The Heavenly Sword & the Dragon Sabre – Chapter 10 – Part 6

Yin Susu confesses her role in Yu Daiyan's injury before Zhang Cuishan. Zhang Cuishan takes his own life in the great hall, and Zhang Wuji is brought back by an unknown man.

Zhang Sanfeng said, “That is only natural. Among the wulin,¹ one may not casually overturn right and wrong, confounding black and white.” He took up the eight characters Yin Susu had spoken, ‘overturn right and wrong, confound black and white’, and returned them to Kongwen.²

Kongwen asked Yin Susu, “May I ask Zhang Furen,³ why did you wreak such indiscriminate carnage and put the Dragon Gate Armed Escort⁴ to death, old and young?”

Yin Susu⁵ said with a cold dignity, “The Dragon Gate Armed Escort failed to escort Yu the Third Xia properly. We of the Tianying Order⁶ harmed him. Though I am no man, I still know the principle that one who acts must bear the consequences alone. I shall go to Yu the Third Xia and confess the deed myself.” She turned to Zhang Cuishan⁷ and said, “Fifth Brother, your wife was wilful in her youth, and has dragged you down with her. I am deeply sorry. I shall go to Third Uncle and reveal the truth, and let him punish me as he sees fit.” With that she turned and went within.

Zhang Cuishan rose to his feet and followed after her, his steps unsteady. Yin Liting reached out to steady him, whilst Yu Lianzhou, Zhang Songxi and Mo Shenggu followed them in. Song Yuanqiao said, “I shall remain here with shifu!”

Yin Susu, guided by the two young Daoist acolytes Qingfeng and Mingyue, came to Yu Daiyan’s⁸ bedchamber. She walked to his bedside and saw him lying on his back, a thin quilt over him. Her voice trembled as she spoke, “Third Uncle, I am Fifth Brother’s wife. I have done you a grave wrong. I have no face to come before you, but this matter cannot be concealed for a lifetime. I have come to beg you to sever one of my arms. Though it cannot be called atonement, at least it will allow me to call you ‘Third Uncle’ with a clear conscience hereafter, and to be Zhang Cuishan’s wife without fear or dread.” As she spoke, she drew her sword, reversed her grip, and offered the hilt to Yu Daiyan.

Zhang Cuishan was filled with bewilderment. He glanced at his wife and saw her face overspread with shame and apprehension.

Yu Daiyan made no move to take the sword. He stared into the distance, his eyes suffused with a strange light, at once anguished and resentful. Plainly some lifelong grievance had risen in his mind. Yu Lianzhou and Yin Liting looked from Yu Daiyan to Yin Susu and back again, each heart heavy with a foreboding they could not name. For a time the room was so still that each man’s heartbeat seemed audible.

Yu Daiyan’s breathing grew laboured. A flush rose upon his pallid cheeks, and he said in a low voice, “Fifth Brother’s wife, pray repeat these words for me: ‘First, I must ask Escort Chief Du to escort me in person. Second, from Lin’an Prefecture to Xiangyang Prefecture in Hubei, the journey must be made day and night without cease, delivered within ten days. Should there be the slightest mishap, not only will Escort Chief Du’s life be forfeit, but every soul of the Dragon Gate Armed Escort, man and beast, shall be spared none.’”

Each of those who heard him speak these words slowly felt a cold sweat break out upon them.

Yin Susu said, “Third Uncle, you are indeed remarkable. You recognised my voice. That day at the Dragon Gate Armed Escort in Lin’an Prefecture, the one who engaged Escort Chief Du to send you to Mount Wudang was I.”

Yu Daiyan said, “I thank you, Sister-in-law, for your kindness.”

Yin Susu said, “Later, mishaps befell the Dragon Gate Armed Escort upon the road, and Third Uncle was brought to this pass. And so I put every soul of his escort house to the sword, old and young.”

Yu Daiyan said coldly, “At first I was grateful to you, and wished to repay your great kindness. After you came up the mountain, I learned from Fifth Brother that you were of the Tianying Order, and I wished to meet you and enquire into certain matters. But you kept putting me off and would not come.”

Yin Susu’s face grew bleak. She sighed long and slow, and said, “Third Uncle, today I have come to confess my fault. I committed a grievous and terrible wrong. But I must speak plainly: Cuishan has been kept in the dark throughout. He knows nothing of it. I was afraid that if he learned the truth, he would never look upon me again.”

