The Heavenly Sword & the Dragon Sabre – Chapter 26 – Part 6

Zhang Wuji said, “I have already forgiven Right Messenger Fan his offence. Why press the matter further? When one stands at the heart of great affairs, one must be willing to adapt. Right Messenger Fan, let us speak of this no more.” He took out the wound-healing powder at once, dressed the wound, and tore a strip from his own robe to bind it. He knew the man's spirit was fierce. A careless word or the faintest shadow of contempt upon his face would be more than Fan Yao could bear. The man was one who spoke and did as he spoke. If pushed, he would cut his own throat without a second thought. Thinking how he had endured such torment for the sake of the Order, Zhang Wuji was deeply moved. He knelt suddenly and said, “Right Messenger Fan, you have rendered great service to our Order. Receive this bow from me. If you harm yourself further, it is to say that I am without virtue and without ability, unfit to bear the burden of Religious Leader. I shall resign the post at once. I am young and shallow in judgement, and I have made many errors in my handling of affairs. I must ask you to forgive them.”

When Fan Yao, Yang Xiao, and Wei Yixiao saw the Religious Leader kneel, all three cast themselves to the ground at once.

Yang Xiao said, tears streaming down his face, “Brother Fan, do so no more. The rise and fall of our Order rests upon the Religious Leader alone. You must never defy the Religious Leader’s command.” Fan Yao bowed and said, “I have put the Religious Leader to the test of sword and palm this day, and am now devoted to him body and soul. Bitter Dhūta¹ has a wayward temper. I beg the Religious Leader’s forgiveness.” Zhang Wuji raised him with both hands. From that moment the two understood each other utterly, and no shadow stood between them again.

Fan Yao went on to recount all he had seen and heard since entering the household of the Prince of Ruyang.²

The Prince of Ruyang, Chaghan Temür,³ possessed in truth a great talent for the governance of the realm and the conduct of war. Though he held the military command, the court was in the grip of treacherous ministers, and the Emperor himself was blind and without the Way.⁴ Added to this were years of famine and flood in the north and south, until the world was in tumult and the hearts of the people boiled. All depended upon the Prince of Ruyang’s campaigns, which shattered the rebel hosts in numberless engagements. Yet as one was crushed, another rose, and no year passed in peace. The Prince of Ruyang was consumed with the dispatch of armies and the posting of generals, and so the business of rooting out the factions and guilds of the jianghu⁵ was set aside for the time.

Some years later, his son and daughter were grown. The heir Köke Temür⁶ rode to war at his father’s side, while the daughter Minmin Temür commanded a host of Mongol, Han, and Western-Regions warriors and barbarian monks, and launched a great offensive against the schools and guilds of the wulin.⁷ Cheng Kun aided her counsels in secret. Seizing upon the occasion when the six great factions besieged Bright Summit,⁸ Zhao Min⁹ led a great body of masters in an attempt to reap the fisherman’s profit while the snipe and clam fought, and sweep away the Ming Order¹⁰ and the six factions in a single stroke. The poisoning at Green Willow Manor, and all that followed from it, had its root in this design. At the time Fan Yao had been charged with the protection of the Prince of Ruyang and had taken no part in the Western-Regions campaign. Only later did he learn the full tale. Fan Yao said that though he had concealed himself without fault while in the Prince of Ruyang’s household, Zhao Min had not permitted him to join the Western-Regions expedition, because he came from those parts. Very likely, he said, this too was Cheng Kun’s counsel.

