The Heavenly Sword & the Dragon Sabre Chapter 6 Part 2

Xie Xun turned to Zhang Cuishan and said, “Zhang the Fifth Xia has woven martial arts into the art of calligraphy, forging a path all his own. It opens one’s eyes most wonderfully. I am impressed—truly impressed. Whatever you wish to ask of me, speak quickly.”

Bound by his pledge, he had no choice but to say as much, yet the dejection in his heart was plain.

Zhang Cuishan said, “I am but an unworthy junior of little learning. That I should possess even a meagre skill is pure good fortune. To receive Senior’s generous praise is more than I deserve—how would I dare speak of ‘asking’ anything? I would merely venture one humble request.”

Xie Xun said, “What request?”

Zhang Cuishan said, “I ask that Senior take the Dragon-Slaying Sabre and go, but spare the lives of all those remaining on this island. You need only compel each of them to swear a solemn oath never to reveal the secret.”

Xie Xun said, “I am not so foolish as to trust in other men’s oaths.”

Yin Susu said, “So your word counts for nothing after all. You said that if you lost the contest, you would submit to the other’s request. Are you going back on it now?”

Xie Xun said, “If I choose to go back on it, what can you do about it?” But after a moment’s reflection, he felt this was unreasonable and said, “Very well—I shall spare the two of you. The rest, however, I cannot.”

Zhang Cuishan said, “The two swordsmen of the Kunlun School are disciples of a renowned house. In all their lives they have committed no evil—”

Xie Xun cut him short. “Evil or virtuous, it is all the same to me. The two of you—tear strips from your clothing and stuff them tightly into your ears, then press your hands hard over them. If you value your lives, do not make the mistake of disobeying.”

These words he spoke in a voice so low it was barely audible, as though terrified that others might overhear.

Zhang Cuishan and Yin Susu exchanged a bewildered glance, unable to fathom his purpose. Yet the gravity of his tone told them some dire reason lay behind it, and so they did as he bade—tearing cloth from their hems, packing it into their ears, and clamping both hands over them. Then they saw Xie Xun throw out his chest and draw a mighty breath. His mouth yawned wide, and he appeared to unleash a tremendous howl. Though neither could hear the sound, both shuddered involuntarily and in the same instant. Before their eyes, the men of the Heavenly Eagle Cult, the Giant Whale Guild, the Sea Sand School, and the Divine Fist Gate gaped and stared, their faces stricken with bewilderment. Then came the agony—expressions twisting as though every man’s body were being subjected to the cruellest torment. Moments later, one after another, they toppled to the ground, writhing and convulsing without cease.

The two Kunlun swordsmen, Gao Zecheng¹ and Jiang Litao,² were stricken with alarm at the sound. They immediately sat cross-legged with eyes shut, channelling their neili to resist the force of the howl. Beads of sweat the size of soybeans rolled down their foreheads, and the muscles of their faces twitched and spasmed. Several times they tried to raise their hands to cover their ears, only to let them fall again when their fingers were still inches away. Then, without warning, both men sprang into the air at once, leaping a full ten feet before crashing back to earth, stiff as boards. They did not move again.

Xie Xun closed his mouth and ceased the howl. He gestured for Zhang Cuishan and Yin Susu to remove the cloth from their ears, then said, “Every one of these people has been driven senseless by my howl. Their lives are spared, but when they wake, their minds will be shattered—they will be madmen, unable to recall or speak of anything that has passed. Zhang the Fifth Xia, I have fulfilled your request. The lives of all those on Wang Panshan Island—I have spared them all.”

Zhang Cuishan stood in silence. You have spared their lives, he thought, but these people are as good as dead. This may be crueller still than killing them outright. In his heart he felt an inexpressible loathing for Xie Xun’s ruthless savagery. He looked upon Gao Zecheng, Jiang Litao, and the rest lying senseless upon the ground, their faces a ghastly sallow hue drained of all colour, and reflected that a single howl could wreak such devastating power—truly a thing to chill the blood and freeze the soul. Had he not stopped his own ears with cloth beforehand, what fate might have befallen him was beyond imagining.

Xie Xun’s expression betrayed nothing. “Let us go,” he said, his voice flat and colourless.

Zhang Cuishan said, “Go where?”

Xie Xun said, “Back, of course. The business on Wang Panshan is concluded. What reason is there to linger?”

Zhang Cuishan and Yin Susu exchanged a glance, both thinking: We must endure another night aboard the same vessel as this fiend. Who knows what may yet happen in those few watches?

Xie Xun led them round behind a low hill on the island’s western shore. In the harbour there lay at anchor a three-masted ship—his own vessel, the one that had brought him to the island. He walked to the gangway and bowed slightly, saying, “After you both.”

