The Heavenly Sword & the Dragon Sabre – Chapter 35 – Part 6

The two followed her inside. The room was tidy, the plank table and wooden benches scrubbed clean, and the old woman's coarse-cloth gown washed free of dust. Zhao Min was pleased. After drinking her water, she took out a silver ingot and smiled. “Granny, my brother was taking me to my grandmother's house, but my legs cramped on the road and I could walk no further. I'd like to stay the night and set off again at first light.”

The old woman said, “Staying a night is no trouble, and there’s no need for silver. But we’ve only one room and one bed. Even if my old man and I give it up, you two can’t share a bed, can you? Heh heh, little girl, tell Granny the truth. Have you run off with your lover behind your father’s back?”

Zhao Min flushed crimson. The old woman had hit the truth square on the mark. She thought the woman’s eye was sharp indeed, and her speech did not sound like that of an ordinary farmer’s wife. She studied her more closely. Though bent with age, the woman’s eyes gleamed with spirit. She might well possess martial skill. Zhao Min knew that Zhang Wuji still passably resembled a common farmer, but her own bearing and manner of speech could never pass for a farm girl. She whispered, “Since Granny has guessed, I cannot hide it. This Brother Zeng¹ and I have been sweet on each other since childhood, but my father thought his family too poor and refused the match. My mother saw me threatening to kill myself and took pity, giving her consent for me to follow him… follow him out. My mother said that in two or three years, when we had… had a child, we could return home, and even if father still refused, he would have to accept it.” As she spoke, her cheeks burned, and she stole glances at Zhang Wuji, her eyes brimming with tenderness. “Our family is well-known in Dadu, and my father is an official. If we are caught, Ah Niu² will surely be beaten to death by my father. Granny, I’ve told you, but you mustn’t tell anyone.”

The old woman chuckled and nodded. “When I was young, I was quite the romantic myself. Don’t worry. I’ll give you my room. This place is remote. Your family will never find you, and if anyone tries to trouble you, Granny won’t stand by with folded arms.” She found Zhao Min gentle and beautiful, and the girl’s frank confidence in telling her secret won her goodwill. She resolved to help them and bring their affair to a good end.

Zhao Min heard her words and knew she was a figure of the wulin.³ This place lay close to Shaolin Monastery,⁴ and she could not tell whether the woman was friend or foe of Cheng Kun.⁵ She must be careful and betray no flaw. She bowed gracefully and said, “If Granny is willing to speak for us two, I am deeply grateful. Ah Niu, come and thank Granny.”

Zhang Wuji came forward as instructed and offered a bow of thanks.

The old woman beamed and nodded. She gave up her room at once and set up a plank bed in the main hall, padding it with straw and covering it with a grass mat.

When the two entered the room, Zhang Wuji whispered, “That old farmer tending the vegetables has even greater skill. Did you notice?”

Zhao Min said, “Ah, I didn’t see it.”

Zhang Wuji said, “He carried dung-water on his shoulders, walking very slowly, yet the two buckets never swayed at all. That is very high neili⁶ cultivation.”

Zhao Min asked, “How does he compare to you?”

Zhang Wuji smiled. “Let me try and see if I can manage it.” He scooped her into his arms and hoisted her onto his shoulder as though carrying a load on a yoke.

Zhao Min giggled. “Aiya! Are you treating me as a dung-bucket?”

The old woman outside heard their affectionate banter, and the faint suspicion she had harboured vanished at once.

That evening the two dined with the old couple, with chicken and meat on the table. Zhang Wuji and Zhao Min deliberately pinched each other’s hands and brushed elbows, like a pair of lovers who had fled together, as thick as honey, unable to part for a moment. At first it was mere pretence, but by degrees it became natural. The old woman watched and smiled. The old farmer seemed not to notice, keeping his eyes on his rice.

After the meal Zhang Wuji and Zhao Min went into the room and bolted the door. Their play-acting at the table had stirred them both. Zhao Min’s face flushed. She whispered, “Ours is pretend. It mustn’t be made real.”

Zhang Wuji drew her into his arms and kissed her. He whispered, “If it’s pretend, how could we have a child in two or three years to take home and show your father?”

Zhao Min blushed. “Pfui! So you were hiding and listening to everything I said.”

Though Zhang Wuji joked with her without restraint, he could not forget that he and Zhou Zhiruo were already pledged in marriage. Though he secretly hoped that in the end all might be well between the three of them, he must wed Zhou Zhiruo before any matter with Zhao Min could be spoken of. Now with her warm fragrance in his arms, he could not help but be stirred, yet he restrained himself. He kissed only her cherry lips and pink cheeks, then helped her onto the bed. He lay down himself on the plank bench before it, regulated his breathing and practised his neigong,⁷ cycling his Nine Yang zhenqi⁸ through twelve circuits before falling asleep.

