The Heavenly Sword & the Dragon Sabre – Chapter 19 – Part 8

In that very instant, Zhang Wuji's cultivation of the Nine Yang Divine Skill¹ reached its culmination. Water and fire nourished each other, dragon and tiger converged. One must understand that within the Silk-Treasure Pouch,² the zhenqi³ was so abundant it equalled dozens of masters each exerting their true force, simultaneously massaging and pressing upon the several hundred acupoints⁴ of his body. Inside and out, his zhenqi surged and clashed, and the dozens of critical gates within him burst open one by one. He felt as though streams of quicksilver flowed and circled throughout his meridians,⁵ supremely comfortable. Such fortune had never befallen any man before, and once this precious pouch shattered, no one would ever encounter such a convergence again.

Yuanzhen⁶ saw that the youth within the pouch looked unsteady, at a loss for what to do. Yuanzhen himself was gravely wounded, and if he did not seize this fleeting chance, once his opponent gained the advantage, the danger would be dire. He immediately stepped forward, extended his right index finger, and channelled neili⁷ into his Illusory Shadow Finger,⁸ aiming straight at the Tanzhong acupoint on Zhang Wuji’s chest.

Zhang Wuji raised his palm to block. Though his divine skill had just been completed, his martial techniques remained crude indeed. The martial arts his sworn father and his biological father had taught him were not yet integrated, and how could he stand against a supreme master like Yuanzhen? In a single move, the Yangchi acupoint on his wrist was struck by Yuanzhen’s finger. At once he shivered and stepped back. Yet the zhenqi within him, so abundant it nearly overflowed, transmitted itself through Yuanzhen’s finger in that same instant. The two forces, one yin and one yang, perfectly opposed each other. Zhang Wuji’s neili came from the Nine Yang Divine Skill, far more substantial than Yuanzhen’s. Yuanzhen’s fingers grew hot, and the power throughout his body seemed about to dissipate. On top of his severe wounds, his usual cultivation was reduced to less than a tenth. Seeing the situation was unfavourable and that escape was paramount, he turned and fled.

Zhang Wuji cursed in fury, “Cheng Kun,⁹ you great villain, leave your life behind!” He chased out through the hall’s door, only to see Yuanzhen’s grey figure flicker and vanish through a side entrance. Rage filled Zhang Wuji’s breast, and he dashed after him. As he burst forward with force, there came a loud crash. His forehead struck the doorframe hard. He did not yet know that with his divine skill complete, every lift of hand or foot carried more than ten times his former strength. A single great stride covered distance without measure, and so he crashed into the doorframe.

He touched his forehead, which ached dully, and thought, How strange, that stride reached so far? He hurried through the side entrance and found himself in a small hall. His resolve to avenge his sworn father burned fierce, and he crossed the hall, pursuing his quarry.

Beyond the hall lay a courtyard where flowers breathed their hidden fragrance. He saw lamplight glimmering through the windows of the west wing. He leapt forward, pushed open the door, and glimpsed a grey shadow. Yuanzhen was lifting an embroidered curtain and slipping through.

Zhang Wuji followed beneath the curtain, but Yuanzhen had vanished. He focused his senses and could not suppress his astonishment, for the chamber he stood in appeared to be the boudoir of some great family’s young lady. By the window stood a vanity table, upon which a red candle burned brightly, illuminating the room in splendour. Rich brocades and ornate furnishings, scarcely inferior to Zhu Jiuzhen’s¹⁰ estate. On the other side was a carved bed with silk curtains hanging low. Before the bed lay a pair of pink embroidered slippers, plainly someone slept within. This boudoir had but a single entrance, the windows were tightly closed, and yet he had clearly seen Yuanzhen enter. How could he have vanished in the blink of an eye? Could he possess some art of invisibility? Or could he have cast aside a monk’s dignity and hidden within a woman’s bed?

