The Heavenly Sword & the Dragon Sabre – Chapter 7, Part 5: Who Sends the Ice Boat to the Fairy Land

Part 5

The three were silent for a long while. Then Zhang Cuishan said, “Senior Xie, if you take this child as your adopted son, we will have him take your surname.” A flicker of joy crossed Xie Xun’s face. “You would let him be surnamed Xie? My own son, the one who died, his name was Xie Wuji.” Zhang Cuishan said, “If you wish it, then our child shall be called Xie Wuji.”

Xie Xun was beside himself with joy, half fearing Zhang Cuishan would take back his words. “You are giving me your own son? Then what about you two?” Zhang Cuishan said, “Whether the child is surnamed Xie or Zhang, we will love him just the same. When he grows up, he will honour his parents, revere his adopted father, and make no distinction between us. Would that not be a fine thing? Susu, what do you think?” Yin Susu hesitated only briefly. “As you say, husband. The child having one more person to love him, that is all to his advantage.” Xie Xun made a bow that carried his cupped hands down to the ground. “Then I must thank you. The hatred of my blinded eyes, wiped clean with a single stroke. Though Xie Xun has lost his son, he now has a son. When Xie Wuji’s name is known throughout the world, let all people know: his parents are Zhang Cuishan and Yin Susu, and his adopted father is Xie Xun the Golden-Haired Lion King!”

Yin Susu had hesitated because the real Xie Wuji had died, dashed into a pulp of flesh. To give their child that name seemed inauspicious. But seeing Xie Xun’s wild joy, she knew he would love the child all the more, and the child would gain immeasurably from his care. A mother’s love for her child leaves nothing unconsidered, so long as it benefited the boy, she would agree to anything. She held the child and said, “Would you like to hold him?”

Xie Xun reached out with both hands and took the baby in his arms. Tears of joy overflowed. His arms trembled. “You… you had better take him back. Don’t let the look of me frighten him.” A day-old infant understood nothing of it, but that he should say such a thing at all showed how deeply he loved the child. Yin Susu smiled. “If you like, hold him a while longer. When he grows up, you can take him everywhere and play.”

Xie Xun said, “Wonderful, wonderful…” Hearing the child crying lustily, he added, “The child is hungry. Feed him, Lady Zhang. I will go outside.” In truth, blind though he was, Yin Susu could have nursed the baby before him without impropriety, but Xie Xun, who in his madness was savage and brutal, now became refined and courteous, every inch a scholar-gentleman.

Zhang Cuishan said, “Senior Xie…” Xie Xun said, “No. We are now one family, none of this ‘senior’ business. It creates distance. Since I say so, the three of us might as well become sworn siblings. It will be better for the child in the future.” Zhang Cuishan said, “Senior, you are a master of the older generation. The distance between us is too great. How can we presume?” Xie Xun said, “Bah! You are a martial artist, yet so hidebound? Fifth Brother, Fifth Sister, do you call me Big Brother or not?” Yin Susu laughed. “I was the first to call you Big Brother. We are already sworn siblings. If he keeps calling you ‘senior,’ then I become your senior too!” Zhang Cuishan said, “Very well, then I follow Big Brother’s lead in all things.” Yin Susu said, “Let us settle it for now. In a few days, when I am on my feet again, we will make offerings to heaven and perform the proper rites, bowing to the adopted father and the sworn brothers.”

Xie Xun laughed heartily. “A true man’s word, once spoken, endures for life. What need is there to worship heaven and bow to earth? That thieving heaven cannot even manage his own affairs. I, Xie Xun, have always hated him most.” With that, he strode out of the cave. They heard him in the open wilderness, laughing aloud, clearly delighted. Since the day they had known him, Zhang and Yin had never seen him so joyful.

From that day on, the three devoted themselves wholly to raising the child. Xie Xun had been a hunter in his youth. He was called the Golden-Haired Lion King, and at taming beasts and running down game he had no equal in the world. Zhang Cuishan described the island’s many terrain features in detail, and Xie Xun, guided by his directions, walked the ground once and committed it all to memory. From then on, hunting deer and killing bears fell entirely to Xie Xun.

Years passed in the blink of an eye. The three lived on the island in peace. The child, free from a single illness, grew robust and strong. Of the three, Xie Xun seemed to love him most. When the child was too mischievous and Zhang Cuishan and Yin Susu wished to punish him, Xie Xun would always step in and block the blows. Time and again this happened, until the child treated his adopted father as a refuge, running to him whenever his parents grew angry. Zhang and Yin would often shake their heads with a bitter smile, saying the child was being spoiled by Big Brother.

