The Heavenly Sword & the Dragon Sabre – Chapter 28 – Part 5

Zhang Wuji and the others pursued for over a hundred feet, but Jinhua Popo's feet never paused. She called over her shoulder, “The Emei Order's disciples actually still have the nerve to chase after Jinhua Popo? Heh. Impressive!” Zhao Min said in a low voice to Zhang Wuji, “You stay hidden and don't intervene. Let me deal with her using the Heavenly Jian.”¹ Before Zhang Wuji could answer, Zhao Min had already darted forward several tens of feet and cried, “Leave our Order's zhangmen behind!”² The tip of the Heavenly Jian was already pointing at Jinhua Popo's back. The move, “Buddha's Light at Golden Summit,” was precisely the authentic transmission of Emei Order swordplay.³ She had learned it in Wan'an Temple from the Emei disciples, only not from Miejue Shitai⁴ herself, so it could not reach the highest refinement.

Jinhua Popo heard the metallic blade cutting the wind behind her and released Zhou Zhiruo, wheeling about urgently. Zhao Min’s wrist trembled and she launched another move, “Myriad Peaks in Emulation.” Jinhua Popo recognised the weapon in her hand as the Heavenly Jian itself. She was both startled and delighted, and reached out to seize it. After several exchanges, Jinhua Popo had already closed in before Zhao Min. Her fingers were about to close on the wrist holding the jian, when unexpectedly Zhao Min’s blade made a swift turn and executed a Kunlun School⁵ swordplay move, “Divine Camel’s Fleet Foot.”

Jinhua Popo saw a young woman holding the Heavenly Jian and using the authentic Emei swordplay, and took her for an Emei Order disciple. In preparation for facing Miejue Shitai, Jinhua Popo had studied the Emei Order’s swordplay for several years. Having watched Zhao Min’s first few moves, she judged her neili⁶ to be nothing remarkable, and for the subsequent exchanges had already anticipated each stroke in her mind. Closing in like this, the Heavenly Jian would surely be hers for the taking. How could she have known this young woman would suddenly employ Kunlun School swordplay? Had Jinhua Popo not been preconditioned by her assumption, even Kunlun swordplay would have been no threat to her. Only, this move came so utterly unexpectedly that, martial arts as high as hers, she was caught flat-footed. She dropped to the ground and rolled, and only then dodged, but her left sleeve had already been lightly grazed by the blade, and a great strip of fabric was sliced away at once.

In her alarm and fury, Jinhua Popo pressed forward again. Seeing that her opponent’s martial arts were far below her own, she meant to wrench the Heavenly Jian from her hands, the weapon she had coveted for so long. Zhao Min knew her own skill lagged well behind and dared not exchange blows. She only brandished the Heavenly Jian, thrusting left, cleaving right, sweeping east, striking west, now Kongtong School swordplay, now Huashan School swordplay. An Emei move, “Golden Summit’s Evening Glow,” was immediately followed by a Shaolin Order⁷ Damo swordplay technique, “Golden Needle Ferrying Across Calamity.” Each move was the essence of its school’s swordplay, each carried tremendous power, and coupled with the Heavenly Jian’s razor edge, Jinhua Popo was astonished beyond measure and could not close in. Zhu’er, watching, grew anxious. She unbuckled the jian at her waist and threw it to Jinhua Popo. Zhao Min launched a rapid assault of seven or eight strokes. On the ninth, Jinhua Popo had no choice but to parry with her weapon. With a crack, the jian broke in two.

Jinhua Popo’s expression changed dramatically. She leapt back dozens of feet and demanded, “Who is this little wench, really?”

Zhao Min laughed. “Why don’t you use the Dragon-Slaying Dao?”⁸

Jinhua Popo said angrily, “If I had the Dragon-Slaying Dao in hand, could you withstand even ten of my moves? Do you dare follow me and find out?”

Zhao Min laughed. “If you can get hold of the Dragon-Slaying Dao, so much the better. I’ll wait for you in Dadu.⁹ Go fetch the dao and then we’ll fight again.”

Jinhua Popo said, “Turn your face and let me see you clearly.”

Zhao Min tilted her body, stuck out her tongue, closed her left eye and opened her right, contorted her facial muscles, and pulled a grotesque face at her.

Jinhua Popo was furious. She spat on the ground, threw down the broken jian, and departed at a brisk pace, taking Zhu’er and Zhou Zhiruo with her.

Zhang Wuji said, “Let’s pursue them further.”

Zhao Min said, “No need to rush. Come with me. I guarantee your Miss Zhou will come to no harm.”

Zhang Wuji said, “What were you saying about the Dragon-Slaying Dao?”