He stood uncertain whether to draw back the curtains and search, when suddenly he heard soft footsteps approaching. Zhang Wuji slipped behind a hanging tapestry on the western wall as two figures entered the room. Peering out, he saw both were young women. One wore a pale yellow silk robe, richly dressed, whilst the other was younger still, clad in a blue cloth gown, a maidservant. In a hoarse voice she said, “Young Miss, it is late. Please retire for the night.”

The young lady turned and slapped her, a heavy blow that struck the maidservant’s face. The girl stumbled backwards. The lady swayed slightly and turned her countenance. By candlelight, Zhang Wuji saw clearly: large eyes with deep black pupils, a round face. It was Yang Buhui,¹¹ whom he had escorted from the Central Plains to the Western Regions these many thousands of li.¹² The years between had seen her grow tall, yet not a trace of her mannerisms had changed. Most vivid of all was that slight pout she made when being capricious.

He heard her scold, “You tell me to sleep! Hah! The Six Major Schools besiege Bright Peak,¹³ and my father meets with others to discuss strategy. They’ve talked all night and still have not finished. If my father has not slept, how can I? Perhaps you hope my father is killed, and then you kill me too. Then the world would be yours!” The maidservant dared not argue, but helped her sit down. Yang Buhui said, “Quickly, fetch me my jian!”

The maidservant went to the wall and took down a long jian hanging there. Between her feet was fastened a thin iron chain, and iron shackles bound her wrists. Her left foot dragged as she walked, her spine curved into a bow. When she had taken down the jian and turned back, Zhang Wuji was further startled. Her right eye was small, her left eye large, her nose and mouth twisted awry, her appearance truly frightening. He thought, This girl is even uglier than Zhu’er.¹⁴ Zhu’er’s face swells from poison, and that can be cured. But this girl is disabled from birth.

Yang Buhui took the jian and said, “The enemy may come at any time. I must patrol outside.” The maidservant said, “Let me follow the Young Miss. If we meet the enemy, I can help.” Her voice too was harsh and unpleasant, like some rough middle-aged man. Yang Buhui said, “Who wants your false kindness?” Her left hand turned, seizing the maidservant’s wrist at the pulse-gate. At once the girl could not move. Trembling, she said, “Young Miss, you… you…” Yang Buhui sneered, “The enemy attacks in force. My father and I are moments from death. You wench must be a spy they planted. How can my father and I suffer your torment? Today I kill you first!” With that, she raised her jian and thrust at the maidservant’s throat.

Zhang Wuji had felt pity for the maidservant from the moment he saw her disabled form. Seeing Yang Buhui thrust her jian to kill, he did not pause to think in that crisis, but leapt out and flicked the blade with his finger. Yang Buhui could not hold the jian steady. With a clang it fell to the floor. Her hand empty, her index and middle fingers darted straight at Zhang Wuji’s eyes. It was merely the ordinary move “Twin Dragons Seize the Pearl,”¹⁵ yet after years of training under her father, she wielded it with considerable force. Zhang Wuji leapt back and blurted out, “Buhui meimei,¹⁶ it’s me!”

Yang Buhui had heard him call those four words “Buhui meimei” countless times. Startled, she asked, “Is it Wuji gege?” She had recognised only the voice and tone of those four words, not Zhang Wuji’s face.

Zhang Wuji had inadvertently revealed himself and felt a pang of regret. Yet he could no longer deny it, and said, “It is me! Buhui meimei, how have you fared these years?” Yang Buhui looked at him more carefully. His clothes were ragged, his face begrimed and bruised. She wavered in uncertainty and said, “You… you are truly Wuji gege? How… how did you come here?”

Zhang Wuji said, “Shuobude¹⁷ brought me to Bright Peak. That monk Yuanzhen entered this room and suddenly vanished. Is there another exit?” Yang Buhui asked in puzzlement, “What monk Yuanzhen? Who came into this room?” Zhang Wuji was anxious to pursue Yuanzhen. The matter was too long to explain, so he said, “Your father was wounded in the hall. Go quickly and see to him.” Yang Buhui was shocked and said, “I must see my father.” With that, her palm fell casually towards the maidservant’s crown, a vicious blow. Zhang Wuji cried out, “You must not!” He pushed gently at her arm, and Yang Buhui’s strike went wide.

