The Heavenly Sword & the Dragon Sabre – Chapter 34 – Part 9

Wang Baobao¹ was startled and delighted in equal measure at the sight of his dear sister. Though he had seen Zhang Wuji before at Wan'an Temple,² the affairs of that hour had been too pressing for him to remember the young man's face. He frowned. “Sister, you… you…” Zhao Min said, “Brother, I fell victim to the enemy's covert attack and am gravely poisoned. But for this young xia Zhang coming to my rescue, I would not see you today.”

Lu Zhangke³ leaned close and whispered in Wang Baobao’s ear, “Young Prince, that is Zhang Wuji, the cult leader of the demonic cult.⁴”

Wang Baobao at once recalled that it was this very man who had rescued the anti-Yuan heroes from Wan’an Temple. Assuming Zhao Min spoke only because she was under duress, he waved his right hand. The Twin Xuanming Elders⁵ swept to within five feet of Zhang Wuji on either side, and four of the Eight Heroes of the Divine Arrow⁶ bent their bows and nocked their arrows, aiming at the centre of his back.

Wang Baobao said in a clear voice, “Cult Leader Zhang, however strong your martial arts may be, two fists cannot match four hands. Put down my sister at once. Today neither side need trespass on the other. I, Wang Baobao, am a man of my word. Have no fears on that score.”

Zhang Wuji thought to himself, Miss Zhao’s poison runs deep. She has travelled a thousand li⁷ at my side, and her recovery will not be swift. Now that she has met her brother, it would be best for her to return with him. Her body will benefit from it. He said aloud, “Miss Zhao, your brother wishes you to return. Let us part here. Only tell me where my godfather is held, and I will find a way to rescue him myself. We shall meet again.” As he spoke, a heavy sorrow stole over him. He knew well that between them lay the gulf of Han and Mongol, of ruler and ruled, and an enmity deep on both sides. Yet at the moment of parting, he could not suppress the ache of reluctance.

To his surprise, Zhao Min said, “I never told you where Xie Xun is held, and there is good reason for that. I promised only to bring you to find him, not to tell you the place.” Zhang Wuji was taken aback. “Your wound has not healed. A long journey on horseback would do you great harm. You should return with your brother.” Zhao Min’s face set in stubborn lines. “If you leave me behind, you will never find Xie Xun. My strength returns a little more each day. Travelling on the road will speed my recovery. If I go back to the mansion, I shall die of boredom.”

Zhang Wuji turned to Wang Baobao. “Young Prince, persuade your sister yourself.” Wang Baobao was greatly puzzled. A thought struck him, and he sneered, “Hah! What game are you playing? Your palm rests on my sister’s death acupoint.⁸ Small wonder she must obey your every word and talk such nonsense.” Zhang Wuji leapt to his feet and sprang to the ground.

Two of the Eight Heroes of the Divine Arrow, believing he meant to attack Wang Baobao, let fly two arrows in quick succession, the wind of them sharp and fierce. Zhang Wuji’s left hand drew and redirected, employing the Great Shift of Heaven and Earth.⁹ The two wolf-tooth arrows spun back on their course, the wind behind them fiercer still, and with two sharp cracks split the longbows of the two archers in half. Had the men not dodged aside in time, they too would have been gravely hurt. The arrows’ spent force still drove them deep into the earth, where the feathered shafts quivered long after. Not a soul present was not appalled.

Zhang Wuji put a wide distance between himself and Zhao Min, then said, “Miss Zhao, return to the mansion first and let your wound heal. We will contrive a better meeting another day.” Zhao Min shook her head. “How could the physicians in the mansion match your skill in medicine? Carry your Buddha¹⁰ all the way to the Western Heaven, if you please.”

Wang Baobao saw that Zhang Wuji had moved far from his sister, yet she still insisted on going with him. Astonishment and anger contended within him. He turned to the Twin Xuanming Elders. “Trouble yourselves to protect my sister. We are leaving.” The two elders acknowledged the order and walked to Zhao Min’s horse.

Zhao Min said in a clear voice, “Misters Lu and He,¹¹ I have urgent business to attend with Cult Leader Zhang, and I find my party too thin. Come with me, both of you.” The Twin Xuanming Elders exchanged a glance with Wang Baobao. Lu Zhangke said, “The great demon of the demonic cult acts in ways that are perverse and unpredictable, Princess. It is not fitting for you to associate with him at length. You had best return to the mansion with the Young Prince.” Zhao Min’s delicate brows drew together. “So now you heed only my brother’s words and not mine?” Lu Zhangke smiled ingratiatingly. “The Young Prince speaks out of care for the Princess.” Zhao Min gave a snort, then said to Wang Baobao, “Brother, my travels in the jianghu¹² were long since sanctioned by Father. Do not worry on my account. I can look after myself. When you see Father, give him my regards.”

