The Heavenly Sword & the Dragon Sabre – Chapter 27 – Part 5

Before long the flames had climbed to the fourth storey. The men of the Huashan School,¹ imprisoned there, could not wait for their neili² to return. They fled up to the fifth storey in sorry state. The fire followed, climbing without pause, and the Kongtong School³ men on the fifth storey scrambled up in their turn. Some had been too slow on their feet, and the flames had caught their robes and beards alight.

Fan Yao⁴ stood at his wits’ end. Then a voice called out, “Fan the Right Messenger,⁵ catch!” It was Wei Yixiao.⁶ Fan Yao was overjoyed. He looked towards the voice and saw Wei Yixiao standing on the roof of the rear hall of Wan’an Temple,⁷ flicking his wrist to send a long rope flying through the air. Fan Yao reached out and caught it. Wei Yixiao called, “Tie it to the railing and you have a rope bridge!” Fan Yao had barely finished tying the rope when Zhao Yishang⁸ of the Eight Heroes of the Divine Arrow let fly an arrow with a twang, and the rope was severed clean in the middle. Fan Yao and Wei Yixiao broke into curses in the same breath.

Wei Yixiao cursed, “Shoot your grandmother! Whoever hasn’t dropped his bow and arrows, I’ll kill him first.” Still cursing, he drew his jian⁹ and leapt from the roof. His feet had barely touched the ground when five monks in cyan robes closed around him, swords drawn. These were the Five Sword Vajra,¹⁰ five of the Eighteen Vajra in the Prince of Ruyang’s service. Their five swords flashed and glimmered, their blade-techniques strange and uncanny, and they engaged Wei Yixiao at once.

He Biweng¹¹ waved his crane-beak pens and fought on bitterly, crying aloud, “Young Prince, if you don’t give the order to fight the fire, I shall have to stop being polite with you!” Wang Baobao¹² paid him no heed. Four monks bearing Buddhist staffs stood around the Young Prince, guarding against assassination. He Biweng grew desperate. His two pens swept out in the move called Sweeping Clean a Thousand Soldiers, forcing the three monks before him back two paces. He gathered his qi¹³ and sprinted, reaching the pagoda. Five monks pursued close behind. He Biweng leapt and landed on the eave of the first storey. The five monks, seeing how fiercely the fire raged, did not follow.

He Biweng climbed storey by storey. By the time he reached the eave of the fourth, Fan Yao leaned out from the seventh storey, holding Lu Zhangke’s¹⁴ body high above his head, and bellowed, “He, old man! Stop at once! One more step and I’ll dash the old deer into deer-meat pulp!” He Biweng indeed dared move no further. He called out, “Master Ku, my shixiong and I have no grudge against you, old or recent. Why make things so hard for us? If you want to rescue your old lover, Miejue Shitai,¹⁵ and your daughter Miss Zhou, go ahead. I shan’t lift a finger to stop you.”

Miejue Shitai had taken the antidote Bitter Dhūta¹⁶ gave her, believing it to be poison and that she must surely die. But Zhou Zhiruo¹⁷ had also been forced to swallow the draught, and all her lifelong hopes had turned to dust. How could her heart not be heavy? She was deep in sorrow when she heard a great clamour below the pagoda, and then, one by one, the exchange between Bitter Dhūta and He Biweng, and Wang Baobao’s order to set the fire, all of it plain to her ears. She thought it strange. Could this demon-faced dhūta truly be here to save me? She tested her qi circulation and at once felt a warmth rise from her dantian,¹⁸ utterly different from the cold numbness that had gripped her since the poison.

She had refused to go to the main hall to fight at Zhao Min’s command and had fasted for six or seven days. Her stomach was long empty. The antidote entered her belly and swiftly passed into her blood, and the medicine’s virtue spread faster than for anyone else. Her neili ran deeper than Song Yuanqiao’s, deeper than Yu Lianzhou’s and He Taichong’s, falling short only of the abbot Kongwen,¹⁹ zhangmen²⁰ of the Shaolin Order.²¹ As the Ten Fragrances Softening Sinew Powder’s poison receded under the antidote, her neili surged back the moment she began to circulate it. In less than half a shichen,²² her neigong²³ had returned five or six parts in ten. She was pressing on with her cultivation when He Biweng’s shout drifted up from below, every word piercing her ears like an arrow: “…If you want to rescue your old lover Miejue Shitai, and your daughter Miss Zhou, go ahead. I shan’t lift a finger to stop you.”