Yin Susu gave a cold laugh. “How courteous you are all of a sudden.”

Xie Xun said, “The two of you are honoured guests aboard my ship. How could I fail to extend every courtesy?”

The three of them boarded, and Xie Xun signalled for the crew to weigh anchor and set sail.

There were sixteen or seventeen sailors aboard, yet when the helmsman gave his orders, he did so entirely by hand signals, never uttering a sound—as though every man among them were mute. Yin Susu said, “What a clever trick—finding yourself an entire crew of deaf-mutes.”

Xie Xun smiled thinly. “Where is the difficulty in that? I need only find a crew of sailors who cannot read. Pierce their eardrums, dose them with a muting draught,³ and there you have it.”

Zhang Cuishan could not suppress a shudder. Yin Susu clapped her hands and laughed. “How marvellous! Deaf, mute, and illiterate—no matter how great a secret you harbour, they could never betray it. A pity they must still be able to see to sail the ship, or you might have blinded them into the bargain.”

Zhang Cuishan shot her a reproachful look. “Miss Yin, you are a fine young lady—how can you be so callous? These are men’s lives, men’s suffering, and you find it amusing?”

Yin Susu poked out her tongue, a retort forming on her lips. But she caught the look on his face, and the words died unspoken.

Xie Xun said, his tone flat, “Once we reach the mainland, I shall of course put out their eyes as well.”

Zhang Cuishan gazed at the handful of sailors and felt a quiet ache of pity. By tomorrow, even your eyes will be gone.

The sails billowed and the bow swung slowly round. Zhang Cuishan said, “Senior Xie, what of the people on the island? You have destroyed every last boat. How will they get back?”

Xie Xun said, “Master Zhang,⁴ you are not a bad sort of fellow on the whole, but you do fuss like an old grandmother. Let them live or die as fate decrees upon that island—clean and simple. Would that not be splendid?”

Zhang Cuishan knew the man was beyond all reason. He could only hold his tongue. As the ship drew steadily away from the island, he thought: Most of those stranded there are villains of the worst stripe, yet even so, their plight is pitiable. If no one comes to their rescue, not a single one will survive ten days. Then he thought: When the two Kunlun disciples perish on that island, their elders and teachers will surely come looking. It seems the martial world of the Central Plains is about to be engulfed in a storm.

In recent years, the Seven Heroes of Wudang⁵ had roamed the jianghu with the wind at their backs, prevailing in every endeavour. Yet today they found themselves bound hand and foot, their lives dangling from another man’s whim, utterly powerless to resist. Zhang Cuishan seethed with frustration and anger. He bowed his head in silent brooding, paying no heed to either Xie Xun or Yin Susu.

After a time, he turned to gaze out through the cabin window at the sea. The setting sun was on the verge of sinking beneath the waves, casting ten thousand rippling trails of gold across the water’s surface, shimmering and dancing. Lost in contemplation, he was struck by a sudden jolt of alarm: Why is the sun setting behind the ship? He wheeled round to face Xie Xun. “The helmsman has lost his bearings. Our ship is sailing east.”

Xie Xun said, “East. That is correct.”

Yin Susu said, “East is nothing but open sea stretching to the horizon! Where do you mean to take us? Have the helmsman turn about at once!”

Xie Xun said, “Did I not make it perfectly clear before? Now that I have the Dragon-Slaying Sabre, I must find some quiet place to think matters through. I need to understand why this dao is called the supreme of the wulin, and why it is said that he who holds it may command all under heaven with none daring to disobey. The Central Plains are a land of ceaseless strife. If word spreads that I have the dao, today one man comes to seize it, tomorrow another comes to steal it—fending off those wretches alone would be trouble enough. How could I ever settle my mind? And if it were the likes of Zhang Sanfeng or the Heavenly Eagle Cult Leader who came calling, I could not be certain of victory. That is why I must find some desolate, uninhabited island in the midst of the open ocean and make my home there.”

Yin Susu said, “Then send us back first!”

Xie Xun laughed. “The moment you two return to the Central Plains, my whereabouts will be exposed. How would that serve?”

Zhang Cuishan rose abruptly to his feet, his voice sharp as a blade. “What do you intend?”

Xie Xun said, “I can only impose upon the two of you to keep me company on that island for a time—a life of leisure and ease, free from all care.”

Zhang Cuishan said, “And if in eight or ten years you still cannot fathom the secret of the dao?”

Xie Xun smiled. “Then you shall keep me company for eight or ten years. If I cannot fathom it in a lifetime, you shall keep me company for a lifetime. The two of you—a man of talent and a woman of beauty, clearly drawn to one another. Wed upon the island, raise children together. Would that not be splendid?”

