The Heavenly Sword & the Dragon Sabre Chapter 23 – Part 6

Zhao Min laughed, “Young Master Zhang, your Gecko Wall-Crawling Skill¹ is truly remarkable. This pit is cast from pure steel, polished so smooth no hand can grip it, without a single crack, and yet you crawled right up it. Hee hee! Hoh!”

Zhang Wuji snapped, “You are trapped in here with me. What is so funny?” A thought struck him all at once. “This girl is cunning beyond measure. There must be a way out of this pit. I must not let her escape alone.” He stepped forward two paces at once and seized her wrist.

Zhao Min cried in alarm, “What are you doing?”

Zhang Wuji said, “Do not think of going out alone. If you want to live, you had best open the trap door at once.”

Zhao Min laughed, “Why the panic? We will not starve to death in here. When they fail to find me before long, they will let us out. The only worry is if my men think I have left the Manor, then we are in trouble.”

Zhang Wuji said, “Is there no mechanism in this pit to open the way out?”

Zhao Min laughed, “For someone with such a clever face, what a foolish question. This pit was not built for us to live in and play about. It was made to trap enemies. Would they leave a releasing mechanism inside on purpose, so the enemy might escape?”

Zhang Wuji thought that was fair enough, and said, “When someone falls in, those outside cannot fail to know. Call your men at once to open the trap door.”

Zhao Min said, “All my men have been sent out. Did you see anyone else in the water pavilion just now? They will not be back until this time tomorrow. There is no need to fret. Rest well. You have eaten and drunk just now, so you will not go hungry at once.”

Zhang Wuji flew into a rage. It does not matter if I stay a while longer, but can Waigong² and the others still be saved? He tightened his grip, calling up two tenths of his neili, and growled, “If you do not let me out at once, I will kill you first and worry about the rest after.”

Zhao Min laughed, “Kill me, and you will never leave this steel pit. Come, propriety demands distance between men and women. Why are you holding my hand?”

At her words, Zhang Wuji released her wrist of his own accord and stepped back two paces, leaning against the wall to sit. The steel pit was barely several feet across, so the furthest the two of them could be apart was a single step. He was anxious and angry, and the scent of a young girl from her, mixed with the flower fragrance in his robe, stirred his heart against his will. He rose to his feet and demanded, “The men of our Ming Order have no acquaintance with you, no quarrel, no grudge. Why have you plotted with such care to put every one of us to death?”

Zhao Min said, “There is much you do not understand. Since you ask, I will tell you from the beginning. Do you know who I am?”

Zhang Wuji thought this was not right. Though he very much wanted to learn this girl’s origins and purpose, if he waited for her to speak at her leisure, Yin Tianzheng and the others would be dead of the poison before she finished. And how could he know whether she spoke truth or lies? If she fabricated some tale to talk nonsense, their time would be wasted for nothing. At present there was no other course but to force her to call her men to open the trap door, so he said, “I do not know who you are, and I have no time to listen just now. Will you call your men to let me out or not?”

Zhao Min said, “I have no one to call. Besides, no matter how much you shout in here, those above cannot hear. If you do not believe me, you may try a few cries yourself.”

Zhang Wuji was furious. He reached out his left hand to grab her arm. Zhao Min gave a startled cry and raised her hands to push him away, but at once he struck the acupoints beneath her ribs, and she could not move. Zhang Wuji clamped his left hand about her throat and said, “I need only press a little, and your life is gone.” The two of them were now so close he could feel her breathing quicken, her breath as fragrant as orchids. Zhang Wuji tilted his head back, keeping his face well away from hers. Zhao Min suddenly began to sob, weeping, “You bully me. You bully me!”

This too was beyond his expectation. Taken aback, he released his left hand and said, “I did not mean to bully you. I only want you to let me out.”

Zhao Min wept, “I am not unwilling. Very well, I will call my men!” She raised her voice and cried, “Hey, hey! Someone come! Open the trap door at once. I am trapped in the steel pit!” She cried out again and again, but outside there was no stir at all.

Zhao Min laughed, “You see, what good does it do?”

Zhang Wuji was beyond anger. He said, “Are you not ashamed? Crying one moment, laughing the next, what sort of behaviour is that?”

Zhao Min said, “You are the one who should be ashamed. A great grown man, bullying a helpless girl.”

Zhang Wuji said, “Helpless? You are full of tricks. You are worse than ten men put together.”

Zhao Min laughed, “Many thanks to the Great Order Leader³ for the compliment. I am unworthy of such praise.”

Zhang Wuji thought the matter urgent. If he did not use harsh means, the Ming Order would be wiped out to the last man. He set his teeth, reached out, and with a tearing sound ripped a strip from her skirt. Zhao Min thought he had conceived a base intent, and only then did real fear take her. She cried, “You… what are you doing?”

Zhang Wuji said, “If you are willing to let me out, then nod.”

Zhao Min said, “Why?”

Zhang Wuji paid her no heed. He spat onto the strip of silk until it was soaked through, and said, “Forgive me. I am driven to this.” He pressed the wet silk over her mouth and nose. Zhao Min could not breathe at once. In moments the air in her chest grew stifled, an unspeakable agony. Yet she was truly hardy. She would not nod. She struggled on until her body twisted, and she fainted away.

Zhang Wuji felt her pulse. It was growing fainter by the moment, so he lifted the wet silk from her mouth and nose. After a while Zhao Min came slowly round, moaning softly.

Zhang Wuji said, “That was not pleasant, was it? Will you let me out now?”

Zhao Min said bitterly, “Even if I fainted a hundred times more, I still would not. Kill me outright, if you will.” She wiped her mouth and nose with her hand and spat several times. “Your spittle! Peh! It stinks to high Heaven!”

