by Jin Yong
The next step was to raid the six major sects’ bases; the first being the Shaolin Sect. The Shaolin Temple was heavily guarded, so it was not easy to mix the poison into their food. It was completely different from drugging the monks when they were spending the night in the inn while traveling. Therefore, they had to resort to different method. "’Jun zhu’ [princess] was afraid their strength was not sufficient to fight the Shaolin Temple head-on, so they called for reinforcement from Dadou, which happened to be under my command. We arrived right on time to help capturing the Shaolin monks. Shaolin Sect is always rude to our Cult; so I was glad they undergo a little bit of suffering. Even if I have to kill several stinky monks, Ku Toutuo won’t crease my brows. Jiaozhu, I believe you’ll agree with me, ha . ha .!”
"Xiong di [brother],” Yang Xiao interrupted, "Were you the one who turned those Luohan statues around?”
Fan Yao said with a smile, "I saw ‘Jun zhu’ ordered her people to carve those sixteen characters on the back of the Luo Han statues; her intention was to shift the blame to our Cult. Later on I came back quietly and turned those statues back. Dage [big brother], you are very observant, you managed to find out about this matter. At that time did you guess it was ‘Xiong di’?”
Yang Xiao said, "At that time we only know that there was a master helping our Cult in secret; how would I know that it was my old partner, good brother?” Four people broke up in laughter. Immediately Yang Xiao told Fan Yao briefly that the Ming Cult had ceased all enmity with the six major sects and joined hands to fight the Mongols together; for that reason they must rescue all the masters.
Fan Yao said, "The enemy is numerous, we are only four people; it will be difficult for us to accomplish this. The best way would be to get the antidote for ‘shi xiang ruan jin san’ and feed it to those stinky monks, stinky nuns and all those ox-noses; after their internal strength is recovered then we can make a surprised attack to those Tartars and then we can escape Dadou together.”
The Ming Cult had never had any good relationship with Shaolin, Wudang and other orthodox sects, so in his speech Fan Yao did not have the slightest respect toward these six major sects. Yang Xiao tried to cast him some meaningful glances, but Fan Yao was oblivious to him. But actually Zhang Wuji did not mind at all; he clapped his hands and said, "That’s great, Fan Youshi; but then how are we going to get the antidote for the ‘shi xiang ruan jin san’?”
Fan Yao said, "Although ‘Jun zhu’ pays me a lot of respect, she has never discussed any important matter with me because I’ve never opened my mouth. When she talked and the other person did not utter a single word, how could she not be disappointed? Moreover, I came from a small country in the western region, so she could not treat me as a trusted friend. Hence I don’t know where the antidote for the ‘shi xiang ruan jin san’ is. But I do know that this matter is very important to her, so she would guard this secret carefully. If my guess is correct, the poison and the antidote are in the hands of the Xuanming Elders; one has the poison, the other has the antidote, and they swap those poison and antidote periodically.”
Yang Xiao sighed and said, "This princess is so cunning that even a man might not necessarily be better than her. Doesn’t she trust the Xuanming Elders?”
Fan Yao replied, "First, distrust is right; second, it is also safer this way. Take us, for example, we want to steal the antidote; but we don’t know whether it is in Lu Zhangke’s hand, or is it in He Biweng’s hand? Moreover, I heard that between the poison and the antidote there is no distinct color or odor differences, so unless we are really familiar with it, we might end up stealing the poison when we want to steal the antidote. This ‘shi xiang ruan jin san’ also has another fierce characteristic; when one took the poison, one’s muscles and bones would be weakened, but one’s life would not be threatened in any way. However, if that same person took the poison for the second time, even only for a little bit, immediately his blood flow will reverse and there is no cure for it.”
Wei Yixiao stuck out his tongue and said, "If that’s so, then we must not steal the wrong antidote.”
"That’s true,” Fan Yao said, "But I have an idea: we steal both the poison and the antidote from the Xuanming Elders then we give it to some low level master from Huashan or Kongtong Sect. If he dies, then that one is the poison. Don’t you think it is a good idea?”
Zhang Wuji realized he still had some heretical nature and did not put too much thought about other people’s life. He laughed, "That’s not good,” he said, "What if after we painstakingly steal them, they are both poison?”
