by Jin Yong
"All right,” Zhao Min said, "I will spare your lives as long as you do what I say.”
The two Yuan soldiers did not care how difficult the matter she was going to tell them to do, they complied immediately, "We’ll do it! We’ll do it!”
Zhao Min pointed toward her own horses and said, "You two must ride these two horses quickly to the east. Within a day and a night, you must cover 300 ‘li’s; the faster the better. You must not fail.”
The two soldiers looked at each other in confusion. They did not expect her instruction to be this trivial. They thought she must mean the opposite of what she was saying.
"Miss,” the bearded soldier said, "Even if Xiao Ren have enormous courage, we will not dare to ride on Miss’ horses .”
"This is important,” Zhao Min cut him off, "If anybody asks you along the way, you must say that you bought these pair of steeds at the market. You must never mention us two people’s appearances. Do you understand?”
The two Mongolian soldiers were still half believing and half doubting, but Zhao Min repeatedly urged them. They thought that even if she was playing a trick, going away was certainly better than being killed by her dagger. Therefore, step-by-step they slowly walked away from her, and then turned around and jumped onto the saddles.
The Mongolians grew up on horseback. For them, riding a horse was as easy as walking. Although their limbs were still stiff, they were able to drive the horses forward. They were afraid Zhao Min gave them the order out of temporary confusion and would regret her decision, so after a few dozens of ‘zhang’s, they squeezed the horse with their legs and they sped away as fast as they could.
"This is a very good idea,” Zhang Wuji said, "If your Gege’s men see these horses, they must think that we are going east. Where are we going actually?”
"We are going southwest,” Zhao Min replied.
They took the horses the Mongolian soldiers left behind, and leaving the main road, they walked toward the southwest on the wilderness. It was actually a rugged rocky path, full of brambles, which pricked their horses’ legs so that they were dripping with blood. Stumbling and limping, they only managed to cover twenty some ‘li’s within two hours of travel.
The sky turned dark. Suddenly they saw a wisp of smoke coming from a chimney of some building in the valley ahead. Zhang Wuji was delighted. "There are houses ahead, we can lodge in someone’s home,” he said.
When they got near, under the shadow of a big tree they saw the corner of a yellow wall. Turned out it was a temple. Zhao Min helped Zhang Wuji dismount the horse, and then she turned the horses’ heads toward the west. Picking up a thorny branch from the ground, she whipped the horses’ buttocks several times. The horses let a long neigh, and leaped away to the west.
By what she did, Zhao Min was trying to create yet another diversion to Wang Baobao’s pursuing soldiers. By losing their rides, the journey would be more difficult; but she did not give it too much thought. Right now, she was taking their journey one step at a time.
Two people supporting each other walked toward the front of the temple. They saw the tablet by the door had a four-character inscription, ‘zhong yue shen miao’ [Mount Song (in Henan, one of Five Sacred Mountains) divine temple].
Zhao Min lifted the ring of the gate and knocked three times. She waited for half a day without anybody answering the door, so she knocked three more times. Suddenly from behind the door came a grim voice, "Is it a man or a ghost? Or is it a living corpse?”
The wooden gate opened with a creaking noise. Behind it they saw a shadow. It was dusk, the dark was deepening. That man’s back was against the light, so they could not see his face clearly. But from his bald head and the monk robe he was wearing, he was obviously a Buddhist monk.
Zhang Wuji said, "We [orig. ‘zai4 xia4’ - ‘under’] brother and sister, were robbed an injured during our journey. We hope we can spend the night in your precious monastery, we are asking Da Shi [‘great master’, reverend] to show mercy.”
"Humph,” the man snorted, and then with a cold voice said, "Those who leave home [meaning, becoming Buddhist monks or nuns] do not usually provide convenience to others. You better go.” Immediately he closed the door.
"Helping others is helping self,” Zhao Min hastily said, "By helping us, you might not necessarily be without any benefit.”
"What benefit?” that man asked.
Zhao Min reached up to her ears to take her pair of pearl earrings out, and handed them over to him. The monk saw that each earring had a bead of pearl as big as the tip of his little finger. He sized the two people up, and then said, "All right, helping others is helping self.” He moved aside to let them in.
