The Heavenly Sword & the Dragon Sabre – Chapter 26 – Part 3

Zhou Zhiruo[^zhouzhiruo] saw disaster upon her, and had not expected anyone to come to her rescue so suddenly. She lay cradled against Zhang Wuji's chest, feeling the broad solidity of it beneath her, and caught the strong scent of a man. The strange sensation she had known atop Bright Summit[^brightsummit], when he had taken her in his arms and run, returned to her now, and she was seized at once by alarm and delight. For an instant her body went soft and she nearly fainted. Zhang Wuji had pitted his Nine Yang Divine Skill[^jiuyangshen] against Lu Zhangke's[^luzhangke] Xuanming Divine Palms,[^xuanmingshenzhang] and the zhenqi[^zhenqi] of his whole body surged forth, so that he was warm as a furnace. How much warmer still, when the man who held her was the companion of her dreams, the one she thought of day and night? A boundless happiness filled her heart. Had their enemies at that moment struck at her with a thousand blades and ten thousand swords, she would have felt neither fear nor care.

Yang Xiao¹ and Wei Yixiao² saw their zhangmen³ dash in to rescue her, and the two of them slipped in after him, taking station to left and right behind him. Zhao Min’s⁴ bodyguard, taken by surprise, showed a moment’s confusion, but perceived at once that only three enemies had broken into the hall. The guards within and without exchanged whistles, and knowing there were no more foes outside, they sealed every entrance and stood fast, awaiting Zhao Min’s orders.

Zhao Min was neither frightened nor angry. She gazed at Zhang Wuji for a long moment, then let her eyes drift to two golden objects gleaming in the corner of the hall. It seemed that when she had drawn the Heavenly Sword⁵ to slash Zhou Zhiruo’s face, Zhang Wuji had flung something which struck the blade and knocked it aside. That object was the golden box she herself had given him. The Heavenly Sword was keen beyond all else, and at the collision it had sliced the box cleanly in two. She stared at the two halves for some time, then said, “You loathe this box so much that it must be broken?”

Zhang Wuji heard the hurt in her words. He looked at her eyes, searching for anger or reproach, but found only a desolation that seemed past bearing. He was taken aback, and felt keenly ashamed. He said gently, “I carried no hidden weapon. In my haste I reached into my robe and happened on the box. It was not done on purpose. I hope you will not hold it against me.” A light flashed in Zhao Min’s eyes. “You kept this box on you?” “I did.” Her bright eyes rested on him, and he was aware that his left arm still encircled Zhou Zhiruo. His face warmed. He let his arm fall.

Zhao Min sighed. “I did not know that Miss Zhou was your… your close friend, or I would not have treated her so. So you two…” She turned her head away. Zhang Wuji said, “Miss Zhou and I are… nothing special… it’s just… it’s just…” He repeated “it’s just” twice, and could go no further. Zhao Min glanced once more at the two halves of the golden box on the floor. She said nothing, yet in her look and her bearing it was as though she had spoken a thousand words.

Zhou Zhiruo was startled. This demoness is plainly deeply in love with him. Could it be…

Zhang Wuji’s heart was not so fine-spun as the two girls’. He caught only a dim sense of Zhao Min’s feeling, and missed its depth entirely. He thought only that she had given him flower-ornaments and a golden box, and had healed Yu Daiyan⁶ and Yin Liting’s⁷ disabilities, and now he had smashed the box in return. It was shabby treatment of her. He walked to the corner of the hall, bent, and picked up the two halves. “I will have a master craftsman mend it.” Zhao Min’s face brightened. “Truly?” Zhang Wuji nodded. They each commanded hosts of heroes, he thought. What heed would they give to such trifles as gold and silver playthings? The box was finely wrought, but no great treasure. The Black Jade Bone-Mending Paste⁸ it had held was already taken out, so the empty box was of little use. If it was broken, there was no cause for regret. To have it mended was a small matter. There were weighty matters to settle. Why did she speak only of the box? Young women, he thought, fretted over such trifles. It was the way of their sex. He tucked the two halves into his robe.

Zhao Min said, “Then you may go.” Zhang Wuji thought that Song the First Shibo⁹ and the rest had not yet been rescued. How could he leave now? But the enemy’s ranks were thick with masters, and his own side was three men alone. To speak of rescuing prisoners was far easier said than done. “Miss Zhao, why have you taken my Grand Shibo⁹ and the others? What do you intend?” Zhao Min smiled. “I meant them well. I wished to persuade them to serve the court and share in its honours. But they were obstinate and would not listen, and I had no choice but to keep at it.”

Zhang Wuji snorted. He turned back to Zhou Zhiruo’s side. He had bent to pick up the box under the gaze of all the enemy’s masters, and now walked back at his ease, as though none of them were there. He cast a cold glance over them all. “Very well, then. We take our leave.” He took Zhou Zhiruo’s hand and turned to go.

