The Heavenly Sword & the Dragon Sabre – Chapter 35 – Part 4

Suddenly, bang! One monk kicked the door open and charged in. A flash of green steel, a trembling red tassel: he held a long spear. Zhao Min cried, “Aiyo!” She thrust the dagger in her hand towards Zhang Wuji. He shook his head and did not take it. He was bitterly aware: *I have not a shred of strength in my hands. Even with a weapon, how could I fight? My flesh-and-blood body cannot block steel.*

The thought had barely formed when the enemy’s spear spun out a coiling flower, the red tassel burst open, and the spearhead lunged for his chest.

The thrust came fast, but Zhao Min’s mind was faster. She reached into Zhang Wuji’s robe, pulled out a Holy Fire Tablet¹ and held it before his chest just as the spearhead arrived. Clang! The spear-tip struck the Holy Fire Tablet squarely. Not even the Heavenly Jian could cut through the tablet. The spear-point bounced off unmarked. The force of the thrust triggered Zhang Wuji’s Nine Yang Divine Skill² and reflected back. A long, drawn-out scream, “Aaah…”, as the spear-shaft drove into the monk’s own chest.

He had not yet fallen before the second monk’s single dao came chopping towards Zhang Wuji’s crown. Zhao Min feared one tablet would not stop the blade. She seized one in each hand and held them above his head in a flash. The timing was hair-thin. Clang! The dao rebounded, and the flat of the blade smashed the evil monk’s forehead, crushing his skull. But the blade’s edge had sliced away a sliver of Zhao Min’s left little finger. In the extremity of the moment, she felt no pain.

The third monk had just reached the doorway when he saw his two companions die almost simultaneously. He screamed and turned to flee.

Zhao Min shouted, “Don’t let him escape!” Her right hand hurled the Holy Fire Tablet out the window. Her aim was true, but her strength was gone. The tablet fell to the ground before it reached him. Zhang Wuji wrapped his arms around her and called, “Throw again!” Channelling what little zhenqi he could gather through his chest into her back, he lent her his remaining energy. Zhao Min’s left hand sent the second tablet flying. The monk needed only two more steps to reach the cover of the screen wall, but the tablet struck him in the back with blinding speed. He spat a gush of blood and died.

The moment the Holy Fire Tablets left their hands, Zhang Wuji and Zhao Min both lost consciousness. They clutched each other and tumbled from the bed. In the east room lay six dead monks, and in the courtyard, two more. The two of them lay collapsed among the corpses in a pool of blood. The little temple on the barren hill, the cold moon, the clear wind. In an instant, not a single sound remained.

After a long while, Zhao Min came to first. Still half-dazed, she reached out to feel Zhang Wuji’s breath. Though faint, it was long and steady. She forced herself up but had no strength to lift him onto the bed. Instead she straightened his body, raised his head, and pillowed it on one of the dead monks. She sat among the corpses, panting.

After another long while, Zhang Wuji opened his eyes. “Min mei,³ where are you?”

Zhao Min gave a radiant smile. Cold moonlight poured through the window. Each saw the other’s face covered in blood, ordinarily a horrifying sight, but after surviving such an ordeal, each found the other unspeakably beautiful. They opened their arms and held each other.

In the fierce fighting that had just passed, Zhang Wuji had not spent a single ounce of his own strength in killing the first seven monks. He had borrowed force from force, and far from being harmed, had actually benefited. But the final throw of the Holy Fire Tablet at the eighth monk had drained them both. Now neither could move. They could only lie among the dead, waiting for strength to return. Zhao Min bandaged her wounded little finger and drifted off to sleep.

It was not until midday the following day that they both fully woke. Zhang Wuji sat in meditation and circulated his qi for the better part of a shichen.⁴ His spirits revived somewhat. He braced himself to stand. His stomach was growling. He stumbled to the kitchen and found a pot of rice: half had turned to black charcoal, the other half was scorched and foul. He filled a bowl and brought it to the room.

