by Jin Yong
Instantaneously, he had lost all his confidence in the Kung Fu of his own sword school. All he could think of was that even if he could perfect his sword art so it was as good as his Master’s, when he encountered the man with the staff, he would still stand no chance of possibly defending himself. In that case, what good would it do for him to continue learning this style of sword art?
“Is Huashan style sword art really so fragile that it wouldn’t even withstand a single blow? Those skeletons must have been decaying in the cave for at least thirty or forty years. How could the Five Mountains Sword Alliance still be dominating the Martial World since then, and no one had ever mentioned that the sword art of any one of the five sword schools could be defeated? Are those drawings just idling theories? Well, it doesn’t seem so.”
Although he couldn’t tell if the sword arts of the Songshan Sword School and the rest members of the Five Mountains Sword Alliance were truly defeated, he knew Huashan style sword art from inside out, and he knew too well that if he had encountered such brilliant moves in a real fight all of a sudden, he would undoubtedly be suffering a crushing defeat.
He stood still, seized in terror, almost as if someone had sealed his acupoints. Endless of thoughts flashed by his mind, and he totally forgot about time.
Time went by, and finally, someone’s voice rose. “Big apprentice brother, big apprentice brother, where are you?”
Stunned, Linghu Chong immediately turned and ran through the narrow pathway until he passed through the hole on the rock wall and got back into his own cave compartment. It was Lu Dayou calling out around the cliff. Linghu Chong leapt out of the cave and turned behind a big rock at the back of the cliff. After sitting down cross-legged, he called out, “I am here meditating. Sixth apprentice brother, what’s the matter?”
Lu Dayou followed the direction of the sound and came by. “Big apprentice brother! Here you are! I’ve brought your dinner up for you,” he said happily.
Ever since Linghu Chong started studying the moves on the rock wall before dawn, he had totally lost track of time because of his focus on the drawings. It was already in the late afternoon by now. The cave he lived in was specifically used for meditation and contemplation, so Lu Dayou dared not to enter without permission. The cave was a shallow one. Since he didn’t see Linghu Chong inside the cave, he started looking around the cliff.
Linghu Chong noticed that Lu Dayou’s right cheek was covered with a layer of herbal medicine, with blood still oozing out of the green dressing. Evidently, he was wounded pretty badly. So he asked hurriedly, “Hey, what happened to your face?”
“This morning when I was practicing sword art, I accidentally cut myself. How stupid was I!” Lu Dayou answered.
Seeing more irritation than embarrassment in Lu Dayou’s eyes, Linghu Chong figured that there must be something else. “Sixth apprentice brother, how did you really get hurt? Can’t I be trusted with the truth?” he asked.
“Big apprentice brother, I don’t want to hide the truth from you. I didn’t say the truth because I am just afraid that you might get mad,” Lu Dayou growled.
“So who cut you?” Linghu Chong inquired. He felt quite surprised. Apprentice brothers in Huashan Sword School had always been getting along comfortably well, and had never got into any fights among each other. Did outside enemies come to Huashan to cause trouble?
Lu Dayou explained. “This morning I sparred with junior apprentice brother Lin. He just learned that move Graceful Phoenix. I wasn’t paying enough attention and got a cut on my face.”
“It’s normal for somebody to make a mistake occasionally when apprentice brothers spar each other. Don’t get mad. Apprentice brother Lin probably just learned that move recently and couldn’t control the move too well. You can’t really blame him. But you probably were a bit too careless. That move Graceful Phoenix is a powerful one. You should have treated it more carefully,” Linghu Chong said.
“That’s right. But how would I know that…that chap Lin have learned the Graceful Phoenix after only several months of apprenticeship? It was after my fifth year in Huashan that Master finally permitted you to teach me that move,” Lu Dayou grumbled.
