White Horse Neighing in the West Wind - Chapter 11

Hua Hui stared at her, his brows drawn together in a tight frown. Countless thoughts raced through his mind, yet he seemed unable to make up his decision.

Li Wenxiu pulled the poisoned needle from the tip of her staff and held it out to him. “Let me see the wounds on your back. If you think I mean you harm, you can use the needle on me.”

“Good!” Hua Hui untied his robe and bared his back.

When Li Wenxiu saw what lay before her, she could not suppress a low cry of alarm. His back was covered with scars, speckled and dotted, thousands upon hundreds of them.

“I have tried every scheme I could devise to dig the needles out,” Hua Hui said, “but I could never get them free.”

Some of the scars looked as though they had been smashed open against sharp stones, others gouged open by fingertips through sheer brute force. Li Wenxiu gazed at those scars and thought of all the suffering he must have endured over twelve long years. Her heart ached for him.

“Where are the needles now?” she asked.

“There are three in all,” Hua Hui said. “One in the Pohu acupoint, one in the Zhishi acupoint, and one in the Zhiyang acupoint.” As he spoke, he reached behind him and pointed to each site. But so many years had passed, and his back was so criss-crossed with old scars, that the needle holes themselves could no longer be seen.

Li Wenxiu said in surprise, “Three needles? You said you had been struck by one?”

Hua Hui said angrily, “You hadn’t offered to pull the needles out before, so why should I have told you the truth?”

Li Wenxiu understood. His suspicion ran deep. The truth was that after being struck by three poisoned needles he had lost all his martial arts. He had been afraid she meant to harm him, and so he had lied about the vow he claimed to have sworn, the one that prevented him from fighting. He had even lied about the number of needles, keeping two of them secret, so that if she did harbour evil intentions she would have still more reason to hesitate. She did not like his craftiness and his distrust, but she thought that having begun to save a man she ought to see it through. The old man was truly pitiable, and she could not be bothered with his schemes just now. She fell silent, considering how she might draw out needles that had lodged deep in his flesh.

“Have you seen enough?” Hua Hui asked.

“I cannot see the tails of the needles,” Li Wenxiu said. “How do you think they should be removed?”

“You must cut open the flesh with a sharp blade to reach them. The needles have gone several cun deep. They will be hard to find.” His voice was trembling now.

“I see. It is a pity I did not bring a small knife.”

“Neither have I.” Suddenly he pointed to the long dao lying on the ground where it had fallen. “Use this dao!” The dao gleamed with a cold blue light and looked razor-sharp. It lay beside Yun. The man was dead now but his dao remained, and the sight of it still inspired fear.

Li Wenxiu hesitated greatly at the thought of using so long a dao to cut into the old man’s back. Hua Hui guessed what she was thinking. His manner softened. “Miss Li, you need only help me draw out the poisoned needles and I will give you quantities of gold and jewels. I am not deceiving you. Truly, truly great quantities.”

“I do not want gold and jewels, and I do not need your thanks. So long as you are free from pain, that is enough.”

Hua Hui knew that her nature was kind. Though her answer struck him as unworldly, he said, “Very well then. Be quick about it.”

Li Wenxiu went over and picked up the long dao. She cut and tore a dozen or so strips of cloth from the dead bandit surnamed Yun’s clothing to staunch the blood and bind the wounds afterwards. “Uncle,” she said, “I will do my best. You must bear the pain.” She set her teeth, aimed the dao’s tip a fraction from the Pohu acupoint he had indicated, and made a light cut.

The dao sank into flesh. Blood spurted out. Hua Hui did not so much as grunt. “Can you see it?” he asked. Twelve years of suffering had inured him to pain, and the cut of a sharp blade meant nothing to him now.

Li Wenxiu pulled a hairpin from her head and probed the wound. Sure enough, she felt a thin needle, pinned fast against the bone.

She slipped two fingers into the cut, gripped the tail of the needle, and pulled hard. Her fingers slipped. The needle would not come. Only on the fourth attempt, when she summoned all her strength and held fast, did the poisoned needle slide free.

Hua Hui cried out and fainted from the pain.

“He has fainted,” Li Wenxiu thought. “At least he will feel less that way.” She cut flesh and drew the needle, then extracted the other two in turn, and bound the wounds with strips of cloth.

It was a good while before Hua Hui came slowly round. The moment he opened his eyes he saw three black poisoned needles lying before him. “Devilish needles, thief needles!” he snarled. “You lurked in my flesh for twelve years. Today you are out at last.” He turned to Li Wenxiu. “Miss Li, you have saved my life, and this old man has nothing worthy to give in return. I present these three poisoned needles to you. Though they have lain in my body for twelve years, their venom has not faded.”

Li Wenxiu shook her head. “I do not want them.”

Hua Hui was astonished. “You have seen what the poisoned needles can do. With even one of them in your hand, anyone would think twice before crossing you.”

Li Wenxiu said quietly, “I do not want other people to be afraid of me.” But in her heart she was thinking: I only want other people to like me. A poisoned needle is no use for that.

Now that the needles had been removed, Hua Hui was very weak from loss of blood, but his spirits were light and his mind clear. He closed his eyes and slept peacefully for more than a shichen.

In his sleep he heard someone shouting curses. He started awake. The bandit surnamed Song was standing outside the cave, hurling foul abuse. The words he used were vicious beyond bearing. Plainly he dared not enter, but hoped to goad his enemies into coming out.

The more Hua Hui listened the angrier he grew. He rose to his feet. “The poisoned needles are out of my body now. Does the One Finger that Shakes Jiangnan fear two paltry bandits?” But when he channelled his qi, his strength would not come. He sighed. “The needles lodged in me too long. It seems my martial arts will not return for three or four months.”

