The Heavenly Sword & the Dragon Sabre – Chapter 24 – Part 5

Zhang Sanfeng¹ heard the man claim allegiance to Cult Leader Zhang of the Ming Order² and took him for another of Zhao Min's³ party. He had beaten back the four attackers with a strike of his hand, and suspected some further scheme. He said coolly, “There is no need for such ceremony, Mister Wei. I have long heard that the Green-Winged Bat King's qinggong⁴ is supreme and without peer in the world. Now that I have seen it with my own eyes, the reputation is fully deserved.”

Wei Yixiao⁵ was greatly pleased. He had seldom travelled to the Central Plains and his name was little known there. He had no idea that Zhang Sanfeng was already aware of his skill in qinggong. He bowed and said, “Zhang Sanfeng the Perfected One⁶ is the Northern Dipper by which the wulin⁷ sets its course. That I should receive a word of praise from the Perfected One is an honour beyond all telling, a joy quite unexpected.” He turned and pointed at Zhao Min, saying, “Girl Zhao, you skulk and scheme, impersonating the Ming Order and besmirching its good name. What is your purpose? If you are a man and a true hero, why be so sneaking and cruel?”

Zhao Min laughed. “I am no man, nor any true hero. I am sneaking and cruel, as you say. And what will you do about it?”

Wei Yixiao had blundered at the very first sentence and found himself answered before he could continue. Taken aback, he said, “You gentlemen first attacked Shaolin, then came to trouble Wudang. What is your business here? If you bear some grudge against Shaolin or Wudang, then the Ming Order has no call to meddle. But you impersonate my Order and dress your men as our followers. I, Wei Yixiao, cannot simply look the other way.”

Zhang Sanfeng had not believed that the Ming Order, which had been the court’s enemy for a hundred years, would truly have submitted to the Mongols. Only now, hearing Wei Yixiao’s words, did he understand: So this woman is an impostor. The demonic cult may bear a poor reputation, yet when it comes to a matter of this gravity, they do not falter.

Zhao Min said to the burly man, “Listen to him blowing his own trumpet! Go and see what real skill he has.”

The man bowed and said, “Yes!” He adjusted the sash at his waist and walked steadily to the centre of the hall. “Bat King Wei, I would test your Cold-Ice Cotton Palm.” Wei Yixiao was startled. How does this man know of my Cold-Ice Cotton Palm? He knows I possess this skill and still comes forward to challenge me. I must not take him lightly. He clapped his palms together and said, “May I ask your honoured name?”

The man said, “We have come here impersonating the Ming Order. Do you suppose we would give you our true names? Your question, Bat King, is rather foolish.” The dozen or more behind Zhao Min laughed aloud together.

Wei Yixiao said coldly, “Quite right. It was a foolish question. You gentlemen willingly serve as the court’s hunting hawks, lackeys to a foreign race. It is better you do not give your names, lest you shame your ancestors.”

The man’s face flushed red and anger rose in him. With a shout he struck out a palm straight at Wei Yixiao’s chest, aiming directly for the vital centre.

Wei Yixiao shifted his stance and was already clear of the blow. As his form flashed to one side, he thrust a finger towards the man’s back, not yet employing his Cold-Ice Cotton Palm but first sounding the depth of his opponent’s skill. The man swept his left arm back, defence folded within attack. After several exchanges, the man’s palm-work grew swifter and the force more savage. Though Wei Yixiao’s internal injury had been cured by Zhang Wuji⁸ and he no longer needed to drink hot blood to suppress the yin poison within him whenever he circled his neili,⁹ the healing was recent, he faced a formidable foe, and he was displaying his skill before a grandmaster such as Zhang Sanfeng. He dared not be careless in the slightest, and at once employed his Cold-Ice Cotton Palm. The two men’s palm-work slowed by degrees, until they had reached a contest of pure inner power.

Suddenly with a whoosh a great dark mass came flying through the gate, hurtling towards the burly man. The object was larger than a great sack of rice. Could there truly exist so monstrous a hidden weapon? It was passing strange. The man channelled force into his left palm and struck the thing away some ten feet. At the point of contact it felt soft and yielding, and he could not tell what manner of substance it might be. Then came a cry of anguish. Someone had been concealed inside the sack. The man had struck with full, devastating force. How could the victim within fail to have bones broken and sinews torn?

