by Jin Yong
Wei Yixiao said, "We have received Zhang Jiaozhu’s command: The Ming Cult and the Six Major Sects are to refrain from fighting each other, to forget faults and repair goodness. Your disciples are fortunate, Bat King Wei did not suck their blood.”
After Zhang Wuji treated his injury with the Jiu Yang Shen Gong, not only had the cold poison of the Xuan Yin fingers been driven out, but the previously accumulated poison in his system had also been expelled for the most part; so that every time he exerted his internal strength he did not have to suck blood to resist the cold anymore.
Those four Emei disciples took their two comrades back to the group. They were still thinking on how to unseal their acupoints when they heard two swishing noise. Two small pebbles flew, splitting the air, toward two people’s acupoints, unsealing them. It was Yang Xiao, using Divine Flicking Finger transmitting his ‘zhi shi dian xue’ [acupoint sealing technique by throwing rocks] skill.
The middle-aged nun had to admit that not only the opposite party was numerous, the two people who had just demonstrated their skills showed that their martial arts were much higher. If they had to fight, her group would inevitably suffer a big loss. Besides, she was not sure if the so-called ‘refrain from fighting each other, to forget faults and repair goodness’ was true or not; therefore, she said, "Pin ni [lit. impoverished nun] ‘fa ming’ [Buddhist name/title, not real name] is Jing Kong. Have you gentlemen seen my Shifu?”
"Honorable Master has left the Brightness Peak more than half a month ago,” Zhang Wuji said, "I believe by this time they have reached the Yumen [Jade Gate] pass. You have come from the east; could it be that you missed each other?”
A thirty-something woman behind Jing Kong said, "Shijie [martial (older) sister], don’t listen to his nonsense; there were three groups of us, each with flare signals, how can we miss them?”
Listening to her rudeness Zhou Dian wanted to teach her some lessons; he said, "It’s so strange .” But Zhang Wuji cut him off in low voice, "Mr. Zhou, don’t lower yourself to the same level with her. They could not find their Shifu, naturally they are anxious.”
Jing Kong’s face showed suspicions. "Have our Master and comrades fallen into the Ming Cult’s hand?” she asked, "As men of honor, shouldn’t you tell us the truth?”
Zhou Dian laughed. "Let me be frank to you: the Emei Sect came and without considering their own strength, attacked the Brightness Peak, so everybody from Mie Jue Shitai down to her last disciple were captured and detained in the underwater prison. Let them ponder over their own faults for eight years, ten years, then we’ll talk about whether we should release them or not,” he said.
Peng Yingyu quickly said, "Please don’t mind Zhou Xiong’s [Brother Zhou] joke; Mie Jue Shitai’s divine energy is matchless, each of your fellow disciples’ martial art is superior, how can they fall into Ming Cult’s hand? Let us not talk any further; please return to Emei, I am sure you’ll see each other then.”
Jing Kong half believed half doubted; she could not make up her mind. Wei Yixiao said, "This Zhou Xiong loves to joke around. But do you think our Cult Leader would swindle juniors like you?”
The middle-aged woman said, "The Devil Cult is always crafty, deceitful and sly; how can we believe anything you said?”
Tang Yang, the Flag Leader of the Flooding Water Flag waved his left hand; immediately the Five Element Flags spread out to surround the Emei disciples. The Gigantic Wood on the east, the Raging Fire on the south, the Sharp Metal on the west, the Flooding Water on the north, the Thick Earth moving outside the encirclement, ready to respond.
In a loud voice Yin Tianzheng said, "Lao Fu [Old Man] is the White Browed Eagle King. I alone am enough to capture all of you juniors. The Ming Cult is showing mercy to you today; as younger generation you should think before you speak.” He spoke with a thunderous voice, shaking the Emei disciples’ ear drums so that their ears were ringing and their minds were troubled; making them difficult to concentrate. Looking at his white eyebrows and white beard and witnessing his divine power their hearts shivered in fear; everybody was dumbstruck in amazement.
Zhang Wuji cupped his fists and said, "Please convey my respect to your honorable master; tell her the Ming Cult’s Zhang Wuji wishes her well.” Thereupon he led his people continue their journey to the east.
Tang Yang waited until Wei Yixiao, Yin Tianzheng and the other walked pass one by one before he
waved his hand once again to recall the Five Element Flags. The Emei disciples watched this procession in awe; their hearts were filled with fear, their eyes followed Zhang Wuji and his entourage for a while, jaws dropped and speechless.
