The Heavenly Sword & the Dragon Sabre Chapter 5 Part 8

Chang Jinpeng¹ threw back his head with a ringing laugh, then with a flick of his wrist, hurled the Dragon-Slaying Dao² into the blazing cauldron.

The crash of toppling pines had not yet ceased when a new sound reached them from the distance, the crack and splinter of wood, as though someone else were felling great trees. Bai Guishou³ and Chang Jinpeng exchanged startled glances and turned toward the harbour. Ship masts were toppling one after another, each bearing the pennant of its faction. The leaders of the Tianying Order,⁴ the Jujing Guild, the Haisha School, and the Shenquan School watched in dismay as their banners tumbled with the masts, and fury seized them all. Each dispatched subordinates to investigate.

Crashes and thuds followed in relentless succession. Within moments, every mast in the harbour had been toppled or shattered, and it seemed as though every vessel anchored in the bay had been struck by some sudden tempest or sea creature, shattering and sinking one by one. The warriors gathered upon the turf were struck dumb by this catastrophe. At first they suspected it was a trap laid by the Tianying Order, but the Order’s own ships had suffered the same fate, which argued against that theory.

A second wave of men rushed toward the harbour. Yet of the dozen or more who had gone to investigate, not a single one returned.

The assembly exchanged uneasy glances, fear and bewilderment written upon every face. Bai Guishou turned to one of his branch masters⁵ and said, “Go and see what has happened.”

The Branch Master obeyed. Bai Guishou forced a composed smile. “Some disturbance at sea, no doubt. There is no cause for alarm. Even if every ship is destroyed, we can still build rafts to carry us back. Come now, let us drink!”

The warriors’ thoughts were in turmoil, but none wished to betray weakness before his peers. They raised their cups in unison. The wine had scarcely touched their lips when a terrible scream tore across the island from the direction of the harbour, a cry of such agony that it pierced the very sky.

Bai Guishou and Chang Jinpeng recognised the voice at once. It was the Branch Master who had just been dispatched. Before either could react, heavy footsteps, each one striking the earth with ominous weight, drew nearer and nearer. Then a figure staggered into view before the assembled company. It was the Branch Master, drenched in blood.

Both hands clutched at his face, blood seeping between his fingers. A strip of scalp had been torn from his crown, and from his chest to his belly and down his thigh, his garments hung in shreds, a single very long wound of unknowable depth, the flesh a bloody blur. He screamed, “The Golden-Haired Lion King! The Golden-Haired Lion King!”

The words were scarcely past his lips before his strength gave out. He pitched forward and struck the earth, dead.

Yin Susu,⁶ Bai Guishou, and the others all knew the Golden-Haired Lion King by reputation. The name alone sent a shock of horror through them. Bai Guishou said, “I will go and see.”

Chang Jinpeng replied, “I will come with you.”

Bai Guishou said, “Protect Miss Yin.”

Chang Jinpeng nodded. “Understood.”

A deep, resonant voice cut through the air, “The Golden-Haired Lion King has been here all along.”

The words were thick and heavy, buzzing in every ear like the drone of a great bell. The assembly started as one. From behind the trees, a figure emerged at an unhurried pace. He was a man of towering stature, his mane of golden hair falling loose about his shoulders. His eyes glittered a deep green. In his hand he bore a wolf-fang club⁷ thirteen or fourteen feet in length. He planted himself before the feast tables, awe-inspiring, for all the world like a god or a heavenly general.

Zhang Cuishan⁸ pondered in silence, The Golden-Haired Lion King? The sobriquet plainly comes from that mane of yellow hair. But who is he? Shifu has never mentioned such a man.

Bai Guishou, however, knew full well who stood before them. Observing the protocols of the jianghu,⁹ he stepped forward several paces, clasped his hands, and said, “Might I have the honour of addressing Dharma King Xie?”¹⁰

The stranger replied, “You are too kind. My surname is indeed Xie, my given name Xun, my courtesy name Tuisi. I bear a modest sobriquet: they call me the Golden-Haired Lion King.”

Zhang Cuishan thought, His bearing is ferocious in the extreme, yet his given name and courtesy name are as refined as any scholar’s. His sobriquet, though, fits him perfectly.

Bai Guishou, noting the courtesy with which the stranger spoke, ventured further, “The fame of Dharma King Xie has long preceded him. Dharma King Xie is a Protector Dharma King of the Ming Order,¹¹ and shares a deep bond with our Order Leader Yin. Why, then, did you destroy the ships and slay our men the moment you set foot upon the island?”

Xie Xun smiled faintly, baring a row of white teeth that gleamed. “And what brings all of you together on this island?”

Bai Guishou calculated swiftly. There is no concealing it from this man. His skill may be formidable, but he is alone. If Chang Jinpeng and I join forces, and Zhang the Fifth Xia and Miss Yin lend their aid, we may yet prevail.

