The Heavenly Sword & the Dragon Sabre – Chapter 33 – Part 4

Chen Youliang turned to the Yellow Dress Maiden, cupped his fists, and said, "Your presence graces our Guild. Might I ask what business brings you here, and whether you would favour me with your name?" Then he asked the ugly girl, "Little girl, where did you get that bamboo staff?"

The Yellow Dress Maiden replied coldly, “Where is Cheng Kun the Primordial Chaos Thunderbolt Hand?¹ Ask him to come out and see me.” When Zhang Wuji heard the seven words ‘Primordial Chaos Thunderbolt Hand Cheng Kun,’ he was greatly puzzled. Yet he saw Chen Youliang’s face change colour abruptly. His composure returned an instant later, however, and he said coolly, “Cheng Kun the Primordial Chaos Thunderbolt Hand? Why, that is the shifu of Xie Xun the Golden Haired Lion King.² You should be asking Leader Zhang³ of the Ming Order.” The Yellow Dress Maiden said, “And who might you be?” Chen Youliang replied, “My name is Chen, my courtesy name Youliang. I am an Eight-Bag Elder⁴ of the Beggars’ Guild.”

The Yellow Dress Maiden flicked her lips towards Shi Huolong and asked, “Who is this fellow? He looks sturdy enough. How is it he’s such a weakling? A little rough handling and he’s bawling for help, a sorry sight indeed!”

Every beggar present felt the shame of it. They seethed privately, and some of the looks cast at Shi Huolong already carried three parts contempt and two parts anger. Chen Youliang said, “This is our Guild Chief Shi.⁵ He has only just recovered from a grave illness and is still unwell. You are our guest, so we humour you. But if you go on speaking out of turn, do not blame us for discourtesy.” His voice had turned severe by the last two sentences.

The Yellow Dress Maiden’s expression remained indifferent. She said to one of the black-clad girls, “Xiaocui, return that letter to him.” The black-clad girl answered, “Yes!” She drew a letter from her breast and held it out on her palm. Zhang Wuji caught a glimpse of the envelope, which bore the inscription: ‘To be presented in person to Elder Master Han Shantong⁶ of the Ming Order, for his eyes only,’ with a second line in smaller characters: ‘From Shi, of the Beggars’ Guild.’

The moment Staff Commanding Dragon Head⁷ saw the letter, his face flushed a deep purple. He cursed, “You little wench! So you’re the thieving bitch who kept toying with me on the road and stole my letter!” He raised his iron staff and was about to charge forward and fight. The black-clad girl gave a titter and said, “I’m a wench, yes, but I’m not dead. A grown man like you can’t even keep watch over a letter, and you’re not ashamed?” With a flick of her slender hand she sent the letter sailing smoothly towards Staff Commanding Dragon Head. He snatched it from the air at once.

Zhang Wuji recalled that night when Shi Huolong had ordered Staff Commanding Dragon Head to deliver a letter to Han Shantong, threatening him with Han Lin’er⁸ to force his surrender to the Beggars’ Guild. From this exchange he now surmised that the white-clad and black-clad girls must have teased and tricked Staff Commanding Dragon Head on the road, stolen his letter, and forced him to turn back to Lulong.⁹ Yet Staff Commanding Dragon Head was a skilled fighter. From what he had said, he had only just discovered who had been toying with him. Which meant those eight girls must either possess extraordinary cunning or considerable martial skill. More likely still, the Yellow Dress Maiden had been directing affairs from behind the scenes, making a fool of a Beggars’ Guild expert from start to finish. At the thought, he felt a surge of gratitude towards the Yellow Dress Maiden.

The Yellow Dress Maiden said, “Han Shantong has risen in arms between the Huai and the Si rivers, driving out the Tartars. The talk along the roads is that he is kind and loyal, a man of honour who does not trouble the common people. If he is truly such a hero, how could he betray the Ming Order for his son’s sake and surrender to the Beggars’ Guild? Even if you delivered this letter into Big Brother Han’s hands, you would only make fools of yourselves. I saw that this Staff Commanding Dragon Head was laughably dense, and as there is a matter of great import to the Beggars’ Guild that requires his personal presence, I intercepted his letter.”

