The Heavenly Sword & the Dragon Sabre Chapter 3 Part 5

Yu Daiyan¹ bristled with indignation. “Does this Dragon-Slaying Sabre² belong to your Order, then?”

The man replied, “It does not. Yet this blade is the most coveted treasure in all the wulin.³ What martial artist under heaven would not wish to possess it?”

“Then there you have it,” Yu Daiyan said. “Since this blade has fallen into my hands, I am duty-bound to deliver it to Mount Wudang⁴ and place it before my shifu⁵ for his judgement. Such a decision is not mine to make.”

The man murmured a few words in a thin, reedy voice, so faint it might have been the whine of a mosquito. Yu Daiyan could not make them out. “What did you say?” he asked.

From within the cabin, the man spoke again in that same wispy tone, softer still than before. “… Yu the Third Hero…Dragon-Slaying Sabre…”

Yu Daiyan caught only the fragments and took two steps forward. “What did you say?”

At that moment a wave struck the vessel and heaved the sailboat upward. Yu Daiyan felt what seemed like a mosquito bite upon his chest and belly and upon his upper thigh, all at the same instant. It was late spring—too early in the season for mosquitoes or gnats—yet he paid it no mind. He raised his voice and declared, “Your Order has slain a good many people for the sake of one blade. Scores of corpses left strewn about the Sea God Temple—your hand was rather too vicious by half.”

The man in the cabin replied, “The Heavenly Eagle Order⁶ has always been measured in its dealings—harsh with the wicked, courteous toward the virtuous. The Yu the Third Hero has long been known for his gallantry and righteousness. We would not dare take your life. Leave the Dragon-Slaying Sabre, and I shall furnish the antidote for the Mosquito Beard Needles⁷ at once.’

At the words “Mosquito Beard Needles”, Yu Daiyan started. His hand flew to the spots on his chest and belly where he had felt the sting, and beneath his fingers he detected a faint tingling itch—precisely the sensation of a mosquito bite. A moment’s reflection and the truth struck him like a thunderbolt. He deliberately spoke in that faint, muffled voice to lure me closer, then seized the chance to launch these tiny projectiles.

He recalled how the salt smugglers of the Sea Sand Gang⁸ had feared the Heavenly Eagle Order as one fears serpents and scorpions—these hidden weapons must be lethally venomous. His only recourse was to seize the man first and force the antidote from him. He gave a low grunt, shielded his face with his left palm and his chest with his right, then kicked open the iron door and hurled himself into the cabin.

Before his feet touched the deck, a vicious gust of wind struck his face from the darkness—the man within had lashed out with a palm. Yu Daiyan drove his right palm forward to meet it, and in his fury he held nothing back, pouring the full measure of his strength into the blow. Their palms collided with a resounding crash, and the man flew backward, smashing through tables and chairs with a splintering cacophony. Yet a searing pain shot through Yu Daiyan’s palm. In that exchange, he had fallen into yet another trap: concealed in his opponent’s palm were sharpened spikes, and the instant their hands met, several needles had pierced deep into his flesh. Though the enemy had suffered grievously under Yu Daiyan’s crushing palm force, the darkness hid how many foes might lurk within, and he dared not risk rushing in blindly to grapple. He leapt back to the bow.

He heard the man cough several times before speaking. “The Third Hero’s palm force is truly formidable—most impressive indeed. But these Seven Star Nails⁹ of mine carry a potency of their own. We are evenly matched, I should say—both wounded, both the worse for it!”

Yu Daiyan hastily swallowed several Heavenly Heart Antidote Pills,¹⁰ then shook open his bundle and drew forth the Dragon-Slaying Sabre. Gripping the hilt in both hands, he swept the blade in a whistling horizontal arc. A faint hiss of parting metal sounded, and the iron door was sheared cleanly in two. The blade was sharp beyond measure. He hacked seven or eight times in rapid succession, slashing wildly in all directions, and the iron-built cabin might as well have been fashioned from paper and straw for all the resistance it offered. The man in the cabin vaulted toward the stern, crying out, “You have been struck by two poisons—what use is this bravado?”

Yu Daiyan pressed forward with the blade, sweeping it at the man’s waist.

