The Heavenly Sword & the Dragon Sabre – Chapter 32 – Part 3

The two of them rode on through the day, covering more than two hundred li¹ before nightfall. They lodged once on the road, and set out again at dawn. Towards midday a bitter north wind began to blow from behind them, the sky darkened overhead, and grey clouds hung so low they seemed to press upon their heads. Another twenty li through the gloom, and snowflakes as large as goose feathers came drifting down in thick swirls.

All the way along, Zhang Wuji and Zhao Min had spoken little. The snow fell heavier still, yet he urged his horse forwards without a word. The path they followed that day wound through desolate mountain trails, and by evening the drifts lay almost a chi² deep. Both horses, fine beasts though they were, could struggle on no further.

Seeing the light fail, Zhang Wuji sprang up onto his saddle and gazed about him. No house, no trace of habitation anywhere. He hesitated, then said, “Miss Zhao, what do you think we should do? If we push on, I fear the animals will not last.”

Zhao Min gave a cold laugh. “You worry about the animals lasting, but you don’t care whether a person lives or dies.”

Zhang Wuji felt a pang of guilt. He thought, I have the Nine Yang Divine Skill³ in me. I feel neither weariness nor cold. I have been so desperate to save a life that I never spared a thought for hers.

They rode on a while longer when suddenly a rustling sounded from the undergrowth at the roadside, and a roebuck darted out and bounded away into the hills. Zhang Wuji said, “I’ll catch it for our supper.” With the words he was already airborne, leaping from the saddle and following the tracks the creature had left in the snow. He rounded a slope, and there in the hazy twilight he saw the roebuck dive towards a cave. Gathering his neili, he shot forward like an arrow, and before the beast could reach the opening his hand had closed on the scruff of its neck. The roebuck twisted its head and snapped at his wrist. His fingers tightened, and with a crack the creature’s neck bones gave way. The cave was neither large nor grand, but it would shelter two people from the storm. He carried the roebuck back to Zhao Min and said, “There is a cave yonder. Let us pass the night there. What do you say?”

Zhao Min nodded, then flushed suddenly, turned her head away, and urged her horse forwards.

Zhang Wuji led the two horses to a pair of great pines on the slope above, where they would be sheltered from the snow. He gathered armfuls of dead branches and lit a fire at the cave’s mouth. The cave itself was surprisingly clean, with no sign of beast-droppings or filth. It ran deep into the rock, dark and fathomless. He skinned and butchered the roebuck, washed the meat clean with snow, and set it to roast over the flames.

Zhao Min took off her sable cloak and spread it on the cave floor. The fire blazed and the cave grew warm as spring. Zhang Wuji happened to glance back, and in the flickering light, bright then dim, bright then dim, he saw her face made doubly lovely by the glow. The bruises from the blows he had struck two days before had not yet wholly faded. Looking at them, his heart ached. He wanted to apologise, but could not find the words. Zhao Min was gazing at him too. Their eyes met, and both of them smiled. In that single smile, the weariness, the hunger and the cold of the whole long day dissolved.

When the roebuck was roasted, each of them tore off a hind leg and ate. Zhang Wuji threw more deadwood on the fire, leaned against the cave wall, and said, “Shall we sleep?”

Zhao Min smiled sweetly, leaned against the opposite wall, and closed her eyes. From her came a faint, delicate fragrance. Her cheeks were flushed with warmth. He longed to lean across and kiss her, but checked the thought at once, shut his eyes, and slept.

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Somewhere in the middle of the night, a faint sound of hoofbeats reached him from afar. Zhang Wuji woke instantly, and listened sidelong. Four horses, riding from south to north. The snow outside the cave still fell without pause. He thought, Riding hard in a snowstorm in the dead of night. Whatever they are about, it is urgent. The hoofbeats drew close, then halted. After a moment they began again, nearer still, and seemed to be heading straight for the cave.

Zhang Wuji started. This cave lies hidden behind the mountain. Without that roebuck to lead me here, I’d never have found it myself. How can anyone else have tracked us here? Then he understood. Of course! We left footprints in the snow. Another night of heavy fall has not been enough to cover them all.

Zhao Min was awake now too. She whispered, “Whoever is coming may be enemies. Let us hide and see who they are.” She scooped up snow from outside the cave and smothered the fire.

The hoofbeats had ceased, but four sets of footfalls crunched through the snow, and within moments they stood more than ten zhang⁴ from the cave’s mouth. Zhang Wuji whispered, “Those four move with extraordinary speed. They are masters of the highest order.” To go out and find another hiding place would mean being spotted at once. Before he could decide, Zhao Min took his hand and led him deeper into the cave. The passage narrowed the further they went, yet it ran surprisingly far. After ten feet or so it bent round a corner, and they heard a voice outside say, “There’s a cave here.”

Zhang Wuji knew the voice at once. It was Zhang Songxi, his fourth shishu.⁵ Before his surprise and delight could settle, another voice spoke, “The hoofprints and footprints lead right into this cave.” That was Yin Liting.

Zhang Wuji was about to call out a greeting when Zhao Min reached over, clapped her hand across his mouth, and whispered in his ear, “If they find you here with me, won’t that be awkward?” Zhang Wuji considered, and saw at once she was right. He and Zhao Min had nothing to hide, but a young man and a young woman spending the night together in a mountain cave, what would his shibo and shishu think? Moreover, Zhao Min was a princess of the Yuan court, and she had once held Zhang Songxi and the rest prisoner in Wan’an Temple and treated them harshly. With enemies meeting face to face, the situation could hardly be worse. He thought, Better to wait until fourth shishu and sixth shishu have left, then go and find them alone, to spare everyone embarrassment.

