The Heavenly Sword & the Dragon Sabre – Chapter 14 – Part 2

Zhang Wuji had struck down two village men with casual ease moments ago, but Jian Jie the Saint-Handed Guardian was a master of the Kongtong School,[^kongtong] and decades of training sat in his two hands. With Jian Jie gripping him tight, how could Zhang Wuji wrench free? Xue Gongyuan's two shidi fetched rope and bound both children. Zhang Wuji knew there was no escape today. In his wild fury he bitterly regretted ever saving these men's lives. Who could have guessed such fickleness of heart, that gratitude would be repaid with betrayal?

Jian Jie said, “Little bastard, you healed the wound on my head, so you reckon you’ve done me a favour, eh? You’re cursing me inside, aren’t you?”

Zhang Wuji said, “Isn’t this repaying kindness with betrayal? I have no kinship with any of you. If I hadn’t stepped in, could the four of you have been cured of your strange wounds and stranger illnesses?”

Xue Gongyuan laughed. “Young Master Zhang, we showed you all sorts of ugly sights after we were hurt. Now you’ve seen things we’d rather keep hidden, and once word gets out, none of us can hold up our heads in the jianghu.¹ We’re properly starving today. Without a few mouthfuls of fresh meat we won’t last. Save us to the very end, won’t you? See the Buddha on his way to the West.”

Jian Jie was savage and terrifying, fierce enough. But it was Xue Gongyuan’s smiling, treacherous cruelty that cut Zhang Wuji coldest. He cried aloud, “I am of the Wudang Order, and this girl is of the Emei Order.² Harm us if you like, but do you suppose Five of the Seven Xias of Wudang³ and Miejue Shitai⁴ will simply let the matter rest?”

Jian Jie started. “Oh?” The words gave him pause. The Wudang Order and the Emei Order were not people to provoke lightly. Xue Gongyuan smiled. “Here Heaven knows and Earth knows, you know and I know. Once you’re in my belly, you can go complain to Zhang Sanfeng the old Daoist.” Jian Jie roared with laughter. “My belly’s so empty it’s catching fire. You could be my own brother, my own son, and I’d swallow you skin and bone.” He turned to Xue Gongyuan’s two shidi and barked, “Light the fire and get the pot boiling. What are you waiting for?” The two men lifted an iron cauldron from the ground. One went to the stream to scoop water, and the other kindled a fire.

Zhang Wuji said, “Master Xue, those two are already dead. If you’re hungry enough to eat people, why not eat them?”

Xue Gongyuan laughed. “Those two stiff corpses are all skin and bone, tough as old leather, stinking and hard. Where in this world does anyone eat old mutton when tender lamb is to hand?”

Zhang Wuji had always possessed great backbone. Had they beaten him or struck at him with a blade, he would never have begged mercy. But now, trapped in the hands of villains, about to be cooked alive and eaten, he could not help but panic. He pleaded with them. Xue Gongyuan only mocked him the more. “Ha, ha! The disciples of the Wudang Order and the Emei Order lord it over the jianghu, and today we’re biting them piece by piece and eating them. When Zhang Sanfeng and that old nun Miejue hear, they’ll die of fury.”

Zhang Wuji drew breath and shouted, “Master Xue, if you must eat someone, eat me. I ask only that you let this little girl go. I, Zhang Wuji, will die without resentment.”

Xue Gongyuan said, “Why?”

Zhang Wuji said, “When her mother died, she entrusted this little girl to me, to deliver her to her father. If you eat me alone today, that will be enough. Tomorrow you can buy cattle, sheep, and rice. Spare the little girl.”

Jian Jie saw that the boy faced death without flinching. So young, and already bearing the spirit of a xia.⁵ He felt a grudging admiration, and his heart wavered. “What say you?” he asked.

Xue Gongyuan said, “Letting the little girl go is no difficulty. But if the news leaks out, and Song Yuanqiao and Yu Lianzhou come looking one day, can Brother Jian handle them?”

Jian Jie nodded. “Brother Xue speaks well. I’m a muddle-headed fool, never thinking past today.” As they talked, a disciple of the Huashan School returned carrying a cauldron of clear water and set it over the fire to boil.

Zhang Wuji knew time was short. He called out, “Buhui, swear an oath to them. Swear you will never speak of what happened today.”

Yang Buhui wept in a daze. “They can’t eat you. They can’t eat you.” She did not understand what Zhang Wuji was saying. Only dimly she knew he was giving himself to save her.

The dignified young man who had sat silent all this while said nothing. Jian Jie glared at him. “Young Master Xu, if you want mutton you’ll have to put up with the smell of it.” In the region of Hao and Si, a young man was called a xiaoshe.⁶

The young man said, “Very well.” He drew a short dao from his waist. “Butchering pigs and sheep is my trade.” He clamped the dao between his teeth, seized Zhang Wuji in one hand and Yang Buhui in the other, and strode towards the stream. Zhang Wuji cursed him loudly and tried to bite his arm but could not reach.

The man surnamed Xu had gone some ten paces when Xue Gongyuan called out, “Young Master Xu, butcher them here.” The man turned his head. “Better to gut them in the stream. Easier to wash clean.” The dao between his teeth made his words slurred, but his feet did not stop. Xue Gongyuan said, “I told you to stop here, so stop here.” He had sensed something off in the man’s bearing and feared he meant to keep both children for himself and run.

Young Master Xu whispered, “Run!” He set the two children on the ground and slit their bonds with his dao. Zhang Wuji said, “Thank you for saving my life.” He seized Yang Buhui’s hand and ran.

Jian Jie and Xue Gongyuan roared and gave chase. Young Master Xu planted himself across their path, dao raised. “Stop!”

