by Jin Yong
This ‘pull and push’ was the most profound technique of the seventh level of Qian Kun Da Nuo Yi; backed by concentrated power of the Jiu Yang Shen Gong. This technique required the most amount of internal energy and could not have the slightest degree of negligence in its execution. If he failed, he would suffer fire deviation. For this reason he did not dare to use it earlier even though when faced with a desperate situation, because his mind was still occupied by trying to repel the cold poison from Zhao and Zhou, two women.
The Xuan Ming Elders were first class martial art masters; if he had used the fifth or the sixth level of Qian Kun Da Nuo Yi, he might not be able to deal with them. As He Biweng’s right palm struck by, ‘whoosh!’ it changed course to strike Lu Zhangke’s shoulder.
Lu Zhangke was startled and angrily said, "Shidi, what are you doing?”
Although He Biweng’s martial art skill was high, his natural disposition was rather slow; he had to think for quite a while before he could understand anything. This time, things happened so quickly that he himself was baffled. In his shock, he was unable to give Lu Zhangke any explanation. He only knew that Zhang Wuji had played a trick on him. He thought that if he increased his effort in attacking the enemy, he might appease his Shixiong; therefore, sending out his strength to his right leg, he kicked Zhang Wuji, hard.
Zhang Wuji’s left hand whisked this kick, hooked He Biweng’s leg and directed it toward Lu Zhangke’s lower abdomen. Lu Zhangke was shocked and angered. "Are you insane?” he roared.
"That’s right!” Zhao Min called out, "Mr. He, quickly capture this rebellious, lecherous, greedy and kinky Shixiong of yours, my Father will certainly reward you heavily.”
Zhang Wuji secretly laughed. "This ‘driving-a-wedge-between-them’ idea is really marvelous,” he mused. Originally, he wanted to use Qian Kun Da Nuo Yi to divert He Biweng’s attack toward Lu Zhangke, and redirect Lu Zhangke’s strike toward He Biweng. But as he listened to Zhao Min, he only diverted He Biweng’s fists and legs, but used Taiji Fist to deal with Lu Zhangke.
"Mr. He, don’t worry,” he called out, "With our combined effort, we will certainly be able to butcher this pervert deer [‘Lu’ of Lu Zhangke means ‘deer’]. The Ruyang Prince has already bestowed to you ... bestowed to you ...” In that instant, he could not think of an appropriate government position for him.
"Mr. He,” Zhao Min called out, "The official letter of your appointment to a high official position is here.” While saying that she took a bundle of paper from her bosom and waved it up, reading, "Hmm, it is ‘Da Yuan Hu Guo Yang Wei Da Jiang Jun’ [the Great Yuan’s Protector of the Country, Great General with Rising Power]. Hurry up, you must try harder!”
Zhang Wuji struck with his right palm, forcing Lu Zhangke to lean to the left; right at this moment, he diverted He Biweng’s left palm from attacking Zhang Wuji’s left to Lu Zhangke’ right, so that Lu Zhangke was attacked from left and right.
Lu Zhangke and He Biweng had been together for several decades; their love to each other was like blood brothers. At first Lu Zhangke did not believe that He Biweng would betray him, but at this moment he had seen it with his own eyes how He Biweng successively attacked him for five stances; all aimed at his vital points, all with full-powered punches or kicks, apparently with the desire to take his life, without the least bit of friendship. His resentment had reached its peak. He roared, "You are after riches and honor, and do not have any regard about ‘yi qi’?”
"I ... I am ...” He Biweng hurriedly said.
"That’s right,” Zhao Min cut him off, "You have no choice because you are going to be the ‘Da Yuan Hu Guo Yang Wei Da Jiang Jun’; therefore, you cannot say anything about offending your Shixiong.”
Zhang Wuji put his entire strength in his right hand and focused his entire attention to lead He Biweng’s palm strike toward Lu Zhangke. ‘Bang!’ Lu Zhangke’s shoulder was squarely hit. In his anger Lu Zhangke slapped backward, striking He Biweng’s left side of his jaw that several of his teeth fell down.
He Biweng was already old; he only had several teeth left inside his mouth. Naturally, he cherished these remaining few teeth on his left cheek. Unable to restrain his anger, he shouted, "Shige, you really can’t tell the good from the bad. I did not hit you on purpose.”
