Heavenly Sword Dragon Slaying Saber Book 2, page 48
part #10 of Condor Trilogy Series
Zhou Dian laughed aloud. "Yang Xiao," he said, "Do you think I, Zhou Dian, do not know your real intention on why you do not want to elect a Jiaozhu? As long as the Ming Cult does not have a Jiaozhu, it will be you, the Left Emissary, who presides over the interim position. Humph, however, although your position is the highest, if others do not obey your order, then what good will it bring? Can you command the Five-Element Flag? Will the Four Great Hu Jiao Fa Wang submit to you? We, the Five Wanderers, are like floating clouds and wild cranes, don't even give a damn to some Guang Ming Zuo Shi!"
Yang Xiao stood up abruptly. In a cold voice he said, "Today the enemy is outside, ready to strike; Yang Xiao does not have time to engage gentlemen in a battle of words. If gentlemen willingly watch with folded arms the Ming Cult’s life or death, then please go down the Brightness Peak! As long as Yang Xiao does not die, I will return your visit one by one in the future.”
"Yang Zuo Shi, you don’t need to lose your temper,” Monk Peng exhorted, "The Six Major Sects are besieging the MingCult. It is the duty of each and every one of the Cult disciple to defend our Cult. It is not your business alone.”
With a cold laugh Yang Xiao said, "I am afraid there are people within our Cult who are hoping that Yang Xiao will be slain by the Six Major Sects, and thus they will be rid of the nail in their eyes.”
"Whom are you referring to?” Zhou Dian asked.
Yang Xiao replied, "Every body knows his own heart; must I spell it out?”
"Are you talking about me?” Zhou Dian angrily asked.
Yang Xiao averted his gaze to someplace else; he was ignoring Zhou Dian completely. Monk Peng saw Zhou Dian’s eyes radiated a different gleam; apparently he was ready to fight with Yang Xiao, he quickly urged, "There is an ancient saying: brothers fight each other, outsiders will drive their insult. Let us discuss further our plan to fight the enemy.”
Yang Xiao said, "Yingyu Dashi [Reverend Yingyu] understands the important matter, your words are very true.”
"Fine!” Zhou Dian shouted loudly, "Bald thief Peng understands the important matter, Zhou Dian only knows trivial matter?” He was just being mule-headed; he did not want to consider anything. Still shouting, he said, "I want this Jiaozhu position to be decided today. Zhou Dian nominates Wei Yixiao as the Ming Cult Jiaozhu. The blood-sucking bat’s martial art skill is superb, in terms of scheming he is shrewd. Nobody in our Cult is superior to him.”
Actually, in normal times, Zhou Dian and Wei Yixiao had never been close friends; there were more ill will between them than there was goodwill. But he deliberately wanted to provoke Yang Xiao, so he pushed Wei Yixiao forward.
Yang Xiao laughed. "In my opinion,” he said, "It would be best if the Jiaozhu position is held by Zhou Dian. Currently the Ming Cult is all split up in pieces. If we have Great Cult Leader Zhou to preside at the top, our Cult will be turned upside down. Now, that should be very interesting!” [Translator’s note: This is one of those ‘lost in translation’ cases. Yang Xiao was playing with Zhou Dian’s name: the character ‘Dian’ means ‘top (of the head)’ or ‘apex’; but it also means ‘fall forward, upside down, or jolt’.]
Zhou Dian was furious. "Your Mama’s dog stinky fart!” he shouted. ‘Whoosh!’ his palm struck down on the crown of Yang Xiao’s head.
A while ago, Zhou Dian’s palm had caused many of Shuo Bude’s teeth fall down; it was because Shuo Bude had no intention to evade. But how could Yang Xiao receive such treatment easily? More than ten years ago, because of a dispute over a Cult affair, Yang Xiao had a major argument with the Five Wanderers. At that time, the Five Wanderers made an oath not to go up the Brightness Peak again. When they broke their heavy oath by coming today, suspicions had started to grow inside Yang Xiao’s heart. Seeing Zhou Dian suddenly make his move, he knew that the Five Wanderers had made an agreement with Wei Yixiao to come and conspire against him. Startled and angered, his right palm swept out to meet Zhou Dian's palm.