Zhao Min laughed. “We are in a sorry state today. This is between Heaven and earth, you and me, not to be spoken of to outsiders.” They looked at each other and laughed, then ate the burnt rice with their fingers, finding it more delicious than the finest mountain delicacies and sea treasures.

They had not finished half a bowl when they heard the distant sound of hooves striking stone.

Clang! The earthen bowl slipped from Zhao Min’s hand and shattered on the floor. The two stared at each other, hearts pounding. The riders, two of them, reached the temple gate and stopped. Four strikes on the door knocker. A pause. Four more.

Zhang Wuji whispered, “What do we do?”

From outside came a voice: “Third Brother Shangguan, it’s me, Qin the Fifth.”

Zhao Min whispered, “They are about to break in. Let us play dead and adapt.”

The two lay face-down among the corpses. They had barely settled when, with a tremendous bang, the temple door was smashed open. From the force of it, the person who did it possessed considerable strength.

Zhao Min’s mind stirred. “Lie by the door and block their retreat.” Zhang Wuji nodded and crawled to the threshold.

Two cries of surprise. Shua-shua, the two newcomers drew their weapons, having seen the two corpses in the courtyard. One said in a low voice, “Careful. Watch for ambush.” The other bellowed, “Friends! Skulking in hiding, what sort of heroes are you? If you have guts, come out and fight to the death!” His voice was rough and full-throated, clearly the strong one who had broken the door.

He shouted several times but got no answer. “The bastards have fled,” he said.

The other, with a hoarse voice, replied, “Search the place. Don’t fall into the enemy’s trap.”

Qin the Fifth said, “Brother Shou, you search east, I’ll search west.”

Shou seemed afraid. “I fear there are many enemies. We should not split up.”

Qin the Fifth did not respond. Shou suddenly cried, “Yi!” He pointed at the east room. “There are… there are more corpses inside!”

The two walked to the door and saw the small room strewn with bodies in every direction.

Qin the Fifth said, “The eight brothers of this temple, all killed. Who did this?”

Shou said, “Fifth Brother Qin, we must return to the monastery at once and… and… report to…” He had almost blurted a name before catching himself.

Qin the Fifth hesitated. “Master ordered us to deliver the invitations quickly. The Lion-Slaying Heroes’ Assembly⁵ must be held at the Double Ninth Festival.⁶ If we delay, we will be punished.”

When Zhang Wuji heard the words Lion-Slaying Heroes’ Assembly, a tumult of emotions surged through him: surprise, joy, shame, anger. He thought, Their master is sending out invitations far and wide, gathering all the world’s heroes to kill my sworn father in public. That means before the Double Ninth Festival, his life is safe. I have failed to protect him. I have let him fall into the hands of villains and suffer humiliation. No unfilial, unrighteous act could be worse.

His anger grew. He longed to kill these two scoundrels on the spot, but feared they might flee while he lacked the strength to pursue. His only hope was to let them enter the room, then block their retreat and use the Nine Yang rebounding force to destroy them.

But the two, seeing the room full of corpses, had no desire to enter. They stood in the courtyard and conferred.

Shou said, “A matter this grave, we must report to Master quickly.”

Qin the Fifth said, “Very well. Let us divide the tasks. I will deliver the invitations. You go back to the monastery and inform Master.”

Shou worried about meeting enemies on the road and hesitated. Qin the Fifth grew annoyed. “Then you choose. Deliver the invitations if you like.” Shou thought it over and decided returning to the mountain was safer. “As you wish, Fifth Brother Qin. I will go back to the monastery.”

The two turned to leave.

Zhao Min shifted her body and gave a low moan. Qin and Shou started and looked back. They saw the woman move again, and now they could see it was a female.

Qin the Fifth asked in surprise, “Who is this woman?” He stepped into the room. Shou, though timid, saw she was a woman and gravely wounded, so he followed.

Qin the Fifth reached out to grab Zhao Min’s shoulder.