Zhang Wuji saw she would not yield and for a moment was at a loss. They remained at a standstill for a moment, then anxiety overcame him. He said, “I am doing this to save lives. Forgive the roughness.” He caught her left foot and pulled off her shoe and sock.

Zhao Min cried in fury and alarm, “Stinking boy, what are you doing?”

Zhang Wuji did not answer. He pulled off her right shoe and sock as well, then pressed the tips of both index fingers against the Yongquan acupoints⁴ in the soles of her feet. He channelled the Nine Yang Divine Skill⁵, and a stream of warm qi began to move back and forth across the acupoints.

The Yongquan acupoint lies in the hollow at the centre of the sole, the starting point of the Foot Shaoyin Kidney Meridian, and is supremely sensitive. When children play and scratch a companion’s sole with a finger, the whole body goes numb and limp. Now Zhang Wuji rubbed the acupoint with the warm qi of the Nine Yang Divine Skill, a hundred times worse than tickling with a feather or a hair. After only a few strokes Zhao Min could not help but burst into laughter, wanting to draw her feet away, but her acupoints were sealed and she could not move them a fraction. The sensation was far worse than a blade-cut or a whip-stroke, as though tens of thousands of fleas were crawling and biting at once through her organs, her bones, her marrow, her veins. After a few laughs she was crying in misery.

Zhang Wuji steeled his heart and went on. Zhao Min felt her heart nearly leap from her chest. Every hair on her body itched as though each would fall out by the root. She cursed, “Stinking boy… you little thief… someday I will… I will cut you into a thousand pieces… a thousand pieces… Very well, very well, spare… spare me… Young… Young Master Zhang… Order… Order Leader… Wu wu… wu wu…”

Zhang Wuji said, “Will you let me out?”

Zhao Min wept, “I… will… stop… at once…”

Only then did Zhang Wuji release her, saying, “Forgive me.” He massaged several points on her back and unsealed her acupoints.

Zhao Min drew a long breath and cursed, “You little thief, put my shoes and socks back on!” Zhang Wuji picked up her silk stockings and, taking her left foot in one hand, began to draw the stocking on. Until now his only thought had been escape, with no other notion in his head, but the moment his hand touched her warm, soft ankle, his heart gave a start. Zhao Min drew her foot back, blushing crimson. Fortunately Zhang Wuji could not see her in the dark. She said nothing but dressed her feet on her own. In that instant a strange feeling rose in her, as though she wanted him to touch her foot once more. Then she heard Zhang Wuji say sharply, “Quick, quick! Let me out at once!”

Zhao Min said nothing. She reached out and felt for a circle carved in the steel wall, then reversed the hilt of her short jian and struck the circle in a rhythm, now fast, now slow, now long, now short, seven or eight taps in all. The moment the tapping ceased, there came a crash, and a shaft of bright light poured down from above. The trap door swung open. In the steel wall at that circle ran a thin tube connecting to the outside. She tapped out the agreed signal, and the men who worked the mechanism opened the trap door at once.

Zhang Wuji had not expected it to open so simply and directly, and was taken aback. He said, “Let us go.”

Zhao Min bowed her head and stood to one side, silent. Zhang Wuji thought she was a girl, and he had tortured her twice over. His conscience stirred. He bowed and offered a fist-salute, saying, “Young Lady Zhao, just now I was truly driven to extremity. I beg your forgiveness here.”

Zhao Min turned her head away altogether, facing the wall. Her shoulders trembled faintly, as though she wept.

In her cunning and cruelty Zhang Wuji had matched her with all his wits and strength, with not a stray thought. But now, shamed within, and seeing her slender figure, the nape of her neck white as jade, her hair dishevelled, he could not help a stir of pity. He said, “Young Lady Zhao, I am going. I have given you great offence.”

Zhao Min’s spine twisted faintly, but she would not turn her head.

Zhang Wuji dared delay no longer. He resumed his Gecko Wall-Crawling Skill and climbed swiftly up the steel wall. When he was little more than ten feet from the pit’s mouth, he pressed his right foot against the steel and shot up like an arrow, his sleeve brushing forward to shield his face and head, lest someone lurk at the lip and strike. Before his body had landed, his gaze swept the water pavilion. It was empty. The wooden counterfeit of the Heavenly Jian still lay across the table. Zhang Wuji tucked the wooden jian into his sash, scaled the wall, took a narrow path, and ran back towards the place where the Ming Order’s leaders lay. The sun was sinking in the west. He had been in the pit for most of a shichen⁶, and he did not know whether Yin Tianzheng and the rest still lived. Anxiety drove him faster, and before long he was near the place again, when a sight struck him with horror.

A great host of Mongol cavalry galloped to and fro, surrounding the men of the Ming Order. The Yuan soldiers bent their bows and fitted their arrows, and shot them one after another into the ring of men.

Zhang Wuji thought, The senior figures of our Order are all poisoned, with no one to direct defence. How can they hold out against such a host? He quickened his pace and raced forward.

Footnotes

1. 壁虎游墙功 — Bìhǔ Yóuqiáng Gōng. Literally Gecko Wall-Crawling Skill. A qinggong technique that allows the practitioner to scale smooth vertical surfaces by channeling qi into the limbs. ↩

2. 外公 — wàigōng. Maternal grandfather. ↩

3. 教主 — jiàozhǔ. Order Leader; the head of a martial or religious order. ↩

4. 涌泉穴 — Yǒngquán Xué. The Yongquan acupoint, located in the hollow at the centre of the sole. It is the starting point of the Foot Shaoyin Kidney Meridian and among the most sensitive points on the body. ↩

5. 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. ↩

6. 时辰 — shíchén. A unit of time equal to two hours; the traditional Chinese day was divided into twelve shichen. ↩