EARTHLY DRAGON, SOARING PALM

by Derek Dorris

  Experienced fighters among the crowd were shocked when they recognised it. “The Jade Tigers are here!” someone whispered as they each looked around for Ti Xiaobo or that big monk of his.

  Bai Feng noted both fighters seemed evenly matched but Tu Ling was fighting more cleverly, utilising shorter attacks and evasions rather than the more tiring initiative-grabbing moves of her opponent. Furthermore, Tu Ling had just about come to grips with the variations in Sun Shi’s point-sealing sequences. At the beginning of the next sequence, she reached inside her gown to protect the point her opponent was about to strike next.

  Initially, Sun Shi was elated to feel her strike landing on the correct point but immediately sensed danger when she felt Tu Ling's hand in its place.

  Tu Ling allowed the strike to happen albeit on her own terms and had used the opportunity to get closer to her opponent. Reaching around her neck, her right forearm pressed straight down on Sun Shi's left trapezius. The Five Point sister dropped like a bag of stones. Tu Ling followed her to the ground and proceeded into elegantly executed an arm lock which forced her opponent to submit.

  Cheers exulted Tu Ling as the winner and having won the right to speak further, she got up and bowed to her defeated opponent and then the crowd. “Listen brothers and sisters, I only ask we investigate the incident last night before we act.” Another cheer and Tu Ling inwardly laughed at how easily one could bend a crowd to one's will.

  Bai Feng was still concerned. This isn't over, he thought. At that point, a young warrior from the Yellow Lake Brotherhood came forward. A strikingly handsome man in his mid-late twenties, he was slightly older than the members who Bai Feng encountered at the lakeshore. However, he was far more accomplished—that much was clear simply by the way he moved.

  “Perhaps, I can compete with Sister Tu?” he asked with an informality that for some reason irked Bai Feng.

  He frowned, a little perturbed by this sudden feeling of jealousy but indulging it nonetheless. Even I haven’t dared to call her “Sister” yet, he thought. Allowing a seriousness to darken his face, Bai Feng opened his stance to the young pretender. “Please watch your manners,” he heard himself say, his tone barbed almost to the point of being unrecognisable to him. His mind suddenly felt like a block of ice trapped in his skull. What the hell is happening to my focus? he wondered frantically.

  The Yellow Lake Brother smiled at this blatant show of jealousy, immediately pegging Bai Feng for just another muddle-headed kid—anything but a threat. But her, he thought. She's magnificent. Looking at Bai Feng, he grinned widely and spoke loudly, “I apologise if you have reason to be offended young man but this is between me, Yi Jin of the Yellow Lake Brotherhood and her. Unless you're a husband or a relative I ask you to stay out of this.”

  Bai Feng blanched, his fists closing involuntarily.

  Inwardly, Tu Ling was elated at Bai Feng's reaction. She'd been feeling closer and closer to him on their journey but wasn't sure if he felt the same way. He's so closed and collected, she had found herself thinking on numerous occasions, impossible to read. But now, here in front of all these unlikely people, she felt he was revealing his true feelings for her. She turned her attention to Yi Jin, strangely happy to draw out Bai Feng's torment to satisfy her own yearnings. “I'll gladly match palms with you.” She bowed and assumed the Jade Tigers’ basic stance.

  Yi Jin looked at Zheng Hui for approval who gave it tacitly with a flick of his eyes.

  “Okay, let us begin,” said Yi Jin as he kicked off the ground and glided forward with calm movements. Evading and dancing around each of Tu Ling's attacks. Bai Feng had seen how good his younger brothers’ internal kung fu was at the lake so he wasn't surprised to see how he approached this fight. However, whereas normally he’d be enraptured with the purity of Yi Jin’s movements—yearning to engage with them—for the first time in his adult life, he was loathe to credit his opponent with any such artistry.

  Tu Ling was quickly realising she was out of her depth with this person but her pride drove her on. She began funnelling more and more internal strength into her attacks but so little had she, she was playing right into her opponent’s’ hands. With a deft trip of his leg, she fell into his arms which he used to catch her in as tender an embrace as he could muster. Looking up at him to see him smiling down at her, she was momentarily distracted by his good looks but then, in the blink of an eye, she was spirited out of his grasp.