Zhang Wuji gave a cough and sat upright, crossing his legs and circulating his qi, his eyes half-closed. The two men saw him suddenly rise, his face covered in blood, his expression ghastly. They both started back in terror.

Shou screamed, “It is a corpse transformation! The jiangshi’s⁷ vengeful spirit will not rest!”

Qin the Fifth shouted, “I, Qin, am not afraid of ghosts!” He raised his dao and hacked towards Zhang Wuji’s head.

Zhang Wuji already held two Holy Fire Tablets in his hands. He raised them above his head. Clang! The dao struck the tablet and rebounded, smashing Qin the Fifth’s skull. He died on the spot.

Shou gripped his Ghost-Head Dao,⁸ his arm trembling. He wanted to hack at Zhang Wuji but dared not. Zhang Wuji only waited for him to strike. Then the Nine Yang zhenqi would rebound and finish him.

Zhao Min was anxious: the man was so terrified he would not attack. If he dropped his dao and ran, they would have no defence against him.

They saw his teeth chattering, ge-ge-ge, and then, pa, the Ghost-Head Dao fell to the ground.

Zhang Wuji said, “If you have the guts, hack at me. Punch me.”

The man said, “I… I have no guts. I dare not touch you, lord.”

“Then kick me. Try it.”

“I… I dare not do that either.”

Zhang Wuji said angrily, “You useless coward. You will only die more miserably later. Hack at me twice with your dao. If I see your strength is decent, perhaps I will spare your life.”

“Yes, yes!” The man bent to pick up his dao, glimpsed the ruin of Qin the Fifth’s shattered skull, and thought, This walking corpse’s magic is too powerful. I had better beg for mercy. He fell to his knees and kowtowed. “Spare me, lord! You were wrongfully killed. It has nothing to do with me. Please do not claim my life.”

Zhao Min was angry that he thought Zhang Wuji was a corpse. She snorted. “There are truly pathetic creatures even in the wulin.⁹”

The man said, “Yes, yes! I am pathetic, pathetic. Truly a servant, truly a servant!”

He dared not attack, and Zhang Wuji had no plan for him. Suddenly an idea came. He shouted, “Come here.”

The man crawled forward on his knees. “Yes!”

Zhang Wuji reached out both hands and pressed his thumbs on the man’s eyeballs. “I will gouge your eyes out first.”

The man was terrified. Without thinking, he thrust his hands up and shoved Zhang Wuji’s arms away with all his strength. Zhang Wuji had been counting on just that push. Borrowing the man’s own force, his arms slid down and he sealed the Shenfeng¹⁰ and Bulang acupoints beneath the man’s chest. The man went numb and collapsed, crying, “Spare me, lord, spare me! So you are not a walking corpse. That means you must spare me all the more!” By now, lying before Zhang Wuji, he could see the man was alive.

Footnotes

1. 圣火令 – Shènghuǒ Lìng. Literally sacred fire tablets. Twelve tablets brought from Persia, forged from an unknown metal harder than any blade, carrying the Ming Order’s most profound martial arts and serving as the tokens of its authority. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

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

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

4. 时辰 – shíchén. A two-hour period; the traditional Chinese day is divided into twelve shichen. ↩

5. 屠狮英雄会 – Túshī Yīngxióng Huì. Lion-Slaying Heroes’ Assembly — a grand gathering convened to publicly execute Xie Xun, the “Golden-Haired Lion King.” ↩

6. 重阳节 – Chóngyáng Jié. The Double Ninth Festival, on the ninth day of the ninth lunar month. ↩

7. 僵尸 – jiāngshī. Jiangshi, or “hopping corpse” — in Chinese folklore, a reanimated corpse whose spirit has not passed on. ↩

8. 鬼头刀 – guǐtóu dāo. Ghost-Head Dao, a broad-bladed executioner’s weapon. ↩

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

10. 神封穴 – Shénfēng xué. Shenfeng acupoint (CV-21), located on the chest, one of the vital points in traditional Chinese medicine. ↩