Lu Zhangke was also angry. "Who started the fight?” he said. Although his knowledge was vast, he did not know that in this world there existed the seventh level of Qian Kun Da Nuo Yi with such a formidable power. He thought that based on the level of martial art skill He Biweng and he possessed, Zhang Wuji might be able to defeat them or even kill them, but never in his wildest dream would he expect Zhang Wuji to use such technique as ‘borrowing strength to fight strength’, reversing his partner’s palm force to strike him. Therefore, he had never suspected he had fallen
into Zhang Wuji’s trick.
Venting up his frustration, He Biweng cursed, "Little bastard, you have played trick on me!”
"That’s right!” Zhao Min called out, "You don’t need to call him ‘Shige’, just call him ‘Little bastard’.”
As Zhang Wuji’s left palm was pressing Lu Zhangke’s palm power, his right hand diverted He Biweng’s palm to hit Lu Zhangke’s right cheek that his cheek was swollen immediately.
Noticing that Lu Zhangke was fuming; his eyes were red and his palm attacked He Biweng like crazy, Zhang Wuji knew his plan worked. "Mr. He,” he shouted, "I’ll leave this pervert deer into your hands.” His left foot kicked, he flew out of and took Zhao Min to leave. He saw the Xuan Ming Elders were still intensely fighting ‘you punch me, I kick you’ each other.
"Mr. He,” Zhao Min called out, "After you arrest your Shige, you may borrow the secret martial art manual from the Tulong Saber for a month. Quickly set up a great merit; don’t miss this good opportunity.”
Lu Zhangke was getting angrier; he attacked He Biweng without showing any mercy. These two men were of the same school; there was not much difference in their martial skill level [orig. ‘ban jin ba liang’ - half a pound is eight ounces]. It was hard to say when this kind of fierce battle would end.
Zhang Wuji and Zhao Min returned to the Shaolin Temple. Examining the top of Zhao Min’s head, Zhang Wuji saw that the injury was superficial. Suddenly he remembered something. "Min Mei,” he said, "Luckily you bring that bundle of paper; otherwise, Lu Zhangke would not believe.”
With a chuckle, Zhao Min took two bundles of thin papers from her bosom. She waved it in front of Zhang Wuji’s face and said with a laugh, "Can you guess what this is?”
Zhang Wuji smiled and said, "If you tell me to guess, I will never guess correctly in my lifetime. So, why would I want to take the trouble?”
Zhao Min placed the two bundles of paper in his hand. Zhang Wuji took a candle to examine the paper. He found out that it was not paper, but thin sheets of silk, as thin as cicada’s wings. The sheets were densely populated with tiny characters, with each character as small as the head of a fly. The first bundle began with this line of four characters, ‘wu mu yi shu’ [Wumu Legacy; lit. ‘the book (or letter) left behind by Wumu’]. It explained the key in deployment of troops in a war, battle formation, and other fine points of military strategy.
Looking at the second bundle, he saw it started with these four characters, ‘Jiu Yin Zhen Jing’
[Nine Yin Manual; lit. ‘nine yin (negative/feminine/moon) true/real scripture’]. Inside were all kinds of mystical and strange martial arts. Flipping toward the end of the bundle, he found ‘Jiu Yin Bai Gu Zhua’ [Nine Yin White Bone Claw] and ‘Cui Xin Zhang’ [heart destroying palm] among other things.
Zhang Wuji’s heart turned cold. "You ... did you take all this from Miss Zhou?” he asked.
Zhao Min laughed. "When she was immobile, why can’t I take advantage of her [orig. shun shou qian yang’ - lead away a goat in passing’]?” she said, "This kind of malicious martial art, I don’t want to learn, but I do want to destroy it, since left in her hands it might be used to harm others.”
Zhang Wuji browsed through the Jiu Yin Zhen Jing. A few pages later, he realized that the lesson inside was very profound and difficult to decipher in a short while. He also knew that the martial art skill toward the end of the book was not malicious, he said, "The martial art in this manual is actually very deep. If trained properly, I believe ten, twenty years later, the result will not be a small matter. But if it is trained rashly, the result will be superficial. Not only it will harm others, but will inflict self injury as well.” After pausing for a moment, he continued, "That Jiejie wearing yellow gown’s martial art is obviously of the same school, yet her movements were upright without any sign of maliciousness, very pure and honorable. It seems that her skill also came from this Nine Yin Manual.”
