The Heavenly Sword & the Dragon Sabre – Chapter 8 – Part 6

Wuji listened from the side as the men cursed the villain Xie Xun again and again, calling him father and mother, even saying he was long dead. Clever as he was, how could he understand the tangle of grievances in the jianghu?¹ Xie Xun had been kind to him, had cared for him no less than his own parents. His heart clenched, and he could not hold back. He burst into loud sobs and cried, “My godfather is no villain! My godfather isn't dead! He isn't dead!” Those cries of weeping and protest startled everyone in the cabin.

Yin Susu, still blazing with fury, swung her hand and slapped him across the face. “Hold your tongue!” she snapped. Wuji wept and said, “Mama, why did you say godfather was dead? Isn’t he alive and well?” He had lived his whole life with only his parents and his godfather. He had never so much as touched upon the world’s deceit and cunning. Had he been a child raised in the jianghu, even half as clever as he was, he would have known that lying was an everyday matter and would never have blurted out such a thing. Yin Susu scolded him, “Grown-ups are speaking. What business has a child butting in? We were talking about the villain Xie Xun, not your godfather.” Wuji’s mind was a maze of confusion, but he dared not speak again.

Xihuazi gave a faint sneer and asked Wuji, “Little brother, Xie Xun is your godfather, isn’t he? Where is he?”

Wuji looked at his parents’ expressions and knew the matter they spoke of was of the utmost importance. Hearing Xihuazi’s question, he shook his head and said, “I won’t tell.” Those three words, I won’t tell, were in truth an even plainer admission that Xie Xun was not dead.

Xihuazi stared at Zhang Cuishan and said, “Zhang the Fifth Xia,² is this young lady of the Tianying Order truly your wife?” Zhang Cuishan had not expected such a sudden question. He said in a clear voice, “Indeed she is. She is my wife.” Xihuazi said sharply, “Two disciples of my Kunlun School were ruined by your wife’s hand, left neither dead nor alive. How do you propose to settle that account?”

Both Zhang Cuishan and Yin Susu started in alarm. Yin Susu at once retorted, “Nonsense!” Zhang Cuishan said, “There must be some misunderstanding in this matter. My wife and I have not set foot on the Central Plains for ten years. How could we have harmed your school’s disciples?” Xihuazi said, “What about ten years ago? Gao Zecheng and Jiang Litao were harmed roughly ten years ago, by my reckoning.” Yin Susu said, “Gao Zecheng and Jiang Litao?” Xihuazi said, “Madam Zhang still remembers those two? I fear you have harmed so many that you can no longer keep count.” Yin Susu said, “What happened to them? Why are you so certain I was the one who harmed them?”

Xihuazi threw back his head and laughed. “I’m certain? I’m certain? Ha! Though Gao and Jiang became imbeciles, they can still remember one thing. They can still speak one name. They know the one who ruined them so was ‘Yin… Su… Su!’” He spoke the three characters one by one, his tone brimming with venom. His eyes bulged and fixed upon Yin Susu, as though he longed to draw his jian and run her through on the spot.

Altar Master Feng³ suddenly spoke up. “The maiden name of our Ziwei Hall’s Master is not for a tonsured old Daoist to bandy about at will. You cannot even keep your precepts, and you call yourself a senior of the wulin?⁴ Brother Cheng, tell me, is there anything in this world more shameful?” Altar Master Cheng took up the thread at once. “There is not. Among the renowned righteous factions, such a reckless fool! Laughable, laughable!”

Xihuazi was furious to the point of madness. He shouted, “Who are you calling shameful? What is so laughable?”

Altar Master Feng did not even glance his way. He said, “Brother Cheng, a man may have learned a few third-rate sword techniques, but his conduct and speech should still resemble a human being’s. Wouldn’t you say?” Altar Master Cheng said, “Ever since Daoist Lingbao passed away, the Kunlun School has gone from bad to worse with each generation. It grows more outrageous by the day.”

Daoist Lingbao was Xihuazi’s shizu,⁵ and the shixiong of He Zudao the Kunlun Three Saints.⁶ Though his martial arts did not equal He Zudao’s, his virtue and prestige were admired by all in the wulin. Xihuazi’s face flushed purple-red, yet he could not refute this. To say the words were wrong would be to claim he surpassed his own shizu, famed throughout the world in his day. He stepped to the cabin door, and with a flash of steel his jian was in his hand. “Demonic cult’s evil disciples! If you have the guts, come out and settle this properly!”

Altar Master Feng and Altar Master Cheng had provoked Xihuazi precisely to draw Yin Susu’s fire away from herself. They reasoned that since Zhang Cuishan and Hall Master Yin were husband and wife, the Wudang Order and the Tianying Order were bound by no ordinary tie. Even if Yu Lianzhou and Zhang Cuishan could not bring themselves to act, at the very least they would not aid the other side. The Tianying Order, facing the Kunlun School’s men alone, could be certain of victory.

Wei Siniang’s brows were drawn tight in a frown. She too had calculated this. She thought that with herself and her shixiong and some six or seven others, they could never withstand so many of the Tianying Order’s experts. Moreover, Zhang Cuishan and his wife were deeply attached and would most likely take the other side. She said, “Shixiong, these people came to our ship as guests. Let us simply follow Yu the Second Xia’s instructions.” She used words to press upon Yu Lianzhou, thinking that with his reputation and position, he could never act with partiality. She did not know that Xihuazi was an utter blockhead. He shouted loudly, “Their Wudang Order has already married into the Tianying Order! They wallow in the same filth. What impartial words could he possibly speak?”

Yu Lianzhou was a man of deep and reserved temperament. Joy and anger did not show upon his face. Hearing Xihuazi’s words, he murmured in silence.

