When it comes to wuxia in the English-language community, film and TV are definitely more popular media than novels. No surprise given that there are relatively very few wuxia novels translated to English. But there are more and more people trying their hand at writing wuxia in novel form, or short stories, etc. So then how are they learning how to write wuxia novels?

Unfortunately, it seems for the most part that wuxia film and TV are the teachers. You can easily watch Shaw Bros. movies or wuxia TV (or now online) dramas, and many people grew up watching some Jin Yong adaptation or another. But after all, a Jin Yong adaptation is just an adaptation—it’s not Jin Yong. If you’ve only seen Jin Yong dramas and movies then you have never experienced what in my opinion is the best thing about Jin Yong: his fight scenes.

On the screen you see the actors swing a sabre or thrust a sword, but you don’t get the details about the martial art being used and how it stacks up against the martial art it is being wielded against. You see characters touch each other rapidly and then someone can’t move, but you don’t get the details of which acupoints are being sealed and what’s going on internally in the body. With Jin Yong, and any other wuxia author, you do. These details, along with the detailed descriptions of characters’ appearances, thoughts, etc., are the essence of wuxia novels, in my opinion.

And these things are simply lacking in wuxia film and TV. I find written fight scenes much more exciting and interesting than just watching actors unrealisticelly slap swords together for a few seconds. (Although I grant you that there are some amazing fight scenes that would not be improved in a novel, such as the entirety of Drunken Master II. But that’s a kungfu flick 功夫片, not a wuxia flick 武俠片.) There’s more drama in the written fight scene, more atmosphere.

Those little mini fight dramas are what I like best about Jin Yong. Even a writer like Gu Long who did away with detailed descriptions and focused on creating atmosphere and tension, his written fight scenes are better than their acted-out counterparts. Chor Yuen’s Sentimental Swordsman is really good, great atmosphere/mood, but it still pales in comparison to Gu Long’s Sentimental Swordsan, Ruthless Sword. You get a much better experience of the imcomprehensible speed of Ah Fei in Gu Long’s concise prose.

The point I’m trying to make is this: If you want to write wuxia novels, you need to read wuxia novels. Watching a movie is nice and all for getting ideas, noting structure and characterization, but it still won’t help you translate that into the written word on the page or screen. Reading the screenplay of a film helps, but that still is limited in its usefulness since the screenplay and the novel are very different forms.

So I thought it would be nice to show how different the novel and film/TV forms are, if you could compare the same story in both media. But an adaptation is first of all not usually written by the original author and there are going to be changes between them. You can still compare them, but it would be nice if we could reduced the differences.

That’s where Ni Kuang comes in.

Ni Kuang 倪匡 wrote a lot of screenplays for wuxia films. But his “screenplays” were not actually written in a screenplay form. He just wrote a novel. With standard paragraphs and chapters. He often collaborated with Chang Cheh 張徹 who just took his novel and shot the scened based on the scenes in the novel. Of course in the process of making a film some details get changed, but a Ni Kuang “screenplay” and the movie that was made from it I think is the closest comparison to the two forms you can get. So I thought about translating one of Ni Kuang’s “screenplays” so that people could compare it to the movie and see how they differ. That way you can see that even in a novel written intended to be a film, the form itself still necessitates differences. More description, more detail.

I picked《保鏢》(lit. Bodyguard) which is called Have Sword, Will Travel in English. The screenplay-novel is a novella-length work somewhere in between the length of Roaming the Jianghu for Twenty Years and The Tang Sect Crisis.

I started translating it, but I hadn’t seen the movie before so I went and watched it. It was… okay. I hated Yun Piaopiao. She treated her lover, Xiang Ding, so awfully imo. The fight scenes were alright, nothing special. The knife on the end of a chain was neat. But Yun Piaopiao put me off so much, and Luo Yi was kinda off-putting too. His motives for helping them out were not so pure, as the ending makes clear. Xiang Ding was right to be on guard against him in my opinion. Certainly he was right to be on guard at first, cause like he said, who knows but that Luo Yi is a plant by the enemy?