Linghu Chong was slightly surprised. He thought to himself, “Apprentice brother Lin has only been in Huashan Sword School for several months, and now he has already learned the move Graceful Phoenix. He has progressed too fast. If he didn’t have the brain of a super smart genius, then he wouldn’t have a good foundation. To progress this fast is actually detrimental for his later progress. Why did Master teach him this move so early?”
Lu Dayou continued, “When I saw it all of a sudden, I was shocked, that’s how I got cut by him. Little apprentice sister applauded and cheered by the side. She said, ‘Monkey Six, you can’t even beat my student. How are you going to pose as a hero in front me again?’ That chap Lin knew he was wrong and tried to come by and bind up the wound for me, but I kicked him to the ground. Little apprentice sister snapped, ‘Monkey Six, he is trying to be nice to bind up your wound. Are you shamed into anger because you can’t beat him?’ Big apprentice brother, it turned out that little apprentice sister secretly taught him that move.”
Instantly, Linghu Chong’s heart was filled with strong grief. That Graceful Phoenix move was a very difficult one. The five additional techniques had complicated variations, and on top of that, the practitioner also needed to memorize a lot of formulas that went with the techniques. In order to help apprentice brother Lin understand that move, little apprentice sister must have racked her brain out and put in a lot of work. So the reason why she didn’t come up the cliff all those days is because she spent the entire time with apprentice brother Lin. Yue Lingshan was the impatient type. She always had a hard time staying still and hated tasks that would require meticulous cares. She always wanted to be better than others. That was why she was able to gather enough patience when she was learning sword arts herself. But if she were teaching someone else, she would never have taught carefully. But now she actually taught that complicated move Graceful Phoenix to Lin Pingzhi. It wouldn’t be hard to imagine how much she cared about this junior apprentice brother of hers. Only after a while did he finally managed to calm down.
“Why did you go sparring with apprentice brother Lin?” he asked dryly.
“Yesterday when I said those words to you, little apprentice sister wasn’t very happy about it and croaked at me all the way down the cliff. Then early this morning, she dragged me to go sparring with apprentice brother Lin. I didn’t think too much about it and thought that it was just a practice. But who would have expected that little apprentice sister secretly taught several unique moves to the chap Lin. I was caught totally off guard and became a prey of their plot.”
Linghu Chong understood now: When Yue Lingshan and Lin Pingzhi got into an intimate relationship in those past days, since Lu Dayou was very close to me, he couldn’t take it anymore, so he must have spilled out many satirical comments. Linghu Chong wouldn’t be surprised if Lu Dayou had even made trouble and swore at Lin Pingzhi. So he asked.
“You’ve swore at apprentice brother Lin several times already, haven’t you?”
“That dirty shameless sissy. Of course I’d be swearing at him. He got scared of me. Every time I swore at him, he dared not swear back at me and always turned away immediately to avoid me. But I would never have thought…thought that this chap is so vicious. Humph! He can’t get anywhere by himself. If it weren’t because little apprentice sister was behind him, how could he have wounded me?” Lu Dayou grunted.
Linghu Chong couldn’t help but feel a kind of indescribable bitterness in his heart. He suddenly remember the move drawn on the rock wall in the back cave that was created to defeat the move Graceful Phoenix, so he picked up a branch from the ground and was ready to teach that move to Lu Dayou, but then he thought better of it.
“Sixth apprentice brother hates that chap Lin so much right now, once he uses this move, he would almost certainly wound Lin
Pingzhi severely. Then when Master and Master-Wife look into the incident, the two of us would be severely punished for sure! I can’t do that!” At that thought, he said, “Well, a fall to the pit, a gain in your wit. Just don’t get tricked again next time. We are all apprentice brothers. A small loss in a spar practice is really nothing. Why don’t you take it easy?”
“Sure. But big apprentice brother, I can take it easy. Can you…you take it easy, too?” Lu Dayou rebuffed.
Linghu Chong knew that he meant Yue Lingshan. A great pain came from his heart, and even his face twitched because of the pain.