Twice now Yang Buhui had tried to kill the maidservant, and twice Zhang Wuji had intervened. She said sharply, “Wuji gege, are you in league with this wench?” Zhang Wuji asked in surprise, “She is your maidservant. I only just saw her. How could I be in league with her?” Yang Buhui said, “If you do not know the truth, then do not meddle. This wench is our family’s great enemy. My father bound her hands and feet with iron chains to prevent her harming me. Now the enemy attacks in force, and she means to seize her chance for revenge.”

Zhang Wuji saw that the maidservant looked pitiful and vulnerable. Though her form was strange, she bore no resemblance to a vicious sort. He said, “Young lady, did you mean to take your revenge?” The maidservant shook her head and said, “Never!” Zhang Wuji said, “Buhui meimei, you hear? She says she would not. Let her go.” Yang Buhui said, “Very well, since you plead for her… aiyo…” She swayed slightly, staggered, and could not stand firm. Zhang Wuji reached out to steady her, when suddenly at his lower back the Xuanxu and Zhongshu acupoints flared with searing pain, and he fell sprawling to the ground. Yang Buhui had found him meddlesome and lured him close, then struck his two great acupoints with the iron ring on her middle finger. Having felled Zhang Wuji, she turned her right hand and struck towards the maidservant’s right temple.

The blow was about to land when Yang Buhui suddenly felt her dantian¹⁸ blaze with heat. Numbness seized her whole body, and involuntarily she released the maidservant’s wrist. Her knees buckled, and she sank into a chair. The truth was that when she had struck Zhang Wuji’s acupoints with force, Zhang Wuji’s divine skill being newly complete, his Nine Yang zhenqi had not yet developed the power of protective zhenqi,¹⁹ but had already rebounded of its own accord, surging through Yang Buhui’s meridians.

The maidservant picked up the jian from the floor and said, “Young Miss, you always suspected I meant you harm. Now I could kill you without the least effort, yet I have no such intention.” With that, she sheathed the jian and hung it back upon the wall.

Zhang Wuji rose to his feet and said, “You see? I was not wrong.” After his acupoints had been struck, in mere moments his zhenqi had surged of its own accord and cleared them, restoring his movement.

Yang Buhui stared at him, greatly alarmed. The numbness in her limbs had passed. Mindful of her father’s safety, she rose and said, “How is my father’s wound? Wuji gege, wait for me here. We shall meet again. How have you fared these years? I have thought of you often…” As she spoke, she ran from the room.

Zhang Wuji asked the maidservant, “Young lady, that monk fled into this room yet suddenly vanished. Do you know if there is another passage?” The maidservant said, “You truly must pursue him?” Zhang Wuji said, “That monk has committed countless sins against Heaven and reason. I… I… would follow him to the ends of the earth.” The maidservant raised her head and gazed at his face.

Zhang Wuji said, “Young lady, if you know, I beg you to show me the way.” The maidservant bit her lower lip, considered briefly, then said softly, “You saved my life. Very well, I will take you.” She puffed out the candle’s flame and, taking Zhang Wuji’s hand, led him away.