Anyway, so I decided I didn’t want to stick myself with translating this thing for days or weeks when I didn’t really care for it, so I stopped and abandoned that project. I haven’t given up the idea of the comparison though, just need to find a different screenplay-novel to translate. I’m thinking maybe The New One-Armed Swordsman. Ni Kuang created the one-armed swordsman character and wrote the screenplay to this movie. We’ll see.

But I did end up translating the entire first chapter and a bit of the second of Have Sword, Will Travel, so I might as well post it, right? Even though it’s just one chapter and change, you can still compare that first scene in the movie with it, since that’s what the first chapter covers. The novel version has some changes, such as cooler weapons, and the enemy is on horseback instead of on foot. The lovey-dovey conversation between Xiang Ding and Yun Piaopiao is cuter and more detailed. The move is just so rushed in comparison. Fight scenes better too, in my opinion.

Well, whether you agree that it’s better or not, the novel version is different from the movie. How so? Read for yourself:

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Chapter 1

Lovers on a Deserted Hill

The autumn wind was strong and swift, the hillside weeds withered and yellow. The wind blew and lifted dandelion and reed catkins into the air, and they fell like snowflakes.

On the hillside, a young man lay using his arm as a pillow and facing the sky. The clouds in autumn looked especially pure white and crisp. The young man was certainly in a cheerful mood, that much could be seen by the smile on his face. He looked at the girl sitting beside him and almost forgot to blink.

The girl frequently glanced at him, and every time she did her sweet face would blush.

The young man’s and the girl’s hands were clasped. The girl lowered her head and plucked a dandelion and gently blew on it, sending the white seeds flying off into the air.

She lowered her head even lower, but the corners of her mouth were pulled in a very sweet smile as she whispered, “Senior Bro, I forbid you to go to Invincible Manor and tell everyone!”

The young man turned to his side with a smile. “Junior Sis, I’m telling everyone, I want to tell the happy news to everyone! Especially Uncle Yin and his younger brother in Invincible Manor, I’m gonna tell them that you and I, after autumn, are going t—“

The girl’s face got even redder. The young man paused meaningfully, then said, “Going to be husband and wife!”

The girl suddenly threw his hand off and jumped up. The young man turned over again and said, “Junior Sis, you can’t escape, you’re my wife, no matter where you run off to, you’re still…”

The girl giggled and bent over, plucked a wild chrysanthemum, and stuck it in her hair at the temple. Her bright eyes twinkled. “Senior Bro, you see this flower in my hair?”

The young man took a satisfied deep breath. “Of course I see it.”

The girl smiled radiantly again. “First lay down and don’t move. Wait for my signal, then you throw a dart. If you can hit my flower, I’ll let you tell people… our situation.”

The young man patted his hips around which he had a deerskin belt two fingerwidths wide in which were stuck twelve thin-as-paper, very sharp willowleaf darts three fingerwidths long that flickered in the sunlight. He took a good look at the girl’s temple and said, “Alright!”

The girl took a silk handkerchief and covered the young man’s face. HE was about to take it off but she put it back on properly, laughing, “No peeking!”

The young man said, “I wasn’t gonna peek!”

The girl said, “Then, you must be afraid you can’t do it and will accidentally injure me?”

The young man laughed. “Junior Sis, when have you ever heard of Xiang Ding’s flying darts ever missing, huh?” Xiang Ding spoke very smugly and arrogantly, but the girl seemed used to it. She just smiled and darted over behind the hill and was soon gone from sight.

A breeze blew by and slightly rustled the silk handkerchief on his face.

With the gust of wind came the sound of horse hooves in the distance coming this way quickly. In the blink of an eye a dust cloud kicked up and six steeds galloped over to the foot of the hill like a whirlwind. Two of the men promptly dismounted.

The two men wore black tightfit clothes and had gleaming sabres in hand. They walked with quick steps up the hill coming for for Xiang Ding.

Xiang Ding had heard the horse hooves and the footsteps, but he still lay their unmoving. He didn’t even take the silk handkerchief off his face.

If the two men coming over could see through the silk handkerchief and see Xiang Ding’s face, they would see the arrogant sneer on it!