Zhao Min had used a poison called Ten-Spice Softening Powder,¹¹ offered by the barbarian monks of the Western Regions, and had it slipped secretly into the food and drink of the six factions’ masters as they returned from Bright Summit. Ten-Spice Softening Powder is without colour or scent and tastes of nothing more than water, and once mixed among the dishes, it is all but impossible to detect. When the drug took hold, the victim’s bones and sinews at once grew soft and weak. After some days, though he might move again as though in health, not a trace of neili¹² remained that he could call upon. For this reason, when the great masters of the six factions who had campaigned against Bright Summit set out eastward in their return, they were taken one party after another. Only when they moved to poison the third contingent, led by Kongxing of the Shaolin Order,¹³ were they discovered, and a true battle of blades and lances followed. Kongxing was slain by A-Three.¹⁴ Of the remainder, a dozen and more died fighting against Zhao Min’s host of warriors, and the rest were taken captive to a man.

Afterwards Zhao Min led her forces in assault upon the root-lands of the six great factions of the Central Plains, and the first she chose was the Shaolin Order. Shaolin Monastery was closely guarded, and to slip within and administer a poison was no easy business, unlike travellers on the road, who must lodge and take their meals at the inns of towns and markets, where the poisoning is a simple matter. Since poison would not serve, they assaulted the place by open force and the weight of numbers.

Fan Yao said, “The Princess wished to move against Shaolin Monastery but feared her hands were too few, so she summoned a fresh party from Dadu to reinforce her. These I was charged to lead, and I arrived in time for the siege and capture of the Shaolin monks. The Shaolin Order has always shown our Order little courtesy. To see them suffer a further beating was a thing to warm the heart. Even had the stinking monks of Shaolin been slaughtered to a man, Bitter Dhūta would not have creased his brow. Religious Leader, you are about to disapprove again, I dare say. Ha, ha. I beg your pardon!”

Yang Xiao broke in, “Brother, those arhat statues turned about, facing the other way, was that your doing?” Fan Yao laughed. “I saw the Princess had her men carve those sixteen characters upon the backs of the arhats, to cast the blame upon our Order. So afterwards I went back in secret and turned the statues about. Big brother, you are truly sharp-eyed. You saw through even that. Could you have guessed it was your brother at work?” Yang Xiao said, “We reasoned that among the enemy there must be a skilled man secretly guarding our Order. How could we have dreamed it was my old comrade, my good brother!” All four laughed aloud together.

Yang Xiao then explained briefly to Fan Yao that the Ming Order had resolved to set aside old grievances with the six factions and join them against the Mongols, and so it was imperative that the captured masters be rescued.

Fan Yao said, “The enemy outnumbers us. The four of us alone cannot accomplish it. We must find the antidote to Ten-Spice Softening Powder and give it to those stinking monks, stinking nuns, and Daoist ox-noses, so that they may recover their neili. Then we all rush out together and strike the Tatars off their guard, and escape Da Du as one.” In truth the Ming Order had always been at feud with Shaolin, Wudang, and the other renowned righteous factions, and his words were hardly courteous to the assembled masters of the six great schools. Yang Xiao shot him look after look, but Fan Yao took no notice. Zhang Wuji, however, set no store by such niceties. He clapped his hands and said, “Right Messenger Fan speaks well. The only question is, how are we to obtain the antidote to Ten-Spice Softening Powder?”

Fan Yao said, “I have never opened my mouth, and so though the Princess has treated me with considerable respect, she has never consulted me on any weighty matter. For her to speak and receive no answer in return, what pleasure is in that? Moreover, I come from a small kingdom in the Western Regions, and she cannot take me for a confidant. I have therefore no means of knowing who holds the antidote to Ten-Spice Softening Powder. But I knew the business was of the utmost gravity, and I have been watching in secret for a long while. If my surmise is right, the poison and the antidote are divided between the two Xuanming Elders. One keeps the poison, the other the antidote, and they exchange the charge from time to time.”

