Chapter 1

On a Moonlit Night Rows a Boat; Gibbons Cry and Ascend the Gallery Roads in Wu Gorge
Encountering a Friend in a Remote Place; Moving in with a Buddy to Live in Seclusion in the Mountains

Mount Emei in Sichuan is famous in the region of Shu. In the past it was said that, “in Western Shu, the mountains and waterways are numerous and extraordinary, and Emei is especially excellent.” That statement is certainly true. Western Shu enjoys the greatest divine authority, and the temples and monasteries on the mountains there number in the hundreds. Every year, devotees on their pilgrimage come from thousands of miles around; add to that the towering mountains and the majestic waters, peaks rising each higher than the last, it’s a spectacular scene. Travel connoisseurs are also plentiful, and the backside of the mountains is secluded and marvelous.

From the beginning, remote mountains and large marshes have truly given rise to dragons and snakes. Dense forests and secluded valleys are the sojourn of tigers, leopards, dholes, and wolves¹. Those who travel to the backside of the mountains often never return. People make rash conjectures. Some say the travelers were eaten by tigers or wolves or elemental spirits or demons². Some say they were transcended by immortals or Buddhas. Everyone holds different views and are unable to agree on it. People, after all, are only flesh and blood; eighty to ninety percent are weak-willed. Because of lessons learned from previous mistakes, the number of travelers to the backside of the mountains gradually became less and less, to the advantage of those capable, remarkable, unordinary people cultivating there. It saved them a lot of harrassment so they could enjoy a carefree life in the scenic numinous mountains in peace. But enough of this.

Sichuan had been depopulated ever since the Rebellion of Zhang Xianzhong³ at the end of the Ming dynasty. Often for hundreds of miles there was not a soul in sight, turning Heaven’s Storehouse⁴ into a desolate, somber place, like a city of ghosts. After the Manchus entered the pass, border officials memorialized the throne to have people from the nearby provinces of Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, and Shaanxi immigrate to Sichuan. Add to that the fact that Sichuan was abundant in land and resources, having everything one might need, immigrating people were happy and did not miss their homelands. A home away from home like this gradually restored it to its more densely populated past.

Now let’s talk about the second year of the reign of Kangxi⁵ and a little boat heading upstream up Wu Gorge. Aside from the boatmen, there was only a father and daughter aboard, each shouldering their baggage and looking quite impoverished. Aside from that they had a heavy travel bag that seemed to contain ironware. The old man was only fifty, but his beard and hair were already completely white. When he looked up his eyes gleamed, his face full of wrinkles. One look and it was clear he was an old man who had been through a lot. The girl was twelve or thirteen and quite pretty. She leaned against the old man and pointed at the misty mountains, asking in a low voice about this and that, revealing her innocence and deep respect and admiration.

It was already dusk and mist was rising in the indistinct twilight. A full moon hung on the corner of the mountain, the bright moonbeams reflecting off their brow and hair. The old man suddenly raised his voice. “How can one bear to think of his homeland under a bright moon! With the nation in such a state, when can we go back to our home and the things we left behind!” His tone was mournful as tears spilled down his cheeks.

The girl said, “Dad you’re getting emotional again. Everything in this world is predestined, it’s no use getting sad about it. Dad, it’s more important for you to think of your health.”

As she was speaking, a boatman came over. “Sir, it’s getting late. The famous Crow’s Beak is up ahead. There’s a village there we can pull into and stop for the night. You can go ashore and buy food and drink.”

The old man said, “Alright. You go on ahead. I’m tired today, I’m not going ashore.” By the time they had finished speaking they had reached their destination and the boatmen went ashore.

The moon was as bright as day now. Father and daughter brought out the food and drink they had with them and set it out on the bow. Just as they were getting bored they saw a person in white walking out of the woods in the distance. They could make the person out clearly in the moonlight; he was coming this way, singing as he walked, his voice clear and resounding, enough to split metal and stone. He gradually approached where they were moored. The old man sprang up and yelled, “On this pleasant moonlit night the scenery is certainly a sight. I have food and drink here on the boat. Old fella, why don’t you come down and have a few drinks?”