How could she not rage at this talk of “old lover”? She strode to the railing and snarled, “You babble nonsense! What in the world are you saying?” He Biweng pleaded, “Miejue, please persuade your old…old friend. Tell him to let my shixiong down first. I guarantee the three of you will leave in peace. The Xuanming Elders mean what they say. We do not break our word.” Miejue Shitai flared, “What do you mean, the three of us?”

Fan Yao, for all his peril, laughed heartily, thoroughly pleased with himself. “Miejue, the old fool says I am your former lover. And that Miss Zhou is our illegitimate daughter.”

Miejue Shitai’s face was dark with fury. In the flickering firelight, bright then shadowed, she looked terrible. She spoke in a low, hard voice, “He, old man, come up here. I shall trade a hundred palms with you and see.” Under normal circumstances He Biweng would have climbed at once, for what fear could an Emei²⁴ zhangmen inspire in him? But his shixiong lay in another man’s hands. He dared not risk it. He called, “Master Ku, those were your own words, not some random boast of mine.” Miejue Shitai stared at Fan Yao, her eyes fierce. “Did you say that?”

Fan Yao laughed. He was about to taunt her further when a great clamour rose from below. He looked down and saw, amid the firelight, a figure flitting swift as a butterfly through the crowd, weaving between the warriors. The ring of steel on steel rang out ceaselessly, and one after another the monks and armed men dropped their weapons from numb hands. It was none other than Cult Leader Zhang Wuji.²⁵

Zhang Wuji’s first strike sent the five swordsmen besieging Wei Yixiao scattering, all five blades in flight at once. Wei Yixiao was overjoyed. He darted to Zhang Wuji’s side and murmured, “I’m going to set fire to the Prince of Ruyang’s residence.” Zhang Wuji nodded, understanding at once. They had but a handful of men here. If they could not rescue the heroes of the six great schools swiftly, the enemy’s reinforcements would only grow. The Green-Winged Bat King,²⁶ riding to the Prince’s residence to start a blaze, would draw the warriors away to protect their lord. It was a masterful stroke, a fine trick of luring the tiger from the mountain and pulling the firewood from beneath the pot.

Wei Yixiao’s cyan figure flickered once and was already over the high wall. Zhang Wuji surveyed the surroundings and called in a clear voice, “Fan the Right Messenger! What is the matter?” Fan Yao cried, “It is dire! The fire has burned through the way out. Not a soul has escaped.”

By now, fourteen of the Prince of Ruyang’s Eighteen Vajra had converged on Zhang Wuji. He thought, To catch the band of thieves, first catch their leader. If he could seize the Mongol noble in the golden crown, he could force him to order the fire fought and the prisoners freed. He angled his body and darted between the monks, swift as a fish breaking water, closing straight on Wang Baobao.

Suddenly, from his left, a jian thrust at him, the cold steel biting through the air, the point aimed straight at his chest. Zhang Wuji fell back a step. A woman’s voice spoke, “Young hero Zhang, this is my elder brother. Do not harm him.” He saw her jian quiver in her hand as she stood, graceful and poised. The blade was colder than water. The jian was the Heavenly Jian.²⁷ Her face was fair as a flower. The woman was Zhao Min.²⁸ She had hurried after Zhang Wuji, arriving only a moment behind.

Zhang Wuji said, “Give the order to fight the fire and release the prisoners. Otherwise I cannot be kind to either of you.” Zhao Min called, “Eighteen Vajra, this man’s martial arts are formidable. Form the Vajra Array and hold him!” The eighteen monks had already tasted Zhang Wuji’s bitter blows. They needed no word from their young mistress to know his power. A great clang rang out as the Eight Cymbals Vajra struck his eight great bronze cymbals in unison. The eighteen monks wove and circled, planting themselves between Wang Baobao, Zhao Min and Zhang Wuji, cutting him off.

Zhang Wuji saw the eighteen monks wheeling in their strange, sinuous footwork, weaving a living wall that held no few hidden changes within its turns. He felt the urge to charge the formation and test it. But at that moment, with a great crash, a beam toppled from the pagoda above.

He turned. The flames had reached the seventh storey. Amid the crimson tongues of fire, two figures traded blows in furious combat. It was Miejue Shitai and He Biweng. Along the railings of the tenth storey leaned the imprisoned heroes, men of the Shaolin and Wudang orders and others. Their martial arts had not yet fully returned. And the tenth storey stood a hundred feet above the ground. Even for a man with the finest qinggong²⁹ and not a shred of neili lost, a leap from that height would end in death upon the stones.

A thought raced through Zhang Wuji’s mind: This Vajra Array cannot be broken in a moment. And even if I defeat these monks, more skilled fighters will come. To seize this girl’s brother will be no easy task. Miejue Shitai and He Biweng have fought this long without her yielding ground. Her neigong must have returned. Then the most senior shibo³⁰ and the others’ neili should be recovered too. It is only that the pagoda is too tall for them to leap down.