The man was taken aback and for a moment stood uncertain what to do. Wei Yixiao drifted behind him without sound or breath and laid a Cold-Ice Cotton Palm upon the Dazhui acupoint at the base of his neck. The man, shock and fury mingling, spun about and struck desperately at Wei Yixiao’s crown. Wei Yixiao laughed aloud and neither dodged nor guarded. The man’s palm was halfway to its mark when his arm went weak and limp. Though the blow fell upon Wei Yixiao’s skull, it carried not a trace of force, no more than a gentle brush. Wei Yixiao knew that once the Cold-Ice Cotton Palm took hold within a man’s body, his strength was at once undone. Yet in a duel between masters, to stand still and let a powerful foe strike one’s brain, such audacity the like had never been heard of. All who watched were aghast. Had the man possessed some means of withstanding the Cold-Ice Palm, had his force not drained away so swiftly, and that blow had landed upon the crown in full, would his brains not have burst forth? Wei Yixiao had always conducted himself in strange and singular ways. The more a thing was daring, reckless, or beyond what others would attempt, the better he enjoyed it. His palm-strike whilst the man was distracted had been somewhat less than honourable, yet at once afterwards he had offered his own head to receive a full blow in return, which was honourable to the point of excess, a sheer recklessness that treated life and death as a game.

The man in tattered rags tore open the cloth sack and dragged out a figure. The man’s face was covered in blood. He had been killed outright by the burly man’s blow. He wore black clothing and was clearly one of their own party. How he had come to be stuffed into a sack and thrown inside, no one could say. The man was furious and shouted, “Who dares skulk and scheme…” Before the words were out of his mouth, a great white sack came billowing down over his head. He gathered his qi and leapt back, evading the hooding, and saw a big, fat monk standing before him with a grin on his face. It was Cannot Tell,¹⁰ the Monk with the Sack.

After Zhang Wuji had burst the Sack of Heaven and Earth at Bright Peak,¹¹ Cannot Tell had been left without his proper weapon. He had been obliged to fashion random cloth sacks for use, though none could match the original treasure-sack, proof against blade and blade. His qinggong did not equal Wei Yixiao’s, yet his skill was extremely high, and since he had met no obstacle on the way, he had arrived heel-to-toe behind his companion.

Cannot Tell also bowed to Zhang Sanfeng in greeting and said, “Under Cult Leader Zhang of the Ming Order, I am the wandering monk Cannot Tell. I pay my respects to Zhang Sanfeng the Perfected One, founding grandmaster of the Wudang Order.”

Zhang Sanfeng returned the courtesy. “The master has travelled far and we are grateful for his coming.”

Cannot Tell said, “Our Cult Leader’s subordinates, the Bright Messengers, the White-Browed Eagle King, the four Unbound Adepts and the Five Banner chiefs, all parties have now arrived at Wudang. Perfected One, you need only stand aside and watch. Let the Ming Order measure itself against these shameless impostors.”

His words were mere bluster. The Ming Order’s great company had not yet arrived in full. But Zhao Min, hearing them, could not help but draw her delicate brows together, thinking: They have come with surprising speed. Who has betrayed our secret? She could not help but ask, “Where is your Cult Leader? Tell him to come and see me.” She cast a glance at Wei Yixiao, her gaze questioning, plainly asking where his Cult Leader might be.

Wei Yixiao laughed. “So you are done with the impersonation now?” In his heart he too was wondering: The Cult Leader must have arrived by now, but where can he be at this moment? Zhang Wuji had been concealed behind the bright moon all along. He knew that neither Wei Yixiao nor Cannot Tell had yet recognised him, and seeing these two able helpers arrive, he was exceedingly glad and relieved.

Zhao Min sneered. “A poisonous bat and a stinking monk. What climate can the two of you make?”

The words had scarcely left her lips when a long laugh rang out from the eastern corner of the roof. “Cannot Tell, has Left Messenger Yang arrived yet?” The voice was loud and resonant, full of vigour and boldness. It was the White-Browed Eagle King, Yin Tianzheng.¹²

Before Cannot Tell could answer, Yang Xiao’s¹³ laughter was already ringing from the western corner of the roof. He laughed, “Eagle King, you are indeed vigorous in your old age and have arrived a step ahead.”

Yin Tianzheng laughed in return. “Left Messenger Yang, there is no need for courtesy. We arrived at the same instant, and still cannot say who was first. I fear you yielded me three points out of regard for Cult Leader Zhang.”

