The Heavenly Sword & the Dragon Sabre – Chapter 35 – Part 3

An old monk, his face a map of wrinkles, spoke first. “How much gold, silver, and jewellery do you carry on your persons? Hand it all over.” Zhao Min said, “What for?” The old monk smiled. “You two benefactors¹ have come here by fate's design, arriving just as our humble temple is holding a great dharma assembly to rebuild the mountain gate and regild the sacred images. All the gold, silver, and jewellery on your persons, offer it to the Buddha. If you are stingy and refuse, you will offend the Bodhisattvas, and that would be troublesome indeed.” Zhao Min said angrily, “Is that not the behaviour of bandits?” The old monk said, “Sin, sin. We eight brothers killed and robbed and burned, and made a bandit's trade of it. Only recently have we laid down the butcher's knife and become Buddhas on the spot, taking the tonsure and passing ourselves off as monks in a casual sort of way. You two benefactors have come by fate's design, and here a fat sheep delivers itself to our door. Alas, it will trouble us men of the cloth to disturb the purity of our six senses once more.” Another monk grinned sinisterly. “The lady benefactor need not fear. We eight monk-bandits lack only a temple mistress. You are as fair of face as a flower bright as the moon, a true Guanyin² descended to the mortal world. Even the Tathagata³ himself would stir at the sight. Marvel! Marvel!”

Zhang Wuji and Zhao Min were greatly shocked. They had never expected these eight monks to be great bandits in disguise, and the old monk had spoken so frankly that he must be intending to kill them. Otherwise he would never have revealed their secret affairs.

Zhao Min took from her bosom seven or eight ingots of gold and a string of pearls, and laid them on the table. “All my wealth is here. My brother and I are people of the jianghu,⁴ and you must respect the righteous code among martial artists.”

The old monk laughed. “You are people of the jianghu? That is all the better. To which school do you belong?”

Zhao Min said, “We are disciples of Shaolin.” The Shaolin Order was the foremost faction in the wulin.⁵ She hoped that even if these eight were not themselves of Shaolin lineage, they might have friends or kin connected to the order.

The old monk started, then his eyes narrowed with fierce light. “Disciples of Shaolin? How unfortunate! You two children have only yourselves to blame for joining the wrong school.” He reached out to seize her wrist. Zhao Min drew back her hand, and the old monk grasped at empty air.

Zhang Wuji⁶ saw that their plight was desperate. He and Zhao Min were gravely wounded, and could not possibly withstand eight opponents. Over the past years he had met many famous figures in the jianghu. Was he truly to die today at the hands of eight third-rate bandits? No matter what happened, he could not stand by and watch Zhao Min suffer insult. He said, “Min mei,⁷ hide behind me. I will deal with these eight thieves.”

Zhao Min, for all her cunning, was at this moment helpless. She asked, “Who are you?”

The old monk said, “We are outcasts expelled from Shaolin Monastery.⁸ When we meet martial artists of other schools, we show mercy. But when we meet Shaolin disciples, we must kill. Little girl, this brother of ours meant to keep you as a temple mistress, but now that we know you are Shaolin trained, we can only violate you first and kill you after. No living witnesses can be left.”

Zhang Wuji lowered his voice and said, “So! You are Yuanzhen’s⁹ men, are you not?”

The old monk said, “Yi! How strange. How do you know that?”

Zhao Min took up the thread at once. “We are on our way to Shaolin Monastery to meet Big Brother Chen Youliang¹⁰ and support Great Master Yuanzhen’s appointment as abbot of Shaolin.”

The old monk said, “Excellent, excellent! The Tathagata Buddha saves all living beings.”

Zhao Min said, “Precisely. We join forces for a worthy cause.”

At these words, all eight monks burst into loud laughter.

The truth was that these eight monks were indeed Yuanzhen and Chen Youliang’s men. Chen Youliang had brought them in to pay homage as Yuanzhen’s disciples. Yuanzhen had previously stirred up the six great schools to attack Bright Peak,¹¹ but failed. Afterwards he and Zhao Min had plotted to capture Kongwen,¹² Kongzhi,¹³ and the others, but Zhang Wuji had ruined that scheme as well. Yuanzhen then plotted to seize the abbacy of Shaolin Monastery, and in recent years had been recruiting talent from all quarters. But Shaolin Monastery’s disciplinary code was strict. Every new disciple had to be thoroughly examined by the Supervising Monk, who investigated their origins and background. Yuanzhen could not do as he pleased. Chen Youliang therefore devised another scheme, drawing in heroes from various gangs and great river pirates to pay homage as Yuanzhen’s disciples outside the monastery. They would not enter Shaolin itself, but wait for the moment to strike.

