by Jin Yong
He heard Kong Wen continue, "Of course our Temple refused, but how can the Ming Cult let the matter drop? That Zhang Jiaozhu has reached the pinnacle of the martial art mastery, until now he has not appeared. I am afraid he is operating surreptitiously. Kong Zhi Shidi [younger martial brother] and I owe him for saving our lives. If he personally came and asked for favor, how can we answer him? This is a serious problem. Shidi, Shizhi [martial nephew], do you have any honorable idea?”
An old and deep voice coughed lightly. As Zhang Wuji heard this cough, his heart was shaken, for he recognized this person as Cheng Kun, who changed his name to Yuan Zhen. Zhang Wuji had never spoken with him face to face, but at the Brightness Peak, when Zhang Wuji was inside the cloth-sack, he heard him recounting the past events, and then from behind the rock, he heard him shouting; he was very familiar with Cheng Kun’s voice. In a flash, suddenly Xiao Zhao came into his mind. One part of his heart was sweet, the other part was bitter.
He heard Yuan Zhen say, "Xie Xun is being guarded by three Tai Shishu [martial granduncle], so nothing will happen to him. The heroes’ assembly this time concerns our Shaolin Pai’s thousands of years’ prosperity and decline, our glory or disgrace. Some small kindness or resentment from the Ming Cult should not worry Fangzhang Shishu [abbot martial uncle] too much. Besides, the Wan An Temple affair was a collusion between the Ming Cult and the imperial government to make things difficult for the Six Major Sects, doesn’t Fangzhang Shishu know it?”
"How can the Ming Cult collude with the imperial government?” Kong Wen was surprised.
Yuan Zhen said, "The Ming Cult’s Zhang Jiaozhu was engaged to the Emei Pai Zhangmen [sect leader], Miss Zhou. On their wedding day, the Ruyang Prince’s Junzhu Niangniang [princess] suddenly took that fellow surnamed Zhang away. This matter has shaken the Jianghu; Fangzhang Shishu must have heard about it.”
"That’s right,” Kong Wen said, "I heard it was so.”
"One of that Junzhu Niangniang’s subordinate is a very capable warrior, called Ku Toutuo,” Yuan Zhen continued, "Both Shishu must have seen him at the Wan An Temple.”
At the Wan An Temple, Kong Zhi was forced by Zhao Min to demonstrate his martial art. Once he was humiliated by Ku Toutuo, because at that time his internal strength was gone, and thus he was not able to resist. He still bore some resentment until this moment. "Humph,” he said, "Once this important business is finished, I am going to Dadu to find Ku Toutuo and challenge him.”
"Shishu [plural], do you know who this Toutuo really is?” Yuan Zhen asked.
"This Ku Toutuo’s knowledge is very vast,” Kong Zhi replied, "He seems to know the martial art skill of every school and every sect. In all honesty, I can’t pinpoint his school origin.”
"Ku Toutuo is actually the Ming Cult’s Guangming You Shi Fan Yao,” Yuan Zhen said.
"Is that so?” Kong Wen and Kong Zhi exclaimed together. They sounded very surprised.
"How can Yuan Zhen dare to deceive Shishu?” Yuan Zhen said, "If he has the guts to appear on the Duan Yang Festival, once Shishu sees it, you will know.”
Kong Wen was deep in thought. "If that’s the case, then Zhang Wuji definitely collaborates secretly with that Junzhu. As the Junzhu captured the leaders of the Six Major Sects, Zhang Wuji sold his kindness by rescuing us.”
"I am 80, 90% sure that was what really happened,” Yuan Zhen said.
"But I still think that Zhang Jiaozhu looks honest, considerate and upright,” Kong Wen said, "It’s hard to imagine he is that kind of man. We must not wrongly accuse a good person.”
Yuan Zhen said, "I am sure Fangzhang Shishu remember the saying, ‘knowing a man by his face, not knowing his heart’ [zhi1 ren2 zhi1 mian4 bu4 zhi1 xin1]. That Xie Xun is Zhang Wuji’s Yifu, he is also one of the four Great Protector Kings [hu jiao fa wang - see my note in Chapter 30] of the Devil Cult. The Devil Cult will disregard everything to save its own people. In the upcoming Lion-slaying Assembly, everything will become apparent.”