Zhao Min said, “I heard this old woman say in the ruined garden that she had searched to the ends of the earth and at last borrowed a treasured dao from an old acquaintance, to fight against Miejue Shitai’s Heavenly Jian. ‘Without the Heavenly Jian, who can rival it?’ The only weapon to rival the Heavenly Jian is the Dragon-Slaying Dao. Could she really have borrowed the Dragon-Slaying Dao from your sworn father? When I fought her with the jian just now, it was to force her to draw the dao. But she had no dao at hand, and only told me to follow her and try. It seems she knows where the Dragon-Slaying Dao is, but cannot yet lay hands on it.”

Zhang Wuji mused, “That is strange indeed.”

Zhao Min said, “I expect she will head for the coast, set sail, and go searching for the dao. We must get there first, and not let the kind-hearted Esteemed Senior Xie,¹⁰ blind in both eyes, be taken advantage of by this vicious old woman.”

Zhang Wuji, hearing her last words, felt hot blood surge in his chest and hastened to say, “Yes, yes!” Originally he had already agreed with Yang Xiao¹¹ and the others to bring Zhao Min and join the Ming Order¹² heroes in sailing to Ice Fire Island¹³ to seek out Xie Xun and borrow the dao. But the thought of Jinhua Popo going to trouble his sworn father made him wish he could sprout wings and fly to his rescue. He could not wait to ride on to Qingyuan Route and rendezvous with Yang Xiao and the rest.

Zhao Min led the two of them to the Prince of Ruyang’s¹⁴ mansion and gave instructions at length to the guards at the gate. The guard assented repeatedly, turned and went inside, and shortly returned with the mansion’s chief steward, leading nine fine horses and carrying a large bag of gold and silver. Zhao Min, Zhang Wuji, and Xiaozhao mounted three of the horses, letting the other six follow behind for rotation, and galloped east at speed.

The next morning, all nine horses were spent. Zhao Min showed the local official the Prince of Ruyang’s golden tablet for mobilising troops across the realm, and exchanged them for nine fresh mounts. Late that night they had galloped to Haijin Town (in present-day Tianjin), arriving at Jiekou River Mouth by the sea.

Zhao Min rode straight into the county town and ordered the magistrate to prepare the sturdiest large sea-going vessel at once, with helmsmen, sailors, provisions, fresh water, weapons, and cold-weather clothing, everything in order. Besides that, all other sea-going vessels were to be driven south immediately. Within fifty li¹⁵ of the coast, no other sea vessel was to remain at anchor. Wherever the Prince of Ruyang’s golden tablet reached, how could a petty county magistrate dare not obey to the letter? Zhao Min, Zhang Wuji, and Xiaozhao leisurely drank and waited in the county yamen. Within a day, the magistrate reported that everything was ready. In the meantime, Zhang Wuji had hastily written a letter explaining that urgent matters had changed, that he, Xiaozhao, and Zhao Min had set sail first, and that Yang Xiao and the others need not wait. He then instructed the head of the Ming Order’s liaison station at Haijin to dispatch a reliable member by fast horse to deliver the letter to Dinghai in Qingyuan Route.

When the three of them went to the coast to inspect the vessel, Zhao Min could not help stamping her feet and crying, “It’s gone wrong!” The sea vessel anchored there was enormous, with two storeys above the deck. The bow and both port and starboard sides were fitted with iron cannons. It was a Mongol navy warship. In Kublai Khan’s time, the Mongol armies had twice mounted great expeditions against Japan, assembling vast fleets, but two typhoons had scattered the navy to the winds and the eastern campaign came to nothing. The scale of the warships, however, had been inherited from that era. Zhao Min, for all her thoroughness, had overlooked one thing: she had not expected the county magistrate to go to such lengths in currying favour as to borrow a warship from the navy.

By now the ship’s provisions and fresh water were all loaded, and every other vessel by the coast had already obeyed the Prince of Ruyang’s decree and sailed dozens of li to the south. Zhao Min, with a bitter smile, could only instruct the sailors to hang fishing nets over the cannon muzzles and load a dozen or so baskets of fresh fish aboard, making it appear the old warship had been converted to a fishing vessel. Zhao Min, Zhang Wuji, and Xiaozhao changed into sailors’ clothing, smeared their faces yellow with oil paint, and pasted on a pair of rat-whisker moustaches, leaving not the slightest tell. The three of them sat aboard the vessel and waited for Jinhua Popo’s arrival.

This Princess Shaomin¹⁶ predicted affairs as if by divination. She waited until the next morning, and sure enough, a large cart arrived at the coast. Jinhua Popo, bringing Zhu’er and Zhou Zhiruo, came to hire a boat. The sailors aboard had already been instructed by Zhao Min and made various excuses, saying this was an old cannon-ship refitted as a fishing boat, used exclusively for fishing and never for carrying passengers. Only when Jinhua Popo produced two ingots of gold as passage money did the boat captain reluctantly agree. Jinhua Popo brought Zhu’er and Zhou Zhiruo aboard and ordered the sails set eastward.

