Heavenly Sword Dragon Slaying Saber Book 4

by Jin Yong

  Song Qingshu did not say anything. He simply bowed in respect. Yu Lianzhou shouted and his palm hacked down on Sing Qingshu’s face.

  Yu Lianzhou had been famous in the Wulin world for the last thirty years or so, but the number of people who had actually seen him displaying his true capability was actually very few. Until today, when they saw him with soft power in his palms he rendered the strong, ruthless, explosive power of the ‘pi li lei huo dan’ [thunderbolt bullet] useless. His skill was so refined that the spectators felt ashamed of their own inadequacy. The Jianghu people had known for some time that the essence of Wudang Pai’s martial art was ‘soft subduing hard’, the style was slow moving but also very rich with subtle changes. Who would have thought that Yu Lianzhou’s palms stormed like the wind, his style was amazingly swift, that Song Qingshu’s lower part, between his legs and his waist, was successively hit by a kick and a palm.

  Song Qingshu was very shocked. "Tai Shifu and Father both prepared me to be the Wudang Pai’s third generation Zhangmen [sect leader], they would not hold any martial art secret from me. Yu Ershu’s [second uncle] swift fist and quick leg were in the style I had already learned, but how could he launch the stances with such a speed? Didn’t the way he use it is contrary to our school’s main principle? Whatever it is, the result is this fierce!”

  He wanted to use the finger skill Zhou Zhiruo taught him, but Yu Lianzhou did not give him even a chance to catch his breath. Thereupon he had no choice but kept stepping back and did his best to hold his position.

  The crowd of heroes watched the fight between these two men with rapt attention. Presently, Yu Lianzhou was gaining an upper hand. However, in the two previous battles, Song Qingshu was also at a disadvantage before he was able to turn defeat into victory by stretching out his fingers and killing his opponents. He might be able to repeat it this time. They saw Yu Lianzhou moved faster and faster, but every style and every stance was very clear. It was just like an expert singer, although the singer sang a fast-tempo song, the enunciation of every syllable was very clear,

  without the slightest degree of fuzziness.

  The crowd of heroes started to stand up one by one. Those who sat on the back climbed the tables and chairs. In their hearts, they were all praising, "Wudang’s Yu Er Xia truly deserves his reputation. He does not stop pressing his opponent, yet not a single stance was used twice.”

  Lucky for Song Qingshu that he was a direct-line disciple of Wudang; he knew all the subtle changes of Yu Lianzhou’s hands and feet movements. However, fighting in such a pace was actually the first time for him.

  The yellow dust on the field rose upward, becoming a thick fog enveloping these two men. Suddenly there was a loud bang as two palms collided. Both Yu Lianzhou and Song Qingshu leaped backward at the same time. The cloud of dust was divided. Before he was even standing firmly, with a monkey-like agility Yu Lianzhou had jumped forward again.

  Yin Liting was concerned over his Shixiong’s safety. He could not help standing by the field with his hand on the hilt of his sword and his unblinking eyes trained on the battle in the field.

  By now, Song Qingshu felt as if he was treading on the fine line between life and death. He fought with everything he had. He did not even think of using other school’s martial art any longer; all he could use was Wudang Pai martial art, which he trained since his childhood.

  Yin Liting was very familiar with these two men’s punching and kicking style; he knew that each stance was meant to take the opponent’s life. Hence, his anxiety far surpassed of those who were merely spectators. Fortunately, he noticed that Yu Lianzhou gradually gained the upper hand. He would have hacked him dead early on if he did not guard against Song Qingshu’s malicious and ruthless five-finger piercing stance, hence being somewhat cautious.

  Zhang Wuji was also quite worried. Secretly he grabbed two Sheng Huo Ling tablets in his pocket.

  If Yu Lianzhou’s life will be in danger, he would disregard the general assembly’s rule by dashing out and save him.

  The cloud of dust was growing higher. Suddenly Song Qingshu stretched out his left hand with his five fingers spread out to claw Yu Lianzhou’s right shoulder. For the last hundred stances or so, Yu Lianzhou had been waiting for Song Qingshu to launch this stance.

  Yu Lianzhou had clearly seen the way Song Qingshu used his claw to kill the two elders of the Beggar Clan. If there were no previous fatal example, Yu Lianzhou would have been taken by surprise by this kind of fierce and killer stance. Although he might not die, but he would certainly be seriously injured. However, since he had seen this stance, he had prepared beforehand how to deal with it. On the other hand, Song Qingshu had not practiced this claw technique long enough; his movement did not have too many variations. His movement this time was almost the same to the previous ones.