Yang Xiao slapped his thigh, "Jiaozhu is right,” he said, "Last night we made such a commotion that perhaps ‘Jun zhu’ is scared and keep the antidote herself. I think we’d better investigate carefully who has the antidote then we’ll talk about how to get it from him.” He paused for a moment and then said, "Xiong di, what do those two Xuanming Elders like most?”
Fan Yao smiled and said, "Lu loves pretty face, He loves wine; what else do they like?”
"Jiaozhu,” Yang Xiao asked Zhang Wuji, "Is there any drug that can make someone physically weak like the effect of the ‘shi xiang ruan jin san’?”
Zhang Wuji thought for a moment and smiled, "To make someone weak and drowsy is certainly not difficult; only if you give it to a martial art expert, he would recover in less than an hour. To make
something as fierce as the ‘shi xiang ruan jin san’, that I cannot do.”
Yang Xiao smiled, "About an hour is enough,” he said, "Subordinate has an idea, but I don’t know whether it will work. I am asking Jiaozhu to give me your opinion. Although I said it is an idea, it might be just a worthless thought. Fan Xiongdi, you invite He Biweng to drink some wine; put the poison Jiaozhu make into it. Then Fan Xiongdi make up some trouble, pretend that he is being poisoned by He Biweng with the ‘shi xiang ruan jin san’; at that time we will find out who has the antidote. Then we can steal it and use it to rescue the others.”
Zhang Wuji said, "This idea is feasible; only it depends on He Biweng’s temperament. Fan Youshi, what do you think?”
Fan Yao contemplated this idea back and forth and thought that although this idea was simple, it was flawless; so he said, "I think Yang Dage’s idea is feasible. That He Biweng is temperamental, but he is not as smart as Lu Zhangke. If the antidote is in his hand, I think I can still deal with him even though my martial art skill is inferior to him.”
"What if the antidote is in Lu Zhangke’s hand?” Yang Xiao asked.
Fan Yao knitted his brows and said, "Then it is a lot more complicated.” He stood up and paced back and forth on that little hill. After a long time he clapped his hands and said, "I have a way; that Lu Zhangke is smarter than average men, if we try to trick him, he might see through our deception. We must get hold of his weakness and then blackmail him; of course he will consider the pros and the cons, but he will never realize our scheme. I know that this idea is risky; we might fail, but other than this I can’t think of anything else.”
"What kind of weakness does this old man have?” Yang Xiao asked, "He is an old man with a young heart; what weakness of his fall into Xiongdi’s hand?”
"In the spring this year Ruyang Wangye took a concubine and he invited some of us to an informal dinner in his residence,” Fan Yao said, "Wangye proudly talked about his beautiful concubine; he even ordered the new bride to come out and serve us wine. I saw Lu Zhangke’s lecherous eyes almost popped out of their sockets, while he swallowed his saliva; his heart was indeed burning with desire.”
"Then what happened?” Wei Yixiao asked.
"Nothing,” Fan Yao replied, "She is Wangye’s beloved concubine; although he has guts as high as the sky he would not dare to indulge his wicked thought.”
"Lecherous eyes can’t be called some secret you can blackmail him with,” Wei Yixiao said.
"I can’t blackmail him over that matter,” Fan Yao said, "But I am going to bother Wei Xiong [brother Wei]; with your ‘qing gong’ [lightness sk
ill] you can go and steal Ruyang Wangye’s beloved concubine and place her on Lu Zhangke’s bed. I am 70, 80% sure that this old lecher won’t be able to hold his desire forever. Even if he really is able to rein his horse before falling off the cliff, I will rush in. Although he has a hundred mouths he won’t be able to wash himself clean, so he will be forced to hand the antidote over to me nicely.”
Yang Xiao and Wei Yixiao laughed and clapped their hands, "This is a very nice ploy. Although he is as smart as the Devil, he will be framed for sure.”
Zhang Wuji was annoyed and amused at the same time, thinking that he was the leader of this
heretical and unorthodox bunch. But although their conduct was sly and no different than Zhao Min and her people; they were doing it for a good cause, not an evil one. So in a way it was completely different from Zhao Min. It could be said that they were using poison to combat poison. Having this thought he relaxed a little bit; smiling he said, "It’s a pity Ruyang Wangye’s concubine’s honor will be ruined.”
