by Derek Dorris
“This is something to figure out at a later time. For now you have to move quickly.”
He took his leave of Reverend Tai and followed the same path the Five Guardians took a few hours earlier. Not a word was mentioned of the Old Fool.
Nobody Left on Earthly Mountain
Feared and respected throughout Wulin, the Eight Guardians of Earthly Mountain were the reason nobody dared pass the First Gorge without an invitation. However, because no invitations were ever given, few knew just how strong the guardian monks had become in the previous decades.
The fact was the Earthly Dragon was far from a typical martial sect. Its followers had dedicated their lives to the search for artistic perfection in the martial arts. But their elder monks, the Earthly Three, were intellectuals and completely unskilled in external kung fu. They had spent their lives perfecting what they felt was the artistic basis to martial perfection, a unique form of internal kung fu, designed to purge the mind of egotistical thoughts and known throughout Wulin as the Five Yin Elementals and the Five Yang Modulations. Only after mastering those meditative techniques, would their disciples be allowed to progress to the next stage. That stage involved learning to fight in the total absence of any ambitions for victory. The third and final stage involved carrying that mindset into the world of Wulin and maintaining it. In this stage lay what the Earthly Three believed to be the key to artistic perfection.
Despite their reputation, the Eight Guardians had yet to progress to the final stage of learning and so they remained on Earthly Mountain, uninvolved in Wulin matters. Only twice in the last twenty years, did they extended their interest beyond the First Gorge. The first incident took place when the Divine Alchemist wilfully murdered a Shaolin disciple. As a former disciple of their sect, the Earthly Three sent word for their only living martial grandmaster—Wong Shi Hong—to find and eliminate Yu Guo Wei. The Majestic Wanderer had a previous altercation with this person half a century beforehand and was even beaten by him. The details of this grudge were never expounded on by Wong Shi Hong during his time at Earthly Mountain and given the Earthly Three’s lack of interest in the outside world, they never asked.
However, the Majestic Wanderer failed to find his arch nemesis and—when he reported his failure to the Earthly Three—he decided the time had come to tell them that Yu Guo Wei had also killed the Shaolin’s previous Abbot, the Reverend Tung. Thus, when word reached them that the Shaolin Temple was besieged by Qui forces, feelings of immense responsibility forced them to act. The Earthly Three were not men of the martial world so they left it up to the Nameless Monk and his brothers to plan the rescue. Five of the Eight Guardians were dispatched leaving the Second Faceless Guardian, the Fifth Strengthless Guardian, and the Sixth Formless Guardian behind to guard the mountain.
The Earthly Dragon Temple sat on top of a narrow peak that could only be accessed by a using a hundred foot ladder on a sheer wall. It was virtually impossible for intruders to attack, let alone with the Eight Guardians waiting above them and they never descended the ladder without leaving at least three guardian monks up top to protect the Earthly Three and whatever junior disciples were studying there at the time.
Unmatched by anyone other than the Ten Greats, the Eight Guardians did have one crucial limitation. They had spent all, if not the majority of the previous thirty years, living in seclusion. They were therefore unworldly if not a little naive. When they received word of the Qui siege, it came from the local peasant who, for the last decade, had delivered their food and other supplies. Normally, he left these supplies at the First Gorge on the first day of every month and, while doing so, picked up the list and advance payment for the following month’s requirements. However, when the Sixth Guardian, the Formless Monk, arrived at the First Gorge for the most recent collection, the peasant was waiting for him. He claimed he had been asked by an aged wanderer to inform the Earthly Dragon that the Qui were going to attack the Shaolin in thirty days and their help was critically needed. The message was accompanied by a golden dagger so as to verify the authenticity of the message. Although it wasn't forbidden for the monks to speak to outsiders in exceptional circumstances, it was still frowned upon so the Formless Monk received the message with minimal questions and returned to the temple to report the news.
