The Heavenly Sword & the Dragon Sabre Chapter 2 Part 3

Apart from receiving four moves of instruction from Yang Guo¹ atop the summit of Mount Hua,² Zhang Junbao³ had never had a martial arts master explain techniques to him. Now, suddenly confronted with such fantastical and unpredictable palm techniques of the highest order, how could he possibly counter them?

In his desperation, he twisted his body leftward into the Cold Rooster stance,⁴ both palms raised above his brow, the tiger’s mouth of his left hand facing that of his right from a distance. This was none other than Double Circle Hand⁵ from the Shaolin fist technique repertoire. The move was as weighty and immovable as a mountain, and the enemy’s attack dissolved of its own accord without requiring any counter. No matter from which angle He Zudao⁶ pressed his assault, all would fall within the encompassing defence of the Double Circle Hand.

A thunderous cheer erupted from the disciples of Bodhidharma Hall⁷ and Arhat Hall,⁸ every man among them filled with heartfelt admiration for Zhang Junbao. They praised him for countering the most intricate and profound enemy technique with the most plain and unremarkable move in Shaolin fist technique.

Amidst the cheers, He Zudao let out a clear whistle and hurled a punch at Zhang Junbao’s chest. This strike was a complete reversal, from clever to blunt, yet its power was formidable beyond measure. Zhang Junbao responded with Slanting Flower Seven Stars,⁹ thrusting both palms forward. Fist met palm with a resounding crash, and He Zudao’s body swayed while Zhang Junbao stumbled back three paces.

He Zudao gave a cold snort. Without changing his technique, he advanced two steps and launched another fierce punch. Zhang Junbao answered once more with Slanting Flower Seven Stars, pushing both palms forward level. A tremendous boom rang out, and this time Zhang Junbao retreated five paces. He Zudao lurched forward a step, his expression shifting as he called out, “Only one move remains. Receive it with all your strength!” He advanced three steps, settled into a firm horse stance, and drove his fist forward slowly.

In that moment before Shaolin Monastery,¹⁰ hundreds of people fell utterly silent. Every man present knew this final punch carried He Zudao’s entire reputation upon it, and that he would surely pour all his strength into it.

Zhang Junbao used Slanting Flower Seven Stars for the third time. This exchange of fist and palm made no sound at all. The two held their positions for a brief instant, each channelling neili¹¹ against the other. In terms of martial technique, He Zudao surpassed Zhang Junbao a hundredfold or more. But once it came to a contest of neili, Zhang Junbao had learned the cultivation methods from the Nine Yang Manual¹² and possessed neili that was continuous and dense, thick and abundant.

In a mere moment, He Zudao realised he had no certainty of victory. He leapt into the air at once, letting Zhang Junbao’s fist-force dissipate into nothing, then struck a light push against his back with a reversed palm. Zhang Junbao tumbled to the ground and could not rise for some time.

He Zudao raised his right hand and gave a bitter laugh. “He Zudao, oh He Zudao, truly your arrogance knows no bounds!”

He bowed deeply to Chan Master Tianming,¹³ and said, “The martial arts of Shaolin Monastery have been renowned for a thousand years, and truly this reputation is well-deserved. Today this foolish scholar’s eyes have been opened wide, and I know at last that beneath such a celebrated name, there is no empty vessel. I am humbled! I am humbled!”

With that he turned, tapped his toe against the ground, and in an instant was floating several dozen feet away.

Before his words had faded, he tapped his toes several more times and vanished into the distance. His movements were so swift as to be rarely seen in the world.

Zhang Junbao slowly climbed to his feet, his forehead and face covered in dust and mud. Though He Zudao had knocked him down, all the senior masters present knew that He Zudao had merely taken him by surprise. His airy departure, with its implied meaning that he was no match for Shaolin’s divine martial arts, spoke for itself.

One of the Seven Elders of the Meditation Hall,¹⁴ a gaunt and skeletal old monk, suddenly spoke. “Who taught this disciple his martial arts?”

His voice was extremely sharp and shrill, like an owl’s cry on a cold night, and all who heard it could not help but shiver. Tianming, Wuse,¹⁵ Wuxiang,¹⁶ and the others had all long harboured this same question, and they turned as one to gaze at Jueyuan and Zhang Junbao. Master and disciple stood there dumbly, unable to speak a word. Tianming said, “Though Jueyuan’s neigong¹⁷ is refined, he has not studied fist technique. From whom did this youth learn his Shaolin fist technique?”

The disciples of Bodhidharma Hall and Arhat Hall all thought to themselves that no one could have anticipated the temple’s crisis would be averted by this young lad, who had driven away the formidable enemy. Surely the old abbot would bestow a great reward upon him, and the shifu¹⁸ who had taught him neigong and fist technique would likewise receive high honours.

