Chapter 3

Soaring Crane Among the Clouds Explains the Situation in the Remote Mountains
Many-Armed Bear Crosses the River to Meet a Chivalrous Xia

The story goes that Zhou Chun was stunned at what Yan’er told him. “So dangerous! So dangerous! Yan’er, You really have a lot of guts. I’m always telling you that the most dangerous people in the jianghu to provoke are monks, Daoist adepts, beggars, and women traveling alone. You really have to be careful if you encounter any of these people traveling alone. Luckily someone helped you out and stopped you from acting rash, otherwise you would have already been sent to the City of Death.”

Li Ning said, “I don’t quite understand the letter. When did I ever hear of you having some conflict with a monk? Why don’t you tell me about it.”

Zhou Chun said, “Do you know who that monk is? It’s the Many-armed Bear Mao Tai, who ten years ago was known all over Jiangnan!”

Li Ning was surprised at this. “If that’s who it is, then that really is a problem.”

Zhou Chun said, “At first I was careless, I didn’t cut the weeds and dig up the roots, so I’ve left behind this disaster waiting to happen. Pity that I just found a place to settle down and now I have to flee again. Where do I even start!”

Before Li Ning replied, Yingqiong and Yan’er, just children, were not to be cowed; newborn calves are not afraid of tigers. Yan’er wasn’t bold enough to speak up, but Yingqiong’s cheeks were flushed with anger. “Uncle, this is below your dignity and will just boost his spirit! No matter how ferocious he is, he’s still just a person. There’s four of us here, why should we be afraid of him? Are we really just going to run away?”

Zhou Chun said, “What do you know, dear niece?” This happened years ago. Even though your father knows about this, he might not have remembered it clearly. Let me explain what happened back then; you two youngsters could learn a thing or two. Ten years or so ago, your father, Uncle Yang, and I were renowned in the five northern provinces. Your father’s swordplay was the best, and he was skilled with all sorts of concealed projectiles as well, able to throw and catch them both. Men of the jianghu called him ‘Divine Arm Channeling Ape”. Your Uncle Yang wielded a podao and the chain dart. People called him ‘Divine Sabre Yang Da’. In those days the three of us were as close as brothers and practiced martial arts together.

“From watching your father practice lightness skill I came up with an idea of using white silk to make these winglike objects that you tied to your arms. Even on a mountain a hundred or so staves high, I used these silks to catch the wind and lift me up without a problem. Because of my penchant for chivalric heroism, I was always upright and aboveboard. Even at night I wore white, so everyone called me ‘Soaring Crane Among the Clouds’. Together the three of us were known as the ‘Three Heroes of Shandong’. The three of us specialized in upholding justice and helping those in need.

“It was the year of Zhang and Li’s rebellion. I had a good friend, a merchant, who was coming back to Yangzhou from Shaanxi, and because the road was unsafe he asked me to escort him. Of course I felt dutybound to do so. As we were walking along we heard of a lone bandit out of the south called ‘Many-armed Bear’ Mao Tai. The rules of the Greenwood were: if you run into a merchant on the road, or if you rob someone’s house, as long as the victim doesn’t resist and there’s no enmity between you, then you mustn’t kill them or rape the women. That was especially taboo. But that Mao Tai was cruel and merciless. Wherever he went he would kill everyone he robbed, not sparing even the dogs or chickens. If he ran into a beautiful lady, he would rape her then kill her. When I heard this, naturally this caught my attention.

“When we got to the north side of Nanjing we struck a point¹ at an inn. Suddenly a servant brought over a name card that had no name on it, only a drawing of a man-bear with eight arms. I knew it that Mao Tai was here and so I had to see him. I readied my weapons and bade him enter. I assumed there would be a lot of trouble. When I saw him, sure enough he looked ferocious as could be, but he wasn’t carrying a weapon. Then he told me why he had come, said it was because he admired my reputation and wanted to become sworn brothers with me. I’m nothing special, but how could agree to be sword brothers with a lecherous villain? I declined most tactfully, and he didn’t insist. He talked a lot about supporting each other in the future, the usual Greenwood code of brotherhood type stuff, then took his leave.