In his ears the bandit went on cursing him, a thousand times an old rogue, ten thousand times an old rogue.

Hua Hui raged, “Am I to sit here and let you curse at me for months before I slaughter you?” Then he thought: If they never dare come in, and we go on like this, they will eventually go and fetch a large party of helpers. That would be disaster. What is to be done?

Suddenly an idea struck him. “Miss Li, I will teach you a set of martial arts. You go out and deal with those two rascals.”

Li Wenxiu said, “How long would it take to learn? It cannot be done so quickly.”

Hua Hui considered. “If I were to teach you the One-Finger Acupoint-Striking technique, or bladework, or fist techniques, it would take at least half a year. We have no time for that. The only way is to practise with an unorthodox weapon that yields results very quickly, one that can decide a fight in a move or two. But where in this cave would we find an exotic weapon?”

He looked up and suddenly cried with delight, “I have it. Go and pick two of those gourds hanging there. Leave the long vines attached. We shall practise the Meteor Hammer!”

Li Wenxiu saw that near the place where light entered the cave, a dozen or so withered gourds hung from the rock. They must have grown there many years ago. She used the dao to cut two free, long vines trailing behind them.

“Excellent!” said Hua Hui. “Use the dao to cut a hole in each gourd. Pour sand inside, then plug the hole with a piece of the gourd vine.”

Li Wenxiu did as he said. The two gourds, filled with sand, each weighed seven or eight jin. They made a fine pair of meteor hammers.

Hua Hui took them in his hands. “First I will teach you a move called Star and Moon Contending in Brightness.” He raised the pair of gourd meteor hammers and slowly demonstrated the posture.

The move Star and Moon Contending in Brightness struck with the left hammer at the Shangqu acupoint where the enemy’s chest and belly meet, while the right hammer first surged forward then curved back to strike the Lingtai acupoint on the enemy’s back. Though it was but a single move, it contained within it the arts of hand-strength, eye-aiming, and swinging the hammer to find the acupoints. One also had to guard against the enemy dodging left or right and seizing the momentum to counter-attack. Li Wenxiu took a full shichen and more before she could execute the hammer-stroke without error.

She wiped the sweat from her brow and said, apologetic, “I am so slow. I took forever to learn it!”

“You are not slow at all,” Hua Hui said. “You could be called very clever. Do not look down on this single move, Star and Moon Contending in Brightness. It is an unorthodox technique, but its changes are strange and marvellous, and it carries great power. An ordinary person might study it for eight or ten days and not achieve what you have. Against a master of the martial world, a single move would of course not suffice, but to overcome two paltry bandits it is more than enough. Rest a while, then go out and finish them.”

Li Wenxiu was startled. “Just this one move? That is all?”

Hua Hui laughed. “I have taught you only a single move, it is true, but you are now my disciple. Does a disciple of the One Finger that Shakes Jiangnan need two moves against two small-time bandits? Would you not be ashamed to tarnish your shifu’s name?”

Li Wenxiu answered, “Yes.”

“You do not wish to take me as your shifu?”

Li Wenxiu truly did not wish to take any shifu. She hesitated, unable to answer. But when she saw the disappointment on his face, which deepened into something like real hurt, her heart softened. She knelt and bowed several times. “Shifu,” she said.

Hua Hui was both delighted and sorrowful. He said, his voice thick, “Who would have thought that after surviving nine deaths, I would take such a clever and gifted disciple?”

Li Wenxiu gave a sad little smile. She thought: In all this world I have no family but Grandpa Ji. Whether I learn martial arts or not, it does not matter. But now I have gained a shifu. That is one more person in the world who will not harm me, who will pay me some attention.

“It will be dark soon,” Hua Hui said. “Use the meteor hammers to clear a path and charge out. When you reach a wide-open space, deal with those two rogues.”

Li Wenxiu was quite frightened.

Hua Hui said angrily, “If you do not trust my martial arts, why did you take me as your shifu? Years ago the Twin Heroes of Northern Min both perished beneath this very move, Star and Moon Contending in Brightness. How do the skills of these two paltry bandits compare to the Twin Heroes of Northern Min?”

How could Li Wenxiu know how skilled the Twin Heroes of Northern Min had been? Seeing his anger, she steeled herself. She moved aside the rocks that blocked the cave entrance. In her right hand she held the pair of gourd meteor hammers, and in her left she picked up a poisoned needle from the ground. She shouted, “You damned villains, here come the poisoned needles!”

The two bandits surnamed Song and Quan were standing guard at the mouth of the cave. When they heard “Here come the poisoned needles!” they were terrified out of their wits and hastily backed away. The man surnamed Song had indeed realised that if she meant to use the poisoned needles she would never warn them first. Since she shouted the warning, she must not be throwing needles after all. But he had seen three of his comrades die one after another from the poisoned needles. How could he bring himself to ignore the threat?

Li Wenxiu emerged slowly in pursuit. Her fear was truly no less than the two bandits’. The three of them, all trembling with terror, at last passed through the ten-odd zhang of narrow passage.

The man surnamed Quan glanced back. Li Wenxiu raised her left hand. He flinched, stumbled over his own feet, and fell in a heap. The man surnamed Song thought he had been struck by a poisoned needle and ran faster, bursting out of the cave. The man surnamed Quan scrambled after him and reached the outside too. The two of them raised their long daos in defence. One said, “We deal with the girl here!” The other said, “Right. This way we can see clearly if she throws the needles.”