Yang Xiao sighed. “That Princess, her mind is more cunning than that of any ordinary man. Could it be that she does not trust the Xuanming Elders either?” Fan Yao said, “Partly distrust, partly to make assurance double sure. Consider: even now, were we to steal the antidote, we should not know whether to look in Lu Zhangke’s¹⁵ possession or He Biweng’s.¹⁶ Moreover, I have heard that the poison and the antidote are in every way identical in scent and colour. Only the keeper of the drugs knows which is which. Were another to go stealing, he might well carry off the poison instead of the antidote. There is yet another terror in Ten-Spice Softening Powder. Once its victim’s sinews have withered and his bones have softened, that is plain enough. But if he takes the poison a second time without having found the cure, even a pinch of powder will at once send the blood into reverse and cut off the breath. No medicine under heaven can save him.”

Wei Yixiao put out his tongue and said, “Then it is of the utmost importance we steal the right antidote.” Fan Yao said, “That is so, yet it is no great matter either. We simply steal all the drugs from both Xuanming Elders, find some small fry from the Huashan School or the Kongtong School, and test them upon him. Whichever drug kills him, that is the poison. Is that not convenient enough?”

Zhang Wuji knew his wayward temper ran deep and he set little store by the lives of others. He only smiled and said, “That will not do. For all we know, both the drugs we have so painstakingly stolen are poisons.”

Yang Xiao slapped his thigh. “The Religious Leader is right. Last night’s commotion may have frightened the Princess into keeping the antidote on her own person. I say we must first discover who holds it, and only then take counsel on our course.” He fell silent for a moment, then said, “Brother, what are the Xuanming Elders fondest of in this world?”

Fan Yao laughed. “The Deer is fond of women, the Crane is fond of wine. What other good thing is there between them?” Yang Xiao turned to Zhang Wuji and asked, “Religious Leader, do you have any drug that would soften a man’s bones and sinews and render him unable to call upon his neili, much as though he had taken Ten-Spice Softening Powder?” Zhang Wuji considered for a moment, then smiled. “To leave a man enfeebled and drowsy, unable to summon his neili, is not difficult in itself. But used against a master, in less than half a shichen¹⁷ the drug has worn off. To match the power of Ten-Spice Softening Powder is beyond me.”

Yang Xiao smiled. “Half a shichen would be enough. I have a scheme in mind, though whether it will serve I leave to the Religious Leader’s judgement. It is hardly a scheme at all, and when laid bare it will not bear a laugh. Brother Fan contrives to invite He Biweng to drink, and in the wine puts the drug the Religious Leader has mixed. Brother Fan raises a great outcry, claiming he has been given Ten-Spice Softening Powder by He Biweng. In the confusion, we discover who holds the antidote, and in that moment we seize it and rescue our people.”

Zhang Wuji said, “Whether this can work depends upon the temper of this He Biweng. Right Messenger Fan, what do you think of him?”

Fan Yao turned the matter over in his mind from beginning to end. Though the scheme was simple, he could see no flaw in it. He said, “I think Brother Yang’s plan will serve. He Biweng’s temper is fierce, but he does not match Lu Zhangke in cunning and resource. Provided the antidote is upon He Biweng, though my martial arts do not reach his, I should be able to deal with him.” Yang Xiao said, “And if it is upon Lu Zhangke?”

Fan Yao frowned. “That is a great deal more awkward.” He rose to his feet and paced back and forth beside the hillock. After a long while he clapped his hands together and said, “Only one way, then. Lu Zhangke is shrewder than any man. If we seek to deceive him, he will see through the device more often than not. The only way is to take hold of some guilty secret of his and threaten him plain and open. Weighing the balance, he may well submit. Of course, to proceed so bluntly may well smash the pot, and the risk is great. But beyond this I see no better course.”

Yang Xiao said, “And what guilty secret has the old man? He is old, but his heart is not. Has some hold fallen into brother’s hands?” Fan Yao said, “This spring, the Prince of Ruyang took a new concubine and invited several of us to a private banquet in the flower hall. The Prince boasted of his new concubine’s beauty and had the bride come out to offer wine. I saw Lu Zhangke’s thievish eyes rolling this way and that, swallowing mouthfuls of covetous saliva. He was mightily stirred, I can tell you.” Wei Yixiao said, “And what came of it?” Fan Yao said, “Nothing came of it. She was the Prince’s beloved concubine. Even had he the boldness of Heaven itself, he would not dare conceive any evil design.” Wei Yixiao said, “A few rolling eyeballs are hardly a guilty secret.”

