by Yan LeiSheng
The first of his three weapons was his ability to throw his enemies off balance, which seemed to have failed this evening. Fortunately, the second was more reliable, consisting of a flexible sword wrapped around his waist, durable enough to counter the most dangerous strikes, and sharp enough to slice through iron like butter. He unsheathed it and wielded it with such speed that many of his victims were dead before they even had time to see it. The third and final weapon was the trio of poisoned needles that he could release from his left bracer when he pressed a specific point. Using his sword and needles simultaneously made him a deadly opponent.
Shao Jun had been saved by her cloak when they fought in Xiyuan park, Wei Bin having underestimated its usefulness. It served to give her a majestic air while also protecting her from any blades that tried to reach her. But she wasn’t wearing it tonight, here in the temple. There was nothing that could offer her unexpected salvation.
As the Tiger unsheathed his sword and discreetly removed the needles from his bracer ready to throw, Shao Jun stepped back a pace and grabbed a golden-bladed dagger from behind the statue. Gold made for a good weapon, as it was more flexible, but was also twice as heavy as an equal quantity of iron.
Except that… the imperial favorite’s weapon was not gold, but simple copper, a material which had no specific advantage. This incongruity made Wei Bin nervous. It proved something unforeseen was happening. A trap.
Deciding to put an end to this scheming once and for all, he threw his needles with a sudden gesture and rushed toward the young woman. At this distance, and with his experience, she made an unmissable target; she would soon be unable to move, and he would simply need to drive his blade into her body. But against all expectations, the metal needles deflected from their course to bury themselves in the Buddha’s left palm with a sound – fip! fip! fip! – that echoed in the empty room like a mocking laugh.
At the same instant, from his first step towards his opponent, he felt his sword become abnormally light at the end of his arm, as if drawn by an invisible hand. He had mastered the subtleties of this difficult weapon like no other, able to soften or stiffen the blade as he pleased, but he had never seen it react in such a way before. And the closer he got to the imperial favorite, the worse the phenomenon became.
Panic overcame him. He had thought he was pinning his prey down, but in reality it had been she who had led him by the nose to the terrain she had prepared for her attack. His two favorite weapons now unusable, he had little room to maneuver.
Tcha! He felt a sudden pain through his chest. Shao Jun had plunged her common, copper dagger through his ribs.
His strength left him. He staggered and fell to the floor. Having killed so many himself, he knew what to expect. A rush of blood would fill his chest until it flooded out from his nose and mouth.
Ah, so this was what death felt like? He suddenly felt like laughing. He had had himself castrated several decades before to escape poverty and to enter the palace, where he devoted himself to studying to become a great eunuch, benevolent and highly respected.
He never left any opponent alive, so no one was supposed to know his fighting techniques. And despite her skill, Shao Jun was far below his level. If he died now, it was only because the trap had been designed specifically for him, so finely crafted that there had never been any chance of escape. The person who conceived it must be exceptional.
“Here I am, about to die like a mere pawn in the service of Uncle Zhang,” he thought to himself.
He who had so desired not to be used by anyone… What a waste.
But his defeat would also be the defeat of the leader of the Eight Tigers. Was it possible?
In the end he had no time to consider this further. A voice called him from outside the room.
“Uncle Wei!”
It was Left Paw, standing in the doorway. Wei Bin had told him to keep his distance, and he had obeyed the instructions. When he had seen his master, who he considered to be almost a demi-god, fighting then collapsing inside the temple, he hadn’t believed his eyes, and had been paralyzed by shock.
Shao Jun was as stunned as she was amazed. Her heart beat fit to burst as her body, until that point strung tight as a bow, suddenly relaxed. Even though Master Yangming had reassured her that Wei Bin would not escape their trap, any unexpected detail could have derailed their plan. She hadn’t dared believe that one of the legendary Eight Tigers, who had seemed invincible during their encounter on the bridge in Xiyuan park, would fall for their trap so easily.
“A contest of strength does not equal a contest of minds”, Master Yangming had rightly said… She did however regret not having been able to draw explanations out of Wei Bin concerning the scroll and the words Dai Yu written on its case. He had at least confirmed that there was a close link between the Precursor Box and that his group was urgently looking for it. What could possibly link these two apparently unrelated objects? She would have to think about it later.
Catching sight of the young eunuch in the doorway, she leapt towards him, pulling her dagger out of Wei Bin’s chest as she did so.
“Do you want to die alongside your master?”
Left Paw jumped in fear, and set off running as fast as he could.
Should she kill him too? Given his age, his kung-fu wouldn’t be a threat, particularly as he seemed completely bewildered by his master’s death. But he might cause them problems in the future if he was allowed to live. Instead of taking action, Shao Jun wasted time considering the advantages and disadvantages.
The mind itself is neither good nor evil. Good and evil are born of intention. Discerning good and evil is an essential knowledge. Studying the ten thousand things enables one to work for good and eliminate evil. Master Yangming’s four precepts came back to her. What knowledge could really come from cold-blooded slaughter? If she gave up on mercy, the Society of Mind would not deserve its name.
