The Heavenly Sword & the Dragon Sabre – Chapter 17 – Part 4

When the voice outside spoke its first words, the speaker was still far away, but the second came from right beside the hut. Zhu'er knew at once that things had gone badly wrong. There was no time to lift Zhang Wuji and flee. She could only hold her breath and stay silent.

The voice spoke coldly, “Come out! Do you mean to hide in there for the rest of your life?”

Zhu’er squeezed Zhang Wuji’s hand, pushed aside the thatch, and stepped out. Some twenty feet from the hut stood an old nun,¹ tall and slightly hunched, with sparse white hair visible beneath a small cap. It was Miejue Shitai, zhangmen² of the Emei Order.³ Behind her, dozens of people came running in three ranks. When they reached the hut, they lined up on either side of Miejue Shitai. About half were nuns. The rest were men and women. Ding Minjun and Zhou Zhiruo were among them. The male disciples stood in the rear, for the Emei Order had always valued women above men, and its male disciples were not taught the superior martial arts. Their rank was lower than the female disciples’.

Miejue Shitai looked Zhu’er up and down coldly and said nothing for a long while. Zhang Wuji crouched behind Zhu’er in dread, having made up his mind: if she struck at Zhu’er, he would fight to the utmost, even knowing he could not match her.

Miejue Shitai gave a snort, then asked Ding Minjun, “Is this the girl?”

Ding Minjun bowed. “Yes.”

Two sharp cracks rang out. Zhu’er gave a muffled groan. Her body was hurled more than thirty feet, both wrist bones broken, and she lay senseless in the snow.

Zhang Wuji saw a grey shadow flash. Miejue Shitai, with swift and unmatched qinggong,⁴ closed in beside Zhu’er. With swift and unmatched technique she broke her wrist bones and flung her aside. With swift and unmatched movement she returned to her original place. She stood trembling like an ancient tree, uncanny and majestic in the night wind. Each move was clean and decisive. Zhang Wuji saw every one of them clearly, yet they were so impossibly fast that he was frozen by the dreadful skill. By the time he wished to act, it was too late. He had no means to help, and the power to act had left him.

Miejue Shitai’s piercing gaze turned upon Zhang Wuji. “Come out!”

Zhou Zhiruo stepped forward and reported, “Shifu, this man’s legs are broken. He has never been able to walk.”

Miejue Shitai said, “Make two sleds and take them along.”

The disciples answered in unison. Over a dozen male disciples quickly lashed together two sleds. Two female disciples carried Zhu’er. Two male disciples carried Zhang Wuji. They set them on the sleds and dragged them behind Miejue Shitai, galloping west.

Zhang Wuji strained to hear Zhu’er’s sounds, not knowing how badly she was hurt. After they had travelled about a li,⁵ he heard Zhu’er give a faint moan.

Zhang Wuji called loudly, “Zhu’er, how bad is it? Have you sustained internal injuries?”

Zhu’er said, “She broke both my wrists. My chest and belly don’t seem hurt.”

Zhang Wuji said, “If your organs aren’t hurt, that’s good. Use your left elbow to strike three and a half cun⁶ below the crook of your right arm, then use your right elbow to strike three and a half cun below the crook of your left arm. That should ease the pain.”

Before Zhu’er could answer, Miejue Shitai gave a start. She turned her head and stared at Zhang Wuji. “This boy actually understands medicine. What is your name?”

Zhang Wuji said, “My surname is Zeng, and my name is Aniu.”

Miejue Shitai asked, “Who is your shifu?”

Zhang Wuji said, “My shifu is an unnamed rustic physician in a small country town. Shitai would not know his name.”

Miejue Shitai snorted and paid him no more heed.

The party walked until daybreak, then stopped to share dry rations.

Zhou Zhiruo brought several cold mantou and gave them to Zhang Wuji and Zhu’er. As she handed the food to Zhang Wuji, she glanced at him, then turned away. Zhang Wuji felt a surge of emotion and could restrain himself no longer. In a low voice he said, “The kindness of the meal you fed me in the boat on the Han River, I shall never forget it.”

Zhou Zhiruo trembled all over. She turned to look at him. By now Zhang Wuji had shaved off his beard. She stared at him for a while, then suddenly gave a soft cry. Her face showed joy and astonishment. “You… you…”

Zhang Wuji knew she had recognised him at last. He nodded slowly.

Zhou Zhiruo asked in a whisper, “The cold poison in your body, is it cured?” Her voice was fine as a gnat’s, barely audible.

Zhang Wuji whispered, “It is cured.”

A flush rose on Zhou Zhiruo’s face, and she walked away.

All this time Zhu’er was behind Zhang Wuji. She saw Zhou Zhiruo suddenly brimming with joy, then moving her lips, her face flushing again, her eyes bright with light. When Zhou Zhiruo had gone, she asked Zhang Wuji, “What did she say to you?”

Zhang Wuji’s face reddened. “Nothing… nothing.”

Zhu’er snorted angrily, “Lying to my face!”

The party rested for three shichen⁷ and then set off again. They pressed west in haste for three full days, clearly bound on some urgent errand. All the disciples, men and women alike, spoke not a word unless it could not be avoided, as if they were all mutes.

By now Zhang Wuji’s leg bones had long since healed. He could walk at any time, but he gave no sign and sometimes even feigned a moan of pain to keep Miejue Shitai off her guard. He waited only for the right moment to grab Zhu’er and flee. But all along the way was open wilderness, and he could not get far before they would catch him. For the time being, he dared not act.

He set Zhu’er’s wrist bones back in place. Miejue Shitai watched coldly and made no move to stop him. From what she had seen of Zhu’er’s martial arts, Miejue Shitai had judged her to belong to the opposing faction. Keeping them close was harmless enough, but she would not let them go easily. During rest stops by day and camps by night, Zhang Wuji could not help stealing glances at Zhou Zhiruo, but she never came near him again.