The man in white was singing happily when he suddenly heard the old man call to him and thought, “This place is mostly Chuan-Xiang locals, you don’t hardly see northerners. That man has a strong capital accent, he must be a fellow townsman. Since he invited me, I have no choice but to trouble him for a few drinks.” He thought as he walked and was at the boat before he realized it. The two men met and looked at each other and suddenly burst out crying in each other’s arms.

The old man said, “We parted in the capital, who would have thought we’d meet again here! You’re the same as always, but the country has changed. How can one not be heartbroken!”

The man in white said, “Big Brother, I thought you gave up the ghost at the Battle of Yangzhou⁶. I never expected to run into you here. I’ve since fallen on hard times, running around to sky’s end. Now that a good friend is here, one can say I’m not alone. This girl must be your dear daughter?”

“I was so happy to see you, dear brother, that I forgot to have my daughter Yingqiong pay her respects.” The old man called her over. “Yingqiong, come here and greet your Uncle Zhou.” The girl obeyed her father and came over and kowtowed.

The man in white greeted her in turn and said to the old man, “I see my dear brother’s daughter cuts a dashing figure. The daughter of a general, Big Brother definitely has a disciple to pass his consummate skills to.”

“There’s things you don’t know, dear brother. Because I know a little martial arts my family was ruined. Plus, once she was born, her mother went with me and died in the chaos. We’ve been on the run for ten years with no place to take refuge. She’s always pestering me to teach her martial arts. I’ve held fast to the belief that ordinary people have much better fortune. Besides, this child has too much rage in her eyes. If she learns martial arts it will certainly bring a lot of trouble. Plus my martial arts is average, and there are many extraordinary people in the world. If you don’t learn it perfectly, you’re in for a fatal disaster. I only have this one girl, and it really makes me anxious. So I haven’t taught her anything at all. I hope I can find a son-in-law to move in with us, someone from a scholar family. Then I can return West in peace.”⁷

The man in white said, “Be that as it may, I can tell from your daughter’s appearance that she can never be a child forever. We’ll see what the future holds!”

The girl’s pretty brows shot up at what the man in white said and she beamed with pleasure. Then she looked at her aged father and couldn’t help but show a bit of bottled-up resentment. The man in white asked, “Big Brother, what’s your plan in coming here to Sichuan?”

“With the country torn and my family gone, with such a fate as this what plans could I have? I’m just trying to get as far away as possible.”

The man in white said happily, “I’ve been in Sichuan for three years. I’m on the backside of Mount Emei. I found a cave that’s really secluded and quiet and has a great view. I just got back yesterday from there. I’m also teaching a few kids and have come back to pack up in preparation for settling down in seclusion in the cave. I was lucky enough to run into Big Brother today. It’s just that it’s really secluded, and there are many predators about. If you’re not worried about your daughter being afraid, the three of us could live there together and bide our time for a while. What do you think?”

When he heard there was such a good place, the old man was delighted. “That’s sounds great. But how far is it from here?”

The man in white said, “If you take the roads it’s only eighty or nintey miles. Why don’t you pay the boatmen and come stay with me for a couple days and go with me there over land?”

“In that case, dear brother, you go ahead first. I will stay here in the boat tonight, pay the boatmen tomorrow, and then come pay you a visit. But where do you live? You and I are both refugees, have you changed your name?”

“Though I’ve changed my given name, I’ve not changed my surname. Tomorrow you can find me in the village up ahead. Just ask for the private school teacher Zhou Chun. Everyone there will know. It’s getting late and I have an appointment tomorrow, so I won’t be able to come get you. Fortunately it’s not far from here, so I’ll wait for your gracious arrival at home.” With that, they parted company and went their separate ways.