Zhao Min, however, lay hot-faced and heart-pounding, turning this way and that, unable to sleep. Deep into the night, as she dozed, she heard the sound of footsteps approaching swiftly from afar. She reached to push Zhang Wuji awake, but he had already roused at the sound and reached for her. Their hands met and clasped.

A clear voice spoke outside the door, “Worthy Du and his lady, greetings. An old friend visits by night. Would it be rude to impose?”

After a pause, the old woman answered from within: “Are you the Three Swords of Xiliang?⁹ My husband and I fled from northern Sichuan to escape your Yuzhen Daoist Order.¹⁰ We are involved in a trifling matter, not a true blood feud. After all these years, why does Yuzhen still press us so hard? As the saying goes: in killing a man, the worst is no more than a nod of the head.”

The man outside laughed. “If you two are truly afraid, kowtow three times to us. Yuzhen will let the past be past and settle the account.”

The plank door creaked open. The old woman said, “Your news travels fast, to have tracked us here.”

The moon had begun to wane, its silver light flooding the ground. Zhang Wuji and Zhao Min peered through a crack in the window and saw three yellow-capped Adepts standing at the door. The middle one had a short bristling beard and was both short and fat. He said, “Will the worthy couple kowtow and apologise, or will we decide life and death on double hooks and chain spear?”

The old woman had not yet answered when the deaf-mute old man strode out and stood before the door, hands on hips, eyeing the three Adepts coldly. The old woman followed and stood at her husband’s side.

The short-bearded Adept said, “Why does Old Master Du say nothing? Does he deem the Three Swords of Xiliang beneath his notice?”

The old woman said, “My husband is deaf. He cannot hear your words.”

The short-bearded Adept said, “Eh?” “Old Master Du’s art of distinguishing weapons by the wind they make is unmatched in the wulin. How can his ears be deaf? Pity, pity.”

The fatter Adept beside him drew his jian¹¹ with a whistle of steel. “Du Baidang,¹² Yi Sanniang,¹³ why do you not take up your weapons?”

The old woman Yi Sanniang said, “Daoist Elder Ma,¹⁴ you are still as hasty as ever. And you two Daoist Elders Shao, I have not seen you in years, yet your hair has turned grey. Heh heh. You cannot let go of such a trifle. Why trouble yourselves?” Her hands rose suddenly. In each palm gleamed the blue light of three short blades, each less than half a foot long, six in all. The deaf-mute old man Du Baidang followed suit, raising his hands to reveal six short blades of his own. The blades rolled from his left hand to his right and from his right to his left, as nimble as fingers crossing, with flawless skill.

The three Adepts paused. In the wulin no such weapons had ever been seen. They might have been flying daggers, but flying daggers were never wielded in this fashion. Du Baidang had long been famed in northern Sichuan for his double hooks, and his wife Yi Sanniang was skilled with the chain spear. Now the couple had abandoned the weapons they had practised for decades. Those twelve short blades must conceal fearsome and strange techniques.

The fat Adept Ma Fatong’s jian trembled. He intoned solemnly, “Three Talents Sword Formation: Heaven, Earth, and Man.”

The short-bearded Adept Shao He took up the verse: “Stars chase, lightning follows, forth from Yuzhen.”

The three Adepts’ footsteps shifted and at once enclosed the old couple in the centre.

Zhang Wuji watched the three Adepts weaving left and right, threading in and out. The formation did not resemble Three Talents. The three jian wove a net of light, yet did not press the attack. When the three Adepts drew within seven or eight paces, Zhang Wuji had grasped the principle. He thought, These three Adepts are cunning. They call this the Three Talents Sword Formation, but they conceal within it the reversed and forward Five Elements.¹⁵ If an enemy believes them and tries to break it by the Heaven, Earth, and Man positions, he at once falls into the Five Elements and can neither escape nor avoid harm. Three men yet wielding a Five Elements Sword Formation, each managing more than one cycle of generation and conquest. Their qinggong¹⁶ and swordcraft must be quite formidable.

The old couple stood back to back. Four hands flashed with silver light. Twelve short blades wheeled and returned, weaving three rings of light in the moonlight about their persons. The two not only exchanged blades between their own hands, but Du Baidang’s blades passed to his wife’s and Yi Sanniang’s blades to her husband’s, yet not a single blade was thrown. They handed them across with honest, steady passes, as though passing cups of wine.