  Yu Lianzhou made a slight shoulder movement to evade. His left hand made several circles in the air.

  "Ah!” Zhao Min and Fan Yao could not bear not to exclaim together, because Yu Lianzhou’s circles were exactly the ‘luan huan jue’ of Taijiquan Zhang Wuji taught Fan Yao earlier.

  As Zhao Min and Fan Yao watched this, they knew Song Qingshu was in a very bad moment. Before their ‘ah!’ exclaim was even finished, the five fingers of Song Qingshu’s right hand had arrived at Yu Lianzhou’s throat.

  Zhang Wuji was enraged. "He deserves to die! He deserves to die!” he muttered under his breath. The Beggar Clan’s Zhi Fa Zhanglao lost his life under this claw. Unexpectedly Song Qingshu was brazen enough to use this malicious hand toward his own martial uncle.

  But he saw that one of Yu Lianzhou’s arms made a circle, while the other arm revolved in the ‘zuan fan’ [drilling/boring movement] and ‘luo xuan’ [corkscrew turn] stances from the ‘liu he jin’ [six gathering strengths] style. Yu Lianzhou’s arms coiled around Song Qingshu’s arms. ‘Crack! Crack!’ Song Qingshu’s arm joints broke.

  "Qidi [seventh (younger) brother] is avenged today!” Yu Lianzhou roared.

  Joining his arms together, Yu Lianzhou continued striking both of Song Qingshu’s ears with the ‘shuang feng guan er’ [a pair of wind piercing the ears]. It was an attack where the ‘soft’ power was focused into one target. Song Qingshu’s skull disintegrated immediately. But before his body even fell to the ground, Yu Lianzhou gave him a powerful kick. Obviously, he wanted to finish Song Qingshu on the spot.

  Suddenly a dark green shadow flashed by; a long whip threatened Yu Lianzhou’s face. Hastily he leaped back to evade. But with an unimaginable speed the long whip kept threatening his face. It was none other than the Emei Pai’s Sect Leader seeking revenge for her husband.

  Yu Lianzhou hurriedly took three steps backward. Zhou Zhiruo’s whip technique was truly out of this world; in just three stances Yu Lianzhou was surrounded by the whip. Suddenly the flexible whip shook and coiled back. Zhou Zhiruo caught the tip of the whip with her left hand and coldly said, "If I take your life right now, you will be dissatisfied. Unsheathe your weapon!”

  ‘Shua!’ Yin Liting drew his sword out. He stepped forward and said, "Let me receive Miss Zhou’s instruction.”

  Zhou Zhiruo stared at him with cold eyes; she turned around to look at Song Qingshu’s injury. His eyes were closed, blood flowed out from is seven orifices, he laid down on the ground, paralyzed.

  It looked like his life could not be saved. Three male disciples from Emei Pai rushed forward and took him back to their shelter.

  Zhou Zhiruo turned back and pointed at Yu Lianzhou and said, "I’ll kill you first. Killing the one surnamed Yin later will not be too late.”

  Yu Lianzhou had exhausted his entire strength just now yet he was unable to escape from her whip’s encirclement. He was inwardly shocked. He loved his younger martial brother. He thought, "If I fight her, even though I might die under her whip, at least Liudi [sixth (younger) brother] would have a chance to see her whip technique. My only hope is that his chance of survival will be increased by several points.”

  Reach
ing behind his back, he wanted to take over Yin Liting’s sword. Yin Liting also realized the mortal danger they were facing. Even with the two martial brothers’ level of martial art skills, the chance of them escaping her long whip’s strike seemed very remote. Both he and his Shixiong had the same intention; he also wanted to fight her first, so that Shixiong would have a chance to find the gist of her whip technique. Thereupon, he was unwilling to hand his sword over.

  "Shige [martial (older) brother],” he said, "Let me have a go first.”

  Yu Lianzhou turned his gaze to him. They had been training in the same school for dozens of years. They had a very close relationship with each other; as close as blood brothers. That

  moment, deep emotion surged up his breast; his thought flashed back and forth like lightning. He remembered Yu Daiyan was crippled, Zhang Cuishan killed himself, Mo Shenggu died a tragic death. From the Wudang Seven Heroes, only four left. It seemed like two more heroes would lost their lives in this place. Although Yin Liudi was strong in martial art, emotionally he was very weak. If he died first, Yin Liudi’s mind would take such a blow that he might be unable to fight an all out battle.