Thereupon the three of them continued their discussion on how to welcome the guests, and how to stop the enemies who wanted to abduct Xie Xun; they also estimated how many masters from each school and sect would attend the assembly. Yuan Zhen strived to provoke all schools to fight each other. Then, after they had been defeated and suffered some injuries, Shaolin Pai would take advantage by killing the tiger inside the village, subduing all sects, so by right they would obtain the Tulong Saber and kill Xie Xun as a sacrifice for Kong Jian.
Kong Wen strongly emphasized that they should not shed too much blood and offended the Wulin people of the same principle; also, it seemed like he did not want to insult the Ming Cult.
Kong Zhi, however, wanted to embrace both ideas. He said, "When all is said and done, the most important matter is forcing Xie Xun to reveal the Tulong Saber’s whereabouts before the Duan Yang Festival. Otherwise, this ‘lion-slaying assembly’ will be meaningless and in turn will degrade our Sect’s prestige.
"Shidi has stated it well,” Kong Wen said, "We must show the Saber without fail at the meeting to set up our prestige. We’ll say that this ‘most revered in the Wulin world’ [wu3 lin2 zhi4 zun1], the precious Tulong Saber has returned under our Sect’s control. Then our Sect will rule the world, and nobody would dare to disobey.”
"All right,” Kong Zhi said, "Let it be so. Yuan Zhen, go and talk with Xie Xun again. Persuade him to hand over the precious Saber and we’ll spare his life.”
"Yes!” Yuan Zhen replied, "I respectfully follow Shishu’s instruction.” Footsteps were heard as Yuan Zhen went out the room.
Zhang Wuji was delighted, but he knew that these three Shaolin monks possessed extremely high martial art skill; if he made the slightest noise, he would be immediately detected. If he had to fight the three of them together, he was afraid it would be difficult for him to score a victory. The best he could do would be escape, but then his efforts to save his Yifu would be a thousand times, ten thousand times more difficult. Thereupon he held his breath and stayed perfectly still.
He saw that Yuan Zhen’s slim figure was moving to the north. A loud pitter-patter noise was heard as the heavy rain struck the oilpaper umbrella in his hand. Zhang Wuji waited until he was more than a dozen of ‘zhang’s away before he lightly slipped out to follow him.
End of Chapter 35.
Chapter 36 - The Three Withered Pine-trees Sprouting Green Leaves
(Translated by Foxs, Edited by Eliza Bennet)
As he saw the three black ropes curling toward the upper part of his body, Zhang Wuji pushed to the left and reached to the right. One hand swept, the other tangled as he borrowed these three monks’ forces to wind the three black ropes together. Zhang Wuji made several somersaults midair, before his left foot landed on a pine-tree branch, and he steadied his footing.
Under the heavy rain, the patrols on rooftops and everywhere else were considerably slackened off. Zhang Wuji followed close after Yuanzhen by hiding behind the building corners and behind big trees. He saw Yuan Zhen leap over the back wall of the Temple. "Turns out Yifu is imprisoned outside the Temple,” he thought, "No wonder I can’t find any clues inside the Temple.”
He did not dare to jump openly over the wall; creeping along the wall, he climbed up slowly to the top of the wall, and then after the patrolling monks passed by, he jumped down to the ground. In the rain, he saw that the top of Yuan Zhen’s umbrella was already more than a hundred ‘zhang’s to the north of the Temple, and then it turned to the left toward a small hill. Yuan Zhen climbed to the top of the hill with an exceptional speed.
By this time Yuan Zhen was already around seventy years of age, but his agility was still extraordinary; during the ascend to the peak, the umbrella in his hand did not seem to sway at all. His movements were so smooth that it was as if someone was pulling him up with a rope.
Zhang Wuji quickly ran toward the foot of the hill. He was about to climb up when suddenly his eyes caught a glittering light by the mountain path; there was someone with o
pen blade lying in ambush by the roadside, hastily he halted his step. After waiting for only a short moment, he saw from the cluster of trees four people, three in the front and one in the back, came out and ran toward the peak. From a distant, Zhang Wuji saw there were several pine trees on the peak, but he did not see any buildings. He wondered where Xie Xun could be imprisoned.