"She said something like ‘Behind the Mount Zhong Nan, the Tomb of the Living Dead, the Divine Eagle and Gallant Knights vanished from the Jianghu’, what do these four lines mean?” Zhao Min asked.
Zhang Wuji shook his head. "When we see Tai Shifu in the future, we will ask the Senior. Perhaps he could shed some light on this affair.”
They chatted for some time. After making sure that there was no change in troop activity at the bottom of the mountain, they went their separate ways to take a rest.
End of Chapter 39.
Chapter 40 - Didn’t Know This Zhang Fellow was The Mr. Zhang
(Translated by Foxs, Edited by Eliza Bennet)
Zhou Zhiruo drew out her sword and pointed it toward Zhang Wuji's chest. “I am going to take your life today," she shouted sternly, “Yin Li’s ghost is entangling me anyway. I will eventually get killed. I’d rather die together with you." While saying that, she raised her sword high, ready to stab it down into Zhang Wuji’s chest.
Zhang Wuji woke up at daybreak the next morning, and immediately jumped up a tall tree to scout the enemy movement. The enemy camp was bustling with activity; it seemed that they were going to launch an attack.
"Min Mei!” Zhang Wuji called.
"Mmm ... what is it?” Zhao Min replied.
Zhang Wuji hesitated before saying, "Nothing, I just love to call your name.” Actually, he wanted to consult Zhao Min on how to repel the Yuan army, knowing full well that she was very resourceful; certainly she had some brilliant ideas. But then he thought, "She was a princess of the imperial court; she betrayed her father and brother to follow me. I think it is just too much to ask her to help me killing her fellow Mongolians.” Hence, he stopped himself when the words were just on the tip of his tongue.
Zhao Min noticed the change in his countenance; she knew what he was going to say. She sighed and said, "Wuji Gege, you are able to empathize with my painful predicament; I don’t have to say anything.”
Zhang Wuji went back to his room with a troubled mind of not knowing what to do. Absentmindedly he took the two bundles of book Zhao Min brought last night. He read several pages of the Nine Yin Manual; he also took a glance on the Wumu Legacy. Again, after reading several pages, he came across a title ‘bing kun niu tou shan’ five small characters [troops trapped on the Ox-head Hill]. His heart was moved. He read on and found that in this section, Yue Fei recounted his experience when his outnumbered troops were surrounded by the Jin army; how he escaped from the entrapment, how he deployed special force soldiers, how he launched a converging attack and seized an overwhelming victory, all kinds of plan explained in great details.
Zhang Wuji slapped the table, "The Heaven helps me!” he exclaimed. Slapping the book down, he started to think. The situation of this Shaoshi Peak was entirely different to the Niutou Hill where Yue Fei was trapped in the past; however, if he used the same tactics, there was no reason why he could not win by a surprise move.
His admiration grew as he pondered deeper; he thought that Yue Wumu was a Heaven-sent genius. Faced with such danger, an ordinary man would not think of such strategy. He also thought that troop’s deployment was just like martial arts; if there wasn’t any expert giving guidance, no matter how smart or how dull, one would not think of such plan.
Dipping his finger into the tea cup, he drew the Temple map on the table. Even though he was aware of the dangerous situation they were in, who can say that they would not be lucky and prevail against the enemy? Their side was few, the enemy was many; they would not be able to score victory by marching out in a neat formation and engage the enemy in an open battle.
Once his mind was set, he went to the Da Xiong Bao Dian [Precious Hall of Great Heroes] and asked Abbot Kong Wen to summon the heroes. In a short moment everybody had arrived.
Zhang Wuji stood up and said, "Presently, Tatar cavalry has gathered at the base of the mountain. Presumably, they will carry out a large scale attack soon. Although we have scored a small victory yesterday and have dampened their spirit, we will be hard pressed to withstand them if the Tatars pay no regards to their own lives and throng up the mountain. Zaixia [lit. under, the humble one] has no talent; it was by the heroes’ graciousness that I am elected to hold this temporary position as the commander in chief. Today we are united against a common enemy. I am asking everybody to obey my command.”
The multitude of heroes replied in one voice, "Please issue the order, we will follow, no one will dare to disobey.”
"Very well!” Zhang Wuji said, "Wu Qishi [Flag Leader Wu], receive my order!”