Peng Yingyu said, "Jiaozhu, I believe there is something fishy here. Mie Jue Shitai and the others have left to the east; I couldn’t think of any reason why they miss their disciples. Every sect every organization has their own special symbol for communicating with each other; how can they miss each other’s track?”
They continued their journey while discussing this strange occurrence. They thought it was unfathomable to think this many Emei disciples to suddenly vanish in the desert. Zhang Wuji was concerned over Zhou Zhiruo’s safety and well-being; but he was uncomfortable to share his thoughts with other people.
One day, towards the evening, the Flag Leader of the Thick Earth Flag, Yan Yuan suddenly exclaimed, "There is something strange here!” Rushing ahead he carefully examined the shrubs on their left. He took an iron spade from one his comrades and started digging the earth. Not too long afterwards, a corpse was revealed. It had been decayed, its face was unrecognizable, but judging from the clothes, it was a Kunlun Sect disciple.
The Thick Earth Flag members immediately began excavating the earth around and very soon they dug a big hole. There were sixteen corpses lying around randomly inside the hole; all were Kunlun Sect disciples. If it were their own school, in no way would they be buried this carelessly; so it was obvious that they were buried by the enemy. Looking at these corpses, every single one of them had weapon-inflicted wounds. Zhang Wuji ordered the Thick Earth Flag to bury each corpse separately and properly. Everybody looked at each other; their minds were filled with the same question: "Who did this?”
After getting over their shock, Peng Yingyu said, "If this matter is not brought to light, these bad debts would certainly be heaped upon our heads.”
In a clear voice Shuo Bude said, "Everybody, listen up! If we are facing blades and spears in a broad daylight war under our Jiaozhu’s command, although I do not dare to say that we are invincible, but we wouldn’t lose to other people in any way. However, a stab in the back is more difficult to guard against. Therefore, from now on we must guard against the enemy’s poisonous plot in every drop of water we drink, every food we eat and at every accommodation we stay.” The Cult complied in one voice.
Continuing their journey a little bit further, the setting sun appeared red like blood, very soon the sky would turn dark. They were just about to find a place to spend the night when they saw four bald condors circling the sky continuously toward the northeast. Suddenly a bald eagle dived down but flew back up immediately; some of its feathers fell and it cried out in pain. Apparently it was struck with something from below and it suffered an injury.
After Zhuang Zheng, the Flag Leader of the Sharp Metal Flag died under the Yitian Sword, Zhang Wuji promoted the Flag Leader Deputy Wu Jincao to be the Flag Leader. Seeing the strange bald eagle Wu Jincao said, "Let me take a look.” Leading two of his brethren he rushed ahead.
A moment later one of them came back and reported to Zhang Wuji, "Reporting to Jiaozhu: Yin Liu Xia [The Sixth Hero Yin] of Wudang Sect has fallen inside that valley.”
Zhang Wuji was startled. "Yin Liu Xia?” he asked, "Is he injured?”
"Apparently he is seriously injured,” the man replied, "As soon as the Flag Leader Wu recognized Yin Liu Xia, he ordered subordinate to report to the Jiaozhu. Flag Leader Wu is going down the valley to rescue .”
Zhang Wuji was extremely shocked; he r
ushed toward the valley without waiting for the man to finish his report. Yang Xiao, Yin Tianzheng, and the others followed behind. When they got near they saw a big sandy valley, more than a dozen of ‘zhang’s deep. Wu Jincao, with Yin Liting in his left arm, was stepping up and falling, strenuously trying to climb up the valley. Zhang Wuji slid down the valley wall; with one hand he grabbed Wu Jincao’s right arm, with the other he examined Yin Liting’s breath. He was slightly relieved to feeling a weak breath. Holding Yin Liting in his arms he leaped vertically several times and was out of the sandy valley then he laid Yin Liting down on the ground. As he calmed himself down and examined him, he was startled and his heart filled with grief and indignation. He found out that Yin Liting’s knees, elbows, ankles, wrists, feet, fingers; in short, all joints on his four limbs were broken. And as Yin Liting was at the point of his death, unable to move, the enemy fed him some poison. It was truly an unheard amount of cruelty.