Wang Baobao knew his father had always doted on his favourite daughter and would not have dared to press her too hard. But to let her go off alone with the cult leader of the demonic cult was more than his conscience could bear. He saw her slumped over the saddle, frail and spent, yet gathering the reins as if to ride west. He spread his arms to block her way. “Dearest sister, Father will arrive shortly. Wait a moment. It is not too late to depart once you have spoken with him.”

Zhao Min laughed. “The moment Father arrives, I shall not be leaving at all. Brother, I do not meddle in your affairs, and you need not meddle in mine.”

Wang Baobao looked again at Zhang Wuji. He was tall and straight, full of vigorous spirit. From his sister’s tone it was plain she had set her heart upon him. The Ming Order were rebels and traitors, enemies of the court. If his sister fell under this demon’s spell, the harm would be grave. He waved his left hand and barked, “Seize this demon first!”

Lu Zhangke swung his deer-headed staff. He Biweng¹³ whirled his crane-brush pen.¹⁴ A sheet of yellow light and two clouds of black qi descended upon Zhang Wuji together. Zhao Min knew full well the power of the Twin Xuanming Elders. Though Zhang Wuji’s martial arts were formidable, he fought two against one and had no weapon to hand. Fearing he would be hurt, she cried, “You Twin Xuanming Elders, if you harm Cult Leader Zhang, I will report to Father and you shall not escape his judgement.”

Wang Baobao said in anger, “Traitors and rebels are the common enemies of all men. Twin Xuanming Elders, kill this young demon and both the Prince and I shall reward you handsomely.” He paused, then added, “Mr Lu, I shall throw in four beauties besides, chosen to your taste.”

The brother ordered them to kill, the sister ordered them not to harm a hair. The Twin Xuanming Elders were put to a sore shift. Lu Zhangke shot a glance at his junior brother and said in a low voice, “Take him alive.” Suddenly Zhang Wuji unleashed the martial arts inscribed upon the Holy Fire Tablets.¹⁵ His upper body tilted, his right arm curved across, and from a direction no man could fathom his palm came smashing across. A sharp crack sounded, and he dealt Lu Zhangke a resounding slap across the cheek. “Try taking me alive now!” Lu Zhangke, stung by so gross a humiliation, was at once shocked and furious. Yet he was a first-rank master, and his composure did not desert him. He drove his deer-headed staff in a circle so tight that not a breath of wind could pass. Zhang Wuji sought to catch him off guard again, but for the moment found no opening.

Zhao Min pulled her reins and urged her horse forward. Wang Baobao’s whip lashed out and struck her mount square on the left eye. The horse cried out in pain, rearing on its hind legs with a long whinny. Zhao Min, still weak from her wound, nearly tumbled from the saddle. “Brother, will you truly bar my way?” Wang Baobao said, “Dearest sister, listen to me. When we are home I will make my apologies in full.”

Zhao Min said, “Brother, if you stop me, a certain person will die an unjust death. Cult Leader Zhang will hate me to the marrow of my bones, and your sister… your sister will hardly survive it either.” Wang Baobao said, “What nonsense you talk, sister. The Prince of Ruyang’s mansion¹⁶ is thick with masters of the first rank. We are more than able to keep you safe. Never mind this demon laying a hand on you, he will not so much as see your face again.” Zhao Min sighed. “It is just that I fear I may never see him again. In which case… I cannot live on.” The brother and sister had always been close and held nothing back from one another. In her desperation, Zhao Min made no attempt at concealment and laid bare her heart before him: she had given her love to Zhang Wuji.

Wang Baobao said in fury, “Sister, you have lost your wits. You are a daughter of the Mongol royal house, a golden branch and jade leaf.¹⁷ How can you bestow your favour on a barbarian cur? If Father learns of this, you will break his heart.” He waved his left hand, and three more skilled fighters stepped forward to attack Zhang Wuji in concert.

At this moment the Twin Xuanming Elders and Zhang Wuji were each channelling their neili.¹⁸ The howling wind within a radius of thirty or forty feet was keen as a blade. How could three ordinary fighters force their way in?

