EARTHLY DRAGON, SOARING PALM

by Derek Dorris

  As soon as the flare burst in the sky, two pre-planned actions occurred. Firstly, the Qui cavalry, which were waiting half a kilometre out, began galloping full stride for the opening city gates. Secondly, every one of the Qui mercenaries inside the city drew their swords.

  While the flares were the Qui’s signal, the singing of their blades was the Liu’s signal. Suddenly, every one of the “unconscious” Liu experts opened their eyes and drove concealed blades straight towards their would-be executioners. It was expert against expert but the Liu had the advantage of surprise and in seconds, the square was awash with the blood of mercenary traitors. In some cases, the matchup wasn't amenable to a Liu victory and the mercenary defended the quick stab and either prevailed or was drawn into a longer fight. The sound of weapons clashing and fists punching merged with cries of pain.

  Wong Shi Hong, Xun Da, and Li Jing watched from the first floor of a building close to the main gate.

  “Well done Jing’er,” the Old Wanderer said. “If it wasn't for you, we'd be finished.”

  “I was lucky. It frightens me to think how lucky.”

  Li Jing had spent hours the night before wandering the warehouse in an attempt to figure out what those saboteurs were really up to. Eventually, on some of the oil barrels, he noticed the faintest traces of white powder around the lids. He immediately tested it for flammability and found it had no such properties. If it had been a catalyst for fire, then he could understand its presence on the oil kegs. But in the absence of such flammability, it made no sense, even to someone with Li Jing's keen mind. Eventually, he concluded that the powder must simply be the residue of a reaction between the sawdust and the oil.

  He went back to the inn and slept on it but neither the night nor the morning provided any insights. It wasn't until a couple of hours after the incident with the Imperial official—when some very different visitors arrived—that the answer to the mystery of the white powder presented itself.

  Standing with both Xun Da and Wong Shi Hong, watching the carnage, Li Jing shivered again at how close he came to missing it. Wong Shi Hong seemed somewhat disturbed by the slaughter but—ever the pragmatist—he took another drink from his flask and ordered Xun Da to proceed. Bowing at his master, Xun Da jumped out the window and whistled so loudly it seemed to pierce the air in every direction. Three dozen men emerged from the side streets with wooden pylons, bails of bamboo, and strips of metal. The Liu experts had cleared the main square of bodies in preparation for Xun Da and his workmen.

  Within moments of their arrival at the square, the men had started erecting four meter walls that began at the end of the trading stalls which Zhao Zhu and Han Liang had earlier found so curious. Firstly, they uncovered pre-drilled foundation holes in the square’s stone base and inserted the wooden pylons both adjacent to and across from each other so that the rear walls of the trading stalls—on either side of the entranceway—were effectively extended. However, rather than extending out in parallel, these new walls funnelled into a triangular meeting point—a dead end. Secondly, on both sides, the sheets of crisscrossed bamboo were strapped with the metal strips to the first pylon and then unfolded across the remaining pylons until they met at the triangular meeting point. Next, the faces of the trading stalls were removed to reveal two long reinforced walls running parallel from the gate all the way to where the newly erected walls stood.

  From his vantage point, Wong Shi Hong allowed himself a small smile as a fortified trench appeared before his eyes. Five meters deep, one hundred meters long, and eight meters wide, it ran from the main gate all the way into the triangular point where the two walls finally met.

  This well prepared action was finished in minutes and just in time to welcome the Qui cavalry who were charging straight into the town square through the open gates. As they poured through the gates, the horses behind forced those in front further forward; until they reached the funnelled point. Within a minute, about four hundred riders and their mounts were crammed into every centimetre of the trench. Wong Shi Hong gave the order, the gate swung closed, and the Liu experts scaled to the top of the pylons with bows, arrows, and long spears. Not a single Qui soldier made it out of the kill pit.

  * * *

  From the head of his troops, Rui'In didn't need to wait for his scouts’ reports to learn what had happened. There was always the chance the Liu forces would be ready for another sedative attack. After the Four Guardians escaped Wangchuk Drup's clutches, there was no way they could move forward with their plan to spike Gongsum's food supply like he originally hoped to do. Instead, he suggested a variation on the plan which Yu Guo Wei's genius made possible. They would spike the city's lantern oil with the compound so that when the oil was ignited, the compound would aerosolise. The air, after all, was the one thing everyone was guaranteed to share that evening.