Zhang Wuji clasped his fists and said, “Many thanks, Elder Sister, for lending a hand. Zhang Wuji is in your debt.” The Yellow Dress Maiden returned the salute and said, “There is no need for courtesy.” She turned again to the Beggars’ Guild party and said, “You imagine that by seizing Han Lin’er you can force Han Shantong to surrender? Staff Commanding Dragon Head, do you think that when you were blocked time and again on the road, you could evade pursuit by taking a side path? Heh. Even if you had, once this letter reached Han Shantong, it would have done your Guild no good at all.”

Chen Youliang’s thoughts stirred. He took the letter and saw that the envelope was intact and unopened. He tore it open, drew out the letter, and one glance turned his face ashen. For the letter summoning Han Shantong to surrender had become a letter of surrender from the Beggars’ Guild to the Ming Order. Its language was abject and servile, humble to the extreme. It declared that everything the Guild had done of late was sin beyond forgiveness, and that henceforth they would repent utterly and reform. They begged the Ming Order’s magnanimity, that past faults be overlooked, and that the Guild be accepted as a subordinate force, to serve as vanguard in the expulsion of the Yuan tyrants.

The Yellow Dress Maiden said with a cold smile, “Indeed. I have read this letter. It was not I who altered it. Only when I read it did I realise that the Staff Commanding Dragon Head had long since been made a dupe and taken a terrible fall. Out of regard for the ties between our two sides from the previous generation, and unwilling to see the Beggars’ Guild, famed as it is throughout the world, make such a spectacle of itself, I intercepted it. Consider: if this letter were delivered by the Beggars’ Guild’s own Staff Commanding Dragon Head into the hands of the Ming Order, would the Guild ever again be able to hold its head high in the jianghu?”¹⁰

The Merit-Transmitting Elder, the Law-Enforcing Elder, Alms-Bowl Commanding Dragon Head, Staff Commanding Dragon Head, and the rest took turns reading the letter. Each one’s face darkened with fury and shame, yet they could not help thinking inwardly, “Thank Heaven!” For as the Yellow Dress Maiden had said, once this cringing, spineless letter of surrender fell into Ming Order hands, the Beggars’ Guild’s disgrace would spread across the world, and no disciple of the Guild could ever walk with his head held high again. By that reckoning, the Yellow Dress Maiden’s interception of the letter had in fact done the Beggars’ Guild a great service. But then, who had swapped the letter?

The black-clad girl Xiaocui said with a smile, “You want to ask who swapped this letter, don’t you?” The Beggars’ Guild men said nothing, but every face betrayed an eager desire to know. Xiaocui said, “Staff Commanding Dragon Head, take off your outer robe and you will see.”

Staff Commanding Dragon Head’s face was already crimson, the veins standing out along his neck. At her words he seized the lapels of his outer robe with both hands and tore. A series of soft pops followed as every button burst. He flung the robe behind him and barked, “And what if I do?” Behind him the beggars gave a collective cry of surprise, as though they had seen something strange. Staff Commanding Dragon Head said, “What is it?” He turned to find six or seven men pointing at his back. He grew more furious still, clawed at his inner shirt, ripped the front open, and stripped it off, revealing a body corded with muscle. He waved the shirt before him and saw that on its inner face, painted in indigo, was a great blue bat with wings spread wide, hideous and terrifying, with several drops of red paint at its mouth like blood.

The Merit-Transmitting Elder and the Law-Enforcing Elder cried out together, “Green Winged Bat King Wei Yixiao!”¹¹

Wei Yixiao had rarely ventured into the Central Plains in former years, and his name was little known. But of late he had been a phantom in the jianghu, displaying his skills to devastating effect, and his fame now rivalled even that of the White-Browed Eagle King. Zhang Wuji was privately delighted. Without the qinggong¹² of Bat King Wei, coming and going like a shadow, there would have been no way to play this trick on the Staff Commanding Dragon Head without his noticing.

Staff Commanding Dragon Head stood transfixed, then swung the inner shirt at Zhang Wuji’s face and cursed, “So it was you demonic cubs who made a laughing-stock of me!” Zhang Wuji’s sleeve stirred faintly, and the shirt was carried upward on a gust of qi, rising and rising until it caught on a branch of a ginkgo tree in the courtyard, where it fluttered in the wind. The great bat upon it seemed almost alive, ready to take flight. Zhang Wuji said with a smile, “Staff Commanding Dragon Head, our Order’s Bat King spared your life. Did you not know? Had he wished to take it that day, what could you have done?” Staff Commanding Dragon Head thought about it and could not help but shudder.

