The Heavenly Sword & the Dragon Sabre – Chapter 31 – Part 2

Zhang Wuji supports Zhou Zhiruo and comforts her, “Miss Zhou, do not be afraid.” Zhou Zhiruo looked at the hideous state of Yin Li's face and hurriedly touched her own cheeks, crying, “I… am I like this too?” Zhang Wuji said, “No! You have only suffered minor injuries.”

Zhou Zhiruo said, “Was it those Persian wretches who did this? I… how could I have known nothing about it?” Zhang Wuji sighed and said quietly, “I fear… I fear it was Miss Zhao’s doing. Last night in our food and drink, she must have poisoned us.” Zhou Zhiruo was stunned for a moment, then touched the half of her ear that remained and began to weep.

Zhang Wuji consoled her, “Fortunately your injuries are not serious. Your ear has suffered some damage, but you can let your hair down to cover it. No one will see.” Zhou Zhiruo said, “You speak of hair? I have no hair left.” Zhang Wuji said, “You have lost a little scalp on the crown of your head, but the hair from the sides can be drawn across to cover it…” Zhou Zhiruo snapped, “Why should I draw my hair across to cover it? Even at a time like this, you are still doing your utmost to protect your Miss Zhao!” Meeting with this quite inexplicable rebuke, Zhang Wuji said awkwardly, “I am not protecting her! She is so cruel and ruthless, she has injured Zhu’er so terribly. I… I will never forgive her.” Looking at Yin Li’s face, he could not help but shed tears.

Faced with such a situation, Zhang Wuji felt at a loss. He sat down and circulated his energy, discovering that the poison was indeed severe. Normally the Ten-Fragrance Softening Bone Powder could only be neutralised by Zhao Min’s own antidote, but now he could only rely on his neili¹ to resist the poison. He circulated his breath, slowly drawing the toxins scattered throughout his limbs and bones into his dantian,² forcibly gathering them, then bit by bit expelled them from his body. After more than one shichen of exertion, he felt some effect and his heart lighten somewhat. But this method required the Nine Yang Divine Skill as its foundation, and he could not teach Xie Xun or Zhou Zhiruo to follow the same practice. He could only wait until he had expelled the poison from his own body completely, then help the other two expel it.

This task was simple to describe but extremely complex to perform. By the seventh day, he had removed only three tenths of the poison from his body. Fortunately the poison only rendered one unable to use neili for the time being, and for now caused no great harm to the body.

During the first few days Zhou Zhiruo was greatly vexed, but later she gradually grew accustomed to it, accompanying Xie Xun in catching fish and shooting birds, boiling water and cooking. In the evenings she lived alone in a cave on the eastern side of the island, keeping far apart from Zhang Wuji and the others.

Zhang Wuji felt ashamed within his heart, thinking that Zhao Min’s betrayal was entirely his own fault. This Miss Zhao was plainly a Mongol princess, the sworn enemy of the Ming Order. How many experts in the wulin had fallen into her hands? Yet he had kept no guard against her, truly foolish beyond measure. Xie Xun and Zhou Zhiruo did not blame him, but the more silently they bore it, the more grieved he felt. Sometimes he caught Zhou Zhiruo’s glance, and dimly understood that she was saying, “You were blinded by Zhao Min’s beauty, and so brought about this great disaster!”

But Yin Li’s condition grew ever worse. This small island lay in the southern seas, and the plants that grew there were mostly not recorded in Hu Qingniu’s medical texts.³ Though his medical skill was superb, and he knew full well that Yin Li’s injuries could be cured, he had no medicine at hand. To make matters worse, the trees on the island were all stunted, fit only for firewood. Otherwise he would long since have built a raft and risked the voyage inward. Had he not understood medicine, he would merely have been anxious, but now it was as though ten thousand sharp knives were carving at his heart day and night. That night he chewed some fever-reducing herbs and fed them into Yin Li’s mouth. Seeing her unable to swallow, his heart ached, and tears fell drop by drop upon her face.

