The Heavenly Sword & the Dragon Sabre – Chapter 39 – Part 7

Zhang Wuji did not continue punishing the two old men. He returned to Shaolin Monastery¹ together with Zhao Min and examined the wound atop her head. Seeing that it was not serious, he suddenly remembered something and said, “Min mei,² you happened to have paper on you, which made it impossible for Lu Zhangke³ not to believe.”

Zhao Min drew a bundle of paper slips from her robe with a merry smile, waved them before his face and laughed, “Guess what these are?” Zhang Wuji smiled, “Whatever you ask me to guess, I am certain to get wrong no matter what, so I shall not bother trying.” Zhao Min placed the papers in his hand.

By the light of the candle he saw that they were two small booklets, the covers yellowed with age, filled with neat characters as fine as fly-heads in dense rows. The first bore the four characters “Wu Mu Yi Shu”⁴ at the opening, and within were the essential principles of marching, battle-formation and military strategy. The second opened with the four characters “Nine Yin Zhen Jing,”⁵ and within were all manner of extraordinary martial arts. He turned to the last pages and saw, clear as day, the Nine Yin White Bone Claw⁶ and the White Serpent Whip.⁷ His heart gave a lurch. “You… you took these from Zhou guniang?”⁸

Zhao Min laughed, “When she could not move, how could I not take the opportunity to help myself? I have no wish to learn these sinister arts, but taking them and destroying them is better than leaving them in her hands to harm others.”

Zhang Wuji leafed through the Nine Yin Manual at random. After reading a few pages he found the text profound and obscure, difficult to grasp at once, yet it was certainly not the depraved and wicked martial learning he had supposed. He said, “The arts recorded in this manual are in truth exceedingly profound. If one cultivates them according to the method, in a year or two the achievement will be no small thing. But if one seeks only quick results and learns a smattering of the surface, then one harms others and harms oneself alike.” He paused, then went on, “That Sister Yang in the yellow robe, her martial art and Zhou guniang’s are plainly from the same root, yet her moves are open and upright, supremely pure and orthodox. It seems they too come from this Nine Yin Manual.”

Zhao Min said, “She said, ‘Behind Zhongnan Mountain, in the Tomb of the Living Dead, the Condor Heroes, their traces lost to the jianghu.’⁹ What do those four lines mean?” Zhang Wuji shook his head. “When we see Tai Shifu¹⁰ in days to come, perhaps he can shed light on it.”

Zhao Min nodded, then asked, “Wuji gege,¹¹ that Sister Yang gave you a small bundle. What is it?” Zhang Wuji took the blue-cloth bundle from his robe and set it on the table. “Sister Yang took it from Zhou guniang. She said, ‘All doubts shall be resolved through this.’ I have not dared open it.” Zhao Min asked, “Why not? You were afraid it might be proof of something wicked Zhou guniang had done, were you not? Your heart still cannot let her go. After I left for Mongolia, you would have gone back to her, wouldn’t you? Even if Song Qingshu¹² had not died then, he would have been a cripple. Given time, you would have been with her still, and forgotten me entirely, never giving me another thought.” As she spoke, tears spilled from her eyes like a broken string of pearls, falling in a steady stream.

Zhang Wuji drew her close with his left arm and kissed her cheek. “I only hope that time endures and nothing changes. Min mei, with you beside me, I am happier than I can say. I was afraid that opening this bundle might reveal some strange matter that would sow discord between us and rob us of the peace we have now…” Zhao Min’s face brightened. She said softly, “Then let us not look at what is inside. We shall throw it in the well. Wuji gege, I too think things are well as they are. Heaven has been very good to us. It would be best if nothing changed at all.” Zhang Wuji said, “No, things must change. We still have to be married and have a child!” Zhao Min blushed and laughed. “A little Tartar, then?” Zhang Wuji laughed. “Half of him will be Han and half of him will be Mongol. When he grows up he can go to Mongolia or come to the Central Plains. No one will call him a little southerner, and no one will call him a little Tartar either!”

Zhao Min threw her arms about Zhang Wuji’s neck. “Wuji gege, that would be wonderful.” She glanced at the bundle on the table. Curiosity got the better of her. “So long as you never change your heart towards me, there is no harm in looking.” She took the bundle and untied the silken cord.