  Yi Jin had been feeling more than happy with himself. He had subdued this girl with no violence and much charm. Only before he could bask in her gaze, she was gone. He looked up to see Bai Feng standing a full three meters away from him, holding Tu Ling tenderly.

  Now, it was Yu Jin’s turn to be jealous. “What did I tell you about interfering, young punk? Now you can't blame me for being rude.” Stalking towards Bai Feng and Tu Ling, he attacked with the same calm fluidity as before. Clearly he rated Bai Feng in the same bracket as his lady friend.

  Bai Feng had taken all he could when he saw Tu Ling falling into Yi Jin’s arms and, without thinking, he swept across the fight area and picked her gently out his grasp glancing down at her eyes as he moved. She looked up warmly at him and it was enough to settle his rising passions, at least temporarily. Now he was calm again. Clear.

  As Yi Jin prepared to fly at him, he looked down at Tu Ling one more time. “Allow me to take care of him for you.” Then he was gone in a blur. He didn't engage this adversary immediately. Instead, he drew the fight away from Tu Ling who he wanted as far away from this person as possible. But Yi Jin was better than he expected and closed Bai Feng's movements down with ease. Of course, the Earthly Dragon disciple was refusing to use any internal power in his stances while the Yellow Lake Brother was gladly tapping his not insignificant reservoir to cut off his opponent's angles.

  To Bai Feng this contest was always going to centre on pure kung fu and so he tested his rival with some low attacks from the Fifth Guardian’s Swallow Kick Form, alternating it with the art of deflection which his Third Guardian taught him. When the opportunity presented itself, he switched quickly to the extraordinary close quarter techniques of the Seven Winds Form.

  Yi Jin began this fight with a smug expression, keeping one eye on the pretty young lady behind him. However, as soon as Bai Feng began to attack him using his Earthly Dragon Style, that expression dropped and his face whitened. Before he knew it, he was been driven back within a flurry of elbows and close quarter palm strikes—so quickly that he was almost running.

  Matching his opponent's speed, Bai Feng toyed with Yi Jin for a moment or two before grabbing the outside of his right arm and smashing a low palm into his right side. Yi Jin slumped to his left knee and Bai Feng was content to leave it at that but Yi Jin wasn't having it.

  Shamed in front of his brothers, he needed to throw Bai Feng off guard. “Your girlfriend is pretty,” he whispered. “Are you so afraid to let her tangle with a real man?”

  Bai Feng’s face flushed to the point that he momentarily stood back from his opponent. This was a critical error to make in a fight and Yi Jin didn't miss it.

  Lunging at Bai Feng, he caught him with a downward palm followed by a brutal upper elbow to the chin. Yi Jin watched his young opponent stumbled backwards before applying a reverse chokehold that stopped the blood flowing to Bai Feng's head.

  Unaccustomed to any kind of emotional turmoil, Bai Feng was momentarily stunned by this turn of events. With the pressure on his jugular, his mind waned for a split second and when he regained it, he shook all thoughts of jealousy from his mind. Hooking his right hand into the crook of Yi Jin’s choking elbow, he pulled it down to give himself some breathing room. With the small bit of space that afforded him, he sank into his stance and slid his left shoulder under his opponent's left armpit before straightening his legs and turning his hips to the left.

  Before he knew what was happening, Yi Jin found himself being thrown over Bai Feng's shoulder landing upside down with a thump. Using a carp lea
p manoeuvre to get back up straight away, Yi Jin threw his left hand backwards to ward off any quick follow up from his opponent.

  However, Bai Feng was ready for that and struck his left ribs with a brutal kick. Something about the crunch of Yi Jin’s ribs resonated with Bai Feng and as the former proceeded to clinch onto Bai Feng and whisper one last profanity into his ears, the unthinkable happened.

  Bai Feng had started the fight in the manner in which he had been trained but the smug smile on his opponent's face eventually stirred tempestuous feelings of jealousy and pride within him. With the subsequent comments about Tu Ling, he felt his kung fu unspool and he was totally unprepared for that last insult. Without realising it, he began to funnel more and more power into his attacks sending Yi Jin back in a fine cloud of blood and spit. He just kept hitting him and before he knew any better, Yi Jin was on the ground struggling to breath.

  “Bai Feng!” Tu Ling's voice was shrill with worry. Not for Yi Jin but for the huge consequences of murdering one these people right in front of his brothers. She had never expected Bai Feng—seemingly so cool and unflappable—to have so much anger built up within him. But in that brief moment, she saw it in his eyes and she noted its depth. It was bewildering.