Once the man in white had left, the girl asked, “Is Uncle Zhou the one who you always talk about, who you shared notoriety with as the Three Heroes of Shandong, Zhou Lang?”

The old man said, “Who said it wasn’t him! In those days, I, Li Ning, along with your uncles Yang Da and Zhou Lang, were renowned in the Shandong, Hubei, and Henan regions. After the Ming fell, your Uncle Yang was framed by an enemy for his loyalty to the old regime. Now there’s only me and your Uncle Zhou left. Who knows if we’ll be able to survive. Now that we’ve come here to Mount Emei, it’s great to have a good companion with us. It will spare me a lot of worry. We’ll retire early tonight and go ashore tomorrow morning.”

At this time, two boatmen came back dead drunk. Li Ning said to the boatmen, “I remember I have a relative in this area, so I plan to go stay there for a few months. Tomorrow morning I’m going ashore. You two have been working hard, so here’s the fee as agreed upon, plus four extra taels of silver for drinking money. You all should go to bed early.” The boatmen were quick to thank him and then each went to retire, but no more of this.⁸

The next morning, Yingqiong and her father got up and shouldered their packs, bid farewell to the boatman and headed straight to the village. Half a mile later they saw a child on the side of the road. He was eleven or twelve and handsome, his hair done up in two tufts in the shape of a 丫. It was around the seventh or eighth month and the region of Shu was hot, so he only wore a short blue-cloth robe-shirt and pants. He came forward as the two approached. “Are you two looking for my teacher, Zhou Chun?”

Li Ning replied, “Mr. Zhou is precisely who we have come to visit. How did you know?”

Hearing this, the child fell to his knees and kowtowed. “Senior Uncle, you don’t know, but last night my teacher came back and was so happy he couldn’t sleep, saying he had met Senior Uncle and Senior Sister at Crow’s Beak. He got up early this morning because he had an appointment to keep, so he couldn’t come receive you. Instead he ordered me to wait for you here and lead the way. Up ahead is Teacher’s private school. Teacher has gone to keep his appointment and will be back soon. Senior Uncle, please go inside and have a seat and eat a little breakfast.”

Li Ning saw the child had an uncommon bearing about him and was smooth-tongued, and he took a liking to him. They talked along the road and were at Zhou Chun’s place before they knew it. Though it was a simple thatched cottage with a bamboo fence, it was clean and well-kept. The boy went inside and got bowls and chopsticks for the three of them, then sliced a large tray of cured meat and a plate of blood curd and set it down with a jug of wine and invited father and daughter to sit. The boy waited on them from the side. “Senior Uncle, have some morning wine.”

Li Ning was about to ask him something when the boy went into a back room and came out with three bowls of sour noodle soup and a dish of picked vegetables. Li Ning was even more delighted to see a boy of his young age waiting on them attentively. He ate and drank while he asked, “Little brother, what is your name? How long have you been studying with your master?”

The boy said, “I’m Zhao Yan’er. My father was a Hanlin scholar to the Ming court and died under Li Zicheng. My mother fled here with my maternal uncle, but Uncle died as well. My family is very poor and had no choice but to tend another family’s pasture. My mom does some needlework for a wealthy family and that’s how we get by. Three years ago, Mr. Zhou came here. He took pity on me as the son of an official and had me take him as a teacher. He often helps my mother out, and every day he instructs me in my studies and teaches me martial arts.

“Teacher Zhou has no son of his own, only a daughter called Qingyun. Last year an old Daoist nun came to the village and wanted to take me as her student as well, but since Mother is still alive I didn’t want to go far away. That nun suddenly saw Junior Sister⁹ and met with my teacher. They talked half the day and then she took Junior Sister away, said they were going to some Mount Huang to study the Dao. I really didn’t want her to go and asked Teacher several times to bring Junior Sis back, but he always said it was too soon. I thought to go myself, but Teacher wouldn’t tell me how to get to Mount Huang. I think if I were a bit older I would definitely go bring Junior Sis back. My junior sis looks a lot like Senior Sister here, except she doesn’t have two reddish moles above her eyebrows like Senior Sister does.”¹⁰

Li Ning only smiled at this and asked what martial arts he had learned. Yan’er said, “I’m not naturally gifted, I only know the Six Harmonies Sword, and I can throw and catch darts¹¹. Senior Uncle, Teacher said your very skilled. In a few days I’d like to ask Senior Uncle to teach me!”