The man saw the ferocity of the attack and snatched up an iron anchor to block. A soft hiss, and the anchor was cleft in two. He sprang aside and shouted, “Which do you want—your life, or the blade?”

“Very well!” Yu Daiyan replied. “Give me the antidote, and I shall give you the blade.”

By now, the spot on his thigh where the Mosquito Beard Needle had struck was growing numb and beginning to itch. He knew the Heavenly Heart Antidote Pills could not counter this venom. The Dragon-Slaying Sabre had come to him by chance; he placed no great value upon it. He tossed the blade into the cabin.

The man gave a cry of delight, scooped it up, and fell to stroking and caressing the blade with unmistakable adoration. He stood with his back to the moonlight so that his features remained indistinct, and Yu Daiyan saw that he did nothing but admire the blade, making no move to produce the antidote. The pain in his palm was intensifying.

“The antidote?” he demanded.

The man threw back his head and laughed, as though he had just heard the most absurd jest imaginable. Yu Daiyan snapped, “I am asking for the antidote. What is so amusing?”

The man extended the forefinger of his left hand and pointed it at Yu Daiyan’s face. “Ha! You truly are a fool. You handed over the blade before I even gave you the antidote!”

Yu Daiyan said hotly, “A man’s word is his bond. I agreed to exchange the blade for the antidote—would I go back on it? What difference does it make who gives first?”

The man laughed. “While you held the blade, I still had cause to be wary of you. You could not defeat me and might have hurled the blade into the river, where it would never be recovered. Now that the blade is in my hands, do you truly expect me to hand over the antidote?”

A chill crept upward from the pit of Yu Daiyan’s stomach. He told himself that the Wudang Order bore no grudge against the Heavenly Eagle Order. This man’s martial arts were considerable; he must hold some standing in the organisation. Having obtained the Dragon-Slaying Sabre, how could he go back on his word? Yu Daiyan had always been a man of steady temperament, not one to be easily deceived, yet from the very outset of this encounter he had been caught on the back foot—alone, stranded upon an enemy vessel, already poisoned twice.

In his desperation to secure the antidote, he had underestimated his opponent’s treachery. He steadied his breathing, gave a cold grunt, and asked, “What is your honourable name?’

The man laughed. “I am but a nameless foot soldier of the Heavenly Eagle Order. Should the Wudang Order wish to seek vengeance, our Order Master and the Hall Masters will answer readily enough. Besides, the Third Hero dies here tonight in obscurity. Even if your Zhang Sanfeng¹¹ possesses the power to shake heaven and earth, he may never learn whose hand dealt the blow.”

He spoke as though Yu Daiyan were already a dead man.

Yu Daiyan felt as though ten thousand ants were gnawing at the flesh of his palm, the agony and itching all but unbearable. He reached out and seized the severed half of the iron anchor, thinking, Even if I die this night, I shall drag you down with me.

He listened as the man rambled on, gloating in his triumph, and then Yu Daiyan exploded into motion. He sprang upward, sweeping the broken anchor with his left hand while driving his right palm toward the man’s face and chest in a simultaneous assault.

The man yelped in alarm and swung the Dragon-Slaying Sabre to parry, but in his haste he had not reckoned on the weapon’s extraordinary weight. He managed to raise it barely half a foot before his wrist sank under the sudden burden. His martial skill was more than sufficient to wield the blade, but he had misjudged its heft in the moment of crisis and applied too little force; the blade plunged downward of its own accord, plummeting toward his own knee. He flinched in shock and strained to hoist the great weapon, only to feel the rush of wind against his face as the broken anchor came hurtling at him. The blow was savage, irresistible. He kicked hard off the deck and threw himself into a backward somersault, tumbling over the side and into the river.

Though he had dodged the sweep of the anchor, Yu Daiyan’s right palm had not missed. The strike caught him squarely in the lower belly, and the man felt his innards churn as though every organ had been upended at once. He struck the water with a heavy splash.

Yu Daiyan let out a long breath. He saw that even as the man plunged into the river, he clung stubbornly to the Dragon-Slaying Sabre and would not let go. He gave a cold laugh. You may have seized the blade, but you shall find your grave at the bottom of the river.