He answered forthrightly, “Our humble Tianying Order has recently come into possession of a precious dao. We have invited the heroes of the jianghu here to view it.”

Xie Xun’s gaze fell upon the Dragon-Slaying Dao, glowing amid the roaring flames of the great iron cauldron. The dao lay untouched by the inferno, not the slightest mark upon it, a divine weapon beyond all doubt. He strode toward it without hesitation.

Chang Jinpeng saw him reaching for the dao and shouted, “Stay your hand!”

Xie Xun turned his head and regarded him with a cool, faint smile. “What of it?”

Chang Jinpeng retorted, “This dao belongs to our Order. Dharma King Xie may admire it from afar, but you must not lay hands upon it.”

Xie Xun replied evenly, “Did your Order forge this dao? Did you purchase it?”

Chang Jinpeng was struck speechless, unable to find an answer. Xie Xun continued, “You seized it from another’s hands. I now seize it from yours. That is the way of the world, and perfectly fair. What objection can there be?”

He turned back toward the cauldron.

Steel rang against steel as Chang Jinpeng unhooked his twin meteor hammers from his belt. “Dharma King Xie, if you do not withdraw your hand, I shall be forced to show discourtesy.”

His words were framed as warning, but his actions followed on their heels. Even as he spoke, the steel melon in his left hand was already hurtling toward Xie Xun’s back. Xie Xun did not so much as turn around. He swept his wolf-fang club backward in a single sweep. The collision rang out like a thunderclap, and the steel melon shot back the way it had come with blinding speed. Chang Jinpeng, horrified, hurled the right melon forward to intercept. The two weapons collided, but the force rebounding from Xie Xun’s blow was monstrous beyond reckoning. Both melons spun back simultaneously and struck Chang Jinpeng square in the chest. He swayed once and crumpled to the earth, dead. On the Qiantang River, when he had smashed Young Guild Chief Mai’s¹² own ship to kindling, what fearsome might he had displayed. Yet he could not withstand a single backhand sweep of Xie Xun’s wolf-fang club.

The five branch masters of the Vermilion Bird Altar rushed forward in horror. Two went to their fallen master. Three drew their weapons and threw themselves at Xie Xun without regard for their own lives. Xie Xun hooked the tip of his wolf-fang club beneath the cauldron and flicked upward. The enormous iron vessel, glowing a dull, angry red from the fire within, rose into the air and swept sideways, crushing all three branch masters beneath it in one blow. Its momentum was not spent. It rolled across the ground and bowled over the two men who had been tending to Chang Jinpeng’s body.

The Dragon-Slaying Dao clattered to the earth. The clothing of all five branch masters and Chang Jinpeng’s corpse caught fire at once. Four of the five had been killed instantly by the impact. The last writhed upon the ground, howling in agony.

Every man present felt the blood drain from his face. In the span of a single breath, Xie Xun had slain five seasoned warriors, and the surviving Branch Master was plainly doomed.

Zhang Cuishan had encountered many formidable fighters in his travels, but never had he witnessed such overwhelming, almost inhuman power. He knew with certainty that he himself was no match for this man, and that even his eldest shige and second shige would fall short. In all the world, unless his shifu descended the mountain, he could think of no one who might prevail.

Xie Xun waited until the dao’s heat had dissipated upon the ground. He picked it up, flicked it with one finger, and it gave forth a sound that was neither the ring of metal nor the resonance of wood, a deep, muted note, brooding and strange. He nodded in approval. “Without lustre, without sound, a divine weapon conceals its own brilliance. What a magnificent dao!”

He looked toward the scabbard lying beside Bai Guishou. “That is the scabbard for the Dragon-Slaying Dao, is it not? Hand it over.”

Bai Guishou knew that in this dire extremity, nine chances in ten he was already a dead man. If he surrendered the scabbard, not only would his lifelong reputation be destroyed, but when the Order Leader called him to account, his death would be more terrible still. Yet to resist was equally certain death. He squared his shoulders and said with cold defiance, “Kill me if you will. Do you think I am a man who fears death?”

Xie Xun smiled. “A hard man. A hard man indeed! The Tianying Order still boasts a few men of mettle.”

Then, without warning, his right arm whipped forward and the Dragon-Slaying Dao flew from his hand, hurtling straight at Bai Guishou. Bai Guishou had been braced for this very moment. Seeing the dao launched toward him, he knew the man’s throwing strength was beyond anything natural. He dared not block with a weapon, dared not try to catch it, and flung himself aside. But the dao flew on a slanting path. With a soft hiss, it slid neatly into the scabbard that lay flat upon the table, and its force carried both daos and sheath onward through the air.