“Sorry, I…I shouldn’t have said that.” As soon as the words came out, Lu Dayou realized how much damage he has done, so he immediately regretted it.
Linghu Chong held tight Lu Dayou’s hands and said slowly, “You said it right. How can I not care? But…but….” After a long pause, he said, “Sixth apprentice brother, let’s not talk about this anymore.”
“Sure!” Lu Dayou replied. “Big apprentice brother, you have taught me that move Graceful Phoenix before. I just didn’t pay enough attention and fell into that chap’s trap. I’ll practice more dedicatedly with all my heart. I have to let that chap know who’s better, the one taught by big apprentice brother or the one taught by little apprentice sister.”
Linghu Chong let out a sad smile. “The move Graceful Phoenix, alas, it really is nothing,” he said.
Lu Dayou could see the sad expression on Linghu Chong’s face. He figured that Linghu Chong only got so disheartened because little apprentice sister started to treat him coldly, so he dared not to say another word. After the two finished the meal, Lu Dayou cleared away the bowls and chopsticks and then left.
After a slight rest, Linghu Chong lit a torch and went back to the back cave to study those sword art drawings on the rock wall again. At the beginning, all he could think of was still how Yue Lingshan taught Lin Pingzhi sword arts, so he simply could not concentrate on the drawings on the rock wall. All the human forms in simple sketches seemed to have transformed into Yue Lingshan and Lin Pingzhi, one teaching, the other learning, in a very affectionate way. And no matter which direction he looked at, he could always see the handsome face of Lin Pingzhi flashing in front of his eyes again and again. He heaved a long sigh, thinking, “Apprentice brother Lin is ten times more handsome than I am, and he is much younger than me, only one or two years older than little apprentice sister. Of course it is natural for the two to become close.”
Suddenly, a drawing on the rock wall caught his attention. The swordsman in the drawing thrust his sword out, and the way he thrust the sword out and the route of the sword greatly resembled the move of Madam Yue’s – Unrivaled and Unmatched, The Thrust of Ning. Linghu Chong was astounded. He thought, “This move of Master-Wife clearly was created by her. How come it was carved on the rock wall way ahead of time? How could this have happened?”
He looked at the drawing more closely and then found out that the thrust drawn on the rock wall and the move created by Madam Yue were actually quite different. The sword move on the rock wall was bold and vigorous, simple and unadorned, apparently executed by a man. Once the thrust was out, there was only one thrust, not like how Madam Yue’s move had all those extra hidden techniques. But because it was simpler, it was also more swift and fierce. Linghu Chong nodded as he thought to himself, “It’s actually not surprising at all. The sword move created by Master-Wife used an idea that matched with earlier people’s idea. Since both moves came from the basic theory of the Huashan style sword arts, and the two creators had about the same level of Kung Fu and comprehension, of course the creations would have been alike with only minor differences.” Then he realized, “In that case, even Master and Master-Wife didn’t know many of the sword moves drawn here. Didn’t Master learn the entire set of the advanced sword arts of our Huashan Sword School?” The opponent’s staff also thrust out straight with the staff tip aiming right at the sword tip. The staff and the sword made a perfect straight line.
Seeing the straight line made, Linghu Chong cried out loud, “Oh, no!” The torch in his hand fell down to the floor and the cave was instantly covered by complete darkness. He was completely taken by terror and could only murmur, “What do I do? What do I do?”
He could see clearly that since the staff and the sword were in a tit-for-tat fight, and the staff is rigid and solid while the sword being flexible, when the two fighters both thrust out with all their strength, the long sword would have no choice but to break from the middle. In this move, both fighters would have continuous energy flow going together with the thrust, and the staff would be taking the advantage of the situation and keep going forward while the energy on the sword would come right back to haunt the swordsman. There was really no way out of it.