Yin Li suddenly opened her eyes and gave a faint smile. “Brother Ah Niu, do not be sad. I am going to the underworld to find that cruel, short-lived little ghost Zhang Wuji. I will tell him that in this world there was a Brother Ah Niu who treated me so well, a thousand times, ten thousand times better than your Zhang Wuji.” Zhang Wuji’s throat constricted. He could not decide whether to reveal that he truly was Zhang Wuji. Yin Li grasped his hand and said, “Brother Ah Niu, I never promised to marry you, do you hate me for it? I suppose you said it just to please me, to deceive me. My face is ugly, my temper strange. How could you want me?”

Zhang Wuji said, “No! I was not deceiving you. You are a good girl, deep in affection and rich in feeling. If I could take you as my wife, it would truly be the fortune of my life. When you are fully recovered and we have settled all affairs, we will be married at once. Will that do?”

Yin Li reached out and gently touched his cheek, shaking her head. “Brother Ah Niu, I cannot marry you. My heart was given long ago to that fierce and cruel Zhang Wuji… Brother Ah Niu, I am a little afraid. When I reach the underworld, will I find him there? Will he still be so harsh to me?”

Zhang Wuji saw that her speech was clear and her cheeks flushed, and his heart trembled. This is the sign of the returning light before the lamp goes out.⁴ Could it be that she will die today? He sat lost and stunned, not hearing her words. Yin Li seized his wrist and asked again.

Zhang Wuji said softly, “He will always treat you well. He will cherish you as his heart’s treasure.” Yin Li said, “Half as well as you have treated me?” Zhang Wuji said, “Heaven above bears witness. Zhang Wuji sincerely and truly loves and cherishes you. He has long regretted being so harsh to you when you were children. His… his heart towards you is no different from mine, not half a distinction between them.”

Yin Li sighed, a faint smile at the corner of her lips. “Then… then I can be at ease…” Her grip on his hand gradually loosened, her eyes closed, and at last her breathing stopped. Zhang Wuji felt for her breath and pulse. Both were gone.

He held her body in his arms, thinking that until her final closing of the eyes, she had never known that he was Zhang Wuji. In these past days she had lain sunk in delirium, and there had been no chance to tell her the truth. In that last brief moment of clarity before her death, there had been no time to speak. But in truth, by this stage, whether he spoke or not made no difference. The anguish in his heart was such that he could not even weep. He thought only, If Zhao Min had not wounded her face and then cast her into the sea, her injuries might well have been curable. If Zhao Min had not abandoned us on this desolate island, if we could have returned to the Central Plains within a few days, I would certainly have found a way to save her life. Hating bitterly, the words burst from him, “Zhao Min, your heart is black as a serpent’s fang. If ever you fall into my hands, Zhang Wuji will not spare your life!”

Suddenly a cold voice spoke from behind, “Wait until you see her face, fair as flower and jade, and you will not be able to strike.” He turned. Zhou Zhiruo stood gracefully in the wind, her face full of contempt. Grief-stricken and ashamed, he said, “I swear before my cousin’s corpse, if I do not kill that demoness with my own hand, Zhang Wuji will have no face to stand between Heaven and earth!”

Zhou Zhiruo said, “Now you speak like a man of spirit.” She darted forward a few steps and, stroking Yin Li’s corpse, wept aloud. Xie Xun heard her crying and followed the sound. Learning that Yin Li was dead, he too felt sorrow.

Zhang Wuji went to the shady side of the ridge to dig a grave. The island’s soil was very thin. After two feet he struck hard granite. He had no hoe or spade at hand, so he could only lay Yin Li’s body in the shallow hollow. When he was about to pile earth upon her, he saw the swelling and blood-marks on her face and thought, Stones and clods will scrape her face. He broke some branches and laid them over her body, then gently placed stones upon the branches, as though even in death she might feel pain, afraid the stones might crush her. He broke off a tree-trunk, stripped the bark, and with Yin Li’s dagger carved upon the trunk: Beloved wife Zhu’er Yin Li’s tomb. Below he carved: Zhang Wuji respectfully established. Only when all was done did he throw himself upon the grave and weep.

Zhou Zhiruo urged, “Miss Yin was deeply devoted to you. You have shown her no lack of kindness. So long as you do not break the oath you swore today, and kill Zhao Min to avenge her, Sister Yin will smile content even in the Nine Springs.”

After this fresh wave of grief, the poison Zhang Wuji had gathered in his dantian dispersed once more. It took several more days of effort before he could gather it again, and more than ten days further before he expelled it from his body entirely.