  Yu Guo Wei couldn't produce a compound that worked too quickly without it being immediately detected by experts—experts who would merely expel it and hold their breath until they escaped its reach. So a slow-building sedative was again necessary. However, as it was to be inhaled, Yu Guo Wei guessed it should work more quickly than the ingested version; a quick test on a small group of their own experts—unwilling as they were—confirmed his expectations. They'd be unconscious within minutes and stay that way for hours.

  Yet somehow, the three geniuses inside the city figured it out, Rui'In concluded. No need to panic, he told himself. The Qui king never counted on his first or even second plans succeeding. Whenever his enemies thought they had outsmarted him, there was always another level of redundancy to Rui'In's plans that nobody banked on—except him. “Any minute now,” he said to nobody in particular. Behind him, his five Grandmasters were gone.

  * * *

  Wong Shi Hong walked across the square to a side street on the south end of town where a few remaining mercenaries were holed up defending a small house. Unsurprisingly, Han Liang, Sing Yi, Priest Hou, and Lin Fung and Niu were among them. Wong Shi Hong had enough slaughter for one night. He stood in front of the house and spoke with all his power. “You traitors have caused enough trouble but your skills are not insignificant and it would be a shame to purge the world of them. Leave now and don’t come at us again.” His voice rang in the heads of everyone inside. Above them, the roof tiles rattled.

  Han Liang was too clever to typically believe this kind of offer but coming from someone of Wong Shi Hong's upstanding character, he felt no inherent danger. He nodded to the rest of the experts and they reluctantly agreed. Lowering their weapons, they cautiously exited the building.

  Wong Shi Hong merely waved them towards the gate. “Nobody will interfere with you. But I warn you most stringently. Do not come at us again.” These words were said with purposeful power and each of the experts including their masters paled.

  Nobody expected a response, just a quick and polite obedience. Yet to everyone’s surprise, a laugh, equally powerful to Wong Shi Hong's, rolled across the square from the other direction. Wong Shi Hong looked towards the north side of the square to see someone who he had been pursuing fruitlessly for decades. He took out his flask and drank a toast to destiny.

  “Old Alchemist, it’s been a long time.”

  After the Northern Sand Ghosts gave their presence away to Tao Huiqing, they vowed to make amends to Rui'In for their unforgivable mistake. Da had staged a failed arson attempt to distract the Liu’s investigation away from the possibility of poison, yet the success of their mission was no longer guaranteed. Once they returned, Da executed Lu on the spot and declared an obligation to Rui'In for one more mission. Thus, he arranged for them to be hidden among the Qui’s experts who infiltrated the city while the population had been sedated. They became part of Rui'In’s first backup plan. As the experts flowed out among the side streets, the Sand Ghosts kept moving to the city's east side and open the small rear gate for the five waiting grandmasters to enter without being seen by the sentries stationed on top of the wall. The Sand Ghosts weren't exp
ert fighters but their stealth made them expert assassins. Handling the gate guards was child's play.

  As the Five Greats entered, Da signalled to her troop. Their job was done so they exited through the east gate and headed north for home. The Five Greats had other plans, however, and moved confidently west towards the main gates of the city.

  Hearing the Divine Alchemist’s disturbing laugh, Fu Xiaoli and Tao Huiqing made their way to the west side of the square and were struck by what they saw on arrival. Standing across the square from Wong Shi Hong was Yu Guo Wei, Wen Weisheng, Wen Zhu, the Yarlese Wangchuk Drup, and another person who they immediately recognised by the iron xiao hanging at her side. “So, Jade Zither is here too,” Fu Xiaoli reflected aloud.

  In the presence of seven—if not eight—of the Ten Greats of the modern age, nobody dared move—at first. Eventually, some of the minor experts began to scurry to safer vantage points. What lay ahead promised to be the most epic battle in the history of Wulin. But the Qui side had the definite advantage in numbers. Wangchuk Drup had proven Fu Xiaoli's match so he could be comfortably considered to be among the Greats and indeed, in Silver Phoenix's absence, he brought the compliment back up to ten.

