The Heavenly Sword & the Dragon Sabre – Chapter 39 – Part 5

Zhang Wuji said, “I am no strategist, I fear, and this is not my forte. I beg you all to choose someone more worthy.” Before the discussion could go further, a great clamour rose from the foot of the mountain. Two Shaolin monks came running into the hall, crying, “Abbot, the Mongol troops are storming up the mountain!”

The situation was urgent and would not suffer further refusal. Zhang Wuji had no choice but to issue his orders. “The Sharp Metal¹ and Giant Wood² Banners will take the first assault. Zhou Dian, Iron Crown Adept, you two will each support a banner.” Zhou Dian and Iron Crown Adept answered and went at once. Zhang Wuji continued, “Venerable Cannot Tell,³ I ask you to take my Holy Fire Tablets⁴ and summon reinforcements from our Order nearby. They are to come up the mountain in support.” Cannot Tell accepted the order and departed.

The heroes in the Great Hall, hearing that the Yuan troops had arrived, each drew weapon and surged out in a body.

Zhang Wuji hastened from the hall to the halfway pavilion to survey the field. The Mongol vanguard, some thousand strong, had already stormed halfway up the mountain, but a volley of stiff crossbow bolts and javelins from the Sharp Metal Banner had driven them back. Looking further, column after column of Mongol soldiers wound towards the mountain in strength, their array imposing. It was long since the days of Genghis Khan and Batu, when the Mongol iron riders had terrified foreign lands, but the Mongol cavalry had campaigned without cease for generations and remained the finest soldiers in the world.

Suddenly a great shout rose from the left. A crowd of fighters came fleeing up the mountain — it was the Emei Order, who must have met Mongol troops on the road as they descended and been forced back. Li Tianyuan and Peng Yingyu, having gone down the mountain alone, had evidently broken through and escaped. Some dozen men were carrying litters and other burdens, and these the Mongol soldiers had surrounded. Zhou Zhiruo led Jingxuan, Jingzhao and the rest in repeated charges, and though they cut down several dozen Mongol officers and men, they could not break through to rescue their fellows trapped within.

Zhang Wuji cried inwardly, No good! The man on the litter is Song shige!⁵ He called aloud, “Flood Water and Blazing Fire Banners, provide covering fire! Yang the Left Messenger, Fan the Right Messenger, Bat King Wei, follow me to rescue them.” With that he leapt down. Two Mongol soldiers thrust long spears at him. Zhang Wuji seized one in each hand, channelled his neili⁶ and, with a shake and a fling, sent both soldiers tumbling down the mountainside. He reversed the spear-points and drove them both forward like twin dragons plunging into the sea, spiralling into the throng. Yang Xiao, Fan Yao, Wei Yixiao and the rest followed close behind him. Wherever they passed the Mongol line gave way, and in moments they had cut through to where Zhou Zhiruo and her companions stood.

Zhang Wuji saw that Zhou Zhiruo’s face and body were streaked with blood. She had charged back into the Mongol ranks, and he called, “Zhiruo, Zhiruo, has Brother Song been brought back?”⁷ Zhou Zhiruo paid him no heed but lashed her whip forward, pressing the attack. The mountain path was narrow and choked with men, and she could not break through.

Zhang Wuji saw two Emei male disciples carrying a litter, trapped in a ring of enemies. They were fighting the Yuan soldiers to the death, dao in hand. He thought, Song shige must be on that litter. He angled his body and leapt, and two long spears stabbed at the mountainside beside him. Using his hands as feet, he bounded across the rock face as though treading on stilts. Still more than ten feet away, he saw the two Emei disciples fall one after the other to blade and arrow, rolling and tumbling down the slope. Zhang Wuji sprang into the air. His left hand caught the litter and checked its fall. The man within was wrapped entirely in white bandages, only his face exposed, and it was indeed Song Qingshu. Zhang Wuji cast aside the spear and took him in his arms horizontally, careful not to jolt his shattered skull. He darted left and right, dodging the dao and spear thrusts of the Yuan soldiers, yet his footing never wavered. Tang Wenliang and Zong Weixia of the Kongtong School flew to his side, twin jian guarding him. Their blades darted out and drew back in the same breath, and Mongol soldiers fell to their sword-thrusts one after another. Zhang Wuji bore Song Qingshu steadily up the mountain.

