The Heavenly Sword & the Dragon Sabre – Chapter 20 – Part 8

Zhang Wuji saw before him that every member of the Ming Order and the Tianying Order had lost the power to resist. After chanting the scripture --- “Burn my mortal frame, the sacred fire blazes high” --- they had folded their hands and awaited death. The hundreds of faithful upon Bright Peak would soon lie corpse upon corpse, every one of them cut down beneath the blades and jians of the six great schools. He had heard his Grand Shifu¹ warn him earnestly never to have dealings with the demonic cult, lest he follow his father's ruinous path. The cult's past crimes were manifold, and Yang Xiao's violation of Auntie Ji was proof enough. Orthodox and heterodox had never shared the same road. To purge demons and destroy evil was the sworn duty of every righteous xia. Yet seeing the faithful of both orders stand bound and await the blade, his heart could not bear it. He thought further, *A life for a life, vengeance begetting vengeance, the strong prevailing over the weak --- what difference is there between this massacre, which will drench the wulin² in blood, and the Mongol devils who slaughter us Han people by the thousand? But I am young and weak, alone. None among the six great schools deigns to look at me. If I step forward to mediate, I shall only be laughed at, swatted aside with two or three blows, perhaps killed outright. Then what? Zhang Wuji, Zhang Wuji, how can you be so craven and contemptible? They are about to kill your grandfather. If Papa and Mama were still alive, they would surely protect the old man to the end. Very well --- I will die alongside my grandfather! On one side stands Papa's Wudang Order, on the other Mama's Tianying Order. I will take neither's part. I will spend my last breath trying to stop them from killing, from adding more blood to the tally!*

He saw Zong Weixia raise his arm and stride towards his grandfather without a moment’s hesitation. Without time to think, Zhang Wuji strode out in great steps and planted himself before Zong Weixia. “Hold your hand! To treat a gravely wounded man in this manner — are you not afraid the heroes of the world will laugh?”

The words rang clear and carried across the entire field. The men of each school, acting on Great Master Kongzhi’s³ orders, had been about to strike when suddenly they heard this voice. They paused, and turned to look.

Zong Weixia saw that the speaker was a ragged youth and paid him no mind at all. He reached out a palm to shove him aside so he could advance and finish Yin Tianzheng.

Zhang Wuji saw the palm coming and swept out his own in answer. A sharp crack rang out as the two palms met. Zong Weixia stumbled back three steps. Just as he sought to steady himself, he found the other’s palm-force so vast and deep that his footing remained unsteady. Fortunately his root training was solid. He felt his upper body tilting backwards and, hurriedly touching his right foot to the ground, leapt backwards, riding the momentum to cover over ten feet. Even after landing, the force of that palm did not dissipate. He staggered another seven or eight paces before he could stand firm. By then he was more than thirty feet from Zhang Wuji. He was thunderstruck. The onlookers were utterly bewildered, thinking, “What is old Zong Weixia playing at? Why does he retreat and leap, leap and retreat, making such a spectacle?” Even Zhang Wuji himself could not fathom how a palm so lightly given could carry such devastating force.

After his shock, Zong Weixia suddenly understood. He glared at Yu Lianzhou and barked, “A true man acts openly and without shame. Why do you wound others with a hidden arrow?” He was certain that Yu Lianzhou had lent aid from the shadows, and most likely the other Wudang xias had joined in, for no single man could have mustered such ferocious force.

Yu Lianzhou was baffled. He glared back and thought, What charade is this man performing?

Zong Weixia strode forward, pointing at Zhang Wuji. “Boy, who are you?”

“My name is Zeng Aniu.” As he spoke, he pressed his palm against Yin Tianzheng’s back at the Lingtai acupoint⁴ and poured neili⁵ into him in an unbroken stream. His Nine Yang zhenqi⁶ was supremely vast. Yin Tianzheng trembled several times, then opened his eyes. He stared at the young man before him, quite puzzled. Zhang Wuji gave him a faint smile and redoubled the flow of neili.

In moments the blockage in Yin Tianzheng’s chest and dantian⁷ had cleared completely. “Many thanks, young friend,” he murmured. He rose to his feet and said proudly, “You there, Zong — what is so formidable about your Kongtong School’s Seven Injury Fist?⁸ I will take three punches from you!”

Zong Weixia had never imagined this broken old man could rise again, hale and hearty. Seeing this windfall slip from his grasp, and fearing the Eagle Claw Capturing Hand,⁹ he said, “If the Kongtong School’s Seven Injury Fist is nothing special, as you say, then take three moves of my Seven Injury Fist!” He hoped that Yin Tianzheng would forgo the capturing hand and engage in a bare contest of fist and palm, pitting neili against neili. At ease and rested, he could then rely on the Seven Injury Fist’s internal force to carry the day.