Zhao Min called out, “Zhang Wuji, if you wish to save your godfather, you must save me first!”

Wang Baobao, seeing his sister’s resolve beyond recall, grew desperate. He reached over, lifted her from her saddle, and set her before him on his own. Then he clapped his heels to the horse and rode off at speed. Zhao Min’s martial arts were in truth the stronger of the two, but in her wounded state she had no strength at all. She could only cry out, “Young xia Zhang, save me! Young xia Zhang, save me!”

Zhang Wuji drove out two palms with full force, forcing the Twin Xuanming Elders to retreat three paces. Then he unleashed his qinggong¹⁹ and pursued Wang Baobao’s galloping horse. Whenever the five closed in, Zhang Wuji would turn and strike backwards several palms. The Nine Yang Divine Skill²⁰ was of wondrous power, and at every palm-strike the Twin Xuanming Elders were forced to dodge, daring not meet its force head on. In this manner he checked them three times over, until at last he overtook the galloping horse. He leapt, seized Wang Baobao by the nape of the neck, and in the same motion employed a seizing technique that locked his acupoints. Wang Baobao’s upper body went numb at once. His arms fell open from Zhao Min, and Zhang Wuji lifted him bodily and hurled him towards Lu Zhangke. Lu Zhangke hastily opened his arms to catch him, but by then Zhang Wuji had already gathered Zhao Min into his own arms and leapt clear of the horse, fleeing towards the hillside on the left.

Footnotes

1. 王保保 – Wáng Bǎobǎo. The Han Chinese name of Kuokuo Temür, a celebrated Mongol general of the late Yuan Dynasty and Zhao Min’s elder brother. ↩

2. 万安寺 – Wàn’ān Sì. A temple in Dadu where the Yuan court imprisoned heroes of the righteous factions. ↩

3. 鹿杖客 – Lù Zhàngkè. The elder of the Twin Xuanming Elders, so named for the deer-headed staff he carries. ↩

4. 明教 – míngjiào. The Ming Order, branded a demonic cult by the Yuan court and the orthodox factions alike. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

5. 玄冥二老 – xuánmíng èr lǎo. The Twin Xuanming Elders, Lu Zhangke and He Biweng, whose Xuanming Divine Palm is famed for its cold, virulent neili. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

6. 神箭八雄 – shénjiàn bā xióng. The Eight Heroes of the Divine Arrow, a band of eight expert archers in the service of the Yuan court. ↩

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

8. 死穴 – sǐxué. A vital acupoint; a strike to it can prove fatal. ↩

9. 乾坤大挪移 – Qiánkūn Dà Nuóyí. The Great Shift of Heaven and Earth, the supreme secret art of the Ming Order, capable of redirecting force and reversing the trajectory of attacks. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

10. 送佛送到西天 – sòng fó sòng dào xītiān. A proverb meaning to see a thing through to the end, here rendered with the Buddhist image of escorting the Buddha to the Western Paradise. ↩

11. 鹿鹤二位先生 – Lù Hè èr wèi xiānsheng. Messrs Lu and He, a courteous form of address for the Twin Xuanming Elders. ↩

12. 江湖 – jiānghú. Literally rivers and lakes. The itinerant world beyond settled society and official reach. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

13. 鹤笔翁 – Hè Bǐwēng. The younger of the Twin Xuanming Elders, so named for the crane-brush pen he wields. ↩

14. 鹤笔 – hè bǐ. Crane Brush, a weapon shaped like a great writing brush, the signature arm of He Biweng. ↩

15. 圣火令 – shènghuǒ lìng. The Holy Fire Tablets, twelve ancient tablets of the Persian Ming Order inscribed with the most esoteric martial arts. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

16. 汝阳王府 – Rǔyáng Wáng Fǔ. The mansion of the Prince of Ruyang, Zhao Min’s father and a leading prince of the Yuan court. ↩

17. 金枝玉叶 – jīn zhī yù yè. Golden branch and jade leaf. A figure for the noble descent of imperial or royal kin. ↩

18. 内力 – nèilì. Internal power; the kinetic force cultivated through neigong practice. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

19. 轻功 – qīnggōng. Lightness skill; the martial art of weightlessness and swift movement. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

20. 九阳神功 – Jiǔyáng Shéngōng. The Nine Yang Divine Skill, a legendary internal cultivation method emphasising pure yang energy. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