Yu Daiyan said quietly, “The deed is done, and what is past cannot be recalled. Why imperil the bond between you and your husband? After all these years, I have long since set everything aside. Even had my limbs remained whole, what then? That I still live today, and that Fifth Brother has returned from beyond the seas, is joy enough for one day.”

Yu Daiyan’s spirit was of the hardest. Since his injury he had never once uttered a groan or a complaint. At first he could not even speak, but through Zhang Sanfeng’s devoted care, channelling into him the exquisite neili⁹ of decades of cultivation, he had at last regained the power of speech. Yet of that day’s events he had never once spoken, until this day, when these words at last passed his lips.

Yin Susu said, “Third Uncle, in truth you long ago guessed the truth. But you cherished the brotherhood with Cuishan, and so bore it in silence. It is true. That day in the Qiantang River, the one who hid in the cabin and wounded you with the Mosquito-Whisker Needle¹⁰ was I.”

Zhang Cuishan cried out in a great voice, “Susu, is it truly you? You, you, why did you not speak of this sooner?”

Yin Susu said, “The chief culprit who harmed your Third Shixiong¹¹ is your wife. How could I dare tell you?” She turned again to Yu Daiyan and said, “Third Uncle, the one who later wounded you with the Seven Star Nail¹² and deceived you of the Dragon-Slaying Dao¹³ was my own elder brother, Yin Yewang.¹⁴ Our Tianying Order has never held enmity with the Wudang Order. Once the Dragon-Slaying Dao was secured, and out of respect for you as a true man of honour, we engaged the Dragon Gate Armed Escort to return you to Mount Wudang. The antidote to the Seven Star Nail is in my brother’s keeping. I had no means to administer it to you first. As for the further troubles that arose upon the road, those were beyond even my reckoning.”

Zhang Cuishan’s whole body trembled. Fire seemed to leap from his eyes. He pointed at Yin Susu and said, “You, you have deceived me most bitterly!”

Yin Susu took the sword she had offered and placed it in Zhang Cuishan’s hand. She said, “Fifth Brother, we have been man and wife for ten years. You have shown me love and tenderness, and the bond between us is deep. Today I die without regret. Third Uncle will not sever my arm in punishment for my great wrong. I only ask that you run me through with a single thrust, and so preserve the righteousness of the Seven Xias of Wudang.”

Zhang Cuishan took the sword. He raised it to strike at his wife’s breast, but in that instant ten years of her gentleness, her solicitude, her tender devotion, all of it rushed upon him. How could he bring himself to thrust?

He stood frozen. Then with a sudden great cry he ran from the room. Yin Susu, Yu Lianzhou and the other four did not know what he intended, and followed hard after him. They saw him dash to the great hall and fall to his knees before Zhang Sanfeng, saying, “Revered shifu,¹⁵ your disciple’s great wrong is now beyond recall. I beg but one thing of you.”

Zhang Sanfeng did not know what had passed in the inner chambers. His face was gentle as he said, “What is it? Speak, and there is nothing I shall deny you.”

Zhang Cuishan kowtowed three times and said, “I thank you, Revered Shifu. I have an only son, who has fallen into the hands of villains. I beg you to rescue him from their grasp and raise him to manhood.” He rose to his feet and strode several paces forward, then turned to face Great Master Kongwen,¹⁶ He Taichong¹⁷ the Iron Qin Master, Guan Neng¹⁸ of the Kongtong School, Jingxuan Shitai¹⁹ of the Emei Order and the rest. In a loud voice he said, “My wife has slain many Shaolin disciples. She did not yet know me at the time, but my wife and I are one body, and all the sin falls upon Zhang Cuishan alone. I am sworn brother to the Golden Haired Lion King, and you covet the Dragon-Slaying Dao and would force me to betray my sworn brother. Are the disciples of Wudang so base and faithless as that?” With that he swept the long blade across his own throat. Blood spurted forth, and he was dead on the instant.

Zhang Cuishan’s resolve to die was absolute. He knew that as he cut his own throat, his shifu and his fellow disciples would surely rush to stay his hand, and so he had placed himself among the gathered guests. As soon as he had spoken his two declarations, he had acted at once.

Zhang Sanfeng, Song Yuanqiao, Yu Lianzhou and Yin Liting cried out together and rushed forward. But a series of thuds rang out as six or seven figures went flying, all guests standing near Zhang Cuishan, driven back by the palm force of Zhang Sanfeng and his disciples. Yet they were a heartbeat too late. Zhang Cuishan’s blade had severed his throat, and nothing could recall him. Zhang Songxi, Mo Shenggu and Yin Susu, who had come out later, were still farther away.

