The Heavenly Sword & the Dragon Sabre – Chapter 22 – Part 8

characters:

• name: “Zhang Wuji”
• name: “Yang Xiao”
• name: “Yin Tianzheng”
• name: “Yin Yewang”
• name: “Peng Yingyu”
• name: “Wei Yixiao”
• name: “Cannot Tell”
• name: “Zhou Dian”
• name: “Leng Qian”
• name: “Zhang Zhong”
• name: “Xiaozhao”
• name: “Yang Buhui”
• name: “Xin Ran”
• name: “Xie Xun”
• name: “Yang Dingtian”
• name: “Zhu Changling”
• name: “Cheng Kun”
• name: “Hu Qingniu” factions:
• name: “Ming Order”
• name: “Tianying Order”
• name: “Flood Banner”
• name: “Blaze Banner”
• name: “Sharp Metal Banner”
• name: “Giant Wood Banner”
• name: “Thick Earth Banner” skills:
• name: “Great Shift of Heaven and Earth”
• name: “Nine Yang Divine Skill”
• name: “Phantom Yin Finger” items: [] concepts:
• name: “neili”
• name: “jianghu”
• name: “wulin”
• name: “secret passage”
• name: “Qi Deviation” historical: []

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Zhang Wuji heard his waigong[^waigong] and jiufu[^jiufu] speak thus, and his heart was heavy. He said, "In years past, Zhuzhang[^zhuzhang] Yang left a testament. I brought it forth from the secret passage, intending it to be passed among you all once your wounds had healed. Zhuzhang Yang's dying command was that my yifu,[^yifu] the Golden-Haired Lion King, should serve temporarily as zhuzhang." As he spoke he drew the sealed letter from his robe and handed it to Yang Xiao.

Peng Yingyu said, “Zhang daxia,¹ when a true man faces a great crisis, he must not cling to petty scruples. Lion King Xie is your yifu, as a father in all but blood. A son inherits his father’s office by custom. Since Lion King Xie is not here, we ask you to assume the zhuzhang’s seat in accordance with Zhuzhang Yang’s last wishes.” The assembly cried as one, “Well said!”

Zhang Wuji heard the sounds of battle drawing ever closer, and alarm and distress gripped him. For a moment he could think of no course. At this moment, saving lives outweighs all else; everything else may wait. He said in a clear voice, “Since you honour me so, it would make me a great sinner against the Ming Order if I refused any longer. I, Zhang Wuji, shall serve as acting zhuzhang of the Ming Order. Once this crisis is past, I ask that you choose a worthier man.”

A great cry of joy went up from the assembly. Though a deadly enemy pressed close and disaster hung by a hair, every face shone with delight. They thought to themselves: since the late Zhuzhang Yang Dingtian² had died suddenly, the Ming Order had been without a leader. A great Order that once shook the jianghu³ had torn itself apart with internecine bloodshed. Some had broken away and fled; some had stood aloof; some had set up their own factions; some had turned to wickedness; and some had warred among themselves. The Order had never recovered, and crisis had followed crisis. Today they had restored the zhuzhang’s seat. Revival was within reach. How could they not be transported? All who could move threw themselves to the ground in obeisance. Yin Tianzheng and Yin Yewang, though they were his honoured kin, were no exception.

Zhang Wuji hastened to kneel and return the salute. “Please rise, all of you. Left Messenger Yang, pass down the order: all followers of the Order, high and low, withdraw at once into the secret passage.”

Yang Xiao said, “Yes! I obey the zhuzhang’s command.” He paused, then said, “I propose we order the Blaze Banner⁴ to set fire to the buildings on Bright Peak and burn them to the ground. The enemy will assume we have fled. Would that serve, zhuzhang?” Zhang Wuji said, “An excellent scheme. Please convey the order, Left Messenger Yang.” He thought to himself, Zhu Changling⁵ employed this very trick on me once. The scheme itself is sound enough; it was only that he used it to deceive me.