Without warning, a white shape flashed in the darkness. A length of white silk shot out like a striking serpent toward the centre of the current, coiled about the man’s waist, and hauled him—blade and all—back onto the deck. Yu Daiyan started in alarm and followed the line of the silk to its source. There on the bow stood a black-clad figure, hands working in swift alternation as he hauled the white silk back aboard. Yu Daiyan made to spring toward the bow and engage this new enemy, but the venom surging through his body chose that moment to take hold. He collapsed upon the stern, his vision went black, and he knew no more.

How long he lay insensible, he could not say. When he opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was a small banner—an escort flag—embroidered with a golden carp. He blinked, opened his eyes again, and still the little banner was there, planted in a vase of blue-and-white porcelain. The gold thread of the carp glittered, and the fish seemed to leap and sport amidst painted waves.

That is the standard of the Dragon Gate Armed Escort¹² of Lin’an Prefecture,¹³ he thought. What has become of me?

His mind remained sluggish and fogged, a whirl of confusion, and he could form no coherent thoughts. After a moment’s concentration, he realised he was lying upon a stretcher, borne along by men fore and aft, and that he appeared to be inside some great hall. He tried to turn his head for a better look, but his neck was rigid as an iron bar and would not move.

Terror seized him. He willed himself to leap from the stretcher, but his limbs might as well have belonged to another man—for all his effort, not a finger would stir. Only then did the truth come flooding back. I was poisoned on the Qiantang River¹⁴—the Seven Star Nails and the Mosquito Beard Needles.

Two voices reached his ears. The first, deep and resonant, said, “What is your honourable surname?”

The second replied, “You need not ask my name. I ask only this: will you accept this commission, or will you not?”

Yu Daiyan noted that this second voice was delicate and youthful. A woman, surely.

The first man said, visibly displeased, “Is the Dragon Gate Armed Escort so desperate for trade? If you will not even give your name, I suggest you take your custom elsewhere.”

The woman’s voice answered, “In all of Lin’an, only the Dragon Gate Armed Escort is worthy of the name. The others are not fit to compare. If you cannot make this decision, then fetch your Escort Chief at once.’

Her tone was decidedly uncivil. The deep-voiced man was plainly vexed. “I am the Escort Chief. I have other matters to attend to and cannot entertain you further. If you would be so kind as to show yourself out.”

The woman said, “Ah, then you are Du Dajin¹⁵ the Many-Armed Bear¹⁶…”

She paused a moment before continuing, “…Escort Chief Du. I have long admired your reputation. My surname is Yin.”¹⁷

Du Dajin’s manner seemed to soften somewhat. “And what service might I render?”

The woman surnamed Yin said, “First I must ask whether you are equal to the task. This commission is no trifling matter, and it brooks not the slightest delay.”

Du Dajin struggled to contain his anger. “In the twenty years since I established this Dragon Gate Armed Escort, I have conveyed government shipments, salt consignments, gold, silver, and jewels—commissions of every size—and never once has there been the smallest mishap.”

Yu Daiyan had heard of Du Dajin and his reputation. He knew the man to be a lay disciple¹⁸ of the Shaolin School,¹⁹ accomplished in both fist and single-edged blade, and particularly renowned for his consecutive steel darts—he could loose forty-nine in a single volley without pause for breath, which was how the jianghu²⁰ had bestowed upon him the epithet Many-Armed Bear. His Dragon Gate Armed Escort enjoyed considerable repute throughout the Jiangnan²¹ region. The Wudang Order and Shaolin School, however, had never been on close terms, and though Yu Daiyan knew of the man by reputation, the two had never met.

He heard the woman surnamed Yin give a faint smile. “If I did not know the Dragon Gate Armed Escort’s reputation was sound, why would I have come to your door? Escort Chief Du, I have a commission for you, but it comes with three conditions.”

Du Dajin said, “We do not accept commissions entangled in disputes. We do not accept commissions of dubious provenance. And we do not accept commissions valued below fifty thousand taels of silver.”

Before she could state her three conditions, he had put forward three of his own.

The woman surnamed Yin replied, “This commission of mine, I regret to say, does involve a certain entanglement. Its provenance is not entirely above reproach. And as for its worth in silver—well, that is rather difficult to say. My three conditions are not easily met either. First, you, Escort Chief Du, must escort the consignment in person. Second, the shipment must travel from Lin’an Prefecture to Xiangyang Prefecture²² in Hubei without a single pause, day or night, and arrive within ten days. Third, should there be the slightest mishap—” she gave a cold laugh, “—not only will you forfeit your life, Escort Chief Du, but every last soul in the Dragon Gate Armed Escort, down to the dogs and chickens, will be put to the sword.”