Zhang Wuji heard him speak the words “Seven Injury Fist” again and again, and recalled that night on Ice Fire Island when his sworn father¹⁰ had woken him to tell the story of how the Seven Injury Fist had killed the divine monk Kongjian.¹¹ Afterwards his sworn father had made him memorise the Seven Injury Fist’s fist formula, and because he could not learn it at once, had boxed his ears several times. Now the formula stirred in his mind, and in an instant he grasped its principles. For all the internal arts under heaven did not overstep the boundaries of the Nine Yang Divine Skill,¹² and the methods of channelled force in the Great Shift of Heaven and Earth¹³ were the convergence of every martial art’s essence. One art understood, ten thousand arts understood — no martial secret remained hidden before him.

Yin Tianzheng spoke, “Never mind three punches — I will take thirty from you, and what then?” He turned and called loudly to Kongzhi, “Master Kongzhi, I, Yin, am not yet dead and have not yet conceded defeat. Will you go back on your word and seek to win by weight of numbers?”

Kongzhi waved his left hand and raised his voice. “Very well. What harm in everyone waiting a moment?”

The truth was, when Yin Tianzheng had arrived atop Bright Peak and seen Yang Xiao and the others gravely wounded, his own forces thin, he had used words to pin Kongzhi down, preventing him from relying on numbers and a general melee. Kongzhi, bound by the customs of the wulin, had agreed to single combats in turn. The result had been that the hall masters and altar chiefs of the Tianying Order, the Five Elemental Flags of the Ming Order, and the finest fighters of the Heaven, Earth, Wind and Thunder Four Gates under Yang Xiao on Bright Peak — all had fallen, one after another, dead or wounded. Yang Xiao, Wei Yixiao, and Cannot Tell each bore grave injuries and could not take the field. The Five Unbound Adepts were similarly incapacitated. In the end only Yin Tianzheng remained. But since he had not conceded defeat, none could advance to slaughter him.

Zhang Wuji knew that though his grandfather was better than before, he could in no state channel force or exert strength. His only reason for accepting Zong Weixia’s punches was to defend his Order to the death. Zhang Wuji whispered, “Esteemed Senior Yin, let me take these blows for you first. If I fail, then the senior may step forward.”

Yin Tianzheng had already perceived that the boy’s neili was deep beyond measure. Even if he himself were unwounded and his neili unspent, he could not hope to match it. But he thought that he was dying for his Order, as was only right. What business did this young man have involving himself? However great his skill, he could never withstand an enemy that sent wave after wave of fighters without end. In the end he too would be as Yin Tianzheng — gravely wounded, strength exhausted, at the mercy of the mob. Why should so fine a young talent be squandered for nothing on Bright Peak? He asked, “Young friend, under which master do you study? You do not seem to be a member of our Order, do you?”

Zhang Wuji bowed respectfully. “I do not belong to the Ming Order, nor to the Tianying Order. But I have long admired the senior and hold him as family. To stand beside him against the enemy today is only what is fitting.” Yin Tianzheng was deeply astonished. He was about to ask more when Zong Weixia had already taken another step forward and bellowed, “Old Yin! My first punch comes!”

Zhang Wuji said, “Esteemed Senior Yin says you are not fit to trade punches with him. Defeat me first, then you may fight him.” Zong Weixia was furious. “What are you? You think yourself fit to discuss the Seven Injury Fist with me?”

Zhang Wuji thought, Today only by exposing that villain Yuanzhen’s¹⁴ devious schemes can I find a way to make both sides lay down their arms. If it comes to fighting, how can one man match so many heroes of the six great schools? And the shibo and shishu of the Wudang Order are all here — how could I make enemies of them? He spoke loudly: “The Kongtong School’s Seven Injury Fist has long been renowned. Was the divine monk Kongjian of Shaolin not killed by your school’s Seven Injury Fist?”

This sentence stirred the Shaolin Order greatly. The day Master Kongjian died in Luoyang, every bone in his body had been shattered, yet there was not a single external wound. It bore a strong resemblance to the lethal signature of the Kongtong School’s Seven Injury Fist. At the time, Kongwen, Kongzhi, and Kongxing had deliberated for days. They concluded that the Kongtong School currently had no supreme master capable of killing Kongjian, who had mastered the Diamond Indestructible Body divine skill.¹⁵ Although the nature of Kongjian’s injuries aroused suspicion, they judged it beyond Kongtong’s power. They had also conducted secret investigations and learned that on the day Kongjian passed away in Luoyang, all five Kongtong elders were in the southwest. Since it could not have been the work of the Five Elders, and no other Kongtong fighter was strong enough to harm Kongjian, they had set aside their suspicions of the Kongtong School. Moreover, the words “Cheng Kun killed the divine monk Kongjian here beneath this wall” had been written in eleven great characters on the wall outside the inn in Luoyang. The Shaolin Order had also discovered this, and learned that it was in fact Xie Xun who had committed countless crimes under Cheng Kun’s name. From that point they had not the slightest remaining doubt. Only now, hearing Zhang Wuji’s words, did the senior monks each feel a chill.