Zhang Cuishan slammed the table in fury. “Enough of your nonsense!”

He glanced sidelong at Yin Susu. She had lowered her head, a crimson blush spreading across both cheeks.

A tremor of alarm ran through him. He sensed dimly that if he remained in Yin Susu’s company much longer, he might lose all mastery of himself. Xie Xun was the enemy without; the restless turmoil of his own heart—that wayward ape, that unruly horse⁶—was the enemy within. Beset on all sides, the sooner he escaped this perilous ground, the better. Suppressing his anger with effort, he said, “Senior Xie, I am a man of my word. I will never reveal your whereabouts. I am prepared to swear a solemn oath this instant—to no one will I breathe a word of what I have seen and heard today.”

Xie Xun said, “Fifth Hero Zhang is a man renowned throughout the jianghu for his honour—a promise worth a thousand taels of gold, a word as immovable as a mountain. All this I have long heard said of you. But I, Xie, swore a solemn oath of my own in my twenty-eighth year. Look at my hand.” He extended his left hand. Zhang Cuishan and Yin Susu looked and saw that his little finger had been severed clean at the root, leaving only four.

Xie Xun spoke slowly. “In that year, the person I most revered, the person I most loved and admired in all the world, wronged me. Destroyed me. My family was annihilated—father, mother, wife, children, all of them gone in a single night. And so I severed this finger and swore an oath: so long as Xie lives and draws breath, he will never again place his trust in another human soul. This year I am forty-one. For thirteen years I have kept company with beasts alone. I have killed fewer beasts and more men.”

Zhang Cuishan shuddered. No wonder, he thought. No wonder he possesses such transcendent martial arts, yet the jianghu has scarcely heard his name. He must have lived as a recluse ever since that calamity in his twenty-eighth year—a tragedy so unspeakable that it turned him against the world and drove him into solitude, nursing a hatred for all mankind. He had despised Xie Xun’s cruelty and brutality with every fibre of his being, yet hearing these words, he could not help but feel a stirring of pity. After a moment’s thought, he said, “Senior Xie, the great wrong done to you—surely you have avenged it by now?”

Xie Xun said, “No. The man who wronged me possesses martial arts of the highest order. I cannot defeat him.”

Zhang Cuishan and Yin Susu both exclaimed in unison, “More formidable than you? Who is this person?”

Xie Xun said, “Why should I speak his name and bring humiliation upon myself? If not for this blood feud, why would I have seized the Dragon-Slaying Sabre? Why would I torment myself trying to unlock its secret?” His tone softened. “Master Zhang, from the moment I laid eyes on you, I felt an affinity. Were it not so, given my usual temperament, I would never have allowed you to live this long. That I have let the two of you survive these extra days is already a great departure from my habits. I fear it may bode ill.”

Yin Susu said, “What do you mean, ‘extra days’?”

Xie Xun said, his voice flat and empty, “When at last I unravel the secret of the dao, I shall kill you both before I leave the island. The longer I take to solve the riddle, the longer you live. One more day of ignorance on my part is one more day of life for you.”

Yin Susu said, “Hmph. This dao is nothing more than a blade—heavy and sharp, impervious to fire. What other secret could it possibly hold? All that talk of ‘commanding all under heaven, none dare disobey’—it simply means the dao reigns supreme among the weapons of the world.”

Xie Xun let out a long sigh. “If that is truly all there is to it, then the three of us shall grow old together on that island.” A look of utter desolation passed across his face, and his spirits sank, for he feared that Yin Susu’s blunt assessment might well be the truth of the matter—in which case his hopes of vengeance were extinguished forever.

Footnotes

1. 高则成 – Gāo Zéchéng. His name meaning “High Principles Achieved.” A swordsman of the Kunlun School. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

2. 蒋立涛 – Jiǎng Lìtāo. His name meaning “Standing Amidst Waves.” A swordsman of the Kunlun School. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

3. 哑药 – yǎ yào. Literally muting medicine. A drug that renders the victim unable to speak, used in the jianghu to prevent captives or servants from revealing secrets. ↩

4. 相公 – xiānggōng. Literally minister or lord. A polite form of address for a young scholar or gentleman, commonly used in the Song and Yuan dynasties. Less formal than “Fifth Xia” (五侠 – wǔxiá) but still respectful. ↩

5. 武当七侠 – Wǔdāng Qī Xiá. Literally Wudang Seven Heroes. The seven foremost disciples of Zhang Sanfeng, of whom Zhang Cuishan is the fifth. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

6. 心猿意马 – xīnyuán yìmǎ. Literally heart like a monkey, thoughts like a horse. A Buddhist and Daoist idiom describing a restless, undisciplined mind beset by desire and distraction. See Wikipedia. ↩