The two men went up to Xiang Ding and sneered in unison, “Get up, playing dead over here. You hear? As they spoke, the tips of their blades shot out toward him.

They struck fast, the tip of a blade catching Xiang Ding’s silk handkerchief and lifting it off, then right away the two sabres were coming for his face, thrusting ruthlessly at Xiang Ding who still lay there on the hillside. Just then, he suddenly shot to his feet.

As he was standing up there was a bright flash of light, a tching sound and Xiang Ding was stable on his feet. The two men’s chests were gushing blood like a fountain. They looked down to see.

On their faces appeared a look of disbelief. They opened their mouths to speak, but they didn’t make a sound, just crashed to the ground with a bang.

They were stretched out on the ground, and the spot where they fell was not half a span from where Xiang Ding had been lying.

This had all happened lightning-quick. Xiang Ding had stood up, put his arm out, and the sword in his hand loosed a swath of bright light. But quickly following that his arm shook, there was a tching sound and the sword was back in its scabbard, the action as smooth as drifting clouds or running water and quick as anything.

Behind the hill the girl peeked her head out from behind a boulder.

As soon as she peeked her head out she saw two other men fly down from their horses and two sharp axes chopped at Xiang Ding’s chest.

The girl was surprised at this turn of events and she cried out, “Senior Bro!”

As soon as she said “Senior Bro”, she heard Xiang Ding utter a long cry, and unmindful of the attacking men, he flicked his hand and zip, a willowleaf dart shot out behind him like lightning.

The willowleaf dart came on fast to the extreme. The girl was stunned as the willowleaf dart was magically at her temple in an arc of light. It brushed by her and cut the wild chrysanthemum in her hair in half!

Light purple chrysanthemum petals fluttered down, but the willowleaf dart was not finished. It kept going another stave or so before shooting into the trunk of a tree!

In front of Xiang Ding, the two sharp axes came at him quick. When he backhanded his dart the axes were right at his chest just two or three spans away. But Xiang Ding still seemed not to notice.

He shot the willowleaf dart and called out, “Junior Sis, I hit it!”

He didn’t say it, but he looked back to do so, as if there were no one in front of him. The axe-wielders bellowed and chopped at his head.

But just then, Xiang Ding suddenly took two steps back.

He stepped back extremely fast, and as he did so his hands flicked and zip zip, two willowleaf darts shot out, heading straight for the two men’s throat.

Xiang Ding stepped back, and the two men still came on ahead.

But they only took one more step before the darts penetrated their throat, and their arms dropped suddenly and the axe blades brushed just half a span in front of Xiang Ding, but the men were already falling.

And Xiang Ding didn’t even give them a second look after he shot his willowleaf darts but immediately took off toward the girl. He ran over to her and with a smile said, “I hit it!”

Four of the six men who had run over were now laying on the hill, and the other two were still sitting their horses motionless.

These two had a much different manner than the four dead ones.

One of these two was skinny with a strange weapon hanging off his hip. It was a sword, but the tip had three spinning wheels which were no more than two fingerwidths in diameter and had nine spikes on them, and when the sword was jostled on his hip the three wheels turned freely.

Around the other one’s waist was a whip. On one end of it was a 20-30 catty iron weight.

Xiang Ding look at them at all, he just looked at the girl, smiling. “Piaopiao, now you have to let me tell people!”

The girl’s face blushed. The two men sitting their horses sneered in unison and dismounted and headed over. The wheelsword guy flicked his wrist and the three wheels on the tip of the sword began spinning, whizzing as they did so. He looked up and shouted, “Are you all going to Invincible Manor?”

Xiang Ding still paid them no attention. “Piaopiao, tell me, what do you think Uncle Yin will say when he hears the happy news?”

The blushed redder and she lowered her head and just smiled.

Xiang Ding said, “He’ll definitely say, Look, Xiang Ding, you actually managed to take Yun Piaopiao as your wife, that’s a real blessing. Junior Sis, guess how I’ll answer. I’ll say: Hey, Uncle Yin, who else in the world besides Xiang Ding is worthy of my junior sister, Yun Piaopiao!”