Wei Yixiao knew Yang Xiao’s capability very well. After Zhou Dian was injured, his 'chi' had not recovered; he was definitely not Yang Xiao's match. Thereupon Wei Yixiao dashed ahead of him with swept palm to receive Yang Xiao's palm. The two palms collided, but surprisingly no noise was to be heard. Turned out although Yang Xiao had reasons to dislike Zhou Dian, he still remembered that both of them belonged to the same Cult; therefore, he was unwilling to harm his life. Consequently, his palm did not carry his full strength. However, Wei Yixiao's martial art skill was deep; as his stance 'han bing mian zhang' [cold ice soft palm] arrived, Yang Xiao's right arm was shaken, as he felt a burst of cold 'yin' energy penetrated his skin and flesh; hastily he exerted his internal energy to withstand. When the two men’s internal energy collided, they were locked at a stalemate.
"The one surnamed Yang,” Zhou Dian called out, "Eat my palm again!” Just now his first palm did 504 Heavenly Sword Dragon Slaying Saber
not hit its target, now his second palm was aimed at Yang Xiao’s chest.
"Zhou Dian, don’t make a scene!” Shuo Bude called out.
Monk Peng also said, "Yang Zuo Shi, Wei Fu Wang, please hold your hands, don’t harm our own people!” He stretched out his hand to divert Zhou Dian’s palm. But Yang Xiao’s body leaned sideways, his left palm already met and stuck on Zhou Dian’s right palm.
"Zhou Dian,” Shuo Bude called out, "You are two against one, what kind of hero are you?”
Reaching out toward Zhou Dian’s shoulder, he wanted to grab him and pull him back. But before his hand even touched Zhou Dian, he saw Zhou Dian’s body slightly shiver as if he had already received internal injury. Shuo Bude was shocked. He knew very well the Left Emissary of the Brightness’ divine power; he was their Cult’s top master. Shuo Bude was afraid that in that one palm strike, Yang Xiao had already injured Zhou Dian. He saw Zhou Dian’s right palm was stuck onto Yang Xiao’s left palm, as if he was not willing to withdraw his palm.
"Zhou Dian,” Shuo Bude called out, "We are all brothers, why would you disregard your own old life?” He came closer to pull Zhou Dian’s shoulder, while at the same time said, "Yang Zuo Shi, please be lenient with your palm.” He was afraid Yang Xiao was unwilling to withdraw his palm strength and took that opportunity to attack him. To his surprise, as he pulled Zhou Dian’s body, Zhou Dian swayed but could not move; while at the same time a burst of ice-cold ‘chi’ penetrated his palm and went straight toward the pit of his stomach.
Shuo Bude was even more shocked; thinking, "This is the special skill of Wei Xiong’s school, the Cold Ice Soft Palm; how could Yang Xiao also train this skill?” Hastily he exerted his own internal energy to resist the attack. But the cold ‘chi’ was growing in intensity that in a short period of time Shuo Bude’s jaws started to chatter from the unbearable cold.
Priest Tieguan and Peng Yingyu rushed forward; one protected Zhou Dian, the other protected Shuo Bude. With the combined energy of four men, the cold ‘chi’was no longer unbearable. They only felt that the force transmitted from Yang Xiao’s palm was sometimes light, sometimes heavy, something bursting something sluggish; it kept changing with infinite variation. The four men did not dare to withdraw their palms, for fear that as soon as their power slackened, Yang Xiao would sent out his power suddenly and then the four of them would either be dead or at least suffer serious injury.
"Yang Zuo Shi,” Peng Yingyu called out, "We are facing powerful enemy; how can you ... can you ... can you ...” His teeth chattered so much that he was unable to continue. He felt as if the blood in his entire body had frozen to ice. Turned out as soon as he opened his mouth to speak, the real ‘chi’ in his body stopped momentarily that he was unable to withstand the cold ‘chi’ coming in from his palm.
And so for the next time needed to drink a cup of tea later, Mr. Cold Face Leng Qian stood on the side watching. He noticed that the faces of Wei Yixiao and his four fellow Wanderers were tight, but Yang Xiao seemed to be at ease; he felt very strange. "Although Yang Xiao’s martial art skill is high,” he thought, "Compared to Wei Yixiao, he is about the same, he won’t necessarily be able to defeat him easily. With the addition of Shuo Bude and the others, four men, Yang Xiao is absolutely not their match. Why is it that with one against five, he still looks like he is so confident of victory? There must be something strange going on here .”
Hanging his head, he pondered deeply, but failed to solve the puzzle immediately. He heard Zhou Dian call out, "Leng Mian devil, strike ... strike his back ... strike ...” But Leng Qian was unwilling to make his move before he has a clear understanding of what was happening. Right now, among the
Five Wanderers, he was the only one who was not doing anything; they would depend solely on him to escape the danger and get away from distress. However, supposing he also stakes everything he had to battle Yang Xiao, although with the addition of one man their combined power would be increased quite a bit, they still could not ascertain their victory.