Several hundred Yuan soldiers formed rank and charged up behind them. Yang Xiao called, “Blazing Fire Banner, now!” The Blazing Fire Banner fighters sprayed fire-oil from their jets and loosed volley after volley of fire-arrows. Great tongues of flame roared forth, and the first two hundred Yuan soldiers, ablaze, rolled down the mountain like balls of fire. On the other flank the Flood Water Banner’s water-dragons spewed poisoned water, and several hundred more Mongol soldiers were drenched and lay dead or wounded in heaps. The Mongol myriarch⁸ sounded the gong to withdraw. The troops turned their van into their rear, covering the retreat with a curtain of bow-fire, and fell back in good order. Yang Xiao sighed, “The Tartars are defeated yet their ranks do not break. They are truly the finest soldiers under heaven.” The Yuan troops withdrew all the way to the foot of the mountain and fanned out in a great arc. It seemed they would not attack again at once.

Zhang Wuji gave the order, “Sharp Metal, Flood Water and Blazing Fire Banners will hold the key approaches up the mountain. Giant Wood and Thick Earth Banners are to fell timber and move earth at once, and build defences against the next assault.” The banner-chiefs of the Five Elements Banners⁹ cried their assent and each set his men to their postings.

The heroes had all supposed that, even if they could not kill every Tartar soldier, self-preservation would be no great difficulty. But this brief exchange had shown them the power of the Yuan army, and they understood at last that marching and fighting wars were things apart from single combat. When a thousand soldiers rushed forward like a tidal wave, even a woman of Zhou Zhiruo’s supreme martial skill could wield no art against the press. On every side were dao, spear, jian and halberd, hacking and slashing at random. All the seeing-the-move-and-dismantling-it, all the neili and waigong they had trained in these many years — nothing of it availed. Had the Ming Order’s Five Elements Banners not held the line with formation against formation, the summit of Shaoshi Mountain would by now have been a charnel house, and Shaolin Monastery a heap of smouldering rubble. The Shaolin monks at least fought with discipline. Companies of young monks, armed with Chan staffs and precept-knives, were posted at every key point under the direction of their elders. But they were few against many, and could not hope to hold back the assault of ten thousand Mongol veterans. When the Yuan troops withdrew, the heroes fell to discussion, and at last understood why, for all the martial prowess of the former dynasty’s great fighters, the magnificent rivers and mountains had been lost into Mongol hands.

The men had fought half a day and all were hungry. The Five Elements Banners and half the Shaolin monks held the key positions, and the rest were ushered into the monastery by the monks for a vegetarian meal. As dusk was falling, Zhang Wuji leapt to the top of a tall tree and gazed down the mountain. The Yuan soldiers were camped in clusters at the foot of the mountain, east and west, and cooking-fires sent smoke rising on every side. They were settling in for the night. He jumped down and said to Wei Yixiao, “Bat King Wei, once it is dark, I want you to scout the enemy position. Find out whether they mean to launch a night assault.” Wei Yixiao accepted the order and went. Yang Xiao said, “Guild Master, in my view the Tartars have been repulsed at the front of the mountain and are unlikely to attack again today. We must instead guard against a surprise attack from the rear.” Zhang Wuji said, “Agreed. I ask Left Messenger Yang and Right Messenger Fan to hold the fort here. I shall go to the other peak and have a look.” Zhao Min said, “I’m coming too!”

The two of them walked to the peak where Xie Xun had once been imprisoned and gazed towards the rear of the mountain. All was quiet. The Mongol encampment was dark and still. The officers and men, it seemed, had gone to their rest. Suddenly a faint sound of exertion came from the north-west. They listened carefully. The crash of force meeting force carried from a distance — plainly someone was fighting. Zhang Wuji said, “Let us see!” He took Zhao Min’s hand and, climbing high, traced the sound. In the moonlight he made out three figures racing towards the west, their movement extraordinarily swift. Each was a first-rate fighter.