Jian Jie and Xue Gongyuan saw him standing with dao across his chest, imposing and fearless, and faltered. Jian Jie barked, “What do you think you’re doing?”

Young Master Xu said, “We walk the jianghu. Bullying the weak and small, will this not make us a laughing-stock to the heroes and brave men of the world?”

Xue Gongyuan was furious. “When hunger drives, we’d eat our own parents!” He waved at his two shidi. “Chase them! Chase!”

Zhang Wuji saw that Yang Buhui could not run fast. He lifted her in his arms. Small as he was, with short legs, this only slowed them the more.

Jian Jie and Xue Gongyuan each brandished weapons and attacked the man surnamed Xu. They fought for some time before Jian Jie’s dao slashed across Xu’s thigh. Blood streamed down at once. Young Master Xu could hold them no longer. Suddenly he flung his short dao at Xue Gongyuan. Xue Gongyuan dodged aside, and Young Master Xu broke through and ran. Neither Jian nor Xue pursued him. They turned at once to seize the two children. From afar Young Master Xu called, “Brother Zhang, do not fear. I will fetch help and come back for you.” Jian and Xue closed in and bound Zhang Wuji and Yang Buhui once more.

Jian Jie glared and cursed, “That man Xu is a traitor who bites the hand that feeds him. Why did you side with him?”

Xue Gongyuan said, “We picked him up on the road. How were we to know if he was good or bad? He says his name is Xu Da. Don’t believe his lies. It will be dark soon. Where would he go for help?”

A disciple of the Huashan School said, “From his accent he’s a local man from Fengyang Prefecture. Even if he gathers some villagers, we’ve nothing to fear.”

Jian Jie laughed. “Fengyang Prefecture! Ha, ha! They’re all so hungry they can’t even crawl. We’d best get these two little lambs boiling nice and fragrant and fill our bellies proper.”

Zhang Wuji, captured a second time, was beaten until his face was bruised and swollen, his robes torn. The silver and belongings in his bosom fell to the ground. He thought, So the man surnamed Xu is called Xu Da. A true friend indeed. Pity my life is about to end before I can befriend him. He lowered his head and saw a yellow paper copybook lying on the ground, its pages fluttering in the wind. It was the Manual of Toxics⁷ he had taken from Wang Nangu’s body. His eyes fell on the page, where two large characters read Toxic Fungi, followed by small text detailing the shape, smell, colour, toxicity, and antidote of each species, one after another. His mind was in turmoil. How could he take it in? Then a single line caught his eye: Most toxic fungi are bright in colour. Those of grey-yellow hue are generally harmless.

He raised his head and sat dazed for a moment. Then he noticed, four or five feet away to his left, beneath a rotting tree trunk, a cluster of more than a dozen fungi, vivid and bright. His heart stirred. I do not know what kind these are. If they are deadly poisonous, Buhui may yet have a chance.

By now Zhang Wuji had given up all thought of saving himself. His only wish was to save Yang Buhui. He sat on the ground and shuffled forward on his hands and buttocks until he reached the fungi. He turned and plucked them all. Night had fallen. The others were consumed by hunger’s fire. No one watched him. He gazed towards the direction where Xu Da had fled, then leapt to his feet and cried, “Brother Xu! You’ve brought help! Save me, save me!” Jian Jie and the others believed it true. All four grabbed their weapons and jumped up. Zhang Wuji, while their eyes were fixed to the east, stepped back two paces and dropped the fungi into the cauldron.

Jian Jie and the others saw no one coming and cursed, “Little bastard, you’ve gone mad. No one’s coming to save you.”

Xue Gongyuan said, “Who wields the knife?”

Jian Jie said, “I’ll slaughter the girl. You kill the boy.” He seized Yang Buhui.

Zhang Wuji said, “Master Xue, I am parched with thirst. Give me a bowl of hot soup, and I swear I will not haunt you as a ghost.”

Xue Gongyuan said, “Fine. What harm in a bowl of hot soup?” He ladled one out and gave it to him.

Before the bowl reached his lips, Zhang Wuji cried, “How fragrant! How fragrant!” The fungi, simmering in the hot broth, did indeed send a rich aroma into the air. Xue Gongyuan, half-mad with hunger, did not even offer it to Zhang Wuji. He drank it down himself, licked his lips, and said, “Exquisite!” He ladled another bowlful. Jian Jie snatched it from his hand and gulped it down. Not yet satisfied, he drank a third. Xue Gongyuan and the two Huashan disciples each drank two bowls. After long hunger, the hot, savoury soup was beyond comfort. Jian Jie even fished out the fungi from the pot and chewed them in great mouthfuls. Not one of them asked where the fungi had come from.

Footnotes

1. 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. ↩

2. 峨嵋派 – Éméi Pài. The Emei Order, a Buddhist martial order founded by Guo Xiang on Mount Emei. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

3. 武当五侠 – Wǔdāng Wǔ Xiá. Five of the Seven Xias of Wudang, the five senior disciples of the Wudang Order at this time: Song Yuanqiao, Yu Lianzhou, Yu Daiyan, Zhang Songxi, and Zhang Cuishan. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

4. 师太 – shītài. Honorific title for a senior Buddhist nun. Shī means teacher. Tài is an honorific. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

5. 侠 – xiá. A martial artist who upholds justice and protects the weak through personal courage and skill. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

6. 小舍 – xiǎoshè. A regional term used in the Hao-Si area (modern Anhui) to address a young man. ↩

7. 王难姑毒经 – Wáng Nángū Dú Jīng. Wang Nangu’s Manual of Toxics. A treatise on poisons and their antidotes compiled by Wang Nangu, wife of the divine physician Hu Qingniu. ↩