Yuanzhen’s martial arts were of extraordinary depth. With a single display he overawed all the jianghu’s heroes. These martial artists, accustomed to revere Shaolin as a righteous faction of great prestige, and seeing Yuanzhen’s divine skill and peerless techniques, were naturally willing to pay homage as his disciples. The few who refused to betray their own schools, Yuanzhen killed on the spot. Thus his conspiracy had been long in preparation, yet remained undetected. The old monk’s words “The Tathagata Buddha saves all living beings” were the recognition signal of their faction. A member of their party would reply, “The flowers open and the Buddha is seen. The heart is Lingshan.” Thus they would know each other. Zhao Min, hearing from the old monk’s tone that he was Yuanzhen’s disciple, had at once calculated his intention to seize the abbacy. But how could she know their agreed password?

A short, fat monk said, “Big Brother Fu, this little girl speaks of supporting our master as abbot of Shaolin Monastery. Where did she get this news? The matter is grave and must be clearly understood.” Though these eight had shaved their heads and become monks, they still addressed each other as “Big Brother” and “Second Brother”, never shedding their old greenwood ways.

Zhang Wuji, hearing the eight men’s laughter, knew at once that things had gone wrong. His grave wounds left his zhenqi¹⁴ unable to gather, and he could only struggle to calm his mind and force the qi to collect. He felt the hot zhenqi scattered in patches here and there, never flowing along the meridians as it should. Before him he saw the old monk’s fingers, crooked as a bird’s claws, reaching for Zhao Min. Zhao Min had no strength to defend, and shrank back towards the inner bed. Zhang Wuji was filled with anxiety, but at this moment he could only sit cross-legged and circulate his arts, hoping to recover even two or three tenths of his strength, so that he might deal with these eight evil men.

The short fat monk, seeing him at such a moment still sitting there calmly circulating his qi, cried in rage, “This brat does not know whether he lives or dies! I will send him to the Western Heaven first, so he does not get in our way here!” With that he raised his right arm, the bones crackling, and with a whoosh drove a fierce punch towards Zhang Wuji’s chest. Zhao Min, seeing the danger, gave a sharp cry of alarm. But the short fat monk’s punch landed, and his right arm went soft and limp. His eyes stared wide, and he stood motionless. The old monk was greatly startled and reached out to pull him. The fat monk fell at his touch, dead. The remaining monks, shocked and furious, cried, “This brat practises demonic sorcery! He uses evil arts!”

The truth was that the fat monk had channelled his strength into his arm and struck Zhang Wuji’s chest with full force, hitting precisely the Tanzhong¹⁵ acupoint. Zhang Wuji’s Nine Yang Divine Skill¹⁶ was insufficient for attack but more than sufficient for defence. Not only did it reflect the enemy’s fist-force back upon him, but the blow itself stirred the Nine Yang zhenqi within his body. Force upon force, power within power, and the fat monk died on the spot.

The old monk, however, supposed that Zhang Wuji had concealed poisoned darts or barbs beneath his sleeve, so that the fat monk had been struck by deadly poison. He at once struck out with his palm at Zhang Wuji’s right arm, which protruded from his sleeve, intending first to break the arm and then deal with him at leisure. This fierce palm-force, striking Zhang Wuji’s arm, stirred the Nine Yang zhenqi within and reflected it back. The old monk was sent flying backwards, swift as an arrow. With a great crash he burst through the window lattice and smashed into a large scholar tree in the courtyard. His skull burst and his brains spilled out.

Amid the loud cries of the remaining monks, one pair of fists drove towards Zhang Wuji’s temples, another used the “Two Dragons Seize the Pearl” technique, fingers gouging for his eyes, and a third sent a flying kick towards his dantian.¹⁷ Zhang Wuji ducked his head to avoid the eyes, letting the two fingers strike his forehead. He heard a series of sounds, pang pang, aiyoo, pupup, and three monks were shaken to death in succession. The third monk’s kick had been fierce and full of strength, so that his right leg snapped cleanly from the rebound. Zhang Wuji’s dantian had received this kick, and his zhenqi surged. The meridians throughout the right half of his body seemed on the verge of reconnecting. He thought with quiet satisfaction, It is a pity this evil monk died so soon. Had he kicked my dantian a few more times, it would have hastened my recovery. It seems that though my injuries are grave, recovery is not difficult. I need only ten days to half a fortnight of rest to be fully restored.