Yang Xiao immediately dispatched the orders. The defending followers were withdrawn from their positions; the Flood Banner and Blaze Banner were ordered to form the rear guard; all others were to withdraw into the secret passage. They entered Yang Buhui’s quarters, dismantled the bed-frame, and uncovered the mouth of the passage. The Ming Order were the hosts and the Tianying Order⁶ the guests, so the Tianying Order’s men were ordered to withdraw first, followed by the four Gates of Heaven, Earth, Wind and Thunder, the officers stationed on Bright Peak, the three Banners of Sharp Metal, Giant Wood and Thick Earth, and lastly the Five Unbound Adepts and Wei Yixiao. By this time the Flood Banner’s men were spraying their poison water, which rotted the flesh on contact, and so checking the enemy’s advance for a while. Not long after Zhang Wuji and Yang Xiao had withdrawn into the passage, the Flood Banner’s men filed in after them. To east and west, the sky was ablaze with fire.

The fire grew fiercer by the moment. The Blaze Banner’s men, each clutching a spray-tube, pumped a ceaseless stream of rock oil, a specialty of the Western Regions.⁷ That oil caught flame the instant it neared a fire, and nothing could be more dreadful. Though the attacking factions outnumbered them greatly, they dared not press close for fear of the flames, and contented themselves with surrounding Bright Peak on all sides so that not a soul of the Ming Order might slip through. Once the Blaze Banner’s men had entered the secret passage and sealed the gate, the buildings collapsed before long, burying the passage’s entrance beneath a mountain of flame.

The conflagration raged for two full days and nights without abating. Bright Peak was the seat of the Ming Order’s grand altar. Over a hundred years of building, hundreds of magnificent halls and chambers, all reduced to scorched earth. When the attacking factions ventured into the ruins after the flames had somewhat subsided, they found many corpses of Ming Order men who had fallen in battle, all burned beyond recognition. They concluded that the Ming Order’s followers had chosen death over surrender, setting fire to themselves rather than yield. Yang Xiao, Wei Yixiao and the rest must all have perished in the blaze.

The followers of the Tianying Order and the Ming Order consulted the secret passage’s map and settled into the stone chambers one by one. They had gone deep beneath the earth. Though the inferno raged above, not a sound reached the passage, nor the slightest hint of heat. The company had brought ample provisions of food and water; even a month or two without surfacing would not see them hunger or thirst. The Ming Order’s and Tianying Order’s followers each returned to their own Banners and altars, all perfectly silent. Every man knew the secret passage was sacred ground that had never been entered without leave; only by the zhuzhang’s grace were they permitted refuge here, and none dared stir without purpose.

Yang Xiao and the other senior figures gathered beside Yang Dingtian’s remains, where Zhang Wuji recounted how he had found the late zhuzhang’s testament and how he had mastered the Great Shift of Heaven and Earth.⁸ When he had finished, he offered the sheepskin on which the art was recorded to Yang Xiao. Yang Xiao did not take it, but bowed and said, “The late zhuzhang’s testament states plainly: ‘The Great Shift of Heaven and Earth shall be held temporarily by Xie Xun, and in time passed to the new zhuzhang.’ This art belongs in the zhuzhang’s keeping.”

They passed the testament among them and read it, each sighing with regret. “Who would have thought that Zhuzhang Yang, so divine in valour and wisdom throughout his life, would suffer Qi Deviation⁹ from the bond between husband and wife? Had we seen this testament sooner, we should never have been reduced to such a rout.” Each man thought of the grisly death of their fallen companions and the shame of their own desperate flight; not one failed to grit their teeth and curse Cheng Kun.¹⁰