In the boundless, vast open sea, a lone vessel sailed towards the southeast.

After two days of sailing, Zhang Wuji and Zhao Min peered out through a porthole in the lower hold. The sun by day and the moon by night always rose on the port side. It was clear the vessel was heading due south. It was already early winter and the north wind blew hard. The sails bellied with wind and the ship made good speed. Zhang Wuji and Zhao Min discussed it several times. “My sworn father is on Ice Fire Island, in the far north. To find him, we must head north. Why are we going south instead?” Each time Zhao Min replied, “This Jinhua Popo must be up to something else. Besides, at this season the south wind does not blow. Even if we wanted to sail north, there would be no way.”

On the afternoon of the sixth day, the helmsman came down to the hold and reported to Zhao Min that Jinhua Popo was remarkably familiar with these sea routes. She knew where the sandbars lay and where the reefs were, better even than the helmsman himself.

Zhang Wuji suddenly had a thought. “Ah, of course! Could she be returning to Spirit Snake Island?”¹⁷

Zhao Min asked, “What Spirit Snake Island?”

Zhang Wuji said, “Jinhua Popo’s home is Spirit Snake Island. Her late husband was called the Silver Leaf Gentleman.¹⁸ Golden Flower and Silver Leaf of Spirit Snake Island. Surely you’ve heard of them?”

Zhao Min burst out laughing. “You’re only a few years older than me, yet you act like quite the expert on jianghu¹⁹ affairs.”

Zhang Wuji laughed. “The demons and outsiders of the Ming Order naturally know more jianghu gossip than the court’s princesses.” These two had been mortal enemies, each commanding their own heroes, and had fought several bitter battles. But after spending several days together in the bottom of a sea-going ship, laughing and jesting freely, now united against Jinhua Popo, the barriers between them diminished day by day.

After his report, the helmsman, fearing Jinhua Popo might notice, returned at once to the stern to take the wheel.

Zhao Min laughed. “Great Order Leader, pray regale this ignorant little girl with the deeds of Golden Flower and Silver Leaf of Spirit Snake Island that once awed the jianghu.”

Zhang Wuji laughed. “I’m ashamed to say, I know nothing at all about who the Silver Leaf Gentleman really was. But that Jinhua Popo, I have had a bout with her once before.”

Footnotes

1. 倚天剑 – Yǐtiān Jiàn. The Heavenly Jian, “Heaven-Reliant Sword.” One of the two legendary weapons forged from the Heavy Iron Sword by Guo Jing and Huang Rong. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

2. 掌门 – zhǎngmén. The head of a martial School or Order. Lit. “gate-keeper.” See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

3. 峨嵋派 – Éméi Pài. The Emei Order, founded by Guo Xiang on Mount Emei. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

4. 灭绝师太 – Mièjué Shītài. Her dharma-name, meaning “Extinction” or “Annihilation.” Former zhangmen of the Emei Order. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

5. 昆仑派 – Kūnlún Pài. The Kunlun School, a martial school based in the western Kunlun Mountains. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

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

7. 少林派 – Shàolín Pài. The Shaolin Order, the foremost Buddhist martial Order in the wulin. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

8. 屠龙刀 – Túlóng Dāo. The Dragon-Slaying Dao. One of the two legendary weapons forged from the Heavy Iron Sword, said to contain supreme martial arts manuals. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

9. 大都 – Dàdū. The Yuan Dynasty’s capital, present-day Beijing. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

10. 谢逊 – Xiè Xùn. The Golden Haired Lion King, one of the Ming Order’s four Guardian Kings and Zhang Wuji’s sworn father. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

11. 杨逍 – Yáng Xiāo. The Bright Left Messenger of the Ming Order, formerly its acting leader and Zhang Wuji’s chief adviser. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

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

13. 冰火岛 – Bīnghuǒ Dǎo. Ice Fire Island, a remote island in the far north where Xie Xun was stranded. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

14. 汝阳王 – Rǔyáng Wáng. The Prince of Ruyang, a Yuan general and Zhao Min’s father. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

15. 里 – lǐ. A Chinese unit of distance, approximately 500 metres or one-third of a mile. ↩

16. 绍敏郡主 – Shàomǐn Jùnzhǔ. Princess Shaomin, Zhao Min’s court title. 郡主 (jùnzhǔ) is a title for a daughter of a prince. ↩

17. 灵蛇岛 – Língshé Dǎo. Spirit Snake Island, Jinhua Popo’s island home in the eastern seas. ↩

18. 银叶先生 – Yínyè Xiānshēng. The Silver Leaf Gentleman, Jinhua Popo’s late husband, famed alongside her as “Golden Flower and Silver Leaf of Spirit Snake Island.” ↩

19. 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. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