Ode to gallantry, p.1
Ode to Gallantry, page 1
Ode to Gallantry
(侠客行 / Xia Ke Xing)
By Jin Yong (Louis Cha)
Translated by: Ian Liew; Laviathan, Huang Yushi, Abhay @ http://spcnet.tv
Chapter 1 - The Black Steel Symbol (Xuan Tie Ling)
The little beggar had only taken one bite of the fried cake when the corpse suddenly stood up, with the two silver hooks still pierced into its abdomen. Shocked, the little beggar did not dare to move at all. The corpse bent its legs and began feeling the ground with its hands until they touched a fried cake.
The man of Zhao wore unadorned robes and a simple tassel,
his scimitar was bright as frost and snow.
The silver saddle illuminated the white horse,
its wild galloping was like a shooting star.
To kill one man within ten steps,
and not leave a trace within a thousand miles.
To leave with a flick of one's robes after the deed is done,
to deeply hide one's body and name.
To drink with the great Lord of Xinling,
to draw one's sword and raise it high.
To share one's roasted meat with Zhu Hai,
to hold the wine vessel urging Hou Ying to drink.
After three cups a vow will be taken,
and even if the Five Sacred Mountains will crumble it cannot be unmade.
When the eyes blur and the ears go warm,
the heroic spirit will appear like a rainbow.
To save the Zhao Kingdom wielding a golden warhammer,
and the city of Handan will first tremble.
The two brave warriors of a thousand epochs,
their might grace the City of Daliang.
Even in death their bones remain fragrant,
and do not shame the heroes of the realm.
Who can remain under the roof of one's study hall,
and read the Book of Great Mystery until one's hair grows white?"
This ancient poem of Li Bai, "Ode to Gallantry", tells the story of Hou Ying and Zhu Hai, two warriors who assisted Lord Xinling of the Wei Kingdom during the Warring States Period. After a thousand years, one can still feel the vigorous heroic spirit of the past when reading the poem. The city of Daliang which is mentioned, is situated near the Yellow River. Later renamed Bianliang, it is now known as Kaifeng City in Henan Province. Although this city has been the capital of numerous Chinese dynasties, the common social practice has remained plain and simple. The generosity and chivalry which were praised in the ancient tragedies has not ceased in later generations.
- by Laviathan
* * *
There was once a small town called Hou Jian Ji, situated twelve li (about 6km) outside the eastern gate of Kaifeng. The town got its name from Hou Ying, who was once the head of the guards guarding the eastern gate of Da Liang.
It was almost dusk on this particular day, with the peasants going about their daily business, when suddenly there came the rumble of hoofbeats from the northeast. The sounds were getting closer and closer, and judging from the noise, there were probably around 200 horses in total coming this way. "It's probably the army", guessed some, while others kept saying "get out of the way - when the army horses come, they'll run you over."
The horses finally arrived, and the hoofbeats slowed down. The whinnying of the horses could be heard in the town centre, and later on the whinnying seemed to come from all over the place, as if the whole town was surrounded. Some people were understandably concerned that these were bandits. "Oh no, it's those damned chaps" groaned one of the peasants. "Not 'chaps'...." cautioned another. "'masters'... but I've never seen this happen in broad daylight, though. How weird."
He suddenly stopped as four of the horsemen slowly approached him. At the head of the riders was a man dressed in white, carrying a large sabre. "Old peasant!" he called. "Everybody stays where they are... if anybody moves don't blame my sabre for being blind." He then galloped down the road in a western direction, and the noise of those hooves trotting over the ground made the hearts of the peasants jump.
As he was riding, another seven horses came galloping in from the west side, this time led by a man in black. He wore a hat low over his face, and he ordered "Don't move and everything will be alright. If anybody wants to taste my "sabre noodles" by all means feel free to step forward.". A peasant chuckled and said "I wonder how "sabre noodles" taste like..." he was joking, but before he had finished his sentence one of the riders lashed out with his whip, caught hold of the peasant and dragged him out onto the road with a thump. He then dragged him across the road, and another rider came across and had his horse trample the peasant to death.