At that very moment a child’s voice cried from beyond the long window of the hall, “Papa, Papa!” The second call was muffled, plainly with a hand clapped over the boy’s mouth. Zhang Sanfeng’s form flickered, and he was already beyond the window. A man in Mongol military garb held a boy of eight or nine in his arms. The boy’s mouth was stopped, yet he struggled with all his might.

Zhang Sanfeng’s beloved disciple had died, and his heart was as though cut by a blade. Yet nearly a century of cultivation kept his spirit steady. He said in a low, commanding voice, “Come in.” The man pressed down with his left foot, meaning to leap onto the roof with the child in his arms, but suddenly felt a weight settle upon his shoulder, his body grown leaden, his feet unable to leave the ground. Zhang Sanfeng had stolen silently behind him, and his left hand rested lightly upon the man’s shoulder. The man was seized with alarm, knowing that Zhang Sanfeng need only project his neili to leave him dead or gravely wounded even if he did not comply. He had no choice but to obey and walk into the hall.

The child was none other than Zhang Cuishan’s son, Wuji. He had been held silent by the man, but he had seen his father cut his own throat from beyond the long window. How could he not be desperate? He struggled with all his strength and at last cried out in a great voice.

Yin Susu saw that her husband had taken his own life for her sake, and then suddenly saw her son returned unharmed. After the greatest grief came the greatest joy. She asked, “My boy, did they beat you? Did they harm you?”

Wuji said with a defiant air, “Even if they beat me to death, I would not reveal a word about my sworn father!”

Yin Susu said, “Good boy. Let me hold you.”

Zhang Sanfeng said, “Give the child to her.” The man, his body wholly controlled, had no choice but to pass Wuji to Yin Susu.

Wuji threw himself into his mother’s arms and wept, “Mama, why did they drive Papa to his death? Who drove Papa to his death?”

Yin Susu said, “All these many people came up the mountain together. Only your father would not tell them where his sworn brother was, and so they drove your father to his death.”

Wuji’s eyes swept slowly from left to right. Though he was young, every person whose gaze met his felt a shock at the heart.

Footnotes

1. 武林 – wǔlín. Lit. martial forest. The community of martial artists and their affairs. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

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

3. 夫人 – fūrén. Madam; wife. A respectful form of address for a married woman. ↩

4. 龙门镖局 – Lóngmén Biāojú. The Dragon Gate Armed Escort. An armed escort house based in Lin’an. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

5. 殷素素 – Yīn Sùsù. Wife of Zhang Cuishan, daughter of Yin Tianzheng, leader of the Tianying Order. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

6. 天鹰教 – Tiānyīng Jiào. The Tianying Order. A martial order founded by Yin Tianzheng, the White-Browed Eagle King. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

7. 张翠山 – Zhāng Cuìshān. The Fifth Xia of Wudang. Fifth disciple of Zhang Sanfeng. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

8. 俞岱岩 – Yú Dàiyán. The Third Xia of Wudang. Third disciple of Zhang Sanfeng, crippled by injury. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

9. 内力 – nèilì. Internal force. The kinetic manifestation of qi cultivated through neigong. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

10. 蚊须针 – Wénxū Zhēn. Mosquito-Whisker Needle. A tiny, nearly invisible needle used as a concealed weapon, so named for its fineness. ↩

11. 师兄 – shīxiōng. Male senior fellow disciple. Both apprenticed to the same shifu. Shī means teacher. Xiōng means older brother. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

12. 七星钉 – Qīxīng Dīng. Seven Star Nail. A poisoned projectile weapon, so named for the seven star-points upon its head. ↩

13. 屠龙刀 – Tú Lóng Dāo. The Dragon-Slaying Dao. One of the two legendary weapons forged from the Iron of the Divine Meteor, the other being the Heavenly Sword. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

14. 殷野王 – Yīn Yěwáng. Elder brother of Yin Susu, son of Yin Tianzheng. A senior figure in the Tianying Order. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

15. 师父 – shīfù. Teacher and lineage father. Shī means teacher. Fù means father. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

16. 大师 – dàshī. Great master. Honorific title for a senior Buddhist monk. ↩

17. 何太冲 – Hé Tàichōng. Leader of the Kunlun School, known by the epithet Iron Qin Master. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

18. 关能 – Guān Néng. A senior disciple of the Kongtong School. ↩

19. 师太 – shītài. Revered master. Honorific title for a senior Buddhist nun. ↩