The Heavenly Sword & the Dragon Sabre – Chapter 8: Ten Years Adrift, a Raft Homeward

From the uttermost desolation, ten years adrift, they set sail homeward on a raft.

Xie Xun spoke slowly, “The events of that night I still remember with perfect clarity. I was sitting on the heated brick bed in the inn, silently circulating my zhenqi,¹ running through the Seven Injury Fist² in my mind once more. Fifth Brother, you have never seen my Seven Injury Fist. Would you like a demonstration?” Before Zhang Cuishan could answer, Yin Susu interjected, “It must be utterly miraculous and fearsomely powerful. Big Brother, why didn’t you go find Song Daxia instead?”

Xie Xun smiled faintly. “You are afraid my demonstration might hurt your husband? If the fist-force cannot be withdrawn at will, how could it still be called the Seven Injury Fist?” With that, he rose to his feet and walked to a great tree. He gave a great shout, like a thunderclap out of a clear sky, and drove his fist into the trunk.

Given his skill, that blow should either have snapped the tree clean in two or buried his fist deep in the wood. Yet when he drew his fist back, the tree stood utterly unharmed. Not so much as a sliver of bark was broken. Yin Susu felt a pang of sorrow in her heart: “Big Brother has lived on this island for nine years. His martial arts must have fallen completely to ruin. I never once saw him practise, so I suppose it is only natural.” Not wishing to grieve him, she cheered loudly all the same.

Xie Xun said, “Fifth Sister, that cheer of yours was entirely insincere. You think my skill is far inferior to what it was, don’t you?” Yin Susu replied, “On this deserted island, with only the four of us coming and going, what is the point in training martial arts?” Xie Xun asked, “Fifth Brother, have you perceived the subtlety?” Zhang Cuishan said, “I saw that your punch was delivered with tremendous force, yet not a single leaf so much as trembled. That is something I cannot fathom. Even if Wuji went over and threw a punch, he would have set the branches swaying!”

Wuji cried, “I can!” He ran over to the tree, slamming it with a fist. Sure enough, the branches shook wildly, and the shadows of leaves cast by the moonlight quivered ceaselessly on the ground. Zhang Cuishan and Yin Susu were greatly pleased to see their son’s punch carry such force, and both turned to Xie Xun, waiting for him to explain the principle.

Xie Xun said, “Three days after that punch, the leaves on this tree will wither and fall. In half a month, the branches and trunk will be dead and dry. That single blow has shattered the tree’s vital meridians from within.” Zhang Cuishan and Yin Susu were astonished, but knowing Xie Xun never spoke falsely, they accepted his word. Xie Xun picked up the Dragon-Slaying Dao³ at his side, drew it from its scabbard, and with a ringing slash cut diagonally into the trunk. A tremendous crack and boom followed as the upper half of the tree toppled outward. Xie Xun sheathed the blade and said, “Take a look. Does the power of my Seven Injury Fist still hold?”

When the three of them went over to examine the tree’s diagonal cross-section, they saw that the water-conducting vessels at the heart of the trunk had been severed in most places: some twisted, some pulverised, some split into several segments, others hanging by the thinnest of threads. Plainly, that single fist had contained several different kinds of force. Zhang Cuishan and Yin Susu were filled with admiration. Zhang Cuishan said, “Big Brother, today you have truly opened my eyes.”

Xie Xun could not suppress his satisfaction. “That punch of mine contained seven different kinds of force: some hard and fierce, some soft and yielding, some hard within soft, some soft within hard, some striking sideways, some thrusting straight, some contracting inward. An opponent blocks the first force and cannot withstand the second. He holds off the second, and what answer has he for the third? Heh heh, that is how the Seven Injury Fist earned its name. Fifth Brother, that day on the ship when you matched palms with me, if I had used the Seven Injury Fist instead, you would not have held out.” Zhang Cuishan said, “That is so.”

Wuji wanted to ask his father why he had matched palms with his sworn father, but seeing his mother wave her hand urgently, he restrained himself and said instead, “Sworn Father, why don’t you teach me the Seven Injury Fist?” Xie Xun shook his head. “It will not do.” Wuji was deeply disappointed and was about to press the request further. Yin Susu laughed, “Wuji, are you being silly? Your sworn father’s martial art is so profound that without a supreme foundation in neili, how could you possibly learn it?” Wuji said, “Then I shall learn it once my neili is good enough.”

Xie Xun shook his head again. “The Seven Injury Fist is better left unpractised! Within every person’s body exist the twin forces of yin and yang, and the five elements of metal, wood, water, fire, and earth. The heart belongs to fire, the lungs to metal, the kidneys to water, the spleen to earth, the liver to wood. To practise the Seven Injury is to injure all seven. Every time a man trains the Seven Injury Fist, he does his own organs fresh harm. The so-called seven injuries are in truth injuries to oneself before they are injuries to the enemy. Had I not damaged my own heart-meridians while training the Seven Injury Fist, I would not be subject to these fits of madness that I cannot control.”

Only now did Zhang Cuishan and Yin Susu understand how a man of such rare gifts and such high martial prowess could lose his wits altogether when the madness took him.