Yin Liting was still conscious; seeing Zhang Wuji, his face showed happiness and he spat out two small pebbles from his mouth. Apparently he was pushed down the sandy valley after he was injured, but due to his profound internal energy he did not die. The bald condors wanted to eat him, so he leaned his head sideways and bit some pebbles on the ground. With his strong internal energy he managed to shoot the pebbles up and thus had survived for several days with untold hardships.
Yang Xiao saw the four bald condors were still circling overhead; seemingly waiting for them to leave Yin Liting and then they would swoop down to feast on his corpse. Yang Xiao picked four small stones from the ground and ‘swish, swish’ flicked those stone up. Four bald condors successively fell on the ground, their heads were smashed by the stones.
Zhang Wuji gave Yin Liting a pill to stop the pain and protect his heart; then he thoroughly examined him. After finding more than twenty breaks on Yin Liting’s four limbs, each and every one of them was crushed by heavy fingers’ strength, Wuji was not able to continue the examination.
In a low voice Yin Liting said, "It’s just like San Ge [third (older) brother]; Shaolin Sect . ‘jin gang zhi dao’ [diamond finger blade. Chapter 3 has it as ‘Golden Steel Finger’; ‘jin gang’ could also mean ‘a very hard substance’. I am not sure why it has an extra ‘blade’ (? ) character; I think it was a mistake, it should be ‘strength/power’ ( ? ) character.] . injured by finger strength.” Zhang Wuji recalled his father telling him about how San Shibo [third martial (older) uncle] Yu Daiyan was injured; his joints were also crushed by Shaolin Sect’s Diamond Finger ‘Power’; and as a result he had been bedridden for more than twenty years. At that time his parents had not yet acquainted with each other. Unexpectedly many years later one more of his shishu [martial (younger) brother] had fallen under the same Shaolin Sect’s Diamond Finger. After calming himself down he said, "Liu Shu [sixth (younger) uncle], don’t you worry. This matter has fallen into your nephew’s hands. The criminal responsible for this will not escape justice. Which Shaolin Sect disciple did this, does Liu Shu know?”
Yin Liting shook his head. He had suffered untold hardship these past several days; he was already dead-tired. At this moment his heart was relieved, he could not hold any longer and passed out. Zhang Wuji remembered his own life; how his parents committed suicide for his San Shibo’s sake. Today his Liu Shishu had fallen under similar circumstances. If he could not force Shaolin Sect to hand over the criminal responsible for this cruelty, how could he fulfill his duty toward his Yu and Yin uncles? How could he be worthy to see his departed parents? He knew that although Yin Liting was severely injured, his life was not in danger. Only his limbs would be difficult to heal; most likely he would end up sharing Yu Daiyan’s fate.
Zhang Wuji’s experience was limited; facing this unfortunate situation he had to calm himself and think carefully. With his hands behind his back he wandered off some distance away; finally he sat down on top of a small hill. Two thoughts were waging war inside his mind: "Shall I go to the Shaolin Temple and find the criminal to avenge Father, Mother, San Shibo and Liu Shishu? If Shaolin Sect is willing to admit honestly and hand over the criminal, naturally nothing can be better than that. Otherwise, should Ming Cult join hand with Wudang Sect to deal with Shaolin together? My brethren and I have already drunk blood and made an oath, not to seek enmity with various sects, clans and societies [‘pai’, ‘bang’ and ‘hui’]. But as soon as I take this matter personally, I might as well throw the oath out the window; how can I win everybody’s heart? Once the disaster gate is opened blood will be avenged, I don’t know how many generations this bloodshed will continue, and how many heroes and warriors life will be sacrificed?”
In the meantime the sky had turned dark; the Ming Cult people built a fire and cooked their meals. Zhang Wuji was still sitting on the hill. He saw the bright moon rise, but he still could not make up his mind. He was deep in thought until almost midnight before he finally decided: "I’ll go to Shaolin Temple and see Abbott Kong Wen; I’ll explain everything and ask him to render justice.” But then he thought again, "What if we reach deadlock? Must I fight? Then what will happen?” He heaved a deep sigh, stood up and thought, "I am young yet have to bear a heavy responsibility. Right from the start I face this extremely difficult situation. I wholeheartedly want to avert the war and the fighting; but this deep hatred is shoved into my face. I bear the heavy responsibility of the Cult Leader of the Ming Cult, I can’t get away from it; consequently I’ll have to face endless and exhausting hardships! If only I am not the Cult Leader, wouldn’t that be a lot better?”