By the time Wuji was four, Yin Susu began teaching him to read. On his fifth birthday, Zhang Cuishan said, “Big Brother, the child is old enough to learn martial arts. From today, will you teach him?” Xie Xun shook his head. “No. My martial arts are too profound. The child cannot grasp them yet. You teach him the Wudang foundational methods. When he is eight, I will take over. Two years of teaching, and you can go home.” Yin Susu asked in surprise, “You mean we can go home? Back to the Central Plains?”

Xie Xun said, “These past years, I have watched the island’s wind direction and currents every day. Every year, when the nights are longest, the north wind blows without ceasing for dozens of days and nights. We can build a great raft, set a sail, ride the north wind, and sail south without stopping. If thieving heaven does not interfere, you may yet return to the Central Plains.” Yin Susu said, “We? Do you not mean to come with us?” Xie Xun said, “I am blind. What would I do in the Central Plains?” Yin Susu said, “If you will not come, we cannot leave you here alone. The child will not agree either. Without his adopted father, who will care for him?” Xie Xun sighed. “Being able to care for him for ten years is enough. Thieving heaven always meddles with me. If the child spends too much time with me, I fear heaven will take it out on him and bring disaster upon his head.” Yin Susu shivered, but thought it mere idle talk and did not dwell on it.

Zhang Cuishan taught the child foundational inner exercises, thinking him too young for anything more. So long as his body was strong and healthy, that would suffice. On this deserted island, he would surely never need to fight anyone. Though Xie Xun had spoken of returning south to the Central Plains, he never mentioned it again, and Zhang Cuishan took it for a passing fancy.

In the eighth year, Xie Xun indeed asked Wuji to begin learning martial arts from him. When teaching, he did not allow Zhang and Yin to watch. The couple, respecting the strict rules of the wulin,¹ stayed far away. They did not examine Wuji’s progress, trusting that what Xie Xun taught must be extraordinary and profound.

The island had nothing worth recording. Days flowed like water, and another year and more passed.

Since Wuji’s birth, Xie Xun’s heart had found a resting place, and he no longer troubled himself with the Dragon-Slaying Dao. One night, Zhang Cuishan, unable to sleep, went out for a walk. By moonlight he saw Xie Xun sitting cross-legged on a rock, the Dragon-Slaying Dao in his hands, head bowed in thought. Zhang Cuishan was startled and about to retreat, but Xie Xun had already heard his footsteps. “Fifth Brother, those eight characters, ‘Supreme in the wulin, the Dragon-Slaying Dao’², are, it seems, nothing but falsehood.” Zhang Cuishan walked closer. “There are many absurd tales in the jianghu.³ With all of Big Brother’s intelligence and wisdom, why cling so to this tale of the dao?”

Xie Xun said, “You do not know. I once heard a high monk of the Shaolin Order, the Venerable Kongjian, speak of this matter.” Zhang Cuishan said, “Ah, Venerable Kongjian. I have heard he is the shixiong⁴ of Abbot Kongwen, the head of the Shaolin Order. He passed away long ago.” Xie Xun nodded. “Indeed. Kongjian is dead. I killed him.” Zhang Cuishan was startled. Two lines went about the jianghu: “Shaolin’s divine monks, Jian, Wen, Zhi and Xing,” meaning the four monks of the highest martial arts in the Shaolin Order of the day, Kongjian, Kongwen, Kongzhi and Kongxing. He had heard afterwards that Venerable Kongjian had died of illness, and had never imagined that it was Xie Xun who had beaten him to death.

Xie Xun sighed. “Kongjian was stubborn. He insisted on only taking my blows and would not strike back. I struck him thirteen punches, and in the end I killed him.”

Zhang Cuishan was all the more horrified. “Anyone who can withstand one of Big Brother’s punches or kicks without dying is already a first-rate martial artist. This Shaolin divine monk could endure thirteen punches. His body’s toughness must far surpass iron and stone.”

Xie Xun’s look was bleak, and there was regret in his face. Zhang Cuishan guessed that some great matter lay hidden behind the affair. Since becoming sworn brothers eight years ago on this island, their bond had grown ever deeper. But toward this adopted elder brother, beneath his respect always lurked a thread of fear, lest he stir up old hatreds. He did not dare ask more.