Zhao Min said icily, “You are free to go. I shall not keep you. But if you mean to take Miss Zhou with you, you will at least ask my leave. Who do you take me for?” “Indeed, I am at fault in courtesy. Miss Zhao, I beg you to release Miss Zhou and let her come with me.” Zhao Min did not answer. She gave the Twin Xuanming Elders¹⁰ a look.

He Biweng¹¹ stepped forward. “Zhang zhangmen, you come when you please and go when you please. You rescue whom you will, and we are to let you walk out as if we were nothing? You must leave some skill behind, or my brothers will never forgive the insult.” Zhang Wuji knew He Biweng’s voice. Rage surged in him. “When I was a child, you seized me and nearly took my life. You have the face to speak to me today? Take this!” He launched a palm at He Biweng.

Lu Zhangke had already tasted Zhang Wuji’s power. He knew that He Biweng alone could not stand against him, and sprang forward, striking at him with an open palm. Zhang Wuji’s right palm still bore towards He Biweng, but his left shot out from beneath the right and met Lu Zhangke’s counter-strike. It was force against force. There was no room to dodge or feint. The four palms of the three men collided. Each of them swayed.

On Wudang Mountain, the Twin Xuanming Elders had met Zhang Wuji’s palms with their own two, then struck again with a second pair. Now they tried the same trick, and once more two palms came at him. Zhang Wuji had been caught by that ploy before. He would not be taken twice. His elbows sank. He invoked the Great Shift of Heaven and Earth,¹² and with a sharp crack He Biweng’s left palm struck Lu Zhangke’s right. The two had been taught by the same shifu. Their palm-techniques were identical, their power matched. At once their arms went numb. Why they should have been striking each other, neither could tell, for all his skill. Before their shock and fury had passed, Zhang Wuji’s palms were upon them again. The Two Elders still met him with a double palm, one guarding and one attacking, but the technique they used was wholly different from before. Yet guided by Zhang Wuji’s skill, Lu Zhangke’s left palm once more met He Biweng’s right. The subtlety of the Great Shift, the precision of its reckoning, was past all belief.

The Two Elders turned pale with horror. They saw Zhang Wuji raise his palms for the third time, and both struck out with a single palm to defend. Their zhenqi met, and they felt a surge of pure yang energy flooding towards them, unbearable and unendurable. Zhang Wuji’s palms moved like the wind. He remembered how, when he was small, He Biweng had struck him with a Xuanming Divine Palm, and for years he had suffered for it. So when he struck at Lu Zhangke, he left some measure in his blow. Against He Biweng he showed no mercy.

In twenty-odd palms, He Biweng’s green face had flushed crimson. He saw the enemy’s palm coming again, feinted with his left as if to soften it, and drove his right hard across. There came two sharp cracks. He Biweng’s palm struck Lu Zhangke full on the shoulder, while Zhang Wuji’s blow, impossible to deflect, took him in the chest. Zhang Wuji had no wish to kill him. He put only three parts in ten of his true strength into that palm. He Biweng coughed blood, his face deepening from crimson to purple. He swayed. Had Zhang Wuji pressed his advantage with another blow, he would have died upon the spot. Lu Zhangke too had taken a palm on the shoulder, and the pain twisted his face. He bit his lip till it bled.

The Twin Xuanming Elders were the foremost fighters in Zhao Min’s service. Who would have thought that, working together, they would both be hurt within thirty moves? The warriors around them were shocked. So were Yang Xiao and Wei Yixiao. They had seen with their own eyes the Two Elders strike Zhang Wuji down on Wudang Mountain, and had not expected that in a few short months his skill had advanced so far. Then they understood. Their zhangmen had stayed on Wudang for months. Between healing Yu Daiyan and Yin Liting, he had studied under Zhang Sanfeng.¹³ The Nine Yang Divine Skill, the Great Shift of Heaven and Earth, and Wudang’s own supreme arts, the Taiji Fist¹⁴ and Taiji Sword¹⁵, were fusing into one. They praised Zhang Sanfeng in their hearts. His learning was truly heaven-sent. “Unfathomable” was the word for it.

The Two Elders, bested at palms, whistled together and drew their weapons. Lu Zhangke held a short staff, its head forked like antlers, black all over, forged of none could tell what metal. He Biweng wielded a pair of pens, their tips sharp as a crane’s beak, gleaming bright. They had served Zhao Min for many a year, yet even she had never seen them fight with weapons. The three implements whirled into motion. A mass of dark qi, two streaks of white light, and in an instant Zhang Wuji was trapped in their midst. He had brought no weapon. Bare-handed, his position was unfavourable, but he was not afraid. He meant to test his skill. Could he fight these two great masters empty-handed?

The Two Elders trusted in their deep neili¹⁶ and the Xuanming Divine Palms, the finest palm-art in the world. They had opened with palm-work, not knowing that Zhang Wuji’s Nine Yang Divine Skill stood above any inner art, and after dozens of moves they were already beaten. Their weapons, however, were another matter. Their very names came from them, the antlered staff and the crane-billed pens. Every move was fierce and vicious, the like of which is rarely seen. Zhang Wuji concentrated, weaving between the three weapons, attacking and defending at will. Yet he could not fathom the drift of their weapon-techniques, and to win was not easy. He Biweng was grievously hurt, and his moves could not but falter.