The Eight Guardians spent a little time discussing whether the message could be trusted or not. Clearly it was Wong Shi Hong's dagger and the peasant’s description of the man fit that of the Majestic Wanderer. Nonetheless, it was unusual that, having come this far, Wong Shi Hong didn't go the rest of the way to the Earthly Temple. Concluding he must've been in too much of a rush to help the Shaolin make their preparations, they went forward and raised the issue with the Earthly Three. Though the Artless Monk expressed misgivings about leaving the temple under-protected, even he didn't think the peak’s defences could be breached with three guardians left behind. Therefore, he agreed to the plan without much delay.
In the meantime, the Third Guardian, The Prideless Monk, made a hasty trip east to the Lowly Sea Monastery to request Sitting Lotus’ presence at the Earthly Mountain. When the latter arrived, they sought his counsel and asked him to accompany the Five Guardians to Mount Song in case there were any misunderstandings based on the two sects’ complicated history together. Sitting Lotus refused to go on grounds the trip would inevitably involve violence but, being the worldliest man there, he advised strongly against mounting the rescue attempt. In his mind, there were too many reasons to suspect the validity of the message—like, for example, why Wong Shi Hong would leave such an important message with a local peasant and why he would do so verbally. Though they listened to his concerns, they ultimately felt the danger to the Shaolin justified their action. Sitting Lotus meditated with the Earthly Three for a time and left. Shortly afterwards, he encountered Bai Feng who then proceeded to rush to Mount Song and was now on his way back to Earthly Mountain.
* * *
He had been away from Earthly Mountain for no more than a few months yet Bai Feng nonetheless felt nostalgic about returning—even if his nostalgia was tinted with anxiety. He knew how difficult it was to enter the temple against the wishes of the Earthly Dragon though he also knew Yu Guo Wei to be deviously clever. If that smelly hunchback had arranged to attack both Shaolin and Earthly Temple then he would surely have a plan to get to the top of the peak.
Mount Song and Earthly Mountain were less than two hundred kilometres apart so one could normally make the journey in a couple of days. Not willing to travel that slowly, Bai Feng rented a fresh horse at each town and rode almost non-stop until he made the First Gorge. It had been less than a day since he left Shaolin Temple. On his way, he had inquired after the Five Guardians and found they were travelling in the same rushed manner he was so he took it for granted they had already arrived. Nonetheless, he approached with stealth. His few months living in Wulin had taught him more than a few lessons on what to expect from a prepared enemy. He avoided obvious paths, choosing instead the more difficult routes. Unlike the Five Guardians did.
Crossing the three gorges without incident, he got to the bottom of Earthly Peak and he looked up. A single lantern swayed at the top of the ladder, burning brightly—although there was no sign of a guard. He jumped on the ladder and climbed, pausing halfway up in case somebody was preparing to attack him. At this point, whoever is on guard should've asked me to identify myself, he thought with a growing dread. Carefully, he resumed his climb all the way to the top. However, beyond the lit lantern, there was no evidence of life up there. The temple door was ajar and—overcome with fear for his masters—Bai Feng forgot about his safety and dashed inside. Though there were no indications of fighting or disaster, the Earthly Three were gone.
Placing his hands on top of his head, Bai Feng sat down. He tried to think. What could've happened? No matter how strong the infiltrating force was, there's no way they could've subdued my three martial uncles without causing one hell of mess. But nothing is out of place; and
what about my other five uncles? He walked outside, still thinking, looking out over the horizon. Too many things were happening too quickly, he thought. How was Xun Da faring back in Gongsum? Did he even make it back there? Did Wu Chen recover? Wong Shi Hong had ridden to Shangqing expecting to do battle with Yu Guo Wei but I ended up duelling with him in Fangshen. Did Wong Shi Hong find Tao Huiqing? If so, did he agree to help Wong Shi Hong? Did Fu Xiaoli accompany Xun Da to Gongsum? Has she recovered? If so, is she with us? And then there was the Shaolin. Did Reverend Tai stay hidden from the Qui long enough to recover? Where's Yu Guo Wei now? And on top of all that, where the hell are my masters?