Yun Piaopiao smiled even more sweetly. “Look how insufferable you are!”

Xiang Ding threw his head back and laughed “Haha”, simply not thinking anything at all of the two men charging at him up the hill.

The men were surprised and angry. The wheelsword’s wheels spun faster and the man bellowed, “Filthy little brat, I’m talking to you!”

The big man was only six or seven spans away from Xiang Ding. Only now did Xiang Ding look up slowly with a look of disdain on his face. His eyes gleamed coldly.

When the big man’s eyes met his, the man involuntarily stopped short. Xiang Ding said coldly, “What did you say?”

The man shouted again, “Are you all going to Invincible Manor? Speak!”

Xiang Ding’s tone was even colder, “That’s right, what of it?”

The big man brandished his wheelsword and said sternly, “Then come with us!”

The words had just left his mouth when the wheelsword in his hand suddenly shot forward, stabbing directly at Xiang Ding’s chest. Xiang Ding sneered and flicked his arm and his sword was drawn. There was a tching sound and the two swords clashed. Xiang Ding’s sword suddenly slid down the blade of the wheelsword fast as anything.

Once Xiang Ding’s sword slid down to the wheelsword’s guard, Xiang Ding’s wrist turned gently and the tip of the sword dragged around in a circle of light and cut an opening on the man’s wrist.

In the blink of an eye the man’s face paled and he was struck dumb as a wooden chicken. His fingers let go and the wheelsword clanged to the ground.

Xiang Ding’s sword slanted and the tip magically rounded again in a circle of light and the man’s body trembled. He didn’t dare advance or retreat but just stood there dumbfounded. Xiang Ding sneered and with a flick of the wrist the sword was back in its scabbard. “I’m in a good mood today, so I’ll go easy on you!”

The autumn wind was strong, but in that moment who knows how many beads of sweat the size of soybeans were beaded on the man’s forehead.

This wheelsword wielding man was famous among the black path. His surname was Wen, given name Yi, and in cahoots with him was the flyweight whip wielding Lei Hong. They were known as the Two Heaven Shaking Fliers,¹ but Xiang Ding’s sword was to quick just then, so quick there was no time to strike back.

Xiang Ding sheathed his sword and once again held Yun Piaopiao’s hand and they head off down the hill, not giving the two men a second glance.

When they passed by Lei Hong, he had his whip out in his hand, yet he couldn’t’ help but take a step back.

Only when Xiang Ding and Yun Piaopiao were past him with their backs to him did he holler and crack his whip straight out, the iron weight on the end unfurling in a gust of strong wind toward Yun Piaopiao’s back.

Yun Piaopiao frowned. She didn’t turn around, just shot her hand back.

Yun Piaopiao’s slender hand was like spring scallions, and the iron weight was whooshing through the air violently toward her, but Yun Piaopiao’s fingers moves and snatched the iron weight. Xiang Ding backhanded a willowleaf dart and a bright light flashed like lightning, and the bridge of Lei Hong’s nose spurted blood, the dart lodged right in the bridge of his nose!

But Xiang Ding clearly didn’t want to take his life, so the tip of the dart only sank in a few tenths of a fingerwidth, neatly snapping the bone in the bridge of his nose!

Yun Piaopiao’s move was timed perfectly with Xiang Ding’s. As soon as he struck, Yun Piaopiao’s hand also let go and the iron weight flew back. Lei Hong only knew that he had taken a dart to the face but didn’t know it wasn’t a serious injury. As soon as blood started to flow he was scared out of his senses and wasn’t aware of anything, whether he was alive or dead, or even that his iron weight was coming back at him.

Until the iron weight banged into his chest and he finally jumped straight up, but just then, Xiang Ding and Yun Piaopiao had already gone down the hill and whistled.

Heeding their whistles, two steeds trotted out, manes fluttering. Xiang Ding and Yun Piaopiao jumped on and galloped off!