  "If I died first,” he carefully considered, "Liudi would have to go through countless difficulties to avenge me, while he himself would not want to escape alive alone. In the end, the two of us, martial brothers, would unavoidably die together in vain. If he died first, I would have a chance to understand the essence of this woman’s whip technique, and then perhaps I could fight her with all I have and die together with her.” Thereupon he nodded and said, "Liudi, try to hold your ground as long as possible.”

  Remembering his pregnant wife, Yang Buhui, Yin Liting could not help but taking a glance toward Yang Xiao and Zhang Wuji. But immediately he rebuked himself, "After I die, other people will certainly take a good care of Buhui and the child; why would I act like a weak woman by asking others to help?” Thereupon he raised his sword, his eyes focused on the sword, his mind cleared of other matters, his back straightened, his chest puffed out, his shoulder relaxed and his elbows hang loosely.

  "Zhang Men Ren [sect leader], please grant your instructions!” he said. Although he was a lot older than Zhou Zhiruo, at this moment, Zhou Zhiruo was the Sect Leader of Emei Pai. He did not want to show the least bit of disrespect.

  Noticing that Yin Liting was using the ‘Taijijian’ [Taiji Sword] to face the opponent; Yu Lianzhou knew that his sixth brother was prepared to unleash the full potential of their school’s most powerful skill to contend with the most powerful enemy. He slowly retreated from the arena.

  "You may start!” Zhou Zhiruo said.

  Yin Liting thought that the opponent’s movement was lightning fast. If he let her took the initiative, he might never be able to regain his momentum. Thereupon as his left foot took a step, he switched the sword to his left hand, and launched the ‘san huan tao yue’ [three rings around the moon]. This first stance was a mixture of truth and deceit; the sword in his left hand lunged toward the enemy, the blade flickered with rays of light, ‘swish, swish, swish’, the sword produced light swishing noise. The crowd of heroes broke into an earth-shattering applause.

  Zhou Zhiruo turned her body sideways to evade; Yin Liting followed with ‘da kui xing’ [the Great Bear Constellation] and ‘yan zi chao shui’ [swallow hunts over the water]. His sword drew a big circle in the air, his right hand pierced straight forward, surprisingly, it also carried light ‘swish, swish, swish’ noise.

  Zhou Zhiruo swung her slender waist like a pendulum, dodging the attacks one by one. "Yin Liu Xia,” she said, "I gave you three stances to repay your kindness on Mount Wudang in the old days.” As the last word came out of her mouth, the flexible whip in her hand shook like a cobra and struck directly into Yin Liting’s chest.

  Yin Liting quickly evaded to the left; but the whip changed its course midway and curved toward him. Yin Liting countered with ‘feng bai he ye’ [the wind sweeps lotus leaves]. His sword pared down. The whip and the sword collided, creating a light scratching noise. Yin Liting felt a burning sensation on the palm of his hand; the sword nearly fell off.

  He was greatly shocked. "I thought her stances were strange but her internal energy was in par with mine,” he mused, "Who would have thought that her internal energy is also strange beyond measures.” Refocusing his attention, he launched the Taiji Sword by creating random circles, generating an extremely tight defense around his body.

  The flexible whip in Zhou Zhiruo’s hand was like a string of soft silk thread, like a weightless object. Her body flashed to the east and to the west, dashed forward and backward, yet the whip was always fluttering around Yin Liting.

  Zhang Wuji’s amazement grew as he watched the battle. "The way she moves the whip is entirely different from Du E, Du Nan and Du Jie, three eminent monks.” At first, he thought that Emei Pai still had some heretical martial art that he was unaware of, but as he watched she move with demon-like agility, which differed greatly from Mie Jue Shitai’s movements, against his will, a vague feeling of fear crept into his heart.

  Suddenly Fan Yao exclaimed, "She is a ghost, she is not a human!”

  His words echoed what was in Zhang Wuji’s mind that he shivered involuntarily. If he were not in the field where the sun was still shining brightly and people were standing all around him he would have thought that Zhou Zhiruo had died and her ghost picked up a whip and fought with Yin Liting.