While these questions were flying around Bai Feng's mind, one person’s face hovering constantly in the background. He berated himself for even wanting to think of her. Just the same… he couldn't help but worry for her either.
Making his way back through the mountain passes, Bai Feng was exasperated. I'm supposed to be a master of Earthly Dragon; a future martial grandmaster. Yet I can't even figure out what happened to my martial uncles and grandmasters.
Something had been nagging him since he left Shaolin and, now as he struggled to make sense of what happened at Earthly Mountain, it was resurfacing. Slowly in his mind, the pieces fell into a pattern. Why didn't they just kill them? The Reverend and my masters both! Between them, they are the senior figures in Wulin. The Ten Greats come and go like the wind neither orthodox nor unorthodox. But the Shaolin and Earthly Dragon are the two pillars on which orthodox Wulin stands.
He had thought it strange that Yu Guo Wei and the Qui didn't kill Reverend Tai as soon as they captured him. Simply by attacking the Shaolin temple, you are making an enemy of every orthodox fighter in Wulin whether they had been previously willing to raise arms against the Qui or not. Leave him alive, and you give them something to unite over. Kill him and you could crush their spirit.
Bai Feng pursued this line of reasoning. Of course, by killing the de facto leader of Wulin you also give every orthodox fighter a reason to unite. Either way, they will come at you—either to rescue their figurehead or avenge him.
He tried to think like Xun Da or Wong Shi Hong, two battle hardened military men. Think! What would that bastard Rui'In do to ensure victory against Wulin?
The answer came to him like a splash of cold water. “Throw them off balance at the critical moment,” he spoke aloud. “Kill the Reverend on the battlefield. Kill my masters on the battlefield. Kill the entire leadership of orthodox Wulin on the battlefield! Crush the spirits of Wulin and send their minds into disarray right when they're lined up in front of your army. And when they're at their most vulnerable unleash your army of unorthodox fighters on them…”
They'll be slaughtered!
The fear of this realisation was also streaked with relief. At least now, he knew which way to go. There's only one place they're bringing my masters, he thought.
Gongsum.
Bai Feng retrieved his horse at the far side of the First Gorge and galloped as fast as he could to the next town. Critically, he needed to intercept them on route. If he let them reach the Qui camp, they would be as good as dead. Without success, he quizzed the townspeople as to whether or not they saw a troop of armed men pass through the town. Standing in the middle of the street, Bai Feng was beginning to despair when he heard a tender voice behind him.
“I know where your grandmasters are. Let me help you Feng'er”.
Bai Feng didn't need to turn around to know who it was. Nonetheless, he wheeled on her with a frenzied power. He ran at her, grabbing the back of her head and screamed as he drove his elbow toward her face. At the last second, his arm stopped as quickly as it was travelling, he threw his own head back and roared into the air like an animal. Casting her to the side, he then walked straight for a nearby water barrel. Tipping it sideways with one hand and smashing his twitching elbow into its hardened timber and steel rings, the barrel exploded into a cloud of splinters and wet metal as passersby fled in terror.
Without turning around to face her, he shouted with pure venom, “You murdered my family. MY FAMILY! And then you brought me to live in their home; the home where you slaughtered them!”
Bai Feng was making himself all the angrier but as he rounded on her for a second time, the look in her eyes yet again broke through his raging exterior. He stopped himself once more and simply stared straight at her.
Tu Ling had been as shocked as Bai Feng was when the Sitting Lotus informed him the compound they were staying in was his parents’ home. Her body began to shake with panic and before she knew what she was doing, she was fleeing through the maze of rocks which she knew far better than Bai Feng did. She was not afraid of what Bai Feng would do to her. In that regards, she was generally quite fearless. She was afraid of seeing hatred in his eyes—hatred for her.