Rui Jin’s Flag Leader, Wu Jingcao stepped forward, bowed and said, "Subordinate is ready to receive the order.” While he was thinking in his heart, "Jiaozhu issues his first order to me. It is truly a great honor. No matter what kind of danger I will have to face, I will risk my life in doing it.”
Zhang Wuji said, "I assign you to lead your Flag brethren to uphold the martial law. Whichever hero or warrior does not obey my order, the Rui Jin Flag’s lances and hatchets will be thrown into his body. This law applies both to seniors and elders of our own Cult, and other Wulin masters and seniors. No exception.”
"Accept the order!” with a loud voice Wu Jingcao complied. He took a small white flag from his bosom and held it tight with both hands.
Both in terms of name and martial art skill, Wu Jingcao was not considered a first class Jianghu warrior, so previously, nobody regarded him too highly. But since the Five-Element Flags demonstrated their invincible might the other day, the multitude of heroes all knew that wherever this small white flag in his hand landed, it will immediately followed by the 500 feathered arrows, 500 javelins, and 500 short hatchets. Even if your skill is as high as the heavens, you will become mincemeat instantly. Therefore, seeing him unfold the white flag, everybody’s hearts shivered.
The reason behind this order was because when Zhang Wuji browsed through the Wumu Legacy, the first chapter started with, ‘The way to the successful training of troops starts with strict discipline.’ He knew these Jianghu warriors were proud people; each one was used to do what one thought right. Although individually they possessed strong martial art skills, fighting together, they were no different than a motley crowd. Without someone giving order to organize and restrain, forcing them to follow orders, there was no way they could resist the Mongolian elite troops. Therefore, his first order was to assign the Rui Jin Flag as the law enforcers.
Pointing his finger to the tall wall in front of the hall, Zhang Wuji said, "Gentlemen, Heroes, whoever excels in ‘qing gong’ and able to jump over that wall, please show your skill.”
Among the crowd of heroes, there were not a few whose face appeared dissatisfied; they thought, "What is this immaterial talk about telling us to show off our jumping ability?” Some senior masters felt that he was showing contempt toward others; they were not pleased at all.
Zhang Songxi stepped out from among the crowd and said, "I can.” And then he leaped over the wall and lightly landed on the other side of the wall. Wudang Pai’s ‘ti yun zong’ [cloud stairs] ‘qing gong’ enjoyed quite a reputation throughout the world. For someone with Zhang Songxi’s ability, leaping this wall was as easy as blowing off dust. However, he was not showing off at all, it
was only an honest demonstration because he was following order. Thereupon Yu Lianzhou, Yin Liting, Yang Xiao, Fan Yao, Wei Yixiao, Yin Yewang and the other experts followed suit one by one.
Like butterflies flying over flowers the heroes jumped over the wall one after another. Some were showing off their ‘qing gong’ by performing all kinds of flowery styles midair. After more than four hundred people had leaped, it looked like nobody else would try.
This wall was indeed not low; without a good ‘qing gong’ it was not easy to leap over it. The multitude of heroes did not train the same martial art skill. Oftentimes they trained themselves well in fists and kicks or weaponry, so their ‘qing gong’ was ordinary. There were quite a number of
Jianghu characters who made their names this way; naturally, they were not willing to show off their shortcomings.
Noticing that among these four hundred people there were about eighty to ninety Shaolin monks, Zhang Wuji thought, "Shaolin Pai truly lives up to its reputation as the number one school in Wulin. Just in ‘qing gong’ alone, they have many more masters than any other schools.” Thereupon he issued his next order, "Yu Er Bo, Zhang Si Bo, Yin Liu Shu, the three Uncles are to lead these heroes excel in ‘qing gong’ to bluff the enemy. You are to pretend to be escapees from the Temple, make the enemy troops to pursue you, and when you get to the back of the mountain ...” And he detailed the next steps.
Wudang Pai’s Yu, Zhang and Yin, three heroes accepted the orders. Zhang Wuji made further assignments: who would set up ambush, who would cut the enemy’s rear flank, who would engage them frontally, who would make flank attack, and so on; all in detailed arrangement.
Yang Xiao and the others noticed how he planned this ingenious tactic and deployed troop’s formation to engage the enemy; everything was so clear and orderly as if it was all premeditated. They were all utterly impressed; nobody knew that he had used the military tactic legacy of Yue Wumu. Only, he modified it slightly because of different terrain and different troops.