Translator’s note: A critic has found it laughable that the Ming Order should include a monk, for the Ming Order is not Buddhism and how can it admit monks? In truth, after the Ming Order entered the Central Plains from Persia, its gates were wide and it accepted all manner of followers, not rigidly separating sects as later religions did. Peng Yingyu the monk and the Cloth-Sack Monk were both of the Ming Order; the historical records are plain. Peng the Monk belonged to the White Lotus School and was a figure of great renown among the rebels of the late Yuan. The Cloth-Sack Monk belonged to the Maitreya School, which used “Maitreya’s Coming” as its rallying cry against the Yuan. Religious matters have always been complex, and those involving history should be grounded in the historical record, not in assumptions drawn from present conditions. When the Ming Order first entered the Central Plains, it absorbed certain Christian sects (the Nestorian Church). That the Ming Order should have monks is not in the least strange. Zhu Yuanzhang himself was once a monk, and he was a great leader of the Ming Order. Surely that cannot be doubted? Leng Qian, the Iron-Crowned Daoist, and Zhou Dian: these three seemed to follow the Daoist path, but whether they belonged to the Ming Order is not recorded in history. All three were historical figures; Leng Qian and Zhou Dian are regarded in legend as Immortals. Zhang Sanfeng too is later said to have become an Immortal, much like Wang Chongyang and Qiu Chuji. Yet whether Immortals truly exist in this world is greatly open to doubt.

In Europe and America today, the fortresses of Protestantism, Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, and Judaism stand clearly divided. Yet all four share a common origin, and when the four first separated it was not easy to tell them apart. In England, France, Germany, and the Swiss cantons, who belonged to which confession was not easily distinguished. We must not rashly judge the past by what we know today. When Buddhism first arose in India, it too was not easily separated from Jainism. Later, when it entered the Central Plains during the Wei and Jin periods, it often borrowed Daoist teachings to spread its doctrines. One need only read A New Account of the Tales of the World to see this. The Ming Order’s Scripture of the Great Cloud and Bright Light closely resembles a Buddhist sutra, for having just entered the Central Plains, it adopted Buddhist forms of transmission to be more readily accepted.

Footnotes

1. 九阳神功 – Jiǔyáng Shéngōng. Literally Nine Yang Divine Skill. A legendary internal cultivation method emphasising pure yang energy, capable of granting extraordinary martial prowess. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

2. 乾坤袋 – Qiánkūn Dài. Literally Heaven-and-Earth Pouch. A precious treasure of the Ming Order, woven from rare materials and capable of containing immense neili. Also known as the Silk-Treasure Pouch. ↩

3. 真气 – zhēnqì. Refined qi from internal cultivation. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

4. 穴 – xué. Acupoint. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

5. 经脉 – jīngmài. The meridian channels through which qi flows. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

6. 圆真 – Yuánzhēn. The monastic name of Cheng Kun, adopted after he entered Shaolin Monastery. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

7. 内力 – nèilì. Internal force; the kinetic manifestation of qi cultivated through neigong. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

8. 幻阴指 – Huànyīn Zhǐ. Literally Illusory Shadow Finger. A sinister finger technique of Cheng Kun that channels yin neili through the meridian, causing numbness and paralysis. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

9. 成昆 – Chéng Kūn. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

10. 朱九真 – Zhū Jiǔzhēn. Daughter of Zhu Changling, whose estate Zhang Wuji visited in his youth. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

11. 杨不悔 – Yáng Bùhuǐ. Daughter of Yang Xiao and Ji Xiaofu. Her name means “does not repent,” given by her mother. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

12. 里 – lǐ. Approximately 500 metres or one-third of a mile. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

13. 光明顶 – Guāngmíng Dǐng. The headquarters of the Ming Order in the Kunlun Mountains. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

14. 蛛儿 – Zhū’ér. The nickname of Yin Li, Zhang Wuji’s cousin. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

15. 双龙抢珠 – Shuāng Lóng Qiǎng Zhū. Literally Twin Dragons Seize the Pearl. A common martial technique where two fingers dart forward simultaneously. ↩

16. 妹妹 – mèimei. Younger sister. A term of endearment for a girl of junior generation or age. ↩

17. 说不得 – Shuōbùdé. Literally “Cannot Tell.” One of the Five Unbound Adepts of the Ming Order, known for his qinggong and his cloth sack. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

18. 丹田 – dāntián. The energy centre below the navel where qi is stored and refined. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

19. 护体真气 – hùtǐ zhēnqì. Protective zhenqi; the ability of refined neili to form a defensive barrier around the body. ↩