  In all his life, he had seen countless of strange martial arts, but Zhou Zhiruo’s footwork and whip technique, which was like the wind blowing willow branch, or the water floating duckweed, was truly beyond anybody’s imagination. In that moment, he felt as if he was awakened from a nightmare and was shivering from fear, "Could it be that she practices some kind of demonic skill? Or she is being possessed by some monster?”

  Zhou Zhiruo’s movements were strange, but Taiji Sword was developed from Zhang Sanfeng’s Taijiquan [Taiji fist], which he created in his later years. It was the pinnacle of the sword technique, which came from the culmination of his life-long comprehension of martial art theory. Yin Liting unleashed his entire strength and skill into his continuous sword movements. Although he was unable to injure the opponent, his defense was flawless, enough to hold his ground.

  Suddenly, someone called out with a strange voice and strange intonation, "Aiyo! Song Qingshu is about to breathe his last. Zhou Da Zhangmen [great sect leader], if you don’t pay your last respect to your husband, you will considered a dishonorable widow!”

  Everybody turned their eyes toward the voice. It was Zhou Dian. He knew that in their entire lives, Wudang disciples put great emphasis to the internal energy cultivation to control their breathing. In facing the enemy, they were like ‘the Mount Tai collapsed in front of their eyes, their countenances would not change; an elk hit their left ears, their eyes did not blink.’ So he intended to help Yin Liting by disrupting Zhou Zhiruo’s attention.

  "Hey, hey, Miss Zhou Zhiruo of the Emei Pai,” he called again, "Your husband is about to die, he has some last words for you. He says he has three times seven, twenty-one, and four times seven, twenty-eight, illegitimate children outside. He wants that after he dies, you will take a good care of them, so that he won’t die with open eyes. Will you or will you not consent to his request?”

  As the crowd of heroes heard him blabber such nonsense, some of them could not help but snicker. But Zhou Zhiruo acted as if she did not hear anything.

  "Aiyo,” Zhou Dian called out, "It’s too bad! Miejue Lao Shitai, how have you, Senior, been doing? Long time no see. You, Senior, has never looked better. Your spirit must have possessed Miss

  Zhou; the way she plays this flexible whip is indeed very attractive!”

  Suddenly, Zhou Zhiruo’s shadow flashed several ‘zhang’s backward. She lashed her long whip over her right shoulder. The tip of the whip curved up from the ground toward Zhou Dian’s face. Initially she was more than a dozen ‘zhang’s away from the Ming Cult’s thatched shel
ter, but just like a dragon swooping down from the sky, the flexible whip suddenly arrived at his face like an arrow.

  Zhou Dian was happily blabbering with spittle coming out of his mouth. He did not expect in the middle of a fierce battle, Zhou Zhiruo was able to launch a sudden attack with her whip. As he was stunned, the long whip had already arrived at his face. Zhou Zhiruo did not even turn her head, but it was as if the back of her head grew a pair of eyes; the tip of the whip was pointing right at his nose.

  As Zhou Zhiruo flung the long whip backward, two of her left-hand fingers repeatedly pierced toward Yin Liting. Within seven of such attacks, she had covered the entire vital acupoints on Yin Liting’s head, face and the front of his chest.

  Yin Liting was unable to attack the opponent. He also could not turn back his sword to pare her arm. With no other choice, he launched the ‘feng dian tou’ [nodding phoenix] by bending his knees to dodge the attacks.

  In the meantime, from the Ming Cult’s thatched shelter came a loud ‘bang!’ followed by a series of crashing noises. Turned out Yang Xiao, who was standing on the side, and had keen eyes and quick hands, hurled the wooden table in front of him to block Zhou Zhiruo’s whip. As the whip struck the table, wooden splinters flew all over the place. The teapots and teacups on the table were also thrown to all directions, splashing hot tea to numerous people around them.

  As her attack missed, Zhou Zhiruo no longer paid Zhou Dian any attention. Her flexible whip coiled back and stormed toward Yin Liting.

  Holding the hilt of a sword in his hand, Yu Lianzhou had been standing on the side. But after watching for half an afternoon, he still could not predict the essence of her whip technique. "Even if I have to fight, in Taiji Sword technique I am not any better than Liudi [sixth younger brother]. But if the fight is prolonged, this woman’s internal energy might be insufficient, and then relying on our resilience, we might score a victory.”