In a trice the dust kicked up from the horses’ hooves settled and the road was still and silent, only Wen Yi and Lei Hong standing there dumb as wooden chickens. After a while, the bloodyfaced Lei Hong slowly turned and the two of them looked at each other with wry smiles. Wen Yi bent down and picked up his wheelsword and said, “Brother, we just got dropped. That man and woman have to be Invincible Manor accomplices. We need to hurry and report to Chief Jiao!”

Lei Hong pulled the willowleaf dart from the bridge of his nose and flung it to the ground. “Yep!”

The two of them sped off down the hill, mounted up, and galloped off.

By the expressions on the faces of the four bodies left on the hillside, they looked like that didn’t even know how they’d died!

The road was super quiet, only a clump of dried grass was blown by the autumn wind down the road after them.

Chapter 2

The Old Pagoda in the Setting Sun

The old pagoda towered in the deserted weeds. From the road you could see it a long distance away, and you could sense its desolation. The withered weeds all around it only added to the dreariness, because it had been neglected for so long.

On the flagstone road leading to the old pagoda was gaunt young man leading a similarly gaunt gray horse, walking on ahead.

The young man looked very lonesome, and on his hip hung a two-span short sword.² He walked very slowly and the horse’s hooves on made a clop clop sound on the flagstones.

The young man reached the old pagoda and looked up at it, a melancholy smile appearing on his face. He patted the horse’s neck and said in a low voice, “Tonight we’ll stay here.”

The horse raised its head and whinnied and the young man sighed softly and they kept on toward the pagoda. Just then, a person came out of the pagoda and stood in the entranceway sizing up the young man.

The man looked strong and tough and had a stalwart build, keen eyes. He took a few looks at the young man and said, “Your Excellency is—“

The young man said slowly, “I’m a passerby.”

The big man asked, “Where you headed?”

The young man frowned, but he answered, “Luoyang.”

From the young man’s terse reply and the look on his face it was obvious that he really didn’t want to speak more than necessary.

But the big man still interrogated him. “What are you going to Luoyang for?”

The young man said “Heh” but didn’t answer and kept on toward the pagoda. The big man put his hands out to block the road. “By the looks of that sword on your hip I’d say you’re a man of the jianghu. We have some business in this pagoda, you’d best run along.”

The young man looked miffed. I want to stay the night in the pagoda.”

The big man suddenly boomed, “Get lost!”

The young man stayed still and just glared at the man. The big man put his hand on the hilt of his sabre and bellowed, “You leaving or not?”

An angry expression appeared on the young man’s face, but even so, he still looked lonesome.

He regarded the big man for a time, then finally, without saying a word, led his horse and walked away. He walked four or five staves over to a tree where the weeds came up to his waist and then he stopped. Suddenly his arm moved and his sword was drawn and he stooped down and swept his sword along the ground swish in a circle and then stood upright again.

When he straightened up there was a neat circle about six-spans in circumference where the weeds were cut off evenly. He kicked the cut weeds into a pile and lay down on it.

The sun was setting in the west. The young man watched the sky and lay still.

The big man at the pagoda saw all this, and he was startled at the speed with which the young man wielded his sword. Once he saw the young man lay down he immediately turned and went inside the pagoda.

It was very dark in the pagoda. The god statues were strewn about and cobwebs hung in every nook and cranny. In the dark a person sat on a toppled statue, but his face was not clearly visible.

The big man entered and heard the man say, “Who was that outside?”

(The translation cuts off here because this is all I translated. And all I plan to translate).

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1. Because both of their weapons have the word “fly” in them, 飛. The wheels on the wheelsword in Chinese are called 飛輪, which is also the word for the flywheel device. I didn’t want people to think a real flywheel was meant, so I omitted the fly part from the translation.
2. The standard length for a “long” sword is three spans. The length of a span 尺 varied over the dynasties, but since the Tang was roughly equivalent to a foot. However the spans use in Chinese literature when referring to a person’s height suggests that the span intended was less than 30.48 cm/1 ft. because tall characters are often described as being seven-span, which I assume is meant to be less than 7ft. Anyway, “three-span” is a metonymy for a sword, such as in the phrase “three spans of autumn frost” 三尺秋霜, frost referring to the “frosty” blade, which means a sharp blade.