He saw that the faces of Zhou Dian and Peng Yingyu had turned blue; it looked like if this situation continued, the ‘yin’ poison would enter their internal organs, and then they would face endless disaster. Thereupon he took out from his pocket five small sterling silver writing brushes and held them in his hand while he said, “Five brushes, strike your ‘qu chi’ [crooked reservoir], ‘ju gu’ [gigantic bone], ‘yang huo’ [positive orifice], ‘wu li’ [five interior(?)], ‘zhong du’ [middle capital].” These five acupoints were located on hands and feet, really were not fatal acupoints at all. He mentioned the target first, apparently so that Yang Xiao would know that he did not have any malicious intention, just wanted him to withdraw his palms.
Yang Xiao showed a faint smile, but did not take any notice of him. Leng Qian called out, “Forgive my offense!” With a tossing motion on his left hand and scattering motion on the right, five silver rays shot toward Yang Xiao.
Yang Xiao waited until the five silver brushes came near, then abruptly his left hand swept horizontally, pulling along Zhou Dian and the others, four people, using them as a shield in front of his body. Zhou Dian and Peng Yingyu uttered a stifled grunt as the five brushes separately landed on these two men’s bodies; Zhou Dian received two brushes, while Peng Yingyu was hit by three brushes. Luckily Leng Qian had no intention to hurt anybody; the force of his hands was very light, plus the pens did not actually hit the intended acupoints. Although they suffered flesh wound, they were not seriously harmed.
“It’s ‘Qian Kun Da Nuo Yi!’ [‘qian kun’ - heaven and earth, yin and yang, the universe; ‘da’ -big/great; ‘nuo’ - to shift, to move; ‘yi’ - also to shift, to move, to change/alter/remove. The Great Shifting of the Universe]” in a low voice Peng Yingyu said.
As soon as Leng Qian heard the five characters ‘Qian Kun Da Nuo Yi’, he understood immediately. ‘Qian Kun Da Nuo Yi’ was the fiercest martial art skill, a Ming Cult’s legacy, passed on from generation to the generation. The fundamental principle was not mysterious at all; it strove to stimulate one’s own potential first, and then used it to lead and shift the opponent’s force. But the variations within this principle were magical; it was almost unthinkable.
Ever since the death of the previous Cult Leader, Yang Dingtian, there was no one else within the Ming Cult who mastered this special skill, and thus none of the six men ever expected it. No wonder Yang Xiao did not seem to exert himself, since he simply directed Wei Yixiao’s palm power to attack the four Wanderers, and conversely, used the four Wanderers’ palm power to attack Wei Yixiao, while he leisurely positioned himself in between them, no more than drawing and transmitting both parties’ internal energy, nothing more than ‘parting the mountain to watch tigers fight’.
“Congratulations!” Leng Qian said, “No ill will, please stop fighting.” He always spoke succinctly. With ‘congratulations’, he congratulated Yang Xiao on being successfully trained in the Ming Cult’s long lost divine skill, the ‘Qian Kun Da Nuo Yi’; by ‘no ill will’ he was saying that we, six people, going up the mountain this time without holding any ill will toward you, that we were sincere in our desire to help resisting the invaders; and by ‘please stop fighting’ he meant both sides should stop fighting and must not have any misunderstanding.
Yang Xiao was aware that in normal times Leng Qian had never uttered a single rubbish talk; and because he did not want to utter even one extraneous word, he had never told a lie. If he said, ‘no ill will’, then he truly did not have any evil intention. Moreover, when he made his move by shooting the five silver brushes, it was obvious that his intention was indeed to help his companions out of trouble, not to harm anybody. Thereupon he laughed and said, "Wei Xiong, Four Wanderers, when I say 'one, two, three', everybody remove your palm power at the same time, so that nobody will get hurt!"
Seeing Wei Yixiao, Zhou Dian and the others nodded their heads, he slowly counted, "One, two, three!"
As the word 'three' left his mouth, Yang Xiao removed the divine skill ‘Qian Kun Da Nuo Yi’; but suddenly he felt his back was cold. A burst of sharp finger power pierced the 'shen dao' [divine way] acupoint on his back. Yang Xiao was shocked. "Fu Wang is very sinister and ruthless," he thought, "To launch a sneak attack like this." But when he was about to counterattack by slapping backward, he saw that Wei Yixiao swayed and tumbled down. It seemed like he had also fallen under the enemy's sneak attack.