Fan Yao replied with a smile, "I will rush into the room as soon as possible, so Lu Zhangke won’t have a chance to molest her.”
Immediately four people sat down to discuss their plan in detail; after acquiring the antidote, Fan Yao was to rush to the pagoda and distribute it to masters of Shaolin, Wudang, and the other sects. Zhang Wuji and Wei Yixiao would wait outside the temple. As soon as Fan Yao set off fire in the Wan An Temple, they would set the common people’s homes around the temple on fire, so that the group of warriors could take advantage of this confusion to escape. Yang Xiao would buy some horses and prepare some carriages and wait outside the western city gate; the warriors would then use these horses and carriages to separately escape from the city, and to finally rendezvous at Changping.
Zhang Wuji objected to the idea of burning common people’s homes; he would rather not to implicate the innocents. But Yang Xiao said, "Jiaozhu, the affair of this world is oftentimes difficult to predict. We are saving the warriors of the six major sects so that someday we will drive the Tartars away; that would certainly benefit millions of common people. Today we are forced to harm hundreds of homes, this is because we don’t have any other alternative.”
Once the plan was decided four people went back to the city separately to attend to their individual business. Yang Xiao went to buy some horses and hired some carriages. Zhang Wuji bought the ingredients and concocted some drugs. To conceal the taste, he added three types of spices so when it was mixed with the wine, it would produce a sweet smelling fragrance. Wei Yixiao went to the market and bought a big cloth sack. When the sky turned dark he went to the Ruyang Palace and kidnapped the Prince’s concubine.
Fan Yao and Xuanming Elders, along with other martial art experts, lived nearby the Wan An Temple complex to guard the major sects warriors. Zhao Min still lived at the palace; only on the evenings she wanted to learn martial art did she ride a carriage to go to the temple. Fan Yao took the drug back to the temple with a happy and grateful heart. He remembered how over the last twenty years or so the Ming Cult was in disunity, but today a new hope emerged; his many sufferings over the years were not in vain. Zhang Wuji was not only a martial art expert, but his heart was righteous as well, so others can easily put their trust in him. The only problem was that Zhang Wuji was not cruel and merciless enough; he was somewhat weak and fussy, otherwise he would be a perfect leader.
Fan Yao lived in the west building, while the Xuanming Elders stayed at the ‘bao xiang jing she’
[the most refined precious fragrance hall] of the rear courtyard. Normally he did not hang around those two elders too much for fear that they might be able to look through his disguise; that was the reason he chose a room far away from them. Now he had to invite He Biweng to drink wine, he did not have any idea how to do it. Casting his glance to the rear courtyard he saw the sun was setting in the sky; already the sun could not reach the lower half of the 13-level pagoda, while the light reflected from the glazed tiles on top of the pagoda were also gradually turning pale. He still did not know what to do. Slowly pacing back and forth along the rear courtyard with his hands behind his back, he suddenly caught a sweet fragrance of meat from the small building opposite the ‘bao xiang jing she’; it was the building where Sun Sanhui and Li Sicui of the Eight Divine Archers lived.
Fan Yao’s heart was stirred; he walked toward that building, shoved the door open, and the strong meat smell greeted his nostrils. He saw Li Sicui was squatting on the floor, busily fanning the fire in a small brick stove, on which was a big earthenware pot. The fire was blazing hot; the strong smell of meat came out of that pot. Sun Sanhui was setting the bowls and chopsticks on the table. Obviously these two were about to have their dinner.
They were slightly startled as they saw Ku Toutuo push the door and come in; upon seeing his stern face they groaned inwardly. They had just killed a big yellow dog on the street; cut its limbs and quietly cooked the dog inside their room. Wan An Temple was a Buddhist temple, so cooking meat in the temple was a great trespass. If it was other people they might still get away from it, but Ku Toutuo was a Buddhist monk. If he was angered he might beat them up. Ku Toutuo’s martial art skill was very high, these two people certainly were not his match; moreover, they were the ones who committed the crime, so if they were beaten, they got what they deserved. Thinking of this they were scared; but then they saw him walking to the stove, opened the lid, took a look and drew a deep breath, seemingly to say, ‘Smells good, smells good!’ Suddenly they saw him putting his hand into the pot, seemingly oblivious to the boiling soup, to fish out a slice of dog meat. Opening his mouth wide he put the meat entirely in his mouth; chewing it for a while and swallowed it. Then he licked his lips as if he was tremendously enjoying the meat.
