Jianghu Tempest
Part 6 (17)
Master Wise Perfected knit her brows at the innocent smile on her cute, naive face and sighed inwardly. It made her think of the past again. Coincidentally, Yang Menghuan was First Brother’s disciple, and Xialin had been recommended into the school by First Brother. Master One Yang had been the one she loved and respected the most, and considering the whole situation, she could not consummate things with First Brother. A thirty year good dream was hard to wake up from, and in her heart there still lingered melancholy and resentment. Now, her own disciple was in love with her senior sectbrother. Dozens of years of wounds and anguish had cause this lady xia Master Wise Perfected to have a strange notion. She would think of every means necessary to spur Shen Xialin and Menghuan toward conjugal bliss. Last generation’s dream had been in vain and turned to resentment, she did not want the next generation to fall into the same lifetime of gnawing regrets. She had this thought because she couldn’t help but cherish Shen Xialin. Besides, Miss Shen really was attractive. But the main reason was because of Master Wise Perfected and Master One Yang’s lingering feelings had extended to Menghuan and Xialin. However, there was much in the world that could not be planned out. Although Master Wise Perfected had good intentions, it would be difficult to satisfy these two lovers, and in the days to come, the waves of the boundless, bottomless sea of love would pound Yang Menghuan till her was dizzy.
Let’s now turn to Master Wise Perfected, who pulled Xialin to her side and whispered, “Don’t speak, just watch your Senior Brother Yang practice his kungfu.”
Yang Menghuan’s hands struck against each other for a spell, seemingly finding it difficult to figure out the subtleties of it all, and with a sigh he dropped his hands and looked over at his junior sectuncle standing firm on the side, the model of a transcendent in her Daoist robes, incorruptible. Though Master Wise Perfected was close to fifty, because of her consummate internal skill, she looked only thirty or so. Yang Menghuan had been so concentrated on understanding the martial arts moves they he hadn’t been aware of Master Wise Perfected coming over from behind. He quickly saluted her. “Disciple was absorbed in understanding these martial arts moves and failed to observe the proper etiquette, Junior Sectuncle, please pardon the offense.”
Master Wise Perfected said, “The kungfu you were practicing just now looked an awful lot like the move Seize the Dragon Barehanded from the Celestial Dipper Palm, but with some differences. It seemed more abstruse than Seize the Dragon Barehanded. Where did you learn it?”
Menghuan said, “Just now there was a crane and a snake fighting in that deep ravine. Disciple saw that enormous crane seize the snake in its talons, succeeding in one blow, very much like out Celestial Dipper Palm’s Seize the Dragon Barehanded. Disciple tried to analyze and understand it by practicing it for a while, but I couldn’t figure out the knack for it.”
Master Wise Perfected pondered this a moment. “Too bad I didn’t see it and it’s difficult to explain it briefly, but Seize the Dragon Barehanded is one of the three masterstrokes of the Celestial Dipper Palm. That you could understand it by analogy shows your exceptional natural talent. Just now I saw you striking your hands together, and there was contained within it a profound and subtle principle. As long as you continuing practicing it diligently, you will certainly be able to create a new remarkable move out of it. Of the thirty-six forms of the Celestial Dipper Palm, every form was made under the arduous painstaking effort of our schools’ senior elders. If you are able to create a new move to add to it, you will be able to win over the school’s other sectbrothers.” There was a hidden meaning in Master Wise Perfected statement, indirectly promoting the notion that Yang Menghuan would take over as sectmaster, but her meaning was implicit and Yang Menghuan did not pick up on it.
Tong Shuzhen now turned to them and interjected, “Shifu, do you think that big python in that deep ravine is an inkscaled ironplated snake? Earlier it was fighting with an enormous crane and it was continuously spurting out a poisonous mist.”
Master Wise Perfected took a good look and was inwardly shocked. The enormous python in the deep ravine certainly did look just like an inkscaled ironplated snake, but it was so big that not only had she never seen one like it before, she could never have even imagined one so big. Uncertain, she could only say, “Let’s go down and take a look.” Am inkscaled ironplated snake was such a rare find that Master Wise Perfected was not about to let this opportunity pass by.
The four of them aimed at a spot and leapt down, touching off on a cliff that was studded with rocks sprouting pines, straight down to the bottom of the valley. Master Wise Perfected stooped and picked up a rock and concentrated power in her wrist and flicked her hand. The rock struck the snake like a shooting star and it hit with a bang like it had collided with steel, flipping the snake over, the rock spalling into pieces, but the snake’s scales were not harmed in the slightest.
Master Wise Perfected lead the three of them closer to the dead snake. “This is a rare encounter for the ages. We’ve stumbled upon a rare treasure. Draw your swords and see if we can cut into the snake’s body.”
Yang Menghuan didn’t know that the inkscaled ironplated snake’s skin could withstand sabres and swords, but he drew his sword as told and gave it a hearty swing, but three hacks in a row did no damage to the snake’s scales, the fine steel edge of his three-span sword only left a few marks. He stood there dumbfounded, speechless.