In all his life, Yang Xiao had seen countless big battles; although this turn of events had taken him by surprise, his mind stayed clear. Quickly he dashed forward to get away from the enemy's reach. Upon turning his head around, he saw Zhou Dian, Peng Yingyu, Priest Tieguan and Shuo Bude, four people, had also fallen on the ground, while Leng Qian was exchanging palm strikes with someone wearing ash grey cotton robe.
The man struck backhandedly, and Leng Qian uttered a grunt; his voice sounded like he was in pain. Yang Xiao took a deep breath and jumped forward with the intention of helping Leng Qian, but suddenly he felt a burst of ice-cold 'chi' flowed swiftly from his 'shen dao' acupoint to his torso, attacking his 'shen zhu' [body pillar], 'tao dao' [pottery channel], 'da zhui' [big spine], 'feng fu' [windy mansion], and various acupoints along the 'du mai' [supervise arteries] channel.
Yang Xiao knew his condition was far from good. The enemy was not only a martial art expert, but also a sinister and ruthless person; he was able to take the split-second window when Yang Xiao, Wei Yixiao and the four Wanderers were withdrawing their strength and like a lighting he struck a surprise attack. Yang Xiao had no choice but to circulate his own real 'chi' to fight the cold. This cold 'chi' was completely different from Wei Yixiao's Cold Ice Soft Palm. Yang Xiao felt it was like a wisp of ice-cold thread, but wherever it reached, it turned the acupoint numb and itchy. If they were fighting face to face, Yang Xiao could use his internal energy to protect his body, and there was no way this kind of finger power would penetrate his internal defense. But since he had already fallen under the enemy's sneak attack, his only option was to launch a counterattack together with Leng Qian, trying to knock down the enemy then act accordingly.
Yang Xiao stepped forward with raised right palm, and was about to strike down when suddenly his entire body shivered violently from the cold and the strength he gathered in his palm disappeared without a trace.
By this time Leng Qian had exchanged more than twenty stances with that man, and it was obvious that he was not the man's match. Yang Xiao was very anxious. He saw Leng Qian kicked with his right foot. The man rushed one step forward and his finger hacked down on Leng Qian's arm. Leng Qian staggered and fell backward.
Yang Xiao was startled and angered; he gathered the remaining of internal energy in his entire body into his right elbow and struck the grey-robed man on the chest. The grey-robed man stuck out his left finger toward the 'xiao hai' [small ocean] acupoint on Yang Xiao's elbow. Immediately Yang Xiao felt his entire body went cold and numb, and was not able to make another move, even for half a step.
The grey-robed man laughed coldly and said, "The Guang Ming Zuo Shi indeed lives up to your reputation. After getting hit twice by my 'huan yin zhi' [fantasy/magical 'yin' finger], you can still stand."
Yang Xiao said, "Your finger-flicking technique is from Shaolin, but whatever is the 'huan yin zhi' internal strength? Humph, Shaolin Pai does not have this kind of sinister and ruthless martial art. Who are you?"
The grey-robed man laughed aloud and said, "Pin Seng [impoverished monk] Yuan Zhen, a disciple under the tutelage of my master, whose Buddhist title was 'Kong' at the top and 'Jian' at the bottom. Right now the Six Major Sects are besieging the Ming Cult. You die under a Shaolin disciple, your death is not in vain."
Yang Xiao said, "The Six Major Sects and our Ming Cult are enemies, real swords, real spears, we will fight to the death; that will be the deed of the real man, real hero. Kong Jian Shen Seng's [Divine Monk] kindness and chivalry was widely known throughout the world, who would have thought that among his disciples there is someone as despicable and shameless as you are ..." Speaking to this point, he was unable to stand anymore; his knees gave up and he fell sitting down on the ground.
Yuan Zhen laughed out loud and said, "To win by a surprise move is just fair in a war. It has been this way since the ancient times. I, Yuan Zhen, one man can flatten the Ming Cult's seven big masters. Aren't you going to accept the defeat?"
Yang Xiao shook his head and sighed. "How can you enter the Brightness Peak stealthily?" he asked, "How did you know about this secret passage? If you are willing to reveal it, Yang Xiao will die with closed eyes." Yang Xiao knew that Yuan Zhen’s sneak attack was successful, admittedly it was because his martial art skill was superior; but most importantly, it was because he knew the secret passages of the Brightness Peak, bypassing a dozens of Ming Cult’s sentries along the way, and made his move stealthily [orig. shen bu zhi gui bu jue - deity (does) not know, ghost (does) not realize.], so that he was able to knock down seven masters of the Ming Cult in one move.