“I paid attention to the way he stepped and sure enough, he was quite skilled. Probably a bit weaker than usual because of too much drink. I saw him out to the door and a gust of wind blew one leaf of the door halfway shut. He seemed to have just absently brushed the door, but he was obviously showing off in front of me. I didn’t feel like tangling with him and just pretended I hadn’t noticed. He thought I really hadn’t noticed, so he turned around and said to the manager, ‘Your doors aren’t sturdy. Careful lest some thieves break in.’ He bumped the door as he said this and wood chips spilled down from where he had touched it, revealing five fingerprints in the wood.

“That display made me angry, and as I was seeing him out I looked up and saw two tiles on the roof opposite that had been half knocked loose by the wind and were threatening to fall from the eaves. I said to him, ‘If a wind kicks up and knocks those two roof tiles down, won’t they injure anyone passing by?’ I used a bit of my Integral Origin qi², opened my mouth and spat at the two tiles, smashing them to pieces and knocking them to the ground. Then he was convinced. He said, ‘The Three Heroes of Shandong truly live up to their reputation. We’ll meet again some day. I advise you to never forget the code of brotherhood I talked about just now.’ I didn’t think much of it at the time.

“After he left, we hired a boat to Yangzhou and moved our luggage and his family over to it. Our boat was moored next to a large river boat belonging to a retired official. That night at the third watch we suddenly heard the sound of a woman crying. I slept in my clothes due to the unstable conditions of the times, and so I always carried my weapons close by as well. I leapt out of the cabin to listen, and upon closer look it turned out the crying was coming from the next boat over. I knew I something wrong, and moved my a sense of righteousness, I leapt aboard.

“There were people laying around all over the boat. I clung to the side of the cabin and peeked through a crack and saw Mao Tai holding a gleaming steel sabre. A woman was tied up in the cabin, her upper garment removed. She had passed out from shock. This guy was removing her inner garments when I couldn’t hold back my fury any longer and took out a gold dart and threw it at him. This guy was skilled. Just before the dart reached the back of his head he leaned to the side and snatched the dart with his hand and blew out the lamp, then threw my dart back. Then he leapt out and we were facing off. I put my martial arts skills to work and we fought to a draw.

“I didn’t have anyone guarding my boat and was afraid he might have accomplices with him and something might go wrong, so after a few dozen rounds I finally used my Pierce the Clouds to Snatch the Moon move from my Six Harmonies Sword and thrust at him. He couldn’t guard against it just then and two of his fingers were cut off. I should have finished that lecherous villain off on the spot and saved myself future trouble. But he knew he had met his match. He immediately threw his sabre down and said, ‘Friend, did you forget what we discussed earlier? I can’t beat you, if you wan to kill me then kill me.’ I shouldn’t have gone soft. I took pity on his martial arts and out of consideration for his master, Flame-Eyed Golden Lion Deng Ming and the fact that he had called on me earlier that day to greet me, I just couldn’t kill him. I had him swear an oath that henceforth he would reform himself, then let him off lightly.

“At least he didn’t hurt anyone that night; he only knocked those people out by pressing their acupoints. I rescued them and went back to my boat. After that he shaved his head and became a monk and took Gold-Body Arhat Dharma Prime of Mount Wutai as his master and learned sword kinesis, the ability to control a sword to flying and take someone’s head from over ten miles away. He’s at the point now where body and sword are one and he’s sworn over and over to get revenge. I know I’m no match for him, so I had no choice but to take my daughter, Qingyun, and head to Sichuan. Though our martial arts is good, how can we rival a sword immortal?”

While they were talking, they suddenly heard the cry of a crane piercing resounding through the sky, but they were all engrossed in their conversation and paid it no mind. When Zhou Chun noticed it, he immediately ran out and returned a short while later. Yan’er asked, “Teacher, why did you run out when you heard that crane cry?”

Zhou Chun said, “What do you know? This cave is Emei’s highest mountain cave. Clouds often circle the mountain below, and ordinary birds can’t fly around here. But the sound came from overhead, which was odd, so I went out to take a look. But there was no sign of anything. It’s really strange.”

Yingqiong asked, “Uncle Zhou, do you mean that Mao Tai is so powerful there’s nothing you can do except flee?”

Zhou Chun said, “Even though that guy’s swordsmanship is strong, he harbors evil intentions and cannot reach the peak of perfection. There are many sword transcendents as strong as him, but compared to my daughter’s master, Grandmaster Dawneater of Mount Huang, he’s no match. It’s just that Mount Huang is very far from here, and its a big place, it would take time to find her, so this is all mere talk.”