A thought suddenly flashed by his mind, “Is there really no way out of it? I guess not. After the sword breaks in half, and when the opponent’s staff jabs by, the swordsman can either drop the broken sword, kneel down with both legs, or he can dive forward to avoid the strike from the staff. But Master and Master-Wife are both well-known sword masters in the Martial World, how could they even consider using such body positions? They would rather die than take on such humiliation. Alas, what a crushing defeat! What a devastating defeat!”
He stood there silently for a good while, and then finally took out the flint stone and lit the torch again. He continued studying the rock wall and saw that the sword moves were getting more and more exquisite and intriguing, especially the last dozens of moves simply fluctuated unpredictably and appeared to be mysterious and profound. But no matter how brilliant each sword move was the opponent’s staff would always have an effective way to counter it. At the end of the Huashan sword move drawings, pictures of the swordsman kneeling on the floor in front of the staff wielding man, heading down, sword being thrown away, were carved on the rock wall. Feelings of anger and rage had slipped away from Linghu Chong’s mind long ago. All there was left was the deep feeling of despair. Although the picture was totally arrogant and harsh, there was no doubt that Huashan style sword art had been completely defeated by him, and the swordsman would never be able to compete with him. It was sadly so very true.
That night, he wandered around the back cave back and forth for countless of circles. He had never been hit with such a devastating strike before in his entire life. He kept thinking, “Huashan Sword School is a member of the Five Mountains Sword Alliance. It is a world-renowned big sword school with great fame in the Martial World. But the Kung Fu of our sword school is actually so pathetic. Among those sword moves drawn on the rock wall, there were at least over a hundred moves that even Master and Master-Wife didn’t know about. Even if I could master the entire most advanced sword moves of the Huashan Sword School, and become way better than my Master, what difference would it make? As long as the opponent knew about the counter moves, even the best and toughest swordsman of Huashan Sword School would still have to throw down his sword and surrender. If he didn’t want to surrender, then the only other choice was to commit suicide.”
He paced up and down, feeling deeply vexed and frustrated. The torch had extinguished a while back. He lit the torch again. Staring at the kneeling and surrendering human shape sketch, he felt more and more annoyed. Raising his sword high, he wanted to chop at the picture, but right before the tip of the sword touched the rock wall, he held it back, thinking, “A true man is open and aboveboard. A win stays a win and a loss stays a loss. Our Huashan Sword School truly has inferior Kung Fu skills. We really have no excuses.” He threw down his sword with a deep sigh.
He went ahead and looked at some other drawings on the rock wall, and not to his surprise, the sword moves of Songshan, Hengshan, Taishan, and Heng-Shan Sword Schools were also completely defeated, and the swordsman sketch always ended up kneeling down to surrender. Linghu Chong had been in Huashan Sword School for a long time and had a good amount of knowledge about many other sword schools. Although he didn’t know the key
aspects of the other four member sword schools’ sword moves, he had at least heard about the basic ideas behind them. Every one of the sword moves from the other four member sword schools drawn on the rock wall was truly magnificent, but still, the man in the drawing defeated every one of them.
In his heart, other than terror, some unanswered questions also troubled him. “Fan Song, Zhao He, Zhang Chengfeng, Zhang Chengyun. Who are these people? Where did they come from? Why did they work so hard to carve on the rock wall all those moves that can defeat our Five Mountains Sword Alliance’s sword arts, yet they themselves were so unknown to the Martial World? And how could our Five Mountains Sword Alliance have still maintained such a great fame today?” He faintly felt that the Five Mountains Sword Alliance had been enjoying a quite undeserved and deceiving fame in the Martial World today, or they were just too fortunate. The thousands of masters and apprentices in the five sword schools were only able to survive in the Martial World because luckily the drawings on the rock wall were unknown to the public.
A thought suddenly popped into his mind, “Why don’t I use that sharp axe to chop all those drawings down and leave no trace of it whatsoever, so it would be as if those counter moves had never even existed in the world? Then, for sure, the fame of the Five Mountains Sword Alliance would be saved. I’ll just pretend that I’ve never found this back cave. That’s all.”