About five or six doors away from all the commotion there stood a vendor hawking fried cakes. The stall had a big wok filled with oil, and a few flour dumplings were simmering in the oil. Hunched over the stall was a white-haired man tending the oil. He rolled up a ball of flour and flattened it into a cake, all the while ignoring the events happening in front of him. Taking some sesame, he scattered it over the top of the cake, and using a pair of tongs, lowered the cake into the wok of boiling oil.
By this time, the horses had stopped galloping around town. The seven to eight hundred peasants all around the streets were petrified and didn't dare make a sound. Even crying children were hushed by their parents, and all that could be heard was the leather footsteps of a man walking in slowly from the western side.
This man took his time walking, and to each peasant, each confident pounding step taken felt as if it was taken on their heads. The sun was setting, and the long shadow cast by the man, walking slowly amidst the silence, was enough to make everybody tremble. Only the cake vendor continued with his business, and the man walked right up to the cake stall, stopped, and started looking at the vendor. He then chuckled coldly.
The vendor looked up, and saw a very tall man with a very fierce look on his face. "Buy a fried cake, sir? Only one coin each." he asked. Using his tongs, he gently selected a cake from the wok and placed it on the wooden tray. "Hand it over!" ordered the tall man, sticking out his hand, and the vendor said "Yes, sir", took the cake from the tray and put it in the hand of the tall man.
The tall man's eyebrows raised up, and he said "At this stage, you still try to deceive me?" He then threw the cake at the vendor, who dodged it calmly and the cake flew past him, landing on the street behind him. The tall man then produced two hooks from his waist and brandished them wickedly before the vendor. ""Even now you refuse to hand it over? You who are surnamed Wu, do you not know when to give up?" The vendor replied "Sir, I think you made a mistake. My surname is Wang. Old man Wang the cake seller - everybody in Hou Jian Ji knows me." "Damn it" replied the tall man. "We've checked this very carefully. You can change your appearance and hide for a year or two, but you cannot hide forever!"
The vendor narrowed his eyes, and calmly said "I heard that Bandit Leader An from the Golden Sabre Bandit Camp was a man who stole from the rich and gave to the poor, and most people in the martial arts world when asked would rate him as a "heroic bandit". Why now must he send some underlings to come looking for a humble fried cake seller?" These words were said with confidence and authority, and were spoken slowly and clearly.
"Wu Daotong!" cried the tall man. "So you're not going to hand it over, are you?" The vendor then changed expression, and his muscles started to tense up, exuding an aura of menace himself. "Since you know my name, and yet you continue to address me without manners... don't you think you're being a bit too brave?" "Only now you know how brave I am?!!" shouted the tall man as he raised his left hook, and using the stroke "The hand arrives and grabs" (shou dao qin lai) hacked down towards Wu Daotong's left shoulder.
Wu Daotong moved to his right. The tall man's hook sliced through thin air, but with a pivot of his left wrist, brought the hook slicing across towards Wu Daotong's back. Wu Daotong ducked under the slice, and lashed out with his right foot. Kicking his stall, he sent the whole pile of burning coals flying towards the tall man, and at the same time a wok filled with boiling oil flipped in the air towards the tall man's head. The tall man got a big shock and retreated as fast as he could. He managed to avoid the hot coals, but not the splashing oil. With a horrific sound, the boiling oil splashed on his legs, leaving him screaming in agony.
Wu Daotong braced his legs, leapt into the air and landed on the roof opposite, his hands still holding the tongs which were his tools of trade. Suddenly a flash of green appeared and a single sabre was swinging towards his head. Raising his tongs, Wu Daotong parried the blow. Sparks flew as the blow connected, and Wu Daotong's tongs, although dark and nondescript, were obviously made of a very strong alloy. He fended off the single sabre, and suddenly to his left and right a spear and a pair of twin sabres attacked simultaneously. The enemy had already taken up position on the roof as well. Wu Daotong snorted and yelled out "Shameless, you wish to win by sheer numbers?". He stood up straight, seperated his tongs and parried the spear with his left hand, while the right hand fended off the twin sabres. His tongs had now become a pair of metal brushes - all this while he had concealed his two brushes by using them as tongs.
