White Horse Neighing in the West Wind - Chapter 10

Li Wenxiu’s two needles had struck true. She was equal parts shock and delight, but she knew the other three would soon realise what had happened. Once forewarned, they would never let her loose another poisoned needle upon them. She was galloping for her life when she heard a voice from her left: “Come this way!” It was the old man.

Li Wenxiu hurriedly dismounted and heard the voice issuing from a cave. She ran inside. The old man stood at the entrance. “How did it go?”

Li Wenxiu said, “I… I struck two… two of the bandits, and escaped.”

The old man said, “Good. Let us go deeper.” After entering, Li Wenxiu saw that the cave ran far back. She followed the old man, and the passage grew narrower with every step.

After several dozen zhang, the cave opened suddenly into a chamber large enough to hold a hundred or two hundred people. The old man said, “We hold the narrow entrance. Those three bandits will not dare come in. One man guards the pass, and ten thousand cannot force it.”

Li Wenxiu said, troubled, “But we cannot get out either. Is there another passage deeper in?”

The old man said, “There are passages, but none of them leads out of the mountain.”

Li Wenxiu’s thoughts returned to what had just happened, and fear still clung to her. She asked, “Uncle, those two bandits I pricked suddenly went stiff and did not move at all. Are they truly dead?”

The old man said proudly, “Beneath my poisoned needle, no one draws breath.”

Li Wenxiu held out the needle to him. He reached for it, then drew his hand back. “Put it on the ground.” She set it down as he said. He said, “Step back three paces.”

Li Wenxiu thought this strange but retreated three steps. Only then did the old man bend and pick up the needle, slipping it into a needle tube. She understood at last: he was deeply suspicious and feared she might prick him with it.

The old man said, “You and I are strangers. Why did you give me your horse just now and tell me to flee alone?”

Li Wenxiu said, “I do not know why myself. I saw you were ill, and I was afraid the bandits would harm you.”

The old man swayed. His voice turned sharp: “How do you know I am… am…” He broke off. Suddenly the muscles in his face began to twitch, and an expression of unspeakable agony twisted his features. Beads of sweat the size of yellow beans welled on his brow. A moment later, he cried out and rolled on the ground, shrieking.

Li Wenxiu was frightened out of all composure. She watched his body arch like a bow, his limbs convulsing, and said softly, “Is it your back that pains you so?” She reached out and tapped gently at his waist, then kneaded and pressed the joints of his arms and knees. Gradually his agony eased. He nodded his thanks. After the time it takes a stick of incense to burn, the pain passed. He rose and asked, “Do you know who I am?”

Li Wenxiu said, “No.”

The old man said, “I am Han Chinese. My surname is Hua, my given name Hui. I am from Jiangnan. In the jianghu they call me Hua Hui the One Finger that Shakes Jiangnan.”

Li Wenxiu said, “Ah, Elder Hua.”

Hua Hui said, “You have never heard my name?” He was a little disappointed. His name, Hua Hui the One Finger that Shakes Jiangnan, had once resounded across the land, and there was no one in the martial world who did not know it. Yet the girl showed not the slightest trace of astonishment.

Li Wenxiu said, “My papa and mama must know your name. I was only eight when I came to the Western Regions. I understood nothing.”

Hua Hui’s face brightened. “That is it, then. You…” He had not finished the sentence when voices drifted in from the mountain path outside the cave: “They must be hiding in here. Watch out for her poisoned needles!” Footsteps followed, and three men came in, advancing one cautious step at a time.

***

Hua Hui swiftly took out a poisoned needle and pressed the blunt end into the tip of his wooden staff, then handed it to her. He pointed toward the entrance and said in a low voice, “Wait until they come in, then strike the back. Do not aim for the chest, no matter how eager you are.”

Li Wenxiu thought, “The entrance is so narrow. Wouldn’t it be far easier to strike him in the chest as he crawls in?”

Hua Hui saw the hesitation on her face and said, “Life and death hang on this moment. Do you dare disobey me?” His voice was low, but the tone was severe. Just then, a gleaming long dao thrust through the entrance, slashing rapidly to guard the face and chest against ambush. Behind it came a dark shadow, crawling slowly forward.

Li Wenxiu, remembering Hua Hui’s instructions, crouched to one side and did not dare so much as stir. Hua Hui said coldly, “Look what I hold in my hand.” He made a feint with his arm. The second man crawling in cried, “Brother Yun, fall back!”

The one surnamed Yun darted aside, his dao crossing his body, eyes fixed on Hua Hui, alert for hidden weapons. Hua Hui barked, “Strike!”