After looking around for and not coming across any other people, he followed to the peak. The ‘qing gong’skills of the four people ahead of him were excellent. He picked up speed until he was only about twenty ‘zhang’s behind them. In the darkness he could still see that among the four, one was a woman, the other three were men, all of them wearing regular clothes. He thought, "Most likely these four came to give my Yifu some trouble. I’ll let them fight a life and death battle against Yuan Zhen first. There is no hurry for me to interfere.”
Arriving at the peak, the four people picked up their speed. Suddenly Zhang Wuji recognized two of them, "Ah, those two are Kunlun Pai’s He Taichong and Ban Shuxian, husband and wife.”
He heard Yuan Zhen let out a long and fierce cry, turn around abruptly, and dash back down the hill. Immediately Zhang Wuji dove down and hid among the grass by the roadside. He crawled several ‘zhang’s to the left and heard the ringing noise of clashing weapons, as Yuan Zhen and the newcomers had begun to fight.
From the sound of the clashing weapons, it sounded like only two people were fighting Yuan Zhen. "The other two are not fighting,” he mused, "Obviously, they proceed to the peak to find Yifu.” Right away he crept faster among the thick patch of grass to the peak of the hill.
As he arrived at the peak, he only saw a bare stretch of flat land; there was no building, only three tall pine trees arranged in triangle, their branches looked like soaring dragon, reaching up to the sky. He felt strange, "Could it be that Yifu is not being held here?” he thought.
He heard some rustling noise coming from the underbrush on his right, as someone was creeping along; followed by Ban Shuxian’s voice, "Move quickly, our two Shidi’s may not necessarily able to hold that Shaolin monk.”
"That’s right,” He Taichong replied. Two people rose up and charged toward the three pine trees.
Zhang Wuji was afraid Xie Xun was really around here, so he did not dare to act rashly; he crawled forward among the thick grass. Suddenly he heard He Taichong exclaim, ‘Hey!’, as if he was hurt.
Raising his head, he saw that He Taichong was standing among the pine trees, brandishing his sword fiercely like he was fighting with somebody, but actually no one else was visible. He only heard occasional ‘bang, bang, bang’, as if He Taichong’s sword was colliding with some strange weapon. Zhang Wuji was even more perplexed. He crawled several steps forward and focused his eyes to have a closer look; he could not help but gasp in shock.
It turned out that the trunks of the two pine trees diametrically opposite to him were hollow. The cavities’ size was just enough to accommodate one person. In each cavity sat an old monk, each monk held a black long rope in his hand, with which they were attacking He Taichong, husband and wife. The third three was right in front of Zhang Wuji. A black long rope also came out from this tree, so he knew that this tree also had an old monk inside its trunk.
In the dark night, the three black ropes did not reflect any light, hence, they were almost invisible in their movements. He Taichong, husband and wife, anxiously brandished their swords in tight defense. But because they could not see the direction of the enemies’ weapons, they did not have the leeway to launch any counterattack. These three long ropes appeared to move slowly, but in reality they were very fast, yet they did not create any wind at all. Under the heavy rain, in the middle of the night, on a lone hill peak, the three ropes moved like ghosts or as if by magic; it was unspeakably weird.
Mr. and Mrs. He repeatedly shouted their frustrations. They tried to get away from the encirclement of these trees, but each time they charged outward, the ropes would always push them back in. Zhang Wuji was secretly amazed; these ropes moved noiselessly, the people who drove them must have had profound internal energy, clear, pure and without any ruggedness in its utilization, might not be inferior to his own. He was astonished. "Yuan Zhen said that Yifu is being guarded by his three Tai Shishu [grand martial uncles]; obviously, they are these three old monks. Their power is extremely profound!”
"Ah!” suddenly he heard a miserable cry, as He Taichong’s back was hit by the rope and was thrown out from the encirclement; his life was gone right away.
Ban Shuxian was shocked and saddened. While she is losing her concentration ever so slightly, the three ropes struck together to burst her skull and break her four limbs, making her lose her human form. One of the black ropes shook and threw Ban Shuxian’s corpse out from the encirclement.