Fan Yao said, “It is not a guilty secret. We shall make it one. In this matter I must trouble Brother Wei. You are to use your qinggong¹⁸ and carry off the Prince of Ruyang’s beloved concubine, and lay her upon Lu Zhangke’s bed. Seven times out of ten the old man will not be able to contain himself and will have his way with her there and then. Even if he truly draws rein at the cliff’s edge, I shall burst into the room and put him in a position where he cannot explain himself. No amount of washing will clean the stain. He will have no choice but to offer the antidote with both hands.” Yang Xiao and Wei Yixiao clapped their hands together and laughed. “That method of planting the evidence is truly cunning. However sly Lu Zhangke may be, he will come out with a face full of ash.”

Footnotes

1. 苦头陀 – Kǔ Tóutuó. Bitter Dhūta. The disguise Fan Yao adopted: a lay-headed Buddhist ascetic with a hideously scarred face. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

2. 汝阳王 – Rǔyáng Wáng. The Prince of Ruyang, Chaghan Temür, a senior Mongol prince and commander-in-chief of the Yuan military. ↩

3. 察罕特穆尔 – Cháhǎn Tèmù’ér. Chaghan Temür, the Prince of Ruyang. A historical figure; his name in Chinese sources is sometimes written 察罕帖木儿. ↩

4. 皇帝 – huángdì. The Emperor of the Yuan, here the last Shundi Emperor, Toghon Temür, whose weakness and misrule hastened the dynasty’s fall. ↩

5. 江湖 – jiānghú. Literally rivers and lakes. The itinerant world beyond settled society and official reach, holding not only martial artists but the trades that travel with them, including pedlars, physicians, fortune-tellers, entertainers, boatmen, beggars, outlaws and the like. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

6. 库库特穆尔 – Kùkù Tèmù’ér. Köke Temür, the adopted heir of Chaghan Temür. Known to the Han by his name Wang Baobao. ↩

7. 武林 – wǔlín. The martial forest; the community of martial artists and their factions. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

8. 光明顶 – Guāngmíng Dǐng. Bright Summit, the headquarters of the Ming Order atop the Kunlun Mountains. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

9. 赵敏 – Zhào Mǐn. Zhao Min, the Han name of Minmin Temür, daughter of the Prince of Ruyang. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

10. 明教 – Míng Jiào. The Ming Order, also known as the Ming Cult. A secret martial order whose teachings draw on Manichaeanism. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

11. 十香软筋散 – Shíxiāng Ruǎnjīn Sǎn. Ten-Spice Softening Powder. A poison devised by the barbarian monks of the Western Regions, colourless and odourless, which renders the victim’s bones and sinews soft and deprives him of all neili. ↩

12. 内力 – nèilì. Internal force. The kinetic manifestation of qi, cultivated through neigong. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

13. 少林派 – Shàolín Pài. The Shaolin Order, one of the foremost righteous factions of the wulin, based at Shaolin Monastery on Mount Song. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

14. 阿三 – Ā Sān. A-Three, a servant of the Prince of Ruyang and a practitioner of the Vajra School’s Great Strength Vajra Finger. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

15. 鹿杖客 – Lù Zhàngkè. Lu Zhangke, the Deer-Staff Guest, elder of the Xuanming Elders. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

16. 鹤笔翁 – Hè Bǐwēng. He Biweng, the Crane-Brush Old Man, junior of the Xuanming Elders. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

17. 时辰 – shíchén. The shichen, or two-hour period. The traditional Chinese day was divided into twelve shichen. ↩

18. 轻功 – qīnggōng. Lightness skill; the martial art of moving with supernatural speed and agility. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