The Heavenly Sword & the Dragon Sabre – Chapter 21 – Part 7

The onlookers stood agape, forgetting even to cheer. The Tall Elder tugged hard at his beard and cried, “This... this is truly bizarre!” The Short Elder, however, knew that today he had met a foe the likes of which he had never encountered in all his life. He steadied his stance and gathered his qi, watching his opponent closely. “I must beg your leave!” he said. A flash of green light surged forth as he advanced with his dao, striking straight at Zhang Wuji's right ribs.

The Tall Elder called out, “Shige,¹ are we really fighting?”

The Short Elder replied, “What do you think?” His steel dao traced half a circle, then abruptly changed direction, slashing diagonally at Zhang Wuji’s shoulder.

Zhang Wuji sidestepped to avoid the blow. From the corner of his eye, he saw a gleam of green light as the Tall Elder swung his dao towards him. Zhang Wuji shouted, “Well done!” He swung the boulder across to block. With a clang, the dao struck stone, sending sparks flying and chips of rock scattering. Zhang Wuji raised the great boulder and shoved it forward with the momentum.

The Tall Elder cried, “Aiya! That is ‘Pushing the Boat with the Current’. Are you using moves even with a great boulder?”

The Short Elder bellowed, “Shidi,² ‘Primordial Chaos Sundered’!” He swung his dao in a reverse arc from behind his back, curving and winding as it slashed towards Zhang Wuji.

The Tall Elder picked up the chant: “Taiyi begets vitality, Two Instruments in harmony…”

The Short Elder continued, “Sun and moon in alternation.”

Their voices rang out in call and response as their dao techniques flowed without cease. Zhang Wuji deployed the Nine Yang Divine Skill,³ cradling the great boulder and manoeuvring it at will. The Tall and Short Elders unleashed their Reverse Two Instruments Dao Technique,⁴ every strike vicious, every move heavy and fierce. But the boulder in Zhang Wuji’s hands was simply too vast. With the slightest turn, it blocked every attack the two elders directed at him.

The Tall Elder shouted, “You have far too much advantage in weaponry. This kind of fighting is most unfair!”

Zhang Wuji laughed, “Then I shall dispense with this clumsy weapon.” Suddenly he tossed the great boulder high into the air. The two elders could not help but glance up. In that instant of distraction, the acupoints at the backs of their necks were seized by their opponent, and they froze, unable to move. Zhang Wuji’s body sprang backwards as the boulder came crashing down towards the two elders’ heads.

Amidst the gasps of the onlookers, Zhang Wuji leapt forward. With a sweep of his left palm, he pushed the boulder over ten feet away. It landed with a thud, sinking over a foot into the mud. He tapped the two elders lightly on the shoulders and said with a smile, “I beg your forgiveness! I was merely having a bit of fun with you both.” At his gentle touch, the acupoints sealing the two elders were released.

The Short Elder’s face turned ashen. “Enough!” he sighed. “Enough!”

The Tall Elder shook his head. “That does not count.”

Zhang Wuji asked, “Why does it not count?”

The Tall Elder said, “You merely have great strength and can lift a heavy rock. You did not defeat us brothers in technique.”

Zhang Wuji said, “Then let us continue the contest.”

The Tall Elder said, “We can continue, but you must think of something fresh. Otherwise, you keep taking advantage, and even if we lose, we shall not be convinced. Would you not agree?”

Zhang Wuji nodded. “Agreed!”

Xiaozhao had been watching the contest intently. Now she reached up and scratched her cheeks, calling out, “Shame, shame! With a beard so long, you keep taking advantage, yet complain of being disadvantaged!” Her fingers moved up and down, and the iron chain on her wrist clinked with a clear, pleasant sound. The onlookers found the girl’s artless candour charming as she sided so openly with Zhang Wuji.

The Tall Elder laughed. “As the saying goes, to suffer a loss is to gain an advantage. This old man has eaten more salt than you have eaten rice, and crossed more bridges than you have walked paths. What is a little girl like you chattering about?” He turned to Zhang Wuji. “If you are not satisfied, we need not continue. In this round, you did not lose, and we did not win. A draw between both sides. Give it another thirty years, and we can settle it then…”

The Short Elder listened as his shidi grew ever more muddled. The two of them were Incense Masters⁵ of the Huashan School. How could they behave so shamelessly? He immediately barked, “Surnamed Zeng, we concede. Whatever you wish to do, we leave it to your discretion.”