Li Ning said, “Dear brother, hiding is no solution either, we need to think of a plan.”

Zhou Chun said, “Who said otherwise? I want to talk things over with Yan’er’s mother and entrust Ma Xiang to keep a closer watch over Yan’er and keep him close by. Then I won’t wait for him to find me but will go find him instead and set a date for a duel and use that as a delaying tactic. Then before that day comes I will go to Mount Huang and look for Grandmaster Dawneater and get her to face him. I will lose some face, but it can’t be helped.” Li Ning approved of this and said he wanted to go with him.

Zhou Chun said, “I’m going to come to blows this time. The more people there are present, the more likely something will get messed up. Your daughter’s daily practice is progressing, she can’t get rusty. It wouldn’t be convenient to leave her here on the mountain alone. It would be better, Big Brother, if you didn’t go.” They all discussed what to do, then Zhou Chun bade farewell to the Lis and went with Yan’er down the mountain.

It was between the end of autumn and the beginning of winter, and the metal wind³ was blowing and the leaves were mostly gone from the trees. Teacher and students talked as they walked and half a day later reached the bottom of Mount Emei. Suddenly they saw a Daoist laying at the foot of the mountain wearing only a thin layer of shabby clothes. Beside him lay a large red-lacquered gourd bottle of wine. The Daoist had nodded off to sleep after getting dead drunk.

Yan’er said, “Teacher, look at that Daoist, poor as he is yet still drinking so much. He must really must be a drunkard.”

Zhou Chun said, “Kid, what do you know? This wonderful Divine Land⁴, fallen into the hands of northern tribes, what man of ambition would be willing to serve the enemy? There are many who have gone into hiding during these chaotic times. Down and out and uninhibited like that, how can he not be one of my generation? But in this cold, passing out drunk here is bound to give him a cold. I’ve been walking all day and am a bit famished. Let me wake him up and we’ll go get something to eat. I’ll leave him a tael of silver to settle a bit of karma from the previous life.” With that, he went over by the Daoist and softly called to him twice. “Dao Uncle, please wake up.” He nudged him a couple times.

The Daoist snored all the more thunderously and wouldn’t be roused. Zhou Chun could tell that even though the Daoist was filthy, his fingernails clogged with dirt, his arms were shiny white like jade and figured he was no ordinary man. He was in a hurry to get Yan’er back home, and since he couldn’t wake him up, he had no choice but to get a half-new padded Huzhou silk⁵ robe from his clothes bag and draped it over the man. Before leaving he nudged twice more, but the Daoist wouldn’t wake up. He could only leave with Yan’er and head to a nearby eating house, get a bit of something to eat and drink, then hurry on their way.

When they reached an unpopulated area, teacher and student used their land flying walking speed and headed to Crow’s Beak. Two double-hours later they were nearing the village. Zhou Chun knew Yan’er’s mother was virtuous and would surely treat him especially courteous this time and would put her to a lot of trouble; plus it was getting late, so he wanted to eat first, then go visit her. And so he and Yan’er entered an eating house and set down to supper.

This eating house was called Gourmand Loft. It had not been in business very long and its dishes were excellent, so it had many guests. They were anxious to get home, so they took no notice of those around them and followed the waiter to their private booth. Yan’er suddenly saw something that looked really familiar and he was shocked and cried out at once for Zhou Chun to come look.

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Notes

打尖, strike a point, slang term meaning to stop and rest and eat. Also called 中伙 – noon mess.
混元氣. 混元 is Integral Origin. 混 means mixed, jumbled up, 元 means primal/primordial/origin. This is another way to say primal or primordial qi, the qi that existed when the Dao was one and whole, before it differentiated into yin and yang. So this is also precelestial 先天 qi. This is innate qi that one possessed from time immemorial that is essential to their existence. It is distinct from the qi one refines during cultivation. Daoism is all about returning to the primordial, the origin, the Dao as a whole unity before anything existed and nothing was differentiated.
aka, the autumn wind. Metal is the agent of autumn in the five agents/phases theory.
Another name for China.
A kind of silk made in Huzhou that has a crinkled or rippled texture.