Just then, Zhou Chun strode in from outside. Yan’er immediately dropped his hands to his side and stood at attention. Yingqiong came over and greeted Uncle. Li Ning said, “Congratulations, dear brother, for acquiring such a good student.”

Zhou Chun said, “This child is naturally intelligent and is somewhat gifted as well. He just loves to talk. As soon as he meets someone he just can’t stop. He’s been talking so much, I guess I don’t need to introduce you now.”

Li Ning said, “He’s told me what he’s been through. But dear brother, you’re almost fifty, how can you let your daughter go under someone else’s care so easily like that?”

Zhou Chun said, “Didn’t I say Yan’er liked to run his mouth? Her going is her good fortune. Last year Yan’er brought an old Daoist nun in to see me. We talked and I learned she was Greatmaster Dawneater¹² of Mount Huang, a famous sword transcendent. She looked at Qingyun and said she had been born with transcendent bones.¹³ She talked it over with me about taking her away as her final disciple. I wanted to have Yan’er go with her, but since he has his mother here who still needs him, she just took Qingyun. Such a golden opportunity is more than I could hope for, you tell me why I shouldn’t let her go?”

Li Ning could only nod at this. Yingqiong was mopey precisely because her father wouldn’t teach her martial arts. When she heard what Zhou Chun said, she couldn’t help but arch her brows and redden as she brooded over this. Zhou Chun could sense it and said to her, “Dear niece, you’re probably itching to do it too, right? If we’re talking about my daughter’s natural talent, yours is extraordinary, no need for me to stand on ceremony. If we’re talking about physique and character, she’s not half as good as you. Greatmaster Dawneater would certainly take a liking to you if she saw you. Don’t get impatient, sooner or later your fated opportunity will come looking for you. When that time comes, it will be out of your father’s hands.”

Li Ning said, “Dear brother, you’re teasing your niece again. Enough idle talk, when are we setting out for Mount Emei? Is Yan’er going too?”

Zhou Chun said, “I have some odds and ends to tend to. It will probably be ten days at the most before he can set out. Yan’er has his mother at home, so I’ll just have to suspend his studies for now.”

Yan’er burst into tears when he heard his teacher wasn’t going to let him go with them. Zhou Chun said, “There’s no need to be like that. Be it transcendents, Buddhas, or heroes, there’s not such thing as a faithless or unfilial one. I’m not going away forever. We’ll only be apart for a few weeks; I’ll come back every month and teach you in both your studies and martial arts. But we just can’t be together day and night like before.” Yan’er knew there was nothing he could do. He could only hold back his tears.

Li Ning said, “Is Yan’er the only student in your school?”

Zhou Chun said, “The day before yesterday I came back from Mount Emei planning to go back into the mountains. People get along well here, and on my way I rescued a poor scholar called Ma Xiang. He’s well-behaved and learned. I helped him find a place to live in front of Wenchang Pavilion and transferred all of my students to him. I never expected to run into you that evening.”

“I see. No wonder I didn’t see any students aside from Yan’er.”

Zhou Chun said, “I need to introduce Yan’er to him as well, but since you’re staying here, and I don’t have any old servants, I need to trouble my student to help out.”

They talked and talked, and the sun was setting before they knew it. They sat down to dinner. Yan’er laid out bedding for father and daughter and left. Only Yingqiong, who had heard a lot of talk during the day, was tossing and turning in bed, unable to sleep. Around the beat of the third watch drums she heard Zhou Chun and Yan’er talking in the next room. A while later, she heard his student open the door and walk out into the courtyard.