The old monk saw that Zhang Junbao stood frozen and unmoving. Suddenly his brows shot upward, his face filled with murderous intent, and he demanded harshly, “I am asking you: who taught you your Arhat Fist?”

Zhang Junbao drew from his robe the pair of iron arhats¹⁹ that Guo Xiang²⁰ had given him and said, “I learned a few moves by following the stances these two iron arhats perform. Truly, no one has ever taught me martial arts.”

The old monk advanced a step and lowered his voice. “Say it once more, clearly: your Arhat Fist was not taught by any shifu of this monastery. You learned it yourself.”

Though his voice had dropped, the menace in his words had grown even stronger.

Zhang Junbao’s conscience was clear. He had never done anything wrong, and though the old monk’s manner was aggressive and intimidating, he felt no fear. He declared clearly, “I have only ever swept floors and brewed tea in the scripture library, serving Jueyuan shifu. No shifu of this monastery has ever taught me martial arts. This Arhat Fist I learned by myself from these iron arhats. The iron arhats perform techniques of our school, so by learning from them, I suppose I have not violated any rules. If I have performed the moves incorrectly, I beg the venerable elder to instruct me.”

He held the iron arhats in both hands and offered them to the old monk.

The old monk’s eyes seemed about to spit fire as he glared at Zhang Junbao, long and unmoving.

Jueyuan knew this Meditation Hall elder held extremely high seniority, being the shishu²¹ of Abbot Tianming himself. Seeing him treat Zhang Junbao with such severity, he was greatly bewildered. Yet noting the hatred and venom in the elder’s eyes, a thought suddenly flashed through his mind, swift as lightning or a striking spark. He recalled a small book he had once chanced upon in the scripture library, he could not remember which year.

It was a thin, hand-copied volume recording a great affair of the monastery’s own house:

More than seventy years before, the abbot of Shaolin Monastery had been Chan Master Kucheng,²² who was the grand shifu²³ of Abbot Tianming. That year at mid-autumn, the monastery held its annual grand examination in Bodhidharma Hall, where the abbot and the heads of Bodhidharma Hall and Arhat Hall tested the martial progress of all disciples over the past year. After the disciples had demonstrated their skills, the head of Bodhidharma Hall, Chan Master Kuzhi,²⁴ ascended the dais to offer his assessment.

Suddenly, a Dhūta who still wore his hair burst forth from the crowd and declared loudly that Chan Master Kuzhi’s words were utter nonsense, that he knew nothing whatsoever of martial arts, and that it was shameful for him to occupy the chief seat of Bodhidharma Hall. The assembled monks were shocked and looked upon this man. He was a fire-tending Dhūta²⁵ who worked the stoves in the monastery’s kitchens. Before their shifu could speak, the disciples of Bodhidharma Hall cried out in unison to rebuke him.

The fire-tending Dhūta shouted, “If the shifu’s words are utter nonsense, then the disciples’ words are even more nonsensical!”

With that, he leapt to the centre of the hall. The disciples came forward one by one to fight him, but he defeated each with two or three blows. In Bodhidharma Hall it was customary during sparring for fellow disciples to show restraint, stopping at the point of contact. But this Dhūta struck with extreme viciousness. He defeated nine senior disciples of Bodhidharma Hall in succession, leaving each with either a broken arm or a fractured leg. Not one escaped serious injury.

The head of Bodhidharma Hall, Chan Master Kuzhi, was both shocked and furious. Seeing that the techniques the Dhūta used were all from the Shaolin Order and not from some outside faction that had infiltrated the monastery to cause trouble, he suppressed his anger and asked who had taught him his martial arts.

The fire-tending Dhūta replied, “No one taught me. I learned it myself.”

It transpired that this Dhūta had worked beneath the kitchen stoves. The monk supervising the kitchens had a violent temper and would raise his fist to strike at the slightest provocation. Being skilled in martial arts, his blows landed heavily. Over the course of three years, the Dhūta had been beaten until he vomited blood three times in succession. Nursing his resentment, he began secretly learning martial arts. With disciples practising everywhere in Shaolin Monastery, opportunities to steal techniques were plentiful. He was both dedicated and exceptionally clever, and in over twenty years he had mastered martial arts of the highest order. Yet he concealed his abilities, continuing to tend the fires without a word, enduring the supervising monk’s beatings without ever retaliating, though by then his neigong was so refined he could no longer be injured.

This Dhūta was sinister by nature, and only when he judged his martial arts superior to all the monks in the monastery did he emerge during the Mid-Autumn examination to reveal his skills. Decades of suppressed grievance had made him hate every monk in the monastery, and he struck without the slightest mercy.