Yang Xiao said, “Though this Cheng Kun was the shixiong¹¹ of Zhuzhang Yang’s furen¹² and the shifu of the Golden-Haired Lion King, not one of us had ever set eyes on him before. That alone shows the depth of the man’s cunning. For decades he had been plotting in secret to destroy our Order.” Zhou Dian said, “Left Messenger Yang, Bat King Wei, you both fell into his traps without knowing it. That counts as some incompetence.” He had meant to drag Yin Tianzheng into it as well, but out of respect for the zhuzhang, swallowed the words “White-Browed Old Fool.” Yang Xiao flushed slightly and said, “Heaven’s net is vast: wide-meshed, yet nothing slips through. In the end, that villain Cheng Kun died beneath the palms of Brother Yewang.” Xin Ran, Banner Chief of the Blaze Banner, said with hatred, “That villain Cheng Kun has committed atrocities beyond counting. Death came too easy for him.”

The company debated a while longer, then each withdrew to meditate in silence and nurse their wounds.

Seven or eight days passed in the secret passage. Zhang Wuji’s jian-wound had healed nine parts in ten, leaving a scar roughly an inch long. He immediately set to treating the brothers who had suffered external wounds. Though medicines were scarce, his acupuncture and manipulations wrought veritable miracles of healing. At first the company had thought their young zhuzhang’s martial arts simply unfathomable; who knew his medical skill was likewise so exquisite, rivalling even Butterfly Valley’s Medical Immortal¹³ Hu Qingniu of years past?

A few more days passed. Zhang Wuji’s jian-wound healed fully, and he at once channelled the Nine Yang Divine Skill¹⁴ to force out the cold poison of the Phantom Yin Finger¹⁵ from the bodies of Yang Xiao, Wei Yixiao and the Five Unbound Adepts. Within three days, the internal injuries of these great masters were entirely dispelled. Every man was brimming with vigour and itching to burst from the passage and annihilate the enemy. Zhang Wuji said, “Though your wounds have healed, your neili¹⁶ is not yet fully restored. You have borne patience these many days; bear it a little longer.”

In those days every man redoubled his training. Those of lesser skill whetted dao and jian; those of greater mastery practised their neigong and tempered their force. Since the Six Great Factions had besieged Bright Peak, the Ming Order had taken blow after blow and suffered nothing but humiliation. That bitterness had been pent up for far too long.

That evening, Yang Xiao recounted to Zhang Wuji at length the doctrines and principles of the Ming Order, the rules handed down through generations, the Order’s strength across its many branches, and the talents and temperaments of its chief officers.

The clinking of iron chains sounded. Xiaozhao carried in a tea-tray and offered tea. Zhang Wuji said, “Left Messenger Yang, this girl has committed no offence of late. Please unlock her chains and set her free.” Yang Xiao said, “If the zhuzhang commands it, how dare I refuse?” He called Yang Buhui in and said, “Buhui, the zhuzhang orders you to unlock Xiaozhao’s chains.” Yang Buhui said, “The key is in the drawer in my room. I did not bring it down.” Zhang Wuji said, “No matter. The key should not have burned.”

Yang Xiao waited until his daughter and Xiaozhao had withdrawn, then said, “Zhuzhang, this girl Xiaozhao is young but exceedingly peculiar. We must not lower our guard against her.” Zhang Wuji asked, “What is her story?” Yang Xiao said, “Half a year ago, Buhui and I went down the mountain for an outing. We found her alone in the desert, weeping over two corpses. We went up to question her, and she said the dead were her father and mother. Her father had offended the authorities in the Central Plains, and the family of three had been banished to the Western Regions as military exiles. A few days before, unable to endure the Mongol soldiers’ abuse, they had fled. Her parents finally died of their wounds and exhaustion, perishing together. Seeing a young girl so alone in the world, though her face was extraordinarily ugly, her speech was far from foolish, so I buried her parents for her, took her in, and set her to serve Buhui.”

Zhang Wuji nodded. So Xiaozhao’s parents are both dead, and her circumstances are pitiable indeed. Hers is a story much like my own.