In one sudden decision, he swept across the field. His hands struck and seized, slapped and snatched. He felled all eight of the Eight Heroes of the Divine Arrow, and every warrior who held a bow or arrows. He broke their bows, stopped their acupoints,³¹ until no skilled archer remained near the pagoda. Then he cried aloud, “All you seniors in the pagoda, leap down one by one! I shall catch you below!”

Those in the pagoda all started at his words. The height was over a hundred feet. The force of a fall from there would be immense. Even with the strength of a thousand jin,³² no man could break such a landing. Men from the Kongtong and Kunlun schools shouted back, “Don’t leap! Don’t fall for the boy’s trick! He means to dash us to pieces!”

Footnotes

1. 華山派 – Huàshān Pài. The Huashan School, a martial school based on Mount Hua in Shaanxi. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

2. 内力 – nèilì. Internal strength; the kinetic manifestation of qi cultivated through neigong. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

3. 崆峒派 – Kōngtóng Pài. The Kongtong School, one of the orthodox martial schools of the wulin. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

4. 范遥 – Fàn Yáo. The Bright Right Messenger of the Ming Order, disguised as the mute monk Bitter Dhūta. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

5. 右使 – yòushǐ. The Right Messenger, second-in-command of the Ming Order after the Bright Left Messenger. ↩

6. 韋一笑 – Wéi Yīxiào. The Green-Winged Bat King, one of the four Guardian Kings of the Ming Order, famed for his qinggong. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

7. 萬安寺 – Wàn’ān Sì. Wan’an Temple in Beijing, where the Yuan court imprisoned the masters of the six great schools. ↩

8. 趙一傷 – Zhào Yīshāng. The first of the Eight Heroes of the Divine Arrow, an elite team of archers in the service of the Prince of Ruyang. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

9. 劍 – jiàn. A straight, double-edged sword. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

10. 五劍金剛 – Wǔ Jiàn Jīngāng. The Five Sword Vajra, five elite swordsmen among the Prince of Ruyang’s Eighteen Vajra. ↩

11. 鶴筆翁 – Hè Bǐwēng. One of the two Xuanming Elders, wielding the Crane-Brush Palm. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

12. 王保保 – Wáng Bǎobǎo. Born Köke Temür, heir of the Prince of Ruyang. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

13. 氣 – qì. The vital energy that animates all living things. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

14. 鹿杖客 – Lù Zhàngkè. One of the two Xuanming Elders, wielding the Deer-Horn Staff. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

15. 滅絕師太 – Mièjué Shītài. The zhangmen of the Emei Order. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

16. 苦頭陀 – Kǔtóutuó. The assumed identity of Fan Yao, a mute, hunchbacked monk at the Yuan court. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

17. 周芷若 – Zhōu Zhǐruò. A disciple of the Emei Order and later its zhangmen. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

18. 丹田 – dāntián. The field of elixir; the energy centre below the navel where qi is stored. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

19. 空聞 – Kōngwén. The abbot of the Shaolin Order. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

20. 掌門 – zhǎngmén. The leader of a martial school or order. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

21. 少林派 – Shàolín Pài. The Shaolin Order, the foremost Buddhist martial school. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

22. 時辰 – shíchén. A unit of time equivalent to two hours; the day was divided into twelve shichen. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

23. 內功 – nèigōng. Internal strength; the cultivation of neili through breathing, meditation and qi circulation. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

24. 峨嵋派 – Éméi Pài. The Emei Order, a Buddhist martial school founded by Guo Xiang on Mount Emei. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

25. 張無忌 – Zhāng Wújì. The leader of the Ming Order and protagonist of this tale. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

26. 青翼蝠王 – Qīngyì Fú Wáng. The Green-Winged Bat King, the epithet of Wei Yixiao. ↩

27. 倚天劍 – Yǐtiān Jiàn. The Heavenly Jian, one of the two legendary weapons forged from Yang Guo’s Heavy Iron Sword. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

28. 趙敏 – Zhào Mǐn. Daughter of the Prince of Ruyang, a brilliant and cunning woman. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

29. 輕功 – qīnggōng. Lightness skill; the martial art of agility and weightlessness. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

30. 大師伯 – dàshībó. The most senior shibo; here referring to Song Yuanqiao, the foremost of the Seven Xias of Wudang. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

31. 穴 – xué. Acupoints; the vital energy points on the body’s meridians. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

32. 斤 – jīn. A unit of weight, approximately 590 grams in the Ming Dynasty. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