  Bai Feng didn't care about his safety yet he was appalled at how his mind had turned so violent so quickly. He had never felt such dark emotions on Earthly Mountain yet in those few seconds he was so easily consumed by them he knew they were deep. But where did they come from?

  Bai Feng didn’t have time to answer that question; on seeing his disciple being badly injured, Zheng Hui launched himself towards Bai Feng with furious momentum. Bai Feng felt his internal power still bubbling but suppressed it momentarily. Such an act was contrary to the skills he had learned; only he didn’t have time to restructure his perceptions and thus dissipate his power properly. As Zheng Hui came at him with the same style that Yi Jin had used, Bai Feng was hard put to deal with him. There was much more power in these moves but not enough to skew the colossal man’s kung fu. This was truly one of the better fighters he had faced since returning to the Jianghu. Not as powerful as Wangchuk Drup but stronger than any of his cronies.

  Bai Feng divided himself in two. Externally, he reacted and evaded like lightning while internally, he regulated his breathing. Suddenly, Zheng Hui struggled to land any of his punches and the reprieve gave Bai Feng the time he needed to settle his thoughts. He united his mind with his body again and funnelled his re-established clarity into his movements.

  As Bai Feng’s kung fu fed seamlessly off his, Zheng Hui felt the power of his own attacks being re-directed back towards himself. However, the leader of the Yellow Lake Brotherhood was a veteran of Wulin. He did the unpredictable and allowed himself to take a lesser strike to the shoulder but used the momentum from that strike to drive a hooked punch towards Bai Feng’s midriff.

  Bai Feng was struck and stooped forwards. The punch felt vastly more powerful than anything Yi Jin hit him with. Once again, his clarity was affected. The Earthly Dragon Style was not designed to operate in the context of such mental turmoil so, without thinking about it, Bai Feng fell back on the only style he knew that was developed with the express purpose of translating one’s emotions into martial actions. In an instant, he switched to the Silver Fire Form and unleashed a wave of “straight circle” attacks on his opponent.

  Zheng Hui wasn’t prepared for this dramatic shift in style and before he knew it, he was struck once, twice, three times—all in his centre torso. At the third punch, Bai Feng spun into a side kick that sent Zheng Hui’s gigantic frame crashing into his disciples.

  The crowd were stunned. “Who the hell is this kid?”

  The younger members of the Yellow Lake Brotherhood rushed to the head of their group just as Zheng Hui was being helped up. “Senior Zheng, this man is a hero of orthodox Wulin. We saw him last week travelling with Xun Da.”

  Fire burned in Zheng Hui’s eyes. “Seize him!” he roared. The Yellow Lake Brotherhood moved en masse.

  Tu Ling was near panic for it would take something really special to avoid being executed on the spot. She inserted herself between the encroaching brothers and Bai Feng. “He's not fighting for the Liu. It's true, he's friends with a Liu hero but he's also friends with me—a Jade Tiger. Are we part of the orthodoxy too? He's here because we witnessed firsthand Yu Guo Wei setting that fire!”

  The Yellow Lake Brotherhood stopped in their tracks, glancing at each other for advice on how to proceed. Tu Ling had clearly been trained in Jade Tiger Style, a sect utterly brazen in its criminality. Liu Ru and Ruan Bolin were still at the head of the crowd. The former raised his voice over the crowd’s mumbling, “Obviously, this needs to be cleared up. Young man, could you please introduce yourself?”

  Still concerned about Yi Jin’s condition, Bai Feng tried to compose himself. He cupped his fist, bowed, and in a thin voice said, “Junior's name is Bai Feng.”

  Liu Ru glanced at Ruan Bolin as he approached Bai Feng, ostensibly to question the young hero further. “From which sect or master did you learn your kung fu? I can't quite pin it down.”

  “I've had several teachers,” Bai Feng replied just before he heard Yi Jin groan. Urgently, he looked over and was vastly relieved to notice healthy signs of consciousness in the younger man.

  This was the moment the two elder experts were waiting for. Within that split second, Liu Ru and Ruan Bolin attacked simultaneously, one on each flank. They moved with so much speed that even Tu Ling didn't have time to warn Bai Feng. By the time her vision focused, the three men were moving swiftly around the clearing. Zheng Hui was physically stronger than both Liu Ru and Ruan Bolin but they were much faster and no less abundant in internal strength.