Master Wise Perfected took the sword from Menghuan’s hand and turned the snake’s body over and traced a white line with the tip of the sword along the snake’s belly. The snake had an odd reek to make you want to vomit. Fortunately, the four of them had good internal skill and held their breath at once as she peeled the snakeskin off, then rinsed it clean in a spring on the valley floor. Then she smiled and said to Menghuan and the others, “This inkscaled ironplated snake is a rare venomous snake, savage and bloodthirsty by nature. Whether man or beast, whatever encounters it has little chance of escape. They’re born in dark, gloomy areas in large mountains. They spurt a poisonous mist from their mouth and if it hits you you will faint at once. It’s said that this poisonous substance is a hybrid of different kinds of venomous snakes, so its yield is extremely small. Although the snake is highly poisonous, its scales are a rare treasure. But this kind of snake is really small, I’ve never heard of one as large as this one. For us to happen upon it and obtain it with no effort at all is an unprecedented stroke of fate. This scaly skin can be boiled in vinegar and steeped and refined till it’s soft, then made into a soft armor that can withstand all poison palm strikes and bladed weapons. With this rare treasure, the Kunlun School can regard the jianghu with conceit and resist every school and sect’s vicious palm strikes and hidden weapons.”
Saying that, she folded it up and carried it along and climbed up the cliff.
The four of them continued on into the myriad continuous peaks. When Master Wise Perfected had earlier ascended a peak to take a broad view and scope out the terrain, to the southeast it was just piles of peaks in a mass of green, imposing, and she had recalled the legend that said that the treasure map was hidden on White Cloud Cliff. Since it was called White Cloud Cliff, it ought to be high enough to reach above the clouds. That inference wasn’t necessarily correct, but it was better than aimlessly wandering around blindly. To the southeast peaks rose one after another, and thinking that White Cloud Cliff might be to the southeast, she led Menghuan and the others in that direction. Shen Xialin, though, kept thinking about riding that big white crane and her willowy brows were knit all along the way, though she said not a word.
Yang Menghuan saw her lost in thought and felt it very strange. He knew she was innocent and straightforward and didn’t let anything get to her, but now she seemed to have something weighing on her mind and he couldn’t help but ask, “What are you thinking about?”
Xialin heaved a long sigh. “I was thinking about riding that big white crane. I know you can’t do anything about it, so I didn’t ask you about it.” She gave him a sad, bitter smile, immeasurable emotion in her expression.
Yang Menghuan was stumped by her tender, melancholy appearance and thought, This child doesn’t has any worries and doesn’t overthink things. What she’s thinking about now is ridiculous, yet she takes it so seriously. Finding it funny, he could comfort her with a joke, “That’s not so difficult, wait till we see that big white crane again and I’ll let you ride it.”
Xialin said, “It flies so fast, how will you be able to catch it?”
Miss Shen’s words made him flush with shame. He had only wanted to comfort Xialin and had blurted it out, not thinking anything of it, but Miss Shen unexpectedly asked him that, making him feel uncomfortable. Xialin was right, even if they did run into that big white crane again, he had no way of catching it. He was stupefied for a moment, then said, “You’re right, if we see that big white crane again I won’t be able to catch it.”
Xialin detected the difference in his expression and was stumped at first, then went up to him and said, “Big Brother Huan, don’t worry about it, I don’t want to ride that white crane.”
Menghuan said, “In a few days I’ll catch a small one for you to play with.”
Xialin looked at him affectionately and nodded. “Catch two of them and you can play too.” Then with a smile her willowy brows opened up and she was beaming.
The four of them bivouacked that night in the deserted mountains and continued on at daybreak. Now they had entered the interior of the Kuocang Mountains, and the terrain was becoming more and more imposing and treacherous, sheer peaks soaring into the sky, precipitous cliffs rising steeply, the mountain wind screaming through the pines, waterfalls thundering, frequently mingling with the raging howls of ferocious beasts. This area was uninhabited, all the trails cutting off, and the four of them were walking along towering, steep cliffs. Fortunately, short pines and old vines grew on the cliffs, and there were many rocks jutting out. Normal people would flinch at the sight of it, unable to cross, but for those with extremely advanced lightness flywalking skills as them it was no trouble. It was just that the peaks rose one after another without end for they didn’t know how far.
Master Wise Perfected said nothing but she was worried. Where was White Cloud Cliff? Would they really have to traverse a thousand miles of continuous peaks?
Suddenly there was the muffled thunderous roar of a wild animal that reverberated through the deep, secluded mountain valley. Master Wise Perfected looked over and saw in a corner to the side of a peak a large yellow-furred, black striped lion slowly walk out, its one grotesque big eye round and fierce. it raised its head and looked at them. Shen Xialin was scared and grabbed onto Tong Shuzhen and asked, “Big Sis, that tiger is really big, will it bite?”
Tong Shuzhen said, “That’s not a tiger, it’s a lion. Are you afraid?”
Xialin nodded. “I’m a bit scared, but that’s no big deal. If it wants to bite us I’ll beat it to death!”
Master Wise Perfected and them had stopped on a steep, protruding cliff that was several dozen staves high. The enormous lion watched the four of them for a while, then crouched and roared again and pounced, rising a stave or more high, fast as lightning or a shooting star, pouncing down to where the four of them stood. Master Wise Perfected secretly concentrated her power, storing it up in wait. Should the enormous lion pounce, she would immediately send a palm forcewind chop out. At the same time, Menghuan, Xialin, and Tong Shuzhen reached back and drew the swords from their backs and stood shoulder to shoulder, three swords dazzling in the sunlight.
The enormous lion turned as soon as it reached the bottom of the cliff and slowly turned around and pounced away. Master Wise Perfected thought it strange because this kind of all animals was as ferocious as could be and extremely bloodthirsty. Since it had spotted people there was no reason for it to retreat on its own. As she was puzzling over this she suddenly heard the cry of a crane high overhead and looked up to see a white blur below the reef of clouds swooping down like a falling star. Soon they could see a red-crested crane and Xialin clapped happily and called out, “Big Brother Huan, look, it’s that big white crane again.”
