seven Xias of Wudang. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

35. 宋远桥 – Sòng Yuǎnqiáo. The most senior of the Seven Xias of Wudang. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