Shao Jun decided to listen to her heart, and it told her to stop there. She was however aware that the path she trod would be bloody, and that it was too late to turn back now.
Chapter 6
“Venerable captain of the imperial guard!”
Ma Yongcheng greeted Zhang Yong, then went to stand at his side. He should have returned to the capital five days earlier, but had been delayed en route. When he learned of the death of Wei Bin, which had occurred while he was away, he immediately volunteered to personally take care of Shao Jun, once and for all.
True to his nickname, the “Butcher”, Ma Yongcheng killed mercilessly at every opportunity. Yet despite this, he had shared a steadfast friendship with Wei Bin which no disagreement had ever managed to break. When Wei Bin had returned covered in glory from the war in Ningxia, he had been unable to accept the noble titles he had earned for his service due to his status as a eunuch, but had instead offered them to his own brother, who had since become the Count of Zhenan, and to Ma Yongcheng’s brother, who now administered Pingliang. Such was the strength of the bond between them.
“My vigorous Ma Yongcheng,” announced the captain, “I must leave for some time. I leave it to you to put an end to this situation, but remember to bring her back to me alive!”
“Uncle Zhang, you can be sure that she will not be allowed to die before she is held accountable before the law.”
At first glance, the term “vigorous” would not be the first word to apply to this man with the pale face and arrogant, high-pitched voice, but seeing him fight quickly demonstrated the aptness of the term. He licked his lips with his tongue that was rough as a cat’s, giving him the air of a wild beast. Yes, the Butcher was decidedly the most cat-like of the Eight Tigers.
A sly smile on his face, Zhang Yong sniffed the air, savoring the subtle scents of plum blossom that heralded the beginning of an idyllic spring.
“Tell me, Uncle Ma, how do you plan to stop Shao Jun if the whore has already left the capital?”
>
“I don’t know, Uncle Zhang. Please, enlighten me.”
“She succeeded in killing Wei Bin. Such an extraordinary man could not have been overcome by ordinary means. You must be more cautious!”
•••
More a man of action than of thought, Ma Yongcheng was not one of those who spent hours crafting complex military strategies in a tent in the company of other officers. No, he preferred to be on the front line, in the middle of the fight. And when even a fighter as careful and accomplished as Wei Bin had fallen to Shao Jun, Zhang Yong doubted that the Butcher would succeed where his comrade had failed, particularly if he allowed himself to be overcome with anger. And so the captain harbored little hope for the success of this enterprise. He sought the opinion of Qiu Ju, whose views he respected despite the man’s lack of education.
The unlikely friendship that had united Wei Bin and Ma Yongcheng had been their strength when they were together. There would have been no doubt that they could have captured Shao Jun if they had worked as a team. But now one of the two had fallen, it was important that the remaining Tigers pooled their strengths. But Zhang Yong apparently wanted to visit the island of Dai Yu while delegating the matter of the young woman to someone else… What could really be behind such an irrational decision?
Of course, Qiu Ju refrained from mentioning these concerns, but his master seemed deep in thought, almost lost as he meditated on some problem.
“Qiu Ju,” he asked suddenly, “do you remember Wei Bin’s wound?”
“It was three point one inches deep. The left lung and heart were pierced through simultaneously.”
“Precisely. There were no other marks on the body, as if it took Shao Jun only one blow to win the fight. How many would it have taken you?”
“It’s hard to say… But has the whore really attained such an extraordinary level of skill?”
Qiu Ju’s unusually sharp memory had allowed him to immediately recall the details of the autopsy, and he also remembered Wei Bini’s incomparable martial techniques with equal clarity. He fought with a unique sword, a flexible blade that he could wrap around his waist, which he alone knew how to exploit to its full capabilities. He was undeniably one of the greatest fighters among the Eight Tigers, and despite his arrogance, Qiu Ju was forced to admit that he would have been unable to overcome him without outside help. And yet, this formidable swordsman had been vanquished by Shao Jun, and his assistant had seen everything!
“I’d like to believe that the slattern had improved her kung-fu,” growled Zhang Yong, “but there is no way she could have raised herself to Wei Bin’s level in such a short period of time. That means that he was not felled by the sword, but by some trick. Cunning is a key part of kung-fu, and he lost his life because he forgot this fundamental truth.”
“But venerable captain, there are only four toothless monks left in the Temple of the Understanding of Law… Do you think they are all part of her group?”
“Monks who fight? Ha ha! Don’t make me laugh! You clearly don’t know the history of the meditation room.”
“No, I don’t.”
“It was fifty years ago… At the time, the temple had just been gifted the Buddha of Healing by its leader, a monk named Blinding Light, a statue that was said to have supernatural powers. It was apparently able to heal its worshippers when medicine failed, and quickly became a local celebrity. Among the mass of believers who crowded to benefit from its miracles was the head of the imperial cavalry, Liu Xan, and the supervisor of the imperial apartments, Ma Hua. Both donated towards the temple renovation, and it was thanks to their funds that the mediation room of the Western Paradise was built.”
“Does it really exist? I mean, is this statue really supernatural?”