Wei Siniang hastened to say, “Shixiong, why do you talk nonsense? Not only are the Wudang Order and our Kunlun School of one breath and closely bound, having fought side by side against enemies for ten years with unbroken trust, but Yu the Second Xia is a man of iron, his renown spread throughout the jianghu. Who in the world does not admire him? Could the Seven Xias of Wudang act with partiality in their conduct?” Xihuazi snorted. “We shall see.” Wei Siniang cursed her shixiong under her breath for his dullness, for not catching the meaning in her words. She said loudly, “Shixiong, you have taken offence at the Seven Xias of Wudang for no reason. When Shifu and Zhangmen Shishu call you to account, I shall have nothing to do with it.” She spoke again and again of the “Seven Xias of Wudang,” yet deliberately spoke of them as five, not including Zhang Cuishan among them. Only when she invoked Shifu and Zhangmen Shishu did Xihuazi dare speak no more.

Yu Lianzhou said slowly, “This matter concerns the great factions and guilds of the wulin. I am without virtue and without ability. How dare I presume to make decisions? In any case, this affair has already stirred up trouble for ten years. Another year or half a year makes no difference. I must take Zhang shidi back to Wudang and report to our shifu and Eldest Shixiong, to await Shifu’s instructions.”

Xihuazi sneered. “Yu the Second Xia’s evasive art of Like Sealing, Like Closing is truly masterful!”

Yu Lianzhou was not easily provoked to anger, but the Like Sealing, Like Closing⁷ Xihuazi spoke of was the Wudang Order’s most renowned defensive technique, created by his shifu Zhang Sanfeng himself. To mock Wudang martial arts was to insult his shifu. Yet he at once turned the thought, If this matter is handled with the slightest misstep, it will unleash a calamity upon the wulin that cannot be undone. This boorish Daoist talks nonsense. Why stoop to his level?

Xihuazi saw that after hearing his words, Yu Lianzhou’s eyelids flicked up, his gaze blazing like lightning. He felt a start in his heart. My shifu and zhangmen shishu are the strongest experts in our school, yet their gaze seems less fierce than his. The keen light in Yu Lianzhou’s eyes faded at once. He said mildly, “If Daoist Brother Xihua has any wise counsel, I am all ears.” Xihuazi, chilled by that sweep of his gaze just now, had already lost his nerve. He turned his head and said, “Shimei, what do you say? Are we simply to let the matter of Gao and Jiang drop?”

Before Wei Siniang could answer, the sound of a horn came from the south, blowing without pause. A Kunlun School disciple stepped to the cabin door and said, “The reinforcements from the Kongtong School and the Emei Order have arrived.” Xihuazi and Wei Siniang were overjoyed. Wei Siniang said, “Yu the Second Xia, perhaps we should hear the counsel of the Kongtong School and the Emei Order as well.” Yu Lianzhou said, “Very good.”

Li Tianyuan exchanged a glance with Altar Masters Cheng and Feng. Their faces showed a faint trace of colour.

Zhang Cuishan had yet another worry. “The Emei Order is one thing, but the Kongtong School has a deep grudge against Eldest Brother. He wounded the Five Elders of Kongtong and took their Seven Injury Fist⁸ manual. They will naturally pursue his whereabouts relentlessly.”

Yin Susu was turning the same thought in her mind. She thought too that had Wuji not blurted out, the matter would be far easier to handle. But Wuji had never told a lie in his life, and he was deeply devoted to Xie Xun. To hear suddenly that his godfather was dead, of course he would weep and cry out. She could not blame him. Seeing the red swell on his cheek where she had slapped him, her heart softened with pity, and she drew him into her arms. Wuji was still uneasy. He put his small mouth to his mother’s ear and whispered, “Mama, godfather isn’t dead, is he?” Yin Susu put her mouth to his ear in turn and said softly, “He isn’t. I lied to them. These are all evil men, wicked men. They want to harm your godfather.” Wuji understood at once. He glared fiercely at each person in turn, thinking, So you are all evil men, wicked men. You want to harm my godfather.

From this day forward, Zhang Wuji at last stepped into the jianghu. From this day forward, he at last understood the cruelty of the hearts of men. He raised his hand and touched his cheek. The slap his mother had given him still throbbed faintly. He knew that though his mother’s hand had struck him, it was these evil men, these wicked men, before him who were truly to blame. He had grown up under the tender wings of his parents and his godfather, not knowing that in the world there were men who bore evil in their hearts. Xie Xun had told him the story of Cheng Kun, but that had been only words heard through the ear. Only now, at this moment, did he truly face what he considered the evil men, the wicked men, of this world.

Footnotes

1. 江湖 – jiānghú. Literally rivers and lakes. The 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. ↩

2. 张五侠 – Zhāng Wǔ Xiá. Zhang the Fifth Xia. Zhang Cuishan, the fifth disciple of the Wudang Order’s Second Generation. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

3. 封坛主 – Fēng Tánzhǔ. Altar Master Feng. Feng Gongying, one of the Outer Five Altars’ leaders in the Tianying Order. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

4. 武林 – wǔlín. Literally martial forest. The community of martial artists and their codes, distinct from but overlapping with the jianghu. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

5. 师祖 – shīzǔ. Grandmaster. One’s shifu’s shifu. Two generations above the speaker in the lineage. ↩

6. 何足道 – Hé Zúdào. He Zudao, known as the Kunlun Three Saints. A legendary martial artist of the Kunlun School. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

7. 如封似闭 – rú fēng sì bì. Literally like sealing, like closing. A defensive palm technique from the Wudang Order, created by Zhang Sanfeng. ↩

8. 七伤拳 – qī shāng quán. Literally Seven Injury Fist. A powerful but dangerous palm technique from the Kongtong School that harms the practitioner if their neili is insufficient. ↩