Within lay a small white porcelain bottle, labelled in red lacquer with the five characters “Ten Fragrance Softening Sinew Powder.”¹³ Beside it were two black iron tablets, heavy in the hand. Compared to ordinary iron of the same size and thickness, these were nearly five times as heavy. On one tablet were etched seven small characters: “Pudu, East of the Mountain, Peach Blossom Island.”¹⁴ On the other was etched a map, the paths winding and complex, with tiny arrows marking the way. At the end the paths forked, and at each fork was drawn a small book. On the back of the tablet were four rows of sixteen small characters, four per row:

The Book of Wumu The Nine Yin Manual To expel the Tartars and safeguard the people This shall be the command

Zhang Wuji held the iron tablets and stared into space. “That Sister Yang asked Zhou guniang about the whereabouts of the Dragon-Slaying Dao¹⁵ and the Heavenly Jian.¹⁶ This bottle of Ten Fragrance Softening Sinew Powder was taken from Zhou guniang as well. Then our poisoning on the island, Zhu’er’s¹⁷ murder, all were Zhou guniang’s doing. The tablet says ‘This shall be the command,’ which must refer to the Dragon-Slaying Dao. So she first took the iron tablets and maps from the Dao and the Sword, then went to Peach Blossom Island to find the Book of Wumu and the Nine Yin Manual.” His heart ached. Zhiruo, Zhiruo, why did you do these things? His left hand gripped the iron tablet so tightly that his palm hurt.

Zhang Wuji reflected that he had wronged Zhao Min all along. He stared at her. Her face was drawn and haggard, her cheeks grown thin, yet a pair of bright eyes gazed back at him with deep tenderness. He understood that the suffering she had endured these past months was more than any person should bear, and his heart was filled with pity. He put his arm about her and said, his voice trembling, “Min mei, I… I truly wronged you… If not for your cleverness, this muddled fool Zhang Wuji would have killed you, and then what would I have done?” Zhao Min laughed, “Could you bring yourself to kill me? You were certain I was the murderer, yet when you saw me, why did you not strike?”

Zhang Wuji was silent a moment, then sighed. “There is no time at which I could bear to harm you, Min mei. My heart is wholly given to you, beyond my own control. If my cousin had truly been killed by your hand, I would not have known what to do. These days, as the truth has come to light step by step, though I grieve for Zhiruo, I cannot help a secret joy.” Zhao Min, hearing the sincerity in his words, leaned against him. For a long, long while neither spoke.

At length Zhao Min said softly, “Wuji gege, when we first met at Green Willow Manor,¹⁸ and afterwards fell into the underground prison together, how could we have imagined what lay ahead?” Zhang Wuji gave a soft chuckle, reached out and caught her left foot, and pulled off her shoe. Zhao Min laughed, “A grown man, bullying a weak woman.” Zhang Wuji said, “A weak woman? You are full of tricks, worse than ten men.” Zhao Min laughed, “Many thanks for the compliment, Great Order Leader.¹⁹ I am unworthy of such praise.”

At these words both laughed aloud. This exchange was precisely what they had said that day in the underground prison at Green Willow Manor. But then their words had been filled with enmity, while now they were infinitely tender.

Zhang Wuji laughed, “Are you afraid I shall tickle your foot again?” Zhao Min laughed, “I am not!” Zhang Wuji reached out and took her foot in his hand, and both of them were filled with happiness and joy.

The next morning Zhang Wuji rose early and leapt into a tall tree to scout. Below the mountain the enemy banners were unfurled, horsemen galloping to and fro, and the camp-horns sounded one after another, plainly mustering troops in great activity. He questioned the Ming Order scouts and learned that a second ten-thousand-man unit²⁰ of Yuan soldiers had arrived, bringing the total to two.

Zhang Wuji said, “Min mei!” Zhao Min answered, “Mm? What is it?” Zhang Wuji hesitated. “Nothing. I called your name on the spur of the moment.” He had meant to consult her on how to repel the Yuan army. With her quick wit, she was certain to have some cunning plan. But then he thought, She is a princess of the court. She has betrayed her father and her brother to follow me. To ask her now to devise a plan for killing her own Mongol kinsmen would be asking too much. So the words died on his lips. Zhao Min read his expression and divined his meaning. She sighed. “Wuji gege, since you can understand my difficulty, there is no need for me to say more.”

Zhang Wuji went back inside the room. He paced, without a plan. Taking out the two booklets Zhao Min had taken the night before, he read a few pages of the Nine Yin Manual, then turned to the Book of Wumu. After leafing through several chapters his eye fell by chance on the five small characters “Troops Besieged at Niutou Mountain.”²¹ His heart stirred. He read on carefully and found that it was Yue Fei’s²² account of how, when surrounded by a great Jin army, he had escaped through a hidden path, launched a surprise attack, and coordinated assaults from within and without to win a great victory, each strategy recorded in exacting detail.