Chan Master Kuzhi, having learned the full story, let out three derisive laughs and said, “Your dedication is truly admirable!”

He rose from his seat and reached out to test the Dhūta. Chan Master Kuzhi was a supreme master of Shaolin Monastery, but firstly he was advanced in years whilst the Dhūta was in his prime, and secondly Kuzhi showed restraint, stopping when a point was proven, whereas the Dhūta’s every move was a killing blow. Thus they fought past five hundred exchanges before Kuzhi finally gained the upper hand. When the two arrived at a move called the Great Winding Silk,²⁶ their four arms twisted together. Kuzhi’s hands had already pressed upon the fatal acupoints on his opponent’s chest. With a single release of neili, the Dhūta would die instantly. There was no possible counter. But Kuzhi, treasuring the man’s remarkable achievement in cultivating such skill through solitary study, could not bear to take his life on the spot. He separated his palms and shouted, “Step back!”

Yet the fire-tending Dhūta misread the move entirely, taking it for one of the strikes from the Eight Strikes of the Divine Palm.²⁷ This technique was among the most prized secrets of Shaolin martial arts. He had once seen a senior disciple of Bodhidharma Hall demonstrate it, both palms striking out to snap a wooden pillar, its power extraordinary beyond measure. Though the Dhūta’s martial arts were formidable, having learned entirely by stealth without guidance from a renowned master, his knowledge remained incomplete. Shaolin martial arts were vast and profound. How could mere observation over the years allow him to master everything? Kuzhi’s technique was in fact the Separating Palm,²⁸ a move that borrowed and redirected force, sending both parties stepping back. It signified his intent to cease the fight. The Dhūta mistook it for the sixth palm of the Eight Strikes of the Divine Palm, the Heart-Rending Palm,²⁹ and thought to himself, You want to take my life, but it won’t be so easy.

He hurled himself forward, striking with both fists.

The force of those twin fists surged forward like mountains toppling and seas overturning. Chan Master Kuzhi started in alarm and hastily returned his palms to block, but his momentum was already insufficient. With a series of cracking sounds, his left arm and four ribs in his chest shattered at once.

The watching monks cried out in alarm and rushed forward to help, but Kuzhi could manage only the faintest thread of breath and could not speak a single word. His internal organs had been shattered by the impact. When they turned to look for the Dhūta, he had long since fled amidst the chaos. That very night, Chan Master Kuzhi succumbed to his grievous wounds. Even as the monastery mourned, the fire-tending Dhūta crept back and, one by one, killed five monks with whom he had borne grudges, including the supervising cook.

The entire monastery was shaken. Dozens of masters were dispatched in every direction to hunt for him, but though they searched north and south of the great river, not a trace could be found.

The senior monks of the monastery fell into fierce dispute over this affair, blaming one another. The head of Arhat Hall, Chan Master Kuhui,³⁰ departed in fury for the Western Regions³¹ and there founded the Western Shaolin branch. Pan Tiangeng,³² Fang Tianlao,³³ and Wei Tianwang³⁴ were the grand-disciples of this Chan Master Kuhui.

After this calamity, Shaolin Monastery’s martial arts entered a decline lasting several decades. From then on, a monastery rule was established: any person who learned martial arts without a master’s instruction, upon discovery, would face death in severe cases, or in lighter cases have all their meridians severed, leaving them crippled. Over the decades, with the monastery’s strict vigilance, no one had dared to steal martial arts, and this rule had gradually faded from the monks’ memory.

This elder of the Meditation Hall was none other than a young disciple under Kuzhi at the time. The scene of his shifu’s tragic death had been seared into his heart for decades. Now, seeing Zhang Junbao learning martial arts without instruction, the old memories stirred, and grief mingled with fury.

Footnotes

1. 杨过 – Yáng Guò. His name meaning “Yang Surpassing” or “Yang Repentance”. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

2. 华山 – Huáshān. Literally splendid mountain. One of China’s Five Sacred Mountains, the Western Great Mountain located in Huayin, Shaanxi Province. See Wikipedia. ↩

3. 张君宝 – Zhāng Jūnbǎo. His name meaning “Zhang Sovereign Treasure”. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

4. 寒鸡势 – hánjī shì. Literally cold rooster stance. Defensive posture in Shaolin fist techniques where the body is coiled low and tense, like a rooster bracing against the cold. ↩

5. 双圈手 – shuāng quān shǒu. Literally double circle hand. Fundamental Shaolin fist technique using both hands to form protective circles. ↩

6. 何足道 – Hé Zúdào. His name meaning “What Is There to Speak of?” or “Not Worth Mentioning.” See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