Five of the eight monks were dead. The remaining three were so terrified that their souls fled beyond the sky. They scrambled over one another to rush out the door, and only when they reached the monastery gate and saw that Zhang Wuji did not pursue them did they stop to take counsel. One said, “That brat surely has some evil art.” Another said, “I think it is not evil arts. The brat’s neigong¹⁸ is powerful and reflected back to harm us.” The third said, “True. We must at least avenge our dead brothers.” The three deliberated for some time, then one suddenly said, “That brat must be gravely wounded. Otherwise why did he not pursue us?” Another said with joy, “Right! Most likely he cannot move. Our five brothers struck him with fist and palm, and he reflected the force with his neigong. But if we hack at him with blades and thrust with steel, can he truly have muscles of copper and bones of iron?”

The three monks agreed. One took up a long spear, one a dao,¹⁹ and one a jian,²⁰ and returned to the courtyard.

The three monks peered through the broken window lattice. The young man still sat cross-legged, looking utterly exhausted, his body swaying as though he might fall at any moment. The girl was wiping sweat from his brow with a handkerchief. The three monks exchanged glances, but in the end did not dare rush in. One cried, “Stinking brat! If you have the guts, come out and fight three hundred rounds with your lords!” Another cursed, “That brat has no skill. He only knows how to harm men with sorcery. That is the trickery of the lower paths, despicable and base, shameless beyond measure!” Seeing that Zhang Wuji neither replied nor rose from the bed, the three monks grew bolder and bolder, and their abuse grew filthier and filthier. Among Buddhist disciples, few could surpass these three Great Monks in the utterance of evil words.

Zhang Wuji and Zhao Min were not angered by this. What they most feared was not that the three monks would return for revenge, but that they might be so frightened they would flee and never come back. This place was not far from Songshan Shaolin Monastery. If these three monks went and informed Cheng Kun,²¹ then all would be lost. Zhang Wuji’s injuries would not heal within ten days, and he could not recover. They would not even need Cheng Kun himself to come. If only one or two second-rate masters came, such as Chen Youliang, they would have no means to resist. Thus when they saw the three monks return, they were secretly relieved. Zhang Wuji had been attacked by five monks, and the Nine Yang zhenqi within his body was gradually gathering in certain places. Though he still could not muster strength to harm an enemy, his heart was no longer as alarmed as before.

Footnotes

1. 施主 – shīzhǔ. Literally ‘benefactor’. A term of address used by monks when speaking to laypeople. ↩

2. 观世音菩萨 – Guānshìyīn Púsà. The Bodhisattva of Compassion, known in English as Guanyin. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

3. 如来佛 – Rúlái Fó. The Tathagata Buddha, an epithet of the Buddha. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

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

5. 武林 – wǔlín. Literally ‘martial forest’. The community of martial artists and their factions. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

6. 张无忌 – Zhāng Wújì. Son of Zhang Cuishan and Yin Susu. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

7. 妹 – mèi. Younger sister. Used here as a term of address. ↩

8. 少林寺 – Shàolín Sì. Shaolin Monastery, the foremost Buddhist martial arts institution. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

9. 圆真 – Yuánzhēn. Also known as Cheng Kun. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

10. 陈友谅 – Chén Yǒuliàng. A cunning strategist and leader of the Jujing Guild. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

11. 明教 – Míng Jiào. The Ming Order, a secretive martial faction. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

12. 空闻 – Kōngwén. Abbot of Shaolin Monastery. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

13. 空智 – Kōngzhì. A senior monk of Shaolin Monastery. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

14. 真气 – zhēnqì. True qi, the refined energy cultivated through neigong. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

15. 膻中穴 – Tánzhōng Xué. The Centre of the Chest acupoint, located at the sternum. ↩

16. 九阳神功 – Jiǔyáng Shéngōng. The Nine Yang Divine Skill, a legendary internal cultivation method. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

17. 丹田 – dāntián. The energy centre below the navel. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

18. 内功 – nèigōng. Internal cultivation, the practice of cultivating qi and neili. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

19. 刀 – dāo. A single-edged blade, curved and broad. ↩

20. 剑 – jiàn. A straight, double-edged sword. ↩

21. 成昆 – Chéng Kūn. Also known as Yuanzhen. A master schemer. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