  Wong Shi Hong glanced over at Fu Xiaoli and Tao Huiqing telling them with his eyes to maintain their positions. They didn’t need prompting but also understood the Majestic Wanderer’s intent. He was going to meet this challenge head on.

  Wong Shi Hong drained his flask and threw it away. “I may not need this again,” he said for everyone to hear. “Brother Wei, as you have numerical superiority, I assume you won’t object to my apprentice joining this fight.” He raised his arm for Xun Da to walk out and introduce himself.

  Xun Da emerged from a side street and bowed towards the north of the square. “Junior Xun Da, disciple of Wong Shi Hong, seeks pointers from five of the greatest experts of our time.”

  “How nice,” Wen Zhu said in her typically sardonic tone.

  “Feel free to use whomever you wish,” Yu Guo Wei said with a wave of his hand.

  “Excellent, since you have the advantage of two additional kung fu geniuses,” Wong Shi Hong replied, “I will also invite my martial brothers from Earthly Mountain.” With another signal, the Four Guardians who escaped capture from the Qui emerged from the same street as Xun Da did.

  They had arrived shortly after the incident with Zhao Zhu and reported everything about raid on Earthly Mountain including details about the substance Yu Guo Wei used on their grandmasters. Li Jing immediately connected it with the mysterious white powder on the oil kegs and ordered only uncontaminated oil to be used to light the lanterns that evening.

  With the appearance of the Earthly Guardians, Yu Guo Wei's smug expression dropped momentarily. These monks would fight with external kung fu alone and so they weren't a match for him or any of the fighters standing beside him. However, along with Wong Shi Hong's apprentice, they did go some way towards redressing the imbalance. Yu Guo Wei wasn’t worried about the Liu troops. Everybody present understood this was to be a duel in martial skill so the soldiers wouldn’t interfere no matter what the outcome. Even the lesser martial masters would stay out of this.

  Recomposing himself, Yu Guo Wei responded—almost warmly. “The great guardian monks of Earthly Dragon are of course welcome. I would enjoy the opportunity to see what progress my old sect has made these last few decades.”

  With the exception of Wong Shi Hong, everyone present was stunned by this revelation. Even the Eight Guardians had no idea Yu Guo Wei once belonged to their illustrious sect.

  Leaving them no time to absorb the implications, the ever devious Yu Guo Wei signalled his allies to move. In a matter of seconds, the centre of the square would become the staging area for something never before witnessed in Wulin.

  Everybody present felt honoured. However, nobody felt more exhilarated than the person watching from the top of a tall building to the east of the square—a person who had just arrived from the southeast mountains.

  Wong Shi Hong flew straight for Yu Guo Wei. The last time these masters met, Wong Shi Hong was a young man and the Divine Alchemist was far more powerful. But after twenty years studying under the Earthly Three and another thirty perfecting his 100 Fists of Majestic Oak, Wong Shi Hong was an entirely different proposition. The clash between their bodies produced a veritable shock wave, causing the spectators to wince.

  Yu Guo Wei went straight into his Cotton Viper Style which he used against Wong Shi Hong in the cave all those years ago while Wong Shi Hong didn't hesitate to introduce him to his 100 Fists. Within seconds, Yu Guo Wei was driven onto the back foot by the mind boggling variation in the Old Wanderer’s strikes. Repeatedly changing form and direction, his opponent's arms felt like electric eels slithering up and down his body, intermittently delivering jolts of internal energy, striking him at every acupoint they passed.

  Wong Shi Hong was rampant and remorseless. With a low elbow smash to Yu Guo Wei's ribs, the hunchback howled in pain and, as he lurched forward uncontrollably, Wong Shi Hong spun back on him with his other hand. With all five fingers stretched like rods of steel, they raked up and along Yu Guo Wei's face taking his left eye as they went. The crowd gasped in horror as Wong Shi Hong proceeded to flick the eyeball with the force of a projectile at Yu Guo Wei's forehead. It didn't penetrate like the pebble he shot at Zhao Zhu did but it was enough to knock the old alchemist's head backwards.

  Yu Guo Wei was in agony and—in that pain—he found a level of apoplexy he had never known. Wong Shi Hong braced himself for what he knew was coming. Something he hadn't seen in seventy years since he spied on Yu Guo Wei in Gilded Divinity’s hut.