Holding up Zhang Wuji, Zhao Min led him entered in. The monk took them pass through the main hall and a courtyard, to a room on the eastern side of the temple. "You can sleep here,” he said.
There was neither light nor fire inside the room, it was as dark as a cave. Zhao Min groped around on the bed. There was nothing else on the bed other than a sheet of straw woven mat. They heard a loud and clear voice calling out from outside, "Hao Si Di [fourth younger brother Hao], whom did you let in?”
"A couple of guests seeking lodging for the night,” the monk replied, while stepping out of the room.
"Reverend,” Zhao Min called, "Could you please donate two bowl of rice and some plain vegetable dish?”
"Those who left homes receive alms; we do not give to charity,” the monk said in haughty tone while striding away.
"This monk is terrible!” Zhao Min bitterly said, "Wuji Gege, you must be very hungry. We must find something to eat tonight.”
Suddenly they heard several footsteps coming from the courtyard, as seven, eight men came in. Flame flickered, the door was pushed open and two monks lifted up candlesticks in their hands to illuminate the faces of Zhang Wuji and Zhao Min. In a glimpse Zhang Wuji saw eight monks, short and tall, one had thick eyebrows and huge bulging eyes, the other had face full of wrinkles; none of them had a friendly face.
The old monk with wrinkles said, "Whatever money and jewelry you have, take them all out.”
"What for?” Zhao Min asked.
The old monk laughed and said, "Because of fate two benefactors have come over here, just happened to visit this little temple, which is about to carry out a great undertaking: reconstructing the main gate, and repairing the inlay of the golden idol. The benefactors’ money and jewelry must be donated. If not, you are offending the Buddha; and then you will be in great trouble.”
Zhao Min was indignant. "Isn’t that the misdeed of the robbers?” she asked.
"It’s sin! It’s sin!” the old monk said, "We, eight brothers, used to kill people and burn their houses; we robbed and did all kinds of shady businesses. But recently we laid down our sabers to follow the teachings of Buddha, and so we became casual Buddhist monks. Benefactors have been brought here by karma; the fat sheep has arrived to our door on its own account. Ay, you have made things difficult for us who have left our homes; we are no longer able to keep our purity.”
Zhang Wuji and Zhao Min were very shocked; they did not expect these eight monks were former big bandits. This old monk had been speaking quite bluntly. It sounded like he was going to kill them; he did not even try to keep it a secret, neither did he show any intention to let them go.
Another fierce looking monk said with a laugh, "Miss Benefactor need not be afraid; while we eight monks are robbing and plundering, we lack a mistress to take care of the temple. You have such a beautiful face, truly as if the ‘Guan Shi Yin Pu Sa’ [Guanyin Bodhisattva, the Goddess of Mercy] descends to the earth. Even if Buddha himself saw you, his heart would have been moved. Wonderful! Wonderful!”
From her pocket Zhao Min pulled out some seven, eight golden ingots and a string of pearls, and placed them all on the table. "All I have is here,” she said, "We, brother and sister, are also Wulin people. Gentlemen must respect the Jianghu’s ‘yi qi’ [spirit of loyalty, code of brotherhood].”<
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The old monk laughed and said, "So you two are Wulin people, nothing can be better than that. I wonder which school do you belong to?”
"We are Shaolin disciple,” Zhao Min said. Shaolin Pai was the number one major sect in the Wulin world. Zhao Min was hoping that these if eight men were not Shaolin disciples, perhaps one of their friends or relatives were somewhat related to Shaolin.
The old monk was startled, his eyes suddenly shone with murderous look. "Shaolin disciples?” he said, "That’s truly unfortunate! You two babies should really blame yourself for belonging to the wrong school.”
He reached out to pull Zhao Min’s wrist. Zhao Min quickly withdrew her hand so the old monk ended up grabbing empty air. Zhang Wuji realized the critical situation they were in. Both Zhao Min and he were heavily injured; it was extremely difficult to fight the enemy. They had battled countless well-known Wulin characters these past several years; would they lose their lives today in the hands of eight nameless lowly robbers? No matter what, he could not let Zhao Min being
disgraced without him doing something. Thereupon he said, "Min Mei, hide behind me. I have a way to deal with these eight lowly thieves.”