Xie Xun extended his wolf-fang club, hooked the weapon with a deft flick, and drew it toward him. With a casual motion, he thrust the sheathed dao into his belt. The precision of that throw, to fling the dao across such a distance and thread it into its scabbard, was a feat that beggared belief.

His gaze swept the assembly from left to right. “I intend to take this Dragon-Slaying Dao. Have any of you an objection?”

He asked twice. No one dared speak.

Then a man at the Haisha School’s table rose to his feet. “Senior Xie is a man of supreme virtue and renown, whose fame resounds across the four seas. This dao rightfully belongs to Senior Xie. We are all in hearty agreement.”

Xie Xun said, “You are Yuan Guangbo,¹³ Chief of the Haisha School, are you not?”

“Indeed,” the man said. Hearing that Xie Xun knew his name, he felt a flush of gratified pride mingled with dread.

Xie Xun’s voice turned cold. “Do you know who my shifu is? What faction I belong to? What good deeds I have done?”

Yuan Guangbo stammered, “Well… Senior Xie, you…”

In truth, he knew nothing of the sort. Xie Xun said icily, “You know nothing about me whatsoever, and yet you call me a man of ‘supreme virtue and renown whose fame resounds across the four seas’? You are a fawning, grovelling wretch who spouts whatever flattery springs to mind. Of all the contemptible types in this world, yours is the one I despise most. Step forward!”

Each of these final words fell like a clap of thunder. Yuan Guangbo, overwhelmed by the sheer force of the man’s presence, did not dare disobey. Head bowed, he shuffled to the front, his body shaking uncontrollably.

Xie Xun spoke again, “The Haisha School’s martial arts are nothing remarkable. You rely on poisoned salt to kill. Last year at Haimen, you murdered Zhang Dengyun and his entire household. And recently, the Three Birds of Changbai died at Yuyao. That was your work as well, was it not?”

Yuan Guangbo blanched. Both deeds had been carried out in the deepest secrecy. How had this man learned of them? Xie Xun barked, “Have your men fill two large bowls with poisoned salt. I want to see what manner of substance this is.”

Every man of the Haisha School carried pouches of their toxic salt. Yuan Guangbo dared not refuse and ordered his subordinates to fill two bowls.

Xie Xun took one bowl, raised it to his nose, and sniffed.

“Let us each eat one,” he said. He planted the wolf-fang club in the earth, seized Yuan Guangbo with one hand, and with a sharp crack dislocated his jaw, leaving his mouth hanging open. He poured the entire bowl of poisoned salt down the man’s throat. The murder of Zhang Dengyun’s household in a single night had been one of the great unsolved atrocities of the wulin¹⁴ in recent years. Zhang Dengyun had borne a decent name in the jianghu. That his destruction had been the work of Yuan Guangbo was a revelation to all present. Zhang Cuishan, watching the man forced to swallow his own poison, felt a grim satisfaction he could not suppress.

Xie Xun picked up the second bowl. “I am a fair man. You eat one bowl, I eat one to keep you company.”

He opened his great mouth and emptied the entire bowl of poisoned salt down his own throat.

This act stunned everyone. Zhang Cuishan observed that despite his savage violence, Xie Xun bore a look of stern righteousness between his brows, and moreover, every man he had struck down was a villain of the worst stripe. A growing respect stirred within him. He could not help but speak, “Senior Xie, this scoundrel deserved worse than death. There was no need to lower yourself to his level.”

Xie Xun turned his head and fixed him with a piercing stare. Zhang Cuishan met his gaze with a calm smile, entirely unafraid. Xie Xun said, “And who might you be?”

Zhang Cuishan answered, “This junior is Zhang Cuishan of the Wudang Order.” Xie Xun said, “Ah, you are Zhang the Fifth Xia of Wudang. Have you also come to contend for the Dragon-Slaying Dao?”

Zhang Cuishan shook his head. “I came to Wangpan Island¹⁵ to investigate the circumstances under which my shige Yu Daiyan¹⁶ was grievously wounded. If Senior Xie knows anything of the matter, I respectfully ask that you tell me.”

Before Xie Xun could reply, Yuan Guangbo let out an agonised shriek, clutching his belly as he rolled across the ground. After a few convulsions, he curled into a tight ball and died. Zhang Cuishan cried out, “Senior Xie, take the antidote quickly!”

Xie Xun said, “What antidote? Bring wine!”

The Tianying Order’s steward, who had been attending to the guests, hurried over with a wine cup and jug. Xie Xun bellowed, “Is the Tianying Order so miserly? Bring me the whole jar!”

The steward fetched an enormous earthenware jar of aged wine and set it respectfully before Xie Xun, thinking, You have swallowed poison and now you want wine on top of it. Are you in such a hurry to die?