She abandoned her life there and then, renouncing the Jade Tiger Sect and wandering from town to town while trying to figure out what to do about Bai Feng. She was in so much turmoil, she barely ate. People stopped her on the road just to ask her if she was unwell or lost. By now, she had completely discarded her male disguise so she was also catching the attention of people with less well meaning intentions. After passing through a particularly seedy town, she found two men following her along a dark country road. She had lost all appetite for pain and death so she merely wounded them in a way that would stop them from harassing future female travellers. From then on, she wore a wide brimmed hat to shield her face from view and carried on meandering from town to town.
It was in one such town, where she stumbled upon a Jade Tiger warrior dressed as a peasant trying to look inconspicuous. It was a small town yet he had assembled a dozen horses. He couldn't help but draw attention but because he appeared unthreatening, people eventually ignored him. She had seen this activity countless times before and it meant only one thing—the Jade Tigers would be coming through town with haste either in possession of something they've stolen or with a prisoner. The disguised warrior would have fresh horses and provisions ready. When the main party arrived, they'd be replenished and gone within minutes while the disguised warrior would take the tired horses in a different direction. It was standard procedure to evade, confuse, and divide a pursuing enemy. There'd be another disguised warrior within thirty kilometres and another three or four between there and the Jade Tiger headquarters.
She hadn't sent official word to her father or her master that she was finished with the sect yet she had no intention of going back to them. Therefore, she avoided the eye of the Jade Tiger operative and hung back behind a small woodshed. She was curious as to what they were up to. Simply put, the number of horses indicated a lot more personnel than they typically used. This mission was an important one.
Within an hour, she saw the familiar faces of her former comrades ride into town, their horses, like themselves, lathered in sweat. Clearly, they had been moving at a furious pace. The disguised operative passed around several flasks while the men on horseback emptied them down their necks.
Tu Ling struggled to see what it was they were spiriting through the countryside but there were so many Jade Tiger riders, the innermost horses were obscured from her vision. She moved across the street to better her vantage point and what she saw left her stunned. Three old monks were laying unconscious over two horses while, lying across three other horses, were three younger men dressed in brown, red, and purple robes. Who would want so many monks captured and transported? she asked herself. Capture missions almost always involved one important person for ransoming or hostage purposes. Not half a dozen monks!
As she was turning over the possibilities in her head, she got a better look at the three old men. One had a bushy beard and messy hair, the other a bald head and strong eyes and the other a ruddy complexion and kind face. More surprisingly, all three looked ancient. They couldn't have been less than a hundred and fifty years of age each.
Tu Ling was too smart not to start putting the pieces together. She knew the
Divine Alchemist had recently hired her to follow, among others, an Earthly Dragon master, the only sect known to have three ancient grandmasters. They couldn't be anyone but the Earthly Three. Those younger monks must be three of the guardian monks Feng’er spoke of. Without realising it, a smile had crept across her face.
Raised to be ruthless, whenever she wanted something she would rarely scrutinise her motivations. She would simply go about getting it. In this instance, she was going against her father's sect so there was a pang of guilt but it was nothing like the guilt she felt over her role in Bai Feng's misery. So she followed the troop secretly and watched everything they did. An expert in surveillance, she knew how to stay out of their sight while not letting them out of hers.
She couldn't see her master among them but she recognised several senior members from their sect. Wang Yuan, a wily old thief rescued years earlier by her father from an imperially decreed death sentence was riding up front. Guarding the rear was Zhu Ye, a former warlord from the north western provinces whose tribe was slaughtered by old enemies of the Jade Tigers. He was a beastly looking man with a greasy beard and barely a tooth in his head. On either side of the hostages, were a pair of sisters who were former assassins hired to kill Tu Ling's father before he charmed both of them into his sect not to mention his bed. They were in their forties now but still had their looks which they used to lower the guard of many a victim. The rest of the party were a motley collection of low level operatives.
As night fell, Tu Ling watched as the Jade Tigers turned into a thick wooded area hundreds of square kilometres in size. An even broader smile crossed her face than before. She knew exactly where they were going. They were heading towards one of the many safe houses the Jade Tigers kept in the area. Obviously, the handover of these hostages has been arranged for somewhere around here.