Zhao Min clapped her hands three times. In the great hall, a flash of white blades: three men attacked Yang Xiao, four attacked Wei Yixiao, and two more drew weapons and held Zhou Zhiruo at knifepoint. Yang Xiao darted forward, his jian moving like lightning, and with a reverse thrust wounded one. Wei Yixiao, trusting to his unmatched qinggong,¹⁷ struck down two with the Cold-Ice Silk Palms.¹⁸ But the enemy was too many. For every man they felled, two more pressed in.

Zhang Wuji was locked in combat with the Twin Xuanming Elders and could not spare himself to aid his companions. For the three of them to withdraw unharmed was not hard. To rescue Zhou Zhiruo was utterly beyond them. He was growing anxious, when Zhao Min spoke. “Everyone, stop.” Her voice was not loud, yet her men obeyed at once and leapt back.

Yang Xiao flung his jian to the ground. Wei Yixiao held a single dao he had seized from an enemy. He swung it once and threw it back to its owner, laughing aloud. Zhang Wuji saw a man with a dagger pressed against Zhou Zhiruo’s back, and his face showed his concern. Zhou Zhiruo said, her voice low, “Young Master Zhang, you three must save yourselves. Your kindness, I shall never forget.”

Zhao Min smiled. “Young Master Zhang, Miss Zhou is so fair that even I, who am a woman, cannot help but pity her. She must be the one you hold in your heart?” Zhang Wuji’s face reddened. “Miss Zhou and I have known each other since childhood. When I was small, I was struck by this…” He pointed at He Biweng. “… Xuanming Divine Palm. The venom entered my body, and I could not move. It was Miss Zhou who waited on me, who gave me food and water, who counselled me and comforted me. That debt of gratitude I shall never forget.” Zhao Min said, “So you are childhood sweethearts, then. You wish to marry her and make her the zhangmen’s lady of the Ming Order?” Zhang Wuji’s face reddened again. “The Hun have not been destroyed. How can I think of a home?” Zhao Min’s face hardened. “You are determined to make an enemy of me to the end. You will have me destroyed. Is that it?”

Footnotes

1. 杨逍 – Yáng Xiāo. The Right Messenger of the Ming Order, known as the Heavenly Eagle. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

2. 韦一笑 – Wéi Yīxiào. The Green-White Winged Bat of the Ming Order, a master of unmatched qinggong. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

3. 掌门 – zhǎngmén. The head of a martial order or school. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

4. 赵敏 – Zhào Mǐn. Daughter of Chaghan Temür, and the Mongol court’s chief agent in the wulin. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

5. 倚天剑 – Yǐtiān Jiàn. The Heavenly Sword, one of the two legendary weapons forged from the Iron Heart of the Western Regions, said to hold within it the Nine Yin Manual. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

6. 俞岱岩 – Yú Dàiyán. The Third Xia of the Seven Xias of Wudang. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

7. 殷梨亭 – Yīn Lítíng. The Sixth Xia of the Seven Xias of Wudang. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

8. 黑玉断续膏 – Hēi Yù Duànxù Gāo. Literally Black Jade Bone-Mending Paste. A rare ointment capable of reknitting shattered bones. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

9. 宋远桥 – Sòng Yuǎnqiáo. The First Xia of the Seven Xias of Wudang, eldest disciple of Zhang Sanfeng. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩ ↩²

10. 玄冥二老 – Xuánmíng Èr Lǎo. The Twin Xuanming Elders, Lu Zhangke and He Biweng, masters of the Xuanming Divine Palms. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

11. 鹤笔翁 – Hè Bǐwēng. Literally Crane Pen Old Man. The younger of the Twin Xuanming Elders, so named for his crane-billed pens. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

12. 乾坤大挪移 – Qiánkūn Dà Nuóyí. Great Shift of Heaven and Earth. The supreme secret art of the Ming Order, capable of redirecting force, reversing qi flow, and manipulating the trajectory of attacks. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

13. 张三丰 – Zhāng Sānfēng. Founder of the Wudang Order and Zhang Wuji’s grand shifu. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

14. 太极拳 – Tàijí Quán. Taiji Fist, the Wudang Order’s supreme unarmed art. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

15. 太极剑 – Tàijí Jiàn. Taiji Sword, the Wudang Order’s supreme sword art. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

16. 内力 – nèilì. Internal energy, the martial artist’s cultivation of qi. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

17. 轻功 – qīnggōng. Lightness skill, the martial art of agility and weightlessness. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

18. 寒冰绵掌 – Hánbīng Miánzhǎng. Cold-Ice Silk Palms, a palm-technique that infuses the strike with a deathly cold energy. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