Yingqiong got up quietly and peered through a crack in the window. She saw master and student each holding a sword, sparring in the courtyard. Yan’er’s sword was a bit shorter but was still three spans¹⁴ long. When they began she could make out their silhouettes. Later they became quicker and more agile in their movements, getting faster and faster until she could only see two streaks of cold light, like a ball of snow rolling about in the courtyard. She suddenly heard Zhou Chun say, “Yan’er, watch carefully.” Before he had finished, the two figures separated under the moonlight, and a ball of white set forth like lightning along with a streak of cold light, flying toward a towering osmanthus tree in front of the hall. There was a *chock* sound and a large south-facing branch of the osmanthus was cut down. The tree trunk felt the jolt of the cut branch and osmanthus flowers fluttered down here and there like rain. She stared and saw master and student standing before the hall in the same place they had been before.

In that dead silence a gentle breeze blew by and tinkled the metal chimes hanging under the eaves. Making Yingqiong rapt. Zhou Chun said to Yan’er, “That just now was the final move, called Piercing the Clouds to Snatch the Moon, the most special of all the Six Harmonies Sword moves. In the future, if you meet a master you can use it to wrench victory from the jaws of defeat. I sympathize with your filial piety and I can see you’re exceedingly intelligent. Therefore, I’m passing my greatest skill to you. In two more days I’m going with your senior uncle into the mountains. You should practice this diligently in your spare time morning and night. Your teacher must get to bed. Tomorrow night I’ll give you some more pointers.” With that, Zhou Chun went back to his room and went to bed, but no more of this.

Yan’er waited until Zhou Chun had left, then went to bed himself. For three days Yingqiong got up at night to go spy on them. Again and again she told her father she wanted to learn swordplay. Li Ning was pestered to death and went to Zhou Chun to intercede. He was somewhat softening. Li Ning told her, “The sword is the forefather of the military, it’s really not easy to learn. The first thing you must practice is perseverance. The second thing is you must train your qi and focus your spirit; your mind must be as calm as still water. Once you’ve managed these two things, you stil need a good person to teach you. You’ve been pampered since you were little, your strength has never been put to the test. It would be really difficult for you to take it up. Since you’re so persistent in wanting to learn, wait until we get into the mountains, and early every morning you can start by practicing qigong exercises and other internal skill practices. Only after two or three years of that can I teach you swordplay. When that time comes, don’t come bother me with that bad temper of yours.”

Yan’er was younger than her and had already accomplished a lot, and Yingqiong felt her father was intentionally making it hard on her, so of course she was not quite satisfied with this. She was about to open her mouth when Zhou Chun said, “What your father said makes a lot of sense. If you want to learn high-level swordplay, then you must practice your qi until it’s second nature like he said. I suspect you feel it’s easy since you’ve been spying on me teaching Yan’er, but you don’t know how much Yan’er has suffered to learn the sword. It was because I saw how sincere you were in spying on us that I persuaded your father several times behind your back before he finally agreed. Your father’s swordplay is much stronger than mine, and everything he said is right. My dear niece, don’t get it twisted.”

Li Ning said, “Qiong’er, don’t think you’re clever. Learning the sword is really not an easy matter. You must focus and cultivate your qi. Once you have accomplished that, when the dust settles, for a radius of ten staves¹⁵ around you will be able to hear the sound. Take your spying on him, how do you think your uncle knew? That’s how it is. If you don’t even know what’s right in front of you, how can you talk about swordplay? Luckily it was you spying; if it had been someone else trying to climb in the window to stab you, wouldn’t you have been caught off guard?” Yingqiong conceded after that, but she was still uneasy. She went to question Yan’er in secret and sure enough, he told her that before he started learnng the sword he had to go through a lot of torment and work really hard. Only then was she really convinced.