  Bai Feng was defending with his third uncle’s deflecting form which involved short slaps to the attacking limbs followed by rapid counterattacks but—against two experts of their speed—he was being hit too often. A Liu Ru back-fist to the right side of his face left a welting pain that forced him to close his right eye momentarily. Ruan Bolin made the most of this and struck the back of Bai Feng's knee. Instead of falling backwards, Bai Feng grabbed Liu Ru and Ruan Bolin by their nearest shoulder and whipped his legs vertically into the air so that he was above them in an upside down position. Pressing his thumbs into the side of their necks and applying nothing more than his downward bodyweight as pressure, he forced them to fall forward while he continued his reverse flip into the space behind them. This move was straight out of the Silver Fire Form as once again Bai Feng felt he needed it to compete. However, unbeknownst to him, this was becoming a problem.

  He moved in on the two experts and used a series of wide-arcing whipping movements to keep them from attacking as a pair. The two experts were now suffering under his increased strength but, as he cycled through the various stances, he felt his mind slowing. Suddenly, the intricacies of Yang Shu’s art were lost as he reverted to a series of heavy, dull attacks. With his level of internal power, it was enough to subdue Liu Ru and Ruan Bolin but against greater numbers of skilled fighters, he would be easy pickings. Thus, when their disciples inevitably joined the fray, Bai Feng was quickly subdued.

  Tu Ling had seen the critical moment come and go but she was now watching the fight with a knife to her back. At the beginning of Bai Feng's encounter with Liu Ru and Ruan Bolin, Zheng Hui signalled to his men to neutralise her without injury. As such, she was forced to helplessly witness their brutal retribution. With Bai Feng restrained, the Yellow Lake Brotherhood claimed the right of vengeance and, though most of the gathered crowd thought it cowardly, nobody tried to stop them. One by one, they encircled Bai Feng and attacked him until blood flowed from every orifice in his head.

  Bai Feng felt little of the pain for he was too close to unconsciousness. The world swam back and forth in front of his eyes. He had only a faint impression of the hard ground beneath him, the hardened fists hitting him in irregular thumps all around his body. Yet, from within this grey
-toned unreality, he could clearly sense Tu Ling's despair as she screamed for them to stop. Dissonant feelings of anguish and happiness spun in his head until his eyes began to close. He was certainly afraid. Yet he felt happy. It was good to be cared about. He didn't know the half of it.

  * * *

  So exclusive is the martial world that there are few significant moments in the history of Wulin that more than a handful of people can claim to have witnessed. So it was that the great meeting of unorthodox experts on that morning descended into legend. The first person to see the Old Fool was Zheng Hui and, though he was still bleary from his duel with Bai Feng, he was certain the ancient master descended from the sky. Ruan Bolin was the first to feel his presence, a smashing palm to the spine. Liu Ru felt his presence too—it came with an instantaneous popping of all four of his limbs; but he lived to talk about it. The remainder of the attacking party suffered a variety of savage blows and vaulting humiliations as one of the truly great experts of his age exacted the most bizarre vengeance imaginable on those who would attack his beloved “Third Brother”.

  There was little if anything those present could do to stop him. It would be like stopping a hurricane. And so the crowd simply stood there, watching with gaping mouths—uselessly trying to keep up with the imperceptibly quick movements of Liao Quan—fruitlessly trying to make sense of them.

  Siblings

  Liao Quan, Tu Ling, and Bai Feng were slowly making their way towards Gongsum. The Old Fool was quite proud of himself, rattling on endlessly about what a beautiful job he did back at the town.

  After his heavy beating, Bai Feng was too dazed to recall what happened though he was gradually regaining his wits while simultaneously attempting to settle his breathing and his bloodflow.

  Tu Ling was walking aimlessly by his side, numbed by the insanity of what she had just witnessed. She glanced over at Liao Quan for the umpteenth time. Never had she even imagined such power. But the way in which he wielded it was even more unimaginable. It was… unthinkable. That's the word, she had been searching for, she told herself—unthinkable. She sneaked another glance at the Old Maniac. She wasn't frightened of him. Not really. There's too much childishness in him to be truly frightened of him, she thought. But she was wary of him.