Zhao Min’s brain was usually full of bright ideas and clever tricks, but this moment her hands were bound and she was unable to do anything about it. "What kind of people are you?” she asked.
The old monk replied, "We are renegades that the Shaolin Temple chased away. To come across other Sect’s Jianghu people, we can sill show mercy and not make our moves; but to come across Shaolin disciples, we cannot do anything but kill you. Little Miss, this brother actually wanted you to be the custodian of the temple, but after finding out that you are a Shaolin disciple, we have no other choice but to kill you first, so that we will not leave any witness behind.”
With a low and deep throaty voice Zhang Wuji said, "Good, huh! You are Yuan Zhen’s disciples, aren’t you?”
"Ah!” the old monk exclaimed in surprise, "That’s strange! How did you know?”
Zhao Min interrupted, "Actually, we are on our way to Shaolin Temple to see Chen Youliang Dage [big brother], to support Yuan Zhen Da Shi [‘great master’ - reverend] to become the Shaolin Temple Fangzhang [abbot].”
"Shan zai! Shan zai! [exclamatory remark used by Buddhist monks, means ‘good, peace’]” the old monk said, "Our Buddha reaching perfection, restoring all living beings.”
"That’s right,” Zhao Min said, "We must join our hearts and minds, accomplishing virtuous acts together.” As she said that, all eight monks broke out in laughter.
Turned out these eight monks belong to the same party as Yuan Zhen and Chen Youliang; they were inducted by Chen Youliang to be Yuan Zhen’s disciples. For the past few years, Yuan Zhen had coveted the Abbot position and thus recruited capable people from everywhere. However, Shaolin Temple monastic discipline was strict, each time they accepted a disciple, the disciple must undergo a rigorous examination by the monastic authorities, a detailed verification of their family background and origins, so that Yuan Zhen found it difficult to do whatever he pleased. Consequently, he cooked up a plan with Chen Youliang, to recruit the warriors of underworld organizations, pirates and bandits, and gathered them outside the Temple as Yuan Zhen’s disciples, yet they were not Shaolin disciples. They were waiting for an opportunity then together they would take this great undertaking.
Yuan Zhen’s martial art skill was very profound and he was able to defeat the Jianghu warriors into submission as soon as he put his hands into it. These Wulin characters had always been admiring Shaolin’s fame as the prestigious upright Sect; they had also seen Yuan Zhen’s divine martial art skill, therefore, they willingly submit under his tutelage. There were a small number of disciples who were not willing to betray their own original school. Yuan Zhen immediately removed these people. That was the reason they had not been exposed even though they had been engaged in this deceitful scheme for a long time.
When that old monk said ‘Our Buddha reaching perfection, restoring all living beings’ he actually was saying their secret code. If the other party replied with ‘the blooming flower meets Buddha, the heart draws near to Lingshan [a mountain in Guangxi]’; then they would know that they belonged to the same school.
As Zhao Min heard the undertone of the old monk’s words, she knew they were Yuan Zhen’s disciples, and she deduced that Yuan Zhen had his eyes on the Abbot position; but how would she
know they had agreed on some secret code to communicate to each other?
"Fu Dage [big brother Fu],” a short and stout monk said, "This little girl says something about supporting our master to become Shaolin Temple Fangzhang; where did she learn it from? This is a very important matter, we must inquire clearly.” Although these eight people had become monks, they still addressed each other as ‘Dage’, ‘Erge’ [second brother], and so on; the habit they acquired when they were still involved in the ‘lu lin’ world. [‘lu lin’ means ‘green forest’, usually refers to the criminal world]
As soon as Zhang Wuji heard these eight men laugh, he knew something had gone wrong. He regretted that his back was seriously injured so he was unable to concentrate his internal energy [see note below]. He had no choice but to painstakingly focus his attention, trying hard to force the ‘chi’ to break free. He felt the warm energy gathered in a clump in the east, and formed together in a block on the west, but the ‘chi’ did not want to flow along in the blood vessels.
