The Heavenly Sword & the Dragon Sabre – Chapter 22 – Part 7

The Shaolin and Wudang factions descended the mountain together, arm in arm. Zhang Wuji stepped forward and bowed to see them off. Song Yuanqiao said, "Wuji, my boy, today's battle has made your name known throughout the world, and you have done the Ming Order a debt beyond measure. I hope you will continue to guide and advise them, that the Ming Order may leave the wrong path and return to the right, doing less harm in the world." Zhang Wuji replied, "Your nephew shall do his utmost to follow my shibo's[^shibo] counsel." Zhang Songxi said, "Take care in all things, and be on your guard against treacherous men!" Zhang Wuji answered again, "I shall." He and the four Wudang xias[^wudangxia] had met after long separation only to part once more, and all five were reluctant to let go.

Yang Xiao and Yin Tianzheng waited until the six factions had departed. The two men exchanged a glance, then spoke in unison, “All the followers of the Ming Order and the Tianying Order bow their thanks to Zhang daxia¹ for protecting our Order and saving our lives!” In an instant, a dark mass of men filled the ground on bended knee.

Zhang Wuji was thrown into a panic. Among those kneeling were his waigong² and others. He hurriedly knelt to return the salute. In his haste, the sword-wound in his chest burst open again. He spat several mouthfuls of blood and fainted on the spot.

Xiaozhao rushed forward to support him. Two Ming Order officers who had escaped injury carried over a soft bed and helped him onto it. Yang Xiao said, “Quickly, take Zhang daxia to my quarters to rest.” The two officers bowed and carried Zhang Wuji into Yang Xiao’s room.

Xiaozhao followed behind. As they passed Yang Buhui, Yang Buhui said coldly, “Xiaozhao, you played your part well. I always knew there was something strange about you. I just never expected that such an ugly thing could be a thousand charms and a hundred graces rolled into one.” Xiaozhao bowed her head and said nothing.

In the days that followed, the Ming Order’s followers tended the wounded and buried the dead in frantic labour. After a battle fought on the edge of death, each man understood that they should never have slaughtered one another, and so invited such humiliation from without. Everyone was concerned for Zhang Wuji’s injuries, and none spoke of old grievances. In silence they remained on Bright Peak, nursing their wounds.

Zhang Wuji’s Nine Yang Divine Skill³ was fully accomplished. Though the sword-wound was grave, Zhou Zhiruo’s jian-tip had entered several inches off the mark, striking only his lung and missing his heart. After seven or eight days’ rest, the wound began to close. Yin Tianzheng, Yang Xiao, Wei Yixiao, Cannot Tell and the others lay on soft beds and were carried each day to visit him. Seeing him grow better day by day, they were greatly heartened.

By the eighth day Zhang Wuji could sit up. That evening Yang Xiao and Wei Yixiao came again to visit. Zhang Wuji asked, “Since both of you were struck by the Phantom Yin Finger,⁴ how have you felt these past days?” Each day Yang and Wei endured the piercing cold gnawing into their bones, and their injuries grew worse by the hour. But lest he worry, both replied, “Much better.”

Zhang Wuji saw that both men’s faces were shrouded in a black qi, and their voices weak. He said, “My neili⁵ has recovered six or seven tenths. Let me try to treat you.” Yang Xiao hurriedly said, “No, no! Why must Zhang daxia rush? Wait until your noble body has healed, then treat us. If you strain yourself too soon and your wound reopens, how could we rest easy?” Wei Yixiao added, “A few days more or less make no difference. Zhang daxia, rest is what matters now.”

Zhang Wuji said, “My waigong the Eagle King and my yifu⁶ the Lion King are both on equal terms with you two. You are my seniors. If you keep calling me ‘daxia’, your nephew dare not answer.”

Yang Xiao smiled. “In future we shall all be your subordinates. Before you we dare not even sit. What talk of seniors or equals?” Zhang Wuji started. “Yang shubo,⁷ what are you saying?” Wei Yixiao said, “Zhang daxia, if anyone is to bear the weighty charge of Ming Order zhuzhang,⁸ it can only be you. Who else could shoulder it?”

Zhang Wuji waved both hands in alarm. “Absolutely not! Absolutely not!”

At that moment, from far to the east came a succession of shrill whistle-signals. Someone was raising the alarm from below Bright Peak. Yang Xiao and Wei Yixiao both started. Could the Six Great Factions have lost and returned? Yet both kept their faces calm. Yang Xiao said, “Was the ginseng yesterday to your liking? Xiaozhao, go to the medicine store and fetch some more for Zhang daxia to drink.” Whistles sounded from west and south at once. Zhang Wuji asked, “Are enemies attacking?” Wei Yixiao said, “Our Order and the Tianying Order are not short of skilled fighters. Zhang daxia need not concern himself. A few paltry thieves are not worth mentioning!”