7. 达摩堂 – Dámó Táng. Bodhidharma Hall, another major hall of Shaolin Monastery, named after the legendary founder of Chan Buddhism and Shaolin martial arts. ↩

8. 罗汉堂 – Luóhàn Táng. Literally arhat hall. One of Shaolin Monastery’s administrative halls overseeing martial affairs. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

9. 偏花七星 – Piān Huā Qīxīng. Literally deflecting blossoms seven stars. Sophisticated Shaolin technique that appears deceptively slow and light but conceals tremendous speed and power. ↩

10. 少林寺 – Shàolín Sì. Shaolin Monastery, the ancient Buddhist monastery on Mount Song, cradle of the Shaolin martial arts. See Wikipedia. ↩

11. 内力 – nèilì. Literally internal force. Kinetic manifestation of cultivated qi; generates tangible effects such as deflecting weapons or scaling walls. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

12. 九阳真经 – Jiǔyáng Zhēnjīng. Literally Nine Yang True Scripture. Legendary internal cultivation manual hidden within the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra, emphasising yang energy and balanced development. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

13. 天鸣 – Tiānmíng. His name meaning “Heavenly Sound” or “Sky’s Cry.” The abbot of Shaolin Monastery. See Wuxia Wiki. He paused and turned his head to address Jueyuan.³⁵ “Great Master Jueyuan, that man bade me convey a message to you. He said, ‘The scripture is in the oil.’” ↩

14. 心禅堂 – Xīnchán Táng. Literally Heart-Meditation Hall. Most senior council of Shaolin Monastery, consisting of venerable elders who had achieved the highest levels of Buddhist cultivation and martial attainment. ↩

15. 无色禅师 – Wúsè Chánshī. His name meaning “Formless” or “Colourless.” Chan Master Wuse was a senior monk of Shaolin Monastery. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

16. 无相 – Wúxiàng. His name meaning “Without Appearance” or “Without Form.” The First Seat of the Bodhidharma Hall. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

17. 内功 – nèigōng. Literally internal skill. Practice of developing neili through breathing, meditation and qi cultivation. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

18. 师父 – shīfù. Teacher or master responsible for technical instruction and moral guidance. Shī means teacher. Fù means father. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

19. 铁罗汉 – tiě luóhàn. Literally iron arhat. Mechanical bronze figurines that demonstrate Shaolin fist forms. ↩

20. 郭襄 – Guō Xiāng. Younger daughter of Guo Jing and Huang Rong, known as the Little Eastern Heretic; founder of the Emei Order. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

21. 师叔 – shīshū. Junior lineage uncle. Shidi or shimei of one’s shifu. Shī means teacher. Shū means father’s younger brother. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

22. 苦乘 – Kǔchéng. His name meaning “Bitter Vehicle” or “Suffering’s Vessel.” A former abbot of Shaolin Monastery. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

23. 师祖 – shīzǔ. Literally master’s ancestor. The shifu of one’s own shifu, two rungs up the lineage. ↩

24. 苦智 – Kǔzhì. His name meaning “Bitter Wisdom.” Former head of Bodhidharma Hall at Shaolin Monastery. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

25. 火工头陀 – huǒgōng tóutuo. Literally fire-working tonsured ascetic. A Dhūta assigned to tend the cooking fires in a monastery’s kitchen. ↩

26. 大缠丝 – dà chán sī. Literally great winding silk. Close-quarters grappling technique where practitioners’ arms become intertwined. ↩

27. 神掌八打 – shén zhǎng bā dǎ. Literally eight divine palm strikes. Powerful Shaolin palm technique. ↩

28. 分解掌 – fēnjiě zhǎng. Literally separating palm. Technique using borrowed force to disengage from close combat. ↩

29. 裂心掌 – liè xīn zhǎng. Literally heart-rending palm. Sixth strike of the Eight Strikes of the Divine Palm, a devastating internal strike. ↩

30. 苦慧 – Kǔhuì. His name meaning “Bitter Wisdom.” A Shaolin master who journeyed to the Western Regions and founded a branch school there. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

31. 西域 – Xīyù. Literally western regions. Frontier territories west of Yumen Pass, encompassing the lands beyond China proper where various ethnic groups and small kingdoms existed. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

32. 潘天耕 – Pān Tiāngēng. His name meaning “Heaven’s Tiller” or “Cultivating the Heavens.” See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

33. 方天劳 – Fāng Tiānláo. His name meaning “Heaven’s Toiler” or “Labouring for Heaven.” See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

34. 卫天望 – Wèi Tiānwàng. His name meaning “Gazing at Heaven” or “Aspiring to Heaven.” See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

35. 觉远 – Juéyuǎn. His name meaning “Awakened Distance” or “Far-reaching Enlightenment”. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