Zhang Wuji said, “Please do as you wish. I merely dared to mediate the dispute between your School and the Ming Order. I truly have no other intention.”

The Tall Elder cried loudly, “That will not do! You have not yet heard my fresh idea for the contest. Why are you beating a retreat? Is this not fleeing the battlefield before the enemy?”

The Short Elder frowned and said nothing. He knew this shidi of his spoke nonsense, but with his shameless tongue, he could often talk an opponent into confusion and turn defeat into victory. To employ such tricks before all the heroes of the world was hardly glorious, but if it led to victory, at least merit and fault might cancel each other out.

Zhang Wuji asked, “What does the Senior⁶ propose?”

The Tall Elder said, “You have tasted the wondrous art of our Huashan School’s Reverse Two Instruments Dao Technique. I daresay you do not yet know that the Kunlun School possesses an Orthodox Two Instruments Sword Technique,⁷ whose transformations are as exquisite and profound as the Huashan School’s dao technique. They may be called contemporaries in brilliance, each with its own merits. Were sword and dao to combine, the Two Instruments would beget the Four Aspects, the Four Aspects would beget the Eight Trigrams, yin and yang in harmony, water and fire in balance. Ah…” He shook his head as he spoke, then sighed slowly: “The power would be too great, too great! You would not dare face it!”

Zhang Wuji turned towards the Kunlun School and said, “Which worthy of the Kunlun School would deign to instruct me?”

The Tall Elder interjected: “In the Kunlun School, none save the Iron Qin Gentleman and his wife are fit to join hands with us brothers. The question is whether your zhangmen⁸ has the stomach for it.”

The onlookers were amused: “This old man seems foolish, but he is not. He means to provoke the Kunlun School’s two great masters into coming to his aid.”

He Taichong and Ban Shuxian exchanged a glance. Neither knew who the Tall and Short Elders were. They were shishu⁹ of zhangmen Xianyu Tong, a generation senior, and must have travelled little in the jianghu.¹⁰ The couple themselves lived in the remote Western Regions, and so had never heard of them. Both thought: “These two old men cannot defeat that young man surnamed Zeng, and so wish to drag us into this muddy water. If we win together, they shall save some face.”

The Tall Elder was saying, “The He family’s couple of the Kunlun School dare not face you. That is understandable. Their Orthodox Two Instruments Sword Technique is not bad, but it suffers from stiffness. Compared to our Huashan School’s Reverse Two Instruments Dao Technique, it falls a step or two short.”

Ban Shuxian flew into a rage. She leapt into the arena and pointed at the Tall Elder. “What is your honourable name?”

The Tall Elder said, “I too am surnamed He. I greet you, Madam He.” These words were clearly claiming an easy advantage. Many of those nearby laughed.

Ban Shuxian was the Unofficial Zhangmen of the Kunlun School. Even He Taichong stood in awe of her. For decades atop Kunlun Mountain, she had lorded it over all, queen of a domain hundreds of li¹¹ across. How could she endure such mockery?

Suddenly came a sharp hiss of steel. She thrust her jian straight at the Tall Elder’s left shoulder. The speed of her draw and strike was beyond compare. An instant before, her hands had been empty, her willow-leaf brows slightly raised. An instant after, a jian was in her hand, its point less than half a foot from the Tall Elder’s shoulder.

Startled, the Tall Elder whipped his dao around in a horizontal sweep. With a clang, dao and jian met, the blow parried at the very last moment. Ban Shuxian had used a move called “Golden Needle Ferrying Across Calamity,” while the Tall Elder had countered with “No Escape from Calamity.” One orthodox, one reverse, both pushed to the utmost extremes of the Two Instruments’ numerology. Do not be deceived by how the Tall Elder had seemed hamstrung against Zhang Wuji, as though his skill were mediocre. In truth, his mastery of the dao was indeed extraordinary.