The island’s climate was hot, and wild fruits grew in abundance. Plucking fruit at random was enough to stave off hunger, and the days passed without great hardship. Zhou Zhiruo knew his heart was wounded by Yin Li’s death, angered by Zhao Min’s deceit, and grieved anew by Xiao Zhao’s departure. She tended him with redoubled gentleness and care.

Zhang Wuji had spent many days circulating his energy to expel the poison from Xie Xun’s body. He should have done the same for Zhou Zhiruo, but with her neili entirely gone, she lacked the strength to draw in his Nine Yang zhenqi. To expel her poison, he would need to place one palm against the small of her back and the other upon her lower abdomen, pushing from behind and drawing from before, sending his Nine Yang zhenqi into her body. But how could a young man and a young woman be so intimate in flesh? Yet without such circulation, he could not transmit his Nine Yang zhenqi into her. For days on end he hesitated, unable to decide.

That evening Xie Xun suddenly said, “Wuji, how long do you expect to remain on this island?” Zhang Wuji was startled. “It is hard to say. I can only hope a ship passes and rescues us back to the Central Plains.” Xie Xun said, “In the past month and more, have you seen the shadow of a sail?” Zhang Wuji said, “No.” Xie Xun said, “Indeed! Perhaps a ship will come tomorrow. Or perhaps another hundred years will pass and no ship will come at all.” Zhang Wuji sighed. “This lonely island hangs in the sea, not on any sea-lane’s course. Whether we can return to the Central Plains is truly uncertain.”

Xie Xun said, “Mm. The antidote will not be easily gained. With the poison of the Ten-Fragrance Softening Bone Powder still in the body, apart from weakness in the limbs, is there other harm?” Zhang Wuji said, “If the time is not long, there is no great harm. But this fierce poison eats at the flesh and corrodes the bones. If it remains too long, the five viscera and six organs will inevitably suffer damage.”

Xie Xun said, “Just so. Then how can you not do your utmost to expel Miss Zhou’s poison as soon as possible? You say Miss Zhou has known you since childhood, and when you were struck by the Xuanming cold poison,⁵ she once showed you kindness. Where will you find such a gentle and virtuous lady? Could it be that you find her not beautiful?” Zhang Wuji said, “No, no. If Miss Zhou is not beautiful, where in the world is there beauty?” Xie Xun said, “Then I will arrange it for you and take her as your wife. The rotten propriety of ‘men and women do not touch in giving and receiving’⁶ — we need not heed that here.”

Zhou Zhiruo, listening nearby as the two spoke, suddenly heard the conversation turn to herself. Blushing crimson, she stood and turned to go. Xie Xun leapt up, spreading his arms to block her path, laughing, “Do not go, do not go! Today I am determined to play the matchmaker.” Zhou Zhiruo snapped, “Old Sir Xie, you dishonour your age! We are trying to find a way back to the Central Plains. Why speak such improper words at a time like this?”

Footnotes

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

2. 丹田 – dāntián. Literally cinnabar field. The energy centre below the navel where qi is stored and refined. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

3. 胡青牛医经 – Hú Qīngniú Yī Jīng. Literally Hu Qingniu’s medical classic. The medical text authored by the Divine Doctor Hu Qingniu, the Ming Order’s resident physician at Butterfly Valley. ↩

4. 回光返照 – huíguāng fǎnzhào. Literally the light returns for a moment before the lamp goes out. A Chinese idiom for the brief recovery sometimes seen just before death, when a dying person suddenly seems clearer and more alert. ↩

5. 玄冥二老 – Xuánmíng Èr Lǎo. Literally the two elders of dark obscurity. Two formidable martial experts in the service of Prince Ruyang. Lu Zhangke wields a deer-antler staff and He Biweng wields a crane-beak pen. Their Xuanming palm technique is infused with a cold, yin-based poison. ↩

6. 男女授受不亲 – nánnǚ shòushòu bù qīn. Literally men and women do not touch in giving and receiving. A Confucian propriety from the Book of Rites, stating that men and women should not touch each other when giving or receiving objects. Here used loosely to mean that unrelated men and women should avoid physical contact. ↩