Yet within moments the whistles drew close. The enemy was moving fast, clearly no paltry thieves. Yang Xiao said, “I shall go and arrange defences. Brother Wei, stay here with Zhang daxia. Humph, has the Ming Order fallen so low that any rascal may come and bully us?” Though his injuries left him unable to stir, his words rang with undimmed spirit.

Zhang Wuji thought, The Shaolin and Emei Orders, these great and righteous factions, would never break faith and return for revenge. The attackers must be cruel and treacherous men. Every fighter on Bright Peak is gravely wounded. In these seven or eight days not one has recovered. We cannot hold against an assault. If we force ourselves to fight, we shall only throw away our lives. He was lost for a plan.

Suddenly the door burst open. A man staggered in, his face smeared with blood, a short dao hilt-deep in his chest. He gasped, “The enemy is attacking from three sides… up the mountain… our brothers cannot hold…” Wei Yixiao asked, “What enemy?” The man pointed outside, tried to speak, then pitched forward and died.

The warning whistles rose and fell, urgent and relentless. Two more men stumbled into the room. Yang Xiao recognised the first as the deputy banner-leader of the Flood Banner.⁹ The man was drenched in blood, his face the colour of a ghost, yet he forced himself to compose his features and bowed slightly. “Zhang daxia, Left Messenger Yang, Dharma King Wei,¹⁰ the attackers below are men of the Jujing Guild,¹¹ the Haisha School,¹² the Shenquan School¹³ and other factions.” Yang Xiao’s brows rose. He snorted. “So even these demons and clowns have the face to come to our door?” The deputy banner-leader said, “The enemy is not formidable in itself. It is only that most of our brothers are wounded…”

Before he could finish, Leng Qian, Iron Crown Adept Zhang Zhong,¹⁴ Peng Yingyu, Cannot Tell, and Zhou Dian, the Five Unbound Adepts, were carried in on their beds. Zhou Dian shouted in fury, “Those damned Beggars’ Guild dogs! They have allied with the Sanjiang Guild and the Wushan Guild to loot us while we are down! As long as I, Zhou Dian, draw breath, I will never be done with them!” He had not finished speaking when Yin Tianzheng and Yin Yewang, father and son, hobbled in on wooden crutches. Yin Tianzheng said, “Wuji, my boy, lie still and do not move. Damn the Wufeng Dao School and the Soul-Severing Spear School, those two petty factions. What can they do to us?”

Of those gathered, Yang Xiao held the highest standing in the Ming Order, Yin Tianzheng was the zhuzhang of the Tianying Order, and Peng Yingyu was the most resourceful. These three men had faced countless perils in their lives and time and again turned disaster to safety by swift decision. But now they had reached desperate straits. All were gravely wounded, the enemy massed for a great assault, and though the lesser guilds and schools could be weathered, the Beggars’ Guild claimed to be the greatest guild in the jianghu, full of able men and no small power. They had nothing to do but await destruction. Each man now looked to Zhang Wuji as their leader, and all eyes turned to him, hoping he would devise some stratagem to deliver them.

In that instant a thousand thoughts raced through Zhang Wuji’s mind. He knew his martial arts surpassed those of Yang Xiao, his waigong and Wei Yixiao, but in wisdom and counsel these senior men far outstripped him. If they had no plan, what finer scheme could he offer? As he hesitated, one thought struck him and he blurted, “Let us take refuge in the secret passage. The enemy may not find it. Even if they do, they cannot break in easily.”

He thought this the best plan at hand, and his voice rang with hope. Yet the others exchanged glances, and not one agreed. It seemed all judged the scheme hopeless. Zhang Wuji said, “A true man knows when to yield and when to stand. Let us avoid disaster for now, and when our wounds have healed, we can decide the contest with the enemy. It would not be a loss of face.”

Yang Xiao said, “Zhang daxia’s plan is indeed excellent.” He turned to Xiaozhao. “Xiaozhao, help Zhang daxia to the secret passage.” Zhang Wuji said, “We all go together!” Yang Xiao replied, “Please go first. We shall follow.”

Zhang Wuji heard the tone of his voice and knew they would not come. They meant only to save him. He said clearly, “Seniors, though I am not of your Order, I have shared one trial with you. That makes us comrades in life and death. Would you have me cling to life and abandon you to flee alone?”