Time passed and before they knew it it was time to leave. A group of students and the heads of each household, as well as the new schoolmaster, Ma Xiang, came to see them off. Yan’er escorted them twenty miles or so, with Li and Zhou urging him to go back several times before he finally left in tears.

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Notes

Aside from the literal meaning, “dragons and snakes” refers to eminent or talented people. “Tigers, leopards, dholes, and wolves” refers to cruel, evil people.
I translate elemental spirits for 妖, short for 妖精. These are spirits emanating from trees, rocks, plants, animals, etc. In this novel they too can cultivate, first becoming human, then cultivating to become immortals. Demon is my translation for 魔, which is originally from the Sanskrit Māra, and was pronounced “ma” in Medieval Chinese instead of “mo” in modern Mandarin. Now it refers to demons, monsters, fiends, etc.
Leader of a peasant revolt, he conquered Sichuan in 1644 and declared himself emperor of the Xi dynasty. He was killed by the invading Qing army in 1647. The massacres he committed during his tenure resulted in severe depopulation of the Sichuan (aka Shu) region.
天府之國, another name for the areas of Chengdu, the Chengdu Plain, and the Sichuan Basin, so named because of the abundant resources.
1662
1645, the slaughter of innocent civilians and defected Ming soldiers by the Qing army, led by General Dodo.
Return West means to die, to go to the Western Paradise of Pure Land Buddhism.
This phrase has recurred a couple times already. It’s a stock phrase from classic novels. The long chapter titles that explain the plot are also a trope of premodern Chinese novels.
Junior Sister is my translation for 師妹, a term of address for a girl who is below you in seniority but under the same teacher. So they are classmates, fellow disciples. Note that this has nothing to do with age, but seniority. Whoever become a student under the master first is the senior one, regardless of age. Throughout this novel I will use senior/junior brother/sister for these relationships. If characters are actually siblings by blood, then I will use elder/younger or old/little. Senior and junior are reserved for this fellow disciple relationship. These terms of address are still used this way among martial arts schools today. But it doesn’t have to be martial arts; any teacher-student relationship can use these terms.
This backstory is reminiscent of the famous Tang dynasty tale “Nie Yinniang”, which I have translated on this site.
The word for darts here is 鏢. They looked more like a spear tip with a handle attached than slim modern darts. The word can be used for weapons of other shapes that are thrown as well, for example “coin darts” are simply coins that are thrown as weapons, sometimes with a sharpened edge.
This rather clumsy rendition is the best I have come up with for 餐霞, which literally means sup/dine/eat the rosy clouds of dawn. It refers to a real Daoist practice of going out in the early morning and imagining yourself ingesting the yang qi of the auroral clouds. The sun illuminates the clouds, and the sun was thought of as a pure ball of yang qi. Daoist adepts wanted to turn their body and spirit into pure yang qi so they could ascend as transcendents/immortals. This imagining process was common in medieval China, such as the Tang dynasty. It was known as 存 and is probably best translated as “actualization”, because the process of imagining the action made it real. This can be considered an early form of inner alchemy.
Meaning she was naturally predisposed to being able to cultivate to transcendence. She’s a good candidate for it. If a person didn’t have transcenent bones then they would never become an immortal/transcendent (I’m using these terms interchangeably for 仙, but “transcendent” is probably more accurate since they are not actually incapable of dying and can only ultimately live “as long as heaven and earth”, a really long time, but not forever; eventually everything returns to the Dao and the cycle begins again, so there’s no such thing as “forever”).
Span is my translation for 尺, which is often translated as “foot”. But Chinese has its own unique system of measurement, so I wanted to translate them differently. The word originally referred to the distance between thumb and pinky when the hand is spread out, so it really is a “span”. The length varied throughout the dynasties. During the Qing, when this novel takes place, it was about 32 cm or 12.6 in.
My translation of 丈, which is cognate with 仗, which means staff, stave, walking stick. So I went with stave. Ten spans equals a stave. Equivalent to about 3.33m.