Dao and jian collided, and both combatants stepped back, each taken aback. Both felt admiration for the other’s technique. Their Schools were different, their martial arts vastly unlike, and they had never met before. Yet in a single exchange, they discovered that their own system and the other’s fitted together as perfectly as two halves of a tally, as though a lifetime of solitude had suddenly met its kindred spirit.

Ban Shuxian could not help but think: “This Huashan School’s Reverse Two Instruments Dao Technique is truly formidable. Joining forces with him would bring us to the very pinnacle of all weapon techniques under heaven.” Then she thought further: “These two Huashan men are no match for the young man. Even our Kunlun School engaging him alone has no certainty of victory. If we enter the arena now, it would be four great masters of Kunlun and Huashan combined against one unnamed youth. We would lose too much face. But this was the Huashan School’s idea to begin with.”

She turned and called to He Taichong: “You! Come here!”

Though He Taichong dared not disobey his wife’s commands, he still wished to maintain the dignity of zhangmen before the assembled crowd. He gave a snort and rose slowly to his feet. Four young boys led the way, one bearing a jian, another an iron lute, the remaining two each holding a fly-whisk. The five of them walked to the centre of the plaza. The boy bearing the jian held it aloft with both hands, bowing to present it. He Taichong took it, and the four boys withdrew with bowed heads.

Ban Shuxian said, “The Huashan School’s Reverse Two Instruments Dao Technique is not half bad in technique.”

The Tall Elder grinned shamelessly. “Many thanks for the compliment.”

Ban Shuxian shot him a sideways glance. “The four of us shall use this young man to test our moves and compare the martial arts of Kunlun and Huashan.” As she spoke, she turned back, then suddenly cried: “Eh? You… you…” Though only six years had passed since they last met, and though in those six years he had grown from a child into a youth, his features still held a familiar cast.

Zhang Wuji said, “Shall we speak of everything that happened before? I am Zeng Aniu.”

Ban Shuxian understood at once. He did not wish his true identity revealed. If she exposed him, then he would publicly announce all their ungrateful deeds towards him and his mother. She raised her jian and said, “Young Xia Zeng’s martial arts have greatly improved. How pleasing. Please, instruct us.” Her meaning was plain: they would confine themselves to the contest of martial arts and speak of nothing else.

Zhang Wuji smiled faintly. “I have long heard that your honoured couple’s swordsmanship is divine. I beg your mercy.”

He Taichong asked, “What weapon will Young Xia Zeng use?”

At the sight of him, Zhang Wuji was reminded of the pair of golden-crowned and silver-crowned snakes that fed on poison. After he had fallen into the abyss, those snakes, with no venomous creatures to eat, had starved to death. Then he remembered how this man had driven his parents to their deaths on Wudang Mountain, how he had forced him and Yang Buhui to swallow poisoned wine in the Kunlun Mountains, how he had beaten him black and blue and hurled him against the rocks. Had not Yang Xiao happened to be present and acted in time to save him, his bones would have long since bleached. What hope would he have had of playing the peacemaker? He had saved the man’s concubine out of kindness, and this was how the man repaid him, seeking harm again and again.

Anger surged within him. Good He Taichong, he thought. That day you dealt with me most fiercely. Today, though I cannot take your life, I shall at least vent this long-suppressed rage.

He saw He Taichong and Ban Shuxian take up position opposite the Tall and Short Elders of Huashan, the four of them forming the points of a square. Two dao and two jian gleamed in the sunlight. Suddenly Zhang Wuji shook out his arms and shot straight upwards. With a light twist in the air, he dove towards the nearest plum tree. His left hand reached out and snapped off a plum branch before he turned and landed.

He held the plum branch and walked slowly into the midst of the four. Raising it high, he said, “I shall use this plum branch as my weapon and receive the high techniques of Kunlun and Huashan.”

The branch bore some ten blossoms, sparsely scattered, half of them still in bud. The onlookers were startled: “That plum branch will snap at a touch. How can it stand against their jian and dao?”

Ban Shuxian sneered, “Very good. So you do not deign to take the martial arts of Huashan and Kunlun seriously at all?”

Zhang Wuji said, “I once heard my late father say that in years past, Senior He Zudao of the Kunlun School was a master of the zither, the jian, and weiqi, known to the world as the ‘Three-Saint of Kunlun.’ Alas, we were born too late and never had the chance to behold the Senior’s bearing. It is a great regret.”