[orig, ‘zhen qi’ - true ‘chi’. Translator’s note: previously, I translated ‘qi’ as simply ‘energy’ or internal energy. When reading some martial art related publication, I realized that ‘chi’ has become an English word. Here are two examples I found:
Ch'i or qi (pronounced "chee" and henceforth spelled "chi") is the Chinese word used to describe "the natural energy of the Universe." (Skeptic Dictionary)
In Chinese culture, Qi (spelled in Mandarin Pinyin romanization), pronounced IPA: [tchi], also ch'i (in Wade-Giles romanization) or ki (in Japanese romanization) is a kind of "life force" or "spiritual energy" that is part of every living thing. It is frequently translated as "energy flow", or literally as "air", "breath", or "gas". (For example, "ti'enql", literally "sky breath", is the ordinary Chinese word for "weather"). (Wikipedia)
Hereafter, I will leave the word ‘qi’ as it is, or translate it as ‘internal energy’.]
Zhang Wuji saw the old monk’s five fingers striking toward Zhao Min like a bird’s claw. Zhao Min was powerless to ward it off; she eluded by withdrawing into the bed. Zhang Wuji’s mind was very anxious, but he kept sitting cross-legged, hoping that he could restore 20, 30% of his strength, which would be enough to drive these eight wicked thieves away.
Seeing that Zhang Wuji was still arrogantly sitting in meditation in a time like this, the short and stout monk angrily roared, "This kid is so arrogant; let the old man [referring to self] send him to the western sky first, so that he won’t be in the way here!”
When saying that, he raised his right arm while his bones made cracking noise. With a ‘whoosh’ he sent a fist toward Zhang Wuji’s chest. Seeing this desperate situation, Zhao Min’s shrill voice cried out in fear; but she saw that as the stout monk’s fist landed on its target, his right arm went limp, his eyes rolled until only the whites were visible, and he stood motionless.
The old monk was shocked; he stretched his hand to pull his comrade’s hand. The plump monk’s hand did not give any resistance, as he had already died. The rest of the monks were startled and angered. They cried out one after another, "This kid uses witchcraft! He is a sorcerer!”
What happened was: when the plump monk used his entire strength to strike Zhang Wuji’s chest, he inadvertently hit the ‘shan zhong xue’ [lit. sheep odor acupoint]. Zhang Wuji’s ‘Jiu Yang Shen Gong’ was not enough to attack the enemy, but it was more than sufficient to protect his own body. Not only did it rebound the fist strength of the enemy’s strike, but also because the incoming strike was powerful, it spur
red the Jiu Yang ‘zhen qi’ [real/true/genuine ‘chi’ - see above] inside his system, increasing the rebound force, adding strength behind the strength, so that the plump monk was killed instantly.
The old monk thought that Zhang Wuji’s pocket must be loaded with poison-tipped arrows or some other venomous stingers, so that the plump monk died of severe poisoning. Stretching out his palm, he struck Zhang Wuji’s right arm, which was exposed outside his sleeve, thinking that he had better break Zhang Wuji’s arm first before dealing with him further.
As the powerful palm struck Zhang Wuji’s arm, the Jiu Yang Zhen Qi inside his body was incited again. The old monk was thrown outside immediately; he flew like an arrow and ‘crack!’, breaking through the window lattice, he struck the big locust tree in the courtyard, his skull was smashed and his brain burst forth.
The rest of the monks were shouting and screaming. One monk used both of his hands to attack Zhang Wuji’s ‘tai yang xue’ [sun acupoint]. Another monk used the ‘shuang long qiang zhu’ [a pair of dragons fought over the pearl], stretching out his fingers to dig into Zhang Wuji’s eyeballs. Yet another monk flew up and kicked Zhang Wuji’s ‘dan tian’ [pubic area].
Zhang Wuji lowered his head to evade the attack to his eyes, letting the attacker’s two fingers to hit his forehead. A series of ‘Bang! Bang!’, ‘Aiyo!’, ‘Crack! Crack!’ was heard; all three monks were shaken to their death one after another. The third monk’s flying kick was so powerful that his right leg was broken on the spot. As Zhang Wuji’s ‘dan tian’ received the kick, the ‘zhen qi’ in his body was aroused; unexpectedly the arteries and veins on the right half of his body were open. He mused, "It’s a pity this wicked monk died too early. If he had kicked my dan tian several times, he might have helped me restoring my internal energy sooner. Apparently, although my injury is heavy, the recovery is not as difficult as I thought. I think I will need about ten days to half a month of recuperation to recover 100%.”