Then came Yu Lianzhou’s voice, “Odd! There are scorch marks from pine-kindling here, and what looks like roebuck hide and blood.” Another voice followed, “I’ve been uneasy all day. I only hope Seventh Shidi is safe.” That was Song Yuanqiao.

Zhang Wuji heard that Song Yuanqiao, Yu Lianzhou, Zhang Songxi, and Yin Liting, his eldest shibo and three shishu, had all set out together to search for Mo Shenggu.⁶ From the drift of their talk, it seemed his seventh shishu had met a formidable foe, and his own heart grew heavy with concern. He heard Zhang Songxi laugh. “Eldest shixiong looks after seventh shidi as though he were still the callow junior of years past. But Mo the Seventh Xia’s name has carried far these last few years, and he is no longer what he was. Even against a strong opponent, seventh shidi can handle himself.”

Yin Liting said, “It isn’t seventh shidi I worry about. It is Wuji, that boy. I wonder where he is. He is the Ming Order’s Cult Leader now,⁷ and a tall tree catches the wind. Plenty of people want to scheme against him. His martial arts are superb, but he is too honest and good-natured. He does not know how treacherous the jianghu⁸ can be. I only fear he has fallen into some villain’s trap.”

Zhang Wuji was deeply moved. His shibo and shishu cared for him so dearly, and thought of him constantly.

Zhao Min leaned her mouth to his ear and whispered, “I am the villain. You’ve already fallen into my trap. Did you know?”

Song Yuanqiao’s voice spoke again. “Seventh shidi went north to search for Wuji. He seems to have found some clue, but the eight characters he left in haste at an inn in Tianjin are hard to fathom.” Zhang Songxi said, “He wrote ‘The sect is in danger, must be cleansed urgently.’ Could there truly be a traitor among the Wudang disciples? Could it be Wuji…” He stopped, and his voice held a deep, hidden worry. Yin Liting said, “Wuji would never do anything to shame the sect. Of that I am certain.” Zhang Songxi said, “I fear that fiendish Zhao Min is too cunning and cruel. Wuji is young and hot-blooded, easily led astray by beauty. Let us hope he does not end as his father did, his reputation ruined…” The four fell silent, and all sighed.

Then came the sound of flint striking steel, pine-wood crackling as they lit a fire. The flames reached into the inner cave, and though the passage bent, Zhang Wuji could still glimpse Zhao Min’s face. She looked resentful and angry, no doubt provoked by Zhang Songxi’s words. Zhang Wuji’s heart stirred with alarm. Fourth Shishu’s words have merit. My mother did no wrong, yet she brought my father to such a pass. This Miss Zhao killed my cousin, humiliated my grand shifu and my shibo and shishu. How can she compare with my mother? His heart pounded. If they find me here with Miss Zhao, not even the waters of the Yellow River could wash the stain away.

Song Yuanqiao’s voice spoke again, and it trembled as he said, “Fourth shidi, there is a doubt I have carried in my heart for some time. I have not dared speak of it, for to say it aloud would be to wrong our poor fifth shidi, now gone.” Zhang Songxi said slowly, “Is eldest shixiong afraid that Wuji might do harm to seventh shidi?” Song Yuanqiao did not answer. Zhang Wuji could not see him, but he imagined him giving a slow, grave nod.

Zhang Songxi said, “By nature the boy is honest and true. In reason he would never do such a thing. What I fear is that seventh shidi’s temper is too rash. If he pushes Wuji into a corner, where the lad cannot serve both loyalties at once, and then that fiendish Zhao Min adds her schemes to the mix, stirring trouble between them, then it would… then it would… Alas, men’s hearts are fathoms deep, and the affairs of this world resist all forecasting. Since time began, even heroes have stumbled at the beauty gate. I only hope that when the crucial moment comes, Wuji can hold firm.”

Yin Liting said, “Eldest shixiong, fourth shixiong, are you not borrowing the sun to worry about the moon? Seventh shidi may not have met any danger at all.”

Song Yuanqiao said, “And yet I have seen seventh shidi’s jian, the blade he carries everywhere. A man of our craft does not set aside his weapon lightly, and it was a gift from our shifu. The saying is: the jian is where the man is, and where the man…” He stopped at the word man, and could not bring himself to speak the is gone that followed.

Zhang Wuji, hearing that Mo Shenggu had abandoned his shifu-given jian, and that his four elders suspected him, felt both alarm and bitterness.

After a time, a faint fragrance drifted from the inner cave, mingled with the rank scent of a beast. The inner passage seemed to run deep. Either some creature was sheltering within, or one had dwelt there before. Afraid of being discovered by Song Yuanqiao and the rest, he dared hardly breathe. He took Zhao Min’s hand and moved gently deeper, his left hand held out before him to guard against jutting rock. They had taken three steps, rounded a bend, when his left hand brushed something soft, something that felt like a human body.

Footnotes

1. 里 – lǐ. A traditional Chinese unit of distance, roughly a third of a mile or half a kilometre. ↩

2. 尺 – chǐ. A traditional Chinese unit of length, roughly one-third of a metre or thirteen inches. Here the snow lay almost a chi deep, close to a foot. ↩

3. 九阳神功 – Jiǔyáng Shéngōng. Literally Nine Yang Divine Skill. A legendary internal cultivation method emphasising pure yang energy, capable of granting extraordinary martial prowess. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

4. 丈 – zhàng. A traditional Chinese unit of length, equal to ten chi, roughly eleven feet or 3.3 metres. ↩

5. 师叔 – shīshū. Junior lineage uncle. The shidi of one’s shifu. Shī means teacher. Shū means father’s younger brother. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

6. 莫声谷 – Mò Shēnggǔ. The youngest of the Seven Xias of Wudang, hot-tempered and bold. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

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

8. 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. ↩