Two more days’ travel. That afternoon they entered a vast desert. The snow on the ground had melted, and the two sleds slid across the sand.

As they marched, they heard the sound of hooves from the west. Miejue Shitai made a gesture, and the disciples immediately hid behind the sand dunes. Two of them thrust short jian towards the backs of Zhang Wuji and Zhu’er. The meaning was plain: the Emei Order was lying in ambush for the enemy. If either of them raised the alarm, the jian would thrust forward and take their lives on the spot.

The hoofbeats came fast, but the riders were still far away. After a long while they drew near. The riders suddenly spotted footprints in the sand and reined in to stare. Emei’s eldest disciple, Jingxuan Shitai,⁸ raised her fly-whisk,⁹ and dozens of disciples leapt from their hiding places, surrounding the riders on all sides.

Zhang Wuji craned his neck to look. There were four horses. All the riders wore white robes embroidered with a red flame. Caught in the ambush, all four shouted as one, drew their weapons, and charged towards the northeast to break out.

Jingxuan Shitai called out, “They are heretics of the demonic cult!¹⁰ Don’t let a single one escape!”

Although the Emei Order outnumbered them, they did not attack with overwhelming force. Two female disciples and two male disciples, following Jingxuan Shitai’s commands, went forward in turn to cut them off. The four men of the Ming Order wielded curved daos and fought with fierce resolve. The Emei disciples sent to the Western Regions were the elite of the Order, every one a martial artist of real skill. Within seven or eight exchanges, three of the Ming Order men were struck by jian and fell from their horses.

The remaining rider was far more formidable. He wounded an Emei male disciple in the left shoulder, broke through, and galloped off. After several dozen feet, Jingxu Shitai,¹¹ third in rank among the Emei disciples, called out, “Get down!” Her footwork was swift as she closed in behind him. Her fly-whisk lashed out, coiling around his left leg with fierce force. He swung back his dao to block, but Jingxu’s fly-whisk changed course in mid-stroke and struck the back of his head with a swish. The blow hit a vital point. The fly-whisk concealed deep neili¹² within it, and the man toppled backwards from his horse. He was savage even so. Despite his grave wounds, he sought to drag his enemy down with him. He flung out both arms and lunged at Jingxu. She dodged aside and struck him in the chest with her fly-whisk once more.

Just then, from a cage hung on the rider’s horse’s neck, three white pigeons suddenly took wing. Jingxuan called out, “What trick is this?” Her sleeves shook, and three iron lotus seeds¹³ flew towards the three pigeons. Two fell at once. But the third iron lotus seed was knocked off course by a hidden weapon from one of the white-robed men lying on the ground, and one pigeon soared into the clouds. The Emei disciples sent a flurry of hidden weapons after it, but none could strike the bird. They watched as it flew off towards the northeast. Jingxuan waved her left hand, and the male disciples dragged the four white-robed prisoners to stand before her.

From the first attack to the shooting of the pigeons and the taking of the prisoners, Miejue Shitai had stood with her hands behind her back, watching coldly throughout. Zhang Wuji thought to himself, She struck at Zhu’er in person. That means she considered Zhu’er a foe worth her personal attention. It must be because Ding Minjun’s wrists were broken. If this old nun wanted to stop that pigeon, it would take no more than a gesture. Yet she chose not to, leaving the disciples to handle it on their own. He recalled how years ago Jingxuan had led Ji Xiaofu¹⁴ and others to Mount Wudang to wish his Grand Shifu a happy birthday, and she could already stand as an equal with the zhangmen of the Kunlun and Kongtong Schools. The senior disciples of the Emei Order plainly held considerable reputations in the jianghu.¹⁵ Each could manage affairs independently and deal with matters of consequence. Against a handful of Ming Order followers, Miejue Shitai naturally need not act herself.

Footnotes

1. 师太 – shītài. Honorific title for a senior Buddhist nun. Shī means teacher. Tài means supreme. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

2. 掌门 – zhǎngmén. The leader of a martial arts school or order. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

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

4. 轻功 – qīnggōng. Lightness skill. The martial art of movement, enabling practitioners to scale walls, cross distances with extraordinary speed, and lighten their steps. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

5. 里 – lǐ. Approximately one-third of a mile or 500 metres. A unit of distance used throughout the jianghu. ↩

6. 寸 – cùn. Here used as a proportional body measurement (同身寸), roughly one inch. Distances on the body are measured by the person’s own proportions rather than a fixed length. ↩

7. 时辰 – shíchén. A two-hour period; the traditional Chinese day is divided into twelve shichen. ↩

8. 静玄 – Jìngxuán. The eldest disciple of the Emei Order, addressed as Jingxuan Shitai. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

9. 拂尘 – fúchén. A fly-whisk: a handle with a tuft of horsehair or silk, used by Buddhist and Daoist monks as a symbol of authority and as a weapon. ↩

10. 明教 – Míng Jiào. The Ming Order, the revolutionary cult at the heart of the novel. The orthodox schools derisively call it the demonic cult (魔教). See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

11. 静虚 – Jìngxū. Third in seniority among the Emei Order’s disciples, addressed as Jingxu Shitai. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

12. 内力 – nèilì. Internal force. The kinetic manifestation of qi, cultivated through neigong and deployed in martial practice. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

13. 铁莲子 – tiě liánzǐ. Iron lotus seeds: small, hardened metal projectiles shaped like lotus seeds, used as hidden weapons. ↩

14. 纪晓芙 – Jǐ Xiǎofú. A senior disciple of the Emei Order and former lover of Yang Xiao. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

15. 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. ↩