Zhang Wuji slapped the table and cried, “Heaven is with me!” He closed the military treatise and sat in quiet thought. The situation on Mount Song was very different from Yue Fei’s siege at Niutou Mountain, yet the spirit of the strategy could still serve to win through surprise. The more he considered it, the greater his admiration grew. Yue Wumu was indeed a heaven-born genius, he thought. So daring a plan, how could an ordinary man conceive it? He reflected that the art of war was like martial arts: without the guidance of a master, the difference between the clumsy and the skilful was beyond measure. He dipped his finger in tea and drew the map upon the table. Though the plan was risky, he saw that it might succeed by fortune. To defeat a great host with a few, one could not rely on a formal, orderly formation. His mind was made up. He went to the Mahavira Hall and asked the abbot Kongwen²³ to summon all the heroes.

In a short while the heroes were assembled in the hall. Zhang Wuji took his station at the centre and spoke, “At present the Tartar forces are gathered below the mountain. They will surely launch a great assault before long. Though we won a small victory yesterday and blunted their sharpness, if the Tartars charge without regard for their lives, we are few and they are many, and we shall struggle to hold. I am unworthy, yet you heroes have chosen me as your temporary commander. Today we share a common enemy. I ask you all to follow my orders for the time being.” The heroes cried as one, “We shall obey your commands and not dare disobey.” Zhang Wuji said, “Good! Wu Jingcao,²⁴ Banner Master of the Sharp Metal Banner,²⁵ hear my order!”

Wu Jingcao stepped forward and bowed. “This subordinate hears the order.” He thought, The Order Leader’s first command is to me. This is a great honour. No matter how perilous the task, I must fulfil it with my life. Zhang Wuji said, “I order you to lead your banner and enforce military law. Any hero who disobeys, the Sharp Metal Banner’s long spears and short axes shall deal with them. No exception, even for elders of our own Order or seniors of the jianghu.”²⁶ Wu Jingcao cried, “I receive the order!” He drew a small white flag from his robe and held it aloft. Wu Jingcao’s own skill and reputation had not reached the first rank in the jianghu, and others had not paid him much heed. But after the Five Elements Banners’ display of might the other day in the square, all knew that wherever that white flag went, five hundred feathered arrows, five hundred throwing spears and five hundred short axes would follow. No matter how great a man’s skill, in an instant he would be reduced to a pulp of flesh. Seeing the white flag wave, every heart gave a start.

The truth was, Zhang Wuji, upon reading the Book of Wumu, had seen that its first chapter declared, “The way of army command is strict discipline first.” He knew these jianghu heroes were each self-possessed and accustomed to doing as they pleased. Individually their martial arts were strong, but gathered together they were a rabble. Without strict orders, so that all obeyed, they could not stand against the Mongol elite. So his first act was to order the Sharp Metal Banner to enforce the law.

Zhang Wuji pointed to the screen wall²⁷ before the hall. “Heroes all, any who possess skill in qinggong²⁸ sufficient to leap atop this wall, please demonstrate.” At once a number of faces among the heroes darkened with displeasure. What sort of moment is this, they thought, for him to ask us to leap walls like children? Some of the older masters were deeply offended, feeling he had underrated them.

Zhang Songxi²⁹ stepped forward from among the rest. “I can leap it.” He sprang atop the screen wall and turned lightly over the other side. The Wudang Order’s Ladder to the Clouds³⁰ qinggong was renowned throughout the world, and with Zhang Songxi’s ability, to clear that wall was as nothing. Yet he made no show of it, simply leaping up and turning over in strict obedience to the command, nothing more.

Then Yu Lianzhou,³¹ Yin Liting,³² Yang Xiao,³³ Fan Yao³⁴ and Wei Yixiao³⁵ followed in turn. The heroes leapt over the wall like butterflies threading through flowers, one after another. Some displayed their qinggong and performed tricks in mid-air. Over four hundred had leapt before no more would try. That screen wall was tall indeed, and without considerable qinggong it was no easy thing to clear it in a bound. The heroes’ cultivation varied greatly. Those who excelled in fist-work and weapons often had unremarkable qinggong. Every renowned figure in the jianghu knew his own strengths and weaknesses, and none would willingly expose a shortcoming before the crowd.