Chen Youliang realised the affair was growing uglier by the moment and that the best course was to shut it down. He asked the Yellow Dress Maiden, “May I ask your honoured name, Lady? And what connection you may have with us?”

The Yellow Dress Maiden said with a cold smile, “What connection? I have a connection with this Dog-Beating Staff, and nothing else.” She pointed at the green bamboo staff in the ugly girl’s hand.

The beggars had long since recognised the Dog-Beating Staff,¹³ the Beggars’ Guild’s chief emblem, passed down from Guild Chief to Guild Chief through the generations. Yet none could understand how it had come into an outsider’s hands. All eyes turned to Shi Huolong, but his face was ashen and he seemed at a loss. The Merit-Transmitting Elder asked, “Guild Chief, is that Dog-Beating Staff the girl holds a fake?” Shi Huolong said, “I… I think it most likely is.”

The Yellow Dress Maiden said, “Good. Then produce the real one and we shall compare.” Shi Huolong said, “The Dog-Beating Staff is the Beggars’ Guild’s most precious treasure. How can I display it lightly? I do not carry it upon my person. If it were lost, would that not be a disaster?” The beggars exchanged glances at this. The remark was unworthy of a Guild Chief. How could the leader of the Beggars’ Guild fear losing his own staff?

The girl held the bamboo staff aloft and cried, “Come and look! This Dog-Beating Staff is our Guild’s… our Guild’s staff, passed down from generation to generation. How could it be false?” The beggars were astonished to hear her say ‘our Guild.’ They drew close and examined it. The staff was lustrous as jade and hard as iron, and there was no doubt it was indeed the Beggars’ Guild’s Dog-Beating Staff. They looked at one another in bewilderment, unable to make sense of it.

The Yellow Dress Maiden said, “It is widely known that the Beggars’ Guild’s Guild Chief is famed throughout the world for two supreme skills: the Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Palms¹⁴ and the Dog-Beating Staff Technique.¹⁵ Xiao Hong, you first go and learn a little of the Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Palms from Guild Chief Shi. Xiao Ling, after Sister Xiao Hong has won, you in turn ask Guild Chief Shi to demonstrate the Dog-Beating Staff Technique.” Two girls holding long flutes leapt forward at the summons and took position to left and right.

Chen Youliang said angrily, “The Lady refuses to reveal her name, which is already a slight to the Beggars’ Guild. Now she sends two little bondmaids to challenge our Guild Chief. Where in the jianghu is there such a principle? Guild Chief Shi, allow this disciple to deal with these two wenches first, and then I shall test this Lady’s skills. We shall see what manner of hidden master holds our Guild in such contempt.” Shi Huolong said, “Damn right. Very well. Let Elder Chen take the floor.” Chen Youliang drew his jian with a ring of steel and walked slowly to the centre of the courtyard.

The girl Xiao Hong said, “The Lady told me to learn the Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Palms. Do you know this palm technique? Is the Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Palms used with a jian?” Chen Youliang snapped, “Guild Chief Shi is a man of consequence. How could he lower himself to trade blows with a little wench like you? And the divine skill of the Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Palms is not so lightly shown to the likes of you.” He took another step forward.

The Yellow Dress Maiden said to Zhang Wuji, “Leader Zhang, I have a favour to ask.” Zhang Wuji said, “Pray speak.” The Yellow Dress Maiden said, “Drive this fellow Chen away, and drag out the great imposter who is masquerading as Guild Chief Shi.”

Zhang Wuji had seized Shi Huolong with a single move earlier and found his martial arts astonishingly mediocre. He recalled how Han Lin’er had spat a mouthful of phlegm at him that day and Shi Huolong had not even managed to dodge. He had been harbouring suspicions since. He had further observed that Shi Huolong took every cue from Chen Youliang, without a single thought of his own. By his martial skill and his judgement, he could never have been fit to lead the Beggars’ Guild. Now that the Yellow Dress Maiden called him ‘the great imposter masquerading as Guild Chief Shi,’ the pieces fitted together, and he understood six or seven parts in ten. He nodded once and glided to a halt before Shi Huolong.

Shi Huolong threw a punch at him, a strike called ‘Cannon to the Sky,’ and his fist thudded against Zhang Wuji’s chest. Zhang Wuji laughed aloud and said, “So this is the divine skill of the Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Palms? Such a feeble thing?” He reached out, seized Shi Huolong by the lapels, and lifted him off the ground. Chen Youliang, knowing he was no match for Zhang Wuji, did not wait for him to act but slipped into the crowd of his own accord.