Zhao Min found it strange and whispered, “What trick are they playing?” Zhang Wuji frowned and did not answer. After watching a while longer, he suddenly said, “Ah, I understand. He is afraid of my sworn father’s Lion’s Roar.”¹⁷ Zhao Min asked, “What Lion’s Roar?” Zhang Wuji nodded repeatedly, then gave a cold laugh. “Hmph. With just this bit of skill, they think they can hunt lions and tame tigers?” Zhao Min could not follow his meaning. “What riddle are you talking to yourself about? It’s making me thoroughly confused.” Zhang Wuji whispered, “These five are all my sworn father’s enemies. The old man was so afraid of my sworn father’s Lion’s Roar that he deliberately pierced his own ears deaf…” Before he could finish, a rapid clanging like a string of pearls filled the air, and the five had joined combat.

The Three Swords of Xiliang attacked five times in succession, each time beaten back. The couple’s twelve short blades spiralled and returned, linking three circles of light in the moonlight about their persons, a defence so tight nothing could pass. The three swords, finding no success in attack, at once turned to defence.

Du Baidang slipped forward, his short blades darting at the lean Adept Shao Yan’s¹⁸ belly. A saying runs in martial arts: “An inch of length, an inch of strength. An inch of shortness, an inch of danger.” The short blades were no more than nine inches long, truly dangerous to the utmost. He slashed three times in rapid succession, all attack, giving no thought to his own defence.

Ma Fatong and Shao He thrust their jian, but Yi Sanniang swept her short blades to parry. Only then did they realise the couple had trained this bladework together: one attacked while the other defended, the two so tightly paired that the attacker need not guard and the defender need not strike. Shao Yan, pressed by three consecutive thrusts, was driven into confusion and retreated again and again. Du Baidang plunged into his guard, each blade aiming at a vital point, growing ever more perilous.

Shao He gave a long whistle. His sword-moves changed. He and Ma Fatong thrust their jian from the side, weaving a net of steel that forced Du Baidang back beyond three feet. The three swords defended in concert, so tight that not a splash of water could have passed.

Zhang Wuji whispered in Zhao Min’s ear, “Both these sets of bladework and swordwork were trained to deal with my sworn father. You see how much they defend and how little they attack. Their defence outstrips their offence. They could fight a day and a night more and still not decide.” Sure enough, Du Baidang, after several unsuccessful attacks, abandoned offence and turned to defence.

Zhao Min whispered, “The Golden-Haired Lion King’s martial arts are supreme. These five rely on defence alone. How can they win?”

Footnotes

1. 曾 – Zēng. A fictitious surname Zhao Min adopts for her cover story. ↩

2. 阿牛 – Ā Niú. “Ah Niu,” lit. “Ox,” a common rustic nickname. ↩

3. 武林 – wǔlín. The martial forest, the community of martial artists. ↩

4. 少林寺 – Shàolín Sì. Shaolin Monastery, the famed Buddhist monastery on Mount Song. ↩

5. 成昆 – Chéng Kūn. Cheng Kun, the main antagonist, also known by his dharma name Yuanzhen. ↩

6. 内力 – nèilì. Internal force, the kinetic manifestation of qi cultivated through neigong. ↩

7. 内功 – nèigōng. Internal cultivation, the training of neili. ↩

8. 真气 – zhēnqì. True qi, refined qi from internal cultivation. ↩

9. 西凉 – Xīliáng. Western Liang, an ancient region corresponding to parts of modern Gansu. ↩

10. 玉真观 – Yùzhēn Guàn. Yuzhen Daoist Order, a Daoist sect based in Qinghai. ↩

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

12. 杜百当 – Dù Bǎidāng. Du Baidang, a martial artist famed in northern Sichuan for his double hooks, now deafened by his own choice. ↩

13. 易三娘 – Yì Sānniáng. Yi Sanniang, Du Baidang’s wife, skilled with the chain spear. ↩

14. 马法通 – Mǎ Fǎtōng. Ma Fatong, one of the Three Swords of Xiliang from Yuzhen Daoist Order. ↩

15. 五行 – wǔxíng. The Five Elements (metal, wood, water, fire, earth), whose cycles of generation and conquest underpin many martial formations. ↩

16. 轻功 – qīnggōng. Lightness skill, the martial art of agility and weightlessness. ↩

17. 狮子吼 – Shīzi hǒu. Lion’s Roar. A fearsome sonic technique; in Xie Xun’s case, capable of incapacitating or killing anyone within earshot who lacks sufficient neili to resist. ↩

18. 邵雁 – Shào Yàn. Shao Yan, the lean Adept of the Three Swords of Xiliang. ↩