Footnotes

1. 少林寺 – Shào Lín Sì. The Shaolin Monastery, the foremost Buddhist martial school in the wulin. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

2. 妹 – mèi. Younger sister; a term of endearment. Zhang Wuji’s affectionate address for Zhao Min. ↩

3. 鹿杖客 – Lù Zhàngkè. The Deer-Staff Guest, the elder of the Xuanming Elders. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

4. 武穆遗书 – Wǔ Mù Yí Shū. The Book of Wumu; the military treatise left behind by Yue Fei, posthumously honoured as Yue Wumu. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

5. 九阴真经 – Jiǔ Yīn Zhēn Jīng. The Nine Yin Manual; a comprehensive martial encyclopedia focusing on yin-energy cultivation. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

6. 九阴白骨爪 – Jiǔ Yīn Bái Gǔ Zhǎo. Literally Nine Yin White Bone Claw. A vicious technique from the Nine Yin Manual. ↩

7. 白蟒鞭 – Bái Mǎng Biān. Literally White Serpent Whip. A whip technique from the Nine Yin Manual. ↩

8. 姑娘 – gū niang. Young lady; a respectful form of address for an unmarried woman. ↩

9. 终南山后，活死人墓，神雕侠侣，绝迹江湖 – Zhōngnán Shān hòu, huó sǐrén mù, shén diāo xiá lǚ, jué jì jiānghú. Behind Zhongnan Mountain, in the Tomb of the Living Dead, the Condor Heroes, their traces lost to the jianghu. A reference to Yang Guo and Xiaolongnü from Return of the Condor Heroes. ↩

10. 太师父 – tài shī fù. Grand shifu; one’s shifu’s shifu. Zhang Sanfeng is Zhang Wuji’s grand shifu. ↩

11. 哥哥 – gē ge. Elder brother; a term of affection and familiarity. ↩

12. 宋青书 – Sòng Qīngshū. Song Yuanqiao’s son of the Wudang Order, gravely wounded and incapacitated. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

13. 十香软筋散 – Shíxiāng Ruǎnjīn Sǎn. Lit. Ten Fragrance Softening Sinew Powder. A potent poison that saps the victim’s neili, rendering them limp and helpless. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

14. 桃花岛 – Táo Huā Dǎo. Lit. Peach Blossom Island. The island stronghold of the Eastern Heretic Huang Yaoshi. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

15. 屠龙刀 – Túlóng Dāo. Lit. Dragon-Slaying Dao. The legendary blade forged from Yang Guo’s Heavy Iron Sword. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

16. 倚天剑 – Yǐtiān Jiàn. Lit. Heaven-Reliant Sword. The legendary jian forged alongside the Dragon-Slaying Dao. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

17. 蛛儿 – Zhū’ér. Spider Girl; the nickname of Yin Li, Zhang Wuji’s cousin. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

18. 绿柳山庄 – Lǜliǔ Shānzhuāng. Green Willow Manor; the estate where Zhao Min first encountered Zhang Wuji and the Ming Order. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

19. 教主 – jiào zhǔ. Order Leader; the head of a martial or religious order. Here applied to Zhang Wuji as leader of the Ming Order. ↩

20. 万人队 – wàn rén duì. A ten-thousand-man unit; the Mongol military formation, equivalent to a tumän. ↩

21. 兵困牛头山 – bīng kùn Niútóu Shān. Troops besieged at Niutou Mountain; a chapter from the Book of Wumu describing Yue Fei’s escape from encirclement. ↩

22. 岳飞 – Yuè Fēi. The great Song-dynasty general, posthumously honoured as Yue Wumu. Revered as a model of loyalty and military genius. ↩

23. 空闻 – Kōng Wén. The abbot of Shaolin Monastery. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

24. 吴劲草 – Wú Jìngcǎo. Banner Master of the Sharp Metal Banner of the Ming Order. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

25. 锐金旗 – Ruìjīn Qí. The Sharp Metal Banner, one of the Five Elements Banners of the Ming Order. Specialised in projectiles and thrown weapons. ↩

26. 江湖 – jiānghú. Lit. rivers and lakes. The itinerant martial world; the circuit of fighters and their affairs. ↩

27. 照壁 – zhào bì. A screen wall; a decorative wall set just inside the entrance of a courtyard, blocking the direct line of sight. ↩

28. 轻功 – qīng gōng. Lightness skill; the martial art of agility and levity. ↩

29. 张松溪 – Zhāng Sōngxī. The fourth of the Seven Xias of Wudang. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

30. 梯云纵 – Tīyún Zòng. Lit. Ladder to the Clouds. The most celebrated qinggong of the Wudang Order, enabling the practitioner to change direction in mid-air as though climbing an invisible ladder of cloud. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

31. 俞莲舟 – Yú Liánzhōu. The second of the Seven Xias of Wudang. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

32. 殷梨亭 – Yīn Lítíng. The sixth of the Seven Xias of Wudang. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

33. 杨逍 – Yáng Xiāo. The Bright Left Messenger of the Ming Order. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

34. 范遥 – Fàn Yáo. The Bright Right Messenger of the Ming Order, also known as Bitter Dhūta. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

35. 韦一笑 – Wéi Yīxiào. The Green Winged Bat King of the Ming Order’s Four Guardian Kings. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