Xie Xun continued, “Had my neili been truly deep and unshakable, had I reached the level of the Great Master Kongjian or Zhang Sanfeng the Perfected One of Wudang, then practising the Seven Injury Fist might have left me unscathed, or at worst caused only minor harm. But in those years my thirst for vengeance burned so fiercely that I expended every ounce of cunning to seize this ancient manuscript of the Seven Injury Fist Manual from the Kongtong School. The moment the manual came into my hands, I began practising in frantic haste, terrified that the art would not be complete before my shifu died and I could never avenge my family. By the time I realised my organs had suffered grave damage, it was already beyond remedy. I never stopped to consider: if the Kongtong School had possessed this fist manual generation after generation, why had no one from the school become renowned throughout the jianghu for this divine fist? Why had the Kongtong School never risen to become a first-rank Order? I was also seduced by the sheer spectacular force of the fist. The thunderous sound it made when unleashed was a tremendous advantage. Fifth Sister, you understand the reasoning, don’t you?”

Yin Susu reflected for a moment, then said, “Hmm, is it something like your shifu’s Thunderbolt… what was it… art?”

Xie Xun said, “Precisely. My shifu’s epithet was the Mixed-Origin Thunderbolt Hand.⁴ His palms carried wind and thunder, their power staggering. After I found him, if I fought him using the Seven Injury Fist, he would surely assume I was still using the art he himself taught me. By the time he realised the force was wrong, it would be too late. Fifth Brother, do not think me cruel in design. My shifu’s exterior was rough and blunt, but in truth there was no man under heaven so calculating, so deep in his scheming, so venomous and pitiless. If I had not fought poison with poison, my great vengeance could never have been fulfilled… Alas, I have wandered off down every side-path there is, and still not come to the Great Master Kongjian.”

“Let me tell you of that night. After I had circulated the Seven Injury Fist through three complete circuits, I leapt over the wall to go in search of Song Yuanqiao. I had vaulted clear of the wall, and my feet had not yet touched the ground, when I felt a light tap on my shoulder. It gave me a violent start. With the skill I had then, that a man could reach out and lay a hand on me before I could guard was past all imagining. Wuji, think about it. That tap was feather-light, but if its bearer had channelled force through the palm, would I not already have been gravely wounded? I instantly swept my hand back to catch him, but grasped only empty air. I countered with a punch, which of course also struck nothing. The moment my left foot touched ground, I spun around, and in that same instant, I felt a gentle palm press against my back, and from behind me a voice sighed, ‘The sea of bitterness is boundless. Turn back, and the shore is at hand.’⁵”

Wuji found this tremendously entertaining and burst out laughing. “Sworn Father, was this person playing with you?” But Zhang Cuishan and Yin Susu had already guessed that the speaker could only have been the Great Master Kongjian.⁶

Xie Xun went on, “At that moment I was chilled to the bone, my hands and feet trembling slightly. A man with such skill could have ended my life as easily as turning over a hand. Those eight words, ‘The sea of bitterness is boundless. Turn back, and the shore is at hand’, took no more than an instant, yet he spoke them neither fast nor slow, and they were full of compassion. I heard every syllable with perfect clarity. But in that instant all I felt was terror and rage. I spun around and saw a grey-robed monk standing forty feet away. When I had turned, I would have sworn he was no more than two or three feet from me, yet with a single tap he had drifted fully forty feet away. The swiftness of his movement, the lightness of his footwork, truly beyond anything I could have imagined.”

“I had but a single thought, It is a vengeful ghost, one of the people I have killed, come to claim my life! No living man could possibly move with such lightning speed. The moment I decided it must be a ghost, my courage actually grew. I roared, ‘Spectre or demon, clear off out of my sight! Your old man fears neither heaven nor earth. Do you think I am afraid of some lonesome wandering ghost?’ The grey-robed monk pressed his palms together and said, ‘Benefactor Xie Xun, the old monk Kongjian greets you.’ The moment I heard the name Kongjian, I recalled the saying current in the jianghu: ‘The divine monks of Shaolin: Seeing, Hearing, Wisdom, and Nature.’ He ranked first among the four divine monks. No wonder his skill was so supreme.”

Zhang Cuishan, remembering that this Great Master Kongjian had later been beaten to death by thirteen of Xie Xun’s fists, felt a quiet unease.

Xie Xun continued, “I immediately asked, ‘Is the Venerable Kongjian of Shaolin?’ The grey-robed monk replied, ‘The title “divine monk” is more than this unworthy one deserves. I am indeed Kongjian of Shaolin.’ I said, ‘I have no acquaintance with the Venerable Master. Why do you mock me?’ Kongjian said, ‘How would this old monk dare to mock a benefactor? May I ask, Benefactor, where you are headed at this hour?’ I said, ‘Where I go is no concern of yours.’ Kongjian said, ‘Tonight you intend to go kill Song Yuanqiao of the Wudang Order, do you not?’”