As he returned to the fire he saw that everybody was very hungry but nobody dared to move their chopsticks to eat; they were standing up respectfully, waiting for him. Zhang Wuji felt very bad and busily said, "Next time you can go ahead and eat; you don’t have to wait for me.” He went over to see Yin Liting’s condition. He saw Yang Buhui had already cleaned his wounds with hot water and was feeding him hot soup. Yin Liting was still in daze; suddenly he opened his eyes and stared at Yang Buhui and loudly said, "Xiaofu Meizi [younger sister, term of endearment], I miss you so much, do you know it?”
Yang Buhui blushed; her face looked awkward. With her right hand holding the soup spoon she said in a low voice, "Drink some more soup.”
"Promise me you won’t leave me forever,” Yin Liting said.
"All right! All right!” Yang Buhui replied, "Drink this soup first, we’ll talk later.” Yin Liting looked very happy; he opened his mouth and drank the soup.
The next day Zhang Wuji passed an order for everybody not to go their assigned destinations for the time being, but to go to Shaolin Temple at Mount Song [‘song shan’], to find out the whole story about Yin Liting’s injury first and to talk about other things later. Wei Yixiao, Zhou Dian and the others had seen the severity of Yin Liting’s injury, every one of them was enraged; hearing their Cult Leader’s order to seek justice at the Shaolin Temple they cheered loudly.
Yang Xiao had always felt regret and guilt toward Yin Liting over Ji Xiaofu’s affair; although his mouth did not say anything, in his heart he was determined to avenge him with all his might. He also quietly told his daughter to take a good care of Yin Liting and thus clearing his conscience.
From here on they did not meet any other strange events along their way. When Yin Liting awoke later, Zhang Wuji asked him again the circumstances surrounding his injury. It was still difficult for Yin Liting to speak, he said, "Shaolin Sect’s monks, five of them besieged me. They were using Shaolin martial arts, I can’t be wrong.”
That day they have entered the Yumen pass. They sold their camels and bought some horses so as not to raise any suspicions. They also changed their clothes and dressed up as traders. Some of them acquired mule carts and loaded them with leathers, goods, medicine, and other commodities. The next day early in the morning they left to get an early start along the Ganliang main road. The sun was blazing like fire, the temperature was starting to rise.
After journeying for more than four hou
rs they saw a row of about twenty willow trees ahead of them. They were very happy and urged their mounts to pick up speed since they wanted to take a rest under those trees. When they got closer they saw there were nine people sitting under the trees. Eight of them were big men dressed as hunters, with blades on their waists and bows and arrows on their shoulders. They also had five, six hunting falcons with them; the falcons looked fearsome with black feathers and sharp claws. The last man was a young gentleman, wearing a sapphire blue silk gown, lightly waving a folding fan in his hand. His appearance carried an elegant air around him.
Zhang Wuji turned around and dismounted his horse. He cast a glance toward that young gentleman; he noticed his facial features are delicate and exceptionally handsome. His dark eyes accentuated his white face, they were shining brightly. The folding fan in his hand had a white jade handle; the hand which waved the fan was as white as the fan handle. But everybody’s attention was caught by that young gentleman’s waist. They saw a golden hook, bound by a belt inlaid with precious stones; on this hook a long sword was hung. On the hilt of the sword was carved ‘yi tian’ two ‘zhuan wen’ characters [script character normally used on official seal]. The length and the shape of this sword were exactly like the one Mie Jue Shitai used to slaughter the Ming Cult people and the one Zhou Zhiruo used to stab Zhang Wuji that he almost died earlier.
The Ming Cult people were startled; as Zhou Dian was about to open his mouth to inquire when they heard from the east of the main road a disorder noise of hoof beats, a group of riders in a chaotic manner approached. They were a group of approximately fifty, sixty of Yuan soldiers, dragging along over a hundred women tied in ropes. These women were mostly small in stature; how could they follow the horses? Some of them fell down to the ground, but the soldiers kept pulling the rope so that the women were dragged on the ground. All women were Han people; obviously they were common people who were held captive by the Yuan soldiers. Most of their clothes had been ripped apart; some were almost naked. They were crying and weeping; creating an extremely heart-wrenching noise. Some of the soldiers had wine bottles in their hands; it seemed like they were drunk. Some wielded whips and struck the women. These Mongolian soldiers spent most of their lives on the horseback, so their skill in using whip was excellent. Once the whip was lashed, a piece of the women’s clothing was gone amidst the cheering and laughing of the soldiers.