A heavy bang sounded—Du Dajin slamming his fist upon the table, by all appearances. He barked, “If you have come to make sport of someone, you have chosen the wrong establishment! Were you not so scrawny, with barely three ounces of flesh on your bones, I would teach you a lesson here and now.”

The woman surnamed Yin gave two cold laughs. Then came a series of heavy thuds as she heaved several weighty objects, one after another, onto the table. “Here are two thousand taels of gold for the escort fee. Take it as a deposit.”

Footnotes

1. 俞岱岩 – Yú Dàiyán. His name meaning “Lofty Cliff of Mount Dai.” Third disciple of Zhang Sanfeng. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

2. 屠龙刀 – Túlóng Dāo. The Dragon-Slaying Sabre; literally dragon-slaying dao. A legendary blade and the supreme weapon of the jianghu. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

3. 武林 – wǔlín. Literally martial forest. The broader community of martial artists and their collective traditions. ↩

4. 武当 – Wǔdāng. Sacred mountain in Hubei Province and home of the Wudang Order, founded by Zhang Sanfeng. See Wikipedia. ↩

5. 师父 – Shīfu. Master or teacher; specifically, one’s personal martial arts instructor with whom one shares a lifelong bond of loyalty and obligation. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

6. 天鹰教 – Tiānyīng Jiào. Literally heavenly eagle order. A martial arts faction known for its ruthlessness and use of poisons and hidden weapons. ↩

7. 蚊须针 – wénxū zhēn. Literally mosquito beard needles. Minuscule poisoned needles, fine as a mosquito’s feelers, virtually undetectable upon striking the skin. A signature hidden weapon of the Heavenly Eagle Order. ↩

8. 海沙派 – Hǎishā Pài. Literally Sea Sand Gang. A Jiangnan faction involved in salt smuggling. All three characters share the water radical (三点水). ↩

9. 七星钉 – qīxīng dīng. Literally seven star nails. Sharpened spikes concealed within the palm, coated in poison, designed to impale an opponent’s hand during a palm-to-palm exchange. ↩

10. 天心解毒丹 – tiānxīn jiědú dān. Literally heavenly heart antidote pill. A medicinal pill carried by martial artists for treating common poisons. ↩

11. 张三丰 – Zhāng Sānfēng. His name meaning “Three Peaks”. Legendary founder of the Wudang Order and creator of taijiquan. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

12. 龙门镖局 – Lóngmén Biāojú. Literally Dragon Gate Armed Escort. An armed escort agency. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

13. 临安 – Lín’ān. Capital of the Southern Song Dynasty (1127–1276), known for its cultural refinement and West Lake scenery. Modern-day Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province. See Wikipedia. ↩

14. 钱塘江 – Qiántáng Jiāng. The Qiantang River, famous for its tidal bore. Flows through modern-day Hangzhou. See Wikipedia. ↩

15. 都大锦 – Dū Dàjǐn. His name meaning “Great Brocade.” See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

16. 多臂熊 – Duōbì Xióng. Literally many-armed bear. Du Dajin’s epithet, earned through his ability to hurl steel darts in such rapid succession that he appears to possess multiple arms. ↩

17. 殷 – Yīn. An ancient Chinese surname. ↩

18. 俗家弟子 – sújiā dìzǐ. Literally secular family disciple. A lay disciple who studies under a monastic school but remains in secular life, not taking religious vows. ↩

19. 少林派 – Shàolín Pài. The Shaolin School, the martial arts tradition originating from Shaolin Monastery. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

20. 江湖 – jiānghú. Literally rivers and lakes. The world of martial arts. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

21. 江南 – Jiāngnán. Literally south of the river. The prosperous region south of the Yangtze River. See Wikipedia. ↩

22. 襄阳府 – Xiāngyáng Fǔ. Strategic fortress city on the Han River in Hubei Province. A vital military stronghold during the Song Dynasty’s defence against northern invasion. See Wikipedia. ↩