Zhang Wuji put his arm about Zhao Min’s waist, unfolded his qinggong¹⁰ and gave chase. Far ahead he could see one figure fleeing and two in swift pursuit. He pressed on faster and faster, and within a li the moonlight revealed the two pursuers as old men — none other than Lu Zhangke and He Biweng. He Biweng’s left hand rose, and his crane-beak pen¹¹ flew towards the fleeing figure. She drew her jian and beat it aside with a ring of steel, flicking the crane-beak pen high into the air. In that moment’s delay Lu Zhangke had reached her side, his deer-staff thrusting out. She twisted aside and struck out with a palm. The moonlight fell on her face — it was pale as death, her long hair dishevelled. It was Zhou Zhiruo. Zhang Wuji started in alarm and drew Zhao Min behind a tree.

He Biweng caught his crane-beak pen as it fell, circling to Zhou Zhiruo’s left, so that he and Lu Zhangke attacked from both flanks.

Zhou Zhiruo ground her teeth and said, “You two old wretches keep hounding me. What do you want?” Lu Zhangke said, “We wish to beg the favour of Lady Song’s martial arts manual, that we might learn the art of the Nine Yin White Bone Claw.¹²” Zhang Wuji was startled. That yellow-gowned sister and Zhiruo’s exchange — both old men overheard it all. So they mixed in among the heroes and were never detected.

Zhou Zhiruo said, “I do have a martial arts manual, but I destroyed it as soon as I had mastered it.” Lu Zhangke laughed coldly, “Mastered it? That is easier said than done. Lady Song’s skill is outstanding, to be sure, but she can hardly have reached the very summit of perfection. If she had, a single stroke would have finished my shidi and me. Why run?” Zhou Zhiruo said, “I say it is destroyed, and so it is. I have no time for more words. Excuse me.”

Lu Zhangke and He Biweng cried in unison, “Not so fast!” Deer-staff and crane-beak pen rose together and attacked from either side.

Zhou Zhiruo’s jian flashed, and in the moonlight it writhed like a silver serpent dancing. The two Xuanming elders, one staff and two pens, pressed the assault in concert.

Until now Zhang Wuji had seen only Zhou Zhiruo’s whip-work. Now he watched her jian-play radiant and mercurial, meeting the assault of two great masters with defence and attack alike, and from time to time weaving feint into feint, bringing forth marvellous strokes. Another dozen exchanges, and Zhou Zhiruo’s jian-play grew ever more extraordinary. Seven moves in ten were fierce offensive strokes of devastating sharpness. Zhang Wuji saw that she was seeking to break free, but this manner of fighting accelerated her consumption of neili, and if her concentration slipped for an instant, disaster would follow. Anxious, he stole from behind the tree and moved closer.

Abruptly Zhou Zhiruo gave a sharp cry and thrust three swift strokes at Lu Zhangke. Lu Zhangke dodged aside. At that instant He Biweng loosed both pens from his hands and hurled them at her back. The two pens collided in mid-air with a clang and veered apart, one aiming for the base of her skull, the other for the small of her back.

Zhou Zhiruo heard the weapons behind her and shrank aside, but she had not expected the two pens to deflect off each other in flight and change direction. She avoided the stroke aimed at her head, but the second crane-beak pen, veering for her waist, was past dodging.

Zhang Wuji leapt, seized the crane-beak pen in mid-air, and struck out with his other palm to deflect He Biweng’s following strike.

Off-balance and shaken, Zhou Zhiruo could not avoid Lu Zhangke’s palm, which drifted in light as a feather and struck her full in the chest. It was the dreaded Xuanming Divine Palms.¹³ Zhou Zhiruo’s breath stopped at once and she fainted. Lu Zhangke had long coveted Zhou Zhiruo’s beauty, and seeing her fall, he rushed forward and caught her in his arms. Zhang Wuji was appalled. He flung the crane-beak pen far away, reversed his palm and struck Lu Zhangke hard on the shoulder, wrenched Zhou Zhiruo from his grasp and leapt sideways more than ten feet. He cried, “You two Xuanming elders, have you no shame?”

Lu Zhangke laughed aloud. “I wondered who dared interfere. It is Guild Master Zhang. You took our princess, and now you want Lady Song as well? Where is our princess? Where have you hidden her?”