“Blinding Light arranged it so that people believed that. One day, he placed a small bowl of pills before the statue, and begged it to take them from him, saying that he relied only on faith to heal him. The tablets rose into the air to the statue’s hand on their own in front of the stunned crowd, and new of the miracle quickly spread.”
The story was interesting, but Qiu Ju didn’t see how it was connected with the murder of Wei Bin. As if reading his mind, Zhang Yong continued.
“But in reality, there was no divine intervention at work. The statue’s palm had been magnetized, and Blinding Light had filled his pills with metal powder. When the deception was discovered, the temple fell into disgrace, the faithful stopped visiting and the monk was chased out, but the Buddha remained where it was. Shao Jun must have known of this statue, and knew that if she drew Wei Bin near to it, his poisoned needles and his light, flexible sword would be attracted towards its magnetic palm… unlike the whore’s copper dagger! After that, all she had to do was strike at her disarmed enemy.”
“What ingenious sorcery!”
The trick had been designed specifically for Wei Bin, Qiu Ju realized with admiration, because any other sword – his own, for example – would have been too heavy to be drawn towards the Buddha’s hand.
“While I sent Ma Yongcheng after her, she deprived me of Wei Bin, my best man,” said Zhang Yong. “This time, I will make it seem as if I am setting a trap for her with Ma Yongcheng, so she will be blind to my real plan.” He smiled secretively. “I must get to Dai Yu island without further delay.”
Qi Jiu shivered. This destination was unexpected.
“Venerable captain, does that mean you’re going to use…?”
“According to my information, it will soon be operational. The man in the shadows will be forced to come out into the light of day!”
By this he could only mean Shao Jun’s mysterious ally, Qiu Ju thought to himself.
Because it was this unknown mentor that Zhang Yong had really feared ever since his existence was confirmed. A girl barely twenty years old, of little education and who had spent most of her life shut away in a harem, could never have known the history of the statue of the Buddha of Healing, a story fifty years old and known only to a few. Furthermore, the plan which had cost Wei Bin his life had been of rare meticulousness and ingenuity. The shadowy figure behind Shao Jun had to have an intellect at least as exceptional as Zhang Yong himself, which significantly reduced the list of suspects. While he most certainly had the Precursor Box in his possession, he had left some clues in the process, such as during his visit to the Imperial Academy, which would lead the captain to him as inevitably as a length of yarn leads to a ball of wool. That day would soon come. And to be ready to confront his when his identity was revealed, the leader of the Tigers must visit Dai Yu island…
It would kill two birds with one stone, as Pyros would say, but Zhang Yong refrained from disclosing the full scope of his plan to Qiu Ju. He was already halfway to winning anyway. Whatever happened to the deadweight Ma Yongcheng, the captain knew that his victory over his inscrutable adversary would be magnificent if all went as planned on the island.
But it was a question of balance, and the tables could always turn. Zhang Yong’s eyes still burned with youth despite his six decades of existence.
•••
As Ma Yongcheng reached the capital on the fifteenth day of the third month, Shao Jun took the road to Baoji tea house to the west of the city.
The establishment was next to Miaoying temple, known locally as the Temple of the White Pagoda due to its unusual architecture. Built by Kublai Khan during the Mongol dynasty of the Yuans, it was originally huge and taller than anything else in the area, making it an ideal spot for archers in times of conflict. Later ravaged by a fire, it had been destroyed and then rebuilt to more modest dimensions by Emperor Ming Xuanzong. Its local festival had a lively atmosphere, drawing crowds from all over the province come to pray and trade. Paradoxically, during this event, prayers and incense sticks were relegated to the background, far behind the hundreds of rich and varied goods displayed on the stalls. When their business was concluded or th
eir walk finished, visitors and traders would then sit and quench their thirst at the tea house, which was almost as animated as the market itself, despite the fact that establishments of this type were generally quiet and peaceful places where one could escape the hustle and bustle of the outside world.
To accommodate the tastes of the foreign monks who officiated at the Temple of the White Pagoda, the manager served butter tea, which they loved, in addition to the more usual jasmine and long jing teas. And to add a local touch to the establishment, he had also named the various rooms after the six syllables of the mantra om mani padme hum, which he heard throughout the day. Unfortunately, he wasn’t himself a Buddhist and so his pronunciation was rough to say the least… So, he welcomed customers to the tea house by asking them which of the “Oh money pa ni hom” rooms they preferred.
Shao Jun couldn’t help laughing when she heard the Buddhist prayer so mangled. She understood why the sender of the anonymous letter that had sent her here had asked her to sit in the “money” room.
The missive, which appeared to be a banal exchange of courtesies ending in a large flourished signature, was encoded using the methods of the Society of the Mind, of which only the most eminent members, such as Zhu Jiuyuan, Hong Liwei, and Wang Yangming, had knowledge – and the first two were no longer in this world. Shao Jun was also able to decipher this type of message, and so it was in this style that the mentor had written her instructions to ensnare Wei Bin. The young woman was grateful to have this new letter to tell her what to do, because, stunned by her own victory, she would have unable to decide what to do next on her own. The orders in the letter were nonetheless strange: they told her to visit Baoji tea house to meet someone.