The ugly girl suddenly burst into loud wailing. She threw herself forward, seized Shi Huolong, and beat and tore at him, crying, “You killed my papa! You killed my papa, you villain!” Shi Huolong, held by the acupoint¹⁶ at the back by Zhang Wuji, could not stir. He was tall, and the girl’s small fists reached only as high as his belly. Zhang Wuji bent his arm and forced the man’s head down. The girl seized his hair and yanked, and Shi Huolong’s entire head of hair came away, revealing a smooth, gleaming bald skull. He was bald, and had been wearing a wig. In her tugging the girl also pulled away a piece of his nose, yet no blood appeared.

The onlookers were astounded. They stared closer and saw that his nose was flat and sunken. The high nose, too, was a disguise. A great clamour rose from the beggars, all demanding, “Who are you? How dare you impersonate Guild Chief Shi?”

Zhang Wuji lifted his body and dashed it hard against the ground, reducing him to such a muddle that for a long while he could not utter a word. Zhang Wuji smiled faintly and withdrew of his own accord, thinking that the man’s deception was now exposed and the beggars would settle accounts with him in their own time.

Footnotes

1. 成昆 – Chéng Kūn. His epithet is 混元霹雳手 (Hùnyuán Pīlì Shǒu), meaning Primordial Chaos Thunderbolt Hand. A Shaolin monk of the generation above Kongjian, whose vendetta against the Xie family set much of the story in motion. He later took the dharma name Yuanzhen. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

2. 谢逊 – Xiè Xùn. His epithet is 金毛狮王 (Jīnmáo Shī Wáng), meaning Golden Haired Lion King. One of the four Guardian Kings of the Ming Order and Zhang Wuji’s sworn father. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

3. 张教主 – Zhāng Jiàozhǔ. Literally ‘Order Leader Zhang.’ The address used for Zhang Wuji as leader of the Ming Order. 教 (jiào) means ‘order,’ and 主 (zhǔ) means ‘leader.’ ↩

4. 八袋长老 – Bā Dài Zhǎnglǎo. An Eight-Bag Elder is a senior officer of the Beggars’ Guild, the rank denoted by the number of bags sewn onto the elder’s robe. ↩

5. 史火龙 – Shǐ Huǒlóng. Former Guild Chief of the Beggars’ Guild. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

6. 韩山童 – Hán Shāntóng. A revolutionary leader who rose against the Yuan Dynasty in the Huai and Si river regions. Father of Han Lin’er. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

7. 掌棒龙头 – Zhǎng Bàng Lóngtóu. Literally ‘Staff-Holding Dragon Head.’ One of the four Dragon Heads of the Beggars’ Guild, bearing the iron staff as his emblem. A senior rank beneath the Guild Chief. ↩

8. 韩林儿 – Hán Lín’ér. Son of Han Shantong, later proclaimed ‘Little Ming King’ by the revolutionary forces. ↩

9. 卢龙 – Lú Lóng. A town in northeastern Hebei, then on the frontier of Yuan-controlled territory. ↩

10. 江湖 – jiānghú. Literally ‘rivers and lakes.’ The itinerant world of martial artists, outlaws, and wanderers beyond the reach of settled society and official law. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

11. 韦一笑 – Wéi Yīxiào. His epithet is 青翼蝠王 (Qīng Yì Fú Wáng), meaning Green Winged Bat King. One of the four Guardian Kings of the Ming Order, renowned for his qinggong. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

12. 轻功 – qīnggōng. Literally ‘light skill.’ The martial art of agility and levitation, enabling practitioners to scale walls, cross rooftops, and move with extraordinary speed and silence. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

13. 打狗棒 – Dǎgǒu Bàng. The Dog-Beating Staff. The emblem of the Beggars’ Guild Chief, passed down from leader to leader. Green bamboo, lustrous as jade and hard as iron. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

14. 降龙十八掌 – Xiáng Lóng Shíbā Zhǎng. The Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Palms. One of the two supreme martial arts of the Beggars’ Guild, traditionally taught only to the Guild Chief. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

15. 打狗棒法 – Dǎgǒu Bàngfǎ. The Dog-Beating Staff Technique. The other supreme martial art of the Beggars’ Guild, exclusive to the Guild Chief. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

16. 穴道 – xuédào. Acupoints. Nodes on the body’s meridian network through which qi flows. Striking or sealing them can numb, paralyse, or kill. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