Li Wenxiu brought the staff down, the tip touching the man’s back. The poisoned needle sank beneath the skin. The one surnamed Yun felt a slight sting, as though a bee had stung him. He gave a shout and stiffened in death. The one surnamed Quan, pressing close behind, saw his companion struck down by a poisoned needle and assumed Hua Hui had fired it from his hand. Terror seized him. He had no time to turn and flee, but scrambled backwards, arms and legs working together, and clawed his way out.

Hua Hui sighed, “If my martial arts had not failed me, what were five wretched bandits to me!”

Li Wenxiu thought that an epithet like the One Finger that Shakes Jiangnan must mean his skill was extraordinary, so how could he be helpless against five petty bandits? She said, “Elder Hua, is it because your illness keeps you from using your martial arts?”

Hua Hui said, “No, no! I… I swore an oath. Until the point of life and death, I would not lightly take up arms.”

Li Wenxiu murmured, thinking his words rang false. He had just said “if my martial arts had not failed me,” and now he was making excuses. But since he would not speak plainly, she did not press him.

Hua Hui too noticed the gap in his own words and changed the subject at once. “Do you understand why I told you to strike his back? He was breaking into the cave, all his attention on the enemy before him. You know no martial arts. Striking at his front would never have landed. I drew his guard toward me, and you struck his back, so the needle found its mark without difficulty.”

Li Wenxiu nodded. “Elder’s plan was excellent.”

Hua Hui’s experience of the jianghu was vast, and to outwit a petty bandit was well within his ease.

Hua Hui took a large slab of dried honeydew melon from his robe and handed it to Li Wenxiu. “Eat first. Those two scoundrels will not dare come back, but we cannot go out either. Let me think of a scheme. We must kill both of them in one stroke. If we kill only one, the other will flee and bring back reinforcements, and things will grow difficult.”

Li Wenxiu saw that his thinking was thorough and his schemes resourceful. She could never devise anything better, so she spared herself the trouble, ate her fill of the dried melon, and leaned against the cave wall to rest.

Perhaps half a shichen passed before Li Wenxiu caught a sudden acrid smell of burning. She began to cough. Hua Hui said, “No good! The wretches are smoking us out! Block the entrance, quickly!”

Li Wenxiu cupped sand and stones from the cave floor and packed them into the narrow opening. The hole was small, and after she blocked most of it, the smoke pouring in diminished greatly. The inner chamber was large, and what smoke did enter drifted out through the rear passage.

They held out a long while. The daylight filtering in from the rear cave grew brighter and brighter, as though it were nearly noon. Suddenly Hua Hui cried out and collapsed to the ground, his whole body convulsing. This time the agony seemed worse than before. His limbs flailed wildly, as though beyond his power to control. Li Wenxiu, alarmed, hurried to him again and kneaded and pressed his limbs. His suffering eased a little. Gasping, he said, “Miss… Miss, this time I am afraid I will not pull through.”

Li Wenxiu tried to comfort him, “Do not think that way. The strain of meeting those bandits has exhausted you. Rest a while and you will be well.”

Hua Hui shook his head. “No, no! I am going to die in any case. I will tell you the truth. An acupoint on my back was struck by… by a poisoned needle.”

Li Wenxiu said, “Ah, you were struck by a poisoned needle? When? Today?”

Hua Hui said, “No. Twelve years ago!”

Li Wenxiu cried in shock, “The same deadly poison as this needle?”

Hua Hui said, “Identical. Only I fought the venom with my neili, so the poison spread more slowly. Later I took an antidote, and that is how I survived twelve years. But judging by the ferocity of today’s attack, I do not think I can hold on much longer. Ah! Carrying this cursed needle in my body, every day for twelve years I have endured two or three bouts of agony like this. Knowing what I know now, I should never have taken the antidote. What good has twelve more years of suffering done me?”

Li Wenxiu’s chest tightened. Those words stirred her own old wound. If ten years ago she had died with her papa and mama at the bandits’ hands, she would have been spared much pain since.

Yet had all these years been pain? No. There had been happy times too. A girl of seventeen or eighteen, lonely and sorrowful though she might be, had her share of laughter and sweetness in those flower-like years. Especially the time she had spent with Supu.

She watched Hua Hui clench his teeth and struggle against the wracking pain. Li Wenxiu said, “Elder, if you could have the needle pulled out, perhaps you would feel better.”

Hua Hui snapped, “Nonsense! Who does not know that? I have been alone in these barren mountains. Who would pull the needle for me? No one who enters these mountains comes with good intent. Hmph, hmph…”

Li Wenxiu was full of questions, “Why did he not go out to seek help? What is the point of living alone in these barren mountains for twelve years?” Plainly he still suspected and distrusted her greatly. But seeing him in such pitiable torment, she said, “Elder, let me try. Do not fear. I would never harm you.”