Xie Xun continued, “The few people in my life I have truly admired can be counted on one hand. Your master Zhang Zhenren I have revered by name these many years, but I never had the fortune to meet him. This Venerable Kongjian was truly a high monk. Though his fame in martial arts seemed not to match his shidi⁵ Kongzhi and Kongxing, in my judgement, Kongzhi and Kongxing certainly could not match him.” Zhang Cuishan had often heard him dismiss the great figures of the age with barely a contemptuous word. To earn even a scolding from Xie Xun was to be accounted first-rate. To win a single word of praise from him was harder still. That he spoke of Venerable Kongjian with such reverence was most unexpected. “Perhaps the Venerable lived in seclusion and quiet cultivation, rarely travelling in the jianghu, so his martial attainments were little known.”

Xie Xun gazed up at the sky, lost in thought, murmuring to himself, “A pity, a pity! Such a peerless man of the wulin, beaten to death by my thirteen punches. His martial arts were supremely high, yet he was truly, truly stubborn. If only he had struck back at me then, how could I, Xie Xun, be alive today?” Zhang Cuishan said, “Could that high monk’s cultivation truly have been so much deeper than Big Brother’s?” Xie Xun said, “How could I compare? Far from it, far from it! Simply heaven and earth apart!” As he spoke, his expression and tone were filled with genuine reverence and admiration.

Zhang Cuishan was greatly surprised, and privately sceptical. He thought his own master Zhang Sanfeng’s martial arts were among the rarest in the world, yet compared to Xie Xun, his master would likely win by only half a step. If Venerable Kongjian truly surpassed Xie Xun by so wide a margin as “heaven and earth apart,” would that not mean his own master was surpassed as well? But he knew Xie Xun’s nature: though his name contained the character for “modest,” his temper was exceedingly proud. If that man’s martial arts were not truly superior, Xie Xun would never concede defeat.

Xie Xun seemed to divine his thoughts. “You do not believe it? Very well, go call Wuji out. I will tell him a story.” Zhang Cuishan thought it the middle of the night and Wuji was surely fast asleep. Waking a child to hear stories was hardly good for him. But since Big Brother commanded, he did not dare refuse. He went back into the bear cave and roused his son. Wuji, hearing that his adopted father had a story to tell, cheered loudly, which promptly woke Yin Susu as well. The three came out together and sat beside Xie Xun.

Xie Xun said, “Child, soon you will return to the Central Plains…” Wuji asked, puzzled, “Return to the Central Plains?”

Xie Xun waved his hand, signalling the child not to interrupt. “If our great raft sinks at sea, or drifts away without a trace, then that is the end of it. But if you truly reach the Central Plains, let me tell you this: the hearts of men in this world are treacherous and evil. Trust no one. Apart from your parents, everyone will harbour thoughts of harming you.” Wuji interjected, “Adopted Father would never harm me!” Xie Xun nodded. “Indeed. Apart from your parents and your adopted father. It is a pity no one told me this when I was young. And even if they had, I would not have believed it then.”

“When I was ten years old, through an unexpected turn of fate, I became the disciple of a person of supremely high martial arts. My master saw that my aptitude was not poor and favoured me greatly, teaching me all his secret arts without reserve. The bond between master and disciple was as father and son. Fifth Brother, the reverence and devotion I felt for my master then was probably no different from what you feel for your own master. I left my master’s school at twenty-three and travelled far to the Western Regions. There I made a group of friends with considerable backgrounds, and they accepted me as a brother. Fifth Sister, your father, the White-Browed Eagle King, was among those I befriended at that time. Later I married and had a son. Our family lived in harmony and great happiness.

“In my twenty-eighth year, my master came to visit our home for several days. I was of course delighted beyond measure. My whole family entertained him with the utmost care, and in his spare time he instructed me further in martial arts. Who could have imagined that this renowned master of the wulin was a beast in human form? On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, after too much wine, he forcibly violated my wife…”

Footnotes

1. 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. ↩

2. The full verse carved by Zhang Cuishan reads: 武林至尊，宝刀屠龙。号令天下，莫敢不从。倚天不出，谁与争锋 – Wǔlín zhìzūn, bǎodāo túlóng. Hàolìng tiānxià, mò gǎn bù cóng. Yǐtiān bù chū, shuí yǔ zhēngfēng. Literally: “Supreme in the wulin, the treasured Dragon-Slaying Dao. Command all under heaven, none dare disobey. While the Heavenly Jian remains hidden, who dares contest the edge?” This ancient verse speaks of the two legendary weapons, the Dragon-Slaying Dao and the Heavenly Jian (倚天剑 – Yǐtiān Jiàn), whose possession is said to grant dominion over the entire jianghu. ↩

3. 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. ↩

4. 师兄 – shīxiōng. Male senior. Both apprenticed to the same shifu. Shī means teacher. Xiōng means older brother. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

5. 师弟 – shīdì. Male junior. Both apprenticed to the same shifu. Shī means teacher. Dì means younger brother. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