Zhao Min stepped from behind the tree and took Zhou Zhiruo in her arms. She said with a smile, “Mr Lu, you spend every day mooning after me. Are you not afraid my father will take offence?” Lu Zhangke was furious. “You little fiend, you sowed discord between my shidi and me. My shidi and I severed all ties with your father long ago. Whether the Prince of Ruyang takes offence is no concern of mine.”

Zhang Wuji saw that Lu Zhangke had struck Zhou Zhiruo with a vicious blow, and had then spoken insolently to Zhao Min. He remembered too how, as a child, he had been struck by He Biweng’s Xuanming Divine Palms and suffered untold misery. Old hatred and fresh fury surged through him together, and he said, “Min-me, stand back. These two old wretches make my blood boil. Today I shall give them the beating they deserve.”

The two elders, seeing his hands were empty, laid aside their weapons and composed themselves to face him.

Zhang Wuji cried, “See this!” He thrust both palms forward in the move called “Grasping the Sparrow’s Tail.” The move employed Taiji Fist,¹⁴ and its delivery was slow, but the palm-force was charged with the Nine Yang Divine Skill.¹⁵ Taiji Fist, though commonplace in later ages, was in this time newly created by Zhang Sanfeng and all but unknown in the wulin.¹⁶ Lu Zhangke had never encountered palm-work so soft and seemingly powerless. Suspecting some hidden artifice, and holding Zhang Wuji in great dread, he did not dare receive the blow but dodged aside. Zhang Wuji turned, and in the move “Jade Maiden Shuttles” his left palm struck towards He Biweng while his right palm trembled, advancing and withdrawing uncertainly. He Biweng’s left forefinger feinted at his palm-centre while his right palm slashed diagonally towards Zhang Wuji’s lower abdomen.

Footnotes

1. 锐金旗 – Ruìjīn Qí. The Sharp Metal Banner, first of the Ming Order’s Five Elements Banners, specialising in projectiles and bladed weapons. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

2. 巨木旗 – Jùmù Qí. The Giant Wood Banner, second of the Five Elements Banners, specialising in the hurling of massive logs. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

3. 说不得 – Shuōbùdé. One of the Five Saints of the Ming Order, a Buddhist monk whose dharma-name means “cannot tell.” See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

4. 圣火令 – Shènghuǒ Lìng. The Holy Fire Tablets, twelve tablets of iron and platinum inscribed with the Ming Order’s most sacred precepts and martial arts. The supreme symbol of the Guild Master’s authority. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

5. 师哥 – shīgē. The colloquial form of shixiong (male senior fellow-disciple of the same shimen). Here used by Zhou Zhiruo and the other Emei disciples for Song Qingshu. ↩

6. 内力 – nèilì. Internal force; the kinetic manifestation of qi cultivated through neigong. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

7. 宋大哥 – Sòng Dàgē. “Big Brother Song,” a respectful form of address. ↩

8. 万夫长 – wànfūzhǎng. A Mongol military rank, commander of ten thousand men; a myriarch. ↩

9. 五行旗 – Wǔxíng Qí. The Five Elements Banners, the elite fighting force of the Ming Order, organised according to the five phases: Sharp Metal, Giant Wood, Flood Water, Blazing Fire and Thick Earth. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

10. 轻功 – qīnggōng. Lightness skill; the martial art of agility, leaping and movement. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

11. 鹤嘴笔 – hèzuǐbǐ. Crane-beak pen; a pointed weapon shaped like a crane’s beak, wielded in pairs by He Biweng. ↩

12. 九阴白骨爪 – Jiǔyīn Báigǔ Zhǎo. Nine Yin White Bone Claw. A sinister technique from the Nine Yin Manual, striking with clawed fingers infused with yin energy. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

13. 玄冥神掌 – Xuánmíng Shénzhǎng. The Xuanming Divine Palms. The signature technique of Lu Zhangke and He Biweng, delivering a bitter-cold yin force that can kill or cripple. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

14. 太极拳 – Tàijí Quán. Taiji Fist. The Wudang Order’s foundational unarmed technique, newly created by Zhang Sanfeng, embodying yin-yang balance through circular, continuous motion. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

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

16. 武林 – wǔlín. The martial forest; the community of martial artists and their world. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