Yuan Zhen was fighting and stepping backwards, luring his opponents toward the peak. "Come!” he called out, "You dare to come here, receive your death.”
Although his two opponents were Kunlun Pai’s masters, with his level of martial art skill, Yuan Zhen would not necessarily lose, but it would be difficult to kill both of them at once. At best he would be able to injure only one of them, and then the other one would unavoidably escape. Therefore, he led them toward the pine trees.
The two of them were still several ‘zhang’s away from the trees, when suddenly they saw He Taichong’s body. They both halted their steps, and in that split second, two long ropes came noiselessly from behind their heads and wound around their waists. The ropes jerked, and two people were thrown down from the peak, which was more than a hundred ‘zhang’s tall. Needless to say, they died as soon as their bodies struck the foot of the hill, but they cried out wretchedly when they were still midair, and the echo of their cry was still heard even after they were dead.
In a short moment the three old monks had killed four masters of Kunlun Pai. They were able to lift heavy objects as if they were very light, and accomplished the task with ease; the level of their martial art skill was rarely seen. Zhang Wuji believed they were superior to Lu Zhangke and He Biweng, although not as good as Tai Shifu [grand master] Zhang Sanfeng, whose skill was immeasurably deep; but they had definitely reached the boundary of divinity. Shaolin Pai unexpectedly still had this kind of old expert, perhaps even Tai Shifu and Yang Xiao were not aware of it. His heart was beating fast; he crouched down in the thick grass and did not dare to make the slightest movement.
He saw Yuan Zhen kick twice in succession, sending the bodies of He Taichong and Ban Shuxian into the deep valley below. As the corpses fell, it was a moment later that they heard two dull thuds as the bodies crashed into the bottom of the valley. Zhang Wuji mused, "He Taichong repaid my kindness with evil. Today he came here to harm my Yifu and steal the precious saber away; his conduct was despicable. But he was a martial art master, truly an expert in the martial art study, and a leader of his school. I did not expect for him to end his life this way.”
He heard Yuan Zhen respectfully say, "Three Tai Shishu’s divine skill is truly matchless; just by raising your hands, you have killed four masters of the Kunlun Pai. Yuan Zhen’s respect is endless. Words truly cannot express it.”
"Humph,” one of the old monks snorted, but did not say anything.
Yuan Zhen continued, "Yuan Zhen received Fangzhang Shishu’s [abbot martial uncle] order to come and wish three Tai Shishu well, and also to talk with the prisoner.”
One raspy voice said, "Kong Jian Shizhi [martial nephew] was very virtuous and highly skilled. The three of us are very fond of him. We were hoping he would develop Shaolin’s martial art study. It was unfortunate that his life was lost in this villain’s hands. The three of us have lived in seclusion for decades and for a long time did not encumber ourselves with the mundane affairs of this world; yet because of Kong Jian Shizhi we came to this hill peak. This criminal is worthy of death for his many sins. One chop of the blade will take his life away. Why should you waste your breath and disturb our peaceful meditation?”
Listening to this point, Zhang Wuji could not help but gnash his teeth in anger. He mused, "This evil thief Yuan Zhen truly deserves to be cut in pieces for all his crimes. His words are sweet but poisonous. He persuaded these three monks, who have lived in seclusion for decades, to come out, and borrow their hands to slaughter the martial art masters of the Wulin world.”
"Hmm,” he heard one of the old monk said, "You can speak with him.”
By this time, the heavy rain had not stopped, thunders were still rumbling incessantly. Yuan Zhen walked toward the center of the triangle and kneeled on the ground. "Xie Xun,” he said toward the ground, "Have you thought about it? You only need to say where you keep the Tulong Saber, I will let you go.”
Zhang Wuji felt strange, "Why did he speak to the ground?” he thought, "Could it be there is some
kind of dungeon down there, and my Yifu is held captive in it?”
Suddenly, with a loud and clear voice one of the old monks said angrily, "Yuan Zhen, Buddhist monks [orig. chu1 jia1 ren2 - people who leave their homes] do not tell lies. Why do you deceive him? If he did tell you the place where he hid the Saber, would you really let him go?”