Yang Xiao said, “Zhang daxia does not know this. The Ming Order has handed down a strict rule through every generation: on Bright Peak, the secret passage may be entered by no one save the zhuzhang. Any other follower who enters shall die. You and Xiaozhao are not of our Order. You need not keep this rule.”

Faint sounds of battle drifted from all quarters. Fortunately the paths up Bright Peak were rough and the terrain perilous. Each pass had iron gates and stone barricades. Though the Ming Order could mount no strong defence, the attackers could not advance swiftly either. Moreover, the Ming Order’s name was long feared. The invaders were wary and dared not push too deep. Yet the sounds of fighting crept ever closer. Now and then a distant death-cry rang out, a Ming Order follower who had fought to the last and been slaughtered.

Zhang Wuji thought, If we do not leave now, within a single shichen¹⁵ not one soul on Bright Peak will survive. He asked, “This rule against entering the secret passage, can it truly not be changed?” Yang Xiao’s face was bleak. He shook his head.

Peng Yingyu spoke suddenly. “Hear me, all. Zhang daxia’s martial arts are unmatched, his righteousness reaches the clouds, and he has done our Order a debt of survival. Let us install Zhang daxia as the thirty-fourth zhuzhang of our Order. If the zhuzhang commands all to enter the secret passage, then we follow the zhuzhang’s order. That is no breaking of the rule.” Yang Xiao, Yin Tianzheng, Wei Yixiao and the rest had long wished to make Zhang Wuji their zhuzhang. At the Peng monk’s words, every man cried approval.

Zhang Wuji waved his hands in haste. “I am young and untried, without virtue or skill. How dare I bear such a charge? Moreover, my taishifu¹⁶ Zhang the Perfected One charged me solemnly never to enter the Ming Order. Your nephew gave his word before him. What the Great Master Peng says is absolutely impossible.”

Yin Tianzheng said, “I am your waigong. I tell you to join the Ming Order. Even if your taishifu’s word weighs more than mine, we are roughly matched. Let my word and Zhang the Perfected One’s cancel out, as though neither had spoken. Whether you enter the Ming Order or not, you decide for yourself.” Yin Yewang added, “Add one jiufu¹⁷ to the plea. Is that not enough? The saying goes: to see one’s jiufu is to see one’s niang.¹⁸ Since your niang is no longer with us, I am as your own niang.”

Footnotes

1. 大侠 – dàxiá. A title of respect for a renowned martial artist of great chivalry. ↩

2. 外公 – wàigōng. Maternal grandfather. ↩

3. 九阳神功 – Jiǔyáng Shéngōng. The Nine Yang Divine Skill, a legendary internal art emphasising pure yang energy. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

4. 幻阴指 – Huànyīn Zhǐ. The Phantom Yin Finger, a lethal acupoint technique of the Phantom Yin Sect, flooding the victim’s body with yin energy. ↩

5. 内力 – nèilì. Internal force, the kinetic manifestation of qi cultivated through neigong practice. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

6. 义父 – yìfù. Sworn father, the father one has pledged allegiance to by oath rather than blood. ↩

7. 杨伯伯 – Yáng Bóbo. Uncle Yang, the respectful form of address for a man of one’s father’s generation. 伯 (bó) denotes an elder uncle. ↩

8. 教主 – jiàozhǔ. The Order Leader, head of a martial or religious Order. ↩

9. 洪水旗 – Hóngshuǐ Qí. The Flood Banner, one of the Five Elements Banners of the Ming Order. ↩

10. 法王 – fǎwáng. Dharma King, a senior rank in the Ming Order. ↩

11. 巨鲸帮 – Jùjīng Bāng. The Jujing Guild, a seafaring faction. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

12. 海沙派 – Hǎishā Pài. The Haisha School, a Jiangnan faction. ↩

13. 神拳门 – Shénquán Mén. The Shenquan School, meaning “Divine Fist School.” ↩

14. 铁冠道人 – Tiěguàn Dàorén. Iron Crown Adept, the jianghu epithet of Zhang Zhong, one of the Five Unbound Adepts of the Ming Order. ↩

15. 时辰 – shíchén. A shichen, one of the twelve two-hour periods into which the traditional Chinese day is divided. ↩

16. 太师父 – tàishīfù. Grand Shifu, the shifu of one’s shifu, two rungs up the lineage. ↩

17. 舅父 – jiùfù. Maternal uncle, one’s mother’s brother. ↩

18. 娘 – niáng. Mother, a colloquial term. ↩