“He had laid my mind bare in a single sentence, and I was both astonished and alarmed. He went on: ‘The Benefactor wishes to commit another great crime that will shake the jianghu, hoping to provoke the Mixed-Origin Thunderbolt Hand Cheng Kun into revealing himself, so that you may avenge the murder of your entire family…’ When he spoke my shifu’s name, my shock grew still greater. The fact that my shifu had slain my whole family was something I had never breathed to another soul. It was a shameful affair that my shifu himself had done his utmost to conceal and deny. He would certainly never disclose it himself. How could this monk Kongjian possibly know?”

“My body trembled violently, and I said, ‘If the Venerable Master would deign to reveal his whereabouts, I, Xie Xun, would serve you as an ox or a horse for the rest of my life, and count it no burden.’ Kongjian sighed, ‘What Cheng Kun has done is indeed a grave sin. But in your fury, Benefactor, you have implicated and killed so many innocent figures of the jianghu. That is a great transgression, a great transgression.’ I wanted to say, ‘What business is it of yours?’ But remembering the skill he had just displayed, I knew I was no match for him, and moreover I had need of his help. Swallowing my rage, I said, ‘I am truly compelled. That Cheng Kun has hidden without shadow or trace. The four seas are vast. How am I to find him?’ Kongjian nodded. ‘I too know that your heart is filled with resentment and venom, with no outlet for release. But Song Daxia is the foremost disciple of Venerable Zhang of the Wudang Order. If you harm him, the disaster you unleash will be truly vast.’ I said, ‘My purpose is precisely to create disaster. The greater the disaster, the more surely it will force Cheng Kun out.’”

“Kongjian said, ‘Benefactor Xie Xun, if you kill Song Daxia, then indeed Cheng Kun would have no choice but to appear. But the Cheng Kun of today is not the Cheng Kun of old. Your skill is far inferior to his, and this vendetta of yours can never be fulfilled.’ I said, ‘Cheng Kun is my shifu. I know the extent of his skill all too well.’ Kongjian shook his head. ‘He has taken a new master, and in three years his advancement has been extraordinary. Even though you have mastered the Kongtong School’s Seven Injury Fist, you cannot harm him.’ I was astonished beyond measure. This monk Kongjian, I had never set eyes on him in my life, yet my every move seemed to lie as plain before him as if he had witnessed it all. After a moment’s stupor, I asked, ‘How do you know?’ He said, ‘Cheng Kun told me.’ At these words, Zhang Cuishan, Yin Susu, and Wuji all cried out in unison: ‘Ah!’”

Xie Xun said, “Even now, hearing it is startling enough. But when I heard those words at the time, I leapt to my feet at once and roared, ‘How could he possibly know?’ He replied slowly, ‘For these past years, he has remained at your side at all times. It is only because he continually altered his appearance and changed his clothes that you failed to recognise him.’ I said, ‘Hmph! I failed to recognise him? Even if he were burned to ashes, I would still know him.’ He said, ‘Benefactor Xie Xun, you are certainly not a careless man. But in these years, your mind has been consumed by a single thought, training in martial arts and seeking vengeance, and you have paid no heed to anything around you. You were in the light. He was in the shadows. It is not that you failed to recognise him. You never even tried.’ “

“Those words I could not but believe, the more so since the Great Master Kongjian was a monk of renowned virtue, honoured throughout the jianghu, and hardly a man to lie to me. I said, ‘If that is so, then why did he not simply kill me in secret? That would have settled everything cleanly.’ Kongjian said, ‘Had he wished to harm you, it would have been a matter of a single gesture. Benefactor Xie Xun, you sought vengeance against him twice, and twice you failed. Had he wished to take your life, why did he not strike then? Moreover, when you seized the Seven Injury Fist Manual, you fought a contest of neili against three of the Kongtong School’s five elders. But where were the other two elders? Why did they not join in a siege? Had all five attacked together, you might not have escaped with your life, might you?’ “

“That day, after I wounded the three Kongtong elders, I discovered that the remaining two were also gravely injured. This strange matter had lodged in my mind, an unsolved riddle. Could the Kongtong School have suffered an internal rupture? Or had some unknown expert aided me from the shadows? Hearing Kongjian speak thus, a thought stirred in me, and I asked, ‘Could those two elders have been wounded by Cheng Kun?’ “

Footnotes

1. 真气 – zhēnqì. Literally zhenqi. Qi refined through neigong. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

2. 七伤拳 – Qīshāng Quán. Seven Injury Fist. Devastating fist technique of the Kongtong School that channels seven different types of force in a single strike, each damaging a different internal organ. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

3. 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. ↩

4. 混元霹雳手 – Hùnyuán Pīlì Shǒu. Literally Mixed-Origin Thunderbolt Hand. Epithet of Cheng Kun, Xie Xun’s shifu. ↩

5. 苦海无边，回头是岸 – Kǔhǎi wúbiān, huítóu shì àn. Buddhist proverb meaning that the sea of suffering is without limit, but the moment one turns back, the shore of salvation is reached. ↩

6. 空见 – Kōngjiàn. Divine monk of the Shaolin Order, foremost among the Four Divine Monks known as ‘Divine Monks: Seeing, Hearing, Wisdom, and Nature’ (神僧见闻智性). See Wuxia Wiki. ↩