Yang Xiao continued, “After we brought Xiaozhao to Bright Peak, one day I was teaching Buhui martial arts, with Xiaozhao listening nearby. As I explained the positions of the sixty-four hexagrams, Buhui had not yet grasped the lesson when Xiaozhao’s gaze had already settled on the correct position.” Zhang Wuji said, “She must be naturally quick-witted, with a sharper intuition than Buhui.”

Yang Xiao said, “At first I thought the same, and was rather pleased. But on reflection I grew suspicious, and deliberately recited some extremely abstruse mnemonics I had never taught Buhui. By then the sun was shining from the west. We were on the hexagrams Mingyi, Earth over Fire, and Weiji, Water over Fire. I deliberately misnamed the position, and saw her brows draw together ever so slightly; she had spotted my error. From that moment I kept watch, knowing this girl had received instruction from some great master and carried profound martial arts within her. Her presence on Bright Peak was no accident; she had come with purpose.”

Zhang Wuji said, “Perhaps her father was well versed in the Yi, and it is a family learning. That too is possible.”

Yang Xiao said, “With the zhuzhang’s perspicacity: the Yi that scholars study differs in no small measure from the Yi as applied in the martial arts. If what Xiaozhao learned was indeed taught by her parents, then her parents must have been first-rate masters in the wulin.¹⁷ How then could they have been abused to death by Mongol soldiers? At the time I betrayed nothing, and only after some days asked idly after her parents’ names and origins. She deflected the questions so cleanly that not a trace of artifice showed. I pressed no further, but merely charged Buhui to keep watch in secret. One day I told a jest, and Buhui laughed aloud. Xiaozhao, listening nearby, could not help but laugh too. She stood behind Buhui and me at the time, thinking we could not see her. But Buhui happened to be toying with a dagger, and the blade was bright as a mirror, reflecting Xiaozhao’s smile as plain as day. She was no ugly girl at all; in beauty she far surpassed Buhui. Moreover, her features bore a striking resemblance to someone of great consequence to the Ming Order. The instant I turned my head, she was back to her usual grimaces, squinting and twisting her mouth.”

Zhang Wuji smiled. “To keep up such a masquerade all day cannot be easy.” He thought, Left Messenger Yang is a man of extraordinary shrewdness. How could Xiaozhao’s tricks have deceived him?

Footnotes

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

2. 阳顶天 – Yáng Dǐngtiān. His name meaning “Heaven-Supporting”. ↩

3. 江湖 – jiānghú. The circuit of martial artists; the jianghu. ↩

4. 烈火旗 – Lièhuǒ Qí. The Blaze Banner, one of the Five Elements Banners of the Ming Order, specialising in fire attacks. ↩

5. 朱长龄 – Zhū Chánglíng. His name meaning “Long-Lived”. ↩

6. 天鹰教 – Tiānyīng Jiào. The Tianying Order, lit. Heavenly Eagle Order. ↩

7. 石油 – shíyóu. Rock oil, or petroleum. The Western Regions were known for natural seepages of crude oil, which the Ming Order weaponised in battle. ↩

8. 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 and reversing the flow of qi. ↩

9. 走火入魔 – zǒuhuǒrùmó. Qi Deviation, the catastrophic derailment of internal cultivation. ↩

10. 成昆 – Chéng Kūn. His name meaning “Pervading the Universe”. ↩

11. 师兄 – shīxiōng. Male senior fellow disciple, both apprenticed to the same shifu. ↩

12. 夫人 – fūrén. Wife, lady. A respectful term for a married woman. ↩

13. 蝶谷医仙 – Dié Gǔ Yīxiān. The Medical Immortal of Butterfly Valley, the jianghu epithet of Hu Qingniu, a physician of legendary skill. ↩

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

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

16. 内力 – nèilì. Internal force, the kinetic manifestation of qi cultivated through neigong practice. ↩

17. 武林 – wǔlín. The martial forest, the community of martial artists. ↩