Xie Xun lifted the jar in both hands and drank in great gulping draughts, the wine pouring down his throat. The jar held at least twenty jin of wine, yet he drained it in moments. He patted his enormously distended belly several times. Then, without warning, he opened his mouth and a jet of wine shot forth like a lance of white silk, striking Bai Guishou full in the chest. By the time Bai Guishou sensed the danger, the stream had already hit him. The force was like a great iron hammer of several hundred jin¹⁷ smashing into him again and again without cease. For all his superb neigong,¹⁸ he could not withstand it. He staggered, swayed, and collapsed unconscious.

Xie Xun turned his head skyward and spewed the wine high into the air. It fell in a foul rain upon the men of the Jujing Guild. From Guild Chief Mai Jing on down, every man among them was drenched from head to face. The wine reeked unspeakably, for Xie Xun had swallowed it to wash the poisoned salt from his stomach, then expelled it with a blast of neili.¹⁹

More than twenty jin of wine had been transformed into a spray of poison. Those with lesser neigong fainted on the spot. The trace of toxin remaining within Xie Xun’s own body was negligible. With the depth of his neigong, it posed him no harm whatsoever.

Footnotes

1. 常金鹏 – Cháng Jīnpéng. His name meaning “Golden Roc.” Altar Master of the Vermilion Bird Altar of the Tianying Order. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

2. 屠龙刀 – Túlóng Dāo. Dragon-Slaying Dao; the name’s literal sense is “dragon-slaying”. Legendary blade and the supreme weapon of the jianghu, forged with the Heavenly Jian from meteoric iron. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

3. 白龟寿 – Bái Guīshòu. His name meaning “White Tortoise Longevity.” Altar Master of the Xuanwu Altar of the Tianying Order, who died shielding Monk Peng. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

4. 天鹰教 – Tiānyīng Jiào. Tianying Order, founded by Yin Tianzheng the White-Browed Eagle King. 教 here is the order’s own neutral name for itself; “Cult” is the orthodox schools’ derogatory register and is not the sect’s name. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

5. 舵主 – duòzhǔ. Literally Branch Master. Rank within the Tianying Order beneath the altar masters. Each of the four altars commands five branch masters. ↩

6. 殷素素 – Yīn Sùsù. Her name meaning “Plain and Simple.” Daughter of Yin Tianzheng and mother of Zhang Wuji; she took her own life two years before. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

7. 狼牙棒 – lángyá bàng. Literally wolf-fang club. Heavy mace-like weapon covered in protruding metal spikes, wielded by Xie Xun. Its enormous size and weight make it usable only by someone of extraordinary physical strength. ↩

8. 张翠山 – Zhāng Cuìshān. His name meaning “Verdant Mountain.” Fifth disciple of Zhang Sanfeng and member of the Seven Xias of Wudang. His epithet is the Silver Hook Iron Brush. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

9. 江湖 – jiānghú. Literally rivers and lakes. Itinerant world beyond settled society and official reach, holding not only martial artists but the trades that travel with them, including pedlars, physicians, fortune-tellers, entertainers, boatmen, beggars, outlaws and the like. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

10. 谢逊 – Xiè Xùn. His name meaning “Modest” or “Yielding.” His courtesy name Tuisi (退思) meaning “Retreat and Reflect.” One of the Four Dharma Kings of the Ming Order, bearing the epithet the Golden-Haired Lion King. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

11. 明教 – Míngjiào. Literally the religion of light. Also known as Manichaeism, a dualistic religion of Persian origin that became the backbone of several rebel movements in Chinese history. In the wuxia tradition, it serves as the organising force against the Mongol Yuan dynasty. ↩

12. 麦少帮主 – Mài Shàobāngzhǔ. Young Guild Chief Mai of the Jujing Guild. ↩

13. 元广波 – Yuán Guǎngbō. His name meaning “Broad Waves.” Chief of the Haisha School. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

14. 武林 – wǔlín. Literally martial forest. Those who actually practise, teach or study martial arts. Wulin sits inside the jianghu and is narrower than it: every member of the wulin belongs to the jianghu, but a pedlar or physician of the jianghu who never trained is no part of the wulin. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

15. 王盘山 – Wángpán Shān. Wangpan Island, the sea island where the Tianying Order raised the Dragon-Slaying Dao to overawe the wulin some years before. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

16. 俞岱岩 – Yú Dàiyán. His name meaning “Lofty Cliff of Mount Dai.” Third of the Seven Xias of Wudang, crippled years before. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

17. 斤 – jīn. Traditional Chinese unit of weight, approximately 500 grams or 1.1 pounds. ↩

18. 内功 – nèigōng. Internal cultivation; the disciplined refinement of qi through meditation, breathing and martial practice. Distinct from neili (the kinetic force produced) and from neijia (internal cultivation as a school of fighting). ↩

19. 内力 – nèilì. Literally internal force. Kinetic manifestation of cultivated qi; generates tangible effects such as deflecting weapons or scaling walls. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