Using his brushes, Wu Daotong went on the offensive, aiming for his opponents' pressure points. Despite being outnumbered three to one, he was actually gaining the upper hand. With a cry of "Look!", he thrust his brush at the spear-wielding opponent. With a cry of pain, the man's left leg was struck, and he slowly retreated back down the roof.
On a roof on the northwest corner of town stood a shor t, thin old man, hands on his hips, coldly watching the three men fight. With a sudden flash, the man with the single sabre received a kick from Wu Daotong's right leg, and tumbled down the roof onto the streets below. The remaining man with the twin sabres, seeing that he had lost the advantage, held position with his twin sabres in a snow flower stance, ready to concentrate purely on defence.
The old man slowly approached, and thrust his right index finger at Wu Daotong's left eye. This stroke was lethal, and as Wu Daotong raised a brush to fend off the finger, the finger deftly avoided the brush and switched target to Wu Daotong's throat. Wu Daotong had already committed to his initial stroke and, having no way of changing his stroke to fend off the new attack, took a step back. The old man pressed forward, and thrust his right index finger out again, this time heading for Wu Daotong's stomach. Wu Daotong retaliated by thrusting his right brush at the old man's head. The old man continued forward, and in a flash was within the arms of Wu Daotong, having completely avoided the brush attack. He thrust out two palms, aimed for Wu Daotong's chest. Wu gasped in shock, and immediately stepped back. With a sudden rip the old man had tore off a part of Wu's robe at the chest area. Wu didn't even bother to check if he had actually sustained any injury, but braced himself, and utilising the stroke "Wan Bao Liu He" brought both brushes across in an arc aimed at the old man's temples.
The old man didn't even bother to dodge, but continued to press forward. With a sickening crunch, both his palms had landed solid blows on Wu Daotong's chest. Several ribs were fractured with this blow.. and Wu Daotong fell from the roof.
The tall man was standing on the ground below, both legs burned badly by the boiling oil. He was furious with the embarrasment of the initial encounter, but as his legs were injured, he was unable to leap onto the roof to join in the fight. In addition, the old man who had just attacked was a very proud man, and once he was fighting would not have taken kindly to anybody offering assistance. All he could do was watch the fight from below, but seeing Wu Daotong fall from the roof, he got excited and rushed towards Wu, both hooks drawn and thrusting towards Wu's stomach.
The old man, Zhou Mu, yelled out "Leave a live tongue!" but was too late, and both hooks had sunk deep into Wu's stomach. At the same time the tall man gasped, and staggered back. Embedded in his chest were two steel brushes which penetrated all the way and emerged out his back, blood spraying from all four wounds. With a shudder he fell to the ground - Wu Daotong, with his dying breath, had put everything into this last attack, and the tall man was caught completely unawares. Other members of the Golden Sabre Bandit Camp ran to his side and lifted him up but he was already dead.
Zhou Mu couldn't care less whether then tall man was alive or dead, and murmuring something, picked up Wu Daotong. Seeing that he was no longer breathing, he creased his eyebrows and yelled "Take off his clothes! Search everything!" Four of his men replied "Yes, sir!" and started searching the corpse. All they found was a small bundle concealed in his outer robe. They opened the bundle, only to find a smaller bundle within, all wrapped in oiled cloth. As each bundle was opened, the look of anticipation on Zhou Mu's face got stronger and stronger. In total over ten bundles of oil cloth were removed, and the bundle kept getting smaller and smaller. Eventually he started getting irritated, and the bundle was reduced to a 3-inch by 2-inch bundle. He weighed it with his hands, and screamed "Damn it! What sort of trick is this? Forget this - go in and search the house!"
About ten of the men dressed in black rushed into the house. The cake shop was only about two rooms big, and the ten men went in searching. The sounds of items smashing and breaking rang about as cutlery, furniture and everything else were checked thoroughly. Zhou Mu shouted "Check everything carefully - don't let anything pass you!"