Zong Weixia snapped, “The divine monk Kongjian was murdered by the villain Xie Xun. The entire jianghu¹⁶ knows this. What has it to do with our Kongtong School?” Zhang Wuji said, “When Senior Xie killed the divine monk Kongjian, did you see it with your own eyes? Were you standing by to watch the fight? Were you lending aid from the sidelines?” Zong Weixia thought, This beggar-boy, neither beggar nor herdboy — what is he playing at? Most likely he is directed by the Wudang Order, trying to sow discord between Kongtong and Shaolin. I must be careful not to fall into their trap. Though he did not take Zhang Wuji seriously, he answered formally: “When the divine monk Kongjian passed away in Luoyang, all five Kongtong elders were guests at the home of Liu daxia of the Diancang School in Yunnan.¹⁷ How could we have witnessed the scene?”

Zhang Wuji spoke loudly: “Precisely! If you were in Yunnan at the time, how could you have seen Senior Xie kill Master Kongjian? The divine monk was slain by the Kongtong School’s Seven Injury Fist — this is common knowledge. Yet Senior Xie is not of your Kongtong School. How can you shift the blame onto another?” Zong Weixia said, “Bah! Bah! At the place where the divine monk Kongjian passed away, eleven blood characters were written on the wall: ‘Cheng Kun killed the divine monk Kongjian here beneath this wall.’ Xie Xun used his shifu’s name to commit bloody crimes everywhere. What room for doubt is there?”

Zhang Wuji’s heart stirred. My sworn father never mentioned writing those eleven characters on the wall. After he killed the divine monk Kongjian with thirteen punches, he was consumed by grief and remorse. He would surely not have written such taunts to frame another. He laughed aloud. “Anyone can write those words. Though the eleven characters were on the wall, who saw Senior Xie write them? I, however, know that those eleven characters were written by the Kongtong School. Writing is easy. Practising the Seven Injury Fist — that is hard.”

He turned to Kongzhi. “Master Kongzhi, your shixiong the divine monk Kongjian was indeed killed by the Kongtong School’s Seven Injury Fist, was he not? Yet the Golden-Maned Lion King, Senior Xie, was not of the Kongtong School, was he not?”

Footnotes

1. 太师父 – tài shīfù. Grand shifu; the shifu of one’s own shifu, two rungs up the lineage ladder. In this context, Zhang Sanfeng. ↩

2. 武林 – wǔlín. Literally martial forest. The collective body of martial artists and their schools, distinct from the broader jianghu. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

3. 空智 – Kōngzhì. A senior monk of the Shaolin Order, hot-tempered but formidable in martial arts. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

4. 灵台穴 – Língtái Xué. The Lingtai acupoint, situated on the Governing Vessel at the level of the fifth thoracic vertebra, between the shoulder blades. A point of critical vulnerability. ↩

5. 内力 – nèilì. Internal force; the kinetic manifestation of qi, cultivated through neigong and deployed in martial arts. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

6. 真气 – zhēnqì. True qi; refined qi born of internal cultivation, distinct from the coarser neili. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

7. 丹田 – dāntián. Lit. cinnabar field. The energy centre below the navel, where neili is stored and from which it is deployed. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

8. 七伤拳 – Qīshāng Quán. The Seven Injury Fist. A devastating fist technique of the Kongtong School that channels seven different types of force in a single strike, each damaging a different internal organ. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

9. 鹰爪擒拿手 – Yīngzhǎo Qínnáshǒu. The Eagle Claw Capturing Hand, the signature technique of the Tianying Order, modelled on the grip of an eagle’s talons. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

10. 谢逊 – Xiè Xùn. Zhang Wuji’s sworn father, known by the epithet Golden-Maned Lion King (金毛狮王). See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

11. 空见 – Kōngjiàn. The divine monk Kongjian, foremost of the Shaolin Order’s four Holy Monks, renowned for his invincible Vajra Indestructible Body. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

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

13. 乾坤大挪移 – Qiánkūn Dà Nuóyí. The Great Shift of Heaven and Earth. The supreme secret art of the Ming Order, capable of redirecting force, reversing qi flow, and manipulating the trajectory of attacks. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

14. 成昆 – Chéng Kūn. Xie Xun’s shifu, who murdered Xie Xun’s entire family. Later took the monastic name Yuanzhen (圆真) and infiltrated the Shaolin Order. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

15. 金刚不坏体神功 – Jīngāng Bùhuài Tǐ Shéngōng. Literally Diamond Indestructible Body Divine Skill. One of the five supreme martial arts of ancient times, this Shaolin defensive art renders the practitioner’s body impervious to harm by generating a rebounding force field. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

16. 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, including pedlars, physicians, fortune-tellers, entertainers, boatmen, beggars, outlaws and the like. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

17. 点苍派 – Diǎncāng Pài. The Diancang School, seated on Diancang Mountain in Yunnan. Liu daxia (柳大侠) was a senior martial artist of this school. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