Everyone present understood his meaning. He praised the Kunlun School’s forebear most lavishly while dismissing those of the present as scarcely worth a blow.

Suddenly a voice like a cracked gong rang out from among the Kunlun School: “Little bastard! What skill do you possess, that you dare speak disrespectfully of my shifu and shishu?” Before the words had finished, a short, stout Adept shot from the crowd, his jian thrusting fiercely at Zhang Wuji’s back.

The man’s movement was extremely swift. Though the strike seemed to carry a warning, the speed of the jian was such that it was no different from a sneak attack.

Zhang Wuji did not even turn. As the point of the jian was about to touch the cloth at his back, his left foot flipped backwards, pressing down on the blade. With the momentum, he stepped on it, pinning the jian to the ground. The Adept pulled with all his might, but it would not budge.

Zhang Wuji slowly turned his head. It was Xihuazi, whom he had encountered on the ship when first returning to the Central Plains. The man had a violent temper and had more than once spoken rudely of Zhang Wuji’s mother, Yin Susu. A bitterness rose in Zhang Wuji’s heart. “You are Daoist Elder Xihuazi?”

Xihuazi’s face was crimson. He did not answer, but only strained to withdraw his jian.

Suddenly Zhang Wuji’s left foot released, the sole pressing down on the blade in a quick tap. Xihuazi had not expected him to let go so abruptly. He had pulled too hard, and his body stumbled backwards. With his cultivation, he should have been able to steady himself at once. He activated the technique of “Thousand Jin Falling” to root himself. But just as he did so, a tremendous force surged from the jian, pushing his body hard. He toppled backwards, nearly falling on his backside. Then came a series of sharp clinks as his jian snapped inch by inch, leaving nothing in his hand but the hilt.

Xihuazi was seized by shock and shame. He was Ban Shuxian’s personal disciple. He called her shifu, and He Taichong he addressed as “zhangmen shishu.” A glance showed him his shifu’s face dark with anger. He knew he had gravely disgraced the shimen¹² and would face severe punishment after this. His panic grew. He leapt to his feet and shouted, “Little bas…”

Zhang Wuji had intended to let him return. But at the words “little bas,” which insulted his parents, his plum branch swept across Xihuazi’s body. With a burst of neili,¹³ he sealed three vital acupoints on the man’s chest and belly. Then he turned to the Tall and Short Elders and He Taichong and Ban Shuxian. “Please make your moves!”

Footnotes

1. 师哥 – shīgē. Male senior fellow disciple. Both apprenticed to the same shifu. The colloquial form of shixiong. ↩

2. 师弟 – shīdì. Male junior fellow disciple. Both apprenticed to the same shifu. Shī means teacher. Dì means younger brother. ↩

3. 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. ↩

4. 反两仪刀法 – Fǎn Liǎngyí Dāofǎ. Literally Reverse Two Instruments Dao Technique. The signature dao technique of the Huashan School, designed to complement the Kunlun School’s Orthodox Two Instruments Sword Technique. ↩

5. 香主 – Xiāngzhǔ. Literally Incense Master. A rank within certain martial Schools, responsible for ritual and representing the School’s authority. ↩

6. 前辈 – qiánbèi. Literally “one who came before.” A term of respect for those of a higher martial generation. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

7. 正两仪剑法 – Zhèng Liǎngyí Jiànfǎ. Literally Orthodox Two Instruments Sword Technique. The signature sword technique of the Kunlun School, designed to complement the Huashan School’s Reverse Two Instruments Dao Technique. ↩

8. 掌门 – zhǎngmén. Literally “gate keeper.” The leader of a martial School or Order. ↩

9. 师叔 – shīshū. Junior lineage uncle. The shidi or shimei of one’s shifu. Shī means teacher. Shū means father’s younger brother. ↩

10. 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. ↩

11. 里 – lǐ. A Chinese unit of distance, approximately 500 metres or one-third of a mile. ↩

12. 师门 – shīmén. The house of one’s shifu: the master, the fellow disciples, and the rules and obligations binding them. ↩

13. 内力 – nèilì. Literally inner power. The kinetic manifestation of qi cultivated through neigong. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