  On the other side of the battle, the marital siblings immediately flew to engage the Blue Lady and Folding Wind. Fu Xiaoli had recovered from her injury so it was an even matchup and while she and the two siblings went straight to their weapons, Tao Huiqing relied on his astonishing empty hand form. The world hadn't seen the great Folding Wind in action in a long time and now, close to the ripe old age of ninety, he moved like a falcon. His legs generated so much speed and power that, as they flew, the sand on the ground was flying towards his opponent as if being projected. Thus, Wen Weisheng's needles were rendered useless and in no time, Folding Wind was on top of him.

  Wen Zhu fared better with her long silken whip but, to her astonishment, she found Fu Xiaoli's shrieking blade could actually bend like a whip itself. The fearsome weapon was both hard and soft and within that lay the basis for some of the most profound attacks Wen Zhu had ever encountered. Their bodies never met, it was whip against blade but Fu Xiaoli's blade was creeping ever closer to making contact with Wen Zhu’s body.

  Wangchuk Drup had gone straight for Wong Shi Hong but when he saw the Majestic Wanderer only had eyes for Yu Guo Wei, he attacked Xun Da instead. The Nameless Monk joined Xun Da leaving the Prideless, Deedless, and Guileless Monks to tackle Jade Zither.

  As a young musician with a natural talent for the martial arts, Jade Zither had formulated one of the most exquisite artforms in all of Wulin by the age of thirty. Known as the Infinite Melody, Endless Tempo Style, over the following years, she honed it to miraculous levels, roaming the Jianghu undefeated and intensely admired. Only an unusual encounter with the Majestic Wanderer and his 100 Fists halted her unerring progress and forced her to disappear from Wulin altogether while she trained the flaws out of her system. Oblivious to the political turmoil in the world, she returned to the central plains only days earlier with a view to matching palms with the Old Vagabond again only to find an even greater opportunity had presented itself.

  As the Third, Seventh, and Eight Guardians exchanged stances with her, they saw her arms, legs, and body moving up and down like the musical tempo to some grand opera. It was a quick glimpse into the extraordinary ingenuity that came with combining the brutality of fighting with the unparalleled fluidity of music. Needless to say, the Earthly Guardians struggled to deal with it at first but eventually, the Deedless
and Guileless Monks followed their third brother's lead and simply stayed clear of her strikes during particular flurries of activity and engaged her only during the slower transitions. To the black-robed Prideless Monk, it was simply a case of reading the patterns in her music and predicting the arrival of a chorus.

  However, all that changed when she began channelling the full extent of her internal strength into her external kung fu. Swinging and projecting her iron xiao like it was a spear and not a musical instrument, she began to create gusts of winds against which the monks’ external kung fu struggled to defend. Within seconds, the Guileless Monk found his upper body immobilised as she used the whistle end of her xiao to seal a number of his pressure points in lightning quick succession. Immediately, she swung the xiao in the opposite direction and, with a loud “peng” sound, she caught the Prideless Monk in the shins. As the glassy pain raced up his legs, the Deedless Monk was left to fight Jade Zither on his own.

  Against Wangchuk Drup's inner strength, Xun Da and the Nameless Monk were faring little better. Xun Da had initially surprised the Yarlese with his newly combined techniques that utilised both his master’s 100 Fists and Folding Wind’s Shangqing Kicking Style but he wasn't practiced enough to be effective against someone of Wangchuk Drup's power. The Nameless Monk was the strongest of the seven living Guardians but as he refused to use any internal strength, he couldn't contend with the Yarlese.

  By now, Wong Shi Hong was in the midst of a storm. Gilded Divinity’s final additions to his artform were beyond magnificent and although Wong Shi Hong was familiar with it, he had purposefully never practiced it out of respect for the Reverend Tung. As such, he wasn't ready for the level of ferociousness it reached during real life combat. Yu Guo Wei swept his arms and legs like a tiger, the gusts of air he generated dwarfing even that of Folding Wind’s. With one eye, his sense of visual depth was slightly affected so Wong Shi Hong moved along that axis of attack and defence, darting forwards and shooting backwards.