Sun and Li two people were delighted, they busily said, "Ku Dashi [Reverend Ku], please sit down, please sit down! We didn’t know you like to eat dog meat.”
But Ku Toutuo did not want to take a seat; he squatted in front of the stove and picked another piece of dog meat and chewed it right there. Sun Sanhui wanted to win his heart, so he presented a bowl of wine to him. Ku Toutuo took the bowl and drank a mouthful, but suddenly he spat it back out to the ground. He waved his left hand in front of his nose, as if he was saying that the wine was of inferior quality and not good to drink; and then he left the room in big strides.
Sun and Li two people were anxious to see him going out of the room, seemingly angry. But not too long afterwards they saw him back with a big wine gourd in his hand. "Right! Right!” they exclaimed delightfully, "Our wine is a low quality one; Ku Dashi has a good quality wine, nothing can be better than that!” They busily arranged the stool and the bowl, inviting Ku Toutuo to sit on the head of the table; they took a bowl full of dog meat and served it in front of him. Ku Toutuo’s martial art skill was very high; among Zhao Min’s subordinates he could be ranked near the top. Under normal circumstances the Eight Divine Archers would not curry favor with anybody, but today they had an opportunity to invite him eating dog meat, perhaps if his heart was happy he would impart to them one or two special skills, then they would reap the benefit for the rest of their lives.
Ku Toutuo pulled out the gourd’s cork and poured three bowls full of wine. The wine was golden yellow in color and it was rather thick like diluted honey; as soon as it was poured, a sweet aroma greeted their nostrils. Sun and Li two people cheered, "Good wine! Good wine!”
Fan Yao silently mused, "I wonder if the Xuanming Elders are home; if they are out and not back yet, then what I am doing right now is useless.” He took the wine bowl and held it above the pot on the stove; while the dog meat was boiling, the steam rose up and warmed up the wine, making the wine aroma stronger.
Sun and Li two people were drooling over the wine; they were going to drink the wine cold, but Ku Toutuo signaled them not to do that, he told them to warm the wine before drinking it. Three people took turn warming their wine over the boiling soup; the aroma spread out everywhe
re. If He Biweng was not in the temple complex, then that was the end of it. Otherwise if he was around the courtyard would be impossible for him not to smell the wine and come over. And sure enough, the
door of the ‘bao xiang jing she’ across the street opened up and He Biweng was shouting, "Good wine, good wine! Hey, hey!”
He was not shy; so he crossed the courtyard toward their door, he pushed it open and walked in. He was startled to see Ku Toutuo along with Sun and Li two people gathered around the stove, drinking wine and eat the dog meat, with the soup dripping everywhere. He Biweng laughed and said, "Ku Dashi, I didn’t know you like eating and drinking too; we have the same taste.”
Sun and Li two people busily stood up and said, "He Gong-gong [grandfather, respectful term toward someone older], quickly drink some wine, this is Ku Dashi’s good wine, not everybody can drink it.”
He Biweng sat opposite Ku Toutuo, it was as if they were having an eating and drinking competition; Sun and Li two people ended up became their servants, busily serving them meat and pouring them wine. Four people were all in high spirits, they ate and drank for half a day and were 60, 70% drunk. "Now I can make my move,” Fan Yao thought.
After pouring wine on his own bowl until it was full, he laid the wine gourd horizontally on the table. Turned out his wine gourd’s cork was hollow. He put the powder made by Zhang Wuji inside the cavity and wrapped the cork with two pieces of cloth. When the wine gourd stood upright, the powder did not fall down, so what the four of them drank was ordinary good wine. But once the wine gourd was laid on its side, the wine would wet the cloth and diluted the powder, so now the wine became poisonous. The bottom of the wine gourd was round, so it did not matter whether it was standing upright on lying down on its side; besides, they had been drinking for a good long while, so nobody paid any attention. They were drunk and felt entirely carefree.