Yang Xiao said, “When duty calls, one does not yield! I have already exerted myself to the utmost and still could not outpace the Eagle King by a single step.”

The two had been matching their strength upon the road, competing in the pace of their steps. Yin Tianzheng’s neili was the deeper, and Yang Xiao’s tread the lighter. They had set out side by side and arrived precisely together. Amidst their prolonged laughter, both leapt down from the roof’s corner at once.

Zhang Sanfeng had long heard of Yin Tianzheng’s fame, and he was, moreover, Zhang Cuishan’s father-in-law. Yang Xiao too was a figure of great consequence in the jianghu.¹⁴ He stepped forward three paces and cupped his fists. “Zhang Sanfeng respectfully welcomes the arrival of Elder Yin and Elder Yang.” In his heart he was quite puzzled: Yin Tianzheng is plainly the Order Leader of the Tianying Order.¹⁵ Why then did he speak of regarding Cult Leader Zhang?

Yin Tianzheng and Yang Xiao bowed in return. Yin Tianzheng said, “I have long admired Zhang Sanfeng the Perfected One’s pure reputation but had no fortune to pay my respects. Today I behold your countenance at last. It is the good fortune of three lifetimes.”

Zhang Sanfeng said, “You are both grandmasters of your generation. That you should both honour us with your presence makes this truly a grand gathering.”

Zhao Min grew ever more angry. Before her eyes the Ming Order’s masters were arriving in ever greater numbers. Though Zhang Wuji had not yet shown himself, she feared Cannot Tell’s words might be true and that he was indeed directing matters from the shadows, laying down some fearsome formation. Her own scheme, which she had arranged with such meticulous care, would today prove difficult to bring to pass. Yet she had dealt Zhang Sanfeng a grave wound. This was a chance that came once in a thousand years, a chance that would never come again. If today she did not seize this opportunity to destroy the Wudang Order, then once his wounds were healed, matters would become exceedingly difficult indeed. Her dark eyes, round and lustrous, turned twice within her head. She sneered, “The jianghu whispers that Wudang is a righteous and great Order. Yet seeing is better than hearing. It seems the Wudang Order has been secretly hand-in-glove with the demonic cult, leaning on them for support. Your own school’s martial arts are, I fear, not worth a smile.”

Cannot Tell said, “Girl Zhao, this is the understanding of a woman and the knowledge of a child. When Zhang Sanfeng the Perfected One’s name shook the wulin, I fear your own grandfather had yet to be born. What does a little child know of such matters?”

Footnotes

1. 张三丰 – Zhāng Sānfēng. Founder and grandmaster of the Wudang Order, formerly known as Zhang Junbao. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

2. 明教 – Míng Jiào. The Ming Order, a revolutionary organisation opposing Yuan rule. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

3. 赵敏 – Zhào Mǐn. Daughter of the Prince of Ruyang, a formidable strategist opposing the Ming Order. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

4. 轻功 – qīnggōng. Literally lightness skill. The martial art of body lightness; practitioners leap great heights and move with extraordinary speed. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

5. 韦一笑 – Wéi Yīxiào. The Green-Winged Bat King, one of the Ming Order’s Four Guardian Kings, known for his supreme qinggong. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

6. 真人 – zhēnrén. Literally “true person.” A Daoist honorific title for a master of high spiritual attainment. ↩

7. 武林 – wǔlín. Literally “martial forest.” The community of martial artists and their affairs. ↩

8. 张无忌 – Zhāng Wújì. Protagonist and Cult Leader of the Ming Order, son of Zhang Cuishan and Yin Susu. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

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

10. 说不得 – Shuōbùdé. The Monk with the Sack, one of the Ming Order’s Five Unbound Adepts. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

11. 光明顶 – Guāngmíng Dǐng. Bright Peak, headquarters of the Ming Order in the Kunlun Mountains. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

12. 殷天正 – Yīn Tiānzhèng. The White-Browed Eagle King, founder of the Tianying Order and grandfather of Zhang Wuji. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

13. 杨逍 – Yáng Xiāo. The Bright Left Messenger, former acting leader of the Ming Order and adviser to Zhang Wuji. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

14. 江湖 – jiānghú. Literally “rivers and lakes.” The itinerant world of martial artists beyond settled society. ↩

15. 天鹰教 – Tiānyīng Jiào. The Tianying Order, founded by Yin Tianzheng after separating from the Ming Order. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