After searching for half a day, it became too dark for them to see anything. They lit a fire, and tore down the entire cake shop, the flour within the building flying everywhere. Amidst the commotion, a little beggar boy darted across the street, and picked up the fried cake that was lying near the drain. This boy, about 12 to 13 years old, had not eaten anything for a few days, and was sitting limply on top of the wall corner. When the tall man threw the fried cake which Wu Daotong had given him, the cake landed near the drain, and the boy's eyes had not stopped staring at the fried cake since. He had wanted to climb down and pick up the cake, but there were too many fierce people around, and he didn't dare move out of fright. In addition, there were those two dead bodies of Wu Daotong and the tall man, and they lay not far from the fried cake.
However, once the sky became dark enough, the light from the torches could not reach the area near the drain, and as such the boy summoned all his courage and grabbed the cake. He was so hungry that he didn't care about the cake being tainted with dirty smelly water, and put the cake in his mouth. He held the cake in his mouth, not even daring to bite or chew, in case the sound of the chewing attracted the attention of the sabre-wielding men around the area. With the cake between his teeth, his stomach felt so much better even though he hadn't swallowed anything.
By this time the men had already demolished the cake shop entirely, even to the extent of ripping up the floor tiles one by one to check. Zhou Mu saw that there was nothing left to search, and as such yelled "Let's go!". A horn sounded, and the sounds of horses galloping started. The Golden Sabre Bandit Camp prepared to leave, and two of the bandits carried the corpse of the tall man, placing his across on of the horse saddles, and were gone in an instant.
It wasn't until the sounds of the hoofbeats had completely faded away, that Hou Jian Ji started to hear the voices of men whispering again. The peasants were afraid that the bandits would return, however, and as such no one dared to raise his voice. The innkeeper and another peasant carried the corpse of the dead peasant into the shop, and immediately bolted the doors, not daring to come out again. The town resonated with the sounds of locks clicking, doors slamming - people were either locking their doors, or at least shutting them tight - and not long after, the streets were abandoned, and not a sound was to be heard.
The little beggar boy saw that Wu Daotong's corpse was still lying unattended on the streets, and he was scared. He took a small bite, and dared to swallow. He was just about to take another bite when he saw Wu Daotong's corpse move. The boy got a fright, and blinked his eyes only to see the corpse sit up. The boy was terrified, his heart beating uncontrollably, as he saw the corpse stand up on its two feet. The boy's teeth started chattering.
The corpse looked around, but luckily the boy was sitting behind the wall corner, and as such the corpse could not see him. Under the cold rays of the moon, however, the boy could see everything clearly. He could see the corpse bleeding profusely, and the two hooked blades were still impaled in the corpse's stomach. The boy kept biting his teeth together, not daring to make a sound.
The corpse then squatted down, and felt the ground. Upon finding a fried cake, the corpse weighed it in its hands, tore it apart and threw it away. It then found another fried cake, tore it open, and threw it again. The boy felt as if his heart was going to leap out of his mouth any moment now, as the corpse continued searching the ground. The corpse didn't bother with anything else it found, but everytime it found a fried cake, it tore it open then threw it away. As it continued feeling the ground, it edged closer and closer to the drain. When he got to the wooden tray lying on the floor with over 20 fried cakes on it, it took them one by one, tore them all open, but didn't eat any of them. All were torn in half, and then thrown away.
The lad saw the corpse approach the wall corner and could only think of fleeing. However, his whole body was numb with fright, and his legs had no way of moving. The corpse moved very slowly, and it took an entire incense burning time to tear open the 20 fried cakes it had found on the tray. It could not find any more fried cakes on the floor, and raised its head, looking around. The boy quickly darted back behind the wall, not daring to look at the corpse anymore, when suddenly he got a fright. Although his body was well hidden behind the wall, the moonlight was shining from behind the wall, and the clear shadow of his head and hair was projected on the ground just beside the legs of the corpse. The boy saw the corpse's legs suddenly move again, and with a shriek tried to flee.
